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Amintiri din epoca de aur; satire, Romania, 2009; D: Hanno Höfer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu, Ioana Uricaru, S: Alexandru Potocean, Avram Birau, Vlad Ivanov, Ion Sapdaru, Diana Cavallioti
Five comical stories set in Romania during the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu: an important official is about to pass through a village, so the party inspector tries to "beautify" everything using the help of the locals. However, once they start the carousel, they realize that the engineer is also on board and nobody is on the ground to turn it off. They thus rotate the whole night and miss the visit... The official photographer modifies an image by putting a hat on Ceaușescu, yet the press has to be stopped when everyone realizes that they forgot to delete the hat in his hand... A chicken driver gets arrested for taking eggs from the chickens in his truck... A fat police officer kills a pig before Christmas by gassing it in his kitchen. Yet when he uses a flame to cook it, the gas in the pig explodes... A poor student, Diana, decides to earn some money by teaming up with a con-artist, pretending to work the Ministry of Chemistry and taking samples of air from apartments, but in reality collecting bottles.
An anthology of five directors directing five comical stories set in Romania during the 80s, "Tales from the Golden Age" are a surprisingly catchy and engaging satire, with a sharp jab aimed not necessarily at socialism or communism, but at the loathed egocentric regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu that left the whole society in chaos. Predictably, the anthology is uneven since every director had his or her own take on the story, written by Cristian Mungiu who already took a serious approach at the same subject with his previous film "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", yet as a whole it is coherent - the first two stories are arguably the best. The first story should be commended for engaging the viewers instantly through its humorous take on a official visit to a village where the party inspector demands for pigeons to be released during the passing of the car - a man asks: "He had pigeons, right?" and gets this answer: "Yeah, but he ate them." In the same scene, someone asks for the carousel to be turned on, but gets the reply that they still did not get fuel for it. In that one scene, thus, the director already showed how the people are forced to glorify a leader that not only leaves them hungry, but also scarce on other resources as well. The second story is also sharply witty, but the third story already shows that a sudden switch from comical to serious was not that even, whereas the forth segment, in which a fat man tries to kill a pig in his apartment, could be seen as an allegory promoting vegetarianism, yet in a heavy handed way. The fifth story again returns to the purely "A je to!" nonchalant tone, yet the movie is slightly overlong by that time.
Dreaming the Rose
San o ruži; drama, Croatia, 1986; D: Zoran Tadić, S: Rade Šerbedžija, Fabijan Šovagović, Iva Marjanović, Ljubo Zečević
One night after returning from work, Valent, an ordinary worker in a steel mill, observes a gang of thugs killing a man on the street. He finds a bag near the man's corpse and takes it. Subsequently, he finds it is filled with money. Since his wife Ljuba and his two kids live in poor conditions, he decides to spend the money on his family. However, the local butcher witnessed him taking the bag and tries to blackmail him. When the butcher gets arrested by the police, the thugs capture Valent and interrogate him about the money. However, he shoots them with his gun and disappears.
One of the more overrated Croatian movies of the 80s, "Dreaming the Rose" gained most of its hype for bravely depicting how the social situation of the lower class in pseudo-communist Yugoslavia was not that rosy as it was presented in the news back in those days, yet from today's perspective that hardly seems revolutionary, just normal example of European critique of society. The story about a man (excellent Rade Serbedzija) who finds a bag full of money and decides to keep is stimulative and has spark, yet it is never fully developed by director Zoran Tadic, except on symbolical basis as an essay about ethics and morality. Tadic's scarce style was also present in "The Rhythm of Crime", yet unlike that great crime drama the difference in quality is sensed in artificial story flow, lukewarm dialogues and the stand-out magnificent ending that overshadows almost the whole story up to it, which is the only truly intense crime example - just as the thugs interrogate the hero in a shabby place, demanding for the money, an unexpected twist surprises the viewers and gives them a "run for their money".
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story; comedy, USA/ Germany, 2004; D: Rawson Marshall Thurber, S: Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Rip Torn, Justin Long, Stephen Root, Hank Azaria, William Shatner, David Hasselhoff, Chuck Norris
The conceited owner of an elite gym, White Goodman, wants to buy off a washed up gym right besides his, the "Average Joe gym", in order to shut it down and make a parking lot instead of it. In order to repay their debts, Peter, Justin, Gordon and others, aided by lawyer Kate, attend a dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas and win the top prize, 50,000 $.
Despite a fast pace and a few hilarious jokes, this dodgeball variation of "Kingpin" is an uneven and heavy handed comedy that reaches too often for cheap, crude and banal means when setting up a punchline. There's an unwritten rule that the most outrageous comedies always ignite the biggest laughs, as opposed to more intelligent, but timid ones, yet some authors still managed to occasionally combine the best of both worlds, like the Monty Pythons, the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker trio or the Marx brothers, while "Dodgeball" does not manage to juggle with it - one of the rare instances where it proves otherwise is the already legendary Chuck Norris joke, though it does manage to be really funny in presenting some stupid jokes, such as when Gordon trains the aforementioned sport by trying to "dodge" cars on a road. Some less funny ones are just cringe worthy. Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller are in good shape, the ending is surprisingly satisfying whereas the movie should at least also be given credit for reviving the interest for dodgeball, probably one of the most underrated sports (though the European version of it is better conceived).
Grade:+
Posted by Marin Mandir at 11:29 AM No comments: Links to this post
Ella Enchanted; fantasy comedy, USA, 2004; D: Tommy O'Haver, S: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Aidan McArdle, Cary Elwes, Minnie Driver, Eric Idle
In a medieval magical land, a clumsy fairy gave baby Ella the "gift of obedience" - as a consequence, Ella is forced to do whatever others tell her to. When her stepsisters find that out, they exploit her. Still, Ella meets prince Charmont and persuades him to use his future power to stop the oppression of elves, ogres and giants which is carried out by his suspicious uncle Edgar. Having found out about her secret, Edgar orders Ella to stab Charmont at midnight. However, she refuses and thus breaks the spell.
"Ella Enchanted" is such an audaciously outrageous fairytale comedy that it can easily divide the audience, yet its charm in blending in "The Princess Bride", teenage girls, "Cinderella" and an amended variation of "Liar Liar" outweigh towards the positive tone and help mitigate an occasionally silly moment. 90 % of that charm was achieved thanks to the talented Anne Hathaway and a couple of sharp satirical ideas (one of the best is when Ella's activism and fight for ogre rights is shown in the scene where she protests against the prince and his rule by holding a banner that says "Say no to ogrecide") while the rather contrived basic premise did not catch some viewers on the right foot. Banal solutions aside, this is a fairly good family fun with postmodern references and a spectacularly sneaky satirical jab at conformity and populism, which is faithful to its simple constitution.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze; fantasy action comedy, USA, 1991; D: Michael Pressman, S: Mark Caso, Michelan Sisti, Leif Tiden, Kenn Troum, Paige Turco, David Warner, François Chau
A year after the first events, ninja turtles Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo have cozily settled into April O'Neil's apartment, much to her annoyance. However, Shredder survived and using a toxic chemical creates two mutants, Rahzar and Tokka, unleashing them against the turtles. The four heroes manage to transform the two creatures back to their form while Shredder dies trying to make a dock collapse on them.
"Turtles II" starts off with such a stimulative, charmingly engaging opening sequence and entrance of the four title heroes that it instantly brought a smile to children's faces and topped the opening of the first film. The sharp cinematography is also an improvement to the first film. And Paige Turco is a more charming April O'Neil. However, that's where the praise stops since part II is palpably inferior to the original on every other level. Unlike "Turtles I", this film shows the four ninja heroes without charm, presenting them as nearly identical characters without any distinguishing features (could anyone tell the difference between Michelangelo or Raphael, for instance, without the color on their bandana?), the fight sequences are naively choreographed (instead of the whole Foot gang attacking the turtles at once, they wait in the background until they fight one-on-one?), the story has too much plot holes to handle, especially in the rather ill-considered trashy Frankenstein concept involving around the mutating Oooze, whereas the low point was achieved in the embarrassing sequence in the night club where Vanilla Ice continues to sing and the audience continues to dance (!) despite six mutants suddenly storming the place and fighting there. The humorous final sequence brings the movie right on the back tracks again, and the costumes are again amazing, yet by that time the audience wished for a different kind of film.
Posted by Marin Mandir at 9:34 AM 2 comments: Links to this post
The Odd Couple; comedy, USA, 1968; D: Gene Saks, S: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, John Fiedler
Introverted Felix is affected by the the fact that his wife left him and took their kids. When he tries to commit suicide by jumping off from a building, he cannot open the window and gets a cramp in his back. His friends calm him down and tell him that there is a lot worth living for, whereas colleagues Oscar, also divorced, takes him into his apartment. The odd couple quickly turns chaotic: Oscar is messy and is annoyed by Felix constantly cleaning rooms and cooking. After two ladies ladies invite them to their apartment, Felix rejects them so Oscar throws him out of his apartment. Later on, he apologises.
"The Odd Couple" is not so fresh today, but is still a good comedy nonetheless that gains its source of agility from the chemistry between comedians Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (both nominated for a Golden Globe in a musical or comedy). The screenplay by Neil Simon (also nominated for an Oscar) actually offers an anecdotal little story about two divorced friends living together and clash due to different perspectives, equipped with a few funny jokes: in one comical moment, friends tell Oscar that he has a messy apartment before he answers the phone, so he replies to them: "Yes, I am divorced, messy and broke! (phone rings) Hallo? Divorced, messy and broke?" Felix is an equally comical character, an introverted counterpart for Oscar, who among others moves his jaw up and down and makes strange noises ("Mbwab!...Mbwab!") when he wants to unclog his ears. Today, one could almost decipher hidden gay subtexts from their feuds, especially since Oscar even jokingly tells him "yes, dear". Still, it is obvious that Saks does not have a sure director's hand in this occasion, whereas other flaws are a lukewarm mood and a fair share of not so funny jokes.
Posted by Marin Mandir at 12:00 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Friends; comedy series, USA, 1994-2004; D: Gary Halvorson, Kevin Bright, Michael Lembeck, James Burrows, David Schwimmer, S: Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Elliott Gould, Tom Selleck
The story revolves around everyday events and misadventures of six friends in New York: Rachel, who starts off as a waitress and then finds as job in a department store; Joey, who is a struggling actor; eccentric Phoebe, who decides to give birth for her brother and his wife; paleontologist Ross who got divorced from his wife and his sister Monica who wants to be a cook; as well as the often sarcastic Chandler. Ross and Rachel break up but still have feelings for each other. Those culminate when Rachel ends up pregnant after a one night stand with him and gives birth to a daughter.
Subconsciously or not, the authors gave a special feeling of comfortability among the viewers by giving the title "Friends" to one of the most popular and acclaimed TV shows of the 90s, which still holds up pretty well today despite some omissions. Even though it was more a hit in the US than in Europe and the rest of the world, "Friends" have a certain universal appeal in presenting some everyday problems and misadventures, that "slice-of-life" flair that manages to build up awe from scratch, whereas a lot of credit should go to the six main actors who established a strong chemistry and carried even weaker seasons thanks to their charm: the story is a true ensemble cast since none of the actors stands out more than the other, equal care was given to everyone. The first three seasons were arguably the best, until the writers made a crucial error: the break-up between Ross and Rachel was unnecessary and pointless. They tried to make it suspenseful by having the viewers guess until the end whether or not they will make up again, yet the sole concept was erroneous: would an ex-couple still hang around as friends after such a bitter split? Some remarks made by Rachel aimed to belittle Ross were especially mean-spirited and seemed as if they came from a sitcom called "Enemies". Generally speaking, whenever Ross' character swims at top, the episode would always be at least good.
However, during its prime the story offered truly a lot of funny ideas and social observations. In one especially comical episode, Joey exaggerated his CV during an audition for a musical in order to win the role, claiming he had years of experience in step dance. When the supervisor asked him to train a whole class of students for a dance rehearsal, the music started and Joey, after a moment of awkward silence, simply just ran away outside. During another audition, he had to show his uncircumcised penis for a sex scene in a movie, but since it was made out of salami, it fell off. Ross plays a tune and then stops. Joey thinks he found a job as a photo model, but the next day his photo shows up in the city in the form of an add for sexually transmitted disease. The static camera and lax story flow towards the end, when the show lost steam, bother, yet if there is one episode that achieved perfection of cosmic proportions and that should be seen by those who never intend to see the show, then it's in season 5, "The One Where Everybody Finds Out", written by Alexa Junge. In it, Monica and Chandler are still hiding that they are a couple, but Joey, Rachel and Phoebe already know that and are annoyed by endless pretending. So, Phoebe decides to "push the limits" by pretending to seduce Chandler, mischievously "exploring" how far he will go until he finally admits that he is already with Monica. But he and Monica figure out that Phoebe is just faking it so they decide to switch the tables and have Chandler pretend he wants to sleep with Phoebe, too, which culminates in the sequence in his apartment where they both dare it more and more (a stroke, a kiss...) to see who will give in first. That episode was so virtuoso, so deliciously written that you did not care about directing, acting, shot composition or anything else at that moment - you were simply fully absorbed by the story.
The Beauty of Sin
Lepota poroka; erotic drama, Montenegro, 1986; D: Živko Nikolić, S: Mira Furlan, Milutin Karadžić, Petar Bozović, Alain Noury, Ines Kotman, Mira Banjac, Jasna Beri
In the Montenegrin hinterland, some villages are still rigidly conservative and the tradition is that a husband kills his wife with a mallet if she cheats on him. One such rural couple, Jaglika and Luka, decide to follow the invitation of their relative Đorđ in order to find a job along the liberal coastline. Đorđ turns out to be a notorious con-artist who cheats on his wife and even fires Luka while Jaglika finds a job as a housemaid in a nudist resort. There she befriends a nude English couple who awaken her extroverted side. Back in the village, Jaglika admits to Luka that she cheated on him, but he does not kill her.
After the authority of censors started to deplete in the 80s, the Yugoslav cinema slowly started to catch up with the European trend of erotic dramas, vividly represented with Pasolini's trilogy of life that started with "The Decameron", Vadim's "And God Created Woman", Luna's "Ham Ham" and others. Zivko Nikolic's "The Beauty of Sin" does not have an artistic authority, but it is surprisingly honest, avoiding "cheap flesh" in favour of a more-or-less even presentation of a shy, conservative woman, Jaglika, slowly awakening her untrammelled passionate side in the middle of a nudist resort. In this edition, the "fish out of water" story is a gentle rubbing of a collision of two opposite worldviews - the conservative and liberal wing - whereas Nikolic shows the effects of both of their negative extremes - bigotry and decadence. The film needed more humor and at least three more truly skillful sequences (one of the rare examples that prove otherwise is when the shy heroine, working as a housemaid, is surprised to encounter a couple lying naked on bed, so the wife makes a humorous remark: "Maybe we should wear clothes until she gets accustomed to us.") yet it enjoys the reputation of a cult classic for some examples of sophisticated erotic (the sole scene where Luka finds himself in the room with a naked prostitute with large breasts but freaks out and runs away is a favourite among the fans of such genre), aesthetic images of beach and the wonderful character of Jaglika - she is basically the only fully circled out character, so the viewers can truly easily identify with her whereas Mira Furlan plays her wonderfully sincere.
Hellsing Ultimate
Hellsing Ultimate; animated horror series, Japan, 2006-2012; D: Hiroyuki Tanaka, Tomokazu Tokoro, Yasuhiro Matsumura, S: Jouji Nakata, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Fumiko Orikasa, Nobuo Tobita, Norio Wakamoto
United Kingdom. After police officer Seras Victoria falls as a casualty to a ghoul, vampire Alucard abides her wish and "saves her" by transforming her into a vampire herself, recruiting her to fight in the Hellsing organization - led by Lady Integra - against those vampires that threaten humans. However, they get in the middle of a huge battle involving a neo-Nazi Major who uses SS-vampires to level London to the ground, on one side, and the Iscariot organization, a catholic fraction led by Vatican and priest Anderson, who fight against all three: Nazis, protestants and vampires.
The 2001 anime series "Hellsing" was a success, though it "amputated" the main tangle in the manga and thus caused complaints by fans, so a new creative team decided to "remake" it five years later with the "Hellsing Ultimate" OVA series that is more aligned towards Kouta Hirano's original work. Unfortunately, in this edition "Hellsing" went on the way of "Fist of the North Star": it dropped the mood in favor of splatter and (sometimes cheap and banal) violence which went way overboard. It is difficult to pin down why this OVA is so ephemera and convulsive when it has so many things going for it: the main tangle, for instance, intact in this edition, is unbelievable by revolving around a Major who "rebuilds" a new Nazi force in order to continue there where it ended after the World War II and his Blitz part II against London is a sight to behold - the scenes of Britain's capital getting demolished and burned in flames are a rare spectacle of the bizarre without limits. Some expressed worries against such a neo-Nazi "revisionist" story, yet it clearly distinguishes them as the bad guys. As a matter of fact, the sole subtext is subversive since one of the themes in "Hellsing" is the relativity of evil: Alucard is a vampire, but when his evil force is used for good, then it is acceptable. All three sides in the conflict have an evil side to them and the question is thus whether a goal can justify any means. Alucard himself puts it nicely in one episode: "A monster fighting for God. And a monster fighting against God. That's all the same."
The animation and character designs are top-notch, yet since the production is slow and it takes sometimes up to a whole year for a new episode to show up, the mood is uneven since the authors constantly have to remember to "pick up" there where the previous events left - after all, you have to expect a toll for consistency for a series whose production was stretched to half a decade, yet it plays out in only two nights - whereas the long, absorbing takes of standoff do tend to seem hesitant after a while (the 6 minute long monologue of the Major in one episode is truly too long), not entirely managing to recreate that desired Leone touch. Seras actually comes off less developed in this OVA: in the first "Hellsing", the authors took their time to show her struggle with becoming a vampire, while here everything was already consolidated in the first episode. For instance, the scene in the first anime where Seras tackles and immobilizes Jan had weight because it was so real, while here it seems too neat (also, her yellow uniform does not suit her so well). The best ingredients were again found when the story went into some absurd-caricature spheres, which were there to relax from the otherwise bleak events (in the closing credits for episode 4, the Major and the Doc show up wearing anime shirts, singing in a karaoke and having tourist equipment when they go to England!). "Ultimate" is more faithful to the manga, yet that does not automatically mean that is superior than the first "Hellsing" - the Fleischer brothers "Gulliver's Travels" is, for instance, quite unfaithful to Swift's novel, but it is still superior than the loyal '96 miniseries of the same title - therefore, these two do not necessarily contradict each other. Despite some genius ideas, "Ultimate" crammed so many bloody violence that it numbed the viewers, and ultimately the whole viewing experience.
Greed; silent drama, USA, 1924; D: Erich von Stroheim, S: Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller, Fanny Midgley
A former miner, brute McTeague, becomes a dentist in San Francisco. One day, he falls deeply in love with one of his patients, Trina, who is the girlfriend of a certain Marcus. When McTeague tells him about his love, Marcus decides to generously "give up" on Trina. However, he regrets it when Trina wins 5,000 $ on a lottery. She and McTeague get married and move to a new house. Still, despite her fortune, she turns out to be a real penny poacher and refuses to give anything to McTeague after he loses his license as a dentist and can't find a job. He steals 450 $ from her and runs away. On Christmas, he returns, kills her and takes the rest of the money. He returns to the mine and then flees to Death Valley where he meets Marcus again who wants the money. McTeague kills him, but stays handcuffed to his corpse.
Greed has always been a great source of inspiration for movies and novels, whether it is the central theme in the dramatic "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" or humorous novel "L'Avare" by Moliere, probably because of the sheer intensity of characters found between it that collide with huge intensity. Just as the anti-hero McTeague was obsessed with it in "Greed", director Erich von Stroheim was in equal measure obsessed with greed for perfection found in overlong running time of the movie - seven hours are truly too long to sustain the viewers' concentration, even in such a great classic. Von Stroheim's greed was outmatched only by those of the producer's for profit who cut the movie to only 2 hours, yet the 4 hour version was restored and can be today compared.
The ideal movie would probably lie in the middle - some subplots in the extended version are unnecessary (Zwerkov and Maria, for instance, who are just there to foreshadow what is going to happen to McTeague and Trina) yet von Stroheim shows remarkable sense for "proper/inner" directorial skill in meticulous details (the minute the brute McTeague exits the coal mine but stops to pick up a bird on the ground and kiss it, he is able to reach the viewers), just the right balance of delicious emotions, which are neither too cold nor to sappy (i.e. the scene where bride Trina clings to her mother because she is afraid to spend her first night with her husband alone; the detail where she buys him a present, a giant golden tooth) and even slightly provocative-subversive ideas for those times (the legendary scene where dentist McTeague kisses a tranquillized Trina, who was still only a patient to him; the obsession with money over love/human relations as a critique of capitalism) all revolving around the story where instead of a couple consuming money, it consumes them. "Greed" is surprisingly dark and bitter even today, entirely opposite to many sugary movies of the 20s, a raw, existential allegory on selfishness, bravely tackling the "unpopular" Hollywood theme of lower class, with the expressionistic finale in Death Valley remaining an unforgettable example of "black ending", which is actual even in our time, and the repeated McTeague's line "You won't make small of me!" is brilliant.
Grade:+++
Brainstorm; science-fiction drama, USA, 1983; D: Douglas Trumbull, S: Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, Cliff Robertson, Alan Fudge
Scientists Lillian and husband and wife team Michael and Karen create a device that can record a person's audio-visual-sensory experience on a tape and then play it for other viewers via a special helmet. After the military insists on exploring the invention, Lillian has a heart attack in the laboratory, but uses her last piece of strength to turn the device on and record her own death. Michael wants to play the tape to see a human's experience of death, with amendments that will not affect his own heart. Since the military wants to use the tape for torture, Karen hacks into the factory to cause chaos among the machines while Michael downloads the tape and sees the death experience in the shape of space travel to another galaxy and fairies.
With all due respect for Natalie Wood in her last screen performance, science-fiction movie "Brainstorm" as a whole seems like patchwork, an uneven and incoherent story based on a fantastic premise of "recording" people's audio-visual experiences, whereas it stays open if Wood's sudden death caused certain rewrites in the film or even lack of whole sequences since she was one of the leading roles. In this forerunner to "Strange Days", the authors did not manage to exploit all the rich possibilities of the stimulative concept to the maximum (one of the rare examples where they prove otherwise is the idea that a man can "record" his sex experience with a woman, which is then replayed by one "viewer" to the point where he gets dizzy from too much orgasms) which is why "Brainstorm" seems rather underused, sadly waisting its running time only on an (albeit subversive) subplot where the hero Michael is trying to obtain a "death tape" from the military who has taken over his research centre in order to use it as some sort of MKULTRA project. The sole visual style of the movie that "replays" the recorded experiences is excellent, though, using fish eye lens in filming a person's POV of riding a horse, flying, driving or going down the water slide. The ending turned out the worst, both in not resolving/neglecting what will happen to the device in the army's hands and Michael's surreal (and pointless) obsession with seeing the "death tape" that inappropriately drifts away into the religious since he sees a person's soul traveling through space, which is entirely out of character with the whole previous "scientifically cold" tone of the film up to it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the...


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Kathlene W. Sep 29 .
I've tried it a couple of times and found it to be on the greasy side. The food didn't seem as fresh and flavorful as other Indian Restaurants. Not good enough quality for me to go back.
X L. Jun 11 .
I work very close to this restaurant and have always wanted to give it a try. So I ordered take out one day. The staff was very friendly and warm. While I waited for my food the host brought me a cup of chai and we chatted a bit about my husband's culture (since he is also Indian) and his. I ordered dosa's and samosas and they were both delicious, although I would order one or the other because they both have the same filling inside ( I didn't know that because it was my first time trying the dosa's). Everything else on the menu sounds delicious!
The interior of the place is also very beautiful. After visiting and describing the place to my visit we both are excited to go back and have dinner there. I also think it looks very romantic and would make an excellent date spot.
If you've been to or used Parus Indian Vegetarian Rstrnt, leave a review.


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David has nearly 30 years of experience designing environments in the Southwest. His projects include a variety of resource-conservative commercial, public, and residential designs. He has merged the practice of landscape design with his knowledge of climate and the study of arid-region plant geography and species composition. This insight has proven useful for site-specific design work and for assisting regional growers, even collecting seed and cuttings for large-scale production of promising high desert plant introductions. David also contributes to various trade publications and is sought after to provide programs on high desert landscape topics.
"Regional Picks, Southwest: Plant This With That", Fine Gardening, April 2015.
"Soft and Sharp", Southwest Trees and Turf, May-June 2014.
"Southwest Subtlety", Southwest Trees and Turf, May-June 2012.
"Unique Southwest Design Strategies", Southwest Trees and Turf, June 2004.
"Bold and Beautiful", Southwest Trees and Turf, October 2003.
"Reborn Retro", NMASLA News, Summer 2003.
"Midnight At The Oasis", Southwest Trees and Turf, July/August 2003.
"Scenes In Seed Collecting", NMASLA News, Spring 2003.
"Another Angle On The Desert", NMASLA News, Winter 2003.
"A Plethora of Prickly Pears", Southwest Trees and Turf, June 2001.
"Agave Sets a Southwest Style", Southwest Trees and Turf, March 2001.
"Trees for the High Desert", Southwest Trees and Turf, July 1999.
Lowe's Creative Ideas, "High-Desert Drama". Birmingham, AL: SPConnect, March-April 2010.
Calhoun, Scott E. "The Hot Garden". Tucson, AZ: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2009.
Su Casa Magazine, "A Design For All Seasons" by Gussie Fauntleroy. Albuquerque, NM: Hacienda Press / Home Builders Association of Central New Mexico, Spring 2009.
Wildflower Magazine, "True Colors" by Scott Calhoun. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2008.
Western Interiors & Design, "Color Fields: Desert" by Amanda Dameron. Los Angeles, CA: Western Interiors & Design, LLC, April/May 2008.
Calhoun, Scott E. "Designer Plant Combinations". North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2008.
Calhoun, Scott E. "Chasing Wildflowers". Tucson, AZ: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2007.
"Natural Stones in Landscape Design", Landscape Architect and Specifier News, October 2005.
"The State Of Landscape Architecture: Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque", Sources & Design, May/June 2003.
"Fragrant Natives for the Rockies and Southwest" (consulted for James Knopf, ASLA), The American Gardener, March/April 1999.
"It's a Dry Heat" (current garden and outdoors blog), El Paso TX. 2013 to present.
"The Desert Edge" (former garden and outdoors blog), Albuquerque NM. 2005 to 2013.
"Landscaping in West Texas" interview, KRTS FM, Marfa TX. June 2015.
"Drought Garden Balance" interview, Central Texas Gardener, KLRU TV, Austin TX. February 2013.
Good to Grow interview, KTEP FM, El Paso TX. 2007, 2002, 2001.
"Cactus Can-Do", Cactus CanDo-EPCRC_2015-03-07, El Paso Cactus and Rock Club, El Paso TX, March 2015.
"Using the Underused", Sun Country Landscape Conference, El Paso TX, November 2014.
"Landscape Design Basics", SunSCAPE workshop, The University of Texas at El Paso Centennial Museum, El Paso TX, October 2014.
"A Chihuahuan Desert Place", Native Plant Society of New Mexico, Las Cruces Chapter, Las Cruces NM, April 2014.
"Xeriscape - A New Classic", 2014 Lea County Master Gardeners Water Wise Landscape Conference, Hobbs NM, March 2014.
"A Sense of Place: space and form to power a garden", Santa Fe Master Gardener Symposium, Santa Fe NM, November 2013.
"Getting Real: Landscapes for Temporary Irrigation", West Texas Irrigation Association, El Paso TX, March 2013.
"Create a Tough Landscape Through Sustainable Design", ProGreen Expo, Denver CO, January 2013.
"Use Regionalism To Inspire Garden Design", ProGreen Expo, Denver CO, January 2013.
"Planting Possibilities", Desert Green, Las Vegas NV, October 2012.
"SW Design Details", Desert Green, Las Vegas NV, October 2012.
"Design", SunSCAPE workshop, The University of Texas at El Paso Centennial Museum, El Paso TX, April 2012.
"Approaching a Not-So-Blank Slate", Sun Country Landscape Conference, Las Cruces NM, October 2011.
"Connecting Urban Forestry + Landscape Architecture", Texas Trees Conference Tree Academy, Waco TX, October 2011.
"Designing Gardens / Deluge to Drought", Travis County Master Gardeners, Austin TX, October 2011.
"Xeriscaping with Native / Adapted Plants (water harvesting)", Texas Rainwater Catchment Association 2011 Conference, Kerrville TX, March 2011.
"Ecoregions That Inform the Landscape", North Dakota State University, Fargo ND, February 2011.
"Desert Eclectic", Doña Ana County Master Gardeners class, Las Cruces NM, October 2010.
"Code of the West: Landscapes Regulations That Do Justice to a Dry Country", co-presented with two colleagues at the Eco El Paso Conference, El Paso TX, September 2010.
"Landscapes of Enchantment", 2010 Annual Meeting of the Native Plant Society of New Mexico, Silver City NM, August 2010.
"The Use of Cacti and Native Plants in the Landscape: plant combinations for the varied ecoregions of New Mexico", New Mexico State Master Gardener Conference, Albuquerque NM, June 2010.
"LEEDing With the Landscape: Site Planning Revisited", co-presented with two colleagues for the US Green Building Council, Chihuahuan Desert Chapter monthly meeting, El Paso TX, May 2010.
"Using Native Plants as a Landscape Architect: trials and triumphs in creating a desert sense-of-place", Las Vegas NV, Sierra Vista AZ and Albuquerque NM, winter-spring 2010.
"Chihuahuan Natives for the Western Garden", Desert Green Conference, Henderson NV, October 2009.
"Southwest Design Solutions: taking cues from successful landscape models in the Great American Southwest", Desert Green Conference, Henderson NV, October 2009.
"Arid Retro", Desert Horticulture Conference, Tucson AZ, May 2009.
"Ecoregional Design", the Semi-Arid Café monthly meeting, Santa Fe NM, April 2009.
"Beautiful Landscapes for the Creatively Challenged", El Paso Home and Garden Show, El Paso TX, March 2009.
"Designer Desert", Native Plant Society of New Mexico El Paso Chapter monthly meeting, March 2009.
"Introduction to Landscape Design", Valencia County Master Gardeners class, Belen NM, April 2008.
"The Big Picture: Landscapes Inspired and Informed by Natural Plant Communities", Native Plant Society of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM, May 2007.
"Designing for All Seasons", Permian Basin Master Gardeners / recertification class, Midland TX, May 2007.
"The State of Xeriscape", Sun Country Landscape Conference, El Paso TX, March 2006.
"Ecoregional Gardens", Native Plant Society of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM, February 2005.
"Plant Selection" class, Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) Instructor, Albuquerque NM, Spring, Summer, and Fall 2005 Semesters.
"Beyond Cottonwoods and Chamisa: Landscapes That Celebrate the New Mexico Desert", Valencia County Xeriscape Club, Belen NM, November 2004.
"Beyond Chamisa: A Landscape Workshop for Albuquerque", Xeric Garden Club, Albuquerque NM, January 2004.
"Site Specific Design", Desert Green Conference, Henderson NV, November 2003.
"Monthly Plant Profiles", Native Plant Society of New Mexico, Albuquerque Chapter, March - May 2003.
"Xeriscape Design: Landscapes With Local Flavor", High Desert Landscape Conference, Sierra Vista AZ, February 2003.
"Ay Chihuahua: Designing a Landscape With Local Flavor", Sun Country Landscape Conference, El Paso TX, October 2002.
"Beyond Enviro-Chic: Sense + Place in the Albuquerque Landscape", Rio Grande Nature Center, Albuquerque NM, May 2002.
"Landscape Design With and For Native Plants: Solutions for the Chihuahuan Desert Region", Native Plant Society of New Mexico, El Paso Chapter, September 2001.
"The Use of Native Plants In the Landscape: As Part of Preserving the Ecosystem", New Mexico Master Gardener's Conference, May 2001.
"Landscape Design With Native and Xeric Plants: Solutions for the upper Chihuahuan Desert region of Albuquerque and central New Mexico", UNM Society of Landscape Architecture Students, Albuquerque NM, April 2001.
"Basics and Beyond: Xeriscape Workshop", March 2001.
"What's Your Zone?", Native Plant Society of New Mexico, Albuquerque Chapter, February 2001.
"Landscape 101: Plant Grouping, Nuts and Bolts, and Designing a Landscape Together", Los Altos Christian Church Avocational College, June 2000.
"Designing For Trees", Sun Country Tree Conference, El Paso TX, November 1999.
"Landscaping Troublespots", Plants of the Southwest Lecture Series, Albuquerque NM, April 1999.
"Successful Landscape Principles", High Desert Landscape Conference, Sierra Vista AZ, February 1998.
"The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Landscape Design Do's and Dont's in the High Desert", Albuquerque NM and Sierra Vista AZ, 1996-1998.


text:
Åbo Akademi University Library is an academic library that primarily serves students and faculty at Åbo Akademi University and Novia University of Applied Sciences.
Åbo Akademi University Library opened in 1919. Since its start, the library has had a status as a legal depository library, making the domestic publications collection almost complete. In additions to the legal deposits, proceeds from the Gösta Brander foundation greatly contribute to the library's acquisitions.
In total, the collections comprise over two million printed books and journals, and access to tens of thousands licensed e-journals and hundreds of thousands of e-books. The collections can be viewed and accessed through the library's search portal Alma.
The library, which is also open to the public, compromises four service units on the ÅAU campus in Turku. Tritonia Academic Library serves students and staff of ÅAU and Novia in Vaasa. The largest specialist library on religion in the Nordic countries, and whose collections also are included in Alma, The Donner Institute Library, is closely connected to ÅAU Library.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: JS socket io client able to connect to one socket server but unable to connect another socket server with the same code I am trying to consume messages sent by a socket-io server using a socket-io Javascript client. When the client is tested by listening to a UAT socket-io server, it is able to connect and receive messages. But when it is tested on a Production socket-io server, it gets stuck while establishing the connection. When we tried to connect using a python socket-io client, we were successful in connecting and receiving the messages. The code snippet is as below.
const io  = require("socket.io-client");
const https = require("https");

https.globalAgent.options.rejectUnauthorized = false;
const socket = io(
                "wss://xyz.com/", {
                 agent: https.globalAgent,
                 origins:"*",
                 secure: true,
                 transports: ["websocket","polling"]
                 });
socket.on("connect",()=>{
console.log("Use connection");
socket.emit("join", ["room_name"])
    socket.on("channel",function(data){
        console.log(data);
    })
    console.log("Complete");
 });

Please note it is subscribing to a channel with multiple rooms. Also, there is no SSL certificate involved here.
Please suggest me some workout or solution for this.
Thanks in advance

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The proper weight-to-height ratio gives you a range of what a healthy weight is, based on how tall you are. Understanding where you fall on the chart helps you determine whether you need to lose weight or gain weight. This ratio is often referred to as body mass index, or BMI. Your physician is a good resource for finding out where you appear on the chart.
The purpose of determining your weight-to-height number is to assess your health. A high BMI doesn't necessarily indicate health problems, but helps your doctor compile a list of possible health complications. For example, if you fall within the obese category, your risks of heart disease, diabetes and cancer go up significantly. If you are underweight, your risk of nutritional deficiencies is higher. Your doctor can figure out your numbers, but many online health websites allow you to input your numbers and see where you fall on the height-to-weight chart.
To figure out your BMI, weigh yourself and record the number on a piece of paper. Have a friend or family member measure your height with a tape measure and write down that number as well. Divide your weight in pounds by your height in inches squared. Multiply that number by 703. The result is your BMI. This number allows you to look at the height-to-weight chart to see which category you fall into. For example, a 145-pound person who is 5 feet 6 inches tall has a BMI of 23.4, which is in the normal range.
You can't change your your height, so getting to a healthy BMI requires weight loss. The only way to drop unwanted pounds is to burn more calories than you consume, by exercising more and cutting calories. Even a slight weight loss -- five pounds, for example -- may be enough to get you into a lower BMI range. To lose weight, fill your plate with low-calorie foods from each food group and increase your physical activity to at least 150 minutes per week.
Finding where you are on the height-to-weight chart isn't the only indication of your health. Despite a healthy BMI, carrying excess fat in your middle compromises your health. In addition, muscle mass weighs more than fat, so if you are very muscular, your BMI may indicate that you're overweight even if you're not. While BMI is a helpful tool for your doctor, it shouldn't be the only one he uses to get a look at your health.


Join Cody Francis and Doug Hurley as they they travel to the remote land of Papua New Guinea. See how the Lord is blessing the work and see the joys of street preaching. Meet the faithful workers there who are seeking to "give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands." Isaiah 42:12. Be inspired and encouraged to take His message to the ends of the earth!
Declare His Praise in the Islands – Papau New Guinea 2006 from Mission Projects International on Vimeo.


According to Creeley, the increasing pressure to police speech at colleges makes it a particularly perilous time to be a professor and has a chilling effect on faculty members. Faculty across the ideological spectrum seem to be under increased scrutiny. Creeley pointed to a conservative professor at Marquette University who was terminated for criticizing another faculty member, while Laura Kipnis, a liberal professor at Northwestern University, was subjected to a two-month, "Kafkaesque" inquiry for discussing sexual harassment on college campuses.
To find out which school's "jaw dropping, reactionary, and brazen" faculty firing Will called "one of the most egregious examples of censorship that I've seen," and to find out what he thinks young people need to know about campus censorship and academic freedom, read the full article on The Atlantic's website.


text:
Cheap Hotels in Dubai
Cheap Hotels Dubai | Best Value Dubai Hotels
Visit Dubai to witness the coming together of desert splendor, majestic seas, and a spirit that embraces the traditional and the modern with aplomb. This United Arab Emirates city is home to a mélange of skyscrapers, Burj Khalifa being the tallest among them. It also features innovative amusement parks, artificial islands, and hundreds of high-end shopping destinations. Evocative and exciting, this futuristic urban center has been setting the trend for upscale luxury for quite some time now. In parallel, it features myriad sites of cultural and natural value, be it the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, traditional Arab souks, or the Dubai Creek. The thought of an inexpensive Dubai trip may sound unreal, but with an affordable hotel to set up camp in, you can have more to splurge on shopping, sightseeing, dining and entertainment. Check out our top picks of the best value hotels in Dubai.
Hilton Garden Inn Dubai Al Mina United Arab Emirates
Hilton Garden Inn Al Mina offers both comfort and convenience on a budget. Housed in a modern glass-façade building on Al Mina Road, it has a number of sightseeing, recreation and business destinations within a 5km radius. These include Jumeirah Beach and Mosque, Al Fahidi Fort and Dubai Museum, Dubai World Trade Center, and downtown Dubai with its ethnic and vibrant souks. Even the airport is just a short car ride away. As is characteristic of its namesakes in all other parts of the world, Hilton Garden Inn Al Mina offers spacious and comfortable guest rooms with modern décor and fit-outs. There are 181 rooms and suites in this hotel, all equipped with comfortable beds, armchairs, desks with ergonomic study chairs, minibars, safes, flat screen TVs, free Wi-Fi, and tea and coffee making equipment. A casual on-site restaurant serves an extensive breakfast buffet, plus lunches and dinners. 24-hour room service is offered, and guests can also attend to midnight hunger pangs at the Pavilion Pantry. Besides a rooftop pool, the hotel also houses a gym and a business center, both of which are open round the clock. There's ample space for meetings and large gatherings. Hilton Garden Inn's well-rounded facilities have earned it a review score of 9.2/10. You can get a room here for as low as $58 a night.
Wyndham Dubai Marina
Operating out of a sleek high-rise flanking the marina, Wyndham enjoys an excellent location, right by Jumeirah Beach, and close to the Dubai Marina Mall and Burj Khalifa. The hotel has a shuttle service to ferry you to nearby areas. Besides proximity to popular tourist attractions, it also offers gorgeous views of the world's largest manmade marina and the Persian Gulf. The interiors of this upscale hotel exude polished sophistication. Its rooms and junior suites are bright, modern, and plush, featuring serene color palettes, ample natural light, lovely views, and fine mod-cons to suit the preferences of busy executives and vacationers alike. Even the smallest rooms are spacious and fitted with king-sized beds. Suites have additional twin beds or separate bedrooms. Club rooms offer Cub lounge access with complimentary breakfast and snacks. All rooms have free Wi-Fi and 24-hour room service. Guests have multiple dining options to choose from, ranging from formal restaurants to a casual coffee shop. Other public spaces include a gym, a spa, and a rooftop pool area with its own bar. For all its luxurious facilities and its 9.3/10 rating, Wyndham Dubai Marina is an affordable hotel, with rooms starting at $83/night.
Al Ghurair Rayhaan by Rotana
Housed within a glass-fronted skyscraper minutes away from Dubai International Airport, Al Ghurair offers 5-star luxuries at a price that does not hurt. This contemporary hotel is equidistant from both Union and Salah Al Din metro stations, and has a wealth of shopping and dining options in its vicinity. Explore everything from traditional Arab souks to high-end shopping malls, or plan a day of sightseeing fun, and return to the comfort of a luxurious room or suite at Al Ghurair. Accommodation at this hotel takes the shape of spacious, warmly lit rooms with soothing interior palettes, comfy beds and armchairs, flat screen TVs, minibars, tea and coffee making arrangements, and free Wi-Fi. With as many as 428 rooms and suites on offer, you can have your kind of basecamp, whether it's a streamlined double bed room, a suite with its own living/dining area, or an executive room providing exclusive access to the hotel's lounge. Most rooms have expansive city views, and all have round-the-clock room service. There are plenty of dining options at Al Ghurair, along with a gym, a pool, and a spa. This 9/10 rated 5-star hotel offers rooms starting from $84 per night.
Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach
One of several high-end hotels lining Dubai's Jumeirah Beach Residence, part of a leisure destination frequented by well-heeled visitors, Sofitel may appear to be an anomaly on this list of budget hotels. And yet, it rather effortlessly pulls off the uphill task of offering 5-star services on a budget. The hotel combines the trademark standards of French elegance and luxury characteristic of the Sofitel chain, with exciting touches of local flavor. The result is an intoxicating ambience, as seen in the public areas and the stylish guest rooms in this hotel. It houses 438 rooms and suites, with private balconies offering unmatched views of the Persian Gulf, plus a fine range of mod-cons including flat screen TVs, DVD players, minibars, and free Wi-Fi. Premium rooms and suites come with complimentary butler service and their own Nespresso machines. Suites take the luxury quotient up several notches, offering exclusive club lounge access in addition to extra space and whirlpool tubs. There are several wining and dining options at Sofitel, serving both Persian and French cuisines. Other public spaces include a gym, a spa, a sauna, and an outdoor swimming pool. $96 can get you a room at Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach, a 9.11/10 rated hotel.
Ivory Grand Hotel Apartments
If you're the kind of traveler who enjoys being in the thick of things, try Ivory Grand Hotel the next time you're in Dubai. Offering apartment-style accommodation in downtown Dubai without leaving you out of pocket, this establishment is surrounded by leisure and recreation destinations, and in fact overlooks the Mall of the Emirates. Within the 14-floor hotel building are over 215 serviced apartments, ranging in size from simple studios to elaborate 3-bedroom units. All the apartments have their own fully functional kitchenettes or kitchens, living and dining areas, and everything you might need to feel at home. Cook your own meals, or take a break and let someone else serve you. In addition to offering room service, Ivory Grand Hotel has an in-house restaurant that serves myriad cuisines round the clock. To help you unwind, the hotel has a rooftop pool with temperature control, a separate kids pool, a Jacuzzi, a sauna, a full-service fitness center, and a games room both children and adults can spend time in. Guests can also avail of free parking space. Ivory Grand Hotel has an overall review score of 8.93 on 10, and its apartment tariffs start at $80 a night.
Grosvenor House A Luxury Collection Hotel Dubai
Grosvenor House is more than just a luxury hotel. With its 45-floor twin towers overseeing life go by at the Dubai Marina, it is also a Dubai icon of sorts. The Marina Promenade ferry terminal is a 4-minute walk from this hotel, and beaches, shopping malls, and sightseeing destinations are all within easy reach for its guests. Together, the two towers house 750 luxurious rooms, suites and apartments, all featuring butler service, chic furniture, stylish lighting, plush beds, designer amenities, and free Wi-Fi. Suites have kitchenettes, and apartments have fully functional kitchens. Grosvenor House guests who don't wish to cook can wake up to a complimentary breakfast, and dine through the day at any of the hotel's 14 restaurants and bars. The hotel also has multiple spas and pools, a gym, and a business center. Its 9.79/10 review score comes as no surprise, and considering the facilities they come with, the $169 starting price for rooms here is a good deal.
Ascott Park Place Dubai
A set of polished apartments on Dubai's coveted Sheikh Zayed Road, Ascott Park Place is housed within the 56-floor Park Place Tower. Its location makes it a 15-minute walk from Dubai World Trade Center, and short cab rides from the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa. Offering city or Gulf views, the stylish serviced apartments here are soundproof, spacious, and outfitted with comfortable furniture, fine mod-cons, and free Wi-Fi. They range in size from 1- to 3-bedroom units, each with its own kitchen and home appliances. Guests receive additional perks such as garage parking, daily housekeeping, and on-demand services including babysitting and grocery shopping. The hotel also has a restaurant, a gym, a pool and a sauna. Ascott Park Place Dubai has a 9/10 review score, and offers apartments starting from just $93/night.
Dunes Hotel Apartments Oud Metha
This apartment hotel has a pleasant setting near Dubai Creek, and provides easy access to shopping and sightseeing destinations, as well as to the international airport. It offers a range of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units, some of them interconnected to accommodate large groups of tourists. The units have kitchens, living and dining areas, and private balconies. They also feature flat screen TVs and internet access. Dunes has an in-house restaurant that serves international fare, plus separate steam rooms for men and women, an outdoor pool, and a gym. There's a free shuttle service to Jumeirah Beach Park and the airport. Rated 9.1/10, Dunes Hotel offers apartments starting from $96/night.
Moevenpick Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel
Celebrating all the flavors and quirks of Dubai, the expansive Movenpick Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel has a prime setting on Sheikh Zayed Road, flanked by shopping and dining destinations galore. Its stylish rooms have delightful Moroccan touches, along with comfy beds, warm lighting, minibars, tea/coffee making gear, and free Wi-Fi. Club room guests get free airport transfers and in-room Nespresso machines. Individually designed premium suites have private terraces. The in-house restaurant serves Arabic fare and a daily breakfast buffet. There are several other eateries in the hotel, along with a shisha lounge, a large event space, a spa, a gym, and a rooftop pool with its own bar. Movenpick Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel prices its rooms from $94 per night and has an overall review score of 8.98/10.
Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa
Complementing the experience of a desert stay with the luxuries of a 5-star hotel, Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa is nestled amid gently rolling sand dunes an hour's drive south of Dubai's urban center. This desert resort is modeled along the lines of a fort in an oasis, its stone walled rooms and suites featuring deliberately rugged finishes along with fine creature comforts. All have free Wi-Fi and room service, and suites offer breakfast perks and private terraces. Restaurants at the premises serve everything from Arabic to Italian fare, and several lounges and bars have your leisure hours covered. Bab Al Shams also has a luxe spa and a pool, and organizes activities for both children and adults. Accommodation at this 9/10 rated desert resort starts at $97/night.
Flora Creek Deluxe Hotel Apartments
Offering apartment style accommodation in Deira City Center, right on the banks of Dubai Creek, Flora Creek Deluxe Hotel is the perfect affordable stay option for holidaying families, though it can just as easily cater to business guests in Dubai for extended periods of time. The nearest metro station is a short walk away, and there are plenty of recreation options in the vicinity. The units here consist of studios, and 1-2 bedroom units, all featuring simple modern décor, private kitchens, living rooms, and balconies, along with free Wi-Fi and prayer mats. Guests can cook their own meals or step into the hotel's multi-cuisine restaurant or café for a bite. The property also has a gym, a pool, and saunas. With apartments starting from $94/night, Flora Creek Deluxe Hotel offers good value for money and has an overall rating of 8.96/10.
As far as luxury hotels go, there's isn't much that JW Marriott Marquis doesn't offer. And yet, its rooms remain reasonably priced. Occupying 2 iconic towers on Sheikh Zayed Road, the hotel is minutes away from the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa. It houses over 1600 guest rooms and suites, their floor-to-ceiling windows offering fantastic views of the city and Dubai Creek. All rooms and suites have sophisticated mod-cons, Wi-Fi access, and room service. Club room and suite guests get exclusive lounge access. JW Marriott Marquis has restaurants and bars of every variety, in addition to a nightclub, a spa, a swimming pool, a gym, and space for hosting large events. Room tariffs at this 9.1/10 rated hotel start from $109/night.
Grand Hyatt Dubai
A sprawling urban resort overlooking Dubai Creek, Grand Hyatt offers 682 rooms and suites, in addition to 186 serviced apartments, all enveloped by lush acres and supported by the full range of dining, meeting, recreation and wellness services. The spacious rooms and suites here sport clean modern décor in soothing color tones, accented by Arabic furniture pieces or artwork. Floor-to-ceiling windows reveal majestic city views, and sweetening the deal further are free Wi-Fi, marble bathrooms, and fine linens. Club room guests are entitled to free breakfast and snacks at an exclusive lounge. Grand Hyatt Dubai has a review score of 9.17/10, and its rooms start from $117 a night.
Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City
An affordable creek-side hotel in Dubai's Festival City, Crowne Plaza serves as a convenient base for your Dubai holiday or business trip. Rooms and suites here strike a nice balance between elegant and quirky, with colorful accents set against monochrome interiors. Wi-Fi is free, even in the most basic rooms. Premium ones also have minibars, Nespresso machines, and glass-walled tubs. Crowne Plaza has a pool and a spa, along with a shisha lounge and 2 dining options. For the latter, though, guests can also explore the hundreds of dining options at the Dubai Festival City Mall with which the hotel is connected internally. Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City has a review score of 9.17/10, and its rooms start from $125/night.
Jumeirah Creekside Hotel
This swank hotel at the edge of the Dubai Creek Golf Club doubles up as a convenient airport hotel and as a 5-star establishment for a luxury stay in Dubai. With a metro station just 15 minutes away on foot, you can reach sightseeing and recreation destinations in quick time. Rooms at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel have sleek modern interiors, city views, fine mod-cons, and free Wi-Fi. They range from basic double occupancy units, to club rooms offering executive lounge access, to spacious suites with their own sitting areas, to a swish penthouse spread over multiple floors. The hotel checks all boxes are far as 5-star facilities go, and has an overall review score of 9/10. Its rooms start from $110 a night.
Dubai Boutique Luxury Hotel Map


William P. Morelli most recently served Ingram Industries Inc., one of the largest diversified private companies in the U.S., as its Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Leading the legal team for over 23 years, Bill also played a business executive role, working with the family owners and profit center heads to provide strategic and tactical direction, as well as management and execution of business plans. Along with his general business and corporate responsibilities, he developed and administered the compliance and ethics program for both subsidiaries of the company. Bill adds his expertise to the strategic counsel, leadership development, succession planning, and other services BarkerGilmore advisors provide to legal and compliance departments, CEOs, and boards across the country. In addition to his senior advisor role, Bill was recently elected to the Board of Directors of Ingram Industries.
How do you define the unique role of the General Counsel in family-owned businesses?
Early in my career, I served in-house at a subsidiary of a public company where quarterly earnings and Wall Street expectations set the tone for day-to-day engagement with the parent company. Once I went to work for a family-owned private company all of that changed, and it was clear to me from the beginning that there were two major differences. First, family desires and dynamics played a major role in company strategy and direction, and second, the incessant push for short-term earnings growth was replaced by a longer view of how business strategies can develop over time. I think that patience for looking at a longer-term payback allowed for more rational and nimble decision making.
Since family dynamics played a major role in business decisions, did you consider that to be a challenge?
I viewed the family dynamics as a benefit more than a challenge because with a small number of shareholders, not only were their goals and objectives very clear, but it also helped me to focus where to devote my energy. The dynamics among individual family members needed to be understood to allow for the best advice to be given. Sometimes sorting through individual family goals, personalities, and motivations became the most important determinant of providing sound advice.
Can you give an example how those dynamics came into play?
There could be differing views on risk tolerance between family members in acquisition scenarios, and understanding their individual views allowed the General Counsel, CFO, and other members of the deal team to negotiate and help mediate those differences to finally arrive at a unified negotiating position. Also, knowing the family pressures one owner was facing might help me to understand a particular business policy or direction being pursued, which allowed for a more informed legal strategy.
You referenced the ability of family businesses to have a long-term rather than short-term view; how did that impact your role?
It was a strategic and market advantage to know that the company could make acquisitions opportunistically irrespective of general market conditions, or to let a struggling new business venture mature into profitability when others would have sold it, or shut it down, because of earnings pressures. A corollary of being able to take a longer-term view of an issue was the nimbleness with which a decision could be made, and the ability to engage the ultimate decision maker quickly on topics of importance.
What do you think is the toughest challenge being a General Counsel for a large private company?
The very nature of large private companies is that the owners and key executives are usually high-wealth individuals who are often accustomed to being in charge and having people defer to their judgment. As a General Counsel in a company like this, it's important to develop the emotional intelligence and communication skills necessary to speak truth when necessary and to be willing to "tell the emperor he has no clothes." This can be an uncomfortable but necessary part of the role and can ultimately define the success of the legal function in this environment.
How did you handle situations where the owners chose to take their own path?
I was blessed to work for owners who were thoughtful listeners and who would always engage in a healthy debate if we disagreed. To their credit, if, after discussion, I still felt that something needed to be done differently from a legal or ethical consideration, they preferred to not push an issue right up to the line.
In your role as a BarkerGilmore advisor, where do you see yourself adding the biggest value to GCs?
I feel my best fit will be working with private company GCs to improve their effectiveness in a private company environment. I don't believe in a formulaic or "one size fits all" approach to working with GCs and feel strongly that each situation demands flexibility in approach, and openness in assessing what would work best to produce better outcomes for each GC. I've been told I'm a good listener and approach issues with a collaborative, collegial manner – all of which I find important in helping others to develop strategies and plans for their continued growth as GCs.
I think that working for a large private company is one of the best in-house positions available, but too many attorneys aren't prepared for the subtle and not-so-subtle nuances of dealing with high wealth, in-charge owners. As a result, gaining additional insight into the rewards and challenges of working in such an environment is invaluable.


Search requests are accepted for six months from the date of sending.
The requests can be submitted by both the addressee and the sender or an authorized person of one of them (on submission of power of attorney).
The sender has the priority right for compensation. Also, he/she has the right to refuse compensation in favor of the addressee.
The Russian Post will inform you on the search results by a registered letter to the address specified in the claim application within 60 calendar days from the date of application submission.
If the mail is not found, the compensation is paid. The sender can transfer his/her right to compensation to the addressee or other authorized person.


text:
Q: TypeError: list indices must be integers or slices, not str . while working with json I am making a simple weather app using API. I got the error: list indices must be integers or slices, not str. I know where the problem is but I don't know how to solve it. my code is:
from django.shortcuts import render
import urllib.request
import json

Create your views here.
def index(request):

    if request.method == 'POST':
        city = request.POST['city']

        source = urllib.request.urlopen('http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q='+city+'&appid=5ba7df1f751428007642bf4e5f6c4c9a').read()
    list_of_data = json.loads(source)

        data = {
            "country_code": str(list_of_data['sys']['country']),
            "coordinate" : str(list_of_data['coord']['lon']) + ' '
            + str(list_of_data['coord']['lat']),
            "temp" : str(list_of_data['main']['temp']) + 'k',
            "pressure": str(list_of_data['main']['pressure']),
            "humidity": str(list_of_data['main']['humidity']),
            "weather" : str(list_of_data['weather']['description']),
        }
        print(data)
    else:
        data = {}

    return render(request, 'main/index.html', data)`

The problem is in the last line of the data dictionary. I don't know how to write it. Please help me with this.

A: context = {
        "data": data
    }

return render(request, 'main/index.html', context)

This should work

A: Use list_of_data['weather'][0]['description'] instead.
Weather contains a list structure (note the use of square brackets inside the weather section of the JSON) where there is the option for more than one item. In most cases you will just want the first one so use [0]


Protein-ligand interactions have a central role in all processes in living systems. A comprehensive understanding of protein interactions with small molecules is of great interest as it provides opportunities for understanding protein function and therapeutic intervention. The major aims of this thesis were to characterise protein-ligand interactions from databases of crystal structures and to apply molecular modelling techniques for accurate prediction of binding modes of molecular fragments in protein binding sites. The first aspect of the project was the analysis of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors in 187 protein-ligand complexes of resolution 2.5Å or better. The results showed that an extremely small fraction of them were not explicitly hydrogen bonded, with the hydrogen bond criterion of donor-acceptor distance ≤ 3.5 Å and H-bond angle of ≥ 90°. It was also noticed that a vast majority of such cases were explicable on the basis of weak interactions and weak donor/acceptor strength. The results were consistent with reported observations for buried protein regions. In a series of docking calculations, the fraction of lost hydrogen bonds was evaluated as a discriminator of good versus bad docking poses. Docking and scoring with a standard program, rDock, did not create incorrect poses with missing hydrogen bonds to an extent that would make lost hydrogen bonds a strong discriminator. The second aspect of the research is related to weak (CH-π and XH-π, X=N,O,S) interactions. In a survey of IsoStar, a database of protein-ligand interactions, subtle differences were noticed in geometric parameters of π interactions involving different types of ligand aromatic rings with strong and weak donor groups in binding sites. The results supported the hypothesis that energetically favourable interaction patterns are more frequent when there are electron-donating substituents attached to the aromatic ring. Finally, the applicability of a modelling technique, multiple copy simultaneous search, in terms of predicting energetically favourable poses of solvents and fragments in target binding sites, was explored in detail. Several factors such as re-scoring with a better scoring function, use of multiple receptor structures and good quality prediction of water binding sites led to a robust protocol for high quality predictions of fragment binding in test datasets.


text:
#DigitalSherlocks
Suppressing democracy in the name of coronavirus
Amid tightening global measures against COVID-19, the Kremlin has seized the opportunity to silence dissent at home
@DFRLab
(Source: @DarthPutinKGB/archive, left; @DarthPutinKGB/archive, right)
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kremlin has seized the opportunity to sow disinformation abroad while also suppressing freedom of speech and democracy at home.
Russia's actions mirror those of other authoritarian regimes using the global crisis as an excuse to crack down on their political opponents and exert greater control over their public, both offline and online. In Azerbaijan, the authorities shuttered opposition offices "over coronavirus fears," with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev suggesting that the move was intended to prevent any "provocations" from a "fifth column," a reference to the opposition. In China, doctors, journalists, and citizens reporting on the crisis have been hunted down and silenced, or have disappeared.
Public health experts argue that banning large-scale gatherings and establishing a rigorous practice of contact tracing are critical interventions that governments must make to limit the rate of infection in a pandemic. But as many democracies have attempted to balance the interest of public health with civil liberties, authoritarian regimes have used tightening government restrictions worldwide as a convenient opportunity to stifle democracy further.
"Protecting" Russians from exercising democracy
Earlier in March 2020, Russian lawmakers introduced constitutional changes that could keep Russian President Vladimir Putin in power for another 16 years. In protest, Russian opposition groups planed a large rally in Moscow for March 21 and March 22 and applied for a permit from the city. Soon after, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued an order canceling all large public gatherings until at least April 10, citing fears and concerns about the spread and escalation of the coronavirus.
While China, Italy, and the United States have all reported cases in the tens of thousands, as of March 27, the number of cases in Russia is hovering just above 1,000 infections. The puzzlingly low number for a country with a population of 144 million has triggered suspicions of a cover-up, and a number of subsequent developments have strengthened that suspicion. Moscow Mayor Sobyanin, who Putin put in charge of steering Russia's official coronavirus response, recently warned that the official statistics of coronavirus cases in the country may be inaccurate, saying that "the real number of those who are sick is significantly higher." He is the first senior Russian official to question the Kremlin's official tally of cases and its relatively muted response to the outbreak.
On March 10, 2020 the official YouTube channel of the Russian medical workers union, which has roughly 60,600 subscribers, published a video in which the head of the organization, Anastasia Vasilyeva, said Russian officials are classifying coronavirus deaths as pneumonia deaths, implying the true count for the former was likely higher than reported. Vasilyeva, who has served as opposition leader Alexei Navalny's personal doctor, also alleged that doctors were being forced to treat patients without protective gear, risking the further spread of the virus. She based her statement on information provided by doctors working with coronavirus cases across Russia.
In addition to doctors, political pundits have voiced concerns about the veracity of Russia's reported coronavirus statistics. On March 16, 2o2o, during a program on the Russian radio station Echo of Moscow, Russian political expert Valeriy Solovoy stated that the number of deaths in Russia was higher than reported, adding that his sources were "Russian officials who had not lost their conscience." According to Solovoy, the Kremlin is trying to show the world that they have the coronavirus outbreak under control.
Both videos garnered a high number of views and likes on YouTube. At the time of the analysis, the video of the Russian medical workers union had 271,069 views and 9,800 likes, while the video of Valeriy Solovoy had 345,503 views and 12,000 likes.
Russian doctors and a political analyst accuse the Kremlin of covering up the coronavirus outbreak. (Source: Альянс Врачей/archive, left; Валерий Соловей/archive, right via YouTube)
Both Anastasia Vasilyeva and Valeriy Solovoy later reported that they have been targeted by Russian authorities for sharing their opinions online. In a follow-up video posted on Twitter, Vasilyeva said that Russian officials were sending criminal investigators to silence the doctors' union and its concerns about the official number of COVID-19 cases. In this video, she addressed Russian authorities directly, saying that they can send whomever they wished, but that the truth will not change and the union would not be intimidated into silence.
Meanwhile, the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia removed the interview with Valeriy Solovoy from the Echo of Moscow website. The page that once hosted the video now says the information provided by the website was not reliable and represented a threat to the health and lives of citizens. The video of the interview is still available on Valeriy Solovoy's YouTube channel.
Left: the head of the Alliance of Doctors of Russia accused authorities of attempting to silencing it. Right: The Russian Prosecutor's Office blocked the video of Solovoy questioning the Kremlin's official coronavirus statistics. (Source: @DrAnastasy/archive, left; echo.msk.ru/archive, right)
Kremlin-run propaganda channel RT also reported on charges made against a Russian woman accused of spreading false information about the coronavirus. According to the article, Russian law enforcement agencies discovered that the woman had "disseminated facts about coronavirus that did not correspond to reality." The article added that the woman will stand trial for violating a law on the "abuse of the freedom of mass media."
The Kremlin-run propaganda platform RT reported that a Russian woman faces charges over spreading false information related to the coronavirus outbreak. (Source: RT/archive)
Meanwhile, in the period between March 11–13, several fringe Russian outlets reported of a widespread outbreak — ten thousand cases — of the seasonal flu or a severe respiratory infection across Russia, but the cause of the outbreak was not named. None of the articles mentioned the word "Coronavirus" or "COVID-19."
Fringe Russian outlets claimed widespread cases of the flu and severe respiratory infection in different cities across Russia without mentioning coronavirus or COVID-19. (Source: 45.ru/archive, top left; gorod48.ru/archive, top center; regnum.ru/archive, top right; sm-news.ru/archive, bottom left; donday.ru/archive, bottom right)
The allegation that the Kremlin may be underreporting the number of coronavirus cases in Russia is reminiscent of the Soviet Union's lack of transparency with regard to the Chernobyl disaster, when the regime tried to downplay the disastrous effects of the nuclear meltdown. Then, as now, the regime was preoccupied with silencing critical voices rather than protecting public health.
Because authoritarian regimes silence criticism, target and punish opponents, and restrict the free flow of information, it is almost impossible to verify the reports coming from them, especially at a moment of crisis. But history shows that regimes that hide information and spread lies during a crisis end up endangering the lives of their citizens, and Russia's handling of the coronavirus outbreak may be no exception.
Eto Buziashvili is a Research Associate, Caucasus, with the Digital Forensic Research Lab.
Follow along for more in-depth analysis from our #DigitalSherlocks.
DFRLab
@AtlanticCouncil's Digital Forensic Research Lab.
@AtlanticCouncil's Digital Forensic Research Lab. Catalyzing a global network of digital forensic researchers, following conflicts in real time.
@AtlanticCouncil's Digital Forensic Research Lab. Catalyzing a global network of digital forensic researchers, following conflicts in real time.
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Boris Johnson wants to be tough on crime -here's why it won't work
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Our trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon was simply spectacular!
None of us had really camped before, but this was a fabulous experience. Our guides Lucky and Larimie were terrific and made everything seem so easy! My husband and I and our two girls (11 & 14) loved every minute of it. I couldn't even have dreamt up the beauty we saw and the adventure on the Colorado River was so much fun!! Grand Canyon is definitely a trip everyone should get to take! Thanks Western River Expeditions for putting together such a turn key package and making it all so easy!


text:
Q: Prove that $\ \prod_{n=1}^{\infty} \{(1-\frac{z}{n})^{nk} \exp(\sum_{m=1}^{k+1}\frac{n^{k-m}z^m}{m}) \}$ converges absolutely. Prove that $\forall z,\ \prod_{n=1}^{\infty} \{(1-\frac{z}{n})^{nk} \exp(\sum_{m=1}^{k+1}\frac{n^{k-m}z^m}{m}) \}$ where $k$ is a positive integer, converges absolutely.
It seems to me $(1-\frac{z}{n})^{nk}\rightarrow e^{-kz}$, and so the infinite product approximates $$\prod_{n=1}^{\infty} \left\{\exp(-kz) \exp(\sum_{m=1}^{k+1}\frac{n^{k-m}z^m}{m}) \right\}=\prod_{n=1}^{\infty}e^{(n^{k-1}-k)z+\dots},$$

which when $k > 1$ diverges for $z\in\{z, |z|>1\}$, by the ratio test of $\frac{|((n+1)^{k-1}-k)z|}{|(n^{k-1}-k)z|}.$ [edit: this is incorrect, since this power of z (as well as all other powers of z, i.e. m, which depends only on k) is independent of the 'independent variable of the series' n.]

which we from the ratio test we see equals an infinite series $\sum u_n$ with $\frac{|u_{n+1}|} {|u_n|}\rightarrow 1.$
Then by expanding $\frac{|u_{n+1}|} {|u_n|}$ as 1+A/n+O(1/n$^2$), we have A=k-1>-1, ($\sum$ n$^{k-1}$ converges not,) so the infinite product doesn't converge.
My question:

*

*is the step
'the infinite product approximates $\prod_{n=1}^{\infty} \{\exp(-kz) \exp(\sum_{m=1}^{k+1}\frac{n^{k-m}z^m}{m}) \}$'  valid?

*Is my conclusion about convergence or not correct? I guess not. If so, where does the proof go wrong?

Edited to add:
As pointed out in the answer, the original problem is about
$$\prod_{n=1}^{\infty} \{(1-\frac{z}{n})^{n^k} \exp(\sum_{m=1}^{k+1}\frac{n^{k-m}z^m}{m}) \}.$$

A: Replacing $(1-z/n)^{n\color{gray}{k}}$ with $e^{-\color{gray}{k}z}$ is not valid, since the difference of logarithms of these is $k$ times $$n\log\left(1-\frac{z}{n}\right)+z=-\frac{z^2}{2n}+\mathcal{O}(n^{-2})$$ as $n\to\infty$ with $z$ fixed, thus it introduces a divergence of harmonic type $\color{LightGray}{\left[\sum_n 1/n\right]}$ (if $z\neq 0$).
The original claim is wrong as well. Most probably, there's a typo; a fixed version would ask for $$\prod_{k=1}^\infty\left\{\left(1-\frac{z}{n}\right)^{\color{red}{n^k}}\exp\sum_{m=1}^{k+1}\frac{n^{k-m}z^m}{m}\right\}.$$
In all the cases, the approach is to take logs and taylor-expand. For a fixed $z$, and $n$ large enough, $$n^k\log\left(1-\frac{z}{n}\right)+\sum_{m=1}^{k+1}\frac{n^{k-m}z^m}{m}=-\sum_{m=k+2}^\infty\frac{n^{k-m}z^m}{m}=\mathcal{O}(n^{-2}).$$


Will your home stand the test of time? What things should you consider to make sure your home is sustainable, energy efficient, and a place that you love to be?
In this interactive session learn key insights into how to 'future proof' your home, especially at floor plan stage. These ideas will help to ensure it meets your needs now, and as your requirements change over time.
Floor plans and how to create a flexible floor plan with adequate zoning.
Implementing sustainable principles in your design and interiors.
Window placement, type and how they affect energy efficiency.
Space planning and what to consider for now and later on.
Window treatments and getting it right first time.
What materials matter most for interiors.
Lighting and its impact – creating mood, ambient & task lighting.
What to consider when selecting the right lights.
We will also look at floor plans as a group, and critique them based on what we learn in the class. You're also encouraged to bring your own floor plans for this exercise if you have some.
Frances is an in-demand interior designer, published author and speaker, with a passion and expertise in creating beautiful homes people love. She has over 15 years' experience in renovating and building and now specialises in helping people design and build their 'forever home'.
She is passionate about her philosophy on design – that your home is a story of you, how you live, your lifestyle and your life journey. Her own 'forever home' won the Bayside Best Ecological and Sustainable Design Award in 2015 and has featured in several publications including House & Garden, the Herald Sun, and been profiled internationally on Houzz. She is the author of Your Forever Home – a practical guide for those about to embark on building or renovating. Frances is passionate about sharing her knowledge with others.
The featured image is borrowed and edited, with thanks, from Ephraim-Henry Pavie under a Creative Commons licence.


Tags: Facebook emoticons Emojis Facebook You'll find all current WhatsApp and Facebook Emojis as well as a description of their meaning. 👍 Have fun with diving into the colorful world of WhatsApp Smileys! 🌈 List: Symbols; Language. Deutsch English Español Français Italiano Polski Português P.


I'm not a thrill seeker. I'm not one of those folks who is hooked on adrenaline. True, my lifelong love affair with horses has me court high adrenaline moments on a more regular basis than some, but that's not the draw for me.
Unfortunately, I've spent more years of my life on the anxiety side of the spectrum, than the 'relax and go with the flow' side. That's not something I'm proud of, and have been working hard to change that over the last 10 years.
Jeff has encouraged me to confront my fear of physical danger in multiple forms, with riding motorcycles, and flying small planes being two of the more obvious ones. I've gone from gritting my teeth and getting through it, to really enjoying both of these activities.
This weekend, as a birthday gift to me, Jeff took me out to the southwestern tip of North Carolina, to "Ride the Dragon" on his 1983 Goldwing 1100.
The Dragon is an 11 mile stretch of road on US 129 with 318 winding, twisting curves, that follows a mountain pass from North Carolina through to Tennessee. It's a Mecca for motorcycles and sports cars. It's also WAY more challenging of a ride than anything I've ever done with him before.
We've gone up to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Southern Virginia on the bike, and love riding the Blue Ridge Parkway, but these are a different level of mountains, and The Dragon is a whole other level of road!
I was 'nervous/excited' about doing this!
The day was made to order… mid 70's, blue sky, white puffy clouds, and great fall color throughout the Smoky Mountains. Riding up to Deals Gap, where The Dragon begins, I could smell the Fall leaves, the warm earth scents, and feel the cool breeze soften the sun's touch. We followed a 2 lane mountain road, that ran alongside a river. The whitewater swirling over and around rocks and trees, looked like spun candy against the dark green of the water.
Trees clung to rocky mountain sides, their roots reaching out over the rocks for a foothold.
We rode deeper and deeper into the Smoky Mountains. The stillness of them seeped into my soul. It felt as though I were a child coming home, and they held me. Even as I sit now, in our motel room and type this, I can feel them outside, surrounding me, watching over me.
It seemed like we had ridden out of our world and into Aslan's Country. I was relaxed, soaking it all in, and savoring every moment… until we got to The Dragon.
A little history… I don't know why, but one of my anxiety triggers has always been riding on twisty mountain roads. I love them… and I've always been scared that we would lose control or go over the edge. It doesn't make sense, but I can take it to the bank, that when we drive on them, I've got a knot in my stomach.
We passed Deal's Gap where over 50 motorcycles were parked by the motel/tourist store; sport bikes, touring bikes, and bikers of every shape and size, gearing up for, or coming down off The Dragon. I gulped hard as we rode by and started up The Dragon.
It was as though the whole day changed. Gone was the stillness, gone was the peace, gone was the sense of the mountains gently watching over me. That old familiar knot commandeered my innards, and every muscle I had tensed.
With each tight turn, I waited for the bike to slip. Every sports car or motorcycle that roared past us going the other way, was a threat.
Jeff could tell I was holding my breath, and he not only navigated the challenging road, but reminded me to breathe, and reassured me that it was going to be alright.
I appreciated his efforts, but nothing was reaching me. Adrenaline was blasting through my body, and it was all I could do to stay inside my skin.
Somehow, between my gasps, and clenching up for every turn, I had the thought (not a new thought, but new for me to have in the midst of my panic) that my emotions were responding beautifully to the story I was telling myself.
A narrative of "You're going to die," elicits a pretty intense response. I began to wonder, what would happen if I KNEW we would be looking back on this experience later in the day, safe and sound? If I KNEW we'd come through this, how would I be responding to the ride now, in the moment?
Adrenaline is a powerful drug, and I couldn't completely override it yet, but I could feel something begin to shift in me. It was a fight.
Not a fight to 'not be scared', but a fight to tell myself the story that would serve me better – namely, that we would look back with satisfaction, on this ride.
I hadn't realized how powerful the draw of an old story can be. But I felt like God was there with me, showing me the 'dragon' within that had been plundering the peace of my lands for most of my life.
I could run from him yet again, or I could turn and fight.
It was time to slay my dragon.
Jeff stopped at an overlook about 8 miles into the ride, to give me a chance to settle down. He was going to look for an alternate route back to where we were staying, so I wouldn't have to ride back on The Dragon.
There was no alternate route.
I sat on the stone wall at the edge of the overlook, surrounded by bikers taking a breather, and tried to find my own breath. I didn't want to run from my own dragon anymore. We would follow The Dragon back to Deals Gap, and I would do it differently this time.
It helps having 15 minutes to let the adrenaline wear off. I was breathing again. And I knew what I needed to do.
This wasn't a fight against fear… it was a fight to stay connected to the truth. And my bottom line truth is that I'm in God's hands. There's no better place to be than that, for me. I'm not going through my life afraid. I want to embrace all that life brings me. To live fully.
The second leg of the trip was incredible! For the most part I thoroughly enjoyed the ride! The peace was back.
There was one time when there was a dip in the road, plus multiple twists and I got scared again. I could feel myself gasp, and clench up in a moment when the bike shifted, and then I turned myself back to the story that served me, and said to Jeff, "Okay, I'm back again." It took about 2 breaths.
He cracked up at me… wondering if I'd just had an out of body experience, and had returned. But I had just tangled with my own dragon, fought him, and won!
It was great pulling into Deals Gap, buying T Shirts, and a sticker for my helmet that said, "At the Gap there be Dragons". I think I even strutted a little.
We got pictures of us by the dragon there, and by the "Tree of Shame" laden with bike parts from all the crashes.
Looking at the sticker on my helmet now, I'm reminded that I have an open invitation to slay my dragons, rather than run from them. I know I'll have many opportunities to practice this. And it's one of the best gifts I could walk away with.
Girl u dud somebody never do! !!!!' The guy I dated before my hubby,git me to ride his bike @ Capital Blvd. I just about caused him to wreck,I was really glad to get off that bike! !!!!


I have experimented a lot with disulfide rich peptides lately, finding conditions that work well for not only the linear synthesis, but also for on-resin cysteine oxidations. Although simple scaffolds are useful for determining orthogonal protecting group removal and cysteine oxidation conditions, many of the peptides of interest today are much more complex – three or more disulfide bonds, and often head-to-tail cyclization.
In today's post, I put to use three orthogonal protection strategies to optimize a fully automated synthesis of linaclotide.
Posted on December 27, 2018 February 18, 2019 Author Elizabeth DentonTags automated cysteine oxidation, cysteine rich peptides, disulfide rich peptides, orthogonal protecting groups, solid phase peptide synthesisLeave a comment on Synthesis of peptides containing three disulfide bonds: can it be fully automated?


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You can use Smartkarma Private Messaging to send a direct, private message to Insight Providers, Clients or reach a bunch of Insight Providers and/or Clients with Group chats. The option is available by clicking the Message icon on the top right-hand side of your screen on a PC (as below) or within the bell icon if using a mobile phone to access Smartkarma.
You can also send a message to an Insight Provider while visiting their profile page or from their Insight.
Once the message compose box opens on your screen, you can start typing the name in the box to see a list of Smartkarma participants to whom you can send a message. You can also find an Existing Group Chat (which you are a member of) or create a New Group Chat!