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February 15, 2018 /in Uncategorized /by Brian
VISISONICS’ REALSPACE 3D AUDIO IS FEATURED IN A NEW IMMERSIVE 3D AUDIO BOOK “MINEFIELD GIRL,” NOW AVAILABLE ON SPOTIFY AND AUDIBLE.
VisiSonics’ 3D audio is now featured in the groundbreaking 3D audiobook, “The Minefield Girl,” by Sofia Ek, spearheading the launch of Spotify’s new Spotlight audio-visual platform.
Initially a written memoir of her time in Libya during the Gaddafi regime, Sofia wanted to take “The Minefield Girl” beyond text. Intrigued after experiencing VisiSonics’ 3D audio demos, Sofia decided to send a short test chapter to the VisiSonics team. With the addition of spatialized sound effects and music, hearing the 3D binaural audio in comparison to the plain vocal performance, she realized that the immersive audio created deeply personal, memory-like experiences for her. She felt compelled to make this a part of the experience for “The Minefield Girl” listeners.
After narration recordings were completed (by actress Camilla Belle), Sofia commissioned veteran NY-based sound designer Rich Macar, owner of Buttons NY, to add sound design and music to the 16 chapters of material for “The Minefield Girl”.
With only a short time to design, edit, and mix both sound design and music, the VisiSonics team got to work to streamline the 3D audio spatialization process. Rich provided pre-mix sound effects and music to VisiSonics. Using VisiSonics’ RealSpace 360 Cinema (RS360) software, a highly intuitive spatialization workstation, Louis Celano from the VisiSonics team would spatialize each stem (music and SFX), and have it rendered via software to a binaural output that could be heard over standard headphones.
The spatialized stems would then be sent back to Rich for final mixing and mastering. Rich came up with a concept for presenting the material in a way that the narrator’s voice was centered and spatialization applied to the sound effects – allowing the content to be enjoyed both over headphones and speakers.
The project was spatialized using the object-based acoustic localization capabilities in the RS360 software. Opposed to ambisonics, object-based processing produces a more “out-of-the-head” and acoustically accurate experience, though RS360 also supports ambisonics output.
“The Minefield Girl” was launched January 31, 2018 at Lightbox, a premier NY audio-visual facility, hosting members of the press and several celebrities. Attendees were able to experience the the curated art projected on all four walls.
The Minefield Girl is available for free on the Spotify Spotlight platform at this link:
https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWVhx3Jw2ZqKI
Also, available on Audible for free at this link:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Bios-Memoirs/The-Minefield-Girl-Audiobook/B079G3J7C9
(L to R) Michael Orzo, Michael Heinen, Sofia Ek, Rich Macar, Ramani Duraiswami
https://realspace3daudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/RS3DLOGOWPFP2.png 0 0 Brian https://realspace3daudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/RS3DLOGOWPFP2.png Brian2018-02-15 16:16:422018-03-16 15:43:49Minefield Girl
VisiSonics welcomes collaboration with Prof. Mathias Zwicker VISISONICS AND HUMANEYES OFFER REALSPACE(TM) AMBISONICS FOR VUZE(TM) PLUS
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Tag: max headroom
Writing at Talliston
May 25, 2014 June 4, 2014 Rebecca Lang1 Comment
Mucking about on Facebook one day, I chanced upon the exquisite loveliness that is Talliston House & Gardens.
Talliston is owner John Trevillian’s personal passion project – a former council house transformed into myriad chambers of loveliness, each of the 13 rooms inspired by various grand houses, castles, and exotic destinations.
Recently, the Talliston dream has been threatened by the most mundane of circumstances – money, or the lack thereof, which has fueled this project from day one (cripes, am I starting to sound like Kevin McLeod or what?).
John’s goal was to create something extraordinary from the means of an average living wage, and he has done just that. With the loss of his job recently, the future of Talliston is now uncertain. In fact, it has just been listed on the market.
Enter the Saving Talliston Indiegogo campaign that could be the gamechanger for this artistic enclave, which in addition to being a private home, is also host to writing and poetry groups, and serves as a performance space for various artists and musicians.
Allow me to quote briefly from the Indiegogo appeal:
Talliston House & Gardens is a project that has taken the most ordinary of English dwellings – a three-bedroomed, semi-detached, ex-council house in Essex – and over two and a half decades has painstakingly transformed it into a magical labyrinth of locations, each set in a different time and place.
After years of design, research, sourcing and construction, each room or garden is infused with a rich story, incorporating over 1,650 antiques and authentic objects sourced from 27 countries across the globe. With a name that means ‘the hidden place’, Talliston is not just an interior design project. Instead, it is a growing community venue that serves as an inspirational wonderland for writers, artists, craftspeople, and anyone seeking the extraordinary within the ordinary.
And all this has been accomplished by an ordinary team of people – all inspired by the project’s unique vision.
Impressed by the writerly credentials of the owner, and his commitment to such a wonderfully unusual and creative project, I recently joined the Talliston Writers’ Circle and attended my first meeting in May.
Everyone was incredibly friendly, even though I was the Max Headroom character in the corner on a laptop screen, a bleary-eyed Australian doing a 5am live Skype cross with my British counterparts on the other side of the planet (isn’t technology wonderful?).
It was a great meeting, and we were treated to a talk by crime novelist Linda Stratmann who walked us through her Frances Doughty Victorian crime series, and also talked about the various true crime books she had written. Book #1 The Poisonous Seed is now at the top of my reading pile 🙂
I sincerely hope John and his friends can save Talliston. It’s a special place, one imbued with magic and mystery. Talliston means ‘the hidden place‘, and I can’t think of a more fitting name for the labyrinth of painstakingly created rooms that lie behind the unassuming door of this ex-council house.
Like a series of movie sets, it’s the perfect house for creative types, and one worth saving. If you can spare it, fund the dream in whatever small way you can.
We need more magic and beauty in this world.
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Home › Uncategorized › Conservative British MP Alleges Conservative Government Brexit Policy Compromised by “Russian Agent”
Conservative British MP Alleges Conservative Government Brexit Policy Compromised by “Russian Agent”
By The Rebel Intelligence Officer on May 2, 2018 • ( 0 )
Boris Johnson & Michael Gove – Caught colluding with Russian agents over Brexit again?
An MP of the ruling British Conservative government has used parliamentary privilege to allege that a “billionaire who founded an influential pro-Brexit thinktank has “a link with Russian intelligence,” according to a report in The Guardian.
The report goes on to say that Bob Seely MP, used a speech in the House of Commons to suggest that Christopher Chandler, a billionaire who along with his brother made his fortune in Russia in the 1990’s, was previously under investigation by the French DST intelligence agency (the equivalent of UK’s MI5) on suspicion of working for Russian intelligence services.
Seely said he had seen the DST files, along with four other UK MP’s and he was convinced the files were genuine.
It just “oh-so-coincidentally” turns out that Chandler founded a Pro-Brexit lobby group, The Legatum Institute which has been lobbying British Government ministers intensely for a “Hard Brexit,” whereby Britain drops out of the EU and EU Customs union completely, falling back on WTO rules and tariffs, which most economists have suggested would be a disaster for the overall British economy.
According to The Guardian report “The Legatum Institute has advocated hard Brexit and has had significant influence on ministerial thinking, especially over trade policy,” and further goes on to allege that according to a Daily Mail investigation last year, the economics director of The Legatum Institute, “Shanker Singham, had met (UK Foreign Office Minister) Boris Johnson and (UK Environment Minister) Michael Gove, and had coordinated a letter written by them to (UK Prime Minister) Theresa May demanding a hard Brexit.”
What’s that you say, our old friend Boris Johnson, who had been so quick to paint the Leader of Her Majesties Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn as a communist traitor in a made up story that even Conservative BBC commentator Andrew Neil dismissed as hogwash…..
….has been hob nobbing and deciding Brexit policy with alleged Russian operatives?…….yes, that’s right, the same Boris Johnson who has been at the centre of mysterious claims of meeting with the “Russian Professor” who had links with a supposed plot by Putin to swing the Brexit vote in favour of leave by many nefarious means…..
Yes, that’s it, it’s the same Boris Johnson who finds himself neck deep in Russian plots and intrigue linked to Brexit but instead of looking at himself, he imagines he sees others knee-deep in Russian intrigue everywhere.
So, let’s note another similarity that Johnson shares with his (now, when it suits him) beloved Donald Trump – The ability to project his own reckless and unwise actions onto others that he doesn’t like very much.
Boris Johnson – Beware those who seek monsters…..
Time to get a mirror Boris, we’ve all seen ya, it’s time to take a good look at yourself!
‹ Infowars Alex Jones and Roger Stone Appear at D.C. Press Club as Law Suits & Allegations of Sexual Abuse & Discrimination Reach Fever Pitch
The Real Tyranny Begins: FBI Use Infowars as “Evidence” to Jail Innocent Activist ›
Tags: Boris Johnson, Brexit Russia, Christopher Chandler, Conspiracy, Hard Brexit, Legatum Institute, Michael Gove, Russian Spies, Shanker Singham, Trump Russia
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Benefits | View All Jobs | Jobs By Business | Jobs By Location | Jobs By Category | Job Search Form
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Job Title Job# Business Location Updated
Prep Cook 520848 Cafés at MoMA MoMA (West 53rd St. NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Pastry Cook 521645 The Modern The Modern (9 West 53rd St. NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Coat Check 521780 Manhatta Manhatta (28 Liberty St 60th Fl, NY) 01/15/2020
Kitchen Supervisor 516279 Daily Provisions Daily Provisions (103 East 19th Street NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Porter 516599 Blue Smoke/Jazz Standard Blue Smoke (116 E 27th St NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Dining Room Manager 522157 Gramercy Tavern Gramercy Tavern (42 E. 20th St. NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Concession Supervisors - Citi Field 522685 Union Square Events Citi Field (Flushing-Queens, NY) 01/15/2020
Sous Chef 522724 Marta Marta (29 East 29 St. NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Line Cook 522431 Untitled The Whitney (99 Gansevoort St. NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Sommelier 522581 Gramercy Tavern Gramercy Tavern (42 E. 20th St. NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Dining Room Manager 523176 Union Square Cafe Union Square Cafe (101 East 19th Street) 01/15/2020
Overnight Porter 523190 Porchlight Porchlight (269 11th Ave. NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Sous Chef 522867 Blue Smoke/Jazz Standard Blue Smoke (116 E 27th St NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Executive Assistant 522881 Union Square Events Union Square Events (640 West 28th Street NY, NY) 01/15/2020
Receiver, The Shed 522356 Union Square Events Union Square Events (640 West 28th Street NY, NY) 01/13/2020
Executive Sous Chef 522371 Maialino Mare Thompson Hotel (221 Tingey St SE, DC) 01/11/2020
Sous Chef 522377 Thompson Hotel Thompson Hotel (221 Tingey St SE, DC) 01/11/2020
Sous Chef 521953 Anchovy Social Thompson Hotel (221 Tingey St SE, DC) 01/11/2020
Beverage Director 522816 Intersect by Lexus Intersect (412 W 14th St NY, NY) 01/10/2020
Line Cook 506366 Union Square Cafe Union Square Cafe (101 East 19th Street) 01/10/2020
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IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. - Vortex flow visualization using tetrahedral cell subdivision
Proceedings The Fifth Pacific Conference on Computer Graphics and Applications
Author(s): Doi, A. ; Suzuki, S. ; Koyamada, K. ; Sannakanishi, S.
Conference Location: Seoul, South Korea, South Korea
DOI: 10.1109/PCCGA.1997.626208
Proposes an effective technique for searching for critical points, which are points at which the velocity vector is zero. The previous method, using tetrahedral-cell subdivision, often generates... View More
Proposes an effective technique for searching for critical points, which are points at which the velocity vector is zero. The previous method, using tetrahedral-cell subdivision, often generates multiple critical points in a hexahedral cell, and this causes several defects in flow visualization. First, we propose a new criterion for differences between interpolation functions, and investigate the reasons for the generation of multiple critical points in a hexahedral cell. Next, to prevent the generation of multiple critical points, we propose an improved method using both tetrahedral-cell subdivision and a trilinear interpolation function. Our method finds critical points by using a linear interpolation function, and, when multiple critical points are found in a hexahedral cell, a numerical integration scheme (Newton's method) is applied and a more precise position is calculated. We apply our approach to several sets of velocity data and evaluate it in several ways.
Three-dimensional space interpolation of grey / depth image sequence — A new technique of computer graphics synthesis
This paper advances a three-dimensional space interpolation method of grey / depth image sequence, which breaks free from the limit of original practical photographing route. Pictures can cruise at will in space. By using space sparse sampling, great memorial capacity can be saved and reproduced sce...
Robust predictive control of uncertain systems with both state and input delays
A robust model predictive control algorithm for discrete linear systems with both state and input delays subjected to constrained input control is presented, where the polytopic uncertainties exist in both state matrices and input matrices. The algorithm optimizes an upper bound with respect to a st...
Visualization analysis of the capability of weapon system of systems for multi-dimensional indicators
In the field of weapon system of systems (WSOS) simulation, various indicators are widely used to describe the capability of WSOS, but it is always difficult to describe the comprehensive capability of WSOS quickly and intuitively by visualization of multi-dimensional indicators. A method of machine...
Robust sliding mode control with ESO for dual-control missile
This paper proposes a novel composite dual-control by combing the integral sliding mode control (ISMC) method based on the finite time convergence theory with extended state observer (ESO) for a tracking problem of a missile with tail fins and reaction-jet control system (RCS). First, the ISMC metho...
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Snapchat’s $10B valuation and the weekly roundup in tech and retail
I did not balk at Instagram’s $1B acquisition by Facebook nor at Dropbox’ estimated $10B valuation. I believe that both address certain needs. Instagram was widely used in fashion, an industry that most people continue to underestimate. Dropbox, based on experience, is the easiest way to manage files in the cloud and addresses students, teachers, professionals, as well as enterprises. But it seems that recent billion-dollar valuations in the tech space have been based not so much on their business models but rather on how much of an acquisition target they can be.
Looking at Snapchat‘s recent valuation of $10B, I do balk a little. Admittedly, I have not taken advantage of the app’s ephemeral messaging features, which I imagine, are used for drunken messaging and sexting. I don’t necessarily think these features are solving a need so great that people will eventually pay for it. Furthermore, the app’s demographic of teenagers are quite a fickle bunch. However, as an acquisition target, the $10B valuation makes some kind of crazy sense. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Bryers, the venture capital firm leading Snapchat’s round, must have some really good inside information of how they can profitably exit this one. Google, Apple, Facebook and even Amazon have to fight to stay relevant especially among the elusive millennials. If these companies want to have a pipeline of young users to whom they can eventually sell anything to, then Snapchat and others like it are an expensive but necessary buys.
Read on for this week’s most relevant news in tech and retail:
After failed talks with Google, Amazon acquires game streaming site, Twitch for $1B
Apple sends invites for September 9 keynote event, may launch iPhone 6 and iWatch
Dropbox announces lower pricing, new features and offers 1TB cloud storage for $9.99/month
Instagram releases new app, Hyperlapse, turning shaky videos into time-lapses
Fashion wearables: Ralph Lauren with OMsignal launch high-tech biometric shirts at the US Open; Rebecca Minkoff will debut 2 bracelets for charging and notifications at next week’s runway show
Quarterly reports: Salvatore Ferragamo second quarter reports show higher than expected profit of €90M, up 8% from last year; Tiffany & Co. second quarter earnings are up 7% compared to last year, raises full-year forecast
Alibaba reports April-June results of 46% increase in year-on-year revenue of $2.54B, fuels the fire of impending IPO; IPO roadshow rumored to start after Labor day
Dalian Wanda Group enters into a ¥5B e-commerce joint venture with Tencent and Baidu
Abercrombie & Fitch to remove logos after disappointing second quarter revenues of $891M, a 6% drop from last year
E-commerce startup JustFab raises $85M at a valuation of $1B
August 29, 2014 October 21, 2014 Leah Grace Tagged acquisitions, Instagram, Snapchat, valuation, weekly roundup Leave a comment
← What the billion-dollar Twitch acquisition means for Amazon’s long-term view
Guide to fall trends →
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All Quotes tagged Mental Health Awareness(48)
Remember, you're still going to be you on vacation. If you are sad where you are and then you get on a plane to Italy, the you in Italy will be the same sad you from before, just in a new place.
— Adam Sandler, Adam Sandler's SNL Skit With A Surprisingly Important Message About Mental Health
SNLMental Health Awareness
Whether you plan some elaborate project on Pinterest, or you grab some paint to sling at a piece of cardboard Pollock-style, doing something artistic could help get your friend smiling again
— Mckenzie Terry , 47 Ways To Help Your Friends Feel Happy
Mental Health AwarenessCheering Up
Todd Lawson Latourette, who is bipolar, said he was off his medications and in the midst of a psychotic episode 17 years ago when he cut off his right forearm with a Skilsaw and cauterized it himself.
— Jayme Deerwester, 'Better Call Saul' actor admits he cut off his own arm and lied about being a wounded vet
War VetMental Health Awareness
My boyfriend has been there for me when my mental health was at its lowest and was my best friend when no one else was so don’t come at me with 'you spend too much time together' or that I’m choosing him over friends cause at one point he was all I had and I appreciate him so much.
— Caitlyn, Why My Boyfriend Is My Best Friend
Dating Your Best FriendMental Health Awareness
I want us to stop this culture of only talking about mental health when a famous person dies. It should be an ongoing discussion where awareness is spread and future tragedies are prevented. It should not be an attempt by some to get retweets and likes.
— Luke Waltham, via twitter.com
Mental HealthMental Health AwarenessDepressionMental Illnessmental illness awareness
The next generation needs to know that sharing their struggles with depression or mental illness is a sign of strength, and that in seeking help, they will be supported and celebrated, as Anthony Bourdain deserves to be, for their honesty and humanity above all.
— Lori Silverbush, The Bad Boy Chef – Lori Silverbush – Medium
Mental Health AwarenessBeing StrongSharing Your Story
I’ve got my own shit to deal with too.
At the very least of all these points, be kind. Be open. You cant solve everyone’s everything, just let them know that you are OPEN. And if you need to steer them towards help, do it.
We’re all just people trying to make it.
— Jean Grae, via twitter.com
Being OpenListeninglisten to othersMental HealthMental Health AwarenessComforting Someone
Sometimes it helps to just get the things out in a safe, loving environment.
But you can't solve everything. So do your best to not make anyone feel terrible about just feeling their feelings.
Mental HealthMental Health AwarenessMental IllnessDepressiontalking about mental healthOpening Up
Not everyone is okay with talking about uncomfortable things, or LISTENING to uncomfortable things.
We’ve been made to feel certain ways about them. Like it’s not normal.
But it is.
Please just be open to listening. Please try your best to get things out of your head.
Mental HealthMental Health AwarenessMental Illnesstalking about mental healthDepression
I’ve been in some very dark places. Different times and different things, over the course of my life. Thought about ending things. Attempted to end things. Thankfully, I openly talked about it. I’m okay with talking about extremely uncomfortable things.
Not everyone is.
The problem had a solution; I was so relieved.
— Danielle Tcholakian, What It’s Like to Know You’ll Be on Antidepressants for Life
Mental IllnessDepressionMental Health Awareness
You’re not alone. And you’re going to be okay. Be kind to yourself.
— Andrea Russett, A Reminder For Anyone Struggling With Anxiety
AnxietyMental Health AwarenessSelf-Care
We don’t put enough emphasis on emotional intelligence and it’s left people unable to figure out how to handle their own.
— Sam Sykes, via twitter.com
emotionsEmotional IntelligenceFeelingsMental HealthMental Health Awareness
Depression is an unbelievably powerful thing. It’s wild. One minute you can just be sitting there enjoying yourself and then, without even so much as a change in wind direction, your brain can decide that your world is crashing down all around you.
— Elan Gale, via twitter.com
DepressionDepression AwarenessMental HealthMental Health AwarenessMental IllnessUnderstanding Depression
A lot of us look like we are thriving but are just barely making it. Know that you are not alone in living with this.
— Saladin Ahmed, via twitter.com
world mental health dayMental HealthMental Health Awarenessempowering generationsInspirational
'Depression is a choice' = 'your pain is your fault'
'You can overcome this if you just try hard enough' = 'Your pain is making me uncomfortable. Please shut up.'
If you are unburdened by depression, real true depression, count yourself lucky. Keep your quick fixes to yourself. This is the kind of bullshit that kills people. Learn, then speak. Or just be lucky and quiet.
— Andy Richter, via twitter.com
DepressionUnderstand DepressionMental Health AwarenessMental HealthDepression Awareness
Anxiety is procrastination because you’re paralyzed with fear of failing so you hold it off.
— Kirsten Corley, What Anxiety Actually Is, Because It’s More Than ‘Just Worrying’
Anxiety DisorderAnxietyMental Health Awareness
Anxiety is wanting to fix something that isn’t even a problem.
It’s thinking too much, it’s caring too much. Because the root of people with anxiety is caring.
Anxiety is the time you spend waiting for an answer as a scenario plays out in your mind of what they could be thinking or are they mad?
Anxiety is an unanswered text that kills you inside
But as soon as you have to take medicine for your mind, there's such a stigma behind it.
— Jennifer Lawrence, I Treat my Mental Illness as I Would my Diabetes
It's all in your head.
— Arthur Gallant, The Most Common Mental Health Misconceptions
Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
It could be a lot worse.
You're making a big deal out of nothing.
Don't worry it's just a phase. But for some it can last a lifetime.
Most people with mental health problems aren't violent. They just need help.
— Donald Trump, Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again
'I was skeptical at first because I’d never had therapy, but not being able to leave the house [because of panic attacks] was so debilitating. And this was when my career was really taking off... My surroundings would trigger a panic attack, so I couldn’t go to the studio unless I was lying down in the car with a pillow over my face. I used to beat myself up about it.There were a couple of times after I released Delirium when I was doing promo and thought, "Oh god, it’s coming back, it’s coming back," but it didn’t. I think my body has become quite good at controlling anxiety.
— Ellie Goulding, Cara Delevingne and 17 other celebrities speak honestly about their mental health battles
Mental Health AwarenessDepression
I was sitting in my car, and I knew the gas was coming when I had an image of my mother finding me. She sacrificed so much for her children, and to end my life would be an incredibly selfish thing to do. My sense of worth was so low. I had to reprogram myself to see the good in me. Because someone didn’t love me didn’t mean I was unlovable. That’s what the break-up of my marriage reduced me to. It took away my self-esteem. It beat me down to the lowest of lows.
— Halle Berry, Cara Delevingne and 17 other celebrities speak honestly about their mental health battles
I was on Prozac for a long time. It may have helped me out of a jam for a little bit, but people stay on it forever. I had to get off at a certain point because I realized that, you know, everything's just okay. You need to get out of bed every day and say that life is good. That's what I did, although at times it was very difficult for me.
— Jim Carrey, Cara Delevingne and 17 other celebrities speak honestly about their mental health battles
I was hiding out from the celebrity thing. I was smoking way too much dope. I was sitting on the couch and just turning into a doughnut, and I really got irritated with myself. I got to, ‘What's the point? I know better than this.’ I used to deal with depression, but I don't now, not this decade – maybe last decade. But that's also figuring out who you are. I see it as a great education, as one of the seasons or a semester, ‘This semester I was majoring in depression.’ I was doing the same thing every night and numbing myself to sleep, the same routine. I couldn't wait to get home and hide out. But that feeling of unease was growing and one night I just said, ‘This is a waste.
— Brad Pitt, Cara Delevingne and 17 other celebrities speak honestly about their mental health battles Read more at http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/celebrity/552559/celebrities-speak-out-about-their-battles-with-mental-health.html#sXb3EOCcFWAP7wBM.99 Read more at ht
Mental Health AwarenessDepression Awareness
[My eating disorder and self harming] was a way of expressing my own shame, of myself, on my own body. I was matching the inside to the outside. There were some times where my emotions were just so built up, I didn't know what to do. The only way that I could get instant gratification was through an immediate release on myself.
— Demi Lovato, Cara Delevingne and 17 other celebrities speak honestly about their mental health battles Read more at http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/celebrity/552559/celebrities-speak-out-about-their-battles-with-mental-health.html#sXb3EOCcFWAP7wBM.99 Read more at ht
[My fans] know that I’ve struggled with depression, and that helped them get over theirs. That gives me a big purpose - a reason to wake up in the morning that’s bigger than to put on my f** king feathers and my little outfits.’
— Miley Cyrus, Cara Delevingne and 17 other celebrities speak honestly about their mental health battles
Depression doesn’t care who it attacks; if it wants you, you cannot beat it off with a CV or a bank balance.
— Marcus Trescothick, Celebrity supporters
I’ve suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life, I still suffer with it every single day. I just want these kids to know that that depth that they feel as human beings is normal,’ she told Billboard. ‘We were born that way. This modern thing, where everyone is feeling shallow and less connected? That's not human.
— Lady GaGa, 10 Celebrities Who Are Changing the Way We View Mental Health
Depression AwarenessMental Health Awareness
My advice would be talk to people about it. Don't feel alone in it. Treat your body as if you are another person that you need to take care of and heal.
— Felicia Day, Forbes
Mental Health AwarenessDepressionAnxiety
I was constantly anxious. I was kind of a control freak. If I didn't know how something was going to turn out, I would make myself ill, or just be locked up or inhibited in a way that was really debilitating.
— Kristen Stewart, Presenting the Real Kristen Stewart
We have to develop a culture of open arms and acceptance so that they feel comfortable saying, 'I'm a veteran. And by the way, I need a little help.'
— Michelle Obama, Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kerry Washington: The Important Cause Bringing Three Powerhouse Women Together
DepressionSuicide AwarenessMental Health Awareness
To those struggling with anxiety, OCD, depression: I know it's mad annoying when people tell you to exercise, and it took me about 16 medicated years to listen. I'm I glad I did. It ain't about the ass it's about the brain.
— Lena Dunham, Instagram
We feel any of the negative emotions or that dark cloud settle on you, and you feel like you need to cry out or speak to someone about it, and 'Nope I'm not gonna do that, because I'm a man.
— Wayne Brady, Wayne Brady Speaks Out About His Depression: 'It Ate Away at Me Daily'
DepressionMental Health Awareness
People use 'panic attack' very casually out here in Los Angeles, but I don't think most of them really know what it is. Every breath is labored. You are dying. You are going to die. It's terrifying. and then when the attack is over the depression is still there.
— Sarah Silverman, Sarah Silverman Opens Up About Her Battle With Depression and Her Gutsiest Career Move Yet
There's no shame in dealing with these things. There's no shame in having to fight every day.
— Jared Padalecki, ‘Supernatural’ Star Jared Padalecki Talks Depression and Why You Should ‘Always Keep Fighting’
Not talking about mental health issues means that the toxic stigma that is still out there will continue to keep people from asking for help, from getting the treatment they need and from helping people to understand that a mental illness is a chronic disease, like any other chronic disease. You are not your illness.
— Glenn Close, Here's Why Glenn Close Wants To End The Stigma Around Mental Illness
On the other side of your pain is something good.
— Dwayne Johnson, How a Bout of Depression Led to Dwayne Johnson's Career-Defining Moment | Master Class | OWN
It doesn't have to take over your life, it doesn't have to define you as a person, it's just important that you ask for help. It's not a sign of weakness.
— Demi Lovato, Demi Lovato On Her Mental Health Journey
I thought that I was completely alone. I wanted the world to swallow me up, and nothing seemed better to me than death.
— Cara Delevingne, Cara Delevingne Has Opened Up About Her Struggle With Mental Illness
My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don't know why I wouldn't seek help to have those things be as healthy as me teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn't I go to a strink?
— Kerry Washington, Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kerry Washington: The Important Cause Bringing Three Powerhouse Women Together
The first time I had a panic attack I was sitting in my friend's house, and I thought the house was burning dow. I called my mom and she brought me home and for the next three years it just would not stop.
— Emma Stone, Emma Stone Talks ‘Irrational Man,’ the Sony Hack and Keeping Her Personal Life Private
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Sagrada Reset – 09
Sakurada Reset pulled off quite a lot last week, and got particularly exciting when things started coming together, but there’s still something unsatisfying about following it up with another flashback. Momentum had been built up, but this episode killed it, by valuing context-through-lengthy explanation over progress.
Mind you, I’m not mad about learning more about what happened just after Souma Sumire died—the two-year jump was pretty dang abrupt! It’s more a matter of timing, and the fact that I’d grown accustomed to being in the “present” of two years later.
With that said, this is an opportunity to see Kei and Haruki before they figured out how to be a well-oiled reset/recall machine. After Souma dies, both of them suspect the reset ability: Haruki, the ability itself, and Kei, the fact he used it so “thoughtlessly”—and in doing so sealing Souma’s fate.
While Haruki tries in vain over and over to reset on her own, Kei visits the spot where Souma fell, and meets a young Kit-Kat-loving woman named Ukawa Sasane (Koshimizu Ami) who thinks he’s Souma’s boyfriend thinking of offing himself.
She’s wrong about him being a boyfriend, or being suicidal, but Ukawa’s assumption is couched in her desire to save others from dangerous places like the bridge, be it with a Kit-Kat (an invitation to “take a break” and chill out) or with her “fence-making” ability.
A call to the Bureau for answers (and a request to save Souma) goes nowhere, and Kei eventually decides his choice to reset wasn’t what killed Souma, while Haruki realizes she can’t reset on her own because a part of her is scared of being hated by Kei.
Ultimately, the two come together and agree that the people they can help with their combined abilities outweighs the possible suffering resetting might cause. Kei tells Haruki to reset, it works, and they complete their actual first job in the Service Club.
Kei, however, isn’t done trying to find a way to bring Souma back. Her death and his inability to prevent it clearly still haunt him, and he believes if there’s a place where someone can be brought back from the dead, it’s Sakurada.
It would seem that he’ll eventually be proven right, since two years later the “Witch” considers Souma her successor, and assures Asai he’ll see her again. One can’t succeed anyone unless they’re alive, after all.
But this week, at least, is just more fuel for the fire of the show’s detractors. It lent more context to later events and positions, and introduced a new character, but even by Sagrada standards it was a dull trudge, not helped by the fact it took place entirely in a tension-sapping flashback.
Author magicalchurlsukuiPosted on Wed, 31 May 2017 Thu, 1 Jun 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Sagrada Reset, Spring 2017Tags abilities, asai kei, サクラダリセット, bridge, bureau, death, first job, flashback, future, haruki misora, helping, Kanrikyoku, kit-kat, love, murase youka, reset, sakurada reset, souma sumire, supernatural, talking, trickery, tsushima, ukawa sasane
RokuAka – 09
There’s no lengthy ER-style scene in which Albert and Sistine work to save Glenn’s life – their spell is already complete, Glenn wakes up, and Sisti is the one asleep from using so much mana. Albert is simply waiting to get going, and makes it clear to Glenn that rescuing Rumia is the priority. If Re=L gets in the way, Al won’t hesitate to eliminate her.
By the time Sisti awakens, Glenn and Albert are long gone, but she resists the urge to go running after them, and instead chooses to put her faith in their ability to bring Rumia back save. Even when some classmates want to do something, Sisti insists on sitting tight. Talented though they may be these are all young, totally inexperienced students who are unprepared for the kind of combat we’ll see Glenn and Albert face. They’ll only get in the way.
That being said, Glenn and Albert carve through the gauntlet of chimeras Director Berks, Eleanor Chalet, and Re=L’s bro have ready for them awfully easily, to the point where it starts to get a bit boring and perfunctory. As for Berks himself transforming, it feels like exactly what it is: an excuse to make Glenn rescue Rumia—and flip Re=L back to their side—all by his lonesome.
Eleanor isn’t even concerned with fighting a battle here: she gets what she needs (data on the Revive Life ritual) and skedaddles long before Glenn arrives to confront Re=L and her bro. Glenn manages to prove to Re=L through a combination of yelling and telekinetic pistol-whipping that the man standing there isn’t really her brother, because her brother’s dead.
Actually, Re=L died too—or rather the girl Re=L was modeled after. That girl, Ilushia, was disposed of along with her real brother Sion once her “replacement” was created. And when Fake Bro can’t rely on her anymore here in the present (because she still has emotions), he whips out a trio of emotionless, “perfect” Re=L clones (in skimpy S&M outfits, natch).
Far from “perfect”, are just as easy to defeat as the chimeras. They’re in the picture for so little time I’m not sure why they existed at all; it’s as if Glenn and Re=L simply blew on them and they fell over.
I’m glad Re=L’s backstory (and name) are explained, and I’m satisfied her sudden betrayal last week was due to her inherent programming, but this episode still couldn’t match the third and sixth episodes in terms of being satisfying conclusions. The bad guys were too dumb and pushover-y (or in Eleanor’s case, disinterested), and everything was rushed and wrapped up too neatly.
Not to mention, I think I’ve had my fill of Rumia-napping stories. Can we take the fight to Divine Wisdom, already…or as she demands in the preview, more Celica Time?
Author magicalchurlsukuiPosted on Tue, 30 May 2017 Wed, 31 May 2017 Categories Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, Anime Reviews, Spring 2017Tags albert frazer, ロクでなし魔術講師と禁忌教典, brother, clones, divine wisdom, eleanor chalet, family, glenn radars, hypnosis, ilushia, magic, oddball, rdw, Re L Rayford, research lab, revive life, ritual, Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records, rumia tingel, school, sion, sistine fibel, sword, teacher, white alchemy2 Comments on RokuAka – 09
While Akko is singularly invested in finding the remaining two words to release the Triskelion, she also learns that what she’d have regarded as a “selfish”, if successful, mission to bring Diana back has altered her relationship with her and her toadies, for the better.
Barbara and Hanna earnestly thank Akko for acting when they could not, while Diana expresses genuine concern for Akko in suggesting she heed Ursula’s warning. The power of that warning—to not go near the Wagandea tree to attempt to unlock a word, lest one get hit by toxic pollen that robs a witch of the ability to use magic or fly—is gradually whittled away by Arch-Meddler Croix.
Croix expertly manipulates the more-naive-than-most Akko, reinforcing Akko’s own assertion that Ursula’s an overprotective worrywart, while also planting a seed of doubt and suspicion regarding Ursula’s identity and intentions with Akko.
Croix also gives Akko a lift to Wagandea, hoping the pollen will take care of her latest rival to magical primacy. Years ago, she and Chariot went to the tree, with both expecting the Shiny Rod to choose her.
When it chose Chariot instead, it was a major hit to Croix, and her technologically-advanced career since has been one big attempt to overcome that rejection, as well as to stick it to Chariot.
When Ursula arrives to rescue Akko, Akko has fully gone to Croix’s side, and lets Croix “deal with” Ursula. Interestingly, Croix isn’t so evil that she wants Chariot to die in a fall, so she wakes Chariot up just in time so she can cushion her fall.
When Chariot shakes off her injuries (and Croix’s insistence she’s out of time) and goes after Akko once more, Croix doesn’t stop her; clearly she’d hoped for a cleaner operation, but since Chariot’s involved, she cuts her losses and withdraws.
Ursula catches Akko, who falls just as a cloud of magic-sapping pollen surrounds her menacingly. Overcome by shame for the things she said to Ursula, Akko takes it all back, apologizes, and says “thank you”, which she should have said a long time ago, but resonates more here, as it’s essentially the meaning of the sixth word, Lyonne, which Akko unlocks, leaving her at the same place Chariot was: with one word remaining.
Croix is unconcerned with her loss this week: she has been gathering all of the negative energy that all of the soccer fans of the world have been pouring into the popular, healing “Emotion Refresh” app she developed, and all that energy is going into a Gurren Lagann-style, giant mecha version of the Shiny Rod, presumably with the goal of releasing the Triskelion before Akko.
The social unrest being caused by football competition has been in the background for some time now, and it’s neat to see something that has a clear analog in the real world not only making an appearance in LWA, but serving as a key source of Croix’s power.
For all her megalomaniacal scheming, we definitely saw the affection for Chariot that still lingers in Croix’s heart. If Akko and Chariot are going to have a chance against her, part of their plan may involve tapping into that vestigial affection. But first thing’s first: Akko must get that seventh word.
Author magicalchurlsukuiPosted on Mon, 29 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Little Witch Academia, Winter 2017Tags akko, arcturus, リトルウィッチアカデミア, bad guy, chariot, chosen, climbing, croix, diana cavendish, dreams, kagari atsuko, luna nova academy, lyonne, pollen, quest, sacrifice, sixth word, thank you, toxic, tree, wagandea, witches, words
Eromanga-sensei – 08
Whether she likes it or not, Sagiri can’t have Masamune all to herself, not matter how adorably she dresses. And though he technically rejected her, the fact Masamune compares Sagiri’s yukata to Muramasa means she’s still in his thoughts, because she was the first person to say what she said about his novels.
Elf also tries to nab her share of Masamune’s attention by dressing like Muramasa; in her case, a school uniform. But despite the fact she and Muramasa are rivals in love and novels, Elf offers the advice she’d offer Masamune even if she didn’t like him: stop worrying about what may or may not be, and have one little chat that settles it all. Of course, she’s clearly not happy at all when he says he wishes she was his big sister.
She is, right, however, that being direct with Muramasa is the best strategy, as her feelings for him haven’t changed since he turned her down, nor is she too uncomfortable to attend the short story competition wrap party he’ll be hosting. They also both acknowledge that they’ve only met each other three times—not enough to get to know each other—and so would both welcome a fourth, fifth, and more.
The fifth wheel, Shidou, arrives first, and has no idea what he’s walking into until Elf and Muramasa arrive at the same time and start immediately fighting over Masamune until Sagiri starts pounding on the floor above them. Elf is also sporting her most ridiculous outfit yet – a frilly lolita-style yukata and flamboyant hairstyle.
The initial awkwardness of the party eventually smooths out, especially when Masamune breaks out all the festival themed food, hoping to create a festival-like atmosphere for Sagiri, who can’t go outside. Everyone shares their ultimate dreams, including “Eromanga-sensei”, who says she wants to be the bride of the one she loves. Oh, girl…
After everyone else files out to go see the fireworks, Masamune stays with Sagiri, and confesses that he’s always been afraid of being alone ever since his birth mother died in an accident. He’s also truly thankful for Sagiri, his new family, for putting up with such a pathetic brother, but she feels no less pathetic for losing the will to leave the house.
As they watch the fireworks from the window of her room, Sagiri reiterates that she never considered Masamune family or her brother; her love has always leaned more towards romance, insomuch as she knows what that is.
Still, if Masamune wants or needs her to just be his little sister, she thinks she can “pretend…for a bit”, only to later remark somewhat ruefully to herself while lying in bed how she’s “gotten much further away”, presumably from her dream of being the bride of the one she loves.
I dunno if that’s a bad thing, Sags! Get over him, get out of that bed, that room, that house; go to school, meet someone whose father didn’t marry your mother. Is that so much to ask?
P.S. Kuroneko Sighting. Repeat: Kuroneko Sighting!!! With her adorable sisters too. That confirms Masamune, Sagiri, & Co. live in the same world as Oreimo, whose MC also had to grow a spine and pick someone, anyone, as long as it wasn’t his damn sister. Obviously, Kuroneko was his best choice.
Author sesameacrylicPosted on Sat, 27 May 2017 Sat, 27 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Eromanga-sensei, Spring 2017Tags authors, brocon, brother, confession, contest, editors, family, festival, fireworks, harem, illustrator, in love, inspiration, izumi masamune, izumi sagiri, light novels, little sister, manga, senju muramasa, senpai, shidou, takasago tomoe, victory, working hard, wrap party, yamada elf1 Comment on Eromanga-sensei – 08
Re:Creators – 08
I found last week’s episode a bit plodding and tedious, but as Altair’s identity is discovered by all and a confrontation of ideologies mounts, this week’s sequence of emotionally-resonant conversations and its closing confrontation earns it a higher grade.
The briefing to the group proper on what they know about Altair so far kinda goes off the rails when Yuuya’s creator appears with a dismissive, aloof atitude, and Yuuya, sees it as provocation to sic his esper on him. Blitz’s artist is also there, but these are merely intros for people who may or may not play key roles later.
Showing Yuuya as an unpredictable hothead was nothing new, but I appreciated Meteora’s meet-up with Souta, in which she senses he’s trying to get something off his chest and tries to make it as easy as possible.
Souta still dances around matters far too much for my taste, but it’s definitely a start, and Meteora shows how she’s morphed from a fish-out-of-water game character to a warm, patient, understanding person who considers Souta a friend and hopes he feels the same.
Despite their wildly clashing worldviews (and for the record, Alice’s take on the “world of the gods” isn’t all that unfair or inaccurate) Mamika continues to embrace Alice as a dear friend; one she believes in an hopes will believe in her.
Alice does, and can, as she can tell from her words and actions that for all her naivete Mamika has a strong and pure heart. But Alice is caught off guard when Mamika suddenly jumps off the skyscraper they’re both perched on (Tokyo City Hall) and heads off on her own, indicating it could be the last time the two friends see each other, either on the same side, or at all.
Chiku’s been busy tailing Souta during his meetings with Mamika and Meteora, and she’s pretty sure not only that Souta knew Altair’s creator, but that the creator is dead, and Souta feels at least partially to blame. Not willing to wait for him to spill the beans, she used what he’d given others to paint a larger picture for herself, and Souta’s reaction makes it clear she’s spot-on.
As such, Chiku now has leverage on Souta, and isn’t about to let him get away with avoiding the reckoning she feels should surely await the protagonist of a world as messed-up as Souta’s. So she swaps contact info and promises him they’ll go on a “date” soon. Unless he wants to be exposed, he’ll do as she says.
As for Mamika, her ultimate destination this week is Altair’s lair (an ‘Altlair’, if you will) to confront her with the knowledge she’s gained, affirm that she considers her a friend too, and offers to help “save her soul”, and that of her creator. For all the talk of creators and/or creations expressing their affection for one another, Altair is having none of it.
She hates everyone and everything and wants to destroy it all, and her response to Mamika’s olive branch is to launch a fusillade of sabres into Mamika’s body. If talk failed, Mamika was always prepared to do what was necessary to stop Altair from destroying anything or anyone else, so she casts Magical Splash Flare in a thrilling finish to the episode. No matter who emerges from the resulting conflagration, things will never be the same.
Author braveradePosted on Sat, 27 May 2017 Sat, 27 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Re: Creators, Spring 2017Tags action, alicetelia february, altair, battle, celestia yupitilia, chikujouin magane, friendship, goodbye, gunpuku no himegimi, kikuchihara aki, kirameki mamika, Komatsu Mikako, magical girl, magical splash flare, maid, meteora osterreich, mirokuji yuuya, mizushino souta, opening up, Re: Creators, revenge, Sakamoto Maaya, secrets, shimazaki setsuna, supernatural, swords, taking sides5 Comments on Re:Creators – 08
Attack on Titan – 34
While I’m all for hanging out in the branches of giant trees on a gorgeous sunny afternoon, I was hoping for a little more substance. Instead, it’s a time-marking episode, with Reiner and Bertholdt waiting for a sunset that never comes while Ymir and Eren poke and prod them with questions, none of which are actually answered except one: they’re ultimately headed for the traitor’s hometown.
Just as Mikasa has to keep calm and watch her pace so as not to break the rescue party formation, Eren has to keep calm and not do anything stupid by transforming back into a titan before he’s healed and in the middle of enemy territory. But while his eyes bulge and his teeth grind, Eren’s struggle is pretty moot: Reiner says he and Ymir are too weak to transform anyway.
Then Reiner goes off, talking as if he wasn’t the armored titan, but just another soldier in the scouts who should probably get a reward, if not a promotion, for all his good work. Ymir surmises, and is probably correct, that after spending so long pretending to be a regular human soldier, he no longer knows who he is, or at least forgets sometimes.
However, he’s lucid enough to know he can flip Ymir if he can convince her it’s in her best interest, or more importantly, in Christa, AKA Historia’s. Ymir is at least willing to listen, adding another slice to Eren’s shit sandwich. But as the sun sets, their limbs start to regenerate, and the smoke flares in the distance indicate the scouts are further along in their pursuit than Bertholdt calculated.
I was expecting a quiet episode in the trees, but rather disappointed in the lack of answers, especially when it comes to the Beast Titan. Eren also seems to know, and accepts, less than we do, and it’s always frustrating to wait for a character to catch up to you.
Author braveradePosted on Sat, 27 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Shingeki no Kyojin Season 2, Spring 2017Tags annie leonhart, armin arlert, armored titan, Attack on Titan, backup, bertholdt, colossal titan, double agent, eren yeager, erwin, 進撃の巨人, hange zoe, hannes, krista lenz, mikasa ackerman, panic, rations, reiner braun, sasha blouse, shingeki no kyojin, split personality, stalling, titans, traitors, twist, warriors, ymir
Renai Boukun – 08
Yuzu and Guri mount a daring rescue of Akane (armed with cosplay and retro dramatic music), only to find she doesn’t want to be rescued… naturally. The story is very standard issue, and on paper sounds like dozens of such rescue episodes. What makes Renai Boukun’s take on it fresh and watchable (if not outstanding) is its commitment to inserting punchy, often self-referential comedy wherever it can.
As the subtitle above demonstrates, Renai Boukun will often go to the trouble of pointing out the cliches it’s using, because characters like Guri are themselves knowledgable students of anime like the one they’re in. Guri’s status as a cupid, with her “love detection” ability, easily cuts through the stoic masks both Akane and her mother are wearing.
Akane’s mom may not ever break her stern, Vulcan calm, but when Akane herself has her blade pressed to Seiji’s neck, and he tells her he’d never be able to hate her no matter what, her eye highlights come back, and then some: shimmer, tears; the lot!
Renai is also shameless in its portrayal of Akane and Yuzu’s moms as aged-up versions of their daughters: they loved the same man, bearing the girls who now both love Seiji. Akane’s mom left her dad when her family calling beckoned, but she has to deal with the fact her daughter might not go down that very same path.
The moms are also even more powerful than their daughters, and their unhinged battle on the roof of Akane’s house surprises Seiji, even though at this point he’s used to getting stabbed (but likes the pain from Akane’s stabbing more than Shikimi’s).
As expected, by the end of the episode everything is back to the way it was, relationship-wise, only now Akane has the implicit approval to “do as she likes”, which is to keep loving Seiji. Seiji also feels closer to her now that he knows the whole truth about Akane and Yuzu’s family.
Akua got to fight some goons in suits. Coraly got to scare Akua shitless. Shikimi got to stab Seiji a bunch. Everybody’s happy! Well, until the very end, when Guri sees how close Seiji and Akane have grown, and no doubt ponders what, if anything, she can do to get Seiji to look at her the way he looks at Akane.
Author sesameacrylicPosted on Sat, 27 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Renai Boukun, Spring 2017Tags aino akua, aino seiji, battle, captive, comedy, emotions, family home, guri, heartache, history repeating, hiyama akane, hiyama suo, joining forces, kichougasaki yuzu, love polygon, Love Tyrant, monologues, mother, mothers, rescue, rivals, romance, shiramine shikimi, showdown, sister, supernatural, the very lovely tyrant of love, 恋愛暴君
Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – 08
The things that went down last week and at the beginning of this week can’t be undone; there’s no convenient return to the status quo where everyone scatters but remains free.
Instead, Kaisar crosses the line into straight-up treason by interfering with and raising a sword to King Charioce, in an attempt to stop him from fighting Azazel.
Azazel doesn’t want Kaisar’s help and is through listening to his prattle, so Kaisar ends up having to fight both Azazel and Charioce at once, in another nicely-animated little setpiece.
He bests both of them, thanks to a well-placed fist and his metal arm…but while the fight is over, there will be consequences for all involved.
Mugaro, who came to try to help Azazel and the demons, ends up captured by Sofiel, who goes ahead and captures Bacchus and Hamsa while she’s at it. Azazel pleads with Nina to transform into a dragon already, but Nina is confused, overwhelmed, and most importantly, her heart is not racing.
Since that’s only way she’s ever been able to transform, and because she’s never willingly transformed, she can’t become a dragon, so she’s arrested along with Azazel and Kaisar.
All the townsfolk who know and love Nina know she’d never be capable of treason against the king, but when they defend her too forcefully, they’re threatened with charges of treason, and everyone clams up. Not Nina herself, however. In shackles, on her knees, and without leave to speak, Nina lets Charioce have it with both barrels, with the general thesis of her rant being that he’s an evil bully of a king.
In a show full of characters with overly florid language, it’s nice to hear Nina speak plainly but forcefully about how much Charioce sucks. If she recognizes him as her date during the festival, she doesn’t let on, and Charioce doesn’t reveal himself to her. He orders her and Kaisar be sent to the prison tower, where they’ll stay “indefinitely”, and more importantly, be unable to further interfere with his plans.
Those plans involve finishing off the gods, who he’ll allow scored a win by capturing Mugaro, but still thinks they’re being overconfident, and likes his odds of destroying them, after which Jeanne d’Arc will finally stop praying.
The name Jeanne gave her child Mugaro is “El”, and that’s what Gabriel calls him (her?) while trying to make a deal: if he lends his power in helping them put the humans back in their place, he’ll be able to see his mother again.
As for Bacchus and Hamsa, they’re being held in some kind of strange void, also likely indefinitely. Hamsa tries everything to free them, but Bacchus isn’t sorry for protecting Mugaro, which he did because he merely “felt like it”, and isn’t okay with them using him.
Nina and Kaisar’s imprisonment (the bickering ferrymen was a nice detail) also offers them the opportunity to meet a couple of very interesting people with cells adjacent to their own. Nina discovers Jeanne d’Arc, while Kaisar spots a grizzled, bearded Favaro Leone, who finally makes his entrance in Virgin Soul.
By the end of the episode, we have Mugaro, Bacchus, Hamsa, Nina, and Kaisar all in custody or imprisoned; only Rita is free. It’s a refreshing, stakes-raising development after many earlier close calls. I’m not sure how everyone is going to get out of their cages, or what role Favaro will play, but I’m certainly eager to find out.
Author braveradePosted on Sat, 27 May 2017 Wed, 31 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul, Spring 2017Tags anatae, animation, azazel, bacchus, baha soul, bahamut, beard, captured, charioce xvii, 神撃のバハムート, defeat, demons, dragon, favaro leone, gabriel, hamsa, heart racing, imprisoned, kaisar lidfort, nina drango, overflow, parade, rita, secret weapon, shingeki no bahamut, sofiel, traitors
Tsuki ga Kirei – 07
It ain’t just the game of thrones—in the game of love, you win or you die…romantically speaking. It’s take no prisoners; shit or get off the pot; even moreso when you’re young and just figuring this stuff out.
With the Dome City amusement park as the setting for this outstanding episode, Akane, Kotarou, Chinatsu and Hira all learn harsh lessons about the game they’re all playing, the risks and rewards of being passive or active, and how being on the winning side can be fleeting. It’s a side that must be defended.
I honestly can’t stop snickering at Kotarou’s face while on the roller coaster. That is the face of someone very unhappy he didn’t decline Chinatsu’s suggestion they sit together. He might as well be shouting over the roar of the coaster ‘I’VE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE!’
Because he’s next to Chinatsu, Akane is next to Hira, and because she doesn’t handle coasters so hot, it’s Hira, not Chinatsu, who serves as her support during and after the ride. It doesn’t help Kotarou that the majority of the rest of the group is shipping Akane and Hira (except Roman, who we learn has had his suspicions about Kotarou and Akane before Kotarou confirms it).
Kotarou and Akane simply start out the trip all wrong, due to their general passivity in a scenario that requires activity. Akane ends up with Hira a lot of the time, but did nothing to prevent it; Kotarou ends up with a super-aggressive Chinatsu, who understands she’s got to hustle to have any chance over Akane…and may even be moving so fast and forcefully because she already knows she has no chance.
In either case, after Kotarou sees Akane with Hira, Akane sees Kotarou with Chinatsu, and after some time passes, Kotarou sees Akane with Hira AGAIN, Kotarou has finally had it; he’s groaned his last ineffectual groan. Time for some muthafuckin’ ACTION!
He calls out to Akane, then tells Hira he’s in a relationship with her, which she backs up. He then takes her by the hand and they walk off, just in time for Chinatsu to spot them together. As her tears start to fall on the souvenir photo of her and Kotarou on the coaster, I can’t help but feel for her. She got off to a good start, but ends up running out of steam.
After a great series of reactions from the group after Roman confirms Kotarou and Akane are going out (which NO one else saw coming), the happy new couple finally has their precious time alone. What had felt like such a delicate bond strengthens with each activity they do together.
I appreciate how they mirrored my own glee over the whole situation with lots of beaming and giddy laughter, neither of them able to contain their elation at being able to hang out together.
After eating together for the first time, going on various rides and to a haunted house, the two close in closer and closer for a couple selfie, and their bubbly contentment only intensifies when they see how much like a couple they look in the photo.
Meanwhile, Chinatsu returns to the group, her eyes raw from crying, and her girl-friends get the bad news that Kotarou chose Akane over her. Chinatsu might’ve stolen Akane for the coaster and gotten temporarily “lost” with him, Akane ends up stealing him back, though mostly thanks to Kotarou taking action.
No matter; it’s the action Akane wanted to be taken. She’ll be the proactive one next time. As the fireworks explode across the night sky, Kotarou takes her hands in his and leans in for a kiss, and Akane leans in right back.
A nosy little shrimp interrupts them (where are your damn parents, kid?), but they get so goshdarned close to kissing, I’m going to go ahead and call it a kiss, even if it isn’t officially their first kiss. Neither of them bailed out; it was a matter of being surprised by an outside stimulus. Close enough, I say!
Chinatsu…she was never that close, because Kotarou simply isn’t interested in her the way he is in Akane, just as Akane isn’t into Hira that way. At the end of the night, Akane and Kotarou are exactly where they should be, where they want to be.
hen Chinatsu texts Akane that she couldn’t confess, Akane says “Sorry” to herself. I’ve no doubt she feels bad about Chinatsu getting hurt. Chinatsu was the one who chose to keep going even though she knew Akane was with Kotarou, but Akane could have been more forceful in discouraging her.
But at the end of the day, when made to choose between her happiness and Chinatsu’s, there is no choice. It’s shitty not being the one chosen, but that’s life. Akane and Kotarou won the game today. They deserved to savor their victory. Here’s hoping the wins keep coming. They must be vigilant.
P.S. Attention, Show: You have extinguished your allotment of near-kisses. Next kiss better not be interrupted. You have been warned!
Author sesameacrylicPosted on Thu, 25 May 2017 Wed, 31 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Spring 2017, Tsuki ga KireiTags as the moon so beautiful, azumi kotarou, bad day, best friend, cell phones, confession, courage, crush, dating, defeat, emotions, excitement, fate, frustration, junior high, kawagoe, kyoto, love triangle, mizuno akane, nishio chinatsu, pinky swear, promise, publisher, romance, secret, texting, track meet, translation, weight, 月がきれい2 Comments on Tsuki ga Kirei – 07
Saekano 2 – 07
It’s been two months since Winter Comiket, and Cherry Blessing has done well in both sales and critical reception. But with their first game released, Blessing Software is at a crossroads. Utaha is finishing up her newest novel, while Eriri is still blowing past art deadlines (what she’s painting, we never see).
Tomoya’s rival Iori surmises that Cherry was able to surpass his game in reviews (if not in sales) because both writer and artist grew and surpassed themselves. Now that the trio has been through it all together, the girls are far less careful about how they act at school around Tomoya.
Tomoya, Eri, and Utaha are all getting along swimmingly post-Comiket, but Tomoya has been unable to make any progress whatsoever in making up with Megumi. She gives him a listless “good morning” and doesn’t answer her phone when he calls her.
That ignored call is the beginning of Tomoya starting to actually stop and carefully consider everything Megumi had done for and with him, and the manner in which treated her in return. Because he took her commitment lightly and shut her out at a crucial moment, she’s not picking up now to discuss with him the pros and cons of a new, second game.
Valentine’s Day arrives, and when he brings up the possibility of giving her more work, Eriri simply wants more time to relax, not worry about such things, give him chocolate, take his arm and walk with him.
To her chagrin, he has lunch with Utaha, who also gives him chocolate, and offers to sign her real name (not her pen name) “all over his body”, in a classic Utaha tease that’s probably more sincere than Tomoya is willing to realize.
Utaha also released her latest novel, and plans to start another soon. Since she’s already in university, she won’t be coming to school anymore after today. So Tomoya asks her, almost desperately, if she’d write for him again.
Despite her resentment of Tomoya’s protectiveness with Eriri, she bashfully admits she wants to make another game with her. Eriri, out in the hall making sure Utaha doesn’t make any moves, hears Utaha’s warm tone.
If Tomoya can come up with an idea, it looks like Utako Kasumi and Kashiwagi Eri are all on board. Which leaves Megumi (sorry Hyoudou, you’re not a main!). Tomoya makes an effort to track her down, but she slips out just as school ends. He spots her eating alone in a cafe, texts her a request for a circle meeting, and watches her not ignore it, giving him hope that maybe their friendship hasn’t “run its natural course” quite yet after all.
Then he goes home, and late into the night, he plays Cherry Blessing through. Playing it brings up all of the memories he has of Megumi working tirelessly by his side to make the game such a success, and how little appreciation he showed in his words, actions, or lack thereof. So Tomoya curls up in shame. At last—a glimmer of self-awareness from the guy.
Thinking of her also inspires Tomoya to come up with a title for the upcoming game he’ll aim to release in time for Summer Comiket: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend. Meta! Here’s hoping he can make proper amends—and Megumi is willing to take the fool back.
Author sesameacrylicPosted on Thu, 25 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata Flat, Spring 2017Tags aki tomoya, apology, artist, betrayal, character, collaboration, communication, dancing, deadline, director, doujin, Eriri Spencer Sawamura, harem, hashima iori, hashima izumi, How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, kashiwagi eri, kasumigaoka utaha, Kato Megumi, making up, mr ethical, new project, pressure, realization, revision, summer comiket, tsundere
After this week’s first act, I’m convinced this show excels at getting us to underestimate Asai Kei, at least as much as his adversaries do. Last week Eri Oka seemed to be holding all the cards, but it turns out Asai isn’t trapped in the photo for more than a few minutes.
Even though that buys time for Eri to mess with Haruki, Asai has Murase in place to mount a rescue. A rescue that occurs after Eri tries to plant false memories in Haruki, which not only doesn’t work (thanks to a little device in Haruki’s ear with Asai’s voice) but restores Haruki’s Reset ability.
It’s a great little turnaround, flummoxing Eri, who retreats for the time being. And having Asai and Haruki back together underscored how much anxiety I felt when they were apart. Of course, I’ve seen all their interactions thus far, but it’s important to remember Haruki doesn’t remember a lot of them.
That’s why she’s not keen to immediately reset; she wants to remember what Asai did for her. So instead of resetting, she saves, and Asai returns to the Sasano case, apparently confident Eri won’t be bothering them for a while.
The next morning, Asai receives a message to “come see someone”, and three photos, one of a woman on the beach, another of a blossoming cherry tree, and the third, Souma Sumire at sunset. Asai assumes it’s the “Witch” who is summoning him, so he goes to the beach.
There, he takes what he learned from his encounter with Eri, enters the photo, and converses with the Witch in her younger form. Because her ability is knowledge of the future, she knows what she’s going to do, and when she’s going to die, and wants to escape the bureau to see Sasano before that happens.
To that end, she used both Asai and Eri, but presents Asai with a choice: he can stop Eri, possibly leaving the Witch to die in confinement, or save the Witch another way (a way she may already know he’ll implement, mind you).
Asai gathers Sasano, Haruki and Murase, and head to the Bureau, Scooby-gang-style, and wait for Eri to get them inside. Sasano, armed with a Polaroid, takes photos of the building’s interior, one of which proves useful in getting one of the Bureau guards “out of the picture.”
This infiltration of the Bureau is only preparation for the next infiltration, when the actual rescue of the Witch is to take place. Asai has Haruki reset, sending him back to when they saved on the beach. He then jumps into one of the photos they took of the Witch’s room and asks her to call him.
The photos are still around because Murase had them, and her power negates reset, while his communication with the Witch of the past reaches the Witch of the present because she knows the future. It’s a complicated metaphysical labyrinth, but it checks out.
Before pulling it all off, Asai meets with a surprisingly chipper Eri, who accepts her loss but isn’t ready to give up on beating him, thus proving he’s weaker. Asai, meanwhile, knows that she won’t hurt him as long as he’s “defenseless.” Considering this is a long show, Eri is sure to be back; we’ll see whether she poses a greater threat at that point.
As expected, Asai gets a call from the Bureau, who bring him to the Witch, who asks him the same questions about “loving a stone” she asked Haruki, to which Asai answers he’d still love the stone if it was the girl he liked. But is that girl Asai…or Souma?
Regardless, Asai gives the Witch the photos she needs to escape and knock on the window of her boyfriend, just like the story Sasano told her when they were far younger. All these years, the Bureau has kept her under lock and key, fearful of her power. But after a time, or maybe all along, it was a power she never seemed all that interested in having, let alone using.
That’s why she decides she’ll leave Sakurada, forget about her power altogether, and live out the rest of her days—all seven of them, by her reckoning. But before she does, she indulges Asai by telling him his future: he will be involved in “something big”, something involving her “successor”, whom Asai correctly identifies as Souma. The Witch tells him he’ll run into her again. I certainly hope so!
Whew, what a ride. This mini-arc contained the most complicated ability machinations yet, and it was downright exhilarating watching all the pieces be carefully maneuvered into place before being set into quick, decisive motion. On top of that, we got confirmation Souma isn’t totally dead (though whether she’ll merely exist in that photo or not, who can say).
By not forgetting what Asai did for her, Haruki’s affection for him continues to grow. Murase is proving to be useful as “muscle” (i.e. putting holes in things or neutralizing abilities) while Eri has vowed to come back at Asai, insisting he should “be afraid.” One thing I’m not afraid of: losing interest in this unapologetically bizarre, engrossing show.
Author magicalchurlsukuiPosted on Wed, 24 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Sagrada Reset, Spring 2017Tags abilities, asai kei, サクラダリセット, bureau, camera, eri oka, flashback, future, haruki misora, Kanrikyoku, kurakawa mari, love, macguffin, murase youka, oracle, photographs, polaroids, reset, sakurada reset, sasano hiroyuki, sealing, souma sumire, supernatural, trickery, tsushima, villain, witch
When the students finally get to the White Alchemy Research Lab, the resulting tour is somewhat interminable and clunky, full of characters explaining things (or interrupting others to explain things), then discuss how dangerous it is to resurrect the dead before saying such practices would never be carried out nowadays.
It all feels like foreshadowing for what Eleanor and the RDW have up their sleeves for their next attempt to nab Rumia. And with her supposed bodyguard Re=L in an extended snit borne from her jealousy over her and Sistine’s closeness to Glenn, Rumia is particularly vulnerable, especially when Glenn goes off to find Re=L, who stormed off in a huff.
The boring lab tour nonetheless succeeded in placing me in a false sense of security, just as RokuAka’s first episode so ably did, sacrificing a consistently dark tone, but resulting in a satisfying emotional roller-coaster as shit hits the fan.
Just as Re=L is approached on the beach by her apparent brother (who I immediately assumed was RDW), Eleanor faces off with Albert, Rumia’s actual bodyguard, albeit a long-distance one. It’s time and distance that screw him over, as the increasingly unhinged Eleanor is merely creating a diversion; keeping Al away from where he should be.
Glenn leaves Sistine and Rumia alone to go look for Re=L, obviously lulled into a false sense of security. He clearly isn’t aware of how easily Re=L can be turned to the dark side by her “brother”, who uses some kind of eye-contact hypnosis/brainwashing to turn her against Glenn, running him through with her massive sword.
Another who is caught completely off guard by what the RDW has in store for them is Sistine, who cheerfully gathers food for Glenn and Re=L’s return, certain Sensei will come back and everything will be fine…until she hears glass breaking, enters the room, and finds Re=L standing over a severely wounded Rumia with blood everywhere.
As we know, Sistine is not a professional soldier or warrior. She can be a badass, as we saw at the competition, but she’s still a kid, and this week we get another realistic reaction to the horrible fucked-up shit she has to deal with: When Re=L (who is a pro) basically dares her to use offensive magic, poor Sisti, scared shitless and worried about hitting Rumia, freezes, and Re=L escapes with her captive.
When Albert comes in with the half-dead Glenn, and Sisti sees how bad his wound is, she goes into a fit of despair…also quite appropriate for an ordinary, well-adjusted young civilian. Fujita Akane has done great work with the voice of Sistine all Spring. Of course, Sisti isn’t a complete wuss either, nor is she immune to the proverbial glass of cold water, which Albert provides by starting to leave if she doesn’t buck up and help him save Glenn. While he prepares the reviving magic, Sisti must administer CPR.
It’s the old ABC method (rather than the present, AHA-prescribed CAB method), which means locking lips with Glenn. But the show doesn’t treat it as a romantic moment or a joke, but as a life-and-death necessity, which I appreciated. Where RokuAka does joke around is after the credits roll, with another pleasant palate-cleansing preview, which is the proper time to do so.
Author magicalchurlsukuiPosted on Tue, 23 May 2017 Tue, 23 May 2017 Categories Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, Anime Reviews, Spring 2017Tags albert frazer, ロクでなし魔術講師と禁忌教典, bastard, brother, cpr, dark side, divine wisdom, eleanor chalet, family, glenn radars, hypnosis, magic, mouth-to-mouth, oddball, rdw, Re L Rayford, research lab, Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records, rumia tingel, school, sistine fibel, sword, teacher, white alchemy3 Comments on RokuAka – 08
The Garden of Words (Film Review)
Tokyo is one of the largest, busiest, most lively cities in the world, but there’s an oasis of tranquility right near its heart, and I’m not talking about the mostly off-limits Imperial Palace Grounds. I speak of Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, once a private estate in the Edo period, and also the primary setting of Shinkai Makoto’s 2013 film The Garden of Words.
I’ll admit my review comes very late—so late, in fact, in the time between the release of the film and the day I’m writing a review of it, its co-lead Akizuki Takao would be 19 (not 15), making a potential romantic relationship with Yukino Yukari, who would be 31 (not 27) more socially acceptable. But here it is!
Akizuki loves rainy mornings. He loves them so much, he’ll skip school to visit Shinjuku Gyoen and enjoy it. One day, while preparing to sit at a sheltered bench overlooking the gardens, he encounters Yukino: a beautiful, mysterious woman in work clothes drinking beer and eating chocolate alone.
While 15, Akizuki is wiser and more mature than his years. He finds high school a major drag, and mostly stresses about a practical way to support himself doing what he loves: designing and making shoes. But when he visits the park and shares the bench with Yukino, he feels like he’s in a more mature environment, where he can sketch shoes or just shoot the breeze with her.
Their encounters also become important to Yukino, who we learn is preparing to quit her job, and is clearly in the park to escape said job and the stress/pain it causes, which was apparently bad enough that she lost her sense of taste for a time, only being able to enjoy beer and chocolate.
Not only is the hard-working Akizuki a shoemaker-in-the-making, he’s also a part-timer at a restaurant and cooks a lot at home, making him a better cook than Yukino. Thanks to the meals he shares, Yukino starts to enjoy eating again.
Wanting to help him with a woman’s shoe design, Yukino removes her shoe and lets Akizuki hold and measure her bare foot, in an intimate, even sensual scene that also happens to be practical.
That intimacy is heightened by the made-for-a-couple sheltered-bench and the gorgeous environs. But while she’ll give him her foot, Yukino never talks about herself, her life, or her struggles, no matter how much Akizuki talks about his.
Unfortunately Akizuki has to find that out when he spots Yukino, or rather Yukino-sensei, at his school—she’s a teacher there. He had no idea of that, or that she’d been taking days off because the boyfriend of a student fell for her which led to unsavory rumors about her being promiscuous and verbal and emotional abuse from her upperclassmen students.
Yukino is pained to hear all this treatment, and that she’s quitting because of it, but likely also hurt that Yukino never told him anything, or that she could even possibly have known he was a student at the school but kept him in the dark.
Whatever the case, he decides the injustice done to Yukino should have a response from someone who has come to care about her, so he confronts the upperclassmen, starts a fight, and loses. After school, they meet at the gardens, but he doesn’t tell her he fought to protect her honor.
After giving her the correct answer to her tanka poem from their first encounter, Akizuki and Yukino find themselves caught in a torrential downpour, and even when they get back under cover, they’re both soaked.
They apparently take it as a good omen, and go to Yukino’s apartment, where they change into dry clothes, and while he’s waiting for his uniform to dry, Akizuki makes Yukino a delicious meal, both noting they’re having some of the happiest moments of their lives, right there and then.
Like the sunlight, it doesn’t last, and as the sky darkens with more rainclouds, a sudden confession of love from Akizuki is countered by Yukino correcting him: “Yukino-sensei”. Akizuki hears her loud and clear: he’s a kid; she’s not, and that’s the end of it. So he changes into his still-wet clothes and storms off, just as the storm outside picks up.
Yukino doesn’t want to leave things there, so after stewing, suddenly alone in her apartment, with even Akizuki’s coffee still steaming, she does the romantic movie thing where one comes to their senses, rushes out of the house, and chases after the one they love.
When she finds him paused on a balcony, he takes back his confession and starts spewing vitriol about her intentions, but later in the rant it becomes more about why she couldn’t simply tell him, a stupid little kid, to piss off and stop bothering her. Why she never said anything to him while sharing that bench.
Yukino’s response, also classic romantic movie, is to run into his arms and sob just as the sun peeks back out from between the clouds, finally telling him why she went to that bench again and again, and how being with him helped her “learn how to walk on her own” again; how he essentially saved her.
Yukino still moves out of that apartment, back to her hometown, where she’s still a teacher. But she later writes to Akizuki, and as he reads the letter in the park where they met and spent so much time and where they taught each other how to walk, he seriously considers going to her hometown someday to see her.
The Garden of Words is gorgeous, as is expected of a Shinkai film, with its near-photorealistic exteriors, lived-in interiors, and fantastic lighting and details all around. At just 46 minutes, it runs brisk but never feels rushed, but rather feels just as long as it should be.
It also felt like a particularly intimate/personal film, though not for the reason you’d expect: I once sat at the exact same bench in Shinjuku Gyoen they sat at, unhurriedly sketching the gardens and writing about my day (though as you can see, the real one has an ashtray.) If you’re ever there I highly recommend it, just as I recommend this lush and moving little film.
Author sesameacrylicPosted on Mon, 22 May 2017 Categories Anime Reviews, Film ReviewsTags age difference, akizuki takao, bench, 言の葉の庭, hanazawa kana, irino miyu, kotonoha no niwa, learning to walk, loneliness, maturity, rainy days, romance, rumors, shinjuku, shinjuku gyoen, shinkai makoto, shoemaker, slice of life, storm, teacher, tokyo, youth, yukino yukari2 Comments on The Garden of Words (Film Review)
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The Sound Of Music @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review
The hills are alive…!
When it comes to the opening lyrics of musical numbers, I’m not sure there are any quite as stirring as those of The Sound Of Music. Come on, you’re singing it already aren’t you?
Landing in Hong Kong for a month-long run, Lunchbox Productions’ version of The Sound Of Music is a pretty faithful retelling of the Rodgers-Hammerstein stage musical turned Julie Andrews-starring movie classic. However, it’s worth remembering that this is a staging of the original theatre script (specifically Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Ian’s 2006 revival where the role of Maria was cast on a BBC TV reality show) and not the movie – although it has been rejigged to include two numbers written especially for the film, I Have Confidence and Something Good. In comparison to the nearly three-hour long film, the script’s pacing does feel a little uneven – dragging when it comes to the songs by Max and The Countess that were excised from the movie, rushed when it comes to the speedy second act where love, marriage, Nazis and the Von Trapps’ escape are all dealt with in swift and rather abrupt fashion.
Nevertheless, Carmen Pretorius makes for a fantastic Maria; in the wrong hands, this character can easily become a saccharine-sweet goody-two-shoes but Pretorius brings a warmth, fun and sense of mischief to the part – and all with the most beautiful voice that rings through the Lyric Theatre as clear and perfect as the bells at Maria’s abbey. I was less convinced by Mark Rayment’s Captain Von Trapp – he felt a little bland and unyieldingly stiff to me and I didn’t detect much chemistry between the two leads either.
But the children, a rotating cast selected from local schools, more than make up for it. They’re uniformly excellent, executing the musical’s sharp choreography and layered harmonies flawlessly, and making complicated numbers like So Long Farewell, The Lonely Goatherd and show highlight Do-Re-Mi an absolute joy. I also enjoyed Hugh Osbourne as wily music impresario Max Detweiler; providing the show’s more humorous moments, he manages to convey the character’s spineless scheming nature whilst remaining likeable too.
But there’s no denying The Sound of Music’s real power – its golden egg of a songbook. You forget quite how many classics Rodgers & Hammerstein packed in here and each of them hits all the right notes with this production, from the heart-swelling beauty of the titular number, through the sheer whimsical pleasure of My Favourite Things and Maria, to the bring-down-the-house goosebump-raising climax of Clim Ev’ry Mountain (a rousing performance by Janelle Visagie as Mother Abess). Hearing a fantastic live orchestra perform songs that were indelibly inked into your consciousness from an early age is exactly the kind of magic that musical theatre specialises in.
The HKAPA has often seemed noticeably small during other musicals I’ve seen here (hello Starlight Express), but not this time – the sets are impressive but not intrusive, with elaborate sliding elements that perfectly evoke the abbey, the Von Trapp villa and even the hills themselves, whilst there’s also a decently sized cast that makes scenes like the ball, wedding and music festival come to life. Using the theatre itself as the festival concert hall is another clever touch, with Nazi guards dotted throughout the auditorium, meaning that we become the festival’s audience in the show too (woah meta).
The Sound Of Music is far from being my favourite musical – it doesn’t have quite enough spark or jazz hands for that – but it does have a simple purity and uplifting sweetness that makes it an utter delight. This is a slick and sophisticated staging of a true musical theatre classic that should please newcomers and Sound Of Music devotees alike.
The Sound Of Music by Lunchbox Productions is at the Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong Academy Of Performing Arts, 15 May-21 June 2015. Tickets cost $395-995 and are available from www.hkticketing.com.hk.
Note: I received complimentary tickets for the Gala Premiere of this show
This entry was posted in Culture, Theatre and tagged Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Carmen Pretorius, David Ian, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Janelle Visagie, Lunchbox Productions, Mark Rayment, musical, musical theatre, review, The Sound Of Music, The Sound Of Music HK, The Sound Of Music Hong Kong, The Sound of Music Hong Kong review, The Sound Of Music review. Bookmark the permalink.
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Browsing Tag:Venom 2
Marvel, Movies, News, Rumors, Sony
Carnahan Says He Would ‘Pass’ If Offered VENOM 2
File this under: Just for fun. Earlier this week, word came down that Venom 2 was officially on its way, but that the director of the first film, Ruben Fleischer, may not return...
By Mario-Francisco Robles
VENOM 2 A Go, With or (Likely) Without Ruben Fleischer Directing It
This is a fun combination of one thing that’s Duh and one thing that’s Huh? In the former category, it’s that Venom 2 is officially happening. We all knew this was happening....
VENOM 2 Will Likely Be PG-13 Also And Here’s Why, According To Avi Arad
When it was announced that Sony’s Venom was going to be rated PG-13, there was something of a collective groan from longtime fans of the character. While he’s closely associated with Spider-Man,...
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BMW, Intel and Mobileye team up to launch fully autonomous cars by 2021
July 7, 2016 by Sam Francis
Fleets of fully autonomous cars to be used as basis for new mobility services in urban environments
BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye are creating an open platform for the next generation of cars to create the safest autonomous platform, from door locks to the datacenter. The three companies say they share a common vision and goal, to align the industry on a standards-based platform to quickly bring autonomous vehicles to market.
BMW Group, Intel, and Mobileye say they are joining forces to make self-driving vehicles and future mobility concepts become a reality. The three companies from the automotive, technology and computer vision and machine learning industries are collaborating to bring solutions for highly and fully automated driving into series production by 2021.
The companies say the future of automated driving promises to change lives and societies for the better. But the path to get to a fully autonomous world is complex and will require end-to-end solutions that integrate intelligence across the network, from door locks to the data center. Transportation providers of the future must harness rapidly evolving technologies, collaborate with totally new partners, and prepare for disruptive opportunities.
Together with Intel and Mobileye, the BMW Group will develop the necessary solutions and innovative systems for highly and fully automated driving to bring these technologies into series production by 2021.
The BMW iNext model will be the foundation for BMW Group’s autonomous driving strategy and set the basis for fleets of fully autonomous vehicles, not only on highways but also in urban environments for the purpose of automated ridesharing solutions.
BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye are convinced that automated driving technologies will make travel safer and easier. The goal of the collaboration is to develop future-proofed solutions that enable the drivers to not only take their hands off the steering wheel, but reach the so called “eyes off” (level 3) and ultimately the “mind off” (level 4) level transforming the driver’s in-car time into leisure or work time.
This level of autonomy would enable the vehicle, on a technical level, to achieve the final stage of traveling “driver off” (level 5) without a human driver inside. This establishes the opportunity for self-driving fleets by 2021 and lays the foundation for entirely new business models in a connected, mobile world.
On July 1, 2016, the three partners were present at the BMW Group Headquarters in Munich to express their commitment to strive for an industry standard and define an open platform for autonomous driving.
The common platform will address level 3 to level 5 automated driving and will be made available to multiple car vendors and other industries who could benefit from autonomous machines and deep machine learning.
The companies have agreed to a set of deliverables and milestones to deliver fully autonomous cars based on a common reference architecture. Near term, the companies will demonstrate an autonomous test drive with a highly automated driving (HAD) prototype. In 2017 the platform will extend to fleets with extended autonomous test drives.
Professor Amnon Shashua, Mobileye co-founder, chairman and CTO, says: “Today marks an important milestone for the automotive industry as we enter a world of new mobility. Together with BMW Group and Intel, Mobileye is laying the groundwork for the technology of future mobility that enables fully autonomous driving to become a reality within the next few years.
“Mobileye is proud to contribute our expertise in sensing, localization, and driver policy to enable fully autonomous driving in this cooperation. The processing of sensing, like our capabilities to understand the driving scene through a single camera already, will be deployed on Mobileye’s latest system-on-chip, the EyeQ5, and the collaborative development of fusion algorithms will be deployed on Intel computing platforms. In addition, Mobileye Road Experience Management technology will provide real-time precise localization and model the driving scene to essentially support fully autonomous driving.”
Intel brings a comprehensive portfolio of technology to power and connect billions of smart and connected devices, including cars. To handle the complex workloads required for autonomous cars in urban environments Intel provides the compute power that scales from Intel Atom to Intel Xeon processors delivering up to a total of 100 teraflops of power efficient performance without having to rewrite code.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, says: “Highly autonomous cars and everything they connect to will require powerful and reliable electronic brains to make them smart enough to navigate traffic and avoid accidents.
“This partnership between BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye will help us to quickly deliver on our vision to reinvent the driving experience. We bring a broad set of in-vehicle and cloud computing, connectivity, safety and security, and machine-learning assets to this collaboration enabling a truly end to end solution.”
With its Strategy Number One > Next, the BMW Group has developed its framework to remain the driving force behind premium individual mobility. This approach will become driving reality with the BMW iNext model in 2021, heralding a new era of mobility, says the automaker.
Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW, says: “At the BMW Group we always strive for technological leadership. This partnership underscores our Strategy Number One > Next to shape the individual mobility of the future.
“Following our investment in high definition live map technology at Here, the combined expertise of Intel, Mobileye and the BMW Group will deliver the next core building block to bring fully automated driving technology to the street.
“We have already showcased such groundbreaking solutions in our Vision Next 100 vehicle concepts. With this technological leap forward, we are offering our customers a whole new level of sheer driving pleasure whilst pioneering new concepts for premium mobility.”
Filed Under: News, Transportation Tagged With: automated, autonomous, bmw, driving, intel, mobileye, mobility, platform, technology
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Tag: Francis Portela
Marvel Comics Final Thoughts – Black Panther (2005), Vol. 4-5
T’Challa and his new temporary team of half the Fantastic Four are dropped into increasingly insane scenarios and situations that range from crazy stupid to crazy fun.
With Marvel’s popular and successful foray into films with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’ve finally decided to get back into comics. I grew up a big fan of X-Men and other superheroes but haven’t really kept up since the 90s. Thus begins my grand catching-up of the last ten years of Marvel comics, events and stories.
Thanks in large part to trade paperbacks and the digital convenience of Marvel Unlimited I can make relatively quick progress, and I’ll write down my Final Thoughts for each collection here on my blog. Like my gaming Final Thoughts, this will be full of spoilers. You’ve been warned!
Writer: Reginald Hudlin
Artist: Francis Portela
Issues: Black Panther (2005) #26-34
The young but resolute Wakandian king went through a flurry of activity in the previous two volumes: a largely publicized but loving marriage to Storm of the X-Men, joining with Captain America and the anti-SRA rebels in the Civil War, and going on a globe-trotting political world tour to several major powers and factions.
Unfortunately these next two volumes illustrate that nobody really knows what to do with Black Panther when there’s not a major crossover event happening for him to join and lend his incredible resources. Reginald Hudlin puts T’Challa and his new temporary team of half the Fantastic Four in increasingly insane scenarios and situations that range from crazy stupid to crazy fun.
In “Four the Hard Way” (#26-30) T’Challa and Ororo join the Fantastic Four as the new husband-wife replacements for Reed and Sue (who are taking a little vacation after their spat during the Civil War). I don’t read Fantastic Four, and issue #27 takes place after an arc in FF that leaves the group with these weird golden teleporting frogs. A monstrous insect figure breaks out of Stark’s Negative Zone prison and terrorizes the Baxter Building, and the team gets teleported away during the fight.
They land on a skrull planet in the crazy alternate Marvel Zombies Universe. I don’t mind zombies but there’s a weird disconnect with the gore-less Marvel. Also the zombies were far more verbose than I had assumed they would be, making it more silly and dumb than anything. For my first foray into the Marvel Zombies, it was not great, and we spend far too much time with them as they eat all the poor skrulls.
“Little Green Men” (#31-34) starts with the tiresome mind-fuck villain of Psycho Man that gets into T’Challa’s head, but his love for Storm is too strong to turn them against each other. Cheesy, sure, but I do appreciate their genuinely solid relationship.
The story picks up considerably as the frogs teleport them again – this time to the correct universe but a different planet. A skrull planet that has modeled itself after 30s era gangsters on one half, and 60 eras Civil Rights movement on the other.
Apparently the Fantastic Four have been here before, and Thing fought in the gladiatorial battles. Just to recap – alien world with anachronistic prohibition era gangsters in flying cars with alien gladiators. Most of the team is captured save for Storm, who joins up with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to lead the revolution. It’s completely insane and wacky, but at least a lot more fun and interesting than the zombie thing.
Francis Portela’s style isn’t bad but it’s mostly forgettable. The bright colors and lack of shading fit the tone of the light-hearted silliness of their alternate world/universe adventures, though it also exacerbates the problem with the Avenger Zombies. The action sequences are a lot of fun though, particuarly T’Challa fighting in the alien arena, and the team fighting the skrull (and later skrull-zombified) Fantastic Four. Storm is also given several opportunities to unleash the awesome destructive potential of her powers, and it’s pretty damn satisfying.
Both volumes are incredibly forgettable and pretty dumb. It’s a disappointing follow-up to what I thought was an increase in Black Panther becoming more of a major character in the wider Marvel Universe. Joining the Fantastic Four is an interesting move, but immediately puts them in situations that remind me why I don’t read FF – silly plots (even for comic standards) involving alternate universes and golden teleporting frogs that may or may not be malevolent. As far as solo series go, Black Panther is becoming increasingly skippable. This whole series would only last another six issues, ending during the 2008 crossover event Secret Invasion.
Author roguewatsonPosted on April 1, 2015 May 12, 2015 Categories blog, ComicsTags black panther, civil war, fantastic four, Francis Portela, marvel, Marvel comics, marvel zombies, Reginald Hudlin, skrull, stormLeave a comment on Marvel Comics Final Thoughts – Black Panther (2005), Vol. 4-5
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Kamaiyah “Addicted To Ballin” (Feat. Schoolboy Q) (Prod. By DJ Mustard)
by Steve June 8, 2018 11:20 pm Updated June 11, 2018 11:30 pm
Listen To “Addicted To Ballin” By Kamaiyah Featuring Schoolboy Q
Kamaiyah releases her new single “Addicted To Ballin” featuring Schoolboy Q. Watch the lyric video below as the the Oakland native goes in over DJ Mustard production.
Watch: Kamaiyah “Addicted To Ballin” (Feat. Schoolboy Q) (Prod. By DJ Mustard) (Official Lyric Video)
Kamaiyah
Schoolboy Q “Crash”
With his brand new album Crash Talk set to drop later this week on April 26th, Schoolboy Q releases his latest Boi-1da-produced single “Crash”….
9 months ago by Steve
Schoolboy Q “Numb Numb Juice” (Official Music Video)
Preparing fans for his new album, TDE’s Schoolboy Q delivered a new visual for his new single “Numb Numb Juice”. The West Coast rapper…
Kendrick Lamar & TDE “The Championship Tour” Commercial & Dates
TDE is headed to a city near your and celebrate the new tour, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, SZA, Schoolboy Q, and more appear in…
DJ Esco “Code Of Honor” (Feat. Future & Schoolboy Q) (Official Music Video)
DJ Esco recently announced his upcoming project Kolor Blind and today he drops his collaboration with Future and Schoolboy Q from it titled “Code…
2018 Smokers Club Fest: Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa & Schoolboy Q To Headline
The 2018 Smokers Club Fest will be headlined by Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa and Schoolboy Q it has been announced. The festival takes place…
Kendrick Lamar & TDE “Black Panther” (Album Stream)
Marvel enlisted the help of Kendrick Lamar and Top Dawg Entertainment for a soundtrack to support Black Panther. The soundtrack holds 14 new tracks…
“Black Panther: The Album” Album Cover & Tracklist Revealed
Kendrick Lamar has revealed the album cover and tracklist for Black Panther: The Album. The TDE rapper curated the 14-track project which features Travis…
SiR “Something Foreign” (Feat. Schoolboy Q) (Official Music Video)
After dropping the song “Something Foreign” last month, TDE rapper SiR follows up with the official video. The record features label mate Schoolboy Q…
SiR “Something Foreign” (Feat. Schoolboy Q) + “Something New” (Feat. Etta Bond)
Newest TDE artist SiR releases two new singles as he recruits label mate Schoolboy Q for “Something Foreign” and British singer-songwriter Etta Bond for…
Berner & Styles P – Table (Feat. Schoolboy Q) (Official Music Video)
VIBES, a collaboration album from Berner and Styles P released last Friday. It got caught in the mix of other big releases from DJ…
CYHI The Prynce – Movin Around (Feat. Schoolboy Q)
G.O.O.D. music and TDE connect for CYHI The Prynce’s new single “Movin Around.” Schoolboy Q is featured on the track and it appears on…
Kamaiyah – XXL Freshman Freestyle (Video)
West Coast artist Kamaiyah blesses XXL with some new bars. She also sat down with XXL for an interview. Peep her Freshman Freestyle above…
XXL’s 2017 Freshman Class Revealed
XXL released their 2017 Freshman Class. This year is special as it’s the 10th anniversary of the original freshman cover. Not only are 10…
Anderson .Paak – Come Down (Remix) (Feat. Ty Dolla Sign & Schoolboy Q)
Anderson .Paak revisits 2016’s Malibu for a remix of “Come Down“. For the updated song, Anderson .Paak joined forced with Ty Dolla Sign and…
Kendrick Lamar Performs At Coachella 2017 (Full Concert)
Kendrick Lamar showed growth at Coachella 2017 with an amazing performance. As the headliner this year, the Compton emcee closed out Coachella week one…
Joey Badass – Rockabye Baby (Feat. Schoolboy Q)
Joey Badass keeps the singles coming with the release of “Rockabye Baby“. The All Amerikkkan Badass song features an appearance from TDE artist Schoolboy…
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Multivariate analysis of risk factors for QT prolongation following subarachnoid hemorrhage
Shinji Fukui, Hiroshi Katoh, Nobusuke Tsuzuki, Shoichiro Ishihara, Naoki Otani, Hidetoshi Ooigawa, Terushige Toyooka, Akira Ohnuki, Takahito Miyazawa, Hiroshi Nawashiro, Katsuji Shima
Critical Care: the Official Journal of the Critical Care Forum 2003, 7 (3): R7-R12
BACKGROUND: Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) often causes a prolongation of the corrected QT (QTc) interval during the acute phase. The aim of the present study was to examine independent risk factors for QTc prolongation in patients with SAH by means of multivariate analysis.
METHOD: We studied 100 patients who were admitted within 24 hours after onset of SAH. Standard 12-lead electrocardiography (ECG) was performed immediately after admission. QT intervals were measured from the ECG and were corrected for heart rate using the Bazett formula. We measured serum levels of sodium, potassium, calcium, adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline (norepinephrine), dopamine, antidiuretic hormone, and glucose.
RESULTS: The average QTc interval was 466 +/- 46 ms. Patients were categorized into two groups based on the QTc interval, with a cutoff line of 470 ms. Univariate analyses showed significant relations between categories of QTc interval, and sex and serum concentrations of potassium, calcium, or glucose. Multivariate analyses showed that female sex and hypokalemia were independent risk factors for severe QTc prolongation. Hypokalemia (<3.5 mmol/l) was associated with a relative risk of 4.53 for severe QTc prolongation as compared with normokalemia, while the relative risk associated with female sex was 4.45 as compared with male sex. There was a significant inverse correlation between serum potassium levels and QTc intervals among female patients.
CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that female sex and hypokalemia are independent risk factors for severe QTc prolongation in patients with SAH.
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Album Review, Audio
Candyland – Bring the Rain EP [EP Review]
Artists: Candyland, Lexi Forche, Mako, Peter Dawson
Genre: Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Electro House, Glitch Hop, Moombahton
Written by: Xaos
Even after winning back-to-back Beatport remix contests for Skrillex’s Make it Bun Dem, and Bingo Players’ Rattle, Candyland really didn’t get the response they deserved. They have countless other great records on their Soundcloud that you should check out with time… but on to the main event. However, the EP that these Santa Barbara natives produced recently will help them make the waves they need. Let’s get to it:
The first song is called, “It’s a Shark!” which must be a Santa Barbara thing, but with some rather panic inducing dialogue, the EP begins with a solid, bouncing drop, sampling fear stricken voices. Always a recipe for success.
Following what I will henceforth refer to as “the shark song”, is the title track, “Bring the Rain.” Using a beautiful melody, sung by Lexi Forche, the duo lures you in, before they drop one of the funkiest drops I’ve ever heard, that, in my opinion, was summed up eloquently by a Soundcloud user as, “the tits.” Well said that guy on Soundcloud who didn’t plug his own tracks. This one has potential to blow your speakers… just cause you’ll want to turn it up loud.
Next, the EP takes a turn towards Drumstep. “Beneath Myself,” like the previous track is real funky, but slower so it really grooves. This song isn’t worth drooling over, but boy is it satisfying!
The 4th track, “Get Wild,” is exactly what you’d expect from a track titled like this: fun, pulsing, and it makes you want to dance. The fun part of about this song is that it goes from being a tradtional club tempo 128 down to Moobahton at 110, making my DJ program confused. Poor Traktor.
Welcoming MakO to the EP, the fifth track, “All You Gotta Do,” is sweet; It’s equally worthy of the “the tits” description of the title track. After some satisfying rap-style vocals from Makism, the track dips into some more Dubstep that makes you want to do just as the track instructs: “Drop when you hear the kicks.” Tasty. Possibly my favorite track.
The final track of the EP is “Castle of Affair.” This is one of those dubstep tracks that doesn’t really know it’s supposed to be dubstep. Going in and out of fun upbeat vocal sections without any of that traditional growl, this track doesn’t go by the book, and it certainly packs a punch in its unexpected drop followed by its mellow (let’s call it) counter-drop. Dope track.
All in all, this a great EP from underrated producers. Do yourselves a favor and listen to the rest of the stuff they have on their Soundcloud, and support them on Beatport! They deserve it! Especially listen to their remix of Adventure Club’s Need Your Heart. If you’re a sucker for synths like I am, it’ll know your socks, and shoes, and all of your clothes off. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you!
Candyland on:
Facebook | Beatport | Soundcloud | Twitter
^Xaos
Flux Pavilion ft. Example ‘Daydreamer’ EP Review
Karetus – Entrudo EP [album review]
Knife Party – Rage Valley EP [album review]
Bass Report #039
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Home / Science & Nature / Rescued: What Second-Chance Dogs Teach Us About Living with Purpose, Loving with Abandon, and Finding Joy in the Little Things
Rescued: What Second-Chance Dogs Teach Us About Living with Purpose, Loving with Abandon, and Finding Joy in the Little Things
In Rescued, Peter Zheutlin provides a thorough investigation into the lives of dogs whose futures were drastically improved thanks to organizations and individuals who believed that they were worth rescuing. The book is both poignant and informative, thanks to the interviews Zheutlin has conducted with individuals and families who adopted dogs rescued from horrendous conditions.
As pet owners know from experience, it is a responsibility as well as a joy, and the book makes this abundantly clear by explaining some of the added costs and labor required by the more physically challenged rescued dogs. However, the interviewees unanimously agree that for every sacrifice they made, the unconditional love received from their dogs made it worthwhile. For those who are considering adopting a rescue dog, it is noteworthy that the book provides statistics showing that rescued dogs are generally more resilient and healthy than dogs from breeders.
The book presents the pros and cons of owning a rescue dog but does not push readers in one direction or another. It is balanced, well-written, and encouraging.
Reviewed By: Karen Collins
Peter Zheutlin
TarcherPerigee
2017-Oct-03
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The Taproom
Mountain View Grill
Golf Course Tour of
The Shattuck
The 157 acre tract was designed by golf course architect Brian Silva with emphasis on the natural beauty that lies here, at the base of Mount Monadnock. You will find the mountain (elevation 3,165 ft) stands prominently over you on most holes!!
Hole 1 - Par 4
"Monadnock"
A panoramic vista from the tee; a large outcropping of red rock rises up from the lush green fairway with Mt. Monadnock behind. Stony Brook cuts across the fairway at the 150-yard markers and runs down the left side, requiring an accurate shot off the tee.
"Deceiver"
A picture postcard of a golf hole; elevated tees look down over a grassy hillside to a large, bunkered green set in front of a sparkling pond. The tee doesn’t feel all that high, but it’s unusually deceptive (hence the name); the most common error here is over-clubbing.
"Driver's Dilemma"
The green and surroundings are stunning; a stadium-like outcropping of ledge right, grassy mounds left, and forest in back. What to hit off the tee: it’s uphill to a narrow landing area with a deep hazard left and a tough-to-clear ledge jutting in from the right.
"Dare"
A spectacular stand of white birches sits high above the fairway on the right, next to the cart path. This hole dares you to use the lumber off an elevated tee to a fairway being pinched by wetlands on the left and bunkers on the right.
"The Gauntlet"
You won’t see a green like this anywhere else; it’s carved into a 30′ high rock ledge and tucked in behind a natural mountain stream. A long, narrow fairway with trouble along both sides of its entire length – and we mean length; 612 yards from the back tee markers.
"Tripple Threat"
The entire hole as viewed from the green; a stone wall runs the length of the winding fairway with Mt. Monadnock rising up behind. Play it as it was designed; two distinct landing areas and a tight green (bunkers right, hazard left) – unless you feel reeeaaally lucky!
"Carry"
Multi-level elevated tee pads overlook 140 yards of natural brush and wetlands leading to a lush green with thick woods behind. Unless you’re playing the Forward tees, you must carry 140 – 175 yards across the hazard to a wide, shallow green with a small bail-out fairway right.
"Squeeze Play"
Towering white pines stand guard over the landing area; a grand mountain vista greets you when you look back from the green. Your drive must carry a wide hazard, but not be so big that you overrun the approach to the green, pinning yourself behind pines and ledge.
"Shattuck Inn"
A gently rising fairway with a mountain stream cascading along the left side; the clubhouse sits high in the background. A longer-than-it-looks second shot going uphill to a narrow but deep green with grassy mounds left and two deep bunkers right.
Hole 10 - Par 4
"Mountain Draw"
From the highly elevated landing area, a spectacular view of the large green below with Mt. Monadnock serving as the backdrop. A dogleg left with a deep drop-off at the turn. A long drive center of left gives you the best approach to the green; too far left and you’ll go over the edge.
"Double Cross"
As you round the corner of this big dogleg, your first look at the green across the wide, lush fairway and winding stream is impressive. You need a big drive to have a clear shot at the sloping green with a wide stream in front and wetlands right.
"Waterloo"
From behind the green, high up on the cart path; a breathtaking view of the 12th and 13th holes, the 17-acre swamp, and the mountain. You’ve got to carry 75 – 190 yards across a beaver swamp to a wide, shallow green; fairway right, water left, bunkered hillside behind.
"Temptation"
The fairway looks like a thick green carpet laid between an oak-covered, bunkered hillside and an awe-inspiring beaver swamp. How much water do you think you can bite off? The temptation is to go for the green; the safe play is to hit to the 100 yard markers.
"Alcatraz"
"Double Trouble"
This undulating green is one of the most striking on the course, situated on a peninsula rising out of a Y-shaped reflecting pond. The landing area for your drive is narrow, while hidden water all along the left side of the second shot says, “Don’t aim at the flag.”
"Driver's Delight"
Over the reflecting pond in front of the tee; a wide rolling fairway and bunkered green with the colonial Gage farmhouse behind. Just keep it straight; there’s deep rough left and right. The big green is slightly elevated, so your second shot may require one more club.
"Lay Up"
From the elevated tee you look down on a deep valley of a fairway below and across to a plateau green carved out of granite ledge. There’s no advantage in going for the green – the lie if you miss is impossible; hit to the 100 yard markers and get your second shot close.
Graceful leaning beeches accent the elevated tee; the lush rolling fairway beyond is framed by a stand of white birches left. The fairway slopes hard to the left into the woods. Aim your drive down the right for a clear shot to the biggest green on the course.
Download Scorecard
Spectacular Surroundings
Golfers find the many wooden bridges that span over ponds and protected wetlands to be unique and exciting, as well as the potential to spot a deer, great blue heron, porcupine, bear, mink, otter, or fox! Local tip: playing this course in the fall months as the foliage bursts in the background can be especially exhilarating!
The Shattuck is an 18 hole public golf course at the base of Mount Monadnock. The course is a par 72 with a slope rating of 130 from the whites. Here, we advise you to aim for the markers you’ll see in the middle of fairways on most par 4’s and 5’s. The average golfer should focus more on the accuracy of their shot, rather than how far he or she can hit the ball.
(603) 532-4300 | 53 Dublin Road, Jaffrey, New Hampshire 03452
Shattuck Golf Course
53 Dublin Road
Jaffrey NH, 03452
Pro Shop: (603) 532-4300
© All rights reserved Shattuck Golf | Web Development by PAREA, LLC | Photography Credits
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SCM`s Anti-Oppression Covenant
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The Student Christian Movement was founded in 1921 and rooted in the social gospel movement.
In 1895, leaders from North American and European countries established and united national SCMs within the first international student organization, the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF).
Twenty-six years later, in 1921, SCM Canada was founded and incorporated into the WSCF.
Like its international counterpart, SCM Canada has had a complex history of membership, influence, and activity since its inception. It has been part of: the ecumenical movement, the turbulence of the 1960s student movements, the mid-twentieth century shift in balance of power from liberal to evangelical Christian conservatism, the pressures of maintaining unity across the spectrum of Christianity and the tension between a theological study focus and a social activism focus.
Since its founding, SCM Canada has taken stands on pressing social issues of its time, including support for the ordination of women, opposing internment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II; anti-war activities since the 1960s; and facing controversy for its solidarity with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-identified Christians. Members were involved in the Canadian social gospel movement which mobilized for a more just social order in Canada, including accessible health care, education and social services.
Some projects the movement has undertaken include socialist work camps in the 1940s and 50s, in which students would work in unionizing factories during the summer and pool their resources in communal houses of prayer; summer solidarity projects between 2000-2002 exploring sustainable living in rural community; international solidarity exchanges with more militant SCMs in the Philippines and Nicaragua; and annual student educational trips they call pilgrimages.
The pilgrimage model started with a tour of radical labour and faith organizations in southern Ontario and the north-east USA. For years, SCM Canada traveled every November to the gates of the US army base at Fort Benning, Georgia, to protest the human rights abuses of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly School of the Americas).
Since the 1990s, SCM Canada has attracted a variety of students, though the network is considerably smaller than in previous decades when mainline Protestant churches were more prominent in Canadian life.
Influential SCMers
SCM members have had a remarkable impact in Canada and worldwide. Influential SCMers include:
The Greensboro Four (U.S. Civil Rights movement)
J.S. Woodsworth (labour leader & social gospel minister)
Muriel Duckworth (founder, Voice of Women for Peace)
Lois Wilson (former head, World Council of Churches; 1st woman moderator, United Church of Canada)
James Endicott (co-founder of SCM Canada and United Church of Canada)
Kwame Nkruma (pan-African unity leader)
Desmond Tutu (anti-apartheid archbishop)
Nancy Ruth (Canadian senator)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (dissident pastor martyred by Nazis)
Steve Biko (anti-apartheid martyr)
Brother Roger (Taize founder)
Jurgen Moltmann (theologian)
Vince Goring (Canadian Commonwealth Federation/NDP)
Prophetic Spirituality December 30, 2019
Next year in Berlin! Global Student Gathering October 31, 2019
SCM Statement on the Global Climate Strike September 19, 2019
Grounding: Discovering Our Sacred Gifts in Climate Emergency August 7, 2019
Gardening for victory June 29, 2019
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2015 Fall TV Preview: The 30 New Premieres You Can’t Miss
AMC / Comedy Central / FOX / CBS
More and more each year, TV executives quake in their stylish, yet affordable boots over the exponential increase in peak TV, even as us ravenous viewers eagerly take it all in. Fall 2015 is no exception, cramming your DVR with everything from superheroes new and old, to Scream-ing gore-fests, animated staples and so much more.
You’d need some sort of … television … guidance … periodical to navigate it all, but because we love you, we’ve compiled over 30 of Fall 2015's biggest must-see premieres. Remember to sleep, and take in the onslaught of fall 2015's TV madness by our full preview!
Forget the motorcyles and leather jackets (but keep the blades), Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy followup on FX will send us back to medieval times, as a pious knight finds himself forced to take up an executioner’s blade. Sword and shield dramas have historically proven a tough sell without a touch of the supernatural, but will Sutter’s next FX bloodbath prove as popular with Anarchy fans?
Lee Jones will play the title role, with will True Blood star Stephen Moyer acting as his right hand man Milus, Katey Sagal appearing as “Annora of the Alders,” and even native Welshman and The Americans lead Matthew Rhys in a guest role. Other stars include Flora Spencer-Longhurst, Sam Spruell, Darren Evans, Danny Sapani, Timothy V. Murphy, Sarah White, and even Ed Sheeran.
September 15 on FX
South Park, Season 19
September 16 on Comedy Central
Like SNL before it, South Park tragically managed to miss out on a summer’s worth of absurd topics the likes of Donald Trump, Rachel Dolezai and so many more, but we’re eager to see what Matt Stone and Trey Parker come up with for the nineteenth outing of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and the rest. They’ve plenty of time, given the three-season renewal beyond 2015, but the sooner we head on up to South Park to meet some friends of mine, the better.
Doctor Who, Season 9
September 19 on The BBC
We won’t have to look far for the ninth and potentially most cinematic season yet of Doctor Who, given the BBC’s theatrical replay of the most recent finale. In any case, Peter Capaldi’s second outing promises to be the most out-there yet, between Super-Daleks, sunglasses, and one seriously twisted turn for our gender-bent Master, Missy.
Premiering with two-part installment “The Magician’s Apprentice” and “The Witch’s Familiar,” Doctor Who Season 9 will feature among its guest stars Game of Thrones favorite Maisie Williams, Rufas Hound, Tom Stourton, Ariyon Bakare, Simon Lipkin, Ian Conningham, Murray McArthur, Barnaby Kay, John Voce, Struan Rodger, Jemma Redgrave, Kelly Hunter, Clare Higgins, Jaye Griffiths, Daniel Hoffmann-Gill, Jami Reid-Quarrell, Aaron Neil, India Ria Amarteifio, Joey Price, Dasharn Anderson, Harki Bhambra, Demi Papaminas, and a returning Michelle Gomez.
The Big Bang Theory, Season 9
September 21 on CBS
Even in Season 9, there’s no stemming the popularity behind The Big Bang Theory, which itself will court more pop culture than ever with a new Star Wars trilogy on the horizon. As far as the premiere, fans will find out what became of Monica and Chandler Penny and Leonard’s impulsive decision to get married, as well as the woman Leonard regrettably made out with during his overseas expedition.
Additionally, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) will also need a re-configuring of their relationship, after Amy opted to take some time away, while Sheldon was seen to overlook an engagement ring. The question remains, how many more seasons will CBS continue to stretch The Big Bang Theory, before its popularity fizzles?
Gotham, Season 2
September 21 on FOX
Ah, love it or hate it, FOX’s Batman beginning-beginning will return for a second season “Rise of the Villains” (moreso than they’d apparently been rising), this time prepared for a full broadcast season and supposedly cognizant of the first season’s missteps. The first promos haven’t shown much beyond said villains, but what can we expect of Season 2?
Thus far of Gotham Season 2, we know the second run will make series regulars of Drew Powell’s Butch Gilzean, Chris Chalk’s Lucius Fox, Nicholas D’Agosto’s Harvey Dent, and Morena Baccarin’s Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Producers will incorporate such Bat-baddies as Clayface, the Mad Hatter, Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange, Tommy Elliot, and potentially even the Court of Owls, while early episodes will serve as a “pre-embryonic” (sigh) origin story for the Joker.
In addition to Natalie Alyn Lind’s Silver St. Cloud and True Detective star James Frain’s role as sinister philanthropist Theo Galavan, Gotham Season 2 will also feature Michael Chiklis as Captain Nathaniel Barnes, Jessica Lucas as Galavan’s sister (and future Tigress) Tabitha, along with Dustin Ybarra as a homicidal cannibal. Victoria Cartagena and Andrew Stewart-Jones have also been downgraded from their series regular roles of Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen, while you can check out the first photos here.
Like CBS’ Limitless, FOX’s Minority Report ranks among the few TV reboots attempting to keep continuity with their filmic predecessors, even as the new TV iteration picks up some ten years after Tom Cruise’s John Anderton brought about the fall of PreCrime. This time around, a former PreCog attempts to solve murders still plaguing his vision, while a new detective covertly aids in the quest.
The new iteration of the Spielberg sci-fi drama centers on Lara Vega (Meagan Good), a detective who partners with former Pre-Cog Dash (Stark Sands), who despite his attempt to lead a normal life is haunted by visions of the future after PreCrime’s end. The series also stars That ‘70s Show alum Wilmer Valderrama as Detective Will Blake, Nick Zano, and was penned by Godzilla writer Max Borenstein and directed by Mark Mylod.
Whether or not Ryan Murphy truly invented the horror comedy as claimed, there’s no denying the buzz surrounding FOX’s camp college slasher Scream Queens. We’re promised death at every corner, and plenty of surprises, but will a horror love-letter headlined by Jamie Lee Curtis earn its letterhead?
Unfurling over a 20-year mystery at the Kappa House of Wallace University, FOX’s Scream Queens stars the likes of American Horror Story alum Emma Roberts, horror icon Jamie Lee Curtis, Glee star Lea Michele, Oliver Hudson, Keke Palmer, Ariana Grande, Nick Jonas, Niecy Nash, Nasim Pedrad and many more.
Unlike the lion’s share of movie-TV reboots in recent years, CBS’ Limitless actually seeks to continue the storyline and premise of its predecessor, even retaining the A-list Bradley Cooper for a limited return role as film lead Edward Morra. We caught the pilot at Comic-Con 2015, and however formulaic the premise, Limitless definitely has a bit more brainpower than your average TV adaptation.
CBS’ Limitless follows Brian Finch (Jake McDorman), who discovers the brain-boosting power of the mysterious drug NZT and is coerced by the FBI into using his extraordinary cognitive abilities to solve complex cases for them. The series also stars Dexter alum Jennifer Carpenter, Hill Harper, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and more. Craig Sweeny, director Marc Webb, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Heather Kadin, Bradley Cooper, Todd Phillips, Ryan Kavanaugh, Tucker Tooley and Tom Forman executive produce for CBS TV.
Empire, Season 2
Having broken almost every record available in its first season, FOX hip-hop opus Empire will make its triumphant return for Season 2, dropping just as many new tracks as A-List guest stars and Lyon family drama. Don’t believe us? See for yourself:
In addition to its September 23 premiere, Empire Season 2 will expand to 18 episodes, up from the first run’s 12, and structured in two halves with a major cliffhanger between. Thus far, Season 2 guest stars include Mariah Carey, Adam Busch, Andre Royo, Kelly Rowland, Marisa Tomei, Adam Rodriguez, Chris Rock, Lenny Kravitz and Alicia Keys, while hip-hop artist Ne-Yo will join Timbaland in writing music for Season 2.
September 24 on NBC
NBC may have pulled the plug on its ill-fated Coach revival, but Heroes Reborn looks to press full steam ahead with a renewed take on the 2006 drama. Picking up with a few former castmates and a large crop of newbies, Heroes Reborn will follow a darker future in which “EVOs” have been hunted at every turn, and only Noah Bennett can save the world, rather than his cheerleader daughter.
In addition to Chuck / Thor: the Dark World star Zachary Levi, Heroes Reborn boasts among its cast Orphan Black alum Dylan Bruce, Once Upon A Time villain Robbie Kay, Ryan Guzman, Danika Yarosh, Judith Shekoni, Kiki Sukezane, Henry Zebrowski and Gatlin Green. Returning from the original cast thus far are Cristine Rose (Angela Petrelli), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder Suresh), Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura) and Jimmy-Jean Louis (The Haitian).
September 26 on Disney XD
Granted, the animated Guardians might take a more family-friendly avenue on the exploits of Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot, the heavy influence from James Gunn’s cinematic outing might make a few Marvels of the new animated series yet. It’s certainly enough to tide us over until Volume 2, and might just open up a few new corners of the mythology along the way.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy features Will Friedle as Star-Lord, David Sobolov as Drax, Vanessa Marshall as Gamora, Kevin Michael Richardson as Groot and Trevor Devall as Rocket Raccoon, and James Arnold Taylor as both Yondu and Cosmo.
The Simpsons have seemingly endured more strife than usual heading into Season 27, between Homer and Marge’s rumored divorce, or Harry Shearer’s near-abandonment of the show, but plenty more classic hijinx lie in store for the residents of Springfield, and for years to come. So, who from Hollywood might we expect cruising down Evergreen Terrace this time around?
We know of The Simpsons Season 27 (with 28 already confirmed) that Ghostbusters and SNL star Kate McKinnon will lend her voice as a homeless woman Lisa befriends, while Lena Dunham’s Girls castmates will join her for the premiere, in which nobody gets divorced. Another episode will parody Boyhood through Bart’s upbringing, while the “Treehouse of Horror” special will finally allow Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer) to achieve his life’s purpose of killing the boy, and other episodes include Modern Family favorite Sofia Vergara and Broadway star Andrew Rannells.
The Last Man on Earth, Season 2
However much secrecy surrounded the first season of The Last Man on Earth, one has to wonder how long Season 2 will take among Phil and Carol’s Washington D.C. exploits before returning to the Tuscon setting that houses the rest of the cast. Not to mention, what other twists and turns might litter the originally abstract presence this time out?
Elsewhere of The Last Man on Earth Season 2, the new run will span somewhere between 13 and 22 episodes, while the network has also considered breaking up the second season to air both in the fall and midseason 2016. Additionally, The Office and The Interview alum Dan Sterling will serve as executive producer and showrunner, mostly taking over for the already-burdened Forte, Lord and Miller.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 3
The second season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine may not have garnered the breakout success of its first, but a bit of star power early on in Season 3 should at least re-hook fans. Spoilers be warned, SNL alum Bill Hader will guest early on as the precinct’s new captain, but how long until Andre Braugher’s Captain Raymond Holt returns to the spotlight?
In addition to exploring the fallout of Amy and Jake’s budding relationship, we’ll also encounter 24 alum Mary Lynn Rajskub and The Good Wife castoff Archie Panjabi as love interests of Boyle (Joe lo Truglio), among other returning guests.
Once Upon A Time, Season 5
September 27 on ABC
Where last year capitalized on the ubiquity of Frozen by introducing a live-action Elsa, this time around we’ll meet Amy Manson as Brave’s Merida, among other sure-to-be-announced fairy tale favorites. Not only that but Season 5 will feature Emma (Jennifer Morrison) taking on the role of “The Dark One” from Rumpelstiltskin, and all the difficult responsibilities therein.
Not only that, but Season 5 will also feature an extensive tenure in Camelot, including Sinqua Walls as Lancelot, and Andrew Jenkins as Percival. Rebecca Mader and Sean Maguire have also been elevated to series regulars in their roles as Zelena / Wicked Witch of the West, and Robin Hood.
So much of the old guard in late night has moved on over the last two years, and while Stephen Colbert will keep in the public eye by taking over a CBS institution, The Daily Show has much more to prove with the addition of South African comic Trevor Noah behind the desk formerly occupied by Jon Stewart.
Much of the creative team and correspondents will remain onboard, though Noah certainly has his work cut out for him, both in surmounting the initial controversies, and endearing himself to audiences largely unfamiliar with his career.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3
No longer hampered by Hydra, or waiting for Ultron’s Age, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will more or less chart its own course by Season 3, setting up its own incarnation of Daisy Johnson (yep, that’s her name now!) and the Secret Warriors.
We also know of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3 that Henry Simmons (Mack) and Luke Mitchell (Lincoln) have both been upgraded to series regular. In addition to Constance Zimmer’s arrival as a new foil for Coulson, and Matthew Willig as the monstrous Lash, the series will presumably also help build up to Captain America: Civil War, and setting up a Marvel’s Most Wanted spinoff for Hunter and Bobbi.
Sleepy Hollow, Season 3
October 1 on FOX
Whatever dark magic propelled Sleepy Hollow to breakout success in its first season seems to have worn out in the second, as Abbie and Ichabod recruited all manner of new teammates in their struggle against the demonic Moloch, along with his servants Henry (Jeremy) Crane, “Headless” Abraham, and eventually Ichabod’s wife Katrina herself.
Now, the supernatural FOX drama will chart a new course in Season 3, eschewing the Headless mythology for a new big bad, even crossing over with Bones for Halloween, and adding the likes of Zach Appelman’s returning Joe Corben, Lance Gross’ FBI agent Daniel Reynolds, Nikki Reed’s Betsy Ross, and Shannyn Sossamon’s mystery woman Pandora, while regrettably losing Orlando Jones.
SNL, Season 41
Mike Coppola / Theo Wargo, Getty Images
October 3 on NBC
Now that all that 40th anniversary riff-raff is out of the way, SNL will get back down to business in October with Season 41, kicking off on October 3 with Miley Cyrus pulling double duty, and not long after the risqué entertainer made multiple headlines hosting the VMA awards. The following week will see comedy icon Amy Schumer taking the stage for the first time with The Weekend, while October 17 will bring Tracy Morgan out of recovery to host alongside Demi Lovato, a return not to be missed.
Homeland, Season 5
October 4 on Showtime
After stumbling for a season or two, Showtime’s Homeland did itself a tremendous favor in re-focusing the fourth season on Carrie as an intelligence officer, rather than a lovestruck crazy person. Season 5 will reboot the narrative once more, focusing on the world of cyber-terrorism in Berlin while Carrie attempts to live a normal life, but will it prove as refreshing a change of pace?
In addition to its move abroad, Homeland Season 5 will feature Lord of the Rings alum Miranda Otto as the Berlin Chief of Station, working under Saul, along with Inglourious Basterds star Alexander Fehling as Carrie’s boyfriend and legal counsel for the Düring Foundation, for which Sarah Sokolovic’s American journalist character works.
The Leftovers, Season 2
October 4 on HBO
However unappreciated in ratings, Damon Lindelof’s HBO breakout The Leftovers will return for a second season in the fall, delayed from its previous summer airing, and relocated to Texas with much of the original cast intact. How well the Garveys fare without the underscoring of Tom Perrotta’s original novel (which ran its course over Season 1) remains to be seen, but an increased air of mystery could work in The Leftovers’ favor.
The Leftovers Season 2 will keep from its cast series leads Justin Theroux, Amy Brenneman, Chris Zylka, Margaret Qualley, Christopher Eccleston, Carrie Coon, Liv Tyler and Ann Dowd. The new run will also follow an African-American family, including Kevin Carroll as new Garvey neighbor and volunteer firefighter John Murphy, his wife Erika (Regina King), and their churchgoing son Michael (Jovan Adepo). Family Matters star Darius McCrary will also recur as Isaac Rayney, a palm reader and childhood friend of John’s.
The Affair, Season 2
Like many in the landscape of peak TV, The Affair didn’t make a tremendous splash numerically, but still proved intriguing enough to critics to warrant plenty of discussion on its borderline-Rashomon approach to storytelling. Season 2 will continue the mystery of Scotty Lockhart (Colin Donnell)’s murder across multiple timelines, while incorporating Joshua Jackson’s Cole and Maura Tierney’s Helen into the perspectives as well.
As to new cast, Pretty Little Liars star Miranda Rae Mayo will play a new love interest for Joshua Jackson’s Cole, while Joanna Gleason and Richard Schiff also count themselves among the ensemble. Gleason will play the editor of a well-known publisher, while Schiff will take the role of Bruce (Gotham star John Doman)’s attorney Jon Gottlief.
The Flash, Season 2
October 6 on The CW
The Flash’s first season may have ended on a more direct cliffhanger than its Arrow-y counterpart, though The CW has made no secret of the wealth of DC characters dropping by in Season 2. We may not know the endgame of Barry’s new big bad Zoom (Tony Todd) either, though the S.T.A.R. Labs crew won’t stand idle anytime soon.
Thus far, we know of The Flash Season 2 that The Messengers alum Shantel VanSanten will guest as DC character and Barry’s new love interest Patty Spivot, joining Masters of Sex alum Teddy Sears as Golden Age speedster Jay Garrick, Insurgent star Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West, Adam “Edge” Copeland’s Atom Smasher, Violett Beane as Jesse Quick and Demore Barnes as Firestorm villain Tokamak. We’ll also see the returns of Gorilla Grodd, Captain Cold and Golden Glider (including their father), and likely others, while both Barry (and Jay!) have some spiffy new duds.
Supernatural, Season 11
Supernatural fans rightfully question how much longer Sam and Dean will keep hunting beyond an eleventh season, though there’s no shortage of demons by The CW’s October 6 premiere. This time around will see Sam, Dean, Castiel and Crowley alike confounded by the emergence of “The Darkness,” a force previously contained by the Mark of Cain.
On the tangible side at least, The Mentalist alum Emily Swallow will appear in a recurring role as “Amara, a femme fatale who is both seductive and sinister (when need be).” Try not to kill any fan-favorite characters this time out, boys.
Arrow, Season 4
For as much darkness as The CW has shrouded around Arrow Season 4, the first trailer finally shed some light on how Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) might return to the vigilante lifestyle. We also broke down the trailer at extensive length, but for those seeking a shortcut:
In addition to its Constantine crossover, we know of Arrow Season 4 that the fourth year is expected to somewhat creatively revamp the series after its Season 3 finale saw Oliver retiring the vigilante lifestyle. In addition to a focusing on DC villains H.I.V.E. and Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), Season 4 will also introduce Rutina Wesley, Parker Young, Jeri Ryan’s Jessica Danforth, J.R. Bourne’s Double Down, Echo Kellum’s Mr. Terrific, Alexander Calvert’s Anarky, and White Canary before her Legends of Tomorrow role.
Apart from Wendy Mericle’s elevation to co-showrunner alongside Marc Guggenheim, we also know that Punisher: War Zone director Lexi Alexander will helm an episode, and both Oliver and Diggle will sport new looks.
American Horror Story: Hotel
October 7 on FX
With or without Jessica Lange, the show must go on with Lady Gaga running a blood-soaked Hotel in the eponymous new chapter of Ryan Murphy’s horror franchise. Very little of what we’ve seen thus far holds to the “reinvention” FX brass promised from the lackluster Freak Show or Coven, making Season 5 something of a make-or-break year.
The Hotel cast includes Max Greenfield, Cheyenne Jackson and Lady Gaga, returning Coven alum Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Asylum star Chloe Sevigny, Freak Show guests Finn Wittrock, Matt Bomer and Wes Bentley, and franchise regulars Lily Rabe, Denis O’Hare, Evan Peters and Sara Paulson. Meanwhile, Jessica Lange has already confirmed her exit, but remains open to appearances in future seasons.
The Walking Dead, Season 6
October 11 on AMC
Just in case Fear The Walking Dead didn’t quite cover AMC fans’ bloodlust, the mothership will return for a sixth season in its usual October slot, albeit joined by an additional series of shorts previewing a new character for Fear’s second run. Back on the ground at least, Rick will once again struggle with a leadership role in Alexandria, this time joined by his old friend Morgan, while external forces like the mysterious Wolves snarl at the gate.
Elsewhere of The Walking Dead Season 6, we know that Straight Outta Compton star Corey Hawkins has joined the series in the comic role of Alexandria runner Heath, alongside new additions Ethan Embry and Merrit Wever. AMC has also released clips and a few photos, amid previews of a fleshed-out comic backstory, while we’ve broken down the Season 6 trailer and previewed exactly how disgusting walkers will look, and all before digital FX.
Season 6 has also been observed casting two major comic characters to play a larger role in the second half of the season.
Fargo, Season 2
October 12 on FX
Gee, don’t cha know that one of the best TV series of 2014 would return for a second season of homespun murder, and spinning us into the ‘70s to do it? Early word on Fargo Season 2 has the saga of Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson) every bit as strong as its predecessor, while the retro look and feel should only aid in embracing some of the camp charm that made the first outing so memorable last year.
For those unaware, the Fargo Season 2 cast includes Breaking Bad star Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, Ted Danson, Frasier star Jean Smart, Jeffrey Donovan, Bokeem Woodbine and Angus Sampson. Also cast are Parks and Rec favorite Nick Offerman, Brad Garrett, Kieran Culkin, Cristin Milioti and Bruce Campbell’s Ronald Reagan.
Star Wars Rebels Season 2
October 14 on Disney XD
Granted, we’ve already had a taste of the second season by this summer’s hour-long “Siege of Lothal,” the official second season of Star Wars Rebels will see the crew of the Ghost somewhat more united with the Rebel Alliance’s early beginnings. It remains to be seen how large a part Darth Vader will play (or if we’ll see any small tie-in to The Force Awakens), but we’ll still have plenty of familiar faces in tow.
In addition to the return of Clone Wars favorites Captain Rex, Ahsoka Tano and Hondo Ohnaka, the second season of Star Wars Rebels will also pave the way for an episode penned by Star Wars: Rogue One screenwriter Gary Whitta. Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, will also lend her voice to an unknown role, speculated to be that of a young Princess Leia, while Sam Witwer will voice Emperor Palpatine.
Hemlock Grove, Season 3
October 23 on Netflix
Sure, Eli Roth’s Hemlock Grove might not have the pedigree of its other original Netflix brethren, but the third and final season might unhinge the sleepy town’s horror even further, now that weird man-dragons fly about, and blood-drinking seems like a national pastime.
For those unaware, Hemlock Grove chronicled the supernatural mysteries of the titular town, with a cast that included X-Men alum Famke Janssen (Olivia Godfrey), Bill Skarsgård (Roman Godfrey), Landon Liboiron (Peter Rumancek), Dougray Scott (Dr. Norman Godfrey), Madeleine Martin (Shelley Godfrey), Orange is the New Black star Madeline Brewer (Miranda Cates), Kaniehtiio Horn (Destiny Rumancek), Joel de la Fuente (Dr. Johann Pryce) and Demore Barnes (Michael Chasseur).
October 26 on CBS
However many fans have already glimpsed the pilot, CBS will wait until October to debut its take on Supergirl, one of the higher-profile adaptations in recent years. Former Glee star Melissa Benoist has already endeared herself to many with her take on Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El, but will the sunny series stand on its own beyond the pilot?
In addition to series regulars Chyler Leigh, Mehcad Brooks, Jeremy Jordan, Calista Flockhart and David Harewood, Supergirl features Iddo Goldberg as Red Tornado, Brit Morgan as Livewire, Chris Browning as Reactron, Peter Facinelli as Maxwell Lord, Owain Yeoman as DC’s Vartox, Iron Man villain Faran Tahir as The Commander, Smash star Jeremy Jordan as Toyman, former Super-stars Dean Cain and Helen Slater as Kara’s adoptive Danvers parents, and Laura Benanti as Kara’s Kryptonian mother Alura.
October 31 on Starz
After a few short decades, Bruce Campbell will re-don the chainsaw and boomstick once more, as a new generation of Deadites arrive to drag us kicking and screaming into Sam Raimi’s famously twisted horror rendition. The half-hour episodic format may take some adjustment, but Ash Vs Evil Dead should prove a welcome return to form for both Raimi and Campbell, and just in time for Halloween at that.
In addition to Ash’s new sidekicks in Ray Santiago’s Pablo Simon Bolivar and Dana DeLorenzo’s Kelly Maxwell, Lucy Lawless will also appear as the mysterious Ruby, alongside new cast member Jill Marie Jones as a Michigan State detective pulled into the Evil Dead carnage.
November 15 on AMC
Well, if ever we’ve complained that AMC cannibalized too much of its own properties for new programming, between the likes of Fear The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, or split seasons for Hell on Wheels and Mad Men, Into the Badlands might prove one of their most original swings yet. You know, until we have to Fear, or Call the Badlands.
Into the Badlands is described as a genre-bending martial arts drama loosely based on classic Chinese tale “Journey to the West.” The series chronicles a post-apocalyptic America free of guns, and controlled by feudal barons, in which a ruthless, well-trained warrior Sunny (Daniel Wu) and a young boy embark on a journey to find enlightenment. Created by Smallville team Al Gough and Miles Millar, the new six-episode series also stars Emily Beecham, Sarah Bolger and Oliver Stark, allowing a guest role for Avatar boss Stephen Lang, with David Dobkin directing.
Marvel / Netflix
Netflix Premiere Date TBA
Sure, Marvel has yet to release single official photo (or premiere date) for the second of its Netflix Defenders, but Daredevil more than earned our faith in a second original series, even before that gold-stamp Marvel branding. Not only will the endearing Krysten Ritter serve up one of the far-too-few female superheroes in lead roles, but also flesh out the world of Marvel’s street level heroes. Just like the streets in those pictures we don’t have!
In addition to Krysten Ritter in the title role, Marvel’s Jessica Jones also features among its cast Mike Colter as fellow future Defender Luke Cage, Doctor Who favorite David Tennant as the villainous Zebediah Kilgrave, Carrie-Anne Moss as “Harper” and Transformers star Rachael Taylor as Patsy “Hellcat” Walker. Run creatively by Melissa Rosenberg, the series also features in recurring roles Eka Darville as Jessica’s neighbor, Erin Moriarty as a client, and Wil Traval as a police officer, while Rosario Dawson has been confirmed to reprise her role as Claire Temple.
Check Out 100 TV Facts You May Not Know!
Filed Under: ABC, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., AMC, American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Hotel, Arrow, Ash Vs. Evil Dead, BBC, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Bruce Campbell, CBS, Comedy Central, DC Comics, Disney XD, Doctor Who, Empire, Fargo, Fear the Walking Dead, Fox, FX, Gotham, Guardians of the Galaxy, HBO, Hemlock Grove, Heroes Reborn, Homeland, Into the Badlands, Kurt Sutter, Limitless, Marvel, Marvel's A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Miley Cyrus, Minority Report, NBC, Netflix, Netflix Instant, Once Upon A Time, Ryan Murphy, Scream Queens, Showtime, Sleepy Hollow, SNL, South Park, Star Wars Rebels, Starz, Supergirl, Supernatural, The Affair, The Bastard Executioner, The Big Bang Theory, The CW, The Daily Show, The Flash, The Last Man on Earth, The Leftovers, The Simpsons, The Walking Dead, Trevor Noah, Will Forte
Categories: Late Night, Original Features, TV News, Videos
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Draw Jams aiming to promote creativity within community
Visual communications company promoting collaborative expression through art sessions
By Haley MacLean
February 13, 2016, 6:02 pm ASTLast Updated: February 13, 2016, 6:05 pm
‘It’s just a fun space to be in and see what other people are drawing’ Haley MacLean
Long sheets of tan paper run the length of the tables, which participants use to draw whatever pops into their heads. For this project there is no end goal, you just enjoy the company while you draw.
“Just go for it. Once we are done, we will put this in the recycling and then it’s on to a fresh piece,” said graphic facilitator and founder of Brave Space, Marguerite Drescher. “It’s not particularly about keeping it. It’s about practising, getting inspired about what other people are doing, finding different ways of doing something and having fun.”
This event was a Draw Jam sponsored by design firm Brave Space, held at Alteregos Coffee House on Wednesday.
Drescher founded Brave Space in 2013 and now has four employees.
The company provides services such as:
hosting and creating visuals for meetings, conferences and community conversations
providing programs for female leadership opportunities
creating illustrated products for physical and/or web-based media
This idea of offering education through visual learning also applies to the Draw Jams. Attendance at the Draw Jams is free and Drescher says they have never been about money or promotion. The goal is to promote creativity within communities and provide an environment with the tools to work alongside more established artists at Brave Space.
The goal is to promote creativity within communities and provide an environment with the tools to work alongside more established artists at Brave Space.
“There’s no promotional purpose, there’s no financial purpose. So, in some ways, I don’t think we care about it growing. We just want to make it available,” said Drescher.
Brave Space used visuals for communication in its collaboration with the political education project Springtide Collective.
In the introduction video about the project, Drescher describes how the company uses “public conversations” and specializes in turning “complex ideas into simple images.”
The initiative with Springtide’s Mark Coffin produced a series of videos titled 3 Minute Citizen. These videos seek to explain complicated political ideas with whiteboard drawings.
Isabel Sophie Sarasvati of Brave Space tries to figure out the best way to draw her hair
Glasses of beer and mugs of coffee were scattered along the table
Numerous reference books were provided for inspiration
Drescher works on a self portrait
A particpant uses a reference book as a guide for her drawing
People of all ages are encouraged to participate, past Draw Jams often have children collaborating with adults.
The number of participants varies, on Wednesday more than a dozen showed up. This time, three-year-old Oliver was the only kid present, this being his first time attending a Draw Jam.
Oliver brainstorms what to draw next with Rachel Caroline Derrah of Brave Space. Haley MacLean
“He loves to draw and loves to be around people, so we came by,” said Oliver’s mother Sally-Jo Gallant. “We thought it would be fun.”
Future jams
After the winter series is completed, Drescher isn’t sure whether they might continue but is hopeful they do in some form.
“I would like some version of it to continue, but I have no idea what that would look like,” said Drescher.
Meanwhile, all are encouraged to meet up before the end of the winter series so you can add your own creativity to the group-fueled doodle fest.
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Season 17 episodes, Episodes, Homer episodes,
Mr. Burns Episodes
WGA Award nominated episodes
Apu episodes
Religion-themed episodes
Episodes on DVD
Patty and Selma Episodes
Dream episodes
Directed by Mark Kirkland
Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore
◄ Million-Dollar Abie
The Wettest Stories Ever Told ►
HABF10
The Simpsons (as cards) are flipped onto the couch.
Show Runner
Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta
Mark Kirkland
“I won a free soda! I am a god!”
―Homer Simpson
Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore is the seventeenth episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons.
The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is moved to India and Homer is chosen to manage the Indian plant, but with all the gifts and praise he gets, he thinks of being a god.
Homer learns that the nuclear power plant is being shut down and outsourced to India. Homer is the only employee who will work at the Indian plant, while all of the others are fired. Meanwhile, Patty and Selma meet their Hollywood heartthrob, MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson), only to find that he always hated playing MacGyver.
Meanwhile, Homer realizes to his horror that he has come to India (which he previously mistook for Indiana and Illinois, simultaneously). After a brief standoff with a sacred cow, Homer looks for a relative of Apu, who should be around here somewhere. After randomly asking people (for three seconds), he ("Finally!") gets the right man on the second try.
Back in Springfield, Patty and Selma kidnap Richard Dean Anderson from his Stargate SG-1 convention and tie him to a chair. From there, he manages to escape... only to discover that he loves escaping, and starts having Patty and Selma put him through increasingly complex MacGyver-esque kidnapping trials.
In India, Homer is coming to love the concept of outsourcing. With "help" from a book Marge gave him to read on the plane trip, The Cereal is the Prize, Homer is able to spur the natives into a working frenzy. Or so it appears; actually they assume that if they cheer, they will be allowed to go back to work. Homer, Smithers and Mr. Burns get a positive (if inaccurate) impression from this, and Homer is put in total charge of the power plant while Mr. Burns takes time off to have fun floating down the Ganges. Homer, left in charge of a slightly-overgrown nuclear power plant on a river in the middle of nowhere, appraises the Hindu deities and thinks he might be a god.
Soon, Mr. Burns and the rest of the Simpson family travel upriver on a PT boat in an Apocalypse Now manner, and find that Homer is ruling the plant like a god. Horrified, Marge tells the plant workers that Homer is not a god. They cheerfully explain that they know, and are worshiping him instead for the American workplace routines he has installed, like coffee breaks. Mr. Burns, enraged that Homer is treating his workers like human beings, fires everyone and decides to move the plant back to Springfield. This makes the workers ecstatic due to the various firing clauses Homer has written into their contracts. The episode finishes with the Simpsons, Lenny, Carl, Patty, Selma, Richard Dean Anderson and Mr. Smithers joining native dancers in a Bollywood-style (the song 'Pal Bhar Ke Liye') musical party in the plant, for which the audio continues into the credits.
Broadcasting Information
1st Airdate: Sunday, April 9, 2006
2nd Airdate: Sunday, June 11, 2006
1st Airdate: Sunday, May 21, 2006
2nd Airdate: Friday, May 26, 2006 (Encore Screening)
3rd Airdate: Monday, August 7, 2006
4th Airdate: Wednesday, August 30, 2006
1st Airdate: Tuesday, July 25, 2006
The Bonfire of the Manatees • The Girl Who Slept Too Little • Milhouse of Sand and Fog • Treehouse of Horror XVI • Marge's Son Poisoning • See Homer Run • The Last of the Red Hat Mamas • The Italian Bob • Simpsons Christmas Stories • Homer's Paternity Coot • We're on the Road to D'oh-where • My Fair Laddy • The Seemingly Never-Ending Story • Bart Has Two Mommies • Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife • Million-Dollar Abie • Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore • The Wettest Stories Ever Told • Girls Just Want to Have Sums • Regarding Margie • The Monkey Suit • Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play
Retrieved from "https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Kiss_Kiss_Bang_Bangalore?oldid=874930"
Homer episodes
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Plan your day & Fares =>
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We publish a quarterly magazine, Bulliver, which is distributed to all members. This publication, together with the details contained within the pages of this Web Site, will help you to keep abreast of all the happenings associated with the operation of the South Devon Railway.
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It was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1876.
The line closed to all traffic on 7th September 1962 and was re-opened as a preserved steam line on 5th April 1969 making 2009 our 40th anniversary year.
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Cockburn Liberalism US Politics
I regret to inform you that Michael Avenatti will not be President
Sorry everyone :(
Loudmouth lawyer Michael Avenatti has held the nation’s gaze captive ever since he strutted into public life arm in arm with Stormy Daniels back in March. With his chiselled jawline and no-nonsense tone, it wasn’t long before speculation began about his outsider chances for the Presidency. ‘If at the end of that, you decide that that makes sense for me, I’ll do it,’ Avenatti told Bill Maher as early as April.
The lawyer then seized on comments made by Steve Bannon in the same chair in September, where the former White House strategist told Maher he valued Avenatti’s ‘fearlessness’ which meant he could ‘go through a lot of that field, if he decides to stick with it, like a scythe through grass.’
Alas, it seems as though his trips to Iowa and South Carolina were a waste of air miles. Sen. Chuck Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee has referred the lawyer and his Kavanaugh-accusing client Julie Swetnick to the Department of Justice and the FBI, ‘for materially false statements they made to the Committee during the course of the Committee’s investigation.’ Even the most capable lawyer would struggle to balance the twin time commitments of a presidential campaign and a potential federal criminal trial. And no-one has ever argued that Michael Avenatti is the most capable lawyer.
For his part, Avenatti welcomed the fight, tweeting ‘it is ironic that Senator Grassley now is interested in investigations. He didn’t care when it came to putting a man on the SCOTUS for life. We welcome the investigation as now we can finally get to the bottom of Judge Kavanaugh’s lies and conduct. Let the truth be known.’
Avenatti’s role as the bane of the Democratic party was established during the hearings. A Democratic aide told Vanity Fair that the lawyer was ‘toxic and counterproductive and should go away.’ For his part, Bannon ratcheted back his enthusiasm for Avenatti in an interview with Spectator USA:
Avenatti is a political suicide bomber: ‘He’ll take out five or six,’ of the major Democratic candidates, Bannon says, before flaming out himself.
In a TIME magazine interview published today, Avenatti said he thought the Democratic nominee ‘better be a white male.’
He hastens to add that he wishes it weren’t so, but it’s undeniable that people listen to white men more than they do others; it’s why he’s been successful representing Daniels and immigrant mothers, he says. ‘When you have a white male making the arguments, they carry more weight,’ he says. “Should they carry more weight? Absolutely not. But do they? Yes.
White men thought to be in contention for 2020 include former vice president Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Secretary of State John Kerry, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Mayor Eric Garcetti, Gov. Steve Bullock and Rep. John Delaney. But something tells me these guys aren’t who Avenatti had in mind.
Julie Swetnick
Michael Avenatti
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Emery refuses to blame Xhaka as Hodgson salutes Milivojevic
Unai Emery was keen to focus on a self-sacrificing performance from Granit Xhaka rather than the error that let Crystal Palace equalise.
Dom Farrell
29 October, 2018 00:21 IST
Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka - Getty Images
Arsenal head coach Unai Emery refused to blame Granit Xhaka after the makeshift left-back's foul on Wilfried Zaha allowed Crystal Palace to snatch a 2-2 draw in the Premier League.
Luka Milivojevic put Palace ahead in first-half stoppage time after Shkodran Mustafi lunged in on Cheikhou Kouyate.
Xhaka dispatched a venomous free-kick six minutes after the restart and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Arsenal the lead despite strong claims for handball against Alexandre Lacazette.
But the Gunners could not hold out for a 12th consecutive win in all competitions as Xhaka brought down Zaha and Milivojevic made it two out of two from the spot.
"I'm disappointed with the result but the rest of our work is good," Emery told Sky Sports.
"I think this draw is not bad for us. It's better to win but looking at the 90 minutes it is a good result."
On the equalising penalty, Emery said: "It's a difficult action for the defence but the attitude from Xhaka is very good because he is a midfielder playing at left-back.
"His quality is better in the middle but with his attitude I cannot say anything to him."
Xhaka dashed towards the bench to celebrate with his boss after his goal and Emery explained why.
"At half-time we spoke about this situation. His quality is so good on the free-kicks," he said.
"I pushed him and he did that. Every player can do different situations on the pitch to help us and, with his quality, he can do that."
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson praised Milivojevic's character after his captain was denied by Jordan Pickford in last weekend's defeat to Everton.
"He had to show some courage, some mental strength," he said.
"Both were very firmly struck penalties that didn't give the goalkeeper much chance."
The ex-England manager felt Lacazette's assist to Aubameyang was a clear handball but refused to lambast the officials.
"I don't blame the referee or linesman because a lot of things get missed in football," he added.
"If you start to criticise when an instance doesn't go your way… I'm not that sort of manager.
"I think most people would have sympathy and agree with me and say that goal shouldn't have stood, and we might be looking at a situation where we have three points."
Dugout videos
ISL 2019-20 LIVE: Sergio Castel equalises for Jamshedpur
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Museum of Modern Art Syros
Reprinted catalogue, edited by Lukas Baumewerd
in conjunction with the Estate of Martin Kippenberger
24 p with 10 photographs, numerous sketches and partially coloured plans
140 x 209 mm, stitched brochure
Martin Kippenberger proudly presents
Momas – Museum of Modern Art Syros
Without doubt, Martin Kippenberger had the best ideas on how to furnish and plan a museum. The small reprint was originally designed by Lukas Baumewerd for the second exhibition of The Museum of Modern Art Syros (MOMAS) in 1994 and printed on one of the first inkjet printers. The first twenty copies were distributed by the master himself on the occasion of Ulrich Strothjohann’s exhibition.
The small and picturesquely situated new museum site on the Greek island Syros had been spotted some years earlier by Martin Kippenberger as his plane was coming in to land and then subsequently reconnoitered together with Michel Würthle. It became quickly apparent that the unfinished abattoir represented an absolutely ideal set-up. Straight away and not without being spurred on and entrusted with tasks by Martin Kippenberger, ideas about exhibitions were bandied around within the circle of friends, the property was duly surveyed and plans were drawn up. Groups of visitors from Cologne arrived on Syros punctually for the opening in order to view the summer exhibition in the company of Martin Kippenberger. This is how exhibitions by Hubert Kiecol, Ulrich Strothjohann, Christopher Wool and Cosima von Bonin came about. The reprint of the brochure, first of all running to just twenty copies then later to one hundred extended copies, faithfully follows the original in detail and appearance, but by contrast used offset printing.
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Our Monastery
The Birth of Athonite Monasticism in North America
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
Geronda Ephraim
Gerontissa Makrina
The Journey to St. Anthony’s Monastery
The Monastery Today
Main Church
The Chapels
Affiliated Monasteries
Orthodox Links
Day Visitor's Guide
Pilgrim's Guide
SAGOM Press
Departure of the Soul
Divine Music
Sonoran Vigil
Welcome to the St. Anthony's Monastery website (Καλῶς Ὁρίσατε!)
A Spiritual Oasis in the Desert
In the summer of 1995, six monks arrived in the southern Arizona desert to establish St. Anthony’s Monastery, carrying with them the sacred heritage of the Holy Mountain, Athos. For over a thousand years, this steep and rocky peninsula in northern Greece has maintained the traditions of the greatest monastic establishments of ancient Christianity in Egypt, Cappadocia, and Constantinople, thus preserving intact the wisdom of the Holy Fathers and the sacred traditions of the ancient Church. Today, the Holy Mountain consists of 20 independent monasteries and numerous sketes and hermitages, housing thousands of Orthodox Christian monks from all over the world.
Geronda Ephraim, a disciple of the renowned Saint Joseph the Hesychast (+1959), restored and repopulated four Mt. Athos monasteries and established over a dozen monastic communities in Greece and North America. Then in 1995 he transferred several monks from the Philotheou Monastery on Mt. Athos to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona to start a new monastery. Upon their arrival, the fathers began the necessary construction, building the main church, living quarters for monks, a dining hall, and guest quarters.
As the monastery expanded, more chapels were built; a vegetable garden, a small vineyard, citrus orchards, and an olive grove were soon planted. An elaborate system of gardens, pathways, gazebos, and Spanish fountains make the monastery and its extensive grounds a true oasis in the desert.
St. Anthony’s Monastery is a Greek- and English-speaking monastery in the Metropolis of San Francisco of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The monastery is named after St. Anthony the Great (ca. 251–356), the renowned Egyptian ascetic, known as “the father of monasticism.” The monastery follows the cenobitic rule of monastic life: the brotherhood of over 50 monks and novices holds all things in common and follows a daily schedule of prayer and work under obedience to the abbot, their spiritual father.
The monks’ daily program begins two hours before midnight with personal prayer time and spiritual reading, followed by the cycle of morning prayers and the Divine Liturgy. After a light breakfast and a rest period, the monks begin their work day, attending to prayer and their tasks until evening. Tasks include construction, woodworking, publishing, food preparation, offering hospitality, grounds keeping, tending the vineyard and the various gardens and orchards. To support themselves, the monks translate and publish books, sell their agricultural products, and rely on donations from the thousands of pilgrims and tourists visiting the monastery every year. The day ends with evening Vespers followed by dinner and Compline.
† May our Lord and God Jesus Christ bless you!
4784 North St. Joseph's Way, Florence, AZ 85132
© 2019 St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery.
| All Rights Reserved. | Terms & Conditions
All Rights Reserved. | Terms & Conditions
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Sac State community brings light to Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Kaitlin Sansenbach
In 2010, students at Sacramento State could find media releases from the Sacramento State Police Department warning students about sexual assaults that had happened on campus.
Pre-nursing major Rick Diaz said he remembers walking through campus two years ago reading about the attacks.
“I was really surprised to see so many notices regarding sexual assault attacks on campus,” Diaz said. “I mean, we come here to learn and it is really discomforting to see that people have other intentions when in a school environment. It makes me really worried.”
According to Sac State’s Clery Report, from 2009 to 2011 there were 22 sexual offenses reported to the Sacramento State Police Department by college students. These acts were committed on campus, on non-campus property and in residence halls.
To bring awareness to students, faculty and staff, the Women’s Resource Center has worked hard to put together events to support April as Sexual Awareness Month. The resource center will explore the challenges of Sac State’s past regarding sexual assault, acknowledge the issues and find solutions.
As defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sexual assault and abuse can be verbal, visual or anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual contact or attention.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control conducted a survey with 5,000 students at more than 100 college campuses, and found out of those women surveyed, 20 percent had been forced to submit to sexual intercourse against their will.
Senior women’s studies major Katherine Sheldon said she is involved with Choice USA to help bring awareness to the sexual misconducts throughout campus.
“As a woman, I feel as if I am supposed to follow a set of guidelines in order to prevent sexual assault. We are told to not dress a certain way, to not act a certain way,” Sheldon said. “But the responsibility shouldn’t rely only on the shoulders of women – it should be held among both men and women.”
In accordance with the California Code of Regulations, Sac State does not tolerate sexual misconduct in any form. Sexual misconduct can include, but is not limited to, sexual assault or battery, sexual harassment or any other form of non-consensual sexual conduct.
Juan Ramos, senior psychology major, said he was showering in Yosemite Hall last week after a workout at The Well.
“As a guy I was even a little scared showering alone at night on campus,” Ramos said. “It’s weird because you hear about all the sexual assaults against women but sometimes I find myself looking around for questionable strangers.”
The Sacramento State Police Department has offered 579 crime prevention and safety presentations since 2005 to increase awareness for personal safety.
Some students, like senior journalism major Samantha Moreno, said they do not feel in danger walking through campus.
“If anything, I will get a catcall but I never really feel at risk to be assaulted. But then again, I never take any night classes,” Moreno said. “I have had friends though that will buy pepper spray or a Taser to get that extra boost of security.”
In 2011, only four incidents of sexual assaults were reported. Even though reports of assaults have decreased, there are still a handful of students who said they feel protected by what they carry in their hands.
Krista Solway,pathology major, said she always has her added accessories at night when walking to her car for protection.
“One night, I was walking to Parking Structure II and there was a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt standing in the row in front of the one I was parked in,” Solway said. “I didn’t know what he was doing but ever since then I’ve had my pepper spray in my left hand and my Taser in my right.”
Some students may feel comfortable walking Sacramento State during the day but others fear the shadows of the night – an attitude the Women’s Resource Center wants to change.
csus
sac state
sac state police department
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Sac State and CSU renegotiating contract with ScienceDirect database provider
CRIME MAP: An assault that went viral and 3 reports of thefts
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Viral video shows attack on former Sac State College Republicans president
Sac State increases graduation rates by 127%
Woman files lawsuit after 4-year-old daughter falls through Sac State staircase railing
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Home / Greek Mythology Stephanides' Bros / The Music of the Gods (Greek Mythology No 2)
The Music of the Gods (Greek Mythology No 2)
The Music of the Gods
Hera in the Hesperides. Hera and Zeus. The sufferings of Io. The ingratitude of Ixion. The birth of Aphrodite. Pygmalion and Galatea. Narcissus and Echo. Aphrodite and Adonis.
Age: 6-12.
Fully Illustrated
Illustration:Yiannis Stefanides
Author: Menelaos Stefanides
Translation: Bruce Walter
Dimension: 21.5×29 cm
SKU: 960-425-016-7 Category: Greek Mythology Stephanides' Bros Tag: Greek Mythology
Extract from the book The Music of the Gods:
In the days before the rise of Zeus, when the fearsome Titan Cronus ruled over gods and men, a goddess sat upon a rock, holding a little girl in her arms. The name of this goddess was Rhea, and she was Cronus’ wife. Her face was sad and her expression thoughtful – and with good reason: She wished to save her children from her husband, whose one desire was to destroy them all lest they topple him from his throne. Now she held her little daughter Hera in her arms and racked her brains trying to think of a place where she could hide her.
It was the hour when the sun sinks towards its rest, and a breathtaking view spread itself before her. As she gazed out upon the magnificent sunset a thought suddenly crossed her mind. She remembered that beneath those parti-coloured clouds lay the fairest land in all the world, the land of the Hesperides. There lived the three daughters of Hesperus and Night, and now the time had come when she had need of them.
The land of the Hesperides lay far away, its shores beyond the reach of man; and it was not until much later that it was visited by the mythical heroes Heracles and Perseus. Above all, Cronus’ affairs never carried him so far afield; he had never visited the land of the Hesperides.
“That is where I shall hide my daughter,” Rhea cried, and swift as the wind she set out for the distant, brightly-coloured West.
The journey to that earthly paradise was enchanting; the further west she journeyed, the more beautiful everything around her became. Sky, earth, and sea were all bathed in countless colours, and when she stepped down into the land of the Hesperides, its radiance seemed to enfold her like an aura, holding her momentarily spellbound. Happy indeed are the Hesperides, the goddesses who live and rule in that place.
The three sisters came happily forward to meet her, but as they drew nearer their faces fell at the sight of Rhea’s troubled and anxious expression. She laid the child gently at their feet and then, sobbing, embraced them one by one.
“Unhappy mother that I am,” she cried. “For years now I have been losing my children. Their own father swallows them for fear that they will one day cast him from his throne, just as he overthrew his own father, the once-great Uranus. Thanks to Zeus, I now see them again, for he forced Cronus to bring them forth into the light once more, but alas! I fear that I must lose them yet again. Cronus is in real danger now, and who knows what schemes he may be plotting to do away with them for a second time? And so, kind godesses, I am now bringing you my daughter, Hera. A prophecy foretells that she will become foremost among goddesses, revered by mortals and immortals alike. Here, in this faraway land, Cronus will never come to do her harm.”
The Hesperides received little Hera gladly, and Rhea, her fears now laid to rest, set out once more for Greece.
The Hesperides brought Hera up with all the loving care of true mothers. They joined in her games, and taught her countless things about the gods, nature and the world.
Hera grew into a girl so beautiful that the birds and the beasts of the forest were dazzled when she passed. Yet her beauty did not turn her head. She was fond of study and learning, and wished to become a goddess worthy and capable of aiding both gods and mortals; and so she asked the Hesperides ceaseless questions on every subject under the sun. These fond foster-mothers took her for walks, showed her the sky and the earth, and explained how the winter comes, and the spring, and then the summer. They would often take her to a mountain, show her the clouds and the sea and explain how thunder and lightning and storms are caused. When night fell, they would show her the starry sky and teach her to pick out the constellations. Hera never tired of listening to all the Hesperides had to tell. She had now learned all the mysteries of the skies and felt immortal power stirring within her. She loved the sky, and would exclaim with girlish simplicity: “Oh, how I would love to be Queen of the Heavens!”(…)
Also available in greek language under the title “Το Τραγούδι των Θεών – Ήρα – Αφροδίτη”
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Labour calls for public inquiry into grouse shooting, as Yorkshire MPs back a ban.
Posted on August 13, 2018 August 13, 2018 by stoptheshoot
Yorkshire, UK – The Labour Party has called for a public inquiry into grouse shooting, following growing pressure from regional MPs who are backing a ban. The move has been strongly welcomed by campaigners, Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire’s Moors.
The Labour Party and Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Sue Hayman MP, have called for a public inquiry into grouse shooting this evening , citing the negative impact the practice has on wildlife, habitat, tourism and the regional economy. The move comes amid some of the region’s most prominent Labour MPs, including Alex Sobel (Leeds North West), Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield), Judith Cummins (Bradford South) and Naz Shah (Bradford East), backing a ban on the practice.
Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire’s Moors (BBYM), which earlier this year persuaded Labour-controlled Bradford Council to end grouse shooting on iconic Ilkley Moor, has strongly welcomed the move. BBYM further commends the recognition of simulated grouse shooting as an economic model for upland estates across the region and its potential to remove damage to wildlife, the environment and regional economy which comes part and parcel with its game-bird shooting counterpart.
Sue Hayman, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, says: “This grouse season, Labour is calling on the government not only to mandate the end of rotational heather burning but to launch an independent review into the economic, environmental and wildlife impacts of driven grouse shooting and to model some of the alternatives that could replace the trade in rural areas. We would protect jobs as well as our natural environment, water quality and some of the UK’s most beautiful and endangered birds of prey.”
Alex Sobel MP, Leeds North West, says: “I find the practise of grouse shooting and its long-term costs for wildlife, the environment and local communities concerning. As a consistent supporter of environmental sustainability and protected animal species, I fully support a national ban on grouse shooting. These are unsustainable practices that lead to devastating effects on people and wildlife.”
Luke Steele, Spokesperson for BBYM, says: “The Shadow Secretary of State must be commended in the highest of terms for committing the Labour Party, the second largest political party in Westminster, to supporting a public inquiry into grouse shooting and recognising the considerable toll on wildlife, environment and regional economy which comes with the practice remaining legal.
“As we have seen this Glorious Twelfth, grouse shooting is so unsustainable that something as simple as a change in weather can result in the industry falling apart and all purported economic advantages lost. Simulated grouse shooting, which replicates traditional grouse shooting in every way, except the guns are firing at clay disks hurtling through the air, proves a reliable replacement for the uplands, with considerable economic and employment potential.
“Unlike its game bird counterpart, simulated grouse shooting provides unlimited bags, no closed season and added provision of full-time jobs for everyone involved in running shoot days. When coupled with removing the incentive for purging the uplands of wildlife, burning heather to increase red grouse numbers, and the flooding which comes with degraded peat bog, it’s a win-win scenario.”
-ENDS –
Hebden Bridge protest urges Yorkshire Water to drop grouse shooting
United Utilities enforces stink pit ban on leased grouse moors
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from Live in New York Jan. 4, 2002 by Casey Stratton
Get all 76 Casey Stratton releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Turbulent Sea, The Collective Sigh, The Collective Sigh (Deluxe Edition), L'amour infini - a holiday album, Paper Ships, Paper Ships (Deluxe Version), Open Energy - Single Mix, Transatlantic - Single, and 68 more. , and , .
from Live in New York Jan. 4, 2002, released January 4, 2012
adult alternative ambient classical rock singer-songwriter alternative pop Grand Rapids
Casey Stratton Grand Rapids
Formerly signed to Sony Classical, Casey Stratton has experienced the corporate side of music in full force. His 2004 album "Standing at the Edge" received high critical praise from the likes of Billboard, People and USA Today. His song "House of Jupiter" reached #1 on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Chart. Now independent, Casey has released 28 albums and much, much more. ... more
caseystratton.com
The Turbulent Sea
The Collective Sigh (Deluxe Edition)
The Collective Sigh
Paper Ships
Contact Casey Stratton
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Archives Division
Airshow Insider
Black Projects Division
This is Real-Life Footage of a Night Stalker “Snatch ‘n Grab” Mission in Iraq
When you think of the words “heliborne” “vehicle” and “takedown”, you’re probably reminded of that scene in Black Hawk Down when a [read more...]
Life After the Warthog
“There’s only so much you can get out of that airplane,” Carlisle said. “Those airplanes are gonna wear out. They’ve been worked very, very [read more...]
The Next Generation of Close Air Support
The venerable Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, more commonly known as the Warthog or simply Hog, has been in the news constantly for the past 13 months or so. [read more...]
Wolfhounds and Floggers
In the wee hours of the 17th of January, 1991, the aerial campaign to gain air superiority over Iraq and Kuwait kicked off with large flights of bomber, attack and fighter [read more...]
Preflight 12/12/2013
Iraqi Air Force to Purchase 24 KAI T-50s The Iraqi government has agreed to a deal with the South Korean defense contractor Korea Aerospace Industries worth over $1.1B USD to [read more...]
Amnesty Intl. and Drone Strikes (LINK)
“Dear Amnesty International, Do You Even Know How Drones Work?” By David Axe An interesting article from War is Boring, one of my current favorite milblogs. Drone [read more...]
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by Ian D'Costa in In History
On this day, we pause to remember the worst attack on US soil, perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists twelve years ago. Please keep in your thoughts and prayers those who lost their lives, especially those who ran into the smoke and flames to save lives at the cost of their own, as well as the families and loved ones of those who passed. [read more...]
Vultures Row
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\ Modern Day Parallels to Macbeth Comparison Compare
Modern Day Parallels to Macbeth Comparison Compare Essay
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Modern Day Parallels to Macbeth Shakespeare
Macbeth was a very greedy and unhappy man who was very susceptible to pressure. Everyone in todays modern world fits the Macbeth mold in one sense or another. There is not a living being that has never fallen prey to peer pressure, greed or jealousy.
Macbeth had always desired and dreamed of being King and ruling over the country. His wife wanted Macbeth to be King, therefore Macbeth wanted to rule even more. Lady Macbeth also craved to be the Queen of Scotland. The pressures that Lady Macbeth laid upon Macbeth were unmeasurable. Macbeth was constantly influenced by his wife.
Macbeth had many dreams and wishes of ruling over Scotland. He was a very ambitious man. His desires and visions of being King seemed possible and achievable. With the influences of his wife and the foresights of the three witches, Macbeth realized that his dreams could become reality. Selfishly, not thinking of others, Macbeth committed murder to become King. He killed Duncan, the King of Scotland. Macbeth was a very greedy and thoughtless person.
In a way, Macbeth could be classified as jealous. He was obviously a bit jealous of Duncan because Duncan had everything, including happiness. Duncan was the King and Macbeth was not. This could cause a lot of jealousy. Macbeth had desires and wishes but they were unattainable with Duncan around.
In the end of the story everyone loses respect for Macbeth and realizes that he was the one who killed Duncan. Macbeth was killed. This seems like a high price to pay just to be King. The strange thing is that Macbeth was filled with extreme guilt and sadness. He could not even enjoy his time of rulership.
A classic modern day parallel to Macbeth who fits the Macbeth mold is Tanya Harding. Tanya was a figure skater who was not number one. Kim Campbell on the other hand was a very good skater who had potential and great talents on the ice. When Kim was competing for third place and Tanya was below tenth, Tanya lost her common sense and was filled with jealousy and greed. All of her hopes and ambitions seemed to be disappearing Tanya believed Kim was all to blame. Tanya hired her bodyguard to clobber and beat Kim in the knee with a baseball bat. Kim was severely damaged and was not able to compete.
Tanya could have been pushed or influenced into this act by her friends, family and even her coach. She could have felt as though her family and friends were counting on her to do well. So many people were watching while she felt as though she was failing. Perhaps Tanya felt that the only way she could make her fans proud was to win. Her only choice would be to get rid of a top competitor.
Tanya is still trying to regain honour from society and all her old fans but no one will be able to forget the tragedy and the mistake that Tanya committed to achieve a medal in skating. She still struggles with the loss of friends and the loss of respect.
Scar, from the “Lion King” also fits the Macbeth mold. Scar was very jealous of his brother Mufassa who was the King. Scar could only dream and wish of someday becoming ruler over the Pride Lands. If he ever did become King Scar knew that Mufassa and his son Simba would have to be out of the picture. Scar had many plans and tried many times to kill Simba, but it never worked. He finally came up with a plan that would kill both Mufassa and Simba. He planned that the two of them would be caught in the middle of a horrible stampede.
Simba escaped safely from the stampede but Mufassa was trapped. He managed to climb up a cliff. Scar was at the top of the cliff. Mufassa reached out his paw to his brother for help. Instead of pulling his brother up, Scar drove his nails into Mufassa’s paw. Mufassa fell and was killed.
Simba ran to his father. Scar came up behind Simba and told him that he was the cause of his father’s death. Scar encouraged Simba to flee from the Pride Lands and never return. Simba took his uncle’s advice and ran away, followed by three murderers hired by Scar. Simba made it to safety and lived in the jungle.
Scar became King and enjoyed the time that he ruled very much, although none of the other animals had any respect for him. In the end of the story Simba returned to discover that Scar had killed his father. Scar was killed.
Even though Scar became king, he only ruled for a couple of years. The death of his brother brought happiness to his life. This proves that this character was very selfish and greedy. No feelings or sensations for others would get in the way of Scar becoming King. Scar had constantly dreamed of being King and did anything to achieve his goal, including murdering his own flesh and blood.
The most popular person in todays modern world that does fit the Macbeth mold is probably O.J. Simpson. O.J. has been proven guilty of the crime of murder. He has supposedly killed his wife, Nicole Brown.
Why did he do it? Well, there may be many reasons. O.J. and Nicole were in the middle of a divorce. If the divorce would have been completed, O.J. would have to pay Nicole alimony. As O.J. is a very wealthy man, he probably would have had to pay a large sum of money. If this was the reason why O.J. killed his wife, O.J. can be looked upon as being very greedy and selfish.
O.J. also has two children. The mother of the children usually gets custody of the kids in divorce settlements. Perhaps O.J. loved his children so much that he could not bear to loose them. O.J. killed for his own needs and desires. He may of had ambitions and goals for his children which were being taken away from him.
The divorce between O.J. and Nicole was not settled. Nicole was dating another man (who was also murdered). Since the divorce was not clear, this dating could be looked upon as an affair. Perhaps O.J. was jealous of this man. Maybe, out of selfishness, greed and jealousy O.J. went to far when he decided to murder his wife.
O.J. has lost a lot of money, friends and trust. Not only has he lost most of his trust with friends and family, he has also lost trust and respect from the public and his fans. Faith and trust is very important in life. O.J. fell prey to ambition, greed and jealousy, just like Macbeth.
Everyone in todays modern world fits the Macbeth mold in someway or another. There is not a single person that can honestly say that they have never been jealous, greedy or filled with hopes and ambitions. It is not wrong to dream once and a while, as long as it stays in control.
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September 13, 1916, was the day Harald and Sofie D
“The Longest Day” by Cornelius Ryan
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FoodWorks Support
FoodWorks License Agreement
FoodWorks Support Team
FOODWORKS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
1. THIS AGREEMENT
1.1 Accepting this Agreement
(a) By downloading or using the Software, you agree to comply with and be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
(b) It is your obligation to ensure that you have read, understood and agree to the terms of this Agreement.
1.2 Disclaimer
You acknowledge:
(a) we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the Proprietary Data contained in or delivered with the Software, therefore errors may arise in calculations and the results generated by the Software;
(b) there are limitations and variances associated with the scientific and computerized nutritional analysis.
(c) you will use your own professional judgment and satisfy yourself of the suitability of the Software for the purpose you are using it;
(d) the use of the Software requires skill and expertise in a field relevant to the purpose of its use including dietetics, nutrition, food technology and knowledge of relevant regulations;
(e) we make no representation the Software will ensure you are compliant with any regulation, guideline or requirement including:
(i) those contained in the Australia New Zealand Food Standard Code;
(ii) the guidelines published in the Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand, Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing, NHMRC, 2005; or
(iii) any other food, nutrition or health-related standard or regulation;
(f) our use of third party data with the Software does not represent an endorsement of the accuracy or reliability of those data sources;
(g) our Software may from time to time contain bugs and errors which do not substantially interfere with its normal operations;
(h) all data and results from or generated by the Software should be expertly reviewed before relying on them in any important matter;
(i) nothing in our Software should be construed as medical, legal or regulatory advice; and
(j) using the Software is no substitute for obtaining medical or legal advice.
1.3 Contacting us
Please email us at info@xyris.com.au if you have any questions relating to these terms and conditions.
Unless the terms and conditions of the Agreement explicitly state otherwise, expressions used in the Agreement have the following meanings:
'Agreement' means the terms and conditions contained herein.
'Confidential Information' means information that is by its nature confidential including:
(a) recipes;
(b) dietary data and the analysis thereof;
(c) nutritional information, food composition tables and databases;
but does not include:
(a) information already known to the receiving party at the time of disclosure by the other party; or
(b) information in the public domain other than as a result of disclosure by a party in breach of its obligations of confidentiality under this Agreement.
'GST' means goods and service tax as defined in GST Law.
'GST Law' means the same as "GST law" in A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth).
'Intellectual Property Right' means all present and future rights conferred by statute, common law or equity (and all Moral Rights) in, or in relation to, business names, circuit layouts, computer software, confidential information, copyright, designs, domain names, formulas, inventions, knowhow, patents, plant varieties, recipes, trade marks, and other results of intellectual activity in the industrial, academic, commercial, scientific, literary or artistic field, the benefit of any application to register such a right and the benefit of any renewal or extension of such a right.
'License' means the license of Software granted pursuant to this Agreement.
'License Fee' means the amount payable by you to us for the edition and version of the Software used by you, as set out on our Website or as otherwise communicated to you at the time the purchase was made.
'Maintenance and Support Plan (MSP)' takes its meaning from clause 5(e).
'Moral Right' means:
(a) a right of attribution of authorship;
(b) a right not to have authorship falsely attributed;
(c) a right of integrity of authorship; or
(d) a right of a similar nature;
which is conferred by statute, and which exists or comes to exist anywhere in the world in a deliverable form.
'Non-Excludable Condition' means any guarantee, condition or warranty (such as the consumer guarantees implied by the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)), which cannot by law be excluded.
'Privacy Law' means:
(a) the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth); and
(b) any code registered under the Privacy Act or Australian Privacy Principles.
'Privacy Policy' means the privacy policy available on the Website as amended by us from time to time.
'Product Information' means all user documentation and instructional information provided for the Software, including all documentation, files, webpages and videos available via our Support Site, the Website and as otherwise provided which are relevant to the Software you hold a License for.
'Product Support Services' means reasonable use of our technical support via telephone, email and submissions made through our support site.
'Proprietary Data' means the food composition tables, nutritional data and other information provided with the Software and includes third-party data.
'Representative' includes an employee, agent, officer, director, auditor, advisor, researcher, partner, consultant, contractor, sub-contractor or related entity of that person or of a related body corporate of that person.
'Software' means the edition of the FoodWorks application family (including Professional, Nutritional Labelling, Premium and any student or cloud hosted derivatives), its related Product Information and any Proprietary Data forming part of the software which you purchase a license to from us.
'Subscription Service' takes its meaning from clause 5(e), and is known as the Maintenance and Support Plan, or MSP.
'Subscription Period' means period of time you purchased the subscription for.
'Support Site' means the website located at https://support.xyris.com.au/hc/en-us.
'Update' means software which has been produced primarily to overcome defects in the licensed Software.
'Upgrade' means new releases of the Software with new or enhanced features.
'You' means a person or entity who purchases the Software.
'Us', 'we', 'our' or 'Xyris' means Xyris Software (Australia) Pty Ltd ACN 010 953 312.
'Website' means the website located https://xyris.com.au/.
3. SOFTWARE LICENSE
A FoodWorks License can be purchased for a specific version of FoodWorks as a perpetual License, or as a subscription License for a specified period of time.
(a) A License is required for each user of the Software.
(b) For a perpetual License, upon receipt of the License Fee, we grant a non-transferrable, non-sublicensable, royalty free, revocable and perpetual license for you to use the Software on the terms set out in this Agreement.
(c) For a perpetual License, the Software may be installed on more than one computer for use solely by the licensed user.
(d) For a perpetual License, you can access Product Support Services and/or software updates/upgrades while holding a current Maintenance and Support Plan.
(e) For a subscription License, subject to clause 4, upon receipt of the License Fee, we grant a non-transferrable, non-sublicensable, royalty free, revocable license, terminating at the end of the Subscription Period, for you to use the Software on the terms set out in this Agreement.
(f) For a subscription License, the duration of the License (Subscription Period) is that selected at the time you pay for the License and automatically terminates at the end of that duration.
(g) For a subscription License, subject to clause 4, you can access Product Support Services and/or software updates/upgrades during the Subscription Period.
(h) Subsequent Licenses for multi-user sites are available at the price set out on the Website or as otherwise communicated to you. Should you require additional user licenses they may be obtained by contacting us via info@xyris.com.au.
4. TRIAL, STUDENT AND EDUCATIONAL LICENSES OF THE SOFTWARE
4.1 Trial versions
(a) We may at our sole discretion make available trial versions of the Software.
(b) Your license to use the trial version of the Software automatically expires 14 days after you start the trial.
(c) If you continue to use the Software after the 14 day trial period you must pay to us the License Fee.
4.2 Student Licenses
(a) Tertiary students who are enrolled to study at a recognized tertiary institute may obtain a limited License to use the Software.
(b) To receive a student License you must:
(i) be enrolled at a recognised tertiary institute;
(ii) either sign up using the email address issued by the tertiary institute or provide a copy of your student identification.
(c) The License to the Software granted to students is limited to:
(i) the duration of the License subscription selected at the time you pay for the License and automatically terminates at the end of that duration; and
(ii) use strictly for your own personal studies and must not be used in any commercial or work setting of any kind.
(d) Purchasing a student License does not grant you access to the Product Support Services.
4.3 Educational Licenses
(a) Secondary and tertiary academic institutes may purchase a License at the special educational price obtained by contacting us via info@xyris.com.au or telephone.
(b) If you obtain an educational License you must only use the Software for educational purposes.
5. PRODUCT SUPPORT AND INFORMATION
(a) We will provide you with access to our Support Site which contains Product Information.
(b) You acknowledge our proprietary interest in the contents of our Support Site. You will not copy the Product Information except where it is necessary to enable proper use of the Software in the manner reasonably contemplated by the parties.
(c) While we value your feedback we are not obligated to make any amendments to our Software or provide bespoke solutions for any one or any group of customers.
(d) Subject to clause 4.2(d), you are entitled to access our Product Support Services while holding a current Maintenance and Support Plan or during your Subscription Period.
(e) Subject to clause 4, while holding a current Maintenance and Support Plan or during your Subscription Period, you are provided with:
(i) access to our Product Support Services;
(ii) access to all Updates for the edition of the Software License you purchase; and
(iii) a License to all Upgrades of the edition of the Software License you purchase.
(f) We are not required to provide installation services or access to the Product Support Services beyond what we, in our sole discretion, consider reasonable use.
(g) To maintain your access to our Product Support Services, Updates and Upgrades to the Software you must renew your Maintenance and Support Plan annually or your subscription at the end of the Subscription Period.
Other than as specified in this Agreement, we are not liable to:
(a) install the Software;
(b) install Updates or Upgrades to the Software; or
(c) provide training or any other services.
6.2 Installation of Updates and Upgrades
(a) backing up the Software prior to installing Updates or Upgrades; and
(b) thoroughly testing the Software following installation of Updates or Upgrades.
7. GST
(a) Words defined in the GST Law have the same meaning in this clause, unless the context makes it clear that a different meaning is intended.
(b) The Licence Fee as set out on our Website or as otherwise communicated to you at the time the purchase was made is inclusive of GST.
(c) We must, within 28 days of request from you, issue a tax invoice to you for any supply under or in connection with this Agreement.
(d) You are solely responsible for providing evidence of being GST exempt, which in our sole discretion we deem acceptable, before any Software is provided on a GST exempt basis.
8.1 Our intellectual property
(a) We warrant we own or have a License to the Intellectual Property Rights in the Software.
(b) Nothing in this Agreement:
(i) is intended to transfer our Intellectual Property Rights in the Software or Proprietary Data to you; or
(ii) intends to transfer any Intellectual Property Rights you have in the data you enter into the Software to us.
8.2 Undertakings regarding intellectual property
You warrant that you will not do any of the following, or permit any person over whom you have effective control to do so:
(a) create an adaptation or translation of, all or part of the Software including the Proprietary Data and Product Information;
(b) sell, license, sublicense, lease, rent, distribute, disclose, permit access to, or transfer to any third party, whether for profit or without charge, any portion of the Software including the Proprietary Data and Product Information; or
(c) subject to clause 9, directly or indirectly copy, recreate, decompile, reverse engineer or otherwise obtain, modify or use any source or object code, architecture, or algorithms contained in the Software, including the Proprietary Data and Product Information.
9. COPIES
(a) Subject to the following subclauses, and without seeking to exclude or limit the application of sections 47B(3), 47C, 47D, 47E or 47F of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) you must not copy the Software, in whole or in part.
(b) You may make copies of the Software as is necessary to serve your internal needs for system's backup and security. All copies of the Software remain our property.
(c) You must notify us immediately on becoming aware of any unauthorised use or copying of the whole or any part of the Software or the Product Information.
(a) protecting the Software from unauthorised access, use or damage;
(b) backing up the Software and your data; and
(c) maintaining copies of your data external to the Software if you require that data beyond the scope of the License we provide.
11. WARRANTIES
(a) We warrant the Software:
(i) will perform substantially in accordance with the Product Information;
(ii) is fit for the purposes expressed in the Product Information and this Agreement; and
(iii) is of acceptable quality.
(b) The warranty contained in subclause 11(a):
(i) is subject to you having fully complied with your obligations under this Agreement;
(ii) is not a warranty that the results obtained from the Software will be in accordance with your expectations; and
(iii) does not operate where the substantial non-performance arises in any respect from the installation of the Software, the nature or operation of the equipment on which the Software is used (except where we provide the equipment).
12. INDEMNITIES
(a) Subject to subclause 12(b), we shall indemnify and hold you harmless against any claim made against you by a third party alleging that the Software infringes the copyright of that third party.
(b) We shall not be liable to you under subclause 12(a) if:
(i) you do not notify us of the other person's claim or of alleged infringement of copyright within seven days after becoming aware of the claim;
(ii) our ability to defend the claim has been prejudiced by your non-compliance with any of your obligations under this Agreement;
(iii) you do not give us reasonable assistance in defending the claim;
(iv) the claim has arisen because of the use of the Software in combination with equipment, materials or computer programs not supplied or approved by us;
(v) you do not permit us to have control of the defence of the claim and all related settlement negotiations.
(c) You indemnify us and our Representatives against all costs suffered or incurred, however caused, arising wholly or partially, directly or indirectly, in connection with this Agreement or your use of the Software, including any costs arising from:
(i) your breach of this Agreement;
(ii) your failure to include correct information while placing orders for the Software;
(iii) you or any of your authorised user’s infringement of any Intellectual Property Rights; or
(iv) your breach of any Privacy Laws.
You acknowledge and agree you are acquiring the Software under this Agreement for commercial purposes and not for domestic, personal or household use.
13.1 Implied Conditions
We exclude all implied guarantees, conditions and warranties from this Agreement except any Non-Excludable Condition.
13.2 Liability
(a) To the maximum extent permitted by law, we exclude all liability for any consequential loss, negligence or other losses suffered or incurred directly or indirectly, including in connection with:
(i) incorrect or corrupt data, lost data, or any inputs or outputs of the Software;
(ii) computer virus, trojan and other malware;
(iii) security vulnerabilities in the Software or any breach of security that results in unauthorised access to, or corruption of data;
(iv) your breach of this Agreement; or
(v) any act or omission by you, your personnel or any related body corporate in relation to this Agreement.
(b) Where a Non-Excludable Condition is deemed to apply, to the fullest extent possible under the law, we limit our liability for any breach to:
(i) in the case of goods: the re-supply of the goods or payment of the cost of the re-supply of the goods; or the replacement or repair of the goods or payment of the cost of replacement or repair of the goods; and
(ii) in the case of services: the resupply of the services; or the payment of the cost of having the services resupplied.
(a) For the purpose of this Agreement, each of the following is a Terminating Event:
(i) the breach or threatened breach by either party of any of its material obligations under this Agreement; and
(ii) any circumstance beyond our reasonable control which significantly limits our capacity to provide the Software.
(b) If a Terminating Event occurs, the affected party must give the other party written notice, requiring the breach to be remedied.
(c) If the breach is not remedied within 14 days of receiving written notice the affected party may:
(i) agree to waive its rights under this clause; or
(ii) immediately terminate this Agreement.
(d) Immediately on termination of this Agreement:
(i) we may, in our sole discretion, revoke your License to use the Software; and
(ii) you must cease using our Product Support Services.
(e) Subject to subclause 14(d), the termination of this Agreement will not affect any accrued rights or liabilities of either party, nor shall it affect any provision of this Agreement which is expressly or by implication intended to continue in force after such termination.
(a) A party will not, without the prior written approval of the other party, disclose the other party's Confidential Information.
(b) A party will not be in breach of subclause 15(a) in circumstances where it is legally compelled to disclose the other party's Confidential Information.
(c) Each party will take all reasonable steps to ensure that its employees, agents, and any sub-contractors engaged for the purposes of this Agreement, do not make public or disclose the other party's Confidential Information.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this clause, a party may disclose the terms of this Agreement (other than Confidential Information of a technical nature) to its related companies, solicitors, auditors, insurers and accountants.
(e) This clause will survive the termination of this Agreement.
16. PRIVACY POLICY
(a) You agree and consent to the handling of personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
(b) We may amend our Privacy Policy in our sole discretion. If we amend our Privacy Policy, we will post the new Privacy Policy on our Website.
(c) This clause will survive the termination of this Agreement.
(d) By downloading and/or using FoodWorks you consent to receive periodic email or other communications regarding our services, new product offers, promotions and other matters. This consent may be withdrawn by you on notice to us.
17.1 Dispute Resolution Process
(a) Subject to clause 17(f) any Dispute which arises between the parties in connection with this Agreement (Dispute) must be dealt with in accordance with the requirements of this clause 17, before either party will be entitled to commence proceedings against the other party in respect of the Dispute.
(b) The party claiming that a Dispute has arisen (Complainant) must give the other party a written notice setting out a detailed explanation of the nature of the Dispute; and what action the Complainant thinks will resolve the Dispute (Dispute Notice).
(c) Within 10 Business Days of the Dispute Notice being received by the other party, a nominated senior executive of each party must meet in Brisbane Queensland (unless otherwise agreed between the parties), act in good faith and use best endeavors to resolve the Dispute at that meeting, or such subsequent meetings as may be reasonably required.
(d) If the Dispute is not resolved pursuant to clause 17(c) within 30 days of the Dispute Notice being received by the other party, the parties agree to attend a privately held mediation with a mediator appointed by the nominated senior executive or both parties and in the absence of Agreement within 7 days of disagreement by such mediator as appointed by the President, or person in like office of the Resolution Institute.
(e) If the Dispute is not resolved within 30 days of the mediation anticipated in clause 17(d) then either party may commence proceedings against the other party in respect of the Dispute.
(f) Nothing in this clause 17 prevents a party from seeking urgent injunctive or similar relief from a court.
17.2 Dispute resolution not to apply to debts
The Dispute resolution procedure set out in this clause 17 will not apply in any instance where we seek to enforce a debt in connection with this Agreement.
18. GENERAL AND INTERPRETATION
18.1 Assignment
We may assign, encumber, declare a trust over or otherwise create an interest in our rights under this document without your consent, and may disclose to any potential holder of the right or interest any information relating to this document or any party to it.
18.2 Governing law
The laws of Queensland, Australia govern this Agreement. The parties submit to the non exclusive jurisdiction of courts exercising jurisdiction there.
18.3 Operation of this document
(a) This document contains the entire agreement between the parties about its subject matter. Any previous understanding, agreement, representation or warranty relating to that subject matter is replaced by this document and has no further effect.
(b) Any right that a person may have under this document is in addition to, and does not replace or limit, any other right that the person may have.
(c) Any provision of this document which is unenforceable or partly unenforceable is, where possible, to be severed to the extent necessary to make this document enforceable, unless this would materially change the intended effect of this document.
18.4 Relationship
Nothing in this Agreement is intended to create or be construed as creating a relationship of agency, joint venture or partnership between any of the parties. No party may act as agent of or in any way bind another party to any obligation.
18.5 Reliance
Neither party has entered into any contract under this Agreement in reliance on or as a result of any representation, promise, statement, conduct or inducement by the other otherwise than as set out in this Agreement.
18.6 Interpretation
Unless the terms and conditions of the Agreement explicitly state otherwise, the Agreement will be interpreted as follows:
(a) a reference to a party includes that party's permitted assigns, administrators, successors, executors, legal representatives and any novated party;
(b) any reference to a trustee includes any substituted or additional trustee;
(c) unless used for the usual grammatical purpose, inverted commas around a term indicate industry jargon that will be interpreted according to how that term would be understood by an individual with expertise in the relevant industry;
(d) "including", "includes" or any derivation of those words does not limit the matter in question to the things specifically mentioned in the applicable context;
(e) where a term is defined, other grammatical forms of that term will be taken to have the same meaning;
(f) headings are for convenience and will not affect interpretation;
(g) words in the singular will be taken to include the plural and also the opposite;
(h) "$" means the Australian dollar;
(i) a reference to a document will be to that document as updated, varied or amended;
(j) a document referenced by the Agreement will not take precedence over the referencing document;
(k) when any kind of legislative instrument is referenced, the reference will be taken to be that instrument as updated or substituted for by the legislative body in any way;
(l) any referenced digital resource may be replaced with another digital resource that is a "copy" of the original resource;
(m) a reference to a party's conduct includes omissions as well as acts; and
(n) if a party is described as having discretion in a matter, the discretion in that matter will be interpreted as sole and absolute.
(o) 3463-9452-4428, v. 1
Xyris Software (Australia) Pty Ltd
Amended 27 August 2019
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10 years ago, when I joined Arm, I imagined that we’d all be using Arm desktops soon. After a while working there, I realised this wasn’t really in anyone’s plans (at least not transparent to us, mere developers), so I kind of accepted that truth.
But as time passed, and the 64-bit architecture came along and phones really didn’t seem to be benefiting from the bump in address space or integer arithmetic (it was actually worse, power consumption wise), so I begun to realise that my early hopes weren’t so unfounded.
But as I left Arm around 2011, to a high-performance group, I realised how complicated it would be to move all of the x86_64/PPC high-performance computing to Arm, and that planted a seed in my brain that led me to join the HPC SIG at Linaro last year.
But throughout that journey, I realised I still didn’t have what I wanted in the first place: an Arm desktop. I’m not alone in that feeling, by all means. Enthusiasts have been building Beagle/Panda/RaspberryPi “computers” for a long time, and we have had Arm Chromebooks for a while, and even used them in our LLVM CI for 3 good years. But they were either severely under-powered to the point of uselessness, or the OS was by far the restricting factor (eyes ChromeOS).
So, when Martin told me we were going to build a proper system, with PCIe, GB network, DRAM, SATA in a compatible form factor (MicroATX), I was all in. Better still, we had the dream team of Leif/Ard/Graeme looking at the specs and fixing the bugs, so I was fairly confident we would get something decent at the end. And indeed, we have.
In September 2016, Linus Torvalds told David Rusling:
“x86 is still the one I favour most and that is because of the PC. The infrastructure is there there and it is open in a way no other architecture is.”
Well, the new Arm devbox is ATX format, with standard DIMMs, SATA disks (SSD and spinning), GB Ethernet port (and speed), PCIe (x8+x1+x1) and has open bootloaders, kernels and operating systems. I believe we have delivered on the request.
Synquacer Developer Box
Dev box with 1080p monitor, showing Youtube in a browser, 24 cores idling, cpuinfo and lspci outputs as well as some games…
The dev box itself is pretty standard (and that’s awesome!), and you can see the specs for yourself here. We got a few boxes to try out, and we had a few other spare hardware to try it with, so after a week or so we had tried all combinations possible, and apart from a few bugs (that we fixed along the way), everything worked well enough. For more news on the box itself, have a look here and here. Also, here’s the guide on how to install it. Not unlike other desktops.
Even the look is not unlike other desktops, although as I’ll explain later, I’d prefer if I could buy the board on its own, rather than the whole box.
Building LLVM on 20 or all cores doesn’t seem to push the power consumption that much… The GPU is active on idle, and about 12w are spent on it and about 5w (est.) on inefficient PSU
I tried four GPUs: NVidia GT210, GT710, GTX1050Ti and old AMD (which didn’t work on UEFI for lack of any standard firmware). The box comes with the 710 which (obviously) works out-of-the-box. But so does the 210. The 1050Ti works well on UEFI and framebuffer, but (on Debian at lest), you need to install firmware-misc-nonfree which has to be done either with the 710 on terminal or through serial first, then it works on the next boot.
We tried a large number of DIMMs, with and without ECC, and they all seem to work, up to 16GB. We are limited to 4GB per DIMM, but that’s a firmware issue and we’re fixing it. Will come on the next update. Also, in the subject of firmware updates, no need to get your JTAG probes. On Debian, just do like any other desktop.
$ sudo apt install fwupd
$ sudo fwupdmgr refresh
$ sudo fwupdmgr update
$ sudo reboot
Another nice thing is the HTTP installer. Of course, as expected from a desktop, downloading an ISO from your preferred distro and booting from it works out-of-the-box, but in case you’re lazy and don’t want to dd stuff into a USB stick, we bundled an HTTP install from an ISO “on the cloud”. This is an experimental feature, so salt, pepper and all, but the lesson here is simple: on boot, you’ll be pleasantly redirected to a BIOS screen, with options to boot from whatever device, including HTTP net-inst and USB stick.
Folks manage to run Debian (Stretch and Buster) and Fedora and they all work without issues. Though, for the GTX1050Ti you’ll need Buster, because the Nouveau driver that supports it is 1.0.15, which is not on Stretch. I did a dist-upgrade from Stretch and it worked without incidents. A full install, with desktop environment, Cinnamon, Gnome or LXDE have also worked out-of-the-box.
The box builds GCC, LLVM, Linux and a bunch of other software we put it to do (with more than 4GB of RAM is much easier), and it accepts multiple PCI NICs, so you can also run it as a home server, router, firewall. I haven’t tried 10GBE on that board, but I know those cards work on Arm (on our HPC Lab), so it should work just as well on the Synquacer box.
The not so bad
Inside my server, 8GB RAM, SSD, GT210 (no need for graphics) and a PCIe NIC.
While a lot works out of the box and that’s a first in consumer Arm boards, not everything works perfectly well and needs a bit of fine tuning. Disregarding the need for more / better hardware in the box (you’ll eventually have to buy more RAM and an SSD), there are a few other things that you may need to fiddle.
For example, while Nouveau works out-of-the-box, it does need the following config in its module to get to full speed (seems specific to older cards):
$ echo 'options nouveau config=NvClkMode=auto' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf
$ sudo update-initramfs -u
Without this, GPU works perfectly well, but it’s not fast enough. With it, I could play Nexuiz at 30fps on “normal” specs, Armagetron at 40fps with all bells and whistles, and 30fps-capped on minetest, with all options set. SuperTuxKart gives me 40fps on the LEGO level, but only 15 on the “under the sea”, and that’s very likely because of its abuse of transparency.
This is not stellar, of course, but we’re talking nouveau driver, which is known to be less performing than the proprietary NVidia drivers, on a GT710. Those games are the ones we had packages for on Debian/Arm, and they’re not the most optimised, OpenGL-wise, so all in all, not bad numbers after all.
Then there’s the problem of too many CPUs for too little RAM. I keep coming at this point because it’s really important. For a desktop, 4GB is enough. For a server, 8GB is enough. But for a build server (my case), it really isn’t. As compilers get more complicated and as programs get larger, the amount of RAM that is used by the compiler and linker can easily pass 1GB per process. On laptops and desktops with 8 cores and 16GB or RAM, that was never a problem, but when the numbers flip to 24 by 4, then it gets ridiculous.
Even 8GB gave me trouble trying to compile LLVM, because I want a sweet spot between using as many cores as possible and not swapping. This is a trial and error process, and with build times in the scale of hours, it’s a really boring process. And that process is only valid until the code grows or you update the compiler. With 8GB, -j20 seems to be that sweet spot, but I still got 3GB of swap anyway. Each DIMM like the one in the box goes for around £40, so there’s another £120 to make it into a better builder. I’d happily trade the GPU for more RAM.
LLVM builds on just over an hour with -j20 and 2 concurrent link jobs (low RAM), which is acceptable, but not impressive. Most of my problems have been RAM shortage and swapping, so I’ll re-do the test with 16GB and see how it goes, but I’m expecting nothing less than 40min, which is still twice as much as my old i7-4720HQ. It’s 1/3 of the clock, in-order, and it has 3x the number of threads, so I was expecting closer timings. Will update with more info when I’m done.
The first thing that comes to mind is that I have to buy the whole package, for a salty price of $1210, with hardware that is, putting it mildly, outdated.
It has a case with a huge plastic cover meant for mean big Intel heat-sinks, of which the Synquacer needs none. It’s also too small for some GPUs and too full of loose parts to be of any easy maintenance. No clips, just screws and hard pushes.
The disk is 1TB, standard WD Blue, which is fine, but honestly, in 2018, I’d expect an SSD. A run-of-the-mill SanDisk 120GB SSD comes at the same price and despite being 1/8 of the total space, I’d have preferred it any day. For not much more you could get a 240GB, which is good enough for almost all desktop uses, especially one that won’t be your main box.
It can cope with 64GB of RAM (albeit, right now, firmware limits it to 16GB), but the box comes with 4GB only. This may seem fine when talking about Intel laptops with 4 cores, but the Synquacer has a whooping 24 of them. Even under-powered (1GHz A53), make -j will create a number of threads that will make the box crawl and die when the linking starts. 8GB would have been the minimum I’d recommend for that hardware.
Finally, the SoC. I have had zero trouble with it. It doesn’t overheat, it doesn’t crash, there are no kernel panics, no sudden errors or incompatibility. It reports all its features and Linux is quite happy with it. But it’s an A53. At 1GHz. I know, there are 24 of them, which is amazing when building software (provided you have enough RAM), but pretty useless as a standard desktop.
When I was using the spinning disk, starting Cinnamon was a pain. At least 15 seconds looking at the screen after login. Then I moved to SSD and it got considerably faster to about 5 seconds. With 8GB of RAM barely used, I blame the CPU. It’s not bad bad, but it’s one of the things that, if we have a slight overclock (even to 1.5GHz), it would have been an improvement.
I understand, power consumption and heating is an issue and the whole board design would have to be re-examined to match, but it’s worth it, in my view. I’d have been happier with half of the cores at twice the clock.
Finally, I’d really like to purchase the board alone, so I can put on the case I already have, with the GPU/disk/RAM I want. To me, it doesn’t make much sense to ship a case and a spinning disk halfway across the world, so I can throw it away and buy new ones.
Given that Linux for Arm has been around for at least a decade, it’s no surprise that it works well on the Synquacer box. The surprise is PCIx x8 working with NVidia cards and running games on open source drivers without crashing. The surprise is that I could connect a large number of DIMMs and GPUs and disks and PCI network without a single glitch.
I have been following the developer team working on the problems I reported early on, and I found a very enthusiastic (and extremely competent) bunch of folks (Linaro, Socionext, Arm), who deserve all the credit for making this a product I would want to buy. Though, I’d actually buy the board, if it came on its own, not the entire box.
It works well as an actual desktop (browser, mail, youtube and what have you), as a build server for Arm (more RAM and there you go) and as a home server (NAS, router, firewall). So, I’m quite happy with the results. The setbacks were far fewer and far less severe than I was expecting, even hoping (and I’m a pessimist), so thumbs up!
Now, just get one of those to Linus Torvalds and Gabe Newell, and we have successfully started the “year of the Arm desktops”.
2 Replies to “Linaro’s Dev Box”
rengolin says:
Graeme’s Post: https://www.xora.org.uk/geek/2018/04/27/a-month-with-developerbox.html
masahisa says:
I would like to add comment for DIMM.
Dev Box supports following combination.
4GB UDIMM x 1 = 4GB
16GB RDIMM x 1 = 16GB
[Current firmware limitation]
4GB UDIMM x 3 or 4 = 12GB or 16GB is not supported
16GB RDIMM x 3 = 48GB is not supported
8GB DIMM is not supported
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#CardinalsDesignate vs. Seahawks 2017
Fans who attended the Arizona Cardinals game versus the Seattle Seahawks at University of Phoenix Stadium on Thursday November 9, 2017 showed amazing support for the Cardinals even against a formidable opponent. Cardinals fans did their best to represent in the Bud Light Good Sport Designated Driver Challenge against their NFC West rivals. 120 fans pledged to be Good Sports – designated drivers for their group. Responsible fans autographed a responsibility wall and received a free souvenir photo.
Each designated driver pledge is worth a “touchdown” (6 points) in the competition. The Bud Light Good Sport Designated Driver Challenge winner will be the team with the most points at the end of the season. Click here to see the Challenge Standings.
Partners in the Cardinals successful designated driver program include Bud Light, Hensley Distributing, Rojo Hospitality and TEAM Coalition.
Anheuser-Busch has led our industry in promoting responsible drinking for more than 30 years and the Bud Light Good Sport designated driver program reminds fans who choose to drink, to do so responsibly and get their friends home safely. We all share the same streets after the game. This partnership with the Cardinals, TEAM and the fans displays our collective responsibility to help keep our roads safe.Katja Zastrow, Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility-Better World, Anheuser-Busch
For more information, see http://www.azcardinals.com/
TEAM Coalition is an alliance of professional and collegiate sports, entertainment facilities, concessionaires, stadium service providers, the beer industry, distillers, broadcasters, traffic safety experts and others working together to promote responsible drinking and positive fan behavior at sports and entertainment facilities. TEAM Coalition members and supporters include National Football League, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Americrown, Aramark, Delaware North Sportservice, Legends, Spectra, Beer Institute, National Beer Wholesalers Association, Constellation Brands, HEINEKEN USA, MillerCoors, Brown-Forman, Live Nation, National Association of Broadcasters, Contemporary Services Corporation, International Association of Venue Managers, Stadium Managers Association and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For more information visit www.TEAMCoalition.org or www.FansDontLetFansDriveDrunk.org.
•In 2016, 10,497 people were killed as a result of alcohol-related (BAC > 0.08) car crashes, an increase of 1.7% from the 10,265 fatalities in 2015.
• Many, if not most of those lives would have been saved if people did not drive when they were impaired by alcohol or if they used sober, designated drivers or if they simply wore their seat belts.
• Statistics and research clearly show that 21-34 year old males are the demographic most likely to be involved in an automobile crash
CATEGORY: Anheuser-Busch , Bud Light , NFL , Responsibility Challenge , RHIR
TAGS: Arizona Cardinals , Bud Light Good Sport , Designated Driver , NFL , RHIR
#CardinalsDesignate vs. Rams 2017
#CardinalsDesignate vs. 49ers 2017
#CardinalsDesignate
#HereWeGoResponsibly Steelers vs. Browns 2017
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Global Patent Law Group
Patents, Technology and Business in Asia, US and Europe
Malaysia Patent Registration – Patent Searching, Drafting, Filing and Prosecution
Business in Malaysia, Lawyers in Asia, Legal Counsel in Malaysia, Malaysian Patent Lawyer, Patent Agent in Malaysia, Patent Attorney in Asia, Patent Filing in Asia, Patent in Asia, Patent Lawyer in Asia, Patent Search, Patent Search in Asia
Patent Drafting in Malaysia
Patent drafting in Malaysia is generally done by patent attorneys registered and licensed to practice under the Patents Act, as governed by the Malaysian Patent Office (MyIPO). As per MyIPO’s requirements, the patent specification to be filed in Malaysia should include a description that is clear and sufficient for a person having ordinary skill in the art to carry out the invention.
The patent application drafted for filing patent in Malaysia should contain a detailed description of the invention beginning with a title of the invention, which must clearly and concisely indicate the subject matter of the innovation. In use, the title of invention as mentioned in description should be same as mentioned on the abstract and the patent request form.
The title of invention in patent application should be followed by the technical field of the new invention. In use, the field of the innovation of the claimed invention is a general broad statement that describes the art or technology field to which the invention relates.
Subsequently, while drafting patent application for Malaysia, next section of description of the invention should include discussion of prior art by way of background art. Patent attorneys and patent agents while drafting the background section of the patent specification shall describe the problems associated with the technology to which the invention relates along with disadvantages / problems pertaining to existing solutions.
After the background section, the patent drafting procedure involves writing a disclosure of the invention, wherein essential features and novel aspects of the claimed invention are included along with advantages of the invention over the existing prior art.
Thereafter, the patent application should include a specification example, whereby specific examples are discussed with reference to the description of the patent drawings or patent figures. In addition, this section should also include description of best mode of the invention as contemplated by the applicant for carrying out the invention. This section shall be supported by using examples to describe the invention along with corresponding reference to the patent drawings.
In order to complete all sections of the patent specification, after example and description of patent drawings, an explicit description of the industrial applicability of the invention shall be included. This shall describe how the invention can be utilised by the industry, which can be obvious or nonobvious depending upon patent classification that relates to the field of the invention.
Patent Claims
Patent claims for filing patent in Malaysia should define the scope of the invention clearly so that patent protection can be granted. The claims are required to be clear and concise to support the invention as disclosed in description and as illustrated in patent figures.
Patent claims are most crucial component of a patent specification and considering legal nature of claims, drafting patent claims is most challenging part of writing a patent application. Accordingly, defining scope of new innovation in patent claims is important to prevent competitors from infringing the patent rights associated with the patent specification. Too broad may be invalidated or too narrow claims may make it easy for the competitors to copy the claimed invention.
As per MyIPO guidelines, patent claims should begin from a fresh page and should be written as a single sentence. The patent office also instructs the patent applicants to include a “characterising” portion to highlight the novel and inventive features as compared to the background or prior art. Claims should further include all the novel and inventive features of the invention that are described in the description and illustrated in the patent drawings. In essence, all the patent claims of a patent application should relate to a single invention.
Patent Application – Abstract
To summarise the disclosure of patent specification, an abstract is included in the patent application to broadly describe the description of the patent claims. The purpose of the abstract is to provide an efficient instrument describing the technical field of the invention so that it can assist in searching relevant literature.
Patent Services – Malaysia
Patent agents in Malaysia provide a broad range of patent services, including, patent novelty search, patent and non-patent literature prior art search, patentability analysis, patent eligibility analysis, state of art patent search, drafting of patent specification, filing of patent application, registration of patents, maintenance of patent application, patent advisory and patent due diligence.
Patent attorneys with expertise in drafting patent applications for patent registration in Malaysia have technical, doctorate and post-doctoral qualifications and experience in respective technology fields for understanding innovative technical concepts and embodying the same into patent specifications.
The patent specification for filing patent in Malaysia is a techno legal document aimed at disclosing the subject matter of the invention and identifying the patent rights associated with the invention by way of patent claims.
The patent drafting process generally begins with the step of inventor interview, wherein the patent attorney or the patent agent gathers the information pertaining to subject matter of the invention. Subsequently, the invention information is analysed with reference to the state of the art and a prior art patent search is conducted to analyse the patentability (patent eligibility) of the invention as compared to the prior art.
Provisional patent application can be filed to begin the patent filing process whereby a preliminary broad patent is filed to secure a priority date and subsequently, a complete or non-provisional patent application is filed within 12 months of the priority date, or the date of filing provisional patent application.
Patent Registration in Malaysia
Patent registration in Malaysia is governed by the Malaysian Patent Office (MyIPO) whereby patent right is granted as an intangible property right for the monopoly of the patent for a limited amount of time. The first step of patent registration process in Malaysia involves conducting a thorough patent prior art search and performing a patentability analysis of the patent search results.
By definition, the patent protection in Malaysia indicates a product or a process or a combination thereof that provides novel ways of solving one or more problems. The patent is granted by the patent registry in Malaysia that gives an exclusive right to the patent applicant to stop others from infringing upon their patent rights.
Once a patent is granted in Malaysia, the patentee has several rights and benefits, including, right to exploit the patented invention, assign or license the patented invention, and stop others from copying, manufacturing, selling, infringing or importing the patented invention without patentee’s permission.
The term of patent in Malaysia is twenty (20) years while the term of a utility innovation in Malaysia is 10 years followed by an option to renew for additional 5 years twice from the date of filing.
About Tech Corp Group
Tech Corp Group is an international solutions provider of Patent, Technology & Intellectual Property (IP) Research Services in Asia. Originally started operations in India and Singapore, our strong and connected network of patent attorneys has expanded towards multiple locations in Asia Pacific (APAC). We work with clients worldwide and our practice areas include patent, technology and intellectual property consulting for technology companies and innovation based businesses. For legal needs of our clients, we assist them by connecting with attorneys, lawyers and law firms in desired jurisdictions. We aim to decode Patents, Technology and Intellectual Property (IP) in Asia – Japan, Korea, China, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei.
September 20, 2016 February 23, 2017 Rahul Dev Tagged Abstract, drafting patent, drafting patent claims, malaysian patent agent, Malaysian Patent Office, MyIPO, patent agent, Patent Application, patent attorney, patent claims, Patent Drafting in Malaysia, patent process in Malaysia, Patent Registration in Malaysia, patent services
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India is characterized by consistent growth performance and abundant highly skilled manpower that provides enormous opportunities for investments. India is the largest democracy and tenth largest economy in the world. India has a federal system of Government with clear demarcation of powers between the Central Government and the State Governments. India provides a liberal, attractive, and investor friendly investment climate.
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The Indian economy is on a robust growth trajectory and boasts of a stable annual growth rate, rising foreign exchange reserves and booming capital markets among others. According to Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), Indian economy is estimated to grow at 6.9 percent in 2011-12 as compared to the growth rate of 8.4 percent in 2010-11.These GDP figures are based at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices in the year 2011-12.
The growth rate of 6.9 per cent in GDP during 2011-12 has been due to the growth rates of over 8 per cent in the sectors of electricity, gas and water supply, trade, hotels, transport and communication, and financing, insurance, real estate and business services. We assist our clients in developing their business strategy for setting up and running their business successfully within India. Our team provides valuable consultancy to our clients regarding all major Asian jurisdictions, ranging from detailed Investment Guidance, Legal Consultancy, Taxation, Labor laws and the like.
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We assist our clients in developing their business strategy for setting up and running their business successfully within Singapore. Our team provides valuable consultancy to our clients regarding all major Asian jurisdictions, ranging from detailed Investment Guidance, Legal Consultancy, Taxation, Labor laws and the like.
We provide business and management consultancy services to our clients helping them in the key business areas aimed at maintaining strong market position and identifying competitive challenges by providing perfect combination of a localized approach while maintaining international quality standards. We act as single point of contact for multiple aspects of business by providing research and consultancy services including Competitive Intelligence Services, Analyzing Competitive Climate of Various Markets, Major Market Players, Trends and Changes in Market Structure, Market Entry Feasibility Study, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Services, Strategic Investment Guidance, Business Forecasting, and the like.
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Supercharging Data Delivery: The New League Patcher
Hi, my name is Javier Blazquez, and I’m a software engineer on the Core Tech team on League of Legends. My team works on things like performance and determinism.
For the past 8 years, League has been using a patching system called RADS (Riot Application Distribution System) to deliver updates. RADS is a custom patching solution based on binary deltas that we built with League in mind. While RADS has served us well, we felt we had an opportunity to improve some key areas of the patching experience. We knew we could deliver updates much more quickly and more reliably by using a fundamentally different approach to patching, so we set out to build a brand new patcher based on content-defined chunking.
To compare our old and new patching solutions under the same conditions, we’ve been rolling out the new patcher incrementally over the past several months. This has allowed us to validate our assumptions about the effectiveness of a content-defined chunking approach. Now that we’ve completed the rollout and have measured a ten-fold improvement in patching speeds, we’d like to share some details about how it all works.
In this article, we’ll be discussing a few key elements of our new patcher, such as how the core algorithm differs from binary deltas, how we were able to maximize download speeds for players, and how we designed a scalable patch generation system that allows us to deploy a new version of League in minutes instead of hours.
Delivering Updates
Binary Deltas
Binary deltas are a common way of delivering updates. A binary delta - or binary diff - represents the difference between two versions of a file. You start with the two versions you want to diff, compare their contents, and then generate a binary patch. This patch allows anyone with a copy of the old file to convert it to the new version by reusing as much data as possible.
You can use tools like xdelta or bsdiff to create binary patches - for RADS, we used a similar tool called JojoDiff.
Binary patches can be very small, which helps deliver updates quickly. But you end up needing a lot of them when players try to update from very old versions of the game.
You have several options here:
Create a patch to go from version N-1 to N.
Pro: Every time you release a new version of the game you only need to generate one patch.
Con: If a player is M versions behind then they need to apply that many patches. This can really slow down update speed.
Create a patch to go from every previous version to the latest.
Pro: Players only need to apply one patch.
Con: Every time you release a new version you have to create many patches. This gets super expensive for a game like League which has released hundreds of versions over the past decade.
Use a skip list construction to create patches that can skip multiple versions.
Pro: You only have to generate a couple of patches with every release and players can update to the latest version in log2(M) steps.
Con: This is more complex and requires more upfront work than the other two options.
RADS uses the second option, and limits it to the previous 8 versions. This means any player who is at one of these eight prior versions can update to the latest one in a single step. But for players with older installations, RADS resorts to downloading files in their entirety, even if only a tiny part has changed. This causes some players to end up downloading a lot more data than others simply because they don’t play as frequently.
Binary delta systems optimize for small patch sizes. While this seems valuable at first glance, it comes with a number of important tradeoffs. That’s why we started looking at alternative approaches with different tradeoffs that we were more comfortable with.
Content-Defined Chunking
With content-defined chunking, you first split the file into a series of variable-size chunks. You then compare the list of chunks that you have with the list of chunks in the new file and download the ones that you’re missing. You can then reconstruct the new file by writing chunks in the appropriate order, reusing some of the data you already had.
The algorithm we use for content-defined chunking is based on FastCDC, which provides a very fast rolling hash. It operates at over 1 GB/s per core.
What makes this content-defined is that you split up the file only at the locations where the data satisfies a particular condition. You typically compute a rolling hash across the file and split at each location where the hash evaluates to certain values. For example, if you want chunks that are 64KB on average you would split wherever the hash value ends with 16 zero bits. The boundaries depend on the actual contents of the file, so you’ll end up with some larger and smaller chunks, but on average they should be close to what you’re aiming for.
The main benefit of choosing boundaries this way is that your chunks barely change when data shifts within a file. If you blindly split at 64KB boundaries, for example, then a single byte added at the beginning would change all the chunks throughout the file, which would be terrible for patch sizes.
A patching system based on content-defined chunking gives you a very important advantage over binary deltas: you can update any old version of the game to the latest one efficiently and in a single step. This was important to us because we want it to be just as easy for someone to jump into a game if it’s been a few years as it would be for someone who played that morning. You can also update a partially updated or corrupted installation equally well. You can even roll updates back quickly if you need to go backwards in time for some reason. All that matters is which chunks you have and which chunks you need.
The Tradeoffs
A tradeoff that you’re making with this system is patch sizes. Because the unit of patching is the chunk, if even a single byte in a chunk has changed from one version to another, you have to download the entire chunk. In a worst case scenario where every single chunk has changed in some way, you would need to download the entire game again. Luckily, we haven’t seen anywhere near that with League. Actually, patch sizes with the new patcher have been reasonably close to the old one.
Content-defined chunking is commonly used in systems where data deduplication is important, such as with backup software. This is because it can easily detect that two chunks are identical across several files and only store one copy of the chunk. But it’s also used in file transfer programs like the venerable rsync to know which parts of a file have changed and transfer only those.
Unlike rsync, we can precompute the list of chunks that comprise each version of League because we don’t need bidirectional transfers. We can publish that list on a CDN and distribute it to clients so they can figure out what data they’re missing. This means we don’t need special server software either. In that sense the system is more similar to zsync.
We call the process of creating this list of chunks patch generation.
Generating Patches
Generating a patch with RADS involved many different steps that were quite expensive. We first had to binary diff each file against its 8 previous versions. The Game folder in League only contains 400 files, but they’re pretty large, so diffing them can take a while.
We then had to compress and bundle up those binary patches into BIN files. We also had to compress each original file for when a client can’t patch an existing copy. Then we had to upload all those files to a staging server and from there sync them to each CDN origin.
Many of these steps weren’t parallelized, which made the process even slower. It generally took several hours for our build machines to go through this process.
Our New Patcher
The chunking patcher uses a much more streamlined process. We start by applying the content-defined chunking algorithm to each file to determine which chunks it has. We don’t need to compare files against their previous versions; all that matters is which chunks are in the new files that we want to ship. We only need to perform a single pass over the latest data, which is very fast.
Once we’ve determined the list of chunks, we hash and compress them. The 64-bit hash value is used as the unique identifier of a chunk. This allows us to quickly determine when a chunk is found in more than one location so we can deduplicate it. We’re able to deduplicate almost 10% of the chunks in League this way, which helps with the size of the initial download.
For compressing chunks we use Zstandard. We compress using level 19, which gives us very good compression ratios while keeping decompression speeds high. Decompression speed is important when downloading chunks on the client. Other algorithms such as LZMA would have a better compression ratio but CPU usage during decompression would be much higher.
After compression, we bundle chunks together into a small number of files that will end up on the CDN. These bundles are just concatenations of related chunks that clients will usually download in bulk. We compress each chunk separately so clients can download some chunks individually if that’s all they need.
Bundling is important for improving download efficiency. League consists of over 300,000 chunks, but we group them into less than 5,000 bundles. This means players can download the entire game using no more than 5,000 HTTP requests. If we stored each chunk separately on the CDN then players would need to make over 300,000 separate requests, each of them for a tiny amount of data. This would slow down updates due to the overhead of the protocol.
Bundles are named after their unique 64-bit identifier. We compute this ID based on the IDs of the chunks in them, so two bundles with the same contents will have the same name. This allows us to share a lot of files across versions, which helps keep those files cached on the CDN edge servers for longer. We can also skip uploading a bundle to the CDN if it already exists from a previous version. This improves patch generation speeds significantly, since we need to upload less data and don’t even have to bother compressing those chunks in the first place. Each version of League shares over 85% of the bundles with the previous version.
Writing the Release Manifest
Once we’ve finished bundling everything, the next step is to write the release manifest. The manifest stores information about all the files, chunks, and bundles that are part of a release and it’s about 8 MB. The manifest uses the FlatBuffers binary format to store this information, which allows us to load it very quickly on the client. We can also evolve the schema as needed while maintaining compatibility.
As a final step, we upload the bundles and the manifest via a large multipart HTTP POST to a C++ service called patchdata-service. This service runs in AWS and is in charge of deploying the data to S3, which serves as our global CDN origin. The service also performs a number of checks on the uploaded data to make sure it’s valid and then digitally signs the release manifest. Clients will only load a release manifest if it’s properly signed.
While it may look like a very sequential process, all of the steps described above actually happen in parallel. The patch generation process is built as a multithreaded pipeline. We feed the files to deploy on one end and bundled data starts arriving in S3 for the earlier files while we’re still chunking later files. The whole process takes only about as long as the slowest part, which is normally compression.
We can deploy a new version of League of Legends in less than a minute instead of the five hours it used to take, which is a massive win for our ability to get hotfixes out quickly.
Handling Downloads
The fundamental job of the patcher is to do whatever is necessary to transform the existing League installation to the desired state. This may involve downloading new chunks, updating existing files, deleting old files, and so on.
Preparing to Update
The update algorithm is always the same:
Figure out what we already have.
Find out what we need.
Download anything that we’re missing and transform the installation.
To know what we already have we use a small SQLite database. This database stores information about all the files and all the chunks that we have locally. We use this because it's fast, small, and provides great atomicity and transactional semantics and excellent corruption detection and recovery. These are important properties for us because we want to make sure that updating League doesn’t corrupt an installation or leave it in an inconsistent state, even in the case of a power loss.
We update this database every time we make a change to any of the files on disk. By storing this information in the database we can find out what we already have very quickly. Otherwise we’d need to scan all the game files every time just to see what we need to patch, which would be very slow. The database is basically used as a cache summarizing the contents of the game installation directory. Because it’s just a cache, we can always rebuild it if we lose it for some reason.
The schema is pretty simple:
> sqlite3 "C:\Riot Games\League of Legends\Game.db"
SQLite version 3.28.0 2019-04-16 19:49:53
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> .schema
CREATE TABLE files (
path_id integer primary key check(path_id != 0),
path text not null check(length(path) != 0),
size integer not null,
timestamp integer not null,
permissions integer not null,
symlink text not null,
chunking_version integer not null,
min_chunk_size integer not null,
chunk_size integer not null,
max_chunk_size integer not null,
type integer not null
CREATE TABLE chunks (
path_id integer not null,
offset integer not null,
id integer not null check (id != 0),
foreign key (path_id) references files(path_id),
primary key (path_id, offset)
) without rowid;
Despite our best efforts, sometimes the database may not faithfully represent the contents of a League installation. For example, if some other software modifies League files or if someone deletes something in there by mistake, the database will no longer be accurate. This is why we always perform a quick verification process that determines whether something is obviously wrong with the installation. This process is very fast - on the order of 100ms - because it just needs to read filesystem metadata.
Every time a player launches League, we check that all the files are on disk and that they have the expected size and timestamp. While we can’t detect all possible problems such as bad sectors or a file modification that preserved the timestamp, this helps detect the most common issues. Going further and scanning the contents of all the files would be too expensive, so we only do that when a player selects the Initiate Full Repair option in the client.
If we detect that something is wrong with the database, then we run a repair process to rebuild it, which we’ll talk about later. For now, let’s assume that the database is accurate.
Now that we know what we already have, we have to find out what we need. This information is in the release manifest. With the manifest we can compare the list of chunks that we have with the list of chunks that we need and craft an update plan. The update plan captures all the steps that we’ll need to perform to update the installation to the desired state. We can use the plan to perform the update, or we can use it just to estimate how much we’d need to download or how much disk space we’d require.
With the update plan in hand we can start the update process. The most important part of the process is to update files on disk with their new contents, which we do in place. Performing the update in place means that we don’t need any extra disk space. It also reduces the amount of I/O that we need to perform by avoiding extra file copies.
We update files in discrete steps by writing one slice at a time. A slice is a contiguous region of a file that needs to be updated with new chunks. The chunks can come from the CDN if they’re new to the latest release, or they can come from existing files on disk if we already have them somewhere. We assemble all the chunks we need in the right order into a memory buffer and then write out the buffer to disk with a single large write.
Slices are up to 64 MB in size and they always start and end at chunk boundaries. We limit the size of a slice so we don’t use too much memory when updating very large files.
After writing each slice we update the database with the information about the new chunks that now occupy that space. This makes it easy to safely cancel the update in the middle because the installation is always in a known state, even if it’s not fully updated yet. The next time a player launches the client, the patcher knows exactly what’s left to do.
While we’re busy writing new data to disk, we’re also downloading the chunks that we’ll need from the CDN. We download chunks in the order that we’ll need them and we always try to run slightly ahead of the writes to disk. We limit the amount of chunks we’re downloading to 128 MB so memory usage doesn’t grow unbounded in case the disk is very slow and the connection is very fast.
We use 8 concurrent HTTP/1.1 connections to download chunks in parallel, which helps improve speed and avoid head-of-line blocking. We don’t currently use HTTP/2 because libcurl - which we use for downloads - has some known issues that would impact our download speeds, and it wouldn’t help with head-of-line blocking at the TCP level anyway. We think HTTP/3 would allow us to use fewer concurrent connections thanks to the QUIC protocol, so we’re excited to try that out when it becomes widely available.
We ran a series of A/B tests and found that 8 connections appears to be the sweet spot for us, more than doubling download speeds for many players compared to a single connection:
Over those HTTP connections to the CDN we send a series of multipart range requests to download the chunks that we need. If we need all the chunks in a given bundle then we can download the whole thing, but if we only need some of them then we’ll send a range request to retrieve the appropriate byte ranges. Asking for multiple ranges helps reduce the number of HTTP requests we make when we need a lot of discontiguous chunks.
We try to spread out the HTTP connections so we’re always downloading from multiple CDN edge servers at the same time, or even multiple CDN providers if possible. This makes the patcher more resilient to problems with a given edge server, and helps it find the fastest CDN providers in each region. Every minute we query DNS to get the most up-to-date list of servers available and try to spread out connections that way.
We also retry failed requests aggressively. We don’t consider any network error to be fatal and will keep retrying with a delay as long as necessary, though we cancel updates if we’re unable to make any progress after a couple of minutes. This helps the patcher ride out temporary connectivity issues and complete the update in many instances where RADS would have previously given up.
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. The update process assumes that the contents on disk match exactly what’s recorded in the database. When they don’t, we first have to fix that. We call that a repair.
The repair process is super helpful to proactively fix problems with the installation that would otherwise cause the game to crash later. A full repair takes less than two minutes on average, and much less with a fast CPU and an SSD.
Partial Repair
The first kind of repair happens when the verification process detects that there’s a mismatch between the database and disk. We call this kind of repair a partial repair, because it only needs to scan the files that appear to be inconsistent. Some files may be missing from disk, or they may have the wrong size or timestamp. If a file is missing then we simply delete its records from the database, since clearly we no longer have those chunks. We then gather the inconsistent files and rechunk them to rebuild the list of chunks they contain. Rechunking is simply running the content-defined chunking algorithm over those files. We then update the database with the list of chunks that we found, at which point the database matches what’s on disk again.
The other kind of repair - a full repair - happens when the patcher is happily updating the installation but then encounters a problem that it can’t handle. For example, it may be trying to read an existing chunk from a file but the file is unreadable. Because it’s possible that this is not the only problem with the installation, we rechunk all of the files to see what else might be wrong. If a file is unreadable then we delete it so we can redownload it later. When the full repair completes we have a new database that faithfully matches what’s on disk.
We put a lot of effort into using machine resources efficiently. Network I/O, disk I/O, and CPU usage are all overlapped whenever possible. We also changed our data packaging process to ensure a stable file layout across versions, reducing the amount of disk I/O needed. Coupled with our fundamentally simpler algorithm, the end result is an update process which is much faster than what we had before.
We compared game update times for each type of patcher - RADS and our content-defined chunking patcher - using patch 9.9. For context, these times basically represent how long a player has to wait before they can actually play - including the time to download new data and the time to apply the updates to files on disk.
The patch size was 68 MB for RADS and 83 MB for the new patcher. Despite the larger download size, the average player was able to update the game in less than 40 seconds, compared to over 8 minutes with the old patcher.
Depending on the region, players saw update speeds that were up to 14 times faster than before:
Updates were consistently faster across all the regions and percentiles that we checked.
While having fast updates is great, it wouldn’t be worth it they failed so frequently that players can’t actually get in game. We were happy to see that the rate of update failures - that is, the percentage of players who encountered an error while updating - was also reduced significantly.
The failure rate dropped from 2.2% to 0.3%, with the majority of the remaining failures being connectivity issues. Put another way, players saw up to a 95% reduction in errors depending on the region.
These results validated our assumptions that we could improve the patching experience with a new patcher.
Our RADS patcher did its job admirably for a long time, but by completely rethinking our approach to patching using content-defined chunking we have enabled a level of performance and reliability we’ve never seen before. We’re really excited about how much this has improved the player experience, and how this will make it much quicker for both new and existing players to get in game. We will continue improving the tech with everything we’ve been learning about distributing game content to a worldwide audience.
Thanks so much for reading! If you have questions or comments, feel free to post below.
Posted by Javier Blazquez
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7 Biggest Unanswered Questions after Game Of Thrones the TV Series Ended
by Louise Vee
Written by Louise Vee
The series finale of Game of Thrones was nothing if not controversial.
Not only for how ended, but also in the way it ended without a satisfying resolution of certain plot lines.
In many cases, plot lines were either completely ignored or the explanation given was so insufficient it spawned a whole host of unanswered questions. Here are 7 questions that left viewers scratching their heads.
Why is There Still a Night’s Watch?
The entire purpose of the Night’s Watch was to police Wildlings and keep an eye out for White Walkers. By the series finale, the Wildlings are allies, the Night King and his army are no more so what’s the point of a watch now? One line of dialogue—”The world will always need a place for bastards and broken men.”—was not a sufficient answer. Originally we understand that the Watch is both a place to protect Westeros and a place to banish criminals. Now that the beyond-the-wall threats have been eliminated, is Castle Black nothing more than a penal colony? And can you still get your head lopped off for going AWOL?
How Did Daenerys Become Darth Vader?
Without question, the downward spiral of Daenerys is one of the most controversial aspects of the final season. Seemingly without warning, everybody’s favorite Khaleesi morphed into an unrecognizable rage-monster, the likes of which only previously seen in a galaxy far far away. She fell so far, so fast that it left many viewers completely baffled. Daenerys spent nearly eight seasons winning over not only allies but much of the GoT viewership as well. Burning King’s Landing to the ground after the city surrendered was just so out of character that not even a beheaded Missandei could adequately justify it.
Why Couldn’t Jon Be King, Again?
As the last surviving Targaryen, Jon Snow had the best claim to the throne. More importantly, this paragon of virtue not only went on a one-man crusade to save the Seven Kingdoms but often did so at great personal loss and peril. In the end, Jon always did the right thing, and what did he get for all his noble self-sacrifice? Banishment to a frozen wasteland to perform an obsolete job. This left many viewers confused, asking, “Wait…what?”
In light of his achievements—one of which was coming back from the dead—the feeble protests of Greyworm and Yara Greyjoy paled in comparison and did not offer sufficient enough explanation to keep Jon off the newly-melted Iron Throne. We probably shouldn’t be surprised, though. The last man to put down a rabid Targaryen didn’t get many thanks either.
How Long Did Bran Know He Was to be King?
Given his response when asked if he’d accept the position—”Why do you think I came all this way?”—Bran did indeed know he was to be king, but when did he know it? A season before Bran said, “I can never be lord of anything. I am the Three-Eye Raven.” This contradiction casts all of Bran’s motives into question. Did he purposely plant the seeds of Dany’s nervous breakdown by sharing what he knew about Jon’s parentage? Did he foresee the burning of King’s Landing and did nothing to stop it?
Was Cersei Really Pregnant?
Cersei led both Jaime and Euron Greyjoy to believe that she was baking their bun in her oven, but was either even true? Cersei met her crushing end before showing signs of pregnancy, and viewers were left without resolution. Was she really in the family way or was her supposed pregnancy just another Cersei-patented manipulation?
Who Was the Prince(ss) Who Was Promised?
From early on, there was much discussion about the Prince (or Princess) who would bring the end of the long night with the help of his sword Lightbringer. Melisandre originally proclaimed Stannis as the PWWP, but then came to believe it was Jon Snow. The Red Witch also told Dany that she would play a role in the prophecy. By the end of the show, there was still no definitive answer. Did John fulfill the prophecy by killing Daenerys? Or was Arya the fabled one and the dagger used to kill the Night King the Lightbringer of the legend?
What Happened To…?
By the end of the series, there were several characters that simply vanished, leaving viewers to wonder what happened to them.
Ellaria Sand was last spotted in the dungeon of the Red Keep, chained to a wall by Cersei, but after that? Nada. In fact, until an unknown prince showed up in the final episode, Dorne wasn’t even discussed. Was Ellaria dead prior to the destruction of the Red Keep, or did she meet Cersei and Jaime’s buried-alive fate?
Meera Reed dragged Bran beyond the wall and back again, watching her brother die in the process. After an emotionless goodbye with Bran in Season 7, Meera and any mention of the ever-loyal Stark bannermen, the Reeds, went the way of Keyser Soze. “And like that…poof…(s)he’s gone.”
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Louise Vee
Tech Geek and Traveler by heart. Loves Wildlife, Nature and Street photography. Cancer survivor.
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You are here: Home / Same Day Return Tour Package / Chidambaram Same Day Return Tour Packages
Chidambaram Sameday Return Package
Chennai to Chidambaram to Chennai
₹ 6800/-
6 or 7 + 1
₹ 11,400/-
Tavera
12 / 13 (14 seater on request)
-: GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS :-
Above Charges includes Km Charges, Driver Allowance , Diesel Charges, Toll Charges
Airport parking and General Parking if any payable by Guest
Number of days for usages same day
Charges is Valid for 500 kms Usages
Beyond 500 Kms will be charged at Rs.11 /- per Kms for Etios / Dezire, Rs.20/- per Kms for innova Crysta, Rs.13/- per Kms for innova, Rs.12/- per Kms for Tavera and Rs.16/- per Kms for Force Tempo Traveler respectively
If any Additional Day usage then the Minimum coverage of 250 kms per day is Applicable and additional driver batta is applicable per day
In and Around Chidambaram
chidambaram temple tour packages chennai trichy
Chidambaram is among the most venerated towns in the Southern India. The sacred city has some of the finest of the architectural marvels that its famous temples reflect. Among the most widely visited pilgrimage spots is the Natraja Temple that sprawls in an area of 40 acres in the heart of the city with the presiding deity being Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja) – Lord Nataraja.
The Nataraja Temple
With its ideal location in the heart of the city the Nataraja Temple spreads over an area of 40 acres. It is one of the oldest temples of Tamilnadu. The roof of the temple is coated with mesmerizing gold plates. The presiding deity of the temple is represented by air, one of the five elements of the universe and is known as “Akasa Lingam”.
The Sivakamiamman Temple
It has Sivaganga tank, which has the thousand-pillar hall as one of the major features of the temple.
Kali Temple
The northern end of the sacred city has Thillaikaliamman temple, another of the medieval architectural marvel and greatly flocked pilgrim spots. Kopperunjingan, who ruled between 1229 AD and 1278 AD, built the temple.
south-india-tour-packages-images-chidambaram-temple-tour-trips
A hot center of Tamil learning, Annamalai University is a residential University founded by the Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar. The university is also great centre of Carnatic music and offers educational facilities in various disciplines including Medicine, Agriculture and Engineering.
Neyveli – Chidambaram
About 30 km from Chidambaram lies Neyveli, one of the largest industrial complexes in India. The place is noted for the mining of lignite, which is used for thermal power generation and developing fertilizers and ceramic wares.
Tirupati Same Day Return Tour Package – Tirupati One Day Packages
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Parents be warned: Your kids may be 'Robo tripping'
There's a trend among kids, dubbed "Robo tripping," and it's not the latest dance. In fact, "Robo tripping" is one of several colloquialisms used to describe getting high from - of all things - cough medicine. (Get it? "Robo" or Robitussin.)
The high comes from ingesting large doses of dextromethorphan, found in over-the-counter cough suppressants such as syrups and lozenges.
"I was looking for something that was easy to find, easy to do...even though I know...that this is not good, that this is wrong," said Shannon, whose story about abusing dextromethorphan as a teenager appears on the Partnership for a Drug-Free America website.
It is that ease that may be the biggest problem.
"These drugs are very often sitting in the medicine cabinet at home," said Dr. Michael Entrup, an anesthesiologist at Rhode Island Hospital. "What parent would think, 'My kid is abusing cough syrup'?"
Parents seem to be aware of other, more obvious drugs and their potential risks to children - heroin, cocaine, alcohol and marijuana, for example. Experts say that many are in the dark about the dangers of "Robo tripping."
"I know of cases where kids who were previously healthy come into the emergency room [after overdosing] with wide blood pressure swings, with disturbances in heart rhythm...problems with motor function," said Entrup, director of the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists. "I have not seen anyone die, but I know of patients who have come close."
It is difficult to imagine near-death at the hands of a cough suppressant, but according to experts, it can happen. The danger comes when dextromethorphan-containing medications are taken with other stimulants such as caffeinated beverages, energy drinks, even prescription drugs to treat ADHD.
"It's playing with fire," said Entrup. "The ingredients in prescribed dosages don't usually cause problems, but when taken in higher dosages, and with other drugs...it could be potentially lethal."
Most often users report hallucinating, feeling dizzy or nauseated, vomiting, confusion, rapid heart beat, even numbness in the extremities.
According to a 2006 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey more than 3 million people age 12 to 25 had used cough medications to get high. Among patients rushed to the emergency room for non-medical use of dextromethorphan, about half (48 percent) were aged 12 to 20, according to SAMHSA.
"I would get nauseous to the point where I couldn't stand up," said Shannon. "I actually would start foaming. It's so gross to say but, when I would be getting sick I was throwing up foam...It was horrible."
And then there is what drug abuse by a teen or pre-teen suggests.
"The fact that someone is looking to abuse a drug, puts them in a category where they're more likely to abuse another drug," said Dr. Daniel Frattarelli, chair of the Committee on Drugs for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "It's not safe just because it's over the counter."
The American Society of Anesthesiologists offers tips for recognizing dextromethorphan abuse: an unusual medicinal smell on your child's breath; empty or missing cough medicine bottles; a sudden change in your child's physical appearance, attitude and/or sleeping habits; and visits by your child to pro-drug websites.
Even with the absence of the more glaring signs, experts recommend parents have a conversation about the potential dangers of "Robo tripping" with their kids.
Post by: Stephanie Smith -CNN Medical Producer
Filed under: Addiction • Children's Health • Emergency care • Parenting
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I am 36 now and for most of my life up until about 5 years ago, I took cough syrup to get high. I must have taken over 1000 bottles easy. It got to the point that I eventually became homeless. It is all documented on my website http://www.jesusfresus.com. This drug should be taken off the shelves. There is no drug more sinister than this one.
Yes, everyone knows this is old news, but a lot of parents are unaware of this. I've seen kids end up in an ambuance from this, benadryl, and other OTC drugs. It's coming back in style. It's a cheap (sometimes even free) way to get high. Kids think it's safe because it is legal. We shouldn't HAVE to educate anyone on the dangers of OTC drugs, but the truth is, we do. My parents know nothing about Robotripping, and I know a lot of other parents don't either. You guys are acting as stupid as the kids downing a bottle to get high.
The death and seizure warnings make me laugh.
DXM is a dissociative anesthetic, similar to PCP and Ketamine, which are used as animal tranquilizers.
You will definitely not get seizures from a tranquilizer.
Overdose would certainly be miserable, but would just make you puke and pass out (much safer than an alcohol overdose, and BTW, you'll feel a little 'slow' but fine the next day).
The dangers from this are primarily:
1) Doing something stupid while intoxicated (like driving, taking drugs that don't mix well, etc.)
2) Overdosing on other possible active ingredients (like pseudoephrine, a potent stimulant that could strain your heart)
3) Not liking it. Liking it too much.
Jason Turnboldt
HAHAHAHA...... are you serious????? These people(CNN) are so damn out of the loop its getting ridiculous...... this shit is super super old guys ...... wake the hell up you sheep at cnn... who is telling you what to pay attention to?? ......you reporters.....LOL
Jimi Hendrix used to do this back in his day. Greatest drug ever!
Yeah, we get this non story and not one article on the white hating race baiting cnn.com about how armed black panthers intimidated voters during the Obama election and the Obama administration ordered DOJ attorneys to ignore subpoenas and to drop the charges in the greatest violation of the voting rights act in history. Moreover, the DOJ attorneys were told to ignore any cases of hate crimes involving black defendants and whtie victims. As any rational person knows, a black person is 50 times more likely to attack a white than vice versa, and there is a virtual media blackout regarding the reporting of black on white crime.
The voter intimidation (hate crime?) case has been reopened. But you wouldn't know that if you read Cnn.com. But, you can expect more articles like "Is your cat racist?"
Expect to see in coming days more "Black in America" specials and more yellow journalism like "Does your doctor disciminate against you" and "Are babies racist?"
Keep it up marxists. This has happened before. It didn't go over well.
caliguy57
Whoa!!! We have a real right-wing moron here whose probably a "birther" or "teabagger" member. Don't you have something better to do with your time than spreading your lies and hate? Why don't you try a little cough syrup? It might just fix your warped mind.
Agent Lemon
There's a right way and a wrong way to do most anything. Regarding DXM, don't use it. The safe way to trip on DXM-containing meds is to make sure that they contain DXM ONLY (i.e. no guaifenesin, pseudoephedrine, acetaminophen, etc.), and to calculate the proper dose according to one's body weight and tolerance. DON'T mix w/ alcohol. First-time users should definitely NOT swill a bottle of maxi-strength Robitussin or Delsym. As with any psychoactive drug there are risks/dangers associated w/ long-term use. Know your product. http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dxm/faq/dxm_faq.shtml DON'T DO DRUGS.
Gupta, why are you so behind the times? You call this news? Bildow was doing this back in 1998: http://dxm.darkridge.com/text/bildow.html
What next, Gupta? Are you going to announce "this crazy new drink called beer"?
PiercedPsycho
Oh my goodness! Oh golly gee, I NEVER knew you could get high off of cough syrup! My word, what earthshattering revelation will you next bestow on us, oh medical prophet?
IT IS BY WILL ALONE I SET MY MIND IN MOTION: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1WNbCjM344
SCallan
Time to waste more tax dollars to pass laws that regulate cold medicine, all because .005% of the population may be abusing something. It is the American way after all.
Eric Bishop
I have breaking news! When you children go to college, they might try marijuana. CNN needs to do a full report on this. The kids call it "getting high", "getting baked" and a number of other strange phrases.
lolhayguysethisstuffisoldnewsWHATDOYOUTHINKYOU'REDOINGCNNOHMAHGAWDGETWITHTHEPROGRAMLOLOL.
Seriously, 90% of these comments pretty much sounded like that to me. ^^^
You would be surprised how many parents aren't even aware of the dangers of cough syrup, i.e. the article on here about parents doping up their children on cough syrup and Benadryl in hopes to shut them up, but they end up killing them. Instead of bitching about how CNN is reporting an old story, be glad it's being brought to other parents' attention. Better safe than sorry.
At the same time, you can get high from anything. Nail polish, nail polish remover, hairspray, rubbing alcohol, permanent markers, dry-erase markers...be glad that the information is out there. All we can do is put the knowledge out there and be educated.
DJ Toker
What was Dr. Gupta on when he thought this was news? Society in general is blind to what the real dangers are while continuing the condemnation of pot. However, looking at the comments here, I can tell that things are improving as far as the public mindset. Let's hope that prop 19 passes in California in September which will be a smack in the face of all the fear mongers out there who continue to preach reefer madness.
SZB
I hope they don't put this stuff behind the counter like they did with more effective cold and allergy meds. It is a pain to have to ask for it , especially when you are really sick and just want to be left alone and get home ASAP. I like to compair lables and buy the meds that exactly fit my symptoms. They get reall upset if you ask to see a whole bunch of products and spend a few minutes compairing the lables.
This is one of the most biased texts I've read in my life. I'm not even going to bother addressing how retarded this is, but, I will address you with one question: What are the potential dangers of 'abusing' Dextromethorphan by itself in sub-toxic (potential LD50) levels? I guarantee you don't know, but you can just go ahead and put whatever you feel like under the 'effects' category, they'll believe you.
Also, if you did the research yourself instead of portraying whatever doesn't appeal to you as 'bad', you'd find that 'Pro-drug' websites are honest and informative, whether this shit is extremely biased and superfluous. That doesn't matter though, because these dumbasses actually believe everything the media tells them. Enjoy your ratings.
This definatlwy needs to be stopped. Over the counter please. Thi is especially dangerous to first timers!! I did it. I was with friends and we couldnt get anything else. They wanted weed, i wasnt gonna do it. But then they tol me about robotripping. I did it because i thought, so do many other good kids that its just cough syrup. It not even illegal to by like marijuana or anything. So i did it. I didnt puke r anything but halfway through i was scare for my life i hate it. It can lead to so many things. Please stop this. My friend bought 3 bottles of syrup and 2 bottles of pills and walgreen didmt do a thing because they cant. There needs to be a limit.
Yes dxm is bad, but for any of you planning to try it I know this won't dissuade you, so be shure to purchase only cough syrup with DXM nothing else to avoid OD. Also as for abusing hemp I find nothing wrong with this except that it is illegal, to be honest the demonization of hemp has caused us to lose one of the most useful plants which provided paper,fuel and cloth in our early days as colonists. Our founding fathers grew hemp and this demonization which occurred with the film "reefer madness" is almost completely filled with medically unsupported claims.
Dextroman
The only people that manage to end up in the hospital are the retards that don't even look at the liable and end up taking 8000 mg of Tylenol. People who actually look and just take dxm are completely fine. Just because somebodies parents take them to the hospital because they were "acting funny" doesn't mean they ODed and it doesn't mean they HAD to go to the hospital. Robotripping is relatively harmless If you do it right
treps
Wow! You got some real ignorant people up in here. I hope that next kid that overdose would have a more sensible parent than some of these goons up in here. Smh
Annoying Bear
I use to drink this all the time!
https://sluggn.com
Supports this robo tripping
Leave a Reply to RoseanneMarie523
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Norway, EU, Faroes Reach Agreement on Mackerel
Economics Sustainability Environment
by Lucy Towers
24 November 2014, at 12:00am
GLOBAL - An agreement has been reached on catching opportunities for north-east Atlantic mackerel for 2015 following negotiations between the EU, Norway and the Faroes.
Under the agreement, which follows scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea that is underpinned by the precautionary principle, a total allowable catch of 1,054,000 tonnes has been set, which will give the UK a quota of around 245,363 tonnes.
Ian Gatt, chief executive of the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association, said: “We welcome that agreement has been reached at this stage in the negotiating process as it brings stability and certainty for the 2015 fishery. A new long-term management plan is also being worked upon for the mackerel stock and Scottish pelagic fishermen are committed to being closely involved in the development process.”
Lucy Towers
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Officials in Vietnam have announced plans to regulate the levels of the preservative ethoxyquin in aquafeeds, in order to maintain its significant aquaculture exports to the EU.
Assessing the benefits of blockchain in northern Europe's seafood sector
A new project has been launched to investigate the use of new technologies – such as blockchain, internet of things and artificial intelligence – for seafood businesses in the far north of Europe.
Rabobank revises fishmeal, shrimp and salmon predictions for 2020
Two months after its last report on the global animal protein production sector, Rabobank’s Gorjan Nikolik offers The Fish Site some revised thoughts on the recent performance of the fishmeal, salmon and shrimp sectors a…
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Watch: An Independence Day message of hope for Costa Rica
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Judge orders closure of overcrowded San Sebastián prison
The Tico Times August 1, 2016 August 1, 2016
Judge Roy Murillo ordered Costa Rica's San Sebastián preventive prison closed within 18 months. (Lindsay Fendt/The Tico Times)
Costa Rica’s overcrowded San Sebastián prison that inmates describe as “hell on Earth” could be closing its gates for good after a San José judge ordered it shut down.
Sentencing Judge Roy Murillo made the decision in a July 20 resolution citing the prison’s horrid conditions and antiquated infrastructure, according to the Spanish-speaking daily La Nación.
The prison currently houses 1,260 inmates, only 165 of whom have been convicted of a crime, according to the Justice Ministry. The rest are being held in pretrial detention.
The prison’s stated capacity is 664 inmates.
Detainees at San Sebastián have complained to The Tico Times of inhumane conditions in overcrowded cells with minimal ventilation and so little sleeping space that some prisoners have to sleep on the floor next to urinals.
One former inmate told The Tico Times that his room in cell block B-3 had more than 50 people but only eight beds, requiring him to sleep on a piece of foam while crammed in the crawl space under a bed.
The Justice Ministry said in a news release that the 165 convicted inmates from San Sebastián will be gradually relocated to other centers around the country. Prison System Director Reynaldo Villalobos said the Justice Ministry will form a commission to decide on the transfer of each inmate over the next 18 months.
The inmates in pretrial detention will be phased out as their preventive prison sentences expire, according to the Justice Ministry.
Villalobos told The Tico Times on Monday that the criminal justice system has a measure of responsibility for the country’s overcrowded prisons. “We’re always limited in terms of the reforms we can make but we’re ready to act accordingly with whatever decision a judge makes.”
At a panel discussion last week alongside Villalobos, Murillo hinted at the legal decision by noting the unsanitary and inhumane conditions at San Sebastián. He compared the prison to a septic tank with a rat infestation, saying that rampant overcrowding has stripped the prisoners of essential human rights.
“If I had to be in that prison I would either kill myself or immediately become addicted to drugs,” he told the audience.
Murillo’s order to close San Sebastián is sure to generate controversy similar to that stirred up by recent orders from Murillo and other judges to release low-level prisoners in order to reduce overcrowding.
Recently, Villalobos and heads of the Justice Ministry were set to release more than 350 qualifying prisoners from Gerardo Rodríguez prison in Alajuela. However, on June 13, the decision was suspended after outrage from business owners, the public and officials.
Park rangers arrested in drug bust
Notorious crime family members indicted; alleged ties to Costa Rican sportsbook
Costa Rica’s police force plans to add 1,000 officers
Foreigner caught stealing hours after being detained for threatening neighbors with machete
costa rica jailpretrial detentionprisonsan sebastian costa rica
Inside Costa Rica’s Sloth Sanctuary: Horror show or a solution to a complicated issue?
Behind the scenes at NASA: meet Costa Rican space pioneers
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PSG storms back from two-goal deficit to clinch first place in Champions League group
Watch: All the goals Keylor Navas allowed against Galatasaray today
Keylor Navas allows first goals as PSG falls to Reims
Keylor Navas: Three games played, zero goals allowed
Watch: All the goals Keylor Navas allowed against Real Madrid today
‘I want to write my story here too,’ Navas says of PSG
AFP and The Tico Times September 20, 2019 September 22, 2019
Keylor Navas arrives at Camp des Loges for training with PSG. (Via PSG.)
Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas debuted in the Champions League with Paris SG on Wednesday with a 3-0 victory against Real Madrid, the club with which he won three of the European tournament titles.
After the game, Navas showed he is still hungry for trophies.
“I want to write my story here too,” the Tico goalkeeper said.
Navas was “happy” with his Champions League debut with the PSG.
“Defensively, we played a very good game, and my teammates went ahead of each rival’s shot,” he said.
Asked by journalists in the post-game mixed zone about his reunion with his recent colleagues, Navas said: “It’s nice to see that when everyone arrived, they gave me hugs and were glad to see me. That means we shared very nice moments together.”
But Navas, who won three Champions Leagues with Real Madrid, admitted that “it was weird when we went out to the tunnel before entering the field, seeing them there and knowing that they were now on the other side.”
“I appreciate them a lot because they have been an important part of my life, but on the pitch, everyone defends their own, and that is what I will always do,” he added.
Questioned if he held a grudge against his departure from “Los Blancos,” Navas denied any bad relationship with his former club.
“I have no resentment with anyone; things happened that way because God wanted it that way,” he said.
And about his future in Paris, Navas wanted to send a message of ambition: “I want to write my story here as well as I did before.”
You can get a PSG shirt to support Navas and his new team on Amazon
Keylor Navas vs. Real Madrid: A meeting worthy of Champions
champions leaguecosta rica soccer playerskeylor navasLa SelePSGreal madrid
UN names Costa Rica as ‘Champion of the Earth’ for environmental efforts
United States and El Salvador sign immigration agreement
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Créer une copie
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Les affichages 25
TRrump stuff
A été creé Dylan Hoffmann ⟶ mise à jour avec succès il y a 1 mois ⟶ List of edits
Les lignes de temps deDylan Hoffmann:
Trump Oversight Timeline
Mueller Appointed Special CounselAG Jeff Sessions recuses self from Russia InvestigationsResolution of Inquiry defeated in House JudiciaryFBI investigation into Sessions launched on complaint from Senators Leahy and FrankenBurr briefs WH on march 9 gang of 8 meeting w/ comeyNunes tells Mother Junes he's never heard of Carter Page or Roger StoneSchiff and Pelosi call for Nunes recusalNunes recuses himself from the House Intelligence Committee investigation.[163] The House Ethics Committee starts an investigation of Nunes's conduct in the month of MarchThe White House refuses to fulfill a request from the House Oversight Committee for documents related to Flynn's foreign lobbying.Rosenstein briefs Chairman Burr and the panel's top Democrat, WarnerRep. Al Green (D-TX) calls for Trump's impeachment from the House floor.Flynn refuses to hand over subpoenaed documents to the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incriminationThe Senate Intelligence Committee unanimously votes to give its Republican chairman Richard Burr, and Democratic vice chairman Mark R. Warner, "blanket authority" to issue subpoenas during their investigationRepresentative Brad Sherman (D-CA) begins circulating articles of impeachment to other members of CongressArticles of Impeachment against President Trump are formally filed in the House of RepresentativesSenators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chris Coons (D-DE) unveil legislation designed to prevent Trump from firing MuellerThe Senate Intelligence Committee asks Sigal Mandelker for recordsThe House Intelligence Committee issues subpoenas to the FBI and the DoJ for documents relating to the Trump dossier. They were not complied with by the September 1 deadline; the deadline is extended to September 14A private Senate Intelligence Committee interview with Michael Cohen is disbanded when it is learned that Cohen has shared his prepared statement with the media. Senators Burr and Warner condemn Cohen's action and announce that he will be recalled to testify publicly on October 25Fusion GPS partners Peter Fritsch and Thomas Catán appear before the House Intelligence Committee and invoke their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Fritsch and Catán had both informed the committee when they received their subpoenas that they planned to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and not testify.The New York Times reports that Trump pressed Republicans Roy Blunt (R-MO), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to end the Senate's Russia inquiry.Bannon testifies to the House Intelligence Committee,[39] and remains tight-lipped, citing executive privilege.[40] He indicates he will not invoke privilege when he testifies before Mueller's grand jury.[40] The next day, Axios reports that Bannon informed the Committee that he had had a discussion with Priebus, Spicer, and Corallo about the June 2016 Veselnitskaya meetingBannon appears at the House Intelligence Committee under subpoena. According to committee members, he answers only 25 questions that were pre-approved by the White House, answering “no” to each, and invokes presidential executive privilege to decline answering further questions. Republican and Democratic members of the committee say they are considering seeking contempt of Congress chargesHope Hicks testifies before the House Intelligence Committee. She declines to answer most questions, saying she has been instructed by the White House not to answer any questions relating to her time at the White House,[179] but admits that she has told lies for TrumpRepublicans on the House Intelligence Committee announce the end of their investigation, over the objections of Democratic members. TMidtermsThe Senate Intelligence Committee endorses the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia tried to help Trump win the 2016 presidential election, disagreeing with the House Intelligence CommitteeCohen's lawyer Lanny Davis tells Bloomberg that Trump and the White House knew in advance that Cohen was going to lie to Congress and did nothing to dissuade him from doing soCongressman Brad Sherman refiles articles of impeachment against Trump. The article charges Trump with obstructing justice by firing James ComeyBill Barr assumes office of AGThe Democratic-controlled House Intelligence Committee votes to refer dozens of witness testimony transcripts and thousands of other documents to Mueller's office. Committee Republicans had blocked Democrat efforts to release the documents to Mueller's office when Republicans controlled the Committee in 2018Mueller Concludes investigation adn submits report to AG barrAttorney General William Barr releases a four-page letter to Congress highlighting the key findings by the Special Counsel's final report. Barr stated that there is not sufficient evidence that Trump obstructed justice or colluded with Russia, but did not exonerate him on obstructionMueller sends Barr a letter in which he asserts that Barr's March 24 letter "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office's work and conclusions" leading to "public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation".In a joint letter, the House intelligence committee demands that Mueller "must" brief them and provide "all materials, regardless of form and classification, obtained or produced".The House Judiciary Committee votes 24–17 to authorize committee chairman Nadler to issue subpoenas for the unredacted version of the Mueller Report and any exhibits, underlying evidence, or other materials prepared for the investigationThe House Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal formally requests copies of Trump's personal and business tax returns covering 2013 to 2018 from the IRS, and sets April 10 as the deadline for the response. By law, the committee has the authority to see anyone's confidential tax returns.Trump attorney William S. Consovoy sends a letter to Treasury Department general counsel Brent J. McIntosh that calls Neal's request for Trump's tax returns a "gross abuse of power" and urges the department to wait for a legal opinion from the Justice Department before turning over any of Trump's tax information.Barr appears before the House Appropriations Committee for a hearing on the Justice Department budget, and members ask him about the Mueller Report.U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tells two congressional committees that White House lawyers had an "informational" discussion with Treasury department lawyers about a potential request for Trump's tax returns before Congress formally requested them.Barr tells the Senate Appropriations Committee that Mueller did not ask him or Congress to determine whether Trump obstructed justice. He tells the committee, "I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion." He again states that he expected to release the Mueller Report within a week.Neal sends a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig demanding Trump's tax returns by end of business on April 23. The letter lays out a legal argument citing judicial precedents showing he has the authority to demand the documents and the Treasury Department does not have the authority to refuse.The House Intelligence and Financial Services committees issue subpoenas to Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup demanding documents related to Trump and possible money laundering by people in Russia and Eastern Europe.The New York Times reports that there have been numerous conversations between White House lawyers and the Justice Department about the contents of Muller's report.Barr holds a press conference about the special counsel's report, Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election (the Mueller Report). The redacted report was released around 11 A.M. EDT. The report couldn't recommend criminal charges, due to the DoJ's OLC policy created in the wake of the Watergate scandal saying that a sitting President is unindictable.ormer White House personnel security director Carl Kline skips a House Oversight CommitteeTrump sues Cummings in attempt to block the House Oversight Chairman's subpoena of longtime accounting firm for the Trump family and businesses, Mazars USA.Nadler issues a subpoena demanding delivery of the full version of the Mueller Report to the House Judiciary Committee by May 1.Mnuchin sends Neal a letter expressing "some of the legal concerns" the administration has with his request for Trump's tax returns.Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd sends Nadler a letter informing him that the Department of Justice will not provide the House Judiciary Committee with an unredacted copy of the Mueller Report as demanded by a Committee subpoena.Barr fails to appear at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. The Department of Justice informed Nadler the day before that Barr objected to the committee's plan to have committee staff attorneys ask questions. Nadler ends the hearing early with a warning that Barr will be held in contempt of Congress if he does not provide the full Mueller Report and underlying evidence to the Committee.[Barr refuses to comply with House subpeona of unredacted Mueller Report. Contempt citation scheduled for 48 hours later.US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refuses to give Trump's tax returns to the House Ways and Means CommitteeTrump asserts executive privilege over the full, unredacted Mueller ReportThe US House Committee on the Judiciary votes to hold US AG Barr in contempt of Congress after he failed to comply with a subpoena ordering him to provide them with the full, unredacted version of the Mueller Report last week. The full House will vote on the measure in the near future.House Ways and Means Committee chairman Neal subpoenas Treasury department and IRS for Trump's tax returns.Barr appoints U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut John Durham to lead an "investigation into the investigators", and any potential criminality that may have occurred in the initiation of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation and Special Counsel investigationsIn a letter to House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, White House counsel Pat Cipollone states the White House will not comply with the Committee's March 4 letters requesting information and documents,Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig defy the May 10 subpoena of Trump's tax returnsRepublican U.S. Representative Justin Amash tweets "Few members of Congress have read the [Mueller] report", while becoming the first GOP congressperson calling for Trump's impeachment.Judge Amit Mehta of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia rules that accounting firm Mazars USA must comply with a subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee to turn over Trump's financial recordsIt is reported Cohen told lawmakers earlier this year that one of Trump's personal attorneys Jay Sekulow told Cohen to lie to Congress by saying the Trump Tower Moscow deal ended nearly six months before they actually ended on Jan. 31, 2016; and suggested he might be pardoned if he helped "shut down" the Russia investigation.At Trump's direction, McGahn fails to appear at hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee per subpoenaIt is reported that according to a confidential draft legal memo written by IRS staffers the IRS must honor congressional requests for Trump's tax returns unless Trump invokes executive privilege.Federal prosecutors refuse to comply with a court order to release redacted sections of Mueller report in regards to Flynn and with other relevant materials, saying that they're "unnecessary," and thus Judge Emmet G. Sullivan shouldn't have themHouse Judiciary committee announces a series of hearings related to the Mueller Report titled "Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes"Hicks and Donaldson are instructed by the Trump Administration to defy congressional subpoenasHicks testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in closed doors testimonyRegarding a potential violation of the Presidential Records Act, the House Oversight Committee chairman demands notes taken by an aide, present during a meeting between Putin and Trump during the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit which was previously undisclosedDonaldson and the House Judiciary agree to receive her testimonyThe White House blocks former chief of staff to ex-White House counsel McGahn Annie Donaldson, whose contemporaneous notes are cited 65 times in the Mueller report, from answering 212 questions about potential obstruction of justice by TrumpIt is reported the DoJ is attempting to discourage Aaron Zebley and James L. Quarles, two of Robert Mueller's deputies, from testifying before CongressMueller testifies before the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.[262][263] Mueller reiterated his concern over foreign interference in U.S. elections, which he considered a serious threat.: ABC News reports the Trump administration is again invoking executive privilege to block intelligence committees from seeing classified Mueller documentsHouse Oversight and Reform Committee votes to subpoena senior White House officials' communications via private email accounts and messaging applicationsTrump calls Boris Johnson to congratulate him on becoming the new Prime Minister of the UK. On the call, he asks Johnson to help him discredit the Mueller investigationHouse Judiciary Committee sues McGahn to testify before Congress, claiming he is the "most important witness, other than the president," regarding their investigation into possible obstruction of justice by TrumpFor the first time publicly, Nadler states the panel is conducting an impeachment inquiry into Trump.A whistleblower in the U.S. intelligence community files a complaint alleging "the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.The House Judiciary Committee issues subpoenas to Lewandowski and Rick Dearborn to testify before the committee on September 17.[300] It is reported Trump is considering invoking executive privilege again, despite Lewandowski having never worked in the White House.The House Judiciary committee releases formal parameters of its impeachment investigation.It is reported the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees are investigating reported efforts by Trump and Giuliani "to pressure the government of Ukraine to assist" Trump's re-election campaign.Trump orders Dearborn and Rob Porter not to testify at a House Judiciary Committee hearing about Trump's possible obstruction of justiceLewandowski refuses to answer dozens of questions about potential obstruction of justice during the House Judiciary Committee hearing "Presidential Obstruction of Justice and Abuse of Power.The House Oversight Committee issue a subpoena to Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, as well as to three of Giuliani's associates, for documents relating to the Ukraine call.
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Effects of glutamine-supplemented total parenteral nutrition on cytokine production and T cell population in septic rats
Sung-Ling Yeh, Chiu Li Yeh, Ming Tsan Lin, Ping Nan Lo, Wei Jao Chen
School of Nutrition and Health Sciences
Master Program in Food Safety
Research Center of Nutritional Medicine
Research Center of Geriatric Nutrition
Background: This study was designed to investigate the effects of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) enriched with glutamine (GLN) on in vivo cytokine production and cellular immune response in early and late septic stages of rats. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 2 experimental groups and received TPN solution at an energy level of 270 kcal/kg body weight. The TPN solutions were isonitrogenous and identical in nutrients composition except for differences in amino acid content. One group received 2% GLN, whereas the other group received glycine (Gly) instead. TPN was maintained for 5 or 6 days according to the sacrifice schedule of the rats. On day 5, sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Respective groups of rats were sacrificed 2, 4, 6, and 24 hours after CLP. Results: Sepsis resulted in a negative nitrogen balance in both groups, and nitrogen loss was significantly lower in the GLN than the Gly group. Interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ in most of the samples collected at various time points were not detectable in plasma or peritoneal lavage fluid. No differences in plasma IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations were observed between the GLN and Gly groups. Also, there were no significant differences in IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α concentrations in peritoneal lavage fluid between the 2 groups at various time points. The CD4+/CD8+ ratio was significantly higher in the GLN group than in the Gly group only at 4 hours after CLP, and no difference was observed at 24 hours after CLP. Conclusions: TPN preinfused with a GLN-supplemented solution had a beneficial effect in ameliorating the extent of negative nitrogen balance in septic rats. However, parenterally administered GLN did not reduce the production of inflammatory mediators systemically or at the site of injury, and the influence on enhancing cellular immunity was not obvious.
Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
glycine (amino acid)
Parenteral Nutrition Solutions
Peritoneal Lavage
Ascitic Fluid
nitrogen balance
gamma interferon
cytokine production
Yeh, S-L., Yeh, C. L., Lin, M. T., Lo, P. N., & Chen, W. J. (2001). Effects of glutamine-supplemented total parenteral nutrition on cytokine production and T cell population in septic rats. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 25(5), 269-274.
Effects of glutamine-supplemented total parenteral nutrition on cytokine production and T cell population in septic rats. / Yeh, Sung-Ling; Yeh, Chiu Li ; Lin, Ming Tsan ; Lo, Ping Nan ; Chen, Wei Jao .
In: Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, Vol. 25, No. 5, 2001, p. 269-274.
Yeh, S-L, Yeh, CL, Lin, MT, Lo, PN & Chen, WJ 2001, 'Effects of glutamine-supplemented total parenteral nutrition on cytokine production and T cell population in septic rats', Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 269-274.
Yeh S-L, Yeh CL, Lin MT, Lo PN, Chen WJ. Effects of glutamine-supplemented total parenteral nutrition on cytokine production and T cell population in septic rats. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. 2001;25(5):269-274.
Yeh, Sung-Ling ; Yeh, Chiu Li ; Lin, Ming Tsan ; Lo, Ping Nan ; Chen, Wei Jao . / Effects of glutamine-supplemented total parenteral nutrition on cytokine production and T cell population in septic rats. In: Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. 2001 ; Vol. 25, No. 5. pp. 269-274.
@article{81828863525c4f4b962d1f7acb457ec9,
title = "Effects of glutamine-supplemented total parenteral nutrition on cytokine production and T cell population in septic rats",
abstract = "Background: This study was designed to investigate the effects of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) enriched with glutamine (GLN) on in vivo cytokine production and cellular immune response in early and late septic stages of rats. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 2 experimental groups and received TPN solution at an energy level of 270 kcal/kg body weight. The TPN solutions were isonitrogenous and identical in nutrients composition except for differences in amino acid content. One group received 2{\%} GLN, whereas the other group received glycine (Gly) instead. TPN was maintained for 5 or 6 days according to the sacrifice schedule of the rats. On day 5, sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Respective groups of rats were sacrificed 2, 4, 6, and 24 hours after CLP. Results: Sepsis resulted in a negative nitrogen balance in both groups, and nitrogen loss was significantly lower in the GLN than the Gly group. Interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ in most of the samples collected at various time points were not detectable in plasma or peritoneal lavage fluid. No differences in plasma IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations were observed between the GLN and Gly groups. Also, there were no significant differences in IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α concentrations in peritoneal lavage fluid between the 2 groups at various time points. The CD4+/CD8+ ratio was significantly higher in the GLN group than in the Gly group only at 4 hours after CLP, and no difference was observed at 24 hours after CLP. Conclusions: TPN preinfused with a GLN-supplemented solution had a beneficial effect in ameliorating the extent of negative nitrogen balance in septic rats. However, parenterally administered GLN did not reduce the production of inflammatory mediators systemically or at the site of injury, and the influence on enhancing cellular immunity was not obvious.",
keywords = "gamma interferon, total parenteral nutrition, cytokine production, gamma interferon, total parenteral nutrition, cytokine production",
author = "Sung-Ling Yeh and Yeh, {Chiu Li} and Lin, {Ming Tsan} and Lo, {Ping Nan} and Chen, {Wei Jao}",
journal = "Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition",
T1 - Effects of glutamine-supplemented total parenteral nutrition on cytokine production and T cell population in septic rats
AU - Yeh, Sung-Ling
AU - Yeh, Chiu Li
AU - Lin, Ming Tsan
AU - Lo, Ping Nan
AU - Chen, Wei Jao
N2 - Background: This study was designed to investigate the effects of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) enriched with glutamine (GLN) on in vivo cytokine production and cellular immune response in early and late septic stages of rats. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 2 experimental groups and received TPN solution at an energy level of 270 kcal/kg body weight. The TPN solutions were isonitrogenous and identical in nutrients composition except for differences in amino acid content. One group received 2% GLN, whereas the other group received glycine (Gly) instead. TPN was maintained for 5 or 6 days according to the sacrifice schedule of the rats. On day 5, sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Respective groups of rats were sacrificed 2, 4, 6, and 24 hours after CLP. Results: Sepsis resulted in a negative nitrogen balance in both groups, and nitrogen loss was significantly lower in the GLN than the Gly group. Interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ in most of the samples collected at various time points were not detectable in plasma or peritoneal lavage fluid. No differences in plasma IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations were observed between the GLN and Gly groups. Also, there were no significant differences in IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α concentrations in peritoneal lavage fluid between the 2 groups at various time points. The CD4+/CD8+ ratio was significantly higher in the GLN group than in the Gly group only at 4 hours after CLP, and no difference was observed at 24 hours after CLP. Conclusions: TPN preinfused with a GLN-supplemented solution had a beneficial effect in ameliorating the extent of negative nitrogen balance in septic rats. However, parenterally administered GLN did not reduce the production of inflammatory mediators systemically or at the site of injury, and the influence on enhancing cellular immunity was not obvious.
AB - Background: This study was designed to investigate the effects of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) enriched with glutamine (GLN) on in vivo cytokine production and cellular immune response in early and late septic stages of rats. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 2 experimental groups and received TPN solution at an energy level of 270 kcal/kg body weight. The TPN solutions were isonitrogenous and identical in nutrients composition except for differences in amino acid content. One group received 2% GLN, whereas the other group received glycine (Gly) instead. TPN was maintained for 5 or 6 days according to the sacrifice schedule of the rats. On day 5, sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Respective groups of rats were sacrificed 2, 4, 6, and 24 hours after CLP. Results: Sepsis resulted in a negative nitrogen balance in both groups, and nitrogen loss was significantly lower in the GLN than the Gly group. Interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ in most of the samples collected at various time points were not detectable in plasma or peritoneal lavage fluid. No differences in plasma IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations were observed between the GLN and Gly groups. Also, there were no significant differences in IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α concentrations in peritoneal lavage fluid between the 2 groups at various time points. The CD4+/CD8+ ratio was significantly higher in the GLN group than in the Gly group only at 4 hours after CLP, and no difference was observed at 24 hours after CLP. Conclusions: TPN preinfused with a GLN-supplemented solution had a beneficial effect in ameliorating the extent of negative nitrogen balance in septic rats. However, parenterally administered GLN did not reduce the production of inflammatory mediators systemically or at the site of injury, and the influence on enhancing cellular immunity was not obvious.
KW - gamma interferon
KW - total parenteral nutrition
KW - cytokine production
JO - Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
JF - Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
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Soho House takes its co-working concept to Hong Kong
Interiors I by The Spaces Team
The brand’s aesthetic gets a Chinese twist inside the outpost
Courtesy Soho House Group
Soho House has opened its second Asian clubhouse, this time in Hong Kong – and it includes the brand’s SohoWorks coworking concept.
The Sheung Wan-based House will be the first outside of London to host the shared workspace, which will open next year. The clubhouse has already thrown open its doors in the meanwhile, and it continues the familiar aesthetic members of the international brand have come to expect. These include jewellery-box tones, dark woods and vintage furniture.
Nods to the surrounding city come in the form of hand-embossed basketweave ceilings and Chinese bronze screens. Flourishes, inspired by the film industry, can also be found across the multi-level space, as well as over 100 pieces from artists such as Lee Kit and Tsang Kin Wah born or based around Hong Kong.
In homage to the clubhouse’s locality, dim sum is served in the House Brasserie and Pool Room, which features a giant mirror ball, but there are the usual Soho House staples to be found elsewhere. A main bar, gym and show space round off the pack.
33 Des Voeux Rd W, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
The 12 best London coworking spaces
Tags: CoworkingCoworking spaces Hong KongHong KongSoho House
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The TechSeer
You are at:Home»Reviews»Motorola Moto G6 Review: Premium but affordable
Motorola Moto G6 Review: Premium but affordable
By Zainab Iftikhar on June 6, 2018 0 Comments
Motorola is back in the smartphone arena’s budget category with the new Moto G6 Series of smartphones that includes the G6 Plus, the G6, and the G6 Play.
Motorola Moto G6 Review
The standard variant, G6 lies in the middle of the trio and is a worthy upgrade over the last year’s G5 and G5s with a premium glass design, a tall screen, competent cameras and almost stock Android. It is available in the US and Australia at a starting price of $249 USD and $398 AUD respectively.
Is the G6 worthy enough to be called the top budget friendly phone of 2018 which can beat Huawei Honor 10 or Nokia 7 plus? Read our review to find out.
Premium Glass Design
Tall and Clear Display
Dual Sim and Dedicated microSD Card Slot
Stock Android with Few Motorola extras
The Cons
Sunlight readability can be a problem
The slippery back may leave smudges
The camera takes time to focus
The design and build quality are one of the biggest changes we have witnessed in Motorola Moto G6. It’s crafted from 3D glass and the back looks shiny and premium but you have to be careful as it can be slippery and prone to fingerprints. It’s highly advisable to use a back cover.
In some regions, the set does come with the cover pre-applied. With curved edges and a frame of aluminum around them, it also allows easy holding on the hands and reminds us of the Honor 9. On the bottom of the set, there’s a much-welcomed USB type C slot along with a 3.5 mm headphone jack. With a dimension of 153.8 x 72.3 x 8.3 mm, it’s fine for the weight to be 167 g. The fingerprint sensor lies on the front that also acts as a home button. There’s also Gorilla Glass 3 coating for protection.
The slot for dual sim and dedicated microSD lies on the top which is a thing we haven’t seen in the recent flagships. The phone is splash proof but not water resistant. The back camera unit also has an interesting circular design. The earpiece and phone speaker has been combined into one unit on the top. The speaker is loud enough as its front-firing.
The Screen and Display
Motorola has improved in the screen department of G6 making it taller in size (5.7 inches). The screen is an IPS LCD and has Full HD+ resolution with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Watching videos and movies and browsing through photos on this device is a treat. The colors look sharp and vibrant when inside and the display is bright enough with solid viewing angles.
The screen struggles for a great readability score in direct sunlight due to IPS display. It has a below average brightness score of 413 nits. It should have been to at least 500 nits. This is the only flaw we found in the screen, other than that the display is exceptional.
The cameras can be considered competent given the price of G6. It houses dual 12 MP (f/1.8) + 5 MP (f/2.2) with phase detection autofocus and dual-LED dual-tone flash in a beautiful circular housing at the back. For taking normal photos and videos every day the main 12MP sensor is perfect. Colors are accurate and vibrant. The secondary 5MP camera is for the Portrait Mode for snapping with the Bokeh effect which lets you blur the background while focusing on the object.
You can shoot videos up to 1080p at 60/30fps. There are also various fun effects such as Face Filters which livens up your photos and videos. You can also record videos in slow motion. The front-facing camera is an 8 MP (f/2.2) with the much-needed LED flash that takes good selfies even in low light and record videos up to 1080p. With all such features, the cameras may be slow to focus but all are a welcome addition given the G6’s price.
Motorola has loaded G6 with almost stock Android Oreo (8.0). Though it’s not the latest (Oreo version 8.1), still the software experience on the phone is great. Moving around the menus is fast and smooth. You will not find any bloatware except Outlook and LinkedIn.
You also get the Moto app which includes many features that will be useful in daily usage. For instance, you can double twist to launch the camera and shake the phone to make the torch on and off. You also get a usual Face Unlock feature and the Dolby Audio software that enhances the audio experience coming from the speaker. Motorola has promised the phone would get Android P, but as can be seen in the recent times, this process would take time as the company has been rather slow in providing updates.
The G6 comes with a 3000 mAh battery that is equal to even the recent premium flagships such as LG G7 ThinQ. It’s adequate enough to last a day and if you use the phone heavily then you may have to plug in frequently. Watching movies and playing games at maximum brightness may well even decline the battery even more.
If you use the phone for calls and messages and the occasional browsing and YouTube videos, then it is possible you may get through with more than one day. The good thing is that a TurboPower charger is included that provides 6-hour battery life in just 15 minutes. So your battery concerns may become less.
The G6 comes with the fairly new octa-core Snapdragon 450 chipset coupled with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage that offers optimized performance but can’t be compared to the mid-range or flagship chipsets of 600 and 800 series that can be found in the recent premium flagships. We found the handset to perform normal tasks well and there was no lag in opening and resuming multiple apps. But if you are a heavy gamer and like to play graphics-rich games at high settings then you may have to look for alternatives as it becomes laggier. But games like PUBG Mobile would run well in low settings. It would have been great if Motorola had used a Snapdragon 600 series chipset for even better performance. To make things better, a 4 GB/64 GB version of G6 is also available.
The Moto G series keeps getting better and better each year. The Motorola Moto G6 is an overall worthy upgrade and one of the best option for the budget-conscious people looking for a reliable smartphone that’s packed with all the essentials you need in 2018. You can get it a starting price of $249 USD in the US and $398 AUD in Australia.
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Geraldton speeder fined $1000
Staff reporterGeraldton Guardian
Wednesday, 10 August 2016 10:56AM
Camera IconGeraldton speeder fined $1000 Credit: Geraldton Guardian
A 21-year-old Geraldton driver was fined $1000 when she was clocked at 151 km/h on Brand Highway near Eneabba late yesterday afternoon.
Police said she avoided “by the skin of her teeth” a reckless driving charge and 28-day car seizure, which applies if drivers travel at 155 km/h or higher in a 110 km/h zone.
The woman, who was driving a Toyota Corolla, was pulled over at 4.11pm about 10 kilometres north of the township.
She told police the reason she was speeding was to “get home to see my mum”.
Sergeant Jane Gillham of Three Springs Police Station said police had probably saved the woman's life.
“At that time of day wildlife start to come out and if she happened to hit something at that speed she would’ve had no chance,” she said.
The driver was also given seven demerit points.
Perth woman fined $2500 over smuggled tea leavesPremium
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The World According to Bird
Ten minutes a day, one object, reported by bird.
Taming Raccoons for Fun and Profit
The Bird Mini Flashbacks, Object Writing August 16, 2017 3 Minutes
One summer when I was 13, my brother-in-law, Randy, saw a baby raccoon sitting along the side of the road next to a mother who had been hit by a car. I was known as the animal lover of the family – my nickname was Elly May after the teenage girl on the Beverly Hillbillies who, like me, was happiest with a menagerie crawling around her neck – so Randy covered his hands in a thick pair of protective gloves, grabbed the hissing ball of fur, and threw her into the bed of his truck. He then drove straight to my mother’s house where he presented her to me as an exotic pet.
I was devastated that she’d lost her mother, but, selfishly, thrilled to have a new pet. I retrieved an old pet taxi from the shed and, using Randy’s gloves, transplanted the sopping wet, angry creature into her new home. She seemed to hate me. She stayed huddled at the back of the pet carrier, glaring at me with yellow eyes and growling in an attempt to convince me she could bite my face off through these bars if she really wanted to. But I could smell her fear – there’s a scent that animals give off when they’re in danger or agitated, and this little baby raccoon was throwing a stink my way that undermined her nonverbal threats of ripping out my eyeballs with her teeth.
Meanwhile, I loved her already and wanted her to love me just as much. I stole a jar of Mom’s peanut butter from the kitchen and began rubbing handfuls of it across the bars, hoping to entice her closer. My hands became stickier with each dip and smear. After ten minutes, my fingers were nearly webbed together, but it was worth it because the hateful fur-ball could no longer resist the scent of food. She stopped growling, instead chortling like a pigeon as she crept forward on tiny, padded paws. Soon, she’d licked the bars clean and was looking up at me, almost purring. My mother warned that she probably had rabies and swore she’d leave me to die in the basement if I contracted it too. I unlocked the bars anyway and allowed her to crawl into my lap where I continued to feed her peanut butter until she fell asleep in a furry semicircle.
For the rest of the summer, she was my first priority. I called her Baby because she seemed certain I was her mother, following me everywhere and crying noisily if I disappeared behind a door for even a moment during the day. At night, she slept outside on the porch in a bed I’d created from old wood scraps and cloth because Mom remained certain my new pet was an unpredictable, possibly rabid nuisance. Each morning that summer, I woke up and fed her breakfast, a mixture of peanut butter and cheesy-poofs. She would chatter happily, climbing up my jeans over my white US Open 2001 t-shirt which by the end of the summer was stained with orange and brown paw prints. She preferred to sit on my shoulder like a parrot, holding the snack between her paws and taking bites. This was the cutest behavior I’d ever seen, but I worried that she needed training in food scavenging for when she got older; my solution was to hide cheesy-poofs inside tree branches so she would have to climb to reach them. By the end of the summer, I had turned the area outside my house into a raccoon jungle gym – I stashed snacks in garbage bins, buried them in the yard, and dangled them from chains she easily scaled.
Over the next year and a half, she lived with me, but as she grew bigger, she often wandered farther and farther away at night, becoming less my pet during the day and more like a visitor that showed up without calling, instead delighting me with surprise arrivals. “Sherry, your ‘coon’s out here!” Mom sometimes called to me in the evenings from the front porch. I’d come running out to see how much bigger she’d gotten, laughing as Mom cowered against the screen door for fear Baby would mistake her for me and climb up her back. I’d pick her up like old times, petting her and always giving her lots of treats. As the year went on, her visits became less and less frequent until one day after being gone for nearly four months, she showed up with four little raccoons of her own. I tried to give them cheesy-poofs too, but she was fiercely protective, growling and refusing to let me get too close.
I didn’t see her much after that, but I like to think she still lives somewhere in the woods behind my parents’ house, raising generations of raccoons who, to hear Mom tell it, will soon come and dismantle the house piece by piece, starting with the kitchen – Baby knows that’s where the peanut butter lives.
Published by The Bird
I really like pigeons, more than any other human I've met so far. View all posts by The Bird
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What is Object Writing?
“The best diving technique I know is object writing. It’s direct and simple. You arbitrarily pick an object—a real object—and focus your senses on it. Treat the object as a diving board to launch you inward to the vaults of your senses.”
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Murziline Parchment’s application to be CEO of Tower Hamlets
Posted in Uncategorized on October 24, 2012| 27 Comments »
A brown envelope dropped through my letter-box last week.
Its contents concerned the woman on the far right of this picture.
Her name is Murziline Parchment and she is the “Head of the Mayor’s Office” at Tower Hamlets council, a job she landed soon after Lutfur Rahman’s victory in October 2010 largely because of her connections to Ken Livingstone.
She used to be Ken’s director of “major projects and service delivery” during his time at City Hall. Andrew Gilligan has written extensively about her, for example here.
Since then she has gained a reputation at the town hall for being Lutfur’s political brains. She’s also the person who signed off those dodgy-looking invoices from her political friend Gulam Robbani.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about her. Some tell me she is very able and I’ve no doubt she’s very suited to her current politically appointed role. But I’m also told some senior council officers view her with deep suspicion, that she sees herself as the real boss of a borough that still has no formal chief executive.
So perhaps it’s a touch ironic that she once harboured ambitions of becoming Tower Hamlets’ chief executive (and maybe still does).
Well, when I say “harboured ambitions”, I underplay it slightly: she actually applied for the position after Lutfur, then the council leader, sacked Martin Smith in 2009.
Here’s the first page of the document that arrived last week.
Her CV makes for outstanding reading on paper: student union president, barrister, Ken crony at the GLA, career break, boss of Lutfur’s office…
But there’s also a rather damning assessment of interview with headhunters. It’s a comprehensive rejection, scoring 7 Cs and 3 Ds in her 10 assessment tests.
The recruitment consultants described her performance as “very unconvincing”. They said she demonstrated good administrative skills but her “responses lacked substance” and that “she tended to deal with the issues at a process level but said very little about the issues themselves”.
“The responses were all fairly basic,” the report’s summary continues. “There was little analysis and she offered no meaningful insights. She showed little awareness of the political, managerial or partnership context. There were several items where it was not clear whether she had understood what the issues were but her responses were so general that it was difficult to be certain. There were some items where she appeared to be on the right lines but she did not follow her approach through or there were aspects of the scenario that she did not address.
“In summary, this was a disappointing performance.”
The overall summary concludes: “Based on her performance at interview, Murziline showed little that convinced she was ready for this level of role. Her lack [of] operational leadership experience makes her unsuitable for the role at this stage.”
Oh dear. Maybe she’s now gained the “experience”.
I guess the question is: was Lutfur aware in 2009 she had applied for the job (when Kevan Collins eventually secured the role)? And was he aware of the above assessment when he appointed her reportedly without any formal interview of application process to head his office in early 2011?
Are there lessons to be learned about how these pork-barrel roles are dished out in future?
Here are the links to the assessment, Murziline’s CV and her cover letter to the recruitment consultants.
(On page 4 you’ll also read that she “finds Tower Hamlets to be an exemplary borough”. I know we all say things in interviews, but… .)
The £855 rail tickets and the clumsy cover-up
Posted in Uncategorized on October 9, 2012| 12 Comments »
When I asked Tower Hamlets council’s press office last week to justify the £855 spent by children’s services director Isobel Cattermole and her deputy on two first class rial tickets to Manchester for a conference, the reply was: “We don’t comment on individual travel arrangements.”
The same officer then said that “open tickets are sometimes purchased to allow greater flexibility with travel times”. I then asked for the council’s staff travel policy, but was told I would need to request that under the Freedom of Information Act.
Of course, there’s more than one way to skin a cat and I got it via other means. As you’ll remember from the last post, it stated that standard class would only be reimbursed.
And then I broke the story. And then there was the outrage and embarrassment. Cllr Oliur Rahman, the council’s cabinet member for children’s services looked into what had happened, and today I received the following email from the council’s press office.
Hi Ted
Please see the below statement.
A council spokesperson said: “The council policy on travel expenses for its staff to attend work related events is set out clearly on page 50 of our employee handbook. Such expenses are reimbursed at ‘the available cheap rate or ordinary return fare, whichever is the lower.’
In instances where officers incur expenses in excess of the lowest available fare, they are duty bound to reimburse the council the outstanding balance. This is exactly what has happened in the instance of the two officers cited in the Sunday Express report.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman added: “If Brandon Lewis is really concerned about protecting council budgets in order to help poorer communities he could use his opportunity at the Tory conference to oppose its plans for a further £10 billion of welfare cuts.”
So the council is now commenting on an individual’s travel arrangements, and it seems Isobel Cattermole and her deputy have been told to reimburse the difference. But when? I’ve asked the council to state the date, but I’ve heard nothing.
You see, the thing is, these tickets were bought not by Ms Cattermole, but by an official in the chief executive’s office on a corporate credit card. That spending would have been signed off by either Ms Cattermole herself, or by someone under her, and then paid by the town hall’s finance team – a team headed up by the director of finance, Chris Naylor….who I’m told has just landed a job as the top officer at Barnet Council.
Through this one transaction, we see the incompetence throughout the council.
1. Officers think it’s OK to spend £855 of our money on two luxury rail tickets.
2. They think no one will notice.
3. The press office thinks it can bury its head in the sand by telling journalists it won’t comment, but then U-turning.
4. And then they think they can play with words to imply the money had always been reimbursed…(contrary to the original FoI answer).
They really do think we’re fools, these people who run our council.
£855 for two first class rail tickets at Tower Hamlets council
Another Freedom of Information request to Tower Hamlets council hits the mark. Mind you, it’s not difficult.
In the Sunday Express today: (the FoI disclosures are here and here).
BRITAIN’S most impoverished council spent £855 on a pair of first class rail tickets for two officials to attend a conference a couple of hours away.
Tower Hamlets Council in east London bought the tickets for children’s services director, Isobel Cattermole, and her deputy Ann Canning to travel to Manchester last July.
They attended the annual conference of the Association of Directors for Children’s Services, a two-hour train journey from London’s Euston station that normally costs £72 for a standard off-peak return.
However, the directors, who both earn around £116,000 a year, were given first class open returns on Virgin Rail, the most expensive tickets available, costing £427.50 each.
The spending, described by a minister as “disgraceful”, would have bought two return airfares from London to New York, with change to spare.
Tower Hamlets is the poorest borough in Britain where more than half of all secondary pupils receive free school meals.
When asked to justify the spending, the council said: “Open tickets are sometimes purchased to allow officers greater flexibility with travel times, where conferences finish early/late, or officers need to leave early due to unforeseen circumstances.”
However, conference organisers told the Sunday Express the conference began at 1.45pm on a Thursday and finished mid-afternoon the next day, both times allowing standard off-peak travel.
The council’s press office refused to disclose its policies for staff travel, saying it needed a request under the Freedom of Information Act, but a leaked document confirms officers are required to travel by standard class.
“Travelling expenses will be reimbursed at the available cheap rate or ordinary return fare, whichever is the lower,” the policy states.
Last night, Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis waded into the row.
He said: “It is disgraceful that the poorest borough in the country has such a reckless attitude to spending taxpayers cash. This kind of wild spending is all too typical of left wing councils who have a casual attitude to the public purse”
Roberty Oxley, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, described the spending as “incredible”, adding: “The rest of us could have flown half way round the world for that much money.
“It certainly appears that taxpayer value for money has taken a back seat to the directors’ desire for extra convenience and comfort.”
The council insists Whitehall spending cuts are causing so much hardship that the town hall is being forced to sell off the family silver.
Last week, its executive mayor, Lutfur Rahman, who hires a chauffeured Mercedes at a rate of £70 a day, announced a sale of the borough’s famous Henry Moore sculpture, the Draped Seated Woman, which is worth about £20million to plug a claimed £100million funding gap.
I think if I were a councillor, I’d be asking who requested this ticket, who authorised it, how many more are there, what trains these two actually took and what on earth was going through Ms Cattermole’s mind as she sat down in first class.
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NYC Comedy Group Swaps Trump Jr. Book Jacket With ‘More Honest’ Title: ‘Daddy, Please Love Me’
Comedians Post Fake Army Recruitment Poster Featuring Trump Jr.: ‘I’m Not Enlisting, But You Should’
Trump Jr. Shows Off AR-15 Decorated With Image Of Hillary Clinton Behind Bars
Federal Agency Reviewing Whether Trump Jr Illegally Killed Endangered Sheep In Mongolia: Report
Trump Jr Laughs At The Prospect That AG Barr Will Lock Up Trump’s Political Enemies If Reelected
A comedy group replaced the jacket covers of Donald Trump Jr.’s new book “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us” with a fake title reading: “Daddy, Please Love Me: How Everything I Do Is Try To Earn My Father’s Love” in an effort to make the book a “little more honest.”
The duo of artists and comedians known as T.G.L., which stands for “The Good Liars,” took credit for the stunt in a New York City bookstore days after the president’s eldest son released the conservative book.
The comedy group said they placed a book jacket on copies at a New York Barnes and Noble location “to make it a little more honest.”
“You’re welcome, Junior!” a caption read.
We changed the cover of @DonaldJTrumpJr’s book to make it a little more honest and put them up in @BNBuzz. You're welcome, Junior! #DonnyLovesDaddy
cc: @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/cJssiXadtw
— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) November 7, 2019
The book was also seen placed in the Young Adult fiction section of the bookstore.
We made a new Don Jr. book cover and put them in the Young Adult section of Barnes and Noble. pic.twitter.com/071E3tTdGz
— Jason Selvig (@jasonselvig) November 7, 2019
As recently highlighted by CREW’s Robert Maguire: “In his new book, Don Jr writes about a visit to Arlington National Cemetery before his father’s inauguration and compares the sacrifice of the soldiers buried there to ‘all the sacrifices we’d have to make to help my father succeed.’ ”
In his new book, Don Jr writes about a visit to Arlington National Cemetery before his father's inauguration and compares the sacrifice of the soldiers buried there to "all the sacrifices we'd have to make to help my father succeed." https://t.co/CpgDtYdSD4 pic.twitter.com/gYOhlGsDWR
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) November 7, 2019
“The Good Liars,” Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler, are also the same pair that placed a satirical ad on a New York City subway train last month that took aim at President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. The ad read, “Need A Lawyer? Call Crazy Rudy.”
The ad declared that Giuliani “has no shame” and “will work for free!”
“We did the stunt to reach Don Jr. It’s really sad to watch him try to earn his father’s love so publicly. It’s pretty obvious that President Trump doesn’t love him, and Junior’s attempts to get his father’s attention — dressing up as his father for Halloween and marrying a Fox News personality that looks conspicuously like Melania — have been really hard to watch,” the duo said in a statement to The Hill.
Related Topics:donald trump jr.
Trump Ordered To Pay $2 Million For Misusing Charity Foundation: ‘A Shocking Pattern Of Illegality’
Trump Jr.: My Visit To Arlington Cemetery Reminded Me Of My Own Family’s ‘Sacrifices’
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Dems are angry over Hillary Clinton’s latest comments
By Amie Parnes - 03/14/18 06:00 AM EDT
Democrats are angry that Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton Democrats plot new approach to win over rural voters The Memo: Sanders-Warren battle could reshape Democratic primary Rosenstein says he authorized release of Strzok-Page texts MORE continues to discuss what went wrong during the 2016 presidential election against President Trump Donald John TrumpTrump's newest Russia adviser, Andrew Peek, leaves post: report Hawley expects McConnell's final impeachment resolution to give White House defense ability to motion to dismiss Trump rips New York City sea wall: 'Costly, foolish' and 'environmentally unfriendly idea' MORE.
Even some of Clinton’s own former aides and surrogates say the former Democratic presidential nominee should back away from the discussion about her failed campaign because it’s harmful to the party.
During a conference in India this weekend, Clinton called states that supported her in the election more economically advanced than the states that backed Trump.
The remarks reminded many of the former secretary of State’s comments in 2016 that some of Trump’s supporters fit in a “basket of deplorables,” a line the Republican then used against her repeatedly during the final stretch of the campaign.
She also insinuated that women who voted for Trump were motivated by “ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever, believes you should.”
In interviews with The Hill on Tuesday, even the staunchest Clinton allies as well as longtime advisers say the comments were cringeworthy and ultimately detrimental to Democrats.
“She put herself in a position where [Democrats] from states that Trump won will have to distance themselves from her even more,” said one former senior Clinton aide. “That’s a lot of states.”
“I think the party has moved on from Hillary Clinton,” the former senior Clinton aide added.
Another Clinton surrogate questioned the decisionmaking behind Clinton’s remarks. For months, some Democrats have been arguing that Clinton’s sentiments have been counterproductive to the party’s rebuilding efforts. And some have told her she should emulate former President Obama’s model to only make statements when it’s essential.
Even before she launched her book tour last fall for “What Happened,” party strategists have said Clinton should lay low.
“She’s annoying me. She’s annoying everyone, as far as I can tell,” said one 2016 Clinton surrogate. “Who lets her say these things?”
One former senior Obama White House aide added, “If these statements are a form of catharsis, it would be in the Democratic Party’s best interest for her to get these out of her system soon.”
“We need leaders like her to look forward to 2020 and how to unify the party, not continue to re-litigate the past.”
The Republican National Committee (RNC) also pounced on Clinton’s remarks.
On Monday, Mike Reed, the deputy communications director at the RNC, emailed reporters to pile on.
“At the RNC, we try not to continue to focus on Hillary Clinton. We really do try very hard,” Reed said. “But this one is impossible to ignore.”
Reed criticized Clinton for saying that she won all the areas in the country with high gross domestic product, but also zeroed in on her comments that Trump won areas inhabited by voters who don’t “like black people getting rights” and “don’t like women getting jobs.”
“Putting aside how absurd and wrong she is, rhetoric like this is the reason Sen. [Jon] Tester (D-Mont.) was forced to release an ad today, 8 months before Election Day, attempting to highlight areas of agreement with President Trump,” the RNC spokesman said. “The Democrat brand is isolated, elitist, and as out-of-touch as it ever has been.”
A Clinton spokesman did not comment on the former secretary of State’s remarks.
On Saturday, after Trump campaigned for Republican House candidate Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania, Clinton’s longtime communications adviser, Philippe Reines, said he understands “why that man won in 2016.”
“And I understand — I’m not terrified — but I understand why he may win again in 2020,” Reines said.
UPDATED ON MAY 24: This story was updated to correctly attribute a quotation to a senior former aide to Clinton who spoke to The Hill on background. A previous version had an editing mistake that misattributed the quotation.
Tags Hillary Clinton Donald Trump
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Am I a Redundant Human Being?
By Mela Hartwig
File Under: Self-Realization in Women
Anne K. Yoder | 1
Pitting a novel entitled Am I a Redundant Human Being? against Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love may initially seem like an imbalanced match. Eat, Pray, Love is more than double its length, a best-seller turned blockbuster movie, an inspirational book devoted to the pursuit of sensuality, spirituality, personal independence, and love. Mela Hartwig’s Am I a Redundant Human Being? is a conspicuous underdog, a slight volume in translation written by the Austrian actress turned novelist Mela Hartwig who befriended Virginia Woolf in Woolf’s final years. Gilbert’s book is a travel memoir that recounts a year-long pilgrimage in search of personal enlightenment that Gilbert the writer planned to chronicle well before booking her flights, while Hartwig’s is a bildungsroman, centered on the ineffectual Aloisia Schmidt who aspires to significance as she bemoans the dullness of the existence she was born into. The titles alone reveal the divergent natures of the two books, and demand that you answer, as a reader, are you drawn to pleasance or neurotic self-doubt?
The Library of Congress classifies Am I a Redundant Human Being? primarily as a book about “self-realization in women,” which is the topic of Gilbert’s book, too: the process of growing into the person you dream of becoming (or, in Schmidt’s case, of failing to do so). Gilbert’s path to self-actualization is fairly clear-cut: first stop Italy, where she learns Italian and binges on pasta and pizza merely because she wants to, next an ashram in India in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment, and a final stop in Bali for balance, where inevitably, it’s no secret, she falls in love. As Gilbert states towards the end of her journey: “I think about the woman I have become lately, about the life that I am now living, and about how much I always wanted to be this person and live this life, liberated from the farce of pretending to be anyone other than myself.” However inspiring or cloying or annoying you find Gilbert’s self-satisfaction by book’s end, this becoming one’s ideal is exactly what Hartwig’s Aloisia Schmidt yearns to do, so desperately in fact that she’s willing to destroy her life in this pursuit.
Aloisia Schmidt is wonderfully insufferable. She recounts the sad events of her insignificant life in tireless detail. She is neither beautiful nor ugly, intelligent nor stupid, good student nor bad: the sum of her life is one large zero, or at least that’s what she would lead you, dear reader, to believe. However, Schmidt has penetrating insight into her own inadequacies and shortcomings, as well as the strength to willfully unravel her unexceptional life, as her first boyfriend, Emil K., accuses: “it’s hubris, Luise, to think so little of yourself… You’re acting as if you’ve been singled out. As if it’s your destiny to feel this way.” She rejects suitors with good intentions in favor of caustic affairs, erodes the faith of others, especially lovers, with her own self-doubt, and alienates anyone who believes in her – true to Groucho Marx’s adage, she wouldn’t care to join any club that would have her as a member.
Gilbert, on the other hand, identifies as being “social and bubbly and smiling all the time,” and makes friends wherever she goes. Her tone conveys personal warmth. She speaks plainly, offering intimate details and asides as if confiding in a good friend. In India, Gilbert admits her lifelong desire “to be the quiet girl,” but then counters this quickly with: “Probably precisely because I’m not.” She is the well-intentioned socialite, and never, however much she halfheartedly wishes, the despondent wallflower. However, Gilbert’s glibness and sometimes pussyfooting make one wonder about her depth. We need not forget that Gilbert is on a professional mission. Following her divorce and failed love affair, the self-proclaimed “administrator of my own rescue” had the wherewithal to pitch her book, pack her bags, and journey solo around the world for a year, under the pretense of finding herself.
Gilbert is closer in nature to one of Schmidt’s prep school classmates who are better dressed, better prepared, just more advantaged in general, something that Schmidt later identifies as “two-faced arrogance that comes with money and social position – things I completely lacked, and still lack.” When she has moved on to office life, Schmidt becomes “conscious of my pathetic tendency to be impressed by anyone the least bit self-assured.” Lacking confidence distinguishes Schmidt from the women she both envies and admires, and this distinguishes her from Gilbert, too.
Schmidt later befriends an actress (uncannily) named Elizabeth, who she wants so much to be that she imitates her, and this emulation becomes Schmidt’s one inspired role. After Elizabeth’s suicide, Schmidt attempts to inhabit her character, wanting “to make her fate my own, to experience it as a dream and desire.” Aloisia Schmidt is like Eve Harrington, the cunning understudy in All About Eve, though it’s not Elizabeth’s fame and prominence she covets, it’s her entire existence. Where Gilbert grows into her ideal self in the end, Schmidt’s ideal self is someone else entirely.
Of the two books, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love is the one Aloisia Schmidt would prefer to read. Of her reading habits, Schmidt says, “I read in order to forget myself, to slip from one life into another, to identify myself with my newest heroine… When I read, I lived on credit; I literally borrowed from the author what I myself so painfully lacked – namely, fantasies. I dreamed, you could say, at the author’s expense. But wasn’t it his job to dream for me?” Gilbert speaks to fantasies, specifically the twenty-first century American variety of jet-set enlightenment by way of paradisiacal settings, and reassurance that broken hearts mend to love again. The fantasy is so persuasive that her book has singlehandedly augmented spiritual tourism in Bali.
Eat, Pray, Love owes no small part of its success to the fantasy it sells to multitudes of readers who, à la Aloisia Schmidt, question the significance of their lives, who find, if not hope, then escape from their thwarted aspirations and dreams. Schmidt would prefer to lead Elizabeth Gilbert’s life, and honestly, if I had to chose between their lives, I would, too. But as a reader, I find that Schmidt’s hand in her own downfall and her relentless refusal to settle for redundancy make her a more interesting if also more complicated character.
Bonus Link: Zen and the Art of Image Maintenance
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New community center details discussed
By GREG SCELLIN
Signal Editor
The committee working on getting a Geneva Community Center built north of the Fillmore County Hospital and east of the Fillmore Central Elementary School conducted its third of three question and answer sessions over the lunch hour last Wednesday at the Geneva Senior Center. Meetings also took place at the Geneva Public Library on August 22 and September 9.
Committee member Nancy Meyer, who moved to Geneva in 1980 with husband Stan and raised four kids here—one, Alex, still lives in Geneva, led the session. Meyer said $1.5 million is in the bank earmarked for the project. This money is mainly from two grants—only $50,000 is from individuals. This number will have to grow significantly, as the committee is hoping to have 60 percent of the project funded by private donations and grants.
Meyer said the senior center portion of the new community center would seat 100 and also have a covered entrance. An activity gym would also be located at the site. Geneva City Administrator Kyle Svec said the city would like to have the new gym open as much as possible. But, a Geneva Parks and Rec. person would have to be on site during this time. Parking would also be a big plus at the location inside the new Geneva housing addition—as many as 100 parking spots would be possible.
After fielding a question about why the committee eliminated the old Fillmore County Hospital location, both Svec and Meyer said the ground at the location was found to not be suitable to be built on. They also said many other locations were researched and eliminated.
Another person at the meeting mentioned that the proposed location might be too far from downtown and make it difficult for current senior center users to be able to utilize.
“I would hate to build a senior center out there that nobody comes too,” he said. “People are coming here…will they be able to get out there?”
Svec said, he feels the location in the housing division is a good one to expand the offerings of the Geneva Parks & Rec. Department.
“It really fits nicely in that spot,” Svec said. “Parks & Rec is not able to fit in all the programs that are requested where we’re at now. We hope to expand our programs. The soil there is not suitable for building…this is the overriding factor. At the end of the day, I feel we explored all our options and this is where we’re at.”
← Panthers Down HSC; Improve To 12-4
Public Hearing about Geneva YRTC Oct. 2 →
2012 DCP/Acre Annual Sign-up
Graduation smiles…
May 18, 2010 thenebraskasigna 0
August 1, 2017 thenebraskasigna 0
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ASX Price : PGR 0.1600 ▴
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The PAS Group covers both the retail and wholesale segments of the market and has a rapidly growing online business. The group has 280 retail stores with the key retail brands being Review, Black Pepper, JETS Swimwear and Bondi Bather. The group acquired White Runway, an online occasion wear business with a growing number of showrooms both in Australia and internationally.
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The Vikings are coming !
Kon-Tiki man Thor Heyerdahl’s son builds a Viking boat and has a plan to go with it.
https://midgardexpedition.com/
Author SturgeonePosted on October 5, 2019 October 4, 2019
43 thoughts on “Picture This”
patd says:
sturge, thanks. what a work of art.
Sturgeone says:
NYT best of late night:
“I’m honestly not shocked Pence was involved, because he does whatever Trump tells him, right? You see Trump is — he’s Homer Simpson, right, and he basically picked Ned Flanders as his V.P.” — TREVOR NOAH, on Vice President Mike Pence’s possible involvement in the campaign of political pressure directed at Ukraine’s government
“Well, Mike Pence, you can’t be surprised that the [expletive] you pledged your loyalty to is now throwing you under the bus. This isn’t a case of the carriage turning back into a pumpkin because he’s always been a pumpkin.” — SETH MEYERS
“Officials close to Pence insist he was unaware of Trump’s efforts to press Zelensky for damaging information about Biden and his son. All right, I‘m sorry, but that’s just insane. Of course Pence knew about it. You think Trump kept this a secret? The guy can’t keep his mouth shut about anything. He probably ran over to Pence’s office immediately to tell him about it just like a kid who figured out how to type ‘boobs’ on a calculator.” — SETH MEYERS
carl Hiaasen Miami herald:
You know you’re in big trouble when your lawyer needs a lawyer
Imagine you’re a seasoned, white-collar defense lawyer with a stellar reputation. Your practice is sailing along, and in South Florida there’s no shortage of wealthy Medicare fraudsters, money launderers and corporate embezzlers who’d love to hire you.
Then one day the phone rings. An old friend and former law school classmate is in trouble. His name is Rudy Giuliani.
He wants you to help.
… do you really need a frothing, undisciplined fool for a client?
Jon A. Sale does not.
The Miami-based attorney has built an enviable resume that includes many years as a federal prosecutor, going all the way back to the Watergate investigation. As a defense counsel he’s well respected by judges and peers.
He avoids the limelight. Doesn’t posture. Doesn’t blabber. Usually his clients pay attention and behave.
But now he’s got one who can’t stop yakking and is pathologically addicted to seeing his own twitchy face on TV. By his own actions, Giuliani has made himself the most visible stooge in the Donald Trump impeachment comedy.
Rudy’s worse than a loose cannon. He’s a meandering cluster bomb.
However, the fact he wanted Jon Sale to be his attorney is proof that he’s still got a few functioning brain cells.
Sale’s chore will be dealing with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which recently subpoenaed documents from Giuliani relating to his contacts with certain Ukrainians.
So not only will Jon Sale have to sort through a “very complex” Congressional subpoena, he’ll also have to deal with Ramblin’ Rudy, who can’t seem to keep his story straight, or his mouth closed.
“Stop giving interviews,” might well be Sale ’s first piece of legal advice, followed by:
“Please shut up,” followed by:
“Rudy, I’m begging you. Enough already,” followed by:
“Okay, are you hard of hearing? I said zip it,” followed by:
Duct tape.
In a brief, low-key interview with the Herald/Times, Sale said: “I have known Mayor Giuliani, and he’s been a friend of mine for a long time.”
Then he added: “This not my first rodeo.”
Maybe not, but this time he got stuck with the clown.
Pogo says:
I am sure Sale got a huge retainer. If tRudy goes silent it will show he may have 2 functioning brain cells – the 2nd telling him to follow the lawyer’s advice instead of the voices in his head and the clown texting hm.
Where did Guiliani get the money for said retainer?
Crowd: We have to fight the gop tooth and nail. We have to fight them in every arena, carrying the fight to them!
Dude: That’s right, we have to fight! Fight, fight, fight!
Crowd: We have to fight fire with fire, fight them on the beaches, fight them in the swamps. There is no easy way out.
Dude: I’m with ya all the way, it’s a fight to the finish!
Crowd: So what’s your plan, O Dude?
Dude: First…..I want to assess this Biden transgression!
Crowd: [ facepalm ]
Dead on Sturg. Now where might someone who has the goods on his mob boss “client” get money that might keep him from spilling the beans? Hmmm, I wonder.
vlad maybe?
back in 2017, this at USNews:
The Richest Man in the World Could Be Putin
The controversial Russian leader could be quietly worth more than Bill Gates, but how that wealth is calculated is controversial.
Rachel seems to think some of that putin fortune comes from Russian oil industry which he controls.
see her new book “blowout”
speaking of $$
chicago trib:
Elizabeth Warren raised $24.6 million over the past three months, relying largely on a massive small donor operation to solidify her status as a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Massachusetts senator’s haul, announced on Friday, is just less than the $25.3 million her chief liberal rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, posted during the third quarter. But together, the fundraising numbers illustrate the financial strength of the party’s most progressive wing and a rejection of more traditional approaches to pressing donors for money.
The White House hopefuls who have relied on frequent high-dollar fundraisers reported numbers that lag behind Sanders and Warren. Former Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday he raised $15.2 million during the third quarter. California Sen. Kamala Harris reported $11.6 million during the same period. Pete Buttigieg, who has combined small donors with traditional fundraisers, raised $19.1 million.
Both Warren and Sanders have consistently attracted armies of small donors, many of whom contribute online. Warren’s campaign said its quarterly totals came from 509,000 donors offering 943,000 donations. Her campaign has $25.7 million cash on hand.
[continues]
also in re lizzie, the hill:
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden are locked in a three-way tie in the California Democratic Primary, according to a poll released Thursday.
The Public Policy Institute of California’s (PPIC) survey found Warren as the top choice of 23 percent of likely voters in the Democratic Primary, followed by Biden at 22 percent support and Sanders at 21 percent support.
It is a statistical tie as all three candidates fall within the margin of error.
California Sen. Kamala Harris (D) received the next highest support at 8 percent, just ahead of South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) at 6 percent support.
Blue Bronc says:
Did the old socialist/communist think announcing a heart attack on a Friday afternoon would go unnoticed, even with all the impeachment noise exploding around the tubes? Nah. The question is will the old guy have some color back in his cheeks come Monday morning, or will he be as white as a sheet? My bet is something in the shade of grey, not dead white or pale Caucasian.
Okay. Saturday words of advice. If something looks like bush meat, smells like bush meat, tastes like bush meat and is a bit much to choke down, don’t eat it. The next day pain is not worth it. I need to do a better job of cleaning the refrigerator.
They kilt Roy Orbison by giving him a new lease on life.
Roy with Jennifer Warnes as one of the back up vocalists.
RebelliousRenee says:
Sturg… god how I love Roy’s voice!
Saw some woman last night on Hardball (sorry, don’t remember her name) talk with Matthews about Hunter B. getting a job he wasn’t qualified for on his father’s name. They agreed it was business as usual for D.C. She said if Joe should have resigned as VP, then more than half of the Senate and House should be empty right now.
craigcrawford says:
Uncle Joe is yelling at reporters again. Really doesn’t like being asked about Hunter.
Katherine Graham Cracker says:
steve bullock romney democrat
If I were going to start another group, I’d call it:
“Dawg” L. Boone
And his
Very Credible Country Ramblers
when asked about hunter on these interviews, why isn’t the next thing said “just like Ivanka in China but not nearly as successful, he…”
or “making a whole lot less money off his dad’s position than Eric, Don jr and Ivanka currently does off their dad….”
And an Elmer Fudd impersonator would be the announcer.
This is the kind of day where the wind comes up of a sudden from the north east and snaps off your deck umbrella.
#waspproblems
“whack Job” by Barry Blitt
Ok, Now Hear This: beer bust in Hanger A at 1500 hours.
Pat, that is some very good advice for Joe. Much better than what he’s doing, attacking reporters who ask about it, refusing to answer. And the irony is it was reporters who exonerated him, which he likes to cite.
new Yorker:
The Invention of the Conspiracy Theory on Biden and Ukraine
How a conservative dark-money group that targeted Hillary Clinton in 2016 spread the discredited story that may lead to Donald Trump’s impeachment.
RR, that ‘business as usual” argument you saw presents a very difficult situation for Elizabeth Warren: How to avoid commenting on it when she’s actually running against business as usual in Washington.
I’d put money on her being asked about that in the next debate, should prepare for it.
craig, she has two children who will surely be next on the goper dirty tricks rack for a whack job so perhaps she best stay completely away from the subject as best she can.
Agree, Pat, best to avoid it, but if she appears to totally dodge a question about it in the debate she’ll be open to looking like a hypocrite. Hope she and her team are thinking about this because I will be very surprised if it is not asked.
stuff like yesterday’s story in the hill are hints of what’s up about lizzie being bidenized (swift boated?)
President Trump mentioned Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on a June call with China’s president Xi Jinping, CNN reported Thursday, citing two people familiar with the conversation.
The outlet reported that Trump mentioned Biden and Warren’s “political prospects” during the call. Both Democrats have been near the top of polls for their party’s 2020 nomination.
Trump reportedly told Xi during the conversation that he would stay quiet about protests in Hong Kong while the U.S. and China pursued trade negotiations.
The record of the call was stored in a secure electronic system where his July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also kept, CNN reported.
Warren responded to the report Thursday night, tweeting that “the public must see the transcript of Trump’s call with Xi. And we need a leader who will stand up for our values.”
“Trump can say what he wants about me, but it’s outrageous that any president would sell out the people of Hong Kong behind closed doors,” she wrote.
we need new word to replace “swift boated” and to reflect Trumpian times, particularly this annus trumpus horribilis.
suggestion: “Trumpled”
This might be going too far, what if Elizabeth responded as follows:
I do not think family members of those in power should leverage their status for profit, and no family has done that more than the Trumps (insert a couple of examples) ……
Bink says:
Luckily, Warren needs none of our advice.
Yes Bink, when she was first asked about this on the road she fumbled, had to clean it up, so maybe she’s got traction now.
You’re holding her to a standard that Trump permanently lowered. She’ll be fine. I’d hardly deign that “I need more information before answering” is a fumble, compared to the guy who never needs any information before opening his tiny, hateful mouth.
i have a hope- that Americans are tired of being angry all of the time, tired of being provoked and taken for fools, tired of the anxiety, and eager for a more positive general social attitude. If some of that is true, maybe Warren won’t have to play Republicans’ Game of Slime; she will have to defend against it, either way.
(Also hoping she has a nice pivot-to-center if/when she wins the nomination, to assuage the anxieties of centrists/Bidenists- she seems capable of it)
Even Nixon was in better shape
Beautiful afternoon in the DC region. Near one hundred Fahrenheit and two days later in the middle sixties with clear skies.
Hanger A? I was over in building 3403 day room. Off duty and too far to hike, I will put a helmet on while stirring a martini (prevents head wounds on open cupboard doors).
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Home › News › Retail
Nappa Dori opens London store, first shop in Europe
India’s Nappa Dori has opened its first European boutique with a debut in London’s Seven Dials area. The fast developing area has become a magnet for high-end and premium stores with accessories proving particularly popular in the area. And its historic architecture works well for retailers looking to make an impact without opening giant megastores.
Nappa Dori has opened in Seven Dials
The luxury leather goods brand has opened at 15 Monmouth Street, in a two-storey, 1,400 sq ft space.
The nine-year-old brand, whose name is Hindi for ‘leather and thread’, was founded in Delhi by designer Gautam Sinha with “inspiration drawn from the history, mysticism and vibrancy of India.” It specialises in handcrafted bags and luggage, as well as accessories, stationery and homewares, all of which are available in the new space.
The new location is a big move for the company with its retail stores currently concentrated on its domestic market. It has seven locations across India and a destination store in the Maldives, but also has major collaborations with “like-minded brands” including Kiehl’s, Qatar Airways and Chivas Regal.
The new London store features its café concept Café Dori, as featured at the Indian flagship, to help add an experiential element to the London debut, as well as boosting dwell time. It serves traditional beverages such as chai tea.
Addy Williams, Senior Retail Portfolio Manager at Landlord Shaftesbury, said: “Nappa Dori is an exciting addition to the international imprint amongst Seven Dials’ curated mix of tenants. This opening reflects the increase in brands selecting this West End destination for debut UK and European stores, following in the footsteps of leading brands such as Away and Beast.”
Gautam Sinha added that the high volume of tourists and locals who frequent the streets of Seven Dials “made it the obvious choice for our first UK and European venture. Embarking upon this new market is a natural next step and has always been a key goal for our business.”
The opening coincides with the strategic repositionings of heritage Italian shoe brand Superga and independent eyewear label Ollie Quin to new units on Seven Dials’ Neal Street.
L’Oréal USA announces appointment of new president and CEO
L'Oréal appoints new head of Western Europe’s Luxe division
London’s Broadgate welcomes new retail tenants
L'Oréal in talks with Clarins to acquire Mugler, Azzaro
John Legend and Procter & Gamble want to make a positive impact with new ad strategy
Suave Saunders & Long launch the boyfriend jeans of haute men’s grooming
In China's heartland, once-flush shoppers turn cautious
L’Oréal names Alexandre Choueiri as global president of Ralph Lauren Fragrances
Hermès strengthens executive committee
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May 7, 2018 / 11:30 AM / 2 years ago
Cholera vaccination campaign starts in Yemen after year delay: WHO
Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The first vaccine campaign against cholera in Yemen has started, 18 months after war and a sanitation crisis triggered an epidemic, but the World Health Organization said it did not yet have permission nationwide to do the vaccinations.
FILE PHOTO: A woman sits with her sons while they are treated at a cholera treatment center in Sanaa, Yemen October 8, 2017. Picture taken October 8, 2017.REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo
Some senior Houthi officials, whose forces control the capital Sanaa, have objected to vaccinations and this has already delayed the program by nearly a year, aid workers say.
There have been more than one million suspected cases of cholera in Yemen, and 2,275 recorded deaths since Nov 2016, the WHO says.
The oral vaccination campaign, which began in four districts in Aden on Sunday targeting 350,000 people, coincides with the rainy season, which health workers fear could spread the disease further.
“We have plans in place for extending that to all of the at-risk zones and we are still negotiating with health authorities in the north of the country, in Sanaa, in order to plan those campaigns,” Michael Ryan, WHO Assistant Director-General, told a news briefing on Monday.
“As of yet we don’t have established dates for those campaigns, but we are ready to move... just as soon as we get those necessary approvals,” he added.
WHO cholera expert Lorenzo Pizzoli said in a tweet from Aden on Sunday that the campaign hoped to cover at least four million people in areas at risk.
The disease is spread by faeces in sewage contaminating water or food, and it can kill because patients quickly lose fluids through vomiting and diarrhea.
Caught early it can be treated with oral rehydration salts.
“Cholera is still present and this is the classic situation where we’ve had a first big wave last year, and we fully expect another wave this year. That wave could be as large or potentially even larger,” Ryan said.
Water sanitation and treatment systems have been destroyed in many parts of Yemen, and access to health care remains extremely limited, he added.
Yemen’s war, a proxy conflict between Iran-aligned Houthis and the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is backed by a Saudi-led alliance, has killed more than 10,000 people since 2015 and displaced more than two million.
In July 2017, the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision - which manages a global stockpile - earmarked one million cholera vaccines for Yemen. But the WHO and local authorities together decided to scrap a vaccination plan on logistical and technical grounds and the doses were diverted to South Sudan.
The largest cholera vaccination drive in history, targeting more than two million people across Africa, is now being carried out in five countries - Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, South Sudan and Kenya - the WHO and GAVI vaccine alliance said on Monday.
Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Gareth Jones
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BIG DADDY COOL VS THE PHENOM
Kevin Scott Nash
AKA Diesel
Born: Detroit, MI
Resides: Ponce Inlet, FL
Diesel's Theme Song
"Diesel Blues"
The Streak: #5 – The Undertaker vs. Diesel – WWE Wrestlemania XII
At Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, The Undertaker would defend The Streak against Big Daddy Cool, Diesel at Wrestlemania XII. The Undertaker’s quest for victory number five wouldn’t be much of anything new in the opponent. The former WWF Champion Diesel had retained the title and defeated Shawn Michaels the year prior. While this year, Shawn Michaels would achieve the boyhood dream, The Undertaker took on Diesel. The seven foot monster had been the victim of classic Undertaker mind games in the build to Mania. Diesel even came face to face with his own body in a coffin that symbolized his demise. Despite the mind games by The Deadman, Diesel would keep his cool during most of the match until he became the newest victim of The Tombstone Piledrive, the latest victim of The Undertaker and the fifth victim of The Streak.
Believe it or not, this is one of the few matches I an remember at Wrestlemania where The Undertaker was flat out dominated by an opponent. The Undertaker had taken on two big men previously, but there was something about Diesel that Taker couldn’t figure out for most of the match. Diesel made his way out. The Undertaker’s entrance had all the same pieces but it has been fun to see that little by little, it just creates more atmosphere. It is already getting to the point where it does not matter who The Undertaker faces, the match will feel big. The match began with the two big men exchanging blows with one another. Diesel would gain the upper hand and go to work on Taker in the corner. The two men continued to exchange rushes of offense until they found themselves on the outside. Each man would have their turn of aggression on the other as their battle remained neutral as they slid back into the ring. It was a match of big haymakers and strikes until The Undertaker was able to hit Old School. The Undertaker would batter Diesel around the ring and to the outside which he would regret. Big Daddy Cool would use his power against The Deadman to dominate him on the outside with the assistance of the ringpost. Diesel’s confidence would grow as he slowly picked apart The Deadman piece by piece. With each power move, Big D’s confidence slowly and powerfully became arrogance.
The Undertaker fought back, but could never muster a good stretch of offense. His runs were always stopped dead in their track by a Diesel strike, or a nice double big boot spot that put both men on the mat. Afterward, The Undertaker would finally get a good rush of offense until a Jackknife Powerbomb came out of nowhere to put The Deadman down. However, Diesel would fall to his knees and wouldn’t go for the cover. Instead the big man would taunt The Undertaker as if to say, “This is it?” In vintage Undertaker fashion, he would sit up to ignite the crowd. Diesel was more than ready and he dropped The Undertaker with another big Jackknife Powerbomb. Yet again, he refuses to go for the cover and Diesel looked to humiliate The Undertaker and end his Streak on an even more dominate note. As he went in for the kill, The Undertaker would grab the throat of Big Daddy Cool to change the shape of things to come.
Diesel would beat The Undertaker back down to the mat. The Deadman would rise for Diesel’s throat again, until he was beaten down again. There would not be a fourth time. The third time was the charm and The Undertaker brought the momentum back into the match. Though Diesel tried to put The Deadman down again with a back-suplex. Diesel realized he should have finished The Undertaker a moment to late as The Phenom would sit up once more, catch Diesel as he turned around and went toe to toe with the big man until a flying lariat took him down. In the center of the ring, the high hopes of Diesel’s missed opportunities would come crashing down with Big Daddy cool, as he was dropped with a massive chokeslam. Diesel became the first victim in four year to suffer the painful effect of the Tombstone Piledriver on the grandest stage of them all to secure The Undertaker’s fifth win at Wrestlemania VII.
This is by far the best match of The Streak thus far, but I still have some questions about how it all went down. Kevin Nash and Taker did a solid job of making the match a battle between two titans that were evenly matched until Diesel took complete control of The Undertaker for the majority of the match. The arrogance of Diesel is something I question because I understand why it was done and I appreciate how it was done. It had me believing that Big Daddy Cool was the guy who could finally physically dominate The Deadman. It was a nice change of pace to see The Undertaker dominated. The issue I have with it is that I think it made Diesel look weak. Diesel has The Undertaker beat and he taunts him, I get that, but then The Undertaker makes that stand with the flying lariat, chokeslam and Tombstone. Diesel went from being the one guy would had the shot to beat The Undertaker at Wrestemania and he let it go by because even though he had little to no wear and tear from the match, a Tombstone is all Undertaker needs to take the match.
I think it makes the Tombstone look incredible as a finisher. It turned a taunting and confident Diesel and turned him into just another victim. In terms of the match quality, it was solid to good. In terms of story, the match did it’s job despite slowing down dramatically in tempo. Most importantly, in terms of The Streak, it showed that in the blink of an eye, The Undertaker can rise, hit a Tombstone and take a victory right out of your hands. It puts the stamp and the standard that if there is a realistic shot of killing off The Deadman, you had better seize it because one second it is here and the next a Tombstone Piledriver turns out the lights as the bell tolls for you. Wrestlemania XII was the toll of Diesel’s bell. The Undertaker had made it to five, but a year from now, he will need a similar finish to capture his first real taste of immortality on the grandest stage of them all.
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Tag: free-riders
Vaccination Coverage and Exemption Rates
With record numbers of measles cases this year, lots of folks are interested in vaccination coverage and exemption rates.
You are at increased to get sick and can spread diseases if you are unvaccinated.
Even though our own kids are vaccinated and protected, many of us are concerned about vaccination and exemption rates because we understand the risks.
We know that some kids are too young to be vaccinated and some kids can’t be vaccinated, as they have true medical exemptions.
So how are our vaccination and exemption rates doing these days?
Some states have rates of vaccine exemptions that are much higher than others, with rates from ranging from a low of 0.1% in Mississippi to a high of 7.7% in Idaho and Oregon.
According to the latest reports from the CDC:
the percentage of kindergartners with a vaccine exemption continues to slowly rise and is now up to 2.5%, up from 2.3% during the 2017-18 school year
an additional 2.8% of kindergartners were not up to date for MMR and did not have a vaccine exemption
the percentage of kindergartners up to date for MMR ranged from 87.4% in Colorado to 99.2% in Mississippi
coverage by age 24 months was ≥90% for ≥3 doses of polio- virus vaccine (92.7%), ≥1 dose of MMR (90.4%), ≥3 doses of HepB (91.0%), and ≥1 dose of varicella vaccine (90.0%), and are all up over previous years by 1 to 3%
only 56% of toddlers receive two or more doses of the flu vaccine by age two years
only 1.3% of children born in 2015 and 2016 had received no vaccinations by the second birthday, which is up from 1.1%
up to 7.4% of uninsured children received no vaccines, even though they qualify for free vaccines under the Vaccines for Children program
This doesn’t tell the whole story though.
“During the 2018–19 school year, national coverage with MMR, DTaP, and varicella vaccines remained near 95%. However, coverage and exemption rates varied by state. Recent measles outbreaks in states with high overall MMR coverage, such as New York, highlight the need for assessing vaccination coverage at the local level. ”
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Volume 68, Issue Number 41 Vaccination Coverage with Selected Vaccines and Exemption Rates Among Children in Kindergarten — United States, 2018–19 School Year
Although vaccination rates are generally high and exemption rates low at the state and national level, it is the pockets of undervaccinated kids that are the problem.
In Texas, for example, although state level exemptions are fairly low (2.4%) and immunization rates high, in some communities and school districts, more than 50% of kids are unvaccinated!
“The importance of achieving and sustaining high vaccination coverage across all communities is illustrated by the 22 measles outbreaks occurring in the United States in 2019, with 1,249 measles cases identified during January 1–October 1, 2019. Most cases have been among persons who were not vaccinated against measles. Pockets of low vaccination coverage, because of lack of access to vaccination services or to hesitancy resulting from the spread of inaccurate information about vaccines, increase the likelihood of a measles outbreak. “
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Volume 68, Issue Number 41 Vaccination Coverage by Age 24 Months Among Children Born in 2015 and 2016 — National Immunization Survey-Child, United States, 2016–2018
Unfortunately, we don’t see that kind of local data in the latest reports on vaccination coverage and exemption rates.
And while we should certainly work to get everyone vaccinated who doesn’t have an exemption, lots of work needs to be done educate parents that they should vaccinate and protect their kids instead of seeking non-medical exemptions.
More on Vaccination Coverage and Exemption Rates
Fact Checking the Truth About Vaccination Rates in California
Update on Vaccine Exemption Rates in California
Why Are We Having Measles Outbreaks If MMR Vaccination Rates Are Not Declining?
About Those Inappropriate Medical Exemptions in California
Why Are States Eliminating Religious Exemptions for Immunizations?
Vaccines Statistics and Numbers
MMWR – Vaccination Coverage with Selected Vaccines and Exemption Rates Among Children in Kindergarten — United States, 2018–19 School Year
MMWR – Vaccination Coverage by Age 24 Months Among Children Born in 2015 and 2016 — National Immunization Survey-Child, United States, 2016–2018
CDC – Immunization Statistics
CDC – VaxView
Child Vaccination Coverage Reports
SchoolVaxView Publications and Resources
Teen Vaccination Coverage Publications and Resources
AdultVaxView Publications and Resources
FluVaxView Publications and Resources
Vaccination Coverage Levels in Texas Schools
immunization rates
What Makes Your Healthy Unvaccinated Child a Threat?
Folks who intentionally skip or delay their child’s vaccines and try to get away with hiding in the herd always seem to wonder why we consider their kids to be a threat to everyone else.
What happens when she grows up and learns who really kept her out of school?
How can a healthy child be a threat?
Of course, kids that are truly healthy aren’t a threat, as long as they stay healthy.
What would turn them into a threat to others?
A healthy child who got measles, chicken pox, or other vaccine-preventable disease and exposed others, putting them at risk, including those who are
too young to be vaccinated
too young to be fully vaccinated
unable to be vaccinated because they have a true medical exemption
susceptible because their vaccine didn’t work
And which kids, even if they are healthy, are most at risk to get measles, chickenpox, or other vaccine preventable diseases?
Kids who are unvaccinated and unprotected!
If you intentionally choose to not vaccinate your kids, that shouldn’t mean that others have to lose their choice to send their own kids to school without worrying that they will be exposed to a vaccine-preventable disease.
More On Unvaccinated Kids
Do Unvaccinated Kids Spread More Disease?
More Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Studies
Do More Vaccinated or Unvaccinated Kids Get Pertussis?
Do More Vaccinated or Unvaccinated Kids Get Sick in Outbreaks?
Can MMR Shedding Start a Measles Outbreak?
Is My Fully Vaccinated Child at Risk from Your Unvaccinated Kids?
How Can the Unvaccinated Spread Diseases They Don’t Have?
Which Vaccines Don’t Prevent the Spread of a Disease?
Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated – Measles Outbreak Edition
Personal belief exemptions for vaccination put people at risk. Examine the evidence for yourself.
What If You Don’t Vaccinate Your Child?
Can vaccines cause or spread diseases?
Can I spread whooping cough if I am vaccinated against it?
One more time: Vaccine refusal endangers everyone, not just the unvaccinated
Mixing unvaccinated children with vaccinated children: Whose rights prevail?
To the Parent of the Unvaccinated Child Who Exposed my Family to Measles
If You Choose Not to Vaccinate Your Child, Understand the Risks and Responsibilities
The Rights of the Unvaccinated Child
If Vaccines Work, Why Do Unvaccinated People Pose a Risk?
New Study Emphasizes Harm of Vaccine Refusals
The Harm of Skipping Vaccinations or Delaying
Why Worry About the Unvaccinated?
Why a few unvaccinated children are an even bigger threat than you think
hiding in the herd
medical exemptions
outbreak map
vaccine choice
Which Part of the Herd Gets Protected by Community Immunity?
You are a part of the herd.
“I don’t care that you call people a herd. And I don’t care that some people consider themselves to be part of a herd. I am not in a herd. I am not a farm animal.”
Del Bigtree
Of course, we are talking about herd immunity.
What if you aren’t vaccinated and protected?
Del Bigtree is a “free thinking human being,” who whether he appreciates it or not, benefits from herd immunity protections.
Then you are protected by those who are!
“A situation in which a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness) to make its spread from person to person unlikely. Even individuals not vaccinated (such as newborns and those with chronic illnesses) are offered some protection because the disease has little opportunity to spread within the community.”
CDC Vaccine Glossary of Terms
That’s what herd immunity is all about.
In a community, “the herd” includes those with immunity and those trying/needing to “hide in the herd:”
those with natural immunity
folks who are vaccinated and protected
some people who are too young to be vaccinated or fully vaccinated
the people who’s vaccines didn’t work
anyone who can’t be vaccinated, because they have a medical contraindication
And it also includes those who are intentionally unvaccinated. The free-riders. Those who could be vaccinated, but simply choose not to, often because they have been scared by things they have heard or read about vaccines.
Baby deer need protection from the adults in the herd, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t a part of the herd too.
This all makes even more sense when you think about it as community immunity, the term that is more commonly used today.
Don’t want to think that you are in the herd?
The herd still protects you. At least it does if enough folks in the herd are vaccinated and protected.
More on Community Immunity
V is for Vaccine
Del Bigtree on the Government’s Plan to Force Inject Stuff into Your Body
Del Bigtree’s Caught on Tape Claim
Dr. Bob Puts the Nail in the Coffin of the Herd Immunity Argument
Wakefield’s Mutating Measles and Natural Herd Immunity
The Very Worst of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
Herd Immunity Animation
What is Community Immunity?
Herd Immunity: How does it work?
Herd protection
It Takes a Herd
All you need to know about ‘Herd Immunity’
Herd protection:Historical perspective
Critical immunity thresholds for measles elimination
“Herd Immunity”: A Rough Guide
Vaccine herd effect
Vaccines for the Unvaccinated: Protecting the Herd
Measles, Vaccination, and the Tragedy of the Commons
The Problem With Dr Bob’s Alternative Vaccine Schedule
community immunity
natural herd immunity
natural immunity
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Ai Weiwei: Teahouse (2009) at the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin
By Enrico on 2. May 2011
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s teahouse (Teehaus, 2009) is currently on show at the Asian Art Museum in Berlin. It consists of 378 cubes and 54 prisms of pressed Pu’er-Tea, surrounded by a field of scattered tea.
Unfortunately it’s not possible to reproduce the scent of this work via video. So if you really want to experience the work, you have to visit the exhibition at the Asian Art Museum. The presentation of the Teehaus was made possible by the permanent loan by Dieter und Si Rosenkranz.
If you like the video, we also recommend the coverage of Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds at Tate Modern and Acconci Studio and Ai Weiwei: A Collaborative Project / Para/Site Art Space Hong Kong.
For more information about Ai Weiwei, please use our custom contemporary art search below.
Berlin’s Museum of East Asian Art and the Museum of Indian Art were merged in December 2006 and now operate under a new joint name, the Asian Art Museum. The Collection of South, Southeast and Central Asian Art houses one of the most important collections worldwide of art from the Indo-Asian cultural area, from the 4th millenium BC to the present.
Ai Weiwei: Teahouse (2009) at the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin. Video by Ikono.tv.
PS: This exhibition was also a great olfactoric experience (but with coffee): Not Vital: Lotus, Coffee and Stone Pine, Portraits, Snow and Boyfriend / Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York (2007).
Ai Weiwei: Links | Videos | Images | More Images | Books
Posted in: art, Berlin, no comment, VernissageTV
Tagged with: Ai Weiwei
Everything At Once. Group Exhibition at The Store Studios, London
Art Basel 2017 Parcours
Ai Weiwei: Bubble (2008)
Interview with the Curator of Art Basel’s ‘Unlimited’ Sector, Gianni Jetzer
Ai Weiwei: Evidence / Retrospective at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
Ai Weiwei: Bang / German Pavilion at French Pavilion / Venice Art Biennale 2013
Art and the City. Public Art Festival in Zürich West
VernissageTV PDF-Magazine No. 18: Ai Weiwei’s Architecture, Matti Suuronen’s Futuro, Guerra de la Paz’ Venice
Ai Weiwei: Art / Architecture at Kunsthaus Bregenz
Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds at Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London
Mauricio Kagel: Zwei-Mann-Orchester (Two-Man Orchestra) at Museum Tinguely, Basel
Antipreneur Performance: Auction and Action
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0203 488 1498 sales@vidicodeuk.com
Apresa
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Apresa: ICO, GDPR Call Recording Consent
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Call Recording As A Service
3 Point GDPR, ICO, MiFIDII & PCI DSS Guide
Call Recording Shop
About Vidicode
Legal FAQ matt 2019-05-28T19:44:54+00:00
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions from Oftel.
What legislation covers 'recording and monitoring telephone calls or e-mails?
The interception, recording and monitoring of telephone calls is governed by a number of different pieces of UK legislation. The requirements of all relevant legislation must be complied with. The main ones are:
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (“RIPA”)
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice)(Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000 (“LBP Regulations”)
Data Protection Act 1998
Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999
Can I record telephone conversations on my home phone?
Yes. The relevant law, RIPA, does not prohibit individuals from recording their own communications provided that the recording is for their own use. Recording or monitoring are only prohibited where some of the contents of the communication – which can be a phone conversation or an e-mail – are made available to a third party, ie someone who was neither the caller or sender nor the intended recipient of the original communication. For further information see the Home Office website where RIPA is posted
Do I have to let people know that I intend to record their telephone conversations with me?
No, provided you are not intending to make the contents of the communication available to a third party. If you are you will need the consent of the person you are recording.
Can a business or other organisation record or monitor my phone calls or e-mail correspondence with them?
Yes they can, but only in a limited set of circumstances relevant for that business which have been defined by the LBP Regulations. The main ones are:
to provide evidence of a business transaction
to ensure that a business complies with regulatory procedures
to see that quality standards or targets are being met in the interests of national security
to prevent or detect crime to investigate the unauthorised use of a telecom system
to secure the effective operation of the telecom system.
In addition, businesses can monitor, but not record, phone calls or e-mails that have been received to see whether they are relevant to the business (ie open an employee’s voicemail or mailbox systems while they are away to see if there are any business communications stored there). For further information see the DTI website where the LBP Regulations are posted.
However any interception of employees’ communications must be proportionate and in accordance with Data Protection principles. The Information Commissioner has published a Data Protection Code on “Monitoring at Work” available on its website here. The Code is designed to help employers comply with the legal requirements of Data Protection Act 1988. Any enforcement action would be based on a failure to meet the requirements of the act – however relevant parts of the Code are likely to be cited in connection with any enforcement action relating to the processing of personal information in the employment context. Accordingly this Code of Practice and the Data Protection Act must also be considered by any business before it intercepts employees’ communications.
Do businesses have to tell me if they are going to record or monitor my phone calls or e-mails?
No. as long as the recording or monitoring is done for one of the above purposes the only obligation on businesses is to inform their own employees. If businesses want to record for any other purpose, such as market research, they will have to obtain your consent.
What do I do if my calls have been recorded unlawfully?
Under RIPA it is a tort to record or monitor a communication unlawfully. This means that if you think you have suffered from unlawful interception of your phone calls or e-mails you have the right to seek redress by taking civil action against the offender in the courts.
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. Please comment here if you want, or there using OpenID. Or send me a message via carrier pigeon or fortune cookie. I'm dying to hear from you.", "url": "https://wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com/791167.html", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/sign.png" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stone of stumbling and rock of offense", "image": "https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/3759161/818551" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Journal wordweaverlynn", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com", "contentUrl": "https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/3759161/818551" } } }
Dear Craigslist Poster*
I understand your desire to get the most possible money for your used computer. But $625 for a Mac G5 desktop? Even with two Mac monitors -- presumably of the same ancient vintage (well, ancient in computer years), this is ridiculous.
You say, 'It has been in storage for all except first year of its life. That is why I am calling this "new." '
Sweetheart, time passes even in storage units. This computer is somewhere between nine and eleven years old. That's elderly even for a Mac. Furthermore, this is an outdated Mac. It's running on a PowerPC processor. You cannot upgrade this machine to the current OS. In fact, it won't run anything past OS 10.5.8. That's if you're lucky. Older G5s are stuck at 10.3.9.
For less than the price you're asking, other Craigslist sellers are offering much better bargains: a three-year-old MacBook Pro running OS 10.9.4 with Office 2011; a four-year-old i7 Mac Mini server with display, keyboard, and mouse; even a Mac Pro Tower, which is a fearsome beast. All have far more speed, power, RAM, and storage than your G5.
On the other hand, you're not the only person selling a G5 on Craigslist. The other ads are asking anywhere from $50 to $350 for these systems. (The $350 system seems overpriced, but it's bigger and faster than yours.)
I've loved every Mac I ever had. I loved and used my Apple IIe for eight and a half years -- not occasionally, but for five to ten hours a day -- and I was deeply disappointed when it couldn't be fixed. But a touch of realism, please. The G5 just isn't worth that much.
*Not linking out of mercy.
So why am I looking at Mac ads on Craigslist?
Because my much-loved MacBook Pro has finally succumbed. Anybody got a used Mac for sale? Desktop preferred, which basically means a Mini, probably.
This entry was originally posted at http://wordweaverlynn.dreamwidth.org/595514.html. Please comment here if you want, or there using OpenID. Or send me a message via carrier pigeon or fortune cookie. I'm dying to hear from you.
Tags: computers, craigslist, mac
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Muse Kuulow
Muse Kuulow was born and initially educated in Somalia. After graduating from Journalism school in Somalia, Muse worked as a journalist first in the print industry, and later in radio. He spent four years working for Somalia’s national newspaper During his short journalism career in Somalia Muse covered the political system, parliamentary matters, and issues of national importance. As a broadcaster, Muse appeared on numerous radio programs that covered and highlighted his work. Muse coverage of Somalia’s civil war issues led to rumors of his life being endangered. He promptly moved to Kenya where he worked as a free-lance journalist not only for small establishments, but for internationally known organizations such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In Kenya, Muse was the recipient of the National Kenynian Journalism Award for his consistent and outstanding reporting. After three and a half years in Kenya, Muse made the decision to migrate to North America and chose Canada as his new home.
Once in Canada, Muse was determined to re-enter into the field that commands his professional passion—journalism. In 2007 Muse promptly enrolled in Carlton’s University’s Journalism Program. Carleton University, despite Muse’s journalism reputation and experience and recognition, credited him with two years for all of his prior work and experience. As a result, Muse graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism after only two years of study.
While studying at Carleton University Muse founded the Immigrant Post Magazine, a publication dedicated to publicizing issues relevant to the immigrant experience. Funded by the Canada Magazine Fund, the Immigrant Post now has a monthly circulation of upwards of 10, 000 units. Muse is also now the publisher of Somali Tribune Newspaper, a weekly newspaper serving the Somalian community with a monthly circulation of upwards of 10, 000 units.
Always fascinated by radio broadcasting, Muse, while still being the publisher of two print enterprises, launched into radio where he now hosts a program called Radio Alif on AM530. Aired twice per week (Wednesdays & Thursday 10p.m. to midnight). Muse continues to build his journalism reach and profile by being the host of a Radio One Somalia aired on 88.9FM, an ethnic based media in Toronto.
Since his graduation from Carleton University’s Journalism Program, Muse has pursued his dream of combining his passion for human rights and journalism. On the human rights front, Muse has worked tirelessly in Toronto vulnerable communities to seek social justice by using journalist platforms as a platform for legislative and regulatory commentary and suggested changes. By 2008, Muse served on the Ontario Immigration Advisory Committee. In 2010, Muse won an award from the National Ethnic Press and Media Council for Best In Editorial Concept and Visual Presentation in the publication of the Immigrant Post Magazine.
These experiences (both academic and professional) have allowed Muse to really explore how information is relayed to the public and the great need for the public to be aware of and be involved in the events and activities happening around them, especially marginalized communities. Muse continues to break down barriers facing immigrant through his work in journalism. Operating in the cultural product space has exposed him to how culture, politics, and organization issues intersect to impact the daily lives of immigrants as they adjust to their new environments and become acculturated, making Canada their domicile of choice. Muse is dedicated and is willing to participate in virtually any initiative that serves to better the lives of immigrants, in particularly those initiatives that bring the stories, including work-related ones, to the fore. Given Muse’s own experience as a “quasi-refugee”, he is particularly interested in providing insights into the working lives of undocumented workers and will use his media skills, where possible, to cry for change. Muse has lived and worked in Toronto for over a decade now. He has a lot of experience working with committees, groups, and organizations and understands their unique challenges.
Professional Background Journalist & Broadcaster
Advisory Committee Member Metro Links York South West
•Publisher Immigrant Post – Present
•Publisher Somali TribuneBoard Member Urban Artists, A Community Arts CouncilBoard Member Northwood Neighbourhood Community Services
Former Board Member Women For Change
Education B.A. Carleton University, Journalism
Katherine has over 20 years of experience in finance, manufacturing and warehouse management. Her work focuses on boosting productivity, improving inventory management, trimming operational costs, business process re-engineering, enhancements, user education, and training. She guides clients towards maximum return on investment, accelerating software implementations, and successfully deploying to end users throughout the organization. She identifies opportunities where clients could greatly benefit from implementing additional modules/applications. She has flexible implementation methodologies, introduced new concepts, and developed business processes for achieving consistent results.
Implementation Experience In 14 countries, Katherine has successfully implemented software systems with a variety of manufacturing & distribution companies including some of these types:
•Automotive – Forging, Stamping, Coating and Assembly
•Aerospace / Aircraft – Engine Rings, Flashbutt welding, CNC Machining
•Process Manufacturers – Beauty Supplies, Food Manufacturers, Fertilizer Pharmaceutical – Tablets, Capsules
•Electronics – Satellite, Components
•Engineering – Project Management
•Custom Fabricators – Plastics, Sheet Metal, Foam, Gaskets, Fiberglass
•Medical Device Manufacturers
Software Experience Katherine has successfully implemented several software systems at mid-size manufacturing & distribution companies including: Epicor 9, Vantage 8, Manage 2000, and iScala. Katherine has successfully implemented Warehouse Management Software with License Plate, Lot, Serial and Bin Tracking. She has taught internationally business concepts, technical installations with MS SQL, Intermec, Honeywell and Motorola as well as the device configurations. As a Corporate Business Manager lead an implementation for 5 facilities with over 25,000 transactions per day in 3 countries.
Work History •Quartz Group, Inc. – Present
•Manufacturing System Corp. – Director of Sales and Customer Service, 2003 – 2013
•Multimatic Manufacturing – Corporate Business Manager, 1993 – 2003
•Seeburn Metal Products – Assistant Controller/Controller, 1989 – 1993
•KFW Canada – Cost Accountant/Assistant Controller, 1985 – 1989
•Melitta Canada – Buyer/Cost Accountant, 1983 – 1985
Education Certified Management Accountant, Toronto, Canada – 1984
Ashlee Hutchinson
Ashlee has served as the On-line Creative Director for Over the Rainbow. In this role Ashlee managed social media, and maintained the organization’s website and online catalogues. Ashlee’s creative decisions about online presence, and product placements for the enterprise were always pointed. Apart from her involvement on this team Ashlee works as a videographer/photographer with film-making experience. Ashlee has photographed culturally iconic personalities such as Martin Sheen, Martin Luther King III, Rita Marley, Rohan Marley, Sharon Marley, Tommy Hilfiger, Anna Dello Russo and Lady Gaga. Ashlee’s inclusion on this team is definitely an asset as she spearheads WINN’s creative dimensions.
Experience Ashlee’s film-making skills were involved in the making of the feature-length documentary “RasTa: A Souls ’s Journey” which was nominated as best documentary by a U.S. organization.
Ashlee is currently directing “ T ”, a one-hour, heart-wrenching documentary film that examines the meaning of life and its many joys. The story is told by examining the tension between the mind and the body, the present and the future, the now and the never, the good and the bad. The story is about how life’s joys can be achieved despite devastating and consistent uncertainties of medical devastation. It is a story of the triumph of a mind resolved to live life to the fullest, even when medical practitioners can explain the scope or regularity of illness that has affected “T”, the descendants of Italian immigrants caught up in a small town Niagara Falls, Ontario in the 1940 and how T eventually comes to her subjective meaning of life, how she laughs and enjoy her restricted mobility and a life in which she is somewhat confined. By the end of the film the viewer is inspired by T’s clarity of purpose and her ability to define her worth and world through her paintings, until, of course she loses her eyesight and becomes a victim of professional care giver abuses when $5000 of her money is stolen.
“Untitled” is a short film that takes you on my trip travelling to Manitoba-Shoal LakeIndian Reserve. This is a film that will expose the rawness and political tensions that remain deep into the culturalpsyche of aboriginal peoples towards colonizers. The film looks at the
Videographer/Photographer: Ashlee is the on-going Director and Videographer for about a dozen series of short films documenting Donisha Prendergast. “Short-term journey’s” By way of an agreement with Donisha Prendergast, Ashlee currently shoots footage for a documentary film featuring Donisha’s Journey as a film student at Ryerson University. This film will examine the transition of Ms. Prendergast’s role from advocate, rebel, community organizer and motivation speaker into a dedicated and eager student.
The Mackenzie Project is a forty minute, horror film listed in the IMB. It was produced and directed by an An independent film company called High Sock Production. Horror/Drama/Comedy
Education Humber College, Toronto — Fashion Arts, 2011
Winston Mattis
Winston Mattis holds a M.P.A., from Queen’s University, a law degree from the University of Windsor together with a variety of other undergraduate credentials, including a project management certificate.
Winston started out his professional career in sciences, after studying biochemistry at York University at which he studied biochemistry. For three of the four years he spent at York University Winston was a disc jockey and announcer on CHRY. He created and broadcasted a show which he called Messages from the Sun Goddess, a show which fused the rap sounds of Grandmaster Flash (Messages) with the melodic contours of Earth Wind and Fire’s Sun Goddess. It is while at York University that Winston started playing music, initial in the acclaimed Yorktones Steel Orchestra before he started playing bass, a bit of drums, and alto saxophone.
Winston worked for about a year with the Ministry of Health in its reference laboratory located in the west end of Toronto. He then worked as an interviewer on a nationally syndicated evaluation project for the federal government (EI). Shortly thereafter, Winston started his own research company from which he provided consultancy services. While working as a consultant, Winston researched numerous issues for community-based organizations. Winston was one of the persons who helped in the initial stages of forming Eva’s Place. While providing consultancy services, Winston enrolled in the Public Administration Program at Ryerson Polytechnic, now Ryerson University and later on in Queen’s University M.P.A program. At Queen’s University, Winston started P.S. 2000 the first ever M.P.A. student-led magazine. The purpose of the magazine was to publish the creative policy ideas of M.P.A. students. Instead of going on to a doctorate in policy studies, Winston opted to enroll in a joint law program between Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, and the University of Detroit (Mercy) School of Law.
Over the years, Winston has worked in numerous fields including policing, human rights, community development and training. Winston was the researcher that researched the structure of apprenticeship in Ontario’s construction trades for the Royal Commission: Access to Professions and Trades in Ontario. Winston, for example, was part of the consulting team that researched and designed the Race Relation and Policing Policy for the Solicitor General of Ontario. Way back in about 1979 Winston was a delegate to the first ever federally sponsored Multiculturalism conference at which he addressed the assembly.
Throughout his career Winston has appeared in the media in a variety of capacities. As a musician and performer, Winston produced several albums and singles on Toronto’s music scene. He was one of the founders of the label SEE (Starlyte Entertainment Enterprise), a label that will be revived within the next three months. The label will not only produce and distribute approximately 300 song in six colleague’s music library, but will manage the careers of various up and coming artists.
Winston practiced Labour and Employment Law for fifteen years in Ontario, advising employers and employees on a wide range of human resources issues. Prior to starting his own law practice Winston articled with Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie, a boutique Labour and Employment Law firm in Ontario. Winston is a former musician/producer. He is also a former dancer who worked for a short time in theatre. A former Board Member of Ballet Creole, Winston has a long history of working in the performing arts industry. Winston, the holder of a certificate in photography from Humber College, is a published author who enjoys a reputation of being one of Canada’s leading thinkers in the areas of discrimination, and diversity management in the workplace.
In 2014 Winston founded a media enterprise called WINN (Workplace Intelligence Navigation Network) a website dedicated to the presentation of workplace-related information. The site presents workplace information and stories in a multi-media format. A combination of training and other videos are displayed for consumption. WINN sets out to amass the largest selection of workplace related information on the internet anywhere in the universe. Check out workplace-intelligence.com which goes live on April 05, 2015.
Winston has been a member of several boards and committees including, but not limited to: Riverdale Hospital, Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Community & Race Relations, and Public Policy Ryerson University.
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GROHE ICON 3D. Creating the impossible.
Creating the impossible with the GROHE Icon 3D printed faucet
Imagine a faucet that redefines everything you previously thought possible. A 3D printed faucet, born of the latest technology. Offering the superlative function you would expect from GROHE, but presented in a silhouette at once iconic and astounding. Where all the usual rules of design and manufacturing have been suspended. A 3D printed faucet of dazzling precision, lightness and modern elegance.
With the GROHE Icon 3D collection, Allure Brilliant Icon 3D and Atrio Icon 3D, the impossible becomes cutting-edge reality. By embracing the still-emerging technology of 3D metal-printing, GROHE’s designers and engineers are pushing the boundaries of how a faucet is made. The GROHE Icon 3D printed faucet takes the future of the faucet to exciting new places.
With the reinterpretation of the Atrio and Allure Brilliant lines by incorporating the Icon 3D design, GROHE takes product design and the joy of water to a whole new level. Michael Seum, Vice President Design at GROHE AG, emphasizes: “At GROHE, we believe that something completely new needs a bold vision. What is possible or not possible becomes a question of perspective. With GROHE Icon 3D we are opening up a completely new way of thinking about product design in the future. We overcome boundaries by using 3D metal-printing to create products that at first appear impossible. This production method offers the option to design faucets in small quantities according to the wishes of our customers. There are no limits set for individual personalisation.”
Thomas Fuhr, Executive Director Operations GROHE AG, adds: “In order to be a pioneer in the industry and to further expand our technology leadership, we invest heavily not only in research and development, but also in innovative manufacturing processes in our plants. With 3D metal-printing, we are ringing in a new era in production which is made in Germany. We focus on our core business and use our faucets to cover the entire value chain, clearly distinguishing us from our competitors. Essential to us is that we retain our proven GROHE quality and translate it into a 3D-metal-printed product. For this, we have developed our own process, whose magic lies in the powder, a unique formula for the granules that we make.”
Overcoming Boundaries: Water as a Visual Experience
“The impossible begins with the belief that you can do it,” says Michael Seum, GROHE’s Vice President of Design. Seum has led GROHE’s world-renowned in-house design team in this ground-breaking 3D printed faucet project. Tasked with applying the latest 3D metal-printing technology to GROHE faucets, Seum immediately saw the potential to do something dramatically different to any existing faucet designs.
The GROHE Design Studio has completely reimagined two of GROHE’s most iconic and architectural existing faucet designs – the pure, clean-lined Atrio and the diamond-inspired multi-faceted Allure Brilliant. “We tried to capture the intent of the original designs, but to also bring a little bit of magic,” says Seum. Designers and engineers worked tirelessly together to pare back the design, creating a 3D printed faucet that is so light it makes you question how it can work at all.
“When you look at it in profile it appears almost like a traditional faucet,” Seum explains. “It’s not until you look at it from the front that you see its silhouette. You cannot believe how thin it is, you cannot imagine where the water comes from.”
This response of delight and surprise is the magic Seum sought to create. With it GROHE has changed what is possible in a faucet. “It’s not so much an evolution: it’s a revolution,” Seum says. With the dramatically different Icon 3D printed faucets, the impossible is brought vividly to life.
Cutting-edge Digital Technology Meets Craftsmanship
GROHE’s 3D metal-printing process makes virtually any geometry possible and invites you to rediscover materiality: By reducing the shapes to their essentials, the corrosion-resistant steel used as a raw and at the same time highly castable material also comes to the fore in the final product.
The ultra-thin walls of the GROHE Atrio Icon 3D and the hollow interior in the familiar silhouette of GROHE Allure Brilliant make the water flow look like a magical, optical illusion. The faucets of the two lines thus become an aesthetic highlight, available in a brushed raw steel finish.
Icon 3D combines state-of-the-art digital technology with hand-crafted, proven GROHE quality. The components are produced by printing metal, using a powder bed laser melting process. Each component for the faucet consists of approximately 4,700 layers that are each 0.06 millimetres thick, providing it with forging strength. After printing, the component is mechanically treated on a CNC milling machine, followed by a manual grinding and fine brushing procedure as the last step of the finish. The elaborate process defines the exclusivity of the Icon 3D series: Each product is unique; the edition of the collection is limited to a few pieces per year. GROHE Icon 3D will be available on request as an exclusive piece for the bathroom.
GROHE Allure Brilliant Icon 3D
The design of GROHE Allure Brilliant Icon 3D comes with a hollow interior, revealing a seemingly impossible flow of water.
Product Number: 20603SD0
3-hole deck-mount basin mixer
GROHE EcoJoy 5.0 l/min. flow limiter
spout with integrated mousseur
Red and blue markings on handles for hot and cold water
valves hot/cold with ceramic headparts
pressure-proof flexible connection hoses between spout and side valves
3-hole wall-mount basin mixer
Projection: 256mm
GROHE Atrio Icon 3D
With GROHE Atrio Icon 3D, GROHE gives its classic Atrio a design make-over, transforming it into an iconic 3D product.
open spout for pure laminar water flow
The familiar silhouette of GROHE Atrio Icon 3D features an ultrathin structure in the front view, which turns the water flow into a visual experience.
From Design to 3D Printed Faucet
CONTACT YOUR GROHE LUXURY ADVISOR
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Diurnal changes of carbon dioxide flux from bare Soil in agricultural field in Japan
Toshie Nakadai, Masayuki Yokosawa, Hiroaki Ikeda, Hiroshi Koizumi
We measured diurnal changes of CO2 flux from bare soil in agricultural field in central Japan. Measurements of soil CO2 flux were made by the open-flow IRGA method. Temperature and ambient CO2 concentration, which are highly variable in time, were also monitored during the measurements. The soil CO2 flux showed significant diurnal changes, and these patterns were highly correlated with the soil surface temperatures. The measured values ranged from 2.52 × 10-2 to 8.54 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in August and from -4.95 × 10-3 to 1.13 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in February. Moreover, a negative linear relationship between soil CO2 flux and ambient CO2 concentration was found in diurnal fluctuations. To explore the mechanism of these daily cycles, we estimated soil CO2 flux with a coupled model of soil microbial activity and gas diffusion. The parameter functions used in our calculation were obtained based on the measured values during the same time of soil respiration measurements. The soil CO2 production rates were obtained by laboratory experiments using the undisturbed soil core samples, which were taken from the field measuring soil respiration. The calculated soil CO2 flux ranged from 4.41 × 10-2 to 7.78 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in August and 1.14 × 10-3 to 5.03 × 10-3 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in February. These patterns of diurnal variability were similar for the measured ones, and the daily amounts estimated by integrating the model outputs were almost equal to those from the measured values. However, the amplitude of the measured respiration rates was larger than that of the estimated ones. The differences between measured and estimated values were related with thermal gradient around soil surface. The calculation suggested that the soil horizon above 10 cm depth would be a major CO2 source of soil respiration at about 70% in August and 40% in February. The depth of soil horizon in which soil microbial activity was significantly higher was not settled and would have a seasonal variation.
bare soil
agricultural soils
soil respiration
soil horizon
microbial activity
soil surface
soil horizons
diurnal variation
CO concentration
Diurnal change
Nakadai, T., Yokosawa, M., Ikeda, H., & Koizumi, H. (2002). Diurnal changes of carbon dioxide flux from bare Soil in agricultural field in Japan. Applied Soil Ecology, 19(2), 161-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0929-1393(01)00180-9
Diurnal changes of carbon dioxide flux from bare Soil in agricultural field in Japan. / Nakadai, Toshie; Yokosawa, Masayuki; Ikeda, Hiroaki; Koizumi, Hiroshi.
In: Applied Soil Ecology, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2002, p. 161-171.
Nakadai, T, Yokosawa, M, Ikeda, H & Koizumi, H 2002, 'Diurnal changes of carbon dioxide flux from bare Soil in agricultural field in Japan', Applied Soil Ecology, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 161-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0929-1393(01)00180-9
Nakadai T, Yokosawa M, Ikeda H, Koizumi H. Diurnal changes of carbon dioxide flux from bare Soil in agricultural field in Japan. Applied Soil Ecology. 2002;19(2):161-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0929-1393(01)00180-9
Nakadai, Toshie ; Yokosawa, Masayuki ; Ikeda, Hiroaki ; Koizumi, Hiroshi. / Diurnal changes of carbon dioxide flux from bare Soil in agricultural field in Japan. In: Applied Soil Ecology. 2002 ; Vol. 19, No. 2. pp. 161-171.
@article{007e3c53e3e94691ad31fc8adb9d0aca,
title = "Diurnal changes of carbon dioxide flux from bare Soil in agricultural field in Japan",
abstract = "We measured diurnal changes of CO2 flux from bare soil in agricultural field in central Japan. Measurements of soil CO2 flux were made by the open-flow IRGA method. Temperature and ambient CO2 concentration, which are highly variable in time, were also monitored during the measurements. The soil CO2 flux showed significant diurnal changes, and these patterns were highly correlated with the soil surface temperatures. The measured values ranged from 2.52 × 10-2 to 8.54 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in August and from -4.95 × 10-3 to 1.13 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in February. Moreover, a negative linear relationship between soil CO2 flux and ambient CO2 concentration was found in diurnal fluctuations. To explore the mechanism of these daily cycles, we estimated soil CO2 flux with a coupled model of soil microbial activity and gas diffusion. The parameter functions used in our calculation were obtained based on the measured values during the same time of soil respiration measurements. The soil CO2 production rates were obtained by laboratory experiments using the undisturbed soil core samples, which were taken from the field measuring soil respiration. The calculated soil CO2 flux ranged from 4.41 × 10-2 to 7.78 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in August and 1.14 × 10-3 to 5.03 × 10-3 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in February. These patterns of diurnal variability were similar for the measured ones, and the daily amounts estimated by integrating the model outputs were almost equal to those from the measured values. However, the amplitude of the measured respiration rates was larger than that of the estimated ones. The differences between measured and estimated values were related with thermal gradient around soil surface. The calculation suggested that the soil horizon above 10 cm depth would be a major CO2 source of soil respiration at about 70{\%} in August and 40{\%} in February. The depth of soil horizon in which soil microbial activity was significantly higher was not settled and would have a seasonal variation.",
keywords = "CO concentration, Diurnal change, Soil respiration, Temperature",
author = "Toshie Nakadai and Masayuki Yokosawa and Hiroaki Ikeda and Hiroshi Koizumi",
journal = "Applied Soil Ecology",
T1 - Diurnal changes of carbon dioxide flux from bare Soil in agricultural field in Japan
AU - Nakadai, Toshie
AU - Yokosawa, Masayuki
AU - Ikeda, Hiroaki
AU - Koizumi, Hiroshi
N2 - We measured diurnal changes of CO2 flux from bare soil in agricultural field in central Japan. Measurements of soil CO2 flux were made by the open-flow IRGA method. Temperature and ambient CO2 concentration, which are highly variable in time, were also monitored during the measurements. The soil CO2 flux showed significant diurnal changes, and these patterns were highly correlated with the soil surface temperatures. The measured values ranged from 2.52 × 10-2 to 8.54 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in August and from -4.95 × 10-3 to 1.13 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in February. Moreover, a negative linear relationship between soil CO2 flux and ambient CO2 concentration was found in diurnal fluctuations. To explore the mechanism of these daily cycles, we estimated soil CO2 flux with a coupled model of soil microbial activity and gas diffusion. The parameter functions used in our calculation were obtained based on the measured values during the same time of soil respiration measurements. The soil CO2 production rates were obtained by laboratory experiments using the undisturbed soil core samples, which were taken from the field measuring soil respiration. The calculated soil CO2 flux ranged from 4.41 × 10-2 to 7.78 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in August and 1.14 × 10-3 to 5.03 × 10-3 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in February. These patterns of diurnal variability were similar for the measured ones, and the daily amounts estimated by integrating the model outputs were almost equal to those from the measured values. However, the amplitude of the measured respiration rates was larger than that of the estimated ones. The differences between measured and estimated values were related with thermal gradient around soil surface. The calculation suggested that the soil horizon above 10 cm depth would be a major CO2 source of soil respiration at about 70% in August and 40% in February. The depth of soil horizon in which soil microbial activity was significantly higher was not settled and would have a seasonal variation.
AB - We measured diurnal changes of CO2 flux from bare soil in agricultural field in central Japan. Measurements of soil CO2 flux were made by the open-flow IRGA method. Temperature and ambient CO2 concentration, which are highly variable in time, were also monitored during the measurements. The soil CO2 flux showed significant diurnal changes, and these patterns were highly correlated with the soil surface temperatures. The measured values ranged from 2.52 × 10-2 to 8.54 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in August and from -4.95 × 10-3 to 1.13 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in February. Moreover, a negative linear relationship between soil CO2 flux and ambient CO2 concentration was found in diurnal fluctuations. To explore the mechanism of these daily cycles, we estimated soil CO2 flux with a coupled model of soil microbial activity and gas diffusion. The parameter functions used in our calculation were obtained based on the measured values during the same time of soil respiration measurements. The soil CO2 production rates were obtained by laboratory experiments using the undisturbed soil core samples, which were taken from the field measuring soil respiration. The calculated soil CO2 flux ranged from 4.41 × 10-2 to 7.78 × 10-2 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in August and 1.14 × 10-3 to 5.03 × 10-3 mg CO2 m-2 s-1 in February. These patterns of diurnal variability were similar for the measured ones, and the daily amounts estimated by integrating the model outputs were almost equal to those from the measured values. However, the amplitude of the measured respiration rates was larger than that of the estimated ones. The differences between measured and estimated values were related with thermal gradient around soil surface. The calculation suggested that the soil horizon above 10 cm depth would be a major CO2 source of soil respiration at about 70% in August and 40% in February. The depth of soil horizon in which soil microbial activity was significantly higher was not settled and would have a seasonal variation.
KW - CO concentration
KW - Diurnal change
KW - Soil respiration
KW - Temperature
JO - Applied Soil Ecology
JF - Applied Soil Ecology
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Movie Series
To Buy or Not to Buy Season 8 Episode 10
Favorite Comments () Report
Kristian Digby and Ed Hall look for a property project in Greater Manchester.
Series: To Buy or Not to Buy
Episode Title: Series 8, Show 10
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Mobile ⋮ Software
Apple Releases First Beta of watchOS 6.1.1 and tvOS 13.3 to Developers
By Ali Salman
Today, Apple has seen fit to release the first beta of watchOS 6.1.1 and tvOS 13.3 to developers for testing purposes. The new beta builds arrive a week after the company seeded watchOS 6.1 and tvOS 13.2 to the public. The new beta builds are available to download from the Apple Developer Center. Let's dive in to see what the new beta builds have in store.
Apple Seeds Beta 1 of watcOS 6.1.1 and tvOS 13.3 to Developers for Testing Purposes
Starting off with the first beta of watchOS 6.1.1, it can be installed on your compatible Apple Watch model through a profile that can be installed from the Apple Developer Center. Simply head over to the dedicated Apple Watch app on your iPhone and navigate to General > Software Update to install it.
Apple Releases Beta 3 of iOS 13.3, macOS Catalina 10.15.2, tvOS 13.3 to Developers
At this point in time, it is yet unclear what the new beta build has in store. However, we will wait for the developers to tinker with the new build in case any forward-facing feature is present.
Moving towards the next beta release, tvOS 13.3 is designed for the fourth and fifth generation of the Apple TV. If you're a developer and want to test it out for yourself, it can be downloaded through a profile that is installed using Xcode.
tvOS updates have been known to bring little to no changes to the platform. However, the latest updates do contribute to the overall stability and fix bugs that were not addressed in the previous update. Nonetheless, we will update you guys as soon as something new is discovered by developers.
If you're not enrolled in Apple's beta testing program, be sure to do so in order to check out the latest beta builds. There will be more to the story, so be sure to stay tuned in for more details on the matter. The company has also released iOS 13.3 and iPadOS 13.3 beta 1, so do check that out as well.
This is all for now, folks. Share your views with us in the comments below.
Apple Releases Beta 1 Of watchOS 5.2, macOS 10.14.4 and tvOS 12.2 To Developers For Testing Purposes
Ali Salman • Jan 24, 2019
[Update] Apple Has Released Beta 1 of macOS Mojave 10.14.3 And tvOS 12.1.2 To Developers – Here’s What is New
Ali Salman • Dec 10, 2018
[Update] Apple Has Released Beta 1 Of iOS 12.1.2 And watchOS 5.1.3 To Developers – Here’s What Is New
Apple Releases iOS 12.1.1, tvOS 12.1.1 and macOS 10.14.2 Beta 1 To Developers [Update]
Ali Salman • Oct 31, 2018
Apple Temporarily Removes watchOS 5 Beta 1 From Website Due To ‘An Issue That occurs While Updating’
Ali Salman • Jun 6, 2018
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Tag Archives: Amazon
Whole Foods To Cut Part Time Employee Health-Care Benefits
Amazon-owned Whole Foods will be withdrawing medical benefits for hundreds of its part-time workers starting Jan. 1, 2020, the company said Thursday.
In the past, employees needed to work at least 20 hours a week to buy into the health-care plan. Now they will need to work at least 30 hours. Less than 2% of its workforce, or 1,900 employees, will no longer be eligible for medical coverage, under the new policy, the company said.
The news was first reported by Business Insider.
“In order to better meet the needs of our business and create a more equitable and efficient scheduling model, we are moving to a single-tier part-time structure,” a company spokesperson said in an email. “We are providing Team Members with resources to find alternative healthcare coverage options, or to explore full-time, healthcare-eligible positions starting at 30 hours per week. All Whole Foods Market Team Members continue to receive employment benefits including a 20% in-store discount.”
In 2018, Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15 for all employees, including those at Whole Foods. Amazon also announced last week that it was planning on adding more than 30,000 permanent jobs in its tech, corporate and fulfillment departments.
Source: by Jasmine Wu | CNBC
This entry was posted in Economy and tagged Amazon, Whole Foods on September 13, 2019 by Bone Fish.
Report: Amazon’s Facial Recognition System Identifies California Lawmakers as Criminals
According to a test by the ACLU, Amazon’s facial recognition system incorrectly identified one in five California lawmakers were incorrectly identified as criminals by the software.
Vice News reports that Amazon’s facial recognition software, Rekognition, incorrectly identified 26 California lawmakers as people arrested for crimes during a test of the software by the ACLU of Northern California. The software was used by the ACLU to scan 120 photos of lawmakers against a database of 25,000 photos of individuals who were arrested, according to ACLU lawyer Matt Cagle.
The test found that one in five California lawmakers were falsely associated with mugshots from the arrest database, exposing the issues with implementing facial recognition technology in law enforcement services. The Rekognition software reportedly matched the lawmakers to mugshot photos with a confidence rate of 80 percent.
Assembly member Phil Ting was one of the individuals incorrectly identified as a criminal by the software. He is also a lawmaker who has been calling for the limiting of facial recognition technology for some time, introducing a bill in February which would ban the use of facial recognition and biometric surveillance system on police-worn body cameras.
Amazon stated that it encourages police to use 99 percent confidence ratings for public safety users stating: “First, you should use confidence thresholds of 99% or higher to reduce errors and false positives,” in a guide for law enforcement states. In a blog post in February, Amazon stated:
“When using facial recognition to identify persons of interest in an investigation, law enforcement should use the recommended 99% confidence threshold, and only use those predictions as one element of the investigation (not the sole determinant).”
But Cagle stated in an email that Amazon’s 99 percent confidence threshold is not representative of how the technology is used in real-life situations. “In the real world, Amazon does not consider the failure to use a 99 confidence score to be irresponsible and a prominent law enforcement customer for Rekognition has acknowledged lowering and not using any score at all, according to news reports,”Cagle stated, citing a report from Gizmodo in which police stated that they do not set a confidence threshold.
At the press conference, Assembly member Ting stated:
“If you get falsely accused of an arrest, what happens?. It could impact your ability to get employment, it absolutely impacts your ability to get housing. There are real people who could have real impacts.”
Source: by Lucas Nolan | Breitbart
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Amazon, Facial Recognition, Rekogition on August 15, 2019 by Bone Fish.
Whole Foods sponsors Drag Queen Story Hour to Indoctrinate Children With Perversion, Pedophilia And Transgenderism
(Natural News) The sick, twisted Cultural Marxist agenda of the deranged Left has come full circle today as Whole Foods is now sponsoring a Drag Queen Story Hour event to indoctrinate children into pedophilia, transgenderism and perversion. A retailer that once promoted organics and clean food is now saturated in absolute filth, exploiting America’s children to be “groomed” for the pedophiles and perverts that are repeatedly linked to drag queen events in multiple cities across America.
Not to be forgotten, Whole Foods also completely reversed its 2013 promise to label the GMO status of everything it sells by the end of 2018. As Natural News revealed, the promise was a five-year deliberate lie by the dishonest Whole Foods Market corporation, which continues to sell contaminated products and GMO canola oil to its customers.
Not only are Whole Foods’ product offerings filthy from a food science point of view; its cultural indoctrination programs are rooted in filth and child “grooming” that prepares children to be sexually molested by adult perverts dressed as women. Drag Queen Story Hour is a front for the pedophilia wing of the extreme transgender pervert community, which exploits young children for the sexual gratification of sicko adults, many of whom have been found to have criminal histories of sex abuse and child exploitation. Via NewsTarget.com:
According to records uncovered by MassResistance, William Travis Dees, the drag queen in question, is a current member of the “Space City Sisters” drag queen group. He’s also repeatedly volunteered as a “greeter” for young children at various DQSH events, as well as assumed other roles at these events that allowed him close access to underage children.
As it turns out, Dees has a rap sheet of heinous sex crimes that he committed against children as young as four that dates back as far as 2004. It was that same year, in fact, that Dees was convicted and jailed for committing sex crimes against not just one but four different prepubescent children, ranging in age from four to eight.
Dees also reportedly used different aliases for his various drag “characters” and “personas,” constantly shifting and altering who he was like a chameleon.
The Mayor of Atlanta endorses the pedophilia grooming of children
The pervert / pedophilia event has been endorsed by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is obviously virtue signaling her support for transgenderism and pedophilia in order to appease the social justice perverts on the Left. Here’s her tweet proudly announcing the event and thanking Whole Foods for supporting it:
We want to thank our friends at the @ATLHawks, @AtlantaFalcons, @WholeFoods, @GABeverage and @atlantapride for partnering with us for Drag Queen Story Hour.
Thank you for your commitment to a welcoming, diverse and inclusive Atlanta. 🌈 #OneAtlanta pic.twitter.com/S5lSfErJ73
— City of Atlanta LGBTQ Affairs (@COALGBTQ) July 1, 2019
Drag queens are “pedophile disguises”
As a reader commented on this Information Liberation story covering the fiasco:
No normal people take their children to library to have fat old men dressed as clown women read them stories. Those parents are homosexuals who adopted or hired surrogates so they could abuse their minds and bodies, just like the lesbians that chopped off their boy’s male part so they could make him another drag queen. Soon they’ll insist its their right to have sex with children. Watch, you know its coming. And Whole foods? I’m done with you, go to hell. FYI.. in case you don’t see it, drag queens are pedophile disguises.
Another user comments:
Perverts can’t reproduce, so they have to convert a new generation with this mental/emotional/spiritual rape that is LGBTQ culture……
Their pedophilia produces a new line of victims to continue Satan’s shame parade…
A third user adds:
Notice how quickly the elites who run these institutions cave to this perversity and insanity …and to Hell with most normal people who built this country . and who support the Falcons. Blacks as a whole don’t buy into this ..but they will participate in turning this country into a perverse Hellhole by voting over 90% with the Party of perversion and evil… It is getting to where normals and Christians are going to have to disengage from most of American life…it’s entertainment, it’s schools, it’s sports , etc to survive. America is now toxic to Christianity ..It is NOW Sodom ..the Babylon the Great ..full of evil wine.
If you shop at Whole Foods, you are supporting pedophilia and child exploitation
It’s an inescapable conclusion: If you shop at Whole Foods, you are supporting pedophilia and child exploitation. That’s what the corporation apparently supports and endorses. If you want your children to be drooled over by fat slob pedo men dressed as women, then keep buying overpriced GMO canola oil at Whole Foods.
Rampant child abuse and sexual exploitation has now been normalized by “progressives” on the left, who claim they are doing all this for “love.” They claim sex with children is “loving” and normal, and that if you oppose it, you are full of hatred and intolerance.
Pedophilia, according to the deranged Left, is now “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” And you’ve got powerful corporations, mayors and politicians all supporting it.
Whole Foods will probably start holding Drag Queen Story Hour events in its own stores soon, turning Whole Foods Market locations into pedophilia indoctrination hubs where children are groomed to be “shared” among the “loving” community of pedos, which declares, “Love knows no age difference.”
Oh, and not to be outdone by Whole Foods, Facebook also published a survey asking whether pedos should be allowed to use Facebook to “solicit sexual pictures” from underage girls. As reported by the NY Post:
Facebook is under fire for publishing a stomach-churning survey that asked users whether pedophiles should be allowed to solicit “sexual pictures” from underage girls. The disgusting multiple-choice poll gave users the option to condone the sick behavior, allowing them to vote that the “content should be allowed on Facebook, and I would not mind seeing it.”
Maybe Facebook is buying its canola oil from Whole Foods. Both corporations are filled with sick, twisted, child abuse-minded corporate executives who apparently believe that normalizing pedophilia and child abuse is a great corporate strategy to attract more business from liberals and progressives.
Whole Foods has become the Jeffrey Epstein of the grocery retailing industry. If you support pedophilia and child rape, keep shopping at Whole Foods.
Source: by Mike Adams | Natural News
This entry was posted in Health Care and tagged Amazon, Whole Foods on July 20, 2019 by Bone Fish.
Busted: Thousands Of Amazon Employees Listening To Alexa Conversations
Amazon employs thousands of people to listen in on what people around the world are saying to their Alexa digital assistant, according to what is sure to be a Congressional hearing-inspiring report by Bloomberg, which cites seven people who have worked on the program.
While their job is to “help improve” NSAlexa – which powers the company’s line of Echo speakers – the team “listens to voice recordings captured in Echo owners’ homes and offices,” which are then transcribed, annotated and fed back into the software in order to try and improve Alexa’s understanding of human speech for more successful interactions. In other words, humans are effectively helping to train Amazon’s algorithm.
In marketing materials Amazon says Alexa “lives in the cloud and is always getting smarter.” But like many software tools built to learn from experience, humans are doing some of the teaching. -Bloomberg
The listening team is comprised of part-time contractors and full-time Amazon employees based all over the world; including India, Romania, Boston and Costa Rica.
Listeners work nine hour shifts, with each reviewing as many as 1,000 audio clips per shift according to two employees from Amazon’s Bucharest office – located in the top three floors of the Romanian capital’s Globalworth building. The location “stands out amid the crumbling infrastructure” of the Pipera district and “bears no exterior sign advertising Amazon’s presence.”
While much of the work is boring (one worker said his job was to mine for accumulated voice data for specific phrases such as “Taylor Swift” – letting the system know that the searcher was looking for the artist), reviewers are also listening on people’s most personal moments.
Occasionally the listeners pick up things Echo owners likely would rather stay private: a woman singing badly off key in the shower, say, or a child screaming for help. The teams use internal chat rooms to share files when they need help parsing a muddled word—or come across an amusing recording. -Bloomberg
Occasionally Amazon listeners come across upsetting or possibly criminal recordings – such as two workers who say they listened in on what sounded like a sexual assault.
According to the report, when things like this happen the workers will mention it in the internal chat room to “relieve stress.”
And while Amazon says that it has procedures to follow when workers hear distressing things, two of the Romania-based employees say they were told “it wasn’t Amazon’s job to interfere” when they requested guidance for such instances.
“We take the security and privacy of our customers’ personal information seriously,” said an Amazon spokesman in a statement provided to Bloomberg.
“We only annotate an extremely small sample of Alexa voice recordings in order improve the customer experience. For example, this information helps us train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, so Alexa can better understand your requests, and ensure the service works well for everyone,” the statement continues. “We have strict technical and operational safeguards, and have a zero tolerance policy for the abuse of our system. Employees do not have direct access to information that can identify the person or account as part of this workflow. All information is treated with high confidentiality and we use multi-factor authentication to restrict access, service encryption and audits of our control environment to protect it.”
That said, Amazon does not mention the fact that humans are listening to recordings of some of the conversations picked up by Alexa. Instead, they have a generic disclaimer in their FAQ that says “We use your requests to Alexa to train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems.”
What Amazon records
According to Amazon’s Alexa terms of use, the company collects and stores most of what you say to Alexa – including the geolocation of the product along with your voice instructions, reported CNBC‘s Todd Haselton last November.
Your messages, communication requests (e.g., “Alexa, call Mom”), and related instructions are “Alexa interactions,” as described in the Alexa Terms of Use. Amazon processes and retains your Alexa Interactions and related information in the cloud in order to respond to your requests (e.g., “Send a message to Mom”), to provide additional functionality (e.g., speech to text transcription and vice versa), and to improve our services. -Amazon Terms of Use
Alexa, are you spying on me?
Alexa: *coughs* No, of course not.
— Wrong, Brian (@leonidasmoderus) May 25, 2018
Last May, an Amazon Echo recorded a conversation between a husband and wife, then sent it to one of the husband’s phone contacts. Amazon claims that during the conversation someone used a word that sounded like “Alexa,” which caused the device to begin recording.
“Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like ‘Alexa,’” said Amazon in a statement. “Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a ‘send message’ request. At which point, Alexa said out loud ‘To whom?’ At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customer’s contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, ‘[contact name], right?’ Alexa then interpreted background conversation as ‘right’. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.”
The wife, Danielle, however said that the Echo never requested her permission to send the audio. “At first, my husband was like, ‘No, you didn’t,’” Danielle told KIRO7. “And he’s like, ‘You sat there talking about hardwood floors.’ And we said, ‘Oh gosh, you really did!’”
Can you disable?
Alexa does allow people to stop sharing their voice recordings for the development of new features, while a screenshot reviewed by Bloomberg reveals that the recordings provided to Alexa’s listeners do not provide the full name or address of a user. It does, however, link the recording to an account number, the user’s first name, and the device’s serial number.
“You don’t necessarily think of another human listening to what you’re telling your smart speaker in the intimacy of your home,” said UMich professor Florian Schaub, who has researched privacy issues related to smart speakers. “I think we’ve been conditioned to the [assumption] that these machines are just doing magic machine learning. But the fact is there is still manual processing involved.“
“Whether that’s a privacy concern or not depends on how cautious Amazon and other companies are in what type of information they have manually annotated, and how they present that information to someone,” added Schaub.
This entry was posted in technology and tagged Alexa, Amazon on April 10, 2019 by Bone Fish.
Triggered: Ocasio-Cortez Explodes Over Claims She’s “Dumb”
Democratic socialist reacts to people saying she ‘didn’t understand’ Amazon deal
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exploded on Twitter after being triggered by claims she is “dumb” and “didn’t understand” the New York-Amazon deal she was widely blamed for sabotaging.
Ocasio-Cortez said in a interview that New York could now spend Amazon’s tax savings now the deal has fell through
Democratic Rep. Ocasio-Cortez issued a series of tweets defending her part in killing the Amazon HQ2 deal, which ultimately cost New Yorkers over 25,000 new jobs. Aside from missing out on new jobs in her district, the deal would have plowed nearly $30 billion in tax revenues to the state. During negotiations with the retail giant, New York officials offered tax reductions to the Jeff Bezos-owned Amazon to secure the deal. AOC emphatically asserted that she does “understand” how tax incentives work after claiming in an interview that New York was now, somehow, free to spend Amazon’s tax discount on other things.
According to the Daily Wire, the defensive thread was prompted by criticism from Crain’s New York Business editor Erik Engquist, who said that while he usually defends the democratic socialist congresswoman as intelligent, her troubling comments about the state “invest[ing] those $3 billion” instead of supposedly giving it to Amazon has left him speechless.
“If we were willing to give away $3 billion for this deal, we could invest those $3 billion in our district ourselves, if we wanted to,” the freshman congresswoman said last week. “We could hire out more teachers. We can fix our subways. We can put a lot of people to work for that money if we wanted to.”
“I’ve been telling @AOC critics that she is smart, but what do I say when she says nonsense like ‘we could invest those $3 billion in [@amazon tax breaks] in our district. We could hire more teachers. We can fix our subways, we can put a lot of people to work for that money,'” tweeted Engquist. Ocasio-Cortez responded forcefully and at length:
“Not sure how many pundits talking about Amazon even read the deal or where it was going. $500+ million of the deal was *capital grants.* $2.5 billion in tax breaks. It’s fair to ask why we don’t invest the capital for public use, + why we don’t give working people a tax break,”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is one of many who blames Ocasio-Cortez for the Amazon deal falling through
Among those criticizing the Democratic opposition to the deal is Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who slammed “a small group of politicians” who “put their own narrow political interests above their community — which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City — the state’s economic future and the best interests of the people of this state.” “The New York State Senate has done tremendous damage,” Cuomo said Thursday. “They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity.” Full statement below:
Amazon chose to come to New York because we are the capital of the world and the best place to do business. We competed in and won the most hotly contested national economic development competition in the United States, resulting in at least 25,000-40,000 good paying jobs for our state and nearly $30 billion dollars in new revenue to fund transit improvements, new housing, schools and countless other quality of life improvements. Bringing Amazon to New York diversified our economy away from real estate and Wall Street, further cementing our status as an emerging center for tech and was an extraordinary economic win not just for Queens and New York City, but for the entire region, from Long Island to Albany’s nanotech center. However, a small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community — which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City — the state’s economic future and the best interests of the people of this state. The New York State Senate has done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity. The fundamentals of New York’s business climate and community that attracted Amazon to be here – our talent pool, world-class education system, commitment to diversity and progressivism – remain and we won’t be deterred as we continue to attract world class business to communities across New York State.
READ MORE: https://neonnettle.com/news/6580-triggered-ocasio-cortez-explodes-over-claims-she-is-dumb-© Neon Nettle
This entry was posted in Politics and tagged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amazon, New York on February 21, 2019 by Bone Fish.
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Governor Christie, Democrats offer dueling property tax proposals
New Jersey Governor Christie and legislative leaders have dueling plans on how to control property tax increase in New Jersey.
More than 50 mayors from around the Garden State joined Governor Christie in Trenton to support his proposed constitutional amendment that would bar local governments from increasing property taxes more than 2.5 percent a year.
But Senate President Steve Sweeney wants the legislature to cap property tax growth at 2.9 percent. He says doing it with a constitutional amendment would cripple the state.
“I don’t think the people are going to want have a situation where they call 911 and there’s not enough ambulances on the street to cover their calls,” says Sweeney. “And that’s what we’re talking about, because they’re the bodies that get laid off when all these cuts come.”
Christie is dismissing the criticism.
“The only way they can oppose [the cap] is to say the ambulances aren’t coming,” says Christie. “They just want to scare people. This is silliness.”
The Governor wants the constitutional amendment to be on the November ballot so voters would have a say in limiting their property taxes.
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The Winonan
Watkins Gallery: Profile on McKnight Ceramics Exhibit
The McKnight Ceramics Exhibition was organized by the Northern Clay Center and is currently taking place in Watkins Hall Jan. 14- Feb. 5. An additional artist talk will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 23 in Watkins Hall.
Morgan Reddekopp
Ren Gennerman, Features Reporter
From Jan 14-Feb 5, the Watkins Gallery is hosting the annual McKnight Ceramics Exhibition, featuring the work of several artists.
Winona State University has hosted the traveling McKnight Ceramics Exhibition for over 10 years. This program was brought to Winona State by a former professor of ceramics in order to support the art program and students studying art.
Sponsored by the McKnight Foundation, the McKnight Ceramics Exhibition elects four different international artists every year for a three-month residency in the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. In addition, the foundation chooses two artists from Minnesota to receive a grant of $25,000 to make work in the exhibition.
Because the recipients of the grants and residencies are different from year-to-year, the work in the gallery is always different. Roger Boulay, the gallery and art collection coordinator at Winona State, remarks how different each year’s display can be.
“This is a great thing for Winona State because the work is different every year,” Boulay said. “It is always very high-quality and there’s a diverse set of interests and people.”
While many people may think of ceramics as mostly being painted bowls or cups, the exhibition this year is mostly comprised of nonfunctional ceramics. More along the lines of fine art, this year’s exhibit features work that explores line and shape, as well as those that explore and reference the human body. Boulay also emphasized the collection’s variety of material, scale and colors.
“It’s only been here for a few days so far, but we have already seen many people come through to look at the art,” Boulay said. “It can really provide a nice change of pace, especially because it provides a more contemplative space on a busy campus, and we already know lots of students on campus appreciate ceramics.”
There are about 20 art majors and 30 art education majors who take a ceramics course at some point, but the majority of student interest in the field comes from extracurricular activities.
Mud club, a ceramic-making club, has more than 100 students in its membership and many of them have already visited the exhibit.
Sarah Bontrager, a studio art major, is one of the people who has already seen the gallery collection.
“As a student, the McKnight show is always one of my favorite shows every year,” Bontrager said. “I enjoy the diversity of work that is created by the different artists, whether it is sculptural, tiles or vessels. Ceramics is such a versatile medium in art and I think this show displays that beautifully.”
Boulay agreed with Bontrager, especially because as art students learn more about their field, having work so close [to the students] is an advantage.
“Students get to see what is going on in the world of ceramics,” Boulay said. “It’s a great opportunity, especially because our gallery is on campus.”
McKnight Ceramics Exhibit
Paul Watkins Art Gallery
Winona State University
WSU art exhibit
Ren Gennerman, Copy Editor
Ren Gennerman works as a features reporter for the Winonan.
Gennerman is currently in their third year at Winona State University, and is majoring in...
Morgan Reddekopp, News Editor
Morgan Reddekopp works as copy editor, online editor, news reporter and photographer for the Winonan. She also writes the Dog of the Week column.
Reddekopp...
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Film series links university theme
Netflix original film in review: “Laundromat”
The Winona State University Student Newspaper
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Dame Daphne Sheldrick And The Half Century Struggle To Save The Elephants Of Kenya
Dale DeBakcsy April 10, 2019
Women in Science0 Comments11 min read
A mother elephant staggers forward, arrows protruding from her flank and legs, poison coursing through her blood that is attacking her muscles and making every step ahead an exercise in pure chemical agony. She has been shot by a team of poachers who need simply wait until she collapses from the pain in order to descend upon her still living form en masse, and rip the valuable ivory tusks from her face to sell to an Asian market that will fashion them into trinkets.
She is fortunate in one respect only – her death comes in the 1970s, when poachers were limited by available technology to the murder of one animal at a time. Subsequent decades brought machine-gun wielding strike teams to the Kenyan wilderness which indiscriminately destroyed entire families in a matter of minutes, such that by 1990 the elephant population that had once stood at two hundred and seventy thousand individuals was reduced to less than twenty thousand.
For sixty long, weary years it was the self-appointed task of one married couple to stand against the slaughter and fight with all their resourcefulness and compassion against a boundlessly cruel system which offered them repeated, grizzly failures of such pervasive scope that cynicism and surrender would have been forgiven them. But Daphne and David Sheldrick did not give in to the crush of the world’s deadly greed. Stationed at the Tsavo National Park they fought the fathomless resources of a global market and corruption on seemingly every level of government and administration to Do Something, to fight the poachers in the field and care for their victims at home, ultimately raising the consciousness of the world to the rapacious destruction wrought by its immoderate appetites, and ever so slowly turning the vicious vector of history towards our better instincts.
Daphne Jenkins (1934-2018) was born in Kenya to a family of British extraction who had hacked a semi-prosperous farm from the arid landscape some generations before her birth, and her youth represented a combustive mix of personal intellectual development amid political turmoil as tensions between the descendents of white settlers and the native population escalated, reaching their height in the Mau Mau Revolution (1952-1960) that resulted in the massacre of a number of white farming families, such as Jenkins’s.
She would be at the heart of these struggles for independence in the future, but as she approached the end of her high school years a more personal choice faced Daphne Jenkins. She was a good student with a promising aptitude for science, and had won a scholarship to attend university, but to do so would require leaving Kenya and the nature she so dearly loved. She decided in favor of Kenya, studying secretarial skills in Nairobi while falling in love with a handsome wildlife enthusiast by the name of Bill Woodley, whom she married in 1953, just weeks after her nineteenth birthday.
Bill was part of a small team tasked with the enormous job of organizing the massive Tsavo National Park into something that protected and studied the animal species living there while creating responsible safari opportunities to bring in much needed revenue. In charge of this mammoth effort was a dynamic, movie-handsome ex British Rifles veteran named David Sheldrick who boasted an encyclopedic knowledge of wildlife and a gift for Getting Things Done that verged on the super-heroic. Rugged and competent but also capable of deep empathy for the struggles of the animals under his care, he was a magnetic figure whose passion for fighting back against the carnage wrought on the native elephant and rhino populations was contagious.
Daphne put her secretarial and organizational skills to work, organizing the system that kept track of the poacher intel gathered by Sheldrick’s anti-poaching field teams while she learned about the behavior of the Park’s many different species, and the administrative difficulties of keeping such a large project running on an uncertain budget. Meanwhile, after the birth of her first child, Jill, her marriage faced a series of challenges, including her inability to reconcile Bill’s professed love of nature with his love of hunting, a growing knowledge of his love life with another individual, and an admiration for David Sheldrick that was growing into an undeniable passion.
Ultimately, Bill and Daphne dissolved their marriage on amicable terms and went on to find partners who fulfilled them in ways they could not provide for each other. This left David and Daphne free to build a relationship that would last until the former’s death at the age of 57 in 1977. In 1955, Daphne became co-warden of the Park and took upon herself the responsibility of developing methods of tending to the menagerie of orphans that the anti-poaching patrols brought into headquarters on a regular basis. The task involved not only finding nutritive supplements that sufficiently approximated the animals’ native diets and motherly milk supply, but overcoming the psychological traumas experienced by animals that had witnessed the violent death of their families and lost the will to live.
She was operating in unknown territory, and in the beginning the survival chances of very young elephants was dismally low. She had occasion to witness the startling depth and tenacity of elephant familial attachment as family members separated from each other by years found themselves again in the wild and joyously reunited, just as others lingered in distress over the body of a fallen relative, brushing its body with their trunk, trying to coax the deceased form into life once again. Infants brought into the center bore not only physical scars, but deep emotional distress that could drive them to refuse nourishment altogether, wasting slowly away until claimed by an all too early demise.
Even those who ate, however, came hard against our lack of knowledge about the basic necessities of elephant nutrition. Daphne experimented with formula after formula, hoping to strike upon the magical mixture that could adequately stand in for a mother elephant’s milk, only to see elephant after elephant waste away and ultimately perish to malnutrition, until finally, at literally the last experimental formula on her shelf, she hit upon the combination that worked. Coconut oil, it turned out, was the crucial element that made the difference between starvation and success, and with it Sheldrick became the first person ever to successfully raise newborn orphaned elephants.
Her backyard soon became a menagerie of orphaned animals, including elephants, rhinos, antelope, ostriches, warthogs, and dik-diks, all living in a comfortable if occasionally boisterous proximity to one another, taking collective walks into the wild, supervised by Sheldrick and her animal keepers and every so often, of their own accord, heading into the wild to rejoin their kind.
It was, however, difficult to keep sight of the significance of these victories when each orphaned animal represented perhaps a whole family who had been slaughtered in the wild. That exchange rate could not continue and, thanks to David’s tireless efforts to build roads and provisioning centers which allowed his anti-poaching squads to travel further and with greater organization, the slaughter of elephants for ivory seemed to be on the decline when a sudden spike in ivory prices saw its value increase a hundred fold, and with it the temptation to invade Park land to hunt elephants in the sanctuary that represented their last retreat. The era of the assault rifle and machine gun hit Tsavo with a cold fury helped along by corrupt park attendants who actively aided the raiding parties in exchange for a cut of the hefty profits.
While Daphne refined her methods for bringing traumatized and physically battered orphan species back from the brink of death, David began employing airplane reconnaissance to draw his field teams to sites of probable poaching activity, and the Park’s doctors to the sides of injured animals, all while creating locations that would bring in enough tourists to convince the government that the wildlife of Kenya was more valuable alive than dead. David held himself to a punishing standard that he refused to moderate even in the face of clear heart problems that ultimately claimed his life and with it the vast store of his experience in wildlife management.
Daphne was devastated by the loss of David at such a young age, but determined to push his efforts to an international level. Friends who had served alongside the couple and influential donors who had been to the Park supported her in the creation of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, whereby Sheldrick was able not only to continue and deepen her efforts to provide medical care and rehabilitation for the orphaned wildlife of Kenya, but to create outreach programs to teach Kenyan children about the animals whose care would some day be their responsibility and films that would tell the world about the growing crisis faced by Kenyan wildlife at the hands of a global trade network that satisfied its customers idle whims without a thought for cost. By harnessing the growing power of the internet, Sheldrick reached a whole new base of donors who were able to see directly the impact made by their donations on the lives of individual animals.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust continues its work today as simply the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, providing watering locations for wild herds that have faced dislocation to more arid landscapes, field medical units, aircraft surveillance, community outreach, and the orphan rehabilitation that Daphne Sheldrick pioneered seven decades ago. Awarded an honorary doctorate for her advances in wildlife veterinary medicine in 2000, and honored by Queen Elizabeth as a Dame Commander in 2006, Daphne Sheldrick succumbed to breast cancer in 2018 in Nairobi.
Lead image via Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
FURTHER READING: Dame Daphne Sheldrick’s memoir, Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story (2012) is an incredibly moving tale of humanity’s capacity for indifferent viciousness, and the heroism of those few who choose to stand against it even when failure is their unremitting reward. It is also a fascinating tale of Kenya’s transition to independence as told by a person both native and other to that culture. If it moves you to make a donation to protect Africa’s vanishing wildlife, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s website can be found here.
And for more awesome Women in Science comics, check out the archive and my books, Illustrated Women in Science – Volume 1, 2 and 3
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Dale DeBakcsy
Dale DeBakcsy is the writer and artist of the Women In Science and Cartoon History of Humanism columns, and has, since 2007, co-written the webcomic Frederick the Great: A Most Lamentable Comedy with Geoffrey Schaeffer. He is also a regular contributor to The Freethinker, Philosophy Now, Free Inquiry, and Skeptical Inquirer. He studied intellectual history at Stanford and UC Berkeley before becoming a teacher of mathematics and drawer of historical frippery.
Agnes Mary Clerke (1842-1907) At The Nerve Center Of 19th Century Astrophysics
Dale DeBakcsy May 17, 2017
Siblings In Cognition: Diana Reiss And The Study Of The Dolphin Mind
Dale DeBakcsy October 2, 2019
The Complicated Legacy Of Famed Anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
Dale DeBakcsy June 7, 2017
Belle Benchley (1882-1973) And The Creation Of The Modern Zoo
Dale DeBakcsy December 20, 2017
The Last of the Women Physicians: Dorothea Leporin Erxleben (1715-1762)
Dale DeBakcsy December 5, 2018
Guns N Taxonomy: The Vertebrate Biology Of Annie Alexander
Dale DeBakcsy March 20, 2019
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Home > Targa Tasmania > VIP Petfoods R35 GT-R Wins Targa Tasmania
2:25 PM Targa Tasmania
Sorry for being a little slow on the news, I am actually in Australia now.
Tony Quinn wins the Targa Tasmania by 6 minutes over Jason White in a Lamborghini Superleggera.
Quinn, a former Targa New Zealand winner, threw down the gauntlet on the first stage just outside Strahan, beating Weeks by 11 seconds to reclaim the lead.
Weeks set off in pursuit, but he and co-driver, Bec Crunkhorn, crashed their Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera into trees near the end of the Queenstown stage.
Medical crew were quickly on the scene to assist Weeks and Crunkhorn. Both were conscious and talking to the rescuers before being airlifted to Hobart General Hospital for further medical assessment; their dream of a first Targa title in tatters.
Quinn’s lead was then out to nearly four minutes and, with the Lamborghini of Jason White behind him experiencing major brake problems, he was able to cruise in to Hobart to collect the spoils of victory.
“Our strategy was always to keep up with the others and if we got the wet weather over the last day or two, just to have a lunge for it,” Quinn said.
“I’ve always been bridesmaid to Jim (Richards) or the Whites or somebody else, and we’re very pleased to finally win it. It hasn’t sunk in yet and it feels like it’s been the toughest and most competitive week there’s every been in Targa.
Source: Targa Tasmania
Item Reviewed: VIP Petfoods R35 GT-R Wins Targa Tasmania Rating: 5 Reviewed By: Sean Morris
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Classical music: On Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, the Madison Bach Musicians explore the miracle of Mozart across his lifetime and across different genres
The Madison Bach Musicians concludes its 15th season on this coming Saturday night, April 6, at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, April 7, at 3:30 p.m. with The Mozart Miracle .
The program features performances of beloved music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791, below) with an all period-instrument chamber orchestra in the magnificent acoustic setting of the First Congregational United Church of Christ (below), 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium.
Period-instrument specialists hailing from Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Omaha, Seattle, Philadelphia and New York City will perform on natural or valveless horns, classical oboes, gut-strung violins, violas, cellos and a double bass played with 18th-century transitional bows.
Early music specialist and bassoon professor Marc Vallon (below to, in a photo by James Gill) of UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music will lead the orchestra (below bottom, in a performance last year at the First Unitarian Society of Madison).
Internationally acclaimed soprano Ariadne Lih (below), from Montreal, Canada, will join the ensemble for Exsultate Jubilate — a ringing example of how Mozart could seamlessly fuse religious zeal with vocal pyrotechnics. (You can hear Renée Fleming sing “Exsultate Jubilate” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The program also features dance sequences, choreographed by Karen McShane Hellenbrand (below) of the UW-Madison, from Mozart’s ballet Les Petits Riens (The Little Nothings).
Also included are pre-concert lectures: On Saturday, April 6, at 7:15 p.m. there is a lecture by MBM artistic director Trevor Stephenson with an 8 p.m. concert . On Sunday, April 7, his lecture is at 2:45 p.m. with the concert at 3:30 p.m.
Advance-sale discounted tickets are $35 for general admission.
Tickets are available at Orange Tree Imports and Willy Street Coop (East and West). You can also buy advance tickets online at www.madisonbachmusicians.org
Tickets at the door are: $38 general for adults, $35 for seniors 65-plus, and student rush for $10, on sale 30 minutes before lecture.
MBM artistic director Stephenson (below) sent the following remarks to The Ear:
Here are two fantastic quotations about Mozart:
“Together with the puzzle he gives you the solution.” Ferrucio Busoni on Mozart
“It may be that when the angels go about their task of praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together as a family, they play Mozart…” Karl Barth
Both quotes underline, I believe, Mozart’s charismatic generosity of spirit, his sense of play and camaraderie. We’re all in this together! Mozart’s music is a perfect fusion of melodic inspiration — tunes so good they can stay in your head for joyous weeks at a time, or even a lifetime — and structural clarity.
His sense of proportion — when to display 18th-century balance and when to step outside the frame — is uncanny and always a delight. And for me, as a five-year-old-boy, dancing about the living room to the old LP vinyl — dancing lightly, though, so the record wouldn’t skip — it was Mozart’s boundless energy and joy, pouring out of the speakers, that really revved me up.
The Madison Bach Musicians program on this coming Saturday and Sunday will explore several sides of Mozart’s genius: master orchestrator and symphonist; aficionado of fugues; virtuoso keyboard player and mesmerizing improviser; ballet composer; and the greatest fashioner of material for the soprano voice.
MBM has assembled a Classical-period chamber orchestra, replete with gut strings and transitional bows, natural horns, and classical oboes. To this we’ll add: a fortepiano — the type of instrument Mozart toured with; an elegant dancer — for dance was an integral part of 18th-century living; and a magnificent soprano — Mozart was virtually besotted with the magic of the high female voice, and he wrote for it throughout his life with imagination and a sense of thrilling experiment that has never been equaled before or since.
Here is a bit about each selection:
Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major – Composed 1764 when Mozart was just eight years old (below), during an extended stay in London with his father Leopold and sister Nannerl. Strongly influenced by the symphonies of C. F. Abel and J. C. Bach (The London Bach, youngest son of Johann Sebastian).
Symphony No. 29 in A major – Composed 1774 when Mozart was 18 years old (below). It is often considered the pinnacle of his early symphonic writing.
Exsultate Jubilate for soprano and orchestra – Written 1773 in Milan for the castrato, or male soprano, Venanzio Rauzzini, it is an elegant fusion of rapturous melodies and vocal display.
Adagio & Fugue in C minor for strings – Composed in 1788, certainly the latest Mozart work on the program when the composer was 32. Mozart had by this time — largely through the Sunday soirees at Baron van Swieten’s—been studying Bach’s fugues closely for several years. This fugue is an arrangement of a work for two fortepianos, K. 426, which Mozart had composed five years earlier in 1783. Mozart added the opening Adagio for the strings version.
Fantasy in D minor for fortepiano – Mozart improvised frequently as part of both private and public performance. This Fantasy, with its dark distinctive opening which explores the fantastical low register of the fortepiano, may give us a good idea of what Mozart might have done one night just sitting down to “jam” for his friends.
Two French Songs for soprano and fortepiano — Birds follow the warm weather, so they never cease their courtship. And in the woods one day the protagonist foolishly rouses a sleeping Cupid — and pays a terrible price.
Ballet excerpts from Les Petit Riens – literally The Little Nothings. Mozart composed most, but not all, of this ballet in Paris 1778 for Jean-Georges Noverre, ballet master of the Paris Opera. The work served as an interlude to an opera by Niccolo Piccinni that closed after just four performances.
For more information, go to: www.madisonbachmusicians.org
Tags: #AriadneLih, #ArtisticDirector, #BalletMusic, #BaronvanSwieten, #BBCProms, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CampRandallStadium, #ChamberOrchestra, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChristianChurch, #ChristianReligion, #Classicalera, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #ExsultateJubilate, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FerruccioBusoni, #FirstCongregationalUnitedChurchofChrist, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FrenchSong, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #JesusChrist, #JohannChristophBach, #JohannSebastianBach, #KarlBarth, #LeopoldMozart, #LondonEngland, #MadisonBach Musicians, #MaleSoprano, #MarcVallon, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MelodicMusic, #MilanItaly, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MontrealCanada, #MusicalExcerpt, #NannerlMozart, #NewYorkCity, #NiccoloPiccinni, #OboeMusic, #OmahaNebraska, #OperaMusic, #OrangeTreeImports, #ParisFrance, #ParisOpera, #PeriodInstruments, #PhiladelphiaPennsylvania, #RenéeFleming, #SeattleWashington, #SeniorCitizen, #SopranoSinger, #TheLondonBach, #TrevorStephenson, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WillyStreetCoopEast, #WillyStreetCoopWest, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, 18th century, acoustic, adult, angels, Ariadne Lih, Artistic director, Arts, Bach, balance, ballet, ballet music, Baron van Swieten, Baroque, basson, BBC Proms, bird, birds, blog, bow, bows, boy, Busoni, C.F. Abel, camaraderie, Camp Randall Stadium, Canada, castrato, Cello, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, charisma, Chicago, Christ, church, clarity, Classical, Classical music, closed, compose, composer, conductor, counterpoint, courtship, critically acclaimed, cupid, dance, dancer, dark, delight, discount, display, door, double bass, Early music, energy, era, excerpt, experiment, Exsultate Jubilate, Facebook, Family, fantasy, father, Ferruccio Busoni, First Congregational United Church of Christ, First Unitarian Society of Madison, fortepiano, French, fugue, fusion, generosity, genius, God, gut, head, historically informed performance practices, horns, imagination, improvisation, improviser, interlude, international, Jacob Stockinger, jam, Jesus, Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joy, Karl Barth, Keyboard, lecture, Leopold Mozart, lifetime, London, LP, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Marc Vallon, Mead Witter School of Music, melody, Milan, Milwaukee, miracle, Montreal, Mozart, Music, natural, New York City, Niccolo Piccinni, Nonnerl Mozart, Oboe, Omaha, online, opera, Orange Tree Imports, Orchestra, orchestrator, Paris, Paris Opera, period instruments, Philadelphia, play, player, price, private, professor, Proms, proportion, protagonist, public, pyrotechnics, quotation, quote, rapture, Religion, religious, Renée Fleming, ringing, Saturday, Seattle, senior citizen, sense, sequence, setting, sing, singer, sister, soprano, speaker, specialist, spirit, strings, structure, Student, Sunday, symphony, terrible, The London Bach, thrill, thrilling, ticket, transitional, Trevor Stephenson, tune, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, valveless, vinyl, Viola, Violin, virtuoso, vocal, vocal music, voice, weeks, Willy Street Coop East, Willy Street Coop West, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Woods, YouTube, zeal
Classical music: The Madison Summer Choir celebrates its 10th anniversary with one of the best concerts of the year
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. He also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
The Madison Summer Choir (below) celebrated its 10th anniversary on Wednesday night at the First Congregational United Church of Christ.
Each year’s program has had a theme, and for this one it was “Old Wine in New Bottles”— though it might as well have been the other way ‘round.
The idea, though, was that the selections showed their composers looking back to the techniques and tastes of earlier generations while writing new music. Conductor Ben Luedcke (below) introduced each work to explain how such approaches worked out.
The first half of the program was devoted to four works, dating from three different centuries.
Two were by contemporary composers. A setting in English of the Psalm text “By the Waters of Babylon” by Sarah Riskind (below top) was followed by Amor de mi Ami, a tribute to his wife, in Spanish, by Randall Stroope (below bottom).
Each work had instrumental additions — in the first, piano with cello, in the second, just piano) which personally I found unnecessary. Riskind’s choral writing is attractively full and quite idiomatic, while Stroope achieves a natural lyricism. I would be interested to hear just the choral parts alone for each work. (Editor’s Note: You can hear the work by Randall Stroope in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
These two items were framed by music of earlier epochs. The Geistliches Lied (Spiritual Song) by Johannes Brahms showed his ability to create his own version of both pre- and post-Baroque polyphony. And Mozart’s Psalm setting Laudate pueri, from one of his Vespers collections (K. 339), showed his assimilation of Baroque counterpoint.
Bruce Bengtson played the part Brahms included for organ (or piano), and he also played the organ reduction of the orchestral part for the Mozart.
It was partly the acoustics, but also a weakness in diction that made the words in those four pieces all but indistinguishable, in whatever language was being sung—my one serious criticism of the performances.
The second part of the program was devoted to the first of the numbered Mass settings by Anton Bruckner. In some ways, such large-scale sacred works were studies for his majestic symphonies yet to come.
In this Mass No. 1 in D minor, Bruckner saw himself in the line of earlier Austrian church music, but anyone expecting bald imitations of Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven would be disappointed.
In his dense and highly chromatic writing — something like a step beyond Schubert — Bruckner created some very fascinating music. It reached really exciting power in the Credo, and the words “dona nobis pacem” at the conclusion had a deeply moving sense of serenity.
The choir, of 68 mixed voices, was joined for the Bruckner by four soloists — Chelsie Propst, Jessica Lee Timman, Peter Gruett, Christian Bester (below on the left) — who sang their parts handsomely, and by an orchestra of 30 players, who provided strong and sturdy support.
Luedcke deserves particular praise for giving a chance to hear the Bruckner Mass, which was thought to be its Madison premiere. It climaxed a really enterprising event, one that I think will stand as among the Best Concerts of the Year.
Tags: #AmericanRecordGuide, #AntonBruckner, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BenLuedcke, #BlogPosting, #BruceBengtson, #CelloMusic, #ChelsiePropst, #ChristianBester, #ChristianChurch, #ChurchMusic, #ContemporaryComposer, #EnglishLanguage, #FirstCongregationalUnitedChurchofChrist, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JessicaLeeTimman, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnW.Barker, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonSummerChoir, #MedievalHistory, #MusicalPerformance, #NewMusic, #OrchestralAccompaniment, #PeterGruett, #RandallStroope, #SacredMusic, #SarahRiskind, #SpanishLanguage, #SpiritualMusic, #TheBible, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, American Record Guide, amor, anniversary, Anton Bruckner, Arts, attractive, Austria, Austrian, Babylon, Baroque, Beethoven, Ben Luedcke, best, Bible, bottle, Bruce Bengtson, Cello, Chelsie Propst, choral music, Christian Bester, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, conclusion, conductor, counterpoint, Credo, critic, Early music, epoch, event, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Franz Schubert, Haydn, History, idea, idiomatic, introduce, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jessica Lee Timman, Johannes Brahms, John W. Barker, language, lecture, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyricism, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Summer Choir, mass, Medieval, natural, new, old, orchestral, organ, organist, part, performance, Peter Gruett, Piano, player, polyphony, posting, praise, professor, program, psalm, Psalms, Randall Stroope, review, sacred music, Sarah Riskind, serenity, singer, soloist, song, Spanish, spiritual, taste, technique, text, theme, tribute, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vesper, Viola, Violin, vocal music, wife, Wine, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, writing, year, YouTube
Classical music: The new period-instrument group Sonata à Quattro makes its debut and excels in early Baroque music
ALERT: The All-Festival Concert that closes this summer’s 19th annual Madison Early Musical Festival will take place in Mills Hall on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $20 for the general public, $10 for seniors and students. Here are two links where you can find more specific information, including composers and works on the program:
https://memf.wisc.edu/event/all-fest-2018/
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
Marika Fischer Hoyt (below) is becoming another powerhouse in our musical scene. Already a spark plug of the Ancora String Quartet, and now the director of the annual “Bach Around the Clock” bashes, she has organized a new ensemble, Sonata à Quattro, which made its debut on Wednesday night at Pres House.
This was done under the aegis of the current Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) as a “fringe concert” — in the manner long-established by the Boston Early Music Festival. Plus, the concert’s theme was “The Lübeck Connection,” clearly tying it to the MEMF.
The music was early Baroque, almost entirely from the 17th century.
The first half presented pieces by seven composers, including, among the better-known ones, Michael Praetorius, Giovanni Gabrieli, Heinrich Schütz, Heinrich Ignaz Biber and Antonio Vivaldi.
In the earlier pieces, the instruments were not originally specified at all — and one of them was in fact purely vocal. But the later ones clearly displayed the definition of the early string ensemble.
Indeed, the basic players — besides the backup harpsichord — were seated (below) in what is now familiar in the configuration of the latter-day string quartet, with the subtle suggestion that the earlier sonata à quattro genre was its natural predecessor.
The presence here of Vivaldi—besides Gabrieli, the only Italian among these Germans, and of later date—seemed a bit incongruous, but his familiar Sinfonia ‘al Santo Sepolcro’ actually illustrated well the mature à quattro texture. (You can hear the Vivaldi in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
And a most impressive conclusion for this first half of the program was the fascinating eight-part Sonata in A minor by the sadly neglected Samuel Capricornus (1628-1665)—its eight-voice scoring not serving as a double choir but as a richly textured study in contrasting high with low parts.
For this first half, the core performers were Nathan Giglierano and Christine Hauptly Annin, violins; Fischer-Hoyt, viola; and Charlie Rasmussen, cello, with harpsichordist Daniel Sullivan.
They were joined along the way by gambist Phillip Serna (below top) who performed later on violone; and, for the Capricornus also violinist Thalia Coombs (below second), violist Micah Behr (below third) and viola da gambist Eric Miller (below bottom, in a photo by Katrin Talbot).
The program’s second half was devoted entirely to the music of Dietrich Buxtehude (below, ca. 1637-1707), the big star of the MEMF constellation.
First we had a Trio in B-flat from his Op. 2 collection, then a slightly French-style solo harpsichord Suite in D minor from Daniel Sullivan (below top).
Finally, we had two solo cantatas, sung by Kristin Knutson (below bottom), whose lovely soprano voice blended beautifully with the instruments.
This new ensemble will continue with concerts scheduled ahead for the coming season. But certainly this appearance represents a beautiful, and perfectly timed, introduction in a concert of true delight.
Tags: #AmericanRecordGuide, #AncoraStringQuartet, #AntonioVivaldi, #BachAroundtheClock, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BostonEarlyMusicFestival, #ChamberMusic, #DietrichBuxtehude, #EarlyBaroque, #GermanBaroque, #GermanComposers, #GermanMusic, #GiovanniGabrieli, #HarpsichordContinuo, #HarpsichordMusic, #HeinrichBiber, #HeinrichSchütz, #IsthmusNewspaper, #ItalianBaroque, #ItalianComposers, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnW.Barker, #LübeckGermany, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MedievalHistory, #MichaelPraetorius, #MusicCritic, #PeriodInstrument, #PresHouse, #RadioHost, #SamuelCapricornus, #SonataaQuattro, #StringQuartet, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, American Record Guide, Ancora String Quartet, Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Boston Early Music Festival, Cantata, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, composer, critic, debut, Dietrich Buxtehude, Early music, ensemble, Gabrieli, Germany, Giovanni Gabrieli, harpsichord, Heinrich Biber, Heinrich Schütz, History, Isthmus, Italian Baroque, Italian composers, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John W. Barker, lecture, Madison Early Music Festival, Medieval, MEMF, Michael Praetorius, Music, natural, public, Radio, Samuel Capricornus, show, solo, Sonata, soprano, String quartet, Student, Suite, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, viola da gamba, Violin, violone, Vivaldi, vocal music, voice, Wisconsin, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra finishes its season with first-time performances of a piano concerto by Mozart and a Slavic Mass by Janacek
This weekend the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) concludes its current season with “Mass Appeal,” a program that includes two first-ever performances.
One work is the Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat Major, K. 382, with Christopher O’Riley as the soloist. The other work is the massive “Glagolitic Mass” by the Czech composer Leos Janacek.
The concerts are in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State St., on Friday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 5, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, May 6, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $18-$90. Ticket information is lower down.
MSO music director John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad) had the following comments about the program:
“The concert opens with the exhilarating Overture to the opera Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
“Janacek’s monumental Glagolitic Mass is a very dramatic work. The soloists who are joining us will fill Overture Hall with voluptuous sound, and the Madison Symphony Chorus will bring its high level of professionalism, adding to the thrilling auditory experience that is so characteristic of Janacek. (NOTE: You can hear the dramatic and brassy opening of the Glagolitic Mass in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“This work also features the organ in a movement all its own, and will give our audiences a chance to once again experience the beauty and power of the Overture Concert Organ as played by MSO’s Principal Organist Greg Zelek (below).”
“Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni was completed in 1787. Mozart’s musical genius is evident in the subtle shadings of darkness he injects into even the most outwardly cheerful moments of the overture — which was most recently performed by the MSO in 2003.
“Composed in December of 1785, Piano Concerto No. 22 was the first concerto by Mozart (below) to include clarinets, his favorite woodwind, in its scoring. The concerto is considered to be a particularly elegant work, filled with ornate, often complicated, writing for the soloist that carries a natural sense of aristocratic poise.
“The Glagolitic Mass, considered to be one of the century’s masterworks and Janacek’s finest choral work, has often been viewed as a celebration of Slavic culture. With text in Old Church Slavonic, the five movements correspond to the Roman Catholic Ordinary of the Mass, omitting “Dona nobis pacem” in the Agnus Dei.
“The piece begins and closes with triumphant fanfares dominated by the brass and prominently features the organ throughout.
“Janacek (below) wanted it to be a Mass “without the gloom of the medieval monastic cells in the themes, without the same lines of imitation, without the tangled fugues of Bach, without the pathos of Beethoven, without the playfulness of Haydn,” rather he talks of the inspiration of nature and language.
“Acclaimed for his engaging and deeply committed performances, pianist Christopher O’Riley (below, in a photo by Dan Williams) is known to millions as the host of NPR’s From the Top, which spotlights gifted young classical musicians.
“O’Riley’s repertoire spans a kaleidoscopic array of music from pre-baroque to present-day. He performs around the world and has garnered widespread praise for his untiring efforts to reach new audiences.
Christopher O’Riley has performed as a soloist with virtually all of the major American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony. He last appeared with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in 1995, making for a highly anticipated return with his performance this season.
Soprano Rebecca Wilson (below, in a photo by Jeremy Lawson) has been praised as a “staggeringly talented singer” by St. Louis Magazine. She has appeared with Union Avenue Opera, in the role of Gutrune in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) and has performed throughout the Chicago area in many roles.
Hailed as possessing a voice of “spell-binding power and intensity” (The Register-Guard), mezzo-soprano Julie Miller (below, in a photo by Devon Cass) has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras and in many major concert halls across the country.
Tenor Rodrick Dixon (below, in a photo by Dan Demetriad) is a classical crossover artist who possesses a voice of extraordinary range and versatility. His body of work covers 25 years of television, recordings, live theater and concerts, including PBS Specials with tenors Victor Cook, and Thomas Young; “Hallelujah Broadway,” starring his wife, Alfreda Burke; the Miss World Pageant broadcast from China and Washington, D.C., on the “E” channel in 126 countries.
Dixon recently appeared in the annual Freedom Awards. His eclectic discography includes recordings for Sony BMG, EMI Records and Naxos.
Bass Benjamin Sieverding (below, in a photo by Lu Zang) has been recognized by critics nationwide for his “surprising depth” (Boulder Daily Camera), as well as his “natural gift for comedy” and “full, rich sound” (Ann Arbor Observer).
As an active soloist and recitalist, Sieverding performs both regionally and internationally. Sieverding is a three-time district winner and regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
The Madison Symphony Chorus (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) gave its first public performance on February 23, 1928, and has performed regularly with the Madison Symphony Orchestra ever since. The chorus (below) is directed by MSO assistant conductor Beverly Taylor and is comprised of more than 150 volunteer musicians who come from all walks of life and enjoy combining their artistic talent.
One hour before each performance, Beverly Taylor (below), Director of Choral Activities and Professor at the UW-Madison,will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, please view the Program Notes by MSO trombonist and retiring UW-Whitewater professor J. Michael Allsen at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1718/8.May18.html
The Symphony recommends concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the pre-concert talk (free for all ticket-holders).
Single Tickets for the 2017–2018 season finale May concerts are $18-$90 each and are on sale now at https://www.madisonsymphony.org/singletickets, through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $18 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Major funding for the May concerts is provided by Mirror 34 Productions, Fiore Companies, Inc., the Steinhauer Charitable Trust, Diane Ballweg, and WPS Health Solutions. Additional funding provided by Carla and Fernando Alvarado, Forte Research Systems and Nimblify, William Wilcox and Julie Porto, and Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Classical music: More chamber music should be performed at the Goodman Community Center on the east side. Are there other underused venues?
Last Saturday morning, The Ear headed off to the Goodman Community Center (below), on the near east side just off Atwood Avenue.
The reason was to hear a noontime concert by one of his favorite chamber music groups: The Willy Street Chamber Players.
The summer concert was part of the new and FREE Community Connect series by The Willys. And the terrific performances of works by Caroline Shaw, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Astor Piazzolla and Johannes Brahms seemed to draw in a good-sized crowd that was younger and even included some children.
Clearly, The Willys have indeed connected to the community in a different part of town than where they usually perform.
But another of the great things about The Willys is that they also explore new venues.
For the past two winters, they have performed a season preview concert in “A Place to Be” on Williamson Street.
What struck The Ear this time, however, was the Evjue Community Room (below) at the Goodman Center.
The handsomely rehabbed room sure seems an ideal venue for chamber music.
Why, The Ear wondered, was it the first time he was there for a concert?
The room seats about 100, making it ideal for intimate music.
It has lots of natural light, which the players (below) said they really like for reading music.
And the acoustics were superb, no doubt the result of the cream-colored brick, the dark wood, the glass windows and the metal ductwork – all hard surfaces that made for clarity and sufficient volume, even in the back rows. It is, as they say in the biz, a “live” space.
The Ear sure hopes the Goodman Center will see the return of The Willys.
More to the point, he also hopes that other chamber music groups will also use the center. It would be a wonderful spot for recitals and small groups of all kinds.
What do you think of the Goodman Center as a venue for classical music and other kinds of music?
Do you know of other underused performance spaces around the Madison area that you would recommend?
Tags: acoustics, Arts, Astor Piazzola, brick, Caroline Shaw, Cello, Chamber music, children, clarity, Classical music, community, crowd, Daniel Bernard Roumain, ductwork, Evjue, Glass, Goodman, Goodman Center, Goodman Community Center, handsome, intimate, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, light, Madison, metal, morning, Music, natural, New Music, performance, Performing arts, player, reading, recital, rehab, room, Saturday, space, String quartet, string quintet, summer, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, venue, Viola, Violin, volume, Willy Street Chamber Players, window, winter, Wisconsin, wood, young
Classical music: This is a very busy weekend for FREE choral music, band music, chamber music, a brass master class and a Berlioz colloquium at the UW-Madison.
This is the time of the academic year, the end of a semester, when performers and venues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music really get a workout.
Take this weekend and especially this coming Sunday, which features seven events.
There will be two popular Winter Choral Concerts at Luther Memorial Church, 1026 University Avenue (below, in 2014) plus performances by the Concert Band and University Bands and a couple of recitals by students. Mills Hall, Morphy Hall and Music Hall will all be in use.
Here is a link to the full Sunday schedule with information about the many concerts, but which, unfortunately, does NOT include programs for the choral concerts and a band concert:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/2016-12-04/
This Friday and Saturday are also busy, though less so.
At 4 p.m. in Room 2441 of the Mosse Humanities Building is a FREE public colloquium about the pioneering Romantic French composer Hector Berlioz (below).
Here is a description by the presenter, Professor Francesca Brittan of Case Western Reserve University:
“Against Melody: Neology, Revolution, and Berliozian Fantasy.”
“Complaints levied against Hector Berlioz’s music during his lifetime (and after) were many: deafening, terrifying, “too literary,” “too imitative.” But by far the most pervasive anxiety voiced by critics revolved around Berlioz’s illegibility. In particular, his music was ungrammatical, failing to adhere to the rules of syntax, the tenets of “proper” melody, and the laws of rhythm.
“These were not just idle or irritated complaints but urgent ones, linked by 19th-century critics to fears of social unraveling and even revolutionary violence. Berlioz’s musico-linguistic perversion, as one reviewer put it, was tantamount to Jacobinism. This strand of the criticism began in earnest with the “Symphonie fantastique,” a work that usually claims our attention for its orchestrational innovations and autobiographical resonances.
“In this talk, I redirect attention to the symphony’s syntax, arguing that melodic-linguistic deformation was at the heart of the work’s radicalism. I link Berlioz’s notions of “natural” grammar (borrowed in part from Victor Hugo) to notions of “natural” sound, and the “natural” rights of man. More broadly, I examine relationships among grammar, revolution, and 19th-century fantasy, between musical neology and the Berliozian imaginary.”
The event is funded by the University Lectures Anonymous Fund.
For more about Francesca Brittan (below) go to:
http://music.case.edu/faculty/francesca-brittan/
At 6:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, a student brass quintet will perform a FREE concert of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Malcolm Arnold, Kevin McKee and Victor Ewald. Performers are Nicole Gray, Brandi Pease, Kirsten Haukness, Hayden Victor and Michael Madden.
At 8 p.m. in Mills Hall is a FREE public master class with David Wakefield (below), a former member of the American Brass Quintet who now teaches at The Hartt School. Sorry, no program of works to be played.
At 8:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall is a FREE graduate student concert of chamber music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Rayna Slavova is a second-year Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) student in collaborative piano, studying with professor Martha Fischer.
The all-Mozart program includes the Violin Sonata in F, K. 376, with Biffa Kwok, violin (an excerpt, played by Hilary Hahn, can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom); the Piano Duo Sonata in C, K 521, with Alberto Pena, piano; and the Piano Quintet in E flat, K 452, with Juliana Mesa, bassoon, Kai-Ju Ho, clarinet, and Dafydd Bevil, horn.
At 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, the University Strings – made up of talented non-music majors — will play a FREE concert. Sorry, no news about the program.
At 4 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall is a FREE Fall concert by the Flute Studio at the UW-Madison. Sorry, no word about the program or players.
At 8:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital in a FREE recital by Seth Bixler who is a senior violinist studying with Professor Soh-Hyun Altino. He will perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Peter Tchaikovsky and Eugene Ysaye.
Tags: American Brass Quintet, anxiety, Arts, autobiography, Bach, band, Bassoon, Berlioz, brass, Case Western Reserve University, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, clarinet, Classical music, colloquium, Concert, critic, David Wakefield, duet, duo, flute, Francesca Brittan, grammar, Hilary Hahn, Horn, imaginary, innovation, Jacob Stockinger, Jacobinism, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Kevin McKee, law, laws, linguistic, Madison, Malcolm Arnold, man, master class, melody, Mozart, Music, natural, natural rights, Orchestra, Piano, piano duo, Piano Quintet, quintet, Ravel, recital, revolution, rhythm, rights, rights of man, Romantic, Romanticism, Sonata, Sound, symphony, Symphony fantastique, syntax, Tchaikovsky, The Hartt School, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Victor Ewald, Victor Hugo, Viola, violence, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube, Ysaye
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World Encyclopaedia of Puppetry Arts
To the reader
History of WEPA 1978-2017
Hard copy edition
Jane Phillips (2012)
Union Internationale de la Marionnette
The British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild
Fantoccini
Humberto Zarrilli (1898-1964)
Michel de Ghelderode (1898-1962)
Evgueni Demmeni (1898-1969)
Fritz Gerhards (1898-1955)
Alexander Calder (1898-1976)
István Árpád Rév (1898-1977)
Olga Stevens (1899-1983)
Nina Gernet (1899-1982)
Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981)
Harro Siegel (1900-1985)
Talat Dumanlı (1901-1982)
Sergei Obraztsov (1901-1992)
Percy Press I (1902-1980)
Fred Schneckenburger (1902-1966)
Frédéric O’Brady (1903-1973)
Edgar Bergen (1903-1978)
Roberto Lago (1903-1995)
Paul McPharlin (1904-1948)
Bil Baird (1904-1987)
Jan Malík (1904-1980)
Martin Stevens (1904-1983)
Rufus Rose (1904-1975)
Jan Izydor Sztaudynger (1904-1970)
Alexis Robert Philpott (1904-1978)
Guillermo Freer (1905-1995)
Lenora Shpet (1905-1976)
Friedrich Arndt (1905-1985)
Erik Kolár (1906-1976)
Emanuele Macrì (1906-1974)
Walter Büttner (1907-1990)
Jacques Chesnais (1907-1971)
George Pal (1908-1980)
Maria Signorelli (1908-1992)
Robert Desarthis (1909-1993)
Boris Tuzlukov (1909-1974)
Jan Bussell (1909-1985)
Fritz Herbert Bross (1910-1976)
Gilberto Ramírez Alvarado (1910-1990)
Hans Richard Purschke (1911-1986)
Walter Röhler (1911-1974)
Henryk Ryl (1911-1983)
Jiří Trnka (1912-1969)
Giuseppe Argento (1912-1993)
Jan Dorman (1912-1986)
David Ben Shalom (1912-1900)
Mikhail Korolev (1913-1983)
Mané Bernardo (1913-1991)
Guido Van Deth (1913-1969)
Cesar López Ocón (1914-1973)
Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990)
Ștefan Hablinski (1915-1974)
Juan Enrique Acuña (1915-1988)
Georges Lafaye (1915-1984)
Jože Pengov (1916-1968)
Giacomo Cuticchio (1917-1985)
Bohdan Slavík (1917-1974)
Hermilo Borba Filho (1917-1976)
Viktor Andreevich Afanasiev (1917-1987)
Burr Tillstrom (1917-1985)
Kató Szőnyi (1918-1989)
Meher Rustom Contractor (1918-1992)
Otto Alfredo Freitas (1918-1963)
Josef Pehr (1919-1986)
Berislav Deželić (1920-1982)
Jean-Loup Temporal (1921-1983)
Natale Napoli (1921-1984)
Yuri Eliseev (1922-1990)
Louis Valdès (1923-1965)
Therese Keller (1923-1972)
Nartosabdho (1925-1985)
Ali Bunsch (1925-1985)
Arminio Rothstein (1927-1994)
Pepe Camejo (1929-1988)
Héctor Alvárez d’Abórmida (1929-1990)
Boris Ablynin (1929-1988)
Antoine Vitez (1930-1990)
Barry Smith (1930-1989)
Ștefan Lenkisch (1930-1991)
Janko Vrbnjak (1931-1988)
Ariel Bufano (1931-1991)
Cho Yong-su (1932-1992)
Gerhard Mensching (1932-1992)
Georgeta Nicolau (1935-1995)
Jim Henson (1936-1990)
Branko Stojaković (1937-1992)
Irina Borowski (1938-1986)
Andrzej Dziedziul (1939-1988)
Wayland Flowers (1939-1988)
Stevan Pešić (1939-1994)
Rajmund Strzelecki (1940-1995)
Nevzat Açıkgöz (1942-1989)
Robert Anton (1949-1984)
Article CC-BY-NC-SA
Gerald Morice
London, Great Britain (1907)
Malvern, Worcestershire, Great Britain (1986)
British freelance journalist, critic, historian, collector of many curiosities concerning European and British popular theatre, printed ephemera, architecture and European puppets.
Widely travelled, Gerald Morice lived in Worcestershire, a bachelor who loved the life of a “gentleman of letters”, a man of taste and intelligence, and a stylish and prolific correspondent. He taught young puppeteers what they should aspire to for the benefit of the puppet theatre worldwide. As a critic, he set high standards of performance and scholarship.
Gerald Morice founded the British Toy Theatre Guild, later the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild in 1925. He published wartime bulletins during World War II for The Puppet Master, the Guild journal, which he occasionally edited. After the war he helped to rebuild Britain’s links with world puppetry through UNIMA, and was instrumental in the setting up of the British UNIMA centre.
He translated Gunter Böhmer’s book Puppets through the Ages (London, Macdonald, 1971), and between 1938 and 1982 wrote weekly columns on national and international puppet and model theatre for the circus and variety journal, The World’s Fair, and occasionally for The Stage under the name of Charles Trentham.
With George Speaight he discovered the Tiller Clowes puppets in an old barn and directed them in The Old-Time Marionettes, a reconstruction of a Victorian fantoccini show using the renovated figures. Their first performance was in 1951, in a purpose-built theatre on the Festival of Britain site in Battersea Pleasure Gardens, London. His vast collection of theatre memorabilia was bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
(See Great Britain.)
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« Review – Loot, Tricycle Theatre
Review of the Year 2008 – the worst and the less so »
Review – Oliver!, Drury Lane
Possibly their last show of 2008 so the Whingers play it safe: a known, loved, trusted musical with hummable tunes; in the West End; with reserved seating.
Yes, last Monday* the Whingers eagerly took their numbered seats at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane to enjoy their favourite British musical. This show has more catchy, hummable songs than any other this sceptred isle has ever produced.
What sensible person would not grin from ear to ear on hearing the jolly refrain:
If you don’t mind having to deal with Fagin, It’s a fine life! It’s a fine life!
Though diseased rats threaten to bring the plague in, It’s a fine life! It’s a fine life!
Andrew Lloyd Webber: eat your heart out. And all your other vital organs while you’re at it. Oliver! is proof that Lionel Bart was the closest thing to musical theatre genius that this country has seen. What could possibly go wrong?
The trouble is this production of Oliver! was famously cast and promoted through yet another TV talent show, I’d Do Anything which threw up three Olivers and a Nancy.
So not only are there an awful lot of kiddie-winks in the show (134 in total, although thankfully not all on the same night) but also in the audience.
And the casting of Jodie Prenger via the telly (which Andrew famously doesn’t do) has attracted – now how do we put this politely and without seeming like the terrible, terrible snobs that we are – the kind of people who don’t normally go to the theatre.
Now, many of you out there will be will thinking that attracting people who don’t normally go to the theatre is a good thing. But you weren’t there last Monday night, were you? As the Whingers took their seats Phil whispered (note to people who don’t normally go to the theatre: note the word “whisper“, not “talk full volume like you would at home”), “I’m going to have to be very brave”.
And so it was, amidst all the people who don’t normally go to the theatre that the Whingers sat trying to be very patient, attempting to block out all the crying, chatting, back-of-seat banging, sweet unwrapping, cross-row Malteser distribution and more coughing than a TB ward.
The trouble is that the people who don’t normally go to the theatre took a rather literal interpretation of Mr Bart’s thoughtless imperative “Consider yourself at home” and behaved as though they’re still at home sitting in front of the telly. After Prenger’s big solo number the woman next to Andrew started texting her friends to tell them all about it.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Andrew adopted his signature look of benign resignation but Phil was hissing “shhhhh” within 30 seconds. But even Phil’s venomous stares could not silence the three year old child who started to cry the moment the band struck up with the scary opening music. And why did the curtain go up before the house lights went down?** If ever there was an audience that required a lesson in good manners and a collective shusshing, this was it. There was, of course, the announcement about turning off mobiles and not taking photographs (clearly copyright being far more important than allowing the audience to enjoy itself in relative peace).
Why was there no instruction to shut the f*** up, take any screaming f***ing brats home (it’s not a panto) and unwrap your f***ing sweeties now?
Anyway, enough about people who don’t normally go to the theatre.
What of the people who go to the theatre far more often than is normal?
Well, if we must review the show rather than the audience, these would be our observations:
When it comes to children singing, less really is more. Obviously “zero children” would be the Whingers’ preference but that’s clearly not practical in this show. But it would be only slightly less practical than having more children than is customary, thus rendering the words of “Food, Glorious, Food” inaudible (although this did not prevent the people who don’t normally go to the theatre from being inspired to gorge themselves anew on the noisiest confectionery known to man.
The sound balance is completely off. We could hardly make out any of the lyrics. This is important – it’s a musical – and must be rectified.
There’s something already rather tired about this production – perhaps because it’s a revival of the 1994 Sam Mendes revival. Genius wunderkind turned loose cannon Rupert Goold has been brought into co-direct alongside choreographer Matthew Bourne but one wonders whether this is really worthy of his attention.
Andrew felt it only really took off from “Consider Yourself” but Phil was still waiting for it to lift off by the time the curtain came down. Ironically there seemed to be far too much happening on stage – almost as much as in the audience. The lyric “consider yourself part of the family” struck a sinister chord with Phil who by this point was so tense you could have cracked a seasonal brazil nut between his shoulder blades.
Rowan Atkinson is very funny as Fagin – even his first word -“What?” – gets a laugh. There is some very funny opera glasses business (seemingly inspired by Dame Edna) as he surveys the different levels of the auditorium. It’s a shame he can’t sing, but you can’t have everything in life, can you?
Talking of life, the reprise of “It’s A Fine Life” was a complete shambles but then there was something strangely rushed about all of the songs – as though tempo might be a substitute for energy. Or possibly to ensure that the show was over by 10pm so the 134 children could go to bed. But whatever the reason, it’s a disaster. Bart’s delicious lyrics (already competing with the over-amped orchestra) get thrown away in the dash to complete the songs.
One supposes that the big question on the lips of people who care about such things is “What about Jodie Prenger?” Andrew has been affecting complete disinterest in the matter having been barking up the wrong tree from the start of the contest. Phil insists that Prenger has been his Nancy of choice from the start (if not that of Lloyd Webber or Cameron Mackintosh). Unfortunately she seemed to be losing her voice the night the Whingers saw it, but she still sang well, if not making a huge impression on the show. Indeed, some of her natural personality seems to have been knocked out of her. Perhaps it was illness, perhaps it was the trauma of having spent a week in Les Miserables or perhaps this was acting. It was impossible to tell.
Burn Gorman (Mr Guppy from Bleak House and Owen Harper in Torchwood) is fine as Bill Sikes but principally serves to remind us just how little anybody gets to do in Oliver! He doesn’t even get to do much with his dog, handing it over to a wrangler when he comes on stage and taking it back when he leaves.
Where was Rosemary Leach? She’s on the posters but not in the programme and her part is now being played by Louise Gold. The Whingers were very disappointed and considered asking for their money back.
On the plus side, it was lovely to see WEW fave Myra Sands in the chorus. My, but that woman’s had a busy year what with Gigi, Funny Girl at Chichester and now this. Time to get this woman out of the West End chorus. We think she could be Nancy.
For the record: we saw the Welsh Oliver Twist but we don’t know who the Artful Dodger was.
There was on-stage vomiting during Oom-Pah-Pah which was rather thrown away.
We had forgotten that the name of the inn is “The Three Cripples”**** but it was a timely reminder as the Whingers are currently looking for a name for their planned late night cabaret bar in the West End.
Frankly, we can’t remember being so disappointed in something. Never mind, Andrew has tickets to see David Tennant in Hamlet in a few days’ time so that will make up for it.
* Yes. It has taken eight days to get round to writing it up. That’s how dispirited we are by the whole thing.
** Didn’t Oliver! used to have an overture? Not any more.
*** This is a preview. But the tickets are the same price as they will be after the show opens on 14th January.
**** Trivia. Q: Who plays the singer at The Three Cripples in David Lean’s 1948 film version of Oliver Twist?
A: Hattie Jacques.
This entry was posted on Wednesday 24 December 2008 at 10:57 am and is filed under West End Whingers.
Tags: Burn Gorman, Drury Lane, I'd Do Anything, Jodie Prenger, Lionel Bart, London, Matthew Bourne, Myra Sands, Oliver!, review, Rowan Atkinson, Rupert Goold, Sam Mendes, theatre, west end
55 Responses to “Review – Oliver!, Drury Lane”
Jarlath Says:
Thursday 25 December 2008 at 1:13 pm
Oh dear, sounds as dreadful as I expected. I’m just hoping that Peter Kay’s show will finally be the death knell for all those dreadful tv talent competitions.
Agree with you totally about Myra Sands. For years I’ve wanted to see her one woman show “Sands in My Shoes”. I think we need to start a campaign.
Merry Christmas and keep up the good work.
Steve On Broadway (SOB) Says:
Methinks ALW long ago began eating others’ vital organs as well. Fortunately, he couldn’t eat into the Whingers’ minds. Enjoyed the review here, as always.
Merry Christmas to you both. Here’s to more Whinging in 2009! Looking forward to our next toast together.
Thursday 25 December 2008 at 11:54 pm
Delurking to post this comment. Great review.
I have heard mixed things about Jodie since she started and haven’t heard anything how Tamsin is going in the role (since she’s only had to performance twice in previews so far). Have you heard anything their performances (in terms of comparisons). I’m heading into London in February and am trying to decide whether to go to the Wed Matinee or Evening (because each does a different one).
Saturday 27 December 2008 at 11:20 pm
Attended the same performance as yourselves and have been trying since to find some reviews of the show so very grateful for your words.
You have summed up how I felt – strangely let down. All breasts, bravado and brashness which actually came over as just a bit boring and bland. Extravegant scenery and opulent sets are no subsitute for genuine acting and real depth.
PS – I go to the theatre loads and can assure you I wasn’t texting, eating sweets or coughing! However the women next to me thought it was a Karioke singalong which really got on my nerves so I’m with you on the comments!
webcowgirl Says:
Sunday 28 December 2008 at 7:56 am
Huh. Somehow this makes me feel that Dance Dance Revolution was a far superior choice (imagine “Footloose” meets “Logan’s Run,” but with glitter).
Monday 29 December 2008 at 10:20 am
Thank you so much for this review – it cheered up my first morning back at work no end.
It is so refreshing to find that I am not alone in my moaning about those who only go to the theatre when drawn by a big name or reality tv show. Did they also scrape their plastic spoons around their ice cream tubs as the second half commenced just to ensure they didn’t miss the slightest drop? For me that sound is on a par with ruller scraped across a table!
Daniel Turrell Says:
Tuesday 30 December 2008 at 1:00 pm
Hey Great Review And i don’t f**king blame you on the PEOPLE THAT DON’T NORMALLY GOT TO THE THEATRE cos that irritates the life out of me, anyway i am seeing Oliver! Tonight and i have got a little of my hopes up for it but it will never top my favorite shows Avenue Q & Jersey Boys, On Which I Am Seeing Jersey Boys Again 3/1/09 Front Row 🙂
Ive Seen 13 Shows So Far This Year In London.
Next Year Should Be Even Bigger!
Great Review It Helped!
Daniel 🙂
The audience behaved exactly the same way when I saw The Sound of Music and Hairspray. I can only imagine this is why both shows were over-amplified (although that only encouraged the audience to talk louder to each other). I despair!
Will give Oliver a wide berth, thank you!
Wednesday 31 December 2008 at 11:39 am
I was so pissed off about it a Women Walk By with her bratty-cockney kids and they stameped on all my belongings, heavey breathing man behind me, it was chaos And Bloody Hot too!
The Show itself had its Good Things About it and some bad
Bad: I would’ve loved to have seen the understudy Nancy As she sounds amazin!
Bullseye Came on twice and only for 3 seconds! aka the best seconds in the show!
Jodie Wasn’t Amazin!
Good: Rowan Atkinson! When He Leaves The Show Will Go Down Hill I reckon!
The Set Is Incredible!
Our Oliver Was Brill “Laurence”
Bill Sykes aka Burn Gorman Brilliant as i watch torchwood i know what hes normally like and top notch acting there!
ARTFUL DODGER IS A LEGEND IN IT!
Out Of 10 the show was 6/10
Its Ok!
Wouldn’t See it again!
Angela Haley Says:
Tuesday 30 June 2009 at 10:48 am
My goodness, what snobbery! I do go to the theatre as often as there is something I’d like to see, but can’t believe these terrible comments about “people who don’t normally go to the theatre”. Aren’t you here to review the show, not making disparaging comments about the people who have paid a lot of money to see it? Give them a break – they have probably saved long and hard for the night out. I think it’s great that television shows have encouraged people to come to the west end theatres.
Anyway, to the real business. I saw the show on 27th June, so well into it’s run. I thought it was superb and enjoyed every minute. The only minor negative is that I didn’t find Jodie Prenger a very believable Nancy. Lionel Bart’s songs are, of course, fabulous and the scenery was brilliant. I’d love to go again tomorrow.
Wednesday 24 November 2010 at 1:45 am
I agree with you Angela Haley.
No wonder it is so hard to get new audiences into theatre with this total middle class stuck up your own arses snobbery still going on. Its the year 2010. Get a grip.
And just so you know I do go to the theatre all the time and I am practising to be a Theatre Designer and i would like to think that when my career takes off, I will be making theatre that is accesible to everyone, Where all kinds are welcome.
Where did theatre begin? If you look back to roman and greek productions the whole point of the show was to call out and heckle and be involved anyway!! I went to see the rocky horror show last year and the whole audience was singing and dancing along, throwing jokes at Ainsley Harriet and he loved it and interacted right back with it.
Theatre is about life, witnessing it, acting it out. Its about experience and storytelling. If people like you are going to force us all to sit in a victorian birdcage of silence the of course audiences are going to eventually disappear and if that ever happens it will be a very VERY sad day.
Sean Kenny designed oliver in 1960 and as a designer he wanted theatre to dispose of this old fashioned straight laced false life through a picture frame plays and to create something open and raw and immersive for people to be IN an environment.
Your all SNOBS.
Andrew Haydon Says:
Thursday 25 November 2010 at 2:05 pm
“Where did theatre begin? If you look back to roman and greek productions the whole point of the show was to call out and heckle and be involved anyway!!”
The whole point of The Orestia and Oedipus Rex was to shout: “Look behind you!”? Unlikely. Also, worth noting that in ancient Greece, theatre was the sole preserve of citizens – i.e. slave-owning men. Yes, it’s cute to pretend that the ancients had got democracy all sewn up, and it’s only now that we’ve invented snobbery, but the simple fact of the matter is, the reason that the ancient Greeks and Romans didn’t speak ill of the workers, is because they owned them.
Oh, and it’s “You’re all snobs”.
And, my God, why are you commenting on a comment made in June ’09 about a review written in Dec ’08? I at least have the excuse of having been alerted to your nonsense by email…
dogface99 Says:
Wednesday 31 December 2008 at 11:34 pm
The thing is that when an audience is largely made up of people who don’t usually go to the theatre , not only do they not know what they are seeing but they don’t go to the theatre again unless its another show marketed for people who don’t go to the theatre. Maybe there should be a secret password for people who DO go to the theatre so that they can be forewarned that the show is actually for people who don’t go to the theatre….
Tony Taylor Says:
Saturday 3 January 2009 at 10:05 am
I always remembered the singer at “The Three Cripples” in the David Lean film as being Betty Paul and that Hattie Jaques had a speaking role but I could be mistaken.
Graham Foreman Says:
Monday 23 March 2009 at 1:02 pm
IMDb lists both Hattie Jacques and Betty Paul as singer in The Three Cripples
Monday 5 January 2009 at 8:28 am
What a shame that so many children have waited so long to see ‘their’ Nancy in this show and it is so very disappointing.There are aspects of the show that are excellent:Rowan Atkinson’s performance was superb but there are far too many areas where it falls flat and the bawdy, sexual inuendo is totally out of place. Most disappointing.
Thursday 8 January 2009 at 10:44 pm
Oh dear, “people who don’t normally go to the theatre ” please stay away this coming saturday, yes, the 10th of january, please stay home and watch “Britain needs you” please, please ,please.
I promise to wtite back after we have seen the show and I loved reading this review, thank you so much.
taddy Says:
Saw it the other night and nothing has changed. Thought Jodie was great singing “As long as he needs me” but was inaudible in “Oom pahpah” . It’s all too busy – you don’t know where to look and the orchestra sounds tinny.
And talk about Dick van dyck! There were some of the worst northern accents on that stage that I’ve heard in a long time and in the programme it said the workhouse was in the Midlands! The Guy playing Mr Bumble was terrible. Over acting at it’s worst.
All a bit dull really. And come the bow, Rowan Atkinson looked like he’d rather be eating his own foot than being in the line-up. Why is he doing it? He don’t need the money!
DavidG Says:
Friday 9 January 2009 at 8:21 am
Brilliant (and helpful) review. I’m seeing it tonight (second of three theatre outings this week) and can only agree with what you say about noisy non-regulars.
I suspect the overture has been ditched as people these days seem to use it as an opportunity to talk even louder and faster. I gave up long ago whispering a spit-filled, “Do you mind, I am trying to enjoy the music…”
Monday 12 January 2009 at 2:32 pm
Absolutely brilliant although I agree with “Taddy” about Mr Bumble (Julius D’silva) and my family thought Burn Gorman was quite weak and un convincing as Bill Sykes, even though he recieved un welcomed “Boo’s during the encore.
In our humble opinion Rowan Atkinson and Jodi Prenger make it all so worthwhile, Rowan Atkinsons experience shines through and the show will suffer come July when he leaves.
Wendy ferguson as widow corney was excellent (I shall scream) as was Eric Dibb-Fuller as the Artful Dodger, he deserves praise galore.
We did have a group of 21 behind us who talked and rustled sweet rappers a little but I was suprised at the lack of “those who do not attend the theatre regularly” being in attendance.
I would recommend “Oliver” as a must see show, great sets and music, enjoy.
Friday 16 January 2009 at 4:52 pm
You must remeber not everyone had fast amounts of money to spend on going to the theatre. I would love to take my family and we would certainly know how to behave – however I will have to save up £200 to go – how do “people how don’t normally go to the threatre” get cheap tickets – your tone is a bit snooty – though did enjoy your review.
Andrew (a west end whinger) Says:
We’ll try and be less snooty in the future, but you ask a good question, Sarah. We don’t know. Benefit fraud?
Snobs should not try humour. It dosnt work.
Sarah touches on what I think is a sensible point- “people who don’t normally go to the theatre” (PWDNGTT) are more likely to only go to these big shows, which are incredibly expensive. Then they, the PWDNGTT, think that theatre is expensive, and hence can’t go to see other shows… But then some people I’m sure would argue this a good thing.
MR D Says:
Sunday 18 January 2009 at 6:51 pm
You stuck up pricks, “people that dont normally go the theatre!!!” what the f**k!!!
Do you think that the theatre is reserved for people like you, that your opinion for whatever reason is more justified than anyone else?? I went to the jan 17th show and thought it was amazing, from the music, the acting and the AUDIENCE!!
And also the set design was stunning and incredibly well worked through the show!!
I agree that these talent shows are saturating the television, but in this case it can be overlooked as the end result was just brilliant!! This, were better than you, high and mighty attitude to the theatre is bulls***t, what, do you think you enjoy it on some other level to us???
And it would appear that in your infinate wisdom, you think that children shouldn’t be introduced to classic stories like oliver! Genius!!! its like “we found it first, and were not sharing!!”
Dame Maureen Armfeldt-Schmarmfeldt Says:
What do we think the D in ‘Mr D’ stands for? Dysfunctional?
And from the semi-literate raging above, I’d like to single out ‘sweet rappers’ as my favourite concept. I’m imagining Dizzee Rascal crooning Ol’ Man River …
Sue Hendy Says:
Tuesday 27 January 2009 at 7:01 pm
If there had been no popular TV programme associated with this ‘Oliver’ perhaps the remarks from ‘those who often go to the theatre’ would be less miserable! Bah-humbug. It was a great show, fantastic energy, and very smooth production (bar the paper coins)! Rowan Atkinson was treated like a national treasure by the audience and Burn Gorman like Darth Vador for his ominous entrance. And well done Jodie!
P6J6 Says:
Wednesday 28 January 2009 at 4:43 pm
Speaking as one of the lowly ‘people who don’t often go to the theatre’ (I live in N.E. England and can’t afford to make regular trips to London, sadly). On this occasion, I paid hundreds of pounds in travel, theatre tickets and accommodation, expressly to see Jodie as Nancy, only to be told on arrival that ‘illness’ would prevent her from performing that night (Mon 12th Jan). Show not bad, but spoiled as we didn’t get to see who we paid to see. Worse still, she then went on to perform at the press show on Wednesday 14th Jan without problem. Strange and miraculous recovery by Ms Prenger that she’s fit and well for a show she’s not scheduled to perform in (ie Wed eve) and doesn’t bother to turn up for one due to ‘illness’ she is scheduled to perform in (ie Mon eve). Learned the hard way I guess. “Gotta Pick A Pocket Or Two”, eh?
J.A. Says:
Are the no theatres in the North East?
JohnnyFox Says:
Only Hampstead and Hackney Empire. Beyond that, it’s forest.
ian jenkins Says:
I am a PWDNGTTT and am going for the first time on February 21 to watch Oliver. I am not in any way interested in reality TV or am i interested in eating sweets during the performance. I am however interested in doing what i want when i want without people looking down thier noses at me. I fell upon this website by accident and feel quiet aggrieved by some of the comments i find.
I am well read well educated and enjoy doing my own thing. I go to see Oliver because i like the book and god forbid the TV film. Come on people you are putting people off the theatre. Although i someone scrunches sweet wrappers next to me i will ram them where the sun does not shine.
Helen Smith Says:
Ian Jenkins, I DNGTT because I get so irritated by members of the audience hmmm hmmming, coughing, texting and opening sweet wrappers during the performance. Pls don’t feel aggrieved. This website is for you, just as it is for me. Join us.
J.A. : Yes, there are a couple but sadly, lots of the ‘big’ shows (such as Oliver) don’t tour up here and only run their course in London theatres – Not sure where you’re from, but I sometimes envy people in close proximity to London – feel sure I would frequent the theatre a lot more if I was !
Christian Ball Says:
Thursday 29 January 2009 at 8:10 pm
I wanted to like this so much, but it is not a patch on Sam Mendes original production at the Palladium. Didn’t see Rowan Atkinson, but his understudy was pretty good. Jodie Prenger was the best performer on the day, the kids were too stageschool for my liking and no amount of fancy set can hide the fact that this is a weak production with poor direction. To think that Lord of the Rings moved out for this toss…
Wednesday 27 May 2009 at 8:16 pm
“Sam Mendes original production at the Palladium”
You must be about fourteen, the “original production” was at the New Theatre (later the Albery, later still the Noel Coward) in 1960.
Thursday 27 August 2009 at 1:02 pm
34 actually – Sam Mendes’ original production was what this revival was based on. I meant original in the context of the revival, not the actual show! Doh!
Wednesday 4 February 2009 at 12:45 pm
Ooh, I hadn’t read this selection of comments before (thanks Mark Shenton for the heads-up in today’s blog).
I don’t think it is snobbery (although that might be because I’m a terrible snob)…
There’s a thread for swapping stories about terrible co-audients on the What’s On Stage chat board thingy. I once read it all in its entirety and got very depressed about the whole world.
From what I can gather, though, these might not be PWDNGTTT so much as people who simply lack any consideration for others and who are mercifully repelled by anything which is marketed as being in the least bit thoughtful.
If I were given to bursts of self-confession, I might admit that it might well be this that attracts me to p**t-dr*****c theatre – at least the audience is usually as quiet and misanthropic as myself 🙂
Wednesday 4 February 2009 at 1:37 pm
Someone in the row behind us at Private Lives last night was eating the crunchiest nuts I’ve ever heard. During the quiet bits. And this is in Hampstead! If you can’t find good manners in Hampstead, where can you?
It’s probably because “The Hampstead” is in Swiss Cottage 🙂
Crunchy nuts during Private Lives doesn’t sound good, though. Will be really interested to read your review – which reminds me, I should stop commenting on your blog and write mine…
Friday 13 February 2009 at 12:10 am
Saw the Wednesday matinee 11/2 well deserved standing ovation. Lovely lavish production, great energy, and pleasure of sharing Oliver experience with his friends in the audience who were rightly rowdy at the end! However, it does not compare with Billy Elliot, so if you have to choose [and most of us have budgets – regular theatre goers or not!] then Billy should be it. Rowan A’s performance fun and polished – Nancy, Oliver, and Others fine fun, whilst the Artful Dodger was a performance delight. A ‘feel good’ show to delight and of the TV winners a far better production than the sad Joseph – even if Lee Mead was great.
Monday 23 February 2009 at 5:18 pm
Hubby and I went to the matinee on 14th Feb, we’d paid for “top price seats” (whatever that means) yet could not see the stage without some nifty neck work! This aside, we thoroughly enjoyed the show. Rowan Atkinson was a hilarious revelation, Jodie as Nancy didn’t disappoint, Oliver was forgettable and the Artful Dodger positively shone!
Stunning sets might not make a show but they do enhance it, these were some of the best sets I’ve seen.
Jersey Boys is next on my list when we again travel ‘dahn sarf’ to the west end!
Tuesday 10 March 2009 at 4:38 pm
This is all very elitist – the conservative tone of the review, the “benefit fraud” and “numbered seating” comments.
It’s all going a bit Victorian for the Whingers.
Well, that was December and this is March. Haven’t you heard? We just do fringe now.
Suzanne Hardy Says:
Sunday 10 May 2009 at 9:10 am
Was so dissapointed in not seeing Jodie as Nancy Weeekend cost £300 for Hotel Etc
Rowan Atkinson Brill Oliver wet and week Artful Doger Great Nancy Tasmin not oustanding why support London theatres etc when these people are not in the show if going to see a artist sorry but expect tosee that person perform this has happpened to me twice will think again before booking any more Shows
piper Says:
Monday 25 May 2009 at 12:55 pm
the understudy has the right to be on the stage as well, that is why we support London theatre. they all work very hard.
Sunday 10 May 2009 at 8:39 pm
Do you ever take a holiday from work Suzanne?
Friday 15 May 2009 at 8:07 pm
Yes sometimes
Saturday 23 May 2009 at 4:35 am
I agree with most of what you say but the benefit fraud comment wasn’t necessary. anyway, i have not seen a show in London for quite some time and i still think they should not allow food and drink. just my opinion. we had wine on the outside balcony at Her Majesty’s at Phantom and that was fine with me.
i suspect you can get cheap tickets in Leicester Square if needed. any 5* hotels we have stayed in have West End tickets for you at the ready for cheap or as a gift.
i knew Jodie was going to flop. I am sure Jessie would have as well.
Sunday 21 June 2009 at 7:45 pm
Quite amused to see some of the moppets in the later crowd scenes carrying bunches of brightly coloured balloons, particularly as the latex balloon wasn’t mass-produced until the 1930’s …
Cyon Says:
Tuesday 25 August 2009 at 11:20 pm
Just back from the theatre this evening. Very disapointed. Had to laugh at the Whingers description of the audience. I hadn’t realised that Nancy had been cast by a reality show (no I wasn’t on Uranus but nearby Switzerland). That explained the shaven headed Phil Mitchell type with common wife and their seven year old ‘little princess’ in heeled boots and bare midriff in the seats next to me. They kept diving into their Tesco bag to retrieve noisily packaged non-foods during the performance.
Ah yes the performance. Hideous amplification completely eliminated the diction. I was seriously wondering if I had a hearing problem at one point. Acting was stilted and singing decidedly uninspiring. Don’t even start me on Djalili. Outrageously trying to steal the show with bizarre references to his ‘signature’ comedy affectations (think Bruce Forsythe adopting The Thinker pose at every inappropriate opportunity). Least satisfying theatre experience to date.
Thursday 27 August 2009 at 10:05 pm
We saw Act I of Oliver a few months ago on a trip to London from Manhattan. The audience was noisy (but not unbearable.) What was unbearable was the show as performed. The chorus of unison funny walks, the love-me-aren’t-I-adorable antics of the Dodger, the pver-amplification (what? I’m still a little deaf…) had us running in the aisles at intermission. Ms Prenger sang reasonably well, although her big song went by at such a clip, it should be re-titled, “Where’s my song?” Rowan Atkinson, whom I was predisposed not to appreciate, was quite funny. You’ll have to ask someone else about Act II.
I want to add that the practice of bringing champagne, red wine, etc. into the theater, regardless of historical precedent, is extremely distracting. The smell of bad red wine is not what I want to be thinking about during Oliver or Hamlet.
JKH Says:
Friday 28 August 2009 at 11:43 pm
Ah, Jodie Pringles, um, Prenger.
The reason Reality Casting should be thoroughly destroyed.
ALW has been doing it too much.
Maria: I supported Helena Blackman. I hated Connie. Most of my friends agree.
Joseph: I loathed Lee, I supported Keith. OH COME ON! Friends agreed.
So, my least favourite wins, my favourite comes second.
So, Oliver…
I supported Niamh. (Recently saw her in Mamma Mia and trekked to Edinborugh to see her in Only The Brave)
DEATH TO REALITY CASTING!!!
Saturday 10 October 2009 at 5:50 pm
Just saw it with my 11year old who loved it . The audience were fine, being a super snob I dont really distinguish between the chavs who attended Oliver and the ghastly (note paper/ serviette) middle classes from the stockbroker belt you normally find at the theatre.
However, the Amplification is dire I was sitting centre of the stalls and the music totlly drowned out most of the singing. A lot of which was flat but that isnt surprising with that level of amlification and no monitors.
Sunday 22 November 2009 at 2:21 pm
hey i’ve seen the show it was amazing 🙂 i guss the money is all worth it.. I saw some one that i new in the preformance William….
He is an amazing actor he may be small and all that but he is well georgus..
I also couldnt wait to see the guy from roman mysterys cos he is like well buff ahaa…
ROWIN AKINSON, come on he was unbeliveabley good i love all the songs they were great too…xxxx 😛 (L)
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Slander Action Settles
Former Parish Councillor apologises
In a statement in open court read today, David Harvey, the former Chairman of the Rowlands Castle Parish Council apologised for comments he made about Alan Craggs, the former Chairman of the Rowlands Parish Hall Management Committee.
Mr Harvey made the comments, understood to be allegations of sexual harassment, at a public meeting in April 2011.
Mr Craggs sued for slander and the trial was due to take place in October 2014.
Mr Harvey today accepted that such allegations were untrue and apologised to Mr Craggs. He gave an undertaking not to repeat the allegations and paid substantial damages and costs.
5RB‘s Adam Speker was instructed by Simon Burn Solicitors on behalf of Mr Craggs.
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Press Release: AN ETHICAL VICTORY: “THE HERD OF WAYNE” RECEIVES ‘SPIRIT OF THE ETHICS BOWL’ AWARD AT NATIONAL COMPETITION
Friday, May 5, 2017 - 2:15pm
Wayne Memorial High School Represents Michigan at the National High School Ethics Bowl, Voted By Peers to Receive Spirit Award
Ann Arbor, MI – After winning out over 12 other teams during the fourth-annual Michigan High School Ethics Bowl this January, Wayne Memorial High School’s “The Herd” traveled to North Carolina this weekend to compete in the National High School Ethics Bowl.
March Newsletter: March for Science
Saturday, April 22nd, is Earth Day. It is also a day when many will participate in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti rallies connected to the nationwide March for Science. A2Ethics members will join them.
February Newsletter: Ethics Events in the Neighborhood
Monday, February 20, 2017 - 11:56am
The Case Studies animate and drive the Bowl competition. They present real world ethical situations across professions--from medicine to the building trades--and topics, such as the responsible use of emerging technologies.
January Newsletter: 2017 High School Ethics Bowl
Friday, January 20, 2017 - 12:17pm
The Michigan Bowl showcases area high school students discussing real world ethical dilemmas before a panel of judges from 9 Michigan universities and colleges.
Fall Newsletter: Participatory Budgeting
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - 2:05pm
PB gives residents a chance to propose city improvement ideas and directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. It is an experiment in inclusive, open governance.
Summer Newsletter: The Ethics of Driverless Cars
Before your summer road trip...check out what three knowledgeable human panelists have to say about the ethics of driverless cars. Our very own summer blockbuster. Now on YouTube.
May Newsletter: Michigan champions win a trophy at the National High School Ethics Bowl!
Thursday, May 5, 2016 - 12:00am
Cheers for the Ann Arbor Greenhills School Ethics Bowl team for its impressive showing at April's National High School Bowl. The team of sophomores and juniors bested twenty other state champions to bring home the 4th place trophy and $4,000 prize for the school.
Report From The National Bowl Quarterfinals To The Slam-Off
Friday, April 15, 2016 - 12:00am
*|MC:SUBJECT|*
April Newsletter: Are Driverless Cars Drones of a Different Kind?
Sunday, April 10, 2016 - 12:00am
Can humans talk intelligently about driverless cars without a robot on the panel? Find out when A2Ethics and the Michigan Ethics Bowl Team host a public discussion.
March Newsletter: Partnerships in Ethics Flourish
The 3rd Michigan High School Ethics Bowl is in the record books. We have learned from participants and volunteers how the event can be even more spectacular next year.
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Home » Knowledge Center » Industry News » New Out-of-Network Physician Pay Dbase is FAIR
New Out-of-Network Physician Pay Dbase is FAIR
By admin aapc
Health insurers will soon have a new, independent database to use for determining out-of-network payment rates for physicians. Not-for-profit company FAIR Health Inc. and an Upstate New York research network headquartered at Syracuse University are charged with the task of developing the new database.
The FAIR (Fair and Independent Research) database will be marketed and administered by FAIR Health; who, in turn, will be governed by a board of directors that will include a medical representative. The Upstate New York network of researchers will compile the data and create the product.
Together, FAIR Health and network researchers also will create and publish a public Web site that will allow physicians and patients to see a simplified version of the information insurers will be privy to, such as usual, customary and reasonable rates.
“FAIR Health and the upstate research network headquartered at Syracuse University will bring much-needed transparency, accountability and fairness to a broken consumer reimbursement system we have called Code Blue,” said N.Y. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in an Oct. 27 press release.
Cuomo is referring to the UnitedHealth Group/Ingenix debacle. UnitedHealth agreed to shut down the Ingenix database Jan. 13 after the N.Y. attorney general’s office accused the companies of rate fixing. Neither company confessed to any wrong doing but they, along with several other insurers who used the Ingenix database, put up over $100 million to support the development of this new, independent database.
Work on the FAIR database began Oct. 27 and should be operational by fall of 2010, according to American Medical News (Berry, Nov. 9).
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Message From Your Region 6 Representatives | Pam Tienter and Jean Pryor - January 16, 2020
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New Out-of-Network Physician Pay Dbase is FAIR was last modified: July 5th, 2011 by admin aapc
Two New York Insurers Agree to Fund Database
Two More Companies Dump Database
BusinessWeek: “What Health Reform Won’t Cure”
States Where Health Care Jobs Are
Ingenix
out-of-network
R&C
UnitedHealth
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21 Irish companies exhibiting at this week’s Gulfood trade show in Dubai
Amy Forde
Mar 1, 2017, 12:00pm
Image: Bord Bia
Some 21 Irish food companies are exhibiting on Bord Bia’s Origin Green stand at this week’s Gulfood event, one of the largest food trade shows in the world, being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, this week.
Companies at this year’s event include AgraKepak International, Ashbourne Meats, Dairygold, Butlers and Glanbia.
This year is the first time that the show will be segmented, with Bord Bia taking space in both the World Food Hall and the Dairy Hall – it’s largest presence to date.
While 21 Irish companies are exhibiting, up to 100 representatives from Irish food companies are expected to travel to Gulfood.
Director of International Markets with Bord Bia, Padraig Brennan, said that there was a lot of interest from Irish companies to exhibit at this year’s event and that plans are already underway for an Irish presence at next year’s show.
In the region of 100,000 buyers from across the Middle East and North Africa are expected to be in attendance. A record number of 95,000 visitors attended Gulfood in 2016 and numbers this year are expected to exceed that figure.
‘Sustainability’ has traction in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but the emphasis here is on energy usage and water.
Gulfood spans more than one million square feet of exhibition space, which has been allocated to 5,000 international exhibitors.
The Middle East, widely regarded as a ‘foodie region’ with an 80-90% import requirement, presents a significant and growing opportunity for Irish food exporters, according to Bord Bia Chief Executive Tara McCarthy.
Speaking in Dubai on the penultimate day of a major Irish agri-food Trade Mission to the Gulf States, McCarthy said there is a real, tangible demand for high-quality, grass-based, sustainably produced food, as it meets the needs of customers and consumers in the affluent markets of the Gulf region.
The Gulf region is set to become an increasingly important market for Irish food and drink exporters.
“The current market dynamics, including a population expected to exceed 50 million by 2020, will continue to play a significant role in the surge in demand for food and food imports, in particular across the dairy and meat categories.
“This trade mission provides Bord Bia and Irish food exporters with the opportunity to drive increased trade to the GCC region, following a rise of 26% over the past five years, and to realise our ambition to double exports to the region over the next five years – from the current value of €250m.
“During our engagements with food buyers at trade events and at the Gulfood trade fair, we will outline our strategy for the region which is rooted in insight combined with our investment in talent and our Origin Green sustainability programme.”
Irish company wins Gulfood Innovation Award 2017 for Best Halal Product
Earlier this week, Green Isle’s Goodfella’s pizza range won the 2017 Gulfood Innovation Award for Best Halal Product Range.
Liam Hyland, Head of Exports at Green Isle Foods, said the award is testament to Green Isle’s commitment to develop world-class products, which resonate strongly with the region’s retailers and consumers alike.
“We plan, together with our excellent distribution partners, to expand Green Isle’s market presence and develop the product range to continue to build on our recent successes.
“We are delighted with this prestigious award and we will continue to develop new products for the Middle East. At the show, we have just launched a new Goodfella’s thin and crispy Doner Kebab pizza.”
Green Isle’s Goodfella’s frozen pizza brand continues to build its market share in the Middle East, having recently launched in the Danube supermarket chain in Saudi Arabia.
Creed secures enhanced access for Irish beef to Saudi Arabia
Pics: Milking 22,500 cows in the Saudi Arabian desert
Bord Bia Gulfood Tara McCarthy
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Data Clippers
Now this is a charming idea, and maybe a handy one too – fleets of solar sails delivering pictures of distant worlds back to the home planet.Data is a valuable commodity in the Information Age, just as spices and silk were in centuries past. So Joel Poncy and his team at Thales Alenia Space have im…
Now this is a charming idea, and maybe a handy one too – fleets of solar sails delivering pictures of distant worlds back to the home planet.
Data is a valuable commodity in the Information Age, just as spices and silk were in centuries past. So Joel Poncy and his team at Thales Alenia Space have imagined clipper ships cruising the solar system, loaded to the gunwales with...data.
In a paper presented at the recent European Planetary Science Congress (here's a PDF version), Poncy et al. conceive of a solar-sailing data clipper that would fly close to an orbiter circling a distant planet, upload its data, then return to Earth to dump the stored terabytes. “Space-rated flash memories will soon be able to store the huge quantities of data needed for the global mapping of planetary bodies in high resolution," said Poncy in a press release. "But a full high-res map of, say, Europa or Titan, would take several decades to download from a traditional orbiter, even using very large antennae. Downloading data is the major design driver for interplanetary missions. We think that data clippers would be a very efficient way of overcoming this bottleneck.”
And it may be a concept whose technological time has come. After years of speculation and aborted launch attempts, one solar sail, Japan's IKAROS, is already flying, and another, NASA's NanoSail-D, is scheduled for launch on November 19 from Alaska. An identical NanoSail was destroyed on the failed launch of the third Falcon 1 rocket in 2008. This time a Minotaur IV will provide the ride.
Aboriginal Astronomers Saw Stellar Blowup in 1843
Too Many Astronauts?
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Left-wing Exile in Mexico, 1934-1960
Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2012-StG
Project acronym: LEFTMEXILE3460
Project: Left-wing Exile in Mexico, 1934-1960
Researcher (PI): Aribert Johann Heinrich Reimann
Host Institution (HI): Universitaet zu Koeln, Germany
Summary: «This ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant will support the research of one PI and two post-doctoral researchers towards a transnational and transdisciplinary history of left-wing exile in Mexico between the mid-1930s and the late 1950s. During this period, Mexico witnessed the arrival of tens of thousands of political refugees from Europe and later a smaller number of émigrés from the U.S.. Mexican authorities not only actively welcomed these communities of exile but encouraged and supported their political and cultural activities to establish Mexico as an arena for left-wing internationalism. Outside agencies, such as right-wing European governments, the Comintern, and the U.S.-American FBI and OSS/CIA were actively engaged in monitoring and influencing these communities in Mexico. The researchers will draw on new source materials from the Comintern Archives, Mexican state and university archives, and the U.S. National Archives and the Hoover Foundation alongside the rich collections of European archives to prepare studies that cut across the conventional orientation by source provenance, national perspectives, or disciplinary specialisation. The aim is to arrive at a topographical understanding of exile as a political practice manifested in meetings, lectures, political publications, and interventions in domestic Mexican and world political discourse, mechanisms of a transfer of knowledge in education policies and the transnational public sphere, cultural representations of the émigrés’ engagement with their host nation in literature, art, and architecture, in music, photography and painting, and prevailing perceptions and constructions of ethnicity and gender. The results of this research will be presented at two project workshops and one international conference. The project will generate three monographs and one edited volume with contributions from leading international scholars.»
Tags JEL_N4
From Decisionism to Rational Choice: A History of Political Decision-Making in the 20th Century
Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2011-StG Project acronym: HIPODEMA Project: From Decisionism to Rational Choice: A History of Political Decision-Making in the 20th Century Researcher (PI): Nicolas Michel Boian Guilhot Host
FIGHT – Fighting Monopolies, Defying Empires 1500-1750: a Comparative Overview of Free Agents and Informal Empires in Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire
Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2012-StG Project acronym: FIGHT Project: FIGHT – Fighting Monopolies, Defying Empires 1500-1750: a Comparative Overview of Free Agents and Informal Empires in Western Europe and the
Political centralization, economic integration and language evolution in Central Africa: An interdisciplinary approach to the early history of the Kongo kingdom
Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2011-StG Project acronym: KONGOKING Project: Political centralization, economic integration and language evolution in Central Africa: An interdisciplinary approach to the early history of the Kongo kingdom.
Rethinking sources and consequences of business cycles
Starting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2012-StG Project acronym: RESOCONBUCY Project: Rethinking sources and consequences of business cycles Researcher (PI): Fabrizio Perri Host Institution (HI): Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Italy Start date:
From Silicosis to Chronic Respiratory diseases: an approach via epidemiological history (in France, Europe, Southern Africa, from the 1900s until today)
Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2011-ADG Project acronym: SILICOSIS Project: From Silicosis to Chronic Respiratory diseases: an approach via epidemiological history (in France, Europe, Southern Africa, from the 1900s until today)
Life in a cold climate: the adaptation of cereals to new environments and the establishment of agriculture in Europe
Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2013-ADG Project acronym: ADAPT Project: Life in a cold climate: the adaptation of cereals to new environments and the establishment of agriculture in Europe Researcher (PI):
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APRA puts investors, boards on collision course
Patrick Durkin and James Frost
Jul 24, 2019 — 12.00am
Investors are threatening to vote against bonuses calculated under the prudential regulator's new executive pay rules, putting them on a collision course with the boards of the major banks.
Former National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney said the regulator's new rules for banking, insurance and super fund executives, released on Tuesday, were a snub to investors.
Former NAB chairman Michael Chaney says APRA's plan doesn't account for investors. Ross Swanborough
The proposed changes include basing no more than 50 per cent of bonuses on financial measures, which Australian Prudential Regulation Authority deputy chairman John Lonsdale said had driven bad behaviour by the banks.
The guidelines set minimum deferral periods for bonuses of up to seven years, claw back bonuses for up to four years and require boards, for the first time, to sign off on the remuneration of all employees.
Investors, proxy firms and directors have already flagged their concerns including how the rules would interplay with the two-strikes rule.
"I doubt if the 50 per cent proposal will be popular with investors whose main focus is on financial returns," Mr Chaney told The Australian Financial Review.
"It appears that there has been little consultation to date between the regulators and investors, which is surprising given that the latter are the main driver of financial focus in listed companies.
"I think it’s essential that APRA engages with investors in the consultation process to understand their views," said Mr Chaney, who is the chairman of Wesfarmers and Woodside.
Peter Morgan, private investor and former Perpetual and 452 Capital money manager was floored by the regulator's latest proposal.
Fund manager Peter Morgan says regulators should go back to regulating. AFR
"Regulators are there to regulate, not to offer airy-fairy solutions to avoid doing their job," he said. "If the law isn't strong enough they should say so. Nothing more."
Proxy firms reject
Influential proxy firms ISS, CGI Glass Lewis and Ownership Matters, who advise investors how to vote on remuneration, welcomed deferral of bonuses but immediately questioned the shift to non-financial metrics given the track record of bank boards.
The major banks were punished last year by investors after awarding bonuses, despite seeking to shift to non-financial hurdles which investors claim have failed or been gamed.
NAB, ANZ and Westpac all received investor strikes on pay last year with NAB receiving a record 88 per cent protest vote after NAB chairman Ken Henry championed a move to non-financial metrics.
Australian Council of Superannuation Investors chief executive officer Louise Davidson says bank boards need to use their discretion. TimBell
The backlash followed the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which in 2016 became the first bank to suffer a "strike" on pay after moving to a 25 per cent “people and community” metric on top of a 25 per cent metric for "customer satisfaction".
"There are clear concerns for directors and shareholders alike in its proposal," ISS Australian head Vas Kolesnikoff said, pointing to the fact APRA "does not intend" specify how non-financial targets are set.
"Disclosure has been very poor in regard to what the specific targets are and how they were achieved," he said.
CGI's Dan Smith agreed that while "there’s a lot in the package that shareholders should like, the use of non-financial measures is fraught with risk".
"Boards will need to demonstrate that such measures are challenging and that they can exercise appropriate discretion when determining outcomes," he said.
Airy-fairy solutions
Ownership Matters' Martin Lawrence agreed. "It doesn’t matter if executives are measured using financial or non-financial measures if boards are unwilling to actually hold them accountable for poor outcomes," he said.
Angus Armour, CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, says the interplay with the two-strikes rule is unclear. Supplied
Head of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors Louise Davidson said: "Investors will need to be convinced that appropriate levels of accountability and rigour have been applied."
Managing director of the Australian Institute of Company Directors Angus Armour is already at loggerheads with the regulator over the plan to veto director appointments.
He said the interplay between the two strikes rule and APRA's proposal was not clear with investors already indicating they will not support the change.
"No one wants to perpetuate the outcomes we saw in the Hayne royal commission but we do not want to create a new system we can't comply with either," he said.
"The greater the focus on remuneration the less time directors have to focus on fundamental strategic issues and broader culture," he said.
APRA's curse
Partner at King & Wood Mallesons Will Heath agreed that "boards are playing piggy in the middle between increasingly interventionist regulators and increasingly activist investors".
"APRA’s challenge seems more like a curse," he said.
"Recent AGM experience has demonstrated that investors have punished boards who proposed changes to remuneration structures using the two-strikes rule.
"APRA’s proposed changes ignore the significant new compliance burden which has already been put on boards under the BEAR and other new measures."
Executive remuneration specialist at PwC Emma Grogan said the extent of the APRA plan went further than expected compared to the regime in the United Kingdom by covering all employees and companies far beyond the big banks.
"Expanding the scope to cover all of the entities' remuneration arrangements and the entire remuneration framework is a significant change," she said.
"This will require substantive design change for most and add considerably to the workload of both management and boards, including ongoing compliance costs associated with implementing and maintaining these frameworks."
APRA will spend the next three months consulting on the proposal and plan for the rules to be in place by 2021.
ISS have said they would prefer non-financial hurdles acted as a gateway which must be passed before any bonus is paid.
"This would achieve shareholder objectives that firstly, companies need to make money for shareholders and secondly, that executives make it the right way," Mr Kolesnikoff said.
Under a 50/50 split between financials and non-financial "there is still an ability to get 50 per cent of a significant total bonus opportunity on offer to bank executives" even if the bank behaves badly, he said.
Patrick Durkin is Melbourne bureau chief and Boss deputy editor. He writes on news, business and leadership. Connect with Patrick on Twitter. Email Patrick at pdurkin@afr.com.au
James Frost writes about banking, funds management and superannuation. Based in Melbourne, James has been reporting on specialist business and finance topics for 15 years. Connect with James on Twitter. Email James at james.frost@afr.com
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Punjab Elections zilla parishads & Panchayat Committees Result Announced today
PUNJAB ELECTION RESULTS
Punjab Elections After the voting of the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samities held in Punjab on September 19, the results will be declared today (September 22). Counting of votes will start from 10 am and results will be announced by all the zilla parishads and panchayat committees till 4 o’clock.
In order to ensure that there is no default in the counting of votes of panchayat elections, adequate security arrangements have been made by the administrative authorities in place.
Under these elections, 2,354 members of the Zila Parishad and 2,900 members for Panchayat Samiti have been elected. Please state that there are a total of 22 Zilla Parishads and 150 Panchayat Samities in the State.
Before counting the vote, the opposition Akali Dal accused Congress of capturing booths, making false voting and using force. Although the ruling party of the state dismissed these allegations and claimed that the poll was free and fair.
Former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who went to polling booths in his area after voting in Muktsar district, claimed that a large number of Congress workers captured booths in the hands and police remained silent spectator during this period.
Never forget to visit Alert Boost for all News and Events
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Allee Insurance Agency
330 Mallory Station Rd. Suite A-2
Current: Roadside Assistance
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On the road, anything can happen. From flat tires to breakdowns, it’s best to be prepared for it all. At Allee Insurance Agency, we’re proud to offer the following packages of Roadside Assistance* coverage through Allied Insurance’s trusted “Sign and Drive” service:
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With Roadside Assistance, you’ll never be alone behind the wheel. Contact Allee Insurance Agency today to find out how you can get signed up.
Services apply while driving any vehicle with any occupant from an Allied household (insureds and in-home relatives).
*Roadside Assistance coverages and availability vary from state to state. Please contact a representative at Allee Insurance Agency for full details.
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InsideSales.com
Act-On Jumpstarts More Leads for InsideSales.com
InsideSales.com provides telephony voice technology tools, delivered as an on-demand software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription, and supported by an array of customized services. The tools include immediate telephony response to web forms, power dialers, voice broadcasting, lead nurturing solutions, and integration with online CRM solutions.
InsideSales.com is currently ranked in the “10 Most Popular Salesforce Apps” out of over 1000 applications on the Salesforce.com AppExchange.
The company’s customers include Dell, Cisco Systems, Vorsight, and HomeAway. InsideSales.com serves industry segments including insurance, mortgage, debt consolidation, marketing, online education, non-profits, and more.
Thomas Oldroyd, Senior Director of Marketing, knew that improving InsideSales.com’s email marketing program was a critical priority.
Industry: Technology
About InsideSales.com
InsideSales.com provides telephony voice technology tools, delivered as an on‑demand software-as-aservice (SaaS) subscription, and supported by an array of customized services. The tools include immediate telephony response to web forms, power dialers, voice broadcasting, lead nurturing solutions, and integration with online CRM solutions.
Saw results just two days after implementation.
Utilized A/B testing to optimize email campaign performance.
The First Challenge: Simplify Email Management
“The first issue was to find a better system for managing email lists including A/B testing, bounces, opt-outs, and other details,” said Thomas. Thomas was familiar with Act-On through a partnership.
“My criteria were: The platform had to be SaaS, had to be simple to use, and needed to be tactical – but with the ability to grow into our strategic initiatives. I knew Act-On had a powerful, third-generation email marketing platform with additional sophisticated capabilities, and decided to try it.”
“No one has time to hassle with difficult-to-use products. Act- On is very easy, but also very intuitive and powerful.”
Thomas Oldroyd
Senior Director of Marketing
Good Results in Two Days
“I reviewed other systems,” said Thomas, “and I’ve worked with Eloqua before, which took too long to implement. The first thing I liked about Act-On was the painless implementation. It took only a few days to get lists uploaded and segmented, learn the interface, and then send our first email messages. I was very pleased; we were productive and I could see results in just two days.”
Because Act-On is a cloud-based platform, InsideSales.com didn’t need IT services to implement the service. The IT department’s only role was to create alias email addresses for mailings.
The Second Challenge: Improve Email Results
Act-On checks message content for personalization errors, compliance with CAN-SPAM regulations, and spam filter issues. It allows the sender to proof how the message will look in various email programs. Act-On also automatically suppresses duplicates, opt-outs and previously bounced addresses, and records bounces and opt-outs.
“We’ve improved our results as a result of Act-On’s deliverability and capabilities for scheduling, reporting, list segmentation, bounce and opt-out management, and especially A/B testing,” said Thomas. “Our strategy now includes more email, and the overall number and quality of leads has increased.”
The Third Challenge: A/B Testing Reveals Optimal Timing
“Act-On’s database is important to our success. We now have cleaner lists, and because we can easily segment and suppress various lists, our ability to enhance our A/B testing of messages has improved dramatically. The results are very interesting,” said Thomas.
“For example, we created segments for a single email message and sent hourly on Thursday and Friday. We found that for our list the best time to send is between 4-6 p.m. The open and click rates for the optimal times were statistically significant. Subsequent emails sent at those times have proven to have better results for us. We continue to test messages and tune for optimal performance.”
Web Visitor Analytics Help Sales and Marketing Work Together
“We’re pleased with the website visitor reports; we can view them by aggregate and individual characteristics, such as drilling down to see which actions an individual takes, including a complete history of responses to emails and pages visited. Our sales team is monitoring this to get an in-depth view of existing prospects and new leads, and understand how and when they interact with our site.”
Get Immediate Results Now, With Tactical Tools that Also Support Longer-Term Strategy
“We aren’t using the Act-On landing pages yet,” said Thomas, “but it’s part of our longer-term strategy. We also plan to migrate our PDF downloads into the Act-On system so that we can better track their downloads, and using the social media prospecting tool is on our road map.”
“Most people think automating marketing is a balance between tactical and strategic. In our experience,” said Thomas, “implementing tactical tools that can also be used in long-term strategy is vastly superior to struggling with difficult-to-implement, bloated systems. Act‑On allows us to immediately start our tactical campaigns and then grow into more strategic features over time. We highly recommend Act‑On.”
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Dotdash Acquires Brides Magazine To Build Out Its Lifestyle Vertical
by Alison Weissbrot // Wednesday, May 15th, 2019 – 2:31 pm
Dotdash, a top destination for millennial women, lacked bridal content.
So the digital publisher, which rebranded from About.com in 2017, purchased Brides magazine from Condé Nast Wednesday for an undisclosed sum.
The 85-year-old magazine will fit well into Dotdash’s verticalized online portfolio, said CEO Neil Vogel. Dotdash’s properties are each devoted to specific categories like finance (Investopedia), beauty (Byrdie), health and wellness (Verywell) and home improvement (The Spruce).
But none have the brand cachet of Brides.
“That’s what we bought it for: the brand and the team that’s coming with it,” Vogel said.
Dotdash will also acquire about 10 employees on Brides’ editorial team, which will continue to be led by Lisa Gooder, executive director of Brides at Condé Nast. Dotdash will discontinue the print magazine this fall and focus on growing Brides’ online presence, which sees 3.6 million monthly users per Comscore.
Bridal content was a missing piece in Dotdash’s lifestyle vertical, Vogel said.
“[Women visit our sites when they] want to redo their apartment, look their best for a job interview or roll over 401K,” Vogel said. “The goal is to serve millennial women in all points of their lives. Brides really adds to that.”
At Condé Nast, Brides competed with other properties and wasn’t given a lot of “sunlight and water,” Vogel said. But Brides complements Dotdash’s other lifestyle brands.
The company will sell Brides’ inventory alongside other verticals programmatically, mostly through PMPs, as well as custom or branded content sponsorships. And the nature of Dotdash’s content gives it strong contextual targeting capabilities.
All of Dotdash’s brands have evergreen content that tells its audience how to get things done, Vogel said. “We know how to package and sell that for advertisers.”
Dotdash doesn’t just make money from ads, approaching $30 million in affiliate revenue last year, Vogel said. He’s unsure how that strategy will fit at Brides just yet.
“We never try to take content that helps people and chuck a bunch of affiliate links in it to make money,” Vogel said. “It will be around very specific content that’s commerce-related.”
While search drives about two-thirds of Dotdash’s traffic, the company doesn’t base its revenue strategy around SEO. “It just doesn’t work,” Vogel said. Instead, Dotdash focuses on providing users with faster load times, fewer ads and better content overall – which search engines naturally favor.
“If you think too much about the mechanics of how search works, you’re going to lose,” Vogel said. “Because you’re going to get into the business of trying to figure out what an algorithm wants versus what a human being wants.”
Dotdash is on an acquisition spree. Brides is the third title it purchased this year, following the January acquisition of Byrdie and MyDomaine from Clique Brands Inc. The company, which is seeing impressive growth at a time when digital publishers are struggling, will continue to look for properties “where evergreen content and intent-driven audiences can congregate,” Vogel said.
“We’re looking for real, established brands in areas that our expertise works,” he said. “We think we have a lot of room to grow.”
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We found 177 results for 'opera browser beta'
Relevance time Comments
Microsoft Edge is coming to Android and iOS
Corbin Davenport
2017/10/05 9:08am PDT Oct 5, 2017
Microsoft's browsers, for the most part, have been limited to the company's own operating systems. There are exceptions to this, such as the short-lived Internet Explorer for Mac, but that has been the general rule. Earlier today, the company announced something unexpected - Edge for Android and iOS.
31 new and notable Android games from the last week (9/27/17 - 10/3/17)
Matthew Sholtz
2017/10/03 2:01pm PDT Oct 3, 2017
Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android games that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so.
Chrome team AMA reveals details about Autofill API support, re-working WebVR, and more
2017/09/15 12:11pm PDT Sep 15, 2017
Yesterday on Reddit, members of the Google Chrome team conducted an AMA ('Ask Me Anything'). While the main focus of the AMA was about web development (it was on /r/webdev, after all), there were a few answers that both users and developers can get excited about.
25 new and notable Android games from the last week (8/9/17 - 8/15/17)
2017/08/15 4:33pm PDT Aug 15, 2017
10 Android 10 features to look for when your phone gets updated
Spec leak shows exactly how the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G outclasses other S20 models
T-Mobile's DIGITS number sharing service rolls out on May 31st
Ryan Whitwam
2017/05/25 11:09am PDT May 25, 2017
T-Mobile announced a beta test for its DIGITS service last year, and at long last the beta is over. DIGITS will roll out to all subscribers on May 31st, and it's free to use with your current mobile number. If you want multiple numbers (or DIGITS as T-Mobile insists on calling them), that'll cost you $10 per month.
Animated PNG format: How does it compare to Animated WebP and GIF?
2017/05/01 11:15am PDT May 1, 2017
The Graphics Interchange Format was initially developed by CompuServe in 1987, and has become a staple of the internet. However, GIFs have some limitations, and many sites have switched to using HTML5 video in WebM or MP4 format (such as Gfycat, Imgur, Twitter, and others).
There are a few competing formats that are designed to overcome the problems of GIFs, namely Animated PNG and Animated WebP. Now that Chrome 59 (currently in beta) supports both formats, it's worth discussing - which is better?
17 new and notable Android apps from the last 2 weeks (2/28/17 - 3/13/17)
2017/03/13 3:52pm PDT Mar 13, 2017
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.
Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.
Accu Battery
Today's roundup is presented by Accu Battery from Digibites. Batteries today are ubiquitous with just about every device we use, as they play a critical role in our day-to-day that is difficult to dismiss. This means that it is pretty important to stay on top of your battery usage.
10 new and notable Android apps from the last 3 weeks (12/28/16 - 1/16/17)
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
AccuBattery
Today's roundup is presented by AccuBattery from Digibites. Barring any accidents, the battery is the part of your phone that generally wears out the fastest, so it pays to keep an eye on its health.
Chrome is getting better at saving data, even on videos, downloading pages for offline, and suggesting personalized content
Rita El Khoury
The Chrome team has announced a bunch of new features for its browser and made a few others that we've heard about before official. Without further ado, let's delve into everything new you can expect to see in Chrome stable (and sometimes just Beta and Dev) now.
Data Saver for videos
Data Saver has been an option of Chrome for a while now, but it's still limited compared to the powerful compression of Opera. At best, I've seen it reduce my usage by 15%, but that might be changing soon as the feature gains one important addition: video compression (just like Opera). The team claims that this can save you up to 67% of data on mp4 videos, which is fantastic.
15 new and notable Android apps from the last 2 weeks (8/23/16 - 9/5/16)
2016/09/05 11:16am PDT Sep 5, 2016
Android Police coverage: [Update] Taskbar lets you enable Freeform mode on Android Nougat without root or adb
Android Nougat has a bunch of new features, but not all of them are visible on the surface. Freeform mode, a simple windowing system that allows apps to behave like they're on, well, Windows, is hiding deep in its code.
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We use this form to collect the necessary information so we can serve you better.
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Materials Options for Towels
Warping & Sizing
Warp is longitudinal threads in a piece of woven material that are tightly stretched or warped on a beam. Latitudinal threads called weft or filler are passed under and over the warp to form the fabric. The large spools of just-spun cotton are ready to be warped or wound on a beam that will be inserted into the loom for weaving. If the yarn is purchased, the 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) spools are readied for warping. A warping beam is then warped in which threads are anchored and wrapped to a large beam in hundreds of parallel rows. Different towel widths require different numbers of warp threads.
8 These huge beams, full of wrapped warp threads, are placed into a rack that holds up to 12 beams and sized in preparation for weaving. The threads must be sized or stiffened to make the piece easier to weave. PVA starch, urea, and wax are rolled onto and pressed into the yarn. The threads are then run over drying cans—Teflon-coated cans with steam heat emanating from with-in. This helps to dry the warp threads quickly. (1,000 warp ends are pulled over nine cans to dry.) These beams, with coated threads, are now sent to the looms.
The beams are picked up by a pallet jack or hydraulic lift truck and transported to looms. These looms vary in width but may be as narrow as 85 in (216 cm) or as wide as 153 in (389 cm). (Not surprisingly, the wider the loom, the slower the weaving as it takes longer for weft threads to cross the warp.) The beams are lifted onto the looms mechanically with a warp jack, which can bear the weight and size of the beam.
Towels are woven on dobby looms, meaning each loom has two sets or warp and thus two warp beams—one warp is called the ground warp and forms the body of the towel and the other is called the pile warp and it produces the terry pile or loop. Each set of warp threads is carefully fed through a set of metal eyes and is attached to a harness. (Harnesses are separate, parallel frames that can change in their vertical relationships to one another.) These harnesses mechanically raise and lower these warp threads so that the weft or filler can be passed between them. The intersection of the warp and weft is woven fabric.
Dyeing & Printing
Once the toweling is made (it is one long terry cloth roll and has no beginning or end), it is wound on an off-loom take-up reel. It is then transported to bleaching as huge rolls of fabric and put into a water bath with bleaching chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide, caustic defoamers, and other proprietary ingredients. All toweling must be dyed pure white before it is dyed any color. The wet toweling laden with chemicals is then subjected to tremendously high temperatures. The heat makes the chemicals react, bleaching the towel. The roll is then washed at least once and as many as three times in a large washer to get all chemicals out of the toweling. The toweling is dried, and if it is to remain white toweling, it is ready to be cut at the top and bottom, lock-stitched sewn, and have a label attached (all of this is done with one machine).
If it is to be dyed, the large, dried uncut rolls are taken to large vats of chemical dyes, which have proven over time to provide colorfast toweling after extensive residential laundering. After being immersed in the vat, the toweling is removed and pressed between two heavy rollers which forces the dye down into the toweling. A thorough steaming sets the color. The toweling is again steam-dried, fluffed in the drying process, and then the dyed towels are ready for cutting, hemming, and
Cutting, Sewing and Packing
Final visual inspection of the cut and hemmed towels occurs and they are handfolded and conveyed to packaging, where automatic packaging equipment forms a bag around the towels and UPC labels are attached to the bags. These packaged towels are sent to the stock room, awaiting transport out of the plant.
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Telcos want IDA to probe alleged smear campaign
Lim Yi Han
TELCOS M1 and StarHub are asking the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to look into allegations that bloggers were asked to complain about their services.
M1's spokesman Chua Hian Hou said: "Such practices are unethical and we intend to seek clarification with the relevant operator on this matter. We will also request IDA to look into this... and will explore further action if necessary."
StarHub's chief marketing officer Jeannie Ong said that it was "deeply disturbed" by the tactics employed and the possible damage to its brand.
These allegations came to light on Saturday when blogger Xiaxue, whose real name is Wendy Cheng, put up "leaked" documents allegedly issued by social media marketing firm Gushcloud to the bloggers it represents.
One directive in the alleged document asks bloggers to complain about the services of other telcos as part of a promotion strategy for Singtel's youth plan.
A Singtel spokesman said Gushcloud was one of the digital agencies it used in June last year for its campaigns but it did not issue the brief.
"It is Singtel's policy to focus on the strengths and differentiators when marketing our products and services. It is not our practice to run negative campaigns against any individual or organisation," she said.
Gushcloud co-founder Althea Lim, 30, told The Straits Times that it is currently investigating the matter and would not comment further. In a Facebook post on Saturday, Gushcloud wrote: "The publicly posted brief was an internal brief prepared by Gushcloud for its influencers. The brief is not meant to be read in isolation without the full context and verbal briefings given by Gushcloud."
When contacted, IDA said it is aware of the matter and that operators should abide by the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice, which states that all advertisements should be legal, decent, honest and truthful, and should not unfairly attack or discredit other products or organisations.
"In the spirit of fair competition, IDA has always encouraged our licensees to focus on promoting the availability, price and quality of their own services or equipment, and refrain from negative campaigns against their competitors. This will allow end-users to make informed choices," it said.
limyihan@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Mar 17, 2015.
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What is Aurora Database?
How to Use Aurora
Instructions for Funding Organisations
Material for the Media and Collaborators
Data Protection Notice for Registered Users
Name of register: Aurora database user information
Register registrant: University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto
Representative for register: Soile Haverinen, email: aurora(at)aurora-tietokanta.fi
Contact persons in matters regarding register: Aurora team, email: aurora(at)aurora-tietokanta.fi
Data Protections Officer of the University of Turku: email: dpo(at)utu.fi
The data of the registered users are used to perform the functions of the database and for possible compilation of statistics.
The only necessary information needed for the registration is the user’s email address. The email address is used for the identification of the user while signing into the database, for the automatic email notifications of the saved funders and funding opportunities, and for communication in problem situations.
When a registered user has saved funders or funding opportunities to his/her favourites, the administrators of the database are able to see this information, but they do not use the possibility. The saved information may be used for statistics impersonally.
The use of the database creates log entries, which are used for managing the data security and for technical development of the services and for discovering, prevent and dealing with fault situations (Information Society Code (917/2014) 138§, 141§, 144§). The Logs are stored the time needed for these purposes and they are not used for any other purpose.
This site uses Google Analytics web analytics service and it is used to observe the user flow. Further information on how Google Analytics uses cookies
Regular data sources of the register
The sources of the personal data are the information provided by a person when he/she registers at the database and when he/she saves information to his/her profile.
Email address is the only information that is necessary to save to the register.
Aurora database stores the personal data as long as the user is registered to the database.
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7 deadly car seat mistakes even experienced parents make
By Joyce Slaton
Once you've driven around with a baby on board for a while, you can grow a little nonchalant about safety. You bought the seat, you installed it, your child is buckled into it, all is well.
Maybe so. Or maybe not. The car seat industry has changed rapidly over the last few years, and some of the rules have changed. And some of the things you thought you knew? You were wrong about.
I had a pretty scary conversation with Emma Olenberger, Community Relations & Traffic Safety Specialist and Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician Instructor for AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah. The following 7 items are all things I did wrong -- or things I see my fellow parents doing wrong every day.
Think you're getting everything right? You may be surprised.
Not reading the manual
Forgetting to buckle in empty booster seats
Moving kids too quickly to the next car seat phase
Letting kids sit in front seat before age 13
Not strapping in children tightly enough
Buying knockoff car seats online
Ignoring expiration dates
It sure is easier learning how to install a seat by watching a YouTube video. But there's a lot of important stuff you're missing by storing the car seat manual unread in a drawer: installation and usage instructions, weight limits, expiration date. Olenberger says she talks to parents all the time who don't read the manuals for their vehicles and car seats -- or who read the manual and do everything it says, regardless of whether those instructions are suitable for their child/vehicle.
Such an overly anxious parent might, for example, install the car seat using both the car's seat belt and LATCH system. The more safety the better, right? Not really -- though there are a couple of car seats on the market (the Clek Foonf and Nuna Pipa) that are installed this way, most vehicle/car seat manuals specifically advise picking one or the other or risk improperly distributing crash forces. Confusing? Read your manuals carefully and it won't be.
When your child is in his booster seat, he's securely buckled in and protected. But when he gets out, that unbuckled seat could be a deadly projectile in an accident. If your child is old enough to buckle himself into the seat, he's old enough to remember to buckle it up when he gets out, Olenberger advises.
Some booster seats, such as the Chicco KidFit, Graco's Affix boosters, and the Britax Parkway SGL, have lower anchor connectors on the seat that keep it fastened to the vehicle even when not buckled in. Hey, didn't I just say not to use LATCH and seat belts at the same time? It's confusing, Olenberger notes -- but the seat belt is actually taking the crash force for booster'd children. The LATCH connectors are just keeping it in place.
Believe me, I get it: Your kid cries when he's rear-facing, and you can't tend to him. Or he's chafing at being in a "baby" seat when his classmates are in boosters. "I tell parents that if I could ride rear-facing, I would," says Olenberger. "As you move to each new phase, your risk for injury increases."
Your child is safer rear-facing, he's safer in the back seat, he's safer using a convertible seat than a booster. Steel yourself to the complaints and refuse to take risks.
I have to confess -- I've been letting my daughter Violet, age 9, ride in the front seat for almost a year. I figured because she was so tall (now 5'3"!) that she could fit in the seat belts no problem. But Olenberger clued me in -- the problem is not fitting into the seat belts. The problem is that the bones of young children are still soft, and that passenger-side airbag, flying out with massive force, can cause facial/internal injuries.
When do those bones harden? Puberty, which occurs at about age 13. My daughter is furious with me, but I'm not bending: She's in the backseat again, and will stay there until 13.
You're supposed to put a dog collar on loosely enough that you can slip two fingers between the dog's neck and the collar. Is that why parents get confused and don't tighten harness straps enough?
You should not be able to pinch fabric folds at the shoulder, Olenberger advises, and harness straps should be in the right fit slot and not twisted. "Your baby actually likes the security of tight straps," she says. "And it's important to have them secure, because in a collision, the child's body will move until it hits that harness. Keep it tight to minimize how much the child's body moves."
Keep that five-point harness retainer clip at armpit level too: "If it's lower, the child could fall out because the straps are too loose, or it can put pressure on the belly, which is where your internal organs are." Don't let your child push that clip down or play with it, either. If he's fidgety, give him a toy.
It seems amazing, but some parents love a bargain so much they're tempted into buying car seats online that have not passed U.S. safety standards. If that upscale-brand seat seems like an amazing bargain on eBay or Craigslist, it might be because it's not approved for sale in the United States. Car seats are pirated just like DVDs and gold watches: buy them at reputable retailers, and, Olenberger cautions, make sure the car seat says it meets or exceeds Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213.
That standard specifies that seats must have a permanent, visible label certifying "This child seat system conforms to all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS 213)." Generally the label is a black-and-white one along the side or bottom of the seat's plastic shell.
This label may also have installation instructions, child weight limits, the name and address of the manufacturer/distributor and the date it was made -- if these details are not on the safety standards label, there will be different stickers, often located on the seat's side. There may or may not be a line or separate label certifying the seat for use in an aircraft.
You may also be able to find this information in the seat's instruction manual and on packaging, but the on-seat label is the one you can rely on. Don't see one on your bargain seat? Don't buy it!
Parents tend to regard car seat expiration dates with skepticism. C'mon. It's not milk. How can plastic go bad?
But if you think about the way car seats are used, it makes perfect sense. Car seats are out in your vehicle, heating up every day, cooling off at night, getting baked by the sun. "You want the plastic to distribute crash forces," points out Olenberger. If it breaks down, it doesn't do that as well.
Car seats expiration dates used to be a standard 6 years, Olenberger says, but these days some manufacturers are putting out seats that have a 10- or 12-year lifespan. Check your date! It may be on the seat's bottom, it may be on the sticker that states the model name, number and manufacture date.
Can't find yours? Just contact the manufacturer; Olenberger says they're eager to help consumers use their products correctly.
And that's it. Did you learn anything? I did. And my daughter resents me so fiercely from the back seat. It'll be a funny story someday. I hope.
Photos courtesy Thinkstock or by author.
Joyce Slaton
Joyce Slaton is a Child Passenger Safety Technician and can be found on Twitter and Pinterest; every product featured on the Products & Prizes channel can be found on Joyce's board Must-Haves for Babies and Children.
Opinions expressed by parent contributors are their own.
Got a small car? 8 compact car seats sure to fit
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Please stop dropping by the firehouse for car seat checks
9 easy-to-use car seats highly rated by safety experts
11 extended rear-facing car seats under $200 (5 under $100!)
Three types of car seats you should never use
Coats and car seats: The deadly mistake parents make (video)
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© 2020 Backstage Nashville™
Instrumentalists bear the burden of communicating musical ideas without the aid of lyrics or storytelling proper. For many years, that’s how 2018 Americana Award nominee Daniel Donato operated as the guitarist for Nashville acts like The Wild Feathers, Paul Cauthen and The Don Kelley Band.
From age 14, Donato has developed his brand of crisp, soulful, on-the-edge telecaster picking under bar lights, honing his skills and proving his mettle within the city’s prominent live music scene. All the while, a growing love of songwriting mirrored the pace of his ever-improving guitar chops.
Now, a short three years after his departure from Kelley’s classic country outfit, the 23-year-old is signed to William Morris Endeavors as an artist with a docket of jam-ready country and bluegrass songs. Backed by his three-piece “Cosmic Country Band” – cosmic country is a catch-all term for experimental roots music, often assisted by electronic sounds – Donato stands at the frontier of his career with characteristic intrepidity, no longer bounded by the expressive limitations of his instrument.
His strident voice and explorative songwriting carry his music into new territory, offering bold ideas to his fan base while staying true to what drew them to him in the first place: a palpable love of music delivered through excelled craft. With one eye on the night’s gig and another on the ages, Donato is continuing his journey down country music’s long and winding road, leaving no stone unturned.
Listen to Daniel Donato:
"Don't You Wanna Stay" - Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson
"Over" - Blake Shelton
"If I Didn't Have You" - Thompson Square
"I Got You" - Thompson Square
"Love Who You Love" - Rascal Flatts
"Sunny and 75" - Joe Nichols
"Who I Am When I'm With You" - Chris Young
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info@barovicklawny.com | Мы говорим по-русски | אנחנו מדברים עברית | Hablamos Español
Barovick Law
Andrew Barovick Advocates Proper Education
Everyone Can Make a Difference
The Importance of Inclusion in Today’s World
Volunteering Helps Communities in Many Ways
Trials & Appeals
WHITE PLAINS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
Risk of Electrocution While Working in Construction
Andrew Barovick
One of the most dangerous things you can come in contact with is electrical current. OSHA shows that accidents related to electrocution are the third leading cause of death among construction workers in the United States. Being struck by objects and experiencing a fall are the two accidents that cause the most deaths.
Many construction workers come in contact with overhead power lines while using metal ladders, cranes, and scaffolding. This can lead to a massive shock that stops the heart from beating. The degree and extent of the current flow, length of the electrical shocks, and voltage play a part in how severe the injury will be. If you or someone close to you has experienced an accident like this, you need the help of a personal injury attorney.
What Causes Electrocution
There are all sorts of situations that can lead to electrocution, but some of the most common include:
Using flexible and extension cords in an incorrect manner
Coming in contact with high voltage power lines
Not following manufacturer instructions
Lack of correct grounding protection
Inadequate grounding of any electrical equipment
Most injuries from electrocution occur at a workplace, but improper wiring in the home and defective household appliances can also lead to injury. Sockets and outlets that aren’t grounded correctly, exposed wires, badly insulated wires, and more can be dangerous. This is especially if you have small children in your home.
Injury and Death from Electrocution
Being electrocuted can lead to major burns and even death. If you survive, you may have conditions that require skin grafting or surgery. Electrocution can also lead to blindness, nerve damage, visual impairment, heart or brain damage, and the need for amputation.
There are also often other injuries that occur at the same time as electrocution. If someone falls or is pushed outward from the electrical source then spinal cord injuries, broken bones, paralysis, and internal organ damage may be the result.
Injury Claims After an Electrocution Accident
Most of the accidents that occur at a construction site, including electrocution, can be prevented by using safe equipment, following safe work practices, taking part in safety training, and working somewhere that is generally safe. If your employer doesn’t offer these things and an accident occurs, they may be liable for the injury or death that results. By speaking with a personal injury attorney at Barovick Law, you can determine if someone is liable for your injuries and whether you are owed compensation for that fact.
construction, electrocution, injury
Must-Have Safety Items to Look for on the Job Site
Safety is Important When Operating a Forklift
Mr. Barovick is a graduate of Columbia College and Cardozo School of Law. He began his legal career at the Queens District Attorney’s Office, where he tried over 20 felonies to verdict, and argued an equal number of appeals before the Appellate Division, Second Department, the New York Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Barovick teaches trial advocacy at Cardozo School of Law’s annual Intensive Trial Advocacy Program, has written and lectured for NYSTLA’s Decisions Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program, and is the creator and principal author of The New York Medical Malpractice Law Blog. Through the City Bar’s Medical Malpractice Committee, he has been active in the writing and presentation of related CLE programs for several years.
Barovick Law is a Medical Malpractice law firm specializing in Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, Trials and Appeals, Nursing Home Negligence, Construction Accidents, and Police Misconduct.
707 Westchester Ave Suite 411
60 East 42nd St Suite 1638
© 2008 Barovick Law | Attorney Advertising
Law Firm Website by Internet Presence LLC
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Police: Father-son onion fight
FATHER AND SON FIGHT: Battle Creek police arrested a father, 55, and his son, 29, after they fought Sunday over an onion. Officers said they were called to the 400 block of Wellington Avenue in Bedford Township at 4:07 p.m.
Police: Father-son onion fight FATHER AND SON FIGHT: Battle Creek police arrested a father, 55, and his son, 29, after they fought Sunday over an onion. Officers said they were called to the 400 block of Wellington Avenue in Bedford Township at 4:07 p.m. Check out this story on battlecreekenquirer.com: http://bcene.ws/2jOOZ3r
Trace Christenson, Battle Creek Enquirer Published 5:29 p.m. ET Jan. 30, 2017
A 60-year-old Battle Creek man was arrested after a female clerk at the Citgo gas station at 737 Capital Ave. S.W. said she was assaulted.(Photo: File)
ONION FIGHT: Battle Creek police arrested a father, 55, and his son, 29, after they fought Sunday over an onion. Officers said they were called at 4:07 p.m. to the 400 block of Wellington Avenue in Bedford Township by another relative who said the father assaulted the son. Both men live in the house and the son said his father receives food stamps but sells them for crack cocaine and then eats the son's food. The son said they have had numerous conversations about the subject but that the father continues to eat the son's food. The father said the son became angry over an onion and began the assault. Neither were injured seriously and neither wanted to pursue charges, however officers arrested both men and took them to the Calhoun County jail.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Battle Creek police arrested a man after his wife, 38, said she was assaulted during an argument over a phone at 3:15 a.m. Sunday in the 1900 block of East Columbia Avenue.
BREAK-INS: • East Goodale Avenue, first block: attempted.
Call Silent Observer at 269-964-3888 or text CRIMES (274637) SOTIP or see www.crimereports.com with information about crimes.
Read or Share this story: http://bcene.ws/2jOOZ3r
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<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/16180550"><strong>Temple and Shore</strong></a> (12943 words) by <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/Selah"><strong>Selah</strong></a><br />Chapters: 1/1<br />Fandom: <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Jrock">Jrock</a>, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/the%20GazettE">the GazettE</a>, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/SCREW%20(Band)">SCREW (Band)</a>, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Nocturnal%20Bloodlust">Nocturnal Bloodlust</a>, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/BUCK-TICK">BUCK-TICK</a>, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/%E6%91%A9%E5%A4%A9%E6%A5%BC%E3%82%AA%E3%83%9A%E3%83%A9%20%7C%20Matenrou%20Opera">摩天楼オペラ | Matenrou Opera</a><br />Rating: Teen And Up Audiences<br />Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply<br />Relationships: Aoi (the Gazette)/Kazuki (SCREW), Aoi (the GazettE)/Hiro (Nocturnal Bloodlust), Aoi (the GazettE)/Natsu (Nocturnal Bloodlust), Aoi (the GazettE)/Hiro (Nocturnal Bloodlust)/Natsu (Nocturnal Bloodlust)<br />Characters: Aoi (the GazettE), Kazuki (SCREW), Hiro (Nocturnal Bloodlust), Natsu (Nocturnal Bloodlust), Hoshino Hidehiko, Higuchi Yutaka, Omi (exist†trace), Ayame (Matenrou Opera), Sono (Matenrou Opera), Original Characters<br />Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Polyamorous Character, everybody bisexual<br />Series: Part 2 of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/956949">Dragons of Ise</a><br />Summary: <p>It wasn't like Kazuki had actually <i>had</i> any specific expectations about the Dragon Temple. And still, this wasn't what he had expected.</p>
SCREW (Band)
Nocturnal Bloodlust
摩天楼オペラ | Matenrou Opera
Aoi (the Gazette)/Kazuki (SCREW)
Aoi (the GazettE)/Hiro (Nocturnal Bloodlust)
Aoi (the GazettE)/Natsu (Nocturnal Bloodlust)
Aoi (the GazettE)/Hiro (Nocturnal Bloodlust)/Natsu (Nocturnal Bloodlust)
Aoi (the GazettE)
Kazuki (SCREW)
Hiro (Nocturnal Bloodlust)
Natsu (Nocturnal Bloodlust)
Hoshino Hidehiko
Higuchi Yutaka
Omi (exist†trace)
Ayame (Matenrou Opera)
Sono (Matenrou Opera)
Polyamory Negotiations
Polyamorous Character
everybody bisexual
← Previous Work Part 2 of the Dragons of Ise series Next Work →
Temple and Shore
It wasn't like Kazuki had actually had any specific expectations about the Dragon Temple. And still, this wasn't what he had expected.
I know, I know, it's been ages since I updated this series. There have been ... complications. And this so doesn't feed directly into #3, but there's a reason for that. And #4 hasn't even really been started yet because my life is a dumpster fire and also I have too many concurrent projects. :p
As you might have guessed from the tags, we've, uh, strayed a bit away from strictly Aoi/Kazuki. Sorry not sorry (I mean, have you SEEN Hiro shirtless??).
Kazuki turned a slow circle, taking in the room he and Yuu had been assigned. It wasn't very large, though it was large enough for the two rolled futon he could see tucked into a corner, even with the low desk sat beside the open shouji. They were on the outer side of the guest hall, their room faced out towards the ocean cliffs, though they were far enough up and away from the shore that he could almost forget it was there entirely, but for the far distant shimmer at the horizon. Stepping out onto the nure'en, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but it didn't help him know what to do next. Yuu had vanished almost as soon as they had been shown this room and he still couldn't feel Ryuji's presence at all. Which was annoying because if he had offended the dragon, then how was he supposed to make amends like this? He still didn't even know what it was he was supposed to have done wrong
“You wanted me here, I'm here now what?” he grumbled to the air, but even that was not enough to get a response from his supposed spirit guardian. This was ridiculous and yet what else could he do? Scowling up at the layered grey clouds a moment, he silently cursed this turn of his fate. Until he became aware of a presence in the room behind him. Scrambling awkwardly to his feet, he was perversely annoyed to see it was only Yuu.
“Back are we?”
“Figured paper and sealing wax would be helpful, since you need to write to your brother Teru so he doesn't get any crazy ideas,” Yuu said with a casual shrug, depositing the items on the desk. Kazuki hesitated - his original plan had been to stay silent, but Teru wouldn't know he wasn't at the capitol like this, wouldn't know where to find him.
“I'll be writing to your father myself, there's no point in not writing him.”
Kazuki couldn't help a low snort at that. “You don't know my family,” he said, reluctantly settling himself at the desk. Takuro would obey their father, mostly, but Teru and Jun would need to hear from him before they would believe he was all right. If he phrased the letter just right, Yuu wouldn't recognize the threat, but Teru and Jun would and build an alliance to go to war to get him back.
:You can't honestly think that is the answer, little one.:
“... that's what it takes to get you to come back to me?” he growled, anger boiling in the pit of his stomach. Ryuji coiled about his shoulders, offering no apologies for his actions, his tail curling around Kazuki's arm.
:Too much anger in you.:
“Gee, wonder why that might be,” he muttered.
:You need to be here. To let go. Anger is poison, you must let it go. For the sake of Ise, but for the sake of Shizu, too.:
“You ruined my life!” he shouted, hating the tremor in his voice at the end.
“Kazuki....”
“Leave me alone! All of you! Just leave me alone!!”
A flicker of hurt across the bond and then Ryuji was gone, the link between them empty once more. Dashing the frustrated tears from his eyes, he was surprised to see the room was empty again. Yuu's military training, he supposed. Whatever, he didn't care, he just wanted to be left alone.
Except that was a lie, too. Because all alone there was nothing to distract him from the thousand thoughts swirling through his head. He stripped off his shirt, frantically searching his skin for the mark. And then stood in front of the mirror, staring for a long time at the dragon tattoo wound around his upper arm. It was smaller than Yuu's tattoo, colored exactly the same as Ryuji, but he had no idea what it meant, if anything. Well, other than he couldn't be a prince of Shizu like this. Not that he had wanted to stay a prince, of course, but.... A whole future of choices, ripped away from him in an instant. It wasn't fair and he pulled his shirt back on if only to keep from having to see the tattoo he had never wanted.
A thought and he hurried to remove the rings from his lip before stepping closer to the small mirror hung on the wall. But like Yuu had said, the holes were healed open now, like the ones in his ears. If he left the rings out long enough, the holes would eventually close, but.... Like a puppet with cut strings, he collapsed to the floor, bitter tears stealing down his cheeks. And still he was left completely, utterly alone.
~*~*~
Down the hall, Yuu paced an empty room, a winding dance around Ryuji and Suzuya as the agitated dragons did much the same. It wasn't like Kazuki's upset came as any sort of surprise to him, of course, he had been seeing it (and expecting worse) for days now. The agitation of the dragons, on the other hand.... Stopping short, he huffed a sigh and ran a hand through his hair.
“Suzuya....”
:He's in pain, deep pain. If he would let Ryuji help....:
:He won't listen. He refuses to accept the truth.:
“Neither of you have been particularly gentle with him on that point, you know,” Yuu grumbled, glancing back towards their room. “He's in pain and you two keep telling him to suck it up, think of the big picture. Maybe right now he can't, ever think about that?”
Another sigh and he hiked himself back up to the head monk's office, hesitating before knocking on the door again. And then hesitating again when the monk invited him in.
“That didn't last long,” Master Hidehiko said, a gentle smile crinkling around his eyes. Yuu could only sigh, startled to find both Ryuji and Suzuya pushing past him. And though he couldn't hear it, he was certain both dragons were trying to blab everything at once.
:CHILDREN!:
Yuu rocked back on his heels, startled by the appearance of a familiar large dragon, green as the pines in winter dusted with snow.
“I'm sorry, Master Hidehiko, Lord Yutaka,” Yuu said, bowing deeply to them both. “My consort is....”
“Quite upset, from the sounds of it, but that was expected,” Hidehiko said with a slight nod. “Grown to an adult and yet still a child, never trained to it, not as you were.”
“I wouldn't say he's....”
“Of course you wouldn't,” the monk said with a slight shake of his head. “He is your consort, your first duty is to him. I, on the other hand ... my first duty is to the dragons who protect Ise. Ryuji was right to bring him here, teaching is what we do, but first we will –.”
“You will do nothing, Hide. As usual.”
Yuu glanced up at the unexpected addition of the temple's co-leader, Omi. Ten years since he had last been at the temple, and yet she looked exactly the same, beautiful yet remote. Untouchable.
“Omi, really....”
“We all sought this, we were taught from childhood about dragons and bonds and their importance to Ise. This Kazuki knows none of it,” she said, cutting off the older monk with a look.
“Besides,” she added a beat later, something almost devilish in her sudden smile, “if he's the child you claim, then he is under my jurisdiction, not yours. Takako and I will handle it. But in the morning. For tonight, dinner and then rest. For you both. Ryuji and Suzuya can stay here while you show him around the temple. As we have no scholars with us right now, please enjoy your privacy.”
“Thank you, Mistress Omi, Master Hidehiko. I should ... I should get back to him.”
Another low bow and he let himself out of the office. The afternoon had nearly swept past them, they had just enough time for an unhurried but not too leisurely tour of the temple grounds and then it would be time for dinner. And after that ... well, perhaps it would have to depend on how dinner went.
Kazuki looked up at the light knock, surprised Yuu had even bothered. And surprised again at how quickly the prince was kneeling at his side, cupping his cheek.
“Kazu, what is it, what's wrong??”
“... be honest with me, how long were you in Shizu? How long was my father lying to me?”
Yuu sat back on his heels at that, frowning slightly. And then the look passed, replaced by a curious mix of sorrow and guilt.
“I first approached your father as an authorized representative of the Ise crown about a week ago, but we had already been in the kingdom ten days at that point,” the prince confessed. “At no time did I tell him I was the crown prince, nor did he tell me he intended to give us you. The way he'd talked, I had been expecting a daughter or niece or perhaps an older grandchild.”
“I'm the last of his unwed children,” Kazuki said, shivering. “My two eldest brothers, Takuro and Teru, they have children now, but the eldest daughter is only six. My father may be a heartless ass, but....”
“I'm sorry,” Yuu said again, but it didn't feel any better this time than it had the last.
“Come on,” the prince said a moment later, getting to his feet. “The temple's co-leaders have instructed me to show you around. By the end of that, it should be time for dinner, all right?”
“I ... I don't....”
“It's just us and the usual monks right now. That's why this hall is so quiet, they don't have any outside guests here at the moment.”
Kazuki was still hesitant, but Yuu took him by the arm and he was too tired to really resist his gentle persuasion, even though he really didn't want to be seen by anyone else just then.
“So this,” Yuu said as he guided him down the hall, “is the visitor's hall. There was a time when more were allowed to try for dragons, the hopefuls would live here before and during the trials. Now it is mostly used by visiting scholars and those of my family seeking a dragon. So not much used at all these days. Hiro and Natsu are quartered down that way and this is the public bath for this hall. The hot spring is artificial, but after the last few days, a hot soak after dinner might be nice?”
“Y-yeah,” he heard himself stammering in agreement. When Yuu let him go, he headed straight for a wash basin, grateful for the cool water to wash the tears from his face. Yuu didn't say anything, waiting quietly for him to be done before resuming the tour.
The temple complex was bigger than Kazuki had been expecting. The main hall could have easily accommodated several hundred worshipers, and yet something about it said it had not seen such a gathering in some time. A handful of smaller shrines encircled the main building on three sides, leaving the east open to the rising sun. He recognized some of the names Yuu mentioned, but others were a mystery.
Yuu glossed over the monks' living quarters and stable, walking him through one of the meditation gardens to the library that looked, to Kazuki anyway, less like an archive and more like a school. More gardens surrounded the sprawling building and it felt like it would be easy to get lost in such a place.
“The last time I was here, this was my favorite part of the temple. You could spend a lifetime in this place and still not have read everything. This is the main reason non-monks come here now, this is the most extensive archive of historical and scientific documents in the kingdom, maybe even several kingdoms.”
“I've certainly never seen or heard of an archive this large,” Kazuki conceded.
“When I was here before, there was always at least one or two researchers here, studying something or other. I was really surprised to hear we're alone right now.”
“What, um, what all am I here to study?”
“The dragon lore, I imagine. Ryuji is probably making suggestions, but Mistress Omi and Lady Takako will explain it to you tomorrow. For now, at least, they're in charge of your learning.”
“Women? I thought this was a monastery...”
“What, you think women can't be monks?”
“I ... well ... I guess I hadn't thought about it that way....”
“Some of the sisters call themselves nuns, but there's not really any difference,” Yuu said, shrugging. He lead them around to a side garden with a wooden bench, encouraging Kazuki to take a seat.
“Have you written to your brother yet?” Yuu asked.
“No....”
“You really need to. When Suzuya claimed me ... I was living here from just before my ninth birthday until the summer of my twenty-second year. Obviously it was different for me, I was just a kid, but this isn't the sort of thing where it's a couple of days and we go home. I don't know what it's going to take to make your dragon satisfied, but it's probably going to be months. At least.”
Kazuki shuddered and bit his lip to keep from crying yet again, hanging his head just in case. It felt weird, naked, with the rings out, but....
“Kazu,” Yuu said softly, catching one of his hands in both of his, “what can I do to make this less painful?”
He bit down harder. The truth was there was nothing Yuu could do to make this better. Even if they weren't already betrothed by the will of the dragons – dragons! – there was no way for Kazuki to return to his old life now, his planned future. And that hurt more than even the bite had.
“... you took out the bite,” Yuu murmured, as if he had only just noticed.
“It's useless, isn't it? Everything that's happened ... I never had a chance at all, did I?”
“If it bothers you that much, you don't have to wear it. Father hasn't worn his since he and Mother ascended to the throne.”
“W-wait, wait, your father...?”
“Remember? I told you before,” Yuu said, lifting a hand to briefly cup Kazuki's cheek. “Mother was firstborn, the throne is properly hers. Father came from outside the clan, once Mother accepted him, he wore the bite as a crown consort.”
Right, Yuu had mentioned that before, in the carriage. Had that been only yesterday? It felt like far longer than that now.
“Kazuki, you are my promised, not my prisoner. Tell me what I can do to help you be happy.”
“I ... I don't know,” he admitted at last, bitter tears sliding down his cheeks. Yuu shifted again, folding arms around him in a gentle hug, and this time he didn't resist. He hated feeling this weak, crying all the time, but since he couldn't seem to stop it.... At least Yuu wasn't mocking him for his weakness.
When the tears finally stopped, Yuu squeezed him tight and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead before handing him a handkerchief to dry his face.
“We should probably get back to the guest hall so you can freshen up for dinner,” he said softly, no pressure. “I'd ... I'd like it if you would wear the bite for awhile longer, but if you really can't stand it....”
“I thought you said it doesn't matter,” he said, frowning.
“It doesn't, not really. Either way, you're still my consort, it's just ... with it, people will instantly recognize you as royalty, as my consort. It ... might make for less trouble, that's all, at least for now.”
Kazuki sighed heavily. He recognized the sense in what Yuu was saying, but....
“Our two kingdoms are very different,” he mumbled, pushing himself up to his feet. “But I guess ... if you think it's that important....”
“Do you still have the rings I used? And then tomorrow we can get different jewelry if you want.”
“Should still be in the room,” he said, still feeling conflicted about everything. “Any other piercings with secret meanings I should know?” he asked, glancing sidelong at Yuu again. The prince only had his ears pierced a few times and while he remembered black disks in Hiro's lobes, he couldn't remember seeing anything at all on Natsu. On the other hand, a prince and his two closest bodyguards were hardly representative of an entire kingdom, right?
“Not in the way the dragon's bite is, no. Gauges like Hiro's tend to be associated with our military officers, but it's a matter of personal choice and some civilians go through the process, too. Some couples will get matched piercings or matched tattoos, but even that is a matter of personal aesthetic, as long as it doesn't involve dragons.”
Kazuki nodded again, surprised at how quickly they had returned to the guest hall. He washed his face again, but he didn't think it had really helped.
“Come on,” Yuu said, drawing him back towards their room, “I have just the thing.”
Curious as he was, he silently sat where directed and then just watched as Yuu dug through his own bags, mumbling something to himself. A noise of triumph and Kazuki could only sit there in shock as the prince produced an entire cosmetics kit. In fact, he was so startled, he couldn't even form a coherent sentence as Yuu started prepping his face.
“I ... what ... you....”
“Nothing fancy, just enough to keep Lord Yutaka from scolding me for not taking better care of you,” Yuu said with a little chuckle. “Sometimes, I think him and Lady Takako got their humans mixed up.”
“Wh-what?”
“Sorry, bad joke. Master Hidehiko and Lord Yutaka have been together since before Mistress Omi was born, it's not like the wires could have actually gotten crossed or anything.”
“Then ... Lord Yutaka and Lady Takako ... are dragons?”
“Well yeah, this is the Dragon Temple,” Yuu said, chuckling, applying some sort of concealer with a surprisingly light touch.
“I thought only your family....”
“Is allowed to try, more or less, yeah, but not everyone bonded to a dragon actually tried for it, yeah? Sometimes monks find themselves bonded, it's something the dragons do for whatever reasons of their own.”
Kazuki wasn't sure he understood, but then again, it didn't sound like Yuu really understood it either. And then his prince was done painting him, that small smile that give him butterflies on those plush lips.
“Rings?” Yuu asked and Kazuki blinked a few times in confusion before he remembered what he meant. Getting up, he went to the mirror to fumble the rings back into place. They felt cold and almost heavy, an unwelcome reminder of everything he had lost in the last week.
:Because you are looking at them the wrong way.:
He tried not to sigh, feeling Ryuji settling on his shoulder, but it didn't work.
:Always so negative,; his dragon chided. :Much good will come from this, you'll see.:
When he turned back around, Suzuya had stretched herself across Yuu's shoulders, much to the prince's obvious amusement.
“Come to fetch us to dinner? All right, all right, we're coming.”
The two dragons chirped and then just like that they were gone again, though he could still feel Ryuji through the bond. He was hungry. Again.
“Not sure I'm ever going to get used to that,” he confessed, shaking his head.
“Give it time and you will,” Yuu said, grinning again. He was probably right, but ... it was a little hard for him to accept right now. His mind was still prone to tripping over the fact that dragons were even real, never mind that he was now bonded to one himself. Hopefully, maybe, being at the temple would help.
Kazuki had never been much of a fan of state dinners. That this one was being hosted by monks didn't stop it from feeling just as stuffy as the dozens of formal dinners he had attended in the past. Master Hidehiko seemed a kind and fatherly type while Mistress Omi scared him half to death. He was definitely not looking forward to having to work with her.
Other then a brief appearance by Lord Yutaka, the dragons were almost conspicuous in their absence. He could feel Ryuji's hunger, and yet the little dragon stayed away. He didn't understand it at all.
As soon as protocol allowed, he took his leave from the dining hall, pocketing a napkin full of shredded vegetables. Almost as soon as he stepped outside, Ryuji was on his shoulders, head stuffed down his jacket for want of the treats the dragon knew he was carrying.
“All right, all right, give me a second,” he said, chuckling a little as he made his way into a side garden. Finding a bench, he sat down before spreading the napkin in his lap. Ryuji squeaked happily and scampered down his arm to help himself to the cabbage, carrot, and pickled beet sticks. More happy noises soon accompanied the dragon's crunching and Kazuki couldn't stop a low laugh.
“If you're so hungry, why weren't you at dinner?”
:Master forbade it. He said it would be too cruel.:
Kazuki didn't understand that, but he wasn't going to argue with him either.
“Is this going to be enough?” he asked instead.
“There'll be more by the time we get back to our quarters,” Yuu said, stepping out of the gathering darkness. “After this, we'll be eating most of our meals in the guest hall's dining room, rather than with the brothers and sisters. The temple just accepted a new class of hopeful students, master Hidehiko has asked all dragons not bonded to teachers to keep as low a profile as possible for the next month or so, while the students adjust.”
That made a little more sense, especially if there were students harboring a wish to be bonded to a dragon, thinking that coming here to study would be enough to get around the restrictions.
By the time they returned to their quarters, a small meal had indeed been laid out and the two dragons quickly set about devouring it with happy trills and loud crunches. It was amusing, if a little messy, juices and sauces dribbling from whiskers and beards, and he was pretty sure those two were both going to need baths of their own by the time they were finished.
“Shall we leave them to it? I did promise you a hot soak after dinner, we should probably get down there before Hiro and Natsu get back from dinner if you want any sort of quiet for your bath.”
Kazuki wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he nodded along anyway. At least Ryuji finally felt happy again.
He had almost forgotten about his dragon tattoo until, in the middle of scrubbing himself, he felt Yuu's touch on his arm. And flinched not unlike a frightened child.
“Sorry, it doesn't still hurt, does it?”
“N-no, it's never hurt, I just ... you startled me.”
“Ah, well, this isn't what I was expecting,” Yuu said, lightly tracing the lines of the tattoo with one finger. Kazuki shivered, silently scolding himself to focus on what the prince was saying, not the feel of his touch.
“What, um, what were you expecting?”
“A placement similar to mine,” Yuu said, flexing his tattooed arm as if to demonstrate. “A soldier's placement and design. In battle, I can call Suzuya through the tattoo, powering my attacks. But this? This is a scribe's mark, I think. The circle is closed, there's no way to direct the energy outwards.”
“I ... I'm not sure what that means,” Kazuki said, trying not to think about the fact that they were both naked. If Yuu could talk to him like this was completely normal, no big deal, surely he could do the same.
“See how she flows down my arm?” Yuu said, holding up his arm to show what he meant. “Her energy flows through me like so, her strength moving through my shoulder and out my arm. With yours, the way his mouth is pointed at his own tail, there's no outlet, the power loops back in on itself, stays within you.”
“Is ... is that a bad thing?” he asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“Of course not,” Yuu reassured him, that boyish smile setting off a hundred butterflies in his stomach. “It doesn't even mean that you can't learn to fight, if that's what you want. I'm just not sure how you would call him to your defense like this. But then again, that's why we're here, right? So you can learn from a proper teacher.”
Kazuki nodded again, taking another deep breath to try to settle his nerves. It might have worked better if it hadn't been followed by the sound of approaching voices.
“Come on,” Yuu said, still with that same charming smile, “rinse off if you're ready and we'll get into the heated pool ahead of them.”
Anxious as he was, he tried not to show it as he followed Yuu further into the public bath. The artificial hot spring looked surprisingly natural, even with the enclosing walls. Irregularly shaped stones, some larger than his whole body, lush greenery, and the smell of the ocean all hit him at once. This was not at all what he had been expecting.
Kazuki couldn't help a low sigh as he settled on one of the underwater benches, closing his eyes. The water was almost too hot, making it pretty much perfect for easing muscles cramped from too many days in that cursed carriage. He didn't even notice Yuu getting into the pool until firm hands started massaging his shoulders.
“Too much tension,” Yuu murmured, half scolding, and he could hardly argue against that. “But it's going to be better now, yeah?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Kazu....”
“I know,” he sighed. “I'm being sulky and negative.”
“You still haven't told me how I can make things easier for you,” Yuu said softly and Kazuki started to repeat that he didn't know when Natsu stepped into the room, a towel wrapped around his waist, but that was all.
“Room for two more?” the guard asked as Hiro walked up behind him, his own towel tossed over his shoulder. Kazuki felt his cheeks turning deep red as he looked away, though not before he could see Hiro smirking.
“It's a public bath,” Yuu said, apparently used to this sort of thing. Another cultural difference then? Kazuki certainly wasn't used to this sort of casual nudity, though from the way the other three were acting, he might have to get used to it.
“He's cute when he blushes.”
“Natsu....”
“Is it just the cheeks or does it go up into the ears, too?”
“Hiro!”
Kazuki was torn between wanting Yuu to tell them off and wishing he could disappear. How utterly mortifying.
“I'd say ignore him,” Yuu said softly, though not so softly the other two couldn't hear, “but he'd probably take that as a challenge.”
“What can I say?” Hiro said and Kazuki could all too easily picture him smirking. “I know I'm hot.”
“Do remember that's my consort you're trying to get all hot and bothered,” Yuu scolded. Kazuki felt himself renewing his wish to be able to just vanish.
“You say that like it's a bad thing. Not like I'm actually trying to seduce him away from you, boss. If he's a little flustered, you'll be the one to benefit later, yeah?”
Definitely wishing he could just disappear. And yet the way everyone was acting so casual about it, as if it was natural and expected for him and Yuu to be having sex....
“Keep this up and that blush is going all the way down to his toes,” Natsu said. Kazuki hid his face in his hands, for what little good it might do him, wishing he had the strength to just get up and walk out.
“... his tattoo's different,” Hiro murmured. Half panicked, Kazuki dropped his arms back under the surface of the water. But though Hiro was frowning, it was confusion rather than anger or accusation. That ... maybe that was a good sign?
“One of the monks we met this afternoon, Ayame, has a tattoo like that,” Natsu added. “He said it was rare, maybe one bond in fifty. Though he may have to change that number now.”
“We'll have to remember that for tomorrow,” Yuu said, nodding thoughtfully.
“What, um, does he do?” Kazuki asked, pleased that he managed all that without squeaking.
“When we met him, he was gardening,” Natsu said. “But he also said if we needed help in the library, he would be happy to help, so I'm guessing that's his usual thing.”
“The gardens, the kitchen, and housekeeping are shared rota, all monks and students are expected to work those chores in between their other duties,” Yuu explained with another little nod.
“... are we going to be expected to do the same?” Kazuki asked, worried again. Cooking he could do, after all he had planned to make a life for himself doing that, but he wasn't so sure about the rest of it. He had been raised a prince, even if he had long since planned to leave that life behind.
“I was when I was here before, but that was different,” Yuu said, shrugging. “Did anyone say anything to the two of you about it?”
“When I registered us at the office,” Hiro said, indicating himself and Natsu, “they quoted a daily rate for room and board. Of course once I explained the nature of the situation, he translated that into work hours per week. Apparently they have some heavy labor projects they've been saving up that should be enough to keep us square for as long as needed.”
“Probably more than square, to be honest, but I'm fine with it,” Natsu added with a light grin. Kazuki still wasn't sure what that meant for him.
:You won't be forced to do anything you truly cannot,: Ryuji soothed, though his dragon opted not to join them physically. :The monks teach that manual labor is good for meditation and humility. That no one is superior to another simply by birth, that all humans have the same needs, come from the same roots.:
It wasn't that Kazuki necessarily disagreed, but....
“You're supposed to be relaxing,” Yuu scolded softly, nudging him gently. “Stop worrying about what hasn't happened yet, yeah? Let tomorrow take care of itself. Relax.”
“You know what's really good for relaxing?”
“Hiro....”
“I'm just saying!” Hiro said, laughing. “You're practically at the opposite end of the building from us, keep quiet enough and we'd never have to know.”
“You did say consort,” Natsu added. “I'm pretty sure it's expected.”
Kazuki could feel himself blushing yet again at the realization that the two guardsmen were suggesting he and Yuu have sex. Not just that, Natsu was implying that everyone around them was already expecting him and Yuu to be having a sexual relationship already. It was embarrassing!
“Only if it's what you want,” Yuu murmured, lips brushing against Kazuki's ear. It was enough to make him flinch and blush even more.
“Oi, no starting in the hot spring!” Natsu scolded. Kazuki wondered if it was possible to die from shame even as he watched Yuu throw some sort of gesture at his guard, probably rude. And then arms were sliding around him, pulling him into Yuu's lap, and Kazuki felt so overwhelmed he didn't know what he felt anymore. Other than bare skin sliding against his own in a way he hadn't felt in weeks. Kazuki squirmed in spite of himself, until the arms tightened around him.
“Might want to stop that,” Yuu mumbled. It took Kazuki entirely too long to figure out what the prince meant, and only his tight hold kept him from bolting in shame.
“If I didn't know better,” Hiro said, “I'd think Shizu had some sort of taboo against two men having sex. Or is that another thing that only the lower classes do?”
“Nah, can't be that, he had a boyfriend,” Natsu said casually. “Maybe he's just shy?”
“Maybe the two of you have teased him enough for one day,” Yuu suggested.
“Oh come on, Boss, I haven't even properly propositioned him yet!” Hiro said, smirking. Kazuki could feel his ears burning with the way the guardsman was making no secret of checking him out and he pulled in on himself to try to escape.
“Hiro. Enough,” Yuu said, all amusement gone from his tone. Hiro put both hands up, then leaned his head back against the rim of the pool and closed his eyes. Kazuki was surprised when Natsu actually got out of the pool a beat later – and hated himself a bit for the way he couldn't seem to take his eyes off the man's ass – quickly tying on a towel before bringing another one over to the pool.
“For when you're ready,” the guard said softly before bowing and leaving. Kazuki snuck another glance at Hiro, but his eyes were still closed. And still he hurried to get into the towel, barely resisting the urge to bolt for the room he and Yuu had been assigned. Not exactly the relaxing bath he had been wanting. Maybe it would be better to just give up, call it a night? There wasn't a whole lot of room and he was confused by his own surprise when Yuu still put what space he could between their futon. After the way he had acted in the bath ... and yet this was better, right? This was what Kazuki wanted ... wasn't it?
Kazuki nearly startled out of his own skin at the brush of fingers to his cheek, blushing at the shy smile on Yuu's lips.
“No matter what anyone else says ... don't feel like you have to push yourself, okay? I get it, you're still mourning the life you lost, you don't even really know me. But when you're ready – when you're ready, Kazu – I'll be here, okay?”
Kazuki pressed his lips together and nodded, then hurried into his own futon. Yuu didn't say anything else before turning out the light and Kazuki prayed the other wouldn't notice him crying himself to sleep.
Yuu slipped away before dawn, unsurprised when Natsu stepped out of the shadows to walk with him down to the guest hall's kitchen.
“He didn't sleep with you last night, did he?” Natsu asked after setting a coffee pot to brewing.
“Natsu,” Yuu scolded, picking out a couple eggs for their breakfast.
“Did you at least tell him that Hiro's inept flirting isn't just about getting a reaction out of you?” the other man asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
“He's in a difficult enough place right now,” Yuu said with a sigh. “If I didn't think it would make him implode, I'd ask us to be moved in with the monks. Shizu is too different from Ise, I'm trying to do this as gently as I can, but he's really....”
“We're here now,” Natsu said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Be his consort, not his teacher. Let the dragons and the brothers and sisters deal with teaching him the things he needs to know.”
“I'm just worried that Ryuji's method of teaching is going to be dump everything on him at once and force him to sink or swim,” he confessed with another sigh.
“Might not be such a bad idea,” Natsu said with a thoughtful hum. And though Yuu had already told him that they shouldn't, couldn't be doing this, he still felt himself drawn into those arms, the soft touch of calloused fingers against his skin.
“How much longer are you going to keep denying yourself, Yuu?” Natsu asked, his hand sliding up Yuu's back.
“Natsu, I told you before, we can't,” Yuu said, each word strained. “He won't understand.”
“Then you need to explain it to him,” Natsu said harshly. “Before I do.”
Yuu fisted his hands at his sides, listening as Natsu stomped out of the kitchen. Closing his eyes, he started counting backwards from ten, but only made it to seven before arms slid around his waist, a familiar head resting on his shoulder.
“I'm sorry, love, I shouldn't threaten, it's not my place,” Natsu whispered. “But you do need to explain things to him. Soon. Or it might be Hiro doing it and you know how that will go.”
Yuu grimaced, but Natsu had a point. Hiro would explain things all right, but in the bluntest and therefore worst terms possible. And that was assuming Ryuji didn't just dump everything on his poor consort as soon as he woke up.
“Want me to make breakfast while you wake him up with a morning blowjob?”
“Natsu!” Yuu protested, swatting the arms around him even as he couldn't help laughing. “I already told him I wasn't going to push, that I would wait for him to be ready, to get there on his own terms.”
“Which brings me back to my original question: how long are you going to keep denying yourself?”
“He's expecting a monogamous relationship. Shouldn't I at least try to give that to him? After everything I've taken from him?”
“Your people are expecting something else. And when they see your Consort is male, they'll be expecting it even more.”
Another heavy sigh. Natsu wasn't wrong, but surely there was room for compromise. He just wasn't sure what that compromise would be.
“All right, all right,” Natsu said, squeezing him and brushing a kiss to his cheek, “we'll make breakfast together, but then you really should talk to him. Bring him breakfast in bed, he'll like that.”
“Don't have to be so pushy, you know,” Yuu grumbled, but there was no anger in him even in spite of the words. Unless things had changed significantly in the last ten years, days at the temple started early and Kazuki would be expected to be part of that. Better for him to be roused by Yuu and breakfast than whatever Mistress Omi or the dragons might have in mind.
Kazuki hadn't been all that eager to wake up, but the smell of freshly brewed coffee was almost enough to change his mind. It was certainly enough to get him upright.
“Dawn comes early here on the coast,” Yuu said as he offered him a steaming mug with an apologetic smile.
“Some reason you're waking me with the birds?” he asked, clutching the mug close and savoring the aroma. Cream, sugar, and a hint of cinnamon? The dragons must haven gotten in on this for Yuu to have made it just the way Kazuki liked it.
“The temple's day is set to the sun, I thought you'd appreciate breakfast with me over morning prayers and thin porridge with the brothers and sisters.”
Yuu wasn't wrong, but he couldn't help a soft snort. He wasn't sure how long he had actually slept, but his head was more than happy to tell him it hadn't been nearly enough. Especially with the crying that had preceded it.
:I told Takako you aren't feel well. They will come after lunch instead.:
“... one of you could have told me that, I would have let Kazu sleep longer,” Yuu grumbled softly. Kazuki had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the way Ryuji just snorted, though from the look on the other man's face, Suzuya was having some private words with the prince.
:There's so much you need to learn, it's a shame you humans are not like dragons, born with great knowledge.:
“I suppose that's why we have libraries and schools,” Kazuki said softly, sipping his coffee slowly, the better to savor each drop. He would not have expected a monastery like this to even have coffee, he couldn't help thinking this had to be some form of special treat, a last indulgence before he started his studies in earnest.
They ate in relative silence, but it felt comfortable rather than awkward. Kazuki couldn't really think of anything to say, not that he felt a pressing need to fill the space between them with words, either. A couple of times he thought Yuu was about to say something, but then the man would change his mind. It was a little strange, but Kazuki wasn't sure if he should say something about it or not. Probably not.
“So if Mistress Omi isn't coming until after lunch ... what do we do with the morning?” Kazuki asked as they finished breakfast. He watched as Yuu dithered for a bit, toying with a napkin.
“Sorry, I feel like there are things you and I should probably discuss, I'm just not sure where to start,” Yuu confessed after a moment. “Like you said yesterday, Ise and Shizu are two very different kingdoms.”
:There is an easier way....:
“Ryuji, I don't think –.”
Whatever Yuu had been about to say, Kazuki never heard it.
Yuu swore softly as he watched Kazuki crumple into a dead faint.
“Dammit, Ryuji, I was trying to tell you no,” he grumbled, going to his consort to make Kazuki properly comfortable, make sure he hadn't injured himself.
:You said yourself that there was too much.:
“That doesn't make this way better,” he countered. “You're assuming this is going to work and I'm not all that sure it will.”
To his surprise, it was Yutaka rather than Ryuji who materialized to nuzzle at Kazuki's head. Getting up, he was less surprised, then, to see Master Hidehiko quickly striding through the gardens.
“Master Hidehiko,” he said, bowing respectfully as the man stepped up into the apartment.
“Well, it wouldn't have been my first choice either,” the monk said, kneeling beside Kazuki to check his breathing. “And he's going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes, but once he feels up to it, I'll do a standard assessment to see how much he's able to access. Humans are not meant to learn this way, we might not have achieved much.”
“But he'll be okay?” Yuu asked, trying not to hover.
“Should be. The faint was to protect the consciousness from the rapid influx of information. This isn't the first time I've seen something like this.”
Yuu sighed heavily in relief, a laugh catching in his throat an instant later when both Suzuya and Ryuji flooded him with reproach for ever thinking either of them would let serious harm come to his promised. Perhaps they were right, but fear was not known for being rational. And still he worried, settling with Kazuki's head cradled in his lap. If Ryuji had indeed shared everything about Ise with the young prince ... would he even understand any of it? Or would he see only a list of alien traditions and feel betrayed once more?
He wasn't sure how long they sat like that before Kazuki stirred with a low groan. Yuu froze for a second, then helped Kazuki sit up.
“Steady,” he murmured. “Here, drink this, it'll help.
Another groan, but Kazuki didn't resist, though he did need help to actually drink the tea. More surprising was the way Yutaka sat himself in front of them, studying them both with bright green eyes.
“Prince Kazuki, how do you feel?” Hidehiko asked gently.
“Hurts,” the younger prince mumbled, rubbing his temple. “Too much noise in my head.”
Ryuji materialized with a little squeak, curling around Kazuki's neck and rubbing his cheek with his head. A sigh and Kazuki slumped against Yuu's chest, catching him off guard. But only for a moment and then he was cradling him close, stroking fingers through his hair.
“Yes, well, everyone was worried for you,” Hidehiko said with a small smile. “If you're feeling up to it, I need to ask you a few questions, okay?”
“Um, okay....”
“What year was Lord Ishihara first bonded?”
“Year 1624 in the old calendar, year 1 of the new.”
“How many are currently bonded?”
“Twenty-three.”
“What is the significance of a dragon's color?”
“There is none,” Kazuki said, sounding surprised, his eyes flicking between Ryuji and Yutaka. “How do I know any of this?”
“Your Ryuji acted a bit rashly. What is the purpose of the Consort's Blade?”
“I ... a bodyguard, but ... more?”
“I would have been surprised if you had gotten a full understanding of our culture, considering even my own Yuta gets confused by our strange human rituals even after all this time,” the monk said, grinning warmly. “So limited to imperfect dry recall. Still, not bad for a dragon not bonded to a human before.”
“Does this mean ... what does this mean?” Kazuki asked, looking surprisingly small and frail.
“Well, for starters, Ryuji and Yuta are agreed that you need to stay here yet. Just because you know how to do a thing doesn't mean you're any good at it. You have the Scribe mark, you'll be taking lessons from Ayame starting this afternoon. You'll stay with us until he's satisfied with your training. But before any of that, the two of you have things to discuss. Yuu, I'll see you this afternoon.”
Yuu nodded, all too aware of how Kazuki had moved away from him. Reading the tension in his consort was easy. Understanding what it meant was another matter entirely.
“I have a hundred things in my head right now and none of them make sense,” Kazuki said, his voice brittle. “What ... what have you done to me?”
“Not me, Kazu. Ryuji thought he could just give you the knowledge of our culture, but it doesn't really work that way, yeah?”
“The Ise nobility are a sack of polygamist pigs, I can't believe my father agreed to this. I....”
Kazuki staggered to his feet and turned to run. Without thinking, Yuu jumped up and grabbed his arm, getting a swing at the head for his efforts.
“Don't touch me!” the younger man screamed at him even as he was dropping his arm.
“Kazu, please....”
“No! I won't hear your lies!” he yelled before stumbling out of their apartment. Yuu hurried after him, only to be stopped by Natsu tugging him into another room.
“Natsu!”
“No, love, let him go,” his guardian said softly, lips brushing against Yuu's ear. “Hiro's trailing him, he's too angry and hurt to face you right now, it was written all over his face.”
“You know Lord Ryuji will keep him safe from any physical danger and Hiro has the advantage of not being you. Let him get this out of his system with Hiro.”
Yuu slumped in Natsu's arms, forced to admit defeat. He was so tired of seeing that look on betrayal on his Kazuki's face, but worse was knowing this wasn't going to be the last time.
Kazuki had no idea where he was going, surprised to find himself stumbling through knobby cedar and high grasses until something gave way and he fell to his knees. Sand. He wasn't sure how he had gotten from the temple to the beach, but he was definitely in high dunes, a cold wind whipping through the reedy grasses all around him. He tried to get up, but his ankle refused to support him and he went down with another pained yelp. This was bad. He had no real idea where he was or how far he was from the temple. The high grass offered him some protection from the wind, but it was also higher than his head even sitting up as tall as he could. He had no way of finding his way back, no way of making himself visible to others, and he was already halfway to freezing. He was screwed.
:You must be –.:
“Shut up! Leave me alone! I hate you!!”
The dragon that manifested was easily the size of a house and this time he was actually solid, forming a perfect scaly ring around Kazuki that was both warm and protected from the wind. The heavy scent of temple incense wafted over him as the dragon nosed his leg.
:Just twisted, you will be fine.:
“I hate you.”
:Yes, you said that before. Hiro is coming.:
“I don't care,” he muttered, hugging himself tightly. His life was in ruins and for what?
“Lord Ryuji, are you going to let me in or should I just climb over you?”
“Go away!” Kazuki shouted. Still, he wasn't surprised to see Hiro climbing over the top of Ryuji's coils, dropping down the other side like a cat. He scowled at the man, but Hiro was undeterred, crouching down at his feet. He picked out the injured one too easily, Ryuji had to be helping him. Certainly Kazuki refused to say a single word, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out in pain when Hiro pulled off his boot.
“Yup, sprained,” Hiro said, pulling a rolled cloth bandage from his pocket. “You're lucky I was about to ask Natsu for a morning sparring match.”
Kazuki clenched his teeth, refusing to rise to that bait. And yet Hiro didn't seem to mind, pulling off Kazuki's sock and then unrolling the narrow cloth.
“So ... want to talk about it?”
“No,” Kazuki snapped, scowling still, but Hiro kept his head bent to his task.
“Might help.”
“Stop. Talking,” Kazuki muttered, hissing in a breath in spite of his intentions.
“Talking helps,” Hiro replied. Kazuki hated to admit it, but the man had a skilled, delicate touch. Didn't make anything about this better.
“As if you could possibly understand.”
“You'd be surprised,” the other man said softly.
“How could someone like you possibly understand what I'm feeling?” he countered, anger and hurt leaking into his voice.
“You've been angry and hurt since the day we met. Angry at your father for selling you to a kingdom you don't even know anything about. Angry at Aoi for lying to you about himself. Angry at everyone for taking you away from the man you loved. Hurt that you didn't even get to say goodbye. How's that for starters?”
Kazuki kept his arms firmly crossed over his chest and refused to answer. Hiro finished wrapping his ankle and when he looked up there was ... he wasn't sure what he was seeing in the other man's eyes. Not pity at least, he wouldn't have been able to stand that, but ... something.
“Yuu said something, what was it?” Hiro asked, but Kazuki didn't want to talk about it, instead focusing on getting back to his feet. It hurt and he wasn't convinced that ankle would actually support him if he tried to walk on it, but he needed to get away.
:No.:
Ryuji's head swung around until Kazuki was face to snout with his dragon.
:Sit. Down.:
Kazuki scowled and crossed his arms over his chest again. Scales scraped against scales like the rattling of chain mail as Ryuji lifted himself up higher to scowl down at him.
:Sit. And talk to him.:
“I would rather die,” he snarled. He wanted nothing more to do with Ise or dragons or any of it. If they weren't going to let him go, then....
Hands like steel vise grips closed on his upper arms and hard lips pressed against his own in a kiss that was both angry and demanding. And completely unexpected.
“Don't you ever say something that fucking heartless, that thoughtless again,” Hiro said as he gave him a little shake. “Do you ever think of anyone besides yourself? Just what kind of prince are you?!”
“Who the hell do you think you are? Let go of me!” Kazuki snapped.
“Blade and Shield do more than just protect from physical threats, you spoiled little brat. In Ise, everything – everything – is done in threes. Natsu's stepped back because of you, and you treat his sacrifice like dirt. You aren't worthy of being Yuu's Shield, of being his anything, you spoiled little.... Thank the gods Lord Ryuji brought us here, you'd bring shame to the entire Shiroyama clan acting like this in the capital!”
“I didn't want any of this!” Kazuki spat back, trying to twist free. Pain flared through his leg as his ankle gave out and he buckled, only Hiro's grip keeping him upright. A snort and Hiro's hands shifted, the soldier easing him down to the cool sand.
“Spoiled brat,” Hiro muttered. “You're a damn prince, how about you start acting like it!”
“I was free! I wasn't going to be a prince anymore!” Kazuki shouted back at him, hating the tears he could feel leaking down his cheeks. He pulled his knees up to his chest, trying to hide behind them. It didn't work. Hiro grabbed his chin, forcing him to meet angry eyes.
“Is this how a prince of Shizu behaves? Sulking, hiding, blaming the universe as he wallows in his own selfish pain?” the soldier asked, a note of disdain in his voice. “I thought the Shizu were better than this. Maybe we should have gone to Kai instead.”
Kazuki couldn't help a low snort at that. There was no way his cousin Yuuki would ever, could ever be what these people wanted.
“I won't do it, I won't betray my faith just because the Ise nobility have no morals,” he muttered.
“Oh, do you have a womb you haven't told us about?” Hiro countered.
“W-what?”
“You're betrothed to the crown prince. How exactly are you going to give him the heirs he needs?”
Kazuki pressed his lips together, having no good answer to that.
“As I said, everything in Ise is done in threes. The more you try to fight our traditions, the more you'll exhaust yourself for nothing.”
Kazuki huffed, scowling at his knees. And then something Yuu had said seemingly forever ago sprang back to the front of his mind. Dropping his knees to the sand, he scowled at Hiro yet again.
“Just how much lying have all of you been doing? In the coach, right after the Yamada attack, he made it sound like he'd be fine with me having a woman lover as long as I kept her hidden, secret. And when I told him about my boyfriend – something he apparently already knew even though I'd only ever told Teru anything about it – he supposedly changed his mind, said he couldn't stand to let another man take 'his' place. So which is it?”
“It's not that simple,” Hiro said, finally settling on the sand across the limited space from him.
“Make it that simple,” Kazuki growled. Huffing, Hiro picked up a broken reed and started drawing lines in the sand between them.
“In Ise, a prince or princess is usually allowed some measure of input on whom he or she chooses for consort, but the rule of three still applies. If a prince chooses a princess or a princess chooses a knight, her husband takes the role of Blade and there's no problem. When a prince chooses a man or a princess chooses a woman, the union is held open for a year and a day for the right third to be found and the marriage registered as a triad. In triad, all children belong equally to all three parents, regardless of the coupling that produced the child.”
“That's....”
“In Ise, we believe true love is blind, separate from the body. More, that the love of two is strong, but stronger still when it is made into three,” Hiro said, illustrating his point with a triangle in the sand. “And only in dynastic unions does biology figure into the equation at all because of the need for heirs.”
“So even if Yuu and I are only attracted to men, the crown will demand we add a woman to our marriage?”
“Within a year and a day of your wedding ceremony, yes,” Hiro said, nodding.
“That's ... that's....”
“Heavy is the weight of the crown,” he said quietly. “Yuu will find someone you can both honor as wife. And you will each have your own Blade and Shield. Three, three, and three,” he added, drawing more triangles.
“What if I don't want ... any of this?”
“Are you a prince or aren't you? Consort's Blade and Consort's Shield are bodyguards of the highest order, first and foremost. There is no rule saying you have to be sleeping with either of them.”
“And that's what you and Natsu are? Yuu's Blade and Shield?”
“Yes, since shortly after he started military training. It's why we're allowed to call him Yuu instead of Prince Aoi. And yes, we've had sex, all three of us together, even. We are closer than brothers and we share everything.”
“Everything....”
“Well, everything but you, unless you choose otherwise,” Hiro said, still frowning at him. Kazuki shivered, pulling his knees up to his chest once more. This was madness, how could he be expected to live with all of this? He understood sacrifice, he did, but this was too much, he wasn't cut out for this, this was a mistake.
Warm silk slithered around his neck, yet when he looked up, Ryuji's grey bulk still lay coiled about them. Looking down, he was startled to see Suzuya peering up at him.
“I can't,” he said to those glittering eyes. “It's too much, I can't do it.”
:Yes you can,: the little dragon said, her voice almost like a sigh. :You can, love, I know you can. Maybe it was unfair to put everything on you at once, but you can do this. Precious heart of my beloved, you are stronger than you think.:
“How about we trade,” Hiro suggested softly. “Just for a few days.”
“Huh?” Well now he felt like an idiot. And yet Hiro didn't call any attention to it.
“You and Natsu. You stay with me this week, Natsu stays with Yuu.”
“But the monks....”
“Are monks. Even if they notice, no one's going to comment on it, it's not their place. It's not much, but maybe the space will help?”
Kazuki chewed at his lip, feeling the hard metal moving against his skin. He really only had two options: live through this madness or die. But could he really do it, could he really take his own life, knowing countless others would die as a direct result?
“... I need to write a letter to my brother first.”
Hiro nodded, scooping Kazuki up into his arms a little too easily. Curse the man for having arms that made him feel safe, protected. Was this what it was like for Yuu? Maybe he didn't really want to think about that.
Yuu looked up sharply, but of course it was Natsu, Suzuya had already told him to expect this. Didn't make him feel any better about it, though.
“He's that pissed at me?” he asked softly.
“I think he's just angry at the whole universe right now,” his Shield said, setting aside his bag for the moment to instead wind arms around Yuu's waist. “But he's writing a letter to his brother Teru, that's something, yeah?”
“I guess,” Yuu mumbled, sighing as he leaned into Natsu's arms for a moment. “... I should probably let you get to work....”
“There's no rush, it's not like the work is going anywhere.”
“You are still my Protected, are you not?”
Yuu sighed and let himself lean even more into Natsu's arms. He would ask that....
“Until Death parts us, yes. But I still don't think we should....”
“No, of course you don't,” the other man said with a low chuckle, brushing a kiss to his cheek. “One step at a time. Who knows, he might yet surprise you.”
“That wouldn't be hard at this point,” he muttered with a little disgruntled snort. Natsu didn't say anything, only hugging him closer and kissing his cheek again. It felt ... safe. Natural. But was it right?
“... tell me I made the right choice?”
“From what Mistress Suzuya says, you made the only choice,” Natsu soothed. “Give Hiro time to set him straight, let him come to you.”
“And if he doesn't?”
“He will. The dragons chose him for you, he'll come, just give him time.”
Well, he couldn't very well argue with that logic, could he? Hiro might be blunt, but things couldn't get any worse than what Ryuji had already done. Maybe Hiro's bluntness was what Kazuki needed. The dragons knew it was the only thing that had gotten through his own thick skull a time or two.
“... do you think Hiro will ask to be Kazu's Blade when this is all over?” he asked, hating that the thought had even occurred to him. He would do it, of course, give up Hiro completely if it was what Kazuki needed from him, but he would hate it.
“No, love, no I don't,” Natsu said, brushing another kiss to his lips. “Hiro's far too attached to you to ask you for that, you must know that by now.”
“Why do I sense a 'but' coming?”
“But if Kazuki can shed his bigotry and closed-minded notions about limited love, we still may have to share him. I've seen the way your Consort looks at him, he's been curious since that first night.”
“I can live with that if you can,” Yuu said with a soft hum.
“I am but your humble Shield, my liege, I will live with whatever you command.”
“Oh shut up,” Yuu play-growled, lightly shoving Natsu away from him. “Go the hell to work, you brat!”
“As you command, my liege,” Natsu said with an elaborate bow. If Yuu'd had anything to throw at him, he would have. Instead, he settle for meaningless threats, knowing he would never act on any of them. Natsu was far too precious to him even now.
It took Kazuki three tries before he felt he had the right words for his brother. He probably should have asked Yuu about the letter Ise's Crown Prince had already sent to the Shizu Crown, but he wasn't ready to even just look at the man right now, let alone talk to him.
And still he hesitated to actually seal his own letter. Maybe he wasn't happy with this situation, but since the point was to avoid an international incident, maybe he should ask Hiro to take it to Yuu first? Of course the problem there was Hiro wasn't actually around - after setting him up with paper and ink, the guard had gone to fetch Kazuki's things and then left for whatever work detail he had agreed to do to pay for his room and board. Kazuki had appreciated the solitude up to now, but....
:Ayame is here.:
Kazuki swore softly as he scrambled to his feet. Great, not only had he missed lunch, he had no idea when dinner would even be. And he wasn't ready at all for whatever it was the monk was going to be expecting of him.
“It's all right, my lord, I came early,” the monk said with a polite bow. “I thought perhaps we could share lunch. Do you cook at all?”
“Quite a bit, actually,” he said, feeling particularly defensive.
“No offense was intended, Highness,” the monk said with another small bow. “Shall we see then what the kitchen here has to offer?”
Kazuki shoved down his lingering dark mood and nodded. Getting angry with the monk who was charged with being his teacher was hardly a productive use of his energy.
“So,” Kazuki said as they sat down to a simple meal of rice and vegetables, “what is it that you'll be teaching me?”
“My Sono tells me your Ryuji gave you a memory imprint?”
“I guess that's what it is?” Kazuki replied, still uncertain of the jumble in his head.
“Then my primary purpose will be teaching you in what it means to be a Scribe,” Ayame said, rolling up his sleeve to reveal his own tattoo, a black dragon with silver-blond mane and whiskers and silver-capped blood-red horns, the tattoo encircling Ayame's right forearm just the way Ryuji appeared on Kazuki's arm. It was a little surreal, but then a lot of things at the temple felt at least a little surreal. At least Ayame actually looked like a proper monk, other than the tattoo, bookish and yet otherworldly. Quite a few of the brothers – and more than a few of the sisters – he had seen at dinner last night had looked to him more like soldiers than monks.
“And what does that mean?”
“You have the imprint. You tell me what you think it means,” Ayame replied with a small, secretive smile. Kazuki frowned to himself. When Hidehiko had asked him questions earlier, the answers had just come to him, but now.... He felt like he should know, but the only scribes coming to mind were those from home and he knew that wasn't quite right. Why couldn't he just remember the right answer now?
“Father's scribes are archivists, taking note of important events and managing inventories, transcribing laws and proclamations, and preserving documents and histories. But I don't see how being bonded to a dragon could help with that, so I'm guessing this means something else.”
Ayame's soft laugh caught Kazuki by surprise. He watched as the monk made an obscure gesture with his arm, the air thickening first into a mist and then into a solid black dragon. Red eyes glittered as the dragon seemingly danced down out of the air to take a seat on the table. He was bigger than Ryuji had been the first time he had seen him, perhaps twice the size of the palace cats, and yet the table seemed to hardly notice his weight. Something about the way the dragon sat made Kazuki think he was quite a bit older than either Ryuji or Suzuya, though he wasn't sure what or why. And yet he didn't understand. What did any of this have to do with his becoming a Scribe?
“My Sono,” Ayame said, resting a hand on the dragon's back, “remembers every word of everything we have ever read, every word of every document any and all of his humans have ever read. Until you, I was the only Scribe currently here at the temple. And yes, being Scribe means I have been in charge of our library and school, just as the Scribe before me was. It is a rare gift, a special calling. Rare has been the time that this mark has appeared more than twice in a generation.”
“No offense, but I don't think I can just stay here,” Kazuki said, frowning a little.
“Neither am I in any way ready to retire,” Ayame agreed with a light laugh. “Our dragons give us strength to better protect Ise. Most of the dragon bonds are soldier marks, we train our brothers and sisters in martial arts suited to them.”
“Warrior monks?”
“Some. All are taught the basics of combat, some are called to other disciplines. Healers, teachers, even craftsmen and artisans. Our being people of faith does not stop us from having other interests and callings.”
Kazuki fell silent, wondering if this was actually a cultural difference or if he had just never given much thought to the lives of the monks in the few monasteries in Shizu. There was a lot he didn't know, about his people and those in other countries. He might have been told once, but so far removed from the chance of having to rule, he hadn't really cared. Now suddenly he was being thrust into a position for which he felt entirely unprepared.
“Ryuji will help you study and learn, my prince. though not, we hope, with further imprints.”
“Are imprints really that bad?”
“There's always a risk of something going wrong,” Ayame said, sighing a little. “And because you didn't learn the information, you lose the ability to access some or even all of the imprint over time. Sometimes it comes back as easily as reading a book on the subject, but more often it just disappears. Which is happening to you, we will just have to wait and see. And teach the two of you to talk to each other properly.”
There was something in Ayame's smile that made him bristle, but the monk either didn't notice or was pretending not to for some reason. Neither option particularly sat well with him.
“You take a far too adversarial view of things, my student,” Ayame said as he poured them both some fresh tea. “Life is not a zero sum game. Prince Aoi will not love you less for having room in his heart for others, just as your feelings are not diminished by having other loves. Each time we love is different because each person we love is different. It's foolish to say a first love is less valid just because we have found a second or third love. Do you love your parents any less for having other loves in your life?”
“That's different,” Kazuki grumbled, not sure he was liking this. He had already gotten a version of this lecture once today, he really didn't want to sit through another. And yet something about Sono's red eyes kept him from doing anything more than squirming in his seat.
“The Crown has no doubt dispatched the rest of the Prince's personal guard, along with additional members to serve you as well, though there is little enough need for it here,” Ayame continued a beat later, as if it were a natural progression of their conversation. “Regardless of what might be said when they get here, the titles of Consort's Blade and Consort's Shield are at your discretion, it is up to you to name them.”
“And how am I to do that when I don't even know anything about what the titles mean?”
“Consort's Shield is an enhanced version of a captain of the guard. He – or she, if you like – will be in charge of your personal security, travel with you everywhere, and always be positioned as last line of defense. In most cases, Consort's Blade takes a more active, offensive role. If there were to be an attack against your residence, for example, your Shield would be at your side while your Blade took charge of the vanguard.”
“In most cases?”
“Blade, Shield, and Protected is a common form of triad among nobles,” Ayame said with a light shrug. “In some arrangements, it happens that one Protected's Blade is another Protected's Shield. The oaths are compatible, if rarely taken together.”
“Isn't there already an assumption that I will name Prince Aoi as my Blade?”
“Not really, no,” the monk said with another shake of his head. “At current, as my understanding stands, the expectation is that you, he, and your wife will have separate Blades and Shields, three sets of three. It is the usual way in your circumstances.”
“I wouldn't have thought something like this would happen often enough for there to even be a usual way.”
“Do the Shizu not embrace the full diversity of love?” Ayame asked. Kazuki closed his teeth on a knee-jerk response, recognizing it for what it was. When it came to the Shizu royal family, sexuality and marriage were two separate things. Kazuki had never doubted his own preferences, but when he had been called to serve his people, he had been prepared (resentful, to be sure, but prepared) to marry a woman just as his brothers all had before him. Then again, despite the rumors, he had never thought of his brothers as being anything but attracted to women.
“Love is a luxury the duties of state do not always allow into our lives,” he said instead.
“So it is,” Ayame agreed, to Kazuki's surprise. “Still, in my experience, the dragons are better matchmakers than most humans. If you will allow it, love may yet surprise you, my lord.”
Their lunch complete, Ayame stood and bowed. It took Kazuki several seconds to realize what was happening, scrambling to his feet.
“Wait, you're leaving?” he asked, glancing around quickly to confirm that Sono had already vanished.
“For now,” the monk said with a small smile. “I do have other duties to attend, Highness.”
“I'll send an acolyte down in a bit with the books you will need to read to begin your training. And the rest we can discuss tomorrow.”
Kazuki couldn't very well argue with the monk who was now his teacher. Stifling a sigh, he watched the man walk away for a long moment before turning back towards the room he was now to share with Hiro. And the letter he both did and didn't want to send. How much simpler his life had seemed just a week ago! Now ... now everything felt uncertain.
Kazuki actually squeaked at the feel of hands on his shoulders, turning and swatting at the laughing Hiro while trying to ignore the wobble of his unsteady ankle.
“Asshole!”
“As if Lord Ryuji would allow anyone who meant you harm this close,” the other man said, remarkably unrepentant. “I'm impressed you made it this far out on that ankle, but we should get back. Dinner should be ready soon, probably before you can hobble back.”
Kazuki sighed in spite of himself, glancing out over the ocean again spread out below him. It was surprisingly peaceful here, even with the low roar of the ocean breaking against the base of the cliffs. He could see why a temple had been founded here.
“How far are we from civilization anyway?”
“There's another inlet on the other side of that prominence, a deeper one,” Hiro said, turning Kazuki towards the cove. “The city of Mie is there, half a day from the temple by fast horse. It's one of our two major ports.”
“R-really? That close? But....”
“There's virtually no iron in these hills anymore, all the heavy industry moved elsewhere,” Hiro said with a shrug. “Mie thrives off fishing and trade goods, especially sea trades. You'll likely come here to travel by ship to Shizu. The capitol is about three days inland by royal carriage.”
Kazuki shivered again and hugged his jacket tighter to himself, suddenly chilled. He'd had no idea they were so close to a large city, it almost didn't seem possible.
“And mail?”
“Not sure for standard mail, but your dragon can deliver a letter anywhere you can show him in the blink of an eye. Did you finish writing to your brother then?”
Startled, Kazuki gaped at Hiro a moment before trying to poke at Ryuji, wondering why the dragon hadn't told him that himself.
:You didn't ask:
A huff, but he didn't really want to chew out the little dragon just then and risk Hiro getting the wrong idea.
“Come on back to the temple,” the guard said with a gentle smile. “You're cold and dinner will be ready soon.”
“I'm not sure....”
“If you need to eat in our room, you can, but you still need to eat. Come on.”
Maybe it shouldn't have, but it surprised him how easily Hiro was able to read him. But there was also something almost comforting in it. He wasn't ready to break bread with Yuu yet, but staying out here wasn't much of an option either. Especially not when the guard scooped him up off his feet, carrying him like a new bride.
“H-hey!”
“I'm the one that found you with your twisted ankle this morning, remember? I know how little you have left in it by now. Don't worry, I doubt anyone else will notice.”
Kazuki felt himself blushing again. Hiro was probably right, but he still hid his face against the other man's shoulder. At least he felt safe. It was something he didn't feel often enough anymore.
Yuu frowned when he saw Hiro enter the dining hall alone. Well, perhaps it had been too much to expect Kazuki to be ready to forgive him already. And still it stung, to be rejected like this.
“I told you, give him time,” Natsu scolded. “Half a day is not giving him time, love. Especially not when he and I already agreed to a week-long trade.”
“I ... you did?” he asked, aiming an inward glare at Suzuya for not telling him that part.
“I made the suggestion,” Hiro said, settling at their table, “but I insisted he had to ask Natsu himself.”
“He wanted to make it indefinite,” Natsu added, sighing. “I told him, as your Shield, I couldn't accept that, but that we could see how he felt in a week. Whether or not he understood, he agreed.”
“Oh I'm fairly positive he still doesn't understand at all,” Hiro said with a shake of his head. “But that's why we're here, right? So he can learn?”
“Aa,” Yuu agreed. “I just wish I knew how much time we have.”
:Time enough,: Suzuya chirped, slithering down his arm to shove her whole head into his rice bowl.
“Oi! I was still eating that!”
The way her whole back half was wiggling not unlike a happy puppy, he couldn't really stay mad at her. Time enough. It wasn't a proper answer, but it was the only one she would give him, repeating it each time he silently asked her for more. It wasn't much for guidance, but they would make it work, he supposed. They had to, the Joseon would make their move eventually.
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Miku70, Jenny67, puss_nd_boots, HamHamHeaven, and lotos79 as well as 2 guests left kudos on this work! (collapse)
HamHamHeaven Wed 03 Oct 2018 08:46PM EDT
It really is too much for everyone to be expecting Kazuki to just... accept a culture so very different from his own. I mean, if it were just a matter of explaining to him how things are as an outsider, that might be one thing. But he's going to have to live that way. And unfortunately, you don't just talk someone into being poly when they've spent 26 years of their life expecting to be monogamous. Ryuji nearly short-circuiting his human's brain was problematic, but I think he has the right idea. This slowly revealing more of the truth thing may seem like it's giving Kazuki time to adjust, but from Zuzu's perspective, it's more withholding information and keeping secrets. Best to just say everything there is to say from the get-go and then give him the time needed to accept/ask questions.
I'm really curious to see how this is all going to play out. If there will be three distinct triads or if Zuzu will yield to his attraction to Hiro. Also, what gal gets roped into this mess.
Selah Wed 03 Oct 2018 10:37PM EDT
Yeah, Ryuji's method wasn't the best, but his heart was in the right place and now at least Zukky has more or less everything laid out on the table. And spending time with Hiro to answer questions will also help, since Hiro will just flat tell him instead of trying to cushion things.
Not telling on the triads beyond what's already been hinted, but I will say I haven't decided what woman will be stuck in this, so... -shrugs-
lotos79 Wed 03 Oct 2018 08:50PM EDT
I really love love love this series! The dragons, the traditions and relationships. I didn't expect these turn of events, therefore I'm looking forward to the next part all the more. ^^
Please don't keep me waiting too long. I wanna know how this story will evolve! <3
... no pressure, though. Even if I'm excited, I do can wait patiently. :)
Patience is good cuz, um, lots of irons in the fire, so this probably isn't going to get another installment until ... next year. e_e I need to redo my plotting and outline. Again. But there will be more eventually!
puss_nd_boots Tue 09 Oct 2018 03:54PM EDT
Poor Kazuki has a LOT to adjust to in his new life - as if getting used to being bonded with a dragon wasn’t enough! The worldbuilding in this series just keeps getting deeper and richer. All of the traditions MAKE SENSE - there’s a valid reason here for pretty boys swapping mates with other pretty boys! I look forward to seeing what happens to Kazuki from here!
Selah Tue 09 Oct 2018 06:37PM EDT
Poor baby has so been tossed in over his head, I feel almost bad for being so mean to him (I'm always mean to my favorites, though).
Miku70 Thu 22 Nov 2018 05:09PM EST
Poor Kazuki and it's lost. This normal, because Ise culture is so different.
I Like this chapter very much ;).
Selah Thu 22 Nov 2018 06:19PM EST
Yeah, he's in over his head, but it'll get better! Eventually!
Thank you for reading~
Tyler_Truheart Sat 17 Aug 2019 01:10PM EDT
Really enjoying this series. I know you have others in the works, but hope you come back to this one as well.
Selah Sat 17 Aug 2019 09:25PM EDT
It's on the list, albeit down a ways. Never enough hours in the day....
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<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/20456765"><strong>Cadet Ashayam</strong></a> (5618 words) by <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/IvanW"><strong>IvanW</strong></a><br />Chapters: 5/?<br />Fandom: <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Star%20Trek:%20Alternate%20Original%20Series%20(Movies)">Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)</a><br />Rating: Mature<br />Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply<br />Relationships: James T. Kirk/Spock<br />Characters: James T. Kirk, Spock, Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Winona Kirk, Finnegan, Nyota Uhura, Amanda Grayson, Sarek<br />Additional Tags: Starfleet Academy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Romance, First Time, Flirting, Fluff, Love, Chocolate, Affectionate Vulcans, Professor-Cadet, Spock the Chocoholic<br />Series: Part 29 of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/285996">The Professor-Cadet</a><br />Summary: <p>The emerging relationship between James Kirk and Spock while at the Starfleet Academy</p>
Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
James T. Kirk/Spock
Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Winona Kirk
Amanda Grayson
Starfleet Academy
Affectionate Vulcans
Professor-Cadet
Spock the Chocoholic
← Previous Work Part 29 of the The Professor-Cadet series
Cadet Ashayam
The emerging relationship between James Kirk and Spock while at the Starfleet Academy
(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)
Chapter 1: Birthday Chocolates
Jim Kirk was late to meet a young woman he’d been set up with. It wasn’t something he had been looking forward to, honestly, but the woman was the daughter of a friend of his mother’s and Jim’s mom had been pestering him in messages to get it over with.
“If you don’t like her, you won’t have to see her again. Oh, but she’s so sweet. And beautiful. You’ll just love her.”
Yeah, sure. Jim sighed.
So he was dashing down the corridor in the science building, using it as a shortcut actually, to get across campus faster and to the coffee place where Denise was supposed to be waiting.
Commander Marius was coming out of an office to the side. She stopped when she spotted Jim.
“Cadet Kirk.”
“Commander.” He knew it would be rude not to stop.
“Have you seen Commander Spock?”
Jim wished. He had a big time crush on the Vulcan. Unrequited, unfortunately.
“No, ma’am.”
She sighed. “If you happen to, tell him Pike wants to see him. I can’t find him anywhere.”
“Will do.” He watched her continue down the hall and out of the science building. It was the middle of the day, so Jim assumed no one thought Spock would have simply gone home, but it was Jim’s experience, you just never knew. With a shrug, he continued on.
“Mister Kirk.”
Jim stopped, turned around, and looked. He saw no one. He made to keep walking.
“Jimmy!”
What the hell? No one called him that, except his mother, and Bones when he was trying to be funny. Oh, and that asshole, Finnegan. Suddenly an arm shot out, grabbed him and pulled him through an open door.
“Hey! What—”
Holding on to him was Commander Spock, dressed, rather sloppily, in his black instructor uniform.
“Is she gone?”
Jim stared at him, dumbfounded, trying to wrap his brain around the fact Spock had just called him ‘Jimmy’. “Who?”
“Marius.”
“Oh. Yeah. She went back that way. Did you want me to—?”
“No. I cannot see her right now. Or Captain Pike.”
Jim angled his head. “Are you all right?”
“Negative. I received a gift today and…has anyone ever advised you that your eyes are the most amazing color? Like the ocean. I could stare into them for hours.”
“Uh. Well. As-as flattering as that is, um, what?”
Spock clutched him, drawing him over to Spock’s desk. “A gift. I received this.” He pointed.
“An empty box?”
“Yes. No.” Spock drew Jim closer and put his arm around Jim. Jim’s heart was actually thundering hard in his chest. “There are so many different shades of blue in your irises.”
Jim licked his lips. “Um. The box?”
“It was chocolate,” Spock blurted out loudly. Then dropped his voice to a whisper. “A box of chocolates. Sent by my mother. I was not to indulge in them at school, however, I-I found myself tempted.”
“Your mom sent you chocolates?”
“For my birthday. Yes. They are tradition between us because I am almost as fond of them as I am of you, but I wasn’t to eat them here. But I had one and before I knew it, I had…eaten them all.”
Jim blew out a breath. Spock blew back at him. It wasn’t funny. Okay it was. And Jim couldn’t help it. He laughed. “You’re drunk, huh?”
“It is not exactly drinking. It is…under the influence. But not drunk. Not the way you get drunk, certainly, ashayam.”
Jim laughed again. “I swear you are cuter than anyone I’ve ever met in my life.”
“The feeling is quite mutual, I assure you.” Spock blew on Jim’s face again. “I need you to see that I make it safely to my apartment without incident or dire circumstances, Cadet Ashayam.”
Shoot. He was supposed to be meeting Dianne or Denise, honestly, he’d forgotten which it was. But taking care of Spock before he became irreparably embarrassed was surely more important. He supposed he could contact one of Spock’s friends, but, well, Jim was already here, wasn’t he?”
“Okay, yeah. I think it’s definitely best to get you home. You can deal with Pike tomorrow.”
Spock was now staring at him, looking straight into Jim’s eyes. “I very much desire to kiss you.”
“Well. Again. I’m flattered. Really. But right now you aren’t thinking like yourself.”
“You do not want to kiss me?”
“Beyond belief,” Jim admitted. “But you’re under the influence and saying stuff you don’t mean, and I’m going to make sure you get home. Okay?”
“Very well, Cadet Ashayam.”
Jim walked with him to the door of the office. He wondered where Spock was hiding when Marius came to look for him, but decided not to ask, he’d let Spock have his secrets. He peered out.
“Looks like the coast is clear,” he announced.
“Then the clouds that came in earlier have dissipated?” Spock asked.
Jim choked. “Yeah. Yeah, honey. Come on.”
“Wait.” Spock clutched his collar.
“You called me honey. Did that not warrant we engage in kissing?”
“No. Come on. And stop distracting me with your cuteness.” Jim got Spock into the corridor and then moved with him quickly down the hallway to the exit door. He pushed the door open and hurried them outside.
Spock tilted his head up to look up at the sky. “You are wrong, Jimmy. The clouds are still here.”
He chuckled. “So, they are. Let’s go, Commander.”
He knew where Spock lived. Not because he’d been stalking him or anything. But well…there’d been a time or two when he’d considered just knocking on Spock’s apartment door and saying, “Hey, do you wanna?” More eloquently, of course.
So he managed to get the Vulcan professor down the street and to his apartment building without much trouble. Spock almost fell into an open manhole once, but Jim pulled him back.
“You saved me,” Spock said, staring in awe at Jim.
“Well. Um. You know.” Jim knew he was blushing. Stupid fair skin. He hustled Spock away from that scene and to the building. Spock lived on the fourth floor, so Jim got them into the lift and up to that floor. “Door fob?”
Spock held out his hand but when Jim went to take it, Spock closed his hand over Jim’s. He wrapped his index and middle fingers around Jim’s. “We are now kissing.”
Jim’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“A Vulcan kiss,” Spock said somewhat breathlessly.
Jim laughed and rolled his eyes. “Come on. Behave. You are so going to hate yourself in the morning.” He snatched the fob and opened the door, pulling Spock through and into the apartment. The lights came on with the movement.
He brought Spock over to the sofa.
“Sit down. I’ll make you some tea and then you’re going to sleep it off. How long does this usually last anyway?”
“Only a few hours.”
“Good. I just need to send a message to someone and then I’ll make your tea. You stay there.”
He took out his PADD and went into Spock’s kitchen to get the water ready for tea. While he waited he sent a message off to Denise, that was it, to tell her he was sorry he couldn’t make it, and he’d be unable to reschedule.
Because well…he hoped there was a reason he couldn’t.
He finished the tea and brought it out to the living room, but Spock was already asleep on the couch. Jim shrugged. He could just leave, he guessed, since Spock was out. But well, he didn’t want to, and maybe someone should keep an eye on Spock anyway.
So he sat in a chair nearby and decided to study. He drank the tea. It was kind of weird, but not bad. And when Spock woke up later, Jim hoped he’d be glad to see him.
Chapter 2: Waking Alone
Jim woke staring at the ceiling. He frowned. Wait. This was not the ceiling of his bedroom, yet he was clearly lying in a bed.
He had not gone out last night. He should not and would not be in someone’s…
Jim sat up quickly, looking around. He was alone, but he didn’t recognize his surroundings at all. He looked at the fancy chronometer watch his mother had presented him with his last birthday.
It was twenty hundred hours. That was super early to be…
Shoot. He was in Spock’s bed, wasn’t he? But there was no way he’d done anything with Spock.
Jim scrambled up. “Spock? Professor?”
No answer. But the lights in the room came on when he rose from the bed.
He turned to the closet in the room. Opened it and peered in at several neatly pressed black instructor uniforms as well as Vulcan robes.
Eyes wide, Jim left the bedroom, glad he was still fully dressed at least. The apartment appeared to be empty, but his PADD had been laid on the coffee table in front of the sofa Jim had left Spock sleeping on earlier.
There appeared to be a sheet of paper resting on it. Jim hurried over. It was a note. In very precise, neat handwritten writing.
I apologize for my quick departure, but I had an appointment I found necessary to keep. You fell asleep in the chair and since it appeared your required significant rest, I chose not to wake you. I will return soon. Help yourself to the contents of the refrigerator or the replicator, should you choose.
Signed simply “Spock.”
Jim smiled. Apparently, Spock’s drunkenness, if that’s what it was, had finished and he was now quite clearly back to himself. But instead of kicking Jim out as Jim would have expected, he had carried Jim into his bedroom and deposited him into bed. And, as Jim recalled, he’d been covered by a blanket.
And even stranger was that Spock didn’t seem to want Jim to leave.
Picking up his actual PADD, Jim saw that he had a message from his mother that simply said, “How’d it go?”
With a sigh, he hit the button to contact her. Might as well get it over with.
“Jim!” Her smiling face appeared. She wouldn’t be smiling for long, he guessed.
“Hi Mom.”
“Well. I was unable to meet Dinah.”
“Denise.”
“Yeah. Her. Sorry.”
Her smile changed to a frown. “You stood her up?”
“No, no. I sent her a message saying I couldn’t make it. Something came up that needed my attention.”
“Oh.” She sighed. “I guess you can reschedule. Where are you? That’s not your place.”
“Friend’s. And no, Mom, not going to reschedule. I told Denise. Not in the stars.”
Her frown grew larger, but she gave a little shrug. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
“I am. I might…” Jim stopped. He wasn’t superstitious or anything, and maybe he was crazy thinking all that talk about his eyes and wanting to kiss him meant more than Spock intended, but well Jim didn’t think so. And there was the fact Spock had left him to stay there while he was out. At the very least that meant some kind of trust between them. But should he even mention the possibility to his mom? What if he was wrong?
“Jimmy?”
And though it was his mom who spoke he found himself thinking of Spock calling him Jimmy and he shivered.
Jim cleared his throat. “I might be, um, involved with someone.”
“Since when? You weren’t when I set this up.”
“Very recently,” he replied. “Anyway, I don’t know. It’s too soon to tell and right now I should go. We’ll talk soon, okay?”
“Bye, Mom.” He disconnected, feeling quite relieved to do so. One mother hen done and the other, well, Bones could definitely wait.
He put his PADD down and went into the kitchen. Peering into the fridge, which was fairly void of anything good, Jim’s only impression was that Spock ate healthy and kept everything super neat.
Except when he got chocolates, that is. Jim smiled. He’d have to remember to get Spock some more. And it had been his birthday. Why hadn’t Jim registered that and wished Spock a happy birthday? He hadn’t really considered that Vulcans did birthdays, but he also knew Spock had a human mother.
He closed the fridge and walked over to where Spock’s replicator was placed near the edge of the kitchen. He pressed a button for a menu and perused Spock’s typical choices.
Jim was about to close it down when he heard someone near the apartment door. He took a step toward it as the door opened to reveal Spock, once more meticulously dressed in his instructor uniform.
Spock stepped inside. “Cadet.”
Jim deflated a little at the calm, cool impersonal voice.
But then Spock walked forward. “Jim.”
He smiled. “You have a comfortable bed.”
Spock arched a brow at that. His lips curved upward, however. Jim took that as a good sign.
“Thank you for it, by the way. Um. Happy Birthday.”
“Your salutations are appreciated. It was yesterday.”
Jim nodded. “Belated then. I know it’s getting kind of late, but there’s a restaurant not far from here that serves good vegetarian choices. Would you like to go with me?”
“Perhaps another night. I had a small meal while out.”
“Okay. Well.” Jim searched for a way for the night not to end. “You feel better?”
“Much. And I am grateful for your indulgence and assistance.”
“Half a block down from here is a small bakery that’s open until twenty-three hundred. They have coffee and tea and…”
“Chocolate pastries.”
Spock blinked, closed his mouth. Then opened it so ask, whispery, hopefully, “Chocolate pastries?”
“A treat for your birthday. On me, of course.”
“I could hardly refuse such a generous offer,” Spock said softly.
Jim’s smile widened. “Shall we, then?”
He stepped close to Spock. Probably far closer than most Vulcans would tolerate, but Spock made no move to put distance between them. In fact, he lifted his hand toward Jim’s and though he nearly withdrew it again just as quickly, Jim pressed the palm of his hand to Spock’s before Spock had a chance.
He heard the sharp intake of Spock’s breath.
Spock gave a short nod. “Yes. We shall.”
He dropped his hand then and led the way out of the apartment.
Chapter 3: Pastries for My Tiger
“This is exquisite, Ashayam.” Spock popped the second bite of a dark chocolate stuffed croissant into his mouth.
Jim’s lips twitched. Prior to that he had been given a chocolate cookie to taste at the bakery’s counter. It hadn’t taken Spock very long to become affected.
“Go easy there, Tiger.”
Spock blinked at him. “Tiger?”
“Yeah, it’s a…a…”
“Endearment,” Spock finished for him. “Yes. An unusual one, but still. I appreciate the sentiment of it.” Suddenly he lowered his lashes and looked up at Jim through them rather coyly. “I have long suspected you harbored an affection for me.”
Jim choked on a sip of coffee. “Uh. Yeah?” Lord, he sounded like an idiot. “I thought I hid it kind of well.”
Spock gave him an indulgent look as he popped more croissant into his mouth. “You hide nothing well, Jimmy. I remember a time when you were wearing a particular pair of pants and the front—”
“That’s enough of that,” Jim said quickly, snatching the pastry away from Spock, who now pouted. “Okay. You can have it back. But can we not talk about that time. I was humiliated for weeks.”
Spock took the chocolate croissant back. “I do not know why. It was quite obvious you have superior equipment.”
Jim laughed. “Seriously. You are like the cutest drunk I’ve ever met. But don’t worry, I have no intention of taking advantage of you.”
“You can.”
He shook his head. “Nah. I’ll wait until you actually realize it’s me you’re with. But you aren’t wrong. I have long thought about you.”
“I have long thought about you as well, Cadet Ashayam.”
Jim felt quite warm then and it had nothing to do with the coffee he’d been drinking. He’d chosen a simple cheese pastry for himself, but Spock had wanted two of the chocolate stuffed croissants besides sampling the cookie.
“How long have you loved chocolate?”
“Longer than I have you, I assure you,” Spock spoke around a mouthful. Jim decided to ignore the telling remark and chocked it up to not being himself. “Since a small boy. All kinds of chocolate. White, milk, dark. If it is chocolate, I am enamored. Mother received a gift of it when I was a toddler and I helped myself to several pieces.” He turned a little green. “As her story goes. Ever since…well.” Spock licked his lips. “I try not to indulge often and never in front of others.” He paused. “Until now.”
“For your birthday.”
“Yes. The chocolates were meant to be sent to my apartment but there was a mistake and it was sent to my office at the academy.”
“Ah.” Jim nodded. “That makes sense. And you couldn’t resist.”
“Quite true, Cadet Ashayam.”
Jim hid his own blush behind his raised coffee cup. “Um. I looked that up.”
“Hmm?” Spock was chewing on more pastry.
“Aaaashyham.”
“Ashayam.”
“Yeah. It means…”
“Beloved. Yes.” Spock nodded. “You had but to ask and I would have told you. I have no secrets from you.”
“Ah. Actually you kind of have. I mean, er, when were you going to tell me that you, um, liked me.” Jim thought about it. Tore off a hunk of his own Danish. “Is it because of the professor-cadet thing? Because you know, you aren’t my professor or anything. And technically it’s, you know, not against the rules.” He’d looked that up too. While Spock was out from the chocolate earlier. Before he’d fallen asleep himself, obviously.
Spock picked up a fork and waved it. “No, Jimmy. It was not that.”
That was still super weird.
“You know, no one calls me that.”
“I heard Cadet Finnegan call you Jimmy boy.”
“Cadet Finnegan is an ass.”
Spock frowned. “I do not wish to be an ass.”
Jim laughed again. “No, you aren’t. You can’t be. Well, I mean, yeah, you can be, you have this absolutely amazing resting bitch face…”
“What is ‘resting bitch face’?”
“Er, well, kind of your regular look, but you do it well, I assure you. It makes you, actually, it makes me very hot.”
“It elevates your temperature?”
“You should consider air conditioning. Or perhaps less clothing.” And at this Spock leered at him, there was no other way to describe it.
Jim cleared his throat. “You know what, Spock—”
“Tiger.”
He covered his mouth and laughed. “Yeah. Tiger. I think you’ve had enough, and we need to take you home.”
“I have half a croissant left.”
“Take it with you.”
“That is a splendid idea. Perhaps we can purchase more and…”
“No. I think that’s enough of that for now. Wrap that up. And I’ll take you home.”
Spock nodded. “Very well.” But instead of doing that, he stuffed the rest of the croissant in his mouth and chewed.
“Or you know, that.” Jim shook his head and rose from the chair, reaching down to grasp Spock’s arm to pull him up. “Come on, Tiger.”
“I find this endearment acceptable, Jim.”
His lips twitched, he linked his arm with Spock’s and led him from the bakery. “Yeah?”
“Yes, because I find I wish to get my claws into you.”
Jim burst out laughing. “You’re really funny, you know that? But I don’t want you to be embarrassed, so let’s hurry.”
Jim was glad there were no other incidents or people they ran into on the way back to Spock’s apartment. Once inside he brought Spock straight to the bedroom.
“Okay, I think it’s time you went to bed and slept it off. You need help getting ready for bed or anything?”
“No.” Spock paused. “Yes.”
“Okay. What do you need?”
“My…sleeping robe.”
Jim turned toward the closet.
“No! My pajamas. I am attempting to adapt to Earth attire.”
“Okay. Uh, where?”
Spock pointed to a dresser.
Jim opened the top drawer, which seemed to be nothing but…
Spock slammed the drawer closed.
Jim’s gaze moved away from the drawer with Spock’s underwear.
“Never mind, Cadet Ashayam. I can undress myself and put on my pajamas.”
Jim rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay. Yeah. Sure. If you don’t need anything else, I should, um, probably be…”
“Stay.”
Jim sucked in a breath. “What?”
“Will you…stay? Platonically, of course.”
Jim met Spock’s gaze, but Spock’s dark eyes flitted away, and Jim’s stomach turned over. Spock felt ashamed. He hated that.
“Of course I will.”
Spock looked at him again. “Yes?”
He smiled. “Of course. You got anything for me to wear?”
Spock nodded. “Yes. Yes, I do. Thank you, Cadet Ashayam.”
“You are welcome, Tiger.”
Chapter 4: Where Do We Go From Here?
Jim woke to Spock sucking on his collarbone.
For a moment his brain was fuzzy with sleep and he couldn’t figure out why anyone was sucking on his collarbone while he slept in the bed in his dorm. He had a strict rule with Bones that neither of them ever brought a lover there.
But as he turned his head, he noticed sun streaming through the blinds of a window his dorm didn’t have, and it all came back to him. He’d been sleeping in Spock’s bed and it was Spock who was sucking on him. And if that thought didn’t go straight to his groin and make his cock rise without his permission, well…
“Spock,” he squeaked.
“Good morning, Cadet Ashayam.”
Spock left his collarbone to instead suck on Jim’s lips and that’s when he tasted it.
“Wait!” Jim drew back in shock. “Chocolate. You’ve had chocolate.”
He heard the accusation in his voice and approved of it.
Spock smiled very slightly. “Indeed.”
“How’d you get chocolate?”
“As it happened, last night, while you were engaged in texting your friend Leonard McCoy in the pastry shop, I snuck over to counter and purchased several more chocolate pastries.” The smile widened. “I have already been indulging in them for breakfast while you slept.”
“You little devil.”
Spock shrugged. “It would not be the first time the comparison had been made.”
Before Jim could respond to that, Spock was more sucking marks on Jim’s collarbone. All he could think was that it was a good thing his cadet’s uniform covered them up.
“Uh. Don’t we both have c-class?”
“It is Saturday.”
“O-okay, but you’re under the influence and I can’t take advantage of that.”
“I am taking advantage of you.”
Jim laughed. “Um. No. I mean, yes, I mean…”
“You are not interested in copulation?”
“I’m very interested. And especially copulation with you. But not while you’re, um, incapacitated.”
Spock seized Jim’s hand and brought it to Spock’s erection. “As you can see, I am not.”
“Yeah, no. Stop that.” He pulled his hand away. “Don’t be grabbing people’s hands and sticking it on your dick without permission, okay?”
Spock blinked at him, the beginning of a frown appearing.
“Look, sweetheart.” He put his hand on Spock’s face. “Let’s get out of bed, and have some breakfast. Then after you’re a little more in control of your thoughts and actions, we’ll decided where we go from here.”
Very slowly, Spock nodded.
Jim smiled and scooted out of the bed. “I’ll just get dressed and then meet you out there in the dining room, okay?” Scooped up his clothes.
“Yes, Jim.”
He went into the bathroom and closed the door.
Looked in the mirror and winced at the hickies. Okay, yeah, he’d had marks before. On occasion. But they’d never been from a super-hot Vulcan. Professor. A super-hot Vulcan professor. He was lucky he’d checked that out. About the professor-cadet thing.
He fished his communication device out of his pants. Contacted Bones.
“There you are. Or should I say, where are you?”
“Er. Long story. Not one you need to know. Exactly. Anyway, I wanted to let you know I’m alive.”
“I hear that sarcasm by the way.”
“But you can’t see me flipping you off.”
Jim smiled. “I’m not surprised though. I think I’m not going to be back there all weekend.”
“Whoever they are they must be really good.” Bones paused. “You don’t have a change of clothes though with you. Do you?”
“Give me the address and I’ll drop some off for you.”
Jim snorted. “You think I’m that stupid?”
“Shut up. I’ll figure something out. I can maybe borrow some of his or something.”
“Ah. So a guy.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah. A guy.”
“I thought maybe it was the woman your mom wanted you to meet with. Denise.”
“No. I never met up with her.”
“Quelle surprise.”
“Ashayam?” Spock from just outside the bathroom door. Jim winced.
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up? I have to go. Um, see you Sunday night? Monday? I don’t know. Bye Bones.” He put down his communicator. “One second.”
He frowned when he couldn’t find his underwear, and realized he must have left them in the bedroom. Commando, he supposed then.
He quickly pulled on his pants, then opened the door.
Spock stared at his bare chest, then cheeks green, glanced up at Jim. “What do you want for breakfast?”
Jim knew “You” would be the total wrong response. It would. Honest.
“Whatever you have. I’m not fussy. I’m coming out.” He glanced around Spock’s room to see that Spock had made the bed and there was still no sign of his underwear. “You have a-shirt or something I could maybe wear? Like a T-shirt? This one’s just a little ripe.” He held out his cadet shirt.
Spock took it from him. “I will launder it along with…” He shook his head. “Yes. I have a-a sweater. You can wear.”
Spock went to his closet and took out a dark blue sweater, which he handed to Jim. “It matches your eyes.” Spock moved closer. “I could stare into them for hours.”
Jim licked his lips. “Yeah. You, um, you mentioned that yesterday.” He took the sweater and pulled it on over his head. “Thanks.”
“I have made your coffee.”
He followed Spock out of the bedroom and to the kitchen. He saw on the counter three chocolate croissants. One was half-eaten.
“Oh.” Jim nodded. “You only had half.”
“And…one.”
“One and a half. Okay. Um. Maybe wrap up the rest for later?” Jim went over to Spock and took his hands in his. “You are just…”
“What?” Spock asked rather shyly.
“Probably the cutest guy I’ve ever known.”
“Only probably?’
Jim laughed. “Definitely. You aren’t at all what I thought.”
Spock scrunched up his face. “What did you think?”
“That you were super-hot but really kind of scary.”
“I would not physically harm you.”
“No. I mean…intimidating. You’re just…way more brilliant and cooler than anyone I’ve ever come across, but you have this really adorable side too. But Spock, do me a favor. Only eat chocolate when you’re home and planning to stay there or when I’m around, okay?”
“I can normally control myself,” Spock replied.
“I can tell. Yeah. But I don’t want anyone to take advantage of you out there or for you to become embarrassed or uncomfortable in front of others. Like Pike or Marius. Right?”
Spock nodded. “Yes, you are right. Once I tasted the birthday chocolates, I found myself tempted by more.”
Jim blew out a breath. “Yeah. Yeah. I can understand that.”
“Has that happened with you?”
“Well, not with chocolate. But I’ve tasted something and been tempted to taste more.” Jim sighed and bit his lip. “But I-I’m trying to behave. For once.”
He looked down to see that Spock had moved his hand to rest on top of Jim’s and that he had maneuvered his fingers to wrap around Jim’s. His gaze rose to meet Spock’s. His heart beat rapidly in his chest.
“Breakfast,” he said, faintly. “Preferably something without chocolate.”
Chapter 5: Feeling Their Way
When Jim smiled at the waitress taking their order, Spock growled.
“Uh.” The menu slipped from Jim’s hands and onto the floor. He had turned bright red. “Sorry.”
The waitress picked up the menu and handed it to Jim, making sure their hands touched as they did so.
Spock’s nostrils flared.
“Can you come back in a bit?” Jim asked in a rush.
She looked vaguely puzzled since they had just said they were ready to order, but she shrugged and moved off.
Spock pointedly did not look at Jim. After surveying Spock’s admittedly limited provisions in his kitchen, Jim had suggested they go out for breakfast. He’d been reluctant to do so because he’d still felt slightly…aroused by the one and a half chocolate croissants he’d consumed prior to Jim awakening.
“Hey. What’s with you?”
Spock could not fault Jim for his logical question. And in truth Vulcans were not by nature jealous individuals. Which meant this must come from his human side.
“I dislike the way you flirt with her,” he replied before he could think better of it. He winced inwardly. It sounded like the snippy reprimand he had not intended it to be. He felt shame over his behavior. “I…”
But Jim was shaking his head at him. “I’m not interested in her. I’m interested in you. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
Which caused Spock further embarrassment and shame. “I apologize.”
“So you’ll refrain from snarling at the wait staff?”
Jim smiled. “I’m starving. And you probably aren’t after having one and a half chocolate croissants, but I still think you ought to eat something. It’ll help get the chocolate out of your system.”
Jim gestured for the waitress to return and once more beamed his glorious smile at her. “Chicken fried steak and eggs, over easy please, with the grits, and biscuits and gravy.”
Spock briefly wondered how Jim was going to eat all that, but he said, rather curtly, “A waffle, whole wheat, no butter and syrup.”
When she departed again, Jim was looking at him quizzically. “You all right? You seem…grumpy.”
“I am just not pleased with my own behavior for the last couple of days. I know better. I plan to advise Mother to refrain from gifting with such an illogical gift again.”
Jim shook his head. “No. That’s not the answer.”
“It is not? When someone is an alcoholic, is it not best to avoid such substances?”
“Sure,” Jim agreed. “But I don’t think you’re actually a chocoholic, Spock. And if it gives your mom pleasure to send you those once a year, why rob her of that? The chocolate is gone now and so you’re good.”
“Very well. That is wise.”
“I’m not just a pretty face.”
“A very pretty face, though.”
Jim laughed and Spock felt himself blush.
Spock looked down at his teacup. “I am aware that you likely hear such things on a frequent basis. I am one of likely hundreds who try to engage your attention.”
The sudden feel of Jim’s warm hand on his had his gaze flying upward to meet the startling blue of Jim’s and a very sweet smile.
“First of all, it’s not hundreds. I don’t know what someone has been telling you about me, but I assure you that’s not true. At all. And I don’t care about the flattery someone else uses.”
“I do not…”
“I know. I know it’s not empty flattery with you. Spock, you aren’t like anyone I’ve ever know.”
He turned his hand so that his palm was touching Jim’s. “I hope that is a good thing.”’
“It’s a very good thing.”
By the time they finished breakfast, Spock was feeling more like his normal self, though he hardly wished to see Jim depart. The thing was when Spock was still under the effects of the chocolate it seemed acceptable to ask him to stay with Spock. But now…
He had no real excuse.
And yet he had absolutely no desire to see Jim return to his dorm and his normal existence as Leonard McCoy’s roommate. Jim had mentioned deciding where they went from the happenings of the night before after breakfast.
But how exactly could he ask Jim to not leave?
They were approaching the street where his apartment was and if they made it that far without any planning on Spock’s part, Jim would probably excuse himself to leave.
Spock stopped next to a market.
“Spock?”
He glanced at the market. “If…if you are going to stay at my apartment for the weekend, I will need some provisions.”
For a long time Jim just stared at him and Spock began to think this was another miscalculation on his part. He really didn’t know humans well. His mother wasn’t like most. And the few friends he’d made here had been chosen because they were quite similar to himself. No one in his acquaintance was on the same plane as Jim.
“Well, that’s certainly true. You have no junk food at all. Or decent creamer for my coffee. Hell, you don’t even have ice cream.”
That smile made his heart beat so fast, Spock felt nearly light-headed.
“We shall have to rectify that.”
And when Jim turned to go into the store with a “Yeah, let’s,” Spock let out a relieved breath.
“Jim,” Spock called after him.
Jim looked back at him over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“You…” Spock moistened his lips. “Look quite fetching in my sweater.”
Jim laughed again, winked and grabbed Spock’s arm. “Come on, tiger.”
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Explore our network of 35 community mills, mixing facilities and a bakery, located throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Each one has a personality of its own, reflecting its people and local community. But, they all have a lot in common. Everyone contributes. Everyone counts. Everyone works together to make the best product they can. See for yourself.
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Whether it's the fourth largest mill in the United States. Whether it's making 2.4 million lbs of flour every day under the Hudson River. Whether it's taking over four floors of a 15-story facility, including one floor dedicated to our Research, Quality and Technical Culinary Center and Bake Laboratory. In each and every one of our 35 locations, there's something exciting going on, something that you can get involved in. Take a closer look and discover the latest opportunities there.
DENVER HEADQUARTERS
WICHITA MILL
Wherever we are, we're an integral part of the communities that we live and work in. That also applies to how we work. Minimizing our environmental impact is important to us. We repurpose byproducts, run energy-efficient mills, deploy natural gas trucks and reduce waste. When your team is as friendly, supportive and close-knit as ours, anything seems possible. Whether it’s the farmer who wants a thriving business to pass onto his children, or that a round of golf can help to feed thousands of families. Take at look at what you could be part of when you're part of our team.
ULTRAGRAIN® & KALCEVIC FARMS
Meet the Kalcevic Family, fourth-generation family farmers located in Bennett, Colorado. They grow and harvest wheat that is milled into Ultragrain® Whole Wheat Flour, and love helping to feed families around the world.
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ANNUAL CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
Ardent Mills hosts an Annual Golf Charity Golf Tournament. In our first year we raised $100,000 for Food Bank for the Heartland and have had a steady increase in donations each year since.
Partners in Food Solutions
Since 2017, we have teamed up with Partners in Food Solutions to help connect Ardent Mills team members with small and growing food businesses in eight African countries. Volunteers give their time to expand our reach on a truly international scale by sharing our expertise and food industry know-how to improve quality and efficiency with African businesses.
From the Field: Great Plains Quinoa
Field-to-fork story on North American-grown Ardent Mills Great Plains Quinoa. Learn about the people, the place and the product first-hand from the farmer, the agronomist and the chef.
1875 LAWRENCE STREET
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