text:
They May Be Parted
Tag Archives: Don't Let Me Down
Jan. 9: Jokes in between
Let's run through the ones we know and then learn the [new] one.
This is our format.
Paul McCartney was right. There was a format. At least there was a framework developing as the Beatles rehearsed in their second week at Twickenham.
As covered in the last post, George Harrison would have to wait a few hours for attention to return to his new "For You Blue." Instead, with the full band ready to go nearly 90 minutes into the January 9, 1969, Nagra tapes, the Beatles tackled "Two of Us" for the fifth time in six days, initiating a sequence in which the group returned to some of the finished, core songs they'd have for their live show. Why, it was their format!
This stretch also clearly exposed the side of the Beatles that everyone (else) usually cites when describing the Get Back sessions. While I'm quick to argue January 1969 at Twickenham was not of itself the downfall of the band as it was filled with harmonious, joyous and highly fruitful moments to match the uglier, fractious component of the sessions, these guys could get pretty petulant and didn't hide it with the tapes rolling.
A quick, carefree one-off into the song the day before, this day's "Two of Us" rehearsal stretched about a half-hour, and quite unlike the Rocky and the Rubbers' version, Paul insisted on serious refinement.
As loose as their run-through was early on the 8th was exactly how tense things emerged on the 9th, with consistent, stuttered efforts to get through a full song.
From the top, the group can't find the proper pacing of "Two of Us," with Paul pushing the others to pick it up. "Keep them all quiet, keep your instruments down so we can sort of hear what's going on."
They had another go at the song, and "it's still pathetic," in Paul's words. He suggested the issues went beyond just the song's speed.
As Paul nitpicked what arrangement the song needed entering the bridge, John argued, "We never got into this [part] yet," defending himself and the others as Paul criticized the group for not knowing what's in his head.
A fiery example of the strain came during a "Two of Us" take in which Paul barked at John, who wasn't in perfect rehearsal position, to "get on the mic." John, certainly responding to the tone more than the instruction itself snapped back.
"You don't have to bitch about it, we'll never get through it."
The band immediately went into another take, and you can hear John loud and clear — but he came in early. You can hear Paul's displeasure when he comes in himself at the right time. Still, they championed on.
(This sequence was in the Let It Be film, and led immediately to the "I'll play, you know, whatever you want me to play" sequence from three days earlier.
A dark moment, for sure, but as usual for these guys, they were able to compartmentalize and still harmonize figuratively and literally. Picking apart "Two of Us" to improve the various "bits" and now focusing on the middle eight, Paul started thinking out loud.
"The two things I think of are both corny, but something better are oohs … or [a staccato "dit-dit-dit"]"
Never mind that the "oohs" are actually "aahs" when Paul, John and George instantly launch into a demonstration of the vocals, which are proposed to appear supporting the "you and I have memories" lead. This is the Beatles magic, immediate and spontaneous and completely normal, even when it comes a few minutes after one member complains about the other one's bitchiness. The subsequent stab at the staccato vocalization came off a bit sloppier but still likable.
Concerned the backup line would sound "too thin," George proposed, "Maybe we get a few Raelettes," marking yet another time the group evoked Ray Charles' backup singers. "Get three girls" with some phasing on the mics.
John's cheeky reply was to bring in three boys instead, and George named the Dallas Boys, Britian's first boy band (by '69 they were into their 30s).
While they never landed the Raelettes, the Beatles would soon enlist the man seated before them, Billy Preston. (Photo from late 1968).
Ultimately, Paul asked the others to "just think of something, then" for the middle eight, and off they went into another take, this one featuring the lovely "aahs." The song may not have dramatically improved, but the mood had over the last 25 or so minutes on the tapes.
But Paul still had something to complain about, turning his attention to a frequent (and legitimate) punching bag for the band, the equipment setup at Twickenham. If we think the tapes sound diluted, just imagine how substandard the quality must have been for the musicians on the sound stage. With the proposed show nearing — and despite some pretty ambitious ideas, uh, floated less than 24 hours earlier — improved sound needed to be addressed along with other facets of a finalized live performance.
"Just so that we can all hear, so it sounds really great here," Paul said. "So that our voices are just as loud as they need to be. 'Cause then we'll be able to hear what's wrong."
What's more …
"Everything we're going to actually do like that, we could get into now. Just where the amps are going to be, and where we stand. It is a bit silly to be rehearsing sitting, facing this way, when we're actually to be playing standing, facing that way."
And here's where we return to a disagreement among the principals, but with a far different result than earlier.
John: I thought we'd get into that when we do a few more.
George: We still have dance steps to learn.
Paul: And the jokes in between.
The esprit de corps resumed as the group advanced to a singular take of "Don't Let Me Down." There was no nibbling, no exhausting search for a missing "bit," and even when there was a screw-up on the lyric, they powered on and completed the song in a tidy 3:10.
Far less concise, and clocking in at nearly 25 minutes of torturous micromanagement, was a brutal run of "I've Got a Feeling." After a perfectly adequate (for this point in the sessions) initial run-through, Paul immediately identified just one specific spot for improvement — the same part of the song that had bedeviled the group on multiple occasions, and the same point that the struggled with in several songs — "The only bit is the break. Still not sort of dramatic enough."
This tense sequence was up there among the least listenable parts of the entire month's worth of tapes. Paul offered several variants on how he wants the guitar part to sound, right after his line, "All that I've been looking for is somebody who looks like you!"
"All the notes are clipped."
"There shouldn't be any recognizable jumps."
"The notes shouldn't ring on."
"At the moment, it's like a riff."
"[The notes should be] just like falling, falling."
"Try to sort of sing it."
"It's got to be like pain."
"Certainly do anything like it's crying."
It's got to be like pain. What an instruction!
Paul desperately and relentlessly attempted to communicate how he wanted the part to sound — gesticulating, vocalizing, playing it on the bass — but John simply couldn't or wouldn't accurately nail the brief solo.
In another editing trick that showed up in the Let it Be film, John did, in fact, nail it. That's because the film shows the January 8 "Rocky and the Rubbers" take of the song (where Paul shouts a celebratory "good evening!" after the part is played), and spliced it on both ends of a brief portion of this sequence from January 9.
Ultimately, John hit the part satisfactorily enough for the Paul to continue the group through their core set. The mood rose again for another jubilant effort of "One After 909," although we don't get a complete grasp of the rehearsal due to the tape cutting in and out. We can pretty safely assume, though, that like "Don't Let Me Down," the band tore through a single take.
As John moved over to the piano, the Beatles practiced their stage patter, in hilariously fake sincere voices.
Paul: "Certainly, it's a great occasion for us."
John: "First chance we've had to play for you dummies for a long time."
The playful attitude continued as Paul dabbled in a bit of "Norwegian Wood" on bass, soon to be joined briefly by Ringo on drums and George on guitar and vocals before they immediately launched into, as George called it, "the one about the window."
It was a straightforward, strong take of "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window," although we don't hear the whole thing on the tapes. Far less straightforward, but wholly enjoyable was a string of takes broken up by tape cuts, including one with John taking the lead vocal with a heavy Cockney accent.
By this point, the mood was entirely loose. The song was given a slow ballad treatment, featuring a lyric referencing the famed celebrity female impersonator Danny La Rue. Paul completed one take by answering the phone: "Hello, this is Tuesday speaking. Is that Paul? I'd like to have a word with you."
Now, five minutes past 1 p.m., the group broke for lunch. Paul offered a brief impression of Elvis — who someone mentioned turned 34 the day earlier.
Only a few hours into a temperamental roller-coaster of a day, John replied to the rest of the 20-somethings in the group, "We all seem to be catching up to him."
Filed under Day by day
Tagged as argument, bitchy, Dallas Boys, Don't Let Me Down, George Harrison, I've Got a Feeling, January 9, John Lennon, Let It Be movie, Live show, One After 909, Paul McCartney, Raelettes, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Twickenham, Two of Us
Jan. 8: Rocky and the Rubbers
Our world lost — and the stars and heavens regained — David Bowie last week. I didn't feel much like blogging about the Beatles for a little bit, even though this post had already been mostly written. But as the man once sang, time is waiting in the wings, and we should be on by now. So please enjoy the continuation of the Beatles' Nagra tapes timeline, picking up with the morning of January 8, 1969, as David Bowie was celebrating his 22nd birthday across town and working on writing Space Oddity.
It's tough to say "this is when they got serious" when there were laughs and smiles throughout, but after more than a half hour on the January 8, 1969, Nagra reels, the Beatles at least found a bit of motivation and a short-term goal to complete, getting serious in deed if not demeanor. With a concert to be staged, John, Paul, George and Ringo gathered their focus for a chirpy, energetic run-through of four songs deemed early contenders for a live show.
Paul led the proceedings, tabbing his original duet as the opener: "Johnny, 'On Our Way Back Home.'"
If you've seen Let It Be — and I really hope you have and will one day again on some sort of modern entertainment replay device – you've been struck by how loose John and Paul are, hamming it up as they sing into the same microphone.
Paul, who Ringo in an interview the previous year referred to as"Elvis" in reference to his performance of "Lady Madonna," was closer to the toxically impaired King, comically slurring and sneering throughout a take that both he and John sang without benefit of a lyric sheet. That's how we end up with John, laughingly repeating his mistake "two of us wearing postcards" once the take was complete. They laughed the as they sang it during the take, too.
While Paul and John can't often get through more than a few words without butchering a lyric, there was no turning back once they started, with this a sincere attempt at a run-through.
The sequence appears slightly edited in the film, cutting the performance in half from its actual three minutes to a minute-and-a-half. Had the group secretly abandoned the film and this leaked, conventional wisdom would have been that the group had a blast at Twickenham. Maybe they were just hamming it up for the cameras — or John was, at least — but it's hard to deny a somewhat different spirit in the room with a watch and listen. When things were languid at Twickenham, it was painfully clear.
A visually telling edit by movie director Michael Lindsay-Hogg comes around 30 seconds into the clip, as we catch John glancing over at Yoko, who blankly stares back, as he stands oh, so close to Paul, showing some of the genuine affection that they certainly used to have and somewhere deep in there still did.
Two of us, and also Yoko
If you can use the word "tragedy" when referring to the fact a song was omitted from a compilation –- you shouldn't, but I will, deplorably -– it's a tragedy this take didn't make it onto Anthology 3. It's in the film, thus is a recognizable, published "official" release, so despite the issues with the lyrics, it's "out there." Consumers would have understood having an(other) imperfect take on the compilation, if not welcomed it.
In the film, the song comes out of the "shocktric shocks" sequence from a few days earlier, and then dumps into "I've Got a Feeling," but in reality the group – after the improvised "You Got Me Going" and a few unserious seconds of "Twist and Shout" – delivers "Don't Let Me Down." Note the time between the end of "Two of Us" and "Don't Let Me Down" is less than a minute. Dallying was at a minimum. While "Don't Let Me Down" appears several times in Let It Be, this version is not in the film.
George didn't quite nail the introduction, but again there was no concern when the lyrics were muffed. John simply shouted "Snotgobbler!" and moves on. That's rock and roll. So was the pre-primal scream from John as the song began. So were the lyrics "nobody ever rubbed me like she do me," which John subs in at one point. The band played on, and musically it was relatively tight, really an achievement at this point in the song's lifespan.
Paul beard porn from the January 8 sessions, as seen in Let it Be. Thank me later.
John came out of the high-energy take with thanks from the "band." "God bless you, ladies and gentlemen, I'd just like to say a sincere farewell from Rocky and the Rubbers, this is Dirty Mac himself saying …"
Paul cut in, all business: "I've Got a Feeling."
The performance was a tick slower at the outset, and with continued lyrical miscues (especially Paul and John mismatching "oh no" and "oh yeah" early on), but it retained the same vigor as the two previous songs. Paul shouts a celebratory "good morning!" after wailing "somebody who looks like you!" as George hits the middle-eight guitar part.
This sequence made the film, notably appended to a particularly torturous rehearsal from a day later.
Three songs into the run-through, John revealed some fatigue, perhaps reflecting the weight of the previous week more than the prior 10 minutes: "Only another two days to go, then we'll have another two off." But Paul then offers a pick-me-up, suggesting, "Do 'One After 909'." So they did.
This number marked the one point in the four-song run-through the group stopped after they started, rebooting the take after George's solo. Once again, there's a disconnect with the film. Based on clothes alone, this performance of "One After 909" is featured visually early in the movie — after Paul's discussion of the song with Lindsay-Hogg from a couple days earlier (as seen in the film) — but paired with the audio of a take from January 9.
The movie and even a moment of the Let It Be LP was further fleshed out with a bit of memorable dialogue coming out of "One After 909." You'll hear it on the Let It Be LP prior to "For You Blue," George's eventual lone contribution to album that was just days old, as John reads from the newspaper.
Queen says no to pot-smoking FBI members.
What, you thought she'd be OK with it?
Again, we have a disconnect between the movie and the tapes, as the film moves to a previous day's take of "Oh! Darling" while in real time, the band had completed their first commitment to a run-through for a show yet to materialize. It was rough, but it was spirited, and if anything, the set must have given them the idea there would be a light at the end of the tunnel if they chose to shine it. With at least four fully formed songs, they were on their way, and the apparent positivity could easily be read to bode good fortune ahead.
Probably inspired by "One After 909," they continued a quick dip into their back catalog.
Tagged as Don't Let Me Down, Elvis Presley, For You Blue, I've Got a Feeling, January 8, John Lennon, Let It Be movie, Live show, One After 909, Paul McCartney, postcards, pot-smoking FBI members, Twickenham, Two of Us, Yoko Ono
Jan. 7: Et cetera
Every day at Twickenham was drama-filled and pivotal. Every day during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions was drama-filled and pivotal. Every day the Beatles recorded together was pivotal, if not necessarily drama-filled, right?
January 7 was a particular special day. Dramatic. Pivotal. The group talked in circles about the live show and their reasons for even remaining together. Paul bestowed us with a chunk of the Abbey Road medley as well as "The Long and Winding Road" and "Get Back." George tried — but didn't — quit (yet). John worked "Across The Universe" back into the Beatles' plans. The band very possibly invented the mashup.
Things were so interesting that we covered just about all of it in prior the prior January 7 posts. But not everything. Here are a few other significant moments that happened this day that otherwise didn't fit into the day's storyline:
Following their attempts to resurrect "Across the Universe," the group spends less than 10 minutes (on tape) on "One After 909," and they didn't need to spend another minute more on it. It's clear they know the song perfectly well, and the need to develop "bits" that tortured the group elsewhere was absent. After the very first run-through, imperfect but still tight given the sub-100 percent effort, Paul remarks, "That's all we need to know of that one." Really, he said it all. "It's very simple, and we shouldn't over-rehearse."
Billy's missing, but every other element from the song as we know it now sounds like it's there, from George's whiny guitar line and solo to Paul's and John's vocal and Ringo's tight beat. The song is show-ready, even in this early rehearsal.
"Don't Let Me Down" is rehearsed again — it would be tackled every day the band was at Twickenham until George's departure, and then again most days at Apple when they reconvened. One particular sequence sees the band return to another song, which like "One After 909," they originally recorded in 1963. But "Devil In Her Heart" wasn't a contender for the live show. George's playing on "Don't Let Me Down" was merely evocative of the Donays song later covered by the Beatles to great effect. (Skip forward to here for the transition or listen below for the entire sequence.)
I think this is less a half-hearted attempt than the group genuinely doesn't remember how to play that song anymore. Regardless, it was merely a blip, albeit a somewhat interesting one, in the sessions.
Unlike other days, the group didn't pay significant time to sincerely playing covers. We get to hear a loose take of Little Richard's "Lucille" for the second and final time on the tapes (January 3 was the previous performance). That was preceded by a rehash of Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music" that got better as the band played, although admittedly they kicked it off from an weak position and ended up in a slightly less-so place. There's little question the group sounds like it's having fun playing songs they all know, even if they're not executing well.
John also dipped into the group's more recent catalog, plunking a few notes of "Revolution" in a sequence that soon saw him lead the group into Gene Vincent's "Be Bop a Lula," a song with extensive Beatle ties. It was the first record Paul ever bought, a song John played going back to the Quarrymen days and it was played live extensively in the Beatles' early days. Ultimately, John would record it on "Rock & Roll" more than five years after these sessions, while Paul opened his landmark Unplugged appearance with the song in 1991. The song was always with George: He scrawled "Bebobalula." on his colorful Stratocaster, Rocky.
The tapes of the day's sessions would end with the group in the midst of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" rehearsals. As you can hear, there was no significant work done to the song since its debut the day before.
And that wraps up our coverage of January 7, 1969. Back "tomorrow," for coverage a compelling January 8, 1969. We'll start things off with "I Me Mine."
Tagged as Be Bop a Lula, covers, Devil in Her Heart, Don't Let Me Down, Et cetera, January 7, Lucille, One After 909, Revolution, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Twickenham
TMBP Extra: White anniversary
On Nov. 22, 1968, The Beatles graced us with The Beatles, ie., the White Album. It's as brilliant on a listen today as I'm sure it was then. Yet, less than six weeks after it hit stores, John, Paul, George and Ringo were at Twickenham writing and rehearsing songs that would eventually populate Let It Be, Abbey Road, All Things Must Pass, McCartney and sporadically on other releases.
The Get Back sessions story – what we're telling here via the Nagra reels — can't be told completely without the context and seen through, in part, the lens of the rocky White Album sessions. Ringo left the band three months into recording The Beatles. It took only eight days for George to flee the group at Twickenham. Just listen to the group's own words on Jan. 7, 1969.
Paul: The past couple of months, it's been this. The [White] album was like this. The album was worse.
George: The Beatles have been in doldrums for at least a year.
Perhaps to snap out of those doldrums, the group flirted with the idea of a live show to promote the White Album into the new year – ie., 1969 – but that idea soon fizzled. That flirtation and subsequent search for a live show scenario, however, was a prevalent theme all January 1969 long with the rooftop show the ultimate answer.
Of course, another important connection linking the White Album and the Get Back sessions are the songs. And not just wacky takes like this:
The Get Back sessions continued the White Album's larger focus on playing together as a band (further distancing themselves from Sgt. Pepper) and ostensibly served as a writing lab and demo venue for Abbey Road, the clear bridge between the two records. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Something" both dated to 1968, while "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" were rehearsed in the White Album demo session at Kinfauns. "I've Got a Feeling" (and "Everybody Had a Hard Year") and "Don't Let Me Down" similarly dated to 1968.
So while proximity (1968 vs. 1970 releases) and the ultimate productions do a lot to blur some of the relations between the White Album and Let It Be (via the Get Back sessions), the anniversary of The Beatles' release offers as good an opportunity as any to briefly mark those ties.
To celebrate, here's "Revolution," filmed at Twickenham nearly four months to the day before the band returned to the same soundstage to begin the Get Back sessions.
Filed under Extra
Tagged as Abbey Road, anniversary, argument, doldrums, Don't Let Me Down, I've Got a Feeling, Let It Be, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Revolution, Something, White Album
Jan. 6: Cross that bridge (Pt. 2)
When we left the Fab Four in the previous post, the band was continuing the wrestle with the bridge in "Don't Let Me Down." To Paul, the section "needs things to happen."
So he proceeds to ask Ringo for a little bit of stop-and-start drumming, some cymbal play and otherwise suggest ways to demolish the pacing of the song.
John seems to like it, or at least not dislike it. There's a sparseness to it, and maybe I'm nuts, but I almost feel a little Plastic Ono Band thing happening here ("Hold On" maybe?).
Excerpt from the Let it Be book
One thing that's enjoyable to listen to as they work on this is hearing the isolations — Paul's bass, George's guitar. Meanwhile, Ringo's a robot throughout the rehearsals. He literally doesn't say a word (that you can hear on the tapes, at least), soaks up Paul's instructions and basically steps in to lay down the same steady beat each of the 2,549 (approx.) times they try to tackle the bridge this day.
Meanwhile, the tapes cut in and out for an undetermined amount of takes, but it couldn't have been too long, since they're still wrestling with the same stuff. Now they're paying a bit more attention to the instrumentation on the bridge over the vocals. Paul's looking for more from George in the way of a lead guitar line — overall, not just in the bridge. Soon, John tells George, "We've got to keep fiddling around with this bit, so you want a guitar bit. … There's a point where we'll to have to concentrate on the guitar for each song."
But maybe it won't be now. John gives the band a chance to opt out of the "Don't Let Me Down" after nearly an hour of not exactly getting very far. "Should we do something else ,then?"
Feel like letting go? Not Paul. "Stick with it," he replies.
So they continue and struggle with the song's pace, first going too fast, then overcompensating by going too slow. Things just aren't getting anywhere. George complains they don't even know what they're singing during the bridge — and they don't. Tape glitches lose some time, but it doesn't matter. When we're back, the rehearsals are in the same state. John doesn't bother singing the lead vocals straight every time — and there's no point, it's the same vocals he uses on the final take.
For a moment, they ditch the response vocals and go with simple "aahs" over the bridge, and it didn't sound too bad. But still a bit superfluous.
So Paul shares what's on his mind, which is what we all probably figured he'd say anyway.
Let's do what I said in the first place. Really, just repeat what you're doing (the response vocals). I think that's the best. … Not as high as we were doing it.
As we enter the final few minutes of the song's rehearsals for the day, palpable tension finally arises. George's general objection is to the weak response vocals and undefined instrumentation in the bridge. Paul replies that "I'm just trying to get a bit we'll try and sort of go right through. We keep talking about it."
The next take, they do a call-and-response in the bridge, this time repeating John's lines: "I'm in love for the first time (I'm in love for the first time)/Don't you know it's going to last (Don't you know it's going to last)…etc.
George still objects, and makes no bones about it, saying,"I think it's awful. … it's terrible."
Paul and John both fire back, speaking over each other:
John: Well, have you got anything to supplant it?
Paul: OK, you've got to come up with something better, then.
George makes a suggestion to the guitar part/harmony (they're being played together) that Paul calls "just too pretty," which is interesting on so many levels — although among them that it's true.
They can't get through a take of the bridge before things break down. George keeps offering up little tweaks, but Paul doesn't want to be slowed. Now, at least.
Paul: We make it better as it goes on. … We've just gone around like for an hour with nothing."
George: [We've been just trying different] permutations.
Paul: I know, but let's sort of move on now.
John: I'd like to hear any of them right once.
More stumbling through takes and Paul and John reach agreement on how the bridge should now sound, at least the lyrical combination. It's a mixed message to George, too, since literally moments after saying it wasn't the time to tweak the bridge, he decides it, in fact, is.
Paul: When [John sings] "Don't you know it's going to last," we sing, "It's a love that has no past." Then we repeat "It's a love that lasts forever" exactly, and then when you sing "It's a love that has no past," we sing "It's a love that's going to last."
Got that? Not sure John did or really cared — he's let this aspect of the song be managed by Paul all day as it is — but he replied simply "Yes, I agree."
A pair of broken takes did result, blessedly, in an epiphany and a solution that stuck.
"Forget the last line," George said right after doing just that and playing the song's opening riff over where they had been shoehorning in a response vocal.
They repeat this part a few more times. We still have the other extra vocals in the bridge, but the riff sticks.
While Paul's assuaged for the moment — "So that's near enough for the time being" — John isn't.
John: We found out that's the weak bit [the bridge] so we tried putting voices on it. But it's still down to the rhythm.
Paul: But it was always weak on your guitar. That's the weak bit of the song. (It's unclear here if he's talking to John or George, or both).
Shortly after that exchange, we're back after some kind of gap on the tapes, with a fresh attempt at the song from the top. And we clearly lost some discussion, because the bridge suddenly lacks any response vocals — but does retain George's riff to end the section. This sounds like the "Don't Let Me Down" we know and love, for the most part, even down to John not quite getting his own vocals straight.
The next (and final) take, we inch even closer, with Paul and George singing harmonies with John, not as a response to him in the bridge.
And with that, the band ends their 80-plus minutes (on the tapes, it was even more in reality) of "Don't Let Me Down" rehearsals on a high note. May not have been the classic "eyeball-to-eyeball" collaborations John and Paul would do — especially with George so deeply involved. But clearly, even though it wasn't exactly cordial, it worked. "Don't Let Me Down" was a better song 80 minutes after they started rehearsing.
Paul then announces the next song they'll try to work on — "Two of Us Going Nowhere On Our Way Home" — and we'll find out soon enough just how much George wants to please him.
Tagged as argument, Don't Let Me Down, George Harrison, January 6, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Twickenham
After basically ceding to Yoko his creative role in the band's decision-making over the live show earlier in the day, John Lennon regains a tiny bit of authority by leading the group through a lengthy rehearsal of "Don't Let Me Down," one of the primary songs the band has taken on thus far.
Well, he regains authority at the outset, at least, during a stretch that provides the first real look at the discord between band members that helped define the Get Back/Let it Be sessions.
On the A/B tapes, Jan. 6 rehearsals for "Don't Let Me Down" run in a straight shot for nearly 90 minutes, easily the longest stretch they spent on any one song this day. The structure of the song is set and doesn't change from what will eventually be pressed to vinyl. It's a delightfully simple song, both in lyrics and structure. But they're not happy to leave well enough alone quite yet.
Things kick in with the song already under way in what's labeled as Track 6.62. (I've also been able to track down some of this day's rehearsals in a few YouTube clips below, as culled from the bootleg "Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 9 (1969 N° 5) – Hello Dolly.")
Shortly into things, John asks to work on what he calls "the worst bit" — the song's bridge. ("I'm in love for the first time…").
Now, it's absolutely granted that the band has a hard time working together, and that didn't just begin on January 2, when they convened at Twickenham. But at least from the relative beginning of the sessions, they're trying. An example of that comes right here as John wants the help on the bridge, asking openly, "What can we do to that bit, then?"
George says he likes the vocal line and harmony, it's just lacking in some color as far as the fills in between. He suggests a rhythm change, while John replies, "That's where the piano would come in."
Good stuff! Collaboration!
Paul scats some falsetto to alternate with John's lines, and George fiddles with some guitar fills. It actually sounds kind of nice with John on an acoustic guitar, but overall nothing overly impressive. But hey, it's a work in progress. There were probably lots of bum attempts at things over the prior decade of Beatles in-studio fiddling, right? We just have these extensive rehearsals on tape, whereas we don't have a zillion hours and hours of them wrestling with, say, "Nowhere Man."
Paul takes things a bit more into his own hands, instructing George to join him in the vocals, and telling him just what to do.
Paul offers up his falsetto part, then gives explicit suggestions for the responses.
John: I'm in love for the first time
Paul's suggestion: Love for the first time in my life
John: Don't you know it's going to last
Paul: So don't you let it get away (he soon changes it to "Not going to let it get away")
John: It's a love that lasts forever
Paul: It lasts forever and a day
Paul goes onto explain that "corny's all right in this one. What he's [John] doing is corny. That's the thing that will make it not corny, we sing different different words."
I'd question the logic (and lyrical interpretation) there, but hey, Paul's track record in writing hit songs is a lot longer than mine. The last song he referred to as "corny" was "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" a few days earlier, and I think it's safe to say they're quite different birds. I do think he says it affectionately, at least.
George says something that's not quite on mic, to which Paul, clearly trying to blow him off, says "OK, well, we'll do that, that comes later. Just sing it straight first."
The next stab at the bridge has George doing the "part that moves" that Paul had just suggested, sounding a bit Band-ish, which isn't too much of a surprise at this point. At the same time, there's a slight "Revolution 1" vibe here, where the "shooby-doo-wops" punctuate the chorus. I guess it works, but it definitely changes the feel of what we know as "Don't Let Me Down" — John in fact likens the work in progress to "something like the Drifters." (We're still a few weeks away from the Beatles actually covering the Drifters).
They continue to run through the bridge, Paul directing.
Paul : The thing is, sing the one I'm doing, and we'll improve upon it. Start off with a corny one, because the words aren't that good. (Here, he's referring to his response vocals, not John's main ones).
John: I think the words should be corny, because there are no clever words in it.
I guess he's right — it's a straight rock song with deeply honest lyrics (and his first song written for Yoko, I believe), no interpretation necessary. This isn't "I am the Walrus" or "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," lyrically. So I don't think he meant it as an insult to the song. But I guess I'm surprised John would want to muddy up a song like this.
More run-throughs, and John still isn't satisfied, at one point saying, "Maybe I should play piano … just to change it." George talks about using some pedals so it "doesn't sound like the same old shit," — but John says "I like the same old shit, if it's clear."
"Just think of some riffs," Paul suggests to George, as we see today's first real signs of a little bit of the big boys ganging up on the perceived help.
And so they continue, with one of the takes briefly immortalized at the beginning of the "Let it Be" film (it's taken from 6.67 on the tapes).
Of course, in this edit, the band goes straight into the Jan. 3 Maxwell's Silver Hammer performance. In reality, they churned on, with Paul thinking the answer to the seemingly busted bridge is to change the rhythm.
"This needs this," Paul insists. "It needs things to happen."
Just what does happen? Find out soon in Part 2!
Tagged as argument, corny, Don't Let Me Down, George Harrison, January 6, John Lennon, Let It Be movie, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Paul McCartney, The Drifters, Twickenham
TMBP Extra: Rooftopaversary
I need to make one more interruption before returning to the day-by-day tapes breakdown to recognize the 43nd anniversary of the rooftop concert atop 3 Savile Row that just about concluded the Get Back sessions and wrapped the Beatles' career as a live act. More on this iconic event as I eventually reach it in the Nagra tapes timeline down the road.
Tagged as 3 Savile Row, Billy Preston, Dig A Pony, Don't Let Me Down, George Harrison, Get Back, I've Got a Feeling, January 30, John Lennon, One After 909, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Rooftop
Jan. 2, 1969: Revelation 1
Much like I can never listen to Hey Jude the same way after knowing where John Paul drops the F-bomb, it's hard to hear "Don't Let Me Down" and "Sun King" the same way after hearing them debuted at Twickenham on the first day of rehearsals.
And that's because, after hearing each of those songs quite literally countless times over my life, it never occurred to me that they're one in the same. Insomuch that "Sun King," ostensibly, is part of "Don't Let Me Down."
Maybe it had always been obvious to everyone else. But to me, it was revelatory.
How was this missing from my life all these years? Am I the last to know? This, easily, was the most interesting thing about the first day, for me. Something I'd never even approached thinking about.
Tagged as Abbey Road, Don't Let Me Down, January 2, John Lennon, mashup, Sun King, Twickenham
Jan. 2, 1969: Different feelings
Little more than 25 minutes into the A/B Road recordings, we've heard four eventual classics rehearsed in "Don't Let Me Down," "All Things Must Pass," "Let it Down" and a seminal take of "Jealous Guy" in "Child of Nature/On the Road to Marrakesh." None would make the eventual Let it Be release, with Don't Let Me Down making it onto the B-side of "Get Back" in April (it did make the initial Glyn Johns cut of the Get Back LP), "Jealous Guy" — which didn't make the cut on the White Album — surfacing on Imagine and the other two tracks highlighting "All Things Must Pass."
Paul arrived last for the session, but he was quick to take up John's offer to sing a few songs.
Clearly well developed was "I Got a Feeling," with Paul's base song already wedded with John's "Everybody Had a Hard Year." And Paul hit the ground running with the track, seemingly very eager to work out its kinks straight away. Like he would with "Don't Let Me Down" later in the day, he was already micromanaging aspects of the song, not merely introducing new numbers to bandmates just reconvening for sessions.
After more than 40 minutes — of what's captured on the Nagra tapes, at least — George cuts in.
"It may be better to, like, learn as much as like we've learned of this one of … "
"Of all of them (the songs)," Paul interrupted. "Yeah I was saying that before." He didn't actually say that before, at least on the tapes. "Yes, just get the chords and stuff."
George continued, "Bring them all up like that together, rather than just (get) the one perfect…"
John cuts in. "OK, but we'll just do it a couple more times, and see which way we go, and then we'll learn something."
Not more than 20 seconds pass, and they return to "I've Got a Feeling."
A little less than 10 minutes later, at the end of two more takes — getting them up to about 20 — Paul suggests they do a new song, "learn some new chords or something, like you said."
So they moved on… to "Don't Let Me Down," which they'd already spent 20 minutes on earlier (on the tapes, at least) and abandoned only to get into "I've Got a Feeling."
George would play "All Things Must Pass" alone later in the day on the tapes, the take lasting about a minute and a half — with just audio, it's impossible to tell if the rest of the band was even there. Most of the remainder of the day was Paul spending about a half hour introducing Two of Us.
Things would, however, change the next day.
Tagged as All Things Must Pass, Child of Nature/On the Road to Marrakesh, Don't Let Me Down, George Harrison, I've Got a Feeling, January 2, John Lennon, Let it Down, Paul McCartney, Twickenham
TMBP Extra: Jan. 9, 1969 recap
Jan. 9: Crossroads he's standing at
Jan. 9: Homeward bounder
Jan. 9: It's dead easy
TheyMayBeParted
RT @harrisonarchive: "The garden at Friar Park is part of his legacy, too; he invested a lot of time in our family's surroundings." - Olivi… 14 hours ago
RT @wiltybanter: Are there any illustrators on my TL? Or do you know of a brilliant artist criminally undervalued? Please tag away and RT.… 14 hours ago
RT @harold_eugene: John and Yoko, St Regis Hotel, September 1971 (from Above Us Only Sky documentary) - complete with Yesterday and Today b… 1 day ago
So my mother-in-law's dog went to the bathroom on my new couch yesterday. The unexpected upside is that the upholst… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 days ago
RT @OfficialNilsson: Harry Edward Nilsson June 15, 1941-January 15, 1994. Always in our hearts. https://t.co/JeGiz7zOZD 2 days ago
RT @IAmTheEggPod: Postcard from John to Paul, 15 January 1970. (John and Yoko were in Aalborg, Denmark holidaying with Yoko's ex, Tony Cox… 2 days ago
Follow @TheyMayBeParted
3 Savile Row 1957 1968 1969 1970 Abbey Road Across the Universe All Things Must Pass anniversary apologist Apple Studios argument Around the Beatles beard Beatles oldies Billy Preston Blogoversary boat Bob Dylan Canned Heat Carry That Weight charity Chuck Berry context corny covers David Bowie Denis O'Dell dialogue divorce doldrums Don't Let Me Down Elvis Presley equipment Eric Clapton Et cetera Every Little Thing For You Blue future solo George Harrison George Martin Get Back Gimme Some Truth Glyn Johns Golden Slumbers granny music Hear Me Lord Hey Jude I've Got a Feeling I Me Mine India Isn't It A Pity Jackie Lomax January 2 January 3 January 6 January 7 January 8 January 9 John Lennon Let It Be Let It Be ... Naked Let It Be album Let It Be movie Libya Linda Eastman Liverpool Live show Mal Evans Mary Hopkin Maxwell's Silver Hammer Michael Lindsay-Hogg Neil Aspinall Ob-la-di Ob-la-da Oh! Darling One After 909 Palace of the King of Birds Paul McCartney Phil Spector piano Quarrymen recap Revolution Ringo Starr Rock & Roll Circus Rolling Stones Rooftop Sabratha She Came in Through the Bathroom Window Spike Milligan The Band The Long and Winding Road The Magic Christian The Who Twickenham Two of Us Two Virgins White Album Wonderwall Music Yoko Ono
beatle.net
Beatles Remixers
Beatles Source
Bootleg Zone
Contra Band Music
Early Beatles Songs
Fabcast
FabFourArchivist
georgeharrison.com
Harrison Archive (Instagram)
Hey Dullblog
johnlennon.com
Let it Be at IMDB
Let it Be at thebeatles.com
Nothing is Real (podcast)
paulmccartney.com
Petition the Beatles to release 'Let It Be' on DVD (Facebook)
Producing the Beatles (podcast)
ringostarr.com
Something About the Beatles (podcast)
The Beatles Naked (podcast)
The Beatles Rarity
thebeatles.com
Wog Blog
York Beatles Appreciation Society
TMBP Elsewhere
FabFourArchivist: Rooftop Pt. 1
Something About The Beatles podcast, episode 161
UCR: On "Let It Be … Naked"
They May Be Parted · Blogging the Nagra Tapes | The Beatles' Get Back sessions


text:
Q: WP-CLI: STDOUT error when called in CRON (crontab) Little help or guidance. Server is CentOS 7 - with WHM/CPanel installed.
Command:
$(which php) $(which wp) core update --require=/opt/wp-cli-pre.php --path=/home/USER/public_html/

The contents of /opt/wp-cli-pre.php
<?php
if(!defined('STDIN')) define('STDIN',  fopen('php://stdin',  'r'));
if(!defined('STDOUT')) define('STDOUT', fopen('php://stdout', 'w'));
if(!defined('STDERR')) define('STDERR', fopen('php://stderr', 'w'));

Works as expected from the command line, but if from cron job, I get:

PHP Warning:  Use of undefined constant STDOUT - assumed 'STDOUT' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in phar:///usr/local/bin/wp/vendor/wp-cli/wp-cli/php/utils.php on line 1057

output of "which php"
/usr/local/bin/php
output of "which wp"
/usr/local/bin/wp
I have installed the latest WP-CLI from https://wp-cli.org/

A: At long last, I have found the solution.
When the CRON runs a PHP script like this: */5 * * * * php /path/to/script.php
The SAPI name is: cgi-fcgi (on a WHM/CPanel install on CentOS)
It cannot find the CLI version setup by CPanel at /usr/local/bin/php as the $PATH var is just: /usr/bin:/bin
So, the solution is to not depend on the system environment to determine the PHP you want. But to set that directly.
Like this: */5 * * * * /usr/local/bin/php /path/to/script.php
It was always my assumption that if a CRON was setup in ROOT's crontab, it would inherit ROOT's environment. This apparently is not the case.

A: You should take a look at the following post.
https://forums.cpanel.net/threads/users-cannot-use-wp-cli-in-cron.643293/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


BMW just ran out of warranty, looking for a good BMW mechanic in the Ottawa area to do my oil changes and any future needs.
What part of the city?
Raphael Ready (STRIKER on Max) has a shop in Ottawa now. If you are intereted, I'll find the location and post it.
As scary as it might sound, go see Canadian Tire on Carling. The service manager, Ralph, is a huge sponsor of the Motorsports Club of Ottawa and most of us will now only take our cars there.
Plus, he's huge on BMWs and knows the cars inside and out.
Autovation is the only place that's ever touched my E30. Previous owner only took it to Duss Brothers where it was VERY well treated, I just don't like how he treats the car's owner.
Hey guys thanks to all of you who have helped with this question. I do appreciate all the responses.
I'll do my research now on all of your recommendations and pick my spot for the future.
Try TurboReady (Raphael and crew), great guys to deal with!
Can we get a sticky with this topic?
Mechanic To You is the best guy I've ever used. Matt runs a business where he comes to your house and works on your car there. Exceptionally knowledgable and very fairly priced.
My regular guys can't diagnose the problem with my heater not working, and they sent me to Duss brothers on Wellington. They only work on BMW but I couldn't get an appointment until Friday, so they seem pretty busy.
EDIT - Based on other recommendations on this site, I called Autovation. Dillon has me in for tomorrow, and gave me a level of confidence that they can fix the problem while I wait. Screw Duss, I'm an Autovation man!!
Last edited by Bimmer p.i.; 10-12-2010 at 01:13 PM.
Originally Posted by Beemer p.i.
What's wrong with the heat in your car?
i too took my car to autovation yesterday.
I put a new post about them..
You can read the post in our ottawa section.
Great honest guys there, first time user and i will return for any further issues.
Thanks for all the initial replies to assist me.


text:
The Hardest Part of Growing a Business
By theLeaseGuy | November 25, 2019
I was talking to my friend Edward the other day. Edward owns a landscaping and small equipment repair business, and he's been very successful over the years. He's also a customer of ours, and has been for more than a decade.
We got to talking about business growth, risk, and what it takes to be successful. And he said something that really resonated with me.
"Fletch, the hardest part about succeeding wasn't starting the business, or even that first year or two when I had to do everything. The hardest part was making the decision to buy the equipment and a truck for a second crew."
He went on to say how easy we made it (that's how we met, in fact), but this post isn't really about financing equipment. It's about the mindset that Edward had. He reached a point where he was successful on his own in his landscaping business – in fact he started turning away work, because Edward is only one guy (well, technically two guys, because he did hire a helper.)
But that was the key – Edward didn't want to turn away work. He knew that the only way to succeed was to replicate himself and expand. So he took the plunge, got a second crew going, his current helper was promoted to lead said second crew, and off they went.
Success followed, and a few years later, Edward took another giant step when he purchased a building and, in addition to having a "home base" for the landscaping business, started repairing small equipment as well.
This was an even larger decision than the first one, but Edward says it was also easier. He had experience from his first "expansion" decision (and since that time, added a third crew). Yes, buying a building was a much, much bigger deal, but by now, "growth" was in his DNA.
I find it interesting that the first big expansion decision was the hardest, even if in raw dollars, it's not anywhere near the biggest risk he took. But it was – that very first "I need to grow, and I'm going to have to spend some money to do it" was the catalyst to everything.
Food for thought. And yes, if you need fast, easy equipment financing to take that first big step, we're here.
Equipment Financing Small Business
equipment finance expansion financing leasing equipment
← Eroding the Mountain of Paperwork Embracing Credit →

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package com.itude.mobile.mobbl.core.model;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Set;

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

import com.itude.mobile.mobbl.core.configuration.mvc.MBAttributeDefinition;
import com.itude.mobile.mobbl.core.configuration.mvc.MBElementDefinition;
import com.itude.mobile.mobbl.core.model.exceptions.MBCannotAssignException;
import com.itude.mobile.mobbl.core.model.exceptions.MBInvalidAttributeNameException;
import com.itude.mobile.mobbl.core.util.StringUtilities;

/**
* A node in an Element tree.
*/
public class MBElement extends MBElementContainer

{
  private static final Logger       LOGGER         = Logger.getLogger(MBElement.class);
  private static final String       TEXT_ATTRIBUTE = "text()";

  private final Map<String, String> _values;                                           // Dictionaryofstrings
  private MBElementDefinition       _definition;

  /**
   * Creating and Initializing an Element
   *
   * @param definition {@link MBElementDefinition}
   */
  public MBElement(MBElementDefinition definition)
  {
    super();
    _definition = definition;
    _values = new HashMap<String, String>();
  }

  @Override
  public MBElement clone()
  {
    MBElement newElement = new MBElement(_definition);
    newElement._values.putAll(_values);
    copyChildrenInto(newElement);

    return newElement;
  }

  /**
   * @see com.itude.mobile.mobbl.core.model.MBElementContainer#setValue(java.lang.String, java.lang.String)
   */
  @Override
  public void setValue(String value, String path)
  {
    if (path.startsWith("@"))
    {
      setValue(value, path.substring(1));
    }
    else
    {
      if (!path.startsWith("./@"))
      {
        LOGGER.debug("Path \"" + path + "\" didn't start wih @ or ./@. Perhaps setAttributeValue should have been called instead.");
      }
      super.setValue(value, path);
    }
  }

  /**
   * Working with attribute values
   *
   * @param value value
   * @param attributeName attribute name
   */
  public void setAttributeValue(String value, String attributeName)
  {
    setAttributeValue(value, attributeName, true);
  }

  /**
   * Working with attribute values
   *
   * @param value value
   * @param attributeName attribute name
   * @param throwIfInvalid true if an exeption needs to be thrown if attribute is invalid
   */
  public void setAttributeValue(String value, String attributeName, boolean throwIfInvalid)
  {
    if (throwIfInvalid)
    {
      validateAttribute(attributeName);
      _values.put(attributeName, value);
    }
    else
    {
      if (isValidAttribute(attributeName))
      {
        _values.put(attributeName, value);
      }
    }

  }

  public String getValueForAttribute(String attributeName)
  {
    validateAttribute(attributeName);
    return _values.get(attributeName);
  }

  public String getValueForKey(String key)
  {
    return getValueForAttribute(key);
  }

  public String asXmlWithLevel(int level)
  {
    boolean hasBodyText = (isValidAttribute(TEXT_ATTRIBUTE) && getBodyText() != null && getBodyText().length() > 0);
    String result = StringUtilities.getIndentStringWithLevel(level) + "<" + _definition.getName();
    for (MBAttributeDefinition def : _definition.getAttributes())
    {
      String attrName = def.getName();
      String attrValue = _values.get(attrName);
      if (!attrName.equals(TEXT_ATTRIBUTE))
      {
        result += attributeAsXml(attrName, attrValue);
      }
    }

    if (_definition.getChildren().size() == 0 && !hasBodyText)
    {
      result += "/>\n";
    }
    else
    {
      result += ">";
      if (hasBodyText)
      {
        result += getBodyText();
      }
      else
      {
        result += "\n";
      }

      for (MBElementDefinition elemDef : _definition.getChildren())
      {
        List<MBElement> lst = getElements().get(elemDef.getName());
        if (lst != null)
        {
          for (MBElement elem : lst)
          {
            result += elem.asXmlWithLevel(level + 2);
          }
        }
      }

      int closingLevel = 0;
      if (!hasBodyText)
      {
        closingLevel = level;
      }
      result += StringUtilities.getIndentStringWithLevel(closingLevel) + "</" + _definition.getName() + ">\n";
    }

    return result;
  }

  @Override
  public MBElementDefinition getDefinition()
  {
    return _definition;
  }

  public void setDefinition(MBElementDefinition definition)
  {
    _definition = definition;
  }

  /**
   * Checking existence of attributes
   *
   * @param attributeName attribute name
   * @return true if attribute is valid
   */
  public boolean isValidAttribute(String attributeName)
  {
    return (getDefinition()).isValidAttribute(attributeName);
  }

  private void validateAttribute(String attributeName)
  {
    if (!isValidAttribute(attributeName))
    {
      String message = "Attribute \"" + attributeName + "\" not defined for element with name \"" + getDefinition().getName()
                       + "\". Use one of \"" + getDefinition().getAttributeNames() + "\"";

      throw new MBInvalidAttributeNameException(message);
    }
  }

  /**
   * Working with the 'text()' attribute
   *
   * @return get 'text()' value
   */
  public String getBodyText()
  {
    if (isValidAttribute(TEXT_ATTRIBUTE))
    {
      return getValueForAttribute(TEXT_ATTRIBUTE);
    }
    return null;
  }

  public void setBodyText(String text)
  {
    setAttributeValue(text, TEXT_ATTRIBUTE);
  }

  /**
   * Copying element state
   * @param target {@link MBElement}
   */
  public void assignToElement(MBElement target)
  {
    if (!target.getDefinition().getName().equals(_definition.getName()))
    {
      String message = "Cannot assign element since types differ: " + target.getDefinition().getName() + " != " + _definition.getName()
                       + " (use assignByName:)";
      throw new MBCannotAssignException(message);
    }

    target._values.clear();
    target._values.putAll(_values);
    target.getElements().clear();
    copyChildrenInto(target);
  }

  @Override
  public String getUniqueId()
  {
    String uid = "";
    uid += getDefinition().getName();
    for (MBAttributeDefinition def : _definition.getAttributes())
    {
      String attrName = def.getName();
      if (!attrName.equals("xmlns"))
      {
        String attrValue = _values.get(attrName);
        uid += "_";
        if (attrValue != null)
        {
          uid += cookValue(attrValue);
        }
      }
    }
    uid += super.getUniqueId();

    return uid;
  }

  public void addallPathsTo(Set<String> set, String currentPath)
  {
    for (String attribute : _values.keySet())
    {
      set.add(currentPath + "/@" + attribute);
    }

    super.addAllPathsTo(set, currentPath);
  }

  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
  @Override
  public <T> T getValueForPathComponents(List<String> pathComponents, String originalPath, boolean nillIfMissing,
                                         List<String> translatedPathComponents)
  {
    if (pathComponents.size() > 0 && pathComponents.get(0).startsWith("@"))
    {
      String attrName = pathComponents.get(0);
      if (translatedPathComponents == null)
      {
        translatedPathComponents = new ArrayList<String>();
      }
      translatedPathComponents.add(attrName);

      return (T) getValueForAttribute(attrName.substring(1));
    }
    else
    {
      return (T) super.getValueForPathComponents(pathComponents, originalPath, nillIfMissing, translatedPathComponents);
    }
  }

  public String cookValue(String uncooked)
  {
    if (uncooked == null)
    {
      return null;
    }

    String cooked = "";
    for (int i = 0; i < uncooked.length(); i++)
    {
      char c = uncooked.charAt(i);
      if (c < 32 || c == '&' || c == '\'' || c > 126)
      {
        cooked += "&#" + (int) c + ";";
      }
      else
      {
        cooked += c;
      }
    }

    return cooked;
  }

  public String attributeAsXml(String name, Object attrValue)
  {
    attrValue = cookValue((String) attrValue);

    if (attrValue == null)
    {
      return "";
    }

    return " " + name + "='" + attrValue + "'";
  }

  public void assignByName(MBElementContainer other)
  {
    other.deleteAllChildElements();

    MBElementDefinition def = getDefinition();
    for (MBAttributeDefinition attrDef : def.getAttributes())
    {
      if (((MBElementDefinition) other.getDefinition()).isValidAttribute(attrDef.getName()))
      {
        other.setValue(getValueForAttribute(attrDef.getName()), attrDef.getName());
      }
    }

    for (String elementName : getElements().keySet())
    {
      for (MBElement src : getElements().get(elementName))
      {
        MBElement newElem = other.createElementWithName(src.getDefinition().getName());
        src.assignByName(newElem);
      }
    }

  }

  @Override
  public String getName()
  {
    return getDefinition().getName();
  }

  @Override
  public String toString()
  {
    return asXmlWithLevel(0);
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
import { IBus, Intents, IMessageHandlerContext, IMessage, newGuid, IBusMetaData, IHashTable } from "abus";

interface IThunkMetaData extends IBusMetaData {
    isSynthetic: boolean;
    thunkId: string;
    actionType: string;
}

export default function reduxAbusThunkMiddleware(bus: IBus, extraArgument?: any) {
    const thunkSubscriptionName = "ABus.Thunk";
    let counter: number = 0;
    const queue: IHashTable<{ action: Function }> = {};

    return ({ dispatch, getState }: any) => (next: any) => {
        // subscribe thunk messages
        const subscriptionId = bus.subscribe(thunkSubscriptionName, async (message: IMessage<any>, context: IMessageHandlerContext) => {
            const metaData = message.metaData as IThunkMetaData;
            const action: any = queue[metaData.thunkId];
            delete queue[metaData.thunkId];
            // this function is used by a thunk if it dispatches actions
            const busDispatch = (context: IMessageHandlerContext) => (message: any) => {
                // console.log("thunkAbus: Publishing sub task: " + message.type);

                // are we dealing with another thunk?
                if (!message.type || typeof action === "function" || typeof action.action === "function") {
                    // debugger;
                    // this is another thunk so treat it like a dispatch, but add a correlationId if applicable
                    if (context.activeMessage.metaData && context.activeMessage.metaData.messageId) {
                        message.metaData = { correlationId: context.activeMessage.metaData.messageId };
                    }
                    dispatch(message);
                } else {
                    context.publishAsync(message);
                }
            };
            // debugger;
            // console.log("thunkAbus: Executing Thunk: " + metaData.actionType);
            const result: any = action.type ? action.action(busDispatch(context), getState, extraArgument)
                : action(busDispatch(context), getState, extraArgument);
            if (result && result.then) {
                await result;
            }

        });

        return (action: any) => {
            if (typeof action === "function" || typeof action.action === "function") {
                // register the function action as a handler
                const thunkActionType: string = action.type || "thunk_action:" + ++counter;
                // post the message
                // console.log("thunkAbus: dispatching Thunk: " + thunkActionType);
                // specifying a Send intent prevents the redux-abus middleware handling message
                const metaData: IThunkMetaData = { intent: Intents.send, isSynthetic: true, thunkId: newGuid(), actionType: thunkActionType };
                // register the action for later execution
                queue[metaData.thunkId] = action;

                if (action.metaData && action.metaData.correlationId) {
                    (metaData as any).correlationId = action.metaData.correlationId;
                }

                // dispatch an action that will then be published by the abus-redux middleware
                return next({ type: thunkSubscriptionName, metaData: metaData });
            }

            return next(action);
        };
    };
}


Portable PA systems typically range from around 20W to 300W. They are ideal for public speaking, conferences, sporting events, dance classes and any other event that requires a simple to use, all in one PA System for use on the move. Many portable PA systems have inbuilt rechargeable batteries, wireless mics, bluetooth or media players. Even better, at Gear4music, all portable PA systems come with a two year warranty as standard.


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Exiled exoplanet kicked out of star's local neighbourhood?
A planet discovered last year sitting at an unusually large distance from its star — 16 times farther than Pluto is from the Sun — may have been kicked out of its birthplace close to the star in a process similar to what may have happened early in our own solar system's history. The planet's 13-million-year-old parent star is known as HD 106906 and lies 300 light-years away.
Watching an exoplanet in motion around a distant star
A team of astronomers, using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) on the Gemini South telescope in Chile, has given us our best view yet of an exoplanet moving in its orbit around a distant star. A series of images captured between November 2013 and April 2015 shows the exoplanet β Pictoris b as it moves through 1½ years of its 22-year orbital period.
Astronomers discover nearby Jupiter-like exoplanet enshrouded in methane
The Gemini Planet Imager instrument has discovered and photographed its first planet. Dubbed 51 Eridani b, the body is a methane-enshrouded gas giant that is the most Jupiter-like exoplanet ever directly imaged, in a planetary system just 20 million years old. It may hold the key to understanding how large planets form in the swirling accretion discs around stars.
Young solar system discovered around a nearby star
2 June 2015 Astronomy Now
An international team using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) at the Gemini South telescope in Chile has discovered a young, emerging planetary system around star HD 115600 that has remarkable similarities to our own Solar System in its infancy.


The glut of famous comic book heroes being adapted into live action movies by Hollywood means there's little room for any new crusaders, but this offering from Japan is a fun-filled superhero outing which echoes the retro feel of The Rocketeer and The Shadow with a futuristic spin much like V for Vendetta. Though aimed at attracting family audiences, there's plenty of rough and ready action, and a story shrouded in mystery that maintains its intrigue until the end.
K-20: The Legend Of The Black Mask is set in an alternative 1949 where World War II never took place and Japanese society has been split into two: the extremely rich and the hopelessly poor. There a mysterious thief known as K-20 (aka the Fiend with 20 Faces) is stealing from the rich, but, unlike Robin Hood, keeping all the takings for himself. When he sets his sights on inventor Nikola Tesla's energy beam enerator to take over the world, he needs someone to take the heat off his back so he frames circus performer Hekichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) for his previous crimes at the rehearsal of a marriage between heiress Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and Chief of Police, Kogoro Akechi (Toru Nakamura). Free to now take Tesla's invention for his own, K-20 doesn't count on Endo's resilience to clear his own name. Escaping from prison he takes on K-20's identity to find the energy generator first, and perhaps put an end to K-20's thieving ways.
The 1940s looks of K-20 combined with the appearance of more modern technology spark comparisons with Katsuhiro Otomo's steampunk stylings seen in Steamboy – and give it a real caper feel. It soon emerges that it's an origin story for Endo and as he seeks to clear his name, he becomes obsessed with finding out the story behind K-20 in order to foil his plans. Kaneshiro makes for a hero you root for despite struggling to find winning ways on first donning K-20's V-like outfit and, unlike the tired adaptation of The Shadow or the ill-advised Frank Miller project The Spirit, director Shimako Sato keeps the movie zipping along with fast and furious action scenes.
Between the fights and chases, including some impressive free running sequences, Yoko and police inspector Akechi give able support to the charismatic Endo. Superheroes always need their companions to offer light relief as well as guidance which they do well. There are a few final twists which keep you guessing too thanks to a cleverly contrived identity mystery. If this series was to continue, every suggestion is the K-20 character is in safe hands based on this enjoyable debut.


the wild web: me on tv?
I was interviewed today and supposedly will be on TV Friday morning (the 27th) at around 6am. I don't know how long the spot will be, probably short, but if you're awake, tune in! It will air on WTIU, which is channel 5 if you have cable in Bloomington, 30 on the air, and if you're in some other Indiana town... who knows. Look for WTIU.
10/27 19:13 -- UPDATE: The journalist mis-spoke, apparently. The segment aired at 6pm.


Mars is a terrestrial desert planet with many mountain systems and craters. The soil on the planet is a reddish-orange due to its high concentration of iron oxide. The planet has a very thin atmosphere, significantly less gravity than Earth, and cannot be easily terraformed due to its lack of a magnetosphere. The atmosphere consists mainly of a thin layer of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which have begun to build up from industrial output, but the pressure is still around a deadly one-hundredth of that of Earth.
Due to the hostile conditions on the surface of the planet, settlements have to be environmentally separate from the natural state of Mars. As a result, most settlements on Mars are built under domes into the various craters which dot the surface. Some are dug into mountains or hillsides, or just built mostly underground. Still others consist of connected above-ground structures or towers without a dome, even if the dangers of an environmental breach are much greater. Building domed settlements in pre-existing craters remains to be the most popular (and often cheapest) means of establishing a system of living on the Red Planet.
Inside Martian settlements, artificial gravity is generated to ensure Earth-like conditions.
Settlements are usually connected by underground maglev trains, which both carry people and goods from one dome city to another relatively quickly, with a few more isolated ones only being able to be reached with aboveground vehicles. Air traffic is not common, restricted to unconventional and spacecraft-like vehicles, due to a lack of atmospheric pressure.
For the most part, Mars is inhabited by humans. Positronics have a relatively large presence on the planet as well. As most inhabited areas in human space, small amounts of other species can be found inhabiting the planet, but their combined presence makes up less than one-percent of the overall planetary population. Some locations have specific and clearly identifiable ethnic roots, but many are wild, varied and intermingled, owing to the rampant early colonization of the planet.
Mars is the largest manufacturer in SolGov space. Sometimes called a factory planet, the domes and caverns of Mars are jammed full of factories producing anything from communicators to positronic brains to pre-assembled furniture. Most factories are vertically integrated with nearby mining operations, parts factories, and sometimes hydrocarbon foundries. Xion Manufacturing Group is the largest single employer on Mars, and has its headquarters there.
Mars' spaceports are second only to the great shipyards of Luna in the Sol System, and is a massive locus of trade and interstellar passenger transit. Many big names in shipping, including Major Bill's Transportation, got their start on Mars, although most of these have moved to be closer to foreign trade.
Mars' population (the greatest of any world of its kind) leads itself to a thriving secondary industries in service, arts, entertainment, and education. Mojave University, the oldest state school outside of Earth, serves an astonishing number of students from all over the Core World and beyond.
Mars is almost as territorially fractured as Earth itself, owing to its history as the site of various colonization efforts from Earth-based governments, corporations, scientific consortiums, and the Selene Federation of Luna. During restructuring in the post-Second Cold War colonial era, many independent Martian colonies were established, and many existing territories seceded from mostly-impotent Earth-based home governments. Most territories are run as SolGov-style parliamentary republics, but corporate-controlled states are also common. Most states are SolGov member states, with a good number of protectorates and a handful of surviving extraterrestrial outposts of Earth governments.
Tharsis is primarily built into the steep valleys of the Noctis Labyrinthus which give it an almost organic appearance when viewed from above, though the city extends deep into the mountains connecting the covered outdoor sectors. The city is best known for the prestigious Tharsis University, one of the earliest academic institutions to be established in the region. The University is renowned for its electronic and mechatronic engineering research, which has in turn attracted a sizable presence by Trans-Stellar Corporations, particularly Xion Manufacturing and Ward-Takahashi, who operate a large number of manufacturing, and research and development facilities in the city.
Olympus is the former site of a proposed SolGov "planetary capital" intended to be built in the caldera of Olympus Mons in the early 25th century. The project was initially met with enthusiasm by investors from member states, and construction began in earnest. However, a series of practical setbacks compounded by the isolation and harsh terrain of the construction site led to the project rapidly going over budget, and ultimately being abandoned. The partially complete infrastructure and structures - intended as temporary worker's accommodation and fabrication plants to produce the high volume of materials required for the construction of an entire city – were sold off piecemeal to private interests. The site has become a sprawling network of mostly unrelated surface-level facilities and habitats, ringed by the looming support structures that were once supposed to be the foundations of the city's impractically large dome. Olympus has gained a reputation for being especially remote and more crucially, lightly surveilled. While far from the most populous settlement on Mars, it holds infamy as perhaps the largest failed megaproject in the galaxy.
The Martian colonization effort took off during Earth's ecological crisis and the ensuing cleanup. Mars was nearby and contained all the raw material for human industry without a local biosphere to pollute, and so manufacturing interests moved there in droves, augmented by the Earth refugee labor force. Many notable Trans-Stellar Corporations got their start in this era, and Mars contains a large number of corporate headquarters in their massive cavern cities.
This page was last edited on 5 September 2018, at 17:04.


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12 Good Chinese Action Movies
Friday, January 15, 2010 at 9:42 am
If you're looking for 12 good Chinese action movies, then you've definitely come to the right place. The following films feature plenty of martial arts action, shootouts, and even a few car chases to keep your interest. Good Chinese action movies are star some of the biggest names in international cinema, including Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chow Yun-Fat.
TV episodes & movies from Netflix – now instantly to your TV! Free trial
Hard Boiled (1992) – A tough cop named nicknamed Tequila (Chow Yun-Fat) must team up with an assassin (who also happens to be an undercover cop) to take down a high-ranking member of the Triad. John Woo directs the film, and you won't want to miss the tense shootout in a maternity ward filled with babies.
Super Cop (1992) – The third film in the Police Story franchise, Jackie Chan reprises his role as lawman "Kevin" Chan Ka-Kui. The lovely Maggie Cheung plays Kevin's girlfriend, and Michelle Yeoh co-stars as Inspector Jessica Yang. This time around, Kevin must go undercover in order to infiltrate a Chinese crime gang, but a chance encounter with his girlfriend may place everything in danger.
A Better Tomorrow (1986) – John Woo does it again, this time with Chow Yun-Fat, Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung. The central focus of the story is on a pair of brothers, one a cop and one a criminal. When the former goes to prison, the latter blames him for the death of their father. Yun-Fat plays Mark, a close friend who aches for revenge against the devious Shing (Waise Lee).
Bullet in the Head (1990) – Yet another action masterpiece from John Woo, this Chinese action film focuses on three friends who must leave Hong Kong after they kill a gang member. It's 1967, so their flight to Saigon gets them embroiled in the Vietnam War with tragic consequences.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) – Made on a budget of $15 million, this Ang Lee film achieved massive international success and became the highest-grossing foreign film in U.S. box office history. Numerous quality fight scenes abound, including lots of eye-popping wire work. Stars Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi.
Once Upon a Time in China (1991) – Jet Li plays legendary Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung in this action-packed motion picture. There's a kidnapping plot afoot, and several villainous Americans are involved. It all culminates in a martial-arts showdown, with Wong Fei Hung and his followers coming out on top.
Once Upon a Time in China II (1992) – Jet Li returns as Wong Fei Hung and gets caught up in all sorts of dangerous political intrigue. There's a showdown with Priest Kung, the evil leader of a nationalist cult, but the real highlight is a showdown between Jet Li and Donnie Yen (as General Nap Lan). If you're a fan of Jet Li's, this final fight (which includes lots of great work with the staff) is not to be missed.
Police Story (1985) – Jackie Chan considers this his best film in terms of action, and there's little wonder why. From a car chase straight through (and I do mean through) a shanty town, to the impressive climax at a shopping mall, Police Story is filled with more action than the casual fan can handle. The best stunt is when Chan slides several stories down a pole and crashes through a pane of glass (dislocating his pelvis and injuring his back in the process).
Drunken Master II (1994) – While it wasn't released in the U.S. until 2000 (until the title The Legend of Drunken Master), this film was well worth the wait. Jackie Chan reprises his role as Wong Fei Hung, a master of drunken boxing, and this time he takes on uppity Brits intent on stealing all the treasures of China. The fight scenes are incredible, especially a clash underneath a train and the climactic sequence between Chan and Ken Lo. The latter may very well be the best martial arts sequence ever captured on film.
Way of the Dragon (1972) – Bruce Lee wrote, directed and starred in this film about a martial arts master who travels to Rome to help out a friend being targeted by the Mafia. The iconic scene to watch out for is a dream showdown between Lee and a karate killer named Colt (played by Chuck Norris). One of the rare cases in which Walker, Texas Ranger doesn't come out on top.
House of Flying Daggers (2004) – One of the many pictures inspired by the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this film stars Takeshi Kaneshiro and Zhang Ziyi. Zhang Yimou directs, and you can expect the same use of bold colors as in his previous film, Hero. Martial arts are still on display, but this one also features a prominent romantic plot. If you're trying to get your girlfriend into martial arts movies, this might be a good place to start.
Just Heroes (1989) – Ever wonder what happens when a triad leader dies? Watch Just Heroes and find out. Apparently, everyone begins intriguing and loading their guns, and the whole affair culminates in a big, bloody shootout. Since it's directed by John Woo, you can bet that at least half the showdown will take place in slow motion. Starring Danny Lee, Stephen Chow, and David Chiang.
If these 12 good Chinese action movies have you in the mood to destroy something, try reading the following to calm down:
12 New Action Movies to See in 2010
Good Chinese Movies for Foreign Film Fans
Good Action Movies 1990
17 Good Action Adventure Movies
Top 15 Action Movies of All Time
10 More Great Action Movies
12 Good Action Chinese Action Movies
This entry was posted on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 9:42 am and is filed under Good Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
« 10 More Great Action Movies
Matt Overstreet at Critical Juncture »
13 Responses to "12 Good Chinese Action Movies"
Number 5 on this list is by far the best one. Hard Boiled is okay, I guess.
Arnold Borden
The only change I would make is replace House of Flying Daggers with Hero.
kabiru tukur
that's very nice films keep trying.
International Movie Reviews
The 10 Best Action Movies for 1992
Chinese Action Movies – A Brief History
English Action Movies
Movies About Obesity – Obese Movies
Ang Lee Movies - List of Upcoming Films and Projects


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Le coup de Prusse, en allemand Preußenschlag (prononciation allemande : [ˈpʁɔʏsənˌʃlaːk]), aussi appelé Staatsstreich in Preußen (coup d'État en Prusse) du , sous la république de Weimar, est la prise de contrôle de l'État libre de Prusse, le plus grand État allemand, par le gouvernement central qui dissout le gouvernement régional social-démocrate d'Otto Braun.

Cette « exécution d'Empire » (Reichsexekution) est prise par le chancelier Franz von Papen en vertu d'un décret d'urgence du président Paul von Hindenburg, édicté sur le fondement de l'article 48 de la constitution de Weimar. Cet évènement est considéré comme une étape majeure dans la chute de la république de Weimar en ce qu'il a facilité la nazification de l'Allemagne après l'accession au pouvoir d'Adolf Hitler.

Contexte historique
Depuis 1918, la Prusse est gouvernée presque sans interruption par la social-démocratie, avec Otto Braun comme ministre-président et Carl Severing ministre de l'Intérieur.

Une direction social-démocrate à la tête du Land le plus important du Reich gêne le gouvernement central.

La conférence des Länder de janvier 1928 réunissant membres du gouvernement du Reich et ministres-présidents des Länder constate qu'un .

Après de longues discussions, deux rapports d'expertise sont adoptés le 21 juin 1930, qui définissent les limites des responsabilités entre le Reich et les Länder et une réorganisation de ces derniers. L'un des points abordés est notamment la fin de la Prusse en tant qu'État indépendant.

Situation en Prusse après les élections au Landtag du 24 avril 1932

Après les élections du , l'État de Prusse n'a plus de majorité parlementaire.

Agissements de von Papen et d'Hindenburg

Le coup de Prusse

Source et références

Voir aussi

Bibliographie
 Gilbert Badia, Histoire de l'Allemagne contemporaine, 1917/1933, Les Éditions sociales, 1962, rééd. 1964, 1975, 1987.

Liens externes
 Wolfgang Scheuermann-Peilicke, « Der "Preußenschlag" 1932 », sur dhb.de (Lebendiges Museum Online)

État libre de Prusse
1932 en Allemagne
Coup d'État ou tentative de coup d'État au XXe siècle

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Pine EIS Webinar Series 3 of 5: EIS Applications, Circuit Models 2 (21:00 UTC)
Feb 16, 2023 04:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Hi there, You are invited to a Zoom webinar. When: Feb 16, 2023 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Pine EIS Webinar Series 3 of 5: EIS Applications, Circuit Models 2 (21:00 UTC) Register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EJCJoFIoRzeC-Oc88RTG0w After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.


Originally Published: July 7, 2007 3:45 p.m.
Citing personal reasons that keep him from entering a contract for more than one year, Doug Wilson of Litchfield Park turned down the Mingus Union superintendent job.
Wilson was the board's top choice after conducting in-person interviews with three finalists. The board authorized its president, Andy Groseta, to negotiate a contract with Wilson including a salary of $95,000 per year.
Groseta sent an e-mail news release last week stating that Wilson had withdrawn his name from consideration. In that release, Wilson's reason was given as, "for personal family reasons, we would not be able to give MUHSD a commitment beyond one year."
MUHS board member Tom Parmarter said Friday that Wilson's wife has family in Colorado, and they likely would need to move there within a year. "He had an interview in Colorado," Parmarter said. Parmarter did not know if Wilson had received a job offer following the Colorado interview.
"We did make an offer to Scott Dunsmore," Parmarter said. "We authorized Andy (Groseta) to negotiate a contract with Scott."
Parmarter said the salary offer would be in the same range as that offered to Wilson. He is confident that Dunsmore has more of a commitment to coming to Cottonwood as the superintendent.
"I think we got an excited response," he said.
No details or timeline were available at press time.
Dunsmore started in education as a seventh-grade science teacher before teaching high school math. He then served as high school principal in a Hopi Reservation junior and senior high school. He has about six years experience as a superintendent, including four years on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.


More than 4,000 Americans die each year in fires, and about 20,000 are injured. Many them might be alive today if they had only had the information they needed to avoid a disaster. Volusia County Fire Services and the U.S. Fire Administration offer lifesaving tips that could make a big difference for you and your community.
The Volusia County Wildland/Urban Interface Wildfire Hazard Assessment Guide was created by the Nature Conservancy and the Volusia County Fire Chiefs Association. This guide can be used to assess and rate the interface/intermix hazards in your area.
Central Sprinkler Company has announced a voluntary program to replace more than 35 million potentially defective fire sprinkler heads manufactured since 1976. These sprinkler heads could fail to operate in a fire and were installed nationwide in homes and businesses.For more information, visit www.SprinklerReplacement.com or call the Contractor and Industry Professional Hotline toll-free at 800-836-3928.


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Alibaba follows Tencent with CICC investment
Mar 1, 2019 (WiC 442)
Bi Mingjian: CEO of CICC
It can often be hard to keep up with the changes in China's financial services industry, not least due to the rise and fall of the shadow banking sector over the past few years. But one trend is clear: both Alibaba and Tencent are intent on being key players.
And their competition stepped up another notch last month following the news that Alibaba has invested HK$1.8 billion ($230.6 billion) in CICC, a leading local investment bank, at roughly HK$15.5 per share.
According to a stock exchange filing, the investment has raised Alibaba's holdings in CICC to 11.74% of its H-shares and 4.84% overall. This makes Alibaba the third largest shareholder behind government-owned Central Huijin Investment and Tencent, which purchased a 12.01% H-share stake and 4.95% overall at HK$13.8 per share in 2017.
It is the first time that both internet giants have ploughed money into the same securities firm and interestingly, it seems that Alibaba purchased the stake off-market from Singapore's Government Investment Corp (GIC).
GIC was formerly CICC's second major shareholder, having boosted its stake in 2010 after Morgan Stanley walked away from the company it co-founded in 1995.
That GIC decided to sell the stake off-market says a lot about how Asia's equity capital markets have changed in recent years. The growth of both the private equity and institutional investment management industry means that there are now a lot of big players in the region, capable of absorbing sizeable blocks of shares that would have previously been sold via the public equity markets.
Alibaba's decision to purchase the stake also makes a lot of sense, even though Tencent's earlier investment in CICC seems to have generated little mutual business so far.
What the two internet giants have always shared in common is a desire to build up financial empires that match their e-commerce and social networking ones.
However, for all the hype on fin-tech, financial regulators have been reluctant to allow internet firms to take a majority stake in investment banks. Alibaba's attempt to take over Tebon Securities in 2015, National Business Daily pointed out, eventually lapsed as the deal could not obtain regulatory approval.
The apparent embargo means Alibaba and Tencent have tweaked their fintech business models towards providing technology and Big Data expertise to existing players rather than compete head-to-head with domestic financial services players. And CICC is an obvious partner. According to Sohu Finance, Alibaba's latest move could be seen as an investment in "government relations" given that CICC is arguably the best-connected investment bank in China (see WiC257).
On the investment banking side, CICC has long stood out for its pioneering role bringing blue chip Chinese companies to offshore equities markets. And top of the list is Alibaba, which went public in New York in 2014.
More recently, CICC's investment management platform (private equity, mutual funds and asset management) has been a big earnings driver. This is where Alibaba's help is likely to prove invaluable.
That, at least, is the view of the CICC's chief executive Bi Mingjian. He says that Alibaba's fintech capabilities can help CICC accelerate the transformation of its wealth management business.
CICC already has a competitive wealth management platform, particularly for high net worth (HNW) investors. Analysts consistently flag the firm as one of the best stocks to play the theme of the wealth accumulation of China's growing middle class. Alibaba's CICC investment will also complement its existing stake in Huatai Securities, which targets the lower end of the HNW spectrum.
The group is also likely to be keen on CICC because of synergies with the bank's international footprint.
For example, in Pakistan Ant Financial – an Alibaba affiliate – is purchasing a 45% stake in mobile payments firm Telenor Microfinance Bank. Meanwhile, CICC established a partnership with Habib Bank late last year to broker deals for Chinese companies operating in the country, notably those connected with the Belt and Road Initiative.
EconomyLiu He titters, but Trump says a trade deal is closer
And FinallyAn office romance costs a couple Rmb4.8 billion
Planet ChinaHi-tech hogs
TelecomsHas Europe become the key battleground for the Chinese giant's 5G future?
Internet & TechNetEase and Amazon in talks to merge cross-border e-commerce units
More on Tencent
The briefer, the better
Short video reaches saturation point in China, but profits can go higher
Streaming for the exit
Tencent Music opts for secondary listing in Hong Kong
In disposal mode
Is Tencent set to sell down its massive portfolio?


Will include information and opportunity to connect and chat through common issues found in sport with those in the room. You will get to discuss, with experts in each field, the following areas: Mental Health, Physical Health, Emotional Health and Leadership. During the keynote, we will have the opportunity to be inspired by local Olympian, Genevieve Orton as she tells her story - Tiny Humans, Big Dreams. She has a powerful story of fighting to be a female athlete and Mother which she's not told in a public forum before. The afternoon will be lead by Ann Dodge who will guide this group through some of the things we can do as a province to ensure we have future female sport leaders and we maintain involvement from all of you. How can we all work to make things great in Nova Scotia.
Cost is $20 – Includes: coffee/tea, snacks, lunch AND Childcare and Travel subsidies are all available!
To request any of the subsidies, email .


Do you want to get yourself a book? You should read Can You Hear It? by William Lach. The author is William Lach and it is published by Harry N. Abrams. This child's book was available sometime in November of 2006. The book is 40 pages long. We would like for you to get the best price and service when you buy a child's art book. Please check out the buyers market button on this page.
In association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art Now the best-selling series Can You Uncover It? From " The Flight inside the Bumblee" to " The Four Seasons" to " Night on Bald Mountain," beloved music is illustrated by great works of art, along with all the text and accompanying CD urge young readers to listen for particular instruments. In this book, great examples of pictorial music are matched to masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for an introduction to both music and art appreciation for young listeners. Included is truly a CD featuring 12 short works and an introduction to the orchestra and the instruments. When each CD track is played, young readers will stop, look, and listen as never before. Can you hear the horses' hooves, played by castanets? Can you hear the car horns honking, played by clarinets? Classical music is filled with unforgettable photos. Similar to Abrams best-selling series, Can You Discover It? , in this book, young readers are introduced to great music through great works of art. inside a great new format!
Dimensions: Height: 10" Length: 10" Width: 0.51"


Millions of people across the world suffer from some form of hearing loss – either as a natural part of ageing or because of damage to the ears. Tinnitus is a very common condition, which affects huge numbers of people. Acoustic neuromas are rather less common, but none the less, have an impact in terms of hearing.
Here's some more information about the two conditions, their causes, and what to expect from each one.
Tinnitus, for most sufferers, is a non-serious complaint. The vast majority of people with tinnitus experience it as a ringing or buzzing in the ears; though in some instances, symptoms can be different. The rarer form of tinnitus is to hear a persistent whistling or low humming, and some people even experience the condition as music or singing!
Due to its distinctive symptoms, it's an easy condition to diagnose. For most, it's something they can live with, which doesn't dramatically impact their everyday lives. However, for the unfortunate few, tinnitus can be severe, impacting on their hearing and making everyday activities difficult.
Tinnitus, Acoustic Neuroma – What's the Difference?
Because acoustic neuromas often cause tinnitus-like symptoms, it's occasionally difficult for doctors to tell the difference. However, acoustic neuromas tend to be degenerative and often have accompanying symptoms.
If you believe that you are suffering from either of these conditions or any form of hearing loss, it's important to arrange a consultation with your GP, who can provide you with a formal assessment.
How Did You Develop Tinnitus or Acoustic Neuroma?
In most cases, tinnitus occurs naturally, as part of the ageing process. Less is known about what causes acoustic neuromas, but for around 5% of sufferers, the cause is a rare genetic condition called neurofibromatosis type 2.
However, not all root causes of these hearing problems are natural. In some cases, hearing can be damaged by your working environment, particularly if you're exposed to loud noises on a regular basis for a prolonged period of time. If this is the case, you may be entitled to seek compensation for your hearing impairment.
If your employer failed to provide you with the correct equipment to protect your ears, or didn't give the right level of health and safety training, then they may have acted negligently – and if this is the case, you could be eligible to receive compensation.
If you suspect this might apply to you, arrange to speak to a specialist lawyer, who will examine your case in greater depth.
Acoustic neuromas are a form of a benign tumour, which is located in the brain. They're not life-threatening, but over time can cause problems with hearing and other functions. Acoustic neuromas affect around 20 in a million people – so it's relatively rare, but for some reason, it's more common in women than men.
Hearing loss is a relatively common condition in the UK. Around one in six people suffer from some form of impaired hearing, and for most, it's a condition that is caused by the natural ageing process.


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Home › Research
Back-To-School CE Spending To Soar: NRF
Alan Wolf ⋅ Published: July 17, 2014
Washington — Students and their families plan to pony up beaucoup bucks for CE devices before the fall semester.
According to a pair of consumer surveys conducted this month for the National Retail Federation (NRF), back-to-school shoppers will spend an average $212.35 on CE products, up 7 percent from last year, with total spend expected to reach $8.4 billion. The outlay will be even higher for high school students and their families, who said they will fork up an average $229.88 on electronics devices.
But the college crowd is where CE spending will really soar. In a separate NRF poll, college students and their parents said they plan to spend an average of $243.79 on laptops, desktop computers, netbooks, tablets, smartphones and other devices, up 20 percent over last year and the highest amount since 2009.
Topping all grades are graduate students, who plan to spend an average $275.24 on electronics.
The surveys also show that CE spending will outpace overall back-to-school and back-to-college expenditures, which also include apparel, shoes, school supplies, dorm furniture, food, personal care items and gift cards. Total spending on back to school will drop slightly to $26.5 billion, the NRF said, as there were slightly fewer students in households this summer, while college-bound purchases will rise 10 percent to $48.4 billion, for a combined school and college spend of $74.9 billion.
As for where all this buying will take place, 27.5 percent of the grade school crowd will shop CE specialty stores, up from 25.9 percent last year, a survey high, while 38.2 percent will shop online, 42 percent will shop at office supply stores, and 64.4 percent will visit discount stores.
Moreover, 36.7 percent of smartphone owners will use them to research products, up from 34.7 percent last year and the highest since NRF started asking in 2011, and more than one in five (21.8 percent) will make a purchase via their smartphone, up from 18.2 percent last year, another survey high. And while many will simply shop online directly through their smartphone, one-quarter will use their devices to find information about a physical store.
School shoppers that own tablets will also use their devices more to shop this summer: 31.4 percent will purchase school items via their tablet, up from 29.9 percent last year, and 45 percent will research products, up from 41.8 percent last year.
The survey also found that kids have huge sway over spending decisions. Nearly one out of 10 of parents (9.7 percent) admit their child influences 100 percent of what they buy for back to school, up from 7.6 percent last year and the highest in the survey's history.
"It's safe to say this generation takes back-to-school shopping much more serious than their older brothers and sisters did, with many kids today influencing almost everything their parents buy for the upcoming school year," said Pam Goodfellow, consumer insights director for Prosper Insights & Analytics, which conducted the surveys for NRF. "Students will make sure to keep one eye on social media and the other on retailers' websites as they seek out what's new and exciting in their hunt for fresh, fashionable and relevant back-to-school gear."
Among the college contingent, most (50.5 percent) will shop at discount stores, up from 48.3 percent last year, and more than two in five (44.6 percent) will check out retailers' websites for special promotions, up from 37.1 percent last year and the highest in the survey's history. Others will shop at college bookstores (41.9 percent), office supply stores (36.3 percent), and small/local businesses (13.2 percent).
When it comes to mobile usage, nearly six in 10 (57.8 percent) will use their smartphone in some fashion as they shop for college items. Of those with smartphones, the survey found one-third (33.8 percent) will research products, the highest since NRF added mobile shopping questions to its survey in 2011. Additionally, one in five (22.4 percent) will purchase items, up from 19.1 percent last year and another survey high, and 29.8 percent will look up retailer information, up from 20.9 percent last year.
Among tablet owners, more than half (54.5 percent) will use their device to shop for college items, with 37.4 percent doing research and 27 percent making purchases on their tablets.
The surveys were conducted July 1-8 among 6,178 consumers.
Tags ⋅ back to college ⋅ back to school
Back-To-School CE Spending To Rise 12%: NRF
Father's Day CE Spending Up 1%: NRF
Mom's Day CE Spending Will Top $900M: NRF
CE Holiday Demand Flat, Total Spending Down: NRF
Father's Day CE Spending To Hit $1.2B: NRF
Back-To-School Spending Bodes Well For CE
NRF: Back-To-School Spending Mixed For Consumer Electronics
Back-To-School Spending Mixed For CE
CE Spending Plans Mixed For Back-To-School, Polls Show


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