Rose B made some amazing changes in just 77 days! Actually, we think these photos don't quite do it justice. The additional muscle tone that comes out in the gym is beyond impressive! Congrats Rose!
"I have struggled with my weight since my early 20's; and I have never been "little." Starting at age 22, I have been through personal trainers, fitness classes, gym memberships, and had given into buying home exercise machines - I just got bored and failed miserably. I was actually to the point where I thought I was "ok" with my weight. But I was never truly happy, I was just giving up - Until I found Ki'netik. Ki'netik has given me a whole new outlook on fitness. I started at Ki'netik as an employee and was asked to try the workouts so that I could speak first-hand to potential members. I did that and I absolutely loved them, but I never really gave it my all until we started the 8 week challenge in January. Stepping on that scale, to be honest, was a little scary. My weigh in? 182 lbs. 182 lbs!! Really? I honestly couldn't believe I weighed that much. I had to do something.
My experience with Ki'netik Fitness began when my wife (who is also a member) took it upon herself to sign me up for a training program that Ki'netik was offering in preparation for the 2012 Pittsburgh half marathon. She had been a member for almost 2 years at that point and had seen great success, so I (reluctantly) agreed to participate. When I walked through the doors at Ki'netik fitness, I weighed in at 258 lbs and it had been almost 6 years since I was involved in any type of regular exercise program. I knew that first workout would be tough but having been an athlete most of my life, and no stranger to the gym, I felt confident that I could handle it. Tough was an understatement to say the least and that confidence was shaken rather quickly. Looking back on it, I realized that this first workout was a crossroads for me. Had it been in an environment where I felt alone, I don't know if I could have gotten over the realization of how out of shape I had become.


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10 Amazing Architectural Feats In Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a culmination of traditional Chinese architecture, 'supertall' skyscrapers and colonial Western buildings. Contemporary Hong Kong is growing upwards in order to facilitate the dense population and the corporate demands of the financial industry.
Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Headquarters
The project, executed from 1979 to 1986, remains one of the most architecturally significant buildings in contemporary Hong Kong. Foster + Partners succeeded in redefining generic towers by opting for a design which incorporates Hong Kong's identity, culture and characteristics. The architects considered the building's Feng Shui, as well as the experiences of the bankers within. The building's atrium and the open plan internal spaces means natural sunlight is drawn into all corners of the building.The prefabricated modules and suspension structure informed the shape which evolved into three separate towers at heights of twenty-nine, thirty six and forty-four stories, facilitating garden terraces.
Foster + Partners are a worldwide esteemed architecture film, who have over the years directed their architectural ethos to prioritize a sustainable approach. First established in 1967, Foster + Partners have won national and international awards, and their practice continues to be instrumental in shaping the contemporary architectural discipline.
The main entry point into Hong Kong is Hong Kong International Airport designed by Foster + Partners completed in 1998. Foster + Partners tucked all the service installations and technical equipment away from view, locating them beneath the thoroughfare. This simplified the main internal space and freed up design options, with the architects committing to a lightweight, vaulted roof structure. With natural light flooding through the roof and the vast, uninterrupted space, movement is uninhibited and the stress of travelling eliminated. Foster + Partners are continually modifying the airport and have completed an upscale of the first and business lounges. The interior design sees luxurious pockets of privacy, and with this the architects reinforce how airports are more than a point of transition.
International Finance Centre
The current architectural phenomenon sees architects competing for the title of the tallest building, racing each other to reach the clouds. The term skyscraper simply does not suffice anymore, so these mammoth buildings have been coined 'supertall skyscrapers'. The International Commerce Centre (ICC) is part of this elite club, reaching 484 meters into the sky, designed by the Argentine-American architect César Pelli.
Looking out to sea, the ICC is located by the new Kowloon station, soon to be part of a the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD). WKCD is an initiative for growth and development in Hong Kong's art and culture sector. M+ will a major attraction in this district, focusing on 20th and 21st century art, design and architecture. WKCD is an investment in the long term cultural infrastructure of the city, as it will culturally diversify it as well as create a dynamic hub where people can gather and socialize.
I.M.Pei's Bank of China Tower is one of the tallest buildings in Hong Kong. Instantly recognizable, its angular and crystallized form was made possible due to the cross bracing and triangular framework of the building. The building itself is ingrained with symbolic gestures; an outstretched hand to the British colony and a visual metaphor referring to the direction of China's future.
The distinctive form is clad in reflective mirrors, forming a relationship between the contextual city and the Bank of China Tower. However, Feng Shui, prevalent in Chinese architecture, disputes this architectural element believing the mirrors absorb the surrounding positive energy and emit negative energy instead.
Lippo Centre
Nicknamed the Koala building, the distinctive design brings a sculptural quality to Hong Kong's urban landscape. The jutting geometric forms of this modular construction present functional design features like viewing platforms and elevated walkways. The architect Paul Marvin Rudolph had a vision for the Lippo Centre which saw bridges connecting the building internally and to the rest of the city. Some of these bridges were never realised but they remain an important theoretical subsection to the building. Rudolph often worked with modular constructions, and was known for his early brutalist work. The Lippo Centre sees the continuation of his style, yet with a progression of materiality as he utilizes reflective mirrors on the facade of the building. The combination of the reflective glass and the forms extruding from the facade playfully capture the nature and movement of light.
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
The Hong Kong Cultural Centre hosts dances, exhibitions, operas, concerts and theater with a firm impact on the cultural identity of Hong Kong. The building itself, previously described as a giant ski ramp, hit a barrage of mixed reviews when it opened in 1989. Its location on Victoria Harbour was ignored and the architects designed a windowless structure, with the exceptions of one slither of glass. Ignoring its context was as much a statement as the form of this distinctive building. The building was built before the British handed Hong Kong back to China and therefore becomes a trace of colonial history.
Chi Lin Nunnery
Juxtaposed with 'supertall' skyscrapers, there remains pockets of traditional Chinese architecture within Hong Kong. Founded in 1934, Chi Lin Nunnery was renovated in the Tang dynasty style in 1990, and is a complex of temples, statues, gardens, ponds and restaurants. The Tang dynasty (AD 618-907) helped shape contemporary China due to its progressive cultural and economic identity and its structured ruling. Similarly to the economy of this era, the architecture prospered as well. Buildings were constructed with timber frames marrying the recognizable aesthetics with the structural framework, and this style can be found within Chi Lin Nunnery.
Other areas of traditional interest include Mo Man temple, Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery and the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. Students would gather at Mo Man temple to worship the Man (God of Literature) and Mo (God of War). The Ten thousand Buddha Monastery completed in 1957 is a collection of Buddhist temples, with no resident monks. The ascent up hundreds of steps leads visitors past endless gold Buddha statues, each one slightly different from the last towards the Main Hall which houses over twelve thousand Buddha statues.
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
Perched on the edge of Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) looks blissfully out to sea. When constructed, the building included one of the world's largest glass curtains, and the form of the aluminium roof symbolically resonates a bird launching into flight. The HKCEC held the historical Handover Ceremony on 30th June 1997 when Britain returned Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.
The building houses exhibition halls, convention halls, theaters, restaurants and has gained acclaim for its outstanding use of space. Its architect Larry Oltmanns has executed major projects during his career including the renovation of Euston Station, London.
Tong Lau
Tong Lau, often referred to as tenement housing, is a style of architecture found in areas throughout China and Hong Kong. The condition of the individual cities helped decipher the tenement design, making each style dependent on its localized region. Tong Lau are typically three to five stories high, with balconies overlooking the street and constructed in repetitive blocks; a suitable resolution for overcrowding.
There has been a recent uprising due to Hong Kong's Urban Renewal Authority who plan to knock down Tong Lau, replacing them with modern buildings. Residents have been opposing this, believing Tong Lau interjects a unique and historical quality pivotal to Hong Kong's identity.
Legislative Council Building
Hong Kong was under British administration until 1997, when it was handed over to China. There still remain important architectural sites which act as visual reminders this piece of history. In 1912 British architect Sir Aston Webb completed the Legislative Building. Having designed the eastern facade of Buckingham Palace and assisted with Victoria and Albert Museum in London he was well versed in Western architecture, transporting this to Hong Kong. The grand and elegant neo-classical building is famed for its elegant ionic columns.
Other notable monuments of colonial history include the Clock Tower, the Government House, and the Central Police Station. The Clock Tower for example, was built in 1915 and is the only survivor of the former Kowloon Station.

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New campaign launched to fund pioneering children's heart surgery theatre in Leeds
An inspiring new campaign is being launched to help generate the vital funds needed to build a revolutionary children's heart theatre at the Leeds General Infirmary.
The Keeping the Beat campaign, created by Leeds charity, Children's Heart Surgery Fund, aims to raise £500,000 over the next two years. The charity has already committed £1.25 million to the project and now the public's support is needed to ensure it becomes a reality.
The new theatre is being created in response to new NHS standards which are being implemented by centres across the country and Leeds's desire to stay at the forefront of cardiac treatment. The Leeds Congenital Heart Unit is the fourth busiest in the country, with at least 10,000 babies and children from Yorkshire, Humber and North Lincolnshire passing through it every year, with around 400 of these patients having open heart surgery, and a further 450 children undergoing interventional procedures such as pacemakers and catheters.
As well as open heart surgery, the children's heart theatre will be used for delivering all minimally invasive heart procedures by cardiac catheter on babies and children with congenital heart disease.
Isabella Cook, 18, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire was born with numerous congenital heart conditions and has undergone two highly complex surgeries, the first one when she was just 5 years old
Isabella Cook, 18, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire was born with numerous congenital heart conditions and has undergone two highly complex surgeries, the first one when she was just 5 years old.
She and her family are prolific fundraisers, organising multiple events over the past few years including an annual Halloween Ball. In total, the family has raised £150,000.00 for the Children's Heart Surgery Fund, the majority of which has been spent on specialist equipment. In a twist of fate, during Isabella's last operation, she was treated with a piece of equipment which her fundraising had paid for.
Isabella was born with multiple heart conditions including transposition of the great ventricles, double outlet right ventricle, interrupted aortic arch and the extremely rare Dextrocardia, a condition which caused her heart to develop on the wrong side of her body.
She underwent her first Fontan surgery when she was five years old and had her final Fontan Procedure aged 15 years old.
After the very complex second operation she went into renal failure and her family were unsure of whether or not she would recover.
Isabella's mum says: "I think the only reason Isabella pulled through that experience was because both the cardiac and renal teams were the same building, only a floor apart in the LGI and because of the healthcare professionals working so effectively."
Isabella has now recovered and is being closely monitored by the hospital as an outpatient.
Isabella's mum continues: "We are so proud of Isabella; she's a fighter and such an inspiration to her two sisters and all of the children fighting congenital heart disease. We're really pleased to be able to tell her story and also to support the great work that the charity does."
Isabella adds: "I was really to be involved in the Keeping the Beat Gallery event and to help launch the campaign, as the fund has affected me directly. I want to do what I can to help support Children's Heart Surgery Fund and the work they do – I'm not sure where I would be today if it weren't for the great work they do."
Isabella's picture will be on display as part of the gallery event taking place at the Leeds Club on 19th May.
For patients, the benefits of having such a theatre include faster recovery times, shorter hospital waiting times and less post-operative pain, while it will also enable surgeons and cardiologists to undertake combined procedures and reduce the need for return surgery. Importantly, it will also provide clinicians with a facility which enables research into new treatments.
To launch the campaign, an event is being held on 19 May 2017 at the Leeds Club where key stakeholders from across the city will hear more about the benefits the theatre will deliver and why it is so important in ensuring Leeds remains a leading centre for cardiac surgery and care. To bring to life just how important current services are, the event will also feature a gallery of images, showcasing patients and their heart surgery scars, and their stories of how the life-saving treatment they received changed their lives for the better.
Sharon Coyle, CEO of Children's Heart Surgery Fund said: There's no doubt that Leeds currently boasts one of the best heart units anywhere in the UK, with patients travelling not just from within Yorkshire but also from outside the region to take advantage of the pioneering surgery and care it provides.
Over the next two years, Children's Heart Surgery Fund's focus is to support the new standards created by NHS England, with the children's heart theatre being the biggest and most expensive standard amongst the 200 set out by the new review.
By supporting our appeal and donating, the public will help to ensure that Leeds remains at the fore front of specialist cardiac surgical facilities and continues to provide excellent care to all the babies and children for generations to come.
As part of the launch, the family of a one-year old patient from Bingley will be presenting a cheque for £31,000 to the charity.
Albie Carroll was diagnosed with congenital heart disease when he was eight weeks old and received treatment at the Leeds General Infirmary in February last year. He underwent major surgery to treat four holes in his heart, coarctation of the aorta and slight hypoplastic left heart.
Albie's mother, Freya Carroll, said: There is nothing more terrifying for a parent than to hear your child's life is at risk. Even though we were being faced with something so awful when Albie was diagnosed last year, we were quickly made aware that we were in the best possible place and the help and support that the Children's Heart surgery Fund gave to us throughout our experience of Albie's treatment was invaluable.
It was during our time in hospital that we decided we needed to give something back and raise as much money as possible for the children's heart surgery fund. We've done this by holding different fund raisers, taking part in physical challenges and hosting a charity ball.
We want the charity to continue to help families like us. We are thrilled that the money raised is going towards a new state of the art theatre, knowing that out of such heart ache and such a hard situation we have been able to do something positive.
To get involved and support this appeal donate online at chsf.org.uk, or text BEAT02 £10 to 70070. People are also encouraged to set up their own fundraising event or challenge.
More information about the campaign and latest updates on how it is progressing can be found at chsf.org.uk or via the charity's Facebook page or through its Twitter feed @CHSurgeryFund. People can tweet their support using #Keepingthebeat.


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Taiwanese professor says Wuhan coronavirus likely man-made
National Taiwan University professor says Wuhan coronavirus could be synthetic
291731 Tweet
Microscopic illustration of COVID-19. (gettyimages) Microscopic illustration of COVID-19. (gettyimages)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As the Wuhan coronavirus continues to spread like wildfire across the globe, a National Taiwan University (NTU) professor on Saturday (Feb. 22) said the virus is likely man-made, based on its unusual structure.
At a seminar on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) hosted by the Taiwan Public Health Association at NTU, Fang Chi-tai (方啟泰), a professor at NTU's College of Public Health, addressed the many theories circulating that the virus somehow leaked from or was released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology biosafety level 4 laboratory (BSL-4 Lab). He said that what is known is that there are many deadly viruses being researched in the facility, such as SARS and Ebola, and that China's track record with safety standards and laboratory management has been questioned in the past.
Fang said that COVID-19 is 96 percent similar to the bat virus RaTG13, which is known to be housed at the lab. Fang said that this in itself is not a smoking gun, as a genetic similarity of 99 percent would be required to declare them to be the same.
He said that a French team investigating COVID-19 had found that the key difference between RaTG13 and COVID-19 was that the latter has four additional amino acids not found in any other coronaviruses. Fang said that these four amino acids make the disease easier to transmit.
Fang said that the French team's findings had led some in the scientific community to speculate that Chinese scientists thought the SARS outbreak 17 years ago was too easy to deal with, so they developed an "upgraded version." He said that with modern technology, such an "upgrade" is theoretically possible.
The professor said that viruses normally only have small mutations in the form of singular changes in natural conditions. He asserted that in nature, it is "unlikely to have four amino acids added at once."
Fang concluded, "Therefore, from an academic point of view, it is indeed possible that the amino acids were added to COVID-19 in the lab by humans." He said that it is also still possible that this occurred in nature but that "the chances are very slim."
Fang stressed that the mutations found in the novel coronavirus are "unusual in an academic sense." He asserted that "It is indeed possible that it is a man-made product."
He said that it would be critical to conduct an internal investigation of the records at BSL-4 Lab. However, given the opaque nature of the current regime in Beijing, he said such a public inquest into the lab's records looks highly unlikely in the near future.
On the positive side, Fang said that if it is an artificially generated virus, it means it does not occur naturally in the ecosystem. Therefore, after the last patient is cured, it should not become a seasonal illness such as the flu, which is generated naturally in the environment.
However, renowned Taiwanese-American professor Ching Lin on Feb. 1 refuted a similar theory being circulated that it was "bioweapon" created by the U.S., saying the addition of the aforementioned four amino acids is not as "critical" as some in the Chinese media had claimed.
Lin also cast doubt on the credibility of the paper (Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag) being cited in the conspiracy theories. He first suggested that the platform bioRxiv, on which the paper was published, is untrustworthy as most of the literature it posts does not undergo peer review.
He also noted that the four insertions in the spike glycoproteins that Indian authors described as unique to COVID-19 are not unusual in the results for pBLAST (an algorithm for comparing primary biological sequence information).
Update: 03/03 6:00 p.m.
After being contacted by Taiwan News for comment, Fang denied making the previously cited statements and said that he "does not support the highly popular man-made theory on the origin of this virus."
The video of his presentation has mysteriously been taken down. When Taiwan News asked the Taiwan Public Health Association why the video had been removed, it issued the following statement:
"It has been taken down for a certain reason, In the future, it will be re-uploaded when appropriate. Thank you for your understanding."
Taiwan adds one domestic COVID transmission linked to hospital
Taiwan confirms 7 new COVID cases from 5 countries
Taipei landlords caught illegally renting out studios for quarantines
Taiwan's CECC planning partnership to develop COVID antibody treatments
Taiwanese returnee from Guam did not die of coronavirus


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SEC to Update Reform Act's Progress on Website
By John Sullivan | September 20, 2010 at 02:25 PM
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has created a new page on its website it says is dedicated to documenting the agency's adherence to its...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has created a new page on its website it says is dedicated to documenting the agency's adherence to its new responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The SEC said the page contains accomplishments to date and the planned implementation schedule. There are links to summaries of each of the principal areas of SEC rulemaking under the Act. Each summary links to the timeline and vice versa. Visitors will also be able to access SEC rule releases and public comments.
The site will soon have information about the Act's other requirements, including the required SEC studies and new offices.
"We hope this new Web section will prove a valuable resource for you," the site reads. "Please feel free to share with your colleagues. And if you have any suggestions for the site, please pass them along."
Cannex U.S. Income Annuity Quote Volume Falls
The decrease was bigger for annuitants ages 65 and older than for younger annuitants.
Schwab Launches 2 Custom-Built Variable Annuities: Portfolio Products
Jeff Berman | January 15, 2021
Also, Direxion rolls out World Without Waste ETF.
Merrill Sees Sharp Drop in New Clients as Asset Flows Weaken
Its advisor headcount, too, is down from a year ago.
Fidelity Takes On Vanguard in TDF Space, Matching Its Lower Minimums
Bernice Napach | January 19, 2021
The 95% cut in the minimum investment makes the low-cost shares available to more retirement fund sponsors and participants.
Sign Up for the Retirement Report Newsletter
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ABOUT MAURA
WOMEN IN COMICS
The Boughs Withered
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Twisted Fairy Tales
Twisted Myths
Bone Mother
For Rob
The Garden of Death
The Love of Small Appliances
Pay the Toll
Tattoo Destiny
Who Hears Our Cries in Forgotten Tongues?
Maura McHugh
writing dark visions from the West of Ireland
A writer of prose, comic books, plays, non-fiction and other media, specialising in horror/science fiction.
junior winners 2011
24 November 2011 /
For the past few years I've been involved in judging for the Galway Junior Film Fleadh, which is a task I enjoy tremendously. I love witnessing the enthusism among young people for cinema.
Previously I was part of the jury for the Script Pitching competition, which is a live event delivered in front of an audience – a feat that would make most adults nervous. This year I couldn't be part of the jury due to a schedule clash, but I'm pleased to report that the 2011 winner is Amanda Honan Coyle from St Joseph's Community College, Kilkee, Co Clare. Her project, titled "A World of Our Own", wins her a place in the summer drama camp with the Galway Film Centre.
Instead I was a juror for the Young Filmmaker Shorts (ages 13+). I'm delighted to announced that the winner in this category is "The Ragdoll Girl", created by Rachel McCluskey & Bridget Mary Wilson from St. Cecelia's College in association with The Nerve Centre in Co. Derry.
This short film is a dark fairy tale about a ragdoll girl who haunts a ruined house, and features an impressive performance by the lead actress (Emma Craig), a coherent, spooky storyline and a lovely bit of stop-motion animation. It was the clear winner in the category, and the jury was impressed by the production quality, performances, attention to detail and evocative storytelling.
Personally, as a horror writer and fan, I was delighted to watch such a well-crafted supernatural short film that was created by a team comprised mostly of girls. This short film is superior to many horror shorts I've watched, and desevers a spot on the horror film festival circuit. There are plenty of adult filmmakers who could learn something from this short dark tale.
Finally, in the Junior Filmmakers Shorts (ages 7 – 13), the winner was "Dublin Zoo No 2" made by the Young Irish Film Makers from Kilkenny, and directed by Garry McHugh.
For those of you who are interested, here is "The Ragdoll Girl" on YouTube:
awardsfestivalGalway Junior Film Fleadhjuryshort filmsyoung people
books: an expensive and cluttering vice
snow and poetry
deadlines loom for the Fleadh
That is impressive, and definitely superior to many adult horror shorts I've seen as well. Thanks for sharing!
Yep, these girls show impressive talent, and I hope they continue to create their visions on film.
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Globalist Bookshelf	Previous Next
Bacardi Rum and Cuba After Castro
Can Bacardi return to a post-Castro Cuba?
By Tom Gjelten, March 14, 2009
To purchase this book, click here.
The Bacardi-Castro conflict came to symbolize the division of the Cuban nation and the rival claims on the country's history.
The Bacardi family came of age with the Cuban nation, and the epic tale of their lives and adventures across several generations features classic Cuban themes: revolution, romance, partying, and intrigue.
Fidel lost an important ally when he pushed the Bacardis out, and he gained a determined adversary.
The family company played another supporting role as Cuba established its cultural identity. Bacardi was Ernest Hemingway's rum and the rum of the Cuban casino crowd.
A bottle of white Bacardi rum sold in the United States bears a small logo — mysteriously, a bat — and a label that says "Established 1862." Just above the date are the words PUERTO RICAN RUM. There is no mention of Cuba.
The Bacardi distillery in San Juan is the largest in the world, but the Bacardis are not from Puerto Rico.
This family company for nearly a century was Cuban, cubanísima in fact — Cuban to the nth degree. In the middle of the 19th century, Don Facundo Bacardi, the company founder and family patriarch, pioneered Cuban-style rum, lighter and drier than the rough spirit that preceded it, and Bacardi rum became the drink of choice on the island just as Cuba was becoming a nation.
Bacardi sons and daughters were famous for their patriotism, standing up first against Spanish tyranny and then, in the next century, against the island's home-grown dictators.
The family company played another supporting role as Cuba established its cultural identity, becoming the leading corporate patron of Cuban baseball and salsa music. Bacardi was Ernest Hemingway's rum and the rum of the Cuban casino crowd. When Fidel Castro launched his uprising in the mountains outside Santiago de Cuba, their hometown, the Bacardis cheered him on.
They did not abandon Castro so much as they were abandoned by him. They left Cuba only after the revolutionary government expropriated their rum business. Nearly fifty years later, the family name is still revered on the island, and the Bacardis are thinking about making rum there again.
Over many tellings, the Cuba story has hardened around a few stale themes — Havana in its debauched heyday or Fidel Castro and his dour revolution — and it has lost much of its vitality and wholeness. Cuban history was not preordained.
There were choices made and paths not taken, and the men and women who were excluded and then exiled deserve to have their contributions recognized, if only to understand why so many became so angry. The Bacardi saga serves all these purposes.
For Cubans, patriotism began with the effort of poets and intellectuals to define the idea of a distinctly Cuban people out of the mix of Europeans, Africans and natives who inhabited the island. Cuba then needed to free itself from three centuries of harsh Spanish rule and the dominating U.S. influence and become a sovereign, viable, and honorable country.
Given the island's cultural mix and plantation-based social structure, this fight necessarily incorporated a struggle for racial equality and economic justice, but it cannot be reduced to a story that ends inevitably with Fidel Castro's socialist revolution.
Other threads can guide us, such as that of the Bacardi family in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, the cradle of Cuban nationalism.
There was a time when no name in Santiago carried more prestige. Emilio Bacardi, the son of the patriarch Don Facundo, spent much of his adult life conspiring against Spanish rule and later served as Santiago's first Cuban mayor. Emilio's own son Emilito fought heroically in Cuba's war for independence. But the Bacardis were also remembered in Santiago for their class and character.
While they lived in elegant homes, rode in chauffeured carriages and sent their children to exclusive private schools, they were also known as good Santiago citizens, generous and warm-hearted and fair.
And they loved to party. The Bacardis probably contributed more than any other local family to Santiago's reputation as a playful, joyous city with a vibrant night life. There was no festival in Santiago without Bacardi rum.
In Fidel Castro's revised version of Cuban history, the era before his revolution was characterized mainly by decadence, and the country's elites were corrupt.
The Bacardis are barely mentioned, because their record of patriotism and integrity does not match the Castro stereotype. Their family business was widely recognized as among the best run enterprises in Cuba, and the company management was known for progressive policies and good labor relations.
The Bacardi chairman in the 1950s, José "Pepín" Bosch (married to the founder's granddaughter), served for a time as Cuba's Finance Minister and broke precedent by pursuing wealthy tax cheats. When Castro went to Washington, D.C., shortly after taking power, Bosch was the one Cuban businessman he brought with him.
Their break came after Castro embraced socialism. The Bacardi example had inconveniently demonstrated that there actually were capitalists who could play a responsible role in a democratic Cuba.
While it would be wrong to cast the Bacardis as would-be saviors of Cuba, their story contains many elements of the modern Cuban drama. At every stage of the nation's development over the past century and a half, there is some Bacardi angle, some family member who is a key witness or behind-the-scenes player, or some Bacardi-related episode that epitomizes the historic moment.
Countless families in eastern Cuba, for example, shared their Catalan and French roots — and, by making and selling rum from Cuban molasses, the Bacardis pursued an enterprise tied directly to the country's social and economic development.
They came of age with the Cuban nation, and the epic tale of their lives and adventures across several generations features classic Cuban themes: revolution, romance, partying and intrigue.
After Fidel Castro ordered the confiscation of their property and made clear they and others like them were no longer welcome in the new Cuba, the Bacardis left the island, rebuilding their rum enterprise through their operations in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
In exile, they took on a new leadership role, this time as organizers and financiers of the anti-Castro opposition.
Fidel lost an important ally when he pushed the Bacardis out, and he gained a determined adversary. The Bacardi-Castro conflict came to symbolize the division of the Cuban nation and the rival claims on the country's history.
In the first years of the 21st century, when the burning Cuban question was what would follow the Castro era, the Bacardis are once again players. Few products are so associated with Cuba as rum, and the family that made Cuban rum famous was anxious to reclaim a piece of that industry, one of the few on the island with promising growth prospects no matter who was in charge.
There is another story buried in this tale, too. Just as Bacardi history helps explain modern Cuba, the company's Cuba connection helps us trace the evolution of a unique family firm. Bacardi Limited entered the twenty-first century as a genuine multinational, headquartered in Bermuda, with a product line that included whisky, gin, vermouth, vodka and tequila, as well as rum.
It nevertheless remained a private business wholly owned by a single family still feeling its Cuban identity.
Its evolution reflects the strengths — and also the risks and challenges — of a closed, dynastic enterprise in an interconnected global economy. The company's sense of heritage helped it survive after the loss of its Cuban headquarters, but there was inevitable tension between the old political values and the new focus on investment returns.
On the eve of the post-Castro era, the Bacardi-Cuba connection sets up a test that will reveal how the company had changed over the years. If it went back to Cuba — as it said it would — would it prove to be just another big, soulless corporation vying for a piece of the action, or would it return as the family company playing a patriotic role?
In early March, Raul Castro marked his first full year as Cuba's president by orchestrating a sweeping shakeup of his government. With the support and guidance of his brother Fidel, Raul summarily dismissed three men who were widely seen as his possible successors. The post-Castro future of Cuba became even murkier.
The Bacardis continued to follow developments on the island closely, but after a returning family member was detained by Cuban authorities in the fall of 2008, the prospect of a Bacardi re-engagement with the homeland dimmed considerably.
A commentary in the Communist Party newspaper warned darkly that the Bacardis would not be allowed to "reconquer" Cuba.
Reprinted by arrangement with Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., from Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba. Copyright
A Unique Opportunity to Normalize U.S.-Cuba Ties
Can Guantánamo Return to Cuba?
U.S.-Cuban Relations: After Fidel
Tags: Bacardi Rum Company, communism, Cuba, Cuban Revolution, Ernest Hemingway, Fidel Castro, United States
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Tag: antarctica
Strange Perfumes of a Polar Sun, by John Linwood Grant
On October 22, 2019 October 22, 2019 By The BibliothecarIn Short Story ReviewLeave a comment
"As I grew older, they brought me night-fevers of vast, deserted plateaus and winds which scoured flesh from bone; visions of drowned cities and forbidden peaks. They gave me hints that they themselves were real, material, and they fed me concepts of stone, in all its conceivable forms, starting my first poor attempts with chisel and file. They fed my isolation from other humans, strengthened it, and they made me a sculptor."
Between 1930 and 1931, one of America's premier universities launched a scientific expedition to one of the world's last great frontiers, the Antarctic. Three of that august institution's leading professors helmed the expedition: Dr. Frank L. Pabodie (Engineering), Dr. William Dyer (Geology), and Dr. Lake (Biology). Their ostensible goal was to drill through the surface to bring up mineral samples buried under layers of ice and stone measured as much in geologic age as material thickness. The discoveries they would ultimately make would undo the world's understanding of itself and set the Earth on a collision course with the stars. All of this, of course, never actually happened, except in the pages of H.P. Lovecraft's masterful novella, At the Mountains of Madness, published originally by HPL's friend Julian Schwartz in February, March, and April of 1936 as a severely edited serial in Astounding Stories .
One of the original Astounding Stories illustrations by Howard V. Brown.
But what if it had happened?
What would the world look like now?
How would we, the human race, have responded?
That is the premise for this substantial new anthology from PS Publishing, Mountains of Madness Revealed, edited by Darrell Schweitzer, one time editor of Weird Tales magazine. Within its pages are 19 brand-new stories and poems by some of the leading mythos voices of our time, all of whom have taken for granted that the horrible and awesome discoveries of the Pabodie-Dyer-Lake expedition to Antarctica were all too terribly true. Also included is a wonderful introduction by the editor that takes you through the history of HPL's story. Because of that, this volume is not recommended for newcomers to the Lovecraft Mythos or anyone who has not read the original novella. These authors assume you know the intimate details of the story, and readers without that foreknowledge will inevitably not be able to enjoy this anthology to the fullest.
For my review, I chose a story by a luminary of the field of weird fiction but who represented a gap in my reading, Yorkshire native John Linwood Grant. His short story, Strange Perfumes of a Polar Sun, is full of conspiracy theories, the dark web, secret and sinister governmental organizations, climate change, alien beings, and insanity to spare. Glaciers shift and ice caps melt and, in a calamitous moment, the City from Lovecraft's story is revealed and the truth of human history as we knew it is rewritten. "Most of Lovecraft's writing is invented nonsense, a blur of horror and science fiction which, if unusually imaginative, is yet of very limited value. Only that one tale matched reality, though the City's emergence did encourage a mad hunt for other locations, even deep-water submarine explorations for sunken cities which house dreaming gods. Not a single Cyclopean block, not one non-Euclidean ruin, was found elsewhere, above or below the oceans." But it hardly matters for the hapless humans of Linwood Grant's story. The cornerstones of their understanding had already crumbled as sunlight dawned on that aeons old city, the definitive evidence of other intelligent life from beyond the stars.
Much like many of Lovecraft's stories, this one unfolds at a leisurely pace. There's lots of description and exposition, but it never felt unnecessary or boring. A whole worldview was unfolding before my eyes as the pages turned, one which I had previously imagined, even hoped for in that strange way familiar to devotees of fantasy and science-fiction, but had never been presented with as being real in quite this way. For one thing, this story is set in our world and our time. It's familiar in the very same way that AtMoM is alien, oddly comforting instead of foreboding and harsh. The thrust of the plot relies on our protagonist, a Ms. Paling, completing some sort of to-scale sculpture of the revealed city of the Old Ones. In her attic, no less. She is being urged on by The Four, a group of creatures who commune with her mind, but who may also just be in her mind. Are they themselves Old Ones, or is Paling going mad after confronting the horrifying revelations of the broken ice? Nonetheless, as is so often the case, perception is reality, and she persists in her sculpting.
The City itself is the main thing, not what it contains, not even what it once contained. It is "…a holy text in stone…Lovecraft's characters claimed they read an entire racial history in the symbols carved on the walls of their find, bands of glyphs that ran along ice-frosted walls. Perhaps they did. They were reading the wrong thing, though…The City is the answer, not what is written upon it." The question to which the city is the answer I will leave to your reading, but I thought it was an ingenious take on HPL's story to which I believe even the Old Gent would have been obliged to tip his hat. The ending left me feeling awe, and that is a wonderful homage to the original story which accomplishes much the same thing, if in a very different way. Linwood Grant adds a bit more human touch that HPL could muster, and I'll go so far to say notes of admiration, respect, and even love are present in his conclusion. Like the original, the action all comes suddenly at the end in a wild avalanche, but one which ultimately feels inconsequential. The story is much bigger than that momentary (if satisfying) action can claim.
This was a wonderful story and I had a lot of fun reading it. Linwood Grant's writing is fluid and will not at all be the barrier to some that HPL's represents. He is a modern author writing in a modern, sensible, style. And yet it is elevated. Some of his descriptions are just beautiful, possessed with a matured sentiment tinged with longing. You find yourself yearning for a time and a place that are not, as in here, "It doesn't matter. This planet was theirs, but their people are dead. Many times the edge of deep emotion has brushed me—better, they feel, that they had slept until the sun grew dark, than been woken to such a world. The last of the true rulers of Earth wish only to leave, to abandon their lonely vigil." HPL wrote a story of awe, dread, and cosmic horror; Linwood Grant has managed to warp that just ever so slightly so that the exact same set piece sings not horror but melancholy, less warning and more lullaby.
Mountains of Madness Revealed is available now in hardback from PS Publishing, and I highly recommend it.
A helpful corrective: "Lovecraft's suggestions seem ludicrous—flying fungal things and octopus-creatures, always unspeakable horrors that cannot be pinned down. I still do not know how he got so much right, and so much wrong.
Devil's Bathtub, by Lois H. Gresh
"The ice scraped the fur from his skin, and he smelled his own blood and it scared him. And that's when his bones shattered. The dog was aware that his body was a limp sack filled with mush. He didn't understand."
At the Mountains of Madness is not only one of HPL's longest stories (it's really a novella), but also one of his most popular. There are perennial rumors of a del Toro helmed film adaptation, and so let me add my meager voice to the mix, I desperately would love to see that. Many, many Lovecraftian stories take Mountains for their base and a lot of them are collected in a single volume (well, now two it seems) called "The Madness of Cthulhu Anthology" Volume One, collected by that inestimable Lovecraft scholar, S.T. Joshi, published in 2014 by Titan Books. This present story is an example of one written by a seriously heavy-weight author, and one which I just couldn't get into, even after a re-read. Lois Gresh, according to her blurb, is a New York Times best selling author of over twenty-five books, and sixty short stories. She's published in tons of languages and appears in many noted anthologies. So, her writing credentials (or at least, publishing credentials) are established. And let me say up front, I don't think it's the writing that bothered me in this story, so much as it was the plot itself.
At the Mountains of Madness is a harrowing tale of adventure, horrific discovery, and enormous implication. It's one of HPL's magnum opi, along with The Shadow Out of Time, which describe humanity's rather insignificant place in the scope of the cosmos. Both stories are told with sweeping scope against a cinematic backdrop. Perhaps that background led me into this story with similar expectations, however unfairly, of scope and setting. Devil's Bathtub, though, has a very narrow focus, as perhaps it rightly should, but for me I found it to be one which I wasn't overly interested in. It tells the strange story of a father and young daughter who reside at Vostok glacier outpost in Antartica, along with a few research assistan ts. (Problem numero uno for me: what's this guy doing with his kid in Antarctica? I don't care who you work for, that probably isn't going to happen, correct me if I'm wrong.) They're investigating a strange circumstance near the South Pole where there seems to be a semi-sentient black ice/slime hybrid. "The ice is four hundred years old…and deep beneath it is the lake, filled with two thousand two hundred feet of liquid and life we don't understand yet." Their poor dog wanders too close to the stuff and gets incorporated into it, broken down but yet still alive. It's a bit squishy and would be terrifying if it weren't slightly humorous. Humor I'm sure the author didn't intend. I get trying to use a dog to tug on the emotions, but, for me at least, I have to be emotionally invested in the animal and it's relationship to it's human first for that work. You can't just toss a dog in the story and expect me to get all Old Yeller-y immediately.
What happens to the dog foreshadows, with a stunning degree of accuracy, exactly what happens to the guy and his daughter, as this slimy stuff converts them into the building blocks, quite literally bricks, of whatever it is it's constructing. Perhaps this is the stuff of a shoggoth, perhaps not. "She looked down. Saw bright blue eyes, he whites huge around tiny irises. Stark terror. Dad. But he wasn't really there. Only his eyes, and they were plugged into the sides of the wall like light bulbs." And that's really it, my chilly reconnoiterers. I didn't find a grander, overarching theme. I couldn't locate a clever sense of cosmic dread. There may have been a hint of a presence of a possible Lovecraftian monster, but maybe not. For a story that talks about drilling deep into the ice, I found this to be a very surface level skate around the mythos pond. It's possible it's trying to say something about humanity's insignificance by breaking the humans down into their constituent parts and using them to make something else, but if it is, to what end? There wasn't enough of a "so what?" factor in this story to make me care about it and none of it left me with any kind of feeling of awe or dread. I hate to say it, but this has been the weakest Lovecraftian story I've read so far.
The writing here is unnoticeable, in both a positive and a negative sense. It doesn't stand out as excellent prose, though it is functional and in a way, you sometimes want prose to disappear into the background of a story so the reader can get lost in the fiction. But then again, it's also good to have a sentence or three that makes me, the reader, want to stand up and read it out loud in a public place. This didn't do that. I have read other stories in this collection and they've been better, so I'd say the collection itself is definitely worth it if you're considering whether to buy it or not. But I'm also saying if you do, maybe don't start with this story.
I wish I had more to say friends, but sadly, I do not. The material didn't provide it.
Limp prose about cold places and broken bones: "Her bones rattled and crunched, and oh yes, she should be dead, but here she was, a limp sack of skin filled with the debris of bones and organs and muscle. What had happened to her? What was she?"


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Non-Review Review: Jurassic World
Jurassic World is very self-aware.
Introducing visitors to the eponymous theme park, an audio recording assures them that the elevated train is passing through the original gates of the park. One of the techies working in the operations centre wears a "vintage" t-shirt from the original park – conceding that it might be "in poor taste." Nostalgia is the name of the game, and the theme park basks in it. There are landmarks built to the amber that held the mosquito from the original film, and a giant bronze statue of Richard Hammond.
"Mommy's being blatantly emulated…"
So does the film. No opportunity for shout-out or homage is missed. When John Williams returned to work on Jurassic Park: The Lost World, he only broken out the powerful theme for very special moments – crafting a largely original score for the sequel. Not Jurassic World. It seems like every time a character does something, the theme blares. Open the gates? Theme blares! Drive through herd of dinosaurs? Theme blares! Open doors to balcony in resort room? Theme blares!
There is something relentlessly cynical about Jurassic World. The film is based around attempts at Ingen to build a designer dinosaur, one assembled from random bits of other dinosaurs. Nobody except the geneticists seem to know exactly what's in it, but it doesn't matter. It's bits and pieces of what everybody's seen before, and they'll love it, right? The fact that Jurassic World basks in this meta-commentary hints at a sly subversive streak, but they film seems more smug than sophisticated.
The references to the classic films are exhausting. Two kids arrive to visit an estranged relative on staff at the park. Said kids eventually end up attacked by a dinosaur in an upside down safari vehicle. The main attraction is reluctant to show itself until it comes time to make a daring escape. The male and female leads arrive in time to get out of a car and tend to a sick dinosaur. The island is overseen by an eccentric billionaire. The heroes at one stage swap out their cool modern transport for a classic jeep.
There are updates, of course. The scenes are jumbled around. If John Hammond was Walt-Disney-by-way-of-Steven-Spielberg, then Simon Masrani is Charles-Lindburgh-meets-Richard-Branson. The interaction with the dying dinosaur is a result of a vicious attack rather than an illustration of how little the company understands their creation. There is no red flare to save the children, although it gets its own cameo later on. Still, these changes feel more remixings than innovations. The rhythm changes, but the notes remain familiar.
Something to sink his teeth into…
The original Jurassic Park remains a fetish object for Jurassic World. It was, to quote the techie working the operations console, "legit." The electric fence from Jurassic Park gets its own knowing cameo, as does the visitors' centre. Given the critical backlash to both of the sequels, this hero worship feels entirely appropriate. Jurassic World may not know what makes a good Jurassic Park film, but it can avoid the details that it thinks makes for a bad one. And so it hits all those beats.
(Which makes it all the more inexplicable that the climax hinges on one of the most maligned plot points from Jurassic Park III. If the film felt the need to incorporate elements from the last film, it seems odd that it would continue to humanise and anthropomorphise its dinosaurs. Those great beasts are all the more powerful when they seem disengaged from the affairs of the men who would harness them; "taming" and "humanising" the creatures – even in the most superficial of ways – seems to miss the key thematic point of the first film.)
"Who could have foreseen that genetically engineering a bigger and meaner dinosaur could backfire so spectacularly?"
There is a sense that Jurassic World is aware of all this. The film doesn't necessarily bask in its status as a retread and remix. The scientific desire to stitch together some sort of designer "FrankenDino" from the best bits of all the others is treated as abhorrent. The last act of the film finds the more "legit" dinosaurs asserting themselves against this grotesque monstrosity stitched together from odds and ends. It seems like Jurassic World is pre-empting its own critique, acknowledging its gawdier impulses and turning them to spectacle.
This is all well and good, but it feels a little bit like the film is trying to have its cake and eat it too. The original Jurassic Park pioneered computer-generated imagery, but it lingers in the memory for its willingness to mingle that CGI with practical effects. In Jurassic World, even the heads of restrained dinosaurs are rendered by computer, rendering the world itself ethereal and intangible. Jurassic World feels unreal, but not the transcendental unreality that marked Spielberg's original film.
The Kingpin's witness protection scheme was not working out precisely as he expected…
Part of the beauty of the original Jurassic Park was the somewhat eccentric nature of the leads. When it was produced, it seemed highly unlikely you could ground a blockbuster in the trio of Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum. None of the trio seemed like an action star – making it all the more surreal when Goldblum was the actor to headline the first sequel and act as co-lead in Independence Day. Ian Malcolm is such a great character because he's genuinely a third lead instead of just plucky comic relief.
The characters in Jurassic World feel like they are designed by focus group. Chris Pratt has charisma to spare, but he is very firmly in the mold of the modern manchild protagonist. Pratt's character is a charming free-spirited womaniser who lives in what is generously described as a "bungalo" and who is also a member of a Navy detachment on the island. Pratt is a convincing manchild, but never really feels like an officer. He feels like a bunch of audience-friendly adjectives thrown together more than a character.
A flare for that sort of thing…
Still, the script serves Pratt better than Bryce Dallas Howard. Joss Whedon attracted some measure of controversy when he critiqued an out-of-context scene from film, describing it as "seventies era sexist." He might have been jumping to conclusions based on a single clip, but there are some definite uncomfortable gender issues running through Jurassic World. Jurassic World retains its predecessors' anxieties about science and technology, but throws in some rather uncomfortable assertions about motherhood.
Howard is cast as Claire, one of the park's chief scientists and the one tasked with overseeing the new super-predator that the lab has "cooked up", to quote Owen. The film repeatedly compares and contrasts Owen's relationship with his pet raptors to the relationship between Claire and the super-predator. In particular, Owen derides Claire for not "imprinting" upon and emotionally bonding with her designer dinosaur. Instead, Claire remained removed and detached.
You cannot cage this beast…
At one stage, Owen even offers a pop psychology explanation for how Claire created a dinosaur that – as Owen notes grimly – kills for "sport." It seems Claire did not love and nurture it properly. This thread is juxtaposed with Claire's personal failures as a mother figure. Her sister assures her that she needs to become a mother, while she completely fails to engage with her two nephews visiting the park. The movie is quite judgemental on this point.
When the two go missing, Owen notes that Claire can't remember their ages. "You don't know your own nephews' ages?" he wonders, a point which the movie considers important enough to end the scene. The film seems to suggest that all of this might have been avoided if Claire was simply more maternal; if she had only shown that super predator some love, or if she had only made a point to spend some time with her young nephews on their trip to the island.
"Don't worry. We routinely test our scientists ethics, so we can fire anybody who wouldn't do something crazy like this."
Although the movie makes a point to stress that Owen enjoys a stronger maternal bond with his raptors, the film is hardly subversive. That is a failure on Claire's part, rather than a triumph on Owen's. When a character refers to him as "mother hen", they receive a punch to the face for their trouble. Because Owen is a manly man who does manly things like riding motorbikes, punching guys and carrying a gun. The gender politics of Jurassic World feel more prehistoric than the dinosaurs.
Claire spends most of the movie waiting for male characters to tell her what to do. When her nephews go missing, she immediately seeks Owen's guidance – not his advice. "I'm in charge out here," he bluntly states and the movie seems to agree with him. During one key chase sequence, Claire panics until Owen shows up on his motorbike to tell her where to go. Even Claire's big moment at the climax doesn't come from her years of scientific knowledge or technical skills, but from a throwaway comment from her nephew.
There's life in it yet…
There are other scripting issues. Most notably, there is a strained nod towards relevance when it is revealed that Ingen is hoping to sell the dinosaurs to the military. Vincent D'Onofrio pops up in the role of the movie's human antagonist, hoping to weaponise dinosaurs because somehow using raptors in a combat situation is a good idea. The script has no real idea where it is going with this, beyond the idea that weaponising scientific advancements is not a good idea.
However, inside of anything profound or insightful, D'Onorio is reduced to spouting hackneyed cliché. "Extinct animals have no rights," he boasts when somebody brings up the sorts of ethical issues associated with this sort of research. Instead, the movie makes it quite clear that he is up to no good. In fact, there is some suggestion that he is more directly involved in the inevitable breakout than any of the other more foolish human characters in previous films.
"I got this."
D'Onofrio gives Jurassic World a very obvious bad guy – something that the other Jurassic Park films never needed so pointedly. Even Pete Postlethwaie's big game hunter in The Lost World was portrayed almost sympathetically and with nuance. The Jurassic Park films tended to suggest that mankind's greed and arrogance were broad problems in which entire companies were complicit. As much as Jurassic Park acknowledged the failings of John Hammond, he was never a two-dimensional bad guy.
Jurassic World suggests that conspiracies are responsible for subverting wonder into terror. Part of this is undoubtedly simple storytelling mechanics. Jurassic World contains a fairly obvious sequel hook in its third act related to what exactly is happening on the island. However, it is interesting to wonder whether it reflects a broader social shift. Whereas Jurassic Park was a meditation on "chaos" – and Jurassic World nods towards the concept – the watchword here is "control."
In the twenty years since Jurassic Park first appeared, do we feel a need to believe that all the horrors and atrocities in the world are the result of careful planning and clear manipulation rather than randomness and chaos. Jurassic World is set in a world where a dinosaur-based theme park has been operating so long that people could get bored with it. Whereas Jurassic Park suggested such equilibrium was impossible, Jurassic World suggests it takes effort to upset the balance.
The problems with Jurassic World are all very basic problems that should have been picked up at some stage in the writing. There are four credited writers on the script, but countless problems with the finished project. Director Colin Trevorrow is one of the credited writers, and he does a very good job at bringing the film to life within all the constraints. The dinosaur attack sequences are tense, when they aren't drowning in self-aware irony. The spectacle is impressive, when the CGI is up to the task.
However, Jurassic World is a reminder that bigger is not always better, and that sometime mixing together individual elements of things that people liked will not lead to satisfying results. If only the writers had learned that lesson as well as the characters do here.
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: jurassic park, jurassic world, non-review review, review |
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Ross Nolan, on June 12, 2015 at 12:17 am said:
Very interesting review.
I'm not sure I'd quite buy the idea that Chris Pratt is entirely the modern manchild; he is too smart and capable and frankly too knowledgable – indeed his character relies far more on his brains than his brawn (to take an analogy to its logical conclusion he's Pratt's Indiana Jones to Star Lord's Han Solo). Having watched the film I'm not sure his brawn ever actually accomplishes much. Yes, they do they play up his boyish charm but this is the same franchises that gave us serial womaniser ("I'm always looking for the next Mrs Malcolm"), sunglasses wearer/mathematician Ian Malcolm. If anything I think Pratt's character resembles a gender flip of Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore's character from the second film). She was also a stubborn, even reckless, behaviouralist.
Likewise I'm not sure I agree on Bryce Dallas Howard's character. Yes the motherhood angle is there, but again, that seems as much a gender flip from Alan Grant's fear and dislike of children in the first film. What can come across as sexist in isolation is perhaps less so in the context of the film as a sequel, deliberately harkening back and inverting tropes to the first film. Even Claire's saving the day by thinking on her feet seems a little subversive in our expectations – in a film where Owen is functionally the 'brains' by his exstensive knowlege of the animals it makes a weird sort of sense to turn the tables and make Claire the action hero(ine) who thinks on her feet and makes up the plan as she goes along.
Still one aspect I think that did come across a little dodgy was the mean spirited treatment of Katie McGrath (I don't mean forcing her to use an English accent.) Her character, Zara, seemed to be treated much more shabbily that Gennaro in the original film and with less cause. That might have stood out more because I'm a fan of the actress, but even so I admit her treatment was a little offputting.
Darren, on June 21, 2015 at 8:24 am said:
I think that the difference is that Ian Malcolm is played as a much more dysfunctional (or at least less conventional) womaniser than Owen. There's a sense of irony to Ian Malcolm that I think is lacking from Owen. I think that Malcolm is "charming, but more than a little sleazy" while Owen is just presented as "charming."
(After all, the first Jurassic Park stars the guy from The Omen III, a frequent collaborator of David Lynch and the guy from The Fly; the casting on Jurassic World is a lot more generic and safe. I caught Take Shelter again a few nights ago, and I'd kill for a Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain version of Jurassic World, even if that does unfortunately fall back into the "Bryce Dallas Howard is interchangeable with Jessica Chastain" meme.)
I would be a lot more inclined to forgive the characterisation of Claire if the idea of unleashing the T-Rex at the climax were actually her idea, and wasn't prompted by her nephew. And then she outruns the T-Rex in heels.
Fun fact that somebody pointed out to me: Zara is the first female named character to be killed by a dinosaur in the franchise. It's odd that it took four films for that to happen, if it's true. (I can't think of another example, but I might be wrong.)
Jake Kale, on November 1, 2015 at 12:38 pm said:
Minor note on that last point: neither of the animals responsible for Zara's death were dinosaurs, so the dino-related female death count for the Jurassic Park series is still zero. Sorry, palaeontology nerd.
Darren, on November 1, 2015 at 3:04 pm said:
Ha! Good spot. I may have to dutifully correct my nerdy friend.
ed azad, on June 12, 2015 at 6:11 pm said:
I love that D'Onofrio is cast in a throwaway part. That's the sheer budget we're working with here. A seven figure salary (I assume) to portray a character meant for Eric Roberts.
D'Onofrio is great, even with the terrible material.
(Then again, even Eric Roberts can be quite good. The man is an Oscar nominee, and is very effective when used well. He was fantastic in The Dark Knight, for example.)
Chris, on June 14, 2015 at 1:42 am said:
That's even stranger when you consider that this is such a staple of Spielberg's franchises. Jaws used a shark instead of a T-rex, but it was the same basic principle. Indiana Jones is about a man who hangs around powers far beyond mankind and who only survives because he knows enough not to fly too close to the flame. The Men In Black movies end with scenes showing that even the protagonists with their supposedly larger perspective have no idea just how insignificant they are. Etc.
"Even Pete Postlethwaie's big game hunter in The Lost World was portrayed almost sympathetically and with nuance."
Going by the chatter around IMDb and other places, I think it's a very popular opinion that he was the best human in that movie. It probably helps that the "good guys" opposite him include a complete scumbag who causes most of the deaths in the movie and is inexplicably never called on his actions. It certainly helps if you've seen the deleted scenes.
I haven't actually seen the deleted scenes. I'll have to dig them out.
I rewatched The Lost World a few weeks back, and Postlethwaite just steals the movie and refuses to give it back. (And I quite like Jeff Goldblum's admittedly divisive performance style.)
Nicholas Swaim, on June 17, 2015 at 2:10 am said:
Why must people dislike Jurassic World? Can't we all love this film?
Different strokes for different folks. I am glad you liked it, though.
Paul, on September 25, 2015 at 8:02 am said:
I also really liked this film. Yes some of the script was cliched, but even the cliched bits were fun. It's probably the second best film in the series.
Darren, on September 27, 2015 at 8:41 am said:
I have a soft spot for The Lost World, if only because it refuses to work as an action adventure film, despite the fact that it must be an action adventure film.
I liked the idea of a T-Rex in San Diego…
Darren, on October 1, 2015 at 11:52 am said:
Perhaps the best King Kong movie ever.
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BATO, CATANDUANES, MAY 4, 2012 (PHILSTAR) By Delon Porcalla – President Aquino defended here yesterday his administration's refusal to give in to organized labor's demand for a P125 legislated wage hike, insisting that wages should be kept low in order for the country to attract more job-generating investments.
He pointed out that a P125 or roughly $3 increase – as proposed by militant groups – would translate to $13 (P546) minimum wage as against the current $10 or P420 minimum wage.
He said such difference is likely to scare off investors.
Aquino expressed fears the country might lose its competitive advantage over neighboring countries with regard to cheap labor.
He cited as example Cambodia, where the minimum wage is only $2.
He pointed out that the Philippines' advantage over South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore is its cheaper labor rates.
Aquino also warned that a P125 legislated wage hike would only complicate government efforts to provide a million jobs each year to new graduates.
This does not include the 2.9 million Filipinos who are either jobless or underemployed.
He added that higher wages might force more companies to shut down or lay off employees.
"Instead of improving the situation, it will only worsen the condition of the workers whose interest they claim to protect. So we really have to closely examine their proposal," Aquino stressed.
Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, meanwhile said that Aquino's projection that a P125 minimum wage hike would cost the economy P1.43 trillion was based on the assumption that salaries of other workers would also be adjusted.
Aquino has drawn flak for making such a forecast, which was based on an assumption that there are 40 million minimum wage earners. There are only 15 million wage earners.
"It's different because when you adjust wages at the bottom there's a tendency for wages on upper levels to also seek an adjustment. It's true we don't know exactly how much the impact will be on the economy. There will be different opinions but, I think, the President was outlining an example to illustrate the case that some solutions which sometimes look like they are good over the short-term could have negative impacts over the long-term," Carandang said.
"So we can argue about whether it's 40 million or 35 million or 15 million but there is a tendency, empirically, that when you adjust the minimum wage, there will naturally be adjustments among higher wage earners. So it is difficult to quantify how much," Carandang said.
[PHOTO - President Benigno Simeon Aquino III converses with Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua, Albay Governor Jose Salceda and Catanduanes Lone District Representative Cesar Sarmiento after leading the Inauguration of the Solong and Hitoma 1 Hydroelectric Power Plants and the PAGASA New Radar Tower Station at the Barangay Buenavista, Bato, Catanduanes Wednesday May 02, 2012.
The Solong and Hitoma mini-hydro plants are the first ever to be developed by a a private entity, the Sunwest Water and Electricity, Inc. in the small island grids covered by the Special Power Utilities Group (SPUG) of the National Power Corporation.
BATO, CATANDUANES, Philippines – President Aquino inaugurated yesterday the latest state-of-the-art Doppler radar system that will help determine the volume of rainfall and warn off the occurrence of massive flooding that may affect not just this province but other areas as well.
He thanked the Japanese government, through deputy chief of mission Motohiko Kato and Masanori Kurisu of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), for providing P1.7 billion in funds to help the government mitigate effects of calamities.
"I would like to express our sincerest gratitude to Japan and JICA for this modern weather monitoring facility which is now operational," Aquino said in his speech.
Kato said the total amount is for the installation of three Doppler radars – the first of which is in this province, the second in Aparri in October (this year) and the last in Guiuan in Samar, all areas that have been serially hit by typhoons.
"This will help us predict the effects of weather patterns and gather more information about the direction, impact, and intensity of weather disturbances approaching our country. This means that we'll be better prepared – that fewer Filipinos will be victimized by the vagaries of weather," the President noted.
The island-province of Catanduanes, composed of 11 towns, faces the Pacific Ocean from which 95 percent of typhoons (20 to 24) hit the Philippines yearly and devastates not just the Bicol region but the rest of Luzon and some portions of Visayas as well.
"It is the government's responsibility to do everything in its power to be ready for these natural disasters. We must continue focusing more of our resources in creating a system that will better warn us, and our people, about possible typhoons," Aquino stressed.
"We can assure the people here that our administration is readier than ever to respond to these threats, and to help our people recover from potential damages," he added.
Governors Joseph Cua of Catanduanes and Joey Salceda of Albay expressed optimism that the presence of the equipment would help their officials come up with disaster risk reduction plans and activities.
"This is a dream come true for us to get very accurate weather forecast from PAGASA for our disaster risk reduction," Salceda said during the inauguration, referring to the state weather agency Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
The P580-million Doppler radar station that sits on top of a mountain is expected to mitigate the impact of devastating typhoons in the country as the weather bureau effectively predicts incoming typhoons.


text:
Uma consulta sobre a independência foi realizada na nação insular do Golfo Pérsico, o Barém, em 1970. A consulta (por vezes chamada de "referendo") tomou a forma de uma pesquisa das Nações Unidas questionando se os ilhéus preferiam a independência ou o controle iraniano. O relatório do Representante Pessoal do Secretário-Geral sobre a consulta afirmou que "a esmagadora maioria do povo do Barém deseja obter o reconhecimento de sua identidade em um Estado livre, independente e soberano para decidir por si mesmo suas relações com outros Estados".

Como resultado, o Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas aprovou por unanimidade a Resolução 278 em 11 de maio de 1970, ao passo que no mesmo mês o Irã renunciou à sua reivindicação à ilha. O país posteriormente tornou-se independente do Reino Unido em agosto de 1971.

Envolvimento das Nações Unidas
Em 1969, os governos britânico e iraniano concordaram em abordar o Secretariado das Nações Unidas para resolver a disputa referente a soberania do Barém. Apesar das reivindicações britânicas de que o envolvimento da ONU foi sua iniciativa, as evidências sugerem que o desejo do Xá em acabar com as disputas territoriais com os britânicos antes da sua retirada do Golfo Pérsico em 1971 foi a principal razão. Em um discurso em Nova Delhi, em 1969, o Xá comentou;
.

No início de 1970, o governo iraniano solicitou ao secretário-geral das Nações Unidas que avaliasse a vontade do povo do Barém em relação à sua soberania. O secretário-geral da ONU, U Thant, aceitou a tarefa em 20 de março de 1970 e nomeou o Signor Vittorio Winspeare Guicciardi, diretor-geral do escritório da ONU em Genebra, como seu enviado pessoal no Barém durante a missão. Tanto o governo britânicos quanto o governo iraniano afirmaram que aceitariam os resultados da consulta, desde que fosse aprovada pelo Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas. A missão da ONU começou em 30 de março de 1970 e durou duas semanas, resultando na publicação do Documento Número 9772. O parágrafo 57 do relatório do Signor Guicciardi sobre o Barém afirmou que "os resultados da investigação me convenceram de que a esmagadora maioria do povo do Barémsão a favor de que seu território seja oficialmente reconhecido como um país independente de total soberania, com a liberdade de determinar sua relação com outras nações". O relatório foi distribuído entre o Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas e o mesmo aprovou por unanimidade a Resolução 278 em 11 de maio de 1970.

O relatório e a resolução da ONU foram debatidos e aceitos tanto na câmara baixa quanto na câmara alta do parlamento iraniano em 14 de maio de 1970, fazendo com que o Irã renunciasse a sua reivindicação sobre o Barém. Os britânicos revogaram seus acordos especiais com o Barém em agosto de 1971, permitindo que o Barém posteriormente declarasse sua independência. Em 29 de agosto de 1971, o Barém e o Irã estabeleceram relações diplomáticas.

Eleições no Barém
1970 na política
1970 no Bahrein

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home World Finland will apply to affix NATO, president says, in a historic transfer for the historically impartial nation
Finland will apply to affix NATO, president says, in a historic transfer for the historically impartial nation
Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin (L) and President Sauli Niinisto.
Heikki Saukkomaa | Afp | Getty Images
Finland will apply for membership in NATO, the nation's president stated Sunday, in a historic transfer for the Nordic nation, which has had a decades-long coverage of army neutrality.
In a press convention alongside Prime Minister Sanna Marin, President Sauli Niinisto stated: "Today, we, the president and the government's foreign policy committee, have together decided that Finland … will apply for NATO membership."
He added that being a member of the army alliance will "maximize" Finland's safety after Russia's unprecedented invasion of Ukraine in February.
Marin described that transfer to use as an "important decision" primarily based on a "strong mandate."
"We hope that the parliament will confirm the decision to apply for NATO membership during the coming days," she added. The formal utility is anticipated to be submitted subsequent week.
Marin stated Finland has been in shut contact with NATO and its members over the choice. Last week, Marin and Niinisto stated the nation ought to apply to affix NATO "without delay."
'Radical change' in coverage
Finland shares an 830-mile border with Russia; if it joins the army alliance, the land border that Russia shares with NATO territories would roughly double.
As such, there's a danger the transfer from Helsinki might spark aggression from Russia, the place President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly expressed his opposition to NATO's enlargement.
Finland's Niinisto stated he spoke to Putin on Saturday and knowledgeable him of his nation's determination.
Last week, Russia's international ministry stated Finland becoming a member of NATO could be a "radical change" within the nation's international coverage. "Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to stop threats to its national security arising," it stated in an announcement.
Russia has land borders with 14 nations and 5 of them are NATO members: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Norway.
Finland has been reviewing its safety coverage following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which confirmed the Kremlin is prepared to assault a neighboring nation. Finland has been invaded previously — in 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland in what turned often called the Winter War.
Opposition from Turkey
One potential stumbling block to Finland becoming a member of the alliance is Turkey, the NATO member with the second-largest army after the U.S.
Ascension for a brand new member state requires consensus approval from all present members.
The nation's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated Thursday: "We don't hold positive views" on Finland and Sweden's potential membership. Sweden is anticipated to comply with Finland and in addition apply to affix NATO within the close to future.
Earlier Sunday, NATO's deputy secretary common struck a assured tone on Finland and Sweden probably becoming a member of the group.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Mircea Geoana stated the 2 nations have been already the closest companions of NATO.
"I am confident that if these two countries will decide, in the next few days I understand, to seek membership in NATO, that [we] will be able to welcome them and to find all conditions for consensus to be met," he stated.
On Turkey, Geoana added: "They expressed concerns that are addressed and discussed in between friends and allies."
NATO — or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — was based in 1949 by the U.S., Canada, and a number of other Western European nations to supply collective safety in opposition to trendy Russia's forebearer, the Soviet Union.
Ever since its basis, the alliance has had a thorny relationship with the Soviet Union all through the Cold War and, following its collapse in 1991, the Russian Federation.
— CNBC's Natasha Turak contributed to this report
httpspercent3Apercent2Fpercent2Fwww.cnbc.compercent2F2022percent2F05percent2F15percent2Ffinland-will-apply-for-nato-membership-president-says.html
Breaking News: Europe
Sauli Niinisto
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Institution login - Every institution will have a login panel to receive communications from Diocese and submit monthly income and expense statement to Diocese.
Priest Record - The panel automatically record present and former priests associated with each institution. The details include period of assignment and designations held.


We are pleased to offer a varied selection of gift boxes. Our winery team is also happy to offer you a personal gift concierge service. If you would like us to assist you in placing your orders directly, you may contact us at 707-938-7292 or info@kamenwines.com.
** We encourage your selection of expedited shipping to cold weather states for the safety of the wine.
Our 2017 Sauvignon Blanc is racy and savory! We have packaged it together with our 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon making it the perfect gift for any wine lover.
All prices are inclusive of gift packaging. Shipping costs and sales tax are based on destination address. Both Ground and expedited shipping are available on all packages. For expedited shipping costs, please call 707-938-7292.


I am 50-something and love to knit (though I am not very prolific) and read. I will knit anything, scarves, dishclothes, socks, etc. I have two grown daughters who are wonderful and two dogs and three cats who keep me entertained. I am currently working on my Master's degree in business; however, I am irritated that it cuts into my knitting time.
Please leave a message and let me know if I am babbling too much and give me your thoughts on my knitting and new adventures in adding pictures to my blog.
WNBP: Hellooooo? Anyone Still Out There?
Living and Knitting on a Maine island; Welcome to Frenchboro!
"What size needles do YOU use to knit socks for soldiers?"


hi everybody. i would like to translate avidemux into italian. do you need both avidemux.mo and gtk20.mo translated?
i found klingon.po in \"avidemux_2.4_preview1.tar.gz\": is that the right avidemux.po to translate?
have a good work with this wonderful software!
i\'m translating it with poedit. can i contribute with my translation (when it\'s done)? how?
Definitely, just make your po file available when you\'re ready. Email it to Mean or myself, or upload it to a file hosting service like mytempdir and we will commit it to SVN.
I\'ll try to update it for next releases, and will post here.
Could you please supply the po file?
do you need avidemux_it.ts or .qm?
Just the po and ts; the qm isn\'t required .
I haven\'t forgotten about the Qt4 version not fully translating. I think a hack will be required before building the qm file to remove the Context from most of the strings in the ts file. I hope to look at it soon.


Triditive, Spain, has announced that US-based Metal Injection Moulding (MIM) equipment specialist, Elnik Systems, is to provide comprehensive metallurgical assistance and production services, at its German and US facilities, to the Scaladd Consortium.
The Scaladd Consortium was established by Triditive to grant industrial companies access to Additive Manufacturing production in metals and polymers, as well as the technology and services provided by consortium members.
Through the cooperation, Elnik will draw on its expertise in the MIM debind and sinter industry, giving access to its wide range of advanced furnaces suited to the processing of metal components, such as those manufactured on Triditive's AMCell AM machines. Elnik builds furnaces that can process any metal with any binder, including one-step systems and catalytic and solvent debind options.
Triditive expressed its hope that the equipment provided will help to make metal Additive Manufacturing a 'final solution' for the industry. "We have a clear objective working with Elnik Systems: to demonstrate that AM is ready for mass manufacturing in metals using AMCell® automated machines," stated Mariel Díaz Castro, Triditive CEO.


text:
Q: How Can I Use Different Programing Languages in a Batch File? i saw a BAT file there have different programing language used in there
it is (Java Script)
@if (true == false) @end /*
@echo off
bg font 6 & cls
cmdwiz showcursor 0

if defined __ goto :START
set __=.
cmdgfx_input.exe m0unW14x | call %0 %* | cmdgfx_gdi "" Sf0:0,0,180,110W0
set __=
goto :eof

:START
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set /a F6W=180/2, F6H=110/2
mode %F6W%,%F6H%

cmdwiz getdisplaydim w & set SW=!errorlevel!
cmdwiz getdisplaydim h & set SH=!errorlevel!
cmdwiz getwindowbounds w & set WINW=!errorlevel!
cmdwiz getwindowbounds h & set WINH=!errorlevel!
set /a WPX=%SW%/2-%WINW%/2, WPY=%SH%/2-%WINH%/2-20
cmdwiz setwindowpos %WPX% %WPY%

cscript //nologo //e:javascript "%~dpnx0" %*
::cmdwiz getch & rem Enable this line to see jscript parse errors

mode 80,50
echo "cmdgfx: quit"
title input:Q
endlocal
exit /b 0 */

var W=180, H=110, RY=0
var XMID=W/2, YMID=H/2-53
var DIST=2500, ASPECT=0.6925
var DRAWMODE=0, GROUNDCOL=3, PLYCHAR="db"

var ACCSPEED=270
var MAXCUBES=30

var fs = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
var shell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell")

var HISCORE=0
var inputfile = "hiscore.dat";
if (fs.FileExists(inputfile))
{
    var f1 = fs.OpenTextFile(inputfile, 1)  // 1=ForReading
    HISCORE = parseInt(f1.ReadLine())
    f1.close()
}
and bla bla bla...

in folder files;
cmdgfx_gdi.exe
cmdgfx_input.exe
cmdwiz.exe
dlc.exe
Question; can i use (C++ - C - python) that different programing languages like this example ".bat" file?
and how?
If you want to inspect That BAT game it's name is; "cmdrunner"

A: This file is a hack. It consists of two parts:

*

*The batch code

*

*If you look carefully you'll see that most if this code is actually a JavaScript multiline comment starting at the end of line 1 and ending after exit /b 0.

*The JavaScript part

The batch script does some stuff that may or may not be called upon by the JavaScript part and then launches "itself" using cscript, the Console-based Windows Script Host.
The first line does not produce an error in either Batch or JavaScript.
You can use any combination of languages as long as it's an interpreted language (otherwise you'll have to compile and run the resulting program) and as long as you can craft a file that is valid for both in the critical parts.
It's mostly pointless though.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Dynamics of Political Development in Afghanistan
Dr. Iram Khalid
Afghanistan's bumpy ride is still on. The tussle between internal and external actors is disturbing the social and political order of the Afghan society. The present study is an effort to answer questions, like, i-How much role does the factor of political history has in present instability? ii- What type of interests do the external actors have in Afghanistan? iii- How can the institutional building be helpful in managing the present days functionalism? By answering the questions the research will conclude that the present crisis is the outcome of internal strife and external involvement. The traits of current situation can be traced in history, the interest game of the major actors and the conflicting personal agendas of the Afghan leadership. They never allowed institution building in Afghanistan. The present political friction is the outcome of the mixture of these elements. A suggested solution is to develop modern democratic institutions while coping with the traditional political culture of Afghan people.


Print-On-Demand (POD) issuing alludes to the capacity to print high-quality publications as required. For self-published publications, this is frequently a further frugal choice compared to managing a print run of 100s or 1000s of publications.
Many businesses, such as Createspace (owned by Amazon.com), Lulu and iUniverse permit publishing sole publications at per-book outlays not fully developed compared to these compensated by issuing businesses for great print runs.
Most POD businesses as well prefer dispersion via Amazon.com and different on the web and brick-and-mortar retail traders, nearly all frequently as out of the ordinary direction either web-only as trade outlet vents are normally reluctant to merchandise material publications that can't be restored if they fail to sell.


text:
namespace pythonic
{

  namespace numpy
  {

    namespace wrapper
    {
      template <class I>
      typename std::enable_if<types::is_complex<I>::value, bool>::type
      isreal(I const &a);

      template <class I>
      typename std::enable_if<not types::is_complex<I>::value, bool>::type
      isreal(I const &a);
    }

#define NUMPY_NARY_FUNC_NAME isreal
#define NUMPY_NARY_FUNC_SYM wrapper::isreal
#include "pythonic/include/types/numpy_nary_expr.hpp"
  }
}

#endif


text:
Economic–biological assessment of cherry tomato hybrids in the southern steppe of Ukraine
Попова Л. М., , ,
Латюк Г. І., , ,
635.64 : 631.526.3:631.55 (477.74)
The work presents results on studying characteristics of plant growth and development, yield and product quality of foreign cherry tomato hybrids in conditions of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine. Hereby it was established that on average for three years the Cupid F1 and Timoushin F1 hybrids have a fruiting period of 15 to 11 days longer than the control. Panareе F1 hybrid is very close to the control by duration of fruiting (38 days). Shortest fruiting period was observed in the Beibit F1 hybrid – 35 days. The leaf area of one plant of the Timoushin F1 hybrid reached 213 dm², which is 83 dm² more than the control. The leaf surface planted area of 1m 2 for this hybrid was 4,69 m², which is 1,83 m² more than control. For the Panaree F1 hybrid, leaf area of one plant was 196 dm², which is 66 dm² more than control, and leaf planted area of 1m2made 4,31 m², which is 1,45 m² more than control. The Cupid F1 hybrid is characterized by the smallest leaf surface area of one plant – 121 dm² and 1 m2 of plantations – 2,66 m². At that, it should be noted that leaf area of this particular hybrid is the most productive. This indicator in plants of the Cupid F1 hybrid was 0,81 m2/kg. Beibit F1 and Panareе F1 hybrids are characterized with lowest productivity of leaf area, which amounted to 1,98 and 1,19 m2/kg respectively. A similar trend was observed with respect to the size and quality of marketable products. Thus, the Timoushin F1 hybrid provided the highest marketable yield. On average, over the years of research, the marketable yield of this hybrid was 4,66 kg/m2 and exceeded control one by 1,72 kg/m2 or 59 %. The Panareе F1 hybrid significantly exceeded control one in terms of marketable yield size. The average commercial productivity of this hybrid for three years amounted to 3,20 kg/m2, which exceeds the control by 0,26 kg/m2 or by 9 %. Beibit F1 hybrid is characterized by the lowest marketable yield, which amounted to 1,51 kg/m2 in the years of study, which is less than the control one by 1,43 kg/m2. The control Cherry Wiener F1 hybrid was found in between in the context of options in terms of the marketable yield size. On average, over the years of research, this indicator amounted to 2,94 kg/m2. It was established that the Timoushin F1 and Panareе F1 hybrids are rank below in height of plants to Cherry Wiener F1 control, however, in terms of leaf surface area they significantly exceed it, by 64 and 52 %, respectively. Timoushin F1 and Panareе F1 hybrids provided the highest marketable yield, which on average for three years of research makes 4,66 and 3,20 kg/m2. Cultivation of these hybrids allows getting products with in 38–53 days with the marketability of fruits of 88,4–97,2 %.
cherry tomato, hybrid, marketable fruits, leaf area, yield
Download (Total: 105)


text:
from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect
from django.shortcuts import render_to_response,RequestContext

#自定义render_to_response,将request封装到response返回到模板

def myrender_to_response(request,template,data={}):
    if request.user.is_authenticated():
        #默认为模板添加消息通知信息
        #data['addfriendNs'] = request.user.addfriendnotice_to.filter(readed=False)
        pass
    return render_to_response(template,data,context_instance=RequestContext(request))