question stringlengths 14 1.69M | answer stringlengths 1 40.5k | meat_tokens int64 1 8.18k |
|---|---|---|
Welcome to the Birches Catering!
We have been<|fim_middle|> personalized service and planning expertise. | satisfying our clients at this location for over 30 years!
At The Birches we pride ourselves on delivering quality food at affordable prices to a wide range of clients for both social and business functions. In addition, event planning, coordination and site selection are an integral part of our caterers' repertoire of services.
With a varied menu to suit every occasion. Spacious banquet rooms allow us to accommodate intimate parties of 35 to grand celebrations of up to 300.
The Birches at The Latvian Centre is a magnificent place to host your next corporate or social event. From the moment you arrive, our experienced staff will ensure that your event will be a success.
Our banquet facilities offer the finest in elegantly prepared international cuisine served to your guests. We offer you excellent facilities located in the heart of the city, highly | 169 |
Audio is quite an interesting concept to cover, not only in game design but when studying its nature in general. The way it's perceived depends on a lot of factors, which have to be taken into account when you're trying to control or use it.
Perception of audio generally involves the position of the source and how fast it's moving if it's moving at all (If you've studied Physics, you may be familiar with the Doppler Effect).
In Unity, the positioning of a source of audio is important to characterize its source. For example, we need to make sure that a gameObject playing the sound of a waterfall matches with an actual waterfall gameObject<|fim_middle|> sound effects. We have made a package of a pair of small sound effects, which you can download from here.
Let's import these sound effects into our project by creating a new folder for sound effects and adding the sounds to it.
Now, since the main camera already has an Audio Listener, all we have to do is add Audio Sources to our relevant gameObjects.
First off, we'll have a sound effect that plays when our character fires a fireball. For that, we'll simply attach an Audio Source to our character's shooter gameObject. Go to Add Component → Audio → Audio Source.
In the AudioClip slot, drag in the sound effect you want to use. If you downloaded the soundpack, drag in fire1.mp3. Now, untick the Play on Awake checkbox. This makes sure that this sound doesn't play as soon as the gameObject awakes, which in our case is as soon as the game starts.
In the tutorial Prefab Instantiation and making them move, we created a class Shooter which was instantiating a new fireball every time Spacebar was hit, let's add sound when a new fireball is fired.
Besides the declaration of the AudioSource variable initially, the magic happens when we call, source.Play(). This line of code makes the referenced AudioSource play the AudioClip that's loaded into its slot. It has an overloaded(variant) method as well for playing the sound effect after a certain specified delay.
And fill in the AudioClip slot with your sound effect when the target gets destroyed (dead3.mp3 if you are using our soundpack). Play the game, and you can hear the sound effects when the player shoots a fireball and when it hits a target!
Add an AudioSource component to your gameObject, like you add a RigidBody or BoxCollider component.
In the Start() method, use GetComponent to set the AudioSource component to the AudioSource variable.
When you want the sound to play, call the Play() method. | , and that the player's perception of that sound feels real. Getting louder as the player gets closer, making sure the audio panning varies as the relative position of the waterfall changes with respect to the player, and so on.
Let's have a look at these components.
This is a component that's automatically attached to the main camera every time you create a scene. It doesn't have any properties, since its only job is to act as the point of perception. Leaving the Audio Listener as it is, is recommended.
This is the component that's actually responsible for playing the sound. In common development practice, it's generally a good idea to make an empty gameObject to act as the Audio Source and make it a child when you're dealing with large, complex structures, so you have a clear idea of where the Audio Source is.
The Audio Source component has quite a few properties which we can tinker around with. This includes its pitch, panning, spatial blending (We'll get to that later), and if you open the 3D Sound Settings, you will find options for adding Doppler Effects and volume rolloffs.
What interests us the most here is the AudioClip slot, however. That's where the sound effect to be played goes. Unity supports quite a few common sound formats, including .mp3 and .ogg etc.
Until sound-supportive documents are supported, we'll have to create our own | 286 |
Astray(201<|fim_middle|> | 2).This sequence of fourteen fact-inspired fictions about travels to, in and from North America, which I wrote one by one over a decade and a half, is my eleventh book of fiction. Astray is published in Canada by HarperCollins (where it got into the Canadian Bestsellers list), in the UK/Ireland/Aus/NZ by Picador, and in the US by Little Brown. The multi-voiced audiobook from Hachette won an Earphones Award. Astray was shortlisted for the 2012 Eason Irish Novel of the Year and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and longlisted for the Story Prize, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.
With the turn of each page, the protagonists of these stories go astray in various senses. They are emigrants, runaways, drifters; gold miners and counterfeiters, attorneys and slaves. They cross borders of race, law, sex, and sanity. They travel for love or money, under duress or incognito. Astray transports the reader from puritan Massachusetts to revolutionary New Jersey, from antebellum Louisiana to a 1960s Toronto highway, lighting up four centuries of wanderings that have profound echoes in the present.
'The Lost Seed' is a tragedy based on court records of sex crimes in seventeenth-century Massachusetts.
'The Widow's Cruse' is inspired by a paragraph about a suddenly widowed woman, from a newspaper in 1730s New York.
'The Hunt' – shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Prize – is about a teenage soldier who unwillingly participates in attacks on local women during the American War of Independence.
'Vanitas' is about a girl in 1830s Louisiana who probes her cousin's mysterious death.
'Counting the Days' is based on the 1840s correspondence of two emigrants from Northern Ireland to Canada.
'Last Supper at Brown's' follows a slave and his mistress who conspire to murder their master in Texas in 1864.
'Onward' is suggested by several letters of Charles Dickens about a family he helped to emigrate to Canada.
'The Body Swap' is a noir piece about the gang of forgers who tried to hold Lincoln's corpse to ransom in 1876.
'The Long Way Home' is based on a rumour about a hard-drinking, cross-dressing eccentric in 1870s Arizona.
'Man and Boy' is addressed by zookeeper Matthew Scott to his lifelong companion, Jumbo the Elephant.
'Snowblind' is a fictional tale of two young men who become goldmining 'partners' in the 1890s Klondike.
'The Gift' is inspired by letters to a New York adoption agency from the birth mother and adoptive father of a little girl.
'Daddy's Girl' is about the 1901 death of Murray Hall, a New York politico who turned out to be a woman.
'What Remains' imagines the old age of a sculptor couple, Frances Loring and Florence Wyle.
A personal note: Using the fiction-springboarding-from-fact method that I developed for my collection The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits (2002), but focusing on North America and the theme of life-changing journeys this time, Astray is an oddly autobiographical book. Having emigrated twice, as I explain in the Afterword, I have a stake in these storylines. (It was my agent Caroline Davidson who persuaded me to write the Afterword; I was afraid it would come across as narcissistic but it seems as if critics and readers alike appreciate hearing how I came to these stories.) The working title of the collection was Strays (a genealogical term for people who end up far from home), but that sounded a bit too much like mangy puppies, so I finally settled on Astray, which has wonderful connotations of being a bit 'astray in the head', as we say in Ireland. My favourite of the stories is proabably 'Man and Boy', because of the novel challenge of writing what one review called a 'pachydermic bromance'.
To buy Astray
In the US, paperback: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/emma-donoghue/astray/9780316206280/
or ebook: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/emma-donoghue/astray/9780316206266/
or multi-voiced audio: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/emma-donoghue/astray/9781611134216/
In the UK/Ireland/Australia, paperback: http://www.panmacmillan.com/book/emmadonoghue/astray?format=978144720950801
In Canada, paperback: http://harpercollins.ca/books/Astray-Emma-Donoghue/?isbn=9781443410809
Verdwaald (Amsterdam/Antwerp: Atlas Contact, 2013)
Egarés (Paris: Stock, 2012)
'A beautifully rendered collection of hauntingly vivid short stories… Most of the stories have the seeds of fascinating novels. But the mark of a great short story is how wholly satisfying it can be, spun exactly as it is. Canadian writer Alice Munro has the gift and so does the Irish-born Donoghue… Almost operatic in her ability to capture voices, her bountiful imagination allows Donoghue to cross borders and get under the skin of a wide cross-section of people. She could not have assembled a richer cast of characters. We sense Donoghue's compassion for all of them — even the least appealing… Gorgeously written and thoroughly engrossing,Astraycaptures the uncertainty and complexity of settling into unknown turf. The voices of her characters reverberate in our heads, long after putting the book down.' - USA Today (4/4 stars)
'Donoghue's affinity for yesteryear's untold tales is charming, and her talent for dialect is hard to overstate… Each and every one of Donoghue's characters leaves an impression.' - Time
'Expanding her horizons far beyond the confines of her bestseller Room, Donoghue uses history to conjure 14 haunting tales that span continents and centuries… these seekers and their stories pull you in – and stir your heart.' – People
'Sensitive and intuitive, and her narrative voice moves fearlessly between centuries and between genders… Donoghue displays a ventriloquist's uncanny ability to slip in and out of voices… Donoghue reveals them all, in their places of exile, with gentle yet devastating truth.'- The New York Times Book Review
'What is most impressive about these stories is her ability to plumb historical footnotes for timeless emotional resonance… These fascinating postscripts enhance the stories, like bonus features on DVDs. Besides satisfying our curiosity for what really happened, they offer a peek into the writer's craft.' – Washington Post
'Off we go across the map, gladly following Donoghue wherever she intends to lead us… a book that is an interactive narrative hybrid, one that gets us lost in other lives, one that probes our history, reveals the artist behind the work and that ultimately shows us fresh and that ultimately shows us something fresh, unsettling and enduring about ourselves.' – San Francisco Chronicle
'One senses cumulatively through this book the capacious curiosity of Emma Donoghue's mind, and the breadth of her knowledge. An academic by training and a fiction writer by vocation, she is not only a marvelous researcher, but has the ability expertly to deploy the intriguing details she has uncovered… her exuberant intelligent is restless… Never dull, these stories illuminate worlds like a magic lantern… Donoghue's imagination can alight upon almost anything and revivify it.' – New York Review of Books
'Can inhabit any kind of fictional character and draw us into even the most unfamiliar world with her deep empathy and boundary-defying imagination.' - Newsday
'Displays her mastery at inventing the speech of the most unlikely characters in this story collection. … With such ingenuity, Donoghue achieves the effect of creating magic and wonder in the real world. To follow Donoghue into the unknown is one of the most pleasurable experiences I can think of.' - The Daily Beast.com
'And what a trip it is. Told with pathos and humor, from diverse points of view, in authentic-sounding vernacular, the characters capture us with their hardscrabble lives, gender-bending surprises, money-making schemes, perilous exploits, and terrible losses… Considering the riches of the collection, wanting more is less a complaint than a compliment, especially when treated to such a menu of assorted delights.' – Boston Globe
'Masterful dramatization… these are wise, searching, often funny stories.' – Globe and Mail
'The stories in Emma Donoghue's collection Astray are so compelling they are almost guilty pleasures. Literary fiction is not supposed to be so naked in its appeal to curiosity.' – National Post
'Superb collection… The factual explanations that end each story add a further, raw dimension to the already powerful emotions here… Readers who avoid short stories for fear that they will be less 'satisfying' than novels should sweep doubts aside and read this book. It is a gem.' – Sunday Times
'Donoghue has a remarkable feel for period detail, able to shift effortlessly between continents, centuries, races and classes….She is a shape-shifter, a subtle, imaginative impersonator. What changes from book to book is no less than the style, the era and the author herself. But what unifies all her prose is an uncommon ability to animate a quirk of history, to uncover in her fiction the oddities that make real life so fascinating.' – Financial Times
'An ingenious collection of dark true-life tales… Donoghue's method is inventive, generous and unusually fruitful… Astrayis an essentially hopeful book. It shows the vast talent of a writer for whom every life has its glowing moments, which shine here, despite the dark truths told alongside them.' –Telegraph
'Her compassion is contagious. Whether or not their actual lives were even close to the experiences she has bestowed on them, her evocative writing, beautiful in its pared-down clarity, has a ring of truth… Each of the stories stands on its own but as sequence they build up an emotional momentum that enhances the impact of some utterly memorable fictions in which voices from the past assume a riveting immediacy.' – Independent (Ireland)
Ellen McWilliams, 'Transatlantic Encounters in the Writing of Emma Donoghue', in her Irishness in North American Women's Writing (Springer, 2021), pp.161-80. Considers Landing and Astray. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-53788-1_7
Milda Danyté, 'All Writers are Border Walkers': Emma Donoghue between History and Fiction in Astray and The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits,' paper delivered at Canada: A World of Transformations conference, University of Latvia, 2018, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333895840_All_Writers_Are_Border_Walkers_Emma_Donoghue_Between_History_and_Fiction_in_Astray_and_The_Woman_Who_Gave_Birth_to_Rabbits\
Moira Casey and Eva Roa White, 'Unsettled Homes: Borders and Belonging in Emma Donoghue's "Astray"', The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Fall 2017), pp. 103-125. Discusses 'Onward', 'The Long Way Home', and 'The Lost Seed'.
Libe García Zarranz, 'Affecting the Ethical Imagination: Emma Donoghue's Astray', Chapter Eight in TransCanadian Feminist Fictions: New Cross-Border Ethics (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017)
Elke D'hoker, 'Double Visions: The Metafictional Stories of Eilís Ní Dhuibhne, Anne Enright and Emma Donoghue,' chapter 7 of Irish Women Writers and the Modern Short Story (Palgrave, 2016), 177-204. Discusses Astray and The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits.
Elke D'koker (KU Leuven), 'Border crossings in Emma Donoghue's Astray (2012)', paper delivered at Reading Short Fiction in Transnational Contexts conference (Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, 2015).
Elke D'hoker, 'Transnationalism and the Short Story: Emma Donoghue's Astray,' paper delivered at EFACIS (Palermo, 2015).
Libe Garcia Zarranz, 'TransCanadian Affects in Emma Donoghue's Astray,' paper delivered at BACS (London, 2015).
Libe García Zarranz, 'Assembling a Future of Affective Politics: Cross-Border Ethics in Emma Donoghue's Astray', in 'Queer TransCanadian Women's Writing in the 21st Century: Assembling a New Cross-Border Ethic,' DPhil (University of Alberta, 2013), 237-51
Interview on The Takeaway, 27 November 2012, http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/nov/27/blank-slate-american-identity-emma-donoghues-astray/
Claire Messud, 'Thank God You'll Never Be Beautiful', New York Review of Books, 22 November 2012, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/nov/22/thank-god-youll-never-be-beautiful/?pagination=false
Interview on National Public Radio, 'All Things Considered', 26 October 2012, http://m.npr.org/story/161269222
Jimmy So, 'From the Essays of a Master of Presidential Biographers, Edmund Morris, to the Problems of the Poems of Octavio Paz and the Brilliant Strangeness of Emma Donoghue', 22 October 2012
Short Story Collections Menu
Three and a Half Deaths
Touchy Subjects
Kissing the Witch | 3,161 |
Racing thoughts are common: We all have them from time to time. They<|fim_middle|> your self-esteem and mood, so says science. Keep away from toxic social media if you can to help alleviate the tension and the constant flood of everything. But, with the accessibility of phones these days, DO keep up with ways to help manage the stress and to help silence your mind. Apps are becoming a godsend on the anxiety management front. They're right at your fingertips and available just when you need them.
Free your mind using phone apps: I prefer Headspace, gifting myself a subscription for the new year. With a subscription, you have access to a dozen different meditation series focusing on problem areas, like focus and relaxation. There is also short meditations for kids and teens as well.
Ambient noise and soft music are great at easing the mind and slowing the swirling in your head. There are dozens of apps with an insane variety of sounds to fit any mood.
Whether it is the sounds of rain, waves on a beach, or the ambient noise of a cafe. Everyone has their own preference, but sometimes the sounds of library sounds can be a soothing backdrop and help to further yourself from the craziness of your thoughts.
Bad thoughts come and go: If you learn to practice mindfulness, dealing with intrusive thoughts will become doable.
Don't expect negative emotions to disappear for good though. No matter how much you try, disturbing thoughts will likely remain recurrent. Don't give up: Simply open the list above and grab the first technique you see. It will take you no more than a minute to feel better!
When your thoughts culminate in a seemingly endless storm that you can't quell entirely on your own, there are a few things that you can do to help yourself. None of these are foolproof and follow your instincts.
If your thoughts are persistent and ongoing, you should reach out and speak to a licensed therapist or your doctor. While small periods of stress is normal in life if it's severe or any of your thoughts are of harming yourself or others, please reach out and get help.
Experiencing stress is normal: We've all been there. There's no shame in that. It's all about finding your own way to deal with stress matching your personality.
Do you have your own tricks on getting rid of obsessive thoughts quickly and easily? Share them here in the comments. Your input may help someone in the world! | can be quite a distraction to our every day life preventing us from relaxing and focusing.
Dealing with unwanted thoughts can be exhausting, once you manage to pull yourself out of it. If you have them frequently, as I do, you start to learn tiny little tips and tricks to help calm the maelstrom inside your brain.
If you start researching anxiety and depression online, there's no shortage of advice there. My problem has always been they are rarely actionable.
While I can't take your anxiety away, I can let you in on what I have learned over the years to help quell the ongoing storm. It all comes down to forming your own habits helping you to cope with nagging negative thoughts.
Here are three quick tips to free your mind of unwanted thoughts right NOW, each of them taking no more than a minute to try!
Sometimes when you're in the midst of an episode, one of the first things to eclipse your notice is your ability to breathe. In, out, in, out. Take it slow. If you still have trouble keeping it slow, there are apps out there to help.
Free your mind using phone apps: My personal favorite is actually a feature on my productivity app, Tide. Pacifica, available for both Android and IOS is also a favorite. Both have features that help guide you through breathing to help calm you.
OR free your mind NOW (nothing to download or install): Open xhalr.com and follow instructions on the page.
Being stuck in the technological age can be terrible for | 307 |
La prima stagione di Queer as Folk è stata trasmessa sul canale statunitense Showtime dal 3 dicembre 2000 al 24 giugno 2001.
Première
Diretto da: Russell Mulcahy
Scritto da: Ron Cowen & Daniel Lipman
Trama
Michael, Brian, Emmett e Ted sono quattro amici gay che trascorrono le loro serate al Babylon, una discoteca del quartiere omosessuale Liberty Avenue a Pittsburgh.
Una sera, all'uscita del locale, Brian avvista un bel ragazzo biondo: è Justin, un diciassettenne che si è recato nel quartiere all'insaputa dei genitori. Brian seduce Justin e decide di portarlo nel suo loft per una notte di sesso, ma il ragazzo non gli rivela l'età e soprattutto il fatto che è vergine, anche se ciò traspare dalla goffaggine che mostra a letto: una telefonata li interrompe e Brian inizia a prepararsi frettolosamente per andare via, portandosi dietro Justin. I due passano a prendere Michael, il quale proprio quella sera era riuscito dopo molto tempo a portarsi a casa un uomo, per poi scoprire che indossava delle protesi per simulare dei glutei e una dotazione più appetibili di quanto non avesse.
Il motivo di tanta fretta è la nascita del figlio di Brian, portato in grembo dalla sua amica lesbica Lindsay, alla quale aveva donato il seme per permettere a lei e alla sua compagna Melanie di avere un bambino. Lindsay e Melanie sono indecise sul nome tra Abrahm e Gus: Brian chiede a Justin di scegliere e il ragazzo, siccome Abrahm è un nome antiquato, e secondo lui verrebbe poi preso in giro a scuola per questo, opta per Gus. L'essere diventato padre sconvolge Brian, temendo di perdere la vita dissoluta che ha condotto sino a quel momento: Michael gli ricorda che sapeva benissimo a cosa sarebbe andato incontro accettando la proposta delle due donne.
Usciti dall'ospedale, Brian ha assunto della droga e non può guidare la sua jeep: Michael riaccompagna lui e Justin al loft, dove possono riprendere dal punto in cui si erano interrotti. Justin ha ancora un po' di soggezione, ma ogni paura è destinata a svanire in una notte che non dimenticherà mai e che segnerà la sua vita, oltre a quella di Brian (rimming, sesso orale e anale). L'indomani mattina Michael torna con la jeep di Brian, che un paio di ragazzi del suo quartiere hanno vandalizzato scrivendoci "frocio" con delle bombolette. Giunti alla scuola del ragazzo, Justin chiede a Brian di poterlo rivedere quella stessa sera e l'uomo gli risponde che potrà incontrarlo soltanto nei suoi sogni. Mentre Justin dice alla sua migliore amica Daphne di aver visto "il volto di Dio", Brian e Michael si allontanano per le vie della città.
Guest star: Makyla Smith (Daph<|fim_middle|>.
Justin passa a casa sua per il compleanno della sorellina Molly, dimenticandosi di inserire l'allarme al loft di Brian, il quale di ritorno con un ragazzo appena conosciuto in palestra lo trova completamente svaligiato dai ladri.
Brian è infuriato con Justin e lo caccia via: il ragazzo gli ha preso la carta di credito e progetta di andare a New York in cerca di occupazione.
Daphne informa Brian dell'accaduto, ma lui non ha intenzione di fare nulla: Debbie prende in mano la situazione e lo obbliga ad andare a prenderlo, con Michael, Emmett e Ted che si offrono di accompagnarlo.
Durante il viaggio la ruota delle jeep si fora: mentre Emmett la sistema, Brian fa capire a Michael che, se andrà a convivere con David, loro due non potranno più vivere avventure insieme.
Una volta arrivati a New York, Brian trova Justin che se la sta spassando nella camera di un lussuoso albergo: Brian si dice disposto a trovargli una sistemazione e i due, prima di tornare a Pittsburgh, fanno l'amore.
Brian propone a Debbie di ospitare Justin a casa sua, essendo libera la cameretta di Michael.
Quest'ultimo ha riflettuto sulle parole di Brian e comunica a David che non accetta la convivenza, ma gli chiede di rimanere comunque insieme: David però non se ne fa nulla di un ragazzo che non si decide a crescere, così lo lascia.
Rimasto solo, David immagina la scena di lui e Michael sotto la doccia che aveva tanto sognato, ma che non si realizzerà.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi) James B. Douglas e Louis Negin (coppia di anziani gay)
Surprise
Diretto da: Michael DeCarlo
Scritto da: Jason Schafer & Jonathan Tolins
Trama
È il trentesimo compleanno di Michael, ma lui è di pessimo umore perché si sta rendendo conto che i tempi dei bagordi e del divertimento stanno per finire.
Debbie non ha mandato giù la sua rottura con David e accusa Brian di esserne il responsabile, poiché Michael avrebbe lasciato il dottore nella speranza che tra loro due possa accadere qualcosa: Brian propone alla donna di organizzargli una festa a sorpresa per farsi perdonare.
Justin comincia a lavorare al Liberty Diner per sdebitarsi con Debbie dell'ospitalità e restituire a Brian quanto ha speso con la sua carta di credito.
Ted incontra al supermercato un uomo che sta acquistando farmaci contro l'HIV e si ricorda che sei mesi prima ha avuto un rapporto sessuale senza protezione con quella stessa persona: impaurito, decide di sottoporsi immediatamente al test ed Emmett, per solidarietà verso l'amico, si fa prelevare il sangue anche lui.
Il dottore telefona a Ted per informarlo che il suo risultato è negativo, mentre vuole vedere Emmett il più presto possibile: il ragazzo è convinto che l'urgente convocazione sia dovuta al fatto che è positivo e deve vivere nella paura l'intero weekend.
La festa di compleanno di Michael si tiene nel loft di Brian, dove questi ha invitato molte altre persone, tra le quali anche David.
Michael scarta i regali e rimane colpito dal bell'orologio di David, ma si entusiasma quando Brian gli fa il miglior dono che potesse desiderare: un figurante vestito da Capitan Astro con l'introvabile numero uno.
Ted accusa Brian di trattare Michael come se fosse ancora un ragazzino, ma Brian gli risponde che gli amici hanno scoperto la sua cotta per Michael quando era in coma e che lo lascerà in pace soltanto se anche lui gli rivelerà i suoi sentimenti.
Emmett non riesce a godersi la festa e rivela a Vic che teme di aver preso l'HIV: l'uomo gli spiega che la vita continua, seppure in modo diverso.
Non rinfrancato dal colloquio, Emmett entra in bagno e prega Dio di non essere positivo: in cambio gli promette che non avrà più rapporti con uomini.
Melanie si ubriaca, manifestando apertamente la propria insofferenza verso il rapporto tra Lindsay e Gus che la vede sempre più esclusa, anche perché è ormai troppo tempo che lei e la compagna non hanno più rapporti.
Alla festa arriva Tracy, invitata apposta da Brian per poterle spiattellare in faccia la verità sul fatto che Michael è gay e che David è stato il suo fidanzato: la ragazza se ne va infuriata perché sente di essere stata soltanto un diversivo di Michael e i suoi amici per ridere alle sue spalle.
David colpisce Brian con un pugno in faccia e abbandona la festa: Michael decide di seguirlo e gli chiede di poter provare a vivere insieme a lui perché ha capito di amarlo ancora.
Gli amici disapprovano il comportamento di Brian e se vanno via, ma il mattino successivo Debbie gli confida di aver capito il suo gesto: per lasciare libero Michael ha infatti dovuto trovare un modo per offenderlo al punto da rompere i rapporti.
Emmett scopre di non essere sieropositivo, ma che doveva incontrare il dottore semplicemente per un assegno scoperto: Ted resta di stucco quando l'amico gli comunica che ha intenzione di diventare etero per prestare fede alla promessa fatta a Dio.
Guest star: Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Lindsey Connell (Tracy), Dianne Latchford (Marley)
Move It or Lose It
Diretto da: John Greyson
Scritto da: Ron Cowen, Richard Kramer & Daniel Lipman
Trama
Michael si trasferisce da David, portando con sé scatoloni pieni di oggetti da collezione: il dottore lo invita a metterli pure dove vuole, in quanto adesso è anche casa sua.
Mentre David ha il giorno libero e resta a casa, Michael deve andare al lavoro e trova i colleghi intenti a ridere di un articolo sui gay: Tracy, nonostante quanto accaduto alla festa, prende le difese degli omosessuali e invita Marley a essere più rispettosa di chi è diverso da lei.
Tracy però non ha perdonato Michael e gli comunica il preavviso di licenziamento perché ha trovato lavoro presso un altro supermercato: tornato a casa, scopre che David ha messo via i suoi oggetti perché inadatti al soggiorno.
Michael non sopporta l'idea di perdere una dipendente valida come Tracy e le chiede scusa, giustificandosi con il fatto che per molti anni si è dovuto nascondere ed è per questo motivo che non le ha detto subito la verità: la ragazza lo perdona e i due stabiliscono di restare amici.
Emmett non vuole violare il suo patto con Dio e si astiene completamente dai rapporti con uomini, arrivando persino a rifiutare la corte di un ragazzo carino in palestra.
Emmett è seduto da solo in un bar, quando viene avvicinato da un ragazzo che si presenta come Matt e lo invita a partecipare agli incontri di un gruppo che aiuta gli omosessuali a "vedere la luce", cioè abbracciare uno stile di vita più consono alla volontà del Signore.
Alla prima seduta intervengono Ty e Ginger, una coppia di ex omosessuali che adesso vivono felicemente insieme: Emmett non riesce a capire gli scopi che il gruppo si prefigge di raggiungere.
Di fronte ai dubbi di Ted, che non condivide i suoi turbamenti, Emmett decide di entrare nel gruppo e dichiara ai compagni di voler "vedere la luce".
Brian rimpiazza Michael con Ted nelle sue serate, ma senza il suo migliore amico non riesce a divertirsi: non è dello stesso avviso Ted perché ha l'occasione di prendersi tutti gli scarti di Brian e avere successo come mai gli era capitato prima.
Brian sente talmente tanto la mancanza di Michael da passare molto tempo in casa di Lindsay e Melanie: questo gli dà occasione di constatare i problemi esistenti tra le due donne, le quali non riescono più a parlarsi senza litigare.
Brian suggerisce a Lindsay di tirare fuori ciò che la rode, ma il risultato è che ferisce ancora di più Melanie perché le ricorda che lei non può avere figli ed è per questo motivo che vuole così tanto la potestà genitoriale di Gus.
Justin non sopporta di vedere Brian e Michael distanti, così consegna a Michael il numero uno di Capitan Astro che Brian gli aveva regalato al compleanno e lo invita a riflettere sul fatto che non voleva fargli del male, ma soltanto dirgli addio.
Michael si reca al Babylon e suggella la pace con Brian ballando insieme a lui: tornato a casa, trova i suoi gingilli risistemati in soggiorno e David intento a leggere un fumetto di Capitan Astro.
Guest star: Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Lindsey Connell (Tracy), Dianne Latchford (Marley), Stephanie Moore (Cynthia), Joseph Scoren (Matt), Steve Jackson (Ty), Kathryn Haggis (Ginger)
Very Stupid People
Diretto da: Ron Oliver
Scritto da: Drew Greenberg
Trama
Matt rivela a Emmett di essere stato una drag queen prima di "vedere la luce" e lo esorta a rompere con il suo passato gay, mettendolo in guardia dai suoi amici perché cercheranno di ricondurlo alla vita dissoluta che sta cercando di abbandonare.
Michael e Ted si preoccupano molto quando Emmett dice loro di essere entrato nel gruppo: i due ingaggiano l'acclamato attore porno Zack O'Tool perché gli ricordi a quale parrocchia appartiene.
Michael e Ted incontrano Emmett in città, convinti che Zack O'Tool abbia fatto il suo dovere: in realtà, Emmett risponde loro che è riuscito a resistere e che Matt aveva ragione nell'avvertirlo sul loro conto.
Lindsay e Melanie organizzano una festa per Franny e Zoe, una coppia di amiche lesbiche che stanno per avere un figlio, e che le ammirano al punto tale da prenderle come modello.
Mentre Lindsay si trova perfettamente a suo agio, Melanie si sente un pesce fuor d'acqua e se ne sta in disparte: qui conosce Marianne, la migliore amica di Franny, con la quale trova molte affinità perché è uno spirito libero come lei.
Quella sera, dopo l'ennesima discussione con Lindsay, Melanie raggiunge Marianne in un bar per sfogarsi dei suoi problemi e poi finiscono a letto insieme.
Quando nasce il bambino di Franny e Zoe, Melanie prova disagio nell'assistere alla stessa scena di quando nacque Gus e di rivedere quella felicità che adesso lei e Lindsay non hanno più.
Lindsay è disposta a consultare una terapeuta pur di risolvere i loro problemi, ma quando Melanie le dice di aver commesso una cosa grave e resta in silenzio, capisce che l'ha tradita: Melanie non le rivela l'identità dell'amante, puntualizzando che si è trattato di una sveltina senza sviluppi futuri.
Convinta che le cose tra lei e Lindsay non possano più tornare come prima, Melanie fa le valigie e va a stare dalla cugina.
Kip Thomas, un giovane appena assunto dalla Ryder, dice a Brian che il capo lo ha affidato a lui per imparare il mestiere.
Brian resta colpito dall'abilità di Kip e consuma con lui un rapporto in ufficio, riuscendo a non farsi scoprire: lui e Kip iniziano a vedersi assiduamente, anche fuori dal lavoro, con Justin che sembra intuire qualcosa di strano.
In effetti, Kip chiede a Brian di essere raccomandato per una promozione: lui però sostiene che è troppo presto e ha ancora molto da imparare.
Brian incontra Kip nella darkroom del Babylon, arrabbiato con lui perché non ha ottenuto l'incarico per causa sua e, tirando in ballo una sorta di obbligo di solidarietà fra gay, lo accusa di non averlo raccomandato anche se gay come lui.
Marty informa Brian che Kip ha fatto causa contro di lui e l'azienda per molestie sessuali.
Guest star: Angela Asher (Marianne MacDonald), Barna Moricz (Kip Thomas), Joseph Scoren (Matt), Matthew Taylor (Zack O'Tool), Nancy Leishman (Franny), Ophira Eisenberg (Zoe)
A Change of Heart
Diretto da: Michael DeCarlo
Scritto da: Doug Guinan
Trama
Brian sarà interrogato da un mediatore delle risorse umane sulla vicenda sessuale che lo riguarda: Marty lo sospende dal lavoro finché il tutto non sarà chiarito e lo invita ad assumere un avvocato.
Brian si rivolge a Melanie, sperando di poter mettere una pietra sopra alle loro passate divergenze: la donna accetta di difenderlo perché così almeno per una volta sarà in debito con lei.
Michael vuole stare vicino a Brian e annulla una cena programmata con David, figendo di dover assistere la madre ammalata: mentre sono insieme nel loft, a Michael viene l'idea di suonare qualcosa come ai tempi del liceo.
David scopre che Michael gli ha mentito e lo trova ubriaco sul palco di Woody's mentre sta strimpellando la chitarra con Brian: il dottore non è affatto contento del suo comportamento, così Brian ci va a parlare per fargli capire che non può costringere Michael a vivere in una campana di vetro.
David promette a Michael che d'ora in avanti gli permetterà di divertirsi e continuare a frequentare i suoi amici.
Melanie passa da Brian per studiare la strategia difensiva, ma se ne va di fretta quando si presenta Lindsay con Gus: Brian le firma un assegno per una colf che badi al bambino perché presto ricomincerà a lavorare.
Justin abborda Kip e si fa toccare da lui, dicendogli solo in un secondo momento di essere minorenne e che suo padre è molto vendicativo nei confronti di chi lo corteggia: intimorito dalle possibili conseguenze, Kip viene persuaso dal ragazzo a ritirare la denuncia contro Brian, il quale viene reintegrato sul posto di lavoro.
Ty, il supervisore del gruppo "vedere la luce", chiede ai membri di socializzare tra di loro per raccontare storie di successo come quella di Jim e Masha.
Emmett conosce Heather, una ragazza che frequenta il gruppo da sei mesi: anche lei è entrata per cambiare stile di vita, dopo aver ricevuto una delusione d'amore da un'altra donna.
Al loro primo appuntamento incontrano Ted e Melanie, ma finiscono per litigare perché Heather allude al fatto che vedendoli insieme sembravano persone normali.
Emmett ed Heather decidono di fare l'amore per rendere ufficiale il loro cambiamento, ma superano l'imbarazzo di un legame forzato immaginando entrambi, segretamente, di avere un rapporto omosessuale.
Convinti di essere "guariti", i due si apprestano a raccontare al gruppo la loro storia di successo: prima dell'incontro, Ted fa capire a Emmett che Dio gli vuole bene esattamente per quello che è.
Emmett ed Heather si fanno cacciare dal gruppo e raggiungono i ragazzi al Babylon, senza nascondere più quello che sono.
Guest star: Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Tracy Waterhouse (Heather), Judah Katz (Marty Ryder), Stephanie Moore (Cynthia), Barna Moricz (Kip Thomas), Steve Jackson (Ty), Scott Anderson (Jim), Carolyn Bennett (Marsha)
The Ties That Bind
Diretto da: Alex Chapple
Scritto da: Garth Wingfield
Trama
Il Babylon organizza la tradizionale festa leather, una serata sadomaso in cui i partecipanti si mascherano da padroni o da schiavetti nello stile del BDSM.
Emmett passa a prendere Ted al lavoro e incontrano Dale Wexler, un vecchio compagno di college di Ted, che al contrario di lui ha avuto una carriera brillante.
Con sorpresa Ted ritrova Dale alla festa leather, dove è il padrone protagonista della serata: Dale lo porta a casa sua e gli mostra una stanza di tortura, dove gli propone un rapporto sadomaso.
Ted rifiuta impaurito e Dale gli rinfaccia che è rimasto uguale a quando erano studenti ed è proprio questo suo atteggiamento timoroso ad avergli impedito di fare strada.
Ted si accorge di essere una persona talmente abitudinaria che i suoi amici sanno per filo e per segno cosa ordinerà al Liberty Diner: decide allora di tornare da Dale ed essere il suo schiavetto.
Hank, il figlio dodicenne di David, arriva dall'Oregon per trascorrere qualche giorno col padre: Michael sente subito di non piacergli, intuendo la difficoltà con cui possa accettare l'omosessualità del proprio padre.
David ha pianificato le loro giornate nei minimi dettagli per poter massimizzare il poco tempo a disposizione: durante tutte le attività, dalle visite ai musei alle partite di hockey sul ghiaccio, Michael si sente escluso dal rapporto intimo tra padre e figlio.
Quando David deve assentarsi per lavoro, Michael parla con Hank e scopre che il ragazzino non ha problemi con lui, bensì con suo padre perché quando si vedono non gli permette mai di fare qualcosa che piaccia a lui.
Michael ed Hank scoprono di avere una comune passione per i fumetti: questo permette loro di trovare un punto di contatto e, prima di salire a bordo dell'aereo, Hank si chiarisce con suo padre.
Lindsay deve seguire un corso di aggiornamento fuori città e affida Gus a Brian, raccomandandogli di fare attenzione: Brian prende talmente sul serio l'incarico da voler rinunciare alla festa leather.
Mentre sta badando a Gus, Brian riceve la visita di suo padre Jack che lo informa di avere il cancro e che non gli resta molto da vivere: Debbie gli consiglia di rivelargli che è gay prima che sia troppo tardi.
Brian sente il bisogno di distrarsi, così lascia Gus a Justin e va alla festa leather: qui viene invitato da uno dei figuranti a chiamarlo papà, cosa che lo fa irretire e andare via.
Tornato nel loft, Brian trova una Melanie furiosa perché come al solito ha scaricato suo figlio per andarsi a divertire: la donna riporta Gus a casa e Brian le rinfaccia di non essere lei il suo genitore.
Brian decide di dare ascolto Debbie e rivela a suo padre di essere gay: Jack non la prende bene e ritiene che meriterebbe Brian di morire, il quale sferra un pugno a uno scatolone per non colpirlo e se ne va.
Jack si presenta nel loft con una fotografia che lo ritrae mentre tiene in braccio Brian a quattro mesi: questi gli presenta Gus rivelandogli che è suo nipote e, mentre il nonno si gode l'appena scoperto nipotino, guarda con attenzione la foto.
Guest star: Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Lawrence Dane (Jack Kinney), Ryan Cooley (Hank Cameron), Bobby Johnston (Dale Wexler)
French Fried
Diretto da: Jeremy Podeswa
Scritto da: Jason Schafer
Trama
Melanie è con Ted ed Emmett alla festa lesbica del Babylon, ma non si diverte perché sente la mancanza di Lindsay: i due la invitano a passare a trovarla per fare pace.
Melanie va a casa di Lindsay, ma ad aprirle la porta è un ragazzo francese di nome Guillaume che dice di vivere con lei e che sta badando a Gus: la donna pensa che si tratti di un domestico, ma poi viene a sapere che lui e Lindsay convivono come se fossero una vera e propria famiglia.
Lindsay spiega a Melanie e Brian che Guillaume è un suo amico gay che insegna francese all'università: i due hanno intenzione di contrarre un finto matrimonio in modo da fargli ottenere il permesso di soggiorno, mentre lei sarebbe in grado di pagare le spese della casa e del bambino.
Melanie e Brian cercano inutilmente di far riflettere Lindsay sull'errore che sta commettendo, ma quest'ultima si arrabbia perché loro due si sono alleati dopo tutti i suoi tentativi inutili di farli andare d'accordo.
A Michael non va giù che David non gli lasci mai pagare nulla: l'unica somma che versa al compagno è la quota mensile di 300 dollari per le spese della casa.
Michael passa in banca perché scopre di avere più soldi del dovuto nel proprio conto: il motivo è che alcuni assegni non sono mai stati riscossi, quelli di David. Il dottore gli spiega che non gli deve nulla perché le emozioni del loro rapporto valgono più del denaro.
Michael esige che David non paghi più per lui, anche se questo significa rinunciare a un viaggio di lusso a Parigi che il compagno aveva organizzato a sorpresa.
Ted fa riflettere Michael sul fatto che il suo falso orgoglio rischia di rovinare il rapporto con David, così la sera gli dice di accettare la sua proposta di andare in Francia.
Justin arriva a scuola felice perché ha intuito che Brian prova qualcosa per lui, essendo rimasto spiazzato quando il ragazzo gli ha detto di aver fatto domanda per molte università fuori dalla Pennsylvania.
In classe, mentre il signor Dixon sta facendo l'appello, Hobbs dice ad alta voce "finocchio" quando viene chiamato il cognome di Justin, il quale pretende delle scuse, ma il professore finge di non aver sentito, così il ragazzo lo ingiuria e viene sospeso.
Debbie esorta Justin a non smettere di lottare e gli suggerisce l'idea di fondare un gruppo gay, sostenendo che lui non è l'unico studente omosessuale della sua scuola.
Justin decide di andare oltre, creando un gruppo di studenti gay ed etero per favorire la comprensione reciproca: attraverso i preservativi donati da Brian, il ragazzo e Daphne racimolano una discreta quota di iscrizioni.
Il primo incontro dura però appena il tempo di cominciare perché il signor Dixon, venutone a conoscenza da una soffiata di Hobbs, sostiene che la loro sia una riunione non autorizzata e costringe tutti ad andarsene.
Justin incontra Hobbs a Liberty Avenue e racconta a tutti i presenti della volta in cui Hobbs si è lasciato masturbare da lui, anche se ha sempre avuto un atteggiamento omofobo: Brian lo ammira per il suo coraggio, avvertendolo però di essersi fatto un nuovo nemico.
Guest star: Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Noam Jenkins (Guillaume), Alec McClure (Christopher Mark Hobbs), Kevin Hicks (signor Dixon), Brian McQuinn (bancario)
Solution
Diretto da: Michael DeCarlo
Scritto da: Jonathan Tolins
Trama
Lindsay e Guillaume sono costretti ad anticipare i tempi del matrimonio perché lui ha ricevuto la lettera di espulsione: Brian cerca di ricordarle che il suo vero amore è Melanie, ma Lindsay è sicura che si tratti ormai di un capitolo chiuso della propria vita.
Lindsay non riesce a far smettere di piangere Gus, così telefona a Melanie che gli canta una canzone con cui spesso è riuscita a calmarlo.
Justin trova il suo armadietto bruciato con la scritta "froci morite" e gli altri studenti che lo scherniscono.
Jennifer e Justin chiedono un colloquio con il preside, ma costui non ha intenzione di concedere la costituzione del gruppo gay ed etero perché, secondo lui, andrebbe contro le convinzioni di molti genitori e comunque la questione non sarebbe sufficientemente importante.
Il viaggio a Parigi ha completamente cambiato Michael, il quale si atteggia a snob presuntuoso che frequenta l'alta società e non ha tempo per vedere i suoi vecchi amici.
Vic legge sul giornale che a casa di David si terrà una festa per una raccolta fondi della senatrice Diane Baxter, fiera sostenitrice dei diritti gay: i ragazzi danno per scontato che Michael li inviterà, ma lui non li reputa adatti per un contesto così formale.
Debbie propone di andarci ugualmente: il loro abbigliamento eccentrico e i modi non certo da etichetta smorzano l'atmosfera ovattata del party, ma la senatrice sembra stranamente gradire il clima un po' sopra le righe della serata.
Michael prende da parte sua madre e le riferisce che con il suo comportamento lo ha imbarazzato: Debbie, offesa, se ne va, dicendogli che questa volta è lei a vergognarsi di lui.
Mentre Brian si apparta con uno dei camerieri, Justin ha l'occasione di parlare con la senatrice dei suoi problemi a scuola.
Il giorno dopo Brian incontra Guillaume al supermercato, il quale gli spiega che, una volta sposato con Lindsay, ha intenzione di avviare le pratiche per adottare Gus e Brian dovrà uscire dalle loro vite per salvare le apparenze.
Non potendo denunciare Guillaume, poiché in quel caso anche Lindsay passerebbe dei guai, Brian prende in contropiede tutti con una decisione a sorpresa: si dichiara disposto a firmare il documento con cui cede la sua patria potestà a Melanie, ma solo se lei e Lindsay tornano insieme.
Le due donne si confidano di essersi sempre amate e a Guillaume non resta altro da fare che uscire di scena.
Debbie organizza una manifestazione di protesta davanti alla scuola di Justin: il preside vuole chiamare la polizia, ma arriva la senatrice Baxter che lo minaccia davanti alle telecamere di revocare i fondi alle scuole private se tutti gli studenti non saranno trattati allo stesso modo.
La sera sono tutti a festeggiare da Debbie, senatrice Baxter compresa: Michael si presenta in casa e chiede scusa alla madre e agli amici per come si è comportato.
Brian avvisa Justin di stare attento perché, anche se ha ottenuto una piccola vittoria, chi gli vuole male tornerà all'attacco.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Noam Jenkins (Guillaume), Barbara Gordon (senatrice Diane Baxter), John Bourgeois (dottor Perkins)
Surprise Kill
Diretto da: Russell Mulcahy
Scritto da: Jason Schafer & Jonathan Tolins
Trama
Durante una serata al Babylon, Michael rifiuta le avance di un bel ragazzo per restare fedele a David: Brian scopre però che il dottore non fa altrettanto, avendolo sorpreso in una sauna gay.
Tornato a casa dalla cena di lavoro che aveva usato come copertura, David, forse sentendosi in colpa per essere stato scoperto, fa l'amore con Michael tutta la notte.
Il giorno dopo Brian continua a tirare frecciatine a David, sperando che ciò lo induca a confessare, anche se mette in chiaro con lui che non ha intenzione di dire niente a Michael.
I sensi di colpa che attanagliano David lo costringono a dire la verità a Michael, il quale viene convinto dagli amici a vendicarsi andando a letto con il ragazzo del Babylon.
Michael però non riesce ad andare fino in fondo perché è innamorato di David e i due concordano di concedersi momenti di libertà, pur nel rispetto reciproco.
Ted viene abbordato nuovamente da Blake, ma non vuole parlarci ed Emmett lo scaccia abbastanza sgarbatamente: Ted lo trova poi riverso a terra in bagno, privo di sensi tra l'indifferenza generale.
Ted chiama i soccorsi e si trattiene in ospedale finché Blake non si riprende, anche se Emmett gli aveva suggerito di non farlo perché quando era lui a essersi sentito male lo aveva abbandonato.
Blake si risveglia, ma non ha dove andare perché lo hanno sfrattato e Ted lo ospita a casa sua: il ragazzo cucina per lui, in modo da saldare simbolicamente il suo debito.
Blake vorrebbe riprendere da dove si erano interrotti la prima sera: Ted, nonostante un po' di paura nel riassaporare quei momenti, riesce a lasciarsi andare.
Ted ha perso il portafoglio e, quando Blake torna a casa carico di regali, pensa che glielo abbia rubato lui e gli intima di andarsene: in realtà il portafoglio era scivolato fra i cuscini del divano di Emmett.
Justin viene ammesso alla Dartmouth, dove andrebbe a studiare economia come suo padre, ma è stato accettato anche dall'Istituto di Belle Arti di Pittsburgh: il ragazzo è intenzionato a scegliere questa seconda opzione per seguire il suo sogno di artista.
Justin scopre che sua madre ha contattato un immobiliarista per far valutare la casa perché sta divorziando dal marito: sentendosi il responsabile dell'imminente separazione dei genitori, il ragazzo è deciso ad andare alla Dartmouth e rifiuta il corredo da disegno che Lindsay e Melanie gli avevano regalato per l'Istituto di Belle Arti.
Debbie trova i disegni di Justin nell'immondizia e tenta inutilmente di farlo ragionare, ma è Brian che gli spiega come potrebbe pentirsi in futuro di non aver seguito le sue aspirazioni.
Justin stampa la lettera di ammissione alla Dartmouth, ma poi disegna sullo stesso foglio la giacca appesa alla porta: l'impulso dell'artista è troppo forte in lui.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Dean Armstrong (Blake Wyzecki), Rogue Johnston (ragazzo del Babylon), Wendy Coles (immobiliarista)
Good Grief
Diretto da: David Wellington
Scritto da: Garth Wingfield
Trama
Ted trova Blake da Woody's e gli domanda scusa per la storia del portafoglio, dichiarandosi disponibile ad aiutarlo nel momento difficile che sta attraversando.
Blake bussa alla sua porta per chiedergli nuovamente ospitalità, assicurandogli che questa volta è veramente pulito: Emmett però continua a essere dubbioso circa il cambiamento di Blake, ma Ted non lo ascolta e lo accusa di essere geloso.
Emmett incontra Blake al Babylon e lo avverte che se spezzerà il cuore a Ted, vanificando la sua ostinata fiducia, dovrà vedersela con lui.
Blake non torna a casa, così Ted va a cercarlo e lo trova steso per terra a casa di amici: qui gli promette che farà di tutto per superare insieme a lui ogni difficoltà.
Daphne si è fidanzata con il compagno di scuola Glen Reeves, ma ha paura di sfigurare quando faranno l'amore perché è vergine e inesperta: la ragazza si rivolge a Justin, essendoci già passato, e gli chiede di iniziarla alla vita sessuale.
Justin non è sicuro di accettare, intimorito dalla possibilità che il sesso rovini la sua amicizia con Daphne, ma accetta purché questo non alteri lo stato delle cose tra loro.
Justin si preoccupa quando Daphne comincia a tempestarlo di bigliettini e telefonate, esattamente come se fossero una coppia: il ragazzo si confida con Lindsay e Melanie, le quali gli spiegano che per una donna la prima volta è molto importante, e che Daphne potrebbe essersi presa una cotta per Justin.
Justin prova a far ragionare Daphne, ma lei lo accusa di essere cambiato in peggio da quando frequenta Brian perché non riescono più a vedersi assiduamente come prima.
Mentre è a letto con due ragazzi, Brian riceve una telefonata che lo informa della morte di suo padre: nonostante la tragica notizia, riprende come se nulla fosse.
Brian non manifesta la benché minima emozione per l'accaduto, sbrigando i preparativi per il funerale senza battere ciglio: sua madre Joanie lo autorizza a prendere un oggetto del padre come ricordo e Brian sceglie la sua palla da bowling.
Dopo la cerimonia funebre, Claire, la sorella di Brian, chiede ai presenti di raccontare qualche aneddoto su Jack: Michael ricorda quel giorno in cui aveva portato lui e Brian, allora quattordicenni, a giocare a bowling e che in quell'occasione aveva abbracciato Brian dopo uno strike.
Invece Brian rovina l'atmosfera, raccontando che quando suo padre seppe che la moglie era incinta le chiese di abortire: questo compromette i già deboli rapporti con la sua famiglia.
Tornato al loft, Brian spiega a Michael che il suo ricordo non è completamente esatto: è vero che aveva fatto strike, ma erano stati loro due ad abbracciarsi e suo padre aveva rimbrottato che sembravano due finocchi.
Brian chiede a Michael di fermarsi a dormire da lui, proponendogli di fare l'amore insieme come ha sempre voluto: Michael però rifiuta, perché non vuole approfittare di un momento di debolezza dell'amico.
Brian decide di giocare con Michael una partita di bowling in onore di Jack, al termine della quale si ferma in una strada deserta di Pittsburgh e lancia nel vuoto la palla del padre.
Guest star: Dean Armstrong (Blake Wyzecki), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Lawrence Dane (Jack Kinney), Kirsten Kieferle (Claire Kinney), Lynne Deragon (Joanie Kinney), Tommy Brewster (Brian adolescente), Dane Wagner (Michael da adolescente), Adam Blake (Gleen Reeves), Charles Seixas (padre Bowler)
The King of Babylon
Diretto da: Russel Mulchay
Scritto da: Jason Schafer & Jonathan Tolins
Trama
Al Babylon c'è l'evento dell'anno: l'elezione del Re del Babylon, con premio di 100 dollari e un viaggio alle Bahamas.
I ragazzi prendono in giro Michael perché sicuramente non verrà, ironizzando sulla vita da pensionato che conduce con David: il dottore, venuto a sapere di queste voci dal compagno, decide di andare.
Vedendo uomini ritoccati che si spogliano nudi davanti al pubblico, David li giudica troppo superficiali perché non accettano che l'età passa per tutti: Brian gli rinfaccia che parla così solo perché non è più giovane e, per farsi bello davanti a lui, sembra volersi iscrivere al concorso.
In realtà, Brian ha iscritto David per metterlo in imbarazzo davanti a tutti: il dottore accetta la sfida e, superata qualche esitazione iniziale, riscuote grande successo.
Emmett incontra Brent, un ragazzo con cui ha un'immediata affinità. I due sono talmente presi da fare addirittura progetti a lungo termine; la bella favola però non dura perché, poco dopo, Brent confessa a Emmett di aver appena conosciuto un altro ragazzo "perfetto".
Ted continua ad aver paura che Blake possa ricascare nel tunnel della droga, anche perché i suoi amici non l'hanno ancora accettato nel gruppo: Blake non vuole essere l'oggetto della discordia tra loro, ma Ted lo rassicura dichiarandosi disposto anche ad andare contro il loro parere.
Per tutta la sera Blake viene infastidito dal suo vecchio spacciatore, il quale tentava di vendergli delle pasticche, che lui rifiuta perché ha realmente intenzione di cambiare vita.
Justin è triste perché Brian lo tratta come una ruota di scorta, da usare solo se con altri uomini va male: la conduttrice della serata, la drag queen Sheba, vede il ragazzo triste e lo convince a iscriversi allo spogliarello per far ingelosire il suo amato.
L'esibizione di Justin è molto apprezzata dal pubblico e a vincere il titolo di Re del Babylon, probabilmente grazie anche a qualche trucco di Sheba, è proprio lui: galvanizzato dallo scalpore che ha sollevato presso il pubblico, il giovane porta via addirittura un uomo a Brian.
Vic si trova nei bagni del centro commerciale, quando viene adescato da un uomo: costui è un poliziotto in incognito che lo arresta con l'accusa di atti osceni in luogo pubblico.
Debbie sveglia Melanie, avendo bisogno di un avvocato, e le due si presentano al comando, ma è stata fissata una cauzione di dollari: Melanie si sorprende che sia così alta per un primo reato, e Debbie è costretta a rivelarle che Vic ha un mai rivelato precedente per possesso di droga.
Debbie preme sul sergente affinché Vic possa prendere le sue pillole, ma non ottiene nulla perché è vietato avere contati con chi è stato arrestato da poco.
Debbie si precipita al Babylon per chiedere aiuto ai ragazzi: Blake si rivolge allo spacciatore per avere i soldi della cauzione e finalmente si guadagna il rispetto del gruppo.
Il mattino dopo Justin si vanta con Brian di aver detto alla sua conquista di poterlo rincontrare solo nei suoi sogni, esattamente come aveva fatto con lui la loro prima volta.
Guest star: Dean Armstrong (Blake Wyzecki), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Salvatore Migliore (Sheba), Dave Tomlinson (Brent), Peter Valdron (poliziotto in incognito), Roger McKeen (sergente)
Running to Stand Still
Diretto da: Michael DeCarlo
Scritto da: Garth Wingfield
Trama
Vic deve andare a processo per quanto accaduto nel centro commerciale, ma Debbie e Michael non ritengono che nel suo stato di salute sia in grado di affrontarlo: Melanie gli prospetta la possibilità di dichiararsi colpevole e cavarsela con una multa, anche se ciò implicherebbe un precedente sulla fedina penale.
Emmett racconta a Vic di un professore del suo paese d'origine che, ingiustamente accusato di aver molestato uno studente, decise di ritirarsi e vivere il resto della sua vita nella vergogna anziché combattere per ottenere giustizia.
In aula Vic non riconosce il verbale steso dal poliziotto che lo ha arrestato, avendo costui riportato molti dettagli non veri, e decide, tra lo stupore dei suoi cari, di dichiararsi non colpevole.
Melanie riesce a dimostrare al procuratore che negli anni lo stesso agente ha mistificato numerosi verbali di arresto di omosessuali: Vic viene così assolto con formula piena.
Blake non riesce a trovare lavoro perché non ha referenze e soprattutto per il suo passato da tossicodipendente: Ted riesce a farlo inserire nello studio di Melanie come lavoratore precario, avendo aiutato Vic con il denaro della cauzione.
Blake torna a casa felice dal primo giorno, ma Ted trova uno spinello nella tasca della giacca.
Brian viene nominato miglior pubblicitario dell'anno: Adam Lyons, colui che gli ha consegnato il premio, gli consiglia di candidarsi per un posto che si è liberato nella sua agenzia di New York, considerandolo troppo talentuoso per restare a Pittsburgh.
Brian è convito di avere il lavoro assicurato, data la promessa di Lyons di raccomandarlo, e comincia a dire a tutti che parte: Justin non la prende benissimo, ma Brian gli chiede di dimenticarlo perché sarà senz'altro in grado di cavarsela da solo.
Questo non basta a tranquillizzare il ragazzo: Michael lo rassicura, constatando che Brian preferirebbe essere il numero uno in una piccola città come Pittsburgh piuttosto che uno dei tanti a New York.
David è costretto a partire seduta stante per Portland perché il figlio si sta ribellando alla separazione di sua madre con l'attuale compagno.
Una volta tornato, David annuncia a Michael che ha intenzione di trasferirsi a Portland, ma non vuole rinunciare a lui e gli propone di trasferirsi nell'Oregon.
Lyons telefona a Brian per informarlo che non ha ottenuto il posto, poiché l'agenzia ha preferito promuore un interno: l'uomo decide di non dire niente a nessuno e anzi esorta Michael a partire con David.
Durante la cena per festeggiare la vittoria di Vic, Michael accetta la proposta di David davanti a un Brian palesemente irritato dai continui commenti inconsapevoli dei suoi amici sulla sua partenza per New York.
Guest star: Dean Armstrong (Blake Wyzecki), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Stephanie Moore (Cynthia), Grant Nickalls (Adam Lyons), Katherine Trowell (giudice Elridge), Mark Burgess (procuratore)
Full Circle
Diretto da: Alex Chapple
Scritto da: Ron Cowen & Daniel Lipman
Trama
È il trentesimo compleanno di Brian e i suoi amici hanno deciso di organizzargli un finto funerale perché adesso è entrato ufficialmente nel regno dei "gay defunti": Brian non la prende molto bene e confessa che, non avendo ottenuto il posto a New York, non partirà.
Justin non vuole andare al ballo della scuola di fine anno, trovandolo una pagliacciata appositamente organizzata per gli etero, ma Debbie e Jennifer lo esortano a vivere quella che comunque è un'esperienza importante della sua vita: dopo il rifiuto di Brian di accompagnarlo, il ragazzo si rappacifica con Daphne e la invita ad andarci insieme.
Michael viene estromesso dai preparativi per il viaggio a Portland, avendo David deciso come al solito di farsi carico di tutto: questo non gli va giù perché sembra quasi che il compagno abbia fretta di partire.
Ted scopre che da qualche giorno Blake non si presenta al lavoro e Melanie lo avverte che i soci dello studio stanno pensando di licenziarlo: i suoi sospetti sono confermati quando il ragazzo si presenta a casa la sera totalmente sotto l'effetto di droga e lo costringe a fare l'amore per tutta la notte.
Emmett organizza una festa di addio a Michael in stile country nel loro appartamento: l'unico assente è Brian, il quale ha deciso di festeggiare il trentesimo compleanno da solo nel suo loft.
Durante il party Ted confessa a Blake di aver trovato lo spinello e lo pone di fronte a un ultimatum: se vuole continuare la loro relazione, si deve disintossicare.
Michael litiga con David perché lo vuole costringere a rinunciare a tutto quello che ha a Pittsburgh e passa da Brian per vedere come mai non è ancora arrivato: nel loft lo trova nel bel mezzo di un pericoloso gioco erotico, impiccato con una sciarpa bianca che aveva acquistato con Lindsay, e riesce a salvarlo prima che sia troppo tardi.
Il giorno dopo David annuncia a Michael di partire per Portland e gli lascia il suo biglietto aereo perché deve essere lui a decidere se seguirlo o meno.
Blake sembra aver accettato di farsi ricoverare in una clinica, ma successivamente Ted ed Emmett vengono a sapere che il ragazzo ha deciso di andarsene e ha chiesto di far avere a Ted il cd di opera che gli aveva regalato.
Brian si presenta al ballo di Justin e i due danzano insieme, davanti a un Chris Hobbs fuori di sé dall'ira per la provocazione: Brian lascia a Justin come regalo la sua sciarpa bianca.
Nel parcheggio della scuola, dopo essersi salutati, Brian sale sulla jeep e vede nello specchietto retrovisore Hobbs avvicinarsi alle spalle di Justin con una mazza da baseball: Brian non fa in tempo ad avvertirlo e Hobbs lo colpisce violentemente alla testa.
Michael ha deciso di raggiungere David a bordo dell'aereo, ma mentre sta per imbarcarsi riceve la telefonata di Brian. Nella corsia di attesa dell'ospedale, Michael tenta di consolare Brian, devastato e in lacrime.
Brian ricorda la sera in cui ha conosciuto Justin, quando loro tre correvano felici nello stesso corridoio di ospedale per la nascita di Gus.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Dean Armstrong (Blake Wyzecki), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Alec McClure (Christopher Mark Hobbs)
Note | ne Chanders)
Queer, There and Everywhere
Diretto da: Russell Mulcahy
Scritto da: Ron Cowen & Daniel Lipman
Trama
Justin racconta a Daphne gli accadimenti della notte precedente: lei non solo non sembra sconvolta, ma dice addirittura di aver sempre sospettato che fosse gay. Justin vuole incontrare ancora Brian, così chiede a Daphne di prestargli la macchina e di mentire ancora a sua madre: dal canto suo, Jennifer si domanda perché negli ultimi tempi il figlio sia così distante e inizia a nutrire qualche sospetto quando trova nella sua biancheria un paio di mutande di Brian che il ragazzo gli aveva portato via come "ricordo" della loro notte.
Michael viene invitato dalla sua collega di lavoro Marley al bar per permettere a Tracy, una ragazza assunta da poco che ha una cotta per lui, di conoscerlo meglio. Michael ha paura dell'incontro, avendo dovuto nascondere per tutti gli anni trascorsi al Big Q la propria omosessualità nel timore di essere discriminato e di non poter fare carriera. A impaurire ulteriormente Michael è anche il fatto che il bar è tipicamente eterosessuale, oltre a dover sostenere conversazioni su temi che con il mondo gay non hanno nulla a che vedere: Brian lo incita ad andare e gli promette che, se dovesse essere in difficoltà, non dovrà far altro che chiamarlo.
Lindsay e Melanie temono che lo stile di vita promiscuo di Brian in futuro possa far venire meno il suo sostegno economico a Gus, così vogliono che firmi un'assicurazione sulla vita da di dollari. Brian non prende affatto bene la proposta, essendo convinto che dietro ci sia lo zampino di Melanie, e passa a prendere Michael dalla sua serata etero per andare a Liberty Avenue, nonostante quest'ultimo si stesse divertendo con i colleghi. Arrivato al bar Woody's, Brian apprende con delusione che, oltre a Ted ed Emmett, c'è anche Justin e cerca di fargli capire che lui è stato una delle sue tante avventure notturne. Brian racconta ai presenti che l'unico con cui non è andato a letto è Michael, perché da adolescenti, mentre stavano per farlo davanti a una fotografia di Patrick Swayze, sono stati interrotti dalla madre di Michael che è entrata nella stanza. Justin dice che Dirty Dancing è un film molto vecchio, alludendo alla non più giovane età di Brian: l'uomo si offende e se ne va, profondamente intimorito al pensiero di invecchiare.
Rimasto da solo con Justin, Michael decide di portarlo al Liberty Diner, una tavola calda gestita da sua madre Debbie, una donna piuttosto eccentrica che ha accettato l'omosessualità del figlio al punto di diventare un'accesa sostenitrice dei diritti gay. Michael consiglia a Justin di lasciar perdere Brian, essendo un egoista al quale importa solo di se stesso, ma il ragazzo non ha intenzione di ascoltarlo e gli risponde che parla così perché è ancora innamorato di lui. Michael nega di essere geloso di Brian, ma quando poi accompagna la madre a casa sale nella sua vecchia stanza e cerca di riassaporare il momento che Brian aveva rievocato, per poi essere interrotto da sua madre esattamente come allora.
Justin si presenta nel loft di Brian e scopre che costui sta per intrattenersi con un uomo conosciuto sul web: Brian gli dice in faccia che si deve scordare di lui e Justin sale in macchina piangendo.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Lindsey Connell (Tracy), Dianne Latchford (Marley)
No Bris, No Shirt, No Service
Diretto da: Russell Mulcahy
Scritto da: Ron Cowen & Daniel Lipman
Trama
È passata una settimana dalla nascita di Gus: Lindsay e Melanie gli hanno organizzato il "bris", in cui il bambino verrà circonciso secondo il rito ebraico.
Come al solito Brian non ha la benché minima intenzione di presenziare perché ha "troppo da fare", ma quando viene a sapere da Michael che Gus sarà circonciso, si presenta alla festa proprio mentre il rabbino stava per procedere, impedendo appena in tempo lo svolgimento del rito.
Brian si oppone con fermezza alla circoncisione di Gus: in cambio firma a Lindsay e Melanie l'assicurazione sulla vita che gli avevano chiesto.
Quanto accaduto porta però a una discussione tra le due donne, con Melanie che non riesce a digerire le continue interferenze di Brian nella loro vita, anche perché ci teneva molto che Gus fosse circonciso secondo l'usanza ebraica.
Lindsay riesce a spiegarle che Brian ha dei diritti, essendo il padre biologico del bambino, ma questo non toglie che siano loro due a doverlo crescere insieme.
Emmett ha conosciuto Katsuo, un ragazzo giapponese che non conosce l'inglese, e che continua a ripetere la parola okanè: Michael ha saputo che significa "soldi", ma non ha il coraggio di dirlo a Emmett, perché altrimenti questi capirebbe che è un prostituto.
Brian e Michael stanno giocando a biliardo al bar Woody's, quando arriva Justin con Daphne: Michael disapprova l'ostinazione del ragazzo e insieme a Brian esce dal locale.
Justin chiede a Debbie e a suo fratello Vic dove possa essere andato Brian: Debbie gli suggerisce di cercarlo al Babylon e Vic gli regala la sua tessera per poter entrare.
Michael incontra Tracy e le sue amiche in giro per Liberty Avenue: Michael presenta Brian come suo amico e lui lo mette in imbarazzo, dicendo a Tracy che parla di lei in continuazione.
Mentre Emmett scopre finalmente che Katsuo voleva dei soldi, Ted decide di tornare a casa perché come al solito nessun ragazzo l'ha degnato di uno sguardo: all'uscita dal Babylon però lo ferma Blake, un ragazzo carino che frequenta la stessa palestra dei ragazzi, e che lo stava puntando da tutta la serata.
Ted porta Blake nel suo appartamento, dove il giovane gli fa provare della droga per avere un rapporto disinibito, ma Ted ne assume una dose eccessiva e si sente male: Blake, in preda al panico, fugge e lo lascia riverso sul pavimento, in preda a una crisi epilettica.
Al Babylon, Justin decide che è venuto il momento di farsi avanti e si mette a ballare a centro pista con Brian, riuscendo ad attirare la sua attenzione.
Michael osserva la scena dall'alto leggermente triste, rimpiagendo di non avere mai avuto il coraggio di Justin nel conquistare Brian.
Guest star: Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Dean Armstrong (Blake Wyzecki), Lindsey Connell (Tracy), Sean Baek (Katsuo), Jack Newman (rabbino Protesh)
Ted's Not Dead
Diretto da: Kevin Inch
Scritto da: Richard Kramer
Trama
Ted è in coma e ha poche possibilità di risvegliarsi: sua madre Margareth è disperata e sostiene che una donna non lo avrebbe mai abbandonato in quello stato.
Melanie, in qualità di avvocato di Ted, comunica a Brian che l'amico aveva fatto testamento, nel quale aveva lasciato proprio lui la decisione di lasciarlo morire interrompendo le cure mediche nel caso si fosse trovato in una situazione del genere.
Brian resta scioccato di fronte a tale richiesta e si rifiuta di ottemperare a questo gravoso compito: Melanie si infuria con lui e lo accusa di essere un codardo che si tira indietro davanti alle cose importanti.
Margareth ringrazia Michael per il sostegno che le sta dando e lo informa di voler andare nell'appartamento di Ted per procurargli alcune cose di cui avrà bisogno durante il ricovero in ospedale.
Michael telefona subito a Emmett per ripulire la casa di Ted da ogni oggetto sessuale che possa imbarazzare sua madre: mentre stanno nascondendo film porno e vibratori, Emmett scopre che l'anta di un armadio è piena di fotografie di Michael, rivelando una segreta cotta di Ted.
Justin si invaghisce di Chris Hobbs, un suo compagno di scuola, anche se dice a Daphne che con lui sarebbe soltanto sesso perché ama Brian.
Quando Hobbs viene punito per essersi distratto durante una lezione, Justin si offre di aiutarlo a ripulire il ripostiglio della palestra: durante una pausa, Hobbs si rilassa e si lascia masturbare da Justin, ma vengono interrotti dall'arrivo del professore.
Jennifer ha ormai la certezza che Justin è gay perché ha trovato nel suo album numerosi disegni che raffigurano corpi maschili, oltre a un'intera pagina riempita con la scritta "Brian".
Mentre sta andando con il figlio al centro commerciale, Jennifer gli chiede se questo Brian sia il suo fidanzato: Justin, che era alla guida, scende dalla macchina e fugge via.
Justin va alla ricerca di Brian, intenzionato a chiedergli di andare a vivere da lui perché suo padre non lo accetterebbe più in casa sapendolo gay, ma questi è in ospedale, da Ted, che si risveglia dal coma vedendo Brian fare sesso con un medico.
Justin passa a casa di Debbie, con Michael che ancora una volta non nasconde il fastidio di doversi accollare le responsabilità di Brian: quando quest'ultimo arriva, si bacia con Justin nella cameretta di Michael e poi se ne va, non prima di aver informato i presenti del risveglio di Ted.
Michael e Debbie accompagnano Justin a casa, spiegando a Jennifer che è dura per una madre accettare l'omosessualità del figlio, ma che alla fine sarà orgogliosa di lui.
Dopo qualche giorno, Ted è dimesso dall'ospedale: Brian gli domanda perché ha scelto lui per staccare la spina e Ted gli risponde che, essendo uno "stronzo egoista", sarebbe l'unico in grado di farlo.
La sera, al Babylon, Michael e Brian decidono di contare l'uno sull'altro nel caso dovessero trovarsi nella stessa situazione di Ted.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Alec McClure (Christopher Mark Hobbs), Elva Mai Hoover (Margareth Schmidt)
Now Approaching... The Line
Diretto da: Kari Skogland
Scritto da: Jason Schafer
Trama
Jennifer porta Justin dalla psicoterapeuta per risolvere i loro problemi di comunicazione, ma il ragazzo la mette in imbarazzo con riferimenti espliciti ai propri gusti sessuali.
Sempre più preoccupata, Jennifer comincia a pedinare il figlio e lo trova nudo da Woody's: Justin scappa e chiede ospitalità a Brian, il quale però mette in chiaro che potrà stare da lui soltanto una notte e che tra loro non esiste alcun rapporto affettivo.
Jennifer non sa dove cercare Justin, allora passa dal Liberty Diner per chiedere a Debbie se l'ha visto: la donna le risponde di no, consigliandole di vedere la faccenda da una prospettiva diversa.
Jennifer aspetta Justin fuori dalla scuola e insieme vanno a una mostra, come facevano tanto tempo prima: durante il giro, Justin risponde al cenno di un coetaneo seguendolo in bagno per un veloce rapporto sessuale.
Michael deve fare l'inventario al Big Q e chiede ai dipendenti chi è disponibile a dargli una mano: Tracy si offre, desiderosa di cogliere l'occasione per stare da sola con lui.
Tracy gli domanda come mai non ha più voluto uscire assieme a lei e agli altri colleghi, sospettando che abbia una doppia vita: imbarazzato per le domande scomode, Michael si distrae e cade dalla scala.
L'indomani continua a sentire un dolore al collo, così Tracy gli consiglia un bravo chiropatrico: il dottor David Cameron.
Durante la seduta, il dottore deve salirgli addosso per una manovra e Michael ha un'erezione: il medico cerca di minimizzare l'accaduto, dicendogli che succede a molti dei suoi pazienti.
Una volta tornato al lavoro, Michael riceve la visita dello stesso dottore: è infatti gay e lo invita a cena (Michael si era involontariamente rivelato a causa dell'erezione). La serata è gradevole, ma Michael resta deluso perché alla fine David non è interessato a chiudere la serata con del sesso.
Marty Ryder, il capo di Brian, gli affida un cliente molto difficile, il signor Telson, che deve convincere a firmare un contratto con l'agenzia.
Brian propone a Telson di fare un giro turistico di Pittsburgh, ma rimane interdetto quando il cliente gli chiede di andare al Babylon: Telson gli racconta di essersi sposato molto presto e che soltanto di recente ha scoperto di essere gay.
Telson vuole che Brian abbia un rapporto a pagamento con lui e in cambio firmerà il contratto: Brian accetta, dimenticandosi però che quella stessa sera Lindsay lo aveva invitato a cena nel tentativo di distendere i rapporti con Melanie.
Brian dà la priorità agli affari e si reca nella stanza d'albergo in cui alloggia Telson: mentre sono ai preliminari, Telson riceve la telefonata della moglie che la figlia si è fratturata il braccio, ma finge di essere impegnato in una riunione per non dover tornare a casa.
Brian capisce che Telson si sta comportando esattamente come lui con Lindsay, così decide di mandare a monte il contratto e passa a casa dell'amica per chiederle scusa.
Mentre Brian gioca amorevolmente con Gus, Michael si consola del rifiuto di David nella darkroom del Babylon.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Lindsey Connell (Tracy), Judah Katz (Marty Ryder), Jan Filips (Jan Telson), Dianne Latchford (Marley), Stephanie Moore (Cynthia)
The Art of Desperation
Diretto da: Kari Skogland
Scritto da: Jonathan Tolins
Trama
Michael si sente in colpa per come ha trattato David e si presenta nel suo studio per chiedergli scusa: il dottore gli dice di non preoccuparsi perché ha capito che non si trovava a suo agio.
Michael gli mostra il suo appartamento e i due hanno il loro primo rapporto: Michael è talmente felice di avere un fidanzato che vuole presentarlo subito ai suoi amici.
Tra David e Brian scatta una reciproca antipatia, dovuta al suo attaccamento morboso nei confronti di Michael: Brian arriva addirittura a flirtare con David, ma stando alla sua versione era soltanto per verificarne la fedeltà.
Ted vuole trovare l'anima gemella e partecipa a un incontro di gay della sua età, chiedendo però a Emmett di accompagnarlo: qui fa la conoscenza di Roger, un uomo con cui ha in comune la passione per la musica lirica.
Justin e Daphne stanno passeggiando in città, quando casualmente incontrano Lindsay e Melanie con il piccolo Gus: il ragazzo si offre di aiutarle a portare a casa la spesa.
Lindsay rimane colpita dal talento di Justin nel disegnare e gli propone di esporre qualcosa alla mostra organizzata dal Centro gay-lesbico, del quale lei e Melanie fanno parte.
Justin accetta con entusiasmo, ma vorrebbe che ci fosse anche Brian perché compare in uno dei suoi ritratti: Lindsay si mostra scettica al riguardo, in quanto Brian non partecipa molto spesso ai momenti associativi del centro, ma lo esorta a intervenire.
Jennifer viene a sapere da Daphne della mostra e decide di andarla a vedere per dare a suo figlio tutto l'appoggio possibile.
Justin è felice perché alla fine Brian è venuto: Jennifer li vede insieme e rimane sconvolta nel constatare che Brian è molto più grande di suo figlio.
Debbie le spiega che le sue preoccupazioni sono normali, ma non può ostacolarli perché non servirebbe a niente: l'unica sua possibilità è sperare che si comportino con giudizio.
Ted e Roger sentono la necessità di consumare il loro primo rapporto, che però si rivela noioso e Ted lo interrompe anzitempo: i due uomini cominciano a discutere e Roger se ne va offeso, accusando Ted di essere uno snob che si reputa superiore agli altri.
David osserva ingelosito Brian e Michael: Melanie gli dice che tra loro c'è un rapporto speciale, ma non sa di aver appena parlato con il nuovo fidanzato di Michael.
La sera tutti vanno al Babylon: Justin dice che il suo ritratto di Brian è stato venduto, senza sapere che l'acquirente è Brian stesso.
Ted incontra Blake nei bagni del locale: il ragazzo gli spiega che è stato lui a chiamare l'ambulanza, ma poi è dovuto scappare perché temeva che gli trovassero la droga.
David porta a casa Michael perché è troppo ubriaco e gli chiede a chi pensa mentre fanno l'amore, se a lui oppure a Brian.
Quest'ultimo, mentre sta copulando con la sua conquista della serata, osserva intrigato il disegno di Justin.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Dean Armstrong (Blake Wyzecki), Darrin Baker (Roger)
Smells Like Codependence
Diretto da: David Wellington
Scritto da: Ron Cowen & David Lipman
Trama
Michael presenta David a sua madre: Debbie è contenta che il figlio si veda con qualcuno, soprattutto se è un dottore con una posizione finanziaria solida.
Dopo una cena a casa di Debbie, David propone a Michael di trascorrere il fine settimana nella sua baita nei boschi: Michael è titubante perché non si è mai allontanato da Pittsburgh, ma accetta la proposta.
Una volta arrivati, Michael vede la fotografia di una donna e David gli spiega che è la sua ex moglie, con la quale è stato sposato sette anni e ha un figlio.
David puntualizza che si trattava di una fase della sua vita in cui cercava di negare la propria natura, ma che da quel momento si è ripromesso di dire sempre la verità alle persone cui tiene.
Mentre Justin si fa il piercing al capezzolo destro, Jennifer rivela a suo marito Craig cosa ha scoperto sul conto del figlio: inizialmente l'uomo non vuole credere che sia gay (è omofobo e reagisce alla rivelazione della moglie come se essere gay fosse infamante e vergognoso), ma deve rassegnarsi quando vede i disegni sull'album.
Quando Craig scopre che Brian è un adulto ha intenzione di denunciarlo per essersi portato a letto un minorenne, ma Justin gli spiega che era consenziente: il ragazzo si dice follemente innamorato di Brian, ma i genitori la reputano una cotta passeggera.
Craig telefona a Brian, ma quest'ultimo crede che in linea ci sia Justin e gli risponde, senza lasciargli il tempo di parlare, di aspettarlo per un rapporto sessuale, oltretutto spiegando in modo esplicito cosa ha in mente per questo incontro.
Justin ha una lite negli spogliatoi con Chris Hobbs, che lo accusava di essere gay: Craig vuole che il figlio cambi scuola per andare in un istituto militare, ma Justin non intende accettare questa imposizione.
Brian abbandona lo "Schiuma party" del Babylon, di pessimo umore per l'assenza di Michael, tanto da respingere le avance di un ragazzo che aveva sedotto settimane prima: mentre è fermo al semaforo, la sua jeep viene tamponata volontariamente da una macchina.
Brian rimedia una commozione cerebrale e pensa che il responsabile sia il tizio che aveva trattato male, ma Justin scopre che è stato suo padre perché aveva il cofano della macchina completamente sfasciato.
Michael telefona a Brian e viene a sapere dell'incidente, così chiede a David di tornare a casa: quando però lo vede in piena forma che balla insieme agli amici, David se ne va furioso perché pensa che sia stato uno stratagemma per interrompere il loro weekend.
Melanie lo insegue per esortarlo a non arrendersi, a combattere per il cuore di Michael: al Babylon David prende da parte Brian e gli chiede di farsi da parte per permettere a Michael di essere felice.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), John Furey (Craig Taylor), Alec McClure (Christopher Mark Hobbs)
Babylon Boomerang
Diretto da: Steve DiMarco
Scritto da: Richard Kramer
Trama
Craig aggredisce Brian a pugni all'uscita del Babylon: Justin prende le sue difese e intima al padre di andarsene, nonostante le sue minacce di non farlo più rientrare in casa.
Brian ammira Justin per aver affrontato a viso aperto il padre, ma spera che la sua permanenza nel loft duri il meno possibile e che trovi presto un'altra sistemazione.
Jennifer, infuriata con Craig per il modo precipitoso e sconsiderato in cui ha agito, tenta di riavvicinarsi a Justin, ma il ragazzo si rifiuta di ascoltarla perché la considera complice del padre.
Alla donna non resta altro da fare che andare nell'ufficio di Brian e lasciargli le cose di Justin, oltre a un assegno che copra le spese del ragazzo: Brian non vuole ospitarlo, ma Jennifer gli fa notare che è lui la causa di tutto e quindi adesso è una sua responsabilità.
Brian si reca con Lindsay e Gus dal concessionario per acquistare una nuova macchina, dopo quella sfasciata dal padre di Justin.
Il direttore, scambiandoli per una famiglia, fa una battuta omofoba sul fatto che la jeep scelta da Brian sia troppo gay: per tutta risposta, Brian finge di provarla e manda in frantumi la vetrina.
La convivenza tra Brian e Justin non è facile, con il ragazzo che non dimostra la benché minima inclinazione per l'ordine: Brian lo mette in difficoltà portandosi a casa un ragazzo rimorchiato da Woody's e baciandosi davanti a lui.
Justin trova ospitalità da Lindsay e Melanie: le due donne chiedono a Brian di parlare con la sua famiglia per farlo tornare a casa.
Craig si dice disposto a riaccogliere il figlio, però a condizione che nasconda il suo stile di vita e che non frequenti più persone e locali gay: Brian non ritiene giusto che Justin debba fingersi qualcosa che non è, così gli propone di seguirlo e stare da lui in pianta stabile.
Il direttore del Big Q Bob ha ottenuto una promozione e sta cercando tra i dipendenti chi sia in grado di ricoprire il suo vecchio incarico: Michael non si vuole candidare, intimorito dalle responsabilità che deriverebbero da tale lavoro.
Debbie sviene al lavoro e il dottore le ordina di stare a casa qualche giorno: Michael viene a sapere da zio Vic che in questo periodo sua madre sta lavorando troppo perché ha ipotecato la casa.
Vic si sente in colpa perché sua sorella sta male per causa sua, dovendolo mantenere, e progetta di trovare un appartamento da single: Debbie puntualizza che non intende lasciarlo andare a vivere da solo.
Di fronte alle difficoltà famigliari, Michael decide di farsi avanti per il posto di Bob, anche perché il rischio è che a ottenerlo sia il collega leccapiedi Andrew.
Michael si fa accompagnare da Tracy alla festa a casa di Bob: i due vengono presi in simpatia dalla moglie del capo, tanto che il giorno dopo Michael diventa il nuovo direttore del Big Q.
Mentre Debbie torna al lavoro e festeggia la promozione di Michael, Brian e Justin cenano insieme nel loft.
Guest star: Sherry Miller (Jennifer Taylor), Makyla Smith (Daphne Chanders), Jack Wetherall (Vic Grassi), Lindsey Connell (Tracy), John Furey (Craig Taylor), Richard Blackburn (Bob Barbarosa), Mairlyn Smith (Betty Barbarosa), Alex Poch-Goldin (Andrew)
Daddy Dearest
Diretto da: John Greyson
Scritto da: Jason Schafer & Jonathan Tolins
Trama
Emmett è assiduo frequentatore di una chat di sesso gay, ma si è costruito un personaggio completamente diverso da lui: fisico statuario e sodomizzatore.
Quando uno dei suoi amici virtuali gli propone un incontro dal vivo, Emmett esce dalla chat perché non ha il coraggio di far vedere che ha mentito sul proprio conto.
Emmett sta per cancellare l'account, ma all'improvviso si materializza il suo avatar che gli vuole insegnare a comportarsi in maniera meno effemminata in favore di un atteggiamento più virile.
I primi tentativi di approccio al Babylon non vanno a buon fine, allora l'avatar catapulta Emmett nella realtà virtuale e gli fa vedere che non è soltanto lui a nascondere la verità.
Emmett prende coraggio e va a conoscere il suo amico della chat, scoprendo che anche lui è l'esatto opposto di come si era descritto: i due possono così avere quel rapporto che si erano promessi.
Emmett cerca di trasmettere il suo cambiamento anche su Ted, spronandolo a essere più sicuro delle sue possibilità.
Gus sta male, così Lindsay e Melanie lo portano al pronto soccorso: il dottore però fa entrare in sala visite soltanto Lindsay e Brian, essendo i genitori naturali, mentre Melanie ha una discussione con un'infermiera omofoba.
Lindsay e Melanie chiedono a Brian di rinunciare ai suoi diritti di padre per consentire a Melanie di diventare madre del bambino a tutti gli effetti: Brian si dice disposto ad accettare, nonostante i rimbrotti di Justin perché da grande Gus si sentirà rifiutato.
Brian dice a Justin di non vedere da molto tempo il proprio padre, ma in realtà lo incontra saltuariamente e gli paga i debiti: il rapporto tra i due è però molto distaccato, con Jack Kinney che si lascia scappare di essersi pentito di aver messo su famiglia.
Arrivato il momento di rinunciare ufficialmente alla paternità di Gus, Brian ha un ripensamento e decide di non firmare i documenti, lasciando Lindsay e Melanie attonite.
Michael vorrebbe conoscere gli amici di David: il dottore organizza una cena a casa sua con due coppie, una gay e l'altra etero.
Michael ha paura di sfigurare con gente sofisticata come loro e si fa dare dagli amici qualche consiglio di galateo: questo però non basterà alla cena a evitargli di far litigare la coppia gay.
Michael è convinto che David sia arrabbiato per quanto accaduto, ma il dottore lo spiazza chiedendogli di andare a vivere insieme.
Guest star: Lawrence Dane (Jack Kinney), Steve Boyle (avatar di Emmett)
Queens of the Road
Diretto da: John L'Ecuyer
Scritto da: Doug Guinan
Trama
Lindsay sta meditando di non tornare al lavoro per un altro anno perché si è affezionata molto a Gus, ma Melanie le ricorda che avevano concordato di assumere una baby-sitter quando sarebbe scaduto il suo periodo di aspettativa.
Melanie discute della faccenda con Ted, ma le possibilità sono due: chiedere un aiuto economico a Brian oppure investire l'eredità di suo padre.
Melanie, che non vuole più avere niente a che fare con Brian dopo che si è rifiutato di cederle la patria potestà, decide di impiegare i risparmi di una vita per assecondare il desiderio di Lindsay.
Michael tergiversa sulla proposta di David di andare a convivere perché non sa quale decisione prendere, tanto da non averlo ancora detto a nessuno.
Finalmente ne parla con Emmett, il quale lo esorta ad accettare perché per lui è un'occasione unica, ma intuisce che dietro ai tentennamenti di Michael c'è la paura di deludere Brian.
Michael è scettico circa la durata dei rapporti tra uomini sotto lo stesso tetto, allora David lo porta a pranzo da una coppia di anziani gay che stanno insieme da oltre 50 anni: il segreto per una coppia felice, secondo loro, è la condivisione delle proprie vite | 7,101 |
Site Map Calendar Login
The Xikis Cup Comes Back To Long Island
In a weekend filled with tremendous highs and lows along with a lot of emotion, LISFL United won the Gus Xikis USASA Region 1 U23 Cup on Sunday afternoon. Read more
<|fim_middle|> with their presence. Region 1 presented Candi Xikis with a lovely crystal award with Gus Xikis' name engraved on it in recognition of the newly named trophy for the U-23 Championship.
The LISFL team was proud to honor Gus Xikis by winning the U-23 Region 1 National Tournament and bringing the U-23 Gus Xikis Trophy home to Long Island where it belongs. Gus must have been looking down on us today and gave the players the tenacity and will power to over come all obstacles thrown at us during these last 2 days and got us to play as a team and prevail. I'd like to recognize the people behind the scenes that got us the were we are today – Terry Uellendahl, Joe Brosi, David Harris, Vinny Diliberti, Yuri Fishman, Kostas Manessis, and Danny Diliberti."
LISFL United U23 Team
Player Club / College
Nicholas Addamo Fairleigh Dickinson University
Mateo Barahona SUNY Morrisville
Kameron Blaise SUNY Stony Brook
Zane Brown Central Connecticut State University
Rafael Castro Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Marcelo Chacon Adelphi University
Mason Chetti Manhattan College
Chandley Elie SUNY Morrisville
Ryan Essigman Molloy College
Randy Gomez New York Irish Rovers
Stephen Hollis Bloomsburg University
Emmanuel Karavangelas Asteras New York
Michael Laing SS Cosma Damiano
Rohan Laing SS Cosma Damiano
Ryan Mehryari Molloy College
Jimmy Noel Hartwick College
Patryk Siwiec Doxa SC
Jason Yanes Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
© 2023 Long Island Soccer Football League. All rights reserved.
© 2023 Demosphere International, Inc. All rights reserved. | Horsham, PA (6/20/21) - In a weekend filled with tremendous highs and lows along with a lot of emotion, LISFL United won the Gus Xikis USASA Region 1 U23 Cup on Sunday afternoon. LISFL United is an All-Star U23 team created by the Long Island Soccer Football League that features some of the top young players from local region that are playing in the league's highly successful Ryder-Vass U23 tournament.
Following the untimely passing of Gus Xikis in 2020, the Board of Directors decided to create an All-Star U23 team to send to the 2021 Regional Finals held every year on Father's Day weekend. Earlier in 2021, the USASA Region 1 Executive Committee had decided to rename the U23 Cup after Gus Xikis who was a long time member of the committee serving as the Cup Commissoner and President of the LISFL.
The LISFL BOD decided to name Danny Diliberti as Head Coach, Vincenzo Diliberti as Assistant Coach, and David Harris as Team Manager. Danny Diliberti had previously won the LISFL Ryder-Vass U23 Tournament as Head Coach of the ISA U23 team. Diliberti is also the current Assistant Coach at the Pratt Institute. As the spring college soccer season started to draw to a close, player recruitment began and tryouts were held shortly after to begin the process of selecting the team.
The weekend in Horsham started with a difficult 4-0 defeat to West Chester United's "Predators" team, which is a perennial tournament favorite. Diliberti quickly got to work to prepare LISFL United for their next game, which essentially was a "must win" game. After going down 2-1 to Annandale Boys and Girls Club, LISFL United bounced back in the second half to pull out a 3-2 win.
The third game of the day ended up as a forfeit by Philly Fever Grey so LISFL United were awarded a 3-0 win. After some initial confusion regarding the results of the other games in the group, it turned out that LISFL United had qualified for the tournament semi-finals. West Chester Predators tied Philly Fever Grey by a score of 0-0 and could only manage a 2-2 draw with Annandale. LISFL United finished with six points, which secured them a semi-final match vs Christos FC.
On Sunday morning, LISFL United started very strongly jumping to a 2-0 lead over Christos. In the second half, LISFL United scored another goal to give them a commanding 3-0 lead. Despite a late goal from Christos, LISFL United held on for the win and a spot in the tournament finals that seemed very unlikely only 24 hours before.
As the temperature increased on an already warm day in Pennsylvania, LISFL United prepared to face a very strong Jackson Lions team that had some impressive results leading up to the final. In the second half, LISFL United took a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick that was successfully converted. Jackson Lions battled back to tie the game at 1-1, which was how the game ended. The teams went straight to penalty kicks to determine the winner and LISFL United goalkeeper Patryk Siwiec was able to save one of the Jackson Lions penalties. The LISFL United shooters converted all 5 of their kicks, which resulted in tournament win for the team from Long Island.
Many of the officials from USASA Region 1 and the ENYSSA along with members of the Xikis family and LISFL BOD were on hand to present the trophy and medals to players from Long Island United. It was an emotional moment for everyone that knew Gus and saw how much he contributed to soccer throughout his life. The sadness of the loss of a loved one and close friend was mixed with the thoughts of the happiness Gus would have felt seeing a team from the LISFL winning the cup named after him at their first attempt.
USASA Region 1 Director Anthony Falcone gave a very emotional speech that described the many contributions Gus Xikis made to soccer throughout the region and country. Falcone explained how Xikis fought to keep many of the USASA Cups active in Region 1 when some of the other regions decided not to have them anymore.
After the big win, LISFL United Head Coach Danny Diliberti said, "I was honored that they considered me to coach this team . This was an excellent group of young men. The boys came together as a family and played with heart and desire. I am happy we were able to honor Gus with a trophy that bears his name."
Rocco Avallone, President of the LISFL issued the following statement after the win, "The Long Island Soccer Football League is excited to be the League that has the USASA Region 1 U-23 National Champions. Back in February at the USASA AGM, I proposed to the Region 1 Director Tony Falcone that the U-23 Region 1 Trophy be named after our prior president, Gus Xikis, who tragically passed away. As a result, the LISFL decided to enter a team in honor of Gus Xikis in this year's U-23 tournament. I retained Danny Diliberti to coach the team and asked that he try to get as many players from the LISFL to go to Pennsylvania during the Father's Day Weekend and honor our league in memory of Gus Xikis. With the help of David Harris, Danny Diliberti, Vinny Diliberti and myself, we were able to get 19 players from Long Island to travel to Pennsylvania. The team practiced together for approximately 2 months. The LISFL also invited Candi Xikis, Gus' wife and her 2 children, daughter-in-law and grandchild to he our guest and honor us | 1,230 |
Fashion & Beauty Travel Real Estate Rambling Reporter Dining Cars
NY Fashion Week Closes With 'Fashion for Peace' Event Focused on Sustainability
6:29 PM PST 2/14/2019 by Vincent Boucher
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows
The show featured styles by Norma Kamali, Mara Hoffman, Mimi Prober and Sabyasachi Mukharjee, who created Priyanka Chopra's elaborate couture wedding ensemble.
"It's estimated by 2025, that 98 percent of the fiber on the planet will be synthetic fiber," Indian mystic, yogi and New York Times best-selling author Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev told The Hollywood Reporter backstage as New York Fashion Week ended on a surprising philosophical note Wednesday with a group designer show called Fashion for Peace.
Focusing on violence committed against the environment rather than the conflict of war, he had traveled to New York to headline the evening's showing of four designers (Mara Hoffman, Norma Kamai, Mimi Prober and Sabyasachi Mukharjee) who put sustainability at the fore, invoking the spirit of Mahatma Ghandi in the year of the 150th anniversary of the leader's birth.
Spectacular celebration of Indian weaves at New York Fashion Week, part of 'Fashion For Peace' initiative, in commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary. -Sg @normakamali @sabyasachiofficial @marahoffman @mimiprober @narendramodi #Sadhguru #MinistryOfTextiles #NYFW #FashionForPeace #Fashion
A post shared by Sadhguru (@sadhguru) on Feb 14, 2019 at 7:42am PST
"He was an apostolic face who inspired so many people across the world to find peaceful solutions to very violent problems," Sadhguru says. "One of those is textiles. Because we want more and more and big and bigger, everything's become so violent. Bringing back natural fibers is a gentler and more peaceful way of making our clothing."
Though she wasn't one of the designers showing, Donna Karan wandered in to support her Indian friend. "I'm not supposed to be here, but I met Sadhguru when he did something for Urban Zen and then I went down to India and I went to his ashram, which is unbelievable," she says. "I fell in love with his scarves and he says to me, 'If you come to my ashram, I'll show you where to get the scarves.' And the rest is history. Fashion and a higher consciousness — that's what I've been doing my<|fim_middle|> to all recycled, post-consumer plastic bottle materials," Hoffman notes. "We shifted from conventional cotton to certified organic cotton and our cellulose fibers to responsibly sourced fiber — every fiber switched. And then we looked at our manufacturing partners and our dyes and even our printing."
Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" swelled as the program started and the crowd surged around Sadhguru and the models on their cube platforms in the looks from Kamali, Hoffman, New York-based designer Mimi Prober (who incorporates antique textiles and natural dyes into her designs) and Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukharjee, who has long championed sustainability and crafts his own elaborate fabrics — making headlines recently for dressing Priyanka Chopra in a couture lehenga that took 3,720 hours and 110 embroiderers to make for her Hindu wedding to Nick Jonas.
Singer Taylor Dane, slipping through the crowd, says she shares Sahdguru's concern: "I have two kids and we just did a trip to the Amazon and it was the most incredible thing — and what this gentleman is speaking about and where he's coming from on all the plastics out there — oh, my God. I'm working with a bra company and we are going to recreate the way you look at them. So many of the closest things to your body are made out of plastics. I hope I can be a part of one of the products that can help."
thrnews@thr.com @thr | whole life."
Nearby, another fashion icon, Kamali, was busy creating impromptu silhouettes in pale gauze right on several models. "I got inspired by the fabric and decided that I would just drape it on the spot. So that's what I'm doing," she said. "Okay, so how much more can I challenge my 73-year-old-self? But I just spent some time in the Sahara desert and I was so impressed with the simplicity of what a piece of fabric can do, either to protect you from the sand and the sun or just wrapped and looking magnificent. Fantastic."
Fellow New York designer Hoffman (known for her colorful beachwear, with many styles crafted from the recycled bottle fiber Repreve, which earned her the brand's Champions of Sustainability Award at New York Fashion Week) says she completely overhauled "every aspect" of her business about four years ago when her company celebrated its 15th anniversary.
"We changed all our fabrications. For our swimwear we switched out of conventional poly nylons | 217 |
Erik Jones. In Colour
24 Oct — 1 Dec 2015 at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome, Italy
Sea-F<|fim_middle|> aesthetic to take on digital qualities and appear to be more naive and childlike in the approach. As if an inexperienced, non-artistic person were exploring a digital drawing pro-gram for the first time. The intention is to present ability and craft juxtaposed with chaos and disorder." (Erik Jones)
Dorothy Circus Gallery
Opened in Rome in 2007, the Gallery was born "on the boundaries between New York and Wonderland". For the first time within Italian contemporary art, a space dedicated to pop surrealism and new tendencies of figurative arts has been brought into the spotlight.
After completing his studies at the Ringling College of Art and Design he toured the US, showing his works at various pop-culture and art conventions. He currently lives and works in New York.
Explorers. Erik Jones. 48cm, 18.9in Diameter. Watercolor, colored pencil, water-soluble was pastel, acrylic on Rives bfk paper mounted to panel
PS36. Erik Jones. 91x91cm, 35.8x35.8in. Color pencil, Water-Soluble Wax Pastel, Acrylic, Adhesive White Vinyl on Rives bfk paper mounted to panel
Flirt. Erik Jones. 57cm, 22.5in Diameter. Watercolor, colored pencil, water-soluble wax pastel, acrylic on Rives bfk paper mounted to panel
Snake. Erik Jones. 61x91cm, 24x36in. Watercolor, colored pencil, water-soluble wax pastel, acrylic on Rives bfk paper mounted to panel
A Colorful Malady. Erik Jones. 41x51cm, 16x20in. Watercolor, colored pencil, water-soluble wax pastel, acrylic on Rives bfk paper
Royal-Crayons. Erik Jones. 61x91cm, 24x36in. Watercolor, colored pencil, water-soluble wax pastel, acrylic on Rives bfk paper mounted to panel
More from Dorothy Circus Gallery
Freedom is the new Rainbow
16 Sep — 30 Oct 2021 at the Dorothy Circus Gallery in London, United Kingdom and in Rome, Italy
House of the Rising Light
30 Jul — 18 Sep 2020 at the Dorothy Circus Gallery in London, United Kingdom and in Rome, Italy
Happy Days & Parade of Emotions
30 Oct — 30 Nov 2020
Rafael Silveira. Metaforamorfoses
25 Jun — 25 Jul 2020
More in Rome, Italy
1 Oct 2021 — 13 Feb 2022 at Maxxi
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle
24 Sep 2021 — 15 May 2022 at Teatro Quirino
Lo Spazio Dell'Immagine
Permanent event at Maxxi
More in Italy
Katharien De Villiers. Echo Me / Here I am / Ecco Mi
17 Dec 2021 — 19 Feb 2022 at Osart Gallery in Milan
Hi Woman! La notizia del futuro
11 Dec 2021 — 17 Feb 2022 at Fondazione Palazzo Pretorio in Cittadella
Steve McCurry. Icons
4 Dec 2021 — 13 Feb 2022 at Palazzo Sarcinelli in Conegliano
13 Nov 2021 — 29 Jan 2022 at Alberta Pane Gallery in Venice | ingers. Erik Jones. 41x41cm, 16x16in. Watercolor, colored pencil, water-soluble wax pastel, acrylic on Rives bfk paper mounted to panel
Dorothy Circus Gallery proudly presents the first European solo show by Erik Jones, American artist from St. Petersburg, Florida, who stands out as one of the most innovative and successful painters of the New York hyper-contemporary art scene.
The show created by Jones expressly for Dorothy Circus Gallery features a brand new body of works that, thanks to its vibrant and highly colourful character, is able to put the Italian and European public in touch with the kaleidoscopic New York Art Life.
In Jones' art, the heightened sense of realism, captured in his female subjects depicted by the artist, is juxtaposed with a structure of elaborated nonrepresentational forms that could be said to mimic geometric high-end fashion. This effect is achieved by using multiple media such as watercolour, coloured pencil, acrylic, water-soluble wax pastel and water-soluble oil applied on paper.
The sweet but determined looks of Jones' characters emerge from a hurricane of colours, which seem to contrast with the serious and sometimes melancholic looks of these women. While their bodies are often concealed behind the numerous patterns of colours, their eyes always stress their strong presence; the ladies' looks create a visual connection with the beholders, almost as if inviting them to join their infinite space, where no blank space is allowed. These human beings, depicted as hyper-realistic figurations preciously nestled against geometric motives and original artistic outbursts, seem to live and breathe as symbiotic organisms. Abstract forms become alive by establishing a deep and intricate relationship with the figurative subject, as if the one wore the other, becoming virtually indivisible from one another.
Jones' portraits are dazzling celebrations of beauty exhibited with elegant bouquets of colour, which dress the figures within through a rediscovered sacredness and romanticism. The body of work may look like a dreamlike parallel universe but, as the artist himself states, his creations are not dreams; they exist in front of the viewer, placed on canvases and paper with skill and thoughtful reverie, as if looking at a real living being.
For his first solo show in Europe, Jones will exhibit more than fifteen artworks that revoke the incredible strength of the most important dripping paintings from the fifties. Erik Jones stands as a unique representative of Pop Surrealism that, while keeping faith to its roots, reaches out to encompass in his works the typical features of abstract art. The figurative never dwells alone in the scene, but it intertwines and melds with the extraordinary colours that fill the space. Jones learned carefully the lessons of past Action Painting masters, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, but he pushed his art beyond such heritage, in a hyper-contemporary field where figures, geometric and abstract shapes co-exist and create an outstanding collection of artworks.
"The newest collection, In Colour, is a continuation of mixed media exploration. To create these works, many different things are used; from airbrushed watercolors, vinyl adhe-sives, and even ply-wood cutouts. The process begins with watercolor airbrushed onto paper that is mounted to wood panel. The wa-tercolor serves as the primary base color for the figure, which is then rendered (usually in its entirety) using colored pencil and water-soluble wax pastels. The dry mediums are sealed, and then reworked with wet mediums such as acrylic and water-soluble oils. With the help of masking tape, the graphic shapes are created primarily with acrylic and wax pastel. The narrative behind the work is more about challenging the viewer to see beauty in chaos. The figures are used as an aesthetic anchor, holding the viewer's attention to a recognizable form, while exploring colorful, nonrepresentational abstractions. In a way, the figures make the chaos palette-able. Many of the graphic elements in this current body of work are a slight departure from some of the older work. I wanted the graphic | 842 |
Mojave Desert Elopement Planned in Six Weeks: Ceri & PC
Julie Marchese
What could be more romantic than running off with your fiancé and your BFFs and getting married in the middle of the desert? Well, that's exactly what Ceri & PC did and I'm thrilled to have been allowed to share a sneaky peek of this super private and intimate wedding with you today. The ceremony took place in the Mojave desert just outside Joshua Tree, California, and afterwards they had a small 'reception' at Villa dei Fiori, a house they'd rented for the trip.
"PC and I secretly eloped and got married in the the middle of the Mojave desert on October 26th last year", wrote Ceri who lives in Oxford with her now-husband. "We planned it in six weeks, he officially proposed two days before, and we only had six guests, two of whom we flew out with us to Los Angeles (my sister and PC's best woman). We'd originally planned (and I mean that in the vaguest sense) to get married in a field near our house in Oxford this August. Instead when we moved in together last June, I immediately left to go on tour in Asia (I'm an actor/puppeteer) and when I got home PC went away to Norway for six weeks (he runs international festivals. We're, um… pretty good at long distance relationships!) The day he got back in August he mentioned casually in the kitchen that our friend Brooke was moving to LA with her husband Mags and that she had an ministers licence from the internet…"
"Six weeks is pretty much no time to plan anything, let alone a wedding, so we did forget some things", she continued. "That's how we forgot stag or hen parties, and ended up having a joint one a few days after the wedding in LA. Then we took everyone to Disneyland for Disney Halloween. But we didn't forget the most important things. We got married in the middle of the desert, on a rock, miles from anywhere. It was just us, my sister and our friends. We pretty much all cried a little, especially when my sister read the Apache wedding blessing. PC had to carry me off the rock afterwards as my heels kept sinking into the sand. Though as I'm 5ft 1 and he's 6ft 3 this actually happens a lot…"
"Our reception was in the desert surrounding the house we all stayed in, with a hot tub, champagne, a pool, a cave and a fire pit. The best woman, Jess, cooked us an amazing feast before we all had another moonlit hot tub. We sat on boulders under the stars, surrounded by giant cacti. And then we continued it the next morning when we all had a pancake breakfast in the sun before hitting the road back to LA via a ghost town and some giant plastic dinosaurs."
"In keeping with our personalities and professions it was a theatrical wedding/holiday/honeymoon all rolled into one that we shared with our friends. Everyone had a part to play. Brooke officiated, Jess cooked, my sister Ceit did my hair and make up so beautifully, Julia took amazing photos, David and Mags read and witnessed the wedding. Everything fell into place, and we were so lucky to have all six of them to help us and celebrate with us."
"The most difficult part was not taking our parents, which is also the one thing I'd change", she concluded. "They were the only people we told, besides the six who came with us, and they were astonishingly proud and happy that we were doing it our own way. My mum likes to shock her pupils at school by telling them about it! Keeping the whole thing a secret was also agony for those few weeks, but we had 200 postcards printed up the day afterwards to post out to our family and friends and their reactions were worth it."
"It was in no way what I expected of my wedding but it was awesome. It was ridiculous and impulsive and shockingly romantic. It was pretty much just like the two of us. And we got to look like Bonnie and Clyde in the desert. We loved it."
Photography: Julie Marchese
Reception Venue: Villa dei Fiori
Bride's Dress: Stop Staring from Retro Revival in Kingly Court, Carnaby Street
Bride's Shoes: Chie Mihara
Bride's Headpiece: Playclothes Vintage
Groom's Attire: Sams Tailors
Bridesmaid's Dresses: Dorothy Perkins
#Desert
#Elopement
Achingly Cool Secret Las Vegas Elopement
Deezigner Images
I promise you this isn't a staged photo shoot, it's really Jason and Aimee's wedding! Are these guys the actual coolest<|fim_middle|> and Tamara actually met in high school, and although it took several years for their relationship to blossom (despite Alex' regular attempts to take Tamara on a date!) once they finally reconnected they were inseparable, and soon found themselves creating a life together.
Run Away with Me: A Neon Graveyard Elopement
Sam Arroyo
The perfect mixture of adventure and fun, Las Vegas was Yasmin and Leigh's number one choice for their October wedding. They always wanted to get married abroad, and after seeing Las Vegas weddings featured on this very blog, they decided it was the perfect place for them.
Mid-Century Elopement in Palm Springs
Carolin and Benny, from Germany, eloped at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. They wanted their wedding to be completely on their own terms. The bride wore trousers from Topshop with a cropped top from Free People because she wanted to feel comfortable and like herself on the most important day of her life!
Tie-Dyed Hippies in the Desert
Roderick Harrison
Joe and Madison had $2000 to spend on their wedding, so they decided there was only one thing for it - VEGAS! They were married by Elvis at The Little Vegas Wedding Chapel and followed the ceremony with a fantastic photo shoot in the desert with their photographer Roderick Harrison.
Buy thelatest magazine
Buy thesigned book
Rockstar Vendors
Find your dream clients | or what!? They were hitched in secret in Vegas last October.
Intimate Elopement at The "Kill Bill" Church: Vicki & Lee
Made You Look Studio
It's no secret that I am completely obsessed with Made U Look's photography. I know I'm not supposed to have favourites and all, but if I was forced... well, they'd be way up there. They just kill it every time. Which is why, when Vicki and Lee sent me the photos of their elopement at a church in the Californian desert, shot by Made U Look, I didn't hesitate for one second when I replied saying "Yes, yes, yes I want to feature you!"
Crazy Pink Las Vegas Elopement
James Westray
A bride in a blush pink tutu skirt, the Las Vegas desert as a photo backdrop and a budget of just €2000 - yes, that's right, you are able to bear witness to one of the coolest weddings we've ever had the pleasure of publishing!
Las Vegas Elopement with Elvis, a Classic Car Photo Session & a 1980s Vintage Wedding Dress
Aimlee
Aaron and Pheobe's goal for their Las Vegas elopement was to have all the Vegas cliches, and they weren't at all sorry about it! They wanted to be married by Elvis and to drive out to the desert in a classic car for photos. They flew out from Australia for their wedding and did it entirely on their own terms.
Glamorous Boho Las Vegas Elopement… with a Rock n Roll Flare!
Sophie Cooke
JamieY
Alex | 339 |
Ordering Your Private World, by Gordon MacDonald, published by W Group, An Imprint of Thomas Nelson.
I admit it took some re-reading in places to first accept what was said, then to fully understand it and then to embrace it. But the more I read, the more I recognized some of my tendencies, the more excited I got because there was no condemnation, just input from a man who has been in ministry for almost as long as I've been alive. Some<|fim_middle|> into, but if you are serious about keeping yourself from getting to the point of a meltdown, if you want the peace that comes with order, an order that is not legalistic, but spiritual, then I would highly recommend Ordering Your Private World. | things I had criticized in myself were not hopeless, and when submitted and turned in the right direction, could be not only satisfying but helpful to others. Some things he shared were simply being the person God created us to be, distorted by our own focus on self and not God. What I appreciated was the fact that no quick fixes were offered. It was a logical, loving list of examples from his own life, and those of people he has worked with, on how we can be our own worst enemies, but when we come to realize that we are not meant to be driven, but are meant to be called, each according to our own temperaments, skills, and life opportunities given us by God and that it is a journey to be walked, sometimes with more difficulty than at other times, each and every day. He explains the importance of worship, relationships, prayer, and rest. He uses examples from the Bible demonstrating the order Jesus had in his "private world", that inner being led by the Spirit of God.
There is so much more the book goes | 214 |
Be<|fim_middle|> to use projector, which can be placed almost anywhere. With this model boasting a 1.6x optical zoom, vertical ±60% and horizontal ±24% keystone correction, superbly aligned images can be achieved effortlessly. Maintenance is also kept to a minimum with the EH-TW6700. Thanks to the incredibly long lamp life, you can watch a movie every day on the big screen for the next seven years. | prepared to be impressed; the EH-TW6700 delivers on all fronts with a range of high-end features to generate bright, colourful and high contrast Full HD images, all at an affordable price. What's more, it's easy to set up with a wide lens-shift range, optical zoom and vertical and horizontal keystone correction, producing exceptionally well-adjusted images in seconds.
Using Epson's 3LCD technology for high brightness and vivid colour, this Full HD projector features high White and Colour Light Output of 3,000 lumens and 70,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. This technology ensures bright, vivid colours and deep blacks. Frame interpolation and Detail Enhancement provide sharper and smoother motion pictures and great detail, for greater clarity, and the EH-TW6700 can also convert standard 2D video into 3D.
Sit back and immerse yourself in the experience from the very start with our easy to install, simple | 199 |
Embark the ship and after lunch on board, we tour central Mandalay visiting the Mahamuni Pagoda and Shwe-im-bin teak carved monastery and Amarapura with the teak Bagaya Kyaung, Menu Ok-kyaung and crossing the U Bein Bridge.
Embark on the ship between 10:30am - 11:45am at Saggai Lay Kyun Man Aung Jetty Mandalay.
We move on to explore the ancient capitals of Ava and cast off cruising downstream through lunch and in the late afternoon we explore Yandabo, a small rural village specialized in pot making. We visit the Pandaw School and the new dispensary both built with past donations from Pandaw passengers.
We tour a selection of the 3,000 listed monuments in this important World Heritage Site and visit lacquer workshops.
Ascend Tan-chi-taungmountain by foot or by WWII jeep for the spectacular sunrise over Pagan. In Sale we visit a number of teak monasteries including the Yout-saun-kyaung with its spectacular wood carvings and we explore an area of splendid colonial-style houses.
We climb the river bank and wind our way through a labyrinth of passages and paths to reach the magnificent Myat-thalon Pagoda. This pagoda is constructed with solid gold bricks.
We visit Minhla Italian built forts constructed to keep the British at bay from Royal Myanmar. Thayetmyo, this pleasant colonial town once guarded the border between Royal Myanmar and British Myanmar following the 2nd Anglo Myanmar War of 1855. Many of the buildings including the covered market date from this period. We visit the market, see the colonial houses and ride out by horsecart to see the countryside and golf club.
Visit the 5th-8th century archaeological site of Thiri-ya-kittiya, former centre of the Pyu civilization with a fascinating museum of early Buddhist artifacts and sculpture.
Stop at the famous A KaukTaung to explore the spectacular stone carving on the cliff.
Continue our exploration of Delta creeks and<|fim_middle|>ark at Rangoon (Yangon) 'BOTAHTAUNG' Jetty at 8.00am. | stop at Donabyu, another little known town with a busy port and bustling markets.
Sail through the Rangoon River and enter the Twante Canal, which connects the Yangon River with the Irrawaddy Delta. We stop on route at the Twante in the afternoon. Enter to the Yangon river port.
Disemb | 68 |
PaySimple Partner Program
A partnership expert will follow-up<|fim_middle|>5-2022. All rights reserved. PaySimple is a registered ISO of Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Cincinnati, OH and is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA. | with you
Partnership Type Select...Software Solution ProviderMobile App and Web DeveloperReferral PartnerOther
A representative will respond within one business day (or sooner).
SaaS CompanySmall Business
DeveloperDocumentationHelp & SupportSmall Business Resources
BlogNews & Events
About UsCareersContact
SaaS Company
Integrate Payments
Partner Success
Online In Person Mobile Credit Cards ACH/eCheck
Streamline Billing
Recurring Billing Invoicing Customer Portal
Run Your Business
Customer Management Business Insights Marketing Tools QuickBooks IntegrationFranchise Solutions
PaySimple is a Finalist for the 2012 Red Herring Top 100 Americas Award
PaySimple announced today it has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring's Top 100 Americas award, a prestigious list honoring the year's most promising private technology ventures from the North American business region.
DENVER, CO – MAY 14, 2012 - The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across North America. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.
This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the "buzz" and make the list an valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.
"This year was very rewarding," said Alex Vieux, publisher and Chairman of Red Herring. "There are so many great companies producing truly innovative and amazing products and technologies. We had a very difficult time narrowing the field and selecting the Finalists from such a group of future stars. PaySimple shows great promise therefore deserves to be on the short list. Now we are faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top 100 winners."
"At PaySimple we continually strive to deliver the most innovate solutions to simplify the way small business owners bill and collect payments and empower them with technology to make their business more efficient," said Eric Remer, CEO and Founder of PaySimple. "We are honored to be recognized for our unique cloudbased receivables automation solution and our strong track record of delivering real results to small business owners."
Finalists for the 2012 edition of the Red Herring 100 Americas award are selected based upon their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of companies in the, security, Web 2.0, software, hardware, life sciences, cloud, mobile and other sectors completed their submissions to qualify for the award.
The Finalists are asked to present their winning strategies at the Red Herring Americas Forum in Santa Monica, California, May 21-23, 2012. The Top 100 winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony the evening of May 23 at the event.
Media Contact: Nell Gable, ngable@paysimple.com
Want to see PaySimple in action?
Get Started Risk Free
PaySimple 1.0 Login
Careers We're Hiring!
Terms of Service & Privacy
White Transparent
Copyright © PaySimple 200 | 687 |
Comfy enough for a blast around town, but we wouldn't take this out for longer than an hour.
The Swift AVA 250 is everything that's right and good about vintage motorcycles. It's raw. It's raucous. It barks and clatters and feels like it will rattle the fillings right out of your teeth. Yes, it's more of a motorized bicycle than a proper motorcycle. But it's charming and stylish, and and it feels faster than it is. It is an elemental machine, a cheap and cheerful runabout perfect for city life.
The diminutive motorcycle, and AVA Velocity Works, the company behind it, is the latest project from Adrian Van Anz, a Los Angeles designer whose work ranges from the utterly absurd to the subtly sublime. He's done work for HP and Sony and even Jay-Z. But motorcycles are his first love.
The Swift is distilled to the bare essentials."I got my first dirt bike at five years old," Van Anz tells WIRED. "And I got my first stitches 75 feet later."
The Swift is the latest iteration of a project Van Anz started five years ago when he founded Derringer Cycles. The Derringer was a motorized bicycle inspired by the board track racers of the 1920s, a 49cc throwback that somehow looked thoroughly modern. It wasn't long before Van Anz sold the company to focus on his next project, AVA Velocity Works.
"Derringer was the natural evolution of the fixie," says Van Anz "This is the natural evolution of the Derringer."
The Swift is distilled to the bare essentials. A wee 250cc single-cylinder engine doles out a mere 16 horsepower through a five-speed transmission. It has an electric starter, but there's a kick starter for a bit of retro flavor. There's a single disc brake up front, and no, it doesn't have ABS. The rear drum brake contributes to the old-school vibe, as does the cafe racer styling with the short seat, long tank and flat bars. There isn't much more to it than that, which explains the curb weight of around 200 pounds. It's made right here in the U.S. of A using a whole lot of parts from China, which keeps the cost to a very attractive $3,900.
Throw a leg over the Swift and you might as well be straddling a Specialized. It's disconcertingly small, especially if you're used to riding a modern motorcycle. The diminutive dimensions makes it perfect for shorter statures, and its minuscule footprint works to your advantage in the city.
Slicing through traffic and splitting lanes–which we can do here in California–has never been easier. Your elbows are the widest point on the bike, so spaces that would be impossible to slip into on a standard bike are positively palatial. The riding position is a nice middle ground between an upright tourer and a hunkered down sport bike, and the everything is perfectly placed if you're in the mid-five-foot<|fim_middle|> take you to work." | range.
Acceleration, is as you'd expect, uninspiring. "It feels like a very fast bicycle, not a small motorcycle," Van Anz says. Twisting the throttle elicits more noise than propulsion, but there's enough mid-range grunt to pull away from traffic and speed to the next traffic light. Around town every crease, pebble, and rut in the road runs up your arms and into your chest. The rear suspension is more for show than go and the handlebars are constantly buzzing from the thumper between your legs. It's not particularly fast, but because of its weight and size, it always feels on edge, blending just enough confidence with the thrill of two wheels.
Yes, we took it on the freeway. No, you absolutely shouldn't. Even though it can hit a top speed of 70 mph, a brisk wind will send you over three lanes and big rigs remind you of your cosmic insignificance. The brakes are good enough for tooling around town, but we were a bit nervous about their abilities in a panicked stop at anything more than, say, 50 mph, and there's no way they're up to the rigors of spirited riding. The transmission clunks through gears, and the neutral indicator lied to us on one occasion, leading to an embarrassing stall at a stoplight.
Chinese motorcycles have a reputation for unreliability here in the states, and they're generally seen as "meh" machines. Van Anz, like the guys at Cleveland Cyclewerks, are trying to change that by designing machines that are as cool as they are fun. "I'm trying to redefine what a Chinese motorcycle is," he says.
That said, Van Anz holds no illusions about challenging Honda, although he'd love to see AVA offering a 750 model in the next decade. But for now, the Swift was never meant to be more than a stylish runabout meant to make you smile.
"It's just a fun thing," he says. "It's a toy that can | 415 |
Osthang Project
The Main Hall is the central space of<|fim_middle|> wow/ Kristof Lemp | a new, temporary artists' colony, built in the summer of 2014 on the Osthang at Mathildenhöhe. Constructlab and Atelier Bow-Wow have been invited by the Darmstadt Architektursommer e.V. and Raumlabor-Berlin to team up for the project.
A neglected plot on the eastern slope, of the soon to become world heritage site Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, has been chosen to be the place of the new artists colony. Mathildenhöhe was 100 years ago a sort of that kind of building exhibitions which became later the IBA. It was planned as an artist colony designed by artists and architects such as Josef Olbrich and Peter Behrens.
In 2014, for the new artists colony, 8 international architecture, art and design collectives are invited to design and build the facilities for the Osthang project camp. Each team, composed by two practices, got a specific object to conceive and realize. The project was collaboratively built during a summer academy with students and local participants. The summer academy explored topics such as collective action in public space, working together within temporary and light architecture installations and thinking and living together while making the place.
Constructlab in collaboration with Atelier Bow-Wow have been responsible for the Main Hall, which was within the organization of the Osthang site the central meeting facility. It served as a weather protected place for daily lunch and dinners of around 120 people, talks, presentations and symposiums. On both sides the walls can be entirely opened and gather up to 300 people. It is planned to be the most permanent building within the different experimental and temporary structures made during the summer academy on the Osthang site. The building has been realized under the guidance of the design-build team constructlab, with about 30 students, local participants and a team of local carpenters.
The project started three weeks ahead of the summer-school with the terrace and structural work. The main construction is made from Baubuche, it was generously sponsored by the company Pollmeier. Baubuche is a beech wood composite coming from the local forest Odenwald, one of the biggest beech wood resources of Europe.
With the beginning of the workshop the roof was ready to provide shelter to the summer academy. The constructlab students divided themselves into three groups, one group working on the main-hall, it's envelop and details of door panels while the other two groups researched on seating and visual identity. Chairs have been developed in an experimental Bugholz furniture workshop with the help of Thonet's steam oven team. The third team of the constructlab students made graphical and imaginary research to develop a guidance system and Logos for the whole Osthang project.
The Main Hall is planned to remain at least 5 years after the summer 2014 as a multi-purpose facility on the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt. Hence, the possibility to activate the place and try out different uses in order to better understand through real scale the potential future of the Osthang site.
Darmstadt Architektursommer e.V.
Raumlabor-berlin
Olbrichweg 17, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
From: June 1, 2014
Until: August 31, 2014
Manu Maccaigne
Gonzague Lacombe
Samuel Boche
Patrick Hubmann
le balto
umschichten
collectif etc.
Martin Kaltwasser
Mauricio Corbalan (M77red)
constructLab builders village
Image Credits: constructlab/ atelier bow | 773 |
Someone needs to explain to me why I should want to spend time with an obnoxiously narcissistic chef who's trying to make<|fim_middle|> him, even when they're frustrated by him.
Additional support comes from Omar Sy (The Untouchables), as a sous chef whose business in Paris was ruined by the then drunken Jones, and Matthew Rhys , as a rival restaurateur who also dislikes Jones intensely.
Subplots involving Jones' indebtedness to drug dealers and the late-picture introduction of one of his former lovers (Alicia Vikander) add little to an undernourished script.
Functioning as a kind of garnish, Emma Thompson appears as a doctor hired by Jones' employer to monitor his blood-alcohol level, and, occasionally, to offer sage advice.
Celebrity chefs Marcus Wareing and Mario Batali are credited with having served as consultants on the movie, so the kitchen environment presumably has some authenticity.
Truth be told, I'd rather watch the two of them work than be force fed another helping of Burnt.
If you're hungry for a more appetizing food movie, and haven't seen Chef, well ... there's always Netflix. | a comeback in London after having undermined a skyrocketing career in Paris.
But wait, maybe the answer has something to do with the fact that said chef is the main character in a movie called Burnt, and he's played by a fashionably bestubbled Bradley Cooper.
Burnt, the plot of which I've just described, can't rise above its many problems even with Cooper portraying a culinary hotshot who thinks he's better than everyone else — and probably would be if it weren't for the drug and alcohol problems that derailed his rise.
Turns out the best thing about this John Wells directed movie, set in the upper echelons of London's foodie culture, is the food, photographed with glossy slickness by cinematographer Adrinao Goldman.
When the camera focuses on the meals that Cooper's Adam Jones prepares, the movie has the allure of a beautifully photographed gourmet magazine, and it affords us a glimpse into the kitchens of the kind of gastronomically praised establishments that serve up minuscule portions for astronomical prices.
Is there an unwritten rule that all highly praised food must never touch the edge of any plate?
Wells supplies the kitchen scenes with the heat and bustle you'd expect, and I'd have been content if food preparation — complete with tension, yelling and the occasional dress-down — had completely wiped out the plot.
The screenplay by Steven Knight (Locke, Redemption) doesn't have much to offer once it convinces us that Jones' character is a jerk.
Because he's a talented jerk, others — Sienna Miller as a saucier with a big future and Daniel Bruhl as a gay Maitre-D — tolerate Jones and try to help | 345 |
FE Trips
HE Trips
Dedicated Account Executive
Best group travel pricing
Transport, hotels & hostels
In-destination support
Overseas representative profiles
Online trip organiser & app
Financial protection & accreditations
Our vision, values & goals
Group travel management service
Account manager profiles
A trusted partner
Request quote Get in touch
Cultural College Trips
Cultural College Trips to New York
Trips to New York for Cultural Studies Students
New York, the city that never sleeps plays host to an exciting and ever developing world of educational opportunities.
The fast-paced, vibrant city has a great choice of must-see attractions including Times Square, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Broadway and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, offering students on educational trips to New York an experience they'll never forget.
Prices start from£760pp
Our sample itinerary provides you with an idea of the visits you can cover during your trip. We can tailor-make an itinerary to support your specific learning outcomes.
Daytime flight from a London airport & transfer to accommodation Empire State Building
Guided walking tour of Midtown Manhattan including Central Park, Fifth Avenue & Times Square Top of the Rock Broadway Show
9/11<|fim_middle|>, Batters Eye Café and Press Box. Why not extend your visit by staying for lunch or, during the season, catching a game too!
Madison Square Garden All Access Tour
Get an insider's look at the world's most famous arena with the 'All Access Tour!' Explore exclusive VIP areas of the state-of-the-art arena and commemorate over 130 years of legendary Garden history.
Exclusive, behind-the-scenes access:
Visit the spectacular new Chase Bridges, suspended high above the arena floor
Step inside the Knicks and Rangers locker rooms
Relive historic moments with the new 'Garden 366' retrospective and 'Defining Moments' exhibit
Get VIP treatment with access to luxury suites, including the Delta Sky360 Club
Plus much more for THE ultimate insider's look!
The 104 storey building stands on the World Trade Center site in Manhattan - giving amazing views of the city as well as interactive exhibitions on the building and the city. Groups will ascend to the 102nd observation floor in under 60 seconds in one of five sky pod elevators!
Macy's Tour
Macy's is one of the world's largest department stores and one of the last turn-of-the-century department stores in existence. Take a tour around the shop floor and focus on merchandising, product advertising and the company's history.
Evening activites
Macys Shopping
Sports Fixture
Why StudyLink
We'll beat any like-for-like quote. Find out more.
Receive three initial quote options
To help you make the best value choice for your group. Find out more.
We work with over 300 colleges
As their trusted travel partner. Find out why.
Email info@studylinktours.co.uk
StudyLink is part of NST Travel Group Limited, a company registered in England and Wales at the registered address below, company registration no: 02665024
Discovery House, Brooklands Way, Whitehills Business Park, Blackpool, Lancashire FY4 5LW | Memorial & Museum The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Bowling
Opportunity for shopping on 5th Avenue including Macy's & Bloomingdale's Transfer to airport for overnight return flight to the UK
Arrive in the UK
Daytime flight from a London airport & transfer to accommodation
Guided walking tour of Midtown Manhattan including Central Park, Fifth Avenue & Times Square
Broadway Show
9/11 Memorial & Museum
The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
Opportunity for shopping on 5th Avenue including Macy's & Bloomingdale's
Transfer to airport for overnight return flight to the UK
Price Shown includes
3 nights' room only accommodation
Return flights & overseas airport transfers
Extensive group travel insurance
1 in 10 free place ratio
The visits shown in the sample itinerary above are not included in your quoted price unless indicated. If you would like to add any of these activities to your quote price, please get in touch.
Price shown is based on 30 paying passengers departing from a London airport on selected dates and is subject to availability.
On-tour support
On-tour support includes...
Airport assistance when you arrive back at your UK airport when you book a coach transfer to take you home
Additional on-tour support available...
Airport assistance during check-in, security and gate checks on your outbound flight from the UK
Pre-booked meals at great group prices
Services of a Local Guide
Top visits for college groups in New York
Venture over a quarter of a mile skyward and observe as your group takes in the scale of the immense urban landscape which opens up before them. This is a great way for your students to gain artistic inspiration away from the hustle and bustle of the streets below. A particularly popular evening visit.
See a spectacular Broadway performance - entertainment at its greatest! Choose from shows such as Wicked, Chicago and The Lion King.
Top of the Rock™
Experience the best and most complete daytime view of New York City! Bring your sketchbook with you and you'll be spoilt for choice over what to sketch. The unparalleled views of New York's landmarks include Central Park, the Chrysler Building, Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty – simply the most spectacular view in the city!
Landmark Cruise
Take in a spectacular view of Manhattan from the water, and pick out the many famous landmarks which dominate its skyline.
Walking Tour of Midtown Manhattan
Experienced in dealing with groups, our local guides will bring the history and culture of New York to life. Students will be amazed as they walk down world-famous streets such as Fifth Avenue, 42nd Street and Broadway and through Central Park and Times Square.
Walking Tour of Downtown Manhattan
Our expert guides can lead students through the neighbourhoods of Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo and along Wall Street and Battery Park to give your group an insight into Manhattan life and the history of the city.
The Statue of Liberty Cruise & Ellis Island Immigration Museum
Alongside the ultimate landmark of New York and one of the most universal symbols of political freedom and democracy, the Ellis Island Museum is dedicated to the history of immigration and the important role this island claimed during the mass migration of humanity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
A 45-minute audio tour invites students to relive the immigrant experience as if they were the new arrivals and includes artifacts, photos, interactive displays and videos including the award winning 'Island of Hope, Island of Tears'.
You will visit the island as part of a short boat cruise passing the Statue of Liberty, which was the first sight for the millions of immigrants.
The 9/11 memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2011 in a ceremony for victims' families. The memorial honours the 2,983 who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. The memorial allows visitors to come together again in the spirit of unity and courage that emerged in the wake of 9/11. The memorial consists of two pools set in the footprints of the Twin Towers, surrounded by a plaza of more than 400 trees. The names of the victims are inscribed in bronze around the pools.
New York's premier cultural attraction is one of the world's greatest repositories of art. Offers paintings, sculpture, furniture and all manner of precious objects from across the continents and ancient civilisations. An excellent foundation of inspiration for those interested in the work of other cultures.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMa)
Located in the heart of New York City, The Museum of Modern Art is home to the world's greatest collection of modern and contemporary art. From the painting and sculpture of the 1880s to the film, design, and performance art of today, MoMA provides inspiration for visitors of all ages.
Yankee Stadium Tour
This classic tour of the famous Yankee Stadium includes visits to New York Yankees Museum presented by Bank of America, Monument Park, MasterCard | 1,040 |
Hidden on the south side of Whidbey Island's Penn Cove in Washington State is a destination community you may never even have heard about, Coupeville. With a population of just under 1900, Coupeville may be keeping secrets from all of us. It is an unbelievably beautiful harbor community full of local history, art and culture.
Whether it is the Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, the rich artistic community or a visit to the tall ship Lady Washington on one of her annual visits, Coupeville offers something for everyone.
Deeply committed to bringing arts and crafts into the modern experience, Coupeville plays host to an amazing array of artists who work in the visual, performance and culinary arts. Whether it is the buildings, the landscape or the waterways that catches their eyes, artists delight to preserve their awe of this beautiful community. Art galleries abound where you can find treasures on canvas or wood, pottery or metal and more. The annual Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival held August in august each year brings visitors from throughout the Northwest. The next festival will be held August 11-12,<|fim_middle|> a unique peek back into the Puget Sound's history. Once a frontier seaport, Ebey's Reserve now offers visitors the chance to experience agriculture, historic preservation and economic development through a variety of voices. The Fourth Annual Ebey's Forever Conference will take place on November 4-5, 2011. The conference celebrates and cultivates America's rural roots.
If water is your thing, Coupeville couldn't be better! Walk the beach at low tide and you can discover sea stars below the wharf. You can watch whales or help celebrate Coupeville most beloved bivalve by attending the Penn Cove Musselfest. You can also learn more about the aquatic life at the Penn Cove Water festival, held each May. Whale watchers will want to visit from March to May. Scuba diving and boating are also available in the area.
If you love the charm of Northwest living, you will love Coupeville. Regardless of the season, Coupeville is alive with excitement. The dining and night spots are great, the people are friendly and the entire area is beyond beautiful!
If you prefer to explore the road less-traveled, Coupeville will leave a lasting and enjoyable impression no matter how many times you visit. | 2012.
Walk down the streets of Coupeville and you will wonder how this amazing secret has been kept for so long: This historic Northwest town has something for everyone! Arts and Antique walks occur each year in March, June, September, and December. Each one is as unique as its season.
Whether you love to hike or bike, Coupeville will not disappoint. Trails run from a mile 10 mile experience to a grueling 100 mile test of courage.
Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve features an amazing mix of geography, flora and fauna with agriculture. Hikers can make their way from Penn Cove's Madrona Way shoreline to the beach and bluff of the landing and see everything from farming to bald eagles and gray whales to sea otters.
Each year, Ebey's landing offers | 168 |
REVIEW: The Secret Story of the BBC Christmas Tapes – When TV Goes Wrong, the Stars Swear!
If you watch television then you probably love an outtake. The same is true if you are involved in television production. 40 years after the first BBC Christmas tape, BBC Four uncovers the story of the clips never meant for broadcast. For lucky viewers it provides half an hour of laugh out loud moments.
Firstly, some context. Programmes made in BBC Television Centre in London saw all the recorded material sent down to the VT Department, situated beneath the circular courtyard. Here they would edit together shows from drama and light entertainment to comedy and sports coverage. Carefully, a programme was pieced together to deliver a polished product ready for broadcast.<|fim_middle|> BBC Christmas Tapes, all bases are covered. Being of a certain age will probably help as younger viewers may not recognise actors such as Leonard Rossiter or even Michael Crawford. As Doctor Who fans seeing Tom Baker behind the scenes is particularly glorious. For fans of late 70's and 80's BBC television this programme is essential watching over the festive period.
The Secret Story of the BBC Christmas Tapes is available to watch now on the BBC iPlayer. Discretion is advised however as the programme contains very strong language. | However this meant that not only did the VT editors see the final takes to be used, they also got all the slip-ups. All of those times an actor forgot a line. Animals in studio not behaving as the presenter might've hoped. On camera slips, trips and falls.
These clips would be held back by a young VT engineer called Grant Watkins who had the idea of saving all the funniest outtakes and cutting them together to amuse fellow staff. Then at the BBC staff Christmas party in 1978 the Christmas tape was shown for those in attendance. So popular was the BBC Christmas Tape that another was made for the following year. A tradition had been born. Play School presenter Carol Chell's performance as a table dripping with sticky goo from the 1979 BBC Christmas Tape is a bizarre experience to watch in 2018. As the popularity grew, special sketches and appearances were arranged just for the tape.
Unfortunately, word of the first tape reached the press. The re-edited interview with Princess Anne made the front page of The Sunday People newspaper. At various other times the practice of constructing these tapes was clamped down upon by senior BBC staff. Objections were made over how much time a BBC employee was spending to non-broadcast material. Similarly, the rise of the home video recorder and video piracy saw this material released into the public domain. However, the BBC Christmas Tapes would inspire shows like Not The Nine O'Clock News and Auntie's Bloomers. Noel Edmonds, host of the Saturday night TV series The Late Late Breakfast Show, awarded Golden Eggs in exchange for showing bloopers to delighted audiences.
From David Jason and the Two Ronnies to movie stars Judie Dench, Bob Hoskins and the War Doctor himself John Hurt, many high profile names make appearances. Of course, Doctor Who is also well represented. Some may have seen the footage of Tom Baker being less than kind to K9 before. Somehow however it seems even funnier to watch it broadcast as a part of an official broadcast from the BBC. I don't think I had seen the clip of Mary Tamm from 'The Androids of Tara' before so that was amusing. There is also a clip of a Dalek saying "b*llocks" which also tickled me.
There is also a rather surprising use of the Davros prop in a sketch aimed at BBC Director General John Birt. This reflects the move towards a critique of BBC management that was seen by the tapes during the 1990's. The last tape was made in 1998, with the VT department finally shut down in 2013 when BBC Television Centre was sold off and redeveloped.
In addition to the hilarious archive clips, the programme includes interviews with original BBC Christmas Tape editors Dave Rixon and Chris Wadsworth who explain how it all happened. Stars who featured in the tapes such as Angela Rippon, Bill Oddie, Sarah Greene and Phillip Schofield also discuss the impact of the Christmas Tapes. Original master copies have been sourced to present the archive clips in high quality, with many clips being broadcast uncensored for the first time.
The popularity of outtakes remains intact. It is impossible not to laugh at presenters and well respected actors messing up. Refreshingly the coarse language is not beeped but presented uncensored. Although half an hour doesn't seem long enough to fully explore the impact of the | 701 |
Sports / Utah Jazz / Sub-sections: More sections »ScheduleStandings
NCAAF NFL NBA MLB NHL MLS NCAAB
Snyder on Exum: 'This time it's different'
By Ryan Miller, KSL.com | Posted - Jan. 7, 2019 at 7:38 p.m.
MILWAUKEE — It had been two days since Dante Exum suffered his latest injury — an ankle sprain during Utah's win over Cleveland on Friday — and Jazz coach Quin Snyder wanted to give him a message.
So Snyder called him to let him know one thing: This time it's different.
This isn't like the ACL tear that stole a season or the shoulder injury that stole nearly another one. Exum will be back sooner than later and the progress he's made over the last month will still be there.
"I think it's important for him to know," Snyder said. "What's happened over the last month is Dante has established himself. There's a level of establishment. But what he has done of the last month, his game has taken a step and he has taken a step."
After falling out of the Utah rotation at the beginning of December, Exum was one of the Jazz's most consistent players over the last three weeks. In his last 12 games, he averaged 9.1 points, 4.3 assists in 18.1 minutes and helped stabilize what had been a shakey Utah bench unit. It was the consistency of the play and how Exum has asserted himself that has made Snyder believe that he has taken a jump.
Snyder mentioned how Exum has played well before — last season before his shoulder injury and Summer League before he injured his ACL — but this time is different.
"There's always these flashes," Snyder said. "You can see him growing. He's going to pick up right where he left off."
Exum's absence was felt even more Monday night in Milwaukee after Ricky Rubio had to exit the game in the first<|fim_middle|>1 7:00 pm
A talk and a plan: How Dante Exum turned his season around
Utah JazzSports
Some unique circumstances proved to be the balm the Jazz sorely needed
Rudy Gobert says recent stretch shows Warriors, Suns are a 'step ahead' of Jazz
Eric Paschall is making a case for more playing time
Is COVID retreating in the US? Data offers encouraging scenario
Are Utah legislators 'moving on' from COVID? Groups react to end of mask mandates | quarter. Rubio contested Eric Bledsoe on a layup attempt and when he landed, he immediately asked to be taken out of the game. He was visibly frustrated walking back to the locker room and moments later it was obvious why. Rubio was quickly ruled out of the game with a right hamstring injury.
🏀 NEXT GAME
Chase Center - Sun 1/23 6:30 pm
UTA (30-16)
GS (33-13)
🏀 LAST GAME
Vivint Arena - Fri 1/2 | 114 |
Emig's Grove Camp History
Starting in 1851, a religious camp meeting was held on Henry Hoff's land in Mount Wolf
and continued for several years. Then one was held near there in 1860. Later, several were
held on John Wogan's land in now Saginaw.
Then May 24, 1880 Emig's United Brethren Campground was established on 16 acres of
ground bought from Mr. John Emig at $135 an acre. The location was one mile south of Mount
Wolf Station on the line of the Northern Central Railway. The railroad made the campgrounds
a stop for the convenience of its passengers. There was a small platform and a sort of arbor
or archway that marked the campground stop. It comprised of 40 tents with floors and bunk,
cottages, kitchen and dining area and a tabernacle. Tents rented for $2.5<|fim_middle|> of 10,000 people on
any given Sunday when top national gospel figures like Billy Graham and Billy Sunday were
present to conduct services. See article. The camp, with the 1896 tabernacle, is still in use
today."
People walking from Smith Station to Penn Grove.
1896 tabernacle, is still in use today
Referrence from:
"Landmark History of
the United Brethren
Church"
Rev. Daniel Eberly,
Rev. Isaiah H Albright,
Rev. C. I. B. Brane
"History of St. Paul
Manchester, Pa"
Margaret H. Swan
Current picture of Penn Grove which started in Emigs Grove.
Pictures of
Emig's Grove Camp. | 0, cottages for $5.00
and board was $4.00 for 10 days. Nine acres were added in 1884. The camp attracted
thousands of people each summer.
(As a side note: In one corner of the grounds, in a secluded spot, is a mysterious tomb of a
soldier of the civil war. It has been sympathetically remembered by some patriotic members of
the Camp Meeting Association, and marked by a neat and appropriate headstone. The body
was moved to Prospect Hill Cemetery May 12, 1902. see article1 and article2 )
The 1896 season, which was very successful, was ending on August 7, 1896. "Many of the
ministers had gone home and the visitors had dwindled down to about five hundred…The
morning worship had been conducted and the breakfast had been severed when at 7:30 an
alarm of fire was raised… It started at location No 98 occupied by Mrs. D. G. Foose. Some
ashes from the stove had been scraped aside and unnoticed the fire in them had
communicated to some paper or straw of which it appears there was a good deal scattered
about the ground. From this the fire got to the building and it was but the work of moments
until the fire had assumed such proportions that hope of saving the camp were meager,
indeed…The fire was not confined to the grove either. In a field, adjoining Mrs. David
Williams', had a large straw stack. This was burned an even her house as threatened with
destruction, had it not been for Mr. John Wogan…The loss is estimated at about $6000.
There is an insurance of $3555. The loss on personal property may reach $1000 or more….It
is fortune there were no accidents to persons." Taken from Manchester Township History
Profile #12 ,which has a lot more details about this event.
There were plans to rebuild for next the season with considerable precautions taken against
fire. However, "soon afterwards Rev. Charles T. Stearn, president of the association,
completed arrangements for the purchase of 28 acres of woodland on the south side of the
Western Maryland Railroad near Smith Station close to Hanover. Two tabernacles and two
hundred cottages were erected and it was called Penn Gove Camp. The grounds were lighted
by electricity, and a 20,000 gallon water tank was erected to supply the camp with water. They
had two dynamos, one for generating electricity and the other to pump water. The camp was
at its strongest at the turn of the 20th century, and in the late 1940s through the 1960s, when
York Gospel Center brought in national Christian speakers and singers and the camps were
filled with children -- many who came by train.The Camp hosted upward | 631 |
Definition : Gamma radiation<|fim_middle|> radioactive tracer near the tumor site, and identifying the sentinel lymph nodes using a gamma detection probe. | detection probes designed to detect the level of radiation in lymphatic nodes around a cancer tumor after prior ingestion or injection of a radiopharmaceutical tracer (i.e., radioactive drug). These probes typically consist of a detector, a collimator, and shielding from radiation outside the intended target; they are used with non-imaging gamma radiation devices that display the count rate corresponding to each node. Lymphatic mapping gamma radiation probes are used to detect high-radiation points (hot spots), facilitating to find the lymph node to which the tumor drains (sentinel node, SN), helping the pathologist to identify lymph node metastasis status.
Related Terms : "Counters, Gamma, Intraoperative"
Entry Terms : "Lymphatic Mapping Gamma Probes" , "Sentinel Node Mapping (SND) Gamma Probes" , "Hot Node Mapping Gamma Probes"
The C-Trak Surgical Guidance System from Care Wise has been designed to be used by a surgeon in identifying tissues which contain a radioisotope label. The heart of the system is a small, hand-held gamma detector, the C-Trak probe.
Intra-Medical Imaging LLC ("IMI") develops and markets molecular imaging instruments to- detect cancer during surgery, identify vulnerable plaques in arteries and to deliver cell and gene therapies. Molecular imaging is the most sensitive method of identifying abnormal tissues. The widespread application of molecular imaging in the operating room started with the advent of the sentinel node mapping for staging of melanoma and breast cancer. This technique is based on the injection of a | 312 |
A comforting sympathy card for anyone who needs a bit of reassurance.
This monochrome sympathy card features some simple words of encouragement and reads, 'Everything is going to be quite alright '. Sometimes people just need to be told that things will be okay and this is the perfect card for such an occasion.
Let a friend or loved one know that they have your support with this genuine greetings card, and show them you're thinking of them with a simple<|fim_middle|>gsm hammered card, supplied with a crisp white envelope.
To read more about our delivery and returns policies, click here.
If selecting this option, no pricing information or receipt will be included with your card. Your message will be neatly handwritten exactly as it appears in the box so please ensure all spellings are correct.
Please make sure that you have chosen 'yes please' above, otherwise we cannot fulfil this request. | gesture.
Click here to see our other sympathy cards.
Or click here to make your way back to our storefront.
Digitally printed onto acid free, FSC certified white 300 | 38 |
Although commerce is older even than the thirty pieces of silver that persuaded Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus Christ, it took humans a long time to start to formally teach, and learn, the elements of business. The oldest business school in the world, ESCP Europe, was set up in Paris in 1819, a pipsqueak in comparison with Oxford, where teaching is said to have begun<|fim_middle|>2011. Read Assistant Editor Manu Kaushik's report on the same. | in 1096.
Most of us assume that the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, born 1961, is the oldest in the country. Not so. The oldest "business" school is the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Kolkata. That is not the only gem we uncovered in this year's Best B-schools survey, our fourteenth.
>> A shooting-from-the-hip investigation of the stasis and complacency that plagues our IIMs, written by a team of reporters led by Senior Editor Shamni Pande and Senior Associate Editor Goutam Das.
>> That segues into a very candid and refreshing interview by Senior Editor N. Madhavan with Dr Ashish Nanda, who was lured from Harvard Law School to be IIM Ahmedabad's new director (he started his job on September 2).
>> Assistant Editor Taslima Khan completes the IIM-A picture with a report on its unique incubation centre.
>> Very engrossing stories by Associate Editor E. Kumar Sharma, who lives in the same town as the Indian School of Business, on path-breaking courses offered by B-schools on familyrun businesses and ethics.
>> An excellent report on schools that teach rural management written by Madhavan. A sobering look at why research chairs at B-schools are going a-begging by Associate Editor Suprotip Ghosh - this links back to the story on the problems at IIMs.
>> Detailed reports on high-achieving schools like the Bharathidasan Institute of Management in Trichy, which leapt from 96 to 32 in the rankings; Delhi's International Management Institute, which jumped from 35 to 10; the T.A. Pai Management Institute in Manipal which vaulted from 45 to 19; and Management Development Institute in Gurgaon, which held its No. 8 rank.
Don't miss the excellent infographics on findings from the survey by Assistant Art Director Santosh Kushwaha. You will get a great overview of the trends in management education in the lead story by Pande, who steered the complex logistics of writing, travelling, research, design, and photography by the BT team. She was partnered by Deputy Editor Alokesh Bhattacharyya, who for several months also worked with MDRA on the painstaking survey and the rankings - including going with researchers on data-verification visits. A huge enterprise that could make for a good case study!
This special issue was also the perfect launching pad for our newest initiative and one I believe will become a favourite in B-schools - a once-monthly debate between two students from different schools on a hot business or economy topic. Enjoy the first debate and vote for the best comment - there's a prize to be won.
This issue of the magazine is exploding with good stories too numerous to name in this limited space, but I must draw your attention to the latest edition of our bellwether BT-C fore Business Confidence Index. No prizes for guessing how sentiment is going - to its lowest since we launched the survey in early | 638 |
Home NEWS Science News Immunology
New study to assess pandemic's impact on Canadian veterans and their spouses
in Immunology
Credit: Lawson Health Research Institute
LONDON, ON – Lawson Health Research Institute and the Centre of Excellence on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are partnering with a population at high risk of mental illness – Canadian Veterans and spouses of Canadian Veterans – to study how they have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through online surveys, the project will hear directly from Veterans and their spouses to assess the pandemic's effects on their wellbeing over time. The team hopes results can be used by health care workers and policymakers to support Veterans and their families during both the current pandemic and future public health emergencies.
"With concerns about COVID-19 infection and drastic changes to everyday life, the pandemic is taking a toll on the health of Canadians," explains Dr. Don Richardson, Lawson Associate Scientist and Director of the MacDonald Franklin Operational Stress Injury (OSI) Research Centre. "And it may be particularly distressing for those vulnerable to mental illness."
Population studies show that Canadian Veterans are at double the risk of mental illness when compared to the rest of the population. They experience higher rates of depression, anxiety and loneliness. Spouses of Canadian Veterans are also at higher risk of distress, sometimes undertaking significant caregiving responsibilities that lead to less independence.
"It's currently unknown how the pandemic will impact Veterans and their spouses, but it could result in particularly serious outcomes," says Dr. Anthony Nazarov, Associate Scientist at Lawson and the MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre. "We want to hear from all Canadian Veterans and their spouses, whether they're doing well or not and whether they're seeking care or not."
The study aims to recruit 1,000 Canadian Veterans and 250 spouses of Canadian Veterans. Participants will complete online surveys, available in both English and French, once every three months for a total of 18 months. They will be asked questions about their psychological, social, family-related and physical wellbeing, and any relevant changes to their lifestyle and health care treatment.
"Veterans who regularly access health care services could encounter significant changes, including a move to virtual care appointments. This could lead to increased caregiving responsibilities for spouses," says Dr. Nazarov. "Given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, these changes may persist well into the future, mandating a thorough assessment of patient satisfaction and treatment outcomes."
The team hopes results can be used to support the wellness of Veterans and their families during public health emergencies. This includes providing health care professionals and policymakers with information to guide emergency preparedness policies and health care delivery models. They hope results can also be used to recognize early signs of distress in order to target with early interventions.
"We are seeking to understand the impact of COVID-19 on Veterans and their families to identify if this global pandemic is leading to psychological distress or triggering historical traumas," says Dr. Patrick Smith, CEO of the Centre of Excellence on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. "The Centre's primary goal is to increase Canadian expertise related to military and Veteran mental health, suicide prevention and substance use disorders. This study can help us understand if the pandemic is having debilitating and life-altering effects, and help us address a potential mental health crisis."
Interested Canadian Veterans and spouses of Canadian Veterans can learn more about the study at http://www.veteransurvey.ca.
Robert DeLaet
Communications & External Relations
T: 519-685-8500 ext. 75664
Lawson Health Research Institute is one of Canada's top hospital-based research institutes, tackling the most pressing challenges in health care. As the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care London, our innovation happens where care is delivered. Lawson research teams are at the leading-edge of science with the goal of improving health and the delivery of care for patients. Working in partnership with Western University, our researchers are encouraged to pursue their curiosity, collaborate often and share their discoveries widely. Research conducted through Lawson makes a difference in the lives of patients, families and communities around the world. To learn more, visit http://www.lawsonresearch.ca.
The Centre of Excellence on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Related Mental Health Conditions is located at the Royal Ottawa Hospital and is funded by Veterans Affairs Canada. Its goal is to build strong community networks to create the<|fim_middle|>awsonresearch.ca/pandemics-impact-canadian-veterans
Tags: Health Care Systems/ServicesInfectious/Emerging DiseasesMedicine/HealthMental HealthSocial/Behavioral Science
SARS-CoV-2 antibody test helps select donor blood samples for therapeutic use
Scientists identify "immune cop" that detects SARS-CoV-2
New study reveals how the nervous system mutes or boosts sensory information to make behavioral deci
LiU researchers first to develop an organic battery | best possible supports and services for Veterans, first responders, service providers, and their families. It does this through knowledge and practice activities:
conducts and facilitates applied research in PTSD and related mental health conditions
widely shares information and knowledge about PTSD and mental health conditions and how to treat them
transforms knowledge into training and resources to ensure veterans, first responders, and service providers, and their families are receiving the best possible supports and services
shares standards for emerging and best practices with policy makers, mental health professionals, the Veteran Affairs Canada network of Operational Stress Injury Clinics, and Canadian Forces Health Services
The Centre's primary goal is to increase Canadian expertise related to military and veteran mental health, suicide prevention, and substance use disorders, ultimately making this knowledge available to any first responders, family members, service providers, and researchers across Canada.
https://www.l | 172 |
Admirals<|fim_middle|> Admirals vs. Iowa, 6 p.m., followed by Pop Stars All Time Low
Antetokounmpo has triple-double as Bucks down Bulls 111-98
Howard earns Big East weekly honors | selling on-ice passes for post-game concerts
Posted: Dec 8, 2017 10:13 AM CST
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) —Milwaukee Admirals announced that on-ice passes for the three post-game shows in the Admirals Concert Series are now on sale.
The on-ice passes allow exclusive access to watch the concert from directly in front of the Summerfest Stage at Panther Arena for just $20. A game ticket allows fans access to the hockey-music doubleheaders, however, the on-ice pass must be purchased in addition to a ticket.
Fans can purchase on-ice passes or tickets at the team's office. Tickets can also be purchased online here.
Currently the Admirals have three shows booked for the Admirals Concert Series:
January 19th: Admirals vs. Grand Rapids at 7 p.m., followed by Country Music Stars Brothers Osborne
February 10th: Admirals vs. San Antonio, 7:30 p.m., followed by Rock 'N Roll Hall of Famer Joan Jett and The Blackhearts.
April 14th: | 240 |
Joanne is a skillful realtor since 2004, who you will want on your side. Since joining RE/MAX Affiliates Realty in 2011, Joanne has consistently achieved the RE/MAX 100% Club Award. Joanne's philosophy is simple - client care, communication, and a hands-on approach are the main focus for success.
Both in her personal life and professional achievements, Joanne Hutchinson has made it her mission to always exceed expectations in everything she does. Negotiations start long before an agreement to purchase is presented. Joanne has many years of experience negotiating real estate transactions of any size, whether it's your first home or a multi-million dollar home.
Joanne specializes in residential real estate, selling home ranging from condominiums all the way to million dollar luxury estates. Her dedication to customer service is a key component to her success as she thrives to ensure all clients get the end results they deserve. Joanne will ensure your move is not just about finding the perfecthome, but helping you find the<|fim_middle|> supporter of the RE/MAX Children Miracle Network Foundation and The Breast Cancer. She is actively involved in her community volunteering and supporting many local charities and organizations. | perfect 'fit'. Everything from the right neighbourhood, schools, and extra curricular programs will be taken into account to ensure your move will feel like home!
Whether you are looking at purchasing your first home, moving up to something a little larger, downsizing, or investment opportunity, Joanne will ensure you the most comprehensive and professional service available. Joanne approaches her clients' real estate goals with passion and professionalism, dedicated to achieve the best possible results.
Joanne is a proud | 96 |
Tech Media WorX can fulfill all your CD-ROM replication needs.
Tech Media WorX will master all of your CD-ROM projects with the highest quality of Glass Mastering. We keep all masters on file to make your reorders simple and easy releasing you of the hassle.
We offer one of the highest resolution CD-ROM silkscreen prints available at 130 LPI and can handle almost any Pantone. With up to six colour CD-ROM screen printing available, we can make any and all your projects look spectacular. We also keep all of your artwork, film and screens on file to make for easy reorders and easy adjustments if required.
Tech Media WorX offers a full line of Print Material to add to your CD-ROM. Booklets & Tray Cards, One panel inserts, bar-code or serialized stickers and much more.
With almost endless possibilities for packaging your replicated media, we have what you need to put that finishing touch on your CD-ROM. From paper windowed envelopes to jewel cases and custom<|fim_middle|>. systems. Each and every disc is checked to make sure it stands up to our expectations. Finally all silkscreen is checked by a qualified graphic artist in great detail to ensure that you get back what you were expecting.
We partner with the biggest and best couriers both locally and internationally. UPS, FedEx, and Purolator enable us to get your product where you need it to be fast. | printed, custom designed card packaging, we have you and your CD-ROM covered.
At Tech Media WorX we pride ourselves in the efforts we put into Q.C. All of our staff are professionals and each project is looked at under the most rigorous Q.C | 51 |
Home Mangalorean News Local News Take CARE & LOVE the Elders with Alzheimer's & Dementia'- Top Cop...
Take CARE & LOVE the Elders with Alzheimer's & Dementia'- Top Cop N Shashi Kumar
Take CARE & LOVE the Elders with Alzheimer's & Dementia'- Top Cop/Police Commissioner N Shashi<|fim_middle|>ಸರಾ ರಜೆ ಘೋಷಣೆ
BJP leader, wife killed in Bihar's Arrah city
Agency News January 31, 2023 | Kumar during the 'WORLD ALZHEIMER'S DAY programme hosted by People's Association of Geriatric Empowerment (PAGE) at Town Hall, Mangaluru on 23 September 2022
Mangaluru: The members of PAGE (People's Association of Geriatric Empowerment) had done a marvellous job by organizing quite a few programmes/seminars/talks pertaining to Alzheimer's disease during the "World Alzheimer's Month" (WAM) which was kicked off on 3 September 2022 at Kadri park attended by a huge gathering- and the Valedictory was held on 23 September 2022 at Town Hall, Mangaluru to mark 'WORLD ALZHEIMER'S DAY'. "Adios" to the unique and prestigious 'WAM', after a glittering valedictory function, which ended with mind-blowing performances by the seniors which enthralled the audience and also surprised them that "Seniors too can Dance and Act, even at a vintage age.
Kudos for a job well done to PAGE members, especially Trustees Dr Prabha Adhikari and Mohan Raj, among others, where the finale of the nearly 22 days of Alzheimer's Awareness month did enthral the large group of people, both young and old who had assembled at Town Hall. Now, many of the youngsters in the audience came to know that old-timers also do have talents, can do some funky moves, and they too can rock!
The programme began with invoking God's blessings through a prayer song followed by Prabha Adhikari – Vice President of PAGE who briefed about the significance of World Alzheimer's Day and said, "Dementia can affect all aspects of a person's life, as well as their family's. If you have been diagnosed with dementia, or you are caring for someone with the condition, remember that there is advice and support available to help you live well. People with dementia should not simply stop doing what they enjoy in life; instead, they should try to remain as independent as possible and continue to enjoy their usual activities. Over time, people with dementia will need help to cope at home, and they may even need residential care in a nursing home eventually".
"PAGE has been creating awareness among people against illnesses. People suffering from Alzheimer's and Dementia need to keep their brains active. The association has proposed to set up a daycare centre and a neuro-rehabilitation programme for the elderly in the City. We need support from the people for this project. If a friend or family member finds it hard to talk to you, make the first move and explain that you still need to see them and tell them how they can help you. Thanks for your continued support during this Alzheimer's Month, and we look forward to continued support in our future ventures," added Dr Adhikari.
The programme was inaugurated by lighting the lamp by the dignitaries on the dais namely, Police Commissioner N Shashi Kumar; Fr Richard Coelho-Director, Father Muller Charitable Institutions, Mangaluru; Dr M Vijaya Kumar- Vice Chancellor, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University); Dr B Unnikrishnan-Dean, KMC, Mangaluru Dr Kishore Kumar – district Health Officer; Prabhakar Rao- Former Director, MCF; Ms Ramila Shekar- Mental Health Professional; Dr Prabha Adhikari and Mohan Raj-PAGE Trustees; among many others.
Addressing the gathering, Police Commissioner Shashi Kumar said, "I commend PAGE and its members for their initiatives and programmes aimed at caring and loving towards Alzheimer's/Dementia people. Keep up the good work. Every parent wants to see their child grow and be successful but no parent wants their child to treat them like an unnecessary load on their responsibilities. Old-age people need love and care, and not money! The abuse of elderly people is increasing day by day, and our department is taking necessary steps to stop the abuse of seniors. Organizations like PAGE also play an important role in bringing awareness about Alzheimer's disease, so that the elderly are not neglected. If PAGE needs any support from our side, we are always ready to help you all".
Fr Richard Coelho, the Director of FMCI said, "I know the pain and agony of Alzheimer's since my 89-year-old is suffering from Dementia. But we all children are taking very good care of her, even though she doesn't remember any of our services. These days youngsters neglect their parents/grandparents or put them in an old-age home. Seniors need love and not better facilities provided at a nursing home or old-age home. Youth should understand the problems of the elderly people, however, these days elderly are being ill-treated by the younger generation which needs to be stopped".
Vice Chancellor of Nitte Deemed to be University Dr M Vijaya Kumar said, "The elderly must remember that dignity of life is about how well one lives and not how well one survives. Life should be enjoyed till death. I don't count my age, therefore I feel young, after all, age is just a number. You all should be happy that you have lived all these years since these days many die at a young age due to eating habits, no exercise, drinking, smoking etc. You all have lived a well-balanced life. Not just on Alzheimer's day, let's celebrate it every day of our lives".
District Health Officer Dr Kishore Kumar said, "Those suffering from Alzheimer's and Dementia need support at home and also from the members of society. This will help the patient's in managing their stress. It is normal for the elderly to have attention-seeking behaviour in this period".
Dean of KMC Dr B Unnikrishnan said, "I have been part of PAGE activities, and I compliment Dr Prabha Adhikari and her team for doing a magnificent job in bringing awareness to Alzheimer's and dementia. Many youths have lost their lives addicted to digital technology etc. The best way to prevent Alzheimer's is to have frequent health tests done. Caregivers can help someone feel more comfortable by establishing a constant daily routine. Doing this can help reinforce a sense of familiarity in the person who has Alzheimer's. Caregivers should try to avoid making significant changes to a routine, as this can be confusing for someone. Individuals with Alzheimer's often require time to adjust to new people and places, so caregivers should try to implement changes gradually".
Other dignitaries on the dais also spoke about Dementia and urged the community, especially the youngsters to show love towards the older people, and particularly care for those diagnosed with neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's/Dementia. They also complimented PAGE and its members for their concern towards people with Alzheimer's, and also their unique projects bringing awareness about this disease. Prizes were distributed to the winners in the various contests organized during the WAM.
Trustee of PAGE Mohanraj thanked everyone from the bottom of his heart for making this prestigious September Month dedicated to People with Alzheimer's a sheer success and asked for community support in their forthcoming ventures pertaining to Alzheimer's/Dementia. The programme was professionally and eloquently compered by Ms Akshatha Shetty- Assistant Professor at Nitte Hospitality Services, and the cultural part was compered by Ms Vanamala-Project Manager of Yenepoya Clinical Research.
The function ended with a cultural programme, with the Students of St Agnes Teachers Training Institute for Special Education- Bendore performing a mind-blowing dance sequence, and also the members of KMC Navachaitanya and Spoorthi Charitable Trust performing a skit and dance. Students of SDM college also performed a dance cum skit. A bevvy of vintage ladies set the atmosphere into a dancing mood with their dance- and the audience gave them loud applause, and even called for encores. No doubt it was indeed a glittering and entertaining finale to a great month dedicated to people with Alzheimer's. There were also songs sung by members of various organizations and by students of various institutions.
In conclusion, from my perspective "Every other day, we see news of parents being beaten up by their children, parents and in-laws being forced to do the household chores, being made to live in small dungeon-like rooms, their property being forcefully taken over by over-ambitious children. Many of them suffer in silence as they fear humiliation or are too scared to speak up. After a certain age, health problems begin to crop up leading to losing control over one's body, even not recognizing one's own family owing to Alzheimer's are common in old age. It is then that children begin to see their parents as a burden. It is these parents who at times wander out of their homes or are thrown out. Some dump their old parents or grandparents in old-age homes and don't even come to visit them anymore".
Do not treat your parents or grandparents like a burden especially when they need you. Love and take care if you come across any people afflicted with Alzheimer's or dementia, and make a difference in the community. You can do it – we all can do it to make "Mangaluru Alzheimers'/Dementia Friendly". Thank You!
Click Here To View More Photos
Also Read Related Article:
With 'Path Traveled & Path Traversed' PAGE Kicks Off 'ALZHEIMER'S MONTH 2022'
Previous Articlesಜವನೀಕುಪ್ಪೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬೋನಿಗೆ ಬಿದ್ದ ಚಿರತೆ
Next Articlesಮಂಗಳೂರು ತಾಲೂಕು ವ್ಯಾಪ್ತಿಯ ಶಾಲೆಗಳಿಗೆ 4 ದಿನ ಹೆಚ್ಚುವರಿ ದ | 2,067 |
On October 10, Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida, forcing two Florida hospitals to evacuate more than 300 patients due to building damage. On the same day, The Joint Commission (TJC) published a new Emergency Management Health Care Environment Checklist on its website, which helps healthcare organizations reopening their facilities after a disaster.
While the timing of these two events were coincidental, providers should to take time to go over the checklist<|fim_middle|> missed cardiac events, and the pilot study required no additional resources or technology.
"While some hospitals are looking to add technology to combat this issue, BMC's approach demonstrates the opportunity for clinicians to interact with current alarm systems more effectively to decrease clinical alarm fatigue while simultaneously capturing and displaying all important alarms," James Piepenbrink, BSBME, director of clinical engineering at BMC and a study coauthor, said in a press release. | and their emergency plans in general.
A TJC workgroup developed the checklist at the request of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. It aligns with the accreditor's Emergency Management standards, covers both clinical and environmental issues, and addresses crucial post-disaster elements that need addressing before reopening. It should be noted that the checklist isn't hurricane-specific.
Jim Kendig, TJC's field director of Life Safety Code surveyors, says it's critical that hospitals customize the checklist for their needs by examining the relationships they establish in the community, and at the regional and state levels.
Today is Election Day, and we here at HCPro want to encourage all our readers to get out and vote!
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has begun a three-year project that aims to improve maternal outcomes for women and babies in the U.S. Supported by a grant from Merck for Mothers, the project's goals are to spread the use of evidence-based care practices to reduce complications such as hemorrhaging, hypertension, and blood clots. It also plans to implement strategies to reduce disparities in maternal outcomes, and partner with women, their caregivers, healthcare providers, and community initiatives to better learn and address factors to improve health outcomes for mothers and newborns.
Annually, an estimated 750 women die in the U.S. as a result of complications of childbirth, with more than 50,000 suffering serious complications, according to the IHI. African-American women have maternal mortality rates estimated to be three to four times higher than those of white women.
Merck for Mothers is a 10-year, $500 million initiative to help improve maternal mortality rates. The program began in 2011 and has expanded to more than 30 countries.
I'm working on the newest batch of Accreditation books out and I need your help!
These book will come with with the newest updates to CMS and other Accrediting Orgs. Plus tools, checklists, and quizzes, and more! But before we can get started, we need to get your feedback.
The Joint Commission has revised its Life Safety standards LS.04.01.20 through LS.04.02.50 for its Behavioral Health Care Accreditation program. The changes apply to residential behavioral health care facilities and go into effect July 1, 2018. The revisions change the "residential occupancy" requirements so they align with the 2012 edition of the National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 101: Life Safety Code®.
• Making it easier to discern between the requirements for existing and new buildings and for small and large organizations.
You can read the prepublication standards here.
Have thoughts about the paperwork you have to generate because of Medicare's Conditions of Participation (CoP)? Or rather, do you have thoughts you'd like to share with the public, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)?
Now's your chance. CMS has posted a call for comments on the paperwork required under the regulations that govern almost every aspect of operations at hospitals nationwide that also want the ability to bill Medicare for their services.
Translated, that's most of the hospitals in the nation, minus the 1,183 CAHs without distinct part psychiatric or rehabilitation units. They operate under a separate set of CoP, according to the notice.
"The CoPs and accompanying regulatory requirements are used by our surveyors as a basis for determining whether a hospital qualifies for a provider agreement under Medicare and Medicaid. CMS and the health care industry believe that the availability to the facility of the type of records and general content of records is standard medical practice and is necessary to ensure the well-being and safety of patients and professional treatment accountability," according to the notice.
CMS estimates that the paperwork required to meet the CoPs of the combined 4,991 respondents generates 1,342,424 responses a year, requiring a total of 18,840,617 hours a year.
That's about 3,775 hours per hospital. Or 72 hours a week. Or basically two full-time positions a year.
(You might not want to ask one of those people to generate the report to send to Medicare, if you do decide to submit a comment.
Comments must be received by Jan. 12, 2018.
After the notice is published on Nov. 13, to comment electronically — no physical paperwork needs to be generated! — go to www.regulations.gov, search for "2017-24524," hit the button that says "COMMENT NOW" and follow the instructions.
Note the warning that the comments will be made public.
Or you can send comments by regular mail: CMS, Office of Strategic Operations and Regulatory Affairs, Division of Regulations Development, Attention: Document Identifier/OMB Control Number 2017-24524, Room C4-26-05, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850.
It's book season at HCPro (also Halloween/Thanksgiving/sweater season) and we need your help!
This is the time when we come up with possible book ideas for 2018. But of course, we don't want to write about something readers aren't interested in, and want to hear your thoughts.
And if you have other book ideas, we're always open to suggestions!
Hospitals must comply with the Image Gently Alliance's guidelines when using imaging radiation or fluoroscopy on pediatric patients..
The alert contains a link to SEA 57, The essential role of leadership in developing a safety culture, replacing the previous link to SEA 43. Both alerts talk about leadership's role in creating a safety culture, but SEA 57 is more recent.
The list of references has been updated to show which ones had been recently accessed.
Editor's Note: The following is a free Patient Safety Monitor Journal article from yesteryear! If you like it, check out more of our work covering quality and patient safety!
If you walk onto the medical-surgical units in Boston Medical Center (BMC), you may notice something strange: silence.
On a unit that is typically a cacophony of beeping emanating from cardiac monitors, silence is a strange occurrence. But thanks to BMC's pilot study that began in August 2012, the unit is significantly quieter, the nurses are noticeably happier, and the hospital has positioned itself as a national model for reducing alarm fatigue-a recent hot topic in the patient safety world.
What began as a pilot study on one unit transformed into a hospitalwide initiative that reduced alarms on all medical-surgical units from 1 million to 400,000 per week.
"Our nurses threatened us that if we ever went back to the old settings; they never wanted us to end the pilot program," says Deborah Whalen, MSN, APRN, ANP-BC, clinical service manager and cardiology nurse practitioner at BMC, and one of the coauthors of the study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. "Initially they were terrified that there would be all these crisis alarms, but in fact, we made the changes and did it on a Monday at noon, changed the order sets on the pilot unit and educated staff, and then we stood there and there were no alarms.
The overwhelming success of the pilot study on one unit prompted BMC to expand the program to every medical-surgical unit and the hospital quickly became identified as a national leader in alarm management, during a time of heightened awareness and a new National Patient Safety Goal from The Joint Commission. Over the past several months The Boston Globe, NPR, and two local news channels have done stories about the hospital's program. In May 2013, BMC's work was featured in a Joint Commission webinar, exemplifying the steps hospitals could implement to better manage alarms and improve patient safety.
The results of the pilot program were published online in December in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, which showed a reduction of 89% in total mean weekly audible alarms by dropping averages from 12,546 per day to 1,424. Weekly alarms averaged 87,823 but dropped to 9,967 during the pilot. The most significant decrease came from changes for bradycardia, tachycardia, and heart rate parameter limits, which started at 62,793 per week and dropped to 3,970 per week.
Perhaps the most telling statistic: The decibel level on the floor dropped from 90 decibels before the pilot to 72 decibels, the equivalent of noise levels generated by heavy traffic to normal conversation.
"It's not silent by any stretch of the imagination, but it's quiet and there aren't these alarms constantly going off in the background," Whalen says.
What made the study particularly appealing to other hospitals searching for ways to better manage alarms in their own facility was the fact that there were no adverse events related to | 1,897 |
<|fim_middle|>ataract surgery.
Zepto® has received an extremely enthusiastic welcome by cataract surgeons, according to John Hendrick, President & CEO of Mynosys. "Since its international launch in early 2017 and in the US in October 2017, Zepto® has very quickly established itself to be the 'go to' instrument in challenging cases, and is also increasingly used by surgeons to perform personalized cataract procedures whereby a Zepto®-guided, visually centered capsulotomy can anchor the surgery to the patient's individual visual axis". Hendrick adds, "The feedback from surgeons, no matter in hospital-based settings or in high volume premium practices has uniformly been: "Accuracy & strength at another level", "A feeling of achievement" "Increases my efficiency", and 'Wow". | Zepto® is an easy to use, disposable instrument that provides quick, consistent, and high quality automated capsulotomies that can be personalized for the patient's individual visual axis in routine, challenging and premium cases of cataract surgery.
Mynosys Cellular Devices Inc. (Fremont, CA. USA) is pleased to announce that its flagship automated capsulotomy device, Zepto®, has been selected as the best capsulotomy technology by Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today, a leading publication that monitors and reviews technology and trends in c | 115 |
\section*{Introduction}
Supersymmetry (SUSY) is a compelling idea that is motivated by both phenomenological (Beyond the Standard Model) and theoretical (String Theory) point of view. If nature indeed uses supersymmetry it must be spontaneously broken. In the simplest scenario SUSY breaking happens in the hidden sector and is mediated to the visible sector (Supersymmetric Standard Model) by gravitational interactions. It is therefore of interest to study SUSY breaking in the context of $N=1$ four-dimensional supergravity (SUGRA).
On the other hand, according to observations the Universe is currently expanding with acceleration \cite{Riess:1998cb,Perlmutter:1997zf}. The simplest way to describe such a universe is by introducing a (very) small positive cosmological constant. In supergravity the task of adding a positive cosmological constant is known to be non-trivial because of the restrictions on the scalar potential imposed by supersymmetry. For example in pure (standard) supergravity one can only have zero (Minkowski vacuum) or negative (anti-de Sitter vacuum) cosmological constant \cite{Townsend:1977qa}. It is possible to generate a positive cosmological constant if we allow other (non-gravitational) multiplets. One interesting possibility is that the same field(s) that breaks SUSY can also generate the cosmological constant. This is possible, for example, in the simplest Polonyi model \cite{Polonyi:1977pj,Linde:2016bcz,Aldabergenov:2017bjt}.
In this work we will focus on the supergravity non-linear $\sigma$-model with $SU(1,1)/U(1)$ target space. This coset manifold, known as the Poincar\'e plane, describes hyperbolic K\"ahler geometry, and often arises in superstring-derived effective SUGRA models where the corresponding scalars are the compactification moduli. Our goal is to find a Poincar\'e plane model that spontaneously breaks supersymmetry in de Sitter vacuum, i.e. allowing for a positive (tunable) cosmological constant. It turns out, one such class of models is available if we introduce linearly realized gauged $U(1)_R$ symmetry. This, of course, adds a gauge (vector) multiplet with its $D$-term contribution to the scalar potential and SUSY breaking.
This paper is organized as follows. In Section 1 we recall basic properties of $N=1$ four-dimensional supergravity as well as the $SU(1,1)/U(1)$ non-linear $\sigma$-model. We discuss the two equivalent coordinate choices -- one covering the whole Poincar\'e plane (disk) while the other covering its upper half. In Section 2 we use the fact that the two parametrizations of the plane reveal two different types of $U(1)$ symmetries (linearly and non-linearly realized), to construct new models where the $U(1)$ is linearly realized local R-symmetry. In Section 3 we show that for suitable parameter choices our models spontaneously break SUSY and R-symmetry, and generate tunable cosmological constant. We find that in two particular cases the scalar potential becomes flat with positive height (de Sitter no-scale supergravity). Some generalizations of the our models are discussed in Section 4, while Section 5 is devoted for further discussion and conclusion.
\section{\texorpdfstring{$N=1$ $D=4$}{Lg} supergravity and the Poincar\'e plane}
Let us briefly review the general features of the standard four-dimensional $N=1$ supergravity. Its bosonic sector is described by the action (we use Planck units, $\kappa=1$, unless otherwise stated)~\footnote{A derivation of this action can be found in Refs. \cite{Wess:1992cp,Freedman:2012zz}}
\begin{equation}
e^{-1}{\cal L}=\frac{1}{2}R-K_{i\bar{j}}D_m\Phi^i\overbar{D^m\Phi}^j-\frac{1}{4}f^R_{AB}F_{mn}^AF^{B,mn}-\frac{i}{4}f^I_{AB}\tilde{F}_{mn}^AF^{B,mn}-V_F-V_D~,\label{standardaction}
\end{equation}
whose the F- and D- type scalar potentials are given by
\begin{gather}
V_F=e^K\left[K^{i\bar{j}}(W_i+K_iW)(\overbar{W}_{\bar{j}}+K_{\bar{j}}\overbar{W})-3|W|^2\right]~,\label{VF}\\
V_D=\frac{g^2}{2}f_R^{AB}\mathscr{D}_A\mathscr{D}_B~,\label{VD}
\end{gather}
where $K=K(\Phi_i,\overbar{\Phi}_i)$ is a (real) K\"ahler potential depending upon chiral scalar fields $\Phi_i$, $W=W(\Phi_i)$ is a (holomorphic) superpotential, $f_{AB}=f_{AB}(\Phi_i)$ is a (holomorphic) gauge kinetic function with $f^R_{AB}\equiv {\rm Re}f_{AB}$ and $f^I_{AB}\equiv {\rm Im}f_{AB}$; $R$ is the spacetime scalar curvature, $F_{mn}^A=\partial_mA_n^A-\partial_nA_m^A+gf^{ABC}A^B_mA^C_n$ is the field strength of a vector (gauge) field $A_m^A$, $g$ is the gauge coupling, and $\mathscr{D}_A$ are Killing potentials of the gauged isometries of the K\"ahler manifold. We use the notation $K^{i\bar{j}}\equiv K_{i\bar{j}}^{-1}$, where $K_{i\bar{j}}\equiv\frac{\partial^2K}{\partial\Phi_i\partial\overbar{\Phi}_j}$, $W_i\equiv\frac{\partial W}{\partial\Phi_i}$, and $f^{AB}\equiv f_{AB}^{-1}$ with $A,B$ as the gauge group indices. The gauge-covariant derivatives of the charged scalars are
\begin{equation}
D_m\Phi^i=\partial_m\Phi^i-gA_m^AX_A^i~,\label{DPhi}
\end{equation}
where $X^i_A$ are the corresponding Killing vectors.
The action \eqref{standardaction} is invariant under combined K\"ahler-Weyl transformations
\begin{equation}
K\rightarrow K+\Sigma+\overbar{\Sigma}~,~~~W\rightarrow We^{-\Sigma}~,\label{KWtransform}
\end{equation}
where $\Sigma$ is an arbitrary chiral scalar field.
Killing potentials can be related to Killing vectors by the expression
\begin{equation}
\mathscr{D}_A=i\left(K_i+\frac{W_i}{W}\right)X^i_A~,\label{Killingpot}
\end{equation}
where the superpotential-dependent term is present whenever R-symmetry is gauged, and is known as the Fayet-Iliopoulos term (of gauged R-symmetry) in supergravity.
SUSY is spontaneously broken whenever auxiliary $F$ and/or $D$ fields, satisfying
\begin{gather}
F^i=-e^{K/2}K^{i\bar{j}}(\overbar{W}_{\bar{j}}+K_{\bar{j}}\overbar{W})~,\label{F_aux}\\
D_A=-g\mathscr{D}_A~,\label{D_aux}
\end{gather}
acquire non-vanishing VEVs. When SUSY is broken gravitino becomes massive absorbing the goldstino. In the Lagrangian the gravitino effective mass appears as
\begin{equation}
m_{3/2}^2=e^K|W|^2~.\label{m_32}
\end{equation}
In Minkowski background the VEV of $m_{3/2}$ is the physical gravitino mass, however in more complicated backgrounds physical mass differs from the "Lagrangian" mass given by Eq. \eqref{m_32}. Throughout the paper we will use the term "gravitino mass" in the sense of Eq. \eqref{m_32}.~\footnote{One can borrow the notion of the physical gravitino mass from AdS supergravity as $m_{3/2,{\rm phys}}^2=\langle m_{3/2}\rangle^2 +V_0/3$ (see e.g. \cite{Freedman:2012zz} and Refs. therein). In (pure) AdS supergravity the cosmological constant is $V_0=-3\langle m^2_{3/2}\rangle$ and the physical mass vanishes.} Then, $\langle m_{3/2}\rangle$ can be zero even when SUSY is broken.
As regards the Poincar\'e plane, it can be described by the K\"ahler metric in terms of the half-plane coordinate $T$ (a complex scalar in spacetime) as
\begin{equation}
K_{T\overbar{T}}=\frac{\alpha}{(T+\overbar{T})^2}~,\label{metricT}
\end{equation}
with some positive real number $\alpha$ that determines the K\"ahler curvature, $R_K=-2/\alpha$. Alternatively, the same metric can be defined using the disk coordinate $Z$,
\begin{equation}
K_{Z\overbar{Z}}=\frac{\alpha}{(1-Z\overbar{Z})^2}~.\label{metricZ}
\end{equation}
The two metrics are related by the Cayley transformation
\begin{equation}
Z=\frac{T-1}{T+1}~.\label{ZT}
\end{equation}
From string theory point-of-view, the Poincar\'e plane models corresponding to compactification moduli have (positive) integer values of $\alpha$. In principle, the available values are $\alpha=1,2,...,7$ according to Refs. \cite{Duff:2010ss,Duff:2010vy,Ferrara:2016fwe}.
The metric \eqref{metricZ} can be obtained from the K\"ahler potential $K=-\alpha\log(1-Z\overbar{Z})$. Under the transformation \eqref{ZT} it becomes
\begin{equation}
K=-\alpha\left[\log(T+\overbar{T})-\log(T+1)-\log(\overbar{T}+1)\right]~,
\end{equation}
plus an irrelevant constant. The last two terms can be absorbed into the superpotential by the K\"ahler-Weyl transformation \eqref{KWtransform} with $\Sigma=-\alpha\log(T+1)$. To summarize, assuming the general superpotential $W=W(Z)$, the transformation \eqref{ZT} followed by the K\"ahler-Weyl rescaling takes the $Z$-parametrization of the Poincar\'e plane to the (equivalent) $T$-parametrization as follows
\begin{equation}
\begin{cases}
K=-\alpha\log(1-Z\overbar{Z})\\
W=W(Z)
\end{cases}~\Longrightarrow~\begin{cases}
K=-\alpha\log(T+\overbar{T})\\
W=W\left(\frac{T-1}{T+1}\right)(T+1)^\alpha~.
\end{cases}\label{ZTKahler}
\end{equation}
The Poincar\'e plane has a wide range of applications in phenomenology. For example, the choice $K=-3\log(T+\overbar{T})$ and $W=W_0$ ($W_0$ is a constant) corresponds to the simplest no-scale supergravity \cite{Cremmer:1983bf,Ellis:1983sf,Ellis:1983ei}. Using the inverse transformation of Eq. \eqref{ZT} the no-scale model can be expressed in terms of the disk coordinate $Z$ as $K=-3\log(1-Z\overbar{Z})$ and $W=W_0 (Z-1)^3$.
In the both coordinate choices ($T$ and $Z$) the complex scalars can be parametrized in such a way that one of their two real components is canonical. $T$ can be parametrized as
\begin{equation}
T=\frac{1}{2}e^{-\sqrt{\frac{2}{\alpha}}\varphi}+it~,\label{Tpar}
\end{equation}
where the real scalar $\varphi$ is canonical, while $t$ (also real) is not --<|fim_middle|>\rangle$ becomes small, but there is still a freedom to control $\langle F\rangle$ and $\langle m_{3/2}\rangle$ by choosing the parameter $\mu$. In particular, the gravitino mass \eqref{m32_alpha=4} can be expanded in the limit $g\rightarrow 0$ (or $A\rightarrow 0$) as
\begin{equation}
\langle m_{3/2}\rangle^2\approx \frac{27}{16}\mu^2~.
\end{equation}
As regards the scalar mass, it reads
\begin{equation}
m^2_{\delta\phi}=\frac{\mu^2}{32}(9-8A)(3-4A+\sqrt{9-8A})~,\label{m_deltaphi_2}
\end{equation}
where $A$ is defined in Eq. \eqref{z0_and_A}. In the limit of vanishing $g$, it becomes $m^2_{\delta\phi}\approx\langle m_{3/2}\rangle^2\approx 27\mu^2/16$.
For illustration purposes we provide the plots of the scalar potential for $\alpha=1,2,3,4$ in Figure \ref{Fig}.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{subfigure}{.47\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{V_a_1.pdf}
\caption{The case $\alpha=1$ and $g=0.5$. Solid line corresponds to $\mu=0.6$, dashed line to $\mu=0.65$, and dotted line to $\mu=0.1$.}
\label{alpha1}
\end{subfigure}
\hspace{1em}
\begin{subfigure}{.47\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{V_a_4.pdf}
\caption{The case $\alpha=4$ and $g=0.1$. Solid line corresponds to $\mu=1.4$, dashed line to $\mu=1.7$, and dotted line to $\mu=0.1$.}
\label{alpha4}
\end{subfigure}
\begin{subfigure}{.47\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{V_a_2.pdf}
\caption{The case $\alpha=2$ and $g=0.5$. Solid line corresponds to $\mu=\sqrt{2}g\approx 0.707$ (no-scale choice), dashed line to $\mu=0.6$, and dotted line to $\mu=0.8$.}
\label{alpha2}
\end{subfigure}
\hspace{1em}
\begin{subfigure}{.47\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{V_a_3.pdf}
\caption{The case $\alpha=3$ and $g=0.4$. Solid line corresponds to $\mu=3g/\sqrt{2}\approx 0.849$ (no-scale choice), dashed line to $\mu=0.6$, and dotted line to $\mu=1$.}
\label{alpha3}
\end{subfigure}
\captionsetup{width=1\linewidth}
\caption{Scalar potential $V(\phi)$, where $\phi$ is the canonical scalar, for $\alpha=1,2,3,4$ and different choices of the parameters $\mu$ and $g$.}
\label{Fig}
\end{figure}
\section{Generalizations}
Let us generalize $\alpha$, and recall the equation for critical points \eqref{zcrit},
\begin{equation}
\alpha^2g^2(1-z^2)^\alpha+\mu^2(1-z^2)^2\left((\alpha-2)(\alpha-1)z^2-2\right)=0~.\label{zcrit2}
\end{equation}
It is convenient to introduce the notation
\begin{gather}
1-z^2\equiv Y~,\nonumber\\
(\alpha-1)(\alpha-2)-2\equiv B_1~,\\
(\alpha-1)(\alpha-2)\equiv B_2~,\nonumber
\end{gather}
and rewrite Eq. \eqref{zcrit2} as
\begin{equation}
\alpha^2g^2Y^\alpha+\mu^2 B_1 Y^2-\mu^2 B_2 Y^3=0~.\label{zcrit3}
\end{equation}
The no-scale structure can arise when (a) $B_1$ (or $B_2$) vanishes and (b) the remaining powers of $Y$ coincide, namely $\alpha=3$ (or $\alpha=2$). Then, since $Y$ cannot vanish (because $Y=1-z^2$ and $z=\tanh(\phi/\sqrt{2\alpha})$), Eq. \eqref{zcrit3} reduces to a relation between the parameters $\mu$ and $g$, that, if satisfied, leads to flatness of the potential. $B_1$ vanishes for $\alpha=0,3$, while $B_2$ vanishes for $\alpha=1,2$. Thus, for $\alpha=2,3$ the both conditions (a) and (b) are satisfied, and no-scale potential can be obtained. For other values of $\alpha$ flatness of the potential cannot be achieved (as long as $\mu,g\neq 0$) because all three powers of $Y$ in Eq. \eqref{zcrit3} are present and distinct. However, SUSY may still be broken by fixed VEVs of $z$ (or $Y$) as in the cases $\alpha=1,4$ that we studied. In Figure \ref{Fig2} we include plots of scalar potentials with three critical points, obtained for $\alpha=5,6,7$ (Figure \ref{alpha567}) and also fractional values $\alpha=1/2,3/2,5/2$ (Figure \ref{alphafrac}). As can be seen, certain parameter values of $\mu$ and $g$ allow for double-well potentials (with tunable minimum $V_0$) in all the above cases except $\alpha=5/2$ where the two $z\neq 0$ critical points become maxima rather than minima, and the potential is unbounded from below.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{subfigure}{.46\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{alpha_567.pdf}
\caption{$\alpha=5$ (solid line), $\alpha=6$ (dashed line), and $\alpha=7$ (dotted line). The parameters values are $\mu=1$ and $g=0.1$ in all three cases.}
\label{alpha567}
\end{subfigure}
\hspace{1em}
\begin{subfigure}{.49\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{alpha_frac.pdf}
\caption{Solid line: $\alpha=1/2$, $\mu=0.4$, $g=0.4$. Dashed line: $\alpha=3/2$, $\mu=0.68$, $g=0.5$. Dotted line: $\alpha=5/2$, $\mu=0.6$, $g=0.4$.}
\label{alphafrac}
\end{subfigure}
\captionsetup{width=1\linewidth}
\caption{Scalar potential for $\alpha=5,6,7$ (a) and $\alpha=1/2,3/2,5/2$ (b).}
\label{Fig2}
\end{figure}
As regards the generalization of $n$ in the superpotential \eqref{WZn}, it leads to the following equation for critical points,
\begin{multline}
\alpha^2g^2(1-z^2)^\alpha+\mu^2(1-z^2)^2z^{2n-4}[n(1-z^2)(n-1-z^2-nz^2)\\+\alpha z^2(2n-2-z^2-2nz^2)+\alpha^2z^4]=0~,\label{zcritn}
\end{multline}
that is a generalization of Eq. \eqref{zcrit2}. This introduces more diversity to the vacuum structure of the models. For example, taking $\alpha=1$ and $n=2$ we demonstrate in Figure \ref{Fig3} the case with five critical points (i.e. with Eq. \eqref{zcritn} having four real solutions with $0<z<1$). We fix $\mu=0.35$, and consider three values of $g$. When $g=0.171$ (solid line in Figure \ref{Fig3}) we have two maxima, one metastable minimum (false vacuum) at $z=\phi=0$ with preserved SUSY and $U(1)_R$, and two stable minima (true vacua) at $z\neq 0$ with broken SUSY and $U(1)_R$. In such scenario domain walls may form that divide the vacua with broken and unbroken SUSY and $U(1)_R$, depending on relative height of stable and metastable minima. The domain wall "bubbles" would be metastable and eventually decay~\footnote{This can leave stable domain walls that divide true vacua with $z=+|z_0|$ and $z=-|z_0|$.}, as the true vacuum with $z\neq 0$ is energetically favoured. For $g=0.19$ (dashed line in Figure \ref{Fig3}), on the other hand, the $z=0$ minimum becomes stable while $z\neq 0$ minima become metastable. In this case the decay of the domain walls would restore SUSY and R-symmetry. Finally, for $g=0.213$ (dotted line in Figure \ref{Fig3}) we have a single stable minimum at $z=0$, and two inflection points. When $g>0.213$ Eq. \eqref{zcritn} does not admit real solutions with $0<z<1$, so the $z\neq 0$ critical points disappear.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=.5\linewidth]{n_2.pdf}
\caption{Scalar potential for $\alpha=1$, $n=2$, and $\mu=0.35$. Solid line represents $g=0.171$, dashed line $g=0.19$, and dotted line $g=0.213$.}
\label{Fig3}
\end{figure}
\section{Discussion and conclusion}
We constructed new models of spontaneous supersymmetry and R-symmetry breaking, based on $N=1$ four-dimensional supergravity coupled to a chiral multiplet with $SU(1,1)/U(1)$ (Poincar\'e plane) target space. The crucial part of our construction is gauged $U(1)_R$ symmetry that acts linearly on the Poincar\'e disk variable $Z$. This allows for SUSY breaking in de Sitter vacuum for appropriate parameter ranges.
More specifically, we considered the K\"ahler potential and superpotential
\begin{equation}
K=-\alpha\log(1-Z\overbar{Z})~,~~~W=\mu Z~,\label{KW_setup}
\end{equation}
with integer values of $\alpha$ motivated by string theory constructions. We found that when $\alpha=1,4$, SUSY and R-symmetry are spontaneously broken provided that $2\mu^2>g^2$ (if $\alpha=1$) and $\mu^2>8g^2$ (if $\alpha=4$). In both cases positive cosmological constant can be generated. For $\alpha=2$ and $\alpha=3$ the situation is different -- for the specific choices $\mu^2=2g^2$ and $2\mu^2=9g^2$, respectively, we have flat potentials with positive tunable height. Consequently, the VEV of $Z$ is classically undetermined (to be fixed by perturbative corrections), and the SUSY breaking scale is arbitrary (with some restrictions), i.e. these two cases are examples of de Sitter no-scale supergravity. We also demonstrated that other values of $\alpha$ (including fractional ones) may lead to spontaneous SUSY and R-symmetry breaking as well, but the no-scale structure remains unique to $\alpha=2,3$.
We discussed the generalization of $n$ in the superpotential $W=\mu Z^n$, and showed that it can generate potentials with more that two local minima, which can lead to some interesting implications such as formation of metastable domain wall bubbles that can decay into true vacua with broken or unbroken supersymmetry and R-symmetry, depending on the values of $\mu$ and $g$.
The tree-level spectrum of the models (after SUSY and R-symmetry breaking) consists of a massive vector, massive spin-1/2 field, and a massive real scalar (except for the no-scale cases where the potential is to be generated at one loop). The spin-1/2 field is a linear combination of the chiral fermion $\chi$ (superpartner of $Z$) and the gaugino $\lambda$, orthogonal to the goldstino. The $\chi$ and $\lambda$ have $U(1)_R$ charges $q(\chi)=q(\lambda)=1/2$, and therefore the pure model contains anomalies that must be cancelled after including the Supersymmetric Standard Model (SSM) and other possible fields. Also, the $U(1)_R$ gauge symmetry introduces a non-trivial task of assigning appropriate R-charges to the fields. For example, if the full superpotential is the sum $\mu Z+W_{\rm SSM}$, then the Standard Model R-charge assignments can be done along the lines of Ref. \cite{Chamseddine:1995gb}. Alternatively, $W_{\rm SSM}$ can be coupled to some power of $Z$ and thus carry different R-charge, or even be neutral.
We also checked whether or not viable single-field (hilltop) inflation can be realized with the models where $\alpha=1$ and $\alpha=4$ (with $n=1$). Unfortunately, it does not seem to be possible because the curvature of the potential around its maximum is too large. To be specific, for $\alpha=1$ the slow-roll parameter $\eta_*$ is
\begin{equation}
\eta_*\equiv\frac{V''(\phi_*)}{V(\phi_*)}\approx -1~,
\end{equation}
taken at the initial value of $\phi$ which we assume to be $\phi_*\approx 0$ (close to the maximum of the potential). Meanwhile the parameter
\begin{equation}
\epsilon_*\equiv\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{V'(\phi_*)}{V(\phi_*)}\right)^2~
\end{equation}
can be made small if the initial value of $\phi$ is close enough to zero. This means that the spectral tilt $n_s=1+2\eta_*-6\epsilon_*$ takes the value $n_s\approx -1$ that is incompatible with CMB data, $n_s\approx 0.965$ (see e.g. PLANCK 2018 results \cite{Akrami:2018odb}). On the other hand, the $\alpha=4$ case predicts smaller value of $\eta_*$, namely $\eta_*\approx -0.5$, but the tilt becomes $n_s\approx 0$ which is still unsatisfactory.~\footnote{For values $\alpha=5,6,7$ the scalar $\phi$ cannot be identified with the inflaton, because requiring $V_0\sim 10^{-120}$ would imply unacceptably small inflationary (Hubble) scale of similar order as $V_0$, while for $\alpha=1/2,3/2$ the problem of large $\eta_*$ remains.}
The situation is somewhat similar to the construction of Refs. \cite{Antoniadis:2017gjr,Antoniadis:2019dpm} where the K\"ahler potential is canonical (plus a quartic term), while the superpotential is linear due to the requirement of local R-symmetry. In this model viable hilltop inflation becomes possible only after including certain higher-order corrections to the K\"ahler potential. It is therefore of interest to continue the investigation of inflationary scenario in our models after including corrections/modifications to the K\"ahler potential, compatible with local R-symmetry.
\section*{Acknowledgements}
Y.A. was supported by the CUniverse research promotion project of Chulalongkorn University under the grant reference CUAASC, and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the grant reference BR05236322.
| its kinetic term is coupled to $\varphi$. The disk coordinate $Z$ can be parametrized e.g. in a polar form,
\begin{equation}
Z=e^{-i\zeta}\tanh{\frac{\phi}{\sqrt{2\alpha}}}~,\label{Zpar}
\end{equation}
where $\phi$ is the canonical scalar controlling the absolute value of $Z$, and $\zeta$ is the scalar controlling its angle. This parametrization of $Z$ will be useful in the following sections.
\section{Gauged R-symmetry in \texorpdfstring{$SU(1,1)/U(1)$}{Lg} models}
$U(1)$ gauge theories in the context of $SU(1,1)/U(1)$ models are often considered as half-plane models with the K\"ahler potential
\begin{equation}
K=-\alpha\log(T+\overbar{T})~,
\end{equation}
where the symmetry under imaginary shifts of $T$ is gauged. The local shifts can be written as $T\rightarrow T+iq_T\theta$, where $\theta=\theta(x)$ is the gauge parameter and $q_T$ is the corresponding $U(1)$ charge of $T$. The Killing vector must satisfy the relation $\delta T=\theta X^T$, thus $X^T=iq_T$.
If we want to promote this gauge transformation to a local R-transformation, superpotential must transform as
\begin{equation}
W\rightarrow We^{-iq\theta}~,\label{W(T)transform}
\end{equation}
where $q$ is the $U(1)_R$ charge of the superpotential. If there are no other chiral fields in the model, the superpotential is fixed as $W=\mu e^{-\xi T}$ with some real constant $\xi$ and complex constant $\mu$. From the transformation property \eqref{W(T)transform} we obtain the relation $\xi=q/q_T$. Eq. \eqref{Killingpot} in this case yields
\begin{equation}
{\mathscr D}=q_T\left(\frac{\alpha}{T+\overbar{T}}+\xi\right)~,
\end{equation}
which makes it clear that $\xi$ is exactly the FI term of gauged R-symmetry that we mentioned earlier.
If we switch to the $Z$-parametrization of the Poincar\'e plane with
\begin{equation}
K=-\alpha\log(1-Z\overbar{Z})~,
\end{equation}
the phase symmetry of $Z$ becomes the simplest choice for gauging. I.e. we can introduce the gauge transformation $Z\rightarrow Ze^{-iq_Z\theta}$, where $q_Z$ is the $U(1)$ charge of $Z$, with the corresponding Killing vector $X^Z=-iq_ZZ$. Promoting this transformation to an R-transformation, as usual, requires that the superpotential transforms as in Eq. \eqref{W(T)transform}. This fixes the superpotential as $W=\mu Z^n$ where $n=q/q_Z$. To avoid negative powers of $Z$ in the action $n$ must be greater or equal to one (unlike negative powers of $T$ in the half-plane case, negative powers of $Z$ lead to singularities as can be seen from parametrizations \eqref{Tpar} and \eqref{Zpar}). The Killing potential now takes the form
\begin{equation}
{\mathscr D}=q_Z\left(\frac{\alpha Z\overbar{Z}}{1-Z\overbar{Z}}+n\right)~,\label{KillingZ}
\end{equation}
with $n$ as the FI term. Let us investigate this setup in more detail.
\section{Properties of the scalar potential}
Our model of interest is defined by~\footnote{Similar setup was considered in Ref. \cite{Pallis:2018xmt} in the context of SUSY breaking, but without gauging the R-symmetry.}
\begin{gather}
K=-\alpha\log(1-Z\overbar{Z})~,\\
W=\mu Z^n~.\label{WZn}
\end{gather}
The superpotential is fixed by requiring R-symmetry, and for simplicity we put $n=1$ and $q=q_Z=1$ (the notation is the same as in the previous section). Also, without loss of generality we can consider $\mu$ to be real. Upon gauging the R-symmetry the Killing potential \eqref{KillingZ} is generated. After choosing the simplest gauge kinetic function $f=1$, we calculate the full scalar potential $V=V_F+V_D$,
\begin{gather}
V_F=\mu^2\frac{(\alpha-1)^2z^4-(\alpha+2)z^2+1}{\alpha(1-z^2)^\alpha}~,\\
V_D=\frac{g^2}{2}\left(\frac{\alpha z^2}{1-z^2}+1\right)^2~,
\end{gather}
where for convenience we introduced the notation $z\equiv |Z|$. When using the parametrization \eqref{Zpar} the angular mode $\zeta$ conveniently drops out of the scalar potential, and $z=\tanh\frac{\phi}{\sqrt{2\alpha}}$.
We can find critical points of the potential by studying the equation
\begin{equation}
\frac{dV}{dz}=2z\frac{\left[(\alpha-1)z^2+1\right]\left[\alpha^2g^2(1-z^2)^\alpha+\mu^2(1-z^2)^2\left((\alpha-2)(\alpha-1)z^2-2\right)\right]}{\alpha(1-z^2)^{\alpha+3}}=0~.\label{dVdz}
\end{equation}
Regardless of the value of $\alpha$ there is always a critical point at $z=0$, where the scalar potential reduces to
\begin{equation}
V(z=0)=\frac{\mu^2}{\alpha}+\frac{g^2}{2}~.\label{V_z=0}
\end{equation}
The equation for critical points other than $z=0$ can be reduced from Eq. \eqref{dVdz} to
\begin{equation}
\alpha^2g^2(1-z^2)^\alpha+\mu^2(1-z^2)^2\left((\alpha-2)(\alpha-1)z^2-2\right)=0~,\label{zcrit}
\end{equation}
because the expression in the first square brackets of \eqref{dVdz} is non-vanishing even when $\alpha<1$, thanks to the canonical normalization $z^2=\tanh^2(\phi/\sqrt{2\alpha})<1$.
The existence of consistent solutions to Eq. \eqref{zcrit} depends on the choice of $\alpha$. First, let us consider the cases $\alpha=1,2,3,4$, as they can be studied analytically (we will comment on more general $\alpha$ in the next section).
$\bm{\alpha=1}$. Here the solution for Eq. \eqref{zcrit} is $z^2=1-\frac{g^2}{2\mu^2}$. This solution is valid if $2\mu^2>g^2$ in which case it corresponds to two minima (with $Z_2$ symmetry) while $z=0$ is a local maximum. Then the R-symmetry is spontaneously broken due to non-vanishing superpotential, while SUSY is broken due to~\footnote{For convenience we dropped the minus signs on the RHS in Eqs. \eqref{F_aux} and \eqref{D_aux}.}
\begin{gather}
\langle F\rangle=g/\sqrt{2}~,~~~\langle D\rangle=2\mu^2/g~,\label{FD_alpha=1}\\
\langle m_{3/2}\rangle^2=\frac{2\mu^4}{g^2}\left(1-\frac{g^2}{2\mu^2}\right)~,
\end{gather}
and the following cosmological constant is generated,
\begin{equation}
V_0=\frac{\mu^2}{g^2}(3g^2-2\mu^2)~,\label{CC_alpha=1}
\end{equation}
so that we have AdS minimum if $3g^2<2\mu^2$, Minkowski minimum if $3g^2=2\mu^2$, and dS minimum if $6\mu^2>3g^2>2\mu^2$ (the first inequality ensures $z^2>0$). These conditions show that if we want Minkowski or de Sitter vacuum, both $F$- and $D$-term contributions \eqref{FD_alpha=1} to SUSY breaking must be comparable in magnitude. As $U(1)_R$ is spontaneously broken, the Killing vector $X^Z=-iZ$ is non-vanishing at the minimum. This generates a mass term for the gauge boson proportional to $g^2\langle Z\rangle^2$, as can be seen from Eq. \eqref{DPhi}, while the goldstone mode $\zeta$ can be gauged away. As for the mass of the canonical scalar $\phi$, after introducing its excitation $\delta\phi\equiv\phi-\phi_0$ and expanding the potential around the minimum, it reads
\begin{equation}
m^2_{\delta\phi}=\frac{8\mu^4}{g^2}\left(1-\frac{g^2}{2\mu^2}\right)~,\label{m_deltaphi}
\end{equation}
which is positive since $2\mu^2>g^2$, and is twice the gravitino mass, $m_{\delta\phi}=2\langle m_{3/2}\rangle$.
In order to describe dark energy, $V_0$ must be positive and very small, namely $V_0\sim 10^{-120}$ in Planck units. From Eq. \eqref{CC_alpha=1} it is clear that this can be achieved in two ways. The first option is to set $\mu^2\sim 10^{-120}$, which will also force $g^2\sim 10^{-120}$ as required by the dS condition $6\mu^2>3g^2>2\mu^2$. This is phenomenologically problematic, as it means that SUSY breaking scale is of the same order as the dark energy scale. A more viable option is the fine tuning of the difference $3g^2-2\mu^2$ so that it almost vanishes. This does not require the individual parameters $g$ and $\mu$ -- and thus the SUSY breaking scale -- to be small. The relation $3g^2\approx 2\mu^2$ then simplifies the gravitino and scalar masses as
\begin{equation}
\langle m_{3/2}\rangle^2\approx 3g^2~,~~~m_{\delta\phi}^2\approx 12g^2~.
\end{equation}
When $2\mu^2\leq g^2$ the solution $z^2=1-g^2/(2\mu^2)$ does not exist and the point $z=0$ is the global minimum (with no other critical points). In such case SUSY is broken by $\langle F\rangle=\mu$ and $\langle D\rangle=g$ while R-symmetry is restored at the minimum since the superpotential vanishes. This means that the gravitino mass $\langle m_{3/2}\rangle$, as well as the masses of the $U(1)_R$ gauge boson and the $\zeta$ scalar, are zero. This scenario is not viable from phenomenological point of view because there is a massless scalar in the spectrum, and the scales of SUSY breaking and the cosmological constant are identified.
$\bm{\alpha=2}$. In this case $z=0$ is the only critical point: if $2g^2>\mu^2$ it is a de Sitter minimum (with broken SUSY and unbroken R-symmetry), if $2g^2<\mu^2$ it is a maximum and the potential is unbounded from below. When $2g^2=\mu^2$, however, the potential is flat -- we have a no-scale model in de Sitter spacetime with the cosmological constant $V=3g^2/2$. The VEVs of $F$- and $D$-terms are
\begin{equation}
\langle F\rangle=\frac{g}{\sqrt{2}}(1+z_0^2)~,~~~\langle D\rangle=g\frac{1+z_0^2}{1-z_0^2}~,
\end{equation}
where $z_0$ (the VEV of $z$) is arbitrary at the classical level. Thus, SUSY and R-symmetry are broken (as long as $z_0\neq 0$). The fact that $z^2=\tanh^2{(\phi/\sqrt{2\alpha})}$ has the range $0\leq z^2<1$ implies that
\begin{align}
\frac{g}{\sqrt{2}}\leq \langle F\rangle &<\sqrt{2}g~,\\
g\leq \langle D\rangle &<\infty~.
\end{align}
Small cosmological constant requires proportionally small $g^2$. Then $\langle F\rangle$ must also be small because it is proportional to $g$, but $\langle D\rangle$ can take large values if $z_0^2$ is close to one. The same is true for the gravitino mass,
\begin{equation}
\langle m_{3/2}\rangle^2=\frac{2g^2z_0^2}{(1-z_0^2)^2}~.
\end{equation}
$\bm{\alpha=3}$. Similarly to the $\alpha=2$ case, when $\alpha=3$ there is only one critical point, $z=0$, and if $9g^2>2\mu^2$ it is a dS minimum, whereas if $9g^2<2\mu^2$ it is a maximum. If $9g^2=2\mu^2$ we once again arrive at a no-scale de Sitter model, this time with the cosmological constant $V=2g^2$. The auxiliary fields and the gravitino mass at the minimum are
\begin{gather}
\langle F\rangle=\frac{g}{\sqrt{2}}\frac{1+2z_0^2}{\sqrt{1-z^2_0}}~,~~~\langle D\rangle=g\frac{1+2z^2_0}{1-z_0^2}~,\\
\langle m_{3/2}\rangle^2=\frac{9g^2z_0^2}{2(1-z_0^2)^3}~.
\end{gather}
and have the following range
\begin{align}
\frac{g}{\sqrt{2}}\leq \langle F\rangle &<\infty~,\\
g\leq \langle D\rangle &<\infty~,
\end{align}
while $\langle m_{3/2}\rangle$ can take any value from zero (when $z_0=0$) to infinity (when $|z_0|\rightarrow 1$). Unlike the previous case, here both $\langle F\rangle$ and $\langle D\rangle$ can be large regardless of the value of $g$, if $z_0$ is close to one. However, in both $\alpha=2$ and $\alpha=3$ cases the $D$-term VEV necessarily dominates, $\langle D\rangle\gtrsim\langle F\rangle$.
$\bm{\alpha=4}$. In this case Eq. \eqref{zcrit} is solved by
\begin{equation}
z^2=\frac{1}{2A}\left(2A-3+\sqrt{9-8A}\right)~,~~~A\equiv\frac{8g^2}{\mu^2}~.\label{z0_and_A}
\end{equation}
This is complemented by the condition
\begin{equation}
0<A<1~\Longrightarrow~0<g^2<\mu^2/8~,\label{A_condition}
\end{equation}
that ensures that $z^2>0$. The cosmological constant corresponding to this minimum reads
\begin{equation}
V_0=\frac{g^2}{2\mu^2}(9\mu^2-32g^2)~.
\end{equation}
If we require $V_0$ to be very small, the only choice is $g\ll 1$, because the cancellation $9\mu^2-32g^2\approx 0$ is incompatible with the condition \eqref{A_condition}.
F-/D-terms and the gravitino mass are non-vanishing,
\begin{gather}
\langle F\rangle=\frac{\mu}{4}\sqrt{9-8A}~,~~~\langle D\rangle=g\sqrt{9-8A}~,\\
\langle m_{3/2}\rangle^2=8\mu^2A^3\frac{2A-3+\sqrt{9-8A}}{(-3+\sqrt{9-8A})^4}~.\label{m32_alpha=4}
\end{gather}
Since $A$ ranges from zero to one, we have
\begin{align}
\frac{\mu}{4}<\langle F\rangle &<\frac{3\mu}{4}~,\\
g<\langle D\rangle &<3g~.
\end{align}
Also $\langle F\rangle>\langle D\rangle/\sqrt{2}$, due to the condition \eqref{A_condition}. If $g\ll 1$, as required to describe dark energy, $\langle D | 4,135 |
The Council of Graduate Students announces the 11th Annual Graduate Academic Conference will take place on February 16, 2<|fim_middle|> it becomes available. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, cogsgac@gmail.com and be sure to visit our webpage (http://cogs.msu.edu/gac/) for more information and updates. | 019 at the MSU Union. We are now accepting abstracts for poster and oral presentations, due by January 11, 2019. Again this year, we are hosting a Three Minute Thesis Competition. The top three oral, poster, and 3MT presentations will each be awarded prizes of $500, $300, and $200, respectively. Additionally, the winner of the MSU 3MT competition will have the opportunity to compete at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) 3MT in March, 2019.
In addition to the competition, presenters will have the opportunity to participate in workshops to enhance their communication skills.
Further information will be posted on the website as | 157 |
In the area<|fim_middle|> restaurant. | where the three countries - Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands - meet (the "Dreiländereck" in German), there is a lot to discover. The special location makes it an excellent starting point for a variety of excursions into the Euregio, as this region has been known since the late 50s. For nature lovers, there are many miles of rambler routes and bicycle tracks.
Goedemorgen, Guten Morgen and Bonjour!
The Dreiländereck can be reached on foot from Germany's westernmost great city: Aachen. Besides the Dreiländermark, where Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria meet, this is the only point in Germany where three nations meet, other than in a body of water. The countryside here is known as the Vaalserberg. The hill of the same name is Holland's highest point and is a much-loved excursion destination visited by around 1 million people every year. Travellers can choose between walking the numerous routes or looking at the countryside from one of the observation towers.
A particular highlight for young visitors is the largest maze in the Netherlands, with its fountains, which responds to movement. The water fun park is bounded by a spectacular entrance building, with a unique roof in the form of a giant butterfly. There is also a leisure park with playgrounds for children. A variety of restaurants, cafés and snack bars cater for the inner man. In the distance, Schloss Vaalsbroek, two kilometres away, then draws your attention. The historic watermill adjoining it houses a gourmet | 324 |
Live8040
Lockdown Legends Part 5: Tech that got me through the lockdown feat. Sony, SoundMAGIC, Xbox, Samsung, Google
Posted by Ritesh on 1/01/2021 10:25:00 am
Editor's Note: This story is part of a series about tech gadgets and devices that helped Team tech2 and some of our friends through the pandemic, lockdown, and the year 2020, in general.
If there's one thing that the lockdown has taught us, it is that we need technology more than we ever thought we would. In 2020, every spare gadget in my house served a purpose, whether it was my raggedy old Motorola Moto G (2012) with a broken camera (that served as a media player for my nephew), or something like a simple Bluetooth speaker that was great for family video calls and Zoom birthday celebrations.
However, technology not only helped with entertainment and work, but also served as a tool to help us overcome the bad stuff that took place during the lockdown. My grandmother passed away (in Karnataka) and my entire family (Mumbai and elsewhere) had no choice but to attend her funeral and burial via a private Facebook Live stream.
My 4-year old nephew now knows the keyboard shortcuts to a Zoom call, because school. And my father and mother now know to use GPay, something they would have never ventured into had it not been for the pandemic.
And while I was stuck at home with my family of 9, I also had to figure out ways of isolating myself from them, because work goes on and you can feel a bit claustrophobic within the 4 walls of your apartment, especially when you're stuck there for months.
To get work done, I needed to concentrate and focus. And no, I'm not the type of a person who can get work done with music playing in the background. I need my silence!
Living besides a main road in an apartment in Mumbai City means a lot of traffic noise (lockdown or not). That, alongwith the chaos of 3 other family members who are constantly chatting away on their respective work calls and 2 kids, translates to utter chaos in a 2 BHK apartment. In this chaotic household filled with noise, I was glad I had already purchased the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. While they did a fine job of letting me sleep peacefully on domestic and international flights (in non-COVID times), they also pumped out some really good audio. I am no audiophile, but I have used better audio gear over the years. Still, nothing quite beats the XM3s when it comes to noise cancellation, and I'm glad I had them with me during the lockdown.
Another audio product that became oddly useful for another purpose were the SoundMAGIC E10C wired earphones. I originally purchased them to plug them into my Xbox controller for basic audio while playing games. But thanks to the lockdown, I found them extremely useful on work-related Zoom calls, as a wired mic beats a Bluetooth headset in terms of clarity and pickup. Apart from the Xbox controller and plugging them into my laptop, they also delivered pretty good audio for something that costs just Rs 1749.
One device I was lucky to have with me during the lockdown was the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Sent across for review, it was left behind for quite a while, long enough for me to drop it and crack the glass back (it still worked fine after the drop). While it came in for review, I ended up using it to shoot my product photos. I prefer using smartphones because I hate fidgeting with cameras for an image that's going to be compressed for the web. It's got a nice 108 MP sensor that really helps bring out the details no matter what you are shooting. The OIS-stabilised 5X optical<|fim_middle|> till January 13. "The man along with a woman booked a room at a lodge on Thursday night to spend time together. After watching a porn clip, the woman tied his hands and legs to a chair with a rope during sex. She allegedly used another rope around his neck," a police officer had said. According to police the woman then went to the washroom, just when the chair to which the man was tied, slipped and the rope around his neck got tightened. When the woman returned, she found her partner lying mot
Playstation 5 pre-orders in India begin ahead of the official launch on 2 February
At the beginning of this year, Sony announced that the latest PlayStation 5 will officially launch in India on 2 February. The company took to twitter to announce the news. It also confirmed that the pre-order PlayStation 5 will kick off from 12 January at 12 pm on Amazon, Flipkart, Croma, Reliance Digital, Games The Shop, Shop at Sony Center, Vijay Sales, and select authorised retail partners. To recall, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition were launched in June and were expected to launch in India on 19 November. pic.twitter.com/3U2p5o21Em — PlayStation India (@PlayStationIN) January 1, 2021 Sony PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, accessories: India pricing The Sony PlayStation 5 will be priced in India at Rs 49,990. The Sony PlayStation 5 Digital Edition has been announced at Rs 39,990. Sony has also announced the pricing of the new console accessories and peripherals. The new DualSense Wireless Controller as been announced at Rs 5,990, HD Camera at
State Bank's new offer: waiver of processing fees on cars, gold, personal loans
SBI has announced a number of special offers to please retail customers during the current festive season. Processing fees have been waived for customers applying for a car, gold or personal loan through Yono. Car loans are being disbursed at a low interest rate of 7.5% by the bank. Certain models are funded at 100% off-road cost. The bank has announced a special holiday offer on home loans. The processing fee on the home loan of the approved project has been completely waived. Customers are given a special rebate of 0.10 per cent on interest, depending on the credit score and the amount of the loan. Customers who apply for a loan through Yono will receive a 0.05% interest rebate. Gold loan customers can borrow at a low interest rate of about 7.5 percent and have a long loan repayment period of up to 36 months. In times of crisis, private banks provide interest-free loans at a rate of 7.6% to provide affordable loans to the people. While digital transactions have significantly increase
Live8040.com | Copyright @2020 | Sahu Inc | zoom also came in really handy for the same. While it's one of the more capable ultra-premium Android smartphones on the market, I'm still waiting for Samsung to introduce a Snapdragon variant of their flagships for the Indian market.
Moving to the lighter side of things, is my Xbox One X. I purchased the Xbox One X around December 2019 solely because I wanted to try it out after sticking to PlayStation and PC gaming during my college days. I decided to get an Xbox after selling off my brand-new Nintendo Switch that was an impromptu purchase, after giving into the hype and watching a lot of colleagues game on it for years. Long story short, I just did not like the fidgety digital sticks on the Switch.
I'm glad I had the Xbox console with me during the lockdown. The games transported me from the four walls of my bedroom to exploring the UK (in Forza Horizon 4), to the marshlands in Russia (with Mudrunner), to the US (The Crew 2) and to any race track I wanted with Assetto Corsa. Yes, I love racing and open-world games. They kept me distracted from the chaotic world around me not just in my home, but also the depressing Corona-related news. In short, it was a good outlet and I am glad I had it with me during those days.
Those who know me, will also know that I'm not a fitness person. But given my deteriorating posture during the lockdown, I had to take up some form of exercise. Once the norms relaxed a bit, I started going for brisk walks (you did not expect me to jog did you?). And given that it was the first time I started an exercise activity, I needed to track it. Since I'm not a normal human being who sticks around with 1 smartphone for a year (I switch between 4 in a month), I needed a tool that could track and save my data across device ecosystems.
So, I chose Google Fit as a way to track my daily activity. Without a WearOS-powered smartwatch, it's a basic fitness tracking tool that keeps a tab of your activity using location tracking and the phone's built in sensors. It won't give you too many details about your activities without a supported fitness band or a watch, but it got me the basic stats I needed (to keep myself motivated) along with a bit of accuracy to keep track of my progress.
In short, tech kept me busy, isolated, motivated and sane during the lockdown. Digital detox can take a walk!
from Firstpost Tech Latest News https://ift.tt/3aZImsb
https://ift.tt/3ncQqZr
Baba Anant Maharaj to name Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma's daughter- Who is he?
New Delhi: Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma and Indian cricket star Virat Kohli welcomed a baby girl on Monday (January 11). Kohli shared the news via Twitter and said both baby and mother are healthy. "We are thrilled to share with you that we have been blessed with a baby girl this afternoon. We thank you all for your love, prayers and good wishes. Anushka and the baby are both healthy and we are feeling beyond blessed to start this new chapter of our lives. We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time. Love, Virat," Kohli wrote. pic.twitter.com/js3SkZJTsH — Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 11, 2021 According to Sources, it is said that Baba Anant Maharaj will name the new-born daughter of Virat and Anushka. Who is Baba Anant Maharaj ? – Maharaj Anant Baba is the guru at Anant Dham in Haridwar. The Dham's official website says, "Anant Dham is dedicated to the common man to experience 'the whole world is one family' by releasing one's untapped energy. This divine
BSEB 2021 Class 12 exam admit card released at biharboardonline.com; examination from 1 February
Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has on Saturday released the admit card for Class 12 board exams 2021 on its official website. As per a report in Hindustan Times , candidates who have registered for the examination will get their Bihar Board Class 12 admit card 2021 from the website seniorsecondary.biharboardonline.com. The link to download the admit card will be active till 31 January. The BSEB Class 12 annual exam will be conducted between 1 February and 13 February. According to a report in NDTV , school principals will have to sign the BSEB 2021 Class 12 exam admit cards and distribute them among the students who are due to appear in the BSEB intermediate exams. The exams will be held at designated BSEB centres across the state. The admit cards will have details of the students including BSEB application number, roll number and the BSEB Class 12 exam centre details. The BSEB admit card will also have details regarding COVID-19 precautions. In case of any error in the admi
Nagpur man dies after having sex: Girlfriend sent to police remand till Jan 13
Nagpur (Maharashtra): The woman, who was arrested after her boyfriend allegedly died of suffocation after a rope was tied around his neck during sex in Khaperkheda here last week, was sent to police remand till January 13. The incident took place at a lodge in Khaparkheda area of the city on January 7. The police have registered an offence of murder against her, following a complaint by relatives of the deceased. The woman was produced before a local court which has sent her to police remand | 1,222 |
Our Intangible Cultural Heritage
Food to die from for
It has been a quiet week, so, in a<|fim_middle|> post: Where angels fear to tread
Next Next post: It's all there in black and white. | desperate attempt to hold your attention, I will start with some vulgarity.
For thirty years, the writer Iain Pattinson, who died last Sunday, wrote scripts for the presenters of Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. His scripts, described by presenter Humphrey Lyttleton as 'blue-chip filth', were defended by Pattinson, who said they were perfectly clean on the page and 'could only appear filthy to someone with a dirty mind'.
The scripts often featured anecdotes about the show's scorer, Samantha. Here is a typical example: 'Samantha has recently taken up beekeeping with a small hive, housing just three dozen or so. This evening she has an expert beekeeper coming round to show her a few tricks of the trade, and he says he'll quickly have her 38 bees out and flying round his head.'
In 2008, UNESCO established its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, with the stated aim of 'ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance'. There are now over 584 items on the lists, collected from 131 countries. You can see them all on the official UNESCO site, which I discovered last week.
At first glance, the lists seem a commendable attempt at providing a global overview of national cultural characteristics. I'd heard of Japanese Kabuki theatre and the Mexican Day of the Dead, but not of Botswana's Seperu folk dance or the Tamboradas drumming rituals in Spain. Each entry has a couple of paragraphs of explanation, along with pictures and video clips. Going through them seems vaguely like wandering around an international theme park.
Gradually, however, I began to become confused. Italy's 'Art of Neapolitan Pizzaiuolo' turned out to be pizza-making – which, in case you didn't know, is a 'culinary practice comprising four different phases relating to the preparation of the dough and its baking in a wood-fired oven, involving a rotatory movement by the baker'. Fair enough, I suppose, they did invent them. But then there is 'Beer Culture in Belgium', from which we learn that, in Belgium, beer 'plays a role in daily life, as well as festive occasions' and that it 'is used for cooking, including in the creation of products like beer-washed cheese and, as in the case of wine, can be paired with foods to complement flavours'. I mean, no shit, Sherlock?
Slowly a picture was forming in my mind.
It is a Friday afternoon, and we are in the offices of the French Ministère de la Culture. Bertrand Dubois, a director responsible for matters of Patrimoine (Heritage), has returned from a good lunch and is settling down to put the final touches to one of his pet projects. Since 2008 he, along with his counterparts in various other EU countries, has been involved in a (strictly unofficial) annual tournament to see who can get the most ludicrous entry into UNESCO's Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. They each put €100 in the pot, and it's winner take all.
M. Dubois chuckles as he remembers his last win, back in 2010 with Gastronomic Meal of the French. He and his wife Louise had composed this over a long boozy dinner in a bistro in Rue Mouffetard. He would look around and, in gushing theatrical tones, describe what he saw; she would write it down, occasionally snorting with laughter.
'The careful selection of dishes from a constantly growing repertoire of recipes … specific actions during consumption, such as smelling and tasting items at the table … the gastronomic meal should respect a fixed structure, commencing with an apéritif (drinks before the meal) and ending with liqueurs, containing in between at least four successive courses.'
'Stop, Bertrand, please, or I will wet myself!'
Still, that was ten years ago. All France's entries in the list in the intervening years had been worthy genuine cultural entities, usually from overseas departments like Guadeloupe and Martinique. Bertrand hadn't managed to smuggle in a single ringer since then. Mind you, everyone was finding it more difficult. There had been no winner for the past two years, so the pot was definitely worth winning. In 2018, it had been shared by Klaus in Austria and Eric in Switzerland with their clever joint entry, Avalanche Risk Management. Calling snow your heritage was a stroke of genius! Who said they had no sense of humour?
This year, Bertrand was going to have two attempts. Firstly, he was going to resubmit last year's entry – The Grey Zinc Rooftops of Paris. This was an idea that had come to him while idly looking out of his office window one afternoon and which Louise had turned into a nice little piece about them being the inspiration of countless painters over the years. His second contender was actually Louise's idea and was again the result of a boozy restaurant meal. While nibbling at some Camembert, she had picked up a piece of bread and said suddenly, 'Why not do "The Baguette"? … quintessentially French, artisanal, a cornerstone of family meals … blah blah blah!'
The next day, she had turned this into a little hymn of praise to the 'Gallic staff of life' and Bertrand had his second entry. He had added a genuine contender about a traditional wine festival in Arbois to make the two ringers look a little less obvious when he submitted them to the Minister. Calling in a favour, he had got an old friend at France 24 to put together a film clip about the three items which he could show her. She would then select one of these to take to President Macron. He knew that the Minister had strong views about drinking, so that should knock out the wine festival. Bertrand was increasingly confident that this was going to be his year.
Getting ready to go home, he again reflected on how odd it was that the UK had never bothered to nominate anything for the Intangible Heritage Lists. That famous British reserve, no doubt. He and his wife had visited London the previous year, and it had struck him that if Clive, his English opposite number, were to enter the Ludicrous Items competition, he would win it easily. What was the name of that strange place where they had eaten the 'all-day breakfast' with the cold eggs and rubber sausage … Waterspoons? Wetterspoons? And that odd little boulangerie (Dreggs?) where Louise had ordered the … what was it … ah, yes … 'the sausage, cheese and bean melt'. UNESCO would lap both of them up.
I close with another example of Ian Pattinson's 'perfectly clean scriptwriting'. Apparently, Samantha had a gentleman friend who loved cooking and was particularly renowned for his offal dishes. He would often invite her round for dinner. 'While she's very keen on his kidneys in red wine and his oxtail in beer,' Pattinson wrote, 'Samantha says it's difficult to beat his tongue in cider.'
Author MickinPoitiersPosted on February 21, 2021 November 28, 2021 Categories A Week in Poitiers
Previous Previous | 1,524 |
Erik Peter Verlinde (; born 21 January 1962) is a Dutch theoretical physicist and string theorist. He is the identical twin brother of physicist Herman Verlinde. The<|fim_middle|> is very weak.
The result provides a candidate explanation for dark matter similar to the Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) proposal and explains the empirical relationship between dark matter and the Hubble constant. By Aug 1st 2018 the paper has been quoted in 153 physics papers, including by well-known physicists such as Lee Smolin, and Mordehai Milgrom - originator of MOND. Explanation of modified gravity through entropic gravity is a "quantum gravity theory" merging "general theory of relativity" with "quantum field theory". Verlinde himself names it also quantum information theory. There are already critical papers on "emergent gravity" such as "Inconsistencies in Verlinde's emergent gravity" by D Dai, D Stojkovic (Springer HEP, Nov 2017), stating that "...When properly done, Verlinde's
elaborate procedure recovers the standard Newtonian gravity instead of MOND".
Awards and honors
In June 2011, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded Verlinde the Spinoza Prize, the highest award available to Dutch scientists including a 2.5 million euro grant for future research. The committee cited his work on the Verlinde formula, the Witten–Dijkgraaf–Verlinde–Verlinde equations, the Cardy-Verlinde formula and entropic gravity as the major achievements leading to the award.
References
External links
University of Amsterdam faculty page
Blog on Verlinde's publication 'On the Origin of Gravity and the Laws of Newton
Blog discussing Verlinde's holographic derivation of Newtonian gravity
A Scientist Takes On Gravity
Erik Verlinde on INSPIRE-HEP
It from bit and fit from bit. On the origin and impact of information in the average evolution (Yves Decadt, 2000). Book published in Dutch with English paper summary in The Information Philosopher
A New View on Gravity and the Dark Side of the Cosmos - lecture by Dr.Verlinde at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics on Oct. 4th 2017.
1962 births
Living people
Dutch string theorists
People from Woudenberg
Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam
Utrecht University alumni
People associated with CERN
Spinoza Prize winners
Identical twins | Verlinde formula, which is important in conformal field theory and topological field theory, is named after him. His research deals with string theory, gravity, black holes and cosmology. Currently, he works at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Amsterdam.
At a symposium at the Dutch Spinoza-institute on December 8, 2009 he introduced a theory of entropic gravity. In this theory, gravity exists because of a difference in concentration of information in the empty space between two masses and its surroundings; he also extrapolates this to general relativity and quantum mechanics. He said in an interview with the newspaper de Volkskrant, "On the smallest level Newton's laws don't apply, but they do for apples and planets. You can compare this to the pressure of a gas. Molecules themselves don't have any pressure, but a barrel of gas has." It appears that Verlinde's approach to explaining gravity leads naturally to the correct observed strength of dark energy.
Biography
Erik Verlinde was born in the Dutch village of Woudenberg on 21 January 1962, together with his identical twin brother, Herman Verlinde. He went to school in the nearby city of Utrecht, where he graduated from the gymnasium in 1980.
That fall he began his studies in theoretical physics together with his brother at Utrecht University. There he studied with his brother Herman, Robbert Dijkgraaf, and Kareljan Schoutens. He wrote his Master's thesis with Nobel laureate Gerard 't Hooft.
In 1985, Verlinde started work on his PhD at Utrecht University under the formal supervision of Bernard de Wit. He worked again with Herman and Dijkgraaf, and in practice the trio supervised themselves. The original arrangement was that only one of them would be working on the emerging field of string theory, but in the end all three of them wrote their theses on the subject. In September 1988 Erik defended his PhD thesis, which included the Verlinde formula.
After his PhD, Verlinde joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1993, he was added to the permanent staff of the theory division of CERN in Geneva. At the age of 34 he was appointed full professor of theoretical physics at Utrecht University. Only a few years later, in 1999, he left for Princeton University to take up a professorial position there. In 2003, he returned to the Netherlands to become a professor in the string theory group led by Robbert Dijkgraaf at the University of Amsterdam.
Major contributions
Verlinde's main field of research is string theory. Over the years he has introduced a number of results that have become important in the development of the theory, and in the study of pure mathematics.
Verlinde formula
Verlinde's PhD thesis was titled "Conformal Field Theory Applied to Strings". In it he investigated conformal field theories in two dimensions and their relation to the description of the world sheet of fundamental strings. As part of the project he extended fusion or Verlinde algebras, describing conformal field theories with a finite number of fields. A main result was an explicit formula for the fusion rules of these algebras, now known as the Verlinde formula. This has proven to be a highly non-trivial mathematical result. In Verlinde's original work, the formula followed from mainly physical arguments, but since its introduction many formal mathematical proofs have been provided.
Cardy formula extensions
The Cardy formula is an important result in conformal field theory that allows the calculation of the entropy of a 1+1 dimensional conformal field theory. Using the AdS/CFT correspondence between conformal field theories and quantum gravity in anti-de Sitter spaces with one additional dimension, it can be used to calculate (the quantum corrections to) the entropy of black holes in 2+1 dimensions. In 2000, Verlinde extended Cardy's result to conformal field theories of arbitrary dimension,
allowing the calculation of entropy of black holes in any dimension.
Entropic gravity
In 2009, Verlinde showed that the laws of gravity may be derived by assuming a form of the holographic principle and the laws of thermodynamics. This may imply that gravity is not a true fundamental force of nature (like e.g. electromagnetism), but instead is a consequence of the universe striving to maximize entropy.
Emergent gravity and the dark universe
On 8 November 2016 Erik Verlinde published his new theory of gravity, where gravity is not one of the four fundamental forces of physics but, rather, gravity is emergent from other fundamental forces. In this work, he argues that unlike in anti-de Sitter (AdS) space, holography and the area law do not apply exactly in de Sitter space (which models our universe) because there is an additional entropy associated with the cosmological horizon. If this entropy were evenly distributed throughout space, it would contribute a volume law term to the entropy which becomes dominant at large length scales and is related to dark energy. He further argues that this entropy modifies emergent gravity, introducing residual forces when the acceleration due to gravity | 1,111 |
Prowise launches a unique free software package for all schools in the UK
August 21, 2019 /in Uncategorized /by admin
Presenter 10 enables access to the latest education possibilities for free
Birmingham – Prowise proudly presents a completely new version of Prowise Presenter. The popular education software has been entirely renewed and contains more education possibilities than ever before. With Presenter 10 schools gain access to the latest education possibilities for free.
<|fim_middle|>0 is the result of ten years of education experience, countless discussions with teachers and the full-time commitment of the Prowise development team. The development of numerous 3D models, educational tools and collaboration possibilities took almost two years.
"Presenter 10 is based on a gaming platform. This is unique for education software. We can therefore facilitate more collaboration and interaction in the classroom. This new system is stable, secure, and future-oriented. The online software programme is more sophisticated, organised and user friendly. Moreover, Prowise was recently awarded the ISO 9001 and 27001 certifications and is therefore well and truly capable of safeguarding the privacy and security of its users", says Luuk Loeff.
Presenter 10 can be used in the browser and via apps for iOS and Android. Those interested can get started with the software package directly via the Prowise website.
www.prowise.com
https://www.the-educator.org/wp-content/uploads/image1-3-1030x686.png 0 0 admin https://www.the-educator.org/wp-content/uploads/image1-3-1030x686.png admin2019-08-21 12:54:072019-08-21 12:54:09Prowise launches a unique free software package for all schools in the UK
ALDI LAUNCHES TEAM GB COMPETITION TO BUILD A HEALTH LEGACY Anti-graffiti coating added to range of traffic signs | The highlights:
Specially made for the education sector: 3D models and hundreds of educational tools.
Innovative new possibilities for collaboration in the classroom.
Entirely free: schools and trusts save thousands of pounds every year.
Presenter 10 runs on a stable, safe and future-oriented online platform.
In 2019 Prowise celebrates its 10-year anniversary and during that time Prowise Presenter has become a classroom favourite. Over 450.000 teachers, lecturers, pupils and students benefit from the educational software every day. Together, users have created over 3.5 million lessons that have been stored in the online community in Presenter.
Specially made for education
Presenter 10 is designed for teachers, lecturers, pupils and students. The media library, which is packed with media content, enables anyone to create incredible lessons, essays, presentations and quizzes. Add brand-new 3D models, images, videos, backgrounds, sounds and building blocks to make lessons or presentations more engaging than ever. Over 300 educational mini apps (so-called tools and touch table tools) have undergone an educational update and are now more user friendly. The possibilities for collaboration in Presenter make learning even easier, more fun and more efficient. It allows users to create interactive lessons easily and quickly.
Old lessons easily accessible
By using the full potential of all technological possibilities and thanks to the creativity of the Prowise team, lessons that were created in previous versions of Presenter can also be accessed and used in Presenter 10. Previously-created lessons are automatically converted to the latest version once you open them. Even the tools are automatically converted.
New possibilities for collaboration
Presenter 10 now offers real-time collaboration. This allows teachers and pupils to work together in the same lesson, presentation or essay simultaneously or in their own time. Similar to, for instance, Google Docs in G Suite. Changes can be tracked directly and there is no longer need for sending large files by email. In addition, all relevant persons have the latest version of the lesson or presentation and also tedious version management is a thing of the past.
Schools save thousands of Euros every year
"Compared to other software packages, Presenter saves schools and foundations thousands of pounds per year. Our package is and will remain entirely free. The Presenter software is easy to manage. No maintenance, intricate installations, additional licences or hidden costs. Presenter is future oriented, entirely safe, reliable, stable and specially designed for the education sector", according to Luuk Loeff, Development Director at Prowise.
Stable, safe and future oriented
Presenter was developed to make learning easier, more effective and more fun. The software is prepared for the latest possibilities such as 3D, real-time collaboration, learning through play and when looking into the future, even virtual and augmented reality. Presenter 1 | 585 |
New Beall-Backed Facility Features Wet Lab Incubator at UCI's Cove
Out with the old, in with the new. That's certainly the mentality at the Cove, UCI Beall Applied Innovation's hub for entrepreneurs, investors, venture capital firms and community partners, which recently took the wraps off its expanded new home. "It's another step in accelerating the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the community," Richard Sude<|fim_middle|> a Nobel award. Enevate works with lithium-ion batteries and is developing technology to recharge batteries for electric vehicles in a matter of minutes, and Goodenough is considered one of the chief innovators of li-ion battery technology. After the award was announced in Stockholm, Enevate CTO Ben Park said in a statement addressed to the winners that "it's not just battery industry people like me tha... | k, executive director of Applied Innovation, told the Orange County Business Journal following its unveiling late last month. "We are building a more robust ecosystem with a bigger platform for more partners and events." The more than 100,000-square-foot, three-story building, once part of Broadcom's former headquarters campus, doubles the program's space. It also provide...
Adviser of Irvine-Based Enevate Shares Nobel Prize
John Goodenough, a member of Irvine-based Enevate's technology advisory board, has shared in the Nobel Prize in chemistry with two other scientists for the development of lithium-ion batteries. At age 97, he is the oldest person to win | 140 |
God Save the Village Green: Pastoralism in British Rock
by Jonathyne Briggs
As the pageantry and spectacle (or tragedy and treacle, all depending) of the Olympic ceremonies recede from memory, Danny Boyle's vision of the history of Great Britain echoes many common sentiments felt by the British. The cultural history of the Isles illustrates an ambivalence concerning modernity and its relationship with a notion of an idyllic Eden lost to the so-called "satanic mills" of industrialization, manifest in the shift from the agrarian hills to the smokestacks of Boyle's production. Martin Weiner's English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850-1980 succinctly outlines this ambivalence within British culture, particularly its appearance in literature and educational institutions. Weiner's book created a great deal of discussion during the shift in British politics during the 1980s, but its thesis about the resistance of the middle and upper classes to the transformations of industrialization revealed a schism (or what Weiner called a Janus face) in British culture. Industrialization, a central experience of modern British history, threatened the emerald countryside of Britain but created the power for Britain to dominate the world in the 19th century and symbolized the might of the island kingdom. Another important aspect of the Olympic Ceremonies was the presence of British pop musicians—Paul McCartney, Queen (at least the surviving members), the Spice Girls, and the Who. The Closing Ceremonies celebrated the rich history of British pop music, arguably the nation's most important export of the 20th century.
British pop music helped to revolutionize Western pop in general and had a far ranging influence, even within the United States. The global impact of British pop artists redefined the aesthetics of pop. Like Weiner's examples of British literature, British pop music reveals the ambivalence of modernity felt among denizens of the Isles. In a striking example of the tensions between the traditional and the modern, Rob Young's recent work on British folk music, Electric Eden, details a litany of examples of this tendency as a part of the foundation of the renaissance of folk music in the 1960s and early 1970s. Young notes that through the most advanced sound technologies and new aesthetic combinations, folk musicians celebrated a mystical and pre-lapsarian England. Certainly the musicians in Young<|fim_middle|> The Violent Sound of Magma and Musical Fusion in 1970s France | andainesnow580's Blog | 's work reinforce this paradox of British modernism, but their aesthetic choices were predominantly rejections of modern forms outright, as creators and critics positioned folk music as an anodyne to plasticity of modern pop.
However, during this same period, rock musicians illustrated how pervasive this phenomenon was. One of the participants in the 2012 Closing Ceremonies, Ray Davies, is a more striking early example of this tension between the modernism of rock and the yearning for the "lost countryside." He began his career with the Kinks as a Beat band with singles that established the template for the hard rock that other Mod groups such as the Who and the Small Faces would take to larger audiences. Songs such as "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" took the sound of rhythm and blues and added distortion and urban grit. By 1968, however, Davies had expanded his influences, finding new sources of inspiration in English music hall and began assembling material for the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Ignored in its time, Village Green has been subsequently reappraised and given extensive reissues, particularly a 3-disc reissue from 2004, cementing its place among the canon of Anglophone rock critics (the indie taste maker Pitchfork awarded the reissue a 9.4 of 10, for example).
Sonically, Village Green is strikingly different from the contemporary musical style of psychedelia in its move towards older musical models of folk and music hall (but not entirely without fellow musical travelers—for example, the Beatles 1968 album The Beatles contains a number of similar experiments). The difference is the single-minded—that of Ray Davies—effort to create a complete song-cycle that deals with the particular nostalgia for the countryside in a complex way. Davies' manifesto is the title track, which also serves as the album's opening song.
The song's narrator offers a list of worthwhile things that need protecting, including "little shops, china cups, and virginity." Davies lionizes the world of the English village, noting that the people of the village "are the skyscraper condemnation affiliate/ God save Tudor houses, antique tables, and billiards." The village green serves as a microcosm for the shared values of the countryside, although Davies is not completely divorced from the urban environment: "Preserving the old ways from being abused/ Protecting the new ways for me and you." In this song, Davies captures the ambivalence of the industrial/ agrarian divide by evoking nostalgia not just for ancient ways but also for those markers of modernity that themselves were vanishing.
The remainder of the album shifts from the rock of "Do You Remember Walter," "Last of the Steam Powered Trains," and "Johnny Thunder" to more pastoral efforts such as "Animal Farm" and "Down by the Riverside". Davies' lyrics evoke the emotional gravity that the lush green landscapes of countryside, and "Animal Farm" in particular speaks to the British longing for escaping the city and industry entirely: "Girl, it's a hard world, if it gets you down/ Dreams often fade and die in a bad world/ I'll take you where real animals are playing/ And people are real people not just playing". As Weiner notes, the greatness of the English concerns their ability to tame the engines of progress, and Davies' portraits of the village share this sentiment. He would continue to explore this vision of the green in later albums in what Davies labeled the Preservation trilogy, which met with indifference from audiences and Davies' band mates. Musically, the Kinks moved away from the sound and themes of Village Green by 1969 with the release of another signature song, "Lola," which found the group returning to the heavier sound and urban themes of their earlier work. Nevertheless, Village Green serves as an important example of how the pull of the countryside manifested itself within the high modernism of '60s British Rock.
During the 1970s, the fascination of a British arcadia appeared to fade, as the new genres of punk and heavy metal focused on the anxieties of industrial decay. Still, by the 1980s the yearning for the country revealed itself in an unlikely place: the music of new wave. New wave bands, also called post-punk bands, explored the possibilities left in the wake of punk's appearance in 1976, integrating new rhythms and influences into pop music. The work of groups such as Gang of Four, the Mekons, and the Human League pointed to a resurgence of modernist ideas within rock music. Swindon's XTC, led by Andy Partridge, was another new wave group that had built a career on choppy guitars paired with skittering beats, often played at a breakneck speed. Partridge's nervy yet melodic vignettes of modern life belied his own anxieties concerning music, and by 1982 the band had abandoned the touring circuit.
It ain't easy being green
Retreating into the studio, XTC immediately shifted themes, finding inspiration in the pastoralism of the countryside. 1983's Mummer shows that Partridge (and his writing partner Colin Moulding) turned away from the styles of new wave and the clever wordplay of the earlier recordings and instead toward a more elemental concerns. Partridge's "Love on Farmboy's Wages" lends a Romantic aura to the life of the peasant—simple work and simple pleasures. "High climbs the summer sun/ High stands the corn/ And tonight when my work is done/ We will borrow your father's carriage/ We will drink and prepare for marriage." Again, Weiner noted how the farmer became an anachronism during industrialization, and the tendency for British elites was to celebrate these lost traditions as examples of purity.
XTC had already shown an interest in the countryside on the previous album, 1982's English Settlement, but on Mummer the magic and power of the countryside weave themselves into each composition. Despite the lyrical emphasis on the shire, XTC did not simply celebrate this rural life. Instead, songs such as "Deliver Us from the Elements" and "Great Fire" suggest that the rural life offers a greater sense of reality and clarity of human experience. Partridge had long been concerned with the apocalyptic possibilities of nuclear war, but on Mummer he finds another expression of the apocalypse rooted in real experience of rural life. Perhaps in a sense of irony, the musical arrangements are heavily reliant on synthesizers to evoke XTC's window into the traditional world of green England.
XTC continued to develop this vision of the rural space, and examples can be found littered throughout the albums that followed Mummer, perhaps most evident in the group's career defining Skylarking from 1986. Mummer, however, most starkly illustrates how XTC's nervous modernists found refuge in the countryside, just as authors and poets of the previous century had during British industrialization.
XTC represented a particular vision of Britishness that straddled the urban and the rural, but eventually a new sound came to dominate the press's conception of British pop: Britpop. A cultural phenomenon in the 1990s, Britpop consisted of numerous British guitar bands who championed the music of the 1960s, including the Kinks, as a representation of British culture as distinct from American pop music. Blur, a group that began its career linked with the baggy music of Manchester, became one of the cornerstones of the Britpop phenomenon, and in many ways their second album synthesizes the concerns of Davies and Partridge and reinvents them for another generation.
Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance
As the group began recording Modern Life is Rubbish in 1992, Andy Partridge was brought in as a producer, but these sessions were quickly abandoned. Eventually, a collection of fourteen songs were recorded, again shaped by the anxieties of modernity that had haunted two of singer Damon Albarn's influences, Partridge and Davies. But Modern Life lacks the reverence and fascination with the countryside, and instead suggests the obliteration of the green thanks to the unending suburbanization of Britain. The songs are populated with deadenders who have become indifferent to the plasticity of the urban and suburban worlds. The escape of Village Green and Mummer has vanished within the false promises of "Adverts": "You need a holiday somewhere in the sun/ With all the people waiting/ There never seems to be one."
The lush landscapes have been replaced by a "Chemical World," in which the girl who tries to escape to the country cannot leave behind the urban society. In order to cope, she consumes in the hope of sleeping. In the video produced for the song, the band lay about in a field with animals moving about them. Yet the group's blank stares posit the disconnection with nature within the narrative of the song.
Unlike the nostalgia of Village or the wonder of Mummer, the defeat of Modern Life is Rubbish manifests the alienation of a Britain left without the countryside. The ambiguity that Weiner found evident in British culture has collapsed in the face of the reality of the loss of the mythical village green. The bright production and sing-along melodies only reinforce Albarn's lyrics about the emptiness of modern life. Without the tether to country, modern life is, as the album title points out, rubbish, illustrating how the reverberations of the anxieties of the industrial age continue to haunt British culture. That the most critically and commercially successful British band of the new millennium, Radiohead, would focus its attention on technology and surveillance only reinforces the loss lamented on Modern Life is Rubbish and how the cultural dynamic between the city and country, which shaped modern British culture since the early 1800s, has perhaps run its course.
Jonathyne Briggs is an assistant professor of History at Indiana University Northwest.
Posted in 1980s, 1990s, Britain, post-industrial society
Prev Time, Fate, and the History of the Future in "Looper"
Next Impending Hurricanes, Alternative Sexualities, and Tourism: Part I of the 2012 UHA Conference
Pingback: Revolutionary Eruption: The Violent Sound of Magma and Musical Fusion in 1970s France – Tropics of Meta
Pingback: Revolutionary Eruption: | 2,156 |
Li, who was born in Brooklyn, learned how to cook by working at his family's Hong Kong-style restaurants. He started Hong Kong Street Cart last year and works pop-up events like Madison Square Eats.
This makes about 2 pints. It's scaled down from the original restaurant recipe.
You can save the seasoning for all type of dishes, such as crispy paperskin chicken.
Toast the salt in a frying pan until hot, for about 15 minutes. Toss constantly. Set aside to cool, then add 5 spice powder, Szechuan powder, and ginger powder, and mix well.
Marinate the shrimp with a pinch of salt and work through the shrimp with your hands until it's a little pasty.
Put the potato starch in mixing bowl and dredge the shrimp in potato starch.
Squeeze the shrimp with palm of hand so the starch sticks to the shrimp.
Heat soybean oil in wok or deep pan.
Fry shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes until golden and transfer to paper towel to drain<|fim_middle|>ile peppers, and scallions, and toss.
Sprinkle with a heavy pinch of salt and pepper seasoning while tossing.
Garnish plate with cilantro and fried taro strips and place the shrimp on top. | .
In a separate frying pan, on high heat, place the fried shrimp and add fried garlic bits, toasted sesame seeds, dried red ch | 28 |
Back to PAYCHEX.com
Investors Choice
Paychex, Inc. Schedules First Quarter Fiscal 2022 Earnings Conference Call for September 30, 2021
Download as PDF September 16, 2021 2:00pm EDT
ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Paychex, Inc. (Nasdaq:PAYX) will release financial results for its fiscal <|fim_middle|> human capital management solutions for human resources, payroll, benefits, and insurance services. By combining its innovative software-as-a-service technology and mobility platform with dedicated, personal service, Paychex empowers small- and medium-sized business owners to focus on the growth and management of their business. Backed by 50 years of industry expertise, Paychex serves more than 710,000 payroll clients as of May 31, 2021 across more than 100 locations in the U.S. and Europe, and pays one out of every 12 American private sector employees. Learn more about Paychex by visiting paychex.com and stay connected on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Paychex, Inc.'s news releases, current financial information, SEC filings, and investor presentations are accessible on the Paychex Investor Relations portal.
Efrain Rivera, CFO or Terri Allen
Lisa Fleming
Source: Paychex, Inc.
© 2022 Paychex, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | 2022 first quarter ended August 31, 2021. Paychex will deliver results via Business Wire before the financial markets open on Thursday, September 30, 2021.
The Company will host a conference call at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, September 30, 2021, to review the results for the quarter. Participating in this call will be Martin Mucci, President and CEO, and Efrain Rivera, Senior Vice President, CFO, and Treasurer.
The conference call will be available online as a live broadcast on the Paychex Investor Relations portal. Listeners should access the site before the live call to ensure proper configuration. After the live call, an on-demand webcast will be archived and available for replay for approximately 90 days.
About Paychex
Paychex, Inc. (Nasdaq:PAYX) is a leading provider of integrated | 199 |
SAVOR… AND McCAW HALL ANNOUNCE NEW EXECUTIVE CHEF JOHN ROBERTS
SEATTLE, WA, February 26, 2016 - SAVOR… McCaw Hall is proud to announce the appointment of a new Executive Chef. John A. Roberts will lead SAVOR's Food and Beverage program at McCaw Hall, home to Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Opera. Services include a 180 seat casual elegant dining restaurant, full-service catering events, and boutique lobby concessions. Chef Roberts recently returned to Seattle after heading up culinary operations at the Riviera Resort, Palm Springs.
With more than twenty years of culinary experience, Chef John has worked in many notable kitchens across Europe and North America, his last one in Europe being the world renowned Bibendum Restaurant in London.
A native of Liverpool, England<|fim_middle|> get more information on the menus at Prelude Restaurant or catering and event planning options at McCaw Hall.
About Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
Part of Seattle Center and home to the internationally acclaimed Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, McCaw Hall is a state-of-the-art performing art center and premier special event venue. Each year McCaw Hall hosts over 300 events in the Susan Brotman Auditorium, Nesholm Family Lecture Hall and an attractive range of lobby and reception spaces.
About SAVOR…
SAVOR... is an industry leader in introducing green standards and programs to public facilities. As the food and beverage provider to facilities with some of the most stringent environmental policies in the world, we have researched the matter extensively and have worked closely with the community and facility managers to develop environmentally friendly operations. Initiatives aimed at minimizing our carbon footprint include purchasing locally produced and sustainably raised products, sourcing sustainable seafood, using non-petroleum-based products, and recycling and composting our waste whenever possible.
Since its beginning 50 years ago, Seattle Center has served as an arts, civic and family gathering place in the core of our region. The more than 30 cultural, educational, sports and entertainment organizations residing on the 74-acre campus, together with a broad range of public and community programs, create nearly 5,000 events attracting 12 million visitors each year. At Seattle Center, our purpose is to create exceptional events, experiences and environments that delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities. Activities at the Center generate $1.15 billion in business activity and $387 million in labor income. | , Chef John's impressive background includes several Seattle staples such as The Edgewater and its restaurant Six Seven, as well as Cascadia Restaurant and The Rainier Club. Throughout his career, Chef John has earned remarkable honors including preparing private dinners for United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.
"We are very excited to have Chef John join our team. Not only does he bring extraordinary talent and experience but he is largely connected with vendors across our region. This is perfectly aligned with our commitment to a local, fresh and sustainable food and beverage program." Says Heiko Zemke, SAVOR… Food and Beverage Director.
"Chef John Roberts is a perfect fit for our patron demographic at McCaw Hall. We are confident in his ability to elevate our dining program and exceed expectations of Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet's donors, subscribers and guests." – Shelley Sink, McCaw Hall Patron Services Manager.
In his spare time Chef Roberts can be found digging in his vegetable garden on his property in Kenmore, playing in the yard with his 3 children Chloe, Lily and Charlie, or visiting his friends at local farms, talking with growers and ranchers. Roberts graduated from Hughbaird Culinary Institute in 1990, and has had stages with Chef Daniel Boulud, Chef Simon Hopkinson, and credits his mentoring to Chef Mathew Harris.
Visit www.mccawhall.com to | 283 |
\section{Viability, feasibility and optimality}\label{sec:survivability}
We consider a continuous time environment in which an agent selects actions that result in a time varying set of penalties. Use $t$ to denote time and let $X\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ be a closed convex set from which the agent selects action $x\in X $. The penalties incurred at time $t$ for selected action $x$ are given by the value $f(t,x)$ of the vector function $f:\reals\times\reals^n \to \reals^m$. We interpret the vector penalty function $f$ as a definition of the environment. Our interest is in situations where the agent is faced with an environment $f$ and must choose an action $x\in X$ -- or perhaps a trajectory $x(t)$ -- that guarantees nonpositive penalties $f(t,x(t))\leq 0$ for all times $t$ not exceeding a time horizon $T$. Since the existence of this trajectory depends on the specific environment we define a viable environment as one in which it is possible to select an action with nonpositive penalty for times $0\leq t\leq T$ as we formally specify next.
\begin{definition}[\textbf{Viable environment}]\label{def_viable_environment}
We say that an environment $f:\reals\times\reals^n \to \reals^m$ is viable over the time horizon $T$ for an agent that selects actions $x\in X$ if there exists a feasible action $x^\dagger\in X$ such that
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_def_viable_environment}
f(t,x^\dagger) \leq 0, \quad \text{for all\ } t \in[0,T] .
\end{equation}
The set $X^\dagger:=\{x^\dagger \in X: f(t,x^\dagger) \leq 0,\ \text{for all\ } t \in[0,T]\}$ is termed the feasible set of actions.
\end{definition}
Since for a viable environment it is possible to have multiple feasible actions it is desirable to select one that is optimal with respect to some criterion of interest. Introduce then the objective function $f_0:\reals\times\reals^n \to \reals$, where for a given time $t \in [0,T]$ and action $x\in X$ the agent suffers a loss $f_0(t,x)$. The optimal action is defined as the one that minimizes the accumulated loss $\int_0^T f_0(t,x) \,dt$ among all viable actions, i.e.,
\begin{alignat}{2}\label{eqn_optimal_strategy}
x^* :=\ &\argmin_{x\in X} \int_0^T f_0(t,x) \,dt \\ \nonumber
&\st\ f(t,x) \leq 0,\ \text{for all\ } t \in [0,T] .
\end{alignat}
For the definition in \eqref{eqn_optimal_strategy} to be valid the function $f_0(t,x)$ has to be integrable with respect to $t$. In subsequent definitions and analyses we also require integrability of the environment $f$ as well as convexity with respect to $x$ as we formally state next.
\begin{assumption} \label{as:integrability}
The functions $f(t,x)$ and $f_0(t,x)$ are integrable with respect to $t$ in the interval $[0,T]$.
\end{assumption}
\begin{assumption}\label{as:convexity}
The functions $f(t,x)$ and $f_0(t,x)$ are convex with respect to $x$ for all times $t\in[0,T]$.
\end{assumption}
If the environment $f(t,x)$ and functions $f_0(t,x)$ are known beforehand, finding the action in a viable environment that minimizes the total aggregate cost is equivalent to solving the convex optimization problem in \eqref{eqn_optimal_strategy} for which a number of algorithms are known. Here, we consider the problem of adapting a strategy $x(t)$ when the functions $f(t,x)$ and $f_0(t,x)$ are {\it arbitrary} and {\it revealed causally.} I.e., we want to choose the action $x(t)$ using observations of viability $f(t,x)$ and cost $f_0(t,x)$ in the open interval $[0,t)$. This implies that $f(t,x(t))$ and $f_0(t,x(t))$ are not observed before choosing $x(t)$. The action $x(t)$ is chosen ex ante and the corresponding viability $f(t,x(t))$ and cost $f_0(t,x(t))$ are incurred ex post. Further observe that the constraints and objective functions may change abruptly if the number of discontinuities in these are finite for finite $T$. This makes the problem different from time varying optimization in which the goal is to track the optimal argument of $f_0(t,x)$ subject to the constraint $f(t,x)\leq 0$ under the assumption that these functions change continuously and at a sufficiently small rate
\cite{popkov2005gradient,fazlyab2015interior,zavala2010real}.
\subsection{Regret and fit}
We evaluate the performance of trajectories $x(t)$ through the concepts of regret and fit. To define regret we compare the accumulated cost $\int_0^T f_0(t,x(t)) \,dt$ incurred by $x(t)$ with the cost incurred by the optimal action $x^*$ defined in \eqref{eqn_optimal_strategy},
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_continuous_regret}
\ccalR_T := \int_0^T f_0(t,x(t)) \,dt - \int_0^T f_0(t,x^*) \,dt .
\end{equation}
Analogously, we define the fit of the trajectory $x(t)$ as the accumulated penalties $f(t,x(t))$ incurred for times $t\in[0,T]$,
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_def_fit}
\ccalF_{T} := \int_0^T f(t,x(t)) \,dt.
\end{equation}
The regret $\ccalR_T$ and fit $\ccalF_{T}$ can be interpreted as performance losses associated with online causal operation as opposed to offline clairvoyant operation. If $\ccalF_{T}$ is positive in a viable environment we are in a situation in which, had the environment be known a priori, we could have selected an action $x^\dagger$ with $f(t,x^\dagger) \leq 0$. The fit measures how far the trajectory $x(t)$ comes from achieving that goal. As in the case of the fit, if the regret $\ccalR_T$ is large we are in a situation in which prior knowledge of environment and cost would had resulted in the selection of the action $x^*$ -- and in that sense $\ccalR_T$ indicates how much we regret not having had that information available.
Because of the cumulative nature of fit, it is possible to achieve small fit by alternating between actions for which the constraint functions take positive and negative values. This is valid when cumulative constraints are an appropriate model, which happens for quantities that can be stored or preserved in some sense -- such as energy budgets enforced through average power constraints. For situations where this is not appropriate, we define the saturated fit in which constraint slacks are saturated to a small constant $\delta$. Formally, let $\delta>0$ be a positive constant and define the function $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)) = \max\left\{f(t,x),-\delta \right\}$. Then, the $\delta$-saturated fit is defined as
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_saturated_fit}
\bar\ccalF_{T} = \int_0^T \bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x(t)) \, dt.
\end{equation}
Since $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)$ is the pointwise maximum of two convex functions with respect to the actions, it is a convex function itself and $\bar\ccalF_{T}$ is not different than the fit for the environment defined by $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)$. By taking small values of $\delta$ we can reduce the negative portion of the fit to be as small as desired.
A good learning strategy is one in which $x(t)$ approaches $x^*$. In that case, the regret and fit grow for small $T$ but eventually stabilize or, at worst, grow at a sublinear rate. Considering regret $\ccalR_T$ and fit $\ccalF_{T}$ separately, this observation motivates the definitions of feasible trajectories strongly feasible trajectories, and strong optimal trajectories that we formally state next.
\begin{definition}\label{def_0ptimality_and_viability}
Given an environment $f:\reals\times\reals^n \to \reals^m$, a cost $f_0:\reals\times\reals^n \to \reals$, and a trajectory $x(t)$ we say that:
\begin{mylist}
\item[\bf Feasibility.] The trajectory $x(t)$ is feasible in the environment if the fit $\ccalF_{T}$ grows sublinearly with $T$. I.e., if there exist a function $h(T)$ with $\limsup_{T\to\infty} h(T)/T = 0$ and a constant vector $C$ such that for all times $T$ it holds,
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_def_weak_survival}
\ccalF_{T} := \int_0^T f(t,x(t)) \,dt \leq C h(T).
\end{equation}
\item[\bf Strong Feasibility.] The trajectory $x(t)$ is strongly feasible in the environment if the fit $\ccalF_{T}$ is bounded for all $T$. I.e., if there exists a constant vector $C$ such that for all times $T$ it holds,
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_def_survival}
\ccalF_{T} := \int_0^T f(t,x(t)) \,dt \leq C.
\end{equation}
\item[\bf Strong optimality.] The trajectory $x(t)$ is strongly optimal in the environment if the regret $\ccalR_{T}$ is bounded for all $T$. I.e., if there exists a constant $C$ such that for all times $T$ it holds,
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_def_0ptimality}
\ccalR_{T} := \int_0^T f_0(t,x(t)) \,dt - \int_0^T f_0(t,x^*) \,dt \leq C.
\end{equation}
\end{mylist} \end{definition}
Having the regret satisfy $\ccalR_{T}\leq C$ irrespectively of $T$ is an indication that $f_0(t,x(t))$ is close to $f_0(t,x^*)$ so that the integral stops growing. This is not necessarily so because we can also achieve small regret by having $f_0(t,x(t))$ oscillate above and below $f_0(t,x^*)$ so that positive and negative values of $f_0(t,x(t)) - f_0(t,x^*)$ cancel out. In general, the possibility of having small regret by a trajectory that does not approach $x^*$ is a limitation of the concept of regret. Alternatively, we can think of the optimal offline policy $x^*$ as fixing a budget for cost accumulated across time. An optimal online policy meets that budget up to a constant $C$ -- perhaps by overspending at some times and underspending at some other times.
Likewise, when the fit satisfies $\ccalF_{T}\leq C$ irrespectively of $T$, it suggests that $x(t)$ approaches the feasible set. This need not be true as it is possible to achieve bounded fit by having $f(t,x(t))$ oscillate around $0$. Thus, as in the case of regret, we can interpret strongly feasible trajectories as meeting the {\it accumulated} budget $\int_0^T f(t,x(t))\,dt\leq 0$ up to a constant term $C$. This is in contrast with feasible actions $x^\dagger$ that meet the budget $f(t,x^\dagger)\leq0$ for all times. Feasible trajectories differ from strongly feasible trajectories in that the fit is allowed to grow at a sublinear rate. This means that feasible trajectories do not meet the {\it accumulated} budget within a constant $C$ but do meet the {\it time averaged} budget $(1/T)\int_0^T f(t,x(t))\,dt\leq0$ within that constant. The notion of optimality -- as opposed to strong optimality -- could have been defined as a case in which regret is bounded by a sublinear function of $T$. This is not necessary here because our results state strong optimality.
In this work we solve three different problems: (i) Finding strongly optimal trajectories in unconstrained environments. (ii) Finding strongly feasible trajectories. (iii) Finding feasible, strongly optimal trajectories. We develop these solutions in sections \ref{sec:continuous_regret}, \ref{subsec:non_opti}, and \ref{subsec:otpi}, respectively. Before that, we present two pertinent remarks and we clarify concepts with the introduction of an example.
\begin{remark}[\bf Not every trajectory is strongly feasible]
In definition \eqref{eqn_def_survival} we consider the integral of a measurable function in a finite interval, hence it is always bounded by a constant. Yet if the latter depends on the time horizon $T$, the trajectory is not strongly feasible, because it is not uniformly bounded for all time horizons $T$. The same remark is valid for the definitions of strongly optimal and feasible.
\end{remark}
\begin{remark}[\bf Connection with Stochastic Optimization]
One can think about the online learning framework as a generalization of the stochastic optimization setting (see e.g. \cite{robbins1951stochastic,borkar2008stochastic}). In the latter, the objective and constraint functions depend on a random vector $\theta \in \mathbb{R}^p$. Formally, the cost is a function $f_0: \mathbb{R}^n\times \mathbb{R}^p \to \mathbb{R}$ and the constraints are given by a multivalued function $f: \mathbb{R}^n\times \mathbb{R}^p \to \mathbb{R}^m$. The constrained stochastic optimization problem can be then formulated as
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_stochastic_problem}
\begin{split}
x^*:=&\argmin \, \E{f_0(x,\theta)} \\
&\;\, \mbox{s.t.} \quad \quad \E{f(x,\theta)} \leq 0,
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where the above expectations are with respect to the random vector $\theta$. When the process that determines the temporal evolution of the random vector $\theta_t$ is stationary, the expectations can be replaced by time averages. In that sense problem \eqref{eqn_stochastic_problem} is equivalent to the problem of generating trajectories that are feasible and optimal in the sense of Definition \ref{def_0ptimality_and_viability}.
\end{remark}
\subsection{The shepherd problem}\label{sec_shepherd_problem}
Consider a target tracking problem in which an agent -- the shepherd -- follows a group of $m$ targets -- the sheep. Specifically, let $z(t) = [z_1(t),z_2(t)]^T \in\reals^2$ denote the position of the shepherd at time $t$. To model smooth paths for the shepherd introduce a polynomial parameterization so that each of the position components $z_k(t)$ can be written as
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_shepherd_position}
z_k(t) = \sum_{j=0}^{n-1} x_{kj} p_j(t),
\end{equation}
where $p_j(t)$ are polynomials that parameterize the space of possible trajectories. The action space of the shepherd is then given by the vector $x=[x_{10},\ldots,x_{1,n-1},x_{20},\ldots,x_{2,n-1}]^T\in\reals^{2n}$ that stacks the coefficients of the parameterization in \eqref{eqn_shepherd_position}.
Further define $y_i(t)=[y_{i1}(t), y_{i2}(t)]^T$ as the position of the $i$th sheep at time $t$ for $i=1,\ldots,m$ and introduce a maximum allowable distance $r_i$ between the shepherd and each of the sheep . The goal of the shepherd is to find a path $z(t)$ that is within distance $r_i$ of sheep $i$ for all sheep. This can be captured by defining an $m$-dimensional environment $f$ with each component function $f_i$ defined as
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_sheep_environment}
f_i(t,x) = \| z(t) - y_i(t) \|^2 - r_i^2 \quad \mbox{for all} \quad i=1..m.
\end{equation}
That the environment defined by \eqref{eqn_sheep_environment} is viable means that it is possible to select a vector of coefficients $x$ so that the shepherd's trajectory given by \eqref{eqn_shepherd_position} stays close to all sheep for all times. To the extent that \eqref{eqn_shepherd_position} is a loose parameterization -- we can approximate arbitrary functions with sufficiently large index $n$, if the time horizon is fixed and not allowed to tend to infinity --, this simply means that the sheep are sufficiently close to each other at all times. E.g., if $r_i=r$ for all times, viability is equivalent to having a maximum separation between sheep smaller than $2r$.
As an example of a problem with an optimality criterion say that the first target -- the black sheep -- is preferred in that the shepherd wants to stay as close as possible to it. We can accomplish that by introducing the objective function
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_black_sheep}
f_0(t,x) = \| z(t) - y_1(t) \|^2 .
\end{equation}
Alternatively, we can require the shepherd to minimize the work required to follow the sheep. This behavior can be induced by minimizing the integral of the acceleration which in turn can be accomplished by defining the optimality criterion [cf. \eqref{eqn_optimal_strategy}],
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_minimum acceleration}
f_0(t,x) = \big\|\ddot z(t)\big\|
= \Bigg\| \bigg[ \sum_{j=0}^{n-1} x_{1j} \ddot p_j(t),\
\sum_{j=0}^{n-1} x_{2j} \ddot p_j(t) \bigg] \Bigg\|.
\end{equation}
Trajectories $x(t)$ differ from actions in that they are allowed to change over time, i.e., the constant values $x_{kj}$ in \eqref{eqn_shepherd_position} are replaced by the time varying values $x_{kj}(t)$. A feasible or strongly feasible trajectory $x(t)$ means that the shepherd is repositioning to stay close to all sheep. An optimal trajectory with respect to \eqref{eqn_black_sheep} is one in which he does so while staying as close as possible to the black sheep. An optimal trajectory with respect to \eqref{eqn_minimum acceleration} is one in which the work required to follow the sheep is minimized. In all three cases we apply the usual caveat that small fit and regret may be achieved with stretches of underachievement following stretches of overachievement.
\section{Unconstrained regret in continuous time. }\label{sec:continuous_regret}
Before considering the feasibility problem we consider the following unconstrained minimization problem. Given an unconstrained environment ($f(t,x) \equiv 0$) our goal is to generate strong optimal trajectories $x(t)$ in the sense of Definition \ref{def_0ptimality_and_viability}, selecting actions from a closed convex set $X$, i.e., $x(t) \in X$ for all $t\in [0,T]$. Given the convexity of the objective function with respect to the action, as per Assumption \ref{as:convexity}, it is natural to consider a gradient descent controller. To avoid restricting attention to functions that are differentiable with respect to $x$, we work with subgradients. For a convex function $g:X\to \mathbb{R}$ a subgradient $g_x$ satisfies the
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_def_subgradient}
g(y) \geq g(x) + g_x(x)^T(y-x) \quad \mbox{for all} \quad y\in X.
\end{equation}
In general, subgradients are defined at all points for all convex functions. At the points where the function $f$ is differentiable the subgradient and the gradient coincide. In the case of vector functions $f:\mathbb{R}^n \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^m$ we group the subgradients of each component into a matrix $f_x(x)\in\reals^{n\times m}$ defined as
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_subgradient_f}
f_x(x) = \left[ \begin{array}{c c c c} f_{1,x}(x) & f_{2,x}(x) & \cdot\cdot\cdot & f_{m,x}(x) \end{array}\right],
\end{equation}
where $f_{i,x}(x)$ is a subgradient of $f_i(x)$.
In addition, since the action must always be selected from the set $X$ we define the controller in a way that the actions are the solution of a projected dynamical system over the set $X$. The solution has been studied in
\cite{Zhang95} and we define the notion as follow.
\begin{definition}[Projected dynamical system]\label{def_projected_dynamical_system}
Let $X$ be a closed convex set.
\begin{mylist}
\item[\bf Projection of a point.] For any $z \in R^n$, there exits a unique element in $X$, denoted $P_X(z)$ such that
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_proj_over_X}
P_X(z) = \argmin_{y \in X} \|y-z \|.
\end{equation}
\item[\bf Projection of a vector at a point.]Let $x \in X$ and $v$ a vector, the projection of $v$ over the set $X$ at the point $x$ is
\begin{equation}
\Pi_X(x,v) = \lim_{\delta \to 0^+}\left(P_X(x+\delta v) -x\right) / \delta.
\end{equation}
\item[\bf Projected dynamical system.]Given a closed convex set $X$ and a vector field $F(t,x)$ which takes elements from $\mathbb{R}\times X$ into $\reals^n$ the projected differential equation associated with $X$ and $F$ is defined to be
\begin{equation}
\dot{x}(t) = \Pi_X\left(x,F(t,x)\right).
\end{equation}
\end{mylist}
\end{definition}
In the above projection if the point $x$ is in the interior of $X$ then the projection is not different from the original vector field, i.e., $\Pi_X(x,F(t,x)) = F(t,x)$. On the other hand if the point $x$ is in the border of $X$, then the projection is just the component of the vector field that is tangential to the set $X$ at the point $x$. Let's consider for instance the case where the set $X$ is a box in $R^n$. Let $X = [a_1,b_1] \times ... \times [a_n,b_n]$ where $a_1 .. a_n$ and $b_1 ... b_n$ are real numbers. Then for each component of the vector field we have that
\begin{equation}
\Pi_X\left(x,F(t,x)\right)_i=\left\{ \begin{array}{l} 0 \quad \mbox{if} \quad x_i = a_i \quad \mbox{and} \quad F(t,x)_i < 0, \\
0 \quad \mbox{if} \quad x_i = b_i \quad \mbox{and} \quad F(t,x)_i > 0 ,\\
F(t,x)_i \quad \mbox{otherwise}.
\end{array}
\right.
\end{equation}
Therefore, when the projection is included, the proposed controller takes the form of the following projected dynamical system:
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_gradient_controller}
\dot{x} = \Pi_X\left(x,-\varepsilon f_{0,x}(t,x)\right),
\end{equation}
where $\varepsilon>0$ is the gain of the controller. Before stating the first theorem we need a Lemma concerning the relation between the original vector field and the projected vector field. This lemma is used in the proofs of theorems \ref{theo:first_theo}, \ref{theo:not_opti} and \ref{theo:opti}.
\begin{lemma}\label{lemma:big_lemma}
Let $X$ be a convex set and $x_0 \in X$ and $x \in X$. Then
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_big_lemma}
(x_0-x)^T \Pi_X(x_0,v) \leq (x_0-x)^T v.
\end{equation}
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
See Apendix \ref{ap_big_lema_proof}.
\end{proof}
Let's define an Energy function $V_\bbarx:\reals^n \to \reals$ as
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_Lyapunov_opti}
V_\bbarx(x) = \frac{1}{2} (x-\bbarx)^T(x-\bbarx).
\end{equation}
Where $\bbarx \in X \subset \reals^n$ is an arbitrary fixed action. We are now in conditions to present the first theorem, which states that the solution of the gradient controller defined in \eqref{eqn_gradient_controller} is a strongly optimal trajectory, i.e., with bounded regret for all $T$.
\begin{theorem}\label{theo:first_theo} Let $f_0: \reals\times X \to \reals$ be cost function satisfying assumptions 1 and 2, with $X \subseteq \reals^n$ convex. The solution $x(t)$ of the online projected gradient controller in \eqref{eqn_gradient_controller} is strongly optimal in the sense of Definition \ref{def_0ptimality_and_viability}. In particular, the regret $\ccalR_T$ can be bounded by
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_theo_first_theo}
\ccalR_{T} \leq V_{x^*}\left(x(0)\right) / \varepsilon, \quad \text{for all\ } T\\
\end{equation}
where $V_\bbarx$ is the Energy function in \eqref{eqn_Lyapunov_opti}.\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
Consider an action trajectory $x(t)$, an arbitrary given action $\bbarx \in X$, and the corresponding energy function $V_\bbarx(x(t))$ as per \eqref{eqn_Lyapunov_opti}. The derivative $\dot V_\bbarx(x(t))$ of the energy function with respect to time is then given by
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_theo_opti_pf_21}
\dot{V}_\bbarx(x(t)) = (x(t) - \bbarx)^T\dot{x}(t).
\end{equation}
If the trajectory $x(t)$ follows from the online projected gradient dynamical system in \eqref{eqn_gradient_controller} we can substitute the trajectory derivative $\dot x$ by the vector field value and reduce \eqref{eqn_theo_opti_pf_21} to
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_theo_opti_pf_22}
\dot{V}_\bbarx(x(t)) = (x(t) - \bbarx)^T \Pi_X \left(x(t),-\varepsilon f_{0,x}(t,x(t))\right).
\end{equation}
Use now the result in Lemma \ref{lemma:big_lemma} with $v=-\varepsilon f_{0,x}(t,x(t))$ to remove the projection operator from \eqref{eqn_theo_opti_pf_22} and write
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_theo_opti_pf_23}
\dot{V}_\bbarx(x(t)) \leq -\varepsilon (x(t)-\bbarx)^Tf_{0,x}(t,x(t)).
\end{equation}
Using the defining equation of a subgradient \eqref{eqn_def_subgradient}, we can upper bound the inner product $-(x(t)-\bbarx )^T f_{0,x}(t,x(t))$ by the difference $f_0(t,\bbarx) - f_0(t,x(t))$ and transform \eqref{eqn_theo_opti_pf_23} into
\begin{equation}
\dot{V}_\bbarx(x(t))\leq \varepsilon\left(f_0(t,\bbarx) - f_0(t,x(t))\right).
\end{equation}
Rearranging terms in the preceding inequality and integrating over time yields
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_theo1basic}
\int_0^T f_0(t,x(t)) \,dt - \int_0^T f_0(t,\bbarx) \,dt
\leq -\frac{1}{\varepsilon}\int_0^T \dot{V}_\bbarx(x(t))\,dt .
\end{equation}
Since the primitive of $\dot{V}_\bbarx(x(t))$ is $V_\bbarx(x(t))$ we can evaluate the integral on the right hand side of \eqref{eqn_theo1basic} and further use the fact that $V_\bbarx (x) \geq 0$ for all $x\in\reals^n$ to conclude that
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_theo1_aux}
-\int_0^T \dot{V}_\bbarx(x(t)) dt
\ = \ V_\bbarx(x(0)) - V_\bbarx (x(T))
\ \leq\ V_\bbarx\left(x(0)\right) .
\end{equation}
Combining the bounds in \eqref{eqn_theo1basic} and \eqref{eqn_theo1_aux} we have that
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_theo1almost}
\int_0^T f_0(t,x(t)) \,dt-\int_0^T f_0(t,\bbarx) \,dt
\leq V_\bbarx(x(0)) / \varepsilon .
\end{equation}
Since the above inequality holds for an arbitrary point $\bbarx \in \reals^n$ it holds for $\bbarx=x^*$ in particular. When making $\bbarx=x^*$ in \eqref{eqn_theo1almost} the left hand side reduces to the regret $\ccalR_T$ associated with the trajectory $x(t)$ [cf. \eqref{eqn_continuous_regret}] and in the right hand side we have $V_\bbarx(x(0))/ \varepsilon = V_{x^*}(x(0))/ \varepsilon$. Eq. \eqref{eqn_theo_first_theo} follows because \eqref{eqn_theo1almost} is true for all times $T$. This implies that the trajectory is strongly optimal according to \eqref{eqn_def_0ptimality} in Definition \ref{def_0ptimality_and_viability}. \end{proof}
The strong optimality of the online projected gradient controller in \eqref{eqn_gradient_controller} that we claim in Theorem \ref{theo:first_theo} is not a straightforward generalization of the optimality of gradient controllers in constant convex potentials. The functions $f_0$ are allowed to change arbitrarily over time and are not observed until after the cost $f_0(t,x(t))$ has been incurred.
Since the initial value of the Energy function $V_{x^*}(x(0))$ is the square of the distance between $x(0)$ and $x^*$, the bound on the regret in \eqref{eqn_theo_first_theo} shows that the closer we start to the optimal point the smaller the accumulated cost is. Likewise, the larger the controller gain $\varepsilon$, the smaller the bound on the regret is. Theoretically, we can make this bound arbitrarily small. This is not possible in practice because larger $\varepsilon$ entails trajectories with larger derivatives which cannot be implemented in systems with physical constraints. In the example in Section \ref{sec_shepherd_problem} the derivatives of the state $x(t)$ control the speed and acceleration of the shepherd. The physical limits of these quantities along with an upper bound on the cost gradient $f_{0,x}(t,x)$ can be used to estimate the largest allowable gain $\varepsilon$.
Another observation regarding the bound on the regret is that it does not depend on the function that we are minimizing --except for the location of the point $x^*$. For instance by scaling a function the bound on the regret is kept constant if the same gain $\varepsilon$ can be selected. This is not surprising since a scaling in the function implies a bigger cost but it also entails a larger action derivative, which allows to track better changes on the function. However, if a bound on the maximum allowed gain exists then the regret bound cannot be invariant to scalings.
\begin{remark}\normalfont
In discrete time systems where $t$ is a natural variable and the integrals in \eqref{eqn_continuous_regret} are replaced by sums, online gradient descent algorithms are used to reduce regret; see e.g. \cite{Zinkevich03,hazan2007logarithmic}. The online gradient controller in \eqref{eqn_gradient_controller} is a direct generalization of online gradient descent to continuous time. This similarity notwithstanding, the result in Theorem \ref{theo:first_theo} is stronger than the corresponding bound on the regret in discrete time which states a sublinear growth at a rate not faster than $\sqrt{T}$ if the cost function is convex \cite{Zinkevich03}, and $\log{T}$ if the cost function is strictly convex \cite{hazan2007logarithmic}. The key where this difference lies is in the fact that discrete time algorithms have to "pay" to switch from the action at time $t$ to the action at time $t+1$. In the proofs of \cite{Zinkevich03,hazan2007logarithmic} a term related to the norm square of the gradient is present in the upper bound on the regret while in continuous time this term is absent. The bound on the norm of the gradient is related to the selecting a different action. As in the case of fictitious plays that lead to no regret in the continuous time but not in discrete time (see e.g.\cite{viossat2013no,hart2001general,young1993evolution}) the bounds on the regret in continuous time are tighter than in discrete time for online gradient descent.
\end{remark}
\section{Saddle point algorithm}
\label{sec:main}
Given an environment $f(t,x)$ and an objective function $f_0(t,x)$ verifying assumptions \ref{as:integrability} and \ref{as:convexity} we set our attention towards two different problems: design a controller whose solution is a strongly feasible trajectory and a controller whose solution is a feasible and strongly optimal trajectory. As already noted, when the environment is known beforehand the problem of finding such trajectories is a constrained convex optimization problem, which we can solve using the saddle point algorithm of Arrow and Hurwicz \cite{arrow_hurwicz}. Following this idea, let $\lambda \in \Lambda =\reals^m_+$, be a multiplier and define the time-varying Lagrangian associated with the online problem as
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_lagrangian}
\mathcal{L}(t,x,\lambda) = f_0(t,x)+\lambda^Tf(t,x).
\end{equation}
Saddle point methods rely on the fact that for a constrained convex optimization problem, a pair is a primal-dual optimal solution if and only if the pair is a saddle point of the Lagrangian associated with the problem; see e.g. \cite{boyd2004convex}. The main idea of the algorithm is then to generate trajectories that descend in the opposite direction of the gradient of the Lagrangian with respect to $x$ and that ascend in the direction of the gradient with respect to $\lambda$.
Since the Lagrangian is differentiable with respect to $\lambda$, we denote by $\mathcal{L}_{\lambda}(t,x,\lambda)=f(t,x)$ the derivative of the Lagrangian with respect to $\lambda$. On the other hand, since the functions $f_0(\cdot,x)$ and $f(\cdot,x)$ are convex, the Lagrangian is also convex with respect to $x$. Thus, its subgradient with respect to $x$ always exist, let us denote it by $\mathcal{L}_x(t,x,\lambda)$. Let $\varepsilon$ be the gain of the controller, then following the ideas in \cite{arrow_hurwicz} we define a controller that descends in the direction of the subgradient with respect to the action $x$
\begin{align}\label{eqn_action_descent}
\dot{x} &\ =\ \Pi_X \left( x,- \varepsilon \mathcal{L}_x(t,x,\lambda) \right) \nonumber\\
&\ =\ \Pi_X \left(x,-\varepsilon(f_{0,x}(t,x)+ f_x(t,x)\lambda) \right),
\end{align}
and that ascends in the direction of the subgradient with respect to the multiplier $\lambda$
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_multiplier_ascent}
\dot{\lambda} = \Pi_{\Lambda} \left( \lambda,\varepsilon \mathcal{L}_{\lambda}(t,x,\lambda) \right)
= \Pi_{\Lambda} \left(\lambda, \varepsilon f(t,x) \right).
\end{equation}
The projection over the set $X$ in \eqref{eqn_action_descent} is done to assure that the trajectory is always in the set of possible actions. The operator $\Pi_{\Lambda}(\lambda,f)$ is a projected dynamical system in the sense of Definition \ref{def_projected_dynamical_system} over the set $\Lambda$. This projection is done to assure that $\lambda(t) \in \reals^m_+$ for all times $t \in [0,T]$. An important observation regarding \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} is that the environment is observed locally in space and causally in time. The values of the environment constraints and its subgradients are observed at the current trajectory position $x(t)$ and the values of $f(t,x(t))$ and $f_x(t,x(t))$ affect the derivatives of $x(t)$ and $\lambda(t)$ only. Notice that if the environment function satisfies $f(t,x) \equiv 0$ we recover the algorithm defined in \eqref{eqn_gradient_controller} as a particular case of the saddle point controller.
A block diagram for the controller in \eqref{eqn_action_descent} - \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} is shown in Figure \ref{fig_block_diagram}. The controller operates in an environment to which it inputs at time $t$ an action $x(t)$ that results in a penalty $f(t,x(t))$ and cost $f_0(t,x(t))$. The value of these functions and their subgradients $f_x(t,x(t))$ and $f_{0,x}(t,x(t))$ are observed and fed to the multiplier and action feedback loops. The action feedback loop behaves like a weighted gradient descent controller. We move in the direction given by a linear combination of the the gradient of the objective function $f_{0,x}(t,x(t))$ and the constraint subgradients $f_{i,x}(t,x(t))$ weighted by their corresponding multipliers $\lambda_i(t)$. Intuitively, this pushes $x(t)$ towards satisfying the constraints and to the minimum of the objective function in the set where constraints are satisfied. However, the question remains of how much weight to give to each constraint. This is the task of the multiplier feedback loop. When constraint $i$ is violated we have $f_{i}(t,x(t))>0$. This pushes the multiplier $\lambda_i(t)$ up, thereby increasing the force $\lambda_i(t)f_{i,x}(t,x(t))$ pushing $x(t)$ towards satisfying the constraint. If the constraint is satisfied, we have $f_{i}(t,x(t))<0$, the multiplier $\lambda_i(t)$ being decreased, and the corresponding force decreasing. The more that constraint $i$ is violated, the faster we increase the multiplier, and the more we increase the force that pushes $x(t)$ towards satisfying $f_{i}(t,x(t))<0$. If the constraint is satisfied, the force is decreased and may eventually vanish altogether if we reach the point of making $\lambda_i(t)=0$.
\begin{figure}\centering
\resizebox{9cm}{7cm}{
\input{figures/block_diagram.tex}
}
\caption{Block diagram of the saddle point controller. Once that action $x(t)$ is selected at time $t$, we measure the corresponding values of $f(t,x(t))$, $f_x(t,x(t))$ and $f_{0,x}(t,x(t))$. This information is fed to the two feedback loops. The action loop defines the descent direction by computing weighted averages of the subgradients $f_x(t,x(t))$ and $f_{0,x}(t,x(t))$. The multiplier loop uses $f(t,x(t))$ to update the corresponding weights.}
\label{fig_block_diagram}
\end{figure}
\subsection {Strongly feasible trajectories}\label{subsec:non_opti}
We begin by studying the saddle point controller defined by \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} in a problem in which optimality is {\it not} taken into account, i.e., $f_0(t,x) \equiv 0$. In this case the action descent equation of the controller \eqref{eqn_action_descent} takes the form:
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_non_opti}
\dot{x} = \Pi_X \left( x,- \varepsilon \mathcal{L}_x(t,x,\lambda) \right) = \Pi_X \left(x,-\varepsilon f_x(t,x)\lambda \right),
\end{equation}
while the multiplier ascent equation \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} remains unchanged. The bounds to be derived for the fit ensure that the trajectories $x(t)$ are strongly feasible in the sense of Definition \ref{def_0ptimality_and_viability}. To state the result consider an arbitrary fixed action $\bar{x} \in X$ and an arbitrary multiplier $\bar{\lambda} \in \Lambda$ and define the energy function
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_lyapunov}
<|fim_middle|> energy with respect to time is then given by
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_theo_survival_pf_10}
\dot{V}_{\bar{x},\bar{\lambda}} (x(t),\lambda(t))
= (x(t) - \bbarx)^T\dot{x}(t) + (\lambda(t) -\bar{\lambda})^T\dot{\lambda}(t).
\end{equation}
Substitute the action and multiplier derivatives by their corresponding values given in \eqref{eqn_non_opti} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} to reduce \eqref{eqn_theo_survival_pf_10} to
\begin{align}\label{eqn_theo_survival_pf_11}
\dot{V}_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),\lambda(t)) =
&(x(t) - \bbarx)^T \Pi_X \left( x, - \varepsilon f_x(t,x(t))\lambda(t)\right) \nonumber \\ &+(\lambda(t)-\bar{\lambda})^T \Pi_{\Lambda} \left(\lambda, \varepsilon f(t,x(t)) \right).
\end{align}
Then, using the result of Lemma \ref{lemma:big_lemma} for both $X$ and $\Lambda$, the following inequality holds:
\begin{align}\label{eqn_theo_survival_pf_11}
\dot{V}_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),\lambda(t)) &\leq
\varepsilon (\bbarx-x(t))^T f_x(t,x(t))\lambda(t) \nonumber \\
&+\varepsilon(\lambda(t)-\bar{\lambda})^T f(t,x(t)).
\end{align}
Notice that $f(t,x) \lambda(t)$ is a convex function with respect to the action, therefore we can upper bound the inner product $(\bar{x} - x(t))^Tf_x(t,x(t)) \lambda(t)$ by the quantity $f(t,\bar{x})^T\lambda(t) - f(t,x(t))^T \lambda(t)$ and transform \eqref{eqn_theo_survival_pf_11} into
\begin{align}\label{eqn_theo_survival_pf_12}
\dot{V}_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),\lambda(t))&\leq
\varepsilon \left(f(t,\bbarx)-f(t,x(t))\right)^T\lambda(t) \nonumber \\
&+\varepsilon(\lambda(t)-\bar{\lambda})^T f(t,x(t)).
\end{align}
Further note that in the above equation the second and the third term are opposite. Thus, it reduces to
\begin{equation}
\dot{V}_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),\lambda(t))\leq \varepsilon\left[\lambda^T(t)f(t,\bbarx) - \bar{\lambda}^T f(t,x(t))\right].
\end{equation}
Rewriting the above expression and then integrating both sides with respect to time from $t = 0 $ to $t =T$ we obtain
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_inter}
\begin{split}
\varepsilon \int_0^T \bigl(\bar{\lambda}^T f(t,x(t)) - \lambda^T(t) &f(t,\bbarx) \bigr)dt \\ &
\leq - \int_0^T \dot{V}_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),\lambda(t)) dt.
\end{split}
\end{equation}
Integrating the right side of the above equation we obtain
\begin{align}
-\int_0^T \dot{V}_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),&\lambda(t))dt \\\nonumber &
= V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(0),\lambda(0))-V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(T),\lambda(T)).
\end{align}
Then using the fact that $V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t)),\lambda(t)) \geq 0$ for all $t$, yields
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_inequality_chain}
-\int_0^T \dot{V}_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),\lambda(t))dt\leq
V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}\left(x(0),\lambda(0)\right).
\end{equation}
Then, combining \eqref{eqn_inter} and \eqref{eqn_inequality_chain}, we have that
\begin{equation}
\int_0^T \bar{\lambda}^T f(t,x(t)) - \lambda^T(t) f(t,\bbarx) dt \leq \left( V_{x^\dagger,\bar{\lambda}}(x(0),\lambda(0))\right) / \varepsilon.
\label{eqn_final}
\end{equation}
Since the environment is viable, there exist a fixed action $x^{\dagger}$ such that $f(t,x^{\dagger})\leq 0$ for all $t \geq 0$. Then choosing $\bbarx = x^{\dagger}$, since $\lambda(t)\geq 0$ for all $t$, we have that
\begin{equation}
\lambda^T(t) f(t,x^\dagger) \, \leq 0 \; \forall t\in[0,T].
\end{equation}
Therefore the left hand side of \eqref{eqn_final} can be lower bounded by
\begin{equation}
\bar{\lambda}^T\int_0^Tf(t,x(t)) dt \leq \left(V_{x^\dagger,\bar{\lambda}}(x(0),\lambda(0)\right)/ \varepsilon.
\end{equation}
Choosing $\bar{\lambda} = e_i$ where $e_i$ is the $i$th element of the canonical base of $\reals^m$, we have that for all $i=1..m$:
\begin{equation}
\int_0^T f_i(t,x(t)) dt \leq \left( V_{x^\dagger,e_i}(x(0),\lambda(0)) \right) / \varepsilon.
\end{equation}
Notice that since the above inequality holds for any $x^\dagger\in X^\dagger$ it is also true for the particular $x^\dagger$ that minimizes the right hand side. The left hand side of the above inequality is the $i$th component of the fit. Thus, since the $m$ components of the fit of the trajectory generated by the saddle point algorithm are bounded for all $T$, the trajectory is strongly feasible with the specific upper bound stated in \eqref{eqn_fit_bound_non_opti}.
\end{proof}
Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti} assures that if an environment is viable for an agent that selects actions over a set $X$, the solution of the dynamical system given by \eqref{eqn_non_opti} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} is a trajectory $x(t)$ that is strongly feasible in the sense of Definition \ref{def_0ptimality_and_viability}. This result is not trivial, since the function $f$ that defines the environment is observed causally and can change arbitrarily over time. In particular, the agent could be faced with an adversarial environment that changes the function $f$ in a way that makes the value of $f(t,x(t))$ larger. The caveat is that the choice of the function $f$ must respect the viability condition that there exists a feasible action $x^\dagger$ such that $f(t,x^\dagger) \leq 0$ for all $t\in[0,T]$. This restriction still leaves significant leeway for strategic behavior. E.g., in the shepherd problem of Section \ref{sec_shepherd_problem} we can allow for strategic sheep that observe the shepherd's movement and respond by separating as much as possible. The strategic action of the sheep are restricted by the condition that the environment remains viable, which in this case reduces to the not so stringent condition that the sheep stay in a ball of radius $2r$ if all $r_i=r$.
Since the initial value of the energy function $V_{x^\dagger,e_i}(x(0),\lambda(0))$ is the square of the distance between $x(0)$ and $x^\dagger$ added to a term that depends on the distance between the initial multiplier and $e_i$, the bound on the fit in \eqref{eqn_fit_bound_non_opti} shows that the closer we start to the feasible set the smaller the accumulated constraint violation becomes. Likewise, the larger the gain $\varepsilon$, the smaller the bound on the fit is.
As in section \ref{sec:continuous_regret} we observe that increasing $\varepsilon$ can make the bound on the fit arbitrarily small, yet for the same reasons discussed in that section this can't be done.
Further notice that for the saddle point controller defined by \eqref{eqn_non_opti} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} the action derivatives are proportional not only to the gain $\varepsilon$ but to the value of the multiplier $\lambda$. Thus, to select gains that are compatible with the system's physical constraints we need to determine upper bounds in the multiplier values $\lambda(t)$. An upper bound follows as a consequence of Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti} as we state in the following corollary.
\begin{corollary}\label{coro_bounded_multipliers}Given the controller defined by \eqref{eqn_non_opti} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} and assuming the same hypothesis of Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti}, if the set of actions $X$ is bounded in norm by $R$, then the multipliers $\lambda$ are bounded for all times by
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_multiplier_bound}
0 \leq \lambda_i(t) \leq \left(4R^2+1\right), \ \mbox{for all} \ i=1,\ldots,m.
\end{equation}
\end{corollary}
\begin{proof}
First of all notice that according to \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} a projection over the positive orthant is performed for the multiplier update. Therefore, for each component of the multiplier we have that $\lambda_i(t) \geq 0 $ for all $t\in[0,T]$. On the other hand, since the trajectory of the multipliers is defined by $\dot{\lambda}(t) = \Pi_\Lambda(\lambda(t),\varepsilon f(t,x(t))$, while $\lambda(t) >0$ we have that $\dot{\lambda}(t) = \varepsilon f(t,x(t))$. Let $t_0$ be the first time instant for which $\lambda_i (t) > 0$ for a given $i\in\{1,2,..,m\}$, i.e.,
\begin{equation}
t_0 = \inf \left\{ {t\in [0,T]}, \lambda_i(t) >0 \right\}.
\end{equation}
In addition, let $T^*_0$ be the first time instant greater than $t_0$ where $\lambda_i(t) = 0$, if this time is larger than $T$ we set $T^*_0 = T$, formally this is
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_T_estrella}
T^*_0 = \max \left\{\inf \left\{ {t\in (t_0,T]}, \lambda_i(t) >0 \right\} , T\right\}.
\end{equation}
Further define
$t_{s+1} = \inf \left\{ {t\in [T_s^*,T]}, \lambda_i(t) >0 \right\},$
and
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_T_estrella}
T^*_s = \max \left\{\inf \left\{ {t\in (t_s,T]}, \lambda_i(t) >0 \right\} , T\right\}.
\end{equation}
From the above definition it holds that in any time in the interval $(T^*_s, t_{s+1}]$, we have $\lambda_i(t)=0$. And therefore in those intervals the multipliers are bounded. Consider now $\tau \in (t_s,T^*_s]$. In this case it holds that
\begin{equation}
\int_{t_s}^\tau \dot{\lambda}_i(t)dt = \ \int_{t_s}^\tau \varepsilon f_i(t,x(t))dt.
\end{equation}
Notice that the right hand side of the above equation is, proportional to the $i$th component of the fit restricted to the time interval $[t_0,\tau]$. In Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti} it was proved that the $i$th component of the fit is bounded for all time horizons by $V_{x^\dagger,e_i}(x(t_s),0)/\varepsilon$. In this particular case we have that
\begin{equation}
V_{x^\dagger,e_i}(x(t_s),0) = \frac{1}{2}\left((x(t_s)-x^\dagger)^2 + (0-e_i)^2\right),
\end{equation}
and since for any $x\in X$ we have that $\|x\| \leq R$, we conclude
\begin{equation}
V_{x^\dagger,e_i}(x(t_s),0) \leq \frac{1}{2}\left((2R)^2 +1^2\right).
\end{equation}
Therefore, for all $\tau \in (t_sT^*_s]$
$\lambda_i(\tau) \leq \frac{1}{2}\left(4R^2 +1^2\right)$.
This completes the proof that the multipliers are bounded.
\end{proof}
The bound in Corollary \ref{coro_bounded_multipliers} ensures that action derivatives $\dot x(t)$ remain bounded if the subgradients are. This means that action derivatives increase, at most, linearly with $\varepsilon$ and is not compounded by an arbitrary increase of the multipliers.
The cumulative nature of the fit does not guarantee that the constraint violation is controlled. This is because time intervals of constraint violations can be compensated by time intervals where the constraints are negative. Thus, it is of interest to show that the saddle point controller archives bounded saturated fit for all time horizon. We formalize this result next.
\begin{corollary}\label{corollary_saturated_fit}
Let the hypothesis of Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti} hold. Let $\delta>0$ and let $\bar{\ccalF}_{T}$ be the saturated fit defined in \eqref{eqn_saturated_fit}. Then, the solution of the dynamical system \eqref{eqn_non_opti} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} when $f(t,x)$ is replaced by $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)) = \max\left\{f(t,x),-\delta \right\}$ archives a bounded saturated fit. Furthermore the bound is given by
\begin{equation}
\bar\ccalF_{T,i} \leq \min_{x^\dagger \in X^\dagger} \frac{1}{\varepsilon} V_{x^\dagger, e_{i}}(x(0),\lambda(0)),
\end{equation}
%
where $e_i$ with $i=1..m$ form the canonical base of $\reals^m$.
\end{corollary}
\begin{proof}
Since $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)$ is the pointwise maximum of two convex functions, it is a convex function itself. As a consequence of Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti} the fit for the environment $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)$ satisfies
\begin{equation}
\int_0^T \bar{f}_\delta(t,x(t))\, dt \leq \min_{x^\dagger \in X^\dagger} \frac{1}{\varepsilon} V_{x^\dagger, e_{i}}(x(0),\lambda(0)).
\end{equation}
The fact that the left hand side of the above equation corresponds to the saturated fit [c.f. \eqref{eqn_saturated_fit}] completes the proof.
\end{proof}
The above result establishes that a trajectory that follows the saddle point dynamics for the environment defined by $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)$ achieves bounded saturated fit. This means that it is possible to adapt the controller \eqref{eqn_non_opti} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}, so that the fit is bounded while not alternating between periods of large under and over satisfaction of the constraints
\subsection{Strongly optimal feasible trajectories}\label{subsec:otpi}
This section presents bounds on the growth of the fit and the regret of the trajectories $x(t)$ that are solutions of the saddle point controller defined by \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}. These bounds ensure that the trajectory is feasible and strongly optimal in the sense of Definition \ref{def_0ptimality_and_viability}. To derive these bounds we need the following assumption regarding the objective function.
\begin{assumption} \label{as:lower_bound}
There is a finite constant $K$ independent of the time horizon $T$ such that for all $t$ in the interval $[0,T]$.
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_constant_for_lemma}
K \geq f_0(t,x^*) -\min_{x\in X } f_0(t,x),
\end{equation}
where $x^*$ is the solution of the offline problem \eqref{eqn_optimal_strategy}.
\end{assumption}
The existence of the bound in \eqref{eqn_constant_for_lemma} is a mild requirement. Since the function $f_0(t,x)$ is convex, for any time $t$ it is lower bounded if the action space is bounded, as is the case in most applications of practical interest. The only restriction imposed is that $\min_{x\in X } f_0(t,x)$ does not become progressively smaller with time so that a uniform bound $K$ holds for all times $t$. The bound can still hold if $X$ is not compact as long as the span of the functions $f_0(t,x)$ is not unbounded below. A consequence of Assumption \ref{as:lower_bound} is that the regret cannot {\it decrease} faster than a linear rate as we formally state in the following lemma.
\begin{lemma}\label{lemma:regret_lower_bound}
Let $X \subset \reals^n$ be a convex set. If Assumption \ref{as:lower_bound} holds, then the regret defined in \eqref{eqn_continuous_regret} is lower bounded by $-KT$ where $K$ is the constant defined in \eqref{eqn_constant_for_lemma}, i.e.,
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_lemma_regret_lower_bound}
\ccalR_T \geq -KT.
\end{equation} \end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
See Appendix \ref{ap_regret_lower_bound}.
\end{proof}
Observe that regret is a quantity that we want to make small and, therefore, having negative regret is a desirable outcome. The result in Lemma \ref{lemma:regret_lower_bound} puts a floor on how much we can succeed in making regret negative. Using the bound in \eqref{eqn_lemma_regret_lower_bound} and the definition of the energy function in \eqref{eqn_lyapunov} we can formalize bounds on the regret and the fit, for an action trajectory $x(t)$ that follows the saddle point dynamics in \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}.
\begin{theorem}\label{theo:opti}
Let $X \subset \reals^n$ be a compact convex set and let $f: \reals \times X \to \reals^m$ and $f_0: \reals \times X \to \reals$, be functions satisfying assumptions \ref{as:integrability}, \ref{as:convexity} and \ref{as:lower_bound}. If the environment is viable, then the solution of the system defined by \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} is a trajectory $x(t)$ that is feasible and strongly optimal for all time horizons $T>0$ if the gain $\varepsilon >1$. In particular, the fit is bounded by
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_penalty_bound}
\ccalF_{T,i} \leq \ccalO\left(\sqrt{KT},\varepsilon^0\right),\end{equation}
and the regret is bounded by
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_regret_upper_bound_full_problem}
\ccalR_T\leq \frac{1}{\varepsilon} V_{x*,0} \left(x(0),\lambda(0)\right),
\end{equation}
where $V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x,\lambda)$ is the energy function defined in \eqref{eqn_lyapunov}, $x^*$ is the solution to the problem \eqref{eqn_optimal_strategy} and $K$ is the constant defined in \eqref{eqn_constant_for_lemma}. The notation $\ccalO\left(\varepsilon^0\right)$ refers to a function that is constant with respect to the gain $\varepsilon$.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
See Appendix \ref{ap_theo_opti}
\end{proof}
Theorem \ref{theo:opti} assures that if the environment is viable for an agent selecting actions from a bounded set $X$, the solution of the saddle point dynamics defined in \eqref{eqn_action_descent}-\eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} is a trajectory that is feasible and strongly optimal. The bounds on the fit in theorems \ref{theo:not_opti} and \ref{theo:opti} prove a trade off between optimality and feasibility. If optimality of the trajectory is not of interest it is possible to get strongly feasible trajectories with fit that is bounded by a constant independent of the time horizon $T$ (cf. Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti}). When an optimality criterion is added to the problem, its satisfaction may come at the cost of a fit that may increase as $\sqrt{T}$. An important consequence of this difference is that even if we could set the gain $\varepsilon$ to be arbitrarily large, the bound on the fit cannot be made arbitrarily small. This bound would still grow as $\sqrt{KT}$. The result in Theorem \ref{theo:opti} also necessitates Assumption \ref{as:lower_bound} as opposed to Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti}.
As in the cases of theorems \ref{theo:first_theo} and \ref{theo:not_opti} it is possible to have the environment and objective function selected strategically. Further note that, again, the initial value of the energy function used to bound regret is related with the square of the distance between the initial action and the optimal offline solution of problem \eqref{eqn_optimal_strategy}. It also follows from the proof that this distance is related to the bound on the fit. Thus, the closer we start from this action the tighter the bounds will be. We next show that similar results holds for the saddle point dynamics if we consider the notion of saturated fit in lieu of fit.
\begin{corollary}\label{corollary_saturated_fit2}
Let the hypothesis of Theorem \ref{theo:opti} hold. Let $\delta>0$ and let $\bar{\ccalF}_{T}$ be the saturated fit defined in \eqref{eqn_saturated_fit}. Then, the solution of the dynamical system \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}, when $f(t,x)$ is replaced by $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)) = \max\left\{f(t,x),-\delta \right\}$ achieves a regret satisfying \eqref{eqn_regret_upper_bound_full_problem} and saturated fit that is bounded by
\begin{equation}
\bar\ccalF_{T,i} \leq \ccalO\left(\sqrt{KT},\varepsilon^0\right).
\end{equation}
\end{corollary}
\begin{proof}
Same as Corollary \ref{corollary_saturated_fit}.
\end{proof}
The above result establishes that a trajectory that follows the saddle point dynamics for the environment defined by $\bar{f}_{\delta}(t,x)$ achieves bounded saturated fit. This means that it is possible to adapt the controller \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}, so that the growth of the fit is controlled while not alternating between periods of large under and over satisfaction of the constraints.
In the next section we evaluate the performance of the saddle point controller, after a pertinent remark on the selection of the gain.
\begin{remark}[\bf{Gain depending on the Time Horizon}] If it were possible to select the gain as a function of the time horizon $T$, fit could be bounded by a constant that does not grow with $T$. Take \eqref{eqn_algun_numero} and choose $\bar{\lambda} = e_i T$, where $e_i$ is the $i$-th component of the canonical base of $\mathbb{R}^m$ we have that
\begin{equation}
T\int_0^Tf_i(t,x(t)) dt \leq \left( V_{x^*,Te_i} (x(0),\lambda(0))\right) / \varepsilon +KT.
\end{equation}
With this selection of $\bar{\lambda}$ the function $V_{x^*,Te_i} \left(x(0),\lambda(0))\right)$ grows like $T^2$. Dividing both sides of the above equation by $T$ we have that the $i$-th component of the fit is bounded by
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_rmk_variable_gain_constant_fit}
\ccalF_{T,i} \leq \ccalO(T)/\varepsilon +K.
\end{equation}
If the gain is set to have order $\ccalO(T)$, the right hand side of \eqref{eqn_rmk_variable_gain_constant_fit} becomes of order $\ccalO(T^0)$. This means that fit can be bounded by a constant that does not depend on $T$.
\end{remark}
\section{Numerical experiments}\label{sec:examples}
We evaluate performance of the saddle point algorithm defined by \eqref{eqn_action_descent}-\eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} in the solution of the shepherd problem introduced in Section \ref{sec_shepherd_problem}. We determine sheep paths using a perturbed polynomial characterization akin to the one in \eqref{eqn_shepherd_position}. Specifically, letting $p_j(t)$ be elements of a polynomial basis, the path $ y_{i} (t) = [y_{i,1} (t), y_{i,2} (t)]^T$ of the $i$th sheep is given by
\begin{equation}\label{eqn_sheep_position}
y_{i,k} (t) =\sum_{j=0}^{n_i-1} y_{i,k,j} p_j(t) + w_{i,k}(t),
\end{equation}
where $k=1,2$ denotes different path components, $n_i$ the dimension of the base that parameterizes the path followed by sheep $i$, and $y_{i,k,j}$ represent the corresponding $n_i$ coefficients. The noise terms $w_{i,k}(t)$ are Gaussian white with zero mean, standard deviation $\sigma$ and independent across components and sheep. Their purpose is to obtain more erratic paths.
To determine $y_{i,k,j}$ we make $w_{i,k}(t)=0$ in \eqref{eqn_sheep_position} and require all sheep to start at $ y_{i} (0) =[0,0]^T$ and finish at $y_{i} (T) =[1,1]^T$. A total of $L$ random points $\{\tdy_l\}_{l=1}^L$ are then drawn independently and uniformly at random in the unit box $[0,1]^2$. Sheep $i=1$ is required to pass through points $\tdy_l$ at times $lT/(L+1)$, i.e., $y_1(lT/(L+1))=\tdy_l$. For each of the other sheep $i\neq 1$ we draw $L$ random offsets $\{\Delta\tdy_{i,l}\}_{l=1}^L$ uniformly at random from the box $[-\Delta,\Delta]^2$ and require the $i$th sheep path to satisfy $y_i(lT/(L+1))=\tdy_l + \Delta\tdy_{i,l}$. Paths $y_i(t)$ are then chosen as those that minimize the path integral of the acceleration squared subject to the constraints of each path
\begin{alignat}{2}\label{eqn_quadratic program}
y^*_{i}
= &\argmin && \int_{0}^T \|\ddot{y}_{i} (t)\|^2 dt, \nonumber\\
&\st && y_{i} (0) =[0,0]^T, \quad
y_{i} (T) =[1,1]^T, \nonumber\\
& && y_i(lT/(L+1))=\tdy_l + \Delta\tdy_{i,l} ,
\end{alignat}
where, by construction $\Delta\tdy_{1,l}=0$. The paths in \eqref{eqn_quadratic program} can be computed as solutions of a quadratic program \cite{DM:11}. Let $y_i^*(t)$ be the trajectory given by \eqref{eqn_sheep_position} when we set $y_{i,k,j} =y_{i,k,j}^*$. We obtain the paths $y_{i,k} (t)$ by adding $w_{i,k}(t)$ to $y^*_{i} (t)$.
In subsequent numerical experiments we consider $m=5$ sheep, a time horizon $T=1$, and set the proximity constraint in \eqref{eqn_sheep_environment} to $r_i=0.3$. We use the polynomial basis $p_j(t)=t^j$ in both, \eqref{eqn_shepherd_position} and \eqref{eqn_sheep_position}. The number of basis elements in both cases is set to $n=n_i=30$. To generate sheep paths we consider a total of $L=3$ randomly chosen intermediate points, set the variation parameter to $\Delta=0.1$, and the perturbation standard deviation to $\sigma=0.1$. These problem parameters are such that the environment is most likely viable in the sense of Definition \ref{def_viable_environment}. We check that this is true by solving the offline feasibility problem. If the environment is not viable a new one is drawn before proceeding to the implementation of \eqref{eqn_action_descent}-\eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}.
We emphasize that even if the path of the sheep is known to us, the information is not used by the controller. The latter is only fed information of the position of the sheep at the current time, which it uses to evaluate the environment functions $f_i(t,x)$ in \eqref{eqn_sheep_environment}, their gradients $f_{ix}(t,x)$ and the gradient of $f_0(t,x)$. In the first problem considered $f_0(t,x)$ is identically zero, in the second takes the form of \eqref{eqn_black_sheep} and in the last problem the form of \eqref{eqn_minimum acceleration}. Since the agent is dynamicless, there are not physical constraints on the derivatives of the system, therefore the gain $\varepsilon$ in \eqref{eqn_action_descent}-\eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} can be set to have any value.
\subsection{Strongly feasible trajectories}\label{sec_pure_feasibility}
We consider a problem without optimality criterion in which case \eqref{eqn_action_descent}-\eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} simplifies to \eqref{eqn_non_opti}-\eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} and the strong feasibility result in Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti} applies. The system's behavior is illustrated in Figure \ref{fig:trajectory} when the gain is set to $\varepsilon = 50$. In this problem the average and maximal speed of the sheep is $5.1km/h$ and $14.8km/h$ respectively while for the shepherd these are $6.1km/h$ and $18.3 km/h$ for the selected gain. This speeds are in in the range of reasonable velocities for this particular problem. A qualitative examination of the sheep and shepherd paths shows that the shepherd succeeds in following the herd. A more quantitative evaluation is presented in Figure \ref{fig_relation_violation_multipliers} where we plot the instantaneous constraint violation $f_i(t,x(t))$ with respect to each sheep for the trajectories $x(t)$. Observe the oscillatory behavior that has the constraint violations $f_i(t,x(t))$ hovering at around $f_i(t,x(t))=0$. When the constraints are violated, i.e., when $f_i(t,x(t))>0$, the saddle point controller drives the shepherd towards a position that makes him stay within $r_i$ of all sheep. When a constraint is satisfied we have $f_i(t,x(t))<0$. This drives the multiplier $\lambda_i(t)$ towards 0 and removes the force that pushes the shepherd towards the sheep (c.f. Figure \ref{fig_relation_violation_multipliers}). The absence of this force makes the constraint violation grow and eventually surpass the maximum tolerance $f_i(t,x(t))=0$. At this point the multipliers start to grow and, as a consequence, to push the shepherd back towards proximity with the sheep.
The behavior observed in Figure \ref{fig_relation_violation_multipliers} does not contradict the result in Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti} which gives us a guarantee on fit, not on instantaneous constraint violations. The components of the fit are shown in Figure \ref{fig:constraint_violation} where we see that they are indeed bounded. Thus, the trajectory is feasible in the sense of Definition \ref{def_0ptimality_and_viability}, even if the instantaneous problem's constraints are being violated at specific time instances. Further note that the fit is not only bounded but actually becomes negative. This is a consequence of the relatively large gain $\varepsilon=50$ which helps the shepherd to respond quickly to the sheep movements. The fit for a second experiment in which the gain is reduced to $\varepsilon=5$ is shown in Figure \ref{fig:violation_5eps}. In this case the fit stabilizes at a positive value. This behavior is expected because reducing $\varepsilon$ decreases the speed with which the shepherd can adapt to changes in the sheep paths. More to the point, the bound on the fit in Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti} is inversely proportional to the gain $\varepsilon$. The paths and instantaneous constraints violations for $\varepsilon=5$ are not shown but they are qualitatively similar to the ones shown for $\varepsilon=50$ in figures \ref{fig:trajectory} and \ref{fig_relation_violation_multipliers}.
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/trajectory_5sheep.pdf}
\caption{Path of the sheep and the shepherd for the feasibility-only problem (Section \ref{sec_pure_feasibility}) when the gain of the saddle point controller is set to be $\varepsilon =50$. The shepherd succeed in following the herd since its path -- in red -- is close to the path of all sheep.}
\label{fig:trajectory}\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{subfigure}[b]{\linewidth}
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/each_time_violation_5sheep.pdf}
\caption{Instantaneous constraint value. } \label{fig:instant_violation}
\end{subfigure}\par\vfill \bigskip
\begin{subfigure}[b]{\linewidth}
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/multipliers_feasibility.pdf}
\caption{Temporal evolution of the multipliers.} \label{fig_multipliers_feasibility}
\end{subfigure}\bigskip
\caption{Relationship between the instantaneous value of the constraints and their corresponding multipliers for the feasibility-only problem (Section \ref{sec_pure_feasibility}). At the times in which the value of a constraint is positive, its corresponding multiplier increases. When the value of the multipliers is large enough a decrease of the value of the constraint function is observed. Once the constraint function is negative the corresponding multiplier decreases until it reaches zero. }\label{fig_relation_violation_multipliers}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure*}
\centering
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.5\linewidth}
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/constraint_violation_5sheep.pdf}
\caption{Experiment with gain $\varepsilon = 50$.}
\label{fig:constraint_violation}
\end{subfigure}%
~
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.5\linewidth}
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/constraint_violation_eps5_5sheep.pdf}
\caption{Experiment with gain $\varepsilon = 5$.}
\label{fig:violation_5eps}
\end{subfigure}
~
\caption{Fit $\mathcal{F}_T$ for two different controller gains in the feasibility-only problem (Section \ref{sec_pure_feasibility}). Fit is bounded in both cases as predicted by Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti}. As is also predicted by Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti}, the larger the value of the gain $\varepsilon$ the smaller the bound on the fit of the shepherd's trajectory.}\label{fig_fit}
\end{figure*}
\subsection{Preferred sheep problem}\label{sec_preferred_sheep}
Besides satisfying the constraints in \eqref{eqn_sheep_environment}, the shepherd wishes to follow the first (black) sheep as close as possible. This translates into the optimality criterion \eqref{eqn_black_sheep}. Since the sheep trajectories are viable the hypotheses of Theorem \ref{theo:opti} hold. Thus, for a shepherd following the dynamics \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}, the resulting trajectory is feasible and strongly optimal.
Given that the trajectory is guaranteed to be feasible, we expect to have the fit bounded by a sublinear function of $T$. This does happen, as can be seen in the fit trajectories illustrated in Figure \ref{fig_fit_preferred_sheep} where a gain $\varepsilon =50$ is used. In fact, the fit does not grow and is bounded by a constant for all time horizons $T$. The trajectory is therefore not only feasible but strongly feasible. This does not contradict Theorem \ref{theo:opti} because strong feasibility implies feasibility. The reason why it's reasonable to see bounded fit here is that the objective function pushing the shepherd closer to the sheep is, in a sense, redundant with the constraints that push the shepherd to stay closer to all sheep. This redundancy can be also observed in the fact that the fit in this problem (c.f. Figure \ref{fig_fit_preferred_sheep}) is smaller than the fit in the problem of Section \ref{sec_pure_feasibility} (c.f. Figure \ref{fig:constraint_violation}). To explain why this may happen, focus on the value of the multipliers in Figure \ref{fig_multipliers_feasibility} between, e.g., times $0.07\text{h} < t < 0.21\text{h}$. During this time the multipliers are equal to zero because all constraints are satisfied. As a consequence, the Lagrangian subgradient with respect to the action is identically zero in the time interval. In turn, this implies that the action is constant and no effort is made to reduce the value of the constraints. If the optimality criterion was present, the shepherd would be pushed towards the black sheep and fit would be further reduced.
The regret corresponding to the trajectory for this experiment with $\varepsilon =50$ is shown in Figure \ref{fig_regret_preferred_sheep}. Since the trajectory is strongly optimal as per Theorem \ref{theo:opti}, we expect regret to be bounded. This is the case in Figure \ref{fig_regret_preferred_sheep}
The path of the shepherd is not shown for this experiment as it is qualitatively analogous to the one in Figure \ref{fig:trajectory} for the feasibility-only problem considered in Section \ref{sec_pure_feasibility}.
\subsection{Minimum acceleration problem}\label{sec_minimum_acceleration}
We consider, an environment defined by the distances between the shepherd and the sheep given by \eqref{eqn_sheep_environment}, with the minimum acceleration objective defined in \eqref{eqn_minimum acceleration}. Since the construction of the target trajectories gives a viable environment we satisfy, again, the hypotheses of Theorem \ref{theo:opti}. Hence, for a shepherd following the dynamics given by \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}, the action trajectory is feasible and strongly optimal. In this section the gain of the controller is set to $\varepsilon = 50$.
A feasible trajectory implies that the fit must be bounded by a function that grows sublinearly with the time horizon $T$. Notice that this is the case in Figure \ref{fig_fit_acceleration}. Periods of growth of the fit are observed, yet the presence of inflection points is an evidence of the growth being controlled. The fit in this problem is larger than the one in problem \ref{sec_preferred_sheep} (c.f figures \ref{fig_fit_preferred_sheep} and \ref{fig_fit_acceleration}). This result is predictable since the constraints and the objective function push the action in different directions. For instance, suppose that all constraints are satisfied and that the Lagrange multipliers are zero. Then, the subgradient of the Lagrangian is equal to the subgradient of the objective function. Hence the action will be modified trying to minimize the acceleration without taking the constraints (distance with the sheep) into account. Hence, pushing the action to the boundary of the feasible set. In this problem, this translates into the fact that the shepherd does not follow the sheep as closely as in the problems in sections \ref{sec_pure_feasibility} and \ref{sec_preferred_sheep} (c.f Figure \ref{fig_trajectory_acceleration}).
Since the trajectory is strongly optimal, we should observe a regret bounded by a constant. This is the case in Figure \ref{fig_regret_acceleration}, where in fact we observe negative regret for some time intervals. Negative regret implies that the trajectory of the shepherd is incurring a total cost that is smaller than the one associated with the optimal solution. Notice that while the optimal fixed action minimizes the total cost as defined in \eqref{eqn_optimal_strategy} it does not minimize the objective at all times. Thus, by selecting different actions the shepherd can suffer smaller instantaneous losses than the ones associated with the optimal fixed action. If this is the case, regret -- which is the integral of the difference between these two losses -- can be negative.
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/true_fit_preferred_sheep.pdf}
\caption{Fit $\mathcal{F}_T$ for the preferred sheep problem (Section \ref{sec_preferred_sheep}) when the gain of the saddle point controller is set to be $\varepsilon=50$. As predicted by Theorem \ref{theo:opti} the trajectory is feasible since the fit is bounded, and, in fact, appears to be strongly feasible. Since the subgradient of the objective function is the same as the subgradient of the first constrain the fit is smaller than in the pure feasibility problem (c.f Figure \ref{fig_fit}). }
\label{fig_fit_preferred_sheep}\end{figure}
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/regret_preferred_sheep.pdf}
\caption{Regret $\mathcal{R}_T$ for the preferred sheep problem (Section \ref{sec_preferred_sheep}) when the gain of the saddle point controller is set to be $\varepsilon=50$. The trajectory is strongly optimal, as predicted by Theorem \ref{theo:opti}, since the regret is bounded by a constant. The initial increment in the regret is due to the fact that the shepherd starts away from the first sheep while in the optimal offline trajectory would start close to it.}
\label{fig_regret_preferred_sheep}\end{figure}
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/trajectory_acceleration.pdf}
\caption{Path of the sheep and the shepherd for the minimum acceleration problem (Section \ref{sec_minimum_acceleration}) when the gain of the saddle point controller is set to be $\varepsilon =50$. Observe that the shepherd path -- in red -- is not as close to the path of the sheep as in Figure \ref{fig:trajectory}. This is reasonable because the objective function and the constraints push the shepherd in different directions.}
\label{fig_trajectory_acceleration}\end{figure}
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/fit_acceleration.pdf}
\caption{Fit $\mathcal{F}_T$ for the minimum acceleration problem (Section \ref{sec_minimum_acceleration}) when the gain of the saddle point controller is set to $\varepsilon=50$. Since the fit is bounded, the trajectory is feasible in accordance with Theorem \ref{theo:opti}. Since the gradient of the objective function and the gradient of the feasibility constraints tend to point in different directions, the fit is larger than in the preferred sheep problem (c.f Figure \ref{fig_fit_preferred_sheep}).}
\label{fig_fit_acceleration}\end{figure}
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/true_regret_acceleration.pdf}
\caption{Regret $\mathcal{R}_T$ for the minimum acceleration problem (Section \ref{sec_minimum_acceleration}) when the gain of the saddle point controller is set to be $\varepsilon=50$. The trajectory is strongly optimal as predicted by Theorem \ref{theo:opti}. Observe that regret is negative due to the fact that the agent is allowed to select different actions at different times as opposed to the clairvoyant player that is allowed to select a fixed action.}
\label{fig_regret_acceleration}\end{figure}
\subsection{Saturated Fit}\label{sec_saturated_fit}
We apply the modified saddle point algorithm in the setting of Section \ref{sec_preferred_sheep} so to consider the saturated fit [c.f. \eqref{eqn_saturated_fit}] in lieu of the fit. Since the construction of the target trajectories gives a viable environment the hypotheses of Corollary \ref{corollary_saturated_fit2} are satisfied. Hence for a shepherd following the dynamics given by \eqref{eqn_action_descent} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent}, the trajectories are such that have saturated fit bounded by a function that grows sub linearly and bounded regret. For the simulation in this section the gain of the controller is set to $\varepsilon = 50$. Observe that the shepherd succeeds in following the herd, since his path remains close to the sheep (c.f. Figure \ref{fig_saturated_trajectory}). As predicted by the Corollary \ref{corollary_saturated_fit2} the fit of the trajectory is bounded by a function that grows sub linearly and the regret is bounded by a constant as it can be observed in figures \ref{fig_saturated_fit} and \ref{fig_saturated_regret} respectively. Further notice that the regret in this scenario is similar to the regret of the trajectory in the preferred sheep problem (c.f. Section \ref{sec_preferred_sheep}).
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/saturated_trajectory.pdf}
\caption{Path of the sheep and the shepherd for preferred sheep problem when saturated fit is considered (Section \ref{sec_saturated_fit}) and the gain of the saddle point controller is set to be $\varepsilon =50$. The shepherd succeed in following the herd since its path -- in red -- is close to the path of all sheep.}
\label{fig_saturated_trajectory}\end{figure}
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/saturated_fit.pdf}
\caption{Saturated fit $\mathcal{F}_T^{sat}$ for the preferred sheep problem (Section \ref{sec_saturated_fit}) when the gain of the saddle point controller is set to $\varepsilon=50$. Since the saturated fit grows sublinearly in accordance with Corollary \ref{corollary_saturated_fit2}, the trajectory is feasible. }
\label{fig_saturated_fit}\end{figure}
\begin{figure}\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=0.62\linewidth]{./figures/saturated_regret.pdf}
\caption{Regret $\mathcal{R}_T$ for the preferred sheep problem when saturated fit is considered (Section \ref{sec_saturated_fit})and the gain of the saddle point controller is set to be $\varepsilon=50$. The regret is bounded as predicted by Corollary \ref{corollary_saturated_fit2} and therefore the trajectory is strongly optimal. Notice that regret in this case is identical to regret in the preferred sheep problem when regular fit is considered (c.f. Figure \ref{fig_regret_preferred_sheep}). }
\label{fig_saturated_regret}\end{figure}
\section{Conclusion}\label{sec_conclusions}
We considered a continuous time environment in which an agent must select actions to satisfy a set of constraints that are time varying and unknown a priori. We defined a viable environment as one in which there is a fixed action that satisfies the constraints at all times. We defined the fit as the cumulated constraint violation and the notions of feasible and strongly feasible trajectories. Feasible trajectories are such that the fit is bounded by a constant independent of the time horizon, and strongly feasible trajectories are such that the fit is bounded by a sublinear function of the time horizon. An objective function was considered to select a strategy that meets an optimality criterion and we defined regret in continuous time as the difference between the cumulative costs of the agent and the best clairvoyant agent. We then defined strongly optimal trajectories as those for which the regret is bounded by a constant that is independent of the time horizon.
We proposed an online version of the saddle point controller of Arrow-Hurwicz to generate trajectories with small fit and regret. We showed that for any viable environment the trajectories that follow the dynamics of this controller are: (i) Strongly feasible if no optimality criterion is considered. (ii) Feasible and strongly optimal when an optimality criterion is considered. Numerical experiments on a shepherd that tries to follow a herd of sheep support these theoretical results.
Future research includes studying asymptotic convergence of the saddle point dynamics to the optimal trajectory and studying systems with second order dynamics. In this setting, it is possible to add a term in the objective function that penalizes the action derivative, therefore allowing to control it and maintaining in a desired range.
\section{Introduction}
The motivation for this paper is the navigation of a time varying convex environment defined as a set of convex constraints that an agent must satisfy at all times. The constraints are unknown a priori, vary arbitrarily in time in a possibly discontinuous manner, and are observed locally in space and causally in time. The goal of the agent is to find a feasible strategy that satisfies all of these constraints. This paper shows that an online version of the saddle point algorithm of Arrow and Hurwicz \cite{arrow_hurwicz} executed by the agent succeeds in finding such strategy. If the agent wants to further minimize a convex cost, we show that the same algorithm succeeds in finding an strategy that is feasible at all times and optimal on average.
To understand the contribution of this paper it is important to observe that the navigation problem outlined above can be mathematically formulated as the solution of a convex program
\cite{rimon1992exact,warren1989global,Khatib:1986:ROA:6806.6812,ge2000new,vadakkepat2000evolutionary}
whose solution is progressively more challenging when we progress from deterministic settings to stochastic and online settings. Indeed, in a determinist setting the cost and constraints are fixed. This yields a canonical convex optimization problem that can be solved with extremum seeking controllers based on gradient descent \cite{hirsch2004differential, krstic2000stability, ariyur2003real, tan2006non}, primal-dual methods \cite{arrow_hurwicz,nedic2009subgradient,uzawa1958iterative,maistroskii1977gradient,feijer2010stability}, or interior point methods \cite[Chapter 11]{boyd2004convex}. In a stochastic setting cost and constraints are not constant but vary randomly according to a stationary distribution. The agent's goal is then expressed as the selection of an action that minimizes the expected value of the objective function while satisfying constraints in an average sense \cite{ atanasov2012stochastic, azuma2012stochastic, Liu20101443}
This problem is more complicated than its deterministic counterpart but it can be solved using, e.g., stochastic gradient descent \cite{robbins1951stochastic, schmidt2013minimizing, konevcny2013semi} or stochastic quasi-Newton's methods \cite{mokhtari2014res}.
In this paper we consider online formulations in which cost and constraints can vary arbitrarily, perhaps strategically, and where the goal is to find an action that is good on average and that satisfies the constraints at all times -- assuming such an action exists, which, when functions change strategically, restricts adversarial actions. In this case, {\it unconstrained} cost minimization can be formulated in the language of regret \cite{blackwell1956analog, vapnik2000nature, shalev2011online} whereby agents operate online by selecting plays that incur a cost selected by nature. The cost functions are revealed to the agent ex post and used to adapt subsequent plays. The goodness of these {\it online} policies are determined by comparing to the optimal action chosen \textit{offline} by a clairvoyant agent that has prescient access to the cost. Regret is defined as the difference of the accumulated cost attained online and the optimal offline cost. It is a remarkable fact that an online version of gradient descent is able to find plays whose regret grows at a sublinear rate when the cost is a convex function \cite{Zinkevich03, hazan2007logarithmic} -- therefore suggesting vanishing per-play penalties of online plays with respect to the clairvoyant play.
The constrained optimization equivalent of gradient descent is the saddle point method applied to the determination of a saddle point of the Lagrangian function \cite{arrow_hurwicz}. This method interprets each constraint as a separate potential and descends on a linear combination of their gradients. The coefficients of this linear combination are multipliers that adapt dynamically so as to push the agent to the optimal solution in the feasible region. Saddle point algorithms and variations have been widely studied \cite{nedic2009subgradient,uzawa1958iterative,maistroskii1977gradient,feijer2010stability} and used in various domains such as decentralized control \cite{low1999optimization,chiang2007layering} and image processing, see e.g. \cite{chambolle2011first}. Our observation is that since an online version of gradient descent succeeds in achieving small regret, it is not unreasonable to expect an online saddle point method to succeed in finding feasible actions with small regret.
The main contribution of this paper is to prove that this expectation turns out to be true. We show that an online saddle point algorithm that observes costs and constraints ex post succeeds in finding policies that are feasible and have small regret. Central to this development is the definition of a viable environment as one in which there exist an action that satisfies the time varying constraints at all times and the introduction of the notion of fit (Section \ref{sec:survivability}). The latter is defined as a vector that contains the time integrals of the constraints evaluated across the trajectory and is the analogous of regret for the satisfaction of constraints. In the same way in which the accumulated payoff of the online trajectory is compared with the payoff of the offline trajectory, fit compares the accumulation of the constraints along the trajectory with the feasibility of an offline viable strategy. As such, a trajectory can achieve small fit by becoming feasible at all times or by alternating periods in which the constraints are violated with periods in which the constraints are satisfied with slack. This notion of fit is appropriate for constraints that have a cumulative nature. For cases where this is not appropriate we introduce the notion of saturated fit in which only violations of the constraint are accumulated. A trajectory with small saturated fit is one in which the constraints are violated by a significant amount only for a short period of time.
Technical developments begin with the derivation of a projected gradient controller to limit the growth of regret in an environment without constraints (Section \ref{sec:continuous_regret}). The purpose of this section is to introduce tools and to clarify connections with existing literature in discrete time \cite{Zinkevich03, hazan2007logarithmic} and continuous time regret \cite{viossat2013no, sorin2009exponential, kwon2014continuous}. An important conclusion here is that regret in continuous time can be bounded by a constant that is independent of the time horizon, as opposed to the sublinear growth that is observed in discrete time.
We then move onto the main part of the paper in which we propose to control fit and regret growth with the use of an online saddle point controller that moves along a linear combination of the negative gradients of the instantaneous constraints and the objective function. The coefficients of this linear combination are adapted dynamically as per the instantaneous constraint functions (Section \ref{sec:main}). This online saddle point controller is a generalization of (offline) saddle point in the same sense that an online gradient controller generalizes (offline) gradient descent. We show that if there exists an action that satisfies the environmental constraints at all times, the online saddle point controller achieves bounded fit if optimality is not of interest (Theorem \ref{theo:not_opti}). When optimality is considered, the controller achieves bounded regret and a fit that grows sublinearly with the time horizon (Theorem \ref{theo:opti}). Analogous results are derived for saturated fit. I.e., it is bounded by a constant when optimality is not of interest and grows sublinearly otherwise (corollaries \ref{corollary_saturated_fit} and \ref{corollary_saturated_fit2}). Throughout the paper we illustrate concepts with the problem of a shepherd that has to stay close to his herd (Section \ref{sec_shepherd_problem}). A numerical analysis of this problem closes the paper (Section \ref{sec:examples}) except for concluding remarks (Section \ref{sec_conclusions}).
\medskip\noindent{\bf Notation.} A multivalued function $f:\reals^n\to\reals^m$ is defined by stacking component functions, i.e., $f:=[f_1,\ldots,f_m]^T$. The notation $\int f(x)dx:=[\int f_1(x)dx,\ldots,\int f_m(x)dx]^T$ represents a vector stacking individual integrals. An inequality $x\leq y$ between vectors $x,y\in\reals^n$ is interpreted componentwise. An inequality $x\leq c$ between a vector $x=[x_1,\ldots,x_n]^T\in\reals^n$ and a scalar $c\in\reals$ means that $x_i\leq c$ for all $i$.
\subsubsection{#1}\vspace{-3\baselineskip}\color{black}\bigskip{\noindent \bf \thesubsubsection. #1.}}
\newcommand{\myparagraph}[1]{\needspace{1\baselineskip}\medskip\noindent {\it #1.}}
\newcommand{\myparagraphtc}[1]{\needspace{1\baselineskip}\medskip\noindent {\it #1.}\addcontentsline{toc}{subsubsection}{\qquad\qquad\quad#1}}
| V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x,\lambda)
= \frac{1}{2}\left( ||x-\bbarx||^2+||\lambda -\bar{\lambda}||^2\right).
\end{equation}
We can then bound fit in terms of the initial value $V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(0),\lambda(0))$ of the energy function for properly chosen $\bbarx$ and $\bar{\lambda}$ as we formally state next.
\begin{theorem}\label{theo:not_opti}
Let $f: \reals \times X \to \reals^m$, satisfying assumptions \ref{as:integrability} and \ref{as:convexity}, where $X \subseteq \reals^n$ is a convex set. If the environment is viable, then the solution $x(t)$ of the dynamical system defined by \eqref{eqn_non_opti} and \eqref{eqn_multiplier_ascent} is strongly feasible for all $T>0$. Specifically, the fit is bounded by
\begin{align}\label{eqn_fit_bound_non_opti}
\mathcal{F}_{T,i} \leq \min_{x^\dagger \in X^\dagger} \frac{1}{\varepsilon} V_{x^\dagger, e_{i}}(x(0),\lambda(0)),
\end{align}
where $e_i$ with $i=1..m$ form the canonical base of $\reals^m$.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
Consider action trajectories $x(t)$ and multiplier trajectories $\lambda(t)$ and the corresponding energy function $V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),\lambda(t))$ in \eqref{eqn_lyapunov} for arbitrary given action $\bbarx \in X$ and multiplier $\bar{\lambda}\in \Lambda$. The derivative $\dot V_{\bbarx,\bar{\lambda}}(x(t),\lambda(t))$ of the | 459 |
On a rafting trip, the Marshall family is deposited into another world after a huge earthquake sends them over an uncharted waterfall. The presence of three moons in the night sky is their first clue that they're no longer on Earth, and yet the jungle world is populated by dinosaurs straight out of Earth's prehistoric age.
On the run from a tyrannosaurus rex, Will and Penny Marshall stop to help a chimp-like Paku named Cha-Ka. In his own flight from the T-rex, Cha-Ka has broken his leg. Will and Penny's father, Rich Marshall, reluctantly allows them to offer shelter to their new friend. Cha-Ka is fascinated by the humans' ability to create fire seemingly from nothing, and sneaks out of the Marshalls' "home" cave with a lighter. The Marshalls follow him, only to find themselves at the mercy of the dreaded T-rex once more. But will Cha-K<|fim_middle|>utist. Will and Holly rush to help, since any new arrivals are unlikely to be prepared for the abundance of dinosaurs. The parachutist is wayward astronaut Beauregard Jackson, and Will worries that he is responsible for the man's predicament. Worse yet, the time portal that brought Jackson here is still open, allowing hurricane-force winds to build up.
Notes: Actor Ron Masak has appeared in The Twilight Zone, Mission: Impossible, Wonder Woman, and Starman, with movie roles in Ice Station Zebra, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and as the hapless sheriff in the MST3K-worthy sci-fi B-movie Laserblast. Jackson notices that the pylons are bigger inside than outside; as Doctor Who had only premiered in the United States a couple of years earlier in a handful of markets, it is very unlikely that the popular British series with its bigger-inside-than-out time machine was an influence. As the Marshalls take shelter just before Jackson's escape, the actors' shadows can clearly be seen on the "sky" behind them on set.
Tar pits are nothing new where/when the Marshalls come from – dinosaur fossils aplenty have been found there in the 20th century, after all – but they have an urgent dilemma when Dopey finds himself sinking into a tar pit from which he doesn't seem to be able to escape despite their best efforts. Unless the Marshalls and the Paku can rescue Dopey, the most inoffensive of the local dinosaurs may become a fossil himself.
Taking shelter in a cave when they're cornered by a dinosaur, Rick and Will find a vast cavern containing something that may or may not be a spaceship. They find another human being in a coffin-like container, and it turns out to be a woman from Rick's home town, and they share many experiences and memories from years before he was marooned here. Rick invites her to join the Marshalls for dinner, though Will and Holly are suspicious of their guest, and how quickly she gains Rick's trust. Is she too good to be true?
Notes: Brooke Bundy has played guest roles on Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Mission: Impossible, Circle Of Fear, Night Gallery, Search, Wonder Woman, and Starman, as well as being the first chief engineer of the new Enterprise in the second episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (whose first season seemed to have a new chief engineer nearly every week). Marvin Miller would go on to be the omnipresent voice of the narrator throughout another Sid & Marty Krofft series, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl a year later.
Exploring while on vacation, the Porter family is deposited into another world after their truck plunges into a rift in the ground during a huge earthquake. The presence of three moons in the night sky is their first clue that they're no longer on Earth, and yet the jungle world is populated by dinosaurs straight out of Earth's prehistoric age.
The Porter family, safe in their newly built treehouse, is awakened by the sound of dinosaurs battling it out nearby. In the morning, Annie and Kevin go to collect water, finding a nest of destroyed dinosaur eggs, and a dead dinosaur – the mother who laid the eggs died trying to protect her young from a tyrannousaurus. Annie finds an intact egg in the nearby brush and they take it back to the treehouse. It hatches overnight, and Annie christens the baby dino Tasha: much to Kevin's chagrin, Tasha is here to stay. When the same tyrannosaurus attacks the Porter family, they've got a defense plan inspired by Tasha… and no guarantee that it'll work.
Notes: The baby dinosaur is named Natasha after the kids' mother; it's implied in dialogue that Natasha Porter is deceased. Composer Kevin Kiner would go on to co-compose the scores for several episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Star Trek: Enterprise with Dennis McCarthy, before moving on to the computer-animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. | a lead them to safety or sacrifice his new friends to make his own escape?
Notes: A fondly-remembered cornerstone of NBC's Saturday morning children's lineup for three years, Land Of The Lost is populated – at least behind the scenes – by veterans of the original Star Trek. David Gerrold wrote the pilot and numerous other installments, as well as script-editing the series (and, in interviews for the DVD release of the series, Gerrold says he was responsible for nailing down the series concepts into a coherent writers' bible, although Allan Foshko and executive producers Sid and Marty Krofft are credited with creating the series). Art director Herman Zimmerman would be later be involved with Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and virtually all of the Star Trek feature films that were released during those two series' run. Original series prop and monster-maker Wah Chang created the detailed animated dinosaur models, which were truly impressive for a television show in the early '70s, and Michael Westmore – credited as "Mike" – handled the series' creature makeup. Other Trek veterans crop up during the series' run – see if you can spot them all!
A routine trip to fill their canteens with water turns frightening thanks to Will's insistence on taking a "shortcut," which seems to be Will's shorthand for "getting lost and bumping into Cha-Ka." But that route leads the two to an ancient temple of some sort – and, on a nearby rock, in plain English, is written a warning: BEWARE THE SLEESTAK. Cha-Ka panics and flees, and large, hissing humanoid lizards corner Will and Holly and capture them. Cha-Ka races to tell Rick Marshall what's happened to his children, and brings Will back to the Sleestak temple. Will discovers that the Sleestaks fear fire, and he's able to free his kids… but it would seem the Marshall family has made a new enemy.
Will and Holly struggle to maneuver their newly-built cart through the forest, at least until they find a good reason to get it moving: giant berries, each bigger than their heads. But someone else wants to feast on those too, and soon they find themselves being followed by a clumsy brontosaurus hatchling. Holly names the baby dinosaur Dopey and thinks she can keep him as a pet and teach him to do tricks; it's only when she also teaches Dopey to pull the heavy cart that her father is convinced that Dopey has a use. But this relatively small "pet" is also defenseless compared to the other dinosaurs, and he could be attracting the wrong kind of attention to the Marshalls' cave hideout.
Rick decides it's time for the Marshall family to seek newer pastures by following the nearby swamp to a river, which he hopes will lead them to other signs of civilization. But when the river begins running a little too fast for them to navigate safely, Rick realizes that their raft is moments away from a waterfall. The Marshalls bail out before they go over with it, climbing into a cave next to the river. They find signs of another human being there, and then they see him: an old-time gold prospector who thought he was the only human here. It appears that he's been here much longer than the Marshalls – possibly since the American Civil War – and the isolation has taken its toll on his mind. But this prospector has hit a motherlode of glowing crystals, in a cave where Holly finds the skeleton of a long-dead Sleestak. With that find, the Marshalls are ready to leave, but their new neighbor refuses to show them how to leave the caves – and he still keeps the escape route to himself even when more Sleestaks appear.
Notes: This is Walker Edmiston's (1925-2007) first appearance in Land Of The Lost, but not in his more familiar recurring role of Enik. He had worked on several earlier projects for the Krofft brothers, providing voices in H.R. Pufnstuf, The Lost Saucer and Sigmund The Sea Monster. Other appearances include the final Buck Rogers episode (The Dorian Secret), the dubbed voice of Balok in the Star Trek episode The Corbomite Maneuver, numerous voices in the original Planet Of The Apes pentalogy, and Inferno in the original Transformers series. Writer Larry Niven is best known for his Known Space novels chronicling the Man-Kzin Wars, though he was no stranger to Saturday morning science fiction: he wrote an episode of the animated Star Trek series which integrated his warlike Kzinti into the Star Trek timeline (at least for one episode). Amusingly enough for a show aimed at a juvenile audience, the prospector offers Holly a drink that will "put hair on your chest" (presumably alcohol); she politely declines. It seems he's been too busy drinking to notice that there are dinosaurs on ground level, as he doesn't know what a tyrannosaurus rex looks like.
A food-gathering expedition is brought to a crawl thanks to the use of Dopey as a beast of burden. Rick Marshall sets the baby dinosaur loose and gives Will and Penny news they don't want to hear: they'll have to roll the wagon back to their cave themselves. Worse yet, when they turn their backs to harvest giant turnips, someone has stolen food from the wagon – a trio of Pakuni, including Cha-Ka. Before a fight over the stolen food can take place, all of them are pursued by two tyrannosaurs. Will, Holly and Cha-Ka fall into a crevasse and are trapped. Now Rick has to try to communicate to Cha-Ka's fellow Pakuni to get their help to free his kids – without ending up as the dinosaurs' dinner himself.
Will and Holly wander into a cave, discovering a large crystal suspended inside a pyramid-like frame. When Rick finds them in the cave, Sleestaks attack, only to be driven back by another of their kind, an intelligent Sleestak known as Enik. Enik tells the Marshalls that the crystal is a dimensional doorway that could help return them to their own place in time and space… but Enik is also here by accident, having tumbled back in time from the future. Or so he claims; when the Marshalls lead him to the Sleestak city ruins, he recognizes the city well: the savage, primitive Sleestaks aren't his ancestors, but rather his descendants. Claiming the crystal for himself, will Enik prove to be friend or foe when the Sleestaks return?
Notes: Writer Walter Koenig is best known to genre audiences as the original Star Trek's Chekov, and his first on-screen writing credit was an episode of that show's animated revival; he had also recently appeared in two episodes of The Starlost as Oro. The dilapidated Sleestak city was first explored in The Sleestak God. Walker Edmiston previously appeared in Downstream, but not as Enik. This is Enik's first appearance in the series.
Will is awakened late at night by a strange sound, but when he next hears the sound while working outside in broad daylight, he can't ignore it. He follows it, like a siren song, to the Sleestak ruins where he sees an image of his mother. He then snaps out of it and returns home. This continues until Holly notices his strange behavior and follows him to the ruins; by touching a particular crystal that Will picks up in the ruins, she can see her mother too. But something is stopping both of them from saying anything to Rick, and it isn't until he follows his children's latest trance-like trek to the ruins that he realizes who is luring them there.
Notes: Despite Enik's claims in the previous episode that the Sleestaks in the ruins are his descendants, reduced to primitive savagery, the Sleestaks seem to have some understanding of what the crystal and the cave do to the Marshalls, as they're lying in wait for their victims.
Will and Holly embark on another unauthorized expedition into the jungle, following a trio of flying structures similar to the pylons they've spotted in Sleestak territory. Although the Marshall siblings agree to call the flying objects "skylons," they can't agree on what to do next. Will finds a pylon near where the skylons are hovering, and barges in and begins changing the positions of the crystals inside. The weather immediately turns against them, forcing them to take shelter in the pylon until Rick finds them. As his father lectures him about tampering with the forces of nature, Will has to backtrack, trying to remember how to set the crystals back into the positions where they were originally, as the weather outside grows more severe. What no one realizes is that the skylons themselves are trying to help.
Notes: Although Philip Paley is credited as Cha-Ka, the character does not appear in this episode.
Rick and Will revisit the Sleestak city ruins to get another look at the time portal, leaving Holly at home to clean house; instead she gets a return visit from Dopey. Once inside the city, Rick and Will discover that they've come calling while there are still Sleestaks in the city. Rick tackles a Sleestak, giving Will a chance to escape, but Rick is hurled into a pit. He finds himself alone with an unusually talkative Sleestak who warns that they will soon be devoured by the Sleestaks' god. Will escapes the city and immediately finds himself on the run from "Big Alice," a hungry allosaurus who hunts near the ruins.
Months after becoming stranded in the prehistoric wilderness, the Marshalls reflect on the changes that their presence has brought to the environment, and to the lives of Cha-Ka, Dopey and the other creatures they've met. Holly continues trying to make friends with Cha-Ka and the Paku, but her overtures of friendship meet with mixed results when Cha-Ka's people kidnap her.
Notes: Only ten episodes into its first season, Land Of The Lost was already so far over budget that a "clip show" – an unfortunately common practice where a money-strapped show films a few framing scenes of a story in which the characters "remember" clips of their past exploits – was necessary. Episodes "remembered" by the Marshalls include Cha-Ka, Dopey, and others, with all new scenes shot using existing sets, costumes, and dinosaur miniature scenes, and no guest stars aside from the usual Paku suspects (whose costumes and makeup had already been made for previous episodes).
The Marshalls once again sneak into the Sleestak city to try to work out the operation of the time portal. Growing bored as Rick admits that the number of combinations of colored crystals could be infinite, Holly wanders off; before she is found again, she encounters a woman named Rani who seems to know a great deal about her, including her fear of heights. Rani insists that this fear must be overcome soon if Holly is to save the lives of her family. But can Rani be trusted, or will this latest attempt to investigate the time portal end with another Sleestak attack?
Notes: Guest star Erica Hagen had a small role in 1973's Soylent Green, and guest-starred in a two-part episode of Wonder Woman. She had previously appeared in Land Of The Lost as an illusion of Will and Holly's mother. The time doorway was introduced in The Stranger, and we explored further in The Hole. The plot twist of Rani's origin is an element that would be borrowed by the 1990s version of Land Of The Lost.
Will and Holly find themselves cornered by unusually active dinosaurs. Surrounded on all sides, they're left with no choice but to climb up a rocky mountainside to escape. They're surprised to find a pylon atop the mountain, and when Will disturbs the controls, glowing lights appear in the sky, and one of them disgorges a parach | 2,498 |
The standup desk a new trend? Not at Geraci Law.
When Geraci law staff, at their downtown office at 55 E. Monroe, asked for standup desks, the<|fim_middle|> had up until this time been collecting dust. He liked it so much, that he spends half his time there now! Geraci Law also encourages everyone to get fit with the Blue Cross Blue Shield fitness program. Geraci law provides excellent benefits to everyone, the fitness program only costs $25 a month, and you get a membership to many different gyms including: LA fitness, planet fitness, snap fitness, anytime fitness, workout anytime, zip fitness, fitness 19, and blast fitness.
Next Next post: Peter Francis Geraci and Geraci Law support Bowen Goes to College! | firm's founding member, Peter Francis Geraci, said, "We're way ahead of you". Mr. Geraci had purchased four standup desks back in 2014, but staff was reluctant to use them. One day, a paralegal who is 6 foot four, decided that his back was bothering him, and went to one of the standup units that | 78 |
Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index
Henry Seymour Conway (1721 - 9 July 1795 was a British general and statesman. A brother of the 1st Marquess of Hertford, he began his military career in the War of the Austrian Succession, and eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant general (1759).
Serving in the House of Commons from<|fim_middle|> in 1784 when he lost his seat in parliament due to his opposition to the government of William Pitt.
This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. | 1741 to 1774 and again from 1775 to 1784, Conway became a leading old Whig, opposing the King's action against John Wilkes in 1763 and entering office with Lord Rockingham as Secretary of State for the Southern Department in 1765 before switching to the Northern Department the next year, serving until his resignation in 1768. In these offices, Conway sought to urge a moderate policy towards the American colonies, being the principal supporter of the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766, and opposing the taxation policies of Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend. Following his resignation in January 1768, Conway returned to the military, and in 1772 was made a full general and Governor of Jersey. He remained an important figure in the Commons, opposing the British attempt to suppress the American Revolt, and his motion in March 1782 was partly responsible for the fall of the North government. He was rewarded with a cabinet position and the office of Commander-in-Chief in the new Rockingham ministry, but left the government a year later with the establishment of the Fox-North Coalition. His political career came to an end | 263 |
To encourage people to take a stand against anti-trans policies nationwide, organizations, including GLAAD, hosted a Q&A Twitter chat on the topic of transgender masculinities.
In addition to Transgender Awareness Week, thousands participate in Transgender Remembrance Day. This vigil honors people who have lost their lives to anti-trans violence<|fim_middle|> | . At this year's vigil, over 28 countries will be honored, including Pakistan, Brazil, Venezuela, and others. The event is held to remember Rita Hester, who was killed in 1998. Not everyone who is remembered during the Day of Remembrance identified as transgender, but each victim's death was an act of violence against the transgender community.
The day of remembrance brings awareness to hate crimes against transgender people, "Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgender people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends, and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who've died by anti-transgender violence," according to glaad.com.
The Human Rights Campaign says that in reports of anti-gender violence, many victims are often mis-gendered, and that inhibits accurate record-keeping. In 2018, there have been 22 cases of deaths due to violence against the transgender community, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Trans Awareness Week educates people, and addresses these issues. Universities around the country participated in the week, including the University of New Haven, where student-led organizations such as SPECTRA held events. Last Monday, SPECTRA tabled in Bartel's and other activities included tie-dying shirts, selling of chocolates, and A Self-Made Man documentary. | 311 |
Ohio State Football Forum
Ohio State football fan talk.
Countdown: 53 Days Until Ohio State Football
by Matt Gutridge
July 9, 2019 at 9:00am
Recruiting is said to be the lifeblood of college football. This series will countdown the top 100 high schools in Ohio that have provided the Buckeyes with football players. The rankings are based on how many times a player from each high school has been listed on Ohio State's roster between 1970 and 2018.
No. 53, Hamilton
Four players from Hamilton have been listed on 15 Ohio State rosters. The first Big Blue player to make an Ohio State roster after 1969 was OT Mike Dully. He was a fifth year senior in 1994 and spent the majority of his career as a backup lineman. Entering the '94 season, Dully saw action in 27 games. At Hamilton, he earned a total of nine varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball and track. He was a captain of the football team and played on both sides of the line.
OG Mike Gurr (1996-2000) earned four varsity letters and was named to the Academic All-Big Ten team four times during his five years in Columbus. He was the starting guard for the 2000 season. Gurr was a tight end at Hamilton and caught 29 passes during his final two seasons.
<|fim_middle|> transferred to Cincinnati where he became a All-Big East player. In 2009, the Packers selected him in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft.
Hamilton is located in Butler County and is a member of the Greater Western Ohio Conference. The team currently competes in Division I, Region 4. The Big Blue went 1–9 in 2018. The program has not had a winning season since 2010 and was winless in 2014. The Big Blue had a 19-game losing streak between 2013 and 2014. The last time Hamilton made the playoffs was 2010 when they were defeated by host Colerain, 42-14, in the first round.
Hamilton has four state titles in boys' basketball. Three of the titles (1949, 1954 and 1962) came when the school was known as Hamilton Taft. The 2004 title was after the consolidation with Garfiled in 1980.
Famous names you may know: NFL players Paul Sarringhaus (former Buckeye, 1940s) and Denicos Allen, MLB players Aaron Cook, Mark Lewis, Joe Nuxhall, and Ricky Stone, NBA player Kevin Grevey and comedian and Family Feud host Ray Combs.
Explanation of the Rankings
School "A" had 14 players appear 16 times on Ohio State's roster. School "B" had 11 players appear 20 times on Ohio State's roster. School "B" will have the higher ranking. Why? Even though school "B" has less players, those players played for more years.
If two or more schools have the same number of appearances, the tie will be broken by the school with the highest average of roster appearances per player. If there is a tie in the average, the tie breaker will be the school with the most prominent Ohio State player.
Top 100 Ohio High Schools
100 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91
2,782 days since Ohio State has not defeated That Team.
144 days until The Game.
Are you a former player, graduate, live near or have something to add about today's featured high school? Please share your story with us in the comments. What makes the 11W community unique is the amount of great information everybody is willing to share. | The Underwood brothers, EJ (2002-04) and Brandon (2004-05), played in Ohio State's secondary. Jim Tressel called EJ one of the most talented cornerbacks he had ever coached. After his junior season, EJ transferred to Pikeville of the NAIA. He was signed by the Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2007. At Hamilton, EJ was an All-Ohioan and had 11 career interceptions.
Brandon Underwood (2004-05) took a redshirt in 2004 and had a season ending injury against Miami, OH in the first game of 2005. He finished his Ohio State career with the three tackles he had against Miami. Brandon | 166 |
Your tour begins with a VIP shuttle picks guests up from either the Strip or Downtown hotels, and shuttled to the Las Vegas Terminal. After a brief check-in, you depart for our Grand Canyon journey. Guests travel in comfortable and modern Eco-friendly motor-coaches that leave nothing to chance when it comes to your safety and comfort. All vehicles are equipped with WIFI, restrooms, large viewing windows, air conditioning, DVDs and monitors. Your comfort, safety and satisfaction are always our number one concern.
Your completely narrated tour will leave from Las Vegas through Boulder City with views of Lake Mead and the Colorado River from the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, with views better than the best Hoover Dam tours. On your way to the Grand Canyon, our guests will have the opportunity to learn about the Pioneer Indian Wars, early Spanish Conquistadors, the Missionaries, Mountain Men, Explorers and Settlers.
Once you reach Hoover Dam, our guests will get a chance to photograph the surrounding area during a short break, and may even get a chance to see one of the resident bighorn sheep before you cross over the new Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. This bridge is the longest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere, spanning over 1,000 feet and 890 feet of above the Mighty Colorado River. Now it's time to enjoy the Las Vegas to West Rim Grand Canyon drive.
Get<|fim_middle|> of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. As you leave this area, you will pass through the Mojave Desert, that leads to the 900-year-old Joshua Tree Forest, one of the largest forests of its kind.
Deli Style lunch is included as you have a chance to walk along the rim of the Grand Canyon Rim – unblemished by modern civilization. Admire views like the Great Thunderbird image that nature has created. Before your final departure, guests will have time to browse the authentic curios and art objects of the West Rim that the tribal craftsmen have on display.
You will then ride back to Las Vegas, where upon reaching the city, guests will be shuttled back to their hotels on the Strip or Downtown. As far as Grand Canyon tours Vegas has to offer, this is the best!
6:30 A.M. – VIP pick up for our guests from their hotel (round trip transport included for Las Vegas "Strip" and downtown hotels).
10:30 A.M. – Arrive at Grand Canyon West Rim (Arizona). Breakfast snack and lunch included.
1:30 P.M. – Depart for Las Vegas.
Duration: Approximate time from hotel pick-up to hotel drop-off is 11 hours (depending on hotel location).
Fees: Please note that fees of $20 per guest will also apply, which may consist of entry fees, handling fees and taxes. As always, GC Flight offers our unmatched low-price guarantee to our guests or the difference will be refunded. | to know the distance from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West Rim on one of the most beautiful sections of our drive is the remote area known as Black Canyon. During your voyage from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon, you will learn about why this area has played a significant role in the development of the American Southwest, from the ancient Anasazi Indians and the steamboat landings, to its present day use as part | 83 |
Broken Angel Ornament Meaning
When you feel broken, it can be hard to know where to begin. For some, the feeling of being shattered is a result of a single tragic event but for others, the experience feels like a constant low-grade ache. Brokenness can come from something that completely overwhelms you, leaving you confused and frightened. It can leave you feeling worthless and guilty for ever feeling so happy in the first place.
As human beings, we have an intrinsic need to recognize patterns in our experiences. We do this so that we understand how other similar events have unfolded before us ג€" in order to give ourselves the best possible chance of avoiding them again in the future. This is why some people may feel broken when they realize their soulmate is no longer on this earth with them. There are countless stories across cultures about what happens when souls are separated from their bodies at death ג€" one of these being that angels come to collect those who were close with us while they were still alive.
What does the saying "Angels We Have Heard on High" Mean?
Of course, not everyone can hear the sound of angels. But for those who have, this phrase is a reminder that God is near. It's also a reminder that there is hope and support during times of loneliness and despair.
The Bible refers to this event as the "feast of the angels" or "feast of the shepherds." In Luke 2:8-14, we get a glimpse into what happens when Jesus was born: Mary and Joseph were visited by three wise men from the east who told them about Jesus, his birth, and his future greatness. The other explanation comes from Luke 10:7-11 when Jesus tells the disciples that they will be in heaven while he goes to Jerusalem to die on their behalf.
Broken Angel Meaning For Christmas
Christmas is a particularly magical time of year. It's the time when people are hopeful, and joyous and full of life. But it<|fim_middle|> now. We may feel broken while on this planet, but as long as we remember that love is bigger than everything else in our lives, we can find peace in knowing that a new chapter will begin again soon enough.
Broken Angel Meaning For Easter
As a symbol of the Resurrection, the angel appears as a broken figure. This is symbolic of how our Savior came to Earth and was rejected by society.
The broken angel ornament is meant to represent Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave three days after his death.
In the Christmas carol Angels We Have Heard on High, it is written that angels ""we have heard on high."" The meaning of this phrase is that the angels we hear singing are not on earth, but are in heaven. They sing because they are happy to be up in heaven and they sing to glorify God. This saying is often used as a Christmas carol to remind people that what's important is what is happening in heaven and not what is happening on earth.
Maxine T Thompson
Owning a Chow Chow is so much joy, and owning two is more than double the fun.
But still, there are things to know if you're new to this breed or if you're considering getting a Chow Chow so I started this blog for fellow Chow Chow lovers.
Twin Angel Figurines
What Do Baby Angels Represent
Who Is The Angel That Helps You Find Things
What Does Angel Statue Represent
What Does It Mean To Dream Of An Angel Statue
create your own angel dolls
Guardian Angel Figurines Baptism
What Angel Is For Protection?
AngelTownS2.com is a participant in the Amazon.com Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. | 's also often a difficult time for others. During this season, many people feel lost and alone, especially those who have felt broken in some way. The angel ornament has become an iconic symbol in our society because it represents hope and the magic that can happen when we let go.
The angel is the ultimate protector of humanity ג€" but the meaning behind its symbolism goes even deeper than that. The angel isn't just there to help anyone who needs it; the Angel is there to help those who are struggling with their own brokenness. A Christmas ornament doesn't need to be anything fancy or expensive; you can find an angel ornament sitting on a shelf at any Wal-Mart store or hobby shop for less than $10 USD if you search long enough!
Broken Angel Meaning For New Year's Eve
The broken angel ornament is a blessing and a reminder to cherish what you have with the people you love. It can be difficult when we are not given any warning, but it's important to appreciate what we do have.
The broken angel ornament is also a reminder that life does not always go according to plan. We all know that times are tough for many people around the world and the broken angel ornament will remind us of the importance of taking time out for ourselves in these challenging moments where emotion feels overwhelming.
Broken Angel Meaning For Valentine's Day
At the heart of our broken angel ornament meaning is the notion that love is not a finite resource. It's also important to remember that when you're feeling broken, it's not your fault. The world has a way of taking things out of perspective for us and making us feel like something terrible has happened, but the truth is so much worse.
We've been hurt before ג€" and we'll be hurt again. It's part of life. But the truth about love will always remain: it's more than what we see on the outside ג€" there are layers and depth to it just as there are layers and depth to every person who has loved you or loves you | 407 |
It's a standout few weeks for top Peter Mark breakout stylists!
/ Peter Mark / News / It's a standout few weeks for top Peter Mark breakout stylists!
We're so happy to share our fantastic news! Our Peter Mark Team nationwide have secured a fantastic 14 places in the UK and Ireland finals of this year's L'Oreal Colour Trophy Awards. These competitions,<|fim_middle|> 50 th Anniversary of the L'Oreal Colour Trophy Awards in Ireland.
This is an industry first in terms of the number of finalists from one salon group. We could not be prouder of our breakout young styling stars at the forefront of hair design both in Ireland and the UK.
The very best of luck to all of the stylists below who have made it into this year's finals! | which are open to salons across the whole of the UK and Ireland, is the highlight of the hairdressing calendar in both countries every year.
This weekend our Peter Mark Teams from Northern Ireland travel to London to support our UK finalists who beat out massive competition to make it into the London final on Monday 13th of June. The following week 15 finalists, between Style Club and Peter Mark will take to the stage for the headline show in Dublin, celebrating the | 96 |
Collections Spotlight: A Century of Change – Windsor's Streetscapes 1921-2021
Michelle<|fim_middle|>'t an easy decision.
Windsor's 20th-Century Post Offices
Michelle Tom2019-02-13T14:13:29-05:00July 10th, 2017|Tags: buildings|
Windsor's first post office was located in Nathaniel Howard's home/store at 96 Palisado Avenue, the current Strong-Howard House. Around 1840 Windsor's townspeople petitioned to have the post office moved into the area of today's Windsor's center. The following is a brief listing of recent post offices. | Tom2021-07-29T14:33:37-04:00August 17th, 2021|Tags: buildings, collections, photographs|
At Windsor Senior Center. Join Windsor Historical Society Archivist Michelle Tom for a fascinating photographic tour of Windsor's changing streetscapes. This will be a trip down memory lane for some, as Michelle reveals rarely seen [...]
At Windsor Historical Society. Join Windsor Historical Society Archivist Michelle Tom for a fascinating photographic tour of Windsor's changing streetscapes. This will be a trip down memory lane for some, as Michelle reveals rarely seen [...]
Changing Streetscapes in Windsor: Progress on Central Street
Michelle Tom2019-02-13T11:26:30-05:00March 20th, 2018|Tags: Bouvier, buildings, businesses, cars, Coe, Garvan, Leek, photographs, Selig|
Central Street is less than 500 feet long, much smaller looking in person than these photographs suggest. Despite its small size, over the years it has experienced many alterations, with only the Windsor train station [...]
The Hayden Station School
Michelle Tom2019-02-13T11:56:02-05:00March 6th, 2018|Tags: African Americans, buildings, Hayden Station, schools|
You may have driven by this lovely building at 853 Palisado Avenue. In 1896 when it was erected, Windsor was divided into 10 school districts. The northern end of Route 159, known as Hayden Station, was called School District No. 6 and had 55 students between the ages of 4 and 16 years old.
Changing Streetscapes in Windsor
Michelle Tom2019-02-13T11:57:10-05:00January 1st, 2018|Tags: buildings, businesses, grocery stores, Larsen, mills, photographs, Simons, Warham|
Take a look back through time at a couple of Windsor's most iconic historic commercial buildings.
The Windsor Grange
Michelle Tom2017-12-12T12:15:16-05:00December 18th, 2017|Tags: buildings|
The Order of Patrons of Husbandry, the national Grange movement, began in 1867 with a mission that combined nationwide support for farmers, including education and lobbying, and family-based social and community-service activities. The initiative was widely embraced and spread rapidly across the country. The first Grange in Windsor was organized in 1874.
How the Fyler House Became the Strong-Howard House, Part 3
Michelle Tom2019-08-21T15:40:09-04:00December 4th, 2017|Tags: architecture, buildings, Howard, Strong, Strong-Howard House|
In the spring of 2006 a team of architectural detectives studied the Strong House to produce a Historic Structure Report that documents the house's structural history.
Michelle Tom2019-02-13T11:36:57-05:00November 27th, 2017|Tags: architecture, buildings, Fyler, maps, Strong, Strong-Howard House|
In 1999, two architectural historians independently studied the construction methods and material of the home we've called the 1640 Lt. Walter Fyler House. Both surveys came to the same conclusion: there is no evidence to show that this is a 1640 house.
Michelle Tom2019-02-13T11:34:04-05:00November 21st, 2017|Tags: architecture, buildings, Fyler|
One question that the Windsor Historical Society receives over and over is, "Why did they re-name the Fyler House?" In particular, this comes from folks who remember the Fyler House fondly from visiting it in their youths, and from Fyler family descendants. It wasn | 925 |
Six representatives were elected to join members on Hospitality Technology Next Generation's (HTNG's) Vendor Advisory Council from among 24 candidates nominated for<|fim_middle|> mission runs deep.
Having held multiple senior-level product strategy positions at Fortune 500 corporations, including Microsoft, Mr. Larsen brings proven leadership skills with the experience to navigate large and complex industry issues. Leveraging these leadership qualities, he has proven to be an asset at Agilysys and by extension to the industry and the customers he serves. He is a consummate professional whose significant accomplishments and new appointment will surely mean exciting innovations across the industry.
Hospitality Technology Next Generation is a global not-for-profit trade association that fosters, through collaboration and partnership among hoteliers and technology providers, the development of next-generation solutions that will enable them to do business globally in the 21st century.
Consisting of fifteen members, the HTNG Vendor Advisory Council is intended to ensure that HTNG can better address the needs and concerns of members who are technology providers. This council was created to improve communications and alignment between HTNG's most engaged vendors and the hospitality IT executives serving on the board. | this year's positions. Agilysys is pleased about the appointment of Jan Larsen, Sr. Director of Product Management and Strategy at Agilysys as a Council member.
Mr. Larsen is an ideal fit for this appointment and seeks every opportunity to understand and solve the challenges the industry is facing. He desires to work closely with industry peers, and to facilitate cooperative and functional hospitality technology partnerships. He is looking forward to a more active position within the HTNG community. Having served in similar Council member positions during his career, his knowledge and appreciation of the HTNG's | 117 |
Animating the CSJ Mission in Our Sponsored Schools
HomeAll Posts...Animating the CSJ Mission in Our Sponsored Schools
by Tara Rogers September 28, 2018
Administrators of our Sisters of St<|fim_middle|> CSJ mission in their schools every day.
Jobs With Justice Training
SHA Students Present Research In D.C. | . Joseph Sponsored Schools met at the St. Joseph Villa in Hampton Bays during the last week of September for their workshop on the Sisters of St. Joseph Brentwood (CSJ) mission. The speaker for this annual 2 day workshop was Thomas Nunan, head of St. Joseph Prep in Brighton, Massachusetts, a school sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston. The theme of the talks was "Living the Mission in the Life of our School." Mr. Nunan spoke of the privilege and challenge of being an administrator in a school animated by the mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph. He referenced several of the maxims as guides in this educational ministry. The interaction among the administrators present was an important feature of this meeting since that promotes support and cooperation among our schools. Sister Angela Gannon from the Office of Sponsored Ministries, as well as President Sister Helen Kearney and the members of the Council joined administrators at this meeting. All expressed gratitude to these women and men who came to the meeting and who promote the | 209 |
Thunder Valley Nationals Tickets are the Perfect Father's Day Gift
CommentsComments
Bristol tickets are the perfect Father's Day gift.
Bristol Dragway wants to make Father's Day gift shopping a little easier this year. The perfect present for every discerning father's taste is a trip to Bristol for the Father's Day weekend Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by the Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers.
With the June 15-17 event, there are several ticket options available to help make this a Father's Day weekend dad will never forget. Better yet, he won't be stuck with another old gift he will never use.
To celebrate Father's Day, special ticket pricing begins at only $20 for Sunday's final eliminations. Even better, Bristol Dragway will provide two free Sunday junior tickets (Ages 12 and under) for each Sunday adult ticket purchased by June 14. For the best Father's Day gift at an unbelievable price, there is no better deal than time in Thunder Valley.
For those who want to get dad the ultimate gift, an entire weekend at the Thunder Valley Nationals, a three-day combo ticket is available starting at just $79.
With Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars streaking through the picturesque valley at speeds in excess of 300 mph, every dad in the grandstands will appreciate the ground-pounding action of the Ford Thunder Valley Nationals. Throw in the highly-competitive Pro Stock category and the thrilling Pro Mods and it is a must-see event on every father's wish list.
Tony Schumacher, Antron Brown and Brandon Bernstein lead the ultra-quick Top Fuel brigade in to Thunder Valley, while Funny Car legend John Force hopes to leave Bristol with another line in the record books. Pro Stock's Jason Line and Greg Anderson will slug it out with the rest of the factory hot rods as local favorite Allen Johnson, from nearby Greeneville, looks to add his name to the Bristol Pro Stock winner's column.
Every ticket is a pit pass, giving fans amazing access to the teams as they thrash to prepare their cars for the next round of competition. Fans also can meet the fearless men and women who pilot these extreme machines and feel the unique experience that is the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Three-day combo and single-day event tickets are available.
If a trip to an NHRA event is new for dear old dad, the hospitable staff in Thunder Valley will
ensure his first time to the track is a memorable one. The new Thunder Valley 101 program features a radio station and several features developed to get every fan up-to-speed.
Prime camping spaces still are available for the event in the Medallion Camping area overlooking the pit area in Thunder Valley. Each paved site is 20' x 50' and includes electric, water and sewer hookups. The cost is $350 for the event (Thursday-Monday).
Gates open at 9 a.m. on Friday, June 15 with the first round of Pro Qualifying slated for 5 p.m. The pro cars will return at 7:30 p.m. for the exciting night qualifying round. Gates open at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 16 with Pro Qualifying set for noon and 2:30 p.m. Sunday's action kicks off when gates open at 8:30 a.m.<|fim_middle|>. Thunder Valley Club admission for three days is $300 for adults and $100 for juniors. Three-day Bruton's Suite admission is $450 for both adults and juniors.
For more information about Bristol Dragway, visit www.thundervalleytix.com or call 1-866-415-4158 | and Final Eliminations begin at 12:00 noon.
Ticket prices are as follows: Friday -- Sections A - D $30 Adult / $10 Junior; Sections E - U $35 Adult / $10 Junior; Thunder Terrace $35 Adult / $10 Junior, Saturday -- Sections A - D $45 Adult / $15 Junior; Sections E - U $55 Adult / $25 Junior; Thunder Terrace $55 Adult / $25 Junior, Sunday -- Sections A- B $20 Adult / Free Junior (Purchase by June 14; $5 after), Sections C - D $45 Adult / Free Junior (Purchase by June 14; $5 after), Section E – P $55 Adult/ Free Junior (Purchase by June 14; $5 after), Section Q – U $20 Adult/ Free (Purchase by June 14; $5 after) Junior, Thunder Terrace $55 Adult / Free (Purchase by June 14; $5 after) Junior. Weekend combos are: Sections A - B $79 Adult / $25 (Advance) $30 (After June 14) Junior, Section C – D $95 Adult/ $25 (Advance) $30 (After June 14) Junior, Sections E - P $120 Adult / $35 (Advance) $40 (After June 14) Junior, Sections Q – U $95 Adult/$25 (Advance) $30 (After June 14) Junior and Thunder Terrace $120 Adult / $35 (Advance) ($40 After June 14) Junior | 357 |
Intel's acquisition of McAfee explained
Shane Schick
@ShaneSchick
As unpredictable as the Intel-McAfee matchup was, you can be pretty sure of one thing: Symantec is probably not going to start courting AMD.
I think it says something about a corporate takeover when several people in my Twitter feed retweeted the headline with the comment "WHY????" Well, the analysts quickly tried to make it seem sensible. Intel could embed McAfee's security technology into its microprocessors. Intel could be more self-reliant in terms of security and would have an extra pipeline of making money. Surprisingly, you didn't hear a lot of people suggesting that just maybe, McAfee was tired of being the industry's No. 2, and was ready to admit it would never reach No. 1.
McAfee has some great products, and I always liked the idea of ePolicy Orchestrator, which seemed to bring a lot of the management functionality into a console-type of environment that many<|fim_middle|> in enterprise IT are so multifaceted that they will never be completely addressed at the chip level. Intel would be foolish to eliminate McAfee's existing product line, and will merely need to make some reassuring to McAfee customers that its vast fortune will only help provide insurance to the investments with McAfee that they've already made.
The real questions are these: To what extent will McAfee operate as a standalone entity, and what will Intel buy next? Never a company known for growing through acquisition, Intel's McAfee deal suggests a change in direction. IBM, a longstanding giant in the mainframe and server space, has spent the last five years or so gobbling up one solution provider after another, now boasting an arsenal of products in the security, business intelligence and data centre space. Perhaps Intel will follow suit.
What can Intel offer McAfee besides a lot of money? Perhaps trust from customers who really identify with that brand, although you could argue a security company like this wouldn't have lasted as long if its own brand wasn't pretty trustworthy. It also creates an exit strategy, avoiding looking like a one-trick pony as Symantec and others continue to diversify. For Intel, long known as the brains within our desktops and notebooks, there is a benefit of having McAfee inside. How it keeps running McAfee on the outside may be a bigger challenge than it looks.
Saskatchewan offers jobs and tax breaks lure Ontario IT workers
About Shane Schick
Your guide to the ongoing story of how technology is changing the world
Follow Follow @ShaneSchick on Twitter Join Shane Schick on LinkedIn Shane Schick on Gooogle+ Website | IT departments seemed to want. Beyond that, however, the company has never demonstrated the kind of vision that has driven its rivals towards what seem, in 2010, much more natural M&As, though they appeared equally bizaare at the time. Symantec bought Veritas, emphasizing that securing data meant you should also know how to store it. EMC agreed, buying RSA security as well as content management provider documentum. McAfee's never seemed interested in storage or content. This deal with Intel probably represents the biggest risk it's ever taken.
Such is Intel's presence in the market that many people will no doubt wonder how Symantec, EMC/RSA, Sophos and others will respond. The answer is, they won't. There's no real need to. There is more than enough research to show that the vulnerabilities | 172 |
Bompas & Parr is delighted to announce the launch of the British Museum of Food, the world's first cultural institution entirely devoted to the history, evolution, science, sociology and art of food.
Never before has the subject of food been explored so powerfully, with a series of exhibits that align with the quirky and disruptive style of the studio's approach to communicating food and drink coupled with the ethos and values of a serious museum.
Opening for three months from 23rd-October, the museum is a proof of concept as it seeks a permanent home. Located in a building at Borough Market across two floors, Bompas & Parr is collaborating with the market's managers, trustees and traders as well as a selection of different<|fim_middle|> nutrition and health and to recognise its role in culture. As it builds a permanent collection, it will seek to become a globally recognised national resource, a platform for experimentation and innovation, and a body that can advise government policy makers on anything related to food.
Adult tickets are priced at £5.00 per person, and Children (under the age of 16) at £4.00 per person. Upon selecting your tickets, you will need to choose an arrival time. Due to the capacity of the venue, you must arrive at the time you have chosen. | artists to initiate a new cultural institution for the capital.
Through its exhibits and experiences the museum aims to showcase the most exciting elements of food. Fundamentally it will seek to change peoples' lives by helping them consider what they eat and to spread knowledge around | 51 |
These factors include genetics, chemical imbalances in the brain, and/or environmental stressors. Children today experience peer stress, academic pressure, divorce, poverty, and violence. They also have fewer "buffers" to prevent stress, such as the involvement of extended family members. Other mental health concerns, such as learning disabilities, ADHD, and/or anxiety may also increase the likelihood of depression due to the additional burdens that they place on a child's resources. It is important not to blame yourself for your child's concerns, but to move forward, and pursue help.
The most effective treatments are "multi-modal," meaning there are many different parts to help target these concerns. Effective treatments for children and adolescents often include medication, psychotherapy, interpersonal therapy, and school support. Depression does not usually get better on its own. Without treatment, 70% of children will have another episode within five years.
Medication itself is not a cure, but is often seen as something that will lessen the severity of your child's symptoms, and help to prevent future episodes. It may help other treatments become more effective. As a parent, it will be your responsibility to monitor your child's symptoms and side effects, discussing them with your health care provider. It will also be your responsibility to supervise your child's medication compliance, even as your child's symptoms improve. Improvement will be based on your ability to work together, and your child's ability to make good choices for himself/herself.
Their parenting skills may not be as effective as usual, and they may struggle with setting limits with a child who is frequently sad, irritable, and unmotivated. Although there is no easy answer, there are some options for consideration.
Maintain Realistic Expectations. If your expectations are too high, your child is more likely to suffer failure, and you may be more likely to experience conflict with your child. If you are feeling chronically frustrated with your child, it is time to work on this goal. Prioritizing the more important issues, and dealing with them first will be important. For example, medication compliance and school attendance may be your first big hurdles. As your child improves, responsibilities can be increased. However, keep in mind that expectations may need to be adjusted over time, depending on your child's functioning. You want your child to experience success.
Find Balance with Rules. As Greene (2001) discusses, too many rules can cause parents and children to become "stuck" in a series of ineffectual interactions. This conflict can cause them to become more oppositional, irritable, and overwhelmed. Not enough rules, however, may confuse a child, particularly if they are currently feeling ineffectual and lethargic. Effective parenting often combines positives, communication, compromise, and structure.
Simplify Your Child's Life. Make rules brief. Keep routines. Be specific. Be brief. Praise<|fim_middle|> Chicago.
⟵Spring in the New year! | your child's success.
Maintain Flexibility. Your rules, expectations, etc. may need to be adjusted, depending on your child's recovery. If something isn't working, be ready to compromise, or set new goals. Being stuck with something that isn't working is going to increase conflict, and hence, depression.
Give the Depression a Name. Discuss the symptoms of depression. Talk about what is more difficult when depression is present. It is very important to remember that your child is not his/her symptoms (e.g., irritability, lack of energy, low motivation). List all of your child's positive traits. Think of these as tools to fight the depression.
Increase Positive Interactions in Your Family. Increase your praise, even if you think you already provide many positives. Count your blessings, and make this a daily family goal. Practice acts of kindness. Invest time and energy in family and friends. Practice physical self-care (i.e., exercise, balanced diet, vitamins, etc.) for both you and your child. Develop family coping skills for hardships. Normalize your child's concerns by having other family members, including parents, practice the same coping skills. Schedule family fun nights.
Your child is one of your greatest blessings. The experience of parenting provides a great deal of reward, enrichment, and purpose to our lives. Through our children, we make positive changes in our world and ourselves. His/her future is one that will rely on you, teachers, and other adults to foster qualities that shape a future marked by happiness, self-esteem, and optimism.
Fristad, M. & Arnold, J. (2004) Raising a Moody Child: How to Cope with Depression and Bipolar Disorder. Guildford Press: New York.
Greene, R. (2001). The Explosive Child. Harper Collins: New York.
Brooks, R. & Goldstein, S. (2003) The Power of Resilience. Contemporary Books: | 404 |
Blood Torment EPUB
by T.F. Mu<|fim_middle|> by T.F. Muir | View all
Dead Catch
The Killing Connection
Tooth for a Tooth
Life For A Life
Also in the DCI Andy Gilchrist series | View all | ir
Part of the DCI Andy Gilchrist series
When a three-year old girl is reported missing, DCI Andy Gilchrist is assigned the case. But Gilchrist soon suspects that the child's mother - Andrea Davis - may be responsible for her daughter's disappearance, or worse, her murder.
The case becomes politically sensitive when Gilchrist learns that Andrea is the daughter of Dougal Davis, a former MSP who was forced to resign from Scottish Parliament after being accused of physically abusing his third wife. Now a powerful businessman, Davis demands Gilchrist's removal from the case when his investigation seems to be stalling. But then the case turns on its head when Gilchrist learns that a paedophile, recently released from prison, now lives in the same area as the missing child. The paedophile is interrogated but hours later his body is found on the beach with evidence of blunt force trauma to the head, and Gilchrist launches a murder investigation.
As pressure relentlessly mounts on Gilchrist, he begins to unravel a dark family secret, a secret he believes will solve the fate of the missing child.
Praise for T.F. Muir:
'Rebus did it for Edinburgh. Laidlaw did it for Glasgow. Gilchrist might just be the bloke to put St Andrews on the crime fiction map.' Daily Record
'A truly gripping read, with all the makings of a classic series.' Mick Herron
'Gripping and grisly, with plenty of twists and turns that race along with black humour.' Craig Robertson
'Gilchrist is intriguing, bleak and vulnerable... if I were living in St Andrews I'd sleep with the lights on.' Anna Smith
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Also | 346 |
We love autumn. Crisp air, red wine and beautiful colors. And, we love spending time outdoors—running (Carrie), cycling (Jonathan) and hiking (both of us). So, we're taking you up into<|fim_middle|> PM.
Pick-up at 5th & Church and 2nd & Oak Streets.
Shuttles depart Highlands at 3PM.
Coffee, sweet treats and hugs-to-go!
There are many cozy options in the small, nearby town of Highlands. We will provide transportation to events so we suggest you stay there. There is not a specific hotel block, so stay where you feel comfortable.
We suggest checking these out.
Draw a line between between Chicago and Savannah—and another between New York and New Orleans ... Legend has it this what founders, Samuel Truman Kelsey and Clinton Carter Hutchinson, did as they believed the intersection of these lines would become a great trading center and the future of commerce. While thankfully failing to live up to such stratospheric industrial prophecies, Highlands is nevertheless a geographic gem, uniquely located on a plateau in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Named for its lofty elevation at 4,118', Highlands was promoted for its fresh air and excellent potential for orchards and gardens.
We encourage you to explore the town's scenic backdrop and rustic charm. | the mountains of North Carolina to enjoy all of these things as we celebrate our wedding!
If you find yourselves in town Friday morning, please join us for an optional group hike to stunning views atop Whiteside Mountain. Meet in front of Old Edwards Inn (Main & 4th). A moderately challenging hike (2.5mi, 600' elevation gain), we suggest you bring a bottle of water, light snack, and closed toed/sturdy shoes (sneakers OK). We'll carpool, but please be prepared to drive as needed.
Shuttles depart Highlands at 730 | 123 |
Answering an ad in NME changed Elton John's life and 9 more things we learned at his New York press conference
The music icon held a Q&A after announcing his final tour
Elton John at his New York press conference
In the stunning surroundings of New York<|fim_middle|> over, he said he didn't know, but he was "most looking forward to taking my kids to soccer academy." "My sons are quite serious about soccer so I want to take them to places where they can learn to play well," he explained. "At the moment they want to be a footballer and an astronaut."
Grammys and other awards are "superfluous trinkets"
"I'm not a person who cherishes Grammys and things like that," says Elton, a man set to be honoured at this weekend's ceremony. Don't take that as being ungrateful or unappreciative, though – he just prefers symbols of recognition that come from different areas. "I'm a person who cherishes gold records and things like that because it means people have paid their hard-earned money to buy something that you've made," he explains. "The other things are superfluous little trinkets."
Answering an ad in NME changed his life
Many a band and musician got their start through the old classified ads in the back of the mag, and Elton is no different. "So many things in my life have been fate," he says wistfully, before sharing his story with the audience. "I was a musician in a band and I hated it. I was playing to people who were eating fish and chips – it was a cabaret thing. And I thought, 'What can I do? I can write songs.'"
So off he went and answered an ad, went to a record company's office and was handed an envelope of lyrics from a pile, which turned out to be written by his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin. "He could have given me any one," Elton said. "I opened it on the tube train home and it was Bernie's lyrics. I've been so lucky."
He's against a hologram of him being made
Musicians of a certain age and deceased artists' estates might be exploring hologram technology to keep live revenue coming in, but don't expect to see a hologram version of the Rocket Man on a stage at anytime in the future. "I said to Zachary, my eldest, 'When Daddy dies, promise me there won't be a hologram going around the world doing concerts," he laughs. "It's like doing a duet album with someone who's dead – it's so spooky. Who knows – they may go broke and then put me back on the fucking stage, but I think that's a bit freaky."
If he ever does a live show again, it won't be a tour
Elton's promised this is really it in terms of his live show, but should he change his mind, he won't be venturing far to perform. "If I do a live show again, it'll be something like a residency," he says, "like Kate Bush did at Hammersmith Apollo. I won't travel. I won't be going to Europe again, I won't be going back to Australia, Asia, South America, and probably America." You have been warned.
He only remembers he wrote the songs for The Lion King when he sees an advert
You'd think if you did something as notable as writing the soundtrack for a massive film and then won an Oscar for your work, you might remember it. Not in Elton's case. "I went to see The Lion King with my sons the other day," he recalls. "We took them to the theatre in London and I'm going, 'Oh yeah, I wrote this!' I only remember about The Lion King when I see it on the taxi cabs."
His favourite gig he's ever played was with John Lennon
Over the course of his career, the star has played countless gigs all around the world, so it must be hard to choose just one as his ultimate favourite. He does a pretty good job of answer that question and pleasing the New York audience, though, when he selects a Madison Square Garden show in 1974, where he was joined onstage by the late Beatle. "[It's] my favourite place to play in the whole world," Elton explains. "It's just magic, that place. You can't build an arena with atmosphere – it just has it."
He gets sick of playing 'Crocodile Rock'
With the amount of songs Elton has written and recorded in his career, it's not completely surprising that there's some he can't stand anymore. Asked what his favourite songs to play are, he replies with the opposite. "There's certain songs where you think, 'Oh I've got to fucking sing that one again.'" Pressed for specifics, he says: "Probably 'Crocodile Rock', but the audience love it. It's a guilty pleasure, as they say." | 's Gotham Hall, a room of journalists remove VR headsets on which they've just journeyed through Elton John's career, and a black curved wall with a giant E on it rotates to reveal the icon himself sat at a piano. As his jacket and shades sparkle under the lights, he plays 'Tiny Dancer' and 'I'm Still Standing', before joining Anderson Cooper to announce his final ever tour and take part in a Q&A. In it, he's full of wit and happiness, talking lovingly of his children, husband David Furnish, and his life so far. Here's what we learned from the event.
Buy Elton John merch here
He'll still be making albums
Just because he's not planning on touring after this casual 300-date farewell run, doesn't mean we've seen the last of Elton. "It doesn't mean to say I'm not going to be creative, I'm just not going to travel," he explains. "When I say I'm stopping touring, I'm not stopping music. Creatively I'll be writing a lot and who knows what's going to happen. I will be creative, hopefully, up until the day I die. I definitely want to make a couple more albums."
He's never downloaded anything in his life
Despite being pretty on the pulse of new music, a keen advocate for streaming, and hosting a radio show for Beats 1, Elton's not as technology savvy as you might think. "I'm a luddite," he says of himself, adding that he's "never downloaded anything in my life – not even porn." Host Anderson Cooper chimes in, "Did you have someone else to do that for you?" to which the icon sharply responds: "You were good at that for a while."
Post-touring Elton will be spending his time at football academies
If you spot an Elton lookalike near a football pitch once he's done on the road, it might be the real deal. Asked what his days will look like when the tour is | 422 |
Limit pesticide use. Use nonchemical methods or least-toxic pesticides wherever possible. Ask a UC Master Gardener for help with pest problems.
Avoid using pyrethroid insecticides. These products, including bifenthrin, cypermethrin, and permeth<|fim_middle|>. Choose water-efficient plants and garden designs.
Minimize runoff by using mulches in beds and permeable materials for walkways and driveways. Aerate and add organic matter such as compost to heavy or compacted soils.
Check and maintain your irrigation system so water does not run off your landscape onto hard surfaces and into gutters.
For additional information and resources, see the main Home & Landscape pages. | rin, are among the most toxic to aquatic animals.
Control ants by reducing food sources, excluding them from homes, and using baits in containers, instead of spraying.
Cut back on fertilizer. More is not better. Actively-growing turf, flowering shrubs, and some annuals and fruit trees require regular feeding, but ornamental trees do not.
Use slow-release fertilizers, including composted organic fertilizers, which are less likely to move into water. Measure and apply them according to label directions.
Don't let fertilizer or pesticides get onto hard surfaces such as sidewalks or driveways. Sweep any material that accidentally lands on hard surfaces back onto lawn.
Dispose of garden chemicals correctly. Never sweep, hose off, or pour leftover pesticides or fertilizers into drains or gutters.
Reduce your landscape's need for water | 164 |
Ecocentric Design offers building design and Passive House consulting services.
Ecocentric Design is committed to deep sustainability, specializing in ultra energy-efficient Passive House design, incorporating Living Building principles.
Passive House is a rigorous, voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, resulting in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling.
Passive House is a building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological at the same time.
Read more about Passive house here<|fim_middle|> is completed, the design is developed to a defined, hard-lined plan. In this stage the floor plan layout, sections and elevations are developed as the building model is being refined, together with energy modeling, building materials, construction methods, principal details and environmental technologies.
PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) is the sophisticated energy modeling tool that is used during the design development to optimize the energy performance.
Passive House Certification, is an option to ensure that the building design truly meets Passive House requirements.
When the design is fully developed, the construction drawings, or blueprints, are generated.
In this stage the construction details, dimensioned plans, sections, elevations, door and window schedules and specifications are generated and compiled in a set of drawings.
In the case of a Passive House, the PHPP gets more refined as the design gets more detailed, ensuring Passive House criteria continue to be met.
The construction drawings serve as the principal document for building permit application and construction guidance.
The proper execution of the project is imperative for the achievement of Passive House and Living Building Certification. Therefore it is necessary to supervise the construction to ensure that the work is done in accordance with the design.
Retrofit+Passive House+ecologic=EcoPHit. Integrating Passive House and Living Building principles into renovating or retrofitting of an existing home the embodied energy of the building is preserved, while the ecological footprint of the building's life cycle is reduced, adding value, comfort and functionality. | .
Read more about about Living Building here.
At Ecocentric Design, we believe a building should be an integrated part and a meaningful addition to the landscape.
We draw from permaculture principles in an adaptive design process to organize the project site and the relationship with the surrounding landscape. Optimization of solar exposure, site access, approach, privacy, the integration of food production and recreational space, power access/generation, water collection and waste water treatment are taken into account.
After the building program is established and a building site is selected, a conceptual design is developed, in conjunction with the site plan.
The conceptual design (also called schematic design) captures the idea of the project as the principal building configuration, look and intent is visualized with a mass model and schematic drawings.
After the conceptual design | 159 |
Home›Free Essays›Medicine›The Hospitalization of Ms Jones
The Hospitalization of Ms Jones
Brief Description of the Subject's Illness
Miss Jones suffers from arthritis. This condition limits her mobility, as well as reduces the quality of her life. She tries very much to ensure that the symptoms of this condition are suppressed and that she can lead a comfortable life. Her attempts are sometimes successful as she is able to participate in several activities and enjoy her old age. Miss Jones has had a career as a professor for the better part of her life and she is now aged 77. Her condition causes difficulties whenever she is walking and also causes her stiff neck. Her joints appear swollen and their shape has changed overtime due to arthritis. She also complains of her vision, which is less than perfect, but this is not directly or otherwise related to arthritis. The principle cause of her deteriorating eyesight is her old age.
She has a busy lifestyle despite her old age. For instance, she goes to casino twice weekly. This behavior is not healthy and is thought to be one of the contributing factors to her arthritis. The casinos environment is largely filled with cigarette fumes, which aggravate arthritis. Despite her advanced age, she is still a college professor; her job demands that she walk around the collage and also spends a considerable amount of her time on feet. The movement on outdoor spaces also exposes her to the great fluctuations of the temperature. Another activity she does is offering her volunteer services to ST Jude Hospital for her political party. She has had a busy lifestyle which has contributed to the wearing out of her joints; the cumulative effect of which combined with her<|fim_middle|> at the optimum level and, therefore, there are fewer issues with joints that in other countries. In the US, people have more faith in curative health and, therefore, some are more reluctant in preventive health such as exercises, as well as maintaining optimum weight.
The Outcome of the Hospitalization
Ms Jones got well after hospitalization and can walk again. However, she needs to avoid large thermo-fluctuations in her environment as it is not good for her joints; additionally, she needs to ensure that she plays her game in the smoke-free environment. She also needs to reduce her strenuous activities, such as standing for long in lecture rooms, and also volunteer activities. Ms Jones needs to dedicate more time to yoga (Baynard, 2010).
Related Free Medicine Essays
Skin Cancer Prevention and Early Detection
Benefits of Early Palliative Care for Patients with Lung Cancer with Respect to their Coping Ability
Health Promotions among Diverse Populations
From Cells to an Individual
Psychiatric Workforce Deficits in Florida
Life Review Interview
Implementation of RFID in Health Care Services
Emergency Response Planning
Medication Workbook Questions | current lifestyle is believed to have caused or aggravated her arthritic condition.
Although she has been able to manage her condition well at her home, sometimes it gets out of hand and the situation demands that she sees a doctor. One day, Miss Jones feels excruciating pain which was accompanied by swelling in her joints and the back. It renders her immobile and necessitates her calling for emergency health service which arrives in good time, responds to her condition and takes her to the hospital.
The Hospital Where the Subject Is Admitted
Miss Jones is taken to the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) which, apart from offering basic and advanced Medicare, has a specialized unit for arthritis and rheumatology (Mavrogeorgis & Adelaide Women's Community Health Centre, 1994). The hospital layout is divided into a large open space and built areas. The open space is used for fire assembly, as well as relaxation place for the large community of patients in this facility. The built area is devised primarily into two blocks where one section is meant for general health service complete with diagnostic labs for infectious diseases and treatment rooms. The second block is largely meant for rheumatic diseases and conditions (Infections and arthritis, 2013). Behind these two blocs are wards and structures holding specialized diagnostic, as well as treatment equipments. In front of the two blocks is a large emergency unit where all emergency cases are attended to.
Jones received specialized first aid from this centre which was equipped with first aid equipment and staffed with emergency specialists. She was injected with a strong pain reliever and also placed on a wheel chair. The nurses and practitioners were polite and very fast. They were also very neat. In the two blocks, there were care services for all levels; primary, secondary and tertiary care. Although arthritis is in most cases offered primary care where the patients are treated and discharged, Jones required more than primary care. In addition to checkups, treatment, consultation and diagnosis that are done with primary care, Miss Jones required specialized treatment.
Details of Hospitalization Including Any Issues in the Delivery of Care
In the emergency room, Ms Jones' pain had to be responded to so that she could be able to express herself and, therefore, help in diagnosis. Additionally, the specialist wanted her to be comfortable as she receives more specialized care. The specialist also wanted to ensure that she had enhanced mobility, and it did not complicate her condition. It would not be desirable for her to walk again; at least until she felt better. She was placed on a wheel chair and moved to the arthritis/rheumatic section.
In the rheumatic section, the specialist carried out a specialized diagnosis as there was something unusual with her condition. The level of pain was above the normal range and the swelling was preventing her from living her normal life. Miss Jones would explain the notable changes especially in terms of pain and the swelling. The specialist, on the other hand, prescribed scans to study and evaluate the conditions of various joints. He also prescribed analysis of various samples from the inner parts of the joints to identify what had caused the worsening of Jones' case. The specialist was very particular with checking the statuses of various joints to see if they were damaged or near damaged.
All the above diagnostic procedures were to be carried out in the labs and in the scan rooms of GOSH. The results disclosed that Ms Jones' knee joints about to grind due to sedimentation of material residual between the joints. The specialist concluded that the synovial fluid was found to have some solids that could have formed due to change in pH of the fluid. Therefore, the he prescribed a surgery. This will be followed by close monitoring by a specialist to ensure that Ms Jones was progressing well. This process would also include education and support that would involve the patient and the family so that she could quit habits that had adversely affected her situation. Ms Jones was advised to quit strenuous activities, such as prolonged periods of walking among others. She was also advised to find a better environment of enjoying her favorite game of bingo than the casino. It is often filled with cigarette smoke which worsens her case.
GOSH was established to cater preferentially for arthritis in children. This did not mean that older people can be turned down but rather the rheumatologist section is more developed and begun much earlier. This was inspired by the complex nature of joint problems in children. Unlike in adults where joint issues, such as arthritis, is brought about by overuse or misuse of joints leading to wear or injury, problems with joints in children is caused by more complex factors such as genetics, deficiencies diseases, as well as developmental problems. GOSH has a wide range of specialists that address the rheumatic problems and arthritis. Their holistic approaches address issues such as nutrition, injuries, as well as psychosocial support for children and adults with these ailments. Rheumatic problems are rarely caused by habits as children cannot be said to have already formulated deleterious habits. This hospital caters for this problem by focusing on parents, reaching out to them and training them how to detect and deal with rheumatic cases. This division of the hospital was developed to have one of the best care and treatment centers for arthritis all over as young children grew into adults, and it was advanced even further to old age.
Devising a Plan That Covers the Issue
The best plan for treatment and care for people with arthritis needs to consider prevention of this ailment since it occurs mainly due to physical injury, imbalance in the pH or the chemical composition of the body and especially around the joint. The above causes or aggravates wear and tear of the moving parts. These are aspects that need to be included in the prevention management and treatment of the arthritis. It will be cheaper for everyone as the cases and the severity of arthritis will reduce (Jackson, Jansen & Mangoni, 2009). It will lower health insurance rates. For instance, avoiding excessive movements that will damage joints, avoiding intake of substances, as well as avoiding areas and activities that can cause injuries, will decrease the number of people streaming to hospital for treatment and, hence, health charges.
The prevention will involve exercises and healthy eating which will ensure that people remain in the optimum sizes and, therefore, do not exert undue pressure to their joints. Exercises will also strengthen muscles and make them and joints more flexible. It is known that accelerated wear of joints occurs when one is obese or overweight; therefore, keeping the bodyweight optimum will help. When joints pain arises in the process of losing weight, Glucosamine, which can be combined with Chondroitin, can be used to alleviate these symptoms.
Health Care System Somewhere Else in the World That Best Approximates the Above Plan
Japan is a country that has considerable low levels of arthritis. The reason is that people have for centuries trained in and perfected the art of keeping fit through their martial arts, and also engaging in manual labor. It keeps the average weight of the population | 1,415 |
Home » Blog » Our New Four-Legged Friends
Our New Four-Legged Friends
Lifespace communities have no shortage of animal lovers and we support these special relationships by making residential living areas pet friendly at all communities. And while the companionship that comes from owning a pet has demonstrably helped seniors, and especially those with dementia or other health issues, many communities understandably have restrictions on pets in their health centers. Yet Lifespace has found a way to provide older adults with the joy and health perks a pet can provide without needing a bowl for food and water. Instead, just batteries.
The solution lies under the fur of some very friendly dogs and cats who have taken up residence at six Lifespace communities. Robotic therapy pets, as they're called, look, behave and feel like real animals. They bark or meow, have a heartbeat and even respond to voice and touch, but can also be turned off when necessary.
Ann Walsh, Lifespace senior vice president of operations, says the robotic pets made sense as an investment in residents' well-being. The Lifespace Foundation worked with the resident-led Foundation Advisory Committees to purchase the pets for residents of the health centers.
"I received a robotic cat as a demo from Hasbro and was naturally curious," Walsh said. "It quickly became evident that these little robopets had the potential to bring true joy to our residents."
The health benefits of owning a pet are well documented by scientists. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pets can increase opportunities for socialization, as well as decrease blood pressure and feelings of loneliness. In recent years, researchers have begun to find that robotic pets can offer benefits to older adults similar to those of a living animal.
"This research is of particular interest to those of us in the field of senior living," said Sloan Bentley, president and CEO of Lifespace. "An investment with proven, documented benefits to our residents is a worthwhile endeavor."
At Village on the Green, resident Leah Cash has always<|fim_middle|> happiness these robotic dogs and cats are bringing to Lifespace residents.
"The impact these pets are having is truly remarkable," said Walsh. "As crazy as it might sound, these little robodogs and robocats are changing lives."
(In the photo: Village on the Green resident Emma Cantu and her new best friend.) | been a dog lover, but she says the bond formed with her robotic dog named Bow Wow is like nothing she's ever experienced. Currently, there are more than 30 robopets that reside at Village on the Green.
It's hard to overstate the | 53 |
"The data is there in organizations. It just needs to be aggregated for visualization and analysis"
I wonder if there is an imbalance in the world of human resources.
Are these two trends related? Most likely. If there is a market need, software and services providers will quickly fill the gap and offer solutions. However, and this is the crux of this article: should HR focus on other high value work?
Don't get me wrong. Identifying and recruiting the right candidates is vital because hiring the wrong candidate can be costly for organizations with the price tag being up to $50,000 per employee, according to a survey from CareerBuilder. Furthermore, based on research by Jobvite, 65% of recruiters claim talent shortage is the biggest challenge in hiring employees. Better recruitment can't be neglected.
Yet, should HR leaders slightly realign or re-order their focus? I believe so, and it is on improving the productivity of current employees. This is accomplished by collecting more business insight into the workforce, which will be the foundation for multiple HR initiatives including improving the candidate recruitment process and success rate by bringing in higher quality employees into the organization.
Taking into consideration that the largest cost is the hundreds or thousands of current employees, HR teams<|fim_middle|> or variety of data required to create a single view of workers through the entire employee lifecycle. However, the business value justifies the time and effort to focus on leveraging data on current employees.
To help HR leaders and their teams value human capital, and to use data to direct immediate action, we have developed an HR analytics savings calculator. This free self-service tool shows the benefits of focusing on the middle part of the employee lifecycle (current employees) than on the earlier stages of recruitment. | using data and analytics can create much more value faster by looking after its known human capital than focusing on the much smaller candidate pipeline.
I know, from speaking to many HR teams, a challenge they face is creating a holistic view of their workforce, including the cost and contribution of people through each stage of the employee lifecycle. The data is there in organizations. It just needs to be aggregated for visualization and analysis. It sounds easier said than done – and it's true.
Turning data into insight is much easier with recruitment data than grappling with the many types | 110 |
Another exhausting day but not from packing. From driving and shopping. I drove Donna to their NJ office for work yesterday. Then I had the rest of the day to do what I wanted until I picked her up at 4pm. My original plan was to find a Starbucks (read: free Wi-Fi) and write my blog and read a book. But then Donna told me that there were some stores nearby and I did bring a list of necessities to get while I was here.
I took Donna to the office and went in to meet some of her co-workers. When we arrived she told them the exciting news about her move and how it has been their 20-year dream. While most of them seemed shocked the support and excitement for her was wonderful to see. I really think that when someone is achieving their dream and other people see it happening it gives them hope and inspires them to follow their own dreams.
I then wandered off to the JoAnn fabric store to look for some fabric for new kitchen curtains. We haven't been able to find anything that we want in Spain so thought I would try here. Well, I found a lot of fabric I liked and a couple that I loved. I couldn't decide so I got some of each of these. I think Bob and I prefer the dragonfly fabric for the curtains so I can't wait to get them made and hung up.
After that I wandered to Wal-Mart. I had a list of crazy things for example Playtex rubber gloves for washing dishes, pants hangers, and other random everyday things that we have struggled to find ones that we like in Spain.
One of the things I didn't buy but would have loved to is baking soda. Yes, you read that right. Good old-fashioned baking soda. In Spain it can be found (only when your friends help you) in very small quantities and with more of a purpose of relieving a stomach ache. In America we use it for baking, cleaning, and deodorizing. They make special boxes that have a flap on the side that tears off so that you can put it in your refrigerator or closet to absorb odors. Well, this is what I found in Wal-Mart. A 4-pound box and the ones that go in your fridge. Too bad there is no way I can take it back to Spain. I was able to get just about<|fim_middle|> Target and I knew he would understand my excitement. Funny, it was just like going to a Target before we moved. "Would love that and need that but it won't fit in my suitcase." Makes shopping easier but certainly not as much fun! Thankfully, it was an older Target and not as wonderful as the one we used to live near. I sent Nathan a couple of photos from Target. One is just a random display and the other one…well the other one holds special memories between Nathan and me. Miss you Nathan!
The next store down the road was Staples. I will admit that I love office supply stores. It is a weakness. My cousin Donna is the same way. Well, I didn't need anything from Staples but I just wandered up and down a few aisles. When I was walking out one of the employees asked if he could help me find something. I thanked him and told him that I live in Spain and didn't need anything but just missed Staples. He didn't think I was weird at all. Well, at least he didn't look at me like I was a crazy woman.
It was getting closer to the time that I needed to pick up Donna so I made one more New Jersey right turn to turn left for my last stop. If you are from NJ or have been there you will understand my reference to the right turn to turn left comment. I understand the concept and yes it does work but I am thankful that Donna told me about this strange traffic control when we arrived in NJ cause otherwise I would have been quite confused.
I wandered through a Michael's craft store. Saw lots of fun things to make and to decorate with but didn't need anything so I didn't buy anything. Last stop before the pickup…Starbucks. Now, to be clear, I actually don't miss Starbucks because we have a wonderful coffee maker at home, a Saeco, and also Spanish coffee is wonderful. I am not a flavored coffee person except when Pumpkin Latte time (Autumn) rolls around. That is when I might miss Starbucks. Well, maybe not.
On the way home in CT we stopped at Costco so that Donna could pick up a couple of things that she ordered and I could get the last random things on my list. 🙂 Ziploc bags! Just look at this display of Ziploc bags. Heaven.
I also picked up some Mucinex (they do not have that in Spain) and some Zyrtec. A vast array of make-ya-feel-better-potions right here.
It was a productive day in the sense that I got the items that we needed back home. It was interesting for me to go back to these stores with a different mindset. Having a different attitude about "stuff" is great. I will tell you that I do love our uncluttered new life. There are items (i.e. the ones that I purchased) that we need or prefer but the rest we can do without.
I loved reading this post. I found your thoughts on "stuff available for purchase but stuff I don't need" refreshing to read, such a different mindset from the consumerism that plagues this country. I admire your non-purchasing strength in Target!! | everything there that was on my list.
Down the street I found a Target. One of my favorite stores. I texted my friend Nathan, "OMG! I am about to walk into a TARGET!" He and I both love | 47 |
Turcan Connell was delighted to sponsor this year's Varsity Sports Tournament hosted by Edinburgh University. Laura Fairgrieve,<|fim_middle|> universities bar Dundee who, unfortunately, failed to muster enough players. The first showdown saw Aberdeen and Glasgow face off, with the latter running out convincing winners in a high scoring game at 30-10. After a short break Glasgow kicked off again, this time against the hosts. Despite trailing at half-time, Edinburgh fought back to claim a hard earned 20-5 win meaning victory over Aberdeen would secure them the top spot in the event. The Edinburgh boys, also known as the Law Blacks, were not complacent after defeating their historic rivals and dusted themselves off before facing Aberdeen in the final match-up. The hosts ran out 20-0 winners thanks to a dominant display from their pacey backline, which secured them overall victory in the sport.
A great day was had by both competitors and spectators, with great sportsmanship and morale shown by all teams. A light hearted game of Ultimate Frisbee was a perfect end to the day with Edinburgh coming out on top overall as the Varsity 2016 champions. | Vice President of the Edinburgh University Law Society, has written of the success of the event below.
Bright and early on Saturday morning, the Edinburgh Law sports teams were joined by Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee for Turcan Connell Varsity 2016.
First up was hockey. It was hard fought for all teams. The scoreboard, changes to the schedule, or even missing players did not stop all teams from sprinting up the field towards their next goal every chance they got. Good sportsmanship was seen through teams sharing both players and hockey sticks. Supporters and spectators cheered. The spirit of sport was felt in the air. In the end, victory was handed to Edinburgh, the team who went undefeated.
Football was up next. A hard fought round robin tournament saw Glasgow and Edinburgh meet in the final. Welcomed onto the pitch, the tension from the offset was palpable. A cagey first few minutes saw both teams cancelling out each other's advances. Midway through the first half Glasgow began to assert their dominance and after establishing an early lead, never looked back. Despite Edinburgh's efforts, Glasgow ran away 10-2 winners.
After a cool morning outside, it was a welcomed change to move into the relative warmth of the Edinburgh University Centre of Sport and Exercise (CSE). As we arrived, the Aberdeen basketball team were already warming up. The netball teams arrived shortly and it wasn't long until the first game was underway. Edinburgh v Aberdeen saw Edinburgh putting points on the board time and time again and despite a foul play by the Edinburgh mid, the Edinburgh game proved too much and more points followed, resulting in a 16-0 win. The next match saw Edinburgh get off to a great start again. Dundee however, proved to be made of stern stuff. Their defence continued to make things hard for Edinburgh but the second half saw Edinburgh strengthen their lead and end the game 9-1. The third and final match between Dundee and Aberdeen saw a fight for 2nd place and the all-important overall points. The two sides were very evenly matched but the Dundee attack proved to be too strong and they secured a win of 4-0.
Basketball followed with the first match, Edinburgh v Glasgow. The Glasgow team set a punishing pace but Edinburgh eventually came out on top, 24-14. Next up was Aberdeen v Dundee, with Aberdeen dominating all the way through and taking the win. Glasgow v Dundee then saw the 3rd place go to Dundee. The final then followed with Aberdeen v Edinburgh. The whole game was nail biting, with it being a draw and equal points throughout the match. In the last minute Aberdeen eventually took the lead and the title. The level of talent in this sport was something else, with even the referee being stunned by the level of the players' abilities.
As basketball came to a close at CSE, the rugby sevens competition got underway at Peffermill. The event was fiercely contested by all the | 610 |
Flandry's Legacy Poul Anderson
Sir Dominic Flandry is now an Admiral<|fim_middle|>
4.33 out of 5 stars based on reviews | , but takes little joy in his new rank. He sees the rot in the Terran Empire on every hand and knows that the Long Night will inevitably fall upon the galaxy. His consolation is that measures he has taken while doing what he can to postpone the Empire's final collapse may shorten the coming galactic dark age and hasten the rise of a new interstellar civilization. In the meantime, he'll enjoy the comforts of a decadent civilization-and he'll always be ready for one more battle against the Empire's enemies.
This concluding volume of the Technic Civilization saga, one of the milestones of modern science fiction includes two full-length novels:
* A Stone in Heaven - When the daughter of Flandry's mentor asks for help, he intervenes, and finds he must thwart a would-be dictator's plans to seize control of the Empire.
* The Game of Empire -The Merseians, alien enemies of the Empire, have put into motion an insidious plan to bring the Terran Empire down. Flandry's daughter, Diana, and her feline-like alien friend have discovered the conspiracy, but can they stop it in time?
Plus three novellas and a novelette set in the time of the Long Night and the renaissance of civilization which followed it, concluding one of the grandest adventure sagas in science fiction.
Poul Anderson was one of the most prolific and popular writers in science fiction. He won the Hugo Award seven times and the Nebula Award three times, as well as many other awards, notably including the Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America for a lifetime of distinguished achievement. With a degree in physics, and a wide knowledge of other fields of science, he was noted for building stories on a solid foundation of real science, as well as for being one of the most skilled creators of fast-paced adventure stories. He was author of over a hundred novels and story collections, and several hundred short stories, as well as several mysteries and nonfiction books. He died in 2001.
Flandry's Legacy
Poul Anderson
US Price: $13.00
Annie's Book Stop of Worcester
Aunties Books
Books at Park Place
Chester County Books
Flights of Fantasy
Half Price Books
Joseph-Beth
Poisoned Pen
The Twig
Uncle Hugo's
University of Washington University Bookstore
University of Wisconsin University Bookstore
US Price: $7.99
Flandry's Legacy Poul Anderson
Published: 4/5/2011
Trade Paperback: $13.00
Customer Ratings for Flandry's Legacy | 544 |
2022 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Autobahn Review & Test Drive
The Volkswagen Jetta has long been a well-positioned contender in the compact sedan segment even though it can hold its own within the midsized category. The Jetta's German roots shine bright in the top-tier GLI trim with a more powerful powertrain and the availability of<|fim_middle|>New Car Preview: 2023 Mercedes-AMG EQE | a 6-speed manual transmission to appease many enthusiasts.
The joy of the Jetta GLI is one that combines a sporty appeal wrapped up on a mainstream sedan that brings practicality to the forefront all at a relatively affordable price. Powering the latest Jetta GLI Autobahn is a nicely tuned version of the brand's 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine outputting 228 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. That power can be sent through a standard 6-speed manual transmission as found in my test vehicle or an optional 7-speed automated manual dual-clutch DSG (Direct-Shift Gearbox) to power the front wheels.
Having a 6-speed manual transmission still available makes the Jetta GLI an attractive offering for enthusiasts who are passionate about rowing their own gears. With that, the 6-speed manual box in the Jetta GLI Autobahn is a decent gearbox that's easy to conduct smooth shifts but doesn't promote the ease of shifting fast due to the longer throws. The clutch engagement is easy to master with a good mid-way bite point and adds a lively attitude to the overall sporty driving appeal of the Jetta GLI. You even get a giggle or two over the Jetta GLI breaking the front wheels loose as you throttle through first gear where the torque-vectoring differential helps keep the front end pointed in the right direction until the tires start to lose grip and you get a lot of understeer. In all, the Jetta GLI can be fun and feels like it has much more power than stated on paper.
See Also: 2020 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Autobahn Review & Test Drive
By: Malcolm Hogan
Title: 2022 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Autobahn Review & Test Drive
Sourced From: www.automotiveaddicts.com/76785/2022-volkswagen-jetta-gli-autobahn-review-test-drive
Published Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2022 13:45:01 +0000
https://www.mansbrand.com/new-car-preview-2023-mercedes-amg-eqe/
Related Topics:automotive newsshinevolkswagenjetta
It's Time to Stop Tailgating in the Express Lane, Let's Talk Speeding in Traffic
| 500 |
In June of this year, Josh Marshall became very popular in social networks by tattooing the same scar that his little son Gabriel had on a tumor surgery on his head.
So he decided to make a mark equal to his. Although 6 months after his story became viral, the brain tumor returned to their lives and it seems that the return of the disease is even more aggressive than before.
As Josh explained to CNN, this time the tumor has become more active: "Because of the location, it is inoperable," he said. The father described this harsh experience as a "roller coaster." "Raised to feel perfectly good and normal and in the end you come to tears for what could happen. Not knowing what really hurts" ,<|fim_middle|> of it," he added. | "he said.
Despite the devastating news, says his son is strong and the boy has stated that all he needs to fight back against cancer is to pray for him, because the tumor, by the area in which it is located, is already inoperable . Gabriel insists on overcoming the harsh illness with words that are a teaching for all: "Just being strong. We must try not to complain, and just being strong, "admitted the little boy.
Meanwhile, his father declares, "He's my superhero". He has taught me the true meaning of life and how to make the most | 120 |
You can adjust the height of your workstation within a range of 15 inches according to your comfort and convenience.
The workstation is easy to set up, requires zero assembly, and fits securely with the help of a clamp to your tabletop.
Eliminate all fears of tripping over unruly keyboard and mouse cords because all of these can tuck neatly into a groove behind the workstation.
You can easily set up two monitors for simultaneous viewing because the workstation can support monitors weighing<|fim_middle|> for stacking your frequently used devices such as a file, book, tablet or phone.
You can organize everything on your desk right in front of your eyes, making it easy to search things when you need them.
The mechanism for adjusting height is very smooth and ergonomic.
It has a maximum height of 42.5 inches and weighs 42.5 pounds.
The Lotus VE sit stand workstation is ideal for coders, programmers and other busy executives who need to work on multiple computer screens simultaneously. This workstation is the perfect solution you are looking for to make your desk space more functional, organized, and safe. This workstation converts your flat desk space into a three-layered area where you can organize your computer and other things very conveniently. It offers ample space to set up your keyboard, mouse, phone, notepad, and stationery organizer.
The best part is that you can work at your computer while sitting or standing because it gives you multiple height options. The benefit is that you do not have to punish your back and neck muscles from sitting at work all day. Shifting your position improves blood circulation, relieves muscular stress, and gives you a change of mood.
This particular Fellowes VE Lotus sit stand workstation model comes with the added functionality of supporting two monitors. For content creators and programmers, as well as for those who conduct regular online meetings, this feature can greatly increase your productivity without requiring you to invest thousands in creating a professional office space. | up to 20 pounds.
An inclined surface is perfect | 12 |
FutureStructure_Grey
Chicago Collaboration Looks to<|fim_middle|> Urban Strategy Leader, in a statement.
Skip Descant Staff Writer
Skip Descant writes about smart cities, the Internet of Things, transportation and other areas. He spent more than 12 years reporting for daily newspapers in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and California. He lives in downtown Sacramento.
Chicago Cab Companies, Ride-Shares Partner on Policy Collaboration is Transportation Innovation's Crucial Ingredient Transforming Transportation Reaps Cross-Generational Benefits
MORE FROM Transportation | Redefine Modern Transportation
The Advanced Mobility Initiative Roadmap is an extension of the Advanced Mobility Initiative launched in April 2019. It will function as a guide for a three-year project to reimagine transportation.
by Skip Descant / October 29, 2019
The Advanced Mobility Initiative Roadmap, led by the City Tech Collaborative in Chicago, will explore transit and transportation innovation during a three-year project. e.republic/David Kidd
A new effort to use innovation to address transit and transportation in urban areas will focus on establishing more seamless transitions from one transportation source to another, better management of freight and resident deliveries, and even the use of drones.
The project, known as the Advanced Mobility Initiative Roadmap, is an extension of the Advanced Mobility Initiative launched by City Tech Collaborative in Chicago in April 2019. The roadmap will function as a guide for the Advanced Mobility Initiative, a three-year project.
"Based on current global technology and transportation trends, the roadmap is a summary of addressable challenges to improve urban transportation systems and quality of life for residents," said David Leopold, director of City Solutions at City Tech Collaborative.
Chicago Cab Companies, Ride-Shares Partner on PolicyCollaboration is Transportation Innovation's Crucial Ingredient Transforming Transportation Reaps Cross-Generational Benefits
The roadmap concept will focus on six "impact areas of urban mobility." They include: multimodal connectivity; smart and improved infrastructure management; the adoption of drones and autonomous vehicle technologies; electric vehicles and other forms of electric mobility; better management of freight; and altogether improved public transit.
These six sectors are areas where City Tech "is focused on working with partners to develop innovative technology solutions with a global lens, ensuring the findings are applicable and scalable to other cities," said Leopold.
The roadmap and Advanced Mobility Initiative aim to improve the Chicago transportation systems by working with civic and business partners across the city, including the Chicago Transit Authority, Shared-Use Mobility Center, Illinois Autonomous Vehicles Association and others, said Leopold.
Other collaborators will include organizations like the Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research, and private-sector companies like SpotHero and Via Transportation.
The Argonne National Laboratory has a number of transportation system models calibrated for the Chicago metro region, said Ann Schlenker, the director of the Center for Transportation at the laboratory.
"We plan to leverage this expertise with City Tech partners and the Department of Energy to provide insights on new mobility business models, new technologies and new services in the automated, connected, efficient and shared future of mobility," Schlenker said in an email. "These research insights, as neutral, unbiased data and results, will be shared with sponsors and stakeholders widely to inform future transportation practices and policies."
A number of cities have turned to greater creativity in the transportation arena, launching projects like on-demand micro-transit, the deployment of rentable electric scooters and bikes as well as electric car-share programs which allow users to rent by the minute via an app.
Shared electric mobility could offer some of the best opportunities to economically, sustainably and equitably serve transportation needs, said Brian Holland, program director for the Shared-Use Mobility Center, a nonprofit with offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. The Mobility Center, a partner on the Advanced Mobility Initiative project, works to accelerate the shift to new mobility options. The organization is leading about 25 pilots around the country.
"We're starting to see some scale at this intersection between efficient, and electric, and equitable," said Holland during a recent symposium titled The Next Urban Future, hosted by the nonprofit Meeting of the Minds in Sacramento, Calif.
In the coming weeks, City Tech will bring together industry officials for a series of workshops to develop mobility solutions. City Tech, along with the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, will launch a Future Street Typologies Design Studio later this year to explore how cities can plan for the future — and increasingly, the present — by embracing new types of vehicles, technology and automation.
"Technology is dramatically changing the way we use our infrastructure. Technologists and urban designers must engage so we can shape the future city together," said Chris Hall, SOM's | 851 |
Spring semester was well on its way to being completed, and everyone had Easter and summer vacation on their mind. For The Tiger it also meant it was time for spring cleaning, something TC didn't want to know about. While their apartment wasn't all that big, more like a college student's<|fim_middle|> his Mom and explained that he wanted to make her famous Clemson Tiger Eggs, the one's filled with peanut butter and covered in white chocolate. He also planned on decorating each egg with orange Tiger paws and the player's numbers. TC's Mom agreed to e-mail him the recipe, but he had to promise not to eat too many eggs and clean the kitchen up when he was finished. The Tiger realized that without TC's Mom around to supervise, TC would have a very difficult time preparing the special eggs and would want him to assist.
As promised, TC's Mom sent him the family egg recipe later that night, and The Tiger true to his word delivered The Soccer Gem at 10:00 a.m. sharp the next day. Just as the Tiger had expected, TC was smitten by The Soccer Gem in more ways than one. She sported long blond hair and a beautiful Tiger smile that TC couldn't resist. Raring to go, TC and The Soccer Gem compiled a list of supplies they would need and headed out for the nearest grocery store. They spent about an hour shopping, as they wanted to take advantage of as many specials as possible. It didn't take long for TC to realize The Soccer Gem knew her way around the grocery aisles almost as well as the soccer field.
As soon as they arrived back at the apartment, TC and The Soccer Gem began the magical process of turning raw ingredients into finished Easter eggs. White chocolate was melted, blenders whirled, and peanut butter was gently formed into the shape of eggs. TC kept checking the recipe, while The Soccer Gem kept checking on TC. Slowly but surely, Easter eggs began to appear where once there had only been a solid block of white chocolate, and a large jar of peanut butter.
"I think the eggs look fantastic TC, if it's OK with your Mom I sure would like a copy of her recipe," The Soccer Gem said.
"They do look pretty darn good if I do say so myself," TC replied. By the time The Tiger arrived with dinner, TC and The Soccer Gem had crashed out on the couch, and the kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off.
"What tornado came through here?" The Tiger asked, "this is the biggest mess I've ever seen." " I don't think even your Mom would believe this." After a few minutes, The Tiger calmed down and began examining the finished eggs as TC and The Soccer Gem dove into their hamburger and french fries. Each egg had a player's number on the top, and there was a special egg emblazoned with Coach Leggett's name. It was clear to The Tiger that TC and The Soccer Gem had done a great deal of work in such a short time.
While The Tiger was out, he'd purchased special orange containers for TC to package the eggs. Each container was marked with the player's number and taped closed for safety. As the team would be leaving early the next morning for an out of town game, The Tiger suggested that they would need to deliver the eggs tonight.
"That sounds like a plan, I'll load the eggs and be right back." TC stacked the eggs up as high as could in the hopes that he would only need to make one trip to the car. This turned out to be a fatal mistake, as the stack of eggs teetered back and forth and then fell to the ground several feet from The Tigers car. The Tiger and The Soccer Gem knew exactly what had happened, as TC's roar of frustration could be heard clear through the walls of The Tiger's house.
The next morning TC and the Tiger purchased 20 pounds of gourmet jellybeans that they carefully repackaged into smaller bags for each member of the team. The bags were placed in a well-padded box and dropped off at the local express mail office for overnight delivery to the team.
" I guess you might say this was a jellybean recovery," The Tiger smiled. | apartment, it did require special attention at least once a year. TC was in charge of cleaning his room, which was furnished with a sleeping loft, a desk with a chair, small TV, and an array of posters that boggled the mind. The living room was TC's favorite room as the couch and chairs were so comfortable you could sleep in them if you wanted. The main attraction in the living room was a new entertainment center with a large screen TV, video recorder, and DVD player. The remainder of the apartment consisted of The Tiger's bedroom and a small but functional kitchenette. While The Tiger and TC ate out occasionally, they prepared most of their meals at home. The Tiger knew home cooked meals were healthier for TC as he used fresh vegetables and fruit whenever possible.
"That sure sounds like a lot of work TC, and besides, we don't have your Mom's recipe to go by," The Tiger replied.
TC called | 188 |
Summer is right around the corner and everyday it becomes more and more apparent… birds and bees you didn't notice even a few weeks ago are suddenly happily chirping and flying around beautifully colored flowers with renewed joy and interest… it's obviously time to sit down with your family and have the talk again… the talk about POLLINATION!
Pollinators help pollinate over 75% of flowering plants, and almost 75% of our crops. They carry pollen from plant to plant as they collect nectar and without them wildlife wouldn't have as many nutritious berries and seeds and we wouldn't have blueberries, and coffee… just to name a few! (Just the latter alone makes me want to wear an "I Heart Pollinators" shirt everyday!).1 Simply put, without pollinators Earth's inhabitants (both human and ecosystem alike) would not survive. So what creatures hold this ever-so-important title? Bats, butterflies, birds, and bees -to name just a few. But it's truly a team effort -neither plant or pollinator could exist without the other.
Buy native plants for your garden in a variety of shapes and colors. Since there are a variety of bee species in North America alone your garden should be equally diverse. Also, make sure that your plants have diverse blooming seasons so even in the winter you have something beautiful blooming.
Plant milkweed. By doing so you are providing food for monarch butterfly caterpillars.
If possible, avoid mulch. Approximately 70% of bees dig nests in the ground to raise their young, and mulch makes it much more difficult for them.
Install a bee block because by doing so you are giving habitat to bees<|fim_middle|> herbs, (bearing that they did NOT hang on or over my balcony ledge!) After more research I decided on Rosemary, Lavender, and Basil as they all provide good nectar/food sources for pollinators, including bees and butterflies. Late summer and early autumn are difficult times for many of our pollinators to find food, as opposed to spring, when a majority of plants are blooming. Rosemary and Lavender are great choices because they tend to flower later. | that nest in pre-existing holes.
Border your fruit and vegetables with native flowers.
We put our money where our mouth is here in the Creatures Division, so for the past month (and moving forward!) we challenged ourselves to HELP OUR POLLINATORS!
Herbs!! After another email to the board I received confirmation that I could actually plant | 67 |
Thanks to everyone who has helped keep us on track to reach our $350,000 fall fundraiser goal. It takes a big investment to cover the news in a rural region this size. And there are good reasons to make that investment. If you<|fim_middle|> and expensive, but it's also vital to our mission as your public media source. Your support now is a necessary ingredient in bringing the stories and challenges of North Country communities to light. | only watch, read or listen to national news, you'd get the impression that the only things on people's minds are the hot buttons of the moment: terrorism, immigration, the Russia investigation, climate change, international trade, the Supreme Court, the latest capital Twitterstorm, or the nasty battles for control of Congress. And while they are important to know about, they are not the matters of closest concern in rural America, or the North Country in particular.
In a poll released this week, conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard's Chan School of Public Health, a plurality of rural people (25%) say the biggest problem that faces rural communities is the opioid crisis, followed closely (21%) by economic concerns. Unemployment in the North Country is nearly twice the national average. And fewer than 1% of rural Americans listed immigration as their communities' biggest problem.
And in these days when less government is portrayed as a positive end, a significant majority of rural respondents on both the right and the left said they look to government at some level for help to solve these challenges.
This is why the North Country needs strong media outlets like NCPR. Our closest concerns are lost in the ground clutter on the national radar. And the national concerns with the most impact on North Country communities are expressed here in unique ways. We tend to look at international trade through a borderland lens; or to look at immigration through a farm economy lens. We might see climate change through a wilderness tourism lens or an invasive species lens.
North Country Public Radio looks at the news through a North Country lens. That takes boots on the ground, and miles on the car. It's both labor-intensive | 341 |
De babaco (Vasconcellea ×heilbornii, synoniem: Carica ×pentagon<|fim_middle|>ten groeien er rechtstreeks aan.
De babaco heeft een cilinderachtige vorm met een lengte van 20–30 cm en een doorsnede van circa. 12 cm. Bij de steelaanzet is de vrucht stomp van vorm en aan het uiteinde puntig. De schil is groen van kleur en verkleurt tijdens het rijpen geel. De vrucht heeft sappig geel vruchtvlees zonder zaden. De smaak is fris zoetzuur en kan worden omschreven als een combinatie van aardbei en meloen. Een babaco geeft geen afval, aangezien deze met schil en al kan worden geconsumeerd.
Papajafamilie
Fruit
Hybride plant | a) of chamburo is een hybride van de bergpapaja (Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis) en Vasconcellea stipulata. De hybride is verwant aan de echte papaja (Carica papaya). De vrucht wordt verbouwd in Chili, Colombia, Ecuador en Nieuw-Zeeland. De bomen hebben een kale rechte stam met bovenaan een soort pruik van groene bladeren. Vlak hieronder groeien de vruchten in trossen aan de stam; de steeltjes van de vruch | 136 |
De Mont Saint-Hilaire is een van de negen Montérégie-heuvels in de Canadese provincie Quebec. De heuvel werd genoemd naar de Heilige Hilaire van Poitiers. Deze heuvel met een hoogte van 4<|fim_middle|> het stadje Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
Geografie van Quebec (provincie)
Biosfeerreservaat | 15m is het centrale onderdeel van het gelijknamige biosfeerreservaat, het eerste biosfeerreservaat in Canada, aangewezen door UNESCO in 1978.
De heuvel heeft een oppervlakte van 43 km². Daarvan vormt negen km² het Gault-reservaat, dat gedeeltelijk open is voor het publiek. Het reservaat is genoemd naar de Britse officier Andrew Hamilton Gault, die in 1913 de berg kocht, zich verzette tegen exploitatie, en het gebied bij zijn dood in 1958 naliet aan de McGill-universiteit. De universiteit beheert het gebied nog steeds en heeft ervoor gezorgd dat de berg nu de status van biosfeerreservaat heeft. Op de berg worden verschillende unieke mineralen, beschermde plantensoorten, en beschermde diersoorten gevonden.
De heuvel heeft vier toppen: Pain de sucre, Burned Hill, Rocky en Dieppe. De Pain de Sucre is met 415 meter de hoogste, en biedt (bij goed weer) uitzicht op Montreal en op de toppen van de Adirondacks. De eerste Europeaan van wie bekend is dat hij de Mont Saint-Hilaire aanschouwd heeft is Jacques Cartier, die de heuvel kon zien toen hij de Mont Royal beklommen had.
Aan de voet van de heuvel, aan de oever van de rivier Richelieu, ligt | 354 |
Breaking the Genome Bottleneck - Technology Review
The genomic data generated from next-generation sequencing machines doesn't amount to much more than alphabet soup if it's not subjected to significant computational processing and statistical analysis. For the data to be useful, the trick is to turn those As, Ts, Gs, and Cs into a manageable description of disease risks and other genetic predispositions. That requires a lot of computational power and time—already a significant bottleneck for some genomic analysis companies.
Several companies are looking to the cloud as a way to help them analyze all the data. The idea is that researchers can send their data to a Web-hosted analysis service that will process raw data into a genetic profile. However, the data files generated by sequencing machines are so massive that the mundane issue of uploading large files to the cloud becomes its own issue. The strategy of a Redwood City, California-based startup called Bina Technologies is to divide and conquer: give customers an in-house data-crunching machine that will turn a mountain of raw sequence into easily shared genetic profiles. Those profiles can then be quickly uploaded to Bina Technologies' cloud-hosted site for data management, sharing, and aggregation.
Supernus moves from IPO to FDA - Washington Business Journal
Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc. capped off its first week on the Nasdaq up nearly $1 from its initial public offering price. With its IPO in the bag, the Rockville biotech now turns to a bigger gamble: seeing two drugs through Food and Drug Administration approval and onto the commercial market.
The modestly successful May 1 offering marks the first time a Washington-area biotech has gone public since 2007 and leaves Supernus with a pile of cash to shovel into its lead product candidates — epilepsy drugs SPN-538 and SPN-804.
State biotech firms hoping Congress will act - baltimoresun.com
A proposal to speed the approval of new prescription drugs has patient advocates and biotech firms — including many based in Maryland — hoping that Congress will deliver a rare dose of bipartisanship this year.
Lawmakers are proposing a 6 percent increase in the fees that pharmaceutical firms pay the Food and Drug Administration to offset the cost of approving new drugs. If the measure is not signed into law by the end of September, the FDA would lose the ability to charge any fees and be forced to lay off 2,000 workers, significantly slowing review times.
Should the FDA Approve More Drugs after Phase II? A Response to Matthew Herper - Forbes
Last Friday, Forbes health care editor Matt Herper and I sat down to talk about my proposal, which I detailed in a paper for the Manhattan Institute, to encourage the FDA to approve more drugs after mid-stage phase II testing, using a process called "conditional approval." (You can read my proposal, in three parts, here.) Matt put forth some very perceptive critiques of the idea, which I respond to in today's dispatch.
As a refresher, my proposal builds on an existing FDA procedure called accelerated approval in which the FDA approves drugs that show great promise in phase II, with the caveat that the drug sponsor must still perform confirmatory phase III studies. If the phase III studies ultimately show that the drug doesn't work as advertised, or has previously unknown safety issues, the FDA can revoke its approval. This is exactly what happened when the FDA revoked the approval of Avastin in breast cancer, after phase III tests did not reproduce the early signal of benefit that the drug had shown in phase II studies.
Biotech Venture Funding Drops 43% in First Quarter | McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP - JDSupra
Last month, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a trade association representing the U.S. venture capital industry, released the results of its MoneyTree Report on venture funding for the first quarter of 2012. The report, which is prepared by NVCA and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP using data from Thomson Reuters, indicates that venture capitalists invested $5.8 billion in 758 deals in the first quarter, which constituted a 19% decrease in dollars and a 15% decrease in deals as compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, when $7.1 billion was invested in 889 deals.
The report notes that the Life Sciences sector (biotechnology and medical device industries) and the Clean Technology sector saw marked decreases in both dollars and deals in the first quarter, with the drop in Life Sciences funding mostly due to decreased funding for the biotech industry. While the biotechnology industry still managed to place second among the industries tracked by the NVCA in terms of dollars invested in the first quarter, with $780 million invested in 99 deals, this constituted a 43% drop in dollars and a 14% drop in deals over the fourth quarter. The medical device industry picked up some of the slack for the Life Sciences sector, with $687 million invested in 72 deals, which constituted a 33% increase in dollars and a 6% drop in deals. The number of deals in the Life Sciences sector dipped to its lowest point since the first quarter of 2009. Overall, eleven of the seventeen sectors tracked by the NVCA saw decreases in dollars invested in the first quarter.
NIH's Collins Lauds "Unprecedented" Partnership at NY Bio Confab | Xconomy
Yesterday at the New York Biotechnology Association's 21st annual meeting, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins was beamed in by videoconference to a keynote lunch at the Times Square Marriott Marquis. Collins, who was the featured speaker, apologized for his virtual appearance at the event, but he had a good excuse: Just two hours earlier he was at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., making an announcement about an ambitious new program being undertaken by the NIH and drug giants Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly. The NIH said it will collaborate with the companies to make existing compounds available to outside scientists who want to find new uses for them.
Cambridge life science sector on record high | Business Weekly | Technology | Biotechnology | Business news | Cambridge and the East of England
Cambridge's most prolific life sciences entrepreneur, Andy Richards, says the local cluster is attracting more cash and global kudos than at any time in its history.
Dr Richards says a number of 'secret' investments in the UK sector have created a far healthier funding environment than available figures would suggest.
A serial angel investor in Cambridge's European-leading BiomedTech cluster, Dr Richards is also its most passionate evangelist and believes it has never ridden so high in its quarter-century evolution.
QIAGEN Acquires AmniSure International to Add Unique Assay to Emerging Point of Need Portfolio - MarketWatch
QIAGEN expands Point of Need portfolio with unique AmniSureassay to detect rupture of fetal membranes (ROM) - checked in up to 30% of U.S. pregnancies
Novel FDA-cleared test is highly synergistic with QIAGEN's clinical sales channels
QIAGEN N.V. QGEN -1.92% (frankfurt prime standard:QIA) today announced the acquisition of AmniSure International LLC, a privately owned Boston company that markets the AmniSure assay for determining whether a pregnant woman is suffering rupture of fetal membranes (ROM), a condition in which fluid leaks from the amniotic sac prematurely.
3 Start-Ups Join Loyola Business Accelerator - North Baltimore, MD Patch
The first three start-ups have been selected to participate in a new business accelerator program started by Loyola University Maryland.
CodePupil, PointClickSwitch.com and Vidstructor were selected by the university and its partner Wasabi Ventures to participate in the accelerator located in Govans, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
In March Loyola announced it was creating the business accelerator to partner with local entrepreneurs to help create new businesses.
Fine-tuning Nanotech to Target Cancer - Technology Review
The results of the human trials are startling. Even at a lower-than-usual dose, multiple lung metastases shrank or even disappeared after one patient received only two-hour-long intravenous infusions of an experimental cancer drug. Another patient saw her cervical tumor reduce by nearly 60 percent after six months of treatment. Though the drug trial—by Bind Biosciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts—of an experimental nanotechnology-based technique was designed simply to show whether the technology is safe, the encouraging results revive hopes that nanomedicine could realize its elusive promise.
Entrepreneurship Ready to "Pop" in Maryland - Citybizlist Baltimore
Maryland has the foundation on which it can grow a robust environment of high-tech, innovative start-ups, but needs a stronger angel and venture capital network, more support for entrepreneurs and better programs to<|fim_middle|> Blueprint last week, on April 26. It details measures by which Washington intends to apply biological innovations toward national challenges that include health, food, energy, and the environment.
At the top of the Blueprint's five priorities is supporting "R&D investments that will provide the foundation for the future U.S. bioeconomy." Also on the list: increasing the focus on translational and regulatory sciences, reforming regulations, updating training programs, and identifying and supporting opportunities for public-private partnerships.
Pfizer Profit Declines 19% After Loss of Lipitor Patent - NYTimes.com
For years, drug companies have known that their days of plenty were numbered, that the moment would arrive when the best-selling drugs that had driven two decades' worth of profits would lose their patent protection and succumb to competition from generic alternatives. Without new blockbusters to replace them, profits would tumble.
For Pfizer, that day has arrived. Pfizer profited from hits like Lipitor and Viagra, and swallowed up smaller companies from the 1990s onward.
But it has no immediate successor to Lipitor, the best-selling drug in history, which lost patent protection last fall. The problem was punctuated on Tuesday when the company said that profit declined 19 percent last quarter, largely because of declines in Lipitor sales.
BHI Weekly News Archives
BHCR News | nurture young, creative minds, a group of business leaders said Tuesday.
"There's no reason Maryland can't be an entrepreneurial hotbed like Austin or Boston or Silicon Valley," said John M. Wasilisin, executive vice president of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). "We have our challenges, but our assets are off the charts, our education system and our quality of life, our access to federal facilities."
Loyola University Maryland and Wasabi Ventures Name First Business Accelerator Participants - Citybizlist Baltimore
Loyola University Maryland and Wasabi Ventures, a California-based venture capital firm with a presence in Baltimore, named the first three companies participating in the business accelerator program the two organizations operate in the Govans community of North Baltimore. They are:
- CodePupil, an educational technology system that teaches software coding;
- PointClickSwitch.com, an energy choice platform that gives residential customers the ability to compare supplier offers, enroll, and save;
- and Vidstructor, a software company enabling interactive video training platforms for businesses.
New Enterprise Associates Grabs Four Spots on Forbes Midas List of Top Tech Investors - cbl - Citybizlist Washington DC
Four New Enterprise Associates (NEA) venture capitalists were named to Forbes Midas List of Tech Investors, which aims to single out the top 100 venture capitalists that provide "the best returns for their investors, while helping create the most valuable and impactful technology and life science companies."
Scott Sandell from the firm's Menlo Park office ranked highest at 14th. He was joined by Chevy Chase, Md. based Harry Weller (17), Peter Barris (23), both stalwarts on the Midas list, and "newcomer" James Barrett.
Weller's and Barris' biggest deal was in Groupon while Barret's was in Pharmion.
Bioeconomy Blueprint Embraces Public-Private Efforts, Avoids Grand Challenges
President Barack Obama's administration rolled out its National Bioeconomy | 408 |
We run a "concierge" type medical practice next to Swedish Medical Center on First Hill. We charge patients $180 per month in addition to regular insurance. With that extra funding, we're<|fim_middle|> medicine. | able to provide a much higher level of personal service and medical care than you can obtain in the traditional insurance-only system. We see about eight patients per day instead of 25-30 which is typical in primary care these days. You can email your doctor or talk to him on the phone. Office visits can last 30-60 minutes and longer if needed. It is easy to be seen on short notice. Most folks can get an appointment the same day or next day after they call. We are signed up on all the major insurance plans.
Our website explains the practice model in more detail. If you are interested in this sort of medical care, feel free to call the office and set up a no-cost, no-obligation "meet and greet" to determine if it would be a good mutual fit.
We manage the usual range of problems in primary care internal | 179 |
An Edinburgh micro-brewery is trialling a new gluten-free barley from Australia which it claims could be a game-changer for the free-from beer market.
Bellfield Brewery, which was set up by two Coeliacs and launched its first two free-from beers on the market in March, has been licensed to use the new<|fim_middle|> in the central belt in Scotland and has started to supply its range in London and the South-East through supplier Amathus. | Kebari barley in small-scale non-commercial trials by the Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). It is hoping this will lead to the development of a wider range of more interesting, naturally gluten-free beers in different styles, and is particularly keen to develop darker and heavy beers and stouts that are rarer to find in the free-from aisles.
The new barley has taken thirteen years to be been developed through selective breeding, which has resulted in a barley with 10,000 times less gluten than regular barley. At 5 parts per million (ppm) gluten, it also falls well within the WHO's recommended limit (for gluten-free) of 20ppm.
The brewery is dedicated to producing gluten-free beers, having been set up by two Coeliacs. It is using the trial to discover the range of the barley and see what beers the gluten-free barley can produce.
Owner and co-founder Giselle Dye said gluten-free beers were primarily produced using added enzymes to clarify and remove the gluten, or through a filtration process, but that this would provide more choice for customers and was an issue of "trust and provenance".
"Coeliacs have to be careful and lots would prefer their beer hadn't been treated with enzymes, but were naturally gluten-free," she told db.
Brewer and brewery Manager, Kieran Middleton, added that the new trials continued the new brewery's strong commitment to R&D and innovation in brewing. "Last year we completed a research programme with Heriot-Watt's Institute of Brewing and Distilling and we will soon be starting another round of research and recipe development so that we have a pipeline of tasty gluten-free beers," he said.
Since launching in the Spring, the brewery not only supplies around 100 outlets | 367 |
SHOP HSN.com QRTEA: --.-- --.-- (--.--%) Search Icon
Fashion Icon Kathy Ireland Launches Outerwear Collection on HSN
Multichannel Personalities Products
October 7, 2022: Kathy's presentation of her new kathy ireland® Outerwear collection is now available on demand across HSN's streaming platforms
ST. PETERSBURG, Fl. – HSN®, a leader in livestream shopping and video storytelling, today launched kathy ireland® Outerwear, a new collection within the global brand. The collection offers several colors and includes six new outerwear pieces. The fashion portfolio is available now on HSN.com. Kathy also presented the collection live on HSN and across the network's streaming platforms on Thursday, October 6. HSN is part of Qurate Retail, Inc. (NASDAQ: QRTEA, QRTEB, QRTEP).
Outerwear is the newest addition to the ever-growing kathy ireland® Fashion assortment, which spans multiple categories.
The HSN launch features a variety of flattering outerwear silhouettes ranging in price from $129 for the London Faux Leather French Topper to $189 for the Coat of Many Colors Artisanal Wool Trench, available in a classic color palette and fashionable prints. HSN, a pioneer in fashion inclusivity for over four decades, will offer all styles at the same price point in sizes XS-3X. The outerwear collection will be exclusive to HSN for thirty days.
"Kathy Ireland is recognized for her work as a designer, author and philanthropist and we can't wait to introduce our HSN customers to her alongside her timeless collection," said Bridget Love, GMM &<|fim_middle|> HSN on Pinterest, YouTube or LinkedIn.
Qurate Retail, Inc. (NASDAQ: QRTEA, QRTEB, QRTEP) is a Fortune 500 company that includes QVC®, HSN, Zulily® and the Cornerstone brands (collectively, "Qurate Retail GroupSM"), as well as other minority interests and green energy investments. Qurate Retail Group is dedicated to providing a more human way to shop. Qurate Retail Group is the largest player in video commerce ("vCommerce"), which includes video-driven shopping across linear TV, ecommerce sites, digital streaming and social platforms. For more information, visit www.qurateretailgroup.com, follow @QurateRetailGrp on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or follow Qurate Retail Group on YouTube or LinkedIn.
PersonalitiesPersonalities
ResponsibilityResponsibility
Our TeamOur Team
MultichannelMultichannel
InclusionInclusion
HSN HappeningsHSN Happenings
Press ReleasesPress Releases
HSN Team Members Share Thoughts on Hispanic Heritage Month
October 7, 2022: As we come to the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, hear from some amazing team members at HSN on why celebrating Latinx heritage is important to them.
Get Ready to Feel JOY-ful This Fall With HSN's New Series 'Joy Live! with Joy Mangano'
September 23, 2022: 8-episode series showcases entrepreneur Joy Mangano's favorite HSN products and the stories behind them
Actress and Entrepreneur Lacey Chabert Launches First-Ever Apparel Collection Exclusively with HSN
September 12, 2022: The Lacy Chabert Collection reimagines loungewear and includes special 'Mommy & Me' matching garments
HSN Launches Livestream Video Shopping Experience on YouTube TV
September 8, 2022: The vCommerce retail pioneer joins one of the industry's premier live TV streaming platforms
Load more (+542)
Community guidelines|
General terms of use|
Online closed captions
Copyright © 2017/HSN,Inc. All Rights Reserved. HSN and HSN.com are registered trademarks of HSN Holding LLC, U.S. Patent No. 7,756,758 | VP Merchandising, HSN. "We know our customers will enjoy the opportunity to shop this iconic global brand while hearing from Kathy directly about her most recent endeavor with outerwear."
Beginning at age 16, Kathy's fashion career began its runway walk, gracing dozens of covers of the world's top magazines, becoming a Supermodel and Fashion Icon. Kathy's solely owned company, which began in 1993 at the family kitchen table, is at number 19 worldwide, most successful women-owned design and licensing firm in the world, according to License Global, which named Kathy an icon in the licensing industry. Earlier this year, kathy Ireland® Worldwide (kiWW®), received honors from WWD (Women's Wear Daily) as "today, it's (kiWW®) the highest-ranking woman-owned licensing business in American History." Billions of dollars in sales and over 25,000 SKUs are attributed to kiWW® annually. Earlier this year, kiWW® entered an agreement with Bagatelle International to produce outwear, denim and dresses.
"We are delighted to launch our beautiful outerwear collection, which is available only on HSN," says Kathy. "For decades, we've carefully considered our distribution plans, and once we began our collaboration with Bagatelle for outerwear, denim and special occasion dressing, we believed that these exquisite clothes must be talked about, shared and seen. HSN is the premier platform to share the story around this line to the women we serve all over America. Our new outerwear designs are so on trend and yet not trendy. Each item is designed to celebrate the beauty of each woman, without compromising quality. HSN aligns with our demand of inclusivity, and we look forward to bringing our beautiful collections to this wonderful journey, which enriches the lives of the women who love HSN and our brand."
"We are thrilled to be launching kathy Ireland® Outerwear on HSN," said Jon Carrasco and Stephen Roseberry, Worldwide Creative Director and President-Chief Marketing Officer, kathy ireland® Worldwide, respectively. "The collection was designed and curated to celebrate women of every size, shape, age and color. Kathy's excitement is extraordinary, and we've never seen Kathy and her team work harder to bring stellar apparel to the market in order to share it with our customers."
To learn more and shop the kathy ireland® Outerwear collection now, visit www.hsn.com.
Email: Media.Relations@hsn.net
HSN® takes shoppers on a journey – embracing the new, exploring untrodden paths, and bringing shoppers a unique perspective that enriches their lives. HSN offers a curated assortment of exclusive products and top brand names in health and beauty, jewelry, home/lifestyle, fashion/accessories, and electronics and incorporates entertainment, personalities and industry experts to provide a unique shopping experience. HSN engages millions of customers across the U.S. via two TV channels, which are widely available on cable/satellite TV, free over-the-air TV, and digital livestreaming TV. The retailer also reaches millions of customers via the QVC+ and HSN+ streaming experience, a website and mobile app, and social pages. HSN was founded 45 years ago as the first shopping network and is based in St. Petersburg, Fla. To learn more, visit www.corporate.hsn.com, follow @HSN on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or follow | 709 |
The Junior League of Dallas gathered members, sponsors and donors at Belk for the big reveal of the theme and entertainment for the 53rd annual Junior League of Dallas Ball, slated for February 21, 2105, in the Chantilly Ballroom at the Hilton Anatole. Event chair Beverly Cahill has recruited Lynn McBee to serve as this year's honorary chair.
This large, elegant flower, which is associated with nobility, perseverance and dignity, symbolizes JLD and what it strives to represent within<|fim_middle|> contact the development office at 214-357-8822 x. 118.
The Junior League of Dallas is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. | the community. The magnolia also represents fabulous Southern style.
Cahill surprised the Junior Leaguers with some news about the musical guests. She announced that not one but two entertainers would perform during the ball: Gabbie McGee and Emerald City Band. McGee kicks off the evening with her fresh take on jazz; after dinner, Emerald City's 13-piece super group takes the stage.
For individual tickets or sponsorship opportunities, visit the JLD website or | 96 |
The Pine Barrens & Fire: Foresters on the Role of Prescribed Burns
June 7, 2017 May 7, 2018 Beth Young 0 Comments
Conducting a prescribed burn at the New York Wildfire & Incident Management Academy in the fall of 2015.
By Beth Young
In the world of wildland firefighting, there are vast acreages of uninhabited fuel-filled forests out west, with a well-trod history of fire and management, and then there are areas known as the WUI, the Wildland-Urban Interface, a quagmire of human dynamics and its attendant politics, where only the bravest venture.
In its simplest terms, the WUI is the area where human settlements abut large swaths of wilderness. A forest fire in the wilderness can be contained through methods ranging from cutting fire lines around an existing fire, which breaks the fire's fuel supply, to burning areas ahead of the fire, in the hopes that lack of fuel will cause the fire to peter out. Those methods prove less-than-ideal when human homes are in the path of the fire.
Because of its dense population in the midst of the fire-dependent Pine Barrens, Long Island's wildfires happen on the edge of the WUI, making our<|fim_middle|>," said John Pavacic, the executive director of the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission, who helped organize the conference.
Long Island's pine barrens are a globally rare ecosystem that is dependent on fire, which helps to maintain habitats for unique and rare flora and fauna.
Today, these natural communities have been altered by development, fire suppression, safety efforts, and new threats such as the southern pine beetle.
According to conference organizers, "the exclusion of fire is problematic because fire, when safely implemented, can be a cost-effective tool to reduce fuel hazards around homes and businesses, while also helping to restore critical and natural ecosystem processes."
Over the past three decades, there's been much work done nationwide on making prescribed burns safer, and many of the speakers at the conference shared a wealth of experience-based knowledge.
"There isn't enough fire, for a lot of reasons. The longer between burns, the harder it is to get it done right and safely," said Dr. Bill Patterson of the University of Massachusetts-Amhurst, one of the pioneers of prescribed burns.
Dr. Patterson said there's evidence that Native Americans used controlled burns to open up pasture and farmland long before settlers arrived on these shores.
A controlled burn conducted by instructors and students at the New York Wildfire & Incident Management Academy in Calverton in the fall of 2015.
Up near Albany is a 3,200-acre park called the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, an ecosystem very similar to Long Island's pine barrens, where forest scientists have been researching the effect of prescribed fire for nearly three decades.
Neil Gifford is the conservation director of that park.
"Fire is as inevitable and essential as rain and sunshine" in a pine barrens ecosystem, he said at the conference. The park, which is the largest inland pine barrens east of the Rocky Mountains, is also home to the rare Karner Blue Butterfly, first discovered there by novelist Vladimir Nabokov.
The Albany Pine Bush, with areas of WUI interspersed throughout the pine barrens, is also a good microcosm for the human dynamics at play in Long Island's pine barrens.
Mr. Gifford's commission has been experimenting with prescribed fire to manage the ecosystem there since 1991, dividing the preserve into a checkerboard of unmanaged areas, areas where they mow grasses and areas where they both mow and burn.
They've found that prescribed burns are best done in the summer, when green plants slow the spread of the fire.
"Our goal is to expose mineral soil. It's like peeling off the layers of an onion, year after year," he said.
"Mow and burn encourages more biodiversity," he said, adding that Karner Blue butterfly populations rebound after a burn. "We let the wildlife tell us if we're managing it appropriately."
He says prescribed burning keeps the pine bush healthy, and will also make the preserve more resilient in the face of climate change.
Conservation ecologist Tim Simmons pointed out that the population of Datana moths and other pine barrens species, evolutionarily adapted to fire, exploded after the 1995 Sunrise fires on Long Island, which burned 7,000 acres and is named for the fact that it crossed Sunrise Highway at the height of the blaze.
While prescribed fire can be controversial, the attendees agreed that public outreach is essential.
"In forestry school, you were taught to hide, but you can't hide smoke," said Dr. Paterson.
"Everything we do, we treat like the public has a stake in it," said Mr. Simmons. "We showed them we had taken the risk out of their environments."
"Fear is a mind-killer," said Mr. Gifford. "Every day we have a burn we call 50 to 100 people. We keep the messaging and science simple and connect with people."
Scott Campbell of the Suffolk County Health Department questioned whether people on the East End would be willing to agree to burning in the height of the tourist season, especially given concerns about wild animals being killed by fire, driven by nightmare scenarios like the one in the Disney film "Bambi."
Mr. Simmons said animals often escape fire, by running away or burrowing underground, and the advantages to the ecosystem often outweigh the small number of animals that may be killed by fire.
"It's not really as destructive to wildlife as people think," he said.
"Nothing happens on Long Island without a campaign," said Richard Amper of the Pine Barrens Society. "You need broad-based public support."
The Central Pine Barrens Planning and Policy Commission has begun outreach to communities within the Wildland-Urban Interface, particularly in the areas surrounding Ridge, Manorville and Calverton, which suffered numerous wildfires in 2012, the most severe among them being the 1,200-acre Crescent Bow Fire.
Judy Jakobsen of the Pine Barrens Commission has been charged with public outreach to communities in the central pine barrens, and helped the communities of Ridge, Manorville and Calverton put together a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, aimed at helping residents make their properties fire-resistant.
The CWPP has federal funding through the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 to allow Ms. Jakobsen to do site assessments of houses in those communities, offering suggestions for how to make the properties more safe.
"This comes from fire science out west, where 'miracle homes' were able to withstand wildfires," she said. "Field lab studies found that homes that had 30 defensible feet of space around them were able to withstand wildfires."
Ms. Jakobsen said her site assessments include asking homeowners to not plant evergreen foundation plantings, to clean all leaves from the 30-foot area surrounding their house, and to not install wood fencing that can act as a fuse leading up to houses. She also recommends that people clean leaves out of their gutters and screen the vent openings on their homes.
"There should be no flammable vegetation within five feet of the home, and then you work your way out," she said. "You have to be sure to do your spring clean-up and keep your lawn free of dead wood."
Ms. Jakobsen said she'd like to expand the program to other areas in the pine barrens, if federal funding will allow.
She recommends residents go to www.wildlandfirersg.org for more information on how to keep their properties safe.
Kathy Schwager gives an overview of the destruction of the Crescent Bow Fire on BNL grounds at this May's conference.
Kathy Schwager of Brookhaven National Lab's Environmental Protection Division, has long been an advocate of prescribed fire on the grounds of the lab.
On April 9, 2012, the Crescent Bow Fire ignited on the lab's grounds, driven by heavy winds, burning through 246 acres in 45 minutes, in an area that hadn't burned in 70 years, she said. By the time it was over, the fire had burned through 1,200 acres.
"It was an intense fire, a dormant season fire, and there was nothing left," said Ms. Schwager as she led conference attendees through a portion of the lab's grounds that burned that day.
National laboratories had begun taking wildfires seriously after a wildfire at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in 2000, said Tim Green, the Natural and Cultural Resource Manager
at the lab.The New York State Wildfire and Incident Management Academy, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this October, first convened on the Brookhaven Lab campus in the aftermath of the Sunrise wildfires. The lab's original plan was to use classes at the fire academy to do controlled burns on its grounds.
At the time, said Ms. Schwager, the plan was to help clear the forests of oaks devastated by the gypsy moth. That led to a greater debate over the role of natural succession in forests, in which oaks would eventually overtake pines if left on their own.
But once that succession starts, said Ms. Schwager, "it's harder to bring it back to the early stage. Then it ceases to be a pine barrens. The idea is to have a mosaic, a fair representation on a landscape scale. It makes the area more resilient."
"Most (animal) species of greatest need are dependent on the early successional stages," added Mr. Green.
In the midst of this debate about fire, the Southern Pine Beetle, long a menace to pines in the southeastern United States, has been munching its way through Long Island's pine barrens since at least 2014.
DEC forester John Wernet was called to Long Island to help manage the pine beetle problem, after the region was without a DEC forester for seven years. He found a densely packed forest here, deprived of its cyclical fires, with many unhealthy trees unable to grow tall enough for their crowns to take in the sun's rays.
"The pine beetle is the symptom," said Mr. Gifford. "Forest health is the problem."
Mr. Wernet said the dwarf pine plains in Westhampton, in particular, are a globally rare ecosystem that is at its healthiest when exposed to fire every six to 12 years.
"We're looking at losing the cultural heritage of pines," he said. "We really need to talk about it."
Mr. Wernet is preparing for a prescribed burn in the Rocky Point Pine Barrens State Forest later this year, an area where the DEC cut many trees infested by the Southern Pine Beetle. It would be the DEC's first woodland prescribed burn on Long Island, where previously they'd only managed grasslands through prescribed fire.
The original pine beetle clearing project was the subject of intense media scrutiny when the DEC put out a bid to sell the trees, leading to accusations from the press that the DEC was attempting to profit off of public lands. But, with no market on Long Island for the trees, no bidder came forward to cut the infested trees, and the DEC ended up doing the work instead, using $513,000 in grant funding.
"Maybe the pine beetle is a weird blessing in disguise, which gets us to where we need to be," said Ms. Schwager.
"It seemed a lot of people gave up hope. We have momentum again," said Mr. Green.
← This Morning's Bulletin — 6.6.17
This Morning's Bulletin — 6.7.17 →
Breathing New Life Into Bay-to-Sound Trail Project
California Solar Firm Signs Contracts to Build Five Solar Arrays on East End
May 28, 2015 June 1, 2015 Beth Young 0
Deepwater Wind Proposes New Offshore Wind Plan for the South Fork
December 9, 2015 December 14, 2015 Beth Young 0
Please prove you're human: 7 − = six | wildfire management a patchwork of response primarily from volunteer fire departments, intent on their mission of protecting human life and property, and from foresters trained in the role of fire in the ecology of the wilderness.
The human dynamic of the WUI has made wildfire firefighting on Long Island an aggressive enterprise — fires are put out quickly to protect the public safety, but deep within the forests, fuels are piling up in the absence of a normal cycle of burning, increasing the potential severity of future wildfires.
Foresters see these as a prime case for the necessity of prescribed burning, but on Long Island, this still remains a controversial suggestion.
The Central Pine Barrens Planning and Policy Commission, the New York State DEC and the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange are hoping to change the way the public and local fire departments think about fire management in the pine barrens.
They opened up the discussion with a two-day conference titled "Keeping the Pine in the Pine Barrens" in early May at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
"We are hoping to raise awareness of the need for prescribed fire, and the role it plays in ecological restoration and reducing the fuel that helps fuel wildfires | 230 |
Описание: This Teachers Book accompanies a collection of four complete practice tests for the updated Key English Test (KET) from University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. These tests provide candidates with an excellent opportunity to familiarise themselves with updated KET (to be introduced in March 2004)and to practise examination techniques. Visual material for Paper 3 is included with each test, enabling students to prepare thoroughly for the paired Speaking test. The Students Book is available with or without answers. The with answers edition is ideal for self-study. The Teachers Book contains transcripts of the recorded material and answer keys. It also provides useful information about the updated KET examination, a clear guide<|fim_middle|> prepare thoroughly for the paired Speaking test. The Student's Book is available with or without answers. The 'with answers' edition contains a comprehensive section of keys and tapescripts, making it ideal for self-study. The CD contains the listening material for Paper 2 in the same timed format as the exam itself. | to each paper and an insight into marking procedures and grading, illustrated by sample answers.
Chapter Titles: Introduction; KET Content and marking; Grading, awards and results; Paper 3 frameworks; Test 1 Key & transcript; Test 2 Key and transcript; Test 3 KET and transcript; Test 4 Key and transcript.
Описание: This CD accompanies a collection of four complete practice tests for the updated Key English Test (KET), specially prepared by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. These tests provide candidates with an excellent opportunity to familiarise themselves with the updated KET exam (to be introduced in March 2004) and to practise examination techniques. Visual material for Paper 3 is included with each test, enabling students to | 155 |
What is a persimmon? It's actually the fruit of the Diospyros tree and varies in hue from yellow-orange to red-orange. While they look similar in shape to a tomato, their flavor profile resembles dates when ripe. The Asian<|fim_middle|> from side to side to smooth out the curd topping. Place in the refrigerator overnight to allow the curd topping to set.
Once it has set, you simply lift it out of the pan by lifting the aluminum foil from the pan.
This entry was posted in baked good, dessert, has dairy, has grain and tagged bars, blood orange, curd, egg yolk, gluten free, lemon, persimmon, shortbread. Bookmark the permalink. | varieties of persimmons are considered "astringent", and have high levels of tannins in their fruit that only soften as they ripen. "Non-astringent" persimmons are fairly sweet, even when not completely ripe, with lower levels of tannins in the fruit; the American persimmon, Black persimmon, and Mexican persimmon fall into this category.
I was actually hoping that the fruit was going to be astringent, but the persimmon variety I bought (Bouquet) most definitely tasted like dates, with no astringency. I was thinking lemon bars but with persimmons.
Well, that's kind of what happened here. I was super pleased with the shortbread that served for the crust, and used the persimmons as my sugar for the curd.
Add the sugars to a food processor and make a fine powder. Add the butter and cream.
Then add flour, in 2 additions, until no dry flour is visible.
Then, using your hands, knead the dough on wax paper.
How will you know when you're done kneading the dough? The dough will be smooth and well mixed.
Line a baking pan (13″ x 9″) with aluminum foil. Press the dough into the bottom of the baking pan, trying to ensure consistent thickness throughout.
Bake the shortbread for about 35 minutes – until slightly golden, but not browned.
Allow the shortbread to cool. I wanted to speed up the cooling process so I threw the shortbread into the refrigerator while I made the curd.
First, zest the oranges and lemons.
Then, juice the oranges and lemons. Be sure to juice through a strainer to prevent any pulp in your curd.
Next, quarter the persimmons. Cut off the peel and clean away the center of the persimmons. The pile on the left is what goes onto the food processor. The middle pile is the peel of the persimmon, and the pile on the right is the center of the persimmon.
Blend the persimmons in a food processor or blender for 2-3 minutes. The mixture should be velvety smooth. Note, 3 persimmons will make about one cup of persimmon puree.
Add the juice and blend. Then add the butter and blend. Next, add the ginger and salt and blend.
Finally, add the egg yolks and blend.
Transfer the mixture from the food processor or blender to a saucepan. Cook on low heat (absolutely no boiling or you will overcook the egg yolks) for about 10 minutes.
My curd started out as a lovely rose colored mixture, but as it cooked, it lightened in color and thickened. You'll know it's done cooking when you can make a streak through the middle of it if you coat the spoon. Check out this lemon curd recipe – it has a great photo demonstrating this test for doneness. You can also use a candy thermometer – when it reads 170 degrees F, your curd is cooked.
Now, once the curds starts to cool a bit, cover your shortbread. Gently shake the pan | 662 |
Triangle Arts and Entertainment
Triangle Arts and Entertainment – News and Reviews Theatre Dance Music Arts
A&E Theatre Reviews
A&E Dance Reviews
A&E Music Reviews
Theatre Feature
Triangle A&E
Home › News › Arts › Artsplosure
Click Here to Enter for Giveaways
Kenny Wayne Shepherd on February 17, 2022 8:00 PM
MOTHER RUSSIA by Lauren Yee on February 23, 2022 7:30 PM
YOGA PLAY by Dipika Guha on February 23, 2022 7:30 PM
Chris Lane on February 25, 2022 7:30 PM
Brockhampton on March 15, 2022 7:00 PM
Celtic Woman – Postcards from Ireland on March 16, 2022 7:00 PM
Justin Bieber on April 6, 2022 7:00 PM
Steve Hackett on April 14, 2022 8:00 PM
Elton John on April 19, 2022 8:00 PM
Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band on April 23, 2022 8:00 PM
SEOLemonaide.com
Artsplosure
By Triangle A&E • August 10, 2021
Lineup Announced for Artsplosure – The Raleigh Arts Festival: October 9-10, 2021
The annual Artsplosure – Raleigh Arts Festival will showcase a diverse mix of music, performance art, children's activities, interactive art, and fine artists and crafters in downtown Raleigh. As it has been for 41 years, Artsplosure is free to the public!
RALEIGH, N.C. – Artsplosure, the presenter of Artsplosure – The Raleigh Arts Festival, today announces its lineup of performing artists for its 41st namesake festival to take place on Saturday, October 9 and Sunday, October 10 in downtown Raleigh. Festival organizers have curated an eclectic mix of emerging performers ranging from acoustic blues, to Cosmic Americana, to soul, to alt-folk, and more.
Artsplosure – The Raleigh Arts Festival 2021 Performing Artists
Son Little • Brittney Spencer • Aaron Lee Tasjan • Ida Mae • Thunderstorm Artis • Lakota John • Christopher Paul Stelling • Bassel & The Supernaturals • Blue Cactus • Libby Rodenbough • T. Gold • Chessa Rich • Trippers & Askers • and more!
Performances on Saturday, October 9 highlight an array of talent and genres, featuring sets from first generation Syrian-American Bassel & the Supernaturals, NC native guitarist and songwriter Lakota John, southern folk singer and guitarist Christopher Paul Stelling, and Americana singer-songwriter, ace guitarist, and fiery live performer Aaron Lee Tasjan. Saturday's headliner is Son Little, hailed by NPR as "honest and unpretentious," while The Independent proclaimed him "a formidable talent," and Vice declared that he was "dissolving the barrier between R&B and rock 'n' roll one tearjerker at a time."
Live music performances will continue on Sunday, October 10, with Americana/Indie-Country duo Blue Cactus, Sleepy Cat Records artists Trippers & Askers, T. Gold, Chessa Rich, and Libby Rodenbough, acoustic alt-folk duo Ida Mae, and Thunderstorm Artis, Season 18 finalist on NBC's The Voice. Sunday's headliner is country singer-songwriter and rising star Brittney Spencer, recently heralded by Maren Morris as an artist to watch during her 2020 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year acceptance speech.
A complete list of the full line-up of visual artists, special activities and music will soon be available at RaleighArtsFestival.com.
Connect with Artsplosure!
www.RaleighArtsFestival.com
Use hashtag #Artsplosure #ArtForAll
Facebook: Facebook.com/Artsplosure
Twitter: @Artsplosure
Instagram: @Artsplosure
About Artsplosure
Artsplosure is an independent nonprofit organization that presents arts festivals in Raleigh, including its namesake spring festival since 1980 and First Night Raleigh since 1991. Its mission is to produce quality events that make the works of the most imaginative and celebrated artists accessible to the public, all in an effort to enrich our community and inspire greater love for the visual and performing arts.
Artsplosure is funded in part by the City of Raleigh based on the recommendations of the Raleigh Arts Commission and is also supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Tagged as: Artsplosure, raleigh arts festival
Categorised in: Arts, Events, News
« The Henderson Rec Players' Rendition of Godspell Boasts an Exemplary Cast, an Imaginative Director, Peppy Dances, and a Glorious Band
Staind @ Walnut Creek August 10, 2021 »
Proudly powered<|fim_middle|> | by WordPress | Theme: Mimbo Pro by Pro Theme Design. | 13 |
»National Strategic Selling Institute to host fourth annual benefit auction
One Stop Shop for Student Success
Submitted by Brent Fritzemeier
The National Strategic Selling Institute, NSSI, in the Kansas State University College of Business Administration is set to host its fourth annual benefit auction on Friday, April 29, at the Houston Street Ballroom.
The event is being organized by students in the institute's advanced sales class, in conjunction with Pi Sigma Epsilon, the sales and marketing business fraternity.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for our students to develop<|fim_middle|>
International Coordinating Council hosts international dance lessons today
K-State's social work program celebrates 42 years of accreditation, retirement of Jacque Gibbons
Animal sciences and industry's Academic Quadrathalon team takes second in regional
Philosophy professor wins prestigious fellowship
Wildlife biology students receive scholarships
A gift of philanthropy enables student to explore new opportunities
K-State Online April updates
Campus construction and maintenance
Service interruption notification: Call Hall hot water
Participate in Information Technology Services focus groups | their selling skills, and at the same time give back to the community," said Dawn Deeter, director of the National Strategic Selling Institute. "Through the NSSI Benefit Auction, students have the chance to put into practice what they are learning in the classroom."
Students work together to find items for the auction and sell tickets to the event. This year the organizers voted to split the net proceeds with Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters of Riley County, with the other half going toward the NSSI Sales Cup Merit Awards. Those merit awards go to students who have earned performance points through their classes and participation in sales competitions, networking events, workshops and other institute events.
This year's theme is "Viva Las Vegas!" and attendees will have the opportunity to play games and win chips for raffles throughout the night. The doors to the event will open at 5:30 p.m., with a catered meal from Wahoo Fire & Ice Grill beginning at 6:30 p.m. A cash bar will be available throughout the evening.
The auction portion of the event begins at 7:30 p.m., and will feature a live auction, hosted by 2001 K-State marketing alumna Michelle Canny of the Canny Team, with items ranging from suite tickets to a home K-State football game to a golf outing. A silent auction will feature signed sports memorabilia and a variety of gift baskets. The featured event of the night will be a raffle for a customized K-State-themed golf cart.
"Employers are very excited by what we are doing, and feedback from the students has been very positive," said Deeter. "Although the class is difficult — it is never easy making cold calls — it is 'real-life' difficult rather than 'book' difficult. Students appreciate the difference and the responses they are getting from employers."
The minimum donation to attend is $25, but opportunities exist to buy a sponsored table, donate an auction item, purchase a raffle ticket, or to sponsor the meal of an advanced sales student. Find additional information about sponsorship opportunities online. To donate an item or purchase tickets, please contact Deeter at ddeeter@k-state.edu.
From the vice president for research
RSCAD Momentum
9 things to know about animal vaccine development from Kansas State University experts
Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry issues undergraduate grants
Veterinary Health Center provides sight-saving eye exams for service dogs
Save the date: Summer Advising Institute scheduled for May 19-20
Plant pathology department hosts Geoff Morris for lecture on genomic dissection of agroclimatic traits in sorghum
Graphic design student to present on club's humanitarian efforts in Panama
'High Flying Design' with 2016 College of Human Ecology Alumni Fellow Jo Kimbell today | 573 |
Ghost Worlds
The search for other Earths
December 20, 2005 | By Dan Falk
Pawel Artymowicz recently had one of those "fiction<|fim_middle|> astronomers Ray Carlberg and Bob Abraham and physicist Pekka Sinervo, U of T's dean of Arts and Science.
With these new telescopes, astronomers may make their most tantalizing finding yet: a terrestrial planet orbiting within the "Goldilocks zone" of its parent star (the narrow ring that is neither too hot nor too cold for life to evolve). But the diverse and ever-increasing trove of strange new worlds that scientists have already found has triggered a revolution in astronomy.
"It has been a tremendously exciting 10 years," says Jayawardhana. "After centuries of people talking about it, we have finally found not one, not two, but more than 150 planets around other stars. It's truly remarkable."
Dan Falk is a Toronto science journalist and the author of Universe on a T-Shirt: The Quest for the Theory of Everything (Penguin Canada). Additional reporting by Stephen Strauss.
Tags: Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Cover Story, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Winter 2006
When Time Began
A new telescope may shed light on the universe's first moments
Planet Hunters
With the discovery of hundreds of worlds around other stars, will we find that Earth is not alone in bearing life?
Heavenly Dance
"Gravitas: Portraits of a Universe in Motion." | is reality" moments. As he was crossing the border into the U.S., an immigration officer asked him what he did for a living. Artymowicz, a U of T astronomy professor, responded that he was a theoretical astrophysicist.
"And what is that?" the officer asked, a little suspiciously.
"Oh," said Artymowicz, eschewing all technical descriptions of his work. "I study how planets outside our solar system form."
"Ah, you mean like Class M planets," said the official, proudly recalling how the writers of Star Trek denoted Earth-like planets in the far reaches of the galaxy.
This accidental conjoining of the research interests of a scientist and the enthusiasm of a science-fiction fan would have been unlikely 20 years ago. At that time, no extra-solar planets of any sort had been discovered for Artymowicz or anyone else to study.
But in 1992, Penn State University astronomer Alexander Wolszczan published evidence of the first planet to be found outside our solar system – a distant, rocky orb circling a pulsar in the constellation of Virgo. Since then, "everything has changed," says Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University and a recent guest of U of T's department of astronomy and astrophysics. In October, Fischer delivered a public lecture at Convocation Hall on extra-solar planets as part of the department's 100th anniversary celebrations. The study of these planets, she says, has grown from an intriguing diversion to one of the hottest fields in astronomy physics. "In the beginning, it was like stamp collecting," she says. There was a planet here, and a planet there. But now astronomers are starting to compare our own solar system to other planetary systems and are being forced to rethink long-held theories of how stars and planets come into being. U of T researchers are among those trying to integrate these discoveries into a broader picture of stellar and planetary evolution. One day, the search for these distant celestial bodies may yield the Holy Grail of planetary astronomy – the discovery of another Earth.
Sci-fi books and movies would have us believe the galaxy is teeming with hundreds of humanoid civilizations inhabiting planets that look a lot like Earth. But the astronomical evidence to support this view is so far lacking. Almost all of the 150-plus extra-solar planets that scientists have detected are gas giants – hundreds of times bigger than Earth. Many of these immense planets hug their parent stars in tight orbits, completing a full circuit in just a few days. (Even Mercury, the speediest planet in our solar system, requires 88 days to orbit our parent star, the sun.) And while Earth and its siblings travel around the sun in near-circles, many of these newly discovered planets move in highly elliptical orbits. In the jargon of astronomy, they have "high orbital eccentricities." The surface temperature on these planets is furnace-hot much of the time. Life almost certainly could not develop under these conditions.
Is it possible that other Earth-like planets exist, but have so far escaped our detection? The recent wave of discoveries certainly makes the existence of other Earths likely, says Artymowicz, but scientists don't know how many smaller, rocky planets will be found in the galaxy. "I don't think we're at the point where we can reliably predict the number," he says. "But there is no physical reason why terrestrial planets shouldn't be there."
If there is another Earth out there, astronomers are unlikely to see it just yet because of the techniques they use to detect planets. The radial velocity method, which has been used for several years, is biased toward finding large planets with tight orbits, says U of T astronomer Ray Jayawardhana. Through radial velocity, a scientist can infer the existence of a planet by observing its influence on the light of its parent star. Suppose we're viewing a far-off star system from its edge, says Jayawardhana. An orbiting planet will spin toward us for part of its year and away from us for a similar amount of time. Its parent star will also move very slightly – tugged by its planet toward us and away from us in a regular cycle. This distinctive wobble causes subtle shifts in the light of the star. By observing the system for several orbital periods with a telescope and a spectrograph (which measures the intensity of light at different wavelengths), astronomers can pin down the distance of the planet from its sun, and estimate the planet's mass. The radial velocity technique tends to locate large planets in close orbits because these planets cause their parent stars to wobble most. Finding smaller planets or planets moving in wider orbits is more challenging. Still, as astronomers refine the radial velocity method, they believe they'll be able to spot planets only a few times larger than Earth (they're already detecting objects the size of Uranus and Neptune, which are about 15 times as massive as Earth).
At the same time, astronomers are honing another planet-detection technique, the transit method. Consider once again that we're observing a distant planetary system edge-on. Light from the star would seem to dim ever so slightly when a planet passed in front of it. If, for example, the planet completes an orbit every 10 days, we would have to watch the star for a month or two – noting a slight dimming of the star's light on each pass of the planet – to be confident of the planet's existence. The smaller the planet, the more powerful the telescope we would need to detect it.
Alien astronomers viewing our solar system edge-on could make a similar set of observations. "If you had a sensitive enough telescope, you would actually see the Earth transit the disc of the sun," says Norman Murray, the associate director of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics at U of T. "And a year later you'd see it transit again – and you'd know it was a planet and not a bird or something flying over your telescope."
The transit method is a promising detection technique; so far, astronomers using it have found about a half-dozen planets. Plans call for sophisticated orbiting telescopes (successors to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope) that will look for the periodic transits of many stars – possibly leading to the discovery of thousands of extra-solar planets in the coming decades, including, in all likelihood, some planets that resemble Earth.
In the meantime, Murray and the astrophysicist Matthew Holman of Harvard University have devised a way for astronomers to infer the existence of Earth-sized planets without actually seeing them transit their host stars. Their idea, published in the journal Science last winter, involves carefully timing the transits of huge planets the size of Jupiter. The key is gravity. In a system with a Jupiter-sized planet and a smaller Earth-sized planet, the smaller body will induce slight irregularities in the orbit of the larger body. (In a similar way, astronomers in the 19th and early 20th centuries were able to use irregularities in the orbit of Uranus to infer the existence of Neptune and Pluto.)
Think of our hypothetical alien astronomers dozens of light years away, watching our solar system. With powerful enough telescopes, they could detect transits of Jupiter against the sun. If these alien astronomers monitored Jupiter for several decades, they would notice that the time between successive transits was not exactly the same. They could use this discrepancy to infer the existence of at least one other planetary body. (They would likely presume the existence of Saturn, since its gravitational pull would have the greatest effect on Jupiter's transit times.) If they had even more powerful telescopes, capable of detecting Earth's transits, they would discover irregularities in our orbit, too. "Such astronomers would see variations in the times between transits in the order of 10 minutes, due primarily to the influence of Venus," explains Murray.
Murray and Holman's technique of scrutinizing transit times would allow astronomers to determine properties of the unseen planet that they can't with radial velocity. The planet's mass can be calculated, based on its effect on the orbit of the larger planet. Astronomers could also work out the size of the orbit as well as its eccentricity. And if astronomers are really lucky, and see both planets transit the host star, they can also calculate the sizes of the planets. If you know the size and the mass, you can determine density. "So you can immediately say whether the planets are terrestrial or gas," says Murray. Terrestrial planets are where life is most likely to be found.
To comprehend these strange new worlds, we need to understand how these planets formed – a line of inquiry that Murray and several other U of T astronomers are actively pursuing. "A theory of planet formation would tell us, in principle, what fraction of stars, like our sun, harbour Earth-like planets," Murray explains. It would also give astronomers a better idea of where to look for them, he says. But the extra-solar planets found so far are tough to explain using our existing theories.
The prevailing view is that a planetary system begins as a slowly spinning, immense ball of gas. The hot, central part becomes the star, while the material far from the core flattens and evolves into a Frisbee-shaped cloud of debris. This cloud – the proto-planetary accretion disc – is thought to exist for about 10 million years before dissipating, and provides the raw materials from which planets eventually form. The basic scenario is still believed valid; what is hotly debated are the details of the process.
One problem with the traditional model is that it implies that giant gas planets should form far from their parent stars. After all, this is where we find them in our solar system. But it's not where we see gas giants in extra-solar planetary systems. "We had an understanding of how our system formed, how the Earth fits into the planetary system and how the conditions for life evolved in our solar system," explains Artymowicz. "There was quite a shock when we discovered that other solar systems are different."
Now, astronomers are trying to fine-tune the old model. At present, they're torn between two competing scenarios. In the core-accretion model, planets are born when small chunks of rock, sand-grain-sized debris and dust collide within the disc. As the rocky core grows, its gravity draws in more dust and gas from its surroundings. If it's large enough, over millions of years it will keep on gathering gas until it becomes a giant planet, like Jupiter. If it is smaller, it will become a rocky planet like Earth. A problem with this scenario is that the accretion process is too slow; giant gas planets may not have enough time to form. In a competing scenario, the disc-instability model, denser patches of gas and dust undergo a sudden collapse, causing one or more planets to form in a mere thousand years.
One U of T theorist, however, believes that gas giants can form according to the core-accretion model at a much faster rate than previously imagined. Roman Rafikov, recently from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, has been examining the competing models. The Astronomical Journal just published his argument that a giant planet orbiting a star at a distance equivalent to Neptune's orbit in our solar system can form "on a time-scale of about 10 million years."
While the question of how planets form may seem esoteric, it bears directly on the likelihood that other Earths exist, says Murray. The disc-instability model is neutral on the formation of terrestrial planets – they may or may not form. But the core-accretion model requires terrestrial planets to form. Under that model, gas giants are simply terrestrial planets that, over millions of years, continued to gather gas. In other words, if the core-accretion model is correct, Earth-like planets may be commonplace.
The search for another Earth will intensify over the next several years, with the launch of a new generation of space-based telescopes and the construction of immense new telescopes on the ground. Among the most ambitious ground-based projects is the proposed Thirty Metre Telescope, which, when completed by 2015, will be the world's largest. U of T is one of 15 Canadian universities co-operating on the project, with backing from the National Research Council and several U.S. institutions. A number of U of T scientists are playing major roles in the project, including | 2,565 |
The Russian Government Commission approves Fortum's<|fim_middle|> than 70.5%. | majority ownership in Uniper subject to certain conditions
Company Fortum (IFRS), Uniper SE
Tags Corporate Deals, Deals, Power
The Russian Government Commission for Monitoring Foreign Investments has today approved, subject to certain conditions, the closing of Fortum's acquisition of Uniper SE shares agreed with funds managed by Elliott Management Corporation and its affiliates ("Elliott") and Knight Vinke Energy Advisors Limited and its affiliates ("Knight Vinke). The Government Commission's decision was announced earlier today to the Russian media by Igor Artemyev, the Head of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). As of now Fortum has not received an official decision from the FAS. To Fortum's understanding the details of the decision and the relevant conditions will be clarified by the FAS within approximately 10 days, after which Fortum is in a position to give further details.
The closing of the transactions is also subject to customary merger control clearances in Russia and the United States. Fortum expects to be able to close the transactions by the end the first quarter 2020.
On 8 October 2019, Fortum announced that it has agreed to acquire all the Uniper SE shares held by Elliott and Knight Vinke, a total in excess of 20.5%. Upon closing, the transactions will increase Fortum's share in Uniper to more | 282 |
Migrants face bleak situation in camps south of the border
for bringing new attention to a growing humanitarian crisis with a pair of powerful, complementary stories on the bleak conditions facing<|fim_middle|>/2Fst9Ov | migrants forced to wait at the U.S.-Mexico border under Trump administration policies. Verza reported that drug cartels and gangs are profiting from the policy by robbing and extorting the migrants, while Merchant revealed the dire medical conditions at a migrant camp just feet from U.S. soil.https://bit.ly/2s0z5M8https://bit.ly/2XFDxvB
Only on AP: Singer says Domingo harassed her, grabbed her breast; more women come forward
In the weeks after Jocelyn Gecker's bombshell investigation detailing multiple sexual harassment allegations against Placido Domingo, competitors were out in full force, trying to produce their own stories about women who had encounters with the opera superstar.
But only the AP was able to advance the story, offering the accounts of an additional 11 women who said the legend had behaved inappropriately, including one who said on the record that Domingo insisted on kissing her and later forcefully grabbed her bare breast under her robe. In addition, backstage staff told the Jocelyns – AP's Gecker and Noveck – how they strove to keep young women from ever being alone with Domingo.
No one could match the pair's reporting, which produced one of the most-read stories on AP's platform and formed the basis of stories by many other media outlets. Meanwhile, more opera companies announced they were canceling or reassessing their relationship with Domingo.
For remarkable source building and reporting that continued to give AP ownership of this highly competitive story, Gecker and Noveck earn this week's Best of the States award.
AP ahead of the competition in Bahamas Hurricane coverage across formats
Through smart planning, speed and considerable courage, the AP managed to be the only agency on the ground Sept. 1 as Hurricane Dorian, a powerful Category 5 storm, arrived and parked itself over the Bahamas for more than 24 hours dumping tons of water and packing sustained winds in excess of 185 MPH. Not even local broadcasters, including the government channel, were able to feed live images.
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2019-09-01/northern-bahamas-hunkers-down-as-hurricane-dorian-closes-in
All-formats team dominates Hurricane Barry coverage
for leading and providing all-formats coverage of Hurricane Barry with front-page photos, gripping video and compelling text stories.https://bit.ly/32wtTxohttps://bit.ly/2XV72fF
Unscrupulous landlord exposed in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina
for deft text and video reporting that highlighted, as no other news outlet had, the struggles of vulnerable hurricane victims caught in a vice between rent hikes and a housing shortage. Morris reported that in a county hammered by two hurricanes in two years, a Florida-based landlord had bought up two-dozen area mobile home parks between storms, doubling or tripling rents. https://bit.ly/30DCvAA
'Destined to Burn': AP, media organizations join forces to expose California wildfire risks
A groundbreaking collaboration among California newspapers and The Associated Press started with a tweet.
Northern California News Editor Juliet Williams saw on Twitter that the editor of The Sacramento Bee, a McClatchy paper, was driving to meet with the editor of the Chico Enterprise-Record, a MediaNews paper, to talk about wildfire coverage. Williams reached out, offered the AP's help, and a partnership was born, with the goal of illuminating problems and pointing to potential solutions to California's increasingly deadly wildfires.
The results: nearly a dozen stories, including an analysis of data by McClatchy and AP Los Angeles-based data journalist Angeliki Kastanis revealing that more than 350,000 Californians live in towns and cities almost entirely within zones of very high wildfire risk. An analysis also found that a 2008 building code for California's fire-prone regions can make the difference in whether homes burn or not, but there's little retrofitting of older homes.
The partnership's next installment was focused on evacuation planning, revealing that many communities wouldn't share the information or didn't have an adequate plan, or any plan at all. Data analysis by USA TODAY Network-California showed many communities had too few roads to get everyone out.
We heavily publicized the package and play was impressive, with hundreds of downloads of the first two installments. Many outlets used the data to report their own stories about local fire risks. And this isn't the end of the partnership: The next phase will focus on legislative action on wildfire coverage.
When AP engages in collaborations like these we become more than just a content provider to our customers; we're helping them produce high-impact local coverage that wouldn't exist otherwise. In this case, the "Destined to Burn" partnership was managed at every level by West Deputy Director of Newsgathering Anna Jo Bratton, who worked for six months with people throughout the AP and the collaborators to make the partnership a success.
For putting the AP at the center of an important collaboration, driving important journalism in a state ravaged by wildfires, and forging a stronger relationship with members, Williams, Kastanis and Bratton win this AP's Best of the States.
'They are human beings': AP produces deep worldwide count of missing, dead migrants
The idea was bold from its inception: Attempting to count dead and missing migrants worldwide.
After covering the outflow of refugees in the wake of the Islamic State's takeover in parts of Iraq last year, Paris enterprise writer Lori Hinnant noticed a lack of data on the migration. She set off on a mission to count the uncountable.
The yearlong effort to document lives that would otherwise go unnoticed proved extremely challenging, precisely because it was plowing such new ground. An AP team of more than a dozen people painstakingly compiled information that had never been put together before from international groups, forensic records, missing persons reports and death records, and went through data from thousands of interviews with migrants. The data came alive with individual stories of migrants, a challenge in itself.
The AP project found 56,800 dead and missing migrants since 2014, almost double the number currently put out by the United Nations, which focuses heavily on Europe and nearly excludes several other areas of the world. The report drew significant interest, despite the fact that it ran six days before the U.S. midterm elections.
For their ambitious project that established AP as a global authority on this issue, Hinnant, Istanbul visual journalist Bram Janssen and Cairo photographer Nariman El-Mofty share the Best of the Week award.
AP Investigation: Hospitals hold patients hostage for cash
for their all-formats AP investigation in Nairobi that revealed that in countries around the world, patients are being held hostage in hospitals even though they are well enough to go home – because they can't pay their bills.https://bit.ly/2qaPrxJhttps://bit.ly/2P1p0cB
Post-hurricane teamwork produces compelling story of newborn's night in parking lot
Amid the chaos and broken lives after Hurricane Michael, photographer David Goldman was combing for images of how people were coping when he discovered a heartbreaking story in a Walmart parking lot: A newborn baby was spending one of his first nights in the back of a pickup with his parents.
Goldman knew he had a great visual story. And he knew there was a great story to write. Not being in a position to write the story himself, he turned to colleague Jay Reeves, also working in the hurricane zone.
Reeves wouldn't be able to meet with the family, but Goldman knew the elements Reeves would need to write the text piece. He sent Reeves all his notes and an audio interview via email. From those pieces, Reeves crafted the narrative.
The moving words and compelling photo package resonated. Goldman's Twitter lit up with responses, and readers hoping to find a way to help "baby Luke" reached out to the AP by email, phone and web. The story was carried by Time Magazine, USA Today, The New York Times and NPR, among others.
For their collaboration and unmatched story that reminded the world that the story of Hurricane Michael is far from over, Reeves and Goldman win this week's Best of the States.
AP trio dominates in all-formats – including live video – from Mexico Beach
for their work on Hurricane Michael. Holed-up in a collapsing hotel, dealing with a smashed vehicle and dodging downed trees to get to Mexico Beach for the first comprehensive, all-format look at a shredded town after Hurricane Michael. The video of the hotel awning collapse was a live exclusive for AP. The mainbar netted more than 600 source matches, and a sidebar added nearly 700 more. The top 10 AP images the next day were all from the storm, many from Mexico Beach. The photos, nearly all of them from Mexico Beach, ran on at least 75 front pages. One of our video pieces scored 72 channels with 273 hits and was unmatched by the competition. https://bit.ly/2yxKtinhttps://bit.ly/2S0gGYD
Florence's environmental toll: coal ash and hog waste
for leading strong AP coverage of the devastation of Hurricane Florence. Biesecker drew on experience to warn readers that the storm would likely cause widespread water pollution from ruptured hog lagoons and swamped coal ash dumps, and scored a series of storm-related scoops. Helber captured iconic images including a widely used aerial shot that earned a rare two-page spread in Time magazine.https://bit.ly/2xMWdwMhttps://bit.ly/2NEn7lrhttps://bit.ly/2zw7WlNhttps://bit.ly/2Og1G9U
AP and partners document Puerto Rico hurricane deaths
Welcome to Best of the Week.
This officially marks a rebirth of sorts for our weekly global staff contest, which celebrates some of the best work from around the AP world.
This week's winner celebrates a great team effort by colleagues in Latin America and beyond, as well as a really productive partnership with two other news organizations. It's creative and insightful work that breaks news and includes great visual journalism and innovative presentation. It rose to the top of an impressive field of entries.
Today, and each Friday going forward, the weekly winner is revealed at the Global News Meeting at 9:15 a.m. ET, which all AP staff are invited to attend.
Please join me in congratulating this week's honorees.
Since the early days after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017, the debate over the death toll has raged. The Trump administration seized on initial reports that fewer than 100 people had died, but those numbers belied the scope of the devastation. The storm left the island without electricity for months, hospitals and other key infrastructure shuttered, roads unpassable and pharmacies closed.
In June, Caribbean News Director Mike Weissenstein in Havana forged a partnership with Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism and U.S.-based news site Quartz to undertake the most comprehensive list to date of Puerto Ricans who died in the wake of the storm.
For the project, Weissenstein, San Juan newswoman Danica Coto, Washington-based data journalist Larry Fenn, New York-based reporter Claudia Torrens, Miami-based reporter Gisela Salomon, Washington-based reporters Luis Alonso and Ben Fox, as well as senior Havana-based producer Chris Gillette, Havana photographer Ramon Espinosa, Santo Domingo reporter Ezequiel Lopez Blanco, Mexico-based digital producer Dario Lopez, New York-based motion graphics producer Peter Hamlin and enterprise editor Raghuram Vadarevu, based in Phoenix, share the Best of the Week award-
Big oil asks government to protect it from climate change
for exclusively showing how nearly $4 billion in federal funding for reinforced storm surge barriers after Hurricane Harvey is being used to prioritize protecting Gulf Coast enclaves packed with oil refineries, protecting the industry that has been blamed for exacerbating climate change. https://bit.ly/2P2ZShf
All-formats team dominates coverage of Italian train derailment
for quick work that positioned AP to own the international coverage of a deadly train derailment in Italy. https://bit.ly/2IZtEop
Toxic impact of Hurricane Harvey greater than public was told
for cataloging more than 100 industrial spills from Hurricane Harvey in collaboration with the Houston Chronicle; most of the spills were never investigated by officials. https://bit.ly/2IgkGyi
Exclusive footage shows scientists diving with whale sharks off Ecuador
for securing exclusive video and photos of scientists diving with whale sharks in the Galapagos Islands, trying new techniques. http://bit.ly/2trOIfW
Texas effort to streamline hurricane recovery backfires
As the six-month mark approached of Hurricane Harvey hitting Texas, Austin Administrative Correspondent Will Weissert and Fort Worth Correspondent Emily Schmall teamed up to report exclusively that the state's decision to lead housing recovery – meant to be faster and better than anything the federal government could muster – was actually resulting in backlogs that made the chaotic response after 2005's Hurricane Katrina look good by comparison.
Acting on a tip, the duo dug into federal records and added field reporting to produce a multi-format report showing that delay by the governor, and the state land office's steep learning curve, meant temporary shelter and quick-fix home repair programs were rolling out at a startlingly slow pace.
For excellent sourcing and taking a deeper look at Texas' hurricane recovery process, Weissert and Schmall share this week's Best of the States prize.
Letter reveals disputed case of euthanasia in Belgium
for obtaining a letter detailing the death of a dementia patient in Belgium that raises concerns about the country's euthanasia laws. http://bit.ly/2GyhTzF
Florida governor's cellphone may have hindered hurricane response
for tracking down nursing home staff who had been told to call the governor's personal cell phone in hurricane-related emergencies, possibly slowing the overall response. http://bit.ly/2DMp4UJ
Disturbing surge of homicides in post-hurricane Puerto Rico
for being first to recognize that Puerto Rico was experiencing a disturbing surge of homicides linked to the aftereffects of Hurricane Maria. http://abcn.ws | 2,988 |
Violence Risk
Nov 17, 2020 in Analysis
Appraisals of a criminals risk of future violence play a critical part in decision-making relating to that individuals condemnation, case management, community discharge, and public security concerns. The assessments also direct the choice of intervention goals and approach applied to reduce the risks. Most of the existing knowledge about violence risk likelihood accrued primarily in reaction to concerns over the validity of the methods used in the 1950s to make risk decisions.
Precisely, specific clinical rulings of risks, typically done using unstructured and random assessment methods laid the foundation for the first cohort of risk analysis in early 20th Century. Subsequent studies demonstrate that the correctness of unorganized risk judgments is mediocre to approximations of risk resulting from objective, controlled, and actuarial methods. Precise prediction of future dangerousness has been a hard task for specialists, however, structured risk valuation tools is a viable strategy to achieve this. To further facilitate the practice of violence risk assessment, this paper will give a meta-analytic review of the valuation tools that professionals haves used to guide and advise decision-making.
Researchers have made numerous advances in the evaluation of overall risks and peril. In any case, doubt remains concerning the most suitable instruments for the anticipation of violence given differences in item content, scale arrange, a level of allowed assessor subjectivity, and the value of self-report instruments as a constituent of violence risk evaluation conventions. Albeit a few essential studies have compared the utility of different risk tools for the forecasting of violence.These studies are reviewed and incorporated in literature for experts. And none of these have been adequately inclusive in their estimation of violence risks. A union of this nature is opportune since limited correctional psychologists report utilizing instruments specifically intended for risk prediction.
With the goal of fine-tuning the quality, cogency, and competence of violence risk decision-making, the development of consistent risk assessment instrument has gained full attention. Similarly, several potential empirically-derived risk tools are prevailing. Some of which are specifically developed to foresee dangerousness, like the Violence Prediction Scheme (VPS), the Violence Risk Scale (VRS), and the Chronological, Clinical, and Risk Management Violence Risk Valuation Scheme (HCR-20). A particular type of violence predicting tools like the intimate partner violence (SARA) and Sexual recidivism (SVR) are very rear to find. Hence, specialists have an option of assessment tools for the prediction of overall dangerousness, and some categories of violent behavior. Though not designed as a risk measure, Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) has become a useful instrument in predicting future violence.
The efficacy of general risk instruments for predicting violence is likely due to the overlay in risk predictors for violent and general recidivism. Thus, other violence specific measures developed for other purposes could assist.
Bonta, defines possible formats for the assessment of risk embrace paper-and-pencil methods, Self-Appraisal Survey (SAQ) and interview-based tactics that are joint with file reviews such as LSI-R, and HCR-20. Some of<|fim_middle|> forecast violence. They can advise the case management approaches relating to psychopathic criminals and their more baffling responsivity issues like egocentricity and manipulativeness.
As a substitute to the HCR-20, the LSI-R presents as a feasible option for an extensive range violence risk valuations that highlight the assessment of criminogenic requirements, rehabilitation planning, and the dimension of offender advancement in risk reduction. Importantly, the point approximation for the LSI-R was slightly concise for violent recidivism relative to the other measures. One value of the LSI-R that Gendreau et al., referred is the ability to be pertinent to offenders with criminal backgrounds relating to violent and non-violent wrongdoings. Thus, it is a cost effective, time efficient, and advantageous to using this instrument which assesses both the general recidivism and makes a significant contribution in predicting violence at the same time; PCL-R cannot do this; therefore it cannot be used solely as the risk assessment tool. LSI-R, the LS/CMI and PCL-R instruments only contain normative differences for common recidivism and not violence risk. Thus, it is significant to include separate standards for violent recidivism. These forms will add more value and relevance to LSI-R and the LS/CMI and make these tools even more comprehensive. Otherwise, assessors must confine their potential risk estimates based on the LS/CMI and LSI-R to general recidivism. Use of the experiential research knowledge is essential to demonstrate how this risk can also include violence within their qualitative explanations of the risk estimate. The assessor, however, should be indisputable to note the limitations observed for the violence risk estimation when communicating risk information.
Women's lives
Philosophy of Nursing
Political Systems in Ancient Greece
Review of Music of the Heart
Service Learning Reflection | these methods measure only construct related to risk, while others use multiple fields linked with recidivism an example is the LSI-R measures ten risk-need areas.
Read also: "Buy Capstone Project Online Help"
Assessment of Actuarial, Structured and PCL Check List
Although there are differing qualities in both the organization arrangement and substance territories of hazard appraisal apparatuses, the act of joining danger instruments to create an agreement estimation of risks can be dangerous. Plants and Kroner utilized the PCL-R, LSI-R, VRAG, and GSIR to anticipate post-discharge savage and general recidivism. For most guilty parties, there was understanding in the existing hazard scores produced for each of these instruments.
Tragically, situations where there were elevated amounts of difference, between devices in their uniform hazard scores, fundamentally diminished prescient precision. The challenges associated with figuring hazard judgments because of the utilization of a few hazard instruments highlight the requirement for research that distinguishes the most proper risk instrument for a given guilty party populace, scientific setting, and appraisal reason.
The current findings are congruent with past studies which showed that most of the commonly used risk instruments are moderate to extremely correlated. The findings suggest that these measures share a significant portion of variance, even though they do not totally overlap. A study by Kroner et al., imitated the resemblance between instruments that randomly created four crossbreed risk measures founded on the item content of the following: PCL-R, LSI-R, VRAG, and GSIR. When the study tested each of these methods based on their ability to envisage general recidivism, the hybrid tools performed just like each of the individual parent instruments.
The present meta-analysis similarly updated a previous finding from Gendreau et al., who described a minor advantage of the LSI-R above the PCL-R in violent recidivism prediction. The involvement of additional effect sizes printed from Gendreau et al.s paper proposes that the PCL-R and the LSI-R are more similar than previously thought as analysts of violent re-offending. Generally, despite the justifiable anxiety about predicting impending violence, and the current debate about which measure is best, there were still remarkably small effect sizes available to address these matters. PCL-R had the largest figure (k=24).
The contemporary authors caution a little likely importance in the development of fresh risk measures today. The least important thing the risk assessment arena needs is replication the wasted energy evident in the psychiatric hospitalization forecast works in the literature. There is a total of 419 scales, and only three are reporting more than ten predictive relevant estimates. Instead, research should concentrate on further approval of current danger measures inside various scientific settings and guilty party sub-groups. In particular, the majority portion of impact sizes primarily used as part of the present investigation depended on a non-specific gathering of non-psychiatric guilty party tests and the generalizability of the contemporary discoveries to particular wrongdoer groups requires more study. Such data will probably better showcase an individual measure's qualities and shortcomings. Researchers, in my supposition, must triple the impact sizes presently accessible before proceeding with the debate with regards to the outstanding quality of one measure over another in the forecast of violence recidivism.
Additional psychological strategies that inform the scoring and understanding of risk evaluation is the PCL-R. Although professionals have repeatedly used PCL-R as a risk tool, it is wrong because this instrument is not a risk assessment tool. It was intended to quantify the exact personality concept that is abstemiously related to violence. The present and previous meta-analyses establish this fact. It is the reason the past studies have included PCL-based scores in the same forecasting instruments group as HCR-20 and VRAG.
Fascinatingly, the existing literature proposes that the PCL-R and PCL:SV had different results while predicting violence. The PCL:SV, possibly, with its lowered emphasis on criminal history items and amplified focus on psychopathic personality traits, seemed more suitable for use in violent assessment than the PCL-R. On the other hand, the PCL-R provided a more precise effect size approximation than the PCL:SV for violent recidivism.
The measures, however, were comparable in their prognostic scales for that criterion. They also performed the same to the standard risk assessment tools (like, VRAG, LSI-R, and HCR-20) in anticipation of violent recidivism. Consequently, the PCL-R and PCL:SV may not give incremental cogency to the aptitude of actuarial measures to | 936 |
This week in the US saw the testing of a 'Presidential Alert<|fim_middle|>-wide news or crisis.
As digital communications become more advanced – mass communication is becoming easier. Learn more about communicating with staff on the go at this year's #smilelondon on 12 Nov. | ' – millions of Americans were sent a notification to their mobile phones to test to simulate a real message from the president in a national emergency.
These alerts are designed to be used in national emergencies and, unlike other notifications, can't be opted out of. This has caused some to express concern that the system could be abused for political reasons. Others worry that the system could be hacked.
The nationwide event is being run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), which would also be in direct control of the system if a real alert was ordered by the US President, Donald Trump.
Push notifications are already being used internally by organisations to communicate news and emergencies. For non-desk employees – an alert on a phone is a great way to communicate company | 150 |
Blindspot s4 ep 22
June 25, 2019 June 25, 2019 CJ Cregg
*Season finale SPOILERS*
Part 2 of the season finale and the gang are not in a great place – and I don't mean Iceland, which looks glorious. Reade has found out about Kurt's deal with Weitz, so it's not just bad feeling that's flying about, but a few fists as well. "Hey!" shouts Weitz. "Does someone want to explain to the FBI Director why his FBI team is fighting in an FBI locker room?" I would have added "During a crisis which could lead to global disaster if we don't get our FBI asses in gear," myself, but each to their own. Either way, the answer to his question, is non-committal, so back we go to trying to save the world instead.
The first of many obstacles to this, however, is that Kathy, now a fully paid-up member of Evil Madeline Inc, is apparently switching off North America's lights – Rich's "Oh, Canada!" made me laugh – from a secret baddie lair under the Perlan Museum in Iceland. Weitz won't officially authorise the trip to go stop her because there have been just a few too many dead bodies as a result of previous Team Tat missions and Jane's "OK, well what if we promise you zero body count this time?" really isn't enough to convince him. (Weitz's "That's expected all the time!", accompanied by his delightfully incredulous expression made me laugh again.) The world still has to be saved though, so Original Team Tat head off on their "unsanctioned" Icelandic excursion, while most recent signing Rich stays behind to try and crack Evil Madeline Inc's masterplan.
While Team Tat are busy truth-bombing their way through their "tension-filled flight to Iceland<|fim_middle|>'re on the cusp of finding out the greatest mystery of all: what IS Patterson's first name?
Except that Nash and Evil Madeline Inc have our beloved Rich locked up on a very sinister-sounding "boat", and then they DRONE the living daylights out of the Icelandic safe house and maybe out of Team Tat! Which would make the next, final season both very depressing and considerably cheaper to make, but I don't think we should worry unduly. There are tunnels, y'know. TUNNELS. Team Tat will be fine, I suspect, and hopefully the final season will see them bring down Evil Madeline Inc, rescue Rich and, IF THEY CARE ABOUT ME AT ALL, give us lots more PatDotcom and a lot less wittering on about Bethany. Apart from any time Madeline showed up, this was a fun finale for an ok season – there were some good episodes, some terrific ones, and some really best forgotten, but that's what happens with a twenty-odd episode procedural season. Blindspot's unabashed commitment to the utterly bonkers throughout continues to be admirable though, as does its increasingly healthy sense of humour. The less seriously it takes itself any given week, the better it is, so here's hoping the final, shortened season means cutting out all the angst/filler, and focusing on the fun stuff. Either way, unpopcult has come this far. We're with Patterson, Rich and the rest of Team Tat till "the bitter end" as well.
Blindspot, TVBlindspot, PATDOTCOM, Shut UP Madeline
Previous Article Hawaii Five-0 s9 ep 25
Next Article The Blacklist s6 ep 3
One thought on "Blindspot s4 ep 22"
Jed Bartlet June 28, 2019 / 4:51 pm
First things first: I was TREMENDOUSLY excited when I realised that this episode was partly set in Iceland, because I was actually there only a few weeks ago. I even visited the Perlan, although it does not advertise the fact that it has a large-scale dark web cryptocurrency operation in its basement (or whatever, and wherever, it was).
Anyway, I thought this was a strong episode: I particularly liked the way in which the team slowly realised that, objectively, their behaviour has been pretty bad, then turning on each other. Good stuff. I will definitely be back for the final season. | " – don't think I didn't notice you standing up for the absent Rich, Patterson, SQUEE! – however, Evil Madeline Inc somehow manages to take over the FBI in the most annoying fashion possible. It involves a lot of speechifying, and lying, but it's the speechifying that is insufferable. Shut. UP. Madeline. Even Weitz thinks it's ridiculous, but resistance ultimately proves futile, so he sort of plays along and the press conference thing he does is BAD, but in fairness he also tries to help Rich a bit and – SPOILER – I'm pretty sure he saves the rest of Team Tat's lives at the end, so as Team Tat bosses go, he's really not that bad. And he's funny. *Shrugs*
Anyway, Evil Madeline Inc's Big Idea turns out to be framing Team Tat and destroying the FBI from within for reasons which become increasingly demented and shouty as the episode goes on. Shut. UP. Madeline. Because Team Tat are heroes, dammit – or really because Jane insisted it was the right thing to do, how's that for "not an FBI agent," huh, Reade? – they carry right on world-saving, though, undeterred by the fact they are now the subjects of an international arrest operation authorised by no less exciting a personage than "the Icelandic Minister" – albeit the Icelandic Minister of what is never explained. In fact, the whole manhunt thing turns out to be something of a bonus, morale-wise, since there's nothing like a worldwide frame-up to bring Team Tat closer together again. Although it does take jumping out of a plane together to do it. I say again, Iceland looks GLORIOUS.
With a little help from Rich's friend Ice Cream and a delightfully silly fake hostage situation then, – I mean, I'm sure it's awful for the unwittingly fake hostages, but the Wellers are having such a good time with it, Kurt even winks! – the lights are back on across the world, Team Tat are on the run but loving life in a charming Icelandic safe house all compromised friends again, and we | 444 |
Pasadena Playhouse announces its 2017/18 season, the first under new Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman, which includes bold, new takes on beloved classics, an exciting new Olivier award-winning political thriller, and an irreverent look at one of America's most hot-button issues. The Playhouse collaborates with Los Angeles's award-winning theater companies Deaf West Theatre and Culture Clash, along with Chicago's Hypocrites Theater Company.
"We are approaching the Centennial season and the launch of our second century with a totally fresh perspective –<|fim_middle|> now at pasadenaplayhouse.org.
Celebrating its centennial this year, Pasadena Playhouse is one of the most prolific theater companies in America. Its legacy includes world premieres by beloved American playwrights Eugene O'Neil and Tennessee Williams and productions that have transferred to Broadway like Sister Act: The Musical. In 1937, the Playhouse was officially recognized as the State Theater of California for its contribution and commitment to the dramatic arts. Today it continues that tradition of excellence under the helm of Producing Artistic Director, Danny Feldman. Dedicated to enriching lives through theater, community programs and learning, Pasadena Playhouse is a living force in the community. | from our plays to our new membership program to how we engage our community in exciting ways – the Playhouse will attract new audiences and inspire anyone who has ever walked through our doors to take notice and participate," said Pasadena Playhouse Board Chair Brad King.
To celebrate the Centennial season, Pasadena Playhouse is offering 1,000 individual memberships at $100 (normally $275) for new members for a limited time. "It's our way of saying thank you to the community that has supported and stood by our side for 100 years," says Feldman. The new membership program includes tickets to every season show, great seats, and invitations to behind-the-scenes events as well as other benefits. A full listing of membership benefits and levels is on pasadenaplayhouse.org.
Rediscover Our Town in this groundbreaking new production of the iconic play, co-produced with Tony-nominated Deaf West Theatre. Come together to experience this timeless classic as powerful today as when it won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize. Acclaimed actress Jane Kaczmarek stars in Thornton Wilder's American masterpiece.
The Queen is dead. After a lifetime of waiting, the prince ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Camilla, William, Kate and Harry join Charles in Mike Bartlett's "future history play," exploring the people beneath the crown. The Los Angeles premiere of the 2015 Olivier Award winning best new play. A contemporary Shakespearean drama.
Sappy pirates, dewy-eyed damsels, bumbling bobbies and a stuffy Major General. The Playhouse goes topsy-turvy as the audience joins the cast for a beach party onstage – tiki bar, banjos, and beach balls included. Chicago theater rebels The Hypocrites bring their zany immersive production of Gilbert and Sullivan's beloved operetta, Pirates of Penzance to Pasadena.
Ric Salinas & Herbert Sigüenza with new material by Richard Montoya.
Twenty years after their searing hit Bordertown premiered, the Playhouse sends LA's very own Culture Clash back to the border to investigate. Re-imagined, remixed and fully reloaded, Bordertown Now is an irreverent sometimes hilarious exploration of the regions and people at the center of one of America's most hot button and controversial issues. Energized with new material ripped from the headlines and developed and directed by Obie award-winning Diane Rodriguez, the nation's premier Chicano/Latino performance trio continues to redefine the boundaries of theatre and break down the divisions between cultures.
An additional play for the Pasadena Playhouse 2017/18 Season will be announced at a later date.
Memberships for the Centennial Season are available | 564 |
In the nearby vicinity of the DEŠNÁ RESORT there is a number of tourist and cycling paths. Due to the favourable location on the boundary of the Hostýnské Hills and the Beskydy Mts. the tourist paths in both these localities are easily accessible. Mildly undulated landscape relief and corresponding terrain will satisfy both less and more demanding lovers of hiking.
PROTECTED LANDSCAPE AREA OF THE BESKYDY MTS was declared in 1973. It covers a total area of 1160 m2 and is situated not only in the Moravskoslezské Beskydy Mts., but also in a part of the Javorníky Mts. and the Vsetínské Hills. The total area is predominantly formed by flysch rocks, which model rounded crests, put in succession, and slowly passing to the gently shaped foothills. Nowadays the territory is strongly forested by the secondary spruce woods, but the valuable remains of natural virgin forest were preserved. Piedmont meadows with the scarce flora – mainly in the area of the Vsetínské Hills are also of a high value. In the Beskydy Mts. the lynx, a carnivore very rare in the Czech Republic, occurs. A series of small folk buildings has been preserved and particularly the Wallachian open-air museum in the town of Rožnov under Radhošt´ is worth seeing.
Pustevny represents the most important mountainous resort of the Beskydy Mts., which was already in the 18th century inhabited by pilgrims. Meals are offered in the Tanečnice hotel, and the restaurants Pustevenka and Sokolka. The buildings of Libušín and Maměnka with elements of the local folk architecture date back to the year of 1898 and were built according to the project of a famous architect Dušan Jurkovič. An old-time Wallachian bell tower and a lookout summerhouse of Cyrilka belong to the tourist dominants. A hike on the Radhošť Mount is suitable even for easy tourists.
The Radhošť Mount is a symbolic mount woven by many legends with the most spectacular view of the Beskydy Mts. This is maybe a reason why one of the foundation stones of the National Theatre comes from here. A massive stone chapel built in 1898 with the Wallachian Madonna by Ad. Liebschner, a cross from 1905 and a sculptural group of Cyril and Methodius by Albín Polášek are dominating here. The Radhošť Mount is a very busy place in all seasons. A pompous statue of Radegast – a Slavonic God of harvest and hospitality looms up by the Ridgeway. A sculptor Albín Polášek, a native of the town of Frenštát under Radhošť, created the statue being inspired by his beloved and respected native soil. Fir – beech woods of virgin forest character form a national natural reservation.
Velehrad is a significant place of pilgrimage of supranational importance, from time immemorial connected with the names of Cyril and Methodius. They came to Moravia in 863 and developed religious and cultural activity here. It was namely Cyril who translated liturgical books into the Slavonic language and created Slavonic script – Glagolitic. The Pope Jan Pavel II confirmed a significance of both brothers and proclaimed Saint Cyril and Methodius for the patrons of Europe. On April 22nd 1990 during his visit he planted memorable linden here.
The original name of Velihrad comes from the year of 1131. In years of 1205 – 1250 a church was being built here. The Roman – Gothic basilica was in its time the biggest church in the Czech countries. Simultaneously a construction of monastery was carried on – it was the first Cistercian monastery in Moravia founded by the Moravian Margrave Vlastislav Jindřich. In 1421 the church was burnt by Moravian Hussites. After the Thirty-Year-Long War a Cyril-Methodius tradition was restored and the Baroque rebuilt basilica was consecrated in 1735. In 1784 the monastery was abolished by the Emperor's decree and the church became unimportant minster. In the second half of the 19th century the basilica was slightly repaired to its Baroque look. In 1950 the male religious orders were liquidated and in 1953 an asylum for desperate disabled was established. In 1990 the Jesuits returned to the monastery.
Tesák is a very pleasant resort. Moreover, it is also a natural reservation of old fir-beech forest with dominating fir and scattered ash tree. You can find also war memorials here. In winter the terrain of Tesák can be appreciated mostly by skiers.
The resort of Troják is except being a comfortable stay also of valuable historical significance. You can find here Kotáry at Pučků – a seat of partisan brigade "Jan Žižka" and a renovated bunker.
Similarly Rajnochovice is not only a recreational area. In January 1945 great partisan battles took place here. And historical and cultural significance of these places goes far into the past. In the 19th century a production of typical pottery – so-called Rajnochovice pottery was flourishing here. In the 17th century iron tilt-hammer was prospering here. A Baroque church from the second quarter of the 18th century belongs to the attractive historical monuments of the village Rajnochovice.
DEŠNÁ RESORT is for its ideal location a paradise not only for tourism but also for cycling. You can comfortably ride on your bicycle along the cycling paths both in the Hostýnské Hills and in the Beskydy Mts. The terrain is not too difficult and will surely satisfy all cycling lovers. If you do not have your own bicycle with you the DEŠNÁ RESORT offers you the rent of mountainous bikes as well as the service and sale of cycling and hiking maps and guides.
The area of Lešná involves not only the ZOO accessible in all seasons but also a romantic castle from the nineties of the 19th century with the geological, botanical and zoological exposition of the Zlín museum. The Zlín ZOO is a unique place, where the visitors can see animals of all continents in the natural bioparc with a free run. They live here in a successful imitation of their original habitat – birds in aviaries, which remind their homeland, mammals are exposed in natural expositions.
Lukov used to be one of the largest Moravian castles of the 13th century that was captured in the first half of the 17th century by rebellious Wallachians in order they might undertake raids from here. Soon after the Swedes pulled down ramparts and the castle remained only the centre of the estate. It was left in 1780 quite preserved. However, it was dismantled by the neighbouring inhabitants into the building material so that only a bridge over a moat and two rooms were preserved from the Early Gothic castle. Due to the Brontosaurus Movement and the Association of Castle Lukov Friends the object has been recently distinctly renovated. The forests around the castle are a natural reservation. Easterly of the castle the practice climbing rocks of Králky are situated. And you also can find here a Saint John monument with an alley of protected lindens.
The town of Luhačovice has been mentioned as a spa since the 18th century. However, its development started particularly at the end of the 19th century, when it became, apart from other things, the centre of meetings of the Czech and Slovaks in the resistance movement against the Austrian feudalism. 10 alkali – muriatic springs and one sulphurous rise here. The most known springs are Vincentka, Amandka, Aloiska and Ottovka. The spa specializes in curing diseases of air passages and stomach diseases. The remedial means are mostly drinking cures and inhalations. The spa buildings of the end of the 19th century were projected by the famous architect Dušan Jurkovič. During construction he used the elements of folk construction (the Jurkovič House, the House of Leoš Janáček). Before the Second World War the Společenský House and the bridge over the River Olšava were built. The spa colonnade comes from the fifties of the last century. The Baroque castle is from the year of 1738.
Saint Hostýn is a significant Marian place of pilgrimage in the Central Moravia in the Olomouc archdiocese in the Zlín region. The site of an ancient settlement comes from the 1st half of the 1st millennium BC, the Late Latenium oppidum from the 1st century BC. The Slavonic took over it in the 9th and 10th centuries. The Saint Hostýn has served as a place of pilgrimage since 1625. The Baroque church dates back to the first half of the 18th century it was reconstructed a couple of years later. The Stations of the Cross is another of the famous works of the architect Dušan Jurkovič, the mosaic was created by J. Köhler.
The village of Rusava came into being by the violent removal of Wallachians after the year of 1650. A priest D. Sloboda, who was a national awakener, was very active here. It was also a favourable<|fim_middle|>ek, Kašpar and the writer František Táborský. Since 1941 a resistance movement group was acting here, in 1944 it became one of the centres of the I. partisan brigade "Jan Žižka". Nowadays the village of Rusava serves particularly as a resort, where you can find a public swimming pool heated by solar collectors, preserved houses of folk Wallachian architecture or the Hurban fountain. | village of painters Schwaiger, Ondrůš | 12 |
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 18, 2<|fim_middle|> print, radio and social videos that are beginning to roll out on brand-owned digital channels and beyond. To watch the creative videos visit www.theupsstore.com/beyondshipping. | 018 – The UPS Store, Inc. is launching a new national advertising campaign during September to demonstrate the full range of products and services The UPS Store® locations offer beyond packing and shipping. From copying and printing, to notarizing and shredding, the new campaign encourages small business owners and entrepreneurs to tap into The UPS Store for all of their business and back office needs.
The new "Beyond Shipping" campaign was inspired by a nationwide research effort that revealed small business owners know The UPS Store takes care of shipping, but were surprised to discover the extensive range of business services the locally owned and operated locations offer. Lighthearted and humorous, the fully integrated campaign features fast-paced commercials and videos showcasing the breadth of existing services available at The UPS Store as every "ing" a small business owner might need. They are set in fun, everyday places and situations such as the grocery store, a first date, an office party and even on a roller coaster…whoohoo!
With over 4,700 The UPS Store locations across the United States, this multi-channel campaign is focused on increasing raving fans that will use every "ing" offered from coast to coast.
Three 30-second television commercials will air during prime time programs across major networks and cable channels over the coming weeks. The campaign also includes digital, | 270 |
With a perfect location, Immanuel's Clark Jeary is your answer for retirement living in south Lincoln. Clark Jeary's care options include independent living, assisted living and for those affected by Alzheimer's and dementia, compassionate memory support. Offering one-level living that provides immediate courtyard access for nearly all apartments.
Features at Clark Jeary were built with comfort and security in mind, with full-service dining experiences, maintenance-free accommodations, an easy to understand pricing structure,<|fim_middle|> that teach you about music and history. | and more. Stop by to enjoy a game of cards or a sweet treat from our Ice Cream Parlor.
Clark Jeary's life enrichment coordinator found a way to get the community involved in an activity that her and her husband have participated in every Sunday.
I have had the pleasure to work at Clark Jeary for many years with a great group of individuals that genuinely care and value our residents and staff everyday. My staff has always gone above and beyond to provide a great meal with a home style atmosphere.
Working with our staff and residents we have at Clark Jeary is a blessing every day I come to work.
Clark Jeary offers a several opportunities to be involved in their community activities and their staff are just great.
The two of us met at Clark Jeary and have been here for six years. We like Clark Jeary because you can participate as much as you want, but it is not forced. The staff are wonderful and we appreciate their interest in every resident.
I appreciate the management, nurses and all the residents. I particularly like our educational programs | 212 |
2012 ULTRATITLE Tournament Archive
ULTRATITLE Announcements and FAQs
SURVIVALISM HAS BEEN POSTED
Thread starter User Poets
User Poets
The Shadow Pope
Top of the Pile
www.valeriansgarden.com
http://www.fwrestling.com/showthread.php?24143-SURVIVALISM-2012-The-Ultratitle-EndGame
Edit: It should go without saying, constructive feedback is appreciated.
Thoughts on the card? The matches? The finals? The judging? The tournament as a whole?
Barring the ridiculous delays between rounds, is there any interest in subsequent board-wide tournament type things?
El Gringo Loco
efedguerillas.com
The best thing was<|fim_middle|> others did as well, but it's not easy to pull off a tournament of this magnitude. Big props to Pete for stepping in and seeing this thing to it's conclusion.
Waitin' on that Merritt money now! | the beginning. Hornet with the jet pack coming in to win. Then the reveal that Ivy was imagining it... Does Poison Ivy have dementia or am I reading too much into it? I was thinking the other day of giving Pat Gordon Sr. dementia but if Ivy has it maybe I'll hold off.
Matches were all solid and those segments for Melton really tugged at the old heart strings. I think I even had a tear in my eye. Poor Melton.
All in all tremendous effort and well worth the wait. I was really hoping for a Harmen win, but Flair vs. Strife made a great final.
I liked Dan Ryan's cameo in the beginning. I was enraged when he attacked Castor at the awards ceremony. Not in the way that I thought it was a bad idea, although I did have to ask Brunk about it since I don't follow NFW and didn't know they had been feuding there. Just like when someone does something ultra-heelish on TV and it makes you boo him.
I marked out when Atken won the IGC but I thought I remembered him pinning Max Hopper somehow at that previous IGC show. I'll need to look that up.
Would have done the highlight packages differently.
All in all this is still going to get a nomination from me for show of the year in December/January.
The tournament as a whole was really fun and I just wish I'd had something left in the tank when I faced Ford in the Sweet 16. I felt as if his first RP left me an opening but then I just couldn't capitalize on it. Normally there's no shame losing to Ford, except I only posted one RP against him. It was just the best I could do at the time though.
It was great to finally be able to take part in an UltraTitle though and making it to the Sweet 16 is something I'm really proud of, especially considering the people I had to face to get there. And it's something I've been playing up with PGJr on twitter and I'll continue to do so wherever he goes. Also I'm keeping the scar he got from Jeffrey Roberts. That match was HELLA fun and that scar is going to be his badge of honor from beating the sociopath.
I think everyone who posted RPs and tried the best they could in this tournament should all be epically proud of themselves. This was probably the best tournament for me in my life. Now that it's over I can proudly point to it and say, "I made it to the Sweet 16."
Congrats to Ford, Billy, Pete, and Steve for all making it to the Final Four. Congrats to Billy for winning. Congrats to Colin for winning IGC. And to everyone involved, thanks for making this one of the best RP experiences of my life.
I got to RP against three people I've been wanting to face for a long time, so to me, my draw in this tournament was kind of a dream come true. I know there were some bumps along the way in the tournament, a couple controversies, but those will always be there in RP tournaments. Besides, controversy sells, right?
I feel like I've gotten some good new friends from this.
To be honest, I feel like everything that people have labeled as 'controversy' was simply a case of "I wanted the other guy to win," there wasn't anything overtly controversial about any of it. But that's just me.
Thanks for the feedback! More, more, more!
Also, I thought it was clear but the opening scene was Ivy having a dream. She was asleep, hence Sammy Benson's presence. Gordon can still have dementia.
And I was wrong; it was the figure-four at Fly Me to the Moon.
The best handler ever since 2012: He is a gem
So, FEEDBAG:
- The best way to bring a fitting conclusion to a joke that has been steadily lowering itself into the ground is a dream sequence. Honestly, my first thought when you were dropping hints that people you'd asked to check the coding saw "Hornet wins" was the IGC final. Not sure why. I'm terribly paranoid in that way. Still, it was a rather cute end to a running joke.
- I'm a big fan on "how did we get here" intros and always appreciate the attempts to keep even new readers in the loop about the events that have brought us to the Ultratitle finale. So good jorb there.
- Y'know, I actually appreciated having everyone's themes there and ready. Sometimes I'm too lazy to seek out themes I don't know but I just plain didn't have an excuse here.
- I really felt that Harmen/Flair was tight in the RP thread. I mean obviously the ranked judging system leaves that a little bit topsy turvey but I think all three Ultratitle matches throughout the show met up suitably with the efforts that each individual had put into the big finale RP thread. I'll admit going into this show, this was the match I was most interested in (can't think why that would be). Pete, I'm going to repeat this no doubt, but the match was excellent. The pace built as it needed to and the split second pin really met up to the level of competition involved. This was kind of a feeling of nostalgia running throughout the show, justly so. So many nice moments bringing things around full circle. If I gush anymore at the moment though, I may vomit.
- Fun segment from Melton here. I don't know if I'm surprised or not by the Dan Ryan appearance, it certainly makes sense in the context. Still, another chance to build into the matches more and this certainly did that.
- The only Ultratitle match of the evening not to end in some kind of cradle. Felt that again, this matched how the RP thread was going. I think this match was kind of the odd one out in a way, the others seemed to have more of a steeped in history feel to 'em. Not that this takes anything away from the match, it doesn't, but it was something I noticed. Also the least brutal match, more of a head-on wrestling bout. It was interesting as these matches broke down, in both of the semis, you would have to err on the side of caution with skullduggery while that didn't seem to matter as much when we hit the final. This match felt, as did the segments building up, more of a farewell to Melton.
- P. sure I know who be that Reise guy! There are two ways I suppose you could look at that segment, one would be "why did this happen" and the other would be "hey, that's good promotion work for Bodycount". I'm more in the latter camp. I love tall dudes wrecking shit. One of the most basic booking principles in the rasslin'
- I think all the Melton segments were a well deserved build to a fitting farewell. I also learned more about the Troy Windham/Melton encounter than I probably ever needed to!
- Gotta commend the TSWF guys for this match. When you're trying to get your fed out there on the big stage on a show like this, read by lots of people cross-fed, I think it's far more sensible to do a match that is built around generating future interest in your storylines rather than just having a one-off moment. I feel their job getting involved in something like this is not really to have a blow-off but rather to gain new readers and really, a storyline driven, interference laden cage match seems like the perfect fit for a situation like that.
The board ate some of my feedback. From memory:
- I said earlier that going into the show I was really most interested in Flair/Harmen, I thought the finale would be cool but I wasn't sure if I would feel as invested in it. Castor and Ivy's interviews during the show done a hell of a job to develop and increase my interest. They really made Castor/Flair feel like a match a long time in waiting and something worth reading. Really it felt like Castor/Melton was the outsider as far as the Ultratitle matches went. It was more along the lines of your "I'm better than you off" than "history in the making". Castor/Flair by the end of the show certainly felt very far from that line of thought.
- I have on many occasions sang Voss' praises as a match writer, especially when it comes to all things IGC. He just does a wonderful job with it. If anyone was reading this match and thought like I did that it was an excellent match that done all the talent involved justice then you should really consider diving in to the next IGC show. You too could have your character involved in a great, great match. I honestly feel like Voss wants to make the IGC work and if he can deliver so highly on a stage like Survivalism, I think he deserves a few guys poking their noses in for the next show he runs.
- When I was talking to Voss while he was working on the match, he was very much undecided on a winner, I really don't think it was an easy decision for him, I'm honoured he chose me though. I've sang Ben's praises enough this week, I don't want to make him blush again but I don't know where or when but I'm very open to another Ocho/Atken affair.
- I did warn you I would praise you again Pete but Castor/Flair was one hell of a final. The match is what an Ultratitle match should've been, it was brutal, it was competitive, it was close, it had false finishes, it had LADIES~! Hell, it even had a good ole fashioned ring implosion. It really pushed the narrative that these guys were fighting for something that was meaningful to them, even causing them to build up respect for each other as the match developed. It just told a great story. I can't say much else. Now, much like Joey deserved his moment at the end of Castor/Melton, Flair certainly deserved his. It was interesting that with everything that happened, despite being the winner of some MAD CASH MONEY, Strife was the only one who really didn't have a "moment".
- I'm not sure where the end of the show is going but I'm certainly intrigued. I'm wondering if Ryan/Strife III will finally avoid the curse of the time limit draw. Certainly wasn't the kind of end to the Ultratitle I was expecting anyway. Perhaps that first round loss really did drive Dan Ryan insane, especially followed by a loss to Atken
- LINDSAY TROY. I WAS WARNED ABOUT THIS BEFORE!
Overall, Pete, awesome, awesome job. Obviously this ended up falling in your lap but you made sure that the Ultratitle was brought to a fitting conclusion and that everyone who put effort into RPing, judging, irish jigging... whatever they offered, that it didn't fall by the wayside and I'm sure everyone involved appreciates that.
Now obviously, I would love to see something like this happen again. The Ultratitle allows a lot of people to get involved, hell, I got involved as an outsider who missed sign ups and came back to FW just after the first round was rolling. Everything that was happening then allowed me to gain interest in feds, looking at places I'd never popped in to before and really I think it's a great tool to generate interest for all the FW feds and affiliates. The problem of course is you don't want to dive into it and have the whole thing fall on you again, so it's a tricky balance to get right.
LQJT86C
Where's my money, Chad?
Ok where's my money?
Thanks for the feedback, Colin, it is much appreciated.
Quick note on Castor vs. Melton and why it was so short: it was the last thing written. Merritt had volunteered to write it but he has had some legitimate personal stuff in the past week or so and I wanted the card to come out. As far as why that match was so short compared to Eli vs. Harmen, it was all due to the judging.
I'll speak in general terms because A: I'm at work and don't have the specifics, and B: it's up to the judges themselves over whether or not they want to talk specifically about their decisions.
So, I had asked the judges to rank the final four from 1 to 4, with 1 obviously being first. I also had a point system to help with any tiebreaking, so a first place vote got 4 points, second place got 3 points, third place got 2 points, and fourth place got 1 point.
The breakdown was as follows:
Castor Strife: 3 first place votes, 1 second place vote, 1 fourth place vote
Eli Flair: 1 first place vote, 2 second place votes, 2 third place votes.
Jack Harmen: 2 second place votes, 3 third place votes
Joey Melton: 1 first place vote, 4 last place votes
*Because I don't remember off the top of my head what order they came in on one ballot, but they were second and third respectively.
By the fourth ballot, Castor had three first place votes and Melton had three last place votes, so I knew that Castor was the overall winner. Eli and Harmen stayed pretty close until the end, though, and it was the single first place vote that Eli got that put him in the finals.
Also, the supplementary point system I was using gave the point totals as follows:
Castor: 16
Eli: 14
Harmen: 13
Melton: 8
By that rationale, it seemed clear to me that for the matches to reflect the votes, Jack vs. Eli should be brutal and close, while Castor vs. Melton could be a little more to the point.
If people are interested in more detail I'd be happy to go into it on EFG tonight.
brusch
Main Event Caliber
I just want to make an IGC-centric post first, as it was the match my character was involved in and the part of the card I was most emotionally invested in.
Voss is the man, you guys. He wrote a really, really good match - and it included my favorite commentator of all time, pain GRILLE. When WREX was in the works, I had discussed with him that intro as a way to spark an Ocho/GRILLE feud - I'm glad to see that was thrown in.
The match was really epic, and made Ocho and Atken look so good. I've PM'd him this sentiment, but Colin is fantastic and absolutely deserved to win, no matter what self-deprication he brings up about himself or about Atken. I love the kind of slowly-developing thing with Atken where, he's pinned Dan Ryan, he's the Intergalactic Champion, he got a pin in the last NFW card; is he really a loser anymore? What happens to a man who's been at the bottom of the barrel forever when he finds himself kicking all asses?
You better believe Ocho will be a part of IGC going forward, and I highly recommend that people sign up for it going forward. It's a very fun thing to be a part of, and Voss's product speaks for itself.
shaunsindelman
League Member
Thanks for the VERY kind words re: TSWF and our showcase match. I hope it was somewhat successful in getting us some new readers ... and maybe a new handler or 2 in the future.
*Shaun*
Colin said:
legacyofchampions.com
Still doing the posers, guys, but I did empty out my inbox like an idiot. So, go ahead and resend those descriptions.
Just want to say it was an honor to compete with/write against three of the best who ever did it: Pete, Steve, and Ford. I think that thread will go down as one of the all time great RP battles. You guys brought the best out of me!
Overall, the tournament finished within the calendar year, before Winter, which I think is a success in and of itself. Obviously I had issues with certain things, some | 3,424 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.