We can provide a full range of activities for all age groups which are ideal for birthday parties. Activities are located on site and locally and are great fun for both children and adults. Please use our dedicated enquiry form for further information on the activities and prices.


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Healing where harm is rife
© ICRC
In the northeast, the Middle Belt and the south of Nigeria, public healthcare services are inadequate to the task of providing routine family medicine such as pediatric care, reproductive health services and vaccinations. It's little wonder that specialised support for people who face armed conflict and other situations of violence, poverty and displacement– from nutritional counselling and care for malnourished children to treatment for victims of sexual violence – are almost absent.
Working closely with the Nigerian Red Cross, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provides assistance and strengthens the resilience of people affected by armed conflict and violence in all these areas of the country. It will use part of our grant to donate tablet computers equipped with the Algorithm for the Management of Childhood Illnesses (ALMANACH app), which gives health workers clear treatment and prescription advice and enables health managers to predict disease outbreaks. Relying on standard point-of-care diagnostic tests and procedures, ALMANACH has proved very effective in ensuring good clinical outcomes for children and evidence-based use of antimalarial drugs and antibiotics. It can be enhanced by sensors such as electronic thermometers, automated respiratory rate calculators and oximeters.
With a focus on the same regions, the rest of our grant to ICRC will fund two areas of activity. The first is bolstering public healthcare facilities, for instance, by training staff in psychological first aid, clinical treatment for victims of sexual violence and therapeutic feeding programmes for children and pregnant or lactating mothers. The second is making mental health and psychosocial support available to victims of violence in Nigeria's conflict-ridden northeast.
GOALS AND EXPECTED IMPACT
The objective for ALMANACH is to expand its reach to around 220 health facilities, which will serve a total of about 409 000 children under 5. In 2020, the ICRC will continue to roll out the training and equipment to the remaining 136 health care centres in Adamawah state, provide infrastructural and management support, conduct a thorough scientific analysis and take all necessary steps to ensure a smooth handover to public health authorities at the end of 2021.
2021, the project's final year, will be dedicated to ensuring the approach's sustainability, handing over to local authorities and drawing conclusions, for instance, about possible replication of the project in other regions.
The ICRC, established in 1863, works worldwide to provide humanitarian help for people affected by conflict and armed violence and to promote the laws that protect victims of war. An independent and neutral organization, its mandate stems essentially from the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
We ease access to healthcare and viable income opportunities in underserved communities.
Total commitments by focus area in 2019

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Just for fun, I wanted to see if I could make a screwdriver into a car key. What fun it would be to impersonate the look of a stolen car with a screwdriver jammed into the ignition! And maybe I could empty my glove box all over the seat so it looks like I was scrounging for spare change and prescription drugs too!
Here's how you make your own.


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Somewhat-related ideas are bandied about:"idea sluts," the bipolar spectrum, and those famous deckchairs on the Titanic.
I'm going to say a bunch of stuff about this blog, and blogging in general, which I hope to weave into semi-coherent reflections. If I fail, then it will simply be semi-random reflections.
There may not be much apparent connections between these bits; hopefully the process of making the connections will be mildly interesting.
I'm a little tired of the blog right now. Part of that stems from the fact that I've written about 300,000 words of "unique content" in the past 7 months: about 35,000 words as a paid free-lance writer, about 20,000 in the Weekly Musings for the site's 360 subscribers/ major contributors, about 150,000 words in 180 blog entries (a few being guest essays), and 100,000 words of An Unconventional Guide to Investing in Troubled Times, which was pared down to 74,000 words.
I actually think 300,000 words is being conservative; maybe it's more like 325,000 words. Whatever the number, it's a lot.
I also wrote a few thousand emails, many of which were substantive.
Although I refer to this site as a blog out of convention, it is not really a blog; it is a website. I will say more about this later.
A reader recently pointed out that this is a Page Rank 6 site. Page Rank is Google's core algorithm; it essentially ranks the reach and influence of websites, including blogs. It is not a coarse measure of traffic (visitors) but of the "weight" of incoming links to the site. If your site has a lot of links from other influential sites, then your Page rank rises.
A lot of people try to game this algo but Google adjusts it constantly, and it's difficult to game. You can game traffic and the number of pages on your site, but you can't game the number of incoming links from influential sites.
So Page Rank is a pretty good measure of a site's reach and influence. The best way to understand PR is to do a search for the PR of the sites you frequent. Google itself is a 10, sites with few visitors and incoming links are 1. It is extremely difficult to reach a PR 6, especially if you're doing the whole thing alone. This may sound like self-congratulation but it simply a statement of fact. I do not really understand this site's reach and influence.
Another simple metric is to enter a unique string from the site into Google and see how many links come up. Entering "Charles Hugh Smith" (with quotes to make it a unique string, i.e. so links containing "smith" are excluded) returns 1.6 million results. I don't have any objective way to assess that, but it seems pretty high.
I recently had several very interesting conversations with my blogging colleagueGonzalo Lira. Gonzalo is a very engaging, witty, intelligent guy, and so it was easy to talk with him for a couple hours before and after his "Week in Words" webinar that he had graciously invited me to join as a guest.
(Gonzalo, please forgive me if my paraphrasing of your ideas is not quite accurate; they were of course filtered through my semi-coherent brain.)
Gonzalo said a number of things which I have been pondering. One was that he was not sure why he was blogging. Now I need to stipulate here that Gonzalo has built up a very influential blog; he has a high visitor count (10,000+ daily) and has established a high visibility. As noted above, this is not at all easy to accomplish. You don't just rush out and build a PR 5 site with 10K visitors; it takes a lot of engaging content and perseverance.
I suggested that perhaps blogging was a form of self-expression; he thought that was not quite it. I suggested creative outlet; that also didn't hit the mark. His refusal to accede to an easy answer struck me, for typically humans feel great unease with ambiguity and quickly choose a "boxed" answer to relieve the anxiety created by contingency and/or ambiguity.
Gonzalo was comfortable with an incomplete answer. That impressed me.
It turns out we share at least one commonality: we both have university degrees in philosophy. You need to know that to appreciate another thing he said, which I paraphrase thusly: It's not enough to have a conviction; you have to be able to explain the logic of your conviction, to build a case for it. Lots of people have convictions but few people are able to logically account for their convictions.
Based on the thousands of emails I have read--more like tens of thousands--I would agree. Humans prefer prefabricated "boxes" of ideas and convictions because it's easier to slip into a box with a herd of others inside. This is easier on two counts: humans are social animals, and the herd instinct is not only powerful, it offers selective advantages. The other is that it is irksome to think through an independent analysis with a coherent, fact-based internal logic. Our minds are not constructed to do this easily.
Ideologies are prefabricated boxes. They come with a ready-made self-referential internal logic: B follows from A because I believe in A. Facts are "cherry-picked" to support the internal logic, but the truly key component in any ideology, Left, Right or Libertarian, is magical thinking, i.e. wishful thinking.
I can illustrate this very simply.
The basic assumption of any ideology or "ideological "debate" (quotes explained in a moment) is that all problems would be resolved if only the "other side" came round to your conviction.
So let's follow that through: if all Republicans suddenly agreed with Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, would Peak Everything be resolved? Would the U.S.A.'s dependence on exponentially rising debt and imported oceans of oil magically go away? Would the consequences of The End of Work vanish? Would the consequences of 72 million (or 79 million counting legal immigrants) Baby Boomers retiring, fully 25% of the entire population, magically disappear?
Now repeat the question for the flip-side of the coin: if Democrats suddenly saw the light about free markets, low taxes, etc., and became die-hard Republicans, would any of these structural problems suddenly go away? No.
Though each ideology claims to have the "answers," the "answers" are all magical thinking: if only the wealthy would pay more taxes, if only taxes were lowered, if only those SUV drivers would buy a Prius, if only we cut Pentagon spending, etc. etc. etc. All of these ideology-generated "solutions" are just tweaking the parameters of internally doomed systems.
It's interesting what makes people angry enough to write me accusatory emails.Questioning that the U.S. dollar is heading straight to zero angers people, wondering if gold might drop a few hundred bucks per ounce angers people (even though such a drop would be well within its decade-long upward channel), and questioning the solvency of Social Security angers people.
Clearly, these are "hot buttons" within various ideological boxes.
Strangely enough, nobody gets angry when I discuss the structural changes termed "The End of Work" by author Jeremy Rifkin, a topic I have covered here many times. Nobody gets angry when I address the demographic realities of 79 million people retiring. Nobody gets angry when I talk about America's extreme dependence on the extreme leverage provided by oceans of cheap imported oil (roughly 12 million barrels a day). And nobody gets angry when I discuss America's addiction to low-interest debt.
But if you put these together, then the only logically consistent result is the implosion of the Savior State. And this angers people, because they have a stake in the Savior State, and its continuance, or even rightness, is a key component of the box they have chosen to inhabit.
What I write about on this site is not the world of today, but the world five years out and ten years out. That world does not yet exist, and its precise shape is of course unknown and contingent on a great number of causal factors. But the rough outlines are already predictable because the current consumption of oil and other resources, the dependence on ever-rising cheap-to-service debt, the End of Work and demographics are systemic, structural dynamics which cannot be reversed or addressed without the system collapsing. Tweaking parameters, a.k.a. rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, is not going to resolve any of these fundamental causal factors.
But it is psychologically appealling to nail down one's convictions and "solutions" and fill in the blanks with magical/wishful thinking.
A number of people write me to complain about the lack of a "comments" section that is a standard feature of 99% of all blogs. Some complain that I am merely a "preacher" who dares not "debate" them. Others claim they are so frustrated they are considering giving up reading the site.
My esteemed blogging colleague Jesse of Jesse's Cafe Americain recently explained why he has no comments section: it's too time-consuming and unrewarding.
I find it interesting that even though there are 10 million, or perhaps 100 million, blogs and sites which enable your comments, indeed, solicit them, the handful which do not enable comments draw some sort of special ire.
It seems there is an implicit assumption that having a public site requires one to host a forum available to all. This has made me realize oftwominds.com is not a blog; it is a website. There is no agreement, implicit or otherwise, that a website is also a public forum.
Here is an alternative perspective: there is a public forum available to all called free blogs. It takes about 3 minutes to set up your own blog on Blogspot or other free blogging sites. Everyone is free to open their own blog and post whatever content they wish. They can "debate" whatever they want, as often as they want.
I put "debate" in quotes because it seems the vast majority of people who want to "debate" me actually want to persuade me of the rightness of their convictions, and they prefer to do so without having to build a public readership of their own.
The vast majority of these convictions are prepackaged, self-referential ideologies. Thus these "debates," when stripped down to their essence, are chiding someone for their wrong-headedness. They are simulacrum debates, as no ideas are truly built upon a fact-based internal logic, and there is no contingency or ambiguity in the mind of the "debater." He is right by virtue of his conviction, and you are wrong.
I have also noted that it is virtually always men who are angry with something I've written--female readers disagree, but do so politely and with a degree of contingency. Males seem prone to getting locked into convictions of one sort or another, and if they perceive that you might have one foot in the wrong box, they get angry.
Gonzalo said something which (with a bit of witty vulgarity) captures living outside these prepackaged ideological boxes: being an "idea slut." That is, embracing various ideas and getting to know them intimately, not with a single-minded fury to discount them because they threaten one's established convictions, but with a desire to understand their assumptions and internal logic.
Being an idea slut flummoxes, confuses and infuriates everyone firmly lodged in their respective boxes. I am often reamed out as "leftist" and "right-wing" in the same week. People literally cannot make sense of independently assembled thinking. If you remove the self-referential aspects of convictions, i.e. "I believe in A which is the basis of my belief in B," then each topic loses the emotional baggage which is the essential coin of ideology.
Gonzalo related that he infuriates one slice of readers by seeing nothing intrinsically unworkable with fiat currencies; since he is a big proponent of owning physical gold and hyperinflation, this seems to contradict what he "should" believe, i.e. everyone who values gold as "real money" must also dismiss fiat currency of any kind as fundamentally flawed.
What if all ideologies have failed, completely and utterly? This is unacceptable to ideologues; we simply need to do more of what isn't working, and then it will magically start working.
There was an exccedingly interesting article on WSJ.com about the value of what psychologists call the bipolar spectrum: Depression in Command: In times of crisis, mentally ill leaders can see what others don't Their weakness is the secret of their strength.
The basic idea of the article is that conventional leaders do OK in conventional times, but fail miserably in uniquely troubled times. In those eras, then leaders from somewhere on the bipolar spectrum--manic-depressives, to use another term-- excel, because their internal worlds and perceptions lie outside conventions. They also tend to be far more empathetic than conventional "normal" people, which qualifies them for leadership above and beyond politics as usual.
I am not a leader, and have no desire to be one, but I am manic-depressive, and that spot on the bipolar spectrum certainly powers this site. Manic-depressives tend to be very productive and then crash; they are prone to debilitating depression. Maintaining some sort of balance requires a lot of self-management.
It has been estimated that about 6% of the populace is somewhere on the bipolar spectrum. Some require medication to lead "normal" lives, others are disagreeable and difficult to be around, and others are quirky charismatics. There are no generalizations which fit the entire spectrum, other than the commonly observed one that madness and genius are two sides of a single coin.
It isn't all "good" or "bad," but a mix of contingencies, uncertainties and ambiguities. A great many poets, writers, musicians, etc. have been manic-depressives, as well as the unconventional leaders mentioned in the article: Lincoln, Churchill, et al.
Some on the spectrum have trained themselves to interact seamlessly with "normal" people, to the degree that their "normal" friends are shocked to discover they are prone to severe depression. Others self-administer drugs such as alcohol, usually to poor effect.
I suspect General and President Ulysses S. Grant was bipolar; when he was depressed about his post in the remote northwest, he drank, and the reputation haunted him from then on.
But he was also able to switch from being a mediocre has-been shop-clerk to a brilliant general in a few months. He was unable to translate his military brilliance into his presidency, which shows the limitations of the bipolar spectrum.
I suspect the last "non-normal" president was Richard M. Nixon, and his gifts and sins were both outsized. No one who knew him would reckon him conventional, and his attempts to mimic "normal" behavior came across as stilted and phony.
The presidents since Nixon have been "normal" in the sense that whatever you think of them or their politics and decisions, they were outside the bipolar spectrum. The current crop of leaders are all remarkably conventional. This may explain their inability to provide leadership in uniquely challenging times.
Unconventional leaders are generally unelectable; if we cannot grasp the value of unconventional leaders, that is ultimately a choice of self-destruction.
You can't "choose" to be manic-depressive; you are, or you're not. If you are, then you manage it more or less successfully or unsuccessfully. Manic-depressives cannot stop doing what comes naturally to them, and some are remarkably creative. A "normal" person will learn an instrument and find pleasure in learning songs and other pieces. In contrast, new songs will come to these troubled creative types from nowhere, lyrics and melodies plucked as if from the air itself. We know these creations spring from their brains, yet they experience then as spontaneous discoveries.
As the article notes, the bipolar mind works differently from the "normal" mind. I suspect that Nature generates the 6% on the bipolar spectrum as a selective advantage for the species, as these few generate the preponderance of the intellectual and social mutations that provide the diversity of ideas needed in times of profound change.
These people tend to pay a high price for their role as unconventional generators of ideas, art and leadership.
OK, here's the wrap-up. There is no way to arrive at an unambiguous answer, but I suspect this website has an influential audience precisely because my goal is always independent thinking and independent journalism. I suspect that we understand, perhaps in the collective unconscious, that conventional "solutions" and thinking are failing at a profound level, and that our only hope is independent, unconventional ideas and thinking. Such thinking is flexible, unattached to emotional certainty, unafraid of contingency and ambiguity, and revels in embracing new ideas and exploring their inner workings.
If this site isn't part of that, then I have no other explanation for its reach and influence. As an individual, I am boringly conventional; as a "Channel of Me," I don't even rate a Page Rank 1.
If there is a central irony to this site, it's that living the life I promote here takes up most of my time, and so the site is a very part-time endeavor. Some readers seem miffed that I'm not in front of a computer 12 hours a day to enable and read their comments, but nobody pays me to do that, and I would refuse that "job" if offered it. That is not the "job" I do here. A generous reader maintains the DailyJava.net forum on his own; anyone is free to respond to anything they read here on that reader-moderated forum or on their own blog.
I have some other things to do over the next few months, so I'll be posting perhaps 10 entries a month rather than 25 per month. I will oft-times be unable to read or reply to emails.
Thank you for your readership and support of the site. I have learned a lot from you, and that's the value of the site to me--a value I try to share.
My new book An Unconventional Guide to Investing in Troubled Times is available in Kindle ebook format. You can read the ebook now on any computer, smart phone, iPad, etc. Click here for more info about Kindle apps and the book.
Thank you, Raymond R. ($20), for your exceedingly generous contribution to this site -- I am greatly honored by your support and readership. Thank you, Arthur S. ($5), for your much-appreciated generous contribution to this site -- I am greatly honored by your support and readership.


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Roberto Orlando Bracone Macceialli (3 August 1943 – 19 December 2021), better known as Elio Roca was an Argentine singer.

Roca was born in Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, Chaco Province, Argentina on 3 August 1943. He released his debut album, Bella, bionda, Carina in 1965. He was best known for the singles "Como deseo ser tu amor", "Te necesito tanto amor", "Yo quiero dibujarte". Elio Roca also appeared in several Argentine films such as Vamos a soñar por el amor (1971), Contigo y aquí (1974), Love in Flight (1967), Te necesito tanto, amor (1976), and La colimba no es la guerra (1972). Roca died on 19 December 2021, at the age of 78.

References

External links
Official website

1943 births
2021 deaths
Argentine male film actors
Argentine male singer-songwriters
Argentine singer-songwriters
People from Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


This is a $200 cash award for the best OSU folklore graduate student paper written during the academic year by a graduate student who is actively engaged in the folklore community at OSU, participates in activities of the OSU Center for Folklore Studies and the Folklore Student Association, and takes courses taught by folklore faculty.
Must be written by current OSU folklore graduate students.
Must not have been previously published.
Only one paper submission per student.
The student must not have been a previous recipient of the Mullen Prize.
Papers should be submitted to Cassie Patterson at patterson.493@osu.edu, by 11:59 pm on April 1, 2019 ,with the subject line: "Mullen Prize Submission 2019."
2018. Tessa Jacobs. "Intertextual Storytelling within Family Narratives."
2017. Jordan Lovejoy. "Magic Wands, Moral Geographies, and Narrative Imaginings: Dwelling in the Desires of the Coalfields Expressway."
2016. Caroline Toy. "'As I Was Going to St. Bart's': The Performance and Implications of a Sherlock Fan Pilgrimage."
2015. Nathan Young. "Loss and Reclamation: Village Traditions in Western Turkey."
2014. Cassie Bower. "Many Thanks from Me, Greyhound, and My Ex-Wife: Assessing Authority and Navigating Divisions in Bus Drivers' Announcements"
2013. Joanna Spanos. "But Why a Hanging? Festival, Reenactment, and Social Memory"
2012. Elizabeth Bell. "'Pirates of Our Spirituality': The 2012 Phenomenon in Guatemala and the Value of Heritage"
2011. Rob Vanscoyoc. "America's First Professional Author (and Folklorist?): Ambivalence and the Politics of Folklore in Washington Irving's Sketch-Book"
2010. Katherine Parker. "The Ins and Outs of Mardi Gras Indians"
2009. Christopher T. Hemmig. "Peripheral Agents: Marginality in Arab Folk Narrative" and honorable mention to Elizabeth Bell for "The Retraditionalization of Local Knowledge: Kaqchikel-Maya Ceremony in Guatemala"
2008. Benjamin Gatling. "Negotiations in Performance: A Study of the Stortelling Performance of Two Afghan Storytellers" and honorable mention to Elo-Hanna Seljamaa for "He 'Put Pennies in Her Palm': Crossing Boundaries in an Estonian Infanticide Ballad"
2007. Jason Bush. "Danza de la Raza: The Folklorization of the Peruvian Scissors Dance"
2006. Ashley Overstreet. "More Than Just a Job: Acknowledging the Cognitive Practices and Values of Blue Top Waitresses."
2005. Sheila Bock. "Colonialism, Feminist Rebellion, Tourism and Global Commodification: The Development of the Public Image of the Belly Dancer in the United States."


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The Atlantic Daily: America's Approach to School Closures Is Unusual
Omicron is forcing us to revisit one of the most sensitive and consequential debates of the pandemic: what to do about schools.
By Caroline Mimbs Nyce
Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.
Omicron is leading to school closures and reigniting familiar debates around the safety of in-person learning. In Chicago, public schools remain closed amid a dispute with the teachers' union over when to switch to remote instruction. Districts in other parts of the country have reported staffing shortages.
Once again, policy makers, administrators, and parents alike are being forced to weigh concerns about the overall well-being of students and teachers against the risks of coronavirus transmission.
Britain offers an alternative model to closing schools outright. "As children and essential workers strain under the cumulative pressure, Americans should keep schools open for those who need them most," Stephanie H. Murray argues.
Universities shouldn't go remote right now. The professor and writer Emily Oster argues that, although it was necessary in March 2020, today "it reflects an outmoded level of caution."
One parent soured on the Democratic Party over schools. "What I've lost is my trust that the party is truly motivated to act in the interests of those they claim to serve," Angie Schmitt explains.
Your perspective: Parents, teachers, and students share their personal stories in the latest edition of Conor Friedersdorf's newsletter, Up for Debate.
The news in three sentences:
(1) Diplomatic talks between the United States and Russia on Ukraine made little progress.
(2) A space heater is suspected to have ignited the fire that killed at least 17 people in the Bronx over the weekend.
(3) Robert Durst, the convicted killer once profiled in HBO's The Jinx, died in prison at 78.
Today's Atlantic-approved activity:
In "About It," the poet Geffrey Davis describes the thousand little clicks / of pleasure experienced when putting together a puzzle.
A break from the news:
This 64-year-old man expects he could live to 160. Here's how he plans to spend his time.


It seems cute, for sure. Fans of A Tale in the Desert might find something to grab at in this.
Not for me, though. I'm a fightin' man (at least for MMOs).
Best review I've read yet — we've been passing around quotes for the past few hours. And, yes, please, we are hiring.
Woah guys, I'm glad you liked what I wrote!
Thanks for making such a fantastic game!
Why not have a separate "equipment page" for blenders, seasoners, shovels, etc. Anything that people would only buy one of would go here instead of into the general inventory spot. That would get rid of 27 spaces.
On my 16:9 monitor, theres some space on my left side for a page, or you can just make it expandable. You can also add hotkeys for the tools too. F1-F12, for example.


The long walk back to our favourite kebab joint to catch the France vs Switzerland match right after we had our farewell dinner in the city centre, turned out to be a walk to remember. When the French team scored their second goal, the streets burst into a succession of honks, cheers & merriment; crowds of fans running out of the bars in high spirits and proudly waving their flags in the air, people in the cars rolling down their windows shouting 'Allez les Bleus!', the entire town coming alive to celebrate. The atmosphere was magical.
Indulging in the incredible feast, saying our goodbyes and promising to keep in touch, basking in the World Cup fever in France on the streets, running to the kebab stall to catch the last 15 minutes of Les Bleus playing beautifully in the match… couldn't have spent a better way to end summer school.
That afternoon, as we made our way to the Gare, luggage in tow, I remember the sun shining its brightest, the streets awash with gold, and the sky ablaze with the softest shade of blue. The train pulled up just as we arrived, and I looked back for one last time to catch the tail end of Troyes in the summer light, fading quietly, like a sigh.


This semi rectangular frame shaped evening clutch with it's unique satin flower patch, capiz flowers and beads and a top snap closure is nice and elegant to carry during your special occasion. Inside can easily fit a cell phone, wallet, compact mirror, lip gloss, and a pack of gum. Conveniently, you can spend the night hands free with the detachable gold chain that is included.


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Acclaimed & family friendly one day festival JAZZ RE:FEST offers free tickets for under 16s
Brighton Dome is hosting an annual one-day festival celebrating UK jazz and jazz-inspired music and culture on Sun 22 July, and under 16s can go free! Having previously been hosted at London's Southbank Centre for the last five years, JAZZ RE:FEST's first iteration outside of London - produced by the Jazz re:freshed music arts organisation - showcases the incredibly diverse, colourful, expressive and creative world of jazz music and alternative culture.
JAZZ RE:FEST will feature live performances from over 60 musicians, artists & DJs including Vels Trio, Daniel Casimir, SEED, Yussef Dayes, Noya Rao, Blue Lab Beats, Ruby Rushton and many more to be announced.
Blending analogue and digital elements, Blue Lab Beats have supported Thundercat, Roy Ayers and Mulatu Astatke, and have performed at Glastonbury, WOMAD, and Love Supreme. SEED Ensemble meanwhile, combine jazz with inner-city London, West African and Caribbean influenced groove, with the ten-piece band (led by alto saxophonist and composer Cassie Kinosh) exploring a blend of genres through both original compositions and arrangements.
Image: Blue Lab Beats
Brighton-based experimental group Vels Trio have shared the stage with acts such as Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles, Sons of Kemet, Moses Boyd's Exodus and more. Vels Trio's sound can be characterised by their heavy grooves, emotionally charged songwriting, coupled alongside expressive, progressive modern musicianship to create frenetic live sound structures.
Dan Casimir (winner of The Musicians' Company's Young Jazz Musician Award 2016-2017) has become a regular fixture within the UK jazz scene, providing his heavyweight upright sound for the likes of Jean Toussaint, Binker Golding, Jason Rebello, Lonnie Liston Smith, Camilla George and Nubya Garcia to name a few. Quartet Ruby Rushton are led by multi-instrumentalist Ed 'Tenderlonious' Cawthorne, whose long playing compositions recall the likes of Herbie Hancock and Yusef Lateef, but come imbued with percussive flourishes (shakers, cowbells) and a sort of wild British originality.
Jazz re:freshed is a multifaceted music arts organisation at the forefront of the UK jazz revolution worldwide, raising the profile of, and demonstrating the breadth of expression within UK jazz and jazz-influenced music and challenging the preconceptions that kept jazz on the side lines far too long. In 2003, Jazz re:freshed created a weekly residency for musicians in the jazz world who wanted to experiment and push boundaries when few opportunities to try these experimentations out live were available. These musicians inspired a lot of the cream of today's UK jazz scene who have also graced the stages of Jazz re:freshed's events.
Yvette Griffith, Executive Director of Jazz re:freshed said:
'We're excited to launch the Brighton Edition of JAZZ RE:FEST with Brighton Dome. Audiences can expect a day full of cutting edge talent, music and amazing vibes.'
Event info:
Sun 22 Jul, 12pm – 7pm
£7.50, FREE for under 16s but ticketed: please book via the event page
Brighton Dome Concert Hall


text:
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  background-color: var(--whatsAppColor);
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


1. Thin & Toughened. Ultra Thin 9H Premium Tempered Glass Screen Protector, imported Glue.
2. Can Protect the Phone Screen Well. Anti-scratch,Anti-Shock,Explosion-proof...etc.
3. Smooth Feeling. The Surrounding Part is Smooth to Protect the Screen from being Smashed.
4. Make of High-Grade Tempered Glass Material. The Speciflcation is High GradeGlass Material, not Broken Edge.
5. Hign Definition. High Sensitivity Touch Feeling and High Resolution to Show Stereo Experience, the clarity up to 99%.
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Free sample is available, but shipping cost will be collected.
* High quality screen protector, all our products is passed at least 4 times test before delivery.


Live A Good Story is a group of fellow travellers receiving support and input, meeting monthly through the year as we each seek to live a better story.
Sign up for September 2019 group now.
We all want to live a better story and Live a Good Story is all about getting small group of pro-active people together to think, dream, reflect and go through the year together as we each seek to live good stories. From improving personal relationships to sharing their creativity, from finally getting on top of a money situation to turning a long standing project/business idea into a reality there is such a variety of people and passions - but it's that wonderful mixture that has made it all the better. We've run five groups over the last two years and our first 2019 group is full up and underway. We are going to run a second group, running for 12 months from September 2019. Sign-ups are now available. We expect the group to fill up, so if you're interested we suggest you sign up now. If your circumstances change, full no quibble refunds are available before August 2019.
After clicking 'sign me up now' you'll be asked a few simple questions about yourself and your hopes for September 2019-August 2020. It's really helpful for us to know who is part of the group and what your'e hoping to get out of the group. Once you have entered this information you'll be taken to the checkout to complete your payment.
Want to find out more? Read on, or use the quick links below to jump to the information you're looking for.
What will I get out of Live a Good Story?
When is Live a Good Story happening?
What have participants said about Live a Good Story?
How Much is Live a Good Story?
Live a Good Story groups consist of 8-12 people, and start with an all-day workshop to kick off the year. The next group will do this on Saturday 14th September. We'll spend the morning looking back at our stories to this point and think about where we each are at the start of September, a new 'term' and often a very transitional time. We then spend the afternoon thinking through what will help us live good stories in the coming 12 months and coming up with a few clear storylines to each seek to live. Everyone goes away from the day with some bigger picture stuff to think about, but also practical and actionable steps to get started.
We then meet monthly as a group for an hour and a half session, at a regular slot to be agreed by the group (either a monthly evening slot, 7-8.30pm or a monthly weekend morning slot, 9.30-11am). In this time everyone has a chance to check in and share a bit about how they're doing. There is no pressure to 'achieve' (or even to stick with the same idea!) or to present perfection and you'll be encouraged to share your challenges as well as your successes. Each month we think through a different theme and also have a chance to either go through a reflective or practical exercise as a group, designed to help participants make progress in their stories. These times have been amazing, offering a chance to build relationships, get an arm round the shoulder or a friendly kick up the backside (depending what you want/need) and a chance in the month to pause and think about where you're heading.
At the end of our twelve months, we then get together one final time for a half-day workshop looking back at the last twelve months, and thinking about future steps. This is a chance to think through our learning and growth of the year, think about what's gone well and what we would have liked to have been different. There is a strong focus on reflection on this day, but rooted in the here and now. The aim is that the reflection that happens here propels and encourages us for another new year just around the corner.
It's not fancy or frilly, and we can't promise that your life will be perfect by the end of the process, but we do believe we can help you move forward, wherever you're at. We've found that reflection, intentional thinking/planning, honesty, action and, crucially, meaningful relationships make a pretty powerful and beautiful mix.
Some of the practical helps requests at one of our coffees.
Get to know others who are wanting to make progress - this year we've seen some amazing and deep friendships form along the way.
Thought provoking and encouraging workshops that help you start the year well.
Finding focus - It's so easy to lose sight of where we're going or for good intentions to get squeezed out as life gets busy. Live a Good Story ensures you have regular space to reflect on your progress and think about your way forward.
Practical support from a diverse group of people with a wide skill and knowledge base.
Gentle accountability through the year that helps you to keep going. A nurturing and encouraging environment that makes it safe to share setbacks as well as victories means that people can be themselves, and get help with what really matters to them.
14th September 2019: All day workshop on Living a Good Story. Facilitated by Dave Perrins. Looking back at our own stories and understanding where we've come from, reflecting on where we are at now, and looking forwards to the stories we want to live in the year ahead. We'll eat lunch together, start getting to know one another and each go away with new insights on ourselves as well as practical plans for the storylines we want to live out through the year.
October 2019-July 2020: Monthly coffee meet-ups. Each session offers group members a chance to catch up and update one another, and provides space for reflection and offering support to one another. We also have a bit of input in each session, giving everyone something to think about and help along the journey. Among the topics we looked at this were getting the right people along on the journey, looking after yourself, where to find practical support and finding/keeping focus, but every group is different, and topics will be tailored and adapted according to the needs of the group.
August or early September 2020: Half-day workshop - The year just passed. A chance to look back at the stories of our years and considering our paths forward. The half-day has a focus on reflection with a practical outcome and real takeaways for next year. What has gone well? What could have been better? What did we learn about ourselves? Where have we found growth? How will we use our learning from the year just gone to make the coming year even better? It's also a chance for everyone to de-brief and celebrate the year just gone, as well as make plans for staying in touch. Over the last couple of years some really strong and supportive friendships have formed, and we are sure the same will happen in this time round too.
"I can't recommend this enough. It's probably the best piece of personal development I've invested in for a long time. Been on an amazing journey with a brilliant group of people, had loads of space for reflection, growth - it's been a real gift! It's super cheap, for anyone and pretty life affirming. Seriously, if you're looking for something you'd like to do to explore yourself; to think deeper about your path; to meet people; to build in reflection space, then consider getting yourself on this course!"
Live a Good Story came up for me during a time of big change in my life. I have really appreciated the gentle safety net and the feeling of accountability regarding my plans. I have wavered and strayed from my goals but I am generally heading in the right direction. LAGS is a unique concept where you benefit from the group ideas and support as well as Dave's thought provoking activities and genuine desire to help others achieve their goals and dreams.
"A year ago my husband and I moved back to Sussex with the intention of living more creatively and with more of a sense of community around us than we had done in the years before. We decided to do Live a Good Story to help us achieve those aims: to have some accountability and to hopefully meet some interesting new people. My hopes have been more than realised! The initial day was a great way to get started, to reflect and be open with each other in a safe space. Even if life and our initial plans didn't go how we expected, more than anything it's been encouraging and affirming to note and share progress, challenges and changes along the way. Best of all I've made some great friends that I look forward to journeying with beyond this year."
Live a Good Story costs £145. That covers the whole year - two workshops and ten monthly meet-ups. If paying that in one go is an issue, and you need to pay in installments, please get in touch and let us know and we can make an arrangement that suits you. We've sought to make Live A Good Story as affordable as possible, which we've been able to do with the help of our friends at Upstream Ideas who have subsidised the cost of the programme. Upstream have also kindly made a small bursary available to offer a discounted price to a limited number of people in financial need (email us for more info).
Want to join a community of like minded people all following their own paths forward?
Interested in finding out how the idea of story can play a powerful role in following your passions?
Are you working on a new story/project and would appreciate peer support and accountability?
Want to meet interesting people and build community?
Or do you just want to try and work out what you're meant to be doing with your life?
Sounding good? It's always exciting to join with the small band of us who will go on this journey together. On a personal level I look forward to adventuring together with groups through the ups and downs, building bonds and moving together towards living better stories. Make the stuff that matters happen in 2019. Find community. Make progress on your journey. Join us for Live a Good Story in 2019.
Still want more info? Get in touch with us at hello@sysbrighton.co.uk and we'd be happy to answer your questions.


When you're attempting to buy something and the price isn't fixed, here are three steps you can take that will generally result in a lower price.
First of all, listen very carefully to the salesperson's proposal, and ask all the questions you can think of.
Second, tell them that you appreciate all the time they've taken with you, but tell the salesperson that it's not exactly what you're looking for.
This might not result in the lowest price that the salesperson is willing to offer, but it will quite often be very close to the lowest price.
Furthermore, when negotiating, never say, "Yes," to the first offer. Always ask for more than you expect to get.
Make it a habit to flinch at the other side's proposal. If you accept the first offer, the other person will feel like they could've done better and they'll feel cheated.
Furthermore, never offer to split the difference. Wait for the other side to offer to split the difference and then, ask them to split the difference again.
For example: If they want $60 for an item and if you're offering $40, don't be the one to suggest $50. Let them suggest $50, and then you split what's left and offer $45. Even if they don't accept $45, if you're willing to pay $50, then they still feel as though they've won.
It's not only important to get a good price, but it's also important to make the other person feel good about the transaction.
Let me give you a good example of winning at price, but feeling like a loser.
I don't remember the exact details, but I remember the feeling, and here's the basic story.
I was in a shop and something was marked $80. I said, "Would you accept $45?
Without any hesitation, the person said, "Absolutely".
I got it for the price I had offered, but I certainly felt like I could've gotten it for less, and I walked away feeling like I'd been taken advantage of.
So one more time, when you're negotiating, make it a habit to flinch, let the other person split the difference, and make sure the other person feels good about the transaction.
After all, this is what winners do, and you are a winner, and given enough time, you WILL win! Yes, you ARE a winner!
Hi, this is Don Howe, and the topic for this Golden Nugget is "Negotiation", and I've got a couple of tips for you when it comes to negotiating.


text:
Bojana Jovanovski Petrović – sendo Jovanovski o sobrenome de solteira – (Belgrado, 31 de Dezembro de 1991) é uma ex-tenista profissional sérvia, que atingiu o 32º lugar em simples como melhor ranking.

Entre 2016 e 2017, passou por três cirurgias que a fizeram deixar a carreira esportiva por suspenso. Durante o período, em novembro de 2016, casou-se com o namorado Miloš Petrović. No retorno ao circuito, em fevereiro de 2018, no WTA de São Petersburgo, estreou o sobrenome de casada, Jovanovski Petrović.

Jovanovski ainda jogaria até o final da temporada, fazendo o derradeiro jogo no WTA de Tianjin. Na época, saiu na imprensa que ela havia se aposentado, mas o fato só foi oficialmente formalizado em novembro de 2021.

WTA finais

Simples: 4 (2 títulos, 2 vices)

WTA 125 series

Simples: 1 (1 título)

Fed Cup

Vice: 1 (0–1)

Ligações externas

Tenistas da Sérvia
Naturais de Belgrado


Can you tell me how to make my custom logo looking straight?? It has some kind of padding applied, I dont know how to remove it.
If it's http://fachowabudowa.pl/ like you mentioned in your previous post on https://premium.wpmudev.org/forums/topic/moving-bp-daily-nav-bars then the logo doesn't have any padding itself.
However I can see that you are using the bpdaily theme and it ads a padding of 10px in your entire header region.
without changing mother css file??
Can you guide me through?
Do you already have a child theme? If so, where is it located?
(you'll notice it's different than the code I posted earlier... it's better this way).
The http://fachowabudowa.pl/wp-content/themes/bp-daily/_inc/css/child.css file is still the way it was before, no change.


text:
The Last Drop - 1970 Glenrothes Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Only 3 bottles available in Singapore
Limited Release: 286 Bottles Worldwide
The third and final release in The Last Drop's trilogy of single malt Scotch whiskies from the Glenrothes Distillery. These three single casks have matured like members of the same family: the same genes, but subtle differences too.
These three single casks of Glenrothes Single Malt Scotch Whisky were filled into cask on 6th December 1970. They have since spent their lives maturing in the same barrels. The relationship between each individual cask, the distillate and the surrounding air brings about a marvellous alchemy with each cask yielding a whisky that is slightly different from those around it.
Presentation: Leather box with an additional 50ml taster bottle & tasting booklet
Tasting notes by Mark Gillespie
"If you've ever had a campfire interrupted by rain, you're familiar with the smell of smoky, wet wood. That's the first note I get on the nose of this whisky, along with vanilla, cooked bananas, a hint of sandalwood, and touches of dried fruits. The taste is fruity and vibrant on top with fresh berries and tropical fruits. However, there's also a dark undertone of oak tannins and smoke balanced by gentle spices underneath that makes this single malt delightfully complex. The finish is very long with gentle spices and touches of fruit and smoke. Outstanding! (96 Points)"
Back to The Last Drop


Here are today�s top Carp Fishing Photos from top anglers around the globe. Our unique webpage will hunt the internet for the most carpy images and display them in order. To have your photo ranked please share your image on Instagram or Twitter and make sure you tag the image #oncarp.


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text:
Raoul Jules Rémy (* 25. Oktober 1919 in Marseille; † 26. Juni 2002 ebenda) war ein französischer Radrennfahrer und nationaler Meister im Radsport.

Sportliche Laufbahn
1943 wurde er nationaler Meister im Mannschaftszeitfahren. Von 1939 bis 1943 startete er als Unabhängiger. 1944 wurde Rémy Berufsfahrer im Radsportteam France-Sport. Er blieb bis 1957 aktiv.

Seine bedeutendsten Siege holte er in der Tour de France, er gewann 1948 und 1952 jeweils eine Etappe. 1947 siegte er im Etappenrennen Circuit de l'Indre. 1945 war er in dem Rennen Zweiter und 1945 Dritter geworden. Das Eintagesrennen Paris–Camembert gewann er 1948 vor Lucien Teisseire. Weitere Siege holte er in den Rennen Paris–Clermont-Ferrand 1950, Tour du Vaucluse und Grand Prix Nizza 1951, Circuit de la Haute-Savoie 1953 und Grand Prix de l'Écho d'Algier 1954. Etappensiege errang Rémy 1946 und 1954 bei Paris–Nizza, 1948 in der Tour de l'Ouest, 1950 in der Tour du Sud-Est, 1952 im Critérium du Dauphiné libéré und in der Vuelta a Mallorca 1956. 1953 wurde er Dritter im Rennen Lüttich–Bastogne–Lüttich.

Raoul Rémy bestritt alle Grand Tours.

Grand-Tour-Platzierungen

Weblinks

Radsportler (Frankreich)
Französischer Meister (Radsport)
Franzose
Sportler (Marseille)
Geboren 1919
Gestorben 2002
Mann


text:
Opéra National de Paris 2021-22 Review: Don Giovanni
Nicole Car, Adela Zaharia, Anna El-Khashem Shine in Unbalanced Cast
By Mauricio Villa
(Credit: Vincent Pontet)
Despite struggling with COVID's incredibly contagious Omicron variant and subsequent cancelations as a result, the Opéra National de Paris still managed to stage Mozart's masterpiece, "Don Giovanni." It was a performance par excellence, where all the primary soloists were, remarkably, able to perform — due to high infection rates it is becoming increasingly common for covers to step into soloist roles at the last minute— while the choir and extras all performed behind the safety of masks.
An Awe-Inspiring Cast
American bass baritone Christian van Horn portrayed the titular role. He possess a beautiful, dark, round timbre that navigates freely through the passages of this difficult role. He was the most audible of his male colleagues onstage, though his voice did not project to the same level as that of his female colleagues. This had the effect of leaving his sound in "second place" when singing with the sopranos or in ensembles.
He offered up an exquisite lyrical interpretation of the famous duet "La ci darem la mano," with a soaring mezza voce, however. He had perfect diction and intonation on the devilishly difficult aria "Fin ch'han dal vino," where conductor Bertrand de Billy chose a modest tempo that favored the singer. Van Horn was consequently able to overcome the forte sound of the orchestra on such tremendous lines as "Se trovi in piazza qualche ragazza," written constantly above the stave between C and E flat. This is a dangerous zone for low voices and an area which Van Horn sang through with determination, strength, and flexibility.
He seemed to have trouble in his second act aria "Deh vieni alla finestra," however. I cannot be sure if his voice was not in top form on this night, or if he was tired, but he had trouble singing mezza voce above the stave, appearing to lack air, with some sounds coming across as unstable. This aria is very difficult because the voice is completely exposed: it has only a mandolin for accompaniment alongside pizzicato strings, all the while demanding the performer sing in a high tessitura. It didn't feel like the right fit for his voice.
Conversely, his singing comes across powerful and exciting when taking on the more dramatic moments, as was seen in his incredible rendition of the final scene and his confrontation with the Commendatore. He even delivered an nearly impossible sustained high A natural, a note which is entirely out of the range of most bass-baritones, and that only a few baritones dare to attempt after a long night onstage. This is a note which has been interpolated by tradition, and it is not written in the score.
Polish bass Krzysztof Baczyk portrayed Leoporello. He has a beautiful bright bass timbre, but he lacked projection and his voice sounded distant, often hidden by the voices of his female colleagues. The tessitura of the role proved to be uncomfortable for the singer, and it showed in his first aria, "Madamina, el catalogo è questo," which navigates constantly between high D and E. Here Baczyk was over-darkening and covering the sound, making constant changes in his timbre and muffled high notes. This character is ideal for a bass-baritone, and therefore any bass is very brave to attempt such a demanding role for his voice. I am confident that in lower roles that do not require excessive use of the upper register, Baczyk's voice is freer and more voluminous.
That said, he gave a very personal and intelligent portrayal of Leoporello, avoiding any buffo cliches with believable acting. Most of Mozart's low voice roles for males were written for bass-baritones, as the tessitura seems too high for basses and too low for baritones.
Romanian soprano Adela Zaharia performed the role of Donna Anna. When one hears her big, velvety, round sound, it is hard to believe that she has Lucia, Gilda, Konstanze and Bellini's Elvira in her repertoire. Her voice sounds lyrical, and her projection is mesmerizing. One could hear her voice above the rest of the singers in the ensembles. She delivered an exquisite version of her first act aria, "Or sai chi l'onore," with her homogeneous velvet timbre ringing clearly and with incredibly well-supported crescendos in the several sustained A naturals that appear throughout the piece. She had the opportunity to show her bel canto technique in the roulades and staccato high notes of her second act aria, "Crudele!…non mi dir," which was performed impeccably and with great emotion.
From the first lines of her entrance aria, "Ah chi mi dice mai," it was clear that Australian soprano Nicole Car's interpretation of Donna Elvira was going to be a great success. She possess a lyric, dark voice with an incredible projection that envelopes the auditorium of Opéra Bastille. It did not matter where she was on the stage, her voice always sounded as if it was close to your ears. She had perfect breath control, with all the attacks of the notes being precise and clear. The scales that closed her aria were fluid up to three bright B flats. She was furious and menacing in "Ah fuggi il traditor," keeping her voice flexible and delivering well supported high A naturals. Her brave interpretation of "Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata" received the biggest ovation of the night.
In my opinion the voices of the two sopranos sounded very similar in timbre and volume and therefore there was no contrast between the two characters. Donna Elvira has been played by mezzo-sopranos, whose voices can be used to better-reflect the extreme desperation of her mental state, while Donna Anna is usually sung by lighter voiced sopranos, to reflect the purity and innocence of her character. But this distinction made through voice type does not always happen—as one can hear when listening to the the vast discography of this opera—and Paris Opera was no exception.
Belorussian tenor Pavel Petrov sang the role of Don Ottavio who, in the absence of his second aria "Il mio tesoro," is relegated to supporting lines, ensembles, and a single short aria. His voice seemed guttural, and he lacked projection, often sounding distant and small. He had trouble with Mozart's style of "clean attack" singing, and some intervals of his single aria "Dalla sua pace" were sung with timid portamenti. Petrov did this to ensure the sound was in the correct position, but it completely broke the fluidity of the line "Dalla sua pace, la mia dipende," as he prepared the high G before singing the consonants. To his credit he did deliver some pianissimo high G, however.
Russian soprano Anna El-Khashem sang the role of Zerlina with her sweet powerful crystalline voice and shone in a role that, although it has two arias and several duets, seems quite secondary after the strong personalities and shining arias of the two main sopranos. But it is the apparent simplicity of the vocal writing for this role which makes it very demanding and El-Khashem proved she was up to the task in style, with a pure clean attack of notes and fluid legato lines. She had the chance to show a darker side of this usually naïve character in the rarely performed duet with Leporello "Per queste tue manine," where Zerlina becomes aggressive and even sadistic.
Ukrainian bass Alexander Tsymbalyuk sang the short—yet important—role of Il Commendatore. He seemed too young for the role, and his voice gave him away. It was not well-suited for a basso-profondo. The psychological impression of this character, which Mozart transcribed with such great talent into his score, is one of a strong, voluminous voice that presents an older, upper class gentlemen, a father and a vengeful ghost. Tsymbalyuk's voice did not have the power, nor the projection, to sound menacing and strong. His sound is well-supported, and his timbre is even throughout his tessitura, and he is undeniably a good singer: I only believe that his voice was not ideal for such a strong, heavy role.
A Revolutionary Set Design
The Paris Opera presented a revival of their own production, directed by Ivo van Hove, which, along with set designs and lighting by Jan Versweyveld, costumes by An D'huys and projections by Christopher Ash, have created a powerful and meaningful adaptation of the famous myth of Don Juan.
The production's use of its theatrical resources is so well-balanced that every scene is a surprise and a thrill to see: something very uncommon in modern performances, where stage effects are often overused, making productions repetitive and tedious. The sets were three concrete buildings with numerous doors, windows and stairs. The buildings were in a constant state of movement throughout the entire first act, but the movement was so slow that it could not be perceived: one only realized that the perspective of the stairs and walls had changed after a while. The effect was subtle but left a terrific impression. In Act two the audience, having grown accustomed to this aspect of the set, received a shock when the Commendatore appeared and the buildings suddenly turned around with great speed, creating a claustrophobic, enclosed space that represented the imprisonment of Don Giovanni. There are projections, used only in this scene, depicting thousands of persons moving. The images enlarge as the scene progresses, to finally show a group of people in the mud moving against each other. The effect was electrifying. Sets and costumes are in grey and light brown, reflecting the moral decay of the protagonist.
The buildings appear with curtains, flowers, hanging clothes and plants bursting from their balconies, turning these monolithic concrete abstractions into a naturalistic environment. The concept works fantastically and the effect of the lighting on the constantly moving and changing sets creates a sense of infinite possibilities. Van Hove opted for a naturalistic acting approach, making the several comical moments of the opera believable, as well as Don Giovanni's final fight to save his soul from damnation.
French conductor Bertrand de Billy opted for a fast and frenzied tempi. The agile tempo of the Andante in the Overture marked the rhythm of the whole opera; he was precise with the dynamics and rallentando but always sustained a rapid tempo. This was in accordance with this opera as a whole: a performance Mozart classified as "dramma giocoso"—that is, a "comic play," as "drama" did not have the sense of tragedy that it would later attain.
The overture, the final scene of Act one and Don Giovanni's dinner in Act two were full of energy. De Billy knew he also had to obtain all the dramatism that the Paris Opera Orchestra could provide, in scenes like the beginning of the Overture, the killing of the Commendatore or the confrontation between Don Giovanni and the Commendatore—and this he executed perfectly. De Billy presented the Vienna version of the opera, which contains a single aria for Don Ottavio—"Dalla sua pace"—an extra buffo duet for Leoporello and Zerlina, and a new recitative for Donna Elvira before her second act aria "Mi tradi quellálma ingrata." But instead of ending the opera with Don Giovanni descending into hell, de Billy maintained the buffo and moralistic ending of the Prague version with a final ensemble. The Paris Opera orchestra shone in the pit and the choir accomplished its brief appearances with excellence.
Overall, it was a splendid, dramatic production with a great cast of singers where the female voices outshone their male colleagues.
ReviewsStage Reviews
Dutch National Opera Academy 2023 Review: L'Isola Disabitata, Arianna a Naxos & What Price Confidence?
Theater Basel 2022-23 Review: Rigoletto
Royal Opera House / Irish National Opera 2023 Review: Least Like The Other, Searching for Rosemary Kennedy


text:
Martin's Fantasy Island
copyright Jay Ducharme 2009
The second stop on our trip out to Ohio was in Grand Island, New York, next door to Niagara Falls. There was a small park that I had known about for many years but had never been to: Martin's Fantasy Island. I first heard about the park when the legendary Charlie Wood owned it. He bought the famous Comet roller coaster from Crystal Beach when that Ontario park closed, and he stored the entire structure at Fantasy Island before rebuilding the coaster at his other New York park, The Great Escape. After Wood sold Fantasy Island, the new owners built a new wood coaster, the Silver Comet, as an homage to the much-missed Crystal Beach ride.
We arrived on a cool and drizzly Thursday morning. The park was easy to get to, but it was set far back from the road and the entrance was easy to miss. There were very few cars in the parking lot, and a few buses. We brought our umbrella with us and walked over to the entrance. The woman at the ticket booth asked if we were with the school group. Karen told her that we weren't. The woman responded, "Oh, well let's just pretend that you are." She had us pay $10.50 each, less than half of the normal admission price. We were pleasantly surprised. Perhaps there were plans to close the park early because of the weather.
The entrance gates were simple but attractive, with a huge park logo above them. Inside the gates, we were greeted by lush landscaping, with trees, flowers and a stone fountain. To the left were some shops and the Fantasy Island Town Hall. To the right was the quaint train station. We decided to start there to get a view of the entire park. The train, the Iron Horse, was painted a Christmassy red and green and arrived with a few passengers. Each car had a roof over it, so at least we'd stay somewhat dry. The poor engineer, on the other hand, had only a raincoat.
It became evident that Charlie Wood's thumbprint was still everywhere in the park. Karen spotted a large figure on the other side of the train tracks: a sleeping giant on the lawn. There were charming and colorful figures like that scattered all around the park, much like Storyland. Children would no doubt find them delightful. We boarded our train and began our leisurely tour. The engineer commented that the park's owner told him not to drive too quickly, and he held to that. But it gave us plenty of time to take in the sights. We crossed a long wooden trestle that was sandwiched between a pond and a KOA campground that had an entrance directly into the park. The train then passed beside the imposing steel structure of the Silver Comet. The track seemed to twist itself into knots, with steep banking. After circling outside the Silver Comet's turnaround, the train came to rest at the back station. We chatted with the engineer while he waited for more passengers. Then we made the return trip at the same leisurely pace.
We thanked the engineer when we disembarked at the front station and we walked out onto the entry plaza. Behind the fountain was a replica of the Liberty Bell. Just beyond, at the center of the plaza, was a small beautifully landscaped carousel. There was no band organ, but the recorded music sounded good. There were many benches placed around the carousel so that people could sit and enjoy the sights and sounds. There were no takers on this day, however. We spotted more whimsical structures, from a trash can with a hippo's head to a water bubbler that was an open lion's mouth. The shops around the plaza were brightly colored and inviting. But what intregued us was a narrow stucco archway that led to a different area of the park. It reminded me of Great Escape's Ghost Town entrance. It turned out to be very similar.
The archway opened up onto an old west boomtown. There were various shops to our left and the Golden Nugget "saloon" to our right. A little further along was Miss Kitty's, a gift shop. We stopped in and the attendant was extremely friendly and chatty. In fact, all of the park's employees we encountered during our visit were extremely friendly. They all seemed happy to be there. I took note of some nice souvenirs and we headed back outside. In the distance was the small circular lake we had spotted from the train. It had an island in the middle with a teepee, an indian figure and other native american items. There were a few people paddling around the lake in aluminum canoes.
By this point it began to rain a little harder. We went back into Miss Kitty's and asked if they sold any ponchos. They did, at the bargain price of $1.99. So Karen and I each got one. It turned out to be more of a cape than a poncho. But it was better than carrying an umbrella around with us all day. So we got our hands stamped and returned to our car to put the umbrella away. Then we headed back to the boomtown section. Karen took the opportunity to place her goofy husband in stocks. We followed the winding shaded path down past the pond and then up toward the back area of the park. Geese were everywhere. And so was their excrement. In fact, I'd never before seen so many goose droppings. It was as if someone went nuts, throwing gobs of creamed spinach all over the midway. I guess every park had to have something unique. Conneaut Lake had skunks. Martin's Fantasy Island had geese, and everything that went with them.
The back area didn't have any real theming. It was more like a standard carnival midway. To the right, the Silver Comet blended in with the trees behind a giant slide. To the left, a new Zamperla Mega Disk'O sat near the Galaxy of Games and seemed to be quite popular, even in the rain. Behind the Disk'O was an impressive fountain in another pond. Further back along the midway were some fairly standard flat rides: a Shooting Star named Full Tilt, a Tilt-a-Whirl, a swing ride called Flight and a Zamperla spinning Crazy Mouse. The Mouse appeared to be a family-friendly version; the cars didn't start spinning until over halfway through the ride. Across the midway from the Mouse was an antique car ride, so Karen and I queued up for it. The course was fairly long but strangely barren. There was an overpass and an underpass, but nothing else except vast expanses of neatly manicured lawn. With so much colorful landscaping throughout the park, the antique cars felt somehow unfinished.
We headed past the empty Fairy Tale amphitheater and toward the station for the Silver Comet, which was celebrating its tenth birthday. The station was simply done with some art deco touches and a seemingly endless exit ramp at the front. Hardly anyone was there. Some new workers were being trained on it. Karen and I lined up for the front seat and boarded as soon as the train returned. We left our ponchos behind. The crew, even with trainees, was efficient and unfailingly pleasant. One of the operators talked with us about Crystal Beach: the fun houses, the Giant Coaster and the Comet. We pulled out of the station with a steady mist coming down. The ride was built by Custom Coasters, but going up that lift felt like I was on the PTC Comet from Crystal Beach. We swiftly crested the lift hill and plunged down the first drop, which was steeper than we expected. The track appeared to have been recently greased; the rain had beaded up on it. The train flew across the tracks with impressive speed. The second hill, a double-down, produced surprisingly strong airtime, as did the turnaround. After that, all hell broke loose. The train dove into the twisted center section. We were violently tossed from one side of the train to the other. The whole rest of the ride was a festival of outrageous lateral G forces. We returned to the station wet but laughing hysterically. When the train stopped, no one was in line for the front. The ride operators asked us if we wanted to go again, and we couldn't refuse that offer. So we glided toward the lift hill once again. The coaster was just as fun the second time, probably more fun since we could prepare ourselves for the extreme forces.
I was surprised I hadn't heard more good things about the Silver Comet over the years. It certainly held its own again many other wooden coasters I've ridden and became one of my favorites. It was punchy, though. And after two successive rides, Karen and I took a break. We strolled along a quiet path between the pond and the train tracks and emerged in a storybook area that looked very much like the old Storyland. There was a Jack and the Beanstalk display. There was Monstro the Whale whose opened mouth was actually a small stage where children could listed to the story of Pinocchio while looking inside at a diorama. There was a similar display for the story of Aladdin. Besides the usual assortment of kiddie rides in that area, there was also a petting zoo. But given the weather, hobnobbing with wet goats didn't particularly interest us (nor, apparently, anyone else).
Nearby was the humorously named Basgetti's pizza and pasta house. We entered, mainly to escape the rain. And after we entered, the sky opened up and it began to pour. Inside Basgetti's, Father Time's Story Time puppet show was in progress with a character that looked suspiciously like Kermit the Frog. Humorously, the puppet claimed to be Kermit's distant cousin. The stage area had seating where kids could watch the show as they ate. The offerings were pretty standard fare. I got a large slice of cheese pizza and steamed vegetables. Karen got a salad and a slice of garlic bread (which was a piece of Texas toast with a slab of cheese on it). The pizza and salad were tasty. The steamed vegetables were really good. The garlic bread, not so much. We ate at a relaxed pace, waiting for the rain to stop. Basgetti's was decorated with wall paintings depicting scenes from Disney's Lady and the Tramp. Overall, it was a nice indoor eatery that kids would enjoy.
The rain let up so we ventured back outside. Next to Basgetti's was the Fantasy Island Birthday House, a small building with picnic tables inside. That was a great way to make children feel special, having a birthday at an amusement park in their very own house. Karen wanted to try the canoes, so we headed around to the pond. As we approached, we could hear music from the western town area. The Wild West Shoot-out was about to start. So we stood near Miss Kitty's to watch. A small crowd had gathered, kept contained by a roped-off area around the midway. The story unfolded over a recorded soundtrack: an inexperienced deputy was left alone to defend a town from a band of hooligans who of course were like the three stooges, comical and completely non-threatening. Oddly, only one hooligan appeared (though the soundtrack repeatedly referred to three). He rode into town in bizarre fashion on a horse's head, whipping a tail behind him. To prove how ruthless he was, he threw the head into the air, pulled out a gun and shot it as it fell to the pavement. It was truly bizarre, but the kids seemed to enjoy it. The deputy then had to recruit an audience member in restraining the bad guy(s). It was very much like the old Windy Bill shows at the Great Escape.
No one was at the canoe ride, so Karen and I walked down the hill to the station. The canoes were equipped with pontoons to steady them. We were each given a life jacket and an oar. We climbed into the canoe and began paddling around the lake. It was really peaceful and relaxing. I hadn't been canoeing in years and it took me a while to get the hang of it. But it was fun just the same and a nice change from paddle boats. We drifted around the island. There appeared to have once been a bridge going out to it from the mainland, but all that was left were the pylons. Next to the pylons was an old blacksmith cabin, but it seemed abandoned. We returned to the station and Karen asked if we could go around again. The attendants cheerily waved us on. So we made two more laps around the island and then returned to the station.
The rain had finally let up, so we headed back for the Silver Comet and took another great ride in the front seat. That time the ride seemed to have gained even more speed and the lateral forces seemed even stronger. After that ride, since we were fairly wet anyway, we decided to try out the park's log flume, Old Mill Scream. It was located at the extreme back, hidden from view down a long path. On the way there we passed by the Ferris wheel, which didn't seem to be operating. The attendants at the flume seemed happy to see us. If it weren't for the small sign and path (and the map), no one would know the ride existed -- though I'm sure on a hot sunny day, people would find it. We boarded and were carried up the first small lift hill. We splashed down and got mildly wet. We then began a short winding course toward the big lift hill. Like the antique cars, the log flume seemed unfinished. It was set in the middle of a giant lawn next to a road with no trees or theming of any kind. I guess that was better than setting it on asphalt.... We climbed the big lift, which was no more than thirty feet, and splashed down again, getting a bit more wet. It was a fun, if short, ride. It was ironic that we ended up so wet after the rain had stopped.
We walked back toward the entrance and stopped into a few gift shops along the way. The General Store had a nice selection of Silver Comet memorabilia, including commenorative pieces of track. There were pins and magnets and tee shirts. So Karen and I stocked up. We walked back onto the plaza and took a path we hadn't noticed before. It brought us to another colorful kiddieland and the park's miniature golf course, which appeared to have no one on duty. But by that point we were cold and wet and decided to call it a day.
In spite of the drizzly weather, Karen and I had a great time at Martin's Fantasy Island. There was a large waterpark area as well, and we look forward to returning on a more sunny day. Even so, our spirits weren't dampened. And that says a lot about the park. The Silver Comet was a fantastic coaster. But I think what mattered most to us was the park's innocent charm. It made us feel like little kids again. And after all, that's really why we go to amusement parks.
We spent Thursday evening at the Holiday Inn Express in Grand Island, NY. Our room was on the top floor with a stunning view of the Niagara River. We went for a relaxing walk along the dock area. We were surrounded by barn swallows, flitting about, bat-like, grabbing insects. The barn swallows had created nests in the corners of the hotel's balconies. There were notices in the hotel rooms not to disturb the nests because the birds were a protected species. From our window, we watched as a barn swallow repeatedly went out for food and then returned to feed its young. It was a perfect ending to our stay at Fantasy Island.
Return to Karen and Jay's Excursions


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Q: Identify which ViewController got popped I have a mainViewController containing a tableView and each cell pushes a specific customViewController. When it gets popped I want to trigger different function. So my question is how to I identify the viewController that got popped after it got popped.
The first log reads
lastObject = Optional(<Project.ViewController: 0x61900009c480>) but in general the idea does not work. Cannot find anything similar on the web. Any ideas? Thanks in advance
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
print("lastObject = \(String(describing: (self.navigationController?.viewControllers.last)))")

if ((navigationController?.viewControllers.last?.isKind(of:WebViewController.self)) == true){
        print("last is web")

    }else{
print("is not web")
}

A: Only way is you could subclass the UINavigationController and override - popViewControllerAnimated. I haven't tried this yet, but possibly a solution.
Maybe not a best solution but for an temp solution:
If you have have very less cell in the UITableView then you could save the ViewController name in UserDefaults when the viewController is popped and validate the name in the viewDidAppear of mainViewController
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
   if (UserDefaultsValue == "FirsViewController"){
     print("last is FirsViewController")
   } else if(UserDefaultsValue == "SecondViewController") {
     print("last is SecondViewController")
   }
}

A: Create one protocol for all controllers something like this
protocol WhichPoppedDelegate: class {
func controllerDidPopped(controller: UIViewController)
}

assign delegates for each in mainContorller and just call that protocol before you call
navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)

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