Almost literally before the ink dried on legislation that bans so-called "large capacity" ammunition magazines and possession of so-called "assault rifles" from the City of Pittsburgh by Mayor Bill Peduto, local residents with support from the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit challenging the bans in the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas.
The case is known as Anderson v. City of Pittsburgh.
The bans were in reaction to last year's attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue, where 11 people were killed and seven others were injured. The attack occurred last Oct. 27, and the suspect, Robert G. Bowers, has been charged with dozens of crimes, both state and federal.
It is the latest development in what seems like a long-running battle over gun rights versus gun control in the United States. High-profile mass shootings, while rare, stir emotions and invariably result in pushes for more gun control. Currently in California, there is a stay in a federal case challenging that state's ban on "large capacity" magazines after U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez in San Diego declared the ban unconstitutional. The state will appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Under the new regulations, magazine capacity is limited to ten rounds, even though handguns used commonly by private citizens and police typically carry more ammunition, depending upon the caliber.
Critics of such local ordinances, and even statewide laws that recognize so-called "gun free zones," contend that none of those restrictions has ever prevented a mass shooting.
Indeed, most mass shootings occur in "gun free zones" such as schools or businesses that post their premises off-limits to even licensed concealed carry. The argument is that these laws only disarm law-abiding citizens, making them defenseless victims against armed madmen or terrorists.
Of the 11 people killed in the October attack, the youngest was 54 and the oldest was 97. Many people considered it an act of domestic terrorism.
A third measure is aimed at temporarily disarming people who are considered "extreme risk" threats to themselves or others. Such laws are generically dubbed "red flag" or "Extreme Risk Protection Orders" (ERPO) and they have been at the center of a heating controversy. Recently, the Second Amendment Foundation issued a stern warning that such measures must provide for due process.
If you haven't checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so. You can also follow us on Twitter at @co_firing_line and be sure to check out our MeWe page here and our new PatrioticSpace group here.
Previous articleWhy is our military involved in Yemen?


text:
Episode #23: Microbiome Medicine with Kiran Krishnan
In this episode, you will learn about probiotics and the microbiome and how we can support it to optimize health.
My guest for this episode is Kiran Krishnan. Kiran Krishnan is a Research Microbiologist and has been involved in the dietary supplement and nutrition market for the past 16 years. He comes from a strict research background having spent several years with hands-on R&D in the fields of molecular medicine and microbiology at the University of Iowa. He earned his Bachelor of Science degrees in Microbiology at the University of Iowa; his undergraduate education was followed up with post graduate research in Molecular Biology and Virology. He left University research to take a position as the U.S. Business Development and Product Development lead for Amano Enzyme, USA. Amano is one of the world's largest suppliers of therapeutic enzymes used in the dietary supplement and pharmaceutical industries in North America. Kiran also established a Clinical Research Organization where he designed and conducted over a dozen human clinical trials in human nutrition. Kiran is a co-founder and partner in Nu Science Trading, LLC.; a nutritional technology development, research and marketing company in the U.S. Dietary Supplement and Medical Food markets. Most recently, Kiran is acting as the Chief Scientific Officer at Physician's Exclusive, LLC. and Microbiome Labs. He is a frequent lecturer on the Human Microbiome at Medical and Nutrition Conferences. He conducts the popular monthly Microbiome Series Webinars through the Rebel Health Tribe Group practitioner training program. Kiran has been invited as an expert guest on National Radio and Satellite radio and has been a guest speaker in several Health Summits as a microbiome expert. He is currently involved in three novel human clinical trials on probiotics and the human microbiome. Kiran offers his extensive knowledge and practical application of the latest science on the human microbiome as it relates to health and wellness. He is the creator of Thrive Probiotic, PeakBiotics, and MegaSpore Biotic.
What is the microbiome and why is it important?
Are there really more of "them" than "us"?
What happens to our flora when we take antibiotics?
Where do probiotics come from?
Can probitoics help or harm in those with SIBO?
Are spore-based probiotics an option for those with PANDAS/PANS?
Do antimicrobial herbs negatively impact beneficial flora?
Can prebiotics help? Which ones?
How does diet impact microbiome diversity?
What about the brain, sinus, skin, and vaginal microbiomes?
What can sprores do in support of our health?
http://www.gomegaspore.com
http://www.thriveprobiotic.com
Learn More and Order MegaSporeBiotic and Just Thrive Probiotic: http://betterhealthguy.link/MegaSpore
BetterHealthGuy.com is an affiliate of Microbiome Labs.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Apple reveals new $299 iPad at education-themed event
Published Tue, Mar 27 201811:21 AM EDT Updated Tue, Mar 27 20184:11 PM EDT
Anita Balakrishnan@MsABalakrishnan
Paayal Zaveri@paayalzaveri
Apple hosted a Tuesday event at Chicago's Lane Tech College Prep High School.
A new affordable iPad model that supports Apple Pencil and is compatible with all-new versions of Apple's word processing, spreadsheet and presentation apps will be offered to schools for $299 ($329 for consumers).
Apple is also rolling out a new software development platform, ClassKit, aimed at education, as well as free iCloud storage and Apple Pencil discounts.
Apple released a new affordable iPad model on Tuesday that supports Apple Pencil and is compatible with all-new versions of Apple's word processing, spreadsheet and presentation apps.
The new iPad will be offered to schools for $299 and is available to order today. It will start shipping and arriving in stores this week. Consumers can buy it for $329.
It's all part of a new suite of products that Apple is offering the education market.
The new device will bring some of Apple's high-end specs, like Retina display, Pencil support and A10 Fusion chips, to a lower-end device. It will also take the iPad back to its roots with new digital book creation features: Co-founder Steve Jobs worked both inside and outside of Apple to bring computers to college campuses, and digital textbooks was one of the original use cases that inspired the creation of the iPad, according to biographer Walter Isaacson.
Apple's Greg Joswiak speaks at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois on March 27, 2018.
Jim Young | AFP | Getty Images
Apple hosted the Tuesday launch event at Chicago's Lane Tech College Prep High School. At the event, CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company's investments in community colleges, as well as expanded classes at Apple's retail locations through the "Today at Apple" program announced last year. Apple has 200,000 apps made for education, according to Apple vice president of product marketing Greg Joswiak, who discussed the iPad.
New apps are taking advantage of Apple's augmented reality development kit, executives said.
Boulevard AR's app allows students to virtually walk through a museum and see artwork, while a WWF app allows students to interact with wildlife. Froggipedia allows students to dissect a virtual frog with their Apple Pencil.
In addition to more education-related content in Apple's augmented reality developer program, Apple is also rolling out a new software development platform, ClassKit, aimed at education.
Apple's Classroom app is also expanding to Mac, executives said. A new free app, Schoolwork, will make it easier for teachers to assign handouts and track students' progress.
Apple also announced that iCloud storage will be free up to 200 GB for the education market, and education users will get the Apple Pencil at a $10 discount.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois on March 27, 2018.
Apple's "Everybody Can Code" program, focused on mobile apps, recently expanded to 70 more colleges, and iPad devices host Swift Playgrounds, a code education platform. Apple said it plans to expand that curriculum on Tuesday to support broader creative activities.
But while Apple products still get prominent placement in university bookstores, Google's low-cost Chromebooks have surged to over half of all computing devices shipped to schools. Apple didn't unveil any new Mac devices during Tuesday's keynote, despite some rumors that a lower-priced MacBook might be on the way.
Apple said in January it would fund 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai's women's education advocacy. Yousafzai was shot in the head, neck and shoulder as a teen after publicly defending women's education under Taliban rule.
On Tuesday, Cook also addressed recent U.S. gun control rallies at schools across the country and in the nation's capital, saying Apple has "always believed that people with passion can change the world."
Apple also didn't stray from the controversy surrounding rival technology companies over privacy, noting that "it's important to us that you understand this data stays private." Apple has emphasized parental control options after criticism that children were developing addictions to its tech products.
— Writing by Anita Balakrishnan, reporting by Paayal Zaveri
WATCH: Apple's Tim Cook on FB data scandal
Apple's CEO speaks out over Facebook data scandal
Math and science education


text:
Next Article in Government
GOVERNMENT IT REPORT
US House Opens Up to Open Source
By John K. Higgins
July 31, 2015 12:07 PM PT
Providers of open source software recently found another market: the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. That market easily will grow to many thousands of potential open source users when the staffs of each representative, as well as the staffs of various House committees, are added to the total.
Three advocacy organizations — the Sunlight Foundation, the Congressional Data Coalition, and the OpenGov Foundation — last month jointly announced that certain procurement restrictions that had constrained the use of open source technology in the House had been clarified.
As a result, members, committees, and staff now can use official resources to procure open source software, to participate in open source software communities, and to contribute software code developed with taxpayer dollars to the public, under an open source license.
House members and staff now have a choice. They can opt for proprietary and closed technology, or choose open source solutions that are restriction-free, reusable, and frequently more cost-effective, the groups said.
"Open source software presents many exciting opportunities for members of Congress to more effectively represent and interact with their constituents," said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo.
"By taking advantage of the newest technology and collaborating with the open source community, we can improve everything from the accessibility of congressional websites to the efficiency of business on the House floor," he told the E-Commerce Times.
Polis is one of a handful of representatives who supported the move for House adoption of the technology.
Key Committees in the Mix
The concentrated effort behind the House open source adoption initiative began last fall, when the advocacy groups petitioned the House to adopt rule changes that would permit the use and publication of open source software.
Late last year it gained more support from various House members. The House Ethics Committee became involved to address concerns about restrictions on the appropriate use of "free" resources by House members. In addition, it sought the House Administration Committee's participation to provide guidance on actual procurement issues.
Advocates for adoption earlier this year presented a concrete example of the use of the open source tool WordPress to support Start-Up Day Across America, an annual event designed to connect members of Congress with emerging businesses in their districts.
After discussions and dialog among congressional offices and open source advocacy groups, both the Ethics and Administration Committees provided the necessary clearance for House adoption of the technology.
"We now have clear guidance on the use of open source software in the House of Representatives," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
"For over a decade, individual coders and businesses around the country have been working with open source software because of cost savings, productivity gains, and the ability to modify the code to meet specialized needs. It's past time that taxpayers see the same benefits," said Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas.
Tools for Legislation and Constituents
Practical uses of open source are many, with a wide range of applications available.
"A number of open source tools exist that will help members of Congress and their staffs make policy and conduct oversight effectively, while saving money and time," noted Matt Rumsey, policy associate at the Sunlight Foundation.
"For example, the Sunlight Foundation's Scout tool provides a free and robust alert system, allowing anyone to keep up with legislative changes, new regulations, relevant court decisions, agency inspector general reports, and more," he told the E-Commerce Times.
"The legislative process is still largely an opaque, confusing and paper-based one, despite recent advances in the U.S. House on open legislative data," observed Seamus Kraft, executive director of the OpenGov Foundation.
"Important amendments are often drafted by hand, bills are introduced by dropping a physical copy in a box in the Capitol, and even if you do find the hearing or bill you want online, you have virtually zero ability to contribute or participate," he told the E-Commerce Times.
"Interactive, open source lawmaking and public hearing software, like our Madison platform and the Hypothes.is Project, are built to take policymaking into the Internet age," Kraft said.
An open source application might be a good choice for a government function that is akin to commercial customer relationship management, or CRM, he suggested.
"Constituent management systems are woefully behind in government. Ask anyone below a chief of staff or communication director level and you will hear one message: 'There has got to be something better that we can use to correspond with our constituents,'" Kraft continued.
"In fact, there are a number of open source options that — with not too much tweaking — would help improve this most inefficient but crucial aspect of congressional operations," he said.
"Recently, we've begun to think about a new project to create an open source solution for constituent communications that anyone could add on to," Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., last month told the Personal Democracy Forum.
"I would love to see a system that is open source, with real-time analytics, with social media and text messaging integrated in from the beginning — and it's our hope that we'll be able to respond with quick personal responses and better casework tracking," she said.
House Connects with a Broad Community
"Adoption of open source software by the House of Representatives will be a force multiplier for the taxpayer dollar, allowing IT systems to be built once and more easily shared between members' offices," said Ben Balter, government evangelist at open source repository Github.
"In doing so, the House joins the hundreds of government organizations around the world that participate in the open source community each day to deliver services more efficiently, more transparently, and in collaboration with the citizens they represent," he added.
"We've known for many years that the open-source approach can be a powerful engine for technological advance, economic growth, and the creation of new, powerful initiatives ranging from the Open Knowledge Foundation and Creative Commons to Linux and Wikipedia," said Mike Godwin, director of innovation policy at the R Street Institute.
Supporters of open source technology in the House are taking steps to continue the momentum generated by the adoption initiative. Within the next month or so, Reps. Farenthold and Polis plan to launch a House Open Source Caucus.
"The Congressional Open Source Technology Caucus will serve as an informal group of members dedicated to fostering understanding of the pivotal role open source technology plays in private sector innovation," said Rep. Farenthold.
Further, it will encourage "discussion of how open source technology can be used to improve the transparency and efficiency of government offices," he told the E-Commerce Times.
The U.S. Senate has yet to adopt its own open source utilization policy.
John K. Higgins is a career business writer, with broad experience for a major publisher in a wide range of topics including energy, finance, environment and government policy. In his current freelance role, he reports mainly on government information technology issues for ECT News Network.
More by John K. Higgins
Commerce Dept. Caves on Security Export Rules
Russia Aims to Build US-Free Mobile OS
US Cybersecurity Plan Welcomed, but Software Tracking Troubles IT Sector
Congress Backs Billions for Tech R&D Though Enactment Uncertain
Administration Takes Aggressive Approach to Stimulate Tech Investments
SCOTUS Tilts Toward Software Access in Ruling for Google
Big Tech Urges SCOTUS to Ease Risk of Consumer Class Actions
AI Contract Spending Set to Grow in Federal Market
New Administration Seeks $10B Boost for Federal IT Programs
FTC's Zoom Deal Signals Commitment to Security Enforcement
Federal Spurt in Cloud Spending Will Extend Well Into the Future
More in Government
Report Argues Antitrust Bill Would Hurt Consumers, Stymie Innovation
The Rise of Digital Ad Taxes Could Impact Online Marketplaces
Think Tank Calls for Policymakers To Grow AI, Not Choke It
US, NATO Accuse China of Massive Microsoft Hack
SEC Reportedly Probing SolarWinds Breach
FTC Reports Huge Jump in Cryptocurrency Scams
Outdated Windows Users Flout Computing Safety


text:
import { NEW_SESSION, LOAD_SESSION } from './actions';

export const reducersToExport = [];

/**
 * Higher order reducer that automatically handles the actions NEW_SESSION
 * and LOAD_SESSION for the reducers that extend it.
 * The action NEW_SESSION will lead each extended reducer to return to its
 *  original state.
 * The action LOAD_SESSION will lead to replace the current state of the reducer
 *  with the passed one.
 * N.B. As saving and loading session relies on the name of the property in the
 *  state, it's fundamental for each extended exported reducer to have the same
 *  name of the corresponding property in the state. For instance, don't call
 *  this function on a reducer obtained with combineReducers as that function
 *  will override the name of the exported reducer.
 */

export default (reducer) => {
  /* N.B. as we are using reducer.name, it's fundamental for the exported reducer to
  have the same name of the corresponding property in the state */
  reducersToExport.push(reducer.name);

  // the actual enriched reducer
  return (state, action) => {
    switch (action.type) {
      case NEW_SESSION: {
        // this will lead the reducer to reset to its initial state
        return reducer(undefined, {});
      }
      case LOAD_SESSION: {
        const loadedState = action[reducer.name];
        const resetAction = {};
        /* as resetAction.type is undefined, each reducer will just reach default case
          and return its first parameter (in this case loadedState).
          This way each reducer will replace its state with loadedState */
        return reducer(loadedState, resetAction);
      }
      default:
        // the normal call to the reducer
        return reducer(state, action);
    }
  };
};

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The source also tells ET that although Tuesday's court filing was filed by attorney Samantha Bley DeJean, high-powered attorney Laura Wasser is still working on Jolie's case, and that DeJean and Wasser are working together.
"[Pitt] has a statutory duty to pay child support".
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend a special screening of "By The Sea" on November 3, 2015, in NY.
"Given the informal arrangements around the payment of the children's expenses have not been regularly sustained by Pitt for over a year and a half, Jolie intends to file an RFO [request for a court order] for the establishment of a retroactive child support order".
Angelina and Brad split in September 2016 after two years of marriage. In June, however, the court ordered Jolie to help fix Pitt's relationships with his children, as "not having a relationship with their father is harmful to them".
Jolie was granted physical custody of all six children in a December 2016 custody agreement, but last month, she was ordered by a judge to help fix the children's relationship with their father.
The arrangement for child support was allegedly informal, per the TMZ report, but Jolie claims that Pitt has not even lived up to those informal expectations.
But a source claims to ET that Jolie's latest move is in retaliation over the actress being ordered by a judge in June to help fix her children's relationship with Pitt.
In the filing, Jolie's lawyers requested to appear before a judge to schedule a status conference to address the financial issue.


text:
Make in India filter debuts on govt e-commerce site as demand to ban Chinese goods grows
Make in India is not just a slogan anymore, it has become an e-commerce site filter. In a significant move, the government has introduced special filters on government procurement portal Government e-Marketplace (GeM) that would inform the buyer what's made in India, what is not, as well as the percentage of local content in each listed product. The filter may soon be introduced on private e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart as well.
The GeM has issued orders that it is now mandatory for all sellers to mention the 'Country of Origin' while registering new products. In the case of products that have already been uploaded, relevant sellers have been asked to update the country of origin entry. If they fail to do so, they would be evicted from the crucial government procurement portal.
This is not all. Buyers can pick products that fit the minimum 50 per cent local content criteria.
Registered sellers, with products that have over 50 per cent local content, will be categorised as Class I Local suppliers. Sellers, marketing products with 20-50 per cent local content, will be listed as Class II Local suppliers.
The department and government entities, who place the bids below Rs 200 crore value on the GeM, would be empowered to give preferential treatment to Class I suppliers. And these bids may be open only for the two categories of suppliers.
The stated purpose of the move by the government is to promote PM Modi's pet Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. But the Make in India filter will also help buyers make a learned choice.
With the public sentiment clearly against China due to the border standoff, the filter may create a psychological deterrent against the purchase of Chinese goods and motivate buyers to pick made in India products
The GeM portal was launched four years ago for the purchase of products and services ranging from office stationery to official vehicles online by all the central and state departments and ministries, central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and central paramilitary forces (CPMFs).
The GeM was launched as a single window to an entire range of products and sellers competing to improve cost-effectiveness, efficiency and transparent procurement. The government said that the platform, during the last three months, has helped state governments, departments and public enterprises to procure a lot of products needed to battle Covid-19.
The GeM had also opened the government procurement process for the smaller local players.
Make in India filter on Amazon, Flipkart
A top source in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that the Make in India filter on the GeM site is just step one. Soon, e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart, which have 70 per cent of their listed items originating from China, may also be asked to create such filters, the ministry source said. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is likely to meet representatives of the e-comm sites soon to discuss this.
For the last two years, there has been a strong demand that products on e-commerce platforms should display the Made in India label. But now the government is under intense pressure. Following the martyrdom of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan sector organisations like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an RSS affiliate, has been demanding decisive moves against Chinese goods.
Speaking to India Today TV on Tuesday, convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch Ashwini Mahajan said, "The Swadeshi Jagran Manch welcomes the decision by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Under Rule 153(3) of General Financial Rules of Government of India, framed in 2017, the government departments were mandated to purchase only Make in India products. Since sellers weren't mentioning the country of origin, rules were not being followed."
Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from
An Insurance coverage Company For Your Car And More
What Is WEBSITE POSITIONING And How It Works? Here's The Reply
Governance, City House, And International Modernity
The ten Laws Of Vacuums And How Learn More
Categories Select Category Business News
Bank business china concepts coronavirus Covid19 crore cut demand diesel economic economy enterprise financial global govt higher ideas india indian Indias information investors lockdown markets nifty oil package pandemic Petrol points price prices RBI relief report rise sensex shares small stimulus stocks trade virus world
extraordinaryinfo.com


so i can save my game anywhere now, i don't have to make it to the checkpoin?
Since I don't follow forums and I can't read about problems unless I Google around, it would be best to head over to my blog and find my contact details.
TalonKarde: I guess you got your answer by now. Should you still be looking, then no, it just allows you to modify your game-saves (already saved/reached checkpoint).
TurianSpectre: Thank you! DISE didn't corrupt your game-save. This happens when you are for some reason not able to sync with Steam. Steam could have had connectivity problems. This has never happened during my tests, but DISE would be stuck there until you cancel it. You can simply try to sync again (maybe after restarting Steam). If it doesn't work, I suggest sending me an e-mail.
Ok I think I will try, How would I back up my saves in case it doesnt work? I'm afraid to lose all my data again. And do I even have to sync to steam? Thanks for your reply.
DISE can find your game-saves automatically if you use Steam. You have the option to open the folder, and you can create your own backups from there.
You usually have to sync because of how the remote storage caching works, or else the game will say that your game-save is corrupted. If this happens, just do a manual sync with DISE and it should be okay.
Also, you should know that after Steam updated its internals recently, syncing doesn't work in DISE. A new version will be out very soon, to take care of that problem.
I tried to turn off my firewall software when I am editing. Has worked without problems for 3 different saves now. The "preparing" window still doesn't go away so I just wait five minutes every time just to be sure its done. Keep up your great work.
If you haven't tried the latest version, please try it now.
its better now. thank you!


text:
Jeffrey Kyle Sheppard (born September 29, 1974) is a retired American professional and collegiate basketball player.

Born in Marietta, Georgia, Sheppard was Player of the Year in Georgia in 1993 at McIntosh High School in Peachtree City.

The 6' 3" (1.90 m) University of Kentucky guard (1993–1998), was named Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA tournament in San Antonio in 1998.  He played on two national championship teams at the University of Kentucky under Rick Pitino in 1996 and under Tubby Smith in 1998.

The success of his college basketball career did not carry over to the professional level.  He played briefly in the National Basketball Association with the Atlanta Hawks during the 1998-99 season, averaging 2.2 points and 1.2 rebounds in 18 games. He has since played professionally in Italy with Benetton Treviso (1999-00) (won the Italian Cup), Cordivari Roseto (2000–01) and Würth Roma (2001). He played in the preseason games (but not in any regular season games) for the Toronto Raptors in 2000. He cited the September 11 terrorist attacks as being a factor in his decision to retire from basketball.

Sheppard and his wife, Stacey, née Reed, (herself a former Kentucky basketball player), now live with their two children in London, Kentucky. They are involved with various community activities. Sheppard is also vice president for business development with Wazoo Sports, a regional television sports network concentrating on sports in Kentucky. In 2010, he was involved with a project to restore video and audio of Kentucky's 1958 national championship team.

He is the father of current Kentucky basketball commit, Reed Sheppard.

References

External links
About Jeff Sheppard @ mpcpromotions.com
University of Kentucky stats @ ibiblio.org
NBA stats @ NBA.com

1974 births
Living people
American expatriate basketball people in Italy
American men's basketball players
Atlanta Hawks players
Basketball players from Atlanta
Basketball players from Marietta, Georgia
Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players
Pallacanestro Treviso players
Pallacanestro Virtus Roma players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
People from London, Kentucky
People from Peachtree City, Georgia
Point guards
Roseto Sharks players
Undrafted National Basketball Association players

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


On 27th June 2018 an announcement was released by China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) restricting the ports that will allow imports of solid waste.
From 1 January 2019, only 18 ports will be allowed to handle solid waste imports, involving 16 Customs directly under GAC. These ports include Tianjin Port-Xingang, Shanghai Port-Waigaoqiao, Shanghai Port-Yangshan and Ningbo Port-Beilun.


text:
The Vinyl Countdown
About the banner image
On Song
March 9, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Dave Dobbyn: Harmony House
Here is the new Dave Dobbyn album – his first in eight years. Yes! If you've been waiting, you've been waiting too long…
Beginning with Waiting For A Voice, its title perhaps giving us a clue behind the delay between records, we're in a different world, particularly as album openers and/or lead singles like Language and Waiting and Welcome Home have become archetypes. We're into something quite apocalyptic, suddenly The Islander's Hallelujah Song feels like the calm before this storm.
But it's also a familiar world that Dave Dobbyn brings us to – that voice for a start. We might have had to wait for it, but it's most certainly still there. That and the fact that we can, instantly, make comparisons between the new songs and the old, not for whether they sound alike, but how they usher each other in, talk to one another, acknowledge each other, first a wave across the room before settling down to properly catch up, Dobbyn's records may go off into the world on their own but we spot the same chin or nose when they are lined up to photograph for the family reunion.
The producers of this new record are Sam Scott and Luke Buda of The Phoenix Foundation. The new collaborators welcomed into the family. A super-group of sorts has put this together, Dobbyn's regular rhythm section merging with various Phoenix members. You Get So Lonely features those distinctive backing vocals giving this its, er, Foundation.
A record of two halves, Harmony House at first most closely resembles Available Light in the Dobbyn canon. It has obvious pop instincts and plenty of pep to its step, but there's introspection in the lyrics. There's also plenty of great love songs, the Dobbyn staple. He even, as he has so often done (Language, Loyal) hides them inside anthems. First single, Tell The World, is his latest big ole love song that rides on an instantly familiar-sounding chorus.
One Summer Storm (yet another song about the weather) might have found a home on Twist – or certainly The Islander and Ball of Light returns us to the wonderful world of the Dobbyn falsetto.
These, like Lament For The Numb's offerings, are short, sharp songs. And at first I longed for a similar sound and feel and mood as that album – and though this is a more hopeful record, lyrically, thematically, there is – eventually – some of Numb's mood, or at least its strength-through-vulnerability in the second half of the record.
But first Angelina – the second single, resplendent, its opening set-up shining out like a Pixies song, the rise and swell telling us that we have another anthem-in-waiting, another song that might have lived (in another life) on The Islander or Available Light.
Side two – and the album will be released on vinyl next month – sees a change of mood, Singing Through The Storm, is the first nod to Lament's glumness, but it's also the older head of Hopetown, a reminder too that until we get an actual bonafide "country" album from Dobbyn there are clues all across his catalogue, hints along the path, it could never arrive as any sort of shock – it's always been there.
Submarine Blue makes spectacular use, once again of those Phoenix Foundation backing vocals-as-texture, before Burning Love shows us, in just 2.48 minutes why, songwriting-wise, it can take eight years to build a new album.
As seems to be the case all across Harmony House, this is both a brand new Dobbyn and the one we've always heard. Burning Love is as much as anything an update of You Oughta Be In Love. Where that had to be served with a goofiness, the sort of send-up befitting the cartoon movie it was written for, Burning Love feels like that song's narrator some 30 years on, updating the sentiment after sitting down at the tealights to sup on a favourite, late-period Randy Newman album. It is his most direct, profound and exquisite love letter, which is saying something in a career that has been built around making the personal universal (Beside You, Guilty, Loyal…even Slice of Heaven).
Too Far Gone reminds of the Neil Young that sits down at the tack-piano be it on Freedom or Sleeps With Angels, the Neil Young that actually pours his heart out, rather than just simply telling you its gold.
And then, less than 40 minutes later we arrive at the end – which feels most wonderfully like a new beginning. Harmony House's title track feels like a Phoenix Foundation song the band forgot to include on any of their recent albums or EPs. It feels, too, like something Liam Finn – or Neil Finn for that matter – might like to make. But you hear Dobbyn there of course. And you hear a Dave Dobbyn that's inching forward always, even when looking back. You hear a Dave Dobbyn that recently worked with Don McGlashan, for Harmony House almost takes some of its mood and mystique from Envy of Angels' closing, title track. Well, the line can be drawn.
If, lyrically, Harmony House concerns itself with hope, then musically that's the case too. But in a different way. There's hope here that all the old tricks, built up across a lifetime of playing, can evolve so seamlessly as to suddenly feel like brand new tricks. That's how Harmony House has stacked up for me. Its foundation (that pun again, sorry, unavoidable here, I promise) so solid, so crucial. It is a deceptive album – anyone that would want to feel ripped off at first for waiting eight years for just 40 minutes of material and only a couple of "anthem" feels, only a couple of logical singles, is missing the point. This contains as much heart and soul as any Dave Dobbyn album ever has. And somehow it feels like a whole lot more than that too. As if a weight of a world had to be discovered first before it could be lifted. And that's been worth the wait. This here is the measurement. This here is the gold.
For more about the new Dave Dobbyn album, including some snippets of songs and a conversation that goes on to cover his entire career check out the recent episode of Sweetman Podcast – my coversation with Dave Dobbyn.
Posted in Blog, Reviews and tagged with Album Review, Available Light, Dave Dobbyn, Don McGlashan, Envy of Angels, Episode 16, Freedom, Harmony House, Hopetown, Lament for the Numb, Liam Finn, Loyal, Luke Buda, Mutton Birds, Neil Finn, Neil Young, Randy Newman, Sam Scott, Sleeps With Angels, Sweetman Podcast, The Islander, The Phoenix Foundation, Twist, Vinyl. RSS 2.0 feed.
« R.I.P. Sir George Martin
NZ Festival Writers Week: Miranda July – Lost Child! »
4 Responses to Dave Dobbyn: Harmony House
Pingback: The Vinyl Countdown # 590
Pingback: Dave Dobbyn – A Slice of Heaven: 40 Years of Hits Tour (April, 2017)
Pingback: Record Store Day 2016: Southbound Records
Pingback: Record Store Day 2016: Slow Boat Records
1917: Film
The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac's Most Undervalued Member
Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
David Bowie's Most Underrated Album: 1. Outside
The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
Sweetman Podcast # 203: Dave Armstrong
Poem: When I Met Ian Gillan
Dolly Parton - Here I Am: Film
The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
Playlist: A 40th Birthday DJ Set
Archives Select Month January 2020 (32) December 2019 (83) November 2019 (108) October 2019 (81) September 2019 (90) August 2019 (86) July 2019 (63) June 2019 (61) May 2019 (76) April 2019 (61) March 2019 (63) February 2019 (47) January 2019 (44) December 2018 (50) November 2018 (44) October 2018 (39) September 2018 (50) August 2018 (52) July 2018 (39) June 2018 (62) May 2018 (61) April 2018 (74) March 2018 (101) February 2018 (83) January 2018 (73) December 2017 (57) November 2017 (70) October 2017 (77) September 2017 (75) August 2017 (94) July 2017 (71) June 2017 (77) May 2017 (88) April 2017 (73) March 2017 (112) February 2017 (75) January 2017 (66) December 2016 (58) November 2016 (110) October 2016 (119) September 2016 (76) August 2016 (90) July 2016 (80) June 2016 (75) May 2016 (88) April 2016 (97) March 2016 (126) February 2016 (63) January 2016 (82) December 2015 (63) November 2015 (79) October 2015 (104) September 2015 (68) August 2015 (100) July 2015 (108) June 2015 (105) May 2015 (99) April 2015 (59) March 2015 (109) February 2015 (101) January 2015 (84) December 2014 (111) November 2014 (125) October 2014 (144) September 2014 (159) August 2014 (143) July 2014 (150) June 2014 (159) May 2014 (162) April 2014 (96) March 2014 (131) February 2014 (117) January 2014 (144) December 2013 (112) November 2013 (105) October 2013 (125) September 2013 (126) August 2013 (121) July 2013 (153) June 2013 (87) May 2013 (77) April 2013 (89) March 2013 (76) February 2013 (68) January 2013 (52) December 2012 (61) November 2012 (118) October 2012 (7) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) May 2012 (5) April 2012 (40) March 2012 (48) February 2012 (44) January 2012 (48) December 2011 (43) November 2011 (47) October 2011 (47) September 2011 (45) August 2011 (34) July 2011 (40) June 2011 (34) May 2011 (19) February 2011 (1) October 2010 (2)
Album Review Art Auckland Book Book Review Compilation DJ DJ Set DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Jon Mcleary Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spines Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Ghost of Electricity The Spines The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl War Stories Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]
Scene Of The Day
Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.
Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.
It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.
All content © 2020 by Off The Tracks.	WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press


Multi-group series inversion is the advantage of centralized inversion and group-string inversion, which avoids its disadvantage and can be used in thousands of watt PV power station. In multiple series inverters, there are different individual power peak tracking and DC to DC converters, which are converted into alternating current through an ordinary DC to AC inverter, connected to the grid. Different ratings of PV group (e.g., different rated power, number of components per group, different manufacturers of components, etc.), different sizes or different technologies of PV modules, different directions of the group (such as: East, South and west), different dip or shade, can be connected to a common inverter, and each set of strings work at their respective maximum peak power. At the same time, the length of the DC cable is reduced, the shading effect of the group Ging and the loss caused by the Ging of the group are minimized.


text:
<title>
Fixing Wal-Mart's image
</title>

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<?php include "../../legacy-includes/Script.htmlf" ?>

<?php include "../../legacy-includes/TopLogo.htmlf" ?>

<?php include "../../legacy-includes/TopAd.htmlf" ?>

<?php include "../../legacy-includes/LeftButtons.htmlf" ?>

<?php include "../../legacy-includes/BodyInsert.htmlf" ?>

VIEWS AND VOICES

What the retailer did and didn't do after Katrina

Fixing Wal-Mart's image

October 28, 2005 | Page 4

RECENTLY, ABC's World News Tonight examined Wal-Mart's role in disaster relief in the Gulf states in a special segment called "What Can Wal-Mart Teach FEMA About Disaster Response?" Even by the low standards of corporate journalism today, ABC's story was so superficial and laudatory it must have come straight from the p.r. department of Wal-Mart.

Here's just one excerpt from "A Closer Look" reproduced on the ABC News Web site: "With Wal-Mart's smooth response to Katrina and Rita, some are beginning to ask why government agencies can't perform as well as a discount retailer. Companies like Home Depot, Lowe's Home Improvement and the Waffle House restaurant chain have all been noted for their rapid ability to provide relief in disaster."

Now aside from the obvious questions like "Do you want a Waffle House in charge of saving people's lives" or "Couldn't anybody have jumped over the low bar set by the buffoonish ex-FEMA Director Mike Brown?" one could ask, aren't heavy campaign contributors to the Republican Party, like Wal-Mart, somewhat responsible for the inept response of the Bush administration?

After all, FEMA, never a great agency to begin with, has been bled white under Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress, and Wal-Mart bears a lot of responsibility for keeping these people in power.

Since 2000, Wal-Mart has contributed over half a million dollars in "soft money" donations to the Republican Party and made significant contributions to the 2004 re-election campaigns of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), ex-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), current Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and President George W. Bush. That's not all. In the 2004 races for the House of Representatives, Wal-Mart donated over $1 million dollars to House Republican candidates and $200,000 to Senate Republican candidates.

In many ways, Wal-Mart is the government in power.

One could also ask, "Wasn't Wal-Mart's stepped-up response to Katrina, after initially cutting off its employee paychecks, an attempt at burnishing its sagging public image?" As reported last July in the Wall Street Journal: "The activist group Wal-Mart Watch says its polling shows the company's favorable rating dropping to 50 percent from 59 percent in March."

Most of the decline is the direct result of a joint campaign by unions and community groups to expose the dark side of the world's largest retailer. This led Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to whine: "We're the focus of one of the most organized, most sophisticated, most expensive corporate campaigns ever launched against a single company." To Wal-Mart, Katrina was an opportunity to try to turn around its image.

Most of Wal-Mart's "smooth and efficient" disaster relief was brought to the Gulf states by truck. ABC, however, failed to notice that a lawsuit has been brought against Wal-Mart by a former Black yard driver for discriminating against African Americans in hiring on-the-road truck drivers. While 15 percent of on-the-road drivers across the country are African American, only 2 to 3 percent of the drivers for Wal-Mart's 10,000-truck fleet are Black.

Last, but not least, if you go to the ABC News Web site, you can't help but notice that a major advertiser is--you guessed it--Wal-Mart! Not looking at all seems to be the approach of this "closer look."

Joe Allen, Chicago

<?php include "../../legacy-includes/BottomNavLinks.htmlf" ?>

<?php include "../../legacy-includes/RightAdFolder.htmlf" ?>


How To Solve Boot Loop Issue in Samsung Smartphones?
I have few doubts regarding my Samsung galaxy pop (GT-S5570). I think i may have bricked it.
Actually what i did was, first I rooted my cell then after that i installed clock work recovery mod and then using recovery mod options I partitioned my SD card. This resulted in formatting of my SD card. After that i thought of factory reset as my internal memory was getting full, so from settings-> privacy menu, I click on factory reset option and it restarted and took me to CWM recovery options, there i selected wipe data/reset and after that cell restarted and then it shows Samsung logo and again keeps restarting.
Is there any solution for this problem else than going to Samsung service center ?
I have no idea what i did to my cell... but i want to resolve this issue asap.
Yes, there's a solution to get out of this problem without visiting the Samsung service center. Luckily your device has not been bricked and this issue can be solved these simple steps.
Go to recovery. Press Home + Power buttons at the same time while your device is turned off.
Now, wipe data and cache and reboot.
Hopefully, that should solve the problem. If you face the same issues again then, there's a problem with your firmware/ROM and thus, you will need to flash (install) it again on your device. You can flash this latest Gingerbread firmware on your device by following the instructions at http://yagyagaire.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-upgrade-samsung-galaxy-pop-to.html . After that your device should run fine. Be careful not the install CWM recovery again if you are not going to flash any custom roms.
Also, since all this resulted from the problem of low internal memory, go through this article to solve the problem with easy and step by step solutions.


text:
Father & Son Trips
Men's Travel
Mancation Vacations
Guys Weekend Ideas
Lads Holiday Ideas
Gifts, Gear & Gadgets
Cruise Ships Norwegian Cruise Lines Carnival Cruise Review Carnival Elation Carnival Victory Carnival Miracle Carnival Dream Carnival Ecstasy Carnival Glory Princess Cruises ncl Costa Cruises Royal Caribbean Cruise Review cruise port
Viking Expeditions Details Revealed - Prices, Ship Features, Photos & Itineraries
We were on hand tonight for Viking's unveiling of their latest product - Viking Expeditions. With their incredible success with taking over the river and small-ship ocean cruise market, Viking Expedition is poised to have the same disruptive impact. Most importantly, the positioning is clearly a move away from traditional expedition offerings where the experience is secondary to the destination, Viking promises to bring a similar experience that we love from the river and ocean product to expeditions as well - including features such as large comfortable bathrooms as well as accessibility and comfort.
We Took A Preview Tour Of Crystal Symphony Heres What We Saw
There's a whole other world beyond just the big feature-packed cruise ships from the big-name brands you are all familiar with and that's the small ship luxury market. While I love sailing on ships like Norwegian Encore and Oasis of the Seas, the reality is that for many people the ship itself is getting in the way of enjoying a cruise. There are too many people, not enough personal attention, and the food ultimately suffers because you are cooking tens of thousands of meals each day. Plus, when you get to port there's always a long line waiting to debark and then once on shore there's more crowds to deal with. One increasingly popular alternative is small ship luxury cruises like those offered by Crystal Symphony, so we visited her in San Diego to see what all the buzz was about.
Solo Studio Cabins Are The Perfect Option For a Guys Trip At Sea
One of the things I love about the newest cruise ships by Norwegian Cruise Line is that they've invested heavily in what they refer to as Studio Rooms. For those looking to do a guys trip at sea, this is the perfect option since you get privacy and can save money compared to the traditional cost of booking your own room.
Carnival Panorama Arrives in Long Beach - Cruise Ship Preview
We were on-board for Carnival Panorama's naming ceremony and to welcome her to Long Beach. This is the first new ship to be homeported on the west coast in more than 20 years and so this is an exciting time for guys looking for an awesome ocean-going getaway without having to sacrifice by flying to Florida or sailing on an older ship. Carnival Panorama will be offering 6, 7 and 8-day cruises year-round from Long Beach to the Mexican Riviera.
Norwegian Encore Is The World's Best Ship For A Guys Getaway
Norwegian continues to impress me. I had the opportunity to celebrate the launch of Norwegian Encore with them in Miami last month and it is absolutely the best ship out there for a guys weekend getaway. That isn't to say that other lines aren't good or that you can't have fun on an older NCL ship like Sky or Sun (I do) but Encore is the ultimate manifestation of Norwegian's vision for what cruising should look, feel, and taste like. Let's take a look at six reasons why Norwegian Encore is the world's best cruise ship for a guys weekend!
Silverseas To Offer Business Class Fly-In Antarctica Cruises
A visit to Antarctic is on the bucket list for most guys and cruising is probably the best way to get there. However, what most people don't understand is that many cruises simply float by, while others take two days of cruising simply to reach the continent. When time is money and you want to spend as much time exploring the destination as possible, there's only one solution - fly there! That's exactly what Silvesea's Cruises is now offering.
How To Find The Right Small Ship Luxury Cruise For You
Choosing the right cruise vacation can be complicated but thanks to the diversification among big cruise lines the decision has been made easier in recent years. The world of luxury small ship cruising though is a different equation. Instead of looking at gee-whiz features like trampoline parks and unique specialty restaurants to draw cruisers, virtually all small ship luxury cruises offer superior service, gourmet food, exotic destinations, and a more personalized experience since the ships are designed for fewer than 1,000 guests and often only a few hundred. So, how do you pick the right small ship cruise for you?
Experience French Luxury Small Ship Cruising with Ponant
Luxury is a word that is often abused when it comes to cruising. To some, quite literally any time spent on the water is a luxury. However, the spectrum runs from simple Caribbean cruises to something more exotic and that's where Ponant fits in.
Trends In The Cruise Industry for 2020 and Beyond
The cruise industry is in the process of a massive transition from one known more for conspicuous consumption regardless of impact into one that is ultimately working to be much more socially responsible. Don't worry though, that doesn't mean it's going to be any less fun but there are some big changes ahead that we're already starting to see.
Norwegian Spirit Preview: $100 Million Upgrade & New Destinations
Norwegian Spirit is the latest cruise ship in their fleet to undergo a huge revitalization including new dining venues, double the spa space, and a very chic modern new look. Based on the news today and photos and video below, we're pretty excited to see the new look. Plus, once she returns to the fleet after dry dock, Norwegian Spirit will have some awesome itineraries that include stops in Bali, Abu Dhabi, Israel, and South Africa.
Meet The Winemaker Cruise Series on Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Cruise Line gave us a sample of their new Meet the Winemaker cruise series earlier this year while we sailed on Norwegian Joy. It was a fabulous experience and now they are getting ready to roll it out with a wider schedule, across multiple ships this fall. If you love wine and cruising then these cruises are made for you.
Cruise To The North Pole On a Nuclear Powered Ice Breaker
Have you ever dreamed about one-day sailing to the North Pole? This might be exactly the cruise you are looking for. This week as Poseidon Expeditions commences another sold-out season of voyages from Murmansk, Russia aboard the nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Years of Victory, to the geographic North Pole, the company announces that reservations are now open for three departures during the summer of 2020.
Norwegian Joy Haven Deluxe Owner's Suite
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sneak into the exclusive Haven area on a Norwegian cruise ship? This area is designed as a private retreat complete with a private pool, bar, restaurant, and lounge area. It also has some of the most luxurious cabins available anywhere on the ship. Let's take a look at what things would look like if you booked the Owners Suite in the Haven complex on Norwegian Joy!
Princess Cruises South America and Antarctica Cruise Itineraries
I've traveled to a bunch of different destinations by cruise ship, but South America and Antarctica are at the top of my bucket list. Apparently, I'm not alone since tourism options continue to evolve and now Princess Cruises is offering Antarctica as a new cruise destination in their 2020-2021 program. This will allow guests to discover this region of the world with unique cruising opportunities. New for 2020-2021, guests will be offered the opportunity to see the Total Solar Eclipse off the coast of Argentina on Dec. 14, 2020 during the 15-day Cape Horn & Strait of Magellan itinerary on Coral Princess.
Carnival Mardi Gras New Cruise Dining Venues Unveiled
Carnival Cruise Line unveiled several exciting new food and beverage concepts aboard its highly anticipated Mardi Gras, set to debut in 2020, along with further details on the extensive offerings available within the ship's Lido and Summer Landing zones.
Are You Ready for An Epic Mediterranean Cruise With Norwegian
Opting for a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea this summer is a sure-fire way of making sure that you will have the perfect vacation experience. We've sailed often in the Caribbean and even explored Alaska and the maritime provinces of Canada but the Mediteranean is at the top of our list now.
Carnival Sunshine Now Offering Year-Round Cruises from Charleston
Carnival Sunshine has launched a schedule of four- to 11-day voyages from the Port of Charleston, South Carolina. The ship will become the newest ship to operate year-round cruises from that port. Charleston, SC is a great port that we love to visit and this offers some awesome options for guys looking to do a great golf mancation to the Bahamas on one of our favorite cruise ships.
Experience The Joy of Cruising - a Norwegian Joy Cruise Review
Last year we sailed with Norwegian Bliss for the launch of the company's biggest, fanciest and most feature filled ship ever. At the time, Bliss was everything we saw on Norwegian Joy but had to wait just a bit longer for. That wait represented refinement, learning, and further time for innovation. When it arived as the first Breakaway Plus ship in North America it truly lived up to it's name. Seizing on it's incredible popularity, the folks at Norwegian Cruise lines abruptly pulled Joy out of the Chinese market and instead of just re-positioning it, did a complete overhaul of the ship. So, was it worth it? Does Joy deliver on it's name the way Bliss did? Yes .. it absolutely did though there are a few awkward areas that reveal it's journey to this point.
Royal Caribbean Launches Spectrum of The Seas
Royal Caribbean International, the world's largest cruise line, officially took delivery of the 26th ship in its fleet, Spectrum of the Seas, in a ceremony held today in Bremerhaven, Germany. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman and CEO Richard D. Fain and President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International Michael Bayley received the new ship from Meyer Wert Yard's Managing Partner Bernard Meyer and Meyer Werft Yard's Managing Director Tim Meyer at the official handover ceremony. The first in the Quantum Ultra class of ships, Spectrum will homeport from Shanghai starting June 2019.
10 Best Romantic Getaway Destinations To Take Your Wife
Valentine's Day is obviously an annual excuse to focus on love and romance, the reality is that any time of year is a great excuse for a romantic getaway. Here's our picks for some of the most romantic destinations to take your wife this year!
Author Menu
Submit Guest Post Article
Editorial Standards & Guidelines
Writer and Publisher Agreement
Privacy and Links Disclosure
This site features affiliate marketing, advertisements, and sponsored content links which may direct users to sites other than this one. We also have several tracking codes embedded in pages like this to help brands better understand the value we provide to them. Visitors to ManTripping.com should be aware that this is a commercial site and some links help us generate income and other benefits.
More information: Privacy & Disclosure policy.
More Man Tripping:
Products & Stuff
Tourism Industry Marketing
Giveaways and Sweeps
Subscribe to our mailing list for article updates and awesome travel ideas!


text:
Northern Bavaria: Franconia Travel Guide
ROUGHGUIDES.COM / EUROPE / GERMANY / NORTHERN-BAVARIA-FRANCONIA
Entering Franconia (Franken) from the north or west can be a disorientating experience for anyone expecting Alps, blue-and-white flags and Weisswurst – Bavaria's northernmost region is not at all the Bavaria of popular cliché. Red and white are the colours of Franconia, the sausage of choice is Bratwurst and the unspoilt wooded uplands which cover much of the region rarely rise to mountainous heights, or feature on the itineraries of foreign tourists. In many respects, it has more in common with Thuringia or Hesse than it does with the "real" Bavaria to the south.
Continue reading to find out more about...
Franconian wine
The Romantic Road
Brief History of Franconia
Great places to visit in this region of Germany
place Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
Bavarian or not, it is a fantastically diverse place to visit. Unterfranken (Lower Franconia), centred on Würzburg, is wine-growing country, with a feel of the sunny south. It is also the starting point for the Romantic Road, a tourist route linking many of Bavaria's most beautiful towns.
In Oberfranken (Upper Franconia), the Protestant religion and beer predominate. Here, the cultural and historical associations are with Wagner in Bayreuth and with Luther and the British royal family in Coburg; everywhere there's a sense of the proximity of the lands of central Germany to the north. Bamberg remains a splendid exception, a beer town through and through, but opulently Catholic in an otherwise Lutheran region, and one of Germany's most beautiful cities.
In Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), Nuremberg is unmissable for its fascinating and occasionally uneasy blend of medieval splendour and Nazi bombast, while Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbühl are perfectly preserved medieval gems, if scarcely undiscovered by visitors. Though the towns and cities are the major attractions, Franconia's wooded hills and national parks offer tempting opportunities to escape the crowds, whether by bike, on foot or in a canoe down the lazy Altmühl.
While long-distance hiking and cycle trails cross the region, the bigger cities have fast main-line rail connections and many smaller towns have a rail link.
Related tailor-made travel itineraries for Germany
Explore Northern Germany on Your Own
Explore Berlin and Potsdam in depth
A self drive exploration of UNESCO Sites in Southern Germany
view all itineraries ⤍
ASCHAFFENBURG is a last taste – or first glimpse – of Bavaria for travellers between the Free State and neighbouring Hesse, tucked into the westernmost corner of Franconia at the foot of the wooded Spessart hills. Closer to Frankfurt than to Würzburg, from the tenth century it belonged to the archbishopric of Mainz, and was the capital of the largest of several scattered parcels of territory known as the Oberes Erzstift (Upper Archdiocese). It was the archbishops' second residence until the archbishopric's dissolution in 1803; the town passed to Bavaria in 1814.
Aschaffenburg was once dubbed the "Bavarian Nice" for its mild climate, and though that comparison is a little far-fetched, it is an attractive town, which recovered well from grievous damage in the last weeks of World War II and has enough sights to justify an overnight stop.
History has twice been kind to beautiful BAMBERG, for centuries until secularization in 1802, capital of an independent Catholic prince-bishopric within the Holy Roman Empire. Occupied twice by the Swedes during the Thirty Years' War, it was spared the wholesale destruction visited on so many German cities by that conflict. By some miracle, it came through World War II with barely a scratch too. It thus preserves a wonderfully complete historic townscape, notable not just for its highlights – the four-spired Dom, the Baroque Residenz or the picturesque old Rathaus on an island in the river – but also for its quaint corners and quiet, narrow lanes, worth exploring for their lost-in-time charm and traditional brewery-owned Gaststätten. No wonder UNESCO put Bamberg's entire historic centre on the World Heritage list in 1993. Compact enough to be explored in a few days, Bamberg is a tempting place to linger, thanks to its unique atmosphere and history, hilly views, and distinctive Rauchbier (smoked beer).
The Altes Rathaus
If a competition had been held to design the most picturesque building in Franconia, it might have been won by Bamberg's Altes Rathaus, an enchanting combination of Baroque Lüftmalerei and half-timbered quaintness wedged onto an artificial islet in the Regnitz, bracketed on either side by the stone arches of the Obere Brücke. Yet picturesque effect wasn't the reason for the curious site: depending which version you prefer, it was either built mid-river by stubborn burghers after the prince-bishop refused to donate any land for its construction, or to mark the division between the sacred and profane parts of the city and thus demonstrate the independent-mindedness of the burghers.
The half-timbered Rottmeisterhäuschen of 1668, which teeters over the rushing waters on the south side of the islet, is the only part of the Altes Rathaus to preserve its original appearance, but it's not the oldest part of the complex, for the main body of the Rathaus preserves a fifteenth-century core beneath an exuberant Baroque and Rococo makeover, which dates from 1744 to 1756. Johann Anwanders' lush allegorical paintings on the flanks of the building have startling depth – watch out for the chubby angel's leg that really does jut out, on the side facing Inselstadt.
The Altes Rathaus houses the Sammlung Ludwig, a visual feast of Strasbourg faïence and Sèvres and Meissen porcelain, including Johann Joachim Kendler's Monkey Orchestra of 1753 – a caricature of human virtues and vices in porcelain form. The ticket also includes entrance into the elegant Rococo Room, which dates from 1750 and has an attractive stucco ceiling by Franz Jakob Vogel.
Richard Wagner casts a long shadow over BAYREUTH. For most of the world Bayreuth and Wagner are synonymous, as though outside the social and musical spectacle of the Festspiele no other Bayreuth existed. Yet the town you see owes more to the passions of another remarkable individual, the Markgräfin Wilhelmine (1709–58), who transformed it into a graceful baroque Residenzstadt. Her Baroque quarter wraps itself around the eastern and southern sides of the Altstadt – both compact enough to be explored easily on foot. The leafy Hofgarten stretches east from her Neues Schloss to Wagner's Villa Wahnfried, while his Festspielhaus is on high ground north of the centre. It's also worth venturing out to Wilhelmine's summer palace, Eremitage. Quite the paparazzi hotspot during the Festspiele, Bayreuth is a quiet, stolidly respectable place the rest of the time, though Wilhelmine's magic ensures it's worth a stay of a day or two.
Bayreuth festivals
Tickets for the Festspiele (0921 787 80, bayreuther-festspiele.de) in late July and August are famously hard to come by: you must write (no emails or faxes) to Kartenbüro, Postfach 100262, D-95402 Bayreuth, in September of the previous year just to apply for tickets, and in practice it will be several years before you stand any chance of actually getting them, since the event is hugely oversubscribed. During the festival itself, any returns are available on the day at the box office from 1.30pm to 4pm; performances start at 4pm because of the great length of Wagner's operas.
The other festivals
Bayreuth's other festivals include Musica Bayreuth at the Markgräfliches Opernhaus and other historic venues around town in early May (musica-bayreuth.de). The Bayreuther Klavierfestival (Bayreuth Piano Festival; steingraeber.de) is in July. The Bayreuther Volksvest is a folk festival at Whitsun, with fairground rides, beer and live music.
Wilhelmine and Bayreuth
The eldest daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and the sister of Frederick the Great, Wilhelmine was groomed by her Hanoverian mother for marriage into the British royal family. But the plans were thwarted by her father, who – partly for political reasons, partly out of loathing for his wife's British relatives – married her off instead to a minor royal and distant relative, Friedrich von Brandenburg-Bayreuth, the future margrave of the insignificant Franconian micro-state of the same name. Despite its unpromising start, the marriage was a happy one, and with her aspirations to enter the glittering world of the London court thwarted, the intelligent and educated Wilhelmine decided instead to bring worldly sophistication to Bayreuth, embarking on an extravagant building programme whose fruits still grace the town today. Wagner's Festspielhaus may have superb acoustics, but it's notoriously spartan; Wilhelmine's opera house, on the other hand, is a Baroque gem.
With the Thüringer Wald just to the north, Protestant Coburg scarcely feels Bavarian at all. Until the end of the World War I it was capital of the diminutive duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which famously supplied Queen Victoria with her Prince Consort, Albert, and the opportunity to rediscover Britain's forgotten dynastic link with Germany is one very compelling reason to visit. That aside, Coburg is a particularly handsome specimen of a Residenzstadt, with a small but perfectly-preserved Altstadt – barely 500m across – fringed by some fine examples of Jugendstil. Schloss Ehrenburg – the town residence of Coburg's dukes until 1918 – is on its eastern fringe facing Schlossplatz, from where it's a stiff 1km walk uphill to Veste Coburg, the town's major attraction and one of the largest medieval castles in Germany. Further afield, you might wish to venture east of town to see Schloss Rosenau, birthplace of Prince Albert.
The history of COBURG is intimately bound up with that of its ducal family, a branch of the Wettin dynasty whose most distinguished member was Elector Friedrich the Wise, champion and protector of Martin Luther. Excommunicated and outlawed in the Holy Roman Empire, Luther stayed at the Veste Coburg fortress above the town for six months during the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, under the protection of Friedrich's brother and successor, Johann the Steadfast. Though he was banned from attending, Luther used messengers to stay in touch with the Diet's negotiations on the fate of the Reformation, which led to the Augsburg Confession, a foundation stone of the Protestant Church.
Their loyalty to the Protestant cause cost the Wettins their Electoral status; as mere dukes they thereafter ruled a modest territory from Coburg, extended to include the Saxon duchy of Gotha in 1826, after which they were known as dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Modest though their domain was, they pursued a highly successful "marriage offensive", marrying their offspring into the great royal houses of Europe, including those of Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria and Sweden. The most famous marriage of all was that of Prince Albert, younger son of Duke Ernst I, to his cousin Queen Victoria in 1840. Though its historic links to Thuringia and Saxony are strong, Coburg's inhabitants voted against union with Thuringia after World War I, and the town became Bavarian.
DINKELSBÜHL, 48km south of Rothenburg ob der Tauber along the Romantic Road, is another medieval gem. Though it lacks the sparkle of Rothenburg's hilly setting, making do with the placid River Wörnitz, some parkland and a few large ponds to set off its perfectly preserved medieval fortifications, it boasts an Altstadt which is, if anything, even more flawless, having escaped damage in World War II. It's also less overwhelmed by tourism. Like Rothenburg, Dinkelsbühl was once a free imperial city; it changed hands eight times in the Thirty Years' War, but after it was occupied by the Swedes in 1632 it was largely spared further damage.
The Altstadt measures just 1km from northwest to southeast, and is barely 500m wide from Segringer Tor in the west to Wörnitz Tor in the east. A walk around the outside of the medieval walls is therefore not only instructive but enjoyable. Once within the walls, there's hardly anything to disturb the illusion of medieval perfection. It's just a short walk from Wörnitz Tor to the Altes Rathaus, the oldest parts of which date back to 1361.
Kinderzeche festival
Dinkelsbühl's most celebrated festival is the Kinderzeche (kinderzeche.de), an annual children's and folklore festival that takes place in July. It has its origins in the Thirty Years' War: the story goes that in 1632 a deputation of local children dissuaded the commander of the besieging Swedish forces from ransacking the town by singing. Children in historic costume still form an important element in the festival parades, with music provided by the Knabenkapelle, a famous boys' band.
Grown on the slopes above the meandering River Main, Franconia's wines are fuller bodied and often drier than other German wines, their distinctiveness arising in part from the climate, which is less kind than that of the wine-growing regions further west. Summers are warm and dry, but winters are cold, rainfall is high and frosts come early, so slow-ripening varieties like Riesling are less important here. Müller-Thurgau – which is also known as Rivaner – and Silvaner are the significant white-wine grape varieties, with new crosses such as Bacchus also coming to the fore. Red wines are grown in the west of the region, around Aschaffenburg, while Würzburg's Stein vineyard has given rise to the generic name Steinwein, which is sometimes used to describe all Franconian wines. Most distinctive of all is the squat, rounded Bocksbeutel in which Franconian wines are bottled – very different from the tall, slim-necked bottles used by most German wine-makers. Much the easiest way to experience the wines is in one of Würzburg's traditional Weinstuben.
You can also tour the impressive Staatlicher Hofkeller cellars by the Residenz, where the €6 price of the tour (March–Dec Sat hourly 10am–noon & 2–5pm, Sun hourly 10am–noon & 2–4pm) includes a small glass of wine. The city has a busy programme of wine festivals throughout the summer months, culminating with the alfresco Weinparade am Dom in September; the tourist office has details.
Facing Vierzehnheiligen across the valley is the former Benedictine monastery of Kloster Banz, built from the same honey-coloured stone on a similarly commanding site high above the valley. It was designed by Leonhard Dientzenhofer to replace the previous abbey, wrecked by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War.
The church was consecrated in 1719, and its interior surprises because it is based on a series of ellipses. Though it's undoubtedly a fine piece of architecture, Banz doesn't dazzle the visitor in quite the way Vierzehnheiligen does, but if you're visiting Vierzehnheiligen with your own transport it's certainly worth a look. If you can't join a tour, the church is usually open as far as the grille; there's also a small museum of fossils and Oriental artefacts close to the abbey entrance, during whose opening hours tours of the abbey's historic rooms are available.
Fifteen million years ago a meteorite slammed into the Alb plateau close to the site of present-day NÖRDLINGEN, southeast of Dinkelsbühl on the boundary with Baden-Württemberg. Hitting the earth at a speed of 70,000km per hour, the impact of the meteorite was sufficient to form a crater 25km wide, known today as the Ries, and reputedly the best-preserved impact crater on the planet. Geology isn't the only reason to visit the town however, for Nördlingen is another of the Romantic Road's perfectly preserved medieval gems, a former imperial free city like Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbühl, but less touristy than either.
So, G'sell, so – the treachery of the Nördlingen town guards
Every half-hour between 10pm and midnight the tower watchman atop the Daniel issues the traditional cry "So G'sell, so" (roughly "ah, so that's how it is, lads"). The "official" explanation for this strange custom is that one evening in 1440 the town guards left the town gate open, having been bribed by Count Hans of Oettingen, who wanted to storm the town. Their treachery was discovered by a woman passing the Löpsinger Gate; her appalled reaction is echoed to this day in the watchman's cry. It's not certain how accurate the story is, but it is a matter of record that two guards were charged with treason that year and executed.
The jewel-like hilltop town of ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER has reason to be grateful for the Peasants' War of 1525 – in which it allied itself with the rebels – and the Thirty Years' War that swept across Central Europe to such catastrophic effect a century afterwards. A former free imperial city that had been thriving and prosperous, Rothenburg dwindled to insignificance after these events, its wealth lost to plunder and reparations and its population halved. As a result of this reverse in its fortune, development came to a standstill, leaving the town with the miraculous legacy of perfectly preserved medieval and Renaissance buildings with which it charms visitors today. The twentieth century's greatest conflict wasn't so kind: aerial bombardment in March 1945 damaged Rothenburg to an extent that would surprise present-day visitors. After the war, the town's numerous fans – including many from abroad – rallied round to ensure its reconstruction was swift and successful, and to all but the most hawk-eyed observers there is little visual evidence of the destruction.
Rothenburg lies on the Romantic Road, accessible by rail (change at Steinach) and close to the Ulm–Würzburg stretch of the A7 Autobahn. As such, it's something of a day-tripper magnet, and the crowds can be oppressive – not only in summer, for the town has an undeniable magic in the weeks leading up to Christmas, too. Yet this is no mere tourist trap: Rothenburg's beauty is undeniable, its restaurants often cosily inviting and its hotels frequently charming. Perhaps the best way to enjoy it is to simply stay overnight, to experience the calm that descends when the shops are closed, the bus tours depart and the crowds have finally thinned.
Cycling the Taubertal
One very attractive way to get around is to slow the pace right down and explore the gently beautiful Franconian wine-growing countryside by bicycle along the Liebliches Taubertal Radweg. The 100km route follows the course of the Tauber from Rothenburg northwest to Wertheim; a tougher route completes the circuit by returning southwest towards Rothenburg along the heights of the Taubertal through Königsheim and Boxberg west of the Tauber. Along the way, there are stunning Tilman Riemenschneider altars at Detwang and Creglingen, a Schloss and museum of the Teutonic Knights at Bad Mergentheim and a Matthias Grünewald Madonna at Stuppach. Not to be missed is the Schloss at Weikersheim, with its splendid Renaissance Rittersaal (knights' hall) and beautiful Baroque gardens.
The route follows forest or farm tracks for much of the way; from May to October the regional trains on the west bank of the Tauber between Freudenberg, Wertheim and Schrozberg – 22km west of Rothenburg – carry special luggage vans to cope with cycles, so you don't have to cycle both ways if you don't want to. There's also a baggage service to which some hoteliers sign up, so that you don't need to haul everything with you. There are cycle repair and rental facilities in several of the villages along the route. For more information, contact Liebliches Taubertal e.V, c/o Landratsamt Main-Tauber-Kreis, Gartnerstr. 1, Tauberbischofsheim (09341 82 58 06, liebliches-taubertal.de).
Though there are tourist roads that crisscross Germany for everything from wine to fairy tales and half-timbered houses, the Romantic Road remains by far the best-known internationally. The "Romantic" name is something of a catch-all, but the route does encompass much that is most traditionally – and charmingly – German, from walled medieval towns to fairy-tale castles and richly decorated Rococo churches, and it's precisely this combination of historic sights and lost-in-time-charm that makes the journey worthwhile.
Created in the 1950s to boost tourism, it threads its way south from the River Main to the Alps as the landscape progressively changes from gentle, rolling agricultural country to the fringes of the mountains. Along the way, it passes by some of Germany's most remarkable and famous visitor attractions: the Residenz in Würzburg, the perfectly preserved medieval towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbühl, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Wieskirche and "Mad" King Ludwig II's Wagnerian fantasy castle of Neuschwanstein.
Much the easiest way to travel the Romantic Road is, of course, by car, but if you don't have your own transport the Eurolines-affiliated Europabus (touring.de) travels the road once daily in each direction from mid-April to October between Frankfurt, Würzburg, Munich and Füssen, with special offers for hikers and cyclists and facilities to transport bikes; you can book tickets for the bus online. There's also a 460m cycle route, most of it fairly gentle and characterized by well-made local tracks or quiet local roads, or you can follow the route on foot; the GPS data for the entire walk can be ordered from the Romantic Road website, romanticroad.de.
Lonely and proud on its hilltop site overlooking the Main valley on the northwestern edge of Fränkische Schweiz, the pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen is one of the masterpieces of southern-German late Baroque and Rococo. Standing on the pilgrims' route to Santiago de Compostela, the church replaced an earlier structure at the place where, during 1445 and 1446, Hermann Leicht, a shepherd at the Cistercian abbey of Langheim near Lichtenfels, had visions of a crying child. The third time the child appeared to him, it was accompanied by the fourteen Holy Helpers – a group of saints whose intercession is often invoked in Catholicism – who told Leicht they wanted a chapel to be built on the site. Soon afterwards the first miracle was reported and the site became a place of pilgrimage.
Vierzehnheiligen was designed by Balthasar Neumann, the architect of Würzburg's Residenz. Construction began in 1723 but the church was not consecrated until 1772, nineteen years after Neumann's death. His plans were nevertheless adhered to, and the results impress long before you reach the twin-towered church, for it can be seen from a distance as you ascend from the valley.
Vierzehnheiligen is built of a particularly warm, gold-coloured stone, but even so the noble exterior is no preparation for the dazzling Rococo vision within, a symphony of white, gold and grey that is sure to lift your spirits, whatever your feelings about the legend that created it. The church is of cathedral-like proportions, its interior focused on Johann Michael Feichtmayr's central Gnadenaltar, built on the site of Hermann Leicht's vision and with statues of the fourteen helpers, some eye-catchingly gory: St Denis, patron saint of those with headaches, is portrayed with his head tucked under his arm; St Pantaleon, with his hands nailed to his head.
Vine-covered hills form the backdrop to WÜRZBURG, a visible reminder that you're no longer in beer country. The city marks the start of the Romantic Road, which leads south to the Alps from here, and with its picturesque setting, artistic and architectural treasures and fine wines, Würzburg makes a fitting start to Germany's most famous road trip. Most of the sights are concentrated in the compact, walkable area between the Residenz and River Main, but you'll need to cross the Alte Mainbrücke to get the classic view of the Altstadt's pinnacled skyline. Also not to be missed is the Marienberg fortress, rising above vineyards on the opposite side of the river.
The centre of the Franconian wine industry was for centuries dominated by the bishopric founded by the English missionary St Boniface in 742 AD and, as in Bamberg, its prince-bishops wielded both spiritual and temporal power. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries the city nurtured the talent – whilst ultimately spurning the revolutionary politics – of the master woodcarver Tilman Riemenschneider. In the eighteenth century two prince-bishops of the luxury-loving Schörnborn dynasty were responsible for commissioning the city's greatest monument – and Bavaria's most magnificent palace – the Residenz, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Horrendous damage was visited on Würzburg by Britain's Royal Air Force on March 16, 1945, when the city was subjected to an ordeal by firestorm that consumed the Altstadt and killed five thousand people; destruction was so severe the city was afterwards dubbed "The Grave on the Main". Justification for the raid derived supposedly from the city's rail junction, though it had long been on a list of cities earmarked for attack for no specific reason other than their size. After the war, Würzburg recovered with remarkable success, and its war-damaged monuments were slowly and painstakingly restored or rebuilt.
The Residenz
Dominating the Altstadt's eastern flank, the Residenz is an eighteenth-century status symbol that puts Würzburg firmly into the architectural super league, as it was fully intended to do. Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn, prince-bishop of Würzburg from 1719 to 1724, transferred his court from the Marienberg to the town, but was not at all satisfied with the modest little Schloss on the site of the present Residenz, and so commissioned Balthasar Neumann to design something more appropriate to his princely status. The proceeds of a lawsuit provided the necessary funds, and Schloss Weissenstein at Pommersfelden – recently completed for the bishop's uncle, Lothar Franz von Schönborn – provided the blueprint. Other architects of the day, including the Viennese Baroque master Lucas von Hildebrandt, provided some of the inspiration. The bishop never lived to inhabit his creation and his immediate successor stopped building work, but it restarted under his brother Friedrich Carl and thus the palace is the coherent creation of a relatively short period of construction. The results are breathtaking: impressively wide, the Residenz faces a paved Hof on three sides. After visiting the interior, stroll in the formal Hofgarten afterwards to see the Residenz's southern and eastern facades.
The Haupträume (principal rooms) and the North Wing
Inside, the highly theatrical Treppenhaus, or staircase, stretches across five bays and is topped by a mammoth unsupported vault – a structurally audacious design of which Neumann was so confident he offered to fire a battery of artillery at it to prove its strength. His confidence was vindicated in 1945, when the ceiling withstood the aerial bombardment of the city – which wrecked the north and south wings of the Schloss but left the Treppenhaus intact. The staircase rises through a series of half-landings, their walls richly ornamented with stucco, but everything is merely a setting for Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's magnificent allegorical ceiling fresco, which measures thirteen by eighteen metres and is the largest ever created. It depicts the four continents of Asia, Africa, America and Europe, with the Würzburg court depicted as the centre of the arts in Europe.
At the top of the stairs, the white and pale grey Weisser Saal is decorated with tasteful stuccowork by Materno Bossi. Completed in 1745, the room provides an entirely deliberate aesthetic breathing-space between the Treppenhaus and the most extravagant of the state rooms, the giddily opulent Kaisersaal. With its twenty red marble columns, large oval dome and Tiepolo frescoes celebrating Würzburg's position in the Holy Roman Empire, the richly coloured Kaisersaal provides a memorable setting for classical music concerts. To either side, long processions of rooms lead into the north and south wings. In the north, the delicate stucco ceilings had to be re-created after wartime damage; the Grünlackiertes Zimmer, or Green Lacquered Room, is the highlight.
The Southern Imperial Apartments, Hofkirche and Martin von Wagner Museum
The Southern Imperial Apartments can only be visited on a free guided tour – enquire in the Weisser Saal – but are well worth seeing for the Spiegelkabinett, a riot of painted mirror panels and gold leaf that was re-created after wartime destruction using old photographs and surviving shards of glass as a guide. Afterwards, visit the Hofkirche on the south side of the complex, the religious counterpart to the Residenz's secular pomp, again with frescoes by Tiepolo. The south wing is also the venue for interesting temporary exhibitions, and contains the Martin von Wagner Museum, the university's collections of antiquities and art, exhibited over the Gemäldegalerie, Graphische Sammlung and Antikensammlung. Art highlights include works by Tilman Riemenschneider and Tiepolo.
Franconia isn't historically Bavarian at all. It owes its name to the Frankish tribes whose territory it originally was, and from the Middle Ages until the early nineteenth century it was highly fragmented.
In Lower Franconia and Bamberg, ecclesiastical rule predominated, and the archbishops of Mainz in Aschaffenburg and the prince-bishops of Würzburg and Bamberg ruled their modest fiefdoms in some style, leaving behind the architectural splendour to prove it.
Protestantism took root in the north and east, specifically in Hohenzollern-ruled Brandenburg-Bayreuth and Wettin-ruled Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, whose territories spanned the boundary between Franconia and Thuringia and whose judicious marriage policy ensured its familial links included many of the royal houses of Europe.
Outshining all – until its decline at the end of the sixteenth century – was the free imperial city of Nuremberg, seat of the Holy Roman Empire's imperial Diet and one of Europe's great medieval manufacturing and trading centres. Free, too, were the little city-states of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbühl, though political diversity ended when Napoleon incorporated Franconia into the newly upgraded Kingdom of Bavaria – previously a mere duchy – in 1806.
Discover more places related to Germany
Berlin and Brandenburg
Bremen and Lower Saxony
Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Munich and central Bavaria
Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland
Saxony-Anhalt and the Harz
The Alps and eastern Bavaria
World Heritage sites in Germany
The Rough Guide to Germany and related travel guides
Find even more inspiration for Germany here
9 of the best road trips in Europe
In pictures: traditional dress around the world
20 best Christmas destinations worldwide 2021
20 most beautiful winter destinations in the world
Where to stay in Berlin
The world's most spooky haunted places
A beginner's guide to the best German beers
5.0 average customer rating
Michal U.
5 20 February 2020
We spent 10 days in Cambodia and overall I must say it was perfectly organized, the tourist guides were of high quality, they had a thorough knowledget abo ...
Read all reviews ⤍
The Rough Guide to Germany
Your travel guide to Germany
Germany?


I first picked up boxing at the age of 16. I progressed quickly through the amateur ranks, and was National Champion from 2006 to 2009. As a national athlete, I traveled overseas and represented the country in various competitions. I continued fighting as an amateur boxer up until 2012, where career choices and injuries had me retire from the sport. Throughout my journeys as an amateur, I gained invaluable experience and made plenty of friends from all over the world. Even though I was retired, I never lost sight of the sport that has given me so much and shaped the person that I am.
Fast forward to 2016, when the professional boxing scene was growing rapidly in Singapore. I decided to give it a second chance, as fighting professionally has always been a dream of mine. To pursue that dream, I sacrificed a good salary and a comfortable life, started working in a gym, and worked out 4 to 6 hours a day, 6 days a week to get back into shape. I had my first professional fight in February of 2017 and had my arms raised for the first time in 5 years. As a professional boxer, I currently have a record of 2 wins, 0 losses, with 1 win by knockout. I plan to further my career, and hopefully one day get to the top. First conquer the region, and then the world.


… and this quote to TV Guide, which has me so excited that I've been breathing into a paper bag for about 15 minutes now.
BOYD CROWDER IS CORNERED AND FEELING IMPOTENT SO HE'S GOING TO SHOOT HIS WAY OUT THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. IT SOUNDS TERRIFIC. AND I HAD AN EXCUSE TO POST THAT BANNER PICTURE AGAIN. TODAY IS A GREAT DAY.


text:
Animation World Magazine, Issue 2.5, August 1997
The Whitney Archive:
A Fulfillment of a Dream
by Michael Whitney
A few months before his death, John Whitney helped Michael Friend, Director of the Academy Film Archive, to pack up boxes of film and personal papers for storage at the Archive vaults in Hollywood. Both had in mind the eventual restoration of old printing elements so that future viewers and researchers will have access to the rich history of early experimental filmmakers. In addition, in the early 1980s, John had established a non-profit foundation, Digital Harmony, to develop his ideas for the use of the computer for the artist. He had a life long passion for his work that he wanted to pass on to others.
John Whitney (1917-1995).
The Structure of Motion
Two elements helped shape his career that eventually spanned nearly sixty years. One was a talent for building things that served his artistic purpose and the other was his fifty year marriage to painter Jackie Whitney. The two provided a balance to the exposition of ideas that he called "a personal search for the complementarity of music and visual art." The relationship with Jackie began a lifelong dialogue between creative playfulness and emotional expression in counter-balance to his theoretical insights into the structure of movement. At the beginning they had planned to create animated films of her painted playful figures. They made rubber stamps as a start at animating the figures. Later on, working together at the kitchen table, they cut out the letters for the original Jack-in-the-Box logo. In the 1950s with children to feed he sought commercial work.
He built a twenty-five foot two-part Foucault pendulum in the back yard to create design elements for use in restaurant interior decoration. The designs were based on the lissajous figure. Tuning the pendulum by moving weights up and down began a hands-on tactile exploration into harmonic motion. He used a mechanized pantograph to create the animation sequences for Vertigo (contracting with Hitchcock's production company) and Bolshoi Ballet (with Saul Bass). He replaced the pantograph with the cam systems of the M5 and M7 anti-aircraft gun guidance computers available on the military surplus market in the late 1950s.
These mechanical analog computers contained interior mechanisms, which he assembled into an animation device that he called the "cam machine." With the ball integrators and cams he achieved critical insight into the significance of differential change or "drift" to create motion from precise repetitive action. He had created animation that began to have a mathematical basis for its development in time. Eventually, he used the term "digital harmony" to indicate laws of harmony applied to images in motion as well as to sound. The cam machine was a long way from his Jazz films of the late 1940s which were an improvisation - motion as an emotional expression closely related to music. The cam machine offered an insight into structure in motion. Intrinsic structure offered a new underpinning to gesture in motion.
Seeking Perfection
His gift for building devices was a source of pleasure for him. He would often joyfully exclaim out loud when, as he made his way through the garage, he found just the right part to complete construction of a new or improved device. The building of tools meant that his palette of techniques for making images constantly changed. He seemed to be less concerned that these changes left him with tradeoffs. If he didn't have rich background color texture he had more control of foreground action. He was a realist, eager and able to move forward rapidly with whatever he had at hand. He devised a real-time projection direct to broadcast television that was perhaps the first proposal for what has now become MTV. He pitched the idea to friends at Capitol Records CBS in the early 1950s, but the project was never funded.
Moon Drum was released on video in 1991, through Mystic Fire Video.
The difficulty of transferring high quality images from the computer back onto film or video was a frustration to him. He was used to having a print to loan out for viewing. That was, after all, the only way his work was known, and he felt his most important work was therefore not known. Every attempt to distribute the computer pieces in his Moon Drum series failed to meet his need for fidelity to the original gem-like quality of the computer screen and its luminescent CRT colors.
The major periods of both John and his brother James Whitney's work fall naturally according to the technology and techniques they employed. James focused on an inner vision utilizing the methods available to him until he exhausted his technique and moved on to new techniques. At the end of his career, Jim was beginning to explore the image making potential of video but did not bring his work to completion. John continued into the final period of his career, 1985 - 1995, with a program RDTD evolved from the IBM research period of the late 1960s with the aid of programmer Jerry Reed. His final instrument gave him tremendous satisfaction. He really wasn't content unless he started his day early, making modifications to the Moon Drum pieces as he worked out ideas from the previous night's dreams. He recognized the limitations of his instrument, indeed, he suffered under the opaqueness of the DOS command language.
He longed for the ability to improvise and then refine the vision he experienced each day. In Moon Drum his instrument had some of the fluidity of the Jazz film period oil-tray animation and at the same time had a structural underpinning that echoes back to the "fine tuning" needed to make the pendulum produce a lissajous figure. This had been a long path. He felt strongly that at some point others would understand the need to underpin plasticity of motion with harmonic structure.
The Hope for an Archive
Michael Friend can be reached at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Center for Motion Picture Study. Funding is needed to catalogue John's extensive writings, to restore the stored film material and make the twelve pieces of the Moon Drum series available for viewing. Over the ten years when he used his RDTD composing program, he continuously reshaped each work. Only one version of Moon Drum is available commercially. In the few months that John lived after Jackie's death in May of 1995, the changes he made cut Moon Drum loose from his previous techniques; a vivid new spirit playfully emerges. Digital Harmony, Inc. hopes one day to have a version of RDTD available to artists, filmmakers and students interested in exploring John Whitney's astonishing range of ideas.
Editor's Note: AWM will continue to report on the progress of this valuable archive's creation.
Michael Whitney, MBA, CPA, is an independent filmmaker and producer, and is currently working for the State of Tennessee Department of Education. He assisted his father, John Whitney, with DOS, and has traveled extensively, lecturing and demonstrating RDTD and the Moon Drum pieces.
[about | help | home | info@awn.com | mail | register]
© 1997 Animation World Network