Excited children, educational talks, colourful animals and hours of fun just a few reasons why you're never too old to go to the zoo.
We arrived bang on 10 o'clock when the zoo opened so it was quick and easy to get parking and into the zoo. There was already a steady stream of visitors there so as soon as we got there, we grabbed a map and planned our route.
As you enter the zoo, you walk past the gift shop, soft play area and cafe so if you're in need of a little fuel or caffeine, it's a good idea to fill up here. The soft play area was already filled with kids and we had to make a beeline for the ticket booth before our mudlet caught wind.
We started off in the primate area watching the monkeys swing around showing off their acrobatic skills. The zoo is the only place in the UK where you can see all four types of great ape (gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee and bonobo) and a wide collection of gibbons housed in an island complex, so we spent a large chunk of our time exploring this area.
The spider monkeys and gibbons were lots of fun to watch and came right up to the window staring at us with as much curiosity as we were to them.
Right at the end of this area you can see the construction of the new Chimpanzee Eden which plans to open next year. This three-storey building is being designed to feature both indoor and outdoor areas for the chimps where visitors will be taken on a journey through an immersive jungle-like habitat.
We admired the zebras (one of my favourite mammals) as we headed to Giraffe Savannah. This relatively new area features a house and open-air paddock for the tallest animal in the world. We got brilliant views of both of them roaming around outside and twirling their necks around each other. We also caught sight of three of the Asian elephants.
We couldn't see the leopards but this was made up by the fact that you could get really close to the penguins and watch them swim through the glass which got a few excited yelps from our little one. He wasn't interested in the flamingos, but it was the first time I had seen them and they didn't disappoint.
Right opposite the birds is Wet and Wild, a brilliant area for the kids to run around and cool down in when the weather is really hot and sticky.
There are plenty of outdoor tables to stop at and enjoy a picnic but as our stomachs grumbled, we decided to head back to the cafe. We grabbed a kids meal from the View Restaurant and some sandwiches from the Vine Cafe and sat in the play area as our little one got to enjoy some quality time in the ball pit of the soft play jungle (under 3's £3.50, members £2 and non-members £4.50). The food was reasonably priced – a 3 course meal for kids was £7, a 2 course was £5 at the View Restaurant and a sandwich cost around £3 from the cafe.
While we sat tucking into lunch we spotted a snow leopard roaming around through the large expansive glass view overlooking a Himalayan landscape enclosure, but unfortunately didn't get to see the new twin, female snow leopard cubs, Eva and Ceba.
We decided to walk off our food and went to the Explorer Zone. A lot of people start their zoo journey from here but we saved it till the end as there's a lot less ground to cover.
We walked through the Butterfly Forest which was a real fun and interactive experience. They're a kaleidoscope of colours and flutter all around and quite close to you – one brave little girl had one crawling on her hand. A word of warning though, it can get really hot in here. We finished the day off in the kids play area while tucking into ice cream and doughnuts.
What I liked about Twycross Zoo was the fact that it wasn't overwhelming – everything was manageable and do-able well within a few hours. The zoo was spacious and well organised and the only thing we had to queue up for was entrance into the soft play. Staff were very helpful and happy to accommodate us throughout.
££: £16.80 for adults, £12.48 for children aged between 3-16 years old, free for children under 3.
What's On? There's lots of activities going on at the zoo over the next few weeks including Zoo Club, where the kids can take part in lots of exciting activities themes around animals, wildlife, nature and the zoo. On Sat 2 Sept you can spend the evening at the 'zoovies' and enjoy Disney's Jungle Book (2016 version) in the Outdoor Cinema.


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Nigel Tufnel es un personaje ficticio interpretado por el actor Christopher Guest en la película This is Spinal Tap. Es el guitarrista líder de la banda de rock Spinal Tap, la cual está compuesta por el bajista Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) y el guitarrista y vocalista David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean).

Técnicas solistas de guitarra
 Usando un violín
 Tocando otra guitarra con su pie
 Solos inspirados en la música clásica
 Armónicos faciales

Referencias
Karl French et al. (2001). This is Spinal Tap – The Official Companion, Bloomsbury ISBN 0-7475-5284-3.

Músicos ficticios
Ingleses ficticios
Nacidos en Londres

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Sean Douglas
Producer, Editor & Host of The Codpast & National Trust Podcast & Editor & Producer of 50% Renewable, Women and Power & People's Landscapes
Dig8talDouglasDig8talDouglas
Creator of The Codpast and series editor, senior producer and exec producer at the National Trust.
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National Trust Podcast
Host, Editor, Producer
Countryfile Live 2019
50% Renewable
Producer, Editor
People's Landscapes
Recent episodes featuring Sean Douglas
A Mystery Guest at the Beatles Childhood Homes - Revisited
Whilst we break for the holidays and prepare for the launch of series 5, we're revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the archives. This month it's 'A Mystery Guest at the Beatles Childhood Homes' from Series 3. In this episode, a famous mystery guest joins a public tour of John Lennon's childhood home. So, can you guess who the mystery man is before he is revealed? Listen to see if you've got what it takes. To find more episodes or a series you may have missed go to https://nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts. We'd also like to know what you think of the podcast so we can make Series 5 the best series yet. You can do this by filling in a short survey which you can find at http://nationaltrust.org.uk/podsurvey
Taste Along With Wainwright
In our first taste along episode, Ranger Kate Martin and her mystery guest experience a Lake District walk in an intriguingly new way. If you'd like to taste along with Kate, you'll need some fruit chews, mac & cheese, mint bubble filled chocolates and some cream soda. We are currently planning and producing episodes for season 5 of the National Trust Podcast. To help us improve the show we'd love your feedback. So to help us shape future episodes of this podcast we'd be grateful if you could spare a few minutes to fill in our end of season survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NTpodsurvey Extracts from this episode were taken from Alfred Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to The Lakeland Fells.
Behind the Scenes of Reopening
Sep 18th, 202021m 10s
After one of the most challenging years, the Trust is starting to nurture the green shoots of a new normal. Let us take you behind the scenes to witness the events and people that made our reopening possible. For more audio programmes from the National Trust, visit nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/listen-to-podcasts-from-the-national-trust) .
Nature's Tasty Secrets
Sep 4th, 202022m
Edible nettles, sweet shop flavoured berries and deadly carrots are just some of the culinary, and not so culinary delights, Ranger Kate Martin encounters when she meets Fred the Forager for a late summer stroll. This episode aims to inspire you to explore nature in a new way. And should not be used as a reference for instructions on how to forage. Fred (https://thewildsideoflife.co.uk/) is an expert with decades of experience. If you would like to experience foraging for yourself we recommend you join a reputable course and only forage under expert guidance. For more audio programmes from the National Trust, visit nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/listen-to-podcasts-from-the-national-trust) .
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Colon cancer cell lines with partial sensitivity to the BRAF inhibitor PLX4720 were grown in increasing concentration of the drug to develop acquired resistance. Gene expression was performed for comparison of the resistant clones to the parental lines. Colon cancer cell lines with partial sensitivity to the BRAF inhibitor PLX4720 were grown in increasing concentration of the drug to develop acquired resistance. Gene expression was performed for comparison of the resistant clones to the parental lines.


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Monthly Marvel Muster – The More Things Change
Pubwatch Reviews
Cat Meier August 23, 2018 August 23, 2018
Welcome back to Monthly Marvel Muster. I'm back once again with all the exciting, and not-so-exciting, news Marvel Comics has to offer. This month we have more new series debuts, some welcome surprises, some baffling decisions, and some exciting announcements.
And the #1s never stop
Amazing Spider-Man #1 – Cover by Ryan Ottley & Laura Martin
After launching three new ongoing series in May, and six in June, Marvel continues to debut new series featuring new writers and artists on established characters. July brought a fantastic new Captain America ongoing by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leinil Francis Yu, and a new Amazing Spider-Man from Nick Spencer and Ryan Ottley, as well as Laura Kinney's return to her old moniker in X-23 by Mariko Tamaki and Juann Cabal, and Rogue and Gambit's first joint ongoing, Mr. & Mrs. X by Kelly Thompson and Oscar Bazaldua.
In mini-series, Carol Danvers returns to the spotlight in The Life of Captain Marvel by Margaret Stohl and Carlos Pacheco. Carol's first solo outing since her last series ended in February promises us "the definitive origin of Captain Marvel!" I'm always dubious about backstory retcons, but we'll see how this one goes.
Though the Thanos ongoing by Donny Cates ended in April, Frank Castle, the Cosmic Ghost Rider who was introduced in that series, got his own mini-series in June. It is written by Cates, with art by Dylan Burnett. And Ed Piskor's epic retelling of X-Men history returned with X-Men: Grand Design – Second Genesis.
But A Few Things Are Going Away Too
Spider-Gwen #34 – Cover by Robbi Rodriguez
Two ongoing series ended in July: Cable and Spider-Gwen. Once a hugely popular character, Cable no longer seems able to sustain a series unless he's teaming up with the eternally popular Deadpool. As an original X-Force fan who actually prefers stories about Cable, the awkward, time-tossed parental figure with very big guns, I'm somewhat saddened by this fact, but I never really was the primary audience for Cable comics, so I'm not too annoyed.
Spider-Gwen Ghost-Spider #1 – Cover by Bengal
Spider-Gwen, on the other hand, continues to be a fan-favourite character and her solo series is ending because creators Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez reached the end of the story they wanted to tell, rather than out of a lack of interest in stories about Gwen Stacy, Spider-Woman. In fact, Gwen will be back in October with a new series and a new name in Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider by best-selling author Seanan McGuire and artist Rosi Kämpe.
This will be McGuire's second work for Marvel, and the first ongoing. She also wrote August's Kitty Pryde-focused X-Men Gold Annual #2. McGuire has made no secret in the past of her desire to write for Marvel, and her excitement on Twitter about her new gig is positively delightful to follow.
Coming Now To A Computer Near You
Luke Cage #1 – Cover by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire
The biggest news in July was Marvel's surprise announcement of a new line of high-profile Digital Original comics. Based on properties that feature in Marvel TV series, these in-continuity series will debut in digital form, released in three-month arcs, with each "issue" containing two print issues' worth of story. After each arc is complete it will be released as a trade, never appearing as physical single issues.
The line officially launched with Kelly Thompson and Mattia de Lula's Jessica Jones, which was both announced and published online on July 18th, but later Dennis Hopeless and David Messina's Cloak and Dagger, which premiered in June, was also folded into the new line.
At SDCC Marvel announced the next three Digital Originals series, Luke Cage by Anthony Del Col and Jahnoy Lindsay, Iron Fist: Phantom Limb by Clay McLeod Chapman and Guillermo Sanna, and Daughters of the Dragon by Jed MacKay and Travel Foreman.
It's possibly one of Marvel's smartest moves in their continued effort to translate TV viewers into comics readers, assuming they can manage to advertise it well and keep those new digital readers. There was a big announcement and media push for the first issues, but they don't appear in Marvel's monthly subscriptions until the collected trades are published, which may cause them to drop under the radar for traditional comics readers.
The Return of the Next Generation?
Ironheart #1 – Cover by Amy Reeder
Marvel announced in their November solicitations that Riri Williams is returning to her own solo series in Ironheart, by writer and academic Eve L. Ewing with art by Kevin Libranda.
The possibility of Ewing writing a Riri Williams comic first came up on Twitter in November 2017 with a viral hashtag #IronHeartEve and then a change.org petition started by Tirhakah Love. Ewing, who has a large and passionate following on Twitter, was fully on board with the initiative from the beginning, and made a series of Tweets noting her suitability for the job. Apparently at least some people at Marvel were convinced, as Ewing says she was first contacted by Marvel about writing the book in late 2017.
Shuri #1 – Cover by Sam Spratt
In addition to Riri Williams, two other young Marvel heroines will get solo books this fall. Nnedi Okorafor will be writing Shuri in her first ongoing with art by Leonardo Romero, and Nadia Van Dyne, The Unstoppable Wasp, is returning with a new series by Jeremy Whitley, who wrote her last short-lived series, with art by Gurihiru.
The majority of Marvel's solo books starring teenage heroes ended this spring, so it's exciting and hopeful to see some of the next generation characters getting new chances to shine.
Apocalypse Everywhere
Death of The Inhumans #1 – Cover by Kevin Andrews
Marvel's Inhumans apparently meet their bloody end in Death of The Inhumans by Donny Cates and Ariel Olivetti, which began in July. Apocalypses and armageddons are always popular in superhero comics, but Marvel seems particularly into them right now. After Death of The Inhumans in July, August marks the beginning of the latest X-Men event, Extermination by Ed Brisson and Pepe Larraz, and the Multiverse-crossing Spidergeddon begins in September with issue #0 by Christon Gage and Clayton Crain.
The One Shots That Aren't
Marvel Rising: Squirrel Girl/Ms. Marvel #1 – Cover by Gurihiru
While Marvel Digital Originals seem like a smart move to bring in new readers, Marvel's other new initiative on that front is just baffling.
Marvel Rising by Devin Grayson, with G. Willow Wilson, and Ryan North is an all-ages Squirrel Girl & Ms. Marvel crossover meant to increase interest in their new female-hero focused "multi-platform animation franchise" Marvel Rising, which will include six digital short films and one full-length feature.
This is great! This is awesome! Marvel has some fantastic young female heroes, and they have been failing to capitalize on them in their animated offerings. But the way they are numbering this comic makes no sense whatsoever.
As explained by our own Zora Gilbert, every single issue in this five-issue has a different title and is labeled as issue #0 or #1. Every one.
I'm an experienced comics reader and even I'm waiting for the trade collection on this one. Trying to navigate all those titles is just too exhausting. As an example of the confusing mess of it all, Marvel Rising: Squirrel Girl/Ms. Marvel #1 is the third issue, and Marvel Rising: Ms. Marvel/Squirrel Girl #1 is the fourth issue. Yes, they just swapped which character is first in the title and gave each one a #1 after it. I'm tired just thinking about it.
Lest you think this is a one-time aberration on Marvel's part, they are also releasing a three-part story by Nnedi Okorafor and Alberto Alburquerque called Wakanda Forever with similar naming issues. Teaming up Black Panther's Dora Milaje with some of Marvel's most popular heroes, Wakanda Forever kicked off in June with Spider-man: Wakanda Forever #1, continued in July with X-Men: Wakanda Forever #1, and concludes in August with Avengers: Wakanda Forever #1. Despite what the titles might suggest, these are not three one-shots, but a single three-part story.
Marvel's intent seems to be to bring in more readers by name-dropping all their most popular franchises, but in practice it's completely off-putting to pick up what looks like a one-shot only to discover that it is instead part two or three of an ongoing story.
Diversity Update
The Life of Captain Marvel #1 – Cover by Julian Totino Tedesco
When I started this column in July 2017, I had a section spotlighting Marvel's efforts to diversify their solo offerings to feature more female characters. At the time I was cautiously optimistic, noting that Marvel was releasing a record (for them) fifteen female-led solo books featuring a wide variety of characters.
There's a reason I was only cautiously optimistic. One year later Marvel is publishing only seven female-led ongoing solo series: Ms. Marvel, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur, Domino, X-23, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra and Jessica Jones.
Even Carol Danvers, Marvel's premiere female hero, is currently only starring in the miniseries The Life of Captain Marvel, after having no solo series at all since February.
That number will be going up again, though, with Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider, Shuri, and The Unstoppable Wasp beginning in October, and Ironheart and Colleen Wing and Misty Knight's Daughters of the Dragon debuting in November.
July Highs and Lows
Jessica Jones #1
Kelly Thompson (writer), Mattia De Iulis (artist), Cory Petit (letterer)
Jessica Jones #1 – Cover by Martin Simmonds
Brian Michael Bendis apparently hand-picked Kelly Thompson to be his successor on Jessica Jones, making her the first person other than Bendis himself to write a Jessica Jones solo series. It was a very good call.
Thompson proved she could write Jessica well when the character guest-starred in Thompson's Hawkeye this spring, and seems to really have a good understanding of how best to balance Jessica's cynical outlook and black humor with her love for her family and her friends within the superhero community.
The plot, which involves a former-client found dead in Jessica's office and someone seemingly targeting low-level female superheroes, is intriguing, but for me the highlight of this first issue is watching Jessica interact with characters from all corners of the Marvel universe, including some wonderful scenes with Luke Cage, an entertaining interlude involving Doctor Strange and a delightful interaction with Misty Knight.
Mattia De Iulis is a very different artist from Michael Gaydos, and wisely doesn't attempt to directly copy him, but De Iulis's choice of layouts and colors clearly tie this series to Jessica's previous solo books without feeling like a weak imitation. De Iulis's art is mostly well done, with a good feel for both physical space and body language, but his faces sometimes run a bit too close to the Uncanny Valley for me, a little too smooth skinned and almost doll-like, with either over or under-done facial expressions.
Mr. & Mrs. X #1
Kelly Thompson (writer), Oscar Bazaldua (artist), Frank D'armata (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer)
Mr. & Mrs. X #1 – Cover by Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson
There is nothing I do not love about this comic. The glamorous Terry and Rachel Dodson cover is delightful. Oscar Bazaldua's interiors have an elegant playfulness that is perfectly suited to both Rogue and Gambit's wedding and their honeymoon. And Kelly Thompson balances the pair's witty banter and playful verbal sparring with just the right level of sentiment.
Thompson and Bazaldua kindly provide the most important details of Rogue and Gambit's big day—the wedding, the fashion, the unexpected guests, the honeymoon with equal-opportunity sexy superhero nudity—while also setting up what looks to be a fun, accessible space adventure plot not closely tied into any of the current big overarching X-Men plotlines.
Runaways #11
Rainbow Rowell (writer), Kris Anka (inker), Matthew Wilson (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)
Runaways #11 – Cover by Kris Anka
Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka's new iteration of Runaways has done a great job of capturing the feel of Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona's original series, while updating it to match the concerns of the now mostly older and more life-worn characters.
This is a quiet between-arcs issue, focusing mostly on makeovers, or potential makeovers, for Gert and Victor, two characters who were dead or presumed dead prior to this series and as such are having the most difficulty reintegrating into their chosen family.
Recently resurrected two years after her death, and feeling out of sorts in her family and out of place in her changed world, Gert does what many a teenage girl has done, she gives herself a makeover. New clothes, new glasses, and new non-purple hair. This type of makeover plot can be easily go badly, especially when it comes to a character like Gert who has always been notable for not having a typical comic book heroine body type, but Rowell and Anka turn it into a genuine and meaningful piece of character growth. This makeover isn't anyone's idea but Gert's. The Gert of two years ago doesn't fit in this new world she's found herself in, and so she chooses to stop holding on to the past and begins to reinvent herself into someone who does.
Anka, who is particularly concerned with fashion and developing characters through their clothing choices, is a perfect choice of artist for this issue. In his skilled hands, Gert's transformed appearance is noticeably different, but not in a way that feels jarring or out of character. She is still comes across as very believably herself.
Victor, on the other hand, had only been presumed dead for a short while when Chase found his head in a box and brought him back to consciousness. But Victor's experiences and then death in 2016's The Vision left him shaken, with deep concerns about his own capacity for violence and potential future as a supervillain, and he isn't really sure he wants to be alive again. So far he's resisted any attempts to give him back a full body, preferring life as a disembodied head, but his friends won't leave well enough alone. Unlike Gert, who chooses her own transformation, Victor's attempted transformation is forced upon him by his well-meaning friends, in the form of a new potential body designed by Doombot.
The physically imposing and weapons-heavy body Doombot provides for Victor is a deeply traumatic and unwelcome experience, and he quickly rejects it, but the damage is done. Victor probably isn't going to be becoming less than a disembodied head again any time soon.
The end of the issue is a brief interlude addressing what happened to former Runaway Klara, the young mutant girl the team acquired during Joss Whedon's disappointing run on the second volume of Runaways. It makes sense to check in with Klara at some point, and this not-quite-filler issue is definitely the place to do it, but that part of the issue feels awkward and out of sync with the rest of the plot.
Ta-Nehisi Coates (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (penciler), Gerry Alanguilan (inker), Sunny Gho (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)
Captain America #1 – Cover by Alex Ross
I first started reading Captain America during Ed Brubaker's run on the title, and having started with that version of the book, I've been disappointed to some degree with every iteration since. Ta-Nehisi Coates is the first person since Brubaker to write a Captain America comic that I really loved, and based on this first issue I'm very excited for this series.
Coates and Yu are interested in what happens after a war is over, in this case the Hydra invasion of the US led by the then-evil Captain America himself. Because wars don't just end, people don't forget what they saw or what they experienced just because the fighting is done, and there are always people willing to take advantage of the aftermath. My favourite Captain America stories, in the comics and the movies, have always been stories about legacy and consequences and the aftermaths of trauma. Steve Rogers is particularly well-suited to these kinds of stories, as are much of his regular supporting cast, especially Sharon Carter and Bucky Barnes, both of whom are used nicely in this issue.
Leinil Francis Yu's art in this book is gorgeous. In the past I have sometimes criticized Yu's art as overly harsh, but here he seems to have found his sweet spot. Paired with Gerry Alanguilan's inks and Sunny Cho's beautiful colors, Yu's art is rich and textured, balancing quiet character moments with dynamic and energetic action scenes.
X-Men: Grand Design – Second Genesis #1
Ed Piskor (cartoonist)
I quite enjoyed Ed Piskor's first volume of X-Men: Grand Design this winter—which traced the history of the X-Men until right before the introduction of the first new team in Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975—even though his art style is not really to my taste. But this time around I'm just not feeling it.
Maybe it's because I'm more familiar with the events and issues being summarized here. It's not that any of Piskor's information is inaccurate. To the best of my knowledge his facts are good, but it nevertheless feels like he and I read and loved completely different stories.
Piskor's primary concern and primary mandate is to line up and synthesize facts, turning the X-Men's complicated history into a single coherent timeline. But I've always been more interested in character arcs and interactions than events, and Piskor's necessarily rapid-fire pace, deliberately irreverent dialogue choices, and caricature-heavy art obliterate all but the broadest of Chris Claremont's nuanced character work of this era, leaving a story that, while accurate, doesn't really ring true.
Cat Meier
Cat is a queer, poly fangirl. She is an avid reader of sci-fi and fantasy, comics, queer and/or historical romance novels, and fanfic. An American import to Canada, Cat is working on becoming as Canadian as possible under the circumstances.
fairestcatja@gmail.com
Book Beat: 2018 Hugo Awards, Keanu Reeves' Small Press, and #ShareYourRejections
Completing the Quest: An Interview with Elfquest's Wendy and Richard Pini


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Song Yi as The Black Widow in the Disguiser
First a courtesan then an assassin, Song Yi's character has the innocence of a child even in the most turbulent of times and the most tragic of lives.
Deadly and seductive yet sweet and innocent at the same time, Song Yi 宋轶's character won over the audience with her charm and beauty in The Disguiser. Nicknamed The Black Widow for killing her husband on their wedding night, Yu Manli was pardoned from a death sentence in exchange for becoming a secret agent. She is paired with Hu Ge's character in her missions and the two become life-and-death partners. Alas, his love is too idealistic and has no room for a girl from the streets like her.
The Central Drama Academy graduate recently signed under fellow alumni Zhang Han's workshop and will be collaborating with him in upcoming drama The Legendary Tycoon 传奇大亨 about the Shaw Brothers. I also highly recommend the second part of The Lovebirds series , for which she plays a female lead in the second part.
The best wedding photo.
Photo cr: xueqingdaren@Weibo
Does it smell of lavender? Or cyanide? Song Yi plays one of the cutest assassins ever.
Her eye size: face size ratio is probably among the top 10 in Chinese entertainment.
I think the reason why assassins wear black is to hide themselves at night, not to be the most conspicuous person in the daytime…
I've realized that crying prettily is a skill that comes with good acting. Hence why all the Central guys are prettier criers than most girls.
Did I mention how pretty her eyes are?
This entry was posted in Drama and tagged Hu Ge, Song Yi, The Disguiser by idarklight. Bookmark the permalink.
20 thoughts on "Song Yi as The Black Widow in the Disguiser"
Ghettoe on 12/28/2015 at 12:18 AM said:
Started watching this drama and I must ask am I the only one who doesn't like her? In fact, came here for spoilers on whether or not she sticks around for long as she's really grating on my nerves. She's supposed to be a traumatised yet deadly. Yet, she's inefficient, fickle and eight episodes in and Hu Ge's character has had to save her multiple times. Basically, she is the female character pet peeve. I absolutely cannot stand supposedly strong female characters who constantly cry and need rescue. IT doesn't help that the drama has constantly raised my hopes up with her near departure and death. When she was supposed to leave, she came back. When she was supposed to die, in comes Hu Ge's character. It's making me seriously dislike this drama because she is a character that the script would be perfectly fine without as so far she's adding nothing to the overall plot. She feels like the typical female they slotted in to ease the sausage fest. She does so many stupid things that make me wonder how in the world she's supposedly in a military academy when she can't even control herself. Mind you, she's the top student?
idarklight on 12/28/2015 at 10:28 AM said:
Oh, just keep watching. The general trend of feelings about Ming Tai's plot is Yu Manli is annoying —> Ming Tai is so incapable that Yu Manli is too good for him —> Jinyun is so incapable that Ming Tai is too good for her – > nvm, Ming Tai is even dumber – > or is it Jinyun? -> nope, Ming Tai -> Oh, wow, Jinyun has stooped to a new level of stupidity – > nope, Ming Tai is still the worst. In comparison, I don't think Yu Manli ever makes a mistake in future missions. The Ming Tai plot in general is kind of a fight for the most ooc and stupid character ever.
JY on 01/27/2016 at 8:00 PM said:
I'm 9 episodes in and I seriously dislike that Yu Man Li girl. It's not just about how annoying her character is as a whole, but the very bad acting that infuriates me. All the actress (Song Yi) does is frown all day with teary eyes, breathes heavily to signify her panic throughout the entire 9 episodes (so far), screeches in her high pitch voice while frowning and crying, and basically is a weepy creature who is a pain in the neck to watch. It's very painful to continue watching the series so I think I've reached my limit and shall stop here. There's really nothing intriguing about the story… Plus when you add in the infuriating Yu Man Li character and horrendous acting, I think I've already wasted enough time on this highly disappointing series.
minna on 04/01/2016 at 6:10 PM said:
100% agreed.
JamieC on 10/12/2015 at 9:08 AM said:
wow! It's exactly what I think! I love The Disguiser soooooooooo much!! I am Chinese and everyone around me is watching it ! The Disguiser is not usually my genre but I tried it anyway since everyone is recommending it , and my whole front page at Weibo is actually so crazy about The Disguiser that I had to see the drama just to understand my friends' weibo(something like twitter). Personally, I wanted so badly to had Yu Man Li couple with Ming Tai. They just had that chemistry !!! Cheng Jin Yun and Ming Tai actually feels weird when they are together, and I'm glad that everyone around me seems to share the same view with me that they don't really think Cheng Jin Yun and Ming Tai matches each other.
Phixster on 09/29/2015 at 1:06 AM said:
Just finished watching The Disguiser :( I'm so sad that such a good drama has ended, the whole script, acting, cinematography was amazing (even though it was a genre that I normally avoid). Also sad at certain events and people in the last episode (don't want to spoil for people who haven't watched yet)
Julianne on 09/27/2015 at 3:53 PM said:
Watching Wei Zhuang Zhe right now, and it's AMAZING. It's been so long since Hu Ge's had any dramas. I usually don't go for the mystery/japanese-slash-nationalism-battle type movies cuz they tend to be too dry, lacking in plot, boring, and tragic. I've definitely cried a lot so far, but the tears are kind of worth it. The acting is Absolutely. SUPERB! Even from Song Yi, who isn't as much of a veteran as the others. And for once the plot is pretty tight and super interesting. Both Lang Ya Bang and Wei Zhuang Zhe have been amazing, and since they're by the same production people (i think?), I hope the same peeps continue producing more dramas together, because they're pretty damn good. Anyways.
I think Song Yi is exceptionally pretty as Yu Man Li, she really fits the early 1900's shanghai style. The hair, the fitted qi-pao, all look amazing on her. She's definitely naturally beautiful, but I feel like this style fits her better than her style in Cuo Dian Yuan Yang, for example. Plus she and Hu Ge has amazing chemistry. In the disguiser, my only issue acting-wise and just character-wise was Hu Ge's (or Ming Tai to be specific) supposed girlfriend. I feel like they (sorry, I forgot her name, both character and actress…that's how unmemorable she was) didn't have much chemistry, plus the attraction sort of sprung up weird. I don't really see how Hu Ge fell in love with her. They met, he was attracted, they met maybe 3 more times, and he was in love. idk. Oh well. Plus, visually I think Song Yi and Hu Ge look good together, esp when they're in spy mode and are dressed up like elegant rich people, with Hu Ge in a threepiece suit and Song Yi in her flowery qi-pao and fur-shawl-thing. I'm really starting to love her because of her role in Wei Zhuang Zhe.
Lenalunar on 09/28/2015 at 11:32 PM said:
Dude I completely agree! I fell in love with Wei Zhuang Zhe it's so freaking good! And Song Yi is amazing; I wanted her to be with Hu Ge SOOO BADLY! Hu Ge's actual female interest annoys me haha. I never thought I would like a drama so much (after being disappointed again and again by other ones) but The Disguiser has blasted my expectations. Witty dialogues, intense scenes, adorable humor, I honestly love it.
idarklight on 09/29/2015 at 2:52 PM said:
My feelings exactly. Totally did not expect that much out of it in the first place, especially after all the dramas I had been looking forward to disappointed me. I was hooked on day 1, and totally fell in love by the time Ming Lou and Ming Cheng were painting together. I don't think I've ever followed a drama so intently.
Her costumes and role is much better here than in the Lovebirds. She's so pretty but doesn't look cookie-cutter. I'm really happy that she signed with Zhang Han since he seems to have pretty good connections.
Hu Ge is actually filming another Shandong TV production right now, as are Jin Dong and Wang Kai (but not the same one). Also, rumors are that there are plans for The Disguiser and LYB to become series. The author's already revealed some back story of Ming Lou/Ming Cheng/Wang Tianfeng, and fans are all begging for a prequel to The Disguiser.
Apparently Ming Lou and Ming Cheng had both joined as secret agents without telling each other while in Paris, and didn't know each other's identities until Ming Lou was assigned (by the KMT) to kill Ming Cheng's boss. Ming Cheng's entire team was wiped out when Ming Cheng went to study at the Leningrad Frunze Academy of Military Communications after college. I want a drama version of this so much. Just the mental image of Ming Cheng painting by the Seine makes my heart blossom.
Lenalunar on 10/01/2015 at 12:26 AM said:
Do you know if this drama is considered popular in China right now? If it's popular enough…a prequel might actually be possible!
bossu on 09/26/2015 at 8:49 AM said:
she got a loveline with Hu Ge's character in The Disguiser?
Lizzie on 09/25/2015 at 1:29 PM said:
Is the Disguiser Eng subbed anywhere? Dying to watch but can't follow without subtitles! Thank god Nirvana on Fire is being English subbed!
Not that I know of. Since it's not an idol drama (although it is cuter than most idol dramas) and not an ancient drama, I feel like it has a small chance of being on any subbing group's radar. I'm hoping some of them will see how awesome it is and pick it up, or maybe the channel that subbed All Quiet in Peking will also sub this.
:( it looks fab – will need to cross fingers and wait and check cfensi for pictures then!
JamieC on 10/12/2015 at 11:29 AM said:
I think their might be a chance to have the disguiser subtitled, 'cause it's actually very popular in China
l00m4ever on 09/25/2015 at 3:47 PM said:
Nirvana in fire being subbed? Where??
Ep 1 is on YouTube


Take advantage of the amenities—Modera Fairfax Ridge is loaded with them. It's not bragging if it's true, right? A hotel-inspired pool. A state-of-the-art fitness center. An expansive resident lounge. A decked-out game room. The list goes on.
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We'd love to help you get the apartment you want and make sure you're happy long after you move in, so connect with us today.


When was the last time you bought a new television? Most people can't just buy a new one every few years. It would be great if you could because technology changes so fast. If you're like everyone else you will no doubt to dying to buy a new flat screen. They are undoubtedly the new king of home entertainment.
You don't want to rush out and pick something without really thinking about it. It's an important decision that will have to last you years. Take your time and decide on what you really want. There is no rush. Here's some tips to help you decide what flat screen is right for you.
Don't look at anything until you've decided how much you can afford to pay. Once your eyes start roaming about you could make a decision that could cause you a lot of trouble. TV's come in so many price ranges and you can still pick out quality units at modest prices. Once you know how much, you can move onto more interesting choices.
Bigger is better, as the old saying goes. Does this include TV's? The answer to that is sometimes. It's nice to watch movies on a big screen, but you don't really need one that takes up the whole of your back wall. Something that's big enough to stand out should be able to satisfy you. Don't go crazy.
You'll come up against the choice of going for a LCD or a plasma screen. If you go with the plasma screen you will end up spending a lot more money on your power bills. It's actually about 50% more expensive to run a plasma TV for a year compared to a LCD model.
Maybe you will just swap the new TV over with the old one, but there's a chance you might put it somewhere else. If it's a flat screen it may be mounted on the wall. Obviously the location it's going will determine what model you go for. Decide where you will put it before you hit the store.
The higher the contrast ratio, the better the screen quality. That's the simple answer if you aren't too technically minded. It determines how good a TV is at displaying bright and dark pictures in the same instance. If you have a TV with a low contrast ratio it's going to be much worse of in scenes which are more dark or bright. Just something else to help make your decision.
Most televisions will last a lot of years. You will probably find yourself buying a new one before the old one breaks down for good. But it doesn't mean you want to just throw it out. They are always good for using in other rooms, or even letting the kids or grandkids have. So you want it to last a long time. Plasma TV's won't last as long as a LCD TV if you care about that.
Brian is freelance writer and a technology blogger. He recommends buying an buy ipad 2 and he also writes about the best and latest gadgets in the market.


text:
Home » Publications » Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
04/2020 100 Years of Data is Not Enough to Establish Reliable Drought Thresholds Journal Article Link, Robert Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
08/2015 120 Years of U.S. Residential Housing Stock and Floor Space Journal Article Moura, Maria Cecilia P. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
10/2011 A Comparison of Trenched Plot Techniques for Partitioning Soil Respiration Journal Article Bond-Lamberty, Ben Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
04/2019 A Crop Yield Change Emulator for Use in GCAM and Similar Models: Persephone v1.0 Journal Article Snyder, Abigail Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
11/2019 A Framework to Delineate Precipitation‐Runoff Regimes: Precipitation Versus Snowpack in the Western United States Journal Article Chen, Xiaodong Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
12/2017 A Global Data Analysis for Representing Sediment and Particulate Organic Carbon Yield in Earth System Models Journal Article Tan, Zeli Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
11/2017 A Global Food Demand Model for the Assessment of Complex Human-Earth Systems Journal Article Edmonds, James A. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
01/2019 A Global Hydrologic Framework to Accelerate Scientific Discovery Journal Article Vernon, Chris R. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
03/2017 A Hindcast Experiment Using the GCAM 3.0 Agriculture and Land-Use Module Journal Article Calvin, Katherine Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
06/2016 A meridional dipole in premonsoon Bay of Bengal tropical cyclone activity induced by ENSO Journal Article Balaguru, Karthik Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
12/2013 A Modeling Study of Coastal Inundation Induced by Storm Surge, Sea-level Rise, and Subsidence in the Gulf of Mexico Journal Article Yang, Zhaoqing Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
08/2015 A Modeling Study of Irrigation Effects on Global Surface Water and Groundwater Resources Under a Changing Climate Journal Article Leng, Guoyong Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
05/2019 A Multi-Scale Calibration Approach for Process-Oriented Aggregated Building Energy Demand Models Journal Article Taylor, Z. Todd Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
02/2017 A new and inexpensive non-bit-for-bit solution reproducibility test based on time step convergence (TSC1.0) Journal Article Wan, Hui Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
08/2015 A New Approach to Modeling Aerosol Effects on East Asian Climate: Parametric Uncertainties Associated with Emissions, Cloud Microphysics, and their Interactions Journal Article Yan, Huiping Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
09/2020 A Partial Coupling Method to Isolate the Roles of the Atmosphere and Ocean in Coupled Climate Simulations Journal Article Garuba, Oluwayemi A. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
07/2019 A Pathway of Global Food Supply Adaptation in a World with Increasingly Constrained Groundwater Journal Article Turner, Sean W.D. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
12/2014 A Physically Based Framework for Modeling the Organic Fractionation of Sea Spray Aerosol from Bubble Film Langmuir Equilibria Journal Article Burrows, S M Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
02/2016 A projection of changes in landfalling atmospheric river frequency and extreme precipitation over western North America from the Large Ensemble CESM simulations Journal Article Hagos, Samson M Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
08/2019 A Regime-Based Evaluation of Southern and Northern Great Plains Warm-Season Precipitation Events in WRF Journal Article Wang, Jingyu Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
11/2013 A sensitivity study of radiative fluxes at the top of atmosphere to cloud-microphysics and aerosol parameters in the community atmosphere model CAM5 Journal Article Zhao, C Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
02/2018 A Stochastic Framework for Modeling the Population Dynamics of Convective Clouds Journal Article Hagos, Samson Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
05/2014 A Subbasin-based Framework to Represent Land Surface Processes in an Earth System Model Journal Article Tesfa, T K Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
04/2020 A Substantial Role of Soil Erosion in the Land Carbon Sink and its Future Changes Journal Article Tan, Zeli Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
07/2019 A Zonal Migration of Monsoon Moisture Flux Convergence and the Strength of Madden‐Julian Oscillation Events Journal Article Hagos, Samson Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
09/2014 Advection, Moistening, and Shallow-to-deep Convection Transitions During the Initiation and Propagation of Madden-Julian Oscillation Journal Article Hagos, Samson Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
01/2014 Aerosol impacts on California winter clouds and precipitation during CalWater 2011: local pollution versus long-range transported dust Journal Article Fan, J Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
01/2020 Aerosols in the E3SM Version 1: New Developments and Their Impacts on Radiative Forcing Journal Article Wang, Hailong Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
06/2020 Amplified Madden–Julian Oscillation Impacts in the Pacific–North America Region Journal Article Zhou, Wenyu Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
10/2019 An Objective and Efficient Method for Assessing the Impact of Reduced‐Precision Calculations On Solution Correctness Journal Article Zhang, Shixuan Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
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text:
The Best Baseball Movie Ever? Bull Durham
25 years ago this month, Ron Shelton's film entertainingly upended the conventions of how Hollywood portrays sports—which, Shelton says, was entirely the idea.
Allen Barra
Orion Studios
Ron Shelton is one of those rare people who will leave the world having made it a substantially different place than he found it. Before Shelton, Hollywood films with sports themes fit into a few strict categories: inspirational tear jerkers (Pride of the Yankees, Brian's Song, Knute Rockne, All American), whimsical (Angels in the Outfield, Heaven Can Wait, Somebody Up There Likes Me) or geared for the preteen market (Bad News Bears, and later, The Mighty Ducks). Rare exceptions, such as Ted Kotcheff's North Dallas Forty, were made for an adult audience but failed to find one at the theatres.
Bull Durham, released 25 years ago this month, not only changed the nature of sports films, it changed the way we look at and talk about sports. Writer/director Shelton, a former minor league ballplayer in the Baltimore Orioles farm system, eschewed the glitz of big-time professional sports for a story about an ordinary man with modest talent. Bull Durham, in the words of Bob Costas, "gave us the romance of baseball without the violins."
"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America," wrote Jacques Barzun, "had better learn baseball." In turn, those who know the heart and mind of baseball would be well advised to see Bull Durham.
The film began as a script called "A Player to Be Named Later," "A great title for a novel, but not something that works for a movie," Shelton now says. Made for between $8 and $9 million and shot in a little more than eight weeks with what Shelton calls "close to genuine creative freedom," Bull Durham achieved the status of an instant classic, which it has never relinquished. Critics loved it, and it was one of the year's biggest box-office successes: In the U.S. alone it grossed more than seven times its cost.
The first feature film about life in baseball's minor leagues, it put numerous phrases, including "The Show" (minor-league slang for the big leagues), "The Church of Baseball," and "candlesticks" into the national lexicon. The latter was the punch line to the famous conversation on the mound among Tim Robbins's dim-witted fireballing pitcher Nuke LaLoosh, Kevin Costner's jaded journeyman catcher Crash Davis, the team's infield, and their befuddled pitching coach, Larry, played by Robert Wuhl. The biggest problem confronting the players, who are getting clobbered in the game, is what to get a teammate for a wedding present. "Candlesticks always make a nice gift," says Wuhl as he walks away.
At the time of the film's release, Shelton says, some baseball writers questioned his version of life in the minors. "What a lot of people said was unrealistic about Bull Durham was exactly what was most real," he recalls. "When I was playing, the conversations we on the mound during time-outs weren't always about baseball. We'd take time to argue about who was going to win the welterweight championship fight or what was the best steakhouse in the town were in, or, yes, what was a good wedding present for a teammate."
"And sometimes someone would call a time-out just to see if anyone else knew the name of a girl sitting in the stands."
"Didn't you ever talk about baseball?" I wanted to know.
"Sure, we talked baseball for hours at a time. But that was on those endless bus rides from town to town."
Perhaps the one far-fetched element of the story is the character of Annie Savoy, played by Susan Sarandon in perhaps the signature role of her career. Annie is the ultimate baseball groupie: Every year she takes in promising minor league player and guides him through the vicissitudes of life in the minor leagues and preparations for the bigs.
In one of Shelton's best monologues, Annie explains herself, "I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball, and it's never boring... which makes it like sex."
But there was a deeper reason behind that one implausibility, according to Shelton.
"I was always told that sports movies in general and baseball movies are box office position," he says. "That didn't make any sense to me. Figured some of them must be making money or why would they keep making them?"
"The fault I found with most baseball movies, with most sports movies, is that they were invariably about 'The Big Game.' Any professional athlete can tell you that he was never about winning The Big Game. There was always another game to play. Essentially, I tried to add two new ingredients to the baseball film: sex and the idea that life didn't simply build up to one big game."
Instead, Shelton believes in what he calls "The Defining Moment"--when, win or lose, an athlete reveals his essential character through some all-or-nothing risk. In White Men Can't Jump, the story of two pick-up basketball players portrayed by Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, the defining moment might be when they realize the need to put aside their personal feelings to succeed in their game. In Tin Cup, a marginal golf pro, Roy McAvoy, decides that it's more important to try for the shot that will make him immortal than playing it safe and winning the U.S. Open. Those films, like Bull Durham, were box-office successes
In Play It to the Bone, Shelton's 1999 boxing film, the down-on-their-luck fighters played by Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas are friends who have to fight each other for a shot at the title. They must, for one, for about 45 minutes, forget they are pals. It's a great movie--one of the best boxing films ever made and too little seen.
"In my sports films I always tried to create characters that an average person could relate to," Shelton says. "Most of us will never get a chance to play or win that big game. But we can all take a big risk that proves to us something about ourselves."
"I could have written the scripts to put most of my characters in any number of life situations," he adds. "I chose sports because sports is more fun than life."
Allen Barra writes about sports for the Wall Street Journal and TheAtlantic.com. His next book is Mickey and Willie--The Parallel Lives of Baseball's Golden Age.


With this year's The Wolverine acting as a cinematic interlude for Fox's X-Men, it seems as though the studio is pushing to reinstate the franchise as a global hit. X-Men: Days of Future Past is the follow-up to 2011's critically acclaimed X-Men: First Class and looks to mould the mutant newcomers – namely James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender – with the series' stalwarts, including the weather-controlling Storm who, according to Halle Berry, will play an important role in the sequel.
Given that the film will most likely orbit around McAvoy's Professor Xavier and his time-traversing adventures, news that Berry's screen time will be limited shouldn't be too surprising. After all, the former Bond girl recently announced that she is expecting a baby and won't partake in many stunts – mind you, Storm is volatile enough as it is without having to exert much physical effort.
X-Men: Days of Future Past will see the return of McAvoy, Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence and will tell the popular comic book story wherein the group travel through time in order to prevent a global threat to man and mutant kind. The film will be primarily set in the 1970's with time-travel as a core plot device. Returning X-men director Bryan Singer – who replaced Matthew Vaughn last year – has a plethora of acting talent at his beckoning call, including Sir Ian McKellan, Sir Patrick Stewart and Peter Dinklage, with the latter signed on to play an as-yet-unknown villain.
Up to now, the film has been cloaked in so much secrecy that even Cerebro is having trouble pinning plot details down. Nevertheless, X-Men: Days of Future Past boasts the best cast list the series has ever seen, and if Singer's film handles continuity issues and respects the beloved 70's generation of X-Men, then fans can readily expect a thrilling and entertaining ride when the film is released on July 18th, 2014.
What do you think Halle Berry's 'integral role' will be? Are you excited about X-Men: Days of Future Past? Sound off below!


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text:
Cohesion Policy in Italy
Cohesion Policy Awareness Surveys
Qualitative-quantitative survey on the degree of knowledge of Cohesion Policy in Italy (Survey conducted by IZI, 2021)
In 2021, the Territorial Cohesion Agency carried out a qualitative-quantitative survey on the degree of knowledge of Cohesion Policy in Italy, following the mandate entrusted an expert company.
The quantitative phase resulted in the collection of 6,000 answers to the telephone survey questionnaire prepared by the Agency, while the qualitative phase included interviews with 15 privileged witnesses and 8 focus groups broken down by category of participants involved in various ways in Cohesion Policy in Italy.
The elaborations requested from the company included a comparative analysis between data collected at the beginning of the 2014-2020 programming period and those resulting from the commissioned survey.
The general picture outlined by collected data as a whole confirms stable knowledge of EU funds and its implementation over time, albeit it varies across territories. On the other hand, the level of understanding of the more technical and bureaucratic terminology continues to be unsatisfactory, somehow obscuring citizens' comprehension of Cohesion Policy mission and making it an easier target for misinformation.
The purpose of the Agency's survey goes beyond collection of national data to be compared with those made available at EU level, which in the past gave rise to doubts or controversial interpretations by communicators at the national and regional levels, due to their understandable lack of refinement. In particular, this work aims to offer a reliable general framework to elaborate correct communication of EU Funds in Italy functionally to drafting the communication strategies of 2021-2027 programmes.
For an in-depth study on the degree of knowledge of Cohesion Policy in Italy through the surveys carried out by the Territorial Cohesion Agency and by Eurobarometer for the European Commission, watch the speech delivered at the ForumPA on 14 June 2022.
Survey on the degree of knowledge of Cohesion Policy and interventions by the beneficiaries and the general public –"Governance and Technical Assistance –2007-2013 ERDF″ National Operational Programme (Survey conducted by DOXA, 2013)
In the framework of the 2007-2013 Governance and Technical Assistance NOP "PON Governance e Assistenza e Tecnica"), a survey project was carried out in 2013 on the degree of knowledge, among beneficiaries and the general public, of Cohesion Policy and its interventions (Beneficiary: Div. IX; Implementing party: Doxa S.p.A).
The survey – aimed at updating Programme Indicator No. 2 on the "degree of knowledge of EU interventions and Cohesion Policy on the part of beneficiaries and the general public" at the national level – was broken down into two phases.
A quantitative phase (February-March 2013), to measure the perception of EU and national Cohesion Policy and awareness reached on the role played by the European Union in implementating territorial development actions. This phase was conducted through 4,120 telephone interviews (CATI method) throughout the Country to a representative sample of the Italian population aged between 18 and 70, with an oversampling for the Convergence Objective regions;
A subsequent qualitative phase (September 2013) conducted through territorial focus groups – in the four Convergence Regions and in Rome – aimed at exploring, on the one hand, the information tools and channels, and on the other hand, the ways information and communication processes are activated in the individual territories. By comparing all the actors involved along the territorial communication chain, the focus groups enabled sharing strengths and critical elements that are functional to better targeting of communication actions and enable for better use of available channels.
The contents of the survey, presented here in full and by means of two reports – for each phase conducted – may be used under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivative Works licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) by citing the source and the Funding Programme.
DOWNLOAD documents: Final Report, quantitative phase, qualitative phase (zip)
Office 1 – Institutional Relations, Legislative Affairs, EU Policies, and Communication


Bonnie Doon Refugee Sponsorship Group was formed in 2016 of individuals and families living in the Bonnie Doon neighbourhood who wanted to sponsor a refugee family from Syria. For 2 years they organized and fundraised in preparation for the arrival of their sponsored family.
Jamshid Maree, his wife Sarifa Hasan, son Ahmed (21), and daughter Nafia (15) arrived safely in Edmonton on May 10. They have been settling into their rental home in Bonnie Doon.
(last updated May 2018) Bonnie Doon Refugee Sponsorship group is looking for volunteers to help in a variety of ways, including: donating bus tickets, occasional drivers for appointments, working on ESL programming (2 volunteers/day for 45 minute sessions), teaching bus routes for Summer School, teaching walking route to grocery stores, and many more opportunities. The volunteer sign up link is here.
For more information or to make a donation, please visit: MCC Canada's Page .
Bonnie Doon Community League welcomes the Maree/Hasan family to the neighbourhood and we applaud the efforts of our community in providing such great support to our new neighbours.
We are collecting financial donations through the website of the Mennonite Central Committee. We're grateful for their support.


There's still a chance for a settlement. Three of the publishers are reported to have already cut a deal. Apple and the other two — despite their tough talk during negotiations — could still climb on board.
It's not Apple's main business. The $2.03 billion in "Other music related products and services" — which includes revenue from the iTunes Store, the App Store, and iBookstore in addition to sales of iPod services and Apple branded and third-party iPod accessories — represented 4.4% of the $46.333 billion in sales Apple reported last quarter.
UPDATE: As it happens, Apple's share price did show some ill effects Wednesday, closing down $2.24 (0.36%) on a day that the NASDAQ closed up 0.84%. But it could have been much worse.


At Peter Oliver, we offer a complete range of services to assist you every step of the way in your sale or purchase of a property.
Whether you are first-time buyers, looking to upsize or downsize, or seeking a buy-to-let property or holiday home, we have more than 30 years experience helping all types of sellers and buyers . Our directors use their expert local property knowledge, contacts and experience to offer a complete service.
Our aim is always to offer a stress-free experience for all clients and provide an innovative modern approach to residential sales.
Our service includes all advertising costs, photography, production of property particulars and accompanied viewings, as well as negotiation and agreement of the sale price and assisting and monitoring the sale as it progresses through to completion.
Once you've found your dream home, the next step is ensuring you get the best deal on any mortgage borrowing you may need.
We can recommend local mortgage advisors who can do the shopping around for you and find the very best rates available from a variety of lenders. From the first meeting through to securing a mortgage offer, you'll have someone on hand to do the leg work for you and deal directly with your lender so you don't have to.
Staying put or looking to invest? We can also help you with getting advice on finding the best re-mortgage and buy-to-let mortgage deals.
Dealing with solicitors on a daily basis means we know better than anyone the importance of having a dedicated point of contact who will always pick up the phone and prioritise a customer's file when needed.
From arranging a valuation through to handing over the keys, you will always deal with one of our directors from start to finish.
If you need to get in touch with us outside of office hours, we are very happy for you to have our personal mobile numbers so you are never stuck without a way of speaking to someone if you ever have any concerns.
Buyers competing for properties helps encourage best offers – and best offers mean you really do get the highest possible price for your home!
If there's nothing on the market right now that fits your criteria or you've recently missed out on the perfect property, don't despair! We offer a dedicated home finder service to try and help discover something that's exactly right for you.
Whether it's calling potential sellers who may be thinking of moving soon or organising leaflet drops to specific areas, we will go the extra mile to try to find your dream home.


text:
Zeal, Dogma, and Folly: How the Taliban Bungled Afghanistan
by Vanda Felbab-Brown
Editor's note: In August, The National Interest organized a symposium on Afghanistan one year after the U.S. withdrawal and the Taliban takeover of Kabul. We asked a variety of experts the following question: How should the Biden administration approach Afghanistan and the Taliban government? The following article is one of their responses:
The U.S. decision to withdraw from Afghanistan extricated the United States from a worsening, unsustainable quagmire with no end in sight. It liberated U.S. intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance assets, special operations forces, and other highly valuable resources for employment in places crucial to U.S. geostrategic objectives, such as Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific. However, the speed with which the Afghan government and its forces melted down under the Taliban onslaught—reflecting years of profound misgovernance and waste of international support, as well as the venality and self-interested parochialism of the fractious Afghan political elite—meant that the Taliban felt few constraints on its rule. And the Taliban's rule has so far been that of a revolutionary regime consumed by zealotry and the prevention of defections, mismanaging both Afghanistan and its external relations.
The Counterterrorism Picture
The counterterrorism picture in Afghanistan has worsened. That the Taliban—or at least its key factions, including powerful Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani—was willing to host Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is merely the tip, albeit the most egregious part, of the iceberg.
Foreign fighters have been flowing into Afghanistan from the Middle East, Pakistan, and Central Asia. With the excuse that Afghanistan's borders are porous and it lacks the capacity to stop the inflows unless the West helps provide border surveillance equipment, the Taliban has also been unwilling to stop the influx of foreign fighters. Doing so would alienate crucial jihadi sponsors in the Middle East and Pakistan on whose support the Taliban depends—amidst a tanking Afghan economy—to pay its own existing fighters. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), sometimes referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, has used its safe havens in Afghanistan to further increase its attacks against Pakistan, a trend well-preceding the Taliban takeover.
Moreover, visibly pulling back from the jihadi brotherhood—whether by not allowing foreign fighters or by publicly breaking with Al Qaeda, something the Taliban has never been willing to do—would cause factionalization within the movement.
The Taliban leadership's single and dominant preoccupation, to which all decisionmaking has been subordinated, has been preserving unity and avoiding defections. All the more so because the Taliban's principal on-the-ground rival, the Islamic State of Khorasan (ISIS-K), remains potent and would receive some Taliban defectors. The Taliban has been battling ISIS-K and has succeeded in decimating its rural presence at various times, but it has not been able to wipe out its urban cells.
The key question is whether the Taliban will be willing and able to live up to its promise not to allow terrorist attacks to be carried out from Afghanistan.
The Political, Social, and Economic Picture
Despite its promises of moderation, the Taliban has been ruling with tightening authoritarianism. Women have particularly suffered, with girls not allowed to attend secondary schools in most of the country, restrictions on women's presence at workplaces, a head-to-toe covering again mandated, and a requirement that a male guardian accompanies women during travel. Moreover, freedom of expression and media have been severely curtailed, and journalists and protestors have been brutalized. The Ministry of Interior has been operating as a thuggish force to repress any voice of dissent against the Taliban-only exclusionary regime. And despite early declarations, the resurrected Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has been intrusive and aggressive in imposing and enforcing all kinds of social mores, such as beard length.
The Afghan economy, declining since 2014, has tanked. Western sanctions have meant that liquidity has been critically lacking. Economic output has substantially fallen, affecting everything from the financial sector and rural households' coping mechanisms. Even though the Taliban regime has been able to improve revenue collection, poverty, affecting more than one-third of the population before the Taliban takeover, has risen dramatically. Western donors have been generous with humanitarian aid that is to bypass the Taliban regime through non-governmental organizations and go to the Afghan people, but famine looms on the horizon this winter. Without sustained financial liquidity and the regularized capacity of the economy to function, humanitarian aid merely suppresses one peak of economic crisis before another emerges.
Multiple cleavages and axes of division and alignment pervade the Taliban. Among them is the division between Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada and the so-called sheikhs around him in Kandahar and several other key poles of power, such as the more internationally-oriented Mullah Baradar, Acting Minister of Defense Mullah Yaqub, and Sirajuddin Haqqani. Although chosen for his religious credentials and ostensible weakness as someone seen as unable to threaten other powerful Taliban commanders, Haibatullah has been able to rule with an iron fist, impervious to input from others within the Taliban and the outside. He has focused on the doctrinaire re-creation of the 1990s system of rule in Afghanistan, rejecting the validity of man-made laws, taking it upon himself to establish in Afghanistan a vision of sharia that harkens back to centuries ago and whose purpose is to prepare people for the afterlife. Thus, the more internationally-oriented segments of the Taliban, like Baradar, or those who care about ruling for decades, not just a few years (such as Yaqub and Sirajuddin), have not been able to sway the regime on reopening girls' schools or other matters.
The National Resistance Front of Tajik and other opposition figures from the former Afghan regime remains feeble, unable to draw tribal support, and is performing far worse than many expected. The Taliban has effectively shut down even its low-level tactical efforts. The broader Afghan opposition is as divided and fractious as ever and hopelessly fantasizes about the possibility of a new U.S. on-the-ground military intervention, such as if a terrorist attack from Afghanistan takes place.
Just like the West, Russia, China, Iran, and Central Asian countries have been frustrated with the Taliban both on terrorism issues, such as foreign fighters and Al Qaeda, and social issues, principally restrictions on women's education and minorities. (The loss of human rights, civil liberties, and political accountability does not bother these non-Western authoritarian countries.) Even Pakistan, the steadfast and decades-old sponsor of the Taliban, particularly the Haqqanis, has not achieved satisfaction on issues related to the TTP. No country has recognized the Taliban regime, but Russia, China, Iran, and others operate embassies in Kabul and verbally cozy up to the Taliban regime. However, they subordinate their frustrations with the Taliban to global power competition, eager to see the United States out of their backyard.
The immediate fallout from the Taliban's sheltering of Zawahiri will likely be a U.S. pullback from engagement. The United States has adopted a very sensible and pragmatic policy of limited, cautious engagement, seeking to influence the Taliban's stance on counterterrorism cooperation and social issues.
Appropriately, the United States has also attempted to figure out how to enable some liquidity inflows into Afghanistan while staying in legal compliance with sanctions and various U.S. lawsuits related to the September 11 attacks, such as by working through international financial institutions to deliver cash to an independent Afghanistan central bank. In what was inevitably going to be a complex, one step forward, two steps back effort, the United States has received little from engagement, and it is now likely to give the Taliban a much colder shoulder. The international community is also most likely to once again deny Taliban leaders the ability to travel, as urged by a group of former U.S. diplomats. But even this important signal will not alter the Taliban's policies as long as the internal power balance between Haibatullah and others remains as is.
But isolating the Taliban, however emotionally satisfying, will not make the Taliban change its behavior either. Moreover, the likely terrible humanitarian situation this winter will necessitate some engagement.
The possibility of Taliban policy shifts can emerge if the power distribution within the Taliban changes, with the restorationists centered around Haibatullah losing power. This could happen as a result of Haibatullah's death or an internal power reshuffle. Baradar, Siraj, and Yaqub are in line as some of the most likely successors, and they would eventually likely be far more pragmatic and responsive on social issues than Haibatullah and the sheikhs around him. However, Sirajuddin Haqqani has lost much of his already very limited credibility with the international community as a responsible interlocutor on counterterrorism issues. Will the Taliban come to understand that it will struggle to survive if it does not at least quietly provide counterterrorism intelligence and thus comes to face extensive international isolation? Or will it bank on the international community remaining too fragmented in its response?
Alternatively, the Taliban regime could simply implode and fragment into factions fighting each other in a civil war. The counterterrorism picture would likely be worse in such a civil war scenario due to even greater opacity and more limited actionable options. And the likely winner of years of bloodshed would merely be some constellation of the Taliban's factions.
Zeal, Dogma, and Folly: How the Taliban Bungled Afghanistan 08.17.2022