text:
James Minchin/AMC
How Halt and Catch Fire Became the Underdog Success of the Peak TV Era
By Sean T. Collins
"You've come on a funny day."
Chris Cantwell, the co-creator and, as of this season, co-showrunner of Halt and Catch Fire, sits in the director's chair between set-ups on the Atlanta soundstage where the series is shot. It's not a chair he's used to occupying: This is his first day ever directing the show.
"I spent months freaking the fuck out, for lack of a better word," he says. Clear-eyed and clean cut beneath a baseball cap, he's in his early 30s but looks every bit the rookie he worries he is. "But I've prepped as much as I can, and I've known the actors for so long, so it feels good."
On deck today: a scene in the California home of programmer Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy). After spending the first two seasons in the Dallas-area Silicon Prairie, Gordon and the rest of Halt's mercurial characters—his equally intelligent but business-savvier wife Donna (Kerry Bishé), her wunderkind punk partner Cameron (Mackenzie Davis), their genial Texan major domo John Bosworth (Toby Huss), and their strange, possibly sociopathic yuppie frienemy Joe McMillan (Lee Pace)—have packed up stakes and put down roots in Silicon Valley. Their move takes place in 1986, at a time when the money and power of tech had begun reshaping San Francisco, and the rest of the world, in a major way. Gordon's changed circumstances indicate that they've reshaped the lives of Halt's heroes as well.
Co-creator and director Chris Rogers on the set of
Tina Rowden/AMC
Indeed, Halt seems to reboot itself with each new season. It began as a familiarly anti-heroic drama about Joe's hostile takeover of a tiny Texas electronics company in a quixotic quest to design a next-generation personal computer, but by Season Two the focus was on Cameron and Donna's joint venture Mutiny, a video game company turned early Internet service provider and proto-social network. From the new setting to the new showrunners (Jonathan Lisco, who was at the helm for the series' first two seasons, departed for TNT's Animal Kingdom), the leap from Season Two to Season Three is equally dramatic. "We almost err on the side of so much reinvention that it's frustrating," Cantwell says. "But the technology industry is like that. Having to keep up with that constant change allows us to reinvent characters, to do some really cool stuff."
The technology industry is like that. Having to keep up with that constant change allows us to reinvent characters, to do some really cool stuff.
It's also helped the show itself catch fire—critically, if not commercially. After early growing pains driven by antihero fatigue (not helped by AMC's decision to plop Joe and company right into the time slot recently vacated by the network's previous period piece Mad Men), the show slowly evolved into a story about its passionate core quartet of tech whizzes struggling to work together, rather than to tear each other apart. By the time the women took center stage in the second season, critics were fully on board, making Halt one of 2015's most acclaimed shows. Audiences, however, had yet to follow suit, and the series' low ratings made its renewal an iffy proposition for months before the network finally gave the go-ahead.
"What I was told was that the journalists were the one who championed this thing," McNairy confides during a break in shooting. "Like, 'Please come back, please come back, please come back.' I think the network was like, 'Well, they definitely liked the show.'"
Scoot McNairy as Gordon Clark
So does the network itself. "The guys from New York talk about it like fans," Cantwell says. "Yes, they factor in all of the analytics and data in determining our future, but so far a big portion of [their decision-making process] has been, 'Do we like this show? Yes, we like it a lot. Just go do your thing.' Like the saga of the Internet upstarts it chronicles, Halt itself is, as cast and crew frequently call it, an underdog story—albeit one with an unusual amount of leeway to do things its own way.
Hence the series' latest reinvention, and its third chance to snag an audience commensurate with the show's quality: Halt and Catch Fire Season Three, which begins tonight. That fact alone makes Halt something of a success story—or what passes for one in the era of Peak TV, in which hundreds of scripted shows struggle for a share of the public's attention, an uphill battle for any series without dragons or zombies in its arsenal. Getting that third season is a rare case of a show being rewarded simply for being well made rather than pulling in ratings or tapping the Twitter-trend zeitgeist. It's a struggle that'd feel familiar to the characters themselves.
"There's an intrinsic metaphor to what we're doing here," Kerry Bishé tells me before shooting that afternoon. "We're making a TV show and the characters are making their technology, but the big goal is making a beautiful, perfect product that can go to market and succeed. It'd be nice if more people watched our show, but I'm doing work I love and value. We define ourselves so much by success in our jobs that I think it's worth investigating what success is. What counts. What matters."
We're making a TV show and the characters are making their technology, but the big goal is making a beautiful, perfect product that can go to market and succeed.
At first, "What matters?" was a question the show's creators themselves couldn't answer. When Cantwell and Chris Rogers wrote the pilot for Halt and Catch Fire, they had little in mind but jumping on board one of the shows they already liked. "We're both in our early 30s, so the shows that made us wanna do this were the great 'difficult men' shows: The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire," Rogers says. "We wrote the pilot in a way that was set up to ape them: Joe McMillan is a traditional antihero, and the world is organized around him in that way." But when the pilot was bought by AMC for production, rather than simply used as a staffing script to land "The Chrises" (as Halt's cast and crew universally call them) in a writers' room for a preexisting series, things changed. "As we got in there and started doing it, we had a writers' groove. We figured out what was our voice, as opposed to the voice that felt like it was emulating the shows we liked."
For a while there, it was rough going. While the pilot wowed many viewers with its impeccable period-accurate '80s soundtrack and design (to this day, it puts Stranger Things to shame), subsequent episodes felt like one protracted shouting match between the show's main characters, fueled by Joe McMillan's distinctly Don Draper-esque narcissism. The tall, dark, and handsome master of the universe; the harried brainiac husband; the overworked and underappreciated wife; the brash young rebel: Joe, Gordon, Donna, and Cameron were, for a while, little more than the sum of their parts. "For me, Season One wasn't the easiest thing in the world to watch," says Toby Huss, whose character John Bosworth was the man Joe duped into allowing him to take over the business. "It was hard to watch these jangly people beat on each other."
Toby Huss as John Bosworth
One of the earliest signs that Halt had potential came from an unlikely source: Bosworth himself. At first, the old-school, back-slapping salesman was the younger characters' primary obstacle to making something new and exciting. On any other show, that's where he might have stayed: a conservative Texas shitkicker designed as an antagonist for the main players to surmount. "We had a similar image of John when we wrote the pilot," says Cantwell. "We didn't know how long he would last."
Then something happened: Huss, the veteran actor-comedian whose resume includes stints on material as disparate as Carnivale and Reno 911!. "Toby came in and did an audition that was 180 degrees from what we were thinking," Cantwell says. "We thought Bosworth would be this grounded, slow-talking Texan, and Toby is so wiry and full of energy that the casting director couldn't keep him in frame. We were like, 'This is insane.'" Once the character started doing scenes with the much younger Cameron—his cultural and temperamental opposite in many ways—the paradoxical chemistry between Huss and Davis was too much to ignore. "We saw him do scenes with Mackenzie and went, 'Oh my God, we gotta see more of that.,'" Cantwell continues. "Credit to Toby for making that such an option," says Rogers. "He showed up and did what he did, and we felt we'd be fools not to use other colors for him."
So Boz, as he's known to the show's small army of young coders, slowly jettisoned his old ways to become a key component of Cameron's upstart business. "Chris and I's rule of thumb was no matter what, we've gotta keep an open mind, because we're gonna be surrounded by people who are extremely talented and have done this longer than us," Cantwell says. "I feel like that's served us well, because that's what's given us John Bosworth."
"That's very kind of them," Huss says of his writers' praise, "but I see it as all the writing, you know? This guy really shouldn't exist. He's really an outlier. He realized that to open up to this new thing was the only way to learn and grow as a man. It was a vivisection, but it was necessary, and it's a great credit to the writers to make this arc for this guy."
Kerry Bishé as Donna Clark
Before long, similarly unpredictable role reversals and nuances became the norm. Cameron went from a perpetually angry middle finger in human form to a dedicated, ambitious visionary. Gordon came out of his middle-management shell, but his genius was tempered by slowly mounting mental difficulties brought on by exposure to toxic chemicals in the computers he engineered. Donna, perhaps the biggest revelation, went from supporting character to main player, the one character who best balanced the needs of creativity and commerce in the workplace. The role suits Kerry Bishé, who even in a cast that's clearly thought a whole lot about what they're doing stands out as something of a philosopher-king in conversation. "They laid in really heavily to a lot of stereotypes about TV moms, and it was nerve-wracking to put your trust in people like that," she says. "But it's turned out to be a wonderful trip: all of the steps along the way to waking up to your ambition, stepping into yourself, becoming a confident actor in the world."
Even Joe, the American psycho who is the Chrises' most admittedly derivative creation, became an engaging enigma rather than an off-putting one. His history of severe abuse and his AIDS-era paranoia about love (McMillan is bisexual) made him a kind of palimpsest, constantly rewriting himself to suit the needs of the moment. "I see someone who's trying to be someone he's not," says Pace, whose beatifically beautiful face gives McMillain the vibe of an ecstatic saint in a Renaissance fresco even when he's smashing the scenery. "The car, the sunglasses, his whole way of being—it's like a mask he's been wearing since he was a child, a persona he could maneuver with." By the time he shows up this season, with a fortune earned from anti-virus software he stole from Gordon backing him up and a new-age guru vibe swiped from Steve Jobs, his inscrutability has gone from infuriating to fascinating.
To hear both creators and cast tell it, much of this evolution is a direct result of the extraordinary lengths to which the actors have gone to dig into their roles. "We feel proprietary about this," says Huss. "This is our show."
Lee Pace as Joe MacMillan
That sense of ownership begins at Pace's home, where the cast gathers on their own time and own dime to discuss their material. "We get together and read the scripts on weekends, just to see what we might find, and we have a few bottles of wine and talk about it," says Pace. "We make dinner, we hang out for four or five hours, and we go through the script, just the actors—because we all like each other," Huss elaborates. "It's funny, the way they cast it, because we're all sort of weirdos, for lack of a better term. We all have a bit of an iconoclastic edge, I think. That's our nature. So all these disparate elements came together to make a thing we all really care about it."
"There was this sense of us being a scrappy little startup," says Mackenzie Davis, whose startup-founding character Cameron Howe is the scrappiest of all. "The Chrises weren't jaded industry vets when they started the show, and speaking exclusively for myself, it was my first big job. And the show has continued with this sort of small family feeling. The five of us move to Atlanta each year, shoot in an old dog-food factory for four months, and just work really hard, as a company, to make something we think is cool and beautiful. I don't know what the show would be like if we didn't work so collaboratively, and so far outside the normal working hours. It would be a totally different beast."
New to the family and to the weekly wine-fueled get-togethers this year is actor Matthew Lillard, the Scream and Scooby-Doo vet who convincingly inhabits Ken Diebold, a venture-capital robber baron who invests in Joe's latest venture. Along with Annabeth Gish as rival VC hard-charger Diane Gould and Manish Dayal as wide-eyed young coder Ryan Ray, he's one of several key additions to the cast, and his enthusiasm for the project is so overwhelming that he jokes the network should be notified as proof of his loyalty. "I found it incredibly refreshing to come on set and be with people that were only concerned about the work," Lillard says. "That's a hard thing to do on television. It's fast, you're doing lots of pages, you have long hours—you know, it's a grind. But it goes back to the actors, sitting around a table, drinking a glass of wine, talking about scenes, talking about relationships, talking about what happens. These guys are out there the day before, working on next week's scenes. Ratings be damned, what they're trying to do is great work."
It goes back to the actors, sitting around a table, drinking a glass of wine, talking about scenes, talking about relationships, talking about what happens. Ratings be damned, what they're trying to do is great work.
Consciously or not, Lillard's description echoes the cast's take on the characters they play. "Something I discovered at the beginning of this season is that none of these characters care about money," says McNairy, though he's incongruously ensconced on the set of a luxury hotel at the time. "They're so focused on innovation that they're so quick to just"—he snaps his fingers for emphasis—"give away their salaries, because the vision is so much more important. Their overall mission is to change the world."
"Don't think it doesn't bleed into us!" he continues, leaning forward in his chair. "Lee and me will get into it about something, and I'll be like, 'Lee, that's the character saying that, not you.' We have to be like, 'Stop, stop, everybody—this was what was written on the show. Let's not let our own personal feelings get involved.'"
"Mackenzie and Scoot and Kerry and Toby get so sick of hearing me defend Joe McMillan," Pace agrees with a laugh. Sure enough, he launches into a multi-minute revisionist-history version of the first season's climactic act of industrial espionage, recasting Joe as a scapegoat unfairly blamed for the mistakes of his colleagues.
This is the kind of conviction that can't help but show up on screen, making each side of any given argument over the direction of the group's joint ventures feel equally persuasive. This, ultimately, is Halt and Catch Fire's killer app. When Gordon and Cameron clash in Season One over whether her warm, advanced, Apple-esque user interface should be scrapped to make their computer lighter and cheaper, or when Cameron and Donna argue in Season Two over whether Mutiny should abandon its gaming focus in favor of chat rooms and community, or when new hires and attempts to close old wounds come up in Season Three, viewers genuinely don't know which is the correct side to take. Good, even great, dramas frequently telegraph who's right and wrong in any given dispute; Halt leaves it tantalizingly, gorgeously uncertain.
Mackenzie Davis as Cameron Howe
"I love that," says Davis unequivocally. "We talk about that all the time. Ego comes into these arguments, because of course each side is convinced that their vision is the right one, but still, it feels like the ego is balanced by the belief in something pure. There isn't a right and wrong to each disagreement. There are just constant forks in the road. You hope the fork you choose will lead you to become Steve Jobs, but most of them don't."
McNairy's take is more profane, but ties the story's shades of gray directly to the actors' investment in their roles: "Everybody's got their heads so far up their asses with their characters, which makes the audience watching it think, 'Both ways could work.'"
"The more invested everyone is in what they're doing, the more it impacts your experience," Lillard agrees. "When a show is trying to be great, that's more prominent. Does that make sense? If you're doing a show for the tenth year and you're just making your paycheck, doing 22 episodes of television, and you're burned out, nobody gives a shit."
"It's so funny," Huss laughs. "The show is about a bunch of outsiders who are trying to come together, however flawed they might be, but they're trying to put some of their flaws aside for the greater good. That's what this has all been about."
The show is about a bunch of outsiders who are trying to come together, however flawed they might be, but they're trying to put some of their flaws aside for the greater good. That's what this has all been about.
Scoot McNairy on the set of
Touring the set for a final time, the characters' quirks are evident in the environment. Cameron's office has an edgy air, as if you could jam a desktop computer inside the Never Mind the Bollocks cover. Donna's is a projection of professional efficiency. Bosworth's looks like a room where you can exchange hard drinks and handshakes. Joe's apartment is immediately identifiable from its cold, '80s-modernist minimalism and planes of reflective glass, the better to show him the man he wants to be. And the living room and kitchen where Gordon's puttering around are populated by equal parts children's breakfast cereal and grown-up booze. Each feels recognizably human—and that, at least, is an element of the show that has remained constant from the start.
"It was important to us that this would be a story without guns," says Chris Rogers. "When you don't have someone dictating the action of the scene with a firearm or some kind of bodily threat, then you have to keep going back to the characters to figure out what's gonna happen next. I know it sounds kinda writerly, but I think it keeps you honest."
"Any time two people get together and eat a sandwich and they're in danger of being murdered by dragons or eaten by zombies…I dunno, that gets fucking exhausting to me," Huss echoes. "I dig it: People wanna go on a roller coaster and lose their shit. You might go to AMC to watch The Walking Dead, but hopefully you stay to investigate some show like ours." That's the gamble the network has taken, sneak-premiering Halt's third-season premiere right after the zombie spinoff Fear the Walking Dead this past Sunday.
Any time two people get together and eat a sandwich and they're in danger of being murdered by dragons or eaten by zombies...that gets fucking exhausting to me.
But in the Peak TV era, it doesn't necessarily need to do Walking Dead ratings, and its continued existence is living proof. "If it was ten years ago and it was on a network, or even HBO, it would have been yanked by now," Huss says bluntly. "That's the business question around Peak TV," Bishé elaborates. "By many different standards, we should have been cancelled a long time ago. [But] the sheer amount of television is making people reassess how to judge a successful show, what the benchmarks are, what they really want out of making TV. We're lucky that we've got a network that wants to keep giving us chances."
And if it never quite finds an audience, at a time when so many alternatives exist? "I've always liked being part of a small thing that feels exclusive to the people that care about it," Davis says. "There doesn't need to be millions of people weighing in and writing a million think pieces about it. It just matters to the people that it matters to."
"I wish more people saw our show," Bishé laments "It feels a little like we're in a vacuum or bubble, working away in the dark." But then, like seemingly everyone involved in the creation of this show does eventually, she takes on the idealist tone of the underdog tech geniuses whose story they tell. "If you continue to do work you believe in, it means something. Whether a million people watch it or ten people watch it, it means something."
Kerry Bishé Tells Us a Joke
Lee Pace on 'Halt and Catch Fire' and '80s Video-Game Nostalgia
'Halt and Catch Fire' Revs Up in Season 2, and It's Damn Good
Of Course Fidget Spinners Are Catching on Fire Now
'Fire Walk With Me' Is David Lynch's Battlecry


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A business supplies pack (valued as $90).
That is a total starter kit valued up to $375.
Now how is that for a bargin.


text:
require 'spec_helper'

describe Ordoro::Record::PurchaseOrderAdapter do
  include TestingAdapter
  include SharedAdapterExamples

  let(:client) { setup_client }
  let(:adapter) { client.PurchaseOrder }
  let(:plural_name) { 'purchase_orders' }
  let(:singular_name) { 'purchase_order' }
  let(:record_class) { Ordoro::Record::PurchaseOrder }

  it 'initializes the adapter' do
    expect(adapter).to be_a Ordoro::Record::PurchaseOrderAdapter
  end

  it_behaves_like 'an API adapter'
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Roland Tings [LIVE]
Saturday December 7 - The Night Cat - Melbourne, VIC
Friday December 13 - The Foundry - Brisbane, QLD
Saturday December 14 - Rocket Bar - Adelaide, SA
Friday December 20 - The Cambridge - Newcastle, NSW
Saturday December 21 - The Lansdowne - Sydney, NSW
Roland Tings has today announced that he will be venturing around Australia in celebration of his highly anticipated 2nd LP 'Salt Water.' In past tours, Rohan has proved his ability to not only play killer DJ sets, but also to put on a memorable live show, which will often incorporate up to 3 other instrumentalists. Roland has already released a handful of acclaimed singles from the album, including 'Hiding In The Bushes', 'Always Rushing' and now 'Up Close.' Inspired by life on the road, Roland decided to record much of the new album in relative isolation from a rented home on the Great Ocean Road.
Referring to his new show, Roland said "I'm really excited to be bringing the new tunes from my album Salt Water into a live context. It kinda feels like every electronic act is a "live band" now, so we are going right back the other way and taking it to the CLUB. Think hypnotic, fast, electronic, heavy & lots of freaky equipment. All the album tracks and some older stuff - reinterpreted and reconstructed in a way that takes you on a proper trip. Hopefully a lot of smoke machines and strobes too. Can't wait. See you in the zone."
Don't miss your chance to see this unique showcase of the arts, LIVE in a city near you.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
60 Minutes April 17, 2014
Hip-Hop's Wealthiest Artists
1. Sean "Diddy" Combs ($700 million)
Diddy keeps his crown yet another year, pushing ever closer to the billion-dollar mark thanks mostly to non-musical ventures. His newly-launched Revolt TV provides him with a majority equity stake that could one day make him hip-hop's first billionaire. The artist formerly known as P. Diddy has plenty of other ventures, including a deal with Diageo's Ciroc that entitles him to eight-figure annual payouts and a nine-figure windfall of the brand is ever sold.
2. Andre "Dr. Dre" Young ($550 million)
The California-bred superproducer leapfrogs Jay Z on this year's list, fueled by the runaway success of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, which he cofounded with record executive Jimmy Iovine in 2008. With a whopping 65% market share of the premium headphone market and a recent $500 million infusion from Carlyle Group, Beats' value is soaring toward $2 billion.
3. Shawn "Jay Z" Carter ($520 million)
Megadeals like his $204 million Rocawear sale in 2007 and his $150 million pact with Live Nation in 2008 provide Jay Z's fortune with firm footing. But the bulk of its growth this year comes from new ventures. Jay Z's Roc Nation is worth a healthy nine figures itself thanks to the addition of Roc Nation Sports, which gets a single-digit percentage cut of pacts like Robinson Cano's $240 million monster. (For more on Mr. Carter's rise as a businessman, check out "Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner To Corner Office").
4. Bryan "Birdman" Williams ($160 million)
Birdman's number would be over $300 million if he didn't share his fortune with brother Ronald "Slim" Williams, with whom he cofounded Cash Money Records two decades ago. Cash Money continues to grow with a roster that includes Drake, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and even Paris Hilton; diversification is on the way with Cash Money Content, a YMCMB clothing line and GT Vodka.
5. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson ($140 million)
One of the most successful rappers of the past decade, 50 actually owes most of his fortune to his $100 million haul from the sale of VitaminWater in 2007. Now he's trying to recapture that magic with companies like SMS Audio and SK Energy. In the meantime, he'll reboot his music career by taking his G-Unit Records independent and releasing new album Animal Ambition.
(Click here to read more)
Want To Feel Young Again?
An Ape Toasts Marshmallows
"A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock when somebody…
contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind."


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UFC Fight Night: The Korean Zombie vs Ige Preview
Lots of underdog picks as our UFC expert Jeff Fox previews the weekend's UFC action.
Blog > MMA > UFC > UFC Fight Night: The Korean Zombie vs Ige Preview
UFC 263 was a successful event for my predictions, as I went 9-5 on the card, including hitting on three underdogs. Which brings us to this weekend's UFC Fight Night: The Korean Zombie vs Ige, from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Inadvertently I ended up riding with quite a few live (hopefully) dogs on this card as well. So, without further ado, let's get it on c'mon.
The main event is a featherweight clash between 'The Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung and Dan Ige. This is a very hard fight to call, as the basically pick 'em numbers on the board attest to (currently Jung is 21/20; Ige is 20/27). 'Dynamite' Dan is my pick due to his durability – he's never been stopped in 18 pro MMA fights, despite going up against powerful strikers in the past (and taking more than his fair share of abuse at their hands and feet). He's also won seven of his last eight, including his last fight via knockout, and has superior striking stats to his Korean counterpart. Additionally, Jung is coming off a loss in his last fight in which he didn't look to be the fighter he used to be, so I'm counting on the wear and tear of his career slowing him down a bit in this fight.
Boa Constrictor v Polar Bear
The co-main event pits two big heavyweights in Aleksei Oleinik and Sergey Spivak – 'The Boa Constrictor' vs the 'Polar Bear'. Considering Spivak is 18 years the soon-to-be 44-year-old Oleinik's junior, he's the obvious pick here for me at 2/5. He's also on a nice two-fight win streak and is the superior striker.
For my lock I'm also going against a grizzled veteran and fading Matt 'The Immortal' Brown. His opponent on Saturday, Dhiego Lima, is eight years younger than him and has won three of his last four UFC fights. He's my pick at 20/39.
Juicy Money Underdogs
Ok, now for what you've been waiting for – the juicy plus money underdogs. I've got the dog in half of the 12 fights on Saturday's lineup – much higher than the average of about four underdogs you'd expect on a card this size. But if we can hit on a few of them it'll more than make up for whiffing on some others.
Let's start with a sizable dog in Davey Grant at 33/20 for his bantamweight fight against Marlon Vera. 'Dangerous' Davey has lived up to his moniker as of late, winning three straight fights, the last two via knockout. He also bested Vera five years ago and has seemed to improve considerably since then.
'Juicy J' Julian Erosa is 5/4 on the board going up against Seung Woo Choi in a featherweight contest. Erosa is the better striker in this one and has shown a new recklessness in the cage his past few fights, which has resulted in him finishing off his opponents.
Jedi to Use The Force
Two of the best grapplers in the UFC go head-to-head in a women's strawweight battle on the prelims. I'm backing the 11/10 underdog Kanato Murata against Virna Jandiroba. She won her UFC debut as part of her current eight fight winning streak and was a national champion in judo and freestyle wrestling in her native Japan, so she's well prepared for this fight.
Next, in what could be a Fight of the Night, I'm taking Matthew Semelsberger at 5/4 against Khaos Williams. 'Semi the Jedi' has won five straight fights, the last via knockout, and has the superior striking and grappling stats in this matchup.
Finally, I like Rick Glenn at 21/20 over Joaquim Silva and, in the opener, Casey O'Neill at 5/4 over Lara Procopio.
*All odds correct at time of writing.


Pokemon Go, Niantic's augmented reality game which has been downloaded more than 550 million times in total (as of 2019), will be having its 3-year-old birthday very soon in three months.
According to consumer insights intelligence MAI Insights, the app's accumulated revenues has grown to a whopping USD $2.55 billion.
Though many of the users deleted the app after its first craze in 2016 (when Pokemon Go was the top grossing game in the US store for 74 straight days), the loyal players of the game never left. In fact, they are still playing it a lot, and paying a lot as well. MAI Insights' data dashboard shows that, the average paying user spends around USD $38.63 in the app worldwide, and USD $6.68 per order.
The game is particularly popular in the US and Japan, a Japanese user averagely pays around $60.37 in the game.
Theoretically, in the Pokemon world, there should be more generations of Pokemons to catch, so in terms of the new contents, this game would never be shy of bringing new stuff to players. According to MAI Insights, Pokemon Go's revenue peaks depend heavily on its new update and holiday event from time to time.
It is very likely that the game would hit 2.8 Billion on its 3rd anniversary in July, becoming one the most profitable mobile games on iOS.
So, to all Pokemon Trainers, watch out for your Pokemon Coins!
Charlie specializes in trends and insights in the App Industry, with MAI Insights' real-time online consumer data panel. Measurable AI collects over 20 billion anonymous data points from actual online shoppers all over the world.
Originally published at blog.measurable.ai on April 4, 2019.


text:
Meet Maharaj K. Pandit, Ph.D.
Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
Maharaj K. Pandit, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Environmental Studies; Director of the Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Studies of Mountain & Hill Environment, University of Delhi. Dr. Pandit is also 2015-2016 Hrdy Fellow at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, Harvard University.
Dr. Pandit appeared on SftPublic's Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations program on December 22, 2015 to record a lecture Saving the Himalaya.
He is an internationally recognized biologist, recognized especially for his research on the complex ecologies of the Himalaya region and the impact of increasing settlement, development, and climate change on this complex environment.
Maharaj Pandit has been a fellow at the National University of Singapore since 2012, where he has also served as a visiting senior fellow in the University Scholars Programme and has also held an adjunct appointment in the Department of Geography. He was the director of the School of Environment Studies at the University of Delhi and later the head of the Department of Environmental Studies. Dr. Pandit is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences of India.


I am an architect real estate agent, music producer and film maker and looking for my other half who complements me.
I am a PhD profession, funny, kind, gentle, slim and fit.
I am simple , easy going , great family and i get along with everyone.
I am very easygoing, responsive and hardworking Chinese guy. I am from east China. I like sports, doing outdoor road trips. I am now working in Seattle area.


text:
Q: DotNetNuke 05.06.00 (459) failing with "The AppDomain shut down because of a change to the application level configuration" message I've developed a DNN5 site for customer locally on my laptop and I am having problem moving it to a production server. Server is running Windows 2008 R2 (IIS 7.5). I've copied all the files, copied db, modified web.config to see the new db, checked to make sure dnn can see the db via connection string, made sure the directory permissions are correct (appdomain user has RW access to whole virtual directory) .. and it's failing me with following error message taken out of the portals/_default/logs directory:
<log LogGUID="a3f8aab9-36b6-4d95-a605-53b4b0b02c34" LogFileID="" LogTypeKey="APPLICATION_SHUTTING_DOWN" LogUserID="-1" LogUserName="" LogPortalID="-1" LogPortalName="" LogCreateDate="2/4/2011 11:52:57 AM" LogCreateDateNum="0" BypassBuffering="True" LogServerName="SERVER01" LogConfigID="">
    <LogProperties>
        <LogProperty>
            <PropertyName>Shutdown Details</PropertyName>
            <PropertyValue>The AppDomain shut down because of a change to the application level configuration.</PropertyValue>
        </LogProperty>
    </LogProperties>
</log>

I've been stuck on this for the last 3h .. so any hint's or advice is very appreciated.
Thanks!
Filip

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Mark was also talking about his entries on BBC Radio London with (l to r) Dylan Collard photographer, Jo Good – presenter and previous photographic subject of Mark's, Simon Bainbridge of the BJP, and Mark Harrison.
Our intrepid Mr Harrison recently jetted off to the south of France to shoot these lovely portraits of Geraint Thomas (MBE) for a forthcoming book cover.
Mark Harrison was photographing an author in Frankfurt last week, who has written a rather lovely description of what it is like to be on the other side of the lens*. It's absolutely worth a read for the quality of the writing, but it also encapsulates all the elements that we think make Mark such a brilliant portrait photographer – makes us feel quite proud of working with him!
*As the portrait of Clare Dunkle has not been published yet, here is a behind the scenes photograph of Mark with Olivia Williams also looking very happy with her portrait.


Need a free psychic love reading online chat? Of course you do! Everyone does every now and again.
Of all the reasons people visit psychics for advice this is number one. Now, you're probably looking for a free love fortune telling that is accurate. Completely free psychic readings come in many forms. One of the most popular forms would be a love tarot reading for singles. Tarot readings are very popular for love readings, they can be absolutely accurate. Psychic love readings are like little top ups that you get to make sure everything is working properly.
How To Get A Free Psychic Love Reading.
Your psychic love connection is out there! Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Love truly conquers all. Fear, hate, war, all these disruptive forces are quietened by love. Love takes many forms but at its heart it is an impenetrable entity. It is both invisible and indivisible. It manifests itself through peace, health, wealth and happiness. It is the entire power of the universe contained in a tiny space. It is important to get it right. Free psychic love reading online chat rooms really work. In fact they can be amazingly powerful.
How Does Free Psychic Love Reading Online Chat Work?
Since the dawn of time people have asked the same question, "does he/she love me?" When you meet that special person you know deep inside that you have your own answer, but what about their answer? The vast majority of us are not mind readers so we can never truly know what another person is thinking. We can get a sense of their intentions but are we able to trust our judgement and feelings? Sometimes we need to let the power of attraction just do its work. Psychics have a way of tapping into that energy. Having a neutral person like our psychic mediums online allows you to make the right decisions. A Free Psychic Love Reading in our Online Chat Rooms is just the right thing to set you on the correct path. They are absolutely accurate psychic readings with the right psychic or tarot card reader.
I love giving psychic online readings. It makes helping people with their love lives so easy. You'll love it too when you see what the mediums and psychics at Oranum have to offer. It's so much fun chatting about boyfriends and girlfriends with out having to worry. Who doesn't love free fortune telling? Lovers of all ages have turned to fortune tellers for answers with this question since we first looked into the starry night sky and marvelled at the power and expanse of the universe. It is because the universe and love are one and the same. When loving feelings are true it is as if the universe itself is flowing through us and united we become an unstoppable force. It carries on beyond our mortal existence. It is passed through families from generation to generation. It can be felt across vast expanses and through the ages of time. Love knows no boundaries and is utterly timeless.
Can A Free Psychic Love Reading Online Chat Rooms Help?
If you have questions about love, maybe you've just met someone, maybe you're trying to assess their true intentions or maybe you're struggling with love and not finding the right person, you are in the right place. Our psychics will guide you to a brighter future where you will find peace of mind and clarity of thought. A Love Reading in our free online psychic chat rooms will really help you make the best decision.
Predictions about love are popular with followers of tarot readers. There are different tarot spreads for love predictions, the seven card spread and the ten card spread are common predictors for love fortune. Good tarot card readers are popular with singles looking for the right partner or marriage prospect predictions. In fact free tarot readings for marriage predictions are one of the most popular psychic chat room topics. Seriously? Just watch your psychic's eyebrows. LOL. You can get very accurate tarot card predictions by date of birth for "who will I marry" or "when will I find love". The tarot card love reading predictions at Oranum are really, really accurate.
So, as you can see, love is a many faceted diamond. No two sets of circumstances are the same. Everyone has a different story.
Are Free Love Tarot Readings Online Accurate?
Finding a free relationship tarot reading online that you can trust takes time and effort. Here at Psychic Mediums Online I've done the work to find the best for you. I have no doubt that the best free accurate tarot readings for love and marriage are found at Oranum. If you're single or in a relationship and looking for clarity their expert trusted tarot readers and mediums really get to the point so quickly. All my friends and relatives that I have recommended have found their predictions to be accurate.


This presentation introduces mobile learning as a model of training that merges distance education with electronic mobile devices such as cell phones and hand held computers. Transferring individualized learning content such as a tutorial onto a portable device allows for anytime anywhere learning.
This presentation introduces the idea of electronic print material, which is material that is digitally produced from conventional printed material. Ebooks for example offer multiple teaching and learning opportunities and can be easily located on the Internet and transferred to mobile devices.
This presentation introduces the idea of clients, which compile and distribute content for the consumer. A well-known client of mobile learning content, for example, is iTunes. iTunes is popular because of the availability of mobile learning content and the ease of transfer from computer to mobile learning device.
Last Updated August 4, 2008. © Catholic Distance Learning Network.
Engage in a short study of the value of mobile learning.


AMARILLO, TX (KFDA) - A recent award of $30,000 is allowing one local organization to increase its services to teens.
Texas Workforce Solutions (TWS) will now be able to help out more teens ages 16 through 21, who come from low income households.
The recent funds will go towards the "Youth Preparedness Program."
"It's a program called "Work Experience," where we team them [teens] up with an employer for six to eight weeks in hopes that an employer will see their work habits and ethics and will eventually decide to hire them," Director Trent Morris said. "Employers can also motivate that teen to pursue more training. We will use a lot of those awarded dollars to give these teens a chance to step into the work field, especially if they have not been out in the work force before."
The mission is to put them in work environments where they can gain knowledge, experience and hopefully spark an interest in a specific field.
Morris said some of the awarded money can also help those who are interested in getting their commercial driver licenses (CDL).
He said the truck driving industry is a high demand work field and although CDL courses are quick, they typically are not supported by financial aid.
"For somebody to be able to afford to participate in the Amarillo College CDL program, they really need somebody like us to step in and help pay for some of that tuition and training cost," Morris said.
Since most spring courses begin in January, Morris said now is the time to seek help and advice from Workforce Solutions.


text:
Trump Asks Anti Vaccine Nut to Chair Commission on Vaccine Safety Because of Course
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a conspiracy theory nut job and should not be allowed anywhere near health policy.
If you thought having a climate change denying misogynistic man child in charge of the most powerful nation on earth was bad enough, then brace yourself for the following news. The Washington Post reported today that, "President-elect Donald Trump asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a proponent of a widely discredited theory that vaccines cause autism, to chair a new commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity."
The report continued: "The stunning move pushes up against established science, medicine and the government's position on the issue. It comes after Trump — who has long been critical of vaccines — met at Trump Tower with Kennedy, who has spearheaded efforts to roll back child vaccination laws."
Of course the Trump team did not respond to requests for comment on the commission.
This is astonishingly stupid, even for Donald Trump. Robert F. Kennedy has previously accused government scientists of being "involved in a massive fraud" to cover up any safety concerns associated with vaccines, citing zero evidence to support his case. The argument against vaccination has been widely and repeatedly debunked by the vast majority of the scientific community. Reported the Post:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Institute of Medicine, no evidence supports a link between thimerosal and any brain disorders, including autism. But parental concerns of such an association in the 1990s spurred vaccine fears. This owed to a confluence of factors: highly publicized warnings of mercury-contaminated fish; rising awareness and diagnoses of autism; and vaccines added to the childhood schedule. The CDC urged vaccine makers to remove thimerosal as a precautionary measure.
Some parents took this as proof of thimerosal's harm. The controversy, which Kennedy helped fuel in the 2000s with a notorious, widely publicized article, prompted additional vaccine fears that linger to this day.
A 2013 study in the journal Pediatrics found that recent cases of whooping cough occurred in pockets where vaccine resisters were located. Public health experts blame recent measles outbreaks on resisters. Both diseases were almost wiped out in the United States until the vaccine fear struck.
Having read none of this, Trump has used his expertise in flipping hotels to discern whether vaccines are a risk to public health. In a Republican presidential debate in 2015, he stated the following:
You take this little beautiful baby, and you pump . . ...We had so many instances, people that work for me, just the other day, 2 years old, a beautiful child, went to have the vaccine and came back and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.
So Trump knew someone who had their child vaccinated (along with virtually every other child in the United States) and determined it was the cause of their autism because, well, fuck science and fuck mountains of published evidence that shows no correlation between vaccinations and autism whatsoever.
Now we have a former lawyer with no scientific background and no medical background heading a commission on vaccine safety -- a sign that one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine and public health is now in serious danger. What could go wrong ?
Robert F. KennedyDonald Trump AdministrationVaccinesPublic Health
Donald Trump is Against Renewable Energy Because Wind Turbines "Kill Eagles"
A Quick Guide to Vaccines For Morons and Celebrities
Trump Blames Media For Hillary Clinton Assassination Comments Because of Course
Is Barron Trump Autistic? For The Love Of God, Stop Asking
Donald Trump Has Just Declared All Out War on the Environment
Anti-Vaxxers Fund Autism Study, Accidentally Prove Themselves Wrong
Anti-Vaxxers Have No One To Blame But Themselves for California's Strict New Vaccination Law
By Chez Pazienza
Chris Christie Tries to Undermine President Obama on Vaccinating Children
By Tommy Christopher


text:
Top 10 Swimming Holes
Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine
BY JOE NICK PATOSKI
A springs fanatic picks his 10 favorites (plus a few honorable mentions).
Of all the features that define natural Texas, nothing speaks to the soul quite like springs do. As the source of water in its purest, most pristine form, springs are the basic building block of life. They present themselves in a manner as miraculous as birth itself, gestating in the womblike darkness of an aquifer deep underground until pressure percolates, pushes, and forces the water up through cracks, fissures, and faults in the limestone cap until it bubbles, seeps or sometimes even gushes, to the surface, magically turning everything around it lush and green. Springs feed creeks, streams and rivers, and nourish plant and animal life. Springs are why Texas has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years.
As far as I'm concerned, though, the greatest thing about springs is that they create swimming holes, which are the very best place to be in Texas in the summer. The greatest concentration are clustered in the Hill Country, where human activity around San Marcos Springs, the second largest springs in Texas, has been traced back more than 12,000 years. Like me, the ancients must have figured out that immersing in cool artesian spring water was a pretty smart way to survive a hot day in August.
I endure the heat gladly when I'm close to a spring-fed swimming hole. The endless string of broiling days and sweltering nights that wear down the spirit and sap the want-to and can-do in even the hardiest of souls — that's my favorite time of the year. Springs are why.
The great spring-fed swimming holes of Texas run the gamut from wild and unsullied to tamed and civilized. All of them promise a shady place to cool off, cool down and cultivate the lazy streak that resides within us all. The swimming hole is my church, a holy place to splash in water clean and clear enough not to have to worry, with at least one big rock to lie out on and jump off of, and ideally a rope swing hanging from a tree limb. Settings like that are compelling evidence there is a higher power.
I have written about swimming holes on numerous occasions for several publications. I live where I live for the swimming hole, which all of my family enjoys in the summer. I plan road trips around swimming holes. I'm always on the prowl to find new ones.
There are literally hundreds of these liquid jewels scattered across Texas, many of them known, some secret, all defying the logic of geography, geology, climate and progress. Without springs, I would not be here. Without springs, I don't think Texas would be here, either.
Having to select my 10 favorite swimming holes is not unlike having to choose among your children, knowing I'm leaving out sweet spots like Mankin's Crossing on the San Gabriel, Tonkawa Falls in Crawford, the state parks at Colorado Bend, McKinney Falls, and on the Guadalupe River near Boerne, the entire Medina River, Burger's Lake in Fort Worth, the Paluxy River in Glen Rose, Possum Kingdom Lake west of Mineral Wells, Tule Canyon Lake near Silverton, Chain-O-Lakes near Cleveland, Hancock Springs in Lampasas, Las Moras Springs at Fort Clark in Brackettville, the Slab in Llano and the 7A Crossing in Wimberley, just to name a few. The following 10 are chosen at my own personal peril and risk, because they're just my opinion. You likely have your own top 10. Either way, we should all quit arguing and jump in, feet first, eyes closed. Biggest cannonball splash wins.
1. Balmorhea State Park, Toyahvale
Back in the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps lined the banks of San Solomon Springs, the biggest springs in West Texas, with native stone and built a classic bathhouse to provide easier access to 78-degree water that is Caribbean-clear and brimming with pupfish, tetras, catfish and turtles. Those features and its picturesque location in the Chihuahuan Desert with the Davis Mountains on the horizon conspire to create the finest natural swimming experience on earth.
[See also "The Park That Time Forgot," in the April 2005 issue.] (432) 375-2370 www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/balmorhe/
2. Barton Springs, Austin
As development has sprawled beyond the pool and the creek upstream all the way to its headwaters some 30 miles away in Hays County, Barton Springs is more remarkable than ever. There are times when the water is so clear it's as if nothing has changed in the last 100 years. I derive a great deal of pleasure watching friends get hooked the same way I did at Barton's more than 30 years ago. Two recent converts I know begin their day at 5 a.m. in the springs, with downtown skyscrapers and the moon providing all the illumination they need to navigate the dark waters. That's a little too extreme for me, but they know like I know there is no better urban swimming hole on Earth. Period.
(512) 476-9044 www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/bartonsprings.htm
3. Landa Park, New Braunfels
The 1.5 million-gallon, spring-fed pool at the Landa Park Aquatic Complex on the Comal River in New Braunfels is a compact version of Barton Springs without the crowds, fed by the biggest springs in Texas. A few hundred yards downstream on the Comal River is the Prince Solms Tube Chute, a cheap thrill ride that inspired the nearby Schlitterbahn, consistently rated as the best waterpark in America. Thanks to the constant 73-degree water temperature, snorkelers and divers can do the entire mile-long stretch of the river year-round.
(830) 608-2160; www.ci.new-braunfels.tx.us/parks/Landa%20Park.htm
4. Krause Springs, Spicewood
This sublimely picturesque natural swimming environment consists of several pools on Little Cypress Creek, fed by a small waterfall tumbling from springs on the exquisitely manicured bluff above. Krause Springs is privately owned, but overnight camping is permitted. (830) 693-4181.
5. Sewell Park, City Park, Rio Vista Park,
San Marcos River, San Marcos
The San Marcos River begins at the bottom of Spring Lake, an impoundment where the second biggest complex of springs in Texas pumps out thousands of gallons of pure water, spilling over two small dams before winding swift, crystal-clear and cool (70 degrees year-round) on a short, two-mile run as a semi-tropical waterway ideal for tubing, snorkeling or wading. The flow in some spots is so strong, you can point upstream and swim in place, getting a good workout among the turtles and fishes in the wild rice without going anywhere. There's even a small dam to slide down to keep things interesting.
Sewell Park (on Texas State University Campus): (512) 245-2004.
www.campusrecreation.txstate.edu/Outdoor/ot_sewell.htm
City Park, Rio Vista Park: (512) 393-8400. www.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/departments/parks/ParksFacilities.html
6. Schumacher's Crossing, Guadalupe River, Hunt
This storied hole on Highway 39 was popular long before Hunt became a favorite Hill Country destination for wealthy families from Houston and San Antonio in the early 20th century.
Contact West Kerr County Chamber of Commerce (830) 367-4322 www.wkcc.com
7. Neal's Lodges, Concan/Garner State Park,
Rio Frio, Leakey
The whole stretch of the Rio Frio between Leakey and Concan is made for tubing and splashing. But these two historic spots dating back to the 1920s on the banks of turquoise-tinted Frio, one of the most gin-clear bodies of water in the Southwest, are a cut above the rest when it comes to swimming and floating among the cypresses. (830) 232-6118
8. Hamilton Pool, Hamilton Pool Nature Preserve,
Thirty miles southwest of downtown Austin, Hamilton Creek transforms into a 50-foot waterfall that tumbles into a steep canyon shaded by a near-perfect cave overhang with a nice sandy beach at the opposite end of the natural pool. Access to this idyllic grotto is limited.
(512) 264-2740 www.co.travis.tx.us/tnr/parks/hamilton_pool.asp
Blanco River State Park, Blanco (tie)
A sentimental pick, mainly for the sweet pleasure of pulling off the highway just after sunset at the end of Labor Day weekend last year for a swim in the gathering darkness, the park's hole is created by a low dam spanning the river with a small pool area below the dam for that cement-pond swimming experience. (830) 833-4333; www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/blanco/
9. Devil's Water Hole,
Inks Lake State Park, Burnet (tie)
The red granite cliff, a Highland Lakes landmark, is rife with small falls fed by Spring Creek following heavy rains and offers a 25-foot promontory from which to jump (feet first, of course) into this dammed portion of the Colorado River.
(512) 793-2223; www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/blanco/
10. San Felipe Springs, Del Rio
This swimming hole on San Felipe Creek in the small city-owned Horseshoe Park is a welcome oasis on the edge of the desert, even though busy Highway 90 crosses nearby. Flanked by improved banks of native stone, shaded by stately pecan, elm, maple and mulberry trees, lined with a hard limestone bottom, and fed by the fourth largest springs in Texas, the pool is shallow enough near the banks for kids to stand in and long enough to swim short laps.
Horseshoe Park: (830) 774-8454.
Blue Hole, Wimberley
This storied hole should bust back into the Top Ten next year when it reopens as a city park. The hole is in the process of being purchased by the Village of Wimberley, aided in no small part by a $1.9 million grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after being saved from development by local resident Peter Way.
See Also: Water Wars How growing demand, fuzzy legal rulings and plain old stubbornness have turned Kinney County into a hotbed of water politics. [Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, July 2005]
[visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine – July Issue]
swimming holestexas parks and wildlife
Joe Nick's Big Bend Top Ten
Guad is Good; Guad is Great
Jacob's Well Inspires a Push To Protect the Underwater Cave and Springs


The Slowinski Scholarship is now open for applications. Please find the link here: 2019_Slowenski_ Scholarship Deadline is March 21st. Cecilia "Cissy" Slowinski was the founder of the SOA Dance Department, who lost her battle to cancer in 2010. Ms. Slowinski was an original arts faculty member of the Charleston County School of the Arts, teaching dance from the school's inception in 1995 until 2010. Her memory is still honored with the Cecilia Slowinski Scholarship, to help fund summer study for worthy students. Read more about the scholarship.


text:
Borden County, Texas
Durham | Gail – county seat | Grape Creek | Mesquite | Treadway
Borden County, at the edge of the Llano Estacado, is bounded on the east by Scurry County, on the south by Howard County, on the west by Dawson County, and on the north by Lynn and Garza counties.
In 1876 ranchers from Howard County extended their range into Borden County. By 1880 there were thirty-five residents who, unlike most pioneers, resisted intrusions of railroads and other settlers who might disrupt their use of the open range. As late as 1890, only 222 people lived in the county on twenty-five farms and ranches; only 1,146 acres in the county were classified as "improved" by the United States census that year. At this time the local economy revolved completely around the cattle industry, and in 1890 over 71,000 cattle were counted in Borden. The county was organized in 1891, and Gail was made the county seat.
More farmers moved into the area between 1890 and 1910. In 1900, there were 129 ranches and farms in Borden County, and the population had increased to 776. A small boom occurred in 1902, when state school lands became available for leasing. New arrivals, mostly farmers, were not welcomed by the established ranchers, and many left. Nevertheless, by 1910 there were 228 farms and 1,386 residents in the county; thirty-six of the farms were worked by tenants. For the scattered population of the county, isolated rural life brought its own rewards. As young Mary Blankenship, who passed through the area in 1901 to settle with her husband somewhat to the north, reflected: "We had plenty of time to be still and know God. He was our nearest neighbor." The farms in the county dropped to 197 by 1920, but by 1930 the number had increased to 292 and the population was 1,505.
Many of the newcomers grew cotton, which by 1930 had become the county's most important crop. Cotton was first planted in the area during the 1890s; in 1900, it was grown on 137 acres of Borden County land.
The population of the county continued to decline after World War II. Only 1,106 people lived in Borden County in 1950, and only 1,076 in 1960, 888 in 1970, 859 in 1980, and 799 in 1990. Tourists, mostly hunters and fishermen at Lake J. B. Thomas, contribute to the economy. Gail, the county seat and only town of note, had an estimated population of 202 in 1991. Source: Handbook of Texas Online.
Borden County, 1922. This county was created August 21, 1876. and was organized March 17. 1891. Howard County lies on the south, and through the latter passes the Texas & Pacific Railway. Some of the stockmen who had their chief headquarters at Big Springs in the latter county extended the scope of their operations into Borden County, which for thirty years or more has been the scene of operations for West Texas cattlemen. At the present time, although nearly all the area is tillable, it is largely occupied by cattlemen, who, while they graze thousands of head of cattle, also farm in a limited way, producing corn, sorghum. kafir corn, oats and other grain and feed stuffs. There are few real farmers, but the possibilities of agriculture and also of horticulture have been thoroughly demonstrated. The county is without railroads, and consequently there is little inducement to undertake the growing of crops which cannot be consumed on the farm or ranch.
The population of Borden County in 1880 was thirty-five ; in 1890. 222 ; in 1900, 776; in 1910, 1,386. and in 1920, 965. The county town is Gail, and the county seat and the county were named in honor of Gail Borden, a prominent early Texan. Other towns in the county are Durhamand Treadway.
In 1920 the number of cattle found by the tax officials was 13,375: horses and mules, about 2,700, and sheep, 15,390. The total area of the county is 572,800, of which 271,150 acres were included in farms and ranches in 1910. About 26,000 acres were reported as "improved lands," as compared with about 3,500 in 1900. The number of farms and ranches in 1910 was 228, and in 1900, 129. The largest crop in 1909 was in kafir corn and milo maize, with 5,283 acres ; in cotton. 2,206 acres; and in corn, 235 acres. The property valuation in 1903 was $996,001; in 1913, $1,526,540; in 1920, $1,954,585. – History of Texas, 1922, by W. Barrett Travis.
Gail, TX 32° 46′ 13.3788″ N, 101° 26′ 43.4796″ W


'Cycle Halo' is a standing lamp made of a used bicycle weal, a plastic frame lit with LED lighting and a wood and aluminum frame that holds it.
The design of the lamp resulted from the attempt to take the wheel of the bike, pull it out of its context and give it a new one. The movement of the wheel in its past use, reinterprets into the movement of light – creating a halo looking light.
The lamp's structural design stemmed from a desire to examine the balance between using the existing features of the object and detaching from the past to create new features that suit the new use.


Noel is a Director in our Financial Services practice. His primary mandate is to cover banking, asset & wealth management, and insurance.
Noel is a Director in our Financial Services practice. His primary mandate is to cover Retail Banking and insurance. Additionally, he has built a solid reputation in the FinTech space where he works with several of the market leaders and start-ups.
Noel started his executive search career in Sydney, Australia, where he managed complex assignments for many of the region's largest financial institutions across Asia Pacific. He has experience in successfully placing senior executives across Finance & Risk, Marketing & Product, Digital, Sales & Distribution, and Operations. With over a decade's experience in the industry, he has also been invited by clients to consult on talent assessment, succession planning, and diversity mapping.
Immediately prior to joining Norman Broadbent, Noel spent four years running the Retail FS practice at a leading, London based, global boutique. He started his career at Vodafone on the graduate program in his native Ireland having undertaken a BA (Hons) from University College Dublin.


The EOS_PT_QUERY function returns information about a specified point.
This function returns an integer value of 1 if the file is an HDF file with EOS POINT extensions, and 0 otherwise.
A string containing the name of the file to query.
A string containing the name of the point to query.


Great Fun, Not a Hugh fan of its own "tone" settings, so I prefer to control that myself using the great EQ of the amp (although limited) – some really juicy classic tones from this cat that's for sure!!
I did the modern long time ago, and now here is the vintage version, both different animals, and I know what I prefer!. this is great, the best lean tone Ive heard in a long while. so thick and creamy to play. – it has a LOT of gain, so great for those power solos!.. pure fun!
Do not let the looks fool you. this is not a modern AD30, it was a mod that you can do from Harry Tileford, who converts new hardware into vintage retro parts.. making it sound, well very different – and indeed, I liked it a lot, great for Lead play, not so hot for chord work as much, but it sings in the blues department very well!..
Hmm Rock seem to always mis-label their products, This is not a metal amp in any way…its gain levels are for sure quite high, but its way to flabby for that, its great at the lower spectrum, very John Mayorish sort of vibe. – they only produced 2 of these, so its very rare and unique!..brilliant!
Grrr – this amp is angry, granted its not my cup of tea, but for those that like this tons-of-gain then here it is!
And the surprise of this pack goes to this amp, I hated the "in the room sound" just sounds pretty awful to be honest.. the boxyness, no groove or vibe. so I nearly did not profile it, as once its miced, (after a LOT of tone searching) I manged to get something so usable and brilliant sounding its almost surprising that this set of profiles came from that amp!..wow! – I love it when this happens!
A highly requested amp so here she is, another angry & tight monster but secretly I enjoyed it a lot.. sshh!
Hold on to your hats folks!.. here is a great rock amp!.. Steve Knows his tone, pair that with this brand and bingo..a real thick Rock tone at your use!
This is a classic amp in itself, it rips with a vintage style guitar in the 2nd position (strat) and middle position tele..
Another personal amp of mine, and a modern twist of yesteryear, and also a lesson on HOW to do it correctly. – the amp is simply amazing at detail, try picking at different intervals and you get a different sound every time, the profiles really reflect this and is spot on! – the gain gets a bit flubby towards the sharp end, but its not designed for that anwyay!
Not really much to say, a H/W version of a existing amp out there today, but the difference is… this one you can actually play & enjoy!. its _outstanding_ – like a perfect tuned classic head should be!
Dynamic, Flavored, creamy.. not sure how to exactly describe the depth of this amp. its thick but cutting, I know doesn't make sense. but its great paired with a Tele or Strat.. and very meaty with a LesPaul. the breakup is superb, and the full gain is not to questioned at either!..very oldschool rock n roll!.
Another fantastic cat here, Juicy and full, great for lead playing, my advice, set this to edge of breakup, and play over a soft backdrop. you wont be disappointment, its very full and engaging. versatile too, as a flick of a switch you can go balls to the wall but still remain the dynamics of a true boutique amp.
Perfect for Country/Blues and classic Rock.
Excellent Blues/Country amp, and one I can see myself using quite a lot.. it really does cover this ground and really puts its foot down too. – really inspiranal clean/breakup tones, one you just gotta play!. one of my personal favs this!
Play it loud! on 11, enjoy!
Love it!, especially the clean sound, its really out there. feel is great too and works great for that chimy chord shapes. – even better with a chorus or tremolo added. add a bit of hair and it thickens right up. even with SC guitars its still very warm. excellent amp!
They have done very few amps, but what they have done are amazing. so far out of all the amps Ive tried these have to win at dynamics. its amazing range with lots of flavor. – I really enjoyed the pushed profiles on these, one of those amps you can just play for days and not have to worry about anything else!.
That classic era of full tones, and brick wall distortion, great with humbuckers, and a twangy brightness with a SC guitar. makes this very versatile. – Bright amp in comparison to other similar era models. but very much fun!
A fab amp that just has to be played to understand the feel of it.. – it is inspiring to play, and one of those no fuss type of tones. – not harsh or unpleasant, not fatiguing either, it can help your write better material, and that's a very important thing to have with an amp. its got the wow factor!
This amp serves the classic tone, best used for its clean (very wooden sound) and early breakup. IF you use at full gain, try rolling volume back on your guitar for some extra juice in the mid range, and of course then crank it for lead play. – add a trem and your set!
This amp has many sweetspots, so I tried to capture what I can..they like to be pushed hard, and this is no different, due to the 1×12 I was at first not able to capture the actual sound dimension with a 57 and a 121, so I swapped the 57 to a SM7b and had that instant lovable sound, Loving the Pushed profiles here for great singing Blues Lead tones. and smash it into Full for some indi rock tones. – great with the 2nd switch on a strat.
This amp is great, and a perfect rendition of the showman on steroids. bit extra bite and sizzle (but not the bad kind), it now sits perfectly in the classic rock genre and actually has great sustain for a classic amp!. – If you want that Classic tone, use the fully cranked profiles, and use your volume knob.. if its a bit bitty for your tastes then use the 2nd switch on a strat, or middle position on a tele. – the cleans are bright. so pick soft!. – another one of those amps you will want to play loud!.
This amp has lots of tonal options. brilliant on max, and it likes it here. – rolling down the volume on a full profile is different than using a pushed profile so use the options available wisely. – the amp doesn't have verb, just an amazing tremolo that the Kemper cant replicate. – my advise for this is to DIG in, lots of open chords are very pleasing on this. perfect for lead play too.
Not as much "balls" as its big bro the 20, but equally as great in the areas it can cover. – for the all out show Id take the 20, but for jamming and and crispy melodic work in a small band I'd use this. its a lot more closed sound, due top its size, the in the room sound is not as pleasing, so I hyped this up with fat old mics to make it sound bigger than it is. add a trem and relax!
The verb has the greatest breakup, its pushed profiles are simply melting – playing low volumes here wont do it justice, so take this to a open room and turn the volume up, its quite a dark amp generally, but the highs are still fantastic when you get them, might need to dig it a bit, and use different pickups to find the right tone your looking for, a versatile amp for sure. brilliant for blues licks and brill for chord work. – even better with "spring verb!
Clean sound is not this amps party-trick, you will want to run this on 11 and keep it there… everything on full and just play..don't get me wrong it does everything else really well, but just the full is so inspirational for classic zep sounds – tiny bit of verb added for a bit of space. and just rock out! – nothing more to add really!
you wont get Van Hallen from this, but you might get a bit of Gilmour, or Hendrix. – its a brilliant amp that whilst high-gain and strats are very rarely paired together, this works great for those moments. (really good actually) I loved it. but needs taming, so play with volume knob and try different pickups for good results. – you need to work for this amp.. so Dig in!..


text:
Q: Couldnt compile kernel with patch I am trying to build the ubuntu 5.3.0 kernel with a custom patch. I downloaded the source and added the patch using
patch -p1 < patch_name.patch

and make a config using
make config

then I compiled it using
make -j6

This gave me the vmlinux and vmlinux.o files. I didnt know how to use them
so I tried to make the kernel into a .deb file. I used
make deb-pkg

fakeroot make-kpkg -j N --initrd --append-to-version=my-very-own-kernel kernel-image kernel-headers

make bindeb-pkg

but all of these give me the same error after compiling the whole kernel.
/bin/sh: 1: lz4c: not found
arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile:146: recipe for target 'arch/x86/boot/compressed/vmlinux.bin.lz4' failed
make[3]: *** [arch/x86/boot/compressed/vmlinux.bin.lz4] Error 127
make[3]: *** Deleting file 'arch/x86/boot/compressed/vmlinux.bin.lz4'
make[3]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
arch/x86/boot/Makefile:112: recipe for target 'arch/x86/boot/compressed/vmlinux' failed
make[2]: *** [arch/x86/boot/compressed/vmlinux] Error 2
arch/x86/Makefile:284: recipe for target 'bzImage' failed
make[1]: *** [bzImage] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/beebop/Downloads/linux-hwe-edge-5.3.0'
debian/ruleset/targets/common.mk:295: recipe for target 'debian/stamp/build/kernel' failed
make: *** [debian/stamp/build/kernel] Error 2

How do I compile the.deb package and if I cant is there anything to do with the vmlinux and vmlinux.o files?

A: The change to using LZ4 compression by default in Ubuntu kernel configurations is relatively recent. Not only do some older Ubuntu versions not have LZ4 related tools installed by default, but they are actually unavailable.
Change the compression method back to gzip: Method 1:
scripts/config --disable KERNEL_LZ4
scripts/config --enable KERNEL_GZIP

Method 2: Manually make these changes to your kernel config:
Change this:
#
# General setup
#
CONFIG_INIT_ENV_ARG_LIMIT=32
# CONFIG_COMPILE_TEST is not set
# CONFIG_HEADER_TEST is not set
CONFIG_LOCALVERSION=""
# CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO is not set
CONFIG_BUILD_SALT=""
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_GZIP=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_BZIP2=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_LZMA=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_XZ=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_LZO=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_LZ4=y
# CONFIG_KERNEL_GZIP is not set
# CONFIG_KERNEL_BZIP2 is not set
# CONFIG_KERNEL_LZMA is not set
# CONFIG_KERNEL_XZ is not set
# CONFIG_KERNEL_LZO is not set
CONFIG_KERNEL_LZ4=y

To This:
#
# General setup
#
CONFIG_INIT_ENV_ARG_LIMIT=32
# CONFIG_COMPILE_TEST is not set
# CONFIG_HEADER_TEST is not set
CONFIG_LOCALVERSION=""
# CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO is not set
CONFIG_BUILD_SALT=""
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_GZIP=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_BZIP2=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_LZMA=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_XZ=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_LZO=y
CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_LZ4=y
CONFIG_KERNEL_GZIP=y
# CONFIG_KERNEL_BZIP2 is not set
# CONFIG_KERNEL_LZMA is not set
# CONFIG_KERNEL_XZ is not set
# CONFIG_KERNEL_LZO is not set
# CONFIG_KERNEL_LZ4 is not set

Note: It takes about double the compile time to include the debug information as per the default Ubuntu kernel settings. Suggest to disable:
scripts/config --disable DEBUG_INFO

Which should do this:
doug@s15:~/temp-k-git/linux$ scripts/diffconfig .config-5.4.0-050400-lowlatency .config
 DEBUG_INFO y -> n
doug@s15:~/temp-k-git/linux$ diff .config-5.4.0-050400-lowlatency .config
10144c10144
< CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO=y
---
> # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO is not set

Install only the resulting headers (~12 megabytes) and image (~60 megabytes) files.

A: /bin/sh: 1: lz4c: not found
kernel/4.14/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile:141: recipe for target 'arch/x86/boot/compressed/vmlinux.bin.lz4' failed 4:14

Solution: [all i had to do is install the missing library]
sudo apt-get install liblz4-tool