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Presidential Summation
2019 President’s Summation by Dr. Theodore Splaver
Within recent memory, the leadership of our Institute, Philip J. Boyne, DDS, MS, DSc and Shahrokh Shabahang, DDS, MS, PhD, set the bar high for the quality of continuing education programming provided by our Institute. Your president and Board of Directors, assisted by the Advisory Council, has attempted to emulate their high standards in faculty selection, and as evidenced by attendees’ meeting evaluations, our 76th annual meeting was a success.
Thanks to all of you who supported our organization by your presence. So many of you are veteran attendees of many meetings as noted in our Newsletter. We pledge to continue to bring you the very best in continuing education, not only so you will remain current, but also ,that your knowledge base will be expanded by speakers who are truly on the “cutting edge” , who point the way to which biomedical knowledge, and our profession, dentistry, is headed.
No meeting summation would be complete without again thanking our Executive Secretary, June Barrientos, for her fine work and unwavering dedication to the organization. Much behind-the-scenes effort throughout the year is required to organize, communicate and manage the affairs of the AIOB and the result, as always is obvious to our attendees.
The Hermann Becks Lecture, which initiated the scientific session was delivered by Margaret Johnson, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Dean of Education, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, a specialist in Critical Care. Per her invaluable handout one gains an appreciation for the skill and devotion that Intensive Care Unit (ICU) staff impart, as, annually in the USA, 5 million patients are admitted to a hospital ICU with a remarkable 80% survival rate. However, since at least 1985, there has been concern about the quality of life enjoyed by these survivors, and Dr. Johnson described the “Post-ICU Syndrome” in which there is new or worsening impairment in physical cognition or mental health status arising after critical illness and persisting beyond hospital stay. Also concerning are the acute and chronic psychological effects of critical illness on the family. How many of us prior to this meeting were even aware of the pathophysiology which affects these patients and the economic and psychologic impact the long-term effects may have on them and their families? Among the lessons learned are attempts at early patient mobility should be made, nutrition is important, and delirium should be avoided if possible. It is also recognized that post discharge interventions are important, and education of providers, patients and caregivers is mandatory.
For her second presentation Dr. Johnson discussed “game-changing” innovations in both pulmonary and critical care medicine in the past decade.
The importance of pulmonary diseases worldwide was highlighted in the recently released World Health Organization’s list of the 10 deadliest disease worldwide, which listed lower respiratory infections (#3), chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (#4), respiratory cancers (#6) and tuberculosis (#9).
In her opinion, the biggest breakthrough in pulmonary medicine has been in treatment of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease. A new triple drug combination will cover 90% of CF patients -who all have a single Phe508del allele -and will change this disease from one of children, to one of adults as survival beyond childhood will ensue. The drug, Trikafta (Elexacaftor-Tezacaftor-Ivacaftor) was approved by the FDA, shortly after our meeting at the end of October for administration to people age 12 or older. Another innovation is the two endobronchial valves, which decrease the volume of hyperinflated pulmonary tissue in COPD. The importance of lung cancer screening with low dose CT for high risk patients was stressed as Dr. Johnson reminded us the lung cancer has the lowest survival rate of any cancers, since most are, unfortunately, diagnosed late. She then discussed targeted therapy and immunotherapy which have had some success when added to traditional chemotherapy in lung cancer treatment. Opportunities for lung transplantation and success will be expanded by ex-vivo lung perfusion, as lung tissue is viable for only six hours after perfusion, and this new technique doubles viability time. Another significant advance is the employment of extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in therapy for those with profound respiratory failure (ARDS).
Dr. Jeffrey Ebersole, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, and Associate Dean for Research, University of Nevada, Las Vegas chose, “Oral Health Sciences in the Era of Precision Medicine” as the topic of his first discussion. We are living in the age of Big Data, and scientists are using bioinformatics and computational biology to uncover potential relationships and best therapies. In particular, he focused upon periodontitis, which he stated may be “the collateral damage of bacterial attack on the oral tissues.” Consequently, Dr. Ebersole postulated that periodontitis may contribute to poor aging, and there is a question of early periodontal disease accelerating aging in patients. Significantly shorter telomere length is found in patients with periodontal disease, and shorter telomeres are associated with more severe disease. A common metal, lead may be shown to have a role in severe periodontal disease. On the other hand, four mutant genes have been identified as being perio-protective.
His second lecture was entitled, Aging and Periodontitis: Immunosenescence/Inflammaging & the Oral Microbiome. Much of what he discussed is from collaborative research on periodontal disease using non-human primates as animal models. About 200 different microorganisms exist in any one individual’s mouth, while 700+ species of organisms colonize the oral cavity of humans. With present techniques in DNA identification and deep sequencing, more and more of these are being identified, while their functions in oral biofilms, and plaque are yet to be fully elucidated. Study results have shown that periodontal disease promotes inflammatory, immunologic and humoral activities in those it affects. The biologic plausibility of the periodontal disease-systemic disease linkage appears to be unquestioned, however, most studies to date demonstrate association, not etiology. As periodontal disease progresses in an individual, there is a shift to the adaptive immune system. Dr. Ebersole also discussed inflammaging or Immunosenescence, which is the process of aging affecting our immune system.
Tara Aghaloo, DDS, MS, PhD, Professor, Section of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Assistant Dean for Clinical Research, UCLA School of Dentistry delivered the Philip J. Boyne Lecture whose topic was,” The Role of Growth Factors in Dental Practice. “Reconstruction of craniofacial defects was the focus of Dr. Philip Boyne’s research and clinical career and he was a recognized authority in the field. In fact, he was a friend and sometime collaborator of Dr. Marshall Urist, who initially isolated BMP from bovine bone and who was an AIOB faculty member many years ago. Dr. Aghaloo reviewed the state-of-the-art and said that the future lies in application of cells, factors, scaffolding and vascularity. Among the factors, BMP upregulates VEGF which increases vascularity in the graft site, though its big disadvantage is its cost. Among the alternatives used at UCLA and elsewhere is platelet-rich-fibrin (PRF) which can be simply and inexpensively sourced from a small volume of autologous blood, provides improved handling of graft materials and can be utilized either as a membrane or as “sticky bone.”
Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaws (MRONJ) was the topic for Dr. Agahaloo’s second presentation. Bisphosphonates, denosumab and other anti-resorptive medications have a valuable role in patient therapy, specifically, primary bone cancers, metastatic cancers, hypercalcemia of malignancies, osteoporosis and Paget’s disease. Bisphosphonates remain within bone for 10 years while denosumab’s half-life is 3-6 months, both thereby, possibly presenting difficulties for the treating dentist. Osteonecrosis of the jaws while seen in a small percentage of people taking potentially causative medications has caused considerable problems for the delivery of dental care in affected patients. Dr. Aghaloo runs a clinic following several hundred patients with MRONJ at her institution, and she described her very conservative approach to treatment of exposed bone, which involves vigorous cleaning with chlorhexadine, antimicrobials and finally removal of a fully formed sequestrum.
Some of us vividly remember the 1981 introduction of the digital Sony Mavica camera and the derision heaped upon it by film purists who declared that digital photography would never find a market. Fast forward to 2019 and try to buy film for your old camera or find a resource to develop and print any unprocessed rolls you may have. Electronic records, digital intraoral cameras, and digital radiographic imaging were, arguably, in the forefront of the conversion of our modes of treatment.
Dr. Brian Goodacre, DDS, MSD, Assistant Professor, Loma Linda School of Dentistry, spoke to us on “Digital Planning in Implant Dentistry: From Treatment Planning to 3D Printing.” Implant therapy has evolved from the directive to “place the implant where the bone exists” to prosthetically -driven treatment planning. Cone Beam CT is increasingly utilized and may be the de facto standard of care for treatment planning. Dr Goodacre discussed his techniques for capturing maximal patient information and he discussed the DICOM format which is becoming the standard for integration of digital devices within medicine and dentistry. Dynamic surgical guides for implant placement allow intraoperative changes and can be fabricated by 3D printers, of which five types for dentistry now exist.
Dr. Charles Goodacre, DDS, MSD, FSCP, Distinguished Professor, Restorative Dentistry and Former Dean, School of Dentistry, Loma Linda University addressed the hotly debated topic,” Tooth Retention through Root Canal and/or Periodontal Treatments vs Tooth Replacement Using Dental Implants or Fixed Partial Dentures: Which Treatment is Best?” Implant survival rates, in the main, appear quite high, however, problems and complications may arise the longer the implant remains in place. Endodontic therapy and crown restoration are not inexpensive, and he stated that the success rate of crowns is not as good as implants, and it is recognized that crowns have an expected service life after which redo is necessary. Important considerations in treatment planning include consideration of continued facial growth with age and evaluation of bone in the adjacent natural tooth as he stated that papilla preservation is best accomplished by tooth retention. Untoward developments may include peri-implantitis, fracture of implants, implant screws and abutments over time. Late loss of implants, especially in the posterior maxilla, grafted or ungrafted, has been well documented.
The Drs. Goodacre collaborated on a presentation entitled, “Computer-Aided Engineering of Complete Dentures and Implant Prostheses: From Traditional Impressions to Intraoral Scanning. “Fabrication of complete denture prostheses has also been affected by the digital revolution and while many still prefer traditional impressions, pouring and trimming models and setting teeth by hand the patient’s anatomy can now be captured, in exquisite detail, by intraoral scanning, and the entire process digitized. The Goodacres discussed the AVA Dental Digital Denture System in which dentures can be fabricated by a monolithic design or the denture base can be fabricated sans teeth, which are subsequently glued on. There is apparently no polymerization shrinkage with this technique. They believe that 3D printing is superior to milling as there is less waste. Technical aspects such as differentiation of tooth colors from acrylic base will surely be surmounted and we will undoubtedly gain the technical ability to characterize the teeth themselves on the computer. A game-changer, indeed.
Nikita Ruparel, DDS, MS, PhD, Professor and Chair, Endodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio commenced her lecture on ‘Regenerative Endodontics” by stating that present conventional endodontics has an 85-95% success rate. To truly regenerate viable pulp tissue a strict treatment protocol which she elucidated, must be followed. Presently the technique is most successful in those patients whose root formation and apexification has not occurred. Trauma patients are less than ideal she stated as root development is usually seen.
Dr. Ruparel’ s second topic was,” Dental Drugs,” and she called for a paradigm shift away from our current thinking in selection and prescribing of both antimicrobial agents and analgesics. The importance of proper selection and prescribing of antibiotics is underscored by the CDC 2019 report in which it is stated that 2.8 million antibiotic resistant infections are seen annually in the US with more than 35,000 people dying as a result. Additionally, 223,900 cases of c. difficle were reported in 2027 and at least 12,800 people died. This is an important topic for us as dentists prescribe 10% of all antibiotics in this country. Once an appropriate antibiotic has been selected there is still the question of duration of treatment and in treating virtually all focused bodily infections, a shortened course of medication is now urged. Resistance to beta-lactam antimicrobials starts within 3 days of administration and antibiotic prescribing for 2-3 days is often now suggested in certain circumstances, rather than the customary 7-10-day course.
Our country has experienced an opioid crisis these past several years and prescription drug abuse is in the news. A recent CDC report estimates that 21-29% of individuals who are prescribed opioids misuse them and 8-12% become addicted. Our profession has come in for unwanted attention as many believe that we, overall, either inappropriately or over-prescribe opioids for procedures which are not expected to cause significant patient pain. The efficacy of NSAIDS, either alone, or in combination with acetaminophen for acute pain following wisdom tooth removal was well established by Dr. Ray Dionne -AIOB speaker 2001 and 2009-and colleagues at NIH however, wide practice acceptance did not follow. Concern that the pain of hospitalized patients, in particular, was not being properly addressed, led to promotion of narcotic analgesics by prominent physicians and the Joint Commission on Hospital Affairs, and the development of more powerful narcotics which found their way into both practice and the abuse pipeline, led to the present crisis. How many librarians could have imagined that as part of their duties they might be administering narcotic antagonists to save lives, in their workplace? Dr Ruparel expounded upon intelligent dosing of NSAIDS /acetaminophen compounds as well as discussed problematic clinical situations in which achieving full and adequate analgesia might be difficult.
Judging by the sheer number of dedicated societies, journals and scientific articles, dental implants have truly influenced and revolutionized the practice of dentistry in so many ways. Originally, the scientific-based system developed by Dr. Per Ingvar Branemark could be sold only to “Course trained, “oral and maxillofacial surgeons who were to deliver this treatment solely in their hospital operating rooms under aseptic conditions. Later the system was opened to hospital-privileged and other periodontists, and ultimately any dentist who took the prescribed course, and the requirement for hospital OR was dropped in favor of in-office placement under clean conditions. It was not long before numerous competing companies developed root-form /cylindrical implants of widely varied pricing and various claims of superiority.
As with any surgical procedure, proper planning, precise execution and careful long-term follow-up are critical to success.
My topic, “Unusual Complications of Dental Implant Therapy: Patient Morbidity and Mortality,” reported on infections of both hard and soft tissues which may follow implant placement, may be immediate or delayed and involve the brain or mediastinum, among other sites. Many of the unusual complications of implant therapy are iatrogenic in nature, such as placement in an unusual site, such as the cranial vault or orbit, aspiration or ingestion of an implant or implant armamentarium which may be life-threatening in nature, with prompt referral and follow-up mandatory. Significant hemorrhage, from implant placement in either of the jaws may ensue and may embarrass the airway, requiring intubation or tracheostomy.
Dentists are seeing a virtual tsunami of cases of peri-implantitis, due to several causes, per Dr. Sreenivas Koka, a 2018 AIOB speaker. We reported on a small number of both primary and secondary oral squamous carcinomas ultimately diagnosed in the peri-implant cuff. Most cases were seen in people with concurrent risk factors for oral squamous carcinomas, however, diagnosis was delayed in several cases, since the implant sites were not the usual ones for occurrence or metastases. Virtually all cases of both primary and secondary carcinomas were refractory to usual care within two weeks and the message derived is that the clinician should have both a low threshold for either biopsy or referral for care.
Four known deaths attribute to implant therapy are attributed to two practitioners, one of which was responsible for a patient, with a pre-existent esophageal narrowing, ingesting an implant wrench, whose removal was the first of a series of events of further complications, which ultimately led to the patient’s demise. A second dentist was responsible for a series of three deaths and two potentially fatal complications due to air embolism, caused by the employment of a non-implant system handpiece, which allowed a mixture of water-air to enter the mandible through hollow drills.
Complications are inherent to any surgical procedure, however, some of the unusual complications of dental implant therapy should prompt one to carefully adhere to treatment protocols, and be ever vigilant in follow-up, no matter the number of implants placed nor how adept one has become in planning and placement.
To download and print the Presidential Summation click PDF below.
2019 President's Summation.pdf
AMERICAN INSTITUTE
OF ORAL BIOLOGY
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Review: Rob Beckett at Brighton Dome
By Guide Reviewers
Rob Beckett
Brighton Dome, Brighton, Thursday, October 10
FOLLOWING a hilarious voiceover, Rob Beckett graced the stage at the Brighton Dome with his familiar “resting smile face”.
The way he bounds onto the stage brings with it lots of confidence that the next two hours were going to be belly laughing fun.
Rob was quick to get familiar with the audience.
He went straight for the front row seaters, reacting with the quickest wit you’ve probably heard in a while.
Late comers were aptly humiliated, named and shamed, but ultimately still made to laugh, as Rob says “I’m not letting you get away with this”.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the night, as I am so used to seeing Rob on panel shows such as 8 out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You?, and Mock The Week.
My guest agreed with me that the evening was, surprisingly, very funny.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was family friendly, but Mr Beckett did have the ability to feel friendly and safe, even though he swears a lot.
The tour looks like an incredibly busy one, las he makes up for lack of touring while he’s been shining at us through our TV screens.
An evening that I would highly recommend; if you’ve not seen Rob do stand up before, then this tour is your place to start - relatable, boundary pushing, and non stop laughter, it left me feeling rather chuffed.
Erik Selby
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A Negro Schoolmaster in the South
W. E. B. Du Bois’s 1899 account as a young, black schoolmaster in the South
W. E. Burghardt Du Bois
African American children study corn and cotton at the Annie Davis School near Tuskegee, Alabama in 1902Frances Benjamin Johnston / Library of Congress
Once upon a time I taught school in the hills of Tennessee, where the broad dark vale of the Mississippi begins to roll and crumple to greet the Alleghanies. I was a Fisk student then, and all Fisk men think that Tennessee —beyond the Veil—is theirs alone, and in vacation time they sally forth in lusty bands to meet the country school commissioners. Young and Happy, I too went, and I shall not soon forget that summer, ten years ago.
First, there was a teachers' Institute at the county-seat; and there distinguished guests of the superintendent taught the teachers fractions and spelling and other mysteries,—white teachers in the morning, Negroes at night. A picnic now and then, and a supper, and the rough world was softened by laughter and song. I remember how—but I wander.
There came a day when all the teachers left the Institute, and began the hunt for schools. I learn from hearsay (for my mother was mortally afraid of fire-arms) that the hunting of ducks and bears and men is wonderfully interesting, but I am sure that the man who has never hunted a country school has something to learn of the pleasures of the chase. I see now the white, hot roads lazily rise and fall and wind before me under the burning July sun; I feel the deep weariness of heart and limb, as ten, eight, six miles stretch relentlessly ahead; I feel my heart sink heavily as I hear again and again, "Got a teacher? Yes." So I walked on and on,— horses were too expensive,—until I had wandered beyond railways, beyond stage lines, to a land of "varmints" and rattlesnakes, where the coming of a stranger was an event, and men lived and died in the shadow of one blue hill.
Sprinkled over hill and dale lay cabins and farmhouses, shut out from the world by the forests and the rolling hills toward the east. There I found at last a little school. Josie told me of it; she was a thin, homely girl of twenty, with a dark brown face and thick, hard hair. I had crossed the stream at Watertown, and rested under the great willows; then I had gone to the little cabin in the lot where Josie was resting on her way to town. The gaunt farmer made me welcome, and Josie, hearing my errand, told me anxiously that they wanted a school over the hill; that but once since the war had a teacher been there; that she herself longed to learn,—and thus she ran on, talking fast and loud, with much earnestness and energy.
Next morning I crossed the tall round hill, lingered to look at the blue and yellow mountains stretching toward the Carolinas; then I plunged into the wood, and came out at Josie's home. It was a dull frame cottage with four rooms, perched just below the brow of the hill, amid peach trees. The father was a quiet, simple soul, calmly ignorant, with no touch of vulgarity. The mother was different,— strong, bustling, and energetic, with a quick, restless tongue, and an ambition to live "like folks." There was a crowd of children. Two boys had gone away. There remained two growing girls; a shy midget of eight; John, tall, awkward, and eighteen; Jim, younger, quicker, and better looking; and two babies of indefinite age. Then there was Josie herself. She seemed to be the centre of the family: always busy at service or at home, or berry-picking; a little nervous and inclined to scold, like her mother, yet faithful, too, like her father. She had about her a certain fineness, the shadow of an unconscious moral heroism that would willingly give all of life to make life broader, deeper and fuller for her and hers. I saw much of this family afterward, and grew to love them for their honest efforts to be decent and comfortable, and for their knowledge of their own ignorance. There was with them no affectation. The mother would scold the father for being so "easy;" Josie would roundly rate the boys for carelessness; and all knew that it was a hard thing to dig a living out of a rocky side hill.
I secured the school. I remember the day I rode horseback out to the commissioner's house, with a pleasant young white fellow, who wanted the white school. The road ran down the bed of a stream; the sun laughed and the water jingled, and we rode on. "Come in," said the commissioner,—"come in. Have a seat. Yes, that certificate will do. Stay to dinner. What do you want a month?" Oh, thought I, this is lucky; but even then fell the awful shadow of the Veil, for they ate first, then I—alone.
Eight African American kindergarten students learn washing and ironing at Virginia school, in 1899. (Frances Benjamin Johnston / Library of Congress)
The schoolhouse was a log hut, where Colonel Wheeler used to shelter his corn. It sat in a lot behind a rail fence and thorn bushes, near the sweetest of spring. There was an entrance where a door once was, and within, a massive rickety fireplace; great chinks between the logs served as windows. Furniture was scarce. A pale blackboard crouched in the corner. My desk was made of three boards, reinforced at critical points, and my chair, borrowed from the landlady, had to be returned every night. Seats for the children,—these puzzled me much. I was haunted by a New England vision of neat little desks and chairs, but, alas, the reality was rough plank benches without backs, and at times without legs. They had the one virtue of making naps dangerous,—possibly fatal, for the floor was not to be trusted.
It was a hot morning late in July when the school opened. I trembled when I heard the patter of little feet down the dusty road, and saw the growing row of dark solemn faces and bright eager eyes facing me. First came Josie and her brothers and sisters. The longing to know, to be a student in the great school at Nashville, hovered like a star above this child woman amid her work and worry, and she studied doggedly. There were the Dowells from their farm over toward Alexandria: Fanny, with her smooth black face and wondering eyes; Martha, brown and dull; the pretty girl wife of a brother, and the younger brood. There were the Burkes, two brown and yellow lads, and tine haughty-eyed girl. Fat Reuben's little chubby girl came, with golden face and old gold hair, faithful and solemn. 'Thenie was on hand early,—a jolly, ugly, good-hearted girl, who slyly dipped snuff and looked after her little bow-legged brother. When her mother could spare her, 'Tildy came,—a midnight beauty, with starry eyes and tapering limbs; and her brother, correspondingly homely. And then the big boys: the hulking Lawrences; the lazy Neills, unfathered sons of mother and daughter; Hickman, with a stoop in his shoulders; and the rest.
There they sat, nearly thirty of them, on the rough benches, their faces shading from a pale cream to a deep brown, the little feet bare and swinging, the eyes full of expectation, with here and there a twinkle of mischief, and the hands grasping Webster's blue-back spelling-book. I loved my school, and the fine faith the children had in the wisdom of their teacher was truly marvelous. We read and spelled together, wrote a little, picked flowers, sang, and listened to stories of the world beyond the hill. At times the school would dwindle away, and I would start out. I would visit Mun Eddings, who lived in two very dirty rooms, and ask why little Lugene, whose flaming face seemed ever ablaze with the dark red hair uncombed, was absent all last week, or why I missed so often the inimitable rags of Mack and Ed. Then the father, who worked Colonel Wheeler's farm on shares, would tell me how the crops needed the boys; and the thin, slovenly mother, whose face was pretty when washed, assured me that Lugene must mind the baby. "But we'll start them again next week." When the Lawrences stopped, I knew that the doubt of the old folks about book-learning had conquered again, and so, toiling up the hill, and getting as far into the cabin as possible, I put Cicero pro Archia Poeta in the simplest English with local applications, and usually convinced them—for a week or so.
On Friday nights I often went home with some of the children; sometimes to Doc Burke's farm. He was a great, loud, thin Black, ever working, and trying to buy the seventy-five acres of hill and dale where he lived; but people said that he would surely fail, and the "white folks would get it all." His wife was a magnificent Amazon, with saffron face and shining hair, uncorseted and barefooted, and the children were strong and beautiful. They lived in a one-and-a half-room cabin in the hollow of the farm, near the spring. The front room was full of great fat white beds, scrupulously neat; and there were bad chromos on the walls, and a tired centre-table. In the tiny back kitchen I was often invited to "take out and help" myself to fried chicken and wheat biscuit, "meat" and corn pone, string beans and berries. At first I used to be a little alarmed at the approach of bedtime in the one lone bedroom, but embarrassment was very deftly avoided. First, all the children nodded and slept, and were stowed away in one great pile of goose feathers; next, the mother and the father discreetly slipped away to the kitchen while I went to bed; then, blowing out the dim light, they retired in the dark. In the morning all were up and away before I thought of awakening. Across the road, where fat Reuben lived, they all went outdoors while the teacher retired, because they did not boast the luxury of a kitchen.
I liked to stay with the Dowells, for they had four rooms and plenty of good country fare. Uncle Bird had a small, rough farm, all woods and hills, miles from the big road; but he was full of tales,—he preached now and then,—and with his children, berries, horses, and wheat he was happy and prosperous. Often, to keep the peace, I must go where life was less lovely; for instance, 'Tildy's mother was incorrigibly dirty, Reuben's larder was limited seriously, and herds of untamed bedbugs wandered over the Eddingses' beds. Best of all I loved to go to Josie's, and sit on the porch, eating peaches, while the mother bustled and talked: how Josie had bought the sewing-machine; how Josie worked at service in winter, but that four dollars a month was "mighty little" wages; how Josie longed to go away to school, but that it "looked like" they never could get far enough ahead to let her; how the crops failed and the well was yet unfinished; and, finally, how "mean" some of the white folks were.
For two summers I lived in this little world; it was dull and humdrum. The girls looked at the hill in wistful longing, and the boys fretted, and haunted Alexandria. Alexandria was "town,"—a straggling, lazy village of houses, churches, and shops, and an aristocracy of Toms, Dicks, and Captains. Cuddled on the hill to the north was the village of the colored folks, who lived in three or four room unpainted cottages, some neat and homelike, and some dirty. The dwellings were scattered rather aimlessly, but they centred about the twin temples of the hamlet, the Methodist and the Hard-Shell Baptist churches. These, in turn, leaned gingerly on a sad-colored schoolhouse. Hither my little world wended its crooked way on Sunday to meet other worlds, and gossip, and wonder, and make the weekly sacrifice with frenzied priest at the altar of the "old-time religion." Then the soft melody and mighty cadences of Negro song fluttered and thundered.
I have called my tiny community a world, and so its isolation made it; and yet there was among us but a half-awakened common consciousness, sprung from common joy and grief, at burial, birth, or wedding; from a common hardship in poverty, poor land, and low wages; and, above all, from the sight of the Veil that hung between us and Opportunity. All this caused us to think some thoughts together; but these, when ripe for speech, were spoken in various languages. Those whose eyes thirty and more years before had seen "the glory of the coming of the Lord" saw in every present hindrance or help a dark fatalism bound to bring all things right in His own good time. The mass of those to whom slavery was a dim recollection of childhood found the world a puzzling thing: it asked little of them, and they answered with little, and yet it ridiculed their offering. Such a paradox they could not understand, and therefore sank into listless indifference, or shiftlessness, or reckless bravado. There were, however, some such as Josie, Jim, and Ben,—they to whom War, Hell, and Slavery were but childhood tales, whose young appetites had been whetted to an edge by school and story and half-awakened thought. Ill could they be content, born without and beyond the World. And their weak wings beat against their barriers,—barriers of caste, of youth, of life; at last, in dangerous moments, against everything that opposed even a whim.
The ten years that follow youth, the years when first the realization comes that life is leading somewhere,—these were the years that passed after I left my little school. When they were past, I came by chance once more to the walls of Fisk University, to the halls of the chapel of melody. As I lingered there in the joy and pain of meeting old school friends, there swept over me a sudden longing to pass again beyond the blue hill, and to see the homes and the school of other days, and to learn how life had gone with my school-children; and I went.
Josie was dead, and the gray-haired mother said simply, "We've had a heap of trouble since you've been away." I had feared for Jim. With a cultured parentage and a social caste to uphold him, he might have made a venturesome merchant or a West Point cadet. But here he was, angry with life and reckless; and when Farmer Durham charged him with stealing wheat, the old man had to ride fast to escape the stones which the furious fool hurled after him. They told Jim to run away; but he would not run, and the constable came that afternoon. It grieved Josie, and great awkward John walked nine miles every day to see his little brother through the bars of Lebanon jail. At last the two came back together in the dark night. The mother cooked supper, and Josie emptied her purse, and the boys stole away. Josie grew thin and silent, yet worked the more. The hill became steep for the quiet old father, and with the boys away there was little to do in the valley. Josie helped them sell the old farm, and they moved nearer town. Brother Dennis, the carpenter, built a new house with six rooms; Josie toiled a year in Nashville, and brought back ninety dollars to furnish the house and change it to a home.
When the spring came, and the birds twittered, and the stream ran proud and full, little sister Lizzie, bold and thoughtless, flushed with the passion of youth, bestowed herself on the tempter, and brought home a nameless child. Josie shivered, and worked on, with the vision of schooldays all fled, with a face wan and tired,—worked until, on a summer's day, some one married another; then Josie crept to her mother like a hurt child, and slept—and sleeps.
I paused to scent the breeze as I entered the valley. The Lawrences have gone; father and son forever, and the other son lazily digs in the earth to live. A new young widow rents out their cabin to fat Reuben. Reuben is a Baptist preacher now, but I fear as lazy as ever, though his cabin has three rooms; and little Ella has grown into a bouncing woman, and is ploughing corn on the hot hillside. There are babies a plenty, and one half-witted girl. Across the valley is a house I did not know before, and there I found, rocking one baby and expecting another, one of my schoolgirls, a daughter of Uncle Bird Dowell. She looked somewhat worried with her new duties, but soon bristled into pride over her neat cabin, and the tale of her thrifty husband, the horse and cow, and farm they were planning to buy.
My log schoolhouse was gone. In its place stood Progress, and Progress, I understand, is necessarily ugly. The crazy foundation stones still marked the former site of my poor little cabin, and not far away, on six weary boulders, perched a jaunty board house, perhaps twenty by thirty feet, with three windows and a door that locked. Some of the window glass was broken, and part of an old iron stove lay mournfully under the house. I peeped through the window half reverently, and found things that were more familiar. The blackboard had grown by about two feet, and the seats were still without backs. The county owns the lot now, I hear, and every year there is a session of school. As I sat by the spring and looked on the Old and the New I felt glad, very glad, and yet—
After two long drinks I started on. There was the great double log house on the corner. I remembered the broken, blighted family that used to live there. The strong, hard face of the mother, with its wilderness of hair, rose before me. She had driven her husband away, and while I taught school a strange man lived there, big and jovial, and people talked. I felt sure that Ben and 'Tildy would come to naught from such a home. But this is an odd world; for Ben is a busy farmer in Smith County, "doing well, too," they say, and he had cared for little 'Tildy until last spring, when a lover married her. A hard life the lad had led, toiling for meat, and laughed at because he was homely and crooked. There was Sam Carlon, an impudent old skinflint, who had definite notions about niggers, and hired Ben a summer and would not pay him. Then the hungry boy gathered his sacks together, and in broad daylight went into Carlon's corn; and when the hard-fisted farmer set upon him, the angry boy flew at him like a beast. Doc Burke saved a murder and a lynching that day.
The story reminded me again of the Burkes, and an impatience seized me to know who won in the battle, Doc or the seventy-five acres. For it is a hard thing to make a farm out of nothing, even in fifteen years. So I hurried on, thinking of the Burkes. They used to have a certain magnificent barbarism about them that I liked. "They were never vulgar, never immoral, but rather rough and primitive, with an unconventionality that spent itself in loud guffaws, slaps on the back, and naps in the corner. I hurried by the cottage of the misborn Neill boys. It was empty, and they were grown into fat, lazy farm hands. I saw the home of the Hickmans, but Albert, with his stooping shoulders, had passed from the world. Then I came to the Burkes' gate and peered through; the inclosure looked rough and untrimmed, and yet there were the same fences around the old farm save to the left, where lay twenty five other acres. And lo! the cabin in the hollow had climbed the hill and swollen to a half-finished six-room cottage.
The Burkes held a hundred acres, but they were still in debt. Indeed, the gaunt father who toiled night and day would scarcely be happy out of debt, being so used to it. Some day he must stop, for his massive frame is showing decline. The mother wore shoes, but the lionlike physique of other days was broken. The children had grown up. Rob, the image of his father, was loud and rough with laughter. Birdie, my school baby of six, had grown to a picture of maiden beauty, tall and tawny. "Edgar is gone," said the mother, with head half bowed,—"gone to work in Nashville; he and his father could n't agree."
Little Doc, the boy born since the time of my school, took me horseback down the creek next morning toward Farmer Dowell's. The road and the stream were battling for mastery, and the stream had the better of it. We splashed and waded, and the merry boy, perched behind me, chattered and laughed. He showed me where Simon Thomspon had bought a bit of ground and a home; but his daughter Lana, a plump, brown, slow girl, was not there. She had married as man and a farm twenty miles away. We wound on down the stream till we came to a gate that I did not recognize, but the boy insisted that it was "Uncle Bird's." The farm was fat with the growing crop. In that little valley was a strange stillness as I rode up; for death and marriage had stolen youth, and left age and childhood there. We sat and talked that night, after the chores were done. Uncle Bird was grayer, and his eyes did not see so well, but he was still jovial. We talked of acres bought, —one hundred and twenty-five,—of the new guest, chamber added, of Martha's marrying. Then we talked of death: Fanny and Fred were gone; a shadow hung over the other daughter, and when it lifted she was to go to Nashville to school. At last we spoke of the neighbors, and as night fell Uncle Bird told me how, on a night like that, 'Thenie came wandering back to her home over yonder, to escape the blows of her husband. And next morning she died in the home that her little bow-legged brother, working and saving, had bought for their widowed mother.
My journey was done, and behind me lay hill and dale, and Life and Death. How shall man measure Progress there where the dark-faced Josie lies? How many heartfuls of sorrow shall balance a bushel of wheat? How hard a thing is life to the lowly, and yet how human and real! And all this life and love and strife and failure,—is it the twilight of nightfall or the flush of some faint-dawning day?
Thus sadly musing, I rode to Nashville in the Jim Crow car.
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WRESTLING CANDIDATES ASSEMBLE ON MONDAY
UNIVERSITY TEAM WILL ENGAGE IN NINE MEETS
NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
Candidates for University and Freshman wrestling teams will meet in the wrestling room of the new indoor Athletic Building, where they will report to Coach Clifford Gallagher on Monday at 3 o'clock. Coach Gallagher will be assisted by Nathaniel Warner '30, Captain of last year's team.
Nine colleges are on the University schedule which includes five games away and is as follows: Jan. 10, Norwich; Jan. 17, Springfield; Jan. 21, Brown at Providence; Feb. 14, Columbia; Feb. 17, M.I.T. at M.I.T.; Feb. 21, Army at West Point; Feb. 25, Tufts at Medford; Feb. 28, Pennsylvania; Mar. 7, Yale at New Haven.
The Freshman schedule will be the following: Jan. 10, Interdormitory meet; Jan. 21, Brown freshmen at Providence; Feb. 7, Taft at Watertown; Feb. 17, M.I.T.; freshmen at M.I.T.; Feb. 25, Tufts freshmen at Medford; Feb. 28, Andover; Mar. 7, Yale at New Haven.
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A good deal of sunshine. High near 60F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..
Some clouds. Low 36F. Winds light and variable.
Abundant Life Assembly of God
Michael L. Gillen, Pastor
105 W. 32nd St.
(Downtown Bryan/ Corner of 32nd & S. Bryan)
abundantlifeagchurch@gmail.com
Services: Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
College Heights Assembly of God
Rev. Tommy Thompson,Pastor
4100 Old College Rd., Bryan.
www.chag.org
Sunday: 10:30 a.m. & 6 p.m.
Sun. School: 9:30 a.m.
Wednesday: 7 p.m.
Snook Assembly of God
Rev. Dennis Bonnet
10137 County Road 270
Somerville, TX 77879
Sunday School: 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Worship: 10:30am.
For directions call 979272-2082 or go to
wwww.snookassemblyofgod.com
Chris Osborne, Pastor
1991 FM 158 (Hwy. 30 & FM 158)
www.centralbcs.org
776-PRAY - 24 hour prayer line
Worship: Sunday 9:45 a.m.
Sun. Cable CH 9 (40) 11 a.m.
Christ's Way Baptist Church
Larry Reinike, Pastor
3885 Copperfield Dr., Bryan
www.christsway.org
Service: Sun. 10:55 a.m. & 6 p.m.
Wed. 6:30 p.m.
Country Fellowship Church
Charles Higgs, Pastor
1920 Austins Colony Pkwy Bryan, Tx.
Traditional Service - 10 a.m.
Country Gospel Service - 5 p.m.
www.mycountryfellowship.com
First Baptist Church of Bryan
Jim Heiligman, Pastor
www.fbcbryan.org
Traditional Worship: 8:45 a.m.
Bible Study for all ages: 10:00 a.m.
Contemporary: 11:15 a.m.
First Baptist Church of College Station
Reverend Troy Allen
2300 Welsh, College Station
www.fbccollegestation.com
Services: Sun., 8:30 a.m. & 11 a.m.
Wed. Bible Study: 6:30 p.m.
Hillcrest Baptist Church
Craig Yates, Senior Pastor
4220 Boonville Rd., Bryan
www.hillcrestfamily.org
Sunday Bible study, 9:15 a.m.; Worship, 10:30 a.m.
Children's Church: 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday Bible Study: 6 p.m.
Northview Baptist Church
1809 Tabor Road -- Bryan, Texas 77803
Sunday School (all ages) 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship Service at 11:00 a.m.
Sunday Evening Services at 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday Evening Services at 7:00 p.m.
Parkway Baptist Church
Chris Snidow, Pastor
1501 SW Pkwy, C.S
www.pbccs.org
Services: Sun 9:45 a.m. & 6 p.m.
Sunday School: 11:00 a.m.
Wed Bible Study: 6:30 p.m. & AWANA
Trinity Baptist Church
Ron Rich, Pastor
1070 N. Harvey Mitchell, Bryan
Services: Sun., 11 a.m.; Wed., 6 p.m.
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church
Father Albert Laforet, Jr., Pastor
2541 Earl Rudder Freeway South, College Station
Mass Saturdays at 5:30 p.m.; Sundays at 8:30 a.m.; 11 a.m.; 5:30 p.m.
Confession Wednesdays and Fridays, 11:30 a.m. to noon; Saturdays, 3:30 to 5 p.m., and by appointment
www.stabcs.org
First Christian Church Disciples of Christ
Katherine Bryant Graves, Interim Pastor
900 S. Ennis, Bryan
www.firstchristianbcs.org
Worship Services: Sun. 10:45 a.m.
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
The Rev. Daryl T. Hay, Rector
217 W. 26th St., Downtown Bryan
www.standrewsbcs.org
7:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite I
9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite II
11:15 a.m. Choral Eucharist Rite II
Christian education classes for youth and adults, Sundays 10:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Evening Prayer Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
The Rev. Angela M. Cortinas, Rector
facebook/twitter/979-696-1726
www.stthomasbcs.org
906 George Bush Drive, College Station
Worship: Sun. 8 a.m. & 10:30 a.m.; Wed. Noon; College: 8:30 p.m.
Sun: Breakfast 8:45 a.m.; Sunday School 9:15 a.m.; Sr. High Youth Group: 11:45 a.m.
Wed. Dinner, Jr. High youth Group & Christian Education (all ages) 5:30 p.m.
St. Francis Episcopal Church
The Rev. Lacy Largent, Priest
The Rev. Mary Lenn Dixon, Deacon
1101 Rock Prairie Rd., College Station
979.696.1491 | FB: StFrancisOnline
Worship: Sun 8:00am & 10:30am
Children’s Chapel at 10:30am service
Christian Meditation: Monday 5:30pm
Tai Chi: Mon & Wed at 5:30pm
Bible Study: Tues 10:00am
101 N. Coulter Dr., Bryan
www.cbsbcs.org
Monthly Shabbat Services & Torah Study
Weekly Religious School
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church
Elaine M. Gomulka, Pastor
1001 Woodcreek Drive
College Station, Texas 77845
Email: office@oursavioursbcs.org
Website: http://www.oursavioursbcs.org
Wed: Meal/Family Ministry Night: 5:45 p.m.
Sunday Worship Services: 8 a.m. & 10:45 a.m.
Sunday School for all ages: 9:30 a.m.
Pastor Travis Mejer
2201 Rio Grande Blvd, CS
Website: http://www.peacelutheranbcs.org
Sunday Worship: 9:30 a.m.
Sunday School for all ages: 10:45 a.m.
Mercy Hill
John Ferguson, Lead Pastor.
Sunday: 10am Worship Service6
Meets at the Hilton Garden Inn
3081 University Dr. East, Bryan
Website: MercyHillBCS.org
St. Silouan the Athonite Orthodox Church
Fr. Gregory Gibson
4544 Gloria Allen Drive
www.st-silouan.org
See website for directions and service schedule
Covenant Presbyterian Church
Rev. Jonathan Murray, Pastor
Rev. Caressa Murray, Pastor
220 Rock Prairie Rd., College Station
www.covenantpresbyterian.org
Worship Service: 10:30 a.m.
First Presbyterian Church PS(U.S.A.)
Rev. Ted V. Foote, Jr., Pastor
Rev. Emily K. Béghin, Associate Pastor
1100 Carter Creek Pkwy, Bryan
www.fpcbryan.org
Sun. worship: 10:45 a.m.
Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Westminster Presbyterian
www.WPC.Bryan.org
(PCA) Rev. Wade Coleman, Pastor
3333 Oak Ridge Dr., Bryan
Sun. School: 9am
4254 State Hwy 6 S.
Sunday Worship: 5pm
Rev. Donna Renfro
800 George Bush Drive, College Station (A&M Hillel)
www.uucbv.org
Religious Education: 10:00-10:30 – All Ages.
Sunday Services: 10:30-11:30 – All ages
UNITED METHODIST
A&M United Methodist
Rev. Preston Greenwaldt, Pastor
417 University Dr., C.S.
www.am-umc.org
Worship: 8:30 a.m. & 11 a.m.
Contemporary Service: 9:45 a.m. & 6:06 p.m.
Youth Group: 6 p.m.
Christ United Methodist
Rev. Jerry House Jr., Pastor
4201 Hwy 6 S., College Station
www.Christ-UMC.org
Sun. Services: 8 a.m.Traditional
Sun. 9:30 a.m. Contemporary
Sun. 11 a.m. Blended
DIG Children’s Ministry: 9:30 a.m.
Youth Ministries: 5-7:30 p.m.
Thursday Serviceli>
Lakeway: A Community of Christ UMC 7:00 p.m., Youth Room
First United Methodist Church Bryan
Rev. Rick Sitton, Senior pastor
Rev. Jennifer Webber, Assoc. Pastor
506 East 28th Street • Bryan, TX 77803
www.fumcbryan.org
Facebook: FUMC Bryan
8:30a.m. Traditional (Sanctuary)
9:00 The Awakening-Contemporary(Gym)
10:00 Sunday School
11:00 Blended (Sanctuary)
11:30 Spanish (Gym)
For more information, edits, corrections or to advertise your church services in the Worship Directory, please email worship@theeagle.com or call 979-731-4737.
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Myanmar Through an Ethical Lens
Focus on the People, Not the Politics
“Hla de, hla de (beautiful, beautiful),” purrs photographer Nathan Horton. One of his Nikon lenses is focused on the ebony irises of a caramel-skinned woman from the Pa-Oh hill tribe in Shan State, Myanmar. Another protrudes from his hip, dangling from a second camera body like a bonus appendage.
The villager is shy, hesitant to engage with the camera. “I’ve grown old,” she demurs, remembering the British-born photographer from a previous visit. But Horton turns his once imposing lens into a bridge. With a little more encouragement in her native tongue, his subject’s eyes light up and thanaka-smeared cheeks crinkle into a smile, revealing stained teeth that have likely never seen a dentist.
Like many Burmese, the woman has indulged in the pastime of chewing betel, a blend of areca nuts and tobacco, guaranteed to yield vampire-red choppers. Her face is adorned with Myanmar’s signature thanaka, a yellow paste made from ground tree bark that serves as a multipurpose sunblock, moisturizer and decoration.
Horton has his shot. He shows the woman a preview, inspiring a reaction that’s almost better than the image itself. Out comes an iPad filled with portraits taken on previous visits. One shows the woman’s daughter, then pregnant, now a mother. Her three-year-old son greets us with a show of fingers.
Nearby, the toddler’s turbaned great-granddad sits cross-legged on a bamboo mat, shucking corn with the extended family, his lean body taut and tawny from years of working in the fields.
Typical of remote Burmese villages, four generations live together here, the able caring for the young and the elderly. Some of their homes are sturdy, multi-story affairs built with bricks fashioned from animal dung. Others teeter on bamboo stilts, partially open to the elements.
First World Meets Third
We’ve come from more refined accommodations in the foothills of Kalaw, an old hill station from the days of the British Raj — five photographers from the developed world, eager to capture the pagodas and people of Southeast Asia’s least visited, most mystical land in digital images. We hail from the U.S., England and Australia, all developed lands where we take modern conveniences for granted.
Our leader has a different story. After 16 years as a successful photographer, Horton traded soggy London for sunny Southeast Asia. Since 2006, he’s lived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with his Vietnamese wife and their three children. “I’m more Cambodian than British now,” he chuckles, adding that his photo tours are driven by a trifecta of passions for his craft, his adopted homeland, the gracious people and gritty edges of Southeast Asia.
About a kilometer before we reach the Pa-Oh tribe, Horton asks our Burmese driver to park our gear-stuffed minivan. With our local guide, Thun, we trek into the village with a chorus of “Mingalabar, mingalabar (hello, hello),” bearing tiny koalas from the Aussie in our entourage. The tribe has seen few foreigners like us since tensions increased in a distant region of their country. But few are privy to headlines in this remote village. There’s one TV in town, Thun reveals, but no one watches it much.
It’s dusk when the most able-bodied villagers are returning from the fields. Some steer bullock carts through dusty paths, others ride bareback astride massive oxen. In the village, women light campfires for the evening meal while kids scamper around in flip-flops, some with younger siblings slung on their backs, riding piggyback. After dinner, the village sleeps, as most days begin before dawn. It’s a rural lifestyle sans fast food, flush toilets, ovens, dishwashers and CNN. Yet no one seems bothered by what they don’t have here.
Responsible Travel or Guilt Trip?
Before signing on for this tour, I had the same questions many travelers ask when considering a trip to a nation engaged in appalling human rights violations. “How does one justify travel to a country that jails journalists and practices horrific ethnic cleansing?” I queried Horton’s team. “Will my dollars help support military dictators or trickle down to local communities?”
The response acknowledged the oppression of the Muslim Rohingyas under Myanmar’s military regime. “This has much sabotaged peace-building efforts of Aung San Suu Kyi’s fragile government,” it noted. Reassurances followed: “Tourism is employing tens of thousands of people across the nation and is one of the sectors that provides much-needed employment to help elevate lives.” Finally, the clincher: “We make sure not a single dollar or kyat will end up with oppressive military regime groups, individuals or cronies supporting this regime.”
Rewind to Mandalay
Cruising up the Ayeyarwady River from Mandalay on Day Two of my two-week Myanmar adventure, politics are far from my mind. We jump ship at Mingun, site of Hsinbyume Pagoda, where vermillion-robed monks stand out against whitewashed waves said to represent Mt. Sumeru, the mountain at the center of the Buddhist cosmos.
In predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, virtually every boy enters a monastery for a few weeks to several months. After immersion in the principles of Buddhism, he can return to secular life or choose to confirm his vows. Many girls, especially those from poor and rural regions, also are sent to monastic schools for spiritual training, as well as free education.
At Aung Myae Oo monastic school in Sagaing, we engage with students in a hive of classrooms. Founded in 2003 by a monk called Ponchi, the school now educates some 2,350 children, some from war-torn northern Myanmar, others poor and orphaned local children. Tuition is free, but the school relies on donations from visitors and the local community to survive. We drop ours into a collection box near a sign detailing costs for a 10-month course of study.
A Reverent Land
In the days that follow, we travel via boat, bike, horse-cart, plane and mini-bus through a reverent land that seems to spare no expense in building shrines of devotion. On the road to Monywa, the spectacle of Bodhi Tataung (1,000 Buddhas) rises from a hillside — a vast Buddha-rama with a golden, 424-foot standing Buddha at its center, complemented by a reclining Buddha and an unfinished sitting Buddha.
On a slope overlooking Bagan, we set up tripods before dawn to capture sunrise over a surreal profusion of ancient shrines against a backdrop of hot-air balloons. High above Pindaya, we prowl the maze-like Shwe Oo Min Cave, a cavernous display of floor-to-ceiling Buddhas donated by pilgrims and international agencies. Many sport knees with rubbed-off gold leaf — evidence of countless devotees who’ve touched the statues’ folded legs, hoping to receive blessings.
Inle Lake and Yangon
The small town of Nyaungshwe is our base for exploring Inle Lake, where long-tail boats transport us to cigar-rolling factories, weaving workshops and a home for Burmese cats. Along with a tiny arsenal of Burmese phrases, our cameras open doors to an enclave of long-necked Kayan ladies, weaving textiles to help support their tribe.
At sunset, we drop into boats with Inle Lake’s leg-rowing fishermen, hoping to capture Myanmar’s signature image: a fisherman balancing stork-like on one leg, giant conical net in hand, while steering his boat with the other leg wrapped around an oar. The following morning, we ride bikes to Shwe Yan Pyay Monastery, a 19th-century gem of Burmese architecture.
An hour-long flight brings us to Yangon, home of golden Shwedagon Pagoda and birthplace of our local guide. In gritty streets lined with colonial-era architecture, Thun shares episodes of his childhood, when his journalist father was jailed by the military regime. Fluent in both English and Burmese, the sturdy Burman has been a cultural go-between on our adventure, bridging connections with local farmers, fishermen, weavers, cigar-rollers and parasol-makers in his native land.
Should Politics Matter?
Should politics influence your choice of travel destination? As a responsible traveler, do you stay home to boycott an ill-principled regime? Or do you visit, hoping to better understand the culture and people it forcibly governs?
In a world riddled with extremism, bigotry and corruption, restricting your travel to countries with ethical regimes would prove limiting, if not impossible. All of Asia would be out, as would Africa, the Middle East, parts of Europe and many countries in North and South America. If travel truly broadens the mind, does staying home in protest effectively shrink awareness?
While some argue that visiting Myanmar condones a corrupt regime, others maintain that boycotts only hurt locals. As the Rohingya crisis has escalated in an isolated region, tourism has declined throughout the country, leaving the souvenir-sellers, street vendors and guest house operators who rely on it struggling to survive. Yet foreigners are safe and welcome in all areas open to tourism, where you’re far less likely to fall victim to pickpockets than in Rome, Paris or New York. In a country that embraces karma as spiritual currency, where people actively practice their belief of gaining spiritual merit by assisting others, theft is virtually nonexistent.
In the end, jarring headlines focus on only one aspect of the world’s most devout Buddhist nation. Its soul is revealed in markets, monasteries, factories, paddy fields and rural villages, where locals welcome foreigners to their troubled land as it fights for a future free of oppression.
By Melissa Adams /
Melissa Adams is an award-winning photojournalist whose travel and lifestyle features appear in numerous print and online publications. She explores the hidden gems, sexy secrets and colorful culture of her adopted city at UnClogged in Amsterdam: An American Expat Plumbs Holland.
Nathan Horton runs small group photography tours throughout Southeast Asia that focus on authentic interaction with local cultures, as well as camera technique. For more information about the Myanmar Classic tour, visit Nathan Horton Photography Tours.
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The Style News You Might Have Missed This Week
Justin Bieber tries on some OFF-WHITE, Stussy and Carhartt team up, and Rihanna drops some new kicks.
By Ali Suliman
1. Stussy and Carhartt link up for WIP's 25th Anniversary
Carhartt's streetwear WIP line just celebrated their 25th anniversary, and in collaboration with streetwear pioneer, Stussy are releasing a fresh collection of street and workwear. Take a look at the collection here.
2. Justin Bieber Takes James Corden Shopping
Fresh off the release of his new album, Bieber stopped by James Corden's Late Late Show where the two stars sang duets in a car trip that ultimately culminated in some shopping. The two exchanged outfits picks for one another, and the result was a lot of OFF-WHITE.
3. There's A New Yeezy 750 Boost Coming Soon
Fresh off the release of his last sneaker, Yeezy shows no signs of stopping as he gears up for the release of a new iteration of the 750 Boost. The hightop sneaker which originally released in grey in February 2015 is now slated to drop December 5 in a blacked out colorway.
4. Rihanna and Puma Are Back With New Sneakers
Rihanna and her Fenty design label have been busy at work with Puma. After selling out Riri's signature 'Creepers', Puma is releasing a new collection of the sneaker silhouette in 3 new color variations today, November 20, and are available on Puma's website now.
5. Thrasher connects with Japan's own Challenger
Skate magazine Thrasher links up with Japanese up and coming streetwear imprint Challenger on a collection of tees, hoodies, coats, and accessories. The collection releases in the coming weeks on Challenger's webstore.
Accessories, Ali Suliman, carhartt, Challenger, Clothing, Footwear, PUMA, Stussy, Thrasher, yeezy boosts
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MacBook Air 13-inch: If you squint hard enough, you'll see a lesser-spotted Apple Price Cut
Tiny speed bump, no Retina, £100 lighter
By Stephen Dean 21 May 2014 at 13:29
Review I suppose this is one of those glass half-empty, half-full situations. For months, the interweb was aflutter with rumours of a new MacBook Air with a high-definition Retina display to match that of the MacBook Pro.
Apple's MacBook Air 2014-style: use the price cut to get more RAM
However, when the 2014 version of the MacBook Air duly arrived, the Retina display was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the only real change to the aging laptop’s hardware was a minor processor speed boost – up from 1.3GHz to a breath-taking 1.4GHz.
That’s the half-empty scenario. The half-full version gives us a £100 price cut that brings the 11-inch model down to £749 for the standard configuration with a 1.4GHz Intel Core i5-4350U CPU, 4GB of memory and 128GB solid-state drive. The 13-inch model reviewed here starts at £849 with the same specification, and the SSD in either model can be doubled to 256GB for another £150 – which isn’t a great bargain.
No visible changes from the outside, you only notice differences within and in your wallet
As always, there are numerous build-to-order options, including an i7 processor running at 1.7GHz for an extra £130, although you'd probably want to spend any extra cash on doubling the memory to 8GB of RAM if you intend to keep it for a while. Needless to say, those prices are still relatively high compared to Windows laptops with a similar specification, but at least it’s better than the price rises that we normally get with new Apple products.
The lack of a Retina Display is disappointing, though. The 13.3-inch display of the larger MacBook Air hasn’t been updated for several years and remains stuck at just 1440 x 900 resolution.
Spot the difference: up to 1.4GHz from the 1.3GHz Core i-4250U CPU in last year's model
To be fair, the image quality is still extremely good – it’s bright and colourful, provides good viewing angles, and is more than adequate for most routine tasks. But ‘adequate’ doesn’t cut it when you’re paying Apple prices, and when there are Windows rivals such as Lenovo’s Yoga 2 Pro boasting 3200 x 1800 resolution for less than a grand.
The processor speed bump is virtually insignificant too. After the usual fun and games attempting to use Boot Camp to install Windows 7 (see stage 8 to avoid headaches) the MacBook Air managed a PCMark 7 score of 4178 points compared to 4157 for its predecessor.
PCMark 8 details the performance when running Windows in Boot Camp – click for a larger image
The Home Computing test suite in PCMark 8 also produced a fairly modest score of 2460 points, as well as reporting a casual gaming speed of just 21fps. However, the MacBook Air fares better when running Mac-native games such as Diablo III (v2.0 – now with added end-game), and seems quite capable of some casual gaming action every now and then.
Ultimately, though, the one thing that does still make the MacBook Air stand out is its excellent battery life. The intensive battery tests in PCMark 8 ran the battery flat in 4.5 hours – a respectable result, but hardly outstanding. However, my BBC iPlayer test doubled that to nine hours of streaming video, and casual use with occasional Wi-Fi down at a local watering hole matched the 12-hour battery life of last year’s model.
Battery life still remains a strong point with the MacBook Air – 12 hours of rolling news, anyone?
In fact, I strongly suspect that the need to maintain battery life is the reason Apple hasn’t produced a more significant update to the MacBook Air. We’ve seen numerous Windows Ultrabooks that provide greater performance and display resolution than the MacBook Air, but few that come anywhere near its battery endurance. And, at just 1.35kg and 17mm thick, this ageing laptop can still claim to be one of the lightest and most compact ultra-portables on the market.
The Reg Verdict
Many people will harp on about the dated display, but that £100 price cut will appeal to plenty of people who just want a lightweight laptop with good battery life. That should keep sales going for a few months yet, but this old dog needs to learn a few new tricks if it wants to keep its position as leader of the pack. ®
Speed bumped 13in MacBook Air base model featuring a 1.4GHz Intel Core i5-4350U CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD.
Price: £849 RRP
More Info: Apple's website
Archive storage comes to Google Cloud: Will it give AWS and Azure the cold shoulder?
Fast retrieval and 'Bucket lock' security, but not the cheapest for cloud storage
Shhh! Microsoft, Intel, Google and more sign up to the Confidential Computing Consortium
You can make your own joke about foxes and hen houses...
Hard, er, Core: Qumulo dropkicks scale-out storage software at Google's cloud
AWS shucks... they've only gone GCP
Google sells 'predictable' storage costs: $120k for a year before you get a foot in the door, though
Get the forecast right and you'll get a, er, discount
You know what's besides the XPoint, Intel? Somebody else's storage-class memory – SK Hynix
Another vendor mounts the crossbars
Ovation claps together private cloud storage service with HGST, Versity basis
Entertaining archival store for media and oil-slinging types
Ex-Intel exec Diane Bryant exits Google cloud
Could Chipzilla replace Brian with a Bryant?
Xilinx FPGA. Nvidia GPU storage. 56-core Intel Xeons versus AMD next-gen Epyc. It's all kicking off in data-center world
Roundup Your quick summary of news from the server room
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Metrolinx's love for the business traveller goes unrequited: Keenan
By Edward KeenanColumnist
Sat., Sept. 26, 2015timer4 min. read
Most of us can only wish that anyone loved us as much as Metrolinx, our provincial transit agency, loves the fabled “business traveller.” Metrolinx loves the business traveller like politicians love the middle class: loudly, extravagantly, longingly.
They love business travellers so much that they spent $456 million in public money to build a train line from Union Station to Pearson Airport to serve them. They love business travellers so much that they run 156 trains a day on those tracks, trains equipped with meal trays, in-ride magazines and large luggage racks. Trains with seating for 173 people that actually carry an average of… fewer than 15 people per trip.
That’s a lot of leg room and a lot of public money subsidizing that luxury ride. But such is the nature of Metrolinx’s love.
Oh, the business traveller plays hard to get — ridership numbers three months after the UPX train service on the airport line launched are about 30 per cent lower than they were projected to be at this point, and are down about 23 per cent from the 3,250 riders it attracted in its first week in service — but Metrolinx and its provincial government masters will not be dissuaded from their courtship.
“We are very pleased with ridership so far,” the agency’s recent report read, “and we anticipate that we will reach our daily ridership target of 5,000 riders by the end of the first full year of operation.”
Ah, 5,000 riders per day. At that point, trains will be running just three-quarters empty instead of nine-tenths empty. That’s the magic number, see! Because that’s the number that means the UPX will be on track to… continue losing money running mostly empty luxury trains for another two to four years. But at that point, it will reach its “mature ridership” of about 8,200 riders per day (trains about 30 per cent full!) and will thenceforth break even on its ongoing operating costs.
Those business travellers will never generate the revenue to recover the half-billion investment in building the thing, you understand, the executive who built the line told my colleague Tess Kalinowski last year.
But it will stop costing us all money to run those trains, at that point three to five years from now. That is, if business travellers just decide they love UPX as much as Metrolinx loves them.
And who knows? Maybe Metrolinx is right. Maybe the seduction will work out as they plan, and by 2020 they will achieve that romantic break-even relationship with business travellers.
But that will be cold comfort to the rest of us — we the spurned, who are not “business travellers,” but travellers who only want to get to on with our business, we unloved “commuters.” Because by 2020, we’ll still be a year away from the opening of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line Metrolinx is building for our use, we learned this week.
If this were a romantic comedy, we dowdy commuters would be played by Janeane Garofalo, just quietly being cool and loyal and constantly ignored because our love interest is too smitten by the glamourous leading lady.
On our way to transit spinsterhood, many of us lowly commuters would love to ride the UPX to work. Many of us, as I wrote earlier this summer, live and work near the stations, and would see our lives greatly improved by affordable access to the empty trains that are passing us by while we wait for our crowded buses to arrive.
We have the desire, and the trains are right there. What we don’t have is the one thing business travellers do: expense accounts. Because who could afford to pay $22.80 a day return — plus TTC fare to and from the station for many — to take the eight-minute ride to Union from Bloor? Or the $30.40 a day to go from Weston to downtown and back?
As an aside: UPX, even if it ran at full seated capacity, can only carry 692 people in one direction per hour. There are many bus routes in Toronto that carry more people than that. This line is never going to provide meaningful “relief” — in the terminology of our transit debates — to our overflowing subway lines during rush hour. But it’s possible to imagine it could provide some relief to a few hundred people each day who might ride it.
It may strike many of us as reasonable that Metrolinx might consider, as long as it is running these mostly-empty trains anyway, on tracks the people of Toronto (and Ontario) paid dearly to build, that the service could be opened up to commuters for a small premium over the usual TTC fare. Or at least for the equivalent of the existing GO fare (less than $10 return from Bloor to Union if you buy in bulk). What would it hurt to try it as a promotion, and see how it works, at least until the business traveller falls in love and needs the seat? Is that unreasonable?
Alas, reason doesn’t come into it. Metrolinx has given its heart to the idea of a premium, exclusive service for airport business travellers. And the heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.
Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca . Follow: @thekeenanwire
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Dainik Statesman
Home / Sports / Need more time at Manchester United: Jose Mourinho
Need more time at Manchester United: Jose Mourinho
United have struggled to create goals with Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic the main threat in their forward line.
IANS | Manchester | November 24, 2016 9:17 am
Jose Mourinho (Photo: AFP)
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has admitted that he needs more time to build a team that can emulate the dominance in English football that former manager Alex Ferguson achieved during his time at the club.
Mourinho took over from former manager Louis van Gaal in May 2016 and has seen mixed results with the former English Premier League (EPL) champions so far.
The team has generally struggled to create goals with veteran Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic the main threat in their forward line. Somewhat surprisingly, the defence has not exactly covered themselves in glory either.
In the 12 games that they have played, United have managed only 17 goals and have conceded 14. They currently lie at sixth place in the EPL table with 19 points, nine behind current league leaders Chelsea who are Mourinho's former employers.
Mourinho, however, pointed out that Ferguson took four years to win his first major trophy in English football and insisted that it may take time for his managerial skills to have an impact at the club.
Ferguson spent 26 years at Manchester United, during which he won 38 trophies, including 13 EPL titles, five FA Cups and two Champions League titles.
“The best manager in the history of the Premier League needed a few years to build such a successful period. If the best needed that time, means that the others also need that time,” Mourinho was quoted as saying by the Independent on Wednesday.
The former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager admitted that he is finding the going tough at Old Trafford, but insisted that he was prepared for the pressure of managing a big club.
“The job is as difficult as I was expecting. I was not expecting the job to be easy. I said that I wanted to try to win the EPL but at the same time I thought that was a risky approach with my words,” Mourinho said.
“My words were not defensive with the risk. I knew it was going to be very difficult.”
The 53-year-old, who has won the EPL twice with Chelsea, asserted that he wants to stay at Manchester United beyond his current three-year contract, but admitted that he will have to earn it by delivering results.
“I am in the beginning of my contract. I am in the beginning of the process. Let's go step by step,” he said..
“If you ask me would I like to be successful in these three years, would I like to stay here for more time than these three years, then yes.”
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TABERNACLE CHOIR AT TEMPLE SQUARE Menu
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Tickets Still Available For Atlantic Coast Tour—Act Now!
Alex Boyé, guest soloist for the Choir’s Summer Tour, sings “Goin’ Home” with the Choir and Orchestra.
Making plans for summer? Want to revel in classical and folk music or sit back and enjoy a picturesque outdoor concert venue? If so, then get tickets now for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Atlantic Coast tour. Over the course of the tour the Choir’s repertoire will cover everything from classical masterworks, beloved hymns, American folk hymns and spirituals and music from Broadway. From June 25 thru July 6, 2015 the world-renowned 360-voice choir and 68 members of the Orchestra at Temple Square will be singing in Bethesda, Maryland, New York City, Saratoga Springs (NY), Bethel (NY) and Boston. Tickets are still available for performances but don’t wait or you’ll be disappointed.
Getting tickets is easy. Just click here — www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/tour — for the tour page of the Choir’s website and links to each venue.
Guest artist on tour is longtime friend and former Choir member, now a YouTube sensation, Alex Boyé.
A special addition this year is an opportunity for those attending concerts to virtually “Sing with the Choir.” Thanks to green screen technology, audience members will be able to put themselves smack dab in the middle of the Choir and sing along to that well-known American folk hymn “Amazing Grace.” Introduced at the American Choral Directors Association Conference earlier this year, “Sing with the Choir” drew more than 300 people and was an amazing attraction. Everyone gets an email with a YouTube link of their personal “performance” to share with friends and family. It’s anticipated that the “Sing with the Choir” experience will be available at venues in Bethesda, Bethel, Saratoga Springs, and Boston.
And if you prefer to watch a ball game as you enjoy Choir music, the New York Yankees have invited the Choir to sing a selection of patriotic songs followed by the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium on July 3. Tickets can be purchased for 50 % off select seats for this Yankees vs. Rays game. Visit www.yankees.com/MTC and use discount code YANKEEDOODLE.
Follow us for more insights on songs and performances by the Choir:
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Hospital discharge delays drop across Lancashire - and hit "impossible" target
There was scepticism that targets to reduce discharge delays in Lancashire could be met.
Paul Faulkner
Delays in hospital discharges across Lancashire fell rapidly during the early part of the summer, raising hopes that the county’s health and social care services will be on a stronger footing going into this winter than last.
So-called delayed transfers of care (DTOCs) dropped by more than 40 percent in the twelve months to June 2018 - and Lancashire is now meeting government targets to reduce the length of time patients spend in hospital unnecessarily. That month, a total of just over 2,700 unnecessary days were spent in hospital by people who were medically fit to leave.
READ MORE >>> Hospital discharges delayed by "unnecessary" checks
But the Lancashire County Council area - which excludes Blackpool and Blackburn - is still in a far healthier position than this time last year, when its poor performance put the authority’s share of extra government investment in social care under threat.
The county ultimately kept all of its £25m grant from the the Improved Better Care Fund (IBCF) - and a recent meeting of the Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board heard that the additional cash was crucial to keeping patients flowing through the system.
“The last year has seen a great improvement in the level of co-operation between health and social care - the IBCF money has provided some impetus for that,” Paul Robinson, Better Care Fund Manager, told board members.
READ MORE >>> Patients stranded in hospital beds are deepening NHS winter crisis
The board’s chair, County Cllr Shaun Turner, added that NHS and social care organisations should be “buoyed” by their success in meeting targets which many thought were “impossible” when they were published last year.
But there was a warning that the system could not become reliant on the boost to funding, which is due to taper off by 2020. Less than half the amount received in 2017/18 alone is due to be paid out in total over the next two years.
“The extra money which made the difference is non-recurrent money,” Mark Youlton, Accountable Officer for East Lancashire CCG, told the meeting. “We have shown when we knuckle down to deliver things, we can do - but not if the money isn’t sustainable.”
Individual DTOCs are recorded as being the responsibility of either local authority-run social care services or the the NHS - depending on which part of the system has caused the delay.
Figures presented to the board revealed that social care made the greatest contribution to the reduction - cutting hold-ups in arranging things like care packages by 55 percent. The NHS reduced its portion of the delay, including waits for discharge assessments, by 23 percent.
That means the NHS is now responsible for the majority of delays, reversing the position from this time last year.
Mark Youlton said the recent improvements were the result of organisations daring to do something different.
“Because we felt we were all in it together, we didn’t bother so much about bureaucracy - we thought, ‘sod it - let’s have a go and see if it works’,” Mr. Youlton said. “Some of the things we did, like discharge [and then] assess, we had talked about for years - and we just did it. That generated a momentum.”
Morecambe care home conversion plans would give site a “much needed uplift”
The board heard that government expectations for DTOC performance in Lancashire were now less challenging. However, there will be a new focus on reducing each patient's overall length of stay in hospital.
Lancashire is now close to the top half a of a league table which ranks local authority areas based on DTOC rates. Last year, it was in the bottom quarter.
Lancaster man charged with attempted murder after Morecambe pub knife attack
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CHECK OUT OUR NEW MAGAZINE!
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Tag: Birmingham Royal Ballet
The Duchess of Cornwall will visit Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham on 22 January 2020
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Dance Hub extension sets Birmingham in motion to become major UK centre for performing arts
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David Bintley CBE to step down as Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet
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Shaun Woodward
Former Labour MP for St Helens South and Whiston
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A selection of Shaun Woodward's votes
See full list of topics voted on
Generally voted against a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU Show votes 0 votes for, 5 votes against, 4 absences, between 2008–2014
Almost always voted against greater restrictions on campaigning by third parties, such as charities, during elections Show votes 0 votes for, 8 votes against, 3 absences, between 2013–2014
Generally voted against a reduction in spending on welfare benefits Show votes 1 vote for, 11 votes against, 19 absences, between 2010–2015
Generally voted for more EU integration Show votes 39 votes for, 3 votes against, 26 absences, between 2006–2014
Almost always voted against an equal number of electors per parliamentary constituency Show votes 0 votes for, 9 votes against, 1 absence, between 2010–2013
Voted a mixture of for and against a more proportional system for electing MPs Show votes 2 votes for, 1 vote against, 1 absence, in 2010
We have lots more plain English analysis of Shaun Woodward’s voting record on issues like health, welfare, taxation and more. Visit Shaun Woodward’s full vote analysis page for more.
Oral Answers to Questions — Business, Innovation and Skills: Today’s Business of the House 26 Mar 2015
The office of Speaker in this House is the guardian of fairness. Will the right hon. Gentleman explain how the reputation of Parliament and the fairness of this House is enhanced by his not sharing even at the beginning of this week his intention to bring about this debate today? Across the country, people look at Parliament, whose reputation has not been enhanced by many of the actions taken...
Written Answers — Home Department: Passports 22 Jul 2014
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applicants for a UK passport have paid an upgrade fee to fast-track their application after having submitted that application at a passport office at each such office and in each of the last 12 months.
Business of the House: Hallett Review 17 Jul 2014
I, too, thank the right hon. Lady for advance sight of the report, and join her in remembering not only the victims of the Hyde Park bombing, but all the people to whom the right hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson) referred who lost their lives in the course of the troubles. I also thank Lady Justice Hallett for a very comprehensive report. As a former Secretary of State, I accept...
More of Shaun Woodward’s recent appearances
Entered the House of Commons on 1 May 1997 — General election
Left the House of Commons on 30 March 2015 — General election
Party was Conservative until 17 Dec 1999
Also represented St Helens South; Witney
BBC News profile
Early Day Motions signed by this MP
Expenses from 2004 to 2009
Expenses from 2010 onwards
Trade and Industry
Home Department
Miners' Compensation
Equal Opportunities/Pay
Other offices held in the past
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (12 May 2010 to 7 Oct 2011)
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (28 Jun 2007 to 6 May 2010)
Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) (Creative Industries & Tourism) (5 May 2006 to 28 Jun 2007)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Northern Ireland Office) (10 May 2005 to 5 May 2006)
Member, Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art (16 Oct 2003 to 11 Jul 2005)
Member, Human Rights (Joint Committee) (7 Jun 2001 to 12 Jul 2005)
Member, Foreign Affairs Committee (25 Jan 1999 to 5 Jul 1999)
Member, European Scrutiny Committee (17 Nov 1998 to 26 Jul 1999)
Member, European Legislation Committee (15 Jul 1997 to 17 Nov 1998)
Future MPs in this constituency
Marie Rimmer
Public bill committees (Sittings attended)
Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill Committee (2 out of 2)
Terrorism (Northern Ireland) Bill Committee (1 out of 1)
Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill Committee (2 out of 2)
Gambling Bill Committee (1 out of 14)
Gender Recognition Bill Committee (5 out of 6)
Gambling Bill Committee (1 out of 6)
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill Committee (6 out of 8)
Courts Bill Committee (6 out of 7)
Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill Committee (10 out of 12)
Please note that numbers do not measure quality. Also, representatives may do other things not currently covered by this site. More about this
Has spoken in 2 debates in the last year — well below average amongst MPs. See all Shaun Woodward’s speeches
Has received answers to 2 written questions in the last year — below average amongst MPs.
Replied within 2 or 3 weeks to a medium number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2014, according to constituents.
Has voted in 42.62% of votes in this Parliament with this affiliation — well below average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip)
This MP’s speeches, in Hansard, are readable by an average 17–18 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.
63 people are tracking this MP
Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. "she sells seashells") 355 times in debates — average amongst MPs. (Why is this here?)
Last updated: 30 Mar 2015.
2. Remunerated employment, office, profession etc
From 19 February 2013, Advisor to Reichmuth & Co Privatbankiers, Tödistrasse 63, CH-8002 Zurich. Remuneration: £35,000 a half year. Hours: expected to be approximately 10 days. (Registered 11 June 2013)
August 2014, received £35,000. Hours: 10 days. (Registered 19 August 2014)
From 2 May 2013, advisor to R K Harrison, insurance and reinsurance brokers, One Whittington Avenue, London EC3V 1LE. Remuneration: £10,000 a year. Hours: as required. (Registered 11 June 2013)
July 2014, received £16,000. Hours: 5 days. (Registered 26 August 2014)
Received on 15 May 2014 a payment of £285 from The Observer, Guardian News and Media, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, for an article. Hours: 2 hrs. (Registered 5 June 2014)
From December 2014, advisor to Communispace (specialists in global branding and creating online communities), 290 Congress Street, 7th Floor, Boston, MA, USA. Expected time commitment to be approximately 3 days per quarter year. (Registered 9 February 2015)
11 January 2015, received £3,500 for consultancy work. Hours: 1 day. Return airfare from London to Boston and one night’s accommodation also provided by Communispace. (Registered 11 February 2015)
6. Overseas visits
Name of donor: Embassy of the State of Qatar
Address of donor: 1 South Audley St, London W1K 1NB
Amount of donation (or estimate of the probable value): flights, other travel and hotel costs
with an estimated value of £4,550
Destination of visit: Doha, Qatar
Date of visit: 11-15 May 2014
Purpose of visit: to attend the 2014 Doha Forum
(Registered 5 June 2014)
8. Land and Property
I own properties in France, New York State and the West Indies from which rental income is received.
9. Registrable shareholdings
(a) Office of Shaun Woodward MP (Registered 23 April 2013)
(b) J. Sainsbury PLC.
Unremunerated trusteeships:
Human Dignity Trust (from April 2012)
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) (from February 2013)
LAMDA Capital Campaign (Chairman) (from February 2013)
The Hamptons International Film Festival (Hon Chairman) (from February 2013)
(Registered 28 February 2013)
View the history of this MP’s entries in the Register
More about the register
Note for journalists and researchers: The data on this page may be used freely, on condition that TheyWorkForYou.com is cited as the source.
This data was produced by TheyWorkForYou from a variety of sources. Voting information from Public Whip.
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Opnion
[ January 20, 2020 ] Zimbabwe ruling party, police clash Law & Crime
[ January 20, 2020 ] Zimbabwe anti-corruption agency cracks down on theft of drugs from public hospitals Health
[ January 20, 2020 ] World shares mixed ahead of central bank decisions Capital & Money Markets
[ January 20, 2020 ] UK looks to fast-growing Africa for trade ties after Brexit World News
[ January 20, 2020 ] Britain’s Prince Harry attends Africa conference in London World News
HomeMainZimbabwe churches meet Ramaphosa over political and economic crisis
Zimbabwe churches meet Ramaphosa over political and economic crisis
December 12, 2019 Staff Reporter Main, Politics 0
SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa has reportedly expressed concern over the unfolding socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe and pledged his government’s support to a churches’ initiative towards finding a lasting solution.
Ramaphosa met the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Olav FykseTveit, Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) general secretary Kenneth Mtata on Monday among other delegates where the Zimbabwe question was also discussed.
Mtata is also the chairperson of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FOCCISA), a network of National Councils of Churches (NCC) in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region.
According to a statement by Mtata, the South African President expressed concern “about the challenges that Zimbabwe continue to face leading to many fleeing that country.”
“He said that he was aware of the famine, doctors’ industrial action, the fuel queues, and broader social challenges. He said he was committed to making sure that his government would support efforts towards a lasting solution,” Mtata said.
The clergy, under the ZCC banner, are pushing for a National Convergence Platform (NCP) which will be signed on December 13.
It seeks to bring together all political parties, civic society groups and Zimbabweans from all sectors toinput into a national vision that seeks to, among others, get the country out of its political and socio- economic crisis.
The country’s multi-faceted crisis is manifesting in hunger and deep-seated poverty among others bedevilling the generality of the populace with analysts warning this could plunge Zimbabwe into becoming a failed State.
Mtata added: “He (Ramaphosa) said that his government was committed in making sure that sanctions are lifted on Zimbabwe, even if they are targeted on certain individuals.
“The country will be perceived as an unattractive investment destination. He recognised with appreciation the efforts of the churches in finding a lasting solution through dialogue. He said his government would support such initiatives towards a lasting solution.”
On the political front, the opposition MDC is questioning the legitimacy of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and insists on dialogue to deal with the legitimacy issue.
Mnangagwa has said he is open to dialogue with MDC leader Nelson Chamisa but under Political Parties Dialogue (Polad) meetings with some opposition parties that participated in the 2018 presidential elections.
Tveit said, after the closed meeting between Ramaphosa and the delegation: “The meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa was a unique occasion to raise global issues on the agenda of the World Council of Churches which are also significant challenges for the churches and the society of South Africa today.”
While Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko could not be reached for comment yesterday, a statement by the South African leader’s office confirmed the meeting with WCC leaders at the Lakes Hotel in Benoni, Gauteng.
“The engagement by the President with the highest echelon of the clergy\p is in the context of advancing the objective of realising a socially cohesive and safe South Africa and the world,” read a statement from Ramaphosa’s office.- News Day
published 17919 articles
Farming & Enviroment
TZM-TV
Copyright © 2020 | The Zimbabwe Mail Online - Your News! Your Views! Your Life!
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361: Fear of Sleep
Act Four
Hollywood-Induced Nightmare
Seth Lind
Production manager Seth Lind explains how he ended up watching Stanley Kubrick's The Shining when he was six years old, and how it led to two years where every night he had trouble falling asleep and nightmares. Seth is a member of the improv comedy group Thank You, Robot and hosts a live storytelling show in New York called Told. (7 minutes)
“Sleepwalker” by Brother Ali
663: How I Read It
Act One: The Veritas Is Out There
There’s a lawsuit going on between Harvard and some Asian American students who say the admissions process discriminates against them.
645: My Effing First Amendment
Round Two: The Fiasca in Nebraska
The brawl on the mall of the University of Nebraska turns into a fiasco at the state capitol, as legislators try to step in and dictate what should happen at the university. (16 1/2 minutes)
Round One: The Brawl on the Mall
Reporter Steve Kolowich goes to the University of Nebraska where one new recruit to Turning Point goes out on campus to sign people up for her club.
Abdi and the Golden Ticket
A story about someone who's desperately trying – against long odds – to make it to the United States and become an American.
One car dealership tries to sell 129 cars. It is way more chaotic than we expected.
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: Family
TagAddictionAlcoholCrimeFamily
: Josh Bearman
ContributorJosh Bearman
Josh Bearman
Josh writes for Wired, GQ, Rolling Stone, and founded Epic, a magazine for narrative non-fiction. His weightlifting snowman story in episode 323 was made into a t-shirt, and his Santa story in 371 might be made into a film.
334: Duty Calls
Josh Bearman grew up in California with his dad, stepmom, and brother. But they're not his whole family.
Josh Bearman continues his story by looking at how things got so bad for his mother and David in the first place.
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The Nightwalker
Bobby Ives never meant to hurt his lover. It was a bizarre accident, a morbid impulse, with his hands apparently pushing her beneath the wheels of a city bus. Then it happened again, a playful race with a jogger in Hyde Park. And that was just the beginning.
"The Nightwalker is perhaps the finest werewolf novel of the last twenty years...scary, grim, fast-paced, very good." -- Stephen King
"The Nightwalker has brutal action and a welcome sense of ambiguity." -- Huffington Post
Ten year old Ned Covington is afraid. There are monsters in his room. His friends think he is imagining them. But he knows they are real. The grownups say they will go away in the daylight. But it's daytime now. And they're coming after him...
Phantom is the story of what happens when the lights come on...and the horror doesn't go away.
Nominated for a World Fantasy Award
"Chilling!" -- Library Journal
"A touching, scary book." -- Horror Literature: A Reader's Guide
"A compelling humanist ghost story." Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural
Jeff has always loved Georgianne, ever since they were kids - with a love so strong, so obsessive, it sometimes drives him to do crazy things. Scary things. Like stalking Georgianne and everyone she loves, including her caring husband and her innocent teenage daughter. Jeff doesn't think there's room in Georgianne's life for anyone but him, and if he has to, he's ready to kill all the others...until he's the only one left.
"Erotic and hypnotic. Rapture is great!"
"Nicely wrought psychological suspense. Superb!"
-- Chicago Sun-Times
"Completely frightening!" -- Richmond Times Dispatch
Fog Heart
Two couples, both skeptical and desperate, are drawn together by a medium named Oona, a fragile, beautiful young woman who knows things that no other living person should know. Is her gift real, or is it the sign of a consuming madness?
"A sense not just of evil but of spiritual terror...suspenseful, shocking, harrowing, but also very moving and written in prose of great elegance and power." -- Ramsey Campbell
"It is the emotional hurt that Thomas Tessier inflicts on his characters that is the most horrifying aspect." -- Fangoria
Tom Sutherland, a young doctor from the Midwest, decides to spend time in London before starting this practice. There he meets Dr. Roger Nordhagen, a cosmetic surgeon, and his assistant, Lina, who seduce Sutherland into their fantasy world of eroticism, cruelty, and power.
"Splendidly evocative - even mesmerizing." -- Booklist
"A novel of erotic cruelty. Seductive and compulsively readable." -- Publishers Weekly
Father Panic's Opera Macabre
Neil O'Netty, a successful young historical novelist, is enjoying a leisurely driving tour through the rugged countryside and ancient hill towns of eastern Italy, when he is forced to seek assistance at a remote farmhouse. There he meets the beautiful Marisa, and her elderly relatives. What starts out as a brief idyllic interlude in his journey soon blossoms into a fierce, all-consuming affair with Marisa.
So intense is his passion for her, so complete the spell she casts over him, that Neil scarcely has the time or interest to consider the disturbing and mysterious signs around him -- the vast decrepit house itself, with its hidden rooms and passageways, the bizarre sounds that echo through it, the gunshot in the night -- that form the physical and spiritual maze in which he finds himself. Marisa's defiant and deathless eroticism is the thread that leads Neil into the nightmarish center of the labyrinth and propels the story to its shocking and unforgettable conclusion.
"In a Thomas Tessier story, tension rises like a frightful fever and then peaks at nightmare." -- Publishers Weekly
Ghost Music and Other Tales
Startling, eerie, unnerving — Thomas Tessier's fiction takes the reader into shadowy corners of experience where the everyday world breaks down and people are suddenly caught in disturbed states of mind, disturbed states of reality. These stories and novellas are rooted in the familiar, but permeated with an escalating sense of menace and terror.
Ghost Music collects Tessier's short fiction for the first time, and also includes two new, previously unpublished tales.
Review: Publishers Weekly
"Thomas Tessier's stories are beguiling, evocative, mesmerizing." -- American Library Association Booklist
Remorseless
Monsters are real. They lurk in the darkest places of this world, waiting to devour you, ready to tear into you. But the scariest monsters are the ones within you, driving you mad, feasting on you from the inside. They will eat you until there is nothing left, until the monster is all that remains. Until there is only sadness and insanity. And cruelty.
Fifteen tales from the mind of horror master Thomas Tessier.
"Thomas Tessier"s stories are chilling and terrifying." -- Library Journal
To some, the lights were beautiful ... to others, they were a warning.
When Martin Lasker first sees the mutilated cow he wonders what on earth could have caused it. But as more and more disasters occur and strange lights start to appear in the quiet town of Millville, Lasker is drawn into the mystery. Now, he is convinced something larger must be happening.
For Lasker, the most important questions are: where these lights could come from, and what could they mean? But the answers to these questions may be more painful than anyone expected...
"Thomas Tessier writes real horror; the way it should be done." -- Dread Central
The house was beautiful. Ringed by the mountains and the salt deserts of Utah, it was the perfect setting for their love. Only the gray buildings of the nearby state prison scarred the landscape.
Jackie, newly married, radiantly in love, found it a dream come true. For Brooks, the successful, ambitious lawyer, with dreams of political power, she was the perfect wife.
Who was 'The Blade', the brutal killer? Who was the stranger who shattered their love? Why did he vanish without a trace?
Review: Cemetery Dance
Wicked Things
The small town of Winship seems so perfect … on the surface. But as investigator Jack Carlson is finding out, appearances can be deceiving. He's looking into a rash of mysterious deaths in the town, but the more he pokes behind the picture-postcard facade, the more frightened her becomes. How could someone disappear in an open meadow, as if swallowed by the earth? Why does the ground seem to glow in spots? Why is no one able to stop the gangs of young thugs who roam the streets at will? Local residents are afraid to answer his questions—with good cause.
They know that Winship's tranquil exterior hides some truly … WICKED THINGS.
Thomas Tessier is a vastly talented writer and his stories are shocking...horrifying." -- Rocky Mountain News
Secret Strangers
Money may be the root of all evil - but in one small town there is greater malice abroad...
While babysitting for her neighbours, 17-year-old Heidi stumbles across illicit photographs.
She and her boyfriend decide to exploit these for their own gain, unaware of the magnitude of horror and tragedy that will result. And as they become greedier, suspicion and fear begin to corrode the heart of Clearville... with violence and retribution soon to follow.
Before long, Heidi and Gary are caught in a situation hurtling crazily out of control. The blackmailers are now the hunted, and even old friends are no longer quite what they seem.
"Clever, fast paced... an effectively chilling movie-in-the-mind" -- New York Times
"Thomas Tessier manages to create both horror and eroticism with the same expert touch." -- Dread Central
World of Hurt gathers twenty-eight short stories and novellas by the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of horror and suspense, Thomas Tessier. By turns disturbing, mysterious, harrowing and horrifying, these tales illuminate the darkness swirling on the edge of what is real and what is not -- in both the world around us and in the lives of people caught up in it.
Stories included in this collection:
In the Desert of Deserts
The Vacant Lot
Evelyn Grace
The Banshee
A Grub Street Tale
Ghost Music
La Mourante
The Infestation at Ralls
The Woman in the Club Car
Curing Hitler
The Green Menace
In Praise of Folly
The Ventriloquist
Torching the Escalade
Club Saudade
If You See Me, Say Hello
In the Sand Hills
I Remember Me
The Dreams of Dr. Ladybank
Scramburg, USA
Father Panic’s Opera Macabre
© 2018 Thomas Tessier
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The Gregorian
at BENEDICTINE COLLEGE
Speech Digest
Gregorian Fellows
Free subscription to The Gregorian
Conducting the Symphony of Truth
By Benedictine College, May 19, 2013
When I was in high school, I went to the symphony for the first time. I was impressed by the sound, the acoustics of Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. But I didn’t get the conductor. He didn’t play any instrument, and the musicians all had the music in front of them, anyway. Seemed like useless hand-waving, window dressing to me. Non-essential.
Like so many high school thoughts of mine, it was dead wrong. If we human beings are to do anything together, there must be a person to focus on, who coordinates our efforts toward the intended goal. A six skull crew boat could shed weight by ditching the coxswain, but at the price of the concerted strike that is the secret of their speed.
During his homily on Pentecost Sunday, Pope Francis spoke of the Holy Spirit’s role in the Church. His three-word (oh, how Jesuit) summary was “newness, harmony and mission.” The Holy Spirit is the source of many different gifts. (Though we name seven specific gifts, the number seven is also symbolic of fullness.) So it would seem that the Spirit is a source of diversity and confusion, like the different tongues at the Tower of Babel.
But the Holy Spirit is harmony. “One of Fathers of the Church has an expression which I love: the Holy Spirit himself is harmony – ‘Ipse harmonia est’. He is indeed harmony.” Harmony brings diversity into unity, but not uniformity.
We have all been to 5th grade band recitals with seven trumpets, five trombones, ten clarinets, eight flutes and the kid who was born to play the tuba, embracing his destiny. Jingle Bells thumps, unjinglingly, along: bum-bum-bum, bum-bum-bum, bum-BUM-bum-bum-BUUM… The band director does all she can do to keep them in rhythm. But the music is uniform.
It is a victory over total cacophony, but, -to borrow Robert Frost’s phrase- “still artless, uninspired, unenhanced.”
Now, the New York Philharmonic is a different story. It is a true symphony. Different sounds and rhythms arranged and brought into harmony. There is a unity of key and of purpose, not merely a uniformity of rhythm. It is unity through and despite the diversity of musical instruments, tonal qualities and dynamics. And it is glorious. And the person who brings it together is the conductor.
In the Church, it is the power of the Holy Spirit that helps bring diverse gifts together for the same mission, who helps us appreciate diversity and not manufacture it artificially (for there is nothing lamer than fake diversity.) His Holiness said, “Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and other, we bring division.”
As our wonderful parish choir director says, “To blend, you have to be able to hear a voice, a part that is not the one you are singing.” If in our work for the Church we can only hear ourselves, we probably are out of tune.
On this Solemnity of Pentecost, as she conducted us through Gabriel Faure’s Cantique de Jean Racine, I knew that we could not do it without her. She brought the diverse voices into a unity. She was doing for us what the Holy Spirit does, invisibly, for the Church.
But the Spirit assists the Holy Father in a special way. He conducts the 1.4 billion piece orchestra which is the Catholic Church. He reminds us what the notes are (for if we are off the page, we are not into unity with the Church), but no tone quality or culture is out of place. The pastors of the Church, and the Supreme Pastor above all, animated by the Holy Spirit’s special help, are the von Karajans that bring us into harmony. “Journeying together in the Church, under the guidance of her pastors who possess a special charism and ministry, is a sign of the working of the Holy Spirit,” Pope Francis reminded us.
Pentecost repairs Babel. It is a diversity that blossoms in unity, not uniformity. It is a unity made up of many gifts, many voices singing the same tune. It is symphonic.
Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. At my house, we always have a cake and candles. Those little fires and the breath that blows them out are traditional symbols of the Holy Spirit. But I may start a new tradition this year. As we sing Happy Birthday to the Church, in thanksgiving for the gift of the Spirit and of the Papacy, I think I’ll wave a baton.
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Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas. The school is proud to have been named one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report as well as one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by First Things magazine and the Newman Guide. It prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging. It has a mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.
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Home > WELLNESS > Music for the Spirit > The Universe - Singh Kaur
The Universe - Singh Kaur
This exquisite music is soothing, uplifting and will illuminate your heart with joy. This Universe is an enchanting message of love that radiates grace and serenity. The purity of Singh Kaur’s ethereal voice shines through on the extended ancient chant “This Universe,” a gorgeous and enchanting original version of “A Spark in the Night,” and a breathtaking musical version of “The Lord’s Prayer.”
In 1998, Singh Kaur teamed up with composer/musician Gary Stadler to provide the exquisite vocals for his album FAIRY NIGHT SONGS. Sadly, she passed away just before the release of the album. However, the deeply touching beauty of Singh Kaur’s voice lives on through Fairy Night Songs and other recordings. She recorded The Universe, produced by Gary Stadler, as her final offering to her fans.
THIS UNIVERSE, an album of previously unreleased material, features three haunting tracks: a 40+ minute rendition of the ancient chant "This Universe," Kaur's dreamy musical interpretation of "The Lord's Prayer", featuring Raphael and the original version of "Spark in the Night" from FAIRY NIGHT SONGS. This recording also features artfully sensitive keyboard orchestrations by Raphael (Music to Disappear Into) and special guest Lisa Lynne on Celtic harp.
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Olympic, Titanic, Britannic
By Mark Chirnside
Buy Hardback
At the beginning of the twentieth century, competition between the North Atlantic shipping lines was fierce. While Britain responded to the commercial threat posed by the growing German merchant marine, there was also rivalry between the great Cunard Line and its chief competitor, the White Star Line. Against this backdrop Olympic, Titanic and Britannic were conceived. Designed for passenger comfort, they were intended to provide luxurious surroundings and safe, reliable service rather than record-breaking speed. Ironically, fate decreed that only Olympic would ever complete a single commercial voyage and she went on to serve for a quarter of a century in peace and war. Titanic’s name would become infamous after she sank on her maiden voyage. The third sister, Britannic, saw a brief and commendable career as a hospital ship during the First World War, sinking in the Aegean Sea in 1916.
Waterford Harbour
Titanic: A Journey Through Time
The SS Terra Nova (1884-1943)
180 Years of Cunard
Castaways - Adrift and Abandoned
Mysteries and Sea Monsters
Of Penguins and Polar Bears
White Star Liners at War
Thomas Summers & Co.
RMS Mauretania (1907)
Cannibals and Carnage
Misery, Mutiny and Menace
Guide to the Crew of Titanic
Ships of Splendour
The P&O Cruises Colouring Book
High Tea on the Cunard Queens
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TheHomeDesignings
The Home Designings
Antonio Banderas Says Heart Attack Helped Him Reinvent
RES_4
By admin On Jan 20, 2020
Antonio Banderas Says Heart Attack Helped Him Reinvent Himself
Antonio banderas said a heart attack he suffered two years ago spurred him into a health kick but also allowed him to reinvent himself as an actor, including as he prepared to take on the lead. Antonio banderas said a heart attack he suffered two years ago spurred him into a health kick but also allowed him to reinvent himself as an actor, including as he prepared to take on the lead. Antonio banderas said a heart attack he suffered two years ago spurred him into a health kick but also allowed him to reinvent himself as an actor, including as he prepared to take on the lead role in pedro almodovar's autobiographical new movie. "it was fantastic advice for my life,". By hanna rantala. cannes, france (reuters) antonio banderas said a heart attack he suffered two years ago spurred him into a health kick but also allowed him to reinvent himself as an actor. Cannes: antonio banderas said a heart attack he suffered two years ago spurred him into a health kick but also allowed him to reinvent himself as an actor, including as he prepared to take on the lead role in pedro almodovar’s autobiographical new movie.
Cannes antonio banderas said a heart attack he suffered two years ago spurred him into a health kick but also allowed him to reinvent himself as an actor, including as he prepared to take on the. Antonio banderas says heart attack helped him reinvent himself 'i don’t smoke anymore, i do more exercise than ever. i feel more clear in my brain and i kind of reinvented myself.'. News agency antonio banderas says heart attack helped him reinvent himself. posted "it was fantastic advice for my life," banderas told reuters in an interview in cannes. Antonio banderas says his heart attack was a “turning point” in his life. the 58 year old actor was rushed to hospital back in 2017 after suffering chest pains while exercising which was later. Antonio banderas said a heart attack he suffered two years ago spurred him into a health kick but also allowed him to reinvent himself as an actor, including as he prepared to take on the lead role in pedro almodovar's autobiographical new movie.
Related image with antonio banderas says heart attack helped him reinvent
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Download the latest issue
Olympics/Paralympics
Toyota Today Home
Ever-Better Expedition
Engineers guide a convoy of Toyota vehicles across North America
by Dan Nied
Ever-Better Expedition brings Toyota engineers to a new kind of research facility: North American highways.
When Toyota Motor North America CEO Jim Lentz took the stage at Toyota’s Torrance campus on June 22, his first order of business was to describe to team members exactly what Ever-Better Expedition (EBE) is.
“For the next 110 days, our drivers and engineers will steer a convoy of vehicles across North America’s highways, byways and backstreets,” Lentz explained, “engaging and energizing team members along the way and inspiring all of us for future innovations.”
The journey—which has taken Toyota’s drivers and vehicles to the toughest urban and rural terrains of the United States, Canada and Mexico—was designed to get Toyota engineers on the road where they can better understand first-hand how customers use their cars on a daily basis.
The power of the expedition was illustrated on July 16, when Toyota engineer Frank DiMaggio climbed into a New York City taxicab. Traveling through the Lower East Side, DiMaggio noticed the Prius swerving and lurching through the rigors of New York traffic. This cab was a fertile den of knowledge, brimming with gritty details.
DiMaggio was downright smitten with the wear and tear. To a Toyota Technical Center engineer from Ann Arbor, Mich., this was a big deal. The chance to test and examine Toyota vehicles in taxing, real-world scenarios will stick with the EBE team for years.
“What we saw that day will, in some way, inspire design development in the future,” DiMaggio said. “There’s no better place than a New York taxicab. The driver is putting 100,000 miles on that car each year. Those doors are opening and closing more than any test we could design in a lab. Even better, it’s not a test in a lab, it’s in the real world. It’s a direct line to the customer. We can’t replicate that. This is what Ever-Better Expedition is all about.”
Hands (and Knees) On
Engineers weren’t afraid to get dirty to examine the wear and tear on NYC taxis. Some cabbies drove a Prius, others a Camry. Every car had a story to tell.
More Stories from Sept/Oct 2015
The Long Awaited, Highly Anticipated Brand New 2016 Prius
Penske Earns Much-Deserved Hall Call
New Wheels for a Top Teacher
Toyota of Scranton Hosts ‘Heroes Day’
Still Easing the Pain in the Big Easy
California Dealers: “The Wash Can Wait”
Published for Toyota dealers and dealership personnel by the Corporate Communications Division of Toyota Motor North America. Copyright 2020 by Toyota Motor North America. Contents may be reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
For customer inquiries, please contact our Toyota Customer Experience Center
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A Taliban-planted roadside bomb killed two American soldiers and wounded two others while on patrol. The bombing caused the first confirmed US casualties in Afghanistan ...
The Taliban have denied that any of their personnel or leaders were at the mosque at the time. At least 15 civilians were killed and 19 wounded by the blast, including t...
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A Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of the center of globular cluster M15. There are about 15 very hot stars isolated in its core. Credit: G. De Marchi (STScI and Univ. of Florence, Italy) and F. Paresce (STScI)/NASA, ESA.
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Modern astronomers measure the Universe with a tool based on a theory of its expansion. They believe that objects farther out into space are representative of the Universe as it was closer to its beginning, so galaxies located at 1.2 billion light years are supposed to be as they were 1.2 billion years ago. Stars that are observed at that distance, therefore, should be youthful, with rich supplies of hydrogen fuel. They ought to be hot and blue, radiating high frequency X-rays and extreme ultraviolet light.
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In a previous Picture of the Day, it was noted that retired Professor of Electrical Engineering, Dr. Donald Scott, in his book The Electric Sky, showed how the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of stellar evolution can be improved by adding another scale to the horizontal axis: Current Density at the Star’s Surface. The way stars appear is not dependent on age and distance, but on the amount of energy flowing into them from their surroundings. The greater the electric current, the hotter and brighter the star should appear.
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Worldwide icon-chevron-right Europe icon-chevron-right United Kingdom icon-chevron-right England icon-chevron-right London icon-chevron-right Cahoots
Bars and pubs, Cocktail bars Soho
Quirky tube-themed cocktail bar that’s hot with tourists.
I really wasn’t expecting to like Cahoots, the vintage tube-themed bar that’s a bigger hit with tourists than Madame Tussauds. From its ‘tally ho’ e-comms after making a reservation, to the awkward ‘train guard’ actor on the door and his sheer refusal to break Mockney character, it was more fear-inducing than rush hour on the Central Line, and that’s before we’d even reached the ‘platform’ (you know, the bar).
Once inside though, we quickly relaxed into cocktail hour thanks to efficient staff, low lighting and retro (read kitsch) underground paraphernalia. It’s a little confused about what era it’s portraying (we figure it’s the Blitz), but you’re not really looking for historical accuracy – Cahoots sure isn’t taking itself seriously.
It’s all aided by a list of drinks spread across a newspaper-sized menu – plenty of options to get in the mood but a bloody long read. Luckily they flag a few from the menu to best suit certain tastes, and staff give recommendations.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a Judy Garland (£10) arrived in cup and saucer. It was a refreshing citrusy mix of gin, aperol, grapefruit and camomille tea. For more of an edge, the old fashioned (£11) was a jolly good show, its foundations made from the bar’s ‘grog’ mix on the clever ‘Cahooch’ section of the menu.
Snacks are basic, failing to nail the retro thing (we can’t remember our ‘vintage’ relatives ever craving a crisp and salad cream sandwich) but are an extra bit of silliness presented in ration trays for quirk lovers.
You’re allotted two hours of drinking time, and we had to book far in advance to ensure midweek after-work drinks a deux. Our advice: ask for a seat in the carriage, the best spot in house, and save a trip for when friends visit from out of town. Or perhaps when you’re celebrating VE Day, or something?
By: Laura Richards
Posted: Tuesday May 10 2016
13 Kingly Court
W1B 5PW
Tube: Oxford Circus
www.cahoots-london.com?booking=open Call Venue 020 7352 6200
Mon-Wed 5pm-2am; Thur 5pm-3am, Fri 4pm-3am; Sat 1pm-3am; Sun 3pm-midnight
Bhavisha Ptastemaker
Cahoots has been around for a while but this was my first time there. The interior is a very cool retro tube carriages with lots of recognition for the 1940's era with vintage tin can's and the newspaper style menu to the cases on the racks.
There is a huge selection of cocktails with a good choice of non-alcoholic options. The cocktails were pretty good but it feels like you pay more for the atmosphere which is justified because of the sheer attention to detail.
I forgot my scarf there and could not fault the customer service as it was really straightforward to retrieve it a few days later!
Pretty disappointed in this venue. I had booked an area for 8 and asked if two more people could come along, and they point blank refused, saying that "there wasn't enough room". Definitely not worth booking for a birthday, as they don't make the effort to accommodate you.
Vera S
Had an absolutely lovely time at Cahoots - I cannot recommend it enough.
Not only is service top notch, with all staff in period costumes, but their attention to detail is just amazing. We went for birthday drinks with my partner, and the gang at Cahoots made sure ask us whose birthday it was, what my partner's name was and, on asking for the bill, our server brought us a cupcake with a candle, sang 'happy birthday' and presented us with a birthday card. I was blown away.
Everyone is friendly and smiley, which makes the experience even better. The setting is pure awesome, 1940s style tube station + carriage - the menu is a newspaper, the music is spot on, and the cocktails are so darn good you'll never want to leave. My recommendation is the Hot Folly - a sweet cocktail with a kick of chilli jam. Again, spot on.
£55 for four cocktails is a bit steep, but honestly, with all things considered (they even put us in the best seating area - the tube carriage - because they knew this was a celebration) I don't mind paying this much. I had a great time and will definitely be coming to test their picnic baskets!
Loutastemaker
This is a fun bar and great setting, there is a great atmosphere and the attention to detail is impressive. The man on the door was in his cockney character and helped set the scene. As there were 2 of us we had a very small table, incredibly low to the ground with not much room around us so wasn't very comfortable and a little disappointing. I'd say go in a larger group so that you can sit in the carriage area with tube style seating.
The choice of cocktails was almost overwhelming and made it difficult to decide, but there is definitely something for everyone. Each one arrives with something different whether it is the glass, a flower or biscuit... very instagramable! It isn't cheap but to be expected given the area and our waitress wasn't particularly animated or in character as other staff in there were, so this could have improved the experience.
We were also asked to leave our table after the 2 hour slot that we had been allocated despite the fact that we didn't get seated until about 20 minutes after our booking.
reneelecroixtastemaker
The Brits are so proud of their public transport system, they’ve themed a bar based on the London Underground in a post-war era and added a dash of cockney. It really is a rather fun and eclectic atmosphere so if you’re looking for an interesting and entertaining date venue, this is a good shout. It’s got the Northern Line that no one minds commuting on as the service is attentive and friendly and the cocktail list in full broadsheet. So don your victory curls and lashes ladies and you’ll have a right ol’ Steffi Graf.
Tip: They have Squiffy Picnics available on Saturdays and Cocktail Cuppas & Cakes every Sunday afternoon from 26th November 2017 with live entertainment so you can booze on tea (wink, wink) and cake elegantly all afternoon. Do check out their website for more swinging events.
Good For: small groups, celebrations, something different, casual drinks, business event
Hannah Stastemaker
A fabulously retro experience, in an incredible setting. From the moment you enter you feel you have stepped back in time. I especially loved the newspaper style menus packed with the largest assortment of cocktails I've ever seen! The food options - including cheese and ham toasties and pork scratchings - also feel perfectly matched to this time capsule of a bar.
Gabby Ctastemaker
This is one of the best and original cocktail bars I have been to in London thus far. The attention to detail is incredible, from the announcements in the toilets to the newspapers for menus. It is quite pricey, but I believe you’re paying for the atmosphere, the staff being in character etc so it is justified. Every time I am with someone who’s visiting London I take them here and they always love it and I will never get bored of this place.
Dipti Htastemaker
What ho! This has to be one of the coolest underground bars in London. Stepping through the doors transports you back in time to the 1940s! The decor is vintage underground station... If you like quirky and cocktails, this definitely has to be one for your list. Be sure to book ahead!
Niamh B
I was completely transported back in time to the 1940s walking down the stairs into an old tube station and asking 'To see the captain', I was then led into an old world underground war bunker with amazing 40's music and even better cocktails, the role play of the staff that great you and bring you to your table adds a particularly nice touch.
Sure its a little bit on the expensive side but you're paying for the experience which is next to none (plus the free popcorn helps ease the blow!) The decor is fabulous with your menu as an old newspaper!
Its a recommendation I have for anyone coming to London who wants to have an authentic London night out! But definitely book in advance as it's very popular but yet still has that secret bar feel to it!
Leena Stastemaker
What a quirky little cocktail bar hidden away in Kingly Court! If you're looking for something different then definately check this place out! It's a 1940s tube themed bar where you are more than welcome to dress up from that era (if you wish!).
From entering and meeting the actor at the door, you're immediately transported back in time! Once down the stairs and inside you enter a low lighting underground buzzing atmosphere.
The decor continues with the theme as does the menu; it's on a newspaper!
It's truly fantastic and there are so many drinks to choose from! I was recommend a milk cocktail by one of the staff and it was a hit! It even came served with a milk glass bottle and in a cup and saucer with a chocolate dipped digestive biscuit!
Unfortunately due to its popularity I do recommend you book in advance otherwise it can be upto an hours wait at the door, also try and book a seat in the carraige for a full vintage experience! Enjoy! :)
Kritt NTastemaker
Prepare to be back in time to the rip-roaring good times of the 1940’s at Cahoots.
Cahoots is a cocktail bar that brings to life the feel-good times when the Allied Forces declared victory in 1945. Inside, vintage 1940’s memorabilia and trinkets adorn the walls including, an old telephone box, sandbags, enduring maps of the London Tube dating back to the 1940’s and Cahoots has even managed to squeeze in an old Tube carriage complete with vintage posters. Attention to detail matters at quirky themed bars and Cahoots truly delivers.
Even before you enter the underground cocktail bar, you’re greeted by the ‘bouncer’ who you must tell you’re there to see ‘the captain’ before you are allowed to descend down the classic wooden escalators stairs where you’ll find yourself in the ‘ticket office’ before a ‘ conductor’ will lead you to your table. The role play all add to a pretty cool experience.
But what say the cocktails? I can confirm that they are glam and worth of every fair lady and every high-flying servicemen (the lads).
My comrade tells me that the “Under The Counter cocktail” was sweet and refreshing. It certainly delivered in the presentation department. For the gents, I can’t recommend highly enough the ‘Drambuster’, a whiskey based cocktail concocted using Tullamore Original Irish Whisky, Laphroaig 10-year-old whiskey, Punt E Mess vermouth and vanilla & cassis syrup. It’s strong but with a sweet after taste. Enjoy slow and savor sip, and you’ll find that your drink will go a long way while making you appreciate your cocktail more.
Will it set you back? Of course it will. This is London after all. But it won’t blow a hole in your wallet. You get complimentary (and unlimited) popcorn with your drinks. Like I say, take it slow and savor every drop. When you’re not drinking, take your time to admire the decor. It’s not every day you get a glimpse into the kind of good times our grandparents once enjoyed.
Brilliant place to meet-up with friends or just to treat yourself. I highly recommend Cahoots in Kingly Court.
FILIZ T
I loved that Cahoots was kinda hidden, retro costumes of waiting staff and the fantastic underground station decor from 40s. The cocktails were also really nice. The waiting people were very friendly at first. But the free Negroni offer on 5 June 2017 (details here: https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/get-free-negronis-on-monday-by-practising-your-italian-060517) was almost impossible to use at Cahoots!
When we arrived, I told the waitress that I would like to use Time Out offer for a free Negroni, she probably had no clue about the offer so she called the "Negroni guy." I told the same things to that guy and was about to tell him the code that I have already memorised. And he said he'll bring our Negronis, and disappeared. So I couldn't tell him the code when I was about to, because he didn't listen and suddenly went off. Then we switched to different cocktails. They brought our bill without us asking after 2 hours saying that there is a reservation for that table. But if so, they should have told us in the beginning. This was really rude. Moreover, they had charged us for our Negronis. I was cross. It was very very difficult to convince them they should be free as I mentioned the offer to two separate people WHILE ORDERING. The waitress told me at the end she would take them off the bill, and then while I was expecting that, the Negroni guy appeared again. He insisted that I should have told the words in Italian, and I said I was about to and I knew them and I told the words. I told him he disappeared and then I assumed he was convinced I knew about the offer. Nevertheless, he was not still convinced. I finally said I specifically came to Cahoots on 5 June for this offer, and why would I specifically order a Negroni if it wasn't for the offer?! I had to argue with two different people and it took me a long while to convince them to take the Negronis off the bill. In the end, I managed to take the Negronis off the bill, but these people ruined the otherwise pleasant Cahoots experience for us!
To Cahoots: If you don't want to offer something, then that's fine, don't. Nobody forces you to. Or inform ALL of your staff about your offers so that your clients wouldn't suffer. If I knew they wouldn't take Negronis off the bill, I definitely would order something else. Maybe also don't argue with your clients for only £24 (it's a small amount for a bar) and piss them off. I would definitely please the clients and this would let me keep them as future customers. But after this experience, we probably won't go back!
The attention to detail and overall theme of Cahoots is quite simply fantastic; tables set in vintage train carriages, draped bunting, tube maps and mismatched furniture all come together to set the perfect location for jolly good knees up. Female staff dressed in perfect vintage tea dresses and the men smart in their waistcoats all were additions to help the transportation back in time. I was very impressed.
During our visit, we were treated to gin based cocktails, with the option to purchase additional, as well as a hamper of classic English picnic goods. I was particularly happy with the vegetarian option; which even came with my veggie 'pork' pie, usually I find with a lot of vegetarian options I feel I am missing out but at the squiffy picnic I think I had an alternative meat-free for everything in the normal hamper! The food itself was delicious and extremely filling, but it is basic and very much something you could make at home, however, I do believe the Squiffy Picnic is more aimed at the overall experience and the food is just an addition to that.
Lise Mtastemaker
Love this quirky and hidden place! From the moment you walk in, you are transported to the 40's in an old air raid shelter which has been transformed into an unique, intimate and swingy cocktails bar. The decor is amazing and impressive with a lot of vintage details (wooden escalator, posters, train signs, etc). Their cocktails menu change regularly and looks like a newspaper. So it's quite fun to read through the cocktails list. The cocktails?!!...They are excellent and always prepared in wacky glasses or tins. Whatever your choice is, you will not be disappointed. Highly recommend this place as you're guaranteed to have a great experience!
Jen Wtastemaker
Yes it’s a touch tricky to find, but wander around a bit (or Google it) and you’ll be right. Follow the signs ‘To the trains’ and you’ll find Cahoots! I loved this themed bar. From the moment you walk in, to when you walk out, you’re guaranteed an experience. The atmosphere, the staff, even the toilets are all aligned with the vintage theme, with cries of ‘toodle pip!’ and ‘rightio’ echoing through the bar. Now, to the cocktails. The menu was awesome: displayed on a newspaper however, this made choosing one all the more difficult as it was quite overwhelming. Some looked delicious and some looked like drinks I would have made when I was 17 where I just threw a whole bunch of things into a glass and hoped for the best. But, funnily enough and unlike my 17 year old self, they worked well although some were quite sweet and difficult to manage (e.g. the one with chocolate and a biscuit on top). The complimentary popcorn was a nice touch and the staff, who remained in character at all times, were excellent. There were only two downsides for me: firstly, I had booked for two so our seating was an awkward, too close, bench seat which while in the spirit of the tube, was not conducive to personal space. Secondly, we couldn’t book for longer than two hours which was a shame because we were having such a good time!
My friend told me about this place with great enthusiasm, saying it’s the best place for cocktails.
Eventhough I am not much of a cocktail person, I love exploring these quirky type of places. I was excited I was able to book a table because it’s usually very busy.
My friend and I came there with no expectations so was a bit taken aback when the very animated young gentleman at the door asked me if I am here to see the captain. I answered with: ‘’ Uhmmm yeah I have a reservation…? ‘’ ‘’ There are no reservations at the train of fun! Are you here to see the captain? ‘’ he proceeded. I agreed, because clearly that was the only answer he wanted.
We were finally let inside, took the stairs to the basement into something that looked like a stylish tube station.
My cocktail came in a cup with a side of cookie. I certainly wasn’t expecting that, because the cocktail description leaves everything to imagination.
I personally couldn’t order another round of drinks because the cocktails were very sweet and felt like a meal. Maybe next time I would be more savvy when it comes to ordering a drink, it feels like a nice place to come with groups of people, order some snacks and be merry.
Zoe F
If you're looking here on Timeout London for reviews wondering whether you should go to Cahoots, please stop contemplating it and make a booking now!
I say make a booking because the secret is getting out about this speakeasy bar and visitors turning up without a booking are likely to have to wait for availability, instead you can stroll on past down the stairs and back in time to the 1940s without delay.
The setting is a candlelit underground station come wartime bunker, the best seating is in the carriage area which is decked out like a retro tube. You can immerse yourself in the sights and sounds from that era, a 3 piece female vocal group called The Femmes were performing whilst we were there who were fabulous! Forgetting a couple of minor technical glitches, they sounded brilliant and I enjoyed the vintage spin they put on well-known modern songs - they looked the part too, elegant pinup style oozing class.
Like nothing I’ve ever seen before, the 65 strong cocktail menu is laid out as a newspaper, so I recommend taking your time to read and confer among friends before making your choice and hopefully you will not be disappointed – I managed to make 3 good choices however some others in my party were not so lucky and got drinks less to their tastes. Drinks weren’t cheap (but what can you expect in these parts). That said, you only really need a couple because they’re made by talented mixologists they do serve a fair bit of alcohol in each of them and therefore drink slower and can wash down with water in between – instead of some other places serving a concoction of mainly fruit juices and you end up necking it and ordering rounds back to back… just me? My favourite was "Quick One Before Take-Off" because you know you've picked a goodie when it comes in a mug with a digestive biscuit haha!
So what are you waiting for?!
Liz G
Fabulous little speakeasy near the hussling southern exit to Kingly Court near Carnaby Street. Worth booking a table to get a spot inside the old train carriage, but if not, perching at the bar is great for watching the highly talented bartenders doing their thing. Lots of fun and extensive menu.
Ashley DTastemaker
A friend of mine knows someone who works there, so she told me she wanted to take me. I am a sucker for anything with an air of exclusivity (hello, blink-and-you'll-miss-it-alleyway-entrance!) so I was so down for an adventure. We did not have a booking, but the wait was pretty short (Sunday afternoon) and we wanted to stand at the bar anyway. I was so surprised to see every single detail in the 1940s-themed bar was done up to a T! The staff were decked out (as was I, yay dress up!), the décor was perfect and the atmosphere mimicked that which I would expect from a basement bar in wartime. Very, very cool. A massive selection of drinks all laid out in a newspaper format - quite pricey to be honest, but I suppose I expected that from Carnaby Street.
I'd like to go back and make a booking to ensure I can really take in everything the place has to offer :)
rachelw
Very cool place, definitely recommend booking though because there will be a queue!
Charles S
Quirky.
Lizzie WTastemaker
Originally booked for me and friend to have a few drinks after work midweek however she had to cancel so I dragged my bf along.
Now normally he is pretty fussy r.e food and drink but even he loved it!
Situated in kingly court it is themed completely around the 1940's with decor and waiters keeping up the charade. Decked out as an old underground station with boothed seating it is a truly awesome experience.
Waiters take your order at the table so not queueing at the bar and boy is there a big choice of cocktails on the menu.
I had the vera Lynn to begin with which was delicious and comes in a very cool glass
Bf stuck to wine and was happy enough!
Would definitely recommend and can't wait to go back! Would be a lotta fun with a group of people!
Aude Gtastemaker
Back to the 20’s, time of prohibition! We arrive to the entrance and got asked for the secret password, to be able to enter what looks like a train station.
Then behind the door we are back in another time, the decoration is just awesome. The menu makes us want to take it with us when leaving. There is a huge choice of cocktails for every taste.
We would want to stay longer to have some more but unfortunately we only have the table for 2 hours.
CarmenStaff Writer
I discovered this bar hidden in Kingly Court during a work event. I did not know what to expect on my way and was pleasantly surprised with the concept and the decor! Cahoots is a very original concept and place to enjoy drinks - cocktails are very good! The entire experience makes you feel like you travel through time!
Alana RTastemaker
"I'm here to see the captain!" If you can't say these words, don't try and make a booking at cahoots (which I highly recommend). Hidden in kingly court, you'll blink and miss it. Having not made a booking, we waited about 20 minutes, but Lewis, the friendly train operator, made it a fun and speedy wait. Take time to explore the entire cocktail newspaper as there is something for everyone. If you missed out on dinner, I suggest the baked potato cocktail, which is just delicious. With an old school dj on the vinyls, Cahoots does everything right, right down to a tee.
Jennifer STastemaker
Fabulous, just fabulous: the 1940s décor, overall atmosphere, big band and swing tunes playing on the speaker and later, a live band!, the staff in period attire and the constant customer service (I felt like I had been transported to the US with all the attention we got!). The drinks are spelled out in a Cahoots "newspaper". It's pretty pricey for drinks but they have creative combos and names. I'm only dinking a star because as much as I loved the tunes, they were just a wee bit too loud. Thus you are often yelling to your companion to be heard.
Abi Dixon
Absolutely love this place, I went for my birthday with a couple of friends and it was a real treat - something very different to your standard central London bar. Everything from the service to the atmosphere to the extensive cocktail list clearly had a great deal of effort go in to it - which made it worth the money and also worth the long waiting list to book a table! Which I would recommend, to really enjoy the atmosphere rather than standing at the bar. The cocktails were very good, although I can't remember what I had I would recommend any of the vodka selection, I tried a few.. Also when the staff got wind of it being my birthday they gave me a card and a mini birthday cake - which was a really lovely little extra. Not sure if the DJ is on every night (this was a Thursday) but he is awesome!
I could not recommend this place highly enough. I had 2 of the most delicious cocktails I've ever had in here. The atmosphere is so much fun. All the staff are in 2nd world war costume and character. Make sure you book early though, this place is ALWAYS full, or maybe try your luck straight after work and you might get a chance to stand at the bar. I LOVE IT!!
Claire ETastemaker
Scoundrels unite, we have a new place to go ;-) Say Tally Ho old chap and check out Cahoots, a blitz themed underground bar which is tucked away in Kingly Court mere moments from bustling Regents Street. You'll be met by a sign saying 'To The Trains' and a blitz style doorman in character who ever so slightly interrogates you (well it is the war old bean) before you go down to the 'disused' underground tube station. The station inside is scarily accurate with tube maps hanging on the walls in the carriages and every detail has been taken care of from the signs outside saying 'Station Closed,' to the cloakroom that's a 'ticket office' and the British flag bunting hanging from the carriages. The frightfully spiffing menu comes in the form of a retro newspaper and Cahoot's speciality is a gigantic cocktail menu around £10 a drink. Yah yah. I had wine - SO generic....but was reasonably priced for a bottle at around £20 and we had vegetable crisps too (I mean we're on rations kids so it's more a land of snacks than meals). They encourage you to book tables which means that it's busy and buzzing without being overcrowded. To match the old school decor, plenty of scoundrels had dressed up in 40s gear. Absolutely spiffing night out for all!
Laura BTastemaker
What a well thought out and perfectly executed establishment. From the booking confirmation, the the 'code word' to get in, the decoration, menus, themed drinks, wait staff personas ("please can I have the wifi code?" "We are in the 1950's - what is wifi?" - brilliant!) this places wows at every turn. Prices felt quite high, but you pay for what you get and it is themed as far as possible and the quality is good. However, not all of the wait staff seemed to be fluent in English - which for a bar in central London was disappointing and frustrating - and a passing waitress we flagged seemed horrified our waiter had not taken the time to explain 'Cahooch' so perhaps the management could do with refresher training? Won't revisit as I have had the experience once and I'd need to take out a bank loan to visit again.
Sheens86Tastemaker
Themed Underground Tube station cocktail bar that ‘transports’ (see what I did there? ;)) you back to the 30’s & 40’s with a jazzy vibe and old school train conductor doorman!
The menu is printed in the style of a rag (newspaper) and there are little alcoves filled with underground paraphernalia. We were lucky enough to get seats inside the tube carriage, which if you can, I would highly recommend; it makes the experience! The cocktails were okay, slightly watered down but nice enough. I’d go back for the jolly Britishness it exudes, be great for visiting friends for the novelty alone!
Katie FTastemaker
Getting into Cahoots can sometimes be harder than getting on the Northern Line in the morning but we made a last minute booking on Friday and finally made it down 'to the trains'! The cocktail list is intimidatingly long, almost unnecessarily long and therefore I suggest speaking to the waiter/waitress, describing the sort of cocktail you would like and letting them guide your way through the menu. When you finally decide and the drinks arrive however, they are beautifully and delicately presented and packed full of interesting flavour combinations which mostly work (but sometimes don't work so well - someone was a little heavy handed with the nutmeg in my 'Pears today, gone tomorrow'). It's a fantastic venue for pre-dinner drinks though with a real prohibition/ London-at-war feel as you descend into the basement bunker and enter a room of opulent colours, early 20th century train decor and luxurious cocktails. The theme is perfectly executed and resides throughout the bar from the moment you enter to the moment you leave. This is a train not to be missed!
Sohère RTastemaker
I loved this place! Walking down the stairs you immediately get immersed into another world. The bar is a disused tube station in the WW2 era. The staff are all in character, so there's a lot of 'tally ho, old chap!' and the vintage outfits they wear are beautiful. The cocktail menu is extensive and impressive, with interesting combinations such as chocolate and marmalade. The decor is fabulous, with old tube maps and a old-fashioned tube carriage to sit in. Definitely a fabulous and different night out, best to book in advance though!
Elisa RTastemaker
Managing a store on Carnaby street, I was privileged enough to enter the secret tube station for the first time before it had even opened. Four winning points: the crafty cocktails, Blitz decoration, classy staff and jazzy music.
The fake newspaper cocktail menu is given to you upon arrival. There's something for all tastes: I'm personally a sweet lady when it comes to drinks so I always choose off the Starlet menu. Some friends of mine got much more original experiences with ingredients including OXO cube or anchovy.
The place is meant to look like a converted tube station from the Blitz period in London. You'll find the good ole shiny white tiled walls (see photo attached), vintage train seats, suitcases above your head and so on. The music matches the surrounding: jazz mostly, always a pretty sexy/classy atmosphere.
Finally, the staff are actors speaking to you like they're from the 40s, providing you with fancy phrases to reuse at the office the next morning.
Warning: if you're not a member, booking is absolutely compulsory in the evening! #TOTastemaker@Elisa R
Nearby Bars and pubs
Near Cahoots
The Life Goddess
Le Bab
Señor Ceviche
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Jewish media company puts biblical spin on news for evangelical Christians
'We are pioneering a new genre of biblical journalism'
Defying journalistic conventions, Breaking Israel News publisher Rabbi Tuly Weisz taps into vast market hungry for stories of prophecy that are playing out in the Holy Land
By Renee Ghert-Zand 19 September 2017, 8:26 am 4 Edit
Renee Ghert-Zand is a reporter and feature writer for The Times of Israel.
Rabbi Tuly Weisz (left) with MK Rabbi Yehuda Glick at Prophecy in the News Conference, Jerusalem, June 5, 2017 (Courtesy Israel365)
Naphtali “Tuly” Weisz was a newly ordained Modern Orthodox rabbi in Columbus, Ohio, when he began dialoging with evangelical Christians. At first, they met at the local Jewish Community Center. Later, he invited them into his synagogue, Beth Jacob Congregation, where he had taken over the pulpit from his late, long-serving grandfather, Rabbi David Stavsky.
This interfaith dialogue was satisfying, but the Yeshiva University-educated Weisz did not at that point consider non-Jews central to his work.
Then came a life-changing phone call. It was from a Christian woman he had met for the first time the previous evening at his synagogue. She wanted to buy $50,000 worth of Israel Bonds.
Christian pilgrims at a Feast of Tabernacles event at Jerusalem’s Pais Arena. October 13, 2014. (Courtesy ICEJ)
The fundraising potential notwithstanding, Weisz suddenly realized the extent of the devotion and commitment to Israel of this woman and other Christian Zionists. The revelation led Weisz to reexamine his own religious Zionism and to embrace the participation of non-Jews in the process of building and sustaining the State of Israel. He decided to devote his career to communicating with Christian Zionists.
Like the Christians he was increasingly interacting with, Weisz saw the return of Jews to Israel as part of a redemptive process.
“The fulfillment of the messianic process is fundamentally tied to the Jewish return to the Land of Israel. When the State of Israel was re-established in 1948, and then with the miracles of the Six Day War, it became apparent that prophecy, as stated in the Torah, was being fulfilled,” he said.
“Today, when Nefesh B’Nefesh helps Jews come on Aliyah, that’s a part of prophecy — the ingathering of the exiles. When JNF [Jewish National Fund] plants millions of trees throughout Israel, that’s the flourishing of the land, as described throughout Tanach [the Hebrew Bible],” said Weisz.
A Christian Evangelical supporter waves her national flag during the annual parade in Jerusalem, marking the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, or the Feast of the Tabernacles, on September 24, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
In 2011, Weisz immigrated to Israel and started Israel365, a Jewish-owned and run “media company.” The company and its subsequent spin-offs target the 700 million-strong evangelical Christian worldwide community interested in connecting with the Holy Land from biblical and prophetic perspectives.
In addition to his immigration, “the work we do at Israel365, enabling non-Jews to support Israel financially, diplomatically and politically is also described as part of the redemptive process in Jewish tradition,” said Weisz.
In many ways we’re not all the different from established Christian media that connects faith with journalism
There are Israel-based Jewish media outlets aimed at religious Jews, and there are evangelical Christian news companies producing news out of Israel — but Weisz wanted to cross the ecumenical divide.
“In many ways we’re not all the different from established Christian media that connects faith with journalism, but what we are doing doesn’t exist within the Jewish media. The religious Jewish media is really just secular news geared toward a niche market. For instance, they may omit pictures of women, but the news itself is essentially no different from what you would read in the mainstream,” Weisz said.
“What we are doing is pioneering a new genre of biblical journalism. The Jewish perspective is very rich. We’ve been reading the Tanach [Hebrew Bible] since it was given, whereas Christians have been studying the Bible in translation with outside forces that have influenced their perspectives,” he said.
‘The most authentic perspective’
Donna Jollay, a Christian Zionist entrepreneur, partners with Weisz on an online Torah academy for non-Jews venture called Yeshiva for the Nations. She agreed that Weisz is doing something new and unique.
“I could read the Christian media, but what Tuly is providing is the most authentic perspective,” she said.
Donna Jollay (left) and Rabbi Tuly Weisz (center) present prize to attendee at Prophecy in the News Conference, Jerusalem, June 5, 2017. (Courtesy of Israel365)
Israel365 began in 2012 by connecting people to Israel through a daily newsletter and an online store. The Beit Shemesh-based company now has 15 employees and has spun off into a number of brands, including Breaking Israel News, a site that launched in 2014 with dispatches and opinion pieces written from a biblical perspective, and Israel Media Network, a digital marketing agency helping Israeli organizations to reach Christian audiences which launched in 2015. Israel365 also began publishing its own Bible in 2015 and has invested in Yeshiva for the Nations, the initiative co-founded by Weisz and Jollay.
For those interested in keeping up with what’s happening in the Holy Land, website Breaking Israel News publishes articles related to Jerusalem, the IDF, and US-Israel relations. It also has sections titled “Christian Zionism,” “Biblical News,” “Bible Prophecy,” and “End of Days.” The articles all cite biblical verses, and most frame current events — including increased Jewish-Israeli birthrates, Atlantic Ocean hurricanes, and Iranian and North Korean nuclear threats — in terms of prophetic fulfillment.
Israel365 director of publishing Maayan Hoffman (courtesy)
The response from the Jewish community has been mixed — everything from skepticism, to bewilderment to support, said Weisz. He’s received support (and lack thereof) from Jews of all different backgrounds, from ultra-Orthodox, Modern Orthodox, to secular.
“Those who have been more supportive are people who are more open-minded, not afraid of what Christianity represents, and are more in tune with the needs of the modern State of Israel,” said Weisz. “I’ve found that Jews in Israel have given more thought to Christian support to Israel than have Jews in America.”
As a religious Zionist, Weisz, 37, believes his job is to reach out to non-Jews and help them engage with their biblically prescribed role in the ingathering of the exiles and rebirth of Israel.
“I don’t believe these things will happen miraculously. It will require a lot of work and organization. There are many passages in the Tanach about the non-Jews recognizing the true role of the Jews,” Weisz told The Times of Israel.
There are many passages in the Tanach about the non-Jews recognizing the true role of the Jews
“Once I started to read the Tanach carefully, I learned how this is not inconsistent with the Jewish experience, with our mission to be a light unto the nations,” he said.
A vast, engaged audience
According to Israel365 director of publishing Maayan Hoffman, Breaking Israel News has 100,000 subscribers and the sixth largest amount of traffic for any English-language news website out of Israel.
“Our audience is vast and engaged. It’s not uncommon for one of our 1,000-word articles to generate 10,000 words of comments,” Hoffman said.
Evangelical Christians from around the world sing and recite prayers at the Jerusalem Chairman’s Conference at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, September 22, 2013. (Flash90)
Not everyone agrees that Breaking Israel News’s articles, with their biblical and prophecy angles, qualify as journalism.
“It’s not fact-based journalism. It is opinion and can be regarded only as that,” said University of Toronto professor journalism professor Jeffrey Dvorkin after looking at Breaking Israel News at The Times of Israel’s request.
The definition of ‘news’ is not what was taught in journalism school back in the day
“The definition of ‘news’ is not what was taught in journalism school back in the day. Everyone has an agenda today,” Weisz claimed.
He gave the example of the history of the Temple Mount, saying that some look at it from former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s ascent in 2000 sparking the Second Intifada. Others use 1967 or 1948 as starting points.
“Our perspective is 3,000 years back to King David, who inaugurated the Temple Mount. The Bible has relevance to today and tomorrow. Prophecy and the news is not an oxymoron,” Weisz said.
Crossing a fine line?
David Parsons, spokesman for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, participated in a Prophecy in the News Conference hosted by Israel365 in Jerusalem in June that attracted an array of Jewish and Christian right-wingers, messianists, and Third Temple advocates. Parsons warned against the sensationalism and speculation that he said gives prophetic and biblical news a bad reputation.
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem spokesperson David Parsons (Courtesy ICEJ)
“It can be a game of guessing what’s next, and that’s where we try to be cautious,” Parsons said.
At the same time, Parsons agreed with Weisz that there is no need to apologize for putting trust in the Bible as the word of God, and in trying to use that as a way of understanding the news.
“This is nothing new. People have been doing this for centuries. The Templars were doing it, as were members of the Palestine Exploration Fund founded by Queen Victoria,” Parsons said.
Parsons thinks the mainstream media often mocks evangelicals and ends up missing “an incredible story in terms of the sweep of history by ignoring the prophetic aspect of the news.”
He lamented the fact that so much of the news out of Israel is strictly about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and praised Weisz and his team for “telling a story others aren’t.”
While Weisz may be telling a story, even he admits it isn’t the full story. He believes his responsibility is to report the good, but not necessarily the bad and the ugly.
“Prophecy in the news is about God controlling events. It gives many people a tremendous amount of hope and positivity,” Weisz said.
Accordingly, some of the biggest stories in the mainstream Israeli press are conspicuously absent from Breaking Israel News.
“We don’t report on negative news stories on Israel. For instance, we don’t cover Israeli politicians getting investigated or arrested for corruption,” Weisz said.
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You are here > Home>Latest News>The Task of Choosing an AdBlue Tank Supplier
The Task of Choosing an AdBlue Tank Supplier
With AdBlue becoming an increasingly important additive for the reduction of diesel engine emissions, amid European legislation that forces the fitting of selective catalytic construction engines to some heavy duty commercial vehicles, there has been a corresponding requirement for the most appropriate means of storage. A dedicated AdBlue tank can provide the storage conditions to maximise the additive’s lifespan, maintain the right temperature and prevent leakage or overfilling. It should also incorporate specialised equipment, designed specifically for use with the AdBlue aqueous solution.
These are priorities that should be foremost in the minds of those searching for a suitable AdBlue tank, although they are also likely to appreciate a supplier with more general strengths, such as a long track record of innovative design and manufacture of liquid storage tanks, including water tanks, chemical tanks and diesel tanks in plastic and steel. The customer is also likely to be thankful for a professional, personable and responsive service from a company that is well-located logistically and that has provided storage tank solutions for national and international clients. Such clients could range from oil companies, factories and shops to local government, charitable organisations and farms and agriculture.
But those with an immediate requirement for an AdBlue tank should also be able to source their desired capacity, whether as small as 1,350 litres or as large as 15,000 litres. For those in need of still greater capacities, the interlinking of tanks should be feasible. Although there should be a wide choice of AdBlue tanks on offer, including both horizontal and vertical models, there also ought to be certain constants – such as all of the tanks being fully lockable, refuelling equipment being easily accessible from ground level and a fully bunded construction ensuring integral protection against overfilling and leaking.
An effective AdBlue tank will save the customer money by preserving the solution in perfect conditions, extending its shelf life from the typical 6-12 months to as long as 18 months. Furthermore, while customers in markets like the UK will have little reason to worry about the extremes of temperature that can compromise the quality and usability of AdBlue, a good tank supplier will be able to incorporate climate control if required. A further reason not to allow AdBlue to plummet to its freezing point of -11 degrees C is the damage to a tank’s internal components that can result.
Likely to be included in the specifications of industry-leading AdBlue tanks are vents, lockable cabinets, higher accuracy contents gauges, bund and overfill alarms, digital flowmeters and nozzle holsters. A good AdBlue tank is also likely to be corrosion resistant and UV stabilised, optional extras like an auto operation nozzle holster, pulsed outward flowmeter, cabinet heating, hose reel and/or Armco protection barrier only further boosting its suitability for any of an extensive range of commercial and industrial applications.
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FedEx and TNT Express reach agreement
Posted : Tuesday 7th April 2015
FedEx and TNT Express agree on recommended all-cash public offer for all TNT Express shares
This is a joint press release by FedEx Corporation and TNT Express N.V., pursuant to Section 5 Paragraph 1 of the Decree on Public Takeover Bids (Besluit openbare biedingen Wft,the Decree) in connection with the intended public offer by FedEx Corporation for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of TNT Express N.V. This announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in TNT Express N.V. Any offer will be made only by means of an offer memorandum. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into, directly or indirectly,Canada or Japan.
Transaction highlights:
FedEx Corporation (FedEx) and TNT Express N.V. (TNT Express) reached conditional agreement on recommended all-cash public offer of €8.00 per ordinary TNT Express share.
The Offer Price represents a premium of 33% over the closing price of 2 April 2015 and a premium of 42% over the average volume weighted price per TNT Express share of €5.63 over the last 3 calendar months.
The transaction represents an implied equity value forTNT Express of €4.4 billion($4.8 billion).
Transaction unanimously recommended and supported by TNT Express’ Executive Board and Supervisory Board.
High level of deal certainty.
PostNL N.V. has irrevocably confirmed to support the Offer and tender its 14.7% TNT Express shareholding.
Combination will transform FedEx’s European capabilities and accelerate global growth.
Customers will enjoy access to an enhanced, integrated global network, combining TNT Express strong European capabilities and FedEx’s strength in other regions globally, including North America and Asia.
FedEx and TNT Express employees share a commitment to serving customers and delivering value for shareholders and supporting the communities they live and work in.
The parties have agreed to certain non-financial covenants including:
Existing employment terms of TNT Express will be respected.
The European regional headquarters of the combined companies will be in Amsterdam/Hoofddorp.
TNT Express hub in Liege will be maintained as a significant operation for the group going forward.
TNT Express' airline operations will be divested, in compliance with applicable airline ownership regulations.
FedEx and TNT Express anticipate that the Offer will close in the first half of calendar year 2016.
FedEx and TNT Express are confident that anti-trust concerns, if any, can be addressed adequately in a timely fashion.
FedEx and TNT Express will host a press conference today at 09:30 hours CET at the Amsterdam Hilton Apollolaan, which will be available via webcast at http://player.companywebcast.com/citigateff/20150407_1/en/player
FedEx will host an audio webcast for analysts and investors today at 07:30 hours CDT (14:30 CET). This meeting can be followed on http://investors.fedex.com
TNT Express will host an analyst and investor conference call today at 15:30 hours CET.
See dial-in numbers (only a limited number of lines is available)
Participant code 81 746 237#
About FedEx Corp.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $47billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 325,000 team members to remain "absolutely, positively" focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. For more information, visit news.fedex.com.
For more information, please visit www.fedex.com or contact:
Patrick Fitzgerald
Email: patrick.fitzgerald@fedex.com
Media Contacts – Europe
Uneke Dekkers/Vivian ten Have
Citigate First Financial
Phone +31 (0) 20 575 40 10
Mobile +31 (0) 6 50261626 / +31 (0) 6 46233900
FedEx Investor Relations
Mickey Foster
Phone; +1 901 818 7468
Email: mickey.foster@fedex.com
TNT is one of the world’s largest express delivery companies. On a daily basis, TNT delivers close to one million consignments ranging from documents and parcels to palletised freight. The company operates road and air transportation networks in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. TNT made €6.7 billion in revenue in 2014.
Cyrille Gibot
Phone +31 (0)88 393 9390
Mobile +31 65 113 3104
Email cyrille.gibot@tnt.com
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Ariën Stuijt/Tanno Massar
Gerard Wichers
Email gerard.wichers@tnt.com
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Tennessee Inspiration
See What’s New for 2019 in Tennessee
Learn more about Corey Smith.
Corey Smith, the fan-made man, has sold over 1 million concert tickets, 1.5 million digital singles and over 220,000 albums. Smith has amassed an unfailingly devout fan base, not only in his native Southeast region, but all around the nation, simply by telling it the way it is. He has released 10 albums—including 2011’s Top 20 release The Broken Record. Corey has written every word on every album himself and he produced 9 out of 10 of the records. In Summer 2015, Corey teamed up with producer Keith Stegall (Alan Jackson, Zac Brown Band) for his album, “While the Gettin’ Is Good,”which was released on Sugar Hill Records. Smith’s concerts, which were documented on his last live record, Live in Chattanooga, regularly sell out, with audiences singing along to such fan favorites as the coming-of-age anthem “Twenty-One,” the nostalgic time warp “If I Could Do It Again” and the group hug “I Love Everyone.” Corey consistently tours, hitting around 120 dates per year and has begun releasing singles from his upcoming project, the Great Wide Underground.
1810 Chestnut Street
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Still exploring? Try these popular ideas in and around Chattanooga.
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The Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater is the only cinema in Tennessee where you can experience movies shown using the IMAX with Laser projection system.
Tennessee Aquarium
Located in the heart of downtown Chattanooga on the beautiful riverfront, the Tennessee Aquarium is the top-rated aquarium for guest satisfaction.
Hunter Museum of American Art
Come learn, play, explore, and be inspired by works of art that illustrate the creativity and strength of the American spirit. The Hunter Museum in Chattanooga is for everyone!
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Home / City Guide / Sichuan / Ganzi /
Trumpet Shell Valley (Hailuogou)
Trumpet Shell Valley, called Hailuogou in Chinese, is located on the eastern slope of the Gongga Snow Mountain, southeast of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It's around 52 kilometers (approx. 32 miles) from Luding County and 76 kilometers (about 47 miles) from Kangding, the capital of Ganzi. It has been well known for its natural resort with miraculous glaciers and hot springs.
The climate of Hailuogou Scenic Area is deeply influenced by its surrounding landscapes. The four seasons are greatly distinguish in this area. One can enjoy the spring atmosphere at the foothill all year round. As the region is covered by dense vegetation, the yearly average temperature is around 15°C (59°F) as compared to the mountain top, where average temperature is always around minus 9°C ( −48.2°F). As a local saying goes, 'The valley has the features of the four seasons at any one time and different weather exists in different locations.' It's cool in summer and warm in winter, which makes it a good place for sightseeing, holidays, convalescing, mountaineering, research exploration and adventuring.
Map of Trumpet Shell Valley
The Trumpet Shell Valley originated from a melting-ice river valley and it has three distinguished characteristics:
Firstly, Gongga mountain is always covered with snow throughout the year. Standing in the valley and looking up to the mountain, one can feel the grandness and glorious radiation of Gongga.
Secondly, there are 74 glaciers on the Gongga Snow Mountain. Among them, the glacier in Trumpet Shell Valley, also called No.1 Glacier, is the longest. It has a total length of about 14.7 kilometers (approx. 9 miles). Moreover, it is unique in itself for it is a low-altitude glacier. Its lowest point being at an altitude of 2,850 meters (about 9,350 feet).
The No.1 Glacier is made up of three stages: the firn basin (the origin of the glacier), the great frozen waterfall and the glacier tongue. The frozen waterfall is between 500 (1,640 feet) and 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) wide and 1,080 meters (3,543 feet) high. It's so rare that it's very difficult to find another frozen waterfall like it in anywhere else in this world. When an avalanche occurs, snow and ice thunder down the glacier with great force. The glacier tongue extends into primitive forests for about six kilometers (about 3.7 miles). Dense forests coexist with glacier. The No.1 Glacier is hyperactive and over time, a lot of ice holes, ice ladders, ice gates, ice lakes and ice peaks came into being.
Third, in this ice and snow world, there are more than ten hot springs. Tourists can enjoy a bath on the ice. The temperature of the spring is from 40°C (104°F) to 80°C (176°F). Even there is one with a temperature of 90°C (194°F). Cold and heat coexist, which is extremely astonishing.
Tips on Hot Spring for your reference
Additionally, the valley possesses very abundant plants and animal resources. Over 2,500 kinds of plants can be found there, such as Chinese dove trees, katsura trees, tetracentrons, circaeasters, kingdonia balfs and rhododendrons. And more than 400 kinds of animals live there, including wildebeests, giant pandas, golden monkeys, white-lipped deer, wild donkeys, leopards, and back-neck cranes, water dogs, and Tibetan snow cocks and so on.
A Visit to Hailuogou Scenic Area
Hand Painting of Trumpet Shell
Valley (Click to enlarge)
The scenic area includes four encampments. The first encampment is at an altitude of 1,940 meters (6,365 feet). The major tourist activities include visiting the 56°C (133°F) hot spring and seeing the No.2 Glacier and primitive forests from a distance. The second encampment is at an altitude of 2,580 meters (8,465 feet), where you can see the 92.5°C (199°F) hot spring, monkeys, Chinese yews and the Shuihaizi Lake. The third one is at 2,940 meters' altitude (9,646 feet), where you can see rhododendrons and Tibetan macaques, and stroll in the primitive forests. Finally, you may go to visit the fourth encampment, which has an altitude of about 3,600 meters (11,811 feet). There the great frozen waterfall can be seen.
Tips: 1. You may reach the Fourth Encampment through the cable car directly. Arriving there at around 05:00, you could see the beautiful sunrise. Bright sun shines on the Gongga Snow Mountain and everything is immersed into the golden warm.
2. Dining & Accommodation: You can find Gongga International Hot Spring Hotel, Gongga Hotel, Hailuogou Glacier Hotspring Holiday Village and Hailuogou Changzheng Hotel in the scenic area.
3. Considering the existence of tourist risk, you are suggested to purchase travel insurance for yourself.
Admission Fee of Hailougou Scenic Area CNY90
Sightseeing Bus CNY70
Cable Car CNY150 for round trip
- Last modified on Nov. 29, 2019 -
Questions & Answers on Trumpet Shell Valley
Asked by Prangtip from THAILAND | Oct. 12, 2019 12:27 Reply
Do you have bus or mini van from moxi town to kangding ? How much for each route?
Answered by Luis from FRANCE | Oct. 14, 2019 19:31
There is no public transport you can take. It is suggested to hire a car.
Asked by Eiw from THAILAND | Sep. 21, 2019 01:54 Reply
How is beautiful to visit Hailuogou Glacier Park on Oct 27?
Is it good to go Hailuogou in this period? What can I see in the area? Autumn leaves ? beautiful Glacier?
Answered by Luke from UNITED KINGDOM | Sep. 23, 2019 17:50
October to April is the best time to visit this place. You can appreciate beautiful autumn leaves when you go there.
Asked by Kean Tan from SINGAPORE | Oct. 06, 2018 11:27 Reply
Hi. I am planning to visit HaiLuoGou around end of October.
Is there any direct public transport from Kangding to HaiLuoGou and from HaiLouGou back to ChengDu? What other alternative transport do I have? And the cost? Thank you!
Answered by Kenneth from USA | Oct. 11, 2018 19:13
From Kangding to HaiLuoGou, some people said across from the Kangding Bus Station, there are the direct buses to Moxi Town and the ticket price is about CNY30.
Or you can take the minibus outside the Kangding Bus Station. The fee is about CNY60 per person.
Or you can take the bus at Kangding Bus Station to Luding Bus Station and then take the bus at Luding Bus Station to Moxi Town. The whole ride need about CNY60.
From HaiLouGou back to ChengDu, some locals said that you can take the bus from Hailuogou to Luding. On the way, you can get off at Caihong Birdge. There may be many buses to Chengdu. Or you can go back to Luding Bus station directly and then take the bus to Chengdu.
Or, there is direct bus across from Changzheng Hotel in Hailuogou to Chengdu, departing at 09:00am every morning. And get to Chengdu Xinnanmen Bus Station. Sorry I didn’t find the specific ticket fare and it may be CNY150 or so.
Of course, you can choose to take a car-sharing with other tourists.
Asked by Choomeanah from MALAYSIA | Feb. 25, 2013 09:21 Reply
How much is president room at Hailougou camp 2 glacier resort? Can you book for us?
Answered by Nancy from UNITED KINGDOM | Feb. 25, 2013 21:48
The president room you mentioned cost about CNY850 per night in the end of 2012. But I heard that its price has climbed up a little. If you don't go for travel during high season, it is not necessary to book. Just reach there and check in!
Asked by Choomeanah from MALAYSIA | Jan. 24, 2013 02:25 Reply
What time is Bus leaving moxi back to Chengdu?
Is there many buses in march? Is march low season or high season?
How is sunset view?
Answered by Linda | Jan. 24, 2013 21:18
There is only one bus departing at 07:30 from Moxi back to Chengdu. March is the low season for sighseeing. The sunset view there is attractive.
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A holiday to Kenya captures the spirit of Africa for those who answer to the call of the wild. From elephant parades, wildebeest migrations and flamingo-filled lakes to lush rainforests, rolling grasslands and sun-baked plains, it packs in plenty to thrill both first-timers and repeat safari lovers. Whilst most come here for the game drives, there is more to this land than close encounters with The Big Five; from lazing on stunning palm-fringed beaches to floating above the savannah in a hot-air balloon.
Fulfilling every ‘Out of Africa’ fantasy, Kenya’s unbeatable landscapes set the scene for epic safari adventure. With backdrops that range from the open savannah of the Masai Mara to the sparkling snow-capped peak of Mount Kenya, this East African gem ticks off the clichés for an extraordinary number of national parks, extinct volcanoes, and wildlife reserves.
Safari, meaning ‘long journey’ in Swahili, is Kenya’s best asset, especially in the country’s finest reserves of Masai Mara, Amboseli, and Samburu. Whilst The Big Five – a term coined by big game hunters to reference lion, leopard , rhino, elephant and buffalo – gets all the glory, you can also get your fix of giraffes, baboons, hyenas, jackals, colourful parrots, crocodiles, cheetahs, flightless ostriches, and more.
Wildlife sightings come fast and furious, but time your visit right (ideally between mid-July and October) and you can catch the annual wildebeest migration in full swing and witness huge herds of game pouring into the Masai Mara. The Masai Mara National Reserve is Kenya’s safari star, revered for its superb lion, cheetah and leopard sightings, huge savannahs, hot-air ballooning, and crocodile-infested Mara River.
Beyond life filled with daily game drives, discover the three volcanic islands at Lake Turkana, climb up Mount Kenya, dive at Wasini or Watamu, take the ferry to Lamu Island, home to Kenya’s oldest Swahili settlement, and visit Laikipia, Kenya’s wild Northern frontier country. For paradise found, head to Diani Beach on the shores of the Indian Ocean just south of Mombasa. Studded with soft sugary-white sands, palm trees, glamourous villas, and upscale hotels, this is by far the chicest beach on the Kenyan coast.
In Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, you can tour Karen Blixen’s House and Museum, the farmhouse once belonging to the ‘Out of Africa’ novelist that opened to the public in 1986, and visit the stately Giraffe Manor, one of Nairobi’s most iconic buildings that is set in 140 acres of park and forest. Equally compelling is Daphne Sheldrick’s Elephant Orphanage located in the Nairobi Game Park. Run by Daphne Sheldrick, a Kenyan conservationist and expert in animal husbandry, this world-famous sanctuary rescues and fosters baby elephants and successfully reintegrates them back into the wild.
We act as an agent on behalf of The Global Travel Group Ltd in connection with the sale of travel products. Unless specified as the operator, The Global Travel Group Ltd is the agent on behalf of ATOL Protected Tour Operators and other principals.
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Within the framework of the ongoing Consultations on Syria, Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura visited the State of Qatar where he met with the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Mohammad Bin Abdullah Bin Mutib Al Rumaihi on 12 July 2015.
On the same day, he visited the United Arab Emirates where he met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Throughout his discussions, the Special Envoy noted once again the need for starting a process leading to a political solution to the Syrian crisis through constructive dialogue.
Mr. de Mistura will continue his consultations with Member States in the region in the coming few days.
في إطار المشاورات الجارية بشأن سوريا، زار المبعوث الخاص ستيفان دي ميستورا دولة قطر حيث التقى مع مساعد وزير الخارجية للشؤون الخارجية السيد محمد بن عبد الله بن متعب الرميحي في تاريخ 12 يوليو 2015.
وفي اليوم نفسه، زار دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة حيث التقى مع وزير الخارجية الشيخ عبدالله بن زايد آل نهيان.
أشار المبعوث الخاص مرة أخرى خلال مناقشاته على الحاجة الماسّة لبدء عملية تؤدي إلى حل سياسي للأزمة السورية من خلال الحوار البناء.
وسيواصل السيد دي مستورا مشاوراته مع الدول الأعضاء في المنطقة في الأيام القليلة القادمة.
13 يوليو 2015، جنيف
The UN Spokesperson told reporters on 12 May that Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, held consultations with the Chairman of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), Hassan Abdel Azim, as well as with the Chairman of the Building the Syrian State political party, Louay Hussain. At the conclusion of these consultations, Mr. de Mistura stressed that it was critical to reach out to Syrian political actors. “No one more than the Syrians themselves recognize the urgency of bringing the conflict to an end”, he stated. As part of ongoing consultations, the Special Envoy met over the past week with delegations from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and France as well as with former Special Envoy Kofi Annan. Mr. de Mistura also met with various Syrians, including representatives of civil society and religious leaders to hear further views and perspectives on ways to resolve the conflict.
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A creative call to arms from the mind of Neil Gaiman, combining his extraordinary words with deft and striking illustrations by Chris Riddell. Art Matters will inspire its readers to seize the day in the name of art. 'Like a bedtime story for the rest of your life, this is a book to live by. At its core, it's about freeing ideas, shedding fear of failure, and learning that "things can be different". ' - Institute of Imagination Be bold. Be rebellious. Choose art. It matters. Neil Gaiman once said that 'the world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before'. This little book is the embodiment of that vision. Drawn together from speeches, poems and creative manifestos, Art Matters explores how reading, imagining and creating can change the world, and will be inspirational to young and old. What readers are saying about ART MATTERS 'A rallying cry for all artists and creators' 'Just the injection of positive thinking I needed' 'What a gorgeous, sweet and very, very wise little book' 'You don't know it yet, but it's likely you need this book' 'I feel artistically charged up for the first time in ages'
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Most lung injury victims bought THC vapes outside of commercial sources, CDC says
More than 2,600 people nationwide have been hospitalized with lung injury linked to vaping and 57 people have died. (Source: CNN)
Updated: Tue 6:39 PM, Jan 14, 2020
ATLANTA (CNN/Gray News) – Nearly 80% of patients who suffered lung injury linked to vaping got their THC products from friends or online dealers instead of commercial sources, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.
“This study reinforces existing CDC and FDA recommendations that people not use THC-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, particularly from informal sources like friends, family, or in-person or online sellers,” CDC website says.
THC is the psychoactive compound in marijuana.
Teenagers under 18 are the most likely to get THC vaping products.
More than 2,600 people nationwide have been hospitalized with lung injury linked to vaping and 57 people have died.
Still, the CDC is not sure about the cause even though officials have been focusing on products that contain THC.
One possible culprit is vitamin E acetate, an additive used in some THC vaping products, but other chemicals haven't been ruled out.
The new report does not capture all the cases, but it does give the CDC a better idea about the products and sources associated with the outbreak.
Copyright 2020 CNN and Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
CDC recommends that you should not use e-cigarette, or vaping, products that contain THC, particularly from informal sources. Data suggest these products play a major role in the current lung injury outbreak. Learn more: https://t.co/C2yOBR2GmX pic.twitter.com/Ms84cftnTZ
— CDC (@CDCgov) January 14, 2020
OUTBREAK UPDATE: As of 1/7, 2,602 cases of hospitalized e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury or deaths have been reported from all 50 states, DC, & 2 US territories (Puerto Rico & USVI). 57 deaths were confirmed in 27 states & DC. https://t.co/C2yOBR2GmX pic.twitter.com/W8tzub3AYd
— CDC (@CDCgov) January 9, 2020
America’s deadly flu outbreak declines, but may not have peaked, CDC says
Man killed in avalanche near Lake Tahoe identified
Man facing eviction fatally shot 2 Honolulu officers before blaze destroyed 7 homes
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About Helium3
BeagleAccountant
vdogg
NFKjeff
varider
Helium3 replied to Ghentite's topic in Norfolk
https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/norfolk/norfolk-moves-forward-with-improving-neon-district/291-184bf04a-7cb1-4996-b5fc-182b6822a522
St. Paul's Quadrant
Helium3 replied to Aughie's topic in Norfolk
I realize that this is at least partly tongue-in-cheek , and I do agree that this proposal goes overboard with the copious amounts of green-space, but sea-level rise is a thing that Norfolk should be concerned about. It's going to happen whether we want to talk about it or not, and it's something that should be taken into consideration with every major development in Norfolk going forward. Otherwise we're just creating more problems for the next generation to solve. And given all of the problems left to us by the previous generation that we're still scrambling to fix (location of public housing, reestablishing street grids, I-264 cutting through downtown, loss of urban character through urban renewal, etc.), we'd be wise not to repeat the current-day versions of their mistakes. If that means relegating certain areas of the city to green-space (but like I said, not this much) to help mitigate flooding, then I say so be it.
Helium3 replied to vdogg's topic in Virginia Beach
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/Two-Constitution-Dr-Virginia-Beach-VA/15420617/ Looks like this is the latest rendering for the project. It's from a LoopNet page for that was created on 3/12/19. It's basically exactly what you'd expect for an apartment building with ground floor retail/office space in this area. The projected opening date is September 2020.
Helium3 replied to vdogg's topic in Norfolk
Looks like the proposed new barcade Circuit Social submitted an application to make some exterior changes to 258 Granby St. There are a few more renderings in the final pages of the document. https://www.norfolk.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/4554?fileID=9133
I just mean these types of lamps: Granby on the other side of Brambleton (plus most of Downtown) already has them. They recently installed some on Olney too. I just think having them up and down Granby would make the district seem a lot more attractive.
Are there any plans to improve streetscaping in the district? Olney is looking a lot better now, but new sidewalks along that main stretch of Granby would do wonders for the NEON. It looks they haven’t had any serious attention in a couple of decades. Lots of cracks and differently-aged blocks of concrete. Pedestrian-scale lighting and trees along Granby would be a huge improvement as well.
No one is trying to say that this region’s problems don’t exist. I’m sure that most of the people here are well aware of them. The more productive response in this situation would be to, yes, first identify the region’s problems. But then to also work towards ways to address and rectify them. Maybe give attention to the many things that are working in this region and how those assets could be utilized to help deal with these issues. Instead you see a lot of people immediately shifting towards a “woe is us” mentality and never moving past it. Saying that this is “just a dying region that doesn’t know it yet” accomplishes absolutely nothing. It makes us look worse off than we are and it encourages apathy, which in turn leads to further stagnation. I think that might have been what vdogg was getting at with his comment.
Virginia Beach off-topic
Norfolk has plenty going on as well. New EVMS Education building, the Sentara Expansion at Norfolk General, River Tower, increased demand at ORF, the Military Circle/ORF light rail extension, new apartments in renovated historic buildings (The Savoy included), the proposed office tower next to city hall, Sentara’s new state-of-the-art cancer center, the ODU Stadium expansion, etc. Let’s not start belittling one city just to make another one look good. We all know that both Norfolk and Virginia Beach could be doing a lot of things better.
Helium3 replied to rusthebuss's topic in Hampton Roads
Looks like Phoebus is experiencing a bit of a resurgence. The article mentions a new 162-unit urban apartment complex planned for Melen St. Anyone have any additional information about that? http://www.dailypress.com/business/dp-tidewaterbiz-phoebus-20180402-story.html
Why not both? The only way to bring Norfolk's line into Chesapeake without going through VB is to build an Elizabeth River crossing. If the crossing is built somewhere near Harbor Park or Campostella Rd, I could easily see the line being able to service South Norfolk as it moves south to Greenbrier. It'd help spur development throughout an overlooked area of the city and it'd connect Greenbrier/Dollar Tree's urban development to DT Norfolk. Two birds with one stone. Of course that means Norfolk would have to cooperate with Chesapeake by building a stretch of the line through Berkley. But I still think that'd be less of a hassle than convincing VB to build a small portion through their city.
Norfolk Off-Topic
Not development-related, but here's a funny Onion-esque article I saw making the rounds. It satirizes Portsmouth's image problem in relation to Norfolk and the rest of the region. It gave me a little chuckle. https://thepeedmont.com/2018/03/18/norfolk-man-discovers-portsmouth-still-exists/
Not sure if this has been posted yet (I didn't see anything), but three Ghent-adjacent apartment projects were quietly completed over the past few months by Richmond-based Monument Companies. Feels like momentum is building in the area with all the vacant buildings around the railroad tracks. First Colony Flats, a renovation of the historic First Colony Coffee and Tea site on 204 W. 22nd St. The building has 79 Units/5 Stories. Linde Lofts, a renovation of the historic Linde Air Products building on 2219 Colonial Ave. The Brightleaf Building, a renovation of the old tobacco warehouse on 200 E. 22nd Street. I think this might've previously been known as "Atlas Flats"? 127 Units/3 Stories
Museum Apartments Progress
Helium3 replied to BFG's topic in Norfolk
123 W Virginia Beach Blvd, right next to the building with the submarine mural and across the street from the Harrison Opera house. It's replacing an old and vacant warehouse. The Pilot first reported on it about two years ago.
neon district development
This has already been under construction for a while, right? BFG posted a few progress pictures in the Norfolk Pictures thread about a month ago:
EVMS Education Building (Under Construction)
That particular block marked for future development doesn't have any historic homes. It's a fairly suburban-looking apartment complex wrapped around a parking lot. It doesn't seem any older than maybe 2 or 3 decades old.
11-story building on downtown campus
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CHERNOBYL EXPLORATION, URBEXTOUR REPORT
Chernobyl URBEX Tour Through Golden Autumn
The best time to visit Chernobyl Exclusion Zone illegally is “Golden Autumn”. It’s period of time between mid of September till mid of November. No mosquitoes and other insects only foggy landscapes on the way throw abandoned villages to ghost town Pripyat.
Every year we make an expedition to Chernobyl. This time we had drone with us to take some shots climbing on radar station Duga-3, but major goal was enjoy the post apocalyptic atmosphere in this no-man land.
We used same road as last time, you can read in article Going long in Chernobyl
On the edge of abandoned village Zamoshnia.
30 years nobody watching this houses
Old Believers Church in the village Zamoshnia. There are still traces of bullets and shells on the walls since the Second World War.
The fog dissipates over the autumn field.
I love the Chernobyl zone at night. To walk in silence on the night road, a very realistic feeling that for tens of kilometers there is no man. Sometimes we help get this experience to other adventurers and travelers, how it’s going you can rear here Sneaking into Chernobyl
Beautiful pattern on the wall in the soldier’s canteen in Chernobyl-2 military city. It has all the dreams of the future, impressive fleeting art.
In the evening we climbed on the Russian spring woodpecker. Beautiful sunset from a height of 150 meters.
Climbing to the top usually takes around 20 minutes.
Soviet over-the-horizon (OTH) radar system used as part of the Soviet anti-ballistic missileearly-warning network. The system operated from July 1976 to December 1989. Two operational Duga radars were deployed, one near Chernobyl and Chernihiv in the Ukrainian SSR (present-day Ukraine), the other in eastern Siberia.
The Duga systems were extremely powerful, over 10 MW in some cases, and broadcast in the shortwave radio bands. They appeared without warning, sounding like a sharp, repetitive tapping noise at 10 Hz, which led to it being nicknamed by shortwave listeners the Russian Woodpecker.
The sun is setting, it means it’s time for us to go down. There is a long road ahead to the abandoned city of Pripyat.
Pripyat is a ghost town in northern Ukraine, near the Ukraine-Belarus border. After the disaster the city of Pripyat was evacuated in two days. Foggy morning we have been walking throw it’s empty streets.
Pripyat was founded in February 1970 as an atomograd, the satellite city of an atomic power plant. It was home first the construction workers, then the plant operators and their families. “Rostok” grocery store. All buildings in Chernobyl are empty inside, opposite to buildings in Fukushima exclusion zone which we visited in May.
Val taking some drone shots near ferris wheel.
Soviet coat of arms on a 16-storey building in the center of Pripyat. Within its boundaries, the now abandoned city contained all the amenities of a thriving community — dozens of stores, schools, a hospital, parks and recreation areas. A theme park was due to be opened less than one month after the accident, but all plans failed after the eve of April 26th that year.
During the day we were hiding from police patrols, but sun is going down so it’s a best time to walk ghost streets to explore abandoned town.
Nature takes back all areas where people have been living. Now Pripyat streets looks like jungles.
Abandoned telephone point in the city center of Pripyat.
Svitanok – sculptural relief with a mosaic on the store “Kolosok”, 1979 (artist – Ivan Litovchenko)
We will definitely come back here next year.
If you are looking for a way to visit Pripyat like a stalker contact us, we can make it safe and comfortable. Contact us using form in Chernobyl Exploration Tour page
Subscribe to our blog news
THREE GHOST STATIONS OF KIEV METROPOLITAN BY THE EYES OF URBAN EXPLORERS
PICNIC IN KYIV UNDERGROUND RIVER “KADET GROVE”
One thought on “Chernobyl URBEX Tour Through Golden Autumn”
Hi Vlad, impressive and beautiful pictures! I like to be there!
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Seasons Regular Season Playoffs Regular Season Playoffs Regular Season Playoffs
DOC Stadium
Cincinnati Dutch Lions
Dayton Dutch Lions
Cincinnati Dutch Lions 0 0 0
Dayton Dutch Lions 0 2 2
K. Adjei - Assist: K. Strickler
L. Bulger
Cincinnati Dutch Lions Individuals
3 Nathan Heath 76 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Yesin van der Pluijm 72 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Jorge Guinovart 30 0 0 1 0 1 0
6 Daniel Fischer 14 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Connor Rutz 59 0 0 2 0 0 0
13 Austin Smythe 90 0 0 2 0 0 0
15 Shaun McKenna 45 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 Reece Hands 90 0 0 1 0 0 0
17 Charlie Maciejewski 31 0 0 0 0 0 0
18 Kwabena Sapon-Amoah 45 0 0 0 0 0 0
19 Christian Kirchhoff 72 0 0 2 0 0 0
21 Azaad Liadi 18 0 0 1 0 1 0
22 Jesse Stafford-Lacey 60 0 0 1 0 0 0
26 Ian Black 90 0 0 4 0 0 0
27 Jordi Ramon Calabuig 90 0 0 2 0 0 0
35 Braden Petno 18 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dayton Dutch Lions Individuals
jeremie charron 7 0 0 0 0 0 0
Zach Buescher 27 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kingsford Adjei 78 1 0 5 0 0 0
Kristofer Strickler 63 0 1 1 0 0 0
Louie Bulger 90 1 0 1 0 0 0
Jacob Erlandson 90 0 0 1 0 0 0
Achille Robin 90 0 0 0 0 1 0
Presten Manthey 12 0 0 0 0 0 0
Eric Hutton 83 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bradley Schluter 84 0 0 4 0 0 0
Donovan Segree 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jasminko Dizdarevic 27 0 0 0 0 0 0
jonas Fjeldberg 45 0 0 1 0 0 0
Samuel Deroy 45 0 0 0 0 1 0
10 Tate Robertson 90 0 0 0 0 1 0
18 Abdul Kooistra 63 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cincinnati Dutch Lions Goalkeepers
0 Keagan McLaughlin 90 2 5 0 .714 2.00
Dayton Dutch Lions Goalkeepers
Moussa Sy 90 0 13 0 1.000 0.00
Game ID: 280
Venue: DOC Stadium
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Living Artists
Old Pawn Jewelry
Historical Artists
About Mia Valley
Contact Valley Fine Art
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Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952)
View Artist Biography
Plate 101 Black Eagle - Assiniboin
Portfolio, 22 x 18 inches
Vintage Photogravure
Black Eagle was born in 1834 in North Dakota to the Assiniboin tribe, a subset of the Sioux. Like many young native men, he entered the war path early in his case only thirteen years old. By his fourth time in battle he was a seasoned warrior and was able to capture 6 Yanktonai horses on his own. By the time he was photographed by Edward S. Curtis at age 74, he had killed many men in battle and had led 3 war parties. He had also had a fulfilled vision of capturing horses and had been married for 56 years.
This powerful image displays Black Eagles full body which is adorned with a long bear robe and an eagle wing. According to legend he refused for many years to have his picture taken by Edward S. Curtis until one time he came to Curtis in the middle of the night and said “I’m ready” and that is where this photogravure came from. Photographed in 1908 this image is printed on Dutch Van Gelder paper and is available for sale in our Aspen Art Gallery.
About Valley Fine Art
Aspen Art Gallery Blog
Aspen, Colorado 81611(Map)
(at the historic Wheeler Opera House)
© Copyright 2020 Valley Fine Art.
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Victoria, TX (77901)
Abundant sunshine. High 62F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph..
Generally clear. Low around 40F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
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Madison High, 17, portraying the Snow Queen, dances on stage during the performance of "The Nutcracker" for students at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts.
Emree Weaver | eweaver@vicad.com
Clara, portrayed by Melbourne Motl, dances on stage with her Uncle Drosselmeyer, portrayed by William Tally, during one of the student performances of "The Nutcracker" at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts.
Aliyah Cervantes, 8, watches the dancers with awe from the front row during one of the student performances of "The Nutcracker" at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts.
Caitlin Hoeft, who portrays Clara's mother, dances on stage during Act I of "The Nutcracker" for one of the student performances at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts.
The Nutcracker, portrayed by Kyle Haschke, and the Rat Queen, portrayed by Gracie Guerra, duel with their swords during a scene of "The Nutcracker."
Hannah Friedrichs, 16, left, and Madison High, 17, wave goodbye to students as they leave after their performance of "The Nutcracker" at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts.
Students applaud the dancers at the end of "The Nutcracker" performance presented by the Victoria Ballet Theatre.
'The Nutcracker' thrills third-graders
By Elena Anita Watts | ewatts@vicad.com
Elena Watts
Eager faces peered from almost all 475 seats at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts before the lights dimmed. Collective gasps and almost 1,000 little dangling feet began kicking with excitement on Thursday morning.
The third-grade students shushed each other just before Brenda Tally, artistic director for the ballet, took the stage to cheerfully welcome the room full of children. They were about to see this year’s first performance of the 35th annual production of “The Nutcracker” by the Victoria Ballet Theatre.
“Are you ready to see ‘The Nutcracker?’” Tally asked.
“Yes!” the room boomed with youthful excitement.
“What do you do when you like something?” Tally asked.
The children clapped.
“What do you do when you really like something?” Tally asked.
“Yeeeaaahhh!” the children yelled as they clapped even louder.
When the lights brightened and cast members began appearing on stage, some of the students pushed their hands against their seats to prop themselves up for a better view while others settled back into their chairs.
The ballet opened with a feast for the eyes. An elaborately painted backdrop filled the entire stage wall, and the 19th century period costumes adorned with lace, ruffles and ribbons filled the stage with a kaleidoscope of color.
Who is your favorite Nutcracker Ballet character?
Columbine and Harlequin dolls
Mother Ginger
Mouse King
Herr Drosselmeyer
Herr Stahlbaum
Snow Flakes
Other, please specify
In the first scene, it’s Christmas Eve and Clara, who was played by Melbourn Motl, dances around a formal, gilded room with a small wooden sleigh in her hands. Guests begin arriving for the celebration, and the other children dance with swords, trumpets and dolls. When Clara’s godfather Drosselmeyer, who was played by William Tally, comes bearing gifts, the Nutcracker replaces Clara’s sleigh. Each scene ends with clapping and even soft giggling at times.
The Victoria Ballet theatre has been exposing third-graders to “The Nutcracker” since 1986 when the founding director, Debbe Busby, approached the school district. At that time, the Nave Museum exposed fourth-grade students to fine art and the Victoria Symphony exposed fifth-graders to classical music, so the 8-year-olds were the best fit for the ballet.
Historically, members of the community have helped cover the expenses associated with educational programming.
This year, a grant from Texas Women for the Arts, a program of the Texas Cultural Trust, also is helping cover the $6 discounted tickets.
Sophia Ortiz, 8, and Aliyah Cervantes, 8, both students at O’Connor Elementary School, were attending the ballet for the first time.
Ortiz called the dancing “amazing” and the costumes “very pretty.”
Cervantes, who has danced most of her life, sat in the front row. Her favorite characters are Clara, Drosselmeyer and the Nutcracker. She looked forward to telling her mother that she liked “everything” about the performance.
“Attending the performance gives them confidence because if they go somewhere else in high school or college, if they get invited to another play or a show, they have the self-confidence to walk in,” said Kara Dickinson, chair of the educational outreach committee for the ballet. “They know audience etiquette, and they’ve been to the Welder Center, so it gives them confidence.”
Each of the four educational shows will fill the theater for a total of about 1,900 students and their chaperones over two days. The third-graders attend public and private schools in Victoria and surrounding towns.
The educational programs bring our liveliest audiences – children, Tally said. She described the “oohing and aahing” at all the right moments.
“From the stage, you can see their eyes wide open as they sit on the edge of their seats,” she said. “It makes all the rehearsals, all the work, worth every minute.”
About 225 performers make “The Nutcracker” possible. Of those, 46 are members of the dance company, five are professional guest artists, and the rest are community members. Another 200 members of the community volunteer in various other capacities, Tally said.
“It’s wonderful to stand backstage from the wings and watch not only our own company dancers but also all the community members who dance in the productions,” Tally said. “Maybe it’s their first time on stage, or maybe they’re seasoned performers, but whether age 3 or 63, you can see the butterflies and nerves before the curtain goes up melt into a warm glow as they connect with the music, the dancing and the audience. They stand a little taller and move a little bigger – transforming into newly discovered versions of themselves.”
Tally said “The Nutcracker” is a gift to the community from Busby.
“Every audience member, every performer who has ever been connected with ‘The Nutcracker’ is better for it,” Tally said. “No one ever forgets the magic. Every time we hear the distant twinkle of the sugar plum music, or the sweeping notes from the waltz of flowers – whether in an elevator or at the mall – we pause just a moment and smile.”
Elena Anita Watts covers arts, culture and entertainment for the Victoria Advocate.
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All performances, Thursday through Sunday, of the "The Nutcracker" are sold out, but some tickets on hold might become available for Saturday's performance. Those interested can call the Welder Center box office at 361-570-8587 between noon and 5:30 p.m. Friday to inquire.
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Victoria County constable candidate failed to report former police chief's crimes
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2019 Victoria Advocate All-Area Football Team
Dippin' Dots CEO has Crossroads connections
Arby's closes Victoria restaurant
2 Democrats seeking nomination for constable in Victoria County's Precinct 1
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Crossroads immigration attorney says religious faith motivated his practice
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Doug Hazlewood said:
Good work! Now if only people will remember and vote accordingly!
Jessica Baladez said:
Mrs.Del will truly be missed,we use to love when she would go by and she would tell us stories or what was on her mind.She would always make us laugh-Navarro Cleaners
Pat Tally said:
Thanks for pursuing this, Jon. Precinct 1 and Judge Rivera deserve a Constable that honors that oath.
Rick Dockery said:
Apples and oranges. This is about the fundamental right to life. Does a viable human being have a right to live? Or, does another human being have a right to terminate the viable human being b…
Grace Butler said:
Have any area school districts considered a year-round schedule? Obviously with longer breaks interspersed, but I've never understood why we do things the way we do. Three months off is terrib…
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Satirical dungeon crawler ‘Going Under’ joins Team17’s line up for 2020
by entertainment October 11, 2019, 12:18 am 272 Views 0 Comments
Another new partnership for Team17’s games label, this time with newly-formed Seattle studio Aggro Crab Games.
Tuesday, 1st October 2019 – Team17 has today confirmed a brand new partnership with Seattle-based Aggro Crab Games, which will see the studio’s upcoming title, Going Under, released under Team17’s award-winning games label.
Watch the brand new trailer here!
Scheduled for a 2020 release on PC and console platforms, Going Under is a fast-paced, satirical, dungeon crawler set among the ruins of failed and poorly conceived tech startups. Following the adventures of Jackie, an intern at carbonated drinks startup Fizzle, players will venture into the dystopian and chaotic depths of the dungeons below the bright and bubbly campus building, utilising the junk found from fallen companies to battle a variety of monsters and epic bosses.
Caelan Pollock, Co-Founder, Aggro Crab Games, said:
“We’re thrilled to finally announce our partnership with Team17. Our first game out of college, Treadnauts, was heavily inspired by the Worms franchise, so to have signed with Team17’s games label for our sophomore title is a perfect fit. Going Under is an offbeat and chaotic dungeon crawler that’ll feel extremely relevant in today’s fast-paced, high-tech world, and we’re looking forward to sharing more of the game in the months ahead.”
Debbie Bestwick MBE, Chief Executive Officer, Team17 Digital, said:
“The aim of Team17’s games label is to nurture the very best indie developers around the world and help them bring their games to market. Aggro Crab Games immediately caught our eye with Going Under, a satirical take on failed tech startups crossed with dungeon crawler gameplay. We’re excited to start eradicating destructive company cultures and redefining the meaning of boss fights next year!”
Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of recent partnerships signed by Team17 that continue to expand the games label’s portfolio of titles into next year and beyond. Going Under will be released on PC and consoles in 2020.
To keep up to date with all the information on Going Under please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and join us on Discord. Going Under is also now available to add to Steam wishlists.
Credits: Game-News
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Sam Smith was named Person of the Year at the Attitude Awards
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Company Inside soils Enthusiasts Retailers Growers
High-quality soils and substrates for plant lovers since 1975
At the basis of our soils we exclusively produce in our plants, there are always a deep knowledge in the agronomic sector, the selection of the best raw materials from all over the world, and a focus on the customer’s needs.
Setting up partnerships with the best professionals allow us to maintain high agronomic standards and to identify the best performing blends with great care. Excellence is at the centre of all we do: reliability, consistency over time, high performance, a wide range of products for all needs and tailor-made solutions for professionals, are the ingredients that we have always considered essential and that guide us in the development and the innovation processes.
Deep agronomic knowledge
Soils are part of our history: in over 40 years of experience, we have developed an extraordinary technical and specialized know-how, thanks to which we are now able to guarantee the highest agronomic standards.
Best raw materials
The careful selection of raw materials, and the partnership with the best suppliers all over the world, represent the core of the excellent quality of our products.
A focus on customers’ needs
We guarantee punctuality and prompt delivery, also thanks to an extremely efficient logistic system, as we are able to offer both standard and tailor-made products in a short amount of time.
Partnerships with professionals
Collaborations with the best floriculturists and horticulturists in Italy allow us to develop some excellent product formulations and to deliver a high-quality performance.
Wide range of products
We have developed over 1,000 recipes for professionals to cover any cultivation need, and we offer a portfolio of high-quality hobby products which, in terms of format, type and packaging, is the perfect companion for our consumers.
Thanks to our technicians’ experience, we offer customized substrates that are developed with great care and attention, in order to guarantee the best performance in the most varied cultivation conditions.
Development and innovation
We believe in field training: our agronomists continuously experiment with new solutions, both at the laboratories and with our partners, to create ever more performing products.
Excellence at the center
Attention to detail and a focus on performance in all company processes have always been at the core of Vigorplant philosophy and push us every day to reach the highest quality standards.
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Vigorplant was created thanks to the intuition of Gianluigi Petranca, who designed a product that didn’t exist at the time: the ready-to-use soil for the plants.
This is how the story of Vigorplant began, in 1975: a small handcraft company, driven by the desire to carve out a role in a market that is yet to be developed. The continuous agronomic research has allowed us to develop almost 1000 blends of professional substrates and to become the Italian leader and one of the first companies in Europe in terms of sales volumes, certified quality and variety of offer, both for green enthusiasts and professionals.
Almost 50 years of experience and the partnership with italy’s best horticulturists and floriculturists have allowed us to acquire a great expertise in the agronomic sector. Our technicians know what plants want and which soils are best suited to different cultivation methods or different climate zones.
Vigorplant history
The Vigorplant brand is born, with its packaged-soil bags. Offering a top-quality soil, which is packaged for the first time in practical bags, and easy to carry: customer and consumer service is in the brand’s DNA since its early origins.
Vigorplant introduces for the first time in Italy automation in the production of soils. Thanks to automated systems, which allow the pallet and the palletiser packaging, it is possible to reach a production area of 2000 square meters.
Pioneers in agronomic research: developing blends for different types of plants. As the first company in Italy, Vigorplant has an internal agronomic research department aimed at identifying the best blends of soils for the different needs of plants.
Pioneers in quality: the Irish peat arrives. Vigorplant introduced the Irish peat: a raw material with excellent agronomic performance, characterized by an optimal structural stability and high aeration, which takes Vigorplant professional soils to a higher level.
Vigorplant opens a new industrial plant. The new large industrial plant of 20,000 sqm was opened in Fombio.
Vigorplant is still growing: the plant is doubled in size. The production volume continued to increase, from 20,000 to 45,000 sqm. The capillarity of the company's products and its production capacity kept increasing.
Vigorplant marks some major projects: promenade of Genoa. One of our best professional substrates, the Top Soil, was chosen as an exclusive product for planting secular palm trees, on the new promenade in Genoa.
We are the first in offering an entire range dedicated to amateur gardening. For our green enthusiasts, a coordinated and wide range was created to get the best from every single plant.
First in specializing: a production plant for professionals and one for enthusiasts are built. Vigorplant reaches an area of 100,000 sqm with 2 production units, becoming one of the most state-of-the-art factories in Europe for what it concerns the soil and substrate sector.
A focus on sustainability. The “Certiquality” Quality Certification Institute has acknowledged Vigorplant's FSC certification, which certifies that all products are made of lignocellulosic materials deriving from forests, managed in conformity with the Forest Stewardship Council.
Pioneers in packaging innovation: the Complete soil is introduced. For the first time in Italy, we introduced an impressive packaging – never used in the soil sector – to create an iconic product that represents the high quality of the brand.
Vigorplant appears on TV with a memorable campaign. We were the first in our sector in creating high-impact television communication, thanks to the creativity of Armando Testa Agency. This communication strategy would continue later by leading the company, year after year, to be a leader in communication.
From Vigorplant research, new sustainable raw materials are created. Thanks to Vigorplant research, Fyberal, a sustainable raw material made from 100% Italian renewable forests, was introduced.
First in introducing the category in the world of soils: an extra service for the consumer. From this moment on, it became easier for consumers to find the most suitable soil for their needs: universal soils, ornamental soils, soils for vegetable gardens, decoration soils, soil conditioners.
Nativia, the product that has sustainability at heart, is born. Thanks to the partnership between two market leading companies, Vigorplant and Isagro, here’s Nativia: it is a type of soil, enriched with inoculation of mycorrhizal fungi, 100% natural, thanks to which roots are strengthened in an eco-compatible way.
First in receiving the sought-after Quality AWARD: only Vigorplant soils can boast this recognition. A jury of 270 consumers claims that Vigorplant products are excellent, and a jury of 30 professionals approves it: it is a new recognition, that is given to best brands only!
S D
Vigorplant’s numbers
of production area
7,000 bags/hour
in the professional soils plant
10,000 bags/hour
in the hobby soils plant
of raw materials stored
1,000,000 m3
of finished soils stored per year
loads/unloads per day
A state-of-the-art production area
Plant of professional substrates
Here, we bring together our best skills, and package substrates for professionals
An area of over 50,000 square meters allows us to meet high demand flows, which are frequent in the middle of spring
During spring, over 100 trucks travel throughout Italy every day
Plant for hobby soils
From this plant, only products for gardening enthusiasts come out
Here, aggregates such as lapillus and pumice stone are stored, key components in certain types of soils
Irish peats, different Baltic peats and coconut fibers are stored separately
Fyberal area
Here, we produce a special and renewable raw material, based on 100% Italian wood fiber
We only use 100% natural green compost: maximum quality guaranteed!
Vigorplant media history
In 2012, we took an important communication path aimed at the general public and believe that telling how much a high-quality soil can make the difference in the cultivation of plants is fundamental to buy products consciously. We have carried out communication initiatives both within TV programs of the major television networks, and with press, web campaigns and TV commercials. With this strategy, we wanted to distinguish ourselves from our competitors, aware of the fact that we can keep our promise of high-quality to our customers.
The TV campaign strengthened the reputation of Vigorplant and made the Complete soil the real protagonist – a product of professional quality, for the most demanding enthusiasts.
The first high-impact TV campaign came out: for its being disruptive, provocative and innovative, it made the brand make a name for itself, in an original and ironic way.
Vigorplant certifications
For years we have been collaborating with a number of established companies in the field of gardening and in the production of substrates for cultivation.
Aicg
It stands for “Italian Gardening Centres Association”, whose purpose is to protect, qualify, promote and develop the activity of gardening centres.
Aipsa
It stands for “Italian Association of Growers and Cultivation Substrates”, which aims to promote the use of quality-controlled substrates and soil conditioners.
Promogiardinaggio
It is an association whose main objective is the promotion of gardening for the general public.
Vigorplant Italia srl
Via A.Volta 2 - 26821 Fombio (LO)
info@vigorplant.it
Agent orders
Inside soils
Volumetric control
Production cycle
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We The Plug!!
Meet The Plug
Christiano and Messi out! Luka Modric Wins 2018 Ballon D’or!!!
Christiano and Messi out! Luka Modric Wi ...
Wanjiru Kimani December 4, 2018
Luka Modric has won the 2018 Ballon d’Or. He has become the first player other than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to receive the award since 2007.
The midfielder, 33, who helped Croatia reach the men’s World Cup final in Russia in the summer, is the first Croatian to win the prestigious prize. The awards is voted for by journalists.
The First Ever Women Ballon D’or Winner
On a historic evening in Paris, the ceremony had a women’s category for the first time since its inception in 1956. Norway’s Ada Hegerberg crowned the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or winner.
The 23-year-old scored in this year’s Champions League final, playing a key role in Lyon winning the tournament for a third successive year.
From left to right — Luka Modric, Ada Hegerberg and Kylian Mbappe
Martin Sloveig Said What??
But there was controversy during the ceremony, with co-host Martin Solveig widely criticized social media after asking the striker during the presentation: “Do you know how to twerk?”
The player responded by saying “no.”
Sincere apologies to the one I may have offended. My point was : I don’t invite women to twerk but dance on a Sinatra song. Watch the full sequence People who have followed me for 20 years know how respectful I am especially with women pic.twitter.com/pnZX8qvl4R
— Martin Solveig (@martinsolveig) December 3, 2018
Solveig later apologized and said he didn’t mean to offend anyone. “This was a joke, probably a bad one, and I want to apologize for the one I may have offended. Sorry about that,” Solveig said in a tweeted video.
Kylian Mbappe, who dazzled for France as Les Bleus triumphed in Russia in the summer, won the newly-formed Kopa award for the best young player.
The 19-year-old finished fourth overall, above Messi in fifth. Ronaldo was second, with France and Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann third and Liverpool and Egypt star Mo Salah sixth.
Courtesy of CNN.com.
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Some Scenic and not so Scenic Screenshots of Island 359
GalleryNews
The dino hunter is due to launch next week.
By Peter Graham Last updated Feb 22, 2018
CloudGate StudioIsland 359Oculus RiftOculus Touch
A few days ago VRFocus reported on CloudGate Studio announcing that its Jurassic Park inspired virtual reality (VR) title Island 359 would be leaving Early Access after almost two years. With the launch only a couple of days away, VRFocus has a few more screenshots to whet your appetite for the dino hunting experience.
If you’ve not heard of Island 359 before then what have you been doing? Set to be one of the biggest virtual reality (VR) releases of the year, the videogame puts you on a massive six square mile island, filled with jungle and most importantly dinosaurs, from little compies to giant Allosaurs and the always deadly raptors.
There are three modes to play through, Mercenary, Arcade, and the all new Survival Mode. Mercenary mode is all about cash, getting as many kills as possible then returning back to base for your payday. The longer you stay out the more cash you’ll earn, and the greater chance you’ll be killed before making it back. While Arcade is all about running around having fun on the hunt, Survival will be where the true hardcore reside. Here you’ll be given minimal resources to start with, having to scavenge for food and crafting materials to stay alive for as long as possible.
As you can see from the new screenshots, CloudGate Studio has created a rich and vibrant land for you to explore. From high mountain peaks and dense jungle, to open plains and winding rivers, it’s everything you’d expect from an uninhabited island. That is apart from the dinosaurs, who want to eat you, apart from the herbivores, alas they still want to kill you.
Island 359 will launch out of Early Access on Steam, Humble, and Oculus Home 26th February, 2018 for $24.99, with a 20 percent launch sale reducing down to $19.99 for a limited time. For any further updates or announcements form CloudGate Studio, keep reading VRFocus.
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Swansea City transfer digest: Sam Clucas' Burnley move stalls but Ryan Woods interest remains strong
It's been a busy day of transfer news and gossip at the Liberty Stadium
Sign up to FREE daily email alerts from Wales Online - Weekday Swansea City FC
Swansea City are refusing to give up on their pursuit of Brentford midfielder Ryan Woods, despite so far failing in their attempts to move Sam Clucas on this summer.
Clucas looked set to complete a move to Burnley over the weekend, having travelled up to the north-west for a medical.
However, reports have now suggested that the former Hull City star has been unable to agree terms with the Clarets, a development that has thrown the pursuit of Woods into question.
Having seen a £6m bid batted away by Brentford, Swansea have reportedly submitted another offer for the midfielder, but WalesOnline understands that although talks have been taking place between the two clubs that no firm offer has yet been made .
Swansea are still interested in Brentford's Ryan Woods despite failing in their bid to move Sam Clucas on this summer
The club's bid for midfield reinforcements could well have an impact on the future of Jay Fulton, with Championship rivals Reading understood to be keen on making a move for the Scot , who started City's opening day win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday.
A fee is yet to be agreed, but the Swans are believed to be open to prospect of moving Fulton on this summer, provided that it doesn't leave them short of midfield options.
Meanwhile, ex-Cardiff City full-back Declan John has emerged as a potential target, having fallen down the pecking order at Rangers after Borna Barisic's arrival from Osijek.
The 23-year-old only arrived at Ibrox last summer in a £2.2m move, earning a recall to the Wales squad on the back of an impressive run of form for the Gers.
However, with Jon Flanagan also providing competition for a place, new boss Steven Gerrard is believed to be willing to let John leave on loan this summer.
Another former Cardiff player to be linked is Yeovil Town full-back Tom James, who's been mooted as a possible target for the Swans for most of the summer.
Declan John has fallen down the pecking order at Rangers (Image: PA)
The 22-year-old looked set to join West Bromwich Albion in a £400,000 move, but failed to agree terms with the Baggies, and has since returned to Huish Park.
Both James and John are believed to be potential options in this window, although it doesn't look like Scott McKenna will be arriving at the Liberty Stadium - or anywhere else for that matter.
The Aberdeen centre-back suffered a torn hamstring in the draw with bitter rivals Rangers, and now looks set to be sidelined for around two months, making a move away this summer highly unlikely.
Finally, former Swan Andrea Orlandi has secured a move to Indian Super League champions Chennaiyin FC, having last season with Serie B outfit Novara.
As ever, you can join in the conversation at our Swansea City Online Facebook page or tweet us at @SwanseaCityLive.
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Guard play shines as 10th Blue goes 3-1 at Phenom Challenge
Tyler Gill (Millbrook High School)
WCBA 10th Blue wrapped up a successful first live weekend on Sunday at the Phenom Challenge in Spartanburg, S.C.
The team, led by strong guard play all weekend, posted a 3-1 record in the event.
Millbrook High School guard Tyler Gill was one of the top performers in the 10th grade division of the event. Gill, who leads the team in scoring for the season with a 13.1 points per game average, scored in double-figuresin all but one game.
Gill opened the tournament with a 12-point performance in a 91-53 win over Chattanooga Elite on Friday night. On Saturday, Gill scored eight points in a win over NC Red Storm.
The best scoring performance of the weekend for Gill came on Saturday night against Team Vision NC. Gill scored 22 points in the game to lead all scorers as WCBA Blue won, 80-66. Gill finished up the Phenom Challenge with 13 points against the Charlotte Nets on Sunday, a game that WCBA dropped, 71-59.
Panther Creek High School guard David Butners also had a strong weekend on offense. Butners opened the Phenom Challenge with an 18-point performance against Chattanooga Elite, then scored 13 points against NC Red Storm. He connected on three three-point shots in the game against NC Red Storm.
Butners' scoring went up in the third game. He scored 17 points against Team Vision NC in a 14-point win.
In the final game of the tournament, Butners was held to six points against the Charlotte Nets.
Khalil Marshall of Pender High School is playing up in the 10th grade division. Marshall is a freshman at Pender, but played varsity where he had a 40-point game and multiple 30-point games.
Marshall averaged 9.5 points per game in the Phenom Challenge over the weekend, with his high coming against Team Vision NC where he posted 12 points. Marshall scored nine points against the Charlotte Nets and NC Red Storm. He tallied eight points against Chattanooga Elite.
There were other standout performances this weekend for the 10th Blue team.
Against the Charlotte Nets on Sunday, Adam Carey, a 6-foot-3 forward from Millbrook High School, led the team with 14 points on six made field goals.
Carey had scoring totals of nine, five and four points in the previous three games. He is averaging 8.3 points per game this season for WCBA.
Jalen Corprew of Green Hope High School also had a big game against the Charlotte Nets. While his scoring total was just five points, Corprew added six rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists.
A win over NC Red Storm on Saturday would not have been possible without the contributions of Sam Hickman of Cardinal Gibbons High School. Hickman hit a trio of three-pointers and tallied 13 points in the game. He tied Butners as the leading scorer in the contest for WCBA. Hickman also scored 13 points in the tournament opener against Chattanooga Elite.
Brady Whilden and Michael Boney each had big games in the win over Chattanooga Elite as well. Both players scored 15 points in the win on Friday night. Whilden and Boney are both players at Cardinal Gibbons.
GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS
Game 1: WCBA Blue 91, Chattanooga Elite 53
Game 2: WCBA Blue 68, NC Red Storm 62
VIDEO REPLAY
Game 3: WCBA Blue 80, Team Vision NC 66
Game 4: Charlotte Nets 71, WCBA Blue 59
Player profiles & statistics
Phenom Challenge game recaps
WCBA on Twitter
Sign up Now for WCBA Challenge League Tryouts!
By WCBA Hoops 12/10/2019, 2:30pm EST
WCBA Blue 2026 Repeats as USBA State Champion in Gold Bracket!
By WCBA Hoops 05/01/2019, 9:30pm EDT
Tag(s): Home Travel Teams WCBA Blue 2020
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Nintendo Switch Pokémon bundle deals are finally live on Amazon
This immersive 4K TV is now even cheaper on Currys PC World
Apple wants to fix the mess that was iOS 13 in time for next major release
If at first you don’t succeed, then you try again and again and then maybe you rethink your entire strategy so you don’t screw up so much the next time around.
After an ongoing series of bugs and updates with iOS 13, Bloomberg reports that Apple is changing its internal testing processes for iOS in order for this not to happen again with iOS 14.
The report claims that Apple software chief Craig Federighi and other senior employees have recently had a meeting explaining how the new approach will work. In a nutshell, the company plans to disable every feature that may be problematic in test versions of the software, giving testers the option to enable and test them one-by-one via a new settings menu called Flags.
Apple’s iOS 13, originally launched in September, was one of the buggiest iOS releases ever, with the company addressing some of the issues with iOS 13.1 just a week after launch. The company then followed up with a slew of updates to iron out the remaining bugs.
Two months in and nine updates later and we’re up to iOS 13.3, and there are still issues that need fixing, like the fact that my iPhone 11 Pro Max’s camera freezes every other time I start it from lock screen.
This new approach should alleviate the issue of these daily builds being next to unusable and crammed with (buggy) new features, which, in turn, should make the testing process easier to do.
And while Apple likely won’t launch its iOS 14 until next year, it’s already implemented the new way of doing things in early versions of that software.
The company also plans to apply this new strategy to testing all its platforms, macOS, tvOS, watchOS and iPadOS included.
The report also sheds some light on Apple’s curious decision to launch iOS 13.1 just a week after iOS 13.0. Bloomberg’s sources say that some people who worked on the project described iOS 13 as a “mess,” and that Apple decided to go with iOS 13.1 after realizing that iOS 13 simply isn’t up to its standards.
Tags: AppleBig Tech CompaniesIosSmartphonesTech
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WELCOME TO WEEDMD.COM
SENDMEINFORMATION@WEEDMD.COM
1-844-WEEDMD-6 (1-844-933-3636)
Terpene Profiles
Live Plant Program
WeedMD Reports Third Quarter 2019 Financial Results and Announces Strategic Combination with Starseed
Articles, Press Releases
Reports net revenues of $6.7 million with a gross margin of 29%
Greenhouse cultivation cost improves to $0.72/gram in Q3
Strategic acquisition of Starseed strengthens medical position in Canada and consolidates distribution channel in accretive all-stock transaction
A $25 million strategic investment from The Labourers’ Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada will result in a pro-forma cash position of $56 million
Preliminary outdoor-cultivated test results confirm over 20% THC on some strains and harvest expected to yield more than eight tons of biomass at a cost of approximately $0.16/gram
Joint management call to discuss earnings & acquisition to be held on Nov. 29th at 1PM Eastern
Toronto, Canada, August 29, 2019 – WeedMD Inc. (TSX-V:WMD) (OTC:WDDMF) (FSE:4WE) (“WeedMD” or the “Company”), a federally-licensed producer and distributor of medical-grade cannabis, is pleased to report its financial and operating results for the three-months ended September 30, 2019, including net revenue of $6.7 million and gross margin of 29%.
“In the third quarter, WeedMD was focused on scaling production at our greenhouse and outdoor cultivation operations. In our first season of cultivating outdoors, we took the opportunity to develop best practices and strategies to set us up for success. Our cultivation costs are amongst the lowest in the industry at approximately $0.16 per gram for outdoors, and $0.72 per gram for greenhouse cultivation,” said Nichola Thompson, CFO of WeedMD. “With our extraction hub, CX Industries Inc., we are ready to process low-cost, quality cannabis to create an assortment of high-margin finished products which will significantly add to our topline, contributing to anticipated positive EBITDA in 2020.”
Key Financial Highlights
Net revenue for Q3 2019 was $6.7 million, representing an increase of $4.7 million or 232% year over year. Q3 2019 gross profit before changes in fair value was $1.9 million, a 29% Gross Margin in Q3 compared to 46% in the prior quarter.
On September 25, 2019, WeedMD completed a previously announced bought-deal convertible debenture financing which resulted in 12,000 convertible debenture units (“Convertible Debenture Units”) and an additional 1,115 over-allotment units being issued at a price of $1,000 per Convertible Debenture Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $13.1 million.
Between September 23 and November 4, 2019, WeedMD completed the inaugural harvest of its 27-acre outdoor cannabis cultivation. The harvest resulted is expected to yield a dry weight of more than eight tons at a cost to harvest of approximately $0.16 per gram.
The weighted average cost per gram sold from greenhouse operations, inclusive of all costs, direct and indirect, continued to improve in Q3. Costs to produce and package a gram of cannabis in Q3 2019 fell to $1.42, compared to $1.84 for Q2 2019 and to $3.14 in Q3 2018.
WeedMD holds $22.9 million of inventory and biological assets as of September 30, 2019.
WeedMD’s total assets reached $155.2 million as of September 30, 2019.
Summary of Results
Q3 2019 Q2 2019
($) ($)
Net Revenue 6,654,311 7,979,747
Gross profit before changes in fair value 1,902,485 3,663,089
Gross margin (before changes in fair value) 29% 46%
Income (loss) and comprehensive income (loss) (13,402,388) 12,624,640
Adjusted EBITDA* (1,970,742) (662,822)
As at Sept. 30, 2019 June 30, 2019
Cash and cash equivalents 13,703,225 11,349,687
Inventory 13,259,514 12,470,953
Biological assets 9,605,182 16,999,784
Working Capital 27,464,396 38,322,049
*Adjusted EBITDA is not a recognized measurement under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) and this data may not be comparable to data presented by other companies. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA to be an important measure of the Company’s day-to-day operations, by excluding interest, tax, and depreciation, stock compensation, fair value changes and other non-cash items, and non-recurring items. This measurement is useful in assessing the results of operating and strategic decisions.
Acquisition of Starseed Medicinal Inc. & LPF Strategic Investment
On November 29, 2019, WeedMD also announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Starseed Holdings Inc. (“Starseed”), a medically-focused, federally-licensed cannabis company providing cannabis to insured patients with coverage under their benefit plans (the “Acquisition”). The all-share Acquisition is valued at approximately $78 million, and Starseed’s strategic investor, the Labourers’ Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada (“LPF”), will make a concurrent $25 million equity investment directly into WeedMD (the “Strategic Investment” and collectively the “Transaction”). The Transaction bolsters WeedMD’s leadership position in the medical cannabis market through Starseed’s exclusive distribution and patient channels, provides important growth capital and fortifies the Company’s balance sheet.
For more details, find press release here.
Q3 Corporate Highlights During and Subsequent to the Quarter Ended Sept. 30, 2019
Health Canada Licensing. WeedMD secured the following:
Licence Amendment for 20 Additional Cultivation & Processing Rooms. August 2019 – Health Canada’s approval for an additional 20 cannabis cultivation and processing rooms in Strathroy. The amendment allows another ten 10,000 sq. ft. cultivation rooms to be utilized along with 10 more processing and drying rooms.
Licence Amendment for 50,000 sq. ft Outdoor Processing Facility. Newly built 50,000 sq. ft. purpose-built facility designed for its current and future outdoor cannabis operations on its 158-acre Strathroy property. This facility will allow for drying, processing and storing of cannabis. The facility is now fully operational and is the location for the processing and storage of WeedMD’s 2019 outdoor harvest.
Outdoor Grow & Harvest. In early November 2019, WeedMD completed the harvest of over 20,000 cannabis clones planted on 27-acres outdoors in Strathroy, Ontario in early June 2019. WeedMD is one of the first LPs to introduce and harvest outdoor cultivation in Canada. Preliminary outdoor-cultivated test results confirm over 20% THC on some strains. WeedMD’s harvested cannabis is expected to yield more than eight tons of biomass at a cost of approximately $0.16/gram.
Aylmer Facility Optimization & CX Industries: WeedMD is on track to completing the retrofit of its fully-licensed Aylmer facility into a focused extraction and processing hub. In November 2019, WeedMD’s wholly-owned affiliate CX Industries Inc. entered commercial operations with the commissioning of its first Vitalis Q-90 high throughput extractor. Launched in July 2019, CX Industries specializes in extraction, toll processing, white labeling services and third-party product formulation and at peak production will have a throughput of 200,000 kgs of biomass per year. WeedMD intends to utilize the majority of its 2019 outdoor crop with CX Industries for extraction and upgrading into finished concentrate products.
Leadership Appointments: In November 2019, WeedMD announced the appointment of pharma executive Tricia Symmes as General Manager of CX Industries Inc. Tricia will be responsible for strengthening sales channels, building new cannabis product lines and scaling for growth, positioning WeedMD & CX Industries for long-term success.
Q3 Conference Call
The Company will host a joint conference call with Starseed management at 1PM Eastern Time, today, to review the Transaction and WeedMD’s Q3-2019 financial results and operational outlook. The call will be hosted by Keith Merker, CEO, Nichola Thompson, CFO of WeedMD and Angelo Tsebelis, President of Starseed Medicinal.
Management will be available for analyst and media questions following opening remarks.
Conference Call Details:
Date: Friday, November 29, 2019
Time: 1 p.m. Eastern Time
Dial-in Number: Canada/USA: 1-800-319-4610. International Toll: 1-604-638-5340
Participants, please dial in and ask to join the WeedMD call.
Replay Dial-in: Canada/USA: 1-800-319-6413. International Toll: 1-604-638-9010
Replay Access Code: 3858
Replay will be available after 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time, until December 29, 2019.
The Company’s financial statements and related management’s discussion and analysis for the period are available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars and are in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards unless otherwise noted.
About WeedMD Inc.
WeedMD Inc. is the publicly-traded parent company of WeedMD Rx Inc., a federally-licensed producer of cannabis products for both the medical and adult-use markets. The Company owns and operates a 158-acre state-of-the-art greenhouse, outdoor and processing facility located in Strathroy, Ontario. WeedMD also operates CX Industries Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of WeedMD Inc. CX Industries operates out of the Company’s fully-licensed 26,000 sq. ft. Aylmer, Ontario production facility which specializes in cannabis extraction and processing. WeedMD has a multi-channeled distribution strategy that includes selling directly to medical patients, strategic relationships across the seniors’ market and supply agreements with Shoppers Drug Mart as well as six provincial distribution agencies where WeedMD’s adult-use brand Color Cannabis is sold.
Follow WeedMD On:
Follow Color Cannabis:
For Investor Inquiries:
Email: investor@weedmd.com
Marianella delaBarrera
VP, Communications & Corporate Affairs
Email: marianella@weedmd.com
To learn more, visit us at www.weedmd.com
Forward Looking Information
This press release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation which are based upon WeedMD’s current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs and views of future events. Forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “expect”, “likely”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “potential”, “proposed”, “estimate” and other similar words, including negative and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions “may”, “would” or “will” happen, or by discussions of strategy.
The forward-looking information in this news release is based upon the expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and views of future events which management believes to be reasonable in the circumstances. Forward-looking information includes estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, targets, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking information in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to internal expectations, expectations with respect to actual production volumes, expectations for future growing capacity and the completion of any capital project or expansions. Forward-looking information necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; loss of markets; future legislative and regulatory developments; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; the cannabis industry in Canada generally; the ability of WeedMD to implement its business strategies; competition; crop failure; and other risks.
Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, WeedMD does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for WeedMD to predict all such factors. When considering this forward-looking information, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in WeedMD’s Annual Information Form dated December 13, 2017 (the “AIF”) and other disclosure documents of WeedMD filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The risk factors and other factors noted in the AIF and other disclosure documents could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking information.
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE
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About WeedMD
WeedMD Inc. is the publicly-traded parent company of WeedMD Rx Inc., a federally-licensed producer of cannabis products for both the medical and adult-use markets. The Company owns and operates a 158-acre state-of-the-art greenhouse and outdoor facility located in Strathroy, ON. The Company also operates CX Industries, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WeedMD Inc. CX operates out of the Company’s fully-licensed 26,000 sq. ft. Aylmer, Ontario production facility which specializes in cannabis extraction and processing. WeedMD has a multi-channeled distribution strategy that includes selling directly to medical patients, strategic relationships across the seniors’ market and supply agreements with Shoppers Drug Mart as well as six provincial distribution agencies where WeedMD’s adult-use brand Color Cannabis is sold.
Contact WeedMD
WeedMD
Email: orders@weedmd.com
Aylmer, ON. N5H 2M8
Toll-Free: 1-844-WEEDMD-6 (1-844-933-3636)
Toll-Free Fax: 1-844-WEEDMD-7 (1-844-933-3637)
Media Enquiries: media@weedmd.com
For investor queries, please email: investor@weedmd.com
Mon to Fri: 8 am to 6 pm EST
WeedMD on Instagram
It’s always been about staying focused and culti
Kicking off 2020 with news from newly-acquired sub
No time to grind after the daily grind? No worries
Kicking off 2020 with the smells of promise in the
And then there were two! Great way to close out 20
Want to host a #cannabis-infused #NewYearsEve meal
It’s official – we are now 5 sites strong! War
We’re spreading the cheer across all our 4 sites
Back in stock on all our channels! Our legacy stra
Our CEO Keith Merker posted an “Open Letter to S
Today we released our Q3 earnings and announced th
Pleased to announce that Pharma executive Tricia S
More cowbell? Chief Cannabis Officer Derek Pedro w
Is there a difference btwn outdoor/indoor #cannabi
Check out the podcast interview our CEO Keith Merk
Quality products start with quality cultivation. T
WeedMD on Twitter
Focused on cultivating trust. Headed to a Shareholder Vote to bring in the $25M strategic equity investment in relation to the recent @StarseedCA deal. Vote by proxy no later than Jan. 31st or in person on Feb. 4th at 10am. Details here: https://bit.ly/2G75Qev #cannabiscanada
Check out our latest media coverage: @LFPress interviewed our CEO and our @StarseedCA President about becoming a preferred medical #cannabis supplier to @LiUNA1059 London local. http://bit.ly/38lX88n
2020 kicks off w, news from newly-acquired subsidiary @StarseedCA. Signed @LiUNA1059 Local in London, ON to our Medical #Cannabis Program. With 4,000 members, it’s the 5th @LiunaCanada local to give access to #medicalcannabis as reimbursed benefit. http://bit.ly/2Nwc1wU
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Ucluelet Secondary School
Trails of the West Coast
A female polar bear leads her two cubs through a patch of colourful fireweed in a handout photo. During summer, with no sea-ice to hunt on, polar bears in this area are restricted to the shores of Hudson Bay in Canada. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-BBC Earth)
For most polar bears, the summer months are typically lean without access to the winter sea ice they rely on to hunt.
But a group of them around Seal River in northern Manitoba’s Hudson Bay region have found what experts are calling an “ingenious strategy” to find a meal in the hotter weather.
As the new series “Seven Worlds, One Planet” shows, polar bears there patiently wait on boulders for pods of beluga whales to come in with the tide and then jump on their backs to hunt them.
Chadden Hunter, an Australian wildlife biologist and filmmaker who is a producer on the series, says such behaviour hasn’t been studied and wasn’t reported on until recently.
He says it’s “quite unusual,” as polar bears typically just come ashore during the summer, sleeping and conserving their energy while they wait for the cold weather to return.
He adds the discovery could help experts understand what polar bears might need to do more of in the future, if they’re going to survive longer and hotter summers.
“What we might be witnessing with this amazing behaviour that we filmed in Hudson Bay is the kind of thing that would enable some groups of polar bears to survive as climate changes,” says Hunter.
“We can’t say that they’re doing it directly because of climate change, but there really is an interesting question here about the future.”
Premiering Saturday on BBC Earth, “Seven Worlds, One Planet” has stunning footage from 41 countries in seven continents, with a crew of 1,500.
Renowned nature documentary broadcaster David Attenborough narrates the series, which showcases animal behaviour on each continent and the impact of humans on the planet.
Saturday’s debut looks at Australia.
Canada will be featured in the Jan. 25 North America episode, which shows the polar bears north of Churchill, Man., in summer 2018.
As Hunter explains, polar bears lose about a third of their body weight when they’re unable to hunt on winter sea ice in the summer.
But the summertime polar bears around the remote Seal River area have learned to wait for up to six hours on top of giant rocks for beluga whales, which come into the river mouth with the tide and their calves to exfoliate their skin on the boulders.
The bears then leap onto the backs of the whales at just the right moment in an attempt to get a big summer meal. As a result, they’re fatter and healthier than polar bears usually are in the summer.
“When we were filming this behaviour, a lot of scientists couldn’t believe that it was happening,” says Hunter.
“There was absolutely no records in scientific papers, there was no studies on it, and a lot of scientists are champing at the bit to get into this Seal River area to study this group of polar bears to see if they can study the behaviour more.”
Hunter and his crew achieved such footage using a drone and a small boat with a stabilized camera on the end of a crane arm.
They also used boats to capture fascinating footage of bears in another region of Canada: Tofino, on the western shore of Vancouver Island.
There, we see a subspecies of black bears from the rainforest that have learned to wait for low tide for a rich source of seafood, including fresh crabs underneath massive boulders.
Cameras capture a mother black bear teaching her mischievous young cubs in the springtime how to roll over the boulders to get to the food.
READ MORE: Chill with polar bears through an Arctic live cam
UPDATED: Itska back in owner’s arms after Oak Bay man returns dog taken from Tofino
Shannon Boothman expects to be reunited with Itska on Sunday
Tofino and Ucluelet’s Top 10 sports and arts stories of 2019
Revisiting the Coast’s best sports and arts newsmakers of the past year.
Rent-It Centre takes over curbside collection contract in Tofino and Ucluelet
Rent It Centre’s bid was $25,865 lower than the only other bidder, SonBird Refuse and Recycling.
Tofino’s first cannabis dispensary opens
“I don’t know where it’s going, but happy how it’s gone so far.”
Tofino welcomes much needed veterinarian to town
West Coast has not had a full-time vet since Dr. Jane Hunt surrendered her licence in 2004.
Explore Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News
Tofino News
Tofino Weather
Tofino Classifieds
© 2020, Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News and Black Press Group Ltd.
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Local organizations collecting supplies to help hurricane-ravaged Abaco Islands
By Meghan McRoberts | September 5, 2019 at 9:43 AM EDT - Updated September 5 at 9:43 AM
MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — There are a lot of people looking for ways to help the Bahamas following the widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian.
In an effort to streamline collections and consolidate many individual efforts, Operation 300, with support from the City of Stuart, Martin County, Premier Realty Group, and other organizations, has put together a massive collection effort to deliver supplies and long term help to the Abaco Islands.
“The Abacos are probably in the worst shape we could ever imagine,” said Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith.
At a hangar at Witham Field in Stuart, organizers hope to fill more than 20 semi-trucks with supplies that would eventually be delivered by plane, boat, or barge to the Abaco Islands.
Stephen Leighton, Chief of Staff for U.S Rep. Brian Mast, is working with Operation 300 outside of his position with the lawmaker.
Leighton explained that through their combined efforts, they have 60 to 70 boats on standby, 30 to 40 planes, and 15 helicopters.
Ashley Walpole dropped off a trunk-full of supplies Wednesday with her children.
“I donated more baby stuff,” Walpole said. “It’s an important lesson for them to help other people in need.”
The list of needs is long from the Bahamas, but this group is certain they will be able to provide a huge amount of support.
Operation 300 has a national reach and is already receiving interest from people nationwide to support this effort.
“If you know our mission, we take care of families of fallen soldiers. But, a big part of that is promoting patriotism and promoting service in our communities,” said Tara Baldwin, Operation 300 founder.
Jessica Bohner, Owner at Premier Realty Group in Martin County, says there is a large network of realtors also supporting Operation 300 in Martin County, Palm Beach, and Greater Fort Lauderdale.
“Almost 26,000 realtors have committed their support to this,” Bohner said. Bohner is also offering their office at 2 North Sewall’s Point Road as a drop off location for supplies.
But, it is not just about supplies. Leighton explained they are also putting together security teams, medical teams, and housing teams to stay in the islands potentially for months as volunteers.
“I think we will be able to take care of those islands plus some when we’re all said and done,” Leighton said.
“Our eventual phase is to really have a presence there for a while where we can really help these communities get back on their feet and not just throw them supplies and leave,” Baldwin said.
Walpole Trucking, American Trucking, Delivery Dudes Int., Captains for Clean Water, American Custom Yachts, Go Native Freediving, Staniel Air, Bungalows Key Largo, Jiggy Productions, Cheney Brothers, Innov8media are also supporting this effort.
You can drop off supplies at Witham Field Hangar 3 at 1845 SE Airport Rd. Stuart, FL 34996. Drop off hours are between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
There is also an Amazon registry with items that will be delivered to the hangar.
Here is a basic list of items needed for donation:
Non-perishable foods
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MTSU Poll: Democrat Bredesen leads GOP's Blackburn in open-ended race for U.S. Senate
Former Tennessee Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen holds a 10-percentage-point lead over Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn among state voters in a head-to-head contest for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, according to the latest MTSU Poll.
Apparent voter favorites in the race for governor, meanwhile, include Republicans Randy Boyd, Diane Black and Beth Harwell as well as Democrat Karl Dean, and approval of President Donald Trump stands at 50 percent, unchanged from last October's MTSU Poll.
The race for U.S. Senate
In the race for U.S. Senate, 45 percent of Tennessee registered voters said they would choose Bredesen if the election were held tomorrow, while 35 percent said they would select Blackburn. Another 17 percent said they weren't sure, and the rest declined to answer.
"Bredesen is off to a good start, and Blackburn has some ground to make up," said Dr. Ken Blake, director of the poll at Middle Tennessee State University. "But neither candidate has a majority, and with 17 percent undecided, four months to go until the primary and another three after that until the general, this is still either candidate's race to win - or lose."
Dr. Jason Reineke, associate director of the poll, said Bredesen appears significantly more successful at attracting voters from outside his own party than Blackburn is at attracting voters from outside hers.
"For example, 45 percent of self-described independents said they would vote for Bredesen, while only 33 percent of independents said they would vote for Blackburn," Reineke said.
"Bredesen attracted more cross-party voting, too," Reineke added. "Twenty percent of Republicans said they would vote for Bredesen, while only 5 percent of Democrats said they would vote for Blackburn. Our polling during Bredesen's time as governor showed him consistently attracting appreciable support among Republicans and independents as well as among his fellow Democrats. That record may be paying dividends for him now."
Governor's race still getting sorted out
Meanwhile, favorability ratings among all state voters for gubernatorial candidates Boyd, Black, Harwell and Dean range from 30 percent for Boyd and Black to 26 percent for Dean and 23 percent for Harwell. Given the poll's error margin of plus-or-minus four percentage points, the results can't determine which, if any, of the four leads the others. However, the results do indicate that Republican Bill Lee and Democrat Craig Fitzhugh, both with 16 percent approval, significantly trail Boyd, Black and Dean.
The only within-party difference the poll could detect was the significant gap between Lee's 28 percent favorability rating among the sample's 207 self-identified Republicans compared to the 47 percent and 49 percent favorability ratings for Boyd and Black, respectively, among the same respondents. Notably, large segments of the electorate say they neither favor nor oppose the candidates (between 19 and 27 percent) or don't know how they feel about the candidates (between 13 and 32 percent), an indication that these attitudes are still forming.
Trump's approval holding steady
The poll also found that 50 percent of Tennessee voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 41 percent disapprove, 8 percent don't know, and the rest decline to answer. Similarly, 46 percent think Trump deserves re-election, 44 percent think he doesn't, and 10 percent don't know or give no answer.
The president's approval numbers are virtually unchanged from this past October, when the MTSU Poll found that 50 percent approved, 40 percent disapproved, and 10 percent didn't know or gave no answer. Trump's national approval figures during the poll's field period showed nearly the reverse of those in Tennessee, with only about 41 percent approval and about 53 percent disapproval.
"The president's stable approval ratings in Tennessee could be a positive sign for Blackburn, who has been aligning herself with him in her campaign advertising," Blake said. "But the same numbers indicate he is a polarizing figure, which could be a problem for Blackburn if she ends up needing help from voters outside Trump's base."
Approval for other key leaders
Looking at state voters' approval of other key political leaders:
41 percent approve of Sen. Corker, compared to 45 percent in October
39 percent approve of Sen. Lamar Alexander, compared to 45 percent in October
58 percent approve of Gov. Bill Haslam, compared to 56 percent in October
47 percent approve of the Tennessee Legislature, compared to 48 percent in October
14 percent approve of the U.S. Congress, compared to 13 percent in October.
The scientifically valid poll of 600 registered Tennessee voters reached by Issues & Answers Network Inc. interviewers via randomly selected cell and landline phone numbers was conducted March 22-29 and has an error margin of 4 percentage points. The poll is supported by MTSU's College of Media and Entertainment as well as by the School of Journalism and Strategic Media.
For more information and for previous poll results, visit http://mtsupoll.org.
Marsha Blackburn, MTSU Poll, Murfreesboro news, Phil Bredesen, President Trump
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Handcrafted Luxury Wood Flooring, Made in America Cherry Wood Floors
Cherry Wood Floors
The beauty and elegance of Cherry wood floors.
Cherry wood floors have been a favorite of woodworkers and homeowners for generations, prized for their distinctive flowing grain patterns and rich red tones that darken over time to a warm burnished auburn color.
American Black Cherry trees, from which the timbers for Cherry wood floors are harvested, are found throughout Eastern and Midwest parts of the United States. However, the best trees are usually grown in the Allegheny Plateau that runs through New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, where a shorter growing season and perfect soil conditions combine to promote the rich, red hardwood that defines Cherry hardwood.
In this short introduction to Cherry wood floors, we’ll answer frequently asked questions and explore options for Cherry floors available through Carlisle Wide Plank Floors.
Superior Cherry wood floors. Unsurpassed customer service.
At Carlisle, the quality of our Cherry wood floors is matched only by the quality of our customer service. Paying attention to every detail and responding to your every need, our customer service team is dedicated to making sure your experience in designing your Cherry wood floors is as fun and exciting as ultimately living on them.
If you’re quite clear on what you need, we’ll make sure you get it. And if you want to explore all your options for varieties of wood, stain, grade, texture and pattern, our team will guide you through every step, offering expert opinions and friendly assistance to make sure your Carlisle Cherry wood floors exceed your highest expectation.
Get the Guide to Selecting Beautiful Floors
Looking for a new wood floors? This 20-page guide can help you explore flooring styles and options as you narrow down your favorite floors.
Why Carlisle is your best source for Cherry wood floors.
Carlisle has been known as a leader and innovator in hardwood flooring since 1966. From wide plank Cherry wood floors to prefinished, engineered and reclaimed hardwood flooring, every Carlisle floor is handcrafted to be unique expression of a homeowner’s or business owner’s aesthetic and sense of style. Committed to sustainable forestry practices, we are able to harvest the best timber for our wide plank floors while preserving natural resources. Our craftsman are committed to excellence and dedicated to perfection, ensuring that your Carlisle wide plank floor will be a stunning masterpiece – a defining feature of your space that will welcome and delight you every time you enter the room.
Any suggestions for how to care for Cherry wood floors? What color can Cherry wood floors be stained? What are prefinished Cherry wood floors? What are engineered Cherry wood floors? What are textured Cherry wood floors? How does the hardness of Cherry wood floors compare to other options? What are wide plank Cherry wood floors? What is Cherry wood?
Any suggestions for how to care for Cherry wood floors?
Cherry wood floors can be easily cleaned with a solution of vinegar and water – 1 or 2 ounces of vinegar per 2 gallons of water – and applied with a damp mop to loosen dirt and contaminants. However, it’s important to consult the manufacturer’s or installer’s instructions for specific steps for maintaining your Cherry wood floors.
What color can Cherry wood floors be stained?
Cherry wood floors can be stained in a wide variety of colors. At Carlisle, we offer a virtually unlimited selection of stains to choose from. However, when selecting a stain, it’s important to choose a hue that will enhance the color and grain pattern of the wood rather than obscure or clash with it. Our design consultants can help you select a stain that will best suit your Cherry wood floors and your space.
What are prefinished Cherry wood floors?
Prefinished Cherry wood floors are sanded, stained and sealed in our facility before being shipped to your residence or business for installation. This process lets you avoid the sanding and staining of your floor on-site and all the mess that entails. Prefinished floors also let you avoid the inconvenience of needing to vacate your space for a day or two while the floor is coated with sealants.
What are engineered Cherry wood floors?
Engineered floors are designed to withstand larger-than-normal changes in temperature and humidity in places like basements, on radiant heating systems or over concrete slabs. Engineered floors may also be appropriate throughout homes where the relative humidity changes drastically from season to season. Engineered Cherry wood flooring at Carlisle is made with a veneer of Cherry hardwood that is glued to 5 to 11 layers of Baltic Birch to form a highly stable core that won’t contract or expand with changes in humidity as solid wood flooring is prone to do. Engineered flooring is not appropriate for environments where the relative consistently falls below 30%.
What are textured Cherry wood floors?
A textured or distressed floor is one that is treated with a variety of techniques to give it an aged or antique appearance. Common techniques include adding hand scraped edges to recreate the appearance of floorboards that were once prepared for installation by hand. Adding saw marks is another common technique, reproducing the look of boards that were cut at early sawmills. At Carlisle, we also offer several proprietary techniques that give new floorboards a Timeworn, Footworn or Brushed appearance, reproducing the look of wood that has been gently worn by generations of use.
How does the hardness of Cherry wood floors compare to other options?
Cherry has a Janka hardness rating of 995, which is similar to Walnut. Cherry is among the softer hardwoods, making it slightly more susceptible dents and scratches. However, with a professional finish and with proper care, Cherry wood floors will retain their form and luster for many years.
What are wide plank Cherry wood floors?
Wide plank Cherry hardwood flooring uses floorboards that may range from 5″ – 16″ in width, and 12′ in length. The result is a floor that has far fewer seams than commercial hardwood flooring, which typically uses floorboards that are only 2¼” to 3″ in width and 4′ in length. Consequently, wide plank floors feel less “busy” and give any room greater sense of spaciousness and elegance. With a wide plank floor, the personality and grain structure of the wood can easily be seen and appreciated, enabling the floor to be a central design element of a room, rather than a surface to merely be walked upon.
What is Cherry wood?
The Cherry timbers used for wood flooring and furniture-making come from the American Black Cherry tree, a hardwood species with medium density, low stiffness, good bending properties and medium strength and shock resistance. Consequently, Cherry wood is easy to work with and produces an excellent, smooth finish when sanded and stained. Cherry will darken over time, producing dark Cherry wood flooring with a burnished auburn color that is highly prized for its rich warmth.
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Home Trending
This is Windows 10 X with new notification center, gestures
Image Courtesy: Neowin
When Microsoft took the wraps off Windows 10 X, there was no mention of the OS coming to the traditional laptops, notebooks or desktops other than the dual-screen devices like Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold, Surface Neo or Dell’s Concept Duet.
A leak published in 2019 revealed Microsoft’s real intentions with 10X. According to the leaked document, Windows 10X is modular and it will eventually make its way to the traditional laptops.
At CES 2020, Lenovo showed off its ThinkPad X1 Fold and prototype running a vanilla version of Windows 10X was also presented at the event. The 10X actually looks pretty cool, but it’s still not done and you shouldn’t judge it based on these pictures.
Windows 10 X’s new Start menu (Launcher experience)
People familiar with the development previously claimed that Microsoft has been considering giving up on live tiles for a simplified Start menu experience. With Windows 10 X, Microsoft is choosing a simplified design for the Start menu, and the new experience is internally called ‘Launcher’.
In Windows 10 X, you can launch the Start menu by clicking on the grey Windows icon and it turns blue after the button is clicked. The Start menu has your pinned apps, web search, and list of all apps.
Like Windows 8 or 8.1, gestures are a big part of Windows 10 X. For example, you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen to launch the Start menu or swipe from the right side to open the quick actions menu.
Windows 10 ships with Action Center that provides a central place for notifications and quick actions. The Action Center currently occupies the 1/3rd of the desktop even when there are no new notifications.
In Windows 10 X, Microsoft is replacing Action Center with a new notification center and it focuses on the quick actions (options). The new notification center comes with toggles to turn on or off features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Airplane mode.
The new notification menu is a slide-out pane that groups notifications, and still provides access to quick actions like Wi-Fi.
Modern File Explorer
File Explorer is also getting a modern appearance in Windows 10 X. However, the current version of the 10X features Windows 10 Mobile’s File Explorer with minor tweaks.
As we noted above, the OS is still being developed so don’t judge it based on the above pictures.
SOURCENeowin
Windows 10 Your Phone app will get another exciting feature
Windows 10 KB4528760 security update is failing to install
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Excerpt: The Butcher's Daughter (A Journey Between Worlds) by Mark M. McMillin
Title: The Butcher's Daughter (A Journey Between Worlds)
Author: Mark M. McMillin
Genre: Historical Nautical Fiction (Elizabethan Era, Spanish Armada), Adventure, Romance, War, New World
In an age ruled by iron men, in a world of new discovery and Spanish gold, a young Irishwoman named Mary rises from the ashes of her broken childhood with ships and men-at-arms under her command. She and her loyal crew prowl the Caribbean and prosper in the New World for a time until the ugly past Mary has fled from in the old one finds her. Across the great ocean to the east, war is coming.
The King of Spain is assembling the most powerful armada the world has ever seen - an enormous beast - to invade England and depose the Protestant "heretic queen." To have any chance against the wealth and might of Spain, England will need every warship, she will need every able captain. To this purpose, Queen Elizabeth spares Mary from the headman's axe for past sins in exchange for her loyalty, her ships and men.
Based on true historical events, this is a tale about war, adventure, love and betrayal. This is a story about vengeance, this is a tale of heartbreak...
This is a prequel to Gather the Shadowmen (the Lords of the Ocean), Prince of the Atlantic and Nampoleon's Gold.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26534516-the-butcher-s-daughter?from_search=true
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2dABp1z
I stood on the poop deck next to MacGyver, Michael MacGyver, my best man at the helm, watching the morning sun, dressed in brilliant red, rise majestically above the sea’s shimmering green waters. A good, flowing wind filled our sails and the ship was cruising along nicely. We had Dowlin’s magnificent ship in tow and I could hear my men with their saws and hammers working to repair her shattered rudder. It was a glorious morning. It was a hallelujah morning.
“Good day, Mum,” Hunter said with a mischievous grin as he made his way up the companionway and handed me a mug of steaming, black coffee. “Sleep well my lady?”
“I did indeed, Master Hunter, I did indeed. And you?”
“I have no complaints. I feel most refreshed.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see MacGyver crack a thin smile. A ship is a small place, too small for secrets. The whole crew knew that Hunter and I were lovers.
I savored the coffee’s rich aroma for a bit before I took a sip. “What course, MacGyver? Did old Gilley even give you one before he retired to his hammock or are you sailing aimlessly about on the open sea to only God knows where?”
“We sail for the Na Sailtí, my lady.”
“Ahhh, the Saltee Islands,” I said. “I thought as much.”
No one had ever accused Dowlin of being clever. The Saltee Islands, lying just off Kilmore Quay between Waterford and Wexford, was an obvious choice. The islands were remote and uninhabited and not far from Dowlin’s base at Youghal. Still, without a map or guide, one could roam those small islands for years and not find any buried treasure.
Hunter grabbed my mug of coffee from my hand and took a sip. “Dowlin’s brothers,” he said soberly, staring absently out at the horizon, “ghastly brutes the pair of them, will want revenge when they hear of what we’ve done, Mary. Righteous or not, the gods always exact a price for a killing.”
Only Hunter and Gilley ever addressed me by my given name. Mary had been my mother’s name. But I did not know her. She had died when I was very young. They say she had been a rare beauty. They say that before my father took her in and married her, she had been a whore.
“No doubt,” I said evenly, stealing a secret moment to admire Hunter’s exquisite face in the soft, morning light.
He had not yet shaved. He wore no hat and had neglected braiding his long, black hair into a queue. The breezes toyed with the loose strands, brushing them across his face. His eyes were striking blue. His chin was square and strong. I thought him the most handsome man in all of Ireland, perhaps in all of Christendom.
Hunter used his fingers to comb the tangled mess off his forehead. He turned to face me and gave me a puzzled look.
“Out with it, Hunter,” I demanded.
“I’d rather see it comin’ than get it in the back. That’s all, my lady.”
“I agree,” MacGyver chimed in, “with Hunter.”
“You agree with Hunter do you now?” I asked mockingly as I placed my hands on my hips. “As if I give a damn what you two agree on! Do I smell a mutiny brewing aboard my ship?”
Hunter and MacGyver exchanged knowing glances and chuckled. As every man in my crew knew, any one of them could speak his mind freely and without fear. Honest speech was protected by one of the Ten Rules, though precisely which one I doubt any of us knew.
Then Gilley, climbing up the ladder from the main deck, stepped onto the quarter deck carrying a basket of bread from the ship’s galley. The bread was freshly baked, still warm and smelled delicious.
“Mutiny is it?” Gilley asked while handing out his loaves. “Never trusted the likes of these two, Mum. Be happy to gut them both for you after they finish their breakfast. I’ll hang their worthless carcasses off the main yardarm to rot. Let them serve as a warnin’ to all other would be mutineers.”
“Hunter,” I said, “is worried about Dowlin’s brothers.”
“Ah, and well he should be, Mum,” replied Gilley with a serious nod. “Well he should be. Them two aren’t no better than Dowlin. Worse maybe. An ill-tempered litter sprung from the angry womb of an ill-tempered bitch.”
“Aye,” I agreed. “So gentlemen, we must be the first to strike. And when we strike we must do so with deadly purpose.”
Born in 1954 in Indiana, Mark McMillin has lived in a number of states throughout the U.S. as well as overseas. He attended Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, focusing his studies mostly on military history, and served as a cadet in Canisius's nationally recognized ROTC program. After graduating in 1976, Mark was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army and was stationed in Bad Kissingen, Germany where he served with the elite 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
In 1986, Mark received his J.D. degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois and began his legal career with a law firm in White Plains, New York focusing his attention on general corporate law. In 1994, Mark moved to Virginia and ventured out into hazardous world of litigation where, in 1999, he won what was reported to be at the time one of the largest and longest federal criminal trials in Virginia's history. Mark thereafter moved to Georgia where he resumed his general corporate practice and served as general counsel for several companies, including a $1B publicly-traded airline.
Mark has been a life-long student of military history. And he has always had a passion for reading and love for writing and wanted to someday write his own book. But write a book about what? Mark had no desire to write about some subject that 100 authors before him had already delved into. And then, almost by accident, this fascinating, little known story of Captain Luke Ryan fell into his lap. It was an opportunity was too good to pass on and so Mark began the long and tedious journey of researching, writing and rewriting. The twelve year project ended in 2011 with Gather the Shadowmen (The Lords of the Ocean), Prince of the Atlantic and Napoleon's Gold.
Mark currently lives in the Southeastern part of the United States.
A few of Mark's favorite books include: Robert Fagel's two brilliant translations of Homer's Odyssey and the Iliad, Tolkien's wonderful Lord of the Rings trilogy, Table in the Wilderness by Norton S. Parker, Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy, Herman Wouk's The Winds of War, Tom Clancy's The Hunt for the Red October, Vincent Bugliosi's riveting And The Sea Will Tell and Steven Pressfield's beautifully written Gates of Fire.
Please visit Mark's website at wwwPrivateerLukeRyan.com for more information.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5331086.Mark_M_McMillin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.mcmillin.77
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mark-McMillin/e/B0062LQ18Q/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1474556491&sr=1-1
Website: www.privateerlukeryan.com
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The State of Contemporary Crime Fiction
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New Writers Resource: Online Writing Groups
Book Showcase: Strong Cold Dead by Jon Land
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July 11, 2018by adminNo CommentsSponsored Content, Summer 2018, Taste, Towns
Better Brews
Experience “Huntington’s Favorite Day” with top-notch brews, live music, and the Jewel City’s best cuisine.
Huntington’s popular Rails & Ales Festival has grown dramatically since it launched in 2013, in both attendance and quality of the beer selection. “It’s Huntington’s favorite day,” says Jessica Pressman, member of the Better Beer Coalition, which organizes the event.
This year’s event—coming to Harris Riverfront Park on Saturday, August 11—will be bigger than ever, but the goal remains the same. “Our objective has always been to promote a craft beer culture in the area and to make Huntington a craft beer destination,” Pressman says.
Fellow member Jeff McKay, who owns Huntington’s Summit Beer Station, is putting together a beer list featuring more than 300 brews from across the United States and Europe, securing limited-edition kegs you won’t find at your local watering hole. But the festival will also include many offerings from breweries around West Virginia. In fact, this year’s event will feature beers from almost every one of the state’s 20-plus breweries.
Pressman says the festival is popular with beer aficionados, “but it’s also for people who are just starting to dabble.” The beer isn’t the only reason to buy a ticket though. The coalition has recruited some of the area’s best restaurants to feed attendees, booked top-notch musical acts for live entertainment, and invited the state’s most talented artists to sell their wares.
“We feel strongly about providing the best possible experience for our guests,” Pressman says.
For tickets, visit railsandales.com, @railsandalesfestival on Facebook
Can’t make it to Rails & Ales Beer Festival on August 11? No worries. DIY Pub Crawl.
Black Sheep Burrito and Brews
Now in a bigger, better location at Pullman Square, Black Sheep offers the same gourmet tacos and burritos alongside an ever-changing list of brews from Bad Shepherd Beer Company, a microbrewery located at Black Sheep’s Charleston location.
279 9th Street, blacksheepwv.com, @blacksheepwv on Facebook
Taps at Heritage
Located in Huntington’s historical Heritage Station, this 14-tap bar offers up beer and cider plus more than 20 additional selections in cans and bottles.
210 11th Street, tapsatheritage.com
The Peddler
In 2017, this burger-centric restaurant launched the first craft brewery in Huntington since the late 1990s. Order a pint with dinner, then take home a growler to enjoy later.
835 3rd Avenue, “The Peddler” on Facebook
Summit Beer Station
Ranked as one of America’s best beer bars by the Brewers Association, Summit offers a wide array of American Craft and imported beers on its 26 taps, plus 120 more varieties in cans and bottles.
321 9th Street, @summitbeerstation on Facebook
Whether you’re having brunch, enjoying a pizza, or slurping down oysters on the halfshell, you’ll find the perfect beer pairing thanks to Backyard’s eclectic draft list. Brews come from Backyard’s sister restaurant The Peddler as well as from craft breweries from around the country.
833 3rd Avenue, backyardpizzawv.com, @backyardpizzaandrawbar on Facebook
Bahnhof WVrsthaus & Biergarten
With German-inspired entrees, house-made sausages, and an impressive 30-beer tap list, Bahnhof is quickly becoming one of the city’s favorite haunts.
745 7th Avenue, bahnhofwv.com, “Bahnhof WVrsthaus & Biergarten” on Facebook
McFly Outdoors
Visit Greene Pastures
Explore Heritage Farm Museum and Village
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Students tackle world problems during pop-up challenge
Posted: Thu 7:04 PM, Apr 04, 2019
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) Students from across East Tennessee gathered at UT to help find solutions for our worlds biggest problems.
"We all have ideas, but we don't know how to achieve them," Hardin Valley Academy student Claudia Pulaido said.
She and others are part of the World Savvy pop up challenge, ready to tackle problems found here in East Tennessee like water pollution.
"The Tennessee river is one of the most polluted rivers and that was kind of crazy to us," Hardin Valley Academy student Naomi Shumpert said.
She said World Savvy teaches students to start with solving problems closest to them.
"The emphasize phase is more about people," Naomi said. "I think that's one of the things we're missing in teaching about environment is that it affects us as people, not just the world."
From there they defined the problem, come up with ideas, test a prototype and put it into action. For Naomi and her team, an ad campaign was the best idea to stop water pollution.
"Geared toward younger kids on YouTube," Naomi said. "We made it kind of like some of the other commercials on YouTube, and gave information about it so that they would be more inclined to take action."
These lessons are empowering these students to take action.
"It's different here than in school, because in school our teachers are like 'this is the solution'," Claudia said. "Here it's just like you are a part of creating that solution, and you have a voice in making that solution."
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How to get access to Circle Network
SUBMIT: WVLT Pet of the Week
'Weird looking' husky finds home after being abandoned by breeder
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Woz: Apple Maps disappointing, but flaws 'not that severe'
Apple co-founder downplayed problems with the new Apple Maps application, which replaced Google Maps on iPhones that have iOS 6.
By Spandas Lui | September 24, 2012 -- 03:55 GMT (20:55 PDT) | Topic: Apple
Reviews of Apple's Maps have been mixed at best , but problems with the application may not be as bad as they've been made out to be, according to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Chief scientist at IT storage company Fusion-io, Wozniak was speaking at a company event in Sydney.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Credit: ZDNet/Spandas Lui)
In its release of iOS 6, just prior to the release of the new iPhone 5 , Apple opted to use its own Maps application to replace Google Maps. There have since been many reports about a torrent of errors within it, which includes displaying inaccurate location information.
Apple is said to be assembling a crack team of developers to fix the problems with its Maps app .
Wozniak received his iPhone 5 last week, after lining up at an Apple Store in Brisbane, Australia.
Wozniak said he was loving the iPhone 5, but admitted he was slightly disappointed with Apple Maps.
"I tried to navigate somewhere, and I couldn't get to where I wanted to by voice," he told ZDNet Australia. "So, I was a little disappointed, because I love navigation by voice with my Google [Android] phones, actually, since they always get it and are based on a better database."
The Apple co-founder is aware of the highly publicised errors with Apple's Maps, but suspected the severity of the flaws has been exaggerated.
"I have been reading about the problems, and I don't know if they are that severe," he said.
He used the iPhone 4 antenna issue as an example. The phone was proven to lose reception when the antenna band is touched, leading to dropped calls. In normal use, Wozniak never really noticed the problem.
"Sometimes, there are a lot of complaints about one little thing people spot, but it's not that hard to deal with in life," he said. "I don't know yet about Maps — I'm a little worried about the navigation, but I've still got it covered with a bunch of other navigation apps."
Wozniak ended his full-time employment at Apple in the late 80s, and has not been involved with the design of the company's products since then.
iOS iPhone Hardware Mobility Smartphones Tablets
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Thiess buys out Silcar from Siemens
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Hayley Williams Gives Rare Interview About Future of Paramore
With relative quietness from the band since 2017 album release After Laughter , fans have been left wondering if and when Paramore will return.
Demi Lovato Surprises Emo Nite, Sings Paramore with We The Kings’ Travis Clark
Pop queen Demi Lovato has always been an emo kid at heart, from her love of Senses Fail’s recent music video to her appearance at a 2017 Emo Nite. Now, she’s back again with the perfect cover of Paramore’s “Misery Business.”
Paramore’s Hayley Williams Joins Kacey Musgraves for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” Cover
After moments like singing all the words to Good Charlotte ’s “The Anthem” on Instagram, covering Weezer , and fangirling at a Dashboard Confessional concert, we realized country star Kacey Musgraves is also the Emo Queen.
Watch Teens Try to Identify Early 2000s Pop Punk Music
Watch teens fail to identify some of our all-time favorite songs in this new video.
Paramore's Hayley Williams Opens Up About What Hair Means
“I knew I’d uncovered a part of myself that was desperate to be seen and understood.”
Paramore’s Hayley Williams Shares Hope and Discusses Emotional Well-Being
Hayley Williams of Paramore is continuing her open discussion about mental health.
Paramore Retires “Misery Business” Due to Controversial Lyrics
Paramore are ending an era by putting one of their biggest hits on the shelf.
Gaten Matarazzo of 'Stranger Things' Performs with Paramore
Gaten Marazzo of Stranger Things and Paramore linked up for their long-awaited collab of "Misery Business". Watch the performance here!
Paramore Shares Wacky “Caught In The Middle” Music Video
Paramore just shared a vibrantly wacky music video for their song "Caught in the Middle."
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Microsoft Chatbot Trolls Shoppers for Online Sex
Program creates fake ads, send warning to those who respond: "You may be contacted by law enforcement."
Hotlittlepotato
Tech companies pitch chatbots to businesses as a way to keep customers coming back for more. A new bot built by Microsoft employees in their spare time is designed to do exactly the opposite.
The chatbot, tested recently in Seattle, Atlanta, and Washington, lurks behind fake online ads for sex posted by nonprofits working to combat human trafficking, and responds to text messages sent to the number listed. The software initially pretends to be the person in the ad, and can converse about its purported age, body, fetish services, and pricing. But if a would-be buyer signals an intent to purchase sex, the bot pivots sharply into a stern message.
“Buying sex from anyone is illegal and can cause serious long term harm to the victim, as well as further the cycle of human trafficking,” goes one such message. “Details of this incident will be reviewed further and you may be contacted by law enforcement for questioning.” The warning can vary based on the conversation, if, for example, a potential buyer expresses an interest in someone underage.
Microsoft employees built the bot in a philanthropic initiative called Project Intercept, in collaboration with nonprofits that hope it can reduce demand for sex workers, and the incentives for criminals to coerce people into the sex trade. The technology is not a product of Microsoft itself. The National Human Trafficking Hotline received more than 5,000 reports of sex trafficking in 2016, but most cases are believed to go unreported.
Project Intercept’s lead partner, Seattle Against Slavery, is working with counterparts in 21 other U.S. cities, including Boston and Houston, to deploy the bot more widely. So far, the chatbot has exchanged 14,000 messages with nearly 1,000 people who responded to the planted ads. In about half those cases it heard enough to deliver a warning message.
“If law enforcement perform stings in a city they might get a few dozen people, but we know there have to be thousands and thousands of guys out there looking to buy sex,” says Robert Beiser, executive director of Seattle Against Slavery. “Wasting their time and delivering a deterrence message could change their perspective on what they’re doing.”
Project Intercept was started in 2012 by two Microsoft employees after seeing a documentary about sex trafficking, Rape For Profit. “I thought we should be able to use the things that we work with every day to help,” says Greg, a senior product manager at Microsoft, who asked not to disclose his last name to avoid recriminations from people involved in the sex trade. “NGOs had strategies that were pretty effective but no way to scale them.”
The pair’s initiative first took shape when they entered the philanthropic category of Microsoft’s annual week-long hackathon in 2012. They used the company’s Azure cloud platform to build an improved version of Microsoft technology called PhotoDNA that automatically detects and reports images of child exploitation. Before long, 40 colleagues had joined to volunteer on the project. PhotoDNA is now used by more than 70 companies and organizations, including Facebook and Twitter.
Last summer, the volunteers began thinking about bots, after Microsoft launched a bot-building toolkit aimed at automating customer service. Limitations of the software have produced mixed results for businesses, but the deter-o-bot has proven good enough at its job.
“It helps that the guys who are buying sex are not paying much attention to the human being on the other end of the phone,” says Beiser, of Seattle Against Slavery. Microsoft itself stumbled with its Tay research chatbot that accidentally started talking dirty, but the sex-trade bot does not learn from people it talks to in the same way.
Seattle Against Slavery is also distributing a second service developed by Project Intercept, called Victim Reachout. It harvests phone numbers from real online sex ads, and automatically sends messages to sex workers offering support or assistance getting out of the trade. Responses are routed to an experienced nonprofit employee or volunteer. “It’s really accelerated our ability to reach people,” says Amanda Hightower, executive director of nonprofit Real Escape from the Sex Trade, or REST.
The new tools arrive as nonprofits and law enforcement devote more attention to stifling the demand that leads to sex trafficking. Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, director of Arizona State University’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research, says they could help expand the reach of anti-trafficking efforts. Research in Phoenix has shown that on average a single online sex ad attracts 63 potential buyers. “There aren’t enough detectives in the world to match the size of this market,” says Roe-Sepowitz.
Don’t expect the Microsoft tools to make a huge dent in demand overnight. Roe-Sepowitz says that while education and deterrence make sense, it’s been hard to prove what tactics are most effective. When detectives in Phoenix used fake ads to surprise people looking to buy sex, nearly half of callers who were contacted by a cop later called another spoof ad.
Those working with the new tools hope the software can help with that problem, too, by allowing groups to test different messages and approaches at large scale, and gauge which are most effective. “The hope is to get this activity down and protect a lot of people,” says Beiser.
Tom Simonite is a senior writer for WIRED in San Francisco covering artificial intelligence and its effects on the world. He was previously the San Francisco bureau chief at MIT Technology Review, and wrote and edited technology coverage at New Scientist magazine in London. Simonite received a bachelor’s degree from... Read more
TopicschatbotsMicrosoft
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Wirefly helps you save on cell phones and plans by offering innovative comparison tools so consumers can make educated choices. Start saving today with Wirefly!
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The 10 Best VPN Services of 2020
Privacy is one of the vital things in our everyday life, especially with current tech trends. Data privacy is an issue that has raised anxieties, alarming many internet users. Every time we get connected to the internet, we always are at risk of being hacked and worries about data exposure.
However, people who travel frequently or work on open Wi-Fi need to consider the best VPNs to uphold their data safety.
What’s a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) refers to a computing and mobile app that allows users to hide their identity, IP address, and location from the entire internet. The top VPN services encrypt your whole internet traffic and pass it via a private channel to their secure servers. This blocks the government, your ISP, and the hosting VPN service, from viewing what you are downloading or reading.
All internet content is securely disarrayed between your device and the VPN server so no one can access it even if they intercepted it. By so doing, a VPN can safeguard the user data and keep it safe and anonymous. This means that you maintain anonymity when you connect with your favorite retailer and online banking account(s), among others.
Thus, if you want to protect your data, such as your browsing history, bank details, and emails from possible nosy people, a VPN is the most excellent way to do this.
Besides, a VPN’s capacity to alter your location and encrypt traffic to your desired preferences is valuable. It allows the user to bypass restrictions or filters and blocks on their local networks. For instance, if you’re traveling to China soon, a VPN will help you access WhatsApp and Facebook. Both platforms are blocked in this country.
Using a VPN, a US citizen in the UK for a vacation can easily access their usual Disney Plus or Netflix content. Besides, the best VPN applications are currently easy to use without being a computing expert. These apps are transparent and easy to use.
Here are the 10 best VPN services of the year:
Developed in 2012 by Tefincom & Co, under the Panama authority, NordVPN is the globe’s most renowned and impressive VPN service.
NordVPN has more than 5,600 servers, more than 60 server locations, and has no IP address. NordVPN can support up to a maximum of six devices, and twenty-four-hours customer care live chat. Besides, NordVPN provides 30-days money-back guarantee. During this time, you’re allowed to scrutinize the services and decide on whether to subscribe or cancel.
NordVPN’s subscription plans comprise the $11.95 monthly one-month selection, one-year at $6.99 (billed $83.88 annually), and two-year option at $4.99 (charged $119.76 twice-yearly). The cheapest is a three-year subscription at $3.46 monthly (billed $125.64 every three years). It contains the most significant savings.
Subscriptions are payable via credit cards, PayPal, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, Sofort, and UnionPay. Cryptos such as Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Ripples are also accepted, and provide greater anonymity. Some payment methods depend on your location.
Click here for a discount on NordVPN
NordVPN is compatible with many platforms, including iOS, Linux, Android TV, Windows, and Android. Firefox and Chrome can be secured with normal extensions of NordVPN proxy. Further tools and supports are accessible for devices such as BlackBerry, routers, QNAP, among others.
Even for beginners, all the applications are straightforward to use. The browser proxy extensions don't have the complete functionality that many other VPN browser extensions possess. However, they're still useful in blocking ads and malware and providing more protection from IP leakages. Check out our NordVPN review for more info.
Although not all servers are P2P-friendly, NordVPN supports torrenting, and at full-speed experiences. A kill switch is a vital feature to complete a VPN experience. When the VPN connection abruptly drops, the kill switch forcefully barres the entire internet access, preventing leakage of sensitive data. NordVPN also works in China.
NordVPN has two kill switches. The additional (app-level kill switch) shuts down only those applications that the user chooses to in case of an interrupted connection. Also, there're extra features, such as the DoubleVPN option that directs user traffic via two VPN servers.
Besides, the user can turn on the Onion over a VPN. This feature routes the traffic via the Onion network and directing it via NordVPN’s network. It has a CyberSec tech, which is a malware, phishing, ads, and malicious website blocker.
The AES-256-GCM algorithm guarantees military-grade encryption with IKEv2/IPSec and OpenVPN transfer protocols. If your selected device uses the Android or Windows OS, OpenVPN is applied by default. If it’s an iOS application, then the default setting for you is the IKEv2/IPSec. Mac users can choose between IKEv2/IPSec and OpenVPN.
PwC, one of the Big Four auditing firms, did a public audit of NordVPN's no-logging claims. All the reviews were reported as accurate.
This British Virgin Islands-based VPN provider is ranked as one of the best. ExpressVPN has numerous pricing options, including one-month and one-year subscriptions. The annual subscription is allocated $99.95 (billed $8.32 per month). The half-year monthly selection costs $9.99 (billed $59.95 six-monthly).
ExpressVPN has a $12.95 monthly subscription option, the most expensive but least advisable. In case the user wishes to cancel the service, ExpressVPN offers a 30-days total refund after the payment. This rule applies to all subscription plans. Also, it’s a reasonable alternative to free test since ExpressVPN doesn’t have one.
ExpressVPN offers a wide choice of payment methods for subscriptions, including credit cards, UnionPay, Alipay, Bitcoin, and PayPal, among others.
Click here to get ExpressVPN
This VPN is compatible with Mac, Kindle Fire, Windows, Nook, Chromebook, Android, Linux, and iOS. Besides, it offers firmware, instruction manuals for routers, configuration files, gaming consoles, and smart TVs, among others. Also, ExpressVPN offers Chrome and Firefox extensions.
ExpressVPN has a vast server network globally. It covers more than 3,000 servers in 160 capitals across 94 states. It unblocks the most prevalent streaming channels such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, SkyGO, Showtime, and DAZN. Also, it clears censors done by strict regimes as well as Facebook and Twitter.
For clients who like file exchange through torrenting, ExpressVPN supports it without the risk of exposure to your location and metadata. All the VPN servers are P2P-friendly with zero limitations on speed or bandwidth.
ExpressVPN apps use a kill switch (Network Lock) that immediately terminates the user's internet access in case of VPN interruptions. This prevents data leakages. Also, it’s fortified with the split-channeling feature that splits your applications into two categories. Those the user wants to run with VPN only, and those to leave on the regular internet connection. ExpressVPN also works in China.
This VPN employs resilient AES-256-CBC encryption protocol security mechanisms to protect your confidentiality. Besides, it uses HMAC (Hash Message Authentication Code) for the prevention of actual regular data changes. ExpressVPN apps use transfer protocols such as PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, and OpenVPN (TCP and UDP).
On each server, ExpressVPN manages its zero-knowledge 256-bit DNS, safeguarding your traffic from attackers interrupting and blocking it, among others. Lately, the firm announced, TrustedServer, an innovative VPN server tech.
Instead of relying on hard drives, TrustedServer depends on RAM. It ensures all the VPN servers run the latest software, misconfiguration, and diminishing the risk of exposures. Therefore, this significantly surges VPN security.
ExpressVPN guarantees the strict no-logging strategy. According to the company’s website, they have no intentions of logging any traffic info that’s connected to the user. Besides, it gathers minimal data about its services, like the total daily amount of data transferred.
A conducted company audit exhibited tech privacy and quality. The lack of connection failures improves ExpressVPN performance since the apps connect quickly. Download speeds are super-fast, but it depends on locations.
ExpressVPN customer support has instruction manuals for services set-up, troubleshooting guides, and other assistance options. Besides, the VPN has 24/7 live chat support on its website and excellent window-shopping and customer support. Get more information from our ExpressVPN review.
Based in the United States, IPVanish offers the most robust performance on ten devices simultaneously. The VPN was established by Mudhook Media Inc. in 2012 and acquired in 2019 by the NetProtect business of J2Global. The VPN boasts of being among the tier-1 providers, owning and managing its servers instead of renting from third parties.
This means the company has more control over its installation and running.
IPVanish offers several subscription plans, with a monthly plan priced at $10.00. Its the costliest but cheaper compared to the majority of other similar services. Besides, the quarterly subscription costs $8.99 a month (billed $26.99 every three months). The annual plan reduces the monthly cost to $6.49 (billed $77.99 yearly).
If you become a frequent website user, you may receive the 20% discount on all plans. This reduces the monthly plan price to $8.00, quarterly to $7.20 monthly, and annually to $5.20. The acceptable payment means include PayPal and a wide range of credit cards.
These pricing plans include a seven-day refund guarantee, meaning the user has to try the service within the given seven days. According to the refund policy, cancelation within the given days of your subscription days, using a refundable method, automatically processes it. Thus, iOS app users are unqualified for the refund guarantee, and Apple handles their refund requests.
IPVanish has an intuitive and upfront native client for Android, Windows, Fire TV, Chrome OS, Mac, and iOS. Other supported platforms include routers, Windows phones, and Linux, for which IPVanish vendor has offered files and manual set-up procedures.
IPVanish will connect up to ten devices simultaneously, providing just one connection utilizes L2TP or PPTP. While this is plenty for most households, you can install the VPN on a router to eliminate this restraint. Also, the company (and its partners) sells IPVanish pre-installed VPN routers.
For any subscription plan a user selects, they can access over 40k shared IP addresses, and over 1.3k P2P-optimized servers across over seventy-five countries globally. Currently, the VPN unblocks several prevalent geo-restricted services and websites, including Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, Skype, among others. BBC iPlayer is not included.
The vendor supports clients who like sharing files via torrenting without speed or data restrictions. The Android app comprises a split channeling option that enables the user to choose the apps they'd prefer routed via ISP rather than the VPN, providing privacy.
The iOS app lets the user create lists of wireless networks they prefer protected by VPN always, and those that are adequately safe. The VPN kill switch hides the user identity and online events, even if its connection is lost. When triggered, it just closes all internet access on your device. The feature is obtainable on Mac, Android VPN, and Windows clients.
This VPN uses secure 256-bit encryption to provide advanced privacy and security. The encryption works together with IKEv2, OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP, and SSTP transfer protocol. It has a stern no-logging policy that doesn’t monitor, gather or log any info of its service whatsoever.
No independent validation claims have been provided, but IPVanish rivals plan on employing external auditors to prove the firm is trustworthy.
IPVanish offers excellent results in terms of connectivity and speed testing, with a suitable performance for both local and distance servers. However, some regions, such as India, hail feeble (5Mbps) download speeds.
The company has excellent customer support service, reachable through email or live chat, twenty-four-hours a day. Also, it’s available through telephone during office hours (9 AM to 5 PM CT, Monday to Friday).
4. Surfshark
Headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, Surfshark provides robust security and a range of fascinating landscapes for a low price.
The VPN’s costliest subscription option is the one-month choice priced at $11.95. The annual plan is priced at $5.99 each month (billed $71.88 twelve-monthly), while the two-year subscription is the cheapest at $1.99 monthly (billed $47.76 every twenty-four months). It's also one of the most inexpensive plans in the whole VPN industry.
The user can permit additional features called BlindSearch and HackLock, for an added monthly price of $0.99. These services are payable via PayPal, Cryptos (Ripple, Ethereum, and Bitcoin), and credit cards.
HackLock analyzes the web and signals you on leaked emails, allowing you to prevent the possible damage in advance. BlindSearch permits private and efficient searching without irritating ads or logs.
Android, iOS, and macOS apps are open to a seven-day trial. To access the test, the user downloads the Surfshark mobile app, install, and click on the free trial. You can select your preferred plan, which is uncharged for the first seven days. If unsatisfied, you can cancel within the same days.
All Surfshark’s subscription plans accompany a thirty-day refund guarantee. Windows has no traditional free trial, but the firm says its refund assurance is risk-free. Thus, the user has to sign up and pay for a subscription. However, you can request a refund within the first thirty days if unsatisfied with the service functionality.
Surfshark is compatible with all major operating platforms, including Linux, iOS, Fire TV Stick, Windows, Android, and Mac. Also, you can connect multiple devices to a single account simultaneously. The provider has Chrome and Firefox extensions. All apps are intuitive and user-friendly for everyone and can be installed on supported Xbox, smart TVs, routers, PlayStation, and many more.
Since most servers are P2P friendly, there are zero obstacles to safe and fast torrenting. Also, you can access online services even in VPN-blocked countries using the NoBorders mode. This mode unblocks geo-blocked websites, allowing you to access your popular streaming services such as Hulu, BBC iPlayer, HBO, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.
Using CleanWeb, clients are actively protected from phishing and malware attempts, removing irritating pop-ups and ads. Besides, it has Whitelister, a split-channeling feature allowing you to eliminate specific apps or websites from the VPN connection. It’s useful in accessing network devices such as online banking and printers.
Whitelister is only available for Android and Windows clients.
The hack-proof 256-bit encryption, IKEv2, and OpenVPN protocols hide your identity. Surfshark Windows app supports an open-source encrypted proxy, Shadowsocks protocol, mostly used in China, to circumvent the Great Firewall. Also, Surfshark’s zero-knowledge DNS servers decrease the probability of prying from snoopers. Besides, it has MultiHop, a feature allowing users to connect through two different VPN servers, adding an extra security layer.
Surfshark's Camouflage Mode makes it almost impossible for people to know you're using a VPN by viewing your traffic. Its strict no-logs rule spells that the firm doesn’t gather any download, incoming or outgoing IP addresses, network traffic, among other things.
Surfshark has unlocked its doors for Cure53, a German security company that steered an independent security check and found no serious issues. Its connections come without a malfunction, with superb connection times. In terms of download speeds, the performance is reliable, recording 66Mbps on 75Mbps connection.
Its weak speeds are 110Mbps on a 475Mbps line, quite acceptable, only a bit feeble compared to some rivals.
The company has a blog section for additional info, with popular articles. They have a 24/7 live chat customer service.
5. CyberGhost
Founded in 2011, Bucharest, Romania, CyberGhost provides services to clients (over 30 million users) globally. It's operated by IT expert teams in Germany and Romania.
Its subscription options include a one-month at $12.99, an annual plan priced at $5.99 monthly, and a two-year one priced $3.69 regularly. The cheapest is a three-year option at $2.75 monthly. For an extra $5.00 monthly, a user can have their dedicated IP.
They have a free test depending on the platform used in signing up, ranging from twenty-four hours for Mac and Windows, to seven days for iOS. Android platforms don't require a sign-up but include a sevens free test.
The accepted payment plans include Bitcoin, credit cards, and PayPal.
Easy and user-friendly native apps are accessible for iOS, Windows, Linux, Android TV, among others. It also can be set up on other platforms such as Chrome OS, routers, Raspberry Pi, among others. CyberGhost can be operated on seven devices simultaneously. But if low speed is inconvenient for you, keep off this.
This VPN gives the user access to over 5,900 servers in over ninety countries. Also, you can bypass several regional restrictions for online services like Netflix, HBO Now, Crunchyroll, and Hulu, among others.
The applications are fitted with the kill switch, by default, to prevent leaking your sensitive data. A split-channeling option is available for Android clients, giving you the freedom to choose apps that run on VPN and regular internet connection. Whitelist is available for Windows clients. Additional options include ads blocking and online tracking, data compression, and automated HTTPS redirect.
The superior 256-bit AES algorithm encrypts CyberGhost's services, transferring traffic with OpenVPN. Also, it has a protection mechanism preventing IPv6, DNS leak, and Port Forwarding and uncompromising no-logs strategies.
The only recorded data is the daily anonymous account logins, summed up for the month. Consistent with annual transparency reports, deletion happens every twenty-four hours and monthly, respectively.
Customer support is available 24/7 using emails and live chats in French, Romania, English, and German.
This is a fantastic, popular VPN service that comes with alluring free option as well, but with a quality premium, paid option.
It has over 2.5k servers in over seventy locations, with five number of supported devices, simultaneously. The VPN’s feature over its rivals is a fantastic cheap price. Unlike other VPN services, the thirty-day money-back guarantee does not apply for Hotspot Shield services.
Hotspot Shield doesn't support the OpenVPN standard, meaning the user cannot set it up on their games console, Chromebook, or router. There are no specific apps for this. If the user wants to try, the VPN offers a free test of the paid service. This includes a week of service at no cost.
Customer support is available 24/7 using emails and live chats.
Related: Cheapest VPN Services
7. Windscribe
Windscribe was founded in Ontario, Canada, in March 2016. The VPN has a premium and free version, both with many exciting and quality features.
Windscribe’s premium version is accessible under the monthly plan at $9.00, and the yearly subscription priced $4.08 monthly (billed $49.00 twelve-monthly). Clients have the option of creating their subscription plans under the Build A Plan selection.
The plan lets users select their preferred locations at a monthly price of $1.00 per location, with a minimum of two places. Similarly, every area adds 10GB over the allowed monthly bandwidth. There’s also an option for unlimited data for an extra $1.00 monthly, and the provider's patented ROBERT feature.
ROBERT allows the user to choose specific content you desire to block, such as ads, trackers, malware, porn, fake news, other VPNs, among others.
Acceptable payment channels include PayPal, cryptos, Mint, and credit cards.
In the traditional sense, there’s no free trial. Yet, the free version is adequate to try it out. Full money-back is guaranteed every time, but the request has to be sent within three working days from the subscription payment. Also, the traffic volume has to be below 10GB.
The VPN has applications for all major companies, including Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, and Windows. Besides, browser extensions for Opera, Chrome, and Firefox are also accessible. Manuals are available on the websites for installing the service on other platforms such as Kodi, Nvidia Shield, and Amazon Fire TV.
For premium users, Windscribe can be set up on OpenVPN, routers, or SOCKS5-compatible platforms. Alternatively, you can purchase a pre-configured router from its providers. The premium service is usable on an unlimited number of devices simultaneously, provided you are not sharing your account.
When you sign-up for an account, the free plan gives you 10GB of data traffic monthly. For users who are unwilling to surrender their email address, the free service comes with a reduced 2GB monthly traffic. For a complete VPN functionality, you can buy one of the paid plans and have access to a network of 110 capitals in more than sixty countries.
With a premium subscription, you have access to content blocked in certain regions such as Netflix. The VPN has explicit servers named Windfliix. Although not all servers are P2P-optimized, torrenting is supported.
Double Hop is an option for clients using a desktop app with the extensions, which allows users to connect to a second location, thus hiding your traffic. The browser extension has precise privacy options for blocking social media, ads, beacons, and trackers from visited websites. Besides, it can prevent browser fingerprinting by rotating the browser’s user agent.
Windscribe protects user's privacy using the AES-256 code with SHA512 auth and a 4096-bit RSA key. Also, the provider supports perfect forward privacy. The VPN uses many connection methods to its server and ensures user connection in blocked ports.
The Stealth Mode compresses OpenVPN in a TLS channel through Stunnel, while Wstunnel encapsulates it in a WebSocket. The Windscribe kill switch operates under manual, automatic, and always on modes.
Its connection is flawless, although the OpenVPN connection delays (7 to 145 seconds) to establish. It has high download speeds, especially with IKEv2.
Windscribe’s website section provides ample help, divided into various categories. Customer support is available through live chats, though answers are given by a bot named Garry. Email responses are also applicable. All of Redditor's questions are answered via Subreddit.
This Swiss-based VPN is labeled one of the most protected VPN choices in the industry. It offers pricing in basic and premium plans. The premium plan comes with a monthly $12.95 price, while the yearly option is priced at $6.67 monthly, respectively.
Basic plans are available at $9.95 monthly, or annually at $5.00 monthly (billed $60.00 twelve-monthly). These plans have a thirty-day refund assurance in case of unsolvable issues. Payment is accessible via PayPal, UnionPay, and credit cards.
VyprVPN covers all major platforms like Mac, iOS, Android and Windows, routers, and QNAP, among others. The VPN has over 700 servers across over seventy server locations, giving you access to over 200k IP address. The maximum number of devices supported are five simultaneously.
The Chameleon Protocol allows you access online even in countries where VPN is blocked, and DNS service, which aids in deflecting malicious activities. VyprVPN has been audited by the Leviathan Security Group Inc to back its no-logs policy.
Its performance isn’t well-rated, in the UK and US, for it can drop to a low 25-50Mbps locally on a 75Mbps, and a meager 50-70Mbps on a super-fast 475Mbps. Customer care support is available 24/7.
Related: How to Change Netflix Region to Watch in Any Country
9. StrongVPN
This VPN is an excellent option for users requiring up to twelve devices simultaneously. Founded in California, in 2005, its teams are everywhere globally, including Australia, the US, Malaysia, Japan, and France.
Its pricing is offered in monthly and yearly packages. The one-month option comes at $10.00, and the annual at $5.83 monthly (billed $69.99 annually). Both plans come with a thirty-day refund assurance. When you click on the Save Now button, a monthly $4.37 price is accessible for the annual, as well as a $7.50 monthly.
StrongVPN supports Windows, iOS, Mac, FireTV, and Android, for which it has native users. Other available platforms include Synology NAS, Linux, Chrome OS, among others. With StrongVPN, you gain access to over 950 units in forty-six capitals across over twenty countries.
Torrenting is also likely. StrongVPN provides utmost privacy using military-grade 256-bit encryption, and connections via IKEv2, L2TP, SSTP, and OpenVPN. Also, it has a proprietary WireGuard tech for assembling features.
Its download speeds are connection times exceptional and offer 24/7 customer service support. Besides, they provide a phone line which you can call during its office hours (between 9 AM and 5 PM CT), Monday to Friday.
10. TunnelBear VPN
Founded in 2011, this Toronto, Canada-based VPN service firm offers both free and premium versions. In 2018, however, it was procured by McAfee, a cybersecurity giant.
TunnelBear provides one-month and one-year subscription plans. The monthly version comes at $9.99, and the annual at $59.88 twelve-monthly ($4.99 per month). There are favorable subscriptions for teams, priced at $207 annually (three-member group). The subscriptions come with a seven-day free test.
Acceptable payment methods include credit cards and bitcoin (applicable for purchasing annual plan). According to the company, all the paid amounts are non-refundable unless otherwise.
TunnelBear has restricted platform support, with apps installable on Mac, Android, Windows, and iOS devices, and Linux. The website contains a support document and OpenVPN configuration files the user can use to enable the service on their Linux device.
Protection is extendable to Opera, Firefox, and Chrome by installing the corresponding browser extensions. The five simultaneous connections limit can’t be extended by setting the VPN on a router. Neither can it be installed on a smart TV, nor on game consoles for they're unsupported.
TunnelBear’s free plan gives you a measly 500MB of data monthly and a single connection limitation. Premium options eliminate data traffic cap, provide access to priority customer service, and allow up to five concurrent connections. Its modest server networks cover just twenty-two countries.
Unlike other VPN providers who offer full access to geo-restricted services, TunnelBear offers partial. For instance, it may work on YouTube, but Netflix connections always fail. However, torrenting is accessible without restrictions. Also, the client support team can even propose the ideal servers for such purposes.
You can add supposed secure wireless networks by using the Trusted Networks list, and enable automatic TunnelBear instigation when accessing a non-listed one.
TunnelBear uses AES-256 encryption to provide absolute confidentiality, as well as IKEv2 and OpenVPN protocols. iOS and Windows clients use these interchangeably, while Android and Mac apps use OpenVPN by default.
The SHA-256 data verification thwarts harmful doings such as the man-in-the-middle attacks. Also, the VPN has a kill switch called VigilantBear, which shuts down all internet connections if the VPN is interrupted. To guard your data against being noticed, TunnelBear has a GhostBear feature which does so by hiding your VPN activities as systematic internet traffic.
For the UK, it connects effortlessly, offering fast local download speeds and connection times. In the US, it’s not that strong as it peaks at 95Mbps on a 475Mbps connectivity.
Customer service doesn't include a 24/7 response, and it's delayed. However, its blog and website provide helpful information.
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Ireland’s Shannon Airport suspends operations for plane fire
Posted: Aug 15, 2019 / 08:26 AM EDT / Updated: Aug 15, 2019 / 09:37 AM EDT
LONDON (AP) — Shannon Airport in western Ireland shut down briefly Thursday after a Boeing 767-300 carrying U.S. military personnel caught fire while taxiing before takeoff.
Passengers and crew were evacuated. There were no reports of serious injuries.
Air traffic controllers spotted flames and smoke coming from the undercarriage of Omni Air International Flight 531.
Emergency services put out the flames and then closed the airport for several hours to clear the runway.
by JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press / Jan 20, 2020
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Hundreds of disgruntled protesters against the elite World Economic Forum are marching through the Alpine snows toward its annual gathering in Davos, as officials on Monday detailed extra security measures like vehicle checks and webcam shutdowns with U.S. President Donald Trump and other notables set to arrive.
Zurich regional police said some 130 attendees who are “protected under international law" - including royalty, presidents and prime ministers - were expected to pass through toward the Davos gathering from Tuesday to Friday. All told, nearly 3,000 leaders from civil society, business, politics and elsewhere from 118 countries are expected as the Forum marks its 50th year.
Today's Forecast / 2 hours ago
Buffalo / 1 hour ago
Jim Kelly tweets Trump, weighs in on 27th District Congressional race
Inmate kills convicted child molester, officials say
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Anti-police violence surges in the tough suburbs of Paris
by: JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press
In this photo taken on Monday, Nov. 4, 2019, a view of the charred debris of a circus in Chanteloup-les-Vignes, west of Paris. A resurgence of anti-police violence has emerged in the long-troubled towns around Paris, signs that lawlessness still simmers in the French urban hotspots that exploded in three weeks of rioting in 2005. Unrest on Saturday night in Chanteloup-les-Vignes and recent flare-ups in other tough neighborhoods west of Paris have not matched the intensity or destructiveness of the unrest in 2005. But French authorities are alarmed because the violence appears pre-planned, with ambushes targeting police. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
PARIS (AP) — A resurgence of anti-police violence has emerged in the long-troubled towns around Paris, signs that lawlessness still simmers in French urban hotspots that exploded in three weeks of rioting in 2005.
Violence on Saturday night in Chanteloup-les-Vignes and recent flare-ups in other tough neighborhoods west of Paris have not matched the intensity or destructiveness of the unrest that spread to hundreds of towns in 2005.But French authorities are alarmed because the violence appears pre-planned, with ambushes deliberately set to target police.
Police union officials suspect that rival gangs from different tough neighborhoods are competing for bragging rights in their attacks and are reveling in the media coverage they’re generating, even egging each other on in social media.
In Chanteloup-les-Vignes, hooded attackers hid in bushes, waiting to spring their trap. When police arrived, responding to calls about a fire, they pounced. Under cover of darkness, roaming youths showered officers with projectiles and powerful fireworks that filled the night skies with sparks and thundering explosions.
Unlike the riots of 2005, which were sparked by the deaths of two teenage boys electrocuted in a power substation as officers were chasing them, the latest attacks have no obvious trigger. And while rioters in 2005 seethed with anger over deep-seated perceived social and economic injustices, those attacking police now seem simply to be reveling in their violence.
The sustained violence in 2005 prompted much soul-searching about France’s failure to integrate its millions of immigrants and their French-born children living in desolate housing projects blighted by high unemployment and limited prospects. Those concerns remain unresolved, nearly 15 years later.
Maj. William Blanchet, who represents the Unite SGP police union in the Yvelines region that includes Chanteloup and other towns where police patrols have been assaulted, said the youths involved seem to be targeting officers for their own amusement.
“They draw in the police with a fire, hide themselves around that spot, and then they attack,” he said.
Police were lured to Chanteloup by calls that a trash bin had been set ablaze. Callers also reported seeing hooded youths filing bags with stones. Police union officials said about 30 youths, some armed with batons, joined the rampage. Police made two arrests.
A community center that hosted a circus school for kids was torched, leaving it a smoking, charred hulk. A video on Snapchat showed thunderous firework explosions echoing around Chanteloup, the images overlaid with the words, “The city is ours” and “anti-police here.”
“Neighborhoods are one-upping each other with ambushes,” said Charlene Joly, the Yvelines representative for the UNSA police union. “They’re becoming the fashion again.”
Earlier this fall, youths in Chanteloup smashed all the street lights around the neighborhood of austere apartment blocks hit by the violence Saturday, plunging it into darkness, according to Mayor Catherine Arenou. Police say the sabotaging of lights makes their work even harder.
“The 5,000 residents are living under the terror of a few,” said Arenou.
France’s prime minister, on an unscheduled visit Monday to see the damage for himself, suggested that the violence may have been triggered in part by “very intense” police efforts to combat the drug trafficking that underpins the underground economies of many crime-ridden neighborhoods. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the crackdown had created “tensions” in Chanteloup.
Three other French ministers visited on Tuesday morning, underscoring the attention being given to the violence that has made front-page news.
Police union officials say the youths may have been emboldened by the yellow vest economic protest movement that shook the French government in the past year, viewing repeated violent clashes between anti-government demonstrators and riot police as a cue for them to similarly wreak havoc and challenge authority.
“That opened the door,” said Blanchet. “Youths today are telling themselves, ‘OK, we can go for it … We can have some fun.'”
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Front Page Politics World
Europeans: Refugees 'welcome' but not at my house
'Me? Maybe not, because I can't afford it'
Published September 10, 2015 at 8:32pm
Syrian refugees near the Hungarian-Serbian border waiting to be transported to a registration center (UNHCR)
BARCELONA, Spain – As Europe continues to contend with the flood of refugees from the Middle East, WND took to the streets of Barcelona Thursday to gauge local response to a proposal by the city's activist mayor for volunteers to house the incoming migrants.
The vast majority of Barcelona residents interviewed expressed deep sympathy for the refugees and strongly supported the Spanish government's decision to take in nearly 20,000 of those fleeing Syria.
Most residents queried also supported the mayor's aid plan. Yet when asked if they would personally house the refugees, every Barcelona resident interviewed responded in the negative.
Earlier this week, Spain agreed to accept as many refugees as proposed by the European Commission, with the number now set at more than 19,000 to be resettled in Spain.
In August, Barcelona's new mayor, Ada Colau, backed by the left-wing Podemos party, posted an emotional plea on her Facebook page calling for European citizens to put aside their "fear" of the “other,” stop using terms like "illegal alien" and instead create a "network of cities of refuge."
Last week, Colau partnered with the city of Madrid to back a campaign that has created a registrar of households ready to donate material goods to the refugees while seeking volunteers to provide housing and shelter for a period of time.
Colau's office says it received more than 1,200 offers from residents to provide everything from food to housing to language lessons. Barcelona city hall said it is working to coordinate with the "many Barcelona families" that have "offered to receive refugees."
Yet the municipality refused to provide a breakdown of the exact number of residents who offered to open up their homes to the incoming immigrants and would not even give a rough estimate when asked by phone and email inquiry.
WND deployed to Rambla del Poblenou, a main thoroughfare in Barcelona's popular Sant Martí district, and interviewed 22 local residents about the immigration crisis and Colau's call for residents to house the refugees.
Marc Botey, a 50-something local, demanded that fellow Barcelona residents provide assistance while calling on all of Europe to "send a message to the world that Europe is not the bureaucracy [of politicians]. Europe is the people that helps, like in Berlin."
He lectured that Europe "needs to suffer little revolutions inside the countries to start a big revolution for the whole Europe to erase this kind of (political) class that only goes to Brussels to the parliament ... to spend the money."
Following his pro-immigrant political rhapsody, Botey was asked if he would personally house any refugees. He said he cannot.
"I have a very small home, four in two rooms," he explained.
"But they are suffering," WND replied.
"Yes I'm suffering," he responded. "But if I could, I [would] offer a house, a room."
Noella Crespio, a 30-something woman dining with three friends in an upscale cafe, similarly stated that "we are obligated" to help.
"We are one of the main cities of the world, so we have to give an example," she told WND.
Asked if she would provide shelter, Crespio stated, "Me? Maybe not, because I can't afford it; but my family, I think they would do it."
Listen to Aaron Klein's interviews with Barcelona residents:
Alec Osyshenko, a Russian immigrant living in Barcelona for the past eight years, called Colau's housing plan a "good humanitarian act."
"Spain should participate somehow," he said. "I think Barcelona should participate" by making "some effort to give houses and food to the refugees."
Osyshenko, however, said he is "not really in a position" to take anyone into his own home.
Lola Cheralt, a senior citizen and Barcelona resident, expressed support for bringing refugees into Spain in manageable quotas. But she said she fears the economy is too weak to sustain larger numbers and says she would not provide housing herself.
"In Germany now everyone is 'welcome, welcome,' but I don't know in four months what will happen," she said.
Andy Tivayos, a college student, said it's a "good idea" to house refugees. He said he cannot personally take any of them in because he lives in an apartment with roommates.
Arnav, a taxi driver who immigrated here from India 17 years ago, said the Spanish people "have a big heart and always welcome people from abroad. They have immigrant culture."
He said it's "important for Barcelona to do its part to help these people."
Yet he admitted he would not want any refugees to stay in his home.
Aaron Klein is WND's senior staff writer and Jerusalem bureau chief. He also hosts "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on Salem Talk Radio. Follow Aaron on Twitter and Facebook.
@AaronKleinShow
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Pelosi: Director of National Intelligence 'broke the law'
New comedic novel spanks loony university politics
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Results found for March for Science: South Bend
Airdate: April 26, 2017
People gathered for March for Science demonstrations across the country. Karishma Desai spoke to scientists and community members at the South Bend March for Science. Karishma also attends the La Port... (Show More)
People gathered for March for Science demonstrations across the country. Karishma Desai spoke to scientists and community members at the South Bend March for Science. Karishma also attends the La Porte High School's One-to-World Initiative Kickoff where teachers received Chromebooks. The Lifelong Learning Institute of Elkhart County offers stimulating courses for senior citizens. Monica Murphy, speaks with participants about the benefits of lifelong learning. Monica also visits Northside Child Development Center to learn about trainings for school readiness.
Scientists and Community Gather for March for Science
Scientists and community members gathered in support of science education and research in South Bend.
Selected: March for Science: South Bend [Remove]
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Hoadley, McCann Push to Expand Bottle Recycling
Bills would expand, modernize pollution prevention program
LANSING — Today, Rep. Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo) and Sen. Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo) introduced House Bill 5306 and Senate Bill 701, respectively, to significantly expand Michigan’s 40-year-old ‘Bottle Bill,’ modernizing the state’s recycling efforts and strengthening environmental conservation.
“Michigan’s ‘Bottle Bill’ was an innovative, effective approach to pollution prevention when it was first approved four decades ago, but we’ve failed to make the changes needed to keep pace with our ever-evolving beverage containers, including the explosion of single-use plastics,” said Hoadley. “This comprehensive measure will improve our pollution prevention and recycling systems so we are able to protect and preserve our natural resources for generations to come.”
Michigan’s existing bottle deposit law provides a 10-cent refundable deposit paid on certain soft drinks, beers and other carbonated beverages. The bills introduced today would expand this deposit to all other non-carbonated beverages with the exception of milk containers.
“Michigan’s bottle deposit law is one our great state’s most successful policies. Originally intended to reduce roadside litter, it was critical in establishing a culture of recycling and awareness of conservation issues among Michigan citizens,” McCann said. “This legislation would build on that success and lead to even greater participation.”
Among other reforms, the bills would:
Permit universal redemption, allowing consumers to take any recyclable bottle to a large store while allowing smaller stores to maintain smaller takebacks;
Create a bottle handling fund to reimburse distributors and dealers on a per-bottle-basis;
Make funding available for audits and fraud enforcement;
Provide $25 million each year to address contaminated sites.
The pair of bills represent a continuation of both members’ commitment to the cause of recycling and conservation.
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35mm Forever
FILM FORMATS
November 30, 2014 by Shade Rupe
35 Years of STAR TREK movies on 35mm in Philadelphia
From Friday, December 5th through Wednesday, December 10th, the first six films in the franchise will be presented at the PFS Roxy Theater in downtown Philadelphia.
Individual tickets for each screening are $10.00. An all-access pass for all six films with reserved seating is $50.00. There is also a $35.00 general admission pass that will allow the buyer into four films of their choosing.
35 YEARS OF STAR TREK ON 35MM AT THE ROXY THEATER IN PHILADELPHIA
See Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR on FILM!
Quentin Tarantino’s “THE HATEFUL EIGHT” to be lensed in 70mm!
70mm festival at Museum of the Moving Image July 29-Sept 4, 2016
Glorious movie theater marquee photos by Timothy S. Allen
Kodak’s Steve Bellamy on FILM over video
Warren Oates classics on 35mm at Lincoln Center in July
Is it time to bring back the projectionist?
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فارسی / پښتو
Consulate Enquiries
Media Visa
Official and Diplomatic Visas
Passport – Ireland
Legalisation
Criminal Record Check (CRC)
Attestation & Other Services
Afghan National ID (Tazkera)
Kabul New City
Home/Embassy News/Opening Ceremony of the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar Sikh Sangat in London
Embassy News
Opening Ceremony of the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar Sikh Sangat in London
admin Send an email March 6, 2019
Representing the Embassy of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in London, First Secretary Mr. Naveed Noormal accompanied by Second Secretary Mr. Rafi Eklil attended a ceremony in London to inaugurate the new building of Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar Sikh Sangat purchased and built by the Afghan Sikhs based in London.
At the ceremony, Mr. Noormal extended warm wishes and gratitude of the Embassy and congratulated the participants for completion of the construction project. He reminded the participants of the Guru Granth Sahib’s eternal message addressed to the welfare of all human beings centred on peace, harmony, loving and accepting existence of each other.
He also congratulated the winning of Narendra Singh Khalsa in the parliamentary elections of Afghanistan and mentioned that “our beauty is in our diversity, and we appreciate your presence in all our political, economic and social engagements.”
He assured the community members that that the Afghan embassy in London is at their service and is committed to serve them at the best way possible like many other Afghans.
Thank you, Afghan British Business Forum Sponsors!
100th Independence Day 2019
International Physical Disability World Cricket Series
Embassy To Return Precious Artefacts Looted From Afghanistan
Afghan Media for Democracy
Contact Numbers & Email
It is always easy and convenient to send emails, please drop us an email, do your queries and read our Consular Services information.
Our telephone lines are open on Monday – Friday from 13:00 till 17:00 except holidays.
For Passport enquiry please Email: passport@afghanistanembassy.org.uk or Call: 0207 584 4443 Mon-Fri 13-17 hours
For Visa and Legalisation, please email: visa@afghanistanembassy.org.uk or Call: 0207 584 0146
For Power of Attorney: poa@afghanistanembassy.org.uk
For Marriage Certificate, Birth Certificate, CRC (Criminal Record Check), please email: certificate@afghanistanembassy.org.uk or call 0207 584 0146 Mon-Fri 13-17 hours
For ePassport, Passport Extension, Power of Attorney, Legalisation and Other Consular Documents, please BOOK appointment ONLINE:
For further enquiry, please call on 0207 584 4443
All Visa Appointments must be BOOKED online.
Please BOOK your visa-application appointment bellow:
This service is for VISA applicants only.
Appointments for visa can also be made by contacting us on 0207 584 0146
Apply for passport!
Message of the Ambassador
It is a distinct honour to represent Afghanistan in the United Kingdom. The deep-rooted bond of friendship and decades-long partnership between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland draw its strength from our joint fight against terrorism and shared values of pluralism, freedom and peace. I am honoured to contribute and build further upon this solid foundation.
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in London is looking for students interested in joining the Embassy’s Internship Program to gain valuable experience in IR. The main purpose of the Internship Program is to provide the interns with the opportunity of working in a foreign affairs arena while the Embassy benefits from the Intern’s contributions.
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THE EMBASSY:
Monday to Friday.
CONSULATE SECTION:
From: 13:30 to 16:00
The Embassy of Afghanistan in London
31 Princes Gate, London
SW7 1QQ, United Kingdom
Find us on MAP here
For Passport and General enquiries, please call on: 0207 584 4443
For Visa and Legalisation, please call on: 0207 584 0146
Afghanistan’s Future Leaders
MOI Official Graduated From The Royal College Of Defence Studies
HE First Lady Rula Ghani and HE Deputy Minister Adela Raz in the UK
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Applying for passport?
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Charting the Course to 2023
York County Citizens:
For most of us, “sustainability” simply means “taking steps to ensure our environment can endure for a long period of time.” The type of “Sustainability” being promoted by federal and state and local agencies is nothing short of top-down central planning that leads to higher housing costs, increased foreclosure rates, increased unoccupied housing stock, and a reduction in economic growth.
It leads to control over private property, energy use, advanced metering, Smart Meters, water use; it means government will control how hot your shower may be, how much air conditioning or heat you may use, controls on owning and using your car, controls on food production, controls on population growth, and so much more.
The policy of Agenda 21 comes in many names, such as Sustainable Development, Smart Growth, historic preservation, diversity, open space, heritage areas and comprehensive planning. Review public comment and compare to comprehensive planning - does this plan reflect the direction you want?
The York County Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing to receive public comment on the draft updated Comprehensive Plan titled: Charting the Course to 2023: The County of York Comprehensive Plan.
The public hearing will take place at the Commission’s regular meeting on Wednesday, February 13, 2013, at 7 p.m. in the Board Room at York Hall, 301 Main Street in Yorktown. The draft updated plan can be downloaded from the Planning Division website atwww.yorkcounty.gov/planning.
The Comprehensive Plan is the long-range plan for the physical development of the county, and the Code of Virginia requires that it be reviewed at least once every five years. The five-year Comprehensive Plan review began in February 2012 with a series of community forums conducted jointly with James City County and Williamsburg, followed by public meetings in May and June that were targeted specifically to York County citizens. The Planning Commission then held a series of work sessions from June through October to review and discuss the various elements of the Plan, and a telephone survey of county residents was conducted in August to obtain statistically valid data regarding general community goals relating to the physical development of the county. These efforts culminated in the preparation of the draft updated Plan.
Those who wish to comment on the draft Plan but cannot attend the public hearing may submit their comments to the Planning Commission by using the contact information below:
York County Planning Division
Yorktown, VA 23690-0532
Email: planning@yorkcounty.gov
The Planning Commission will consider the comments it receives before taking action on the draft Plan. Once approved by the Commission, the Plan will be transmitted to the Board of Supervisors for consideration and final adoption.
For more information, please contact the Planning Division using the information above.
[Peninsula-Patriots] Fwd: This Weekend: The 2nd Am...
Grave error on HB 2313, politicians
Right From The Left Coast
Decision was made before Friday/Sat. TAX HIKE!
Re: Taking Education In Our Hands!
Hold McDonnell Accountable!
Check out "UNITED NATIONS' AGENDA 21 COMES TO BRAZ...
Kill HB 2313 "Transportation/Education" Bill
Patriot Family Chat
PTP Wire | Van Jones Speaks at ODU
Check out "Ann Bressington Exposes Agenda 21, Club...
[Peninsula-Patriots] URGENT ALERT/ Stop Tourist Tr...
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[Peninsula-Patriots] LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT / VI...
Message from Bear Witness - A Warning To America
Tea Party PAC, Lt Gov Candidate Forum, More
[Peninsula-Patriots] OBAMACARE IN VA - Oppose HB17...
[Peninsula-Patriots] Delegate Hodges' Votes
Check out "GMO Giant Monsanto Joins Big Business C...
Drone Bill ALERT & other legis. actions
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An applicant, a certified company or any interested party may appeal against a decision of AQC. The matter is referred to the Appeals Panel (Which is constituted from any two member of the Impartial Committee) whose decision is final and for the decision of the Appeal Panel the AQC is responsible. This Procedure is also publicly available on AQC website.
AQC is responsible for gathering and verifying all necessary information to validate the appeal. AQC also ensure that submission, Investigation and decision on appeal shall not result in any discriminatory actions against the appellant.
Appeal Process to receive , evaluate and make decision on appeal
1. Any aggrieved party can file the appeal with in 30 days against the decision of AQC by giving a notice or by mail to AQC.
2. CM will acknowledge the receipt of the appeal and the same shall be entered in the appeal register (refer F58). CM will gather and verify all necessary information to validate appeal.
3. The appeal shall be forwarded to the appeal panel for investigation. Appeal Panel also consider that what decision has been taken already in the similar previous appeals.
4. The appeal panel can ask the information from the aggrieved party and from AQC and both of the parties are bound to furnish the information within time limit as provided by the Appeal panel.
5. AQC will provide the information to the appellant about the progress, Action undertaken to resolve appeal, ensurity of appropriate correction and coreective action has taken and same to be entered in the appeal register.
6. AQC also provide the formal notice to the appellant that appeal panel decision and appeal handling process is completed.
7 .The whole process of appeal shall be finished with 60 days of the filing the appeal. In case delay then AQC shall justify the delay.
AQC is responsible for all decisions at all levels of the complaints handling process. Any complaint received by AQC in writing or by e-mail or telephone in respect of its functions as a certification body or a company certified by it, shall be fully reviewed by the AM and shall be recorded in the complaint register with its nature. Submission, investigation and decision on complaints shall not result in any discriminatory actions against the complainant. The tracking and recording complaints, including actions undertaken in response to them is maintained by CM (Refer F59)
If the valid complaint relates to the certified client:
a) CM must ensure that the effectiveness of the certified management system is checked by competent auditor(s), who were not involved with the client previously.
b) The letter in question is sent to certified client within 30 days of receiving of complaint and recorded in the complaint register. The tracking and recording complaints, including actions undertaken in response to them is maintained by CM (Refer F59)
If the complaint is about certified client management system:
a) The CM ensures that the effectiveness of the certified management system is checked by competent auditor(s)/person(s) who were not involved with the client previously.
b) The concerned auditors may be summoned to confirm the facts if it relates to certification activity.
c) After root cause analysis, method to eliminate cause of complaint would be arrived at and suitable corrective and preventive measures instituted.
d) If the complaint is against an officer of AQC including CM then it will be investigated by the chairman of the Impartial Committee.
e) The complaint shall be closed within 60 days of the receiving of the complaint.
CM will:
a) Verify the promptness and effectiveness of the actions. Taken in respect of the complaint received ensure its prompt disposal.
b) Ensure that the complainant is advised of the result of the investigation within 60 days of the receipt of the complaint.
c) All complaints, after redressed & disposal, shall be closed through a closing note / closing call by the CM. Where applicable, certification will be restored as quickly as possible.
d) Ensures that any appropriate correction and corrective action are taken and also suitable preventive action is taken to avoid recurrence of such cases.
e) Ensure that Effectiveness of the measures adopted are covered during the Management Review Meeting
f) The entire process to be followed meets the requirement of confidentiality as it relates to the complaint and to the subject of the complaint. The complaints are recorded in the complaint register.
g) Gather and verify all necessary information to validate the complaint.
h) Ensures that the acknowledgement of receipt of the complaint is sent to the complainant and is informed about the progress and outcome of the result in writing every month till its closure.
i) Ensures that the decision communicated to the complainant is made reviewed and approved by the individual(s) not previously involved in the subject of the complaint.
j) Give formal notice of the end of the complaints-handling process to the complainant.
k) Ensures with the client and the complainant to the extent to which complaint may be made publicly available.
Ensure that the complaint has been closed within the 60 days of the receiving of the complaints. In case Complainant is not satisfied the decision of the AQC then complainant can make an appeal or can escalate of the complaint to IAS.
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Video review smartphone Xiaomi Mi slider MIX 3
Inside it 28.12.2018 at 12:04
News information technology, technology news, it industry
Frameless screens have become one of the major innovations in smartphones in recent years.
But most of them have one small caveat — notch which placed the camera, earpiece and additional sensors. Some manufacturers have limited functionality, leaving, for example, only the camera. But fundamentally it has not changed anything, because the neck still remain, transfer news of it with reference to itc.ua.
were the options, when one side of the screen remained wider frame where you had the camera and other sensors, but in this case, the frameless smartphone could be called only conditionally. The company Xiaomi is one of the few who tried to get out of this vicious circle by releasing the slider Xiaomi Mi 3 MIX, which is really very thin, and cut screen. Today in the review we and get acquainted.
Read more on site novostiit.net
Samsung has added an interesting feature in their Smart TVs 2019 28.12.2018 at 12:00
New MacBook – who and what is it for 28.12.2018 at 11:34
Laser cosmetology – effective solution for youth and health 28.12.2018 at 11:31
NVIDIA showed the possibilities of technology, Mesh Shading, GPU introduced in Turing 20.12.2018 at 07:57
The judicial system of the Russian Federation will implement AI 20.12.2018 at 07:53
Artificial intelligence has learned to see as well as humans 20.12.2018 at 07:47
Electric supercar from Mercedes-Maybach blew up the Internet 18.12.2018 at 10:19
Hyundai showed the technology run the engine fingerprint 18.12.2018 at 10:01
Journalists found a way to hack the facial recognition in Android 18.12.2018 at 09:57
Teenagers make millions playing computer games 18.12.2018 at 09:53
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Exclaim!'s 2013 in Lists: Best Cover Songs
While every year we keep our ears to the ground for new tunes, there's something to be said for the charm of a cover song. Sometimes the ide...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 10 Canadian Music Videos
It was an unusually good year for music videos, meaning that jurors for the newly-founded Prism Prize will have their work cut out for them...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 10 Soul and R&B Albums
Our Top 10 albums lists by genre wrap up today with our staff picks for the best of soul and R&B music this year. Click next to read through...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 20 Pop & Rock Albums, Part Two
Our Best of 2013 albums lists by genre continue today with our staff picks for the 20 best of pop and rock music this year. We revealed albu...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 20 Pop & Rock Albums, Part One
Our Best of 2013 albums lists by genre continue today with our staff picks for the 20 best of pop and rock music this year. We're beginning...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 10 Metal & Hardcore Albums
Our Top 10 albums lists by genre continue with our staff picks for the best of metal and hardcore music this year. Click next to read throug...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums
Our Top 10 albums lists by genre continue with our staff picks for the best of hip hop music this year. Click next to read through the album...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 10 Dance & Electronic Albums
Our Top 10 albums lists by genre continue with our staff picks for the best of dance and electronic music this year. Click next to read thro...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 10 Country, Folk & Blues Albums
Our Top 10 albums lists by genre begin with our staff picks for the best of Country, Folk & Blues this year. Click "next" at the bottom of t...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 10 EPs
Our Top 10 albums lists by genre are just around the corner — Country, Folk & Blues will go live on Monday (December 2) — but be...
Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 10 Freeleases
As our recent list proved, hip-hop mixtapes have long been an easy way for rappers to get their rhymes to fans cheaply and easily. But in th...
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‘Beth Mordecai in the News’ Category
Beth Mordecai in the News
Beth Mordecai and Rabbi Saks in the News
WE'RE IN THE NEWS! - Check out the following publications which highlight Beth Mordecai and Rabbi Saks in the news! NEW! Building Jewish Identity and 'Jewish DNA Pools' (New Jersey Jewish News, 5/15/16) -- previewing our Scholar in Residence Weekend Time to act: Survivors need our support (New Jersey Jewish News, 5/3/16) Local rabbis reject call for Muslim ban (New Jersey Jewish News, 12/28/15) A Vision of Prayer for All Peoples? Moving Towards Interfaith 2.0 (State of Formation, 12/21/15) 'Mall rabbi' takes learning to the people (New Jersey Jewish News, 1/19/15) Arab, Jew seek peace in land they share (New Jersey Jewish News, 12/22/14) Purim 'homecoming' for Perth Amboy Jews (New[...]
Category : Beth Mordecai in the News Publications videos-archive
Time to act: Survivors need our support
Rabbi Ari Saks wrote an article in the New Jersey Jewish News (published May 3rd, 2016) on the urgent need to financially support Holocaust survivors. Here is the introduction: Some say timing is everything. This week, Jews and non-Jews worldwide commemorate Yom HaShoa U’gevura — Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yom HaShoa takes place on the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the 27th day of the month of Nisan (this year May 5). It is not lost on many that this is a week after the end of Passover, and a week before Israel’s Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for fallen soldiers) and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day). So what can we learn from this coincidence of timing?... Please click on this link[...]
Category : Beth Mordecai in the News home Publications Rabbi
Safran Hall Rededication Event to Feature Singer/Guitarist ROSS GRISWOLD!
We are very excited to announce that our Safran Hall Rededication Event / Cocktail Party and Silent Auction is going to feature LIVE MUSIC from Singer/Guitarist Ross Griswold! Ross Griswold is a singer and guitarist based in North Plainfield, New Jersey. When not playing with area band Root Glen, Ross does acoustic shows at venues all over northern Jersey. His resonant voice and precise guitar work allow him to do justice to a wide range of songs, from popular standards to "diamond in the rough" songs that listeners rarely get a chance to hear live. You can listen to some of his songs on his website! His FACEBOOK page has more information about his style and[...]
Category : Beth Mordecai in the News Bulletin Events Safran Hall Rededication and Silent Auction
Who was Rachel Wolff Safran?
As you may have heard, Beth Mordecai is hosting a rededication of Safran Hall, our recently-remodeled social hall, on June 7. The hall is named after Rachel Wolff Safran, whose family is intimately intertwined with our congregation’s history. Rabbi Ari Saks had the opportunity to speak with her grandson, Henry Safran, and granddaughter, Susan Hermanos, about their family’s legacy in Perth Amboy.
We hope that you will join us in celebrating the facelift of our amazing hall, named after an amazing woman and amazing family.
Perth Amboy has such fascinating Jewish history. Families played, worked, and went to school together. They celebrated life’s ups and downs together. While the lifestyle of late nineteenth century to mid-20th century Judaism cannot be replicated,[...]
Category : Beth Mordecai in the News Blast from the Past Events home Safran Hall Rededication and Silent Auction
kDAY 794: This Sunday: A Litmus Test For…Beth Mordecai
This is the first of a three part journal series previewing this Sunday's Israeli-Palestinian speaker event "One Land, Two Worlds, One Painful Hope" Dear Hevreh, I'm very excited for this week because it's the leadup to...the first game of the NFL season! Ever since I can remember I've been a big football fan, particularly of the Philadelphia Eagles :). Every year there is the triumph of success and (unfortunately more often than not) the pain of failure. Though there can only be one Super Bowl winner each year, most teams have at least one Super Bowl-like game of the year -- a litmus test for how good the team is compared to a (rival) team that is thought to be much better[...]
Category : Beth Mordecai in the News Rabbi Rabbi's Journal
Tag : Beth Mordecai in the News community Eagles Jewish Federation litmus test rabbi rabbi's journal Super Bowl
DAY 1 — Introduction from Rabbi Saks
To the Beth Mordecai community, Today is my first official day on the job as your new rabbi! It's hard to imagine that this day has finally arrived after thinking about it for so long. Yet, it's here and I am even more excited and energized to do this job than the day I took it. With that excitement though comes a certain amount of nervousness because I want to make the community proud. I'll be honest, I don't know exactly where this journey is going to take us. There are many different possible endings. Yet I believe that if we work hard at listening to each other and out of that listening we do what we can to help each[...]
Category : Beth Mordecai in the News Middlesex Jewish News Rabbi's Journal
Tag : comments community distinctive torah excitement journey local jewish community nervousness news rabbi's journal unique torah
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Home [11–20] << 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 >> [31–40]
Author Cianchetti-Benedetti, M.; Becciu, P.; Massa, B.; Dell’Omo, G.
Title Conflicts between touristic recreational activities and breeding shearwaters: short-term effect of artificial light and sound on chick weight Type Journal Article
Year 2018 Publication European Journal of Wildlife Research Abbreviated Journal Eur J Wildl Res
Keywords Animals; Society
Abstract Human disturbances are increasingly becoming a conservation concern for many populations of colonial seabirds. Colonially reproducing species are particularly vulnerable to localised disturbances because detrimental elements can simultaneously affect the entire population. Studies of petrels and shearwaters have shown that light pollution, in particular, can be harmful for both fledglings and adults, but little is known of the way such anthropogenic elements affect the quality of parental care at the nest. Chick provisioning in petrels and shearwaters occurs exclusively at night and is also negatively correlated with the amount of moonlight. We tested the hypothesis that high-intensity light and sound disturbances will disrupt nest attendance and thus affect weight gain in chicks but that the magnitude of such effects would be modulated by moonlight conditions. We measured the effect of two outdoor disco events on overnight weight gain in 26 chicks of Scopoli’s shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea) from a breeding colony on Linosa Island. The two disco events occurred under contrasting moonlight conditions (moonless vs moonlight). Chicks situated closer to the disturbance gained significantly less weight compared to conspecifics from nests further away but the effect was only evident on the moonless night.Our results suggest that light and sound disturbances can have a negative effect on parental care in C. diomedea but moonlight might moderate the bird’s perception and thus the magnitude of the disturbance. However, while occasional disturbances may impact short-term weight gain in C. diomedea chicks, such effects are not perceivable at fledging when measured as differences in the weight or the date at which they left the nest.
Author Kerstel, E.; Gardelein, A.; Barthelemy, M.; Fink, M.; Joshi, S.K.; Ursin, R.
Title Nanobob: a CubeSat mission concept for quantum communication experiments in an uplink configuration Type Journal Article
Year 2018 Publication European physical journal quantum technology Abbreviated Journal EPJ Quantum Technol.
Volume 5 Issue 6 Pages 1-30
Keywords Remote Sensing
Abstract We present a ground-to-space quantum key distribution (QKD) mission concept and the accompanying feasibility study for the development of the associated low earth orbit nanosatellite payload. The quantum information is carried by single photons with the binary codes represented by polarization states of the photons. Distribution of entangled photons between the ground and the satellite can be used to certify the quantum nature of the link: a guarantee that no eavesdropping can take place. By placing the entangled photon source on the ground, the space segments contains “only” the less complex detection system, enabling its implementation in a compact enclosure, compatible with the 12U CubeSat standard (∼12 dm3). This reduces the overall cost of the project, making it an ideal choice as a pathfinder for future European quantum communication satellite missions. The space segment is also more versatile than one that contains the source since it is compatible with a multiple of QKD protocols (not restricted to entangled photon schemes) and can be used in quantum physics experiments, such as the investigation of entanglement decoherence. Other possible experiments include atmospheric transmission/turbulence characterization, dark area mapping, fine pointing and tracking, and accurate clock synchronization; all crucial for future global scale quantum communication efforts.
Call Number NC @ ehyde3 @ Serial 2115
Author Petrova, S.
Title Illuminating austerity: Lighting poverty as an agent and signifier of the Greek crisis Type Journal Article
Year 2018 Publication European Urban and Regional Studies Abbreviated Journal Eur Urban Reg Stud
Keywords Economics; Society
Abstract Light – whether natural or artificial – plays multiple roles in the home: both as a material enabler of everyday life and as a device for exercising a variety of social relations. The post-2008 Greek economic crisis has endangered those roles by limiting people's ability to access or afford adequate energy services. This paper focuses on the enforced lack of illumination in the home, and the strategies and tactics undertaken by households to overcome this challenge. I connect illumination practices and discourses to the implementation of austerity, by arguing that the threat of darkness has become a tool for compelling vulnerable groups to pay their electricity bills. The evidence presented in the paper is based on two sets of interviews with 25 households (including a total of 55 adult members) living in and around Thessaloniki – Greece's second largest city, and one that has suffered severe economic consequences as a result of the crisis. I have established that the under-consumption of light is one of the most pronounced expressions of energy poverty, and as such endangers the ability to participate in the customs that define membership of society. But the emergence of activist-led amateur electricians and the symbolic and material mobilization of light for political purposes have also created multiple opportunities for resistance.
Address The University of Manchester, UK
Notes PMID:30369725; PMCID:PMC6187059 Approved no
Author Almaida-Pagan, P.F.; Ortega-Sabater, C.; Lucas-Sanchez, A.; Martinez-Nicolas, A.; Espinosa, C.; Esteban, M.A.; Madrid, J.A.; Rol, M.; Mendiola, P.; de Costa, J.
Title Impact of a shift work-like lighting schedule on the functioning of the circadian system in the short-lived fish Nothobranchius furzeri Type Journal Article
Year 2018 Publication Experimental Gerontology Abbreviated Journal Exp Gerontol
Volume in press Issue Pages in press
Abstract Adult Nothobranchius furzeri of the MZM-04/10 strain were individually kept and subjected to a “5+2” shifting lighting schedule (SHIFT) for 8weeks in order to evaluate the desynchronizing effects of a simulated human-like shift-work schedule on the functioning of the circadian system (CS). With this aim, sixteen 21-week-old N. furzeri were placed into a Morning, Night and Evening schedule (lights on from 08:00 to 16:00, 00:00 to 08:00 and 16:00 to 00:00h, respectively) and fed once a day in the middle of the corresponding photophase (12:00, 04:00 and 20:00h, respectively). Then, in the weekends (2days), fish were always returned to the Morning shift. As controls, 16 fish were maintained under a non-shifting LD cycle condition (CONTROL) throughout the whole experiment, with lights on from 08:00 to 16:00h. Rest-activity rhythm (RAR) of fish subjected to SHIFT showed several symptoms of chronodisruption, such as a decrease in the percentage of diurnal activity and a reduction of the relative amplitude and the circadian function index with time. When a periodogram analysis was performed, RAR of N. furzeri under SHIFT conditions showed up to three separate circadian components: one longer than 24h (26.5h) that followed the weekly 8h delays; a short-period component (~23h) that was related to the weekend's phase advances, and finally, a 24h component. The shifting LD schedule also affected fish CS at a molecular level, with several significant differences in the expression of core genes of the molecular clock (bmal1, clock, roralpha, rev-erbalpha) between SHIFT and CONTROL animals. RAR impairment along with changes in clock gene expression could be associated with high stress and accelerated aging in these fish.
Address Chronobiology Lab, Department of Physiology, College of Biology, University of Murcia, Mare Nostrum Campus, IUIE, IMIB-Arrixaca, Spain; Ciber Fragilidad y Envejecimiento Saludable (CIBERFES), Madrid, Spain
Author Kwak, M.; Je, S.; Cheng, H.; Seo, S.; Park, J.; Baek, S.; Khaine, I.; Lee, T.; Jang, J.; Li, Y.; Kim, H.; Lee, J.; Kim, J.; Woo, S.
Title Night Light-Adaptation Strategies for Photosynthetic Apparatus in Yellow-Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) Exposed to Artificial Night Lighting Type Journal Article
Year 2018 Publication Forests Abbreviated Journal Forests
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 74
Keywords Plants
Abstract Plants can undergo external fluctuations in the natural light and dark cycle. The photosynthetic apparatus needs to operate in an appropriate manner to fluctuating environmental factors, especially in light. Yellow-poplar seedlings were exposed to nighttime artificial high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting to evaluate night light-adaptation strategies for photosynthetic apparatus fitness relative to pigment contents, photosystem II photochemistry, photosynthetic parameters, histochemical analysis of reactive oxygen species, and plant biomass. As a result, seedlings exhibited dynamic changes including the enhancement of accessory pigments, the reduction of photosystem II photochemistry, increased stomatal limitation, downregulation of photosynthesis, and the decreased aboveground and belowground biomass under artificial night lighting. Histochemical analysis with 3,3′-diaminobenzidine (DAB) and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) staining indicates the accumulation of in situ superoxide radicals (O2−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in leaves exposed to the lowest level of artificial night lighting compared to control. Moreover, these leaves exposed to artificial night lighting had a lower nighttime respiration rate. These results indicated that HPS lighting during the night may act as a major factor as repressors of the fitness of photosynthesis and growth patterns, via a modification of the photosynthetic light harvesting apparatus.
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Augmentation With Aripiprazole Found Superior When MDD Patients Don't Respond
Augmentation of antidepressant treatment with aripiprazole showed a modest but statistically significant advantage in terms of both remission and response over switching to bupropion in a population of predominantly male veterans with treatment-resistant depression.
That’s the finding from the VA Augmentation and Switching to Improve Depression (VAST-D) Study reported today in JAMA. Lead author Somaia Mohamed, M.D., Ph.D. (pictured left), of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System and colleagues cautioned that further cost-effectiveness analysis is needed given the small effect size and adverse effects associated with aripiprazole.
In comments to Psychiatric News, Mohamed said that since only a third of patients benefit from their first antidepressant treatment, clinicians typically have to choose a new medication on the basis of trial and error. “This study presents the first data indicating that adding an antipsychotic may be more effective than switching to a new antidepressant,” she said. “This study may encourage clinicians to try antipsychotics earlier than they might have otherwise.”
The study was a a multisite randomized trial with Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients whose condition was unresponsive to at least one course of antidepressant treatment meeting minimal standards for dose and duration. Patients at 35 VA medical centers were randomized to one of three treatments: switch to another antidepressant, bupropion sustained release (switch group); augment current treatment with bupropion sustained release (augment-bupropion group); or augment current treatment with an antipsychotic, aripiprazole (augment-aripiprazole group).
Rates of remission (defined as absence of symptoms) at 12 weeks were 22.3% for the switch group, 26.9% for the augment-bupropion group, and 28.9% for the augment-aripiprazole group. Response (defined as 50 percent reduction in symptoms) was greater for the augment-aripiprazole group (74.3%) than for either the switch group (62.4%) or the augment-bupropion group (65.6%).
In an accompanying editorial, Maurizio Fava, M.D., said the VAST-D study extends findings of the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial. “Because the VAST-D study was implemented solely in VA sites, the population studied was predominantly male (85%), a significant difference from the usual study population in large trials of MDD, in which women typically far exceed the proportion of male study participants, as was the case with STAR*D,” he wrote.
Accordingly, the study cannot determine whether the results would have been different in a predominantly female population of patients with MDD. However, a pooled analysis of two trials comparing aripiprazole augmentation with placebo augmentation among patients with MDD and inadequate response to antidepressant therapy found that aripiprazole augmentation was actually more effective for women than men. This argues that the VAST-D study may have underestimated the relative benefit of aripiprazole augmentation.”
For information about VAST-D, see the Psychiatric News article “Study to Answer What Comes Next When MDD Patients Don't Respond.”
Labels: JAMA, M.D., Ph.D., Somaia Mohamed, unresponsive major depressive disorder, VAST-D
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Fourment, Mathieu.
Download Version of record (Published manuscript) (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 267 KB)
Accumulating Variation at Conserved Sites in Potyvirus Genomes Is Driven by Species Discovery and Affects Degenerate Primer Design.
Zheng, Linda.
Gibbs, Mark J.
Rodoni, Brendan C.
Gibbs, Adrian J.
Wayper, Paul J.
070300 Crop and Pasture Production
United States : Public Library of Science,
Digital Object ID
8 p. (p. 1-8).
Open Access. The Published version of this work has been reproduced here in accordance with the Publisher’s self archiving and copyright policies.
This work was published in PLoS One, 3 (2) 2008 e1586 p. 1-8 published by Public Library of Science and has be reproduced here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Copyright (2008) Author/s
PLoS One, 3(2): 1-8
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Black squirrels the result of ‘interbreeding’ grey squirrels, study finds
in: Environment, Science & Tech
Philip Meyers
The black squirrel was first recorded in Britain in Woburn, Bedfordshire in 1912
Black squirrels are the result of “interbreeding” between their grey cousins and the North American fox squirrel, a study has concluded.
Research published in BMC Evolutionary Biology found the black fur emerged from a faulty pigment gene.
The study by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge say the difference between black and grey squirrels is simply the colour of their fur.
Author Dr Helen McRobie said grey and fox squirrels share the “same root”.
There are thought to be around 25,000 black squirrels in the UK, with numbers largely concentrated in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
The first wild black squirrel was recorded in Woburn in 1912, and was believed to have escaped from a private zoo having been imported from the United States.
The American fox squirrel has a black variant from which black squirrels originated
The new findings build on earlier work by Dr McRobie which found that the black fur in grey squirrels is caused by a missing piece of DNA in its pigment gene.
Squirrels take part in “mating chases” and a male black fox squirrel “most likely” mated with a female grey, Dr McRobie said.
Amanda K Ciurej
The black squirrel is known as melanic
Dr McRobie, a senior lecturer in biomedical science, collaborated with researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Virginia Museum of Natural History in the United States.
She said people have mixed feelings about black squirrels with some regarding them as a “menace”.
“The most likely explanation for the black version of the gene being found in the grey squirrel is that a male black fox squirrel mated with a female grey squirrel,” she said.
“The fact black grey squirrels have become so common right across North America is possibly because black fur offers a thermal advantage, helping them inhabit regions with extremely cold winters.
“This may have contributed to the expansion of the grey squirrel’s range during the past 11,000 years, following the end of the most recent ice age, helping them spread further north into Canada.”
Tags:blackfindsinterbreedingresultsquirrelsstudy
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Commentary :: Labor
The Rule of Supply-Side Economists
by Thorsten Hild
Email: mbatko (nospam) yahoo.com 13 Feb 2012
Supply-side economists dominate wherever one looks in politics, economics and the media. Demand-side economists only had a brief boom season when politics was forced to act in a demand-oriented way. That wages and salaries are not only costs but also demand doesn't usually interest supply-side economists. Growth cannot be strengthened through one-sided spending cuts.
[This article published on January 12, 2012 is translated from the German on the Internet, http://www.wirtschaftundgesellschaft.de/?p=1684.]
Supply-side policy dominates wherever one looks, in politics, economics and the media. Demand-side economists only had a brief boom season when politics was forced to act in a demand-oriented way. With the phasing out of the economic program and other state fire brigade actions to stabilize the demand and bailout financial management, economists who founded those measures substantively and theoretically for decades are not sought. As the ver.di economist Dierk Hirschel said in a recent interview, "We are now sought less by the middle class media. In the 2007 financial crisis, we were actors. We were needed for successful crisis management. We did short-time work. We had an important influence on the organization of economic programs. But now we are marginalized. Our colleagues will be directly involved with the crisis but we are not currently sharing in crisis management. The German chancellor speaks with the unions. But the unions have no direct influence on government policy. I suppose that is one of the reasons why the unions are so little present now in the media."
WHAT SUPPLY-SIDE AND DEMAND-SIDE ECONOMICS AND POLITICS MEAN
Supply-side oriented economics and politics concentrates one-sidedly on individual economic costs and seeks to keep them low. The state should keep away from the economy as much as possible and claim few resources for itself because that benefits the economy, supply-side economists say. The state "costs" less and collects fewer taxes and fees to finance its reduced spending. Unions are also to be kept small because they strengthen employees in wage- and salary negotiations and raise the price of the supply of workers. That wages and salaries are not only costs but are also converted in demand does not usually interest supply-side economists. According to their interpretation, every supply - labor or product - creates its demand. It only has to be cheap enough.
On the other hand, demand-side oriented economists think in cycles and connections that can be concretize3d in trivial economic laws that are neglected on criminal punishment. The expenditures of one are always also the revenue of the other. The economist Wolfgang Stutzel once explained this generally and concretely:
"Every sales act represents a buying act for the partner... "
How could Germany seriously think of constantly accumulating surpluses in foreign trade? Must the "rest of the world economy," above all the other economies of the Euro-zone, the target of the large part of German foreign trade relations, accept deficits? While that connection may seem trivial, it is simply ignored by Germany and others in the scope of the Euro-crisis.
SUPPLY-SIDE POLICY AS UNADULTERATED TRASH
Is it now a program or media clumsiness/awkwardness that Germany radio on one day interviewed two supply-side economists in detail? In any case, it is exemplary for the air sovereignty held by that economic-political school in the media.
Yesterday Germany radio interviewed the chief economist of Deutsche Bank, Thomas Mayer. His economic creed is that "Italy now needs structural reforms above all. This means a flexibility of the labor market, an opening of the different cartels in the service sector. Toward the end of 2011, Monti rightly introduced another fiscal austerity package. Now it is crucial that he carry out reforms on the supply-side of the economy to strengthen growth."
This is supply-economics in unadulterated trash. How growth should be strengthened through one-sided spending cuts remains the secret of supply-side economists! But ideology never asks for arguments or empirical evidence.
In the afternoon the economist Beert van Rosebeeke spoke on Germany radio. The broadcast station pointed out that Rosebeecke works at the Center for European Policy in Freiburg. Here is Rosebeeck's economic dogma:
"The markets in Italy must be liberalized. Piece-work costs in Italy rose around 30 percent since 1999; in Germany they increased around five percent in the same time period. Wages must fall in Italy. This is not only in the hands of Mr. Monti; unions etc. are also obviously needed. These are measures that should be tackled now."
That is supply-economics in unadulterated trash. The "economist" does not speak one word about wage development in Germany. The economic rule recognized worldwide - except for Germany - is: wages must develop corresponding to productivity and price fluctuations. But Germany has broken this rule downwards for years. This is reflected in the piece-work cost development.
POLITICS COULD PREVENT WORSE THINGS - BUT DOESN'T
One must almost be thankful to economists for their unsparing openness. May demand-oriented economists make economic-political comments as clearly! There are individuals in Germany who do this, perhaps one or two who reach a wider public. On the supply-side, there are whole convoys that sit in their ideologically-armored institutes financed by the economy and tax funds while the revenue base for people is deregulated regarding their jobs and the state and preach renunciation to them.
The financial crisis has shown that politics is only ready to hear demand-oriented economists in the greatest economic distress... Imbalances have developed within the Euro-zone and in the German domestic economy between wages and profits and private assets and public debts. A policy that relies on a consistent balance of these imbalances and unequal distribution could prevent worse things.
www.adbusters.org
www.progressive-economists.ca
www.therealnews.com
http://kickitover.org
www.commondreams.org
www.democracynow.org
www.capitalismhitsthefan.com
www.socialistproject.ca
www.onthecommons.org
homepage: http://www.freembtranslations.net
address: http://www.kboo.fm
http://www.freembtranslations.net
http://www.submedia.tv
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Top Five Biggest Surfer Waves (Video)
Watch This!
An American surfer tackled a monster 100-foot swell in Portugal. Watch more wild waves.
Updated Apr. 24, 2017 12:57PM ET / Published Nov. 14, 2011 11:49AM ET
EPA, via Landov
‘It Would Kill You’
No burnout here. Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara reportedly broke his own world record when he rode a 100-foot swell off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal—the same place where he set the previous world record. McNamara said in 2011 that he had been invited by the government of Portugal to investigate the area for a big wave competition—and it clearly paid off. “You start seeing the coastline about half a mile when you pass some rocks and turn a point,” McNamara said. “Then you are in the break. It’s unique. The waves break into cliffs 300 feet in height. You can’t contemplate coming off because it would kill you.”
The Previous Record, the Pride of Portugal
Of course, McNamara is no stranger to giant waves or the coast of Nazaré. The surfer tackled a 78-foot wave off the same coast in 2011. (Original reports pegged it at 90 feet, but Guinness certified it at 78 feet, meaning it broke the previous record by just 50 centimeters.) Another surfer described the conditions on Nov. 1st as “perfect.” “The jet ski was the best place to see him riding the biggest wave I’ve ever seen,” fellow surfer Alistair Mennie told the Guardian. “Most people would be scared, but Garrett was controlling everything in the critical part of the wave. It was an inspiring ride by an inspiring surfer.”
Craziness Is Like Heaven
Jimi Hendrix once said, “Craziness is like heaven.” If this is true, then surfer Ken Bradshaw earned his wings with this ride. “Biggest Wednesday,” as Bradshaw calls it, occurred in 1998 on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The only video of the radical ride was taken from shore and is a bit grainy. Still, it’s impressive to see Bradshaw dart with ease through this 85-foot wave. Surf's up!
The fact that this wave occurred at a deepwater reef referred to as “Jaws” should indicate the level of the danger involved in this performance. Surfer Mike Parsons rode the 64-foot wave during a competition on the north shore of Maui, Hawaii. A helicopter hovered overhead, catching every second of the gnarly ride.
Weapon of Surf Destruction
To a surfer, the word “bomb” refers to a wave that is bigger than most. In 2004 Pete Cabrinha snagged a “bomb,” but realized it only after watching the video. The big-wave surfer conquered a 70-foot swell at Jaws in Maui, which landed him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Bomb, you say? More like grenade!
The Taming of Teahupoo
Whoa, brah! Thirty feet doesn’t seem like a huge wave after watching the previous videos. Nevertheless, be assured that surfing a swell of this magnitude is no walk in the park. Manoa Drollet maneuvered the rough wave on Tahiti’s infamous Teahupoo reef break before a sea of white foam swallowed him up. Hope he didn’t swallow too much water.
Note: This article was originally written in Nov 2011 by Brittany Jones-Cooper; it was updated on Jan. 28, 2013.
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Business RSS News
The 8 Most Common Leadership Styles & How to Find Your Own
"A good leader should always … "
How you finish that sentence could reveal a lot about your leadership style.
Leadership is a fluid practice. We're always changing and improving the way in which we help our direct reports and the company grow. And the longer we lead, the more likely we'll change the way we choose to complete the sentence above.
But in order to become better leaders tomorrow, we need to know where we stand today. To help you understand the impact each type of leader has on a company, I'll explain eight of the most common types of leadership styles in play today and how effective they are.
Then, I'll show you a leadership style assessment based on this post's opening sentence to help you figure out which leader you are.
1. Democratic Leadership
Commonly Effective
Democratic leadership is exactly what it sounds like -- the leader makes decisions based on the input of each team member. Although he or she makes the final call, each employee has an equal say on a project's direction.
Democratic leadership is one of the most effective leadership styles because it allows lower-level employees to exercise authority they'll need to use wisely in future positions they might hold. It also resembles how decisions can be made in company board meetings.
For example, in a company board meeting, a democratic leader might give the team a few decision-related options. They could then open a discussion about each option. After a discussion, this leader might take the board's thoughts and feedback into consideration, or they might open this decision up to a vote.
2. Autocratic Leadership
Rarely Effective
Autocratic leadership is the inverse of democratic leadership. In this leadership style, the leader makes decisions without taking input from anyone who reports to them. Employees are neither considered nor consulted prior to a direction, and are expected to adhere to the decision at a time and pace stipulated by the leader.
An example of this could be when a manager changes the hours of work shifts for multiple employees without consulting anyone -- especially the effected employees.
Frankly, this leadership style stinks. Most organizations today can't sustain such a hegemonic culture without losing employees. It's best to keep leadership more open to the intellect and perspective of the rest of the team.
3. Laissez-Faire Leadership
Sometimes Effective
If you remember your high-school French, you'll accurately assume that laissez-faire leadership is the least intrusive form of leadership. The French term "laissez faire" literally translates to "let them do," and leaders who embrace it afford nearly all authority to their employees.
In a young startup, for example, you might see a laissez-faire company founder who makes no major office policies around work hours or deadlines. They might put full trust into their employees while they focus on the overall workings of running the company.
Although laissez-faire leadership can empower employees by trusting them to work however they'd like, it can limit their development and overlook critical company growth opportunities. Therefore, it's important that this leadership style is kept in check.
4. Strategic Leadership
Strategic leaders sit at the intersection between a company's main operations and its growth opportunities. He or she accepts the burden of executive interests while ensuring that current working conditions remain stable for everyone else.
This is a desirable leadership style in many companies because strategic thinking supports multiple types of employees at once. However, leaders who operate this way can set a dangerous precedent with respect to how many people they can support at once, and what the best direction for the company really is if everyone is getting their way at all times.
5. Transformational Leadership
Transformational leadership is always "transforming" and improving upon the company's conventions. Employees might have a basic set of tasks and goals that they complete every week or month, but the leader is constantly pushing them outside of their comfort zone.
When starting a job with this type of leader, all employees might get a list of goals to reach, as well as deadlines for reaching them. While the goals might seem simple at first, this manager might pick up the pace of deadlines or give you more and more challenging goals as you grow with the company.
This is a highly encouraged form of leadership among growth-minded companies because it motivates employees to see what they're capable of. But transformational leaders can risk losing sight of everyone's individual learning curves if direct reports don't receive the right coaching to guide them through new responsibilities.
6. Transactional Leadership
Transactional leaders are fairly common today. These managers reward their employees for precisely the work they do. A marketing team that receives a scheduled bonus for helping generate a certain number of leads by the end of the quarter is a common example of transactional leadership.
When starting a job with a transactional boss, you might receive an incentive plan that motivates you to quickly master your regular job duties. For example, if you work in marketing, you might receive a bonus for sending 10 marketing emails. On the other hand, a transformational leader might only offer you a bonus if your work results in a large amount of newsletter subscriptions.
Transactional leadership helps establish roles and responsibilities for each employee, but it can also encourage bare-minimum work if employees know how much their effort is worth all the time. This leadership style can use incentive programs to motivate employees, but they should be consistent with the company's goals and used in addition to unscheduled gestures of appreciation.
7. Coach-Style Leadership
Similarly to a sports team's coach, this leader focuses on identifying and nurturing the individual strengths of each member on his or her team. They also focus on strategies that will enable their team work better together. This style offers strong similarities to strategic and democratic leadership, but puts more emphasis on the growth and success of individual employees.
Rather than forcing all employees to focus on similar skills and goals, this leader might build a team where each employee has an expertise or skillset in something different. In the longrun,, this leader focuses on creating strong teams that can communicate well and embrace each other's unique skillsets in order to get work done.
A manager with this leadership style might help employees improve on their strengths by giving them new tasks to try, offering them guidance, or meeting to discuss constructive feedback. They might also encourage one or more team members to expand on their strengths by learning new skills from other teammates.
8. Bureaucratic Leadership
Bureaucratic leaders go by the books. This style of leadership might listen and consider the input of employees -- unlike autocratic leadership -- but the leader tends to reject an employee's input if it conflicts with company policy or past practices.
You may run into a bureaucratic leader at a larger, older, or traditional company. At these companies, when a colleague or employee proposes a strong strategy that seems new or non-traditional, bureaucratic leaders may reject it. Their resistance might be because the company has already been successful with current processes and trying something new could waste time or resources if it doesn't work.
Employees under this leadership style might not feel as controlled as they would under autocratic leadership, but there is still a lack of freedom in how much people are able to do in their roles. This can quickly shut down innovation, and is definitely not encouraged for companies who are chasing ambitious goals and quick growth.
Leadership Style Assessment
Leaders can carry a mix of the above leadership styles depending on their industry and the obstacles they face. At the root of these styles, according to leadership experts Bill Torbert and David Rooke, are what are called "action logics."
These action logics assess "how [leaders] interpret their surroundings and react when their power or safety is challenged."
That's the idea behind a popular management survey tool called the Leadership Development Profile. Created by professor Torbert and psychologist Susanne Cook-Greuter -- and featured in the book, Personal and Organizational Transformations -- the survey relies on a set of 36 open-ended sentence completion tasks to help researchers better understand how leaders develop and grow.
Below, we've outlined six action logics using open-ended sentences that help describe each one. See how much you agree with each sentence and, at the bottom, find out which leadership style you uphold based on the action logics you most agreed with.
1. Individualist
The individualist, according to Rooke and Tolbert, is self-aware, creative, and primarily focused on their own actions and development as opposed to overall organizational performance. This action logic is exceptionally driven by the desire to exceed personal goals and constantly improve their skills.
Here are some things an individualist might say:
I1. "A good leader should always trust their own intuition over established organizational processes."
I2. "It's important to be able to relate to others so I can easily communicate complex ideas to them."
I3. "I'm more comfortable with progress than sustained success."
2. Strategist
Strategists are acutely aware of the environments in which they operate. They have a deep understanding of the structures and processes that make their businesses tick, but they're also able to consider these frameworks critically and evaluate what could be improved.
Here are some things a strategist might say:
S1. "A good leader should always be able to build a consensus in divided groups."
S2. "It's important to help develop the organization as a whole, as well as the growth and individual achievements of my direct reports."
S3. "Conflict is inevitable, but I'm knowledgeable enough about my team's personal and professional relationships to handle the friction."
3. Alchemist
Rooke and Tolbert describe this charismatic action logic as the most highly evolved and effective at managing organizational change. What distinguishes alchemists from other action logics is their unique ability to see the big picture in everything, but also fully understand the need to take details seriously. Under an alchemist leader, no department or employee is overlooked.
Here are some things an alchemist might say:
A1. "A good leader helps their employees reach their highest potential, and possesses the necessary empathy and moral awareness to get there."
A2. "It's important to make a profound and positive impact on whatever I'm working on."
A3. "I have a unique ability to balance short-term needs and long-term goals."
4. Opportunist
Opportunist are guided by a certain level of mistrust of others, relying on a facade of control to keep their employees in line. "Opportunists tend to regard their bad behavior as legitimate in the cut and thrust of an eye-for-an-eye world," Rooke and Tolbert write.
Here are some things an opportunist might say:
O1. "A good leader should always view others as potential competition to be bested, even if it's at the expense of their professional development."
O2. "I reserve the right to reject the input of those who question or criticize my ideas."
5. Diplomat
Unlike the opportunist, the diplomat isn't concerned with competition or assuming control over situations. Instead, this action logic seeks to cause minimal impact on their organization by conforming to existing norms and completing their daily tasks with as little friction as possible.
Here are some things a diplomat might say:
D1. "A good leader should always resist change since it risks causing instability among their direct reports."
D2. "It's important to provide the 'social glue' in team situations, safely away from conflict."
D3. "I tend to thrive in more team-oriented or supporting leadership roles."
6. Expert
The expert is a pro in their given field, constantly striving to perfect their knowledge of a subject and perform to meet their own high expectations. Rooke and Tolbert describe the expert as a talented individual contributor and a source of knowledge for the team. But this action logic does lack something central to many good leaders: emotional intelligence.
E1. "A good leader should prioritize their own pursuit of knowledge over the needs of the organization and their direct reports."
E2. "When problem solving with others in the company, my opinion tends to be the correct one."
Which Leader Are You?
So, which action logics above felt like you? Think about each sentence for a moment ... now, check out which of the seven leadership styles you embrace on the right based on the sentences you resonated with on the left.
Action Logic Sentence Leadership Style
S3 Democratic
O1, O2, E1, E2 Autocratic
D2, D3, E1 Laissez-Faire
S1, S2, A3 Strategic
I1, I2, I3, A1, A2 Transformational
D3 Transactional
D1 Bureaucratic
The more action logics you agreed with, the more likely you practice a mix of leadership styles.
For example, if you agreed with everything the strategist said -- denoted S1, S2, and S3 -- this would make you a 66% strategic leader and 33% democratic leader. If you agreed with just S3, but also everything the alchemist said, this would make you a 50% transformational, 25% strategic, and 25% democratic leader.
Keep in mind that these action logics are considered developmental stages, not fixed attributes -- most leaders will progress through multiple types of leadership throughout their careers.
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about ABRAZOS
Catalog/Books in English
Default sortingSort by popularitySort by newnessSort by price: low to highSort by price: high to lowRandom
Books about Tango
Blackness in Tango
Blackness in Tango, a story of love hidden in the notes
Writter: Mónica María Fumagalli
64 pages with colour illustrations and Photos.
Slaves took part in the founding of Buenos Aires and in the wars that shaped its destiny. One of the first bandoneón players in history was the son of slaves: it’s difficult to imagine tango as a creation indifferent to the presence of Blacks.
Embracing Tango
Embracing Tango. Techniques and Metaphores between Tango and Life
Writter: Gustavo Benzecry Sabá
160 pages with illustrations and photos
Aesthetics, respect and discipline are some of the concepts Benzecry Sabá has analyzed in depth in this book. In its pages dance is understood as a unity that not only plunges us into pleasure, but also raises our spirits.
I Am Tango
I Am Tango. Biography of Maria Nieves
Writter: María Oliva
134 pages illustrated with photos.
“Tango dance has something very special: it’s the communication within the couple. That is why when we dance it we feel an endless number of emotions, such as love…and hate. I was born to dance tango and I will die for my tango.”
I wanted to dance
I wanted to dance. Carlos Gavito: Life, passion and tango
Writter: Ricardo Plazaola
Paper issue: 120 p.; 35 photos.
CARLOS EDUARDO GAVITO (4/27/1943 – 7/1/2005) was born in La Plata, Argentina. He spent his youth in the barrio of Avellaneda (to the south of Greater Buenos Aires) and the rest of his life circling the globe.
Inside Tango Argentino
Author: Antón Gazenbeek
248 Pages, 97 Photos
During the dark years of military dictatorship, Tango had fallen into oblivion all over the world, even in Argentina. The “Tango Argentino” tango show was the show that led to the worldwide revival of interest in Tango. He made his debut in Paris, then conquered Broadway and, later, the whole world…
New Glossary of Tango Dance
New Glossary of Tango Dance. Key Tango Argentino dance terms.
100 pages with photos.
The New Glossary of Tango Dance comes is the result of a 10 year long thoughtful research. Its first edition, published in 2004 was an outstanding success. It´s demand all over the world made it be re-printed several times.
New Glossary of Tango Dance + DVD
Key Tango Argentino dance terms + 1 DVD showing 285 Tango words and movements.
100 pages with photos + 1 DVD.
TANGO. An anxious quest for freedom
Writter: Gloria Dinzel, Rodolfo Dinzel
Translated by Martin Harvey
115 pages with illustrations.
For the first time a literary work on tango dynamics attempts to dialogue about the technical and theoretical aspects of this dance, that is ¨porteña¨, and shows us to the world.
Tango Awareness
Writter: Mauricio Castro
Learning to dance tango.
Looking and feeling great is only the beginning.
Find out how some dancers learn faster and better than others.
Understanding the solid principals of Tango Awareness will make your mind drift away into the comfort zone. Being yourself while you learn is easy.
Tango Masters: Aníbal Troilo
Writter: Michael Lavocah
Aníbal Troilo (1914–1975) played the bandoneón with such feeling that he became revered as the most expressive player of the instrument. In 1937 he formed his own orchestra, rapidly establishing it as one of the greatest in the golden age of tango. The hallmarks of this orchestra were its vibrant sound, its ability to deliver a lyric, and the colour and shading in its music, something which Troilo and his musicians explored more and more throughout the 1940s.
Tango Masters: Carlos Di Sarli
“That orchestra had something that made it different from the others. It had something that it is now hard to find which I call sacred fire.”
Carlos Di Sarli (1903-1960) created the most elegant tango music ever known. Uniquely amongst the great orchestras, his final recordings are loved as much or even more than his early ones. Great waves of melody create a majestic feeling, although the music remains at heart quite simple, a combination which makes it a favourite of those who love to dance.
Tango Masters: Juan D’Arienzo
In 1937, Juan D’Arienzo propelled an entire city to its feet with his irresistible beat, converting a generation of tango listeners into tango dancers. In so doing, he created the foundation for tango’s most glorious years, the golden decade of the 1940s.
Tango Masters: Osvaldo Pugliese
Osvaldo Pugliese (1905-1995) created a new style of tango music that was beautiful, warm and powerful – the most passionate and intense that tango has ever known. He formed his orchestra in 1939 from a cell in Argentina’s most notorious political prison. Standing firm against decades of persecution for his communist beliefs, he eventually led his musicians and his devoted fans alike to a triumphant night at one of the world’s grandest opera houses.
Tango Passion and the Rules of the Game
Writter: Margareta Westergård 210 pages. In this book, the strict rules, códigos, and behavioural patterns at the traditional milongas (dance halls) of Buenos Aires are described. They constitute a frame around the tango, which in its unique embrace, el abrazo, is danced here with more devotion and passion than in any other tango environment in the world.
Tango Stories
Tango Stories. Musical secrets
In this unique new book, Michael Lavocah takes you on a compelling journey through tango music. He introduces the key individuals who shaped tango history and explains how they influenced the evolution of this music, telling their stories in a series of lively vignettes.
TANGO Vol. 1
TANGO. The structure of the dance 1. The key to its secrets revealed.
Mauricio Castro´s book offers a new system to help tha dancer creatively develop his/her tango using solidly established technical foundations.
TANGO. The structure of the dance 2. The Matrix.
The Quest for the Embrace
The Quest for the Embrace. The History of Tango Dance (1800-1983)
240 pages with illsutrations.
In 2009, UNESCO declared the Argentine tango to be part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Preceding this honor, there is a long history of men and women that created the dance, giving form to a way of life.
The Tango Scene
The Tango Scene. Swing in
Writter: Sonia Abadi
“El bazar de los abrazos”, written by Sonia Abadi, takes us through the world of dancing tango where men and women are the main characters of this universe of dreams and reality.
Through its pages we travel to the milonga, “a permament emergency room for those who suffer the lack of tango, life and acquaintances”.
Traces. Memories of Resistance (Argentina 1974 – 1983)
Writter: María del Carmen Sillato 240 pages. This book brings together the unpublished works of survivors of State terrorism in Argentina. The painful past emerges on each page to be re-worked and approached from different angles; it invites reflection and is projected toward new audiences.
Buenos Aires Experience
Writter: Demian Gawianski
232 pages (+ 2 CDs).
Enjoy the Tango of learning Spanish.
Buenos Aires Experience is everything an English speaker needs to step quickly and easily into speaking Spanish for learning Tango and for the joy of traveling in South America!
Tango Lessons
House for Tangueros in Córdoba (Arg.)
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I've said this before, that, when you're in school and you're the class clown, men are really good at making fun at other people and women are really good at making fun of themselves.
Previous Title - Live and Let Die Return to Full Title List Next Title - Live Free or Die Hard: Double Version
Live Free or Die Hard [2007]
Writer: Mark Bomback
Composer: Marco Beltrami
(2 hours 10 minutes)
Suggested Event Use: Independence Day
Sorting Category: Action
Live Free or Die Hard: Double Version
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Live Free or Die Hard
A Good Day to Die Hard
Live Free or Die Hard: Unrated Version
Synopsis: McClane is called upon to bring in a hacker who might be connected to a group of cyber terrorists. And thus starts the newest buddy comedy pairing in this series.
Reaction: This one does a great job of recapturing what we liked the most about the original, while still being very much its own story. McClane has definitely toughened up in four movies.
Len Wiseman => Director
Mark Bomback => Writer
Marco Beltrami => Composer
William Wisher Jr. => Executive Producer
Bruce Willis => John McClane
Chris Ellis => Scalvino (as Chris Ellis Jr.)
Cliff Curtis => Bowman
George W. Bush => Himself (Archive Footage) (archive footage)
Jonathan Sadowski => Trey
Justin Long => Matt Farrell
Kevin Smith => Warlock
Maggie Q => Mai
Mary Elizabeth Winstead => Lucy
Matt O'Leary => Clay
Richard Nixon => Himself (Archive Footage) (archive footage)
Tim De Zarn => Police Sergeant (as Tim deZarn)
Tim Russ => Chuck Summer
Timothy Olyphant => Thomas Gabriel
Zeljko Ivanek => Molina
Director Len Wiseman credits actor Timothy Olyphant (Thomas Gabriel) with coming up with the idea of how McClane kills Gabriel. In order to keep it a secret, the scene was not included in the film's shooting script.
The bad guy Thomas Gabriel points a gun at McClane and declares "On your tombstone it will say 'Always in the wrong place at the wrong time'." "John McClane is back in the wrong place at the wrong time!" was a tagline used for Die Hard 2.
When McClane is driving toward the helicopter, he says, "You think a traffic jam, throwing a car at me is gonna stop me, huh?" Director Len Wiseman dubbed the last part of this line ("Gonna stop me"), imitating the voice of Bruce Willis.
The film's climax originally involved McClane racing alongside an exploding gas pipeline on a motorcycle with Matt in a sidecar. The idea evolved into Gabriel trying to kill McClane and Matt by routing gas to their location through the pipelines.
This is the first [Die Hard] film without the music of film composer Michael Kamen. Kamen died in 2003. Portions of Kamen's previous [Die Hard] scores, however, were incorporated into the score by Marco Beltrami.
Scott Speedman was Len Wiseman's first choice for the role of Matt Farell whereas Ben Affleck was Bruce Willis' first choice for the role. Willis wanted Affleck in order to recreate the chemistry between two characters previously accomplished in Armageddon
This film addresses the apparent continuity error in earlier installments - McClane is afraid of flying in the first two films, but not the third. Here, he explains that he took flying lessons in order to "face his fears."
The French title translates as Die Hard 4.0: Return to Hell.
When Gabriel is talking to McClane over the phone and pulling up his information on the computer, Bonnie Bedelia makes a cameo appearance in the form of her character Holly McClane's driver's license photo. The photo appears as though it may be either a publicity shot from a prior [Die Hard] film or a still photo (i.e. family portrait) from one of the movies.
Prints were sent out to UK cinemas under the fake name "New Hampshire" - a reference to the state's "Live Free or Die" motto and the movie's original title - in spite of the title being changed to Die Hard 4.0 in European territories.
According to Bruce Willis and Director Len Wiseman in the DVD Commentary, the story originally involved McClane's son, Jack. Originally, he was supposed to be the computer hacker John has to deliver to the FBI. Eventually that idea was dropped and the hacker became the Matt Ferrell character. It was then decided to bring in his daughter Lucy to keep up the series continuity of McLane always having a personal stake in what happens in the story.
While the line "Yippee-ki-yay, mother*$@^#%!" is used in all Four [Die Hard] movies, a gunshot masks the '*$@^#%!' part in the latest installment. It also translates in Urdu to "here eat this"
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by Benjamin | Jan 28, 2018 | Search Engine Optimization | 0 comments
The majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. Although social media and other types of traffic can generate visits to your website, search engines are the primary method of navigation for most Internet users. This is true whether your site provides content, services, products, information, or just about anything else. Search engines are unique in that they provide targeted traffic—people looking for what you offer. Search engines are the roadways that make this happen. If search engines cannot find your site, or add your content to their databases, you miss out on incredible opportunities to drive traffic to your site. Search queries—the words that users type into the search box—carry extraordinary value. Experience has shown that search engine traffic can make (or break) an organization’s success. Targeted traffic to a website can provide publicity, revenue, and exposure like no other channel of marketing. Investing in SEO can have an exceptional rate of return compared to other types of marketing and promotion.
SEO work is included for all clients of CSI. We also have SEO premium contracts for purchase which provide deeper and/or more specific SEO efforts than what is included in our basic retainer. SEO focuses on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. It is a long-term play that pays tremendous dividends because once you begin coming up in the rankings it provides you with essentially free traffic. It’s 100% profit, and differs greatly from doing things like paid search (i.e., Google adwords) or paid Facebook advertising. SEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines. There are many aspects to SEO, from the words on your page to the way other sites link to you on the web. Sometimes SEO is simply a matter of making sure your site is structured in a way that search engines understand.
Add Instagram Location Stories for Increased Exposure
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We’re different. We want to be “in the mix”. We’ll jump in with both feet, get under the hood, and get knee deep in your business. Our work will fire you up, and excite your employees & customers. Our goal is growth!
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Violet Clouds
Strange the Dreamer by Lani Taylor
By Violet Clouds August 15, 2017
This book, THIS BOOK! This book was all over Instagram with it's beautiful cover and rave reviews so out of curiosity I added it to my library request list and I am not in any way sorry for it.
Lazlo Strange is an orphan who lives for stories, especially ones about the lost city of Weep. Weep is the name left behind for a great city whose true name was stolen from the world when he was a child. He reads and dreams through his life working at the library until one day his adventure takes him far from home. Meanwhile Sarai lives with her siblings eking out an existence in a shadowy castle. This story has gods, a Godslayers, a Great Library, alchemy, secrets and mysteries.
Everything about this book is so beautiful, from the cover to the characters, the writing and the world building. Lazlo is an amazing main character; he has a purity of character that isn't saccharine and is a lover of knowledge and adventure without being on a hero quest. I adore the fact that he broke his nose …
Two Books on Hygge
The Book of Hygge - Louisa Thomsen Brits
I've been aware of the flurry of interest in this concept but was put off by the accompanying flood of 'buy this' marketing that went along with it. Out of curiosity I added this book to my library queue and found it an enjoyable read. The concept is interesting and I liked how it took the whole book to show just how difficult the concept it is to untangle. It's not prescriptive and it doesn't come with a shopping list but it does encourage the valuing of those little moments of peace, of community or of comfort as little shields hidden in everyday life. Brits also talks about the nature of the country and it's people from whom this concept grew and endures. It's not tips about how to hyggling more but sharing the value that can be found in it.
The Little Book of Hygge - Meik Wiking
In contrast to the above book on the same topic, this is more of a tips and shopping-list kind of book. That is not necessarily a bad thin…
Signal To Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Shifting between 1988 and 2009 'Signal to Noise' follows Meche and her friendships with Sebastian and Daniela. As teenagers living in Mexico City, they are friends bonded in their unpopularity but by 2009 they are estranged. Meche is called home after the death of her father and finds herself dealing with the consequences of the trio's falling out all the years ago. Back when they had music, longing and magic.
Meche is an interesting, prickly character, both as a teenager and an adult. She is the one who can't connect with others easily and finds her strength and magic through music. Sebastian is dealing with his own issues within his family, particularly his domineering brother. Daniela seeks diversion through her dreams of romance, much to Meche's disdain. The relationships in the book feel wonderfully messy, rough at the seams and real in an aching way. Meche has issues with her parents, school isn't what she wants to be doing and although certain of herself…
Final Girls by Riley Sager
By Violet Clouds July 10, 2017
Disclaimer: I read this book as an advance copy from Netgalley. My thanks go to them, Random House UK, Ebury Press and to the author, Riley Sager, for this opportunity. The opinions stated in the review are my own.
This is one of the best thrillers I've read! The book has wonderfully complex characters as well as a compulsive reading plot. The author takes the movie trope of a Final Girl, the lone survivor of a terrible event, and makes her the focus of this book. Quincy is already dealing with the aftermath of a massacre that killed her friends some years ago when a new threat is found at her door. The book starts slowly, giving the reader time to allow musing on the different ways of handling trauma and grief. The pressure builds to revelations that pull you down a rabbit hole of theories and red herrings. The protagonist was very interesting to watch as she works to unwind the memories she hasn't been able to access since that terrible day and tries to handle to the situat…
Room Empty by Sarah Mussi
This was a hard read but a worthwhile one. It should be noted as a trigger warning that the book contains anorexia, drug abuse, child abuse and suicide.
Room Empty is about Dani, a foster kid living at a rehab centre and being treated for anorexia. She meets Fletcher and, at his urging, they become recovery buddies. Dani isn't sure she wants to be rescued but Fletcher is determined to help her. They form a relationship outside of the bonds of 'buddies' and it has an intensity that both helps and hinders them.
It'd be wrong to say that I liked this book, it was too brutal for that I think. What it did do was make me care deeply about both of these characters. Dani was rather unlikable but this is largely because she judges everyone, including herself, very harshly. She finds comfort in the manifestation of her illness, her alien, her thinness, who loves her only when she follows the rules. Fletcher challenges her constantly, to open up, to solve her illness like it was …
By Violet Clouds June 27, 2017
To start this review I have an announcement, Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl is one of my go-to comfort reads. When I feel massively overwhelmed by things I love running to hang out with Cath as she travails her first year of University.
Describing 'Carry On' in this context is a bit of a twisty tale: in 'Fangirl' Cather is a fan of a series of books about Simon Snow, particularly championing the shipping of Simon with his nemesis, Baz. The Snow series is set in an English boarding school of magic and there are vampires and a mysterious threat that is leaching the world of magic. The idea of the book obviously has some basis on a certain other magic boarding school series but Watford School of Magicks isn't Hogwarts. The twisty bit is that 'Carry On' isn't a Gemma T. Leslie (Rowell's fiction author of the Snow Series) novel, it isn't Cath's fanfic. It's Rainbow Rowell's fanfic of a world she created which makes it quite the fascinating…
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
There are some books that you sit down to read with great anticipation, be it for the author or the subject but the very best ones are the ones that come as a recommendation from a reader-friend. The book pressed into your hands with a look that says 'you need to read this'. This is one such book.
Although this is the second book in the series I was assured that I could read this one and then scoot back to the first one, which I absolutely will be doing. The plot follows a boy, Will Stanton, on his eleventh birthday. The world opens up and changes and he faces an ancient challenge, a clash of good and evil.
The language was lovely, the settings were vivid and the characters interesting. I look forward to returning to the world Susan Cooper created with the other books in the series.
This is a book aimed at older children or young adults.
surfing aspirations of a surfing city dweller
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Google keeps ignoring the Last-Modified meta tag
Google still ignores the Last-Modified meta tag in the search. This was stated by the company’s employee, John Mueller providing a response to a question from one of the webmasters on Twitter.
"In 2011 you said that Google does not use the http-equiv =" last-modified "tag for crawling. Is that still so? ".
Yep, we still do not use it.
- John ☆ .o (≧ ▽ ≦) o. ☆ (@JohnMu) August 11, 2017
The tag was originally used to alert the crawlers that the page was updated, or to specify the date the page was last refreshed.
In 2011 John Mueller made a post on the Webmaster Central Help forum in which he stated that Google does not use the Last-Modified meta tag for scanning, indexing, or ranking. This tag is also not included in the list of meta tags considered by Google. With all this, other search engines can still use it.
Google tests a new format for price extension in Product Listing Ads
Merkle agency specialists noticed that Google is testing a new format for price expansion in product listings.
Testers put the product price, which is shown at a discount, and the crossed-out original price on the right side. As a result, users immediately see that the product participates in the promotion. Testing is carried out in the mobile and desktop Google versions.
As noted in Merkle, this format of displaying information about the discount allows you to save space in the ad and show other extensions (free delivery, product rating). In addition, it helps to increase CTR ads and highlight company offers among competitors' ads.
Testing is conducted on a limited scale. Google representative said to the Merkle Company that they are constantly testing various formats to give users the most useful information.
Google is speeding up the mobile pages in the ranking
Google is changing its approach to assessing the speed of page loading. In the near future, the ranking will take into account the speed of mobile pages and not desktop. This was reported by the Goole search representative Gary Illyes at the SMX Advanced 2017 conference.
As you know, at the moment Google measures only the loading speed of the desktop pages. These data are used both in desktop ranking and mobile.
However, mobile speed is more important for Google. Therefore, it was decided to make changes to the search algorithm. This approach is already under consideration.
Illyes also stressed upon the fact that Google will actively inform webmasters about any changes before launching the mobile-first index. So not to make a surprise for specialists.
Earlier it was reported that Google has not been planning to take into account the downloading speed for mobile pages in the ranking.
The Italian authorities fines WhatsApp for $ 3 million euros
The Italian Antimonopoly Authority fined WhatsApp service developers for 3 million euros. This information was reported reported by Reuters.
According to the agency, WhatsApp imposed conditions on the users that obliged them to agree to data transfer to Facebook parent company. In particular, they were persuaded that without agreeing on this they would not be able to continue using the service.
The WhatsApp press service commented on this situation the following way: "We are considering this decision and preparing a response to the authorities."
The supervisory authorities of all EU countries demanded that WhatsApp last year to suspend the transfer of Facebook data because of users’ doubts' in agreeing on the conditions.
The fact that WhatsApp will open Facebook access to the user base became known in August 2016.
Seo Facts #99
Projected number of e-mail users in the U.S. by 2019: 251.7 million. (Source: Statista)
91% of internet users use search. (2016)
Google had 94% of the worldwide mobile (smartphone and tablet) search market share in December 2015. (Source: NetMarketshare)
Listrak also reported that Back-in-Stock emails had an average open rate of 51.9% with an average conversion rate of 25.3% for Q2 2015. (Source: eMarketer)
1 in 3 smartphone searches were made right before a store visit. (Source: Google)
In a September 2015 study by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs, 76% of B2B marketers in North America said they expect to create more content in 2016 than they did in 2015. (Source: eMarketer)
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Meet The Gibbs Team
2015 Election Results; State & Local Elections
Posted OnDec 02, 2015
State props pass; Courthouse bond fails.
Travis County prides itself on being not like the rest of Texas. That makes statewide constitutional amendments an interesting litmus test: Did local residents vote the same as the rest of the state, or did they go down a different path? Statewide, all seven amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot passed and, on four of the seven, Travis County votes were basically within margin of error of those statewide results. So what were the three issues on which they distinguished themselves, by either outright rejecting the proposition, or being more than 10 points away from the state result? – Richard Whittaker
Prop 1: Increased homestead exemption from $15,000 to $25,000
Statewide: 86% for, 14% against
Travis County: 82% for, 18% against
Same: The affordability argument won out over arguments against education spending cuts.
Prop 2: Tax exemption for disabled veterans spouses
Statewide: 91% for, 9% against
Same: Proving yet again that any measure will pass if you put the word “veteran” on it.
Prop 3: State officers no longer must reside in the capital
Different: If Travis voters had their way, this measure – widely seen as a way for indicted officials to pick and choose where they get prosecuted – would have been rejected. Considering how Collin County prosecutors have taken Attorney General Ken Paxton to task, those worries may be ill-founded.
Prop 4: Allowing professional sports team charitable foundations to run raffles
Different: The measure that passed by the lowest percentage, as voters wondered why franchises don’t just give their foundations more cash. However, Travis voters were much more vociferous in their opposition.
Prop 5: Increasing the number of counties building private roads
Same: A three-point gap for a measure that most people didn’t understand anyway.
Prop 6: Constitutional right to hunt
Different: The second biggest gap – a 20-point variance – on a measure that no one, barring gun rights paranoiacs, saw as pressing.
Prop 7: Dedicated taxes for state highway fund
Same: Concerns about handcuffing some sales tax to road construction in perpetuity were outweighed by traffic jam blues.
How Will Prop. 1 Affect AISD?
Texans love constitutional amendments almost as much as they love tax cuts. For the second election cycle in a row, voters passed a full slate of propositions, adding seven rewrites to the Texas Constitution. Topping the list was Prop. 1, one of the state’s beloved tax cuts: an increase in thehomestead exemption from $15,000 to $25,000, which passed with 86% of the vote. Yet education advocates warn that the small savings for homeowners come at the cost of education finance, cutting taxes collected by school districts an estimated $1.2 billion next year.
Its passage seemed a foregone conclusion – so much so that Austin ISD accidentally set the homestead deduction on its online property tax calculator to the new, higher level a week early. TheTexas AFL-CIO, under advice from educators’ union Texas AFT, officially opposed Prop. 1, calling it “a case of misplaced priorities.” Yet it seemed the labor groups were spitting in the wind. Even before early voting numbers came in, Texas AFT president Louis Malfaro said, “Do I expect proposition one is going to pass? Yes I do. Did I vote for it? No, I didn’t.” He explained, “It’s a nice thing when people get $125 off their property taxes, but all the state is doing is reducing its revenue a time when it’s under-spending massively on education and health care.”
The cut was a priority issue for Republicans last session. Senate Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, filed it as Senate Bill 1 (the number normally reserved for the budget): In fact, her first draft was much more aggressive, requesting a new exemption of 25% of the statewide median market value of all residential homesteads. When asked about the change, the response from AISD Chief Financial Officer Nicole Conley via the communication office was that “school districts are not supposed to be affected.” That’s because the legislation ensures the state will initially fill the statewide reduction in school district tax receipts. However, AISD Board President Gina Hinojosa said she was “uneasy” about that promise. Malfaro warned, “The state does not have unlimited amounts of money,” and it’s still unclear where those make-whole funds will come from – presumably cuts elsewhere in the budget.
In a statement, Gov. Greg Abbott applauded the passage of Props. 1 and 7 (permanently allocating a portion of sales tax and motor vehicle tax to the general highway fund), stating, “Voters sent a clear message tonight in their support for lowering taxes and building more roads.” Malfaro countered that argument: “If our priorities are highways and tax cuts, then where does that leave us with our 5.2 million Texas school children?” – R.W.
Eckhardt on Courthouse: “We Will Find a Way”
“Our next steps?” asked Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt late Tuesday, as she reassured the county courthouse bond campaigners still comprehending the narrow defeat that had just occurred. “We evaluate the most cost-effective, fastest way to move forward. We need this [courthouse] capacity yesterday. Justice can’t wait another three years for another bond election. So we will find a way to move forward.”
The mood among the crowd awaiting the evening’s results at the terrace above the 816 Congress building had gone from cautiously optimistic, to somber, to resolute in just a few minutes. Just before Eckhardt spoke, Judge Eric Shepperd, president of the Austin Bar Association that had led the defeated campaign, quoted Teddy Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts, but those who dare greatly. That’s what everybody here did. … And this is by no means through. We’re not done yet.”
Eckhardt followed with a fiery speech much in the same vein, reiterating that although it will be “politically dicey” to move forward with the courthouse project, “I know my community will show the courage to provide accessible justice to every member of our community.”
Before the evening’s disappointing outcome, the mood had been generally upbeat and cautiously optimistic. Although the early vote, posted by the County Clerk about 7:30pm, had shown the bond trailing by more than 5% (52.7-47.3%), the first election-day post had reversed that percentage (while the bond still trailed in the total vote), and the subsequent updates had steadily improved the bond’s chances.
By 9:30, about half the election day vote had been counted, and the total had shifted in favor of the bond, albeit by only 63 votes. That small margin soon grew to 210, and it looked like the bond might squeak through. But the 10pm results reversed the trend, showing the bond losing by about 900 votes out of about 70,000. The campaign team on hand acknowledged the few remaining boxes would be insufficient to reverse the tide. The clerk’s final, 10:33pm posting (still to be certified) showed 37,122 votes against the bond, 36,058 in favor: defeated by 1,064 votes.
A few minutes later, Eckhardt told those county staffers who remained, “We’ll be back in the saddle and working on this project. This is the most important thing that Travis County government delivers … a duty under our democracy to produce justice for our entire community, in a building that is fit for that calling.” Starting Monday, she continued, “We’re starting to work again on this project.”
Elsewhere, a jubilant District 6 City Council Member Don Zimmerman, who opposed the bond through his Travis County Taxpayers Union PAC, told the Austin Monitor, “You don’t see David versus Goliath victories every day.” He also credited the last-minute opposition by the board of the Real Estate Council of Austin as providing “the margin of victory.” Opponents had argued that the county should move the project out of Downtown.
Eckhardt said that possibility had been reviewed and rejected as both more costly, and moreover, unjust. “It will cost us more financially, it will cost us more in efficiency, it will cost us more in how we hold justice at the center of our community,” Eckhardt said. “It will mean that this low voter turnout is the new normal. It will mean that we no longer believe that justice is a basic pillar of our democracy – that justice is like fast food, and that is not what justice is about.”
Precisely what approach Commissioners Court may take in moving forward, Eckhardt told the Chronicle, is not immediate or certain, but she said, “We’ll look at all of our options that are cost-effective.” – Michael King
Source: http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-11-06/state-and-local-elections/
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KELLER WILLIAMS® Realty
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PR & Social Media Back Talk
Insights and attitude about PR, journalism and traditional and social media.
Top 14+ Media Trends for 2009
At the start of each year, we look at the media trends that we think will have the most impact. Here's our list of more than 14 trends we think significant.
We've also cited in #14 a few from media critic Jeff Jarvis from his BuzzMachine blog, in particular his article "A scenario for news." BuzzMachine is a very interesting blog, and we highly recommend it.
1. We will need a new definition of “newspaper” as many shift to an online-only format, thus losing the “paper” part of their business. We suggest calling them “newssites” (based on the soon-to-be outdated newsstand). Calling them “dailies” isn’t appropriate either, given a 24/7 news cycle.
2. Mainstream Media (MSM) will experience at least five changes:
o Dozens of secondary newspapers and magazines will shift to an online-only model in 2009. Already this year, FinancialWeek announced that it is shifting over this month. The benefits of the online-only model include substantial savings now that they no longer have to print, mail and deliver content (to newsstands and homes). The downside: they lose three revenue streams – display and classified advertising from the print edition as well as subscription fees – and now rely on online advertising to fund their operations. Online subscription fees have worked for only select media – even the New York Times couldn’t make a fee-based plan work. Expect some surprises as some larger market papers find themselves in real trouble (for example, the Times' cutting its dividend). Addendum: The day after we posted this, the Times reported that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a good, large-market paper in a two-paper town, may go online-only or shut down within 60 days.
o Traditional media that continue to publish print editions will update their formats to include more maps, graphics, lists, ranking and stats, along with shorter articles. These print editions will also be shorter, with some papers – including the Denver Post and Boston Globe – having shed stand-alone business sections. The same holds from magazines. As Fortune tech reporter, David Kirkpatrick wrote on Twitter: "an indicator of the sorry state of the economy – and the magazine industry: the new issue of Time – a mere pamphlet." (Don’t forget: Time and Fortune are published by the same company! And Fortune’s current issue is pretty thin, too.)
o These smaller floating business sections are not likely to achieve their publishers' goal because the sections are more difficult for readers to find and these sections provide less coverage of business at a time when the economy is in turmoil and undergoing seismic shocks -- a time when people need to more closely understand what's happening and how it impacts them. These smaller sections will also be less interesting to advertisers, too, because readers may easily skip over them.
o The value of content is changing. Traditionally, the value of the entire newspaper or magazine was worth a lot. Now, individual articles (available often by RSS feeds, Tweets, Google or other search engines) are worth more than the newspaper as a whole because technology has enabled us to consume only that which really interests us. It’s more efficient this way, but paging through a newspaper ensures you get a broader sense of what’s going on. It’s a more niche world.
o Stringers and civilian journalists will become more important. Because of staff cutbacks and bureau closings, MSM may not be able to find and send reporters or crews to cover breaking, important news outside their immediate region. The tragic shootings in Mumbai is an example where MSM, including some of the biggest names in journalism, relied on first-hand local reports. For example, CNN uses footage from iReport, and has been posting citizen video footage since Hurricane Katrina. Expect this trend to continue.
3. Expect to see fewer launches of new magazines, and to see some struggling media to call it quits in 2009. Remember that circulation is irrelevant to the publisher’s decision to discontinue a magazine if its ad pages/revenue drop. Over the past 18 months, some magazines with circulations in the hundreds of thousands closed because the advertisers stopped buying space.
4. Online newssites are not immune to the ad slowdown. According to ValleyWag, the Gawker-owned Silicon Valley gossip site, “LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut about 20 of 28 employees — and offered them no severance, we're told.” Expect more layoffs from this part of the sector.
5. Local coverage continues to be the name of the game for regional news organizations. Hyperlocal is the new local, with news about communities operating within a local market being the forefront of hyperlocal coverage, some say.
Local competition in the online space will heat up. Circulation figures for local weeklies probably will remain stable, but online competition will increase. In New England, Boston.com is competing more aggressively with Gatehouse Media’s WickedLocal.com – to the extent that the latter is suing the former for having too many pointers on Boston.com to WickedLocal.
6. Broadcast media will continue to see significant changes:
Niche is the new normal, especially for broadcast. This will make it difficult for marketers to reach broad audiences. In fact, that’s why we predict that Jan. 20th will be the single biggest media event this year – everyone will cover the Obama inauguration. On the other hand, according to Portfolio magazine: "There's something for everyone, but nothing for everyone." It's partly due to the shift to cable and the Internet.
Increasingly, people will access TV shows with their computers as opposed to watching the shows when they air. For example, there were 1.4 million viewers of the Couric-Palin interview on YouTube and more than 4 million of the SNL skit – that’s the power of YouTube and Hulu.com. NY Times’ David Pogue already suggested consumers could save money by disconnecting cable, and logging onto the Internet instead to get network feeds and local news coverage.
Local cable/TV operators will have a bumpy road because of a significant double whammy: Both advertisers and viewers are fleeing. Local broadcasters will need to find a way to cut costs – which means more layoffs – while stemming the tide of departing viewers. One way may be to follow the lead of NBC, which realized that airing the new Jay Leno show five nights a week at 10pm is cheaper than airing five original 60-minute dramas (even with Jay’s $30 million salary). Local TV may find that whatever time they have can be best/inexpensively filled by talk shows.
7. More organizations will jump onto the Twitter bandwagon. However, many will encounter the same problems as with corporate blogs:
o How often to maintain them?
o Who should maintain them?
o How do you measure a successful program?
o What’s the proper balance between communicating the company’s interest vs. being so self-serving that no one “follows” them?
We recently saw a Twitterite whose job is audience development for a major media outlet whose tweets consisted only of featured articles in the publication. The person had 1,612 tweets, but only 44 followers. In comparison, the magazine’s official Twitter feed has more than 12,000 tweets, and more than 600 followers. It’s a lot of effort with not much payoff. What companies need to understand is that Twitter and social networks are about engaging in conversations.
8. Social networking will continue to grow, but expect a social networking backlash to start. After all, with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Plaxo, how many ways do we need to connect to the same people? We’re feeling social networking fatigue (SNF) based on getting contacts on two different sites from someone we don’t know. Meanwhile, the challenge for some sites, like Twitter and Plaxo, is that they have yet to monetize their communities, user base, etc. How long can Twitter survive without generating a revenue stream? The backlash will also affect sites designed to help with lead generation but contain wrong information. There are a number of such sites like Spoke.com, Lead411, JigSaw.com. Spoke.com included a number of people as Birnbach employees who actually work at an acquired client of ours; that’s the most egregious, but most of these sites contain misinformation. (Since they’re for lead gen, we have not corrected most of the mistakes we’ve found.)
9. Online reputation management will become more important and much more in-demand function due to the proliferation of sites and ways that people can post information, reviews, etc. about their experiences. For some companies, including Dell and Comcast, online reputation management becomes part of the customer service function. In fact, while understanding and working with social networking sites has been the purview of PR departments and their agencies, there will likely be more of a push by sales and customer service departments and HR departments to be in charge of social networking. In fact, because of media, customer relations and recruiting needs, all three functions (PR, HR and sales) should be working together to maintain and enhance their online reputation.
10. The Kindle will continue to sell to early adopters, but it’s still more like a beta of what’s ahead: bigger, more colorful screens, easier ways to share articles to other users, even a text-to-speech or audio book option so you can throw your book in the car. We expect e-books to become bigger in 2010.
11. The New York Times will survive, but will have a tough 2009.
o The Times will be faced with two obstacles as it seeks this year to solve its Boston Globe problem, since the Globe is losing an estimated $52 million per year:
§ Internal problem: The entire company is now worth less than the $1.1 billion it paid for the Boston Globe. (As of Jan. 6, its market cap is $1.09 billion; it had been less than $900 million in Nov. 2008). It’s difficult to write off that much money, but the company has taken other drastic steps such as cutting dividends to conserve cash and taking out a mortgage on its new headquarters. How much is it worth to them to unload the Globe?
§ External problem: Even at a distressed, Times-financed purchase price, who will want to takeover the Boston Globe? After all, if the Times can’t make the Globe profitable, who can?
o In terms of the Times itself, the challenge is that its attempt to sell online-subscriptions failed several years ago. It’s going to need to find ways to increase the value it provides its advertisers, such as its new ad across the bottom of the front page. That said, we don’t think the Sulzbergers will sell the Times, as the Bancroft family sold the Wall St. Journal to News Corp.
12. Rupert Murdoch will make more changes to the Wall Street Journal in 2009. So far, Rupe has not corrupted the Journal entirely. (The dire predictions from News Corp critics have not been fulfilled.) Despite initial murmurs, don’t expect the Journal to give up its lucrative online subscription fee; in fact, it just raised the fee last year. We don’t see much value for readers of the new WSJ Magazine; it seems like a high-end lifestyle concept in search of advertisers.
13. The Associated Press will consider substantial changes to its model.
o A number of papers have given the AP notice that they want to cancel their participation in the AP. Most of these are smaller papers – like the Bakersfield Californian, Idaho Falls Post Register, Yakima Herald-Republic and Wenatchee World – seeking to renegotiate down the fees they pay. But some big papers like the Tribune Co. (parent of the LA Times and Chicago Tribune) and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (no relation) have also given notice.
o On the one hand, many papers seem to rely on wire service coverage even more in 2009, thanks to closing bureaus in Washington, DC, and foreign capitals. On the other hand, the renewed focus on local coverage means that one article appearing multiple times no longer makes sense. After all, when searching on a topic on Google News, how many links to the same article do you need?
o All this means is that the AP needs to re-evaluate who it serves and how it serves them.
14. Journalist and media critic Jeff Jarvis will be right about a number of the predictions he made.
o Citing content from others will continue in 2009 – it’s part of what makes Twitter useful. In his BuzzMachine blog article, “A scenario for news,” Jarvis predicted several interesting things we thought worthwhile to cite:
§ News will emerge from networks…No one believes that a 35-person staff can cover Philadelphia as the 300-person newsroom did; they will have to collaborate with the community, with, we hope, a network of a thousand or thousands. Some people will freely contribute to the news network’s efforts, recording school-board meetings for podcasts, say.
§ Editing will change. Editors will become more curators, aggregators, organizers, educators. Their jobs will be less about controlling a flow than encouraging and improving creation.
§ Do what you do best and link to the rest will be a foundation of the future architecture of news. This is a necessity of efficiency – no one can afford to waste resources on commodity news – but also a necessity of the link economy, for it is through others’ links that original journalism will get attention and audience and the opportunity for monetization through advertising. Linking to journalism at its source - rather than matching it or rewriting it, as we have done - will become an ethic, a moral imperative of the new journalism.
§ Specialization will take over much of journalism. We’ll no longer all be doing the same things - commodifying news – but will stand out and contribute uniquely by covering a niche deeply. Local newspapers, I believe, must specialize in being local and serving local communities.
§ News will find new forms past the article, which will include any media, wiki snapshots of knowledge, live reports, crowd reports, aggregation, curation, data bases, and other forms not yet created.
Posted by Norman Birnbach at 10:02 AM
Labels: Associated Press, BuzzMachine, Fortune, Hulu.com, Hyperlocal, Jeff Jarvis, Mainstream Media, NBC, New York Times, Online-only, social networking, Time Magazine, Twitter, Wall St. Journal, YouTube
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From Fiction University: Enabling third party cookies on your browser could help if you have trouble leaving a comment.
Guest Author Jordan McCollum: 5 Steps to Better Character Arcs
by Marsmet via Flickr/CC
By Jordan McCollum, @JordanMcCollum
Please join me in welcoming Jordan McCollum to the blog today to chat with us about crafting better character arcs. Characters who grow and change are usually the ones readers remember, and she'll share a few tips on how to get the most out of your arcs.
An award-winning author, Jordan can't resist a story where good defeats evil and true love conquers all. In her day job, she coerces people to do things they don’t want to, elicits information and generally manipulates the people she loves most—she's a mom. Jordan holds a degree in American Studies and Linguistics from Brigham Young University. When she catches a spare minute, her hobbies include reading, knitting and music. She lives with her husband and four children in Utah. She offers free writing guides, including a guide to character arcs, and blogs about writing craft and the creative life at JordanMcCollum.com.
Take it away, Jordan...
Character arcs, or internal character journeys, are integral in fiction. While it might not be strictly necessary in building a book that works, an effective internal journey helps to create fiction that resonates with readers long after the events of the plot are forgotten.
Of course, anything that powerful can be very tricky to execute. These five steps to better character arcs outline the easiest, most basic things you can do to start showing your characters' growth.
1. Show the broken beginning.
Every character, and every character, has to start somewhere. We know that in the ordinary world, something is missing from the protagonist’s life. That doesn’t just mean a love interest or a murderer that needs to be brought to justice—there’s something deeper, on an emotional level, that the character needs.
But you cannot just tell us "HERO HAS THIS PROBLEM." You cannot just have other characters tell us "HERO HAS THIS PROBLEM." We need to see the problem in action to understand the full effect on the character and his/her life. If our hero is looking for stability (slash AFRAID), we need to see that fear dominating his life. Maybe he decides not to do something he really wanted to do because of his fears.
This should be negative—either the character sees it hurting him or we see it as a negative attitude or both—because the character really does need to change (though he won't until external events force him to).
(More on why characters arcs make readers care here)
2. Tailor the antagonist.
For an effective character arc, we need to see the antagonist working against the character's internal journey as well as the external journey (the plot). Just like the broken beginning might not be a conscious problem for the protagonist—they do, after all, cope with whatever their fears or problems are, and they have for a while—the antagonist's internal attack might be under the surface.
My favorite way to do this is to align the antagonist with this fear, this mistaken belief, this problem. If the heroine's weakness is a lack of trust, perhaps the perfect antagonist for her has that same weakness, an inability to trust. In some way, that should be his downfall. Maybe he can't delegate some task to his minions, he has to do it all himself, but he just physically can't.
3. Make REAL choices.
The character will grow as s/he makes choices throughout the story, choosing how to act and react to the external plot events. Alicia Rasley, RITA-award winning author, points out that if the character's choices are too easy, they can't force the necessary growth: "If the choice presented is too stacked in one direction, then it’s not a choice."
A stacked choice is one that any decent human would make. It's not easy to run into a burning building to save a child, but I hope any decent human would at least want to help. Unless your character is journeying from . . . ahem indecency to decency, we need to see the protagonist making choices that are hard for him.
A real choice in our journey of learning to trust others might be as simple as asking for help. A friend offers, but the heroine can't accept help, or is too afraid to share her problems. The good of the world isn't resting on the choice, only the good of the character.
Finally in this area, sometimes the character is going to get it wrong. They've spent significant time—maybe their whole lives—not trusting, living in fear, or whatever your journey may be. It's worked for them. It's been an effective solution to their problems until now. So it's natural for them to try to continue to do that. It's hard to change. Don't make it too easy for your character—give us a reason to root for them!
(More on character arcs and plot here)
4. Use the new strength at the climax.
At the climax, our protagonist and our antagonist reach their final showdown. It's here that we—and the protagonist—see the real cost of fear/belief/problem. When the antagonist can't let go, can't grow, that becomes their weakness.
In our example above, the antagonist has trust issues. So he refuses to let anyone help him, since they won't do it right. He has to do everything himself. But who can manage everything? Who can control everything?
Because of the events of the story, the protagonist has learned and grown. Now s/he is strong enough to defeat the antagonist. Maybe our heroine has learned to trust someone else, and as a team they're able to overwhelm our overstretched antagonist.
At the climax, the character uses and finally proves the lesson they've been learning throughout the story to defeat not only the external antagonist, but their own internal doubts.
(More on guides to crafting inner character arcs here)
5. Show the changed man.
The climax of the story might be the proof for the protagonist that this lesson has been worth it, but we readers often need just a little more help. After the climax, we must show the results of the characters’ final choice, to confirm that change is real and permanent, not just an instant convenience to beat the bad guy at a critical moment.
So in the final moments of the story, look for some little gesture your protagonist can make to show that she's really learned her lesson. Maybe she has the chance to go off on her own to do something she normally would have done alone, but she looks back at her team and nods for them to join her. Show that change has really taken root, and leave your readers happy.
Did I say this was easy? It's not. But character arcs in fiction show the power of transformative experiences. Watching that transformation, rooting for it, and growing with the character are major reasons we read fiction. Aristotle first coined the term catharsis for this experience, any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration, and it's been a major purpose of fiction for millennia.
And on a more practical level, it also helps to make your story resonate, your characters unforgettable, and your readers even happier.
About I, Spy
Jordan's first novel, I, Spy, is out now: Canada's the last place you’d expect an American spy. But even idyllic Ottawa has deadly secrets—and so does CIA operative Talia Reynolds. There's only one thing she can't do: tell her boyfriend Danny about her Top Secret occupation. When her latest target turns around and targets Danny, her schedule isn't the only thing suffering. To save her secrets and her country, Talia must sacrifice the man she loves.
More about I, Spy | Amazon Kobo | direct from JordanMcCollum.com.
Labels: character arcs, how they do it
Rachel6 7/19/13, 11:53 AM
#2 sounds almost like the antagonist should be a mirror of the protagonist, like Rene Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Like Indy, he's an archeologist driven to unearth great treasures. But unlike Indy, he doesn't know when treasures should be left alone.
I haven't given my antagonist enough thought, but I do believe he would work really well as a mirror image of my hero. Both mistrustful jerks, both determined to hold the upper hand... Thanks!
Great reminders. My favorite is #2 - it is what made me enjoy the Harry Potter series so much. Harry and Voldemort had lived essentially the same lives up to a point. But their later journeys stemmed out of the choices they made, and that's what eventually affected the outcome. I love it when I see this in a book.
Jordan McCollum 7/19/13, 4:31 PM
Rachel—I usually stop short of actually using the term "mirror" because you can use the same weakness or mistaken belief applied in very different ways for the protagonist and antagonist. Of course, you can use it in the same way as in Raiders. (Have you ever read the story conference for Raiders? It's got some amazing storytelling advice!)
Swati—Oh, yeah, Harry's and Voldemort's journeys are good examples of that mirror structure Rachel mentioned! (There are other ways to do it as well, of course.)
Rachel6 7/19/13, 8:00 PM
Where her mistrust means she creates and maintains emotional distance, his mistrust means he keeps secrets and undertakes tasks unnecessarily; like that?
Where can I find the story conference? I didn't know such a thing existed!
Yeah, that's a great example.
George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan took a week to muddle through the story for Indiana Jones, and came up with enough material for two movies. I first came across the transcript for the story conference here: http://mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2009/03/raiders-story-conference.html
Chicory 7/23/13, 9:13 PM
I think your last point -the one about showing that the change is permanent- is the hardest thing, but also the best as far as making a story memorable. Those moments always give me delicious warm fuzzies.
Carol Baldwin 8/1/13, 12:00 PM
Thanks for the post. I will post it on my class wiki and reread all the links. Need this stuff right now for my own WIP!
Adrian Tannock 12/27/15, 7:19 AM
I enjoyed this list – especially point 4. It's that moment where the hero, having gained their hard-won insights, strengths, or knowledge, can apply it, winning the battle and conquering themselves. Thank you for creating a helpful resource.
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Home / Experience Kunming / Culture
Old Kunming Through the Oil Paintings of A 70 Year-Old Man
With the rapid growth, the Spring City Kunming has become a modern travel destination in southwest China, Yunnan Province. But it seems hugely different from the lens of a senior, who have been living in this city and witnessed its great changes throughout the past decades. Mr. Dong Chang’an has depicted more than 200 oil paintings of the old Kunming on paperboard weighing 50kg, which took him 15 years to complete the task.
The Northern City Area of Old Kunming: The city wall of the northern city had been demolished during 1950s,which was located at the intersection between the East Gate of Yunnan University and the No.30 High School on Beimen Street.
The East District of Old Kunming
The Southern District of Kunming: The demolition of the City Gate Tower (Jinri Tower) and the Xiaonanmen (Huguo Gate),Jinri Shopping Mall made way to West Dongfeng Road and Yunnan Provincial Museum.
Yunnan Provincial Museum, a then Military Museum
Farmers, Railway policemen and train conductors on the Kunming -- Vietnam Meter Gauge Railway
Yunduan Park in front of the Victory Monument
The Spring Festival was the best time of the year for children and young adults to gather in here as they could use their lucky money to buy some firecrackers and to have fun with their peers.
Tuodong Road
This road was named after the famed Tuodong Soy Sauce which was so busy with vegetable vendors, horse carts, shops and pedestrians.
Fudong Street
It connects Guanghua Street to the north, Jingxing Street to the west, with Tongcheng Valley and the famous time-honored Wang Yuntong Medicine Shop at both ends.
The intersection between Xiangyun Street and Baoshan Street is the so-called “aircraft building”.
The Aircraft Building was given the name as it was the General Claire Lee Chennault’s office.
South Cuihu Road
Children playing games: glass marbles, cards flipping, rubber-band skipping, etc.
（photo credit: Mr.Dong Chang’an）
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Scarlett Moffatt has a selfie warning for young girls
Scarlett Moffatt, who came to fame through Gogglebox, is getting real about filtered pictures of women on social media.
The 2016 winner of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and now presenter of dating show Streetmate, posted two selfies side by side on Instagram showcasing two very different looks, along with a warning for young girls.
In one picture a natural-faced Scarlett smiles into the camera. The other shows the TV personality in full make-up with her features accentuated by a Snapchat filter.
She posted:
“To all all you young girls (and older ladies) out there don’t believe all you see on social media. This goes to show what make-up and a filter can do. Love who you are and don’t compare yourself to anybody else. As Dr Seuss once said…. Today you are You, that is truer than true . There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
The 27-year-old’s post has been liked more than 180,000 times on Instagram with many praising her decision to share the photos.
“You are such a great role model for young women. I am a mum of 2 girls and think it’s great seeing this, thanks,” commented one Instagram user.
Another mum who also responded to Ms Moffatt’s Instagram post commented: “Brilliant post… I’ve shown my 13-year-old daughter this … so important for our young girls to know what real life looks like and not life through a filter. Thank you.”
On Twitter there was similar reaction when the image was posted to Ms Moffatt’s Twitter page where the post has been liked almost 2,000 times.
Another tweet read: “Thank you – my daughters confidence is so low due to pressure from peers & her idols as they look ‘perfect’ – just shown her your tweet to inspire her!”
Others who were also inspired by the post shared their own make-up free selfies.
It’s not the first time celebrities have shared images on social media of themselves without make-up.
Holly Willoughby, Susanna Reid, and Kirstie Allsopp are just some of the other TV presenters who have posted make-up free images on Instagram.
The trend to post natural images is also popular among artists in the US. Celebrities stateside posting unfiltered photos include Alicia Keys, Tyra Banks, and Cameron Diaz.
A popular hashtag often accompanying these make-up free images is #NoFilter, although model and TV presenter Tyra Banks warned in a post she shared in 2015 about the use of the term.
“You know how people say #nofilter but you know there’s a freakin’ filter on their pic? Or maybe there’s a smidge of retouching going on but they’re lying and saying it’s all raw & real? Well, this morn, I decided to give you a taste of the really real me,” she said in the post that has been liked more than 216,000 times.
Last year Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley also issued a warning about the pressure to look perfect on social media when she posted a photo and the words, “I woke up like this #nofilter #nomakeup” written on it.
She said: “Social media is great but also a bit scary ’cause what people post is the most filtered, most carefully chosen and cleverly edited moments of their lives.”
Posted in Children's and Youth Work, News, Social Media, The webTagged #NoFilter, Alicia Keys, Cameron Diaz., Daisy Ridley, filter, Holly Willoughby, Insta, Instagram, Kirstie Allsopp, Scarlett Moffatt, selfie, snapchat, Social Media, Star Wars, Susanna Reid, Twitter, Tyra BanksLeave a comment
Funny stories from around the world
Some more funny and random headlines from around the world:
Rowling unmasked as crime novelist: Sales of little-known crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling are rocketing after Harry Potter author JK Rowling was revealed as the book’s author.
Hamlet to go on world tour: Shakespeare’s Globe theatre is to take Hamlet around the world – including to nations which have never before seen a professional production of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Virtual adults ‘turn into’ children: In a virtual world adults in a child-like body start to perceive the world more like a child, a new study shows.
Vietnamese runner’s Arsenal joy: A Vietnamese fan tells the BBC of his joy at meeting the Arsenal team after running 8km (5 miles) alongside their bus in Hanoi.
PayPal in $92 quadrillion error: Online payments broker PayPal apologises after erroneously crediting a Pennsylvania man’s account with $92 quadrillion (£60 quadrillion).
Blasting robots clean Sydney bridge: Australia is using two grit-blasting robots to clean the Sydney Harbour Bridge, helping workers with the difficult and dirty task.
Star Wars city doomed by sand dune: Sand dunes migrating over the Tunisian desert are poised to bury a famous Star Wars film set.
Lost ring found on Barrier Reef: A newlywed husband is celebrating after the wedding ring he lost on his honeymoon diving in Australia was found just days later.
Theremin world record set in Japan: Japanese musicians set a new world record for the biggest number of players on the theremin – the musical instrument used without actually being touched.
Dancers set Riverdance world record: Irish dancers have set a world record in Dublin for the longest Riverdance line.
Beyonce gets hair caught in fan: Pop star Beyonce gets her hair tangled in a fan during a show in Montreal, Canada.
Moldova: Construction drills ‘used for surgery’: The prime minister of Moldova orders inspections of hospital equipment amid claims surgeons have resorted to operating with construction drills.
Squirrel with plague shuts US park: Parts of a national forest in California have been evacuated and closed down after a ground squirrel there was found to be infected with the plague.
Posted in Funny, NewsTagged Arsenal FC, Barrier Reef, Beyonce, fan, Hamlet, Harry Potter, Japan, JK Rowling, Moldova, PayPal, Riverdance, runner, sand dunes, Shakespeare, squirrel, Star Wars, surgery, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Cuckoo's Calling, Theremin, Vietnam, virtual world, wedding ring, world recordLeave a comment
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Commodities: Oil & Oilseeds , Feed & Meal , Grains , Pulses , Spices , Sugar & Gur , Fibre , Plantation , Others
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Sent by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
MONTHLY NEWS REPORT ON GRAINS
FAO Trade and Markets Division
MNR ISSUE 145 - August 2018
• Concerns over less milling wheat pose headache for Ukraine, Russia
• Australia’s East Coast drought to intensify as dry weather to linger for months
• Crop losses to pests will soar as climate warms, study warns
• Argentina wheat crop expectations mount, as sowing, yield hopes grow
• China’s July grain imports plunge as tariffs on US supplies bite
• IGC raises forecast for 2018/19 world maize crop
• German farmers to receive millions in federal aid
• Turkey plans to step up wheat purchases amid markets turmoil
• Brazil cuts 2017/18 maize crop estimate to 82.18 million tonnes
• China, Brazil and the future for US maize
• Food Outlook July 2018 - FAO
• International Trade by Commodity Statistics, Volume 2018, Issue 3 - OECD
Monthly Information Sources
•AMIS Market Monitor
•FAO Cereal Supply and Demand Brief - FAO
•Grain Market Report - IGC
•Oilcrops Monthly Price and Policy Update - FAO
•Crop Monitoring in Europe - European Commission
•FAO Rice Price Update - FAO
•World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates - USDA
•Early Warning Crop Monitor - GEOGLAM
•Commodity Price Data - World Bank
•Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) - FAO
•GIEWS Country Briefs – FAO
Concerns over less milling wheat pose headache for Ukraine, Russia
30 August - Reuters
Ukraine and Russia may have less milling wheat than previously expected this year after rain during harvesting hurt the quality of crops, potentially accelerating any curbs on exports from the Black Sea exporters, traders and analysts said. Kiev and Moscow have said there is no need to impose restrictions on wheat exports for now, but their agriculture ministries are closely monitoring activity of the main exporters for the 2018/19 marketing season. There are fears that strong milling wheat exports may help drive up the cost of bread in both countries where weak domestic currencies and poor crops have already inflated food prices. The rouble is near its lowest since April 2016 against the dollar, while Ukraine’s hryvnia is at its weakest since January. “Undoubtedly, both countries have grounds for controlling actual grain shipments,” Yelizaveta Malyshko at UkrAgroConsult said.
The ministries’ meetings with exporters came under the spotlight in ugust, causing a jump in global wheat prices as some traders expect curbs on grain exports in some form later in the season, which started on July 1. Traders said in August exports would speed up in September-December as traders bet on restrictions sometime after December. “There are fears (of restricting exports) through tightening of the various procedures - like all kinds of inspections,” a Ukraine-focused trader said. “This scenario is most possible. It could be if the milling wheat exports reach 6 million tonnes before the New Year.” Ukraine’s agriculture ministry has no immediate plan to review a memorandum agreed with traders this month allowing for the export of 16 million tonnes of wheat, including 8 million tonnes of milling wheat, this season, an official said this week. Russia could consider export curbs once exports reach 30 million tonnes of grain, including 25 million tonnes of wheat, in the 2018/19 season that began on July 1, traders have said. The agriculture ministry has denied export limits were under discussion and made no mention of milling wheat . Russia and Ukraine have already exported 6.4 million tonnes and 2.6 million tonnes of wheat, respectively, this season. Exports have been boosted by high global prices, weak local
currencies and an early harvest.
Initial crop tests in Russia show a decline in the share of milling wheat by 2.5 percentage points from a year ago to 65.2 percent. However, the share of milling wheat is significantly lower in some regions - 44 percent in part of Russia’s Central region - and the sourcing of wheat may become difficult for exporters unless Siberia shows a good quality crop in the coming weeks, SovEcon consultancy said this week. Any global price spike could spark exports and cause the Russian government to take counter measures if it sees a sharp domestic market move, a Russian industry source said. Domestic politics could also play a role as Ukraine’s presidential election is scheduled for the end of March. “I do not think the government will take any official step to limit sales in coming months, but if local wheat prices jump - they will do all their best to curb sales because no one wants to be accused of raising the price of bread on the eve of elections,” one trader said. Ukraine’s agriculture ministry is unlikely to impose any direct restrictions as it would draw it into a row with exporters, another trader said. “But it does not rule out the potential use of different unofficial methods for slowing exports if something goes wrong.” Several traders expect Ukraine’s milling wheat limit to be downgraded to 6-7 million tonnes from the current 8 million. The share of milling wheat in Ukraine’s crop may fall significantly from a year ago to about 40 percent, according to a senior agriculture official. The ministry has said food wheat accounted for around 60 percent.
Australia’s East Coast drought to intensify as dry weather to linger for months
30 August - NY Times
Australia's east coast will experience dry weather for at least the next three months, the country's meteorological bureau said on Thursday, intensifying a drought that has wilted crops and left farmers struggling to stay in business. In its latest three-month outlook, the Bureau of Meteorology said there was only a 30 percent chance rainfall would exceed average levels over much of the country's east coast during spring, which runs from September to November.
If the drought gets worse, Australia's agricultural sector will suffer further crop losses, while farmers will also be forced to slaughter livestock in greater numbers as they struggle to find enough food or water to keep them alive.
The bureau also raised the prospect of dry weather in the country's west, which has so far escaped drought conditions, bringing new concerns for Australian food manufacturers. Unable to source enough grain from the east coast, some food producers have started to import supplies from Western Australia, where recent favorable weather had encouraged farmers to sell leftover supplies. But the bureau said the west coast - the country's largest agricultural producing region - will also experience drier than average weather over the next three months, tightening national supply yet further.
"East coast farmers have largely written off wheat crops this year, but the issue could be the situation in the west," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank. "Some had been calling for a crop in excess of 10 million tonnes (in Western Australia), but if the forecast materializes, the figure will be under threat." Production of wheat from the world's fourth-largest exporter is already expected to hit a decade low this year, although output from the west is expected to cushion the decline in the east. The bureau also said it saw a 50 percent chance of an El Nino weather event, which can bring warmer weather and dry conditions to Australia and could extend the dry weather into 2019. "An El Nino basically means that as we get into summer there'd be less chance of having those recovery rains that we need and we may have to wait till autumn in 2019 to start seeing some recovery rains in the drought areas," said Andrew Watkins, manager of long range forecasts at the Bureau of Meteorology.
Crop losses to pests will soar as climate warms, study warns
30 August - The Guardian
Rising global temperatures mean pests will devour far more of the world’s crops, according to the first global analysis of the subject, even if climate change is restricted to the international target of 2C. Increasing heat boosts both the number and appetite of insects, and researcher’s project they will destroy almost 50% more wheat than they do today with a 2C rise, and 30% more maize. Rice, the third key staple, is less affected as it is grown in the tropics, which are already near the optimal temperature for insects - although bugs will still eat 20% more. Rising heat stress on crops is already expected to cut cereal yields by about 10% for 2C of warming, but the new research indicates rising pest damage will cause at least another 4-8% to be lost. With 800 million people chronically hungry today and the global population rising towards 10bn, increasing pest destruction will worsen food security. “For many, many people in the world there is already a shortage of food, so it is not like we can afford to spare [more,” said Prof Curtis Deutsch at the University of Washington, US, who led the work͘ “ lot of people in the world, the most vulnerable, can’t afford to give up anything͘”
The UK is the worst affected of significant wheat producers, with pest losses expected to more than double from 5% to 11%, and Canada will suffer the biggest increase in maize losses, from 6% to 10%͘ The world’s biggest growers will also see a major impact, with China’s wheat losses rising 50% and and US maize losses going up by a third͘ The losses are likely to be underestimates as the scientists did not consider factors such as increased transmission of crop diseases carried by insects, or losses after harvest when the grain is stored. The research also did not assess the risk of population explosions of insects that can wipe out crops, due to the complexity of such events. Action by farmers to try to avoid new pest losses is unlikely to be successful, said Prof Rosamond Naylor at Stanford University, US, and one of the research team͘ “Increased pesticide applications, the use of [resistant] genetically modified crops and practices such as crop rotations will help control losses from insects. But it still appears that under virtually all climate change scenarios, pest populations will be the winners͘”
The research, published in the journal Science, started with well-established knowledge about how rising temperature affects insects͘ “Warmer temperatures increase insect metabolic rates exponentially [and increase the reproductive rates,” said Deutsch͘ “You have more insects, and they’re eating more͘” The team then added data on today’s pest losses and used a range of climate change models to estimate future losses - all showed significant damage. Overall, losses were found to increase by 20-50% for 2C of warming above pre-industrial levels and 40%-100% for 4C. The latter will be reached this century if carbon emissions are not cut soon͘ “The overall picture is, if you’re growing a lot of food in a temperate region, you’re going to be hit hardest,” said Scott Merrill at the University of Vermont, another member of the team. Europe’s breadbasket is among the hardest hit, with 11 nations predicted to see a rise in pest losses of 75% or more͘ “France will get a double whammy,” said Merrill, as it is a top five producer of both wheat and maize. Another big wheat producer, Russia, will see losses rise from 10% to 16% with 2C of warming.
Across the globe, an extra 200m tonnes of grain are expected to be eaten by insects in a 2C warmer world. The research was deliberately conservative and so did not allow population explosions of pests to take place in the computer simulations, as it’s difficult to model how these develop, but such explosions cannot be ruled out. Deutsch noted that warmer winters have led the pine bark beetle to kill off forests across North merica:
“They just come out gangbusters in the spring͘ You can see the damage to space͘” “It is an example of what can happen when you have huge tracts of land that are essentially single crops species with one major pest,” he said͘ “That is similar in many respects to what agriculture has produced - miles and miles of a single plant͘”
He also said insect population explosions are seen in fossils from warming periods in the Earth’s past͘ Markus Riegler, at Western Sydney University in Australia and not part of the research team, said the new work was the first global analysis͘ “The results show that insects will cause significantly increased grain loss across many regions of a warmer world,” he said͘ The work used data on 38 insect species but Riegler said the results should be verified for more pests in future. “The substantial increases in pest damage forecast call for action on climate change [emissions and adaptation,” he said͘ “Everyone must be involved in change: farmers, industries, policymakers and wider society͘”
Argentina wheat crop expectations mount, as sowing, yield hopes grow
24 August - Agrimoney.com
Argentina nudged higher its estimate for domestic wheat sowings, extending a broadly favourable run of news on the crop - which some see potentially producing a record harvest, in contrast to results in other major exporting countries. rgentina’s farm ministry raised by 60,000 hectares to 6.26m hectares its estimate for the country’s wheat sowings for the 2018-19 crop, harvesting of which will start around November. The increase is being spurred by the “desire of producers to make up for” the weak results from autumn-harvested crops, such as maize, earlier this year, after drought setbacks. The ministry edged lower by 300,000 tonnes to 46.3m tonnes its estimate for rgentina’s 2017-18 maize output taking to 6.2m tonnes the year-on-year decline in production.
The 2017-18 soybean crop was pegged at 37.78m tonnes - up 300,000 tonnes on last month’s estimate, but down more than 17m tonnes year on year nonetheless, However, the ministry also highlighted behind the rise in wheat sowings the “good” recharging of soil moisture levels after the drought, and the strength of prices. The International Grains Council overnight estimated Argentine wheat export prices at $241 per tonne on an FOB (free on board) basis, up 26% year on year. By comparison, Argentine sorghum export prices were down 3% year on year, maize values down 5% year on year and soybean prices down 10%. The wheat crop “is emerging and developing without major issues”, the ministry added. The comments came as the IGC raised by 600,000 tonnes to 19.6m tonnes, a record high, its forecast for Argentine wheat output in 2018-19, saying that “amid robust prices and abundant soil moisture, sowings in Argentina exceeded 6.0m hectares for only the second time since 2004-05.
“Potentially strong returns” have been seen as encouraging use of inputs such as fertilizers, as farmers seek to boost yields, with “recent cool, showery weather” also beneficial, the council said. Rabobank on Thursday flagged the potential for even higher output saying that “excellent soil moisture and non-threatening conditions” have handed the crop “a 20m-22m tonne output potential”. However, one potential threat to the crop is dryness in northern areas, where the Buenos ires grains exchange, in a briefing overnight, said that a “large proportion” of crops were developing “without adequate soil moisture”. This shortfall “could negatively impact yield potential” in this region, with dryness extending into northern Cordoba. The exchange estimated at 50.1% the proportion of the overall Argentine wheat crop rated “good” or “excellent”, down 0.6 points week on week, and by 17.6 points year on year. rain shortfall was highlighted too by Reuters’ Lanworth division in a briefing on Wednesday, although for the central wheat belt states of Córdoba, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe - responsible for more than 80% of domestic wheat output - which were “still showing five- year low soil moisture” levels. However, with rains arriving in “dry Córdoba and Santa Fe”, Lanworth raised by 211,000 tonnes to 19.71m tonnes its forecast for 2018-19 Argentine wheat output.
China’s July grain imports plunge as tariffs on US supplies bite
23 August – Blackseagrain
China’s grain imports plunged in July after Beijing imposed hefty tariffs on shipments from the United States as part of its trade conflict and as rising international prices curbed buying, customs data showed on Thursday. China brought in 220,000 tonnes of sorghum in July, down 62.5 percent from 588,364 tonnes a year ago, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. The imports were also below June’s 450,000 tonnes, when buyers scooped up U.S. cargoes amid a temporary easing of the Sino-U.S. trade tensions. The customs figures do not give a country by country breakdown, but China imports almost all of its sorghum from the United States.
Thursday’s data also showed China took in 330,000 tonnes of maize in July, down 63.7 percent from last year. China’s wheat imports last month also slid 43.03 percent from a year earlier to 140,000 tonnes. China imports one-third of its maize and wheat from the United States, according to customs data. “Two factors were at play.
On one hand, international prices have jumped as major producers were expecting lower output,” said Cherry Zhang, analyst with Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. Ltd. “On the other hand, the Sino-U.S. trade war curbed buying grains from the U.S.,” Zhang said. Maize futures in Chicago rose 7.4 percent from the day the tariffs went into effect on July 6 to the end of the month while wheat futures gained 9.8 percent over the same period. Beijing in May dropped an anti-dumping probe on U.S. sorghum, as well as a requirement for a 178.6 percent deposit on the value of shipments, when it appeared the two countries were resolving their trade issues.
However, China on July 6 imposed 25 percent tariffs on a list of U.S. products including sorghum, maize and soybeans in response to American duties on a list of Chinese products levied earlier that day. China brought in 600,000 tonnes of barley in July, down 16.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data. China’s pork imports in July were at 88,163 tonnes while sugar imports in the same month increased more than 300 percent to 250,000 tonnes, the data showed.
IGC raises forecast for 2018/19 world maize crop
23 August - CNBC.com
The International Grains Council on Thursday raised its forecast for world maize (maize) production in the 2018/19 season, largely driven by an improved crop outlook in the United States. The inter-governmental body, in a monthly update, put world maize production in 2018/19 at 1.064 billion tonnes, up 12 million from its previous projection. The IGC saw the U.S. maize crop in 2018/19 at 370.5 million tonnes, well above its previous forecast of 359 million and now almost on a par with last season's 371 million. The annual Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour this week has projected above average maize yields in several states including Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, Indiana and Ohio.
A drawdown in global maize stocks, however, is still seen with global consumption upwardly revised to 1.105 billion tonnes, up from a previous forecast of 1.098 billion. "Because of tighter supplies, use of wheat and barley are seen falling, likely transferring some demand to maize (maize), particularly in the livestock sector," the IGC said. The IGC also reduced its forecast for world wheat production in 2018/19 by 5 million tonnes to 716 million tonnes while consumption was also cut by 5 million tonnes to 734 million. "Because of adverse weather there are further cuts to crop estimates in the European Union and Australia," the IGC said. The IGC cut its forecast for the EU's wheat crop to 135.8 million tonnes from a previous forecast of 139.9 million, driven by downward revisions for crops in Germany, Denmark and Britain. European farmers are counting the cost of a summer heatwave that has shrunk cereal harvests and shrivelled pastures, leaving some farms struggling to survive and shutting the EU out of lucrative export markets. Major wheat exporter Australia has also been suffering from drought, with parts of the country's east coast suffering the driest conditions in living memory. The IGC cut its forecast for Australia's wheat crop to 20.5 million tonnes from 22.5 million. The inter-governmental body also raised its forecast for global soybean production in 2018/19 by seven million tonnes to 366 million, "reflecting an upgraded outlook for U.S. yields."
German farmers to receive millions in federal aid
22 August - DW.com
As the exceptionally dry summer slowly recedes, the extent of harvest losses for German farmers has become fully apparent. The federal government has agreed to step in with financial assistance. It's been a long, hot summer in Germany, but for the country's farmers at least, there is some relief at the end of it: The federal government has agreed to provide up to €170 million ($197 million) to make up for business losses brought about by the unusually dry weather. Julia Klöckner, the CDU politician who serves as the minister for food and agriculture, announced the news at a press conference on Wednesday, following discussions with the cabinet. The German government has designated the drought crisis as one of "national dimensions", opening up the legal pathway to federal aid, rather than just aid provided at state level. Combined with state assistance, around €340 million in emergency government aid will go to the most severely affected farmers. State governments will provide just over half the total amount of financial assistance, with federal assistance expected to come in at between €150 million and €170 million, Klöckner said. Since the extent of the widespread crop damage wrought by the heatwave in Germany became apparent last month, farmers have been calling for emergency aid to offset losses. The German Farmers ssociation (DBV) said aid of at least €1 billion was required and while the figure agreed to by the government comes in well short of that, this is still the first time since 2003 that the German government has provided emergency federal aid to farmers following a drought crisis. The grading of the crisis as one of "national dimensions" is a reflection of the crop damage farmers have had to endure during a freakishly long dry spell that has endured in much of the country since May.
Although the government's official annual harvest report is not expected until later this week, the long-standing fears about the widespread crop losses have largely been confirmed. According to DBV surveys, this year's grain harvest is 26 percent lower than the annual crop yield from the previous five years. DBV President Joachim Rukwied said this week that eight of the 16 German federal states had already suffered financial damage of around €3 billion as a result of the drought. Many farmers in particularly badly affected regions in Germany's north and east have reported harvest losses ranging from 50 percent all the way up to 80 percent or higher. As well as the damage to individual crop yields, the drought has had a knock-on effect in other agricultural areas. As a result of feed shortages, some dairy farmers have had to slaughter their cows much earlier than they had planned to, leading to an increase in milk prices in some regions. But representatives of farmers' associations said there would be only moderate price hikes despite the crisis situation. With the well-being of more than 10,000 farming businesses nationwide estimated to be at serious risk as a result of the drought, some form of government assistance was widely anticipated.
The general threshold for government assistance in a weather crisis is when a business has had more than 30 percent of its annual production destroyed. At Wednesday's press conference, Klöckner said only businesses that had suffered losses to this extent could count on assistance. Federal and state governments will now begin a process of determining which businesses are most in need of financial assistance, Klöckner said. Matin Qaim, professor of international food economics and rural development at the University of Göttingen, told DW that while this summer has been a very unusual one when compared with the past, it will become less and less unusual over the coming years. However, he said that while such summers will have an increasing impact on food production, he is much more concerned about poorer global regions than he is about wealthy European countries such as Germany. "When we have a few of these years in a row then we will certainly have a serious food security problem but I am much less concerned about Germany because people in Germany are rich enough that even if food prices go up, they can afford enough food. "I am much more worried about the poor people in Africa and south Asia where hunger and poverty is severe already, even in an average year, and will certainly go up when food prices go up. "Unfortunately we are complaining here but all our climate models are saying that the negative impact of climate change will be much more severe on agriculture in tropical regions of south Asia and Africa than in Europe. That means the biggest negative impact will be on people who are already poor."
Turkey plans to step up wheat purchases amid markets turmoil
17 August - Bloomberg
Rising prices and the collapse of the lira are prompting Turkey to tap international markets to secure wheat supplies and ward off food-price inflation as part of efforts to get the nation’s economy under control͘ The Turkish Grain Board is planning to issue international tenders to buy the grain, according to an official at the country’s state buyer͘ The purchases may be made immediately after next week’s Bayram national holiday, he said͘ Benchmark wheat prices in Chicago have climbed by about a third this year amid concerns over supplies after drought and extreme weather hurt crops in the top grainexporting nations.
A correction in prices over the past two weeks has already attracted major importers to the market, with the world’s biggest buyer, Egypt, taking the unusual step of accelerating purchases by tendering for two deliveries. Turkish flour millers, local traders and the state grain board met Wednesday to assess the market situation, the official said. While the board, known as the TMO, hasn’t decided on the timing and the quantity of the wheat purchase, it’s working on the tender procedures, he said. Turkish importers are under extra pressure after the lira renewed its slide Friday to trade near a record low against the dollar as a deepening rift with Washington plunges the economy into turmoil. Turkey has undertaken a series of measures to try to stabilize prices and rein in double-digit inflation. To shore up wheat supplies, the government has allocated 750,000 metric tons of imports to be duty-free until May 2019. The decree is a step toward "attaining price stability in the market," the board’s Chairman Ismail Kemaloglu said in a tweet earlier this week͘
The TMO has also started the process of selling domestic wheat stockpiles, the official said. The move may forestall hikes by domestic sellers, who are seeking to raise prices in lira to match more expensive dollar-denominated grain. “Domestic prices are expected to increase after Bayram in line with international prices,” said Gulfem Eren, chairwoman of Turkey’s Grain Suppliers ssociation͘ The purchases by the TMO would be part of an effort secure supplies for local companies and curb inflation, Veysel Kaya, the founder of Sunseedman, a consultancy and brokerage based in Edirne, Turkey͘ ll signs point to TMO being “at the scene with the international tenders soon,” he said͘ Turkey, the world’s top flour exporter, imported about 6͘2 million tons of wheat in the year ended June, according to International Grains Council estimates.
Brazil cuts 2017/18 maize crop estimate to 82.8 million tonnes
9 August - S&P Global Platts
Brazil will produce 82.18 million mt of maize in the current 2017-18 crop, federal crop agency Conab said Thursday, down from 82.93 million mt in the agency's July estimate and sharply lower than the record 97.84 million mt produced in 2016-17. The most relevant cut was for the second, or winter crop, currently being harvested and affected by adverse weather in several regions. Conab said the second crop, also known in Brazil as "safrinha", is now projected at 55.35 million mt, down from 56.02 million mt estimated in July and 67.38 million mt produced in 2016-17. "The low performance of the second crop is due to a combination of a smaller planted area and bad weather in Parana state, the second-largest maize producer in Brazil of the second crop," Conab said in the report.
The agency also cut its estimate for the first of summer crop to 26.83 million mt, down from 26.91 million mt and from 30.46 million mt in 2016-17. Conab kept expected maize exports from the current crop at 30 million mt, unchanged from its July report, but down from 30.83 million mt exported from the 2016-17 harvest. Several analysts have been pegging Brazil's maize exports around 28 million mt, as a result of the lower crop and higher costs of domestic truck freight. Brazil is world's second-largest maize exporter, only behind the US.
China, Brazil and the future for US maize
1 August - OpenMarkets
It’s hard to imagine the world running short on maize when you consider the massive size of the U.S. maize crop. The U.S. maize belt, the granary to the world, sweeps across at least six Midwestern states, often covering about 90 million acres of planted area. Thanks to research, maize yields are staggeringly high — typically more than 170 bushels per acre — and is used in a mind-boggling array of products, including to fatten livestock, as well as to make high fructose maize syrup, ethanol, and plastics. As uses for the crop grow, so does demand, in the United States and in key markets around the world. But the number of acres American farmers are devoting to maize is under pressure this year, while weather in South America is only adding to the tensions in the market. “ dverse weather in South merica and lower planted acres have been pushing maize prices up along with a huge growing demand base for Chinese maize-based ethanol,” says Shawn Hackett, a frequent commodity commentator and president of Hackett Financial Advisors. Maize futures strengthened in the first half of the year, with prices holding in and around $4 a bushel. Talk of a trade war between China and the United States, and uncertainty over NAFTA has taken some wind out of its sails. Hackett believes a weather scare in the United States, along with the woes in Brazil - the world’s second largest exporter of the grain — could easily push prices above $5 a bushel. Other analysts echoed the sentiment that maize prices could face upward pressure in the months and years ahead. Barron’s article in April caused a stir when it envisioned the price doubling to $8 a bushel over the next few years, a perch not seen since 2012, when a severe drought hit the U.S. “ n unusual confluence of factors could propel prices higher over the next couple of years,” Barron’s suggested. “These include declining output, an ethanol-led demand surge in China, and likely brutal weather.”
All the talk of strong demand and constrained supply is being felt in maize futures markets. Open interest - the number of open futures positions at a given time — surged throughout May and June 2018, topping a record 2 million contracts on June 6 at CME Group. Maize is a 141-year-old contract, but the ten highest all-time open interest levels were racked up in June. Open interest is a closely watched way of measuring the infusion of money into a market. A rising flow of open interest usually reflects more hedging. A key demand driver for maize in the medium term is China’s plan requiring that its gasoline include 10 percent ethanol, which is made from maize. Barron’s estimated China could need another 36 million tons of maize a year to make ethanol. And this move comes at a time when China’s maize production is on the wane after elimination of a government price support system.
Two years ago, Bloomberg posted an article outlining a possible maize clash between the United States and Brazil, where the two maize powers would battle for market share amid abundant supplies. Today, Brazil and Argentina are suffering through a prolonged drought, imperiling prospects for maize harvest. Brazil maize production is expected to fall 12 percent to 87 million tonnes from last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Yield per acre estimates was slashed 9 percent from 2017.
American farmers are facing their own challenges in 2018. They battled an unusually long, cold spring as they struggled to get the crop in the ground. The USDA in June estimated that 89 million maize acres were planted in 2018, down 1 percent from 2017. Meanwhile, domestic demand for maize is consistently strong, analysts say, which pares what’s left over for export. As a result, maize ending stocks are under siege — Rabobank forecasts stocks will fall by 14.5 percent this year. ll this is bullish for prices in the medium term. “We are going through this cycle where farmers have suffered the last several years and we’ve been watching acreage overall contracting,” says Sterling Liddell, vice president and senior global analytics specialist for RaboResearch. Hackett, the analyst, believes commercial maize buyers are keeping a close eye on the market and could move early to lock in lower prices, especially if the Brazil crop comes up short as many expect.
“I think the market is waiting to see if Brazil is going to deliver or not,” he says. “If it’s pretty clear that they’re going to come up short I do not think the buyers are going to wait around for next year. They’re going to want to get ahead of the curve.” Brazil production, according to the latest USDA government forecast, is expected to fall 10 percent in the current marketing year to 89 million metric tons, mainly due a reduction in the planted area and a return to average crop yields. Brazil’s fields devoted to maize are expected to shrink to 16.4 million hectares from 17.6 million the previous year. The USDA noted that the planted area for maize for its first crop of the year has been under pressure from farmers switching to soy. A lot may depend on how Brazil weather and a fluid trade situation play out. Nevertheless, market players are keeping a watchful eye as the pieces of the puzzle slowly fall into place.
Food Outlook July 2018 - FAO
Food Outlook is a biannual publication (May/June and November/December) focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. The sub-title "Global Market
Analysis" reflects this focus on developments in international markets, with comprehensive assessments and forecasts on a commodity by commodity basis.
International Trade by Commodity Statistics, Volume 2018, Issue 3 - OECD
This report covers a wide range of statistics on international trade of OECD countries and provides detailed data in value by commodity and by partner country.
AMIS Market Monitor
FAO Cereal Supply and Demand Brief - FAO
Grain Market Report - IGC
Oilcrops Monthly Price and Policy Update - FAO
Crop Monitoring in Europe - European Commission
FAO Rice Price Update - FAO
World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates - USDA
Early Warning Crop Monitor - GEOGLAM
Commodity Price Data - World Bank
Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) - FAO
GIEWS Country Briefs - FAO
The main purpose of the MNR is to provide links between the FAO Secretariat and the Members of the
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mailto:MNR-L-signoff-request@LISTSERV.FAO.ORG
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Create the page "War" on this wiki! See also the search results found.
Pneumatic Tubes
...as well as in Berlin since 1866 and Vienna since 1875(Morss). After World War II the system was expanded and modernized but eventually began to decline a
28 KB (4,387 words) - 09:41, 24 November 2010
Newspaper via Radio Facsimile
...umn facsimile receiver was listed at $75 a piece before the onset of World War II (Payne 291). ...s, Inc., worked on research of the facsimile for the government during the war effort. The company developed an electrolytic system of recording. This p
Pneumatic Mail in Europe
...rneath Paris, carrying letter at an average speed of 40 m.p.h. After World War II the system was expanded and modernized but eventually began to decline a
2 KB (358 words) - 09:33, 24 November 2010
During the war years, Polaroid turned all its focus on the war effort, manufacturing "optical plastics for military range finders", a "new
Homing Pigeons
...ppears to be primarily due to their utilization during the Franco-Prussian War beginning in 1870. Many articles published at the time reported the distan ==Government Employees and War-Time Missions==
Player Piano
...d an electrical reproducing piano in 1906, and just before the first World War the Duo-Art reproducing action was perfected in America. The Reproducing Pi
...ion methods were in heavy use among European and Jewish survivors of World War II: "I’ve seen it mentioned in many (10+ books) where when Jewish survivo
Civil Defense Siren
==The Civil Defense Siren in Cold War Culture== ...II, however it would really flourish, so to speak, in the subsequent Cold War. Civil Defense Sirens became part of peoples daily lives. Regular newspap
Zuse palimpsest
"During the war I couldn't get ordinary commercial punched-tape machines, which were than a
774 B (114 words) - 22:49, 7 April 2010
Semaphore Telegraph
==Politics: Government and War== ...d if significant events occurred. During the late 1700s through the 1800s, war was a ongoing issue with Europe. The first formal telegraph "brought news o
...ransmissions and intercept some information for themselves. In fact, this war can be seen as built upon nothing more than the fear and proper usage of St
Hollerith Punch Card
...d emancipation of enslaved descendants of Africans at the end of the Civil War (1861-1865). If there was any doubt before, race had become the primary... ...t_card_punching_section_WP_DCPL.jpg|thumb|left|All African American female war department office with white female supervisor in 1942]]
Viewmaster
...men would be more adept at spotting opposing forces in the dark. After the war, demand for viewmasters shot through the roof, and the production of reels Early uses of the viewmaster included World War II preparation and travel souvenirs, however companies soon analyzed the bu
Roentgen Ray Tube
...y (for better or worse) was harnessed by both medicine and technologies of war and security. Roentgen Ray Tubes were used in World War I to locate bullets and shrapnel in the bodies of wounded soldiers. Now x-
Nansen Passport
...el papers for refugees, initially given only to Russians fleeing the civil war that ultimately solidified Bolshevik power, but was eventually distributed ...ver the "indignities" of carrying passports while traveling. During World War I, however, it became expedient for states to control the emigration of pot
Medieval Mariner's Compass
...that “the global” was not a concept that emerged in the wake of World War II as many commentators have recently suggested. But in fact the compass wa
28 KB (4,426 words) - 22:47, 7 April 2010
...nd drawing from Randy Martin's book, ''An Empire of Indifference: American War and the Financial Logic of Risk Management'', we propose that the death of Martin, Randy. 2007. An Empire of Indifference: American War and the Financial Logic of Risk Management. Durham and London: Duke Univers
Political Effigies
...nd those who attended his needs were treated quite well. Fortunately, the war ended and Lenin was able to return to the comfort of his Mausoleum (sadly,
Wire Recording
...manufacture them under the moniker "Marconi-Stille Recorder." When World War II began Britain needed to conserve steel, and wartime broadcasting require ===World War I===
Enigma machine
...trical engineer and inventor Arthur Scherbius in 1918 in the wake of World War I and the newfound need for cipher machines that made encryption faster and ...|left|Bletchley Park, England, home to Britain's codebreakers during World War II (Pincock 98). ]]
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Shallows, The (4K UHD Review)
Reviewed by: Bill Hunt
Review Date: Dec 30, 2016
Format: Blu-ray Disc
2016 (September 27, 2016)
Studio(s)
Ombra Films/Weimaraner Republic/Columbia (Sony Pictures)
Film/Program Grade: B
Video Grade: A
Audio Grade: A
Extras Grade: C-
Seeking closure following the death of her mother from an unnamed disease, a young medical student named Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) visits a remote Pacific beach in Mexico, one that her mother visited too before Nancy was born. Her intention is to relax, regroup, and do a little surfing with her best friend. But when her friend flakes for the day, having had too much to drink the night before, Nancy decided to visit the beach alone. After a long afternoon in the water, Nancy is riding one last wave when a shark knocks her off her board and slices open her leg. Having survived the initial attack, Nancy manages to climb atop an outcropping of rock, but she’s losing both blood and daylight, the tide is slowly rising… and the shark, a huge and highly aggressive great white, shows no signs of leaving.
The Shallows is a surprisingly good film. What makes it so effective is that it keeps its narrative simple; this film knows exactly what it’s trying to be: a suspense thriller on the water. You never learn much about Nancy, but you learn just enough to have empathy for her, and that’s all you need in order to be invested when things start going badly for her. More importantly, director Jaume Collet-Serra, cinematographer Flavio Labiano, and editor Joel Negron offer up a master class in building tension here. The camera is kept close to Nancy’s face as she lounges on her surfboard, often right at the water line, regularly dipping above and below. This is intercut with big wide aerial shots of the beach, showing Nancy on her board with lots of flickering detail in the clear-ish water beneath her. Almost every shot is a new opportunity to catch a glimpse of the shark you know is coming. Again and again you expect to see the shark, and again and again you don’t… until suddenly you do. Once you do, the filmmakers do a good job of keeping the glimpses brief and shadowy, enough to maintain the realism of the shark quite well even though it’s mostly just CG. Only at the very end do you see a little too much of it – at which point the story’s believability unravels a bit. Still, the fact that The Shallows remains so tightly wound for so much of its 86 minutes is no small achievement.
The Shallows was shot digitally using Arri Alexa, GoPro Hero, and Red Epic Dragon cameras, in ArriRAW (3.4K), ProRes 4:4:4 (2K), and Redcode RAW (4K) formats. The film was finished to a 2K Digital Intermediate and is presented here in its theatrical 2.39:1 aspect ratio following an HDR color timing pass. Contrast levels are natural and satisfying, with dark shadows and glimmering highlights. Detail is very good in everything from the roiling under surface of the water, crashing waves and spray, coral, and sand. The colors are somewhere between natural and stylized lush, with seemingly hundreds of different shadings of blue and green in the water, sky, and jungle canopy on shore. And of course, deep, vibrant red… lots and lots of red. Primary audio is included in a fine English Dolby Atmos (7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible) mix that’s highly atmospheric, using its smooth panning and the height channels to render the rich soundscape of crashing waves and sloggy underwater environments. Additional sound options include English Descriptive Audio, and 5.1 Dolby Digital in Czech, French (Québécois), French (Parisian), German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Castilian Spanish, Spanish (Latin), Thai, and Turkish, with optional subtitles in all those languages and several more.
The 4K disc itself contains no extras, but the package includes a standard Blu-ray Disc that offers the film in 1080p HD with the following bonus features (also in HD):
Deleted Scenes (3 scenes – 4:51 in all)
Shooting in the Shallows (5:57)
When Sharks Attack (7:34)
How to Build a Shark (6:56)
Finding the Perfect Beach: Lord Howe Island (6:01)
There are also trailers for other Sony titles, but not this one, and the package includes a Digital HD Copy code on a paper insert.
The Shallows certainly isn’t Jaws, but it is arguably the best example of the genre since Steven Spielberg’s original classic. This film is tightly wound, surprisingly effective at building and sustaining its tension, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. All of this works to make The Shallows perfect Saturday afternoon viewing in 4K Ultra HD. Recommended.
- Bill Hunt
4K, Bill Hunt, Blake Lively, Flavio Labiano, HDR, High Dynamic Range, horror, Jaume Collet-Serra, Joel Negron, review, shark attack, Sony Pictures, suspense thriller, The Digital Bits, The Shallows, Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc
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Reviewed By: Tim Salmons
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More Village – Tonight Harmony
I like the way in which ‘Harmony’ begins where ‘Arrival’ left off.
Having been attacked by the Guardian {I do not write Village Guardian, as the Guardian never appears in the village in this series} at the end of ‘Arrival,’ Six is left unconscious in the desert! Then there is another remembrance, Michael returning to his New York apartment with Lucy. While as a boy he is on the beach looking for his brother, as 16 is in the desert looking for his brother Six!
Six didn’t recognise 16 as his brother, because his bother was lost at sea on one of their trips to the beach when they were boys. 16 is not Six’s brother. Two gives Six his brother back, and a family. Family is important to Two, its just a pity that Two’s own family is so disjointed!
Two recommends Six undergo some therapy, The Talking Cure. Unless Six is afraid that Two will mess with his mind, or that Six will discover that he is the problem after all!
In Palais 2, Two’s residence,11-12 sits on his mother’s bed as she sleeps on, dreaming The Village, and then spies on Two as he feeds his wife, M2, three more pills. And Six helps 16 with a bicycle repair, before he goes to the Clinic for his first therapy session with the brothers 70. For Six The Village is a dark place, his home is not his home, his brother is not his brother, nothing’s real in the village!
Nice to be seeing a pair of twins in the village, 70, who tried talking things out with Six. Two doesn't believe in this “talking therapy,” but then it's not important for Two to believe, just as long as Six believes!
Is it really necessary for M2 {2’s wife} to be kept sedated in the village, when its Helen back in New York who is dreaming the village?
I think it was very clever of Two to give Six a family, through which Two hoped to see Six accept his situation through his brother, and finally settle down. It appears that Six used to work at the bus depot, as a bus driver!
Harmony I found to be a surreal episode, with a surreal ships anchor in the desert, along with a long abandoned railway halt! It's all to do with the mind isn't it, and that takes some getting my mind round. 16 was never Six's brother, and people go on the bus tours of The Village day after day, seeing the same old thing, described in the same old way. And what about that Solar Cafe, rebuilt, as though the explosion in Arrival never took place. What's more there's something very 1950's about The Village. What with the Bubble car, and the black Bedford van. They come for you see, and in broad daylight, just like they came for Six, those men in their white suits and black Bedford van. They come for you, and take you to the clinic. I wonder what they'll do to Six?
So surreal, with so much happening, I'll really have to watch this episode a second time before I can really get into it. Because I was determined not to give up on the series. And that was a brilliant Village guardian effect, the way it moved though the water, which really wasn't water, but sand.....poor 16!
Breathe in…breathe out…more Village
The German 50th Anniversary of The Prisoner
A Falling Out
More Village Tonight – Anvil
Six Rescued From Broken Down Speedboat
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Our Diminutive Friend
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Emotive Storytelling the heart and science of persuasion
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You have arrived at the intersection of health information and persuasion where the science of health behavior change moves beyond facts, graphs, pages of text, readiness models and other forms of information overload. The story of healthcare providers and patients alike has been one of frustration, where encouragement, lectures, pamphlets, and increased availability of health data fail to create desired change for prevention or compliance.
We believe that the digital health revolution will not live up to its full potential until the first technology – storytelling – is integrated into the latest technology. Read More…
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Govt doles out millions for P-P partnership projects - Daily Qudrat Global
Govt doles out millions for P-P partnership projects
LAHORE: DAILY QUDRAT :The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Steering Committee has approved a Project Development Facility (PDF) amounting Rs302 million for 10 projects worth over Rs138 billion. The approval was accorded in the 41st session of the PPP Steering Committee meeting held on Tuesday under the Chairmanship of Punjab Minister for Finance Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht.
As the provincial government aimed to stimulate private investments through public-private partnerships, the PPP Steering Committee approved PDF requests on the second day of the new fiscal year. Funds provided under the PDF will be utilised by relevant government departments for project development and transaction execution on a PPP basis.
A Planning and Development (P&D) department spokesperson highlighted that the approved amount of Rs302 million would help government departments execute Rs138.6 billion worth of projects related to transport, urban development and the road sector.
The committee has also approved the concept of the project “Punjab Police Integrated Command, Control and Communication Centre (PPIC3) for Rawalpindi” under a PPP mode. The project will introduce a smart traffic management system, while also modernising infrastructure and the capabilities of the Punjab police to proactively manage security situations.
The committee has also approved the draft of Viability Gap Fund (VGF) guidelines, prepared by the PPP Cell, in consultation with Punjab Finance Department and Asian Development Bank (ADB). The government has established the VGF to bridge the financial viability gap for projects which are suitable for implementation due to the strong economic and social values, if not financial feasibility.
The meeting was attended by Advisor to Chief Minister on Economic Affairs and Planning and Development Dr Salman Shah, Planning and Development Board Chairman Habibur Rahman Gillani, PPP-P&D Board Member Dr. Farrukh Naveed, LUMS Professor Dr Abid Aman Burki and other senior officials of the government departments.
During the moot, the finance minister told committee members that scheme selection was being carried out though a five-year development and spatial strategy. He said the end objective was to ensure that development targets were achieved.
He directed the P&D department to take all traffic and environmental problems into account when preparing feasibility reports. “This will promote the use of environmentally-friendly technology,” he added. He also advised that university students and scholars be employed for research and innovation in different projects.
The meeting also approved guidelines for proposed viability gap fund of public-private partnership cell and finance department
The public-private partnership is considered one of the most effective vehicles to enhance private sector participation in public service delivery, increase growth and create jobs which lead to reduction in poverty. The PPPs help attract private capital investment, increasing efficiency through the profit motivation of the private sector and reform selected sectors through the reallocation of roles and risks.
To support PPP initiatives, the government has established a cell under the P&D Board, which is serving as a focal entity. The mandate of the PPP cell is to promote and facilitate PPP development in Punjab and assist line departments and local governments in preparing/executing high-quality projects. To fulfill this mandate, the PPP cell is performing the role of a catalyst, advocate, knowledge manager as well as policy and project advisor.
The body is providing support to line departments and city district governments in identifying financially viable concepts. It is also playing an important role in building the capacity of staff to transform these concepts into project or realities.
The PPP cell is working in conjunction with other integral components of the institutional framework, including a high-level steering committee under the Punjab Public-Private Partnership for Infrastructure Act 2010.
The PPP Steering Committee is responsible for formulation of policy, supervision, coordination and implementation by line departments and local governments. It also has the mandate to approve or reject PPP Nodes’ requests for financial assistance related to project preparation through the PDF.
It also has powers to approve/reject or send back for reconsideration any PPP project proposals submitted by line departments and local governments. Besides, it can also approve/reject bid evaluation reports/recommendations for contract awards to selected private sector partners submitted by line departments and local governments. Finally, it can also help solve major problems impeding PPP project preparation and implementation.
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Hey Buddy!, I found this information for you: "Govt doles out millions for P-P partnership projects". Here is the website link: http://en.dailyqudrat.pk/27566/. Thank you.
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Two 'terrorist elements' killed in police raid on explosives farm in Egypt’s Beheira: MENA
The security forces found three automatic rifles at the farm as well as a number of explosives and ammunitions
Ahram Online , Saturday 8 Apr 2017
Egypt's army reveals identity of Ansar Beit El-Maqdes founder killed after North Sinai airstrikes
Egyptian military says it foiled plot by Sinai militants to establish roadside patrol
Leading member of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis killed in North Sinai raid: Egyptian army
Three army officers, seven soldiers killed in militant hideout raid in Central Sinai
Two militants were killed in a shootout with security forces at a farm in the Nile Delta's Beheira governorate, following a tip-off to police that the premises were being used to manufacture explosives, state news agency MENA reported on Saturday.
After they received the tip, National Security in Beheira verified the information and received clearance to raid the farm.
The militants, according to MENA, fired at security forces when they detected them on the property, prompting the forces to fire back.
Security forces found three automatic rifles at the farm as well as a number of explosives and ammunitions.
In August 2015, three police personnel were killed and 27 others injured in a bombing that targeted their bus in Beheira. Five individuals were arrested and tried for the attack.
Egypt has been battling a growing Islamist insurgency for almost four years. The attacks are concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula but have also extended to the mainland.
Hundreds of security personnel as well as terrorists have been killed in what has been dubbed Egypt’s war against terrorism.
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What I do for Wesnoth
Several of my regular commenters have expressed interest in Battle For Wesnoth and my role in it. I’ll give a narrative summary of my role in the project, expanding on a comment I uttered a while back.
For the narrative to make sense, you need to know that Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game with a fantasy setting. It has elements of both traditional hex wargame and role-playing game in it; a “campaign” is a collection of tactical puzzles knit together by a prose plot. There is also support for multiplayer-networked battles, but I’m mainly interested in the campaign game.
Campaigns are written in a domain-specific language called WML, Wesnoth Markup Language. The game engine is, essentially, a WML interpreter. WML supports designing maps, setting up army lists, and connecting the battles with a prose narrative (which need not be strictly linear — it’s common for campaigns to have multiple narrative paths dependent on player choices). Additional flavor is provided by animated sprite graphics for combat and background music of remarkably high quality, neo-classical orchestral pieces that will remind you of the better grade of movie soundtrack rather than the mediocre electronica you usually get in games.
It’s all open source., with ports for OS X and Windows as well as Linux.
I’ve been a dev for a bit less than two years. My first project was helping prepare the “Northern Rebirth” campaign to be mainlined (e.g shipped with the game as opposed to unofficial user-maintained content). I did a lot of prose-doctoring on NR, enough that I was declared a co-author by its originator. He’s retired from Wesnoth stuff and I maintain it now.
A major focus of my early work on the project was mainlining more campaigns. When I joined we shipped only six, and I went through them pretty rapidly – I felt like the amount of content Wesnoth had was really underutilizing the game engine. I quickly discovered that the other devs were resistent to mainlining more campaigns mainly because each one imposed continuing maintenance overhead, if only because the WML they’re written in evolves gradually as the devs extend it to do more things.
Consequently, I got heavily into writing tools to mechanize routine WML maintenance tasks. A cross-referencer, to check for dangling reference (nonexistent graphics and other resource files referred to in WML). An indenter — there was a confusion of different indenting styles in mainline, making the code harder to read. Most importantly, I wrote a lint-like tool that could both perform extensive semantic sanity checks on WML and lift constructs from older dialects of it into newer versions.
The effect of these tools was pretty dramatic. They reduced WML maintenance overhead by an order of magnitude or so, making it easy for us to ship a lot more campaigns – I successfully mainlined no fewer than seven written by other people and eventually wrote and mainlined an original one of my own, The Hammer of Thursagan. They also made it possible to evolve WML more rapidly, because I could be counted on to write lifting logic in my lint tool that would carry forward old campaigns mechanically, rather than requiring painful and error-prone hand-work .when the language or the layout of the game data tree changed.
As my original surge of work on these tools trailed off, I took on a very different task – improving the prose quality in the game. Though the working language of the project is English, most of the devs and campaign designs are not native speakers and the quality of their prose is highly variable. Then, too, the appropriate style for a game like this is not all that easy to generate even for literate native speakers.
I felt strongly that playing a Wesnoth campaign ought to be like reading an epic-fantasy novel in miniature. I say “miniature” because the campaign format doesn’t really allow paragraph upon paragraph of voluminous scene-setting and character development – you have to do a lot with a really low word-count, rather like building a ship in a bottle. It’s even more of a challenge if you think (as I do) that the prose ought to have a preceptible flavor of Tolkien, Eddison, and Dunsany about it. Or, if one can’t manage that, at least Robert E. Howard…
Revising the mainline prose content to meet my standards was an immense amount of work and isn’t quite finished yet even for the older content. Fortunately, the other devs and our campaign designers quickly noticed that this project was a Good Thing and were, in general, actively helpful and not at all territorial about having their prose rewritten. As a side-effect, I became the project’s go-to guy for all English-related issues — I help non-native speakers with vocabulary and have been asked to write the announcement for the upcoming major 1.6 release.
Along the way I’ve done some writing I’m rather proud of. Kalenz’s and Cleodil’s love scene in Legend of Wesmere; the final confrontation between the mage Delfador and arch-villain Ihiah-Malal, also in LoW; the Elven lady Ethiliel’s horrifying reunion with her former mentor, the mad undead sage Mal M’Brin, in The South Guard; the death of Mal-Ravanal in Eastern Invasion and the Epilogue that follows; Mal Keshar’s monologue about how he got expelled from the Academy on Alduin in Descent Into Darkness; and, most recently the scene at the tomb of An-Usrukhar from the not-yet-mainlined Delfador’s Memoirs.
(I am, however, only the second-best writer the project has had available. The best was the author of The Rise of Wesnoth. He actually made successful, fluid transitions between archaized high-fantasy prose and humorous snarkiness expressed in modern slang, something I’m not at all sure I could do gracefully and have been too chicken to try. He also wrote what I think is the single creepiest line in the entire corpus, in A Final Spring, from the undead Fool Prince: “”Fath-er! Join… us…” Brrr….)
A third hat I eventually took on was bug triage. While all the senior devs do a bit of this, I’m the person who does most of the filtering and dispatching of tracker issues to developers. I’ve also organized at least three major bug-stomping runs and personally nailed a count of bugs running well into three digits. I did the forensic analysis and organized the recovery a few month ago when now-vanished developer seriously broke the game’s AI.
At one point I overhauled the game’s visible UI pretty seriously. The translucent dialogue windows with lightweight click-to-next behavior were my doing. I’m also responsible for the review mode you enter when you finish a battle, which lets you review the end state and change settings before committing to go to the next scenario.
More recently I’ve been more or less dubbed the keeper of the history and geography of the Wesnoth setting. Some of this is because I’m unusually willing to sweat the details of getting an imaginary setting consistent, but a surprisingly large part of it is that I’m good at generating plausible names — the Estmarks, the Forest of Lintanir, the Heart Mountains, Bitterhold, and the River Listra were among mine. Campaign designers have learned to use me as a name generator for their characters and places.
Now for the things I don’t do:
Though I’ve my share of coding in the C++ core (I have to in order to chase bugs, and there was the UI overhaul, and then there was refactoring the map editor…), I avoid it as much as possible because I’ve grown to violently dislike C++ during my time on this project. Wesnoth has many virtues, but the core codebase is a pile of OO scar tissue with way too many deeply intertwingled classes. I know the developers and I blame the language; it seems as difficult to avoid this kind of excess in C++ as it is to write readable code in Perl.
Though I’ve contributed one terrain-tile graphic (the snow-covered stone hut) following an enjoyable frankensteining session with the GIMP, I’m not skilled enough as a visual artist or composer to contribute that stuff regularly.
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92 thoughts on “What I do for Wesnoth”
Don’t hold back. Tell us what you really think about C++.
Ralph Steadman on 2009-02-06 at 13:54:11 said:
C++? Be a man and code in assembly.
Tom O on 2009-02-06 at 14:19:50 said:
Speaking about scripting languages like Perl, I don’t get the love with Python. I think Ruby’s a nicer (and more lisp-like) language.
Rob K on 2009-02-06 at 14:21:58 said:
Kick C++; kick Perl; Would you like to kick my cat too? Deeply intertwingled classes are not the languages fault. You can spell spaghetti in any language. I’ve avoided that sort of excess for my entire career without any difficulty.
David Delony on 2009-02-06 at 14:38:43 said:
Why is C++ still the language of game development? Like its predecessor, C, it’s still portable assembler. I think they would be better served by moving to a higher-level language like Python. Game developers should spend their time on the gameplay rather than managing memory.
Daniel Franke on 2009-02-06 at 14:45:37 said:
David, you should read the past couple months’ archives of wesnoth-dev :-)
“I think they would be better served by moving to a higher-level language like Python.”
It’s not that easy as it sounds. Core Wesnoth developers, except Eric, are in love with this “pile of scar tissue” and don’t want to hear about any non-trivial changes. I actually tried to initiate this move and created working proof of concept, but without strong support from project lead this idea is doomed.
They need some kind of competition (another better open-source game in the same genre) to start moving.
Marshal on 2009-02-06 at 16:06:23 said:
Why is C++ still the language of game development? Like its predecessor, C, it’s still portable assembler. I think they would be better served by moving to a higher-level language like Python. Game developers should spend their time on the gameplay rather than managing memory.
While this may be true for a resource-unintensive game like Wesnoth, let’s just say if you build a viable engine for bleeding edge games in pure Python then you will be famous. In any case, C++’s primarily failing is descending from C. The reason people like C++ is that it is possible to conveniently build abstractions with zero unnecessary overhead. C, on the other hand, can descend into a hive of pointers that the compiler can’t optimise. I agree that OOP is unnecessary, however, and most solutions can be encoded in pretty much any paradigm. Why not write it in ML?
There’s a group of crazy Danish coders who actually did write a game engine in ML. They compiled it with MLton, for blistering fast performance.
Myself, I prefer Lisp. Before having C++ foisted on them by parent company Sony, GOAL — a Lisp dialect intended for games — was a crucial part of Naughty Dog’s toolkit. They did things like using a form of continuation passing style to implement lightweight cooperative multithreading (akin to Win32 “fibers”) for game objects. This led to various visibly cool effects, like doing memory card IO while the game engine ran, a rarity on the PS2 platform.
What was the point in creating a custom markup language? For example, if it would be standard markup like XML, SGML or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaml (which I consider the best for manual editing/viewing, very human-friendly), then it would be trivial to convert them by a routine to S-expressions.
And if you do that, then the engine is just a bunch of LISP or SCHEME functions and some macros that transform the syntax of those S-exps to the syntax of function calls. I mean f.e. an XML (using [] now as WordPress catches lesser and greater signs) like, say, [unit name=”Ork”] [HP] 12 [/HP] [/unit] can be transformed by XML2SEXP and macros to a function call to the Unit function with the parameter “Ork” and another parameter, which, if I understand this kind of (PaulGrahamian) design method correctly, would be a closure of the HP function. That would sound like a very elegant solution to me.
“Speaking about scripting languages like Perl, I don’t get the love with Python. I think Ruby’s a nicer (and more lisp-like) language.”
Ruby is one of the closest things a modern infix-notation OO language can get to the power of LISP, so it certainly has a lot of merits. However, there was something that always rubbed me the wrong way of Ruby as a culture, expressed in the language itself too: I somehow felt it wants to radiate an air of coolness, creativity, awesomeness, “See mom what I can do!”. Python for me feels like radiating an air of sobriety, grown-upness.
Actually the difference is very, very small at the level of the overall elegance or succintness of the code (even though their design philosophy is very different, the result looks very similar), so it may be that I’m just making this up.
The story I’m told is that Sirp considered XML but at the time the open-source tools weren’t quite good enough to convince him against writing a markup from scratch. This would have been around 2003.
Shenpen, I find I agree with every word of your comment about Ruby vs. Python, both praise and condemnation. You’re right, Python feels more sober and adult somehow and I can’t really pin down why either. That said, I’ll learn Ruby if I ever need to and not mind doing it.
Python for me feels like radiating an air of sobriety, grown-upness.
This is only true if you equate sobriety and maturity with a focus on getting the job done. Not all languages are designed solely for this purpose.
Python feels more sober and adult somehow and I can’t really pin down why either.
I have to wonder what kind of hacking you can do in an “adult” language.
> “Fath-er! Join… us…”
Funny, this line never moved me at all. Maybe it would if the Prince of Southbay had gotten some earlier development, but this scenario is the first where we ever meet either him or Addoran, making it hard to care.
I think the very best line in the campaign, and in the game, is from “Cursed Isle”: “All soldiers of darkness will meet the same fate by my hand”. It’s particularly striking because it’s Minister Edmond’s first line of dialogue since introducing him 13 scenarios earlier. It’s a shame the author didn’t do more with his character; you never even get to meet him if you happen to choose the Midlands branch.
Speaking of spaghetti, how is “Why C++ is Not Our Favorite Programming Language” coming along (and where do y’all expect to publish it)?
Miles on 2009-02-07 at 07:32:36 said:
David Deloney:
> Why is C++ still the language of game development?
I believe there’s a largeish amateur Windows/XBox games dev community that uses C#. Make of that what you will…
There’s also a first-person shooter written in Haskell, called Frag (short for Functional ReActive Gaming). I downloaded it once, but was put off by the number of Cabal libraries it needed and the clunky procedure needed to install them. But I understand that Cabal installations have since been greatly streamlined, so don’t let that put you off trying it.
Eric: I don’t want to start a language pissing match, but when did you last use Perl? My understanding is that it’s become much more suitable for programming in the large in recent versions (say, v5.6 or greater). I’ve been using it happily since about 2001. I only rarely have problems reading my old code or code downloaded from CPAN: unreadable code is usually a result of (a) deliberately writing obfuscated or “golfed” Perl, (b) sending a regular expression to do a parser’s job, or (c) using a style appropriate to one-liners in bigger programs. Or simply writing code with convoluted logic, overlong and incoherent functions, poor separation of concerns, etc; but Perl is no worse in this regard than any other Algol-derivative, and better than many.
Actually, I did once have great difficulty deciphering a CGI script that had come from Matt’s Script Archive or some similar horror, written by someone who knew about dynamic scoping but not about function arguments. But MSA is pretty much the canonical example of how not to write Perl :-)
On a related note, has there been any progress on your C++ rant? I for one would love to read it.
>Eric: I don’t want to start a language pissing match, but when did you last use Perl?
There’s a Perl CGI in my gpsd project — our hosting site wouldn’t do Python CGIs. So, yes, I still have to deal with it.
>On a related note, has there been any progress on your C++ rant? I for one would love to read it.
My collaborator’s flying up here so we can work on it, in about two weeks.
steven Ray on 2009-02-07 at 15:49:07 said:
Eric, I am eagerly anticipating your upcoming C++ evaluation paper [AFAIK, it’s yet to be published, …or have I missed it?]
Given your resentment of this language and it’s apparent shortcomings [as you partially tried to point them out in one of your recent blog posts], curiosity prod me to ask: Why did you have to use that “crappy” implementation language?
P.S. I think it’s a good idea to hand a copy of that to Stroustrop. He seems to sternly defend it against criticisms [Checked the FAQ on his web page]
Eric, I am eagerly anticipating your upcoming C++ evaluation paper
Ditto. Unfortunately, I fear it will fall into the category of evaluations written by people who don’t actually use C++, or even write things in the spaces that it is useful. When you hear someone make unfounded and/or subjective statemens such as it being ‘hard’ to write good code in Perl, or C being a model of ‘austere elegance’ it doesn’t bode well.
Given your resentment of this language and it’s apparent shortcomings [as you partially tried to point them out in one of your recent blog posts], curiosity prod me to ask: Why did you have to use that “crappy†implementation language?
Because, like it or hate it, it’s the only language up for the job.
Because, like it or hate it, it’s the only language up for the job.
I disagree. I see no reason Wesnoth couldn’t be implemented in ML, for example. That C++ is the only competent language for resource-intensive applications is just the opposite side of the anti-C++ coin.
>‘hard’ to write good code in Perl
That’s “hard to write readable” code. As usual, you need to work on your reading comprehension.
Ditto. Unfortunately, I fear it will fall into the category of evaluations written by people who don’t actually use C++, or even write things in the spaces that it is useful.
Marshal, I don’t think that one should necessarily be a highly skilled C++ coder to qualify for evaluation of the language. Indeed, Eric has done a lot of hacking with that in the course of Wesnoth’s development. He claims to have [gradually] started to resent the language over the years.
When you hear someone make unfounded and/or subjective statements such as it being ‘hard’ to write good code in Perl, or C being a model of ‘austere elegance’ it doesn’t bode well.
Spot on, and I wish that “technical parts” will dominate the whole paper, so that those [potential] subjective parts can be overlooked. “Why Pascal is not my favorite programming language” can be a good example to what I mean.
That C++ is the only competent language for resource-intensive applications is just the opposite side of the anti-C++ coin.
I think Eric had to code in C++ just because the decision had been made earlier by the project’s initial programmers and core development team [David White, the chief designer I guess] before Eric joined the project. Of course this is just a hypothesis and he can correct me if I’m wrong.
That’s “hard to write readable†code. As usual, you need to work on your reading comprehension.
My apologies; that is what I meant to write, and it is equally true. In any case, as someone who has been ‘hacking’ Unix for decades but are unable to figure out how ptrace works (even after ‘testing’ your bizarre theory), you are hardly in a position to criticise others about the clarity of their comprehension.
Marshal, I don’t think that one should necessarily be a highly skilled C++ coder to qualify for evaluation of the language. Indeed, Eric has done a lot of hacking with that in the course of Wesnoth’s development. He claims to have [gradually] started to resent the language over the years.
Would you accept a critique of C from someone who knew only BASIC and Python, that claimed C was too complicated because it was memory-unsafe? Of course not – C is widely used with great success. It’s just not the language for all people or all tasks. All attempts to generalise about the usefulness of particular general purpose programming languages are doomed to failure. Someone will always find a way to leverage the syntax and semantics of a given language while someone else shoots themselves in the foot with them. The ability to shoot one’s self in the foot is a function of the author and the language.
I think Eric had to code in C++ just because the decision had been made earlier by the project’s initial programmers and core development team [David White, the chief designer I guess] before Eric joined the project. Of course this is just a hypothesis and he can correct me if I’m wrong.
I had meant to address Jeff Read with that comment. I was attempting to comment that the notion that C++ is the only industrial strength programming language out there is unfounded, and that there are numerous examples of interesting ‘real-world’ projects using other languages.
Would you accept a critique of C from someone who knew only BASIC and Python
Sorry to disappoint you dear Marshal, but I’m afraid to say YES. Some of the things that matters to me while reading a programming language critique are the following:
1- Whether I can learn something from it.
2- Whether it’s a well-researched work or a simple close-minded piece of rant which stems from a preconceived opinion.
3- Whether the author is not trapped in emotional illusions/detachment from reality and maintains a relatively neutral stance while criticizing the language.
4- Whether it’s inclusive [i.e covers most of the language’s aspects]
5- Its scientific credibility [Can be referred to later or not]
6- Whether the author thinks (criticism == bashing)
I actually don’t care the alleged limited hands-on experience of the author, because if he chooses a scientific approach and be able to rigorously analyze different facets of the language in depth, then who gives any slightest attention whether he himself is much of a C++ programmer or not!?
The ability to shoot one’s self in the foot is a function of the author and the language.
Correct. But when it comes to two given programmers with evenly balanced mental adroitness and hacking skills choosing two distinct languages with unequal strengths to accomplish a similar task; that who prospers is needless to say. This is one good reason to seek after the better one.
Oh, and I am aware that “shooting yourself in the foot” also depends on the task. Writing some forms of apps are painfully error-prone and languages like C++ intensify the pain in the arse. I’ve heard that the famous array indexing problem nearly caused a disaster in one of the NASA’s space shuttles a few years ago.
I had meant to address Jeff Read with that comment. I was attempting to comment that the notion that C++ is the only industrial strength programming language out there is unfounded, and that there are numerous examples of interesting ‘real-world’ projects using other languages.
I agree, but please read carefully. I knew what you meant and who you were addressing to. I actually confirmed your idea by suggesting that ESR engaged in C++ coding because he had to [he wasn’t the project initiator and joined later] not simply because like it or hate it, it’s the only language up for the job.
All attempts to generalise about the usefulness of particular general purpose programming languages are doomed to failure.
Pragmatically speaking that’s right, but your word here is itself a generalization that IMHO, is not necessarily correct.
As Dijkstra once said, teaching some of those brain-damaging languages to innocent kids should be considered a criminal offense :)
Some of them are not only “not so useful” but also cripple the mind and lots of self-discipline is needed to reverse the brain-damage.
Hard to write readable code in Perl – I think it’s like this: you can drive a Ferrrari on the motorway without exceeding the speed limit if you really want to. Nothing stops you from doing so. But it’s just too tempting to drive it fast because that’s what a Ferrari is for, the whole design is just begging you: please, pretty please, drive me fast! Of course, with enough self-control you can restrain yourself and keep to the best practices and all, but I figure it’s better to use tools that were explicitly designed for your preferred way of doing things.
“I don’t think that one should necessarily be a highly skilled C++ coder to qualify for evaluation of the language. ”
I agree with that, with one condition. Just like you have to know macros in and out in order to evaluate LISP on any non-trivial level, in the case of C++, I think it’s the level of knowledge about templates and exactly what can and what cannot be achieved with them that makes the difference between a good and a bad evaluation. That the STL sucks everybody knows, but to what extent is it fixable with a better set of templates? That’s the really big question.
Focus on templates, that’d be my advice, if you are willing to take one.
I actually don’t care the alleged limited hands-on experience of the author, because if he chooses a scientific approach and be able to rigorously analyze different facets of the language in depth, then who gives any slightest attention whether he himself is much of a C++ programmer or not!?
Because unless he’s using a statistical approach, it must be qualitative. I’m not suggesting that an experienced C++ programmer knows best. If anything, he is biased toward C++. I’m suggesting that one must at least ‘get it’. The BASIC programmer in question doesn’t get it. Maybe other BASIC programmers do. But suggesting that pointers are a problem in C is to miss the purpose of the language.
Oh, and I am aware that “shooting yourself in the foot†also depends on the task. Writing some forms of apps are painfully error-prone and languages like C++ intensify the pain in the arse. I’ve heard that the famous array indexing problem nearly caused a disaster in one of the NASA’s space shuttles a few years ago.
What are you suggesting? Static checking of array bounds? I hope you like writing proofs. C++ can do things like dynamic checking of ‘arrays’, you just have to avoid its built-in array type.
Pragmatically speaking that’s right, but your word here is itself a generalization that IMHO, is not necessarily correct.
Some of them are not only “not so useful†but also cripple the mind and lots of self-discipline is needed to reverse the brain-damage.
Dijkstra is a notorious generaliser, so it is ironic that you would quote him. He also thinks that all programming should be taught as formal mathematics. Anyone who has actually done any formal verification work (think machine-checkable proofs) knows that this is intractable in general.
That the STL sucks everybody knows, but to what extent is it fixable with a better set of templates? That’s the really big question.
What an insightful analysis. Everybody knows dynamically typed languages suck too, depending upon who ‘everybody’ is.
Dijkstra is a notorious generaliser, so it is ironic that you would quote him.
I suppose ‘ironic’ is the wrong word. I guess I had meant to say that invoking Dijkstra to put lie to the idea that generalisations about programming as a practise are usually not well founded, given that he has made so many overzealous generalisations over the years.
What an insightful analysis. Everybody knows dynamically typed languages suck too, depending upon who ‘everybody’ is.
What have templates got to do with dynamic typing? c.f. Common Lisp, as Shenpen originally mentioned. C++ has optional dynamic typing as well.
What are you suggesting? Static checking of array bounds? I hope you like writing proofs.
All I’m saying is that because out-of-bounds index [unless too big which causes an unhandled exception] is valid, some stupid errors may happen:
const int SIZE;
float a[] = {1, 2, 3};
float x = 14;
cout<<“x= “<<x<<endl;
a[3]= 17; //Index out of bounds
output —-> x= 14
x= 17
In the above (silly) code, we have unintentionally changed x’s value. These types of errors which stems from recognition of invalid index is some times really hard to detect.
I guess I had meant to say that invoking Dijkstra to put lie to the idea that generalisations about programming as a practise are usually not well founded
Well dear Marshal, there’s a BIG difference between lying and simply holding a different idea. I hope you understand it. Anyhow, I wasn’t aware of his notoriety, thanks for the pointer.
@Marshal: Indeed, I didn’t say this is an unsolvable problem. I said it’s trivial but hard to detect in times. Sure it has clear solutions.
Nothing. Insert any language category in place of ‘dynamically typed languages’. Merely asserting that the STL sucks is a poor argument, and at odds with the fact that people use it fruitfully all the time. I do not like the STL either personally, but I cannot construe my personal taste as universally accepted fact. Many people would say that everyone knows that BASIC sucks. Maybe it does (I don’t like it much), but there are many people who would disagree.
Well dear Marshal, there’s a BIG difference between lying and simply holding a different idea. I hope you understand it. Anyhow, I wasn’t aware of his notoriety, thanks for the pointer.
I guess I have expressed myself poorly again. Actually, I appreciate the correction. I think you know what I mean though. In any case, the memory-safety thing is either a bug or a feature depending upon your purpose.
I am bored of trolling you people. Have fun not understanding Unix/programming.
Have fun not understanding Unix/programming.
I don’t know who you are referring to or what made you frustrated, but personally I never claimed that I am a programmer/Unix guru. I am simply a computer enthusiast and eager to deepen my grasp of CS through healthy debate.
I think you know what I mean though.
O.K. I will revisit the idea. I grew up believing that some languages teach us bad habits and/or [as Paul Graham] says are not worth learning because they don’t suggest a new pattern of thinking about problems. So with that premise, it’s not abnormal to believe that some languages are just “not useful”. It’s quite probable that in the case of C++, [maybe] I have overstretched myself. After all I don’t use it much.Dunno
>Have fun not understanding Unix/programming
Heh. Meanwhile, unless my publisher is lying to me, my book on the Art of Unix Programming is in routine use as a textbook in programming and software engineering courses. Of course, all those professors have actually been hypnotized by my orbital mind-control lasers, and Marshal is the brave lone voice exposing me as a fool and a fraud. His book on how to think like a Unix expert is much better. In some universe.
>I am bored of trolling you people.
Immediately after posting this, Marshal attempted to forge a hostile comment, ending with the line “Please give generously to the Eric Raymond college fund. With your help, we can get Eric the computer science schooling he so desperately needs.” as though it came from Jay Maynard. The actual source was revealed by the IP address.
Fortunately, my spam-blocker caught it before it would have put my friend Jay in the position of protesting that he would never have uttered such a ridiculous slur. Jay, I have retained this message in my spam queue on the off-chance that you might want to see it and take some sort of legal action or whatever.
Insulting me is acceptable on this blog, as long as the attacker keeps his signal-to-noise ratio high enough that I think he is worth the trouble. Fraudulent impersonation of another guest, in an obvious and deliberate attempt to make trouble between myself and that person, is a crash landing. Utterly unacceptable.
Marshal is henceforth banned.
I’ve long thought trolls should be taken out back and shot, at least figuratively. Trolling has no place in adult discourse.
Eric, I’m not going to bother: it didn’t cause me any damage, and my status as a public figure raises the bar as to what it takes before I can succeed in such an action.
The comment is laughable in any event, as anyone who knows Eric’s history will attest. The carping about Eric’s supposed lack of Unix knowledge is especially laughable. The Art of Unix Programming is a fantastic resource, and would be even without my minor contributions. Eric knows this, and knows that I know it. Attempts to cause friction between us on this basis are highly likely to fail.
Brent Michael Krupp on 2009-02-09 at 13:03:04 said:
Wow Eric, thanks for mentioning Wesnoth. Somehow I managed to miss its existence and yet it’s exactly the sort of game I used to love (Warlords, et al.). Now I’m hooked.
Also, darn you for mentioning it! Now I’m hooked!
“my status as a public figure”
Don’t be so modest: you’re a celebrity:
http://blogs.sun.com/josephgeorge/entry/real_problem_with_linux
;-DDD
ESR says: Ironically, Jay is a Mac fan…
“Warlords, et al.”
Well in Warlords you could put 8 (?) units into a stack (army) and move them together. That made things much faster. What makes Wesnoth a bit boring for me is the long time spent moving units around one-by-one, without any action, I don’t have any suggestions what to do with it, though, any kind of stacking would mean a total redesign as the whole game balance would need to be rethinked then. And Steel Panthers-style “move in platoon” is just lame, no reason to copy that. I figure it has to stay that way and therefore will only attract serious gamers with a chess-like mindset.
Wesnoth works fine as long as scenario designers manage to refrain from throwing thousands of gold at every side. Unfortunately this is more than can be said of several mainline scenarios.
>Unfortunately this is more than can be said of several mainline scenarios.
Specifics? I’m one of the general campaign maintainers; I might well be able to fix this.
>(Warlords, et al.).
Ah, there was a fine game.
I can’t remember how they handled the UI for stacking in it, though. It might be applicable to Wesnoth.
ESR:
> There’s a Perl CGI in my gpsd project — our hosting site wouldn’t do Python CGIs. So, yes, I still have to deal with it.
Hmmm. Is this all your own code, or did other people contribute? If it’s your code, I guess you wouldn’t get the advantages of using modern Perl idioms, but writing readable code still shouldn’t be that hard. Are there any specific problems that make your code hard to read, or do you just have a low tolerance for punctuation? Can you point me at some gnarly bits?
It occurs to me that there’s another common readability failure-mode in Perl, to which you (as a Lisper) may be especially prone: overuse of nested anonymous data-structures, and the resultant need to put reference syntax everywhere. This is usually a warning sign that you’re trying to be too clever for your own good, and that you should use real objects. Did I mention the new object system? :-)
Shenpen:
> Hard to write readable code in Perl – I think it’s like this: you can drive a Ferrrari on the motorway without exceeding the speed limit if you really want to. Nothing stops you from doing so. But it’s just too tempting to drive it fast because that’s what a Ferrari is for, the whole design is just begging you: please, pretty please, drive me fast! Of course, with enough self-control you can restrain yourself and keep to the best practices and all, but I figure it’s better to use tools that were explicitly designed for your preferred way of doing things.
There may well be something in what you say. I’ve certainly noticed that good Perl programmers (in whose ranks I don’t count myself) are fanatical about documentation, testing and coding for readability to an extent that I haven’t encountered elsewhere.
‘Clearing the Mines’ from Northern Rebirth is the first that comes to mind. Guiding 50 dwarves down an empty corridor isn’t fun. The second and final scenarios of Northern Rebirth are borderline as well.
‘Northern Winter’ from HttT has armies which would be a reasonable size for most maps, but becomes a tedious trudge due to the terrain. Far worse for similar reasons is ‘Breaking the Siege’ from Legend of Wesmere; I think this is the worst-designed scenario in all of mainline.
At one time I would have put the final scenario of SotBE on this list, but then I realized there’s a faster way to win it: just recruit two castles of saurian skirmishers and make a dash for the enemy leader.
>Hmmm. Is this all your own code, or did other people contribute?
I wrote it, but I used a modern Perl CGI as a model, and it was then polished by my chief GPSD lieutenant Chris Kuethe, who likes Perl and keeps current with it. So I think the dialect of Perl is pretty up-to-date.
>have a low tolerance for punctuation?
That’s part of it. I find Perl syntax cluttered and spiky. The friction cost this imposes is acceptable for small scripts (< 100 lines) but starts to become serious in larger ones. >overuse of nested anonymous data-structures
>There may well be something in what you say.
I think Shenpen’s critique is spot-on. I too have noticed that the best Perl programmers are fanatical in the way you describe. The trouble is that in Perl, they have to be.
Saltation on 2009-02-09 at 16:02:05 said:
>Kalenz’s and Cleodil’s love scene in Legend of Wesmere; the final confrontation between the mage Delfador and arch-villain Ihiah-Malal, also in LoW; the Elven lady Ethiliel’s horrifying reunion with her former mentor, the mad undead sage Mal M’Brin, in The South Guard; the death of Mal-Ravanal in Eastern Invasion and the Epilogue that follows; Mal Keshar’s monologue about how he got expelled from the Academy on Alduin in Descent Into Darkness; and, most recently the scene at the tomb of An-Usrukhar from the not-yet-mainlined Delfador’s Memoirs.
hmm! ok, (a) quite different from what i expected from a quick glance at the wesnoth site’s frontpage, and (b) evocative, intriguing. wesnoth is now on my list of things to check out (and possibly lose way too much time to).
ta.
>the [C++] core codebase is a pile of OO scar tissue
similarly evocative and beautifully succinct summary of most nontrivial multi-developer C++ codebases
>The carping about Eric’s supposed lack of Unix knowledge is especially laughable.
eric uses unix?!?!
why weren’t we told?! and why isn’t there some sort of public record, of say skilled unix programming, that anybody could look at?!
i feel grievously betrayed by eric’s secretiveness and deception.
thing for me, python v. ruby, is that python always reads almost like a mind-map, whereas ruby requires syntax-knowledge and paradigm-knowledge. python remains grokkable even when you’re so rusty a shellscript you type cold for someone has syntax errors. *cough*
that for me is the key USP for python.
and is why i view python3 with sadness and regret for what-was
??? IMHO it became more “pythonic”. But I think this topic worths something more than a bunch of short comments in a hijacked thread – do you want to blog about it in detail and perhaps link that here and continue that discussion there?
alluded to previously in which regard, i think a simple quote suffices:
>>[Saltation]
eg python 3, which appears at a glance to have thrown away key aspects of its novice-user friendliness, eg loose print now tight and print() )
>[Adrian Smith]
[looks]
Euwwww…
[sticks with 2.5]
John Chapman on 2009-02-10 at 01:04:19 said:
> Heh. Meanwhile, unless my publisher is lying to me, my book on the Art of Unix Programming is in routine
> use as a textbook in programming and software engineering courses.
Evidence for this statement seems lacking:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Art+of+Unix+Programming%22+site%3A*.edu
> Insulting me is acceptable on this blog
You’ve recently stated otherwise.
> I find Perl syntax cluttered and spiky. The friction cost this imposes is acceptable for small scripts ( I too have noticed that the best Perl programmers are fanatical in the way you describe. The trouble is that in Perl, they have to be.
Or more precisely, in Perl they have to be right from the start, rather than discovering too late that they should have been :-)
John, looks like quite a few relevant hits to me. They just start at page 3 because the first two pages are flooded by someone’s mirror of the text.
As we are already in offtopic territory, talking about programming languages etc., may I get a bit more OT and ask you y’all to help me formulate Shenpen’s First Law? Which in it’s current, informal, sloppy state is like this: “Deriving a formal system from one simple rule is a WIN. Deriving an informal system from one simple rule is a FAIL.”
1) Formal systems: programming languages:
“There is one simple rule: everything’s a list” -> LISP -> WIN
“There is one simple rule: everything’s a object” -> Smalltalk -> WIN
“There is one simple rule: everything’s a function” -> Haskell, ML -> WIN
2) Informal systems:
“There is one simple rule to managing a software project” -> INSTANT FAIL
“There is one simple rule to manage a team of developers” -> INSTANT FAIL
“There is one simple rule to sell something” -> INSTANT FAIL
“There is one simple rule to run an economy” -> INSTANT FAIL
(Sorry for the OT but this discussion was getting very OT anyway.)
“There is one simple rule to run an economy†-> INSTANT FAIL
If only the libertarian ultracapitalists would realize this… sigh…
>If only the libertarian ultracapitalists would realize this… sigh…
We do better…we know that economies can’t be “run” at all. Basic Hayek.
Tom Dickson-Hunt on 2009-02-10 at 23:34:30 said:
To ‘run’ an economy, you leave it alone. That’s one simple rule, but it’s a special case. I mean, you might as well say, ‘There’s one simple rule to maintain mostly functional organs, and that’s to not cut yourself open and forcibly rearrange them’, and then assert that that is trying to derive an informal system from one simple rule.
Well put, Tom.
Darrencardinal on 2009-02-11 at 00:01:51 said:
Remember that this current mess we are in is because of government, not the private sector.
The government, under the community reinvestment act, pressured banks to lend money to people who were not truly creditworthy. They had studies showing that blacks were turned down for credit more often than whites, and they assumed the reason had to be racism. This is why so many of these mortgages were defaulted on.
Also remember that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not private enterprise but were GSEs: government sponsored entities. Some have tried to claim that the problem we are in now is because of unrestrained capitalism, when nothing could be further from the truth.
Yes to run an economy, we should leave it alone. But we don’t, and haven’t sinnce Roosevelt. And Obama is seems determined to have a new new deal possibly leading to national health care. God help us.
Jeff Read you seem like a very smart guy. Educate yourself on basic politcal economy. Read Hayek, Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell. We are a free people and we do not need bureaucrats micromanaging our lives for us.
And yes I know this is getting far off-topic from Wesnoth, but comment threads have a mind of their own.
Let’s pull this back on topic, now. Wesnoth, people, Wesnoth.
So, Eric – when is The Fury of Hayek being turned into a Wesnoth campaign, with a LISP-like spell interpreter available to players? :)
(Trying hard to get all of the threads put back into one mesh that’s nominally ON topic…)
Okay. Suggestions for getting the tedium out of Wesnoth:
1. Reduce the number of clicks required to move units by _half_ by letting the player cycle between Prev/Next units with the keyboard, f.e. V and N. Don’t center the screen on the Prev/Next unit: do nothing if it’s already on the screen, just highlight it. Compromise: if it’s not on the screen just scroll it the barest minimum amount in order to make it show up on one of the edges. This way, moving units long distance is like alternating N – click, N – click and as the screen stays largely at the same place, you don’t even have to move the mouse around much to move many units to the same area. Alternative: don’t scroll the screen at all, if the unit is outside the screen just pop up some hovering bubble at the edge of the screen in the general direction of the unit.
2. Group/Formation move. You know when you drag and drop multiple icons in any better window manager from one folder to another? Exactly the same idea. Select them by dragging a box, upon starting dragging mouse cursor changes into a transparent version of the icons in the same formation/layout, drag and drop them to somewhere. Movements points = the slowest unit of the formation, it would be very useful if moving the mouse around in this drag mode it would “snap” to tiles as you have a big cursor consisting of a formation of units to move around that’s hard to position exactly. It will be a bit tricky to calculate which fields to highlight as being in range as the shape of the formation will have to be taken into account (the idea is that with this movement they always keep formation i.e. their relative direction and distance from each other does not change). Also perhaps no need to drag-and-drop, perhaps just drag a selection box around them and the cursor changes instantly to a transparent formation, and just click on the target.
3. Another kind of group/formation move: follow leader. It’d be cool because it’ d be a bit RPG-like, I can imagine making it a bit RPG-ish by that the leader pops up a usual conversation box like “Follow me, lads!” or stuff like that. The leader would usually be a hero, I think. So, select a group by dragging box, and somehow designate one unit in it as the leader. Move the leader. Everybody automatically moves to a tile that relates to the tile the leader is moving towards the same way as his current position relates to the leaders i.e. two tiles north from the leader or something like that. Toggleable option: everybody moving at full speed, or everybody moving at the speed of the smallest unit (i.e. preserve formation during moving), or everybody moving at the leader’s speed if he can.
4. Fast Mode. All animations off, everything happening ASAP. Alternatively, attack animations are on but not stopping the player from choosing another unit, and also displaying the attack result at the beginning of the animation. Automatically use best weapon (the one the AI would use). Um, the later is a bit of cheating. OK, automatically use _primary_ weapon i.e. bow for archer.
5. Produce and get reinforcements automatically into battle, so that you can focus on the battle. Set up a build queue at the keep f.e. 10 archers, 5 pikers. Units pop up at earliest empty castle cell, or don’t get produced if there is no empty cell. Autoproduced units automatically move towards a flag that the player can set anywhere, probably will set it slightly behind the frontline. Result: fresh troops keep arriving automatically near to the front.
what’s with all this crazy On-Topic stuff?? have people forgotten which blog this is??
libertatian leftists are micromanaging the economy by misguided gun-control of unix programming terrorists!
(Trying hard to get all of the threads put back into one mesh that’s more in keeping with standard…)
Shenpen, most of (4) is already implemented.
(2) and (3) would need some tweaks to avoid becoming suicidal to use. In any battle it’s essential to micromanage the position of all your frontline units. Maybe it would work if follow orders were performed at the end of your turn and only by units that you haven’t moved manually, and the movement code were smart enough to keep injured units shielded.
I can’t imagine (5) ever being useful. If you’re just cranking out troops as quickly as your income permits, ur doin it wrong.
As I’ve said before, the right way to counteract tedium is simply for scenario authors to refrain from creating enormous battles.
(2) and (3) would be moving troops into the frontlines, not waging the battle into the frontlines. The maps I played (the introductory campaign) are just too big. (5) well it depends on what you are playing, I just played the introductory campaign and it quite resembled a war of attrition, trying to produce troops faster than losing them. I may be doing it wrong.
But actually I consider (1) my most useful and most important suggestion. Cutting the no. of clicks in half without causing any problems, that cannot be a bad thing.
>Cutting the no. of clicks in half without causing any problems, that cannot be a bad thing.
And it’s a good idea. File the feature request here: https://gna.org/bugs/?group=wesnoth
I think I know who to assign it to.
OK. I’m logged in (as Shenpen) but I just cannot see any button that would say “new” or “submit”. http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/7415/gnauishenpennc8.png
Do I have to apply for group membership in order to submit it?
>Do I have to apply for group membership in order to submit it?
Nope. Should be in the “Bugs” pulldown.
KTHX. https://gna.org/bugs/index.php?12981
rrenaud on 2009-02-12 at 15:37:50 said:
The boring “move large army” problem has been brought up before. See http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=16161&view=previous
Tom: you’re forgetting “embed them in a functioning host system, and carefully satisfy all the non-trivial requirements for feeding it, cleaning it, watering it, exercising it, and generally keeping it healthy” :-)
Shenpen: I think that “do one thing” becomes misguided quite rapidly as the system has to interface with the real world. Consider Scheme: very pure, and very elegant, but all the Scheme implementations that aim at doing Real Work have extended it quite a bit. Apposite Larry Wall quote: “Of course Perl’s a mess. That means it maps well onto the problem domain, which is also a mess.” BTW, not everything in Haskell is a function: some things are types. The comparative clunkiness of Haskell’s facilities for type-level programming has caused me quite a bit of frustration over the years.
So, um, Wesnoth. Yeah. I ought to give that a try sometime :-)
So, I’ve been playing through Delfador’s Memoirs now that it’s up-to-date on the campaign server. Nice writing, but I think the power of the Staff of An-Usrukhar is maybe a tad too great… I submit to you Exhibit A in support of this claim.
>I think the power of the Staff of An-Usrukhar is maybe a tad too great
Um, I didn’t invent the lightning staff — that’s been one of Delf’s attributes since day one. These scene just gives it a backstory.
Yeah, but it’s a lot more powerful in DM than it is in HttT. As the replay shows, he can destroy an entire army singlehandedly because his melee and ranged attacks are both so strong that the AI won’t attack him even with its most powerful units.
“There is one simple rule: everything’s a list†-> LISP -> WIN
“There is one simple rule: everything’s a object†-> Smalltalk -> WIN
“There is one simple rule: everything’s a function†-> Haskell, ML -> WIN
Except these are not wins in the commercial world; these are all EPIC FAILs.
It took me a while to get around to realizing it but you have to think in a postmodern fashion. Postmodernism is much more about local pragmatics than it is about bad art or Berkeley scrotum-inflation demonstrators. It’s about abandoning your grand narrative (one simple rule in your lingo) and adapting your actions to the situation on the ground. Let’s look at a few (admittedly handpicked) examples of programming languages which were designed by accretion, addressing specific problems real programmers have, without a grand narrative dictating their design:
Perl – Win
PHP – Win
Visual Basic – Win
C – Win
C++ – Win
COBOL – Win
Hell, if you like you can add your favorite, Clipper, to the pile in its more generic form as XBase. (There are probably still Visual FoxPro applications being maintained out there, despite the product being EOLed a few years ago.)
I love Lisp as much as the next guy, but a) it’ll never win and b) even Lisp abandoned “everything is a list” as soon as somebody wanted to crunch numbers with it. (For that sort of work the only data structure that matters, as any Real Programmer can tell you, is the Array.)
actually, Lisp is a great example of the machinery catching up and the previous Accepted Wisdom being turned on its head.
nowadays, Lisp is an EPIC Win.
the lay-down misere unarguable example is airline booking systems. one of the hardest pounders of hardware on the planet, an optimisation problem of awesome magnitude (“travelling salesman” being delightfully apt in this case): “A standard search for a trip from New York to L.A. could have two billion possibilities”.
the previous market Winners (eg Sabre, Galileo) were attacked late 2000 by a system written entirely in Lisp, and thrashed. market dominance within 2 years of start (AI devel group first approached by industry members in Spring 2000) (AWESOME speed of adaption). that system is now THE global market standard, runs like shit off a shovel, adapts in ~0 time to new requirements, and is entirely Lisp (except the data structures and some GUI).
not a bad tech summary by an insider here. (Paul Graham’s blog)
>That means that the search space for this simple trip is of the order 5000 x 5000 x 10000, and a naive program would need to do a _lot_ of computation just to validate each of these possibilities. Suitably formalized, its not even clear that the problem of finding the cheapest flight is NP-complete, since it is difficult to put a bound on the size of the solution that will result in the cheapest price. If you’re willing to dispense with restrictions on the energy in the universe, then it is actually possible to formalize the cheapest-price problem in a not-too-unreasonable way that leads to a proof of undecidability by reduction to the Post correspondance problem :-).
only seeing occasional refs to Smalltalk (but you could argue Ruby’s “everything’s an object/method” approach is just another instance of the same concept), but am seeing growing references to Haskell in real-world environments.
possibly they too are stepping out of academic-purity’s obscurity into commercial viability.
^an optimisation problem of awesome magnitude ^a real-time optimisation problem of awesome magnitude
“Postmodernism is much more about local pragmatics than it is about bad art or Berkeley scrotum-inflation demonstrators. It’s about abandoning your grand narrative (one simple rule in your lingo) and adapting your actions to the situation on the ground.”
Well, I call that Pre-Modernism or Skeptical-Pluralistic Conservatism but let’s not argue terminology :)
The amount of win a formal system contains does not depend on the commercial success, because commercial success comes from solving informal, ill-specified problems. And no one with any sense would use a formal system to solve those, it’s more than obvious that we use informal systems to solve those – like PHP or Perl.
The amount of win a formal system contains is simply how useful it is to solve formal i.e. academic problems. And for that a one-simple-rule approach seems to work very well.
BTW, highly informal (read: ugly, messy, bad) languages like VB(script) or PHP solve an important problem badly, and I think a good solution could and should be found for that: you don’t always know when does a given task escalate into a programming task, therefore, you don’t always have a programmer around to do it, and at the first stages of escalation, it’s not even really clear it should need a programmer, and at later stages, you have a too big thing to throw out and start over.
In different words: programming isn’t a clearly distinct class of activity it itself but rather one end of a continous graph where the other end is configuration. (If you disagree, explain how comes that sendmail.cf evolved into being Turing-complete.)
Example: you are an IT-savvy salesman, you set up a product price configurator in Excel with lots of SUMIF’s and using other built-in functions. It’s not considered programming. (Well, declarative programming… but it’s not consider something you need a programmer to do.) And then they find they want to do just one more thing which no built-in function does. Said salesman is no programmer, but he remembers playing with BASIC on a Commodore 64 when he was 12 years old, so he generates a VBScript macro by example and tries to make it into a new function by generalizing it, replacing hardcoded values by variables… etc. etc. He can do it, because VB is very close to English…
Example 2: you are a sysadmin, you installed PHPBB. You realize you need a little change in functionality. You are not a programmer, but no one seems to want to do it, so you go to a forum and ask how to do it, luckily, someone points out that one of the 3000-something built-in functions of PHP does exactly that, so you can just trivially modify an example in that function’s documentation and it will work, without real programming…
Example 3: you are a Linux sysadmin, you are not a programmer, but you have to analyze some long logs and awk and sed just don’t seem to cut it right. A friend tells you about the while() … structure of Perl…
I think these are valid scenarios and there should be better ways to solve it…
BTW Jeff I’m glad you remember my little perversion of loving CA-Clipper… my excuse is that a programming language with higher-order lambda functions (“code blocks”) looked like a miracle on an MS-DOS PC in 1988 and a tightly, closely integrated database model with a GUI without duplications, with a succint, get-things-done structure where you can get the basic CRUD done at the speed of about 1 hour per table – the web I think only achieved that first with Rails, around 2006 and we had them on “desktop” with Clipper in 1988… was quite an achievement.
BTW such evolution from non-programming to programming happens not only with regard to a task, but in personal development too… I had my fair share of TurboPascal stuff when I was a teenager, but generally didn’t want to become a progammer. I was a manufacturing-oriented application consultant (read: configuration, training etc.) in Navision in 2002 when we realized we have to customize it and I started to write code… amazingly horrible code at first. Little control structures, just cut and paste… then I got better. And better. And better. Those old memories about nested function calls in TurboPascal came back. Then I started to take a look at general-purpose programming languages because I wanted tool to massage text files into sane formats before importing them to Navision. A friend introduced me to CCC, the Clipper-to-C++-Compiler, this is how I started to like Clipper. Then I picked up Euphoria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphoria_(programming_language) Then Perl. Now, that was a great tool for these text file things. Then I downloaded (ActiveState Active)Python from the same site I downloaded Perl from, just out of curiosity. Then somehow I heard about Ruby. Then about LISP. I’m still not a hacker, but I think by now I grok the essence of well, if not elegant, at least “smart” programming, this is what I’m currently playing with: http://pastebin.com/f201d8052
The point is that such evolution doesn’t always follow the line of learn the theory, do in practice, it often goes in an Oakeshottian way: theory is something you learn as you go from non-programming to programming…
>Postmodernism is much more about local pragmatics than it is about bad art or Berkeley scrotum-inflation demonstrators.
I am not at all convinced this is true.
No ontopic comments for a while, so I hope you don’t mind if I go OFF:
Your recent remark on EconTalk, “Love doesn’t scale”, got a bit famous around the Net, InstaPundit and Samizdata saw to that.
Question: does it mean that in theory you could agree to what this guy keeps saying: http://burkescorner.blogspot.com/ and I find myself agreeing more and more: that big-gov’t on one hand and that ugly “get of my lawn” kind of individualist egoism on the other aren’t the only two possible choices? That we indeed often do need to have our egos a bit supressed and cut down to size, that a good life isn’t about the inflating of the ego to as a big size as possible, but instead of a big-gov’t, a self-governing small community can do that job, which does it more by commonly accepted customs rather than bureaucratic procedures: exactly because love _does_ scale up to a local small-community level (but not much further) ?
>big-gov’t on one hand and that ugly “get of my lawn†kind of individualist egoism on the other aren’t the only two possible choices
Hard for me to disagree, since I don’t think I’ve made either choice. But I don’t follow Burke’s argument to the conclusions he wants, since I read it as a not-very-well-disguised version of “bend over so we can ram conservative paternalism up your ass”. I don’t like it any better than the left-wing version, thank you.
And yes, this is off-topic here. Please wait for a relevant politics thread to pursue it.
Regarding the suckingness of C++, how hard a sell would C# be to the Wesnoth team? With modern JIT compiler technology C# code can be fast; and with .NET on Windows and Mono ascending to dominance on Linux it is as cross-platform as you could ask for.
>Regarding the suckingness of C++, how hard a sell would C# be to the Wesnoth team?
I have no idea. It’s never come up.
George on 2009-03-16 at 04:08:00 said:
Which programming language would you use for a game like Wesnoth?
>Which programming language would you use for a game like Wesnoth?
Pardon the delay in responding. Until recently I would have said “Python” with no hesitation, but it turns out Python has a technical limitation that’s serious for this kind of design – it can’t be sandboxed. We had to remove our facility for custom AIs written in Python from 1.6 because of this; it can allow security bugs from maliciously-crafted campaign downloads.
So, today I’d respond Scheme or lua; what qualifies both is that they have first-class environments and can be sandboxed.
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