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Tag: panic at the disco
Linkin Park – One More Light
Anyone who was born when Hybrid Theory first came out is 17-years-old now. If they're lucky, they have experienced heartbreak, romance, sex, drugs, fighting with parents, have a solid group of friends and are thinking of what to do with their lives. I say this so you'll realized how long these guys exist. We still live in the fallout of their first two albums which captured the anxiety of youth so well. So now we're listening to Mike's half-apology to his kids and wonder what the hell happened.
It's the same question a parent will ask themselves when they realize their baby is now as big as them and discovered sexuality. These guys are old. Moreover, they always hopped from genre to genre, each album a clear response to what was before. Minutes to Midnight was their attempt to break away from Nu Metal, experimenting with different kinds of structures and isolating the Hip-Hop elements so they'll become their own. On A Thousand Suns they said goodbye to everything and to every audience, jumping headfirst to experimental electronica, themes of nuclear warfare, emphasizing their Hip-Hop elements and producing such a wide-eyed vision that nobody could keep up with them.
After that, things made a bit more sense – but only a little more. Just when you thought they went full artistic, they dropped Living Things, a simple punchy albums that combine all their previous elements. Yet that album wasn't a regression, since it had "Victimized" and "Until It Breaks", the band refusing to settle to a genre and to a single structue. After everyone got used to blippy electronics and with a new fanbase, The Hunting Party threw it all away for huge, angry Rock that still included their experimental elements – see "A Line in the Sand".
So how is the direction they took on this album a surprise? This album is the complete opposite of The Hunting Party without going ambient, not just in sound but in vibe. Linkin Park have always been quite angry. One More Light isn't just a move to a new sound – you heard some of these ideas back in "Breaking The Habit" but to a whole new emotional dimension. 3 years ago they were angry adults, now they're content adults.
It's amazing people still react to this band with the surprise. As an attempt to go commercial, this is the complete opposite of their essence. When it does sound like 'what's on the radio', it's a drastic improvement. For the first time Linkin Park are allowed to be happy. The main shock behind "Battle Symphony" was how joyous it was, how it was so full of hope it didn't have to to be bombastic but ride a glitchy, funny riff. Chester sounds content, not stretching his vocals but keeping the fun, careless spirit. This, along with "Nobody Can Save Me" are songs for an easy summer and we all could use such a summer.
Even when the songs are more serious, there's a grown-up attitude of contentment, of looking back at your past and coming to terms with it. So you get "Halfway Right", where Chester pours out his troubled with past with the happiness that it's all behind him. Or there's "Sharp Edges", a move to Country which would've been cliched – and is – but check the ending. It's been so long since the "What doesn't kill you…" line sounded good, but the song explodes with life-affirming energy.
There's a problem in music where artists 'grow up' and lose vitality. Many artists don't know how to grow up, and what passes for lack of restraint is actually losing the energy and desire to make music. Linkin Park doesn't fall into that. They enjoy keeping the songs low-key. It's the kind of happiness where you don't have to prove anything, and that's why the ending to "Sharp Edges" or the 'na na na' thing in "Halfway Right" works. The band isn't a spent force and their adulthood didn't drain them of energy. Instead, they found joy. Nothing in "Sharp Edges" is particularly new if you listened to Mumford & Sons, but with such a joyous ending there's no need to get lost in the dictionary in search of profound words.
The most important tracks are the title-track and "Sorry For Now". They're so good that they deserve their own paragraphs. Why "Sorry For Now" wasn't released as a lead single is mystifying. No song grabs the listener and is full of surprises like that one. First off, we hear Mike directly addressing his kids and nothing shows us how old these guys are like this. Then there's the chorus, which is beautiful and odd in its dismissal of angry children – a 'someday you'll understand' that's almost flippant but not too much. Right before the final chorus Chester comes to sing-rap, and it makes a happy song already more happier. At this point, they believe they can do anything – so they combine personal lyrics, a bass drop, a happy melody along with switching roles. By far it's one of the most joyous song I heard, a band sounding so happy where they are so they just go with whatever.
Then there's the title-track, which is harrowing. Linkin Park made few ballads, but this is the best of them. It's not just about losing someone. The driving line – "Who cares if one more light goes out/in a sky of a million stars?" expresses how small we are in the face of death. It's a song that should change the world. We hear about people dying everyday, and we can't care about it all but goddamn it matters. It's a hushed, warm ballad that, again, never explodes to vocal acrobatics. Brad's guitar in the background is just as fragile as any of us. This is a song we all need to take in, to affirm our importance and our fragility at the same. No surprise they decided the song was so important they should title the album after it.
Releasing "Heavy" as the first single was such a stupid move. It remains the worst song here, although it's only bad for the first minute where Chester sounds too whiny. As soon as Kiiara joins it becomes a decent ballad, updating the existential angst to adulthood. The album sounds nothing like that song. Actually, this album doesn't sound like anything. Glitch is a big element, but just when you think you captured the sound of the album something slips. "Good Goodbye" is an aggressive Trap song. "Sorry For Now" is too big. The last two tracks drop the electronica for acoustic guitars. Comparisons to Twenty One Pilots are a good idea, but that's because Twenty One Pilots are another band who refuses to stay in one place. So everyone calls them 'unoriginal'.
Some have said this is a good Pop album but a bad Linkin Park album. Actually, when you look at it in the context of the band's discography it becomes better. It's another adventure, another evidence of how creative this band is. It's not just the exploration of sound – there's plenty of beautiful melodies and song progression. Add "Sorry For Now" and "One More Light" which are masterpieces, and this is another success. Of course, people who grew up on guitars will hate this. That's less fun for you.
4 battle symphonies out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on May 19, 2017 May 19, 2017 Categories music, reviewTags 10 years, 12 stones, 3 doors down, 30 seconds to mars, 36 crazyfists, 3rd strike, 4lyn, a perfect circle, a thousand suns, adelitas way, adema, album, album review, alien ant farm, alter bridge, amatory, anberlin, art of dying, audioslave, billy talent, bloodhound gang, breaking benjamin, britpop, chester bennington, chevelle, chris cornell, classic rock, clawfinger, coal chamber, cold, coldplay, corey taylor, crazy town, creed, crossfade, dark new day, daughtry, dead by sunrise, default, deftones, digital summer, disturbed, dope, drowning pool, dry cell, earshot, egypt central, Electro House, electro pop, electronic, electronic music, electronica, element eighty, emil bulls, evanescence, evans blue, exilia, fall out boy, finger elevent, five finger death punch, flaw, flyleaf, foo fighters, fort minor, framing hanley, fuel, glitch, glitch music, godsmack, good charlotte, green day, guano apes, halestorm, hard rock, hinder, hip-hop, hiphop, hoobastank, hybrid theory, icon for hire, ill nino, imagine dragons, incubus, indie rock, jay gordon, jay z, jonathan davis, julien-k, kiiara, korn, lifehouse, limp bizkit, linkin park, living things, lostprophets, lumen, marilyn manson, maroon 5, meteora, mike shinoda, minutes to midnight, mudvayne, muse, mushroomhead, music, music album, music review, my chemical romance, my darkest days, new music, nickelback, nirvana, nonpoint, one minute silence, one more light, onerepublic, orgy, p.o.d., panic at the disco, papa roach, paramore, pillar, placebo, poets of the fall, pop, pop music, pop punk, pop rock, popular music, psychedelic pop, puddle of mudd, pusha t, pvris, radiohead, rage against the machine, rap, rap metal, rap music, rap rock, rape, rapping, red, red hot chili peppers, rev theory, rock, rock music, rock review, saliva, scars on broadway, seether, serj tankian, sevendust, shinedown, sick puppies, sixx:a.m., skillet, slipknot, snow patrol, soil, spineshank, staind, starset, static-x, stone sour, stormzy, story of the year, system of a down, taproot, the all-american rejects, the calling, the chainsmokers, the exies, the fray, the hunting party, the offspring, the pretty reckless, the rasmus, the red jumpsuit apparatus, the used, theory of a deadman, thousand foot krutch, three days grace, trap, trapt, tribal ink, trustcompany, twenty one pilots, unloco, xero, yellowcard, you me at six, young gunsLeave a comment on Linkin Park – One More Light
Panic! At the Disco – Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die
Did Panic even want to make this album?
Every Panic album makes some kind of statement. Even Vices & Virtues had a clear aim, which was to deliver a straightforward Hard Rock record. When Panic have a target to aim for, they're unstoppable. "Vegas Lights" is your ordinary dance song about partying until you drop. It's not original and Urie adds nothing of his own, but it still bangs and the chorus is great.
Everything else is confusing. What's the purpose of this record? Is it mean to be some record inspired by Vegas? Then Vegas isn't such a fun place. "Girl That You Love" is very serious and it's a huge downfall from the fantastic "Vegas Lights" which comes before. "This is Gospel" is okay, but a weird opener. All the whoa-whoa in the chorus and it still feels too serious, like partying is for shallow stupid people. Urie comes off like he's hoping to pick up girls in a dance party by looking serious.
If this is supposed to be cliched 80's, it's the bad stuff. It's not the weird party music that Oingo Boing or early Underworld made. Rather, it's Rock music with a little noise, a little dance backing and vague sexuality. It's so toothless you wonder whether the cool kids will prefer this over the weirdos who tried to combine Industrial with Synthpop.
In fact, Urie doesn't commit to the concept. "Casual Affair" is a Space Rock rock, and a decent one. The weird wobbles leap out, sounding like they're inspired by Brostep without actually attempting it. The ballad "Far Too Young to Die" have no room in here. While it's nice to see Urie trying to bend genres, he doesn't throw himself into these ideas like he should. The boring melodies overpower the sound, instead of the sound inspiring the melodies.
Then again, perhaps it's good that he doesn't try too much to make party music. Aside from "Vegas Lights", "Nicotine" and "Girls/Girls/Boys" are very uninspired. The former is a joke. Urie stretches his voice in some way to convince me or you that the party is on with serious lyrics. The horns in the chorus aren't new, but they were better a few years later in "Crazy=Genius". The latter is another joke, a rewrite of "Somebody Told Me" about gender confusion that's not sexy or stupid. A rock band just wrote a song about sex that doesn't even have macho bullshit.
What went wrong here? Panic's strength is how traditionally ROCKSTAR! Urie is. He always sounded full of bravado, sneering at everyone while having a party. Making party rock should be the ideal for him. It should allow him to brag and boast about how cool he is.
Here, he sounds and unsure and desperate to appeal to people. So he puts a semi-dance beat behind a weak chorus with lyrics that aren't too serious and not too light. I'm sure some people are impressed by generic sentiments like 'show me your love' over muted guitars and drums, but all I hear is a band who doesn't want to make this kind of music. "Vegas Lights" and "Miss Jackson" sounds so bizarre in context. Urie actually sounds like he wanted to make those songs. They have a specific sound and as generic as "Vegas Lights" is, at least Urie sounds passionate about a simple dance song.
Panic moved on from this and made the excellent Death of a Bachelor. That one shares similarities with this one, only it's good. Whether it's soft or tough, Urie throws himself into his ideas fully. This album sounds like a band at its beginning that's afraid of drawing criticism. If you're afraid of drawing criticism, you're not worth anyone's attention.
2 girls out of 5 boys
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on July 30, 2016 July 30, 2016 Categories music, reviewTags 30 seconds to mars, 80s, album, album review, all time low, arcade fire, arctic monkeys, bastille, billy talent, cobra starship, dance music, dance punk, depeche mode, electronic dance music, electronic music, fall out boy, franz ferdinand, gerard way, good charlotte, icona pop, indie, indie rock, led zeppelin, mayday parade, modest mouse, muscles, music, music 2016, music album, music review, musie, my chemical romance, new politics, new wave, oingo boingo, panic at the disco, pop, pop music, pop punk, pop rock, popular music, post punk, psychedelic pop, punk, punk pop, punk rock, rock, rock music, sum 41, synthpop, the 1975, the academy is, the all-american rejects, the beatles, the cab, the hush sound, the killers, the neighbourhood, the used, the young veins, twenty one pilots, you me at sixLeave a comment on Panic! At the Disco – Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die
Fall Out Boy – Take This to Your Grave
Anyone remember Teen Rock?
I use this as an umbrella term for the Rock that came out around the late 90's into the mid-00's. It was criticized for whining, for being angsty and being derivative. You don't have to look at two bands from different genres to realize that was bullshit. Inspired by New Found Glory as they are, their demeanor is different. It seems most of the criticism came from people who either were metalheads (In general, not people to talk about music to) or people who didn't realize hooks were a good thing.
Time does its thing. Now that these bands aren't in everyone's face and no one can hate them for having teen fangirls, we can actually listen to the music. There are plenty of surprises, like realizing My Chemical Romance is more of a Glam Rock act and that Linkin Park were pretty experimental. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Fall Out Boy used to be Emo.
Fall Out Boy aren't Emo. This isn't an attack on either Emo or the band. The genre is fantastic and the band is responsible for ridiculously catchy songs. Their later output is too happy, too hook-heavy to be called Emo. It lacked the sensitivity, the vulnerability and the sloppy sound that Emo so earnest.
Here, though, they're gloriously Emo. It's easy to miss this. They don't rely on one-liners like Texas Is the Reason or sound like American Football. Stump has yet to gain rockstar confidence, so although he's got stadium-sized hooks he spends the records looking back at how shitty his youth his.
I'm sure that sounds whiny to most, but these people can go listen to Slayer. What the hell does 'whiny' mean, anyway? What band didn't sing about their troubles? Art is one way of humans to cope with the bad stuff. Heartbreak was a constant theme from the beginning. If you approach an album filled with songs about relationships and think to yourself that it's whiny, you suck at human psychology.
Now, this subject can lead to a lot of embarassing lyrics. Politics can also lead to embarassing lyrics, though. Just look at Rage Against the Machine. What's important is how the band approaches these subjects. Do the lyrics explore the subject? Can they put into words feelings you've been unable to describe, or are they regurgitating cliches?
Maybe this is what people meant when they said 'whiny'. Some bands' lyrics are just a collection of random words about how bad stuff is. The key to a good, emotionally releasing song is being specific. Either that, or just have good one-liners.
Where Nu Metal failed and Emo succeeded was the lyrical department. As much as I love Nu Metal, many bands just sung about how things are bad in general. Fall Out Boy are specific. It's the great tradition of looking at your youth, looking at all these people (or single person) you hate and finding new ways to say 'I hate you'.
Take This to Your Grave is a very hateful album. I'm talking about Glassjaw-level of hatred here. Wentz's lyrics don't go off about the gender of the assailant, but the hatred overflows the record. Here are some lines:
"Stop burning bridges and drive off of them
So I can forget about you"
"Every friend we ever had in common
I will sever the tie, sever the tie with you
You can thank your lucky stars that everything I wish for will never come true"
"You want apologies
Girl, you might hold your breath
Until your breathing stops forever, forever"
"I want to hate you half as much as I hate myself"
Poetry is about finding new ways to say old feelings. Fall Out Boy never repeats the same words too much. Each line is specific to a situation. Most of the album is either about hating yourself or hating another, but there's wit in them. The band doesn't just repeat "I hate you".
It's shocking to read these lyrics. The music isn't pure Emo and their path towards pure Pop is evident. Stump's voice, the fast playing and the ridiculous catchiness of it makes it sound happy. "Dead on Arrival" and "Where Is Your Boy?" are so gloriously melodic you can imagine teens singing along to them at the end of a party celebrating their summer. The lyrics are so vile though. The former is one of the least hateful songs here, but Stump teasing a girl about how she'll grow to like him has bitterness in it. The latter condescends towards both the girl and her new guy.
If it sounds like Fall Out Boy are another band who sold out and let go of their aggression, it's not. This record did have hits and the band's lives improved incredibly. Of course they wouldn't be so hateful after selling so many records. Take This is hateful not because the band's mission statement is to make hateful music – they're not Slipknot or Korn. The album often plays like a Greatest Hits records with only "Reinventing the Wheel" letting things down. At their heart, they were always one of the best Pop bands.
The album does suffer from a repetitive sound. The band hadn't discovered varying tempos yet and most of the songs alter slightly, but even the most deviating songs (the incredibly melodic "Saturday") don't do much to add new color. All these 12 songs stay firmly in Punk-Pop territory as if no other genre exists. It's impressive they could mine this narrow genre for 11 great songs, but the effect is tiring when listened to in full.
Fall Out Boy are a brilliant band and were great since their inception. People who hated the whole 'Teen Rock' movement won't enjoy a thing here. The slightly raw sound doesn't make this any less radio-friendly. That movement contained a lot of great music, riffs and hooks and is one of its classics.
3.5 postcards from a plane crash out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on May 21, 2016 May 21, 2016 Categories music, reviewTags album, album review, all time low, american football, blink-182, bowling for soup, boys like girls, boys night out, brand new, cartel, classic rock, cobra starship, cute is what we aim for, dance punk, emo, emo pop, emocore, empire! empire!, every avenue, fall out boy, forever the sickest kids, gerard way, good charlotte, green day, hard rock, hardcore punk, heavy metal, hey monday, industrial rock, jack's mannequin, joie de vivre, kids in glass houses, korn, linkin park, marianas trench, mayday parade, metal, midtown, motion city soundtrack, music album, music review, my chemical romance, new found glory, new politics, nu metal, on the might of princes, panic at the disco, paramore, patrick stump, pete wentz, pianos become the teeth, pop, pop music, pop punk, pop rock, popular music, post punk, power pop, punk, punk pop, punk rock, rap rock, rites of spring, rock, rock music, simple plan, slipknot, stoner rock, sum 41, take this to your grave, taking back sunday, texas is the reason, the academy is, the all-american rejects, the audition, the cab, the maine, the red jumpsuit apparatus, the starting line, the used, tonight alive, we are the in crowd, we the kings, yellowcard, you me at six2 Comments on Fall Out Boy – Take This to Your Grave
Panic! At the Disco – Death of a Bachelor
Panic at the Disco were never 'emo'. They were never even similar to the bands that people mis-classified as Emo. They had Punk-Pop elements, yes, but they were more experimental and glam than their peers. When Fall Out Boy and Chemical Romance traded the punkish hooks for experimentation, it sounded like a band trying to justify their huge fanbase. When Panic reinvented themselves over and over, it was just something they were made to do.
"Emperor's New Clothes" isn't surprising. It was inevitable. Urie stomps and brags over a Hip-Hop backing while forgetting to rap. Fall Out Boy released a very similar song recently too. This is what happens to all successful rock bands. After you're victorious, selling records and getting groupies what is there to sing about?
Stadium is the logical end of any band that relied on hooks for success. Some bands still pretend they have a serious message to deliver. Others, like Papa Roach, still give us angsty lyrics only with friendly melodies. They make it clear that the bands aren't struggling, but they hope the songs will help you.
Since Panic never complained much about life, they choose (more correctly, Urie chooses) the hedonistic approach. There are a lot of lyrics about partying, drugs and being a bad motherfucker. The biggest influence on this album isn't Frank Sinatra. Did Frank display the arrogance Urie shows in "Victorious" or "The Good, The Bad…"? For most of the album, Urie tells people either to fuck off, step their game up or how great he is. When he's not doing that, he tells us he parties hard. It's no different than your average Rap song on the radio.
That's not a bad thing, of course. It's actually what Rock music needs right now. Rock music suffered too much of over-seriousness. Ever since Nirvana, every rock star decided to make the audience a psychotherapist. Some Nu Metal or Punk Pop bands added a little fun, but a lot of Rock was just noise to think deep thoughts during recess. I can still remember the days when we considered fun music to be meaningless and therefore bad.
These songs are great. Urie is convincing in his arrogance and I don't expect anything less of a rock star with fan girls. Urie sounds so confident that "Crazy=Genius" almost sounds stupid. What kind of lover would doubt him after hearing him on "Emperor's New Clothes"? On "The Good, the Bad…" he sounds like he will continue smiling even if he'll receive 1000 punches.
Urie also experiments with genres a bit, but they're never full-blown experiments. It's odd to hear no guitars on "Emperor's New Clothes", but he never lets the genre he experiments with to take over. I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing. Urie is a charismatic enough singer to hold his own. The hooks are better than ever, but you do wish Urie would go further. If he's so confident as he presents himself, why doesn't he try to rap on "Emperor's New Clothes"? Why doesn't "Victorious" contains a Skrillex-inspired bass drop although it begs to?
As expected, it's the ballads that fail. They're not terrible, but they're a huge step down. They reek of tokenism. Urie may like Sinatra, but he doesn't have the same kind of voice. He can't replicate that atmosphere. A few horns and vocal acrobatics don't make you Sinatra or Dean Martin. They have a specific style of melodies and of singing.
The title-track doesn't suffer too much since it still has the old rock star arrogance. The obligatory closing ballad is a huge step down. Instead of channeling the influence and making a throwback, it's just your ordinary piano ballad at the end of a rock album. Ballads often stick like a sore thumb in an album full of party tracks.
These two and a few other, more serious tracks make the record less focused. Urie plays the party tracks with full conviction, but he's unsure how exactly to imitate Sinatra. Without this focus, the album fails to be the big statement it should have been. It's still a great record full of hooks and variety, though. Maybe Pretty Odd was Panic's classics and they will never improve on it, but Urie is far sounding out of ideas.
3.5 naked emperors out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on January 19, 2016 January 19, 2016 Categories music, reviewTags bass, brendon urie, dance music, daughter, david bowie, dean martin, dillon francis, disco, dj, drum, electric wizard, electronic, electronic dance music, electronic music, electronica, experimental, fall out boy, fallout, forgive durden, frank sinatra, guitar, hip-hop, horn, jazz, kanye west, lostprophets, music, music album, music review, my chemical romance, new found glory, new music, new vegas, panic, panic at the disco, pete wentz, pop, pop music, pop punk, popular music, punk pop, punk rock, pusha t, rao, rapping, rock, rock music, skunk anansie, standard, story of the year, the academy is, victorious, victoryLeave a comment on Panic! At the Disco – Death of a Bachelor


I love rice krispy treats. I don't like just your normal back of the box treats. My favorite were the Starbucks krispy treats. Until one day I decided I could my own that tasted just as good. So I set out to create a really good krispy treat and much to my delight had great success! Although I have to say, it's not too difficult to create yummy krispy treats. Here is how I did it, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
To start, measure out 8oz krispies in the large bowl on the food scale.
Spray corners of pan, rubber spatula and wooden spoon with Crisco spray.
Heat butter in saucepot over med-low heat, once melted add 1/2 container of Fluff, stir till mostly melted and then pour in 1/2 bag of the mini marshmallows.
Heat till mostly melted, stirring the whole time.
Pour in the rice krispies in 3 batches, stirring with the wooden spoon till incorporated, keep saucepot over heat for this so that the marshmallow mix stays soft and warm, that makes it easier to stir in the krispies.
Once it is all mixed you can add the second half of the mini marshmallows and stir just to distribute them, don't over mix or they will melt and break up and you will not have whole marshmallows in the treats.
Remove from heat, dump the mix into the silicone pan, using the rubber spatula press down hard so that the mix is level with the edge of the pan, this requires some muscle!
Lay a piece of wax paper over the top and press to smooth.
Leave to cool in the pan, atleast 4 hours. If you remove sooner it will stick to the pan and ruin the shape. I do not cut my krispies in the pan since it is silicone. I also like to cut different shapes and sizes. I use a very sharp, 12" knife, and I press down to cut, do not use a sawing motion. For the circle treats I use a 3" tall round metal cutter.
Here is my pan and spatula sprayed with the Crisco.
This is the Fluff being mixed in with the melted butter.
Here is the mix of Fluff and marshmallows melting before the krispies are added.
The mix piled high in the pan!!! Pressing it all down into the pan yields tightly packed 2" tall treats that cut beautifully.
All packed in nice and neat and ready to cool.
The finished treat out of the pan and ready to be cut up. See how nice and dense it is? And you can see those whole mini marshmallows. There's lots of other things you can add also: chocolate chips, M&Ms, white chocolate chips, nuts, pretzel bits, the possibilities are endless!
YUM!!!! I cut a circle, square and rectangle. Ready to be decorated, if they make it that long!


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'Love Is Blind' Needs to Fix Its Beautiful People Problem
If love is blind, why does everyone on the show fit conventional standards of beauty?
(Image credit: Morgan McMullen )
By Anne T. Donahue
The premise of Netflix's Love Is Blind (opens in new tab) had promise: Thirty contestants (15 men, 15 women) court each other over approximately six weeks, and commit to engagements, without ever seeing each other. On its head, it's a series built on whether at-first-sight physical attraction matters when searching for "the one." It's a show that pledges to shine the spotlight on how shallow someone may be, despite their claims of being otherwise.
It's also a total lie.
Considering the show was produced by the makers of Lifetime's Married At First Sight, it's not earth-shattering that another made-for-streaming show failed to reinvent the way love and relationships are depicted on reality television. But it was still exciting to think of its potential. The announcement (opens in new tab) itself put emphasis on whether love could work as well in the real world as in the fabricated one—and in 2020, that's a great question. The majority of us depict ourselves differently on social media than we do in real life (see: our filtered and Facetuned photos that lack the realism of, say, sitting at one's kitchen table writing an essay on Love Is Blind while wearing cat hair–covered PJs), so the intrigue surrounding the series made sense. But then it aired.
Mark Cuevas and Jessica Batten finally meet face-to-face after getting engaged in the pods.
(Image credit: Netflix)
Upon its debut, some critics praised the novelty of its concept but more panned it for the way a unique concept dissolved into just another reality dating show. And not just par for the course, but a "toxic, revolting," and "hollow" (albeit addicting) addition to the already bloated genre. Particularly because, despite claiming to circumvent the vapidness of hot people dating other hot people, it was defined by it.
One of the most frustrating things about Love Is Blind is how it revolves so much around conventional attractiveness. Their age differences, height differences, race differences, varying religious beliefs or life backgrounds are largely trumped by the fact that each of the series' participants embodies traditional beauty standards. (Hell, some of the contestants are so confident about their looks that they tell us, in the first episode, how hot they know they are and what a catch that makes them.) It arguably reflects the producers' fear of owning the risks of their "social experiment" in favor of consciously leaning into the leverage that comes with following a small number of couples who are, well, beautiful. (Even the couples who weren't shown as much—or at all —were also beautiful.)
In fact, everybody on the show, at minimum, is TV-level attractive. Not a soul looks like a Regular Person™. And if they were people we knew in real life and ran into at the grocery store, we'd all exclaim enthusiastically, "Wow! You look great! Do you just always have your brows filled in?"
This isn't to say that just because a person is attractive enough to participate in a Vanessa-and-Nick-Lachey-hosted reality show, that everyone should be attracted to them. (My dislike of Barnett is proof enough.) We're well aware that attraction depends on so much more than just physicality: It depends on personality, on one's moral compass, on the traits you've already deemed important, on the feelings you have. And, yes, that's the point of the show. But that point is largely negated from the onset by casting people who are above average-looking.
Cameron Hamilton proposes to Lauren Speed, the first couple to get engaged on the reality show.
Maybe that's what made me so annoyed about this whole thing: Despite its instant popularity that's already led to rumors of a second season, I would still rather watch people who look like real people date and fall in love and engage with each other without the footnote (or safety blanket) of upholding the beauty standards that have been consistently shoved down our throats. I would love to see, at the very least, contestants who could be anybody, from anywhere, and who happily exist out of the realm of the aesthetic specifics we've been told to attain. I want to see people of all sizes, of all ethnicities, of all heights, of all incarnations of selves. I want a show that isn't ableist and opens the door to more contestants whose sexualities exist beyond heterosexuality. (Diamond's reaction to Carlton's bisexuality was profoundly upsetting.) I want a show that looks like the world it's filmed in, not the one it's created.
Especially since the real world isn't beautiful at all. It's messy. Throughout Cameron and Lauren's relationship, the two have complex conversations about race, racism, and their differing experiences navigating the world. Cameron, who is white, tells Lauren that he knows that their children will be seen as black and will face racism as a result of it. And when Lauren shares her own experiences, he takes time to listen and to learn, not enforcing his preconceived beliefs or biases as a white guy. This conversation was a tremendous starting point in opening up a dialogue about issues interracial couples face. But it was just that—a starting point. The show could have created more dialogues by focusing on a more diverse cast.
For brief moments, we meet men like Westley (who's short, and who's been rejected before as a result of his height) and Taylor (who's never had sex before). Had they not disappeared (opens in new tab), they would've given us a little more necessary depth. It would've been interesting to hear Westley talk about the way his height impacts him, and it would've been cool for a 30-something man like Taylor to speak more on navigating the heteronormative dating world when your sexual experience differs from what's considered normal. That's what the real world is: different perspectives and opportunities to learn from and about.
Giannina Gibelli prepares for her wedding to Damian Powers.
This is more than possible for producers to deliver on. Show creator Chris Coelen recently explained that 30 people had been asked to participate, but only couples who seemed to form a genuine connection were asked to stay. And those people, as we can see, just "happened" to be conventionally beautiful. Meaning? These are the people who those in charge believed would make the best television. But I think watching contestants sit in the discomfort of not necessarily connecting with anybody might have made for even better, more ground-breaking, and more realistic television.
Love absolutely can be blind. Physical attractiveness can, and very much does, grow from the seeds of meeting someone who likes you, champions you, makes you laugh, listens, is kind and hard-working, and makes you feel like a person you didn't know you could be. But why not celebrate the range of people who exist on this planet? Why champion traditional definitions of beauty while claiming not to prioritize looks?
And why was anyone even remotely dressed up for those pod dates?
Goddamn it, you guys: No one can see you.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Ireland is such a freaking beautiful country. Even with overcast February grayness and a constant mist and/or whipping wind, it is stunning. After heading out from Dublin, we drove west through the central part of the country, ultimately heading a bit south. It's kind of hard not to stop to take pictures of pretty much everything along the way. Our main stops in the first two days of our trip were the ruins of Glendalough and the Rock of Cashel.
We wound our way through the beautiful and barren Wicklow Mountains. The air was a foggy, rainy soup, but the country was gorgeous. After a few hours of driving up and down through the mountains, we ended up at Glendalough, an early Christian monastery.
Glendalough monastery was founded in the 6th century in a glacial valley by St. Kevin, a hermit monk who died in 618 AD. After his death, the monastery continued to expand for 600 years until it began to decline. At its height, Glendalough was a thriving community including not only churches but homes and guesthouses, farm buildings, and a health center.
The monastic remains that can still be seen include stone churches, decorated crosses likely from the tenth century, and other sites associated with the life of St. Kevin. The most visible building at Glendalough is the dramatic round tower which rises about 30 meters high above the site.
The Glendalough visitor center was a bit disappointing and the movie was skippable. However, the monastic ruins were absolutely stunning—from the round tower to the ornately carved crosses. I'm not Catholic (not even Christian), but I found the Christian ruins throughout Ireland were some of my favorite things on our trip.
The legend of the Rock of Cashel may be a bit more interesting than the actual site. According to mythology, when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave 20 miles away, the rock was flung and landed in Cashel. In truth, the Rock of Cashel served as the base for a Welsh clan who ruled the region in the 4th through 8th centuries; in the early 12th century, it was given to the church and became the seat of the archbishop. Today, it is a popular archaeological site in Ireland.
What remains at the site, located in County Tipperary, is a group of medieval buildings roughly 1000 years old. At the Rock of Cashel, stone walls surround a round tower, cathedral, Romanesque chapel, high crosses and other structures. There's not a lot left, but what's here is beautiful. A friend had told us to skip it, but I'm glad we ignored the advice.
What do you think about Visiting the Ruins of Glendalough and Rock of Cashel?
I have been in Ireland several times, and it's one of my favorite countries.
The people are very friendly, and I like the atmosphere in the pubs and snooker-halls.
I was there for about one year ago.
This last time I was sent there on business, so I did not have much time over for the "tourist thing".
BUT, I found a very nice one-day trip from Dublin to the Wicklow Mountains.
I really recommend this trip if you have a day over in Dublin.


Cinephiles, old-movie viewers, and old movie-viewers rejoice! Local post-production house, Mocha Chai Laboratories, helmed by award-winning sound designer Lim Ting Li and veteran filmmaker Chai Yee Wei, are rolling out their latest venture—the first and currently only film scanning laboratory in Singapore capable of 5K HDR film-scanning, alongside film cleaning and other restoration services.
While film duplication is no new process, the old way of doing things such as via telecine—when film data is transferred to tape—almost always ends up in a disaster from a contemporary perspective, as the footage generated do not match the actual films themselves. Combined with inadequate or non-existent archiving best practices, this often results in a scenario where colors fade or the actual structural integrity of the films themselves deteriorates, leaving behind barely usable archival materials.
Beyond conservation purposes, this is an issue that affects the audience too, as the display capabilities of audiovisual equipment and devices expand at an astronomical rate—a trend that guarantees that old copies or badly preserved films cannot be enjoyed the same way that their filmmakers intended. Just imagine your 144p YouTube videos loading on your iPhones, and you can already feel the pain as an audience, not to mention the filmmakers themselves if they are still alive, of having to squint at something that is only twenty cm from your eyes.
Mocha Chai Laboratories, which includes local content aggregator A Little Seed, aims to help with the situation by searching for classic Singaporean films and recovering them for restoration purposes, before finally making them available on digital platforms for consumers, depending on the filmmakers' wishes.
An example of such a classic title would be that of the groundbreaking Eating Air. Made in 1999 by directors Kelvin Tong and Jasmine Ng, the film prints of the self-professed 'motorcycle kung-fu love story' were thought to be lost until Mocha Chai Laboratories' persistent effort uncovered a surviving copy in Thailand. Before the discovery, audiences, programmers, and other interested screening parties alike had to contend with degenerating copies leftover from the title's initial theatrical run or even low-resolution DVD transfers.
Upon successful retrieval of the prints from their Thai holder, Mocha Chai Lab aims to perform a 4K HDR restoration of the film alongside filmmakers Tong and Ng, after which plans were made to release the title onto iTunes, available for public purchase, so that the audience may enjoy the title as it was meant to be enjoyed.


No one likes to have unwanted hair. The furry stuff on arms, legs, face, sneaky mustache and beard hairs really annoys. If you just don't want to shave your unwanted hair you can go for the hard wax. The hard waxes (aka strip-less waxes) are specific type of wax used to remove unwanted hair.
You can apply and remove hair bit differently than the more common soft wax (aka strip wax) and can achieve same the goal- remove hair from the follicle.
I personally advice you to use hard wax to remove unwanted hair from brows, upper lip, chin and other body parts. You can easily warm the strip free hard wax in the microwave or in wax heater and can apply on unwanted hair, once it's cooled.
Here are the 5 best hard wax hair removal products available in the U.S and you can easily buy via online shopping.
The Cirepil Blue Wax is one of the 5 best hard wax hair removal products, offers cost effective value of your money. A French manufacturer, founded in1936, Cirepil revolutionizes waxing with a special polymer that shrink wraps hair for ease of removal.
The hard wax Cirepil blue wax beads particularly made with soothing jojoba oil to remove unwanted hair on the larger areas of the body through smooth application. It's also a disposable, low temperature wax for the comfort and pleasure of the client.
You can buy the 800 grams refill bag of Cirepil blue wax beads at online shopping in the U.S.
The Mabox Hair Removal Hard Wax Beans offer premium results with the nourishment of coconut oil. Particularly designed with natural ingredients, no chemical reaction and non-toxic, the Mabox hair removal hard wax beans remove unwanted hair without the added step of using a strip. Just melt hard wax beans completely in the wax heater or microwave in a glass bowl, let it cool and apply on unwanted hair with the help of spatula. Remove wax with a firm action against the direction of hair growth. The Mabox Hard Wax Beans 100g (Purple) are available at online shopping in the U.S.
Babyliss Pro Satin Smooth Pure White Hard Wax is the unique combination of Arnica and coconut oil to nourish the skin after hair removal. It's the ideal choice for those who want to get rid of unwanted hair for having silky smooth baby soft skin. With its anti-inflammatory properties the Babyliss pure white hard wax is suitable for all parts of body. It takes up really short hair and very good for small awkward areas like eyebrows.
Amikie body hair removal hard wax beans are made up of purely herbal and natural ingredients to achieve the utmost results without hurting the skin. Claims to remove the 90% hair at one time the Amikie body hair removal hard wax can be yours via online shopping in the U.S. This wax is recommended for professional use.
BlueZoo claims that their hard wax hair removal beans are the best wax pellets ever to get rid of unwanted hair without pain. It is designed with the natural ingredients with no harm to health, offers silky smooth texture on all the pats of the body including face, mustache, beard, eyebrows, armpit, bikini area, arms and legs. You can remove hair easily at home by yourself with BlueZoo hard wax beans. So what are you waiting for save your time and money on Salons by purchasing the BlueZoo hard wax beans at online shopping in the US.
Don't apply the too much hot wax as it can burn your skin.
Must consult a doctor if adverse reaction occurs.


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Education & Employment Health & Social Care
Lloyds Bank Foundation supports small and medium-sized charities with an annual income of £25,000 to £1 million with a proven track record of helping people on a journey of positive change through in-depth, holistic and person-centred support with long term funding and tailored support to develop.
The Foundation works with those organisations helping people dealing with complex social issues that don't have simple solutions. Difficulties such as poor mental health, homelessness and substance abuse. They fund charities helping people whose lives are significantly affected by:
Domestic and sexual abuse
Homelessness and vulnerably housed
Offending, prison or community service
Addiction or dependency on alcohol, drugs, substances and/or gambling
Trafficking and modern slavery
Asylum seekers and refugees
When reviewing applications, the following will be considered:
local need;
the prevalence of eligible small and medium sized charities;
the nature of the region; and
the balance of our portfolio to date.
The size of grant a charity can apply for depends on this information, which the Foundation reviews and updates every six months and informs their online eligibility checker.
Deadline: Continuous rolling programme
Other Health & Social Care Funds
Read More Education & Employment Health & Social Care
Thursday January 21st, 2021 5:00pm
The CROWN UK Fund awards grants of up to £20,000 to Black-led grassroots organisations and projects who are working to eliminate barriers to progress for Black women and girls and driving for long-term systemic change. The Fund is specifically seeking projects that seek to eradicate race-based hair discrimination. Dove is keen to receive applications from…
Read More Health & Social Care National Lottery
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) & The National Lottery Community Fund: Local Connections Fund
Tuesday January 26th, 2021 11:59pm
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and The National Lottery Community Fund's Local Connections Fund awards 'microgrants' of between £300 and £2,500, to small, local organisations (with an annual income of £50,000 or less) who bring people and communities together in order to reduce loneliness. The funding can be used to help bring…


I am using a dial up away from home. I am using AOL 9.0 Optimize as my dial connection, I minimixe it in the back ground but want to use IE6 as my browser. If I log on with AOL, the AOL browser does work. I took my laptop to an office with LAN and downloaded and reloaded IE6. IE6 works when I am hooked up to the LAN connection but can not find pages when using dialup through AOL. It seems that there is some sort of interface missing.
This scenario did work earlier in the week. I picked up a couple of viruses and per mytechsupport, I ran HiJackthis and CWShredder. That worked great and finally got rid of a very difficult dialer trojan.
I have tried using proxy settings and no proxy settings, it made no difference either way.
Did something get deleted that shouldn't have from the virus clean?
I have been reading other articles and I am wondering about Java Script programs. Do I need those?
Please let me know if you have any ideas or what info I can provide to you.


Deeply Discounted Off Market Properties 20% ROI or More!
We Offer Off Market Deals Not Listed on the MLS.
When you go fishing, would you fish in a pond that everyone else is fishing in? We hope not, that would just create competition and less chances of catching any fish. So why would you try to find discounted property on the MLS or other main stream listing services. You don't have to look far as WE along with our partners tend to get deeply discounted properties from motivated sellers at $0.70 cents or less on the dollar. Which mean more money for the fix and flip investor. We have even seen up to 60+% ROI on some of the deals that pass through our property wholesalers.
*Home listed on Divine Purpose Real Estate LLC are under contract. We assign our position on contract for an assignment fee unless other wise stated.


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La Maison de Goult
About La Maison de Goult
The heated swimming pool in the courtyard of La Maison de Goult is just one of this elegant townhouse's many well-kept secrets. Located in the historic village of Goult, and just a stone's throw from its shops, restaurants and cafes, the villa is a superb option for families and groups wanting to immerse themselves in the traditional Provençal lifestyle.
With its thick walls, vaulted ceilings and grand fireplace, La Maison de Goult is as atmospheric as it is comfortable. In the main house, there are two dining areas and a kitchen opening onto the courtyard. The first floor, up a handsome stone staircase, has the first of two master bedrooms, along with a living room and games room. The second master bedroom is on the top floor, next to another, smaller guest room. It has a living area and access to a scenic teak-floored roof terrace that offers sublime views across the Luberon Valley.
The property has no fewer than three separate annexes, sharing four more bedrooms between them, allowing for very flexible accommodation arrangements. Each building has its own private access and plenty of striking original features such as stone floors and arched ceilings.
With a 200-year old mulberry tree providing plenty of leafy shade around the courtyard pool, you'd struggle to find a more stylish pied-à-terre in Provence.
Photos of La Maison de Goult
Air Conditioning (Partial)
Computer Games Console
Fans Available
Recreation (Board Games)
Large vaulted ceiling indoor dining room with fire place opening on second dining area.
Fully equipped kitchen with direct access to outdoor dining area and pool.
Office area / reading room
Living room adjacent to the library
Tv Room / game room
Master bathroom with large shower and separate bath (this bathroom belongs to the master bedroom on the 2nd floor)
Guest toilet.
Master bedroom with queen sized bed (160cm) opening on a small living area with sofa and TV and sliding glass door to a small private terrace with views over the village. This room also has a door which opens directly onto the main roof terrace. WC in the room (behind a screen), the proper bathroom is located on the first floor.
Bedroom: Queen-sized bed (160cm) with en-suite shower room and WC.
Annexe 1:
Under roof twin bedroom with en-suite shower room and toilet ( ideal for teenagers)
Terrace with direct access to the pool.
Double bedroom with queen size bed (160cm) with en-suite shower room and pool view
Double bedroom with twin beds, arched ceilings, shower room and toilet on the lower floor.
Double bedroom with a queen size bed (160cm) with en-suite shower room.
The house is not suitable for small children. The owner does not allow children under the age of 8, as the pool is not protected and cannot be due to its location in the courtyard.
CCTV is in use for security reasons. It can be deactivated upon request
Maid service three hours on Wednesday.
Arrival set of pool towels, bed and household linens (weekly change for bookings longer than 7 nights).
Partial air-conditioning (available in 2 bedrooms).
Private swimming pool (9mx3m).
Telephone (Calls to landlines in USA, UK and Europe only).
Wi-Fi broadband internet.
Extra Maid service available on request at EUR 15/hour.
Pool Heating available on request at EUR 250/week (max. heat 24 degrees, no cover for night time).
Chef service (professional service) is available for up to eight guests from EUR 80 per person including the cost of the groceries. A full chef service including breakfast, lunch and dinner is available from EUR 350/day.
Waiters (obligatory for more than 8 guests): From EUR 20/hr (subject to availability).
Transfers from Marseille Airport to the Villa (One way): Mercedes Viano or similar (for up to eight passengers) available from EUR 312.
Transfers from Avignon Train Station (TGV) to the Villa (One way): Mercedes Viano or similar (for up to eight passengers) available from EUR 216.
(Please note: for services between 7.30pm and 7.00am a supplement of 20% is applied).
Pre-arrival grocery shopping is available. A service fee of EUR 60 is charged plus the cost of groceries. This service covers up to EUR 200 worth of groceries. This service is included within our A&K Concierge offering.
We are also able to arrange additional activities to enhance your holiday experience such as guided touring and sightseeing options, tutored wine tasting, tennis or golf courses, bike rental or art classes. Please see the activities tab for further ideas or discuss additional activities with your Travel Consultant.
Check rates and availability for La Maison de Goult
Train station: Avignon (39km)
Airport: Marseille (71.5km)/Avignon (34km)
Villages:
Goult (10metres)
Beaumettes (5,5km)
L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (20km)
Apt (14km)
Bonnieux (8km)
City: Aix-en-Provence (75km)
Beach: Carry-le-Rouet (95.5km)
Golf: Provence Country Club (19km)


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Campaign School for Social Workers
Research, Policy, and Advocacy
The next Campaign School for Social Workers will be held March 4-5, 2022. Registration opens Tuesday, March 7, 2021. Registration and travel information here.
The Nancy A. Humphreys Institute works to increase the political participation and power of social workers and the communities they serve so public policy reflects our profession's values and commitment to social justice. Our primary programming includes:
Nonpartisan voter engagement. We train students, communities, agencies, and the profession on the importance of voter turnout to healthy communities, organizational mission, and impact. We are co-founders of the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign and the VotingIsSocialWork.org website. We are also members of the Hartford Votes~Votas Coalition and work with partners to increase voter engagement and turnout.
The Campaign School for Social Workers. Now in it's 25th year, the Institute has supported more than 2,300 students, social workers, and leaders on how to lead in policy and politics as volunteers, candidates, and advocates. For registration links and information, click here.
Research. Our Research Advisory Committee includes faculty from across the country who collaborate on research related to political participation and voting as a social determinant of health.
Additionally, we support social work lobby and LEAD days, advocate for expanded voting rights and access, and support social workers to be more politically active.
About Our Director and Our Founder
Tanya Rhodes Smith, Director
tanya.smith@uconn.edu
Tanya Rhodes Smith, MSW, is director of the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work and an instructor in residence in the Policy Practice concentration. Rhodes Smith is a proud political social worker and advocate who believes that political engagement and voting are central to social work's mission, impact, and commitment to a more just society. As director, she has overseen the expansion of the Institute's Campaign School for Social Workers, which has trained more than 2,000 social workers to run for office and lead campaigns. She leads the development of nonpartisan voter engagement training and outreach for schools of social work, communities, and social work practitioners and is one of the founders of the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign. Through the Institute's Research Committee, Rhodes Smith has collaborated with faculty across the country on research related to political participation and voting. Her experience includes policy development, legislative advocacy, community organizing, program development, evaluation, fundraising, campaigning, and leadership development.
Her teaching experience includes program planning, development and evaluation, political advocacy, and political social work.
Nancy A. Humphreys, Founder
The late Nancy A. Humphreys, Ph.D., founded the Institute for Political Social Work at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work in 1995 to investigate ways that social workers can facilitate the political empowerment of clients as well as increase the number of social workers who are directly involved with electoral politics.
Humphreys had a long and accomplished professional history, and her academic work left an indelible mark here in the United States and abroad. She served as director of the School of Social Work at Michigan State University and dean at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. Beginning in 1991, Humphreys worked with what is now the Republic of Armenia to establish social work education in that country.
Humphreys' teaching, mentorship, and leadership was instrumental in establishing political social work as an accepted area of practice and building a strong network of political social work leaders in Connecticut. She received numerous achievement awards, including the NASW Social Work Pioneer award, as well as an honorary doctorate from Yerevan State University.


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Shameless Fake Alien and Cryptid Documentaries that Fooled People
Brent Swancer July 26, 2021
There has been a disconcerting habit in recent years of even credible, trusted news sources to report fake news. It may not always be explicitly on purpose, but these sources have been known to put forward amazing content which is only very loosely disguised as being anything but real. Chief among this worrying trend are TV shows that have sprung forth from traditionally educational outlets, which have served to confuse people, spread misinformation, and inspire debate as to their reality. Here are some of the worst offenders.
Perhaps one of the most famous hoax "documentaries" ever was one involving an alleged alien body. The stunt took the form of a video supposedly obtained from a retired military officer stationed at none other than Area 51 in Roswell, New Mexico, by a British music and video producer named Ray Santilli. Released in 1990, the footage is black and white and very grainy, purportedly showing a skinny alien body with large eyes and an oversized head being dissected by a team in biohazard suits at the top-secret facility. Santilli was very precise in the details he gave about the video, explaining how many rolls of film it had been on and even how much it cost him to procure them, and the video was widely taken to be the real deal. The "documentary" spread to over 30 countries, capturing the imaginations of the countless people who thought that this was finally the real evidence of what was going on at Roswell, and the "Alien Autopsy Film" became an absolute sensation at the time.
Although there were obviously skeptics, there were also enough testimonies by supposed photographic experts and special effects wizzes proclaiming how real it all looked and how difficult it would be to fake it that a lot of people believed. It would alas be proved to be a hoax once and for all when Santilli himself admitted to the fraud. In 2006 he came forward to explain that the "Alien Autopsy" was all faked and even how he had done it, but even then there was some mystery remaining, as he claimed that although the "documentary" he had released was bogus, it had been a re-creation based frame by frame on real footage that had simply been too deteriorated to release. Hmmm. Whether there was ever another "real" video or not, this hoaxed footage has not aged particularly well, and looking back on it seems almost absurd that so many people were taken in by it, believing this now admittedly very fake looking alien dummy to be real, but believe it they did. While the alien autopsy video was a supposed "leaked video" and perhaps does not meet the strict criteria of a documentary, it unfortunately set the stage for numerous faked documentaries throughout the years. Particularly notorious for these are what would normally be traditionally considered to be legitimate sources for credible documentary programming, namely the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and the National Geographic Channel. These are beloved channels that do indeed provide quality, very educational programming, yet in recent years there has been a tendency to release more and more spectacular programs of what are often referred to as "mockumentaries."
These are programs which go through great lengths to pass as genuine documentaries, presenting realistic footage, evidence, interviews with eyewitnesses, and talks with various "experts" within the field. The programs are extremely convincing in their portrayal of events, and although they are usually marked as at least partially fictional in fleeting disclaimers at the beginning and end of the programs, to the causal viewer they seem to be the real deal, and indeed they are obviously meant to be taken that way. Mixed within the realistic depictions of various phenomena, these documentaries make heavy use of "expert testimony" which is often gained through less than reputable means. Real experts are often led along a manipulative, misleading line of questioning meant to draw out the answers that producers seek, which are then edited in such a way as to seem to be endorsements for whatever mystery the show is peddling. If an expert is not available, then the interview is simply faked with actors posing as professionals, with credentials that cannot be traced, and even the eyewitness testimonies can be faked with actors. "Found footage" and photographs are spruced up with clever CGI and spliced together to complete the ruse. The end result is a program that on the surface for all intents and purposes genuinely feels like an authentic documentary portraying real events and exhibiting honest expert opinions, yet which is at its heart a farce, with only very fleeting blink-and you'll miss-it disclaimers labelling the programs as for entertainments purposes only.
One of the worst offenders in recent memory was in 2012, when the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet aired a show entitled Mermaids: The Body Found, which was created to seem like an actual documentary which followed the the research of a scientific team investigating the footage of a mysterious body purported to be that of a real mermaid. The scientists claimed that an autopsy had been performed on a dead mermaid and that the government had swooped in and covered the whole thing up. It was all done very convincingly. The show made it a point to make everything seem as realistic as possible, using serious, authentic looking interviews with "scientists" who were actually actors, a somber documentary tone throughout, facts seamlessly woven in with fiction, and realistic computer generated footage to give the implication that it was a factual documentary. For all appearances, the program seemed to be an authentic documentary program, and although there was a disclaimer at the end of the program alerting viewers to the fact that what they were viewing was a fiction based on "scientific theory," this was not prominently shown, and was more of an easily missed tacked-on message. As a result, the vast majority of viewers went away believing that what they had seen was a legitimate documentary and that mermaids had been found to be real.
A follow-up program on Animal Planet in 2013 entitled Mermaids: The New Evidence, raised the stakes in sensationalism, and truly propelled the hoax into the stratosphere. The program was similarly made in a very realistic looking documentary style and opened with a bang. The first scene showed purported "new footage" of a mermaid taken by a cellphone, which shows the creature sliding off of a rock into the ocean. Upping the ante was another piece of footage which claimed to be of a mermaid encounter in the Greenland Sea. This clip shows a webbed hand touching the window of a submersible, as well as the ghostly face of a purported mermaid blooming out of the dark before the creature darts off. The footage was all fake, but looks quite convincing and is ostensibly presented as the real deal. The show adds in very professional looking interviews with the "biologist" Dr Paul Robertson, as well as a "former scientist" with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who talked about the existence of mermaids and both of which were actually actors. Topping off the whole illusion, the network actually made a spin-off website, which simply informed visitors that it had been shut down by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. The whole thing was so well done that Ed Stockly of the LA Times said of it:
It's remarkable how well this fake documentary mimics actual programs claiming to reveal actual creatures. Substitute Mermaids for Bigfoot, Chupacabra, the Loch Ness monster, ghosts and aliens, and it's hard to make a distinction between what's real but faked, and what's really fake.
The sensational program attracted 3.6 million viewers, by far Animal Planet's largest audience ever. Unfortunately, although the network had included a fleeting, easy-to-miss disclaimer at the end, most of these viewers were convinced that it was all real. Immediately following the airing of Mermaids: The New Evidence, social networking sites such as Twitter were exploding off the charts with talk of the amazing footage, and clips of the videos were streamed at a phenomenal rate. In the end, millions of people were duped by the program, to the point where the real National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would go on to totally dismiss the whole thing, saying Mermaids: The New Evidence is just entertainment. No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found." Many people expressed a good amount of anger when they found out they'd essentially been tricked, and social media came alive once again with those voicing their disappointment and frustration at the network.
Although there were the disclaimers announcing the shows as based on speculation and fiction, Animal Planet did very little to make sure that these were visible or prominent, and indeed did very little to let audiences know that the programs were bogus at all. In a press release for the program, the network went through great lengths to sound official and expound on "scientific facts," pertaining mostly to the generally dismissed Aquatic Ape Theory, a theory that humans went through a phase of aquatic evolution, yet there were only two fleeting references to the show being science fiction in the entire 1,000 word statement. All of this has led to the idea that Animal Planet may have intentionally misled people on the nature of the programs. The show's executive producer, Charlie Foley, even personally stated that they had wanted viewers to think of it as real, and that this was the reason they had chosen the documentary format. He would say to ABC News of the programs:
We wanted people to approach the story with a sense of possibility and a sense of wonder. Hopefully that's what Mermaids allowed viewers to do…allowed them to suspend their disbelief.
Although it is unclear whether Animal Planet willfully intended to trick its audience and create a widely believed hoax, they probably weren't too upset about the whole thing considering the record smashing ratings the shows generated for them. It is unfortunate that this success has ensured that other such fake documentary style programs have become popular and continue to be made, with Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, two mostly well-respected wildlife networks, being the primary culprits. Another repeat offender in shamelessly sensationalist mockumentary programming is Discovery Channel's "Shark Week." In recent years, the network has increasingly upped the ante on turning up the spooky factor with its annual Shark Week episodes, becoming more and more brazen. During Shark Week, the Discovery Channel has released several of these mockumentaries, which have served to draw in viewers and have the unsuspecting masses buy the whole thing hook, line, and sinker.
For instance, the Discovery Channel released several high profile such programs for several years running concerning the continued existence of the Megalodon, and these often involved supposed stories of aggressive attacks by the beasts. In 2013 and 2014, the network released two programs entitled Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives and Megalodon: The New Evidence. The programs offered up several pieces of supposed photographic evidence for the continued existence of the Megalodon, such as one photo purportedly showing a monster shark cruising past a Nazi U-boat during World War II in what is advertised as a "declassified image." The photo was claimed to show a shark estimated as being around 100 feet long, and at first glance seems to be genuine, but it turns out that according to many astute commenters it was very likely a complete fake or at least heavily doctored. Other photos presented showed half-eaten whales and extremely large sharks swimming off shore, all of which are of unknown and questionable authenticity. There are also presented sonar readings claimed to be of massive sharks far larger than any currently known to exist.
The same programs presented the harrowing tale of a South African vessel that was purportedly attacked by a Megalodon, killing four of its crew members. The footage is presented as a sort of "found footage" scenario from a crew aboard a charter fishing vessel on April 5, 2013 in Hout Bay, South Africa. The video purportedly shows a very large, unknown animal aggressively capsizing the boat either through ramming it or biting it, which allegedly had six people aboard. According to the show, the bodies of four of those aboard were never recovered. The video is presented as absolutely real, and the program goes through great lengths to reinforce the genuine feel of the whole incident, even showing purported news footage in the aftermath that seems to show a news conference with South African authorities speaking on the frightening incident. The problem with this whole amazing account is that follow up investigation has not been able to turn up any official reports or news items that the whole incident ever happened at all, and the South African media seems surprisingly silent on the matter, leading many to suspect the whole thing was a clever, well orchestrated fake. In an article called Megalodon — The Monster Shark Lives! (Not), dinosaur expert Bob Strauss criticized the whole alleged incident, saying:
What can you say about a TV documentary in which the suspiciously good-looking lead protagonist — "marine biologist" Collin Drake — comes up empty in a Google search? Or, for that matter, his equally attractive "marine biologist" pal Madelyn Joubert, who joins him halfway through the show, and whom a cursory web search easily demonstrates not to exist? And, not to belabor the point, a TV show that starts with suspiciously staged-looking video footage of a charter boat capsizing off the coast of South Africa, and no references can be found about this accident (in which three passengers were supposedly killed) from reliable online news sources? I don't know much about charter boats, but I do know that people whose ship is in the process of sinking do not take the trouble to center their subjects on frame.
Another rather dramatic incident portrayed in the program is the tale of a group of marine biologists who claimed to have tagged a terrifyingly massive shark from a shark cage. The huge shark was tagged and is then said to have lurched at them and then to dive at great speed down to a depth beyond which any known shark is capable of. Although the team claims they did not get a good look at the creature, they are fairly certain it was a monstrous shark, perhaps a living Megalodon. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to tell how real any of this account is. Another Shark Week program aired in 2014 called Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine, outlines the tale of a colossal, 35-foot long shark, named Submarine, which is said to prowl the South African coast attacking boats and whales. The legendary shark was supposedly first spotted in 1970, after which it is said to have stalked these waters and frequently capsize fishing vessels or ravaged sea life. The program claims that Submarine is well known by locals, and provides interviews with eyewitnesses who have seen it, but it is unclear whether these witnesses are genuine or merely actors. The Discovery Channel attached to the show an easy-to-miss disclaimer noting that the material presented is "based on rumor and hearsay," but does not actually admit to faking anything. Nevertheless, Submarine is supposedly still sighted to this day. Is it a real cryptid or something totally created by the program? It is hard to say.
In response to the outcry and accusations of misleading the public with these programs, the executive producer of Shark Week, Michael Sorensen, stated that three disclaimers had been aired with the shows, including one which read "none of the institutions or agencies that appear in the film are affiliated with it in any way, nor have approved its contents." Other disclaimers stated "certain events and characters in this film have been dramatized," and that "legends of giant sharks persist all over the world; there is still debate about what they may be." However, these disclaimers still manage to cleverly avoid outright admitting any blatant fakery, and it is uncertain just what "dramatized" means in relation to the programs or to what extent it is used. Sorensen was similarly evasive when he commented on the shows, saying:
With a whole week of Shark Week programming ahead of us, we wanted to explore the possibilities of Megalodon. It's one of the most debated shark discussions of all time, 'can Megalodon exist today?' It's (the) ultimate Shark Week fantasy. The stories have been out there for years and with 95 percent of the ocean unexplored, who really knows?
Regardless, like the Mermaid mockumentaries, the Megalodon shows managed to smash ratings records, becoming the most watched episodes of Shark Week ever aired, so people are obviously interested in the topic. How much of the programs was true and how much is whole cloth fabrications? Is there any merit to what was presented in these shows concerning the Megalodon or is it all just pure made-up hogwash? It is difficult to tell, and the network remains quite ambiguous and evasive about the whole thing. Until a serious documentary that is more interested in informing than in sensationalism, entertainment, and getting ratings, it is probably best to take whatever is presented in these types of programs with a healthy grain of salt. Sadly, there was a time when the Discovery Channel was a place where one could usually rely on getting such genuine, educational documentaries.
Adding to the deceptive quality of such programming is the fact that these shows sometimes get real scientists to appear on them through false pretenses, trickery, and outright lies. When making a fake Shark Week documentary called Voodoo Sharks, about a legendary monster shark called the Rooken, which said to lurk in the swamps and bayous of Louisiana, Discovery Channel approached biologist and shark expert Jonathan Davis to appear. When Davis went to meet with the film crew out in the field, his inquiries as to what exactly the show would be about were continually deflected or even ignored. The frustrated scientist was only able to glean that they were supposedly making a program about shark research in Louisiana. When the show was finally aired, Davis was astonished to see that the program was about mythical cryptid sharks, which he had not been told of at all. Further adding to his shock was the fact that the show presented his interviews wildly out of context, things he had said were mixed and matched to make it seem as though he was endorsing the existence of the mystery shark, and that the interviews had been spliced together with other footage to make it seem as though he was in a race against another team to see who could find the mythical shark first. Davis would later lament that during his interviews with the crew, he had been led along certain routes and asked to say or rephrase things that would fit into what the producers wanted, including things that Davis admitted he would have never said on his own. The clever line of questioning also managed to glean responses to vague questions that could be used out of context to be responses for different questions. Indeed, this practice of deceiving and manipulating experts and their testimony has become commonplace on these cryptid "mockumentaries" and other cryptozoology shows in general.
Besides aliens, mermaids, and the Megalodon, we can't forget about Bigfoot, and of course there is an equally misleading mockumentary about this cryptid as well. In 2015, the History Channel released Breaking History: Bigfoot Captured, which similarly used faked footage, paid actors, twisted expert testimony, and flat out lies to sell the idea that a Bigfoot had actually been caught. The program starts on the premise that a researcher has actually managed to capture a specimen, but really just follows a fake, paid actor posing as someone trying to capture one, and it really goes all out in sensationalizing Bigfoot in a major way. Predictably, the program brings in experts, in this case anthropologist Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, who would go on to very publicly denounce how badly his words were misrepresented in the show, and it also features a badly rendered CGI rendition of a Bigfoot actually captured and locked in a cage. The whole thing is really over the top, but actually created a Twitter storm of people wondering if it was real or not. The shamelessness of this show was very amusingly broken down by Jim Vorel, at the site Paste, who does not mince words when he says:
This style of BS programming has now been refined into a science of its own. The narrative elements are careful in going out of their way to not "tell you what to believe," or at least not directly. Instead, they present you with mounds of fake evidence and rely on the impressionable viewer to "come to their own conclusion." Ignorant, close-minded skeptic characters are used as straw men to shoot down any potential arguments before they're raised. It all taps into the same desire that fuels conspiracy theorists in general—the desire to be a possessor of secret knowledge, to feel intelligent. The History Channel execs understand that the more ignorant portions of their audience desperately want to feel like they belong to a fraternity of people with knowledge that "they" (whoever the hell 'they' are in this scenario) DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW. Perhaps they already believe these sorts of things—in that case, Bigfoot Captured simply triggers their confirmation bias.
In order to be on History Channel in the first place, the program has to make some sort of claim toward veracity—hence, the fake documentary format. Simultaneously, in order to not be called charlatans, the official position of History Channel has to be "people are just watching to be entertained, no one is taking this seriously." SIMULTANEOUSLY, the show has to be believable enough to still fool people, because if it didn't, no one would be watching. Just writing that makes my brain want to gnaw its way out of my skull, seeking sweet freedom.
The problem is that no, not everyone knows it's entertainment. And if you're intelligent enough to know that, then you should also realize that it's the impressionable people watching who most need a source they can actually trust in order to provide real information. These people don't need entertainment. They need a network that's actually serving their best interest—and for the record, their best interest is "Not having pseudoscientific beliefs that they'll pass on to anyone in earshot." This is the responsibility that History Channel claims it's upholding when a two-hour long program is preceded by a disclaimer on screen for a few seconds saying that the program features "some dramatization." At least, that's what I'm told appeared, because I started watching 60 seconds after the program began. For me, and anyone else who joined at any other point during that ludicrous 120-minute runtime, there was zero other indication that you were seeing anything other than an (admittedly shitty) documentary. Not until the end credits, with its clear listing of actors in the "scripted story" segments, do they come close to admitting what you've been watching that whole time. Good thing that American audiences always closely monitor TV credits, right? Congratulations, History Channel. You've truly earned the title of "that network with less dignity than ABC Family." Be proud.
Even if the networks are not intentionally trying to deceive audiences, there are obviously dishonest practices going on in the way they are presented for the purpose of generating maximum mystery and intrigue, provoking belief in the fantastic, and giving the audience what they want to see. Whether the ultimate goal is outright deception or not, these sly television programs do a lot of damage to the credibility of any potentially real discoveries or footage found. It seems at the very least that it would be helpful to make more of an effort to more prominently show that these programs are fictional, and to present interviews with scientists and experts in a more honest manner. It seems that in this day and age, with the blooming popularity of paranormal programming, it is probably best to view most shows on the matter with a grain of salt.
Tags aliens Bizarre Conspiracy cryptid Cryptozoology Documentaries Hoaxes modern mysteries unsolved mystery
Brent Swancer is an author and crypto expert living in Japan. Biology, nature, and cryptozoology still remain Brent Swancer's first intellectual loves. He's written articles for MU and Daily Grail and has been a guest on Coast to Coast AM and Binnal of America.
You can follow Brent on and
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AFI FEST presented by Audi is the American Film Institute's annual celebration of international cinema from modern masters and emerging filmmakers, taking place each fall in Hollywood, CA. AFI FEST remains a showcase for the best festival films of the year, and an opportunity for artists to come together with audiences in the heart of the movie capital of the world. New Auteurs, AFI FEST's juried competitive section, is designed exclusively to raise the profiles of first or second-time feature filmmakers. This section offers a launch pad for new voices eligible for prizes awarded by an esteemed jury of critics, writers and editors from the film community.


text:
Amazon planning to lay off thousands, report says
The news follows similar announcements from Twitter and Facebook.
Author: KVUE News Staff
Published: 4:05 PM EST November 14, 2022
Updated: 4:05 PM EST November 14, 2022
AUSTIN, Texas — According to a report from The New York Times, Amazon is gearing up to lay off around 10,000 employees at corporate and technology levels as soon as this week.
Sources with knowledge on the matter told the Times these cuts would focus on Amazon's devices division, including those working with Alexa, as well as retail and human resources.
The report states that the exact number to be laid off remains fluid, but if it stays around the 10,000 mark, it would represent around 3% of the company's corporate employees and less than 1% of its global workforce. It would also be the largest group of job cuts in Amazon's history, the Times states.
'A good chance Twitter will not survive': Musk ends remote work as staff quit, advertisers step back
'I got this wrong': Zuckerberg announces huge Meta layoffs
Austin labor lawyer shares insight into massive Twitter layoffs
The news follows recent announcements from other tech giants like Twitter and Facebook.
Earlier this month, Twitter began widespread layoffs in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover of the social media company. According to the Associated Press, about half of the company's staff of 7,500 was let go.
Days after Twitter's news broke, Facebook's parent company Meta announced it would be laying off 11,00 people, or about 13% of its workforce. In a letter to staff, CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited aggressive hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the reasons for the job cuts.
'I think my race is the superior one' | Pflugerville ISD teacher captured in 'inappropriate conversation' no longer employed
Two dead after vehicle pin-in on US 183 early Monday morning
Report: 80-story tower planned for Downtown Austin would be tallest in city, state


text:
package ru.job4j.testTask_2;

import com.google.common.base.Joiner;
import org.junit.After;
import org.junit.Before;
import org.junit.Test;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.PrintStream;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.GregorianCalendar;

import static org.hamcrest.core.Is.is;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;

/**
 * Test BankTime.
 *
 * @author Alexander Ivanov
 * @version 1.0
 * @since 26.04.2017
 */
public class BankTimeTest {
    /**
     * output for test.
     */
    private final ByteArrayOutputStream output = new ByteArrayOutputStream();

    /**
     * method for setting stream.
     */
    @Before
    public void setUpStreams() {
        System.setOut(new PrintStream(output));
    }

    /**
     * method for cleaning stream.
     */
    @After
    public void cleanUpStreams() {
        System.setOut(null);
    }

    /**
     * Test when max period is 14:50-15:15 and max number of clients is 3.
     */
    @Test
    public void whenOnePeriodWithMaxNumber() {
        Calendar incomeTimeOfFirstClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 9, 0);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfFirstClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 9, 20);
        Client firstClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfFirstClient.getTimeInMillis());
        firstClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfFirstClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfSecondClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 9, 30);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfSecondClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 15, 50);
        Client secondClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfSecondClient.getTimeInMillis());
        secondClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfSecondClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfThirdClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 9, 35);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfThirdClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 9, 40);
        Client thirdClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfThirdClient.getTimeInMillis());
        thirdClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfThirdClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfFourthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 13, 0);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfFourthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 15, 15);
        Client fourthClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfFourthClient.getTimeInMillis());
        fourthClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfFourthClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfFifthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 14, 50);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfFifthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 15, 40);
        Client fifthClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfFifthClient.getTimeInMillis());
        fifthClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfFifthClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfSixthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 15, 40);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfSixthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 16, 0);
        Client sixthClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfSixthClient.getTimeInMillis());
        sixthClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfSixthClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfSeventhClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 18, 0);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfSeventhClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 19, 50);
        Client seventhClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfSeventhClient.getTimeInMillis());
        seventhClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfSeventhClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar openingTime = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 8, 0);
        Calendar closingTime = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 20, 00);
        BankTime bankTime = new BankTime(openingTime, closingTime);
        bankTime.addClient(firstClient);
        bankTime.addClient(secondClient);
        bankTime.addClient(thirdClient);
        bankTime.addClient(fourthClient);
        bankTime.addClient(fifthClient);
        bankTime.addClient(sixthClient);
        bankTime.addClient(seventhClient);

        bankTime.showMaxPeriods();
        final String resultPart1 = "Максимальное количество людей было";
        final String resultPart2 = "С 14:50:00 по 15:15:00 - 3 клиентов";
        Joiner joiner = Joiner.on(System.lineSeparator());
        final String result = joiner.join(resultPart1, resultPart2, "");
        assertThat(output.toString(), is(result));
    }

    /**
     * Test when max period is 9:40-10:10 - 2 clients, 14:51:27-15:12:18 - 2 clients and 18:18-19:30 - 2 clients.
     */
    @Test
    public void whenThreePeriodsWithMaxNumber() {
        Calendar incomeTimeOfFirstClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 9, 0);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfFirstClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 10, 10);
        Client firstClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfFirstClient.getTimeInMillis());
        firstClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfFirstClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfSecondClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 9, 40);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfSecondClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 10, 25);
        Client secondClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfSecondClient.getTimeInMillis());
        secondClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfSecondClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfThirdClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 10, 35);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfThirdClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 11, 40);
        Client thirdClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfThirdClient.getTimeInMillis());
        thirdClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfThirdClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfFourthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 14, 30);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfFourthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 15, 12, 18);
        Client fourthClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfFourthClient.getTimeInMillis());
        fourthClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfFourthClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfFifthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 14, 51, 27);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfFifthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 16, 0);
        Client fifthClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfFifthClient.getTimeInMillis());
        fifthClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfFifthClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfSixthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 17, 0);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfSixthClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 20, 0);
        Client sixthClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfSixthClient.getTimeInMillis());
        sixthClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfSixthClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar incomeTimeOfSeventhClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 18, 18);
        Calendar outcomeTimeOfSeventhClient = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 19, 30);
        Client seventhClient = new Client(incomeTimeOfSeventhClient.getTimeInMillis());
        seventhClient.setOutcome(outcomeTimeOfSeventhClient.getTimeInMillis());

        Calendar openingTime = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 8, 0);
        Calendar closingTime = new GregorianCalendar(2017, 5, 26, 20, 00);
        BankTime bankTime = new BankTime(openingTime, closingTime);
        bankTime.addClient(firstClient);
        bankTime.addClient(secondClient);
        bankTime.addClient(thirdClient);
        bankTime.addClient(fourthClient);
        bankTime.addClient(fifthClient);
        bankTime.addClient(sixthClient);
        bankTime.addClient(seventhClient);

        bankTime.showMaxPeriods();
        final String resultPart1 = "Максимальное количество людей было";
        final String resultPart2 = "С 09:40:00 по 10:10:00 - 2 клиентов";
        final String resultPart3 = "С 14:51:27 по 15:12:18 - 2 клиентов";
        final String resultPart4 = "С 18:18:00 по 19:30:00 - 2 клиентов";
        Joiner joiner = Joiner.on(System.lineSeparator());
        final String result = joiner.join(resultPart1, resultPart2, resultPart3, resultPart4, "");
        assertThat(output.toString(), is(result));
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Action Unlimited Resources Inc. employee alleges he is not violating agreement with former employer
PHILADELPHIA – A Newcastle man and his employer allege his former employer is interfering with business relationships.
Action Unlimited Resources Inc. and Randy S. LaBar filed a complaint on July 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Veritiv Operating Co. alleging breach of contract and other counts.
According to the complaint, LaBar was employed by Vertiv or its predecessor for 37 years as a sales representative until his involuntary termination due to poor sales performance in June. The suit states that he accepted a job one month after his termination with Action Unlimited Resources and that Veritiv sent him a cease and desist letter regarding his new employment over allegations he may be violating an agreement.
LaBar alleges he never entered an agreement with Veritiv and the only known restrictive covenant he entered into was in 1992 with International Paper Co., of which Veritiv is not a party.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek monetary damages, court costs, interest, and any further relief this court grants. They are represented by Michael R. Miller of Margolis Edelstein in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 2:17-cv-03197-JD
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U.S. District Court of Eastern District of Pennsylvania


This is a jammed pack post! Eileen Hull has her new dies and the team is teaming up Crescent Art Products. For this project I played with the RENDR paper cutting, inking and stamping the new Flower Pansy die. It's not only an Inspiration Team Post, but also a Contest Entry and a Birthday Gift.
This project is full of dies, technique and lots of ink!
I used a template for the mini pizza box. You can get the template HERE to enter the Where Woman Create Contest. I cut watercolor paper, die cut the Gearhead and inked.
Spray, ink and distress. Then I cut a piece of plastic to layer inside the box cover.
I cut a piece of watercolor paper and folded. Cut 3 1/4x 9 3/4's then score 3 1/4 creating 3 folded space to create. Ink and stamp for background. Time for some inky letterpress blocks.
Ink, dry and EMBOSS IT. I used burnt copper leaves and hammered metal EP for the letters and Upper Typo "50".
Coat and heat for a thick metallic masculine effect. This is my forst time using RENDR paper and LOVE IT! I inked and stamped to create my background for the new Flower Pansy die.
Flowers can be a masculine! Stamped with gears and rusty spray tones. Layer with a Gears 2 and photobooth card.
This is a gift for my husband's birthday. I decorated the folded insert with a resent photo of us in Venice Italy. More gears, inked and embossed.
Pull together the embellishments and layer.
The inside of the geared lid and that 50.
Flower Pansy using RENDR and Sizzix Leather Paper.
Using sprays and stamps to layer this masculine flower pansy.
Watch for more projects using the Crescent Art Products from the team in June.
Stop by Where Woman Create "Create a Box Art" Contest.
Thanks for popping in and I hope you check out Eileen's new Dies, the Crescent Art Products and Where Woman Create Box Contest.
OH MY GOSH!!! This is fantastic Nicole- and also WTG on incorporating all of those ingredients to make an amazing and special gift. Love this!
love love love this!!! what an awesome gift...will he get to keep it!!