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You are here: Home / Europe / Bulgaria / Villa Melnik Winery—Where Happiness Comes From A Family Working Together &...
Villa Melnik Winery—Where Happiness Comes From A Family Working Together & Preserving Bulgarian Heritage
July 13, 2019 /0 Comments/in Bulgaria, Europe, Travelogue /by allan
Putting Bulgarian Wine & Melnik On The Map—Liteally
The Matriarchs of Villa Melnik Winery, Daughter & Mother, Militza & Lyubka Zikatanova
After I pull off the main road, I wind my way through small villages on a narrow road, passing through Vranya, Spanchevo, and Harsavo. I see a few elderly men sitting on a curb. A dog sprints across the street, and a few cats scurry about. As the road ascends, I see vineyards climbing up a hill.
I don't need my GPS to tell me where to turn because standing at the gate of the Villa Melnik Winery is a woman in a colorful dress. Her auburn hair glistens in the sun, and with a huge smile, she welcomes me as I pull in.
"Wow, this is amazing," she says while scanning my loaded bike. It's Militza Zikatanova, the sales and marketing director and daughter of the founders of Villa Melnik Winery. We've exchanged email and text messages over the past week and arranged to connect here this weekend. I want to learn about Villa Melnik and the booming Bulgarian wine region that surrounds the tiny town of Melnik.
I park my bike in front of the winery which towers three stories and is tucked into the hillside. Parched from the hot ride here from Greece, I sit down with Militza and her mother Lyubka and my thirst with a cold glass of water while we get acquainted. Militza speaks perfect English, and while Lyubka apologizes for hers, it's clear she understands everything and also speaks very well. The long journey
After studying and graduating from Boston University, Militza worked for several years for Diageo, the behemoth British alcoholic beverage company. "After three years I realized I'd rather help my father and the family business rather than the big corporation," she explains. "I could also bring new ideas and develop marketing and tourism programs for Villa Melnik and the Melnik wine region."
I chose to visit Villa Melnik and this region because of the work both Militza and her father have done to preserve ancient and local grape varietals. Also, because of their efforts to develop and promote wine tourism not just for the family winery, but for the entire region.
Because I will taste Villa Melnik wines—I never drink and ride—I cruise a few kilometers to Melnik, the smallest town in Bulgaria. Home to less than 200 people, Melnik boomed in the early twentieth century when over 20,000 people called it home. I park "Doc" at the cozy Hotel Melnik which will serve as a home base over the next few days as I explore the region. In my room, I look down at the tiny town of Melnik and the unique architecture of its homes. And I look above at the Melnik "Sand Pyramids" pointed formations in the hills hovering over the town. Later, Militza and her boyfriend Boyan drive me back to the winery.
We take a short walk up the hill behind the winery where we gaze across the Struma River Valley. Far in the distance sitting atop a range of mountains dozens of windmills spin. "They are in Greece," Militza explains. To the northwest, we see the caldera of a volcano that erupted a thousand years ago or more. "The entire area once was under the sea," Militza says, "that gives us sandy soil, which combined with minerals from the volcanic eruption and the Mediterranean climate makes this an ideal grape-growing region."
A few moments later, Nikola Zikatanov, Militza's father and the founder of Villa Melnik, joins us. Stocky with intense blue eyes, salt, and pepper hair and a thick mustache to match. Militza tells me that many of his friends and colleagues affectionally call him "Nikola Mustache." He says that it rarely rains in the summer, never snows, and humidity never lingers, that besides wine grapes they grow olives, figs, apricots, peaches, pomegranate and more.
Thousands of years ago, this unique climate and soil composition gave birth to a grape varietal that can only be found here—nowhere else in the world. Broadleaf Melnik ( technically called Shiroka Melnishka Loza), is a late-ripening versatile red wine grape, and the defining varietal for this wine-growing region.
However, because Broadleaf Melnik is late-ripening, it is challenging to grow. Sometimes it doesn't ripen until early November. It's a vigorous grape, and if irrigated or let to grow wild, it will yield big watery grapes. If harvested too soon it results in green and bitter flavors. As in other countries in the Balkans, most Bulgarians have small plots of vineyards for making their own house wine. Often they lack the patience to wait until the grapes fully ripen. So to compensate they blend it with Cabernet or other earlier ripening grapes.
Nikola explains that during the communist period, the Soviets innovated grape vine trellising, lifting the bush vines high and training the cordons so they could manage and harvest the grapes with machines. He explains this made it harder for Melnik to ripen.
"It's likely that by doing this they made it an even later ripening because when grown lower, the heat reflected off the ground helps the grapes ripen," he says. So he planted Broadleaf Melnik in the traditional manner as bush vines. With a goal of quantity over quality, most people ripped out the indigenous ancient Melnik and replanted Cabernet, merlot and other earlier ripening international varietals.
In the 1950s, Soviet viticulturists and scientists at the Sandanski cooperative near here also experimented with crossing Broadleaf Melnik with international varietals to develop earlier ripening grapes. These included Melnik 55 (Valdiguié), Melnik Jubilee 1300 (Saparavi), and Ruen (Cabernet Sauvignon), among others. Over the years only Melnik 55 thrived, while the others virtually disappeared. It's Nikola's mission and passion to preserve these varietals and show their potential and how they can express the uniqueness of the grape and terroir of Melnik.
We return to the back of the winery where Militza and Nikola explain the gravity-fed design of the Villa Melnik Winery. Built with three levels, we stand on the floor of the top-level, or the receiving pad where they bring the grapes to the winery as they harvest them.
Here you can see the three levels of the gravity-fed Villa Melnik Winery outside Harsovo in the Melnik wine region in southwestern Bulgaria.
Villa Melnik uses all Bulgarian-crafted stainless steel tanks. Here you can see the stainless caps covering holes in the floor that are used to move the wine through each level in the winery without the use of pumps.
"All our grapes are hand-picked, and sorted in the vineyard before they come here," Militza says, "we use local people who need not be trained," she insists. "In fact, they train us because they've been working these vines for generations."
There are several large openings in the concrete floor the receiving pad. The grapes are de-stemmed, and with a crusher machine on wheels, they feed the juice directly through these openings into the fermentation tanks below without the use of any pumps. Nikola explains that this is better and more gentle for the grapes. It doesn't stress them or release the tannins by crushing the seeds. It's also more sustainable because it doesn't require energy or electricity.
We walk into the winery and stop for a moment in a foyer where Nikola reflects on his inspiration and why he started Villa Melnik. Militza points out that the nearby village of Kapatovo has been home to his family for many generations.
My dad looked for inspiration in folklore and religion when deciding to do this project, our winery. She points to a painting that sits high on the wall above us. It represents the Biblical story of Jesus' farewell discourse to John, where he refers to himself as "the true vine" and the branches his disciples. God is the winegrower and "cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."
Nikola says, "My father is the winegrower. I believe that if you work hard, be good, and do good, you will be rewarded with good fruit."
"I love wine, and when I think of my memories of the past when I was working in our family vineyards with my parents and grandparents, these are my most happy times." He glances at his daughter and clears his through, his voice resonates off the walls of the tall foyer.
"Later in life, when I had to work long hours to make money, I felt guilty. I didn't have much time to spend time with my own children. I remembered my happiest times with my family. So I started a winery—growing vines and making wine so when I hopefully have grandchildren of my own to share this happiness and work with them—so they can be happy." He looks at Militza and smiles. "I want my children and grandchildren to feel how important family is and that the best memories in life come from working together with your family. This is why I started this winery."
Militza returned to Bulgaria after about seven years studying and working abroad. Her experiences and youthful energy are also an inspiration for her father and others in the region. With a mission and passion for elevating tourism in Struma River Valley and Melnik, she first set out to convince the other fifteen wineries in the area to open to the public. Then she set out to create a calendar of events.
"This is the first time that different businesses worked together and not look at each other as competitors. We understand that people will not come here just to visit one or our vinery," she explains. "They will come here to visit other wineries, restaurants, churches, or spas." She points to the hill behind the winery and tells me that a large bank is building a new ambitious winery project. "We are happy they are building a new winery and don' see it as competition." she says, "Sure, it's competition, but it will bring even more people to the area and make this region even more popular."
She tells me her dream is to make Melnik region the Napa Valley of Bulgaria. One of the most popular events she has got local participation is the popular Bulgarian holiday known as Saint Trifon Day. Celebrated every year on February 14th when the rest of the world honors their loved ones on St. Valentines Day. Saint Trifon is the guardian of the vineyards and winemakers and is the pruner. So on this day, also known as Trifon Zarezan, they bless the vineyards and prune the first vines.
Joking that it's also St. Valentines Day, Nikola says, "Whether you're in love or in love in wine this is the day to celebrate." It's also a testament to the fact that winemaking and wine growing is an ancient tradition in Bulgaria. With evidence of wine culture dating back to the Thracian times where people worshipped Dionysis, the god of wine. Militza explains that even during the 500-year rule of the Ottoman's, people living here could make wine and keep their Christian faith. They also could celebrate Saint Trifon—as long as they paid their taxes.
As Militza continues our tour through the winery, we see each step in the winemaking process. On the fermentation floor, we walk past a long line of shiny stainless steel tanks, including one horizontal tank that rotates like a washing machine during maceration.
Nikola points out that he must use pumps with the tall horizontal tanks to keep the wine circulating during fermentation. "There are some connoisseurs who might say they can feel the tannins from seeds that get crushed between the wheel and body of the pump. For these delicate palates we have this tank," he says proudly while slapping his hand on the steel of the horizontal tank. "There is no pressure on the seeds and the berries. Wine made in this tank is softer and more velvety."
These tanks treat the grapes more gently, rotating like a washing machine resulting in softer more velvety tannins.
Militza shows us the laboratory where wines are tasted, tested, and decisions about blends and other factors are made.
Villa Melnik gives local artists a platform and place to exhibit and show their artwork.
As we make our way down to the lower level, we walk into a room at the north end of the fermentation floor, which serves as an art gallery. Here Villa Melnik celebrates and gives a platform for local artists to display their artwork. Militza leads us into the laboratory, where she explains that the entire family and winemaking team tastes the wines and potential blends, and everyone shares their opinions and suggestions.
On the lower level, we pass by more stainless steel tanks used for aging and storing wine before bottling. She then leads us through a network of caves dug into the side of the hill below the receiving pad. As we wind around, we pass dozens of oak barrique barrels and music pumps from several speakers throughout the caves.
"Everyone likes music, especially wine," says Nikola. One tunnel opens up to a larger room where several wine barrels serve as tables. Here they hold tastings, events, and even small concerts.
The most important thing, Nikola explains, is maintaining a constant temperature and humidity. Because these caves are underground, they are naturally cooled. This reduces energy consumption and contributes to Villa Melnik's goal to be as sustainable as possible. He also explains that they compost the must leftover from the winemaking process and use it in the vineyard as fertilizer.
They use a combination of French, American, and Bulgarian oak. "For our native Bulgarian wines, we only use Bulgarian oak," he points out. "We feel this is the right and respectful thing to do. We want these wines to be one-hundred percent Bulgarian." All of the stainless steel tanks in the winery are also designed and crafted by Bulgarian firms. They source steel from Germany, and the instruments and valves come from the best in the world. But craftsmanship is pure Bulgarian.
As we round one corner in the caves, we walk up to wine cellar stacked with bottles and locked behind a wrought iron gate. "This is our treasury," Militza explains. Here they store the Villa Melnik library wines and offer customers a chance to store a bottle for a special occasion such as a birth, anniversary, or other important life events. "Imagine storing a bottle of wine from the vintage of your child's birth, and coming back here and opening in eighteen years to celebrate."
Nikola explains during socialism, Bulgaria's food processing industry was well developed. After they privatized the industry, Bulgarian entrepreneurs reorganized them into profitable companies, and today they export the Bulgarian tanks to Russia, France, the United States and elsewhere.
As our tour winds down, we end up in the Villa Melnik retail store and tasting room. They have set a table with several glasses, small bites of cheese, cured meats, and bread. It's cozy and comfortable, and the entire family joins me at the table while we talk more about family, grandchildren, wine, and the future of Bulgarian wine and the Melnik Region.
Now it's time to taste a selection of the Villa Melnik wine portfolio. We start with the Villa Melnik Aplauz Rose. Made from two Bulgarian varietals, the local Broadleaf Melnik and Mavrud, it's pale in color and on the palate crisp, clean, and tasty. The perfect starter wine as our conversation continues. For me, Broadleaf Melnik is easier to say than Shiroka Melnik, so Militza shows me a photo of just how broad the leaf is.
"Wow, it's bigger than your head," I point out, realizing she is in the photo holding the massive leaf next to her face.
While the Broadleaf Melnik is only found here in the Struma River Valley, Mavrud, the other grape in the Rose, is grown mostly around Plovdiv in central Bulgaria. Interestingly, Villa Melnik is the only winery growing and producing Mavrud around Melnik.
Today, Villa Melnik owns 30 hectares in two different plots around the winery. The winery produces about 150,000 bottles of wine annually from ten different red grape varietals and six different white wine grapes. The entire production is estate grown and bottled. He designed the winery with a little room to grow, production nearly matches capacity. They don't buy any other grapes, and they don't sell their grapes.
While the romance of returning to his roots and his childhood home to create a happy place for the future generations of his family, it was challenging and stressful for Nikola to buy vineyards in contiguous plots. Many people may have given up, but Nikola persisted for over ten years. He had to negotiate with roughly 1,000 people and write more than 100 real-estate contracts to achieve his dream and open this winery.
Think about those numbers. Ten years, 1,000 people, and 100 contracts. It's difficult to buy single large plots of land in Bulgaria. "This is why Bulgaria's agricultural industry disappeared," he tells me.
After World War II under the communist regime, the Soviets forced people to turn over their land to the State—the government. From the early 1950s and until the early 1990s the socialist government forbid ownership of private property. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the newly liberated governments set out returning property to the original owners and their heirs. This is where it gets complicated.
Mostly and before socialism, families didn't own large plots of land. Perhaps each owned and farmed a hectare or two. In those days, Bulgarian people had large families, often with five or six children, or more. Those children soon married and built families of their own, each with three or four kids. Then as those kids grew, more marriages and children—the family got bigger. When it came time to return the property to the original families, the number of heirs to that property numbered anywhere from twenty to fifty family members—cousins, uncles, brothers, and sisters.
Now imagine locating the heirs of different families that own plots next to each other, and you'll understand the work required to locate and then convince every single one to sell. Adding to the complexity is after the fall of communism, with newfound freedom, many people fled the country in search of better opportunity and prosperity.
As I rode around the small villages around Melnik, I noticed prime vineyard locations left barren. On one sizeable sloping south-facing hillside I saw the equivalent of a fraction of a hectare planted. The lone vineyard looked like a small island of vines in a sea of dried grass. Who knows why there are no other vines planted on the hillside. I'm sure many people give up, or other owners aren't interested in selling because the effort required to complete a transaction just isn't worth the small amount earned from such a sale.
It's extremely difficult to buy large multi-hectare plots of land in Bulgaria due to the number of heirs with title claim to smaller plots. I saw several vineyards like this that could be much larger and more productive for the wine grape growers. Nikola at Villa Melnik spent ten years securing his thirty hectares which are divided between two different locations.
Yet, Nikola didn't quit, he started to search for property and locate heirs in the mid-1990s. With persistence and perseverance, he secured the final contract and began planting vineyards in 2005 and bottled the first vintage of Villa Melnik wines in 2009. Using another winery for vinification, It wasn't until 2013 did they produce the first wines in this winery. Nikola was able to build the winery thanks to funding programs offered by the European Union.
Villa Melnik would like to gain a few more hectares, and Nikola plans to increase capacity slightly but admits it will take even more time. He thinks it will take another ten or twenty years to buy a plot next to his larger vineyard.
Militza pulls the next wine out of the chiller and tells me the story of how she convinced her father to experiment with an orange wine. Orange wine is made from white wine grapes that gain an orangish or amber color through extended skin contact during maceration. She admits he was reluctant but agreed as long as Militza took care of designing the label and educating and selling a wine that most Bulgarians do not understand.
Now in its third vintage, the Villa Melnik Orange Wine, after garnishing awards and attention, including from Brazilians who are now some of its biggest fans, the Bulgarian market is slowly opening its mind to orange wine. They make their orange wine in a subtle style with little skin contact so that it is easier to understand and yet still is crisp, fresh, and refreshing on the palate.
I gaze across the table at a wall of awards and medals. Villa Melnik has garnered attention, appreciation, and more awards and medals than they can fit on the wall. All from a wide variety of international competitions, magazines, and regional competitions. They have also made the list of top 50 wines in Bulgaria every year.
Founded in 1874, The Wine Society in the UK is the oldest and perhaps most prestigious wine club in the world, for two years in a row, has contracted Villa Melnik to produce unique and exclusive bottlings for its members. Designed to be marketed to the younger Wine Society members, Nikola named the wine Young & Crazy as a reference to Miltiza's adventurous spirit and decision to take skydiving lessons. "That's my daughter," he tells me while playfully prodding his daughter, "perhaps more crazy than young."
"And in the United States, Villa Melnik competed and won a video contest sponsored by NakeGrapes.com which led to Villa Melnik's largest single order, an entire pallet of wine. The crowdfunding site challenged winemakers all over the world to share their dream through a short video. Inspired by the challenge, Militza convinced Villa Melnik winemaker Rumyana to enter the competition. Together they traveled the region filming and expressing their dream: the desire that people would see and understand why Bulgaria not only makes great wine but has a place in history as one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the world. Their video captured the curiosity and interest of NakedWines.com angels and customers who voted it first place, which led to that huge order.
It's efforts like these that inspired me to return to Bulgaria, Melnik and meet Militza and her father. With a hunger and passion for building a name for Bulgaria in the wine and culinary world, Militza created a regional wine route map by convincing fifteen wineries to participate. The map shows all the wineries and includes phone numbers, websites, and hours of operation and more. Her next plan is to post roadside signs that clearly mark a regional wine route. Along the way, they will erect versions of her map on large signs so tourists could stop and discover not only the wineries but other points of interest in the area.
As we talk, I try two barrel-fermented white wines made on the fine lees. The first, a Viognier which Militza's boyfriend Boyan admits is his favorite. It's aromatic, viscous and slightly chewy. The second is a rich and creamy Chardonnay with excellent structure and acidity and made in a style that expresses the uniqueness of a Bulgarian Chardonnay.
When we get to the reds, I try a Mavrud made in a simple style without oak and served slightly chilled. It feels like a great barbecue wine, and with its slightly chills seems a great hot summer day red.
Part of Nikola's mission is to expose and share the wonder and versatility of Broadleaf Melnik, The winery offers it in a blend with Pinot Noir. He admits that many people see blending Pinot Noir with anything as committing heresy and that Pinot Noir is the king of grapes and should never be blended. But he reasons that Broadleaf Melnik shares several traits with King Pinot Noir. He says, "Both are light-bodied, and also lighter in character and has a similar structure and color. In this blend, the Melnik gives it wilder aromas such as earth, spice, forest floor, and moss."
"We want to prove that Broadleaf Melnik is the Queen, and is elegant as King Pinot. Besides, what is a King without a Queen? She is elegant as a Pinot Noir and worthy of standing side by side with the Burgundian Pinot Noir."
Militza chimes in and insists, "Nobody else makes this blend, we invented it." Nikola smiles and looks at Miltiza while taking a sip.
"You are very polite and delicate," he quips. We laugh.
Considering temperatures sometimes exceed forty degrees celsius (104°F) here, I question the notion of such hot climate for a grape that prefers cooler temperatures. Nikola admits that Pinot grown here is darker in color, more powerful, and higher in alcohol. He doesn't and has no plans to bottle a single varietal, instead, he prefers to use it as a spice, like in this blend.
"We feel this formula bending indigenous grape with a more well known international grape gives the customer sense of excitement and wonder," explains Militza. "Because they can taste a new grape and at the same time have a safety net in that it looks like a Pinot and tastes like a Pinot. We feel this is a good strategy to introduce foreign wine drinkers to Melnik and other Bulgarian grape varietals."
As we move to pure Melnik, we start with the 2016 Villa Melnik Aplauz. It's one-hundred percent pure Broadleaf Melnik aged for one year in Bulgarian oak barrique barrels. Intensely aromatic and with great structure, medium acuity and firm but resolved tannins. At three years old, the wine has finesse but packs power. It clearly has aging potential. Nikola feels it can go fifteen years or more.
"We've tried to preserve the original Melnik here, but we also want to show its versatility. Villa Melnik uses it in Rose, blends, single varietal both with and without oak, and even a dessert wine.
Nikola clears his throat as Militia brings three more bottles to the table." We've also tried to preserve all of its children."
Two of the bottles are clearly different and in a clean cursive font, the words "Rare Varieties" dominate the label design. It's also the only brand in the portfolio that features the winery name, Villa Melnik," larger and more prominent.
I'm "Late ripening varietals like Melnik give elegant wines, but in Soviet times wine drinkers found it more fashionable and preferred full-bodied, powerful, intense and dark-colored wines. So they could uproot Melnik and plant grapes the deliver bigger wines like Cabernet. So scientists at the Sandanski cooperative made crossings of Broadleaf Melnik to deliver bigger wines that ripened earlier so they could speed up production and get it to market quicker."
Villa Melnik produces just 2,000 bottles each of three rare varietals crossed with Broadleaf Melnik. We first try the "Ruen" a crossing of Broadleaf (Shiroka) Melnik with Cabernet Sauvignon. A dark inky and full-bodied wine with exotic aromas and dark berry flavors that finishes long with spicy chocolate and pepper. It's complex and intense and inspiring.
"This is a geeky wine, with so much going on," I explain, telling everyone at the table that it begs for attention.
Next is the Jubilee 1300, named such because they invented the cross 1300 years after the Bulgarian Kingdom was founded. Crossed with the Georgian varietal Saparavi, the inky wine exhibits aromas of black cherry, cassis, mocha, and on the palate, it's mouth-coating velvety smooth with huge berry flavors that explore on the mid-palate. The wine is seductively tasty. I refuse to spit or dump out the wine, instead take another sip and swirl and savor it in my mouth. Wow.
I turn to Militza, then to Nikola, "This wine is a seducer, I just can't let go or stop thinking about it."
Next, we try the Melnik 55, which is bottled under the Villa Melnik Aplauz line because the varietal somehow became the most popular and widely planted. It's a crossing of Melnik with Valdiguie, a french varietal grown in the Languedoc region of France. It's the smoothest and most fruity of the bunch. It's a definite crowd-pleaser, and very approachable for a new wine drinker yet has the structure and complexity that would please a wine lover.
They love my descriptions of the three wines and think these could stick. We have the "Geeky Wine" in the Ruen, the Seducer in the "Jubilee 1300," and the "Crowd Pleaser" in the Melnik 55. Everyone laughs, nodding their heads.
While many wineries planted and produce single varietals and blends with the popular Melnik 55, barely anyone is bottling the other two. Nikola believes Villa Melnik is the only winery bottling a Julilee 1300, telling me that the varietal nearly disappeared. He may have single-handily saved the rare cross.
I ask him how he feels about these efforts and if his neighbors and competitors questioned his dedication to a disappearing varietal that perhaps nobody knew or cared about.
"In the beginning," he admits, "many thought I was crazy. But I know many winegrowers are now tempted to grow Ruen and Jubilee because they can see these are grape varieties that give astonish wines."
He ponders for a moment and takes a sip of the Seducer, the Jubillee.
"I feel happy because by planting and bottling these wines, I know that that the grape varietals will not be forgotten, and I have achieved something that ensures they will have a future."
There is a trend and a new appreciation in both Bulgarian and foreign visitors of local wines, local grapes, and the unique lesser-known varietals. With such limited production of the three "Rare Varieties," Militza and her father agree that these wines will help them get their foot in the door and gain the attention of restaurants, wine experts and sommeliers. This can help pave the way for appreciation of all Bulgarian wine varietals.
"It's also a source of regional pride," he tells me. He looks at Militza and smiles, "And it's something for my future grandchildren."
We move onto the other Bulgarian varietal that is a source of pride for the Bulgarian wine industry, Mavrud. As the only winery in the area growing Marvrud, Nikola admits he learns more with each vintage. He places two older wines on the table. The 2012 bottle is dusty, with cobwebs; clearly, he pulled them out of the "treasury" in the caves. First, he pours us a taste of the 2015 Mavrud, followed by a taste of the 2012, which he explains he vinified at another winery while this winery was under construction.
It's a lesson and exploration of history. Nikola planted the Mavrud wines in 2005, they were just seven years old when he made this wine. For the 2015 we tasted, the vines were more mature. I sense his excitement and curiosity for Mavrudi's potential in Melnik, though admitting he's still learning and experimenting. I feel honored that he has gone back in the wineries young history and shared these treasures and memories.
After we finish tasting the wines, we pack up to head into town for dinner. Grabbing a few bottles of wines, Nikola announces we will now drink the wines, not just taste them. We sit at a table on the terrace at my hotel, Hotel Melnik, with a view overlooking the town and the Melnik Sand Pyramids—unique formations in the sandy hills created over millennia by wind and erosion.
Just as we pour the first glass of wine, the waiter brings a massive plate of grilled meats and vegetables. There's also a salad of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, roasted red bell pepper, and white cheese. Meanwhile, Militza hears from Will, a Welsh guy who works for a UK-based wine importer and distributor she met in London. He's in Melnik, so she invites him to join us for dinner. More connections, more new friends.
The lovely Militza with her boyfriend Boyan at dinner at the cozy and tasty restaurant at Hotel Melnik.
The food at Hotel Melnik is delicious and almost as good as Nikola's selection of Villa Melnik wines chosen for the meal. The 2016 Villa Melnik Hailstorm is a one-of-a-kind wine bottled in a year where they lost seventy-five to eighty percent of their harvest because of a very rare hailstorm that destroyed the vines.
Surprisingly, later in the fall many of the vines experienced a second bud break, another rare event. They harvested the more mature clusters and younger new clusters independently, but they used only the first clusters in this unique blend of Melnik 55 (30%), Mavrud (30%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%) and Syrah (20%).
I've never heard of such a second break, and Nikola admits that it amazed him. Yet what he found in the disastrous vintage was the hailstorm caused a forced lowering of the yields. The resulting wines were darker, richer, and more complex. He admits that though he always managed and aimed for low yields of Broadleaf Melnik, the hailstorm taught him to lower them even more.
"Like making lemonade out of lemons?" I ask.
Lyubka, Nikola, Will, Boyan, and Militza at the restaurant in Hotel Melnik as we wind down an amazing day of learning history, making connections and new friends and tasting incredible Bulgarian wine—and the food? Fantastic!
Between courses and glasses of wine, we wander through a backroom in the hotel that now serves as a museum of Soviet-era photography, propaganda posters, and antiques. Nikola translates many of the posters, and we laugh at the irony and often silly messages of the propaganda.
As the evening winds down, Nikola, Lyubka, Militza, and Boyan head back to the winery while Will and I sip and continue to talk about Villa Melnik and Bulgarian wine. After completing his WSET diploma, Will hopes to become a Master of Wine (MW), the most challenging and highest level of wine certification in the world. For his MW thesis he plans to focus on Bulgarian wine.—and the Melnik region specifically.
I realize finding Bulgarian wine in the United States is next to impossible. If you find a bottle, it's likely of much lesser quality than the wines I've tried today. And while my exploration of this country has only just started, I already feel that thanks to Nikola and the youthful energy and world experience contributed by Militza and others of her generation, that not only do the ancient and rare varietals of Bulgaria have an opportunity to thrive, so does the entire Bulgaria wine industry—a country that has a long history and was one of the earliest to produce wine.
It deserves exploring and understanding. And that's why I'm here. What about you?
A large mural in the library of Hotel Melnik depicts the early days and Bulgaria's history of wine making.http://www.hotelmelnik.com/en/
Mentioned in this Post
Villa Melnik Winery
Harsovo Village, Melnik Region
41°28'25" N 23°23'19" E
Hotel Melnik
2820 Melnik
https://i0.wp.com/www.worldrider.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_1699.jpeg?fit=4354%2C2903&ssl=1 2903 4354 allan https://www.worldrider.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/worldrider_logo_white_border-trans1.png allan2019-07-13 15:00:452019-07-29 09:22:55Villa Melnik Winery—Where Happiness Comes From A Family Working Together & Preserving Bulgarian Heritage
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Sofia Spontaneity & Wild NightsAugust 6, 2019 - 2:05 pm
In Sofia Walking With Wine & Dining With Fire: Cosmos Restaurant & Sophia Wine WalkJuly 18, 2019 - 11:47 am
Riding To Sweet Sofia: Roaming Streets With Wine In Hand & Solving Bad Bike VibrationsJuly 16, 2019 - 3:08 pm
The Struma River Valley — Home To Bulgaria's Big Red Wines & So Much MoreJuly 15, 2019 - 3:10 pm
More Melnik Meandering: Rozhen Monastery, Villa Melnik, Classic MZ Moto & Organic Orbelus WineryJuly 14, 2019 - 1:39 pm
Villa Melnik Winery—Where Happiness Comes From A Family Working Together & Preserving Bulgarian HeritageJuly 13, 2019 - 3:00 pm
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1. Download the Technic Launcher from this website.
2. Login and open up the technic launcher.
4. Click and install the 'Official Crafting Dead' pack!
5. Done! If you want to join the official servers, just click multiplayer!
1. Download the Server Files from the link provided on this Modpack.
2. Transfer all the files out of the ZIP to a folder.
3. Double Click the run.bat and enjoy!
4. The Server will be in MC Version 1.6.4 running cauldron. No longer a .jar!


text:
Норт-Кейп-Мей () — переписна місцевість (CDP) в США, в окрузі Кейп-Мей штату Нью-Джерсі. Населення —  осіб (2010).

Географія
Норт-Кейп-Мей розташований за координатами  (38.976427, -74.951503).  За даними Бюро перепису населення США в 2010 році переписна місцевість мала площу 3,87 км², з яких 3,77 км² — суходіл та 0,10 км² — водойми.

Демографія

Згідно з переписом 2010 року, у переписній місцевості мешкало  осіб у  домогосподарствах у складі 896 родин. Густота населення становила 834 особи/км².  Було 2100 помешкань (543/км²).

Расовий склад населення:

До двох чи більше рас належало 1,7 %. Частка іспаномовних становила 3,7 % від усіх жителів.

За віковим діапазоном населення розподілялося таким чином: 18,2 % — особи молодші 18 років, 59,5 % — особи у віці 18—64 років, 22,3 % — особи у віці 65 років та старші. Медіана віку мешканця становила 47,6 року. На 100 осіб жіночої статі у переписній місцевості припадало 88,2 чоловіків;  на 100 жінок у віці від 18 років та старших — 86,6 чоловіків також старших 18 років.

Середній дохід на одне домашнє господарство  становив  долари США (медіана — ), а середній дохід на одну сім'ю —  доларів (медіана — ). Медіана доходів становила  доларів для чоловіків та  доларів для жінок. За межею бідності перебувало 5,1 % осіб, у тому числі 1,9 % дітей у віці до 18 років та 4,6 % осіб у віці 65 років та старших.

Цивільне працевлаштоване населення становило  особи. Основні галузі зайнятості: освіта, охорона здоров'я та соціальна допомога — 29,9 %, мистецтво, розваги та відпочинок — 21,4 %, науковці, спеціалісти, менеджери — 9,9 %, роздрібна торгівля — 8,8 %.

Примітки

Джерела

Переписні місцевості Нью-Джерсі
Населені пункти округу Кейп-Мей (Нью-Джерсі)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Products All Products Vinyl Altro Vinyl Flooring Altro Non Slip Altro Stronghold 30 Anti Slip Vinyl Colour Maple K30522.
Altro Stronghold 30 Anti Slip Vinyl Colour Maple K30522.
Maple K30522 is one of twelve colour designs from the Altro Stronghold 30 vinyl safety flooring range.
ltro Stronghold 30 vinyl safety flooring is resilient and comfortable to walk on, with good acoustic properties, it combines excellent under-foot security with long-term durability and ease of cleaning.


text:
Patrols to be stepped up following disorder after Chester FC fixture
Officers will be stepping up patrols this weekend following disorder after a Chester FC fixture on 12 February.
Chester FC played an away fixture against Darlington on Saturday 12 February and before the game it was reported that a large group of Chester supporters were involved in disorder in Darlington town centre.
Enquiries are ongoing with Durham Police to identify and trace those involved in the disturbance.
Upon the return of some fans to Chester city centre, a further disturbance is reported to have taken place.
As a result, a 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault and a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of affray. Both have since been released under investigation.
Further enquiries in relation to the incident are ongoing by Cheshire Police.
For the upcoming Chester FC fixture on Saturday 19 February against Hereford FC, fans will see a considerable policing presence to ensure that those visiting the city and attending the game can do so safely.
Officers are reminding fans to attend and watch the game peaceably and with consideration for those around them.
Anyone with any concerns can raise them by visiting the Cheshire Police website or call 101.
In an emergency, always call 999.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


When you get Furnace Tune Up in Hartly, Dover, Milford, DE and Surrounding Areas regularly, this will do wonders for your peace of mind. Not only do you save money with a smooth running furnace, you also enjoy fresh air in your home with filters that are not clogged up. Remember to get your system tuned up before the winter season hits. This way, you can enjoy a warm home all season all. Call 302-492-1333 for best results from Air Doctorx Heating and Air Conditioning.
Air Doctorx is the company to call this winter. Not only will they check to see whether or not your furnace is ready, they will ensure your air filters are clean. After all, it is never a good idea to check this yourself. In fact, the recommendation is to get your furnace's air filter changed each month. For monthly Furnace Tune Up in Hartly, Dover, Milford, DE and Surrounding Areas, call 302-492-1333.
For better health, It is safer to get your Furnace Tune Up in Hartly, Dover, Milford, DE and Surrounding Areas done. Those suffering from respiratory issues in your home will feel better. You can rest easy knowing you are not breathing pollutants. Plus, asthma sufferers will feel more comfortable. A company with years of experience can do this, such as Air Doctorx. Call them today at 302-492-1333.
There are countless issues that can be prevented by an annual tune up, when it comes to your furnace. In fact, having someone from a reliable company such as Air Doctorx come and check your system will keep it running smoothly. When was the last time you had this done? All you need to do is to call 302-492-1333 and someone will come right over to check your furnace.
You may be feeling the right amount of heat when it comes to your furnace. But does your home have the right amount of airflow? Ensure proper airflow by calling the right company to do maintenance checks. Air Doctors in your area are able to do Furnace Tune Up in Hartly, Dover, Milford, DE and Surrounding Areaswith expertise. All you need to do is call 302-492-1333.
Proud to be providing Furnace Tune Up Service in Hartly, Dover, Milford, DE and Surrounding Areas! It's our hometown and your comfort is our business. Contact us today.


One of our youngest crew members, Rinner is fresh out of school, fresh to the Studio. He's not only invaluable in our company's data analytics, but also in lending us his deep Morgan Freemannish voice on a day-to-day basis. He'll soon study architecture and urban planning – and learn skills that he'll undoubtedly further the construction of Nescio's Studio with.


text:
Q: How to: scrape URL, extract all CSV files from within the zip files on the page? [Python] Looked all over SO for an approach to this problem and none that I have tried have worked. I've seen several posts about downloading zip files from URL or unzipping files from a local directory in Python, but I am a bit confused on how to put it all together.
My problem: I have a page of zipped data that is organized by month going back to 2010. I'd like to use some Python code to:

*

*scrape the page and nab only the .zip files (there's other data on the page)

*unzip each respective monthly dataset

*extract and concatenate all the .csv files in each unzipped folder to one long Pandas dataframe
I've tried
from urllib.request import urlopen

url = "https://s3.amazonaws.com/capitalbikeshare-data/2010-capitalbikeshare-tripdata.zip"
save_as = "tripdata1.csv"

# Download from URL
with urlopen(url) as file:
    content = file.read()

# Save to file
with open(save_as, 'wb') as download:
    download.write(content)

but this returns gibberish.
Then, I tried an approach I saw from a related SO post:
import glob
import pandas as pd
from zipfile import ZipFile

path = r'https://s3.amazonaws.com/capitalbikeshare-data/index.html' # my path to site

#load all zip files in folder
all_files = glob.glob(path + "/*.zip")

df_comb = pd.DataFrame()
flag = False

for filename in all_files:
    zip_file = ZipFile(filename)
    for text_file in zip_file.infolist():
        if text_file.filename.endswith('tripdata.csv'):
            df = pd.read_csv(zip_file.open(text_file.filename),
            delimiter=';',
            header=0,
            index_col=['ride_id']
            )
    if not flag:
        df_comb = df
        flag = True
    else:
        df_comb = pd.concat([df_comb, df])

print(df_comb.info())

But this returned a df with zero data, or with additional tinkering, returned error that there were no filenames on the page... :/
Final data should essentially just be a row-wise merge of all the monthly trip data from the index.
Any advice or fixes will be highly appreciated!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Syndal Drafting Services is your Mount Waverley building design and survey drafting services experts ready to provide you with our services in a moment's notice. We offer a professionally done drawing of your site plans, proposed site plans, floor plans, and elevation plans. Our Mount Waverley survey drafting experts also provide complete site measuring services, and we are able to arrive to the site on just short notice in Mount Waverley. Outsource your drafting needs now to our certified draftsmen here at Syndal Drafting Services.
If you have a small or major home improvement project in mind, Syndal Drafting Services is the right company in the Mount Waverley area if you are looking for fast and competitively priced survey drafting services in Mount Waverley. As one of the trusted building survey drafting contractors in Mount Waverley who handle Mount Waverley residential and commercial properties, we specialise in providing elite Survey Drafting services in Mount Waverley to professionals who want nothing but the best when it comes to Mount Waverley survey drafting services.
Our owner, Mr. Glenn McIntyre, is an AutoCAD Certified Professional draftsman and qualified surveyor with years of Mount Waverley survey drafting experience under his belt. We pride ourselves for our reasonably priced survey drafting in Mount Waverley that come with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Other current survey drafting clients in Mount Waverley also know us for the plans that we provide for a variety of council applications.
For our Mount Waverley commercial clients, our reasonably priced building survey drafting packages and survey drafting deals in Mount Waverley are available for underground service locators, architects, land developers, commercial builders, fencing builders, decking experts and patio builders. We are also available for all kinds of Mount Waverley industrial clients who need minor survey drafting solutions. Need fast and affordable quotes now in Mount Waverley for your survey drafting project? Check out our website and fill out our Mount Waverley survey drafting inquiry form. You can also give us a call and let our Mount Waverley staff help solve all your survey drafting problems efficiently.
Where can I get information regarding your Mount Waverley survey drafting services for commercial, industrial and residential projects?
As one of the best Mount Waverley businesses that provide affordable survey drafting services, Syndal Drafting Services provide accurate quotes, competitively priced packages and complete site plans for commercial, residential and industrial projects of all sizes. Our friendly, experienced and trained staff who specialise in Mount Waverley survey drafting services can answer all your construction related concerns through phone or our online inquiry form.
How long have you been providing survey drafting services in Mount Waverley?
We have been providing a wide range of complete Mount Waverley survey drafting services at competitive prices for industrial, commercial and residential projects for several years. We are also known by out current clients for the detailed site plans that we have. Need survey drafting services now? Give us a call and let our staff give you all information you need for your home improvement project.
How much does survey drafting services cost in Mount Waverley?
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A non pinkie Cheekie??? These people are pushing the limits!!! The challenge at The Greeting Farm was to make a card that did not use the color pink, at all!!! GASP!!!!! So, here's what I did: Blue! Ha ha ha! So you will be proud to know that her skin didn't even use peach (which has pink in it), I used orange and blended it with my watercolor brush, very well, to fade it out enough to make her flesh tone. I figured, next to the blue, it would come across as such, and I think it did!
I got this really neat gel pen that is bright blue and has glitter in it, pretty shimmery glitter. So I used that to make her shoes and eyes sparkle, and I embellished the heart on her mirror with it. I also used a sentiment sticker that was sparkly to add to the shimmer of the whole card. I have had this sentiment sticker for a few years now, and I have been waiting for the perfect card to put it on, and I think I finally found it! ha ha ha OK, have a great Easter Sunday everyone, I'm off to watch the Giants beat Atlanta!


text:
Rahakari kan syfta på följande platser:

Finland

 Rahakari (ö, lat 61,38, long 21,36), Satakunta, Björneborg,
 Rahakari (ö, lat 61,67, long 21,40), Satakunta, Björneborg,

Robotskapade Finlandförgreningar


Today you will be taught, hands on some of 'Le Calabash's' most popular dishes. Two of the dishes you will be taught are Gold Medal dishes and appear in the 'le Calabash' A Culinary Adventure, Cookery Book. These dishes are simplified and easy for you to prepare back home in your own kitchen.
Lunch. We enjoy a dish we prepared this morning with Alison and Sidney's favourite French artisanal cheese and our freshly baked bread.
Our journey into the pastry kitchen begins.
This afternoon, Alison shares her take on a Trio of Gourmet Brûlées.
This is not the normal Brûlee class, but rather a hands on class on how to create stunning desserts using Brûlee as the main focus on your plate.
19.30 Tonight we enjoy a dinner demonstration by both Alison and Sidney.
The Wine Tasting is delivered by an award winning sommelier and wine buyer, who will share his in depth knowledge of French Wine and together with Alison, they pair the wines with some of the finest chocolate varieties in the world, working with Valrhona.
We enjoy a dinner of a Dish we prepared this morning and Alison's Vacherin.
Property of the Crown, then royal residence, Chenonceau Castle is an exceptional site not only because of its original design, the richness of its collections, its furniture and its decorations, but also because of its destiny, was loved, administrated and protected by women, who were all extraordinary and who, for the most part have marked history.
12.30 We enjoy Lunch in Chenonceau.
We head back to le Calabash after lunch where you will participate in a hands-on cooking class of ice-cream and Alison's Mousse au Chocolat.
We depart for the historical city of Tours and its fine food market.
We visit Tours best bakery to choose our breakfast pastries which we will enjoy in a little market coffee shop. This morning we explore both the indoor 'Les Halles Food Market' and the twice weekly outdoor market. We visit the old town which clusters around place Plumereau; its old houses restored to their former glory. Today this is the place for pavement cafes and people watching in the summer but stroll the smaller, narrow streets like rue Briconnet and you step back into the historic medieval city. To the south you'll find a Romanesque basilica, the Cloitre de St-Martin and the new Basilique de St-Martin. You're in the place which was once on the great pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. St-Martin was a soldier who became bishop of Tours in the 4th century and helped spread Christianity through France. His remains, rediscovered in 1860, are now in the crypt of the new Basilique.
14.00 Alison will share with you her passion for creating and preparing one of the world's most sought after classics, the Macaron, on which she has put her own stamp.
Taking the Macaron on a Contemporary journey into the future.
19.30 Tonight you dine with the Bond's friend at a Michelin Starred Restaurant.
This morning at 4am, our fish delivery arrived off the boats that came in late last night at the Atlantic port of La Rochelle a two-hour drive from le Calabash.
You will be taught the best catch for each season and how to identify your fish and how to ensure it is fresh. The day will include techniques of preparing your fish.
Preparing and working with Mussels, fresh from our Atlantic coast.
We prepare a seasonal Fish course using our Fresh Ocean catch of The Day.
Lunch. For lunch we enjoy our dishes we prepared this morning.
You can relax or explore the area this afternoon, cycle, walk along the river, play boules in the village square, or why not spoil yourself to a relaxing massage, or spa treatment at La Roche Posay's renowned spa. You could also visit the picturesque town Angles sur Anglin or go to le Grand Pressigny.
When we return from the goat's cheese farm, we are exposed to the art of Soufflé and preparing a few of Sidney's favourites using Goats cheese.
This afternoon, Alison's shares her dessert of the moment, during a hands on cooking class.
impress Even the most discerning guest.
You will also assist Sidney in preparing for tonight's Zulu BBQ and learn to prepare some of the most exotic dishes from the African continent.
Will include recipes from Sidney's childhood which he will share with you.
13.00 Lunch. Au Pied de Cochon situated in Les Halles area and is a Parisian institution. Au Pied de Cochon is also highly regarded for its setting, typical of leading Parisian brasseries and its huge terrace overlooking a pedestrian street with a view of the Saint-Eustache Church.
This afternoon we visit Rue Montmartre, home to Paris's Kitchen and Chef Shops where you can purchase some of the small pastry and kitchen pieces of equipment you may need to prepare your meals back home.
We check into our hotel where you can settle in. Dinner is for your own account.
10.30 After a leisurely breakfast we meet our guide who will be taking us on an exclusive Food Tour, through Paris's best pastry, chocolate, charcuterie and cheese shops. At the end of this tour we will enjoy a lunch with these specialities whilst being told about the history and stories behind them.
20.00 For our last evening we have our farewell dinner at the famous Le Train Bleu where we will reminisce on our Culinary Adventure and make a toast to all those wonderful memories!


Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac discusses the team's preseason win over the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday night.
Magic forward Jonathan Isaac gave Orlando fans at Amway Center a glimpse of what they can expect to see if the former FSU star stays healthy.
The lanky 6-foot-10 Isaac had a pair of highlight-reel dunks in the first half Wednesday night and he scored 15 points, helping lead Orlando to a 102-86 victory over Memphis during the fourth preseason game for the home team (2-2).
"As the course of the game went on, I definitely felt more and more comfortable. Getting rebounds and getting defensive stops really calmed me down and allowed me to hit some shots," said Isaac, who also had a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter when the Magic pulled away.
He also gave the fans another scare, however, when he ran the court after a steal looking to take the ball to the hole in the third quarter but was tripped up by Memphis' JaMychal Green. He landed quite awkwardly and it was a bit of a scary moment, but not for Isaac.
"My teammates [were] joking with me, 'Man, you're about to be out again,' but I'm OK. I'm good," he said.
Isaac, though saddled with foul trouble early after picking up his third personal only about six minutes into the contest, did not lose his aggressiveness. He left the game after the third foul and picked up his fourth foul shortly after re-entry in the second quarter, but he remained a threat.
Magic coach Steve Clifford said it was the defensive side of the court that impressed him about Isaac's performance.
Isaac, who played just 27 games last season because of injuries, started the game, his first since spraining his ankle in the first half of the preseason opener last week at Philadelphia. He played 17 minutes Wednesday night.
Wes Iwundu started in Isaac's place the past two games while Isaac recovered from the ankle sprain.
Rookie center/forward Mohamed Bamba sat out Wednesday with a bruised wrist he suffered at Miami on Monday night. The other four starters were the usuals — Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier and Augustin.
The entire starting lineup was on the bench nine minutes into the game, however, and Clifford went with a lineup of reserve players for nearly eight minutes. Iwundu, Jarell Martin, Melvin Frazier Jr., Jerian Grant and Khem Birch were impressive in place of the regulars, not only keeping pace with the Grizzlies but building a lead that would become a 54-41 margin at halftime.
Grant and Frazier led the way in the first half with seven points apiece as Clifford got a chance to see what the little-used lineup could do. Grant finished with nine points. Frazier showed offensive flashes in the first half, the most impressive coming on a drive up the left side when he switched to his left hand and scored off the glass. Frazier had 10 points in the game, although two came on a long, unintentional bank shot.
Martin hit two 3-pointer against his former team and had 10 points.
Isaac kept rolling to start the second half, hitting a pair of 3-pointers as the Magic bolted out to a 15-point lead, their biggest to that point. Isaac also had eight rebounds and Augustin had six assists.
The usually consistent and solid Vucevic was a bit off Wednesday. The 7-footer, who had been the Magic's top performer in the first three games with averages of 21 points and eight rebounds, hit just 3 of 10 shots and had seven points. Vucevic did manage 11 rebounds.
Fournier, who has struggled with his shot all preseason, was also 3 of 10 on field goals.
Gordon, who shared team-high scoring honors with Isaac at 15 points, got hot in the third quarter, hitting a 3-pointer and a turn-around jumper off the side of the free-throw line, and Orlando started blowing the game open. Birch scored on a nice reverse layup and the Magic were up 20 with two minutes left in the third. Martin added his second 3-pointer of the game and Birch hit a baseline jumper and the Magic led 86-62 heading into the final period.
Three other Magic players missed the game. Terrence Ross (foot) sat out his third straight game, Timofey Mozgov (dislocated finger) has yet to play, and Jonathon Simmons missed the contest due to a personal matter.


text:
enable_language(C)

add_custom_target(empty
  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo $<COMPILE_LANGUAGE>
)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
October 21, 2020 in General Forum
Masters Level Member
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/arts/music/keith-jarrett-piano.html
sphinxsix
Main listening (small home office):
Main setup: Surge protector +_iFi AC iPurifiers >Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Conditioning+Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three >GIK Room Treatments.
Secondary Listening: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Matrix Element i Streamer/DAC (XLR)+Schiit Freya>Kii Three .
Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: RPi 3B+ running RoPieee to a pair of Morel Hogtalare.
All absolute statements about audio are false
Stereo Aficionado
"I don't know what my future is supposed to be," he added. "I don't feel right now like I'm a pianist. That's all I can say about that."
After a pause, he reconsidered. "But when I hear two-handed piano music, it's very frustrating, in a physical way. If I even hear Schubert, or something played softly, that's enough for me. Because I know that I couldn't do that. And I'm not expected to recover that. The most I'm expected to recover in my left hand is possibly the ability to hold a cup in it. So it's not a 'shoot the piano player' thing. It's: I already got shot. Ah-ha-ha-ha."
I'm really glad to see that he survived the strokes but Keith Jarrett not being able to play the piano is just such sad news.
Win10 Transport + Fidelizer 8.7 + JRMC 27 & HQPlayer | Mutec MC-3+ Smart Clock USB | Job INT | Green Mountain Audio Eos HX
DuckToller
Thanks for sharing the NYT article. It is beautifully written but feels very strange and sad.
Sounds like the moment to remember Keith Jarrett's work and send him a "Get well soon, Keith" note, sadly.
I remember grandpa still living 10 years after his second stroke up to the age of 92, though he was a very different personality deprived of many of his former abilities. For anyone that lives through such an experience (personally or with their close ones) it is very bad news.
Very sad indeed. As a musician, l cannot imagine anything worse...
Musicophile
Music Lover blogging about Classical Music & Jazz
That's terrible to hear. Such a brilliant musician.
I finally was able to catch one of his live solo concerts in 2015, which was fantastic, and actually triggered me to finally launch my music blog.
I still hope he recovers.
Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms
JoeWhip
The Creaky Golfer
A similar thing happened to Oscar Peterson and he had to retrain himself to play the piano again. He did and beautifully. Hopefully KJ can as well.
Ooh no......so sad to hear that. I just posted about K.J.'s first solo piano album and how i I find it one of the best in it's genre.
Must be very very hard for him. Keith is the piano. But like JoeWhip says Oscar came back, so all is not lost.
Crusty Old Curmudgeon
1 hour ago, JoeWhip said:
Peterson didn't play a club for 4 1/2 years, and he never regained full facility in his left hand (the stroke caused left hemiplegia). Sadly, a lot of musicians and other artists have suffered similarly.
Pat Martino developed total amnesia along with a host of other problems when he bled into his brain. Miraculously, he relearned his knowledge and skills even after major brain surgery and seriously debilitating treatments. Jimmy Bruno was in a coma for weeks after falling. I don't know why he fell, but many serious falls in our age group are caused by cardiac or neurologic events. He was then in rehab for many weeks, but he also got his chops back.
Growing older is a mixed blessing........
Yes it is, indeed, but it beats the alternative.
Keith at his most intimate.
or maybe even better or more fitting;
The Melody at Night, with You is a solo album by American pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at his home studio in 1998 and released by ECM Records in 1999.[1] It was recorded during his bout with chronic fatigue syndrome and was dedicated to Jarrett's second and then-wife, Rose Anne: "For Rose Anne, who heard the music, then gave it back to me".[2]
In an interview in Time magazine in November 1999, he explained
"I started taping it in December 1997, as a Christmas present for my wife. I'd just had my Hamburg Steinway overhauled and wanted to try it out, and I have my studio right next to the house, so if I woke up and had a half-decent day, I would turn on the tape recorder and play for a few minutes. I was too fatigued to do more. Then something started to click with the mics placement, the new action of the instrument,... I could play so soft,... and the internal dynamics of the melodies... of the songs... It was one of those little miracles that you have to be ready for, though part of it was that I just didn't have the energy to be clever."[3]
AnotherSpin
3 hours ago, bluesman said:
Jerry Garcia re-learned how to play guitar after coma and was performing for almost ten years after that.
3 hours ago, JoeWhip said:
I just laid up a few bottles of a wine that starts drinking well in 20 years. The snide comments from friends and family have been amusing, e.g. "Your aide can remove the cork", "The nurse can use it to clean your bed sores", and "It'll keep the feeding tube from clogging".
Fortunately, I'm impervious to insult. I bought it to enjoy at my 94th birthday party!
35 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:
As I recall, he was a diabetic and spent a few days in what I suspect was a hypoglycemic coma. He did lose some mental acuity but apparently recovered most or all of it in rehab. He truly dodged a bullet.
A very long time ago, in the mid-70s, I bought an LP record of Jarrett's My Song. It's been years, but every time I hear the title song, I know that even though a whole life has passed, as someone might say, I haven't changed a bit, I'm the same as I was that day. There is no past, nothing ever happened.
13 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:
This was also my first ever Jazz album. I bought it in the late 80s/early90s, but still on Vinyl. Still have it somewhere in storage.
Here's my story with that particular album: https://musicophilesblog.com/2015/07/13/keith-jarretts-my-song-i-really-shouldnt-be-liking-this-album/
56 minutes ago, Musicophile said:
First ever Jarrett's album which I bought was Arbour Zena. My Song after that. Staircase, Koln Concert, Byablue followed... All those on LPs. I re-read your My Song story, thank you once more.


text:
stipetapped.com
sophisticated ignorance
REGULAR MMA
FREAK MMA
The Five Greatest TUF Champions
The Ultimate Fighter reality TV series has been a staple of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the MMA community ever since its inception all the way back in 2005 on Spike TV.
Fast forwards to 2019 and there's been 27 seasons of the show (not including 10 seasons of various international versions). Winning the show is an amazing feat that can catapult a fighter to stardom faster than if they scratched and clawed their way through the regional scenes, but winning the show doesn't guarantee sustained success as we have seen with many of the shows winners.
Here I'm going to talk about 5 winners who managed to use this platform successfully and make a lasting impression in the sport.
5: Kamaru Usman
The Nigerian Nightmare won the 21st season of TUF (American Top Team vs Blackzillians) by defeating Hayder Hassan by submission via 2nd rd Arm Triangle in the final. Since then he has rattled off nine wins in a row, including his absolutely dominant championship win over the then champ Tyron Woodley becoming the first ever African born UFC Champion.
He employs an overwhelmingly aggressive style that includes elite level wrestling, crisp striking, and intense pressure that never lets up. His intangibles are very evident as well, he is one of the hardest workers in all of the sport, so much so that he claimed that he has "been fighting on one leg" for years.
You may be asking why I have the current Welterweight Champion and #7 ranked Pound for Pound fighter according to ufc.com listed at number 5, well honestly his story is far from over.
As it sits right now he has taken time to get necessary medical care for injuries he has fought through for years, and will most likely defend his newly won crown against the former interim Welterweight Champion and everyone's favorite American hero (dont @ me) Colby Covington. Now I don't know what the future holds, and I believe a fight with Colby will be a tough one for him, out of all the fighters on this list he has the potential to be the biggest star and accomplish the most.
4: Ryan Bader
Bader won season 8 of The Ultimate Fighter (Team Nogueira vs Team Mir) by defeating Vinny Magalhaes via 1st round TKO.
I know this entry might draw the ire of some readers, but before you jump to conclusions (both fair and unfair) let me explain!
He has an MMA career that has spanned over a decade and includes 15 wins in the UFC and two Bellator World Titles (holding both simultaneously I might add). In those aforementioned fights he has beaten top names in the sport of both past and present, such names as Fedor, Phil Davis, Little Nog, Rashad Evan, and Rampage Jackson.
Currently he is ranked the #9 Heavyweight and the #5 Light Heavyweight according to the sherdog.com official mma rankings.
At 35 years old and with plenty of fights under his belt there's no telling how much longer he has in the sport, or even how much longer he can successfully implement his wrestle heavy style against high level MMA competition, although considering he currently fights in Bellator (NO USADA) I guess we can assume he may have a bit longer of a shelf life.
Regardless of where Bader's career goes from here, he has successfully used the platform of winning TUF to carve out a solid MMA career and a pretty solid legacy.
3: Robert Whittaker
The Reaper (or Bobby Knuckles as we prefer) won The Ultimate Fighter The Smashes by defeating Brad Scott via Unanimous Decision.
The Aussie has carved out quite the name for himself as an elite striker with amazing footwork and someone who isn't fazed by big names and bright lights.
With notable wins over Uriah Hall, Jacare Souza, and the human steroid Yoel Romero twice, he has shown his ability to compete at the highest level of the sport.
The current Middleweight king earned his undisputed crown through a chaotic set of circumstances that saw GSP come out of retirement and flip the entire 185 pound division on it's head. Although he doesnt have an official title defense (or even undisputed title win) on his resume, he did defeat Yoel Romero via split decision in a fight that was originally scheduled to be an undisputed title fight, until Romero missed weight.
As of late Whittaker has been plagued by injuries and has had to pull out of two different title defenses including one the day of the fight at UFC 234 in which he was scheduled to face Kelvin Gastelum (another TUF winner). Now with the new interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya on the horizon for Whittaker, he has stated that he is completely healthy and ready to compete.
As someone who helped grow the sport in the land down under, he has done more for the sport than just win fights and provide highlight reel finishes.
2: Michael Bisping
Michael Bisping won season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter by defeating Josh Haynes via 2nd rd TKO
Bisping was the first British Ultimate Fighter winner and became the first British UFC Champion when he KO'd Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 (a fight he took on two weeks notice) to take the crown.
He had a storied career that spanned 13 years and saw him earn a staggering 20 UFC wins, Including 2 title victories, and wins over notable fighters such as, Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva, Luke Rockhold, and Chris Leben.
Until his career defining title win over Rockhold, Bisping was seen as a journeyman of the sport. Since that fateful night in southern California Bisping has transformed his legacy from journeyman to that of a man who was extremely instrumental in popularizing the sport in the UK and becoming the first British UFC champion.
Many peoples opinions of Bisping have changed since his retirement and new career as color commentator (in which he is outstanding by the way). He used the TUF platform to its full advantage and did a lot for the sport that we all love.
1: Forrest Griffin
Forrest Griffin won the very first season of The Ultimate Fighter by defeating Stephan Bonnar via Unanimous Decision in what has been called "The fight that saved the sport" by many
Griffin's back and forth war of attrition was so consequential to the popularity of the sport that Dana White signed the contract for the second season of The Ultimate Fighter in the parking lot of the Cox Pavilion after the fight, this is after the Fertittas (the then owners of Zuffa and the UFC) had to fund the entire first season themselves as no network was willing to take a chance on the sport.
Griffin didn't have the most accolade filled career, with a UFC record of 10 wins and 5 losses, but he did capture the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship by defeating Rampage Jackson via Unanimous Decision at UFC 86.
What makes him top the list of Ultimate Fighter winners isn't just what he did inside the octagon, but also what he did outside of it.
He was always known as someone who would fight anyone, anywhere, and at anytime and when he fought he often brought the fight to his opponent regardless of the consequences.
He was very instrumental in helping push the sport into the mainstream with his go out on your sword fighting style and his abundantly charming and hilarious personality. To this day he remains employed by the UFC and is always mentioned when ever the discussion of what makes the Ultimate Fighter so special comes up.
Rashad Evans, Diego Sanchez, Matt Serra, and Carla Esparza.
Joshua Sloan
Twitter handle @heyitsmma
April 26, 2019 April 30, 2019 atortellabader, bisping, griffin, list, LISTS, the ultimate fighter, tuf, usman, whittaker
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Recently wrote an article about staycationing it up in the Burgh--Paris style. Could use some more feedback from locals!
Staycationing? Did you make that word up yerself n'at?
I guess I made it into a verb, but staycation is a legit noun...regardless of what spell check says!


Do migrants send remittances as a way of self-insurance?
How do risk preferences affect migrant remittance behaviour? Examination of this relationship has only begun to be explored. Using a tailored representative survey of 1,354 immigrants in the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland, we find a positive and significant relationship between risk aversion and migrant remittances. Risk-averse individuals are more likely to send remittances home and are, on average, likely to remit a higher amount, after controlling for a broad range of individual and group characteristics. The evidence we obtain, that more remittances are sent by risk-averse immigrants who face higher wage risks and to individuals with more financial resources, is consistent with self-insurance although we cannot, with our data, rule out other exchange motives.


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text:
The Power of Rhetoric in the Civilian-Military Divide
by Eric Gardiner
On April 10, Stephen Preston, General Counsel for the Defense Department, spoke at the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law. He ended his remarks on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in standard fashion:
We agency counsel all serve the same client, the United States of America, and each of us answers to the head of our respective agencies. But our highest calling, in my personal view, is to serve those who serve us.
It is not unusual for a top defense official to invoke the roughly two million people who comprise this country's all-volunteer force. High-level defense officials are often judged by their ability to grasp how their policies affect the lowest ranks. This is one of the chief reasons former Defense Sec. Robert Gates was revered — he saw himself as the custodian of an institution that, down to the greenest private, would outlast his tenure. With good reason, policymakers at the top of the civilian chain of command often appeal to those in uniform. This approach places service members at the locus of discussions that all too often take their sacrifice and adversity for granted.
Yet Preston's remarks should give us pause. In elevating soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen as a special subset of clients, the general counsel draws a distinction between service to military members and service to the general public. Such rhetoric exacerbates an already strained relationship between the military and the rest of American society.
As a technical matter, there is a difference between providing legal counsel to the government and serving "those who serve us." The military operates under the rule of law and all armed service members take an oath "to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." The DOD general counsel works within this legal framework, and more to the point, upholds it by telling the military when it has overstepped its legal bounds. While acknowledging military personnel makes sense given the many challenges that service members and their families face, comments like these threaten to obscure the role that lawyers play in reminding DOD about its constitutional commitments.
Clear legal guidance is particularly vital in the context of the changing character of warfare. Civil wars, insurgencies, and non-state terrorist groups dominate contemporary conflict. Even where there is great power rivalry, as with the United States and Iran, friction unfolds through proxy. Unconventional conflict — with no clear end or enemies — blurs legal and territorial boundaries. This ambiguity has prompted heated debate over the nature and scope of the AUMF. Amidst such debates, we need a Defense Department that sees itself as accountable to the polity.
These issues matter in policy circles. They're also crucially important on the ground. As they have fought wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, military members have struggled to see the link between the work they do abroad and the political system at home. Many service members believe that decisions on use of force only affect less than 0.5% of the population of the country — a warrior caste set apart, defending a public that doesn't seem to know or care about the realities of war. Senior leaders and retired flag officers have also highlighted this worrying trend. The law can counteract this gap between military and civilian life. Law connects those who serve to that which they defend. The best way to integrate the military into society is to insist that all members of the defense establishment serve the American people and owe a duty not only to each other, but to the rule of law.
Concerns about the isolation of the US military will only become more acute in coming years. The war in Afghanistan may be coming to a close, but around the world, American military commitments are growing. Al-Qaeda has splintered into several more dangerous regional terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which stands to gain significantly from recent civil strife in Yemen. ISIS continues to redefine the political geography of the Middle East in dangerous ways. Even the threat from Russia is expanding — the country now sends "little green men" across borders to spread an eastern sphere of influence.
Debates about these emergent threats often focus on the AUMF. Policymakers and politicians disagree about the legal boundaries of the US response to ISIS. These debates represent a democratic juncture—a moment at which the public has the opportunity to weigh in on use of force, and the law can connect the military to the polity.
Uniformed service members have been isolated by a decade and a half of service in a segment of society that is little acknowledged, except superficially, by the rest of the country. Rhetoric that unmoors the military from the law, even if well intentioned, does a disservice to an organization that is increasingly uncertain of its relationship to the society it defends. The general counsel provides a meaningful connective tissue between the military and the people of the United States. At a time when the bond between the two is increasingly feeble, government officials should speak in a way that implicates us all.
AUMF,
Civilian-Military Relations,
Eric Gardiner
Former Naval Special Warfare Officer, Advisor to the President at the Council on Foreign Relations, Graduate and Marshall Scholar of the Naval Academy Follow him on Twitter (@EricDGardiner). The views expressed above are his own.
July 3, 2019 by Tess Bridgeman and Ryan Goodman
Asking the Right Question on Iran, Al-Qaeda and the AUMF
June 21, 2019 by Joshua Geltzer, Ryan Goodman and Luke Hartig
June 21, 2019 by Brian Egan and Tess Bridgeman
Take Back: How Congress Can Reclaim Its Power
June 10, 2019 by Morton H. Halperin
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Does the McConnell amendment provide a justification for military operations against Iran?
February 7, 2019 by Brian Egan and Tess Bridgeman
U.S. Air Strike Data from Afghanistan Takes Step Back in Transparency
December 20, 2018 by Jessica Purkiss and Abigail Fielding-Smith
Legal Analysis of "Cabinet Memo" on the Military's Role at Southern Border
November 26, 2018 by William Banks
How Dangerous—and How New—Is the Defense Department's "Collective Self-Defense" Theory?
October 30, 2018 by Rita Siemion and Kate Kizer
U.S. Military's "Collective Self-Defense" of Non-State Partner Forces: What Does International Law Say?
October 26, 2018 by Elvina Pothelet
A New AUMF Is Not a Solution to "Endless War"
September 25, 2018 by Ken Gude
Post-9/11 Generation Reaches Enlistment Age in Unmoored 'War on Terror'
September 18, 2018 by Rita Siemion
Civilian Control of the Military During an Age of Trump and "Administrative Coups"
September 12, 2018 by Mark Nevitt


"You can't have an objective chairman of the FCC that's got 20 years of their life invested in being the head lobbyist for industry," Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation said in an interview.
Sascha Meinrath is vice president of the New America Foundation and director of the Open Technology Institute. In 2012 he was named one of the top 100 in Newsweek's Digital Power Index and he has been described as a "community Internet pioneer" and an "entrepreneurial visionary." He is a well-known expert on community wireless networks, municipal broadband, and telecommunications policy. In 2009 he was named one of Ars Technica's Tech Policy "People to Watch" and is also the 2009 recipient of the Public Knowledge IP3 Award for excellence in public interest advocacy.
Sascha founded the Commotion Wireless Project (a.k.a., the "Internet-in-a-Suitcase") and, along with Vint Cerf, is the co-founder of Measurement Lab (M-Lab), a distributed server platform for researchers around the world to deploy Internet measurement tools, advance network research, and empower the public with useful information about their broadband connections. He coordinates the Open Source Wireless Coalition, a global partnership of wireless integrators, researchers, implementors and companies dedicated to the development of open source, interoperable, low-cost wireless technologies. Sascha has worked with Free Press, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), the Acorn Active Media Foundation, the Ethos Group, and the CUWiN Foundation.
The problem of emergency communications and disaster recovery is often not the lack of resources, but lack of coordination. After Katrina, Sascha Meinrath coordinated the Community Wireless Emergency Response Initiative. The following offers some of what he and others learned about emergency communications.
Contrary to popular perception, the problem of disaster recovery is often not the lack of resources, but lack of coordination.
One key component to successful emergency response is a dynamic, direct and robust communications network — a structure the United States had been missing. Key decision-makers turned a deaf ear to the problem until Hurricane Katrina made such an ostrich-stance untenable, and the United States had to learn the lesson the hard way. Yet a year later, improvements have been incredibly modest. During the next major disaster, experts say we should expect more of the same — a lack of coherent, rapidly deployable, interoperable communications networks for first responders and the communities they serve.
Follow me cause I'm so pleasant? An analysis found that people who tweeted negatively about their job generally tweeted more than regular users and had fewer followers than those who tweet positive things about their workplace.
Social media does funny things to some people. While most would sensibly avoid calling their bungling boss an idiot to their face, many don't think twice before venting their anger and frustration on Twitter. A new tool called FireMe! offers a tongue-in-cheek way of warning someone if they have gone too far.
Ricardo Kawase and colleagues at the University of Hanover in Germany created FireMe! as a way of reminding everyone how risky it can be complaining about your job publicly on Twitter. In a single week last June, they found almost 22,000 people who had tweeted about their job or boss in a negative way.
Each alert also contained a link which, if followed, gave them their FireMeter! score – their chance of being fired as a percentage.
Cerf must not be allowed to award a "cluster" of charters in Paterson to his Edison Learning buddy, just as the good people of Paterson and their elected officials struggle to get out from under 21 years of unsuccessful state control. Why should they be subjected to more failed state policies, and why should they have no say in the future of their district? If Wilson gets a foothold in Paterson now, much needed funds will be drained from the Paterson budget just as the district is trying to reestablish local control.
Darcie Cimarust turned investigative journalist.
Darcie Cimarust aka Mother Crusader mastered the Open Public Records Act and dug into information that connect the New Jersey State Education Department emails between State Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf and an old friend from Edison days who now runs charter schools.
She learns how the state decided to award the friend a grant of $150,000 to plan a charter or cluster of charters in Paterson.
She notes that the state feels no obligation to solicit comment from anyone who lives in Paterson.
Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and regularly submit OPRA requests which reveal all kinds of interesting information. So the thought occurred to me to OPRA emails between Wilson and Cerf or any other employee of the NJDOE.
You can click on the column headers below to re-sort the search.
Only the first 500 transactions for the year were shown — click here to retrieve all 2,274 of them.
*Note: FY 2012 only includes data up through part of third quarter.
** Note: negative numbers represent deallocations.
This total is 0.5% of all awarded dollars for the fiscal year.
This search was done on March 22, 2013.
Only the first 500 transactions for the year were shown — click here to retrieve all 3,521 of them.
This total is 0.3% of all awarded dollars for the fiscal year.
well as toys and building materials.
through the dishwasher or when they are heated (including microwaved).
estrogenic (meaning they can disrupt normal hormonal functioning).
Number 6 plastics (polystyrene) are made into soft Styrofoam-style cups as well as rigid foams and hard plastic products, so remember to look for those little numbers in the arrows (don't feel bad if you need a magnifying glass). Avoid using them as much as possible.Why? Number 6 plastics can release potentially toxic breakdown products (including styrene). Get this: particularly when heated! That insulated coffee cup — the one that 'knows' when to keep your drink warm — doesn't seem so smart anymore does it?
Water bottles are be made from various types of plastic — polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl), and others. To reiterate, they all migrate to some degree. I will focus on just one chemical that migrates out of one plastic that is used to make products with high use and sales profiles.
Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a monomer used in the synthesis of PC plastics, epoxy resins, and composites, as well as a heat stabilizer in PVC. The list of products containing BPA is long. Some rigid containers such as water and baby bottles are made of PC. The popular Nalgene® water bottles are made of Lexan® brand PC. In the medical industry, it is used for syringes, containers, lenses, and dental products. Keep in mind that the FDA regulates only plastics in contact with foods and not any of the other exposures a person might commonly experience every day at home, school, or the office. Because the FDA approves plastics for specific uses rather than for individual chemicals, BPA is not explicitly regulated. It is important to note that all exposures, no matter what origin, are relevant and cumulative. Even other chemicals that act in the body in similar ways can be part of the total effect. The body's natural defenses try to breakdown toxins as they enter. These are called metabolites and can be significantly more toxic than the original chemical.
@CyberPlayGround Loves Librarians who are the best defense for liberty in America.
About the James Madison Award The award named for President James Madison was established in 1986 and is presented annually on the anniversary of his birth to honor individuals or groups who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the public's right to know at the national level.
Before his untimely death in January, Swartz was an outspoken advocate for public participation in government and unrestricted access to peer-reviewed scholarly articles. Swartz was a co-founder of Demand Progress, an advocacy group that organizes people to take action on civil liberties and government reform issues. Swartz was also a leader in the national campaign to prevent the passing of the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill that would have diminished critical online legal protections.
Did MIT kill Aaron Swartz?
Education reform over the past decades has ushered in changes in standards, assessment, curriculum, and teacher evaluation. Most recently, the focus has turned to teachers and their professional preparation; research has shown that teachers are the most significant in-school influence on student achievement. While education reform is often politicized, the opposing sides share considerable common ground. In the end, those vested in the topic of education reform agree that every student deserves the best teachers and education possible.
The Council for the Accreditation of Education Preparation (CAEP) takes up its responsibilities as the new national accreditor of educator preparation providers, including more than 900 initially accredited providers currently accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC), at a time of high interest in P-12 student performance and in the capabilities of the education workforce. In this context, accreditation must be a strong lever in shaping educator preparation, assuring the public of the rigor of educator preparation programs.


text:
Key Monastery, by Karan Zadoo
Award Winner | Photo of the Day | August 29th | 0 Reviews
Key Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located on top of a hill at an altitude of 4,166 metres (13,668 ft) above sea level, close to the Spiti River, in the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh, Lahaul and Spiti district, India. It is the biggest monastery of Spiti Valley and a religious training centre for Lamas. It reportedly had 100 monks in 1855.
Nikon D700 with 50mm | Exposure 1/8000 @ f/3.5 | ISO 400 | Focal Length 50mm
Award Winner: Photo of the Day | August 29
Award Score: 68 (Value 12.5, Clarity 12.5, Composition 18, Style 12.5, Skill 12.5)
Photograph Location: Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh | India
Photographer: Karan Zadoo (New Delhi, India) Registered
Born in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir photographer Karan Zadoo came to Delhi with his parents as a young boy. After getting educated in Delhi and taking a job with an advertising agency the life of marketing executive and the harshness of a job with little love returned was the turning point in his life. Karan left his agency, returned home and left for a long vacation to the hills (Himalaya). That's where he realized his love in exploring new things getting close to nature or any beautiful unexplored or explored travel destination. Even a village or anything would do just backpacking. Delighted to realize his dream but yet he also realized that he needed to figure out what he could do to help his dreams get established in life. Zadoo noticed that everywhere he went there was a DSLR/SLR camera on each and every tourist. That gave him a thought to experience and become a Photographer for which he came back to Delhi and started learning and understanding the role of light in writing with a camera and lens which included aperture, shutter, ISO, white balance & so on and on… Amazed and thinking what a lucky person he was to be aware of all that he learned. Even after six years of capturing images Zadoo still gets a certain thrill when taking pictures that he cannot be express with words. Even with no idea about the dark room maybe because he touched the camera at a later age when the darkroom was pretty dark and replaced with rooms full of computers and software like Adobe and all. Zadoo relies on his Nikon cameras D200 and D700 which accompany him on every occasion. Throughout his travels across the country Zadoo has learned that the eclectic range of people throughout India offers untold photographic opportunities, whether it's from the back lanes of Delhi or the hills of Himachal stories are waiting to be captured. With a love of landscapes, food and people India offers the perfect backdrop. Whether capturing people at a place where they are dressed to the occasion like a fair or festival or their respected state and place where they belong is what gives the audience a feeling of that person's life and way of living in his own small town and village or a state or any place. These moments also aspired Zadoo to understand the documentation of certain people in their life like many others photographers do. Learning Photography is based on endless tries and unlimited pictures and you can never be called the best or ace because every time you grow things turn on table. As a photographer Zadoo always wants to be learning and evolving with his shutter release and the photographs he takes. Zadoo says "To make it simple all I can say that photography has changed things deep in my thoughts and I want to be one of the decent photographers of this time."
Website: http://karanzadoo.wordpress.com/
Tags: Himachal Pradesh, Karan Zadoo, Spiti Valley, Travel Photography, India
Le Crêt Braffaz Route des Confins, by Ola Cedell
A Man, a Boy, and a Camel by Shirren Lim
Tribal Women in a Carnival, by Amey Kant
Lost in the Crowd, by Liton Chowdhury
Joy, by Jabbar Jamil
Hope for Better Life, by Soumya Geetha
Majesty of El Misti, by Daniel Schnyder
Under the Blissful Clouds, by Masrur Ashraf
Father's Day for Rani, by Shahnaz Parvin
My Private Paradise, by Patricia Saraiva


But I have a really good excuse.
On July 3rd, I had eye surgery to repair a detached retina. The retina specialist inserted a gas bubble into the eye which helps the retina reattach. To keep the bubble in place, I have to lie on my left side, my rights side, or my stomach. I can also look straight at the floor when I'm sitting up. Needless to say, this has cut down a great deal on my writing, blogging and posting.
With this air bubble, I cannot fly or be placed in a hyperbolic chamber. I wasn't planning on doing anything hyperbolic but I had planned to fly to the RWA conference in Atlanta on Tuesday. However, I also do not want to lose my vision which could happen if I fly while the gas bubble is still present.
I visited the retina specialist this morning. He says I cannot fly on Tuesday. I see him again Wednesday and he may allow me to fly Thursday or Friday.
Hope to begin blogging soon but, first, I have to go stare at the floor.


text:
Moreton in Marsh man burst into shop with knife
KNIFE: Moreton-in-Marsh man Anthony Smith. Picture: Gloucestershire Constabulary
A MORETON-IN-MARSH man burst into a shop, armed with a knife, and set upon the shopkeeper, a court heard.
The "nasty incident" took place at Albion Stores, Albion Street, Cheltenham, on May 5, this year, was captured on CCTV which was shown at Gloucester Crown Court.
READ MORE: A44 'has become a dangerous racetrack' with motorcyclists speeding claims resident
Anthony Smith, of Stockwell Road, pleaded guilty to assault with intent to rob and to possessing a bladed article – a knife – in a public place when he appeared at the court on July 4.
The attack, which involved the defendant grappling with the victim for more than two minutes, only ended when security officers entered the shop and separated the pair.
Nicholas Clough, defending, said: "There are underlying issues here and my client has learning difficulties.
"He had been drinking that night."
Janine Wood, prosecuting, said: "It was a nasty incident but fortunately the victim suffered no injury.
"But as the defendant is of previous good character I think that a full pre-sentence report is necessary."
His Honour Judge Ian Lawrie QC said: "He is going to custody for a significant period of time but the only issue is for how long.
"The attack was prolonged.
"Assault with intent to rob, especially when a knife is involved, is a very serious offence."
Judge Lawrie QC ordered that a pre-sentence report be prepared and he granted Smith conditional bail until August 15, when the defendant will learn his fate.
READ MORE: Man wanted in connection with stolen credit cards used in Bourton and Stow