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Gertrude Bell NPR coverage of Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell. News, author interviews, critics' picks and more.
Gertrude Bell
Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
by Georgina Howell
Hardcover, 481 pages, Farrar Straus & Giroux, List Price: $27.50 |
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She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born into privilege in 1868, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, and mountaineer. She traveled the globe several times, but her passion was the desert—her vast knowledge of the region made her indispensable to the British government during World War I. As an army major on the front lines in Mesopotamia, she supported the creation of an autonomous Arab nation for Iraq, promoting and manipulating the election of King Faisal to the throne and helping to draw the borders of the fledgling state.—From publisher description.A biography of Gertrude Bell describes how she transcended the restrictions of her gender, class, and era to become a renowned world traveler, archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, and author, and played a key role in the history of the Middle East.
Read an excerpt of this book
Also by Georgina Howell
A Woman in Arabia
NPR Reviews, Interviews and More
NPR stories about Gertrude Bell
Critics' Lists: Summer '07
Further Under the Radar: More Books Not to Miss
August 13, 2007 • In May, Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl pored through her shelves and pulled down several books that she said are read by a few but deserve wider attention. Well, there are more where they came from. Pearl is back with another armload of what she calls "under-the-radar" books.
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Summer Books 2007: Excerpts
Excerpt: 'Gertrude Bell'
July 24, 2007 • Nancy Pearl recommends Georgina Howell's riveting biography of Gertrude Bell to biography fans, history buffs, or any reader with an interest in the deep background of events playing out in the Middle East today.
Note: Book excerpts are provided by the publisher and may contain language some find offensive.
Excerpt: Gertrude Bell
January 1, 201012:00 AM ET
GERTRUDE AND FLORENCE
It is 22 March 1921, the last day of the Cairo Conference and the final opportunity for the British to determine the postwar future of the Middle East. Like any tourists, the delegation make the routine tour of the pyramids and have themselves photographed on camels in front of the Sphinx. Standing beneath its half-effaced head, two of the most famous Englishmen of the twentieth century confront the camera in some disarray: Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill, who has just, to the amusement of all, fallen off his camel, and T. E. Lawrence, tightly constrained in the pin-striped suit and trilby of a senior civil servant. Between them, at her ease, rides Gertrude Bell, the sole delegate possessing knowledge indispensable to the Conference. Her face, in so far as it can be seen beneath the brim of her rose-decorated straw hat, is transfigured with happiness. Her dream of an independent Arab nation is about to come true, her choice of a king endorsed: her Iraq is about to become a country. Just before leaving the Semiramis Hotel that morning, Churchill has cabled to London the vital message "Sharif's son Faisal offers hope of best and cheapest solution."
By what evolution did a female descendant of Cumbrian sheep farmers become, in her time, the most influential figure in the Middle East? She was as English as English can be, which is to say that she was bred in the wuthering heights of Yorkshire. These northern farmers have acquired a very particular character ever since the eleventh century, when, alone among the English, they refused to submit to William the Conqueror. Physically and mentally tough, they are given to few words, unvarnished and bluntly delivered.
Gertrude Bell's great-great-grandfather was a Carlisle blacksmith, and her great-grandfather began the first alkali factory and iron foundry at Jarrow. Her famous and powerful grandfather Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, born in 1816, was a metallurgical chemist and perhaps the country's foremost industrialist. Manufacturing steel on a huge scale, he produced one-third of the metal used in Britain and much of that used for railtrack and bridge construction in the rapidly developing Empire. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society, Britain's most distinguished scientific institution. Educated first as an engineer, he studied at Edinburgh University and at the Sorbonne in Paris, then in Denmark and the south of France. Author of The Chemical Phenomena of Iron Smelting, he was looked upon as the "high priest of British Metallurgy" and he was the first to identify the value of phosphorus fertiliser as a by-product of steel-making. Referred to as "Sir Isaac" or more familiarly as "Lowthian," in 1854
he was elected Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne, then later be-
came Liberal Member of Parliament for Hartlepool and High Sheriff
of County Durham. He was a contemporary and friend of Charles
Darwin, Thomas Huxley, William Morris, and John Ruskin, men to whom can be attributed seminal advances in evolution and science, art, architecture, and social reform. Lowthian was president or vice-president of eight national engineering and chemical institutions, several of
which he had founded. He was also the director of the North Eastern Railway.
With Lowthian's two brothers John and Tom, Bell Brothers owned collieries, quarries, and iron ore mines; factories and foundries whose furnaces, burning twenty-four hours a day, regularly reddened the night skies. His company and its associates employed more than forty-seven thousand men, and the family boast was that they would make anything "from a needle to a ship." Besides the first iron and steel works in Newcastle, and the second at Port Clarence in Middlesbrough, he set up a chemical plant for the country's first manufacture of aluminium--until then, a metal as valuable as gold. On the factory's opening day, he was driven in his carriage through the streets of Newcastle in an aluminium top hat, which he doffed to the crowd. He was the first British ironmaster to own a machine for making steel rope.
Lowthian wrote several scientific books, but his most remarkable was a comprehensive and logical assessment of Britain's prospects for competing with the world in steel production. He invested heavily in research into the process of steel-making, and was determined to push Britain into developing new technological industries. In the hope that all of British industry would follow his example, he advocated government support for scientific research and technical development. But in this,
after a lifetime's work, he failed. As he had forecast, other countries--and particularly Germany with its Krupps armaments and Thyssen steel--grew in technical competence and productivity, outstripping Britain and building the wealth and power they were to wield in the
First World War.
A formidable giant of a man, a paterfamilias who would have almost sixty grandchildren--the number is disputed--Lowthian and his wife, Margaret Pattinson, set a pattern for the Bells of comfortable rather than lavish lifestyle. Considering the huge scale of his enterprises, and his position as the Bill Gates of his day, he did not live extravagantly. This may have had something to do with Margaret's influence: she came from a family of shopkeepers and scientists. His first house, Washington New Hall--four miles south of Newcastle upon Tyne, a stone's throw from the home of the ancestors of George Washington--was not quite a mansion, and the house he built at the zenith of his power, Rounton Grange, was not quite a stately home. He toyed with Gothic, but settled for William Morris's humbler Arts and Crafts style, with its emphasis on traditional artisan skills as a panacea for the ravages wreaked by the Industrial Revolution. This would remain the characteristic style of the Bells' private houses and public buildings. Unlike many heirs to great fortunes, Lowthian's elder son Hugh, Gertrude's father, also lived modestly for a captain of industry. His own first house, Red Barns, at the fishing village of Redcar on the Yorkshire coast, a short train journey from Clarence, reflected this. After Lowthian's death, the house he owned in London was sold, the money presumably divided between Hugh and his siblings--Charles, Ada, Maisie, and Florence.
Lowthian was admired rather than loved, and appears to have been dictatorial and harsh towards his family. Gertrude and her sisters and brothers addressed him as "Pater." An illustrated family alphabet they drew up for Christmas at Rounton in 1877, when Gertrude was nine, reflects the feelings of the children towards their abrasive grandfather.
A for us All come to spend Christmas week
B for our Breathless endeavours to speak
C is the Crushing Contemptuous Pater . . .
Elsa, Gertrude's younger half-sister, has added: "Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell" in pencil, lest it be thought that this description referred to the gentler and kindlier Hugh.
A family story suggests the awe with which "Pater" was regarded by the Bells. Lowthian forbade anyone to use his horses. When one of his granddaughters fainted one evening at dinner from a riding injury (a broken collarbone), everyone conspired to hide the truth: she had borrowed one of his horses and gone hunting with the gentry. The children's grandmother Margaret could be as scathing as Lowthian. A teatime visitor once said to her hostess: "Your scones are lovely." "So I see," retorted the old lady. "Your hand has not been out of the dish since you arrived."
Some previously unknown stories about Lowthian emerged recently from papers found in one of the Bell houses, Mount Grace Priory, the ruined medieval abbey where Gertrude's father and stepmother ended their days. English Heritage was renovating the house before opening it to the public when they found the papers hidden under the floorboards. Among them is a reference to a tragic event at Washington New Hall, where "in 1872 a seven-year-old sweep was suffocated in the Hall chimney." If the little boy met his end in Lowthian's chimney in 1872, the ironmaster had comprehensively broken the law. Parliament had forbidden the use of children as chimney-sweeps a full twenty-six years earlier. Sir Isaac may have known nothing about the presence of the chimney-sweep until it was too late; however, whether because he was deeply upset or because he wanted to escape a damaging association, he moved into the newly built Rounton Grange as soon as possible, and let Washington New Hall stand empty and unsold. Nineteen years later, he gave it away as a home for waifs and strays, on condition it was renamed "Dame Margaret's Hall"; today, it is divided into pleasant apartments. Not perhaps unconnected with this story is the fact that many years later Hugh Bell successfully lobbied for a parliamentary bill to protect children from dangerous work. (In the 1860s, the Earl of Shaftesbury
reported that children of four and five were still working in certain factories from six in the morning until ten at night.)
The papers found under the boards also contained the sentence, "On one winter's night [Sir Isaac] came out of the Hall to find his coachman frozen stiff on the box-seat of his carriage." The facts remain mysterious. The unfortunate coachman may have had a heart attack rather than dying of exposure, and yet it emerges clearly that consideration for others was not, perhaps, Lowthian's principal quality.
The author of these papers, which contain many confirmable facts about Lowthian's life and work, may have been Miss K. E. M. Cooper Abbs, a Bell relation who was the last tenant to live at Mount Grace. If she was moved to record Lowthian's life, it may be because she was incensed that, whether by accident or intent, so many family papers and archives were burnt by members of the family after his death. There is to this day no biography of the man who was as famous in his day as Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
A more lovable, more charming man, Gertrude's father, Sir Hugh, led the Bell industries and inherited a vast fortune. Like his father, he was educated in Edinburgh, at the Sorbonne, and in Germany, where he studied mathematics and organic chemistry. He began work at eighteen at the Bell Brothers Ironworks in Newcastle, became director of the growing Port Clarence steelworks that dominated the grimy roofscape of Middlesbrough, and eventually ran the entire business and all its ramifications. He dug the ironstone from the Cleveland hills, worked the coal from Durham, brought the limestone from the backbone of England, lived on the Tees, and was a director of the North Eastern Railway, which brought the raw material to the steel foundry. His public works were second to none, especially after his second marriage to Florence Olliffe. He built schools and founded libraries, constructed meeting houses and workers' terraces, made a community centre for staff and labourers at Rounton and paid for a holiday home for worthy families needing a country break from life at the works. He also constructed the famous Transporter Bridge, which is still used to ferry workers and tourists quickly and cheaply over the River Tees. In 1906 he became Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding, welcoming royalty and other VIPs whenever they ventured into the windswept Yorkshire landscape, and was three times elected Mayor of Middlesbrough.
In supplying the Empire, the Bells brought a global view to British industry. Sir Hugh was an accomplished public speaker, delivering persuasive messages on such subjects as free trade, which he passionately endorsed, and home rule for the Irish, which he passionately opposed. You can hear in his published speeches the vigour and humour with which he captivated audiences of all types and classes. In his words:
Free Trade is like the quality of mercy: it is twice blessed, for it blesses him that gives and him that takes, and I for one will do nothing to place any restriction upon it. The Free market is the greatest safeguard we have against the tyranny of wealth. I look forward with dread to the accumulation of great fortunes in single hands . . . There are millions of persons in this country depending upon weekly wages, upon work which may be discontinued at the end of any week. It is with them I am concerned, and about them that I am perturbed, and not about the class to which I belong.
He welcomed the rise of the new trade unions, while warning that the writings of Karl Marx could lead socialists into revolutionary movements that would destroy British industry and employment in the competitive world that he endorsed.
When Gertrude was born, Queen Victoria had been on the throne for thirty years. She was driven by Prince Albert's relentless determination to replace the louche self-indulgence of Georgian Britain with Victorian industry and propriety. Britain, and particularly England, led the world in technical superiority--as evinced in that paeon to the Empire, the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851. The British army, able to call on troops from around the world, represented what was probably the greatest military power of all time; the British navy held control of the oceans and the trade across them, and kept the peace. If those other empires, the Russian and the Ottoman, were still in a state of feudal serfdom and of institutionalized corruption at every level, the British example, inspired by Victoria and Albert, brought at least a concern for moderation, philanthropy, and honest dealing. By the mid-nineteenth century, the concept of Empire was evolving from one of commercial exploitation to one capable of taking a pride in honest and benevolent government. Commercially aggressive but socially responsible, the Bells personified the new mood, and they enjoyed all the confidence of the right people in the right place at the right time.
Hugh married Mary Shield when he was twenty-three, choosing a local girl who was the daughter of a prominent merchant of Newcastle upon Tyne. They were married on the Scottish island of Bute on the Clyde, where the Shields kept a holiday home. Their first child, Gertrude, was born in 1868 at Washington New Hall, the home of Hugh's father. Family life centred on this larger-than-life industrialist who had made the Bells the sixth-richest family in England. He could not have been easy to live with, nor the house peaceful, and there are many intimations of his bombastic temperament and caustic wit. Although Hugh, his elder son, had an inclination for the political life, he had had it made brutally clear to him that his future lay in Middlesbrough, with the fastest-growing part of the iron business. Lowthian, based at the original works in Newcastle, would descend on the new Port Clarence steelworks at irregular intervals, to scrutinize and doubtless criticize every aspect of Hugh's work.
It would have been with great relief that Hugh and Mary moved with their two-year-old daughter out of Washington New Hall for a quieter domestic life of their own. It was not to last long. Beautiful but delicate, Mary survived only three weeks after the birth of their second child, Maurice, in 1871.
Hugh became for a time a poignant figure. When he had built Red Barns at Redcar, he had imagined a healthy and happy seaside life there for his family. Now, his sister Ada moved in to run the house and look after the children. Hugh was working six days a week at Clarence, and now had to share his Sundays with his sister, a wet-nurse, and some half-dozen servants. His moments of freedom were spent on the beach or in the countryside hand-in-hand with his lively little daughter--Maurice being as yet too young for walks--talking to her and searching her candid face for a likeness to her mother. From these early days the closest of loving father-daughter relationships developed between them, one that would last all her life.
Hugh's situation was appealing. A charming young widower whose wife's death had left him with two motherless children, he would have been a catch even without being heir to a large fortune. His warm sense of humour and his mischievous yet kindly smile were particularly engaging. Nevertheless, daughters of the aristocracy would have regarded marriage to a Bell as a step down; and Hugh, in any case, was no snob. Maisie had overcome the resistance of Lady Stanley of Alderley in marrying her witty son Lyulph, later Lord Sheffield. This formidable woman was known for her habit of turning away from a conversation on one side to loudly remark to her neighbour on the other that "Fools are so
fatiguin." She was the grandmother of Bertrand Russell, and had
been one of the founders of Girton College, Cambridge. For allowing the marriage of her son to Maisie, Lady Stanley considered herself
very broadminded: the Bells, after all, were "trade." "As Sir Hugh was a multi-millionaire, I was not very impressed," Bertrand Russell was to
say later.
Ada, a pretty and gregarious young woman, missed London and doubtless resented being forced into the unappetizing role of spinster aunt, so well known to unmarried Victorian women. It was not long before she and her sister Maisie had someone in mind for Hugh, and they hatched a plot to bring the two together.
They had met Florence Eveleen Eleanore Olliffe, twenty-two years old, through their shared interest in music. She was studying at the Royal College and sang in the Bach Choir. She had moved to London in 1870 from Paris, where her father, the distinguished and agreeable Sir Joseph Olliffe, had been physician to the British Embassy. Her Easter holidays had been spent at the Surrey house of her grandfather Sir William Cubitt, MP, sometime Lord Mayor of London. At other times she would stay with her great-uncle Thomas,* at his Hampshire estate, Penton Lodge. Summer holidays had been spent at Trouville or Deauville, fashionable seaside resorts for wealthy Parisian families. When, at the onset of the Franco-Prussian War, her father had suddenly died, the family had had to leave France fast. Florence was nineteen when she said goodbye to Paris and went to live far less glamorously at 95 Sloane Street in London, in a narrow, dingy house, all dusty red velvet and heavy furniture, with a lingering smell of tomcat. English society of the time, once described as "a series of shut doors," must have seemed a painful contrast with the brilliant cosmopolitan world she had just left.
Florence was tall and slim with blue, rather hooded eyes, and dark hair. She was very sociable, and spoke English with a slight and charming French accent. Maisie saw to it that when Hugh went up to London, Florence was included in family parties, while Ada invited her once or twice to visit her at Red Barns. After these visits the six-year-old Gertrude found herself under pressure from her aunt to write fond letters to Flor-ence, signing herself "Your affectionate little friend."
Ada and Maisie's plan almost misfired. They tried too hard to throw the two together, and it did not take Florence long to guess what they were up to. She would never marry an Englishman, she declared, and she said it with increasing force over the two years during which Hugh failed to propose. Hugh's reaction to his sisters' pressure to remarry was to tell Ada that he would never do so, and to dig himself deeper and deeper into his work. Yet Florence's description of her first sight of Hugh, framed in a tunnel of roses in Maisie's garden, suggests her heart was immediately engaged. She saw him "looking beautiful, but very sad
. . . with thick curly hair and a beard of a bright auburn colour."
Part of Hugh's difficulty, as he grew more interested in Florence, was in imagining that a woman brought up in the most sophisticated milieu of the most beautiful city in the world could settle down near Middlesbrough. One biographer of Gertrude described her own impressions of the city at the same period, when for the first time she visited an aunt who lived there: "The district round Middlesbrough and Tees side to the sea was caked with grime . . . For twenty miles the air smelt of chemicals and ash and soot, as the crowded houses smelt of cabbage, cheese and cat. Basements . . . were covered with black, gluey mud whenever it rained." The term "day-darkness" was coined to describe the smog of industry; and in particular, Middlesbrough and Cleveland were said by a contemporary to "succeed in almost excluding daylight from the district."
Redcar, a cobbled village raked by the storm-force sea winds of North Yorkshire and soon to develop into a small town, was the dormitory where many wealthy Middlesbrough industrialists were building their new family homes. (The big house next door to the Bells, for instance, belonged to an eminent metallurgist.) Here they raised their children away from the soot and polluted atmosphere, forming an elite milieu still lagging some way behind the society to which Florence had been used.
Life here was likely to be a daunting prospect for a young woman used to an hôtel particulier in the rue Florentin, its elegant courtyard secreted away behind decorative eighteenth-century gates. Born in 1851, the tumultuous first year of the Second Empire under Napoleon III,
Florence had taken her daily walk with her nurse in the Jardin des Tui-
leries, where she could ride in decorated carriages, bowl her hoop, or buy barley-sugar twists and honey gingerbread from the stalls with their striped and scalloped awnings. Just around the corner from their house was the Place de la Concorde with its "jewelled cascades springing and spurting hilariously." Much later, she was to write: "What a privilege to be born in Paris. To know Paris first, to know it all the time, to grow up in one of the most beautiful parts of it, to take it all for granted, to belong to it, and have it belong to me. Isn't that enough?" Despite civic upheavals, she had had a very happy childhood, settling contentedly at a little tutorial cours that provided an education somewhere between that of a personal governess and a small private school, without learning much more than good manners and music.
The woman that Ada and Maisie had picked for Hugh was, in fact, an extraordinarily appropriate choice. The daughter of a physician, Flor-ence was neither "trade" nor aristocracy, and she harboured a couple of passions that outweighed all the disadvantages of Middlesbrough: she adored children and domestic life. There was a dispossessed aspect to this recent immigrant, adrift in London and still homesick for Paris. She longed for the security of her own household, and had already formed dozens of opinions on the education of children and the right and wrong ways of running a home. Life could hold no greater excitement than the gift of her own domain, wherever that might be.
Hugh finally succumbed to his sisters' scheme, and to Florence, on the night of the private staging of an opera that she had written. Bluebeard was performed by friends and relations on 4 June 1876, at Lady Stanley's house in Harley Street. Ada and Maisie were to sing, and the pianist Anton Rubinstein was to play. Hugh afterwards asked if he might take Florence home. Descending from the coach at the front door of 95 Sloane Street, he escorted Florence into the drawing-room. "Lady Olliffe," he told her mother, "I have brought your daughter home--and I have come to ask if I may take her away again." In answer to this graceful speech, Lady Olliffe burst into tears.
On 10 August, after their quiet wedding in the small church in Sloane Street, they spent an urbane honeymoon in Washington, DC, as guests of Florence's much-loved sister Mary and her husband, Frank La-scelles, then a secretary at the British Embassy. Returning to London, they took the train north. At this first homecoming Florence was trembling with emotion at what was to her, and perhaps would be to any new bride and stepmother, a truly momentous occasion. As the heirs of the director of the North Eastern Railway, the Hugh Bells were transport royalty. At Middlesbrough the stationmaster doffed his hat and ushered them onto the train to Redcar. Many years later, Florence's daughter Lady Richmond was to remember an occasion when she was seeing her father off from King's Cross, and he had remained on the platform so that they could talk until the train left. The packed train failed to leave on time. Remarking on its lateness, they continued to talk until they were approached by a guard. "If you would like to finish your conversation, Sir Hugh," he suggested, doffing his hat, "we will then be ready to depart." The train to and from Redcar had a personal Bell stopping place on a tiny platform inside the Red Barns garden. Hugh, returning from the works, could simply step out of the train and cross the rose garden by the fountain to reach his own back door. Gertrude, who was always waiting there, would greet him joyfully. When she was small, he carried her to the house on his shoulders, then when she was a little older she would seize his case of papers and run alongside him, talking at the top of her voice.
On the couple's return from their honeymoon, both children would have been washed and brushed and be waiting on the Bell platform to greet them. The staff would have been lined up behind them, ready to curtsy or bow. Florence, hoping to make a firm bond with them from the start, had intended, as soon as she arrived, to ask Gertrude and Maurice to show her into every corner of the house, from cellar to attic. However, to her dismay they had been joined at Middlesbrough by Hugh's brother, Charles, who, with the kindest of intentions but no sensitivity at all, accompanied them to Red Barns. Hugh, equally unromantic, went straight to his office on the ground floor and started to go through his papers. Abandoned with Charles in the drawing-room, and passionately want-
ing him to go, Florence made distracted conversation while her
new brother-in-law sat solidly in an armchair, also stuck for something
A contented Ada departed for London, and a new life began for eight-year-old Gertrude and five-year-old Maurice. Since children of that age do not naturally assume that their parents have a life independent of their own, they must have been shocked to hear that their father had married Florence. Talking about their new stepmother later, it was Maurice's guess that she was eighty, but his sister thought that she might be quite a bit younger. Perhaps, she suggested, Florence was sixty. Poor Flor-ence was actually twenty-four, eight years younger than Hugh.
And so came into Gertrude's life the good-hearted woman who would influence and form her more than any other, sometimes in opposition but chiefly in fundamental and positive ways. Florence had many talents. She had a keen appreciation of music and literature; she wrote books, essays, and plays; she was able to get on with all kinds of people; and she was deeply interested in sociology and the education of children. Everything she did remained within the limits of the roles she considered the most important for a woman, those of wife and mother. She gave herself unstintingly to her family while achieving a body of work in the community that would earn her public recognition, and eventually make her a Dame of the British Empire. The drawing-room dramas and comedies she liked to write were initially for the children to perform at Christmas and other family gatherings. In time, through the intervention of theatrical friends, she would have three plays put on in the West End. Characteristically, she chose to remain anonymous.
Florence was nonplussed at first by northern manners. As soon as she met her neighbours, she began to institute an "at home" on Tuesdays, when she hoped couples would drop in for light refreshments (nonalcoholic). She was mystified to discover that Yorkshiremen did not accompany their wives on this sort of occasion. Her biographer Kirsten Wang writes that when one lady turned up at the Bells' with her husband she disconcerted Florence by whispering: "I managed to bring Mr. T with me. I had such a work to make him come!" Apparently believing there was safety in numbers, the women would arrive together, then seat themselves as far apart as possible, after which a silence would fall. A desperate Florence, offering them chairs closer to the fire, would meet with the response: "Thank you, I am very well where I am." In one of her books Florence writes of her heroine, a teacher who had newly come north: "The girl was ill at ease with the downright Yorkshire women who surrounded her . . . In that class of life when people have nothing to say they say nothing; their rough blunt manner, when they did speak, alarmed her still more. Nevertheless, the women after their fashion, were not unkind to her." The new Mrs. Bell persevered, and before long her "entertainments" were obligatory events in the life of the town.
But Florence was far more interested in cementing her relationship with Hugh's children. The eight-year-old observed her in speculative fashion. This stranger who had burst into their family life had something about her that the child would not have recognized: a Parisian polish in both her manner and her dress. Although Florence was essentially serious and inclined to the moralistic, she never criticized an individual's interest in her appearance or derided a love of clothes as frivolous. Her carefully considered opinions on this and other subjects were often expressed obliquely. She was an intensely private person and preferred to give her views in the form of stories or essays. In one, she wrote of the heroine:
Ursula had what the French call "genre" . . . The nearest English equivalent to the expression is "style," but that . . . suggests being dashing and assertive; "genre" is a grace inherent in the wearer, and does not depend upon clothes, but upon the way they are put on. And the reason there is no word for it in English, is that the thing is so rarely found that it is unnecessary to have a term on purpose.
Excerpted from Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell. Copyright © 2006 by Manoir La Roche Ltd.. Published in Aril 2007 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved.


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

using Autofac;

using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;

namespace ChessOk.ModelFramework.Tests
{
    [TestClass]
    public class ModelContextTests
    {
        private IContainer _container;

        [TestInitialize]
        public void TestInitialize()
        {
            var builder = new ContainerBuilder();
            builder.Register(c => new SampleService()).AsSelf().InstancePerModelContext();
            _container = builder.Build();
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ModelContextGetMethodsTests()
        {
            var builder = new ContainerBuilder();
            builder.Register(c => new SampleService()).AsSelf();
            builder.Register(c => new SampleImplA()).As<ISampleIntf>();
            builder.Register(c => new SampleImplB()).As<ISampleIntf>();
            var container = builder.Build();

            using (var context = new ModelContext(container))
            {
                Assert.IsInstanceOfType(context.Get<SampleService>(), typeof(SampleService));
                Assert.IsInstanceOfType(context.Get(typeof(SampleService)), typeof(SampleService));

                var collection = context.GetAll<ISampleIntf>();
                Assert.IsNotNull(collection);
                Assert.AreEqual(2, collection.Count());

                collection = context.GetAll(typeof(ISampleIntf)) as IEnumerable<ISampleIntf>;
                Assert.IsNotNull(collection);
                Assert.AreEqual(2, collection.Count());
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ModelContextResolvesItselfCorrectly()
        {
            using (var modelContext = new ModelContext(_container))
            {
                Assert.AreSame(modelContext, modelContext.Get<ModelContext>());
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void MultipleModelContextxResolveItselfCorrectly()
        {
            using (var context1 = new ModelContext(_container))
            using (var context2 = new ModelContext(_container))
            {
                Assert.AreNotSame(context1, context2);
                Assert.AreSame(context1, context1.Get<ModelContext>());
                Assert.AreSame(context2, context2.Get<ModelContext>());
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void DifferentScopedInstancesResolvingForDifferentModelContexts()
        {
            using (var context1 = new ModelContext(_container))
            using (var context2 = new ModelContext(_container))
            {
                Assert.AreNotSame(context1.Get<SampleService>(), context2.Get<SampleService>());
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SameScopedInstancesResolvingInsideModelContext()
        {
            using (var context = new ModelContext(_container))
            {
                Assert.AreSame(context.Get<SampleService>(), context.Get<SampleService>());
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void InstancePerModelContextObjectsAreDisposedAfterDisposingOfModelContext()
        {
            SampleService service;
            using (var context = new ModelContext(_container))
            {
                service = context.Get<SampleService>();
                Assert.IsFalse(service.Disposed);
            }

            Assert.IsTrue(service.Disposed);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void ShouldContainLinkToModelContextIfImplementsCorrespondingInterface()
        {
            using (var context = new ModelContext(_container))
            {
                var service = context.Get<SampleService>();
                Assert.IsNotNull(service.Context);
                Assert.AreSame(context, service.Context);
            }
        }

        public class SampleService : IDisposable, IHaveModelContext
        {
            public bool Disposed { get; set; }

            public void Dispose()
            {
                Disposed = true;
            }

            public IModelContext Context { get; set; }
        }

        public interface ISampleIntf {}
        public class SampleImplA : ISampleIntf {}
        public class SampleImplB : ISampleIntf {}
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Sometimes a park 'with the works' is the way to go. Choice of pools, waterslides, onsite shops and restaurant, huge camp kitchens, ensuites, and just around the corner from boutiques, cafés, and other entertainments. But sometimes, I just want to chill, not do much, and soak up the slowness and quietness. These places are getting harder to find, especially in the coastal corridors. 'Civilisation' is cutting a relentless path. But not just yet at Burram Heads.
About 40 minutes north of Hervey Bay (which has everything), is the little town (almost a village) of Burram Heads. A compact place but it's got an adequate assortment of shops including a reasonable-size supermarket, post office, fish and chips, the inevitable gift shop, fishing/hardware supplies, fuel, hairdresser, pharmacy, butcher and bakery. And if you need something 'extra' then amble up to Bundaberg or down to Hervey bay. Simple.
(if you've had a good day). It's all friendly, local.
Most people come here for the fishing I suspect. You'll see small tinnies rolled down the Beachfront Caravan Park ramp by hand, heaps of bigger boats heading out most days, and many scattered hopefuls along the pathway following the rock wall. The pelicans are usually kept busy at the cleaning benches. If you can't talk fishing it's a bit like not being an Aussie Rules fan in Adelaide – lonely. But wait, there's more: bike riding, canoeing, swimming, golfing, and the walk along the river is quite stunning. If that's too active, then book in for a river cruise or hop in the car and cruise around the countryside. There are some interesting towns within a reasonable distance, including Toogoom (there's a nice restaurant), Howard (visit Brookyn House), and Childers (a classified National Trust town).
There are two caravan parks both pretty much in the centre of town. Both a long way from the high-end parks of big name locations (say Sunshine Coast or Cairns), but that's part of the reason to go there.
The Burram Heads Beachfront Caravan Park is right on the river and next door to the small shopping centre. It is fairly basic (claiming a 3.5 star rating) but I think that adds to its charm. There are a few prime sites right on the river (book well ahead or be very lucky) with the remaining stretching down and across the main road (true!), scattered among the trees. Sites are pretty tight too but the facilities are excellent – all the usuals (free barbecues, laundry, small camp kitchen, shower block) and they are very clean and tidy. No pets. This is a friendly and relaxed 'shorts, thongs and Bunnings straw hat' type of place. No theme parks here. Off-season prices range from $44 beachfront, $33 on the flats and $28 unpowered.
The Hillcrest Holliday Park is just a little further down the road from the shops, but closer to the boat ramp. This is also a pretty tidy park, with the usual 3.5-star-style facilities but also has a pool and a small kids' play area. Sites are a little bigger and there are some good shady sections. It looks over the newly constructed boat ramp (which is massive). An off-season powered site will set you back $30 and $50 in peak times.
We're not quite taking a step back in time at Burram Heads but it is a very different ambience to the 'civilisation' just down the road at Hervey Bay. But you do get a sense that the pace is picking up. I don't reckon it will be too long before a set of traffic lights pop up. Maybe the best thing about this place is that it is very easy to do very little. My prime exertion for the day is to wander down to the bakery at about 11 o'clock for a coffee and a nibble – the fishing can wait.


Gain the expertise in spelling words with Game WordMatch!
In the Game WordMatch Activity, the LTK displays two to four words that have similar spellings and plays the sound for one of them. The students should select the correct word for which the audio was played.
Example words: kites, clubs, clams.
Our online spelling programs help a learner with dyslexia that have difficulty in the areas of reading, spelling, and writing, and often times, spoken language.


Few people doubt the future of Android, and afraid of the competition, so rather than innovate and improve its products are focused on Sue Android to try to curb their success and that manufacturers have to pay for more expensive licenses to opt for another operating system.
Many accused to Google keep quiet while we see week after week as Microsoft and Apple require companies that bet on Android as HTC, Samsung and Motorola with patents of dubious legality. Weeks ago it was rumored that Google was going to get fully to this war of patent nonsense and seemed to be confirmed a few days ago when we saw that he bought more than 1,000 patents to IBM, but it is not until now, when they do public.
I have worked in the technology industry for more than two decades and it is nothing new that Microsoft and Apple have always been on opposite sides of the ring. For this reason, when two companies come together, one begins to wonder what is really happening. This is what is happening: Android is at its best. More than 550 thousand Android devices are activated by day, through a network of 39 manufacturers & 231 operators. Android and other platforms are competing intensely and that gives as a result new devices and fantastic mobile applications for the consumer.
But the success of Android has yielded another result type: a hostile campaign organized against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, based on dubious practices with patents.
They carry out this campaign by partnering to acquire the old patents from Novell (the group "CPTN" including Microsoft and Apple) and the old patents from Nortel (the group "Rockstar", including Microsoft and Apple), to make sure that Google doesn't have those patents; looking for license price $15 for every Android device; trying to make it more expensive for phone makers license Android (which we provide for free) to license Windows Mobile; and even starting trial to Barnes & Noble, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung. It has always considered that patents were created to promote innovation, but lately being used as a weapon to stop it.
A smartphone could involve up to 250 thousand patent (the most questionable) claims, and our competitors want to impose a "tax" for these dubious patents, which would increase the final price that pays consumers for an Android device. You are looking for make it more difficult for manufacturers to sell Android devices. Rather than compete by developing new features and devices, these companies are waging their battle through litigation.
This proerty strategy is making that climb also the cost of patents, much more than what they really are worth. The 4,500 million dollars which won Microsoft and Apple for the Nortel patent portfolio is almost five times more than the cost of 1,000 million that it had estimated before the auction. Fortunately, the law contemplates with suspicion the accumulation of dubious patent for anti-competitive purposes, which means that this practice could be subject to regulatory scrutiny and patents bubble could explode.
We are not naïve; the technology industry is a sector hard and constantly changing; why we focus on our own business and develop better products. But in this instance we believe it is important to express our point of view and make it clear that we are determined to preserve to Android as a competitive option for the consumer, detaining those who try so it fails.
We are looking for the ways to achieve this goal. It was encouraged by the fact that the Department of Justice of the United States has obliged the group that I mentioned to license the old Novell patents on fair terms, is investigating whether Microsoft and Apple acquired the patents from Nortel for anti-competitive purposes. We are also contemplating other ways to reduce the anti-competitive threats against Android, reinforcing our own patent portfolio. If we do not act, consumers may find higher costs for Android devices and have fewer options when choosing your next phone.
* Update: * has taken a little * Microsoft * in defending the release of Google. Alleges that you offered you to Google to participate in the joint purchase of Novell patents but * Google rejected the offer and chose to try to buy her single patent package *. The releases have Brad Smith, lead counsel of Microsoft and Fran Shaw, Microsoft's Chief of communications via Twitter.
Seems that * Google * didn't want to accept the joint purchasing to share patents with Microsoft, Apple and more companies could not use them to defend Android, with what you want * get exclusive patents * for use against those who demand them.
* Update 2: * Google explains the reasons why the did not accept the joint purchase of patents: No surprise that Microsoft wants to divert attention by trying to install in public opinion a false "I discovered your move, Google!", while not responding to the essence of the issues that we have put on the table. If you think carefully, are obvious reasons why Google has rejected the offer from Microsoft. The objective of Microsoft has been to keep clear of Google and Android devices manufacturers any patent that could be used to defend us from their attacks. An acquisition in the patent pool from Novell that gave all parties a license, would have eliminated any protection that these patents could give Android against attacks by Microsoft and its partners. Making sure that I could not use these patents to defend Android – and making us pay for the privilege–may have seemed an ingenious strategy for them. But not we fell into the trap.
Finally, the Department of Justice of the United States intervened, forcing Microsoft to sell patents he bought and demanding that the group that won the auction (Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, EMC) gave a license to the open source community. These changes were, according to the Department of Justice, "needed to protect competition and innovation in the open source software community". This only confirms our point: our competitors are waging a patent war against Android and working together to prevent us to get patents that would help redress the balance.


Look, See | Bernie Siegel M.D.
One of my core beliefs is that we must first search for and find our authentic selves before we can really thoroughly evaluate choices that come our way throughout life. Here is a poem I wrote about knowing ourselves.
We can't know each other until we know ourselves.
No, it does not see inside me.
I bloom and blossom unseen by anyone but the divine—how sad.
let the neighbors see the real me.
This entry was posted in Creativity, Relationships, Spirituality and tagged Bernie Siegel poems, learning to love yourself, poetry, self-awareness. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
Akon wants to build a 'real-life Wakanda' and launch his own cryptocurrency called 'Akoin'
Joanna Fu,
Grammy-nominated artist Akon.
Arthur Mola/Invision/AP
Akon is launching his own cryptocurrency called Akoin.
The Grammy-nominated artist announced his plans to improve the conditions in Africa during a panel at the Cannes Lions Festival.
Akon wants to create a "real-life Wakanda," called Akon Crypto City, which will be based in a 2,000-acre land supplied by the Senegalese President.
Grammy-nominated musician Akon is launching his own cryptocurrency, which is aptly called Akoin. The Senegalese-born entertainer/entrepreneur announced his new project during a panel at the Cannes Lions Festival, where he explained his motivations of using the blockchain technology towards improving the conditions in Africa.
"I think that blockchain and crypto could be the savior for Africa in many ways because it brings the power back to the people and brings the security back into the currency system," Akon said. "[Cryptocurrency] also allows the people to utilize it in ways where they can advance themselves and not allow the government to do those things that are keeping them down."
Akon's Akoin venture will also include a "100 percent crypto-centric city," called Akon Crypto City, which will be based in a 2,000-acre land supplied by the Senegalese President. The crypto city aims to be a "real-life Wakanda" that will revolutionize daily business and human exchanges. However, when asked about the technical parts of the blockchain technology, Akon kept it real and said, "I come with the concepts and let the geeks figure it out."
You can learn more about Akon's new cryptocurrency at the official Akoin website. For more of Akon's philanthropic efforts, see how he gave electricity to 16 million Africans via his Light Up Africa project.
SEE ALSO: A college student gave a presentation on the power struggle in Wakanda — and his professor had no idea it was a fictional nation
More: Contributor Hypebeast Design Contributor Akon

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
From On The Air To Online – AM/FM Radio Drives Growth For Entertainment Streaming Service
By Doug Hyde May 28, 2019
Tags: Case StudyMedia/Entertainment
How does a new online entertainment service build its brand against established providers?
An entertainment streaming service used AM/FM radio to build awareness and usage. Westwood One commissioned a brand tracking study with MARU/Matchbox in order to understand the impact of AM/FM radio on brand growth and adoption.
Here's what we found:
The entertainment streaming service's top of mind awareness grew faster than all of the key competitors
In November 2017, before its investment in AM/FM radio, 17% of all consumers were able to name the entertainment streaming service on an unaided basis. After a year of investment in AM/FM radio, awareness grew to 28%, an industry leading +65% lift in top of mind awareness.
AM/FM radio works: Heavy AM/FM radio listeners are more likely to be aware of the entertainment streaming service
AM/FM radio was a primary contributing factor in driving top of mind awareness for the brand. Heavy AM/FM radio listeners, those most likely to hear AM/FM radio ads, were more likely to be able to name the entertainment streaming service on an unaided basis.
Top of mind awareness translates to service adoption, especially among heavy AM/FM radio listeners
Increased top of mind awareness of the entertainment streaming service naturally translates into adoption. Brand building creates mental brand equity that influences future sales via broad reach media like TV and AM/FM radio.
Weekly usage of the entertainment streaming service grew by +81% between November 2017 and November 2018. Within a year, the brand achieved the largest weekly usage increase of any entertainment streaming platform while achieving weekly usage levels close to leading competitors.
AM/FM radio doubled the entertainment streaming service's brand images
In November 2017, the average association with a positive brand image for the entertainment streaming service was 7%, ranking in the middle in comparison to its key competitors. A year later, the average brand image for the service more than doubled to 15%.
Heavy AM/FM radio listeners are more likely to recall AM/FM radio advertising for the entertainment streaming service
The entertainment streaming service's investment in AM/FM radio caught the attention of consumers. After a year of investment, recall of AM/FM radio advertising grew from 14% to 19%, a +36% increase.
Heavy AM/FM radio listeners were twice as likely to have recalled AM/FM radio advertising for the entertainment streaming service, with 2 out of 5 heavy AM/FM radio listeners recalling the AM/FM radio advertising.
AM/FM radio works for entertainment streaming platforms with the power to reach streaming platform users, turn them into customers, and convert them into fans.
AM/FM radio boosted the entertainment streaming service's brand images significantly
Doug Hyde is Senior Director, National & Local Insights at CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One.
Author: Doug Hyde
PreviousPrevious post:Share of Ear Q1 2019: AM/FM Radio Dominates Ad-Supported Media, Spotify Inches Out Pandora Again, and Podcast Audiences SurgeNextNext post:Westwood One's Sterling on Sunday Adds Two New Stations


Dedicated to the empowerment of young people through the art and craft of songwriting, through our work we are inspiring the next generation of songwriters.
Browse the site to find out more about what we do or simply have a listen to the wonderful songs written by the children we are working with all around the country.
"I just really want to say a BIG THANK YOU for your continued support, backing, love, contribution & everything you do for Royal Borough of Greenwich schools."Caroline Banin, Head of Direct Services to Schools, Children's Services, Inclusion, Learning and Achievement.


What a weekend! My dear mom helped me clean my old apartment for about 10 hours straight on Saturday, so Sunday was a well deserved funday as Chase and I went to the I Love This City festival. Not necessarily my scene, but we ran into some friends and I had a photo pass to keep me engaged and we drank enough beer for a small fraternity, so it was pretty fun, as was Bad Veins after at Bar Pink. Yesterday was an amazing barbeque at my boss' house and I discovered that I'm terrible at horseshoes, but it was fun and then I ended the weekend with my family for the last night my cousin was in town. Super good times but now I've got all those emails to catch up with and 20 unpacked boxes in this tiny little studio that I need to unload. There are some great shows this week...don't miss out! Tuesday and Wednesday archives are after the jump.


text:
Tag: Match Game
R.I.P. Patti Deutsch (1943-2017)
by Sean L. McCarthy | Aug 1, 2017 | News | 0 |
Patti Deutsch, who started out performing in an improv group with Fred Willard, became well-known...
Here are your celebrity panelists for the 2016 reboot of Match Game on ABC
by Sean L. McCarthy | Jun 16, 2016 | News, TV | 0 |
Match Game finally is back. The 2016 version, premiering Sunday June 26, 2016, on ABC, began...
ABC to broadcast full primetime block of classic game shows, rebooted for summer 2016
by Sean L. McCarthy | May 1, 2016 | TV | 0 |
ABC figured out how to bring back the primetime game show some 17 years ago with Who Wants to be A...
"Match Game" returns to daily TV, but only in [blank] Canada
A classic game show beloved by comedians and comedy fans returns to the TV airwaves five times a...


A granddaughter wanted to celebrate the memory of her grandmother's life achievements, her academic accomplishments and the hardships along the way, through a university scholarship fund.
Much of the research was documented and in trust with the family. Newspaper research, and interviews with relatives and friends made the biography come alive and complete.
Through research, a biography was constructed and a scholarship fund in existence for several years. Commentaries from relatives and family made the biography inspirational. Every student winning the scholarship receives a copy of Laura's personal biography.


text:
ORCHESTRA WINNERS: high school division
The American Prize is honored to announce the winners and runners-up in the high school orchestra division of The American Prize in Orchestral Performance, 2014. Congratulations!
All finalists receive written evaluations from a member of The American Prize judging panel.
Complete listings of finalists and semi-finalists in The American Prize competitions may be found elsewhere on this blog.
Please make us aware of any misprints: theamericanprize@gmail.com
The American Prize in Orchestral Performance
—high school orchestra division
ALLEN HIGH SCHOOL ORCHESTRA
David DeVoto, conductor
Allen TX
The Allen ISD Orchestra program began in 1997 at the 6th grade level with approximately 50 students. By 2002, the 30 member Allen High School orchestra began performing in their first concerts and festivals and earned their first "sweepstakes" UIL award. In the next 12 years, the AHS orchestra program grew to 300+ students, placed in the finals of the Texas Honor Orchestra Competition in 2004, 2006, and 2007, and was accepted to the Midwest Clinic in 2006. Today, there are over 1,100 orchestra students in Allen ISD: seventeen elementary orchestras, three middle school orchestra programs with four orchestras each, a freshman center orchestra program with a full orchestra and four string orchestras, and the high school orchestra program with a full orchestra and five string orchestras. The Allen High School Symphony Full Orchestra consists of the top two string orchestras and members from the AHS Wind Ensemble.
Among judges' comments: "The sound and style is breathtaking; fantastic performance!"
JASPER HIGH SCHOOL LEGACY ORCHESTRA
Ryan Ross, conductor
Plano TX
The Jasper High School Orchestra is proud to be one of the most accomplished orchestra programs in Texas. Jasper is a grade 9 and 10 campus in Plano, TX, a Dallas suburb. Their orchestra currently serves over 200 students in five orchestras. Since its inception in 1996, Jasper's top string ensemble, Legacy Orchestra, has repeatedly ranked as one of the top five string orchestras in Texas, competing alongside high schools that fill their orchestras with 9th through 12th graders, and in 2013 they were named the winner of The American Prize in Orchestral Performance (HS Division). That same year, the Jasper Symphony was also named the 2014 TMEA Honor Full Orchestra of Texas. Jasper feeds Plano West Senior High School and pulls from Rice and Robinson Middle Schools. Today, the Jasper Orchestra program is led by Ryan Ross and Assistant Director Brad Davis. The string program is proud to frequently collaborate with band directors Jackie Digby and Charlie Hendrix.
Among judges' comments: "...exciting, mature performances of several difficult repertoire pieces..."
ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL PHILHARMONIA
Jonathan Handman, conductor
Lagrangeville NY
Arlington High School's Philharmonia is the most advanced of five orchestras in the school and was the Grand Champion of the ASTA National Orchestra Festival in March 2012. The program consists of two ninth grade string orchestra and three symphonic orchestras for students in grades 10-12, of which Ms. Elizabeth Handman, Mr. Jonathan Handman and Mr. John Harper are the directors. In total, the program has over 250 string students and 75 wind/percussion members that join the strings every other day as their second ensemble in addition to the band program that they are members of. Arlington Central School District's High School Principal is Mr. Paul Fanuele and Music Coordinator is Mr. Richard Guillen.
Among judges' comments: "Your exciting performances...show off your considerable technical ability and sonority."
Posted by david at 3:30 PM
THE AMERICAN PRIZE to designate "HONORED ARTISTS"
CONDUCTOR WINNERS, RUNNERS-UP: professional orches...
CONDUCTOR WINNERS, RUNNERS-UP: college/university ...
CONDUCTOR WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: opera division
CONDUCTOR WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: band division
STAGE DIRECTOR WINNER, RUNNERS-UP
MUSICAL THEATER WINNERS, RUNNERS-UP
PROFESSIONAL ORCHESTRA WINNER, RUNNERS-UP
CONDUCTOR WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: community orchestra
COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA WINNER, RUNNERS-UP
CONDUCTOR WINNERS, RUNNERS-UP: youth/high school o...
CONDUCTOR WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: college/university c...
CONDUCTOR WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: community chorus/you...
Community Division: The VYTAUTAS MARIJOSIUS MEMORI...
Collegiate Division: The VYTAUTAS MARIJOSIUS MEMOR...
CHORUS WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: high school & youth cho...
CHORUS WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: community
CHORUS WINNER, RUNNERS-UP: college/university
OPERA COMPANIES: community division
OPERA COMPANIES: college/university division
OPERA COMPANIES: professional division
BAND WINNERS: community division
BAND WINNERS: high school division
BAND WINNERS: college/university
ORCHESTRA WINNERS: youth orchestra
ORCHESTRA WINNERS: college/university


My Akai AAR-32 stereo set was designed and programmed to tune the regular FM broadcast band, and the old AM MW band from 530 KHz to 1610KHz. But now there are stations above 1610 KHz. In the extended AM band up to 1700 KHz. In an analog tuned radio, getting the extended band is just a matter of re-tweaking the local oscillator and antenna LC circuits capacitor trimmers (usually found attached to the tuning cap frame). Just reduce the capacitance of the osc trimmer while listening for extended band stations. Then trim the antenna circuit for sensitivity.
But in a microcontroller controlled digital tuned receiver, this won't be so simple. In my Akai receiver, the microcontroller scans the user front panel pushbutton keys, then sends a sequence of digital values to the Phase Lock Loop (PLL) chip. The Akai uses a TC9125BP PLL chip. This chip has its data and address lines multiplexed together. This data tells the chip by what value to set a divider circuit fed by a reference oscillator. This results in a pulse train that is compared to the analog voltage controlled local oscillator, and adjustments are made automatically to that local oscillator to get it on the desired frequency, namely (station frequency + IF frequency). For more on PLLs, do a web search on phase lock loops, or even go to an old fashioned paper book engineering library.
The TC9125BP chip uses binary coded decimal to load the divider registers. As the data/address bus is 4 bits, nibbles are sent and strobed into the chip's registers. Data are numbers (in binary) from 0 to 9. Address make use of invalid binary encoded decimal codes (from 11 to 15). An address is sent first, strobed by the load line, and the next nibble is the data to be loaded into the register (upon the next load strobe). Four pairs of addresses and data are sent, as the decimal representation of the divide value is 4 digits long. See the timing diagram. Note that the spoofing leaks into the next address nibble, but this leakage is ended before the next strobe comes along. So there is no misprogramming done.
For the AM band, the value to be loaded is equal to the frequency of the desired radio station plus the IF frequency (in this set, 460KHz). For a station on 660 KHz, it would be (660 + 460)/10 = 112. So the value "0112" would be sent. If we wanted 1660, we would need the value "0212". But the microcontroller was programmed not to ever send this value, as it would make the radio tune outside the old AM band. However, we can make a circuit that detects when the "hundreds" digit data is to be sent, and change say a digit 1 into a 2. With this circuit enabled, punch up "660" on the "dial" and the "hundreds" digit modified by our circuit, the PLL chip sees the value "0212" instead of "0112". And cause the receiver to actually receive a station at 1660 KHz instead of 660 KHz. This spoofing doesn't stop at 1700 KHz, my receiver could accurately tune up to 2030 KHz (though there are no AM stations up there). This is limited to the range of the controlled analog oscillator. Connecting an indicator to pin 13 (frequency lock in) of the PLL chip will tell if the PLL is locking or not. See diagram for spoofing circuit block diagram.
As mentioned above, I was able to tune as high as 2030 KHz and maintain lock. This includes the ham radio 180 meter AM and single sideband (SSB) phone (voice) communications band. I was able to listen to Amateur SSB communications with the Akai. Listening to SSB with an AM receiver can be done by using a second AM radio. Tune the local oscillator of the second AM radio (by tuning to around 1500 on that radio) to "beat" with the SSB signal to produce understandable audio. Leakage of the local oscillator from the second radio into the Akai receiver's antenna will do the trick.
This exact description is probably of limited direct application to sets that use the above PLL chip. But the overall concept to be gotten from this web page is that the digital commands from the microcontroller in your set can be intercepted and "spoofed" to cause the PLL to tune beyond the original design range. You'll need documentation of the commands your set uses, which may be provided by the service manual. Reprogramming the microcontroller is possible in theory, but would rarely be practical.
I used the excess tuning range (1700-2000 KHz) to receive the output of a shortwave block downconverter. One thing to notice is that shortwave broadcast station frequencies are spaced at 5KHz intervals, and the Akai set tunes only every 10KHz. The downconverter local oscillator causes a 2500Hz offset on the downconverted shortwave stations. This is within the Akai receiver's IF bandpass filter, so you can listen to stations at x.xx0 MHz and the other stations at x.xx5 MHz. Of course, this means that you won't be able to separate some stations 5KHz apart. See diagram below. This sort of local oscillator 2500Hz offset scheme could also be used to downconvert your favorite SW band down to the normal AM range of a PLL digitally tuned car radio.
I used the Ramsey shortwave downconverter board, and modified the input filter to allow signals between 9.5 to 10MHz thru, and to stop signals above and below. This is like the RF section of a superheterodyne radio set. The Akai receiver acts as a tunable IF. The 9.5 to 10MHz filter stops images from 6 to 6.5MHz from getting thru.


Here is my story. I'm raising a son with my abusive wife. I pay all the bills and have about 200.00 left over each month. My wife has to smoke at least two packs of cigarettes a day which cost about $7 per pack. Do the math. That comes out to about 400.00 per month. My son and I barely eat now since her smoking takes all the money. If I do not buy her cigarettes then things get broken, and I get cussed out. I am now behind every bill including rent, and she doesn't understand why we do not have any money. Boy did I marry I LOSER! to be continued.
More information is available on this website about Domestic Violence Against Men.
It seems that things aren't going to get better anytime soon. Instead of not getting anywhere with your situation, you need to use the resources to your advantage, by speaking to your local family attorney, your church, or even your counselor to see if any of these issues can be fixed. It won't happen overnight, so be patient. If you feel that you want out of the marriage, file for a divorce. It's going to get ugly-especially when you're fighting for full custody of your child, so be prepared to pay for legal fees. No one-and I mean NO ONE deserves to be mistreated. Why should you tolerate it?!
Bryan, managing relationship problems and differences with a spouse like the problems you are experiencing is difficult. Experience says that doing nothing only makes the problems worse over time. Meanwhile, acting out of frustration and doing the wrong things makes the problems worse too. Consider asking a professional for advice and help to find the right course of action. A profession can look at the situation without bias and help find a solution. Consider counselors through a local church, a domestic violence hotline, or a local family law attorney. All of these professional organizations can help guide you toward helpful resources and help to bring your wife to the table in a way that does not pit you against her. Ultimately, you will need to work together and get on the same team, even if it means you must agree to be apart. It may take time and a lot of patience. If you are being abused or feel the type of anger and control issues that could cause you to be abusive, then you really must make the call for help, so that you don't wind up with someone getting hurt or in terrible legal trouble.


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Sell-off transfer account to others.
2.9. It is advised that customers check their account balance each time they communicate with Betebet.
2.10. Customers are required to provide the correct user details when logging in or communicating with Betebet.
2.11. Employees, former employees of service providers and/or affiliated people are not permitted to open betting accounts and cannot exploit the services and promotions of Betebet. Same rules apply to family members of the above mentioned. Violation of this rule will result in the account being permanently closed and the referred accounts will be considered as fraudulent.
2.12. Betebet will not tolerate any language which is considered to be defamatory, abusive, obscene, racist, sexist, discriminatory, or offensive towards any Company staff and reserves the right to close accounts without any warning should such incident take place.
2.13. We will take all reasonable steps to prevent activities of money laundering and Betebet is bound by international audits to ensure this does not happen. Global anti money laundering procedures and parameters are in place to identify risks of money laundering and financing terrorism.
2.14. Necessary steps towards any and every account will be performed in order to examine financial habits and behaviour to evaluate customer transactions legitimacy according to the Betebet's Terms and Conditions and for the customers risk profile.
3.1. The name on Your Account must match Your true, legal name and identity.
Your financial transactions (account funding options) must match the name of the credit card or other payment accounts through which You fund the account or withdraw money from Your account.
3.2. Our Know Your Customer program requires all customers with deposits and withdrawals to submit proof of identity at any given time. To verify Your identity, We reserve the right to request satisfactory proof of identity (including, but not limited to copies of a valid passport/identity card and/or any satisfactory documents to proof the identity) and satisfactory proof of address (including, but not limited to a recent utility bill or bank statement) at any time and review them within the reasonable time frame.
3.3. To maintain a high level of security and integrity in the system, We reserve the right to conduct a security review at any time to validate Your identity, age and/or the registration data provided by You (a 'Security Review'), in order to verify Your use of the Services. This may include, but is not limited to, Your compliance with these Agreements and the policies of the Betebet and Your financial transactions carried out via the Services for potential breach of any of the terms and conditions of Betebet and any applicable laws. You authorize Us and Our agents to make any relevant inquiries of You and for Us to use and disclose information to any third party whom We consider necessary in order to validate the information You provide to Us in accordance with these Agreements, i.e. ordering a credit report and/or otherwise verifying the information against third party databases. In addition, to facilitate these Security Reviews, You agree to provide such information or documentation as We, at Our unrestricted discretion, may request. Whilst we are undertaking any Checks from time to time, we may restrict You from withdrawing funds from Your Account and/or prevent access to all or certain parts of the Website. Please note that we may from time to time re-perform the Checks for regulatory, security or other business reasons.
3.4. In certain circumstances we may have to contact You and ask You to provide further information to us directly in order to complete the Checks. Please note: Documentation supplied should be up-to-date and not more than 3 months old. In addition, to facilitate these Security Reviews, You agree to provide such information or documentation as We, at Our unrestricted discretion, may request. If You do not or cannot provide us with such information then we may suspend Your Account until such time as You have provided us with such information, and/or permanently close Your Account. Failure to supply documentation upon request may result in the suspension of Your Account.
3.5. Betebet does not permit registration of more than one (1) Account in connection with Your use of site's service including but not limited to its web-based version. If You register for or create multiple Accounts, Betebet reserves the right to terminate any and all Account(s) held by You.
3.6. Betebet reserves the right to confiscate any funds or winnings created by fraudulent activity related to multiple accounts. Should We have reasonable grounds to believe that multiple Accounts have been opened with the intention to defraud the company, We reserve the right to cancel any transaction related to said fraud attempt.
3.7. Should customers refuse to provide documentation, not provide at all or provide documentation not meeting the criteria (forged, altered, failing security checks etc.). Betebet reserves the right in such circumstances to close player accounts immediately and revoke their account balance. In such event, the customer will lose their rights to all winnings. Customers are also advised that their deposit may not be refunded in such event.
3.8. You are not permitted to create more than one account per household or IP address. Using a public computer, an internet café or hotspot, an IP used by more than one account will be considered as a case of duplicate or multiple accounts which will end with the duplicate accounts closed as per paragraph 3.5, 3.6, 3.7.
4.1. The username, password and other registered information on your personal account selected by You during registration for membership should not be disclosed to any third party. In case where a third party has gained access to your personal account with the Betebet by any means other than Betebet, You are solely responsible for the state of your funds and any personal information stored in your account.
4.2. You agree to keep Your Username, password and other personal information secret and confidential and to disallow the use of any third party.
4.3. It is the customers' responsibility to ensure the safe keeping of their username and security details. If there is a suspected violation, customers are required to take necessary measures to cancel their previous security information and request new log-in details.
5.1. It is possible to deposit money to Betebet account by transferring via mobile phone number. Notification of new payment methods will be made on our homepage and sent by e-mail as they are added. For each method the Terms and Conditions for "deposit" will be updated.
5.2. Cepbank transactions are made by sending from the account to the registered mobile phone number. This is a fast and secure way of sending money and can be made through Your designated bank found on the deposit page. Full details on the process of this transaction can be found on the corresponding deposit page from Your chosen bank.
5.3. Once the deposit request is made and the form fully complete, it will take from 15 minutes up to 2 hours for the funds to reach Betebet accounts. Any delay over this period should be reported to Betebet customer support.
5.4. Players are only permitted to use their personal information and personal bank accounts. Players are responsible to ensure the information given on the deposit form is correct.
5.5. Player information provided on the deposit form must be identical to the player data held by Betebet. Withdrawals from an Account can only be addressed to the person registered on the Account.
5.6. Players can make a withdrawal request from any of the banks listed on the Betebet withdrawal page. The number of banks will increase over time and further withdrawal methods will be added. New additions will be notified on our homepage and sent by e-mails as they are added. Correspondingly, "withdrawal" Terms and Conditions will also be updated.
5.7. The minimum bank withdrawal is 100TL. Players can give unlimited withdrawal requests each day for the funds available in their accounts.
5.8. Providing there are no discrepancies in Your withdrawal request, the withdrawal request will be processed within 24 hours. The time-frame is not guaranteed and delays may occur from time-to-time (account and information verification, public holidays, bank working hours etc.).
5.9. Your account will be debited the moment You make the withdrawal request. Withdrawal requests can be made each day.
5.10. If a problem occurs with Your withdrawal request, the process will be cancelled and the funds re-instated to Your account.
5.11. If there is a bonus amount in Your account, You must first satisfy the turn-over terms of the bonus before making a withdrawal request.
5.12. Players can only make a withdrawal request once they fully use their initial deposit amount.
5.13. Player information provided on the withdrawal form must be identical to the player data held by Betebet. Withdrawal requests made to other parties will not be taken into consideration.
5.14. Betebet has the right to request further documentation from the customers; failure to provide these can result in Betebet withholding funds.
6.1. In order to use the Services of the Betebet, You will be required to send money to and may be required to receive money from Us. We may use third-party electronic payment processors and/or financial institutions ('ESPs') to process such financial transactions. You irrevocably authorize Us, as necessary, to instruct such ESPs to handle Account deposits and withdrawals from Your Account and You irrevocably agree that We may give such instructions on Your behalf in accordance with Your requests as submitted using the relevant feature on Our Platforms.
6.2. You agree to be bound by the regulations imposed by each applicable ESP. In the event of conflict between these Agreements and the ESP's regulations, these Agreements shall prevail.
7.1. The bet office finalizes the calculations on the initial results. Subsequent disqualifications and cancellations will not affect the calculations.
7.2. The earnings will be multiplied by the identified rates.
7.4. Customers are liable to inform the company of any and all additional credits to their account as a result of incorrect transactions. Otherwise, any and all earnings associated to this transaction will be revoked and funds reversed to the company account.
7.5. Where the user's account falls below zero balance after a previously closed bet is recalculated, the player must deposit to bring its account balance to zero or above. Until this is done the company will block the account. Failure to comply, the company reserves the right to conduct suspicious account procedures on the account.
7.6. The account the customer will use for withdrawal needs to be under the customer's name. Otherwise withdrawal requests will not be taken into consideration.
7.7. The player acknowledges and accepts not to make cancellation or refund requests to the payment method used for making a deposit. In an event where a deposit process is refunded or reimbursed to the user, the company will take action to receive full payment including costs from any accounts that were used for improper deposits. To prevent suspicious activity, the player account may not be used for the defined bank account. Any improper transactions identified where the account is used for any transactions other than betting activities to transfer funds to the player account will result in the company requesting additional fees from the customer for costs incurred (regardless whether the account is suspended).
8.1. Any statistics displayed during a live event (i.e. Score, time etc.) is only intended for general information. There is no guarantee to the validation and should not be considered when placing bets.
8.2. The wagered bets will be held in "pending" mode and then will either be accepted or cancelled.
8.3. Bets in the "pending" mode will be cancelled if during the time a significant change has taken place in the market.
8.4. The company reserves the right to suspend bets to any market without prior notification.
8.5. Where the company has reasonable doubt to bets being wagered after the results are posted or wagered during a technical malfunction that provides the user with an unfair advantage by placing wrong odds, the company, in these circumstances reserves the right to countermand the bets.
9.1. We are required by law to comply with data protection requirements in the way in which we use any personal information collected from You in Your use of the Betebet Website. We therefore take very seriously our obligations in relation to the way in which we use Your personal information.
9.2. By providing us with the information, You consent to our processing Your personal Information for the purposes set out in the Term, for operating the Betebet Website or to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
9.3. As a company policy, no personal information is shared to any third party other than to those that are bound to provide a service that requires access to the information.
9.4. We will retain copies of any communications that You send to us (including copies of any emails) in order to maintain accurate records of the information that we have received from You.
10. 1. We have a zero tolerance policy towards inappropriate play and fraudulent activity. This includes, but is not limited to; game manipulation or payment fraud, or manipulation of the multi-currency facilities, fraudulent payment, including but not limited to the use of stolen credit cards, or any other fraudulent activity (i.e. chargeback or other reversal of a payment) or prohibited transaction (i.e. money laundering) or the failure on the part of Your bank or ESP to honour Your transactions.
instructing third party collections agencies to collect the debt. This may have a detrimental impact on Your credit rating and will require Us to share Your personal information (including Your identity) with the appropriate agencies.
It is proven by the relevant courts with a verdict entered into legal force that You have violated international or local money laundering provisions.
12.1. You fully understand and agree to be bound by these Agreements and as modified and/or amended by Us. We may amend these Agreements at any time without prior notification of the new terms, however, all the new Terms and Conditions will be published or/and modified on the relevant page of the Betebet or any location through which You access the Services. Any such modification will take effect within fifteen (15) days of publication. If any modification is unacceptable to You, You may terminate your Agreements with the Betebet by closing Your account. Your continued use of the Services following the change of terms and conditions or Agreements between You and the Betebet and/or once the modification has been implemented will be deemed acceptance of the modification.
12.2. It is Your sole responsibility to review these Agreements and any amendments each time You access the Services. Any modified Agreements (and the documents referred to therein) represent the complete and final Agreement between You and Us and supersede any and all prior Agreements between You and Us.
13.1. Please note that these Terms and Conditions of Service shall prevail in the event of any conflict between these Terms and Conditions of Service and any of the game rules or other documents referred to in these Terms and Conditions of Service.
13.2. IF THESE AGREEMENTS ARE TRANSLATED INTO ANOTHER LANGUAGE, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION WILL PREVAIL IN THE EVENT OF ANY CONFLICT BETWEEN THE TRANSLATION AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION.
13.3. PLEASE PRINT THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND STORE THEM FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE. IN ADDITION, WE SUGGEST THAT YOU PRINT AND STORE ALL TRANSACTION RECEIPTS AND GAME RULES AS APPLICABLE TO YOUR ACTIVITIES.