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Immokalee runs past Cypress Lake in District 6A-12 final
There are very few teams in Southwest Florida that can hang with the Immokalee girls basketball team in a fast-paced, track meet type of game. Cypress Lake wasn't one of them.
Immokalee runs past Cypress Lake in District 6A-12 final There are very few teams in Southwest Florida that can hang with the Immokalee girls basketball team in a fast-paced, track meet type of game. Cypress Lake wasn't one of them. Check out this story on news-press.com: http://newspr.es/2l2EjSK
ADAM REGAN, AREGAN@NEWS-PRESS.COM Published 10:39 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2017
The Immokalee girls basketball team beat Cypress Lake 73-34 in the District 6A-12 title game on Friday for the program's first district title in 12 years.(Photo: Adam Regan/news-press.com)
Marie Volcy scored 21 of her 28 points in the first half and the Indians' full-court press forced Cypress to increase its tempo in a 73-34 District 6A-12 final victory Friday at Elmer Tremont Gymnasium.
"We've been building all year off our speed," Immokalee coach Bridgette Toombs said. "That's what we do. Press, press, press."
Immokalee (14-6) raised district championship hardware for the first time 12 years. Toombs' squad will host Bradenton Bayshore, which fell to St. Petersburg Lakewood 66-38, in a region quarterfinal on Thursday.
The teams split during the regular season, but Cypress' 40-25 win Dec. 2 came in large part because the Indians were without starters Volcy and Azariah Howard, who were participating in a production of the musical Hairspray in Naples that night.
At full strength, Immokalee clamped down early on defense, making the Panthers work to get over half court. And turnovers couldn't be avoided.
"Our objective was to slow the game down, but they get you into that running game and you kind of get enticed into it," Cypress coach Paul Murphy said. "Even if you get through (the press) you're thinking we've got wide open shots but you really don't. We didn't handle the ball well and we fed right into their strengths."
Panthers senior forward Shonteria Blanks finished with 24 points. However, she said quick shots and ill-advised decisions cost her team, which will travel to Lakewood on Thursday with its season on the line.
"As many times as (Murphy's) told us not to do it something in our heads tells us to do play faster," Blanks said. "They have a great press."
Junior guard Estafania Louis contributed 21 points as Immokalee jumped out to a 35-23 lead at halftime before stretching it to 30 points, which started a running clock, halfway through the fourth quarter.
Toombs said the Indians were more focused heading into the final.
"We had to get back to the beginning. We had to have everyone know their role," Toombs said. "Are you a shooter? Are you a defensive player? Everyone did what they're supposed to do."
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The most expensive
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The largest moon sculpture in the world at the "Out Of This World – Wonders of The Solar System"
by kamakshi
Savage Garden once tried to take you to the moon and back, but not quite as literally as the "Out Of This World – Wonders of The Solar System", the new space exhibit inside the Gasometer in Oberhausen. Inside a 380-foot tall obsolete gas holder is a unique moon sculpture: it is touted to be the largest replica of the moon in the world at a width of 82 feet! Move over Bruce Almighty, the moon is found inside a cathedral-like space along with huge replicas of the sun and its planets spanning in an area of 223 feet.
READ: A 6,000 piece Lego Hogwarts Castle is 'the' gift for a Harry Potter fan
The true-to-scale models and their detailed description get its authenticity thanks to high-resolution satellite images of the moon and the other cosmic bodies. Coupled with the ambience and the ethereal music, the exhibit truly explores the scientific, cultural and artistic perspectives of our Solar System.
[Artdaily]
A limited edition silver Prancing Horse sculpture for the ultimate Ferrari fan
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The Bridge Sculpture pays homage to all the bridges made out of Bethlehem Steel
Order a $1.5 million Dale Chihuly Pool Sculpture Installation from Neiman Marcus this Christmas
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Get a Banksy for just $2.55, but….
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Good Luck Baby Chaquira Sculpture: A unique toy indeed
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From Leonardo Di Caprio to Jeff Bezos to Chris Hemsworth – Take a look at how celebrities are helping in the fight against Australia's devastating wildfires
A must have for a Man U fan – A 3900 piece Lego set of the iconic Old Trafford stadium
The worlds largest private superyacht will be 270 meters long and will come with an indoor pool, nightclub, inflatable marina, two helicopters and a lot more.
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text:
Clever dialog and excellent level design can't help NOLF from the curse of the PC port.
Posted: 23 Apr 2002 7:00 am
Sierra/Universal's No One Lives Forever (NOLF) is a damn good game. It was a damn good game on the PC two years ago. But now that it's on the PS2, the porting or re-creating process has taken its toll on poor Cate Archer and her comedic '60s underworld of cheesy code words and dumb American contacts. NOLF has not only aged visually, it's been apparently crammed into a box that doesn't like it so much, creating a world of production trouble.
At its core, NOLF is an excellent game. Boasting excellent level design, laugh-out-loud dialog, some of the best silly videogame characters we've ever seen, and a likeable, sexy lead character in Cate Archer as "The Operative," NOLF is a rock-solid single-player experience. But it's not all rosy. If you can look past the hampered, out-of-date graphics, sticky, annoying controls, and crummy framerate, you'll enjoy it. For some, that's a very big "if."
A parody on Ian Fleming's James Bond's world of the British intelligence agency and its inherent sexism, psychedelic '60s mojo, and craggy old boy networks, NOLF stars the slim, sexy Cate Archer, a former cat burglar who's finally gotten the chance prove herself to the big boys at Unity (the secret agency she works for) that a woman can perform just like a man can in the spy business.
As players progress through the game, they'll learn more about Cate's dark past, helping to fill in her rather shady past, in addition to learning about HARM, the enemy organization she's been assigned to crack. And they'll travel all over the world chasing giant German operatic singers, one-eyed villains, and drunken Scotsmen, plugging hundreds of thugs and collecting dozens of excellent weapons in between.
Underneath its ancient looking graphics and poor framerate, this single-player first-person shooter experience is a deep, complex and worthy one that shares qualities with some of the best single-player FPS titles out there, from the stealthy Goldeneye 007 to the extraordinarily deep world of Half-Life. NOLF creates a world of secrecy and intrigue, all the while conveying an immensely sharp sense of humor about itself that's entertaining all the way through to the end.
Some of the best aspects of the game appear in the open gameplay style itself. Monolith's game offers gamers a Point A to Point B experience, like just about every first-person shooter out there, but the approach gamers take to the game isn't restricted, enabling them to seek out a few ways to beat a level, rather than a singular, repetitive path.
Buoying the open approach is the game's heavy emphasis on stealth. NOLF punishes you a little for not being stealthy, but it doesn't force the issue. For instance, video cameras and alarm buttons are located everywhere and a single guard can ruin your stealthy guise, but it'll only bring on more guards early, rather than destroy the mission. Also, the other reason not to trick the alarms is that they create an immensely loud and obnoxious sound that never ends. God, I hate that sound.
Part of the game's intrigue is that it's filled with intelligence items, letters, objects or manila envelopes each containing usually worthless information. The letters are funny or purely asinine, making fun of Harm's bureaucracy or an individual's letter to his girlfriend, and they compel you to search them out, only occasionally providing usable information. At the level's end, the game ranks your performance, counting up intelligence items collected, enemies killed (and which body parts you've hit), etc. Finding the intelligence items isn't even necessary in most cases, but they play to the gamers' desire for adventure, thus creating the need to explore.
The intelligence items just add to the game's core design though. The best levels cleverly place gamers in a wild variety of missions, from escape, rescue, and infiltrate, to detonating bombs, to a few of my favorite levels, including stealing a parachute from an enemy's back while falling from a plane, and revisiting young Cate in her early days as a cat burglar. The level in which she steals money from the restaurant and bar owner is just awesome.
Permeating the game's every scene is sharp sense of wit and irony. The cutscenes usually are worth the price of admission alone, providing some of the best dialog in videogames in years, and occasionally, players are given the choice to select an answer during their conversation, which just adds to the fun. Like an RPG, players can select several answers, usually a smart-ass or a neutral one, though it appears that your choice doesn't really have any bearing on the outcome of the game. It's awfully fun to go back and play each section just to hear what you could have said.
One of my favorite sections occurs in Morocco, when Cate "tortures" an enemy. She never touches him, and after patiently asking him three times where her boss is, he tells her his life story, how he has a msters degree at Harvard (or Princeton), how intelligent he really is, and then, sadly, he provides the information she needs. Another favorite part includes monkeys. "Would you like to buy a monkey?"
These are all of the good things. But I'm a realist, or at least an optimistic realist. To be sure, NOLF suffers from a lot of problems. After having witnessed the game on PC two years ago, it's clear that while some little problems are inherent to the PC game, most of the dilemmas appear to have been added in the port process. NOLF delivers a chunky framerate that often becomes so annoying that its affects gameplay. The framerate also ties into character animations and is connected to the game's control, which is more than suspect.
More to the point, the game offers dodgy, jumpy aiming that quickly becomes a frustrating mess. Add auto-aiming into the mix (you can turn it on or off), and the controls grow near intolerable at times. Even when I jacked up the sensitivity controls in the menu bar, the game's controls proved to be jumpy and inaccurate. It's too bad, really, because a first-person shooter has to deliver a good framerate and smooth control, and NOLF delivers neither.
There are other things I didn't like. While a number of specialized (and cool) items were provided, such as barrettes, explosive lipstick, and body dissolving powder, you'll often find few of them are needed. It's just as easy to whip out an AK 47 or a silenced 9 mm and smoke some dude as it is to throw explosive lipstick at him, which takes extra time and usually costs you some health in a crowded room. The items themselves are cool, and yes, it makes sense that you aren't required to use them, but they just seemed to fade into the background in terms of usefulness. I was hoping to need them more.
Unlike other games of this nature, cameras and alarm buttons here are pretty brutal. Players can't shoot a video camera and expect to walk on by. It's realistic here: You shoot a camera and the alarm goes off. That's fine with me, but rarely do you have the chance to turn off the alarms (unless I'm mistaken), and I felt that adding the ability to turn them off would have been A) Fun, B) adventuresome, and C) a lot less annoying. The alarm sounds are undeniably irritating. Sure, I beat many levels without setting them off, but man, when I slipped up the game punished me with that piercing noise, with no way of turning them off.
Lastly, while NOLF didn't have much of a multiplayer game going on the PC, the PS2 version is void of the feature. On PS2, it's strictly a single-player game. When I think about it, NOLF is designed to be a single-player game at its core, and I'm thinking that a two-player mode would have been ruinous on PS2, given the sketchy single-player framerate and control. So, the lack of a multiplayer mode turns out to be a positive thing in a backwards sort of way.
Even back in the day, when NOLF shipped on the PC, it wasn't a terribly brilliant looking game. Now, in the year 2002, it's not only weak looking, it's incredibly aged in appearance. If this game shipped on PS2 any time before fall 2001, it wouldn't have looked half bad, but with the onslaught of beautiful games on PS2 from just this past fall, NOLF just looks ancient.
The game was never meant to be a graphic eye-stopper in the first place (yes, it was certainly meant to look good), but now it just looks like a sun-tanned granny. Games such as Deus Ex, Red Faction, Quake III, and Half-Life didn't look half as old when they hit the PS2, each looking pretty good in its own way. And while the character models here are higher resolution than the PC version, they hardly help.
But that's not all. NOLF is filled with production problems, from eye-poking artifacts and rampant seams along texture edges to slow, clunky cut-scenes that appear to be under some kind of slowdown spell that makes them crawl and with no ability to convince gamers they're in some kind of fantasy world. The game as a whole appears to have been a huge struggle to get into the PS2, and it certainly shows.
Other than that, the special effects are average, the water one-dimensional, and the textures decent, with the occasional detail that's engaging or designed with care. There appears to be no major improvements that I can see in this port. In short, NOLF looks old and damaged in the process of being ported, and it's too bad.
Certainly one of the best aspects of NOLF is its dialog. The writers behind NOLF expressed an excellent sense of humor through their characters, and every single one of them, from the main characters to simple guards and assassins, offers an amazing sense of personality and flair. Naturally, Cate Archer is great to listen to, but mostly because of her ability to say so few words. When she says something, it's smart and razor-edged. And as you progress throughout the game, when she doesn't respond to an enemy, you get the feeling that you know what she's thinking. Monolith's writers have created an excellent character that's worth caring for, which is hard to do in a first-person shooter, or in any game for that matter.
Here is an example of a tiny bit of dialog (Cate meets her secret contact in a bar in Germany):
"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Can you cook and clean, too?"
"No, but I can put you in the hospital. Maybe some can take care of you there..maybe."
Here's another example, you have just stolen an enemy's parachute in mid-air. A cut-scene follows, and as the man heads for his death, in the form of a barn, he says, "Please be full of hay, please be full of hay." Naturally, it's not. The fact is that the game is packed with great lines all the way through, which is one of the best reasons to try and ignore the game's major problems. The voice actors all did a splendid job of delivering great lines perfectly. You will continue to be entertained and humored throughout the entire experience by the dialog and writing alone.
Musically, the game parodies James Bond movie themes (catchy yet empty songs about brief lust and hard choices), while also dabbling in '60s pop music. All of the music is light-hearted '60s diddies, perfectly crafted to suit the game's atmosphere. Nothing in particular is terribly memorable.
No One Lives Forever is not a tight game. It's not a game that controls very well, and it looks old and dated. But the game's design, storyline, hilarious characters, and witty dialog are all so consistent and healthy that Monolith's game somehow survives its production problems intact.
The game offers an immense variety of missions, and because of its focus on stealth, I enjoyed it, despite its flaws. It's also a huge game, providing a minimum of 15 hours of gameplay.
As a strict single-player game for PS2 owners, it's worth playing, primarily as a rental -- Definitely as a rental. Anyone who enjoys PC FPS games on a regular basis won't even want to look at it.
A fast-paced, story-driven FPS with over-the-top action, outrageous villains, and wry humor in the tradition of the great 1960s Bond films.
Franchises:No One Lives Forever
Comic Mischief, Blood, Violence, Mild Language
Platforms:PC, PlayStation 2, Macintosh
Developers:Monolith Productions
Publishers:ACE (2), MacPlay, Sierra, Universal Interactive, Fox Interactive
Features:Number Of Players, Memory Card, Vibration, DualShock, Memory Blocks, Online
Have you played No One Lives Forever?
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Q: Why audio sent by A2DP might not be audible on Ubuntu 16.04? I try to get Bluetooth A2DP audio working on car's multimedia system (W53850, Toyota brand, 2011) with Ubuntu 16.04.
Audio works from Windows, or from Ubuntu 14.04, so the problem must be Ubuntu 16.04-specific. And it is not a hardware problem, because the bluetooth audio works on the same Ubuntu 16.04 laptop, when I dual-boot into Windows 10.
The whole setup procedure looks and feels exactly the same in Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04, with the only obvious difference that when I finally play the sound on the 16.04, I hear nothing from car's speakers.
This the procedure I use in detail:

*

*Remove old pairings from the car's multimedia system

*Remove old pairings from Ubuntu

*Start pairing procedure on car's multimedia system.

*On Ubuntu under "Bluetooth settings" click "+" to get "Device Search"

*After a few seconds a device "CAR M_MMEDIA" appears, click it.

*Under Ping options select the correct pin (it is "0000" anyway, but just  be safe). OK.

*Next. After a second I get confirmation "Successfully setup new device 'CAR M_MEDIA'. Quit.

*In car's system exit the "setup" menu (otherwise the sound will be blocked).

*In Sound settings I select "Handsfree CAR M_MEDIA" in "Play sound through" list.

*Play some music.

*The music player show progression in playback time - which indicate that the player is effectively pushing data into the pulse audio sink.

*No sound is heard.

Diagnostics I was able to do so far
On Ubuntu 14.04 I was able to discover the services from the command line:
$ bt-device -s "CAR M_MEDIA"
Discovering services...

[RECORD:65537]
SrvClassIDList: "AudioSink"
ProtocolDescList:
    "L2CAP", 0x19
    "AVDTP", 0x100
BTProfileDescList:
    "AdvAudio", 0x100
SrvName: "Audio Sink"
ProviderName: ""

[RECORD:65538]
SrvClassIDList: "AVRemote"
ProtocolDescList:
    "L2CAP", 0x17
    "AVCTP", 0x102
BTProfileDescList:
    "AVRemote", 0x103
SrvName: "A/V RemoteControl"
ProviderName: ""

Done

I can't do the same on 16.04, because all my two 16.04 computers display error
$ bt-device -s "CAR M_MEDIA"
Discovering services...
Failed to start SDP discovery. Please make sure you have bluez-utils installed on your system.

even if I run bluetoothd in the --compat mode.
Maybe Ubuntu 14.04 sends sound in a different sampling frequency (48 kHz as opposed to 44.1 kHz)? But I don't know how to test it.

Here is a hcidump from the sequence: a) connecting to the audio sink (car audio) b) playing music, c) stopping music and d) disconnecting.
Ubuntu 14.04 hcidump (audio works)
Ubuntu 16.04 hcidump (audio doesn' work)

A: bluez-utils is currently listed as a transitional package for trusty (14.04) and is currently unavailable for Xenial (16.04). Research indicates that the package you need for Xenial is bluez-tools.
One gotcha is that bluez-tools post v0.2 uses bluez-5.20 API.
Due to the removal of DiscoverServices in the BlueZ 5 device API, bt-device requires `sdptool' (included in bluez-utils for 14.04) for service discovery.
A quick search indicates that sdptool can now be found in the bluez package. This package appears to be required for sdptool based on the error message:

Failed to start SDP discovery. Please make sure you have bluez-utils installed on your system.

My approach would be as follows:
1) Enable the universe repository
2) install necessary packages

sudo apt install bluez bluez-tools

Note: bluez is installed by default if I'm not mistaken, so you might need to

sudo apt-get install --reinstall bluez

3) It's entirely feasible that you may also require D-Bus service for OBEX client and server side functionality

sudo apt install obex-data-server

Sources:
The error message in your question
https://packages.ubuntu.com/
https://github.com/khvzak/bluez-tools
https://www.synopsys.com/software-integrity/security-testing/fuzz-testing/defensics/protocols/bt-obexs.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OBject_EXchange

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text:
Piers Morgan praises Australia's decision to deport Novak Djokovic, saying, "Same rules as everyone."
By Pascal Nalat on January 14, 2022 Entertainment
PIERS MORGAN has reacted to the news that Novak Djokovic has been denied entry to Australia due to visa application issues.
Piers Morgan, 56, has weighed in on the matter following reports that Novak Djokovic was ordered to leave the country due to a lack of evidence for a Covid vaccine exemption.
While the Serbian has not confirmed his vaccination status, his medical exemption was thought to be sufficient to allow him entry into Australia.
It isn't about whether you believe in covid vaccines in the (hashtag)Djokovic saga.
Piers Morgan is a British journalist.
That is, until Novak arrived at border control and discovered that his team had filed the incorrect paperwork, and that, despite his request for a sub-class of visa, the entry permit did not apply to those arriving with a medical reason related to the Covid-19 vaccine.
The 34-year-old's place in the Australia Open, which begins on January 17, is in jeopardy as he prepares to leave the country, with no word on whether he will be vaccinated in time for the tournament.
Piers has since expressed his displeasure on Twitter, telling his 7.9 million followers that Novak should be subjected to the same rules as everyone else.
The journalist tweeted, "The (hashtag)Djokovic saga is not about whether you believe in covid vaccines, but whether you believe famous athletes should play by the same rules as everyone else."
The (hashtag)Djokovic saga isn't about whether or not you believe in covid vaccines; it's about whether or not you believe famous athletes should follow the same rules as the rest of us.
He has the right not to be stabbed, and Australia has the right to deport him for filing a fraudulent visa application.
"He has the right not to be stabbed, and Australia has the right to deport him for filing a false visa application."
Regardless of his feelings about the situation, Piers' fans had mixed reactions to Novak's border crossing ordeal, with one person emphasizing that the athlete was in Australia for work, not for fun.
"Refusing someone's right to work because they aren't vaccinated is questionable," @Adsterb said in the comments section.
"It doesn't matter what one's status is."
"Ridiculous outcry to be," wrote @OhRemi_, another follower.
"News from the Brinkwire."
The #Djokovic saga is not about whether you believe in covid vaccines
The #Djokovic saga is not about whether you believe in covid vaccines, but whether you believe famous sports stars should play by the same rules as everyone else. He has the right not to be jabbed, and Australia has the right to chuck him out for making a dodgy visa application.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 5, 2022
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Microsoft & AOL plan hostile Yahoo takeover?
16th Jul 17:06
Microsoft is reportedly in talks with Time Warner to negotiate possible terms of a break-up that could see the software giant seize control of Yahoo!'s online search business.
The Wall Street Journal. reports that representatives from Time Warner's AOL operation have visited Seattle to talk with the computer giant .
The paper reports that Executives of AOL, the internet arm of Time Warner, met for formal talks with Microsoft yesterday afternoon to discuss a $40bn (£20bn) break-up of Yahoo!.
The talks, thought to be preliminary, precede Yahoo!'s annual meeting on August 1, when the activist billionaire shareholder Carl Icahn will seek to oust the board.
The "casual" discussions between the New York-based company and Microsoft have been going on for several months, the paper reports.
Microsoft has been trying to buy Yahoo! for the past 18 months. At the end of January this year, Microsoft offered to pay $31 a share in cash and Microsoft stock for Yahoo! in a move that would have valued the internet search engine at $42 billion.
The offer was rejected as too low. Microsoft returned with a raised offer of $33 a share - or $5 billion more - and that too was rejected, despite representing a 72 per cent premium to Yahoo!'s share price.
Last week, Yahoo! rejected another offer from Microsoft and Icahn.
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© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Desert Wings gear up for bigger, tougher and rougher 2023 Dakar
It's time to head back to the dunes of Saudi Arabia for motorsport's toughest test of endurance racing, the one and only Dakar Rally!
Written by Tim Sturtridge
6 min readUpdated on 19.12.2022 · 14:00 UTC
Part of this story
Dakar Rally 2023
The 2023 Dakar Rally was an epic rally-raid adventure over the Saudi Arabian sand dunes – get up to speed with all the action here.
Nasser Al-Attiyah
Nasser Al-Attiyah is the sporting hero of his native Qatar – he's won the Dakar Rally on four occasions while also excelling in skeet shooting.
Mathieu Baumel
One of the best co-drivers in the world of rally-raid with multiple Dakar Rally and FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies wins with Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Giniel De Villiers
A former track racer, South Africa's Giniel De Villiers has gone on to become one of the most experienced and successful Dakar Rally drivers ever.
French driver Sébastien Loeb's domination of the rally-driving world has earned him the nickname of Le Patron, or 'The Boss'.
Known as 'El Matador', veteran driver Carlos Sainz is a two-time WRC World Champion and one of Spain's greatest ever off-road racers.
Stéphane Peterhansel
French driver Stéphane Peterhansel is a legend of the Dakar Rally, having won a record 14 titles – six on motorcycles and eight in a car.
Mattias Ekström
Rallycross star Mattias Ekström is one of the most versatile drivers in motorsports, competing and winning across multiple disciplines.
Jakub Przygonski
Poland's Jakub 'Kuba' Przygoński is best known as a talented rally-raid rider who's successfuly made the switch from two wheels to four.
Sam Sunderland
Sam Sunderland is a rally raid biker with GasGas Factory Racing. He's also a two-time Dakar winner and a true international star.
Daniel Sanders
Capable of going very fast for very long stretches of time, Australian rider Daniel 'Chucky' Sanders loves tackling the world's most unforgiving terrain.
Toby Price
Australian off-road and enduro motorcycle racer Toby Price has won a host of national championships and is a two-time Dakar winner.
Matthias Walkner
A former motocross rider, Austria's Matthias Walkner switched to rally-raid in 2015 and just three years later won the legendary Dakar Rally.
Kevin Benavides
Winning the Dakar Rally in 2021 made Argentinian rider Kevin Benavides the bike event's first South American winner – and his second Dakar title in 2023 made him a legend.
A hugely experienced enduro champion, Štefan Svitko was the first Slovak to finish on the podium at the legendary Dakar Rally.
Mohammed Balooshi
A skilled motocross and desert rally rider, Mohammed Balooshi was the first Emirati to take part in the legendary Dakar Rally.
Camille Chapelière
Ambitious rider Camille Chapelière has set his sights on Dakar Rally glory after rising to the very top of the French Sand Championship.
Seth Quintero
A world champion before he was old enough to legally drive, Seth Quintero is making history at the toughest rally on the planet.
Dennis Zenz
If you need to find your way through stages of the World Rally Championship and the Dakar, then German co-driver Dennis Zenz is your man.
Mitch Guthrie Jr.
Following in the footsteps of his famous father, American driver Mitch Guthrie Jr. already has some impressive race wins on his résumé.
Cristina Gutiérrez
A naturally gifted driver, Spain's Cristina Gutiérrez made history in 2021 when she became only the second woman ever to win a Dakar Rally stage.
A master of the sand dunes, Chile's Francisco López loves nothing more than testing his skills at the famous Dakar Rally.
Guillaume de Mevius
Belgium's latest cross-country rally star combines speed and smarts to conquer some of the planet's most perilous terrain.
François Cazalet
If he's not working on his farm in the foothills of the Pyrenees, François Cazalet is plotting a route through some of the toughest terrain on the planet.
Ignacio Casale
One of the very best quad riders in the world, Casale has won the legendary Dakar Rally on three occasions. He's now racing trucks in the desert.
How to watch the Dakar
The Red Bull Desert Wings squad preparing to push themselves to the limit at the 2023 Dakar Rally include serial champions and fresh-faced talents looking to make their mark on the sands of Saudi Arabia.
The most fierce opponent anyone will face at the Dakar is the route itself – there will be nothing easy about the fourth edition of the rally to be hosted by Saudi Arabia. A Prologue Stage gets things underway on December 31 in Yanbu on the shores of the Red Sea. Then comes 5,000 racing kilometres spread over 14 timed special stages before the chequered flag falls at Dammam on the Arabian Gulf on January 15.
It's the longest Dakar route since 2014, loaded with more dunes and potential pitfalls than we've witnessed since the rally's relocation to the Middle East. Here are the racers, and their machines, ready to step up to the challenge of representing the Red Bull Desert Wings at the 2023 Dakar…
When looking at the contenders in the T1 Car Class the only place to start is Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT). Alongside co-driver Mathieu Baumel (FRA), the Qatari won the Dakar in 2022 and also the inaugural FIA World Rally-Raid Championship. Al-Attiyah returns to Saudi Arabia behind the wheel of his Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ aiming for a fourth Dakar victory.
Reigning Dakar champ Nasser Al-Attiyah
We're ready to defend our title. It would be incredible to win again
Also using the Toyota Hilux T1+ will be the race crews of Giniel De Villiers (ZAF)/Dennis Murphy (ZAF) and Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU). The two drivers are at opposite ends of the experience spectrum with 2009 Dakar winner De Villiers gearing up for his 20th Dakar, while Moraes will make his debut at the rally in 2023.
Sébastien Loeb (FRA) finished as runner-up to Al-Attiyah at both the 2022 Dakar and the subsequent World Rally-Raid Championship. The record nine-time WRC title holder now returns in his BRX Prodrive Hunter plus co-driver Fabian Lurquin (BEL) with their eyes firmly fixed on taking the top prize this time around.
More from the Dakar Rally
Discover Dakar
Get an inside look at every brutal kilometre of the world's most legendary off-road raid, the Dakar Rally.
2 Seasons · 12 episodes
Everything you need to know about the 2023 Dakar Rally
Dakar Daily post-show
Catch up with the off-road highlights after more than 4,000km of racing over treacherous Saudi Arabian sands.
Dakar Rally 2022 · 21 min
Team Audi Sport has overhauled its electrically-charged prototype for its second trip to Saudi Arabia. Looking to fight for victory in the Audi RS Q e-tron E2 will be the three-time Dakar-winning race crew of Carlos Sainz (ESP) and co-driver Lucas Cruz (ESP).
Joining El Matador Sainz in Team Audi Sport is Monsieur Dakar himself Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA), with co-driver Edouard Boulanger (FRA). 14-time Dakar champion Peterhansel once again links up with Sainz plus Mattias Ekström (SWE)/ Emil Bergkvist (SWE) in Audi's three-pronged assault on the 2023 Dakar.
Carlos Sainz's Audi RS Q e-tron E2
The objective has to be to fight for the victory
Another Dakar stalwart who has progressed from two wheels to four is Kuba Przygoński (POL). Przygoński maintains realistic ambitions of parking his MINI on the overall podium alongside co-driver Armand Monleon (ESP).
Nasser Al-Attiyah's Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+
Sébastien Loeb's BRX Prodrive Hunter
Stéphane Peterhansel's Audi RS Q e-tron E2
Kuba Przygoński's John Cooper Works MINI
Spearheading the bike race over the dunes of Saudi Arabia is defending Dakar and FIM World Rally-Raid Championship winner Sam Sunderland (GBR). The British biker represents Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing as he targets a third Dakar victory.
Sam Sunderland rides for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing
The 2023 race is looking to be one of the toughest ever and I'm under no illusion as to what that means
Also riding with Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing is Daniel Sanders (AUS) who scored fourth place overall on his Dakar debut in 2021 to finish as the highest-placed rookie. After an injury-hit season, Sanders is getting back up to speed just in time for the biggest race of the year.
More ways to enjoy the Dakar
Immersive audio experience of Dakar 2022
After more than 4,000km of off-road racing over treacherous terrain, the chequered flag has flown and as the dust has settled. From the start line to the finish, listen to the drivers in the heat of the moment, share their experiences and be transported to the desert.
Beyond the Ordinary – Dakar 2022 Special – S4 E3
Offroad Unchained
Real-time multiplayer PvP races off the road.
Thrilling finale to World Rally-Raid Championship sees …
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing are still to taste Dakar bike race victory in Saudi Arabia, which is all the more remarkable considering that they won 18 consecutive editions of the rally before its relocation to the Middle East. Leading the charge to put the KTM 450 Rally bike back on top is two-time Dakar winner Toby Price (AUS).
Also in the saddle for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing at the next Dakar are Matthias Walkner (AUT) and Kevin Benavides (ARG). Both of these riders have one Dakar victory on their resume and will be fighting to add a second on the sands of Saudi Arabia.
Toby Price is gunning for his third Dakar title
The terrain in Saudi Arabia makes the rally very fast. Some stages are a sprint to the finish
Among the bike race podium contenders there's also Štefan Svitko (SVK) on KTM machinery. A runner-up to Price in 2016, Svitko has proved he has what it takes to run with the best.
Mohammed Balooshi (ARE) and Camille Chapelière (FRA) will both be onboard Husqvarna FR 450 RALLY bikes at the 2023 Dakar. Balooshi remains one of the fastest bikers in the Middle East, while Chapelière will look to continue his improving run of results at his third Dakar participation.
Sam Sunderland's GASGAS RX 450F
Matthias Walkner's KTM 450 Rally Factory
Štefan Svitko's KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Over in the Side-by-side category of the 2023 Dakar a new collaboration between the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team and Can-Am is set to really shake things up. In the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich we find 20-year-old Seth Quintero (USA) racing a Can-Am Maverick T3 alongside co-driver Dennis Zenz (GER).
Seth Quintero gears up for the 2023 Dakar Rally
I think we've got a really good base and a good shot at winning Dakar this year
Joining Quintero in driving the team's Can-Am machine is Austin 'AJ' Jones (USA) and his co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA). Jones was the overall winner of the T4 race at the last Dakar and finished second the year before. The third Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich crew of Mitch Guthrie (USA) and co-driver Kellon Walch (USA) will take charge of a T3-M by MCE5 vehicle. This machine is key to the team's ambition of developing a hybrid vehicle in line with the latest FIA regulations for the 2024 Dakar.
Representing the Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team in Saudi Arabia are three more race crews with a great shot at victory. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) and co-driver Pablo Moreno (ESP) take charge of a Can-Am Maverick for the first time at the Dakar.
Cristina Gutiérrez is heading back to the Dakar
The changes have been big, but I don't mind change. We're going to have some fun for sure
Reigning Dakar T3 champions Chaleco López (CHL) and Juan Pablo Latrach (CHL) are now team-mates of Gutiérrez. Also part of the Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team are the crew of Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) as they look to top last year's third-place result when they join the start line of the T4 category in 2023.
Elsewhere in the T3 pack there's Guillaume De Mevius (BEL) and co-driver François Cazalet (FRA) plus three-time quad race winner Ignacio Casale (CHL) and navigator Alvaro León (CHL) in what promises to be a fascinating contest.
Seth Quintero's Can-Am Maverick T3
Mitch Guthrie's T3-M by MCE5
Cristina Gutiérrez's Can-Am Maverick
Guillaume De Mevius's OT3
The Dakar Rally is a notoriously hard race to spectate, understand or even follow from afar – but don't worry, we've got you covered. First off, if you're new to the discipline, dig right into our web series, From Dawn till Dust – an exciting exploration into all things Dakar, created with new fans in mind. Once the rally starts, don't miss a stage – catch Dakar Daily for the absolute latest on what's happening on the race course. You'll get the latest on all the Red Bull Deserts Wings squad plus much, much more. Until then, get some sleep – the world's biggest cross-country rally is almost here!
Download the free Red Bull TV app and watch all the Dakar Rally action on all your devices!


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No Periphérique this year! Instead an all day family ride to the Lea Valley with our friends from Islington. Start in Camden (Sidings Community Centre or Highgate Road) or Islington (Town Hall).
3 Islington Town Hall N1 2ZE at 10:45 for 11 a.m.
If you return direct from Finsbury Park to Islington Town Hall it's 13 miles, Town Hall via Parkland Walk 15 miles, Hampstead Heath 18 miles, Sidings 24 miles.


This entry was posted in Oil Painting and tagged Art, Clouds, demonstration, Instruction, landscape, Oil Painting, painting, Sky, Sun, Trees. Bookmark the permalink.
I'm so VERY glad you added the light! I love it! Thanks, too, for explaining the process of adding it in later. Very helpful. = ) Question: are the trees you painted the type of trees you find in Ireland, or are they part of your imagination? I just wondered what kind of trees they are. I like them.
Thank you for the nice comment. The trees on the left are Beech, a native species. The 2 evergreens are Cyprus. These are normally slow growing, but in Ireland they grow very fast and in due course suffer from wind damage if in exposed areas. I had 3 in my garden, 50 feet tall and only 25 years old. The last one fell a few weeks ago – I'm still clearing up the mess. These 2 in the painting are sheltered in the wood but still have bits missing and look a bit ragged.
also, will you ever consider doing a real time video some time?
A real time video showing every brushstroke and colour mix would take about 3 hours. This is too long for YouTube and would cause me technical problems with file sizes etc. I would have to heavily edit the video to make it fit. I like to show every step with no fades between stages. Many beginners stop the video at various stages and follow the process in their own painting at their own pace. The video quality can be brought up to 720 HD for full screen display and hopefully, someday, be slowed down to normal speed in your browser.
You really captured something in this one. Luscious details! The cabin, the fence, hints of dawn, light-dappled tips of weeds. You inspire me to write poetry.
The lighting effect is particularly lovely! Wonderful how sometimes the unintended leads to an interesting result.
Thank you John, glad you liked.
I really love this one. You've captured something magical, mystical about the place and the time. It's a place to cozy up with a mug and then head out to wander out to explore and play.


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« In rotation: 2/8/18
Matt Hectorne,
The TVD First Date »
Graded on a Curve: New
in Stores, February 2018, Part Two
By Joseph Neff | Published: February 8, 2018
Part two of the TVD Record Store Club's look at the new and reissued wax presently in stores for February, 2018. Part one is here.
NEW RELEASE PICKS: Brigid Mae Power, The Two Worlds (Tompkins Square) Power's self-titled 2016 LP, also for Tompkins Square, benefited from the confluence of a raised profile and a considerable artistic leap forward. Listening to it then, it fleetingly reminded me of Tim Buckley, Cat Power, Joanna Newsom, Nico and more. She cut that disc in Portland, Oregon with Peter Broderick; this one was recorded, again with Broderick, in Galway, Ireland, the city in which she mostly grew up. Power describes it as far from a rosy move, but the "repressive and oppressive environment" was conducive to her finishing "Don't Shut Me Up Politely," which is amongst the highpoints on this psych-folk beauty. Another standout is the exquisitely outsider-edgy "Down on the Ground." An altogether superb release. A
Jerry David DeCicca, Time the Teacher (Impossible Ark) DeCicca is probably still best-known for fronting Black Swans; this LP might change that. Hopefully, it doesn't get lost in the current bustle. Per Time the Teacher's notes, these songs were written after a move to Texas with cats and a loved one, but DeCicca didn't want it to sound typically Texan, and in consort with producers Jeb Loy Nichols and Benedic Lambin, he's succeeded. While the root is singer-songwriter of a '70s sort, the decision to backseat guitar for piano, horns, and soulful vocal backing brings a deep breath of fresh air that resists easy comparisons. However, "Kiss a Love Goodbye" is a bit like Randy Newman in confessional mode with a mid-song dose of reeds reminiscent of Lambchop circa How I Quit Smoking. A-
REISSUE PICKS: Shudder to Think, Ten Spot (Dischord) & Pony Express Record (B-Core Disc) Over the years I've noticed folks occasionally downgrading Ten Spot, but upon reflection and a few fresh spins I can't get with those assessments at all. I heavily dug Shudder's art-glam-post-harDCore merger from the point of their debut (and especially the anthemic wail of "Let it Ring"), but Ten Spot got lots of play in the first car I ever owned with a tape deck, and a few decades later it hasn't slipped in my estimation a bit. Of course, by Pony Express Record, with a retooled lineup and a move to Epic Records (a final Dischord 45 gave a taste of what was in store), they were a machine to be reckoned with. Of the '90s indie-to-major label records that hardly anybody bought, it remains among the very best. A-/ A
Chet Baker, Sings (Wax Love) All of the '50s Baker vocal albums have their charms, and unless you simply can't abide jazz singing or just dislike Chet (hey, some people do), you'll do good getting this one. Record three for Riverside, Chet Baker Sings It Could Happen to You, has the best band (Kenny Drew, Sam Jones, Philly Joe), but this set, the first of two for Pacific Jazz, has the appeal of being, well, first. But in fact, that's side two of this LP, recorded in '54 and originally released on 10-inch. Side one was cut two years later, after the material that comprises Chet Baker Sings and Plays…Got it? Folks have argued that without his matinee idol looks and the tone of his skin these opportunities wouldn't have come to Baker, and I don't disagree at all. But it's not like he couldn't sing. And his sound remains unique. A-
All Souls, S/T (Sunyata) It occurs to me that at least a fair portion of contempo heavy rock is casting a gaze of fondness upon the genre's developments in the post-grunge '90s. I largely downgrade this impulse, in large part because I simply wasn't a fan of the general sound, but the debut from LA's All Souls manages to overcome my resistance to the style. Foremost, Antonio Aguilar's vocals (he also plays guitar) avoid the era-specific wailing that frankly gets on my nerves, secondly, those guitars, with Aguilar and Erik Trammel bringing the dual attack, are suitably raw, third, bassist-vocalist Meg Castellanos and drummer Tony Tornay establish a muscular foundation that moves, and last, the production by Toshi Kasai is bright but not slick. For this record at least, they've won me over. B+
Ruby Boots, Don't Talk About It (Bloodshot) This is the second album (and first for Bloodshot) from Aussie to Nashville transplant Ruby Boots (real name Bex Chilcott), and from inside a pop-rock framework, her strong suit is diversity. She offers glammy-punky '70s street-rock sass in opener "It's So Cruel," and plays around with rootsy soulful country without straining for authenticity in "I Am a Woman," but the real ace up her sleeve is the ability to craft a killer pop single; the title track is like Hope Sandoval doing the backstroke in Phil Spector's swimming pool. I also dig the touches of power-pop. While the sharp, occasionally rough-edged backing by the Texas Gentleman and the coherent production by Beau Buford helps to hold things together, it's Ruby who brings the goods. A-
Calibro 35, Decade (Record Kicks) The scoop on this Italian instrumental crew foregrounds that they've been sampled by Dr. Dre and Jay-Z, and listening to Decade, it's easy to understand why. You see, Calibro 35 are funky, and more to the point cinematically funky; to get right down to brass tacks they specialize in a sound reminiscent of poliziotteschi, i.e. the heavily-violent Italian crime-action flicks that exploded in the '70s. If you've watched Mike Malloy's doc Eurocrime!, you know the genre, and you've also heard some of Calibro 35's stuff on the soundtrack. This is dangerous territory, prone to be high on period ambiance but low on ideas, but this boldly symphonic and occasionally jazzy album never runs out of steam. In fact, it tempts me to queue up Fernando di Leo's Milieu Trilogy. Right on. B+
Fu Manchu, Clone of the Universe (At the Dojo) Fu Manchu have long embodied the hard-rocking party (as opposed to arty or doomy) side of the stoner-retro-heavy rock equation, a point driven home by their early album covers and intermittent, sincere use of cowbell. Halfway through opener "Intelligent Worship" on this, their twelfth full-length, they begin clanging that metal, remaining allegiant to their core sound through the lineup changes. Back in the '90s, Fu Manchu kinda struck me as a gimmick band, though one that's stunt wasn't hard to swallow. Clone of the Universe is a mixed bag; "(I've Been) Hexed" and "Slower Than Light" are cool, "Nowhere Left to Hide" is lesser, and "Il Mostro Atomico" doesn't justify its length, but the album still unexpectedly spotlights a fairly graceful aging process. B
Gary War, Gaz Forth (Feeding Tube) A long time ago Greg Dalton aka Gary War was a member of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. More recently he's spent time in New Zealand, but word is that he's returned to Massachusetts. It's an indisputable fact that after a break of over five years, Gary War is returning to the record bins. The electronic element is still here, but there's less of the tweaked synth-pop and robotic flavor of previous records. Instead, there's a melodic strum-psych feel that's quite pleasurable. Much of the singing still has that underwater vibe, but as Byron Coley states in the press release, there's also a similarity to the Moody Blues in the vocal department. If this worries you, don't let it. Gaz Forth is much nearer to a garage than any amphitheater, and the whole of this is plenty weird. Welcome back. A-
Chris Hillman, The Asylum Years (Omnivore) In his notes for this disc, which combines former Byrd and Flying Burrito Brother Hillman's solo debut and its follow-up on one CD, Scott Schinder describes Sailin' Away as state-of-the-art '70s studio rock. He's right, and that's exactly why I'm largely underwhelmed by the results. Featuring a bunch of ex-Burritos, Eagle Timothy B. Schmidt, Flo & Eddie, Steve Cropper and others including a handful of LA session dudes, Sailin' Away's high level of post-country-rock comfortableness even includes an Arp synth on a few tracks, though the bluegrass of "(Take Me in Your) Lifeboat" is a nice closing detour. Hillman's assessment of Clear Sailin' as a sophomore slump gave me hope I'd like it better; surprisingly mainstream, with lotsa sax in boat shoes, I do, but not by much. C+
Kolb, Making Moves (Ramp Local) Released on cassette, the six-song debut from Michael Kolb has an interesting backstory. Initially hitting NYC to become a pro opera singer, Kolb became disillusioned with the classical world (in a word: money) and in turn embraced the city's underground scene. Ramp Local mentions bedroom pop in relation to Making Moves, but then immediately differentiates him from the norms of that loose genre, as Kolb is sturdy, both of voice (still operatic) and instrumentally, with the song's frequent sharp angles architecturally sound. The whole can be aptly tagged as art-pop, but with no neglect to the right side of that hyphen. That is to say, the delightful "Car Song" (and a few other examples here) has a foundation that could translate into wide appeal. A-
River Cult, Halcyon Daze (Nasoni – Blackseed) After a three-song debut EP from 2016, this Brooklyn-based trio delivers five selections on this solid full-length follow-up. Succinctly self-described as heavy psychedelic rock, the list of influences includes Sleep, Blue Cheer, Ty Segall, Hawkwind, Pentagram, Led Zep, and Earthless, and while the vocals of guitarist Sean Forlenza don't detract a bit from the whole, the overall thrust is instrumentally focused, which is unsurprising as all the tracks top seven minutes; "The Sophist" reaches twelve. Sure, River Cult aren't laying rubber on any new trails here, but neither are they the slightest bit hackneyed, and I can easily imagine revisiting this one with regularity. Nasoni is handling the vinyl, while Blackseed has the CD and the limited-edition cassette. A-
Curtis Roush, Cosmic Campfire Music (Modern Outsider) Austin dweller Roush is guitarist-vocalist in Bright Light Social Hour, but I haven't heard 'em. I have spent a little time with this album, which is Roush's solo debut, and while I'm not bowled over it's something of a grower. His main gig has been tagged more than once as psychedelic, which coupled with the title here had me hoping for some good ol' Texas weirdness, but for the most part, no; instead, the majority is quite pop-focused, though not without a few likeable moments of subtle strangeness. Jim James crossed my mind more than once. A big positive here is the breadth of the instrumental attack, with electronics productively rubbing up against pedal steel. Likewise, the songs; when Roush dishes out a dance track late, it adds value. B+
Shiner, The Egg (B-Core Disc) This was originally released in 2001 on DeSoto Records, the label once operated by Bill Barbot and Kim Coletta of Jawbox. This connection might lead one think Shiner was a Washington, DC-area band, but no, they hailed from Kansas City, MO. Hearing their fourth full-length The Egg without knowledge of the band's mailing address, one might also guess they hung their hats (if hats they wore) on hooks in the thereabouts of the Nation's Capital. Spying that J. Robbins of Jawbox was the producer would surely reinforce this assumption. Yes, Shiner have some similarities to the late-'90s DC sound, but they are not exactly blatant copyists; it's just as apparent that they'd been impacted by Radiohead. A few '90s-isms hold this back a bit, but it's still an engaging listen. B+
John Tejada, Dead Start Program (Kompakt) Techno practitioner Tajada's been active for over twenty years, on his own, as a remixer, and more recently collaborating with Reggie Watts as Wajatta, and since 2011's Parabolas he's been a part of Kompakt's roster; along with a bunch of the expected EPs, this is his fourth full-length for the German label. The promo sheet states this is for fans of classic techno, electro, and house music, and as the eleven selections unwind, that's easily discernible. I feel safe in predicting this will go down nicely with the club crowd, but right now, sitting in a hard-backed chair and listening on headphones, it's proving to be quite satisfying. A lot of electronic releases can be rather sprawling affairs, and that's fine, but I do like the digestible 50 minutes of this one. B+
Jim White, Waffles Triangles and Jesus (PIAPTK) Veteran Southern eccentric White's sixth solo studio album came out in the UK (maybe elsewhere, too) last year, but its US release is 2/9, and its arrival is quite welcome. I've long dug his stuff, especially his pair for Luaka Bop, but will confess to kinda losing track of the guy; his last release Where It Hits You came out over five years ago. White's albums are reliably loaded with guests and session aces, and this one's no different, though the highest-profile name here is Holly Golightly, who sings on the downhome humorous "Playing Guitars." But if a decidedly Southern trip, White's worldliness, oddball perspectives, and underlying pop instincts broaden the appeal. Maybe not as strong as his best work, but not far from the mark. A-
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