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World-famous Yorkshire Grade II listed mansion 'rises' from ruin and opens for business
Posted on January 9, 2020 by Francesca
Aerial Shot of Rise Hall
Image Credit: Joel Skingle Photography
Half a million pounds investment sees Historic Rise Hall restored and established as international luxury wedding and events venue
New life and new purpose have been breathed into a world-famous Yorkshire Grade II listed stately home, securing its future, jobs and much-needed knock-on revenue for local businesses, with its £1.6m acquisition by award-winning events specialist, Dine.
Rise Hall, near Beverley, which was acquired by company founders, Daniel and Helen Gill six months ago from TV property expert Sarah Beeny, has undergone a hugely ambitious programme of restoration and renovation, pulling it up to the luxurious standards of the other venues in Dine's unique portfolio and adding an eye-watering £200,000 to the sale price so far.
Daniel and Helen have secured additional funding to continue the restoration of Rise Hall, taking Dine's investment in the property to more than half a million pounds over the next 12 months.
Extensive works have been completed to unprecedented timescales with standout upgrades including the creation of a brand-new bridal suite, at a cost of £35,000, and the hanging of a £5,000 striking chandelier in the entrance hall. With 3,000 individually fitted crystals, experts painstakingly installed the chandelier over seven days. Over £8,500 was dedicated to the installation of a Spanish marble shower in the famous Swift Suite.
Rise has also seen the restoration and refurbishment of its stunning orangery, the main function room, that came in at £120,000. Meanwhile, restocking the 6,000-book capacity library with volumes that match its original Regency décor, while installing ultra-efficient heating systems, high-speed 4G connections and USB charging points throughout demonstrate the attention to detail paid to both original features and 21st century demands.
Blue Sky at Rise Hall
Now, after recruiting a number of electricians, carpet layers, decorators and restorers and other specialist tradespeople, who clocked up more than 200 hours on the custom renovation within three weeks of work starting, Rise Hall is open for weddings, corporate events and private hire functions. Each can be tailored to the host's every precise requirement.
Daniel Gill said:
"In restoring a near ruin to its former glories Sarah created a terrific legacy, but also set us a huge challenge; taking Rise Hall to the next level by making it one of the world's finest luxury wedding and private hire venues – and Yorkshire's largest for private hire.
"Our mission is to create an unforgettable, unique experience, without any compromise, for every occasion. To do this, we must lead a constantly evolving market – both staying abreast of trends challenging our own ideas, while delivering reassuring 'high-end constants'."
"Whatever event our clients host, they expect matchless excellence in service, function rooms and bedrooms, dining and surroundings."
However, it is an expensive business to be an industry leader. Dine's investment figures will be matched every year by the £213,000 costs to maintain the 97-room mansion. Daniel admits keeping it up to the high standards expected from Dine's discerning clientele is a never-ending process.
Helen Gill added:
"It really is like painting the Forth Railway Bridge – if we were ever to reach a point of completion, it would be time to start all over again!"
Rise Hall Promo: Peter hugo
Meanwhile, the couple have added more projects to their To Do list, as previously untouched areas are being considered for redevelopment. First among these are the beautiful courtyard outbuildings and stables, earmarked to house agri-businesses that will complement Rise Hall – such as smokehouses and upscale rural craft outlets – creating more jobs for the area.
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Already the main duties of the citizen are these: Main duties of the citizen are these: to choose the representatives executive in them and legislative, to fulfill the laws, to fiscalize and to demand that they are fulfilled, to respect the social rights of other people, to provide its sustenance with its work, to feed next relatives who are incapable to provide its proper ones sustenances, to protect the nature and the public communitarian patrimony of the country, to collaborate with the authorities, to guarantee the sustenance of the lesser children of 21 years and of the incapable greaters; to pension the spouse, in case of separation or divorce, in case that it needs sustenance. Therefore, the rights of the citizen are linked for the duties. lashvili. 6 the SOCIAL PAPER OF the LIBRARIAN Brazil is a country with high index of illiteracy, the last survey made on the situation of the education in Brazil, the counting of the population carried through in 1996 for the IBGE, sample that Brazil possesss 21 million illiterates more than, that is, more than 13.5% of the population and is of knowledge that this pointer reflects the forms of appropriation of the knowledge that the society this submitted. Hikmet Ersek contains valuable tech resources. For Bambangue (1991, p.125) the act to read is immersed a cultural fact and therefore in the necessity of social relations. if cannot deny that the social history of the reading reflects a society model where the access to this cultural good comes if giving in a igualitrio process. The acquisition of improved knowledge, ability practises in the field of the reading had been restricted the very little people, taking itself in consideration the logic of a society of classrooms where those that they withhold purchasing power high only are that it has greaters possibilities it withhold knowledge and better accesses the diverse types of information. As it consists in the Constitution of 1988, I capitulate individual and collective I of the rights and duties.


MINNEAPOLIS, MN — On Thursday, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar will return to Des Moines, Iowa to headline the Winter Banquet hosted by the Ankeny Area Democrats. Klobuchar will speak and meet with local Ankeny Democrats and elected officials at the United Auto Workers of America Local 450 in Des Moines.
On February 21, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar will headline the Ankeny Area Democrats Winter Banquet and Fundraiser. "The people from the Heartland believe in hard work, telling it like it is, and getting things done. That's true in Minnesota where I grew up, and that's true across the border in Iowa. We have a lot to get done in the days, weeks, and months ahead. And I can't wait to talk with the Democrats in Ankeny about just that," Klobuchar said.
As the daughter of a newspaperman and an elementary school teacher, and the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar has been guided by what she learned growing up in the Midwest. She's the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota, and one of the most effective members of the United States Senate. She has led landmark legislation to combat the opioid epidemic, support farmers, and take on big interests like the pharmaceutical companies. During the last Congress, she was ranked first out of all Senators with the most bills signed into law.
Ankeny is the 4th fastest growing city in the U.S.
Tickets to the event are $30 ($15 for students) and are available at www.AnkenyAreaDemocrats.org. It will be held at United Auto Workers of America Local 450, 4589 NW 6th Dr, Des Moines, Iowa 50313.


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Home » Campaign, Non-profit, Screening Room »
The non-profit's first Pride campaign aims to broaden the conversation around men's physical and mental health.
By Justin Dallaire
Movember Canada debuted a new documentary-style film in celebration of Pride month, bringing increased attention to its support of the LGBTQ+ community.
The short film, From Jason to Jezebel, was produced in house and features Jason Pelletier, a Toronto drag queen who performs under the name Jezebel Bardot. Pelletier describes his path from a small town in Quebec to the big city, while reflecting on the nature of masculinity and the role it has played in his journey.
Movember has been active during the Toronto Pride parade, as well as other regional Pride events in Canada, for the last two years. But the bulk of that work has consisted of programs supporting members of the community through Movember's Social Innovators Challenge, a program that funds projects aimed at strengthening social connections for men across Canada, Australia and the U.K.
Over the last few years, it has run "m.bodiment," a program executed by the Egale Canada Human Rights Trust that included a video series on masculinity and gendered spaces and featured a broad spectrum of people who identify as men. Another project, named Omega Access, included three videos whose goal was to "debunk stereotypes around masculinity by celebrating men with healthy and alternative identities lifestyles and personal strengths," according to Movember's website.
The release of From Jason to Jezebel marks the first time it has run its own campaign on the subject, says Karli Kirkpatrick, Movember's Canadian marketing director.
"We have definitely been present in the space for years now and supporting members of the LGBTQ community," she says. "But this is the first year that we've done something that isn't just programs-related and is more about opening the conversation of Movember and our men's health messaging in a broader way."
As a global men's health charity active in Canada since 2007, Kirkpatrick says the organization believes it is important to recognize that men's health "touches everyone, across all spectrums of orientation and identity, because prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide don't discriminate across any of those lines. They affect all men equally."
Through launching a video about Jezebel Bardot, Movember is hoping its men's health messaging will reach all Canadians, but especially those in the LGBTQ+ community, to show that they're an important part of the Movember community, Kirkpatrick says. Again, she adds, the idea is to highlight that "our cause areas don't discriminate. In fact, when it comes to the mental health piece as well, it disproportionately affects men in this community."
The Canadian-led video was shared with Movember's offices in the U.K. and the U.S., though not Australia, where the charity was born. Today, most of Movember's marketing is handled in-house. For its main fundraising campaign in October and November, it's handling strategic planning internally, but leaning on U.K.-based agency Matta for the creative (typically, that component is led out of Australia). Locally, Movember works with UM on media planning.
In recent years, the men's health charity has aimed to be more inclusive with its marketing, such as with 2017's "Stop Men Dying Too Young" campaign, which featured a more diverse range of supporters, including its core audience's female friends and partners.
"I think, historically, our image hasn't been seen as inclusive, even though our programming has been really inclusive," Kirkpatrick says.
This year and in future years, she says Movember is moving towards becoming more of a "365, always-on organization." In recent years, it has run marketing campaigns around Testicular Cancer Awareness month in April, as well as Suicide Prevention Day on September 10, because the global rate of male suicide is "alarmingly high," with roughly eight men per day taking their own lives in Canada. It's also working on research with Ipsos, to be released towards the end of the summer, that focused on social connectivity and isolation in fathers.
Being active throughout the year has helped Movember address one of its key challenges, according to Kirkpatrick. While the charity has strong brand awareness in Canada, many people still don't understand the breadth of causes it supports. "The year-round piece has really helped us to be able to drive that understanding throughout the population."
Last year, Movember raised AUD$17.7 million in Canada through a total of 56,000 participants, up from the $15.5 million raised locally the year before. Globally, it raised AUD$88.0 million last year, up from $79.8 million the year before, though global participation was down by around 23,000 people in 2017.
Karli Kirkpatrick, Movember Canada, Movember Foundation, Pride, topspot
Serta thinks outside the box
M.A.C. Cosmetics celebrates its home-grown roots
Delissio serves up humour for its stuffed-crust pizza line

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Spiritual masters
Love creates and lust destroys the peace in the heart of a man.
In true love, the mind always derives inspiration from something higher. In Sanskrit, it is referred to as Bhakti. For e.g. Desha bhakti, Matru bhakti, Guru bhakti, Eshwara bhakti etc. This love always expresses itself in the form of sacrifice.
Here the concern of the lover is not what he will get, but what he can do for the beloved. His happiness lies in the happiness of the beloved. Such a lover is ever selfless. Moreover, such a love being absolutely unconditional remains ever permanent.
Also, in this love there is no expectation of return from the beloved. The very act of flowing itself fills the heart with joy and peace. True love blesses both the giver and the receiver.
In sharp contrast is the case with lust. Here the mind is instigated and tempted by something low or mean. In Sanskrit, the term normally used is Aasakti.
The love here remains so long as one gets what one needs from the beloved. Once the expectations are not met, the love attains its natural grave.
Though love and lust are characterized by a feeling of liking in the mind, there is a huge difference between the two. Lust follows the principle "I love because I am loved" whereas in true love it is "1 am loved because I love". Lust says "I love you because I need you" but true love says "1 need you because I love you".
Lust makes a person dependent, miserable and weak as'he constantly craves for love, pleasure, consolation etc from the beloved. That may be the reason why the usage 'falling in love' has become so popular as fall is always the end result!
True love raises a man to the status of God making him strong, independent and fearless (difference between love and lust)
A young man fell in love with a young maiden who was very beautiful and equally cruel. Despite his earnest attempts to win her love, she remained indifferent to him. One day, seeing his ardent fervor and intense passion, she decided to tease him.
"Is there no other woman in your life?" inquired the lady. "Only my mother, whom I love dearly." replied the earnest young man. "In that case", said the cruel lady with a bewitching smile on her lips hiding her murderous instincts, "cut your mother's heart and bring it to me as an offering of your love. I promise you, I shall be yours!"
Blinded by passion, the young man set out to fulfill the desire of his beloved. That night, he stole into his mother's room and killed her while asleep with a dagger. Like one possessed by the devil, he cut out her heart. In the dead of the night, he hurried to the house of his beloved, carrying his mother's heart, still warm, in his hands. In the darkness he stumbled on a stone and fell down. The mother's heart dropped down from his hands.
Instantly, out of that heart, came the mother's voice, "My dear child, are you hurt?"
Unmindful of that sweet voice, ,the young man, maddened by lust, quickened his pace, and on seeing his beloved, placed the blood stained offering at her feet. But she rejected his offering saying that she was only testing him as one who could be so cruel to one's own mother could never be trusted.
In true love one wants the other person's good whereas in lust one wants the other person! (difference between love and lust)
In his early days when Tulsidasji approached his wife blinded by lust, she bitterly reproached him saying, "Shame on you that you crave so much for this impure body! If only you had half this longing for the Lord, you would have attained Him long back!!" These words struck him like a thunderbolt, transforming his lust to supreme love for God, and thus making him one of the greatest saints of India.
The law of love works just like any other laws of the universe.
According to Mahatma Gandhi, the person who has discovered and mastered this law of love is far greater scientist than any of our modem scientist!
A famous prayer of St. Francis of Assisi goes thus, "0 Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
May our hearts, now filled with love for power, be replaced with the power of love. Then alone will the world know the blessings of peace.
This article is written for the Vedanta Vani magazine of Chinmaya Mission.
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Read more about: love swami chinmayananda lust
Story first published: Wednesday, November 3, 2010, 14:41 [IST]
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Happy Birthday Rasika Dugal: Elegant Ethnic Outfits Of The Diva Which Proves Beauty Is In Simplicity


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U.S. Supreme Court shows some support to Trump's travel ban
A view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington is seen in this 2015 file photo. (CNS/Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
Carol Zimmermann
Washington — April 25, 2018
In the last case before the U.S. Supreme Court this session, it seemed the majority of justices might uphold President Donald Trump's travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries.
Comments made during the hourlong oral arguments April 25 in Trump v. Hawaii emphasized national security reasons for Trump's action.
The challengers to the ban -- Hawaii, several individuals and a Muslim group -- have argued that Trump's policy was motivated by his antagonism toward Muslims and it violates federal immigration law and the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on the government favoring one religion over another.
Trump's campaign pledges, including one where he called for a "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," were raised in court, but Solicitor General Noel Francisco said these comments should not influence the justices because they were made before Trump was president.
Francisco stressed that Trump's basis for the travel ban was a result of concerns about national security and not personal beliefs.
"No matter what standard you apply, this proclamation is constitutional," he added.
Justice Samuel Alito said the travel ban didn't look "like a Muslim ban" as some have labeled it, saying it "only applies to about 8 percent of the world's Muslims."
But Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked: "Where does the president get the authority to do more than Congress has already decided is adequate" in national security measures. Francisco's response, in short, was that the country's immigration laws provide the executive branch broad authority to decide who can enter the country.
Trump has said the travel ban is necessary to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamic militants. Its current version is indefinite and applies to travelers from five countries with predominantly Muslim populations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also blocks travelers from non-Muslim countries: North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.
Trump's first travel ban, issued right after he took office, was blocked by several U.S. courts. A few months later, a second version of the ban was similarly blocked by several lower courts but the Supreme Court voted last December to allow the policy to take effect until it heard oral arguments about it.
Catholic Church leaders have expressed their objection to the travel ban.
An amicus brief filed March 30 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop, Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Legal Immigration Network said the ban singles out "populations of six overwhelmingly Muslim nations for sweeping immigration restrictions" that do not exist elsewhere in the world.
The brief said the president's order showed "blatant religious discrimination," which is "repugnant to the Catholic faith, core American values, and the United States Constitution." It also said the Supreme Court should relegate the order "to the dustbin of history, so it will do no further harm."
The Catholic groups noted that Trump's action poses a major threat to religious liberty and also fails the basic test of religious neutrality. If it stands, they said, it will prevent countless refugees from escaping persecution and starting a new life in this country with the help of church resettlement agencies.
Before, during and after the oral arguments, about 100 demonstrators gathered outside the Supreme Court on the rainy spring morning holding up signs saying: "Refugees Welcome" and "No Muslim Ban" The fairly small crowd should not belie the interest in this case, which received friend of the court briefs from Mormon history and legal scholars, a group of U.S art museums, and Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who criticized Trump at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Anticipating the interest in the case, the court announced in mid-April that it would make the audio of the oral argument available shortly after the court session was over instead of at the end of the week when audios are normally released.
A ruling in this case is expected in late June.


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https://apnews.com/article/arson-san-diego-fires-california-gavin-newsom-485d25cf57ae6f015860eaa1b26a9c35
Woman convicted of killing 3 children in fire free on parole
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Southern California woman who spent 29 years behind bars after being convicted of killing her three children by setting their home on fire was released from state prison on parole Tuesday.
JoAnn Parks, 54, was granted clemency last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, nearly a decade after an arson review panel concluded that the fire probably was started accidentally, according to the San Diego-based California Innocence Project, which handled the case.
Her release was reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Parks was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children in a 1989 fire at their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Bell. She was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Parks, who escaped the blaze, has maintained her innocence.
At her trial, fire investigators testified that the blaze was caused by arson. However, a review panel in 2011 "found the forensic evidence used during the original investigation was invalid" and that "by modern standards, none of the allegedly incriminating evidence ... would withstand scrutiny today," said a statement on The Innocence Project website.
"The investigators and jury were misled by bad science, or no science at all," the statement said.
Attorneys for Parks said they would continue fighting to have her conviction overturned.
"Nothing could be worse than losing your children and then being wrongfully convicted of their murder," Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project, said in a statement. "As we learn more about the science of fires, hopefully these kinds of wrongful convictions will no longer occur."


Would like to introduce George Petrelis, he has been working since 1993 as a professional taxi driver in Plomari.
George is an experienced driver and has a good background knowledge of the whole island. He provides a first rate service and is always ready to take guests on tour around Lesvos. Guests may be taken to the tourist resorts, information centres, archaeological sites and monasteries.
Guests arriving by ship or airplane may arrange to be picked up in advance. If you need to make a reservation for airport or ship pick up, fill in the form at the contact page.


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The ARTstor Digital Library provides more than one million images with tools for teaching and research. Its collections comprise contributions from outstanding museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists' estates from all over the world. An overview of collections is available under http://www.artstor.org/collections.
https://library.artstor.org/
arXiv is an e-print service in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics. It provides access to more the 1.3 million e-prints. The Max Planck Society is a member institution of arXiv.
https://arxiv.org/
Legal journals, commentaries and loose-leaf editions of the publisher C. H. Beck in full text. Juristische Zeitschriften, Kommentare und Loseblattausgaben des Verlags C. H. Beck im Volltext.
http://rsw.beck.de/bib/default.asp
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Contains all decisions of the criminal divisions of the German Supreme Court (BGH) since autumn 1991. Collection of over 8,000 documents in full text, including also unpublished documents. In addition to that, the following statutes relevant to the criminal law are included: German Penal Code (StGB); GVG (Excerpt); German Opium Act (BtMG; Excerpt); WaffG (Excerpt); German Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO), JGG; GG, AO (excerpt). Updates: four-monthly -- -- Enthält alle Entscheidungen der Strafsenate des BGH seit Herbst 1991. Sammlung mit über 8.000, auch unveröffentlichten, Dokumenten im Volltext. Ergänzend sind folgende für das Strafrecht relevante Gesetze enthalten: StGB; GVG (Auszug); BtMG (Auszug); WaffG (Auszug); StPO; JGG; GG; AO (Auszug). Updates: viermonatlich -- Zusätzliches Schlüsselwort: Strafrecht
https://intrawiki.mpicc.de/it/apps/terminalserver
BGHSt Edition
Enthält die Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshofes in Strafsachen in vollem Wortlaut. Basis und Maßstab ist das gedruckte Werk herausgegeben von Mitgliedern des Bundesgerichtshofs und der Anwaltschaft. Die Rechtsprechungssammlungen BGH-DAT Strafsachen und BGHR Strafsachen stellen konzentrierte Zusammenfassungen und eine systematisch geordnete Sammlung von Urteilen und Beschlüssen des BGH in Strafsachen seit 1986 mit weiteren Veröffentlichungsnachweisen zur Verfügung. -- Zusätzliches Schlüsselwort: Strafrecht --
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Education Systems International is an Internet guide on education systems worldwide. The database offers links to institutions, databases, full texts and collections of facts from more than 230 countries and regions, which are of interest for users who work in educational research and administration. -- BildungsSysteme International als "Subject Internet Guide" des DIPF bietet Links zu Bildungsministerien, Bildungseinrichtungen, Fachgesellschaften, nationalen und internationalen Organisationen, zu Datenbanken, Volltexten und Fakteninformationen gegenwärtig aus mehr als 230 Ländern und Regionen.
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BioCyc Database Collection
Each of the 371 databases of BioCyc describes the genome and metabolic pathways of a single organism. The BioCyc databases are divided into 3 tiers, based on their quality: Tier 1: 3 Databases, which have been created through intensive manual efforts and receive continuous updating: 1) *EcoCyc* describes the model organism Escherichia coli K-12. 2) *MetaCyc* describes metabolic pathways and enzymes for more than 1,500 organisms. 3) *BOCD* (BioCyc Open Compounds Database) is an open collection of chemical compound data from the BioCyc databases. BOCD includes metabolites, enzyme activators, inhibitors, and cofactors. Tier 2: 20 Databases, which were computationally generated and have undergone moderate curation. Tier 3: 349 Databases, which were also computationally generated, but have undergone no curation. Scientists can use the BioCyc Web site to visualize individual metabolic pathways or to view the complete metabolic map of an organism. The latter diagram can be used to analyze gene expression, proteomics, or metabolomics data, such as to produce animated views of time-course gene-expression experiments. The BioCyc Web site also provides genome browsing capabilities, and for the *EcoCyc* databases in particular, provides extensive information about transcriptional mechanisms of gene regulation.
http://biocyc.org
British National Corpus
A 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, designed to represent a wide cross-section of current British English, both spoken and written.
http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/
The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is an international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries. Founded in 1949, CRL supports advanced research and teaching in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences by preserving and making available to scholars the primary source material critical to those disciplines. CRL acquires and preserves newspapers, journals, documents, archives, and other traditional and digital resources from a global network of sources. Most materials acquired are from outside the United States, and many are difficult to obtain or at-risk materials from six major world regions: Africa, the Middle East, Slavic and Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America.
http://www.crl.edu/
Clio-online is a central Internet gateway for historical scholarship in teaching and research. Sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the gateway enables efficient access to the diverse range of historical online ressources available to scholars and teachers within the field of history. Clio-online ist ein zentrales Internet Fachportal zur Geschichte. Seit Mai 2002 von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft gefördert, ermöglicht das Projekt durch seine Online-Dienste und Service-Angebote einen effizienten Zugang zu den umfangreichen Online-Ressourcen innerhalb der Geschichtswissenschaften.
http://www.clio-online.de/?language=en
CogNet (MIT)
The CogNet Library is a growing, searchable collection of books, journals, reference works, OpenCourseWare links and conference materials. Content and resources are provided by The MIT Press and other publishers, professional associations, institutions, and individuals who are willing to share public access to online work.
http://cognet.mit.edu
CogPrints
Welcome to CogPrints, an electronic archive for self-archive papers in any area of Psychology, neuroscience, and Linguistics, and many areas of Computer Science (e.g., artificial intelligence, robotics, vision, learning, speech, neural networks), Philosophy (e.g., mind, language, knowledge, science, logic), Biology (e.g., ethology, behavioral ecology, sociobiology, behaviour genetics, evolutionary theory), Medicine (e.g., Psychiatry, Neurology, human genetics, Imaging), Anthropology (e.g., primatology, cognitive ethnology, archeology, paleontology), as well as any other portions of the physical, social and mathematical sciences that are pertinent to the study of cognition.
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Computer Science Bibl, DBLP
The DBLP server provides bibliographic information on major computer science journals and proceedings. Initially the server was focused on DataBase systems and Logic Programming (DBLP), now it is gradually being expanded toward other fields of computer science. You may now read "DBLP" as "Digital Bibliography & Library Project". The server indexes more than 380000 articles and contains several thousand links to home pages of computer scientists (May 2003).
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CORE - Collective Goods Research and Explore
MPG Library Catalog • Reference Database • Miscellaneous
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CrossAsia is an interdisciplinary portal and central access point for online information on East and Southeast Asian studies. The portal provides an integrated search of distributed databases (free and subject to licence), access to selected digital collections and an online guide of electronic resources related to East and Southeast Asian studies (OGEA). Access for Max Planck researchers is subject to a local agreement free of charge.
http://crossasia.org/
DART-Europe E-theses Portal
DART-Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses. The Dart-Europe E-theses Portal enables access to open access research theses from nearly 600 universities in 28 European countries.
http://www.dart-europe.eu/basic-search.php
DBIS
DBIS (Datenbank-Infosystem) is a web application to find scientific databases. It includes licenced and free databases for most disciplines.
http://rzblx10.uni-regensburg.de/dbinfo/fachliste.php?lett=l
DEPATISnet
DEPATISnet is a service provided to you by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. You can conduct online searches in patent publications from around the world stored in the database of DEPATIS, the in-house patent information system of the GPTO.
https://depatisnet.dpma.de/
Deposit Once TU Berlin
The Deposit Once of the Technische Universität Berlin makes qualified scientific text documents and research data of members of the TU Berlin available online. The repository is committed to the principles of Open Access and includes parallel publications from peer-reviewed publishers (post-prints) as well as dissertations, monographs, conference proceedings, collections and other scientific treatises.
https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de
DETHERM
The numerical database DETHERM provides thermophysical property data, which are indispensable for construction and design of chemical apparatus, plants and processes. DETHERM contains literature values, together with bibliographical information, descriptors and abstracts. The following properties for pure compounds and for mixtures are stored: 1) phase equilibrium data, 2) vapor pressures and critical data, 3) thermodynamic properties, 4) transport properties, 5) surface tensions, 6) electrolyte data.
http://i-systems.dechema.de/detherm/
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Category: Thoughts
New Year: What's the Big Whoop?
December 31, 2022 December 31, 2022 djLeave a comment
Last day of the year. Duh. Why do we make this so significant in our lives? In a practical sense, nothing really changes from the 31st to the 1st. It's all in our heads, we make it up. Another Saturday to Sunday. Big whoop, right?
But it is significant. Moving from one year into the next carries weight because we make it that way. And why not? Milestones are important. Tracking our lives over the course of time gives meaning to all that we do.
Also, the new year feels like a clean, fresh canvas. It's an opportunity to start being who we want to be and doing what we want to do from a clear starting point. And who cares if it's all in our heads? Our perception of the entire universe is made up. So on this day, humans across the world collectively agree that it's time to turn the page. That's pretty cool.
It's Okay to Hate Mastodon
November 20, 2022 November 22, 2022 djLeave a comment
"I don't get Mastodon."
"It's just another version of twitter, but run by leftists."
"I don't want to have to learn how to build a server just to talk to my friends."
"The main drawback is that it's boring! Otherwise it's a functional twitter clone."
These are some of the comments I've been seeing on twitter since Elon Musk moved into HQ and started farting all over the furniture. The takeover hasn't been pretty. Layoffs. Offices being shut down, total confusion. Last week we all found out that a certain ex-President is now allowed back on the platform. Long-time twitterians are talking about a mass exodus. It's no doubt that large numbers of people don't want to be on the platform anymore. The looming question has been "Where do we go?" The answer that's been tossed around like a beach ball in a stadium is "Mastodon."
And as quickly as people jumped on the decentralized social media platform, many have become disillusioned with the experience. It only takes a few minutes to sign up on a server and then find out that you have no idea what the hell you're doing. The FAQ rundown looks like:
Where are my friends?
Can I DM someone?
Do I have to run a server?
What's an instance and how do I choose one?
I get it. It can be confusing. It's like twitter but it's not like twitter. It's like reddit, but not really. It's like an old school Yahoo forum… but also not really. The misunderstandings of what constitutes a decentralized social media platform abound.
There's also been backlash as some have been locked out of their accounts for violating their instance's TOS. One person complained that they were kicked off of octodon.social for "being a capitalist." While they didn't mention what post caused them to be booted, it's notable that the description of the instance reads, "queer anarchist communist cyber pirate ship."
I'm not going to try and convince you to move to Mastodon. In fact, if you already feel strongly that it's "not like twitter," then I hope you don't join an instance at all. Personally, I love the platform and have been on there for a few years. One thing I love about it is that there are no ads or spammy stuff. People are… nice to each other — a strange concept, I know. It feels a bit like twitter in 2007. It's a bit spare, a little more DIY, a little more Country to twitter's Rock n' Roll. I like that. If you don't like that, then I wouldn't waste time trying it out.
However, if you're still considering dipping your toe in the proboscidean waters, I have some advice for you.
Find an instance that truly suits you. Don't just jump on mastodon.social because it's the biggest. That doesn't really offer any more to the experience than a smaller instance. And please, for the love of George Michael, don't get on a cyberpunk leftist socialist queer instance if you're a gun-loving conservative capitalist. That's like walking into a Hare Krishna meeting and asking, "Where's the beef?" There's even a wizard that will help you find one: https://instances.social/
Don't start your own Mastodon server. I mean, maybe, one day, if you like it. Sure. But trust me when I say that going through that process will just wear you out and cost you money. Just find a server you connect with.
Does it feel "boring?" Hmmm. Maybe that's on you. "Life is what you make it." — Doc Brown (paraphrased)
I'm going to say this loud, for the people in the back. You can talk to or follow anyone on any Mastodon instance, not just yours. They're separate, but yes, you can still talk to your bestie who's on clocktower.social.
Try Tumbler instead. It's like instagram, but it's also like twitter, sort of, and… never mind. It's different. But I hear a lot of celebs are there now, so you can get your Linda Carter fix.
That's it. I hope you figure out a good alternative place to hang out online. Emperor Musk is going to do whatever he wants, regardless of his earlier claims of "free speech." In the end, it's about the money.
I'll still be on twitter for now. I'm not jumping ship just yet. But I'll also be on Mastodon, Tumblr, and Instagram. Not to mention living in the real world.
If you're interested in reading more about the culture of Mastodon and how it differs from twitter, this piece is excellent: Twitter alternative: how Mastodon is designed to be "antiviral"
Surveiled
August 7, 2022 August 7, 2022 djLeave a comment
Photo by Michał Jakubowski on Unsplash
I took my regular walk in my neighborhood this morning. It was Sunday, already hot at 10:00 am, and super quiet. No one was around except for the odd car driving by.
Suddenly, I heard a cheery, female voice. "Hi!" it said. I looked around, but didn't see anyone.
"You are being recorded," said the disembodied voice.
Ugh. Really? I thought. I couldn't see a camera anywhere, and it wasn't clear whether the voice came from my right or left. It sort of came from… above?
I continued on my walk, knowing that to someone, I looked as horrible as I do on those self-checkout cameras at Target. I was glad I wouldn't see the footage, but I was also a little ticked. I wasn't on anyone's property, I was in the street, a good six feet from the curb to avoid parked cars — there are no sidewalks in this part of our apparently heavily-monitored neighborhood.
I get it. It's 2022 and we are on camera almost everywhere we go — malls, grocery stores, gas stations, and drive thru windows. I accept that, because I understand the business owners are trying to protect their property and employees from robbers or vandals. Even though I try hard not to look at myself in the self-checkout monitor screens, I understand why they're there.
I even understand Ring doorbells. If I'm on someone's property, I have to accept the owner's wish to record me. I don't like it, but I get it. I can't tell you how many Amazon packages I've thought about stealing until I saw the camera. I could be making bank, but those Ring videos thwart me every time. So yeah, I do understand the need to guard your home.
What I experienced this morning is different. It's a little bit scary, slightly dystopian, and irritating. Where does it end? How much can we surveil our streets until we feel safe? Our boring, middle class, suburban Los Angeles neighborhood is already pretty safe by any standard. Aside from the occasional Fast and Furious wannabe teens doing donuts late at night, it's rare to see a police car on our streets.
The next logical step in this constant-surveillance future we're ushering in is recording and monitoring activities going on inside our homes. After all, couldn't law enforcement protect us better if they could stop crime before it happens? You never know what's going on in that house across the street. Isn't it our right to know if there's evil lurking behind those closed doors? What if it — gasp — gets out?
After all, we already have our homes stuffed with Nest thermometers, Alexa devices, and pet monitors. The structure is in place. We only need a few loud, self-righteous politicians to stir things up, creating new laws to "protect" us from ourselves. And, with every set of ten cameras you install, you get a free set of pearls to clutch.
In ten years, no one will think I was exaggerating.
July 18, 2022 July 18, 2022 djLeave a comment
I was just thinking about all the things I charge around my house:
Laptop(s)
These things use very little electricity to stay charged. Living in Southern California, it seems crazy that we don't have solar panels on our roof. Since we don't own the house, it doesn't make sense to pay for them. When we do own our home, that will be a priority.
In the meantime, I've been wondering about portable solar chargers. Mostly for emergencies, but also just because it's an interesting idea.
Helping but not helping
July 16, 2022 December 10, 2022 djLeave a comment
Our yard is a mess.
Okay, it's mostly fine but we have a lot of weeds, and the grass — where it exists — is dry and crackly. I'm okay with this for the most part because we live in super dry Southern California and it turns out that the natural landscape is not a golf course. I checked.
Don't tell the neighbors and don't get me started on overwatering.
We have a citrus tree, a Japanese Maple, a Loquat tree, a large green bush of some kind, a Rosemary bush that is approximately the size of Rhode Island (it even has its own government), and various other plants like lavender and… other stuff.
The funny thing is, we rarely water any of it. Somehow it's all getting water anyway, and even if it's coming from the irradiated groundswells of the old RocketDyne plant, they seem to be doing okay.
But the weeds.
They suck and I hate them. Sometimes I manage to coerce my 14-yr old into helping me pull them. Sometimes I wack them out of spite, and other times I spray them with a natural weed killer made from vinegar — I have a restraining order against RoundUp and it is not allowed within 50 feet of my body.
Either way, it's for me to handle and I do have a plan, even if the plan is slightly slapdash and sometimes not working at all. And while I don't like the weeds taking over the yard, they're just weeds. Our landlord disagrees, but he is among the Southern-California-was-originally-a-Mayan-golf-course believers, so unless there are no weeds and a bright green lawn, he is not happy.
Today was one of those days when I put on my landscaper's uniform (Trader Joe's long sleeve crew tee, old Calvin Klein pants, hiking boots, floppy hat) and pretend that I'm not just trying to justify the purchase of the gardening tools I've collected. As I'm working away, our neighbor's (real) landscaper shows up. This guy hates seeing me pull and wack weeds. I think it's actually painful for him. He's come over a few times and offered to let me borrow his gas-powered weed wacker (ours is electric). It's like that scene in Three Amigos where Jefe swaps his gun for Ned's.
Today, he pulled up, saw me using my little Ned gun weed wacker, waited until I went into the backyard, and started cutting down all the weeds I had left behind. Most people — normal, rational people — would have shrugged and said, "Well, at least the neighbors are paying for it," and gone to take a shower.
Me? I got mad. I went out and told him to stop. I tried to explain that I had a plan (such as it is), and I had intended to spray the smaller, live weeds I hadn't wacked so they would die and I could get rid of them later. While he understood the words coming out of my mouth, they did not make any sense to him. "I'm just trying to help you," he explained. I thanked him and told him I appreciate the gesture, but really, I have a plan. He looked at the weeds, then he looked at me like I just said that aliens come down from space and handle my yard work. Then he shrugged and left.
There's a scene in some movie (Up, maybe?) where a Boy Scout is trying to earn his Helping Old People badge, but he ends up doing things like helping an old lady cross the street when she didn't even want to be on the other side.
Helping, but not helping.
Another notable example of helping not helping happened many years ago. Our family was eating at an Italian restaurant. We ordered one of the only pasta dishes on the menu that was vegetarian. When it arrived, it had little chunks of something in it. Was it meat? We asked. The owner said, "Yes! I added some pork in there for you. Don't worry, it's no extra charge." He thought we couldn't afford the meat.
Most humans want to help whenever they can. It's a lovely trait. But before jumping in with your rescue pants on, it's good to consider a couple of things:
Is help wanted?
Is it the right kind of help?
The only way to find out is to ask. And it's also good to ask because there are also a lot of people who have a hard time asking for help. I'm one of them.
I want to be grateful for the free pork, but I don't eat meat. I want to say thank you for chopping my weeds, but I had another plan. I want to be relieved that I got help crossing the street, but I was waiting for the bus on the other side.
drought, me, mindfulness, Southern California, yard
The eroding of rights in America
June 27, 2022 June 27, 2022 djLeave a comment
While I did have a reaction to the news last week about the overturn of Roe v Wade here in the U.S., I didn't want to jump into the fray on social media. Yet. There's already a feed full of reactions and re-reactions, and it's kind of a mess. But I do have strong feelings about it.
It's quite clear that this overturn is the beginning of a larger campaign to remove rights from women, black people, and LGBTQ folks. While Justice Alito and his cohorts can stand behind the shield of the law and pretend that this is all about returning power to the states, it seems obvious that there is political and religious motivation at work.
I think there are three kinds of people in this country who are affecting (or not affecting) the reversals of rights that we are seeing:
Those who are actively working to take away rights from women, black people, and LGBTQ folks.
Those who are okay with human rights being removed or just don't care, because they are not affected.
Those who have no opinion and want to remain neutral because they "need more evidence" or they're waiting for their favorite celebrity or politician to tell them what they should think.
In Group 1, there is at least overt action or words that can be argued or voted against. It's still not okay, but it's easier to fight because we can see it. Even if their only motive is to win an election, and voicing conservative views is merely a marketing strategy, it's out in the open.
Group 2 is more difficult to handle because it's not always obvious. People tend to hang out only with those who they know will agree with them. These people won't make a ruckus at Thanksgiving dinner, but they will whisper behind backs or worse, shrug their shoulders at the actions of Group 1.
With Group 3, you may be able to get them to see your points and even get them to see the injustice caused by Group 1. However, if a comedian or politician with a strong voice comes along with opposing views, they will change their minds just as easily. These are the people whose strongest opinion on any controversial subject is that "there are two sides to everything and they should all be considered."
For the rest of us who do care, the question is how do we make change — or make sure that change doesn't happen?
I don't have an answer for this at the moment. I'm working on it.
What I Learned From Working on Blue's Clues • Part IV – The First Lesson
December 9, 2021 December 23, 2022 dj2 Comments
What I Learned From Working on Blue's Clues • Part IV
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away… I worked on a little TV show called Blue's Clues. If you're just learning this now, go back and start with Part I: Before Blue's Clues.
Part IV: The First Lesson
Since this series is called What I Learned…, I figure I should probably get around to that soon. Maybe the first lesson I should share is don't title a blog post series being about lessons until you have a better idea of what those lessons are. But, I titled it and here we are, which explains why this post took so long to write. I originally decided to frame my experiences on Blue's Clues within lessons for some reason, so I'll stick with that.
Let's start off with a lesson that should be obvious because it's actually in the show's theme song. Somehow it's one that I've needed to relearn (repeatedly) over the years.
It's ironic that we were working so hard to foster a sense of self-worth in preschool kids, but as adults, we often struggled to maintain that in ourselves.
Because you're really smart
Before I get into what this lesson is about, you'll need some background on what I actually did on the show from day to day.
As a storyboard artist, my job was to break down scripts into visual chunks. The storyboards would be used all the way through production so the animation, design, and art departments could work their magic.
Even though the test I did to get hired was drawn by hand on paper, the storyboards we made for the show were mostly digital. Rather than draw Blue, Steve, or backgrounds over and over again, we accessed huge drives that stored their images in all kinds of positions. It was a big time saver, which – when creating a weekly TV show with tight deadlines – is something you want to do as much as possible.
The things we would draw were new characters or objects that we might not have on hand. Then we would scan those in and create the scene in Photoshop. Once we had the scene set up, we imported the script, inserted images, and wrote stage direction in Quark. It was a consistent format that the rest of the team could easily follow. Here's an example from the first episode that I ever worked on, Blue's Play:
The library of Steves was ginormous.
We had to figure out how to fit everything into the shot, keeping in mind the scale of the characters, objects, and backgrounds. Sometimes things didn't work out the way the script was written and we had to make changes along the way. Thankfully, I didn't have to make all those decisions all by my lonesome. Each episode's director would sketch small thumbnails to demonstrate how they wanted to set up a shot. Sometimes they would hire me on the side to create them, which was sort of like doing two storyboards, but I loved the work.
A page of thumbnails I created for a director
We had several meetings throughout preproduction on an episode. There were meetings to go over the script, review storyboards, and revisions for each. Additionally, I would sit down with each episode's director multiple times as we walked through every scene together – mostly verbally, sometimes physically.
We were serious about getting work done in the meetings, but that didn't stop things from taking a turn into deep discussions of Bert and Ernie's relationship on Sesame Street, or how that Talking Heads song would fit perfectly into this skidoo sequence. Pop culture, world events, Homer Simpson, and even religion often spilled into our discussions. Shared cultural references were peppered into the show as little Easter eggs that sometimes only we (subversively and proudly) noticed on airing.
The Art and Design departments would use our storyboards, working from our loose sketches to create new characters or backgrounds. Sometimes a small drawing I did for a storyboard would wind up on the show almost exactly as I designed it, which was always fun to see.
My Hippo design from Epsiode 323, Blue's Play was deceptively simple but apparently hit the mark.
It could be an adventure just walking to the breakroom for a coffee.
But I don't feel really smart
For anyone to participate in creating Blue's Clues, you of course had to be creative. You also needed an innate sense of comic timing, a childlike ability to be silly and sweet, and be highly intelligent. When I say anyone, I mean everyone, from the Executive Producers to the Administrative Assistants. In fact, that was one of the best things about my time on the show. Every single person I worked with at Blue's Clues had those qualities in spades. It could be an adventure just walking to the breakroom for a coffee.
At the time, when I marveled at the amazing team of creatives and their wonderful qualities, I always excluded one person from that consideration. That unfortunate person was me.
I often showed up to story meetings with a knotted stomach. Mostly I saw myself as a backward country bumpkin who somehow managed to slip unnoticed into a Long Island Gatsby soiree. I was working with smart, worldly people who had been to Wesleyan, Rhode Island School of Design, and NYU. I hadn't even finished college. I wasn't smart, I reckoned, I just barely squeaked by on charm and banter. I told myself that I would never be on their level, no matter how hard I tried.
Of course, none of that was true. The longer I worked on the show and the more I got to know my coworkers, the less I felt like an outsider. I had to work hard to remember the times that our animation director would refer to me as "brilliant," or when I could turn a table full of people into hysterics with a simple one-liner. I was complimented. I was promoted, I got salary increases and invitations to work on special projects. The minimizing of my talent and intelligence had been completely fabricated in my own head.
I chatted with my peers on the show and after a while, I learned that a lot of the ones I greatly admired felt the same way as me. Somehow, alongside the immensely creative work we were putting into the world, we felt like phonies. It's ironic that we were working so hard to foster a sense of self-worth in preschool kids, but as adults, we often struggled to maintain that in ourselves.
I invented imposter syndrome
Okay, I didn't really. I think it's been around for a few millennia. But I certainly invented some brand new ways of experiencing imposter syndrome, even in the bright light of evidence that I was doing just fine.
You'd think in the half-century I've been on this planet that I would only need to learn this lesson once. In fact, I've had to relearn it just about every time I embark on a new project or work with new people. I'm getting better at recognizing it earlier, but sometimes it still sneaks up and nips at my ankles.
If there's anything I would change about my time working on Blue's Clues, it would be my perception of myself and my worth to the team. Not overly adjusting upwards to the point of arrogance, just tweaked a couple of notches higher so I could digest my sushi during a meeting.
In Part V, I'll share another important lesson I learned on the show: When an opportunity comes up to do more, take it.
Tune in… another day, for the continuation of What I Learned From Working on Blue's Clues!
What I Learned From Working on Blue's Clues • Part III
October 8, 2021 November 14, 2022 dj1 Comment
Part III: Okay, I'm here. Now what?
1515 Broadway today. It doesn't look much different than it did in 1999.
Imposter Syndrome-zilla
I still remember my first day walking into The Viacom Building at 1515 Broadway. I felt like a country mouse. Taking the N train from Queens and navigating Manhattan was pretty easy, but I had no idea what working in an animation studio would be like. Thankfully my boss, Nancy, was friendly and made a big effort to make me feel welcome before I even got there.
Yes, I printed this email. It was 1999. We printed emails, okay?
When I got off the elevator at the 46th floor, I was worried that I was in the wrong place. It looked like a storage space, or my old art school. Later on I learned that sometimes new shows got placed into less-than-optimal spaces in case they didn't catch on. Blue's Clues was into its third season, very much a hit, and we soon moved up the street to swanky new digs (more on that later).
Nancy and I met up and she took me to meet my fellow storyboard artists, Kevin Cardinali and David Levy. Even though the furniture and walls were lacking in style, the equipment was all top notch. I was surprised to learn that the storyboards were mostly compiled in the computer, and everyone had two monitors (two!). Back then they used behemoth CRTs, emitting their special rays from the tubes inside. It's a wonder that anyone over the age of 25 can still see.
The Storyboard Dept.
The view.
Nancy then led me to a conference room where we crashed the Animation Department's weekly meeting. It was a little intimidating to be introduced to the group, mostly because I realized that I was wearing a striped shirt and khakis. What was I thinking? I'll never know. No one harassed me for it or threw anything heavy at me, so I took that as a testament to the friendliness of the crew. These people were the lifeblood of the show, so their opinions meant the world to me.
I can't remember if I met the creators of the show or Steve Burns that day or later. I was mostly trying to keep myself from peeing my pants and wondering if I would fit in. Any moment, I expected someone to come out of a room, point at me and shout, "That one! That's the imposter!" Security would escort me off the premises and that would be the end of my career in animation, before it even got started.
Today, I can gladly report that did not happen. I just met a bunch of informal, friendly, and sometimes weird artists – at least as weird as me, so I increasingly felt like I would fit in just fine.
D.J. in Wonderland
First of all, it's New York City. Love it or hate it, nothing compares to the experience. The difference between living in NYC and being a tourist is kind of like looking at a bottle of whiskey and getting drunk on a bottle of whiskey. I got drunk on NYC. I love living in big cities and NYC is the big city. It's not for everyone. It's gritty. It's loud. You learn quickly how to dodge taxi cabs. But hey, you want a coffee? It's right over there. A slice of pizza? Take your pick, which corner? Want to pick up a book or a funky old lamp? No problem. NYC has you covered, my friend. Also, the diversity of people just can't be compared with anywhere else. And who's taking the subway? Everyone. Lawyers, actors, bakers, construction workers, homeless people. It's the great common denominator of life in New York.
Working in the Viacom building was not boring, either. It was MTV HQ, and on any given day walking through the lobby, I would see actors and musicians from my favorite bands. There was a coffee bar in the main lobby and a company cafeteria called the Lodge on a 4th floor enclosed terrace. As a teen, I had been glued to MTV all day, every day. In 1999, I still had my MTV geek card glued to my forehead. One day while waiting for coffee I turned around and saw MTV VJ Alan Hunter standing behind me. Suddenly, I was thirteen again and I couldn't manage to say a word.
The Lodge was more of the same. You never knew who would be waiting in line with you while you picked up your stir fry, pizza, pasta, or whatever special they were creating that day. The only way you could get in was by swiping your building badge, which also served as a way to pay for your food – the money came right out of your paycheck. After only a week, I felt like a veteran when I helped a well-known producer/director figure out how to fix his key card at the entrance. I was in '80s heaven.
I also learned to avoid leaving the building around 4:00 PM. That was when Carson Daly was hosting Total Request Live and Times Square was wall-to-wall teens. We could hear the screams on the 46th floor.
Time to make the storyboards
Sometimes it was easy to forget that I was actually hired to do a job and not gawk at celebrities all day. It was time to get down to business and do the work.
I was terrified.
Read Part IV now: The First Lesson
Tune in next week for the continuation of What I Learned From Working on Blue's Clues!
What I Learned From Working on Blue's Clues • Part II
September 30, 2021 November 14, 2022 dj1 Comment
Family portrait. I'm hiding behind the Thinking Chair.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away… I worked on a little TV show called Blue's Clues. If you're just learning this now, go back and Read Part I: Before Blue's Clues.
Part II: I Got the Job!
Getting in: The Dark Horse
Previously on WILFWOBC, we learned that I desperately wanted a career in animation, yet somehow managed to find myself in the U.S. Air Force.
It was the sort of plan that friends and family members did not exactly understand or support. Sometimes even I couldn't see where things were headed, exactly. I would be loading cargo onto a C-5 Galaxy somewhere in the world and suddenly take stock in my situation. On one hand I would be in awe of where I was and what I was doing and on the other hand be wondering how the hell this made any sense for my future in animation.
I just had to hang in there and trust that I had known what I was doing when I signed up.
As it turned out, four years went by pretty fast. Somewhere in between assignments, I even managed to get married. Jenni and I eloped in Las Vegas and spent our first two years of marriage living in a cozy German apartment. I was only 22 years old, and as much as I loved our time in Germany, I was getting itchy to continue my noble quest to become an animator.
In September of 1994, I was honorably discharged and we moved to Chicago where I had started my education in art. I was ready to get back to school and my G.I. Bill was burning a hole in my pocket. It was an exciting time. That is, until I discovered that my old college didn't accept the G.I. Bill.
If you're thinking that I might have wanted to check into that before joining up four years previously, you're correct. What I lacked in checking details, I made up for with blind enthusiasm. I just started making art and tried to think of a new plan.
Spoiler: I never did make it back to school and to this day I still don't have any kind of degree. When a prospective employer asked, I would deflect the conversation and talk about my experience in the military. It worked many times over the years.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans
Learning about babies and animation at the same time
Over the next five years, Jenni and I had moved back to Phoenix, she birthed two beautiful babies, and I worked in several jobs that had very little to do with animation. How's that plan coming along? I would ask myself almost daily. I was happy in my personal life, yet massively frustrated in my career movement.
We lived in a tiny apartment, had almost no money to our names, and I had no idea what I was doing. I did know that I wanted to make animated films. One day, I realized that I could still do that without getting hired somewhere. I studied books, analyzed films and learned the mechanics of 2D animation.
This was the 90s, so there were no affordable animation programs for the home computer. But I soon realized that making films in the computer was the way to go. First I would animate frame-by-frame using the old school method of pencil and light table. Then I devised a system using Corel PhotoPaint where I would scan my drawings and assemble them into GIFs or AVI files. It was crude, but it did the job.
Looking back later, I would realize that I didn't achieve the things I wanted in spite of having a family and very little money. I achieved them because of those things. Nothing motivated me more than trying to show my kids what was possible, and no one encouraged me more than my wife. I was extremely fortunate.
I entered my first film in a NYC animation festival and waited. At the same time, I was applying to studios like crazy. I would send out portfolios, some of them several times to the same person, every three months. I agonized over them. Sometimes I never heard back. Sometimes I got encouraging notes from HR or directors. A few times I got back tests to do storyboards. I was winging the whole thing, but at least I was moving forward.
I also spent a lot of time in the forums at a site called Animation World Network. In the late '90s, it was my social media. I talked to other animators, both fledgling and pro. I got feedback, advice, and even managed to give some advice and how-to info. It was a hugely valuable resource and, as we'll see later, was the linchpin in getting a job.
Okay, now we talk about Blue's Clues.
In late 1998, I saw an ad for a little show on Nickelodeon called Blue's Clues. They were looking for a storyboard artist and I seemed to fit the qualifications (except for that whole degree thing, but, well, you know). I had never heard of the show (we couldn't afford cable), so we got some videos of the first season. After we started watching, the first thing Jenni said was, "That's like your art!" She was right. Aside from the animated characters, there was a scene where Steve was sitting in his Thinking Chair with his Handy Dandy Notebook open, and images were floating above his head. It was almost as if I had made the little drawings myself, in my own style. One of my first film experiments had been a combination of live action (my son) and animation. The show was everything I wanted to work on. Great art, fun music, and a show for kids that I could get behind wholeheartedly.
I immediately sent in my portfolio and resume and sat in my own Thinking Chair to wait.
It didn't take long for a test to arrive in the mail. Nancy, the lead storyboard artist who was doing the hiring, wanted me to get it back to her as soon as possible because the producers needed to make a decision. It suddenly occurred to me that the studio was in New York City. I told Jenni that maybe there was no point in doing a test for a position that was all the way across the country. The other tests I was doing were for jobs in Los Angeles, which seemed more reasonable. I was already getting discouraged and I had barely cracked open the test. She cut off that line of thinking right away and convinced me that I needed to do the test anyway.
Jenni took the kids out so I could focus, and I dove into the script.
It all happened so fast.
After I mailed in my storyboard test, it was hard to focus on anything else. I went back to work at the sign shop where I had managed to talk my way into a graphic design job. It was good to be getting paid for creating art, and at least I was in the neighborhood of where I wanted to be. I still had my eye on animation.
A week later, Nancy emailed. She wanted to set up a phone interview with her and one of the producers. Even though I wouldn't be seen and only heard (thankfully this was pre-Zoom era), I was more nervous than I had been since the 8th grade talent show. Nancy and Wendy were both friendly and it felt more like chatting than a formal interview. Then the $600,000,000 question came up: Will you be able to relocate quickly if offered the position?
Without hesitating, I said that of course, it would be no problem. In reality, I had no way of knowing what the hell I was doing or how it was going to work. I wanted the job so bad, I decided to leap and hope the net would appear.
The next day at work, I got a call from Nancy. She said that I had been the "dark horse," because the other candidates already lived in NYC. She had been pulling for me, because we had chatted in the AWN forums and she remembered my film. Somehow the producer also liked what I had to say on the phone. Then she offered me the job, and the salary was double what I was making at the sign shop. After I accepted and hung up, it took all my strength to get up and tell my boss that I to run a quick errand. I got in my car, drove around the corner, and screamed.
I gave my notice at work. At the time, my friend was looking for a job and he was able to fill my spot quickly. After that, everything seemed to happen in a blur. Jenni and I had to figure out how we were going to make a move from Phoenix to NYC with two little kids. It was going to be a challenge, but we were too excited to worry about the exact how of things. Like Steve sings:
"You know what to do! Sit down in our Thinking Chair And think, think, think! 'Cause when we use our minds, And take a step at a time, We can do anything…"
It happened. I was in. After I arrived in NYC, everything changed. Not only the new job and a career in animation, but the perspective I gained from experiences working with some of the most talented artists, actors, musicians and writers in the world. From the moment I walked in the door, I knew it was going to be an amazing time.
Ready for Part III? Let's go! Read Part III
What I Learned From Working on Blue's Clues • Part I
September 23, 2021 November 14, 2022 dj3 Comments
We just got a letter!
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away… I worked on a little TV show called Blue's Clues. Maybe you've heard of it. If you haven't, that's okay. You can catch up on the show's Wikipedia page. It was an immensely popular cultural phenomenon in the U.S. in the 1990s. I worked on the show from 1999 – 2002 doing storyboards, animation and voice over work. This year (2021) being the 25th anniversary of the show, I thought it would be fun to talk about my time there and what I learned being part of the team.
This is a long story. I have a lot to say and it's a fascinating tale that sometimes I can't believe I lived. It's all true, as much as my memory will allow, anyway. I broke this up into parts. One, to make it easier on you to read and two, to make it easier on me to write well.
Read it already? Jump to Part II!
Part I: Before Blue's Clues
With a quick look back, it could seem like an easy, natural step in my life and career to have worked on Blue's Clues. Sometimes I can forget that I didn't just walk into Nickelodeon one day and start working. It was a long, challenging road to get into the animation industry and I had no idea what was in front of me, or even possible. Let's start before the beginning, before anyone had ever even heard of a skidoo-ing blue puppy.
In 1990, I was accepted to a private art school in Chicago. I had never taken an art class in high school, but I created hundreds of drawings and paintings on my own. One night, after seeing The Little Mermaid premier, I was overcome by an intense desire to become an animator. The movie captivated me like no other animated film ever had. The animation was fluid and beautiful, the songs were amazing and the story kept me hooked from beginning to end. I spent the rest of the night fantasizing that I could work on something so incredible. The only thing standing in my way was that I had no clue as to how I could become an animator.
I had been yawning my way through community college with no real direction and I certainly had no connections to anyone in the animation or film industry. This being 1989, there was no email, social media or even internet I could use to find a contact. Living in Phoenix, I couldn't just drive over to the Disney studios on any given Wednesday and simply knock on the door. I had to get resourceful.
At the time, I worked in a movie theater tearing tickets and cleaning up during the credits. Instead of watching the whole movie over again (which I did later anyway), all I had to do was wait for the end of The Little Mermaid and write down the name of a producer, find an address in Burbank and take a shot at asking, "How can I become an animator?"
I believe it was Disney producer John Musker who wrote back to me, giving me some advice on a path and three top schools where I should apply. The best choice for me was the American Academy of Art in Chicago. I could live with my recently-widowed grandfather and we could help each other out – he would give me a roof over my head and I would supply some much-needed company and help around the house.
I was accepted on my hastily-prepared portfolio and essay, and I soon headed to the snowy Midwest. Going to that school was the first time I worked with peers on art projects and learned real fundamentals, outside of Stan Lee's Learn to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (a method I still stand by for young artists). Unfortunately, towards the end of my first semester, the school administration started asking me annoying little questions like how are you going to pay for next semester? They were annoying only because I had no clue. I had got in on some of my parents' money and a small student loan. Those options were no longer available, so once again I had to get resourceful.
At 19, I wasn't qualified for anything other than retail or restaurant work. Working at minimum wage would take me so long to save up for school that I could only picture myself as old and wrinkled, sitting in a classroom and repeatedly asking the professor to speak up. In hindsight, that's a very unrealistic outlook but at 19 it was the only future I could imagine, complete with dystopian 1984-style jumpsuits and cubicles.
My answer came in the form of the the G.I Bill. I would contribute $1200 and in return the government would give me $24,000 in money for school. The tiniest little wrinkle was that in order to collect it, I had to serve four years active duty in the military. Hmm. It certainly wasn't my original plan. In fact, when a friend had previously joined the Air Force, I swore off ever joining the military in any form whatsoever. Joining the military was for other people, not me. Never, no way.
Then I thought about my potentially perpetual floor-mopping future and I joined the U.S. Air Force.
It seemed like I was light years away from my animation dreams. But I had a plan. Sort of.
Read Part II now!
Not to fear! We will get into tales of a blue puppy and a manchild in a Fruit Stripe gum shirt very soon. Tune in next week for the continuation of What I Learned From Working on Blue's Clues!
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text:
Parler purge just the beginning
By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times
President Donald Trump has been booted permanently from Twitter. Parler, the low censorship, zero censorship alternative to Twitter has been suspended from Google, Apple, Amazon. Conservatives by the droves have lost thousands of followers on Twitter overnight — and all coincidentally come just after it's solid and clear, Democrats will hold the White House, House and Senate come January's end.
Democrats and America's foreign enemies are cheering.
Everyone else is feeling the chill.
And rightly so: Mark these words, this is a purge of conservative speech, conservative expression, conservative rhetoric — and this is all just the beginning.
With tyrants, the mission is to blot out all dissenting viewpoints. This Big Tech tyrannical purge is all about testing waters, to see what can be accomplished to make Trump and his supporters completely irrelevant on the political landscape. Call it stage one.
Stage two is to expand the tyranny beyond the scope of social media.
If Amazon can boot Parler from its web-hosting service, all under the guise of protecting citizens from hateful, violence-inducing rhetoric, what's to keep Amazon from booting, say, books by conservative authors who write of political and cultural truths that the Democrats prefer kept silenced?
'Cause conservative authors very often fuel violence with their dangerous speech, dontcha know.
What's to keep Amazon from booting books by George Orwell? Or books about Founding Fathers — the same Founding Fathers the left has been busily condemning as worthless racists? Or, get this, copies of Founding Fathers' documents, such as the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution?
Other retail could quickly follow this censorship route, or else face the possibility of losing their App Store presences on Apple, on Google. On more. Truly, the censorship possibilities are endless.
Organizations that sell homeschool supplies could get the boot — because, after all, keeping children away from the government-run school system is "authoritarian" and "dangerous," as one Harvard professor opined in 2020.
Outlets that sell guns, ammunition and firearms supplies, or that advertise training for would-be firers, could go dark — because, after all, as the left has consistently opined, and as Esquire wrote in 2018, the Second Amendment is dangerous and should be "repealed."
Stores that sell Bibles could be shuttered.
The Bible itself could be banned.
"There has been a long legacy of hate speech, prejudice, and the use of various scriptures from the Bible to uphold anti-Semitic and race based ideologies in the United States," wrote Dianne Dentice, with Stephen F. Austin State University, in a 2019 abstract in The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community.
It only takes a few to see similarly — and then to compel Big Tech to swing into censorship mode.
Today's censorship of Trump, today's social media booting of conservative posts, today's suspension and possible expulsion and potentially complete erasure of Parler — all that's just the beginning.
With Democrats poised for a clean sweep of the power halls in D.C. and Big Tech flexing muscles grown bigger by successful test censorship cases in recent months — and the too-tight and cozy relationship between leftist techies and their complicit comrades in Congress — wait for it, wait for it: This censorship is just getting started.
It's a purge, pure and simple. A Gulag-like purge.
And for those currently cheering, think on this, the writings of Martin Niemoller, who initially supported Adolf Hitler until he experienced first-hand the dictatorial surveillance tactics of the Nazi regime: "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me."
Political tools and useful idiots only last as long as their usefulness. The censors will one day turn on their cheerleaders. But by then it could be too late.
By then, there may be no one left to speak.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast "Bold and Blunt" by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, "Socialists Don't Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall," is available by clicking HERE.
Who played these historical figures in biographical films?
Congress in action
GINGRICH: Big Tech is a big fraud with its bogus censorship
Democrats applaud social media that blacklists, censors and cancels thousands of Americans
How Democrats incite violence and insurrection by impeaching President Trump


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Tag Archives: fourteenth amendment
A Lesser of Evils: Why Ted Cruz Cannot Be My Anti-Trump
March 15, 2016 Sarah Baker	Constitution, Election '16, Freedom, Individual Rights, Supreme Court
I've never been a lesser-of-evils sort of voter. It's too cynical and depressing an approach to life. Anyway I rarely think one of the major party candidates is "better" in some meaningful sense than the other.
This election is different. I cannot shake a nagging unease that one candidate must be avoided, perhaps with a vote for any marginally lesser evil capable of stopping him, however distasteful.
That candidate is Ted Cruz.
I'm not joking. There's no punch line coming. I don't think Ted Cruz believes in fundamental, unenumerated rights, constitutionally protected from political majorities at the state and local levels.
Probably many or even most of the other candidates share this shortcoming. What sets Cruz apart is his more sophisticated ability to appoint Supreme Court justices who share his views, as he has vowed to do.
Under that specter, liberty-leaning voters should ask for clarity and reassurance from the Cruz campaign on the following issues before casting a vote in his support.
Does Ted Cruz Want to Limit the Power of Judicial Review? In 1803, the Supreme Court decided Marbury v. Madison. Since that time, the Court has exercised three powers:
It can refuse to enforce acts of the other branches if five or more of its nine justices believe such act was in excess of constitutional powers.
It can enforce acts of the other branches of government, if five or more of the justices believe such act was constitutional.
It can require otherwise constitutional acts of the other branches to be exercised in accordance with the Equal Protection Clause.
That's it. Under the first, the Court delineates areas of individual liberty into which no political majority may intrude. Under the second and third, it enforces the acts of other branches of government. Under none of the three does the Court "make law."
Liberty voters should therefore ask what Ted Cruz is gunning for when he says things like:
I don't think we should entrust governing our society to 5 unelected lawyers in Washington. Why would ya possibly hand over the rights of 320 million Americans to 5 lawyers in Washington to say, "We're gonna decide the rules that govern ya?" If ya wanna win an issue, go to the ballot box and win at the ballot box. That's the way the Constitution was designed.
I think we can rule out number two; he's not complaining about acts of the political branches. His rhetoric, to the contrary, suggests that he wants political majorities unfettered by such inconveniences as meddling Supreme Court justices.
He could be taking aim at number three, in which case it is not the laws he dislikes, but the doctrine of Equal Protection. Either way, the Court is not responsible for having enacted the laws that are subject to that doctrine. The political branches are.
It sure sounds like it is the first option Cruz is targeting. He does not like the Court delineating areas of individual liberty beyond the reach of political majorities.
That is a deeply authoritarian approach to government. Unless and until Cruz repudiates it convincingly, he cannot be my "not-Trump."
Does Ted Cruz Believe in Unenumerated Rights and Substantive Due Process? Under the view of many libertarians, the Constitution enumerates the powers of government, but not the rights of individuals. The former are few, narrow and circumscribed. The latter are many, broad and transcendent.
This is the view held by Rand Paul and other libertarian constitutionalists from organizations like Reason Magazine, the Cato Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education, and the Institute for Justice.
It is also my view.
One textual source for this approach is the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits political majorities at the state and local levels from depriving individuals of the privileges and immunities of citizenship, of equal protection of laws, or of liberty without due process.
The "liberty" thusly protected has been interpreted to include economic endeavors as well as other peaceful activities integral to enjoyment of life and the pursuit of happiness. The concept that such freedoms are Constitutionally protected, even though not expressly mentioned, is sometimes referred to as the doctrine of "substantive due process."
There are competing schools of thought. One is that only individual rights expressly enumerated in the Constitution are beyond the reach of political majorities. Under this view, the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted to prohibit racial discrimination, not to proscribe state infringement of unenumerated rights.
That is the view expressed by Ted Cruz at a hearing he conducted before the Senate Judiciary Committee exploring ways to "rein in" the Supreme Court. Cruz's comments at the hearing suggest, on deeply personal issues from marriage to economic rights, he prefers "the Supreme Court defer to state legislative decisions rather than uphold individual rights."
This is as unlibertarian a position as a candidate could hold. Saving the GOP from a Trump loss to Hillary Clinton is not a reason to support a nominee committed to undermining individual liberty in favor of majority rule.
Is Cruz Committed to Individual Rights? Or States Rights? Ted Cruz's passion is not the fundamental liberty of individuals, arguably enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment. It is, rather, the power of state legislatures found in the Tenth.
He's "a Tenth Amendment guy," according to his wife. Indeed he once headed the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Center for Tenth Amendment Studies. When Ted Cruz talks about limited government, he is talking about limiting federal government. His concern is federal versus state, not individual versus collective.
Then too, even on that more beloved Constitutional provision, Cruz is willing to stray if it means more power for the right kind of majorities. He was in favor of the federal government defining marriage before he was against it. He likes states' rights when they ban same-sex marriage, but not as much when they decriminalize marijuana.
He might be a federalist, for those who don't mind states' rights served squishy. But he's no libertarian.
How Far Will Ted Cruz Go to Bend the Judiciary to His Interpretation of the Constitution? Despite the "sour fruit" of John Roberts' decisions in NFIB v. Sebelius and King v. Burwell, conservatives continue their misguided pursuit of a "deferential" judiciary. In their statist hearts, they would rather accept the big government of Obamacare than lose the power to regulate social order.
If NFIB v. Sebelius is the price of winning the next Obergefell v. Hodges, it is one they will pay.
This is not a trade-off liberty lovers should make.
Yet Ted Cruz wants to subject the Supreme Court to term limits and retention elections. As the Institute for Justice's Evan Bernick wrote in the wake of Cruz's SCOTUS hearing:
…[I]t is Cruz who strayed from the text and history of the Constitution, both in his histrionic criticism of Obergefell and his suggestion that the cure for America's constitutional ills is an even more inert judiciary.
Cruz's most fundamental error lay in the premise of the hearing itself: The most pressing threat to constitutionally limited government today is not "judicial activism" but reflexive judicial deference to the political branches.
We can have a judiciary that reflexively defers to the political branches or we can have constitutionally limited government — but we cannot have both.
Liberty voters must consider whether they want Supreme Court appointees to facilitate the powers of political majorities or to protect individual rights from the overreach of such exercise. Ted Cruz appears to be on the wrong side of that choice.
Until he convinces me otherwise, that puts him on the wrong side of mine.
Sarah Baker is a libertarian, attorney and writer. She lives in Montana with her daughter and a house full of pets.
fourteenth amendment, judicial review, substantive due process, Ted Cruz, unenumerated rights
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