text:
San Francisco-based DoubleDutch Opens London Office to Expand UK Presence
-- Mobile event app provider DoubleDutch hopes to further strengthen £5.6 billion UK event industry
LONDON, April 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- San Francisco-based DoubleDutch, the global leading provider of mobile event apps, announced Thursday that it is opening a UK office in London's Marble Arch neighborhood. The London office will focus on serving and growing DoubleDutch's large customer base in the UK, ensuring that DoubleDutch continues to provide its customers with the same personalised experience around the world.
"We are thrilled to announce the opening of our first UK office," said Zubin Bhettay, VP International at DoubleDutch. "With offices in San Francisco, Amsterdam and Hong Kong, London was a clear and logical next step for us as DoubleDutch continues to develop globally. We see tremendous potential in the UK, which is establishing itself as a technology and commercial hub. We look forward to continued growth in this exciting and important market as our company and UK presence expands."
The London meetings and events industry is booming, generating £5.6 billion to the UK economy annually according to research by the MPI Foundation. And with technology playing an increasingly significant role in the event experience, DoubleDutch views this as a prime opportunity to work with marketing and event professionals to increase business and further strengthen the UK economy.
"I am delighted that DoubleDutch is expanding into the UK market through opening a new office in London," said David Slater, Director of International Business Development at London & Partners, the Mayor's promotional company for the capital, said. "As the digital hub for Europe, London's tech sector is attracting leading companies from all around the world, including the US. With our pool of talent, attractive timezone, and access to market, an increasing number of companies - like DoubleDutch - are realizing that to reach an international audience, London is the perfect place to be."
Elka Looks
elka@doubledutch.me
http://www.doubledutch.me
SOURCE DoubleDutch


text:
Analysing Three Potential Candidates To Replace Solskjaer At Manchester United
By Naveen Kelvin | November 21, 2021
Reuters / Juan Medina
Manchester United have officially parted ways with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The decision is one that has been a long time in the making given the sheer drop in form that the Red Devils have suffered over the recent weeks.
Now the big question is who will replace the Norwegian legend for the high-profile role and what they will bring to the table at Old Trafford. While Michael Carrick has been named as the in-charge while the side decides on an interim manager, it is paramount to have a look at some of the names who are doing the rounds as potential hires.
1. Zinedine Zidane
The most touted name for the job and certainly the most high-profile one on the list. Zidane would certainly bring a lot of pedigree to the side. In particular, the former Real Madrid man already has a penchant for managing high profile names, which will be particularly handy in a side with players like Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo. The latter already has experience under the Frenchman while the former was high on Zidane's wishlist in recent times.
Further, he also brings a proven knack for bringing in silverware for sides that he manages which makes him an ideal candidate to translate some of United's current woes into tangible results in the short term.
However, it is important to note that Zidane does not have an attitude for tolerance judging by his two past stints at Madrid and as such the higher-ups at Old Trafford may not be able to short-sell him during transfer windows.
2. Brendan Rodgers
REUTERS/Peter Powell
A name that was doing the rounds ever since the abysmal Liverpool loss itself. The former Liverpool manager is certainly an exciting name, even though his affiliation with the Merseyside outfit may not go down all too well with a section of United supporters.
Further, he has proven Premier League experience and a proven record of working with young players which is crucial in the current competitive climate. His time at Leicester City has put a lot of hope on his ability to deliver against big teams. However, the Foxes haven't exactly been the most exceptional of teams this season under his leadership.
Given the note under which Solskjaer left United, only a man who is bound to take the club back to the glory days they once boasted can hope to be handed the top job. At this point, Rodgers does not appear to be such a figure.
3. Erik ten Hag
The Dutchman has also been on the speculative shortlist for the United job. He certainly has the sort of innovative tactics that can make him a Klopp-esque appointment for the Old Trafford outfit.
Likewise, the Ajax gaffer has proven European experience which is paramount for United to make their mark on the big stage. The same is also crucial to managing the young names at United given how good the Dutch team has been when it comes to developing promising starlets. Donny van de Beek will certainly not mind him being added to the back room at the club.
However, it cannot be denied that Ajax and Manchester United are on two separate levels and the Premier League poses a significantly more daunting challenge. As such, Ten Hag's limited experience may not make him an attractive option given that Solskjaer's limited experience with Cardiff and in Norway was repeatedly touted as proof of his incapability.
The transitional weeks to come are bound to be crucial for the side. A mid-season appointment almost never works well for any of the parties involved and whoever is granted the responsibility is bound to face an uphill task.
← 'Thank You Ole' – Twitter Reacts As Manchester United Announce Solskjaer DepartureCristiano Ronaldo Wants Former Barcelona Manager At Manchester United →

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I'm Jennifer, a current student at University Wisconsin-Madison studying Political Science and Business. I started my first company as a Freshman in college designing and selling sunglasses to raise money and awareness for the World Orphanage Relief Corporation. My original company, JENZ, later blossomed into NOSSA Company that now sells sunglasses, clothing, accessories, and bath/body.
I am passionate about writing, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, politics, economics, music, dance, the arts, and many other things!
The Cool Girls Guide website is a project was innovated by Melissa Giovagnoli that works hand-in-hand with her company Networlding. The Cool Girls Guide aims to help start-up women entrepreneurs focus and network, as well as educate one another.
In front of me on the computer screen is an essay for my master's degree in fiction writing. I decided three years ago at age 49 that this was important. But somehow I forgot that going back to college meant I'd have homework, even in the summer.
At the moment, I am cursing at my laptop as I try to italicize book titles (no more underlining them, like I did when I was in college). The university expects the paper to be perfect. That's my advisor's word. Perfect. I thought no one used that term anymore—in preschool and in yoga class it is not allowed.
I don't believe in perfect anymore.
I used to. I spent my whole life, it seems, trying to be perfect. The perfect daughter, perfect student, perfect bride, perfect mother, perfect friend, perfect wife—not to mention keeping a perfect house, serving perfect meals and tending perfect chickens who lay perfect eggs.
Did I mention that in my free time I ran marathons? Saying this now makes me laugh out loud. At the same time, I read about mothers who did all this and were brain surgeons, too. I was only a staff writer who wrote obituaries for our town's weekly newspaper, and in a town of 2,400 there aren't that many.
But that job did, and does, challenge the way I saw the world. The best obituaries (and thus lives), I've found, are the ones about people who are quirky and loved, rather than perfect overachievers. Like Mildred, who, after her husband died in Texas, abandoned her home there completely. She came up to visit her friend Lola here in Alaska and never left. "She was a guest who came for the summer and stayed for 20 years," Lola said. Most of us knew very little of Mildred's pre-Alaska life or the reason for her abrupt departure from Texas, and we didn't much care. I loved her for the fiery-red leather pants she wore well into her 80s.
I never thought I'd be writing the obituary of my friend Guy. When he died of a heart attack while skiing at only 57, everyone was so shaken up that the local arts center was packed for his funeral. Guy fished just enough to pay his bills, never had indoor plumbing, and invited the whole town to his annual birthday party. He used to say, "If you want nice weather, make your own high-pressure system," and he did.
Compare that with the obituary I wrote where the highest praise anyone could offer about the woman was, "She kept her stove clean." That one worried me—I didn't want to be remembered that way.
Not long after that, I was invited to dinner at a new friend's rental house, where the gritty gas stove had seen better days. My hosts did not, as I would have, iron the napkins—we tore paper towels off a loose roll.
And instead of serving a meat and two vegetables, we ate tamales from napkins on our laps, which we assembled, laughing and talking, in a drafty old kitchen. I still recall it as one of the nicest evenings in one of the warmest (yet least "perfect") homes I've ever been in.
Of course I was aware that no one demanded perfection in my household but me. But still, I couldn't let it go. I couldn't help it. I thought it was my job, somehow, to make the world orderly and clean.
Then, I was hit by a truck. Literally. I had a lot of time to think when I was flat on my back in bed with a shattered pelvis.
I couldn't fill the window boxes with flowers, or plant tomatoes in the greenhouse, or wash, much less iron, cloth napkins. I was forced to let it all go. My mother-in-law cleaned my closets (I tended to hide the imperfections) but she just laughed at the way the towels fell on her head. Since I couldn't leave my living room hospital bed, I never even knew the condition of the upstairs bathroom the kids shared, yet no one complained or contracted cholera.
My friends came by often. When Nancy said, "I hate to say this, but it's kind of nice having your undivided attention. I don't think I've seen this much of you in a long time," I got teary, and it wasn't from the medication. When my children said it was fun having me available all day, I said a little prayer promising that when I healed I'd spend more time with them. I wouldn't be perfect, but I would be better.
Which is why when my daughter comes inside now with my granddaughter in tow and asks when I'm joining them on the beach, I glance at my homework, click Send and close my laptop. It's not perfect, but neither am I. I'm 51 years old. It's time to become a B- student instead of an A+ student.
Really, there's not much difference between the way everything about my home appears now and the way it did before I had these epiphanies. I still prepare nice meals, but it's because I like to. A jar of fresh daisies on the table makes me happy. I no longer groan, "I have to weed the garden." Instead I say, "I want to garden all day today," and the thing is, I mean it. When I pull a baby carrot out of the soil I see what perfect really is, and I know it has nothing to do with me. Perfect is those curls on the back of my granddaughter's head, the salty smell of seaweed, the blue of a mussel shell.
In Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote about relationships, motherhood, aging and leading a meaningful life. I love the part where she talks about finding shells on the beach, and the way we all wear proverbial shells—the shell of ambition, the shell of accumulations and possessions, the shell of the ego—which in middle age we, like oysters and whelks, also shed.
It's also a good time to shed the shell of perfection and grow a newer, more flexible one to carry me through the second of half of my life with a little more grace. It's high time to, as my friend Guy said, make my own good weather.
Heather Lende is a contributing editor to Woman's Day. Her most recent book is Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs. She lives in Haines, Alaska.


text:
By Brad Cohan and George Grella
"Modernism is very structured but it's like a house with no roof on it…"
- NYU student in Village Diner to his two friends
"There goes history again."
- Man on MacDougal Street pointing to what I think is ME
Collage by Steve Dalachinsky
I've seen so many gigs that are all smoke and mirrors. It's really bringing me down. Gimmicks and language that have been used so many times before. Folks playing for what's outside and not for what is inside. There's nothing new under the sun but hey, though the moon only mirrors the sun's light it is after all an entity unto itself. Listener and player are easily fooled. When the music is at a standstill one must use one's chops and imagination to change it up, try to inject something different when possible. The overall object should be concentration, focus, listening, connecting, and freedom on both audience and artist's end. This may seem a contradiction but how else can either grow? And clap. Hoot. It's old school but vital.
I met Sarah Halpern through Anthology Film Archives and knew her as a collagist and filmmaker, but when I heard her music, which goes beyond the limits of the genres it evokes, I was completely smitten. Her solo performance at Sunview Luncheonette where she played table top guitars, at times hitting her tuning forks on the table while striking the strings and singing in her incredibly soft, touching voice, really got to me, as did her projects on the ZAP label. Her music is a mindful extension of what I can only describe as traditional folk music. But rather than try to unravel her process, I've asked Halpern to do it for me. Here are her fascinating responses:
"As you know I work in many disciplines. I've been playing guitar forever but have always struggled with trying to relate it to my other artwork. A few years ago I saw the Shirley Clarke documentary Ornette: Made in America, and at one point he was talking about his first encounter with the music and practices of the Whirling Dervishes. He was comparing it to gospel music. He made a differentiation between emotional music and creative music. He said that gospel is emotional, and described the music of the Whirling Dervishes as generative or creative, much like jazz. This idea really struck me deeply and has influenced my development. For so many years the music I played was deeply emotional, which after a while it started to feel very limited and at a certain point became somehow fused with heavy drinking. It was almost as though the music would give me a way into myself, but then leave me there with no way back out. For a period of time I quit playing altogether and just focused on artwork, which had a more positive effect.
"After many years of trying to figure out how to sing and play guitar in a generative way I think I am finally beginning to touch on something. The more improvisation I am able to bring into the framework of a song, the closer I can get. So when I compose a song I try to make the composition itself as minimal as possible. I use a lot of open tunings and the lyrics will often consist of just a few words to play around with. I am pretty focused on trying to figure out how I can physically relate to the guitar and try to create a range of sounds percussively, out of the way in which I touch the instrument, rather than out of playing a series of notes. I draw pretty heavily on American folk music as a place to start. I deconstruct the songs and figure out how I personally relate to them. Then I change them pretty substantially and figure out how I can leave as much room as possible for the performance itself (meaning the sounds or conditions within the room and any improvisation). This is really how my music relates to my other artwork. In my film, collage, and performance work I always try to leave a lot of space for interpretation and always try to trust the audience/viewer as much as possible. Sometimes there are a lot of quiet parts in the songs, or sonically delicate parts. I often sing without a microphone if I can get away with it. So far I have found that this tends to work out. Most of the time people seem to make room for it, I think I've been lucky with very focused audiences most of the time."
Her second set at Sunview was in duo with H. Honne Wells. The two have released Ottomotty on ZAP as well.
Halpern says Ottomotty "is a collaboration . . . I was invited into. Hank had already figured out some of the technical parameters. We both play electric guitar and the overall sound is very much a result of the particulars of our equipment; the amps were manufactured by Danelectro in the 1960s for the Sears Silvertone line. The microphones are modified Baldwin speakers, and we use effects pedals. There is a similar process of referencing American folk songs (we reference a lot from the Child Ballads collection), deconstructing and subsequently building on them. We reach back to the roots of American music and pull bits and pieces forward into a densely electric environment. By nature, the microphones have a narrow gate on them so this adds an interesting constraint for singing and word choices. For example 'on' would come through pretty well, but "in" would be entirely blurred and no one would hear it. So the equipment relates to the composition on a basic level. We recorded everything on reel-to-reel tape, to suit the final cassette format."
The pieces I experienced live from the duo were: "Dreary Dream," "Lie Down," and "Lord of the Sea," which are all on the tape, though they are all somewhat improvised and sounded a bit different than the recordings, which were made a year ago. Her solo set consisted of "Blue Eyes" which, as she claims, is "an abstracted, somewhat improvised version of the second track on my [solo] tape, Silvered Golden, titled eyes. The song is a reinterpretation of 'Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes,' recorded by the Carter Family, which was itself an interpretation of a much older Appalachian folk song." Halpern did a few other re-configured tunes, also on the solo tape, and each took me deeper into an almost trance-like state. I strongly advise you pick up both tapes. A must hear.
As for ZAP, the label's producer is archivist and film preservationist John Klacsmann who also works at Anthology Film Archives. It is mainly a cassette label that includes the odd LP. It's been around for some ten years and its catalog, though primarily music, contains some spoken word such as from Craig Baldwin, Jeff Perkins, and me.
Keeping it in the family, Halpern is a producer on the new film, The Unicorn, about gay, outsider country and western singer from Queens, Peter Grudzien, directed by Tim Geraghty (her husband, also part of AFA) and Isabelle Dupuis. The film covers 2005-2007 and includes later home movies by Grudzien. It is a painful journey about a totally dysfunctional family, consisting of Grudzien, his ninety-nine-year-old father, and his twin sister, all now dead. To say their unkempt insanity runs rampant is an understatement, yet the tenderness that dwells inside Peter and his sister is astounding. To my mind, though he experienced much abuse in his life, Grundzien is a well-founded paranoiac, more eccentric than crazy, who, since childhood, never abandoned his art. To render the emotional depth of this film and to share my insights is a column unto itself. I strongly suggest you experience it and pick up his classic self-produced LP, Unicorn.
Towards the film's conclusion the cameraperson asks, "Do you feel like you get looks walking around dressed as you are?"
Peter: "Yeah, they call out from cars and laugh and everything."
Cameraperson: "How does that make you feel?"
Peter: "Look where it's coming from." Indeed, Peter. Who are the crazies for real?
I dedicate this to mentor, poet, filmmaker and founder of AFA, Jonas Mekas.
Steve Dalachinsky
Poet/collagist STEVE DALACHINSKY was a long time contributor to the Rail. His book The Final Nite & Other Poems (Ugly Duckling Presse - 2006) won the PEN Oakland National Book Award. His latest CDs are The Fallout of Dreams with Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach (Roguart, 2014), and the book/CD Pretty in the Morning with the French art rock group the Snobs (Bisou Records, 2019). He was a 2014 recipient of a Chevalier de l Ordre des Arts et Lettres. His most recent books include Frozen Heatwave, a collaboration with Yuko Otomo (Luna Bissonte Prods, 2017) and where night and day become one—the french poems (great weather for MEDIA, 2018) which received a 2019 IBPA award in poetry.


text:
Q: Tkinter and PIL: Changing Displayed Image via OptionMenu selection a little new to Tkinter and PIL, trying to setup a GUI that switches the displayed image based on what selection was made in the OptionMenu. The path updates fine, however the image does not. Any remedies?
from tkinter import *
from PIL import Image, ImageTk
import os

def changeimage():
    path.set(cwd + '/img/' + imageVar.get() + '.png')
    img = ImageTk.PhotoImage(Image.open(path.get()))
    panel.configure(image = img)

window = Tk()
window.configure(background='grey')

imageVar = StringVar(window)
images = {'image1', 'image2', 'image3'}
imageVar.set('image1')

cwd = os.getcwd()

imageSelectMenu = OptionMenu(window, imageVar, *images)
imageSelectMenu.pack()

path = StringVar(window)
path.set(cwd + '/img/' + imageVar.get() + '.png')
img = ImageTk.PhotoImage(Image.open(path.get()))

panel = Label(window, image = img)
panel.pack()

imageVar.trace('w', changeimage)
window.mainloop()

A: This is a very common bug. In tkinter, you must keep a reference to the image object or it gets garbage collected.
def changeimage():
    path.set(cwd + '/img/' + imageVar.get() + '.png')
    img = ImageTk.PhotoImage(Image.open(path.get()))
    panel.configure(image = img)
    panel.img = img # keep a reference

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Scrapped Cruise Ships
Deck plansCabinsNewsAccidents
Specifications of Costa Concordia
Year built 2006 / Age: 9
Builder Fincantieri (Sestri Ponente, Italy)
Class Concordia
Building cost EUR 450 million (USD 570 million / GBP 372 million)
Owner Carnival Corporation & PLC
Operator Costa Cruises
Speed 23 kn / 43 kph / 26 mph
Length (LOA) 290 m / 951 ft
Beam (width) 36 m / 118 ft
Gross Tonnage 114147 gt
Passengers 3002 - 3765
Passengers-to-space ratio 31
Cabins 1501
Decks with cabins 8
Last Refurbishment Genoa-scrapped in 2015
Sister-ships Costa Serena, Costa Pacifica, Costa Favolosa, Costa Fascinosa, Carnival Splendor
Christened by Eva Herzigova
Costa Concordia Review
Review of Costa Concordia
The 2006-built cruise ship Costa Concordia was a Carnival Corporation-owned Concordia-Class passenger liner identified by IMO number 9320544, MMSI number 9320544 (Italy-flagged) and CallSign IBHD. The vessel was designed and constructed in Italy and by one of world's largest shipbuilding companies - Fincantieri - at its Sestri Ponente Shipyard (near Genova/Genoa). The ship operator was Costa Cruises (one of Carnival Corporation's subsidiaries and its 2nd-largest brand by fleet and annual passenger traffic).
Concordia was the first of all five Concordia-class liners operated by Costa Cruises - together with the sisterships and fleetmates Serena (2007), Pacifica (2009), Favolosa (2011) and Fascinosa (2012), plus the Carnival Cruise Line's vessel Carnival Splendor (2008). This large-sized (115,000 GT tons) and beautifully designed vessel was wrecked off Giglio Island (Italy) on January 13, 2012. The accident was caused by a human error that resulted in a collision/allision with an underwater rock. Hours later, the vessel capsized and in the following year was declared a total loss (not usable). In July 2014, the wreck was towed to Port Genoa for dismantling. The vessel's 3,5-years salvage operation turned out to be the most expensive and the riskiest ever conducted.
This page is mainly a review on the ship's salvage operation and the accident's impact on the shipowner and the cruising industry in general. Here you can compare facts related to this ranked "worst cruise ship sinking disaster ever", learn all about the vessel's salvage plan and the wreckage removal operation procedures. For details on ship's collision and sinking read its CruiseMinus accident report. For your convenience, follows a navigation menu with shortcuts jumping down directly to salvage plan, removal operation and procedures, wreckage removal progress, Captain's wiki.
After reading all these details, you will understand why Concordia's sinking was declared the most "stupidly unique" passenger ship disaster of all times. The liner sank on the evening of January 13 (2012) - Friday 13th (this combination again) off the Tuscan West Coast of Italy near Giglio Island. The vessel's sinking was a true disaster - both as lost lives and financial losses. It subsequently became a major cruise ship safety issue.
Next is Concordia's 3D animation video showing the exact sequence of events ending with the ship's sinking.
Costa Concordia salvage
On January 26, 2012, started the fuel-pumping preparations. Workers of the contractor SMIT International (a Dutch shipwreck salvage firm) hitched to the toppled vessel a craned barge and other equipment. Then started underwater inspections for the precise locations of all the 17 fuel-tanks of the ship. These tanks had nearly 2 million liters of heavy diesel fuel. Experts identified the initial 6 fuel tanks (containing more than 50% of all fuel) to be worked on. The procedure took 4 weeks and generally consisted of drilling into the tanks and attaching valves onto them. Then the sludge-like oil was heated, hoses were attached to the valves. They vacuumed out the oil as seawater was pumped into to displace it.
The fuel extraction started on February 11, 2012. The position of the half-submerged cruise vessel offered some relief. It was on the coast side of Giglio, thus relatively sheltered from heavy seas. After pumping the fuel out, the next step was to upright the vessel, and when afloat to tow it away. The fuel-pumping job was completed successfully on March 25, 2012.
On February 3, 2013, was decided that the ill-fated ship will not be cut in pieces on the site but refloated and removed whole. The words of Costa Crociere's CEO (Pier Luigi Foschi) on the subject were "We believe that the wreck can no longer be put in use". The removal operation itself was a world's record - the largest ever ventured.
Concordia ship's salvage was expected to take 12 months. Seven of the world's best marine salvage companies were bidding for the contract. Those were the US-based Donjohn Marine, Titan Salvage, Resolve Marine Group and T&T Marine Salvage, also Mammoet Salvage (Holland), Svitzer (Denmark) and Tito Neri (Italy). By the deadline, 6 working salvage plans were received. By the end of April 2012, Titan Salvage (now Ardent) (a company based in Pompano Beach, Florida USA) won the bid. The Italian "Micoperi" (an engineering firm) was contracted as the Titan's local partner.
Salvage procedures involved sealing up all the holes in the hull (including the huge gash). All sections of the ship were sealed off into airtight compartments. Air was pumped into the compartments to give the ship buoyancy. Then cranes and huge pontoons were brought in to straighten the wreckage and tow it away to Port Genoa.
The estimated total cost (of all salvage operations) was expected to be ~USD 300 million (EUR 225 million) or about 1/2 of the vessel's building cost. In September 2013 was announced that the estimated cost for the cruise ship's removal reached EUR 600 million (~USD 800 million).
Salvage plan - the wreckage removal operation's procedures
A dynamic, complex, unique project, Concordia's salvage plan included the following steps:
(Anchoring and stabilization). 4 submarine anchor blocks were fixed to the seabed between the wreck's center and the coast. 12 retaining turrets were installed for use during the uprighting (parbuckling). Strandjacks mounted on the tops of the turrets were attached to a total of 24 chains (2 per turret) passing under the hull (fixed to the port side). This is a hold-back system used for balancing during the rotation (uprighting).
(Submarine supports and portside caissons, installing a false bottom for the ship to rest after rotation). Grout bags were positioned and filled with a special eco-friendly cement to fill the empty space between the 2 rocks, the stern area and the hull's bow, thus creating a stable base for the hull. After positioning the bags, a total of 6 platforms (3 huge and 3 smaller ones, on which the wreck will rest) were fixed into the granite ground by drilling a 2 m / 6,6 ft hole. No waste was dispersed in the sea, ever. This operation was performed by the UK's Frugo Seacore (offshore drilling company). After the false bottom was done, the Micoperi 30 huge crane installed 15 re-floating sponsons on the ship's left side. They were welded onto the wreck.
(Parbuckling/rotation/uprighting) This was an extremely delicate procedure. It was done using strand jacks tightening all cables attached to the platforms and the caissons' tops. They were pulled seawards, while the starboard turrets cables were used for balancing. The main goal was to upright the vessel without deforming its hull.
(Starboard caissons) 15 more re-floating sponsons were attached starboard side (landside), caissons to be used during the refloating phase.
(Re-floating) - when the hull rested on the false bottom (at depth of ~ 100 ft / 30 m), the water from the caissons on both sides was gradually pumped out. However, even on completion, a big section of the ship (~ 60 ft / 18 m) remained submerged.
(Ecosystem restoration) - the sea bottom was thoroughly cleaned. Marine flora was replanted.
(Defueling, caretaking) right after the accident, a protection perimeter was established around the vessel using booms. On January 14, 2012, Costa contracted "Smit Salvage BV" together with the Italian "Tito Neri" to remove the oil from the ship as quickly and cleanly as possible. This was done by a team of ~100 experts (international) and a total of 20 marine vessels (including transport ships, tug boats, crane barges, tankers, etc). Defueling was completed on March 24, 2012. Followed a process of cleaning significant quantities of debris from the seabed and the whole area around the ship. Caretaking ops were performed by Titan and Micoperi personnel.
Jobs and money facts: at the Giglio's site there were ~500 workers (of 18 different nationalities), with active engineers and divers 24/7, plus ~30 diverse marine vessels. The salvage project's total estimated budget soared to ~USD 400 million.
The following YouTube video (Nat Geo documentary) explains all the details and procedures related to the ship's salvage.
Salvage operations progress (2013)
(April 5, milestone) the largest of all 5 underwater support platforms was positioned onto the seabed. "Platform No1", as they call it, provided secure support when the process of uprighting started. The weight of the platform was ~1000 tons (measuring 40x33 m or 131x108 ft, and 22 m / 72 ft tall). It was supported by 5 huge pillars (each 2 m / 6,5 ft in diameter). The enormous structure was lifted from a barge and positioned into place below the sunken ship by the heavy-lift marine vessel "Svenja" (owner/operator SAL Heavy Lift).
(April 10) Costa Crociere accepted a fine of USD 1,31 million (EUR 1 million). The fine was close to the max allowed by law and settled all "potential criminal charges" following the accident. While many survivors accepted the line's initial compensation offering of EUR 11,000 (~USD 14,000) per pax, plus the reimbursements, hundreds of the cruise passengers declined and pursued civil lawsuits against the line. According to an Italian class action lawyer (representing Italian passengers only), the negotiations reached EUR 27,000 per pax as a last offer from the company. However, he and his clients were aiming much higher - 1 million euros per passenger.
(April 15) In an Italian court begun hearings to determine whether the Concordia's Captain Schettino and 5 other ship officers faced trial for charges related to the cruise ship disaster. The infamous captain faced trial for charges of 1) multiple manslaughter, 2) causing a shipwreck by unauthorized and unapproved deviation from the course and 3) abandoning his ship before all passengers and crew were off. Manslaughter indictments were also requested for 4 other crew, including the ship's helmsman Jacob Rusli Bin (misunderstanding a direct command moments before the crash). The 6th with a possible indictment (manslaughter and delaying rescue, which is the main cause of loss of so many lives) was the chief of the line's crisis unit Roberto Ferrarini. There were 40 pre-trial hearings scheduled in the town of Grosetto through July. Survivors were allowed to attend all hearings.
(April 17) the 1st of the portside sponsons (p10) was installed.
(early-June 2013) the 2nd platform (weight ~1000 tons, dimensions 40x22 m / 131x72 ft) was installed. It was the 5th out of 6 platforms designed to secure safe support for the wreck after parbuckling (when the ship is rotated into a vertical position). During that time, there were 25 marine vessels and ~460 workers on the site.
(July 22) At the "Civil Protection" headquarters (Rome), representatives of Titan-Micoperi and Costa Cruises presented a report on the removal progress. Detailed technical documentation was provided to the "Observatory for Concordia Removal" for evaluation of the parbuckling (the wreck's vertical rotation) project.
(July 23) 4 Concordia crew and 1 Costa Cruises official were sentenced to prison for their part in the disaster. They received sentences between 18 to 34 months, just because they all pleaded guilty, thus avoiding a lengthy trial. The five sentences were: Roberto Ferrarini (director of the company's crisis unit - 2 years 10 months), Manrico Giampedroni (hotel service director - 2 years 6 months), with sentences from 1 year 8 months to 1 year 11 months are Ciro Ambrosio (1st officer), Jacob Rusli Bin (helmsman) and Silvia Coronica (3rd officer). Reuters reported Italian judicial sources commenting that none is likely to go to jail as in Italy sentences under 2 years are usually suspended, and longer sentences is possible to be appealed or replaced with community service. The ship's Captain was next - his trial was adjourned after he requested electrical tests to be conducted on the wreckage.
(September 17, 2013) the vessel's uprighting was accomplished. The ship was stable on its artificially made seabed. The so called "parbuckling" operation started on September 16th at ~9 am, and was completed in 20 hours. All 22 hydraulic pumps were used to raise the ship.
(October 10) - the "winterization" plan. Salvage workers started securing the shipwreck for the winter of 2013. Bad weather conditions required the following procedures: 1) The ship's bow was secured from moving via an additional stopping system. 2) An additional set of grout bags were installed between the ship and the island rocks. 3) The ship was connected by tube-shaped structures to all the 6 underwater platforms and was additionally attached to the sponsons tops. The sponsons were prepared in the Genoa and Livorno shipyards. The sponsons' positioning was scheduled for April 2014.
(December) The salvage operation's chief engineer Porcellacchia announced that the wreckage will be removed from the disaster site and towed away in June 2014.
Alternative wreckage removal (Boskalis-Dockwise Vanguard)
Initially, Costa contacted Boskalis for the removal of the Concordia wreckage. Dockwise is a Bermuda-based holding (a branch of Boskalis) specializing in marine transport, including "Oil and Gas" services. Royal Boskalis is a Netherlands-based marine company, and one of the world's leading providers of dredging services.
On October 10, 2013, Costa Crociere took a USD 30 million (~EUR 22 million) wreck removal option with Dockwise for using its heavy-lift marine vessel BOKA Vanguard. This was an alternative to the conventional towing.
Dockwise Vanguard (later renamed BOKA Vanguard) is a huge semi-submersible lift ship - currently ranked world's largest by DWT (deadweight tonnage). The ship is able to lift and carry heavyweight cargoes of up to 110,000 tons. It was initially designed to load and move offshore platforms (marine facilities) serving the oil and gas industry. This lift ship is also capable of carrying other ships (often several hulls stacked one over other) and also is used as an offshore dry-docking facility (read more in the wiki-section of Carnival Vista). Vanguard ship's specifications include:
DWT weight - 116173 tons
LOA length overall - 275 m (902 ft)
width - 79 m (259 ft)
combined power output - 27 MW (36208 HP)
speed (when unloaded) 26 kph / 16 mph
speed (when loaded) 24 kph / 15 mph)
operational crew - 40
Dockwise's wreckage removal operation phases included:
The Vanguard ship's ballast tanks to be filled with seawater, causing it to partially sink/submerge.
The Concordia shipwreck to be pulled over the Dockwise vessel.
The Vanguard's ballast tanks to be emptied (water pumped out) thus lifting up and transporting the wreckage safely.
The ship's last voyage (float-out and towing to Genoa)
The towing operation started on July 22, 2014. Concordia's last voyage ended in Genoa, on July 27. The dead cruise liner was accompanied by a fleet of 14 marine vessels, including two tugboats towing from the front. They both were attached to the ship by 70 mm / 2,8-inch chains. Group's leader was the Blizzard tug.
The leading tugboats were towing the floating wreckage from a 700-800 m distance, at a fixed speed of 2,5 knots (4,6 kph / 3 mph). The vessel's last ever "crew" on board included salvage experts and some environmentalists from Greenpeace. The final voyage was from the accident site (Giglio Island) to the scrapping shipyard in Genoa. This was done in 4 days, covering a distance of ~280 km (170 mi). The ship had to be stripped of enough material to allow the passage over Port Genoa's (PSA Voltri Pra) breakwater - the vessel's final destination.
In Genoa, the wreckage was dismantled by "Ship Recycling Consortium" (Saipem Company and San Giorgio del Porto Shipyard). Around 70% of all the materials were fully recycled and sold as scrap.
Probably the saddest cruise ship you will ever meet at sea was Concordia's wreckage in motion - for the last time, sailing to her grave. On July 27, 2014, the wrecked vessel entered Port Genoa. The 3-year operation was one of the world's biggest maritime salvage operations ever. Next step was the ship's dismantling, scrapping and recycling in accordance with Italy's Ministry of Environment prescriptions. This operation was expected to take ~22 months. The transfer of the vessel ownership (from Costa to Saipem) was signed on July 27, at 3:40 pm.
Was this so unbelievably stupid disaster really an accident? How about the plausible hypothesis of a stock market game, or an industry's global media publicity game? With this USD 2 billion "scrapping budget" you could do so much more to benefit the humankind, so much more for Nature itself. Yet, it's pretty small money if you want to introduce cruising to 5+ billion people worldwide - continuously, for a period of 2 years. Or what if the name of the game was buying out cheap Carnival stocks from the general shareholders? Still, it could be simply the accident that became a profitable business for the big players. Excepting, of course, the ship insurance companies.
Costa Concordia was a triple disaster. So many lives were lost. The cruise industry suffered bad publicity. And a bunch of money was wasted on an epic salvage - money that could've been spent on building a brand new vessel. This is also the worst cruise ship accident of all times simply because all that happened started with stupidity.
Costa Concordia - user reviews and comments
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Costa Concordia ship related cruise news
VIDEO: Costa Concordia Story
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Costa Concordia Wiki
The vessel (yard number 6122) was ordered by Carnival Corporation on January 19, 2004. It was launched on September 2, 2005, and delivered to Costa Cruises on June 30, 2006. Ship's Godmother was Eva Herzigova (1973-born luxury brand fashion model).
The "jinxed" cruise ship - facts to fiction
The disaster date was Friday 13th, and the year was 2012. Some noticed that RMS Titanic sank almost exactly 100 years ago - on April 14, 1912.
The ship's name was "Concordia". Some remembered the Concorde plane crash accident. On July 25, 2000, a total of 100 Peter Deilmann cruise passengers booked on the MS Deutschland ship died when the chartered Concorde aircraft crashed on takeoff from Paris France.
The inauspicious launch- the failure on the christening ceremony, when the ceremonial Champagne bottle failed to break on the bow of the new vessel on September 2, 2005.
On November 22, 2008, the Concordia ship was involved in a pier collision accident. The vessel hit the dock while maneuvering for berthing in Port Palermo (Sicily) and sustained bow-hull damages.
On the shipwreck remained ~18,000 bottles of wine and ~6900 liters (~1820 US gallons) of ice cream, amongst all other food and beverage provisions stored onboard.
The money disaster
Among the most expensive big-sized liners (cost to build USD 570 million / US$149,000 per berth), Concordia also became "the biggest insured loss in maritime history" as the vessel was insured for USD 513 million (EUR 405 million). The list of its insurers included XL, RSA, Generali, Allianz. When the disaster happened, experts expected the insurance loss from the ship to be between USD 500 million and 1 billion.
While these numbers were big enough, they could have grown even bigger if the over 2300 tons of diesel fuel on the ship had started to leak. In such a case, a substantial pollution liability claim would have been issued. This possibility was the sole reason Carnival stock prices to plummet by 18% on the London Stock Exchange.
Carnival Corporation officials expected Concordia's sinking to cost the company between USD 155-175 million (EUR 118-133 million), including insurance deductibles and loss of use. Because of the disaster, Carnival Cruise Lines (Corporation's largest brand company by fleet capacity) lowered its prices fleetwide just to keep up bookings. This additionally lowered its net revenue for FY2012 (fiscal year) and the earnings per share.
In 2015, Costa Crociere announced that the wreckage removal operation's total cost soared up to EUR 1,5 billion (GBP 1,2 billion / USD 2 billion). This is nearly the combined building cost of two Royal Caribbean units from the Oasis-class (currently world's largest passenger liners).
Costa Concordia and the Mafia
The UK's "The Independent" (using materials from the Italian online news media "La Repubblica") reported in March 2015, that Costa Concordia was carrying, quote, "huge shipment of Mafia-owned cocaine" when the disaster happened.
The "Concordia Mafia Drug" story was based on tape recordings of communications between Calabrian Mafia members. They revealed that the Ndrangheta syndicate had hidden large quantity of cocaine aboard the Costa cruise liner. The incident was related to the Mafia's Transatlantic cocaine-traffic business. According to Italian investigators, drugs were stowed on the ship most likely by crew members.
After the accident, Captain Schettino's hair was tested positive for cocaine. In mid-March 2015 was reported 3 crew members arrests on Costa Pacifica. The arrests were done upon disembarkation, and for possession of 16+ kg / 35 pounds of cocaine. The drug bust was made in Malaga (Spain) where Costa Pacifica was docked after the Transatlantic repositioning crossing from South America to Europe (Mediterranean). A curious fact is, that the police investigation said the drug cartel uses for its trafficking operations also MSC and NCL-Norwegian cruise liners with scheduled Transatlantic crossings between Europe and Caribbean and South America.
Concordia's Captain Francesco Schettino
Born 1960 in Castellammare di Stabia (a coastal town south of Naples), Concordia's Captain was aged 52 in the time of the accident. Captain Schettino worked for Costa Crociere for 10 years (since 2002). His parents were also sailors. He attended the naval academy in Piano di Sorrento, worked on a tourist boat, then on superyachts, starting his career with Costa in 2002.
He was initially appointed a Chief Security Officer, then promoted to Captain in 2006 (second-in-command officer). He was the Master of Costa Concordia for 5 years. In 2012 he became one of the world's most infamous Captains. Read here some of the most popular online reviews from renown news media sources on the subject of his guilt.
"He probably saved many many lives". Some have come to his defense (there's a Facebook page with over 10,000 fans, most of them sailors themselves. They strongly believe Francesco Schettino have made the right decision to steer the Concordia towards port (after the collision) which saved dozens of lives.
"In the face of danger self-preservation is an instinct, a most natural reaction". This is simply the psychology's "fight-or-flight response", where the "flight" impulse usually means blind panic accompanied by (probably) a sense of depersonalization (when "reality" around is so unreal) and myriads of disorganized feelings and thoughts of great fear or even terror intruding into the mind. Still, according to facts, the captain abandoned his ship, then denied he had left; later he claimed he "tripped and fell into a lifeboat" by accident. This is an example of someone who panicked (big time) in the face of danger, and traditionally the captain's first and utmost priority is to ensure the safety of all passengers and crew. In moments of stress, ordinary people could become cowards, and some could become heroes – but how to foretell who will become which? The simplest answer - staff evaluation and better training. Cruise ship crew/staff need to be trained to cope with dangers and the basic instincts of self-preservation, to learn to evaluate risk and danger. After all, cruise ships are not supposed to sink, but to provide fun experiences at sea.
"The Costa Concordia captain is a Daredevil Captain who likes to take risks". Shirt - permanently unbuttoned, revealing a groomed chest hair. Skin - deeply tanned. Hair - slicked back in a mullet (looking confident and elegant). Reputation - a huge ego person, womanizer, insubordinate, and "He drives a ship like a Ferrari". According to the Marseilles Port Authority, just a month before the sinking accident, Schettino left with Concordia Port Marseilles in 60 knots (70 mph / 111 kph) winds against the port authority's orders.
"He's been encouraged 'by his superiors to sail-past Giglio and other beauty islands". According to the Costa's officials, the decision to take the ship so close to Giglio was unauthorized. However, other captains had executed many of such "salutes (stunts?) as well, sailing very close to beautiful islands, like Capri, for example. It surely sounds like fun - the cruise liners sounded their sirens, all decks are lit up, passengers are happily excited. And this practice was good publicity for the Costa company. According to the captain Schettino's 135 pages of testimony, the very last Costa Concordia "cruise salute" had been planned and authorized before the Civitavecchia departure. And other Costa captains had done the same thing, quote, "all around the world".
Concordia's Captain was on trial and charged with manslaughter and loss of the ship. According to the accident report, the main cause for the disaster was attributed to, quote, "the Master's unconventional behavior". On February 11, 2015, Concordia's "Coward Captain' Francesco Schettino was sentenced to 16 years in jail on charges for manslaughter (10 years), wrecking the ship (5 years) and abandoning ship (1 year). He also had to pay all court costs. On May 12, 2017, the Court of Cassation upheld Schettino's lower court convictions and ruled a 16-year prison sentence.
Schettino is married to Fabiola Russo and they have a daughter. When the collision occurred, present with Schettino on the Navigation Bridge was Domnica Cemortan (Moldovian dancer) who later admitted having a love affair with him. She was not a crew member and without ticket.
Costa Concordia User Reviews
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Hotel feasibility studies play an important role in the hotel development process as hotel developers, lenders, and operators all require an analysis of a hotel's projected operating performance and the ensuing financial returns. Such studies are rarely effective, however, at predicting future performance. Although scholars and practitioners have repeatedly recommended numerous improvements to correct their methodological weaknesses and improve their accuracy, few changes have been incorporated. This study's purpose was to identify the underlying reasons why the methodological improvements identified in previous studies have not been undertaken. The research employed a qualitative methodology based on interviews with leading hotel owners, developers, lenders, and consultants. The key findings of the research demonstrated that the way in which feasibility studies are used, the value the stakeholders place on them, cost and time constraints, and the limited incentives and accountability associated with improving underlying assumptions and methodologies are key drivers behind the marginalization and stagnant evolution of the hotel feasibility study.


Peinado Construction has been awarded by Crow Holdings for a 36′ clear, 703,000 SF tilt wall industrial warehouse building located in Grand Prairie.
Estimated completion is scheduled for 2nd Quarter, 2018.
To learn more about Wildlife Six, please click here.
Tagged buildings, commercial construction, concrete, construction, Crow Holdings, dallas, design build, distribution, FA Peinado, FA Peinado LLC, fapeinado.com, general contractor, industrial, manufacturing, mbe, Teddy Peinado, texas, TP Construction, warehouse, www.fapeinado.com.


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Pixel Qi founder, Mary Lou Jepsen, has revealed that her company is working on a super-dense version of its signature display. The new panel sports the same resolution as Apple's third-generation iPad, 2048x1536, but does so whilst using less power.
In a bright office, the new panel coming in at around 10-inches uses two watts of power, compared to Apple's iPad in the same lighting which uses five, and when outdoors, nearly eight watts of power. The new Pixel Qi display provides a more e-paper-like effect for readability outdoors. The newest panel is a special low-power mode which uses around 0.08 watts when in dim light, compared to the iPad which would use three.
Development is said to still be in the early stages and needed hardware partners lined up. Jepsen wouldn't say when the new screen would be available, but we should expect a 2013 release at the earliest.
Whilst this is great news, Apple are already on the market with their display. By the time Pixel Qi's screen makes it to the market, other players would've entered, and Apple could've perfected their new, new iPad when it arrives later this year, or early-2013.


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The role of a USA Local Champ is hard earned and the title should be retained unless the champ chooses to step down or it has been determined that a champ no longer serves in the role properly.
It is necessary to create two separate groups of USA Local Champs to achieve retaining the title and showing accountability of an active status, these two groups will be explained in detail below.
*USA Local Champ Group (active)
*USA Local Champ Emeritus Group (inactive)
The role of a USA Local Champ is hard earned and the title should be retained unless the champ chooses to step down or it has been determined that a champ no longer serves in the role properly. It is necessary to create two separate groups of USA Local Champs to achieve retaining the title and showing accountability of an active status, these two groups will be explained in detail below.


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Trident United Way Hosting NCAA Bracket-Style Singing Competition
Trident United Way is combining March Madness brackets and music to create a fundraising competition called Sing United. Starting now, musicians from Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties can enter the virtual competition by visiting https://www.tuw.org/sing.
Sing United is like a NCAA Tournament bracket with musicians facing off weekly and receiving one vote per $1 donation. The musician with the most votes goes onto the next round. All proceeds benefit Trident United Way's ongoing community efforts.
There will be more than $11,000 in overall prizes. The grand prize winner will receive:
Performance at Sofar Sounds Secret Show
Produced music video
Private photoshoot
Electronic press kit, website, domain & one-year hosting
Additional prizes will be available for the top four finishers:
Live recording session at Fox Music House
Mentor session with Emmy Award-winning producer Adam Paul with 7 Cinematics
"This past year has been tough on so many and Sing United will give the community a chance to have a little fun while coming together to help those in need," Chloe Knight Tonney, Trident United Way president & CEO, said.
To enter the tournament and see eligibility requirements, visit https://www.tuw.org/sing. Artists must register for the tournament by April 5th at 6 pm. The bracket and first round match-up dates will be announced soon after.
Money raised during tournament voting will support Trident United Way in its ongoing mission to improve the education, financial stability and health of every Tri-County community member.
Related Topics:Sing UnitedTrident United Way
Pawleys Island In Running For Garden & Gun Magazine's Best Southern Beach Town
Annex Dance Company to Host Virtual Premiere of "Behind, Beyond, Between" on March 26th


Does somebody encouter this problem or is it jus an Iphoto limitation?
Ah yes. There that is a problem. You might look into using a DAM (digital asset management) application that can handle and search by keywords a bit easier. I use Media Pro 1.
If you follow the directions in the tutorial below you can create an MP1 catalog of your iPhoto library original photos complete with keywords. Then test the search by keyword by clicking on one or more of the keywords in the left hand pane under organize. You can even setup hierarchical keywords.
MP1 lets you manage the folders, rename files, write meta dagta to the files and lots more. MP1 is available as a 30 day demo. It doesn't not affect your library as long as you only use it to view files and not edit, move or rename them.
Nov 30 App on a External HD?
Oct 11 Which mainboard for 5 to 6 PCI-E graphic cards ?


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Antonio Brown arrived at Steelers training camp in a beautiful 1931 Rolls-Royce convertible
On Jersey, featuring Drake, Future says in the hook, You do what you want when you poppin', and Antonio Brown is doing just that.
Brown arrived at Steelers training camp on Thursday in a 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom 1 Phaeton four-door convertible. But Brown didn't show up driving it himself he had his own driver to go with the exquisite ride:
Based on the tunes blasting from the ride, it sounds like AB got himself an aux cord in there. It's incredibly fitting that one of the smoothest wide receivers in the NFL made one of the smoothest entrances to training camp.
The standard five-star preview never ever favors quarterbacks well, but Brady gets the important 99 overall, as well as a 99 awareness rating. This is the fourth time Brady has received a 99 at launch, along with 2007, 2008, and 2011.
We don't know how Rodgers stacks up against Brady in the key quarterback areas, but he's extremely close to the top spot. His Throw on the Run is a 97 overall, which means he's going to be awesome outside the pocket.
Ryan has always been a mid-high tier quarterback, but this year he leaves that in the dust. His 96 overall is the highest of Ryan's career, and paired with Julio Jones will make the Falcons a force when the game is released.
Normally, buying your way into contention doesn't quite work out it's a classic last-ditch attempt by an embattled GM to save his job. The thing is, Reese's spending spree … actually worked? The Giants' defensive DVOA jumped from 30th all the way to second, while ranking 10th in yards allowed and giving up the second-fewest points in the league (17.8) one year after allowing the third-most (27.6). It was a dramatic turnaround on every level, easily the biggest reason why the Giants went from 6-10 to 11-5.
Indians send Danny Salazar to bullpen amid struggles
Well, we're two months into the 2017 season and surprising names are still all over the leaderboards. Figured we'd take a look at the most surprising category leaders so far this season. All stats are through Tuesday's games.
Why that's surprising: In 2016, his first season away from playing his home games with the Rockies in Coors Field, Dickerson's batting average dropped off a cliff. He was a career .299 hitter for Colorado, but batted just .245 for Tampa Bay last year.
He was still a productive hitter ' he popped 24 homers and had a .761 OPS in 148 games ' but there wasn't much reason to think he'd be in the conversation for best average in the AL. Manager Kevin Cash moved him from the middle/bottom of the lineup to the leadoff spot for 2017, though, and Dickerson has responded well (obviously). He leads the AL in hits (72) and total bases (128), and he's tied with Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for the league lead in runs scored (39).
Danny Salazar is switching to relief duties.
The Indians have sent the right-hander to the bullpen amid his struggles so far this season, the team announced Sunday.
Indians manager Terry Francona disclosed Salazar will be available as a reliever beginning Wednesday, but could start a game next week during Cleveland's road trip to face the Royals and Rockies. The 2016 All-Star has struck out 73 batters in 52 1/3 innings, though he's allowed 55 hits and 28 walks.
Salazar, 27, is 3-5 with a 5.50 ERA in 10 starts. He went 11-6 with a 3.87 ERA last year after missing most of the second half of the season with a sore elbow.


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Kaya Nicole
category: Jazz, Music, Music-Pop, Voice,
Website: https://www.facebook.com/nicolemariemusic
Vocalist, activist and poet, Kaya Nicole, is a protest artist from Westchester County, New York. Influenced by her proximity to Latin Jazz and Hip Hop in the city that never sleeps, Kaya is a lover of a groove with a rhythmic vocal style and a playful, romantic tone. In her formative years, she studied classical piano as well as bossa guitar. She started out with a performing arts education in Opera and Gospel music, which brought her to stages from Jazzfest and Champion's Square, to Lincoln Center and the Vatican. After five years developing a street education in New Orleans, she is now taking the time to integrate new language into composition for her debut album, bringing it home to the pulse she knows and the intimacy of nylon strings.
Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia in Political Theory. High School Diploma from New Rochelle High School.


Barbara joined DDF as a Venture Partner in 2016 and became Chief Strategy Officer in 2018.
Barbara is a neuroscientist who has worked in both large and small pharmaceutical companies. She was Vice President and Head of Biology at Rodin Therapeutics, an Atlas Venture company, where she also consulted on other portfolio companies. Prior to Rodin, Barbara was Vice President for Research at Satori Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company developing a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. At Pfizer, Barbara managed the neurodegenerative disease area group in Groton, CT. Prior to working in industry, Barbara was an academic researcher at Brown Medical School and Harvard Medical School.
BA in Biology, a PhD in Physiology, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.
Barbara enjoys long distance running with family and friends, as well as her horses and dog on her farm in CT.


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Chris Lynn shines at Big Bash
by admin | posted in: Sport | 0
The Perth Scorchers were unlucky enough to witness Chris Lynn at his best as the Big Bash League came to a thrilling finale. With the help of his teammate Brendon McCullum, the two managed to usurp the Scorchers from the top of the helm as they aggressively played to see to it that the Brisbane Heat led the table by the end of the night.
The Scorchers had been more than confident that their 20 overs had placed them beyond the reach of their opponents courtesy of Mitchell Marsh, the all-rounder who made sure they were 170 up by the end of their innings via some fantastic batting.
The duo from Brisbane Heat, Lynn, and McCullum, swept away what could have been an intimidating total for any team quite effortlessly, reinforcing the belief that Brisbane Heat are not easily thrown off by big tallies. Lynn was exceptional, to put it mildly. The Queenslander managed to put a total of eleven sixes past the boundaries within one innings.
The player also managed to set a few personal records as the innings also saw him bat away his 26th six of the Big Bash League in spectacular fashion. His hit off Andrew Tye was a momentous one, a struck worthy of dethroning Mark Waugh's stunner in the 1997 Test match which had been titled the biggest struck ever to take place at the WACA Ground.
The Scorchers could have had a bit of a reprieve when David Willey showed some excellent athleticism to hang on to a hit from Ashton Agar. Unfortunately, the fielder was on the boundary when he threw the ball back into play, leaving Lynn unscathed in his fiery rampage.
Lynn's stellar innings was undoubtedly the turning point for the Heat, who had decided to hand the spin responsibility to Mitchell Swepson as they were lacking the services of one Samuel Badree, whose spot was given to Nathan Reardon.
Swepson performed modestly with his first over offering an unimpressive two runs through the wicket of Ian Bell. However, two overs later, Swepson had managed to pull a fast one over Shaun Marsh before handing over to Lynn who made the Scorchers' tally seem insignificant as he put on a stellar display. Although Swepson could only take a supporting role in this victory, he did nothing but good out there.
Lynn's unstoppable form is the reason why the Heat look set on retaining their seat at the top of the table, although their batting side restriction makes them quite an aggressive team at the moment. Although a semi-final spot is almost a surety for both sides, it will be interesting to watch the sides claw their way out of the minor rounds as they make their way to the semis and, hopefully, the finals.
See the Smile of Rapper Bhad Bhabie That Costs $40,000
Rapper Bhad Bhabie, 15, is now popular for her smile that reportedly costs $40,000. Rapper Bhabie is known for very long clip in hair extensions. The 15-year-old rapper has reportedly spent a huge amount on porcelain veneers to fix her teeth problem as well as to improve her smile. According to TMZ, the teenager has been rocking her new look since the last few days. ...
Construction on WA's Dunsborough's First Retirement Village Commences
For the first time, Dunsborough town will be home to the first retirement villages, thanks to the $2.5 million funding from the WA State Government. The construction was recently begun and when completed, the retirement village will offer independent living units and necessary facilities for retired senior citizens looking to downsize. The funding is part of the $13.1 million package that will be used to meet the retirees' accommodation needs....
Geoff Bennet, a local Plumber, Loses $100,000 as GJ Gardner Collapses
GJ Gardner Homes Bathurst was one of the most ...
Perth twins look to tie the knot
Federal governement under fire for deportation policy
Perth family lawyer all set for his first MMA fight
Grand final rematch set to kick off new season
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i was checking Mcafee secuirty center settings then came up to virus protection trusted programs tab & found those 3 programs marked as trusted ... what are those progarms for or they are some spyware and must be removed?
Update them before running and let them clean everything they find. Reboot when/if asked to.
thank you for replying,i had removed them all from the trusted list but i still can't find any option to add a program to the trusted list.
Then you would have to either remove them if you don't want them on your machine at all, or restore tham using the guidelines in that last link I posted.
there are some program i want to add to the trusted list but this option is missing!!
Ah, sorry, I misunderstood. You can only add programs that are identified as PUP's or "Possibly Unwanted Programs". Never anything identified, whether wrongly or rightly, as an infection such as a trojan, virus or worm.
We have asked for that facility to be reintroduced in vain I'm afraid. It was a feature 5 years ago or so, and still is part of the Enterprise (Corporate) software.
i hope that it will be reimplemented in future versions.
We are constantly asking and hoping that they will listen. I think that is #1 in the requests we've made and there are many.


More holiday weekend travelers are expected to be on the roads between Friday, June 30th and Tuesday, July 4th than ever before.
According to AAA, an estimated 44.2 million Americans will be traveling this upcoming holiday weekend, which is up nearly 3 percent from last year. Over the past four years, the number of travelers has steadily increased on July 4th weekend and in that time frame, the overall number has increased nearly 10 percent.
That same increased percentage of overall travelers coincides with the amount of travelers on the road, which is estimated to be 37.5 million.
The national average gas price per gallon is also down from a year ago at $2.24, and lowest for this time of year since 2005. In North Dakota, that average is $2.20. Those prices won't be discouraging to motorists looking to make a drive for the holiday weekend.
Airline travel is also up 4.6 percent from last year to 3.4 million total.
Of the "big three" summer holidays (including Memorial Day and Labor Day), the holiday weekend surrounding Independence Day is known for being the most traveled. The fact that school is out during this time of year typically increases the Independence Day holiday travel between 12 and 13 percent.
No matter what the case, whether you're traveling or staying put during this Fourth of July Weekend, please be safe on the roads and as you celebrate with friends and family. Party responsibly and have an extremely safe and happy 4th of July!


The cities and towns that I serve are listed below. If you would like to find out about the latest homes that have become available in these communities, please contact me at (650) 867-1281 or you can setup a Private Search!
Belmont is a tranquil community built primarily on the hills overlooking San Francisco Bay and the coastal range. The small, but busy, downtown has easy access to freeway and rail transportation and is a mix of locally owned shops and commercial shopping. The population of 25,000 works in San Mateo County with only 17% commuting elsewhere. There are excellent private and public schools with exceptionally high-test scores and several community colleges in the adjacent towns. Belmont has a rich heritage of fine homes from the turn of the twentieth century and enjoys the security of a very low crime rate less than one-fifth the national average.
Burlingame, the "City of Trees" boosts 18,000 public trees on its 5.5 square miles. This upscale community of 28,000 enjoys a very high standard of living including trendy shops, high-quality hotels, and extensive commercial operations. Located near the San Francisco International Airport and on the bay, Burlingame offers warm hospitality, great shopping, fine dining, and year-round outdoor recreation in a beautiful setting. With an exceptionally low crime rate and superior public and private schools scoring in the upper 5% of the nation, this charming community ranks among one of the most desirable places to live in the Western United States.
With a population of only 1,300, the Town of Colma is most famous for its many national and private cemeteries. Nestled on the eastern side of the coastal range only a few miles south of San Francisco, Colma serves as the gateway to the peninsula. It is flanked by highway 101, I-280, commuter rail and is only three miles from the International Airport. Only slightly over half of the residences in Colma live in single-family detached units and only 5% work in Colma.
Daly City, the gateway to peninsula, it's one of the older cities in San Mateo County and consists of older established neighborhoods, newer developments, and some planned developments with outstanding city and ocean views. Numerous shopping and restaurant options exist in Daly City. With its close proximity to San Francisco and a centrally located Bart station and another nearby in Colma, Daly City offers an excellent location for commuting to downtown San Francisco, the airport (SFO), the peninsula or Silicone Valley.
Offering a rare combination of tranquil seclusion and access to one of the most vibrant economic areas in the world, Hillsborough is an ideal place to live, work, and raise a family. With its neighboring town, Burlingame, this area provides a unique combination of city sophistication and rural beauty. A quick drive to the San Francisco International Airport (around ten minutes from most points in Hillsborough) puts the world at your fingertips.
We have a lot to brag about in Hillsborough - the home of Bing Crosby. Some of the most exclusive homes in San Mateo County are found in the community of Hillsborough. Great neighborhoods and schools, outstanding libraries and parks, and some of the best shopping and restaurants on the Peninsula.
Los Altos is one of Santa Clara County's most prestigious towns. It is located in the northern end of the county, just 10 minutes from Palo Alto and Stanford University. With a quaint and charming downtown, Los Altos features many first-class restaurants, bakeries, art galleries and boutiques.
Possessing a country atmosphere, many of the streets in this city are lined with tall trees and are without sidewalks. It is a peaceful yet upscale feeling. The town slopes gently toward San Francisco Bay and sports many homes on large lots of 1/4 acre or more.
One of the very few new areas still under development is the community of Redwood Shores. Although it is within the City Limits of Redwood City and Belmont, this is a distinct community east of US 101 between the freeway and the bay. The beautifully landscaped homes are set among lagoons and saltwater ways with a network of bicycle and walking trails. A major shopping center recently opened and the community has a number of high-rise office buildings including the very large Oracle complex. Redwood Shores depends on the cities across the freeway for police and fire support as well as for school and churches. Because of the economic power behind this rapidly growing community, it is expected that it will soon develop its own social infrastructure.
San Carlos is a wonderful community twenty-five miles south of San Francisco reachable by both highway 101 and I-280. Its population of 26,000 works primarily in San Mateo County with 16% commuting to San Francisco or elsewhere in the Bay area. The schools are of high quality ranking in the top 4% of the nation. The neighborhoods are friendly and well established with mature oak trees lining the streets. A saying among real estate professionals holds that "…there are no bad areas in San Carlos." The new Hiller Museum opened in the summer of 1998. This museum is located at the San Carlos Airport and offers a fascinating look at the history of aviation in northern California through the aircraft collection of Stanley Hiller, the father of the modern helicopter.


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Elvis Walks Home
AIFF welcomes filmmaker Fatmir Koçi to Tucson. Fatmir traveled all the way from Albania to screen his excellent film Elvis Walks Home. This insightful and epic cinematic journey crosses into several Balkan war zones occupied by armed children and a lost Elvis impersonator.
AIFF – This must have been a very difficult shoot with multiple locations and a large cast, how did you prepare, and what were some challenges you experienced during production?
Fatmir – Indeed, from the very start Elvis Walks Home posed a huge 'handicap' to production levels, maybe I think I warned everyone that Elvis could be a 'failure'. We had to play the hardest game. We had to decide either to travel 3-4 hrs everyday to two main locations that were distant, over 150 km. The risk was huge, we might lose many hours of shooting during the 4 weeks of shooting, but we had to gain the cinematic narration to the level of the story. Finally I took the risk to get to the traveling decision. If not, we had no chance to journey with Elvis and his 'violent fellow kids' to the danger of wars in the Balkans. We had 6 weeks of preps (pre-production) in total. We have two weeks of dialogue reading with kids and Elvis. Also I had to do adaptations of the script to create everyone a depicted character. The cast was made of 13 kids and Elvis who were in a two level situation; mostly it has been a clash between the kid's adventure of making a movie, and rarely taking it seriously, and Dritan Kastrati who played Elvis, who wanted to work nothing but professionally. The kids wanted to play; they couldn't stop their play during the shoot. They were thinking that this was a certain game, impossible to make them understand that this is a very serious thing to undergo. Also it has been hard to control the kids from not playing with guns. We had police with us, but they couldn't control the situation...
And one day while shooting a scene in the mountains, one of the kids shot his gun very close to Elvis and his eyes got hurt... Dritan Kastrati was scared and we stopped shooting. He went to hospital and next day we discovered that he was fine... That was a moment that I thought I could lose the film.
Also there were a lot of snakes in the mountains...and one crew member got bitten but was saved after a few hours of being in the hospital.
AIFF – How did you find Dritan Kastrati to play Mickey, how did he prepare for the role? Also could you talk about working with the young actors in the film?
Fatmir – I had Dritan playing in Pit Stop Mafia, a dual character that has to become a 'friend' to the Mafia man who killed his father. And that's because he wanted to pay for his studies. I mention Pit Stop Mafia because in this dark comedy I found out the ability of this young actor to go to any depth of the acting process on a complex human character. This helped me to trust his Elvis. Of course, Dritan had no idea how to play guitar or sing, but I decided with the writer, Jonathan Preece that our Elvis is not going to sing or play... I believe that was a good choice. Dritan liked it as it made us emphasize more dramatic moments in the story. He helped me indeed with the children rehearsals, we all could go through the script with such a tenacity that I was very confident that we would build up a powerful character that would be able to carry on the journey with that dramatic character. I suppose the viewer knows that Elvis is a singer... and maybe they expect him to play and sing. But we knew that we had to show the story of this lost man, and not the story of someone famous we know... that he is already dead...
The character of Uka was a beautiful and unexpected surprise in the preps. I was rewriting all the children roles one by one, and his character played by Armin Vargu (11) just surprised me. I discovered that his character would be a great dramatic momentum in the story. So by becoming one of children's main characters, Uka balances the human stance of the kids who mostly appear to be wild and not loving each other. Uka is smart, sweet and daring to sacrifice his life for Mickey (Elvis), and it builds a beautiful strong bond between them.
Klaus Laci (14) who played the main kid boss, Leli, was a tough kid to work with but also a wonderful human being who helped me to overcome a lot of my doubts during shooting.
Samuel Vargu (13) who plays Samurai, with his tremendous will and passion for movies, soon got into two other films; an American production titled Lazarat, directed by William Kaufman, and How To Sell A War, a British/Georgian production.
AIFF – How did you go about designing the look for Elvis, did you have something specific in mind, and did your art department assist in the process?
Fatmir – Yes, we selected the two most known costumes of Elvis and his famous coat, but we came to the conclusion that we had to use his white famous costume. The costume designer, Gerta Oparaku designed them and found a good tailor to make them. We had just two pieces; we had no money to make more.
AIFF – What was the process like working with Jonathan Preece's screenplay, who also composed the music for the film? Did you need to make adjustments during production?
Fatmir – Jonathan and I decided to do the re-writing before we went into preps and during the preps. Because we wanted the film to be a dramatic story, and not a movie that could be funnier or have irony along with the comedy touch the original script had. So we re-wrote about 1/3 of the mid-script story and it went solid with the entire story. We shot the very end scene of the film when Elvis walks along some barbwire fences but we didn't want the film end like that. It meant almost nothing, compared to Mickey burying Elvis' suit.
Indeed, I loved the themes Jonathan composed along way with Karl Heortweard from Amsterdam, who composed a lot of music as well. But the themes Jonathan made from the very start of the shoot helped me and Karl to know the film's music path. I was clear in my request; no original music of Elvis Presley to be used in the film.
AIFF – What influenced the style of cinematography in the film? The director of photography did wonderful work.
Fatmir – Marek Wesolovski did a great job indeed. He came with a dramatic and original feeling to this story, and I only directed his cinematography with one direction; are we going to use at all portraits or close-ups of only one character at once? No, instead, we wanted to show the story through many characters in the shot at one time. That created of course, various difficulties in the shooting. But we wanted to go this way. It made the look of the film, I suppose unique; and above all, a story telling a powerful journey. Mostly the cinematographer and I wanted to tell the story in two ways of combined cinematography; a flowing camera from the children's eyes, and a classic fixed camera. The two ways combined, we thought, could maintain a solid narration with a dramatic tone and a dynamic undercurrent.
AIFF – How is filmmaking evolving in Albania, especially for emerging talent, is there more opportunity now?
Fatmir – Pretty hard, indeed! Financing is just little money, stories need to be very well written and developed and structured to a high level of filmmaking, otherwise we have had no good movies. We have good actors though, and I am happy that Dritan Kastrati played his own Elvis.
Last, I believe that filmmaking in my country needs to be addressed to the art of filmmaking, more than to showing social news... or just reporting social dramas...


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Home ENTERTAINMENT ARTS Oliver Butler: The Anti-Patriarch of Broadway's 'Constitution'
Oliver Butler: The Anti-Patriarch of Broadway's 'Constitution'
Ryan Leeds
What the Conststution Means to Me. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Game of Thrones fans might be disappointed when they meet Oliver Butler. Recently, he was asked about working on the HBO series but he had to confess that he was not, in fact, linked to the popular show. Instead, he shares the same name as one of its associate producers.
Still, Butler is making major waves in the theatre industry with the sleeper hit, What the Constitution Means To Me. Playwright and star Heidi Schreck's eye-opening piece deconstructs the United States Constitution, a document once cherished by her 15-year-old self. Butler, who is making his Broadway debut, directed the Tony-nominated piece. Recently, he spoke with Manhattan Digest about the show, the young adults who share the stage with Schreck, and his goal of changing hearts and minds.
MD: How did you arrive to this project?
OB: Heidi and I come from this downtown theater community. Heidi is well known for being in many amazing plays and has really made a name for herself as both an actor and playwright. We knew each other and we ended up on the same bus to go to the women's march in 2017 with our mutual friend,Bash Doran. A combo of those things overlapping led Heidi to ask me to work on the project. She told me about the show. At the time, around 80-90% was written, but it wasn't structured the way we have it now. She told me the story of her great-great-grandmother coming from Germany as a mail-order bride and how she was the first woman on the maternal side of her family to grow up free from domestic violence and how the constitution affected the generation of different women in terms of providing or not providing critical rights to them. I was blown away. I'm a formalist and love playing with physical and dramaturgical form. The fact that this play was doing something practical, modeling the way someone can interact with sort of this dry document to me felt like something that was really needed. For Heidi and I, that meant creating a set of values that we held each other accountable to. Our goal was to attempt maximum humanity for all involved. We had to create a process that made Heidi feel as safe as possible, and also make sure that the young debaters also felt confident and comfortable.
MD: Heidi has stated that she's had different reactions to this play at each performance. As a director, how do you handle the framework of unexpected outcomes?
OB: Largely by embracing it. There are a few explicit rules that we've instated, but the play is way more scripted than it seems. However, Heidi has free rein to say whatever she wants, whenever she wants. If the moment strikes her that something new needs to be said, she says it. It is important to change things sometimes, but you don't have to change it to have the same agency and the same effect.
MD: Have there been outlandish or memorable reactions from the audience either during or after the performance?
OB: There have been a lot of people I know personally who have shared stories of trauma and those who have told me that they were also on debate teams. There are many who want to reflect their own experience back to me.
Audience reactions have varied. At the end, we leave it to an audience member to determine whether to keep or abolish the constitution. One time, we chose a woman who decided to select a quorum of 5 other audience members to help her decide, and then asked those 5 to select yet another person. We were like, 1) This is exactly what democracy is and 2) This is possibly watching a crash in slow motion because we've just handed a microphone to this random person. It was this amazing moment that played out in front of us–including a lack of efficiency regarding the process. Another time, when Heidi says, "Do you feel the violence underneath everything?" a man in the audience yelled, "no!" I don't hope for pushback by people, but our team is prepared for things to push against. Sometimes, a dissenting voice is helpful. People feel welcome to say things in this show.
MD: I'm ashamed to admit, but the US Constitution is not something I've read from start to finish. How versed were you on it when you started directing this play and do you think most audiences are educated on the document?
OB: I think most people are like you and me-not very well versed. We don't really know what's in it and we assume that we need someone smarter than us to decode it. We treat it the same way the ancient Catholic church treated the Bible. You're not supposed to know what's in it because there are people smarter than you who will explain it. That works to the advantage of the people in power. For me, I hope that this show releases people from that fear. Heidi is a brilliant actor, but she's also just a normal person without legal training. She–and every person–have every right to read these words and think how they should be defined. When I listened to some of these supreme court cases, I realized that I'm not blown away by everyone's intelligence. You can tell that there are distinct partisan lines. They are not just calling balls and strikes, they are pushing personal values. These are self-interested people who are trying to shape the world in the way they think is best for humanity. So when I listen to it, I'm allowed to have an opinion on it because it is not cut and dried. I can read it now not as a dead text, but rather question why they wrote the things they did. What were they afraid of that they had to write it in such a specific way? What was going on at the time? It's a document more about the founding father's fears than it is a dream for our future. It's built to protect us from a government. Part of what Heidi is saying is that it was created to protect us from a monarchy, but we live in a different world now where that is not our monster.
MD: There are a lot of men glooming down on Heidi in Rachel Hauck's set and much talk in the show about male oppression. I'm curious to know her rationale for choosing you–a male director?
OB: I can't speak on Heidi's behalf or her thought process. However, when I looked at this opportunity and what my role needed to be in the play, I saw myself as an important member of the world that needed to be moved by it. I can understand how people would walk away thinking 'Oh great! Here's another example of how men are terrible!', but I see massive possibilities. I'm someone who was raised in a world that wanted me to be a patriarch, who was shaped by parents, society, movies, music, and experience. Consequently, I've become someone who enforces the patriarchy and–in its most devilish style–not know it. I'm not someone who wants to be a patriarch or inhabit that role. I don't think that my life is better when the people around me don't have full access to their own humanity. I am better off when the people around me have equal access. I want to fight for a world who allows that. That requires me to acknowledge the things I've learned and help walk the rest of us into a new role that leaves more room for more people. She chose me for a certain reason at the right moment. I assume that my role was to be a core person who needed to be transformed and also help a transformation happen.
MD: How did you find the young debaters? Was there an open call or did you actively look for young adults in debate clubs?
OB: We went specifically to students who were debaters. We wanted students who might have some interest in acting, but who were first and foremost debaters.
Rosdely Ciprian. Photo courtesy of Joan Marcus.
MD: This is a piece that I imagine–and hope–will play throughout the country. How do you envision that?
OB: We're still working out the details of that since we're still deep in the Broadway world, but I hope that this is a story that we can bring to as many communities as possible.
What the Constitution Means to Me runs through August 24th at the Helen Hayes Theater 240 West 44th Street between 8th and Broadway. NYC. For tickets and information, click here.
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is a freelance writer living in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City. A proud native of Central Pennsylvania, he holds a degree in Communications from Penn State University. He attends theater frequently and annoys his friends and colleagues by chattering incessantly about his passion for it.
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