Our Tuscaloosa homes are polluted by outdoor allergens like pollen that force their way inside, and by irritants like pet dander, dust mites, mold spores, chemicals from ordinary household cleansers and more. So, what can you do about it? The solution is already in your home! It's your HVAC system.
You should know that your HVAC can be your best friend or your worst enemy when it comes to controlling your allergies. A dirty system can collect and circulate allergens throughout your home, so the answer is to keep your system well maintained. First and foremost, you need to keep your air filters clean. Set a reminder or mark it on your calendar to inspect them monthly and swap them out when you see that they're becoming dirty. They'll typically need to be exchanged every two or three months, but this can differ significantly from household to household. You can get filters that span from the most simple level of filtering to hospital-grade HEPA filters. The specialists at KDM Service Corporation can help you decide which kind of filter will keep your home nourishing and keep your HVAC functioning properly.
It's also crucial to have your system habitually maintained by an expert to keep your indoor air quality where it should be. On top of examining that all-important filter, your service technician will clean the inner workings of your system and guarantee that everything is running as it should. You can also ask your specialist if a duct cleaning would be beneficial.
When it comes to your interior air quality, you can trust the professionals at KDM Service Corporation to take good care of you. In addition to helping you keep your HVAC system maintained, we can help you ensure you have the tools you need to fight poor indoor air quality and allergens—like humidifiers and whole home air purifiers. Just give us a call at 205-208-8090 to confirm that your home's air is healthy and clean.


You might have to *gasp* actually talk to your crush this Valentine's Day. For the first time in 153 years, Sweethearts Conversation Hearts will not be available in stores. Since 1866, Confectionery Company Necco, has made and distributed the classic, pastel sugary hearts with icebreakers like "Kiss Me," "Hug Me," and "Be Mine." But they simply can't this year, and the reason is tragic.
When Necco shut down last July, the company sold SweetHearts to the Spangler Candy Company (makers of Dum Dum lollipops). It used to take Necco 11 months to produce eight billion candy pieces needed for Valentine's day. Unfortunately, because of this transition, there is not enough time to make conversation hearts before the Hallmark holiday.
Rather than blast Ariana Grande's "thank u, next" and cry into a heart-shaped box of chocolates — know there's hope. According to Spangler's CEO, these hearts will make a comeback in 2020. In the meantime, there's always generic conversation hearts like Brach's version available at Walmart for $3. Otherwise, several online companies are selling last year's batch, like Candy Crate ($4/4 cardboard boxes) or Nuts.com ($5/pound).
Will you survive Valentine's Day without the OG conversation hearts? Let Brit + Co know on Twitter.


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Home › Recommendation › Films To Watch › Ramin Bahrani's "Chop Shop" offers a compelling look at the life of adolescent immigrants.
Ramin Bahrani's "Chop Shop" offers a compelling look at the life of adolescent immigrants.
By Douglas Davidson on February 23, 2021 • ( 0 )
Two years after the release of Man Push Cart (2005), writer/director Ramin Bahrani followed it with Chop Shop (2007), a thematic continuation of the immigrant story he began with Ahmad the Pakistani food cart owner. Though actor Ahmad Razvi does return as Ahmad, it's not the same character, Chop Shop is a different type of story. While it does follow an immigrant in pursuit of the American Dream, the focus here is the young boy Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco) whose daily hustles include construction jobs, selling bootleg DVDs, selling car parts, and anything else he can do to make money in order to make a better life for himself and his older sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales). As usual, Bahrani presents a version of America that goes unseen or unacknowledged by the majority, one in which the viewpoint of the immigrant is of endless drive and a willingness to do what most American-born are unwilling. While less traditional in its narrative than Man Push Cart, Chop Shop is no less compelling in its seemingly wayward dramatic look at adolescent immigrants.
L-R: Isamar Gonzales as Isamar and Alejandro Polanco as Alejandro in CHOP SHOP.
Alejandro is all about the hustle. If he's not trying to sneak his way onto a construction gig by hiding in the back of a truck, he's riding subway cars with his buddy Carlos (Carlos Zapata) selling candy bars. When he's all done there, he's helping Jamaica Auto Glass owner Rob (Rob Sowulski) around the shop: buffing cars, finding replacement parts, or cleaning. Each job is an opportunity to earn so that he can purchase a food truck that he and his newly returned older sister Isamar can run together. His dream of being his own boss keeps him motivated, but being a kid always on the hustle means that there are some things you don't have the experience to plan for.
L-R: Carlos Zapata as Carlos and Alejandro Polanco as Alejandro in CHOP SHOP.
The first film Bahrani wrote with frequent collaborator Bahareh Azimi (Goodbye Solo, 99 Homes, Fahrenheit 451) is far more indicative of the real America than Man Push Cart presents. Ahmad's story in Man Push Cart is certainly an authentic immigrant experience, but the story within Chop Shop feels less dramatized (and that film is hardly dramatic) and more documentary in execution. You could certainly hear a myriad of stories if you were to chat with your local street vendors, but, Bahrani insists in the previously linked 2007 interview that if you were to go to Willet's Point Queens where the film was shot, you'd see everything as it appeared on film. Although as of 2008 it may look different due to redevelopment, the point remains true. Alejandro, his sister, and Ahmad may be fictional, but their lives are not. Rob actually ran the auto body shop and worked with Polanco for months ahead of shooting to get him used to using the tools. The details of people living in the garages or in broken down cars near their shops, discussed in the new commentary track with Bahrani and the cast, are inspired by what Bahrani saw himself and discovered before shooting. According the 2006 commentary, Bahrani would give his cast central points that a scene needed to get to and then let them decide how to get there. Bahrani specifically mentions a moment where Ahmad manipulates his phone as the actor actually getting a call and Razvi working it into the scene. The incorporation of real moments amid a real location create an aura of candor, making the socio-economic and interpersonal conflicts all the more thrilling and painful. Like with Man Push Cart, Chop Shop is not a film which manufactures its drama as real life can be dramatic enough without some giant obstacle. Instead, it's the feeling of being on the cusp of getting your dream, what happens when that's threatened, and what you do as a result that pushes the action forward. One can't help but consider how native-born Americans would behave in the same position as Alejandro. Would they hustle day-in-day-out or would they just break down instead? These notions are better articulated in the essay from novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen so make sure not to skip it when you pick up your copy.
Chop Shop marks the second Criterion release (Man Push Cart comes available the same day as spine #1066) and appears to be given a similar remastering process. So while this is not a 2K or 4K restoration, Chop Shop's original 1.78:1 aspect ratio is preserved, remastered to look modern by 2021 standards, and comes equip with new 5.1 surround sound DTS-HD audio mix. In my viewing, I set the receiver to "Drama" and let the film go, enveloping me in the sounds of Willet's Point Queens, New York, transporting me to a part of the world I'd never seen before. This is, I think, the point of both of Bahrani's films. Not to spotlight or showcase, but to invite audiences in to observe and learn about another way of living. The look and sound of Chop Shop are incredibly inviting, allowing for an immersive experience.
Alejandro Polanco as Alejandro in CHOP SHOP.
The bonus features are fairly straight-forward, offering two previously available pieces from 2006 and two new ones. The prior materials are a feature-length commentary from Bahrani, cinematographer Michael Simmonds, and Polanco and rehearsal footage of Polanco, Gonzales, and Zapata. The new materials are a 22-minute conversation between Bahrani, Polanco, Razvi, and assistant director Nicholas Elliott and a 26-minute conversation between Bahrani and scholar Suketu Mehta. If you're feeling a bit like a time warp, check out either the rehearsal footage or audio commentary and then jump to the new conversation including Polanco. In your mind you can acknowledge that the film is about 14 years old and that Polanco was roughly 11 at the time of filming, but to hear his adolescent voice in one moment and then as an adult in another is a bit shocking. In my case, it was because I jumped from the film proper into the new conversation and the tenor shift was like whiplash. Outside of that temporal shock, both new featurettes are fascinating with one focused on the casting and production process and the other more focused on the immigrant experience. Given Bahrani's approach in both Man Push Cart and Chop Shop regarding narrative and direction is more natural and spontaneous, getting to listen to how they approached the making of the film from a technical and thematic perspective is worth the admission.
While I didn't find Chop Shop as profound as Man Push Cart, there's no denying its authenticity, a proper showcase for the tenacity of the immigrant spirit. This is, of course, trying to put a positive spin on a lifestyle that sees one 11-year-old and one 16-year-old living in a small room at a garage, neither in school, and each trying hard to work themselves into the American Dream. It's dour in a way that doesn't unsettle but certainly should reposition ones outlook on those who come to our country. Far too often native-borns take for granted what we have and presume too much about others. That's what's fantastic about Chop Shop, and even Man Push Cart, Bahrani doesn't look down. He captures the stories with sincerity, bestowing a kind of grace on his characters.
Chop Shop Feature Features
High-definition digital master, supervised and approved by director Ramin Bahrani, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary from 2006 featuring Bahrani, director of photography Michael Simmonds, and actor Alejandro Polanco
*New* program featuring a conversation among Bahrani, Polanco, actor Ahmad Razvi, and assistant director Nicholas Elliott about the making of the film (22:21)
*New* conversation between Bahrani and writer and scholar Suketu Mehta on the immigrant experience in New York City and on film (26:47)
Rehearsal footage from 2006 featuring Polanco and actors Isamar Gonzales and Carlos Zapata
PLUS: An essay by novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen
New cover by La Moutique
Available on Blu-ray and DVD from The Criterion Collection February 23rd, 2021.
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Fistful of Features: Week of February 23rd ›
Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews
Tags: Ahmad Razvi, Alejandro Polanco, Bahareh Azimi, Carlos Zapata, Criterion Collection, drama, home release, home video, Isamar Gonzales, Michael Simmonds, Nicholas Elliott, Ramin Bahrani, remaster, Rob Sowulski, Suketu Mehta, Viet Thanh Nguyen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


One of the things that really turns off a guy is to wear a suit when temperatures start to rise. However, many dress codes of some jobs do enforce a strict suites work attire. From the fabric to the color, everything plays a part. You'll want to look as slick as possible but without sweating too much. So, in this guide we've chosen Canali, the Italian luxury menswear Brand known for its iconic suits, to bring everything you'll ever need to know about the best men's summer suit options.
One of the ways to wear a summer suit without being too overwhelmed by the heat, is to incorporate materials such as linen. Keep in mind, this fabric will freshen up your look making the suit feel much more sporty. Feel free to even get rid of the tie when wearing them.
Mid Blue – A great alternative to the traditional navy, the mid blue suit gives a fresh and effortless look. Team with extra blue such as a crisp light blue shirt, or add a white shirt to break it up.
Pale Grey – Grey may not be something new to suits, but opt for a couple shades lighter to get the summer feel. This neutral shade can be teamed with any tone of shirt luckily, so the choice is yours. Opt for gingham shirt to mix it up or again a classic white.
White – This is the go-to colour for summer, but it's a difficult one as you don't want to outdo the bride at a wedding. Unless of course, you're the groom. This is again an easy shade to style. Make sure your whole look doesn't consist of all white, such as your shirt, suit and shoes, unless you have another colour to break up the look, otherwise you'll run the risk of looking like a ghost.
Beige – A great twist on white and an alternative to the men's cream linen suit, opt for beige to keep cool and look cool. Slightly more practical than white, a beige suit is a great blank canvas allowing you to mix and match with any shade. Go for a light blue or pale pink shirt to add a pop of colour.
Hope this helps, Stay fresh gents!


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Home / Opinion Digests / Michigan Court of Appeals (Unpublished Civil) / Contract — Land sale – Rescission
Contract — Land sale – Rescission
By: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff in Michigan Court of Appeals (Unpublished Civil), Opinion Digests, Practice Areas, Real Estate Law November 15, 2022
Where summary disposition was awarded in favor of the plaintiff seller in a suit over a land contract, that judgment should be affirmed despite the defendant sellers' argument that the land contract was rescinded.
"Defendants insist that the land contract at issue ambiguously refers to two parcels: 12-30- 151-004 (which plaintiff owns) and 12-30-151-005 (which plaintiff does not own). Defendants then pivot that claim to further argue that the reference to both parcels makes plaintiff's actions in entering into the land contract false pretenses, renders the contract invalid and illegal, and makes plaintiff the first one to breach the land contract. Defendants' arguments have no basis in fact or logic.
"Defendants next claim that summary disposition was premature because it was granted prior to the completion of discovery and discovery would establish that the land contract was rescinded on or about November 20, 2015. Discovery would also establish that thereafter, the parties negotiated and agreed to enter into a purchase agreement for the property (as well as other properties) thereby reaching a new agreement, and acting and relying upon it. According to defendants, a novation of the land contract occurred via the purchase agreement between the parties dated November 10, 2017. We disagree.
"No 'clean' purchase agreement has been provided, strongly indicating that the parties were still negotiating the terms of a potential sale of the property when plaintiff filed its first complaint against defendants on August 8, 2017.
"As to whether summary disposition was premature due to discovery having not been completed, we note that plaintiff filed its complaint against defendants in March 2019. On April 24, 2020, a discovery order was entered, providing that discovery would close on August 24, 2020. A hearing on plaintiff's motion for summary disposition was held on May 4, 2020, and the trial court did not issue an opinion and order on the motion until July 20, 2020. Defendants have provided no explanation or argument as to why they did not conduct any discovery prior to plaintiff filing its motion for summary disposition or prior to the trial court's issuance of the opinion and order resolving plaintiff's motion. Because this is essentially a contract action, all parties also presumably had most, if not all, of the documentation and evidence necessary to support their positions prior to the 2019 lawsuit having been filed."
Ballard Mgmt. Co. LLC v. Robert P. Fosnaugh Psychiatric & Rehab. Ctr. PC; MiLW 08-106064, 7 pages; Michigan Court of Appeals unpublished per curiam; Letica, J., Servitto, J., Hood, J.; on appeal from Macomb Circuit Court; James C. Bishai for appellant; Edmund S. Yee for appellee.
Click here to read the full text of the opinion.
contract Real estate sale 11:03 am Tue, November 15, 2022 Michigan Lawyers Weekly
Tagged with: contract Real estate sale
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The Commons Local Eating House indulges Sydney locals with seasonally influenced ingredient-focused cuisine. The name 'THE COMMONS' refers to the 'shared environmental and cultural resources of a city' and we are proud to support Sydney producers wherever we can. Our produce is sourced as ethically as possible, with meat coming from trusted suppliers who are committed to good animal husbandry, we make all attempts to find out where our seafood comes from, utilize fresh produce from around Sydney, and support local artisan food makers. The Commons is a celebration of Australia and food & wine inspired by it: the perfect convivial setting for a meal served family style.
Complimenting the Chef's cuisine that combines local sensibility with European traditions, particularly those of the Italian Regions, is a value driven wine list whose focus is on small production vineyards of the Australian regions and a few cellar picks from the "Old Country", Italy.
The building itself is a tribute to Darlinghurst's heritage architecture with its sandstone walls, original features throughout, convict markings still visible in the basement larder now a intimate cocktail bar "Downtown": hide away from the busy hustle and bustle of city life and enjoy a good ol' drink and some of the best blues and jazz in town.
The Commons is a committed localvore and sources its produce from ethical and local suppliers. This practice ensures you receive only the freshest produce possible whilst protecting the Earth's resources.
We pride ourselves on hand-picking some of the most interesting wines in the country. We complement our selection with a fine range of imported wines that represent our European heritage.
We have no reservations about reserving you a spot! The menus are subject to seasonal changes and availability of local produce. Menus may be amended to suit any special dietary requirements or allergies given prior notice. If you do have any dietary requirements please mention these when making your reservation. We endeavour to satisfy table requests however these are subject to change.
For parties larger than 15 — or if you would like to hear about The Commons' bespoke events for groups both large and small — please contact us. The Commons Local Eating House & Downtown Bar has a lot of in-built character: a few extra touches and you'll have your perfect Wedding location. Seating capacity 60pax; up to 120pax for Cocktail Functions.
The Commons Local Eating House is located only 100m from the Darlinghurst Theatre Eternity Playhouse. All theatre patrons are able to enjoy a delicious two course pre-show meal, served with your time restrictions in mind, at a special rate of $34 per head, Wednesday to Saturday. Your dinner will include your selection of entrée and main course or main course and dessert from a limited a la carte menu.
We offer a wonderful dining experience for our local guests and friends on Tuesday and Sunday nights. Be a local for the night and enjoy a variety of delicious specials created by our Chefs. House wine by the glass also at a reduced priced!
Every Sunday is Roast Day from 12pm! Rotating through deliscious cuts of meat each week, such as roast pork belly, beef, lamb, all served with seasonal veggies, red wine jus. Set yourself in front of the fireplace in the colder months or in our leafy front courtyard during spring & summer and enjoy!
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The Commons Local Eating House & Downtown Bar has a lot of in-built character: a few extra touches and you'll have your perfect Wedding location.


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TIMOTHY CORRIGAN - A Fresh Start for France's Chateau De Gallerande.
Source: Architectural Digest
Author: Text by Michael Peppiatt/Photographs by Marina Faust
The quickest sures way of absorbing the culture of France would be to buy one if its great historic houses, redesign it for life in the 21st century, the assume your role as the latest in a long line of lords of the manor. Radical and risky as the move might sound, this is exactly what Los Angeles-based designer Timothy Corrigan did a couple of years ago. Today, with a much-improved grasp of all things French, the tall, energetic American is no only thriving in his European experience but looking for ways to spend more time in the ancient chateau that he has skillfully brought back to life.
"I was so caught up in the whole adventure that I didn't really think of the risks attached," Corrigan says. "I'd lived in France before, and I'd bought and redesigned a couple of other properties - but nothing on this scale. From the beginning I knew I was looking for something exceptional. It wasn't about needing a place to live; it was more about fantasy."
Corrigan concentrated on the Loire Valley "because there is so much fantastic architecture here," he says. "I visited lots of houses before I chanced on Chateau de Gallerande. When I first saw the setting of the place, and later when I was left to wander through one paneled room after another, I felt a kind of magic, as if I had gone into a different realm. There was no looking back."
What Corrigan sensed was that the building that stood before him, with its fortified towers and impenetrable walls was much more than a fine house in beautiful surroundings. Over many centuries and countless twists of fate, the chateau had come to represent a sizable slice of French history - as its new owner was quick to learn. "I think of a house as the sum of the people to have lived in it," he says. "One of Gallerande's first owners had fought in the Crusades. In the 13th century the Gallerande family married into the powerful Clermont family, and the chateau remained their ancestral home for some 600 years, until Louise de Clermont-Gallerande, one of the renowned beauties of her day, gambled it away in a 1772 card game.
"The story doesn't end there, of course," Corrigan continues. "More of the original fortress had been torn down in the 15th century to make way for a grand chateau, which was extensively remodeled in the mid-19th century by Count Geoffrey de Ruille. The last family member to live there was his granddaughter, Anne, who proved to be as colorful as any of the previous owners," he says. "Having scandalized her parents by becoming the mistress of the great Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin, she never married but went on living at the family home until 1987, having surrounded herself with some 40 peacocks and any number of other animals that wandered around the very formal French gardens that can still be found on the estate. But then exotic animals have always been part of Gallerande," added the designer, "ever since the 17th century, when the chateau housed the first elephant ever to have been brought to this country."
Somewhat less entrancing than the tales of Gallerande's past, Corrigan was to discover, was the chateau's overall state. "I won't pretend there wasn't a horrendous amount to do," he admits. "That was to be expected of the risks attached," Corrigan says. "I'd lived in France before, and I'd bought and redesigned a couple of other properties - but nothing on this scale. From the beginning I knew I was looking for something exceptional. It wasn't about needing a place to live; it was more about fantasy." Corrigan concentrated on the Loire Valley "because there is so much fantastic architecture here," he says. "I visited lots of houses before I chanced on Chateau de Gallerande. When I first saw the setting of the place, and later when I was left to wander through one paneled room after another, I felt a kind of magic, as if I had gone into a different realm. There was no looking back." What Corrigan sensed was that the building that stood before him, with its fortified towers and impenetrable walls was much more than a fine house in beautiful surroundings. Over many centuries and countless twists of fate, the chateau had come to represent a sizable slice of French history - as its new owner was quick to learn. "I think of a house as the sum of the people to have lived in it," he says. "One of Gallerande's first owners had fought in the Crusades. In the 13th century the Gallerande family married into the powerful Clermont family, and the chateau remained their ancestral home for some 600 years, until Louise de Clermont-Gallerande, one of the renowned beauties of her day, gambled it away in a 1772 card game. "The story doesn't end there, of course," Corrigan continues. "More of the original fortress had been torn down in the 15th century to make way for a grand chateau, which was extensively remodeled in the mid-19th century by Count Geoffrey de Ruille. The last family member to live there was his granddaughter, Anne, who proved to be as colorful as any of the previous owners," he says. "Having scandalized her parents by becoming the mistress of the great Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin, she never married but went on living at the family home until 1987, having surrounded herself with some 40 peacocks and any number of other animals that wandered around the very formal French gardens that can still be found on the estate. But then exotic animals have always been part of Gallerande," added the designer, "ever since the 17th century, when the chateau housed the first elephant ever to have been brought to this country."
The designer hired craftsmen in the area who were able to modernize the chateau without drastically altering or damaging its basic structure. "There's a delicate balance in respecting an old building and making it comfortable," he says. "Achieving that balance became my rule of thumb for the whole renovation. You have to honor what's there while making it work for the way we live today - which includes a lot more bathrooms."
In all his projects, Corrigan favors an eclectic mix of styles and periods. From an early age he felt equally at home with his grandparent's antique furniture and his father's contemporary art. "I find hanging a Lichtenstein or a Stella over an antique commode creates a kind of energy and tension that you simply don't get when everything comes from one country and one point in time," Corrigan explains. "I'm no purist, and I feel that if you can successfully couple a piece of Art Deco furniture and a classical painting, the whole ambience becomes more inventive and more vibrant. I"ve spent half my life going around to galleries and auctions, antiques dealers and flea markets, in search of things that might interest me, and now I'm lucky to have a sufficiently large stock that I can choose from each time I undertake a new interior." For Gallerande, Corrigan felt "particularly free, because I only really had myself to please," he says. "So I indulged my taste for contrasts by coloring some of the boiserie acid green and bright yellow to bring out the mellowness of the antiques. I especially like the idea that you can walk into a room and see something quite unexpected."
Yet the atmosphere at Chateau de Gallerande remains very much that of a grand European house, with the American designer's more daring touches being integrated into a harmonious and predominantly traditional whole. "Even though I like to shake things up a little," Corrigan says, "I aim for a kind of look that usually takes generations to achieve. To be surrounded by history but live in it on my own terms is for me like having a long-held dream come true."
Posted Michael Balaroutsos on 1:35 PM 0 reviews Tags Architecture Links to this post
The Photographer as Storyteller — Historic New England
Reed intended each of these images to work together with other photographs to tell a story in the context of a photo-essay. This section helps us recognize the rhetorical power of the medium--to see that photography has a point of view, shaped to varying degrees by the photographer, picture editor, and publication. Did Reed take sides in the Rosenberg trial demonstrations? Are the pictures of then-Senator John F. Kennedy sympathetic to, or critical of, the young politician? Reed's numerous photo essays show that he generally took seriously his responsibility to be an objective reporter. The image of Maine's Edmund S. Muskie waiting for gubernatorial election results could be seen as unflattering, but in combination with the sympathetic post-election photograph of him with his daughter, we realize that Reed attempted to be true to the story as he experienced it. Photographs shape our understanding of history, and some of Reed's photo-essays covered stories of obvious historical importance, such as the Rosenberg protest or JFK as senator. Others probably seemed less telling at the time, such as the shoot at the home of Tasha Tudor, a well-known children's book author, or the afternoon he spent at a country auction in Albany, Vermont. In retrospect, though, all of the images tell stories of what it meant to live in 1950s and 1960s New England.
On the day Reed took his first Kennedy photographs, he recalls Mrs. Kennedy telling him that Ashe was writing a book about a young senator on his way to the presidency. The allusion was obvious, but I didn't take any of it seriously. Over the coming years, Reed would cover Kennedy for both Life andTime, capturing the young senator in his office, on the street, and campaigning for Foster Furcolo (John Foster Furcolo, Governor of Massachusetts, 1957-1961). During the period when Reed photographed JFK, the story was still largely local. Kennedy came from a prominent Boston family, and his presidential aspirations were largely covert.
ABOVE Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Hyannisport, Massachusetts, 1955
ABOVE John F. Kennedy, Hyannisport, Massachusetts, 1955
ABOVE Senator John F. Kennedy, Foster Furcolo Parade, East Boston, 1956
ABOVE Boston's Finest, 1957
ABOVE John F. Kennedy at Newsstand, Boston, 1957
Country Auction
Characteristically, Reed decided to focus on the people attending this rural antiques auction rather than the event itself. In these images, he seems particularly concerned with the people's post-auction emotions. As the adrenaline of the sale subsides, does the reality of life with one's new treasures live up to the earlier anticipation?
ABOVE Antique Purchase, Albany, Vermont, 1951
ABOVE Keeping Dry, Albany, Vermont, 1951
ABOVE Couple at Auction, Albany, Vermont, 1951
In June 1953, Reed spent an afternoon photographing protesters in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who had been convicted in 1951 on espionage charges for passing secrets about nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union, were scheduled to be executed on June 19, 1953. The emotionally charged conflict spilled into the streets, where supporters of clemency clashed with those who favored the death penalty. A writer for Life magazine was trying to cover the story without the aid of a photographer. Seeing Reed, the reporter asked if he would be willing to cover the protests for him. Reed's acceptance marked the beginning of his six-year career as a photojournalist for Life.
ABOVE Rosenberg Vigil I, Boston, 1953
ABOVE Rosenberg Vigil II, Boston, 1953
ABOVE Rosenberg Vigil III, Boston, 1953
ABOVE Rosenberg Vigil IV, Boston, 1953
Edmund S. Muskie started politics with a successful 1946 run for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives, where he served three consecutive terms. Here, Reed shows Muskie in his hometown on the day of the 1954 Maine gubernatorial election. Reed's pictures cover the story from the tension while the results were still coming in to the elation after they revealed Muskie had won. Like Kennedy, Muskie went on to a dramatic political career, becoming the first Democrat in Maine's history to be elected U.S. senator. He ran for president in 1968 and 1972, and finished his political career as Secretary of State in 1980-1981.
ABOVE Edmund S. Muskie,
Rumford, Maine, 1954
ABOVE Edmund S. Muskie, with Daughter
This Life photo-essay, "A Wedding in a Land of Dolls," described the fanciful wedding of dolls at the home of children's book author Tasha Tudor. Tudor famously eschewed the trappings of modern living and created instead a carefully constructed world based on nostalgia for pre-modern America. Reed took advantage of his time at Tudor's house to capture not only the wedding, his assigned subject, but a bit of this remarkable family's way of life.
ABOVE Girl with Wreath, Webster,
New Hampshire, 1955
ABOVE Evening Chores, Webster,
A Changing World: New England in the Photographs of Verner Reed, 1950-1972
Organized by Historic New England, Boston, Massachusetts
All photographs are drawn from the collections of Historic New England, presented by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. They are part of the Verner Reed Archive, a collection of more than 26,000 negatives and prints, which was donated by Verner and Deborah Reed.
John R. Stomberg served as guest curator of the original exhibition.
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Unicode Surrogates
Unicode characters are made up of 16 bits, which allows for 65,536 different characters. At this point, not all of them have been used, but they will be one day. There are a very large number of Japanese and Chinese characters that have not yet been included. None of these are in common use, but they include a lot of characters of serious interest to scholars and historians, so the problem won't go away.
Also, Japanese and Chinese people can (and do) invent new characters all the time.
But there are only so many characters you can store in 16 bits, so how to make the problem go away? Previous international-text standards, in particular the much-hated ISO 2022, used a trick where you would switch modes, i.e. have a magic sequence that said "shift into Korean" or "shift into Arabic"; while this was straightforward enough to render on a screen, it was pure hell for programmers. I'll skip the details to avoid boring the non-programmers, but for the geeks in the crowd, two words: pointer arithmetic.
Unicode has a clever solution to this, called the "surrogate blocks". They call the 65,536 Unicode characters the "Basic Multilingual Plane" (BMP for short), and it contains almost all of the characters most people will ever need. In the BMP, two chunks of 1,024 characters have been reserved and will never be used to represent ordinary characters. These are called the Surrogate Blocks; the first extends from #d800 to #dbff (decimal 55,296 to 56,319) inclusive, the second from #dc00 to #dfff (decimal 56,320 to 57,343). The trick is that for any new characters that get assigned outside of the BMP, they have to be made up of a 16-bit character from the first block, then another from the second. This way you get about a million (1,048,576) new characters; although to keep things simple, the Unicode people prefer to think of them as 16 new planes, each of 65,536 characters.
The beauty of the surrogate technique is that a program that doesn't understand it would just render such a character as two blobs on the screen. A program that understands the basic idea, but doesn't know that exact character, would render it as one blob on the scren. And a program that knows the character would be just fine.
And programmers love it, because by looking at one 16-bit quantity they can always tell whether they're looking at an ordinary character, or at the top or bottom half of a non-BMP character.
The practical effect is that if you have a character from one of the surrogate that's not part of a 2-character low-surrogate high-surrogate combo, then you have a fatal error.
By the way, the surrogates are going to be used not only for lots of Chinese-style characters, but for the characters of Egyptian hieroglyphics, Mayan, other dead languages, and Klingon.
Back-link to spec
Copyright © 1998, Tim Bray. All rights reserved.


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The collection of stories in books one and two of Hindu Childrens' Modern Stories was written and illustrated at my request to convey Hinduism's ethical and moral values and basic religious observances, the traditional yamas and niyamas, to a new generation. The stories, set in India and America, are intended for children ages ten to twelve, when it is natural to learn about being good. Each story speaks to a single value, for example, nonviolence, honesty, purity or giving. Some stories illustrate the choices a child may face in his or her life, such as lying to cover a mistake, and the pleasant or unpleasant consequences that may result from those choices. They show how the negative consequences may be softened by confession, apology and penance. In other stories the characters model positive, noble behavior, helping others and applying religious principles in real-life situations. In "One Tired Student," children who make fun of a boy who constantly falls asleep in class discover compassion when they learn that he is tired because he stays up most of the night helping his great grandfather get through a severe illness. Several stories focus on the consequences of making the wrong kind of friends. The stories show how a child must think about the friends he or she makes, and choose those with similar, positive values. The stories follow the nonviolent child-raising principles of Positive Discipline: avoidance of corporal punishment, seeing mistakes as opportunities for teaching and letting children learn by fully facing the consequences of their own actions. In "Caught in a Friend's Lie," a boy who has been deceitful at school does not face an angry, critical, judgmental parent upon returning home. Rather, his father reacts in a kindly, loving, thoughtful manner, speaking calmly to help his son understand his error, how to make amends and how not to repeat the mistake in the future. Unfortunately, ethics and morals are ignored subjects in most of the world's schools today. I hope that this small set of stories will provide Hindu and non-Hindu parents alike one means to convey these all-important character-building values to their children. Stories by Anuradha Murali Illustrations by Rajeev N.T.
Yogesh's parents seemed to have no time for him ever since they arrived in Chennai two days ago. His mother jabbered endlessly with relatives, and his father seemed mostly interested in sitting down for meal after home-cooked meal. His grandpa and grandma made a fuss over him; but even though they spoke English, they could not understand his American accent. He knew enough Tamil to communicate. His mother had insisted he learn, but he had never been comfortable with it.
He was not interested in being taken to the beach, nor for ice cream. He wanted to play on a computer, but this house did not have one. He asked his mother to buy one, but Grandpa laughed at the idea and said, "After you go back to the US, what will I do with a computer? This old man doesn't even know how to operate a TV remote!"
Yogesh wished he found it as funny as his grandpa did. Somehow he couldn't help feeling irritated with his relatives. So what if they were in India? Couldn't they be more modern? He could not imagine anyone in the US living without a computer.
One day as they sat together, Grandpa asked Yogesh, "What do you play back home?"
"I play on my Xbox and Nintendo."
Yogesh groaned, "Grandpa, they are game consoles that you connect to your television and play."
"Oh! Then what about friends?"
"Friends? I have more than 200!"
"200? That's a lot for a young boy!" said Grandpa. "Where did you meet them?"
"Where is Facebook? Is that a park?" asked Grandpa innocently.
"Grandpa," exclaimed Yogesh with growing frustration, "Facebook is an Internet social networking site where people meet and interact."
"Without seeing each other?" Grandpa was amazed.
Yogesh offered eagerly, "Yes. You should get yourself a computer too, and make some good friends. There are lots of interesting people out there."
Grandpa grew silent for a few minutes, deep in thought. Then he asked, "Do you like India?"
"Frankly, no! There's nothing to do here. The boys are playing cricket all the time. When I try to teach them baseball, they laugh at me. I miss my games and my computer."
Grandpa suggested, "In that case, instead of being stuck here, I think you should go and see our family's native village. You can stay with your great uncle, my brother. It's a few hours' drive from here."
Figuring that it couldn't be worse than being here, Yogesh agreed. The next day, he got into a hired car and left for the village.
He rolled down the windows, and a warm breeze blew into the car. He watched the passing scenery. Soon the city was far behind them. Green rice fields lined each side of the road their car shared with bullock carts, huge buses and trucks. The green complemented the blue of the sky, and the scene was pretty.
It was evening when they reached Nattrampalli, a little village outside Vellore. The car bumped down a narrow side road for at least a kilometer, then stopped. They got out near a cow shelter. Outside the barn, a white cow mooed at them loudly. Yogesh peeped around the side and saw a small calf grazing on tender grass.
A short distance away, he saw a whitewashed house with a little lamp hanging outside. His great uncle, Abhiraman, came out and paid the driver.
"Son, welcome home," he said with a toothless smile.
Yogesh walked into the house. His grandpa's home in Chennai was spartan, but it was a palace compared to this place. There was absolutely nothing here. No sofa, no dining table--no furniture whatsoever, except for a cane bed, a few mats and some large gunny bags filled to bursting with grains.
He ran out to get back in the car, but to his dismay, it was disappearing into the distance. A tear rolled down his cheek. How he hated this! Why had he agreed to come? Why had Mom let him go, knowing what it would be like?
"Where's the bathroom?" he asked Uncle.
"Bathroom? Come with me," replied Abhiraman, and took him to a roofless room through which the moon shone down.
He didn't remember the rest of the evening. He had fallen asleep, sad and upset, on the simple cane bed.
In the morning, a tender breeze blew in and woke him up.
"Uncle, where's the shower?" Abhiraman led him to the well and showed him how to bring up buckets of water to pour over his body.
Yogesh found that he was not as upset as he had been yesterday. "Well, this is a different way to bathe," he thought, "but it works."
He returned to the cottage, where his uncle was holding a glass of frothy milk for him.
"Where do you buy milk, Uncle? Is there a supermarket nearby?" asked Yogesh hopefully.
"There are no shops here. We produce our own food. The milk is fresh from our cows. Do you know how to milk a cow?"
"Well, then, it's time to learn." Yogesh soon found himself sitting on a short stool next to an 800-pound cow.
Milking the cow was not easy but, Yogesh had to admit, it was fun. He was actually starting to enjoy himself!
In the distance, he saw a boy around his own age who was leading a small herd of goats. Shyly he walked up and introduced himself, using the best Tamil he could muster. The boy, Mani, had dark skin, a mop of curly hair and shining white teeth.
Within a few minutes the two felt like old friends. Mani asked, "Do you want to see some of the things we do here in the village?"
Yogesh felt a surge of excitement. "Sure! I'd like that," he said, thinking of the stories he will have to tell his friends back in the US.
As Mani herded the goats forward with a sturdy stick, they set off on a path between green paddy fields. Soon they came upon a coconut grove. Mani climbed up a tree and threw down a tender coconut. Slipping back down, he chopped an opening in the coconut and gave it to Yogesh. "Drink this!"
Yogesh drank it eagerly. "This is the sweetest tasting water on earth! Wow!"
Next Mani guided them to a hill where a group of boys were playing. Mani called out to them, "Come and meet Yogesh; he is from Bombay!"
Yogesh shot back, "Not Bombay! USA!"
"It doesn't matter. For us, both are the same!"
Yogesh laughed at the statement and suddenly felt lighthearted. These boys had a simple and easy view of life. In their company, he began to relax.
They climbed the hillock and ate wild berries. They swam in the lake on the other side, and Mani dug up some kind of root vegetable and roasted it on an open fire. When the sun started nearing the horizon, they headed back home.
When they reached the house, Uncle Abhiraman was standing outside with a worried look on his face. But when he saw Yogesh's excitement, he smiled and called him in for supper--freshly cooked rice with sambar and fried potatoes. Mani said goodbye and herded the goats to his family's home. Hungry and tired, Yogesh ate heartily.
That night, as he lay in the cane bed, he watched the stars outside twinkling merrily, and he saw a few fireflies behaving like stars on Earth.
The next morning, after bathing at the well, he milked the cow--with more than a little help from Uncle--and collected some vegetables from the garden.
Soon Mani came for him. Today Yogesh asked permission, "Uncle, may I go out with Mani this morning?"
"Certainly! Have a good time together."
With a big "Thank you!" the two set off to the hillock. This time, the boys wanted to play some games. They taught him marbles and kabaddi. He found that playing marbles was difficult, but kabaddi was easy for him. He enjoyed scuffling around on the ground, pushing, pulling and tugging. It was a bit like tag, but with a lot more running, plus you have to hold your breath for part of it.
Although he washed his clothes at the well every day, his new jeans were soon a dirty brown color. His t-shirt, too, looked like it had seen better days. But Yogesh couldn't care less.
What amazed him the most was that everyone in the village was happy. When he arrived, he had thought, "This is a such a poor village." But after a few days, he couldn't figure out what they were missing. They had good, fresh food, they had comfortable houses, they had the beauty of nature, and they had each other. Nobody felt they needed computers, TV, Internet, or even iPhones. They were totally content.
The next few days passed quickly in a similar fashion. Soon it was time to head back to Chennai. Yogesh decided to give a gift to each of the boys. They flocked around him as he dug into his bag for things to give away. He gave his watch to Mani. "My goodness!" Mani shouted, "This is beautiful. Thank you. I don't really need it, since I can tell the time by the sun. But it looks good, and it makes me feel like a man."
To Sagar, one of the kabbadi players, he gave his best pair of sneakers. To little Varendra he presented his hand video game. The boy tried to put it in his shorts pocket, which was torn, and the console kept falling out. Yogesh wasn't really sure what Varendra would do with it, but at least it would be a souvenir of his visit.
As Yogesh watched the car approach, his uncle and a few villagers came and stood by him. Yogesh turned to Abhiraman, "Uncle, thank you for everything. Thank you for teaching me how to milk the cow and thank you for teaching me that I don't need expensive gadgets to be content. These have been the happiest few days of my life."
Varendra was beginning to cry, and Mani looked like he too might shed a tear. Yogesh hugged Mani, "I will come back next year to see you. I promise! I will write letters from America, too."
As the car neared Chennai, Yogesh realized that he had not even thought of his computer for a week. He didn't miss his games, and he felt no need to check up on his 200 Facebook friends.
All the relatives were waiting to greet him as the car pulled into the driveway. Yogesh jumped out and hugged his grandpa. "Thank you for sending me to our native village. It was the greatest experience of my life. I was so happy there, and now I know I can be happy anywhere!"
Contentment, santosha, is the second niyama. How do we practice contentment? Simply do not harm others by thought, word or deed. As a practitioner of ahimsa, noninjury, you can sleep contentedly at night and experience santosha then and through the day. Contentment is a quality that everyone wants, and buys things to obtain--"Oh, if I only had my house redecorated, I would be content." "A new wardrobe would content me, give me joy and serenity." "To be content, I must have a vacation and get away from it all. There I can live the serene life and have joyous experiences."
The dharmic way is to look within and bring out the latent contentment that is already there by doing nothing to inhibit its natural expression, as santosha, the mood of the soul, permeates out through every cell of the physical body. Contentment is one of the most difficult qualities to obtain, and is well summed up within our food blessing mantra, from the Shukla Yajur Veda, Isa Upanishad invocation, "That is fullness. Creation is fullness. From that fullness flows this world's fullness. This fullness issues from that fullness, yet that fullness remains full." This joy we seek is the joy of fullness, lacking nothing.
Life is meant to be lived joyously. There is in much of the world the belief that life is a burden, a feeling of penitence, that it is good to suffer, good for the soul. In fact, spiritual life is not that way at all. The existentialist would have you believe that depression, rage, fear and anguish are the foremost qualities of the human temper and expression. The communists used to have us believe that joy and serenity as the outgrowth of religion are just an opiate of the people, a narcotic of unreality. The Semitic religions of the Near East would have us believe that suffering is good for the soul, and there is not much you can do about it. The Saivite Hindu perspective is that contentment is a reflection of centeredness, and discontentment is a reflection of externalized consciousness and ramified desire.
Maintaining joy and serenity in life means being content with your surroundings, be they meager or lavish. Be content with your money, be it a small amount or a large amount. Be content with your health. Bear up under ailments and be thankful that they are not worse than they are. Protect your health if it is good. It is a valuable treasure. Be content with your friends. Be loyal to those who are your long-time, trusted companions. Basically, contentment, santosha, is freedom from desire gained by redirecting the forces of desire and making a beautiful life within what one already has in life.
The rich seeking more riches are not content. The famous seeking more fame are not content. The learned seeking more knowledge are not content. Being content with what you have does not mean you cannot discriminate and seek to progress in life. It doesn't mean you should not use your willpower and fulfill your plans.
It does mean you should not become upset while you are striving toward your goals, frustrated or unhappy if you do not get what you want. The best striving is to keep pushing along the natural unfoldment of positive trends and events in your life, your family life and your business. Contentment is working within your means with what is available to you, living within your income, being grateful for what you have, and not unhappy over what you lack.
There are many frustrated souls on the path who torment themselves no end and walk around with long faces because they estimate they are not unfolding spiritually fast enough. They have set goals of Self Realization for themselves far beyond their abilities to immediately obtain. If people say, "I am not going to do anything that will not make me peaceful or that will threaten my peace of mind," how will they get anywhere? That is not the idea of santosha.
True santosha is seeing all-pervasiveness of the one divine power everywhere. The light within the eyes of each person is that divine power. With this in mind, you can go anywhere and do anything. Contentment is there, inside you, and needs to be brought out. It is a spiritual power. So, yes, do what makes you content. But know that contentment really transcends worrying about the challenges that face you. Santosha is being peaceful in any situation. The stronger you are in santosha, the greater the challenges you can face and still remain quiet on the inside, peaceful and content, poised like a hummingbird hovering over a flower.
Santosha is the goal; dharma, good conduct, remains the director of how you should act and respond to fulfill your karma. This goal is attainable by following the ten Vedic restraints: not harming others by thought, word or deed, refraining from lying, not entering into debt, being tolerant with people and circumstance, overcoming changeableness and indecision, not being callous, cruel or insensitive to other people's feelings. Above all, never practice deception.
Don't eat too much. Maintain a vegetarian diet for purity and clarity of mind. Watch carefully what you think and how you express it through words. All of these restraints must be captured and practiced within the lifestyle before the natural contentment, the santosha, the pure, serene nature, of the soul can shine forth. Therefore, the practice to attain santosha is to fulfill the yamas. Proceed with confidence; failure is an impossibility.
Here are previews of six more of the books' twenty stories in which children will encounter challenging situations that are familiar to them, tales of stealing, lying, injuring others and more. The stories illustrate the power of worship, chanting, penance, taking of vows and other religious practices, while highlighting the meaning, purpose and value of applying self control and religious principles in daily life.
Book One, Ten Tales About Self-Control and Book Two, Ten Tales About Religious Life are each 84 pages long and profusely illustrated with pastel pencil art by Rajeev N.T. of Kerala. The books are available as hardcover (ISBN 978-1-934145-08-1 and 978-1-934145-09-8, $29.95 each) and as e-books through Amazon.com and Apple's iBookstore. All versions except Kindle include the audio. Order at minimela.com or through url=http://www.amazon.com]Amazon.com[/url].
One day at the dinner table, while enjoying chicken sambal, Janaki, age eight, starts asking difficult questions about why Auntie is a vegetarian and their family is not. Through the course of the story, she realizes that it is wrong to eat animals, decides to quit, and the family joins her in the decision.
Normally a good girl, Ananya steals $100 from a teacher's purse and is caught. She must then confess to her parents and deal with the regret, remorse and the shame. She does heartfelt penance, cleaning at the temple, to make up for her mistake and regain the respect of the community.
At 12, Vadivel took a vow to remain celibate until marriage. Reaching age 15, he becomes obsessed with Amelia. His sister reminds him of the vow, seeing that Amelia is interested in more than just holding hands. Vadivel struggles with his instincts and finally reaffirms his commitment.
Vasuki, whose father has lost his job, promises to worship Lord Ganesha daily in their shrine to help him find employment. Inspired by his daughter's devotion, Dad searches even harder, and after weeks of interviews finds a new job to support his family, better even than the one he lost.
Valli and Seyon respond selfishly to the unexpected arrival of Aunt Hema and her family. After reflecting on the wisdom of the scripture they have been studying, they open their hearts, treat their guests as God and discover the joy that comes from making others happy.
Young Raj prepares himself a month in advance for Tai Pusam, eating just one meal a day and sleeping on the floor. One the day of the festival, he carries kavadi at Batu Caves and has his skin pierced with small spears as a penance. His friend Arvind, afraid at first, learns lessons of devotion and purity.


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Home » Blogs » Off the Record » Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei to Design London's Serpentine Pavilion
Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei to Design London's Serpentine Pavilion
KEYWORDS Ai Weiwei
Photo © 2008 by T&C Film AG
The Serpentine Gallery just announced that Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei will be designing the London art space's annual summer pavilion. The Swiss firm and the Chinese artist/activist first worked together in 2008 on the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium in Beijing—a project that the artist later renounced. The announcement comes as London gears up to host this summer's Olympic Games.
We will post drawings as soon as they are available. In the meantime, the press release below includes a description of the project...
Revealed: Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei to design Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012
The Serpentine Gallery is proud to announce that Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei will create the 2012 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. It will be the twelfth commission in the Gallery's annual series, the world's first and most ambitious architectural programme of its kind. The design team responsible for the celebrated Beijing National Stadium, which was built for the 2008 Olympic Games and won the prestigeous RIBA Lubetkin Prize, will come together again in London in 2012 in a special development of the Serpentine's acclaimed annual commission which will be presented as part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad. The Pavilion will be Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei's first collaborative built structure in the UK.
This year's Pavilion will take visitors beneath the Serpentine's lawn to explore the hidden history of its previous Pavilions. Eleven columns characterising each past Pavilion and a twelfth column will support a floating platform roof 1.5 metres above ground. Taking an archaeological approach, the architects have created a design that will inspire visitors to look beneath the surface of the park as well as back in time across the ghosts of the earlier structures.
Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery, said: "It is a great honour to be working with Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei. We are delighted that our annual commission will bring this unique architectural collaboration to Europe to mark the continuity between the Beijing 2008 and the London 2012 Games."
Describing their design concept Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei said: "Every year since 2000, a different architect has been responsible for creating the Serpentine Gallery's summer Pavilion for Kensington Gardens. That makes eleven Pavilions so far, our contribution will be the twelfth. So many Pavilions in so many different shapes and out of so many different materials have been conceived and built that we tried instinctively to sidestep the unavoidable problem of creating an object, a concrete shape.
"Our path to an alternative solution involves digging down some five feet into the soil of the park until we reach the groundwater. There we dig a waterhole, a kind of well, to collect all of the London rain that falls in the area of the Pavilion. In that way we incorporate an otherwise invisible aspect of reality in the park— the water under the ground—into our Pavilion. As we dig down into the earth we encounter a diversity of constructed realities such as telephone cables and former foundations.
Like a team of archaeologists, we identify these physical fragments as remains of the eleven Pavilions built between 2000 and 2011. Their shape varies: circular, long and narrow, dots and also large, constructed hollows that have been filled in. These remains testify to the existence of the former Pavilions and their greater or lesser intervention in the natural environment of the park.
"All of these foundations will now be uncovered and reconstructed. The old foundations form a jumble of convoluted lines, like a sewing pattern. A distinctive landscape emerges out of the reconstructed foundations which is unlike anything we could have invented; its form and shape is actually a serendipitous gift. The three-dimensional reality of this landscape is astonishing and it is also the perfect place to sit, stand, lie down or just look and be amazed. In other words, the ideal environment for continuing to do what visitors have been doing in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilions over the past eleven years—and a discovery for the many new visitors anticipated for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
"On the foundations of each single Pavilion, we extrude a new structure (supports, walls) as load-bearing elements for the roof of our Pavilion – eleven supports all told, plus our own column that we can place at will, like a wild card. The roof resembles that of an archaeological site. It floats some five feet above the grass of the park, so that everyone visiting can see the water on it, its surface reflecting the infinitely varied, atmospheric skies of London. For special events, the water can be drained off the roof as from a bathtub, from whence it f lows back into the waterhole, the deepest point in the Pavilion landscape. The dry roof can then be used as a dance floor or simply as a platform suspended above the park."
Read the full press release (PDF).


Senate Republicans today stripped from the budget teacher merit pay language and provisions that critics said would have significantly reduced oversight and accountability of charter schools, while easing some cuts to education and local governments.
The long list of changes would even increase the maximum allowable alcohol content of beer from 12 percent to 18 percent, a move that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chris Widener, R-Springfield, said is designed to help some of Ohio's microbreweries, whose creations are bumping up against the current limit.
The state's highest-performing schools - those rated excellent or excellent with distinction - would get a $17-per-student performance bonus at the end of next school year, totaling $30 million over two years. A number of districts would also see their funding cuts eased by about $85 million, compared to the House-passed budget.
The Senate also put about $100 million more into local governments, and would ensure that small, rural counties that collect less than $750,000 a year in local government funds do not see a funding cut. A House-created $50 million pot of money to encourage government to share services also was tossed by the wayside.
The total general revenue fund price tag for the Senate budget climbed about $100 million to $55.7 billion. The Senate picked up additional money by using estimates for revenue and Medicaid caseload developed by the Legislative Service Commission, instead of those by the state budget office.
The commission and the state budget office are expected to further revise their estimates later this month, before the final budget is passed.
Gov. John Kasich said he talked to the Senate leadership over the weekend and the new proposal is pretty much in line with what they agreed to but added that if spending gets out of control "we're going to have a problem."
"It sets the stage for a structurally balanced, responsible budget that addresses the needs of the residents of the state of Ohio, and allows us to do it without raising taxes," said Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond. "The cuts, while painful, we think are responsible and we don't think there are any surprises here."
The Senate Finance Committee will accept a substitute version of the budget this afternoon, and hold testimony on Wednesday and Thursday. The plan is to make more changes early next week, with a committee and Senate vote on consecutive days.
From there, the budget will move to a joint conference committee, where the House and Senate will work out their differences prior to June 30, when the current budget expires.
The House added a number of major charter school provisions at the request of David Brennan, the state's largest charter school operator and one of the GOP's largest individual donors in the past decade.
But a number of charter-school supporters sharply criticized the language, which would have made Ohio the only state in the nation with for-profit charter schools and would have significantly boosted the power of charter operators at the expense of sponsors, the nonprofit entities responsible for the schools' performance.
The Senate stripped nearly all of the House-added language, and instead inserted a provision that says a school sponsor can take on additional schools only if at least 80 percent of its current portfolio of schools does not rank in the bottom 5 percent of schools for academic performance.
"We reinstated quality and operational controls and transparency," Widener said. "We continue to believe that accountability and control of the expansion of these types of schools is important, as well as those parents and students having the ability to have a choice."
The Senate also is removing language related to teacher merit pay that was similar to what was contained in Senate Bill 5, the collective bargaining law that is likely to be challenged at the November ballot.
Some senators did not support the Kasich-crafted language, Widener said, and "some members were confused why it was in there."
Widener said the Senate will continue to decide if any teacher-pay issues need to be resolved as they relate to Ohio schools receiving federal Race to the Top funding.
Increases funding for PASSPORT by $42 million over two years, including federal dollars.
Removed a House-added gag order on the Ohio Consumers' Counsel that limited what the office could say about issues related to deregulation. It also adds $1.5 million to the counsel's budget next year to help pay for initiatives to downsize the office.
Would require privatization of the Ohio Lottery by June 2012 but require legislative approval before the Ohio Turnpike could be privatized.
Creates the special education scholarship program for children to attend alternative public or private special education schools.
Eliminates the moratorium on new online charter schools.
Allows out-of-state students to pay in-state tuition if they agree to live in Ohio for five years after graduation.
Increases funding for children's hospitals by $4 million per year.
Abolishes the Workers' Compensation Council, which Niehaus said has outlived its usefulness. In the past two years, the council has generated more controversy than work product.
Allows a school district to combine a property tax and income tax into the same ballot issue.
Exempts the sale and exchange of uranium from the commercial activities tax to encourage a proposed multibillion-dollar centrifuge in Pike County.
Some budget provisions were not dealt with, but could be addressed in changes next week. That includes lowering the $3.5 million threshold to pay prevailing wage in public construction projects in the current bill.
One controversial item not in the new version of the budget: shifting 2 percent of workers' pension cost from employers to employees. That proposal may be added to a study of the pension systems' finances for which a legislative panel is preparing a request for proposals.


text:
9/11 prompted Marine Corps veteran to take a stand and serve
November 8, 2018 March 15, 2019 Pam Maris 4039 Views 1 Comment armed forces, CPS Energy, Marine, military, veterans, veterans day	min read
On Nov. 11, our nation will commemorate Veterans Day, honoring all service members who bravely and unselfishly are serving or have served our country. CPS Energy is proud to have more than 300 veterans working for the utility. Over the past few weeks, we've spotlighted a few of these veterans who've transitioned from military service to serving our community and our customers. We wrap up our series by shining the light on a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and Reserves.
There are moments in history where time seems to stand still. Moments etched in our memories years and even decades later. Moments that define us, stir raw emotion and sometimes cause us to take a stand.
Sept. 11, 2001, is one of those unforgettable days as we witnessed terrorist attacks on our nation's soil. Those attacks led to the World Trade Center's 110-story twin towers crumbling to the ground, and hijacked planes crashing into the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, altogether resulting in nearly 3,000 Americans losing their lives.
TeeJay Tejeda, a then Highlands High School senior, remembers exactly where he was when he first heard of the attacks. "I was headed to history class and remember seeing teachers in the hallway looking at each other in disbelief – like 'Is this really happening?' We had TVs in the classrooms tuned into the news and watched the horrific events unfolding in our country."
When a military recruiter visited Highlands during the 2001-02 school year, TeeJay didn't hesitate to take the Armed Forces qualification test. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, becoming a third-generation service member.
When asked if his family had inspired him to join the military, TeeJay noted that the "true catalyst was seeing what happened on 9/11."
The young recruit headed to San Diego, California, for basic training. For those in the Marine Corps, the final test of the 13-week training period is called 'the crucible,' a 54-hour field training exercise that includes a 48-mile march to the top of a mountain. Along the way, recruits are subjected to physical and mental challenges, arduous obstacle courses, sleep deprivation and food rations. They have to work together as a team and the entire platoon of about 50-60 recruits must successfully reach the top of the mountain. "When you get to the top, this is when you become a Marine – it's the rite of passage," said TeeJay. "It's very emotional; a very proud moment."
After completing basic training, the Marine was sent to Florida and North Carolina for Aviation Ordnance training. He took electrical classes and became well-versed in electronics and schematics. He worked on equipment such as bomb racks, weapons systems and anything that had to do with weapons systems on F/A-18 Hornets, a supersonic combat jet.
TeeJay became an Aviation Ordnanceman and was attached to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, F-18 Squadron in Miramar, California.
Along with serving stateside, he participated in the Universal Deployment Program (UDP), which allows service members to temporarily switch places with other service members at bases around the world. He spent about three months in Australia working alongside the Royal Australian Air Force, and six months in Japan, where he visited Hiroshima and witnessed the lingering effects of the atomic bomb dropped on that city some 70-plus years earlier. "It was so surreal," he said as he spoke of the still-mangled buildings. "Eye-opening."
Later, he became part of a security detachment and was deployed to Iraq for nearly seven months, providing base and area security, as well as security for high-ranking officials.
By the time he completed active duty in 2006, TeeJay had risen to the rank of Sergeant. He then served another year-and-a-half as a Marine Reservist.
The military veteran has been with CPS Energy for nearly 12 years, working today as Control Room Operator (CRO) for the Company's Spruce 1 and 2 generating units. TeeJay and his colleagues help ensure a steady flow of power for our customers and community. The CRO credits his military experience with boosting his confidence, something he says helped him in interviews at CPS Energy and in rising to his current role.
We thank, TeeJay, for his commitment and valuable service to our Company and community, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all veterans for their dedicated and unwavering service to our nation.
Retired Master Sergeant continues to 'Aim High'
Sailor's career path runs deep
Army veteran is a pillar of strength, resilience
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Pam Maris
Pam is part of the Corporate Communications team at CPS Energy.
One thought on "9/11 prompted Marine Corps veteran to take a stand and serve"
Anita DeLeon
Our heartfelt gratitude to TeeJay for his service and courage.


text:
![Swift](https://img.shields.io/badge/Swift-4.1-orange.svg)
[![CI Status](http://img.shields.io/travis/pisces/OrangeLabel.svg?style=flat)](https://travis-ci.org/pisces/OrangeLabel)
[![Version](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/v/OrangeLabel.svg?style=flat)](http://cocoapods.org/pods/OrangeLabel)
[![License](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/l/OrangeLabel.svg?style=flat)](http://cocoapods.org/pods/OrangeLabel)
[![Platform](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/p/OrangeLabel.svg?style=flat)](http://cocoapods.org/pods/OrangeLabel)
[![Carthage Compatible](https://img.shields.io/badge/Carthage-compatible-4BC51D.svg?style=flat)](https://github.com/Carthage/Carthage)

- OrangeLabel is extensions of UILabel linkable, available line background and placeholder text

## Features
- Link for mention, hashtag, url and custom
- Placeholder text and color
- Line background

## Import

```swift
import OrangeLabel
```

## Example
<img src="Screenshot/ss_01.png" width="375" />

```swift
let numbers = UILabelLinkType.custom(pattern: "[0-9]+")
let label = OrangeLabel()
label.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = true
label.enabledLinkTypes = [.mention, .hashtag, .url, numbers]
label.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
label.font = UIFont(name: "AvenirNext-Bold", size: 60)
label.minimumScaleFactor = 0.2
label.lineBackgroundColor = .black
label.lineBackgroundInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: -5, left: 5, bottom: -5, right: 5)
label.numberOfLines = 0
label.text = "@steve Your selfie overed 1000 views @steve Your selfie overed 1000 views @steve Your selfie overed 1000 views @steve #hahaha http://retrica.co Your selfie overed 1000 views @steve Your selfie overed 1000 views @steve Your selfie overed 1000 views www.retrica.co @steve Your selfie overed 1000 views @steve Your selfie overed 1000 views @steve #hahaha Your selfie overed 1000 views @steve Your selfie overed 1000 views"
label.textAlignment = .center
label.textColor = .white

label.setHighlightedLinkColor(UIColor.white.withAlphaComponent(0.5), type: .mention)
    .setHighlightedLinkColor(UIColor.white.withAlphaComponent(0.5), type: .hashtag)
    .setHighlightedLinkColor(UIColor.white.withAlphaComponent(0.5), type: .url)
    .setHighlightedLinkColor(UIColor.white.withAlphaComponent(0.5), type: numbers)
    .setAttributes([NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue,
                    NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor(red: 1, green: 185/255, blue: 0, alpha: 1)], type: .mention)
    .setAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor(red: 225/255, green: 66/255, blue: 16/255, alpha: 1)], type: .hashtag)
    .setAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor(red: 0, green: 204/255, blue: 238/255, alpha: 1)], type: .url)
    .setAttributes([NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor(red: 1, green: 85/255, blue: 0, alpha: 1)], type: numbers)

label.linkTapped { (link) in
    print(link)
}
```

## Installation

### CocoaPods

[CocoaPods](http://cocoapods.org) is a dependency manager for Cocoa projects. You can install it with the following command:

```bash
$ gem install cocoapods
```

> CocoaPods 1.1.0+ is required to build OrangeLabel 0.1.0+.

To integrate OrangeLabel into your Xcode project using CocoaPods, specify it in your `Podfile`:

```ruby
source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
platform :ios, '9.0'

target '<Your Target Name>' do
    pod 'OrangeLabel', '~> 0.2.0'
end
```

Then, run the following command:

```bash
$ pod install
```

### Carthage

[Carthage](https://github.com/Carthage/Carthage) is a decentralized dependency manager that builds your dependencies and provides you with binary frameworks.

You can install Carthage with [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/) using the following command:

```bash
$ brew update
$ brew install carthage
```

To integrate Alamofire into your Xcode project using Carthage, specify it in your `Cartfile`:

```ogdl
github "pisces/OrangeLabel" ~> 0.2.0
```

Run `carthage update` to build the framework and drag the built `OrangeLabel.framework` into your Xcode project.

## Requirements

iOS Deployment Target 9.0 higher

## Author

Steve Kim, hh963103@gmail.com

## License

OrangeLabel is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


In this System booster method, you will have to use external Pendrive to speed up our computer. So, you have to use Pendrive or USB memory on your system as a RAM.
Insert USB or Pendrive in your PC port.
Right, click on Pen Drive in Computer and open properties.
Now select ReadyBoost button in properties.
Check the "use this drive" radio button there.
Now choose the memory that you want to allocate to the system for use.
Now click apply the OK.
That's it! now that USB will work as your external RAM in your computer.
From now Your system will be boosted and it will be using your Pendrive as a RAM until you have inserted into your Computer.