text:
Why Iran still doesn't trust Russia on Syria
By editor on 16th June 2016 in Politics, Security
Although this new reported Russian pledge can at present meet the tactical objectives of Iran and Hezbollah, it cannot bridge the strategic gap between Russia's military objectives and those of Iran when it comes to the Syrian war. The divergence between Tehran and Moscow's geostrategic objectives in Syria, considering the price that each side needs to pay, is too wide for them to be able to reach a comprehensive and long-term agreement on collaboration.
Moscow's biggest objective is to maintain a dependent government in Damascus and to keep access to port cities in the eastern Mediterranean for its naval fleet. Iran needs Syria and access to its southern regions to maintain its support for Lebanese Hezbollah. It is natural that if Russia achieves its goals, it would see no reason to maintain the status quo, and this is exactly what has concerned Iran ever since this game began.
Thus, it can be argued that Tehran has no choice but to rely on short-term tactical collaboration with its Russian ally in Syria. In the long term, however, it will be forced to either enter the Syrian war in full force or abandon its goals in Syria to some extent; this is now fueling the rise of a debate on which strategy is best between the Iranian factions for and against military intervention in Syria.
Rouhani Doubles Iran Oil Exports
Platform Loaded for Phase 19 Delivery
Tags: featured, Russia, Syria


text:
namespace SDK
{
	namespace Render {
		class ShaderCompiler;
	}

	namespace Resources {
		namespace Serialization {
			template <typename ResType>
			struct Definition;
			template <>
			struct Definition <Render::Shader>
			{
				typedef Render::ShaderCompiler* InfoType;
				typedef Render::ShaderHandle HandleType;
			};

			template <typename ResInfo>
			struct LoaderImpl;
		} // Serialization
	} // Resources

	namespace Render
	{
		class ShaderSystem : public GlobalObjectBase
		{
			friend struct Resources::Serialization::LoaderImpl<Shader>;
		private:
			// TODO: limitations to 1024 shader loaded - is it enough?
			typedef GenericBuffersArray<ShaderHandle, Shader, 1024> Shaders;
			Shaders m_shaders;
			ShaderCompiler* mp_current_shader_compiler;
		public:
			ShaderSystem();
			struct ShaderSource
			{
				std::string vertex_shader_file;
				std::string tess_control_shader_file;
				std::string tess_compute_shader_file;
				std::string geometry_shader_file;
				std::string fragment_shader_file;
				std::string compute_shader_file;
				bool empty;
				using ShaderSourceEntry = std::pair<Shader::ShaderType, std::string>;
				ShaderSource(std::initializer_list<ShaderSourceEntry> i_entries)
					: empty(true)
				{
					for (auto entry : i_entries)
						AddEntry(entry);
				}
				inline void AddEntry(ShaderSourceEntry i_entry)
				{
					empty = false;
					switch (i_entry.first)
					{
						case Shader::Vertex:
							vertex_shader_file = std::move(i_entry.second);
							break;
						case Shader::TesselationConrol:
							tess_control_shader_file = std::move(i_entry.second);
							break;
						case Shader::TesselationEvaluation:
							tess_compute_shader_file = std::move(i_entry.second);
							break;
						case Shader::Geometry:
							geometry_shader_file = std::move(i_entry.second);
							break;
						case Shader::Fragment:
							fragment_shader_file = std::move(i_entry.second);
							break;
						case Shader::Compute:
							compute_shader_file = std::move(i_entry.second);
							break;
					}
				}
			};
			GAMECORE_EXPORT ShaderHandle Load(const std::string& i_resource_name, ShaderSource i_source);
			GAMECORE_EXPORT void Unload(ShaderHandle i_handler);
			GAMECORE_EXPORT const Shader* Access(const std::string& i_name) const;
			inline const Shader* Access(ShaderHandle i_handler) const
			{
				if (i_handler.index == -1 || i_handler.generation != m_shaders.m_handlers[i_handler.index].generation)
					return nullptr;
				return &m_shaders.m_buffer[i_handler.index];
			}

			GAMECORE_EXPORT void SetKnownUniforms(ShaderHandle i_handle);
			GAMECORE_EXPORT void SetUniform(ShaderHandle i_handle, const std::string& i_var_name, const ShaderUniformValue& i_value) const;
			GAMECORE_EXPORT void SetUniform(int i_location, const ShaderUniformValue& i_value) const;

			void Initialize();
			void Release();
			void Load(const PropertyElement& i_resource_element);
		};

	} // Render

} // SDK

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Masayu Anastasia (born January 19, 1984) is an Indonesian model and actress. She starred in "Juleha Anak Betawi Asli", Gengsi Gede-gedean, Haruskah Ku Mati, Laila, Karunia-Mu, Setetes Embun, Doiku Beken, Cinta Merah Jambu and the movie Buruan Cium Gue and Selamanya. She was also cast as a model in music videos for Peterpan and Ressa Herlambang.

Personal life
On July 6, 2008, Masayu married Lembu Wiworo Jati, the lead vocal of Club Eighties band, . On October 19, 2009 both got a daughter, Samara Anaya Amandari. But on August 31, 2015, Masayu proposed to divorce at South Jakarta Islamic Court.

Filmography
 Buruan Cium Gue (2004)
 Selamanya (2007)
 Kawin Kontrak (2008)
 Pengantin Topeng (2010)
 Laskar Pemimpi (2010)
 Susah Jaga Keperawanan di Jakarta (2010)
 Cinta di Saku Celana (2012)
 Rayya, Cahaya Diatas Cahaya (2012)

Soap operas (TV series)
 Janji Hati
 Jangan Ucapkan Cinta
 ABG 1&2
 Setetes Embun
 Gengsi Gede-Gedean
 The Pakis 2
 Doiku Beken
 KaruniaMu
 Gadis Korek Api
 Toyib Minta Kawin
 Haruskah Ku Mati
 Laila
 Inikah Cinta
 Cinta Merah Jambu
 Aku Bukan Dia
 Dewa
 Putri yang Ditukar
 Itsnaini (2012) [SOON]
 Putri Bidadari (2012–2013)
 Cinta dilangit taj mahal (2015)

FTV
 Cinta 117 kg
 Cinta Ke 50 (With Calvin Ray)
 Bos Ku Malang Bos Ku Sayang(With Vino Bastian)
 Sopir Taksi Jatuh Cinta (With Mike Lewis)
 Suamimu Suamiku Juga (With Adam Jordan)
 Bidadari Pencuri Sandar (With Marcell Darwin Lia Waode Eva Anindhita Tamara Bleszynski as Tania  Play Wonosobo Central Java
 Juleha Kaya Mendadak (With Ibnu Jamil)
}}

Brand ambassador

References

External links
 Profile in CumiCumi.com

1984 births
Indonesian actresses
Living people
Indonesian Muslims

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I was unable to connect my iPhone on Ubuntu 10.10 (also known as Maverick Meerkat) following the upgrade to iOS 4.2.1. I tried numerous solutions and none of them worked. I finally succeeded with some help from this post.


Marty Altshuler and Rick Henson have known each other since the early part of the 1980s when they were colleagues at another local medical device company. About a decade later, they joined forces to found Choice Medical, Inc., as a specialty distributor for spinal implant companies. "We put our minds together and came-up with the initial concept," Altshuler says. Today, their initial focus on orthopedic and neuro surgery product lines has grown into a family of companies located in the Bearden area of Knoxville, all focused in one way or another on the healthcare market. The group includes the original enterprise plus ChoiceSpine and Choice Orthotics and Prosthetics.
Milt Capps at Venture Nashville has an informative blurb from his recent interview with Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd on the department's ongoing efforts to improve the entrepreneurial environment in the state. In addition to the administration's Angel Tax Credit legislation offered this session, Commissioner Boyd told the website that TNECD is still gathering and sorting ideas for a series of new policies to support entrepreneurship.
After spending almost a decade in the legal and insurance fields, Memphis entrepreneur Holly Writt found herself ready to pursue a passion as a career. "I wanted to love what I was doing, and feel like I was doing something good for people," she said. Out of this desire came Holly and Ivy, Writt's Midtown floral business. Launched in January of 2015, Holly and Ivy is a full service floral studio but without the traditional retail component. "This helps keep our overhead low, and waste to a minimum," explained Writt.
The highly publicized troubles of San Francisco human resources technology startup Zenefits– valued at more than $4 billion – have been described by some as the bellwether of an impending bubble burst in Silicon Valley's high-rolling venture capital world. For one Nashville-based company, it could be a sign of business opportunities to come.
The free Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, offered by the College of Business at UTC, is a direct response to the challenges faced by military veterans and is designed to help them create or grow businesses as a means to their own financial well-being. And how successful it has already proven to be. Mark Kidwell, a 2012 graduate of VEP, launched GenZing, a Chattanooga-based digital strategy company focused on branding and positioning.
Where are the Coding Bootcamps in the South?
More than 16,000 students were expected to have graduated from approximately 70 coding bootcamps in the United States last year, according to Course Report's 2015 Coding Bootcamp Survey. With the current and projected need to fill open tech positions around the South, the trend of building more coding bootcamps doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. We have mapped out the adult coding bootcamps that are currently operating in our southern states. The information for each location is currently basic, but we will continue to add more information in future versions.


Daniels Waterfront - The Lighthouse Tower - City Skyline Views!
"Over the past three decades, The Daniels Corporation has evolved into one of Canada's foremost builder-developers, with a reputation for quality and integrity that has been reflected in the wide range of residential communities we have created over the years. Daniels has developed and built over 24,000 homes and apartments in a diverse range of master-planned communities throughout the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)."
The Daniels Corporation has received many awards including 2010 Winner of the BILD, Places to Grow Community of the Year-High Rise for Regent Park, Home Builder of the Year presented by the Building Industry and Land Development Corporation, 2012 Winner of the Toronto Arts and Business Award presented by the Toronto Arts Foundation, three-time winner of Mississauga's Urban Design Award of Excellence for No.1 City Centre, The Capital Condominiums and One Park Tower and many more.
Highpark Condominiums- A new condominium and townhouse development currently under construction and is selling at 1844 Bloor Street West in Toronto, Ontario with 14 storeys and 407 units. Unit size range from 412 square feet to 1,580 square feet with prices from $274,900. Estimated completion date is August of 2015.
The Highlands Townhomes Phase 2 - A new townhouse development currently under construction at Shadrach Drive in Newmarket, Ontario with units starting from $490,900.
One Park Place South Tower - A new condominium and townhouse development completed in 2014 and is selling at Dundas Street East and Sumach Street in Toronto, Ontario with 29 storeys and 416 units. Unit size range from 373 square feet to 1,547 square feet with prices from the mid $200,000's.
Daniels Erin Mills - A new condominium and townhouse development currently under construction and is selling at 2550 Eglinton Avenue West in Mississauga, Ontario with 25 storeys and 300 units. Unit size range from 540 square feet to 1,482 square feet with prices from the mid $200,000's to over $539,300. Estimated completion date is 2016.
NY2 - A new condominium development that was completed in 2014 and is sold out located at Sheppard Avenue East and Rean Drive in Toronto, Ontario with 7 storeys and 140 units.
Limelight - A condominium and townhouse development that was completed in 2012 and is sold and located at Living Arts Drive and Prince of Wales Drive in Mississauga, Ontario with 32 storeys and 589 units designed by Kirkor Architect + Planners.
Chicago - A condominium development that was completed and sold out located at Burnhamthorpe Road West and Living Arts Drive in Mississauga, Ontario with 23 storeys.
Finally, to add to Daniels numerous projects will be the Daniels Waterfront Condos at 132 Queens Quay East in Toronto, Ontario with 48 storeys and priced from $279,900.
Register with us today for more details on The Lighthouse Tower Condominium Residence by The Daniels Corporation!


text:
Hometext2givepastor's note
PAST BULLETINs
EM and Lector Schedule
faith formationcontactDonate now
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Parish
St. John the Evangelist R.C. Church
546 St. John's Place, Riverhead, NY 11901
More Below
We joyfully welcome all who have joined our community for worship and praise to God. We are grateful to our faithful parishioners who pray with us every week and ask you to consider officially registering to be a part of the parish as well. You, our neighbors and guests, are always welcome and we hope you find a peaceful home here with us when visiting the area.
Communal worship is the center and the heart of our parish life. We strive for the active participation of all in the celebration of the Eucharist.
We strive to create an integrated, gracious parish community whose members recognize and respect the inherent dignity of every person. We minister to one another and reach out to those with special need.
Spiritual Growth and Development
We seek to respond in faith and love to the Scriptures and through prayer and reflection throughout the year, allow the Word of God to nourish, sustain, and transform our personal and communal lives.
Education in the Faith
We encourage lifelong religious education for youth and adults. Drawing upon gifts within and outside the parish, we hope to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the Church and of the challenges we face as Catholics in our own time. May God bless us in our efforts to be faithful to our mission.
come celebrate with us
sACRAMENTAL LIFE:
First Friday after the 12:10 pm
Mass until 1:30 pm
Rosary after each weekday Mass
Spanish Language Prayer Service
Thursday at 7:30 PM
DEVOTIONAL LIFE:
Eucharistic
Saturday: 4:30 pm
Sunday: 7:00am, 9:00am, 11:00am, 6:00pm in Spanish
Monday, Wednesday, & Thursday 8:00 am
Tuesday & Friday 12:10 pm.
The parish rejoices with you in the birth of your child! Baptisms are celebrated on scheduled Sundays at 12:30 pm. Parents planning to have their child baptized are asked to contact the rectory to arrange an interview.
Saturdays at 3:45pm and Tuesdays at 12:30 pm. Anytime by appointment.
Congratulations! Please make arrangements at the parish approximately one year before the desired date so that we can work with you to prepare for your marriage.
Every Second Friday of the month after the 12:10 pm Mass. Anytime in an emergency, by calling the rectory.
Rite of Christian Initiation of adults
Anyone interested in becoming a Catholic or completing the Sacraments of Initiation, please call the Rectory Office.
With over 50 features there's much more to discover! Learn more ›
Diocese of Rockville Center Claims
Claims can be filed until August 14, 2021
Information regarding the deadlines for
filing proofs of claim in the Diocese's Chapter 11
case and the forms to use can be found by
clicking on the following link to the Diocese's
bankruptcy website and scrolling down the page
Letter from the Bishop
(Click to view)
Ordination to Priesthood
Rev. Mr. Louis Cona
Rev. Mr. Christopher Heller
Rev. Mr. Stephen Rooney
Announcement from Rev. John O. Barres
A Message to the Faithful of the Diocese of Rockville Centre
As our valued partner in providing spiritual, educational, charitable and cultural activities in the Long Island community, the Diocese of Rockville Centre felt it was important to share the news with you that today we have filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In addition to the media release attached to this email, a video message from Bishop Barres announcing this filing and other information regarding the filing is posted on the diocesan website: www.drvc.org.
We took this necessary action to manage litigation expenses, address disputes with the Diocese's insurers and facilitate settlements of lawsuits filed under the Child Victims Act. Like many other institutions and the parishioners, we serve, the Diocese has suffered a strain on its finances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 40 percent of our annual revenue comes from offertory collections, which have dropped precipitously with attendance at Sunday Mass.
We believe the restructuring process is the only way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for everyone involved, including abuse survivors whose compensation settlements will be resolved by the courts.
But rest assured, this process will impede neither our mission to be a spiritual resource to the 1.4 million Catholics who reside in Long Island nor our partnership with your organization.
The Diocese believes its current and future liquidity will be sufficient to fund operations and ministries during the restructuring process and beyond. Operations of the parishes and schools are expected to continue as normal.
We will work diligently with all survivors, creditors and ministries to maintain open communication while we work toward our goal of completing a settlement and finalizing a restructuring plan that includes a comprehensive and fair resolution for survivors.
We appreciate your support prayers during this period. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns. You may also find updated information on our website: www.drvc.org.
Click Here to read the media release.
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Website by Refresh, design by Responsival.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


January | 2012 | Quilting my way through life!
A word for the year? How about two?
I have way too much to say and do to narrow my year down to one word!
Since we put Christmas away over the weekend, I've been looking at this bare wall in our kitchen. I've been in no hurry to decide what to put up. The blank shelf has been relaxing in the sunshine we've been having here this week…you'd think it was spring here!
I added the pretty basket vase I picked up today, then the spools I picked up last week.
I'll do some more tweaking…rearranging of my clean slate and before you know it, it will be 2013!
Does time seem to fly by as we get older, or is it just me?


Now well-liked all over the USA, tri-tip BBQ got its start in California. This BBQ style keeps it simple, compared with most other styles. It truly is much more about the taste of the meat itself, not any sauce. And that's a big hit in Hermosa Beach, CA. This cut of beef had a poor reputation decades in the past, but since then we've learned that when cooked correctly it is really a fantastic under recognized delight.
Tri tip refers to the cut of meat. It is a triangular shape tip of the sirloin.
Typical grilling methods may leave it somewhat tough, making it best served up thinly sliced up. Yet bar-b-que style slow grilling will make it a tender treat. Cooking over charcoal is typically thought to be the most suitable, but many individuals acknowledge that grilling over a gas burner is fine. But smoking by means of hardwood is crucial with regard to any great BBQ tri tip. Liquid marinades usually end in excessive seasoning with this particular cut, consequently a dry rub is the traditional method of flavoring. As opposed to other BBQ, this particular style is usually dished up with out sauce. With no bones, that helps it to be more tidy and so much more appropriate for dress-up situations.
The Santa Maria variety is an exercise in simple seasoning together with perfection in grilling. Only a basic dry rub is used - salt, pepper, garlic, with no bar-b-q sauce. Die hard enthusiasts are convinced that it must be red oak with regard to smoking, but a majority of cooks consider any sort of oak as being fine. The true secret is smoking at modest temperatures for several hours. In contrast to individual ribs, tri tip is usually served exactly like any steak.
Bar-b-q tri tip varieties popular in Hermosa Beach, CA change the standard recipe ingredients. Quite often the rub will in addition incorporate ground cayenne pepper for spiciness or paprika for a bit of sweetness, and also dried thyme or parsley. Numerous cooks have their own favorite packaged flavoring blends. People that have a taste for various other barbeque varieties might incorporate bar-b-q sauce while others might serve it with a bit of steak sauce. Around the south west tri tip is in addition at times thin sliced up for use in fajitas.
Apart from grilling and smoking skills, cooking food for a crowd requires a large grill, faultless planning, and more. That's beyond what even the best home barbq master will be able to accomplish.
Outstanding barbecue requires a thermometer with greater accuracy compared to those built into the everyday household grill, as well as a probe thermometer to keep track of doneness. Tri tip should be cooked above a pan to trap drippings to make certain that there will not be any flare ups. Plus there is a smoker box or tricks for making a smoking pouch. This means loads of practice, including learning all of the tips and tricks when it comes to controlling temperature conditions and smoking. As well as choosing the best cuts along with understanding how to trim them, plus finding the very best flavoring combination for that dry rub. Mastering all this might be great fun however cooking for a 100 individuals, or even a few dozen, is quite a bit of work.
Experienced catering services in Hermosa Beach, CA are masters in all of that, in addition to the particular strategies involving purchasing and then dealing with serving for events as small as ten visitors to 100s or maybe more. Whether only the grilling, handling the overall occasion, or nearly anything in between, you will find there's level of food catering that will satisfy your desires. You'll find it most economical to simply pick-up pre-cooked food items, although you will have to manage carrying it all together with always keeping it protected from bacteria. You can have the catering company deliver the meals as well as arrange a self serve buffet, but it's much better to have your caterer deliver their grill so you will get hot bar-b-q with each visitor served individually. An event catering service can deal with the complete event, beginning to end, with basically no effort or even precious time needed of you.
At one time neglected, we now have found out that barbq tri tip can be the centerpiece of a fantastic meal. Let a Hermosa Beach, CA caterer ensure it will be prepared to protection, steer clear of troubles, as well as leaving you at liberty to completely enjoy the occasion yourself.


text:
Home London Attraction Find out what all the fuss is about at Trafalgar Square
Find out what all the fuss is about at Trafalgar Square
Address: Westminster, London WC2N 5DN
Anyone planning a visit to London who hopes to attend some of the most iconic destinations in the city should ensure they place Trafalgar Square high on their list of sights to see.
Designed by esteemed architect John Nash in the early 19th century, the square is a vibrant meeting point that commemorates some of the most important historic moments in British history. It is also one of London's most memorable and recognised landmarks, making it a perfect place to visit for anyone new to the city.
Statues and fountains of Trafalgar Square
Perhaps most famous as the home of Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square features four plinths in total, each of which offers a different attraction for visitors to enjoy.
Nelson's Column was erected in 1805 in commemoration of his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and over the years a series of changes and renovations have been made to the surrounding square.
For many years, the Fourth Plinth in the north-west corner of the square was empty, but in recent years it has become the platform for a changing roster of cultural and artistic attractions, many of which have brought in visitors from across the globe.
Trafalgar Square is not simply a place to view impressive and historic statues though, as the central fountains are also a perfect meeting point and offer a charm all of their own.
Popular events at Trafalgar Square
Many great events take place throughout the year at Trafalgar Square, which is a popular destination for public gatherings and celebrations. Some of the biggest outdoor gatherings take place at both Chinese New Year and New Year's Eve, but other events are also regularly held here.
Tube travel to Trafalgar Square
The London Underground network is one of the best ways for visitors and locals alike to get from A to B when planning journeys in the city. It offers a swift and reliable means of transport that connects many areas of the city with relative ease.
Stations that can be found in close proximity to Trafalgar Square include:
Embankment (Bakerloo, Circle, District and Northern lines)
Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines)
Leicester Square (Northern and Piccadilly lines)
Covent Garden (Piccadilly line)
Visitors to the area can also make use of overground rail services from the nearby station of Charing Cross, while bus services also operate around the clock and can provide a swift and affordable means to reach Trafalgar Square and its many surrounding attractions.
Individuals hoping to find more information on local travel arrangements, including station opening times, service timetables and more, can do so by heading to the official website of Transport for London.
Parking for visitors to Trafalgar Square
Many people visit the English capital every year and plan to drive during their time in the city. This can be a great way to get around and the area near to Trafalgar Square is well served in terms of places for people to park, with local facilities including:
Leicester Square Car Park (0.2 miles, four minutes' travel time on foot )
Brewer Street NCP (0.5 miles, ten minutes)
Bloomsbury Square Car Park (0.9 miles, 19 minutes)
Cornwall Road Car Park (0.9 miles, 19 minutes)
National Theatre Car Park (0.8 miles, 17 minutes)
UPark Waterloo – Addington Road Car Park (0.9 miles, 19 minutes)
Abington Street car Park (0.7 miles, 16 minutes)
Anyone planning to drive during their time in central London are reminded that traffic volumes can be high throughout the day, especially during the busy morning and evening rush hours. It is therefore advised that individuals avoid taking to the roads at these times, while planning journeys in advance to avoid the most congested areas can also be highly beneficial.
Other nearby attractions
Finally, it is not simply Trafalgar Square that draws millions of visitors every year to this bustling and vibrant area of the English capital, with an array of great sights to see and activities to enjoy during a trip.
Some of the most thrilling and popular attractions to be found nearby include:
Ripley's Believe It or Not! London (0.4 miles, six minutes' travel time on foot/via public transport)
Chinatown London Market (0.3 miles, six minutes)
Southbank Centre Streetwise Valkrie Valkrie (0.7 miles, ten minutes)
London Eye (0.6 miles, 12 minutes)
Horse Guards Parade (0.3 miles, six minutes)
10 Downing Street (0.4 miles, six minutes)
Churchill War Rooms (0.5 miles, nine minutes)
St James's Park (0.4 miles, nine minutes)
St James's Palace (0.5 miles, seven minutes)
Green Park (0.7 miles, 12 minutes)
Big Ben (0.6 miles, eight minutes)
Palace of Westminster (0.6 miles, eight minutes)
Westminster Abbey (0.7 miles, nine minutes)
The London Dungeon (0.7 miles, ten minutes)
Sea Life London Aquarium (0.7 miles, ten minutes)
The Vault's Theatre (one mile, 11 minutes)
Somerset House (0.6 miles, 11 minutes)
King's College London (0.7 miles, ten minutes)
Lincoln's Inn Fields (0.9 miles, 13 minutes)
The British Museum (0.9 miles, 13 minutes)
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text:
class FleetBuilderProxy < Proxy

  RESET_ALL_ACTION            = 0         # clear out all existing fleets and rebuilt
  USE_EXISTING_FLEET_ACTION   = 1         # add new assets to existing fleets
  NEW_FLEETS_ACTION           = 2         # add new assets to new fleets

  # General state variables

  # organization
  attr_accessor     :organization_id

  # Type of asset type to process
  attr_accessor     :asset_fleet_types

  attr_accessor     :action

  # Basic validations. Just checking that the form is complete
  #validates :asset_fleet_types, :presence => true

  def initialize(attrs = {})
    super
    attrs.each do |k, v|
      self.send "#{k}=", v
    end
    self.asset_fleet_types ||= []
  end

end


xml_parser_create_ns() creates a new XML parser with XML namespace support and returns a resource handle referencing it to be used by the other XML functions.
The input encoding is automatically detected, so that the encoding parameter specifies only the output encoding. In PHP 5.0.0 and 5.0.1, the default output charset is ISO-8859-1, while in PHP 5.0.2 and upper is UTF-8. The supported encodings are ISO-8859-1, UTF-8 and US-ASCII.
With a namespace aware parser tag parameters passed to the various handler functions will consist of namespace and tag name separated by the string specified in separator.
This is from the Expat Function Reference by Clark Cooper, which is a reference to the C api.
Constructs a new parser that has namespace processing in effect. Namespace expanded element names and attribute names are returned as a concatenation of the namespace URI, sep, and the local part of the name. This means that you should pick a character for sep that can't be part of a legal URI."
So thats what this function is for. Now you know.


On Dec. 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was signed into law. Financial experts and legislators maintain that the law represents the most comprehensive tax reform in three decades. Here are some highlights of the benefits the new tax law provides to individual taxpayers and businesses.
New marginal tax rates. The 2017 rates were 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35%, and 39.6%. The new 2018 rates will be 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37%. The majority of taxpayers will have a lower tax bill.
The marriage penalty is rescinded for all but the highest income levels. For married couples, the income threshold levels at each marginal rate (except 37%) will double those for individual filers. Why this is important: In 2017, two single individuals who each earned $90,000 would be taxed at a marginal tax rate of 25% each. However, if the two filed as "married filing jointly," their combined income of $180,000 would put them at the 28% tax bracket. The doubling of all income threshold levels below the 37% tax bracket eliminates the marriage penalty for this couple. In 2018, they will only pay a 24% marginal tax rate.
All standard deductions are doubled for 2018. In 2017, the standard deduction for a single individual was $ 6,350; in 2018, it will be $12,000. Married couples who file separately will enjoy the same increased standard deductions. Meanwhile, married couples who file jointly will see their standard deductions double from $12,000 to $24,000.
The progressive C corporation tax rates are rescinded for 2018. In its place is a flat rate of 21%.
Unlike individual AMT, the 20% corporate AMT will be repealed for 2018. However, the TCJA protects middle income taxpayers by increasing individual exemption amounts. A married couple filing jointly will see their exemptions increase from $86,200 to $109,400. The phaseout threshold for married couples is also being raised from $164,100 to $1,000,000. Meanwhile individual taxpayers will see their exemptions increase from $55,400 to $70,300. For them, the phaseout threshold is set to increase from $123,100 to $500,000.
New Section 199A pass-through deduction. Sole proprietorships, partnerships, S-corporations, estates, and trusts can now claim up to 20% of QBI (qualified business income) on their taxes.
The above constitutes just a few of the changes taxpayers and businesses will see for the 2018-2019 tax period. In September 2018, Congress proposed three more bills as a vehicle for Tax Reform 2.0. These bills are the Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018, the Family Savings Act of 2018, and the American Innovation Act of 2018.
The first of the three bills aims to make the TCJA small business tax cuts permanent. Right now, they sunset in 2025.
Meanwhile, a key part of the second bill supports the creation of a Universal Savings Account, similar to ROTH IRAs. If this bill passes, taxpayers will be able to contribute up to $2,500 of after-tax income (annually) to their accounts. Most importantly, there will be no restrictions on how or when withdrawals can be made; taxpayers will have funds to draw on during personal emergencies.
The proposed Family Savings Act of 2018 will also deliver another first: Families will be allowed to withdraw up to $7,500, penalty-free, from their retirement accounts for expenditures related to a new child. It appears that congressional focus on our national welfare is warranted. With declining U.S. fertility rates and increased adult life spans, the sustainability of Social Security is at stake.
The last of the three bills is aimed at increasing innovation and business investment. If the American Innovation Act passes, new business owners will be able to deduct up to $20,000 of start-up and organizational expenditures from their tax bill.
At present, the three bills have cleared the House of Representatives and are awaiting votes in the Senate. Should the bills become law, taxpayers stand to gain considerable tax advantages. On the other hand, new laws can add extra layers of complexity to the tax filing and planning process. At Barnes Wendling, our CPAs are uniquely positioned to address your concerns.
Answer questions about the new Section 199 A deductions for pass-through businesses. We can calculate what your qualified business income (QBI) will be and help you determine the correct tax planning strategies to maximize the deduction.
Help you navigate the new bonus depreciation and Section 179 equipment deduction rules and the expanded definitions of both.
Verify which itemized deductions have been eliminated and show you how the elimination of personal exemptions will be reflected in your return.
Provide you an accurate estimate of your tax liabilities in the face of the new $10,000 deduction limit for state and local taxes.
Familiarize you with the new child tax credit provisions.
Address your concerns about the AMT and how the new individual exemption thresholds will affect you.
Each year, many Americans scramble for answers during tax-filing season. No wonder, as the federal code is now about 75,000 pages long. Tax preparation and financial planning should not be a stressful experience. Our CPAs are ready to answer your questions and address your unique concerns. If you'd like more information, download our new webinar about the TCJA and Tax Reform 2.0.


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text:
The Futurist Synthetic Theatre (18th February 1915)
F.T. Marinetti, Emilio Settimelli, Bruno Corra
As we await our much prayed-for great war, we Futurists carry our violent antineutralist action from city square to university and back again, using our art to prepare the Italian sensibility for the great hour of maximum danger. Italy must be fearless, eager, as swift and elastic as a fencer, as indifferent to blows as a boxer, as impassive at the news of a victory that may have cost fifty-thousand dead as at the news of a defeat.
For Italy to learn to make up its mind with lightning speed, to hurl itself into battle, to sustain every undertaking and every possible calamity, books and reviews are unnecessary. They interest and concern only a minority, are more or less tedious, obstructive, and relaxing. They cannot help chilling enthusiasm, aborting impulses, and poisoning with doubt a people at war. War--Futurism intensified--obliges us to march and not to rot [marciare, non marcire] in libraries and reading rooms. THEREFORE WE THINK THAT THE ONLY WAY TO INSPIRE ITALY WITH THE WARLIKE SPIRIT TODAY IS THROUGH THE THEATRE. In fact ninety percent of Italians go to the theatre, whereas only ten percent read books and reviews. But what is needed is a FUTURIST THEATRE, completely opposed to the passeist theatre that drags its monotonous, depressing processions around the sleepy Italian stages.
Not to dwell on the historical theatre, a sickening genre already abandoned by the passeist public, we condemn the whole contemporary theatre because it is too prolix, analytic, pedantically psychological, explanatory, diluted, finicking, static, as full of prohibitions as a police station, as cut up into cells as a monastery, as moss-grown as an old abandoned house. In other words it is a pacifistic, neutralist theatre, the antithesis of the fierce, overwhelming, synthesizing velocity of the war.
Our Futurist Theatre will be:
Synthetic. That is, very brief. To compress into a few minutes, into a few words and gestures, innumerable situations, sensibilities, ideas, sensations, facts, and symbols. The writers who wanted to renew the theatre (Ibsen, Maeterlinck, Andreyev, Claudel, Shaw) never thought of arriving at a true synthesis, of freeing themselves from a technique that involves prolixity, meticulous analysis, drawn-out preparation. Before the works of these authors, the audience is in the indignant attitude of a circle of bystanders who swallow their anguish and pity as they watch the slow agony of a horse who has collapsed on the pavement. The sigh of applause that finally breaks out frees the audience's stomach from all the indigestible time it has swallowed. Each act is as painful as having to wait patiently in an antichamber for the minister (coup de theatre: kiss, pistol shot, verbal revelation, etc.) to receive you. All this passeist or semi-Futurist theatre, instead of synthesizing fact and idea in the smallest number of words and gestures, savagely destroys the variety of place (source of dynamism and amazement), stuffs many city squares, landscapes, streets, into the sausage of a single room. For this reason this theatre is entirely static. We are convinced that mechanically, by force of brevity, we can achieve an entirely new theatre perfectly in tune with our swift and laconic Futurist sensibility. Our acts can also be moments [atti-- attimi] only a few seconds long. With this essential and synthetic brevity the theatre can bear and even overcome competition from the cinema.
Atechnical. The passeist theatre is the literary form that most distorts and diminishes an author's talent. This form, much more than Iyric poetry or the novel, is subject to the demands of technique: (1) to omit every notion that doesn't conform to public taste; (2) once a theatrical idea has been found (expressible in a few pages), to stretch it out over two, three or four acts; (3) to surround an interesting character with many pointless types: coatholders, door-openers, all sorts of bizarre comic turns; (4) to make the length of each act vary between half and three-quarters of an hour; (5) to construct each act taking care to (a) begin with seven or eight absolutely useless pages, (b) introduce a tenth of your idea in the first act, five-tenths in the second, four-tenths in the third, (c) shape your acts for rising excitement, each act being no more than a preparation for the finale, (d) always make the first act a little boring so that the second can be amusing and the third devouring; (6) to set off every essential line with a hundred or more insignificant preparatory lines; (7) never to devote less than a page to explaining an entrance or an exit minutely; (8) to apply systematically to the whole play the rule of a superficial variety, to the acts, scenes, and lines. For instance, to make one act a day, another an evening, another deep night; to make one act pathetic, another anguished, another sublime; when you have to prolong a dialogue between two actors, make something happen to interrupt it, a falling vase, a passing mandolin player.... Or else have the actors constantly move around from sitting to standing, from right to left, and meanwhile vary the dialogue to make it seem as if a bomb might explode outside at any moment (e.g., the betrayed husband might catch his wife red-handed) when actually nothing is going to explode until the end of the act; (9) to be enormously careful about the verisimilitude of the plot; (10) to write your play in such a manner that the audience understands in the finest detail the how and why of everything that takes place on the stage, above all that it knows by the last act how the protagonists will end up.
With our synthesist movement in the theatre, we want to destroy the Technique that from the Greeks until now, instead of simplifying itself, has become more and more dogmatic, stupid, logical, meticulous, pedantic, strangling. THEREFORE:
1. It's stupid to write one hundred pages where one would do, only because the audience through habit and infantile instinct wants to see character in a play result from a series of events, wants to fool itself into thinking that the character really exists in order to admire the beauties of Art, meanwhile refusing to acknowledge any art if the author limits himself to sketching out a few of the character's traits.
2. It's stupid not to rebel against the prejudice of theatricality when life itself (which consists of actions vastly more awkward, uniform, and predictable than those which unfold in the world of art) is for the most part antitheatrical and even in this offers innumerable possibilities for the stage. EVERYTHING OF ANY VALUE IS THEATRICAL.
3. It's stupidto pander to the primitivism of the crowd, which, in the last analysis, wants to see the bad guy lose and the good guy win.
4. It's stupid to worry about verisimilitude (absurd because talent and worth have little to do with it).
5. It's stupid to want to explain with logical minuteness everything taking place on the stage, when even in life one never grasps an event entirely, in all its causes and consequences, because reality throbs around us, bombards us with squalls of fragments of interconnected events, mortised and tenoned together, confused, mixed up, chaotic. E.g., it's stupid to act out a contest between two persons always in an orderly, clear, and logical way, since in daily life we nearly always encounter mere flashes of argument made momentary by our modern experience, in a tram, a cafe, a railway station, which remain cinematic in our minds like fragmentary dynamic symphonies of gestures, words, lights, and sounds.
6. It's stupid to submit to obligatory crescendi, prepared effects, and postponed climaxes.
7. It's stupid to allow one's talent to be burdened with the weight of a technique that anyone (even imbeciles) can acquire by study, practice, and patience.
8. IT'S STUPID TO RENOUNCE THE DYNAMIC LEAP IN THE VOID OF TOTAL CREATION, BEYOND THE RANGE OF TERRITORY PREVIOUSLY EXPLORED.
Dynamic, simultaneous. That is, born of improvisation, lightning-like intuition, from suggestive and revealing actuality. We believe that a thing is valuable to the extent that it is improvised (hours, minutes, seconds), not extensively prepared (months, years, centuries) .
We feel an unconquerable repugnance for desk work, a priori, that fails to respect the ambience of the theatre itself. THE GREATER NUMBER OF OUR WORKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN THE THEATRE. The theatrical ambience is our inexhaustible reservoir of inspirations: the magnetic circular sensation invading our tired brains during morning rehearsal in an empty gilded theatre; an actor's intonation that suggests the possibility of constructing a cluster of paradoxical thoughts on top of it; a movement of scenery that hints at a symphony of lights; an actress' fleshiness that fills our minds with genially full-bodied notions.
We overran Italy at the head of a heroic battalion of comedians who imposed on audiences Electricita and other Futurist syntheses (alive yesterday, today surpassed and condemned by u's) that were revolutions imprisoned in auditoriums.--From the Politeama Garibaldi of Palermo to the Dal Verme of Milan. The Italian theatres smoothed the wrinkles in the raging massage of the crowd and rocked with bursts of volcanic laughter. We fraternized with the actors. Then, on sleepless nights in trains, we argued, goading each other to heights of genius to the rhythm of tunnels and stations. Our Futurist theatre jeers at Shakespeare but pays attention to the gossip of actors, is put to sleep by a line from Ibsen but is inspired by red or green reflections from the stalls. WE ACHIEVE AN ABSOLUTE DYNAMISM THROUGH THE INTERPENETRATION OF DIFFERENT ATMOSPHERES AND TIMES. E.g., whereas in a drama like Piu che L'Amore [D'Annunzio], the important events (for instance, the murder of the gambling house keeper) don't take place on the stage but are narrated with a complete lack of dynamism; in the first act of La Figlia di Jorio D'Annunzio] the events take place against a simple background with no jumps in space or time; and in the Futurist synthesis, Simultaneita, there are two ambiences that interpenetrate and many different times put into action simultaneously.
Autonomous, alogical, unreal. The Futurist theatrical synthesis will not be subject to logic, will pay no attention to photography; it will be autonomous, will resemble nothing but itself, although it will take elements from reality and combine them as its whim dictates. Above all, just as the painter and composer discover, scattered through the outside world, a narrower but more intense life, made up of colors, forms, sounds, and noises, the same is true for the man gifted with theatrical sensibility, for whom a specialized reality exists that violently assaults his nerves: it consists of what is called THE THEATRICAL WORLD.
THE FUTURIST THEATRE IS BORN OF THE TWO MOST VITAL CURRENTS in the Futurist sensibility, defined in the two manifestoes: "The Variety Theatre" and "Weights, Measures, and Prices of Artistic Genius," which are: (1) our frenzied passion for real, swift, elegant, complicated, cynical, muscular, fugitive, Futurist life, (2) our very modern cerebral definition of art according to which no logic, no tradition, no aesthetic, no technique, no opportunity can be imposed on the artist's natural talent; he must be preoccupied only with creating synthetic expressions of cerebral energy that have THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF NOVELTY.
The Futurist theatre will be able to excite its audience, that is make it forget the monotony of daily life, by sweeping it through a labyrinth of sensations imprinted on the most exacerbated originality and combined in unpredictable ways.
Every night the Futurist theatre will be a gymnasium to train our race's spirit to the swift, dangerous enthusiasms made necessary by this Futurist year.
CONCLUSIONS 1. TOTALLY ABOLISH THE TECHNIQUE THAT IS KILLING THE PASSEIST THEATRE.
2. DRAMATIZE ALL THE DISCOVERIES (no matter how unlikely, weird, and antitheatrical) THAT OUR TALENT IS DISCOVERING IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS, IN ILL-DEFINED FORCES, IN PURE ABSTRACTION, IN THE PURELY CEREBRAL, THE PURELY FANTASTIC, IN RECORD-SETTING AND BODY-MADNESS (E.g., Vengono, F. T. Marinetti's first drama of objects, a new vein of theatrical sensibility discovered by Futurism.)
3. SYMPHONIZE THE AUDIENCE'S SENSIBILITY BY EXPLORING IT, STIRRING UP ITS LAZIEST LAYERS WITH EVERY MEANS POSSIBLE; ELIMINATE THE PRECONCEPTION OF THE FOOTLIGHTS BY THROWING NETS OF SENSATION BETWEEN STAGE AND AUDIENCE; THE STAGE ACTION WILL INVADE THE ORCHESTRA SEATS, THE AUDIENCE.
4. FRATERNIZE WARMLY WITH THE ACTORS WHO ARE AMONG THE FEW THINKERS WHO FLEE FROM EVERY DEFORMING CULTURAL ENTERPRISE.
5. ABOLISH THE FARCE, THE VAUDEVILLE, THE SKETCH, THE COMEDY, THE SERIOUS DRAMA, AND TRAGEDY, AND CREATE IN THEIR PLACE THE MANY FORMS OF FUTURIST THEATRE, SUCH AS: LINES WRITTEN IN FREE WORDS, SIMULTANEITY, COMPENETRATION, THE SHORT, ACTED-OUT POEM, THE DRAMATIZED SENSATION, COMIC DIALOGUE, THE NEGATIVE ACT, THE REECHOING LINE, "EXTRA-LOGICAL" DISCUSSION, SYNTHETIC DEFORMATION, THE SCIENTIFIC OUTBURST THAT CLEARS THE AIR.
6. THROUGH UNBROKEN CONTACT, CREATE BETWEEN US AND THE CROWD A CURRENT OF CONFIDENCE RATHER THAN RESPECTFULNESS, IN ORDER TO INSTILL IN OUR AUDIENCES THE DYNAMIC VIVACITY OF A NEW FUTURIST THEATRICALITY.
These are the first words on the theatre. Our first eleven theatrical syntheses (by Marinetti, Settimelli, Bruno Corra, R. Chiti, Balilla Pratella) were victoriously imposed on crowded theatres in Ancona, Bologna, Padua, Naples, Venice, Verona, Florence, and Rome, by Ettore Berti, Zoncada, and Petrolini. In Milan we soon shall have the great metal building, enlivened by all the electromechanical inventions, which alone will permit us to realize our most free conceptions on the stage.
The Plays
Bachelor Apartment / La Garconniere
THEATRICAL SYNTHESIS
Idiotic interior of an elegant youth's bachelor apartment--prints on the walls, a very low divan, several vases of flowers, as in all bachelor apartments. A newly-acquired painting is in front of the divan on an easel.
THE YOUTH (listening eagerly near the door): Here we are! (Opens it.) Good morning! . . . How are you?
THE WOMAN (advancing, with a certain reserve): Good morning. (Looking around her.) It's nice in here . . .
THE YOUTH (with fervor): How beautiful you are! Very elegant! Thank you for coming . . . I doubted . . .
THE WOMAN: Why? Where is the painting? I came to see it.
THE YOUTH: It s this one. (He takes her by the hand and conducts her in front of the painting. While THE WOMAN looks at it squinting, THE YOUTH takes her in his arms and kisses the nape of her neck.)
THE WOMAN (struggling energetically): Sir! What are you thinking of? . . . These are really cowardly . . .
THE YOUTH: Excuse me. (He grasps her again forcefully and speaks close to her mouth.) You are very beautiful! You are mine! You must be mine! . .
THE WOMAN (struggling in a way that makes her seem serious): Sir! Leave me alone! . . . I'll call for someone! I am a respectable woman! . . . Leave me alone!
THE YOUTH (mortified, letting her go): You are right. I ask your pardon . . . I don't know what I am doing . . . I will leave you.
THE WOMAN: Open the door for me! I want to get out of here!
THE YOUTH (going to open the door): Go!
(With this word, THE WOMAN lets her fur coat fall, and appears in black silk panties, with her bosom, shoulders, and arms nude. With coquetry and modesty, she runs to crouch on the divan.)
THE WOMAN: You are timid, after all.... Turn that painting, and come here! . .
(1)The formal you ("voi") is used throughout this sintesi, instead of the more familiar form, ÕtuÕ--Trans.
PAOLO BUZZI
The Futurist Prize / Il Premio di Futurismo
A hall that could be in an Academy. A jury table, a presidential bench. Behind the President's head is a bust that could be that of F. T. Marinetti.
PRESIDENT: Honorable colleagues! And now it is a question of assigning the Futurist Prize. A BlŽriot "airplane] of the latest model that, as you know, is good for breaking all records,of operation, height, and speed. There are a good many competitors. Poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, architects
1ST JURY MEMBER: I propose a poet. We must reward the audacious free trading of these human eagles* giving them the means really to really fly with proper wings.
[The word "aquila" in Italian can also mean "genius."]
2ND MEMBER: I propose, instead, a painter. Imagine the treasures of plastic dynamism that these devils should know how to discover up there with 8 palette!
3RD MEMBER: No, no, I propose a sculptor. Think what modelings of spaces by spirals, what bridges between plastic exterior infinity and interior could be created by a Michelangelo of the atmospheres!
4TH MEMBER: I suggest, instead, a musician. Enharmonics can only be fully conquered 8,000 meters from the ground.
5TH MEMBER: And I am for an architect. The building plan for a future city can only be studied there where the points of the skyscraper's groins reach.
PRESIDENT: Well? Let's decide. The first thing is to vote by secret ballot. Let's first vote for the genus of candidate. Then let's vote for the species, or in other words, for the names.
USHER: Very distinguished gentlemen, here is a new candidate. He asserts that the announcement of the contest did not have a category for the presentation of titles; and since he comes from far away and was unable to hasten his steps . . .
1ST MEMBER: Ah, for a Futurist . . . !
USHER: Thus, he asks to be admitted equally to the contest.
2ND MEMBER: And the titles?
USHER: He says he will present them himself, in person.
3RD MEMBER: I quickly withdraw my unfavorable prejudice.
4TH MEMBER: And 1, mine.
5TH MEMBER: And I associate myself with both my colleagues.
PRESIDENT: Good, let s see him.
ARTIFICIAL MAN (enters with slow steps): Honorable sirs, I declare myself to be the most artificial man in the world. I have a cork leg, 8 plaited-rope arm, a rubber ear, a glass eye, and if this is not enough, a wig . . .
PRESIDENT: And you aspire, for this, to the Futurist Prize?
ARTIFICIAL MAN: Certainly. I was reduced thus by an explosion in a workshop in which I did chemical research into the basis of nitroglycerin . . . and of prussic acid . . .
PRESIDENT: What do you say to this? Honorable colleagues?
MEMBERS (unanimously): He wins the prize, by acclamation.
The Body That Ascends / Il Corpo che Sale
An ordinary room on the second floor of o forge apartment building. At the bock, o forge open window.
SECOND-FLOOR TENANT (he is sitting in on armchair near the window, smoking. He springs up suddenly when an elongated body posses rapidly in front of the window going upward from below. Shouting, he leans out the window and looks up. Meanwhile, he hears his doorbell ring. He runs to open it.): Oh God! Hello! Run! Have you seen it! A body rose from the street . . .
THIRD-FLOOR TENANT (entering breathlessly): You saw it too??!! A kind of gray cloud passed, grazing my window . . . I live on the third floor.
FIRST-FLOOR TENANT (arriving) : I have gone crazy, or the super-natural is present! . . . Something passed in front of my window on the first floor . . . a solid, hairy body that rose dizzily! . . .
FOURTH-FLOOR TENANT (entering terrified and clinging to the furniture): Me too, I saw it also! But it seemed to me like a soft body, like liquid! . . .
FIRST-FLOOR TENANT: But no! It was long and hairy!
THIRD-FLOOR TENANT: No! No! No! I assure you. . . . It was evanescent like a gas . . .
SECOND-FLOOR TENANT: The concierge would have seen it. . call him.
THE OTHERS (in chorus): Yes! Yes! Let s call him! Concierge! . Concierge! . . .
(THE CONCIERGE enters.)
ALL THE TENANTS (with great confusion'): Have you seen it? Have you seen it? What rose from the street?
THE CONCIERGE (calm, with a smile of compassion): Calm yourselves! Calm yourselves! It's nothing extraordinary! It is the young woman on the fifth floor who every day sucks up her lover with her glance . . . of course, he doesn't go up the stairs, that dirty pig! I maintain the honor of the building!
Genius and Culture / Genio e Coltura
In the center a costly dressing table with a mirror in front of which a very elegant WOMAN, already dressed to leave finishes putting on rouge. At the right a CRITIC, an ambiguous being neither dirty nor clean neither old nor young neutral is sitting at a table overburdened with books and papers on which shines a large paper knife neither modern nor antique. He turns his shoulder to the dressing table. At left the ARTIST, an elegant youth searches in a large file sitting on thick cushions on the floor.
THE ARTIST (leaving the file and with his head between his hands): It's terrible! (Pause.) I must get out of here! To be renewed! (He gets up tearing the abstract designs from the file with convulsive hands.) Liberation!! These empty forms, worn out. Everything is fragmentary, weak! Oh! Art! . . . who, who will help me!? (He looks around; continues to tear up the designs with sorrowful and convulsive motions.)
(THE WOMAN is very near him but doesn't hear him. The CRITIC becomes annoyed but not very and going near her takes a book with a yellow jacket.)
THE CRITIC (half-asking the WOMAN, and half-talking to himself): But what's the matter with that clown that he acts and shouts that way?
THE WOMAN (without looking): Oh well, he is an artist . . . he wants to renew himself, and he hasn't a cent!
THE CRITIC (bewildered): Strange! An artist! Impossible! For twenty years I have profoundly studied this marvelous phenomenon, but I can't recognize it. (Obviously with archeological curiosity.) That one is crazy! Or a protester! He wants to change! But creation is a serene thing. A work of art is done naturally, in silence, and in recollection, like a nightingale sings . . . Spirit, in the sense that Hegel means spirit . . .
THE WOMAN (intrigued): And if you know how it is done, why don't you tell him? Poor thing! He is distressed . . .
THE CRITIC (strutting): For centuries, the critic has told the artist how to make a work of art.... Since ethics and aesthetics are functions of the spirit . . .
THE WOMAN: But you, you've never made any?
THE CRITIC (nonplused): Me? . . . Not me!
THE WOMAN (laughing with malice): Well, then, you know how to do it, but you don't do it. You are neutral. How boring you must be in bed! (She continues putting on her rouge.)
THE ARTIST (always walking back and forth sorrowfully wringing his hands): Glory! Ah! Glory! (Tightening his fists.) I am strong! I am young! I can face anything! Oh! Divine electric lights . . . sun . . . To electrify the crowds . . . Burn them! Dominate them!
THE WOMAN (looking at him with sympathy and compulsion): Poor thing! Without any money . . .
THE ARTIST (struck): Ah! I am wounded! I can't resist any longer! (Toward the WOMAN, who doesn't hear him.) Oh! A woman! (Toward the CRITIC, who has already taken and returned a good many books and who leafs through them and cuts them.) You! You, sir, who are a man, listen . . . Help me!
THE CRITIC: Calm down . . . let's realize the differences. I am not a man, I am a critic. I am a man of culture. The artist is a man, a slave, a baby, therefore, he makes mistakes. I don't see myself as being like him. In him nature is chaos. The critic and history are between nature and the artist. History is history, in other words subjective fact, that is to say fact, in other words history. Anyway it is itself objective.
(At these words the ARTIST, who has listened in a stupor falls on the cushions as if struck by lightning. The CRITIC, unaware of this turns and goes slowly to the table to consult his books.)
THE WOMAN (getting up dumbfounded): My God! That poor youth is dying! (She kneels in front of the ARTIST and caresses him kindly.)
THE ARTIST (reviving): Oh! Signora! Thank you! Oh! Love . . . maybe love . . . (Revives more and more.) How beautiful you are! Listen . . . Listen to me . . . If you know what a terrible thing the struggle is without love! I want to love, understand?
THE WOMAN (pulling away from him): My friend, I understand you . . . but now I haven't time. I must go out . . . I am expected by my friend. It is dangerous.... He is a man ... that is to say, he has a secure position . . .
THE CRITIC (very embarrassed): What's going on? I don't understand anything . . .
THE WOMAN (irritated): Shut up, idiot! You don't understand anything.... Come! Help me to lift him! We must cut this knot that is choking his throat!
THE CRITIC (very embarrassed): Just a minute . . .
(He carefully lays down the books and puts the others aside on the chair.) Hegel . . . Kant . . . Hartmann . . . Spinoza.
THE WOMAN (goes near the youth, crying irritably): Run! . . . come here, help me to unfasten it.
THE CRITIC (nonplused): What arc you saying?
THE WOMAN: Come over here! Are you afraid! Hurry . . . back here there is an artist who is dying because of an ideal.
THE CRITIC (coming closer with extreme prudence): But one never knows! An impulse . . . a passion . . . without control . . . without culture . . . in short, I prefer him dead. The artist must be . . . (He stumbles, and falls clumsily on the ARTIST, stabbing his neck with the paper knife.)
THE WOMAN (screaming and getting up): Idiot! Assassin! You have killed him. You are red with blood!
THE CRITIC (getting up, still more clumsily: I, Signora? How?! I don't understand.... Red? Red? Yours is a case of color blindness.
THE WOMAN: Enough! Enough! (Returns to her dressing table.) It is late. I must go! (Leaving.) Poor youth! He was different and likable! (Exits.)
THE CRITIC: I can't find my bearings! (Looks attentively and long at the dead ARTIST.) Oh my God! He is dead! (Going over to look at him.) The artist is really dead! Ah . . . he is breathing. I will make a monograph. (He goes slowly to his table. From a case, he takes a beard a meter long and applies it to his chin. He puts on his glasses, takes paper and pencil, then looks among his books without finding anything. He is irritated for the first time and pounds his fists, shouting.) Aesthetics! Aesthetics! Where is Aesthetics? (Finding it, he passionately holds a large volume to his chest.) Ah! Here it is! (Skipping, he goes to crouch like a raven near the dead ARTIST. He looks at the body, and writes, talking in a loud voice.) Toward 1915, a marvelous artist blossomed . . . (He takes a tape measure from his pocket and measures the body.) Like all the great ones, he was 1.68 [meters] tall, and his width . . . (While he talks, the curtain falls)
Parallelepiped / Parallelepipedo
An empty room. On the floor, a mattress in a parallelepiped form. On one side, a taut curtain.
LADY IN BLACK (enters accompanied by a POET, occupant of the room): But let's understand each other. I am not a woman who comes to a young man's bachelor apartment. I am a curious intellectual coming to see the house of an enigmatic poet.
POET: Good heavens, of course! It's natural!
LADY (looking around her): Where do you write?
POET: On the floor.
LADY: Where do you eat?
LADY (looking at the mattress): And you sleep on the floor, very simple, but what a bizarre form your bed has!
POET: Parallelepiped.
LADY (noticing the curtain): And behind that curtain . . . the toilet!?
POET: Furniture.
LADY (with surprise, ironically): You have furniture?
POET: Parallelepiped. (He pulls the curtain back; a straight, rigid, upright bier can be seen. He opens the cover by the hinges like a door of a closet. Inside one sees a hat, coat, and a pair of pants hanging up, and a pair of shoes at the bottom.) As long as I stay on my feet, it also stays on its feet. When I sleep, I use only the bottom: it's soft, as you can see. (Points to the mattress.)
LADY: You are right. It is a very bizarre thing . . . and this mattress?
POET: Deliciously soft.
LADY: Wool? Moss?
POET: Hair. Woman's hair. The hair of all my women.
LADY: You don't say! You plucked them well, your little hens!
POET (with sudden ardor, hugs the LADY around her waist): I have been waiting for the day to pluck an eagle. [The word "aquila" in Italian con also mean "genius."]
LADY (in an imperial manner): Stop there. I am the one who will pluck you! (Goes to close the door.) Now, you must do everything that I want! (Leads him near the upright bier, from which she takes the hat, coat, pants, and shoes)
POET: Command!
LADY (as if exercising a hypnotic power over the man): Carry it!
(He places the bier horizontally on the floor.)
POET: And then?
LADY: And then, thus. (She makes him put the mattress in the bier.)
LADY: And then, I AM DEATH. So let's hear no more! You must get in there.
POET (with a last glimmer of hope): With you?
LADY: You will see!
(The man gets in the bier and falls as if struck. The woman closes the lid, turns the key, and puts it in her pocket, leaving silently.)
FRANCESCO CANGIULLO
The Lady-Killer and the Four Seasons / ll Donnaiuolo e le 4 Stagioni
SYNTHESIS OF TWENTY YEARS OF LOVE
(I am sorry but I absolutely cannot give the names of the characters--and it is also necessary to forbid the actor-manager to give them.)
Neutral stage--side and back entrances--three seconds after the curtain rises a SCHOOLGIRL in uniform enters from the left, reading a small book, Month of Mary [A missal and appointment book]. With her eyes on the book, she comes slowly forward to the stage apron. A sacred picture falls from the pages. With great simplicity she picks it up and places it back between the pages. She begins to read again, remains in front of the footlights until the end.
After ten seconds, a BATHER enters from the rear. Of course she is in a swimming suit; blue trunks, sailor's blouse. Wearing a life jacket, the BATHER swims until the end always in a circumscribed space reserved for her on the stage.
After ten seconds a WIDOW also enters from the back, bringing in a tomb furnished with a wreath and lighted church candles. Arranging it with the back almost in the right corner, she kneels and bows her head and remains motionless like someone who is being photographed at length from behind.
After ten seconds, a BRIDE enters from the right, with her face hidden in a bent arm. She is dressed in white satin, with a long veil, and a garland of orange flowers around her head. Timidly she comes forward to the apron and remains there until the end.
After twenty seconds, a very chic LADY-KILLER bursts in from the back with great ease, smoking a cigarette. Nimbly and very selfconfidentIy he throws himself on the edge of the stage apron, spreads his arms out with great openness to the audience, encases his head in his upper arms (the actor will remember Renato Simoni at the fourth curtain call) and, with a diplomatic smile, he fixes the whole audience with a sweeping and precise glance--then says:
and agilely draws back electrically on his toes.
The Paunch of the Vase / La Pancia del Vaso
The laboratory of a scientist. In the middle, a cluttered table on which a glass vase is seen. Seated at the table, the SCIENTIST, with the eyes of an idiot, mummified, looks through the paunch of the vase. Immobility of the surroundings. After three minutes--
Repeat Act 1 identically.
Like the first and second acts, except shot: a minute after the curtain rises, I come out . . . with a cudgel, I split the head of the SCIENTIST who, very coldly, without losing his composure, his eyes still staring at the paunch of the glass vase, says to me:
SCIENTIST: Would you please leave me your visiting card . . .
(I throw it on the table, light a cigarette, and exit.) (A minute later, without hurrying, the SCIENTIST rings a bell.)
(TYPIST appears.)
SCIENTIST (always intent): Sew up my head and wrap it up well . .
(TYPIST takes the materials, disinfects them, sews, wraps his big head until she covers his eyes.)
SCIENTIST (hasn't moved): Sit down, write.
(TYPIST sitting at the typewriter.)
SCIENTIST (looks as best he can at the visiting card; then says, turning to the glass vase): Signor Francesco Cangiullo, paragraph, Sirignano district, comma, Naples, Italy, in parenthesis. Dear Sir, comma, and paragraph, Italians, comma, especially Neapolitans, comma, are always very generous, period. Therefore, comma, I will be eternally grateful for this, comma, dear sir, comma, that you split my head rather than the glass vase, period and paragraph. With regards, comma, your . . .
(TYPIST takes the letter to be signed.)
(SCIENTIST looks at it with what are left of his eyes and signs.)
(TYPIST leaves with the letter.)
(SCIENTIST turns, amazed and blind toward his glass vase.)
Detonation / Detonazione
SYNTHESIS OF ALL MODERN THEATRE
A BULLET
Road at night, cold, deserted.
A minute of silence.--A gunshot.


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Wymondham and Attleborough Mercury > Things to do
Drama in the coffee shop
Published: 10:49 AM June 16, 2009
There will be more drama in the coffee shop at Waitrose in Wymondham later this month as the supermarket hosts another short play on a topical theme.Local playwright, Tony Vale, has penned another eight-minute production, this time to mark the start of national Recycle Week on June 22.
There will be more drama in the coffee shop at Waitrose in Wymondham later this month as the supermarket hosts another short play on a topical theme.
Local playwright, Tony Vale, has penned another eight-minute production, this time to mark the start of national Recycle Week on June 22.
Tony's latest creation is called 'Bags for Life' and it features a conversation between an upmarket recyclable Bag for Life and a downtrodden, expendable carrier bag. The parts are again played by Richard Crawley and Tony's wife, Georgette, with a guest appearance by Heather Carpenter of Wymondham Players.
Tony said: 'There is now a shopping bag hierarchy. A Bag for Life and a Carrier Bag reflect on their place in society and acknowledge that the hessian bag has premier status.'
There will performances of the play at 2pm and 2.45pm on June 22 and admission is free.
For more details contact Tony Vale on 01953 605434.
9 Cowboy builder Kyle Muir admits fleecing customers out of £48,300
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital
Town rocked by shooting of former mayor
Sarah Hussain and George Thompson, LDR


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Latest player blog: Scott Borthwick in New Zealand
Home > News & Media > Latest player blog: Scott Borthwick in New Zealand
"I'm really enjoying it over here in New Zealand, the weather is good and most importantly I'm getting to play loads of cricket!
"I've been over here since November training and playing with Canterbury CC, where Paul Wiseman is a coach, and my club side, Old Boys CC. I live right between the Old Boys and Canterbury grounds so they are just five minutes away – it's great to be so close – no excuses to be late though! Town is just five minutes in the other direction too so I'm close to everything I need.
"I'm living in a new apartment with two girls that Paul knows but he told them they weren't to do any cooking, cleaning or washing for me so I've had to slowly learn how to do all that myself! I'm just about getting used to it and my cooking skills have definitely come on.
"My priority while I'm over here is my cricket and it's keeping me really busy. There is only one day a week where I don't train or play with either Canterbury or the Old Boys, who play to a pretty decent standard.
"I had a chat with Geoff Cook before I left about what I should work on over the winter and he gave me a few pointers. It's been great being able to spend time with Paul Wiseman when I've been training – with him being a spinner he knows exactly what I need to work on and Geoff also advised Paul about where he expects me to improve. It's good to know we're all working towards the same target. Mostly, I've been working on getting my feet in the right place when I'm bowling.
"My week begins with training with the Canterbury first team from 10am – 12, then after grabbing a bit of lunch I normally do a light gym session. Tuesday is pretty much the same but in the afternoon I'll do a bit of coaching instead of going to the gym; it's the first time I've done coaching so it's been a different way to be involved in cricket for me, but I've enjoyed it. In the evening I go and train with my club side at their ground.
"Training with my club side on a Tuesday and Thursday is a bit more relaxed than the stuff I do with Canterbury, at these sessions I mostly do fielding and batting practice as they know my bowling schedule with Canterbury is pretty full on. We sometimes grab a beer after so it's nice to do a bit of team bonding too. I've settled in really well. The Club is really good and they are a great set of lads to be on the field with.
"I train with Canterbury again on a Wednesday morning and then head to the gym in the afternoon. I'm back at the gym on Thursday mornings before the second training session of the week with the Old Boys.
"I try and give myself a bit of a rest on a Friday so will stick to doing a run and then probably going into town. On Saturday's I play for the Old Boys and then if the Canterbury seconds have a Sunday league match on the Sunday I'll play for them too. There aren't as many second team fixtures as there are in the season at home, there are games every couple of weeks, but the standard is still pretty high.
"I was playing for the Canterbury seconds last weekend at a really traditional ground called The Willows and managed to get 6 wickets in less than three overs- it was crazy, but definitely good fun. I ended up with 6-13 off 2.3 overs – I doubt that will ever happen again!
"I'm feeling much better about my bowling. It's been great to be playing as much cricket as I have done, to get a fair few overs under my belt and pick up some wickets. My confidence has really grown and if the conditions are good for spin over in Abu Dhabi I'd like to think I could stand a chance of playing in the game over there. I had a decent season for the seconds last year and after making my debut in the Championship and one day competition my desire to play in the first team is even stronger. I want to earn my place in the firsts and play well enough to stay there."


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American League (AL) Cy Young Award 2021 Predictions & Odds
Home/MLB/MLB Futures/American League (AL) Cy Young Award 2021 Predictions & Odds
Tony Garcia - September 30, 2021
A look at those you to back and avoid in the chase for the Cy Young
The defending champion is going to be extremely tough to beat
Who is the best off-the-radar candidate?
Play Fantasy Baseball, Here!
Baseball is almost here, so we've been taking a look at who we think are the best bets to win each of baseball's most prestigious awards.
We're on to the American League Cy Young award and it's one of the most interesting, simply because it feels like two distinct groups. The top two options — and then everybody else.
However, that's not exactly what the betting lines suggest. Let's take a look at the favorites, discuss where the value lies on the board and who is worth backing.
2021 AL Cy Young Award Odds
Odds taken from BetMGM, updated on September 30, 2021.
Player Odds
Gerrit Cole +500
Lance Lynn +3000
S. Ohtani +25000
Odds from BetMGM. Get up to a $600 sign-up bonus at BetMGM today or check out more offers and promo codes for the best online sportsbooks.
Favorites to Win the American League Cy Young Award 2021
Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees
This is one of the two people who in my mind are head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Gerrit Cole is the betting favorite to take home the award and he should be. In his last full season, he struck out 326 batters — the most by a pitcher in a single season since Randy Johnson in 1998.
He has an overpowering fastball and wipeout breaking balls. Cole was 7-3 with a 2.84 ERA and 0.959 WHIP in 73 innings. He was paid more than $300 million by the Yankees just a few years back to be the best pitcher in the game and this is going to be his first full year in pinstripes to prove that he's exactly that. Cole has finished in the top five of Cy Young voting each of the last three years and four times since 2015.
The only downside to this bet is the ballpark he pitches in. That sounds like splitting hairs, but it's valid in a park as small as Yankee Stadium. He's one of the very best pitchers in the game, but to play in the most hitter-friendly park in America isn't helpful for pitchers.
Shane Bieber, Cleveland Indians
Shane Bieber is the defending American League Cy Young champion and it's really too bad we didn't get to see a full season of it, because he was nearly flawless every time out.
Bieber was dominant in every measurable way. He led the league in wins (8) ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122) and had a ridiculous 0.87 WHIP over 77.1 innings. Ten of his 12 starts were quality starts and he didn't give up more than three runs in any regular-season game.
When he is on, there might not be anybody who is more dominant. He has pinpoint accuracy and a high-90s fastball — a lethal combination. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Bieber repeats, in fact for my money, he should be the favorite.
Lucas Giolito, Chicago White Sox
Now, this might be the most interesting name on the entire list given where it is. Lucas Giolito, according to these odds, is just slightly less of a favorite than Bieber or Cole. That just doesn't seem on line with what he's shown.
When he's truly on, he's unhittable. He proved that last August against the Pirates when he threw his first career no-hitter while striking out a season-high 13 batters.
But he's also never shown he can be consistent start in and start out. He's yet to finish that last piece of the puzzle. Last year Giolito was 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA and 1.04 WHIP and in his 12 starts, gave up three or more runs five times.
There's reason to believe he will be an All-Star this year and could make a run at a Cy Young, but at these odds, there's no incentive to buy in right now.
Tyler Glasnow, Tampa Bay Rays
Another guy with electric stuff, Tyler Glasnow had his true coming-out party and became one of the pillars of the World Series runner-up Tampa Bay Rays. The main issue with the power righty is that he hasn't made the full transition from thrower to pitcher.
Glasnow went 5-1 last season with a 4.08 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 91 strikeouts. But what held him back was his inability to go deep in games. Counting the playoffs, Glasnow made 17 starts — he only pitched into the 6th inning or deeper in six of those.
If you're willing to believe Glasnow has figured out how to take that next step, then this becomes a very intriguing option.
Hyun-Jin Ryu, Toronto Blue Jays
Hyun-Jin Ryu moved to the American League for the first time in his career last year, but it was obviously far from a normal season.
He will begin his first full season where he doesn't have to bat next week and it will be interesting to see how it goes. The NL leader in ERA and Cy Young runner-up from the 2019 season, Ryu went 5-2 in 2020, with a 2.69 ERA and 1.15 WHIP.
In his final 10 starts of the season, Ryu gave up one run or fewer eight times — a major part of the reason he finished third in Cy Young voting last season.
While somewhat of a longshot, Ryu is the best value of any of the top five favorites.
Long Shot: Kenta Maeda, Minnesota Twins
If you want to take a flier on somebody off the board, look no further than Kenta Maeda, one of the most underrated pitchers in the game.
Truthfully, it's amazing he's still somehow underrated after finishing as the Cy Young runner-up last season.
Maeda finished in the top 10 in baseball in ERA (2.70) and went 6-1 to show for it. The Osaka, Japan native is as consistent as they come. He didn't give up more than three runs in any of his 12 starts last season and went six or more innings nine times.
But what truly makes Maeda so dominant is his strikeout to walk ratio — which last year was an astounding 8:1. Maeda has a strikeout rate above 10 batters per nine innings and a walk rate below 1.5. Nobody else in the majors is close to being able to say that.
What Is the Cy Young Award?
Annually given to the best pitcher in both the American and National League, the Cy Young Award is the highest achievement that a pitcher can receive in Major League Baseball.
The award has tremendous weight when deciding the overall legacy of a pitcher and is part of the process to gauge the player's career when it comes time for Hall of Fame voting.
How Is the Cy Young Award Winner Decided?
Each Cy Young Award is voted upon by a select group of baseball writers assigned to vote in just one league. Voters assign a place for the pitchers they believe are the best for the year.
A completed ballot will have a first through fifth place vote for the voter's top five pitchers of the season in either the American or National League.
Once all the votes are in, the Baseball Writers' Association of America uses a weighted formula to compile the final result.
If there is a tie among two pitchers, then both players share the award, although that has never happened since the award split into two winners in 1967.
More MLB Futures and Predictions
MLB Rookie of the Year Predictions & Betting Odds 2021
National League (NL) MVP Award 2021
National League Cy Young Award Winners 2021
World Series 2021 Predictions, Odds, and Picks
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Tony Garcia
Expert on Baseball
Tony writes about baseball for WSN.com after recently graduating with his Masters from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Prior to that, Tony was a local sports reporter for MLive Media Group, based out of Jackson, Michigan where he covered everything from high school to professional sports. He graduated from Michigan State in 2015 with a degree in journalism. During his time there he covered the Michigan State football and men's basketball teams from 2013-15 and hosted a sports radio show on WDBM 89FM.


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Be an Animal Detective: How to find clues and identify wildlife
by Kim Foley MacKinnon
So, you and your kids can tell the difference between dog tracks and coyote tracks, and you know bear scat is nothing like deer scat, and that owl pellets aren't actually the same thing as owl droppings (a common misconception).
Maybe it's time for a new challenge.
Next time you're outdoors with your family, whether it's in the back woods or just in a neighborhood park, take some time to look for other, less obvious signs of animals. There are several clues animals leave behind that go unnoticed because we aren't looking for them.
Nancy Ritger, AMC huts and Cardigan Lodge program manager, who's often out in the backcountry, offers some tips for figuring out what animals may have recently been in the area, from scouring the ground for nibbled acorns (signs of rodents like squirrels) to examining fences for snagged fur or hair (signs of fox or deer). If you can find and follow an obvious animal trail in the woods, look for broken twigs and fur stuck in branches along the path, which can offer hints as to what animal uses that route.
Ritger says to keep an eye out for leaves and shrubs animals might have been "browsing" or eating. "Hares can snip off leaves because they have sharp incisors, so there'll be a sharp cut, while deer and moose, lacking incisors, shred the leaves."
If bears are known to have been in the vicinity, looking for claw marks on trees is an obvious start, but Ritger says beech trees are especially enticing for bears. "If the tree is big enough, bears will climb up and pull the branches toward themselves to eat the nuts," she said. Besides claw marks and scat, look up higher for broken branches where the bear might have been snacking.
Other signs to look for in trees are woodpecker holes. Ritger said Pileated woodpeckers leave deep rectangular holes, which they drill to look for carpenter ants. Downy woodpeckers leave smaller, rounder holes, in a hunt for bark beetles and larvae. Trees also can hold signs of other animals. Moose sometimes rub against trees to dislodge ticks, while male deer often rub their antlers on them to shed antler velvet. Both activities result in missing bark.
If you're wondering how to tell if a wild animal or just someone's pet dog has been roaming through the neighborhood, Ritger said behavioral clues are a good indication. "Pets are fed and not necessarily interested in food in the wild," she said. "They're reacting to smell, running around, not hunting." A fox or coyote, on the other hand, is looking for sustenance to survive and doesn't have time to play since it's conserving its energy.
The National Wildlife Federation offers several suggestions for animal activities for kids. One that can be especially rewarding for children is to look for animal homes. Birds' nests, beehives, spider webs, beaver dams, tree hollows, and burrowed holes in the ground are relatively easy to spot and identify. And as you and your family look for animal signs, remind your kids that while animals may leave traces behind them, your goal should be to leave none.
Read more about identifying animal clues:
Animal Tracking for Kids
Identifying Animal Tracks
A Pro Offers Tips on Reading Winter Tracks
Reading Animal Scat
March 24, 2013 (6)
Cleaner Cars Help Kids Breathe Better Outdoors
I want kids to get out in nature so they can enjoy all its benefits. Not so they will suffer extra lung damage.
April 7, 2013 (5)
Teaching Kids How to Avoid Getting Lost, and What to Do If It Happens
Here are the basics that she recommends to help children avoid getting lost and to make it easier to find them safely and quickly if they do stray.


[New for 2013] Ok, so we discovered that there are four new pint flavors available from North Carolina based Front Porch Ice Cream (made by Mooresville Ice Cream) not including the special Dale Jarrett flavor. I went with what I wanted from the free shipment on the first try, but let's crack open something I hope my wife will adore.
This is Front Porch Wildly Wildberry Cheesecake. It's cheesecake ice cream with a wildberry swirl and pie crust pieces. You know I'm hoping for lots of pie crust pieces right?
Looks promising enough, especially all of those crust pieces!
Nice, it even smells like graham (and not cheesecake!). Mmmmm.
I take a few bites and thankfully the cheesecake is not trying to dominate the situation. It's more of a vibe than anything. Oh I do appreciate balance. Nothing is trying to knock me over and that is appreciated. What a pleasant flavor.
Ok, I'm further down and now there's more swirl and less crust pieces. The cheesecake flavor is coming out more, but I'm having trouble thinking of the words to describe it. It's not a cheese of cheesecake flavor I'm tasting, it's more of that... more cake than cheese I should say. I'm talking batter flavor here, I mean when you are digging in to a cheesecake and you are tasting a baked product and not so much the cheesy heart of the cheesecake. Oh I hope that makes sense... ahhh, I hate when I babble.
On Second Scoop: Ahhh, it's good to be back finally. I was looking for a nice summery treat and here I am... sniffing the cheesecake aromas as the pint patiently waits in front of me. Cheesy, but not crazy. Berry, but not crazy. Pie crust here and there, a subtle underlying crust note to every bite... nothing crazy. It's funny how much the aftertaste makes me feel like I've just finished some restaurant dessert. It's just a nice flavor that's just rocking back and forth on the porch. No need to be overpowering, just chill out and grab another spoonful. This is the kind of flavor I expect my wife to love... if I can manage to leave her any... ok, she's had some now, thumbs up from her!
How important is the Nutritional panel to you and your followers?
hard to say, i know some people appreciate it, some people glance at ignore, some people ignore it.
Would you consider doing a Nutrition panel comparison and ask your readers to comment?


MARK: Biked 60 miles (see below) from Magic (Idaho) to Bellevue.
MELODY: Meets an interesting couple from Germany and a motel manager who is happy to be alive (see below).
Today's mileage: 60. Total: 789 Starting point of Day 14: Castle Rock. Pretty straight-forward day for me today. I got on the bike, rode State Hwy 20 for 51 miles; turned north on Hwy 75 (near the Magic Reservoir) and pulled into Bellevue for a night at the High Country Motel because the price was right and a shower and air conditioning felt right. (More about Mark's ride on his blog here ).
MELODY: We started out our morning being fed breakfast by our "WarmShowers" host Laura (and her dogs and cat) in her home. It turns out she cuts hay by day, but is a photographer and loves to take pictures of nature, animals and rodeos. She makes calendars each year with her favorite pics. She is self-taught but you wouldn't know it. Photography is what makes her feel alive. She even brings her camera with her in the Swarther while she is cutting hay because she never knows what she might see out there in the fields! Thanks to Laura for being a great host!
Later in the day, I took some pics of some abandoned shops in the small towns of Idaho. My fav is this old phone booth in Hill City, Idaho. There are ghosts of the wild west all around!
Later, I took a walk (tried to go for a run but I'm not used to the mountain air!) around Bellevue to check out the town. It's beautiful here for mountain biking, fly fishing and river rafting. But I also love all the old stuff, like the old city hall (and jail!). Really makes you wonder about the pioneers who made it to this part of the world!
Finally, we decided to eat dinner with the leftovers from Whole Foods in Boise (yay for me!) and sat outside at the picnic area next to the hotel. We met this lovely couple from Germany who were touring America for 3 weeks with their foster son. It's a looooong story, but suffice it to say that they have grown children and now they have a new son. They are kind and loving people (and fun, too!). Mark drank beers with Thomas and I drank cheap wine with Katrin after Eric went to bed. Hope to connect with them again some day.
I also had nice visit with the motel manager, Sam. When I asked him "what makes you feel alive?" He said, "I am lucky to be alive at all. Each day is a gift. That's what makes me feel alive." He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure 6 weeks ago and almost died in the hospital. He loves making the motel nice for visitors and has lots of stories to tell. More to come in a video when I have time to edit. That's it for today. More tomorrow!


So moving. A farmer has a change of heart and releases 752 hens from their cramped little cages. Watch these hens experience sunshine and the ability to roam for the first time. All animals deserve loving, healthy environments to live in. So happy for these hens!


Let's Commit to Fit together!
Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States, and especially in the South. The Commit to Fit program was developed to help address this issue and teach children to make healthier choices at an early age. It combines existing structured wellness programs with fun and friendly competition to educate Shelby County Schools students about the components of good health. The program is open to all Shelby County Schools and promotes physical activity, healthy eating and first aid skills.
Six schools (a large and small elementary, middle and high school) whose students meet the participation criteria will win a $1,000 grant to enhance an approved existing wellness or fitness program, create a new program or purchase wellness equipment.
November through May—awards will be announced at the end of the school year in May.
For more information, please email your questions to community.involvement@bmhcc.org.