text:
Mikołaj Grekowski (ur. 12 grudnia 1806 w Białymstoku, zm. 29 maja 1885 w Łomży) – polski artysta baletu; od 1822 roku tancerz Teatru Narodowego na placu Krasińskich, pierwszy tancerz od 1826 roku. W latach 1831-1833 związany z baletem Opery Paryskiej. W latach 1834-1838 i 1843-1846 pierwszy tancerz Warszawskich Teatrów Rządowych (w tym Teatru Wielkiego). Od 1837 mąż wybitnej austriackiej tancerki Helene Schlanzowsky. W latach 1838-1842 przebywał z żoną w Wiedniu i Neapolu. Także do 1862 roku pedagog wyższych klas szkoły baletowej Teatru Wielkiego.

Pochodzenie

Wywodził się ze szlacheckiego rodu Greków herbu Prawdzic, którego potomkowie w pokoleniu jego ojca nosili już zmienione nazwisko Grekowscy.

Urodził się jako Tomasz Stefan Mikołaj, 12 grudnia 1806 roku w Białymstoku (wówczas w Królestwie Prus), syn leśniczego Józefa Grekowskiego i Kornelii z Jarockich. Wbrew pojawiającym się często informacjom, jakoby nazywał się naprawdę Grekow, ani on, ani jego ojciec i rodzeństwo nigdy nie używali takiego nazwiska, a ich przodkowie wywodzili się z Greków, a nie Grekowów. Mikołaj miał dwóch braci: Aleksandra, sędziego trybunału w Łomży oraz Adama, obrońcę sądowego w Szczuczynie i uczestnika powstania listopadowego. Zgodnie z obowiązującymi w zaborze rosyjskim przepisami, aby potwierdzić swoje szlachectwo wylegitymował je w 1862 przed urzędem Heroldii Królestwa Polskiego.

Nie wiadomo dokładnie kiedy rodzina Grekowskich przeniosła się do Warszawy, ale 12-letni Mikołaj już od 1818 uczęszczał do szkoły tańca Teatru Narodowego na placu Krasińskich, świeżo wówczas utworzonej przez sprowadzonego z Paryża baletmistrza Louisa Thiérry'ego. Był jednym z pierwszych wychowanków tej szkoły, w której poza Thiérrym uczyli go również inni francuscy tancerze-pedagodzy: Henri Debray i Maurice Pion, a w pierwszych latach pracy także przebywający okresowo w Warszawie Antoine Titus i André Isidore Carey.

Młodość
Zadebiutował jako 14-latek, dokładnie 21 lutego 1821 roku, w tańcach Thiérry'ego włączonych do premierowego przedstawienia opery Westalka Spontiniego. Jeszcze jako o uczniu pisano o nim w 1822, że "spomiędzy tych szczególny postęp okazał Pan Grekowski, i w tańcu i grze aktorskiej". W tym samym roku rozpoczął pracę zawodowego tancerza w Teatrze Narodowym, a już 14 marca 1823 roku uczestniczył w prapremierze baletu narodowego Wesele krakowskie w Ojcowie Thiérry'ego z muzyką Karola Kurpińskiego i Józefa Damsego, tańcząc popisowe Pas de trois krakowskie ze swoimi rówieśnikami Wandą Lideman i Janem Żurkowskim.

Był nie tylko inteligentny i utalentowany, ale też przystojny i urodziwy, co wróżyło mu karierę rzadkiego i cenionego w ówczesnym balecie, a nieznanego dotąd w Polsce tancerza typu danseur noble. Nic dziwnego, że latem 1825 roku znalazł się wśród trojga najlepszych młodych warszawskich tancerzy, których dyrekcja teatru wysłała na stypendium do stolicy Francji. Towarzyszył mu pierwszy tancerz i młody choreograf Maurice Pion oraz pierwsza tancerka Antonina Palczewska. Po drodze występowali z powodzeniem w Poznaniu i Berlinie, a w październiku dotarli do Paryża. Doskonalili swoje umiejętności w szkole tańca tamtejszej opery pod kierunkiem wybitnego pedagoga Jeana-Françoisa Coulona, a w trakcie ich dziesięciomiesięcznego szkolenia, przy protekcji Coulona, Palczewskiej udało się nawet wystąpić w jej popisowym solowym mazurze z Wesela w Ojcowie, wstawionym 19 kwietnia 1826 do jednego z przedstawień popularnego tam baletu La Dansomanie Pierre'a Gardela. W drodze powrotnej wszyscy troje koncertowali jeszcze w Nancy, Wrocławiu i Kaliszu.

Po ich przyjeździe do Warszawy i pierwszym występie odnotowano w prasie, że "JPP. Morys i Grekowski wiele skorzystali w czasie teraźniejszego pobytu w Paryżu (…), a drugi przy przyjemnej postaci i twarzy, już tyle się usposobił, że znawcy wróżą, iż może być wybornym tancerzem". W tym samym roku Maurice Pion został dyrektorem baletu, a Grekowski zajął pozycję pierwszego tancerza klasycznego Teatru Narodowego i zaczął obejmować coraz więcej partii tanecznych w warszawskim repertuarze baletowym, który w tamtych latach składał się jedynie z drobnych divertissements tanecznych o rozrywkowym charakterze. Tego rodzaju zadania nie zaspokajały niestety wysokich ambicji utalentowanego solisty.

W Paryżu i Londynie

Zachęcony rosnącym powodzeniem na scenie warszawskiej, przy wsparciu dyrekcji teatru w 1830 roku ponownie wyjechał do Paryża, by nadal szkolić się pod kierunkiem pedagogicznym Coulona, a po wybuchu w Polsce powstania listopadowego szukał zajęcia zawodowego w stolicy ówczesnego europejskiego baletu. Znalazł się tam w momencie wielkiego przełomu estetycznego - narodzin baletu romantycznego. Towarzyszył mu w tej podróży młody skrzypek i kompozytor Antoni Orłowski, z którym zamieszkiwał w trakcie pobytu w Paryżu. Kolegował się tam również z przybyłym rok później Fryderykiem Chopinem.

W latach 1831-1833 był związany z zespołem baletowym paryskiego Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique (opery paryskiej), gdzie miał okazję występować w ówczesnych przedstawieniach słynnych choreografów-reformatorów Jeana Corallego i Filippa Taglioniego. W 1832 roku uczestniczył prawdopodobnie w historycznej prapremierze baletu La Sylphide Taglioniego z jego córką Marią Taglioni w roli tytułowej i Josephem Mazilierem w partii Jamesa. Krótko potem, podczas przerwy Taglionich w pracy dla opery paryskiej, wyjechał z nimi do Londynu, gdzie 26 lipca 1832 występował w angielskiej premierze Sylfidy na scenie Theatre Royal Covent Garden – tu także z udziałem legendarnej Marii Taglioni w roli tytułowej i jej brata Paola Taglioniego w roli Jamesa. Po powrocie do Paryża wykonywał nie tylko w tańce zespołowe, ale także drobne partie solowe, a wśród nich:
 1831: Tańce zespołowe – L'Orgie, choreografia Jean Coralli (premiera)
 1832: Tańce – La Sylphide, choreografia Filippo Taglioni, muzyka Jean Schneitzhoeffer (premiera?)
 1832: Pas de deux – w operze La Muette de Portici Aubera, choreografia Jean-Louis Aumer (partnerka: Pauline Leroux)
 1832: Pas de deux – La Fille mal gardée, choreografia Jean-Louis Aumer wg Jeana Daubervala, muzyka Ferdinand Hérold (partnerka: Pauline Montessu)
 1832: Tańce zespołowe – Nathalie, ou La Laitière suisse, choreografia Filippo Taglioni, muzyka Adalbert Gyrowetz i Michele Carafa (premiera)
Mimo dużej konkurencji w paryskim zespole został tam więc zauważony i wyróżniony solistycznymi debiutami. Pisał o tym u nas "Kurier Warszawski" przytaczając francuską opinię po jego występie w pas de deux z paryską gwiazdą Pauline Leroux: "Młody tancerz, Polak Grekowski otrzymał liczne oklaski, na które zasłużył, a pochwały przyznano mu sprawiedliwe, szczególniej są jego zaletami moc i giętkość; wystąpienie jego wróży znakomity nabytek dla sceny". Jednak nie zagrzał dłużej miejsca na scenie paryskiej. W lutym 1833 występował gościnnie w Hawr, przedstawiany tam jeszcze jako tancerz opery paryskiej. Potem był notowany jako pierwszy tancerz teatru we francuskim mieście Boulogne-sur-Mer nad kanałem La Manche. W tym samym roku spotkał w Paryżu przebywającego tam krótko Maurice'a Piona, który działając w imieniu nowego prezesa teatrów warszawskich Józefa Rautenstraucha namówił go na powrót do kraju. W lutym 1834 roku powrócił do Warszawy, by kontynuować karierę pierwszego tancerza w nowo otwartym Teatrze Wielkim. Podjął też wtedy dodatkowo pracę nauczyciela wyższych klas w szkole baletowej Teatru Wielkiego, a jego paryskie doświadczenia zaczęły owocować na polskim gruncie, zarówno w poważniejszych teraz kreacjach scenicznych, jak i w pracy pedagogicznej z młodymi tancerzami.

Ważniejsze kreacje w Warszawie

 1823: Pas de trois krakowskie - Wesele krakowskie w Ojcowie , choreografia Louis Thiérry, muzyka Karol Kurpiński i Józef Damse
 1834: Solista – Dansomania, czyli Miłość i pustota, choreografia Maurice Pion wg Pierre'a Gardela, muzyka dobrana i opracowana przez Franciszka Lessela
 1834: Colin – Panna źle strzeżona, choreografia Maurice Pion wg La Fille mal gardée Jeana Daubervala, muzyka N.N.
 1835: Solista – Zagorzały myśliwy, choreografia Maurice Pion, muzyka N.N.
 1835: Solista – Jeniusz różowy, czyli Fernando i Leora, choreografia Maurice Pion, muzyka Józef Damse
 1837: Solista – Rybołowcy, choreografia Maurice Pion, muzyka Antoni Orłowski
 1837: Pas de deux – Mimili, czyli Styryjczykowie, choreografia Maurice. Pion, muzyka Józef Stefani
 1837: Solista – Młynarze, choreografia Maurice Pion, muz. N.N.
 1837: Rycerz Alidor – Rycerz i wieszczka, choreografia Louis-Antoine Duport i Maurice Pion wg Die Fee und der Ritter Armanda Vestrisa, muzyka Gioachino Rossini, Giovanni Pacini, Pietro Romani, Adalbert Gyrowetz
 1837: Hrabia – Mleczarka szwajcarska, choreografia Louis-Antoine Duport i Maurice Pion wg Nathalie, ou La Laitière suisse Filippa Taglioniego, muzyka Gioacchino Rossini, Adalbert Gyrowetz, Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg, w opracowaniu Józefa Stefaniego
 1843: Don Alonzo – Gitana, choreografia Filippo Taglioni, muzyka Johann  Philipp Schmidt, Józef Stefani

Małżeństwo z gwiazdą

W czerwcu 1837 przyjechała do Warszawy wiedeńska balerina Helene Schanzowsky (1813-1897), córka austriackiego tancerza polskiego pochodzenia Karla (1778-1860), skoligacona z popularnym wcześniej w Polsce austriackim tancerzem i baletmistrzem Franzem, znanym u nas jako Franciszek Szlancowski (1751-1826). Była do niedawna primabaleriną wiedeńskiej Hofoper na scenie Theater am Kärntnertor, uczennicą i ulubioną baleriną kierującego tym teatrem wybitnego francuskiego baletmistrza Louisa-Antoine'a Duporta. Jej kunszt taneczny był szeroko znany i ceniony w Europie, bo już wcześniej występowała gościnnie na różnych scenach. Stawiano ją nawet na równi z takimi gwiazdami baletu romantycznego, jak: Maria Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi i Fanny Elssler. Podobno nie była zbyt urodziwa, ale nadrabiała to gracją i wirtuozerią, w tym doskonałą techniką coraz modniejszego wtedy tańca na puentach. Odwiedziła Warszawę po występach w Berlinie w drodze do Moskwy i miała zatrzymać się przez tydzień. Pozostała jednak przez ponad pięć miesięcy – dla Mikołaja Grekowskiego. Przystojny warszawski pierwszy tancerz został u nas nie tylko jej partnerem scenicznym (m.in. w nowo zrealizowanych baletach Rycerz i wieszczka i Mleczarka szwajcarska), ale też poślubił ją 12 października 1837 i po serii wspólnych występów wyjechali razem do Moskwy, która była kolejnym etapem tournée artystycznego wiedeńskiej baleriny.

Dalsze losy małżeństwa Grekowskich warunkowały ich możliwości zawodowe. Mieli dwoje dzieci, ale nie udało im się dłużej ze sobą przebywać i pracować. Jeszcze w 1841 występowali razem w Rycerzu i wieszczce na scenach wiedeńskich Theater in der Josephstadt i Kärntnertortheater; gościli również razem w Brnie i w Pradze, gdzie Grekowski sam zrealizował Mleczarkę szwajcarską według Taglioniego i wystąpił w niej z żoną. Na terenie Cesarstwa Austrii przedstawiał się teraz jako Nikolaus Ritter von Grekowski, dodając przed nazwiskiem przydomek artystyczny "Ritter" na pamiątkę swej ulubionej roli Rycerza Alidora w Rycerzu i wieszczce. Zarobione w tamtych latach pieniądze Grekowscy zainwestowali w kamienicę w eleganckiej wiedeńskiej dzielnicy Alservorstadt i tam zamieszkali.

Pomimo starań nie uzyskali niestety wspólnego kontraktu na scenach włoskich. W efekcie tylko Helene Grekowska została primabaleriną Real Teatro San Carlo w Neapolu, gdzie w latach 1842-1848 odnosiła sukcesy i pomnożyła swój majątek, a nawet zakupiła kilka pałaców. Tymczasem on pozostawał bez zajęcia, więc powrócił w 1843 do Polski, by kontynuować pracę pierwszego tancerza i pedagoga. Żonę i dzieci widywał teraz jedynie okazyjnie odwiedzając ich w Neapolu i Wiedniu. Także Helene Schlanzowsky-Grekowska po zakończeniu swojej kariery przyjeżdżała czasem do Warszawy.

Ich dzieci pozostały przy matce, a z czasem urządziły się w Wiedniu – Mikołaj junior (jako Nicolaus Grekowsky) był w latach 1865-1879 chórzystą basowym w Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof-Operntheater, a Emilia (jako Emilie von Grekowsky) wyszła w 1866 roku za wdowca, austriackiego chemika, profesora Johanna Wolfbauera (1838-1913).

Pedagog tańca
Karierę sceniczną Grekowski zakończył w 1846 roku i poświęcił odtąd wyłącznie pracy pedagogicznej. Jego uczniami byli m.in. czołowi tancerze sceny warszawskiej: bracia Aleksander i Antoni Tarnowscy, Hipolit Meunier oraz Konstancja Damse-Turczynowicz, Karolina Wendt, siostry Anna i Karolina Straus, Julia Trawna i Kamila Stefańska. W 1862 otrzymał emeryturę, przyznawaną artystom przez Warszawskie Teatry Rządowe po 35 latach ciągłej pracy. Faktycznie pracował już dłużej i starał się o emeryturę już od 1857 roku, ale władze teatralne odliczyły mu od przepisowego stażu lata przerwy w pracy dla sceny warszawskiej. Na koniec aktywności zawodowej wdzięczni wychowankowie z zespołu baletowego pożegnali go 5 maja 1862 roku w Teatrze Wielkim podczas uroczystego jubileuszu 35-lecia pracy artystycznej i "ofiarowali mu kosztowny pamiątkowy pierścień, na którego powierzchni była cyfra XXXV, wewnątrz napis: »Wdzięczni uczniowie Mikołajowi Grekowskiemu«". Później pracował podobno jeszcze przez jakiś czas jako urzędnik teatralny. Przez wszystkie te i późniejsze lata starał się regularnie odwiedzać rodzinę w Wiedniu.

Pod koniec życia zamieszkał w Łomży u swego owdowiałego starszego brata Aleksandra Grekowskiego, emerytowanego sędziego Trybunału Łomżyńskiego, i tam zmarł 29 maja 1885 roku. Obaj bracia zostali pochowani w zachowanym do dziś grobie na tamtejszym Cmentarzu Katedralnym.

Przypisy

Bibliografia
 Polski słownik biograficzny, t. VIII (tu mylnie pod hasłem Grekow, autorstwa Stanisława Dąbrowskiego), Wrocław 1959−1960, s. 572-573.
 Słownik biograficzny teatru polskiego 1795-1965, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa, 1973, s. 206.
 Kazimierz Skibiński, Pamiętnik aktora (1786-1858), opracował Mieczysław Rulikowski, Kraków 1912, s. 172-174.
 Janina Pudełek, Warszawski balet romantyczny, 1802-1866, Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, Kraków 1967.

Ludzie urodzeni w Białymstoku
Polscy tancerze baletowi
Pedagodzy baletu
Urodzeni w 1806
Zmarli w 1885


great person and a great golfer but everybody has a blow up here and there.
frustration shows up every now & then on the golf course… that's normal.
frustrated. So what? I suppose all of you live in glass houses, right?


Watch me, Onyx Godwin Ogaga discuss CROSS DRESSING in Nigeria on 'The inside out show', RAVE TV.
Onyxdiary.com > ANDROGYNOUS > Watch me, Onyx Godwin Ogaga discuss CROSS DRESSING in Nigeria on 'The inside out show', RAVE TV.
Earlier this year, I was invited to popular tv talk show, 'The inside out show' on RAVE TV, to discuss CROSS DRESSING IN NIGERIA.
Popular back in the day when it was hosted by Agatha Amata, The inside out show is now hosted by the beautiful Sandra Eze and Charles.
It's an interesting conversation. We talked about what Cross dressing means, its dangers, relation to sexuality, relation to mental health etc.
We were four on the panel that day ; two cross dressers, One Psychologist and One neutral person!
Intelligent words from all over. Well done!
Onyx Godwin ogaga on a cross dressing show in Nigeria and a Cross dresser! Wow!
Enjoyed watching this a lot.
Nigeria is getting there with little steps like this.
This was a good watch. Loved it!


text:
Support for LAist comes from
LAist logo
We Explain L.A.
Transportation and Mobility
Play In LA
LA History
How To (New) LA
LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:
Live Stream Schedule In Person
Keep up with LAist
Our top stories delivered weeknights
Actor Nick Stahl Missing, Wife Fears He's On Drugs & Skid Row
By Lindsay William-Ross
Published May 16, 2012 12:00 AM
LAist relies on your reader support.
Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all.
Monthly Donation One-Time Donation
Start your day with LAist
Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays.
Actor Nick Stahl, who may be best known for his role as John Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, is missing. Stahl's wife, Rose Murphy, filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department Monday, according to TMZ.Stahl, 32, was last seen May 9.
The actor, who also appeared on the series Carnivale and is listed as being involved in the pre-production stages of the Val Kilmer film The Unknown Son, could be in some trouble. Reportedly, in February, Stahl's wife filed court documents indicating she had "serious concerns that Nick may be using drugs."
Currently, per TMZ, the fear is that Stahl has been spending a lot of time on Skid Row in Los Angeles, and he may have gotten deeper into drug use.
"Stahl married Murphy in June 2009; the couple was photographed bringing their newborn baby to a dinner in Los Angeles in June 2010," adds Huffington Post. That baby is their daughter, Marlo. The court papers filed earlier indicate that Murphy and Stahl were no longer living together, and that Murphy was afraid her husband's drug use would affect his parenting.
"According to the docs, [Rose Murphy] is willing to let Nick see their 2-year-old only while under the supervision of a professional visitation monitor ... 'without Nicolas having used drugs in the past 24 hours,'" TMZ reported at the time.
TMZ notes that Stahl's rep declined to comment on the matter of the actor being missing.
LAist Staff
© 2022 Southern California Public Radio - All Rights Reserved

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home Blogs No Room on the Broom
No Room on the Broom
Published May 15, 2018 by Axel Scheffler
Watch Axel Scheffler tackle Brexit in his acceptance speech for The British Book Awards' inaugural Illustrator of the Year Award.
I am very grateful to receive this inaugural Nibbie for illustration. I'd like to thank my three main publishers: Macmillan, Scholastic and Nosy Crow; Kate Wilson, who has published me for thirty years; Julia Donaldson, with whom I have forged an extraordinary – and extraordinarily successful – partnership; and I'd like to thank readers – the parents and the children who have grown up with the books I have illustrated; and The Bookseller and the judges who chose me, a foreign EU citizen in Brexit times – that's a nice gesture.
But I also accept it with a heavy heart and maybe even a slightly bitter feeling – it feels like a consolation prize. Or even a farewell gift. I know that this is not the place for long speeches, but as you are all gathered here, I can't pretend it's business as usual. I'll take only a few minutes, and then the party can go on.
It's just ten months until "Freedom Day" – next March – and I – and my fellow EU citizens, many working in the UK book industry – are still living in uncertainty. We have, so far, no guarantee that we can still live and work here in the future. In a worst-case scenario, I might not be allowed to stay here by the time my next book with Julia Donaldson is launched.
Michael Morpurgo wrote movingly, "My uncles fought for peace, not for Brexit". He wrote that Britain doesn't really like the rest of Europe. And he's right. That hurts and it makes me angry every day.
The UK has been my home for 35 years. There would have been no Gruffalo without the EU facilitating my study here. And, even if I had, somehow, studied in the UK, I would have had to leave after my studies ended in 1985. So there would never have been the successful Anglo-German joint venture Donaldson-Scheffler.
I know that my contribution is acknowledged here tonight, and, once again, I am grateful.
But I would like to mention another person who came from Germany under completely different circumstances who is here tonight: my friend, Judith Kerr. Here, in this room, you have a refugee from the Nazis and a peace-time EU immigrant giving something for the families and the economy of the UK. But after the Brexit vote it feels, despite our contribution, as if this country is saying, "It was all a mistake! We don't really want you after all." A Brexiteer would, of course, say, "Of course we want them when they make money for us." But how can you gauge the future contribution of a young girl, as Judith was when she came here, or a 25 year-old student, as I was.
It makes me sad, and I worry when I think of a post-Brexit future for the UK families, especially the children, who are growing up with our books. What went wrong? What did they miss, the parents and grandparents who were reading Room on the Broom with its message of the importance of solidarity, partnership, friendship and kindness? The book wasn't called No Room on the Broom.
So beware, Brexit Britain – if you have no friends in a hostile environment – the dragons may come and get you.
Watch the video in full below:
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler reflect on 20 years of The Gruffalo
BRAW-vo: The Snail and the Whale snags Bologna cross-media prize
Tennant to star in BBC adaptation of The Highway Rat
Donaldson and Scheffler pen The Ugly Five for Scholastic
Ross proves the top draw in 2017 illustrator chart


Halloween is right around the corner! Nothing adds to the spooky atmosphere of the season more than the right fog machine. Take things up a notch this October and check out our top list of Halloween fog machines! Find the fogger that achieves what you want, at the price you want.
To help out, we've also reviewed the best fog machine fluids so you get the most out of your fogger – click here to view.
Looking to pull off an awesome fog effect? Perfect. We've reviewed virtually every category of fogger to make things easy. Whether you're looking for low-lying fog, haze, or super thick high-density fog that fills a room, we cover the pros and cons of each fog machine so you can make an educated decision.
See each machine in action by watching review and product videos. This page is a quick-reference overview of our top picks. For more in-depth reviews of each product, just follow the links below.


text:
Ozil to brighten Arsenal at the Stadium of Light
International breaks can be tedious. When you waste 90 minutes of your life watching Ukraine 0-0 England, they can feel especially tedious. However it's worth bearing in mind that whilst any international break isn't usually exciting, the current one that we're emerging from at the moment could have been a whole lot worse.
Imagine if Arsenal hadn't beaten Tottenham in the North London derby. Imagine if Arsenal hadn't signed Mesut Ozil on deadline day. This international break would have been torturous.
Fortunately, Olivier Giroud's flicked finish and Real Madrid's bizarre decision to sell Mesut Ozil meant this international break was more bearable than most, despite that match in Ukraine. Just because it has been bearable though doesn't mean that fans aren't itching for club football to return though.
It's been 10 days now since Mesut Ozil's arrival at Arsenal was confirmed, and despite the club doing as many picture specials as possible on arsenal.com, it's not the same as seeing the German playing for the club. For some supporters, the idea of Ozil conducting the Arsenal midfield still will seem like a dream until it actually happens.
The first chance for that comes at 3pm on Saturday at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland. With the injury to Tomas Rosicky, and the continuing doubts over the fitness of Jack Wilshere, the likelihood is that Ozil will start. Despite the Champions League starting next weekend, suggestions that Arsene Wenger could be reluctant to throw his record signing into the starting XI seem strange. He's match fit and needs to learn the rigours of the Premier League eventually, so why not throw him straight in?
Whilst the Premier League is a lot different to other top leagues in Europe, sometimes the culture shock of it can be overplayed. Matches in the Premier League are often more competitive than other top leagues, there is less of a gap between the top and bottom sides and teams play a variety of footballing styles, but a world class player like Ozil shouldn't need a long time to adapt to it. Regardless of how the opposing sides play, Ozil's style of play fits well with the Arsenal way. He might have to be ready to get targeted with some tough tackling, but otherwise he should be able to slot straight into the Arsenal side.
The thought of Ozil linking up with the likes of Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere is an exciting one, and whilst play between them all is unlikely to click immediately, those players are good enough to be able to adapt quickly to playing alongside each other. Olivier Giroud has been in good form up front, so should benefit from having Ozil feeding him chances.
Against Tottenham, Arsenal did create some good chances but at times struggled to keep the ball. The defence was superb, but the Gunners weren't quite at their fluent best. After a tough opening to the season, the players looked jaded at the end of the North London Derby. Even though some players have featured in the international games, the arrival of Ozil has undoubtedly given the squad a boost. Fans aren't just excited to watch him, players are excited to play alongside him.
There could be a temptation for Arsene Wenger to rest some players before a midweek trip to Marseille, but injuries mean that the squad is still looking thin in places. I fully expect Wenger to pick the strongest team available to him against Sunderland. Paulo Di Canio's current team are on a poor run of form, however Arsenal needed an epic performance from Bacary Sagna and a stunning Szczesny save to hold onto a 1-0 win with ten men in the same game last season so can't take anything for granted on Saturday.
After the tantalising wait of the international break, Mesut Ozil is about to wear the yellow of Arsenal. Those who have been walking round in a dream for ten days can wake up on Saturday and should see Arsenal's blockbusting German record signing starting for the Gunners.


text:
\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:introduction}

The Planck 2013 and 2015 data releases open new directions in precision cosmology with regard to a more advanced
investigation of the statistical isotropy and non-Gaussianity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB)~\cite{Planck1, Planck2, Planck_is, Planck_is2015}.
While generally confirming the Gaussianity and the statistical isotropy of the CMB (for the relevant multipole domain $\ell\ge 50$), the Planck
science team confirmed the existence of a variety of anomalies in the temperature anisotropy on large angular scales ($\ell\le 50$)
previously seen in WMAP data~\cite{Planck_is,Planck_is2015}.  Among these are the lack of power in the quadrupole component~\cite{low_quadrupole} (see, however,~\cite{wmap9b}
and~\cite{Planck_is}), the alignment of the quadrupole and octupole components~\cite{Copi1, wmap9b, Planck_is}, the unusual symmetry of the
octupole~\cite{mhansen}, anisotropies in the temperature angular power spectrum~\cite{WMAP7:powerspectra, Planck_is, Hansen2004, Eriksen2003},
 preferred directions~\cite{Pref.Direction1, Pref.Direction2, Copi2, Planck_is, Planck_is2015, Akrami2014}, asymmetry in the power of even and odd modes~\cite{parity1, parity2, wmap9b, Planck_is, Planck_is2015} and the Cold Spot~\cite{vielva2003, Coldspot1, Planck_is, Planck_is2015}.
 Some of these anomalies are probably a consequence of the residuals of foreground effects that could be a major source of contamination in the primordial $E$- and $B$-modes of polarization (in this connection see~\cite{Planck_bicep}).

The statistics of $B$-mode polarization that can be derived from ongoing and planned CMB experiments will be crucial for the determination of the
cosmological gravitational waves associated with inflation~\cite{inflation} at the range of multipoles $50\le \ell\le 150$, closer to
the domain of interest for BICEP2 and Planck~\cite{bicep,Planck_bicep}.   It seems likely that $B$-mode polarization in this range is affected
by Galactic dust emission, the statistical properties of which are very poorly known. (For $\ell >150$ we expect contamination of the $B$-modes
due to lensing effects the precise nature of which is also not fully understood.)  In the absence of such knowledge it is difficult to make \emph{a priori}
proposals for the best estimator of non-Gaussianity and statistical anisotropies in the derived $B$-modes due to possible contamination by foreground residuals.
Thus, we believe that it is of value to propose additional model-independent tests aimed at providing an improved quantitative understanding of the magnitude of non-Gaussianity in current CMB data.  Such tests would also be useful for the analysis of forthcoming CMB data sets.   In this paper
we propose use of the Kullback--Leibler (KL) divergence as such a test.  The goal of this paper is to illustrate the utility of the KL divergence in studying the properties of the CMB signal --- a Gaussian or almost Gaussian signal. The KL divergence is likely to be even more useful for very non-Gaussian cases such as the statistical behaviour of the Minkowski functionals for a single map or the pixel-pixel cross-correlation coefficient between two maps, when calculated in small areas.  We will consider such issues in a separate publication.

The one-point probability distribution function (PDF) would seem to be a reasonable starting point for the investigation of non-Gaussianity.
Such tests have been applied by the Planck team to a variety of derived CMB temperature maps including the SMICA, NILC, SEVEM and
Commander maps~\cite{Planck_is,Planck_is2015}.  In practice, these tests involve comparison of the various temperature fluctuation maps with an ensemble
of simulated maps.  The CMB temperature is characterized by a power spectrum, $C_\ell^\text{Planck}$, which
corresponds to the Planck 2013 concordance \LCDM\ model with the cosmological parameters listed in~\cite{Planck_cp}.
The simulated maps are obtained as Monte Carlo (MC) Gaussian draws on this power spectrum (in harmonic space).  When processed with the Planck component separation tool, the resulting simulation maps contain both CMB information as well as various residuals from foregrounds, the uncertainties of instrumental effects, etc.  For the Planck 2013 data release, the corresponding $10^3$ full focal plane simulations are referred to as the FFP7 simulations.
They reflect the intrinsic properties of the SMICA, NILC, SEVEM and Commander maps.  Differences between the FFP7 maps and the various empirical maps can provide useful information regarding non-Gaussianity.  In the following, we shall restrict our attention to the SMICA map.

In practice, the non-parametric Kolmogorov--Smirnov (KS) test is often used to assess the similarity of two distributions.  The KS test
characterizes the difference between the two cumulative distribution functions (CDF) in terms of the maximum absolute deviation between them.  The KS estimator, $\kappa$, is defined as
\begin{equation}
\kappa= \sqrt{n} \max[|F(x)-F_n(x)|] \, ,
\label{eq:KS_definition}
\end{equation}
where $F(x)$ is the theoretical expectation of the CDF and $F_n(x)$ is obtained from a data sample with $n$ elements.  Here, both $F(x)$ and $F_n(x)$ must  be normalized to the range $[0,1]$. Note that $F(x)$ is normally a continuous function or should at least be defined for all possible values of the data sample $F_n(x)$.   It is clear from Eq.~\eqref{eq:KS_definition} that the KS estimator $\kappa$ is local in the sense that its value will be determined at a point, $x$, where the PDFs corresponding to $F(x)$ and $F_n(x)$ cross.  We note that the use of PDFs in Eq.~\eqref{eq:KS_definition} instead of CDFs would result in a
maximal sensitivity to the largest local anomaly.

Unlike the case of vectors (where the scalar product provides a standard measure), there is no generic ``best''
measure for quantifying the similarity of two distributions.  Thus, we believe that it is also useful to consider the Kullback--Leibler divergence for two discrete probability distributions, $P$ and $Q$.  The KL divergence on the set of points $i$ is defined~\cite{kl} as
\be \label{eq:KL_definition}
K(P\|Q)=\sum_i P_i\log\left(\frac{P_i}{Q_i}\right) \, .
\ee
In other words, the KL divergence is the expectation value of the logarithmic difference between the two probability distributions as computed with
weights of $P_i$.  Typically, $P$ represents the distribution of the data, while $Q$ represents a theoretical expectation of the data.  Unlike the
KS test, the KL divergence is non-local.  Indeed, we shall indicate below that it is in a sense ``maximally'' non-local.  It is familiar in information
theory, where it represents the difference between the intrinsic entropy,
$H_P$, of the distribution $P$ and the cross-entropy, $H_{PQ}$, between $P$ and $Q$,
\be
K(P\|Q)=H_{PQ}-H_P, \qquad H_P=-\sum_i P_i\log P_i, \qquad H_{PQ}=-\sum_i P_i\log Q_i \, .
\label{eq:entropy}
\ee
In more practical terms, consider the most probable result of $N$ independent random draws on the distribution $P$.  When $N$ is large, the number of
draws at point $i$ is simply $n_i = N P_i$.  Now construct the probabilities, $\Pi_P$ and $\Pi_Q$, that this most probable result was drawn at random
on distribution $P$ or $Q$, respectively.  The KL divergence of Eq.~\eqref{eq:KL_definition} is simply $N^{-1}\log{(\Pi_P / \Pi_Q)}$.
 We note that simulations of the CMB
map, drawn independently in harmonic space, have correlations in pixel space.
 Nevertheless we regard this argument as motivation for applying the KL divergence to CMB pixels.

The main goal of this paper is to illustrate the implementation of the KL divergence for
the analysis of the statistical properties of the derived CMB maps in the low multipole domain as a complementary test to the methods listed in~\cite{Planck_is,Planck_is2015}.  The structure of the paper is as follows. In Section~\ref{sec:KL_divergence_and_Planck_data} we present some properties of the KL divergence. We also use it to analyze the Planck SMICA map and compare it to both the FFP7 set and to a purely Gaussian ensemble. In addition, we compare the two ensembles and compare the KL divergence to the KS test in the low multipole domain of the CMB map. In Section~\ref{sec:discussion} we discuss the results. Note that the Planck papers~\cite{Planck_is,Planck_is2015} test the Gaussianity of the one-point PDF by analyzing its variance, skewness and kurtosis. In this sense, the KL divergence is simply another test on the global shape of the PDF.  Here, we restrict our analysis by using the SMICA map and the corresponding simulations.  The extension of the method to $E$- and $B$-modes of polarization does not require any modification.

\section{KL divergence and Planck data}
\label{sec:KL_divergence_and_Planck_data}

\subsection{Preliminary remarks: Properties of the KL divergence}
\label{subsec:Preliminary_remarks_KL_divergence}

As noted above, the KL divergence provides a measure of the similarity of two known distributions.  In many cases, however, one of these
distributions is not known and must rather be approximated by the average PDF for a statistical ensemble of realizations of the random field.  The
question then arises of how closely the resulting proxy reflects the properties of the true underlying distribution.  To offer some insight in this
matter, we consider a toy model based on a discrete Gaussian distribution, $P_k$, with
\be
P_k \sim \exp{\left[ -  k^2/25 \right]}\, ,
\ee
and $k$ an integer between $-10$ and $+10$ subject to the obvious normalization condition.  The mean value of
$k$ is $0$ and the variance is approximately $25/2$.  Suppose for simplicity that we define an individual data
set as $N$ random draws on this distribution.  Each such data set can be regarded as a proxy, $Q_i$ for the underlying
distribution, and can be used to calculate the KL divergence $K(P\|Q)$ defined in Eq.~\eqref{eq:KL_definition}.  For a given value of $N$, we  repeat this
process $M$ times and compute the average KL divergence, $\overline{K}$, and the root-mean-square (RMS) deviation of the KL divergence, $\Delta K = \sqrt{\overline{K^2} - \overline{K}{}^2 }$.  The results of
this exercise are shown in Table~\ref{tab:Change_N}, where we have used the common value of $M=1000$.
\begin{table}
	\centering
	\caption{Mean and RMS values of the KL divergence for a discrete Gaussian distribution.}
	\vspace{10pt}
	\begin{tabular}{rcccc}
		\hline
		\noalign{\smallskip}
		\multicolumn{1}{c}{$N$} & $\overline{K}$ & $\Delta K$ & $N\overline{K}$ & $N\Delta K$ \\
		\hline
		 4000 & 0.002540 & 0.000796 & 10.160 & 3.18 \\
		 8000 & 0.001253 & 0.000413 & 10.024 & 3.30 \\
		16000 & 0.000636 & 0.000200 & 10.176 & 3.20 \\
		\hline
	\end{tabular}
	\label{tab:Change_N}
\end{table}
Several things seem clear.  Both the average value of the KL divergence and the RMS deviation from this average value vanish like $1/N$ for large $N$. From general arguments,
the KL divergence cannot be negative.  Fig.~\ref{fig:KL_hist_change_N} shows a histogram of the distribution of  KL divergences
obtained with $M = 20000$ for the cases $N=100$ and $N=1000$.
\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=\halfW]{KL_hist_change_N.ps}
	\caption{Histogram of KL divergences with $M=20000$ for $N=100$ (\emph{black})
	and $N=1000$ (\emph{red}).  Note that the horizontal axis is measured in units of the
	corresponding value of $\overline{K}$.}
	\label{fig:KL_hist_change_N}
\end{figure}
The KL divergences here are measured
in units of the corresponding value of $\overline{K}$.  The fact that these distributions scale like $1/N$ is
obvious.  These histograms suggest power law suppression near zero and Gaussian behaviour
for large values of the KL divergence.

The results shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:KL_hist_change_N} are not specific to the KL divergence, and qualitatively
similar results would be obtained for any measure chosen to describe the similarity of two distributions.
All that is required is that the measure chosen is always positive and vanishes when the distributions
being compared are identical.  When drawn as here, each individual data set can be thought of
as a combination of the ``exact'' distribution plus the amplitudes of $(N-1)$ ``fluctuations''.\footnote{Due to
the fact that each data set contains exactly $N$ draws.}  Obviously, the amplitudes of every one of these
fluctuations must be exactly zero if the measure is to be $K = 0$.  Of course, there are many combinations of the
fluctuation amplitudes that will give any fixed non-zero value of the measure, and their number increases as
$K$ grows from zero.  In contrast, for the case of only two options (e.g., ``heads'' and ``tails'') subject to a constraint
on the total number of draws, there is only a single degree of freedom.  In this case $K = 0$ is actually the most
probable value.

A few additional remarks can help clarify the properties of the KL divergence.  Consider that each individual
data set is sufficiently large that $Q_i = P_i + \delta P_i$ where $\delta P_i$ is small.  Under these conditions,
terms linear in $\delta P_i$ vanish as a consequence of normalization, and the KL divergence is given simply as
\be
K = \frac{1}{2} \, \sum_i \, \frac{\delta P_i^2}{P_i} \, .
\label{eq:KL_small_fluctuation}
\ee
We see that the distributions $P$ and $Q$ are now treated symmetrically in spite of the asymmetry that is
apparent in Eq.~\eqref{eq:KL_definition}.  Elementary arguments suggest that the average number of draws on bin $i$ will be
$N P_i \pm \sqrt{N P_i}$.   The corresponding proxy for the underlying distribution will be $P_i \pm \sqrt{P_i / N}$.
Given this result, Eq.~\eqref{eq:KL_small_fluctuation} suggests that, for fixed bin sizes and in the limit $N \to \infty$, each bin will make
a contribution to the KL divergence of roughly equal size.  It is hard to imagine a greater degree of non-locality. Moreover, in this limit the KL divergence is expected to be of order $N_b/N$, where $N_b$ is the number of bins.  In other words, if we define
\be \label{eq:alpha_definition}
\alpha=\frac{N}{N_b}K\, ,
\ee
we expect that $\alpha\sim\mathcal{O}(1)$. This realization allows us to assign a rough scale for the expected KL divergence. If two given distributions yield a much larger value of $\alpha$, we can conclude that they differ significantly from each other without resorting to comparisons with an ensemble. In the example shown in Table~\ref{tab:Change_N} we are using $N_b=30$, meaning $\alpha$ is small. This is to be expected since we are indeed using the true distribution to draw the data under examination.

\subsection{Preliminary remarks: Planck data}
\label{subsec:Preliminary_remarks_Planck_data}

We have performed the KL divergence test on the CMB map obtained  by the Planck collaboration~\cite{Planck_cp} using the SMICA method. Since we are interested in the
statistical properties of the CMB map on large scales, we first degrade the map from its native \textsc{HEALPix}~\cite{HEALPix} resolution of $\Nside=2048$
to $\Nside=32$. We then construct the convolution of this map with a Gaussian smoothing kernel of $5\deg$ FWHM and retain only the harmonic coefficients with
$\ell \le \lmax=96$.  The SMICA map provides a useful estimation of the CMB temperature fluctuations for a very large fraction --- but not all --- of the sky. We use the SMICA inpainting mask to exclude heavily contaminated regions, mainly the Galactic plane. At the resolution considered here, the mask removes about 6\% of the pixels, leaving the number of pixels under consideration to be $N=11565$. Since the analysis is performed in pixel space,
application of the mask is trivial.

In order to estimate the statistical significance of our results, we compare them to ensembles of realizations. In this work we use two different ensembles.
This is done in order to cross-check the significance estimations and also allows us to compare the two ensembles. The first of these ensembles is the
FFP7 set described above.  We degrade and smooth the FFP7 maps in the same manner as we did the SMICA map.  We expect that the effects of detector noise will be minor on the large scales considered here.  To test this expectation we therefore also make use of the best-fit power spectrum,
$C_\ell^\text{Planck}$~\cite{Planck_cp}, to generate an ensemble of $10^3$ Gaussian random realizations free of residuals.  As in the
case of the FFP7 ensemble, we restrict the multipole domain to $\lmax=96$ and smooth the harmonic coefficients with a Gaussian filter of $5\deg$ FWHM.
We also multiply the coefficients with the pixel window function associated with an $\Nside=32$ pixelization before converting them to
an $\Nside=32$ map.

In our analysis we calculate the KL divergence for the SMICA map in pixel space. We calculate a histogram of the temperature fluctuations in the
unmasked pixels by taking bins of width $8\uK$ in the range $[-200,200]\uK$, meaning that the number of bins is $N_b=51$. Values outside this range are attributed to the edge bins. This histogram is taken as the $P$ probability distribution of Eq.~\eqref{eq:KL_definition}. For $Q$, the expected distribution, we turn to the ensemble of simulations, either FFP7 or
the Gaussian realizations. We calculate the histogram for each simulation (using the same range and binning), and take $Q$ to be the mean of all histograms. These histograms are shown in Fig.~\ref{subfig:maps_histograms} together with error bars showing the 5--95\% range for the FFP7 set.
\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\subfigure[]{
		\includegraphics[width=\halfW]{T_hist.ps}
		\label{subfig:maps_histograms}
	}
	\subfigure[]{
		\includegraphics[width=\halfW]{KL_hist.ps}
		\label{subfig:KL_histograms}}
	 \caption{\subref{subfig:maps_histograms}~Number of counts versus amplitude of the SMICA map (\emph{red}), the FFP7 (\emph{black}) and
	the Gaussian (\emph{blue}) ensembles. The error bars show the 5--95\% range for the FFP7 set. \subref{subfig:KL_histograms}~Histograms of normalized KL
	divergence values for the FFP7 ensemble (\emph{black}) and the Gaussian ensemble (\emph{blue}). The values for the SMICA map are shown as red vertical
	lines, compared to the FFP7 mean distribution (\emph{solid}) and to the Gaussian mean distribution (\emph{dotted}).}
	\label{fig:KLResults}
\end{figure}
It appears that the histogram of the SMICA map deviates from the reference histograms by~$\approx2\sigma$ primarily in the vicinity of the peak of the distribution. However, this estimation relies on a local feature. The KL divergence provides us with a recipe to sum all the deviations from the entire range of the distribution with appropriate weights.

Before using Eq.~\eqref{eq:KL_definition} to calculate the KL divergence, it is necessary to pay particular attention to bins in which either $P$ or $Q$ has small values.
The case in which $P_i=0$ is not problematic since $P_i\log P_i \to 0$ in this limit.  Bins for which $Q_i=0$, however, should not be included since the
KL divergence is logarithmically divergent as $Q_i \to 0$.  Such a result is not unreasonable since it is impossible to draw to a bin if its probability is
strictly $0$.  In practice, however, small values of $Q_i$ are merely a consequence of the size of our ensemble.  We have chosen to ignore bins for
which $Q_i<5$~pixels in order to minimize the sensitivity to small non-statistical fluctuations in the extreme tails of the $Q$ distribution.

\subsection{The Basic Results}
\label{subsec:The_Basic_Results}

We have calculated the KL divergences between the SMICA histogram and the histograms made from the FFP7 and the Gaussian ensembles. After normalization using the number of valid pixels, $N$, and the number of bins, $N_b$, in Eq.~\eqref{eq:alpha_definition}, we have obtained $\alpha=6.47$ and $6.28$, respectively. If these values were significantly larger than the expected order of magnitude, we would conclude that the distributions were in disagreement. Since this is not the case, we must compare the results to ensembles of values of $\alpha$.
In order to calculate the $p$-values, we repeat the calculation of the KL divergence, replacing the distribution of the map, $P$, with that
of each of the random simulations. This results in two histograms of normalized $K$ values, i.e.\ $\alpha$ values, for FFP7 (Gaussian) maps compared to the FFP7 (Gaussian) mean distribution,
shown in Fig.~\ref{subfig:KL_histograms}. It is evident that, as expected, $\alpha\lesssim10$ for most simulations. We find that $5.6\%$ of the FFP7 simulations and $6.3\%$ of the Gaussian simulations get a higher KL
divergence than the SMICA map. We see that the KL divergence of the SMICA map from the expected distribution is not significant. As expected, differences
between the two reference ensembles, the FFP7 simulations and the pure Gaussian realizations, are quite small.
In order to demonstrate explicitly the similarity between the two ensembles with respect to the KL divergence, we have also tested each of the FFP7 simulations
against the mean distribution of the Gaussian ensemble and vice versa. The results of this calculation are extremely similar to those shown in Fig.~\ref{subfig:KL_histograms}, and we can conclude that the added complexity of the FFP7 simulations relative to that of simple Gaussian realizations plays a minor role at this resolution.

In addition to the KL divergence, and as a basis for comparison, we also use the KS test to compare between the histogram of the SMICA map and the mean histogram for each of the ensembles. The KS test, defined in Eq.~\eqref{eq:KS_definition}, requires the use of the CDF. For the SMICA map, the CDF is calculated from the data without any binning. The reference CDF, however, is calculated by first fitting the mean histogram of the ensemble (either FFP7 or the Gaussian realizations) to a Gaussian, and then using the fitted parameters in the expression for a Gaussian CDF. As in the case of the KL divergence, for each ensemble, we compare the SMICA map to the mean histogram of the ensemble and also create a histogram of KS test values by taking each realization separately and comparing it to the mean. The results are shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:KSResults}.
\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=\halfW]{KS_hist.ps}
	\caption{Histograms of KS test values for the FFP7 ensemble (\emph{black}) and the Gaussian ensemble (\emph{blue}). The values for the SMICA map are shown as red vertical
lines, compared to the FFP7 mean distribution (\emph{solid}) and to the Gaussian mean distribution (\emph{dotted}).}
	\label{fig:KSResults}
\end{figure}
The KS test values we get when comparing the SMICA map to the FFP7 and Gaussian simulations are $\kappa=8.32$ and $8.21$, respectively. The corresponding $p$-values are $3.0\%$ and $2.6\%$. Again we see that the results for the two ensembles are in good agreement. Moreover, while the $p$-values of the KS test are lower than those of the KL divergence, the SMICA map still appears to be consistent with the reference ensembles and not anomalous.

As we can see from Fig.~\ref{subfig:maps_histograms}, there are well-defined temperature ranges in which the SMICA histogram is above or
below the reference.  Thus, in Fig.~\ref{fig:smica_regions} we plot the SMICA map, showing only the temperature range $|T|\le50\uK$ where the SMICA
histogram is above the reference and the temperature range $50\uK\le|T|\le120\uK$ where it is below.
\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\subfigure[]{
		\includegraphics[width=\thirdW,angle=90]{Map50.ps}
		\label{subfig:smica_-50_50}
	}
	\subfigure[]{
		\includegraphics[width=\thirdW,angle=90]{Map120.ps}
		\label{subfig:smica_abs_50_120}
	}
	\caption{The SMICA map, showing only those regions where \subref{subfig:smica_-50_50}~$|T|\le50\uK$ and \subref{subfig:smica_abs_50_120}~$50\uK\le|T|\le120\uK$. The small Galactic mask used in the analysis appears as a thin horizontal gray line in the center of the maps, and the masked pixels are not included in any of the temperature ranges. In panel~\subref{subfig:smica_abs_50_120}, the black curves mark the location of the ecliptic plane.}
	\label{fig:smica_regions}
\end{figure}
We see that there is no apparent tendency for the contributions from either of these temperature ranges to be localized in specific regions of the sky. We do, however, pay special attention to the region of the ecliptic plane. As is apparent from fig.~3 of~\cite{Planck15Maps}, the SMICA map is susceptible to contamination from foreground residuals in the region of the ecliptic. We therefore include in Fig.~\ref{subfig:smica_abs_50_120} curves showing the location of the ecliptic plane and suggest that the number of cold spots in the ecliptic band might be unexpected. As it is not the focus of this work, we have not performed any quantitative analysis regarding the spatial distribution of hot or cold regions of the map. The maps in Fig.~\ref{fig:smica_regions} provide
an additional general indication that the SMICA temperature map is not anomalous. Nevertheless, we again emphasize that small foreground residuals, like those suspected to lie in the area of the ecliptic plane, while insignificant to the analysis of temperature fluctuations, can become extremely important when analyzing the CMB polarization pattern, specifically $B$-mode polarization.

\subsection{Interchangeability of $P$ and $Q$}
\label{sub:interchangeability_of_P_and_Q}

As has been noted above, the KL divergence is not symmetric with respect to the interchange of the distributions $P$ and $Q$ except in the limit $P \to Q$.
This is a reminder of the fact that the KL divergence is not a true metric of the distance between $P$ and $Q$.   So far, we have followed the common practice of taking $P$ to be the distribution of the data and $Q$ the expected distribution~\cite{kl}.  However, it is worth checking what happens when these roles are reversed.  We have performed two tests involving interchange of the two distributions. First, we simply calculate the KL divergence $K(Q\|P)$, where $P$ is again the SMICA histogram and $Q$ is the mean histogram of the FFP7 ensemble.\footnote{Note that with the roles reversed, bins with $P_i < 5$ are now ignored and bins with small values of $Q_i$ are all counted.} This value is then compared to the ensemble of values computed with $P$ replaced by each of the FFP7 maps. The
resulting histogram, after normalization using Eq.~\eqref{eq:alpha_definition}, is presented in Fig.~\ref{subfig:PQ_and_QP} together with the histogram of $K(P\|Q)$ (presented above) as reference.
\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\subfigure[]{
		\includegraphics[width=\halfW]{KL_QP_hist.ps}
		\label{subfig:PQ_and_QP}
	}
	\subfigure[]{
		\includegraphics[width=\halfW]{Delta_KL_hist.ps}
		\label{subfig:PQ_-_QP}
	}
	\caption{\subref{subfig:PQ_and_QP}~Histograms for the usual KL divergence $K(P\|Q)$ (\emph{black}) and for the reversed divergence $K(Q\|P)$
	(\emph{blue}). The red and blue vertical lines are the values for the SMICA map for the normal and reversed tests, respectively. All $K$ values have been normalized using Eq.~\eqref{eq:alpha_definition}.
\subref{subfig:PQ_-_QP}
	~Histogram of the normalized difference $\alpha(P\|Q)-\alpha(Q\|P)$. The vertical line is the value for the SMICA map.}
	\label{fig:PQQP}
\end{figure}
We can see that the two histograms and the corresponding $p$-values are similar. The value $p = 6.5\%$ was obtained for the reversed test; the
$p$-value for the normal test is $5.6\%$ as stated above.  It is apparent that, although similar, the reversed histogram is slightly but consistently shifted towards smaller $\alpha$ values than the normal histogram. The value for the SMICA map is also lower for the reversed test.  However, the SMICA is a single map, and the shift between histograms only indicates a statistical shift for the whole ensemble. Therefore, the second test is to examine the difference $\Delta\alpha = \alpha(P\|Q)-\alpha(Q\|P)$ between the normal and reversed normalized KL divergences of the \emph{same} map. Fig.~\ref{subfig:PQ_-_QP} shows the resulting histogram for the FFP7 ensemble together with the value for SMICA. The SMICA map shows a highly standard $\Delta\alpha$, yielding a $p$-value of $49.4\%$. A similar test performed versus the Gaussian ensemble gives very similar results.

The tendency of the KL divergences to become smaller when $P$ and $Q$ are interchanged can be understood easily. Since $P$ is calculated from a single map, it tends to fluctuate more than $Q$, which is the mean of all ensemble distributions. Therefore, when $P$ appears only inside the logarithm, as is the case in the reversed $K(Q\|P)$, the fluctuations are suppressed relative to the normal $K(P\|Q)$. We see here that the SMICA map not only shows the expected qualitative behavior upon interchanging $P$ and $Q$, it is also quantitatively shifted by the expected amount. While the KL divergence in general is not symmetric under the interchange of $P$ and $Q$, we conclude that when testing the one-dimensional temperature distribution of the CMB on large scales, reversing the two makes little difference.

\section{Discussion}
\label{sec:discussion}

We have discussed the applicability of the Kullback--Leibler divergence for the assessment of departures form Gaussianity of CMB temperature
maps on large scales.  We have illustrated this on the SMICA map, comparing it to both the set of FFP7 simulations and a set of $10^3$ Gaussian draws.
We have shown that it is consistent with each of these reference sets to a level of about 6\%.  We have used the KL divergence to compare the FFP7 and Gaussian reference sets and have shown that they are in good agreement.  This suggests that the additional instrumental effects and foreground residuals included in the FFP7 simulations are unimportant on the scales considered here.  Since the KL divergence is not symmetric in $P$ and $Q$, we have performed tests to demonstrate that their interchange has little effect on these conclusions.  Finally, we have repeated these calculations using the Kolmogorov--Smirnov test.  The resulting
$p$-value of about 3\% suggests that the differences between the two tests are not large.  We note that there is no guarantee that these tests will always
give similar results.  For example, the KL divergence is likely to be far more sensitive than the KS test for situations where there are large relative differences in the small amplitude tails of the distributions.  We have also repeated all the tests on the CMB data of the 2015 release from Planck, which recently became publicly available.\footnote{See the Planck Legacy Archive \url{http://pla.esac.esa.int/pla/}.} The results on the 2015 data set are in very good agreement with those reported here.

The difficulty in devising tests for the assessment of non-Gaussianity of the temperature and polarization maps of the CMB lies in our ignorance of
the nature of the non-Gaussian residuals from foregrounds and systematic effects that could propagate to the maps.  In such circumstances, it seems advisable to adopt a procedure that uses as much information in the maps as possible.  With its connection to the intrinsic and cross-entropy of the distributions $P$ and $Q$,
the KL divergence would appear to be the natural choice.  Given the correlations between the pixels of the CMB, a consequence of a random draw in harmonic space, this is not necessarily the case.  However, the non-locality of the KL divergence and its sensitivity to the tails of the distributions still suggest that it is a valuable complement to the KS test and might be a useful alternative.  Indeed, one should utilize a variety of methods and tests to identify possible contamination of the cosmological product.  Obviously, \emph{any\/} suggestion of an anomalous result would indicate the need for more sophisticated analyses to assess the quality of the CMB maps.

\acknowledgments

We would like to thank P. Naselsky for his enthusiastic support and encouragement of the work reported in this paper and for many valuable scientific discussions.

This work is based on observations obtained with Planck,\footnote{\url{http://www.esa.int/Planck}} an ESA
science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA
Member States, NASA, and Canada. The development of Planck has been
supported by: ESA; CNES and CNRS / INSU-IN2P3-INP (France); ASI, CNR, and
INAF (Italy); NASA and DoE (USA); STFC and UKSA (UK); CSIC, MICINN and JA
(Spain); Tekes, AoF and CSC (Finland); DLR and MPG (Germany); CSA (Canada);
DTU Space (Denmark); SER/SSO (Switzerland); RCN (Norway); SFI (Ireland);
FCT/MCTES (Portugal); and PRACE (EU). A description of the Planck Collaboration and a list of its members,
including the technical or scientific activities in which they have been
involved, can be found at the Planck web page.\footnote{\url{http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planck/planck-collaboration}}

We acknowledge the use of the NASA Legacy Archive for Microwave Background Data Analysis (LAMBDA). Our data analysis made use of the GLESP package\footnote{\url{http://www.glesp.nbi.dk/}}~\cite{Glesp}, and of \textsc{HEALPix}~\cite{HEALPix}. This work is supported in part by Danmarks Grundforskningsfond which allowed the establishment of the Danish Discovery Center, FNU grants 272-06-0417, 272-07-0528 and 21-04-0355, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.\ 11033003), the National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China (Grant No.\ 11203024) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, CAS.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Customers Foremost. "Waiting for Gi Wire Mesh Price List , gi wire mesh price list , wire mesh price list , our products are extensively used with this industries and other industries.
"""Based on domestic market and expand abroad business"" is our improvement strategy for Gi Wire Mesh Price List , gi wire mesh price list , wire mesh price list , We look forward to hearing from you whether you are a returning customer or a new one. We hope you will find what you are looking for here if not you should contact us immediately. We pride ourselves on top notch customer service and response. Thank you for your business and support!


As BBQ has increased in popularity so has the desire of the general public to learn more about it and how to do it themselves. Luckily the BBQ world is full of people who not only love to make great BBQ but who enjoy passing on their knowledge to others. The South Carolina Barbeque Association (SCBA) takes pride in educating the public about all things BBQ and holds two seminars a year to turn enthusiasts into judges. The main aspects looked at when comparing BBQ are Appearance, Aroma, Tenderness & Taste. Just looking at it should make you want to eat it; the aroma should get your mouth watering and once you have tasted it, it should be moist and tender yet still have texture. The flavor of the meat kissed with smoke should lead, while the subtle nuances of the rub and sauce should both enhance and add depth of flavor to the meat.
The major points to considering when making BBQ are rubs, sauces, wood and mastering the art of knowing how to have the right temperature, amount and type of smoke.
Rub is the first way to introduce flavor and color to the meat. There are two basic types of rubs: wet and dry. Dry rubs are a combination of spices and herbs. Wet rubs are dry rubs with the addition of oil or other liquid to make a paste. Both are best made with some course ground spices as these help to more deeply roughen up the surface of the meat allowing the smoke to permeate better. Rubs typically should be applied at least an hour prior to cooking and can even be applied up to 24 hours in advance.
There are two types of sauces. A basting sauce is low in sugar and used mostly to keep the meat moist while cooking and allows for the aromatic smoke to cling to the meat better. A finishing sauce is added the last hour or two of cooking to add another layer of flavor to the meat. South Carolina is the only state that has four specific finishing sauces, each originating from a different region of the state. The first sauce thought to have originated by the Scottish that settled in the coastal plains of the Carolinas is a simple vinegar and pepper sauce and is often used for basting as well as finishing. The second sauce thought to have originated by the German immigrants that were encouraged to settle in South Carolina in the 1700's is a mustard based sauce, found predominantly in the middle third of the state. It is the sauce that SC is most known for since it was not found in other states. The third sauce is a light tomato based sauce (basically vinegar & pepper sauce with tomato ketchup added). It came about in early 1900's and is typically found in the northwestern part of the state & Pee Dee region. The fourth sauce is a heavy tomato based sauce which is both thick & sweet, found mostly in the lower third of the state bordering with Georgia.
Aromatic wood is what gives BBQ its smoky flavor, and there are many options when it comes to woods used. Hardwoods, fruit woods and nut woods can be used alone or in combination. Soft woods such as evergreens are not recommended. It is commonly thought that different species of wood impart different flavors, but some feel the different minerals in the wood are more important to flavor. The Forest Encyclopedia states that "smoke flavor is influenced more by the climate and soil in which they are grown than the species of wood." In my opinion, both matter. Wood should be cured (dried) before using. It is important to note that ideally the same piece of wood will go through the different phases of combustion at the same time. In the different phases, different compounds are released in the form of microscopic solids mixed with water vapor along with a variety of gases. At the point that flame is produced we get our greatest aromatic compounds released as well as the gas nitric oxide which is essential to the formation of a smoke ring, the chemical reaction between smoke and meat which causes a pink tint just below the surface (bark) of the meat.
A pale blue smoke coming from the smoker is thought to give the best flavor to low slow BBQ. Getting this pale blue smoke involves adjusting the air flow of the smoker as well as the temperature and is the trickiest part of the process.
To learn more about the SCBA, events and BBQ see scbarbeque.com.


text:
Uber, Lyft drivers fear getting booted from work
Carolyn Said Oct. 14, 2018 Updated: Oct. 14, 2018 12:39 p.m.
Eleisha Redmond poses for a portrait in front of her car onThursday, October 11, 2018 in San Francisco, Calif.
Photo: Jana Asenbrennerova / Special to The Chronicle
Josh Golden never found out why Lyft barred him from working as a driver for 10 days, but he thinks a passenger may have accused him of being drunk, even though he's a Mormon who never touches alcohol. Eleisha Redmond knew why Uber barred her — its Daly City driver support center said it was a technical glitch, affecting thousands of drivers— but that didn't make it any easier to be out of work for almost four weeks. Anthony Maloco eventually discovered why Uber kicked him off — it was updating his background check — but he never found out why that took almost seven weeks.
All were "deactivated" — Uber's and Lyft's parlance for fired. In the easy-come, easy-go gig world, workers can be deactivated with the click of a button or, more often, the soulless calculations of an algorithm. Because drivers aren't employees, they don't get unemployment coverage. Some say they don't know why they got the ax, and lack a clear path to plead their case. For people living paycheck to paycheck, losing days or weeks of work can be devastating.
Advocates say the issue underscores the precarious nature of gig work, in which the whims of passengers and the companies can dictate drivers' futures. Deactivations can come in response to a single passenger complaint, albeit one about serious issues such as unsafe driving or sexual advances. They can happen when the companies do annual or random background checks if some documents are missing. They can happen when drivers' star ratings are too low, or their cancellation rates are too high. (A single one-star rating, the lowest on the five-star system both ride-hailing companies use, would not cause a deactivation, however.)
Uber and Lyft say deactivations help them ensure safety. They said they investigate complaints and bar drivers permanently for violence, discrimination, foul language, illegal behavior and other egregious offenses. If the companies cannot substantiate complaints, they reinstate suspended drivers, they said.
Golden, Redmond and Maloco eventually got reinstated, but Redmond had fallen behind on payments for a rental car she used for ride-hailing and it was repossessed. Golden also had a rental car through a Lyft partnership, which he turned in partway through his deactivation. Maloco, 70, who depends heavily on Uber to supplement his Social Security, fell behind on his rent.
"They don't take into account that this is our livelihood," said Redmond, 43. Along with her taxi driver husband, she supports three kids in San Francisco. "They said they're sorry, but there should be some type of restitution."
Deactivation has long been a bane for drivers, who say they live in fear of getting the boot without due process. On Friday, a new driver group called Gig Workers Rising delivered a petition to Uber's San Francisco headquarters (it's addressed to Lyft as well) signed by more than 3,200 drivers. The petition requested a meeting to develop policies around deactivation, including a transparent appeals process, ways to guard against passenger bias and clearly defined rules for what triggers immediate deactivation.
The petition delivery turned violent when a security guard tackled driver Thom Hoffman outside Uber's Market Street headquarters, hurling him to the ground and knocking off his hat and glasses. Uber said the guard worked for a contractor and had been put on leave while it investigated.
"They've really got to have guidelines," Golden said. "Three days is a long time to go without working. If they could make a commitment that it won't take more than 48 hours to investigate, that would help."
"Workers want a voice," said Liam Kelly, a spokesman for Working Partnerships USA, a community labor alliance in San Jose that backs Gig Workers Rising. "Right now, it's a one-way system. They want more transparency, a way to know immediately what caused deactivation and legitimate appeals process. The burden of proof is on the accused, which doesn't seem very equitable."
But Uber and Lyft said they do have clear rules online and in their apps about forbidden behaviors. Both said they tell drivers why they were barred unless directed otherwise by law enforcement. Drivers can appeal by calling 24/7 support lines, emailing, sending in-app messages or visiting driver support centers in person. To preserve passenger privacy, the companies do not tell drivers who complained about them.
Both said they have teams devoted to investigating complaints and try to resolve situations as quickly as possible. Neither offers compensation to drivers for earnings missed during deactivation.
Gig economy faces shakeup after California high court ruling
Checkr adds ongoing screening for gig economy workers
The companies said immediate deactivations come only in response to the most serious complaints. For issues such as low star ratings or canceling too many rides, they give drivers numerous chances to improve before deactivating them, they said.
"The safety of the Lyft community is our top priority," said spokeswoman Lauren Alexander in an email. "When we receive reports involving allegations of safety issues or discrimination, we often deactivate accounts while we investigate. When appropriate, we work quickly to reactivate drivers and passengers and get them back on the road."
"We understand this can be frustrating, but decisions to block access to our app are made in accordance with our community guidelines and to maintain the safety of riders and drivers," an Uber spokesman said in an email.
But some drivers said the policies were too vague and noted that investigations can devolve into he-said, she-said disputes, in which the passenger's word may hold sway.
"I think they skim the surface," said Rebecca Stack-Martinez of San Francisco who drives for both services and has not been deactivated, but says she knows of 20 drivers who have. "They leave a lot of wiggle room on their end."
Maloco said he only found out he was deactivated when he couldn't log on to the app last November. He went to the Daly City support center and was told his annual background check was being updated and he should just wait. He kept going back and eventually insisted on speaking with a supervisor and explaining how devastating the loss of income was. She reinstated him.
"I think they should tell the driver before they deactivate you; give us a chance so we don't have to run and beg," he said.
Drivers have developed some informal mechanisms to protect themselves. Those who learn they were accused of being drunk can go immediately to the nearest police station and request a Breathalyzer test, for instance.
Deactivations are fairly common, said Harry Campbell, a Los Angeles driver who runs The Rideshare Guy blog and podcast and who has made a video about the issue.
"Passengers may report that the driver was drunk, the car smelled like marijuana," he said. "There are a number of reasons why a passenger may do this, but my guess is that there are way more false accusations than real ones. Passengers may be trying to get a free ride, they may be drunk themselves."
Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston attorney who filed class actions against both Lyft and Uber seeking employee status for drivers, said that deactivation was a top concern for her clients, who feared companies' "unilateral determinations that they did something wrong (with) little ability to defend themselves."
She negotiated a settlement with Uber to set up a deactivation appeals panel including Uber drivers, but the deal fell through because a judge said the monetary payout for drivers was too low. Her settlement with Lyft, which was implemented, "restricted Lyft's ability to terminate without cause but did not include an appeals panel," she said.
In Golden's case, he recalls giving a ride to an inebriated passenger the evening he was deactivated. He thinks the alcohol odor may have lingered in his car, leading the next rider to complain.
"People will say, 'You're drunk, I smelled alcohol' just to score a free ride," Redmond said. "If you get deactivated, you feel kind of used."
Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
Carolyn Said
Follow Carolyn on:
https://www.facebook.com/SFChronicle/Csaid
Carolyn Said covers the on-demand economy (new marketplaces such as Uber, TaskRabbit and Airbnb that let people rent their time, goods and services), the impacts of automation and AI on labor, and the world of autonomous vehicles. Previously she covered the housing market and foreclosure crisis, winning awards for stories that shed light on the human impact of sweeping economic trends. As a business reporter at The Chronicle since 1997, she also has covered the dot-com rise and fall, the California energy crisis, the corporate malfeasance scandals, and the fallout from economic downturns.
Man shot on Market Street in San Francisco


Dive into a new adventure with Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Play as Drake, the game's protagonist, and hunt for buried treasure throughout the game while fending off enemies and learning new combat skills.
Updated multiplayer features let you learn supernatural abilities and control Drake's sidekicks in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End for PlayStation 4.


Taking sneaker photos is trickier than you think, and we're always looking for tips on how to up our Instagram game. So when we met Ben Paras and saw his incredible work, we had to get his advice on taking a next level sneaker shot.
My name's Benjamin Paras and I'm currently living in London, working with the NHS assisting people in need under Mental Health.
The first pair of branded kicks that I remember owning was a pair of Reebok Shaq Attack IVs and a pair of Nike Air Way Ups in the mid 90s. This was when my love for sneakers began.
Fast forward 20 years later, and I've found a way to fuse all of my interests together, using collectable figures, gaming, art and photography all at once.
Your sneaker shots are crazy original. We're loving the Star Wars shots you've done for us! Where did the idea come from?
When I first got hold of a pair of Air Jordan Doernbecher 4s, I knew straight away that I wanted to create a shot that was different from the rest.
I came up with the concept of Superman x Doernbecher 4. I didn't expect much of it to be fair, it was just a bit of fun. But it got so much attention, getting recognised by big sneaker forums like SneakerheadUK and SneakerGameUK, as well as a lot of love on my Instagram.
Such an awesome idea must have some big inspiration behind it. Who do you follow on Instagram that inspires you?
@kickstagasm – One of the first profiles I came across that combined sneaker and pop culture figure photography.
@josephdalcour – Joseph has some really nice shots, mainly involving the sky and stars. Living in such a crowded city with a lot of pollution, you never get to see such things and how amazing the outside world looks.
@adcartattack – As a fan of art and Dragonball Z adcartattack has some really nice DBZ art and customs. He creates really unique pieces that I've never seen done before.
When I first saw the Air Max 95 Ultra Jacquard and Adidas Pro Model 'Xeno Pack', I knew straight away what I wanted to do from their colour schemes.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is just around the corner and I felt that my Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader figures would fit perfectly with these two trainers.
1. The most important part to the process would be the style and colourway of the trainer, which helps decide what figure to use.
2. Once those have been decided, camera and positioning is the next step. I use a Canon 600d with a 50mm 1.4 USM lens shooting in RAW mode.
The lens plays a vital part in this, as this particular one delivers a nice blurred background, forcing us to focus our attention to the subject of the image. In the photography world, they call this type of blurred background 'bokeh' (pronounced 'BOH-kay').
3. Since I do all the photography myself, I have to use a mini tripod and remote. In extreme weather conditions, such as heavy rain and wind, this can make things rather difficult. I try to avoid shooting in bad weather at all costs.
4. I then import all images into Adobe Lightroom to enhance the quality, and then finally use Photoshop to add Special FX if necessary.
5. Crop and upload to Instagram!
Sweet! Can't wait to try it out. Do you have any other big projects on the horizon?
I was contacted by one of the editors from Complex UK and featured on their site back in early August. I know make a regular series for them. I always challenge myself to make each concept better than the last.
Soon after, I was contacted by Crep Protect who also liked my concept and invited me to their HQ. After a few discussions and ideas, this lead me to do the Mario x Crep Protect concept. This was a little different from what I did previously and since then I've started to focus on more mainstream characters that people can identify with.
I was also given the opportunity to play the role of Marty McFly in the Back to the Future x Crep Protect video, which I was more than proud to be a part of.
You're clearly a big pop culture fan. What's your favourite film?
Back to the Future Part 2. Hands down.
We guess Star Wars goes without saying. If you had to choose one Episode, which is best?
Most Star Wars fans prefer the original trilogy, but I love updated visuals and sound. For me it would be Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The battle between Obi Wan and Anakin is epic and shows the transition of Anakin to Darth Vader.
You're definitely in to sneakers, but would you call yourself a sneaker head?
I have a personal collection of around 50 pairs that include Nike, Adidas, Puma, Converse and Vans. For me it's about quality over quantity, and I usually pass down pairs to someone who can get better use out of them.
Almost every day I wear a pair of Air Jordan III Black Cement (which some would call 'grails'), but it doesn't bother me if they get all wet and dirty.
When it comes to hype, I'll be honest and say that I am drawn in a little, but I will only buy something that I would actually wear. I don't like to wear something if loads of other people have it, but that can't really be helped these days.
So am I Sneakerhead? Yeah, probably.
What's the next big drop you've got your eye on?
The Air Jordan IV - White Cement (2016).
So what's next for you? Anything in mind?
I've actually been looking into doing some stop motion videos with figures, buts it's a very time consuming process.
For now I'll just keep going as I am. If my fanbase has any particular requests, hit me up and I'll look into it!
Amazing to catch up, man. Thanks for the tips! What are your social deets so people can keep up with you?
If you're feeling the kicks Ben used in his shoot, you can buy the Nike Air Max 95 Ultra and adidas Pro Model Xeno over on the Footasylum website!


text:
IRAN OFFICIAL SAYS TEHRAN TO DROP PRISONER SWAP PLANS WITH U.S. - REPORT
Aslıhan DOĞRU -TDO- A senior Iranian official said in a statement that they would withdraw from the ongoing process of exchanging detainees with the United States due to "ongoing violations by the Washington administration."
The senior official, who has not been named, told "Nournews" of Iran's Supreme Council of National Security that ongoing talks with the United States on prisoner exchanges are underway.
Tehran is working with the Washington administration to exchange prisoners on humanitarian grounds, but the U.S. position has hampered the process, the official said.
"Due to the ongoing violations and outrageous attitude of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, Iran's motivation to continue this process has disappeared. Therefore, the issue of prisoner swaps will be completely removed from Iran's agenda," he said.


This could be the one you've been searching for! 2 Bedroom/2 Bath OPEN Biscayne Floor plan with small Birdcage, 2 car Garage, and Rocking Chair Front Porch! This home needs you and a little TLC! It's located in the Desirable 55+ Active Adult GOLF Community of STONECREST! Just minutes away from shopping, restaurants and the town squares of THE VILLAGES, FLORIDA! Stonecrest has 4 pools (2 are heated), Spa, Pickleball, Bocce ball, Softball Field, Fitness center, Community center, and clubs galore! What are you waiting for... your retirement home is within reach at an affordable price!


Original illustration for officially licensed t-shirts for CBS's "The Big Bang Theory." Created in conjunction with the "The Physics of Friendship: A Tribute to The Big Bang Theory" exhibition at Gallery Nucleus. Utilizing the "Soft Kitty" character along with some aspects in regards to String Theory; the eleven balls of string also represent an aspect of the M-theory of String Theory, where there are 11 dimensions of spacetime made up by four common dimensions (3 spatial dimensions + time) as well as seven theoretical higher dimensions that are not yet detectable. Also, cats like to play with string.