text:
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Google-will-pay-for-free-wireless-in-S-F-parks-4682622.php
Google will pay for free wireless in S.F. parks
31 S.F. areas picked, though citywide access still elusive
By Marisa Lagos
Updated 11:07 pm PDT, Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Ali LeBel (foreground) adjusts her smart phone in Alamo Square Tuesday July 23, 2013, one of the locations where new wireless will be added. Google will pay to install wireless access in 31 San Francisco parks, a donation brokered by Supervisor Mark Farrell, which will bring hot spots to every district of the city. less
Ali LeBel (foreground) adjusts her smart phone in Alamo Square Tuesday July 23, 2013, one of the locations where new wireless will be added. Google will pay to install wireless access in 31 San Francisco ... more
Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle
San Francisco is finally getting free Wi-Fi - at least in 31 city parks.
Six years after a deal to blanket the city fell apart, Supervisor Mark Farrell and Google will announce a plan Wednesday to bring public wireless Internet access, on the technology company's dime, to parks, recreation centers and plazas across San Francisco. The $600,000 gift from Google will cover the costs of the equipment, installation and maintenance of wireless capabilities for two years.
It will allow residents to work from Mission Dolores Park, let visitors download information to their mobile devices in Civic Center Plaza and make it easier for parents to sign their children up for recreation programs at centers from the Excelsior district to Bernal Heights, Chinatown, the Marina and the Sunset District. In some of those areas, it may be the easiest place to find Internet access, Farrell said.
"San Francisco should be a leader for bringing technology solutions to its residents and improving their quality of life on a day-to-day basis," Farrell said. "There are so many added benefits - it will help bridge the digital divide, it will empower local residents and community groups who will have access at local parks, and it will help Recreation and Park Department staff sign up kids for camps and recreation programs with Internet speed many people would be shocked doesn't already exist."
Mayor Ed Lee praised the plan as a "great example" of the "public-private partnerships (that) are key to the delivery of better services for our residents in the 21st century."
A handful of other city properties are wired for free Internet access, including parts of City Hall, San Francisco International Airport and public housing developments. The city is also looking into offering access along the Market Street corridor. But citywide access, which former Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed in 2007, has yet to come to fruition. A proposed deal between the city, Earthlink and Google back then collapsed amid political bickering between the mayor and the Board of Supervisors and concerns over the terms of the contract.
A late adopter
Despite being a hub for tech companies -and City Hall's location 35 miles from Google headquarters - San Francisco has been a surprisingly slow adopter in some ways. For example, many older recreation facilities still use dial-up connections, said Recreation and Park Director Phil Ginsburg.
"We really are trying to make our parks system as technologically robust as we can, and this is going to go a long way," he said. "This is a best practice; New York City parks have Wi-Fi, in Paris every city park has Wi-Fi. We want to make it easier for people to spend more time in parks and enjoy them. ... This is a great equalizer."
Veronica Bell, a senior manager for public policy and government relations at Google, said the company is "proud to provide free Wi-Fi in San Francisco, a city where thousands of its employees work and live.
"We hope that free Wi-Fi will be a resource that the city and other local groups will be able to use in their efforts to bridge the digital divide and make their community stronger," she said in a statement. The company has funded Wi-Fi projects in New York's Chelsea neighborhood and at Boston's South Station.
Taking the lead
Farrell said he approached Google's government relations team more than two years ago to reopen discussions about free Wi-Fi. He has a personal relationship with a member of that team, he said.
"Naturally they were hesitant because of what happened a number of years ago, but at the same time there was interest," he said. "The sentiment was, since trying to do citywide Wi-Fi like before might be met with resistance, let's pick off an area that makes a ton of sense and would make a huge difference to residents' daily lives. If we get it done right, we can use it as a model moving forward, ultimately with the goal of free Wi-Fi across the city."
City officials worked hard to ensure that the program will reach "all across San Francisco" and affect plazas and parks that get the most use, Farrell said.
And it's important to note that the proposal is a gift from Google to the city's Department of Technology, "with no strings attached," he said.
"A large part of why the prior efforts failed was, the public was skeptical of a business model in which companies would be profiting."
Google has enlisted Sf.citi, an association of San Francisco tech companies founded by angel investor Ron Conway, to help administer the program, including managing equipment installation and maintenance and doing community outreach.
The project must be approved by the Planning Department; the Recreation and Parks Commission will also have to approve an agreement with the Department of Technology, and the Board of Supervisors will have to accept the gift. Farrell said he expects that installation could begin by November and be finished by April.
Recreation and Park Department properties that will receive free wireless through a gift from Google:
-- Alamo Square
-- Balboa Park
-- Bernal Heights Recreation Center
-- Boeddeker Park
-- Chinese Recreation Center
-- Civic Center Plaza
-- Corona Heights
-- Crocker Amazon Playground
-- Duboce Park
-- Eureka Valley Recreation Center
-- Gene Friend Recreation Center
-- Hamilton Recreation Center
-- Huntington Park
-- Joseph Lee Recreation Center
-- Justin Herman Plaza
-- Margaret S. Hayward Playground
-- Marina Green
-- Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreation Center
-- Mission Dolores Park
-- Mission Recreation Center
-- Palega Playground
-- Portsmouth Square
-- Richmond Recreation Center
-- St. Mary's Recreation Center
-- St. Mary's Square
-- Sue Bierman Park
-- Sunnyside Playground
-- Sunset Playground
-- Tenderloin Recreation Center
-- Upper Noe Recreation Center
-- Washington Square
Marisa Lagos is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mlagos@sfchronicle.com


Android is in trend and has somehow become a necessity in everyone's life and managing the day to day tasks has become almost impossible without a smartphone. Even though Android is a very user-friendly platform, it sometimes does creates problems for you when you are trying to download apps or games on your device and shows error messages that you don't want to see. That is why we have come up with solutions that will help you fix Google Play Store error codes and let you understand these errors better. Some of the most common errors are explained below along with the methods to solve these errors.
The solutions provided below regarding the Google Play Stores errors are based on our experiences and errors that have been mentioned by our readers. For any error code that is not mentioned below, you can leave your messages in the comment box below and we will come back with appropriate solutions for you.
Problem – this error means that downloading is not possible at the moment. This error generally occurs if you have formed two Google accounts on one device and attempt to buy android app from Google Play Store.
Solution – the error can be fixed if you login to Google Play store with the authentic account and delete the other account and the error will be resolved automatically and you will now be able to download or purchase all the apps that you wish to use.
Problem – this error occurs when you try to download or update applications but this error prevents you from doing so. This error is generated mostly when you use proxies to download or navigate on your device.
Follow the same procedure for "Google Services Framework", "Google Play Services", "Google Apps", "Google Talk" and flush the cache of the browser on your device.
Your phone will start working properly again once you have restarted it. If you are still facing problems they you should check your internet connection.
Delete the Proxy field available and click on Save.
Problem – this error occurs when you are facing trouble downloading apps from Google Play Store.
Solution – this can be easily resolved if you remove your old Gmail account and add a new one to your device. Cleaning the cache partition can also help in solving this issue.
Problem – this error generally says 'An error 498has occurred while communicating with the server, reload.' This error gives you a hard time to automatically download apps from Google play store automatically.
Solution – this error occurs when the cause is overflowing with data. It can be fixed by uninstalling all the unwanted apps and freeing some space on your device. For better errors, you can check xda-developers forum. Starting the smartphone in recovery mode will resolve this problem by pressing the volume down, power and home buttons in case you are using Samsung devices and pressing volume down and power buttons for all other devices. On pressing these buttons the option to wipe cache partition will appear and you can select it using the volume rocker and the error will be resolved.
Problem – when no app can be downloaded from Google Play Store.
Deleting the current Google account and adding the account again the logging in.
Problem – this error stops you from downloading huge games and apps from Google play store.
Solution – this can solved by clearing play store cache and uninstalling google play store updates.
Problem – this occurs when you are not able to download applications that you want to.
Solution – if you are downloading an app while the Google Play store is updating itself then this error will occur. To fix this uninstall the updated version of Google play store. This can be done by opening application settings, going to All then selecting Google Play Store and uninstalling updates. You can also wait for the update to finish up.
Problem – means there is a problem with your google account.
Solution – delete the google account that you are currently using and add another account to your device.
Problem – this occurs when you are trying to install new application.
Solution – flush the device cache. Go to Settings then Applications. Tap on Manage Apps option and click on App then select Clear Cache option. If the error is not resolved the factory data reset your device.
Problem – reflects when there is android apps cannot be downloaded.
Solution – Clear Proxy is the solution to this problem. Open Settings then go to Wireless and Networks and select Mobile Network then APN. Then tap on the Clear Proxy Option and try to downloading the application again. For a better solution check Androidpit.
Problem – this says that the app cannot be installed on your device while you are trying to install apps from Google Play Store.
Solution – for a smooth solution to this problem, you can use clean master android app that will clean the cache and data.
Open Settings, go to Accounts. From there tap on Google and select your Gmail account, and then tap the Menu and Remove account option.
Restart your device and add the Google account again.
Problem – the most basic error when there is no space on your device.
Solution – make space on your device by uninstalling unwanted apps and unused data. Deleting thedumpstate/logcat can also help in fixing Google Play Services error.
Problem – the apps that you download are not opening and hence this error occurs.
Solution – this error occurs when you have no space on your device to operate on new apps. Deleting some useless data such as audio files, images, videos or unused apps can solve this issue. Apps2SD android app can also be used in this case to transfer apps to your SD card and your problem will be solved.
Problem – this error blocks you from downloading anything from Google Play Store.
Solution – from the settings navigate to the option recovery then select the wipe cache option. Go to advanced option the select Wipe dalvik cache then select Fix permission and tap on Reboot.
So these were some of the most common Google Play Store errors and the solutions that will fix them. So get on with it and fix your smartphone issues easily.


On October 11, 1971, John Lennon's "Imagine" was released in the US, where it peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2005, Rolling Stone ranked it number 3 in their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time." "Imagine" has been recorded by several notable artists, including Joan Baez, Blues Traveler, Chris Cornell, Madonna and Lady Gaga.
"It is the concept of positive prayer ... If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion—not without religion but without this my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing—then it can be true ... The World Church called me once and asked, "Can we use the lyrics to 'Imagine' and just change it to 'Imagine one religion'? That showed [me] they didn't understand it at all. It would defeat the whole purpose of the song, the whole idea."
B.B. King, Aeromsith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffett, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart (ex-Eurythmics bandmates) and Ray Davies (Kinks) are among the nominees for the 2013 Songwriters Hall of Fame.
They are joined by a who's who of the music world, including Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, Jeff Lynne (ELO), Steve Winwood, Bobby Womack and Foreigner's Lou Gramm and Mick Jones, who said in an interview that he's excited to be highlighted as a songwriter.
"It means a lot that those songs have been recognized, and maybe, hopefully a little part of history," Jones said of the band's hits, which include "I Want to Know What Love Is" and "Waiting for a Girl Like You."
Vince Gill and Rod Temperton, who wrote Michael Jackson's "Thriller," ''Rock With You" and "Off the Wall," are also nominated.
Non-performing songwriters up for nomination include "Chain of Fools" songwriter Don Covay, country music songwriter Bobby Braddock and Holly Knight, who co-wrote Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield" and Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me."
Linda Perry, the writer behind Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful," is nominated along with Bob McDill, Rick Nowels, Randy Goodrum, Tony Hatch and JD Souther. Writing duos Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, and P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri are also nominated.
Voting ends December 17 and the gala takes place June 13 in New York City at the New York Marriott Marquis.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame, established in 1969, honors artists and writes whose work represents a wide spectrum of songs. In 2010, the Songwriters Hall of Fame moved into its first "physical" space within the Los Angeles Grammy Museum.
Did they mean Friday the 26th, or Friday Oct. 3rd? One seems too early, the other too late.
My online searching indicates "Abbey Road" came out September 26th in the UK, then in the U.S. on Tuesday, Oct. 1st.
What's the story on this puzzling ad and "Abbey Lane"?
DEAR LARRY: To be clear, that American Record Stores ad is solely for five stores in California (Pasadena; Gardena; Goleta; Tarzana; Costa Mesa) named American Records, rather than record stores across America.
Before release of the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album, many outside the UK knew neither Abbey Road, the Westminster thoroughfare, nor EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where this and countless other famous recordings were made.
American Record Store's likely unfamiliarity with Abbey Road — including an LP not yet in hand — plus the potential for mixing up two words commonly used to identify streets, accounts for their use of "Abbey Lane" in their ad.
Probably unrelated but worthy of mention is that in Leicester, about 100 miles NW of Abbey Road, one of the main streets is Abbey Lane.
It may be an even greater stretch, but I can't categorically dismiss the possibility that the company's copywriter had "Penny Lane" running through his or her mind when preparing the advert.
Since American Records could not expect their "Abbey Road" inventory six days before the U.S. release (Oct. 1), "Shipment Expected Friday" leads me to believe they would have them Oct. 3, two days after the official on-sale date.
DEAR JERRY: Every year around this time, when ol' man winter comes calling, a '60s song about a young couple on a snowy day, either waking or sleigh riding, keeps running through my mind. One line haunting me is "get on your overcoat with the big fur collar." I have one of those.
I thought it was by the Beach Boys, but it's definitely not on their Christmas album.
Having not heard it since back then, I had given up hope of enjoying it again. Then I discovered your wonderful service.
Solve this 50-year-old mystery and I will buy it and think of you when it's played.
DEAR LISA: By not taking advantage of this wonderful service 25 years ago, you have doubled the term of torment.
But, better late than never I guess.
Sounding very similar to a Beach Boys effort, this infectious tune is "Winter Weather," by Ronny and the Daytonas (RCA Victor 47-9022). This 45 is often found on eBay for under $10.
If a CD is your preference, look for "Beachland" (Surf 0648K9), a 32-track disc with all of Ronny and the Daytonas' 1964-1967 recordings.
"Winter Weather" came out in Nov. 1966, right when "Good Vibrations" held the nation's No. 2 spot, on the way to No. 1.
This chilly weather selection starts with "put on your old coat with the big fur collar," and ends with sleigh bells jingling, reminiscent of how "Donde Esta Santa Claus" (Augie Rios) fades out. These clues definitely helped close the deal.
Asking how "Winter Weather" missed being a hit is appropriate, but it was not helped by RCA's blunder of making the flip, "Young," the "Plug Side." As such, neither side succeeded at the time, though "Winter Weather" is now on many radio year-end playlists.
I know it's one I can't do without, regardless of the climate.
"Winter Weather," like most of the group's music, was written by John "Bucky" Wilkin, and co-produced by Bucky and the late great Felton Jarvis.
Jarvis produced countless hit singles and albums, especially in the 1960s and '70s. A few of the names on his client list are: Elvis Presley (1966-'77); Willie Nelson; Fats Domino; Carl Perkins; Michael Nesmith; Charley Pride; John Hartford; Gladys Knight; and Skeeter Davis.
As a performer and writer, Bucky had it in his genes. His mother, country singer Marijohn Wilkin, also wrote or co-wrote many big hits for country as well as pop/rock stars. A few of those are: "One Day at a Time" (Marilyn Sellars and Christy Lane); "Cut Across Shorty" (Eddie Cochran and Rod Stewart); "Long Black Veil" (Lefty Frizzell); "I Just Don't Understand" (Ann-Margret and Beatles); "P.T. 109" (Jimmie Dean); "Waterloo" and "Mary Don't You Weep" (Stonewall Jackson); and "Weep No More My Baby" (Brenda Lee).
Bucky and Marijohn even teamed with Kris Kristofferson to write the poignant "Delta Day (No Time to Cry)," recorded by Merle Haggard, Iris DeMent, and others.


text:
Software fix didn't work on some Fiat Chrysler…
NewsBusiness
Software fix didn't work on some Fiat Chrysler gearshifts
By The Associated Press |
PUBLISHED: November 16, 2016 at 3:40 pm | UPDATED: April 20, 2018 at 6:12 am
DETROIT (AP) — Software designed to fix confusing gear shifters on 1.1 million Fiat Chrysler vehicles didn't work on 29,000 of them. Now the owners are being asked to take the vehicles back to dealers for another try.
The new software was supposed to make the cars and SUVs automatically shift into park when the driver's door is opened while the engine is running. But Fiat Chrysler says the change didn't properly fix 13,000 vehicles in the U.S. and 16,000 in other countries.
Jeep Grand Cherokees from the 2014 and 2015 model years and the 2012 through 2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 were recalled in April due to complaints from drivers who had trouble telling if the transmission was in "park" after stopping.
A U.S. government investigation that led to the recall found 266 crashes that injured 68 people. Many owners reported that the vehicles rolled off after the driver exited. "Star Trek" actor Anton Yelchin was killed in June when his recalled Jeep rolled down his driveway and pinned him against a mailbox pillar and fence. His parents have sued Fiat Chrysler claiming that it made unsafe shifters. Los Angeles police are still investigating his death.
FCA says it's calling and sending letters and emails to the 29,000 owners. The software fix worked properly on the rest of the 406,000 vehicles that have been fixed worldwide, the company said.
The problem, reported in a document released this week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was discovered in a Fiat Chrysler audit. Company spokesman Eric Mayne says the vehicles may not shift into park automatically, or they may shift into park without the gear selector showing it.
Fiat Chrysler has no reports of crashes or injuries among the 29,000 vehicles. Many were at dealerships for other reasons and were given the new software, Mayne said.
The software didn't work in a small number of vehicles with certain engine, transmission and two- or four-wheel-drive combinations, Mayne said. "In most cases we initiated the installation of that software without the customer having to show up with the recall notice in hand. It just wasn't the right software for their particular vehicles," he said.
A second software update will take care of the problem, Mayne said. A spokesman for the government safety agency said he was checking into the matter.
The recalled vehicles have an electronic shift lever that toggles forward or backward to let the driver select the gear instead of moving along a track with notches for each gear like a conventional shifter. A light shows which gear is selected, but to get from drive to park, drivers must push the lever forward three times. If a vehicle is in drive and the lever is pressed just once, it goes into neutral and could roll if on a slope.
We're not the worst state, but just how bad is California for drivers?
Internet speed test looking for volunteers
Gavin Newsom restarts California's giant water tunnel project

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Motorized roller shades can make life a whole lot easier when it comes to indoor and outdoor coverage for windows or areas that need protective treatment from the elements, and if you are dealing with really hot weather in a place like Texas or other areas in the Southwest, motorized roller shades are excellent temperature control and energy efficient options for homeowners. Motorized shades provide perfect accent to your Austin home. Whether indoor or outdoor, our motorized shades solutions help to add convenience and beauty while protecting your home from harmful UV rays. Our roller shades solutions come in a variety of materials & styles. They fit most any window and will add a touch of flare to any room in your home. Our professional installers will come to your home and make sure your motorized shades are installed right to combat the Austin sun.
The benefits of motorized roller shades include convenient features that make both indoor and outdoor shades easy and pleasurable to use.
The main purposes in the use of motorized roller shades are temperature control, energy efficiency, safety/security, usability of space and protection of furnishings.
Our indoor roller shades from Eclipse are the perfect accent to any room in your home. Enjoy the effective energy and light control of retractable solar shades while maintaining your beautiful view. Interior mounted Eclipse shades will not only reduce your cooling costs and manage ambient light, but will also stop the sun's damaging effects on your furniture, carpets and valuables. Enjoy the beauty of your home for longer while keeping the Texas sun out.
Our outdoor shades and zip screen solutions from Eclipse are exterior mounted and provide the benefits of indoor shades while also preventing much of the sun's heat from touching the glass. Outdoor motorized roller shades can protect and secure existing exterior windows, provide for added insulation against the heat and cold as well as create shaded spaces for other outside activities. Just like interior motorized shades, exterior shades can be controlled remotely through a smart device. This added benefit helps to reduce energy costs by keeping your home cooler for longer. Our exterior screens fit most windows and are professionally mounted by Shades of Texas staff ensuring your investment is properly installed and ready to use.
Timing is critical in controlling temperatures in living or working spaces as the position of the sun in relation to a home and its windows is the key factor. In order to manage temperature changes, it is important to determine just when motorized shades should be opened and remain open, and the same process should apply for the amount of time that roller shades remain closed to manage temperature changes.
Energy efficiency will also depend on when the roller shades are opened and closed. Once again, the angle of the sun will determine when to raise or lower the shades for maximum energy efficiency. Timing or sensing devices incorporated with motorized roller shades can easily help in the opening an closing of shades at the right time of day or night.
If in a warmer environment like Texas, determination should be made as to when the roller shades should be left at certain levels or closed altogether to avoid heat build up in the rooms of a home.
Safety and security are always factors when leaving a home for a vacation or an extended period of time, which means that roller shades can provide necessary built-in security. A motorized shade can be programmed through a timer, sensor or smart device to be set at different levels during the day or night, so the shade levels give the appearance that someone is at home.
The spaces in a home are precious and roller shades can actually make a home larger as all the spaces can be used in different capacities. A living room can be darkened for a home theater, and a bedroom that is shut off at night through a sensor or smart device can program the roller shade to allow enough light in the room for morning wake-up.
Motorized roller shades can protect wall paint, floors, carpeting, rugs, furniture, photographs, paintings and other decorative items from the light and heat of the sun. Simply lowering blinds at certain times of the day can protect belongings from the damaging effects of the sun.


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'Dreamers' Lay Down New Roots in Mexico
March 11, 2019 March 11, 2019 BRAD POOLE
DACA, deportation, Dreamers, immigration, Mexico
Migrants making their way through Mexico toward the United States navigate a minefield of dangers and bureaucracy. This week, Courthouse News takes a look at what they face and the people who help them along the way.
MEXICO CITY (CN) – After spending most of her life in Dalton, Georgia, Maggie Loredo went into self-imposed exile two months after she graduated from high school in 2008.
Born in Mexico and raised in Texas and north Georgia, Loredo found out as a teen that she was undocumented. Although she was never "DACAmented" – authorized under the DREAM Act to live and work in the U.S. – she always felt like a Dreamer.
Maggie Loredo (left) and Guillermo Contreras are among six paid staff for the Mexico City nonprofit Otros Dreams in Accion, which helps Mexicans who were deported or otherwise returned to Mexico. (Brad Poole / CNS)
"The whole DREAM Act started in 2001, so when I was in high school, I was thought I was a Dreamer. 'Ok, I do fit, because I was brought as a child, and I've been here and been an active member of my community in Dalton,'" she said recently in her Mexico City office, where she is co-director of Otros Dreams en Accion, a nonprofit that helps returnees from the U.S.
But she wasn't a Dreamer.
So like many other young Mexicans facing deportation or a life in the shadows – in her case likely working in a Dalton carpet factory – Loredo moved to Mexico. She went not as a deportee or voluntary returnee caught by the Border Patrol, but under what she calls "forced return." She was never detained or arrested or processed through immigration court. She went to Mexico on her own.
It was a one-way ticket.
"It was hard, emotionally hard. Should I stay? Should I leave? I'm not going to be able to say, 'OK, never mind. I'll just go back to the U.S.' There was no way to go back," she said.
Loredo spent the first few years floundering. She lived six months with her grandparents in a small town in the state of San Luis Potosi. The Mexican government wouldn't accept her ID – issued by the Mexican government in Atlanta – or her high school diploma.
In a few months, she got her ID validated so she could work, but education was another hurdle. For her U.S. diploma to be recognized in Mexico, she would have to get documentation from every school she had attended.
"The main purpose of returning to Mexico was to continue my education and they tell me, "Well, these papers are not enough. You need to go back to the U.S. and get other papers,'" she said.
Her situation overwhelmed her. She got depressed and gave up on validating her education. She was forced into jobs she didn't want. She worked for an English-language school where her boss took advantage. For 500 pesos a week – about $26 – she worked up to 16 hours a day doing payroll, filing, cleaning and other tasks.
One "vocero" or spokesman, as the Otras Dreams en Accion members refer to themselves, started F*ck La Migra Print Shop to make a living after he was forced to returned to Mexico. (Brad Poole / CNS)
"I was speaking English. It made me feel connected in some way to home, but after three years I realized that I was being exploited," she said.
In 2014, Loredo met Jill Anderson, a post-doctoral researcher living in Mexico who had been compiling the stories of others in Loredo's shoes. That same year, Anderson published a book of returnee stories – "Los Otros Dreamers" – which brought returnees together.
"A community began to grow around the book," said Anderson, who then convinced Loredo to apply for a U.S. visa to attend a book presentation in California. She got it, and now she visits her brother and others in the U.S.
Together they founded Otros Dreams en Accion (ODA), which became a legal nonprofit in 2017.
At the organization's Pocho House, a bright, 400-square-foot corner office anchored by a large conference table, they connect. They can speak English or "Spanglish." They have yoga classes, free Wi-Fi and snacks.
A conference table dominates Pocho House, a combination office/community center that houses Otros Dreams en Accion. The Mexico City nonprofit helps returnees from the U.S. (Brad Poole / CNS)
"We have writing workshops, plays, and people can just come here, use the internet, have some coffee. We have group therapy sessions once a month where they are only returnees talking about their needs," Loredo said.
They don't call each other members at Pocho House. They prefer the term "voceros," or spokespeople. Not all of the voceros came to the U.S. as kids.
Guillermo Contreras is 42. He first came to the U.S. in 2006, worked in restaurants and construction, and was deported in 2018. He had spent time working with U.S. nonprofits fighting for migrant rights to help other deportees, so he found ODA.
"As soon as I got here, I realized that the voluntary returnees have the same problems as us. The government is not helping these people. Then I found ODA, which is working to change these policies that are harming our community," he said.
These people left everything in the U.S. to return to their home country, and sometimes they are undocumented there, Contreras said, adding, "How is that possible?"
So ODA works with the Mexican government and has approached U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on policies that affect returnees.
The U.S. government used to fly deportees to Mexico City but stopped the practice in 2018. Now the feds drop people off at the U.S.-Mexico border, making it much harder for them to reconnect with family. ODA hopes to work with the U.S. government to start the flights again, and educates returnees on how to get documents.
Otras Dreams en Accion helps find work for Mexicans who return from the U.S. after being deported or to avoid deportation. (Brad Poole / CNS)
ODA convinced the Mexican government to eliminate some of the barriers to work that Loredo had to conquer. Official seals from the U.S. are no longer required to get a federal ID and transferring a high school diploma now requires only a transcript, Loredo said.
The group connects with U.S. universities and nonprofits to ensure those organizations don't forget that the deportees' problems don't end with deportation.
"It's hard for people in the U.S. to understand that it's not a U.S. fight. It's a Mexican fight. It's a regional fight, and we have to work together to beat the system," Loredo said.
Eventually the group hopes to expand its work across the border with universities, nonprofits and the government. They need a bigger office so they can help more people, Loredo said.
Her reasons are simple.
"Because we need each other. No one can do it alone."
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Albanese is an Italian surname. In some cases it means "Albanian", in reference to the Arbëreshë people (Italo-Albanians) of southern Italy or someone of Albanian origin. The surname is common in southern Italy but more rare elsewhere in the country. Notable people with the surname include:

Albano Albanese (1921–2010), Italian hurdler and high jumper
Alessandro Albanese (born 2000), Belgian professional footballer
Antonio Albanese (1937–2013), Italian fencer
Anthony Albanese (born 1963), Australian politician and current prime minister of Australia
Antonio Albanese (born 1964), Italian comedian, actor, director, and writer
Catherine L. Albanese (born 1940), American religious studies scholar, professor, lecturer, and author
Charles Albanese (1937–1995), American serial killer
Diego Albanese (born 1973), Argentine rugby union player
Donald J. Albanese (born 1937), American politician
Enrico Albanese (1834–1889), Italian surgeon, a member of the Expedition of the Thousand and close friend of Garibaldi
Francesco Albanese (1912–2005), Italian tenor
Frank Albanese (1931–2015), American actor
Giacomo Albanese (1890–1947), Italian mathematician
Albanese variety, construction of algebraic geometry, named for Giacomo Albanese
Giuseppe Albanese (born 1979), Italian pianist
Joe Albanese (1933–2000), American professional baseball player
Laura Albanese (born 1957), Canadian news anchor and politician
Lauren Albanese (born 1989), American professional tennis player
Lewis Albanese (1946–1966), US soldier posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor
Licia Albanese (1909–2014), Italian soprano
Pellegrino Albanese (born 1991), Italian footballer
Roberto Albanese (born 1950), Italian politician and environmentalist
Rory Albanese (born 1977), American executive producer and writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Sal Albanese (born 1949), American politician
Silvano Albanese better known by his stage name Coez (born 1983), Italian singer, rapper
Thomas Albanese (born 1988), Italian footballer
Tina Albanese, American television producer and television writer
Tom Albanese (born 1957), CEO, Rio Tinto mining company
Valentina Albanese (born 1974), Italian racing driver
Vannie Albanese (1912–1984), American football player
Vincenzo Albanese (born 1996), Italian cyclist
Vito Albanese (1918-1998), American union leader and politician

See also
Albanesi
Names of the Albanians and Albania
Albanese Candy

References

Italian-language surnames
Ethnonymic surnames
Italian toponymic surnames
fr:Albanese

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Myths of the Nanny State
by Radley Balko
Balko argues that there simply isn't much evidence to support the sky-is-falling scenarios offered up by proponents of modern paternalism.
The late economist Julian Simon was libertarianism's great optimist. Classical liberals are naturally cynical about government and, as Jefferson famously put it, its natural tendency to grow and for liberty to lose ground. The "upside" of libertarianism, however, has always been the philosophy's ability to see the potential in individuals and in people's proclivity to make good decisions about their own well-being and, in the process, better the plight of humankind.
No one put humanity's explosion of wealth and prosperity into better perspective than Simon. Simon's targets were the doom-and-gloom environmentalists and zero-population-growth activists who in the last half of the 20th century peddled dire predictions of the coming cataclysm they said would be wrought by free markets and American consumerism. Using a wealth of economic, demographic, health, and consumer data, Simon showed how capitalism has made us more prosperous, healthier, better educated, longer lived, and generally better off than we've ever been. Furthermore, he demonstrated how prosperity and technology tend to make scarce resources more abundant, not less.
Though Malthusian prophets still pop up from time to time, Simon seems to have largely won that debate. Today's critics of free markets don't invoke Armageddon as their predecessors did. Nor do they declare that prosperity will be our undoing. Rather, today they argue that we simply aren't equipped to handle our freedom and our success. Instead of invoking government to heavily regulate the economy and redistribute wealth, they now argue that we need government to make many of our personal decisions for us, because individual Americans can't be trusted to make them on their own.
The Rise of Parentalism
In a recent paper published in the journal Public Choice, "Afraid to be Free: Dependency as Desideratum," Nobel Prize–winning economist James Buchanan composes a new taxonomy of socialist threats to liberty. Buchanan argues that the conventional threats to freedom from managerial socialism (central planning) and distributionist socialism (the welfare state) are today joined by paternalistic socialism and "parental socialism," which Buchanan describes as the willingness among many to allow the government to take control of their lives.
The emerging threat to American liberty today, then, is a combination of these latter two forms of socialism—the desire among some in government to interfere in nearly every aspect of our lives, and the lack of concern on the part of many Americans that this is happening. And while conventional critics of capitalism came primarily from the left, the parentalist-paternalist movement isn't as easily marginalized.
From the left, for example, a new class of critics has emerged under the banner of "public health." True public health is, of course, a perfectly legitimate function of government. The collective nature of the threats posed by highly communicable diseases, for example, makes protection from them a legitimate public good, deliverable by government. Today one might also include the threats posed by biological or chemical terrorism.
But modern "public-health" initiatives have moved well beyond what could reasonably be classified as public goods. Today, government undertakes all sorts of policies in the name of public health that are aimed at regulating personal behavior. It began in the 1970s and 1980s with anti-smoking initiatives and today includes a wide range of programs, including efforts aimed at reducing alcohol consumption, encouraging seatbelt and motorcycle helmet use, regulating diet and lifestyle in the name of curbing obesity, federalizing local issues like speed limits and the minimum drinking age, and generally using the power of the state to regulate away lifestyle risk.
But the American right, which has traditionally claimed to favor limited government, is no better. The Republican-led Congress is attempting to prohibit Internet gambling. That same Congress wants to expand the FCC's regulatory power beyond broadcast television to include cable television and satellite radio. President Bush's Department of Justice has declared prosecuting pornography a "top priority." And of course, the Bush administration has enforced the nation's drug laws with particular vigilance, paying little heed to traditional conservative notions of state sovereignty. The White House has vigorously defended the federal government's authority to regulate medical marijuana, physician-assisted suicide, and prescription painkillers, for example, even in states where voters have explicitly indicated their preference for laxer enforcement. In the case of medical marijuana, White House efforts may have resulted in the final deathknell for federalism.
Though the public health movement seems to have come largely from the left, and the "culture war" crusades against gambling, pornography, pop culture, and drugs largely from the right, it's important to point out that there is significant convergence between the two. Fervent anti-alcohol activists such as former Carter administration official Joseph Califano, for example, are every bit as active in promoting drug prohibition. National Review contributing editor David Frum has called for a "fat tax" on high-calorie foods, joining more left-oriented organizations like the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Family values advocates like William Bennett and John DiIulio and Republican Congressmen like Tom Osborne and Frank Wolf have joined with liberal organizations like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in calling for heavy government regulation of alcohol. And there seems to be wide, bipartisan support for a powerful state on issues like continuing the drug war, instituting smoking bans in private bars and restaurants, the aforementioned ban on Internet gambling, and increased government scrutiny over pop culture media such as rap music and violent video games.
On the right, movements like National Review contributor Rod Dreher's "crunchy conservatism" borrow bons mots from Marx in denigrating wealth, consumption, and consumerism. Meanwhile, the left-leaning editorial boards at the Washington Post and New York Times abandoned traditional civil liberties concerns in supporting the Supreme Court's ruling upholding the federal ban on medical marijuana, because a ruling the other way might have adversely affected the federal government's massive regulatory state.
As Reason magazine's Jesse Walker has put it, "There is no party of tolerance in Washington—just a party that wages its crusades in the name of Christ and a party that wages its crusades in the name of Four out of Five Experts Agree."
Progressivism Redux
The lack of a clear ideological affiliation makes today's paternalism increasingly resemble the early 20th century's progressive movement. Both are comprised of a motley mix of values crusaders and "nanny staters." Both value the "collective good" over personal choice, precaution over risk, and the community over the individual.
Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that the public discourse of late has been rife with nostalgia for progressivism. People on the left, having sullied the good word "liberal," now call themselves "progressives." Republicans from George W. Bush, the current president, to Sen. John McCain, who some see as a leading candidate to be the next, have publicly expressed their fondness for Theodore Roosevelt, the first president of the Progressive Era.
New America Foundation fellow Joel Kotkin explicitly called for a return to Progressive Era politics in a Washington Post essay, while Michael Gerson, who served as President Bush's chief speechwriter the last six years, recently named progressive icon William Jennings Bryan one of his personal heroes. Perhaps most bizarrely, the Drug Enforcement Administration has recently taken the position that alcohol prohibition— the crown jewel of Progressive Era reforms, and one of the most catastrophic experiments in American history—was in fact a success.
As Buchanan points out, parentalism and paternalism are at heart merely new forms of socialism. They value community and the collective good over choice and individual freedom. Public policy recommendations aimed at curbing alcoholism or obesity, for example, are rarely aimed at alcoholics or obese people themselves. Rather, they're usually aimed at taming "the environment" of alcohol or obesity, code for the food and alcohol industries. Specific recommendations inevitably target marketing and advertising, the tools free markets use to distribute information.
When policies are aimed at individuals, they're generally redistributionist in nature—sin or vice taxes, for example. Proposals like the "fat tax" tax all users of high-calorie foods, with proceeds going to obesity treatment and prevention programs— meaning they redistribute wealth from people who consume calorie-dense foods responsibly to those who don't.
Which brings us back to Julian Simon. Simon used empirical data to deflate claims that capitalism and industry were making us sick, irreparably damaging the earth, and bringing about the end of humanity. Simon instead showed how free markets and liberal institutions ushered in health, wealth, and longevity unprecedented in the history of man.
The emerging paternalist-socialist threat to liberty, then, is in many ways the same old threat dressed up in new clothes. Critics of capitalism and consumerism can no longer credibly predict that free markets will eradicate the world's food supply. So today they argue that the food industry has created a nation of gluttons (which, considering that the bulk of human history has been a struggle against starvation, isn't such a bad problem to have). Of course, only a society prosperous enough to do away with child labor can worry about its children having too much to eat. The proliferation of Internet pornography or online gambling isn't of much concern in countries where less than 5 percent of the population has Internet access.
The "problems" this latest form of socialism attempts to solve, then, are afflictions of prosperity. They're problems much of the world would still consider itself fortunate to have.
It's also not clear that they're really problems at all.
Getting Better All the Time
Consider America's "cultural decay"— something conservatives are fond of invoking. Implicit in calls for government regulation of pornography, obscenity, gambling, alcohol, and the like is the assumption that cable television, pop music, the mainstreaming of pornography, and other cultural pariahs are breaking down America's important social institutions. But there's little data to suggest that's the case. In fact, nearly every social indicator is trending in a direction most of us would consider positive.
Here are just a few examples, culled from government agencies and advocacy groups: Teen pregnancy is at its lowest point since government researchers have been keeping statistics. Juvenile crime has been falling for 20 years (though there was, admittedly, a slight uptick last year). Crimes against children are down. The number of reported rapes has dropped dramatically over the last two decades, even as social stigma against rape victims has subsided. Despite a negligible increase last year, overall crime in the United States has also been in decline for 15 years.
There's more: Divorce is down. Teens are waiting longer to have sex. High school dropout rates are down. Unemployment remains low. And over the past decade, the overall abortion rate has dropped significantly. If Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction," Internet porn, and violent video games are indeed inducing a nationwide slouch toward Gomorrah, as conservative icon Robert Bork once put it, it's difficult to discern from those statistics.
What's most intriguing is that all of these trends have been taking place since at least the mid-1990s—a period during which technology has given us more freedom to indulge in sin and vice than ever before, and an era in which Americans have become markedly less judgmental. The last 15 years have seen more tolerance for gay lifestyles, with shows like Will and Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy finding mainstream audiences. The 1990s also saw the rise of the Internet, which has given Americans private, unfettered access to gambling and pornography; enabled the anonymous purchase of alcohol, cigarettes, and prescription drugs; and given even the oddest and most bizarre of subcultures the opportunity to find others just like them, and to create communities. The 1990s also saw the rise of gangsta' rap, violent video games, Howard Stern, and South Park.
In 2004, the conservative magazine City Journal reported on a series of polls showing that when it comes to issues of vice, personal behavior, and morality, Americans aged 30 and under are more conservative than several prior generations. Yet they're also more tolerant of other lifestyles, less judgmental, and heavy consumers of the pop culture conservative opinion leaders tell us is so corrupting.
Interestingly enough, the one statistic that bucks these trends is drug use. Drug use among adults is actually up over the past 20 years. But drug use is one area of personal liberty the government has gotten more aggressive about policing, which suggests that government efforts to control our decisions not only stifle individual freedom, they aren't very effective, either.
But even with drug use, there's some evidence that Americans are behaving responsibly. Though recreational use is up among adults, it's actually down over the same period among people under 18. So while people old enough to make their own decisions about their lives might be more likely to relax with the occasional marijuana cigarette, they're also making more of an effort to steer their kids clear of what are clearly adult activities.
Similarly, empirical data strongly suggests that despite claims from the public health alarmists that obesity, smoking, alcoholism, and any other number of ailments are wreaking a health care catastrophe in America, America is actually healthier than it's ever been.
Life expectancy in the United States reached an all-time high last year. Americans at every age can expect to live longer than ever before. The gap in life expectancy between blacks and whites is closing, too. Heart disease is in sharp decline since the early 1990s, as is stroke. Deaths from and incidence of cancer are also in retreat, including all but one of the 10 types of cancer most associated with obesity. The absolute number of deaths due to cancer also fell by 50,000 in 2004, a remarkable feat considering that America's population continues to grow. Yet these heartening trends have persisted despite the fact that, over the same period, many Americans have put on weight. Certainly, advances in medical technology, improvements in screening and treating diseases, and miracle drugs like statins deserve much of the credit (though it's worth pointing out that many of the same public health groups oppose the very free market aspects of U.S. health care that made these advances possible). No one would argue that excessive obesity is something to strive for. But if America's thickening waistline really were the looming disaster it's made out to be, we should at least be seeing the early signs of the cataclysm. That hasn't happened.
Like the doom-and-gloomers Simon fought, then, there simply isn't much evidence to support the sky-is-falling scenarios offered up by proponents of modern paternalism. Just as Americans are wiser, savvier, and more responsible with their own money than the government is, they also seem to be doing just fine when making their own decisions about virtue, vice, and lifestyle. Of course, even if they weren't, there are philosophical objections to government meddling in personal affairs.
The early 20th century journalist H. L. Mencken, a fierce critic of the original progressives, wrote, "the urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it." That was true last century, when humanity's saviors were central planners who marched much of the developing world into starvation. And it's true today, when our "saviors" want laws, regulations, and government "awareness campaigns" pushing the hand of government into nearly every facet of our lives.
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2006 issue of Cato Policy Report
Radley Balko is a senior writer for the Huffington Post, contributing investigative reports related to civil liberties and the criminal justice system. Balko has previously held positions at Reason magazine as a senior editor, and Cato as a policy analyst.


As you're probably aware from the last post, I'm hard at work on a Mandatory Upgrade novel. I've sent out an update on that project to my followers on Inkshares and so I'd like to also send that update out to you. If you'd like to find out more about the Mandatory Upgrade novel, please visit the Inkshares page for my book. If you'd really like to help me out, please follow, recommend, and/or pre-order a copy of the book. Don't forget: as mentioned in the update everyone who pre-orders the novel gets a free copy of the game and my everlasting appreciation. Without further ado, here is the update in its entirety.
First off: Thanks to everyone for your support! I couldn't do this without you.
I've been delayed in getting this first update out as I've been busy doing some final polish on my game Mandatory Upgrade: X Marks the Spot. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's an interactive mystery story game set in the same world as my novel. In fact, the main character in both the game and the novel is Rachel Varley, and part of the plot for my book will be coming directly from the game. This gives you, dear reader, the unique option of experiencing Mandatory Upgrade as both a novel and as an interactive story if you so choose. Not only that, if you've pre-ordered a copy of my book then to show my appreciation I'm going to give you a free copy of my game. Contact me directly and I'll send you your code for your free copy of X Marks the Spot straight away. Of course, if you play through the demo and want to buy a copy anyway, I certainly won't complain.
Back to Mandatory Upgrade, the novel. I thought that it would be fun to talk about some of the near-future technology that will be appearing in the story. Let's start on this update by introducing augmented clothing.
Augmented clothing or "augwear" as it's commonly referred to is the result of years of research and experimentation into clothing that enhances your physical abilities. Originally developed in the labs of military contractors and sports gear manufacturers, augwear has found it's way in a lesser degree into the consumer market. Augwear uses reactive cloth that is controlled by embedded specialized computers and synchronized to the wearer's physiology through an array of bio-sensors. The outfit's material responds to the wearer's movement, constricting and releasing in concert with their muscles to enhance strength and agility and create a kind of kinetic feedback loop. The easiest way to describe this is to imagine wearing a form-fitting yet flexible bodysuit and going for a brisk walk. The elastic tension of the suit gives you what feels like a slight boost to your motion. Now imagine that magnified ten times and you can start to get the idea of what wearing augwear can feel like and why it has become so popular in the future.
The augwear I've described would be the base model with a variety of add-ons and enhancements available for both the private consumer and the law enforcement or military professional. As you can imagine, a popular option is to add an extra layer of protection to the outfit in the form of gel-packs, padding and hard shell armour. Other options include integrated augmented reality, vehicle and drone control rigs. Video displays and cosmetic lighting effects are also popular, as well as having the capability to define touch control schemes on any part of your outfit on the fly. Why mess with digging out your cellphone when you can type up and send a quick email on a pop-up interface on your forearm?
This is just scratching the surface to give you a quick taste of the technology, but I'll be getting into it in more depth in my story: both in outlining the capabilities of the augwear systems and the impact it has on our society. In future updates, I'll be getting into other technologies as well. In the meantime, thanks again for your support and if you can spread the word about my book to other folks who might be interested I would appreciate it immensely. Besides, the more people we get on board with pre-orders, the greater chance that we can get this book finished and published for everyone to enjoy!
Mandatory Upgrade Coming to Story Stylus!


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Do you know which libraries are in your neighborhood?-p.2
Today, although they have lost some of their public importance, they are still the place where we can find a range of educational materials and develop our skills and talents
After the first part of the series Do you know which libraries are in your neighborhood, we dive back into the wilds of literature.
Today we will tell you virtually about the chitalishta (a kind of community centers) in the Southern, Trakia and Eastern neighborhoods. In case we have missed any center of Bulgarian culture, add it in the comments so that together we can make the most comprehensive list for all passionate readers.
Tsar Boris III and Tsaritsa Joana Public Community Center - 45 Slaveevi Gori St
In the beginning, its activity was related to the holding of musical parties, interpretation of folk customs, talks, celebrations on the occasion of the anniversaries of national heroes, theatrical scenes. It has a book fund of 467 volumes, 786 books are distributed for reading, and the members are 67. After 9.IX.1944, the community center was renamed Georgi Bakalov, and in 1958, the Hristo Botev chitalishte and the Georgi Bakalov chitalishte united. In 1975, in the newly built building (domestic complex) at 41 Slaveevi Gori St A - III floor, rooms were designated for chitalishte activities, in which there was a library and a room for music training as a branch of the Hristo Botev chitalishte. In 1997, the first name of the community center was restored - Tsar Boris III and Tsaritsa Joana.
Today, concerts, celebrations, meetings with authors, literary evenings, participation in competitions for young performers, etc. are regularly present in the cultural program of the community center.
Gogo Mavrov Public Community Center - 20 Sergey Rumyantsev St
The chitalishte was founded in the summer of 1929, starting its activities the following year. Many members were enrolled, a theater troupe was assembled, which played plays by notable Bulgarian writers. The Jupiter sports club, a tourist section, a singing group, and a folk orchestra were created. Since the community center did not yet have a building, the performances took place outdoors, on improvised stages, in schools not only in Plovdiv, but also in other towns and villages. In the chitalishte, one of the first in the city "Rhodope Singing Group" was created for the performance of Rhodope songs, as well as an instrumental ensemble (of folk instruments - bagpipes, gadulka, kaval, accordion, etc.).
Absolutely free of charge, the people of the neighborhood built today's library with two small halls. In another building, a half-day kindergarten was set up, which functioned until 2000. At a later stage, a dance hall was built - with parquet, barres, mirrors, make-up rooms, changing rooms. New activities, imposed by the changes in life in Bulgaria, were beginning to develop. Over the years, the school of competitive dances has also gained momentum, winning many awards not only in Bulgaria, but also abroad.
Nikola Vaptsarov Community center – Proslav district
It was founded in 1928 under the name "Consciousness" in an annex to the school in the village of Michkur (now Proslav district), and later a small hall and a library room were built at the local town hall. In the middle of the 20th century, the chitalishte was renamed after the Bulgarian poet Nikola Vaptsarov. Important for the history of the chitalishte is the year 1962, when an independent community center building was built with funds from self-taxation and voluntary work, where significant local events are held to this day. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the chitalishte, the Cyril and Methodius order was awarded, and on its 75th anniversary, the Honourous Badge of Plovdiv.
Important for the activities of the chitalishte are: a library with over 17,000 volumes, which is supplemented every year; a club for literary creativity, a photography club and a KvARTal club, a collective for fine and applied art, dance ensembles were formed, readings, meetings and other events are held.
Hristo Botev Public Community Center - 1 Dame Gruev St
Hristo Botev Public Community Center was founded on October 2, 1905, and in 1906 the chitalishte's charter was approved by the Ministry of Public Education. With its activities, the chitalishte brought life to the neighborhood, it was the only cultural center at that time. According to eyewitnesses, the community center began to develop a rich cultural and educational activity for its time, and a theater group was formed, whose first performance was Long-Suffering Genoveva . This was also the time when the foundations of the library were laid. Books were purchased with funds collected from membership fees and income from cultural events.
In 1957, the construction of the community center building began, and a large part of the residents of the neighborhood joined the organized labor brigades and gave their contribution through their free work. A year later, the construction was completed and the building was inaugurated. Over the years, numerous cultural events and activities have been organized and held, such as: mixed choir; tambourine and dance ensembles; different schools.
Theaters from all over the country have been guests on the stage of the chitalishte. The school at the chitalishte is multiplying its students and new forms of learning are being discovered, since 2005, for the first time, a study hall for children from first to fourth grade has been opened. The facilities of the chitalishte are constantly updated with public and private funds.
Ivan Vazov Exemplary Public Community Center - 139 Komatevsko Shose St
The chitalishte began its life in 1931 in a room of the school in the then village of Komatevo with patron Ivan Vazov. Its activity began with performances of plays, the proceeds of which were used to buy books, and lectures by teachers were held, mostly with a pedagogical focus. In 1947, a "Small Community Center" was built with a library and a lounge for spontaneous performances on the initiative of chitalishte activists with the support of the local administration and mainly with the participation of young people. Twelve years later, the present two-story building was built with government funds and volunteer labor, with spacious rooms for the library and various activities, as well as a three-hundred-seat auditorium and stage.
In the 1980s, the library was expanded and modernly furnished, and by 2006, its collection reached nearly 18,000 volumes. The chitalishte holds many meetings with writers who leave messages in a special album. For 57 years, an arts school has been operating there - initially it included lessons in accordion, folk instruments, folk dances, and later - piano, fine arts, modern ballet and cinematography.
Trakia Region
Mladost Public community center - Trakia apt. bl. 22 and apt. bl. 13
The цхиталисхте is housed in two sub-block spaces in Trakia – apt. bl. 22 and apt. bl. 13. In bl. 22 there is a library, a book depository, a room for creative workshops, the office of the secretary of the chitalishte and service rooms. The proximity of the Lauta Park allows for outdoor training, creativity and sports.
In bl. 13 there is a library, a book depository, a music room, a hall for club activities and rehearsals of amateur groups.
Savremennik Community center - Trakia 141, Khan Krum quarter - A4
The library at the Savremennik-1986 Public Community Center was established in 1986. Its library collection consists of over 12,000 library documents, including mostly books and periodicals. Fiction for adults and children is predominant. Showcases and corners are arranged in the library according to important dates and anniversaries of prominent personalities and historical events. Literary readings, quizzes, talks and celebrations are held.
The chitalishte is housed in sub-block premises in the Trakia region. The library is located in block 140 in a room on two levels, which gathers more than 50 people. In the building of bl. 141 there are 4 separate offices for different schools and activities, there is also the office of the secretary of the chitalishte. The chitalishte has a Chamber Hall and another small office in bl. 146. The hall is suitable for concerts, rehearsals and other creative activities with a capacity of up to 20-30 people. In good weather, the Creativity Zone in front of the library is used, which gathers more people and was improved in 2013.
Peyo K. Yavorov Public community center - 15 Bosilek St, bl. 215
Only 12 years after the tragic death of the poet Peyo Yavorov, a group of Plovdiv admirers of his work founded a chitalishte with his name. Books were collected through donations, starting a small library. Now the library has two departments - for adults and for children, and the book fund has over 10,000 volumes of literature.
Over the years, the chitalishte has had two vocal-instrumental ensembles of Roma origin, various music schools, and a language school. A number of meetings with writers and artists, creators were noted in the mass cultural activity.
Weekend getaway: Nevyastata eco-trail
It is a route suitable for everyone, light and pleasant. Yet at the same time, a so longed for escape from the atmosphere of the big city to the pure mountain air and calmness of nature.
Free day at the museums in Plovdiv
Do you know when the free day to visit the museums in Plovdiv is?
The Military Club in Plovdiv - a place of endless celebration
The building was destroyed by fire and earthquake, but over the years it always retains its status as a symbol of worldly life


So as of now the current add-on only has fixed background. So the image does not scroll with the page. Can we please have an update that allows the background to be fluid.
Was also looking ofr this to be done to node background add-on also.
You already posted 3 times that suggestion.
I will certainly implement that when I come to upgrading that add-on.
oh i am sorry for posting it 3 times. I was advised to repost it because i was speaking to the wrong developer about it. So sorry about that and i will wait for the update.
any word on when this will be implemented into the add-on?
This may be done at some point but I can't tell you when.
Just had a baby so have lower availability and this one is far in the todo list.
Congrats! I am a proud dad of a 3 year old son so i clearly understand.


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Outside the Music Box
083 –"The Secret Interview" with Skiye Sounds
https://www.gofundme.com/skiyesounds Skiye is a computer programmer by trade and avid musician by passion. He is currently in the planning stages of a brand new instrument that will incorporate more notes than the traditional 12 note chromatic scale to which we're accustomed in Western music. In our interview, Skiye shares a little bit about his vision for the instrument, how it will be used and how it can potentially change the way we listen to Music. If you are interested in learning more about Skiye's project or even contributing towards the costs involved in it, you can contact him directly at skiyesounds@live.com. Enjoy!
082 –"Balancing Music and Business" with Mark Asquith
Mark is the founder and host of the Excellence Expected podcast, and the founder of Podcast Websites, the platform of which is used for www.outsidethemusicbox.com. Mark is also a fairly accomplished amateur musician. In our conversation, Mark describes his relationship with Music: how it is a motivating force for him and how his first business venture was actually a musical venture. I'm sure you'll enjoy this conversation, as well as the opening song, Red Tarmac, which was written by Mark!
081 –"Hold it Up to the Sun" with Kenzie Slottow
Visit http://www.kenzieslottow.com to access Kenzie's Kickstarter Campaign! Check out Lindsey Stirling here: Check out Zoe Keating here: Flutist-composer Kenzie Slottow adds classical virtuosity to a colorful dreamscape of celtic-inspired and cinematic melodies. Her layered loops of percussive flute effects, melodies and harmonies are accentuated by narrative movement and dance. Kenzie began composing in earnest in March of 2013, sensing that the flute had potential in the realms of popular and alternative music that had not yet been harnessed by her contemporaries. Her explorations in contemporary classical and electroacoustic music contributed to her unique percussive and rhythmic style, lending her music qualities of hip-hop, house, and progressive electronic music. A graduate of music programs at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin, Kenzie maintains her ties with the classical flute world as a proponent of contemporary, electroacoustic, and beatbox music for the flute, performing at conferences such as the SEAMUS Conference, National Flute Association Convention, and Root Signals Electronic Music Festival. Kenzie is a traveler at heart; she loves languages and nature, and hopes to travel much more in the near future, picking up stories and melodies as she goes.
080 –"Lovin' Life in the ATL" with Paul Poovey
Paul is an in-demand teacher and freelance trumpet player in the Atlanta area. In this conversation, he shares how he made the switch from a career in engineering to his true calling as a musician, how he got his start as a freelancer - and why if you have a "take it or leave it" attitude towards Music, you're better off leaving it. Enjoy!
079 –"Everything is Cool" with Giacomo Gates
www.giacomogates.com Giacomo Gates does more than sing "a bunch of songs." He is truly an entertainer, for all ages and styles, as audiences enjoy the music, the interaction on the bandstand between him and his musicians, the spontaneity, the humor, the stories about the music and composers, along with their relation to everyday life. People are smiling, having a good time, while thoroughly enjoying the music. What usually lacks in most of today's performances is obviously present... fun!
078 –"New Beginnings" with Josh Phillips
http://thejoshphillips.com Josh Phillips is a Chicago native who, after attending the Berklee College of Music, moved to his adopted and current home of Nashville. He has been called a modern throwback: a pop/Americana singer/songwriter with a refined ear for the nuances of both composition and performance. He grew up listening to the classics of Bob Dylan and James Taylor, while also embracing the more modern sounds of artists like John Mayer. Their influence can be heard throughout his music, combining the best of both old and new into a unique, refreshing sound. The episode begins with "Steal Me Away" and ends with "Inspired," both of which are written and performed by Josh.
077 –"Jazz's True Foundation" with Glenn Zottola
www.glennzottola.com Enjoy my conversation with Glenn Zottola! Glen was a child prodigy on the trumpet, and was mentored by the great Louis Armstrong in the 1950's. In our conversation, Glenn and I discuss his history in music, his experiences studying with "Satchmo" and the key element jazz educators are missing today. The cherry on top is Glenn performing "But Not For Me" with Chick Corea at the very end of the episode.. I loved this interview, and am sure you will as well!
076 –"Finding the Way" with Ayron Jones
www.ajandtheway.com Seattle guitarist and frontman Ayron Jones (Eh-Rahn), has become one of Seattle's hottest up-and-comers with his brand of Seattle Rock. Jones has taken a hybrid style of guitar playing, in which the chord and solo are played at the same time, and infused the raw energy of punk with the inner-city attitude of Hip-Hop. The result is a soulful reincarnation of that iconic Seattle sound. Think, Stevie Ray Vaughan meets Nirvana.
075 –"Politics in Music" (part 2) with Courtney Brown
www.courtneybrown.com Courtney Brown, professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, was my guest on Episode 70. In that interview, we discussed some of the ways music was intertwined with politics from historical composers, namely Beethoven, Wagner and even Bob Marley. We did a follow-up interview to discuss more modern music and its use in political propaganda and/or agitation. The episode begins with Jimi Hendrix's infamous performance of the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock in 1969. Courtney explains how this is one of the most patriotic renditions of the national anthem in history and goes on to explain the political significance of modern genres such as rap, hip hop and more.
074 –"Deliquescent Ivory" with Utsav Lal
http://www.indianragapianist.com At 22 yrs of age, pianist Utsav Lal is a musician extraordinaire who has set a precedent in the world of music with his rendition of Ragas on the Piano. Choosing to perform on an instrument that has traditionally been considered unsuitable for Hindustani Classical Music, Utsav's innovative handling of a raga blends his diverse musical influences and has left listeners spellbound. His soulful renditions in traditional Alap jod jhala style are expressed with simplicity, sincerity and depth and have won him fans in every corner of the world. Bestowed with the unique title of "Raga Pianist", the musician is a delight to watch as he loses himself to his music, fingers follow the pace of the mind , as he unfolds the notes of the Raga to create a captivating musical experience. Lal's playing with rhythmic intelligence and unfailing clarity of technique veers from delicately decorative to dazzling moments of improvisations. One of Lal's most exciting projects have been to collaborate in exploring the symbiosis of sound with Brighton-based pianist, composer & inventor, Geoff Smith who unveiled his creation, the Fluid Piano™ in 2009. In 2012, Lal also collaborated to perform with percussionist Talvin Singh at Kings Place-London, Pt. Samir Chaterjee at Asia Music Society-Hong Kong and Scottish fiddler-Adam Sutherland at the Strings of the World Festival. In Dec 2012, Utsav Lal made history with a live telecast on National TV of his two hour long solo concert, the first ever performance of ragas on the piano at the 137th edition of Harivallabh Sangeet Samelan, India's oldest classical music festival. In 2015, he was invited to perform at the prestigious classical music festival "Saptak" held annually in Ahemdabad which draws large number of national & international music lovers each year.
073 –"Symphonic Groove Looping" with Kendall Burks
kendallburks.com "You're looking for something new? Something yet unheard of? Kendall Burks delivers." (Blend FM). Described as producing "…almost cinematic audio landscapes" and "…sounds to day-dream to and inspire" (The SounpyGato Show), multi-instrumentalist and composer Kendall Burks incorporates a wide variety of influences into his nearly symphonic, guitar and percussion-based music. Whether it's the contrapuntal flow of Bach, the interlocking patterns of Balinese Gamelan music, or the energetic sophistication of Radiohead, he manages to weave an original yet accessible sound world. As a live artist, Kendall Burks primarily utilizes looping Technology. These performances have been variously described as "symphonic groove looping" and "baroque jazz", combining polyrhythmic grooves with contrapuntal layering and dramatic dynamic shifts. In the summer of 2013, he completed a 14 week tour of Western Europe, where he played in 10 different countries, and was featured in the European music publications BLEND FM and the SoupyGato Show.
072 –"New Chamber Music" with Michael Mikulka
Michael Mikulka founded www.newbandmusic.com and www.newchambermusic.org as a means of helping composers of band and wind ensemble music fill a void in distribution by the big publishing companies. Composers are enabled to list their works free of charge. Interested parties may peruse these websites and find new and innovative music that can suit a wide variety of instrumentation and levels of difficulty.
071 – The Perfect Game
What do Baseball and Music have in common?
Courtney Brown is a mathematician and social scientist who teaches in the Department of Political Science at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Independent of his work at the university, he is also the leading scholar on the subject of "remote viewing" as it is done using procedures that were developed by the United States military and used for espionage purposes, or procedures that are derivative of those methodologies. Courtney is also the author of Politics in Music: Music and Political Transformation from Beethoven to Hip-Hop, which served as the basis of our conversation. For more information about Courtney's work, visit www.courtneybrown.com Are you secretly afraid of Music Theory? Here is the Answer. Ross Trottier, the featured guest of Ep. 67 of Outside the Music Box has just published Music Theory in One Lesson. If you purchase the book and leave a review on Amazon from now until Sunday 16 August, and mention Outside the Music Box in the review, Ross will give you a FREE half-hour lesson on music theory via Skype! Visit musictheoryinonelesson.com for more information.
069 – A Tribute to Eva Cassidy
This is a tribute to Eva Cassidy, the American singer who passed away in November, 1996. It begins with Eva's rendition of Oh, Had I a Golden Thread, then some commentary about Eva's life, followed by her song, I Know You By Heart. evacassidy.org
068 –"The Modern Musician"
I was recently interviewed by Colin Thomson of the Modern Musician Podcast. Colin is a previous guest of Outside the Music Box and I literally interviewed him 15 minutes after he interviewed me. Colin and I have slightly different angles on our podcast's but the end result is the same: to help people share Music with the world in a way that reflects our own authentic self.
067 –"Loungin' in the Springs" with Ross Trottier
http://rosstrottiermusic.com Download Ross' book, Music Theory in One Lesson here. Music Theory in One Lesson Ross began to study music in his teens and developed an intense love for the guitar early on in these studies. He attended CU Boulder as a Classical Guitar Performance major, attaining the highest possible scores for both performance and theoretical studies, under the tutelage of virtuoso Jonathan Leathewood. In our conversation, Ross told me how he left his studies at CU and moved to Portland, OR to get into the music scene there. After finding that the scene was fairly crowded there in Portland, he left a well-paying job with the Intel Corp. and moved to Colorado Springs, CO to start his own studio. Although he had to overcome some initial challenges, he is now doing well and really has a fascinating story for us.
066 –"Classical Guitar for Dummies" with Sean O'Connor
Sean is a guitar instructor, classical and electric guitarist, and Director of the Sacramento Guitar Society Orchestra, who performs solo Classical and fingerstyle guitar at weddings, private parties, galleries, cafes, and restaurants throughout the greater Sacramento area. Although I did not plan this initially, Sean ended up giving us kind of a chronological history of the guitar. It was fascinating to listen to Sean describe the evolution of the guitar from the baroque era to today. We still managed to learn a little bit about him and his work in the Sacramento area as well as the "lightning round." Enjoy!
065 – The Batrano Brothers
BATRANO is a music project comprised of Chris & Michael Batrano. Chris creates & programs the music even thought he's paralyzed from living with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Chris still produces the music with his eyes and one finger. Michael, a lyricist & vocalist, helped produce the debut effort "Off the Wall". Chris has also produced an all instrumental CD called "oasis". Batrano Music Project is a not for profit that raises funds for handicapped musicians and artist… to get the needed gear to help them continue to contribute to their craft of creating. Both Batrano CD's proceeds are going to the Batrano Music Project mission. Help support the effort by pre-ordering the CD(s) or simply donate to the cause. CD's will be released End of August 2015
064 –"Oud Have to See it to Believe It" with Mac Ritchey
Once referred to as a "musical Swiss army knife", multi-instrumentalist Mac Ritchey has been plucking strings for decades. Studying electronic music at Oberlin College and anthropology at Brandeis University, Mac has been influenced by a vast palette of musical traditions and genres. His primary focus for the past 10 years has been on the oud, otherwise known as the Arabic lute. He has studied the Turkish and Armenian music traditions extensively with the late Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian. Mac is also a music producer and the proprietor of Possum Hall Studios in Carlisle MA. Working with clients whose projects run the gamut of genres, he brings a wealth of experience to both the studio and the stage.


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A fresh, spirited and engaging biography of a fascinating and influential woman who was absolutely instrumental in shaping modern Australia - but whose influence and importance has largely been forgotten. Caroline Chisholm was a take-no-prisoners game-changer of Colonial Australia - as well as a charming, wholly committed, and utterly determined force of nature. Arriving in Australia in 1838, she was appalled by the plight of young female immigrants in Australia - there were no jobs for them, no accommodation, and many of them resorted to prostitution to survive. In response to this need, Caroline became a woman on a mission. She met every immigrant ship and became a familiar figure on the wharves, finding positions for immigrant girls and sheltering many of them in her home. As the government of the day refused to help, Chisholm established accommodation, services and the first emloyment office in the colony, drawing up the first ever employment contracts in Australia. She established minimum wages, found jobs and homes, created employment agencies in a dozen rural centres as well, and she managed to do all this without any assistance from the government of the time. In many ways a proto-feminist and committed social activist, she transformed life in Australia. This is a long overdue, contemporary and lively reassessment of Caroline, bringing to life her spirited character, her modern relevance, her feminist credentials and her egalitarian spirit.