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Classical Regions
The Clarion Choir Releases Rachmaninoff's 'All-Night Vigil' On Pentatone
The All-Night Vigil ('Vespers') is an evening service that gradually moves towards daybreak, symbolizing the Resurrection of Christ.
by A.A. Cristi Nov. 22, 2022
The Clarion Choir and its Artistic Director Steven Fox make their PENTATONE debut with a recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff's choral masterpiece, the All-Night Vigil, demonstrating their exceptional proficiency in Slavic repertoire.
The All-Night Vigil ('Vespers') is an evening service that gradually moves towards daybreak, symbolizing the Resurrection of Christ. This message of light and hope emanating from the darkness is both universal and very topical in the troubled world we find ourselves in. On this recording, many of the movements are preceded by the original Kiev and Znameny chants on which Rachmaninoff based his composition, adding another layer to this mesmerizing piece.
Steven Fox has been the Artistic Director of the New York-based Clarion Choir since 2006. Generally considered as one of the most exceptional U.S. choirs, Clarion Choir's recordings of Russian choral repertoire have received multiple GRAMMY nominations.
"Looking back at it now, I realize it was the magnificence of this work that led me to become a conductor." Steven comments. "The Vespers is extraordinary. Rachmaninoff orchestrates for voices with the same degree of complexity and nuance that he orchestrates his works for orchestra and piano. The extremes of range and tessitura are tested at the top for sopranos and tenors, and at the bottom for the bassi profundi.
"It is now more than 20 years later, and I have had the chance to perform the work numerous times in different settings. Through the years, I have realized just how different each movement is, and it was a goal of mine to show that on this recording. Some movements are hymn-like, for instance No. 13, 'Dnes Spaseniye,' while others are almost polychoral with different textures happening at the same time, such as in Nïne otpushayeshi (the movement that Rachmaninoff requested to be sung at his funeral). There are moments of smooth solemnity such as 'Voskrez iz groba' and others that, with their rhythmic percussiveness, call up images of Rachmaninoff composing from the keyboard. One notices this special rhythmic energy in the last section of No. 9: 'Blagosloven Yesi Ghospodi,' which he later quoted in the Symphonic Dances. Each movement is its own work - a gem - with a singular character.
"One goes through a journey with a work of this magnitude. There were a few parts of the piece that I did not fully appreciate as a student; now they are some of my favorite parts. Conversely, there are parts of the piece that I believe I performed well as a student, but now I struggle with. Perhaps the more you perform the piece, the more you see in it, and the more challenging it becomes. But, for that reason, I hope that this recording is not an endpoint for Clarion, but another step in the journey with this work."
This New Year's Eve, Clarion begins a year-long exploration of the choral works of Rachmaninoff in celebration of the composer's 150th birthday (April 1, 2023). This December 31 and January 1, The Clarion Choir performs Rachmaninoff's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in New York - the same venue where this recording was made. The celebration continues with a performance of All-Night Vigil at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perlman Stage on May 5. To learn more, visit clarionsociety.org.
One of the country's leading professional vocal ensembles, The Clarion Choir has performed on some of the great stages of North America and Europe. This season they will perform twice at Carnegie Hall and make their debut at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Cal Performances in Berkeley, and LA Opera with The English Concert. Their recent recording of Kastalsky's Requiem reached #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Charts, and was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Choral Performance. The Clarion Choir made their Lincoln Center debut in 2011, performing Bach Chorales
as part of the White Light Festival with organist Paul Jacobs. In 2014, the choir gave the New York premiere of Passion Week by Maximilian Steinberg, and, in October of 2016, premiered the work in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and London. Their performance was featured on PBS, and their recording of it, the Choir's debut recording, received a GRAMMY nomination, as well as a nomination for BBC Music Magazine's Choral Award. The Choir's second recording, the world premiere recording of Alexander Kastalsky's Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes, also was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Choral Performance and was 'Editor's Choice' in Gramophone. The Clarion Choir has performed regularly in recent years as part of the MetLiveArts series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; including performances of large-scale Renaissance works by Victoria, Palestrina, Tavener and Guerrero in the Medieval Sculpture Hall and the Met Cloisters. The Choir, and Artistic Director Steven Fox, have collaborated in recent years with renowned artists such as Harry Bicket and The English Concert at Carnegie Hall, Eric Jacobsen and The Knights, Susan Graham, Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Madonna at the 2018 Met Gala.
Steven Fox is Artistic Director of The Clarion Choir & The Clarion Orchestra in New York, and Music Director of Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. The 2022-2023 season sees his conducting debuts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Ballet. In previous seasons, he has conducted the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Opéra de Québec, Chicago's Music of the Baroque, San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, Juilliard415, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Portland's Cappella Romana, and Toronto's Theatre of Early Music. His performances have taken him to some of the most prestigious halls internationally, such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and David H. Koch Theatre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, London's Barbican Centre and Duke's Hall, St. Petersburg's Grand Philharmonic Hall and Hermitage Theater, Moscow's Rachmaninoff Hall, Paris's Theatre des Champs Elysée, and the Vatican.
Steven was named an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, in 2010 'for significant contributions to his field in music,' and has received GRAMMY nominations for his first three recordings: Steinberg's Passion Week (2016), Kastalsky's Memory Eternal (2018), and Kastalsky's Requiem (2020).
Steven Fox was Chorus Master for the GRAMMY-award-winning recording of Ethel Smyth's The Prison, featuring Sarah Brailey, soprano, Dashon Burton, bass-baritone, and The Experiential Orchestra and Chorus conducted by James Blachly. In recent years, he has collaborated with artists and ensembles such as Harry Bicket and The English Concert, Susan Graham, Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Eric Jacobsen and The Knights Chamber Orchestra, and Madonna at the 2018 Met Gala.
Steven graduated as a Senior Fellow with High Honors in Music and Russian from Dartmouth College, and with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music. Steven founded Musica Antiqua St. Petersburg as Russia's first period-instrument orchestra at the age of 21, and premiered several important Russian 18th-century symphonic and operatic works with the orchestra. From 2008 to 2013 he was an Associate Conductor at New York City Opera, and, in 2011, served as Assistant Conductor for the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Program and Juilliard Opera. He has given master classes and clinics at The Royal Academy of Music, Dartmouth College, The Juilliard School, and Yale University, where he served for two years as preparatory conductor of the Yale Schola Cantorum.
One of the leading classical music labels in the world, PENTATONE presents a diverse range of world- class artists, and is dedicated to premium quality productions captured in exceptional sound. The label works together with today and tomorrow's leading artists to provide timeless recordings of core, fringe, and lesser-known repertoire, with PENTATONE's uncompromising attention to the best possible quality in artistry, design and recording technology.
The label was founded in the Netherlands in 2001 by three former Philips Classics executives, with the ambition to offer classical music in the highest quality including surround sound.
In its first years, PENTATONE engaged Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton and Sophia Loren, in a Grammy- winning recording of Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf (released in Spanish with Antonio Banderas), with Kent Nagano conducting the Russian National Orchestra. Another early success was a recording of the official music performed during the wedding ceremony of the then Dutch crown prince (now king) Willem-Alexander to Máxima Zorreguieta. The Music from the Royal Wedding, sold more than 75,000 copies, thereby attaining the unique "triple platinum" status in the Netherlands.
During its first decade, the label released several award-winning recordings with violinist Julia Fischer and several complete cycles: Beethoven's symphoniesconducted by Philippe Herreweghe, Beethoven's piano sonatas performed by Mari Kodama, and Bruckner's symphonies under the baton of Marek Janowski. Violinist Arabella Steinbacher left her mark on these years and continues with several acclaimed recordings. Later, PENTATONE recorded Wagner's ten mature operas, the only such label to take on this task in the 21st century.
From 2013, with a new management team, the label focused on embracing the digital era and expanding its repertoire. New artists and ensembles defined the label's second decade, including conductors Vladimir Jurowski, René Jacobs and Esa-Pekka Salonen, singers Piotr Beczala, Lisette Oropesa, Javier Camarena, Ian Bostridge and Magdalena Kožená, pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Francesco Piemontesi, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, as well as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Czech Philharmonic.
In recent years, PENTATONE has won multiple awards. In 2017, John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles won Best Opera Recording and Best Engineered Album at the 59th Grammy Awards. Two years later, the premiere recording of the Mason Bates opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, won a Grammy for Best Opera Recording. PENTATONE was awarded Label of the Year in 2019 by Gramophone Magazine and in 2020 by the International Classical Music Awards. PENTATONE's third decade promises to be even more exciting and innovative as we expand our growing and diverse roster of artists, producing the most thrilling recordings in the world.
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Research:Movement Organizers PreResearch
14:53, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
Astinson (WMF)
ARipstra (WMF)
Duration: 2019-July — 2019-September
Research:Projects
This page documents a completed research project.
Building on the experience of the New Readers and New Editors research at the Wikimedia Foundation, the WMF Audiences and Community Engagement departments are implementing a research project focused on "Movement Organizers". These organizers are the community members which facilitate community building in the movement by: building connections among individuals and communities, developing events, activities and partnerships, and communicating the community to the world.
This page documents the findings of an initial pre-research project implemented during Wikimania, to provide evidence and knowledge to help in defining a full scale research project during January-June 2019, as described in the Wikimedia Foundation Annual plan (see Community Engagement and Audiences ). The full project will produce findings, recommendations and personas to help Wikimedia organizations better support this community.
2 Method
2.1 Recruitment
2.2 Interviews and analysis
3 Initial Findings
3.1 Previous experience and path to organizing
3.1.1 Community Connection
3.1.2 Original motivation for Organizers
3.1.3 Having the space, desire and intellectual context to be an organizer
3.2 Work of Organizers
3.2.1 Partnerships
3.2.2 In person interaction with broader Wikimedia community is crucial to supporting their own community.
3.2.3 Understanding and recruiting the roles needed for success in their community
3.2.4 Motivating participants
3.3 Discussion of "successfulness" of work
3.3.1 Outcomes
3.3.2 General challenges
3.3.3 Challenges in motivating folks to participate
4 Open Questions
5 What's next?
BackgroundEdit
At the Wikimedia Foundation, the Community Engagement department has long been responsible for interfacing with many of the members of the Wikimedia community who facilitate community building within the Wikimedia movement. These organizers run events, create movement organizations, do outreach, and generally facilitate the social fabric that maintains Wikimedia communities. This community has distinct opportunities, needs and challenges. However, knowledge about the work of these organizers is not shared among all parts of the Wikimedia Foundation or among different parts of the Wikimedia movement. Though there is a lot of experience amongst affiliates and other community organizers in facilitating this audience, that knowledge is not very accessible: requiring either direct experience with that group or anecdotal experience.
Some existing research documents specific needs related to organizers with more targeted research goals (for example, the Leadership Development Dialogue or the Community Capacity Development research). However, this research doesn't fully explore the lifecycle and experience of organizers over their whole development as participants in the movement. Thus investments in capacity that supports the growth of new organizers is very inconsistent across the movement and requires deep experience working with organizer communities.
Completing this research advances the ability of WMF and others to develop these organizers. It is even more important, because movement organizers are fundamental implementers of the Wikimedia movement direction, allowing best practices and capacity to grow within the movement for advancing Knowledge as a Service and Knowledge Equity. These organizers are a core asset necessary for sustaining and growing the movement. In order, for more strategic investment by the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Affiliates in this space, the final research project will develop a series of personas and recommendations on how to overcome the challenges faced by this audience.
MethodEdit
RecruitmentEdit
The recruitment for this research can be characterised by a few elements:
Opportunistic and self selected -- we used the venue of Wikimania to recruit organizers who were available during the windows of time when we could interview at the event. Moreover we coordinated finding organizers onsite which means that we selected individuals based on willingness and availability to participate, rather than a well defined sample.
Through the opportunistic recruit, we found individuals with various levels of experience and backgrounds, including:
Organizers from different regions -- 2 from North America., 1 active organizers working in both Europe and Africa, 1 organizer active in North America and the Middle East and North Africa , 3 Asia, 3 Africa
Organizers with different levels of experience (ranges): ranging from 1-13 years of experience in organizing
Organizers who started organizing online, offline, in the technical/developer community, and as external organizers to the movement.
Some of the organizers we spoke with started organizing right away, and others started organizing after beginning their wiki work as content contributors.
As part of the larger research project, we plan to make a more deliberate recruit that engages a range of community members and experience. Selection for recruitment will be based on research questions and audience needs for stakeholders at the foundation.
Interviews and analysisEdit
The interviews were conducted with the following method:
We conducted semi-structured interviews. We had a list of questions, and made sure to ask them at some point in the conversation, but allowed the conversation to flow naturally with each participant. There were two researchers, so one could facilitate the conversation, and ensure we gathered useful data, and the other took notes, to ensure we would remember and be able to analyze the collected data. Researchers took turns facilitating the interview and taking notes. Notes were organized in a structure to make analysis easier.
A privacy policy was created, informing each participant about how we would use the data. Each participant read the release form before our interview started, and could choose to participate or not. The privacy policy defines researchers not sharing any personally identifying information publicly, including wiki identity, and only sharing findings publicly in a summarized, anonymized way. This includes not telling specific stories that could identify a participant. No pictures or video was taken, so there was no requirement for a release form.
After we completed 10 interviews, researchers organized the data and coded the data for analysis. Each observation, quote or story was put in a post-it, and then we analyzed the collected post, looking for patterns, and collecting them into groupings. In this way, we were able to identify the below published patterns from the interviews. Along the way, the researchers identified open questions which can be used to better inform the full research project (examples at the end of the research).
Because there were only 10 interviews, this research is just scratching the surface of understanding and learning. This will all inform research planned for the Q3/Q4 (Jan-June) of 2019 that will have deeper resources.
There are no recommendations from this research because it was an opportunistic recruit, with self selected participants, and with only 10 interviews, were were not able to develop a significant enough set of findings to make recommendations.
Initial FindingsEdit
Previous experience and path to organizingEdit
A number of the findings from the interviews clustered around the organizers' path to organizing including: previous experiences, how they became involved and examples of how they were pulled into organizing. Themes included:
Community ConnectionEdit
Organizers' connection with the Wikimedia community is crucial to their growth as organizers
Among a substantial group of the organizers a moment of invitation or introduction to other Wikimedia community members facilitated deeper interest and access to opportunities for organizing. These invitations including invitation to trainings, participation in regional and international conference, and participating in facilitated meetup groups.
Original motivation for OrganizersEdit
Several clusters of motivation for organizing were apparent among the organizers interviewed:
Organizing out of desire to preserve language and culture.
Most of the organizers described a core motivation for organizing in trying to help preserve language, culture, country or history that is underrepresented on the internet or in other documentation. This fundamental desire to "represent" is often expressed as seeming like a "necessity" for those particular languages or cultures, or as an opportunity for expression of about something personal (their own language, culture, nationality, etc). Frequently discussion of this motivation were paired with a moment of "realization" that Wikimedia had gaps around these topics.
Finding community or a sense of purpose in Wikimedia which inspires them to be organizers
A group of the organizers described finding a sense of community among Wikimedians, and wanting to extend that same experience to other people.
Originally inspired to organize as a result of personal interests or passions
A group of the organizers described their organizing from growing out of their own existing passions about specific topics or personal learning experiences in Wikimedia. This passion extended to involving others in that process.
Having the space, desire and intellectual context to be an organizerEdit
People being organizers when they are in a stage of life that affords them time to do so.
A group of the organizers described their entry into the Wikimedia community through editing or reading, and then subsequent growth into organizers happening while they had time and space as students.
People being organizers when they work in related employment that allows space and time to organize.
A group of the organizers described their careers or employment as giving them space and time to organize.
A few originally learned about Wiki through leadership in other "open" or ideological spaces.
Several of the leaders from the group described themselves as having experience or background in contributing to the open software community, before joining Wikimedia,
Work of OrganizersEdit
A substantial portion of the interviews focused on what the work of organizers consistent of. Themes include:
PartnershipsEdit
Organizers described looking for partners (education, government) to work toward goals with.
When talking about their work as organizers, half of the organizers described their role in creating partnerships with certain kinds of institutions: mostly government organizations, libraries or educational institutions. However, a substantial group of these organizers also described a hard time "convincing" these institutions or individual professionals from these institutions to participate. They also told us about strategies for what they would do next to further persuade institutions to partner with them and their communities.
In person interaction with broader Wikimedia community is crucial to supporting their own community.Edit
In our interviews, most of the organizers described in-person engagements with other parts of the community as beneficial. Being at Wikimania, we expect that there might be sampling bias of community members able to and motivated to attend these events. However, for each of the organizers, and especially the very deep/successful organizers, two major trends were clear:
Organizers' connection with Wikimedia community is crucial to understanding the broader Wikimedia community
Organizers described their participation in both international and local events as important for understanding the broader Wikimedia community, and the opportunities available within the movement. Several of the organizers placed particular emphasis on participation in their "first" event, or originally being invited to participate by someone in the movement, for opening up the opportunities available to them in the movement.
Organizers' connection with Wikimedia community is crucial to organizers gathering resources for their local community
By attending movement events, specific interactions and opportunities to talk with other community organizers, in person, helped a number of the organizers develop ideas about what to "do next" with their local communities, including identifying specific tactics, connections to other organizers, and get help filling in awareness about other parts of the community. Some of the outcomes identified by folks from attending these events took several years to act on: organizers reported learning something at one event and then acting on it or advising other community organizers on implementing that program several years later.
Understanding and recruiting the roles needed for success in their communityEdit
Most of the organizers expressed concern, interest or awareness of the different types of skills and roles required for organizing in their local community, and for accomplish the work their community hopes to.
Several organizers described that they, as an individual organizer, are playing many roles.
Several of the organizers described how they, as a central organizer for their community, are taking on multiple different roles within organizing for the community. In part this is out of necessity because of lack of other folks with specific skills sets.
Organizers know what roles they need for their community to succeed, but don't know where to find the folks to fill the roles, or expressed difficulty in motivating people to participate.
As related to the above discussion of how folks are taking on multiple roles in the community, in part it's because they express concern about how to successfully find and motivate folks with right skills or interests to fill those roles. For example, a gap in trainers or folks who can facilitate events when the core organizers are not there, is something that came up in multiple interviews.
Learning there is certain knowledge they need to learn to successfully organize in the Wikimedia movement.
A number of the organizers described that by "trying things" (like editathons, for example), they became aware of what they needed to learn about before they can more successfully implement future activities: Whether best practice for organizing campaigns, being skilled at training or teaching other folks, or learning how to facilitate events, they quickly learned they needed to learn more. These moments of realizing often led to an identification of roles for other contributors or that they themselves would like to develop.
Describing the need for match making
Organizers described listening to people in their communities, and finding ways to match those folks interests and skills with the opportunities or roles that the organizers identified as possible or needed in their communities or organizations. Several organizers described this as a philosophy or practice in their organizing approach, and one organizer described it as something they identify in other organizers.
Organizers described thinking about, needing, or doing succession planning
Several of the organizers expressed concern and a considerable amount of effort in thinking about "who else will do this work" -- either identifying single individuals as points of failure in their own work, or talking about how they try to cultivate new organizers.
Motivating participantsEdit
A number of the organizers described different approaches or theories on how to successfully motivate participation among contributors. Almost all the organizers emphasized the importance of figuring out how to motivate people in order to create further participation.
Value and opportunity in pulling people from less represented groups into the movement.
Several organizers saw part of their role as acting as allies, with less well represented communities. This is in part to support those communities to participate as organizers or participants, and to welcome and gather a more diverse set of perspectives and knowledge into the movement.
Connecting with local community and understanding what they need to succeed
A number of the organizers described taking the time to understand the needs and interests of their local audience, and finding ways to match those needs with Wikimedia activities. This leads to "inspiring" others to participate.
Organizers answering "what's in it for me" to their local community (those they are organizing and motivating)
Organizers described the need to communicate what people "get" from participating Organizers sometimes describe these rewards for participation, as related to the particular cultural, economic or professional context of the people they are motivating.
Organizers using their original motivation for engagement to motivate others with similar interests
In several of the interviews, with folks who started as editors themselves as the result of a specific passion or desire, the organizers leveraged their own original motivation to pull in others with similar motivations.
Organizing as part of campaigns is a good foundation for starting to create awareness and inspire people to participate
A number of the organizers described campaigns, most of them Wiki Loves or online editing campaigns, as powerful tools for inspiring people to participate.
Discussion of "successfulness" of workEdit
Most of the interviews spent time focused on the question "How is your organizing going?" In these conversations, though they did talk about successes, there was substantial focus on the challenges faced by organizers.
OutcomesEdit
Most of the organizers were able to describe succinctly metrics or concrete outcomes of their work as organizers.
General challengesEdit
A group of general challenges when it comes to organizing were highlighted by multiple organizers:
Need for better communication tools for engagement, planning and sharing learnings with their local communities, and to communicate with and learn from the broader Wikimedia Community. They described:
Using multiple channels, including social media and wikis to reach out and collaborate, because there is not one channel that accomplishes all they need. Sometimes this means using communications channels other than Wikis. We observed a variety of different needs here, from the need to be where the community communicates (when it is not on wiki) to the need for people to either meet in person rather than online, or the complete opposite need to meet online, only when people's identities were not revealed (on wiki).
Several organizers described difficulty of getting repeat engagement from existing community members in activities when using any of these channels.
A lack of clear channels for getting access to existing knowledge within the Wikimedia community.
One organizer mentioned that a good solution for this might be having an "overarching strategist" to consult in order to help connect and develop their ideas with existing communities, practices or knowledge.
Several organizers described needing better channels for more effectively broadcasting learnings from Wikimedia conferences, or other parts of Wikimedia movements with their communities.
Internet access challenges
Several organizers described challenges in implementing activities when internet was not available, reliable, or required additional effort or cost for participants to access.
Note: This is similar to findings in New Editors and New Readers.
Limited access to references and research material
A substantial group of the organizers, described a lack of sources for particular subjects, cultures or languages as a barrier to organizing in their context. The organizers were talking about this in light of writing Wikipedia content, mentioning this as a barrier to both encouraging online content creation and representation of culture or language on Wikipedia.
Note: this is noted in the Community Capacity Development research
Culture / language not translated well onto the web
Connected to some of the organizers' motivation to preserve and share language and culture, a number of the organizers described the lack of representation and technology to support a diversity of language and culture on the internet.
Barriers and challenges related to getting and using funding and grants
There was a general set of comments and feedback related to grant programs and funding being challenging to manage and get, and a barrier to successfully engaging partners and local participants. For example, one participant was discouraged from using grants because of this difficulty and recommends others do organizing of events without grants because it is easier.
Challenges in motivating folks to participateEdit
Most of the people we spoke with discussed successful methods or theories for how to engage new participants. However, many of these comments highlighted also challenges they were facing with those methods, including:
Challenges in transitioning people from contribution to a larger sense of belonging.
In part, this is about needing more people to take on some of the work of organizing, and realizing that it is a start to get folks to contribute content, but another job to motivate people to move from contributing content to contributing organizing of events, and other work of organizing motivating their community. It is also related to recognizing the roles needed within their community, and challenges associated with motivating the right community members (with the right skill sets) to fill those needed roles.
Finding and supporting "the elusive contributor"
A group of the organizers described a challenge in converting participants into "editors" within the context they are organizing. Conversion from "participant" into "contributor".
Some of this had to do with the organizers' challenges in teaching people to edit, and some of it reflects the way it is difficult for people to learn to contribute to Wikipedia across communities and wikis.
Note: This reflects the findings of the New Editor Experiences research about the difficulty new editors have in learning to edit, and research that has been done on retention across grants in the grant Evaluation Reports .
Need for confidence that the community being built will show up
A group of the organizers, mostly newer offline organizers, described it being very challenge to "retain" (and even know if they are retaining) the folks they invest time developing for future activities or programs (in addition to the concern about making them editors/contributors).
Transitioning people from contribution to larger sense of belonging
Some of the organizers described a puzzle/challenge in trying to take contributors and participants from activities and online editing, and converting them into "members" of the broader community. Part of this concern is that folks start with one major contribution, but don't get pulled in as repeat contributions or the gap between "simple" contributions and more complex ones is large.
Open QuestionsEdit
By doing pre-research, we began to identify different questions which allow us to better frame the full research study. These "open questions" can help us better define the ongoing research. Here are some examples that we collected during synthesizing pre-research interviews:
Does the range of motivations around culture and language preservation, a sense of belonging within a community, and personal passions represent all organizers? Or is this just the folks that show up at Wikimania?
How do organizers describe the roles needed when organizing the affiliate, activities or community?
What are the particular roles / work / capacities organizers describe as needing in their community? How did they discover, or learn about this need?
Where are existing organizers looking for new organizers? Do new organizers come from the communities that existing organizers reach out to (librarians, students, educators, etc)?
What happens to the new organizers that don't make it through initial challenges? What about the folks we have never heard from at the Foundation?
How do organizer's perspectives change as they become more exposed to the Wikimedia community? What experiences inform change of these organizers?
What kinds of risks or sacrifices do people take when organizing? Does larger government or social environments make it risky to lead?
What can we learn from other kinds of community organizing? For example: How will our findings reflect what has been learned in political and activist campaigns?
What's next?Edit
In November, a team of stakeholders from the Audiences and Community Engagement teams at the Foundation will be assembled to further define the research that will be conducted in the Q3-Q4 (January-June) of 2019. The stakeholders will be gathered for a summit to discuss and align on the goals, methods, and resources for research to be conducted in the following quarters. The research we conducted at Wikimania, and the perspectives, concerns, and needs of the stakeholders will inform the future research.
Retrieved from "https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Research:Movement_Organizers_PreResearch&oldid=18908691"
Last edited on 1 March 2019, at 04:54

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


NCR Synergy is the premier retail and hospitality technology conference bringing together hundreds of retailers, including restaurants, wholesale, and brick-and-mortar. Intel is always proud to both be a part of the event and power many emergent technologies that will be showcased at the show. Read on for a sneak preview of what to expect, and check out our ongoing coverage as the week progresses.
We will be showcasing innovative and cost efficient digital signage solutions powered by Intel NUC and Compute Stick. NUC delivers maximum configurability while Compute Stick is the size of a stick of gum, is powered by Intel Atom or Core M processors and can provide full computing support for any entry-level signage need. Compute Sticks are based on the same x86 architecture as the rest of your in-store systems so they can be easily integrated into your existing infrastructure. What's more, Compute Sticks with the Intel Core m5 processor even support Intel vPro Technology giving you superior performance and the power of out-of-band remote management for all of your signage needs from menu boards, to smart kiosks to self-order stations — you just have to think beyond the sign.
Most of NCR's POS and self-service solutions demoed at the show will be powered by Intel technology. Powered by the latest 6th generation Intel® Core™ vPro processor, the NCR RealPOS™ XR8 offers power, security, and versatility in one of the smallest form factors in its class. Intel focuses on safer, more secure transactions by protecting both above and below the OS through advances Whitelisting and Hardware enabled security like Secure Boot, Disk Encryption and USB port control just to name a few. And Intel's Data Protection Technology goes beyond card information and protects any and all personal identifiable information making shopping more fun and carefree.
NCR and Intel are at the forefront of helping retailers take advantage of advances in cloud computing, mobility, big data and the Internet of Things. Together, we offer new ways to engage and captivate consumers and lead how the world connects, interacts and transacts with business.
We look forward to seeing you in Dallas and encourage you to follow along with NCR on social media @NCRCorporation, #NCRSynergy or watch highlights from the event on NCR's YouTube channel.


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Next Weird Texas towns, alien saviors, confederate swords: July indie movie screenings
Kusturica Keeps the Peace
Wednesday, September 29, 1999 by Rob Nelson in Movies
When the cat's away: Director Emir Kusturica (right) on the set of Black Cat, White Cat
"MY BIGGEST ENEMY," says the Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica, "is naturalism." And no wonder: Kusturica's wonderfully absurdist Black Cat, White Cat is a relentless slapstick comedy whose cartoonish cast of caricatures engage in an endless series of fracases and pratfalls--culminating in a hysterical double wedding and an exquisitely obscene gag involving an outhouse full of excrement. The film's outrageous spirit represents a departure for Kusturica following his justly celebrated but controversial Underground (1995), a politically supercharged lament for the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
"It was a pleasure to make a movie starting from scratch again," he says. "Black Cat, White Cat is really a fairy tale, like a little play with two major human characteristics: love and friendship. To me, the film is like therapy. I think people need the energetic infusion that this film has."
Alas, the director's audience would need to wait. My conversation with Kusturica took place at the Sundance Film Festival back in January--two months before NATO's own epic production in Yugoslavia inspired October Films to postpone the American release of Black Cat, White Cat until peacetime and beyond. (The movie opened in Minneapolis at Lagoon Cinema last Friday.) Speaking during the relative calm of January, the handsome and disheveled Kusturica emphasized the restorative value in making a so-called apolitical film, which drew him back from a planned retirement in the wake of charges that Underground had expressed solidarity with the Serbs.
"I was exhausted," says Kusturica, the 44-year-old son of Muslim parents, who now splits his time between Paris and Normandy. "The attacks on Underground--which was totally a film about ideology, lies, and manipulation--were about how I had lied and manipulated people, which was funny. I said I'd never make another film, but then I realized that this would be like committing suicide. Finally I said, 'Better make another movie.'"
Originally, Kusturica had conceived his nonpartisan return to cinema as a documentary about Gypsy musicians in Yugoslavia. But once he started planning the film along the banks of the Danube, the director decided to make a narrative feature instead, while retaining the focus on the Gypsy subculture that he had explored earlier in his film Time of the Gypsies (1988). "It's a group I always turn to when I get fed up with the tasks that this civilization is giving us," Kusturica says. "The Gypsies are a group that has preserved its profile for a thousand years without using any of the methods that we did. They didn't have a medieval fortress, they didn't have black powder, they didn't have any deadly weapons. They found a way to survive and multiply based on their own beauty."
Albeit a wild comedy, the film celebrates difference in a way that seems political in the context of Yugoslavia's ethnic strife. So, too, Black Cat, White Cat's particular brand of magic realism seems to derive from the hard realities that inspire an artist of Kusturica's temperament to indulge his flights of fancy. "I don't think an American from the Midwest would play with magic realism very much," opines Kusturica, "except in movies like Superman. That could be magic realism, too, in a way, but I don't find anything magic in it; it's just something that's loaded with special effects. True magic realism grows out of places where the political and historical context blends with the reaction of the people--sometimes in strange ways."
Kusturica speaks with a confidence that borders on pretension and arrogance--but even so, it isn't unearned. Each of the director's six features (which also include Do You Remember Dolly Bell? and Arizona Dream) has won a major prize at either the Cannes, Berlin, or Venice film festivals; and no director but Kusturica has taken the Palme d'Or at Cannes more than once. (Kusturica's Underground and When Father Was Away on Business claimed the prize in 1995 and 1985, respectively.) Recently, Kusturica's plans to adapt a Dennis Potter script of D.B. Thomas's novel The White Hotel (the film he was discussing excitedly in January) have stalled, although he has also expressed interest in returning to Underground territory with an epic that would be bracketed by the Serbian bombing of Sarajevo and NATO's bombing of Serbia.
Returning to such a minefield might seem like artistic suicide, but in January the director contradicted that claim. "To me," Kusturica explains, "the biggest task that the author has in making movies is, 'How does the author maintain his artistic life for as long as possible?' So if I look behind me over the last 20 years, I see that I did not make any movies that I'm ashamed of. I'm proud of all of them, and that's the best you can do in life."
CityPages Movies
Review: In 'Yesterday,' 2 boring people find love in a Beatles-less world July 10 by Keith Harris
Star Wars Episodes 4-6 July 10 by Jessica Armbruster


Located in the heart of Nimbin Town is our vibrant and colourful Community Centre.
The Nimbin Community Centre is a hub for community services & non-profit groups working in Nimbin, and represents the diversity, creativity and versatility of our local community.
The people of Nimbin are proud to have this valuable asset in community hands forever.
The village of Nimbin is situated 30 kilometres north west of Lismore and is the service centre for a much larger district population. In the 2011 Census the population of Nimbin is 1,668 and is comprised of 48.7% females and 51.3% males. Due to a high level of transient visitation plus anecdotal accounts of statistical non-compliance within the alternative culture, it is likely that ABS figures underestimate the actual population serviced by the village. Within the Lismore Local Government Area, Nimbin functions as a district centre in its own righ tand has become a service town to the hamlets of Blue Knob, Tuntable Creek, Lillian Rock, Bishops Creek, Stony Chute, Coffee Camp and Larnook. Residents of Mt Burrell and Barkers Vale (within neighbouring Tweed & Kyogle Shires) also use the village services.
In 1904 Mr. Hugh Thorburn donated two acres of land to the Department of Public Instruction for the purpose of providing a secure site for a school in Nimbin. Mr. Thorburn had housed the original school, established in his barn in 1891. In 1906 the first schoolroom (today's Bark Hut) was built. By 1910 a new school building and residence for the teacher (today's Banksia House) had been constructed and a fig tree was planted to mark the official opening. By this time the school had 120 pupils enrolled.
Additions in 1917 and 1927 created the Acacia House of today. In the late 1920s the department bought two acres of land across the road from the school, for playing fields and paddocks for the students' horses. Originally this land was acquired for teaching animal husbandry and agriculture but became the school's playing fields and horse paddock, as many students came to the school on horseback. This land is now the Nimbin Peace Park. In 1935 enrolments jumped to 188, a figure not to be surpassed in the primary school until 1990. 1950, 1963 and 1966 saw new classroom buildings constructed. The last of these, at a cost of $60,000 was the brick science block (Casuarina Building). Form 2 planted the cypress trees in the front of the school in 1965. The Aquarius Festival in 1973 saw new people move to the area and a gradual rise in school numbers. In 1977 the art and craft room (Bottlebrush Studio) was constructed and 1981 saw the first improvements to the playing fields - pipes, fill and leveling.
In 1987, due to increasing enrollments, the primary school was moved to temporary accommodation in the village. A new Primary School was constructed in 1995. In 1997 Nimbin Central School was completed to house both Primary and Secondary students, vacating the original school site, an historical occasion for the community of Nimbin.
Armed with the knowledge that a new school was to be constructed, the Nimbin community was faced with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to keep the very heart of Nimbin in the hands of the community forever, an opportunity to create a focus for community activities and beautiful parkland. The Department of School Education offered the two sites, the old school grounds and the now Peace Park, to Lismore City Council for $280,000, approximately half their commercial value.
In August 1995 a community committee was established to explore the option of purchasing the site and in 1996 council agreed to buy this land for Nimbin, provided that the community itself raised $140,000 prior to purchase and undertook to repay the balance, plus any funds required for development of the site, over the following ten years.
$37,000 Nimbin Community School Cooperative who sold a building to finance their contribution.
$30,000 "Visions of Nimbin" trade and cultural expo.
$30,000 grant from Casino Community Benefit Fund.
Significant donations from numerous individuals and organisations within Nimbin community.
The additional funds were raised through a multitude of fundraising activities.
While fundraising was underway the Nimbin Community Development Association (NCDA) was incorporated as a non-profit community organisation. NCDA undertook extensive community consultation to develop the vision for the sites and a long-term plan to ensure economic, social and environmental sustainability. NCDA subsequently became custodians and managers of the sites on behalf of the wider community, facilitated through a lease between NCDA and Lismore Council.
Acquisition of the sites saw two subdivisions take place. One created land for the Nimbin Volunteer Bushfire Brigade where a new fire shed was constructed. The other enabled Lismore City Council to build new public toilets, following closure of the public toilets belonging to the Nimbin School of Arts.
The loan with Lismore City Council was paid up in full in 2008. This was achieved through the fundraising initiatives and grants listed above, and through rental income from local groups and community services who rented spaces in the community centre. At the same time NCDA changed their name to Nimbin Community Centre Inc. and took the title to Nimbin Community Centre in July 2008.
In January 2012 the community became aware that 7 Sibley Street in Nimbin would be auctioned in late February 2012, and the Team Leader of the Nimbin Neighbourhood and Information Centre (NNIC) together with the Secretary of the Nimbin Community Centre (NCCI) met with Gary Murphy, General Manager of Lismore City Council and submitted to Council a Project Plan with a view to Council purchasing the site for the purposes of the NNIC's identified "Sustainability Hub" project. In the meantime NNIC commenced a fundraising campaign and around fifteen thousand ($15,000.00) dollars were pledged by community members towards the purchase of the site by the date of the auction.
A few days prior to the auction Council advised that it was unable to purchase the site or assist with financial contributions towards its purchase due to budgetary constraints. As the property was passed in at auction, NNIC continued to seek pledges from the community.
By late March 2012 pledges had increased to around thirty thousand ($30,000.00) dollars and NNIC had committed fifteen thousand ($15,000.00). Gerhard Weihermann ("the Mortgagor") approached NNIC and offered to provide bridging finance to enable the purchase of the site, on the condition that NCCI take title over the property.
 A partnership between NCCI and NNIC will increase the collective energy and experience behind the project.
An initial offer of one hundred and forty ($140,000.00) dollars was made and accepted, but the property was eventually purchased in May 2012 for the sum of $145,000.00 plus $2,000.00 legal costs.
Donations to the project have been made by community members on the understanding that the site will be used for the Sustainable Living Hub project. The parties acknowledge their obligation to honour the considerable community good will and funds contributed to the purchase of the site for the purposes of the project.
In 2013, following a protracted legal dispute over ownership, Nimbin Community Centre took title to Birth & Beyond at 54 Cullen Street, a building with a long and varied history. Built on the main street of Nimbin around 1906 it has housed a barber's shop, a billiard room, a boot store, an auctioneer's and the local branch of the RSL. In 1973 it was purchased for $500 from the RSL to serve as a hub for the Aquarius Festival. Following the festival the building was sold to six individuals for $500 plus costs.
Since 1973 the building has continued as a community meeting place and provided a home for many organisations including Birth & Beyond, Treeworks, the Nightcap Action Group, a local Down to Earth branch, Nimbin Film Society, Rainbow Information Centre which gave birth to Nimbin News and Nimbin Neighbourhood and Information Centre, Seedsavers, and Brackets & Jam folk nights. It has also provided a healing space for many health practitioners of various disciplines, and birthed successful local businesses such as Rainbow Power Company and Fashionating.
In 1990 Nimbin Apothecary, an herbal and homeopathic dispensary, was established alongside Nimbin Environment Centre. Once sharing the same room, both have long established themselves as core tenants of Birth & Beyond, growing and prospering independently as valued community services.
In 2013 Nimbin Community Centre purchased the building from four of the six post Aquarian owners for $200,000. The remaining two owners, CoOrdination CoOperative (CoCo) and Gael Knefner, donated their shares in the building. Birth & Beyond is now in community ownership, secure for future generations, and continues to be used by a diverse range of community organisations and local healers. NCC would like to publicly acknowledge CoCo for their additional and generous financial contribution to this outcome. We would also like to thank the community member who assisted the Community Centre's acquisition with an interest free loan.
Rainbow Road is a 3km walk around the village of Nimbin that will link existing authentic educational experiences.
It provides linkages between Nimbin's already highly visited attractions: colourful murals, shops and displays, Rainbow Power Company and Djanbung Gardens International Permaculture Hamlet.
It provides opportunities to create new experiences sought by locals and visitors.
It provides a pedestrian safe option from the busy main street of Nimbin to key community facilities.
Built to Australian Walking Track Standards, Rainbow Road features working examples of sustainability and alternative life. It provides avenues to promote and extend the values of 'Aquarius'. It creates employment and training.


For the purposes of article 53(1)1, advice must be given to or directed at someone who either holds investments or is a prospective investor (or their agent). Where the investment is a risk-only contract of insurance such as house contents insurance, the policyholder or prospective policyholder is regarded as an investor.
an employer (for example, on setting up a pension scheme).
Article 53(1)1 does not apply to advice given to a person (such as an independent financial adviser) who is acting as an agent for an investor if it does not relate to a transaction into which the person is to enter as agent for the investor.
where he receives the advice in that capacity.
Advice will still be covered by article 53(1)1 even though it may not be given to or directed at a particular investor (for example, advice given in a periodical publication or on a website). The expression 'investor' has a broad meaning and will include institutional or professional investors.


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Lethal Police Robots One Step Closer To Reality In California City
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted in favor of allowing the police to deploy robots capable of using lethal force.
After a fiery debate, the proposal easily passed by an 8-3 vote.
The San Francisco Police Department currently has 17 robots that can be equipped to use lethal force. However, officials said they don't plan to give robots guns. Instead, they plan to outfit them with explosives that can be used to breach buildings or "contact, incapacitate, or disorient" a potentially dangerous suspect.
Officials said the robots would only be used "when the risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent, and officers cannot subdue the threat after using alternative force options or de-escalation tactics," the Washington Post reported.
Supervisor Dean Preston, who was one of the three people to vote no, voiced concerns that the robots could be misused.
"There is serious potential for misuse and abuse of this military-grade technology and zero showing of necessity," he said during the meeting.
A second vote on the policy will be held next week. If it passes again, it will head to the desk of San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who had voiced support for allowing police to use lethal robots.
"The Mayor supports policies that allow police officers to quickly and safely respond to situations that involve a risk of violence to the public, and this includes tools such as live video or robotics technology. These tools should be available to peace officers to employ to save lives," the mayor's office told Fox News.


Do your eyes ever get tired from reading the screen? Have you ever wanted to listen to your emails and documents -- rather than read them?
Quite often, I'm faced both these scenarios. And since I do a lot of traveling, it's not always feasible to bring my laptop along with me to get caught up on some reading. So, when my eyes are exhausted and when I just want to sit back and relax, I use a program called TextAloud to listen to my documents and emails.
In a nutshell, TextAloud converts text into spoken audio. With TextAloud, you can either listen to the audio immediately, or save it to an audio file (.MP3 or .WAV) for later playback. The later option is a great feature for me, because all I need to do is convert the document into .MP3 format and copy it to my low-voltage .MP3 player.
Wait a sec. Doesn't the computer sound like, well, a computer?
While it seems redundant, computers are notorious for sounding very monotone.
Recognizing this limitation, the developers of TextAloud have incorporated the use of AT&T's Natural Voice technology as an alternative to the free Microsoft voice tones. Although the AT&T voices cost $25.00, they make listening to long documents pleasurable, especially when I travel.
My personal favorite personality is 'Audrey' (a UK English speech implementation). There's even a Spanish speaking 'Rosa' voice, which is equally as pleasing to the ear. Click here to listen to an .mp3 sample of Audrey's voice.
Additional Natural Voices are available in German and French.
Is there a maximum size for text files?
No. The only limiting factor is the amount of available hard drive space used to write an audio file. For example: I downloaded the Edgar Rice Burroughs book, "The Warlord of Mars" and it is 160 paperback pages. Using my 700 MHz Pentium III machine, TextAloud converted the entire book in an hour into a 643MB .WAV file without any problem.
The TextAloud interface is very easy to use. Newbies will appreciate the simplicity of TextAloud, because it provides simple-to-follow documentation up front.
By far, the best feature of TextAloud is its ability to convert text files to audio. Combined with the AT&T Natural Voices, TextAloud creates MP3 or WAV files with the best clarity I've heard in the computer voice generation field. For people like me who travel frequently, TextAloud provides a very convenient way to catch up on news and information.
TextAloud is the best selling Text To Speech program on the 'net.


Strong and quick, the 5-foot-10, 205-pound Lund burnished a strong hitting track record with a .387 junior season, including 94 hits, ranking fourth in Division I entering regional play. He's a 60 runner who has turned in 4.1-second times to first base at his best and runs well enough to play center field, though he's just an average defender. His gap approach hasn't produced much home run power yet but gives him enough juice to keep pitchers and defenders honest. Lund does have enough arm strength (he reached 92 off the mound as a prep) to fit the fourth outfielder profile if his bat falls short.


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Коморські Острови на літніх Олімпійських іграх 2020 представляли три спортсмени у двох видах спорту.

Посилання
 Комори на сайті МОК

2020
Країни на літніх Олімпійських іграх 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Newsletter ))
La Medea
Yara Travieso (NYC)
La Medea is a musical re-imagining of Euripides' violent tragedy into a dance-theater performance and feature film á la Latin-disco-pop variety show. Directed, performed, filmed, edited and streamed in real time, the dark comedy comes to life not only as a live performance in Brooklyn but also as a feature film for audiences watching and interacting remotely around the world. Everyone becomes a performer, subject to the high-stakes immediacy and vulnerability of live TV, bringing theater to cinema and cinema to theater.
La Medea centers around the story's protagonist in a live TV special tell-all. A wild mash-up of genres and storytelling tropes, Travieso seamlessly shifts between dance and music, talk show and telenovela melodrama, scripted on-camera action and unscripted behind-the-scenes plot twists. Embracing the complexity of conflicting cultural lenses, La Medea confronts the hysterical, dangerous, foreign woman, versus the revolutionary figure willing to destroy her own children in the name of justice. Chaos reigns under the skin of a classic myth. Through the music and libretto by composer Sam Crawford and Travieso's other collaborating team members, like it's namesake, La Medea is a spectacle that upends any attempt to pin it down.
" intrinsic pursuit of storytelling manifests as stage performance, installation and video; it's culturally inspired, and an amalgam of genre and influence – she puts the MULTI in multi-disciplinary, multi-media art." – Kaitlyn Parks, 1985 Artists
Commissioned by PS122
Co-presented with BRIC and Dance Films Association
Jan 20, 21 – 8pm
Jan 22 – 2pm, 7pm
at BRIC House
647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn
Coil Pass Holders:
Log in to redeem
Director, Choreographer, Producer: Yara Travieso
Composer, Librettist: Sam Crawford
Set Designer: Brookhart Jonquil
Lighting Designer: Tuce Yasak
Costume Designer: Sue Julien
Director of Photography, Camera Operator: Pamela Giaroli
Assistant Director, Camera Operator: Liz Charky
Illustrator: Ryan Hartley Smith
Dramaturge: Raquel Almazan
Creative Film Producer: Jonathan David Kane
Production Manager: Stacey Boggs
Project Manager: Belinda Adam
Production Assistant: Talia Moreta
Rena Butler
Shayla Vie Jenkins (Cast 2)
Catherine Correa
Erick Montes
Tiffany Mellard
Sol Koeraus
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (band):
Vocals, Guitar: Liz De Lise
Vocals, Guitar: Zeb Gould
Saxaphone: Jeff Hudgins
Percussion: Timothy Quigley
Trumpet, bass, Moog bass synth: Anthony Mascorro
Yara Travieso is a NYC-based director and choreographer creating hybrid works of film, dance installations, musicals and opera. She is a 2016 Creative Capital Awardee, a Performance Space 122 Ramp artist, BRIClab residency artist, and a 2015 National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures grantee through the Ford Foundation and the Surdna Foundation. Born in Miami FL, Travieso co-founded the Borscht Film Festival in 2005 and produced various award winning short films, all while attending and graduating from NYC's Juilliard School (Dance BFA, 2009). Her films and live performances have been presented across national and international venues as well as various galleries, museums, and festivals. Outside of institutional support, Travieso has been commissioned to direct original short films for Hermes of Paris, Glamour, GQ and Elle, as well as music videos for female centric bands. Having been selected as a 2005 YoungArts award winner, Travieso will return to Miami in the spring of 2017 to create an original work for the YoungArts' "Outside The Box" series, taking over their entire campus in a large scale outdoor production. www.yaratravieso.com
BRIC is the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, and one of the largest in New York City. We present and incubate work by artists and media-makers who reflect the diversity that surrounds us. BRIC programs reach hundreds of thousands of people each year. Our main venue, BRIC Arts | Media House, offers a public media center, a major contemporary art exhibition space, two performance spaces, a glass-walled TV studio, and artist work spaces. Some of BRIC's most acclaimed programs include the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park, several path-breaking public access media initiatives, including BRIC TV, and a renowned contemporary art exhibition series. BRIC also offers education and other vital programs at BRIC House and throughout Brooklyn. In addition to making cultural programming genuinely accessible, BRIC is dedicated to providing substantial support to artists and media makers in their efforts to develop work and reach new audiences. BRIC is unusual in both presenting exceptional cultural experiences and nurturing individual expression. This dual commitment enables us to most effectively reflect New York City's innate cultural richness and diversity.
www.bricartsmedia.org
Dance Films Association is the catalyst for the production, presentation, and preservation of dance on camera. We are dedicated to furthering the art of dance film by connecting artists and organizations, fostering new works for new audiences, and sharing essential resources. www.dancefilms.org
Featured Image by Maria Baranova.
Yara Travieso's La Medea is commissioned by Performance Space 122 as part of its 2016 emerging artists program, Ramp, with support from the Jerome Foundation. La Medea is a project of Creative Capital. The film component of La Medea is produced by Dance Films Association, Paul Galando, and Galen Bremer. La Medea is a recipient of a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Fund for The Arts Grant through the Surdna Foundation and The Ford Foundation. Additional support from BRICLab Residency, BRIC Arts Media House and PS122 Ramp residency support provided by Ideal Glass Gallery.
Dates: Jan 20-22
Type: Interdiscplinary
Premiere Status: World Premiere
All rights reserved by Performance Space New York


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Being a Rena fan, I have been able to enjoy many, many moments of pure ecstasy. However, they say that when you are on that much of a high, 'what goes up, must come down'. The defeats can be very hard to take basically. She and we know that she is the favourite and with that comes expectation. Life doesn't always go as it should though. Strange things can happen at times, it is a fact of life and indeed, of sport.
I think now, even looking back on this, the match flashed before my eyes. From a set and a breakdown, Serena played lights out to lead 5/1 in the decider. She was anticipating the Pliskova delivery superbly, serving big and coasting. Then on match point, she served an ace but was called for a foot fault and in the very same point then went over on her ankle. I don't know why but when the double fault came next I knew we were in trouble. Even when Pliskova broke back we were still at 5/2 but you knew something was up. The very fact she lost the last eleven points of the match on her own serve tells you something was not right. Yes, she had match points after that on the Pliskova serve (which the Czech played unbelievably well on) but the intensity had dropped. Serena herself says there was nothing wrong with the ankle and praised how well Pliskova played but Mouratogolou has suggested on French TV that she knew her tournament was over after she went over on it and that is why she didn't even call for the trainer. Her movement as a whole certainly wasn't right after that. Obviously, the US Open 09 footfault topic and whether that was a factor or not has also been talked about, but that is something I don't want to go into right now. The ankle was a far bigger factor for me.
It is a hard defeat to take on the basis that she had virtually won the match, she was playing some fantastic stuff from a break down in the second. I am obviously disappointed but I have seen enough here to know that she is on the right track. Sometimes during a Slam, things go wrong and you don't win it, it just needs a bad/unlucky 30-minute spell and you are out. There has still been nothing to suggest she won't get to Court's 24 or even further. As a fairytale in my head, Wimbledon is where it will happen. As she said these things can take time. There is still nobody out there for her to fear and her performances in the majors show she is right there.
Naomi Osaka breezed past Elina Svitolina, who had treatment on a neck injury which severely hampered her performance, particularly in the second set. That would explain a few of the Ukranian's struggles in the last couple of rounds, as she says she has been carrying the injury. This was just what the doctor ordered for Osaka though after a tough last few rounds of her own. My only winner in the quarters from my preview. Says a lot about my tournament from a betting perspective!! It has become my bogey tournament it would seem.
Lucas Pouille beating Milos Raonic was a real surprise. Raonic had looked so solid coming into this. Pouille said he took a lot of confidence from his win over Popyrin (which would have looked a strange comment to some) and he has backed that up with improving performances against Coric and the Canadian today. His return game was on point and he took Raonic's biggest weapon away from him, he was also incredibly solid in the rallies. Pouille was good value for the two set lead. Most importantly, he stayed composed and kept his cool to keep at the task in hand when he dropped the third set breaker. It would have been easy to panic. Great tennis from the Frenchman.
Nishikori retiring against Nole doesn't really come as a surprise. It has been a gruelling 10 days for him. If you are clearly having issues with your movement and are 1/6 1/4 to the World Number One, then why would you put yourself and everyone else through it? I do feel for him as he has had so many injuries but he has played an awful amount of tennis in Melbourne this year.
Posted in australian open, Sport, tennis, UncategorizedTagged atp, atp tour, Australia, australian open, Djokovic, Elina Svitolina, Getty Images, karolina pliskova, kei nishikori, Lucas Pouille, milos raonic, naomi osaka, nole, novak djokovic, Rena, Renas Army, Serena, Serena Williams, tennis, tennis betting, tennis blog, tennis fans, Wordpress, wta, wta tourBookmark the permalink.
Nadal makes opponents 'play badly' & Osaka shows a rare gift. Day 11 – Australian Open 2019.


You have friends using Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger. Yahoo and Microsoft have announced plans to make their instant-messaging services interoperable, beginning in the second quarter of 2006. Customers of Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger programs will be able to exchange instant messages, see the presence of their contacts, share emoticons, add friends from either service and make PC-to-PC voice calls.
Yahoo and Microsoft said the combined customer base for their two programs worldwide is about 275 million.


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Q: Is there a word that represents the idea of "natural flow"? For example, when considering the relative velocity of a boat on a river, we consider the "natural flow" of the river when accounting for the adjusted speed.
When you think about a person's day, there is a natural flow in his/her day dictated by their school or work.
In an electric field, there is a natural flow of electric current, and you can generate voltage by going against the grain of this natural flow.

A: The term "electrical current" referred to in the question is derived from the word "current" meaning the flow of water in a river.

"current" noun
Definition of current (Entry 2 of 2)
1a: the part of a fluid body (such as air or water) moving
continuously in a certain direction

(M-W)
For example:

when considering the relative velocity of a boat on a river, we
consider the current in the river when accounting for the adjusted
speed.

But, this isn't an answer to the whole question.

When you think about a person's day, there is a natural flow in
his/her day dictated by their school or work.

Despite the analogy, I don't think that the word "current" would be applicable in this non-physical sense, even though it is applicable in a physical river.
Another word applicable to both water and time, instead of "current". however, might work, which is "course" as in "in the course of time, you will learn what it means to be wise."
As another example, one often says that something will be done "in the ordinary course" of one's activities.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Dubai Gold (DG) futures are showing signs of consolidation on Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) ahead of ending the April contract.
Gold April contract was trading at $1,112.62 an ounce at 4:50pm yesterday. Despite drop in value, DG recorded 1,250 contracts second highest next to dollar/pound pair that witnessed trading of 1,456 contracts.
PK Sajith Kumar, CEO of JRG International Brokerage, told Emirates Business: "April contract is going to expire. On the other hand, the global financial year is coming to a close in March end. Because of these two factors, investors prefer to book profits in gold futures. Most investors are exiting their positions in gold considering tax adjustments. Portfolios and fund managers are trying to show more allocation in gold as part of their financial year adjustments and to enter the June contracts. Equity markets in the US and EU are picking up and this will also put some pressure on gold."
Gold futures, which have been the main contributor to DGCX volumes, closed the previous week at $1,107.20 an ounce registering a marginal rise of 0.393 per cent. The weekly high was $1,133.10 and low was $1,101.30.
"Commodities prices may do some base building this week, with a bias towards higher prices. Gold prices appear set to move somewhat higher in the weeks and months ahead. However, before they do that, prices may consolidate for a while longer around recent levels," said CPM Group in its weekly market report.
Gold continues to benefit from investor interest in these metals as alternative assets. The ongoing financial crisis in Europe is helping to keep investors interested in precious metals. Additionally, the gold and silver markets have tightened somewhat in recent weeks.
"Technically and fundamentally, I am neutral on gold this week. Because, it's uncertainty that is influencing the yellow metal prices. Uncertainty over Greece's economy is still impacting the trading in gold resulting in more volatility.
The next resistance level is $1,133," said Suchit Bhatia, trader at CFB Global.
"Gold prices could test $1,140 this week and may even make a run towards $1,160. If gold is able to hold above $1,100, the decline toward this level could trigger increased investor and speculative demand this week," said CPM Group.
Overall, commodities are also benefiting from investor interest as investors are increasingly accept the view that the recession has ended in most parts of the world.
"European and Japanese economic trends remain worrisome, but stronger growth elsewhere is helping focus investors' attention on commodities as assets the prices of which seem more likely to rise sooner in an economic recovery, with other assets such as real estate, equities, and bonds lagging," said the CPM Group report. Gold headed toward $1,140 in the mid previous week, but profit-taking, technical selling and a strengthening US dollar all weighed on prices during the remainder of the week.
On Friday 19 March the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly raised interest rates, resulting in a strengthening rupee and lower gold prices in India.


A fun way to celebrate your child's special day. The parties are 90 minutes long (1 hour of play & 1 hour in the party room).
Join us with your family for an hour and a half of fun filled time in the gym.
Parents drop your kids off for three-four hours of fun at the gym.


Traditional Chinese Medicine is a 3,000 year-old medical system that uses acupuncture to treat acute and chronic diseases, prevent illness and improve overall well-being. The theory behind acupuncture recognizes that the body is an integrated, whole system. Health is maintained when there is a smooth flow of Qi (pronounced "chee") throughout the body. Qi is the Chinese word for energy; it is often defined as "life force." Qi circulates through the body and connects with specific organs, organ systems, and body structures. If circulation of Qi is disrupted, normal function is impaired, resulting in illness, pain, or disease processes.
According to Chinese medicine, there are many factors that can contribute to Qi becoming weak or blocked. These factors include physical or emotional stress, inadequate nutrition, injury, inactivity, genetic predisposition, and exposure to toxins or environmental factors such as extreme heat or extreme cold. Acupuncture works by moving energy to strengthen and balance the body's functioning, and it is this process that allows the body to regain equilibrium. Acupuncture can be useful in treating many complaints and illnesses affecting different systems in the body. It is effective when used alone or in conjunction with Western medicine.
This is a partial listing. Please call and inquire if you have any questions about any other conditions.
During your first visit, Jen will talk with you at length about your main complaint, as well as the general condition of all your systems. After the information has been gathered and your questions have been answered, you will have a treatment.
You will lie on a table similar to a massage table either wearing loose clothing or wearing undergarments covered by a sheet or a blanket. Jen will wipe the selected acupuncture points with alcohol. After palpating the points with her finger, Jen will guide you to take a breath in, and then out. On the exhalation, she will insert the needle. The needles will stay in 20-45 minutes, depending on your condition/s.
The needles are very thin and rarely cause any discomfort. When many people hear the word 'needle' they think of the larger types used in western medical offices. Because acupuncture needles do not put anything into your body or remove anything they are not hollow-shafted. Being solid-shafted allows them to be very thin and easy to insert.


Hillary Clinton, in her original email excuse appearance inside the UN in March, said " First, when I got to work as secretary of state, I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two." It would have probably been even easier to carry one device than it was the thirteen that she had over the course of her time as Secretary of State and much easier to keep track of them all.
In fact, it seems that the only device Clinton was able to keep tabs on was her latest and primary one. The others, according to those around her, those that didn't receive the smashed by a hammer treatment, simply seemed to vanish with the sensitive information on them.
The Daily Caller reports, "Clinton aides told FBI investigators the former diplomat went through phones often, and the 'whereabouts' of her old phones would become unknown once she switched to a new device." Whether they were sold, carelessly discarded, burned, or given out as souvenirs to hackers of various nationalities is unknown, or at least not admitted to.
One aide, Justin Cooper recalled at least two instances where he "destroyed" the secretary's old Blackberry cell phones, according to FBI documents by "breaking them in half or hitting them with a hammer," according to investigators.
He also addresses the issue of the timeline in which her "team began to purge and scrub her email archives which were under Congressional subpoena at the time, a few weeks after the New York Times first reported the existence of her server.
"If that is not obstruction or intent, I don't know what is," he says.
Benson's comments are in the first video below, followed by a second one in which the lies from Clinton's infamous briefing in the UN are refuted one by one by FBI Director James Comey.
Powell Told Clinton To Transfer Govt Docs To Her Home – Really, NYT?
Huckabee Sets Trump Straight! Will Trump Listen!?


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After a couple hard crashes today..
just started getting 4 or 5 blinking stars just below center screen.
Im too much "ripping my hard" AGAIN!! but he's getting down right sick with it.. but the price is some huge hits cartwheeling 30ft down the yard. no visible damage.. TX is reading full bars.. went back to 500mH for five batteries today just at golden hour.
but.. these flashing stars are annoying as all getout. we fly with cross hairs, full battery and cell voltage on the lower right.
Ok, update. the flashing asterics are a silent buzzer warning. I had my buzzer switch on!
I don't have a buzzer on the Sköll. sigh..
I turned the switch off and wallah... no more stars flashing.
for a bit there I was hoping it was a grading system and the FC was approving with a four star rating!!!
Silent buzzer warning what? the battery level?
nope... It was a switch on for buzzer though we dont have one. so the osd showed it on screen. Just a stupidity moment!


text:
Q: What are the pro and cons of statically linking a library? I want to release an application I developed as a hobby both for Linux and Windows. This application depends on boost (and possibly other libraries). The norm for this kind of application (a chess engine) is to provide only an executable file and possibly some helper files.
I tough it would be a good idea to statically link the libraries so the executable would not have any dependencies. So the end user can just put the executable in a directory and start using it.
However, while doing some research online I found some negative comments about statically linking libraries, some even arguing that an application with statically linked libraries would be hardly portable, meaning that it would only run on my system of highly similar systems.
So what are the pros and cons of statically linking library?
I already know that the executable will be bigger. But I can't see why it would make my application less portable.

A: Pros:
No dependencies.
Cons:
Higher memory usage, as the OS can no longer use a shared copy of the library.
If the library needs to be updated, your application needs to be rebuilt.  This is doubly important for libraries that then have security fixes.
Of course, a bigger issue for portability is the lack of source code distribution.

A: Let's say the static library "A" you include has a dependency on function "B". If this dependency can't be fulfilled by the target system, then your program won't run.
But if you're using dynamic linking, the user could maybe install another version of library "A" that uses function "C" instead of "B", so it can run successfully.

A: If you link the libraries statically, unless you add the smarts to also check the user's system for the libraries you've linked, you're locking your application to use those versions of the libraries until you update your executable.  Security holes happen, and updates happen.  (For a chess engine there may not be too much issue, but who knows.)

A: With dynamically linked libraries, if the library say X, you have linked with is not available at the user system, your code crashes ungracefully leaving the end user wondering.
Whereas, in the case of static libraries everything is fused into the executable, so a condition like above mayn't happen, the executable however will be very bulky.
The above problem in dynamically linked libraries can however, be eliminated by dynamic loading.


text:
Home » Reviews » Under the Umbrella by Amy Ng – Review
Under the Umbrella by Amy Ng – Review
March 25, 2019 Last updated: May 8, 2019 6:29 pm By Laura Thomas
Mei Mac, Minhee Yeo and Charlotte Chiew as Wei, Grandmother and Dong in Under the Umbrella.
At the age of 27, and in danger of crashing out of her master's course at Coventry University, Wei (Mei Mac) has become disillusioned by a lifetime of academic endeavour, fulfilling the ambitions and dreams of her mother and controlling grandmother, in order to turn herself into the perfect wife. She has become westernised, led astray by her hard-partying flatmate Lucy (Laura Tipper). Frequently hungover, and neglectful of her research, she is given an ultimatum by Ph.D. supervisor Dr Zhang (Minhee Yeo), step up or lose her academic status and, with that, her visa.
Tricked into returning to China for the first time for three years, Wei is horrified to discover that her mother (Charlotte Chiew) is peddling her as a marriage prospect, her largely fictional CV is attached to an open umbrella at the local marriage market. Returning to the UK following a bitter row, and after rejecting traditional Chinese values, she is, in turn, betrayed by the shallow and fickle Lucy. Wei is no more than a fashion accessory to her English friend's lifestyle, a quirky Chinese BFF to duet on Sino-pop karaoke. And, despite her protestations, Lucy is secretly in love with the abusive Peter. The pair separate in anger. Caught in the crossfire of the clash of two cultures, Wei flees back to the lychee orchards of home, as Lucy struggles with her selfish and uncaring man and train-wreck of a mother.
Her characters firmly established, writer Ng then ups the drama significantly in this beautifully constructed piece. Wei tries out different futures; would marriage to the David Beckham lookalike from the next village be so bad? She displays flashes of commercial acumen and considers taking over the family business from her ailing grandmother (Yeo again, channelling the inchoate fury of a woman forced by history into making impossible choices).
And then Ng triples the stakes, as the terrifying back stories of mother, daughter and grandmother, and of the horrors imposed on all women in late 20th century China, start to emerge. Reveals are multiple, escalating, shocking, well-paced and delivered superlatively, with a mixture of dance, movement and hand-held lights, supplying a succession of startlingly effective coups de theatre.
The plot brilliantly resolved, the descending action ties up all of the story arcs of both seen and unseen characters, quite magnificently; ending in a joyous musical resolution. Funny, horrifying, harrowing and inspiring. A song of power and grace, and a great shout of joy and defiance.
Quite the best piece of theatre I have seen this year and a masterpiece of succinct storytelling.
Review by Laura Thomas
Meet Wei: ambitious, independent, born and raised near Guangzhou, China. Since moving to the UK to study for her PhD, she's been settling in well with the help of her housemate and best friend Lucy.
There's just one problem: Wei is turning 27, she runs the risk of being labelled 剩女 shengnu or "leftover woman", so a husband must be found before it's too late.
Unbeknownst to Wei, her grandmother pushes her mother into helping with the search. Affixing Wei's dating profile to an umbrella, they join the hundreds of parents gathering at the Guangzhou marriage market, where the only successful transaction is a first date for your child.
Torn between the conflicting pressures of her family and her life in Coventry, can Wei navigate a path between them without losing sight of her own dreams?
Under the Umbrella
Written by Amy Ng
Directed by Justine Themen
Produced by Lian Wilkinson for IGNITE
Tara Theatre, London 26th to 30th March
Show reviewed at Belgrade Theatre, Coventry