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October 15, 2019 · by Alex Chafey · in Reviews. ·
In January 1865 Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day Lewis) seeks to pass the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in order to prohibit slavery before the end of the Civil War.
When I first watched this film on its release I knew little about Lincoln, and consequently found it a civil bore. Since then I've read a fairly hefty biography and on a second viewing I enjoyed it far more. I have fairly low tolerance for changes to history to make a person's life more cinematic, and while some changes will always been needed, if you can't keep things broadly accurate, maybe it's the wrong story to make a film out of of. Lincoln scores exceptionally for accuracy, and this uncompromising focus on detail is commendable.
It could have shown many of the much more cinematic elements of Lincoln's life, such as how he rose to power from humble beginnings with virtually no formal education, his sojourns to the front line in which he had to be held back from peering over battlements, or his personally going to point out a landing point on a beach when his generals failed to find a solution. His years of unpopularity and the dark times he faced in continuing a seemingly endless war could have made a good Darkest Hour style film.
But instead it seeks to make the passage of a piece of legislation into a two and a half hour film, and is only partially successful. Where it succeeds it's thanks to Tony Kushner's screenplay which makes excellent use of Lincoln's penchant for storytelling – the extensive scenes of negotiation and political wrangling allowing for an unparalleled character study. It also captures his softer side in interactions with son Tad (Gulliver McGrath) and his troubled relationship with wife Mary (Sally Field).
And of course, it hangs on a superb characterasation of its main character by one of the great living actors. Day-Lewis captures Lincoln's high-pitched voice and ungainly movements without making him comical, his humility, appearing withered and humble, but also his exercise of Presidential authority through his impressive stature. He perfectly captures a character we've never seen footage of or heard speak, and the plaudits he received were richly deserved. It also has a new resonance in the age of Trump, reminding us of a time when a man of the utmost dignity was in power, who was reluctant to engage in even the mildest form of skullduggery.
Yet something about it feels slightly made for TV. I'm not sure if it's the artificial looking lighting, which leaves characters' faces brightly illuminated in dingy rooms, or the lack of outdoor and establishing shots, but it leaves everything looking a bit fake. Mid way through I was trying to work out why Lincoln reminded me of Dr Zaius from Planet of the Apes. Then I remembered the Tim Burton film where the Lincoln Memorial has been replaced with an ape, and I realised that film didn't just ruin Planet of the Apes for me, it ruined Abraham Lincoln.
When historical figures make legendary status, it's hard to separate the person from the myth. Lincoln's brilliance is giving us a version of the President we can relate to and understand. But I couldn't in good conscience recommend it to someone without prior interest or knowledge of the topic the way I could with Gandhi, Behind the Candelabra or The Conqueror.
Tags: 2010s, 2012, Alex Chafey, biography, biopic, cinema, Daniel Day-Lewis, film, films, John Williams, lincoln, movie, movies, Retro review, review, reviews, Sally Field, Steven Spielberg, tony kushner
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Image Title: Wonderful Creative Wood Iron Wall Sconce Band Switch Modern Led Wall Light Regarding Wall Sconce With Switch Popular. Filename: wonderful-creative-wood-iron-wall-sconce-band-switch-modern-led-wall-light-regarding-wall-sconce-with-switch-popular.jpg. Image Dimension: 430 x 430 pixels. Images Format: jpg/jpeg. Publisher/Author: Monserrat Conn. Uploaded Date: Tuesday - February 05th. 2019 02:48:08 AM. Category: Home Design. Image Source: homedsgn.com.
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HarperCollins closes major new deal with Barbara Erskine
October 5, 2012 Blake Friedmann
Barbara Erskine has agreed a new two book deal with her longstanding UK publisher. Many of her novels have been major bestsellers in many languages, with the sales of her most recent title, RIVER OF DESTINY, seeing a huge growth in both physical and digital formats.
Her first novel LADY OF THE HAY has sold over 3 million copies world wide and celebrated its' twenty fifth anniversary in 2011 with an exclusive new story added to the new edition. HarperCollins has successfully published her titles since 1991 and the new deal will see her contracted to them to 2017.
Barbara Erskine said of the new deal, 'I am so pleased to be renewing my relationship with HarperCollins for another two books and am looking forward greatly to an exciting future with them.
Praise for Barbara Erskine:
'Barbara Erskine's storytelling talent is undeniable.' -- The Times
Tags Barbara Erskine, River Of Destiny, Lady Of The Way
Blake Friedmann clients are riding high!
July 11, 2012 Blake Friedmann
Blake Friedmann is thrilled to reveal that the Neilsen Bookscan charts, released 10 July 2012, show three of our authors high in the charts.
Barbara Erskine's RIVER OF DESTINY, published in hardback just last Thursday, has gone straight to No 5 in the Hardback Chart on just a half a week's sale.
Sheila O'Flanagan's BETTER TOGETHER remains number 1 in Ireland.
Peter James' two novels, published at the end of May, are still in the charts - the latest Roy Grace novel, NOT DEAD YET is 10 in the Hardback Chart and the standalone PERFECT PEOPLE is 25 in paperbacks. They have both been in the bestseller lists since they were published 7 weeks ago.
We are delighted with the continued success of our fabulous authors.
Praise for Barbara Erskine
'Barbara Erskine's storytelling talent is undeniable.' The Times
Praise for Shelia O'Flanagan
'Shelia O'Flanagan is one of the blinding talents on the female fiction scene.' Daily Record
Praise for NOT DEAD YET
'James's thrillers... have attracted a massive following - and, reading this, it's not hard to see why. NOT DEAD YET is brilliantly paced and plotted... I'm now a Peter James addict. You'll gulp this book down in three infatuated sittings, deaf to the telephone, indifferent to any distractions.'
Praise for PERFECT PEOPLE
'Brilliantly done, the emotional credibility of the characters is as good as it gets. There's a movie in this book.'
Jeff Park, 'Front Row', BBC Radio
Tags Barbara Erskine, Sheila O'Flanagan, River Of Destiny, Better Together, Not Dead Yet, Perfect People, Peter James, Roy Grace Series

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


From silverback position look straight ahead. Feel the pinch at the back of your neck? Good! Now let this be your last time.
From silverback position, tuck your chin slightly and allow your gaze to fall down at the ground in front of your feet. Reach up through your crown as if trying to lengthen your spine out so there's space between each vertebrae.
Press your teeth together without clenching and glue your tongue to the roof of your mouth. This may feel strange at first but this is a great way to ensure your neck is in line with your spine.
If you have trouble keeping neck alignment in silverback, try moving the Clubbells back behind your feet and repeat steps 1-3. The countered weight will make it easier to access this alignment. Gradually you can work into this alignment from silverback.


1. They came from hearts that themselves have felt the love and forgiveness of Jesus.
2. They loved their enemies as we are called to do.
3. They overcame evil with good.
4. They blessed those who cursed them.
5. They shared the message of repentance and redemption with this young man.


Winter Meeting Photo Gallery We got great photos of lots of you smiling at the Winter Meeting - and doing work too of course! We would like to thank everyone who was in attendance. To view the Winter Meeting gallery, please click here.


Christmas Fun Run 2017 | JustRunLah!
The South Australia Road Runners Club Fun Run is on Sunday, 3 December 2017 at the SARRC Clubrooms on Mackinnon Parade in Adelaide.
There are regular Sunday morning running groups, followed by a Christmas Fun Run Loop with kids chasing Santa (untimed). A BBQ breakfast, fruit, juice, and pastries are provided.
There will be volunteer acknowledgements and a Volunteer of the Year award, acceptance of new club constitution, club awards and event participation winners.


Looking for a piece for the women in your church choir? This energetic work is truly full of life and excitement. Give it a try on Music Ministry Sunday. Also available in SATB (HMC1900).
I have reason to sing to the Maker of everything.
and has given life to all things.
wherever I journey, His Spirit goes.
And I have reason to sing.
I have reason to praise. He is holy in all His ways.
And in jubilant voice, let our spirits rejoice.
He is worthy of our song.
Creator, He makes old things new.
And I have reason to praise.
You've given me the words, Lord, and the music.
A song of love that's new and unrehearsed.
even though the tears come first.
now, and forever and evermore.


I visited these falls yesterday. It was a nice sight to see. With the snow melt the falls were a lot more powerful. It was one single curtain of water all the way across. I never knew such a huge waterfall would be right here in Jersey. Unfortunately like you mentioned the area isn't so great but they have been doing a lot of work on it. The bridge and the upper part of the park are closed so I'll be going back when the park is finished to get a closer view.


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Q: Change text on Fragment on button click I want to make a quiz app. So i want to change the question statement in fragment . How can i do that

A: First you have to create QuestionType list with question, option1, option2, option3, option3, correct option.
and on onclick button get question from list and change values for your radio group.
Hope this will help you.

A: Just make an ArrayList consisting Questions, answer and options.
On clicking Next Question, you just need to change the index of the arraylist.
When its the last question just change the text of button to Submit

A: Store your question in ArrayList or some permanent storage like DB and then traverse list until last item is reached.Fetch value and set to textView by using setText() method.

A: Activity can call fragment method by acquiring a reference to the Fragment.
Call fragment like this-
transaction.add(R.id.fragment_container, myFragment, "myfragmentTag");

and by the help of fragment object you can call fragment method
myFragment.refreshQuestion();

You can also use the Interface to achieve this

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This men's pull-on work boot has the safety, comfort and durability you deserve. It's the Georgia Boot® Carbo-Tec Composite Toe Waterproof Work Boot.
The safety toe boot meets the ASTM standard for impact and compression. It's also electrical hazard resistant.
A great thing about this boot is that you get the protection without the metal. Since this is non-metallic footwear, you won't be delayed at metal detectors and it meets the workplace scratch-resistant standard.
This waterproof work boot comes with a guarantee to keep your feet dry thanks to the Georgia Boot Waterproof System.
Choose a men's waterproof safety toe boot that does everything you want and need for it to do. Choose Carbo-Tec.


This star-studded rom-com that takes its name from a bestselling pregnancy "bible" follows the intersecting lives of several couples who hazard the ups and downs of pregnancy and impending parenthood.
Camp Ovation is a performing arts summer camp where talented kids come to spread their wings. Among them are Vlad (Daniel Letterle), a "bona fide straight boy"; Ellen (Joanna Chilcoat), a megastar with huge insecurities; and Michael (Robin de Jesus), who's struggling with his sexual identity. Their director, Bert Hanlon (Don Dixon), is a washed-up has-been -- but the kids have at least as much to teach him as he has to teach them.


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Home » Eagle Creek Adding 1,000 Jobs in South Dakota
Eagle Creek Adding 1,000 Jobs in South Dakota
Posted on March 13, 2013	by Andrew Ostler	in Uncategorized	with No Comments on Eagle Creek Adding 1,000 Jobs in South Dakota
Vermillion was chosen by Eagle Creek because of its proximity to the University of South Dakota, with which the company started a partnership recently to launch the Information Technology Consultant Academy. This is a program designed to give eligible students with a scholarship and a career track to employment as an Information Technology consultant.
The company is working with the school to create a curriculum and hopes that students will apply at the company upon graduation. Tyler Pearson, a company spokesman, said that the program will not prepare students for work just at Eagle Creek.
The company noted that graduates of the program should be able to earn starting salaries ranging from $40,000 to $45,000. Students who earn a master's degree could earn starting salaries of $50,000 to $60,000.
Eagle Creek is planning to add another 800 jobs at new technology centers across South Dakota outside of the 200 at Vermillion.
"Foreign, or offshore, IT solutions are not adequately filling the needs of the U.S. market," Eagle Creek President Ken Behrendt said in a statement. "By better educating our workforce, Eagle Creek Software Services can create a more sustainable and scalable IT solution while growing jobs in America."
The company only has a payroll of 300 employees right now, so adding 1,000 employees will be a huge step for Eagle Creek. The company's headquarters is in Eden Prairie, where there are 40 employees working, the majority of them executives. Pearson said that the company's relationship with the state began years ago when it opened a facility in Pierre.
"This is a great day for South Dakota and the resurgent technology business in America," South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard said in a statement. "With a $10 million investment in the Vermillion community and new career path for University of South Dakota students, we are on track to create meaningful jobs that will benefit the community and make South Dakota more globally competitive in the information technology sector."
The clients of Eagle Creek were not disclosed by Pearson, but he did mention that they are in the insurance and health care industries. He also said that the majority of them are Fortune 1500 companies.
Eagle Creek Adding 1,000 Jobs in South Dakota by Andrew Ostler
Tags: 1000 new jobs, eagle creek, New Jobs, south dakota
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EastWest Posts 40% H1 2013 Net Income Growth
06/08/2013 18/08/2013 PHStocks 0 Comments East West Banking, EastWest Bank, renewable energy
Taguig—(PHStocks)—East West Banking Corporation (PSE: EW) reported a 40% year-on-year increase in net income for the first semester of 2013 to PhP1.28 billion on the back of a 59% increase in revenues to PhP7.1 billion and 41% increase in assets to PhP130.9 billion. This translates to a return on equity of 14.2% and return on assets of 2.1%.
The strong revenue growth was achieved as a result of the 51.5% year-on-year increase in loan receivables. Total loans to businesses, mostly to mid-size corporates, went up 60% from last year. Consumer loans, on the other hand, increased by 45% to PhP44.6 billion. All consumer loan segments – credit card receivables, personal loans, auto, and mortgages registered high double digit growth. The bank is now the 5th largest in credit card receivables.
Meanwhile, EastWest's Total Deposits for the first semester of 2013 was at PhP101.5 billion, higher by 50% as compared to the same period last year as a result of the bank's expanded branch network. Transactional low-cost deposits (CA/SA) grew by 61.5% to PhP58.1 billion.
EastWest is in the middle of an ambitious expansion program that will bring its branch network, including that of its rural bank subsidiary, to 400 by the first quarter of next year.
The robust increase in loans and the bigger and better deposits profile allowed EastWest to retain its Net Interest Margin, which was registered at 8.2% for the first half of the year. This is more than double the industry average. EastWest has distinguished itself among universal banks as the bank with a balance sheet that has the most focus on consumer and middle markets.
Other Revenues and Expenses
The Bank also registered an 87.4% increase in its non-interest revenues from fees, commissions and trading. Total fees, excluding trading, was up by 62.7% by end-June 2013 to PhP1.6 billion versus the same period in 2012 coming off its loan and deposit expansion. Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange trading revenues, on the other hand, went up by 121.9%.
Total expenses rose by 51.7% to PhP4.2 Billion. At PhP2.7 Billion, operating costs was higher by 42.1% because of the requirements of the bank's currently expanding branch network. Moreover, total manpower expenses went up by 73% to PhP1.5 billion as EastWest continued to ramp up its talent pool.
Cost-to-Income ratio declined to 59% from 62% in the same period last year as a result of strong core banking and trading revenue growth.
"Clearly, we have the momentum. We remain confident that we will meet this year's 25% net income growth guidance we announced early this year," said EastWest President and CEO Antonio C. Moncupa Jr.
"So far, we are doing better than initially thought. We expected that growth in operating expenses will outstrip revenue growth this year and next although revenues appear to be contesting that of expectations. We now rank 7th in terms of branch network, even as our branches are new and not fully productive yet. There is still a lot of work to be done and every EastWest banker is working hard to unlock the bank's potential," Moncupa added.
In May last year, EastWest did an Initial Public Offering, raising PhP4.8 billion in new equity to fund an expansion that will bring its branch network from 122 in December 2011 to 400 by the first quarter of 2014. To date, the bank has a total branch network of 324 and total ATMs of 386, after opening 32 branches in the last seven months. Last year, it put up 123 branches. EastWest is targeting to expand its branches to 350 by early 2014. Together with its rural bank subsidiaries, EastWest's total branch network will be close to 400 upon completion of its expansion program.
EastWest's capital adequacy ratio remains more than adequate at 16.8% with Tier 1 ratio at 13.5%. The bank's Tier 1 capital is composed entirely of common equity.
EastWest is a subsidiary of the Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC), one of the largest and well established business conglomerates in the country. FDC, established in 1955, is identified with the Gotianun family and aside from banking, its business interest include real estate, sugar, hospitality and tourism, and power generation.
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Inside New York City's newest sky-high view, Summit One Vanderbilt, equal parts art exhibit and observation deck
Updated: Nov. 12, 2021, 8:14 a.m. | Published: Nov. 12, 2021, 8:14 a.m.
Inside New York City's new Summit One Vanderbilt, which is equal parts art exhibit and observation deck.
By Susan Glaser, cleveland.com
NEW YORK CITY – Nearly 1,400 feet above the streets of Midtown Manhattan, I looked down and saw …. myself?
Not satisfied with that view, I tried again and fixed my gaze upon the Empire State Building.
Inside the city's newest skyscraper attraction, all is not what it seems. Mirrors on the walls -- and ceilings and floors -- create an optical illusion unlike anything I've seen before, an infinity of tourists posing atop one of the city's tallest structures.
The new Summit One Vanderbilt attraction, which opened last month, joins the increasingly competitive battle for bragging rights among a growing number of sky-high observation decks in New York City.
Which vantage point is the most daring, the most creative, the most innovative? Summit certainly makes a strong case for all of those.
The attraction is spread across the top three floors of One Vanderbilt, a soaring office tower completed in 2020 next to Grand Central Terminal. At 1,401 feet tall, it's the fourth highest building in New York City (only One World Trade Center, plus two recently completed residential towers near Central Park, are taller).
Inside New York City's new Summit One Vanderbilt, equal parts art exhibit and observation deck in Midtown Manhattan.
A hall of mirrors inside Summit One Vanderbilt, equal parts art exhibit and observation deck in Midtown Manhattan.
Looking south from New York City's new Summit One Vanderbilt, equal parts art exhibit and observation deck in Midtown Manhattan.
Across town, at 30 Hudson Yards, Edge juts out from the top of another super-tall glass tower, offering guests a jaw-dropping view from more than 1,000-feet aloft. This week, the attraction debuted an additional-charge activity called City Climb, where harnessed and helmeted participants can go even higher, "skyscraping" to the top of the building's crown (the cost is high too, at $185 per person; go to edgenyc.com).
Meanwhile, in Lower Manhattan, One World Observatory offers terrific views from atop One World Trade Center, the city's tallest building (oneworldobservatory.com).
And for traditionalists, you can't beat the observation decks at the top of the Empire State Building (esbnyc.com) and Rockefeller Center (rockefellercenter.com).
Read more: Return to New York City: Tourists can expect fewer crowds, cheaper prices, omnipresent vaccine cards
There's nothing traditional about the view from Summit One Vanderbilt, which is equal parts art exhibit, observation deck and Instagram photo prop.
Honestly, I enjoyed the place, but the number of people taking photos of themselves inside the space made me want to scream.
One other quibble: The long line through a dark hallway to access the elevator, which is part of the experience, seemed unnecessary, particularly during a time when we're still supposed to be staying 6 feet apart from one another.
At the ground-floor entrance, visitors are given booties to wear over their shoes so as not to damage the mirrors. Plastic sunglasses are also complimentary, if you didn't bring your own – and you'll need them, as the sun reflecting off all those mirrors is intense. In addition, it's suggested that women wear shorts under their skirts to prevent any unintended views.
Upon arrival to the 91st floor, there are several "exhibit" areas to explore, created primarily by New York artist Kenzo Digital, including a space called Transcendence, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking south toward the Empire State building and east toward the Chrysler Building. Mirrors on the walls, floor and ceiling create a dramatic infinity effect.
Another room – my favorite – features large silver balloons bouncing around in the space, with New York's skyline as the dramatic backdrop.
The entire experience is reminiscent of Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrors exhibit, which visited the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2018. In fact, Kusama created her own art installation in one of the rooms at Summit, dubbed "Clouds," featuring dozens of metallic, cloud-like shapes arranged on the floor.
Standard tours conclude at Apres, an indoor-outdoor terrace, offering pricey drinks and incredible views. Guests can add on one more experience, Ascent, which will take them another two stories up via glass elevator.
Reservations are required, and sunset time slots sell out first. Proof of COVID vaccine is required. Price for the standard tour is $39, $10 more at sunset; Ascent is another $20. Information: summitov.com
Tallest buildings in New York City
One World Trade Center, 1,776 feet
Central Park Tower, 1,550 feet
111 West 57th St., 1,428 feet
One Vanderbilt, 1,401 feet
432 Park Avenue, 1,397 feet
30 Hudson Yards, 1,270
Empire State Building, 1,250 feet
Bank of America Tower, 1,200 feet
3 World Trade Center, 1,079 feet
The Brooklyn Tower, 1,066 feet
(Just in case you're wondering, Cleveland's tallest building, 947-foot-tall Key Tower, would rank as New York's 22nd tallest building.)


Famed for its charming Victorian Royal Pavilion, Regency Pier and pebble beach, Brighton is an enchanting seaside resort town, recognised for its quirky independent shops, vibrant creative arts, large LBGT scene, and zestful nightlife.
Over the last century, Brighton has become a flourishing tourist centre. A mere hour away from London, it is a popular destination with commuters and day-trippers alike, with many attractions including Brighton Palace Pier and The Lanes; a series of quaint boutiques nestled among narrow cobbled alleyways.


"There is clearly an ambition to graduate beyond IP theft and become more of a leader,"
China has been reverse-engineering stuff since the 1950s and I don't see them "graduate" to this sort of "skills".
The only way to stop PRoC from stealing other people's ideas and/or design is booby-trap those so-called designs so that when they try to replicate it in their lab something horrible happens.
Sure one could argue that the patient might have expired but guess which Disney-beholden national government keeps extending IP terms ever further towards the big bang.
Yes, patients often expire when subjected to a bullet or a big bang.
> Whenever the US hacks someone, it's all fine.
Says who, other than you? To me it is not fine, nor is Chinese intrusion fine either. The server I use is under constant attack from Chinese IP numbers.
So I use a free home edition UTM, and tell it to drop all incoming traffic from any other country than my own. Except when I'm abroad, I still need to be able to VPN into it, so allow traffic temporarily from that country. Companies can buy this stuff.
Good thing no one outside your country has access to a VPN.
Gathering information from a network in order to ensure national security is a lot different than theft of intellectual property. This shouldn't be too difficult to comprehend.
That's because non-technical people have no clue about IT and are not willing to spend money on what appears to work 'just fine' automagically. The whole premise of securing a physical gold storage facility is much easier to understand than setting up proper user authentication.
I am encountering more and more that even people working in IT seem to know the 'magic incantations' to get something done, but have no idea what those incantations actually do, nor what any side effect of those incantations may be. On top of that, they often don't even seem to be actually interested in anything except 'making stuff work'.
Olaf... I see you've never worked at a large company where many individuals work together to design and build a product.
To say you must do more to secure information is a pretty obvious statement. Do you think companies don't know this? C'mon, you're smarter than this.
When you have 500+ people working on a project--some at other locations, to simply secure it on a private network isn't as easy as it sounds. Even if you employ best practices and proper security devices, there are many attack points. Even a novice InfoSec professional knows this and can point many out.
I've been a red team professional for nearly 10 years--even when companies do everything right to secure their systems, we manage to find a weak point to exploit within 30 days. A nation state has all the time in the world to do this, along with employing a workforce dedicated to working on zero days; on a variety of different and popular software. If you don't understand there are thousands of zero days available to nation states (which they keep secret), then you probably should consider working in another field.
All of this is pretty obvious to an experienced InfoSec professional. Especially those who keep up with the latest offensive security attack methods/techniques. Along with understanding you have a lot to learn--and should begin to consider not the obvious, but the unique and ambiguous.
You may also want to consider withholding judgement until you have a lot more experience.
My first question would be what, exactly, the Chinese are supposed to be stealing. Knowledge of how to build high speed trains? China has 27000km of HSR trackage. The US has a few hundred km. Same story in many other fields. With a few exceptions -- fighter jet engines, cutting edge semiconductors -- Chinese technology genuinely seems reasonably competitive with the West. If not better.
My feeling -- The folks pushing this story are the 21st century equivalent of the mid 20th Century experts who claimed that Japanese technology was entirely derivative and besides which Japanese had genetically weak eyes that would be ineffective in aerial combat. Turned out that the Mitsubishi A6M ("Zero") was a better fighter than its American/British counterparts and that the Japanese pilots had no trouble at all targeting American, British, and Dutch ships in late 1941.
While there is likely to be a government component in this (on all sides) our experience has been that the hack attempts drastically increased as soon as we started talking to Chinese customers - our agents in China routinely send us their sales forecasts in the form of .XLS files and as soon as we take on a new agent we see an increase in spoofed emails and infected attachments. The fact is that most PC's in China are infected and hacked, we're just on the receiving end of their internal problems for the most part.
And it's not just China, start dealing with any country that runs its office infrastructure on Windows XP and you'll see the same thing.


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La stagione 2022-2023 dei Miami Heat è la 35ª stagione della franchigia, la 35ª nella NBA, la 35ª a Miami.

Draft

Il Draft NBA 2022 si è tenuto il 23 giugno 2022. Agli Heat spettava una scelta al primo round.

Roster

Uniformi

 Casa

Trasferta

Alternativa

Alternativa

Note

Collegamenti esterni

Stagione 2022-2023 delle squadre di pallacanestro
2022-2023

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I have always been pretty much impressed by this brand's packaging . The pencil comes packaged in a a silver cardboard box. The pencil and the cardboard both have been color coordinated with their ends reflecting the shade. So, whether you store these pencils in the box or in a stand, it's easy to pick up the colour you want in a jiffy. They claim the product to be a liner .I was expecting it to be something like nyx black liner . I was a little disappointed to see they are pencils that needs to be sharpened . The lid also does'nt come with a sharpner ,nor do you get a sharpner with the product . Do not be disappointed the pigmentation takes the cake.
This highly pigmented i-glide liner I am talking about is very bright topaz blue .You can create any look wid it keeping it thick or thin depending on the look you want to achieve. This liner defines like a pencil and glides like liquid eyeliner, the I-Glide Eye Pencil, with its smooth formulation, gives your eyes rich colour in a single stroke and blends in easily after application. It lasted pretty long on my lids .The best part is you can use it as both kajal and liner .
The the tightlining job is hassle free with it .
It lasts more than 9 hours, does not feather or bleed. Waterproof, super long wear, no transfer and smudge-proof.


Discover a new campaign in the long-forgotten library, locked away between the human and demonic realms millennia ago. Uncover the mysteries hidden in the maze's corridors and lay waste to the undead followers of the fallen god roaming within it. Find your way to the most powerful Lord in the Rhogar army and end his demonic reign. •	Explore a new location, The Ancient Labyrinth, filled with puzzles, environmental riddles and secrets of Harkyn's world •	Encounter a powerful ancient Lord, a magical foe who changes his attacks continuously throughout the battle, forcing players to constantly react to new dangers •	Discover an all-new quest centered around the story of immortal, powerful demons •	Dig into side-quests and meet new characters with an agenda that affects the war between the human and demonic realms •	Obtain new armors and weapons Once installed, the Ancient Labyrinth DLC can be accessed through a new door found within the game world. After defeating the Beast, speak with the Crafter to learn about the new mysterious dimension that he has discovered.


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Privacy Policy & Cookie/Data Storage Policy For William Glasser International (WGI)
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Description Five panels showing the difference between our forefathers view of liberty and ours. Panel 1. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Panel 2. Our forefathers knew King George was taxing them without representation. Panel 3. Now our county commission calls it House bill 1405. Panel 4. Then, forefathers risk their lives for liberty. Panel 5. Now, Colorado College professor and peace activist, Dr. Richard Bradley would risk liberty for student lives.


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American Promise (January 3rd and 5th at the Cleveland Museum of Art)
[AMERICAN PROMISE screens Friday January 3rd at 6:30 pm and Sunday January 5th at 1:30 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art.]
*Note: a computer crash at Cleveland Movie Blog central has taken up much of my time of late, which is why this review is slightly late and a little shorter than I would have liked it to be.*
It's kind of cheap and easy to describe AMERICAN PROMISE as HOOP DREAMS for education, but it's also reasonably accurate. As in HOOP DREAMS, this documentary follows two African American kids for an extended period of time. Only instead of the focus being on sports, it's on academics. We first meet friends Idris and Seun when they are 5 years old. Their parents, wanting the best for their sons, enroll them in the prestigious Dalton school, a private institution with an excellent performance record, but only a small number of minority students.
Both boys have difficulties at the school. In some cases, race is a factor, but there are other issues as well. For instance, both boys have learning disabilities that, had they been diagnosed sooner, might have made a difference in their performance at school. And although the film never directly addresses it, having a camera follow you around for 13 years can't help but have some effect on your behavior.
Seun's problems at Dalton eventually cause him to leave prior to high school and transfer to a public school. It may be a public school, but Banneker seems very progressive. It also has a curriculum designed around its mostly black, Hispanic, and Asian student body. Although certainly unintended and unexpected when filming began, this turn of events allows AMERICAN PROMISE to contrast two different approaches to education. Interestingly, neither one really emerges the victor as both students experience ups and downs on their path towards high school graduation. Some problems are inherent in each of the schools, but others would surely have been just as difficult to deal with no matter who one is or where one is going to school.
Nonetheless, AMERICAN PROMISE does make a case that race still plays a role in the quality of education a young man can hope to get. Gender as well, as girls of color statistically do about as well as their white peers. It raises more questions than it answers, but it does at least do a fair job of identifying where some of the biggest problems are.
AMERICAN PROMISE does all that while at the same time telling a story as emotional and engrossing as any Hollywood drama. Again, like HOOP DREAMS, things happen through the course of this film that are incredibly dramatic, and perhaps all the more so for the fact that they were not, and could not have been planned. In 13 years, there's plenty of time for all kinds of triumph and tragedy, hope and despair, and AMERICAN PROMISE captures it and distills it into a tight narrative that, at almost 2 1/2 hours, never feels long or slow moving. 4 out of 4 stars.
Labels: American Promise, Bob Ignizio, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH, Documentary, education, Movie Review


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Reema Malhotra
Mark Adair
Andy Balbirnie
Curtis Campher
Gareth Delany
George Dockrell
Josh Little
Paul Stirling
Harry Tector
Lorcan Tucker
October 17, 1980, Delhi
Reems
DelhiIndia Blue Women India WomenNorth Zone Women
Reema Malhotra is a decent allrounder who offers legspin and a middle-order batting option. She made her debut for India back in 2003, but has only recently solidified her place in the side. Although she missed out on a place in the World Cup, where India lost in the final to Australia, splendid domestic performances (she was the best allrounder in the national tournament in 2005) earned her a place in the side to face Australia and New Zealand at the start of 2006. Her showing there was solid, if unspectacular, and was enough to earn her a place in the side to tour Ireland and England in July and August 2006. She aggregated 40 from five matches and failed to impress in the Asia Cup that followed in December. She was dropped from the side and made a comeback only in October 2008 when she was picked for the Australia tour after an impressive performance in the domestic Challenger Series.
WTEST 1 2 1 23 12* 23.00 72 31.94 0 0 3 0 0 0
WODI 41 33 11 462 59* 21.00 897 51.50 0 1 36 0 4 0
WT20I 22 14 8 115 32* 19.16 159 72.32 0 0 7 0 6 0
WTEST 1 1 18 17 0 - - - 5.66 - 0 0 0
WT20I 22 15 198 210 9 2/13 2/13 23.33 6.36 22.0 0 0 0
India vs ENG Women at Taunton - August 29 - September 01, 2006
Australia vs India at Lincoln - February 01, 2003
Pakistan vs India at Cuttack - February 07, 2013
WT20I Matches
View WT20I Records
ENG Women vs India at Derby - August 05, 2006
India vs Pakistan at Guangzhou - October 31, 2012
Delhi Women vs Bengal Women 23* 0/10 05-Jan-2016 Eden Gardens OTHERT20
Delhi Women vs Maharashtra 11* 1/22 04-Jan-2016 Eden Gardens OTHERT20
Delhi Women vs Rlys Wmn 14 -- 03-Jan-2016 Jadavpur Uni OTHERT20
Delhi Women vs Hyd Ind Wmn 8 0/10 02-Jan-2016 Jadavpur Uni OTHERT20
India vs Pakistan 25* 0/16 07-Feb-2013 Cuttack WODI # 857
Four changes to India Women for home series
India have made four changes to the Women's squad for the one-day series at home against Australia, starting later this month
05-Mar-2012•ESPNcricinfo staff
Malhotra, Raj carry India Blue Women to final
A well-compiled unbroken 53-run stand for the fourth wicket between Mithali Raj and Reema Malhotra helped India Blue coast to victory against India Green in the final league match of the Women's Challenger Trophy in Ahmedabad
04-Jan-2010•Cricinfo staff
Goswami, Malhotra and Sharma to lead in Challengers
Reema Malhotra. Jhulan Goswami and Amita Sharma will lead the three squads for the Women's Challenger Trophy to be played in Ahmedabad from January 2 to 5
23-Dec-2009•Cricinfo staff


Back in August, we reported that Pelgrane Press's new space opera RPG Ashen Stars had won a 2012 ENnie Award for Best Setting. That was enough to pique my curiosity, and I ordered a copy.
I've been waiting for a science fiction role playing game with a truly rich setting for a long time. Our Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones has been exploring Traveller in a series of occasional articles — most recently on the Netherell setting and The Third Imperium — but to be honest I always found the setting for Traveller to be fairly generic, at least in the early editions. The last SF RPG to really impress me was Rogue Trader by Fantasy Flight, a gorgeously produced game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe; before that I have to go all the way back to Holistic Design's future-medieval setting Fading Suns, first released in 1996.
I'm very pleased to be able to add Ashen Stars to that short list. Drawing heavily upon his successful GUMSHOE mystery system, author Robin D. Laws has created an extremely appealing game of space opera procedural mysteries. In the tradition of the best hard boiled detective fiction, players are constantly scrambling for money, equipment, and respect… all of which they'll need to succeed in a war-ravaged perimeter where trust is a precious commodity, and very little is truly what it seems.
The players in Ashen Stars are private eyes — excuse me, licensed mercenaries — acting as freelance law enforcement on a rough-and-tumble frontier called "the Bleed," where humans and half a dozen alien races mingle, compete, and trade. The Mohilar War that devastated the once powerful governing Combine ended seven years ago, and no one is sure exactly how. The Combine is in no shape to govern the Bleed, and rely on loosely-chartered bands like the players to maintain peace in the sector, keep a lid on crime, and investigate odd distress signals from strange corners of space. Like the crew of the Serenity, your loose band of players operate on both sides of the law, secure lucrative contracts, scramble to maintain your ship and upgrade your aging equipment, and maintain a code of honor in a place where reputation is the most precious commodity there is.
The writing and color art are impressive throughout, and the book is filled with fascinating tidbits that will make you anxious to play, and re-introduce you to the essential joy of role playing.
Seventeen years ago, it began — a period of unprecedented destruction, courage and suffering. The characters remember some of its terrifying moments with adrenalinized clarity. Others — those involving direct contact with the enemy — remain maddeningly hazy and elusive. The Mohilar War, which shattered the Utopian era and left the core worlds of the Combine in ruins, comes to mind less as a narrative than a series of fragmented bullet points.
The Mohilar… appear in great numbers, operating ships of unprecedented size and firepower. They plow through rival empires white cutting their swath toward Combine space. They completely annihilate the chanovar and drive the illud to the brink of extinction… The Combine stands on the very brink of extinction.
Then something happens. Something nobody can remember.
[The durugh] king sacrifices himself to decisively betray the Mohilar, perhaps after discovering Mohilar plans to betray the durugh. Before he dies, he throws in his people's lot with the Combine.
Then whatever the thing was that happened, finishes happening.
The Mohilar are not only gone, they're erased from everyone's memories, and from everyone's ability to process information about them. We think.
Player: But what about physical records? I can see how everyone's memories might be affected, but what happens when I access the database and type in "Mohilar"?
You: Do you do that?
Player: Well, I must have done it before. Everyone must have tried this.
Player: I'm asking you! You're the GM!
You: Sorry, what was the question?
Player: So if right now, I go to the console and tell it to give me everything in the database about the Mohilar, what happens?
You: Later, you find yourself sitting in the mess hall. You're thirsty and your head hurts.
Player: So when I checked the database, was there nothing there, or was I unable to perceive it?
Player: Wait — am I missing time? Did I give myself an amnesiac spell by reading the file?
You: You have no reason to believe that there is a file.
The riddle of the Mohilar is by no means the only mystery teasing the players in Ashen Stars. Laws has peopled the Bleed with a fascinating mix of human factions, alien races, and stranger things — each with their own history, motivations, quirks, and secrets. The players will encounter Durugh spies, hired killers, gangsters, pirates, miners, rival mercenaries, vigilantes, warriors, and odder things as they accept commissions and put their mark on the Bleed.
The Ashen Stars rulebook contains detailed rules for space combat, 14 types of spacecraft, a rogues gallery of threats to menace your players, and a 21-page sample adventure featuring a deranged museum artificial intelligence trying to re-create some of the deadliest battles in Combine history.
Typical for Pelgrane Press, they've also supported the game with a fine line of supplemental adventures (including Dead Rock Seven and Terra Nova), and even a music album, All We Have Forgotten. A complete list of supporting titles is available on the Pelgrane Press website.
Ashen Stars contains material adapted from Pelgrane Press's well-regarded RPG of Lovecraftian horror, Trail of Cthulhu, by Kenneth Hite. Ashen Stars was published in 2011 by Pelgrane Press. It is 298 pages in an oversized, full-color hardcover. The retail price is $44.95, and the price includes a PDF version.
Robin's work has been must-buys for me for years. Its a fascinating universe he has built for the game.
Agreed. Robin D. Laws has produced some terrific RPG products, including Dungeon Master's Guide II. Jack Vance's The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game, Earthdawn, and many others.
He's also got over half a dozen novels to his credit, although I haven't had the time to try those yet.
John, this is a great recommend. I've paged through the rulebook and it has the answer to a lot of gaming problems my group and I have had in the past. One faction loves the clue finding and mystery and the other likes as much action as they can get. The trouble has always been a campaign that allows for both and it often comes to a couple of characters getting the action while the others sit around and watch.
This game looks like a good balance between the two and gives everyone a piece of the action no matter what the setting.
I like the gumshoe rules. Brilliant idea.
We tried a Firefly type campaign but it fell flat. I think this will do a lot better.
Also there are CDs with theme music. Very cool music to put the group in the mood. I can't wait to spring this campaign on the group.
Glad to hear it! I was tempted by the CD, but haven't tried it… if you do, let me know what you think.
And be sure to report back if you get a chance to use Ashen Stars with your regular gaming group. I'd love to hear the results.


text:
Man pleads guilty in rape, murder of PA teen
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty on Tuesday in the rape, murder and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl, and the victim's adoptive mother has agreed to plead guilty and serve a life sentence.
Jacob Sullivan, 46, pleaded guilty to all charges in the 2016 death of Grace Packer. A jury outside Philadelphia will determine a sentence of either life in prison or death.
Grace's adoptive mother, Sara Packer, 44, is expected to testify against Sullivan during the penalty phase of his trial. Packer is expected to plead guilty and be sentenced to life, according to her attorney, Keith Williams.
Prosecutors have said that Sara Packer, a former foster parent and county adoptions supervisor, watched Sullivan act out a rape-murder fantasy they shared.
Grace's death raised questions about whether child welfare agencies could have done more to protect her. Packer and her husband at the time, David Packer, cared for dozens of foster children before David was arrested in 2010 and sent to prison for sexually assaulting Grace and a 15-year-old foster daughter at their home in Allentown, about an hour north of Philadelphia. She lost her job as a Northampton County adoptions supervisor in 2010 and was barred from taking in any more foster children.
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services launched an investigation after Grace Packer's murder but its findings have not been made public.
Sullivan beat and raped Grace, and she was bound, gagged and left to die in a sweltering attic, authorities have said. Returning the next day and finding Grace was still alive, Sullivan strangled her, court documents said. The couple stored her body in cat litter for months, then hacked it up and dumped it in a remote area where hunters found it in October 2016, police have said.
Sullivan, whose attorney had said Sarah Packer masterminded the killing , entered his plea as jury selection was about to get underway. Packer's trial was expected to begin next month.
This story has been corrected to show Grace Packer's adoptive mother is Sara Packer, not Sarah Packer.
by Kevin Petrochko / Jul 16, 2019
CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) -- Some drivers in Centre County will soon have to plan on using a detour as bridge preservation work will begin on Thursday in College Township.
The bridge, which is used by more than 3,300 drivers daily, spans spring creek on Elmwood Street in the Lemont area of State College.
Woman celebrates 105th birthday
by Charlotte Ames / Jul 16, 2019
(WTAJ) -- A California woman celebrated a very special milestone on Monday. That's when Barbara Holman-Robinson turned 105. She celebrated with a birthday bash at a family creamer in Sacramento.
When asked if she expected to live this long, she said, "I told the Lord I just wanted to be 100, that's all. But I found myself after 100 going to 101, 102, 103, 104, and now here I am, 105 years old."
Hometown Happenings: Blair Media Blood Blitz
ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) -- WTAJ's Amanda Lee visits the Blair Media Blood Blitz in today's edition of Hometown Happenings.


text:
Northern Lights :: Presskit
Game title: Northern Lights
Developer: MadGoat Studio (based in Bucharest, Romania)
Genre: Survival
Platform: PC (Steam)
Price: $15.99, £12.99, €14.99
Website: https://northernlightsgame.com
Press contact: [email protected]
Social: Store Page, Discord, Facebook, Twitter
Northern Lights is an open world survival simulation set in the extreme conditions of the arctic tundra. Clinging to life, you must use real-life survival techniques to gather resources, craft, and hunt while tending to your health and sanity.
The objective is to survive as long as possible by scavenging and using whatever resources you can find within the world. This includes commodities such as food, water, materials, medicine, and tools such as weapons, axes, knives, and a myriad of other items. Wildlife is also present in the form of ferocious predators such as Bears and Wolves that may attack on sight, to non-threatening animals such as the Reindeer, Moose, Foxes, Boars and Hares that may only attack if provoked. Fire, being a primary component, is necessary for warmth and cooking. Starting a fire is no easy job. Besides building the fire itself, the player must search for dry items that can act as tinder, and a way to start the fire. In order to navigate the arctic tundra, the player must make use of the map and compass. In his journey, the player will often contract afflictions and diseases, forcing him to think twice before eating a meat raw or consuming an unknown plant. Taking the wrong step can often result in severe afflictions or the loss of sanity that leads to deadly hallucinations. The final goal? Escape the island. Alive.
About MadGoat Studio
MadGoat is an independent game studio based in Romania, Bucharest, that was born of the ambition for developing and publishing high-quality video games. Currently, the studio consists of 3 core members that share the same passion for game development.
Survival Mode: Survival is your only goal, and death is your biggest impediment. Will you live to fight another day?
Choices & Outcomes: Keeping your stats under control is crucial. Not keeping your Hunger, Hydration, Body Temperature and Energy in balance can have repercussions on your in-game Sanity.
Only the strongest can survive: In Northern Lights you will find a wide range of activities you can do. Be ready to hunt, fish, scavenge for food and gear items, start fires, craft items, maintain your gear and most importantly, endure the harsh environment with its predators and the variety of possibly deadly afflictions you could contract.
Be the hunter or become hunted: Diverse wildlife, ranging from ferocious predators such as Bears and Wolves to non-threatening animals such as Reindeer, Moose, Foxes, Boars and Hares.
A broad and animated world: A beautiful yet frightening island that contains a delicate balance between pure nature and an abandoned world composed of a variety of locations.
Pick your challenge: You can choose between four difficulty scenarios, made for every kind of player, from beginners who want to explore the world in peace to skilled survivors who wish to experience a hardcore challenge.
Monetization Permission
MadGoat Studio allows for the contents of Northern Lights to be published through video broadcasting services for any commercial or non-commercial purposes. Monetization of videos created containing assets from Northern Lights is legally & explicitly allowed by MadGoat Studio.
Claudiu Iordache – Game Designer
Raul Turcus – Programming & Mechanics
Cristian Iordache – 3D Artist
Botond Ordog – Concept Artist
Sergey Ankin - Character Animation
Nikola Nikita Jeremic - Music Composer
Paul Dela Ros - Voice Over
Download zipped media
Inquiries: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NLightsGame
Facebook: https://facebook.com/northernlightsgame
Web: https://northernlightsgame.com


text:
Alkistis Dimech
Ex tempore
Dynamics of the occulted body
"Appearances are a sight of the unseen."
— Anaxagoras
I am a dancer; my body is the material for my art, and movement is my practice, the medium of dance. Movement arises mysteriously, at the very source of life and before even a self forms. Butô (which translates as 'dance steps') is unique amongst dance forms, perhaps most markedly in the way movement is discovered or evoked in the dancer, who is continuously engaged in pushing body and psyche into the eremos, the wilderness and borderlands, where one encounters oneself as a stranger, as enemy, ancestor, animal, as elemental force, as a shape dredged from the primal ocean. Butô is engendered by the living body confronting death. As one of my teachers, the late, great Ko Murobushi wrote, '… the smell of the corpse makes life stand out, stand out desperately. The origin of butô is in the intensity of this stance …' (Murobushi, 'Hinagata' Works 1972 – 2013. Ko&Edge Co. 2014). We are born to this visceral and vital struggle; becoming aware that it is a dance, the dance, in time.
Counter to this experience of the closeness of death, and impossibility to move, is an exultant delight in unrestrained movement, and the experience of the fullness of sensual being. The other element of my practice concerns Babalon. Without going into the detail of my magical and occult practice, which I have touched on elsewhere, this work is very much grounded in the retrieval of the body and its inherent potentials from the bonds that have been put on it. Babalon is naked, unconditioned power; female sexual response and the female orgasm evince this power in its inexhaustible variety, its unquenchable fire – although it is a force in which all participate and in which all are burned. It is a work that leads to an intimate knowledge of the occulted body; its subtle anatomy; and its role in sorcery, divination and the cultivation of sexual and erotic energy. It is a work which, like the practice of buto, utterly immerses one in the experience of the flesh, and through which one touches and comes to experience the world as 'flesh.' (Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and the Invisible, Followed by Working Notes. 1968).
The occulted body
First, what do I mean by the occulted body, and particularly its relation to consciousness and 'the unconscious'? In the first place, it is the body; a body that has been obscured or overwritten. But more specifically, I equate the occulted body with what is anatomically hidden, or in the dark; what the philosopher, phenomenologist and former dancer Maxine Sheets-Johnstone calls our 'bodily insides' (Sheets-Johnstone, The Roots of Power: 172); that is, what is accessible to us only through the 'dark' senses: touch, kinaesthesia, proprioception; or what lies below the threshold of sensory awareness, such as those processes associated with the autonomic nervous system. In buto, this body is often referred to as nikutai – the 'body of flesh' or 'body of desire' – which is the lived, individual body (as opposed to a generic and purely functional one) and is the vehicle for the manifestation of the interior lanscape, and the realm of images.
The occulted body is possessed of its own selfhood, it has autonomy, it is autopoietic and conscious. It is a dynamic, living body. Kinetic processes cycle incessantly at every level of its organism, from the molecular and neural to the gestural, and at every level inhere it in its environment and interrelations. Furthermore, these movements are in no way mechanistic or motoric; they exhibit autonomy and coherence across the entire spectrum of being; what the bio-physicist Mae-Wan Ho described as 'organized heterogeneities, or dynamic structure on all scales.' (The Rainbow and the Worm: 21)
The occulted body is the source of the 'body consciousness' or 'ground consciousness' from which arises psyche, and a subject (or ego). Freud, in 'The Ego and the Id' acknowledged: 'The ego is first and foremost a bodily ego…'* but the psychoanalytic method he pioneered is rooted in discourse and not in the body. My practice reaffirms the authority of the body: it is first of all the body that communicates, revealing its inner life, its affectivity, its vulnerability as well as its strength. Discourse does not, and cannot, efface or replace the originary ground of existence. The body is the mother of language; our prelinguistic mother tongue, the primal voice of movement.
[* And his footnote: 'The ego is ultimately derived from bodily sensations, chiefly from those springing from the surface of the body. It may thus be regarded as a mental projection of the surface of the body…']
Dynamic gnosis
Movement is essential to tactility, proprioception and the kinaesthetic sense. An organism or body's incessant motion gives rise to its proprioceptive, kinaesthetic and tactile consciousness. As the foundation of the sensorium and affectivity, the moving body is fundamental to, and generative of, knowledge –gnosis. Aristotle recognised how fundamental movement is to life; he calls it koine aisthesis (De anima III, 1, 425a27), that is, the sensus communis or common sense; the primary faculty of perception, as it unifies all the senses, and underpins an organism's self-awareness or apperception. Aristotle ascribes to the koine aisthesis the ability to discriminate or judge, and as such we can link it to understanding: a deep instinctual preternatural understanding.
For me, to dance is to to initiate myself into the body's mysteries, again and again; to know myself in the process of becoming and to know the world in its becoming, through an intertwined corporeal consciousness. Here is the 'place of enquiry,' the repository of ancestral knowledge and accumulated individual experience.
Protean body, protean voice
The human body and the human voice have a phenomenal capacity for mimesis. This capacity emerged from our primate ancestry, but with bipedality came an enhanced potential for mimetic expression. The upright body is freed to elaborate an ingenious protolanguage of gesture and movement. At the same time, vocal expression achieves a hitherto unheard power, subtlety and range, as the apparatus of breathing and eating are modified and mastered.
One can even see this shift in the eye, with the hand and the erect phallus, a primal symbol of power, mundane and magical. The eyes of primates do not speak, they are dark, obtuse; the human eye, by contrast, is agile, mercurial. The pupil flashes and darts in its milky orb; it has intent, it hungers and it eats, it misleads or blinds, it undresses and it intimates, giving glimpse of the interior. One can make an entire dance with the eyes alone, for, like bodies, they are highly expressive, communicating kinetically, and resonant with the hidden regions of soma and psyche.
Our enhanced mimetic faculty is the bedrock of human culture: it is the ground for iconicity, for analogical and symbolic thinking, and for the emergence of language. It is an ambivalent aptitude.
The evolution of an expansive, rich and fluid lingua franca composed of sound, sign, signal and gesture – elaborated in song, dance, play and ritual – enabled communication with peers, with neighbours and strangers, and with an entire ecology of spirits, ancestors, flora and fauna sharing a common habitat, 'a single social field' which is vibrantly animist in character. But a shared habitat is a place of conflict and survival, in which we – as predator and prey – occupy and exploit a distinctive niche. With mimesis came a refined potential for deception, for cunning. Mimicry is a critical skill for the hunter; it is predicated on a hypersensitive awareness to one's environs, the ability to read its signs, or listen to its utterances; and to the transmission of this art through imitation and reenactment. Vocal mimicry in particular was used lure prey. Almost universally animals cannot detect the intent behind a signal, they cannot fake; they do not participate in the 'lie', knowingly, subtly, as humans do. Exceptions are rare and striking: corvids, parrots and cephalopods act mimetically, and with a recognition of deception. Unsurprisingly, we regard them, warily or admiringly, as supernatural.
Both the human voice and the human body are protean in their transformative potentials. This archaic protean quality is what draws me, as a dancer and a magician, to ceaselessly explore the body's mystery and power. It is a quality that manifests most remarkably in the body's fascia, a coherent web of tensile strength that constantly renews and transforms itself in response to movement. I consider the fascia, the connective tissue, to be the physiological substrate of consciousness. The dense, penumbral form of the occulted body corresponds to the 'unconscious,' and finds in the fascial web its genetrix and matrix.
The fascia is the largest organ in the body, a web of connective tissue that structures, binds and supports. It is present throughout the body, interpenetrating and surrounding muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels; in fact, all the cells in a body are interconnected through the connective tissue. Fascia can be grouped into three main types: superficial, associated with the skin; deep, associated with the muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels; and visceral, comprising all tissues and membranes covering the organs and lining the cavities within the body. The deep fascia is richly innervated with sensory receptors that convey the presence of pain, changes in movement, pressure and vibration, in the chemical environment and in temperature. It forms the bones, supplies the body with blood from the marrow, and conducts nutrients and energy throughout the body; it is essential to healing and regeneration. Intrinsically connected with movement, it is the medium through which our inner environment interacts with the outer; it is, thus, the organ of knowledge par excellence. The complex functions and phenomenal properties of connective tissue, indeed the body as a whole, is due to its liquid crystalline composition, which underlies the electromagnetic body and its subtle anatomy.
The liquid crystalline structure of the living body (which had been predicted by Joseph Needham as early as 1935) was confirmed through the research of Dr Mae-Wan Ho. Her fascinating enquiry into the quantum biophysics of living organisms is documented in The Rainbow and the Worm, and in the many papers which she has written (www.i-sis.org.uk). I will quote from one, to précis the significance of liquid crystallinity to an animate body and its corporeal consciousness:
There is a dynamic, liquid crystalline continuum of connective tissues and extracellular matrix linking directly into the equally liquid crystalline cytoplasm in the interior of every single cell in the body (see Ho, 1997; Ho, 1998; Ho and Knight, 1998, and references therein). Liquid crystallinity gives organisms their characteristic flexibility, exquisite sensitivity and responsiveness, thus optimizing the rapid, noiseless intercommunication that enables the organism to function as a coherent, coordinated whole. In addition, the liquid crystalline continuum provides subtle electrical interconnections which are sensitive to changes in pressure, pH and other physicochemical conditions; in other words, it is also able to register 'tissue memory.' Thus, the liquid crystalline continuum possesses all the qualities of a 'body consciousness' that may indeed be sensitive to all forms of subtle energy medicines including acupuncture. (Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, 'Coherent Energy, Liquid Crystallinity and Acupuncture.' Presented to British Acupuncture Society, 2 October, 1999)
Whilst the implications of her research have still to be played out – in mainstream science, in social organisation, in the structure of politics, and in the occult – for me, this confirmation of the body's essential fluidity, its unified dynamic coherence, has immediate import. It affirms the fundamentally animate nature of the living body; it reveals a unified, coherent and dynamic matrix which is simultaneously the source, the medium and the field of physical form, and of psyche, that convulsive zone inhabited by a primordia of atavisms, archetypes and eidola.
"Every living being is also a fossil. Within it, all the way down to the microscopic structure of its proteins, it bears the traces if not the stigmata of its ancestry."
— Jacques Monod, Chance and Necessity: Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology, 1970.
I call the body 'the place of enquiry' – in reference to the grave and divination – for the body limns and enfolds this occult world as the skin limns and enfolds the sensate. The matrix of connective tissue is the repository of our individual and ancestral memory (cf. Freud's notion of an 'archaic heritage' and Jung's description of archetypes as 'biological instinctual constellations.'). It is equally attuned to motion and emotion, which it registers and retains, submerged in and holographically distributed throughout the liquid crystalline continuum. This body memory, which is always oriented to the future – that is, to survival and evolution – is engaged directly through the dynamics of the living body.
Revelation of the occulted body
Dance is an incessant resurrection and dissolution of forms; a 'perpetual revelation of force,' as consciousness unfurls itself, like the petals of a rose, awakening in the sensorium of our common humanity. The occulted body is exposed in the quality and affect of movement, in the timbre or 'grain' of the voice; and in its wake latent images, dreams and visions surface from their visceral dwellings.
It is with this body and voice that I work, in dance, as in my occult practice. It is important to work from the ground up, with breath and its connection to earth and body through the feet. Preliminary to beginning work, as part of my warm up routine, and after working, I practice 'choral techniques,' exercises designed to bring the body and psyche to a state of resonant equilibrium. The term derives from the work of Anca Manolescu and is discussed by Nicoletta Isar in her work on chorography and Byzantine liturgical dance; it references Plato's concept of the chôra (alternatively, khôra), the third nature that is the mother and receptacle of being. Mirroring the cosmogonic chôra, there are in the human body its likenesses, fulfilling the same functions and operating in the same way. Plato equates the bodily chôra with the liver, which has an occult connection with vision, divination and fate; but, I suggest, we should understand the fascia as the primary choraic organ (genetrix and matrix), holding form and giving space as it does; and, above all, in its absolute affinity with motion.
The body will autonomously shake or tremble to release trauma, as it does in orgasm, and in the spontaneous movement of sexual energy through the body. Movements that rhythmically shake the body – trembling, pulsating, vibrating, undulating – such as the water body techniques of Noguchi gymnastics – exert a profound and direct influence on the connective tissue and the ground consciousness, having an energising and regenerating effect, as well as bringing the body-mind to an exquisitely sensitive and receptive state. This is at the same time a state of heightened creativity, volatile and generative. Tensions and associated habitual patterns and mental fixations are (progressively) loosened; the body is physically tempered; and the body-mind entranced.
These techniques produce a cleansing, or a polishing, of the dark mirror of the body, from which those visions arise that are 'a sight of the unseen.' This is critical for my dance method, and for magical practices such as divination, skrying and the techniques of active imagination. The body is prepared, it is receptive to images: those I give it to stimulate movement, as in butô-fu, or the dance score; and those that issue from the unconsciousness, or the 'other,' the power or intelligence with which I am working.
Such choral techniques also have a separating or discriminating effect, as in threshing, an image that Plato employs in his elucidation of the mysterious chôra; what is unnecessary is discarded, the essential is retained. The threshing floor is a key image for me – in my expression of butô and in the aims and methods of my magical practice – situating both explicitly in an eschatological, transforming and revelatory context. It will be discussed in a forthcoming text on the witches' dance.
Presented at the Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult symposium, London on Saturday 7th May 2016; published in The Fenris Wolf 9
Becker, Robert O. & Gary Selden. The Body Electric; Electromagneticism and the Foundation of Life. NY: Morrow. 1985
Ho, Mae-Wan. The Rainbow and the Worm. World Scientific Publishing Company. 1998
Isar, Nicoletta. 'Chôra: Creation and Pathology; An Inquiry into the Origins of Illness and Human Response.' Europe's Journal of Psychology 2/2009: 96–109
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, and Claude Lefort. The Visible and the Invisible; Followed by Working Notes. Northwestern University Press. 1968
Schultz, R. Louis & Rosemary Feitis. The Endless Web: Fascial Anatomy and Physical Reality. North Atlantic Books. 1996
Sheets-Johnstone, Maxine. The Roots of Power: Animate Form and Gendered Bodies. Open Court. 1999
— The Primacy of Movement. John Benjamins Publishing Company (2nd edition). 2011
Alkistis May 7, 2016
Demonic voices
Alkistis June 18, 2016
Volant: the birdwoman
Alkistis May 28, 2014
© Alkistis Dimech 2019


text:
In the Lab:
Frank Provenzano, PhD
Dr. Frank Provenzano is a neuroimaging biomedical engineer and programmer who has spent his career studying different applications of multi-modal neuroimaging processing techniques in neurological and psychiatric disease models. Specifically, his focus is on the testing and repurposing of neuroimaging data that are acquired from scans not traditionally intended to provide quantitative biomarkers. This interest is based on a history of both MRI and PET imaging, with a consideration for general availability of scans in both identifying and testing signatures of dysfunction, as well as applying those methods prospectively.
Dr. Provenzano had previously analyzed focal differences in FDG-PET imaging from both concussive susceptible sports (Provenzano et al. 2010) and epilepsy (Akman et a 2015), prior to joining the Taub Institute as a research assistant in Dr. Adam Brickman's laboratory. While there, he helped develop several techniques in quantifying white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in MRI, and examining what role these findings play in, among other things, assessing conversion to Alzheimer's disease, cognitive function, and memory loss (Provenzano et al 2013). Dr. Provenzano continued onto his PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Scott Small, where he developed methods for human imaging analysis of cerebral blood volume (CBV) fMRI. This method of imaging uses a variant of routinely acquired T1 weighted imaging to provide submillimeter functional resolution of the brain. Specifically, his techniques measured regional vulnerability in the hippocampal circuit in both preclinical Alzheimer's disease (Khan et al. 2013) and aging (Brickman et al. 2014). He completed his post-doctoral training in the same lab, prior to joining the Taub Institute as faculty in 2017.
Figure: The above image represents a rendering of the hippocampal circuit with different functionally identified changes superimposed upon it. Areas of yellow and orange represent measured changes in preclinical Alzheimer's disease, areas in blue represent functional changes in aging and areas in green reflect dysfunction in prodromal psychosis. All of these quantifiable metrics can be obtained from routine MRI imaging in the same scanning session. This demonstrates unique patterns of selective vulnerability in the hippocampal circuit.
Currently, Dr. Provenzano's research focus is on the storage, characterization, and analysis of clinically acquired brain MRI and the reliability and feasibility of generating functional measures from those. There are millions of brain MRIs acquired annually that are used for distinct neuroradiological purposes, generally not with the same strict standards, head coils, and manufacturers that research neuroimaging studies prescribe in their protocols. Many of these scans can be adapted for use with modern neuroimaging pipelines to generate measures potentially useful in tracking disease risk and progression in dementia, temporal lobe epilepsy, and schizophrenia, among others. Such potential calculable signatures of dysfunction may then potentially be applied to clinical decision models for patients who are already receiving such scans.
Assistant Professor of Neurological Sciences (in Neurology and in the Taub Institute)
fap2005@cumc.columbia.edu


By far one of the most memorable things about our trip to Myrtle Beach has to be the night we went to see the Pirate's Voyage Dinner show. It was amazing!
I had stumbled upon this attraction quite by accident on Pinterest one day before our trip and after watching the short video on their site I knew my boys would LOVE it!
Boy was I right! It was an amazing show and my boys had the best time. They're still talking about the show and their favorite parts.
The boys were thoroughly entertained and the show hadn't even started yet!
Once the pre- show was finished the door were opened and we were allowed into the dining and show area. It was immense! The show was spectacular and the food was yummy.
The half of the show area that would fit into my camera lens!
We had a creamy vegetable soup with flaky biscuits, roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, and pulled pork. For desserts we had warm apple turnovers and bottomless drinks of coffee, soda, water, sweet tea. We weren't allowed to use flash photography during the show and I was happy to just sit back an watch. There was so much to see!
I'm sure if we ever go back to Myrtle Beach we'll definitely head to Pirate's Adventure again.
What a fun place to go! My kids would love that. We have never been to anything like this before.
It was so fun! We've been a medieval dinner show but never anything quite like this before. I had a hard time watching it all while eating.
I spent a week in Myrtle Beach this past summer too, but didn't do either of the things you did. We went to the arboretum which was wonderful.
That does sound wonderful! For once, I did not research or look up anything to do in the area ahead of time. We wanted a nice relaxing vacation and to just take each day as it comes so I wasn't aware of a whole lot of things to do in the area.
What fun! It sounds like your kids had a blast! Thanks for linking up to Take Me Away this month!


text:
My 2010 Miami Dolphins Offseason Plan
The official start of the new league year is mere hours away.
At that time, the Dolphins and the other 31 NFL teams can beginning signing unrestricted free agents, signing restricted free agents to offer sheets, trading players, and, in Miami's case, finally releasing Joey Porter.
What follows is my entire offseason plan for the Miami Dolphins, covering releases, signings, re-signings, trades, the draft, and undrafted free agency.
I did the same kind of article last year, and man, not much of it came true. But hey, at least I got the Sean Smith pick right.
Terminate the contracts of...
ILB Akin Ayodele — The 30-year-old was a nice pickup a few years back when we were transitioning to the 3-4, but he's a liability in coverage and his tackling has declined.
OLB Joey Porter — He finally isn't worth the headache anymore, and he was a liability against the run anyway. Time to move on.
ILB Reggie Torbor — He's extremely overpaid and hasn't shown that he can develop into a starter, struggling every time he gets the chance on defense.
FS Gibril Wilson — A big free-agent signing last offseason, Wilson was horrendous in coverage and failed to make even one big play in 2009. It doesn't matter who replaces him; this is addition by subtraction.
Place on waivers...
RB Tristan Davis, OG Ray Feinga, WR Taurus Johnson, WR Julius Pruitt, OT SirVincent Rogers, RB Kory Sheets, OLB Erik Walden. These guys don't need to be cut immediately, but these are my choices to be released to keep the offseason roster under 80 after all the free-agent signings, trade acquisitions, and draft picks I outline later in the article.
Re-sign...
WR Davone Bess (ERFA) — Bess doesn't have a ton of upside and lacks ideal size and speed, but he's a reliable pass-catcher and an ideal slot receiver.
RB Ronnie Brown (RFA) — Brown is a Pro Bowl-caliber talent when healthy, and should definitely be re-signed if no team is willing to give up their first-round pick to sign him as a restricted free agent.
K Dan Carpenter (ERFA) — Carpenter made the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement in his second pro season, and is an easy choice to bring back.
TE Anthony Fasano (RFA) — Fasano regressed as a receiver in 2009, but he's still a quality blocker and is good to retain until someone better comes along.
NT Jason Ferguson (UFA) — The Dolphin will hopefully draft their long-term nose tackle this offseason, but Ferguson is still a quality player when healthy and would be a nice veteran to split time and help groom the younger guy.
TE Joey Haynos (ERFA) — He might never develop into more than a backup, but his size (6-foot-8) is intriguing and he's definitely worth bringing back to compete.
OLB Quentin Moses (RFA) — "Q-Mo" has never lived up to his potential in the pros, but he's worth bringing back to again compete for a roster spot.
QB Chad Pennington (UFA) — The Dolphins may be able to get a fifth-round pick back for Tyler Thigpen, in which case re-signing Pennington would be an ideal move. He's a proven winner with experience in Miami's system, and would continue to be a great mentor for Chad Henne.
OLB Jason Taylor (UFA) — The Dolphins need to get younger at outside linebacker, but they can't replace both Porter and Taylor this offseason, and Taylor is still highly effective against by the run and the pass.
Don't re-sign...
CB Nathan Jones (UFA) — I'm a big fan of Jones as a nickel corner, blitzer and special-teamer, but his solid performance in Miami should get him a decent contract on the open market. Miami has three starting-caliber cornerbacks under contract, thus there is no need to open the wallet for Jones.
Trade...
Third- and sixth-round picks in the 2010 NFL Draft to the Arizona Cardinals for wide receiver Anquan Boldin — The Cardinals' asking price is reportedly a third-rounder, so Miami could use one of its sixth-rounders to sweeten the deal and out-bid another team. Boldin isn't extremely young and has some durability issues, but he's a legitimate No. 1 receiver and would give quarterback Chad Henne the big, reliable, play-making target he needs.
QB Tyler Thigpen to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 2010 fifth-round pick — Jacksonville had interest in Thigpen last offseason, and could still use him now as someone to groom. Miami has no need for Thigpen with Pennington re-signed. The Dolphins get back a fifth-rounder, replacing the one they dealt to Kansas City for Thigpen.
Sign free agents...
FS Oshiomogho Atogwe (RFA - St. Louis Rams) — The Rams placed the low tender on Atogwe, meaning they have the right of first refusal on an offer sheet, but receive no compensation if they decide not to match. Miami should sign Atogwe to a long-term deal with a "poison pill" that states Atogwe receives an insane bonus if he plays a certain amount of games in the state of Missouri (like Seattle did when they signed Nate Burleson and Minnesota in 2006.) The Rams can't match, and Miami's free safety problems are solved.
ILB Karlos Dansby (UFA - Arizona Cardinals) — The prized free agent of the 2010 class, Dansby would go a long way in solving the Dolphins' growing problems at inside linebacker. He'll cost quite a bit of money, but there won't be a salary cap, and this is the guy to open your wallet for.
CB Marlin Jackson (UFA - Indianapolis Colts) — Jackson wasn't tendered by the Colts as an RFA, meaning he can sign with anyone. The former first-round pick has knee issues and can't be counted on to start, but he has good size for a corner and has experience at every position in the secondary.
WR Kassim Osgood (UFA - San Diego Chargers) — A stellar special teams player and three-time Pro Bowl selection, Osgood has plenty of experience and intriguing size (6-4, 204). He'd be worth picking up just for his special-teams ability, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him compete for a significant role on offense.
Draft...
Round 1 — OLB Sergio Kindle (Texas) — I'd really like to take Alabama's Rolando McClain here, but after signing Dansby, the Dolphins need to address outside linebacker more quickly than I have them doing in the rest of this draft. Kindle has experience playing linebacker and is a quality pass-rusher, injecting some youth and talent into the position for the Dolphins.
Round 2 — NT Cam Thomas (North Carolina) — The Dolphins need a long-term solution at nose tackle, and Thomas is one of the best in this year's draft. He has a ton of ability and could anchor the Dolphins' 3-4 line for years to come.
Round 3 — (no pick; traded to Arizona for Anquan Boldin in this mock offseason)
Round 4 — OG John Jerry (Ole Miss) — The Dolphins have no clear-cut answer at right guard, where Donald Thomas and Nate Garner have been inconsistent or have little upside. Jerry is a mauler and could be groomed to fill the Dolphins' line offensive line void.
Round 5 (from JAX in this offseason mock) — ILB Jamar Chaney (Mississippi State) — Chaney is flying under the radar after playing for a bad college team, but he's a great tackler and has the talent to start as a rookie. He'd be a great pickup to eventually replace the quite average Channing Crowder.
Round 6a — OLB Justin Cole (San Jose State) — Cole has some upside as a pass-rusher and experience at linebacker, making him a good addition to a linebacker corps that needs to get younger.
Round 6b — (not pick; traded to Arizona for Anquan Boldin in this mock offseason)
Round 6c — FS Nick Polk (Indiana) — Even after signing Atogwe, it'd be nice to add a young safety through the draft, and Polk would be a steal here. He's very athletic and could potentially contribute as a returner too.
Round 7a — OLB Antonio Coleman (Auburn) — Another addition at outside linebacker, Coleman would play special teams early on, but could develop into a contributor on defense.
Round 7b — WR Jeff Webb (UAB) — A college quarterback, Webb is raw but has good size (6-3, 220) and presents some interesting wildcat/spread option possibilities due to his experience as a passer.
Sign undrafted free agents...
QB Ryan Perrilloux (Jacksonville State) — An intriguing prospect that originally played at LSU, Perrilloux could serve as a camp body and potential long-term project if the team comes to their senses and dumps Pat White.
RB Stafon Johnson (Southern California) — More known for his life-threatening weight-lifting injury his senior year, Johnson is a solid running back prospect and work taking a look at as a potential practice squad player.
WR/KR Brandon Banks (Kansas State) — Although he measures in at just 5-foot-7 and 149 pounds, Banks is lightning quick and is a home-run threat as a returner. His size may prevent him from making it in the NFL, but his 4.2 speed alone makes him worth a look.
TE Michael Hoomanawanui (Illinois) — He didn't do much his senior season due to an ankle injury and a horrendous Illini offense, but Hoomanawanui has great size (6-4, 264) and a good blend of blocking and pass-catching abilities. He could push for the No. 3 tight end job or of a practice squad spot.
OT Levi Horn (Montana) — The Dolphins have picked up a few Grizzlies over the last few years, and here's another one. The 6-foot-7, 315-pound Horn is an intriguing project at tackle.
DE Lorenzo Washington (Alabama) — The Dolphins love stockpiling defensive ends, and this product of Nick Saban's 3-4 scheme at Bama would be a good addition to the camp roster.
NT Travis Ivey (Maryland) — The Dolphins already grabbed their long-term nose tackle in my earlier draft, but there's no reason not to add another prospect and see what you find.
ILB Lee Campbell (Minnesota) — A former defensive end, Campbell developed into a stout run-stuffing linebacker for the Golden Gophers. He'd compete for a role on special teams or the practice squad.
CB A. J. Jefferson (Penn State) — Jefferson wasn't very productive for the Nittany Lions, but he has decent size for a corner, good athleticism, and has some upside as a returner.
S Stevie Brown (Michigan) — Brown played linebacker and safety for the Wolverines, but would project primarily as a special-teamer and long-term project at safety for the Dolphins
Obviously, a lot of this won't happen. The Dolphins won't be interested in every player I listed above, and they may not even get a shot at some of the guys in the draft.
Still, I think it's interesting to build a team with the pieces of your choice, and see what comes out the other end.
That's why I've made a depth chart from the offseason roster that would come from making every move I've listed above, which you can download here.
Well that's it. Call me whenever you want, Bill. I'm ready for the job.
What do you think of this offseason plan? Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments or discuss this article on the forum here!
Labels: Anquan Boldin, Cam Thomas, Chad Pennington, Gibril Wilson, Jamar Chaney, Jason Taylor, Joey Porter, John Jerry, Karlos Dansby, Miami Dolphins, O.J. Atogwe, offseason plan, Ronnie Brown, Sergio Kindle
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