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madelinna's Blog
Billboard (September 15 2000)
A blog by madelinna in General
Entry posted by madelinna · November 21, 2009
Madonna is hot. The city of Los Angeles is baking in a late-July heat wave, and the very pregnant pop icon's home does not yet have air conditioning.
"I feel like a walking furnace," she says with a weary giggle. "None of my friends will come over and stand in front of the fans with me."
Save for the wilting temperature, the venerable artist is in high spirits. She's weeks away from giving birth – in more ways than one. And while delivering "Music," her first studio collection since 1998's lauded "Ray Of Light," is not nearly as monumental as the imminence of her second child, it's a source of formidable pride and joy for Madonna.
"It's always a little nerve-racking for me right before I share my work with the world," she says. "But that emotion is usually followed by a sense of accomplishment in doing the best job I can. With this new album, I feel like I've completed what I've set out to do – and that's a good, fulfilling feeling."
And she says her goal for the project, due Sept. 19 on her Warner Bros.-distributed Maverick label, was to "explode."
"Everything in life moves in cycles," she says. "There's a period when you're quiet, and there's a period when you explode. In the time leading up to "Ray Of Light,' I was in a quiet space – making lots of discoveries and going through lots of changes. It was an introspective, questioning time. Then, almost without warning, I felt like I needed to explode. I didn't feel the need to be so introspective. I felt like dancing. And that's reflected in these songs."
If "Ray Of Light" was intentionally soul-searching and cathartic, then "Music" revels in the bliss that follows. Much of the material is bright and uplifting – and in the artist's words, "sometimes downright silly." Case in point, the buoyant "Impressive Instant," in which she gleefully rants lines like "I like to singy, singy, singy, like a bird on a wingy, wingy, wingy" with childlike abandon amid a vibrant, celebratory swirl of electronic keyboard riffs and thumpy dance beats.
"We were working on that song, and I thought, "Oh, ***CENSORED*** it, let's just have fun,' " she says with a laugh. "Life would be such a drag if it was deep and probing all the time."
Not that "Music" doesn't have its serious moments. After a relentlessly upbeat three-song opening that Madonna designed to "make you feel like you're taking off on a rocket," the set occasionally darts into "mildly melancholic" areas. Among the most notable moments is "I Deserve It," which will give critics with a penchant for reading between the lines a field day, thanks to lyrics like "This guy has cried for me, and I have cried for him… All of the pain was worth it."
Equally striking is "What It Feels Like For A Girl," the project's second single, a sage commentary on womanhood that should give the Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera generation of teenage female listeners a little food for thought – and that's as far as she's willing to go in terms of that audience. While Madonna admits that she would welcome the positive attention of that group, she refuses to be "something I'm not. I'm not a teenager anymore, and I won't pretend to be one to sell records. How ridiculous would that be?"
And yet "Music" is decidedly steeped in youth culture – the one that emanates from the street. Like "Ray Of Light," this set is drenched with the flavor of the underground club scene, with a continued emphasis on electronica.
The twist is that Madonna digs deeper into cutting-edge territory this time around by enlisting (in addition to "Ray Of Light" co-hort William Orbit, who adds his distinctive touch to three "Music" cuts) the collaborative input of such credible club figures as Guy Sigsworth, Mark "Spike" Stent, Talvin Singh, and Mirwais – whose mainstream star is on the rise as a result of his connection with the artist. He's the latest in a lengthening list of relatively unknown producers and writers who have earned instant cachet thanks to being tapped by Madonna.
"I'm always searching for something new and edgy and undiscovered," she says, noting that she found Mirwais via a demo submitted to Maverick honcho Guy Oseary. "I love to work with the weirdos that no one knows about – the people who have raw talent and who are making music unlike anyone else out there."
Initially, she says, she was "perfectly happy to work with William again. But this opportunity came along, and I had to take it. Also, after "Ray Of Light,' everyone and his brother was working with him. I realized that I had to move on. I don't want my records to sound like everyone else's. That's boring."
Life in the studio with Mirwais, with whom Madonna eventually wrote and produced six tunes for "Music," was anything but boring. For starters, there was one minor problem to overcome: The Frenchman speaks little English.
"The first couple of days we were recording, I wanted to rip my hair out," Madonna recalls with a giggle. "It didn't seem like there was any way for us to communicate. His manager had to come in and translate everything at first."
But as the two got to know each other better – and thanks to the tiny bit of French Madonna speaks – the vibe in the studio relaxed. "The more we got to know each other, the better his English got," she says, still laughing. "I thought, "Well, isn't that curious?' Ultimately, I think he was nervous. That first week was murder. But I knew we would eventually click. I was intent on making it work, because I truly believe that this man's a genius."
It was her unyielding respect for Mirwais that opened her mind to the idea of revealing her voice in a new way on "Music." "On all of the tracks, except for the few when it's treated with a vocoder for distortion, the vocals have no effects. They're bone dry."
She says Mirwais "tricked her" into the idea.
"The first time we cut vocals, my headphones had a little reverb, but there was none on the board when they recorded me. At first, I was mildly freaked out. It sounded so raw. But then I got into the intimacy of how the vocal was presented. In fact, I got into it to the point where I insisted that there be no effects on my vocals anywhere on the album, regardless of the producer."
She says that only Mirwais could have inspired her to "be so open and vulnerable. I've grown to trust him implicitly. He's so incredibly smart and visionary. I listen to his stuff, and I think, "This is the future of sound.' "
But is the world at large ready for the future of sound? At a time when there's scant deviation from the teen-pop, jangle-rock, and hip-hop that dominate the charts, the stark, often minimalist electronic-dance flavor of "Music" may wash over some listeners like ice-cold water – whether it will be refreshing or startling remains to be seen.
"I can't lie; I care about whether or not this record sells a little or a lot," Madonna says. "Aside from selfish reasons – all artists want their work to be heard and appreciated – I want to bring this sound to a wide audience."
She continues, "The world is in the doldrums musically. It's scary. No one's doing anything interesting or daring, with the exception of the occasional artist who is unique and who manages to sneak into consciousness. It's all so generic and homogenized. If this record happens, it might mean that people are ready for something different."
And they just might be. Interest in the single "Music" has been so strong that it has begun getting airplay a week in advance of the label's planned Tuesday (1) shipment.
"It sounds phenomenal," says Paul "Cubby" Bryant, music director at WHTZ (Z-100) New York. "It's getting amazing phones. But it's not really a surprise. Madonna keeps evolving. She keeps your attention because she's always changing. You never know what to expect from her."
Retailers are equally enthusiastic. "The truth is that she's never out of the spotlight, and people can never get enough of her," says Eric Keil, VP of Compact Disc World, a nine-store chain based in South Plainfield, N.J. "I'm sure this new record is going to do extremely well."
To Caresse Henry, Madonna's manager, there was never any doubt that there would be immediate interest in "Music."
"There's a need for this record in the marketplace." "It's fresh and unique without being inaccessible," she says. "I truly believe that this is her finest album to date."
Because the artist is so close to delivering her second child, Henry says, the project's marketing plan will unfold gradually.
"She's currently doing things like radio drops and station IDs, but she's on somewhat of a break until after the baby comes," Henry says. "She's also done quite a bit of long-lead press, and she's done a video for the single."
The clip, directed by Jonas Akerlund, who helmed the award-winning video for "Ray Of Light," features actress Debi Mazar, longtime Madonna backing singer Nikki Harris, and English comedian Ali G. in a racy girls' night out on the town – replete with an amusing animated interlude.
The single also benefits from a plethora of dance remixes, provided by Groove Armada, Deep Dish, Victor Calderone, Hex Hector, and Tracy Young. Each remixer was hand-picked by Madonna, who says, "The club vibe of this record is crucial to me. I love to hear my records on the radio, but it's more important to me that my records get played in the clubs. That's where I got my start, and that's where I will probably always feel most at home."
To that end, the artist will preside over a lavish club event in Los Angeles to celebrate the release of "Music." Similar events are being considered for other key markets. According to Henry, the Los Angeles bash will likely be Webcast over the new site madonnamusic.com, which is due to launch in early August.
Actually, Henry says that the Internet will be a key component in the marketing of "Music." In addition to tentative plans to do a chat in August, Madonna will strive to heighten her visibility online.
"This is such an efficient and safe way for her to connect with her fans," Henry says. "We're working to create a forum in which she can just jump online and post messages and answer fan mail."
Madonna's enthusiasm for the Internet may surprise some, given that a rough mix of the single "Music" was leaked in May via Napster – a move that some have accused her of doing herself.
"Oh, please!" she shrieks at the suggestion. "If I was going to leak my record, I would've put a better mix of it out there. I practically had a nervous breakdown when the track got out there. I wasn't even finished with the record when it happened. I was wiggin' out. I still kinda am. I don't want my whole album to be leaked. I don't care if you're my 83-year-old grandmother, you're not getting my record before I'm ready for you to have it."
That said, the artist sees the potential for the positive evolution of music online. "I like the idea of trading information on the Net . . . that you can sample bits and pieces and get sounds and ideas for songs. But to have a whole album online, and then say that it's your right to have it for free, is bullshit. I mean, pay for my record, thank you very much."
With that, Madonna takes a deep breath and ponders the future. Before the year is done, she plans to sharpen her stage chops with surprise club dates in New York, Los Angeles, and London, "which is my favorite thing to do. The electricity of jumping onstage in a club is so intoxicating." She promises that the dates will be a prelude to a long-delayed full-scale concert tour – her first in seven years.
"You need a minute to make things just right," she says, explaining the delay. "I can't just go out there half-assed. It has to be right. I'll spend a lot of the first part of 2001 preparing for it."
Slated for a summer launch, the trek is not likely to include material from before her 1992 opus, "Erotica." "But you never know," she says, laughing at the notion of dragging out her "Like A Virgin"-era wedding dress. "Maybe I'll make one of my boy dancers do it."
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Home > Media > Press releases > TechnipFMC Awarded Contract for India's Largest Hydrogen Generation Unit by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
TechnipFMC Awarded Contract for India's Largest Hydrogen Generation Unit by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
LONDON & PARIS & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TechnipFMC (NYSE:FTI) (Paris:FTI) (ISIN:GB00BDSFG982) has been awarded a substantial(1) contract by the state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) for a grassroot Hydrogen Generation Unit (HGU). The project is part of the brownfield expansion for HPCL's Visakh Refinery Modernization Project located in Visakhapatnam, in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.
The contract covers project management, technology licensing, preparation of basic design and engineering package, as well as detailed engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and performance guarantee test run on an LEPCC* basis.
This HGU is being installed to cater to the needs of HPCL Visakh refinery to enhance its refining capacity from 8.33 MMTPA** to 15 MMTPA. TechnipFMC's scope includes an HGU comprising two trains with a design capacity of 113 KTPA*** each and a Pressure Swing Adsorption Unit of 36 KTPA hydrogen production.
TechnipFMC advanced the application of its proprietary steam reforming technology beyond the conventional fired reformer by adding its TechnipFMC Parallel Reformer (TPR®), a convective, high temperature heat exchange reformer. This combination reduces overall firing demand by taking high temperature heat from the effluent of the conventional reformer to supply heat needed for the TPR. In addition, the design includes a power generation unit that utilizes excess steam, making the plant electrically self-sufficient.
Nello Uccelletti, President of the Onshore/Offshore business at TechnipFMC, commented: "Our proprietary steam reforming and TPR technologies were key differentiators in this award. By maximizing energy efficiency, lowering feed consumption, reducing power import and minimizing emissions, these technologies will enable us to provide HPCL with a self-sufficient HGU which is one of a kind in the industry."
TechnipFMC previously executed two HGUs for HPCL and has a strong presence in India. The company is a global leader in the design and supply of hydrogen plants, with more than 270 built worldwide.
*LEPCC – Licensing, Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning
**MMTPA – Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum
***KTPA – Kilo Tonnes Per Annum
(1) For TechnipFMC, a "substantial" contract is ranging from $250 to $500 million.
Note: this inbound order was included in the company's second quarter results.
Important Information for Investors and Securityholders
This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The words "scheduled," "estimated," "aimed" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which are generally not historical in nature. Such forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. Known material factors that could cause our actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include the Company's ability to successfully deliver, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd's acceptance of, the various onshore products ordered. For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause actual results to differ from projected results, please see our risk factors set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which include our Registration Statement on Form S-4, Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.
We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any of our forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by law.
Matt Seinsheimer, +1-281-260-3665
Phillip Lindsay, +44 203 429 3929
Director Investor Relations Europe
Christophe Belorgeot, +33 1 47 78 39 92
Delphine Nayral, +33 1 47 78 34 83

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I thought I would simply provide some competitive deck lists in a spot where you can access them easily and I will try to keep them updated. I will definitely not take credit for most of the decks and I have to admit that most decks ideas are not new and come from other players. If you think you deserve a mention or have a neat deck idea yourself – you can PM me on the SolForge forums (konanTheBarbar) and I will mention you along with the name of your deck here.
I won't write lengthy things about the decks, but I will write a few lines about the deck idea, what your main must-levels are and which are good and bad match-ups.
I think the main idea from this deck comes from the so called Fun Police deck – based around Anvillon Arbiter, Cacklebones and Leyline Demon. It basically tries to reduce the drawbacks of Cacklebones with the help of Anvillon Arbiter and Leyline Demon. This deck is good against decks that play multiple cards or that build big threats – which can be taken out by Duskmaw or Cacklebones. The win condition is the Crypt Conjurer lifedrain combo with Tendrils and other Nekrium Spells. With three Howl of Xith this deck has incredible lategame reach and is the only AN archetype that is quite good against the AT goodstuff deck in the current metagame. Just be aware that this deck is complicated to play and definitely not for beginners, since you need different tactics for different match-ups. As a meta-call (see comments below) I removed the Soulreap and added Leyline Sentry. It's also a possibility to keep the Soulreap and remove Sorrow Maiden – just see what works best for you.
This deck tries to build a huge board full of Metaminds and get consistency and extra cards plays by drawing additional cards. Ghox and Drix are your best friends 🙂 AT is a really tough matchup and UT can be challenging as well. If your opponent can't remove Ghox or Drix then he will get overwhelmed quickly. The deck doesn't use any of the new Set 5.1 Legendaries so it's quite cheap to get for a Set 5.1 archetype. The number of Ambriel's Edict and Leyline Sentry can potentially be reduced and be replaced by other cards that are good for challenging match-ups.
This archetype evolved out of the Malicious Gnomes deck and is way more competitive and very good in the current metagame. It's a quite greedy AU deck and therefore hard to pilot, but once you have mastered it the deck can be a beast and many decks have already adapted and are using Aetherphage to be able to disturb this deck. This version is a mix of Captain78 and Kyle Duncans version from the recent WC. Captain78's version even made it into the finals! Your must levels are Malice Hermit and the Energy Surges. Once you got them leveled (and hopefully also have an active Lucid Echoes) this deck is usually able to stall the game until you can play your Nova, Grove Queen lvl4 and win the game this way. Captain78's version used 2 Glowstride Stag instead of the Aetherphage, but I think currently Aetherphage is a great meta call and let's you stand a chance against Shockfinity (another control deck that can get it's combo usually before PL4). Btw. isn't it great this deck plays 3 Forgeborns and each as a 1 of?
Also be aware that Oreian Justicar is a must level agianst the UN Broodstone decks! Otherwise that deck will overwhelm you pretty fast.
This archetype is probably one of the best archetypes against the AT Goodstuff deck. AT uses lots of movement and by playing triple Leyline Golem it gives AT a hard time. Especially Ironboard is great, because his ability also causes the movement of your opponent creatures and is an addtional source to get free Leyline Golems. On top of that this deck has two strong counters against decks that produce tokens or revive creatures – Oreian Justicar and Leyline Sentry. One of the drawbacks of the deck is that it can be inconsistent at times, because of all the situational cards like the Leylines, Justicar and Relic Hunter.
AT Goodstuff is the most legendary heavy, competitive archetype that exists since Set 3. The core of the deck is Frostmane Dragon, Nexus Aeronaut, Borean Windweaver and Brimstone Tyrant. Combine these cards with Oratek Explosives and Rage of Kadras and you can often snowball to victory while keeping the board clear every turn. AT Goodstuff is really great since it can beat basically any archetype given good draws and is especially good against UT.
There are 4-6 flex slots – although I usually always play Korok the other cards are more situational and could be replaced. Right now I run 3 copies of Herald of Destruction and 2 Windspark Elemental. Because the Alloyin count is quite low in this version Burnout might even be better than Oratek Battlebrand – I'm just so used to Battlebrand that I don't want to miss it (although you will likely miss an allied trigger once in a while). Herald helps you against UN and Windspark Elemental just gives you a great finisher potential with Brimstone Tyrant, Rage and Explosives.
The theory of the deck. You have 9(+) cards with Overload.
3 Energy Surges that draw 3 cards each.
This means if you play all your Overload cards and are capable of having a 21 card hand you win.
We have 12 card draw for free, 3 Surges/3 Gnomes.
We can draw 3 cards with a Level 3 Adept bringing us to 14 (discard pool gets card you don't want to draw).
This means you need to have a 7 card hand to get infinite.
You can take out a Metatransfer and/or 2 and add 2 War Machines if you want more Overload cards.
How do you win? You achieve the above conditions and don't die. If you do this you will be able to cast Static Shock level 3 into Energy Surge, repeat. I have done this on stream and it's possible. It takes some time to get the deck down, but when it does the feeling is amazing.
Must levels: Master of Elements + Energy Surges. You can drop some Overload cards through your Masters, but realize you are going to need 9 plays to get there. It's hard and requires you to make absolutely stupid plays sometimes.
It is not about winning, it is about winning in style.
Nothing says, Get Rekt!, like casting 25 Static Shocks Level 3 for a victory!
This archetype was already strong in set 5.1 and got the nice little addition of Varna, Immortal King in set 5.2. You could probably play 2 copies of him, but with so many Oreian Justicar and Herald of Destruction in the current meta – having him as a one of seems to be alright. This version of the deck is very close to Stillhadalldeez deck, who made the top 4 in the 2015 Solforge World Championship. I added Aetherphage instead of Soothsayer Hermit – he is definitely a much needed meta call and is one of the reasons why he lost the semi-finals against an AU leveling deck. I know that Suruzal can do amazing things in this deck, but as mentioned above – there exist many hate cards against revival effects and therefore I added a Dendrify and a Howl of Xith in that slots.
There was already a similar NU list in the original article, but this version is more streamlined and probably also more competitive – that's why I thought I had to add it to the collection. The list has a good mix of underdrops, threats, removal and cards that allow you to stay ahead in it. On top of that it is quite good against AT – which not a lot of decks can say of themselves.
Use your creatures to force your opponent to use the side-lanes – where you can block with Spiritstone Sentry or let them open lane their creatures so that you can use Nethershriek or Duskmaw to take out his threats. Tarsus is basically your threat amplifier and also makes the Leylines Stronger if you can trigger them. Immortal Echoes is best played as underdrop when you have a Tarsus on the board in PL2 and beyond. There are cases when you can use it aggressively in PL1 – e.g. an early Behemoth died, but in general it is best used later. I initially had Broodqueen in the deck and replaced her with Suruzal, Emissary of Varna. Broodqueen is really good in some match-ups, but can easily mess up your own Death Pile and was therefore replaced.
The archetype is simple straightforward and quite powerful against a wide range of decks. By playing both Leylines the AT match-up is quite good – especially if they don't play Oreian Justicar. Since this archetype is also quite simple to play I can definitely recommend this to new players. I restricted the Legendary count to 9 and I don't think the deck took a big drawback by that. Another version of the deck could include two Tarsus Deathweaver and two Immortal Echoes, which both synergize well with the deck.
Against AT, Thundersaur is a must level, since they have a really hard time removing buffed Thundersaurs. If AT is still giving you trouble you might want to add Scythe of Chiron.
I know how everyone hates this deck, because it is so frustrating to loose against it. But it's still part of the meta and refuses to die (in a fire). You have the Lifegain Engine with Crypt Conjurer and Duskmaw + Nekrium Spells and use it to let your Wegu grow out of control. I should also note that you should definitely value Scythe of Chiron quite highly as well. The lvl2 cast on an Oros can turn the entire game around if things get out of control. The best deck against Wegu is still AT Goodstuff – an early lvl2 Wegu can turn the game around against AT, but otherwise this matchup is really hard.
Have you missed the good old days, when NT Removal was among the best archetypes? Hectares took some of the traditional NT core – Grimgaunt Devourer (GGD), Ebonskull Knight and Byzerak Spitemage – and mixed it with some "Hate" cards like Herald of Destruction, Sorrow Maiden and Leyline Demon to get competitive. I could just briefly play with this deck and it was great to have the opportunity to play with some "old" friends 🙂 One small advice – pay attention to the matchup and don't play GGD against AT.
This deck can be very fun to play with and makes great use of Spiritstone Sentry – especially in combination with Borean Windweaver, which you can use to move Spiritstone Sentry back to a side lane. Tarsus Deathweaver, Immortal Echoes and Neithershriek go really well with that combo. Apart from that you have the Duskmaw and Crypt Conjurer engine (similar to the AN Soulshatter deck) which gives you additional reach and survivability.
This deck is one of most explosive archetypes of the current metagame and made it's way into the recent WC finals. What is really nice about this archetype that you can get the most important legendaries for this deck in the preconstructed deck Blistering Chaos. Apart from that deck you only need Shardplate Behemoth as legendary which has a nice budget replacement in the form of Swampmoss Ancient.
The game plan is to level every Herald of Destruction that you can get, while keeping the board clear. If you have a Herald of Destruction and play Phytobomb, the Herald of Destruction deals damage equal to its attack for every token it generates for your opponent. E.g. a Herald of Destruction 3 deals 36 damage to your opponent when you play Phytobomb and your opponent has three open lanes. If you also have a Windspark Elemental the damage even gets doubled.
Dendrify is in the deck to deal with huge threats (e.g. Thundersaur), while Malice Hermit acts as your board wipe. I should also note that Dendrify deals damage to your opponent and might get directly killed if you have a Herald of Destruction on the board. There are several other strong synergies in the deck – e.g. pump your Herald with WWP or Shard to make the Phytobomb combo even stronger or use the Yetis (Malice Hermit is also a Yeti) with Windspark Elemental to deal damage. Apart from that the deck is actually really cheap to build, while being very competitive. For the preconstructed core you will only need the Blistering Chaos deck.
Simply because I've seen the term thrown around but I don't know what it means, what does "Zoo" refer to?
Zoo generally refers to lists that run creatures with good stats for their cost. In Magic this means the stats are good for the casting cost, while in Solforge it means (I suppose) creatures that have good stats for their level.
Shardplate is your quintessential "zoo" creature, even with a drawback, as is Bron in Dino Knight form.
If you further refine the idea, e.g. Aggro Zoo, you tend to talk about creatures that specifically have good stats in the early game (low casting cost or strong PL1 creatures) while Midrange Zoo might refer to creatures that can just overall dominate the board when you play them a bit later because of their superior stats.
It's a term that is used in Magic, Hearthstone, and (evidently) Solforge. Probably other games by now as well.
I thought the "Zoo" term kind of fits that deck – we don't have a Zoo deck definition for Solforge, so why not define a Zoo deck?
There are lots of "small" priced creatures – the Leylines and Behemoth fall in that category for me – we have animals – Dinosaurs and the Behemoth – and the deck can be quite aggressive. On top of that it's quite cheap to build (which is often another characteristic of Zoo decks).
Zoo refers to a Magic: The Gathering deck archetype that played the best 1 and 2 cost creatures and burn spells. The name comes from the fact that most of these creatures were animals, like apes and wolves etc.
"Zoo" is a deck name from Magic: The Gathering that has transcended to this game. This deck name usually comes from the art and creature types. If it has a bunch of animals in it that you might find in a zoo rather than humans and robots, that begins to categorize it as a "Zoo" deck.
However on top of the creature typing it has a very distinct play style. A Zoo deck generally has a great early game tempo that tries to put their opponent back on their heels early game. They usually don't recover very well but their early game pressure is enough to win the mid/late game.
Damn Konan, amazing article as always! Good to see you writing.
To the person above me, "zoo", as far as my understanding goes, is the term for a creature based aggressive deck. It came from magic where the deck had a lot of animals in it like loam lion and kird ape, zoo animals so to speak. Truth be told the term doesn't really transfer over well to solforge, and big dumb animals is more of the equivalent (SF deck with a lot of powerful underdrops to kill as early as possible with big creatures, kind of the same concept).
Zoo is a nickname for aggressive creature based decks. It comes from magic the gathering, where the commonly used competitive aggressive creature deck is made up mostly of animal-like creatures (gorillas, cat people, etc.).
I have a hard time grinding and playing lots of game this time of the year due to work.
This really helps people like me.
Leyline sentry completes this deck. Just went 3-1 and had lvl2, 3 sentries in all games. Loss was mostly due to variance (i.e. Their great curves vs my lackluster ones. Highly recommend altering your list to swap sentry for maiden.
I think Leyline Sentry is a pretty good meta call – especially against all the UN decks and it helps against Frostmane Dragon in AT as well. What I wasn't that happy with is Soulreap in the deck – it can be really great at times, but it's often really hard to find a good spot to play it.
Totally agree. Soulreap I like just because of the mirror (stealing their conjurers after an epidemic or tendrils) and also for Thundersaur which can be a blowout. I will try exchanging soulreap for maiden.. the problem is the times when you wanna play maiden instead of cacklebones, conjurer, or arbiter are few. Thanks for the lists again and your comments!
Thank you for this great article! This is a great resource for all sorts of players, especially if making a gauntlet to test new deck ideas (or even just tweaks).
I was wondering about multiple times you have listed cards in the decks that are only 2-ofs as must level. Is this correct? Do you want to see the cards a little less but then always level them when you do see them? Or do you actually want three of them? Or is this because they are horrible in some matchups so you only want two to minimize clump when you do play those bad matchups?
I don't think it's unusual that 2 of's that are must level – a good example are pretty much all hard level gated cards – e.g. Neithershriek and Botanimate.
The Shockfinity list does not include Static Shock.


Cornwall FA are delighted to be working with the Eden Project supporting their Community Weekends this coming weekend on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th November.
The Community Weekend allows free of charge admission to Eden for football volunteers, together with their immediate family, (comprising a maximum of 2 adults and up to 3 children aged from 5 to 16 years of age). Under 5's are free.
The support Eden receives from the local community of friends and neighbours plays a big part in their continued success. To thank you, they invite you and your family to visit with free admission, to enjoy winter at Eden as part of this year's Community Weekends programme.


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Century Child je čtvrté řadové album skupiny Nightwish, vydané v roce 2002 na labelu Spinefarm Records.Je to první album s baskytaristou a vokalistou Marco Hietalou.

Toto album je významný posun oproti těm předešlým a to jak z hlediska hudby, tak i textů, poprvé se zde objevuje orchestrální doprovod. Velký krok dopředu udělali také vokalisti Tarja Turunen a Marco Hietala, v písních jako "Slaying the Dreamer", "Dead to the World" nebo "The Phantom of the Opera" je znát velký kus práce v interpretaci. Album obsadilo 1. místo ve Finském žebříčku a dostalo se mu silně pozitivní recenze.

Seznam skladeb

Standardní edice

Edice Spinefarm UK Collector's

Umělci podílející se na albu

Členové kapely
 Tarja Turunen – zpěv
 Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen – kytara
 Marco Hietala – baskytara, zpěv
 Tuomas Holopainen – klávesy
 Jukka Nevalainen – bicí

Hosté
 Sam Hardwick – Mluvené části
 Kristiina Ilmonen – Plechová píšťala
 Joensuu City Orchestr – Orchestr

Alba Nightwish
Alba z roku 2002
Alba Spinefarm Records
Alba Century Media Records

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Various positions of the camera (high, medium, or low; and left, right, or straight on) with respect to the subject, each giving a different viewpoint, perspective or visual effect.
Movement of camera caused by unsteady hold or support, vibration, etc., leading, particularly at slower shutter speeds, to a blurred image. It is a major cause of photographs which are unsharp, especially with telephoto and macro lenses. Camera shake can be reduced by some holding techniques, monopod and tripod use, as well as the use VR (vibration reduction) or IS (image stabilzation) lenses and camera when available.
Unposed pictures of people, often taken without the subject's knowledge. These usually appear more natural and relaxed than posed pictures.
An electrical component, in the past, known commonly as a condenser. It stores electrical energy supplied by a power source and can discharge it more rapidly than the source itself. It's commonly used in electronic flash units to provide for reliable firing even as batteries loose their charge to supply the power surge needed for electronic flash tubes.
A lighttight, factory-loaded film container which can be placed in and removed from the camera in daylight.
Light-trapped film container used with 35 mm cameras. Elliptically shaped film cassettes have been designed for the Advanced Photo System (APS) which serves as the sealed, leaderless container for all APS film whether unexposed, exposed or processed.
Abnormal coloring of an image produced by a departure from recommended exposure or processing conditions with a transparency film, or when making a color print. Can also be caused by reflection within the subject as from a hat on to the face. A color cast can also be on a digitally produced image.
An electronic light sensor used by autofocus cameras, capable of detecting subject contrast. It can also be an image-receiving device for video camera.
Chimping is a term used in digital photography (especially when using a digital single-lens reflex camera) to describe the habit of checking every photo on the camera's LCD display immediately after capture.
Some photographers use the term in a derogatory sense to describe the actions of amateur photographers, but the act of reviewing images on-camera is not necessarily frowned upon by professional or experienced photographers.
The term "chimping" is attributed to Robert Deutsch, a USA Today staff photographer, in September of 1999 when writing a story for the SportsShooter email newsletter.
A lens aberration producing an overall blurred image due to the inability of a lens to bring all wavelengths of light (especially red and blue) into the same plane of focus. This aberration is more prevalent in large-aperture telephoto and super-telephoto lenses, and does not generally improve by stopping down the lens. Correction can be obtained through the use of Low Dispersion (ED, LD SD) glass. Essentially, this aberration is caused by light rays of different wavelengths coming to focus at different distances from the lens. Blue will focus at the shortest distance and red at the greatest distance. Since the natural rays of light are a mixture of colors, each aberration will give a different value corresponding to each color thus producing blurred images.
An index or numeric rating indicating the optimum development contrast for negative materials.
Animals in the wild have a natural "circle of fear." It's an area surrounding an animal, in which, as the animal is approached, it will normally watch whoever or whatever is getting closer, gradually becoming more afraid. Eventually, at some point with the "circle of fear" penetrated, the animal will either run or fly off, or attack. The size of the "circle" is variable and depends on the attitude of the animal at that moment, whether or not it's aggressive by nature, timid, hungry or injured, etc.
A chemical which neutralizes hypo (a chemical fixative used in the process of developing of film or paper), thereby reducing wash time of the same, and helping to provide a more stable image.
A ball bearing and recess or similar construction used to enable shutter speeds, aperture values, etc. to be set by touch.
A picture taken with the subject close to the camera-usually less than two or three feet away, but it can be as close as a few inches. It's also know as a macro photograph.
A lens to permit taking pictures at a closer distance than normal camera lenses allow. It is also known as a macro lens. There are also close-up lens attachments which screw on to the front of a lens, which enable the lens to act like a close-up or macro lens and focus on the subject much closer than normal.
A lens covered with a very thin layer of transparent material that reduces the amount of light reflected by the surface of the lens. A coated lens is faster (transmits more light) than an uncoated lens.
How a color film reproduces the colors of a scene. Color films are made to be exposed by light of a certain color quality such as daylight or tungsten. Color balance also refers to the reproduction of colors in color prints, which can be altered during the printing process. In digital photography color balance is know as white balance, and digital cameras general have both automatic and manually controlled white balance. Automatic white balance cannot accurately correct color balance in all light situations.
It is the range of colors that can be reproduced on a computer monitor or in print form. The most commonly used color spaces for digital imaging are the baseline sRGB and wider-gamut Adobe RGB (1998). Both sRGB and Adobe RGB are based on the mathematical RGB (red, green, blue) color model which is well known to define the colors shown on a computer monitor.
Description of the color of a light-source by comparing it with the color of light emitted by a (theoretical) perfect radiator at a particular temperature expressed in degrees kelvin (K). Thus "photographic daylight" has a color temperature of about 5500K. On a digital camera the white balance setting controls how the camera deals with the color temperature of the light entering the camera.
A lens aberration restricted to off axis image points. It has to do with the inability of a lens to render point sources of light near the edges of the frame as circular; the points of light appear as comet-shaped blurs (hence the name coma) with the tails flaring toward the center of the image. This aberration is very difficult to eliminate in wide-angle lenses with large maximum apertures, but it will improve by stopping down the lens.
Many digital cameras with PC Card interfaces use a storage technology called CompactFlash. It is a standard supported by the CompactFlash Association.
The pleasing arrangement of the elements within a scene; the main subject, the foreground and background, and supporting subjects.
The range of difference in the light to dark areas of a negative, print, slide or digital image (also called density); the brightness range of a subject or the scene lighting. It may be also explained as tonal difference. More often used to compare original and reproduction. It could also be described as the difference in visual brilliance between one part of the image and another. Without contrast, there would be no such thing as a visible image. A line in a photograph is visible only because it is either darker or lighter in tone than the background. Every distinguishable part of the image is the result of a contrast in tonal values.
Autofocus, is a term first used by Nikon. The AF sensor detection continues as long as shutter release button is lightly pressed and the reflex mirror is in the viewing position.
Numbers (usually 1-5) and names (soft, medium, hard, extra-hard, and ultra hard) of the contrast grades of photographic papers, to enable you to get good prints from negatives of different contrasts. Use a low-numbered or soft contrast paper with a high contrast negative to get a print that most closely resembles the original scene. Use a high-numbered or an extra-hard paper with a low-contrast negative to get a normal contrast paper.
AF Focus detection continues as long as shutter release button is lightly pressed and the reflex mirror is in the viewing position. Useful when the camera-to subject distance is likely to change.
Lenses are generally designed for maximum performance at infinity. Accordingly, when the lens barrel is fully extended to the shortest focusing distance, resolution is reduced. Although this is negligible for ordinary lenses, it becomes increasingly important in lenses specially designed for close distance photography (close-up or macro lenses). Lens designers adopted a system where a mechanism moves certain lens components as a unit automatically correcting for aberrations. This assures high lens performance throughout the focusing range.
Many digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras have a different sensor size compared to that of a standard 35mm or full frame DSLR camera. The crop factor is the ratio of the sensor size of a camera to a 35mm or full-frame sensor based camera. For example, a DX or APS-C camera with a smaller sensor size compared to an FX or full-frame sensor camera has a crop factor of 1.5.
Cropping is the removal of the outer parts of an image to improve framing, accentuate subject matter or change the aspect ratio of the image. Depending on the application, cropping can be performed on a physical photograph, or achieved digitally using image editing software.


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'They Came Together' Clip: Ed Helms Has The Hots For Amy Poehler
By Angie Han/June 19, 2014 1:45 pm EST
Amy Poehler and Ed Helms were on the same NBC Thursday night comedy block for five seasons, but somehow they've never actually appeared onscreen together until David Wain's They Came Together.
The latest clip from the romcom parody features Poehler as a quirky candy shop owner, and Helms as the accountant who has the hots for her. Obviously, any romance between them is doomed to fail since he's not the one whose face is on the poster. (Paul Rudd is.) But don't let that stop you from enjoying the supremely awkward way he makes his move. Watch the latest They Came Together clip after the jump.
While this particular scene is all about Poehler and Helms, the sprawling cast includes stars from all over NBC's comedy lineup — and CBS', and Fox's, and ABC's. There's How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders, New Girl's Max Greenfield, Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader, The Office's Ellie Kemper, 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer, and Trophy Wife's Michaela Watkins — along with several Wain regulars like Chris Meloni, Michael Ian Black, and Ken Marino.
They Came Together opens in theaters and on VOD June 27.
When Joel (Paul Rudd) and Molly (Amy Poehler) meet, it's hate at first sight: his big Corporate Candy Company threatens to shut down her quirky indie candy shop. Plus, Joel is hung up on his sexy ex (Cobie Smulders). But amazingly, they fall in love, until they break up about two thirds of the way through, and Molly starts dating her accountant (Ed Helms). But then right at the end...well you'll just have to see. (Hint: Joel makes a big speech and they get back together.) From the director of Wet Hot American Summer, Wanderlust and Role Models comes a hilarious and irreverent subversion of the romantic comedy genre.


A six-year-old integrator with Internet know-how proves that you can beat the big guys by providing a flexible, low-cost solution.
As consolidation in the for-profit healthcare industry attracts the attention of the largest solutions integrators and consultants, an enormous opportunity exists for those integrators willing to serve the technology needs of smaller healthcare providers. Although the motive is profit for some ofthese small providers, many more want to invest in innovative applications that let them cut costs and remain solvent in an increasingly competitive healthcare environment.
New Internet-based applications and Web-enabled extensions of legacy systems are among the solutions these providers are most interested in, particularly those providers with distributed sites.
Take, for example, Community Memorial Healthcare (CMH) of Maxysville, KS. CMH is a small, rural health organization that serves a population spread across four cities in northeast Kansas. CMH operates a 49-bed hospital, six clinics, a rural health agency, a nursing home, a home health agency, a behavioral-health unit, an endowment foundation, and a fitness center.
CMH's infrastructure served it well until a very different kind of Year 2000 problem struck. Doug Easton, CMH's CFO, explains: "The product we were using to tie our systems together got axed when one large healthcare ISV bought another. We were told all support would cease on the first day of the year 2000. Migrating is hard enough when you're a big-city hospital system with a centralized campus and a budget to match. It's even tougher when you're a rural provider on a tight budget like CMH."
In a stroke of good timing, CMH won a grant to look into how to build the perfect rural healthcare, system. After studying its options, the CMH team concluded that it needed a hub system from which all of the healthcare information in the area could be serviced.
In addition to CMH, the system would service the county health records, the school health program, and other local health institutions. A key component of the plan would be to use the Internet as a lowcost network and NCs as clients to reduce administration costs.
Finding the right integrator to build this system was more challenging than Easton expected. Most firms that reviewed CMH's situation recommended scrapping the existing system and starting from scratch or converting all of the existing data into a proprietary format.
Eventually Easton received a direct-mail piece from Creative Healthcare Systems (CHS), a six-year-old integrator and ISV in Springfield, MO. CHS specializes in building solutions for rural healthcare providers using Sun Microsystems and Informix technology. Easton gave CHS a call.
"[CHS President] Steve Everest looked for ways we could use our existing network to get the job done," says Easton. "He showed us how he had designed his MedGenix software to use the Internet to connect distant offices for a very low feewhile maintaining the appropriate security."
"He demonstrated how all of our applications could be accessed from Java-based thin clients or PCs running a Web browser. And he showed how we could use an Informix database to keep all of our data in its existing format," says Easton.
Easton admits that he was concerned about trusting his IS future to a small firm with a fairly new product. He wasn't alone. "Some of my board members preferred a larger vendor with a more traditional client/server approach," he says. "But their solutions were much more expensive and less appropriate for our situation. And we'd been burned by a large vendor the last go-around."
"Customers like CMH grimace when you mention new technologies, because they dread upgrading 200 to 400 PCs," says CHS's Everest. "That prospect is so painful that they gridlock and make no decision at all. Using thin- technology eliminates this problem. We install thin clients and make updates on the server. The server then sends out screens that any NC or any PC equipped with a browser can view."
To minimize costs, CMH will keep most of its PCs and use them as Java workstations. CMH will purchase 15 of Sun's new $699 JavaStations from CHS. Each unit includes a built-in HotJava browser, a just-in-time Java compiler, and Sun's MicroSPARC processor.
More JavaStations will be purchased as needed. If all goes well, CMH expects that within a year it will have purchased an additional 45 to 55 JavaStations.
"The sort of rural hospital networks that CHS targets are just right for the thin-client, Web-centric approach," says Bruce Elder, worldwide healthcare-industry manager at Sun Microsystems. "You don't need an expensive support staff or high-speed connectivity. NCs are low-cost, easy-to-administer devices that can access every application the client wants to run-be it a Windows app, a Java applet, or some back-end mainframe."
Another requirement for CNN's new system was that it had to run Windows applications on the same thin clients used to run the Java applications. "Too many of my people have gotten to know and love applications like Microsoft Word," says Easton.
Everest's solution was to install an NT box on the same Ethernet backbone as the Sun server. The NT box runs Citrix Systems' WinFrame thin-client/server software. This allows users who have thin clients to run office automation apps like Word off of NT Server.
Another mission for the NT server is to run new transcription software from Medical Systems International of Kansas City, MO. Now long-distance calls to reach the transcription service are no longer necessary.
"The new system allows you to dictate off a PC connected to the NT server over the Internet," says Easton. "That means anyone can be provided with access to a month's worth of transcription services for the price of a $15 Internet subscription."
"There's a reason why the best solution for CMH came from a freshman reseller," says Elder. "The consolidation in healthcare is keeping many of the major players busy, allowing smaller organizations such as CHS to step up and provide the new technologies that CIOs are looking for. Thus CHS was able to take the job away from some of the biggest players in the game."


At American Waste Septic, we understand that very few people want to think about sewage. If you live in a home connected to a municipal sewer system, you are fortunate to be able to avoid thinking about waste disposal unless something goes disastrously wrong. If you have a septic tank, however, you will need to think about this topic more frequently, at least the times that you have your tank pumped and cleaned.
1. Your toilet is sluggish. One major indicator that you are in need of septic tank cleaning is that your toilet becomes sluggish. A toilet (or other appliance such as a washing machine) that's slow to drain is often caused by a buildup of sludge in your septic tank–having your tank emptied will give the liquid the room it needs to drain as it should.
2. The tank overflows. When waste enters your septic tank, liquids are filtered and released through the drain field, while solid waste sinks to the bottom and remains until the tank is emptied. If the level of sludge in your tank rises too high, it can cause the contents to overflow, backing up through your pipes or seeping into your yard. If you notice this happening, chances are the problem has already become costly, and you should call us at American Waste Septic right away to take care of the issue before it gets even worse.
At American Waste Septic, we are a premier provider of septic services in the Greenville, South Carolina area and are committed to your complete satisfaction today and every time you need us.
Having problems with your septic system? Give us a call, and we'll give you a free estimate!
We have two convenient service points to serve you.


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Believe in perfect? Zoe does. After all, her new boyfriend is. Or is he? What's Jack hiding? When a gorgeous new boy starts at Zoe's school, her first reaction is to feel nervous. He's way too perfect. Surely he can't be for real? But when Jack turns his charm on her, Zoe packs her worries away in a suitcase. After all, he's popular, handsome and (best of all) nice. Soon, they're dating. He's everything she dreamed of – kind, attentive, full of romantic gestures. But maybe Zoe ought to trust her instincts. Is her dream man truly good – or too good to be true?


Natural stone is widely used in the embellishment of classy and luxurious structures including homes. The stones have been in use since ancient times and were used to build pyramids and historic monuments.
When used creatively, natural stones can transform your workplace, home or any living space into a timeless piece of art.
Here are 5 ideas to use natural stone for designing your interior.
Since natural stone matches almost every décor style, you can add a majestic effect to your home's interior walls by adding some interior stone veneer. Be it rustic, modern, minimalist or a classy theme, stone walls look great not just in kitchens and bathrooms, but also your living room.
There are a wide range of shades and textures to choose from. Our interior design firm in West Hartford, Connecticut can assist you in choosing the right stone for customizing your walls just the way you want.
Homeowners can create a focal point by using natural stone on the walls, counters, gardens or just about anywhere in their home. The best part is that you can also applythese stones in small pieces and use them as a backsplash.
This natural look goes beyond your dining room and living room. You can also create a stunning stepping-stone walkway or a kitchen garden to add more value to your home.
The versatility of natural stone gives plenty of opportunities to combine this material with other materials. This is a great way to create a beautiful and natural space inside and outside your home.
Since no two colors are the same, you can use natural stones with light or dark wood cabinetry in your kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.
Interior designers also like to use stacked stone or split-faced stone to surround a fireplace. It is also popularly used for making up kitchen countertops and food preparation surfaces.
This is an extremely tough material which scores high in durability. One of the best ways to use natural natural stacked stone veneer panels in your décor is to use it as a flooring material in high traffic areas of your home.
But another great way to use it is to furnish your kitchen with classy stone kitchen countertops. Every stone has a different color and texture which means you can accomplish a distinctive look for each room. When cared for the right way, natural stone furnishings can last you a lifetime.
Using natural stone for renovating your home or revamping your landscape elevates the beauty of any site. You can also add a natural environment in a room or corner of your house.
Imagine setting up stone showers that make you feel as if you are taking a shower under a waterfall or having a relaxing bath with a natural stone fireplace in your bathroom. That's going to be a truly luxurious and classy experience.
Being a readily available and naturally occurring material, natural stone also plays a great role in achieving a sustainable interior design goal. That's why natural stones continue to be a popular interior decor element that never goes out of style.
This post is a collaborative effort and may contain sponsored links. All opinions are our own and for informational purposes only.


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The right voice for the Alamo City.
Inclusion Cannot Be Comfortable
by Zachary Neeley
Those trying to be inclusive embrace people of different races, ethnicities, religions, creeds, genders, sexualities, abilities, and ages. However, they usually do not include those with different ideas. In other words, diversity is great, except for diversity of thought (or, for that matter, diversity that includes "privileged groups"). Some have even chosen to sacrifice genuine inclusivity on the altar of political correctness to make others feel comfortable. This is not inclusion. This is exclusion.
Only one side can really claim openness.
Take my transgender sister. Although she used to be a self-identified Bernie Sanders supporter just a few years ago, she recently became a staunch libertarian and has warmed up to President Trump and some of his policies. My question to the LGBTQ+ and PRIDE groups out there: would you welcome my sister with open arms to your support groups and activist meetings? I imagine not, because of two main reasons: the hostility that exists between queer individuals and the broader political right, and the polarized nature of today's politics.
I find it upsetting that basic principles of inclusion are ignored for the sake of politics; individual traits and characteristics have become so political that people who have commonalities cannot be associated with one another because of political affiliation. Personally, whenever my sister is suffering from mental health problems, I try to help her out as much as I can. Even though I have gotten many recommendations from others to get her to seek help from the LGBTQ+ community, I ignore them because I know from experience how those will go. The last time I went to a transgender group therapy session with my sister, I got tossed out of the meeting and "re-educated" for saying that I could not wrap my head around the idea of there being an "infinite" number of genders.
Inclusivity comes at a price, which is the sacrifice of the comfort that comes from echo chambers.
To whoever claims to be "inclusive," "accepting of diversity" and "compassionate," I ask: where was the inclusivity when I was tossed out of that meeting? Where was the diversity of thought when I was hounded and berated for merely questioning the idea of infinite genders? Where was the compassion when I had to comfort my sister during her mental breakdowns because she had nowhere else to turn?
Now, I will accept that there is some argument to be made that inclusivity's intent is compassion. Some might argue that my words at that support group were harmful to those present, and therefore I cannot claim the mantle of being "inclusive" and "compassionate." However, it is those critics themselves who I say cannot be inclusive. Even if it is for the sake of keeping some people 'in,' it is exclusive to keep certain thoughts and ideas 'out.'
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Inclusivity comes at a price, which is often the sacrifice of the comfort that comes from echo chambers. Some people try to dismiss certain ideas to make others feel comfortable, but we do not have to set aside the diversity of ideas for the sake of inclusivity.
Some will still claim that we must fight to include certain marginalized groups. While this is true, the fight for inclusivity is not a zero-sum game. Fighting for one group to have a spot at the table does not inherently mean that another group must lose theirs. Everyone ought to have a voice. Just because one group historically had power over another does not warrant marginalizing either group. Power dynamics do not warrant mistreatment to anyone. Rather, it should be a catalyst to ensure equality among all.
Where was the compassion when I had to comfort my sister during her mental breakdowns because she had nowhere else to turn?
Do not claim the mantle of inclusion if you actually are exclusive. Do not masquerade as something you are not. Be honest with yourself: what would an inclusive society look like? Would it include everyone at the table, or would it keep some out to make others feel safe? The former is objectively inclusive, the latter objectively exclusive. Opening up to other people of different backgrounds is the way forward. As for my sister, my advice to those who would like to help her is this: keep politics out of the conversation. If it does enter the conversation, be open-minded. Above all, just listen. I guarantee that you will learn something and be much better off if you do not jump to any conclusions.
As an aside, I will say that many conservatives and Trump supporters that I have told about my sister's transition have been nothing but open-minded and receptive about it. Often times, they do not argue with me but just listen to what I have to say. I can name only one or two incidents when someone was genuinely hostile to me because of my sister. On the other hand, every person on the political left whom I have talked to about my sister always talks about how gender is a spectrum or how my sister is another case of the "oppression of transgender people." Make what you will of that, but it goes without saying that only one side can really claim openness.
Not listening to one another causes an inherent lack of distrust of the "other." You never know who has an agenda. What we really need nowadays are people who listen and are upfront and honest about what they want. When I talk to someone who might be hostile to the idea of my sister transitioning–conservatives and Trump supporters, for example–I do not take the opportunity to "educate" that person. I just talk about my sister's story and leave it at that. If they want to talk politics, so be it; I am not the kind of person around whom others have to walk on eggshells. Still, there are times when politics and agendas must enter into the equation and there are times when they need to be left aside. Otherwise, it simply breeds mistrust, and nobody's the wiser at the end of the day. When I do leave politics aside and just talk frankly about a sensitive subject, I find a receptive audience. The personal does not have to be political.
OpinionBernie Sanders, Diversity, Donald Trump, LGBTZachary NeeleyLeave a comment
Socialist Club Founded at Trinity
After Forum, Weight Given to Race in Trinity Admissions Still Unclear
The Tower is run solely by Trinity students. The views expressed here are the views of the author alone, and do not represent the views of The Tower, the Collegiate Network, or of Trinity University.
The Tower is a project of the Collegiate Network at Trinity University in San Antonio. The Tower serves the San Antonio area, and the Trinity University community especially.
The Tower is completely committed to independence. We will never take direction from Trinity or any other outside organization. Our goal is to serve the students of Trinity and the people of San Antonio with the best news stories and the right ideas. The Tower has no paid personnel—we are all taking the time out of our schedules to work on this project because we believe it will better the communities we care so much about. If you read something on the Tower, you can trust that no one told us what to publish or not publish, and that we are ready to stand behind what we've written.
We chose to name our publication for the distinctive Murchison Tower on Trinity's campus, for the Tower of the Americas and for the idea of intellectual pursuit that the image of a tower evokes. With the right ideas, we believe the right perspective will come across in everything we publish. If you understand that ideas have consequences and that factual and independent reporting matters, then the Tower, the right voice for the Alamo City, is the publication for you.
We thank the Collegiate Network, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the many Trinity alumni, community members and former staff members for their continued support.
The Tower is not affiliated with Trinity University and the views of writers reflect their own only, and should not be taken as the views of Trinity University or of The Tower.


Here you will find all our AxeGlove models for Gibson and Epiphone guitars. AxeGlove may well fit on your particular similar style guitar but slightly looser. For example, some imported guitars are one quarter of an inch narrower and an AxeGlove will still work for you. If you have a special instrument you would like a Custom AxeGlove made for, please feel free to contact us!


Deezer is launching its music-streaming service in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia which will mean it is available in 91 countries. The launch in Thailand will be in partnership with local telco dtac, which is similar to the deals the Paris-based company has forged with Orange in France, the U.K. and, as we reported, in Africa.
The company's activity in Asia is moving up a gear—Indonesia and the Philippines will see launches soonmdash;and suggests the company is swiftly making good on CEO Axel Dauchez's promise to eventually go live in 200 markets and become "the first ever truly global music service".


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1.5 Million File For Unemployment, But Continuing Claims Decrease Slightly
By Avie Schneider
Pedestrians pass a New York State Department of Labor office June 11 in Queens. The Federal Reserve expects the U.S. unemployment rate to still be more than 9% by the end of 2020.
Another 1.5 million people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, a decline of 58,000.
But the number who are continuing to seek the payments is continuing to fall as workers return to their jobs. The Labor Department said continued claims dipped by 62,000 to 20.5 million.
In the past 13 weeks, since the early days of the coronavirus crisis, new claims have totaled a staggering 45.7 million. New weekly filings peaked at nearly 6.9 million in March and have been dropping ever since.
The nation's unemployment rate was 13.3% last month, even as states began to ease lockdowns and reopen their economies. That's down slightly from April's spike to 14.7%, which was the highest since the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve expects it to still be more than 9% by the end of 2020.
With consumers accounting for a big chunk of economic activity, this week's retail sales report was somewhat of a bright spot. Sales jumped 17.7% in May, with sharp increases in most categories. But that followed record drops in the two prior months, and sales are still far below last year's levels.
The recovery is being held back in part because the wealthiest U.S. households have been spending less during the coronavirus recession than their lower-income counterparts, according to new research out this week.
Economy / BusinessUnemploymentunemployment rateCoronavirusCOVID-19
Avie Schneider
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Jesse"Jessrond" R.
5 Level 5 Contributor
116 Helpful Votes
0 Thank Yous
Experience: Computers & Technology, News, Entertainment
First to Review 22
Votes 116
Very Helpful 110
Fraud Buster 1
Great Find 0
Well Said 5
Thank Yous 0
Review Distribution
I talk too much
59 Reviews by Jesse
Sort by: Most rating ▼
"Always have been good to me"
Always have been good to me. My mom had a subscription for my grandpa, who stopped watching movies due to his eyesight. They actually gave her a refund for months when he had not been using it at all. A good example of business, streaming only is still a good deal, now that they are adding more content.
Helpful? Yes 1
Send thank you
"Great site with lots of info"
IMDB is a great site with lots of info and it's connected to Amazon and they rock too. It's been around forever and I've been a member for almost 14 years. Someday I'll have an IMDB page when I finally get all the fame I deserve.
Sporcle
"There are many excellent quizzes on Sporcle, and the..."
There are many excellent quizzes on Sporcle, and the userbase is very creative in developing various games such as mine puzzles.
Their customer support is excellent. Despite being a completely free website, their email responses have been quicker and more informative than other companies that I was a paying customer for.... Comcast and PG&E.
It's very exciting to see the new quizzes each day.
"One of the best, even though Flash is dead"
The site still has tons of content. If you are a new visitor you will find dozens of hours of high-quality cartoons that no other website has ever matched. If you're impatient/ADD, this is a good fit. The longest cartoons are maybe ten minutes, with many that are less than two minutes.
Sadly, Flash is dead, so all new contributions to the site are just embedded versions of YouTube videos, which is where all their content is posted now.
Helpful? Yes
"The best there ever is"
Instagram is perfect for me. I've always been a photogrpaher ever since I was five years old and Instagram lets me add photos instantly. There's even my instagram girlfriend that instantly likes my photos and I like her sexy pics in return. Someday I'll meet her and do non-PG13 things to her.
Tip for consumers: Report bots.
Jesseradin
"TOTALLY LEGIT REVIEW"
hey look they are telling me to review my own site
why would they let me do that
it's kind of weird
but I like it
Sports Mogul
"Amazing customer service and I will always support"
Clay and his wife Dee have been running this company for more than 20 years. The product has remained amazing over the years and I stand by them. Others may prefer a "fancier" game like Out of the Park Baseball but I prefer something that doesn't eat up computer resources.
I wish they could have hired me to do something, but TBH I don't think my skillset would help them at all, and they probably don't have the time or resources to hire more employees than they have.
Nuklear LORD
"An amazing site to play Legend of the Red Dragon"
An amazing site to play Legend of the Red Dragon. It is one of the two sites that have more than 5-10 players... but even so, it's in a decline, sadly. It used to have 450 players total (150 per realm, 3 realms) and now it's just 2 realms and about 110-120 players TOTAL.
Still amazing to get more than 100 people to play a 20+ year old BBS door game.
Panjury
"Been using it since Feb 2014"
I was one of the original members on Panjury. It's quite a bit like Sitejabber but the reviews are easier to find.
If you want to find out what people think about a large variety of topics, Panjury is a place to go to! You can even make your own "subjury" about anything you want.
Tip for consumers: Post lots of reviews and don't be anonymous.
"There is a lot to do on Reddit"
There is a lot to do on Reddit. There's pretty much a subreddit for any conceivable topic... ranging from those with thousands of active members to others with less than 100.
My only issue is that I don't feel I really fit in anywhere as much as others that I know on Reddit. I see them with 10,000+ karma, and I've managed just 208 comment karma over the years.
"Fun and easy to promote your content"
I've gotten thousands of hits promoting my own content on Statcounter. if you write interesting and engaging content you can submit it to Statcounter and get lots of hits. It works WAY better than crap like Reddit for shameless self promotion because the people that use Stumbleupon actually enjoy interesting content!
Only 4 stars though because the UI could use some work.
"Lets you do things for free that cost a lot of money..."
Lets you do things for free that cost a lot of money on Eharmony and Match. Some of the girls are a bit snobby, but others are really down to earth. Have not had a date from here, but that's my fault, not the site.
"Actual free credit score reports"
There are so many "free" credit report sites out there with odious names like "Triple Advantage" that con you into paying a monthly fee to monitor your credit rating. Credit Karma is free with no weird issues. I do suspect the information is less detailed than some other sites... but there are no costs involved. No mysterious charges showing up after you thought you got something free.
It's not 5 stars though because it could be better. My credit score swings between 720 and 800+ mostly depending on my balances. If I have a higher balance one month then it can go down. I haven't used the tax services they have advertised. I think I will stick with TurboTax.
"Decent reviews and helpful age categories (usually)"
In nearly every situation, Common Sense Media provides well-written yet succinct critiques of movies, games, music, and even websites. Unlike most other "family review" sites, they do not have an extreme Christian bias and will review any movie with an open mind. They give two ratings... one is mostly for parents, which is the recommend age for the movie.
It is very detailed and not just a rating like PG or PG-13... they will specifically explain that one movie is good for 11 and up and another might be 14 and up.
I do have one minor issue with them... they decided to give the website HomestarRunner.com a score of "15+", implying that the site would be inappropriate for anyone under 15. While I do agree with the 4/5 they gave for H*Rs quality... the fact that they think that the Brothers Chaps mostly harmless collection of flash cartoons is only for older teens and adults makes me wonder if they even watched them.
But besides that whiny rant, I actually enjoy using this site to see what they think of things. They can be trusted in most cases.
"Good platform with a clunky UI sometimes"
Steam as a web service is very good, but the UI can be a bit clunky. Especially if you are going to a link to Steam.com which will often force you to log into your Steam account even if you are already logged in elsewhere.
"Very good site but way too many anime examples."
I guess anime fans are more passionate because you will be overloaded with anime examples, no matter the trope. I don't really have much of an interest in anime because I never got into it, so I mostly use it for video game tropes.
It would be nice if they had more examples I could relate to but it is amusing anyway.
Youthink
"A decent site"
A decent site. It can be highly addictive, though it's not nearly as active as it was 5-6 years ago, which kind of sucks. Still, good fun. Would be 5 stars if they'd revert to their old poll-centric format, and dropped the failed attempt at social networking.
FanGraphs is a good resource overall, but their site can be buggy and doesn't always work as intended.
Baseball Prospectus lacks the depth you'll find on FanGraphs, but the site is more reliable.
Baseball-reference
"Reliable source but not as flashy as others"
Baseball-reference has been around for a long time. I used it 18 years ago when it was "bigbadbaseball.com" and it's stayed about the same. It's an excellent resource for looking up baseball players. They used to have an "ELORater" that let fans compare two players and then rank which one was better. It was fun, but the webmaster decided to pull the plug.
This is a good source for baseball stats but if you are looking for detailed analysis, you should go to FanGraphs. The blogs that are linked to by Baseball-Reference [not directly on their site] on the player pages are often garbage that no one should read.
Iamned
"good articles 4 slow news day"
It's a good thing you can't smell a webmaster through the web, because if you did, this site would make you retch.
It could be a good source for econ news but sadly it broke down in June 2016 and is stuck there.
It's kind of like the Drudge Report with shoddier design but less bias.
Jesse Has Earned 116 Votes
Jesse R.'s review of Common Sense Media earned 2 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of KickStarter earned a Very Helpful vote
Jesse R.'s review of Facebook earned a Very Helpful vote
Jesse R.'s review of BuzzFeed earned 9 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of steam.com earned a Very Helpful vote
Jesse R.'s review of Disqus earned 12 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of UrbanDictionary earned 2 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of USAJobs.gov earned 8 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of Nextdoor earned 8 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of Imgur earned 2 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of POF earned 5 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of HireArt earned 6 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of Sports Mogul earned a Very Helpful vote
Jesse R.'s review of Disqus earned a Well Said vote
Jesse R.'s review of Examiner.com earned 7 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of RetailMeNot earned 7 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of DrudgeReport earned 4 Very Helpful votes
Jesse R.'s review of BugMeNot earned a Very Helpful vote
Jesse R.'s review of Facebook earned a Well Said vote
Jesse R.'s review of StumbleUpon earned a Very Helpful vote
Jesse hasn't received any thanks yous.
Jesse Has 1 Fan
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Q: Finding the zero of a function defined by a non linear differentiel equation (Question of numerical computation) In my PHD studies, I need to find the zero of a mysterious function sigma defined by a differential equation of the following form
$$u*\sigma'(u)+(1-\chi_0)*\sigma(u)+\sum_{k=1}^{D}\sigma(u-x_k)(\chi_{k-1}-\chi_{k})=0,$$
with the initial condition $\sigma(u)=u^{chi(0)-1}$ if $u<=x_1$ and $\sigma(u)=0$ if $u<0$ in these two cases: ($D=10$ for both cases and $x_0=0$)
1) $x_k=1/(3*(D-k+1))$ and $$\chi_k=8* (\cos((2*(D-k)+3)π/(3*(D-k)+4)))^3-4* \cos((2*(D-k)+3)π/(3*(D-k)+4)).$$
2) $x_k= 1/(2*(D-k+1))$ and
$$\chi_k=16* \cos(((D-k)+2)π/(2*(D-k)+5))^4  -12*\cos(((D-k)+2)π/(2*(D-k)+5)))^2 +1.$$
I want just to mention that the sequence $(x_k)$ is increasing and we have
$$x_0=0<x_1<x_2<...<x_D<X_{D+1}=+\infty.$$
Thank you.
Khadija

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Essential Reading / Longform
The Cunnilingus Conundrum: Why The Allure of 'Blue is the Warmest Color' Is Its Biggest Detraction
by Jesse Knight
In what is habitually a treat for cinema fans, the elite home video distribution house The Criterion Collection announced its February lineup Friday. Among the titles was Blue is the Warmest Color, French director Abdellatif Kechiche's coming-of-age story that has become a magnet for controversy since taking the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, a factor which has proved invaluable to the film's success.
It's an unexpected entry to the Criterion canon, especially since it was just released stateside last month. Criterion's mission statement is to offer "important classic and contemporary films," and one would be hard-pressed to disagree that Blue is the Warmest Color belongs in the latter category. The film has a unique lingering spell; lead actresses Adéle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux are so transcendently good as the central romantic couple that it's possible viewers might find themselves ruminating about the characters days later.
It's a side effect of the three-hour running time, which spans roughly seven years in the life of Adéle (Exarchopoulos) as she endures high school and her world-changing romance with the slightly older but infinitely more experienced Emma (Seydoux). The early scenes between them are unusually drawn out, inviting viewers to witness two people falling for each other in as nakedly honest a way as a camera can capture. There's no meet-cute or witty banter from either; their conversations consist of the mundane details of their lives, punctuated by charmed smiles and exploring eyes. Never before has a discussion about art school been so captivating. But it would be foolish to believe that the whirlwind of controversy surrounding the film didn't boost its rung-climbing status.
Before the Cannes jury awarded Blue the festival's top prize last May, word of the explicit sex eclipsed many reports of the film itself, which quickly came to be known to those outside the fest as "the one with the 20-minute lesbian sex scene." Julie Maroh, the author of the graphic novel on which the film is based, criticized the sex scenes, dismissing them as pornographic. Nevertheless, the jury was so taken by the film and its stars that it chose to bend the rules this year and presented the award to director Kechiche, as is customary, in addition to Seydoux and Exarchopoulos. The three accepted the award, all smiles and warmth and graciousness.
Abdellatif Kechiche, Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos accepting the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival in May 2013
But when the film screened months later at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was in the wake of an interview with the two actresses in which Seydoux deemed the production experience "horrible" (the sex scene alone took 10 days to shoot), condemned Kechiche's methods as bullying and vowed never to work with him again. The interview launched a much-publicized back-and-forth between Kechiche and the two actresses, which grew nastier the longer it went on and finally culminated with Kechiche telling French magazine Telerama last September that he didn't want the film to be released at all; the controversy had tainted it.
He's wrong.
Exarchopoulos and Seydoux in 'Blue is the Warmest Color'
Forget for a moment that Blue is the Warmest Color is great. It's a loaded, emotionally blistering experience with two incandescent performances at its heart. But many viewers likely bought their tickets based on other, more superficial reasons. Beyond festivalgoers and hardcore cinema fanatics, and despite its universal themes of young love and longing, Blue is a tricky sell. The call of a subtitled three-hour drama about a lesbian couple featuring two actresses with unpronounceable names is unlikely to be heard without a bit of amplification. The notion of a 20-minute lesbian sex scene is enough to garner the attention of American audiences, even if that number was greatly exaggerated. (The scene is actually only around 10 total and spread out over the course of the film). The sex was also explicit enough to fool many into thinking it was unsimulated (it's not), which easily earned the film an NC-17 rating in the U.S.
Because the lengthy love scenes are what caused the initial stir, they're the reason most people paid attention in the first place. It takes sitting through the film to discover that the sex is not only ridiculously over-the-top and stuntedly performed, but also superfluous to the narrative. There's nothing in those scenes that deepens or reveals anything new about Adéle and Emma's relationship. They're gratuitous, misguided, even boring. In them, Kechiche – a heterosexual – fumbled for truth and passion, but instead wound up contriving little more than softcore sapphic sensationalism. The sex scenes are the only time in which the unease of actresses – heterosexuals themselves – is transparent. They do their best to adhere to Kechiche's wrongheaded conceptualization, but it's a lost cause.
There are far more intimate scenes, such as a daytime cigarette date, and another involving salsa dancing. The rest of the film is so victorious in emanating believable tenderness and raw passion that the sex feels even phonier. Without those scenes, though, none of the film's real merit would have inspired the likes of superlative-slinging HuffPo articles or A.V. Club write-ups about boners. The promise of so much fleshy writhing is like some clever marketing scheme to put butts in seats and then blindside horny viewers with an overwhelmingly soulful and achingly honest film about growing up.
Tracking the controversy from its inception was exhausting and, no matter how highly people spoke of the film, jeopardized my desire to see it by the time it was finally released. It would be impossible to watch these actresses perform and ignore the fact that they felt uncomfortable or exploited, not just in the sex scenes, but in the intensely emotional ones as well. The film thankfully sheds light on the accusations made by both parties, and somewhat mitigates the concept that the actresses were made out to be Kechiche's puppet-slaves.
After seeing the film, one thing is absolutely clear. In that initial interview, Seydoux claimed Kechiche didn't know what he wanted and demanded an inordinate amount of takes for a few seconds of screen time (the shoot, only supposed to last two months, sprawled to five-and-a-half, and reportedly yielded nearly 800 hours of footage). Kechiche's undisciplined style is apparent onscreen, but it's also clear that the actresses, even if they were at times allegedly mentally and emotionally tapped, never lost hold of their characters. They remain remarkably resilient throughout, and even Kechiche's wayward narrative drive can't diminish the soulfulness they bring in droves to their every scene. Their performances prove that they understood their characters' relationship far more deeply than even the director did.
As the director, it's less trouble for Kechiche to spend so much time and energy on a project because his work is predominantly his life. For Seydoux and Exarchopoulos as actresses, though, inhabiting the minds of these characters for much longer than originally anticipated understandably took its toll.
Isabelle Adjani in 'Possession' (1981)
It's a queasy idea that some of the greatest, most indelible performances by an actress were aided by a director's megalomania. Lars von Trier famously terrorized Björk during the filming of Dancer in the Dark, which helped foster her frightening embodiment of her character's desperation and euphoria. Or consider Isabelle Adjani, who allegedly attempted suicide after seeing her hysterical performance in a cut of Polish filmmaker Andrzej Żuławski's 1981 freak-out Possession, damning the director for exposing her soul so nakedly on camera.
But what segregates those directors from Kechiche is their uncompromising preparedness and assured vision. While making Blue, Seydoux and Exarchopoulos were at the mercy of a person in authority who repeatedly failed to lead. It wasn't Kechiche's methods that extracted such exquisite performances from his actresses; it was their defiance in withstanding them. In that joint interview, after Seydoux declared the experience "horrible," Exarchopoulos immediately followed with, "We wanted to give everything we have, but sometimes there was a kind of manipulation [by Kechiche], which was hard to handle." Not only did Kechiche fail to guide his performers, he even went so far as to stand in their way.
If you haven't seen Blue is the Warmest Color yet and are waiting for video, here's a viewing tip: Skip to the sex scene first. Watch it. See what the unjustified hype was all about. Satisfy your curiosity and get the mechanical, choreographed, simulated grinding, gyrating and flailing limbs out of the way. Then start from the beginning and watch it without the needless distraction. It will be far more rewarding that way.
RobHunter
As a heterosexual male, I love the sex scenes between the two actresses. But as a movie lover, I dislike those scenes for being the only weak and unnecessary ones in an otherwise beautiful, wise, and intimate film.
ptro
It's true the sex scenes are frivolous and even boring but disagree with your method for watching the film. These scenes represent the director's true colors: meandering, unfiltered and unfocused. The performances hold together a film that is begging to be a series of uninteresting and non – confrontational scenes. Don't let the hype fool you, this film would not be lauded or talked about as an authentic love story if you replace one of the leads with a male. A simple lesbian coming of age love story is not enough to make the cliches rot it from the inside.
Jesse Knight
The sex scenes are by far the most transparent example of his lack of focus. They shackle the brilliant actresses' abilities that drive the rest of the film, which is why the sex scenes should be considered out of context. They come off like an ad break. A steamy, fleshy intermission.
What makes this film a more singular story is that one of the leads COULD NEVER be replaced by a male. This is a film about a specific relationship, two specific people, and their specific journeys. It's not a story about lesbians; it's a story about Adèle and Emma.
CampbelldropoutI
While I believe that the discussion of the sex scenes has really hyped this film up, I am sure its not making people go out in droves to see the film. If people really want to see a sex scene they can google one for free and find it a lot quicker than watching this movie.
When BITWC premiered at Cannes, everyone who wrote about it led with the protracted sex scenes. That became the hook. Sex in cinema is, mind-bogglingly, still enough to garner widespread attention (just look at all this NYMPHOMANIAC hoopla), and BITWC's popularity benefited from it, however unjustified. Most people know about the film because of the sex, subconsciously or not.
I want someone to immediately start a band named The Cunnilingus Conundrum. I'd so buy a T-shirt. What kind of music would The Cunnilingus Conundrum perform? Scream-o? Hipster Bluegrass? A KISS cover band?
Please discuss …


text:
Home Energy California firm plans $750M biomass facility in Geismar
California firm plans $750M biomass facility in Geismar
Origin Materials, a "carbon-negative materials company," plans to invest at least $750 million to develop a biomass manufacturing facility in Ascension Parish, state and company officials announced this morning.
The project, which Gov. John Bel Edwards says aligns with state environmental goals, will result in 200 new jobs, officials say.
The plant in Geismar will utilize wood residue—sourced partly from Louisiana's timber mills and managed forests—to produce plant-based polyethylene terephthalate used in packaging, textiles, apparel and other applications. Hydrothermal carbon, which can be used in fuel pellets, also will be produced at the site, officials say.
"This project points to a future of transformational changes in the manufacturing of chemicals and plastics," Baton Rouge Area Chamber President and CEO Adam Knapp says.
The plant will be located on the LED-certified 150-acre Parks Geismar site. The company expects construction to begin in mid-2023 and for the plant to be mechanically completed and operational by mid-2025.
Louisiana is offering Origin Materials, based in West Sacramento, California, an incentive package that includes the services of the state's FastStart workforce development program. The company would be eligible for a $6 million performance-based award, to be paid out over six years, to reimburse site infrastructure costs. The company also is expected to use the state's Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs. See the announcement.


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package org.araneaframework.jsp.tag.basic;

import java.io.Writer;

/**
 * Invokes a "uiRegisterKeyboardHandler" javascript.
 *
 * @author Konstantin Tretyakov (kt@webmedia.ee)
 *
 * @jsp.tag
 *  name = "keyboardHandler"
 *  body-content = "empty"
 *  description = "Registers a simple javascript keyboard event handler."
 */
public class KeyboardHandlerHtmlTag extends BaseKeyboardHandlerTag {

  protected String scope;

  protected String handler;

  @Override
  protected int doStartTag(Writer out) throws Exception {
    super.doStartTag(out);
    writeKeypressHandlerScript(out, this.scope, this.handler);
    return SKIP_BODY;
  }

  /**
   * @jsp.attribute
   *    type = "java.lang.String"
   *    required = "false"
   *    description = "When a keyboard event happens, it is usually associated with a certain form element/form/widget/etc. The object with which an event is associated is identified by a hierarchical ID (e.g. there may be widget 'somelist', containing form 'somelist.form', containing textbox 'somelist.form.textbox'. The scope is a prefix of that id that must match in order for the handler to be triggered. For example, the handler with scope='somelist.form.textbox' will be triggered only when the event in the textbox occurs, but the handler with scope="somelist" will be triggered when any event in any of the elements inside any of the forms of "somelist" occurs. I.e. for any element with ID beginning with 'somelist'. When scope is not specified, a global handler is registered, that reacts to an event in any form/widget"
   */
  public void setScope(String scope) {
    this.scope = evaluate("scope", scope, String.class);
  }

  /**
   * The handler to invoke when an event happens.
   *
   * @param handler Must be a javascript function taking 2 arguments: the event object and the ID of the element where
   *          an event occurred. For example:
   *
function(event, elementId) { alert('this is an event for element ' + elementId); }

   *          There must be no semicolon at the end.
   *
   * @jsp.attribute
   *    type = "java.lang.String"
   *    required = "true"
   *    description = "A javascript handler function that takes two parameters - the event object and the element ID for which the event was fired. Example:
function(event, elementId) { alert(elementId); }
"
   */
  public void setHandler(String handler) {
    this.handler = evaluate("handler", handler, String.class);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Oil up more than 2%, boosted by forecast for U.S. fuel demand growth
Oil steadies after hitting three-week low on pandemic restrictions - Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021
By Devika Krishna Kumar
NEWYORK -Oil prices rose more than 2% on Tuesday, rebounding from recent losses on signs of rising fuel demand in the United States despite a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Brent crude rose $1.59, or 2.3%, to settle at $70.63 a barrel and U.S. oil climbed $1.81, or 2.7%, to end the session at $68.29 a barrel.
Both contracts dropped around 2.5% on Monday, and last week notched their biggest losses in months as infections surged in major global oil consumers.
"Predicting short-term price swings has become extremely difficult given the arduous process of predicting the impact of the Delta variant on forward global oil demand, particularly in countries such as China where data is much less transparent than that of the U.S.," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC in Galena, Illinois.
The rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus has pushed cases and hospitalizations in the United States to a six-month high.
Still, U.S. job growth and increasing mobility have boosted gasoline consumption so far in 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a monthly forecast.[EIA/M]
U.S. gasoline consumption is expected to average 8.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021, up from 8 million bpd in 2020. Still, the EIA said U.S. gasoline consumption will remain below 2019 levels through 2022 due to the proliferation of people working from home.
U.S. crude, gasoline, and other product inventories are likely to have dropped last week, with gasoline stocks forecast to fall for a fourth consecutive week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed. [EIA/S]
Crude stocks fell by 816,000 barrels for the week ended Aug. 6, according to two market sources, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. [API/S]
Government data on inventories are due at 10:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a $1 trillion infrastructure package that could serve as the nation's biggest investment in decades in roads, bridges, airports and waterways. If enacted, the bill would boost the economy and demand for oil products, analysts said.
Successful vaccination programmes in the West and encouraging economic data come in sharp contrast to rising infections in the East.
In Australia, police are on the streets to enforce COVID-related restrictions. Some cities in China, the world's top crude oil importer, have stepped up mass testing to fight a new surge of the virus.