HOW WILL THE FACILITY DESIGN AND FLOW HELP US WITH OUR TRAINING?
We have designed the facility to maximize efficiency during your physician training.
This facility can accommodate up to six physician training stations.
The facility can be used to accommodate sitting for 40 attendees.
We have a private luggage area for attendees that is secure and locked.
We have a large and spacious pre-lab area to enable attendees to comfortably wear the protective clothing and prepare for the training course.
The spacious and wide open physician training/Bio skills room allows for ample room for your physician training needs.
The conference center is fully equipped with an audio/visual tower for full computer hook up and internet access. We can accommodate up to 50 attendees.
What do you provide at the Irvine network facility?
Medical Equipment Training we offer in Irvine, CA.
How would the Surgical Training in Irvine, CA benefit me?
What is the climate of the region?
What are the amenities close to the facility?
Disneyland, Knotts's Berry Farm theme park, Anaheim Angels baseball, Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey stadiums.
Click here for more information on things to do in Irvine, CA.
How close is the facility to an airport?
We are within five minutes of Orange county/John Wayne airport.
If you have more questions about Med Ed Labs, the Irvine, CA medical training center, or the services we offer, feel free to call us at (888) 801-9444, complete a contact us form, or check out our Bio-Skills Blog.


You have another six weeks more for your child's birthday party! Do not panic if you have not even started planning it out. Six weeks is ample time for you to start preparing your plan.
Get hold of a pen and a piece of paper to plan out party details for the next six weeks or so and what you will be doing to ensure that everything is arranged during the course of each week. You can even set up reminders on your phone as well so that you will not forget any deadlines.
Sit down with you child and discuss about the theme that he or she wants. Then you can prepare to start looking for all things that will suit the theme.
Decide on the guest list. Ensure that your child gets a say in the guest lists because it is his or her birthday party.
Once you decide the number of people, then you can decide on the venue and before you decide all the kids party entertainment Melbourne.
Now you can start working on your invitations. You can decide on if you want to use online or printed invitations at this stage.
You can always get the list of students in your child's class to ensure that you can invite all the children.
You can decide the activities and games that go hand in hand with the party theme. You can even have a little face painting booth.
Now is the time to order the birthday cake!! The cake must match the theme of the aprty.
You can start hand over or email the invitations.
Three weeks is enough time to let you start buying the party supplies. You can start with the essentials such as paper cups and plates and then work your way through.
You can get a few hands to help you out.
You can create an outline of the party.
Purchasing more supplies for the party will not hurt.
If you still have not received confirmation if a child is attending the party or not, you can call the parents and finalise the numbers.
Sort out and purchase all the good.
Get new batteries for your cameras.
Do not forget to charge your cameras.
Double check with the entertainment that they are scheduled to attend the party and confirm the time they will be arriving.
Decorate the venue with a few helping hands.
After the party, sending thank you notes is a nice touch!


The Quai d'Orsay Coronas is an elegant Habanos, a light-bodied Corona format, 5.6" (142mm) long, of 42 ring gauge, and comes in a 25 cigars box. It seems to perfectly combine all the classy French-style and the Cuban tobacco. More than just a just a name that comes from the famous building sitting on the Seine River in Paris, it is a simple and generous cigar, full of sweet aromas and flavor. Never too strong, this beautifully constructed cigar has creamy notes and some woody touches.
An ideal first smoke of the day for a morning break.
• A light to medium cigar that is full of creamy aromas and classic Quai d'Orsay flavor.
• Perfect construction that makes the draw very easy.
Unquestionably a classic Cuban Cigar that has many fans. Try it without a moments hesitation.
Nice construction. Smooth and silky wrapper.
Burns very evenly and holds its ash well. Slightly firm draw.
First third displays some nuttiness with a little bit of that Cuban spice.
Getting into the second third was more of the same, with a bit of pepper and more Cuban spice.
Last third gets just a teeny tiny bit stronger.
In summary, overall it's a pleasant enough light smoke.


text:
Dissed By Her Doctor for Wanting HIV Protection
A pill that can give women control over their bodies and sexual choice is coming under criticism for encouraging risky behavior. Sound familiar?
Heather Boerner
Updated Apr. 14, 2017 2:53PM ET / Published Sep. 06, 2014 6:55AM ET
Poppy Morgan went to her primary care doctor in 2010 because she desperately wanted to take a risk. Specifically, she wanted to stop using condoms so she could have a baby the old-fashioned way with her HIV-positive husband.
As risks go, it wasn't much of one, scientifically speaking. Her husband's viral load—that is, the amount of virus circulating in his system—was so low that her husband's doctor said it would be vanishingly difficult for her to contract the virus through unprotected sex.
But Morgan (not her real name) did want some protection. So she asked her doctor to prescribe Truvada, an HIV drug that research had begun to suggest could keep her from contracting the virus if she were exposed.
But Morgan's doctor didn't just say no; she told the now-39-year-old San Franciscan that she would no longer treat Morgan if she went ahead with her plan.
It wasn't a waiting period to have an abortion, or a transvaginal ultrasound, but the message seemed the same to Morgan: It's your body, but you don't know best. It wasn't until years later that she realized how crazy that was.
"I was being judged for my sexual choices, my maternal calling, for my own decisions about my own body," she wrote on her blog, HIV-Negative Spouses. "That's a bunch of bullshit."
The Food and Drug Administration approved Truvada—a decade old HIV medication made up of two different drugs—for HIV prevention in a method called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2012, and ever since a debate has raged between people like Morgan, who want another option for HIV prevention, and people who remember the bad old days of the early AIDS epidemic. Detractors worry it won't work, that people won't take it even if it does work, that it's too expensive to be widely useful. And they worry that it will spark risky sexual behavior that could cause a resurgence of the epidemic.
Sound familiar? It does to researcher Julie Myers at the Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control in New York City. She wrote a paper, published last year in the journal Clinical Infectious Disease titled, "A Pill For HIV Prevention: Déjà vu all over again?" A pill for HIV prevention; a pill for pregnancy prevention. Both have elicited the same hand wringing and pearls clutching. So far, research shows that none of these fears have been born out with The Pill or with Truvada. In fact, research shows that when you take Truvada daily as directed, it can be up to 99 percent effective, and that those who are most at risk are also most likely to use it. Research so far also indicates that people are not throwing away their condoms because they are taking Truvada.
But for women, the comparison between the two is germane for another reason: For them, the new pill is sparking conversations about women's rights and risks in sexual relationships. And while gay men argue about it, women have lined up to use it. Of the 2,319 people prescribed Truvada for PrEP in 2012 and 2013 nationwide, almost half were women.
And women are taking it for good reason. Outside of gay enclaves, another HIV epidemic is flourishing that overlaps with but isn't the same as, the one in gay communities. The African American community has been devastated by HIV, especially in the South. African Americans make up only 12 percent of the population but comprise 44 percent of HIV cases. And it's African American women who are among the most at risk.
African American women are 20 times more likely to contract HIV than white women. The difference seems to be a combination of poverty, infidelity, and the high number of people who don't know they have HIV—and are therefore wildly infectious.
So what does HIV risk look like for women? Often, it looks like Oshay Davis, a 46-year-old in Newark. Davis takes impeccable care of herself. She gets regular checkups. She's vegetarian. She has health insurance and uses it. Even a year into her now-decade-old relationship, she was getting twice-yearly HIV tests.
Then this girl started coming around. It dawned on Davis (not her real name) that her boyfriend may be cheating. She threatened to leave but, on their anniversary, her boyfriend showed up, sweet-talked her and took her dancing. They ended the night passionately—and without a condom. When, hours later, he told her that he had HIV, she couldn't believe it. Literally. She asked him to take a test. She took a test. They took a test together. She was negative. He was positive.
"When he told me, I laughed. I couldn't believe it. He had just had sex with me without a condom," said Davis, who's sister died of complications to AIDS. "You think, 'He's an older man; he's not playing any childhood games.'"
Charlene Flash sees this kind of thing all the time.
"The real challenge [with women] is risk perception," said Flash, an assistant professor of medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine and an infectious disease doctor at Harris Health System's Thomas Street Health Center in Houston, an HIV clinic that prescribes PrEP. "One high-risk man could be having sex with several low-risk women."
This is where it starts getting uncomfortable, because this isn't just about how people have sex. The reality of the lives of women most at risk of contracting HIV include things like abusive relationships, incarceration (of the woman or her man), survival sex, lack of access to healthcare or the money to pay for services, and a "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy that frees the man to play around on the side. Add in the higher rates of other sexually transmitted infections, which can increase the chance of transmitting HIV, and the fact that black men are less likely to know they have HIV and are less likely to be in treatment if they do, and you have a powder keg of infection waiting to go off in women's bodies.
The obvious solution is to talk about it. But that's not so easy, said Morgan. "With gay men, the sex conversation is so much of an easier topic," she said.
That's not by accident. Gay men have worked out who they are, and the result is that on hookup apps like Grindr and Scruff, gay men are clear about what they're looking for, sexually and romantically. Some have even started sharing their PrEP use on those apps. It's harder to imagine a woman listing Truvada on her OKCupid profile.
Which means that when women find their way to Flash's office to talk about PrEP, Flash often talks to them instead about communication. Does her boyfriend know his status? When was the last time he was tested? Maybe the couple could get tested together. And if he's positive, is he taking meds? What's his viral load?
Sometimes, it means that women leave without a Truvada prescription, but with more power.
"That's the primary difference between men and women," said Flash. "If men have risky sex, they are choosing to have risky behavior. Many of these women don't feel as if they are at risk. Their vulnerability is not necessarily by choice."
And women are vulnerable for another reason that has more to do with how Morgan was shamed in her doctor's office in 2010. In 2014, it shouldn't even be a question that a woman would have control over her own body, or that she should be able to choose her risks, because she understands them and they are hers to take. Even less, 50 years after the introduction of the Pill, should a doctor question a woman's right to control how and when she had a baby, or whether she had a baby at all.
The fact that Morgan did take control of her body and got a different doctor, who prescribed her Truvada doesn't change the fact that Morgan felt stripped of those rights in that moment.
"I get comments on my blog all the time—'You are so selfish; how could you think about bringing a child into this kind of situation? How could you put a child at risk like that?'" said Morgan. "That's the other layer of, 'You don't know how to protect yourself.'"
In 2013, Morgan gave birth to Macey, a healthy, HIV-negative baby. Morgan and Macey remain HIV negative today. Oshay Davis is on PrEP and plans to be on it for the foreseeable future. While Morgan went off Truvada after conceiving Macey, she's thinking about taking it again. This time, it wouldn't be for a baby. It would be for pleasure.
The CDC's guidelines on Truvada for PrEP recommend users keep up with other protection methods, like condoms, since a pill can't protect you from other STDs and, for women, can't prevent pregnancies. But after 14 years of condoms, the allure and intimacy of skin-to-skin contact with the love of her life might be worth all the additional blood work, quarterly HIV tests and more frequent doctor visits.
"It would be fantastic," she said, "if we didn't have to feel, at our core, like we're always one-latex-condom-width away from each other."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
require_relative 'meths_are_called'
module RSpec
  module Matchers
    class MethsAreNotCalled < MethsAreCalled
      def expect(*args, &blk)
        !super
      end
    end

    def meths_are_not_called(*args, &blk)
      MethsAreNotCalled.new(*args, &blk)
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
So far Rob has created 28 entries.
Totnes brewery recognised for having 17th 'Hottest Beer' in the UK
[From Herald Express] Totnes' New Lion Brewery, named after the town's original Lion Brewery which closed in 1926, has had its Pandit IPA beer named the 17th 'Hottest Beer' in the UK.
@100HottestBeers was a national poll in which people were invited to vote on Twitter for their favourite beers. New Lion Brewery, based next to China Blue on Station Road, has seen business expand rapidly over the past year, with Pandit IPA as its most popular brew.
New Lion is part of a resurgence of brewing in the town. The Albert Inn have been producing their own beer for some time […]
New Lion Brewery to star at 'Dartmoor Killing' premiere
[We are thrilled to be part of this event. Here's more information from D&C Film]
There could be no better venue to launch a psychological thriller set on Dartmoor than Dartmoor itself, and that's exactly where Dartmoor Killing is having its premiere. […]
100 Hottest Beers: we need your vote!
Our Pandit IPA (the beer which sold out first at last weekend's Plymouth Beer Festival) is whipping up a storm in the Britain's 100 Hottest Beers Twitter poll. Last week we were at Number 66, this week we're up to 38, and the Top 25 are showcased at a special event in London. We'd really like to be there, and feel that our beer is more than good enough to fly the flag for Totnes at this prestigious event. Please help. If you are a Twitterer, please tweet:
"Britain's best beer is @NewLionBrewery #Pandit @100hottestbeers http://bit.ly/100HotBeers"
Thanks! We'll let you know […]
Introducing 'Tea Q9', our new summer ale
We are delighted to introduce our new summer ale, 'Tea Q9'. Tea Q9 is now available from Bay Horse Inn, and at our Brewery Bars on Friday and Saturday evenings. We are sure it's going to be a big hit! Made with locally-sourced Maris Otter malt, Cascade hops and Earl Grey tea, it's the perfect refreshing summer pint. Here's our Head Brewery Mat Henney to tell you more about it…


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A farewell to Robert Trehern (Bobby Irwin) 1953-2015
As friends and associates will know, drummer and all-round good chap Bobby Irwin sadly died from cancer on 8 May.
At Bobby's funeral at St Stephen's Church, Twickenham, on 19 May, Nick Lowe took the lectern to deliver a eulogy for his fallen drummer and veteran musical partner. A few minutes beforehand, Bobby's brother Chris recalled childhood moments, and Geraint Watkins performed a comforting 'It's A Wonderful Life' seated at the piano, with Martin Winning on sax, but Nick's own public address to the 300-strong congregation was nothing short of high drama.
Tears fell faster than the hailstone rain in the churchyard, which was punctuated by bursts of spring sunshine, just as Nick's emotionally charged speech was dotted with humorous asides that brought hearty laughter and light relief.
'I looked up the word "eulogy" before writing these notes,' said Nick [I am paraphrasing]. 'It is supposed to be brief… well, I first met Bob in 1976, when I was recording at Pathway Studios in Stoke Newington…' Within moments of recalling this encounter, Nick broke down in tears, unable to continue for a full minute. Time became suspended as mourners allowed him 'a moment' to summon composure. Eventually, he mopped his eyes with a checked handkerchief and continued. 'I don't know how I'm going to get through this,' he said, thumbing his notes and looking as if he was about to return to his seat in the congregation. The Reverend Jez Barnes stepped forward in support, his holy intervention persuading Nick to continue, and recall his unique musical partnership with Bob.
Then he slammed us with the nitty-gritty: 'Bob was larger than life. When he told a joke, he was always a member of his own audience'. More laughter. And then, by emotional contrast: 'I don't know how I'm going to carry on without him…' Nick's son Roy popped up from the pews to deliver a fresh handkerchief. 'We spent many years touring the world as young musicians,' continued Nick. 'There are of course stories that I couldn't possibly repeat in church… but I'm quite happy to give anyone a personal consultation later, if you wish.' More laughter amidst the tears… Nick had done Bob proud, and returned to his seat to huge and sustained applause.
Recording engineer Neil Brockbank then read from The Corinthians, and we sang 'He Who Would Valiant Be'. Following the service, many of the congregation repaired to a nearby hostelry to toast Bobby's memory and exchange stories about the great man.
Main photo: Natacha Horn
Bobby Irwin obituary from The Independent
Music City Mike on Bobby Irwin
With thanks to Tanita Tikaram and Natacha Horn
Stiff Tour 1978 Photo: David Corio
Follow Will Birch on Twitter
By Will Birch| 2016-12-21T17:24:05+00:00	May 22nd, 2015|Nick Lowe|0 Comments
About the Author: Will Birch
Writer and lyricist, drummer and songwriter with the Kursaal Flyers and The Records. Author of No Sleep Till Canvey Island – The Great Pub Rock Revolution and Ian Dury – The Definitive Biography. A biography of musician Nick Lowe is currently in the works.
One's Too Many sings Nick Lowe
40 years ago: Stiff Tour 'Hits' Manchester
'I was born in Bethlehem' claims Jesus of Cool
40 years of Peace, Love, and Understanding
Brinsley Schwarz and The Fillmore Trip
Website design by 07 Heaven Marketing


Many of us love gardens but who knew a garden could be designed to be dementia-friendly and evoke inspiration and stimulate curiosity.
The Bupa Hugh Green Shannon Garden is not only the first dementia-friendly garden that Peter Kerrigan has worked on, but a garden designed specifically for dementia residents and is a first for Bupa New Zealand.
There's something in the way the space has been designed at Hugh Green gardens that seems to evoke curiosity, inspiration and calmness.
Discussions with Beth McDougall the Dementia Care Advisor for Bupa New Zealand were taken on board for this project and helped set the brief.
'My inspiration for this garden came from the brief. Several items were pointed out by Beth,' says Robert from Luijten Landscaping.
The height of plants was taken into account during planning as this then makes it accessible for residents who may find it difficult to bend down when admiring aspects of the garden. The Hugh Green garden is an example of how several non-matching items can be placed to create a sense of balance and style.
The garden design is very people focussed. Specific materials that were non-slip, matt and waterproof have been used to help prevent people from slipping. UV treated umbrellas offer shade from the sun and shelter from the rain.
Making it available all hours is another feature that makes this garden unique. It lights up at night and makes it accessible to those residents wanting to enjoy the garden on a warm night.
The large white ceramic-looking pots were sourced from an Italian manufacturer and were chosen for their light-weight structure. 'Weight was something we had to really take into account as this garden sits on the level above the car park. This takes on challenges from a construction point of view,' says Robert.
'Being a courtyard meant that everything – all the soil, plants and other large items had to be delivered by crane over the building during construction. It was an interesting space to work in,' laughs Robert.
The Bupa Hugh Green Shannon Garden is the flagship for Bupa New Zealand.
Read how the landscape designer created the "roof feeling" for the garden.


La ilaha ( ere is no god(s)): I swear that I will not accept those gods that people made themselves and that I will purify my heart from them for Allah. I am preparing my heart, puri ed from other gods, only for Allah and his religion. This must be done because an impure heart cannot hold pure belief in Allah, just as a sound building cannot be built upon a rotten foundation.
Illa Allah: A er rejecting false gods, I accept only Allah as my Lord.
Translation: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is his servant and Messenger.


Revlon New Complexion One Step Compact Makeup in the Caramel 12 shade. One Step glides on creamy smooth and finishes powder light. It provides medium coverage to even out skin tones and texture instantly, providing the look of perfectly natural skin.


text:
All posts tagged "Manchester United"
Tottenham vs Manchester United: a game which is much more than just three points?
The pick of the games in the current midweek cluster sees Tottenham hosting Manchester United on Wednesday evening. The two sides have...
How would Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang fit in at Arsenal?
It has been the transfer saga of the winter window so far. Alexis Sanchez's protracted move away from Arsenal has seen the...
Alexis Sanchez – a hired gun, who cannot save their season?
The media reported that Manchester City are reluctant to pay the 35 million fee asked by Arsenal to allow Alexis Sanchez to...
How the top side or the Premier League table would look like at the end of January?
It looks like that the main question about the current Premier League season "Who will win the league?" is more or less...
Jose's United do not look like Manchester United. It is a team built to pick up points
This is not the Manchester United that inspires football fans. This is not the Manchester United that creates a fan base. It's...
Why have Tottenham slumped?
This season has been an incredibly entertaining one as viewers of the Premier League have been treated to a very entertaining campaign...
Chelsea vs Manchester United: a tale of two defences?
The Premier League returns this weekend with a number of huge clashes adorning the match-week that precedes yet another international break. Every side...
What must Manchester United do to improve?
It has been an odd season for Jose Mourinho and his men so far. The campaign started in superb fashion with a...
The Premier League's top 6 is starting to shape up
The Premier League's Top 6 is starting to shape up as the "Top 6" we've come to know for the first time...
Can Tottenham beat Manchester United at Old Trafford?
Tottenham Hotspur have been one of the outstanding teams in Europe of late with a number of superb results seeing them grow...


Restorative Justice focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.
We ensured a good colour contrast ratio, easy to understand wording and intuitive navigation on these sites so that they were easy to use and understand, whatever the device being used so that we could meet the objective set by the client.
Branding, fonts, colours and logos have been used consistently across both digital and printed content so that they are easy to recognise and understand.
"Hotfoot are a highly competent, courteous and professional agency, always willing to adapt to our changing needs and priorities. Nothing is too much trouble for Joanna and the team."


text:
Maxim Integrated to Invest in Dublin Design Center and Assign Team of Mixed-Signal and Analog Engineers
March 02, 2020 by Luke James
Maxim Integrated is accelerating innovation in Europe with a $25 million investment for a new design center in Dublin, Ireland.
Maxim, which had sales of over $2 billion last year, is widely known as a leading microchip developer – its semiconductors drive digital equipment such as computers and smartphones – and this investment will help the company deliver more of its solutions across new end markets.
The new Dublin-based design center, which will be Maxim's seventh design center in Europe, will focus on product development and research and development in the area of analog semiconductor design.
A Cross-Disciplinary Team of Engineers
To make the company's vision of transcending new end markets a reality, Maxim will recruit a team of mixed-signal and analog design engineers at the facility. The $25 million investment will be mostly spent on recruiting talent, building and equipment costs, and research and development.
The team chosen for the facility, who are specifically mixed-signal and analog design engineers, will focus on R&D for analog semiconductor design. Their efforts will aim to improve upon and promote Maxim's product portfolio of analog and mixed-signal devices.
"With our rich history and depth of talent, I'm thrilled that Maxim Integrated has chosen Dublin for this important investment," said John Kirwan, vice president of Global Customer Operations at Maxim Integrated. "We encourage collaboration between employees representing a wealth of diverse, global experiences, from recent graduates of local universities to veteran designers who have been in the industry for many years."
"Maxim's innovative IC designers create products that truly excite their design engineering customers and change everyday lives," said David Dwelley, chief technology officer at Maxim Integrated. "With this new facility, we plan to reinvent the way we develop technology and push innovation even further, giving our customers the products they need to succeed."
Development Insights for Maxim's Analog Portfolio
The decision to establish the Dublin design center suggests that Maxim intends to expand upon its current selection of analog products. The manufacturer just recently announced a set of new analog products, the MAX6078A, a voltage reference IC, the MAX16155 nanoPower supervisor, and the MAX16160, a voltage monitor and reset IC. The trio was developed for use in cloud infrastructure, IoT, intelligence-at-the-edge, on-device AI, as well as smart and emerging applications in the consumer communications, industrial and medical markets.
With the introduction of new analog options. Maxim seems to be anticipating the current and future needs of designers in the area. The performance demands for analog systems will always be high, while essential functions like precise measurement and protection are expected. With those qualities in mind, as well as the consideration to allow designers the flexibility of working with various applications for their specific requirements and needs.
From left to right: Maxim Integrated CTO David Dwelley; Jason Pearce, head of the company's new design center in Dublin; IDA Ireland vice-president of Enterprise Technology Catherine Howard; Maxim chief executive Tunc Doluca; Maxim vice-president of global customer operations John Kirwan; and IDA Ireland head of enterprise technology Donal Travers. Image used courtesy of The Irish Times.
Dublin's Response to the New Design Center
Maxim's investment has been welcomed by Irish officials, too. A spokesperson for IDA Ireland, the state agency responsible for attracting multinationals such as Maxim, said that it was "delighted" that the company had decided to locate its design center in the Republic. The spokesperson added, "Tech talent and investment are integral to the company's continued growth, and this investment will enhance the technology offering in the engineering and design space in Ireland."
Ireland has benefitted heavily from high-tech companies bringing their operations to the Republic. Official figures just released show that by the end of last year, these companies employed more than 127,000 people.
New STM32 Kit Integrates Cloud Connectivity and Sensors for IoT Device Development
Convert a Vintage Thermostat into a Modern Energy Saver
Understanding and Eliminating 1/f Noise
The Basics of Electrical Resistance (R)
mixed signal
How to Implement Digit Recognition with TensorFlow Lite using an i.MX RT1060 Crossover MCU
by David Piskula, NXP Semiconductors
Current and Voltage Relationships in Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs)
Decision Feedback Equalization: the Technique Driving DDR5's Blazing-Fast Transfer Rates
by Steve Arar
The Versatility of Radar-on-Chip Systems: ADAS, Health-Monitoring, and More
by Rushi Patel


text:
Sam Woolf (* 19. dubna 1996) je americký zpěvák a kytarista.

Život
Narodil se ve městě West Bloomfield v Michiganu Mary a Scottu Woolfovým. Jeho strýcem je skladatel Randall Woolf. Od roku 2006 žil na Floridě. Veřejně poprvé vystupoval v talentové soutěži v šesté třídě, kdy hrál píseň "Hey Jude". V létě roku 2013 absolvoval šestitýdenní program na Berklee College of Music. Roku 2014 se účastnil třinácté série pěvecké soutěže American Idol. Na konkurzu hrál píseň "Lego House" od Eda Sheerana. Později zahrál například písně "It's Time" od kapely Imagine Dragons či "Waiting on the World to Change" od Johna Mayera. V prosinci 2014 vydal pětipísňové EP s názvem .

Odkazy

Reference

Externí odkazy

  Oficiální web

Američtí zpěváci
Američtí kytaristé
Narození v Michiganu
Narození v roce 1996
Narození 19. dubna
Žijící lidé
Muži

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Mahoe Bay | Montego Bay 167 [SEE MAP]Montego Bay [SEE ADDRESS]
#7 in Best Jamaica Hotels
View All 164 Photos » View All 164 Photos »
Courtesy of Sandals Royal Caribbean
at the Sandals Royal Caribbean
Just what the Doctor ordered!
Most Medical Doctor's tell you relax and take some time out for you! Sandals Royal Caribbean Montego Bay execs, staff, Butler's gave us the experience and an oasis experience to enjoy each other in a relaxing, loving and beautiful atmosphere. TRIPADVISOR.COM USER
We arrived on July 13. Just a so-so visit. Upon arrival they broke the wheels off my suitcase, old bag, so no big deal. We requested an ocean from 1st floor suite and were given a second floor suite,but moved the next day. The butlers were helpful, but not able to get us reservation any of the 4 night we were there at Butch's other butler did get their couples in for dinner! We stayed here because we liked the Royal Bahamian so much. Not nearly the same this resort is in need of a face lift and the off shore island is smaller and not a well kept. We would not return. However we did spend time at the Sandals Montego Bay. Latitude bar is AMAZING at sunset and night. A better maintained and nicer resort. We also stayed at the Half Moon resort in Montego Bay and LOVED it. Just an average rating from me TRIPADVISOR.COM USER
Birthday Trip of a Lifetime!
My husband surprised me with a trip to Sandals Royal Caribbean for my 50th birthday. From start to finish, the trip was incredible. Everyone we dealt with at the resort was super friendly, our room was very nice, and the food was great. The staff went out of their way to help make my birthday special, even decorating both our room and the Spa Room when we went for a couples massage! Can't wait to go back again! TRIPADVISOR.COM USER
Not Quite Right.
The Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort was a major disappointment. Over the week of our stay, there were so many things wrong and very few things right. From the online check-in process to the day we left, this resort is "not quite right". The online descriptions and pictures show a spectacular expansive beach, roaming peacocks, and chic parties. I honestly didn't see anything like the descriptions or the pictures. The beach was small and narrow and because of the ongoing construction, mostly blocked off from public use. There wasn't a peacock to be seen and there were no chic parties. The entertainment was good on a few nights but I was expecting more live music and dance parties. The resort seemed to close down by 10pm except those who wanted to hang out listening to a DJ in a small space with little or no place to dance. The resort newsletter "Footprints" falsely stated that this resort had a bar on a pier overlooking the water called "Latitudes". There was no Latitudes bar at the Royal Caribbean, and when I asked the staff where it was they simply said "oh this bar is at the Sandals Montego Bay" with no apologies or explanation for the misrepresentation in Footprints. The online check-in is supposed to expedite the check in process upon arrival at the resort. From the time the reservation was made to the actual physical check-in - we received 3 emails to check in online. We completed the 1st one, and the 2nd one, and the 3rd one, got a printed confirmation stating all was complete - each time. The room we booked included private transport to and from the airport. We called to confirm the private car and were told all was arranged, but when we arrived, we were told to go to the Sandals waiting room and wait for the bus. We had to keep insisting that we were waiting for the car before someone even checked and called a Sandals driver. When we arrived, even after completing the online check-in process 3 times, we still had to wait another 20 minutes or so for the reservation clerk to get someone to show us to our room. She never actually explained why we were simply sitting in this room. There were only 2 couples, including us, in the reservation lounge and the Sandals representative was surly and dismissive. Our room came equipped with its own butler(s), Nicholas and Steve, however, neither of them were there to greet us or give us a tour of the resort when we arrived (around 8:30pm). We were told (not asked) that the butler will call us at 8:30am (are they kidding - we're on vacation and on the morning after a full day's travel) to introduce himself and give us the tour of the resort. Needless to say, we got a map (which took about 20 minutes for someone to get us one) and toured the property ourselves. Our room was actually very nice in appearance but the mattress was too small for the bed frame and it kept shifting during the night which meant that the wood frame became a nightly collision obstacle for our knees, the dresser was missing hardware making it hard to open the drawers and when the drawers did open, they easily came off the track. The room is for 2 people but only had one chair. The A/C is locked at 70, so if you like it a bit cooler when its 98 degrees outside and 100% humidity, you're out of luck. At 8:30am the next morning, Nicholas called us (the resort provides you with a cell phone so you and your butlers can communicate) and came around to see us. Our initial meeting didn't go as we would have expected. We asked Nicholas where we could get another map of the resort. Without saying a word, he walked into our room and went into the nightstand drawer and started looking for the map we knew wasn't there. We had already unpacked and felt a bit uncomfortable with someone going through a drawer that contained personal items, without asking. At that time, we reminded him that, as we spelled out in all 3 check-ins, we were celebrating a birthday and wanted this week to be special and that we needed him to make reservations at a few of the restaurants, and maybe go on the reggae cruise on Friday. We told him the time, date and restaurants we wanted, however, Nicholas proceeded to make reservations at times he decided would be alright. One was as late as 8:30pm on the Friday night which was at the same time as the beach party at our resort and directly after the Reggae cruise. When we explained the conflict Nicholas merely said that we would just have to miss the beach party – not the type of friendly accommodating response we would have expected. None of the bookings were close to the dates and times we had requested. During the week, Nicholas/Steve would bring around an appetizer - I think this is a nice touch, however, there are 2 people in the room and each time they only brought one small plate, not even enough to share. Mid-week we came back to our room in the late afternoon to get dressed for dinner to find the room decorated with a "Happy Anniversary" message on the bed and rose petals on the floor and in the bath. Although a nice gesture, we were celebrating a birthday. We mentioned that again to both Nicholas/Steve and again were told "no problem". The next day when we returned to our room late in the afternoon, the banner now read "Just Married" (you can't make this stuff up). The resort boasts 8 gourmet restaurants, however, what they fail to mention is that 3 of them are the equivalent to fast food. The biggest omission is that 7 of the 8 restaurants have no indoor air conditioned seating. Only the British pub has indoor seating but is very small and lacked any romantic atmosphere. So effectively you either eat in the extreme heat and humidity sweating in your evening attire (some of the restaurants require you to wear) or eat in your room – a wonderful option for a vacation. When it rains (which it does almost every day), all the tables are crammed into a small covered space (called the Tea Room), still open air, and guests are seated at tables that are crammed so close you cannot move the chair far enough to sit down without hitting the people at the table behind you. The food is ok; nothing a foodie would rave about. We took advantage of the multi resort option offered by Sandals and visited the other Sandals resorts in Montego Bay by the Sandals' shuttle. The Carlyle was like a run-down Motel 6 and is being closed as we discovered later but the Sandals Montego Bay resort met more of our expectations primarily with more opportunities for indoor air conditioned eating spaces. Since we both have health issues that are exacerbated by continuous heat, especially my husband where it can be somewhat life threatening, we decided to request a transfer to that resort. We were told that our butlers would handle it. Every time we called we were told they were working on it. Even though we advised our butlers of the health issues we were ultimately told that a transfer was not possible - supposedly because Sandals Montego Bay had no availability. We checked on line and there appeared to be rooms available. Even so we did not want to waste our vacation arguing with management. We therefore decided to travel to the Montego Bay resort every day to take advantage of cooler eating. It is evident that Sandals at this resort have no consideration for the health risks they are creating by the lack of cooler dining facilities. The resort also has "a private island". We took the dragon boat over to take a look at the Thai restaurant which lights up the skyline at night with its different colored lights. We had reservations that night for dinner but seeing that it was totally outside like all the other restaurants and soaking wet from recent rains we opted not to go because it was incredibly hot and muggy. The island was totally desolate at 5pm. The pool was "green" in color, not the crystal blue you would expect. The beach bar was closed. There was an invasive unhealthy bad smell and except for staff, we appeared to be the only people on the private island. Although our reservation was for 7.30 pm our butler Nicholas knocked on our door at 5.45 pm to see if we were ready to be escorted to the island – seriously!! The Sandals' employees were mostly pleasant, but in a few instances they were not friendly at all, not what you would expect at a supposed 5 star resort. We were expecting a lot more friendly interaction between the staff and guests. On our 1st night one of the staff had a problem with us moving a chair in the restaurant so we could sit next to each other. Another time a bartender was abrupt and impatient when I couldn't decide what I wanted to drink. At the beach party, the staff kept clearing our drinks from the table when we were up dancing. This happened 3 times, even after the first time we had asked them not to touch our drinks since we were not finished with them. It was quite humorous that each time the waiter came round everyone on our table immediately placed their hands on their glasses. The butler situation is overrated and pretentious. It does not seem necessary to be escorted by a butler to a table some 200 feet from your room. Having said that at least Steve took special effort to look after us while sitting at the pool on our last full day and brought us finger food and drinks, which we really appreciated. On our last day we had a reasonably early flight and wanted an early breakfast prior to finalize our packing and departure from the room. According to the daily "Footprint", which details all amenities of the resort, a continental breakfast would be available in the Tea Room until 7:30am. We went in at 7am to be told that the continental breakfast was only available until 7am. When we showed the staff the Footprint, clearly stating the available time was up to 7.30 am, they shrugged and told us to just wait until the buffet opened which, with an 8.00 am departure, would have created unwanted pressure. We explained about our departure time and we were told to help ourselves to some coffee. No other help was offered but while sitting there another staff member arrived with a plate of fruit and pastries. Now would it be too much for someone to have said "oh we are sorry for the miscommunication let me get you something". If we had not stopped for coffee we would not have known about the Good Samaritan taking pity on us. Nobody said they were fixing anything. Like many other reviews have stated, this is not a 5 star resort. Royal Caribbean's website is inaccurate; the check-in process needs to be overhauled - it takes too long and is repetitive; the butler service is overrated and a waste of money; many of the staff need to be retrained in customer service/friendly interaction; there needs to be live music past 10pm where people can dance and feel like they are on vacation; more than one restaurant needs to be indoors with air conditioning available at all meals for those who have trouble handling Jamaica weather; the rooms need to be inspected every day (several days our room had only one coffee cup, housekeeping kept taking glasses and not replacing them, some of the toiletries provided were not replaced even though it was obvious they were used). With all this being said and as evidenced in other traveler reviews, we predict that management's response will be boilerplate. If we do stay at another Sandals resort in the future, we will certainly read the traveler reviews prior to booking. We normally are not so critical in our reviews but management at the Royal Caribbean need to hear how their customers really feel. We sincerely hope that the Royal Caribbean Resort will not take our comments lightly. We would like to think that they will understand that we are not simply moaning without reason but will appreciate the very real issues that affected our "special" vacation. Hopefully they will work really hard to make the changes that are necessary to become the 5 star resort they think they are. TRIPADVISOR.COM USER
Pictures lie.
I was highly disappointed in the room. It was actually next to the driveway roundabout. You always had to wall through the lobby to get to anything, beach, pools, restaurants etc. It was like being at a motel as opposed to a Sandals Resort. TRIPADVISOR.COM USER
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text:
Q: toPandas() fails even on small dataset in local pyspark I read a lot about memory usage of Spark when doing stuff like collect() or toPandas() (like here). The common wisdom is to use it only on small dataset. The point is how small Spark can handle?
I run locally (for testing) with pyspark, the driver memory set to 20g (I have 32g on my 16 cores mac), but toPandas() crashes  even with a dataset as small as 20K rows! That cannot be right, so I suspect I do some (setting) wrong. This is the simplified code to reproduce the error:
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import pyspark

from pyspark.sql import SparkSession
spark = SparkSession.builder.getOrCreate()

# setting the number of rows for the CSV file
N = 20000
ncols = 7
c_name = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYWZ'

# creating a pandas dataframe (df)
df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randint(999,999999,size=(N, ncols)), columns=list(c_name[:ncols]))

file_name = 'random.csv'

# export the dataframe to csv using comma delimiting
df.to_csv(file_name, index=False)

## Load the csv in spark
df = spark.read.format('csv').option('header', 'true').load(file_name)#.limit(5000)#.coalesce(2)

## some checks
n_parts = df.rdd.getNumPartitions()
print('Number of partitions:', n_parts)
print('Number of rows:', df.count())

## conver spark df -> toPandas
df_p = df.toPandas()
print('With pandas:',len(df_p))

I run this within jupyter, and get errors like:
ERROR RetryingBlockFetcher: Exception while beginning fetch of 1 outstanding blocks
java.io.IOException: Failed to connect to /192.168.0.104:61536
    at org.apache.spark.network.client.TransportClientFactory.createClient(TransportClientFactory.java:245)
    at org.apache.spark.network.client.TransportClientFactory.createClient(TransportClientFactory.java:187)
...

My spark local setting is (everything else default):
('spark.driver.host', '192.168.0.104')
('spark.driver.memory', '20g')
('spark.rdd.compress', 'True')
('spark.serializer.objectStreamReset', '100')
('spark.master', 'local[*]')
('spark.executor.id', 'driver')
('spark.submit.deployMode', 'client')
('spark.app.id', 'local-1618499935279')
('spark.driver.port', '55115')
('spark.ui.showConsoleProgress', 'true')
('spark.app.name', 'pyspark-shell')
('spark.driver.maxResultSize', '4g')

Is my setup wrong, or it is expected that even 20g of driver memory can't handle a small dataframe with 20K rows and 7 columns? Will repartitioning help?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
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namespace frontend\models;
use yii\db\ActiveRecord;
class User extends  ActiveRecord{

}


text:
Good-bad comedy and bad-bad comedy on TV and at the Edinburgh Fringe
(This was also published by Indian news site WSN)
Malcolm Hardee presents Gong Show rip-off Pull The Plug!
To rip-off American politician Donald Rumsfeld's quote about known knowns and unknown unknowns… In comedy, there are good acts who think they are good and are good, there are bad acts who think they are good but are bad and there are bad acts who think they are bad but are good.
I am, myself, a great lover of good-bad acts and variable acts wh0 can rotate from genius to urinal on a 2p piece. In fact, you can often learn more from watching a bad-bad act than from watching a good act. Good-bad acts are to be encouraged and treasured.
When the late Malcolm Hardee and I worked at Noel Gay Television in 1990/1991, producing entertainment shows in the UK for what was then BSB, a producer called Cecil Korer came to Noel Gay suggesting a TV series called The Cockroach Show – a rip-off of infamous US TV 'talent' programme The Gong Show.
I loved (and love) The Gong Show which I always thought was misunderstood by people who had never seen it. People who had never seen it thought it involved bad acts. But, in fact, it involved knowingly bizarre acts: an entirely different thing. They were good-bad acts.
Unless my memory deceives me, I remember one very overweight lady on The Gong Show, dressed as Marlene Dietrich from The Blue Angel, trying and failing to get up onto a high stool while singing Falling In Love Again. It was very funny. She had great timing.
Another act involved a man (and I think also a woman) who came on and juggled a doll. Except that, after about 15 seconds, viewers (and the open-mouthed judging panel) realised it was not a doll but a real flesh-and-blood child. The act was quickly gonged off.
If only Malcolm Hardee and I could have found such an act while we were at Noel Gay…
Instead, we had Cecil Korer who, I think, had actually been responsible for Channel 4 buying and screening The Gong Show in the UK and now (1990) had this idea to rip it off as The Cockroach Show.
Cecil had a good pedigree having been, at one time, involved in BBC TV's glorious Good Old Days music hall show. He had also commissioned entertainment shows for Channel 4, including the almost indescribable Minipops.
This mostly seemed to involve pre-pubescent little girls singing, while bumping and grinding suggestively and thrusting their hips to raunchy pop music tracks. Cecil claimed he saw it as a cute talent-type show. Many saw it as toe-curlingly and unsettlingly sexist or worse. Today, the words "Jimmy Savile show" would not be too far off the mark.
Pull The Plug judges Ned Sherrin, Liz Kershaw, Jools Holland
Anyway, Malcolm and I co-produced two rip-off pilots for BSB with Cecil Korer credited as producer and us as associate producers but, in fact, one show Pull The Plug! included acts chosen by him and one The Flip Show had acts chosen by Malcolm and me.
The way Malcolm tells it in his autobiography I Stole Freddie Mercury's Birthday Cake:
I went round the country auditioning acts with this old guy Cecil Korer and some glamorous girl he was taking round. Cecil was a TV bloke of the Old School. One of his proudest claims to fame was as producer of the appalling 1980s Channel 4 series Minipops. He liked young girls, did Cecil. Some of the acts we saw were indescribably bizarre. You had to be there. One old woman sang to backing tapes and danced about in a peculiar fashion. She tried her best to look glamorous but everything was wrong: she had no co-ordination, no glamour, nothing. Somehow, it was extremely funny and she should've got on the show.
In the end, we selected enough acts to do two pilots: The Flip Show, which had hand-held hooters instead of a gong, and Pull The Plug! where lights were turned off progressively until the act was in total darkness and had to stop. We recorded the shows in Gillingham with Jools Holland, Cardew Robinson and Ned Sherrin on the panel. The two pilots were not going to set the world alight, but I thought they were quite good. They never got taken up by BSB, though. We were never told exactly why.
In fact, that is not true. We were told.
We had been directed by BSB to make the two pilots "slightly tacky" and "a little cruel". We mostly ignored the second suggestion but, when BSB eventually saw these pilots, they rejected them, with apologies, because they claimed they had had a "re-appraisal" of the BSB image and the two shows were "slightly tacky" and "a little cruel".
There are some brief extracts from the shows in the Malcolm Hardee obituary video on YouTube.
One of the acts Cecil chose was, basically, a girl in her 20s dressed as a St Trinian's schoolgirl doing quite a bit of jiggling. The acts Malcolm and I chose were more knowingly bizarre.
All this came to mind a couple of days ago, when the eternally entrepreneurial Bob Slayer sent me the pitch for his Hive venue at the Edinburgh Fringe this year.
I think The Hive is a justification of my theory that it usually takes three consecutive years to get anywhere at the Fringe.
The first year, people are not necessarily even aware you exist.
The second year, they are aware you exist because you were there last year.
The third year, you seem an established fixture at the eternally ephemeral Fringe and have some profile.
Bob started running The Hive venue within the Free Festival two years ago.
He had an advantage in the first year that people vaguely knew of him as a solo act, though not as a venue-runner. He was also able to attract a big Fringe act – Phil Kay – to the venue.
Last year, he was getting treated even more seriously and the venue had a real buzz about it with Phil Kay and semi-breakthrough shows like Chris Dangerfield's Sex Tourist and John Robertson's The Dark Room as well as the return to the Fringe of The Greatest Show on Legs. This year, I expect even more of a buzz around The Hive, so I was interested to see, as part of Bob's pitch to acts who might want to appear at The Hive:
MY SHOW IS TERRIBLE SHOULD I STILL APPLY?
Is it really terrible? I mean so shockingly bad that we want to see it every day? If so yes apply and mark your application "Even worse than Bob Slayer's show…"
"That was an interesting paragraph," I said to Bob.
Bob Slayer in The Hive at the 2011 Fringe:. This photo can never be printed too often.
"Ah," he replied. "We are very oversubscribed this year so I have been doing all I can to put people off. But there is always room for a real proper stinker. I realise this 'terrible' show slot is very important. In the past, I have mostly found these shows by accident, but you can't rely on that.
"In the year before I took over booking at The Hive, there was a one-woman play about sexual abuse. She was on before my show and hers ended with a graphic reconstruction which she would perform to her audience of only two or three people. She was always over-running and my audience would be waiting outside… So, when she went off-stage prior to her graphic end scene, I would usher my audience into the room, telling them the intro to my show was about to start.
"Her audience would then suddenly swell and they would cheer loudly as she was entered by the devil himself. It was a beautiful piece of theatre and a perfect set-up for my show."
Good comedy?
Bad comedy?
It can often be the same thing.
Tagged as bad, bbc, Bob Slayer, club, comedy, edinburgh fringe, Freddie Mercury, Gong Show, good, Good Old Days, Jimmy Savile, Malcolm hardee, show, venue
Jun 28, 2012 · 10:49 am
How not to run a comedy club – and Mr Nasty's five nightmare comedy gigs
Mark Kelly amplifies tales of bad clubs
So I was talking to comedy scriptwriter and author Mark Kelly, who used to perform as a stand-up comic under the name Mr Nasty and this is what he told me:
Gigs can go wrong for all sorts of reasons, sometimes because of human stupidity.
I once did a gig at a really big student venue in Central London with a brilliant new sound system. We did a sound check and it was really, really good.
I was on first and there were about 350 people in the audience.
I started off and it was absolutely fine, but I started losing people at the back. It was a bit odd: people turning away, talking and leaving, but it was only at the back. Then I started losing more of the people now left at the back.
You can lose an audience, but why would you start losing them sequentially?
I was going very well to the people down the front but completely lost the people at the back. I did about half an hour. By the time I finished, there was a semi-circle of people round the front – maybe only about 30 people – who really, really liked my act. Everyone else had given up.
It turned out the students running the venue had forgotten to switch the sound system on. There was no foldback, so I hadn't twigged I wasn't being amplified.
I remember turning up at a another gig at another student venue where they were really, really proud of their brand new sound system. They showed me the speakers – Yes, they look really new and good – and they showed me the microphone – Yes, that looks really good….
But there was nothing in-between.
I said: "Where's the amp?"
And they just looked at me.
"Oh," they asked. "Do we need something else?"
"Yes," I said, "you can't plug microphones into speakers. You need an amp."
It was quite a big venue and I had to do it without a microphone.
But worse than that was a nightclub near King's Cross in the 1980s, when comedy was becoming popular and a lot of places decided to start hosting comedy nights even though they weren't necessarily physically suitable.
This was the opening night and, as it turned out, the closing night as well.
There were three acts and I had opted to go on first but was also compering.
When we turned up, there was no obvious performance space. They said they would clear a circle on the dance floor: they would put a microphone on the dance floor with a light on the microphone.
So the first problem was that we had to perform in the round, which isn't ideal for comedy, particularly not with one microphone, because I had a guitar as well.
What happened was they ejected everyone off the dance floor – and the people dancing were not best pleased at this – then turned all the flashing disco lights off, put a microphone with stand in the middle of the dance floor and turned the light on to illuminate the performer at the microphone.
But, when they turned the light on, it also turned on the strobe light.
"Can you turn the strobe light off?" I asked.
It turned out they couldn't, because the strobe was somehow connected to the only lighting which could be used in the centre of the dance floor.
So the choice was to perform in the dark or perform in the strobe light.
Faced with this and the desire to be paid, we decided to perform possibly shorter sets in the strobe light.
I was the first act and I had never performed comedy in the middle of a strobing light. Trying to get your timing right was not easy. I didn't even make ten minutes. I got a blinding headache and everyone else just abandoned it.
The audience were at best bemused. They'd come for the disco; they hadn't expected comedy anyway. The idea of some bloke standing there at a microphone with an acoustic guitar round his neck in a strobing light… They just stared at me…
A venue that was even more badly thought-out was a gig I played in Middlesbrough in the early 1990s.
I turned up at this pub which had been running comedy gigs for a few weeks and I was going to be headlining with a local act supporting.. The pub had bouncers outside and looked like a bit of a heavy pub, but not too bad.
I got the train up from London, got there early and wandered round the pub, but couldn't find anything that looked like a stage area. It was a very big pub and there were lots of different alcoves where small groups of people could drink. Scattered around the pub were maybe 20 small CCTV-type screens which were showing the best bits of various comedy shows – big laugh, short clip stuff.
It turned out that they had one small alcove into which no more than half a dozen people could fit and they set up a microphone on a stand in this alcove with a camera in front of it.
In order to do the gig, you had to perform to the half dozen people in the alcove and to the camera. This was relayed round the pub on the small CCTV-type screens.
So the idea of the 'live' comedy performance was, essentially, just performing to a camera.
The local support act was on before me. So, suspecting what was going to happen, I walked round the pub when he was performing and, sure enough, no-one was taking the blindest bit of notice of him because they'd already had all the laughs they were going to get from the comedy clips.
He came on. The sound was terrible and the camera was not at the best of angles. No-one was taking any notice of him.
So I went on and had to do nearly an hour performing to, at most, five people I could actually see and I pretty much opted to perform to them and, if anyone watching on the screens decided to enjoy it, it was entirely up to them.
The idea that live comedy could possibly work in that situation was absurd.
Topping that venue in awfulness, though, was a gig I vaguely remember was somewhere just off the M25 orbital motorway around London and, in fact, it would actually have been easier performing on the M25 itself.
This was again in the early 1990s.
This guy had seen me somewhere, really liked what I did and booked me for the opening night of his comedy club.
He was on the phone to me for a long time and seemed very enthusiastic about comedy. He said he'd made quite a bit of money and had bought this pub. He had decided to re-design it himself because he wanted a 'real' comedy venue. He went on and on about how much thought he'd put into it. I was going to love it. I would absolutely love performing there, because it was a custom-built comedy venue.
Three of us – all fairly decent established acts – came out from London for the opening night and there were some teething problems in the sense he had forgotten to do any advertising.
There was actually no audience whatsoever expecting a comedy show. He literally went out into the street and tried to drag people in. However, the pièce de résistance of the evening was his architectural design.
When the three of us walked in, we couldn't quite spot the stage. It was a very large room with a very high ceiling. As my eyes ran up the wall, about 20 feet up, there was a very large enclave.
You had to go in a door at the side of the bar, up a rickety wooden staircase and into what the guy described as a stage area which had an inbuilt disco console which could not be moved. So, in the actual stage area, although it was quite deep, the actual width you could use was quite small.
The audience that night got to look up the nostrils of three comics who teetered on the edge of the 20ft high performance alcove trying not to fall out, trying to perform comedy halfway up a wall to an entirely bemused audience down below.
There was little applause. He had – literally – had to persuade people off the streets. They were all just standing around drinking and occasionally looking upwards.
My understanding is that was the opening and closing night of his comedy club.
The guy who ran it was very nice, very keen, genuinely loved comedy and had sunk all his money into this. He wanted it to work, but he obviously had not asked advice from any comics.
There's a lesson there.
Filed under Comedy, Humor, Humour, Theatre
Tagged as bad, club, comedian, comedy, comic, gig, venue
Unmasked: the man who stood in Leicester Square with no message
Last week, I wrote a blog about a man who "stood in Leicester Square with a placard saying he had absolutely no message for the world"
His name was Phil Klein.
It was not his first time in Leicester Square and here, indeed, is a YouTube clip which appears to have been shot in 2007, before he became a man who held a nihilistic placard:
In retrospect, I have to say, when I stopped and talked to him on a whim last week, he did look vaguely familiar, as did the name. But I thought that was because Phil Klein is not that uncommon a name and comedy maverick Phil 'Pigeon Man' Zimmerman is a British alternative comedian while Alan Klein was the American who managed The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
After my blog was posted, though, UK comedy cognoscente Ian Fox told me: "Phil Klein used to be a comic."
When he was working as a comic, one description of his act (I think penned by Phil himself) was: "His humour incorporates themes on being Jewish, coming from Hampstead, George Dubya, how the Aussies love the English really. Though, if all else fails, he is liable to down a pint (or more) on stage."
Ian Fox told me that "Phil performed in the Canon's Gait venue at the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe. Every day when he finished his show – he never used a microphone, just shouted at the audience – he'd be quite sweaty and in the change-over period between shows I'd ask him how it went. He always answered the same way: I think I need to work on my material."
That 2005 Fringe show was called A1A Phil Klein and the Fringe Programme description read: "An honest, warts-and-all exploration of being messed up and Jewish or a blatant attempt to be first in the programme? Take a seat for half an hour on the rollercoaster that is Phil's life."
He appears to have got no review for the show, but he was less lucky in 2006, when his show on the PBH Free Fringe was titled The Growing Pains of Amos Phineas Klein Age 33 And A Third and the Chortle comedy website's one-star review said:
"When a comedy show is free, you have to expect an audience that isn't 100 per cent focused on the show. But you don't normally expect it of the comedian. Amos Phileas Klein spends almost the whole of the second half of his show playing with his phone. At first I thought he had some notes on the set stored on there that he was looking up: unprofessional but forgivable. But it soon becomes clear that this isn't the case  it seems he is involved in a text conversation with someone, while delivering in an increasingly distracted fashion. It's a truly shocking degree of contempt for his audience."
Future Malcolm Hardee Awards judge Jay Richardson, writing in The Scotsman, suggested: "It's less a comedy gig than a hostage taking."
After reading my blog last week, Brian Damage, who runs the Pear Shaped Comedy Clubs told me: "Last time Phil did Pear Shaped he borrowed £10 off me and fell asleep," and, on the Pear Shaped website, Brian writes that Phil "was for many years our chief competitor. However he has now retired to spend more time with his personality."
Around 2005, Phil used to be co-promoter and co-compere of The Funny Bone comedy club in Finchley Road, near his home in Hampstead, as well as running another comedy night in North London at The Culdesac. In May 2005, Chortle wrote:
"Regular compering at the small empire of open-spot gigs he runs in central London has given him a level of comfort at being on stage, but even with that near-daily experience of performing, he still doesn't appear naturally funny… He comes across relatively effortlessly as a nice enough bloke, but there's a yawning gap between that and the X-factor that will elevate him from the open mic circuit. On current form, it's a gulf Klein cannot bridge."
This is a YouTube clip of him performing in London, it seems likely, in 2006:
Filed under Comedy
Tagged as anarchy, bad, Chortle, club, comedy, edinburgh, festival, free, Fringe, Leicester Square, Malcolm hardee, nihilism, Phil Klein, review, surreal
British Airways PR… BA = Bloody Awful
BA spells bad service
I had forgotten how awful British Airways are.
I remember flying with them to Dublin when they were trying to take-on the budget airlines. Their answer was to fly old aircraft and chop one third off the width of some of the seats. You could see where they'd done it. You had to be a contortionist or a famine victim to travel comfortably.
When I flew out to China three weeks ago, British Airways had (no surprise here) managed to over-book the flight, so they downgraded me a class. As a Scot brought up among Jews, I did not particularly mind, as they gave me £75 compensation and said the difference in price on the tickets would be refunded.
The difference in the ticket price, of course, has not yet been refunded, but what is more interesting is the way they gave me the £75, which was to hand me a British Airways Visa card with £75 on it. They told me I could withdraw the money through any ATM and, although I would normally have to pay for ATM withdrawals, the first withdrawal would be free in this case.
It was not until I got back home to the UK that I realised ATMs dispense money in £10 or £20 notes, not £5 notes. So I can withdraw £70 but not £75. I emailed British Airways over a week ago asking how to get round this problem. I imagine I could somehow pay an extra £5 into the account (though I am not sure how, as the card is not linked to any known bank or bank account) but then, if I withdraw £80, that might count as a second piece of dealing with the card so I might be charged for withdrawing the money?
With BA, anything is possible.
They are trying to foist their Visa cards on people who have not asked for them and presumably intentionally make if difficult to cash any compensation money they allegedly give you.
As I say, I contacted BA more than a week ago by e-mail – because contacting anyone who will admit to responsibility by phone is apparently impossible. No reply. So their attempt to cultivate good PR has resulted in me thinking they are incompetent and/or possibly devious wankers.
This image of BA was not helped by talking to my friend Lynn, who used to work in PR for several TV companies and who travels Business Class. She tells me that, having paid an extortionate amount of money for a Business Class seat, you may find yourself sitting staring at some random BA staff member on flights. It has happened to her. BA's response? Tough shit. I paraphrase their response but do not misrepresent it.
"In World Traveller Class and in Business Class," she told me this week, "the crew fold-down seats, which the crew use during take-off and landing, can be given to any BA staff who want to travel on the flight. So you can literally find yourself staring someone in the face in a very unrelaxed way for the whole of the journey. You can't easily settle down when you're eyeballing someone else and you can't stretch your legs out.
"They're allowing BA staff to use them for the whole of the flight if there are no spare seats. Which, for one thing, doesn't seem very safe and, for another, means you're not getting the leg room you've paid through the nose for."
This reinforces my image of BA.
BA = Bloody Awful…
Frankly, I'd rather fly in a North Korean Air Koryo Tupolev smelling of petrol fumes; at least they try their best.
Filed under Marketing, PR, Travel
Tagged as airline, ATM, BA, bad, British Airways, budget, business, class, compensation, PR, virgin, Visa, World Traveller
Feb 10, 2012 · 12:01 pm
"The Room" – The best bad movie?… And how to heckle cult movies properly.
Tommy Wiseau at the Prince Charles Cinema last night
There are a lot of films labelled "the best worst movie ever made" – for example, Killer Bitch – and where better is there to screen those movies than at the admirable Prince Charles Cinema off Leicester Square in London?
This cinema does not just organise sing-alonga Sound of Music and swear-alonga Team America screenings. Oh no.
Upcoming treats include The Charlies – their alternative Academy Awards held on Oscar night – plus a Friday The 13th all-night marathon screening of Parts I-VIII and a Troma Films triple bill of The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke 'Em High and their new film Father's Day – introduced by Troma boss Lloyd Kaufman.
It has taken me some time to catch up with The Room – not a Troma film but an independent movie made in 2003.
British writer and social commentator Charlie Brooker said after its London premiere (at the Prince Charles) in 2009: "I don't think there is a word that can describe that experience… Possibly the most unique movie-going experience of my life"
Other cinema-goers that night called it "Like a tumour" and "Absolutely blissfully indulgent in the most peculiar and perverted way".
The Room's writer/director/producer/star Tommy Wiseau's message to the audience at that London premiere was: "You can laugh, you can cry, you can express yourselves but please don't hurt each other."
Last night, I went to the Prince Charles' first midnight screening of The Room introduced by Tommy Wiseau and co-star Greg Sestero.
You know you may be in for a treat when there is a stall in the foyer selling T-shirts, £10 posters, DVDs and other knick-knacks and people are having their photo taken with the director…. It is also unusual, in my fairly extensive experience, to find your feet crunching on dozens of plastic spoons as you walk into your row of seats – spoons provided by the cinema. It has become a tradition to throw plastic spoons at the screen… A reference to an unexplained shot of a spoon in the movie – in a framed photograph standing on a table.
Basically, The Room is a seriously-intended soft-hearted movie about relationships which almost unbelievably cost $6 million to make. In Los Angeles, it was promoted using a single expensive billboard in Hollywood showing an extreme close-up of Wiseau's face, with one of his eyelids in mid-blink. The ad ran on this expensive billboard for over four years.
Wiseau also reportedly paid for a small TV and print campaign saying The Room was "a film with the passion of Tennessee Williams".
Where the alleged $6 million budget for the movie or the money for the billboard came from are just two of many apparently inexplicable mysteries surrounding the film.
In truth, last night's screening of The Room disappointed me, because the constant heckling by the audience has not yet settled down into ritual.
I once attended a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the World Science Fiction Convention which was almost a brand new work of art in itself. Not only were audience members dressed-up as characters, but the heckling involved shouted responses and set-ups to what was being said on screen, to create whole new surreal conversations.
Last night's screening of The Room – inevitably billed as The Best Worst Film Ever Made – was simply a licence to be rowdy, with people laughing (in often random places) for the sake of laughing, random heckling, random throwing of plastic spoons and wannabe hecklers yelling out mostly failed attempts at post-modernist humour. The heckling was mostly over the on-screen dialogue. To work effectively, movie heckling has to be in-between the dialogue.
The film, though, has a lot of potential for would-be creative hecklers.
There is much to be developed from an early heckle of "What does it mean?" and a later one of "This is a pointless scene!"
I loved and laughed heartily at an utterly irrelevant shot of an ugly dog in a flower shop (you had to be there) and almost laughed as much at the completely pointless picking-up by the central character of a newspaper lying on the sidewalk.
The pointlessness of certain specifics is what, it could be argued, makes The Room one of the truly great bad movies.
I thought it admirably odd that the male characters are often tossing a baseball between each other – in one noted scene in an alleyway, four of them wear unexplained tuxedos while throwing the ball and talking… until one of them trips over in carefully-framed giant close-up for no plot or artistic reason at all.
It is also rare for one of the female central characters in a film to say she has breast cancer and is going to die… and to be greeted with loud laughter and enthusiastic cheers from the audience. The cancer is never referred to again in the movie and, every time the woman touched her daughter's face (which she does a lot), the audience shouted out "Cancer!"
The audience and the screening was at its best with recurring heckles. Throughout the film, there were justified yells of "Shut the door!" and, during repeated and unnecessary lengthy pans along the width of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the audience would chant: "Go! – Go! – Go! – Go! – Go! – Go! – Go! – Go! – Go! – Go!" until the pan finished.
Quite what it must be like for Tommy Wiseau to know his seriously-intended film about relationships is being laughed-at and abused I can barely imagine. But he seems happy to take the money. He did, after all, make the film as a serious drama but now markets it as a 'dark' comedy.
I particularly recommend that irrelevant shot of the ugly dog in a flower shop. I would seriously consider seeing the film again simply just for that one shot.
But – and this is important – one piece of advice to you if you do see it.
See it in the cinema.
And do not sit in the second row.
Dozens of thrown plastic spoons fall short and it is like being in the French army during the English archers' onslaught of arrows at Agincourt.
Filed under Comedy, Kitsch, Movies, Surreal
Tagged as audience, bad, camp, Charlie Brooker, cinema, cult, film, Greg Sestero, heckle, Killer Bitch, kitsch, london, movie, participation, picture, Prince Charles, Rocky Horror, show, surreal, The Room, Tommy Wiseau, Troma, worst
The British telecom incompetence contest continues…
As an addendum to my recent blog about Pipex/TalkTalk, BT and Virgin Media apparently competing to be the most incompetent telecoms company in the UK, Virgin Media seem to be inching ahead.
I was babysitting – well, triple child sitting – at a friend's brother's home on Saturday night. The house has WiFi but, perhaps foolishly, I did not check whose.
When we got there, it turned out to be Virgin Media and, of course, there was no WiFi signal.
"When I had Virgin Media in my home," I said forlornly, "the Wifi only worked for about 40% of the time."
"Ah," my friend's brother said nonchalantly, "I think we had less than that this last week."
At least Virgin Media are consistent.
They provide consistently bad service.
But, then, in Woodford Green – well within London – my O2 mobile phone and dongle's reception are, at best variable. So O2 are still trying hard.
And I expect Pipex/TalkTalk to fight back with more cold calling in the coming week.
So the competition is still wide open.
Filed under PR, Telecoms
Tagged as bad, British Telecom, Brritain, BT, incompetence, london, O2, Pipex, service, TalkTalk, uk, United Kingdom, Virgin Media, wifi, Woodford Green


i'm just goin' to eat spaggeti and pizza !!
i'm hungry.. i think i'm gonna eat some more spaggeti and pizza... or anything good in the fridge..
Salad with crutons and sliced avocado, ranch dressing and a piece of upside pineapple cake.
You must be joking.... Right ?
Pizza with cheddar cheese and BBQ sauce rather than red sauce, don't judge me.


Scotland's first Mother and Baby Unit is located at Leverndale Hospital in Glasgow.
The Mother and Baby Unit admits women who are experiencing severe mental illness in the later stages of pregnancy or if their baby is under 12 months old. The six bedded unit enables mothers to be supported in caring for their baby whilst having care and treatment for a range of mental illnesses.
Maintaining this contact is critical to the wellbeing of both mother and baby as it not only aids the mother's recovery but also strengthens the mother-infant relationship and infant development.
We offer a wide range of medical, psychological and psychosocial interventions to women from across the West of Scotland.
We are a specialist multi-disciplinary team providing care and treatment to women who are pregnant or postnatal and are at risk of, or are affected by, mental illness. We also offer expert advice to women considering pregnancy if they are at risk of a serious mental illness. We offer evidence-based treatments in a way that is best suited to you, your baby and family. Mental health problems are not uncommon during this time but they are known to respond well to care and treatment. We are able to see women at maternity hospitals, outpatient clinics and in the home setting.
Please call us for visiting times.


text:
Baseball splits double-header against St. Joseph's
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LANGE
By Jack Hamilton — Staff Writer
The Ithaca College baseball team broke even in its double-header on March 4, winning their first game against St. Joseph's College 4–3, and losing in the second game 4–1. Following this weekend's action, Bombers baseball is now 3–2 on the season.
St. Joseph's came out strong in the first game, taking a 1–0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, and then increased the lead to 3-0 with two runs in the third inning.
The Blue and Gold first got on the board in the top of the fourth when they scored two runs, bringing the score to 3–2. The South Hill squad took the lead for the remainder of the game by scoring two more runs in the top of the fifth, leading to the eventual final score of 4–3.
Scoring runs for the Blue and Gold were junior outfielder Sam Little with two, junior catcher Adam Gallagher, and junior DH Andrew Bailey. Junior second baseman Jake Generali had three RBIs, while junior third baseman Cam Fuoti had one.
Getting the win on the mound for the Bombers was junior pitcher Jake Binder. Binder pitched the whole game and earned his first victory of the season.
St. Joseph's came back in the second game of the double header, taking a 3–0 lead after the second inning. Fuoti got the Bombers on the board in the top of the third, reaching home off of an RBI single from junior outfielder Garrett Snyder, but it ended up being their only score of the game. St. Joseph's scored once more in the fifth, bringing the game to its final score 4–1.
Senior pitcher and co-captain Tyler Hill got the loss pitching, bringing his record to 1–1 on the season. Hill tossed for 3.1 innings, splitting the rest of the game with seniors Jack Morello and Robby Buffis.
The Bombers play their next game 1 p.m. March 11 when they visit Pomona-Pitzer College in Claremont, California.
Baseball relies on strong pitching for upcoming season
By Jack Hamilton | Feb 28, 2018
Club ice hockey looks to stand out in its league
By Jack Hamilton | Oct 4, 2017
Baseball sweeps SUNY Canton in a triple header April 14–15
By Jack Hamilton | Apr 18, 2017
Adam GallagherAndrew BaileyBlue and GoldBombersCam FuotiGarrett SnyderIthaca CollegeJack MorelloJake BinderJake GeneraliPomona-Pitzer CollegeRobby BuffisSam LittleSouth Hill squadSt. Joseph'sTyler Hill


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text:
Millions of financial records exposed on First American website, report says
The title insurance company didn't require a password to view the pages, according to security expert Brian Krebs.
Laura Hautala
May 24, 2019 4:01 p.m. PT
Another day, another example of an organization leaking sensitive data through basic errors.
Graphic by Pixabay/Illustration by CNET
A website for a major title insurance company exposed hundreds of millions of records including bank account information, Social Security numbers, images of drivers' licenses and mortgage and tax records, security expert Brian Krebs found.
First American Financial, which serves as a neutral party to help finalize real estate transactions, left approximately 885 million exposed to anyone who had the correct URL, Krebs found. No password was needed, just a web browser. The information was secured on Friday, and it's unclear if fraudsters accessed or abused the data before it was taken down.
A real estate developer reportedly alerted Krebs to the problem after he noticed he could access sensitive documents on the First American website by altering the string of digits at the end of a URL. The earliest document identified was from 2003 and the data included records through 2019.
The flaw is another example of how organizations can leak sensitive data through basic errors. On Tuesday, Google revealed findings it had been inadvertently storing some user passwords in plaintext, eschewing the industry standard practice of encrypting login credentials. And on Wednesday, a researcher detailed to CNET how Instagram had been including personal contact information for users in its website's source code. The data wasn't private, but the coding error made it even easier for anyone to scrape the contact information and create a virtual phone book of Instagram users.
In a statement, First American said it fixed the problem.
"We are currently evaluating what effect, if any, this had on the security of customer information," the company said. "We have hired an outside forensic firm to assure us that there has not been any meaningful unauthorized access to our customer data."
Originally published May 24, 4:01 p.m. PT.
Update, 4:46 p.m.: Adds comment from First American.
Now playing: Watch this: A database with info on 80M+ US households was left open...
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Discuss: Millions of financial records exposed on First American website, report says


Great news for smartphone lovers: the annual Tesco Mobile Black Friday Sale extravaganza is live for two weeks from November 15th to 28th.
During this time, you'll have the opportunity to pick up some incredible smartphones for less such as the Xperia XZ2, which comes with a FREE pair of Sony WH-H900N h.ear on 2 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones.
The Sony Xperia XZ2 packs one of the most powerful smartphone cameras of recent years, so you'll likely want to pick this smartphone up if you're a fan of smartphone photography.
The rear camera is fitted with a 19MP sensor, resulting in incredibly detailed pictures with breath-taking colour reproduction and the kind of clarity you'd usually find in high-end digital cameras.
The front of the device features a 5MP camera and is great for on the fly selfies, while the video recording modes include 4K HDR and 960fps super slow motion.
The large yet comfortable to hold 5.7-inch 4K HDR screen offers perfect video playback, image display and mobile gaming, so you can stay entertained wherever you are.
Sony is renowned for staying ahead of the competition and the Xperia XZ2 continues this trend with features like its long lasting battery, fast wireless charging, IP65/68 water resistance and High-Resolution Audio.
Purchase the Sony Xperia XZ2 during the Tesco Mobile Black Friday sale and you'll receive a pair of Sony WH-H900N h.ear on 2 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones for absolutely FREE.
These comfortable and portable noise cancelling headphones provide High-Resolution Audio and a rich and natural sound thanks to the Digital Sound Enhancement Engine.
The Sony Xperia XZ2 is just one of the incredible smartphones on sale for less as part of the Tesco Mobile Black Friday Sale, running from November 15th to 28th.


text:
Hussein Hajj Hassan
Prime Minister Najib Mikati
Nationality Lebanese
Education University of Orleans
Succeeded by Himself
Role Politician
Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Name Hussein Hassan
Preceded by Himself
Political party Hezbollah
Party Hezbollah
Similar People Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, Imad Mughniyah, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur
Ministerial meeting on food price volatility (16 October 2012) H.E. Hussein Hajj Hassan
Hussein Hajj Hassan (born 1960) is a Lebanese politician and minister of industry.
Early life and education
Political career and views
Hajj Hassan was born into a Shia family in the Beqaa Valley in 1960. He holds a PhD in molecular biophysical chemistry, which he received from the University of Orléans, France in 1987.
Hajj Hassan is a member of the Lebanese Shia party Hezbollah. He ran on the latter's electoral list in Lebanon's 1996 general election and was elected MP of the Beqaa's Baalbeck/Hermel constituency. In May 1998, he argued that although Islamic state is an ideal solution, Hezbollah is aware of its inapplicability in Lebanon.
He was reelected in the 2000, 2005 and 2009 polls. In 2009, he was among Hezbollah's 11 members of parliament. In June 2009, he met with the then European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Beirut, representing Hezbollah. From 2000 to 2005 he led the parliamentary commission on agriculture and tourism. He is part of the "Loyalty to the Resistance", an opposition parliamentary bloc.
He was named on 9 November 2009 minister of agriculture in Saad Hariri's national unity government. In January 2011, he and other two ministers, Gebran Bassil and Mohamad Jawad Khalifeh, resigned from the cabinet, leading to the collapse of Hariri government.
He was appointed to Najib Mikati's cabinet again as a minister of agriculture in June 2011.
Hussein Hajj Hassan Wikipedia
Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur
Imad Mughniyah
Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah