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Born in Athens of Greece. Feli started taking bass guitar lessons at the age of 14. In 2014, she received her Bachelor degree on stage directing and acting from the Theatre Department of the School of Fine Arts of the University of Peloponnese. During that time, she studied classical singing with the soprano Anna Maria Karkania Kokkori and the accompany pianist Billio Moraiti. In 2018 she received her Classical Singing Diploma (Grade: Excellency) along with the 2nd prize from The National Conservatory of Athens.
She has attended multiple seminars, including a two year masterclass on singing together with a jazz improvisation band given by the saxophonist David Lynch (2017-2018), and also on vocal performance for greek songs by the pianist Sofia Kontossi (2014), on vocal and movement improvisation by the performer Allesio Castellaci (2012), on rofling technique by Stathis Mermigis (2009) and also participated in dancing with eyes shut classes by the dancer Anthi Theofilidou (2009).
In 2008, while still a student, she initiated the Bitchy D - Music Theatre & Contemporary Dance Company, alongside with the co-producers Stella Triantafylli and Flora Tsiplakidi. The company worked for five years and Feli was the artist with the role as a co-producer, artistic director, stage director, production manager and performer. In 2013, she also worked as the main choreographer for the company. She has also been the owner of the B.D. Studio, a cultural centre for rehearsals, seminars and concerts, with open participation from the Bitchy D crew to other artistic companies and individual artists. (Bitchy D Productions: The Grass 2009, Sulpture 2009, Mixed Up Theatrical Salad 2010, It happened as you said 2011, The Telephone 2012, The Place 2013, Let Us Fall 2013)
In 2011, she worked for C.T.S. Productions as an assistant promoter for six months in the course of an internship programme organized by the University of Peloponnese. In 2012 she was the youngest speaker ever at the Opera and Politics Conference, hosted by The Beggar's Operas Company at the Michalis Cacoyiannis Foundation, during the annual Athens Festival.
In 2014, she initiated The Right Bullets Opera & Musical Company together with the producer Themistoklis Mantzos. The company is still active and she keeps her leadership role as an artistic director, stage director, choreographer, production manager, librettist and performer. (The Right Bullet Productions: This is called Swing! 2014/2015, The Couch 2016)
In that same year she started teaching stage performing and dance at the Yiorgos Fakanas Conservatory - Art Music Center. For four years she was the stage director of the annual productions, while during the period 2014-2016 she also was the choreographer of the shows. She had the chance to collaborate with conductors Yiorgos Fakanas and Angelos Tsourelis and choreographers Anna Athanasiadi and Anastasios Deligiannis. In 2017 she further collaborated with the established singer Mando Stamatopoulou at the Children's Music Theater Academy, as a theatrologist and a stage director. (Yiorgos Fakanas Productions: Chicago 2015, Cats 2016, Chicago 2017, West Side Story 2018, Discoland 2018)
Feli's debut role as a mezzo soprano was at a contemporary one act opera miniature "The Seagull" by Bob Katsionis for a Bitchy D production in 2010. Since then, she has performed roles of: Freu Peachum (Die Dreigroschenoper), Cherubino (Les nozze di Figaro), Arnalta (L' incoronazione di Poppea), Sally (A Hand of Bridge). Chrysoula (This is called Swing!), Rum Tum Tugger - understudy (Cats) and she has collaborated with the stage directors Isidoros Sideris, Eugenia Arsenis, Kostas Lavdiotis and Alexandra Bari.
In 2017, she participates in the annual Opera de Bauge festival in France as a member of the choir, for the productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, La clemenza di Tito and La Cenerentola, staged by Bernadette Grimmett and conducted by John Andrews and Konstantinos Diminakis.
In 2019-2020, she was the assistant director on the Greek musical Moby Dick, written by Dimitris Papadimitriou, staged by Yiannis Kakkleas and produced by Onassis Foundation and Theatrikes Skines at the Pallas Theatre in Athens. She, also, worked as a production assistant for the same musical production. During the same period of time, she started working as a producer for the company Martini & Cookie Films with the director Sherif Francis. She produced music videos for Samo Zaen, Nikolija, Ahmed Gamal and Nikos Vertis.
Besides opera and musical, Feli also sings other kinds of music (jazz, swing, latin,blues, rock'n'roll, neon soul, pop, electronic, house). She has collaborated with The Coloured Vinyl Trio and the VamBeat quartet. In 2019 Feli's first EP album was released on digital platforms by the title "Αυτό είναι Swing!" and she also performed with Mimis Plessas and Giorgos Katsaros at Gialino Mousiko Theatro. Her digital single "Light Blue" has also been released during the same period. In her jazz performances as a solo artist, she is accompanied by the pianist Angelos Tsourelis or by her band.
She writes opera and musical librettos in both Greek and English. She also writes lyrics in Greek, English and French.
So far, Feli has directed fourteen theatrical productions (having also prepared the librettos for two of them and the choreography for six of them).


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Consumerization of IT
Wearables smothering Swiss watch business, Fossil CEO says
By Fred O'Connor
Reporter, IDG News Service |
Wearables are reducing interest in Swiss watches, with those highly regarded timepieces losing some of their luster as technology is incorporated into what people wear on their wrists.
"I think technology and the whole idea of wearables ... has taken some of the oxygen out of the Swiss business," Fossil CEO Kosta Kartsotis told analysts Tuesday on a call to discuss the watch maker's second quarter results.
Without mentioning Apple or its smartwatch by name, Kartsotis implied the arrival of tech companies in the fashion world means the industry needs to incorporate technology into its products to stay trendy.
"We also see technology emerging as the latest trend in fashion, with the growing interest in wearable technology inspiring new entrants into the watch space," he said.
These new competitors, along with other factors like a strong U.S. dollar, contributed to Fossil's quarterly revenue decline, Kartsotis said. For the quarter ending July 4, Fossil recorded revenue of US$740 million versus $773 million for the year-ago period.
The Apple Watch, meanwhile, went on sale during that time frame. Starting in April, the wearable could be ordered only from Apple's website before the company began carrying the watch in its stores in June.
It is unclear what impact smartwatches will have on the sale of analog timepieces. Some analysts predict that consumers are more inclined to purchase sensor-equipped devices that do more than tell time. Last week, a report from market research firm NPD Group claimed the Apple Watch was partially behind the largest slump in U.S. watch sales since 2008.
[ Further reading: The best high-res digital audio players ]
Fossil sees wearables as a key component of the industry's future and the company is developing three product categories around the technology.
First, there are smartwatches, like the Android Wear model Fossil is planning on launching in October or November, Kartsotis said. When Google announced its OS for wearables last March, Fossil was listed as a partner that would make watches running Android Wear.
Since then, not much has been heard about the effort. Fossil, though, has said development is taking longer than anticipated, and that the watch will include Intel sensors.
Kartsotis also predicted wearables will spawn a device category akin to jewelry, such as bracelets, which lack the displays found on smartwatches.
The final category, which Kartsotis labelled "smarter watches," will have the greatest long-term impact at Fossil. These devices will be existing analog watches with sensors added to perform functions like tracking activity and sleep, he said. Fossil is on track to release those watches this year, Kartsotis added.
Some day, every watch Fossil makes could have technology in it, he said.
In addition to meeting market demand, incorporating technology into its watches gives Fossil access to user data that can be fed into the company's CRM software and used for marketing efforts, Kartsotis said.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Technology In Other news 05 Mar 2017 Mobile malware, the top threat of 2016
Technology, In Other news
Mobile malware, the top threat of 2016
Published : Mar 5, 2017, 8:49 am IST
Updated : Mar 5, 2017, 8:49 am IST
Mobile advertising trojans exploiting super-user rights became top mobile malware threat in 2016.
(Representational image)
2016 saw a near-threefold rise in mobile malware detections compared to 2015 with a total of 8.5 million malicious installations identified. This means that, in the space of just one year, a volume equivalent to 50 percent of all the malware detected in the previous 11 years (15.77 million in 2004 to 2015) was released.
Leading the way were mobile advertising Trojans which now make up 16 of the top 20 malicious programs, up from 12 in 2015. These are the findings of Kaspersky Lab's annual Mobile Virusology report, which also highlights the evolution of mobile banking Trojans. Specialist officers from INTERPOL's Global Complex for Innovation have contributed an analysis of mobile malware on the Dark Web to the report.
In 2016, Kaspersky Lab mobile security products reported:
-Nearly 40 million attacks attempts by mobile malware, with over 4 million users of Android-based devices protected (vs 2.6 million in 2015)
-Over 260,000 detections of installation packages for mobile ransomware Trojans(an increase of almost 8.5 times, year-on-year)
-More than 153,000 unique users targeted by mobile ransomware (an increase of 1.6 times compared with2015)
-Over 128,000 mobile banking Trojans detected (nearly 1.6 times more than in 2015)
Advertising Trojan: is your device already rooted?
-The most widespread type of Trojan in 2016 was the advertising variety, accounting for 16 of the top 20 malware programs
-These Trojans are capable of seizing rooting rights, allowing the malware to not only aggressively display ads on the infected device, often making it impossible to use, but also to secretly install other applications. These Trojans can also buy apps on Google Play.
In many cases, the Trojans were able to exploit previously patched vulnerabilities because the user had not installed the latest update.
Further, this malware simultaneously installs its modules in the system directory, which makes the treatment of the infected device very difficult. Some advertising Trojans are even able to infect the recovery image, making it impossible to solve the problem by restoring the device to factory settings.
Representatives of this class of malicious software have been repeatedly
found in the official Google Play app store, for example, masquerading as a guide for Pokemon GO. In this case, the app was downloaded over 500,000 times, and is detected as a Trojan.AndroidOS.Ztorg.ad.
Mobile ransomware: further development
-In 2016, 153,258 unique users from 167 countries were attacked by Trojan-Ransom programs; this is 1.6 times more than in 2015.
Modern ransomware overlays windows with demand messages, thus making it impossible to use the device. This principle was used by the most popular mobile ransomware program in 2016 Trojan-Ransom.AndroidOS.Fusob.
This Trojan mostly attacks users in Germany, the US and the UK, but avoids users from the CIS and some neighboring countries. Once launched, it runs a check of the device language and, after achieving some results, it may stop execution. The cybercriminals behind the Trojan usually demand between USD 100 and USD 200 to unblock a device. The ransom has to be paid using codes from pre-paid iTunes cards.
Mobile banking Trojan: a skyrocketing threat
-In 2016, over 305,000 users in 164 countries were attacked by mobile banking Trojans,compared with over 56,000 users in 137 countries the previous year.
-Russia, Australia and Ukraine are the top 3 countries affected in terms of the percentage of users attacked by mobile banking Trojans relative to all users hit by mobile malware.
Mobile banking Trojans continued to evolve through the year. Many of them gained tools to bypass the new Android security mechanisms and were able to continue stealing user information from the most recent versions of the OS.
At the same time, the developers of mobile banking Trojans repeatedly enhanced their creations with new capabilities. For instance, the Marcher family, in addition to implementing the usual banking applications' overlay, redirected users from financial institutions' websites to phishing pages.
The Dark Web delusion
According to specialist officers from INTERPOL's Global Complex for Innovation, who have also contributed to the report, the Dark Web remains an attractive medium for conducting illicit businesses and activities. Given its robust anonymity, low prices and client-oriented strategy, the Dark Web provides a means for criminal actors to communicate and engage in commercial transactions, buying and selling various products and services, including mobile malware kits. Mobile malware is offered for sale as software packages (e.g. remote access Trojans - RATs), individual solutions and sophisticated tools, like those developed by professional firms or, on a smaller scale, as part of a 'Bot as a Service' model. Mobile malware is also a 'subject of interest' on vendor shops, forums and social media.
"In 2016, the growth in the number of advertising Trojans capable of exploiting super-user rights continued. Throughout the year, it was the top threat and we see no sign of this trend changing. Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the fact that most devices do not receive OS updates (or receive them late), and are thus vulnerable to old, well-known and readily available exploits.Moreover, we see that the mobile landscape is getting a little crowded for cybercriminals, and they are beginning to interact more with the world beyond smartphones. Perhaps in 2017 we will see major attacks on IoT components launched from mobile devices," concludes Roman Unuchek, Senior Malware Analyst at Kaspersky Lab USA.
Tags: hack, cyber criminal, trojan, mobile trojan
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Well, there's not a lot of ways to spin this positively, and it's pretty clear what's going on - AT&T is disincentivizing its 1-year and no contract plans in order to goad customers into making more economical 2-year agreements.
Let's face it: as Android users, we like options. One of the greatest things about this platform is the insane level of customization possible, especially if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty. With some readily available tools (all of which are extremely free) and the proper knowledge, you can make your android phone do almost anything you could possibly want and make it look however you want. What we'll be talking about today is the bootscreen.
You may not notice the difference but the SKU has changed.


Retirement is the perfect time to travel and try new things, but winter can sometimes make that hard as the Midwest winds start to carry a bit of a bite. Never fear, there are still plenty of things for older adults to do in St. Louis and the surrounding area.
If you're looking for things to do in and around St. Louis this winter, we have 6 can't-miss places for you to check out.
No trip to St. Louis would be complete without a visit to the Gateway Arch. The stainless steel monument arcs above the cityscape, giving visitors stunning views of St. Louis and the mighty Mississippi River.
Even if you've already been, it's breathtaking to see during the winter. Plus, construction just wrapped up this past summer on multiple renovations and additions, including an expanded visitors center and museum.
This is a great destination for history buffs. The Gateway Arch celebrates Thomas Jefferson and St. Louis' role in U.S. westward expansion and the park has a museum as well as the "Old Courthouse," which is tied to the Underground Railroad and is located a short walk from the arch.
It's a good idea to book tickets early if you want to take the tram to the top of the arch as they tend to sell out. To plan out your trip, the Gateway Arch's website has a helpful trip itinerary.
However, if you have some mobility issues, keep in mind that in order to go to the top of the arch, you'll need to climb about six flights of steps and may have to stand for up to an hour. The museum and grounds, though, are much more accessible.
St. Louis is home to a thriving art scene. Whether your tastes are classical or modern, the city has just the thing for you to enjoy.
You could spend the afternoon at the St. Louis Art Museum enjoying collections ranging from ancient art to Native American art to contemporary art. There are rotating exhibits to enjoy, so be sure to check online when you're planning your trip to see if there's a certain exhibit you'd like to plan your visit for.
There's also the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, which features innovate modern art. It offers displays, programs, and activities to fully immerse visitors for a truly unique experience.
Finally, if you enjoy classical music, you could take in a performance of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In addition to more traditional symphonic offerings, they also perform live scores to popular movies and host appearances from some of the biggest names on Broadway.
Nothing gets the blood pumping like an action-packed hockey game. If you're an NHL fan, go and check out the St. Louis Blues this winter to get in on the fun.
The Blues play at Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis. You can get tickets for the 2018-2019 season through the Blues website or the Enterprise Center website.
Forest Park is one of the largest urban parks in the country. Although from December to March you won't be able to see as much of the stunning flora and fauna the site usually boasts, it's still a wonderful way to experience a walk in a winter wonderland.
During the colder months, you can enjoy the skating rink or watch people sled on Art Hill if there's snow—and join in yourself! It's also home to museums (more on that below), the St. Louis Zoo, and the St. Louis Science Center.
The Missouri History Museum, which is located in Forest Park, allows visitors to dive into the exciting past of St. Louis and Missouri with engrossing exhibits and captivating collections. Spend the day getting lost in local and regional history.
The museum offers free admission to the public. Visit their website to view hours and current exhibits.
Located a mere 20-minute drive from St. Louis are the tranquil grounds of The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, one of the largest outdoor Catholic shrines in the U.S.
With peaceful reflection spots, sacred spaces, and quiet pathways, it's the perfect place to refresh your spirit. Visitors are welcome to explore the 80 acres of former farmland on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River Valley. You may run into residents of The Esquiline, a Life Plan Community at the Shrine, as they enjoy a brisk walk or moment of reflection. The life plan community is located on the grounds of the shrine and residents love to make the most of it.


PTA membership is open to everybody. By joining the Sunnyside Elementary School PTA you are supporting the students at our school. You also will have voting rights at PTA meetings and receive a discount on yearbooks and school gear.
Joining our PTA also means that you are joining Oregon PTA and National PTA.


(Washington, D.C.) After a hectic weekend of scrambling to try and read the Mueller report, Republican lawmakers are attempting to draw attention from the President's woes by pointing their finger in another direction. But who are they going after this time? Hillary? No, almost overdone if you ask me. Warren? No, she's still got a whole campaign ahead of her, plenty of time for that. AOC? You bet! No one better to tease than one of the few people in congress actually working for her constituents. However, they might have overplayed their hand with this last attempt to discredit AOC's Green New Deal by claiming it would result in a sharp uptick in people dying while being tied to railroad tracks. More on this below.
First, we need a little bit of background for those of us who can't keep our eye on Twitter all day to see what new shenanigans the folks over in D.C. have come up with. Personally, I can't look away, it's like witnessing a car crash, only I am in the car and watching simultaneously, so they asked me to write about this. In short, the Green New Deal is a proposed economic stimulus program that aims to address climate change and income equality.
Ever since the resolution was first announced by AOC and Senator Ed Markey in early February, Republicans have been throwing everything they possibly can at this program to make sure it never leaves the imaginations of the populace. They have called it "imaginary," "a big dump on America's chest," and one lawmaker even went so far as to say it was "the worst thing since sliced bread." Apparently, this lawmaker is not a fan of sliced bread and all of the attention it has been getting. (It was Marco Rubio).
It was said that after this brief statement, McConnell retreated to his office for a nice, crunchy leaf of lettuce. We tried to reach AOC for a response, but she told us she has better things to do than explain that climate change is a far more pressing issue than robber barons. Although, she did want to point out that industrialists like the ones feared by Republicans are the reason we are in this mess in the first place, but that's another story.
This was written by Nathan Ellwood, who would just worm his way to safety if he ever got into trouble with any sort of railroad track scenario. Follow him @NPEllwood.


Honeywell's O5100 is a lightweight and reliable mobile computer that provides versatile data collection for communications within in-premise applications including data lookup/audits, inventory management, customer assistance, and merchandising. Designed with ergonomics in mind, the O5100 can be operated with a single hand. This pocket-sized mobile computer also features an angled engine—laser or imaging—that allows users to view the screen while scanning a bar code.


Nestled on a South Auburn bluff with dazzling unobstructed panoramic views of Folsom Lake, the Sierra's and the Sacramento valley. Exceptional custom built home designed with main-floor mobility friendly accessibility in mind - a hard to find quality in a view property. Open, inviting easy-flow floor plan, abundant natural light, floor to ceiling windows throughout to bring the views and nature inside. Main-floor living with expansive, well appointed chef's kitchen, pantry room, open great room, wet bar and more - an ideal setting to host family and friends. Main-floor master suite, walk-in shower, access to outdoor oasis, plus two additional bedrooms and a bath. Downstairs features an attached apartment unit with full kitchen, pantry, bedroom, laundry and it's own balcony and separate entrance - ideal for caretaker or extended stay guests. Plus, large bonus room, bedroom and storage galore. No HOA! Established, desirable neighborhood and low-maintenance grounds.


A FAMILY GROUP: FATHER, MOTHER, CHILD AND CAT, CIRCA 1830-1835. ATTRIBUTED TO NOAH NORTH (AMERICAN 1809-1880).
The family portrayed before a window open to a view of a boat sailing under moonlight. Oil on canvas, 32 x 42 inches. In the original red and black grain-painted frame.


text:
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December 23, 2013 September 7, 2014 theoxfordculturereview
Lovers' Rock: An Interview with John Goto
Photographer John Goto's exhibition '1977: Lewisham and Belleville', the most recent to run at Art Jericho, displays photographs from both South London and Paris, taken in 1977. While the Belleville photographs focus upon architecture and objects, the Lewisham series consists of a set of portraits taken in a space adjacent to a dance hall at Lewisham Youth Centre, where Goto used to teach. This is the first time that the latter series has been displayed, and is published by Autograph ABP, an organisation established with 'the mission of advocating the inclusion of historically marginalised photographic practices.' They aim to build an archive that 'addresses a gap in the visual representation of Britain's cultural history and its diverse communities', a brief that Goto's photographs of young black people in 1970s London fits perfectly.
1977 was a year of significant political and cultural upheaval in South London, with the Battle of Lewisham in August following the rioting at the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival. The far-right National Front attempted to stage a march across Lewisham in protest against a multi-cultural Britain and met with significant resistance, the resulting conflict leading to 214 arrests. It was within this political climate that John Goto's Lovers' Rock series came into being, photographing young black people growing up amidst such unrest. In Paul Gilroy's words, taken from his essay in the book accompanying the exhibition, 'Goto's loving photographs have caught that pivotal generation as it proceeds cautiously towards an unambiguous articulation of the dissenting position that was mirrored fleetingly in one political slogan of the time: 'here to stay, here to fight'.'
ⓒ John Goto
In explaining the significance of the series, Gilroy notes that at the time 'Young black people were being actively criminalised … yet even the most politically sympathetic explanations of their situation left no space for accounts of their cultural life.' Not acknowledging a people's culture is effectively to deny them a soul, a voice, or any factor that humanises in an appreciable way. As Gilroy argues, 'Racism always denies individuality to those it subordinates … Here in these images, the photographer … has allowed, even encouraged, his sitters to cultivate the dimensions of individual subjectivity that racism simply cannot accommodate.'
In choosing the title Lovers' Rock, Goto references an emerging musical genre of the time, a style of reggae that achieved its first significant hit with Louisa Mark's 1975 cover of Bobby Parker's Caught You in a Lie. Characterised as a 'softened, British reggae sub-genre that focused on romance', this lay at the heart of the culture finding roots in South London, and was played in the dance hall where the photographs were taken. Each portrait offers a fascinating insight into contemporary fashion, with all the sitters dressed in preparation for an evening at the dance hall. From gregarious flared jeans and jewellery, to conservative turtle necks paired with long skirts, the range of personalities exhibited makes the interest of the series extend beyond its archival significance. Baroness Lola Young's summary of the exhibition perfectly encapsulates the charm of the photographs displayed: 'To see the images only as an antidote to pictures of black youth rioting or representing failure of one kind or another, or as emblematic of the troublesome nature of the period, would be too reductive. While it is important to note the contrast between John Goto's photographs and other, official visual and verbal accounts, to focus only on these aspects of the work would be to underplay the extraordinary ordinariness … of the subjects depicted.'
As if preserved in a time warp, these are the 1977 equivalent of the type of photographs that would now be uploaded to Facebook before a night out. Placed alongside the images of deserted and forgotten corners of Paris, the entire exhibition not only seems to 'signal a form of resistance to the prevailing social conditions and attitudes', but also a simple document of everyday life, be it behind the glamour of Parisian streets or the political unrest of those in Lewisham.
I spoke to photographer John Goto about the exhibition, and why they have come to light at this juncture. Goto has held solo exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, Photographers' Gallery, and Tate Britain, and is best known for his photo-digital artworks.
Why did you choose the title 'Lovers' Rock' for the Lewisham series?
I chose this title because it refers to a musical form that's specific to South London where it originated. Lovers' Rock was the first British Afro-Caribbean musical form to grow out of this country. It took reggae and developed a new genre from it. The general argument was that reggae had moved into a roots reggae phase, which was Rastafarian-based. It was very political and it was heavy. The argument is that for young people who had grown up in Britain, this didn't really strike the chord that it might, because they had different cultural roots… [Lovers' Rock] was a much more melodic kind of music, softer, and much more inclined towards women. There are arguments about this; the standard line is that it was apolitical in relation to roots reggae's political radicalism. This was supposedly music for the women – the way that you danced to Lovers' Rock involved very close dancing. The counter-argument is that it was political – these overt displays of sexuality in themselves were a kind of radical statement by women of that time. So there are conflicting views about its social significance.
My portraits were taken on dance nights in a youth centre where as a young artist I was teaching evening classes. The type of music that was being played at these events was probably a mixture – I don't remember exactly – of Lovers' Rock and roots reggae… The young people there – they were such nice kids, without pretensions. Obviously it's a different generation but I can't imagine kids these days not being ironic and knowing in front of the camera – the 'selfie' generation.
When you say that there's an emphasis on women and the feminine in Lovers' Rock, is that something you were consciously thinking about when you took the series?
No, that is very much on reflection. I worked at the centre for a couple of years so I knew some of the subjects fairly well. They were going into the dance hall and it was very much to do with who responded to my request to sit for a photograph. And nearly everybody did. The relationships between them really is lovely… And as Paul Gilroy points out in his essay, these photos provide a contrast to the stereotypical images of the period.
These are very different to your other work. Why have you decided to exhibit these photos now?
When I took these photos, there was nowhere to really go with them. The fact that they have emerged now is a marker of some of the changes that have happened in Britain and British culture – certainly in the arts – since '77. Multiculturalism has been encouraged, particularly through the efforts of the Arts Council. Part of the transition of the period – I'm not saying that it's fixed all the problems – is a voice for minority ethnic groups that certainly wasn't there in '77.
These photos were never exhibited at the time, but I always wanted to get them shown and every now and then I would try to interest a gallery. Autograph ABP is an arts organisation with a very specific brief, to deal with images of minority cultures in Britain, and they are also associated with human rights issues. They picked up on my work through an ex-student of mine, Dave Lewis. The reason for their interest is partly because they have an ongoing project called The Missing Chapter. What they're trying to do is build an archive of those elements of British society whose history is not featured in the mainstream visual discourses. So for example, they arrange for families to contribute photographs from their family albums, so they can build up a visual resource. My series very much fits into that brief.
You've talked about your other works having a sense of narrative – if this is very much archival material, does that sense of narrative apply here?
This is youthful work made during my apprenticeship years. I didn't really produce what I consider mature work until a decade later, but it's all pointing in a similar direction … At the time these pictures were fairly innocently made. I knew that this was a really interesting situation, and it was also part of my life. At the time I photographed other people – friends, other artists – in a not dissimilar way. The narrative aspects have really been developed in the last three years, in terms of how we have presented the pictures and contextualize them … If they were contextualised differently, or not at all, they could well be seen as nostalgia shots, or album cover fodder. … In collaboration with Autograph ABP, a lot of thought has been put into contextualizing them; the way that they've been printed, the colour, using digital processing in their presentation to mark the distance between past and present, and most importantly the two essays in the book. So the narrative aspects have been excavated in retrospect… One of the weird things about getting older and building an archive of material is that you yourself start to become history! It's a strange feeling. When you start out you're trying to forge a way. Now those things that you once made are becoming 'vintage'.
If you were taking a series of portraits now, how would you approach it?
Portraiture's a curious genre. I was artist-in-residence at the National Portrait Gallery for a year in 1999, where I was actually working on recording a building project in various ways. This is a slightly circuitous way of putting it, but the key criteria at the National Portrait Gallery is the importance of the person, the subject, and only secondary is the artistic quality of the image. At the time I would have argued for the reverse, but returning to the Lovers' Rock series has made me think differently. The enduring quality of the images is due primarily to the subjects, to the young people. Maybe that is both the value and the limitation of portraiture.
Digital technology offers new possibilities for making portraits. Using it I made a portrait of the eminent psychoanalyst Dr Donald Meltzer, bringing together into one picture objects and images that told about his contribution to the discipline. There was Melanie Klein's couch, a Velasquez painting that he was fond of, various books and the scene out of the window I changed to Shotover, which is where he had his practice. I did another one for the British Academy, which was about their female vice-presidents. It was a picture in two halves – there were eight women; four of them were living and I worked with them directly, and four had passed away, so I worked with archival images of them. I put these two groups together, so that we had the quick and the dead in one picture. I set it in the British Library as it was when it was housed in the British Museum. Actually, I spent a week digitally shelf-stacking, putting appropriate titles onto the shelves! It's that degree of control and articulation that digital imaging offers that one simply couldn't have done before.
Your other work reminds me very much of Surrealist montages, almost Dadaist in some ways.
That is very true. The unconscious hasn't gone away, it's still an important aspect of the way that we are.
Where you've spoken about how art and society intersect, the idea that 'the artist's job is to tell as fully as possible how it is to be in their time' – is there an outcome that you would want from your art?
It's more a responsibility than anything else. There is an ethical dimension to art, however you wish to put it… to comment…to witness. When you look at much of the interesting art from the past, encoded in it is an understanding of its time, because the artist is acutely aware of the socio-political world in which they live.
Where do you feel that artistic photography is going now, particularly when you have the widespread use of digital media – Instagram for example?
It's in crisis. Photographic education is in crisis, though I'm not sure that everyone lecturing in the subject knows it! There are two things: firstly, photography is no longer the darling of the art world that it was fifteen or twenty years ago. Why has that happened? I think it's because after digitalization, neither the artists nor the curators really know what the status or nature of photography is any longer. Is it a form of graphics, a web-based medium? Secondly, there's the social question of what's happening with the internet and how the proliferation of digital images is changing the way we interact. This is all happening so very fast that most academics are on the back foot with it. It's very difficult to keep up. In education most photographic courses keep a place in both camps, they still have dark rooms where you can go to savor the smells of the nineteenth century … They're really not addressing the seismic shift that has occurred.
I started writing about these problems twenty years ago, but still it's much the same. I hadn't realised how much of a time lapse there is between technological innovation and cultural understanding. It can cause divisions between generations. I have a granddaughter who is two and a half years old and is finding her way around an iPad, and yet I know people in higher education who are barely acquainted with such technology. … I'm sure it is not just in photography that this is happening.
In the digital environment, when you have youngsters in their bedrooms creating really terrific work, it opens up questions as to what the proper academic study of these subjects might be. The old hierarchies are changing. The role of the curator, for example, that small group of cognoscenti who determine what is of value and what's not – their authority is being challenged by the crowd dynamics of social media. I have certain images on my website that have gone, by my standards, viral. They're not particularly the ones that the galleries have been interested in, so now you have different measures of these things. I'm not saying that numbers and the web are always the most discerning indicators, or make the most sound judgments, but these changes do signify something.
Do you feel there's still a gap between popular media and art gallery media?
Actually, I think it's even more evidently the case in music. New media is testing the boundaries between disciplines, and new hybrid forms are emerging. For example, one of the ways in which 3D printing works is to have a bank of cameras recording the object or person, so it can be argued to be a form of photography. But in fact it breaks down completely the old categories of photography, sculpture, and performance.
John Goto's Lovers' Rock series can be viewed on his website; the book accompanying the series, including Paul Gilroy and Baroness Lola Young's essays, is available to buy here. For more information about Autograph ABP, or upcoming exhibitions at Art Jericho, please visit their respective websites.
We are on Twitter @Oxford_Culture, and on Facebook
Art Jericho
Autograph ABP
Baroness Lola Young
John Goto
Lovers' Rock
Photographers' Gallery
Previous Film in Oxford: Snapshots of 2013
Next Film in Oxford: Humanity in '12 Years a Slave' and 'The Wolf of Wall Street'
John Goto: Lover's Rock | Steve Middlehurst Identity and Place says:
[…] The Oxford Culture Review (2013) Lover's Rock: An Interview with John Goto (accessed at The Oxford Culture Review 26.7.16) – https://theoxfordculturereview.com/2013/12/23/lovers-rock-an-interview-with-john-goto/ […]


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© Lola de Miguel 2020. All rights reserved.
MOTHER EARTH LOVE
NYC INSPIRES
UNDERWATER EMOTIONS
AFRICAN MEMORIES
Lola de Miguel was born and raised in a traditional and conservative Spanish family. But her dynamic spirit pushed her to leave the enchanting green scenery of the Pyrenees and go explore the multicultural world.
She was offered scholarships to study art in the USA, but due to pressures from family, she left aside her true passion for creative expression and become a lawyer. An international successful corporate career followed.
Despite professional achievements, her journey towards self discovery continued. The journey took her to live in 6 different countries, different fields and career changes.
But she found the answer when she came to New York. She decided to leap forward and joined the Art Students League in 2012. Her mentors Ronnie Landfield and Bruce Dorfman encouraged this path.
Since then, there has been no looking back. She has had numerous groups exhibits, has won awards, a merit scholarship from the Art Students League and has had great success in her solo shows in Soho and Midtown, New York
Lola is an enthusiastic ARTIST and a motivational coach. In both arenas, Lola inspires through her energy, courage, passion and colorful way of approaching life.
Lola uses acrylic on canvas. She is very spirited and energetic and likes the fast decision process acrylic painting offers her.
What all her painting have in common is that hey are really powerful and bright.
She masters color. Her palette is infinite and her joy of life and brightness comes through her art. She is not afraid to set a mark or change totally style. For Lola art is freedom and it is an expression of her constant evolution as a human being. Her imagination has no end, and her creativity has led her to explore other mediums, including sculpture, drawing and mixed media. Her art evolves like she does but is always breathing color , action and expressionism.
I use color marks and free brush strokes, as a continue dance of color and movement to transmit emotion and passion.
I dare to submerge in an exquisite combination of color and texture and its warmth.
For me Art is FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION in capital letters. Be ready to expect from me anything, different countries, different experiences, different inspirations, different emotions = different paintings…
I paint with my heart and my stomach, I am afraid my brain appears in scene very rarely. My paintings are alive.
@2020 Lola de Miguel. All rights reserved . Simple theme. Powered by Blogger.


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Santuario della Madonna dell'Olmo – alla Spezia
 Santuario della Madonna dell'Olmo – a Thiene
 Santuario della Madonna dell'Olmo – a Verdellino

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: What can cause LNK2019 error in VisualStudio? I have created a simple cpp project in Visual Studio, but have encountered  the follwoing linking error:

LNK2019: unresolved external symbol  "public: class std::vector > __thiscall solver::euler(class point_3d (__cdecl*)(class point_3d,double),double,int,class point_3d,double)" (?euler@?$solver@Vpoint_3d@@@@QAE?AV?$vector@Vpoint_3d@@V?$allocator@Vpoint_3d@@@std@@@std@@P6A?AVpoint_3d@@V4@N@ZNH0N@Z

I have no idea what may be causing this and would be gratefull for any advice.
Files that constitute the project:
main.cpp
#include "point_3d.h"
#include "solver.h"
point_3d lorentz(point_3d val, double t) {
    double x = 10*(val.get_y()-val.get_x());
    double y = val.get_x()*(28.0- val.get_z())- val.get_y();
    double z = val.get_x()* val.get_y()-(8.0/3)* val.get_z();

    return point_3d(x, y, z);
}

int main(){
    auto file = std::ofstream("data/results.json");
    solver<point_3d> sol;
    std::vector<point_3d> result = sol.euler(lorentz, 0.01, 50000, point_3d(1, 1, 1));
}

solver.h
template<typename T>
class solver{
public:
     std::vector<T> euler(T (*f)(T val, double s),double h, int steps, T val, double t0 = 0.0);
     std::vector<T> back_euler(T (*f)(T val, double s), double h, int steps, T val, double t0 = 0.0,int n=50);
     std::vector<T> rk_2(T (*f)(T val, double s), double h, int steps, T val, double t0 = 0.0);
     std::vector<T> rk_4(T (*f)(T val, double s), double h, int steps, T val, double t0 = 0.0);
};

solver.cpp
#include "solver.h"

template<typename T>
std::vector<T> solver<T>::euler(T (*f)(T val, double s), double h, int steps, T val, double t0 ) {
    std::vector<T>res;
    res.resize(steps + 1);
    res[0] = val;
    double t = t0;
    for (int i = 0; i < steps;i++) {
        res[i + 1] = res[i] + h * f(res[i], t);
        t += h;
    }
    return res;
}

template<typename T>
std::vector<T> solver<T>::back_euler(T (*f)(T val, double s), double h, int steps, T val, double t0, int n) {
    std::vector<T>res;
    res.resize(steps + 1);
    res[0] = val;
    double t = t0;
    for (int i = 0; i < steps; i++) {
        t += h;
        res[i + 1] = res[i];
        for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
            res[i + 1] += res[i] + h * f(res[i + 1],t);
        }
    }
    return res;

 }

template<typename T>
std::vector<T> solver<T>::rk_2(T (*f)(T val, double s), double h, int steps, T val, double t0) {
    std::vector<T>res;
    res.resize(steps + 1);
    res[0] = val;
    double t = t0;
    for (int i = 0; i < steps; i++) {

        auto k = h * f(res[i], t) / 2.0;
        res[i + 1] = res[i] + h * f(k+res[i],t+h/2.0);
        t += h;
    }
    return res;
}

template<typename T>
std::vector<T> solver<T>::rk_4(T (*f)(T val, double s), double h, int steps, T val, double t0) {
    std::vector<T>res;
    res.resize(steps + 1);
    res[0] = val;
    double t = t0;
    for (int i = 0; i < steps; i++) {
        auto k1 = f(res[i],t);
        auto k2 = f(res[i]+h/2.0*k1, t+h/3.0);
        auto k3 = f(res[i] + h / 2.0 * k2, t + 2*h / 3.0);
        auto k4 = f(res[i] + h * k3, t + h);
        res[i + 1] = res[i] + (k1 / 6 + k2 / 3 + k3 / 3 + k4 / 6) * h;
        t += h;
    }
    return res;
}

point_3d.h
class point_3d{
    double x;
    double y;
    double z;
public:
    point_3d(double x, double y, double z): x(x), y(y), z(z) {};
    double get_x();
    double get_y();
    double get_z();
    point_3d operator+(point_3d other);
    point_3d& operator=(point_3d other);
    friend point_3d operator*(double k, point_3d p);
};

point_3d.cpp
#include "point_3d.h"

double point_3d::get_x() {
    return x;
}

double point_3d::get_y() {
    return y;
}

double point_3d::get_z() {
    return z;
}

point_3d point_3d::operator+(point_3d other) {
    double x = get_x() + other.get_x();
    double y = get_y() + other.get_y();
    double z = get_z() + other.get_z();
    return point_3d(x, y, z);
}

point_3d& point_3d::operator=(point_3d other) {
    this->x = other.get_x();
    this->y = other.get_y();
    this->z = other.get_z();
    return *this;
}

point_3d operator*(double k, point_3d p) {
    double x = p.get_x();
    double y = p.get_y();
    double z = p.get_z();
    return point_3d(k * x, k * y, k * z);
 }

A: You need to include vector library to use std::vector.
#include <vector>

"Unresolved symbol" means that there is a class or a function declared but not found anywhere in the project (or in the libraries it includes).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Home › Diary of a Tokyo Teen: A Japanese-American Girl Travels to the Land of Trendy Fashion, High-Tech Toilets and Maid Cafes
Christine Mari Inzer
Diary of a Tokyo Teen: A Japanese-American Girl Travels to the Land of Trendy Fashion, High-Tech Toilets and Maid Cafes
Author: Christine Mari Inzer
**2017 Creative Child Magazine Preferred Choice Award Winner**
**2017 Moonbeam Children's Book Award Gold Medal Winner**
A book for comic lovers and Japanophiles of all ages, Diary of a Tokyo Teen presents a unique look at modern-day Japan through a young woman's eyes.
Born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an American father in 1997, Christine Mari Inzer spent her early years in Japan and relocated to the United States in 2003. The summer before she turned sixteen, she returned to Tokyo, making a solo journey to get reacquainted with her birthplace. Through illustrations, photos, and musings, Inzer documented her journey.
In Diary of a Tokyo Teen, Inzer explores the cutting-edge fashions of Tokyo's trendy Harajuku district, eats the best sushi of her life at the renowned Tsukiji fish market, and hunts down geisha in the ancient city of Kyoto. As she shares the trials and pleasures of travel from one end of a trip to the other, Inzer introduces the host of interesting characters she meets and offers a uniqueand often hilariouslook at a fascinating country and an engaging tale of one girl rediscovering her roots.
**Listed as a 2016 Great Graphic Novel for Teens by the Young Adult Library Services Association**
The Amazing Spider-Man & Amazing Fantasy No.15
Always Coming Home (California Fiction)
Techniques For Drawing Female Manga Characters (V. 20)
Stitches: A Memoir


text:
You are here: HomeHolidayreview Id15248
Galapagos Islands holiday ideas experiences accommodation when to visit galapagos-islands map reviews
Holiday review by Rosemary, Swansea, Wales
Name: Rosemary, Swansea, Wales
Country: Galapagos Islands
Tribes Overall: "In all ways, this trip exceeded our expectations. It was more than a holiday, it was an experience of the highest level and one that is unlikely to be surpassed."
Tribes Service: "The bound book we were sent prior to departure was informative and gave us lots of tips about what to take and what to expect. Unfortunately the information about where we were staying on the Tren Crucero was wrong, not that this mattered as the Hacienda's where we did stay were first class. It simply meant that the research I had done prior to the trip on the hotels, was wasted. Paul was incredibly knowledgeable about the Galapagos and answered all my inane questions with patience. I would certainly recommend Tribes to other travellers."
Guides: "Andrea (tour manager) and Gabriella (tour guide) on the Tren Crucero were outstanding. Both of them went far beyond the call of duty to make sure we were comfortable on the train and well informed about the places we were seeing and and people we were meeting. Both spoke excellent English. I couldn't praise them enough - their contribution to our train experience was immeasurable. On ERIC both Freddy and Jose were friendly, spoke good english and were extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife and the history of the islands. We learnt a great deal from them."
Hacienda Abraspungo
We stayed in a Hacienda near Riobamba, whose name I don't know because unfortunately i had a touch of altitude sickness coupled with exhaustion so all I saw of the place was the bedroom which was huge, beautifully furnished and with two enormous double beds. Breakfast in the morning was plentiful and varied with wonderful fresh fruit and a chef on hand to cook me scrambled eggs, to order. What I saw of the hotel and ground leads me to grade it as excellent. The staff were also very attentive.
MY Letty
The food was first rate, especially when you think about the small space they had to prepare it. I particularly liked the snacks that we were offered after each activity, plus the delicious fruit juices. The cabin was bijou so I would advise people to cut down on what they take. You really do live in shorts and T shirts.
Swissotel Quito
We left our suitcases at the hotel at 7am. Surely they had enough time to take them to our rooms by 6.30pm, when we returned but no, they were nowhere to be found and it was only after telephone calls and Andrea (the Tren Crucero Tour manager)'s persistence that they were delivered at 7pm. We were not pleased. The curtains didn't draw and the blinds couldn't be lowered until we had phoned reception to find out what gadget to use. This may be a 5* hotel but it lacked the personal touch that we found in all the other hotels we stayed in. The air conditioning was noisy but at least it drowned out the traffic noise.
Our Memories
"The Tren Crucero was amazing. We had no idea about what to expect but, as my husband said, there was a surprise around every corner. We delighted in the changing scenery, the friendliness of the indigenous people and the colour and vastness of the landscape. The excursions from the train were interesting and entertaining and the food and haciendas were top class. It was easier to predict what would happen on the Galapagos but nothing prepares you for the first landing on an uninhabited island where the wildlife and birds really do ignore you and you can get up close to a frigate bird displaying to his mate or a red footed booby calmly sitting on her nest of 2 eggs as you walk past. Snorkelling with sealions whilst watching turtles and marine iguanas feeding and cormerants diving is a spectacle few people will ever experience and I felt truly privileged to be there."
Start planning your tailor-made holiday to Galapagos Islands. Tell us what you want, and we will tailor make your perfect trip.
 Time: GMT - 6 hours
 Flight time: Flights to the Galapagos Islands leave from Quito and touch down in Guayaquil en route, taking about 3 hours from Quito or 2 hours from Guayaquil. The flights land either at Baltra or San Cristobal.
 Language: Spanish is the official language in the Galapagos Islands.
 Visas: Not required for British travellers. Other nationalities should obtain advice from their embassy.


2/03/2010 · Put your gloves on and dump the contents of the potty into the toilet. Get the toilet brush and clean the excess residue. . . flush the toilet and rinse the potty chair with the clean toilet water.... Jolie Kerr is a cleaning expert, advice columnist and author of The New York Times bestselling book, My Boyfriend Barfed In My Handbag And Other Things You Can't Ask Martha.
Toilet Training Potty Potty or Seat? Firstly, decide if the potty or toilet seat is right for your child. Then, finding the right potty for your child is an important factor in them actually sitting on and using the potty.
2/03/2010 · Put your gloves on and dump the contents of the potty into the toilet. Get the toilet brush and clean the excess residue. . . flush the toilet and rinse the potty chair with the clean toilet water.
If your child has an accident while in the car, it can be a hassle to take her car seat apart to clean it, so prevention of problems in the first place makes sense. Training Pants One simple way to protect your toddler's car seat while potty training is to put him in training pants when going on car rides that are either long or to out-of-the-way places without convenient rest stops.
Try the Fisher Price Cheer for Me! Potty. In my opinion, it is the best potty-training chair for toddlers. Read on to find out why. Potty. In my opinion, it is the best potty-training chair for toddlers.


text:
Событийная камера — сенсор, реагирующий на изменение интенсивности света. Принцип работы событийной камеры основан на принципах работы человеческого глаза. В отличие от классических камер, событийная камера, является асинхронным сенсором. То есть каждый пиксель камеры способен независимо от других пикселей генерировать сигнал в тот момент, когда изменение интенсивности светового потока, падающего на него, превысит определённое пороговое значение. Главной особенностью событийной камера является то, что она фиксирует только движущиеся объекты. Статический фон для неё остается невидимым.

Основные отличия событийной камеры от классической цифровой камеры следующие:

1) У событийной камеры высокий динамический диапазон (>120), что позволяет использовать её в условиях очень высокой либо очень низкой освещенности.

2) Низкое энергопотребление. В режиме отсутствия событий камера потребляет около 0,001 Вт. В рабочем режиме событийная камера расходует энергию только на передачу информации с тех пикселей, на которых произошло изменение яркости и не тратит энергию на передачу другой информации, содержащейся в статическом фоне наблюдаемой сцены.

3) Высокая скорость. Задержка составляет около 0,0002 сек. Каждый пиксель камеры работает независимо от других и передача сигнала происходит сразу же в тот момент, когда было зафиксировано изменение интенсивности.

Видеокамеры
Датчики


text:
Breaking: Iron Man | the last of us | Pokémon GO | Ashfall | Blade | Superman | Spider-Man | Octopath Traveler | Star Trek | Hime's Quest | ted lasso | Pokémon TCG | Alchemist: The Potion Monger | night court | Redemption Reapers
So Is Misfits Now A Part Of The Marvel Studios Universe? (SHIELD SPOILERS)
"We created a super storm."
In this week's Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., the geeks at SHIELD Science Academy created a machine that disrupted weather and brought massive hailstones from the sky that created superpowers in at least one fellow.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLalehl1asw[/youtube]
This is what I think happened next. That storm got whooshed across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom.
Where, over in South London, on a totally different TV show, the storm saw massive hailstones cause major disruption… And a whole bunch of superpowers.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODl-kAhVsXY[/youtube]
That's right folks, I'm totally positing that with this most recent episode, Misfits is now part of the Marvel Studios Universe. And we've finally been given an explanation for the super storm, that show runner Howard Overman always denied us.
Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: ABC, agents of shield, e4, entertainment, howard overman, marvel, misfits, tv
Octopath Traveler: Champions Of The Continent Adds Six-Month Update
Star Trek: Picard Star Jonathan Frakes: TV Key to Franchise's Future
Greg Capullo Asks For Gossip To Begin Over Drawing Wolverine
South Park: Casa Bonita Announces 500 New Jobs Ahead of Reopening
It's Always Sunny in The Daily LITG, 27th January 2023
An LITG runaround the previous day on Bleeding Cool, what you were reading and when. The "why", well, that's down to you.
Back in 2003, Bill Jemas was to do a 5G on Marvel by merging their Ultimate and Marvel universes. Maybe. One year later, he was gone...
Latest in Movies
Thunderbolts: The Bear Star Ayo Edebiri Joins The Cast In Unknown Role
The Bear star Ayo Edebiri has reportedly joined the cast of Marvel's Thunderbolts in an unknown role. The movie will be released on July 26, 2024.
Nosferatu: Willem Dafoe Joining Cast Of Robert Eggers Film
In a move that surprises nobody, Willem Dafoe has joined the cast of the latest film from Robert Eggers, Nosferatu.
Children Of The Corn, Yes Another, Releasing In March From RLJE Films
The eleventh film in the Children Of The Corn franchise will be released in theaters, on demand, and digital this March.
Elvis Returns To Theaters This Friday After Oscar Nominations
Riding the wave of 8 Oscar nominations, Elvis is heading back into theaters this weekend. It is also on HBO Max right now.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods – New Trailer and 9 HQ Images Released
A new trailer and a bunch of new images from Shazam! Fury of the Gods teases what kind of movie this sequel to one of the best DC movies [don't @ me] will be.
Cloverfield Revealed in The Daily LITG, 26th January 2023
An LITG runaround the previous day on Bleeding Cool, who was reading what and when, as well as today's birthdays!
Latest in TV
Neil Druckmann & Craig Mazin's Pedro Pascal & Bella Ramsey-starring The Last of Us will be back on HBO for a second season.
Star Trek: Picard star Jonathan Frakes says maybe the Paramount franchise's future isn't in film right now but rather with television.
Ted Lasso Star Brett Goldstein "Would Happily Play Roy Kent Forever"
Checking in with Stephen Colbert, Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein was asked about the show's future: "I would happily play Roy Kent forever."
Night Court Season 1 Episodes 4 & 5 Preview Images Released
With Night Court back in session next week, we have a look ahead at what's to come with preview images for the next two episodes.
Always Sunny, The Orville, That '90s Show & More: BCTV Daily Dispatch
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, That '90s Show, The Orville, Justified, Titans, Succession, and tons more!


Honey bees and other pollinators are as much a part of agriculture as cattle and corn. We hear a lot about protecting pollinators, as we should, since losses of honey bees since 2006 have been at unacceptable and unsustainable levels. When it comes to protecting pollinators from pesticides there are a few key risks that need to be managed. While this article deals with protecting pollinators from pesticides, I'll note that pesticides are not the sole cause of pollinator losses and may not be the primary cause of those losses. However, pesticides are under our direct control and we can take steps to minimize their effects on pollinators.
Many insecticide labels prohibit spraying areas in which pollinators are actively foraging. This is subtle language as it does not say do not spray blooming plants. There are times when plants may be in bloom and pollinators are not actively foraging, say for example on cool mornings when the temperature is below 50°F or late in evening when the sun is beginning to go down. It also does not say blooming crops, as pollinators do care if it is a flower on a weed or crop plant. Spraying weeds in flower can be just as hazardous to pollinators are spraying crops in bloom (Figure 1).
Where we have had direct evidence of pesticide kills of honey bee colonies, pesticide drift over the colonies is frequently the case. To avoid pesticide drift onto honey bee colonies, the first step is to know where the colonies are around fields that will be treated. Get to know your local beekeepers and where they keep their colonies. Work with them to select locations for colonies where they will be set back from areas that will be treated. Having a vegetation buffer strip of trees will help to prevent drift onto the colonies. Don't spray when the conditions favor drift, especially in the direction of colonies.
Pollinators collect more than just nectar and honey (Figure 2). If you have ever had a teaspoon of honey, you will know that the next thing you need is a drink of water. It is the same with honey bees. Beekeepers will often put out watering stations for honey bees, and just like the colonies themselves, we need to avoid pesticide drift over these areas that would result in contamination. It is best to locate these watering stations is protected areas just like with the colonies.
Managing pesticides to avoid impacting pollinators is required to stay consistent with pesticide labeling.


My paper entitled, "Factors affecting the role of designers in interpretation projects" has been published in Museum Management and Curatorship journal.
The paper is available via Taylor and Francis here or for up to 50 downloads on my Academia page here.
paper examines the factors that influence the role of consultant interpretation designers. Timing of engagement, sequencing of contracts and client understanding of interpretation design emerge as the key factors that affect the scope and clarity of the designer's role and effective application of their expertise. The paper argues that interpretation design by external consultants can be more strategic and effective when supported by appropriate project structures.


Nau mai e te ao ki Māoriland!
'See the world' at the Māoriland Film Festival!
Māoriland Film Festival is an international indigenous film festival that celebrates indigenous voices and storytelling in film. Each March, Māoriland brings films and their creators to Ōtaki for five days of screenings, workshops and special events.
Located on New Zealand's Kāpiti Coast, Ōtaki is a vibrant seaside town where Māori culture and language thrives.
Māoriland celebrates the rise of indigenous cinema. It invites filmmakers from around the world to share their compelling big screen stories with us, and with each other.
Māoriland upholds the mana and inspiration of our storytellers. We are guided by our elders, and taught by our children. The festival assists our community to expand their perspectives and to connect with those from other cultures.
Māoriland is rooted in the traditions and language of the hapū and iwi of Ōtaki. It is our honour to extend manaakitanga to the many visitors to the festival.
Māoriland provides a portal to the indigenous world for ALL people. It assists social cohesion, a sense of pride, and the informed well- being of our community.
Kāti. Tuia te kawa, tairanga te kawa, ko te kawa o te manaaki i te tangata tēnei ka poua nei.
Indigenous films are works created by individuals or groups of people who self-identify as indigenous. Indigenous peoples are also known as Tangata Whenua, Aboriginal, Native Peoples, First Peoples or Tribal Peoples and are characterised by language, enduring spiritual and cultural beliefs and practices and a close connection to lands and/or territories.
Submissions are now closed for the 5th Annual Māoriland Film Festival, which will take place from March 21 – 25, 2018 in Ōtaki, Aotearoa (New Zealand).
A key member of the creative team (director, writer, producer) must identify as Indigenous.
The relevance of the work to the Indigenous community and to general New Zealand audiences as a whole.
Consideration may be given to films that have strong indigenous representation in cast and theme. These films must be accompanied by references from the indigenous community reflected. Selection of any film is at the discretion of the selection panel.
Submissions are now closed for the fifth annual Māoriland Film Festival.
The full festival programme will be released on February 6, 2018.
Tickets to the Māoriland Film Festival will be available online and from the Māoriland Hub from mid-February, 2018.


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Google is God, Facebook is love and Uber is 'frat rock,' says brand strategy expert Scott Galloway
On the latest Recode Decode, Galloway also grades Netflix, Snap and the New York Times Company.
By Eric Johnson@HeyHeyESJ Updated Jun 12, 2017, 11:17am EDT
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Sides: Asa Mathat for Recode; Center: Paul Marotta / Getty Images
On the latest episode of Recode Decode, Kara Swisher interviewed L2 founder and New York University professor Scott Galloway about how tech giants are disrupting retail, jobs, advertising and more.
Galloway's current obsession is Amazon, which he believes will be the first business to reach a $1 trillion market cap, but he also graded several other major players in tech and media. Below the embed, we've posted some highlights from his remarks.
You can listen to Recode Decode on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify (mobile only), TuneIn, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
Apple: "The most value-creating decision in the last two decades was Apple's crazy, irrational decision to forward-integrate into something they knew nothing about, and that was retail. The pre-purchase branding is getting duller and duller. But go buy a Samsung phone in a Verizon or an AT&T store. It's an awful, soul-crushing and confusing, uninspiring ... go to an Apple store, you just want to hang out."
Google: "Google is God. I think it's replaced God for us. As societies become more wealthy, more educated, religious institutions tend to play a smaller role in their lives, yet our modern-day anxieties and questions grow. There's an enormous spiritual void for a divine intervention ... One in five queries posed to Google have never been asked before in the history of humankind. Think of a cleric, a rabbi, a priest, a teacher, a coach that has so much credibility that one in five questions posed to that individual have never been asked before."
Facebook: "I think Facebook is 'love.' Facebook does help us connect, have more empathy for others. I think it's probably the best-managed company in the world right now. [Mark Zuckerberg] is a visionary with adult supervision and great management with Sheryl Sandberg [and] an ability to attract really thoughtful, talented people. They've also been responsible for the most agile move in the last 20 years in business, and that is 'Zero percent of our revenue from mobile,' what was it, four years ago? Within 36 months, they're at 80 percent mobile."
Uber: "You got to kick the CEO upstairs ... It's the reason regulators stepped into Microsoft: Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer are infinitely less likable than Sergey or Larry or Mark or Sheryl. I believe that, just from a shareholder standpoint, having frat rock running your company is a bad idea. Being likable is hugely important for a company because people are not threatened by them. Apple has this incredibly likable CEO — and as a result, I think we're less inclined to break them up or to move in or to boycott them."
Netflix: "Could be the fifth horsemen ... Netflix could be the operating system for enjoying our lives. Millennials are spending more time on Netflix than all of cable TV combined. So, arguably, Netflix is worth more if you believe millennials are the future in terms of disposable income and sheer size. Everyone's so focused on controlling the mobile home screen, but if they control the TV screen, that is pretty staggering."
Snapchat: "I just don't 'get' Snapchat, so I think I'm inclined not to like it. But I think our idolatry of youth and innovators has gone haywire here. We have basically created an entity that is irresponsible to invest in. The CEO and the CTO have 89 percent voting power of a company that's now worth more than Williams-Sonoma, Tiffany, Abercrombie & Fitch and throw in the New York Times."
The New York Times Company (where Galloway was previously a board member): "Difficult time to be a newspaper. The New York Times plays a hugely relevant role in our society. I think the truth matters, I think the New York Times has never been more relevant. The question is, does relevance translate to shareholder value? I hope the same thing happens that happened at the Washington Post, and that is that a benign billionaire shows up."
If you like this show, you should also sample our other podcasts:
Recode Media with Peter Kafka features no-nonsense conversations with the smartest and most interesting people in the media world, with new episodes every Thursday. Use these links to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify (mobile only), TuneIn, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
Too Embarrassed to Ask, hosted by Kara Swisher and The Verge's Lauren Goode, answers the tech questions sent in by our readers and listeners. You can hear new episodes every Friday on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify (mobile only), TuneIn, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
And Recode Replay has all the audio from our live events, including the Code Conference, Code Media and the Code Commerce Series. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify (mobile only), TuneIn and Stitcher.
If you like what we're doing, please write a review on Apple Podcasts — and if you don't, just tweet-strafe Kara.


The genre of the mystery has been a favorite of films and television since these media became part of American entertainment. There is no doubt that one television detective stands out above his peers.
This unassuming, rumpled little man hid behind a cloud of cigar smoke while he puts together the most difficult of murder mysteries. Peter Falk built up this character to what are now almost legendary proportions, and with very good reasons. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, a man that wears his intellectual superiority on his sleeve for all to behold, Columbo would almost disappear into the background if it wasn't for his constant, annoying questions. In his trademark disheveled trench coat, cigar but clamped between his teeth and the now famous, "just one more thing", Columbo took on the most ingenious criminals and brought them to justice.
While Columbo started on NBC as part of a rotating group of Mysteries it was such a hit that even after that rotating format was abandoned the network came out with a series of 90 and 120 minute episodes paced at about a month apart. Each episode was filmed more as if it was a theatrical film than a television show. The production values never wavered from excellent and the show was a hit because there was nothing else on television that could touch it. Part of this was the use of quality, talented guest stars. Many where well know on both the small and large screens. Included in this long list of actors where Richard Basehart, Dean Jagger, John Cassavetes and Leonard Nimoy. One actor who is used in many seasons, each time playing a different nefarious killer is Robert Culp. Each of these actors brings life to their roles; they all portray characters that are certain that they can out fox this little detective only to find that they made some tiny mistake that did not go unnoticed by Columbo.
The format of the episodes where pretty much the same. The audience gets to see the actual murder; the fun of the series is trying to see if you can pick out the mistake before Columbo gets on the case. There is also many novel twists to each episodes that kept the series fresh year after year. In this second season many variations of the typical murder mystery are to be had. In one episode a doctor, Leonard Nimoy, plots to kill his elderly partner. The weapon is surgical sutures, replacing the long lasting kind best in heart surgery with dissolving sutures. Columbo has a murder in progress to solve. In another case identical twins are the suspects. The question is which twin is guilty and which one innocent. One of my favorite all time episodes concerns a deaf chess master, Laurence Harvey, who murders his rival the night before a crucial match. Columbo must piece together the crime realizing that the only one that could have perpetrated it had to be deaf.
Our rumpled hero even gets to extend his expertise beyond his usual haunts in Los Angles. In one episode Columbo in London on a police symposium, while there a murder of a rich man backing a stage production is found and Columbo is called in to lend a hand. None of the murders is boring, there is always something new provided. Not only that but even after seeing these episodes many, many times in syndication I see loved watching them. There is a classic appeal here, one that like a favorite novel does not diminish after the initial viewing. The stories are so well constructed and the characters so well acted that this collection will be entertaining for years of viewing.
Peter Falk is one of those American actors that seem to never disappoint. This is without a doubt the defining roles of his career. While many long lasting roles on television become predictable the character of Columbo is always entertaining. Falk makes a character that the audience can identify with, we know this man with his constant stories about his family, especially his unseen wife. There are various touches that make Columbo a real, fully developed character. He sometimes finds himself at a loss, it is not like he can solve a murder with a single glance, he works for the solution. While most television shows are just meager stories padding out the time between car chases and shoot outs, Columbo is always a battle of wits. It draws the audience into an intellectual challenge making us think a bit. Just watch the reaction shots of the suspect as he moves just a little too close to a piece of incriminating evidence only to move away at the last minute. The criminals here are not your average thugs, they are usually professionals, intelligent and at the top of their fields. Columbo usually causes them to start having doubts about the way they covered their tracks making a move that only the true killer would make. Its then that Columbo quietly discloses that he has solved the crime.
With material like this Universal has a winner even without the usual features many look for in a DVD set. There are no extras, the episodes stand on their own. The two channel Dolby mono is clear and does the job. The all important dialogue is crisp and every word understandable. The full screen video is very good although there are some signs of age present. A few white specks will briefly flick around the screen but nothing so major as to be overly annoying. If you are a fan of this series this is an absolute must have. Why wait around for the syndicated showings when you can call up the episode you want to see on demand and not have to put up with commercial breaks. Hopefully this DVD set will introduce a new generation to this American classic television series. It does look like Universal is committed to releasing the whole series, by the timing so far it appears that they are going for two sets per year. If you are tired of all the CSI and Law and Order shows, take a break and go back to where smart television mysteries began.


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We have a collection of Christianity articles that any Christian would find enlightening and thought provoking. These writings go beyond the level of reading for enjoyment, but more so for practical application in real life situations. Read the article on reflections on the Gospels in the Bible. One author wrote about exploring the fallacious concept of spiritual covering. In the business world, find out why Christian business networking is important.
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British manufacturer Cyrus Audio has been around since the 1980s, when they were affiliated with Mission Electronics and introduced the Cyrus 1 integrated amplifier. In the mid-1990s, I owned a Cyrus III integrated amplifier with optional PSX-R power supply, driving Mission 762 and 760i loudspeakers, and still have fond memories of that system. However, it had been a long time since I'd listened to anything from Cyrus or Mission -- for years, their products have been hard to find in North America. But now, via distributor Kevro International, Cyrus has returned.
Cyrus makes conventional class-AB power amps as well as more complex, high-end, zero-feedback designs. However, their latest offering, the Stereo 200 class-D power amplifier, is based on a proprietary topology that Cyrus introduced in their Lyric all-in-one systems. The Stereo 200 slots into the company's power-amp hierarchy between the entry-level X Power and the flagship Mono X zero-feedback monoblock. At $3499 USD, the Stereo 200 is not cheap, but I was intrigued by its high power rating and ultracompact design.
When I brought home the Cyrus Stereo 200, I placed it beside me on the front seat of my car -- not something I can usually do with a high-powered amp. And because it measures only 8.4"W x 2.8"H x 14"D, weighs just 15.2 pounds, and comes in a relatively small box, I was able to carry it under one arm, while using the other to hold a bag of groceries and fiddle with my door keys. Try that with a typical high-end power amp.
Anyone familiar with Cyrus products will immediately recognize, on first glimpsing the Stereo 200, the compact HA7 case that has housed every Cyrus component since the introduction of the Cyrus III, more than 20 years ago. The case is now made of cast aluminum instead of magnesium, but it has a nice, black-anodized finish instead of the shiny gloss of the original III. There are only a few vents in the bottom panel, near the back, in addition to heatsink fins that run along the side panels from front to rear. As well as being quite small, the Stereo 200 felt very sturdy, almost like a solid block.
Looking at the rear panel, I was pleasantly surprised to see two pairs of large, widely spaced speaker binding posts, instead of the BFA speaker connectors found on most Cyrus amps. There are both balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) inputs, in addition to an unbalanced (RCA) output, labeled Chain, for connecting the Stereo 200 to a subwoofer(s) or to additional Cyrus power amps, for biamping or triamping. The unbalanced outputs remain active even when the balanced inputs are used. There is also an IEC power inlet for the provided power cord. The Stereo 200 can be turned on automatically with auto sensing, a 12V trigger, the MC-Bus (when connected to other Cyrus products), or by pressing the Power button on the front panel.
Also on the front are an Input selection button, and a power-indicator LED that glows green when the balanced inputs are selected, orange for the unbalanced inputs, and red when the Stereo 200 is muted due to an overload condition.
The Stereo 200 is specified to produce a continuous power output of 175Wpc into 8 ohms or 325Wpc into 4 ohms, both channels driven, at 0.1% THD+N. But for those wondering how the Stereo 200 got its name, it's also specced to output 200Wpc into 6 ohms. According to Jeremy Brown, Cyrus's export sales manager, specifying an amp's power output into 6 ohms is a more "real world" spec -- most loudspeakers have a nominal impedance of 6 or 4 ohms.
The Stereo 200 is a hybrid design: a combination of Cyrus's proprietary class-D topology and a very-high-power linear power supply featuring a large, 475VA toroidal transformer. The capacitors are a mix of bulk electrolytic, ceramic, and polypropylene types claimed to optimize the filtering and speed of current delivery to the output stages. Cyrus also claims that the Stereo 200's caps can store a total of some 50 joules of almost instantaneously available energy. To aid the dissipation of heat, the switching output stage and voltage regulators are bolted directly to the chassis.
One feature of the Stereo 200 first appeared in Cyrus's Lyric class-D all-in-one systems: Speaker Impedance Detection (SID). Many class-D amps have inaccurate frequency output responses, especially in the high frequencies, when connected to loads of differing impedances. Cyrus counteracts this by having the amplifier's SID circuit send a signal to the left-channel speaker on power-up, to measure that speaker's high-frequency impedance. The amp then adjusts its high-frequency output so that it varies by no more than +/-0.33dB across the frequency range, regardless of load impedance. Just make sure that you unplug the Stereo 200 each time you change speakers -- SID measures the speaker only the first time it's powered up after being plugged in.
There appears to be a lot of technology and innovation in the design of the Stereo 200. Kevro International backs it with a three-year warranty -- a year more than offered directly by Cyrus in the UK.
The Stereo 200 is small. Its sound was anything but. As soon as I hooked it up to my reference speakers, a pair of KEF R900 floorstanders, it was evident that this little amp was a powerhouse. Its character was slightly forward, but not objectionably so -- in fact, it gave the amplifier a neutral but lively sound that was always involving. In many respects, the Stereo 200 reminded me of the clear, engaging sound of Hegel Music Systems' H80 integrated amplifier, which I recently reviewed, and of the sounds of other Hegel amps I've heard.
Tom Petty's voice was front and center, with a crisp but nonfatiguing sound, in "Free Fallin'," from his Full Moon Fever (24-bit/96kHz FLAC, Geffen). Acoustic guitars were clear and polished, and juxtaposed with a kick drum that had realistic weight. Although this album isn't the cleanest sounding, the Stereo 200 did an excellent job of delineating aural images. The more intense electric guitar in "Runnin' Down a Dream," and the desperate tone of the lyrics of "Yer So Bad," were well served by the Cyrus's balanced sound: full-bodied but never thick, and fast and crystalline without sounding threadbare.
I've recently been enjoying the Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session (16/44.1 FLAC, RCA), long one of Doug Schneider's favorite reference discs. The sense of space in "Misguided Angel," captured on this recording by a single stereo microphone, was amazing. Margot Timmins's voice was ever so slightly diffuse, but the holographic imaging of the instruments all around her was astounding. The soundstage of the Junkies' cover of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" spread even farther back into the acoustic, even though Timmins's gently swaying vocal is accompanied by little more than light percussion and a lone guitar. The Stereo 200 captured from this recording some very deep bass sounds that sound like foot stomps, but at a relatively low level compared to the rest of the recording -- exactly how I imagine they would sound in a large space like Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity, where this album was recorded.
I then switched from the natural sound of The Trinity Session to the totally artificial, multitracked studio production of Billy Idol's Vital Idol (16/44.1 FLAC, Capitol). Idol's growling voice and the driving bass were delivered with authority and control that were astonishing for such a compact amplifier. The electric-guitar chords at the beginning of "To Be a Lover (Mother of Mercy Mix)" cut through the throbbing bass line and pounding drums, and Idol's snarling voice had that rough, biting quality I've come to expect from him.
The Cyrus Stereo 200 is one of the cleanest-sounding, most precise amplifiers I have had in my system. The King's Singers' a cappella version of Don McLean's "American Pie" on their Good Vibrations (16/44.1 FLAC, RCA Victor) is a slightly dry recording that at times sounds quite aggressive, at others very delicate. With the Cyrus, I felt that I was hearing everything in the recording. The tenor was well differentiated from the countertenors and baritones, and the very quiet background, and each voice, had a distinct, precise outline. By comparison, the Parasound Halo A 31 -- a 250Wpc, class-AB, three-channel amplifier ($3295) -- glossed over some of the very delicate directional cues, which made some of the voices blend slightly together and somewhat shrank the soundstage. The Parasound still sounded excellent, with a detailed and robust sound, but without quite the Stereo 200's finesse in imaging.
The differences between the two amps were less apparent with the lusher production of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations." Going back to "American Pie," the recording's occasional dryness was evident with the Cyrus, but I didn't find it disagreeable -- it seemed totally natural, and in balance with the overall sound of the recording. With the Cyrus, every voice and note seemed perfectly placed on the soundstage at exactly the right level and timbre -- the Stereo 200 never editorialized, and always sounded just right. Although Hegel's H80 integrated hasn't been in my system for quite some time, I remember its sound as being similar to the Cyrus's: clean and immediate. However, as mentioned above, the Cyrus seemed totally natural and neutral, while the Hegel imparted to the sound a slight forward character that I nonetheless found very agreeable.
The Stereo 200 also performed very well when connected to Definitive Technology's Mythos ST-L speakers, which have a squeaky-clean midrange and produce remarkable bass from their built-in powered subwoofers. The guitars on The Trinity Session were very "alive," and the voices on this extremely pure-sounding recording had incredible presence. Through the Parasound Halo A 31 I heard less delineation of instruments and voices, which were all placed more in the plane described by the speakers' baffles. Through the Cyrus, "Sweet Jane" had more depth, and Margo Timmins's voice was more precisely positioned, slightly to the back and to the right of center, with the guitar more to the left, and nothing coming from directly between the speakers. With the Parasound A 31, not only did the guitar sound a little less "alive," but the soundstage was shallower, and guitar and voices were closer together, with little sense of space between them. The Parasound's slight warmth did benefit many other recordings, however, and Bruce Springsteen's underrated Tunnel of Love (24/44.1 FLAC, Columbia/PonoMusic) was especially satisfying. His voice can sometimes sound a bit thin in "Brilliant Disguise" and "Spare Parts"; through the Halo A 31, it was full bodied.
Another class-D power amplifier currently in my system is NAD's seven-channel M27, based on Hypex Ncore technology ($3999). Through the KEF R900s, the NAD's fast, clean sound was similar to that of the Cyrus, but the Stereo 200 sounded slightly more relaxed. All of the detail and most of the imaging qualities of the King's Singers' version of "American Pie" were there with the NAD, but with a slightly forced quality in comparison to the Cyrus. This constricted the music, prevented it from flowing as effortlessly, and resulted in smaller apparent spaces between the six voices, whose images were less sharply drawn. Still, at only $500 more than the Cyrus for an additional five channels, the NAD M27 represents an incredible value in a 180Wpc multichannel amp.
All of the amplifiers mentioned above had plenty of dynamics and bass control to spare. The larger, class-AB Parasound looked the part of a muscular solid-state amp, and had the fullest, most robust bass. It also seemed able to play a bit louder than the two class-D designs, though not by much -- and all three could play louder than I could comfortably bear for any length of time. Though the Parasound dwarfed the little Cyrus, the Stereo 200 actually had the more articulate bass, and could maintain a more coherent soundstage at very high SPLs. When I played "Rasputin (Bassflow 4.0 Mix)," from Boney M.'s Diamonds: 40th Anniversary Edition (16/44.1 FLAC, Sony), the Cyrus's bass was punchier, and its cleaner imaging presented the more expansive soundstage required by this jock-rock remix of a Eurodisco guilty pleasure.
Judging the Cyrus Stereo 200 by looks alone, you might think it would prove a capable but somewhat polite-sounding amplifier in the sub-100Wpc range -- the sort of power amp that many associate with British high-end audio. But after hearing all that fantastic, powerful, natural sound coming from such a small package, you'd probably do a double take -- as I did. Cyrus has done an admirable job of developing their proprietary, hybrid class-D amplifier technology.
The Stereo 200 more than held its own against, and in some ways bettered the performance of the Parasound Halo A 31 and the NAD M27, which I consider to be two of the finest entry-level, high-end amplifiers available. At $3499, the Cyrus is more expensive, especially on a per-channel basis, but I'm sure that its modern, ultracompact design will win over many audiophiles. Cyrus Audio has been absent from North America for many years; I'm very pleased to welcome them back.
Warranty: Three years parts and labor in North America; two years in the UK.


Politicians, much like advertisers, are ever ready to surprise the unawareness of the thoughtless. They must use language, the quintessential political tool, with a tone of deep-felt conviction and an air of solemn sincerity. And no politician, in his electoral language and speeches, could omit a panegyric of democracy and a declaration of his total commitment to it.
Some readers may have since long concluded that "democracy" is an oxymoron. In its practical use, the term refers to the metamorphosis of the general interest, replaced by interests particular and proprietary. But the metamorphosis is craftily disguised, to prevent or discourage the gradual and laborious investigation of reason.
I wasn't in Charlottesville during the upheavals in this summer of discontent, (1) but I know some who were. They sent videos, photos and witness' accounts – thanks to which, I followed those threads of reasoning on which truth is frequently suspended. That is, I formed an idea of what happened, and, perhaps more important, of what the event means, symbolizes, suggests and foretells.
It is a property of the past to sink into oblivion, and of unpleasant truths to fade into evanescence. To this past belongs the attack on the USS Liberty.
The annals of US history record that, on Jun 8, 1967, the Israelis mistakenly attacked by air, and torpedoed by sea, an unarmed US intelligence ship, killing 34 sailors and wounding 171 others. 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of that attack.
According to the great Dr. Johnson, "Men can be estimated by those who know them not, only as they are represented by those who know them." An unavoidable universal contingency – for, indeed, we don't know most of the people we judge. And the same, but for a few much-travelled individuals, applies to nations.
Of course few would really call them magnificent. And I wonder how many have concluded that these high-profile meetings among potentates are but occasions for taxpayer-paid and unspeakably luxurious vacations.