Not Just The Server Space.
Highest standards of on-site technicians.
With customer care at the heart of our business, we work closely with you to understand your business needs and deliver pertinent services from our broad catalogue of support capabilities to help accelerate its performance and growth. We focus on running the data centres, so that you can focus on your core business.
Our on-site technical team ensures that mission-critical functions are always up and running, round the clock, every day of the year. You can also rely on our qualified technicians as your own extended team members who are always ready to deliver the highest standard of support whenever you need them.
5 layer physical security through a combination of secure access and 24*7 surveillance.
Here's how we offload your work so you can get back to business.


text:
Manekine, John and Blonde, and "Foolish Generosity"
Philippe de Remi, and Translated by Barbara N. Sargent-Baur
$35.95 Paperback Edition
Open Access Unlocked Edition
$70.95 | Hardcover Edition
$35.95 | Paperback Edition
6" × 9"
Penn State Romance Studies
Philippe de Remi (1200/1210–65) holds a remarkable position in the legacy of the thirteenth-century literary world. A layman, landholder, and professional administrator, rather than a court poet or member of the clergy, Philippe de Remi wrote poems, songs, and long verse narratives that were grounded in his familiarity with the literary genres of his day. While Philippe paid homage to Chrétien de Troyes and other important secular writers of the period, his station in society and an intended audience of family and friends, not patrons, allowed him the freedom to treat courtly conventions with some independence and to explore human motivations across the social spectrum. Barbara Sargent-Baur brings to the modern English-speaking reader a translation of three of Philippe's most important compositions: his two verse romances, Manekine and John and Blonde, as well as his single short verse tale, "Foolish Generosity." This volume gathers the first English stand-alone prose translations of these romances, which have been previously published only as line-by-line versions facing the Old French originals. Sargent-Baur's English translation of "Foolish Generosity" is the first rendering from Old French in any language. These important translations allow increased access to Philippe de Remi's attractive narrative works, expanding their audience beyond an Old French readership to the wider academic community.
An Open Access edition of Manekine, John and Blonde, and "Foolish Generosity" is available through PSU Press Unlocked. To access this free electronic edition click here. Print editions are also available.
Barbara N. Sargent-Baur is Professor Emerita in the Department of French and Italian Languages at the University of Pittsburgh.
One of the most attractive practitioners of verse romance, tale, and lyric in Old French was also in his personal life among the most unusual. Philippe de Remi (ca. 1205/1210–65), unlike the majority of writers who were his contemporaries, was not a churchman, nor was he a layman who versified for a living. A good many short secular pieces, poems, and songs were of course produced in the Middle Ages by amateurs, particularly members of the nobility; but in the case of Philippe we encounter a very substantial body of work: the full-length romances Le Roman de la Manekine and Jehan et Blonde, eight (and perhaps nine) long poems on a variety of topics, and ten songs with their music. It is clear from his abundant exploitation of themes, situations, narrative formulas, motifs, and rhetorical devices, and his use of frequent close, even verbatim, quotation, that he had a keen interest in the work of earlier writers and especially Chrétien de Troyes. Yet he took the further and uncommon step of trying his own hand at composition, perhaps reading the results aloud to his family and friends, possibly engaging in it simply for the sheer joy of making, or for recreation from his practical tasks.
He was in fact a busy man, functioning in the world of smallholders in the Clermont area, north of Paris. His father, Pierre, had acted as leader of the Compiègne militia at the critical Battle of Bouvines, Flanders (1214), and no doubt earned the favor of King Philip II Augustus by so doing; the land he held in fief near the village of Remi(n), now Rémy, passed to his son and so also did some continuation of royal benevolence, for by the time his father died in 1239 and perhaps beginning two years earlier, Philippe held the important office of bailiff (chief administrative and judiciary officer) for the large region of the Gâtinais, south of Paris. In this post he served Count Robert of Artois, a brother of King Louis IX, until the Count's death in 1250; subsequently he functioned from time to time as legal advisor to the widowed Countess Mahaut. And he had other preoccupations: his own lands (held of the Abbey of St. Denis) to see to, and if possible increase; his marriage and remarriage; his son and daughter by his first wife; and, by his second wife, another son, also named Philippe, known as Philippe de Beaumanoir, the jurist.
One can only conjecture whether Philippe the romancer and poet continued to write during intervals of his official and feudal duties or whether he largely put such activity behind him. By 1255 he was designated chevaliers and sires de Biaumanoir (miles and dominus in the Latin charters). He continued to rise in the world, and his social and legal being is well documented; his literary self can only be conjectured aside from his assertion at the beginning of Manekine that this was his first venture in verse composition.
Someone, presumably a family member, thought well enough of Philippe's authorial efforts to put the two romances and eight long miscellaneous poems together into what amounts to an anthology (Paris, BNF fr. 1588) copied in Arras in around 1300 and embellished with many miniatures; the manuscript also includes the Roman du Hem of Sarrasin, internally dated to 1278. Philippe's songs are preserved in a set of eleven (one by another lyricist), grouped together in a chansonnier (BNF fr. 24406) of the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. One more work perhaps by him, a nonsense poem of one hundred verses titled "Les Resveries," is in BNF fr. 837, a miscellany copied in the thirteenth century.
The Afterlife of the Narratives
The existence of only one copy might imply a narrow readership. Belying this is the fact that Philippe's romance Manekine may have been drawn on by Jehan Maillart in his Roman du Comte d'Anjou (1316) and most probably by the unknown authors of two fourteenth-century epics: La Belle Hélène de Constantinople and Lion de Bourges. It certainly furnished the plot of a Parisian miracle play of around 1371, La Fille du roy de Hongrie, and was put into French prose by Jehan Wauquelin in the mid-fifteenth century. (Wauquelin also prepared a mise en prose of La Belle Hélène.) If, as appears possible, Manekine was known to Nicholas Trevet and used by him in his Anglo-Norman prose tale of Constance (after 1334), then it is linked through him to Gower and to Chaucer. As for Jehan et Blonde, it may have contributed to one tale (number 193) in the Latin compilation Gesta Romanorum (late thirteenth or early fourteenth century); there are many close resemblances, but then both works make use of widespread motifs. Philippe's romance may have provided material for two French prose compositions of the late fifteenth century. One is a tale included in the Nouvelles de Sens, where we meet the same story line of lowly squire and highborn damsel who fall in love; there is a separation (the boy promising to come back and the girl swearing to wed no one else), the prospect of her being married to another, the incognito hero's return in the company of the noble fiancé, a series of riddles explicated by the young lady's father, and at last the triumph of love. The second work is Le Roman de Jehan de Paris; here the rivals are the King of England (the official suitor) and the King of France (disguised as a rich merchant); the prize is the King of Spain's daughter, and some of the same riddles are brought out; but what tips the scales toward France is the stunning display of wealth by the putative Parisian bourgeois Jehan coupled with the Spanish princess's strong predilection for him.
If this short romance is indeed a partial retelling of Jehan et Blonde, it attests to its long afterlife: Jehan de Paris is preserved in two manuscript copies of the sixteenth century and also a printed text of around 1533, followed by five more editions by the end of that century. It was translated into Flemish in the seventeenth century and dramatized in Paris in the nineteenth; in this new guise it soon appeared in English translation.
The Narrative Works
The Roman de la Manekine (8,590 lines) draws on themes and situations common to several medieval genres and also found in history, legend, and folklore. Its point of departure is the obligation of a widowed king of Hungary, childless but for a daughter, to remarry in order to ensure a succession in the male line. Having gratified through a rash promise his dying wife's request not to remarry or, if forced for political reasons to do so, to wed only someone much like herself, he commands a worldwide search that ends in failure. Urged to wed his own daughter Joy (Joïe), and at last inclined to do so, he commands her obedience. Horrified, the pious girl mutilates herself so as to be disqualified for queenship. Her furious father condemns her to be burned for disobedience; but she is instead put to sea alone, in a sailless and rudderless boat, by the kindly seneschal and the jailer, who then stage a mock execution. Joy's voyage, spent in prayer, soon brings her to Scotland; here her beauty dazzles the young King and induces him to marry her, although she refuses to give her name or origin and so is nicknamed "Manekine" (the maimed woman; see Manekine, n. 30). The young couple is happy together; but once his wife is pregnant the King opts to go tourneying in France, where he still is when his wife is delivered. The good news dispatched to him is altered by the spiteful Queen Mother and becomes an announcement of the birth of a monster; the King's reply, with its order to guard mother and child until his return, is in turn changed to a command to burn them forthwith. Again, compassionate hands put Joy and her baby into the same boat that had brought her to Scotland; again, a charade of burning is put on, and Joy, appealing to the Virgin, voyages in prayer and without harm. This second journey brings Joy to Rome, where she is met by well-meaning fishermen and then taken in by the wealthy and God-fearing Senator. She lives in his house for seven years while her husband, having learned the truth, frantically searches for her throughout the known world. At last, praying fervently, he is guided to Rome and to the Senator's house; here the spouses are reunited and the King rejoices in his long-lost son. Meanwhile, Joy's father, tardily repenting the supposed death of his daughter, also travels to Rome, to seek papal absolution. His public confession on Holy Thursday reunites the family; and the King of Scotland at last learns his wife's identity. After Joy's severed hand is discovered in a nearby fountain and brought into the church it is reattached by the Pope. The physical joining of hand to arm corresponds to the healing of the broken relationship of father and daughter. A heavenly voice directs all the principals to go to the fountain, to see, catch, and open a great fish that had swallowed the hand. This being done, they find in the fish a reliquary in which the hand had long been preserved. Joy, the person and the emotion, are restored to society. The heroine is declared to be heiress to two kingdoms; her father abdicates in favor of his son-in-law, and the three generations live out their lives in harmony and good works.
As for Philippe's second long narrative, Jehan et Blonde (6,262 lines), it belongs to another tradition and manner: that of the idyllic romance with a "realistic" tonality. It is a tale of young love and the overcoming of obstacles: the social disparity of the lovers; the haughtiness of the class-conscious but at last tenderhearted heroine; the challenges of absence; the appearance of a ridiculous but powerful rival for the damsel's hand; a nocturnal elopement and flight toward the sea; then a battle with the rival and his many supporters to escape capture, separation, and misery. But aided by a few loyal supporters (commoners all), John triumphs in the fight and escapes, wounded but not mortally so, as do his friends. The social and moral virtues of the hero, recognized by his beloved, are eventually acknowledged by her noble father, and spectacularly by the King of France; the runaway lovers are able to marry, the hero is ennobled and knighted, and all is well in the end. The tale is spun out with elements that give a coloring of actuality. The hero comes from a knightly but numerous and indebted family and must make his way in the world, going off from France to England to seek a master. Employed by the Earl of Oxford, he exerts himself to behave acceptably through table service and French lessons for the Earl's beautiful daughter, Blonde, as well as through affability and general usefulness. Smitten by love, he becomes distracted thereby, to the point of cutting his own fingers while carving Blonde's meat; this affliction is doubled by unrequited love, which twice brings him near death before Blonde relents and comes to share his affection. She, however, well knows what her parents would make of such a mésalliance and grasps the risk of pregnancy, which would spoil everything; the lovers' consensual chastity, which prolongs their secret idyll for two years, contrasts with the carnal yet sterile passion of many medieval literary lovers. John leaves his beloved not for war, crusade, or tournament but on family business. Blonde, having made John promise to return and take her away in exactly a year, must outmaneuver her father, who plans to marry her off before the date the young people have set. Blonde's official suitor is oafish and slow-witted, no match for the returning John, who catches up with him incognito, teases him with riddles, and has to endure his rival's excruciating attempts at speaking French. The frequent humorous touches that are intermingled with courtly sentiments and decorum, the geographical accuracy of the several trips between Dammartin and Oxford, the long passages in Franglais, the representation of all classes and many occupations, the cordial relations between hero and commonality and especially between him and his devoted and resourceful attendant, Robin, the reiterated mention of money both as sign of status among the grandees and as reward for faithful service from those who work for a living—all these elements confer on this romance a patina of reality.
Philippe produced one more narrative, "Le Conte de fole larguesce" ("The Tale of Foolish Generosity"), a short story undergirded by a moral. Like his romances, this tale is composed in rhyming couplets, the verse form of preference for French narrative composition in the twelfth century and roughly the first half of the thirteenth. The "Conte" figures in the set of miscellaneous poems following the two romances in the same manuscript. That it is the third in the series probably has no chronological significance, for the eight poems are arranged in descending order of length. At 426 lines, this work, like the two longer narratives, draws on established literary traditions, primarily that of the fabliau: the small-town setting, the man who gets his living from hard physical effort, his young and imprudent wife, the gossiping and grasping neighbors, the importance of money and of mental sharpness. But there is no wandering monk or lustful priest to corrupt and disrupt, nor is the husband verbally or physically abusive when he realizes that his merchandise of salt is being not sold but given away by his wife, who blames him for not bringing home larger quantities. Instead, he agrees to fetch more if she will lend a hand, and proposes that she accompany him on his next trip, some four leagues each way: it will be a pleasant change for her. So it is, outward bound; but carrying part of the load on the way back teaches her a painful lesson and makes her appreciate her man's hard work. Refusing his invitation to repeat the experience, she promises to blame him no more for the smallness of his loads and to demand a good price for the merchandise she sells. So she does, the neighbors proceed to pay, and the prospering couple are able to purchase a pair of horses and a cart and thereby to expand their retail business. This tale is enclosed between a cautionary prologue and epilogue, both of them warning against imprudence, contrasting foolish and wise generosity, stressing the appreciation of labor that leads to prosperity, and teaching the obligation to make wise and charitable use of one's goods, coming as they do from God. (The epilogue also warns against idleness, as does the prologue of Jehan et Blonde.) The tale and the two romances show a family resemblance. They are the work of a man morally and socially conservative, integrated into the institutional structures of his time and place. Proverbs and proverbial-sounding aphorisms bestrew his stories, as do pious formulas and actions and (in Manekine) some lengthy prayers. Beyond these conventions lie real charity and kindliness: of the characters toward each other (with a few wicked exceptions) and of the author toward his characters, at whom he often smiles indulgently. Philippe was well versed in the secular literature of narrative and lyric generally available to a reading layperson; in his romances there are passages that suggest inspiration from the De amore of Andreas Capellanus and perhaps the Roman de la Rose of Guillaume de Lorris (the lengthy definition of love and its effects in Manekine, the allegory of Love's assault and triumph in Jehan et Blonde), and from a whole catalogue of writers for the protracted descriptions of feminine beauty in both romances. Philippe's debts to Chrétien de Troyes are particularly noticeable in the areas of motifs and verbal expression; he even on occasion resorts to direct quotation. On the other hand, and unlike many of his contemporaries, Philippe opted not to follow his famous predecessor in exploiting the vogue for Arthurian characters, situations, and atmosphere. There is in fact none of the Celtic Otherworld in his narratives. Their supernatural elements are entirely Christian and orthodox, demonstrating the workings of Providence, God's and the Virgin's protection, the eventual recompense of true believers, and the extension of divine pardon to sinners who repent. Faith and steadfastness rewarded is one of the dominating themes in Manekine. Jehan et Blonde focuses more strongly on fidelity in human love and on the recognition by human agents of social and moral virtues. The interplay of psychological forces not only between the lovers but also between Blonde's father and her suitor, and later between him and his disobedient but loving daughter and her new husband, is observed with much sympathetic care. And the wedding night of the eloping pair, united at last, manages to be long and highly erotic while avoiding any sort of specificity or obscenity—no mean feat.
Along with psychological concerns Philippe demonstrates a considerable flair for the dramatic: the big scene enacted in full sight of a crowd. In Manekine there are two "executions" by royal decree; in both cases the royal will is frustrated in a charade of burning the heroine alive, but the throngs first of Hungarian and later of Scottish spectators are ignorant of this and react with violent expressions of grief and indignation against the party held responsible. The scene in which the King of Hungary makes public confession, he and Joy recognize each other, her husband at last learns her identity, and her newly found hand is reattached to her arm is played out in St. Peter's Basilica on Holy Thursday before (seemingly) the entire citizenry of Rome. That this healing was effectuated by God is declared in the hearing of all by a voice from Heaven, explaining how the hand was preserved and brought to Rome. (The healing of the innocent sufferer, along with the three voyages guided by unseen hands in response to fervent prayer, brings a hagiographical quality to the romance.) All the Romans rejoice at these signs of God's favor; the Pope proclaims a miracle; there is general festivity on that day and even more on Easter. The reunion of the family, and Joy's restoration to her heritage, are lengthily celebrated in Armenia, Hungary, and Scotland; the orderly passage of dominion confers a political dimension on the apotheosis of heroine and hero.
Jehan et Blonde depicts no miracle; but it too is charged with drama. For two years the protagonists risk detection, denunciation, and the ruin of their hopes, and John returns incognito on the very eve of Blonde's arranged marriage. To their elopement there are obstacles aplenty, the danger increasing as they approach the Channel. A high point is the nightlong battle on Dover Beach, during which, against heavy odds, John manages to protect his beloved, strike down his rival, take the rival's armor and warhorse, and with two companions and twenty mariners rout the increasingly few and disheartened men-at-arms opposing him. Blonde, captured by the enemy but then rescued by John, is both spectator and cheerleader, urging him on with stirring words. The whole episode, with its preliminaries and the concluding escape to the waiting ship, takes up about one-sixth of the narrative and contains details recalling the Chanson de Roland. John's courage and prowess have been demonstrated to all the survivors; news of his exploit reaches and impresses the King of France and, through his agency, Blonde's father, the Earl of Oxford. The lovers have realized a goal long striven for; and to their private happiness is coupled public recognition: John is created Count of Dammartin (thus equaling Blonde's father in rank) and his social ascension is marked splendidly by the arrival at Dammartin of the Earl of Oxford and his retinue and by the King and Queen of France, the King to perform and the others to witness the promotion to knighthood of John and his brothers. The entire population of Dammartin, some thousands, turns out for the occasion. Having achieved happiness for themselves, the protagonists become the instruments of well-being for their families, their loyal servants, and the inhabitants of two counties, one English and the other French.
Philippe's predilection for communal action, for psychological truth, and for daily life rather than the marvelous (except for divine intervention, in Manekine), marks him as a man with an independent streak at a period when the exploitation, expansion, and prosification of Arthurian romances was very much alive and well received. This independence, and the eclectic nature of the materials on which Philippe did draw, may well be ascribed to his status as an amateur who read widely but wrote to please himself and entertain his small circle of friends and kin.
On Translating Philippe de Remi
Philippe's narrative oeuvre, while well known to students of Old French literature, merits a wider readership than it has hitherto obtained. Here it is moved from French verse into English prose and accompanied by notes, a glossary, and an index of proper names, in a presentation meant to be useful to those interested in medieval romance and tale but who do not read Old French, or not easily.
The present translation is intended to stand by itself, while yet being propped by additional material explaining contemporary institutions, customs, objects, place-names, and frames of reference. To Manekine and Jehan et Blonde I have added the "Conte de fole larguesce"; it is the only other narrative work of this author and, I think, deserves inclusion.
The Manuscript
Putting these texts into modern English is both facilitated and hindered by the fact that they are preserved in a unique copy (BNF fr. 1588) made by two scribes (of whom the first broke off about one-seventh of the way through the first romance). Both copyists were reasonably conscientious; both made mistakes in, for example, spelling and agreement and sense, which in the absence of other manuscripts not every reader would brand as errors and not every error-suspecting reader would attempt to correct in the same way. They also (as was common with medieval scribes) added dialectal touches that, as the rhymes suggest, were not so strongly marked in the case of the author and of the authorial model(s) they had before them. Contributing to the challenge first to editors and then to translators is the physical deterioration of the surviving copy. This is particularly notable in the first several folios, so that a degree of conjecture is indicated in deciphering a fair number of words and lines. Such problems (which of course affect any translation) are indicated in the notes.
The works of Philippe de Remi in BNF fr. 1588 have been edited, severally, partially, and in toto, over the past 165 years. Francisque Michel brought out an edition of Manekine alone in 1840, and in 1858 Leroux de Lincy published one of Jehan et Blonde. Henri-Louis Bordier made available in 1869 a richly documented study of Philippe's family as well as a partial edition, interspersed with summaries, of both romances; he included a full presentation of all the independent poems in the manuscript. For more than a century the edition of reference was that of Herman Suchier in two volumes (1884–85), providing a complete text of the two romances and the eight long poems, accompanied by a wide-ranging exploration of both the literary past and the afterlife of the romances and by a detailed linguistic study. The songs, in a separate manuscript (BNF fr. 24006), were only slightly later identified as belonging to the same author; the texts thereof were printed by Alfred Jeanroy in 1897 and by me in 2001. (The lyrics along with their music were brought out by Hans Tischler in 1997.) A set of independent verses, the "Resveries" (BNF fr. 837), perhaps by Philippe, figures in my 1999–2001 presentation of his works. This last comprises an edition and line-by-line English version of the two romances, an edition of the rest of his oeuvre, copious critical apparatus, and contributions by Alison Stones and Roger Middleton, all in two volumes.
Earlier Translations
Translations of the romances into modern French and into English in fact go back to the 1980s: Christiane Marchello-Nizia (La Manekine, 1980) and Irene Gnarra (Philippe de Remi's La Manekine, 1988) put Manekine into, respectively, modern French prose and an English line-by-line version facing the original; as for Jehan et Blonde, Sylvie Lécuyer published a modern French prose reworking (Philippe de Remi, le Roman de Jehan et Blonde," 1987). English versions of Manekine and Jehan et Blonde (now independent of the Old French originals, revised, and written out as prose) are offered here. "Le Conte de fole larguesce" (one of the eight long poems and the only narrative among them) is included as well, and so is made available in English for the first time. (To my knowledge, the "Conte" has not indeed previously been put into any modern language.)
This Translation, Again
This Englishing of Philippe's three narrative works reflects a number of challenges that any translator must grapple with, even when dealing with near-contemporary texts. Complicating the task is the fact that Philippe was born some eight centuries ago, and born into a world whose structures and institutions are to us exotic if not totally unfamiliar. Monarchy, the feudal system, land tenure, inheritance laws, authority both within the family and in society at large, social categories, manners and morals, fighting techniques and equipment, the influence of the Church with its rites and clergy, all underlie the fiction produced in the Middle Ages. These matters are here designated by English equivalents, if any, and explicated in the Notes.
The narrative works offered here share other traits of medieval storytelling: inconsistency in verb tenses, a confusing abundance of pronouns where more nouns and names would be helpful, parenthetical remarks by the narrator, narrative markers (for example, "I shall leave . . . and turn to . . ."), and the like. Further complicating the translator's task is the fact that Philippe, like most of the romancers of the twelfth century and his part of the thirteenth, wrote in verse, specifically in octosyllabic couplets. This is a useful phenomenon for editors trying to produce a correct text and being guided by meter and rhyme (errors in either furnishing a clue that a line may be corrupt). It can, though, make life a burden for translators, who must choose between reproducing fillers and tautologies and prolixities in the original ("without delay" "joy and delight," "pain and suffering," "here the story relates," and so on, as well as long and perhaps overlong expansions of a theme, or emotion, or description, or situation) and getting on with the job. In spite of Philippe's disclaimer at the end of his initial paragraph, he does indeed on occasion stretch out his lines—not to lie (how could we tell?) but to achieve the requisite count of syllables and to reach for a rhyme. Certain colors of rhetoric are also not likely to gratify modern taste. In the version facing my 1999–2001 edition I conscientiously reproduced such material, as an aid to the comprehension of the original; here I have taken the liberty of abridging some repetitions, on occasion substituting proper names for pronouns, and moving all the narration (but not of course the speeches) into the past tense.
Another matter arising is the question of register. All three narratives have an oral quality; it is most pronounced in the prologues and epilogues, but within these works as well we are reminded from time to time of the presence of the narrator. Philippe draws on the conventions of orality: these are tales being told now, by someone reciting preexisting accounts, who is well acquainted with the true stories, and who considers them worth his retelling and our hearing. He also on occasion acts as commentator. The narrator is both outside the fictions and inside them, and he has his own voice and authority.
This body of work brings before us a large cast of characters drawn from multiple social strata. They all express themselves in standard thirteenth-century French (except for the ridiculous Earl of Gloucester in Jehan et Blonde); yet in the original Old French there is clear stylistic contrast between the speech of royalty and court society on the one hand and of fishermen and salt vendors on the other.
© 2010 Penn State University

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Tickets Camping
Sprint announces 'Sprint Summer Showdown' promotion
Sprint (NYSE:S) announced today the biggest promotion in its history as the title sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: the Sprint Summer Showdown presented by HTC EVO 3D. The six-consecutive-race series runs from Indianapolis on July 31 to Atlanta on Sept. 4 and puts a $3 million purse on the line for a driver, a driver's charity and one lucky race fan.
Any driver who wins one of the five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events between the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway will become a finalist for the $3 million Sprint Summer Showdown payout on Labor Day Weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. If one of those five drivers wins the Advocare 500 at Atlanta, then the driver, the driver's charity and one lucky race fan will each collect $1 million.
"The HTC EVO 3D, the first wireless device that can capture and play back 3D images and video without 3D glasses is changing the game in wireless, so we thought it was appropriate to get the word out with a competition-based NASCAR Sprint Cup Series promotion that changes the game for drivers and fans," said Tim Considine, director of sports marketing for Sprint. "Giving these Sprint Cup drivers the opportunity to win a million for their charity, a million to change the life of a fan, and – oh, by the way – a million for their own wallet, will definitely ratchet up the on-track excitement. Add to that the hunt for those Chase for the Sprint Cup wild-card positions and race fans will not want to miss a lap of the action."
Fans can enter each week for their chance at the million-dollar prize by picking which driver they believe will win that week's race at sprint.com/speed or by visiting the Sprint Experience display at every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event.
When they enter, fans will have access to expert picks, driver performance history at each track and more to give them the best chance of submitting a winning entry. After each week's race, one race fan will be randomly chosen from those fans who correctly picked that week's winning driver.
The lucky fan chosen after each race will enjoy an all-expenses paid trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway and be there in person to see whether his or her driver can win at Atlanta. If that driver claims the Sprint Summer Showdown presented by HTC EVO 3D, the fan will win $1 million. Fans can change their picks until the scheduled start time for each event.
"It's always great to win, but to make a difference in the lives of other people by doing so is why I'm excited about the Sprint Summer Showdown," said Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion. "The fans are what make this sport, and helping charities accomplish their goals is extremely important to me. I'm hoping I'm the guy that gets to hand over $1 million to some lucky fan and to charity. I'll do everything I can to make it happen."
The six races that make the Sprint Summer Showdown presented by HTC EVO 3D will be contested on a variety of unique track designs, from the half-mile oval at Bristol Motor Speedway to the road course at Watkins Glen International, playing to different drivers' strengths.
Sprint Summer Showdown presented by HTC EVO 3D Schedule
July 31, 1 p.m. Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.5-mile oval
Aug. 7, 1 p.m. Pocono Raceway 2.5-mile triangle
Aug. 14, 1 p.m. Watkins Glen International 2.45-mile road course
Aug. 21, 1 p.m. Michigan International Speedway 2-mile oval
Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m. Bristol Motor Speedway 0.533-mile oval
Sept. 4, 7:30 p.m. Atlanta Motor Speedway 1.54-mile oval
For contest rules and additional information, visit sprint.com/speed.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 51 million customers at the end of 1Q 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation's greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
A community coming together for the benefit of others is what holiday time is all about, and that's precisely what happened this past weekend at Michigan International Speedway when the track hosted its annual Track and Toy Drive on Saturday, December 5.
The ARCA Menards Series has finalized its 2021 schedule, which consists of a race at Michigan International Speedway on Friday, August 20.
Guests have opportunity to take five laps around 2-mile oval in exchange for food or toy item.
Michigan's largest Christmas light displays to transform NASCAR track in a socially-distanced manner.
Our Vision: As stewards of the sport, deliver the best motorsports racing in the world, provide outstanding entertainment experiences, and continue to build a globally diverse community of loyal fans.
If you are having any difficulty accessing our website, please contact 888-905-7223.
Homestead Miami Speedway


text:
Poll: Cuomo trouncing Paterson
PUBLISHED: February 17, 2009 at 10:35 a.m. | UPDATED: July 22, 2021 at 1:08 a.m.
The Associated Press ALBANY – The latest poll shows Democratic Gov. David Paterson is still faltering and now trails Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani in potential matchups for the 2010 governor's race. The Quinnipiac University poll says Paterson trails fellow Democrat Cuomo 55 percent to 23 percent. The poll also shows Paterson ties Giuliani, the former Republican mayor of New York City, at 43 percent. Quinnipiac reports that 45 percent of New Yorkers approve of the job Paterson is doing – his lowest showing in 11 months as governor. The poll questioned 1,065 New York voters from last Tuesday through Sunday. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.


We are qualified vehicle air-conditioning specialists and offer fault finding, repairs and re-gassing of all vehicles including the most modern gasses and vehicles.
Keep your car looking sweet and clean by having you car valeted onsite or at your premises, we also stock the complete range of cleaners and polishes that will make your car stand out from the crowd.
All Valeting and Detailing posts…….


Which numbers should you use? How high should it be? Should it be rounded? This guide has 42 tricks to help you choose the best price.
Welcome to a huge resource on pricing psychology.
PDF Bonus: This article is 9,368 words. Click to download the full PDF so that you can reference it later.
Nothing in this world has concrete meaning. At the end of the day, price is merely a perception. Nothing more. Nothing less.
In this section, you'll learn pricing techniques that will subconsciously influence people to perceive your price to be lower — all without changing the inherent magnitude.
You can influence people's memory for your price. When people compare your price to a reference price, you can influence them to pull a lower price into that comparison.
With such a hazy memory, you can influence people to recall a smaller magnitude. How? Here are some useful tactics.
For the past few decades, marketers have used charm pricing — prices that end in 9, 99, or 95.
When people see those positive results, they often credit the 9's in the price. However, there's another culprit responsible: the left digit.
Why is the left digit so important? Because it anchors the perceived magnitude.
"…while evaluating "2.99," the magnitude encoding process starts as soon as our eyes encounter the digit "2." Consequently, the encoded magnitude of $2.99 gets anchored on the leftmost digit (i.e., $2) and becomes significantly lower than the encoded magnitude of $3.00" (pp. 55).
Bonus Tip: You could emphasize the new base digit by visually minimizing the digits after the decimal.
Don't overlook the auditory version of your price. It may seem irrelevant, but syllabic length influences price perception (Coulter, Choi, and Monroe, 2012).
When we encounter stimuli with many syllables, we need more mental resources to process that stimuli. And that principle applies to numbers. If we expend a larger amount of mental resources to process a number, we falsely infer that the magnitude must be larger.
The flipside is more important: people perceive prices to be smaller when they contain fewer syllables.
Same here. But according to research…that doesn't matter. When you read a price in written form, your brain nonconsciously encodes the auditory version (Dehaene, 1992). You don't even need to verbalize the price in your mind — your brain encodes it either way.
Coulter et al. (2012) found a positive relationship between syllabic length and perceived magnitude. Even if two prices have the same written length (e.g., $27.82 vs. $28.16), people perceive the phonetically longer price to be higher in magnitude.
Your brain has a universal conceptualization of size. Thus, there's a blurred overlap between VISUAL size and NUMERICAL size.
That's why customers perceive your price to be smaller if you display your price in a smaller font size (Coulter & Coulter, 2005).
My pricing eBook is 9,368 words. Click to download the PDF for free.
In a layout, position larger elements around your price. Those elements will reinforce a smaller visual magnitude, which will reinforce a smaller numerical magnitude.
The reverse works for discounts. Since you want to maximize the size of discounts, you should display those numerals in a large font size.
Researchers found that removing commas (e.g., $1,499 vs. $1499) can make your price seem lower (Coulter, Choi, and Monroe, 2012).
Why does that happen? Although physical length plays a role, there's another principle involved. We already discussed it. Can you think of it?
Be careful when choosing the language near your price. Certain words can taint people's perception.
For example, Coulter and Coulter (2005) presented participants with various descriptions for an inline skate. Some descriptions emphasized a "Low Friction" benefit. Other descriptions emphasized a "High Performance" benefit.
When you choose the language near your price, choose words that are congruent with a small magnitude (e.g., "low," "small," "tiny").
If you sell products online, you should usually separate shipping and handling fees.
With "partitioned pricing" (i.e., separating a price into multiple components), you anchor people on the base price, rather than the total cost (Morwitz, Greenleaf, & Johnson, 1998). When people compare your price to a reference price, they'll be more likely to pull your base price into the comparison.
Hossain and Morgan (2006) tested that possibility with eBay auctions. They set up auctions for music CDs, and they analyzed different bidding structures.
In the end, auctions with low opening bids (plus shipping charges) attracted more bidders and generated more revenue. Oh…and Clark and Ward (2002) found similar results with auctions for the "Charizard" Pokemon card.
Likewise, when you give people the option to pay for your product in smaller increments (rather than one lump sum), you anchor people on the smaller price.
Suppose that you're selling an online course for $499. By offering payment installments (e.g., 5 payments of $99), you taint people's comparison process. They'll be more likely to compare your installment price ($99) to a competitor's lump sum (e.g., $500) — a huge difference that makes your offering more appealing.
But don't get the wrong idea. People aren't stupid. They know that comparing $99 and $500 isn't accurate.
Luckily, it doesn't matter. People often compare reference prices subconsciously (Muzumdar & Sinha, 2005). So your installment price has a good chance of sneaking into their comparison.
Similarly, you can reframe your price into its daily equivalence (e.g., $0.87/day). That framing influences people to perceive a lower overall price (Gourville, 1998).
You should still make your regular price the primary focus. Simply mention the daily equivalence. That low number will anchor people toward the lower end of the price spectrum.
Having trouble reframing your price into a daily cost? No worries. You can achieve the same effect by comparing your price to a petty cash expense, such as a cup of coffee (Gourville, 1999).
Thomas, Simon, and Kadiyali (2007) analyzed 27,000 real estate transactions.
Buyers pay more money when prices are specific (e.g., $362,978 vs. $350,000).
Is it because of the negotiation aspect? If someone asks for a very specific price, wouldn't buyers perceive less room to negotiate?
That's what I thought. But nope. Researchers ruled out that possibility. Surprisingly, the real culprit involved priming a small magnitude.
Think about it. When are you more likely to use precise values? Answer: when you're dealing with small numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3).
Due to that association, precise numbers trigger an association with small values — thus influencing people's perception.
When determining the numbers in your price, you should also consider processing fluency.
Processing Fluency – The ease and speed in which we process information.
When we can quickly process information, it feels good. And our brain misattributes that pleasantness to the context.
That's why you should increase the fluency of your price. This section will explain how.
When designing a layout, you should position your price toward the left (Coulter, 2002).
It sounds odd, but hear me out.
Due to our association between "up" and "good," priming the spatial concept of "up" can trigger associations with "good." Meier and Robinson (2004) found that people recognized positive words faster when those words were positioned toward the top of a screen (and they recognized negative words faster when they were positioned toward the bottom).
The same applies to numbers. Dehaene, Bossini and Giraux (1991) found that people conceptualize numbers on an imaginary horizontal line, with numbers growing larger from left to right.
In their study, they presented participants with digits ranging from 0 and 9, and they asked participants to indicate its parity (i.e., whether it was odd or even). As expected, people responded faster to smaller numbers when using their left hand (and vice versa). In other words, people responded faster with the hand that matched the same side of their mental ruler.
How does that finding relate to pricing psychology?
Since we conceptualize smaller numbers as belonging on the left, positioning prices toward the left can trigger people's conceptualization for a smaller magnitude (Coulter, 2002).
However, don't jump the gun. You shouldn't position ALL prices on the left…only prices that people associate with the left (i.e., low prices).
Conversely, you should position high prices toward the right — a position that's congruent with a high numerical magnitude. That congruence will increase processing fluency.
Lastly, we focused on horizontal direction. But we also associate numbers with vertical direction — with smaller numbers positioned toward the bottom. You could probably achieve the same effect by positioning low prices toward the bottom (or bottom-left).
The first two ads offered unlimited toppings — an economically better deal. However, people evaluated the other two ads more favorably.
It seems absurd. But rest assured, psychology can explain it.
Because of those associations, exposure to two numbers (e.g., 2 and 6) increases processing fluency for the sum (e.g., 8) and product (e.g., 12).
When the ads contained multiples of $24 (e.g., 3 and 8), participants could process the price of $24 more easily. The price simply felt right. They misattributed that ease and pleasantness with the attractiveness of the offer.
One caveat: include two — and only two — multiples. If your price is $12, a wide assortment of multiples (e.g., 2, 3, 4, and 6) will reduce fluency. To increase fluency of $12, use two multiples that result in the sum (e.g., 6 + 6) or product (e.g., 4 x 3).
One aspect to consider is the "roundedness" of your price. Round prices (e.g., $100) are processed fluently, whereas non-rounded prices (e.g., $98.76) are processed disfluently.
Could one choice generate more sales? Researchers think so.
The researchers also found the opposite to be true. Consumers need to use more mental resources to process non-rounded prices. So those prices seem more fitting with rational purchases.
Despite the direct evidence, I'll propose a caveat.
Even if your purchase context is emotion-based, you should still avoid rounded price intervals (e.g., $100, $5,000). People assume that those prices are artificially higher, as if they were plucked from thin air (Janiszewski & Uy, 2008).
So where can roundedness help? That principle can help you determine whether to add cents to your price.
If your purchase is based on EMOTION, then leave out the cents.
If your purchase is based on RATIONALITY, then add some cents.
This tactic is bizarre. But a surprising amount of research supports it.
The principle is implicit egotism (Pelham, Carvallo, & Jones, 2005). We all possess an innate self-centeredness. We subconsciously gravitate toward things that resemble ourselves — including the letters in our name or the numbers in our birthday.
Some researchers suggest that we make important life decisions based on that principle. People named Dennis are more likely to become dentists, and people named Louis are more likely to live in St. Louis (Pelham, Mirenberg, & Jones, 2002).
If you need to give someone a custom price quote, it might not hurt to slightly adjust the price to match that customer's name or birthday (perhaps after a quick glance at their Facebook page).
What should you display first: your product or your price?
To answer that question, Karmarkar, Shiv, and Knutson (2015) gave participants $40 in shopping money. The researchers used fMRI to analyze their brains while they shopped for online products.
Turns out, the first exposure — price vs. product — influenced the criteria that people used when deciding whether to buy.
When products were displayed first, participants based their purchase decision on the product qualities.
When prices were displayed first, participants based their purchase decision on the economic value.
If you sell luxury products, you want people to base their decision on your product qualities. You don't want them to consider the economic value. Thus, for luxury products, show the product, and THEN show the price.
Roger Dooley gave the example of Tiffany's jewelry. On their website, they emphasize the jewelry before revealing the price.
Even when they reveal the price, they visually deemphasize it — as if it's unimportant and negligible.
The opposite is true for utilitarian products (e.g., a pack of AA batteries, USB drive, flashlight). Participants were more likely to buy those products if they encountered the price first. With that exposure, people were more likely to appreciate the economic value of the purchase.
Puccinelli et al. (2013) found that men are more likely to buy products when prices are displayed in red.
That red price became a focal point of attention – and thus the only information that men used to evaluate their purchase. More importantly, because men associate red prices with savings, they relied more heavily on that belief.
Those findings also align with my research on color. In my color article, I explain why red increases arousal (which triggers heuristic processing).
The past two strategies helped you lower the perceived magnitude of your price. However, you can achieve the same effect by maximizing the perceived magnitude of reference prices.
This section offers a few tactics.
Due to anchoring, it's no shocker that sellers get more money by starting negotiations with a high initial offer (Galinsky & Mussweiler, 2001). That high number establishes an anchor point, pulling the final settlement closer.
When participants were given precise values ($4,998 and $5,012), they estimated the TV's actual price to be closer to that range. When the suggested price was rounded ($5,000), participants believed the actual price to be much lower.
That insight works particularly well in eBay auctions. When creating your auction, you can generate more revenue by establishing a high reserve price — a price that needs to be met in order for the item to be sold. Higher reserve prices anchor people toward the higher end of the price spectrum, resulting in more revenue (Kamins, Dreze, & Folkes, 2004).
Given our tendency to assimilate toward an anchor point, could exposure to high prices — even for unrelated products — anchor people toward the higher end of the price spectrum? Would those people pay a higher price for your product?
Nunes and Boatwright (2004) tested that possibility. On a boardwalk in West Palm Beach, they sold music CDs. Every 30 minutes, the adjacent vendor alternated the price of a sweatshirt on display — either $10 or $80.
What happened? You guessed it. The sweater's price anchored people toward the respective ends of the price spectrum. When the price of the sweatshirt was $80, shoppers paid higher prices for the CDs.
If you're selling items on eBay, you might want to mention some of the other items you have for sale (the more expensive items, of course).
The takeaway? Even if customers don't consciously notice your numerical anchor, they just need to be exposed to it.
If you run an online store, you could simply mention your total number of customers near your price. When people generate their reference price, that high number will trigger an anchoring effect (and their reference price will be higher).
If you're launching a new (more expensive) version of your product, how should you price the old product?
Some businesses lower the price to gradually phase it out of the market. Surprisingly, though, that strategy is often the wrong approach.
Baker, Marn, and Zawada (2010) suggest raising the price of your old product. By raising the price, you raise people's reference price (thereby enhancing the perceived value of your new product). You'll be releasing the new product into more favorable conditions.
If you lower the price of your old product, you set yourself up for failure. You reinforce a lower reference price, which makes your new product seem more expensive.
You can influence customers to choose a more expensive option if you sort products by descending price (i.e., from high to low).
When consumers evaluate a list of products, they use the initial prices to generate their reference price.
If the initial prices are high, customers generate a higher reference price. When customers use that reference price to evaluate the options, all of the options seem like a better deal.
As humans, we focus on losses. Whenever we choose an option, we lose benefits from the options that we didn't choose. And that hurts.
Depending on your pricing sequence (i.e., low to high vs. high to low), customers perceive different losses when they scan down the list of products.
But here's a caveat: those customers need to associate price with quality. Without that association, the effect diminishes.
Suk, Lee, and Lichtenstein (2012) conducted some follow up studies (including a lab study with pens), and they found similar results. So the findings should generalize to other contexts (e.g., eCommerce products).
For example, based on results from numerous A/B tests, you might be able to increase revenue by arranging pricing plans from most expensive to least expensive.
Give up? Research shows that the second presentation is more effective (Bagchi & Davis, 2012).
However, there are two conditions.
If the first item is PRICE, customers focus on COST.
If the first item is QUANTITY, customers focus on BENEFITS.
When the quantity is larger, an anchoring effect occurs. Customers anchor on the high quantity (e.g., 70), and they falsely infer that the price is an attractive deal.
The previous strategies either (a) minimized the perceived size of your price or (b) maximized the perceived size of reference prices.
This next strategy will help you maximize the perceived distance between your price and a reference price.
When you compare your price to a higher price, people are more likely to buy your product because they feel less motivated to research the decision (Urbany, Bearden, & Weilbaker, 1988). They've already done their homework.
But here's a neat trick to optimize that comparison.
If you visually distinguish your price from a reference price (e.g., using a different font color), you trigger a fluency effect. Consumers will misattribute that visual distinction to a greater numerical distinction (Coulter and Coulter, 2005).
That fluency effect not only works with font color, but it also works with physical distance. When your price is horizontally farther away from a reference price, people perceive a greater numerical distance (Coulter & Norberg, 2009).
And don't forget about font size. Smaller font sizes are especially effective when they're positioned next to a larger reference price (Coulter & Coulter, 2005).
At first glance, it seemed like the "print only" option was a mistake. Who would choose that option when you could choose a web and print subscription for the same price?
But Ariely noticed an underlying motive. He conducted a study to test his hunch. And he was right. The "print only" option made a huge difference.
Without the "print only" option, people couldn't accurately compare the options. How much should you pay for a web and print subscription? Who knows. Most people chose the web option because it was cheaper.
When you offer different versions of your product, people will naturally compare those options. To guide people toward the more expensive version, you can take the same approach.
By adding a similar, yet worse, version of your expensive product, you influence the comparison process. Suddenly your expensive product becomes more appealing.
Even if you reduce the perceived magnitude of your price, customers might be stagnant. You should give them a nudge.
This section will teach you some psychological tactics that can motivate people to buy. You'll learn how to (a) reduce the "pain" that customers associate with paying and (b) use discounts properly.
Each time we purchase something, we feel a sense of pain — often referred to as the "pain of paying" (Prelec & Loewenstein, 1998).
Considering those two factors, you can see why Uber — a ride-sharing service — revolutionized the taxi industry.
In traditional taxi rides, the saliency of payment is very high. You see a meter constantly rising. Each minute evokes an increasingly painful sensation. Plus, at the end of the ride, the taxi driver makes you pay by cash or credit card. So. Much. Pain.
Uber is different. No visual meter. No physical payments. Everything is automatically charged to your card. Much less pain.
Credit card processing is one tactic to reduce the pain of paying, but you can reduce that pain in other ways too. This section will give you a few ideas.
The pain of paying can be triggered pretty easily. In fact, the dollar sign in your price can remind people of that pain, and it can cause people to spend less (Yang, Kimes, & Sessarego, 2009).
But don't get too trigger-happy. Before you start removing dollar signs, you should consider the overall clarity of your price.
Oftentimes, you need a dollar sign to indicate that your number is, indeed, a price. In those cases, don't risk clarity by removing the dollar sign. Only use this tactic in formats where customers will expect a price to appear (e.g., restaurant menus).
When possible, your customers should pay before they use your product or service. Prepayments benefit all parties involved.
For one, you won't be delivering your product or service without being compensated. You'll be more likely to get paid. Pretty helpful.
Second, people will be happier with your product. When people prepay, they focus on the benefits they'll be receiving, which numbs the pain of paying. If they've already experienced the benefits of your product, their payment becomes significantly more painful (Prelec & Lowenstein, 1998).
That insight can be helpful with monthly subscriptions. If you charge customers monthly payments, you should charge them at the beginning of the month (and frame your message in a forward-looking manner).
Avoid sending receipts at the end of a month (or summarizing the previous month's payment). You'll just be rubbing salt in the wound.
To reduce the pain of paying, consider bundling your product. When you offer a packaged product, people can't attribute a specific dollar value to the items within your bundle.
Ideally, the added product should be hedonic, rather than utilitarian. Since hedonic purchases trigger more guilt (Khan & Dhar, 2006), a bundle reduces that guilt, especially when you attribute the discount to the hedonic product.
If you can only add a utilitarian product, then describe a hedonic use for that product. Khan and Dhar (2010) found that people were more likely to purchase a bundled lamp and blender when the description emphasized a hedonic use for the blender (e.g., making exotic cocktails) compared to a utilitarian use (e.g., making healthy shakes).
You should also avoid bundling expensive and inexpensive products. Inexpensive products reduce the perceived value of expensive products.
Brough and Chernev (2012) asked people to choose between a home gym and a 1-year gym membership. Roughly 51 percent of people chose the home gym — a pretty even split.
However, when the researchers bundled the home gym with a free fitness DVD, only 35% of people chose it. The fitness DVD reduced the perceived value of the home gym.
When describing your product, avoid references to money. Instead, mention a concept that has a much greater benefit: time.
Participants were told that they could choose how much they wanted to pay — anywhere between $1 to $3.
The results were clear: the "time" sign outperformed the others. Those people paid twice as much (and the sign attracted twice as many people).
When writing copy, emphasize the enjoyable time that people will spend with your product. Not only will that message make your offer more appealing, but it'll also distract people from the pain of paying.
What do casino chips and gift cards have in common? They both reduce the pain of paying.
By creating a separate medium between your customers' money and their payment, you distort the perception of paying. They'll know that they're paying. But it won't feel like it.
Why? Researchers find that, with the presence of a medium, people are too lazy to calculate the conversion between the two currencies (Nunes & Park, 2003).
So here's a cool idea. When new customers open an account with your business, you could require them to deposit a refundable $10 into their account (to be used for your services).
Since the money is refundable, customers might not give too much additional resistance. More importantly, that payment medium will distort the essence of that money. Once it enters a separate medium, it won't feel like money (and people will be more willing to spend it).
You could also strengthen that perception by referring to that money as "[Your Company] Balance" (or any name that avoids connotation with real currency).
If you implement that strategy, you might also want to match customer deposits by a certain percentage. For example, if a customer deposits $10 into their account, you could match it by 10% (which would bring their account value to $11).
By matching their deposits, you trigger two benefits.
First, and most obvious, you incentive customers to deposit more money.
Customers care about the perceived magnitude of your price (i.e., whether it's high or low). But they also care about the perceived fairness of your price.
Even if your price is low, customers could still perceive it to be unfair. Likewise, customers could still perceive high prices to be fair — depending on a few factors.
Emphasize your product's "top-of-the-line" raw material or any other cost-based input. That information will trigger a more empathetic perception of your price.
You might be familiar with the paradox of choice. When more options are present, people feel less likely to choose an option.
Once people choose an option, they lose the benefits offered in the other options. Because of loss aversion, they postpone their decision — especially when more options are present (because they'd be losing more benefits).
That insight led to a similar finding: people are more likely to choose an option if the potential options are similar (Sagi & Friedland, 2007). If options are similar, then people will receive similar benefits with any option. So loss aversion is lower.
But let's question that insight.
When the gum shared the same price, customers perceived the packs to be less similar. Paradoxically, adding a small price difference increased the perceived similarity.
When two products share the same price, people can't immediately distinguish those products. As a result, they seek out differentiating characteristics. Thus, the product differences become more salient.
However, when you add a slight price difference, you reduce the need to search for differences. Customers can differentiate the products based on price. Because customers focus less attention on product differences, the two products maintain a higher degree of similarity. And that similarity makes people more likely to choose a product.
If your price is $11.99, an increase to $12.99 will be less noticeable than an increase to $19.99.
In theory, that concept is intuitive. Obviously people notice larger price increases.
In practice, however, that principle is very counterintuitive. Since businesses avoid price increases, they save that tactic as a last resort. They wait until it's absolutely necessary to raise their price.
However, if you reach that point, then you'll usually be desperate for revenue. You won't be able to increase your price by a tiny amount. You'll need to increase it by a noticeable amount.
If you know that you'll need to increase your price eventually, you should use more frequent (yet smaller) changes. Avoid waiting until the moment of desperation.
With more frequent price increases, you also avoid reinforcing a concrete reference price. If your price stays the same for years, then people will become accustomed to your price at that specific level. Once you change your price, people will be more likely to notice.
You can use the just noticeable difference in other ways.
Food marketers know that customers are pretty familiar with prices. So they often avoid price increases by reducing the physical size of their products (e.g., potato chip bags, candy bars, etc.).
By reducing physical size, food marketers lower their costs and increase their margin. More importantly, they increase their revenue without raising their price (or alerting people to negative changes).
If you downsize your product, reduce the size of all three dimensions — height, width, and length — by an equal amount. Consumers are less likely to notice a change in all three dimensions (Chandon & Ordabayeva, 2009).
If not used properly, discounts can actually harm your business. In fact, some people suggest that you should never use discounts.
That advice is pretty extreme. You can use discounts…you just need to use them properly.
Where can you go wrong? If used too frequently (or too deeply), discounts can make customers more price conscious moving forward. They'll keep waiting for the next discount.
Discounts can also lower the reference price for your product, causing people to buy less in the future (because your price will seem high).
Reducing the frequency and depth of discounts can help. However, this section will give you a few other pricing tactics.
Earlier, you learned that people can perceive different magnitudes for the same price, depending on the context.
When you offer discounts, you want to maximize their perceived size. That way, people feel like they're getting a better deal.
Consider a $50 blender. Which discount seems like a better deal: 20% off vs. $10 off?
Do the math. Both discounts are the same monetary value. However, one discount has an advantage.
In both cases, you'll be choosing the discount with the higher numeral (which inflates the perceived magnitude of your discount).
To maximize the effectiveness of a discount, explain why you're offering it.
By providing a reason behind your discount, you reinforce the temporary and provisional nature of it. Since the price is abnormal, people will be less likely to incorporate it into their internal reference price.
Earlier, I explained how people associate precise numbers with small values. Thus, you can influence people to perceive large prices to be smaller when you use precise numerals (Thomas, Simon, and Kadiyali, 2007).
With discounts, however, you want to maximize the perceived magnitude. That's why choosing discounts with precise numbers can hurt you. Those precise numbers will make your discount seem smaller.
Indeed, Thomas and Morwitz (2006) found that people perceived the difference between 4.97 – 3.96 to be smaller than the difference between 5.00 – 4.00 (even though the difference is roughly the same).
To maximize the perceived size of your discount, use rounded values. Customers should be able to compute the discount more easily.
Soster, Gershoff, and Bearden (2014) found evidence for a bottom dollar effect.
Bottom Dollar Effect – We feel the pain of paying in accordance with the depletion of our budget. We feel more pain when we have fewer funds in our budget.
Suppose that you have a monthly budget of $300. If you spend $10 on a movie ticket, you will feel more pain toward the end of the month — when your budget is nearing depletion.
This effect influences willingness to pay and purchase satisfaction (Soster, Gershoff, & Bearden, 2014). You're more likely to buy a product (and be satisfied with it) when you have more money left in your budget.
Biswas et al., (2013) found that customers perceive a larger discount when the sale price is positioned to the right of the original price.
The researchers dubbed it the subtraction principle.
They also found that it alters the perception of discounts. When a sale price appears to the right, customers can calculate the discount more easily — enlarging its perceived magnitude.
Discounts can be harmful. When you end a discount, you might cause people to (a) choose a competitor's product or (b) wait for the next discount.
But when and why do those harmful effects occur?
The answer lies in the positioning of your brand — whether it's high quality or low quality (Wathieu, Muthukrishnan, & Bronnenberg, 2004).
In other words, when premium brands retract discounts, customers will still be focusing on price. Thus, they'll consider price more heavily in their purchase. Since the product is already priced high, the perceived cost will seem even larger.
If you're competing on price, feel free to give discounts.
However, if you're competing on quality, you should avoid discounting (so that you deemphasize price). Instead, remain focused on the attributes and quality of your product.
Marketers generally use two types of pricing strategies: hi-lo pricing and everyday low pricing (EDLP).
The researchers even conducted a field study. Over a 30-week span, they alternated between three strategies for a $24.95 wine bottle stopper at a kitchen appliance store.
The researchers found no detrimental effects on store or brand image.
If your regular price and sale price share the same left digit, your discount will seem larger if the right digits are small (less than 5).
Based on numerical cognition, we compare numbers in relative terms. All else equal, a $10 discount will be more appealing for a $50 item — compared to a $500 item — even though the absolute discount is the same (Tversky & Kahneman, 1981).
Thus, the perceived magnitude will seem larger for small numbers, compared to larger numbers.
Assuming that the left digit remains the same in the original and sale price, a discount will seem larger when the right digits are smaller.
Did you trudge through the entire article? Then you're a brave soul, my friend. And you deserve a pat on the back. I spent a ton of time researching and writing, so I hope you found the insights helpful.
Did you skip to this conclusion? No worries. The article is pretty beastly. That's why I created a PDF version — so that you can reference it later.
Instead of reiterating the pricing strategies, I want to end with one final tactic — the most important tactic in this list.
If you still have trouble justifying your price to customers — even after implementing the strategies in this article — then you might not have a pricing problem. You might have a problem communicating the value of your product.
Instead of adjusting price, adjust your value proposition. Improve the perceived value of your product or service.
Why would customers enjoy it?
Oftentimes, you can solve your pricing problem by communicating value more effectively.
With that tactic — and all of the other psychological pricing strategies in this article — you should be able to justify your price more easily.


text:
BREAKING: Robert Mueller Agrees to Testify in Open Session Before Congress
Posted at 10:04 pm on June 25, 2019 by Bonchie
Some late breaking news tonight.
Robert Mueller, after stonewalling for months, has agreed to testify in an open session of Congress about the special counsel investigation. This is likely in coordination with the DOJ and super-villain Bill Barr.
This per The Wall Street Journal.
WASHINGTON—Robert Mueller will testify in open session next month before a pair of House committees, in a victory for the Democratic leaders who had long sought his testimony in public.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) said that the special counsel had agreed to testify in open session on July 17 pursuant to a subpoena.
Both of those committee's are absolute clown shows, so expect there to be lots of stupid and gnashing of teeth.
Trump's Main Competitor Launched a Major Platform Yesterday and Not a Soul Noticed
Kira Davis
It's unlikely anything new will come from Mueller testifying, as he's already said he won't veer away from what's already in the report itself. While Democrats will try their hardest to get him to deliver a smoking gun that somehow eluded us all this time, what's more likely to happen is that Mueller will drop a few malleable insinuations like he did at his press conference. The media will go wild in one direction and Adam Schiff will rant on Twitter about moral evil. But the facts are already out there and they aren't changing.
You can see the strategy that's coming by reading Nadler's statement on the matter.
"Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia's attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign's acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates' obstruction of the investigation into that attack," the lawmakers wrote in a statement.
Since the Trump campaign didn't accept any foreign assistance, that line will probably be a dud. But hey, who's keeping score at this point? This is going to be all rehashed nonsense, which is exactly the purpose of this charade.
Unfortunately for Democrats, all evidence says the American people have checked out on this. Nadler and Schiff can keep beating the dead horse but it's going to stay dead.
Tags: Adam Schiff collusion Congress Democrats Jerry Nadler Nonsense Partisan Pointless Rehash Robert Mueller Russia special counsel testimony
AOC Tries to Make Her Dismal Poll Numbers Out to Be An Illusion of Trump's
Hoo boy: If you like your plan you can keep your plan, says Joe Biden of new health-care proposal
POPCORN. Ayanna Pressley Comes Within Inches Of Calling the Congressional Black Caucus Oreos
Brutal: Ocasio-Cortez And Her Crew Are Defining And Trashing The Democratic Party


Ready Set Health provides you with original articles about a variety of health, fitness, beauty and nutrition topics.
The Agreement outlines the legally binding terms for your use of the Ready Set Health website. Ready Set Health reserves the right to modify this Agreement from time to time, for any reason, without notice and such modifications will be made available on our website. Use of the Ready Set Health website constitutes (1) acknowledgement by you of Ready Set Health's modifications, and (2) an agreement by you to abide and be bound by the Agreement and its modifications.
Your use of the Ready Set Health website is subject to all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations. You agree: (1) to comply with US law regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States through the Ready Set Health website; (2) not to use the Ready Set Health website for illegal purposes; (3) not to interfere or disrupt networks connected to the Ready Set Health website; and (4) to comply with all regulations, policies and procedures of networks connected to the Ready Set Health website. You agree not to transmit through or post to the Ready Set Health website any unlawful, unauthorized, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature. You further agree not to transmit or post any material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation. Attempts to gain unauthorized access to other computer systems are prohibited. You shall not interfere with another user's use and enjoyment of the Ready Set Health website or another entity's use and enjoyment of similar services.
You may not submit automated queries to the Ready Set Health website. Any query sent to Ready Set Health by an automated agent such as a software process that is capable of submitting queries without direct human intervention will represent a violation of this Agreement.
The Ready Set Health website is made available for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not use the Ready Set Health website to sell products or services or drive traffic to your website for commercial reasons. You may not resell, reuse, repurpose or reformat any content from the Ready Set Health website. If you would like to make use of the Ready Set Health website for commercial purposes, you must enter into an appropriate agreement with Ready Set Health in advance.
You are responsible for obtaining access to the Ready Set Health website and that access may involve third party fees (such as Internet service provider or airtime charges). You are responsible for those fees, including those fees associated with the display or delivery of advertisements. In addition, you must provide and are responsible for all equipment necessary to access the Ready Set Health website.
You represent and warrant that any materials you transmit through the Ready Set Health website are free of libel or other unlawful material, including matter that may be construed as invasion of privacy, violation of a right of publicity, a copyright, a patent, or a trademark infringement, and/or theft of trade secret or any other right of a person or party and that all necessary licenses and consents have been obtained for unrestricted use on the Web. You also represent and warrant that you are 13 years or older; Ready Set Health reserves the right to suspend or terminate your use of the Ready Set Health website if Ready Set Health has reason to believe that you are younger than 13 years.
You agree to indemnify and hold Ready Set Health, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including attorneys' fees, made by any third-party due to or arising out of your use of the Ready Set Health website or your violation of this Agreement, including breach of the representations and warranties you made above.
If you violate any of the terms in this Agreement, Ready Set Health may suspend or terminate your use of the Ready Set Health website.
Ready Set Health reserves the right to modify or remove, at its discretion, any content posted by you to the Ready Set Health website.
All contents on the Ready Set Health website are: Copyright ©; 2009 Ready Set Health or its partners. All rights reserved. Ready Set Health and the Ready Set Health logo are trademarks of Ready Set Health. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies. All trademarks and registered trademarks are protected by US and international trademark laws.
Ready Set Health reserves the right to modify or terminate any Ready Set Health website with or without cause at any time and effective immediately. Ready Set Health shall not be liable to you or any third party for termination. Should you object to any terms and conditions of the Agreement or any subsequent modifications thereto or become dissatisfied with the Ready Set Health website in any way, your only recourse is to immediately discontinue use of the Ready Set Health website. Upon termination of the Ready Set Health website, your right to use the services immediately ceases. You shall have no right and Ready Set Health will have no obligation thereafter.
All notices to a party shall be in writing and shall be made either via e-mail or conventional mail. Ready Set Health may broadcast notices or messages through its website to inform you of changes to the Agreement, the website, or other matters of importance. Such broadcasts shall constitute notice to you.
* THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE, AND ALL CONTENT AND SERVICES INCLUDED IN THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS,' WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER.
* EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH ON OUR SITE, READY SET HEALTH AND ITS LICENSORS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
* READY SET HEALTH AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION REGARDING (i) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE, (ii) THE CURRENCY, ACCURACY, QUALITY, CONTENT, COMPLETENESS, LEGALITY, OPERABILITY, AVAILABILITY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE, (iii) THE DELETION, FAILURE TO STORE, MISDELIVERY, OR UNTIMELY DELIVERY OF ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIAL, OR (iv) THAT THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE WILL MEET ANY OF USER'S REQUIREMENTS, BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR ERROR FREE.
* USE OF THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. ANY MATERIAL AND/OR DATA DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF SUCH MATERIAL AND/OR DATA.
* NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM READY SET HEALTH OR THROUGH THE WEBSITE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN.
READY SET HEALTH ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY OVER WHETHER THE CONTENT SUBMITTED BY OTHER USERS OR THIRD PARTIES IS QUESTIONABLE, UNINTENDED, OR OBJECTIONABLE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL READY SET HEALTH OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE TO YOU ON ACCOUNT OF YOUR USE OR MISUSE OF OR RELIANCE ON THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE. SUCH LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO PREVENT RECOVERY OF DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM ANY CLAIM RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE SUBJECT MATTER HEREOF WHETHER SUCH CLAIM IS BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, (EVEN IF READY SET HEALTH OR ITS LICENSORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES). SUCH LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARISE FROM USE OR MISUSE OF AND RELIANCE ON THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE, FROM INABILITY TO USE THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE, OR FROM THE INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, OR TERMINATION OF THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE (INCLUDING SUCH DAMAGES INCURRED BY THIRD PARTIES). THIS LIMITATION SHALL ALSO APPLY WITH RESPECT TO DAMAGES INCURRED BY REASON OF OTHER SERVICES OR GOODS RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE OR RECEIVED THROUGH ANY LINKS PROVIDED IN THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE, AS WELL AS BY REASON OF ANY INFORMATION OR ADVICE RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE OR RECEIVED THROUGH ANY LINKS PROVIDED IN THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE. THIS LIMITATION SHALL ALSO APPLY, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO THE COSTS OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, LOST PROFITS, OR LOST DATA. SUCH LIMITATION SHALL FURTHER APPLY WITH RESPECT TO THE PERFORMANCE OR NON-PERFORMANCE OF THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE OR ANY INFORMATION OR MERCHANDISE THAT APPEARS ON, OR IS LINKED OR RELATED IN ANY WAY TO, THE READY SET HEALTH WEBSITE. SUCH LIMITATION SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
You and Ready Set Health agree that any cause of action arising out of or related to this service must commence within one (1) year after the cause of action arose; otherwise, such cause of action is permanently barred. Some jurisdictions may prohibit the shortening of the time period in which a cause of action must be brought. In all such jurisdictions, the applicable time period shall be the minimum allowed by law.
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, excluding its conflict of law provisions. You and Ready Set Health agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the State of California.
Ready Set Health ("Ready Set Health"), has adopted the following policy toward copyright infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The address of Ready Set Health's Designated Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement is listed at the end of this policy. Capitalized terms and phrases that are used in this Policy and not otherwise defined have the meanings assigned to such terms in the Terms of Service.
Ready Set Health will use reasonable efforts to (1) block access to and/or remove any material that it believes in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our users, whether they are the account holder or others; and (2) permanently remove and discontinue service to any repeat offender. This policy shall cover all aspects of the service provided by Ready Set Health.
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing including information regarding the location of the infringing materials that the copyright owner seeks to have removed, with sufficient detail so that Ready Set Health is capable of finding and verifying its existence.
2. Ready Set Health will then immediately notify the user that it has removed or disabled access to the material.
4. Repeat offenders will have the infringing material removed from the system and Ready Set Health may immediately terminate such user's access to Ready Set Health.
4. User's name, address and telephone number and a statement that user consents to the jurisdiction of the Federal Court for the judicial district in which the user's address is located, or if the user's address is located outside the United States, for any judicial district in which Ready Set Health is located, and that user will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.
Some products reviewed on this site are paid advertisements and ReadySetHealth.com receives a commission on all affiliate sales made through this website. When this site reviews a product for which we will receive affiliate commissions, we will link to this disclosure policy.


text:
package gfmrun

import (
	"testing"

	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
)

func TestNewRunnerIntegration(t *testing.T) {
	if !integrationTests {
		t.Skip("integration tests disabled")
	}

	runner, err := NewRunner([]string{"README.md"}, 0, "", true, testLog)
	assert.Nil(t, err)
	assert.NotNil(t, runner.Languages)
	assert.Equal(t, []string{"README.md"}, runner.Sources)
	assert.NotNil(t, runner.Frobs)
	assert.Equal(t, 0, runner.Count)
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Back in Cinemas: Boudu Saved From Drowning (Jean Renoir, 1932)
Post author By Emma Simmonds
No Comments on Back in Cinemas: Boudu Saved From Drowning (Jean Renoir, 1932)
Stumbling shambolically back onto cinema screens this month is Michel Simon's iconic portrayal of that terrible tramp Boudu. With his raison d'être that no mischief should be left unmade, Emma Simmonds finds herself charmed and highly amused by this fish-out-of-water.
In Jean Renoir's broad satire, based on René Fauchois' comic drama, Michel Simon (who also produced the film) excels as the outrageously uncouth vagrant Boudu, whose attempt to end his life catapults him into the unfamiliar and somewhat baffling world of the bourgeoisie, to his considerable chagrin.
According to his benefactor, Edouard Lestingois (Charles Granval), Boudu is the very vision of "a perfect tramp". With his ragged appearance, curly, matted beard and lumbering chaotic demeanour he is not unlike the wayward mutt he loses at the film's outset. When the loss of his dog acts as a final straw, he makes a sincere, very public bid to end his life, only to be reluctantly fished out of the Seine by kindly bookseller Edouard. With nowhere else to go, Boudu becomes a guest of the Lestingois residence; imposing himself upon and further complicating an already convoluted domestic arrangement. Making an almost proud nuisance of himself at every given opportunity, Boudu is variously, cruelly and sometimes accurately described by members of the afflicted household by such names as, "creature", "lout" and "Neanderthal". In one memorable sequence Boudu spits on Balzac's Physiologie du mariage, such a controversial action in 1932 that it was excised from the original theatrical version. There is a devilish boisterousness about him; a playful charm and – though he is hardly an arch manipulator – through his mischievous antics Boudu succeeds in drawing back the veil from the supposed superior class of people that surround him.
On the surface a snob and a shrew, Edouard's wife Madame Lestingois (Marcelle Hainia) ultimately finds Boudu's dubious (and somewhat aggressively randy) charms impossible to resist. She is thus the lady who likes a bit of (or, to be frank, in this situation a fairly sizable portion of) rough. Similarly, Edouard may call himself a gentleman – and in many ways that's exactly what he is – but he too is a philanderer; enthusiastically carrying on with nubile housemaid Anne-Marie (Severine Lerczinska) under his wife's upturned nose.
Though Edouard may be shown to be a rotten adulterer he is simultaneously depicted as a big-hearted man who gives away books and doesn't think twice before taking the plunge in a bid to save a total stranger, brilliant tramp or otherwise. By performing this life-saving, selfless act, he is demonstrably one in a million; or at least one in around a hundred as a huge crowd has assembled to dispassionately (and perhaps somewhat hopefully) watch this poor put-upon man drown. One disinterested observer even goes so far as to comment, "I've seen so many I don't even bother anymore". During the early 1930s, the period in which the film was made and is set, France was in the midst of the Depression and – in Paris particularly – poverty and vagrancy were rife. Thus in the crowd's indifference to the plight of Boudu, seeing him as merely one of many pitiful rather than pitiable individuals, we see the legendary Jean Renoir at his most pointed. His ribbing of the intellectual Edouard's contradictory, hypocritical nature is contrastingly more gently applied.
Despite its grand old age, with the restoration giving it a fresh lick of paint, Boudu Saved From Drowning is as pertinent and sensationally seditious as ever. Whether you're revisiting Boudu's boisterous antics or discovering a gem, it comes highly recommended.
Boudu Saved From Drowning is on general release from 17 December
Tags Boudu Saved From Drowning, Charles granval, Marcelle Hainia, Michel Simon, Severine Lerczinska
By Emma Simmonds
Emma Simmonds's interest in the serious contemplation of cinema began aged 10 whilst watching Blue Velvet. With sadistic imagery and Kyle MacLachlan's barnet burnt forever into her tiny impressionable mind, she set forth on a journey to ensure others were corrupted in this same way, starting by studying Film at Kent and following that up with a Postgraduate Certificate in Film Journalism with the BFI/Sight and Sound magazine. A staff writer at Popmatters for the past few years, she has also written for various film festivals. A huge admirer of many of the usual suspects - Hitchcock, Wilder, Godard, Almodovar - her favourite films include Vertigo and His Girl Friday. Yet Ms Simmonds is conversely partial to a bit of maniacal horror, be it The Old Dark House (30s original), Black Sunday, or the mighty Evil Dead 2. She lays her hat down in Camden, London. And watches Buffy. Almost constantly.
← Poster Boy: One sheets of distinction (vol.5) → Spotlight: Lo-Fi Sci-Fi


Newly-created international waste-to-product business, Renewi, has announced its results for the year ended 31 March 2017 and expressed confidence that, in line with its expectations, 2017/18 is expected to be a year of good progress.
Commercial division in legacy Shanks business performed well, delivering trading profit growth of 27% at constant currency and improvement in return on operating assets of 320bps.
Hazardous waste division in legacy Shanks business performed well, delivering trading profit growth of 9% at constant currency and improvement in return on operating assets of 360bps.
As previously advised, total Group exceptional and non-trading charges of £87.1m, principally reflecting merger costs and UK municipal business (2016: £23.5m), resulting in a statutory loss before tax of £61.4m.
Year end core net debt slightly better than expected at £424m, resulting in a net debt to pro forma EBITDA ratio of 2.8x.
According to the board, the company's outlook is looking strong.
"Having successfully completed the merger with VGG, our key priorities for the year ahead are to integrate our legacy businesses and to generate growth from strong underlying trading and successful synergy delivery. In parallel, we will fix the municipal division and build up momentum for sustained growth and earnings accretion in 2018/19. While alert to macroeconomic developments, the board remains confident that 2017/18 will be a year of good progress, in line with its expectations. Current trading for the year to date and the initial stages of the integration process support this view," said Peter Dilnot, chief executive officer.
"Looking forward, our growth drivers remain strong. Renewi plays an important role in the emerging circular economy, a market that is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years with the support of European Union and government legislation. Moreover, the fully integrated Renewi has a compelling offering for customers, combining local service, international expertise and an unrivalled breadth of products. This strong positioning, coupled with synergy delivery and the roll-out of our proven margin expansion initiatives across Renewi, will deliver sustainable growth, enhanced margins and attractive returns."
The CEO went on to point out that the company's priorities for the year ahead "are to integrate our legacy businesses and to generate growth from strong underlying trading and successful synergy delivery. We have already built up positive momentum as Renewi and are on track with the execution of our merger plans."
Dilnot added a note of confidence. "Looking forward, our position in the emerging circular economy, coupled with the benefits of the merger, will deliver sustainable growth, margin expansion and attractive returns."


Compare the best business VoIP providers in Ottawa, WV side by side on VoipReview. Find and compare top-rated providers across price, features, ratings, and user-submitted reviews to find the best deal on a business VoIP service. Start comparing below to see how much you can be saving on your monthly phone bill.
What is Ottawa, WV Business VoIP?
Business VoIP stands for Business Voice over Internet Protocol, and it is a type of phone system that was designed in order to cater to all business calling needs, regardless what they are. Using your high-speed internet connection, VoIP for business in Ottawa, WV allows your business to receive and make different types of phone calls with a number of different features that your particular company needs.
Although there are VoIP service options available for residential and business customers in Ottawa, WV, there are a few major differences in these options. Residential plans generally focus on standard outbound and inbound calling basic features.
Individuals who are considering business VoIP in Ottawa, WV can easily compare the different providers and plans based on a number of criteria ranging from features, monthly pricing, and customer ratings. At VoipReview, we provide easy comparison tools to help people analyze different VoIP providers and find the one that best suits their needs.
Those in Ottawa, WV who wish to take the next step and obtain a personalized quote are also in luck because we do all of the work for them. All that's needed is to fill in the above form, and we will instantly provide a list of top VoIP providers in Ottawa, WV that meet their requirements.
What Kind of Features Come Standard With Ottawa, WV Business VoIP Phone Service?
In general, VoIP phone service in Ottawa, WV gives you a much bigger range of included calling and productivity features, even with the more basic plans. In most cases, the features you would get in a VoIP plan would need to be paid for separately if you had a traditional PSTN service. VoIP providers offer features such as call waiting, caller ID, do not disturb, E911, music on hold, virtual extensions and voicemail as standard with a service subscription. These are just a few examples of the calling and productivity features you can expect to see. As every provider will be different, you should go through the pages for individual providers to learn more about the plans they offer, the features they include, as well as add-on or optional features, together with their prices.
Before deciding on a particular provider, we strongly encourage researching all Ottawa, WV VoIP companies and plans. We also recommend checking each provider's website to view disclaimers, rates, and additional fees-information that may not be displayed on our website. Here at VoipReview, we do our best to provide up-to-date information, but providers often change rates and plan offerings without warning so we cannot give a 100% guarantee.