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Dave Reinitz
Dave has been performing as a professional stand-up comedian for over 10 years. He has worked as an emcee, feature, and headliner for clubs, corporate events, and colleges all over the country. He is also the Co-Executive Producer of H2F Comedy Productions Inc, a comedy management and development company that produces such shows as Uncle Clyde's Comedy Contest and Survival of the Funniest.
He co-hosts the 99% Funnies Podcast, usually with Dana Eagle, where Dave provides conspiracy theories and plays cheerleader for the human race. He also emcees the 99% Funnies Comedy Show that takes place at Flappers in Burbank the second Thursday of every month.
Dana Eagle
Dana Eagle has appeared on Last Comic Standing, The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Comedy Central, and Comics Unleashed, where she became a contributing writer. She is a frequent opener for Bill Maher and has taken several trips overseas to perform for the troops in Iraq. Eagle's one-woman show Stones From Glass Houses was featured at the HBO US Comedy Art Festival and its sequel Mood Disorders: A Light-Hearted Romp Through Crippling Depression premiered at the Los Angeles Theater Festival.
Dana frequently co-hosts the 99% Funnies Podcast where she halfheartedly plays the devil's advocate for the 1% and is the cynical foil for Dave's optimism toward the human race. She is also a featured comedian in the 99% Funnies Comedy Show that takes place at Flappers in Burbank the first Thursday of every month.
Michael Rayner
Michael Rayner has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Extreme Gong Show and Sesame Street. He is billed as a Post-Modern Vaudevillian and his act ranges from balancing things on his face to defying physics with tennis rackets to spinning a hamburger on an umbrella. The charm of his tricks, however, comes from the rapport that he builds with the audience throughout his performance.
Michael is a regular co-host for the 99% Funnies Podcast. Michael provides dry humor and a common-sensical Christian viewpoint that challenges both Dave and Dana's devout atheism. He is also a guest-host and feature for the 99% Funnies Comedy Show that takes place at Flappers in Burbank the second Thursday of every month.
Jimmy Dore
What can we say about Jimmy Dore, other than what everyone says to us whenever we post our line-ups, which is, "Wow — how the [expletive deleted] did you [we] get Jimmy Dore?" Uhh…excess charm? Actually, I think it's because he's friends with Dave. And Dave is friends with us. Sooo…nepotism?
Jimmy has been a part of every single one of our line-up since we started in January, only missing one show, and he blows us away every single time he steps on stage. Not only is he hilarious, but he is a sincere guy with a biting take on politics and life.
Meera Manek (Producer)
Some people skydive for their birthday, instead Meera tried stand-up and has been performing for the last 4 years. She works as a speechwriter and was recently selected as a stand-up finalist at Politicon 2015. Meera is the newest member to the 99% Funnies, as producer to both the live comedy show and podcast and contributing co-host to the podcast. The guys like it when she talks sports.


we had a fabulous Friday today! We started off our day as usual with some fun educational centres until it was time for Arabic with teacher Salam. We worked in our booklets and practiced writing the letter alif with fatha, dumma, and kasra.
After Arabic we went to the gym for some warm-ups, followed by a competitive game of Alien Tag, the children were really good sports and there were no tears when they were tagged by the aliens, mashallah.
We talked about pets, and we introduced our class to our new stuffed pets, Aurora the dog and Gizmo the tiger. These pets will be taking turns visiting the children's homes insha'Allah.
During Quraan time we did our final review, and we will be starting with our new sura on Monday insha'Allah.
Because it's Friday, we got to enjoy two treats, we got to watch a Leap Frog video, and we got to enjoy some small freezies alhamdulillah.
In Islamic Studies we talked about all the different places muslims come from and we looked at the globe to help us see where Saudi Arabic is. We made wudu' and prayed two ra'kas and made tasbeeh and du'aa.
In French class we learned a new song le petit poisson, and we really enjoyed performing the actions that go along with the song.


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Marching Knights Mt. Prospect, IL
Select a year: 202320222021202020192018201720162015201420132012201120102009200820072006200520042003200220012000
"Come to the Edge"
2017 Awards & Placements
Lake Park Lancer Joust
1st Place in Class 3A Field (GE)
3rd Place in Finals (Music)
Chicagoland Marching Band Festival
Grand Champion
1st Place in Class 3A Field (Music, Visual, GE, Percussion, Auxiliary)
Illinois State Marching Band Championships
3rd Place in Class 5A Field (Music)
Bands of America Super Regional Championships: St. Louis, MO
3rd Place in Class 3A Field (GE)
9th Place in Finals
Images Media Videos
Chris Barnum
Navy Blue and Columbia Blue
Band web site
2023 Enrollment n/a IMO Division n/a
Illinois State Marching Band Championships Class 5A Champions: 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019.
Illinois State Marching Band Championships Finalists: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021.
Illinois Marching Band Championships Large Schools Governor's Trophy Champions: 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014.
Illinois Marching Band Championships Class 2A Champions: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009.
Illinois Marching Band Festival Class 5A Champions: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016.
BOA Grand National Finalists: 1986, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1995.
BOA Grand National Semifinalists: 1997, 1998, 2000.
BOA Toledo, OH Regional Champions: 2001.
BOA Atlanta, GA Regional Finalists: 2010.
BOA Cedar Falls, IA Regional Finalists: 2021.
BOA Cincinnati, OH Regional Finalists: 1995.
BOA Dayton, OH Regional Finalists: 2016.
BOA Indianapolis, IN Regional Finalists: 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2014.
BOA Louisville, KY Regional Finalists: 2009.
BOA Oxford, OH Regional Finalists: 2007.
BOA Pontiac, MI Regional Finalists: 2003.
BOA Powder Springs, GA Regional Finalists: 2018.
BOA St. Louis, MO Regional Finalists: 1998, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2017.
BOA Toledo, OH Regional Finalists: 1991, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 .
BOA Cedar Falls, IA Class AAA Regional Championships: 2021
BOA Dayton, OH Class AAA Regional Champions: 2016.
BOA Toledo, OH Class AAA Regional Champions: 2001.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: How to change the section font to specific size by using \titleformat? I want to set the section font to the specific size and type. But using \titleformat can only give few standard types, like Large, large...
\titleformat*{\section}{\LARGE\headingfont}
\titleformat*{\subsection}{\Large\headingfont}
\titleformat*{\subsubsection}{\large\headingfont}

I wonder is there any way to use
\fontencoding{OT1}\fontfamily{cmr}\fontseries{m}\fontshape{n}\fontsize{11pt}{11}\selectfont

to change the section font size?
Thanks a lot!

A: You can simply use your commands as arguments for \titleformat*:
\titleformat*{\section}{\fontencoding{OT1}\fontfamily{cmr}\fontseries{m}%
  \fontshape{n}\fontsize{11pt}{11}\selectfont}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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SMALL CAP MOVERS: Commodities sell-off casts shadow over AIM 100
By Jamie Ashcroft, Proactive Investors
Published: 11:33 EST, 19 April 2013 | Updated: 11:33 EST, 19 April 2013
Many small cap shares came under pressure this week as the sell-off in commodities and global markets cast a shadow over the prospects of junior natural resources companies.
Standing at 3,173 this morning the FTSE AIM 100 has fallen over 4 per cent in the past week.
The selling in the gold sector has been indiscriminate and in some cases unwarranted.
Falling prices: Selling in the gold sector has been indiscriminate
While lower gold prices are a concern, many of the gold projects on AIM's drawing board are still a number of years from production and, broadly speaking, project fundamentals haven't simply evaporated overnight.
Among the week's biggest fallers were Galantas (down 8 per cent today at 1.37p), Vatukoula (unchanged today at 8.28p), Scotgold (unchanged today at 2.12p) and Nyota (up 5 per cent today at 1.15p).
SMALL CAPS FOCUS: ImmuPharma taking medical advances from the lab to the doctor's surgery
Is gold's slump the start of a major decline - or a chance to buy into an inflation-beating safe haven at knockdown prices?
Elsewhere, investors finally got more insight into the possible takeover of Afferro Mining (down 1 per cent today at 72.75p), a Cameroon-focused iron mine developer, which is the subject of a bid from International Mining & Infrastructure Corporation or IMIC (unchanged today at 24p).
The much smaller suitor has been linked with Afferro for a number of months, and this week it confirmed it would pay shareholders between 100p and 140p per share - a considerable premium to current levels.
IMIC also confirmed this week that it has signed a new deal with China Railway Materials (CRM) to organise the off-take of iron ore from Afferro's Nkout project, and also a new deal with China Railways Eryuan Engineering, which will build the infrastructure from Nkout to port.
In its own statement, Afferro gave a guarded response to the indicated bid, saying the board could not make a recommendation until it gets a formal offer and receives confirmation that IMIC has the necessary finance in place.
In the oil sector, the week brought more positive developments for the rapidly unfolding Irish offshore story.
This week two AIM-quoted firms, Europa Oil & Gas (up 18 per cent today at 11.38p) and Antrim Energy (down 2 per cent today at 11.87p), moved from the background to centre stage as they agreed separate deals to bring one of the world's most reputable exploration and production company.
Kosmos Energy, the firm behind the discovery of Tullow's Jubilee field, has secured controlling stakes in three exploration areas off Ireland's west coast.
In return it has agreed to carry out seismic exploration programmes and possibly drilling in the future.
Significantly, Kosmos took the opportunity to close the deals in good time, before drilling began on ExxonMobil and Providence Resources' (down 0.16 per cent today at 612p) Dunquin well, which is located nearby.
The high profile well, which is testing a target that is believed to hold over 1.7bn barrels of oil equivalent.
Leni Gas & Oil (down 5 per cent today at 1.13p) shares advance over 30 per cent as investors continue to back the group's progress in Trinidad, where the whole team are currently on-site overseeing a major well reactivation programme.
The recent sharp rise in Churchill Mining (unchanged today at 30p) shares indicate that investors are dialling into the potential of what could prove to be a bumper pay-out.
The firm is seeking compensation from the Republic of Indonesia after the expropriation of the firm's rights over the huge East Kutai coal mine in Indonesia, which has been modelled as having a pre-tax net asset value of a whopping US$1.8 bn.
Churchill shares began their journey upwards at the tail end of last month, as the company updated investors on its ongoing claim.
They have approximately trebled in value since the middle of last month to reach a high of 33.25p.
Another riser on Friday was 'anytime, anywhere' technology firm Motive Television, which has been granted a patent in the US for its content transfer technology.
And online sports betting start-up Media Corporation (up 15 per cent today at 11.38p) also advanced as it launched its new 'goalmillions' game, which resembles a cross between a lottery draw and the traditional football pools.
The game, where players pick the teams they think will score first (or last) six goals from Saturday's fixtures, begins from April 19 and will run until the end of the season.


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La bella y la bestia 2: Una Navidad encantada (Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas en inglés) es la primera secuela de la película infantil de 1991, La bella y la bestia. La intercuela toma lugar dentro de la primera película (en el periodo de tiempo entre la Navidad en la que la Bestia le obsequia la biblioteca a Bella y la batalla con Gastón). En esta película, la Bestia prohíbe la Navidad (puesto que su transformación ocurrió durante esta festividad), hasta que Bella, Lumière, Din Don, la Señora Potts y Chip lo convencen de que la Navidad es una época alegre. El filme también muestra, con más detalle, cómo el hechizo que transformó al castillo tuvo lugar.

Sinopsis

La película comienza en el castillo de la Bestia en la época navideña, todos los personajes son ya humanos dado que el hechizo ya se ha roto pero la Sra. Potts comienza a contar la historia de la Navidad pasada en la cual el hechizo aún seguía vigente.

El eje de la película es el intento de Bella por convencer a la Bestia de que las Navidades son una época de amor, paz y esperanza y por tanto que las celebren en el castillo, pero la Bestia no está de acuerdo, fue en Navidad cuando la hechicera lo transformó. Al principio, Lumière, Din Don, la Sra. Pots y Chip intentan unir a Bella y a su amo el día de Nochebuena para que se enamoren por lo que convencen a Bella para que salga al exterior y se encuentre con la Bestia. Ahí comienza probablemente la escena más clásica de la película, los dos patinan sobre hielo hasta que Flautín el asistente de Forte el compositor del castillo que fue convertido en un órgano de piano) les hace caer y la Bestia, al observar su monstruosa silueta sobre la nieve, enfurece. El resto del tiempo Forte chantajea a Flautín (él un poco torpe malvado) para que separe a Bella y a Bestia para arruinar la Navidad fue quien robo los regalos y corto el árbol.

Bella intenta introducir la Navidad en el castillo por lo que primero deposita un libro junto a la rosa encantada para que al encontrarlo la Bestia el día de Navidad su corazón se ablande. Posteriormente sube al desván con Chip y Lumière para convencer a Angelique (la antigua decoradora del castillo transformada en un ángel de adorno) de que les ayude en su misión. Esta, decepcionada por haber sido olvidada durante mucho tiempo, se niega, pero Bella finalmente persuade a los adornos navideños (que en realidad eran niños transformados por el hechizo) de que se coloquen por toda la casa mientras cantan la canción central de la película "Se alegran las almas" que luego repetirán.

Los sirvientes junto a Bella consiguen una gran decoración, pero les falta un árbol. Forte llama la atención de Bella tocando una canción, cuando esta acude a la sala donde el malvado órgano de piano reposa. Este la intenta convencer de que busque un árbol en el peligroso bosque negro. Bella se niega, había prometido a la Bestia que no saldría de las tierras del castillo, pero Forte finalmente consigue que Bella, casi engañada, acepte. Además de todo esto, Forte ordena a Flautín que se deshaga de la chica y de Chip en el bosque. Cuando la Bestia encuentra el regalo de Bella tiene la idea de regalarle una canción compuesta por Forte. Tras componer esta canción, Bestia ordena a Din Don que busque a Bella pero como había salido al Bosque Negro, el sirviente no la encuentra. Forte le dice a la Bestia dónde había ido Bella, sin decirle, claro, que fue él quien la envió, y acto seguido, Bestia va a buscarla, furioso.

Bella en su búsqueda del árbol con Chip y Philipe (el caballo) tiene que cruzar un lago congelado. En el trineo que los lleva viaja también Flautín quien en un bache cae al suelo y resulta descubierto por Bella. Naturalmente, le pregunta qué hace allí y él, nervioso, no puede evitar lanzar un agudo silbido que asusta a Philipe haciéndole romper el hielo de una coz. Chip cae al agua y al intentar salvarle, Bella también cae. La Bestia llega justo a tiempo para salvarla pero, como ella no ha cumplido su palabra, la encierra en una mazmorra con la intención de retenerla allí para siempre.

Bella encerrada y la Bestia enfurecida, los sirvientes del castillo entran en la mazmorra para acompañar a la joven incluso Angelique, el ángel de Navidad.

La Bestia entristecida y decepcionada, conversa con Forte y éste lo consuela echando la culpa de sus desgracias a la rosa encantada que permitía que el hechizo se pudiera romper, el malvado órgano de piano convence a la Bestia de que la destruyera y se quedaran así por siempre, pero en el mismo instante en el que el amo levanta la garra para aplastarla, uno de sus pétalos cae sobre el regalo de Bella. La Bestia arrepentida, abre el regalo y lee el libro que contiene un cuento que habla de la Navidad, de la paz, de la esperanza y entonces corre a sacar a Bella de la mazmorra. Le pide perdón y permite que celebren la Navidad.

Forte muy enfurecido, comienza a hacer un terrible estruendo provocado por sus tubos del órgano, Flautín corre a convencer a Forte de no destruir el castillo pero solo lo ignora, Bestia trata de salvar a Bella pero es en vano ya que el castillo está a la mitad, la Bestia corre al ala oeste a impedir más caos provocado por Forte pero eso lo hace enojar más y lo golpea con su música. Bella ve la oportunidad de salvar a todos y usa como puente un tablón de madera para poder cruzar y llegar con la Bestia. Forte enfurecido sigue tocando su música más fuerte y decide acabar con todo el castillo, Flautín le dice a su amo que agarre el teclado solo así se parada todo. La Bestia avanza con precaución hacia el teclado mientras que Forte sigue con sus melodías, con todas sus fuerzas la Bestia levanta el teclado y lo avienta contra el suelo rompiéndolo. Forte se debilita y se zafa del muro y cae provocando su propia muerte.

Por fin, se decora el castillo y la historia contada por la Sra. Pots, concluye. Por último Bella y su amado (ya humano) con la emotiva banda sonora de fondo, salen a la terraza y contemplando las estrellas, el amo le regala una rosa en una caja.

Banda Sonora

Llegan ya las Navidades: Al comienzo de la producción y como apertura para esta aparecen muestra unas cascadas y la imagen va acercando al castillo encantado. La gente entra en el castillo mientras canta esta versión del villancico Deck de Halls, al final la canción acaba siendo cantada por Angelique, Marsha, Lumière, Dindon y la Sra Pots.

Cuentos: Chip y Bella hablan sobre el regalo que esta le hará a la Bestia, es ahí cuando la joven canta una canción sobre historias mientras le fabrica un cuento a la Bestia.

Se alegran las almas: Canción que comienza cantando Bella, es la canción central de la película y comienza pausada y en tono solemne característica que cambia cuando Bella, Chip, Lumière, Angelique y los adornos salen del desván y comienzan los preparativos de Nochebuena. Ahí es cuando todos los demás se suman a la canción aportando cada uno de ellos unas frases (como es típico en otras canciones de Disney como "Qué festín") mientras adornan el castillo.

No es más que amor: Esta canción está cantada por Avenant dirigiéndose a la Bestia en la que trata de convencerle de la inutilidad de su amor por Bella.

Se alegran las almas (rep): El cénit de la película se alcanza en esta canción interpretada por Angelique y Bella cuando esta se encuentra en cautiverio. La tristeza y la esperanza son los principales distintivos de esta canción que trata de recoger el sentido de la Navidad.

Nadie tan especial: Es cantada por Bella, Lumière y Din Don, en donde Lumière y Din Don discuten sobre quién será nadie tan especial en la Navidad hasta que Bella les convence a estar de acuerdo el uno con el otro.

Doblaje al español hispanoamericano
 Bella: Diana Santos
 Bella (Canciones): Blanca Flores
 Bestia: Arturo Mercado
 Lumière: Carlos Petrel
 Sra. Potts: Norma Herrera
 Din Don: Moisés Palacios
 Chip: Manuel Bermúdez
 Angelique: Cony Madera
 Forte: Humberto Solórzano
 Marsha: Microsoft Wan
 Larry: Raúl Aldana
 Hacha: Herman López
 Hada: Cristina Camargo

Doblaje en español de España
Bella: Inés Moraleda
Bestia: Jordi Brau
Chip: Michelle Jenner
Lumière: Miguel Ángel Jenner
Sra. Pots: Marta Martorell
Din Don: Antonio Gómez de Vicente
Din Don (canciones): Eduard Doncos
Angélica: Mercedes Montalá
Angélica (canciones): María Caneda
Avenant: Joan Crosas
Larry: Rafael Calvo
Hacha: Lluís Marco
Hechicera: Joël Mulachs y (siendo la anciana) Lola Oria
Fifí: Carmen Ros

Véase también
La bella y la bestia (primera película)
La bella y la bestia (fábula)

Películas de Disney
Películas infantiles
Películas infantiles de Disney
Películas de animación de Disney
Películas de animación tradicional en dos dimensiones
Películas navideñas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Soundtrack Wednesday - Spring Breakers
By s. Wednesday, May 29, 2013 Cliff Martinez, Soundtrack Wednesday, Spring Breakers 27 Comments
Track: Your Friends Ain't Gonna Leave with You
Artist: Cliff Martinez
Movie: Spring Breakers
By s. Tuesday, May 28, 2013 2013, B, Behind the Candelabra, biography, Comedy, drama, HBO, history, review, Romance, Steven Soderbergh, tv movie 27 Comments
I'm not the biggest Steven Soderbergh's fan but I'll hand it to the guy - he has his own style. I enjoyed quite a lot of his movies, with Solaris sitting firmly in my top 20 of all time for a decade now. When Soderbergh announced his retirement plans and that Behind the Candelabra will be his last movie I did feel that cinema is losing something. His films are quite unique, elegant, subtle and interesting.
Game of Thrones 2x09 Blackwater
By s. Monday, May 27, 2013 Game of Thrones 10 Comments
What's the worst thing that can happen during Game of Thrones season? Hiatus. We are dealing with one now. There was no new episode last night, thanks to Memorial Day weekend. I thought it may be a good opportunity to give the season 3 recap treatment to the series single best episode. Blackwater.
By s. Saturday, May 25, 2013 2013, Action, Adventure, I, Iron Man 3, movies, review, Shane Black 34 Comments
Iron Man 3 was supposed to be the end of the trilogy ."Supposed to be" because now I hear they are planning on doing more movies. Whether it's true or not, the third part focusing on the adventures of Tony Stark is an entertaining summer blockbuster, but for me it was the weakest part of the trilogy. There was just a little too much silliness here and the villain weren't as menacing as he should be to provide the strong sense of danger.
Game of Thrones 3x08 Second Sons
By s. Monday, May 20, 2013 Game of Thrones, season 3 of Game of Thrones 32 Comments
When the writers stay close to the books, great things happen. New episode, Second Sons, was definitely a step up from last week's disappointing episode. We got fewer storylines here, but each of them had a nice pay-off, a lot of great acting and yes, even shy glimpses of hope. I saw a lot of people complain about the lack of great scenes with Peter Dinklage this season. Well, I guess they are all happy now.
Saturday TV Special: Farewell to The Office
By s. Saturday, May 18, 2013 Saturday TV Special, The Office 14 Comments
On Thursday, after 9 years, The Office reached its finale. The show that was originally inspired by British comedy series with Ricky Gervais was one of the most well known and popular series in the world. I watched every single episode of it, often times more than once. The first 7 seasons, the ones that still had Steve Carrel in it, had some of the funniest moments I've seen on TV.
Game of Thrones 3x07 The Bear and the Maiden Fair
What is this saying? "It's always calm before the storm"? Well, apparently in season 3 of Game of Thrones things have to get really lame before they become great. Or at least I'm hoping it's the explanation for the quality and the content of the latest episode. The Bear and the Maiden Fair, the episode that was written - for the third time in series's run - by George R.R. Martin is unfortunately the worst episode of the season.
By s. Wednesday, May 8, 2013 2013, drama, movies, review, S, Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh, thriller 34 Comments
For the last few years director Steven Soderbergh was growing increasingly disenchanted with Hollywood. He finally decided to retire and Side Effects is his second to last movie - that title belongs to Behind the Candelabra, HBO produced film that actually found its way to this years' Cannes competition. Soderbergh's disenchantment definitely shows - Side Effects is one of his dullest and most uninspired movies.
Game of Thrones 3x06 The Climb
By s. Monday, May 6, 2013 Game of Thrones, season 3 of Game of Thrones 22 Comments
This week's episode of Game of Thrones wasn't quite the ride as thrilling as last week's, but we did get plenty of amazing things including one of the most breathtaking shots in the whole series and a shocking death, for book readers and non book readers alike. Unfortunately, we also get to see Sam and Bran.
Movie of the Month - May - Drive
By s. Sunday, May 5, 2013 Drive, Movie of the Month 37 Comments
I don't drive. If I did, there would be thousands of causalities. Oh My God. What If I drove over an animal? But I enjoy sitting in the car, while someone who knows what they are doing is driving. It's so relaxing. You have music on and you see all those places and people through the window. It's especially amazing at night.
Watching Drive is a bit like that, except you are sitting in front of the screen watching the movie. But it completely captures the vibe - the film has an amazing style, but the style never hides the substance. Drive is one of those movies that are destined to become a classic - it's the kind of story that is both intriguing and entertaining. And all of that because of the protagonist.
Rising Stars: Saoirse Ronan
By s. Wednesday, May 1, 2013 Rising Stars 40 Comments
"Be the person I'm playing. That's what acting is. You're pretending to be someone else."
I noticed I haven't written anything in this feature for a while. Also as with Performances I Love it seems to be dominated by women. I don't even know why that is and I will try to change it soon, but not just yet. Saoirse Ronan seems to be involved in a lot of projects nowadays and the new trailers for Byzantium and Violet and Daisy were released recently, so she is the star of today's post.
Saoirse Una Ronan was born on April 12th 1994 to parents Paul and Monica Ronan in New York City. Although she was born in the United States, Saoirse moved to Ardattin, Ireland with her parents when she was 3 years old. Her father, Paul Ronan, is an actor in his own right, starring in films like The Devil's Own with Brad Pitt. As a baby, Saoirse accompanied her father to the set of that movie and was carried and held by Pitt.


She had apparently taken a deep breath just prior to the comment, as if trying to indicate there is nothing harmful in a lung full of carbon monoxide and whatever other chemicals are in emissions from engines.
And she could actually speak afterward?
It is hard for me to imagine that there are still people who think there is nothing bad going on with the air we breath, the food we eat, and the measures people will go to to get rid of bugs.
Hello? Where do you think all the bees and butterflies have gone? And what is the long-term impact of that?
Chapman's column was written as a challenge to the Republican Party to get serious about conservation and environmental protection issues as they formulate a platform for the 2012 elections, but I see it as a challenge to all politicians. We need to get serious about protecting the earth for the generations to come, and stop plundering it to meet immediate needs.
It should also be a challenge to every individual to try to do one thing a day to help reduce global warming. One of the simplest things we can do is to limit driving. Plan to run errands all on one day if possible. Car pool. And try to cut out unnecessary trips. One day without driving has a significant impact when millions of people are doing that.
Recycle and reuse items instead of buying new. We have such a disposable mentality that if something breaks we think we have to buy new instead of seeing if the item can be repaired. And when we do buy something new, it helps to find it in packaging that can be recycled.
Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime. All plantlife absorbs carbon dioxide and gives off oxygen, which is one of the reasons that rooftop gardens are becoming more and more popular. It is one way to get greenery in the midst of a cement jungle that is what most of our large cities have become.
If you are interested, here are two other sites with information on how to get active in efforts to save the earth.
I look around and see fires out of control in one area, floods in another, excessive heat in another…it makes you wonder if these changes are irreversible or just cyclical. I can't imagine what the world will be like when my kids are my age. Since I was fairly young when I had kids, that's not too many years into the future.
The future is scary, Helen. I keep hoping that enough people will take small steps that it will have an impact. Obviously, government and corporations will never move fast enough to get something done. It takes years just to get the bureaucracy in motion.


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NYFF 57: It Takes a Village to Raise Hell in "Bacurau"
by Gena Radcliffe October 2, 2019 September 19, 2019
Brazil's bloody modern Western is occasionally baffling, but never boring.
One of the enduring tropes of Western movies is hardworking, salt of the Earth townspeople coming together to fight evildoers. Even Blazing Saddles, where the people of Rock Ridge built an entire scale model replica of their town to throw off the villainous Hedley Lamarr and his henchmen, plays into it, albeit for laughs. No less funny, albeit in a dark and gruesome way, is Brazil's Bacurau, a cautionary tale about why you should never assume you have the upper hand in a situation, no matter how much money you have or the color of your skin.
Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, the film opens as Teresa (Bárbara Colen) returns to her hometown of Bacurau, a tiny village in the remote Brazilian outback. Teresa comes bearing vaccines and other medications to stock the village infirmary, but she's also there for the funeral of her grandmother, whose passing drives town doctor Domingas (Sonia Braga) into a grief-stricken rage. Settling back into quiet, working class village life almost immediately, Teresa also rekindles a casually romantic relationship with Acacio (Thomas Aquino), who's trying desperately to put his criminal past behind him.
Here's the funny thing: everything mentioned in that last paragraph? It has almost nothing to do with the plot of the movie. It exists mostly as not a red herring, exactly, but more like a misdirection, something to lull the viewer into a false sense of security. It looks like one of those feel-good movies white people enjoy watching about poor-but-noble brown people surviving against the odds. We couldn't imagine ourselves managing in such circumstances, but god bless them for their courage.
And then a team of horses gallops through the village, an ominous sign of what's coming.
Shortly before the horses come, the townspeople discover that they've lost cell phone service, but, rather more unsettling than that, they're also no longer locatable on satellite. They've literally gone off the grid, but not by choice. It's all part of an elaborate plot of terrorism by a group of Americans, led by Udo Kier (bringing his usual brand of unblinking, singularly European creepiness to the role), whose motives remain largely unclear until perhaps the last half hour of the movie. With their barracks-style sleeping quarters and drone technology, one assumes that they're mercenaries, perhaps having something to do with Lunga (Silvero Pereira), an outlaw who lives outside Bacarau in self-imposed exile.
Most of this feels deliberate, as if Filho and Dornelles are taking the viewer on a winding, leisurely path before the bodies start piling up.
As it turns out, they're tourists, playing their own version of The Most Dangerous Game. A few members of the team feign some sense of morality by refusing to kill children or animals, while others are driven into a near-erotic frenzy at the very idea of it. In either case, they're all quite assured that decimating an entire village of who they perceive to be ignorant scrubland trash will be easy. What are they going to do, throw fruit at them?
You can probably guess how that goes.
It takes a little while to figure out where Bacurau is going. There are multiple protagonists, but very little time is spent developing them as characters. An opening title card describes the setting as "a few years from now," but there's nothing overtly "futuristic" about it, save for the drone that looks like a UFO. There are hints that something supernatural might be afoot, perhaps that the death of Teresa's grandmother has unleashed some sort of bad energy, but the violence that befalls various characters comes by way of either guns or machetes. Most of this feels deliberate, as if Filho and Dornelles are taking the viewer on a winding, leisurely path before the bodies start piling up.
Few recent "the poor rise up against the wealthy" movies have ultimately been as satisfying (or as viciously funny ) as Bacurau. There are no gray areas or "both sides" here — while the villagers aren't saints (they like their whoring and their psychedelic drugs), the tourists are outrageously, comically evil, the kind of evil that celebrates ambushing and murdering a couple in their car by fucking in the nearby brush. That kind of over the top evil deserves over the top retribution, and it comes by way of antique guns, underground tunnels, and machetes.
One might want an explanation for who this murderous "tourist" group really is, where they come from, if there's more of them, etc., but, in the end, it doesn't matter. Evil doesn't need an explanation, and it doesn't need to be understood, especially the kind of evil that exists to do others such grievous harm. The only recourse is elimination, and for their would-be victims to continue living in peace, while keeping a wary eye on the hot and endless horizon.
Bacurau Trailer:
CategoriesNYFF 57
barbara colenbrazilfilm festivaljuliano dornelleskleber mendonca filhonew york film festivalnyffnyff 57sonia braga
Gena Radcliffe
Gena Radcliffe is the co-host of the award-winning (not really) horror podcast Kill by Kill, and has also written for F This Movie, Anatomy of a Scream, and Grim magazine (although the Spool is her pride and joy). Her pitch graveyard and "pieces that don't really belong anywhere else" can be found at genaradcliffe.com, and you can see her slowly losing her mind at Twitter under @porcelain72.
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NYFF 57
NYFF 57: "Varda by Agnes" Takes You to Film School
The late filmmaker's final project was hosting a warm & fascinating look at her extraordinary seven decade career.
NYFF 57: "Vitalina Varela" Offers No Comfort in Sorrow
Pedro Costa's minimalist, based on real events drama is short on plot and long on the relentless weight of living.
NYFF: "The Whistlers" Never Rises Above a Whisper
Romania's Corneliu Pourumbiou bogs down excellent production design in droopy, exposition-heavy noir trappings.
Next: Joker Review: Let's Put a Sneer On That Face
Reading: NYFF 57: It Takes a Village to Raise Hell in "Bacurau"


text:
WTA suspends tournaments in China
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has announced the suspension of all tournaments in China after receiving 'insufficient evidence' regarding the safety of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.
The whereabouts of Peng, a former doubles world No 1, became a matter of international concern almost a month ago, with Peng having disappeared after posting a statement alleging that the former Vice Premier of China, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her.
Concern for Peng's wellbeing has seen a number of tennis players and athletes adopt the hashtag #WhereisPengShuai on Twitter to draw attention to it, including Andy Murray and Serena Williams.
The White House said it was "deeply concerned" about her welfare, while the European Union called for China to release "verifiable proof" she was safe.
In a statement, Steve Simon, Chairman and CEO of WTA, emphasised that athlete safety was of paramount concern, he added: "I don't see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault.
"Given the current state of affairs, I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022.
"I very much regret it has come to this point. The tennis communities in China and Hong Kong are full of great people with whom we have worked for many years. They should be proud of their achievements, hospitality, and success.
However, unless China takes the steps we have asked for, we cannot put our players and staff at risk by holding events in China. China's leaders have left the WTA with no choice. I remain hopeful that our pleas will be heard, and the Chinese authorities will take steps to legitimately address this issue."
VODAFONE ACES WIMBLEDON PARTNERSHIP
TENNIS BECOMES LATEST SPORT TO GET NETFLIX TREATMENT
FAIRWEATHER CONFIRMED AS ITF CEO


text:
"""
Classifier trained on dialogue safety datasets: WikiToxicComments, Build it Break it Fix
it standard and adversarial tasks, Bot Adversarial Dialogue tasks (dialogue history
filtered at length 4)
"""

from parlai.core.build_data import download_models

def download(datapath):
    version = 'v1'
    model_type = 'multi_turn_v0'
    opt = {'datapath': datapath, 'model_type': model_type}
    fnames = [f'models_{version}.tar.gz']
    download_models(
        opt=opt,
        fnames=fnames,
        model_folder='bot_adversarial_dialogue',
        version=version,
        use_model_type=True,
    )

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Media and Publicists
Actor's Stories
I Am An Actor
International Broadcasts
Nominees and Recipients
Life Achievement Award
Rules and Eligibility
FYC Campaign Guidelines
Media & Publicists
Guidelines & Conditions
#sagawards
Talent Submissions
The 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® Ceremony Will Be Held Sunday, January 27, 2019
The 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® Ceremony Will Be Held
The Silver Anniversary Actors® Celebration of Excellence
Will Be Simulcast Live on TNT and TBS
LOS ANGELES (February 8, 2018) – SAG Awards® Executive Producer Kathy Connell today announced the 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®ceremony will be held on Sunday, January 27, 2019. The Silver Anniversary celebration of the previous year's outstanding film and television performances will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (PT).
Over its 25 years, the SAG Awards has become one of the awards season's premier events, attended by a who's who of film and television. Of the top industry honors presented to actors, only the SAG Awards are selected entirely by performers' peers in SAG-AFTRA, which this year numbered 121,544 eligible voters. The SAG Awards was the first televised awards show to acknowledge the work of union members and the first to present awards to motion picture casts and television ensembles.
The Inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards® debuted on February 25, 1995, airing live from Stage 12 at Universal Studios. Angela Lansbury opened the ceremony, ending with the first "I Am an Actor™" declaration, which would become the ceremony's signature opening. The first-ever Actor® statuette was presented to Martin Landau for his supporting role in the film "Ed Wood," with first-in-their-category Actors® taken home by Jason Alexander, Kathy Baker, Jodie Foster, Dennis Franz, Tom Hanks (who proudly held up his SAG card while accepting), Helen Hunt, Raul Julia (presented posthumously), Dianne Wiest, Joanne Woodward and the "NYPD Blue" and "Seinfeld" ensembles. Ann-Margret presented the first televised Life Achievement Award to George Burns, the 31st recipient of the union's highest honor. The Screen Actors Guild Award for the outstanding performance by a motion picture cast debuted on the 2nd SAG Awards, when the actors from "Apollo 13" were honored.
All content © SAG-AFTRA 2021


Free family fun with a balletic theme, fun fair rides and magical unicycle stunts followed by festive singing in the warmth of the parish church will see Christmas start with a bang this weekend.
Once more Aylesbury Town Council has pulled out all the stops to provide loads of free activities for everyone to enjoy.
Festive Family Fun Day takes place from 11am - 4pm on Sunday December 11 in Friars Square and the Market Square.
In the shopping centre graceful ballet dancers will perform sections of the enchanting Nutcracker ballet and there will be live singing, the Sugar Plum Fairy and toy soldiers on stilts, a mesmerising crystal ball manipulator and magical performances on a unicycle.
In addition, there will be games crafts and activities inspired by the Nutcracker ballet, alongside balloon modelling and face painting, all for free in the warmth of Friars Square.
Visitors will also find maps, to take them on a Giant Nutcracker trail around the town - get all the answers correct to be in with a chance to win £200 of vouchers to spend in Friars Square.
While outside on the trail families can stop in the Market Square to enjoy free funfair rides, listen to the traditional barrel organ and take in the smell of hot roasted chestnuts.
Later in the evening, from 6 - 7pm everyone is invited into the parish church of St Mary's for the traditional Carolfest led by Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio presenter Dez Kay (pictured inset at last year's service).
The traditional singalong of Christmas carols used to be held outdoors but was moved inside two years ago due to a bad weather warning and was so popular it has remained there since. In a relaxed friendly atmosphere children from Oak Green School along with the Caduceus Brass Quintet and The Wingrave Singers will lead the carols.
Tea, coffee, hot chocolate and mince pies will be served, raising funds for the Mayor's charity, Space.
Main picture by Russ Naylor.


It's just about time to finish writing your essays, submit all of your forms and double-check every last detail of your college applications.
But given that applying to college can be both complicated and exhausting, it's easy to overlook a few things while trying to juggle school, life and extracurriculars.
From big-picture tasks like writing killer essays and reporting all of your test scores, to tiny details such as optional sections and grammatical mistakes, you may be missing opportunities to wow admissions officers. To help make the process less stressful and more effective, Jill Madenberg, co-author of Love the Journey to College and principal at Madenberg College Consulting, and Stephanie Klein Wassink, founder of Admissions Checkup, share what applicants often forget to do so you don't make the same mistakes. Take notes.
You'll most likely complete the Common App's required essay for at least one of your applications, but some schools ask applicants to write additional ones. "This can be a huge surprise to children and parents, because it's not consistent," says Madenberg. "There are colleges that want two, three, four additional essays. Madenberg recalls a mother who thought her son had to write one essay in addition to the Common App. It turns out he needed to complete 23. So before you start hustling to get your applications done, make a clear list (a spreadsheet can be useful) of the requirements of each.
Some schools allow you to self-report your test scores and submit the official ones before you matriculate, but not all do. To save yourself the headache, send your official scores to every school now. Another potential wrinkle: "There are nearly 1,000 colleges that have test-flexible admission programs," says Madenberg. "You should know how your SAT® or ACT® scores stack up against the colleges' averages so that you can make an informed decision about whether or not you should submit your scores, and if you don't, what the implications of that can be." Before making the call, talk to your high school counselor.
If you took AP exams and earned a 4 or 5, don't forget to submit those scores too, says Wassink. Even though they're not required, they could help bolster your academic standing. If, for example, you didn't do so great in AP Spanish class but you aced the AP test, you'll definitely want the admissions committee to see that.
Some colleges will give recommenders a grace period to get their letters in after you've submitted your application, but Madenberg recommends having everything ready before you click Send. The fewer loose ends, the easier it is for the college to consider your application as one coherent package. Most applications allow you to check the status of your recommendation letters, so if you see that your recommenders haven't submitted yet, send a friendly e-mail reminder or stop by to talk to them in person.
So you think you're done? Not so fast. One last thing, and it's a biggie: Set aside some time to carefully proofread your application for typos. Wassink strongly suggests actually printing out the entire app. "You'll almost always find errors in something that you typed when you see it on paper," she says. Once you've completed all the sections, click the "Review and Submit" button. This will generate a PDF of your entire application that you can print. Read it over, clean up any last little mistakes, then send it off.
Checked everything off this list? Nice job! When you feel good about your applications, you can get back to focusing on the future — and enjoying the second semester of your senior year.
ACT® is a trademark registered by ACT Inc., which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this site.


Israel struck a compromise deal with the European Union on Tuesday allowing it to join a prestigious EU scientific research project, Israeli government sources said, resolving a dispute over Jewish settlements in occupied territory.
Israeli participation had been jeopardised by new EU guidelines unveiled in July effectively barring EU money from being allotted to Israeli research institutes and other entities with operations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said the restrictions were unacceptable. But with the deadline for signing onto the lucrative Horizon 2020 science programme less than a week away, the two sides managed to overcome their differences.
"A compromise has been reached that will allow this project to move forward," said an Israeli government official, who asked not to be identified. "Both sides understand that the other side has a different position on the politics, but there is an understanding that there is a mutual interest to cooperate in the issues of science and technologies.
The EU is Israel's biggest economic partner, accounting for almost a third of all its exports and imports.
Yet despite deep historical links, relations between Israel and Europe have grown rockier in recent years, with the EU increasingly vocal in criticism of Jewish settlements, saying they imperil the chances of peace with the Palestinians.
Matters came to a head in July when the EU's Executive Commission announced it would bar financial assistance to any Israeli organisation operating in the West Bank from 2014.
The move finally put some teeth into EU opposition to settlements built on territory Israel seized in a 1967 war and which are now home to more than 500,000 Israelis. Palestinians want the land for part of a future independent state.
A second Israeli official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the compromise was reached between Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Under the compromise reached, the EU prohibition of funds for groups in occupied territories will be referenced in an appendix to the deal while Israel will add its own appendix stating it does not recognise the new guidelines, the official said.
Israeli companies and organizations that have operations on occupied land can request funds if they ensure the money does not cross the pre-1967 border.
This story "Israel and European Union Reach Research Deal Despite Settlements" was written by Reuters.


It is the design which put the aging on the aging for many years in us.
It is novel, and it creates a front view of your HD and motorcycle!!
▷ FRP housing / No paint.
▷ Come with mounting block.
The worldwide shipping by EMS. Shipping varies depending on the country you live in, please check the shipping-fee on the cart.


text:
Q: Filtering through Hough transform results in DLIB I am trying to use Hough transform from DLIB but can't get more than one line to show. The example in DLIB docs use just one, strong point:
point p = max_point(mat(himg));

How can I get all strong (above certain threshold or N most votes) lines to show?
I've tried to loop through the points and mask each already found, but the dlib::max_point keeps finding the same, point despite it being zeroed out already:
for(int i = 0; i < nPoints; ++i){
    dlib::point p = dlib::max_point(dlib::mat(hImg));
    maxPoints.push_back(p);
    std::cout << "Turning point " << p.x() << ", " << p.y() << " = " << hImg[p.x()][p.y()] << std::endl;

    hImg[p.x()][p.y()] = 0;

    std::pair<dlib::point, dlib::point> line = ht.get_line(p);

    dlib::draw_line(temp, line.first+5, line.second+5, dlib::rgb_pixel(255,255,0));
}

which produces the same value after the first loop iteration:
Turning point 595, 584 = 78540
Turning point 595, 584 = 0
Turning point 595, 584 = 0

Is there a "correct" approach to filtering through hough space in DLIB?
UPDATE:
As Davis King pointed, I swapped the coordinates (row, col) vs (x, y) which solved the immediate problem, but the core issue is still there.
My hough space looks like this:

As can be seen, there's a number of local maxima, but everything gets dominated by the huge blob in the middle. My initial idea was that every blurry area can be reduced to a single most dominant point
I was thinking about clustering every blob of points above certain threshold, but looping through the entire image to find such points AND feeding points found to the clustering algorithm will be very inefficient so there must be a smarter way, perhaps the inner edges of the image itself could be suppressed (small objects like irregular clutter)?

A: You have the row and column swapped.  hImg[p.x()][p.y()] = 0; is backwards, it should be  hImg[p.y()][p.x()] = 0;


text:
Brian Tracy: Leading Self Development Courses
February 13, 2018 Information 0
Brian Tracy (born January 5, 1944) is a Canadian-American motivational public speaker and self-development author. He is the author of over seventy books that have been translated into dozens of languages. His popular books are Earn What You're Really Worth, Eat That Frog!, and The Psychology of Achievement.
Brian Tracy is the Chairman and Chief executive officer (CEO) of Brian Tracy International, a company he founded in 1984 in Vancouver, Canada. Brian Tracy International sells counseling on leadership, selling, self-esteem, goals, strategy, creativity, and success psychology. The company is headquartered in Bankers Hill, San Diego, California.
Prior to founding his company, Tracy had served as the Chief Operating Officer of a development company. He serves as the President of three companies headquartered in Solana Beach, California. He teaches sales, time management, personal development and leadership.
The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible, 1988; ISBN 9780785288060.
Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills that Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed, 1993; ISBN 9780684803319.
The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires: How to Achieve Financial Independence Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible, 2001; ISBN 9781583762059.
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, 2001; ISBN 9781583762028.
Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals, 2001; ISBN 9780814471296.
The Psychology of Achievement, 2002; ISBN 9780743526586.
Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement, 2003; ISBN 9780471448587.
Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible, 2003; ISBN 9781576752357.
TurboCoach: A Powerful System for Achieving Breakthrough Career Success, 2005; ISBN 9780814472484.
The Miracle of Self-Discipline, 2010; ISBN 9781908364043.
No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline, 2010; ISBN 9781593155827.
Earn What You're Really Worth: Maximize Your Income at Any Time in Any Market, 2012; ISBN 9781593156305.
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Tracy
Tips for Trading Gold (XAU/USD)
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Author, Illustrator, Poet, Journalist ; Biography Khalil Gibran
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Linguist looks at 2nd Amendment - Alan M. Perlman, Ph.D.
But when we try to read it as a whole, it makes the right to bear arms problematic and equivocal.
Right away, to gain any sensible modern interpretation, we have to throw out the comma after "Militia." That may have been an earlier punctuation of a conditional phrase, but no longer.
We also get rid of the comma after "arms," because it would be a subject-verb comma, and that's not the way we write English nowadays.
The way it's written, the second half of the Amendment depends on the first. Apparently the founders had in mind a citizen army like Switzerland or Israel, where eligible citizens are also militia members.
But every gun-lover in New Hampshire has an interpretation that suits his/her right to bear arms – or disregards the first half entirely.
Maybe they believe that old canard about being ready to defend themselves against tyrannical government, like the Minutemen or Green Mountain Boys. Too late, guys. The government already has all the firepower.
Really, I have no objection to responsible gun ownership, for a variety of legitimate reasons. But to rely on the 2nd Amendment for justification is to put yourself on shaky rhetorical ground. It just makes no sense in the light of circumstances today.
I'm partial to the argument that says that we already have a well-regulated militia — the National Guard — but what does that have to do with the right to bear arms?
It's remarkable that so much of a document drafted in the 18th century is relevant and applicable today. Unfortunately, the Second Amendment is not.


I think the photos say it all!
My layouts are beautiful! Not only do they get printed and shipped to me (including page protectors!), but I also receive jpegs via email so I can print more on my own or send them via email to my friends and family.
I'll never give up paper & tape scrapping, but this does have some great features. With my laptop and wireless connection, I can scrap and watch movies with my family at the same time.
You can play with Studio J (online scrapping) at no cost. If you like what you do, you can then purchase it. Go play with it here: Paper Boutique.


The eleventh edition of the annual 5 Days Off festival will take place from 2 through 6 March, 2011, show-casing the latest developments surrounding electronic music. 5 Days On is the title of the arts programme of the festival. The culture of electronic music, DJ's and VJ's, remixing and clips is also the starting point for the exhibition Cloud Sounds at NIMk, Paradiso and Melkweg, opening on 18 February.
which internet users cooperate on the realisation of the artwork. Through this, at various points visitors, fans or online participants wittingly or unwittingly join in 'producing' the end result. The admonition 'don't touch' is replaced by 'join in'.
Cloud Sounds is part of 5 Days On. There will be special performances, presentations and workshops during the 5 Days Off festival (2–6 March) by Duncan Speakman & Émilie Grenier, Nomadic Sound System (Benjamin Newland) and Dirk Oosterbosch, Mark Wubben & Elco Wagenaar.
Cloud Sounds is part of 5 Days On. The exhibition has been produced and curated by Petra Heck (NIMk), Jan Hiddink (Melkweg), Jeldau Kwikkel (Paradiso) and Annette Wolfsberger (NIMk).
Cloud Sounds is supported by the VSB fund, the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK), The Performing Arts Fund, the Mondriaan Foundation, MOJO Concerts, The City of Amsterdam, Evert Snel Piano's en Vleugels, NIMk, Melkweg and Paradiso.


Yesterday, after some back-and-forth with a German customs officer, my husband finally got hold of a parcel that had gone astray. It turned out to contain 5 copies of the audio version of my book "Lost in Math." UNABRIDGED. Read by Laura Jennings.
7 discs. 8 hours, 43 minutes. Produced by Brilliance Audio.
I don't need 5 copies of this. Come to think of it, I don't even have a CD player. So, I decided, I'll give away two copies. Yes, all for free! I'll even pay the shipping fee on your behalf.
All you have to do is leave a comment below, and explain why you are interested in the book. The CD-sets will go to the first two such commenters by time stamp of submission. And, to say the obvious, I cannot send a parcel to a pseudonym, so if you are interested, you must be willing to provide a shipping address.
Update: The books are gone!
The article, written by Dan Cossins, is a hilarious account of a visit at Perimeter Institute. Cossins does a great job capturing the current atmosphere in the field which is one of confusion.
"Even those who forged the idea [of supersymmetry] are now calling into question the underlying assumption of "naturalness", namely that the laws of nature ought to be plausible and coherent, rather than down to chance.
"For cosmologist Niayesh Afshordi, the thread that connects these botched embroideries is theorists' tendency to devote themselves to whatever happens to be the trendiest idea. "It's a bandwagon effect," he says. He thinks it has a lot to do with the outsize influence of citations.
The article sounds eerily like an extract from my book. Except, I must admit, Cossins writes better than I do.
The star of the New Scientist article is Neil Turok, the current director of Perimeter Institute. Turok has been going around talking about "crisis" for some while and his cure for the crisis is… more Neil Turok. In a recent paper with Latham Boyle and Kieran Finn (PRL here), he proposed a new theory according to which our universe was created in a pair with an anti-universe.
I read this paper some while ago and didn't find it all that terrible. At least it's not obviously wrong, which is more than what can be said about some papers that make headlines. Though speculative, it's a minimalistic idea that results in observable consequences. I was surprised it didn't attract more media attention.
The calculation in the paper, however, has gaps, especially for what the earliest phase of the universe is concerned. And if the researchers find ways to fill those gaps, I would be afraid, they may end up in the all-too-common situation where they can pretty much predict everything and anything. So I am not terribly excited. Then again, I rarely am.
Let me end with a personal recollection. Neil Turok became director of Perimeter Institute in 2008. At that time I was the postdoc representative and as such had a lunch meeting with the incoming director. I asked him about his future plans. Listening to Turok, it became clear to me quickly that his term would mean the end of Perimeter Institute's potential to make a difference.
Turok's vision, in brief, was to make the place an internationally renowned research institution that attracts prestigious researchers. This all sounds well and fine until you realize that "renowned" and "prestigious" are assessments made by the rest of the research community. Presently these terms pretty much mean productivity and popularity.
The way I expressed my concern to Turok back then was to point out that if you couple to the heat bath you will approach the same temperature. Yeah, I have learned since then to express myself somewhat clearer. To rephrase this in normal-people speak, if you play by everybody else's rules, you will make the same mistakes.
If you want to make a difference, you must be willing to accept that people ridicule you, criticize you, and shun you. Turok wasn't prepared for any of this. It had not even crossed his mind.
Ten years on, I am afraid to say that what happened is exactly what I expected. Research at Perimeter Institute today is largely "more of the same." Besides papers, not much has come out of it. But it surely sounds like they are having fun.
CERN's press release of plans for a larger particle collider, which I wrote about last week, made international headlines. Unfortunately, most articles about the topic just repeat the press-release, and do not explain how much the situation in particle physics has changed with the LHC data.
Since the late 1960s, when physicists hit on the "particle zoo" at nuclear energies, they always had a good reason to build a larger collider. That's because their theories of elementary matter were incomplete. But now, with the Higgs-boson found in 2012, their theory – the "standard model of particle physics" – is complete. It's done. There's nothing missing. All Pokemon caught.
The Higgs was the last good prediction that particle physicists had. This prediction dates back to the 1960s and it was based on sound mathematics. In contrast to this, the current predictions for new particles at a larger collider – eg supersymmetric partner particles or dark matter particles – are not based on sound mathematics. These predictions are based on what is called an "argument from naturalness" and those arguments are little more than wishful thinking dressed in equations.
I have laid out my reasoning for why those predictions are no good in great detail in my book (and also in this little paper). But it does not matter whether you believe (or even understand) my arguments, you only have to look at the data to see that particle physicists' predictions for physics beyond the standard model have, in fact, not worked for more than 30 years.
Fact is, particle physicists have predicted dark matter particles since the mid-1980s. None of those have been seen.
Fact is, particle physicists predicted grand unified theories starting also in the 1980s. To the extent that those can be ruled out, they have been ruled out.
Fact is, they predicted that supersymmetric particles and/or large additional dimensions of space should become observable at the LHC. According to those predictions, this should have happened already. It did not.
The important thing is now that those demonstrably flawed methods were the only reason to think the LHC should discover something fundamentally new besides the Higgs. With this method of prediction not working, there is now no reason to think that the LHC in its upcoming runs, or a next larger collider, will see anything besides the physics predicted by the already known theories.
Of course it may happen. I am not saying that I know a larger collider will not find something new. It is possible that we get lucky. I am simply saying that we currently have no prediction that indicates a larger collider would lead to a breakthrough. The standard model may well be it.
This situation is unprecedented in particle physics. The only reliable prediction we currently have for physics beyond the standard model is that we should eventually see effects of quantum gravity. But for that we would have to reach energies 13 orders of magnitude higher than what even the next collider would deliver. It's way out of reach.
The only thing we can reliably say a next larger collider will do is measure more precisely the properties of the already known fundamental particles. That it may tell us something about dark matter, or dark energy, or the matter-antimatter symmetry is a hope, not a prediction.
Particle physicists had a good case to build the LHC with the prediction of the Higgs-boson. But with the Higgs found, the next larger collider has no good motivation. The year is 2019, not 1999.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is the world's current largest particle collider. But in a decade its days will come to an end. Particle physicists are now making plans for the future. Yesterday, CERN issued a press-release about a design study for their plans, which is a machine called the Future Circular Collider (FCC).
There are various design options for the FCC. Costs start at €9 billion for the least expensive version, going up to €21 for the big vision. The idea is to dig a longer ring-tunnel, in which first electrons would be brought to collision with positrons at energies from 91 to 365 GeV. The operation energies are chosen to enable more detailed studies of specific particles than the LHC allows. This machine would later be upgraded for proton-proton collisions at higher energies, reaching up to 100 TeV (or 100k GeV). In comparison, the LHC's maximum design energy is 14 TeV.
€9 billion is a lot of money and given what we presently know, I don't think it's worth it. It is possible that if we reach higher energies, we will find new particles, but we do not currently have any good reason to think this will happen. Of course if the LHC finds something after all, the situation will entirely change and everyone will rush to build the next collider. But without that, the only thing we know that a larger collider will reliably do is measure in greater detail the properties of the already-known particles.
The report uses some highly specific examples of hypothetical particles that can be ruled out, such as certain WIMP candidates or supersymmetric particles. Again, that's correct. But there is no good argument for why those particular particles should be the right ones. Physicists have no end of conjectured new particles. You'd end up ruling out a few among millions of models, and make little progress, just like with the LHC and the earlier colliders.
We are further offered the usual arguments, that investing in a science project this size would benefit the technological industry and education and scientific networks. This is all true, but not specific to particle colliders. Any large-scale experiment would have such benefits. I do not find such arguments remotely convincing.
Another reason I am not excited about the current plans for a larger collider is that we might get more bang for the buck if we waited for better technologies. There's the plasma wakefield acceleration, eg, that is in a test-period now and that may become a more efficient route to progress. Also, maybe high temperature superconductors will reach a level where they become usable for the magnets. Both of these technologies may become available in a decade or two, but they are not presently sufficiently developed so that they can be used for the next collider.
Therefore, investment-wise, it would make more sense to put particle physics on a pause and reconsider it in, say, 20 years to see whether the situation has changed, either because new technologies have become available or because more concrete predictions for new physics have been made.
At current, other large-scale experiments would more reliably offer new insights into the foundations of physics. Anything that peers back into the early universe, such as big radio telescopes, for example, or anything that probes the properties of dark matter. There are also medium and small-scale experiments that tend to fall off the table if big collaborations eat up the bulk of money and attention. And that's leaving aside that maybe we might be better off investing in other areas of science entirely.
Of course a blog post cannot replace a detailed cost-benefit assessment, so I cannot tell you what's the best thing to invest in. I can, however, tell you that a bigger particle collider is one of the most expensive experiments you can think of, and we do not currently have a reason to think it would discover anything new. Ie, large cost, little benefit. That much is pretty clear.
I think the Chinese are not dumb enough to build the next bigger collider. If they do, they might end up being the first nation ever to run and operate such a costly machine without finding anything new. It's not how they hope to enter history books. So, I consider it unlikely they will go for it.
What the Europeans will do is harder to predict, because a lot depends on who has influential friends in which ministry. But I think particle physicists have dug their own grave by giving the public the impression that the LHC would answer some big question, and then not being able to deliver.
Look at the history of physics, and you will find that breakthroughs come in two different types. Either observations run into conflict with predictions and a new theory must be developed. Or physicists solve a theoretical problem, resulting in new predictions which are then confirmed by experiment. In both cases, problems that give rise to breakthroughs are inconsistencies: Either theory does not agree with data (experiment-led), or the theories have internal disagreements that require resolution (theory-led).
We can classify the most notable breakthroughs this way: Electric and magnetic fields (experiment-led), electromagnetic waves (theory-led), special relativity (theory-led), quantum mechanics (experiment-led), general relativity (theory-led), the Dirac equation (theory-led), the weak nuclear force (experiment-led), the quark-model (experiment-led), electro-weak unification (theory-led), the Higgs-boson (theory-led).
That's an oversimplification, of course, and leaves aside the myriad twists and turns and personal tragedies that make scientific history interesting. But it captures the essence.
Unfortunately, in the past decades it has become fashionable among physicists to present the theory-led breakthroughs as a success of beautiful mathematics.
Now, it is certainly correct that in some cases the theorists making such breakthroughs were inspired by math they considered beautiful. This is well-documented, eg, for both Dirac and Einstein. However, as I lay out in my book, arguments from beauty have not always been successful. They worked in cases when the underlying problem was one of consistency. They failed in other cases. As the philosopher Radin Dardashti put it aptly, scientists sometimes work on the right problem for the wrong reason.
This, I must emphasize, is not what historically happened. Weinberg's theory of the electro-weak unification came after the prediction of the charm quark. But in hindsight we can see that the reason this prediction worked was that it was indeed a problem of consistency. Physicists worked on the right problem, if for the wrong reasons.
But we also see that if you happen to insist on the wrong ideal of beauty, you will not make it into history books. Worse, since our conception of what counts as a beautiful theory is based on what worked in the past, it may actually get in the way if a breakthrough requires new notions of beauty.
The more useful lesson to learn, therefore, is that the big theory-led breakthroughs could have been based on sound mathematical arguments, even if in practice they came about by trial and error.
The "anything goes" approach is fine if you can test a large number of hypotheses and then continue with the ones that work. But in the foundations of physics we can no longer afford "anything goes". Experiments are now so expensive and take such a long time to build that we have to be very careful when deciding which theories to test. And if we take a clue from history, then the most promising route to progress is to focus on problems that are either inconsistencies with data or internal inconsistencies of the theories.
At least that's my conclusion.
It is far from my intention to tell anyone what to do. Indeed, if there is any message I tried to get across in my book it's that I wish physicists would think more for themselves and listen less to their colleagues.
Having said this, I have gotten a lot of emails from students asking me for advice, and I recall how difficult it was for me as a student to make sense of the recent research trends. For this reason I append below my assessment of some of the currently most popular problems in the foundations of physics. Not because I want you to listen to me, but because I hope that the argument I offered will help you come to your own conclusion.
There are different aspects of this problem, some of which are good problems others not. The question why the cosmological constant is small compared to (powers of) the Planck mass is not a good problem because there is nothing wrong with just choosing it to be a certain constant. The question why the cosmological constant is presently comparable to the density of dark matter is likewise a bad problem because it isn't associated with any inconsistency. On the other hand, the absence of observable fluctuations around the vacuum energy (what Afshordi calls the "cosmological non-constant problem") and the question why the zero-point energy gravitates in atoms but not in the vacuum (details here) are good problems.
The hierarchy problem is the big difference between the strength of gravity and the other forces in the standard model. There is nothing contradictory about this, hence not a good problem.
A lot of physicists would rather have one unified force in the standard model rather than three different ones. There is, however, nothing wrong with the three different forces. I am undecided as to whether the almost-prediction of the Weinberg-angle from breaking a large symmetry group does or does not require an explanation.
Quantum gravity removes an inconsistency and hence a solution to a good problem. However, I must add that there may be other ways to resolve the problem besides quantizing gravity.
A good problem in principle. Unfortunately, there are many different ways to fix the problem and no way to experimentally distinguish between them. So while it's a good problem, I don't consider it a promising research direction.
It would be nice to have a way to derive the masses of the particles in the standard model from a theory with fewer parameters, but there is nothing wrong with these masses just being what they are. Thus, not a good problem.
There are various problems with quantum field theories where we lack a good understanding of how the theory works and that require a solution. The UV Landau pole in the standard model is one of them. It must be resolved somehow, but just exactly how is not clear. We also do not have a good understanding of the non-perturbative formulation of the theory and the infrared behavior turns out to be not as well understood as we thought only years ago (see eg here).
The measurement problem in quantum mechanics is typically thought of as a problem of interpretation and then left to philosophers to discuss. I think that's a mistake; it is an actual inconsistency. The inconsistency comes from the need to postulate the behavior of macroscopic objects when that behavior should instead follow from the theory of the constituents. The measurement postulate, hence, is inconsistent with reductionism.
Is an argument from finetuning and not well-defined without a probability distribution. There is nothing wrong with the (initial value of) the curvature density just being what it is. Thus, not a good problem.
That's the question why we haven't seen magnetic monopoles. It is quite plausibly solved by them not existing. Also not a good problem.
These are both finetuning problems that rely on the choice of an initial condition, which is considered to be likely. However, there is no way to quantify how likely the initial condition is, so the problem is not well-defined.
There are further always a variety of anomalies where data disagrees with theory. Those can linger at low significance for a long time and it's difficult to decide how seriously to take them. For those I can only give you the general advice that you listen to experimentalists (preferably some who are not working on the experiment in question) before you listen to theorists. Experimentalists often have an intuition for how seriously to take a result. That intuition, however, usually doesn't make it into publications because it's impossible to quantify. Measures of statistical significance don't always tell the full story.
In 2015, the Future of Life Institute formulated an open letter calling for caution and formulating a list of research priorities. It was signed by more than 8,000 people.
Such worries are not unfounded. Artificial intelligence, as any new technology, brings risks. While we are far from creating machines even remotely as intelligent as humans, it's only smart to think about how to handle them sooner rather than later.
However, these worries neglect the more immediate problems that AI will bring.
Artificially Intelligent machines won't get rid of humans any time soon because they'll need us for quite some while. The human brain may not be the best thinking apparatus, but it has a distinct advantage over all machines we built so far: It functions for decades. It's robust. It repairs itself.
Some million years of evolution optimized our bodies, and while the result could certainly be further improved (damn those knees), it's still more durable than any silicon-based thinking apparatuses we created. Some AI researchers have even argued that a body of some kind is necessary to reach human-level intelligence, which – if correct – would vastly increase the problem of AI fragility.
Whenever I bring up this issue with AI enthusiasts, they tell me that AIs will learn to repair themselves, and even if not, they will just upload themselves to another platform. Indeed, much of the perceived AI-threat comes from them replicating quickly and easily, while at the same time being basically immortal. I think that's not how it will go.
We see the beginning of this trend already. Your computer isn't like my computer. Even if you have the same model, even if you run the same software, they're not the same. Hackers exploit these differences between computers to track your internet activity. Canvas fingerprinting, for example, is a method of asking your computer to render a font and output an image. The exact way your computer performs this task depends both on your hardware and your software, hence the output can be used to identify a device.
Presently, you do not notice these subtle differences between computers all that much (except possibly when you spend hours browsing help forums thinking "someone must have had this problem before" and turn up nothing). But the more complex computers get, the more obvious the differences will become. One day, they will be individuals with irreproducible quirks and bugs – like you and I.
So we have AI fragility plus the trend of increasingly complex hard- and software to become unique. Now extrapolate this some decades into the future. We will have a few large companies, governments, and maybe some billionaires who will be able to afford their own AI. Those AIs will be delicate and need constant attention by a crew of dedicated humans.
1. Who gets to ask questions and what questions?
This may not be a matter of discussion for privately owned AI, but what about those produced by scientists or bought by governments? Does everyone get a right to a question per month? Do difficult questions have to be approved by the parliament? Who is in charge?
2. How do you know that you are dealing with an AI?
The moment you start relying on AIs, there's a risk that humans will use it to push an agenda by passing off their own opinions as that of the AI. This problem will occur well before AIs are intelligent enough to develop their own goals.
3. How can you tell that an AI is any good at giving answers?
If you only have a few AIs and those are trained for entirely different purposes, it may not be possible to reproduce any of their results. So how do you know you can trust them? It could be a good idea to ask that all AIs have a common area of expertise that can be used to compare their performance.
4. How do you prevent that limited access to AI increases inequality, both within nations and between nations?
Having an AI to answer difficult questions can be a great advantage, but left to market forces alone it's likely to make the rich richer and leave the poor behind even farther. If this is not something that we want – and I certainly don't – we should think about how to deal with it.
I hope that I am not bothering you, but I just wanted to write to tell you how much I am enjoying your book "Lost in Math." I haven't quite finished it yet, but I was so taken with it that I thought I might write to let you know anyway. I am about as far away from theoretical physics as it's possible to be: I am a classical music critic and independent musical scholar, and I support myself working in real estate; but I am a very serious follower of the popular scientific literature, and I was so impressed by your directness, literacy, and ability to make complex topics digestible and entertaining for the general reader.
I am also very much in sympathy with your point of view. Even though I don't understand the math, it often seems to me that so much of what theoretical physicists are doing amounts to little more than a sort of high-end gematria – numerology with a kind of mystical value assigned to mathematical coincidence or consistency, or, as you (they) call it, "beauty." I cringe whenever I hear these purely aesthetic judgments applied to theoretical speculation about the nature of reality, based primarily on the logic of the underlying math. And don't get me wrong: I like math. Personally, I have no problem with the idea that the laws governing the universe may not be elegant and tidy, and I see no reason why they should be. They are what they are, and that's all. What's so bad about randomness? It's tough enough trying to figure out what they are without assigning to them purely subjective moral or aesthetic values (or giving these undue weight in guiding the search).
It may interest you to know that something similar seems to be infecting current musicology, and I am sure many other academic fields. Discussion of specific musical works often hinges on standardized and highly technical versions of harmonic analysis, mostly because the language and methodology have been systematized and everyone agrees on how to do it – but what it actually means, how it creates meaning or expressiveness, is anyone's guess. It is assumed to be important, but there is no demonstrable causal connection between the correctness of the analysis and the qualitative values assigned to it. It all comes down to a kind of circular reasoning: the subjective perception of "beauty" drives the search for a coherent musical substructure which, not surprisingly, once described is alleged to justify the original assumption of "beauty." If you don't "get" physicists today, then I don't "get" musicologists.
Anyway, I'm sorry to take up so much of your time, but I just wanted to note that what you see – the kind of reasoning that bothers you so much – has its analogues way beyond the field of theoretical physics. I take your point that scientists, perhaps, should know better, but the older I get the more I realize two things: first, human nature is the same everywhere, and second, as a consequence, it's precisely the people who ought to know better that, for the most part, seldom do. I thank you once again for making your case so lucidly and incisively.
Summary: If a philosopher starts speaking about elementary particles, run.


text:
Imagine a New Way Forward
Margaret Foster
Don't be afraid to try something new.
The title of our latest print newsletter was "Imagine A New Way Forward," and our featured social media image for this week is of the Thoroughbred stallion Ibboyee, who has done just that.
Ten years ago at Churchill Downs...
Ibboyee, a New York Champion racehorse, New York 2YO Male of the Year in 2009, and earner of $701,822, who is credited with a dozen stakes wins or placings, raced on the undercard on Derby Day in 2011 where he finished a game third to Dogwood Stables' Aikenite in the G2 Churchill Downs Stakes. He went back to New York and raced three more times, twice at Saratoga and once at Belmont with a win in Saratoga's John Morrissey and out of the money in the other two races. When it came time to retire, unfortunately, his career path was not so clear.
Bred in New York by Dr. Patricia S. Purdy, Ibboyee, a bay with a large white blaze and four white feet, was born on April 18, 2007, the first colt out of his dam after six fillies before him. By Medallist, out of the mare Expect Excellence, by Pentelicus, his sire line boasts such illustrious names as Deputy Minister, Vice Regent, Hail to Reason, Raise a Native with a double dose of Northern Dancer and Tom Fool, while his female family includes Spendthrift's Gold Digger, a tough, durable mare by Nashua out of Sequence, by Count Fleet and the dam of the sire of sires Mr. Prospector, and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders' 1965 Broodmare of the Year Pocahontas, the dam of 1965 American Champion Tom Rolfe. His sire, Medallist, stands for a stud fee of only $2,000 at Northview Stallion Station in Pennsylvania. Although Ibboyee is Medallist's leading money earner to date, that was not enough to punch his ticket for Thoroughbred stallion duties, even though he is a great outcross option.
Back on the auction block...
His racing career over in 2012, he wound up back in the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for the second time in his life. He had been sold twice before at auction: for $35,000 in the Keeneland November Sale of 2007 as a weanling and again in the 2008 Saratoga Preferred Yearlings Sale, where he sold for $120,000 as a racing prospect the year the financial bubble burst on the equine industry. Not too shabby for his sire's first crop. This time, with his Thoroughbred racing career behind him, only two people stepped up to bid on him: his trainer, Todd Pletcher, who knew him to be a good sensible sort capable of further use as a riding horse, and Amelia Proto (Foster), who had helped foal him in upstate New York. Mia had always had a soft spot for Ibboyee (Ibby) and had kept up with him throughout his career while she transitioned from her high school years playing polo in Ithaca, New York to moving south to Kentucky to get her college degree as part of the first equine-only cohort in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture's newly created UK Equine program. Two years after graduation, Mia and her future husband, a fellow UK Equine grad, Reynolds Foster, were saving up in hopes of purchasing a small horse farm someday. But Mia impulsively bid $2,000 on her old friend and Pletcher, seeing viable competition, let Ibby go to her. Eager to prove her training chops, Mia quickly put him to work in a new arena of competition.
Ten years down the road...
Ibboyee still competes as a dressage horse and also as a showjumper with Mia. Managing a fully intact stallion in competition is no easy task but Mia is up to it. She trained Ibby to a finish of Reserve Champion in the 2018 Kentucky Dressage Association Adult Amateur First Level competition. He's now schooling 3rd and 4th level dressage and has competed up to the 1.10-meter jumpers. Written off as a Thoroughbred stallion, he has also been bred a few times to Thoroughbred and Hanoverian mares as his reputation grows in the dressage and show jumping circles and Mia is now training horses and riders full-time.
This past year has been one of profound hardship and change for all of us, but Ibboyee's story inspires us to imagine a new way forward in the coming year. Don't be afraid to try something new. With hard work and good decisions, great things can happen. The Bluegrass team is ready to work with you. Let's get started!
Full disclosure: Your author, Mia's mother-in-law, is a graphic designer at Bluegrass, and the proud grandparent of Ibboyee. When Bluegrass wanted to feature a Thoroughbred in a Bluegrass promotion, she volunteered his and Mia's services for a Bluegrass video and photoshoot.
Charity Cain
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Bill Nichols


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Kick Node
Dunkin' Donuts, Other Stores Profit as Starbucks Close Nationwide
by kick node
For awhile, in our city and many others, it seemed like there was a Starbucks coffee shop on every corner. In fact, a former staple of our neighborhood, Dunkin' Donuts, lost so much business after Starbucks arrived in the same mall that it finally shuttered its doors. For years, the new, gorgeous Starbucks was crowded with people coming in for their daily fix of the coffee of the day, from cafe lattes to plain coffee, black, no cream. It was a bustling place. Company meetings even took place there.
Now Starbucks management has recently announced that it is closing 600 stores and business analysts and others are wondering what hit the company so hard. Did the coffee shops grow too quickly? Were there too many stores on every corner? News of the announcement about the Starbucks' closings can be seen in such publications as The Washington Post's July 2 online edition in an article called "In Venti Retreat, 600 Starbucks to Close" (see full listing of sources at the end of this article). Most of the stores closed were those opened after 2006. Perhaps opening those stores was a big "ooops" moment in Starbuck's management history.
For those who may still wonder why and how this could happen to a coffee company that once had some of the trendiest coffee shops around, here is some basic info about what happened and, possibly, why:
The pressing question: why did Starbucks close and why has Dunkin Donuts become profitable again, even in areas where Dunkin' Donuts was once forced out?
This writer has witnessed this phenomenon personally, having seen a local Dunkin' Donuts lose business when the giant Starbucks drew crowds. As long as the economy was booming, Dunkin' Donuts had to quietly shut its doors and leave, not able to make a profit next to the booming Starbucks. That particular Dunkin' Donuts was located literally across the parking lot from a Starbucks in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was a Dunkin' Donuts we frequented.
How quickly things can change! Just this May, Starbucks second-quarter profits sank 28 percent. Voting with their money, it appeared clear that American coffee drinkers decided something had to give when it came to saving precious dollars (stimulus checks or not). One of those "somethings" may have been expensive coffee. With gas prices rising, a quick trip to Starbucks seemed more a luxury than a necessity. It certainly did to us.
At this point in time, the once lowly Dunkin' Donuts franchise is now number 1, McDonalds is number 2 and Starbucks, once seemingly invincible, is number 3. Just the facts, as indicated by a the market -based research firm, Brand Keys. As for me, I'm happily drinking Dunkin' Donuts coffee and even buying bags to take home and make in my coffee maker. I guess I"m not a classic coffee snob.
Trying to change too much, Starbucks basic theme and focus may have helped Dunkin' Donuts and even McDonalds coffee sales rise again
Having visited both stores recently, there is much to recommend Dunkin' Donuts. As Starbucks made some potentially risky moves, Dunkin Donuts, the coffee shop, honed and updated its approach to customer service, providing some coffee options at reasonable prices and expanding it menu items. All of this may have helped to make Dunkin' Dunkins fit both worlds, being both familiar and new. They have low-calorie coffee drinks as well as light lunch sandwiches. Having tasted some of their new coffee drinks, I"m sold on the lighter. diet options.
Meanwhile, all the things that made Starbucks coffee chains unique, an experience as well as a place to grab gourmet coffee, were disappearing. For awhile, Starbucks had a European feel, reminiscent of one that could be found in European cafes. Plush chairs and seating groups also added to the appeal. Now those couches are leaving ( or have already left) many stores. Music and movies are taking up so much display space that customers have to jostle each other to get past the people browsing the racks of DVDs and CDs to place their order. It started to be frustrating for customers. I'd hear grumbling every time I walked into my local Starbucks, which was less crowded (a good thing for customers) ….not such a good thing for the bottom line of Starbucks.
My sentiments are echoed by market researchers, Robert Passikoff of Brand Keys, in a July 2 article for Newsday.
Starbucks stopped being just a coffee shop and became a confusing mess of various items for sale
Every time customers walked in the store, they didn't know what they'd find. There were super expensive lunch salads, fruit and cheese platters and various trendy drinks, from bottled waters to juices. Then came the onslaught of the specially produced music CDS and the racks of music and movies. All the while, the poor coffee servers seemed more and more harassed by trying to fill the orders for coffee, something that seemed easier before they were also ringing up sales and answering questions about various CDs, the latest issue of the New York Times newspaper and more. Lines grew longer – at least, in my local Starbucks.
Cost comparisons between Dunkin Donuts coffee and Starbucks coffee prices are telling
For even the simplest plain coffee at either store, the Starbucks prices is higher. At an average of at least 10 cents a cup higher – and again, that is just for a plain or straight black coffee, no flavorings or changes – Dunkin Donuts wins the coffee price war. Add up the fact that it is not unusual for people to drink 3-5 cups of coffee a day or more and those dimes can add up. Then add the cost of driving to a location. Then factor in the prices for sandwiches at Dunkin' Donuts or reduced calories drinks versus those at Starbucks. Finally, no one expected Dunkin' Donuts to resemble a European coffee house so expectations weren't dashed. The cost for a cup of coffee at McDonalds is only 99 cents and customers are often surprised by the fact that this is premium coffee. The cost difference is huge, compared to a Starbucks' latte at about 3 times the cost.
While business analysts are still deciphering all the reasons Starbucks rose so quickly – and seem to be hitting a huge bump just as quickly – the reality is that this coffee shop is taking an economic hit for now. If the economy improves and the company can win customer loyalty again, it could become popular once more. For now, however, you're likely to see crowds of people in Dunkin' Donuts or even McDonalds. That is the way it is in my corner of the world – and in many others as well, according to the latest information about Starbucks.
Starbucks website: www.starbucks.com/
(pricing info on coffees)
Dunkin' Donutes website: www.dunkindonuts.com/
(pricing info on coffee for comparison with Starbucks, after getting price list)
Article: "In Venti Retreat, 600 Starbucks to Close", Washington Post, July 2, Michael S. Rosenwald
Research studies and press announcements from Starbucks Corp
Newsday.com, July 2, James Bernstein, Q & A; Why Starbucks Got Dunked ( citing research info and opinions from Robert Passikoff of Brand Keys Market Research firm)
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In today's new media age, it is simple that taking photographs was a tedious process back then. Long ago when preparing film in dark rooms was a trend, chances of errors has increased in developing the photographs than they are today. Various factors are at play and decide the quality of the end result, the developed photograph.
Take a sneak peek at these attractive photographs of significant figures in history that you have never seen before. The faces are more likely simple and common when you see it, but the images surely are not.


Preschool: We will sing "Where is _(Friend's name)_." We will go over our helping hand, calendar, weather, and how we feel? We will continue talking about the writer and illustrator of books. What we like best about books and so on.
Book: Pete the cat and his three buttons..