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Film Corner: Hellraiser 6
Posted by AnaMardoll at Thursday, February 24, 2022 Edit
Hellraiser 6: Hellseeker
Kissmate continues his Hellraiser watch-a-thon:
I feel like we've been getting spoiled rotten with 5 decent-to-great movies in a row. That's unheard of in a series! I'm trying to keep my hopes up, but also recognizing that it can go south with any film now. With my expectations set, let's see what Hellraiser 6: Hellseeker will give us! (*After a Long Watch*) So this is another one of those movies that is hard to talk about because of an ending twist. So here's my warning, again: If you have wanted to watch this movie before, stop reading. Go watch it. Come back and continue reading. If at any point in this write-up you are interested in watching this film, stop reading. Go watch and come back.
That said, I'm not rating it as high as Inferno. Just because a movie gets cerebral / twisty doesn't mean it's worth any weight in gold. To me, Hellseeker is a solid 6/10. There's nothing terrible about it, but my patience was wearing thin pretty fast. I'll get into why that is further on. That said, I'll waste no more time getting into the meat of it! SPOILERS GALORE!
Our story begins with our protagonist tickling his wife breathless while he's driving. Because safe driving is optional! We follow Trevor and Kirsty as they drive along the country roads. Is it the same Kirsty from the first two movies? It turns out yes! But we're not focusing on her just yet. We're following the far more interesting white man, Trevor! He loses control of the car and lands into a river. We see that he's able to save himself, but he's unable to rescue Kirsty.
Trevor wakes up in a hospital bed, and gets a shot to help him relax from a nurse named Allison. He dreams about a doctor giving him brain surgery to help with his patchy memory, then wakes up to see Allison again. She mentions wanting to do some tests to see why his head is hurting so bad, but the doctor releases him saying that he's fine and shouldn't take too many pain pills. "Don't want to become an addict and start trying to get hook-ups from the hospital!" (Ana and I proceeded to flip him off hard enough to hurt everyone involved.)
Just as Trevor is walking out, a detective stops him to talk. Turns out the car crash happened over a month ago and Kirsty has been missing ever since--they couldn't find a body in the river. Detective Lange notices a few problems with what Trevor has been saying and what reality is showing. Trevor doesn't know what to tell the detective, because what his memory tells him is all that he knows. Lange is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but there's a tension there that maybe he still doesn't believe Trevor.
This is where we have to talk about this movie's overall theme: Duality. Everything in this movie shows two sides, though not always at the same time. One small example is a man covered in tattoos and piercings. We first see him on the bus listening to loud metal music. Trevor asks him to turn it down, but the man instead turns it up louder in defiance. Later on, we see the same man walking around the police station dressed as an officer. What does this mean? Perhaps the dichotomy of rebellion vs law? Another simple example is a dog chained up next to Trevor's apartment building. The first time we see the dog, he's straining at the end of his chain barking at Trevor. The next, he's passive and whining in fear. A total difference from before! I'll try to point out what I can find, or think I find, as we come across them.
After resting at home that night, Trevor heads in to work. Almost everyone avoids him, save for a very chummy coworker named Bret. Bret is the kind of man that high-fives you like a college frat boy after you got laid last night, even though you're both reaching forty and work in accounting. In fact, he almost does that to Trevor before slinking off. "We're all here for you, Trev!" What a way to express remorse for a missing presumably-dead spouse.
As Trevor works through his ever-present headache / amnesia, he sees a curious business card on his bulletin board. "ALL PROBLEMS SOLVED" it promises. He has a vague recollection of going to a warehouse sweatshop that he went to some time in his recent past where he found a creepy shop keeper. But before he can recall much, Bret annoys him with random trivia about headaches. Frustrated, Trevor goes to get a snack and clear his head.
In the break room, Trevor begins a fight with the vending machine over a bag of pretzels. His hot female boss walks in and pushes him against the vending machine in a sexually-aggressive way that seems inappropriate for the workplace! As she makes out with him, he starts to recall that he has had sex with her before, although he doesn't remember if it was during his marriage. Or he doesn't want to. Either way, he pushes her off him and asks what's going on. "Nothing we haven't done before," Gwen says while fixing her jacket. "Now get some fucking work done. We're watching you." She motions to a camera in the break room and walks out.
Trevor goes back to his desk to see that someone sent him a loop of surveillance footage with audio that stars Gwen and himself making out loudly in the break room. After putting that away, Detective Lange calls him to talk to him further downtown. At the station, Lange says there's evidence of foul play with regards to the car crash, and asks if there was anything that happened before the crash that Trevor might have forgotten. Trevor says no, that he remembers nothing different.
That night, he fears he's being stalked by a faceless neighbor. Suddenly he coughs up water and a phallic-shaped eel, and just as suddenly it's reveled to have been a hallucination. The hot Girl-Next-Door knocks on his door and shows off her new sexy cobra tattoo. Trevor isn't sure if he knows her, but she knows him! After she leaves him, he takes out old VCR tapes he made of his and Kirsty's wedding and anniversaries to watch. He's interrupted by yet another horny advancement from his boss, Gwen. She slips into his apartment and strips down. Gwen tries to record her dominating him, but leaves when he says no. But... the camera keeps rolling and is showing them making out in the chair. As Trevor tries to make sense of it, Cenobites show up kill Video-Gwen in front him. Just as he tries to help her-
-Trevor wakes up at work under Bret's glare. "Must be nice. Getting paid for doing shit." Still, Bret hands Trevor an address for a local acupuncturist named Sage. Trevor heads there post-haste for a session and tells her about his recurring headaches since the car accident. She tries to give him some spiritual advice, and that gives us a flashback to Trevor buying the Puzzle Box. We break out of the flashback for some creepy bit with Pinhead walking out of an acupuncturist body chart and skewering Trevor. "Which do you find more exhilarating, Trevor: the pain, or the pleasure? Personally, I prefer pain."
Trevor starts awake and Sage asks if he's okay. It was all another "dream". Trevor gets called down to the police station again, but this time by Lange's partner, Detective Givens. Givens aggressively asks Trevor about a massive inheritance Kirsty had--and which Trevor stands to gain, if Kirsty turns up dead--but Trevor denies knowing about it. Givens pushes, saying that no one else is alive to take her family inheritance. He's implying Trevor had motive to kill Kirsty. These two detective partners are a hell of a duo. Givens is an aggressive white man with a short temper and a potty mouth. Lange is a gentle Black man with patience and jovial sympathy. It's the definition of "Good Cop, Bad Cop". It's strange we don't see them together even though they're partners. Maybe that'll change later in the movie.
Trevor heads back to his home and is seduced by the hot Girl-Next-Door neighbor with a tattoo. This time, he gives in and doesn't say no. There's some flashes of a Cenobite hurting him and then he's awake in his bed. The hallway and dining area is covered in blood. Girl-Next-Door is tied up in a chair, clearly dead from some kind of trauma. As Trevor washes her blood from his hands, Pinhead appears in the mirror and utters a single line: "ALL PROBLEMS SOLVED." As Trevor lifts his hands to touch the mirror, they're perfectly clean and dry. No blood is to be found anywhere now, and no body in the dining room! That was a better cleaning job than John Wick's Table-For-Twelve!
Ah, but it's easy if you make the Girl-Next-Door alive again. Which she is! And now she's acting like it's very odd for Trevor to even *talk* to her, much less spend time together in any sense. She even has a very protective boyfriend that helps Trevor get the hint that she should be left alone, and she seems to like Protective Boyfriend quite a lot! Loaded with more questions than answers, Trevor heads back to his apartment, where he just missed a call from Lange who wants to see him. So guess we're headed to the police station again!
As Trevor walks and talks in the station, a couple of odd things stick out to him. One, Lange and Givens were heard talking to each other in the same room, but only Lange was in the room when inspected. Two, Bret was at the station talking to a cop and clearly giving some information, but no one will give Trevor a clear answer of what was said. With no one else to turn to or trust, Trevor heads to the hospital to talk to Nurse Allison. I'm not sure why exactly. My best guess would be that there was a cut scene where Allison told Trevor to come by if he wanted to talk. Either way, all we really learn that he definitely has clinical amnesia (which was never SAID OUT LOUD until now).
Trevor grabs Bret at work and tries to tell ask him why he squealed and what he said at the police station, but there's Detective Lange to interrupt the scene once again! He pulls out the Puzzle Box to show Trevor and talks about some blood found on it. Trevor says it looks familiar, but he can't place it (which is a LIE). Lange says he's let him off easy so far, but his partner wants to pull him in and arrest him on murder charges. Lange walks off, but when Trevor looks to make sure Lange is gone, we see Givens storming down the hallway of cubicles.
Bret takes Trevor to the break room to talk. I think we're supposed to forget there's surveillance in there, but don't worry! There's a little camera-whir noise to remind us it's still there! Bret says he's quitting as of today because he needs more money to make ends meet. He mentions that Trevor has it lucky because his wife had the real dough. Trevor gets angry, asking how he knew that and if he told the police that information. Bret denies he said anything, but he doesn't look happy. "You know," Bret sneers, "we're all here for you, Trev." It's an ironic repetition of the well-wishes that Trevor received from his co-workers earlier.
Trevor cries out from another headache while scenes of Kirsty in distress and then in anger flash across our screen. Nothing real concrete yet, but something tells me this marriage wasn't super happy. Trevor tries to hold himself up, but ends up breaking a glass cupboard pane and cuts his hand on the glass. Trevor leaves via the bus, not wasting a moment to get away. He heads to Sage to get another session in, and Sage... seduces him? Can no woman resist Trevor's blandness?! While she straddles him, Sage reaches for the ice pick and stabs him!
Trevor wakes up in an ambulance. Turns out he passed out on the bus, not at Sage's. At the hospital, he asks for Allison by name, but no one knows who he's talking about. Even her office is just an empty room. Allison comes by to talk anyway and tells him that he'll have to confront his past alone. Just as he was enjoying the talk, the nearby janitor asks who he's talking to. Turns out he was talking to the air the whole time! Trevor runs back to the bus and is hit with flashes of Kirsty yelling at him. "I know about Gwen... and the others."
He decides to make all the problems go away, to solve them, by going back to the shop where he bought the Puzzle Box. He screams out in desperation and confusion. An unexpected voice answers: "Poor Trevor. Still in the dark?" Pinhead talks to him through a puddle in the warehouse in his typical cryptic ways. He says the killer is here, but Pins won't say who it is. As Trevor leaves to make sense of it all, Bret finds him outside and puts a gun to his head: Trevor's gun. Bret vents that they had a deal to split Kirsty's money 50/50, but Trevor fucked it all up by killing Kirsty early and playing his little "amnesia" game. Now Bret is going to get back at Trevor... by shooting himself in the head with Trevor's gun. I guess to frame Trevor for Bret's "murder"? That's not the best revenge, my dude.
Trevor rightfully freaks out and runs to Sage's place, the only place he can think of. He walks up the stairs and enters her rooms, and sees her laying bloody and dead on her table, with an ice pick in her head. Just as he closes the door, someone tries to force their way in--the killer?? Trevor grabs the only weapon he can find, the ice pick, and prepares for combat. Detective Lange bursts in with a small number of police. I don't think Trevor's getting out of this one.
Detectives Lange and Givens grill him a little at the station, and it sounds like they may have found a body in the river for him to identify! Maybe his wife, maybe not. Givens forces Trevor to see a wanted poster of Trevor's face which claims he's wanted for homicide. Givens is immediately replaced with Lange, almost to the mark, but where is Givens and how did he disappear so fast? How are they entering and leaving the room so fast, and why? We're shown four pictures of four dead bodies: Gwen, Bert, Sage, and Girl-Next-Door.
Lange takes him down to the morgue, which is apparently located in the police station basement, and locks him on the other side of a set of bars which bifurcate a long hallway for no adequately obvious reason. Trevor freaks out and asks why Lange is locking him away. "I thought you believed me?!" He should be asking about this weird dream-logic architecture that we're being subjected to. "Believe?" Lange looks through the bars with an air of amusement. "I believe we're both the sum of two entirely different people!" A worm-like tendril with Givens' face slips out from Lange's neck. They laugh together at Trevor's obvious fear as he runs away. Now we know why we never see them in the same room at the same time, I guess, and how they've been able to swap places so effortlessly.
Trevor runs away and comes across a body in the corridor which I like to believe is Frank from Hellraisers 1 and 2, but we really don't know for certain. Trevor slips into the morgue and finds a covered cadaver. Perfect! It feels like all the answers are underneath that sheet! Before we can lift the veil, though, the Cenobites make one more entrance.
The building shakes. Bottles break open. Electricity flickers. Cracks in the wall break open to create a hook-like spotlight that shines on Pinhead. "It seems you've reached the end of your journey." Pinhead tells him about poetic justice and that it's time to pay the price. Trevor says he just wants to see his wife. Pinhead tells him to wait, but Trevor insists. Pinhead chains him in place in the typical Hellraiser fashion. "All problems solved? Not so simple, I'm afraid." Pinhead tells and shows him what we finally waited for.
During their 5th anniversary, Trevor gifts Kirsty the Puzzle Box that ruined her life. He seems to know what this object means to her as he has the camera ready to film her reactions. She yells at him in pain and betrayal, but he just wants her to open the Puzzle Box. (I guess he thought that nothing supernatural would happen but she'd freak out anyway because of her trauma? And then he'd use the filmed reaction as evidence that she was insane so he could lock her away and keep all her cash himself? It's not made clear in the film why he gave her the Puzzle Box.)
Heartbroken and furious, Kirsty opens the Puzzle Box just as Pinhead wanted. See, Pinhead was after Kirsty all along. She was always The One That Got Away, and Pinhead didn't like not having a perfect record. Confronted by him once again, Kirsty demands a deal. Five souls in exchange for her own: the three women Trevor cheated with, Bret, and now Trevor himself. Pinhead tells Trevor that she fulfilled her end of the deal and that now he is the one who is trapped. "Welcome to the worst nightmare of all: Reality."
So let's review the movie with new clarity: Kirsty never died. She killed Trevor via car crash and swam out of the car perfectly safe. It's Trevor who died in the river, and it's his body that is laying underneath the morgue sheet. Kirsty pinned all her murders on him and told the police that he killed himself while driving. We get a final scene that explains a lot of little things and wraps this all up in a neat little bow. Yes, even the phallic eel: it had crawled inside Dead!Trevor's mouth, and thus was felt by Spirit!Trevor while he suffers in Hell.
Kirsty turns to leave the crime scene blame-free, having gotten away with it all, but she's stopped by Detective Lange. He gives her the Puzzle Box, since it was her anniversary present and he doesn't think it counts as any kind of evidence. She thanks him and walks away, knowing that she's free but also always being watched by Hell. Never Free, Always Escaping, as it were. The End.
This was a headtrip and a half. Whatever you keep expecting, the movie pulls the rug from under you and keeps going! (That is both a praise and a critique.) It took the previous movie's idea of a Hellraiser afterlife, mixed it into the main story from the Hellraiser 1 and 2 plotlines, and got a great story thread spinning! The only thing that falls flat is the execution. The amnesia angle wasn't made obvious, nor was the month-long time jump, nor was the actor's reactions. Trevor had the same bland confused reaction to everything, which was "I'm sorry, what?" and that will just puzzle the audience more if they're already lost! This movie needed to give us a more solid anchoring point than Trevor, is what I'm saying. Otherwise, like I said, this movie's worth a watch or two.
(Ana's Note: Trevor is played by Dean Winters, who I know is a better actor than this. I'm not sure what happened here, because it feels like he's sleep-walking his way through the film, and the film suffers for it. I would love to see a remake of this with clearer writing and more enthusiastic actors. Credit where it's due, though: Kirsty and Pinhead brought their best game, as always.)
Labels: deconstruction, deconstruction (film corner)
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At first you might be wondering what these three things have in common, but the answer is rather obvious. Pineapples will only grow successfully in certain geographical areas. For the rest of us, living in less exotic parts of the world, they become accessible because they are shipped around the world on great big ships, crossing the oceans. All the while, pineapples (and other tropical fruits, naturally) are stored in refrigerated containers. To make sure the produce stays fresh all the way to its final destination, the containers must be sealed really well. Which is where the Teroson branded sealant, Teroson MS 930 comes in.
One of the things that can change the properties of the seal and eventually cause failure of the product used is UV radiation. And there's plenty of that on ships crossing oceans for weeks at a time. That's why it's extremely important that the sealant used is resistant enough to UV radiation to keep its full properties for the duration of the trip. Otherwise the beloved tropical delicacies might reach us looking rather less than appetising.
As the info in the sidebar says, I'm Sebastian Horstmann. Ever since I was given a project involving adhesives during my university studies, I became fascinated by adhesives and the power of joining two substrates by what is basically a combination of physical and chemical reaction. I know – does it get more nerdy than that? Well, nerdy or not, one thing led to another and starting from that project, through my PHD thesis, adhesives in engineering became my career choice.
Strangely enough, as much as the modern engineering has developed and changed since its early days, some methods remain very traditional. Bonding as a joining method appears to still be a kind of a novelty, which really shouldn't be the case. Human kind has used adhesive since ages. Well known is bonding of arrows for hunting back in Stone Age Times as an example. And there are many more. On the other hand, it isn't really surprising, given the fact how little young engineers find out about bonding through regular educational channels. Over the years of supporting engineers in a number of different industries, I encountered some of the same questions numerous times which made me want to share the solutions (which are sometimes surprisingly simple) in this online format.
In my next posts I'll talk about similar simple solutions to engineering problems. Solutions that are so simple they should be obvious, like securing your threaded fastners to prevent vibration loosening, sealing your threaded joints and much more. Also, I'm happy to answer any questions or exchange comments with you, so go ahead and talk to me through the comments section. Your thoughts will be appreciated.


text:
Texthelp: Bringing Literacy to Life
Martin McKay, CTO & Founder The education technology landscape is constantly changing, providing both challenges and opportunities to educators, students, and district-wide support teams. As a way to meet digital-native students where they are, today's educators are embracing technology-infused classrooms. However, the growing need for learning analytics, the use of artificial intelligence, and a mixture of operating platforms have spawned complexities in the education arena that require expert guidance from the industry's most innovative companies. Texthelp™, an edtech literacy support company, addresses the challenges that CIOs, admin teams, and educators face, as they move toward a digital learning environment that is truly beneficial to students across all demographics.
"Quite a bit has changed in education technology platforms in recent years, with models and solutions being disrupted. Five years ago we were in the middle of the mobile apps revolution and currently the use of Chromebooks with G-Suite and Google Classroom is the most recent wave of change. Managing large IT implementations through periods of change is difficult. Education technology has shifted away from aiding just a handful of students, to district-wide, student-centric initiatives," says Martin McKay, CTO and Founder of Texthelp. As a 'go to' brand for literacy, language, and more recently, STEM support software for education, Texthelp assists students and teachers in unlocking the real benefit of learning by offering a bevy of support software solutions that drive greater comprehension across reading, writing and math literacy.
Texthelp began as a software company focused on solving learning challenges among the special education community, but their leadership quickly realized the innovative impact that technology could have on the full breadth of students and educators. McKay explains, "If we can provide the necessary tools to improve literacy support and comprehension among students in the classroom and at home, schools can be made a more effective place. We provide easy-to-use tools that support the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) at a cost that is manageable for districts and school systems."
A Comprehensive Suite of Literacy & Language Support Tools
The company has harnessed the unique challenges relating to the trends in education technology by developing a full suite of education support tools aimed at improving student outcomes. Texthelp is best known for its Read&Write tool—a software toolbar with support features and functions needed to push literacy forward and deliver a personalized learning experience to all students. It offers a variety of assistance including highlighting any text on the screen and reading that text aloud simultaneously.
"Research shows that when reading is supported using audio and synchronized visual highlighting that comprehension is significantly elevated. The purpose of students attending school is for them to learn. Using our tools, we can see that more of what they read is understood and remembered."
Read&Write also lends a necessary hand when students are writing, through its word prediction feature. "We suggest completions and grammatically appropriate words that might follow the typed word, giving students more opportunity to express themselves and their ideas," he shares. Over seven million students use Read&Write worldwide because of its powerful benefits and the value it adds to the overall learning process.
Texthelp understands that not every student has the same reading or writing ability and those with impediments like dyslexia are at a disadvantage in the traditional classroom setting. Read&Write gives students and educators an opportunity for early intervention, which ultimately leads to a generation of more confident readers and fluent writers. It's now seen by many as a gold standard for supporting diverse learners and universal design for learning, and inclusion. Putting the power back in the hands of the students underlines Texthelp's focus on the student-centric learning model that drives their mission to enable better literacy and education outcomes across the board.
The tools we have developed and are developing are truly different; and they are easy enough for students and educators to deploy quickly
In addition to Read&Write, Texthelp constantly works toward developing other software tools that tackle the issues surrounding educational trends such as learning analytics. With Wri-Q™, an innovative data collection and assessment tool, the difference between learning and usage is made more apparent. The zero-cost tool combines scoring of student-writing with data-tracking to provide an in-depth look at the various metrics of a student's writing, including text maturity, vocabulary, and diversity in composition. Through Wri-Q, Texthelp gathers the data necessary to benchmark a student's writing against national norms in real-time which ultimately offers a perspective on the health of overall writing. With this data, actionable steps can be taken to give students the opportunity to get back on track with their writing skills. "It's about observing how students write, how support tools are used in the process, and how outcomes are improving with those tools," McKay notes.
Success in Serving Diverse Districts
Texthelp has grown rapidly since its inception, and the company has experienced success in a variety of school districts and systems throughout the world. With offices in the UK, the US and Australia, Texthelp has a global footprint and is a well-respected brand in the education technology environment. In Canada, a large school district approached Texthelp to develop a universal design learning model within its education policy, focused on supporting students at all levels with their literacy initiatives. They adopted Texthelp software and deployed it to the entire district, where it quickly became a tool used daily by students to help them improve their comprehension, reading, and writing. The 120,000 students in the district have reported greater confidence and independence as well as demonstrable academic improvement in assessments, and their educators obtained valuable insights into the learning patterns of their students.
Texthelp has seen similar success with school districts spanning a myriad of locations, sizes, and demographics, including large urban districts and small, rural systems. The ability to improve learning outcomes for students is made possible through the company's ease of deployment and overarching business model. The pain normally experienced by CIOs in adopting and implementing new technology is taken away by Texthelp's focus on interoperability. Whether a district is utilizing Google, Microsoft, Apple or other technologies, the simple tools offered are designed to work seamlessly across different platforms— Chrome, Edge, Windows, Mac, iPad and Android. Network administrators can push out the software in a smooth, simple way, and students are not required to create a new user ID or sign-on to access the tools they need. "All students have to do is click. The user experience is simple and intuitive for all, and we know the product has to work with all the content and curriculum they encounter," McKay points out.
The company's driving force lies in bettering the learning environment for all students, regardless of ability or location, and to do so, most of its tools are offered to districts under a freemium model. "We're committed to delivering help directly to students, and so we plan to continue offering free core services to both teachers and students. The onset of cloud-based learning must be cost-efficient, with a low expense per student. Texthelp is ahead of this trend by focusing on easy sharing and collaboration through seamless integration," he adds.
"If we can provide the necessary tools to improve literacy support and comprehension among students in the classroom and at home, schools can be made a more effective place"
The success of Texthelp is also notable in its use of collected data. While learning analytics is becoming a more necessary component of the education environment, student privacy and data protection should be at the top of the priority list. Texthelp understands the sensitivity of student data and works diligently to be in compliance with various student privacy laws around the world. Data is de-identified, encrypted when at rest and in transit, and developers are highly trained in data security, all in an effort to safeguard student information and help propel the use of Texthelp tools forward.
The Future of Texthelp
In April 2017, the company plans to launch education support tools focused on serving students in math and science learning and comprehension with its new EquatIO™ product. This new Chrome extension helps to take the pain out of creating digital equations, formulas, graphs, and math quizzes. It also calls upon the principles of universal design learning by digitizing math concepts and giving students a way to engage with the material in the way that works best for them. The extension offers a way for students to achieve the same improved outcomes delivered through Texthelp's other support tools in different areas of study, pushing forward the mission of the company. In addition to rolling out EquatIO, McKay shares his excitement about the future of Texthelp, stating, "The tools we have developed and are developing are truly different; and they are easy for students and educators to deploy and use quickly." In the upcoming months, Texthelp is also planning to continue localizing its services, offering different languages for its software and continuing to push the envelope of education technology for all students.
Texthelp
Martin McKay, CTO & Founder
Creates smart, easy-to-use support technologies that enable students and adults to read and write with confidence and independence
https://education.cioreview.com/vendor/2017/texthelp

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


While the content is very similar, the written transcript varies slightly from the podcast. I am trusting you will be blessed in whichever format you choose to enjoy the Word through!
God bless you and welcome to BlenCouragesU! Last month, a few of my friends and I thought we'd do a Bible study on Periscope, and the Lord led me to the book of Ruth. You may be thinking, "seriously–Old Testament?" "This same story?" Trust me, there are some nuggets here! I know I found a few that paralleled MANY of my life situations! To prepare, read though Ruth chapter 1 and then we'll dig in.
Background: This was a time when Israel was pretty disobedient. In fact, Judges 17:6 says "and there was no king in Israel, but everyone did what was right on their own eyes." (Times sure have not changed much). So a consequence here was Israel was experiencing a famine in the land, so Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion move to Moab.
So–what's Moab got to do with anything? This is significant because Moab had oppressed the Israelites for eighteen years under the leadership of king Eglon, (Judges 3:12-14), ON top of the fact, when the children of Israel were fleeing Egypt, Moab would not feed them, AND the Moabites hired a prophet, Balaam to curse the children of Israel (Numbers 22:1-6 and Deuteronomy 23:3-5). In fact, verse 6 of Deuteronomy said: "you shall not seek their [Moab's] peace or prosperity all your days forever." With all this history and direct command from God, Elimelich moved his family. Anyway. Not so fast, family! How many times have we directly disobeyed God for something we needed, but did not trust He would supply..maybe out of curiosity, fear, desperation, no other way out? I just told one of my young people, God would never tell you to do something bad to get something good.
Situation: After a space of time, Naomi's husband, Elimelech dies and her sons marry Moab natives Orpah and Ruth. After ten years, the sons pass away, leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orpah destitute widows.
So, they were widows…why is that important? In biblical times (and in many homes today) men provided for their wives and families–and they did that well. Widowhood at that time is not like now–we have life insurance (well, we should–if not, please invest today) and many women work outside the home, so they can help/provide for themselves. At the that time, even if a widow did work, she was often fleeced, neglected, and overlooked. God, in His infinite wisdom set up a law that said the widow must marry the next of kin on the deceased husbands's side of the family. But…think about it…who would be related to Elimelech in Moab? No one. And after so many years, what relative would be alive back home? How could they find not one, but three relatives? Hence Naomi's impassioned plea for her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab and start over as she prepared to go back to Judah. Orpah took Naomi's advice and went back to "her people and her gods". Ruth insisted on staying citing, she would stay, worship Naomi's God and be her family until death.
Relationships: I'm sure Orpah loved her mother-in-law, yet despite knowing the laws, situation and what hardships were ahead of the elder woman, Orpah still chose to leave Naomi to fend for herself. While we may chide her for doing so, in all honesty, how many of us would take on in-laws or other members of the family indefinitely? (As God directs, of course). Would we do it lovingly, or automatically think of the extra work, inconvenience and responsibility involved? While the Word does not tell us Orpah's thoughts, she clearly left Naomi to fend for herself.
Well family, this is a good place to stop, reflect and meditate on what the Word of God has revealed in our hearts, and more importantly, to talk with the Lord on how to apply the Word in our lives, with His help. I'm going to part here so we can all take the time to do just that. Lord will, when we get together next time, we'll finish up Ruth 1, starting around verse 16, make our way to the end of the chapter, and prepare for Ruth 2.
I trust this study was a blessing to you as much as it was to me! If so, please take a moment to give us a thumbs up, share and comment–we'd love to hear from you! Thanks SO much and may God bless you for stopping by, and until next time, #StayOnTheWall.
Previous Post God's lessons from 2015 (Part 2 of 2).
That was a great start to the lesson of Ruth. Thank you always for your encouragement and love you have shared this with me best. I love you so much..


text:
Q: Change child item size inside custom panel Currently I am trying to create my own custom panel e.g. WrapPanel, Grid, ... .
How can I change the size of the child item - after .measure(); inside the panel?
My code looks like:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;

namespace CustomPanel
{
    public class MyCustomPanel : Panel
    {
        public object Convertchild { get; private set; }

        protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size availableSize)
        {
            Size childSize = new Size(availableSize.Width, double.PositiveInfinity);

            foreach (UIElement elem in InternalChildren)
                elem.Measure(childSize);

            return availableSize;
        }

        protected override Size ArrangeOverride(Size finalSize)
        {
            child.Arrange(new Rect(x, y, child.DesiredSize.Width + 20, child.DesiredSize.Height + 20));
            return finalSize;
        }
    }
}

Maybe it's important. I want to give the childs a start with like this:
<local:MyCustomPanel>
    <Rectangle Name="Rectangle_1" Height="200" Width="100" Fill="Green"/>
    <Rectangle Name="Rectangle_2" Height="150" Width="100" Fill="Black"/>
    <Rectangle Name="Rectangle_3" Height="100" Width="100" Fill="Orange"/>
    <Rectangle Name="Rectangle_4" Height="100" Width="150" Fill="Yellow"/>
    <Rectangle Name="Rectangle_5" Height="150" Width="150" Fill="Gray"/>
</local:MyCustomPanel>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Pentagon: Secret U.S. military commandos deployed to Libya
Bill Gertz - November 2, 2012 5:00 AM
Classified United States military units are operating in the region near Libya since the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, according to the director of operations for the Pentagon's Joint Staff.
The disclosure that secret U.S. military forces were dispatched to Libya recently was revealed in a letter sent Wednesday to the House Armed Services Committee by Vice Adm. Kurt Tidd, director of operations for the Pentagon's Joint Staff.
Tidd said that after the attack in Benghazi, the U.S. European Command sent a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) platoon to reinforce security at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.
"Additional classified capabilities were deployed to the region," Tidd said, in what other defense officials said was a reference to the deployment of special operations commandos.
Tidd was responding to a letter from Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R., Calif.) about whether the military recommended bolstering security in Libya prior to the Sept. 11 attack that killed U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
A U.S. official would not provide details on the classified unit in the region but said it includes elite U.S. special operations commandos trained for counterterrorism missions, like the Navy's Seal Team Six, known formally as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
The CIA also is said to be secretly setting up covert armed aerial drone units in the country.
The U.S. military also has been working with the remnants of the Libyan military's special operations forces as the new provisional government seeks to set up a central military and reduce the control of the large number of heavily armed militias, many of them Islamist-run, around the country.
On Sept. 12, President Obama vowed to "work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people."
So far, administration efforts to track down and apprehend or kill the attackers have seen limited success.
First, an FBI investigative team was delayed for weeks in gaining access to the burned out Benghazi compound.
Then, the New York Times interviewed one of the ringleaders of the attackers in Benghazi, Ahmed Abu Khattala, openly dining at a luxury hotel in Benghazi. Abu Khattala said Oct. 18 that no one had questioned him about the attack.
Abu Khattala is a member of the al Qaeda-linked militia Ansar al Sharia, which is believed to have carried out the attack.
Additionally, Tunisian authorities detained Ali Harzi, an Ansar al Sharia member and one of the men suspected of carrying out the Sept. 11 attack. Harzi and another terrorist were arrested in Turkey and returned to Tunis. The other man is reportedly free.
Meanwhile, Fox News and CBS News reported Thursday that the Obama administration failed to convene an emergency meeting of the interagency Counterterrorism Coordinating Group, which could have directed military and other security forces to go to the aid of the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi during the attack.
Political analysts in Washington have speculated that the Obama administration may launch an attack in Libya against the militants who carried out the attack before Tuesday's election.
The comments regarding classified forces were included in several letters that Tidd and two other senior military officials, including the commander of the U.S. Africa Command, sent to McKeon stating that they did not recommend increasing military forces for the security of U.S. diplomatic and intelligence personnel in Libya after a Pentagon Site Security Team ended its mission in Libya on Aug. 3.
Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, the Africa Command commander, stated in his letter to McKeon that no one from his command recommended bolstering military forces in Libya in response "to the threat environment."
"While the Accountability Review Board continues in its work reviewing any and all requests made by the Department of State, I can state with certainty that U.S. Africa Command did not receive any direction to provide U.S. military forces to augment security for U.S. personnel in Libya beyond the expiration of the Site Security Teams' mandate through Aug. 3, 2012," Ham stated in the Oct. 31 letter.
However, the four-star general said all email accounts of U.S. military personnel in Libya after Aug. 4 were frozen "to assess if any informal communications with personal recommendations were sent during that timeframe in which they were under my command and no longer under Chief of Mission authority."
"To date, our due diligence has revealed no such information," Ham said.
Tidd said in his letter that no one in his office urged the State Department or other agencies to increase security, nor did the Pentagon seek better security for U.S. officials in Libya.
Tidd also said no one in the Joint Staff operations directorate recommended adding forces to Libya before last month's attack.
Adm. William McRaven, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, sent a similar letter to the House committee chairman.
McKeon wrote to the military leaders Oct. 18 seeking answers about whether there was advance warning of an attack in Benghazi and the need for increased military and security forces.
McKeon had demanded a response by Nov. 19 but an aide to the chairman said the military leaders were blocked from responding by the office of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
McKeon's questions revealed that there were indications that within the military there were warnings about terrorist threats.
The Daily Beast reported Thursday that the State Department also did not request military backup for the Benghazi compound during the Sept. 11 attack.
The CIA issued a statement last week that said, cryptically, "No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate." The CIA operated a covert annex close to the Benghazi diplomatic compound.
Fox News Channel reported on Wednesday that a classified State Department cable sent from Tripoli to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showed the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi held an emergency meeting on Aug. 16 that warned the Benghazi compound was unable to withstand a terrorist attack.
"RSO (Regional Security Officer) expressed concerns with the ability to defend Post in the event of a coordinated attack due to limited manpower, security measures, weapons capabilities, host nation support, and the overall size of the compound," the cable said.
The cable said the secretary was notified about "the location of approximately ten Islamist militias and AQ training camps within Benghazi … these groups ran the spectrum from Islamist militias, such as the QRF Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia, to 'Takfirist thugs.'"
The cable said the diplomatic mission would seek more help for security.
"In light of the uncertain security environment, U.S. Mission Benghazi will submit specific requests to U.S. Embassy Tripoli for additional physical security upgrades and staffing needs by separate cover."
Several Republican House leaders, including McKeon, wrote to Obama Sept. 25 expressing concerns about the administration's failure to identify the attack as a terrorist strike by claiming initially it was a spontaneous reaction to a mysterious anti-Muslim video.
Earlier this week, McKeon challenged statements by Obama in a recent news interview that he ordered full protection of U.S. personnel.
"There appears to be a discrepancy between your directive and the actions taken by the Department of Defense," McKeon said in a letter sent Monday.
He noted, "Despite the fact that the military had resources in the area, the military did not deploy any assets to secure U.S. military personnel in Benghazi during the hours the consulate and the annex were under attack."
McKeon asked the president to answer specifically whether "at any time on Sept. 11, 2012, other than [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] assets, did you provide the authority for the military to take any and all necessary measures to secure U.S. personnel, including specifically the authority to enter Libyan airspace?"
Unconfirmed Internet reports appeared last week indicating that Ham, the Africom commander, was relieved of command for violating the chain of command by disregarding orders not to dispatch forces to rescue Americans in Benghazi during the attack.
Asked about the reports, a U.S. official said it is unclear if Ham was asked to send a military force to respond to the Sept. 11 attack and prepared to do so but was overruled by higher authorities.
The official said it is unlikely that Ham went ahead and tried to dispatch a rescue force.
However, asked whether Ham was relieved as a result of disobedience and replaced by his deputy, the official said, "We are absolutely certain this is untrue."
This entry was posted in National Security and tagged Benghazi, Libya, Middle East. Bookmark the permalink.


Outstanding lead property developer is currently seeking a proficient Sales Negotiator to look after one of their key sites in North London. Our client is a titan in the industry and has launched successful after successful key regeneration projects over the past 15 years.
2+ years' of New Homes sales experience is required, but applicants from within another property sales discipline will be considered.


Focus on delivering genuine value for the association and its members.
Contribute to their newsletter each time it's sent out and provide them with helpful improvement ideas.
Create and facilitate breakfast meetings and invite experts to present.
Launch a series of webinars or tele-seminars with guest experts.
Create relationships with strategic members.
Contact members and inquire how you and the association can be of additional help.
Have members share their success stories.
Share on your web site and blog.
When you help members of the association increase their success, the association becomes more successful and so do you.


Something special happened today. Samsung, a tech company you definitely know, announced it's mass-producing 1TB flash storage chips for mobile devices. In other words, you'll soon be able to buy phones with a terabyte of storage space.
When I asked people about this news, there were two main schools of thought. The first was a deep apathy focusing on why anyone's phone would need this much space. The other camp – which I'm a firm and unwavering member of – think the idea a 1TB phone is awesome.
To settle this, let's have a look at the main arguments for and against a 1TB phone.
Everything in this argument points back to the cloud. Those photos on your phone? They're stored in the cloud. Want to catch up with the latest fire series? Stream that thing from some far flung server. Fancy jamming to some fresh hip cat ripping it up on the oboe? Spotify has you covered.
You just don't need 1TB of local storage these days.
It's important to note that phone storage is still important to this crowd, it's just 128GB or 256GB drives are more than enough for most people's needs. Especially if all you want is to keep your photos stored locally and have a couple of movies for long trips on your device. Simply, 1TB is overkill.
Then you have the inevitable cost. For an iPhone Xs, there's a $200 jump between the 256GB and the 512GB model. We can safely assume the move from 512GB to 1TB will be at least that amount, if not closer to double. Is whatever you're planning to do with all that extra 512GB really worth it? Really?
To be frank, it's hard to argue with the above points. And yeah, for many people 1TB is a useless amount of space. But it's not that way for many people. It's not that way for me.
First off, gaming. Not only are there shedloads of people who primarily game on their phones, but mobile titles themselves are getting larger and larger. Just consider the 2GB or so of storage that Fornite takes up. Yeah, it might be a drop in the ocean of 1TB, but games of that size quickly add-up, especially if the files continue to get bigger – which they probably will.
I mean, I have at least thirty or forty games connected to my Apple account, most of which I've removed to save space. So, if you want to have a huge mobile game library available at all times, 1TB could be a dream.
There's one ultimate use of all that space though. Nope, not movies or TV shows – phone screens are too small. Nope, not even collecting the app of every single airline. I'm talking about music.
I've been vocal about my disappointment regarding the disappearance of personal music players (RIP the iPod). I do get it – carrying around one device with music on it is far easier than juggling a couple. Unfortunately, I'd need a 512GB device to get all my MP3s on there. But if I was using the FLAC or lossless collection of my portable dreams? A 1TB phone would be incredible and totally worth the cost bump.
And this is the crux of it. A 1TB phone isn't going appeal to everyone. That's not the point. Instead, that much storage space gives a phone a lot more wiggle room to be used as a niche tool by enthusiasts of every discipline. Whether that's music, gaming, or something completely different, the only limit is, well, a terabyte.


text:
Supreme Court declines to entertain UP plea to transfer anti-conversion law cases to itself
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea by the Uttar Pradesh government to transfer all petitions against the anti-conversion ordinance pending in the Allahabad High Court to itself
Supreme Court of India (Photo Courtesy: IANS)
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea by the Uttar Pradesh government to transfer all petitions against the anti-conversion ordinance pending in the Allahabad High Court to itself.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said it would like to take advantage of a decision by the High Court, where the matter is slated for hearing in February.
Senior Advocate PS Narasimha, representing the UP government, said that identical petitions challenging the ordinance were pending in the High Court.
The top Court said that it was aware of the High Court cases when it issued notice in the matter earlier. "If the High Court is going to decide the cases, why should we interfere?" the bench remarked.
The counsel for the respondents submitted that the High Court had listed the matter for hearing on February 2.
The Chief Justice responded that if the High Court was already seized of the matter, the apex court would not hear it.
Narasimha contended that the top court had already issued notice in the matter.
"We have issued notice but it does not mean that the High Court cannot decide. People are making light of High Courts these days. The High Court is a constitutional court," said the bench.
On January 6, the top court had agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the anti-conversion laws enacted by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, but refused to stay the controversial legislations. The top court had issued notices to the two states on the petitions that challenged the laws.
Allahabad HC
anti conversion law


a program to analyze domain movements in large, multi-chain, biomolecular complexes, useful for any molecule for which two atomic structures are available that represent a conformational change indicating a possible domain movement.
Unlike the original DynDom (DynDom1D), this method is blind to atomic bonding and atom type and can, therefore, be applied to biomolecular complexes containing different constituent molecules such as protein, RNA or DNA.
G. Poornam, A. Matsumoto, H. Ishida, and S.Hayward. 2009. A method for the analysis of domain movements in large biomolecular complexes. Proteins. 76(1): 201-212.


text:
Sandi Toksvig
Sandra Birgitte Toksvig OBE (/ˈtɒksvɪɡ/, Danish pronunciation: [ˈsænti ˈtsʰʌksˌviˀ]; born 3 May 1958)[1] is a British-Danish writer, comedian, broadcaster, actor, podcaster, and producer on British radio, stage, and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written plays, novels, and books for children. In 1994, she came out as a lesbian.[2]
Toksvig in 2013
Sandra Birgitte Toksvig
(1958-05-03) 3 May 1958 (age 62)
Danish (1958–present)
British (2013–present)
Tormead School
Girton College, Cambridge
Debbie Toksvig
(m. 2007)
Claus Toksvig (father)
Julie Anne Brett (mother)
In 2016, Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI, having previously spent ten years hosting The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4. From 2017 to 2020 she was co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off, alongside comedian Noel Fielding. In 2020, she stepped down and was replaced by Matt Lucas.[3][4]
Toksvig was the president of the Women of the Year Lunch until 2017.
In 2020, Toksvig launched a podcast series called We Will Get Past This[5] which aimed to provide "virtual chicken soup for the soul" [5] during the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, by sharing stories of notable women from her book collection.
2.1 Beginnings
2.2 Comedy
2.3 Drama and factual
2.4 Writing
2.5 Television presenter
3 Politics and activism
3.1 Women's Equality Party
5 Honours and awards
5.1 National honours
5.2 Scholastic
6.1 Books for children
6.2 Books for adults
Early lifeEdit
Toksvig was born in Denmark. Her father, Claus Toksvig, was a Danish journalist, broadcaster, and foreign correspondent, so Toksvig spent most of her youth outside Denmark, mostly in New York City. Her mother, Julie Anne Toksvig (née Brett), is British.[6] She has an older brother, Nick, who is a journalist, and a younger sister, Jenifer, a librettist, who was born when Sandi was 12. When Sandi was 24, she was appointed Jenifer's legal guardian.[7][8] In 1969, her father covered the landing of the first man on the moon from mission control. Toksvig was holding the hand of Neil Armstrong's secretary during the landing.[9] She attended Tormead School, an independent girls' school near Guildford, when her father was based in London. Her first job, at the age of 18, was a position as a follow spot operator for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.[10][11]
She read law, archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree and receiving two prizes for outstanding achievement (The Raemakers and the Theresa Montefiore Awards).[12] One of her law supervisors was Lord Denning.[13]
CareerEdit
When I see comedian—and 'comedienne', of course I hate it—I think 'Oh, really?' because I think of myself as a writer and broadcaster. Sometimes it's funny but I've just done a piece for Radio 3 all about Mary Wollstonecraft, and there's not a joke in it.
The Times[14]
Toksvig performing in 2008
BeginningsEdit
Toksvig began her comedy career at Girton, where she wrote and performed in the first all-woman show at the Footlights. She was there at the same time as fellow members Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery, and Emma Thompson, and wrote additional material for the Perrier award-winning Footlights Revue. She was also a member of the university's Light Entertainment Society.
She started her television career on children's series, presenting No. 73 (1982–1986), the Sandwich Quiz,[15] The Saturday Starship, Motormouth, Gilbert's Fridge, for Television South, and factual programmes such as Island Race and The Talking Show, produced by Open Media for Channel 4. She also appeared as a guest presenter in 2000 on Time Team at a dig in York (season 7 episode 13).
ComedyEdit
In the comedy circuit, Toksvig performed at the first night of the Comedy Store in London, and was once part of their Players, an improvisational comedy team.[16]
In television, she appeared as a panellist in comedy shows such as Call My Bluff (a regular as a team captain), Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Mock the Week, QI, and Have I Got News for You, where she appeared on the first episode in 1990.[17] She was also the host of What the Dickens, a Sky Arts quiz show.
On radio, she is a familiar voice for BBC Radio 4 listeners, having appeared on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, The Unbelievable Truth, and as the chair of The News Quiz, where she replaced Simon Hoggart in September 2006, but left in June 2015 in order to enter politics to champion women's rights. Her final show was first broadcast on 26 June 2015. She presented Radio 4's travel programme Excess Baggage until it was axed in 2012. [18]
Drama and factualEdit
In 1993, Toksvig wrote a musical, Big Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace, for Nottingham Playhouse, co-starring with Anita Dobson and Una Stubbs. In 2002, it was re-written, with Dilly Keane, for the Watford Palace Theatre, in which they appeared with Bonnie Langford.[19] Toksvig and Elly Brewer wrote a Shakespeare deconstruction, The Pocket Dream, which Toksvig performed at the Nottingham Playhouse and which transferred to the West End for a short run. The pair also wrote the 1992 TV series The Big One, in which she also starred. She has appeared in a number of stage plays, including Androcles and the Lion, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Comedy of Errors.
In 1996, she narrated the Dragons! interactive CD-ROM published by Oxford University Press and developed by Inner Workings, along with Harry Enfield.[20] The software was primarily aimed at children and featured songs and poems about dragons. She also narrated the Winnie the Witch CD-ROM. She appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Red by Big Finish Productions, released in August 2006. In December 2006, she hosted and sang at the London Gay Men's Chorus sold-out Christmas show, Make the Yuletide Gay, at the Barbican Centre.[21] Over Christmas and New Year 2007/2008, she narrated the pantomime Cinderella at the Old Vic Theatre. In October 2011, she narrated the new musical Soho Cinders at the Queen's Theatre, London. In 2011 she hosted a second season of BBC Two's Antiques Master.
Toksvig wrote a play entitled Bully Boy which focused on post-traumatic stress among British servicemen. The play premièred at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton in May 2011, and starred Anthony Andrews.[22] The play then launched the debut season of St James Theatre in September 2012, the first new West End theatre to open in 30 years.[23]
In the 2013 Christmas Special of BBC's Call the Midwife, Toksvig made a cameo appearance as grumpy ward nurse Sister Gibbs.[24][25]
On 28 April 2015, it was announced that Toksvig would leave BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz in June at the end of the 28th series, which was scheduled to begin on 15 May of that year. She said: "I have decided it is time to move on and, of course, I feel sad but I think it's the right moment. The show is in great shape and, like a good house guest, you should always depart when people still wish you'd stay a bit longer." The BBC said Toksvig had made the "difficult decision" to leave in order "to embark on a new and exciting stage of her career".[26] On 30 April 2015, Toksvig announced that her decision to quit The News Quiz had been made in order to allow her to help set up a new political party named the Women's Equality Party.[27][28]
In November 2015, Toksvig was a guest of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Her choices included Joe Nichols ("What's a Guy Gotta Do"), Gustav Winckler, The Weather Girls, Barbra Streisand, and Bonnie Langford. Her book choice was The Ashley Book of Knots, and her luxury item was an endless supply of the Daily Mail.[29]
Her most recent play Silver Lining opened at the Rose Theatre Kingston on 11 February 2017, before touring to Portsmouth, Oxford, Cambridge, Ipswich, Keswick, York, and Salford. It centres around five elderly ladies and a young carer in a retirement home which is about to be flooded by a storm. It stars Rachel Davies, Keziah Joseph, Maggie McCarthy, Joanna Monro, Sheila Reid, and Amanda Walker. Toksvig's son, Theo Toksvig-Stewart, made his professional stage debut in the play.[30]
On 11 June 2019, Toksvig appeared on former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard's podcast. Notably, Toksvig states "Wikipedia is a marvelous idea and the idea is that it is a crowd sourced encyclopedia of knowledge, what a fantastic notion. But what's happening is that women are disappearing so 90% of Wikipedia's content is about men and their achievements and 9% is about women. 1% are still making up their mind. So that proportion is completely out of kilter and we desperately need to do something about it. Part of the problem is that it is edited by volunteers but there are about 350,000 "uber" volunteers that tend, no offence to them, to be the same kind of guy who has the time to sit and do it and doesn't have laundry to do and are actively editing women out. There are two issues: 1) women's achievements are not being inputted and 2) women are actively being edited out... I am intent on trying to change this if we can."[31]
During the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020, Toksvig created and performed "Vox Tox", a YouTube mini-series,[32] from her home. These 10-minute sessions promoted the activities of women across the ages, being inspired by items from Toksvig's own library of books and biographies.
WritingEdit
Toksvig has written more than twenty fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults, starting in 1994 with Tales from the Norse's Mouth, a fiction tale for children. In 1995, she sailed around the coast of Britain with John McCarthy, who had been held hostage in Beirut. In 2003, she published Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey, about her travels in the USA retracing her childhood. She writes regular columns for Good Housekeeping, the Sunday Telegraph and The Lady. In October 2008, she published Girls Are Best, a history book for girls.[33]
In 2009, her collected columns for The Sunday Telegraph were published in book form as The Chain of Curiosity. In 2012, she published her book, Valentine Grey, an historical novel set in the Boer War.[34] Her 2015 young adult book, Hitler's Canary[35] is a Holocaust story told by a boy named Bamse and his family. The characters are based on Toksvig's own father and grandmother; the family heroism in the story closely resembles the author's father's own experiences during the war.[36] Her memoir Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus was published on 29 October 2019.
Television presenterEdit
In 2012–13 Toksvig presented 1001 Things You Should Know for Channel 4 daytime. Toksvig began presenting the revival edition of the daytime game show Fifteen-to-One in April 2014.[37] It is an hour-long instead of the original half-hour edition presented by William G. Stewart. After two series had been broadcast, in June 2015, Channel 4 announced that a further three would be made, hosted by Toksvig.[38]
Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of QI, making her "the first female presenter of a British mainstream TV comedy panel show", a fact she found extraordinary in 2016.[39] She hosted the first episode of the show's series "N", which was broadcast on 21 October 2016.[40]
On 16 March 2017 she was announced as the new co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4, alongside Noel Fielding. They replaced the previous hosts, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc. In January 2020, she announced she was leaving the show to focus on other work commitments.[4]
Politics and activismEdit
Toksvig first came to wider public prominence in 1994 because the charity Save the Children dropped her services as compere of its 75th anniversary celebrations after she came out.[14] The decision led to a direct action protest by the Lesbian Avengers,[41] and the charity apologised.[42][43]
Toksvig supports the charity and pressure group Liberty, hosting its 2012 awards ceremony.[44] She was appointed president of the Women of the Year Lunch.[45] An atheist and humanist, Toksvig is a patron of Humanists UK.[46]
In October 2012, as the scale of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal became apparent, and amid claims that during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, there was a culture within the BBC which tolerated sexual harassment, Toksvig stated that she was groped by a "famous individual" on air in the 1980s.[47][48] Toksvig said the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the BBC "did not surprise me at all". In September 2018, as the BBC gender pay gap controversy continued to unfold, Toksvig reported that she was only paid 40% of what Fry, her predecessor, had received. Toksvig had earlier told the Radio Times it would be "absurd" if she did not receive the same salary as him for chairing QI.[49]
In 2003 she stood as a candidate in the election for the Chancellorship of the University of Oxford, supporting a campaign against student fees.[50] She was defeated in the first round of voting, achieving 1,179 first-place votes out of about 8,000 cast.[51] The election was won by Chris Patten. Almost a decade later she succeeded Sheila Hancock as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth.[52]
Toksvig's party-political sympathies have developed over the years. She was part of Red Wedge's comedy tour in the 1980s, which supported the Labour Party. By the 2004 elections, she was a high-profile celebrity supporter of the Liberal Democrats.[53][54] She has received some criticism for joking about the Tories in 2011 (they've "put the 'N' into cuts" to child benefit),[55] but has said Prime Minister Theresa May is "a good person".[39] She has also joked about UKIP leader Nigel Farage.[56] In 2012, she said in an interview that "I don't think there's a party that represents anything I believe in".[57]
Women's Equality PartyEdit
In April 2015, Toksvig chaired the first, informal, conference of a new political party, the Women's Equality Party,[58][59] and then left her job as presenter of The News Quiz to formally co-found it.[27][28] She later explained that she had decided that it was "not too late to fight the good fight, after all".[60] In September the same year she announced the dates for a comedy tour to raise funds for the party.[61][62] The party's full set of policies were launched at Conway Hall, 20 October 2015.[63][64]
Personal lifeEdit
As an eleven-year-old, Toksvig was present with her father, a leading Danish foreign affairs journalist, at NASA Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas during the first Moon landing.[65][66] In an appearance on BBC 1 show The TV That Made Me, she said she held the hand of Neil Armstrong's nervous secretary to calm the woman down during the final moments. She also said she had a lifetime fear of children's television puppet Basil Brush, so she wrote a 2002 episode of The Basil Brush Show entitled "Molly Christmas".
I wouldn't care if they came from Tesco. I don't care about the blood thing. They call me Mummy and I earned it. We love each other. You can't do better than that. Lots of families don't.
Toksvig commenting on her children
in The Times[67]
Toksvig is the mother of two daughters (Megan and Jesse) and a son (Theo).[68][69][70] The children were carried by her partner, Peta Stewart, from whom she separated in 1997,[67] and were conceived through artificial insemination by donor Christopher Lloyd-Pack,[14] younger brother of the actor Roger Lloyd-Pack.[71][72]
It was having three young children that made her decide to come out, because, to the best of her knowledge, there were no out lesbians in British public life, and she did not want her children to grow up ashamed of having two mothers. Toksvig was warned she might never work again, and the family faced death threats and had to go into hiding.[2]
She lives on a houseboat in Wandsworth[73] with psychotherapist Debbie Toksvig,[68] whom she joined in a civil partnership in 2007.[74] They renewed their vows on 29 March 2014, the day same-sex marriage was introduced in England and Wales,[75] and in December 2014, their civil partnership was converted into a marriage.[76]
Toksvig became a British citizen in 2013.[77] She describes her "posh" accent as being the result of a deliberate attempt to copy the voice of Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter, after being ostracised at boarding school for having an American accent.[29]
In her late 50s, she lost a significant amount of weight on medical advice, and credits this with giving her the confidence to go back to television.[39]
Honours and awardsEdit
1997 – The Grand Order of Water Rats Show Business Personality of the Year
2007 – Political Humourist of the Year at the Channel 4 Political Awards[78] and 2007 – Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild[79]
2007 – Read it or Else Award from Coventry Inspiration Book Awards for Hitler's Canary
2008 – Broadcaster of the Year at the Stonewall Awards
2009 – Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Individual Contribution to Radio
2013 – Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Excellence in Broadcasting (Roberts Radio Special Award)
2017 – CoScan (Confederation of Scandinavian Societies) International Award[80]
National honoursEdit
Decorations and medals
United Kingdom 31 December 2013 Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Officer, Civil Division. Appointed in the 2014 New Years Honours List [81]
ScholasticEdit
England Girton College, Cambridge First-class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Archaeology and Anthropology
Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships
England 31 October 2012–2017 University of Portsmouth Chancellor[82]
England 2012 Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge Honorary Fellowship[83]
England 2016 Newnham College, Cambridge Honorary Fellowship[84]
England 29 January 2019 Girton College, Cambridge Honorary Fellowship[85]
Gave Commencement Address
England 2010 University of Portsmouth Doctor of Letters (D.Litt)
England 2012 York St John University Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) [86]
England 20 July 2012 University of Surrey Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) [87]
England 2016 University of Westminster Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) [88]
England 17 July 2018 University of Leicester Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) [89] Yes [90]
BibliographyEdit
Books for childrenEdit
—— (2017). The End of the Sky. London: Doubleday Childrens. ISBN 978-0-857-53192-6.
—— (2015). A Slice of the Moon. London: Doubleday Childrens. ISBN 978-0-857-53191-9.
—— (2009). Girls Are Best. London: Red Fox. ISBN 978-1-86230-429-1.
—— (2008). The Littlest Viking. London: Yearling. ISBN 978-0-440-86830-9.
—— (2006). Hitlers Canary (in Dutch). Vlaardingen, Holland: Valerius uitgeverij. ISBN 90-78250-02-X.
—— (2005). Hitler's Canary. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-60889-6.
—— (2000). The Troublesome Tooth Fairy. Transworld. ISBN 0-552-54663-1.
—— (2000). Super-Saver Mouse to the Rescue. Transworld. ISBN 0-552-54541-4.
—— (1999). Super-Saver Mouse. Transworld. ISBN 0-552-54540-6.
—— (1998). If I Didn't Have Elbows. Deagosti. ISBN 1-84089-048-7.
—— (1997). Unusual Day. Transworld/Corgi. ISBN 0-552-54539-2.
—— (1994). Tales from the Norse's Mouth. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-40358-6.
Books for adultsEdit
—— (2020). Toksvig's Almanac. Trapeze. ISBN 9781398701632.
—— (2019). Between the Stops: The view of My Life from the Top of the number 12 Bus. Virago. ISBN 978-0-349-00637-6. }
—— (2013). Peas & Queues: The Minefield of Modern Manners. Profile Books. ISBN 978-1781-25032-7.
—— (2012). Valentine Grey. Virago. ISBN 9781844088317.
—— (2012). Heroines & Harridans – A Fanfare of Fabulous Females. The Robson Press. ISBN 978-1849-54-3385.
—— (2006). Melted into Air. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-86117-0.
—— (2003). Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-7515-3328-9.
—— & Nightingale, Sandy (2002). The Travels of Lady Bulldog Burton. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-86007-7.
—— (2001). Flying Under Bridges. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-85635-5.
—— (1999). Whistling for the Elephants. Transworld. ISBN 0-593-04480-0.
——; McCarthy, John (1995). Island Race: an Improbable Voyage Round the Coast of Britain. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37053-X.
Toksvig, Sandi; et al. (1994). Great Journeys of the World. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37050-5.
^ "Toksvig, Sandra Birgitte, (Sandi), (born 3 May 1958), writer and comedian". Who's Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.37818.
^ a b Reporters, Telegraph (1 August 2016). "Sandi Toksvig: 'Coming out was terrifying. We had death threats and had to go into hiding with the children for two weeks'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
^ Ross, Alice (16 March 2017). "Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig to host new Great British Bake Off". The Guardian. London.
^ a b "The Great British Bake Off: Sandi Toksvig to leave after three years". BBC. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^ a b "Curtis Brown". www.curtisbrown.co.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
^ McQuillan, Rebecca (18 October 2013). "Sandi Toksvig minds her manners". The Herald Scotland. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
^ Coleman, Pamela (9 November 2003). "Relative values: Sandi Toksvig and her sister Jeni". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
^ "HOW WE MET". The Independent. 3 September 1995. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
^ "Sandi Toksvig: 'Standing as an MP? I'm not going to say no to anything'". Radio Times. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
^ Toksvig, Sandi (24 January 2013). The Chain Of Curiosity. London, UK: Hachette UK. ISBN 9781405527231. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
^ Tokvsig, Sandi (30 December 2007). "Sandi Toksvig: All the world's backstage". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
^ Press Association (23 January 2012). "Sandi Toksvig becomes chancellor of Portsmouth University". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
^ "QI – Series I – Inequality – British Comedy Guide". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
^ a b c Ginny Dougary (5 December 2009). "Sandi Toksvig on her Christmas cracker". The Times. London, UK. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
^ "Artist Management". Vivienne Clore. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
^ Comedy Store Players Official Site – History -retrieved on 16 May 2008
^ Have I Got News For You episode guide at TV.com — retrieved on 16 May 2008
^ "Radio 4's Excess Baggage to be axed". Wanderlust. 20 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
^ Review of Big Night Out in What's On Stage Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 23 February 2009.
^ "Television graphics around the world". meldrum.co.uk. 29 March 2000. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
^ "Music Event Detail". Retrieved 26 January 2016. [permanent dead link]
^ "Sandi Toksvig on Bully Boy". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
^ "St James Theatre in London's West End opens". BBC News. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
^ O'Donovan, Gerard (25 December 2013). "Call the Midwife, Christmas special, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
^ Walker-Arnott, Ellie (14 December 2013). "Call the Midwife Christmas special — first look preview". Radio Times. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
^ "Sandi Toksvig steps down from Radio 4's News Quiz". BBC News Online. BBC. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
^ a b Topping, Alexandra (30 April 2015). "Sandi Toksvig reveals she quit Radio 4 to set up women's rights political party". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
^ a b Furness, Hannah (30 April 2015). "Sandi Toksvig quit The News Quiz for Women's Equality Party". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
^ a b "Sandi Toksvig". Desert Island Discs. 29 November 2015. 33:10 minutes in. BBC. Radio 4. Retrieved 20 September 2020. saying that newspaper is "fantastic for clothing, it's terrific for insulation" she could catch up on celebrity culture, and "at some point I'm going to need to go to the loo"
^ "Sandy Toksvig's Silver Lining". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
^ "A Podcast of One's Own with Julia Gillard on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
^ "Vox Tox". youtube.com. 21 March 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
^ "Sandi Toksvig interview: The history woman". The Scotsman. 27 November 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
^ Beresford, Lucy (27 September 2012). "Valentine Grey by Sandi Toksvig: review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
^ The Lightening Readers (20 February 2016). "Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvig – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
^ "'Great British Baking Show' Host Sandi Toksvig's Grandparents Were Holocaust Heroes". Kveller. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
^ Daly, Emma (2 April 2014). "Fifteen to One returnos: behind the scenes with Sandi Toksvig". Radio Times. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
^ "Channel 4 Commits to Sandi Toksvig's Fifteen to One". News on News. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
^ a b c Smith, Julia Llewellyn (9 October 2016). "Sandi Toksvig: 'Women support each other in comedy, men worry about the size of their manhoods'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
^ Power, Ed (21 October 2016). "QI Sandi Toksvig triumphs in her first appearance as host". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
^ "Lesbians protest over charity ban". The Independent. 5 October 1994. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
^ "Charity apologises to comic". The Independent. 25 October 1994.
^ David, Smith (November 1994). "Comedian and actress Sandi Toksvig, a well-known face on the popular comedy improvisation TV show, Whose Line is it Anyway, came out as a lesbian in the pages of the Sunday Times and Daily Mirror". Gay Times (194). Millivres. ISSN 0950-6101.
^ "Liberty honours inspirational human rights leaders". liberty-human-rights.org.uk. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
^ "The President". Women of the Year. Archived from the original on 25 January 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
^ "Sandi Toksvig". humanism.org.uk. Humanists UK. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
^ "Sandi Toksvig claims she was groped while broadcasting". BBC News Online. 7 October 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
^ "Sandi Toksvig: 'I was groped on air in the 1980s'". The Guardian. 7 October 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
^ Thorpe, Vanessa; Graham-Harrison, Emma (8 September 2018). "Sandi Toksvig sparks new gender pay row over QI fee". the Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
^ "Toksvig enters chancellor race". BBC News. BBC. 24 February 2003. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
^ Curtis, Polly (17 March 2003). "Patten wins Oxford prize". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
^ "BBC News – Sandi Toksvig made Portsmouth University Chancellor". BBC News. BBC. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
^ "Liberal England: Time for Sandi Toksvig to give up The News Quiz". liberalengland.blogspot.co.uk. Liberal England (blog). 2 February 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
^ "Screen stars join election race". BBC News. BBC. 25 May 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2008. The celebrity bug has bitten the other major parties with the Lib Dems claiming the support of [...] broadcaster Sandi Toksvig.
^ Blake, Heidi. "BBC in decency row over obscene joke by Sandi Toksvig". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
^ "Sandi Toksvig makes Hitler jibe about Nigel Farage - Coffee House". The Spectator. 26 May 2015.
^ Saner, Emine (26 August 2012). "Sandi Toksvig: 'I don't understand boredom'". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
^ Cocozza, Paula (28 August 2015). "Women's Equality party founders: 'It needed doing. So we said, "Let's do it"'". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
^ "Londoner's Diary: Women's party is ready to be a player". London Evening Standard. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
^ Elgot, Jessica (25 May 2015). "Sandi Toksvig: trolls are already out over plans to form Women's Equality party". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
^ Duffy, Nick (29 September 2015). "Sandi Toksvig launches comedy tour to raise funds for new political party". PinkNews. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
^ Nixey, Catherine (29 September 2015). "Sandi Toksvig on swapping The News Quiz for the Women's Equality Party". The Times. News UK. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
^ "Women's Equality Party announces first policies and campaigns". Women's Equality Party. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
^ Minter, Harriet (21 October 2015). "The Women's Equality Party launch is not a moment too soon". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
^ QI XL. Series N;10. Nature/Nurture, BBC. UK Broadcast 30 Dec 2016
^ Kerr, Alison (29 November 2008). "Sandi Toksvig interview: The history woman". The Scotsman. Retrieved 4 Jan 2017
^ a b Wark, Penny (11 October 2002). "I have no secrets". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
^ a b Scott, Caroline (16 December 2007). "A Life in the Day: Sandi Toksvig". The Times. London, UK. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
^ Kerr, Alison (29 November 2008). "Sandi Toksvig interview: The history woman". The Scotsman.
^ Moorhead, Joanna (20 February 2016). "Jesse Toksvig-Stewart: My two mums were trailblazers". the Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
^ Michael Coveney (16 January 2014). "Roger Lloyd Pack obituary | Television & radio". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
^ Rucki, Alexandra (31 December 2013). "Eighteen people make New Year's Honours list in Wandsworth". Wandsworth Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
^ Staff writer (29 March 2014). "Sandi Toksvig renews wedding vows in public event". ITV news. ITV. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
^ "Sandi Toksvig Praises New Gay Marriage Legislation On 'This Morning': 'It's About Love And Equality'". Huffington Post. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
^ "Sandi Toksvig marries partner Debbie in third ceremony: 'Tomorrow, I will love her even more'". The Independent. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
^ Kidd, Patrick (15 August 2013). "Citizen Dane". The Times. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
^ "Behind the scenes at the Channel Four Political Awards". Channel 4 Newsroom Blog. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
^ "2007 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards". Broadcasting Press Guild. 31 December 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
^ "CoScan – Confederation of Scandinavian Societies". www.coscan.org.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
^ "No. 60728". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2013. p. 14.
^ "Sandi Toksvig made Portsmouth University Chancellor". bbc.com. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
^ "Sandi Toksvig | Lucy Cavendish". Lucy Cavendish College - University of Cambridge. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
^ "Honoray Fellows" (PDF). Newnham College - University of Cambridge. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
^ "UK's First College for Women Honours Five Pioneering Alumnae - Girton College". www.girton.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
^ "Honorary Graduates 2012". York St John University. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
^ "Honorary graduates | University of Surrey". University of Surrey. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
^ "Honorary Awards 2016". University of Westminster. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
^ pt91. "Sandi Toksvig OBE — University of Leicester". www2.le.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3zgobFJN4I
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Was Beyoncé publicist Yvette Noel-Schure the only one who didn't see this coming?
Somewhat predictably, kick-started by a removal request and a whole dose of naivety, unflattering photographs of Beyoncé have very quickly become some of the most famous and most-seen images of the singer.
After Beyoncé's Super Bowl XLVII half-time performance in New Orleans on February 3rd 2013, BuzzFeed (an entertainment and news website that also carries celebrity/ gossip pages) published more than thirty images from the singer's performance, highlighting how "fierce" the singer was during the show.
Were some of the photographs, including the one to the left (Ezra Shaw/ Getty Images), unflattering?
Rather than remove the offending images, BuzzFeed quickly published not just the email from Noel-Schure but the unflattering photos under another page/ article titled The "Unflattering" Photos Beyoncé's Publicist Doesn't Want You To See.
BuzzFeed is the type of Internet magazine site that is built around the success of page views, the volume of responses received and the back and forth posts from both fans and critics of a given celebrity or artist.
So rather than comply with the wishes of a celebrity publicist, BuzzFeed rather obviously decided to highlight the photographs in question.
Which, in turn, made the embarrassed Yvette realise when it comes to the Internet, there is Noel-Schure thing.
Then the viral fun started. And with Streisand Effect speed.
(The Streisand Effect is where efforts to hide or remove a piece of information only leads to that information being more widely publicised – it is named after Barbra Streisand, whose attempts in 2003 to suppress photographs of her Malibu residence only assisted in having half the world know where to pop round for a cuppa and a song or three).
Before you could put a ring – sorry, lid – on it, the Beyoncé photographs and backstory were on just about every social media site you care to mention as well as countless gossip sites, blogs, forum pages and reputable news sites including The Telegraph (Getty Images, the famous photo agency responsible for the majority of the published half-time photographs, did remove most – but not all – of the "unflattering" photographs from their website).
The visuals went viral and the photographs have probably been seen by more people than actually watched the Superbowl and its half-time show.
But of course that wasn't the end of it – due to the original "please remove" story behind the photographs and the grimaces/ poses in some of the shots, those with a expertise in Photoshop soon got into the action, adding musculature to the Beyoncé physique or going even further by creating "fierce Beyoncé" shots in different settings.
While I have some sympathy for the plight of Miss Streisand (a genuine living legend, someone who is known to covet her privacy and is more comfortable away from the spotlight than under it), Mrs Knowles-Carter is never more than a PR opportunity away from a video or photo-shoot, award ceremony, discussion on her fashion designs or endorsing various perfumes, famous cosmetic and soft drink brands.
So if you are going to perform at one of the biggest televised events in the United States with a worldwide audience and present your fishnet, lace and leather performance in a flauntive manner, you have to understand that the other side of that choreographed coin – the unflattering photography – comes with the territory.
And let's not forget Beyoncé is arguably the definitive MTV artist with the looks, body, dance routines and a supporting cast that sell her music through the visual medium.
MTV may stand for Music TeleVision, but it's more true to say Music To Visualise.
I prefer the older, seldom heard MTL – Music To Listen to – but each to their own.
I'm no fan of sites such as BuzzFeed, but they originally posted the pictures under the title The 33 Fiercest Moments From Beyoncé's Halftime Show and parts of her routine – the poses, postures and expressions could indeed be labelled "fierce."
I Am… Sasha Fierce is not just the name of Beyoncé's 2008 studio album; it's named after her on-stage alter ego.
Personally, I'm delighted to have had the opportunity to see the photographs as it gave me a chance to see what all the fuss was about, having walked away from the half-time show after about a minute to go and do something more entertaining – like playing some music until the second half started.
I did find the 34 minute power outage (which occurred during the third quarter) quite interesting, however.
But then I watch the Superbowl for the Superbowl, albeit the forty-seventh one of the series gave this Red & Gold fan the Blues. But that would be a whole other Muirsing.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was Superbowl XLVII Most Valuable Player, but Superbowl XLVII Most Valuable Publicity went to Beyoncé.
Because the Superbowl half-time show was, sadly, a perfect example of the sexed-up gloss and little substance 21st century entertainment industry in action.
A comment which guarantees I won't be receiving a Guest Pass for Beyoncé's next World Tour.
Unflattery will get me nowhere, but it got Sasha Fierce around the world and back again.


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text:
Q: How to pass Python doctest with plotting Is there a way or trick to pass doctest, when output is matplotlib object? Doctest framework I also use for examples of code (not only for testing output)
So my problem looks like this:
    plt.plot(grid, pdf); plt.title('Random Normal 1D using Kernel1D.kde function'); plt.grid(); plt.show()
Expected nothing
Got:
    [<matplotlib.lines.Line2D object at 0x00000208BDA8E2B0>]
    Text(0.5, 1.0, 'Random Normal 1D using Kernel1D.kde function')

What I would like to happen, is to pass doctest when I plot anything. Thanks.

A: You can use doctest.ELLIPSIS to make a string match to anything.
Your code will still show problems in the plt.show() if you want to avoid seeing the plots and go directly to the report of the evaluation. For that you can use doctest.SKIP. Check the following example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

def test():
    """
    Code example:

    >>> 1 + 1
    2
    >>> plt.plot([1, 2, 3])
    [...
    >>> plt.show() #doctest: +SKIP
    >>> plt.close()
    """
    pass

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import doctest
    doctest.testmod(verbose=True, optionflags=doctest.ELLIPSIS)

This returns the following report:
Trying:
    1 + 1
Expecting:
    2
ok
Trying:
    plt.plot([1, 2, 3])
Expecting:
    [...
ok
Trying:
    plt.close()
Expecting nothing
ok
1 items had no tests:
    __main__
1 items passed all tests:
   3 tests in __main__.test
3 tests in 2 items.
3 passed and 0 failed.
Test passed.


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text:
Survey: Officers Say U.S. Military Stretched Dangerously Thin
Posted February 20, 2008 at 1:05am
Read the full U.S. Military Index article in Foreign Policy
Here's a very different kind of poll from what we usually report: a survey of 3,437 retired and active military officers, holding ranks of major or lieutenant commander and above, on the state of the U.S. military. The "nonscientific" survey was conducted online Dec. 7, 2007 to Jan. 15, 2008 by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for a New American Security, which describes itself as an independent and nonpartisan research institution.
The topline was that these officers "see a force stretched dangerously thin and a country ill-prepared for the next fight."
Some bullet points:
– Sixty percent of the officers said the U.S. military was weaker today than it was five years ago, and more than half of those cited the demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the reason. Nearly 90 percent believed that the Iraq war had "stretched the U.S. military dangerously thin."
– Asked whether it was reasonable or unreasonable to expect that the U.S. could successfully wage another war at this time if it became necessary, 80 percent answered that it was unreasonable. The officers were also asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, how prepared the U.S. was to fight a major combat operation involving Iran, Syria, North Korea or the Taiwan Straits, and the readiness score for all four averaged 4.8 out of 10.
– The officers were conflicted on the question of torture. Fifty-three percent agreed with the statement "torture is never acceptable" while 44 percent disagreed. On whether waterboarding constituted torture, 46 percent said yes, and 43 percent said no.
– The officers gave very low marks to the decisions on levels of troop staffing at the start of the war and the order to disband the Iraqi military.