text:
\section{Introduction}
\label{intro}

Pulling a matte from a film or video sequence is the act of cutting out an
object from its background by creating a transparency mask or $\alpha$ matte,
that ranges between 0 and 1. An $\alpha$ value of 0 at pixel $i$ means that only
the background colour $B_i$ is visible, an $\alpha$ value of 1 means that only
the foreground colour $F_i$ is visible, and values in-between 0 and 1 manifest a
blend between the object and the background:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:matting}
  C_i = \alpha_i F_i + (1 - \alpha_i) B_i
\end{equation}

To help the algorithms, techniques typically ask the user to scribble a {\em
  trimap}, defining foreground, background and the unknown region to be pulled.

Since the successful work of Chuang et al.~\cite{Chuang01} on bayesian matting
in 2001, the notion of matting as an inference problem has been explored by
several authors (see in particular Poisson Matting [2] and Inference Matting
[3]). In 2007 Levin et al.~\cite{Levin08a} proposed a number of remarkable
advances by finding a closed-form solution to the matting problem. Their
solution is fast and very often used as a core component in subsequent matting
techniques~\cite{He11,Shahrian13,Karacan2015ICCV}.

A key contribution from Levin et al.~\cite{Levin08a} is to consider that the
transparency value can be approximated as a linear combination of the colour
components:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:linearmattingequation}
  \alpha_i = a_i^T C_i + b_i
\end{equation}
with $a_i = [a_i^R, a_i^G, a_i^B]$. Instead of a non-linear problem with 6
unknowns (3 for $F$, 3 for $B$), we are left with a linear model with 4 unknowns
(3 for $a$ and 1 for $b$). This linear approximation is justified by the fact
that colours often spread along 3D lines in the colour space (see Hillman et
al.~\cite{hillman05}).

Interestingly this approach has been used routinely in video post-production for
a long time. For instance, tools used to extract transparency maps for green or
blue screens (also called keyers) are often based on a simple linear fit.

The second contribution of Levin's work is to introduce a smoothness constraint
that yields a global closed-form solution. They state that the matting model
should hold for overlapping $3\times3$ image patch $w_i$. This leads to the
following energy to minimise:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:cfm:energy}
  J(\alpha, a, b) = \sum_i \sum_{j\in w_i } \left(a_i^T C_j + b_i -
  \alpha_j\right)^2 + \epsilon \|a_j\|^2
\end{equation}
The term $\epsilon \|a_j\|^2$ adds further smoothness to the matte by damping
$a$ towards zero and thus flattening the matte.

At this point Levin et al have chosen to integrate $a$, $b$ out of the problem
and so generate a marginalised estimate of $\alpha$. This leads to a linear
system as follows:
\begin{equation}
  (L + D) \alpha = D \alpha_0
\end{equation}
where $\alpha_0$ is the initial guess for the transparency values, and $D$ a
diagonal matrix of the confidence values for this guess. The sparse matrix $L$
is the matting Laplacian, derived from \eq{eq:cfm:energy}, with entries as
follows:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:cfm:weights}\small
  L_{i,j} = \sum_{k|i,j\in w_k} \delta_{i,j} - \frac{1 + (C_i-\mu_k) \left( R_k
    + \frac{\epsilon}{|w_k|}\right)^{-1}(C_j-\mu_k)}{|w_k|}
\end{equation}
where $\mu_k$ and $R_k$ are the mean and covariance of patch $w_k$.

\paragraph*{Contribution.}

We argue in this paper that instead of integrating out $a$ and $b$, it might be
more interesting to integrate out $\alpha$ and solve for $a$ and $b$ instead. In
\fig{fig:example} is an example of our estimates for $a$ and $b$ ($a$ has been
rescaled to $a/5+.5$ to better show the effect). We can think of $a$ as the
colour of the colour filter applied to the input picture to reveal
$\alpha$. Whereas the values of $\alpha$ might vary quickly and change across
the image scales, the values of $a$ and $b$ are locally smooth. Levin et
al. take advantage of this for upscaling $\alpha$ map without solving the linear
system. Estimates of $a$ and $b$ are derived from the lowres $\alpha$ map and a
highres $\alpha$ map is obtained by applying \eq{eq:linearmattingequation} on
the upscaled $a$ and $b$. What we propose is to work directly with $a$ and $b$
and avoid the estimation step from $\alpha$. This will result in a cleaner
estimation of $a$ and $b$.

In closed-form matting, it is hard to finely control the scale of the spatial
smoothness. The minimum stencil size for $\alpha$ is a $5\times 5$ stencil, and
larger patches require a different approach~\cite{He10} to be practical. We show
that working directly with $a$ and $b$ allows us to use a more compact 5-point
stencil and gives us a simpler way to control the spatial smoothness.

Lastly, the matting Laplacian of \eq{eq:cfm:weights} needs to be positive
definite. In~\cite{Levin08a}, this is enforced by adding the unary prior
$\epsilon\|a\|^2$. The problem is that this prior is purely used for numerical
stability and does not yield interesting matting properties. This is noted in
Piti\'e and Kokaram~\cite{PitieK10} who argue that a better approach is to set
$\epsilon$ only in the direction of small eigenvalues of the covariance
matrix. Other priors on the patch covariance matrix are discussed
in~\cite{Singaraju09}, but then again, the analysis is limited to the patch
size. We argue in this paper that working with $a$ and $b$ yield in simpler and
more useful priors.

\begin{figure}
  \setlength{\tabcolsep}{.5pt} \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{.7}
  \begin{tabular}{ccc}
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/net.png} &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/trimap-net.png} &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/alpha-net.png}
    \\ (a) & (b) & (c)
    \\ \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_net_ours_a.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_net_ours_b.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_net_ours_alpha.png}
    \\ (d) & (e) & (f) \\
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{Example. (a) input image, (b) trimap, (c) $\alpha_0$
    from~\cite{He11}, (d) estimated $a$, (e) estimated $b$, (f)
    estimated $\alpha$. }
  \label{fig:example}
\end{figure}

\paragraph*{Organisation of the paper.}
In section~\ref{sec:ourlap}, we derive an alternate matting Laplacian
formulation for $a$ and $b$. We also expose how the spatial and unary priors can
be set in this new framework. Results and comparisons of our approach to
closed-form matting are presented in section~\ref{sec:res}.

\section{Matting Colour Filter}\label{sec:ourlap}

Let us use the notation $X = [C; 1]$ as it allows us to write the linear
matting model in a slightly more compact form:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:ourmatting}
  \alpha_i = X_i^T \beta_i
\end{equation}
The model parameters $\beta_i = [a_i; b_i]$ is of dimension $4 \times 1$ and is
the concatenation of $a$ and $b$ of closed-form matting.

\subsection{Matting Laplacian for $\beta$}

We start from the same energy as in \eq{eq:cfm:energy}, but ignoring for the
moment the penalty term on $\epsilon \|a\|^2$ and only focusing on the spatial
constraints:
\begin{equation}
  J^*(\alpha,\beta) =  \sum_i \sum_{j\in w_i } \left( X_j^T \beta_i -
  \alpha_j\right)^2
\end{equation}
Denote $w^{-1}_j = \{i : j \in w_i\}$ and reorder the summation:
\begin{equation}
  J^*(\alpha,\beta) = \sum_j \sum_{i \in w^{-1}_j} \left( X_j^T \beta_i -
  \alpha_j\right)^2
\end{equation}
Now let us integrate out $\alpha$:
\begin{equation}
  J^*(\beta) =  \sum_j \min_{\alpha_j} \sum_{i \in w^{-1}_j} \left( X_j^T \beta_i -
  \alpha_j\right)^2
\end{equation}
The least square estimate for $\alpha_j$ is $\frac{1}{|w^{-1}_j|}\sum_{k \in w^{-1}_j} X_j^T \beta_k$,
\begin{equation}
  J^*(\beta) =  \sum_j \sum_{i \in w^{-1}_j } \left( X_j^T \beta_i - \frac{1}{|w^{-1}_j|}\sum_{k \in w^{-1}_j} X_j^T \beta_k \right)^2
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
  J^*(\beta) = \sum_j \sum_{i \in w^{-1}_j } \left(
  \frac{1}{|w^{-1}_j|}\sum_{k \in w^{-1}_j} X_j^T (\beta_i - \beta_k)
  \right)^2
\end{equation}
This is a quadratic form in $\beta$. We can rewrite it as follows:
\begin{equation}
  J^*(\beta) = \sum_{i,k} \beta_i^T A_{i,k} \beta_k
\end{equation}
with
\begin{equation}
  A_{i,k}  =
  \begin{cases}
    - \sum_{j : i,k \in w^{-1}_j} \frac{2}{|w^{-1}_j|^2} X_j X_j^T &
    \text{if } i \neq k \\ - \sum_{l \neq i} A_{i,l} & \text{if } i = k
  \end{cases}
\end{equation}
Similarly to the closed-form approach, we end up with a linear system
of equations:
\begin{equation}
  \left(A + A_0\right)\beta = A_0 \beta_0
\end{equation}
The trimap and other priors are encoded into $A_0$ and $\beta_0$ and will be
discussed in the following sections on unary priors.

This time the matting Laplacian $A=(A_{i,k})$ is a block banded matrix, with
each block matrix being of size $4 \times 4$.  Importantly this linear system
solves the exact same energy as in closed-form matting. Thus solving for $\beta$
and then resolving the matting equation $\alpha=x_i^T\beta_i$ is the same as
solving directly for closed-form matting. In the following, we discuss the
benefits of this approach.

\subsection{Matting as an Anisotropic Diffusion}

In closed-form matting, the use of the inverse of the covariance matrix in
\eq{eq:cfm:weights} requires a minimum patch size to ensure numerical stability
of the matrix inversion. There is no such numerical issue here, and we can
safely consider much smaller patch sizes. For instance, for patches of size 2
({\em i.e.} vertical and horizontal pairs), it follows a 5-point stencil linear
system:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:mla:weights}
  \boxed{
    A_{i,k}  =
    \begin{cases}
      -  \frac{1}{2} (X_i X_i^T + X_k X_k^T)
      & \text{if }   i \neq k, k \in \mathcal{N}_i \\
      - \sum_{l \neq i} A_{i,l} & \text{if }   i = k
  \end{cases}}
\end{equation}
where $\mathcal{N}_i$ is the 5-point stencil of pixel $i$.

Interestingly this system corresponds to an anisotropic diffusion process for
$\beta$. In continuous settings, the smoothness constraint is in fact equivalent
to:
\begin{equation}
  \mathrm{div}(X^T  \nabla \beta )= 0
\end{equation}
where the spatial gradient $\nabla \beta$ is of dimension $4 \times 2$. Note that
it is possible to start from this formulation to derive \eq{eq:mla:weights}
using finite difference approximation.

\subsection{Spatial Priors}

In closed-form matting, the prior on the spatial smoothness is controlled via a
penalty energy $\epsilon \|a\|^2$ which biases $a$ towards zero, hence making
sure that $\alpha$ is smooth. This prior is used to enable the stable inversion
of the colour covariance matrix.

With our proposed formulation, there is another way of imposing spatial prior by
setting a prior on $X\x^T$. The matrix $X\x^T$ is of rank 1. This can make $A$
indefinite and thus unstable to solve. However, a number of simple priors on the
colour distribution of $X$ can help making $A$ definite positive.

For instance, we can replace $X_iX_i^T$ with $X_iX_i^T + \epsilon_s I_4$ in
\eq{eq:mla:weights}. This increases the rank to 4 by adding a small isotropic
Gaussian prior on the distribution of $X$. Alternatively, we can replace
$X_iX_i^T$ with a local estimate of $\mathbbm{E}\{X_iX_i^T\}$, which can be
obtained by a spatial Gaussian blur (variance $\sigma_s$) of the values of
$X_iX_i^T$.

We believe that these kind of spatial priors are more principled and useful.

\subsection{Unary Priors}

In closed-form matting, the unary priors are limited to a prior on $\alpha$ and
the penalty energy $\epsilon \|a\|^2$. Here we explore what can be gained from
using a full Multivariate Gaussian prior on $\beta$:
\begin{equation}
  U_{\beta}(\beta_i) = \frac{1}{2} \left(\beta_i -
  \beta_{i,0}\right)^TA_{i,0}\left(\beta_i - \beta_{i,0}\right)^T
\end{equation}
where $A_{i,0}$ is the covariance of the of MVG prior and $\beta_{i0}$ the
expected mean value. For a practical design of $A_{i,0}$, consider that we have
$N$ samples $X_1,\cdots,X_N$ for which we have expected
$\alpha_1,\cdots,\alpha_N$ and confidence measure $\lambda_1, \cdots,
\lambda_N$:
\begin{equation}
  \begin{aligned}
    & U_{\beta}(\beta_i)
    =  \frac{1}{2N} \sum_{n=1}^N \lambda_n \left(X_n^T \beta_i - \alpha_n \right)^2 \\
    &=  \frac{1}{2N} \sum_{n=1}^N \lambda_n  \beta_i^T X_n X_n^T
    \beta_i + \alpha_n^2 - 2 \lambda_n  \alpha_n X_n^T \beta_i \\
    &= \frac{1}{2} \left(\beta_i - A_{i,0}^{-1} \mu_{i,0}\right)^T A_{i,0} \left(\beta_i - A_{i,0}^{-1} \mu_{i,0}\right)
  \end{aligned}
\end{equation}
with $A_{i,0} = \frac{1}{N}\sum_{n=1}^{N} \lambda_n  X_n X_n^T$ and
$A_{i,0}\beta_{i,0}=\mu_{i,0}=\frac{1}{N}\sum_{n=1}^{N} \lambda_n
\alpha_nX_n$. The complete linear system is as follows:
\begin{equation}
  \left(A + A_{0}\right) \beta = \mu_0
\end{equation}
where $A_{0}$ is a block diagonal made up of all the $A_{i,0}$ matrices and
vector $\mu_{0} = A_{i,0} \beta_0$ is the concatenation of all $\mu_{0,i}$.

\paragraph*{Prior on $\alpha$.} If we want to for $\alpha_i$ to be closed
to $\alpha_{i0}$, then we can set $A_{i,0} = \lambda X_i X_i^T$ and
$\mu_{\alphaX} = \lambda \alpha_{i0}X_i$.

\paragraph*{Prior on $F$.} For a prior on
$X_F$, then we set $A_{i,0} = \lambda X_F X_F^T$ and $\mu_{i,0} = \lambda
X_F$. Alternatively, if we have a distribution for $X_F$, then $A_{i,0}=
\mathbbm{E}\left\{\lambdaX_FX_F^T\right\}$ and $\mu_{i,0} =
\mathbbm{E}\{\lambdaX_F\}$.

\paragraph*{Prior on $B$.} Similarly, if we wish to impose a prior on
$X_B$, then we set $A_{i,0} = \lambda X_B X_B^T$ and $\mu_{i,0} = \lambda
X_B$. Alternatively, we can set $A_{i,0}=
\mathbbm{E}\left\{\lambdaX_FX_F^T\right\}$ and $\mu_{i,0} =
\mathbbm{E}\{\lambdaX_F\}$.

\begin{figure}
  \setlength{\tabcolsep}{.5pt} \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{.7}

  \begin{tabular}{ccc}
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/donkey.png} &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_donkey_levin.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_donkey_ours.png}
    \\ (a) & (b) & (c)
    \\ \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/alpha-donkey.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_donkey_ours_alpha.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_donkey_levin_alpha.png}
    \\ (d) & (e) & (f) \\
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{Input image on (a). (b) $\beta$ estimated using closed-form, (c)
    using our technique ($\sigma_s=1$, $\epsilon_s=10^{-4}$), MAD(e,f)=0.0025.}
\label{fig:donkeyvsLevin}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}
  \setlength{\tabcolsep}{.5pt} \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{.7}
  \begin{tabular}{ccc}
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_scales_a1.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_scales_a2.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_scales_a4.png}
    \\ (a) & (b) & (c)
    \\ \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_scales_alpha1.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_scales_alpha20.png}
    &
    \includegraphics[width=0.33\linewidth]{figures/figure_scales_alpha40.png}
    \\ (d) & (e) & (f) \\
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{Estimation at different scales. (a) $\beta$ estimated from full
    resolution image, $\alpha_0$ and confidence $\lambda$, (b) from half res,
    (c) from quarter res. (d) derived $\alpha$ at full res, (e) derived using
    upsampled $\beta$ from (f) (SSIM(d,e)=0.9768; MAD(d,e)=0.0085), derived
    using upsampled $\beta$ from (c) (SSIM(d,f)= 0.9544; MAD(d,f)=0.0128). }
  \label{fig:scales}
\end{figure}

\section{Results}\label{sec:res}

We expect our technique to produce transparency maps that are very similar to
the ones produced by closed-form matting. The only numerical difference with
closed-form results from the choice of spatial and unary priors.

Although closed-form matting is being extensively used as a smoothing constraint
or final filtering stage (eg. ~\cite{He11,Chen13}), it ranks poorly against the
state of the art for very sparse trimaps. We propose in the following to look at
a typical matting scenario where matting is first bootstrapped with a sampling
step~\cite{He11}, which gives us an initial $\alpha_0$ map and confidence map
$\lambda$.

\subsection{Comparison with Closed-Form Matting}
In \fig{fig:scales}, we show the difference between the $\beta$ values estimated
using closed-form matting (b) and our technique (c), with $\sigma_s=1$,
$\epsilon_s=10^{-4}$. The Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) between the derived
$\alpha$ maps (e) and (f) is 0.0025, which confirms that both approaches produce
very similar results. Comparisons for the 26 examples of the training dataset of
the alpha matting evaluation website~\cite{alphamatting.com, TUW-180666} are
presented in Table~\ref{table:diff}.

\subsection{Upscaling}
One key advantage of our approach is that the estimation of $\beta$ at a coarse
scale can be used for estimating $\alpha$ at higher scales. In \fig{fig:scales}
we show on (a) $\beta$ estimated from a full resolution image, from half res (b)
and from quarter res images (c). The derived $\alpha$ map is shown in (e) when
using full res $\beta$, (f) when using upsampled half res $\beta$ and (g) when
using upsampled quarter res $\beta$. The estimated $\alpha$ maps are consistent
through the scales (SSIM(e,f)=0.9768; MAD(e,f)=0.0085) and (SSIM(e, g)= 0.9544;
MAD(e,f)=0.0128).

Comparisons at full res, half res and quarter res for the 26 training images are
reported in Table~\ref{table:diffres} and confirm that estimating $\beta$ at lower
resolutions can be efficiently used for pulling an equivalent quality $\alpha$
map at full resolution.

\subsection{Running Time} The complexity of our approach is similar to
closed-form matting. The main difference is that closed-form matting requires a
$5\times 5$ stencil for $\alpha$, whereas we only need a 5-stencil. On the other
hand, in closed-form matting we only manipulate a scalar ($\alpha$), whereas in
our approach we manipulate $\beta$ and $X\x^t$, which are of dimensions
$4\times 1$ and $4 \times 4$. In this paper, the algorithms compared are
implemented in MATLAB using exact solvers and are not optimised for speed. We
believe however that our approach has the potential to offer better performances
as it requires less spatial access than closed-form, and is also better suited
for multi-grid iterative solvers because of the smoothness of $\beta$.

\subsection{Limitations}
Our method suffers from the same limitations as with closed-form matting. The
main issue is that the linear model of \eq{eq:linearmattingequation} is not
always a good approximation. This is especially true when the background is
cluttered. Also, as it is essentially a diffusion process, the geometry and
sparness of the trimap has a key influence on the results. It is typically
difficult to pick up isolated hair strands. Using sampling techniques as a
pre-process helps reducing the issue.

\begin{table}[t]
  \centering
    \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|}
      \hline
       SSIM mean & SSIM std & SAD mean & SAD std \\
      \hline
      \hline
       0.9751 & 0.02 & 0.0052 & 0.0051 \\
      \hline
    \end{tabular}
    \caption{ Difference between closed-form matting
       and our approach for the 26 training images
      of~\cite{alphamatting.com}.}
      \label{table:diff}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[t]
  \centering
    \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|}
      \hline
      & SSIM mean & SSIM std & SAD mean & SAD std \\
      \hline
      \hline
      \sfrac{1}{2} res & 0.9441 & 0.0437 & 0.0118 & 0.0101 \\
      \hline
      \sfrac{1}{4} res & 0.9138 & 0.0596 & 0.019 & 0.0165\\
      \hline
    \end{tabular}
    \caption{Difference between our approach at full res and half res, full res
      and quarter res. The results are compiled using the 26 training images
      of~\cite{alphamatting.com}.  }
      \label{table:diffres}
\end{table}

\section{Conclusion}

We have proposed an alternative presentation for the closed-form matting
Laplacian. This alternative framework is built around a direct manipulation of
the linear matting model parameters $a$ and $b$. The resulting transparency maps
are very similar to the one obtained with closed-form matting. We have shown
however that our framework yields better expositions of the spatial and unary
priors and that the smoothness of the model parameters allow us to efficiently
scale up transparency maps to higher resolutions.

\bibliographystyle{IEEEbib}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Q: Access is Denied running Jupyter Notebook (Anaconda) I am getting "access is denied" trying to run a Jupyter notebook on Windows 10, from a c:\jupyter subdirectory.
I have reinstalled Anaconda but using the corporate process for software installation, and I think my original installation may have been done manually using the software downloader.
The weird thing is, if I active a specific conda environment - then all of a sudden I am able to launch the notebook from that folder.
(base) C:\jupyter>jupyter notebook
Access is denied.

(base) C:\jupyter>activate ariel

(ariel) C:\jupyter>jupyter notebook
[I 15:11:13.191 NotebookApp] JupyterLab extension loaded from C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\envs\ariel\lib\site-packages\jupyterlab
[I 15:11:13.191 NotebookApp] JupyterLab application directory is C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\envs\ariel\share\jupyter\lab
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[I 15:11:13.671 NotebookApp]  or http://127.0.0.1:8888/?token=01701eceb8e6938d4983f553eb276a4e1ff69ea970824ea6
[I 15:11:13.671 NotebookApp] Use Control-C to stop this server and shut down all kernels (twice to skip confirmation).
[C 15:11:14.281 NotebookApp]

    To access the notebook, open this file in a browser:
        file:///C:/Users/MP9293Q/AppData/Roaming/jupyter/runtime/nbserver-3548-open.html
    Or copy and paste one of these URLs:
        http://localhost:8888/?token=01701eceb8e6938d4983f553eb276a4e1ff69ea970824ea6
     or http://127.0.0.1:8888/?token=01701eceb8e6938d4983f553eb276a4e1ff69ea970824ea6

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text:
package ch.sourcepond.integrationtest.utils;

import java.util.List;

import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
import org.apache.commons.lang3.SystemUtils;

public class MavenExecutionException extends RuntimeException {
	public final int exitCode;
	public final List<String> output;

	public MavenExecutionException(final int exitCode, final List<String> output) {
		super("Error from mvn: " + output);
		this.exitCode = exitCode;
		this.output = output;
	}

	@Override
	public String toString() {
		return "MavenExecutionException{" + "exitCode=" + exitCode + ", output="
				+ StringUtils.join(output.toArray(), SystemUtils.LINE_SEPARATOR);
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Sing Theatrical Trailer (2016)
Theatrical Trailer for Sing.
In a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, a koala named Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) works to keep his theater from closing down. To this end, Buster and his sheep friend Eddie (John C. Reilly) hold a singing contest to raise money, and the entire town auditions for a part in the show. The leading five are an overworked pig named Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) with her pig partner named Gunter (Nick Kroll), an arrogant and gambling white mouse named Mike (Seth MacFarlane), a punk-rock porcupine named Ash (Scarlett Johansson), a timid teenage elephant named Meena (Tori Kelly), and a British gorilla named Johnny (Taron Egerton), who wants to sing instead of following his father's criminal footsteps.
The soundtrack album for the film will be released on December 21, 2016...same day as the film hits theaters.
While it was previously rumored that film would include over 100 hit songs, due to licensing issues they had to cut some of the tracks. We now know that the film will have closer to 85 classic tracks from famous artists and will also have an original song by Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande called "Faith".
With its highly relatable characters, heart and humor, the first collaboration between writer/director Garth Jennings (Son of Rambow, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri marks the sixth fully animated feature from the studio.
Sing will just mark Garth Jennings's third time in the Director's chair. The other two were Son of Rambow and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Garth was also the Writer for Son of Rambow as he is with Sing.
With this being our fourth trailer now for Sing, you have to know what you are getting yourself into if you decide to see this film.
This films feels like a cross between Pitch Perfect, Rock of Ages and Minions. You get great classic songs that everyone knows and can relate to coupled with some of the humor we have grown to expect from an Illumination film.
You should not expect to see an Oscar worthy performance with Sing, but a light hearted good time . If it was up to me I would skip Sing until it is available On Demand, but I have a feeling that my kids are going to be dragging me out to the theaters to see this...of course after we see Rogue One.
CG Animation
Feb 15, 2016 Trailer
Jul 07, 2016 Extended Trailer
May 23, 2016 Feature Trailer
Nov 02, 2016 Theatrical Trailer
Aug 05, 2016 TV Spot - Sing For the Gold
Feb 11, 2016 TV Spot - Teaser Preview
Feb 14, 2017 Special Edition Trailer
Sep 09, 2016 TV Spot - Faith
Nov 16, 2016 TV Spot - Happy Holidays
Dec 02, 2016 Call Me Maybe
Nov 22, 2016 TV Spot - Auditions
Dec 22, 2016 Featurette - Rosita
Dec 22, 2016 Featurette - Meena
Dec 22, 2016 Featurette - Gunter
Dec 22, 2016 Featurette - Buster
Dec 06, 2016 Tip
Dec 06, 2016 Hallelujah
Dec 06, 2016 Distracted
Dec 06, 2016 Cheer Up
In the Heights Trailer
Trolls World Tour Theatrical Trailer
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Theatrical Trailer for Sing on TrailerAddict.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Introducing the first interview series on My Daily Cake! Sharing life and career stories of working mothers like us. In the interview style blog post, when you see italics in pink, this is me chiming in.
I met Lushia a few years ago when we worked together. Lushia is an energetic and spunky young women and when we met I admired her commitment to a healthy lifestyle. After a while we connected again on LinkedIn.
Lushia is a working mom who owns her own business, recruiting firm Luelle Consulting. Here is what Lushia had to say!
I am a 35-year-old coloured female who also happens to be a single mom to a beautiful 7-year-old son.
I currently run my own recruitment agency in Broadacres with a friend and business partner. In Dec 2015, I registered a company while working in corporate. I had been toying with the idea for about two years.
Feeling isolated in this massive multinational, I knew my voice was too small to be heard. And so I made what I thought was the dumbest decision I had ever made in my entire life. I resigned.
I had some cash to carry me for a few months, and so did my business partner. However, we were not 100% convinced we even knew what a rough ride awaited us. On 15 Dec 2017, my company celebrated its 2nd anniversary and 4 employees later. I can honestly say, this was the hardest thing to do but so worth everything.
I currently live in Johannesburg and commute 12 kilometers to work every day. My son goes to a wonderful private school just 1 km from my office. I get to spend so much more quality time with him now.
I love being fit and healthy. So after my prince gets dropped off at school, I get to hit the gym and waltz into the office at between 9 am and 9:30. Wow, I love that you waltz into work! I also love that you have found your own rhythm that works for you.
Since I can have the office transfer calls to me while I am on the go, I also leave early some days to spend more time with my boy.
I returned to work ten weeks after my son was born, and so I was robbed of bonding time and maternity leave. I am now making up for all that lost time.
2) Tell us about your career journey and how you landed up where you are now?
Starting out in retail sales, I always had a passion for serving and helping people. I ended up in recruitment by accident in 2006. I had applied for a corporate sales position and the next thing you know I was hired. It was corporate sales of people. I had no idea I would be selling people.
In my first year of recruitment, I won the best newcomer of the year award. I took to recruitment as they say 'like a duck takes to water'. After working in recruitment for over 10 years I now own a recruitment agency. Mic Drop.
I was never book smart so even if my parent had the means to send me to university, I doubt I would have managed to complete a degree in anything. Recruitment is sales. I am good with people, and I am great at selling them. Great example of building upon your strengths, (which are people and sales).
to tailor make how I add value to a company.
3) What is the ONE THING you love most about your job?
There are a few, but I love that I know a little bit about almost every career without having to read books or study. I learn through interviewing people. I ask questions and gain a thorough understanding of what his/her role entails. Simply interviewing and talking to people is an important way to learn and gather information.
So I love that I get to learn something new almost every day just by sitting in an interview with someone. Being in the company of people excites me.
4) Share with us your two top tips that help you to manage your work life integration (balance) that would help other working moms?
Once you are in good health and your family is happy, you are in a better space to perform at your optimum level. Eat well, sleep for 8 hours and work out.
5) Looking back share with us to pieces of advice you would give yourself as a new mother?
Nothing is more precious than time with your baby. Bond and keep a journal of all the special moments.
When you are a new mom in a stressful job, you can sometimes put too much focus on your career and not enough time being a mom. Remember that you may not have all the time in the world to spend with your kids but, use the little time that you do have and ensure that it is quality time. Quality beats quantity hands down. Thank you for these awesome pieces of advice. Its true that time flies by so quickly, and they are only this little once. It is important to focus and be present in each stage they are in.
I read thrillers and biographies, and get lost in them completely. I also love sleeping, so I catch up on sleep whenever I can. Yes to reading and yes to sleeping!
Thank you Lushia for sharing your story with us!
To connect further with Lushia, you may found her on LinkedIn, which she uses for networking. Lushia actively shares updates on LinkedIn, you may check her out here!
Loved reading your story Lushia. You make me want to be a recruiter – I realise now what big impact you're making. And the pink comments are great Cherralle 🙂 Nice work.
I love reading these inspirational stories of women who took risks that provided them the opportunity to make their work/home life balance to suit them and their family. Thanks for sharing!


text:
Archives of Kyle Cupp
The Perverse Discourse of "Crippling" Sanctions
by Kyle Cupp · October 23, 2012
I expect to be fed a large helping of superlative self-idolizing rhetoric at presidential debates focused on foreign policy, and so I kept my gag reflect under control when hearing Obama describe the United States as the one indispensable power in the world and Romney refer to the nation as "the hope of the earth" with a military power second to none. When both men spoke of the sanctions against Iran and called them "crippling," a word clearly meant to make me the voter feel all good and safe and secure inside, I choked from nausea.
You'll notice that neither Romney nor Obama mentioned the real human beings hurt by "crippling sanctions." Their talk was all abstraction: if Iran is crippled, then it cannot harm us. Crippled is good. We want Iran crippled. Until, so help us God, we turn our thoughts to the innocent people who actually suffer the crippling effects Obama and Romney are so determined to inflict. For Romney, and I assume for Obama, crippling sanctions are Number One. Let that sink in as you picture children deprived of food and medicine.
Look, if you want to argue that sanctions are somehow justified, at least have the respect for your fellow human beings to acknowledge and own the terrible human costs you're willing to tolerate and that you don't have to suffer. Don't hide the hurt behind perverse feel-good abstractions.
Follow Kyle on Facebook and Twitter.
Tags: Barack ObamaDebateElection 2012IranMitt RomneySanctions
Kyle Cupp
Kyle Cupp is a freelance writer who blogs about culture, philosophy, politics, postmodernism, and religion. He is a contributor to the group Catholic blog Vox Nova. Kyle lives with his wife, son, and daughter in North Texas. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Storytelling Pet Peeve #1: Being Told How to Feel about a Morally Complex Situation
Over at the League Front Page
Healthcare and Tyranny
Agreed. On a note of much less consequence, I note with interest that that is an acceptable phrase to use.
Murali says:
The effect of the rhetoric is that people tend to think that economic sanctions are this anodyne, slap-on-wrist alternative to war. They are not. They cripple the basic civil institutions and harm the worst off in that country. The actual dictators are rarely hurt as much and sanctions do not even turn people against the dictators, they just create more antipathy towards the US.
DensityDuck says:
I remember this same thing being written during the 1990s, about Iraq.
Then America invaded in 2003 and everyone was like, "whoa, man, why did we give up on sanctions, those were working great!" (when they bothered to acknowledge that sanctions existed at all)
Yeah, I wonder if there was any overlap between the anti-sanction crowd and the "whoa, man, why did we give up on sanctions" crowd? I didn't see any, but pith is its own truth, right?
http://www.casi.org.uk/discuss/2000/msg00498.html> Yep. (I'm just gonna assume that you can work the Googles and find out Amnesty International's position on the Iraq occupation.)
GordonHide says:
Are the effects of sanctions the responsibility of the international community or the responsibility of those who don't submit to the demands of the international community?
The international community.
In order for it not to be, not only would you have to think that sanctions is an appropriate punishment, but that international community contained the moral authority to make such demands from the sanctioned country in the first place.
Sorry, I pressed Submit too soon.
Neither of those claims are easy to establish. I cannot see how any instance of economic saanctions has ever been an appropriate response. (primarily because the regime is not the one which has been 'punished', but the ordinary people living in the country)
It is also not clear if the norms of the international community are reasonable in the first place.
Even if the norms are reasonable, it is still not clear if countries can have moral authority over one another.
Rodak says:
@Murali —
I think the concept is that the ordinary people in a nation under sanctions will blame their own government's intransigence for their suffering and rise up against it. This example of stupidity ignores once again the fact that the ordinary people of any nation resent interference from outside, even if a few dissidents try to use such outside pressure towards the achievement of their own ends. This lesson was first learned when European nationalism completely destroyed international socialism (which had been on the rise) at the time of WWI. Nothing has changed.
I think the reduction in deaths through war since the inception of the UN gives the international community the moral authority to act.
I agree that there has been little if any success for economic sanctions.
The most striking case I can think of was American sanctions against Japan prior to the attack on Pearl Harbour. From the Japanese point of view this gave them a stark choice: submit, or war with America. They didn't seem to see what was , for them the correct choice, ignore America and take the resources they needed from the British, Dutch and French colonies.
Sanctions against the white regime in Southern Rhodesia/Rhodesia/Zimbabwe may have hastened its fall.
@ GordonHide —
There certainly has been a reduction of deaths among Europeans since the inception of the UN, but I would attribute that more to the virtual impossibility of such was, due to the development of nuclear weapons than I would to any other factor.
That said, has there really been a reduction on war deaths amongst "3rd world" countries since the inception of the UN? I don't know. They seem to be dying in large numbers all the time, including sporadic ethnic cleansings and attempted genocides.
The major powers are stymied by M.A.D., while the "primitives" armed only with conventional weapons fight on as always.
@Rodak — "has there really been a reduction on war deaths amongst "3rd world" countries since the inception of the UN?"
Read "The Better Angels of Our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity" by Steven Pinker or at least a few of the reviews.
In previous times wars caused more deaths from famine and disease than from actual fighting. The UN, via its refugee programs, has had a major effect on these casualties.
Once we exclude WW2, the number of deaths through war has increased not decreased. WW2 was deeply anomalous. And, WW2 happened even though there was a league of nations.
@Murali – "Once we exclude WW2, the number of deaths through war has increased not decreased"
-and your source for this?
Murali – "Once we exclude WW2, the number of deaths through war has increased not decreased"
Sorry, here is the link. I had to tabulate and add everything with excel.
Post WW2 inclusive of civil wars, we average 1.18 million deaths per year due to war. From american civil war till ww2 inclusive, we average 1.48 million deaths per year due to war. Excluding world war 2 we get about 845000 war related deaths per year. Granted that there was a bit of conflict in India that was not taken into account, there would ned to be 20000 war related deaths in that time period for the average to break even with the post UN war-relatd death rate.
Murali, have you heard about Misra's book estimating the reprisal killings of Indians after the 1857 mutiny numbered in the millions? I'm not sure how many of those would fall in your period, but it might change the estimates a bit.
Fnord says:
It seems like a higher population would lead to a higher death toll in a comparable conflict, other things equal. The current world population is more than 5 times what it was in 1850. I'm not sure that a simple comparison of numbers is tells us a whole lot.
@Fnord —
In truth Steven Pinker's contention of reduced violence is based on figures corrected for population differences. This is fair if one is considering the likelihood of the individual being affected by violence.
If you have an alternative to sanctions short of war I'm sure we are all ears. It's east to criticise but what would you do?
See below.
Free-trade. Have more bilateral and multilateral free-trade agreements until all trade barriers in all countries have been abolished. The sheer loss of revenue will provide a steep disincentive to countries invading each other.
Violence by the ruling elite against its own is often exacerbated greatly by instability of the regime. Free-trade stabilises regimes by providing the citizens with material goods and thus not giving them cause for grievance. Stable regimes are more likely to tranisiton to more just ones over time. If we are serious about reducing mass violence, then we should abolish all trade barriers everywhere.
James K says:
Pinker talks about that too in The Better Angels of Our Nature. He indicates there's substantial empirical support for trade as a means for preventing war.
Well it's a theory I suppose. Perhaps you can explain in detail how free trade will stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and how it will stop them trying to carry out their stated aim of destroying Israel?
Are you sure you want what your asking for? Imports of drugs, weapons, child pornography, toxic waste, substandard pharmaceutical products, dangerous toys, adulterated food, unsafe vehicles, animal and plant life that will change your ecological balance, "bush meat" made from endangered species, human organs for transplant, ivory, products produced by child labour, products produced by very poorly paid people working in dangerous or unhealthy conditions and whale oil.
Familiarisation with others and dependence on them through trade does reduce violence but trade has been around since the dawn of civilisation and it's proved to be only a small part of the answer.
p/s trade has presumably become less "free" since its original inception. Where's the evidence that this reduction in free trade has led to more violence?
Imports of drugs, weapons, child pornography, toxic waste, substandard pharmaceutical products, dangerous toys, adulterated food, unsafe vehicles, animal and plant life that will change your ecological balance, "bush meat" made from endangered species, human organs for transplant, ivory, products produced by child labour, products produced by very poorly paid people working in dangerous or unhealthy conditions and whale oil
1. What people put voluntarily put into their own bodies is none of my business.
2. I have some problems with gun rights, so I will grant you this one
3. toxic waste. If poorer countries are willing to handle our toxic waste, what is the problem again? Presumably, if they take it up, they do so because it actually improves their lives more than the alternative right?
4. substandard pharmaceutical products. A greater variety of pharmaceutical products is actually good. It gives access to at least some level of care to the worst off whereas they would have none if they only had expensive top of the line stuff.
5. dangerous toys, adulterated food – Marketing something as a thing which it is not is fraud straight and simple. Restricting such practices does not constitute setting a trade barrier. In this case something not fit for consumption just isnt food and something with lead paint which will posion children is not a children's toy.
6. unsafe vehicles – Consumer safety regulation can be privatised. And besides, people take their own risks when they buy unsafe cars The sale can always be regulated inside the country. There need not be any kind of tarriff that restricts its import/export.
7. human organs for transplant – why should we ban this again?
8. animal and plant life that will change your ecological balance – for some reason, I don't find myself deply worried that some local species will be replaced by exotic ones. It has happenned in the past in my country and I just think meh…
9. "bush meat" made from endangered species, ivory, whale oil – One of the biggest contributers to their endangered status is the black market. Because trade in such products is illegal, it is illegal to farm those animals for those products. This means that instead of having sustainable practices where we leave the wild population alone, we have unsustainable black market practices where the wild population is slowly hunted to extinction
10. products produced by very poorly paid people working in dangerous or unhealthy conditions. I wonder what happens to these poor people who are so desperate that they work in dangerous and unhealthy conditions for little money when we stop buying stuff from them…
James Hanley says:
GordonHide makes a standard mistake, equating free trade with a lack of any regulations. That's wrong. If America wants to ban child porn, it can ban child porn from anywhere. If it wants to regulate pharmaceuticals for safety, it just has to apply equal standards to domestically and foreign produced pharmaceuticals. All free trade means is not discriminating against non-domestic products on the basis of their being non-domestic.
James Hanley – I'm actually in the process of writing a post on trade ecoonmics that touches on this point.
James K,
I look forward to it.
I can see where the confusion can come from. Libertarians particularly are so vocally anti-regulation and anti trade-restraints, and trade restraints are a type of regulation, that I think it could be easy for someone to conflate the two and think that a cry for free trade is a cry to allow absolutely everything.
If I give you a merciless beating is the responsibility for your injuries mine? Or is it yours for being too weak to stop me?
Steven Pinker, btw, is a self-promoting asshole.
Ah, someone else you like to insult because he doesn't agree with you. Pinker has a doctorate from Harvard, a fellowship from MIT and currently has a Chair in Harvard. So you'll forgive me if I take your opinion under advisement.
I don't dispute his high intelligence. And I even tend to agree with his thinking much of the time. But the way he presents himself on TV and the lecture circuit is sick-making. To me, anyway.
Well you would be breaking the law. But, that aside, I might have thoroughly deserved a merciless beating.
Was Japan not responsible for the eventual consequences that befell in WWII?
I think it takes two to tango in these cases.
Doesn't this just assume that "might makes right?" My take on hopes for world peace would involve every major power going home and leaving weaker nations to live as they wish to live, and to work out their domestic problems without outside interference. The truth is, we want to rip them off for their oil, etc., so we have to exert hegemony in parts of the world where we don't belong in order to satisfy our greed.
You seem to believe that what we do is automatically morally justified, simply because we are "the good guys." I have new for you: most of the world doesn't look at it that way, and for good reason.
American isolationism writ large. – Yes, well we know how that ended.
A strange philosophy:
Let the neighbourhood bully run riot as long as he leaves you alone?
Let your neighbour beat his wife as long as he doesn't try and beat yours?
The funny thing is, I don't think its even that good a way of satisfying greed. Given the massive cost of the American war machine I'm almost certain simply buying the oil would be cheaper.
The plutocrats make money hand-over-fist, which they bleed the rest of us to obtain.
Adam Smith said similar things about British Colonialism.
Stay out until invited in. Would we have wanted England coming in to fight for the Confederacy in our Civil War? Would we have tolerated sanctions aimed at our Jim Crow laws, more recently? We assume our absolute moral authority and right to interfere wherever and whenever its suits our interests. There is no such thing as "isolationism" in a world connected electronically as this world is now.
I don't think the US does assume absolute moral authority and right to interfere whenever it suits. It either justifies interference on its right to self defense or it seeks to get the moral authority by reference to the UN.
As for bilateral sanctions, every nation has the right to decide with whom it will trade.
@ Okay, Gordon. If you ever decide to visit this planet, please look me up.
Teresa Rice says:
I understand what you're saying, Kyle. Yes, we do need to think about the human beings being affected by crippling sanctions. Do crippling sanctions even work in deterring threats, terrorist acts? But what is the answer? Just to let Iran create a nuclear weapon? Are there other options to stop Iran from making a nuclear bomb? We shouldn't ignore their threats.
Israel already has nuclear weapons, and it has far more recent rhetoric that indicates its willingness to use said weapon on Iran. Meanwhile, Iran doesn't have a weapon. Its nuclear programme is a peaceful one. That the machinary used to make fissionable material for reactors could also make fissionable material for bombs is just a result of fissionable material for reactors being out of necessity of a higher grade. Even if Iran aquires a nuclear weapon, it will not use it because it knows that Israel can easily wipe it out if it tries. They may be deeply religiously conservative, but they are not suicidally insane. At least ostensibly, they are deeply committed to eschewing nuclear weapons because they have declared them unislamic
Murali:
Iran claims its nuclear program is a peaceful one, but given their lack of truthfulness in other areas who really believes them? Maybe you and other naive folks do, but then again your life doesn't depend on it. As for whether or not Iran would use a nuclear weapon when they acquire them, how the heck do you know? These are the same folks that used their own troops in human wave attacks to clear minefields during the war with Iraq so clearly they have little regard for the lives of their own. That qualifies as suicidally insane to me.
but given their lack of truthfulness in other areas who really believes them
Which particular areas would these be? Also the US has absolutely zero credibility when it comes to accusations of othr countries in the middle east having WMD.
These are the same folks that used their own troops in human wave attacks to clear minefields during the war with Iraq so clearly they have little regard for the lives of their own. That qualifies as suicidally insane to me.
Since when was the willingness of a dictator to sacrifice the lives of his peons a sign of suicidal tendencies?
Indeed, I could well believe that the loss of Iranian lives wouldn't bother the Iranian government, but the loss of power and prestige they would suffer – ruling over a nation of ruins and ash, would hurt them dearly. Antagonising the United States makes them look strong, but the curb stomping that would come from actually fighting the US (especially in a nuclear exchange) would make them look weak.
As paper tigers go, I think they're smart enough to not try using their claws.
BlaiseP says:
How do you know Iran's programme is entirely peaceful? Because they say so?
Because social conservatives totally don't care about the reputational effects of being caught in such a lie. It's like the pope taking God's name in vain. It is possible that he may do it, but you will never publicly catch him doing it.
Is that supposed to be an answer? Because it seems to be more of an evasion than an actual answer.
Whose social conservatives? Iran's? They're the ones telling lies.
If there are no actions available to you that will address your problem, the correct course of action is to do nothing. Acting for the sake of action is an incredible folly.
Darin Self says:
Both candidates seemed to try to top the other on how disastrous they can make the Iran situation. I've done a cross national analysis on the effect of sanctions and found they're most effective at pushing countries away from democracy than coercion.
http://d-runspoliticalopinion.blogspot.com/2012/10/want-to-destroy-democracy-just-use.html
"Which particular areas would these be? Also the US has absolutely zero credibility when it comes to accusations of other countries in the middle east having WMD."
Do you believe the same about all the other intelligence agencies – which was either all or nearly all of them – who believed that Saddam had WMD's before we entered Iraq? Plus one needs to look at the perception that a person gives off such as that Saddam pretended to have usable WMD's (trace amounts as as old unusable WMD's were found in Iraq and the WMD's found in Syria recently can be linked to Iraq) because Saddam wanted Iran to think that he had WMD's. Saddam also had practically everyone in the entire world believing that he had WMD's and therefore believing that he was a threat. In addition one needs to look back at history. The history showed us that Saddam had in face used his WMD's to commit mass murder on his own people and also use them in the wars between Iran and Iraq. So if you go by Saddam's words and his previous actions taking his threats seriously was the correct thing to do. It was only after we went into Iraq, found out that what all the intelligence wasn't true, after nearly all of Congress authorized the military action based on the same intelligence that Bush had been given that the Left (Democrats in Congress) started to use the Bush lied meme to politicize the war for political gain.
How much slack are you supposed to give a barbaric dictator like Saddam? Past 18 U.N. resolutions that he failed to comply with? If the U.N. had acted properly earlier, acted more assertively against Saddam, maybe the war could have been avoided. But some members were in bed with Saddam via the oil for food program so they didn't want to cut off their money flow.
If the U.S. does indeed stand for freedom (which I believe it does) are we supposed to let other countries dictators persecute, rape, and commit mass murder against human beings?
I can understand reasoning on both sides of this issue: those who were/are against us having engaged in a war with Iraq and those who believe it was the correct thing to do.
"Do you believe the same about all the other intelligence agencies – which was either all or nearly all of them – who believed that Saddam had WMD's before we entered Iraq?"
Have you not understood yet that you–that we–were simply being lied to? None of those intelligence agencies could possibly have had any hard evidence of WMD in Saddam's Iraq, for the simple reason that THERE WERE NONE THERE! It's called propaganda. It's called disinformation. It's called lies.
There were voices at the time, trying to get media time to tell the truth about it. They were silenced.
Btw, calling the Kurds against whom Saddam used those nasty weapons "his own people" was, and is, a huge stretch. The Kurds are a nationless people, looking for a nation, who had drifted across borders into Iraq and then started a separatist movement, attempting to grab land from Iraq. If Mexicans did the same in Texas, or New Mexico, or Arizona, they would not be called "our own people"–they would be evicted. Saddam was a monster for gassing non-combatant civilian populations. But it was his methods, not his end in employing those methods, that was truly culpable. He had a duty as head of state to protect his boundaries and his land.
In fact the CIA was very doubtful that Iraq had WMD, precisely because they could get no hard evidence of that. They had some skepticism about their lack of evidence, based on a reasonable belief that surely a guy like Hussein was still trying to develop WMD and the lack of any reliable human intel one way or the other (we had few good sources in Iraq), so their ultimate conclusion was essentially, "we're pretty sure he's trying, but we don't see any evidence that he's succeeding."
That proved unsatisfactory to the Bush admin, which put pressure on the CIA to write a stronger claim of WMD. The CIA's big error was not in its analysis, but in giving in to political pressure to beef up their claim. Essentially all they did was write a more affirmative executive summary while leaving the body of the report–the actual intel and evidence–unchanged. Anyone who had read the whole report would have questioned the executive summary, but of course the administration had no interest in the evidence, only the conclusion, and the few in Congress who got to look at the report only read the exec summary because they don't have time to dredge through full reports.
The CIA's big error was firing all of the competent republicans. But I don't think they could have done much about that, short of insurrection (aka tattling to the Congress en masse)
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No need for pumpkins, carriages or cars when you Go Metro to Cinderella!
Photo by Carol Rosegg for Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella.
Disney's live-action movie (starring Lily James, Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham-Carter) hits theaters this Friday, Mar. 13. Then the Ahmanson Theatre debuts a version of the Rodger and Hammerstein musical next Tuesday, Mar. 17. If you plan on seeing either the movie or the show in the coming weeks, keep in mind that Metro turns gridlock into a stress-free trip with the touch of a TAP card. No fairy godmother required.
Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE 14 (downtown L.A.): Metro Blue or Expo Line to Pico Station or Metro Red or Purple Line to 7th Street/Metro Center.
ArcLight Cinemas Pasadena (Pasadena): Metro Gold Line to Memorial Park Station.
Edwards Alhambra Renaissance Stadium 14 (Alhambra): Metro Bus 78, 79 or 378 to Main/Stoneman.
AMC Universal City Walk 19 (Studio City): Metro Red Line to Universal/Studio City Station.
Pacific Theatres at the Grove (MidCity West): Metro Rapid 780 or Bus 217, 218 or 16/316 to Fairfax/3rd Street.
Pacific Theatres Culver Stadium 12 (Culver City): Metro Expo Line to Culver City Station.
Highland Theatres (Highland Park): Metro Gold Line to Highland Park Station.
Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills 15 (Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw): Metro Rapid 710 or 740 to Crenshaw/Stocker or Metro Bus 105 to Martin Luther King Jr/Crenshaw.
Feel free to add to the list in the comments! To plan your best route to the locations above, Google Transit or TripPlanner work almost like magic.


text:
// Copyright 2000-2018 JetBrains s.r.o. Use of this source code is governed by the Apache 2.0 license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
package com.intellij.psi.impl.search;

import com.intellij.openapi.application.QueryExecutorBase;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringUtil;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiElement;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiMethod;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiReference;
import com.intellij.psi.search.GlobalSearchScope;
import com.intellij.psi.search.SearchRequestCollector;
import com.intellij.psi.search.SearchScope;
import com.intellij.psi.search.UsageSearchContext;
import com.intellij.psi.search.searches.ReferencesSearch;
import com.intellij.psi.util.PropertyUtilBase;
import com.intellij.util.Processor;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;

/**
 * @author ven
 */
public class SimpleAccessorReferenceSearcher extends QueryExecutorBase<PsiReference, ReferencesSearch.SearchParameters> {
  public SimpleAccessorReferenceSearcher() {
    super(true);
  }

  @Override
  public void processQuery(@NotNull ReferencesSearch.SearchParameters queryParameters, @NotNull Processor<? super PsiReference> consumer) {
    PsiElement refElement = queryParameters.getElementToSearch();
    if (!(refElement instanceof PsiMethod)) return;

    addPropertyAccessUsages((PsiMethod)refElement, queryParameters.getEffectiveSearchScope(), queryParameters.getOptimizer());
  }

  static void addPropertyAccessUsages(@NotNull PsiMethod method, @NotNull SearchScope scope, @NotNull SearchRequestCollector collector) {
    final String propertyName = PropertyUtilBase.getPropertyName(method);
    if (StringUtil.isNotEmpty(propertyName)) {
      SearchScope additional = GlobalSearchScope.EMPTY_SCOPE;
      for (CustomPropertyScopeProvider provider : CustomPropertyScopeProvider.EP_NAME.getExtensionList()) {
        additional = additional.union(provider.getScope(method.getProject()));
      }

      SearchScope propScope = scope.intersectWith(method.getUseScope()).intersectWith(additional);
      collector.searchWord(propertyName, propScope, UsageSearchContext.IN_FOREIGN_LANGUAGES, true, method);
    }
  }
}


The AsTMa language family is designed to support authoring, updating, constraining and querying of Topic Maps.
Whenever Topic Maps are authored, they might have to follow a particular structure. In the same way as relational databases are constrained by schemas and XML languages follow constraints (provided by DTDs, XML Schemas, Schematrons, …), Topic Maps can also be constrained by a constraint or a set of constraints. AsTMa! is one AsTMa sub-language which allows to formulate such constraints.


Performing in Jordan Hall with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Marsh Chapel Choir of Boston University.
Schedule subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, visit harvardchoruses.fas.harvard.edu and like our Facebook page.


The Rechargable 72W Portable Remote Lighting System features an 2 extendable 36W mounted LED lamps which can be swiveled to focus on 2 different spots at 1 time. It has a burn time of up to 28 hours and its lifespan is measured to last beyond 50,000 hours of usage. The remote lighting system contains a trolley system a handle and wheels fixed on the base of the lighting system for an easy transport. 4 Lighting modes: High / Med / Low / SOS. Suitable for use during nighttime industrial works, mining operations, outdoor camping, safety emergency equipment etc.
Can operate in Temperatures from -40 to 80 degrees Celsius.


When you're busy with appointments, the last thing you want to think about is your numbers. However, it's important that you have a good handle on your accounts and cashflow to ensure your clinic is efficient and profitable.
PPT helps medical and allied health clinics practitioners in Melbourne, Ballarat, and Regional Victoria with the various financial aspects of their business to build profitable, sustainable and valuable businesses.
Help you identify, manage and comply with relevant corporate and health industry regulations.
Improve your record keeping to ensure you always have a clear picture of where your business is at.
Prepare budgets and cashflow forecasts to increase practitioner utilisation, profitability, and expenditure.
Prepare depreciation schedules for facilities and specialised medical equipment and instruments.
Ensure you set aside enough cash to meet BAS, PAYG and payroll obligations.
Help setup appropriate financial and operational structures and build valuable financial assets.
If you're already setup on Xero, MYOB, Quickbooks or Reckon, that's great. If not, we can help you get setup, then provide training and ongoing support at your office or facility. Ultimately, our goal is to reduce your paperwork, get access to real-time financials and improve your business performance.
We're more than just accountants and tax advisors, we're a one-stop shop. We offer business advisory, lending, risk insurance and investment advice to help you grow your business and your wealth.


How chilly has it got recently, it's crazy, but it makes me so happy! I love the cold weather, as it makes wearing my favourite piece of clothing a necessity - the coat! I love just being able to chuck my coat over any outfit, and just feeling nice and warm under it, feeling the winter chill on your hands and face. I saw this coat a couple of Christmas' ago on somebody else and loved how pretty and cute it looked with the bow on the back, plus all of the detailing is in velvet! I really love the Rothschild's coats, and this reminds me of one of them! Anyway, I found this on ebay, and it was made by none other than Topshop, so don't remember seeing it in the shops.
I cannot believe it's the first of December tomorrow, cannot wait to go home and see my family, and spend my days doing anything and everything relatively Christmassy!
Sorry about posting only boring outfit posts as of late, my big deadlines are next week, so I haven't really been able to venture out a lot. Cannot wait till it's all handed in!
I might be a little bit on the absent front for the next couple of weeks, with some pretty big deadlines looming. I've been feeling really distant lately, my mind feels all over the place. I don't know what I want to do anymore, I'm really not enjoying my University course at all, and would happily leave if I knew what else I would do. I just feel like i'm not interested enough anymore, and am no longer good enough to be on the course, so I'm going to try and immerse myself as much as possible into my work, looking forward to my family visiting the day after my deadlines, and going home a week after that. As one of my friends told me yesterday, it's the little things that make life happy!
And if you're homesick, give me your hand and i'll hold it.
Is there ever anything that you find yourself looking for, for such a long time that you start to give up? That's what I was like with a tartan scarf! I've spent ages looking for one, they've either been the wrong colours, wrong 'size' tartan (if that makes sense), or just way too expensive! Anyway, the other day in town, I popped into Edinburgh Woollen Mill, and i've never seen so many to choose from, plus there was a pretty good deal, so I was able to buy two! It was a bit silly of me really, I probably should've thought about it earlier!
Right, I'm going to spend the rest of the night baking (and then eating) cookies, when I really should be doing some work instead! I would really love some feedback in terms of what you would like to see on this blog, I really love writing charlestownvintage, but sometimes I worry that it's just like any other, and would love to make it more personal to myself. I mentioned before about my love of history, but now it's winter, most of the National Trust and English Heritage sites are closed, so that aspect has to be put on hold!
Is there anything you would like to see more of on this blog? Please let me know, I would really appreciate your feedback! I'm hoping to incorporate a regular baking feature, would that appeal to you? I also really love interior design, and antique items, so was maybe thinking of doing something on the lines of that, not too sure how yet though! Thank you!!
Please let me know, I'd really love to find out what you think would be beneficial!
This is quite a bit of a rushed post today, as I need to pop into town to buy something for my housemate, before driving to Plymouth to meet Alessio and spend the day shopping and eating! Yesterday was our High Tea Society's first meeting, in a tearoom in town that i've mentioned before, called Dolly's Tearoom. About 20 people came, and everyone was so lovely, it was really nice to just relax and meet new people over a cream tea, ha! Late last night, I saw the new Twilight film with my housemates, I always leave the cinema feeling a little bit embarrassed and disappointed with these films, but I thought Breaking Dawn, despite the seriously cringe worthy moments, was actually pretty good and true to the book. I have to admit, some of the events towards the end of the film really did scare me like no other recent film has done, did anyone else feel the same, I left feeling pretty weak and sickly? I really didn't expect it to be like that at all, but I guess if it was any other way, I would be disappointed!
This is what I sort of wore yesterday, but I wore a different coat as the weather was pretty chilly outside! Also, I apologise for the silly pose in the last picture, I wanted to show the blazer's elbow patches, but I also can't believe how long my hair is now! It's grown so quickly!
P.S this post was planned for Saturday, but I never got round to finishing it! Plymouth trip was yesterday, and I was pretty bad and bought quite a few bits, which I will be showing very soon!
This is the first time that I've ever properly worn this Leopard print coat, i've always been a bit wary of it, thinking the print is a bit too 'showy' for me, all of my coats are extremely plain and simple! I didn't realise how warm it would be, it's so lovely and snuggly, I think I could probably sleep in it, ha!
I bought this blouse the other day from New Look. I've always loved peter pan collars, and this one is sequin too, which just made me love it even more. Lately, it must be the Christmas spirit, I'm being drawn to velvet and sequins. There's so many sequin dresses around at the moment, not sure whether I could pull one off though.
I've just had a pretty average day really, had a lecture at Uni about politics and spent the rest of the day moping around my room. Is it just me that tends to get fed up around this time of year? I think i'm just ready to go home and spend time with my family, hurry up holidays! Are you doing anything special over Christmas? We always tend to have Christmas at home, with just the close family, eating a massive roast dinner and opening pressies!
Those crazy tapestry print, lethally high wedges are my new shoes from Asos! As unlikely as it looks, they are so unbelievably comfy! So comfy in fact that, if it were not for my paranoia, I would be tempted to wear them to Uni! Well, I suppose they would be more easily worn in a city such as London, compared to rainy, hilly Cornwall!
I'm still trying to get into the knack of using this camera, and I'm a little bit confused because I bought a wired remote with it, so that I could take outfit post pictures without having to force people to take them for me, however the cable is tiny!! I'm a little bit angry! Does anyone know where I can get a remote for a Canon? Thank you!! Oh, P.S. please excuse my dusty mirror, i'm not very good with dusting, I always forget. Oh, and that's my new winter hat, still a little bit nervous about wearing it out!
Yesterday I went to pick up my new camera, which is why I haven't blogged as much lately! I was getting pretty fed up with using my iPhone as a camera, but I'm so pleased with my new Canon, the picture quality is just perfect in comparison, it's so weird taking a picture and the camera just sorting the focus out for me, I suppose i'm just not used to it!
I was able to take my camera out for the first time last night to the Truro City of Lights, which is procession of tissue lanterns made by the local schools and University. The theme this year was Wildlife, and the lanterns were amazing, from small penguins, fish, flowers to massive horses, polar bears and baboons! It was such a lovely experience, I've never seen the streets so packed, it seemed the the whole area turned up. Plus, the Christmas lights were turned on at the end of the parade, which just made the night feel extra Christmassy!
I apologise for the picture heavy post, all of the models were so amazing and looked so intricately made, it was really hard deciding which pictures deserved to be included on this post! I would probably have to say the polar bear and peacock were my favorites, polar bears being my favourite animals, and the peacock because it was such a large model but had been made to that the feathers opened and closed as the parade progressed through the streets!
Now i'm all super excited for Christmas as a result of last night, and due to all of the Christmas adverts coming on television! I've got lots of posts lined up for this blog, and I can't wait to show them all to you! May even post twice today, ha! I just want to say thank you to all of my new followers, it makes me so happy that people are happy to follow my blog, and that, what I think is just silly ramblings and awful pictures, is actually read regularly! Thank you again!
How have you all been, have you been up to much lately? I feel like I've spent everyday since Halloween clinging on to Christmas, i'm so excited about going home!
I'm thinking about doing another giveaway soon, that's if I reach 150 followers, so keep reading!
As always, when Uni deadlines start to get closer and closer, procrastination becomes more and more harder to escape, and I find myself staring at clothes websites rather than books! I found these t-bars on the UO website, and instantly fell in love! I have a bit of a weakness for t-bar shoes, I love the detailing on these ones, they have a sort of brogue feel, and they're also patent.
After finding these shoes, I soon found myself scouring the internet for possible outfit ideas to match them up with! I've been seeing Romwe being mentioned on quite a few blogs lately, and there's so many nice pieces on there! I'm just a bit worried about the sizing, as most items tend to be labelled as 'one size', however, the pricing seems really reasonable!
All of these pieces above are from Romwe! I really love the wintery feel of all of them, and can just imagine them all with the t-bar shoes, some thick tights, and my winter coat!
I'm really tempted to buy the red skirt and polka dot jumper, I love the sequin collar on it; I can just imagine wearing it on Christmas Day!


Step 2: Quickly press buttons in this order: "MENU" _ "ID_COPY" _"LEFT"_"RIGHT"_ "MENU"_"BACK", after this on display will appear "TECH MENU".
– Formatter Board of Samsung CLX-3170FN printer is the main control board, it has the function of receiving the print command from the computer and controls the printer's parts to work correctly.
– How to identify PCB board Samsung CLX-3170FN printer: it has usb cable which connects with printer.


text:
How the occupation kill 3 citizens and 7 injured in critical condition
A black cloud covered the area of the security fence east of the town of Khuza'a east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The demonstrators threw a large number of rubber tires to cover the Israeli occupation center, behind dirt barriers inside the fence.
n those moments, demonstrators chose to move to a new place to demonstrate east of the town of Khuza'a, thinking that it would reduce the amount of human losses, but the occupation army pushed dozens of soldiers to the place; and they were shot directly without prior warning or warning.
With each caliber, demonstrators were running towards a person who fell to the ground to find him in the upper part of the body. They carried him on their shoulders, thinking that he had been martyred, and ambulances could not transport all the injuries. Every minute a number of demonstrators were killed.
The first victim was a woman in her forties, with the Palestinian flag under the cover of the burning tires. An Israeli sniper shot her in the back. At the same time, a young man was shot in the thigh.
Demonstrators intensified the firing of tires to cover the occupation soldiers, who did not use any gas bomb unusually in the weekly demonstrations. The loudspeakers were loud and loud in the ranks of the demonstrators, and with them the bullets of live ammunition rose, and the toll of injuries increased even more, most of them in the upper part of the body.
A young man was wounded in the stomach, another in the chest, a third in the neck, a fourth in his mouth, a fifth in the head, a sixth in his heart, and so on.
The demonstrators were not only fired at, but the demonstrators fired at a point about 300 meters from the security fence, an area considered safe for demonstrators.
A 14-year-old boy fell to the ground as he stood between the demonstrators and the security fence. As he was getting out of the area, another man heard a young man in the mouth.
October 28, 2018 /0 Comments/by Yassmin
https://www.gazainsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/AP_18292504932612_edited-1920x900-750x430.jpg 430 750 Yassmin https://www.gazainsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Gaza-Insider-yellow.png Yassmin2018-10-28 22:48:482018-10-28 22:48:48How the occupation kill 3 citizens and 7 injured in critical condition
We are a non-political and non-religious group within the occupied territories known as The Gaza Strip.
Our aim is to provide help for suffering orphans and children in the area.
SOS.GAZA.Children
Hamza Mosque
Tel: 009 725 9542 3329
info@gazainsider.com
Gaza Insider and SOS.GAZA.Children welcome enquiries from the world's media.
Israeli warplanes today bombed several targets across the besieged Gaza stripAugust 13, 2020 - 2:33 pm
Doctor dies from COVID-19 colleague shares doctor's dying wish for his sonMarch 23, 2020 - 1:33 pm
6 students killed, 15 schools damaged in Israeli attacks on GazaDecember 2, 2019 - 11:35 pm
© Copyright - SOS.GAZA.Children 2019
UNRWA's closure plan in Jerusalem .. How do refugees hurt? chorook 22 years old gaza


The Acer Iconia Tab W500 is bucking the current tablet trend by opting for an operating system other than Google´s Android. There have been many critics of Microsoft´s touch sensitive version of Windows, Windows 7, which they claim is still based on the old principles of mouse and keyboard interaction. While it has been claimed that some of the icons on Windows 7 are too small to be put to good use on such a device, Windows 7 has the benefit of being easy to use for the many people already familiar with Microsoft´s operating system. It also provides a lot of freedom and functionality than other operating systems that have been designed for tablet use.
Windows 7 is also a great asset on the Iconia Tab when you consider the additional docking port that is available for it. This is a feature quite unique to the Iconia Tab, in that it allows you to transform the tablet device into a more familiar laptop like device. With this you can be afforded with a physical keyboard and mouse as an alternative means of operating the tablet.
The Acer Iconia Tab W500 has some excellent hardware power behind it including a dual core processor, 2GB RAM and hardware acceleration for graphics. The Iconia Tab comes with Wi-Fi for web connection and 3G is available on some models. There are also two 1.3 megapixel cameras, one on the front for video calling and one on the back for traditional usage.
With a 10″ screen the Iconia Tab is in the larger range of tablet devices with a spacious screen that makes it ideal for video and web entertainment. Running on capacitive technology the Iconia Tab comes with support for multitouch input gestures as well.
Along with running Windows 7 the Iconia Tab comes with some of Acer´s software installed too. This includes Acer Ring, which provides a much more touch friendly means of loading applications, and SocialJogger, which can pool information from all of your social network accounts like Facebook and twitter.
The Acer Iconia Tab W500 is an excellent tablet device with a spacious screen making it ideal for all forms of visual entertainment and web browsing, and the device really stands out for its additional laptop docking port that can provide you with a means of interaction that is not available on other tablet devices. The physical keyboard available with the docking port should compensate for the claims made by some that they find some icons on the Windows 7 OS too small for proper finger use.


text:
Mortgage Modification Schemer Goes Down
Posted by Graham Legal | No Comments on Mortgage Modification Schemer Goes Down
A Federal Jury has taken down a man who is said to have carried out the largest mortgage modification scheme ever charged. According to the court, Dionysius Fiumano cheated mortgagers out of approximately $31 million. The ringleader pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in September of this year.
The Start of It All
Fiumano's scheme began around November 2011 and carried on for approximately two and a half years. During this time, he told more than 30,000 victims that they were able to receive a HAMP mortgage modification, when in fact that was not the case. Fiumano reached out to the individuals as the general manager of sales at Vortex Financial Management, a mortgage modification company in Irvine, California. The company, also known as Professional Marketing Group and Professional Legal Network (alternative names created to keep the scheme going), bought leads for thousands of homeowners who had become late on mortgage payments. Then, PMG sent out a slew of fraudulent solicitation emails that wrongly informed the mortgagers that their loans were already under modification review.
An Ongoing Scheme
Unfortunately for the victims, that first email was not the last. The U.S. Attorney's Office reported that PMG also misinformed borrowers that their lenders had given the okay for new lower interest rates and that for additional fees, a law firm would be provided to compete the process. But that's not all — the company also pretended to hire underwriters to provide homeowners with modified rates and more affordable monthly payments, as long as the victim paid up-front fees. These fees were said to be intended for outside parties, like the lender and attorney, but that of course was also a lie. In the end, mortgagers were defrauded out of more than $30 million by the scheme.
Court Convictions
Fiumano was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud for which he could be sentenced to 40 years in prison, but he did not act alone. Pedram Abghari, Mahyar Mohases, and Justin Romano are just three of the co-conspirators who have been identified by authorities. Abghari pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of misprision of a felony, counts which could land him up to 43 years in prison if served consecutively. Both Romano and Mohases pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The sad fact of the matter is that PMG didn't follow through on any of its promises to struggling homeowners. While this example is certainly grand scale, the rights of homeowners are infringed upon every day when it comes to modifications and foreclosures. If you're in need of a loan modification, it's best to seek out a Miami foreclosure attorney who processes modifications to handle the entire process for you. Call the team at Graham Legal today for more information.


text:
The Bird Calls Podcast Ep. 105: Bring on the Portland Trail Blazers!
Quick recap of the season finale win over the Spurs and a look ahead at the Pelicans first round opponent in the playoffs.
By prestonellis@PrestonEllis Apr 12, 2018, 1:34pm CDT
Share All sharing options for: The Bird Calls Podcast Ep. 105: Bring on the Portland Trail Blazers!
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Three years ago, the New Orleans Pelicans took a sizeable lead heading into the fourth quarter, only for the San Antonio Spurs to mount a furious comeback with eight minutes to play.
This one would never get that close.
Against the Clippers on Monday night, it was a 33-4 run between the second to third quarters that paced the Pelicans, but in the Spurs matchup, the heavy lifting was all accomplished in the second.
Heading into the second quarter up just 27-26 and with Anthony Davis on the bench, the Pelicans dominated Greg Popovich and the Go Spurs Go to a tune of 34-17. After a Pau Gasol jumper brought the Spurs to within three at 42-39, the Pelicans closed the first half on a 19-4 run, which included a slew of sizzling passes from Rajon Rondo. New Orleans shared the ball beautifully, registering 11 of their 30 assists in the frame, and the Spurs, the number one rated defense against transition scoring, allowed 17 fast break points in just that second quarter, after allowing an average of just 10 FBPS per game.
In addition, it must be mentioned that Jrue Holiday and Nikola Mirotic came out hot, and the Pelicans even got the early advantage of a called technical foul on Pop and a clear path foul on Manu Ginobli.
Simply put, everything went the Pelicans' way on a night where all five starters scored in double figures, and the final score 122-98 didn't do justice to just how beautifully the Pelicans' played on both ends of the court.
Next up? The Portland Trailblazers in the first round of the 2018 playoffs.
We wanted them and we got them.
The Blazers entered their matchup with the Utah Jazz with little to play for and still managed to comfortably beat on their home floor in the Moda Center. The Jazz, who had been on a 29-5 run since January, looked anything but locked in. Perhaps dismantling the Warriors just a day earlier had them off their game as that's an incredibly difficult back-to-back to play at the tail end of an 82-game schedule.
The Blazers and Pelicans split the season series at two wins apiece, but Portland had the last laugh with a 107-103 victory in late March. If you may remember though, Anthony Davis sprained his ankle in that one and was significantly limited down the stretch of that game.
Portland is 28-13 at home this year, and that is where New Orleans will be asked to fetch a win first as the teams play the first two games in the Northwest. Although they had DeMarcus Cousins at the time, beating the Blazers in Portland in December was important for the psyche and will be something the Pelicans can reflect on when preparing for the upcoming games on Saturday and Tuesday.
Join David Fisher (Fish_TBW), Kevin Barrios (kevinbforbounce) and I (PrestonEllis) as we break down all the important storylines and matchups heading into this weekend.
If you like what you're reading and hearing, please don't forget to subscribe, retweet, and rate our podcast today!


You can help us by donating, adopting a pelican, or volunteering. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.
Pacific Wildlife Project is a grassroots non-profit 501(c)(3) humane group incorporated in 1986 by a group of concerned citizens, veterinarians, and wildlife professionals. Operating on an all-volunteer staff, the Project treats more than 2,000 animals a year.
At Pacific Wildlife Project, we think of all of the injured birds we rescue as our "starfish". With your help and support, we can make a difference for them together!


text:
Retro TOS Movie Lithographs Available Now
Bye Bye Robot has just unveiled six new Star Trek lithographs inspired by the half-dozen Star Trek: The Original Series features. Created by artist Matt Ferguson, each of the posters utilizes vibrant colors and stark imagery to capture the essence of the respective films. For example, Ilia dominates the poster for The Motion Picture, while Khan glares menacingly from The Wrath of Khan piece, and space itself dwarfs the Excelsior in The Undiscovered Country rendering.
"These new lithographs are a striking combination of retro movie-poster design and Ferguson's own personal style," Chris Wood, co-founder of Bye Bye, Robot, said in a statement. "They give the viewer a glimpse into the heart of each of the films, and bring to mind the wonderful memories we all have of watching these movies for the first time."
The lithographs are printed on heavyweight 100lb paper, and each one measures 12" x 24." They're available individually for $25 or together as a set of six for $125 (plus shipping), meaning fans can receive all six for the price of five.
Click HERE to purchase.
Charity Wood
Bye Bye Robot
More From Star Trek: Star Trek: The Original Series
Great 'Trek' Books To Read To Your Kid Before Bed
Start 'em young, we say.
Star Trek Bids Farewell to Mad Magazine
It's time to say goodbye to MAD, which parodied 'Trek' many times over the years.
'Star Trek' Says Goodbye and Thank You to MAD Magazine
The saying goes that "All good things must come to an end." Star Trek ended once upon a
10 Times the Computer Went Bonkers
Computers: you can't live without them, and sometimes, you can't even live with them.


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Q: Flutter: Execution failed for task ':app:processDebugMainManifest I am facing the issue when using flutter run. Seems like some gradle issue. I am using Java 11 and this project was working fine from 2 months ago , I started working again after two months and things seem to fail.

Summary of Flutter doctor


text:
Click to copyhttps://apnews.com/e28213b8d1b94fdeba91d8be303cb812
The Latest: Michigan State president says he'll quit Jan. 23
FILE - In this July 24, 2018 file photo, Michigan State University Interim President John Engler speaks during a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on "Strengthening and Empowering U.S. Amateur Athletes," on Capitol Hill in Washington. Engler will resign as interim president of Michigan State University amid public backlash over his comments about women and girls sexually assaulted by now-imprisoned campus sports doctor Larry Nassar, a member of the school's Board of Trustees said Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Latest on the resignation of Michigan State University's interim president (all times local):
Michigan State University's interim president says he's stepping down in a week in response to a request from the school's governing board.
John Engler sent an 11-page letter Wednesday to Dianne Byrum, chairwoman of Michigan State's Board of Trustees. It makes no mention of recent criticism of his remarks about victims of former sports doctor Larry Nassar. Instead, he lists what he considers to be his accomplishments in his one year of service and says the university is a "dramatically better, stronger institution."
Engler says he's in Texas attending a service for his late father-in-law. He says his resignation is effective on Jan. 23.
The former Michigan governor was hired as interim president a year ago as Michigan State was dealing with sexual assaults committed by Nassar, who worked on campus.
A member of Michigan State University's Board of Trustees says the school's interim President John Engler will resign amid enduring public backlash over his comments about the sexual assault victims of former sports doctor Larry Nassar.
Joel Ferguson told The Associated Press that board members expect to receive a letter Wednesday providing details of Engler's resignation, including its effective date. He added: "Yes, John is going to resign."
Engler has resisted previous calls to step down. He took over on an interim basis in February after the previous president resigned amid fallout from the Nassar scandal.
Nassar molested hundreds of girls and women while employed at Michigan State and is now in prison.
In an editorial board meeting last week with The Detroit News, Engler said Nassar's victims have been in the "spotlight" and are "still enjoying that moment."
Trustees had scheduled a vote Thursday to oust Engler if he didn't step down.
The chairwoman of Michigan State University's Board of Trustees says embattled interim school president John Engler "has a decision to make" in the wake of his latest comments about victims of serial sexual abuser Larry Nassar.
Dianne Byrum told The Associated Press she had a "frank" conversation with Engler Wednesday. She stopped short of confirming that she asked him to resign, but said the board is poised to appoint a new interim president at a Thursday meeting. She said she had not yet heard back from Engler.
Engler told The Detroit News last week that women sexually assaulted by the now-imprisoned Nassar have been in the "spotlight" and are "still enjoying that moment at times, you know, the awards and recognition."
Byrum said Engler continues to "open wounds for survivors" and hamper the university's efforts to regain trust and credibility.
A Michigan State University trustee says the board will seek to oust interim school President John Engler if he doesn't resign amid criticism of his handling of the fallout around disgraced ex-sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar.
Brian Mosallam told The Associated Press Wednesday that if Engler "doesn't resign, we are going to vote to remove him."
Mosallam, a Democrat, also said he believes "the votes are there" to get rid of Engler. The board will hold a special meeting Thursday in East Lansing.
Engler has been criticized for his comments about women sexually assaulted by Nassar.
The AP left messages Thursday seeking comment from Engler, who was hired last February after following the January 2018 resignation of president Lou Anna Simon.
Michigan State University's board has called a special meeting amid renewed criticism of interim President John Engler's handling of the fallout around disgraced ex-sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar.
The East Lansing school says "a personnel action" will be discussed Thursday.
Engler told The Detroit News Editorial Board Friday that women sexually assaulted by the now-imprisoned Nassar have been in the "spotlight" and are "still enjoying that moment at times, you know, the awards and recognition."
Trustee Brian Mosallam said Wednesday on Twitter that "JOHN ENGLER'S REIGN OF TERROR IS OVER." His tweet followed a post by fellow Democrat and trustee Dianne Byrum announcing Thursday's meeting.
Engler, Michigan's Republican governor from 1991 through 2002, was hired by trustees last February after the previous president resigned amid fallout from the Nassar scandal.