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道場
Since 1982, the Hwa Rang Do Phoenix Academy has been serving the people of the Greater Phoenix area in the discipline of martial arts. Here at the academy, we offer personalized training that's tailored to fit your needs. Our academy's extensive curriculum provides the opportunity to give students training in one or more disciplines. Students have the option to enroll in the academy's traditional program, which covers all aspects of martial arts training, or the option to train in one or more skill set that the art provides, such as self defense, grappling, joint locks, and much more. For over 30 years, Master Elliott has taught the general public in a commercial setting, subsequently changing the lives of thousands of people. Always striving to offer the best possible training for his students, Master Elliott made the decision to transition from a commercial setting to a private residential setting. A private setting offers many benefits for the student, such as more one on one attention, personalized training, and a better learning environment. The academy is located on just over 45,000 square feet of private grounds. The surrounding landscape offers a tranquil and peaceful environment away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Oriental architectural design and decoration set the tone for training and learning one of Korea's most historical and traditional martial arts. When one is selected as a student, they will begin their journey on a martial arts path to a better understanding of themselves and how the study and practice of this special art will enhance their lives. We believe that every person is born with one hundred percent potential and through martial arts training; one is able to reach their full potential. It is through this process of the student's continued hard work and dedication to the study of martial arts, along with constant guidance from their teachers, that the student will begin to see a higher level of achievement and a balance in mind, body and martial spirit. Hwa Rang Do is considered the most comprehensive martial arts in the world in that it incorporates skills and techniques from effective fighting arts similar to Karate, Taekwondo, Jiu Jitsu, Hapkido, Aikido, Kung Fu, Judo, and other traditional martial arts. Here are some of the skills we work on at our academy: Self Defense, Meditation, Internal Energy, Grappling, Joint Locks, Kicking, Punching, Pressure Points, Weapons Training (Sword, Staff, Knife, Short Stick, and Nunchaku etc…), Falling, Throwing, Korean Style Jujitsu, Police Training, Military Training, MMA and more. Master Instructor 館長 Hwa Rang Do Private Academy
Class Training Structure
Divisions of Hwa Rang Do
The modern martial art called Hwa Rang Do was founded by the Lee Brothers and first brought to the public as a traditional Korean martial art based in Seoul, South Korea in the early 1960's. It is one of the premier, traditional "non sport" full spectrum martial arts to emerge out of South Korea in the 20th century. It was brought to the United States in the late 1960's by Grand Master Joo Sang Lee. Hwa Rang Do is a blend of hard and soft movements based on the theory of (Um & Yang) with linear and circular techniques (Kang-Sul & Yu-Sul) that can be used offensively or defensively. Hwa Rang Do also incorporates all ranges of hand strikes, kicking, joint locks, throws, falling, submission holds and ground defense techniques. It also includes the study of various aspects of unarmed and armed patterns, called Hyung. Weaponry includes the long staff, short stick, spear, sword, various types of knives and traditional archery. The student of Hwa Rang Do is also taught the inner aspect of breath control, Ki energy development and the healing methods of acupressure therapy and herbal medicine treatment. In essence, the modern art of Hwa Rang Do is the unification of the original native Korean martial skills, as well as some of the reformed Korean martial arts brought together to form one complete system with an emphasis on the aspect of molding the student's character through understanding of the martial way called Mudo.
History of Hwa Rang Do
4 Categories of Hwa Rang Do
Tim L. Elliott, Master of the Academy Mr. Tim Elliott is the owner and Head Master of the academy. He holds the title and position of Kwanjang Nim. Mr. Elliott entered the art of Hwa Rang Do as a high school student in the mid 1970's at the first Hwa Rang Do training hall (Dojang) in Phoenix, Arizona. After graduating from high school, he entered the U.S. Army and was stationed in South Korea where he had the opportunity to further his study of Hwa Rang Do. After his military service, he was selected to be a part of a special group of Hwa Rang Do students to go through an instructor training course at the Hwa Rang Do headquarters under the art's modern founder. After graduating from the program, Mr. Elliott opened his first school in Glendale, Arizona in 1982. Since that time, he has continued the honored tradition of teaching and passing down the knowledge of the art to generations of dedicated students.
Jonathan L. Elliott, Head Instructor of the Academy Head Instructor Jonathan Elliott began his training in Hwa Rang Do at a very young age. He has grown up in a martial arts family and is now helping to pass down the Korean martial arts tradition that his family had started in Arizona in the year 1982. Jonathan holds the position of Head Instructor and the title of Sabom Nim at the academy. He is a graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in education. Throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to train under various high ranking Hwa Rang Do masters. One of Head Instructor Elliott's goals is to see the traditional Korean martial arts and their benefits passed down to a new generation of youth.
[huge_it_gallery id="4"]
Hwa Rang Do Academy
8030 W. Country Gables Drive
Email: kjnelliott@hotmail.com


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Events • Featured • Latest News
2019 iHEARTRADIO MUSIC AWARDS to Feature Performances by Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Halsey +More!
Featuring Performances by Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Garth Brooks, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves and More.
Thursday, March 14, LIVE on FOX
Taylor Swift to Receive Tour of the Year Award for her Reputation Stadium Tour
iHeartMedia and Fox Entertainment (FOX) announced today that the 2019 iHEARTRADIO MUSIC AWARDS will feature performances by Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Garth Brooks, John Legend and Kacey Musgraves, with more to be announced. The live, two-hour event airs Thursday, March 14 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The sixth annual iHEARTRADIO MUSIC AWARDS will also air live on iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide and iHeartRadio, the all-in-one digital music, podcast, on demand and live-streaming radio service.
iHeartMedia also announced that Taylor Swift will receive the iHeartRadio Tour of the Year Award for her Reputation Stadium Tour. With more than two million tickets sold in the U.S. and grossing $266 million, it is the highest-selling U.S. tour in history by any artist. The Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour broke Swift's own record for highest-grossing tour by a woman. It was critically acclaimed for its cutting-edge, large-scale production value that gave tens of thousands of fans in attendance each night a rare and intimate glimpse at what makes Swift one of today's greatest performers. The tour, which kicked off in May 2018 in Glendale, AZ, also traveled to Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia, and was made into a special concert film for Netflix. Swift will be in attendance to accept her award.
Nominees for the 2019 iHEARTRADIO MUSIC AWARDS were announced on January 9. Artists receiving multiple nominations include Cardi B, Drake, Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, Post Malone, Maroon 5 and Imagine Dragons. For a full list of categories, visit iHeartRadio.com/awards.
In addition to being a compelling celebration of music and artists, the 2019 iHEARTRADIO MUSIC AWARDS will again celebrate the fans, giving iHeartRadio listeners the opportunity to decide winners in several new and established categories. Fan voting will determine this year's Best Fan Army, presented by Taco Bell®; Best Lyrics; Best Cover Song; Best Music Video; the Social Star Award; Best Solo Breakout; Cutest Musician's Pet; and the first-ever Song That Left Us Shook and Favorite Tour Photographer awards.
Social voting began on January 9 and will close on March 7. Fans can vote on Twitter using the appropriate category and nominee hashtags or by visiting iHeartRadio.com/awards.
This year's awards will feature a broad array of categories, including Artist of the Year, Best Duo/Group of the Year and individual winners for Album of the Year in music's biggest genres, including Pop, Country, Alternative Rock, Rock, Dance, Hip-Hop, R&B, Latin and Regional Mexican formats. For the third year, the 2019 Best New Artist awards will be grouped by music format and format winners will then become finalists for the top title of Best New Artist.
Proud partners of the 2019 iHEARTRADIO MUSIC AWARDS include the feature film "Five Feet Apart" in theaters March 15, L'Oréal Paris, Taco Bell®, TikTok and Total Wireless, with more to be announced.
Executive producers for the iHEARTRADIO MUSIC AWARDS are Joel Gallen for Tenth Planet and John Sykes, Tom Poleman and Lee Rolontz for iHeartMedia.
For breaking news and exclusive iHeartRadio Music Awards content visit iHeartRadio.com/awards or follow #iHeartAwards on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Tickets are currently on sale to the general public at axs.com.
CRUEL INTENTIONS – BACK IN THEATERS FOR ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY
DARK PHOENIX – First Trailer + Poster Released!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Human Desertification and Disempowerment of Rural Territories
DOI link for Human Desertification and Disempowerment of Rural Territories
Human Desertification and Disempowerment of Rural Territories book
ByEduardo Rojas-Briales, Rafael Delgado-Artés, Miguel Cabrera-Bonet
BookForestry in the Midst of Global Changes
Imprint CRC Press
This chapter examines rural decline processes in their relation with forest resources and correspondent policies as observed in the developed world. Rural decline is a symmetric process following urbanization, which has received much less attention. Spain is identified as an interesting country as it has suffered important rural decline along the past century, while its forest resources expanded considerably. The chapter deals with a review of the past and forecast rural population globally as well as in the different regions, followed by a review of the Spanish situation in terms of rural population decline and forest area enlargement. It explores a detailed research at district level analyzing in detail the shifts between the different land uses and vegetation cover. The chapter presents the challenges for declining rural societies and proposals how to face them including further research priorities.


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GodPretty in the Tobacco Field (Paperback)
By Kim Michele Richardson
On hand as of Jan 18 8:01pm
(Fiction - General)
"Beauty and sweetness weave a diaphanous fabric against the stark backdrop of poverty and cruelty."—Sara Gruen, bestselling author of Water for Elephants
Nameless, Kentucky, in 1969 is a hardscrabble community where jobs are few and poverty is a simple fact—just like the hot Appalachian breeze or the pests that can wipe out a tobacco field in days. RubyLyn Bishop is luckier than some. Her God-fearing uncle, Gunnar, has a short fuse and high expectations, but he's given her a good home ever since she was orphaned at the age of five. Yet now, a month shy of her sixteenth birthday, RubyLyn itches for more.
Maybe it's something to do with the paper fortunetellers RubyLyn has been making for townsfolk, each covered with beautifully wrought, prophetic drawings. Or perhaps it's because of Rainey Ford, an African-American neighbor who works alongside her in the tobacco field, and with whom she has a kinship, despite her uncle's worrisome shadow and the town's disapproval. RubyLyn's predictions are just wishful thinking, not magic at all, but through them she's imagining life as it could be, away from the prejudice and hardship that ripple through Nameless.
Atmospheric, poignant, and searingly honest, GodPretty in the Tobacco Field follows RubyLyn through the course of one blazing summer, as heartbreaking revelations and life-changing decisions propel her toward a future her fortunetellers never predicted.
Kim Michele Richardson is a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and an advocate for the prevention of child abuse and domestic violence. She is also the author of the memoir The Unbreakable Child and the novel Liar's Bench. Kim Michele resides in the rolling hills of Kentucky with her family and is hard at work on her next novel.
Praise for GodPretty in the Tobacco Field
"Richardson's deft second novel paints a picture of hard life and bright dreams...Richardson's skill fully develops RubyLyn's plight." —Publishers Weekly
"Setting is everything...The reader learns a great deal about the impact of President Johnson's War on Poverty in rural Kentucky and, equally, about the place of women in that society in the late 60's...Sympathetic characters whom readers will wish a happy ending." —Booklist
"Kim Michele Richardson aptly portrays the impoverished life of the hill people with her images of the beauty yet hardship of the mountains as well as the way this particular world experienced discrimination in the sixties." —The New York Journal of Books
"Filled with the music of Appalachia, the wrath-of-God discipline of a sinner trying to keep a youngster on the straight and narrow, and the bred-in-the-bone dignity of a downtrodden community so secluded that its barefoot children don't even realize they're considered "poor,"GodPretty in the Tobacco Field, a memorable story of secrets and scandal, reckoning and redemption, is fine Southern fiction." —Historical Novels Review
"A powerful coming-of-age story...Ms. Richardson's portrait of the neighboring families' hopeless lives (one family is ready to sell a child to get out of debt) stands out as one of the book's major achievements. That achievement includes pitch-perfect representation of speech patterns and finely detailed views of the homes, the clothing, the food on the table, the family heirlooms, the body language, the facial expressions...This beautifully textured novel raises many challenges for its main characters to overcome and, as it comes to a close, many surprises. Saying any more would ruin it for you." —Southern Literary Review
"Richardson's latest contains beautifully drawn characters and honest, lyrical language. Through the author's expressive dialogue and vivid descriptions, the textures of the rural Kentucky landscape--along with the aching emotions that come from RubyLyn, are felt. RubyLyn's connection with Rainey is sweet, poignant, and tender. This powerful story will leave an impression on readers long after they complete it" —RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars
"A great piece of work." —Bill Burton, Host of "Morning Edition" on WFPL
Publisher: Kensington
Fiction / Coming of Age
Kobo eBook (May 1st, 2016): $12.75
Pre-Recorded Audio Player (May 1st, 2016): $83.99


Oscar-winning visual effects mastermind behind Gravity, talks Physics lessons, NASA imagery and defining the art of CG 'weightlessness' in space.
"It could have fallen flat as a fairly unusual film, largely focused on one person in space. We thought it may be a tough film to sell to the public".
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros / Framestore.


Monday morning is as good a time as any to plot ones weekly live music schedule, I think. Let's take a look at what's happening in the greater DC metro this week, with the added bonus of filling you in on what I'll be taking in over the course of the week. Hot diggity!
Fall is here, I'm wearing tights, and it's time for the gigs to really pile on. The end of September looks mighty fine, and makes me super excited for this here autumnal season of shows. As always, you can more than likely find me at any show denoted herewith with double stars.


Totalcontent | word of the week – 'ding-dong' (dɪ́ŋ- dɒ́ŋ).
Home » blog » word of the week – 'ding-dong' (dɪ́ŋ- dɒ́ŋ).
Like the UK, the Dutch glory days were the 1970s, notably when Teach-In scooped the top prize in 1975 with the quintessential Eurovision ditty 'Ding-A-Dong', and various other patriotic crooners snaffled second and third places. There have been another three Dutch winners all told, but you have to go right back to the 1950s and 1960s to sniff those out. Some of the more curious names to represent the Netherlands include Frizzle Sizzle (1986), Mrs Einstein (1997), Mouth & MacNeal (1974), Hind (2008) and the curiously British-sounding Humphrey Campbell (1992). In latter years entries have tended to be sung in English, though personally I feel 'Een speeldoos' ('A Musical'), 'De mallemolen' ('The Whirligig') and 'Blijf zoals je bent' ('Stay As You Are') have a certain authentic ring to them. However, Teach-In's strategy of using catchy but meaningless words clearly doesn't always pay off… in 1967, Thérèse Steinmetz came last and managed only two points with 'Ring-dinge-ding'. The 2012 entry 'You and Me' by Joan Franka didn't make the cut, which means the Netherlands have failed to make the Saturday night final for eight years on the trot. Still, so long as the boys in orange make it to the other Euro final, who cares?


When Alcoa Wheel and Transportation Products rolled out the world's lightest heavy-duty truck wheel on March 27, 2014, Hatfield Media was there to capture the announcement by company President Tim Myers and broadcast it live over the internet. The event was produced by Arras Keathley (www.arrasgroup.com) one of the premier agencies here in the United States. In real time, online viewers shared an historic moment with both Alcoa, the world's third largest producer of aluminum, and the commercial vehicle industry.
The unveiling of the wheel on the first day of the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, was a major press announcement and it underscored the company's prowess for innovation. Alcoa's metals and manufacturing expertise has influenced critical breakthroughs in many industries, from aerospace and automotive to building and construction. To manufacture the Ultra ONE™ wheel, Alcoa's team of experts created a new alloy and by doing so, raised the bar on performance.
With the economy, energy industry and environment all hot topics on the country's agenda, the announcement of a product that offsets the carbon footprint, lowers operating costs, increases productivity, and generates both fuel efficiency and increased payload for commercial trucking customers was a breakthrough with far reaching applications for a variety of industries. It was perhaps the most significant milestone for Alcoa since their invention of the forged aluminum wheel in 1948.
While metals and technology innovation is Alcoa's DNA, creative audio visual innovation is Hatfield Media's DNA. To learn more about the genetics of our business development products and services and how you can reinvent your own wheel, click here.
Click here to find out more about our live event streaming service!


Research findings on behavior change strategies to reduce hypertension have been published by a consortium of scientists funded by the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD). The Alliance, a partnership of international research funders, was formed to focus on implementation science that will lessen the burden of chronic diseases in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and among other vulnerable populations.
Scientists reported there was "marked variation" in the perceived capabilities, opportunities and motivation of the various entities being targeted for behavior change strategies to lower blood pressure (BP). "This suggests that the ability to change behavior differs greatly across regions and between actors," the study team noted in a recent article in the journal, Implementation Science.
Hypertension was the GACD's first research topic selected, with 15 projects funded to study how best to prevent, manage and control elevated BP. One of the greatest modifiable risk factors for disease, high BP is responsible for about 9.4 million deaths annually - with over 80 percent of those occurring in LMICs - according to the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study.
Although there was great variation in behavior change ratings, the scientists observed a high degree of synergy in the types of projects funded. Most were multifaceted, focusing on education and behavior change strategies. They drew on "softer" policy levers, such as guidelines, communication/marketing and service provision, rather than restrictive government regulation or legislation.
All of the research teams - working in 15 LMICs and Aboriginal communities in Canada - initially collaborated on a mapping exercise to study aspects of behavior change in their target populations and provide a benchmark to gauge progress. Projects broadly aligned to two topic areas - interventions in health care delivery, or measures to reduce salt intake or test salt substitutes.
The overarching program goals are to better understand barriers and facilitators at local and national levels, learn how innovations for BP control can be introduced and scaled up, and identify what health system elements must be strengthened to improve BP control and reduce health disparities.
By working together, the teams were able to synthesize common elements across research projects and encourage cross-fertilization of ideas. Another benefit of the GACD is the close relationship between the researchers and the funding agencies, the scientists said, so results can be used to inform future research funding calls.
Although the investigators had expected similar actors surveyed in each location to exhibit similar characteristics, they found there was a high degree of variability. That indicates the actors themselves and the local contexts in which they operate may be different. "Further, the interventions themselves, although similar in nature are complex," the scientists said. "And the extent to which they are tailored to the regions in which they are working are likely to be a critical driver of outcomes."
The actor-context-intervention relationships are key to understanding why similar interventions may produce different outcomes, and why similar actors may adopt interventions differently, according to the research partners. They said the main strength of the endeavor is the collaborative nature of the work and suggested their final process evaluations may hold important lessons for the broader global community.
"The outcomes of such activities are instructive for funding agencies and will help inform how global research programs can be developed into 'implementation laboratories,' thereby, delivering new knowledge that extends beyond the individual research projects that they fund," the authors concluded.
The GACD has issued subsequent funding calls for diabetes and environmental lung disease research. A request for proposals related to mental health is being planned.
Learn more about the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD).
Access the full article Behaviour change strategies for reducing blood pressure-related disease burden: findings from a global implementation research programme from the November 9, 2015 issue of Implementation Science.
Access a collection of implementation science news and resources from Fogarty.


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Archive for July 27th, 2010|Daily archive page
NY Town Expecting Clinton Wedding Approves X-tra Police
In Bill and Hillary Clinton, wedding bells on July 27, 2010 at 12:55 pm
But Not Before Rhinebeck Residents Shout Demands That Former First Family Pay For All The Extra Security
and they will…. gladly!
RHINEBECK, N.Y. (CBS) ―
Wedding bell buzz is kicking into high gear in Rhinebeck, and as the town prepares for Chelsea Clinton's big day more details are emerging about the groom.
Clinton's fiancé, investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, is about to become the man of the hour.
The daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to marry Mezvinsky on a private estate on the river on Saturday.
The two met as teenagers at a leadership retreat in 1993, both went to Stanford and, like Chelsea, Mezvinky has dealt with adversity — his father, a former congressman, served time in prison for fraud.
Town officials in the Hudson Valley bracing for Clinton's wedding this weekend approved spending $2,500 for extra police coverage.
The Rhinebeck Town Council authorized the spending during a meeting Monday.
The Clintons have refused to disclose the location of the wedding. But Rhinebeck Supervisor Thomas Traudt said based on his conversations with state and county police, the extra service this weekend will be helpful.
One resident at the council meeting shouted that the extra expenses should be paid for by the father of the bride.
Rhinebeck, a town of about 8,000 residents, is just 75 miles from the Chappaqua, N.Y., home the former president and first lady bought before her successful run for the U.S. Senate in 2000. The Clintons have passed through the town a number of times.


The American Idol contestants sang Dolly Parton on last night's performance night. David Archuleta and Carly Smithson's performances are the best for the night. Ramiele Malubay performance is still disappointing. I have been waiting for her to do something special but she's still not in that zone. I know I'm a Filipino and I should support her, but it's a singing contest.
The biggest surprise for me last night was to learn how brilliant Dolly Parton is. She's a brilliant songwriter and has over 3,000 songs. She even wrote Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." Isn't that surprising. I really thought her songs were rubbish but I was wrong.
Who should be on the bottom three based on last night's performance? Ramiele Malubay, Kristy Lee Cook and Jason Castro. America should give a chance to Syesha Mercado. She doesn't deserve another bottom three.
Picture courtesy of American Idol.
Ramielle has a talent and I like her voice but she could have done a better job sa pagpili ng kanta.:( Sayang... pero she's a cutie and a sweet gal though. I'm sure she'll be fine.
Oo nga pla- blog hopping from filipinobloggers.
ah so that is why her last time sounds so pinoy.. pinoy pala s Malubay..


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A BRIEF HISTORY OF MEDICAL IMAGING by Victoria Campbell | Cave Vets News
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MEDICAL IMAGING by Victoria Campbell
7th December 2020 7th December 2020
This month we're focusing on the critical work our imaging team carry out when treating pets in our care.
To mark the occasion, we've put together this brief history of medical imaging. We hope you enjoy it!
1. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the X-ray on November 8, 1895. This is a big milestone in medical history and discovered by accident. Röntgen later earned a Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.
2. Röntgen captured the first ever X-ray picture using his wife's hand, with her wedding ring on her finger. She was reportedly unimpressed by the image; by some accounts, she exclaimed "I have seen my death".
3. The X means 'unknown' – X being used in mathematics to indicate an unknown quantity.
4. Diamonds don't show up on X-rays.
5. During World War I, Marie Curie established the "petites Curies," mobile radiography units to assist battlefield surgeons on the front lines.
6. Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1903 but her second Nobel prize in 1911 was almost denied due to the scandal that she was having an affair with physicist Paul Langevin, and labelled a `tramp' by the French press.
7. In 1927, 37 per cent of radiologic technologists were nuns. Today, there are more than 330,000 registered radiographers.
8. In 1897, Dr Norton obtained a radiograph of a man's entire body in New York, fully clothed, with an exposure time of only 30 minutes.
9. In the 1930s, there was a gradual standardisation of radiographic projections which was to culminate in the publication of 'Positioning in Radiography' (1st Edition) by K C Clark FSR in January 1939. This book (the Kitty Clarke Bible) is still a reference in all X-ray departments today.
10. Ultrasound was first used for clinical purposes in 1956. Ultrasound is a type of imaging that uses high-frequency sounds waves rather than radiation.
11. There was a major problem with the early approach, which depended on immersing the body part to be examined in degassed water (called water delay scanning) to avoid artefactual echoes from superficial structures.
12. Ultrasound waves are too high for humans to hear, but they are within the range of what dogs and cats can hear.
13. It was soon discovered the X-ray's ability to destroy certain cells and potential to cure cancers and bacteria
14. Radiation therapy became a specialised field in 1964.
15. CT was invented in 1972 by British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield of EMI Laboratories, England and by South Africa-born physicist Allan Cormack of Tufts University.
16. The first patient brain-scan done through CT (Computed Tomography) scanning was performed in 1971. It was a frontal lobe tumour and was successfully operated on. Today, there are more than 78 million CT procedures performed each year.
17. Computed Tomography (CT). Tomography is from the Greek word 'tomos' meaning 'slice' or 'section' and 'graphia' meaning 'describing'.
18. Americans call it CAT (Computerised Axial Tomography) but the British traditionally don't like the reference to their beloved pets, hence CT.
19. The iodine in the contrast is a vasodilator, so often makes the patient feel as though they have wet themselves, as bladder region has good blood supply.
20. The first Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan of the human body was performed in 1977. Today, there are over 37 million MRI procedures performed each year.
21. MRI has no radiation and uses radio waves to manipulate the magnetic position of the atoms of the body, which are picked up by a powerful antenna and sent to a computer. The computer performs millions of calculations.
22. In the first and second Roentgen congresses in 1905/06, Professor R Eberlin presented papers on veterinary X-ray therapy. There was more evidence for therapy rather than diagnostic. Unfortunately – 'More harm was done to the human assistant than good to the animal patient'.
23. Veterinary CT scans have a timeline similar to that of ultrasounds. The first CT scans were used in human medicine in 1971, then began making their way into animal medicine in an experimental way about 10 years later.
24. MRI machines were first used to help diagnose problems in humans in 1977 but "dogs were being snuck into human MRI facilities as late as the mid-90s."
25. A group of pugs is called a grumble (Nothing to do with medical imaging).
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NYC Department of Education
How could we help New York students and their families navigate the high school admissions process?
The New York City Department of Education is the largest school district in the country, with more than 1.1 million students and 1,700 schools. New York City's 700-plus public high schools accept students via application; each year more than 80,000 kids and their families list up to 12 school choices and are awarded a seat based on a matching algorithm. Could we make the complex process of evaluating and choosing schools to feel more engaging and meaningful, so that students make truly informed decisions about school selection? Working with the DOE's Office of Innovation, the iZone, we carried out discovery research with several dozen New York City students and parents, school staff, and DOE policymakers.
Our discovery research set the stage for the School Choice Design Challenge, an app-development challenge sponsored by the iZone that was one of the first instances in the country where a public school district released data via an API (an "application program interface," which allows software programs to talk to each other). Invited app developers created six new software tools to help students and families identify schools that fit their interests and qualifications. Ultimately, our work is informing the development of new supports that assist students — particularly those from low-income and non-English-speaking families — in making more informed decisions when selecting a high school.
The insights gathered from this work are discussed in "HCD in Action: NYC School Choice Program" on GovLoop.com, an online training site for public sector professionals. Enroll in the course to get insider tips on how you can use in your own HCD work.
Raj Kottamasu
Bridget Monahan
Jacqueline Wallace


Inspired by the region of its namesake, West is a blend of country and folk from acclaimed singer-songwriter Tish Hinojosa.
After a fallow period of four years, Hinojosa was suddenly revitalized, writing a number of new songs, playing them for guitarist Dykhuis and piano/accordionist Dolan, then enlisting the rest of her crack band -- fiddler Gene Elders and pedal steel player Marty Muse, who bring that classic country sound, along with bassist Glenn Kawamoto and drummer Rick Richards, to record them.
The result reminds us that Tish Hinojosa was Americana long before the term took hold, recording her debut 1989 album, Homeland, for the A&M imprint by that very name (Americana), which also boasted folk singer/songwriter/guitarist David Wilcox and Cajun poet Zachary Richard.
One of 13 children born to Mexican immigrant parents in San Antonio, Hinojosa has dedicated her career to playing music from the southwest, starting out in Tejano before moving on to singer/songwriter folk, border music and country.
Hinojosa's new originals are at the heart of the collection, from the romantic tribute to the missions in her hometown ("Church of the Mission Bell") to channeling Patsy Cline in a bittersweet country shuffle ("Can't Say It Matters Anymore") and even a co-write with son Adam Hinojosa-Barker ("I Can Be the Wind"), one of two children from her 20-year marriage to entertainment lawyer Craig Barker.
There are also covers of songs by some of her favorite southwestern musicians. Her version of the late Tim Henderson's "Maria Consuelo Arroyo" takes on the song's single immigrant mother raising a family of "dreamers," and makes it immediately relevant to today's headlines. She originally performed Jimmy LaFave's "Only One Angel," for a memorial concert at Austin's Paramount Theatre, turning this recorded take into a remembrance of a dear friend. Tish turns the Mexican standard "Perfidia," covered by everyone from Desi Arnaz, Nat King Cole and Charlie Parker to Linda Ronstadt, Freddy Fender and Andrea Bocelli, into a country number, thanks to the plaintive pedal steel, fiddle and accordion. She joins her self-described "mentor" Michael Martin Murphey for his "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round?" a hit for the Monkees when he offered it to fellow Screen Gems songwriter – and San Antonio/Austin pal -- Michael Nesmith. Hinojosa originally started out in New Mexico as a back-up singer in Murphey's band, where he took her under his wing and encouraged the young performer to pursue her singer/songwriter muse.
Tish's personal style means West has plenty of blood – and raw emotion -- on its tracks, and a number of wounds, too, but Tish Hinojosa prefers to dwell on the positive. On the album's final track, "Color It Blue," for which she wrote lyrics over music by co-producers Dykhuis and Dolan, she ends on a typical note of uplift. "Lose yourself to the moon," she declares, still the wanderlust spirit, ready to move forward to the next stage of an already-impressive career.
"This album happened in such an organic, beautiful way," she declares.
West is a welcome addition to a resume which features releases on A&M, Warner Bros., Rounder, Watermelon and Lone Star, a command performance for President Bill Clinton and Hillary at the White House with Robert Redford, and numerous prestigious honors, including the NAIRD Indie Folk Album of the Year for 1992's Culture Swing. Tish Hinojosa's trip continues its long and winding road.


Can a person Get Rich Quick?
This can happen, however getting rich is a process, and you need a plan to learn how to get rich.
The starting point of all Abundance and Prosperity is the development of a Prosperity Consciousness.
In the stock market, or whatever your wealth driven goal is, you must become a financial success in your thinking and mindset long before you achieve it in your reality.
Both poverty and riches are the result of a state of mind, and the most important single step you ever take on the road to wealth and financial independence is the decision to change your thinking, to impress into your mind an unshakable belief that you can and will achieve your financial goals.
This must happen before anything else happens.
Wealth is a mindset. Money is literally attracted to you or repelled from you. It's all about how you think. "The rich get richer" is an Abundance thought, not a lack thought, so agree with that thought.
The potential to attract money and create abundant wealth doesn't reside in your job, your circumstances, or even the economy. It resides within YOU.
Your mind is the source of getting rich quick, is equipped with the natural ability to attract as much money as you want and need — at anytime, anyplace, in any financial climate, without struggle. You just have to know how to trigger it.
If you confidently expect to succeed and get rich quick, if you confidently expect to learn something from every experience, if you confidently expect to become wealthy as a result of applying your talents and abilities to your opportunities and you maintain that attitude of confident expectations long enough, it will become your reality.
You can get rich quick.
It will give you a positive optimistic cheerful attitude that will cause people to want to help you, and will cause things to happen the way you want them to happen.
That is the law of abundance, and Abundance and Prosperity will be yours.
First, start thinking today in a positive, optimistic, confident way about personal and financial success. Continually imagine what differences it would make in your life if you were financially independent.
This is the starting point of developing a prosperity consciousness.
Second, develop your own attitude of positive expectations. Look for the good in every situation. Look for the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty.
Be positive and cheerful about everything that happens and you will be amazed at the difference it makes in your life. Abundance and prosperity will be attracted into your life...that's the Law of Attraction.
In the year 1999, I came across an old tattered book collecting dust in a box in my parent's basement. Through out my reading of it, I was fascinated by stories of successful men and women and how they made and lost their fortunes, and then made them over again.
First published in 1937, this is the end product of two decades of research conducted by Napoleon Hill.
His research started when Andrew Carnegie (the steel tycoon who was then the richest man on earth) gave him the assignment of organizing a Philosophy of Personal Achievement.
Hill then revealed the priceless wisdom of his research in the form of the thirteen steps to success and to get rich quick (in Think and Grow Rich) and the seventeen principles of success (in courses and lectures he conducted).
Think and Grow Rich is one of the most influential books of all time in pointing the way to developing a abundance and prosperity mindset.This book changed my way of thinking forever.
The Universe is filled with Abundance and Prosperity. There are countless stars, countless cells, countless trees, people, animals, fish, water, resources etc. And the Universe is Spirit, and therefore, Spirit is abundant.
Life's abundance is everywhere around us, all the time.
The word affluence is derived from Latin, and it means "to flow in abundance." The word prosperity is Greek for "in the flow".
So the question is, if Spirit is abundant, and you are not, how really connected to Spirit are you? To be really connected to Spirit and the Universe, you must have and be abundant!
Let the abundance of the Universe flow through you; let Spirit express through you, live an abundant life!!
Abundance and Prosperity is our birthright. Expect an abundance. The world is full of abundance, it is there for you to take. Make it your reality!
But understand this, you will never attract into your life, something that is not in Harmony or in Alignment with yourself.
The Stream of Plenty & Well Being, for some that would mean God's Spirit, is always flowing towards the open, expectant mind. In other words, no resistance.
Desire to get rich quick without expectation is nothing more than wishful thinking & most people wish positive but expect negative & therefore do not obtain what they are after.
You must reach the state in your mental development where you don't just believe that your image of material wealth (or anything else you desire) will manifest into form, but actually know it will.
It is at this point you will begin to expect to receive the physical expression of your image of wealth and expect to get rich quick.
Your Desire is the motorboat which will move you in the direction of your dream, & expectation is the attractive force that will move your dream in your direction.
So see yourself moving toward your goals, ie. Abundance and prosperity that you visualize & see the wealth you visualize being attracted to you to get rich quick, feel it with enthusiasm.
KNOW that you WILL come in contact with the wealth.
Then Let Go & Let God (have faith). It is like a seed planted & then growing slowly, it will take time to materialize (the buffer of time).
Abundance and Prosperity is a vibrational feeling, & you can create this feeling, by choosing the thoughts & words you speak.
"The Millionaire Messiah"... that's the name given to Randy Gage, who is one of the worlds leading experts and coach's on attracting Abundance and Prosperity into your life.
Randy believes that you are meant to be rich, and it is a sin to be poor! Through his prosperity workshops, books and CDs, he travels the world teaching that health, happiness, and wealth are possible for all who desire it.
Randy reveals how to harness the power of thought and intention to manifest success in all areas of your life.
A former high school dropout, Randy rose from a dishwasher in a pancake house to become a multi-millionaire.
This astonishing journey provides the foundation for the principles he teaches to help empower people to their own prosperity in Randy's Prosperity Program(8-CD audio album).
This powerful audio album will help you uncover the subconscious "lack" programming you have which is holding you back.
Then, you'll replace it with prosperity consciousness to manifest money, health, get rich quick, great relationships, happiness, and strong spiritual harmony.
Affirmations to Manifest an Awakened Empowered and Abundant Life!
Create Health, Wealth & Abundance In Your Life!
Return From "Get Rich Quick" to the Home Page "Stock Market For Beginners"


At least in his world it was so.
High, sliding down the banister as if on ice.
His pal, his accomplice, his hope.
And there was no happier boy.
Yet found inside a snowman.
Full of love, in coldest cruelest winter.
Than gazing on two lumps of ice.


text:
in: Life stages, Elders
A life stage · Featured in:
An elder in The Sims 2.
Elder is the final life stage in The Sims 2, The Sims Stories (except Pet Stories), The Sims 3, and The Sims 4.
1 The Sims
2 The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories
2.2 The Sims 2 (console version)
The Sims[]
In The Sims, elder does not exist as a separate life stage, as Sims in this game never age. There are head and body skins which can give a Sim the appearance of being elderly, as with Gunther Goth and Ginia Kat, but it will be no more than an appearance. This means that female Sims who appear elderly in the game, such as Cornelia Goth and Ginia Kat, can still have children.
The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories[]
Elder is the final life stage in The Sims 2. Sims will have grey hair (though custom hair for elders may not be gray) and a hunched back during this stage. Players with Nightlife or later should note that elder Sims will likely be considered to have gray hair for purposes of chemistry, even if they have custom hair that is not gray.
At the end of elderhood, the Sim dies of old age. It's the only age from the base game that doesn't have a fixed duration. The number of days an elder gets theoretically depends on where the Sim's aspiration bar is when that Sim ages and a random factor. When Sims become elders, they are always considered to be 54 days old, regardless of the number of days they have actually lived. Instead of showing the number of days until the Sim ages, the age bar shows how many days he or she is considered to have lived. However, this will not show days added by drinking the Elixir of Life, drinking from the Cowplant[TS2:U], or the Give Me A Long Life wish[TS2:FT]. Also, it does not show time that was spent in college. The number of days an elder Sim has left can be viewed in SimPE.
Elder lifespan in detail
The total days an elder gets in this lifestage is calculated as follows:
First: they are provisionally given 10 days as an elder.
Second: A random number of days will be added from 1 to 10, there is no way to influence this number.
Third: Their current aspiration bar level when they age up into Elder from Adult adds or subtracts a number of days
+10 Platinum
+7 Gold
+3 Green
+0 Upper Red
-2 Lower Red
As such, elders can live a minimum of 9 days and a maximum of 30 days.
Elders do not have many special interactions, but a notable feature is that if two elders were married as adults, they can throw a golden anniversary party. Elder female Sims cannot get pregnant, but Elder male Sims can still impregnate adult female Sims. Sims who have jobs when they become elders can keep those jobs, or they can retire and receive a pension. (Since retirement can be a major want, it's recommended that they retire.) A retired Sim's weekly pension will be half the weekly salary of the job he or she retired from, and the Sim will receive one-seventh of that each day. A retired Sim who takes a part-time job will keep his or her pension; the part-time job will be shown in a second tab on the job panel. Elder Sims with part-time jobs cannot retire from those jobs. If an elder lives a good life and has a platinum aspiration bar at the time of death by old age, they will get a special gravestone marked with their aspiration symbol.
Nannies, repairmen/repairwoman, gypsy matchmakers, obedience trainer, butlers, cafeteria chefs, hostess, cooks, human statues, professors and coaches are always generated as elders.
A household consisting only of elders can be created. However, if there is a toddler, child, or teen in the household being created, then an adult must be created.
Elders are not included in The Sims Pet Stories.
One deceased Elder of Veronaville, Julius Caesar
One deceased elder of Veronaville, Lady Scott
Two elder Sims in The Sims 2.
Mortimer Goth, an elder from Pleasantview
The Sims 2 (console version)[]
As in The Sims and console versions of The Sims, elders do not exist in the console version of The Sims 2. However, in CAS, a Sim can be given white/grey hair with old-looking skin. Sims like Patrizio Monty and Isabella Monty look like elders, but are still technically adults (since it is possible to change their looks and make them "younger").
A male Elder Sim in The Sims 3
Elder returns as a life stage in The Sims 3. It is the seventh and final life stage.
As in the previous game, elder is the final life stage before death, and represent Sims beyond retirement age. Elder Sims appear somewhat hunched over, walk slowly and take slightly longer to complete tasks than younger Sims. By default, elder Sims have grey hair upon aging up from the adult stage, but they can still dye it by using the Change Appearance interaction with a mirror if the player chooses to do so. As in The Sims 2, elders have fewer clothes available to them than adults. Female elders can no longer become pregnant, but male elders can still father children with adult and young adult female Sims. Elders still have the option to adopt children.
Unlike other life stages in The Sims 3, the elder stage does not have a set length and can be prolonged through means other than eating Ambrosia. Rather than having a bar on the Simology panel that indicates the number of days left until they age up, the bar for an elder Sim shows the total number of days that the Sim has lived for. On the normal lifespan setting, elders will always live to be at least 90 days old, resulting in the elder stage lasting for a minimum of 16 days before death becomes a possibility. Elder Sims with the Vegetarian trait will live slightly longer than other Sims, as will those that have completed the Marathon Runner challenge at some point in their lives. At the end of the elder stage, Sims will die of old age. If an elder Sim is part of a household that is otherwise composed of nothing but babies, toddlers or children, the other members of the household will be relocated to new homes when the elder's death is imminent.
As in earlier games in the series, elder Sims can retire from their job and receive a pension. Retirement allows Sims to take life a bit easier, and enjoy the time they have left without having to work. This option, however, can put the Sim at a noticeable financial disadvantage to Sims that continue to work in some cases. A Sim at Level 10 in the political career, for instance, will be paid approximately §582 per hour and only work three days per week. With working hours of 9:00 am to 1:30 pm, they will earn around §2,619 every workday, far more than the daily payments of §280 they would gain from their pension if they were to retire. As a result, retirement may not always be the best choice, though this is entirely up to the player to decide. Unlike in The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories, elder Sims are able to join new careers rather than being restricted to part-time jobs. However, if a Sim who has previously retired returns to full-time work, they cannot retire for a second time. Often when an adult Sim ages up to the elder stage, a wish to retire will appear as one of their wishes within seconds.
If The Sims 3: Generations is installed, an elder Sim may use a walking stick. There are three different cane designs available, and elders using them may be assigned one of two different walking animations while using them, known as the Geriatric Gait and the Southern Gentleman. The former is a hunched-over and rather stiff-looking animation suggesting a particularly old or frail elder Sim, while the latter is much more upright, confident and energetic.
Things that Elders can do that younger Sims can't:
Die of Old Age
Female Sims cannot get pregnant, but male Sims can still impregnate young adult and adult females.
Write a historical book
Reminisce about younger life [TS3:G]
Boast about grandchildren [TS3:G]
Walk with a walking cane [TS3:G]
An elder Sim in a render.
Elder Sims can use walking canes.
Two elder sims and their son.
Elders from The Sims 4 are fairly similar to those from The Sims 3. It's the seventh and final life stage.
When adults enter the elder life stage, their hair will turn to gray, although this can be edited by clicking on a mirror or dresser and choosing "Change Sim" or "Plan Outfit". Unlike The Sims 2 and 3, they can wear all the same clothes that teen and adult sims can. When Sims are elders, they will perform tasks at a slower speed compared to younger Sims. When they perform heavy tasks (doing fitness or WooHoo), they may become exhausted, which will cause the "Dangerously Tired" moodlet to appear. If they continue to perform heavy tasks, they will die of overexertion. Just like in the previous games, elders can retire. They can do this with their smartphone and will gain daily pensions. Elders can also still adopt children, as female elders cannot become pregnant anymore. However, elder males can still impregnate younger Sims.
The Simology panel shows the days the Sim has lived, instead of the days until the Sim dies of old age. If the Sim life length is normal (the default length), and the Sim was born in-game rather than being created as an elder, Sims will be 100 days old when becoming an elder. Once the elder Sim's age meter is full, it may take up to 48 hours on normal lifespan for the Sim to pass away. Elders with the Long Lived reward trait from completing the Bodybuilder aspiration will live significantly longer than normal, even to the point where their own children are elders.
Unlike previous games, elders can be set as the parent or child of another elder in Create a Sim, allowing for great-grandparents to be made. However, great-grandparents and great-grandchildren are titled as "roommates" in CAS.
Things that elders can do that younger life stages can't:
Get the dangerously tired moodlet
Die of overexertion
Walk slowly
Things that elders can't do that younger life stages can:
Get pregnant (although elder male Sims can impregnate younger female Sims)
Vivian Lewis, an elder.
Dennis Kim, an elder.
A group of elders.
The Sims Medieval, The Sims 2 for console, The Sims 3 for Nintendo DS and The Sims Pet Stories do not feature elders.
v · d · eLife stages
Baby · Toddler · Child · Pre-teen · Teen · Young adult · Adult · Elder
Pregnancy · Death · Pet life stages
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Julien Bromley Music Services Your business? Error?
Archer Steve Your business? Error?
Dvd Knights Your business? Error?
Movie Time Your business? Error?
Nice & Naughty Your business? Error?
Tailgate Productions Ltd Your business? Error?
Activ Media (Productions) Ltd Your business? Error?
Radio and television in Cheshire towns.


Monster Mache: Shrink-wrapped for Freshness!
Only the fact that a hummock of heathery sand intercepted the lower part of the Heat-Ray saved them.
I've been having fun with my newest toy: the heat gun! Far safer than open flame, it has a variety of applications (including paint removal).
Dead Fred has now been shrink-wrapped with layers of plastic sheeting giving him a flesh-like covering. I'll stain the plastic of his torso and follow up with a paint job so he'll looks less like a burn victim who was playing with a heat gun.
Fred's got guts - made of Great Stuff! His head is also filled with foam for greater sturdiness.
I'm especially happy with the way the neck turned out.


text:
Creating an Effective Digital Estate Plan
August 16, 2016 September 8, 2016 Eleanore DigitalDeath
Click here to view original web page at myinforms.com
Read the full story The average user possesses upwards of 90 online accounts. What exactly happens to those accounts when your clients die? read…
The term "estate planning" generally includes documents such as a Last Will & Testament, financial power of attorney, health care power of attorney and maybe a trust. However, to address the growing online presence of individuals from young to old, estate planning has grown to include planning of an individual's digital assets on their death or disability as well. In fact, recent articles suggest that the average user possesses upwards of 90 online accounts. What exactly happens to those accounts when your clients die?
Many people assume that an executor or a family member will gain access to the accounts, but for many states, that is not currently the case. The laws in most states do not grant an executor or family member access to online accounts at the time the owner passes away. The Model Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (UFADAA) was drafted to provide states with consistent rules and procedures for accessing digital information, however, many digital access providers have vigorously fought to stop states from passing legislation similar to the UFADAA. In an effort to take a step forward, some states have passed slimmed down legislation to allow limited access to certain accounts, such as email. In addition to state laws, each individual digital access provider has their own rules and requirements for gaining access to personal information.
Because access to digital accounts following the death of a family member can be daunting, it is important that clients implement an effective digital estate plan. The principles which guide traditional estate planning are also applicable to digital estate planning. Keeping important documents updated and in a place where family members and/or an executor can access the information is especially important with digital accounts. Most people have a myriad of email addresses, passwords, pin numbers, reset questions, thumbprints, secret knocks and code phrases that grant us access to our accounts. However, how many of those access keys are accessible by a family member and/or executor?
There are currently four methods to transfer access upon death: written instructions, access through specific digital providers, password managers and digital legacy services.
Written Instructions
Many digital users record their passwords and access information and store the instructions in a secure place, such as a personal safe or safe deposit box. If the information is updated regularly and stored in a safe location, this can be the cheapest and simplest method to transfer access to a surviving family member or executor. However, because passwords and other login information change regularly, it is important that the written instructions be updated regularly as well. The necessary upkeep of recording and storing this information can require a significant time investment.
Digital Providers
Many digital account providers are beginning to provide solutions to this issue. For example, Facebook now allows users to designate a profile executor who can access the account upon the death of the account creator. Twitter allows the person authorized to act on behalf of the deceased person to request an account to be deactivated. Email providers, like Google and Yahoo, will consider granting access to an account (or certain limited information) by the authorized person following a review of a written request, and a Gmail user can designate an Inactive Account Manager who may access certain information if the account is inactive for a designated period. While these individual solutions are helpful, it is difficult to prepare each account to be accessed by a surviving family member or executor, since each provider has different rules.
Third party password managers, like LastPass, KeePass and Dashlane, all provide methods to send access information to certain designated individuals on the death of the user. Generally, all password managers have the ability to share stored information with others; however, some password managers provide springing access. For example, LastPass allows users to choose one or more accounts to which they want to grant access and send an advance email to any individual. The email contains a link, which once activated, begins a countdown clock. During the designated timeframe, the original sender has the ability to reject access. In the event that the original sender does…
Click here to view original web page at Creating an Effective Digital Estate Plan
digital estate Digital Estate Plan estate plan Estate Planning power of attorney
How Dubliners deal with death
On Persistence and My Digital Legacy (Bus Factor)
Financial Consulate: The crucial importance of creating a Digital Estate Plan
State-by-State Digital Estate Planning Laws
Estate planning for digital assets: still only prudent planning
I'll Tweet When I'm Dead: Estate Planning in the Digital Age
Assets online? Plan your estate for the digital age
What happens to your digital fortune when you die?
Finalize Your Digital Estate Plan
digital asset transfer part P: a planner's road map


text:
Ad Astra [film]
Entry updated 26 April 2021. Tagged: Film.
Film (2019). New Regency Pictures, Bona Film Group, Keep Your Head. Directed by James Gray. Written by Gray and Ethen Gross. Cast includes Loren Dean, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Brad Pitt, Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler. 123 minutes. Colour.
Several decades into an undated Near Future, the US Space Command sends po-faced Major Roy McBride (Pitt) to Mars on an urgent mission to attempt to communicate at long-distance with his famous father H Clifford McBride (Jones), head of the Lima Project in orbit around Neptune (see Outer Planets), which for three decades has been devoted to gaining evidence of life in the universe other than us (see SETI). Though nothing has been heard from the Lima Space Station for many years, there is evidence Clifford may still be alive, persisting in his mission, and that, possibly without his conscious agency, the enormously powerful equipment required to send messages into the galaxy has generated the Antimatter power surges (see Scientific Errors) that are currently threatening to destroy the Solar System.
Once on Mars, Roy fails to reach his father, and is refused permission to join a Neptune-bound expedition. He now learns that the Lima Project staff had attempted to return to Earth, and that Clifford, treating them as mutineers, had killed them all off (see Red Shirts). The Oedipally-challenged father-emulating Roy now hijacks the outbound Spaceship, killing its meat-puppet crew of red shirts en passant (there are no Robots in Ad Astra), and soon reaches Lima station. He finds his father alive but – as no Alien civilization has ever responded to his reach-out – in terminal despair about Homo sapiens's aloneness in the universe. Father and son have a family talk but Clifford, perhaps not over-impressed with Roy, commits suicide. Hints of wellness begin to suffuse Roy's countenance through his spacesuit visor, and returns to Earth, most of the trip sunk in a state of healing foetal slumber. He lands safely but dazed, only awakening fully at the sight of his wife awaiting him; her name is Eve (Tyler) (see Adam and Eve; Clichés; Shaggy God Story). Roy smiles at Eve. Any remaining hope for humanity would seem to rest, emblematically, on their skill as Gardeners.
Ad Astra, a film whose central narrative is very nearly eventless, does all the same echo its many models, though without being able to add much novelty (except for one central thing) to the long array of topoi, both Cinematic and written, to which it renders homage. Films clocked here include the inescapable 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), as well as The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and the nonfantastic Apocalypse Now (1979) directed by Francis Ford Coppola; plus several more recent releases including Space Cowboys (2000), Gravity (2013), Interstellar (2014), The Martian (2015), the Television drama The Expanse (2015-current) [entry in preparation]. Literary models would include Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness (1899; 1902), for the quest by Spaceship up the dark river of vacuum into intimate concourse with a grotesque father figure whose prig interlocutor bores him to death; and Lewis Carroll's Alice books, particularly Alice in Wonderland (1865), for the surreally morphing of the physics and literal geography of the universe to accord with the churning inner state of protagonist Roy. This is all a heavy load to carry, and at points Ad Astra, which is after all at heart a rather intimate father-son chamber drama, clearly gives too much lip-service to its extrovert predecessors. But it is not that simple. Even on a first viewing, something catches the eye. More than the case with any of its predecessors, the lip-service action intervals that punctuate Ad Astra are dominated by spacesuits. Indeed, in its various uses of the spacesuit as an engine to give body to actions set in vacuum, and in its various metaphorical if fleeting visions of the spacesuit as a glass to see Wonderland through, Ad Astra is perhaps the ultimate Spacesuit Film.
In most Spacesuit Films, a spacesuit is mostly what it seems to be: a non-metaphorical hollow airtight carapace featly shaped to encompass the contours of the warrior within, so that he (there are no spacesuited females in Ad Astra) can survive and manoeuvre in space; it may also be armoured to defend him (see Mecha). This use of the spacesuit dominates the surface story of Ad Astra, a film whose essential narrative arc consists (as noted above) of a trip from Earth to Neptune, a father and son talk, and a return to Earth. Everything else is extraneous. The discourse of Ad Astra, in other words, has almost nothing to show for itself. There is no film there. Whether or not its makers were aware of this from the first may not matter, though various delays in bringing the project to fruition may suggest a succession of pennies dropping. It certainly explains the action sequences – in each of which the CGI is impeccable and at points enthralling – that churn the surface of Ad Astra.
Spacesuits are the engines of the action from the very beginning. After an array of senatorial surtitles clearly evocative of the Star Wars franchise, Captain Roy McBride is seen doing routine maintenance on a vast communications satellite in Earth orbit, when a mysterious power surge (from Neptune) spectacularly demolishes the Big Dumb Object. Roy, who is so locked into his Dad-emulating career and his infarcted self that his heartbeat never exceeds 80 per minute, falls to Earth safely, in his spacesuit. U S SpaceCom now sends him to Mars to attempt to communicate with his father, as messages won't reach all the way from Earth (?). His father's old colleague, the savvy cynical avuncular Colonel Pruitt (Sutherland), joins him on a safe Virgin Atlantic commercial flight (the product placement forbids disaster) to the Moon base, which Roy describes as being
"covered up by drink stands and t-shirt vendors. Just a recreation of what we're running from on Earth. We are world-eaters."
But they must leave mall-world. A convoy of Moon buggies must transport them to the SpaceCom spaceport, across No Man's Land, which is boring. They are therefore attacked by Moon Pirates in buggies, who before they are repulsed kill off several flummoxed Red Shirts; still alive in their spacesuits, Pruitt and Roy reach the spaceport, where the aged supererogatory Pruitt is carted off to hospital, never to be seen again (Donald Sutherland's role serves mainly as a shout-out to Space Cowboys, which featured both him and Tommy Lee Jones). Roy then joins the Spaceship Cepheus for the flight to Mars, which is boring. The crew is therefore forced to respond to an emergency signal from a station engaged in bioresearch. Once inside the station, they are attacked by maddened baboons, with the loss of more red shirts, but Roy (after killing the animals) survives, in his spacesuit.
Once at Mars base, whose coulisses and corridors seem to grow and shrink like Alice's Underground world, a frustrated Roy learns from the civilian Facility Director Helen Lantos (Negga) about his father's termination of the Lima Project staff; having lost his affectlessness, he now fails the latest of his psychological assessments, and is refused passage on the Cepheus, now bound for Neptune under orders to kill Clifford. Lantos shows Roy how to get aboard the ship by going down a rabbit-hole, in his spacesuit, into a vast underground lake which extends below the takeoff gantry (the kilometres-deep permafrost of the real Mars has no place in Wonderland). Once there, he clambers up the outside of the Cepheus while it is blasting off, in his spacesuit. He then forces his way inside where (as noted earlier) he terminates red shirts, as his Dad did, in his spacesuit.
Seventy-nine days later he is orbiting Neptune, though a l;anding-dock malfunction forces him to remain for some time in his spacesuit. But soon he and his father converse, neither of them at this point in spacesuits; it is clear in this scene that Tommy Lee Jones is wearing the gear he wore in Space Cowboys, when the universe still called us forth. But now, as he tells his son, the universe is nada. "No love or hate. No light or dark." But Roy, despite his growing pains, has no time for unmanly nihilism, and tries to persuade Clifford to evacuate the station, already doomed to destruction by the deadly balonium that is threatening life everywhere. En route back to the Cepheus, in their spacesuits Clifford tricks him, and drifts off into dark vacuum to die, as alone as Homo sapiens always was. Very subtly, Brad Pitt's face begins to look reborn; the slow altering of Roy's face from the botox craquelure of a frozen-boy mask to human gaze is masterfully accomplished. The universe outside the spacesuit duly submits: metaphorically huger than planets, Roy now uses a flat piece of debris to protect him from the rings of Neptune, while returning to the Cepheus in his spacesuit. Aided by the great explosion that demolishes the station, he returns to Earth (see again Adam and Eve). As his shuttle lands safely in the green hills of the home planet, he awakens aborning in his spacesuit, with a face about to smile, in elated and perhaps deliberate contrast to the central movement of The Man Who Fell to Earth, whose protagonist (David Bowie) also wears a frozen face that melts.
This might seem enough about the spacesuit as amnion. But because they do embody kinetic transactions between the outside and the inside of the universe, it is entirely natural in a film like Ad Astra, which is all about acting out the coming-of-age of a fossilized self, that they should serve as conduits for meaningfulness to adhere to. Again and again, therefore, Roy is seen psychically hyperventilating through his visor as he experiences the Inner Space consequences of beginning to grow up, while a Wonderland universe fluctuates outside the suit.
This spiralling between the in and the out – a movement well designed to exemplify the kind of distress and flux felt by human beings attempting to make something of the time they have as mortals – has an effect rather similar to the rhetorical figure known as hendiadys, where two separate terms, joined by "and", copulate between terms in solitude and what they grow to mean as they join: phrases like "the morn and liquid dew of youth", "the book and volume of my brain", "the power and the glory". It is a device much used by William Shakespeare around 1600, as per these examples, when he was deeply concerned in the staging of change: hendiadys being an ideal device to express how words can mean themselves, and also mean something next. It is a device well designed, therefore, to register and in a sense to spin the enormous stress felt by a character like Hamlet (or Roy) straining to transact a shifting world, to escape the lockdown of adolescence, to come of age vis a vis the father. A spacesuit, conceived as enacting a movement from outside to in, from inside to out, and back again to some new inside, is a kind of hendiadys.
But Ad Astra, despite Brad Pitt's skill, literalizes all too heavily the cod and cartoonish grammars of human growth, conveying a sleigh-of-hand glibness, chez Hollywood, to the process. It may be for this reason that the makers of Ad Astra, attempting to authenticate visions of profundity that must have seemed to them constantly to sound like wellness ads, constructed the extraordinarily complicated pattern of "truth-telling" voice-overs Roy utters from various perspectives in time and story throughout the entire film. Sometimes we overhear his oral depositions to a SpaceCom assessment device, presumably an AI, which assesses his fitness to continue his mission; sometimes we listen to the pre-scripted messages he sends to his father from Mars; sometimes he seems to be speaking from nowhere in particular to no one we can quite identify; but mostly we find ourselves giving audience to hindsight passages spoken in a calm musing raconteur voice, as though Roy were reminiscing about significant events that can now safely be passed on to an unseen listener who does not speak back. It is the voice of Charles Marlow, the protagonist of Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness (1899; 1902), describing in hindsight, to listeners in a Club Story frame, his voyage up the Congo in search of Kurz and the Horror there. It is Horror recollected in something like tranquillity. It may also make sense of the very end of Ad Astra, when the very title, which means "to the stars", proves to be a dream of passage and progress as dead now as Clifford.
So Marlow's tale about the end of civilization is indeed the end of Ad Astra. The universe is null and void. Earth is our only refuge. Roy has seen Eve, or is about to see her. He makes a final deposition to the unseen SpaceCom surveillance auditor device, telling the auditor, and us, and himself, what it means to grow up on Earth now that he has become, as Shakespeare might have put it, "th'expectancy and rose of the state"; what it means to cultivate your Garden at the End of the World:
"I'm steady, calm. I slept well, no bad dreams. I am active and engaged. I'm aware of my surroundings and those in my immediate sphere. I'm attentive. I am focused on the essentials, to the exclusion of all else. I'm unsure of the future but I'm not concerned. I will rely on those closest to me, and I will share their burdens, as they share mine. I will love and I will love."
He then adds a final word. "Submit." [JC]


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Telescopes | Bayfordbury
The astronomy side of Bayfordbury Observatory features 7 large permanently-mounted optical telescopes, solar telescopes, 4 radio telescopes, and a range of smaller instruments.
The 6 newest optical telescopes use a range of CCD cameras and specialist filters to take detailed images of objects in space, from the nearby moon and planets, to nebulae and distance galaxies.
Five of these telescopes are able to run robotically, so that they can run automatically throughout the night without intervention, allowing students and staff to get the very most out of the available hours of clear sky.
The older but larger optical telescope allows a simpler platform for students to be introduced to astronomy, where they can move the telescopes themselves and get a chance to look through the eyepiece.
Our radio telescopes allow detailed observations to be made of the hidden hydrogen that makes up our own galaxy, as well as high-energy radio sources inside and outside our galaxy. An advantage of radio telescopes is that they can work during cloudy weather and during the day as well as at night.
J.C.D. Marsh Telescope
20-inch f/13 Cassegrain Eyepiece -
R. Priddey Telescope
16-inch Meade LX200-ACF Moravian Instruments G4-16000 BVRI (Johnson)
J. Hough Telescope
16-inch Meade LX200-ACF SBIG STL-6303E BVRI (Johnson), H-alpha, S-II, O-II
Video Telescope
14-inch Meade LX200R Lumenera SKYnyx 2-1 Red, Green, Blue, IR, UV
C.R. Kitchin Telescope
16-inch Meade LX200GPS SBIG STL-6303E BVR (Johnson), H-alpha
I.K.M Nicolson Telescope
16-inch Meade LX200
D. Axon Telescope
Vince Telescope
6.5-inch f/13.5 refractor Eyepiece -
R.W. Forrest Telescope
4.5m parabolic dish 21cm/continuum -
Interferometer
3x 3m parabolic dishes - -
A 20-inch f/13 Cassegrain on a substantial English Cross-Axis mount.
It was the first telescope set up at the Observatory in 1970 and named after Lou Marsh, the first director of the Observatory.
Originally built as a 16-inch Cassegrain/Newtonian by Astronomical Equipment of Luton, and later modified by them in the mid-1980s to take the larger 20-inch mirror.
During the 1999 observatory renovation, a new dome was installed - the original dome was donated to Breckland Astronomical Society as part of the Great Ellingham Observatory.
Robert Priddey Telescope (RPT)
This is the Observatory's newest telescope, installed in 2013, is a 16-inch Meade LX200-ACF identical to the BMT, and replaces an old manual Celestron C-14 from the late 1970s.
It is equipped with an Moravian Instruments G4-16000 full frame (36mm) camera, with BVRI filters.
James Hough Telescope (JHT)
This is a 16-inch Meade LX200-ACF first installed in 2008, replacing the old Brinton Reflector.
In 2013 it was moved onto a new robotic Paramount ME mount.
It is equipped with an SBIG STL-6303E camera with an 8-position filter wheel, holding BVRI photometric, H-alpha, S-II and O-III filters.
Chris Kitchin Telescope (CKT)
In 2005 a new 16-inch Meade LX200GPS was purchased for the Observatory by the East of England Science Learning Centre, and was installed in the dome formerly housing the Vince Telescope.
During late 2011 work was started on the CKT to convert it to robotic operation, and it became the first of 5 telescopes able to make automated observations of the night sky without anyone needing to be present.
It is equipped with an SBIG STL-6303E camera with a 5-position filter wheel, holding BVR photometric and H-alpha filters.
Iain Nicolson Telescope (INT)
In 1999 a telescope identical to the DAT was installed and later named after astronomy lecturer Dr Iain Nicolson.
Along with the others Meades it was upgraded in 2012-2013 to be able to work robotically.
David Axon Telescope
In 1995 the Observatory installed its first 'go-to' telescope - a 16-inch Meade LX200 EMC that could automatically find thousands of objects in the night sky using a computerised handset, one of the first of its kind in the country.
R.W. Forrest Radio Telescope
The Forrest Radio Telescope is a 4.5m, parabolic dish with a state-of-the-art 21cm (1.4GHz) Hydrogen line receiver.
The receiver allows spectrum or continuum readings to be made.
The telescope was built during the 1999 renovation to replace an older concrete radio dish.
Mounted on a custom 'Alt-Az' mount which is controlled from the Patrick Moore Building.
Radio interferometer
In December 2011 construction began on a 3-dish radio interferometer.
The dishes are 3m in diameter and have a maximum baseline of 115m.
Custom receivers and a new positioning system for the dishes are currently being set up.
A 6.5-inch f/13.5 achromatic refracting telescope commissioned in 1934 by Mr Vince.
It uses a lens from an earlier telescope produced by the famous German opticians, Merz, in 1860, and is mounted in a brass cell manufactured by Hans Gordon of Berlin in around 1900.
The son of the original owner had loaned the instrument to the Chelmsford Astronomical Society in the late 1970s and while there was extensively restored by the chairman, Mr Weston.
The society later disbanded and the telescope sat in a garage for some time until it was donated to the observatory at Bayfordbury in 1988.
During the 1999 renovation a dedicated 4m dome was built to house the telescope on its original half-ton mount, but in 2005 the newer Chris Kitchin Telescope was installed in this dome and the Vince telescope mounted on the 20-inch Marsh Telescope where it is today.
The original mount was relocated to Ireland in 2011 to hold a Wray 6-inch f/15 refractor dating from the 1890s.
The Video Telescope is a 14-inch Meade LX200R installed in 2007.
It specialises in fast frame rate, high resolution video imaging of solar system objects: the Sun, Moon and planets.
It has 7 filters to allow observations to be made from the near-infrared (great for Mars) through red, green and blue to ultraviolet (for viewing cloud bands on Venus).