text:
Global women empowerment campaigns that set an example
Campaign Spot
Global Samosa
Below are some of the best global women empowerment campaigns we came across, and we're excited to share them with you.
Women empowerment campaigns have been the staple of advertising industry from a very long time now. Nonetheless, very few manage to get it right. There is only one #LikeAGirl campaign and only one #RealBeauty. Very few campaigns or creatives manage to inspire and with the approaching International Woman's Day on March 08, we decided to list them.
Jack Daniel's raised a toast to women across the globe with this powerful tweet on the occasion of International Women's Day.
No caption necessary. pic.twitter.com/5mAo84ACuL
— Jack Daniel's (@JackDaniels_US) March 8, 2017
Mitsubishi's video on the occasion of Women's Day was to change the perspective which people have about women and to highlight that no matter what your gender, passion will always be passion.
Around International Women's Day, Burger King China released a video asking women that will she be the Burger Queen? Women across age groups lacked confidence, when it came to answering the simple question. While, all of them wanted to be the Queen but their answers reflected self depreciating outlook like- 'I am not pretty, I am fat or I am old'.
In honour of International Women's Day, Procter & Gamble (P&G) launched #WeSeeEqual campaign aimed at uncovering gender bias. The video showed men, women, boys and girls defying gender stereotypes.
The video reflects many of the tough, emotional questions women face throughout their lives, set to Joss Stone's "Free Me" especially re-recorded for UBS.
ONE is an international campaigning and advocacy organisation that launched #GirlsCount, a digital campaign demanding education for all girls. Figures from the charity show that 130 million girls are not in school. And because poverty is sexist, girls in the poorest countries are less likely to receive an education compared to boys. The campaign asked the world to count them, one by one. The intension was to show that they stand with every girl who is out of school. And to urge the top leaders to act.
On the occasion of International Women's Day, Ikea Switzerland introduced 2-month paternity leave so that fathers can take care of children and share responsibilities.
The campaign by Dove highlighted women all over the world to prove that beauty is a choice – and the power of this choice is in your hands.
Dove Real Beauty Sketches released in 2013 has till now received 67 million views on YouTube. This powerful campaign explored the gap between how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves.
This powerful campaign released in 2014, was an attempt to keep girls' confidence high during puberty and beyond. The video has till now garnered 65 million views on YouTube.
FCKH8
Little girls between 6 and 13 years-old dressed as pretty pink princesses drop F-bombs to draw attention to society's continued sexism.
On the occasion of International Women's Day, Microsoft India celebrated women inventors, how they've changed the world, and are inspiring the next generation.
My Pale Skin
A young woman known as Em, an ex-model and beauty blogger behind the site My Pale Skin. She posted images of herself without makeup on social media. The following film contains real comments that were left on images of her face.
GoldieBlox
GoldieBlox, a toy company released their campaign to show the world that girls deserve more choices than dolls and princesses.
Also Read: Some of the most outstanding women empowerment campaigns of all times
Let us know which is your favourite International Women's Day brand campaign of all times. You can write to us at team@socialsamosa.com or let us know in the comments below.
Tata Trusts raises awareness about waste segregation with #TwoBinsLifeWins
Budweiser partners with Sergio Ramos in their latest 'Be A King' Campaign
Mumbai Police campaign promotes self-policing for social distancing
Paytm campaign leverages content creators' reach to talk about easy services
TOI's Mask India empowers citizens to be Corona warriors
Revisiting iconic Amitabh Bachchan campaigns on the Shehenshah's B'Day
Akshay Kumar leaves no stone unturned in Pad Man's movie marketing
Platform Feature: YourQuote - An App That Makes You Write
Think Social
Yashraj Mukhate's new track shows love for KFC Chizza on its comeback
Brand heads in ads: CxOs who charmed with their screen presence
Imperial Blue Packaged Drinking Water launched a personalized New Year's campaign
Star Sports new ad advocates for recognition of Women In Blue before ICC Women's T20 World Cup
Republic Day campaigns 2023: Brands celebrate the spirit of unity
DDB NZ and FINCH aim to correct the internet's bias against women in sports
This viral La Vie Billboard unites religions to promote veganism
The latest McDonald's UK campaign raises eyebrows


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\section{Introduction}

More than a decade ago, the collaboration operating the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) released their first catalog based only on three months of gamma-ray observations \citep{0FGL}. One of the sources was listed as 0FGL J1848.6$-$0138, whose nature remained unknown. In spite of its large 95\% confidence error radius of $\sim 10$ arcmin, some of the present authors were the first to notice \citep{2009LuqueG01} that the gamma-ray emission coming from this region of the sky could be attributed to the highly absorbed globular cluster GLIMPSE-C01  \citep[hereafter G01;][]{2005Kobulnicky}, located at a distance of few kpc, ranging from $4.2$ kpc \citep{2016Davidge} to $5.0$ kpc, \citep{2011Davies}. Its mass has been estimated to be $2.81 \times 10^4$ M$_\odot$, while its age seems to lie between 0.3 and 2 Gyr \citep{2011Davies, 2018Hare}, which could suggest that G01 is an intermediate-age stellar cluster instead of a typical, older globular one. Nowadays, the same gamma-ray source appears in the more recent Fermi LAT catalog \citep{2022_4FGLDR3} as 4FGL J1848.7--0129\, with a much smaller ellipse error of $\sim 2$ arcmin after more than 12 years of observations. The globular cluster association has received increased reliability, with the G01 position being well coincident with the gamma-ray emission, and so it appears in the catalog. The high-energy photons coming from G01 could be collectively produced by a population of millisecond radio pulsars (MSPs) inside the cluster through injection of relativistic leptons into the medium either from their inner magnetospheres or accelerated in the shocks created by the collision of individual pulsar winds \citep{2009LuqueG01, 1993tavani}. Moreover, G01 has been used to study the gamma-ray MSP population of globular clusters in order to explain the GeV excess observed from the region surrounding the Galactic Center  by \cite{2016Hooper} and, more recently, by \cite{2022Wu}, who estimate 1-6 MSPs inside G01.

However, in the recent past there has been much activity in the astrophysical community related to G01. On December 2020 the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) discovered the new X-ray transient MAXI J1848--015 \citep{2020ATel14282}, which was subsequently detected by NuSTAR \citep{2020ATel14290,2022Pike} and, with an improved position, by Swift \citep{2021ATel14420}, NICER \citep{2021ATel14429}, MeerKAT \citep{2021ATel14432} and Chandra \citep{2021ATel14499, 2021ATel14424}. Thus, MAXI J1848--015 seems to be located in the core of G01, with no coincidence with known archival sources.

All these findings prompted us to revisit the gamma-ray association between 4FGL J1848.7--0129\ and G01, taking into account all the multi-wavelength data available up to now. As a result, here we propose a new likely non-thermal radio emitter, coincident with the Fermi error ellipse and a X-ray Chandra point source, that could be contributing to the gamma-ray emission.
As illustrated in the following sections, this previously unreported object seems to be a member of the so-called blazars, a radio-loud subclass of active galactic nuclei that host relativistic jets closely aligned with our line of sight \citep{1995Urry}. They are characterized by strong non-thermal radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and in particular in gamma-rays, with fluxes expected to be between $6\times 10^{-10}$ and $2\times 10^{-6}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ sec$^{-1}$ in the $0.1-100$ GeV range in Fermi blazars \citep[i.e.][]{2015singal}. Blazars also exhibit strong variability at different timescales and wavebands, believed to be a result of relativistic motion of non-thermal plasma along the jet, which dominates the blazar emission due to relativistic beaming because of its particular orientation \citep{1995Urry}. The multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) of a blazar exhibits a typical double hump structure. The low-energy bump peaks at radio-to-X-rays and is believed to be formed by synchrotron mechanism. On the other hand, high-energy bump peaks in the gamma-ray band and is usually explained in terms of inverse Compton process \citep[in a leptonic radiative model,][]{2019vdB} or hadronic processes \citep[\textit{e.g.},][]{2015petro}.

\section{Observations}

We have reanalysed archival observations at different waveleghts (see Table\ref{tab:obs}). Next, we show the corresponding results.

\begin{table}
\caption{Observations data log.}
\label{tab:obs}
\begin{tabular}{lccc}
\hline
    & Observatory / Inst. & ObsID. & Date\\
\hline
Radio (150 MHz) & GMRT & TGSS &15/03/2016\\
Radio (333 MHz) & MAGPIS &  & 02/09/2001\\
Radio (1400 MHz) & MAGPIS & & 25/04/2007\\
X-ray (0.5-7.0 keV) & Chandra ACIS-S & 6587 & 15/08/2006\\
 & Chandra / ACIS-I & 21641 & 23/06/2019\\
 & Chandra / ACIS-I & 21642 & 28/06/2020\\
 & Chandra / ACIS-I & 21643 & 14/07/2020\\
 & Chandra / ACIS-I & 21644 & 08/08/2020\\
 & Chandra / ACIS-I & 21645 & 05/08/2020\\
$\gamma$-ray (0.1-500 GeV) & Fermi - LAT &   & 04/08/2008 to\\
                               &             &   & 28/03/2022\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\subsection{Radio data}

\cite{2005Kobulnicky} first analyzed the NRAO VLA Sky Survey \citep[NVSS,][]{1998AJ....115.1693C} radio data coming from G01 region. A marginal and extended detection with an integrated flux density of $20.5 \pm 3.6$ mJy at 20 cm was coincident with the cluster. The present authors recalibrated the Very Large Array (VLA) archive 20 cm data available in B array configuration in order to obtain a higher angular resolution radio map. As a result, no compact radio sources were detected above four times the root mean-square noise of $0.25$ mJy beam$^{-1}$, thus concluding that radio emission was intrinsically extended or produced by the combined effect of faint point-like radio sources \citep{2009LuqueG01}.
The Galactic Plane radio emission at so low latitudes often renders  difficult to disentangle weak and confused radio sources.
This circumstance prompted us to inspect other newer interferometric radio surveys that also cover G01 field of view but with improved angular
resolution. An unexpected finding appeared when using the
First Alternative Data Release TGSS ADR1 of the
Giant Metre Radio Telescope (GMRT) 150 MHz All-sky Radio Survey \citep{2017A&A...598A..78I}. Here, a conspicuous low-frequency radio source
 stands out inside the 95 \% confidence ellipse of the gamma-ray source 4FGL J1848.7-0129  currently associated with G01 (see Fig. \ref{GMRT}).

 The J2000.0 coordinates of the radio peak
 position correspond to RA = 18:48:48.23 and DEC = -1:29:57.6, with an estimated uncertainty of 2.6 arc-second in each coordinate.
 This location is offset from the cluster core by almost half arc-minute, thus not being coincident with
 the recently reported MeerKAT point-like radio source associated to MAXI J1848-013  \citep{2021ATel14432}.
 The GMRT 150 MHz peak flux density is $74 \pm 7$ mJy while the total flux density rises to $110 \pm 24$ mJy, thus showing that our new radio
 source is clearly extended. This is also seen in Fig. \ref{GMRT} where the GMRT object appears elongated roughly in the East-West direction.
 The fact that this source was missed in the associated GMRT survey catalog is probably due to its signal-to-noise ratio (${\rm SNR} \sim 10$)
 being not far from the conservative threshold chosen by its authors.

 Another improved radio view of the G01 region is provided by the
 Multi-Array Galactic Plane Imaging Survey (MAGPIS) as described in \citet{2006AJ....131.2525H}. Hints of emission at the $\sim 0.1$ Jy level are present in the MAGPIS maps at the 90 cm wavelength close to the GMRT radio source position, while at the 20 cm wavelength no obvious MAGPIS detection is present at the GMRT source position with a $4\sigma$ upper limit of 5.8 mJy. However, a weak emission at 20 cm in MAGPIS seems to be coincident with the East-West elongated feature in GMRT map. This limb of radio emission might be associated with MAXI J1848-015 or diffuse radio emission from the cluster.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=8.0cm, angle=0]{GMRT_fig.pdf}
\caption{   \label{GMRT}  Radio emission present in the GMRT 150 MHz All-sky Radio Survey towards the
gamma-ray source  4FGL J1848.7-0129 whose 95\% confidence ellipse is also plotted.
The contours shown correspond to -3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 times 7 mJy beam$^{-1}$, the rms noise.
The small bottom left ellipse illustrates the GMRT clean restoring beam of $27\times 25$ arcsec$^2$, with position angle of $0^{\circ}$.

\end{figure}

\subsection{X-ray data}

\cite{2007Pooley} studied Chandra data from G01 using a single 46 ksec  ACIS observation. They report 17  point-like sources inside the 36 arcmin radius half-light of the cluster, which are related to a mixture of cataclysmic variables, quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXB), and MSPs, among other objects.

To obtain a more precise detection and analysis of this X-ray source, we use a complete set of 7 ACIS observations (ObsId. 6587, 21641, 21642, 21643, 21644, 21645, and 21646) that leads to a total of exposure 288.87 ksec, more than six times deeper than \cite{2007Pooley} study.
The last provided CIAO 4.14 version and the CALDB 4.9.6 set of calibration files were used. When applying the CIAO \textit{wavdetect} task for source detection in the entire 0.5–8.0 keV broadband, we detected 30 X-ray point sources on a restricted field of view of 3.9$\times$3.5 arcmin$^2$ side centered at the G01 position.

One of these X-ray sources deserves special attention. It is the one labeled as X6 in our survey (see Fig. \ref{fig:Chandra}), which is remarkably coincident with source X17 in Pooley et al paper. Its location is RA = 18:48:48.20 and DEC = -1:29:58.7 J2000.0, with an uncertainty of 0.3 arc-second in each coordinate. Therefore, it is consistent with the peak of the GMRT radio emission (see Fig. \ref{fig:Chandra}), while it is not coincident with MAXI J1848-015. In fact, in this figure we can see that our X18 source is the same than that associated with MAXI J1848-015 in Chandra  \citep{2021ATel14424} and MeerKAT \citep{2021ATel14432}. X6 has 16 X-ray photons from the stacked observations, which imposes a statistical limit for an X-ray spectral fitting. However, for our analysis, we will take advantage of the results of \cite{2016BAlbacete}, who use Chandra Acis Montecarlo Photon Estimator Recipe (Camper)\footnote{ess: http://camper.lia.unrn.edu.ar} routine to perform a statistical assessment of the X-ray spectral fitting procedure.
We simulated a 16 photons spectrum and used a non-thermal absorbed model (TBABS $\times$ PO) from \citet{2011Arnaud}. If the source were located in the Galaxy, we can take as a lower limit for the neutral absorption column of Hydrogen the value from \citet{2007Pooley} N$_{\rm H}$ = 2.7$\times$10$^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$. On the other hand, an upper limit for this parameter could be obtained if we take into account that the source is a blazar without optical counterparts (see Section 2.4) but detected in X-rays,
where N$_{\rm H}$ < 1.5$\times$10$^{24}$ cm$^{-2}$ for redshifts ($z$) < 0.5 \citep{2012Mateos}. Therefore, a value 4 or 5 times that adopted in \citet{2007Pooley}, such as N$_{\rm H}$ = 10$^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$, could be a reasonable assumption for our object. To fine-tune this, we can use an spectral model. As no infrared counterpart is observed (see Section 2.4), we assume the blazar to be a Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasar (FSRQ) source with X-ray emission well described by a non-thermal spectrum dominated by jet synchrotron emission \citep{2008Landt}. So, we assume a power-law emission model of index $\Gamma \simeq 2.0$ to simulate the X-ray spectrum with 16 photons. As a result, we get log(N$_{\rm H}$)=22.9($\pm$0.3), $\Gamma$=2.2($\pm$0.5), with a normalization of 2.1$\times$10$^{-6}$ in cm$^{-5}$. The corresponding corrected absorbed flux for the 2.0 to 10.0 keV energy range is log(Flux) = -13.98 ($\pm$ 0.15) erg\,s$^{-1}$\,cm$^{-2}$.

\noindent

\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width = \linewidth]{fig2-coords_new_2rad.pdf}
\caption{The full X-ray band is coded in color so that soft [0.5 – 1.2] keV emission appears in red, and medium [1.2 – 2.5] keV in green, while hard [2.5 – 8.0] keV emission appears in blue. The GLIMPSE-C01 lie inside the 4FGL $\gamma$-ray source ellipses (blue) and our own analysis of the Fermi observation (cyan). Red contours represent the GMRT radio data at 150 MHz.  White and yellow dashed-circle means the 36" and 14.5" effective radius of the cluster in X-rays \citep{2007Pooley} and in the infrared \citep{2011Davies}, respectively.}
\label{fig:Chandra}
\end{figure}

In order to test the variability of the source we have built a light-curve based on the precise count-rate of \textit{Chandra} (see Fig. \ref{fig:LATlc}).
Finally, we have also sought for more X-ray data in different observatories. We found that NuSTAR has detected \citep{2020ATel14290} a source which has been related to the X-ray transient MAXI J1848--015 \citep{2020ATel14282,2022Pike}. This NuSTAR emitter is far from our Chandra X6 source and will not be taken into account in our discussion.

\subsection{Gamma-ray data}

We also revisited the LAT data towards 4FGL J1848.7-0129 for a region of $15\degr{}$ radius centered at RA = 18:48:48.0 and DEC = -1:30:00.0. We employed all LAT {\sc SOURCE}-quality events recorded after more than 13 years of data taking (from August 4, 2008, to March 28, 2022) at energies from 100 MeV to 500 GeV with 90$\degr{}$ of maximum zenith angle (to prevent contamination from Earth limb events). We then analyzed the LAT data applying the joint likelihood fitting method provided by the \textsc{fermipy} \textsc{python} package  \citep[version 1.0.1, built upon the \textsc{Fermi Science Tools};][]{2017ICRC...35..824W}.
The model fitted to data includes all the LAT sources listed in the Fermi-LAT Fourth Source Catalog \citep[4FGL;][]{Abdollahi_2020} in $20\degr{}$ radius around the reference position above, plus the Galactic and extra-galactic diffuse gamma-ray components described with the most recent version of the Galactic (gll\_iem\_v07) and isotropic (iso\_P8R3\_SOURCE\_V3\_v1) diffuse emission models. We evaluated the LAT instrument's response with the version P8R3\_SOURCE\_V2 of the instrument response functions, applying the energy dispersion correction to all sources except for the isotropic diffuse emission. The model's free parameters are; (1) the normalization parameter of all sources with a detection significance above 3$\sigma$ ($\sqrt{\rm TS} > 3$), (2) all spectral parameters regarding the sources in $5\degr{}$ radius around the source's reference position, and (3) the isotropic (norm) and Galactic (norm and tilt) diffuse emission parameters. Lastly, we estimated the systematic uncertainties due to the LAT effective area and the diffuse Galactic model.

The LAT source 4FGL J1848.7-0129 was located (as point-like), with large detection significance ($\sqrt{\rm TS} \approx 30$), at the position RA = 18:48:51.36 $\pm$ 28.8$^{\prime\prime}_{\rm stat}$ $\pm$ 30.3$^{\prime\prime}_{\rm sys}$ and DEC = -1:30:36.0 $\pm$ 32.4$^{\prime\prime}_{\rm stat}$ $\pm$ 21.1$^{\prime\prime}_{\rm sys}$. We compared the best-fit Gaussian and radial disk source hypotheses with the point-like assumption through the likelihood ratio test, resulting in no significant evidence of extended emission. The spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source was modeled with a log-parabola function ($dN/dE = N_{0} \times (E/E_{\rm ref})^{-(\alpha +\beta \log (E/E_{\rm ref}))}$), commonly used to characterize blazar spectra at high-energy gamma-rays, for 13 energy bins spanning from 100 MeV to 500 GeV. The model's parameters that best represent data consist of; $N_{0} = (8.73 \pm 0.30_{\rm stat} \pm 0.45_{\rm sys}) \times 10^{-13}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ MeV$^{-1}$ referenced at $2.91$ GeV, $\alpha = 2.53 \pm 0.03_{\rm stat} \pm 0.06_{\rm sys}$, and $\beta = 0.33 \pm 0.02_{\rm stat} \pm 0.08_{\rm sys}$.

\cite{2016Hooper} and \cite{2022Wu} studied the LAT data towards G01 to quantify the high-energy contribution of its MSPs, assuming that the gamma-ray emission exhibits an exponentially cutoff power-law spectral shape (typical of MSPs). \cite{2021Song} found that globular clusters spectra can be better resolved into an exponentially cutoff power-law together with a pure power-law model, which is most naturally interpreted as inverse Compton emission by cosmic-ray electrons and positrons injected by MSPs. To probe this scenario, we fitted an exponentially cutoff power-law model to the LAT data examined, resulting in cutoff energy of $4.19 \pm 0.15_{\rm stat} \pm 0.34_{\rm sys}$ GeV. However, it does not improve the log-parabola fit detailed above (at energies between 100 MeV and 10 GeV), according to the Akaike's Criterion \citep[as we get AIC$_{\rm LP}$ - AIC$_{\rm ECPL}=-6.5 < 0 $;][]{Akaike1973InformationTA,1100705}.

\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[angle=0,width = \linewidth]{lc-ks3.png}
\caption{Left: Long-term 100 MeV to 500 GeV $\gamma$-ray light curve of 4FGL J1848.7-0129 as extracted from the 4FGL second release. The time bin-size is of one year long. The inner-left panel shows the X-ray light curve at a shorter time scale. Both line-dotted lines indicate the median values of 5.28$\times$10$^{-8}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ and 0.21$\times$10$^{-3}$ photons s$^{-1}$ for the $\gamma$ and X-ray, respectively. Note: Labels over X-ray symbols refers to the observation Id. numbers of the Chandra data. Error bars are smaller than the symbol. }
\label{fig:LATlc}
\end{figure}

The variability of the LAT source was studied in timescales ranging from four months to three years by computing its light curve with time bins of various sizes (see Fig. \ref{fig:LATlc}). The smallest binning used is that in which the average source's detection significance for the different time bins is $\sim 5\sigma$.

\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[angle=0,width=9cm, angle=0]{HST.png}
\caption{Tri-chromatic view of G01 GMRT radio peak position, and Chandra X-rays X6 source position, as observed with the Hubble Space Telescope WFC3. The red, green and blue layers correspond to the F153M, F139M and F127 M filters, respectively.}
\label{fig:HST}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Archival optical/infrared data}
Although we expect a very intense extinction, we seeked for optical/infrared counterparts of our X6 X-ray point source.  We retrieved the archival Hubble data obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) previously reported by \citep{2018Hare} in quest for possible counterparts for further supporting the later discussion. Astrometry has been linked to the Gaia EDR3 reference stars. These Hubble product also come with photometric calibration available in the header of the fits files. At the Hubble WFC3 wavelengths (12.7, 13.8 and 15.3 $\mu$), the corrections for Galactic interstellar absorption assuming the \citet{2007Pooley} $N_H$ value is almost negligible ($\sim 0.02$ magnitudes or less). As a result, no infrared counterparts are apparent in the position of the X6 source (see Fig \ref{fig:HST}). The same is true when inspecting the optical bands of the $2^{nd}$ Digitized Sky Survey (DSS2) catalogue.

\section{Discussion}
We first stress the coincidence between the X-ray source X6 and the peak of GMRT radio emission. The offset between the respective coordinates is within the astrometric error at the arc-second level. Therefore we proceed under the assumption that both sources are the same object. No infrared counterpart is detected (see Fig. \ref{fig:HST}), and this is likely due to the strong absorption towards this direction as suggested by the X-ray measurements.

In order to constraint the radio spectral index, we assume constant flux densities for the newly reported source, and a power law spectrum (with flux $f_\nu \propto \nu^{-\alpha}$). As a result, from the MAGPIS 90 cm and GMRT maps we roughly estimate an almost flat spectral index $\alpha \simeq 0.0$, which is in accordance to the typical average value at radio band emission in blazars \citep{Abdo2010_SED}. If we take into account the lack of detection in MAGPIS 20 cm maps, we get a significantly high $\alpha \geq 1.1$, which suggests that the constant flux density assumption is possibly not applying, and the source is variable in radio and lying in a low state at the time of the MAGPIS 20 cm observation.

This hint of variability is reinforced if we analyze the high-energy light curves of our candidate. We will use a common one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test to compare the observed data with a uniform distribution, which does not depend neither on the binning nor on the size of the sample \citep[see, \textit{i.e.}, ][]{1990Daniel:ch8.2}. According to this test, in the X-ray domain  we get a p-value $p_{KS,X} \simeq 0.013$, which means that the source is not constant with a $98.7\%$ probability. This value is high enough to assure the transient nature of the observed X-ray flux with statistical significance, albeit the scarcity of the sample, The X-ray variability seems to be visually confirmed in the lightcurve in Figure \ref{fig:LATlc}, although we take it with due caution.  In the gamma-ray lightcurve the KS test results in a p-value $p_{KS,\gamma} \simeq 0.31$, which cannot let us to reject the null hypothesis of a constant source with a high significance. However, this implies that the $70\%$ probability of the observed fluxes come from a variable emitter, which is not negligible. Therefore, in order to obtain an independent evidence of variability for LAT data, for each gamma-ray lightcurve we computed the \textit{normalized excess variance} quantity \citep{2003MNRAS.345.1271V} that is commonly used to estimate the variability amplitude in AGN gamma-ray light curves \citep[see, e.g.,][]{2010ApJ...722..520A, 2020A&A...634A..80R}. It is defined as $\sigma_{NXS}^{2} = (S^{2} - \langle\sigma_{err}^{2}\rangle)/\langle F \rangle^{2}$, where $S^{2}$ stands for the light curve's variance, $\langle F \rangle$ for its average, and $\sigma_{err}^{2} = \sigma_{\rm stat}^{2} + \sigma_{\rm sys}^{2}$ are the systematical and statistical errors added in quadrature (we used $\sigma_{\rm sys} = 0.03\times \langle F \rangle$). However, we obtained near zero, but not positive values for $\sigma_{NXS}^{2}$ for all the cases, indicating either very little variability in monthly or yearly timescales or slightly overestimated errors. The latter is likely our case (as apparent in Fig. \ref{fig:LATlc}), given the large errors obtained with $\sigma_{i}/F_{i} \gtrsim 0.4$ in most bins.  In any case, this lack of remarkable variability in blazars in gamma-rays is not surprising. The Fermi 4FGL DR3 catalog \citep{2022_4FGLDR3} contains 1410 sources labeled as 'bll', $i.e$, cataloged as blazars, from which only 504 (36\%) have a variability index with significance over 99\%. From the remaining 906 sources, there is not a well-defined fractional variability index in 272 (26\%), so we can conclude that a neat variability is not always evidenced at these energies.

Although with due caution, we  suspect that we are dealing with a highly obscured blazar source.
This is relevant because it opens a new perspective towards the identification of 4FGL J1848.7--0129\ that could be even completely unrelated to G01 as is widely accepted.

In an attempt to better characterize the agreement of the newly proposed blazar with its expected SED, we have assembled all the available multi-wavelength flux densities measurements in Fig. \ref{fig:SED}. We tried to fit the SED points based on the \citet{2017Paiano} approach to unveil blazars among multi-wavelength counterparts of Fermi unassociated sources, adapted for monochromatic flux as a function of frequency \citep[see][]{2020Marti}.
Despite the scarcity of data and its lack of simultaneity, we see here that the consistency with the typical two-bump SED appearance seems plausible for a FSRQs. The MAGPIS 20 cm point is not appearing in the graphic because it does not follow the SED trend, which reinforces our previously suspicions of variability. A common spectral index $\alpha = 0.50 \pm 0.01$ for both synchrotron and Compton bumps resulted from the fit.

The blazar FSRQ hypothesis may be tested if we try to apply a classification method based on broad-band effective spectral indices, defined as $\alpha_{12}=-\frac{\log(f_2)-\log(f_2)}{\log(\nu_2)-\log(\nu_2)}$, where $f_1$ and $f_2$ are flux densities at $\nu_1$ and $\nu_2$, respectively. Following the work of \citet{2021Ouyang}, three energy bands are considered (radio at 5 GHz, optical at 5100 \AA, and X-ray at 1 keV) to calculate two effective spectral indices ($\alpha_{ro} = 1.3$ and $\alpha_{ox}=0.9$), converting the observed data to those wavelengths by assuming power laws with canonical empirical effective spectral indices for radio, optical and X-rays \citep[as, for instance, in ][]{Abdo2010_SED}. As in our case the optical data is only a limit, so will be the corresponding $\alpha_{ro}$ and $\alpha_{ox}$. In spite of that, the classification of the source according to the criteria in \citet{2021Ouyang} is always a FSRQ.

\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[angle=0,width=8cm, angle=0]{SED.png}
\caption{Spectral Energy Distribution for the proposed blazar. Tentative fit with typical double bump is shown.}
\label{fig:SED}
\end{figure}
A further consistency check to our blazar hypothesis comes from energetic considerations. The observed gamma-ray flux in the Fermi band ($50$ MeV $- 1$ TeV) is $4.22 \times 10^{-8}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ for 4FGL J1848.7--0129. The modeled log-parabola SED of this source gives a reference energy of $E_{ref} = (2.91 \pm 0.04) \times 10^{3}$
MeV, so the gamma-ray flux may be expressed as $F_\gamma = (1.97 \pm 0.03) \times 10^{-10}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. If we now assume a luminosity for 4FGL J1848.7--0129\ of the order of the mean luminosity of bright Fermi blazars \citep[$1.38 \times 10^{47}$ erg s$^{-1}$, see][]{2010Ghisellini}, we obtain a luminosity distance of about $2420$ Mpc. Taking a Hubble constant of $H_0 = 69.6$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, and assuming a flat Universe with $\Omega_{vac} = 0.714$, this luminosity distance is equivalent to a redshift $z \simeq 0.43$, which seems plausible \citep[\textit{e.g.}][]{2015arsioli, 2021Ouyang}.
At this distance the K-corrected X-ray luminosity, using a typical FSRQ spectral index $\alpha = -0.78$ \citep{2021Ouyang},
is $6.8 \times 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ for the narrow 2 \textendash 10 keV  range, while for radio, with a flat spectral index, we get $4.9 \times 10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$. These values seem to be compatible with those of blazars \citep[\textit{e.g.}][]{2020Costamante}. If, on the other hand, our source were an isolated MSP inside G01 at 5 kpc, its corresponding X-ray and radio luminosities were $3.1 \times 10^{31}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and $1.1 \times 10^{30}$ erg s$^{-1}$ \citep[assuming a typical radio spectral index of $\alpha = 1.4$, ][]{2004lorimer, 2013bates}, respectively. While the first one may be reasonable for an MSP \citep{Lee_2018}, the radio luminosity is a bit higher than the mean one for this kind of sources \citep{2014Szary}. This seems to be against the MSP nature of our X6 source, especially if we take into account that, as was pointed out before, the observed radio spectral index is flat instead of a steep value. Moreover, it is very difficult to explain the observed hints of long time-scale variability for an isolated, old MSP with no expected accretion winds.
Therefore, all the observational evidences taken together tip the scale in favor of the extragalactic origin of our source.

\section{Conclusions}
Here we have presented a plausible blazar coincident with 4FGL J1848.7--0129\ that may be contributing to its gamma-ray emission, thus proposing an alternative nature for this source. To reveal if this is the only high-energy emitter or if 4FGL J1848.7--0129\ is the result of a collective contribution is out of the scope of this paper.
Future X-ray, gamma-ray and radio observations will hopefully be able to proof some sort of correlated variability that unambiguously associates all emissions with a common origin.
Assuming that our alternative identification is correct, the number of MSP in G01 as estimated by \citet{2022Wu}, or their particle acceleration efficiency, would need to be reduced.

\section*{Acknowledgements}

JAC and JFAC are CONICET researchers. JAC is a Mar\'ia Zambrano researcher fellow funded by the European Union -NextGenerationEU-  (UJAR02MZ). JAC and JFAC  acknowledge support by PIP 0113 (CONICET) and PICT-2017-2865 (ANPCyT). PLLE, JM, EM and JAC were also supported by grant PID2019-105510GB-C32/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 from the Agencia Estatal de Investigaci\'on of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci\'on y Universidades, and by Consejer\'ia de Econom\'ia, Innovaci\'on, Ciencia y Empleo of Junta de Andaluc\'ia as research group FQM- 322, as well as FEDER funds.

\section*{Data Availability}

All data used in this work is public, and available in their respective databases.

\bibliographystyle{mnras}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Лайка може да означава:
 Лайка, тревисто растение
 Лайка (порода), порода кучета
 Лайка (куче), кучето, летяло в космоса на борда на "Спутник 2"
 Лайка (филмово студио), американско студио за анимационни филми
 Лайка Камера, германски производител на фотоапарати и друга оптична техника

Вижте също
 Лаика, популярен стил в гръцката музика

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


An exciting and fast paced role that would suit finance professional looking to grow and develop their skill set and knowledge in the capacity of a Management Accountant at this large not for profit and charities. Within this role the Management Accountant will be responsible for the budgeting and subsequent analysis to be shared with the wider finance team and business.
An established and busy not for profit and charities institution operating from fantastic facilities in Cambridge looking to add to their diverse and knowledgeable team. The team are extremely driven and ambitious and the successful candidate for the Management Accountant position will be making a fantastic career step.
The successful candidate will be making a fantastic career move in which they will add considerably to their knowledge and skill set which will lead to progression opportunities with this not for profit and charities institution in Cambridge. The successful candidate will also receive a competitive salary as well as a wide ranging benefits and parking, an added bonus in Cambridge.


text:
Big Sky Big Grass Festival Returns to Big Sky Resort in 2022
It will be the 14th annual Big Sky Big Grass Festival, happening March 31st through April 3rd. Keller Williams, Sam Bush Band, The Travelin' McCoury's and more will headline at Big Sky Resort.
Bastille Announces 2022 Montana Tour Date: Kettlehouse Amphitheater
Plan ahead for Wednesday, May 25th because you might need a day off to go see Bastille at the Kettlehouse Amphitheater in Bonner.
Big Head Todd & The Monsters THIS SATURDAY at Bozeman's The ELM
The Saturday is going to be a happening, danceable, singalong at The ELM on North 7th Avenue as Big Head Todd and the Monsters return to Bozeman.
12 Fun Bozeman Area Events Worthy of Your Time This Weekend
Comedy classes. Crafting classes. Live music. Dancing classes. Kids groups. Sauna sessions. Cornhole and a chili cook-off.
Popular Stand Up Comedian Will Bring Big Laughs to Big Sky
Roy Wood Jr. is performing in Big Sky on Saturday!
January 14th: Tedeschi Trucks at Bozeman's Armory Music Hall to Benefit HAVEN
Downtown Bozeman will be a hub of good vibes on Friday, January 14th as Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks perform "Fireside Live" to benefit Bozeman's HAVEN. If you love incredibly good music in an intimate setting for an excellent cause, THIS is the show for you.
Adiós 2021: Bozeman Area New Year's Eve Parties, Music and Events
Costumes, comedy, open bars and bluegrass. New Year's Eve around the Gallatin Valley is providing lots of options for fun...high-end OR on a budget!
Chrissie Hynde Performs the Music of Bob Dylan: Review
Sunday's streamed performance also included covers of Ray Davies, Hoagy Carmichael and Pretenders originals.
Kitchen Dwellers to Ring in New Year at The ELM: 2 Night Stand in Bozeman
NEW YEARS EVE SHOW IS SOLD OUT! If you need a good dose of excellent bluegrass, look no further than The ELM on North 7th Avenue in Bozeman as the Kitchen Dwellers will be there on December 30th and 31st.
Foo Fighters, Miley Cyrus + The Strokes Lead 2022 Lollapalooza Chile Lineup
See who all will be playing at the new festival location.
Foo Fighters Cancel Appearance at Formula 1 Race in Abu Dhabi Over 'Unforeseen Medical Circumstances'
We hope everything is okay.
Santana Making 2022 Tour Stop in Missoula, Montana
Very few musicians have been able to impress crowds for over 50 years. Carlos Santana is one of the most talented artists on the planet and he's coming to Missoula's Adams Center on April 4th, 2022.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This perennial originates from China, where they have been cultivated for over 2,500 years. Chrysanthemums were used medicinally and for flavoring, as well as for ornamental purposes. Notably, the Japanese have adopted chrysanthemums and used them in their art as a symbol of longevity and happiness.
There is a gleam of white and gold.
The white of winter's cold.
For this project, I wanted to share with you how I color and shade white cardstock to get the most natural looking flowers – which is what I'm known for.
Die cut a tag from Els van de Burgt Studio's Tags & More 6/Sparkle; mine is 4 1/4" x 7" and I used 80lb. glossy black cardstock. Cut a rectangle 4" x 5 1/2" from patterned paper of choice. I used a photo I took of a project I did with chrysanthemumsms and Soft Finish Cardstock (I converted a photo of the project with a watercolor filter using an app (Waterlogue) on my iPad). Next, die cut the chrysanthemum pieces with Soft Finish cardstock.
Place chrysanthemum pieces on a non-stick sheet. Use Copic markers to color and PanPastels to shade. Use R59 for the darkest shade toward the center of the claret-colored flower. Use R37 for the remaining petal.
Use YR15 and Y38 for the deep yellow flower, but add PanPastel Permanent Red Extra Dark for this variety.
Finally, simply shade white cardstock with PanPastel Bright Yellow Green in the center. Die cut the center petal (the one I roll up) in a bright green cardstock.
Die cut the leaves in a medium green cardstock. Shade the edges with Distress Ink/Crushed Olive and highlight the stem with the PanPastel Bright Yellow Green. Shape on the Leaf Pad, using the Leaf Tool. Dip the stem end into glue and set them in place under the flowers you've added to your project.
I decided to put the tag on a wine bottle package that I'm bringing to friend's house for Thanksgiving. So, I die cut Quietfire Design's 'Thanks' in the same glossy black cardstock that I used for the tag.
What a wonderful tutorial. Wish you could add a Pinterest button to the photos so I could easily pin it.
I love the patterned paper hole reinforcement on the tag. This is a beutiful project down to the last little detail.
Great tutorial Susan they are just beautiful!
Amazing! Can't tell the difference between the cardstock flowers and the real ones! GORGEOUS, as usual!


text:
In der Liste kurzlebiger Gemeinden in Deutschland werden die Gemeinden auf dem Gebiet des heutigen Staates Deutschland gelistet, die bis zu fünf Jahre lang existiert haben.

Die Gemeinden werden in der Reihenfolge der Dauer ihrer Existenz gelistet. Umbenennungen ohne eine gleichzeitige Änderung des Gemeindegebiets durch einen Zusammenschluss werden nicht berücksichtigt.

Liste

Gemeinden #kurzlebig


Keeping homes warm with high quality outdoor wood furnaces since 1991.
Check out our specials in the box below!
For Sale.This is a brand-new NS-250 Northland Outdoor Wood Furnace that heats up to 4000sq.ft. It has a 200 gallon water capacity and is double plumbed to heat two buildings. It has R-56 insulation and is equipped with the forced air draft option. The firebox and water jacket are round construction and made from 1/4" inch A–36 quality controlled mild steel. The regular cost on this furnace with the forced air draft option is $6200. This is my last unit and I will let it go for $5000 .
Located in Keewatin, MN, Noonan's Welding & Heating manufactures The Northland Outdoor Wood Furnace.
Designed and built in Northern Minnesota, these outdoor wood furnaces are made to keep your home warm in the most extreme weather conditions.


The smart TV, once a novel device, has become a staple in many American homes. But, according to the FTC and the New Jersey Attorney General, Vizio smart TVs were doing more than displaying content. Behind the scenes and Vizio screens, without notifying consumers, regulators allege the company was tracking consumers' second-by-second viewing habits from over air broadcasts, cable and broadband providers, set top boxes, and DVD players. Vizio then shared consumers' IP addresses with data aggregators, who correlated that address to individual consumers or households. Vizio prohibited the re-identification by name, but aggregators appended other information such as gender, age, income, marital status, household size, education, and home ownership to that IP address.
deliver targeted ads on other devices based on viewing data.
The FTC and NJ AG alleged that Vizio engaged in deceptive practices because neither the initial pop-up notification about its "Smart Interactivity" feature nor the TV's settings provided detailed information about the collection and use of viewing data. The TV settings indicated it "enables program offers and suggestions" but regulators believe this disclosure provided insufficient information about the information that was collected and how it was going to be used. Moreover, Vizio apparently provided no such offers or content suggestions for over two years.
The regulators charged Vizio with engaging in unfair practices, alleging granular viewing data is "sensitive" and the collection and sharing of such data without permission has caused or is likely to cause substantial injury. The complaint did not describe the injury actually suffered by or likely to be experienced by consumers.
In a concurring statement, Acting Chairwoman Ohlhausen noted that this is the first time that the Commission has alleged granular TV viewing data is sensitive, a designation that the Commission has used for financial, health, geolocation, and children's data. Ohlhausen indicated she would lead an effort by the FTC to reexamine what qualifies as substantial injury. Her statement suggests use of the unfairness prong of the FTC Act may be more limited in the future.
Still the case demonstrates that regulators are increasingly focused on 1) the collection and use of various types of consumer data, including data traditionally considered "non-PII"; 2) the use of data across multiple channels for various purposes such as ad optimization and analytics; and 3) how to implement reasonable consumer disclosures. In addition to paying $2.2 million, Vizio must 1) obtain affirmative express consent to collect viewing data; 2) delete date collected prior to March 2016; 3) maintain a comprehensive privacy program; and 4) undergo independent biennial privacy assessments.


text:
JOURNALISM COURSES
Basics of Feature Writing
Writing Articles for Websites and Blogs
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Write a Non-Fiction Book
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Writing Coach Course
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Mastering Punctuation
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Basics of Creative Writing
Advanced Creative Writing
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Writing Books for Children - Part One
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Student Success Stories for NZ Writers College
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10 Reasons to Study Writing at NZ Writers College
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NZ Writers College Writing Competitions | Archives
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NZ Writers College Gift Voucher
2The Long White Cloud
He laid the weapon in the gentle flow of the river, careful to keep the feathers dry.
A crimson cloud lifted and floated downstream, leaving only the intricate etches of the War Master's carvers on the quarter-staff. He thumbed gore from his ancestor's tongue and fingered viscera from the abalone eyes that stared sightlessly. They were counselling eyes, comforting him through his new sins.
He spread crystals across the chipped neck, then down the blade that looked scoured like an old canoe. Then came the old words in sustained grinds and low groans, ancient in dialect – to the point that Te Kaha had no idea what they meant. But they were powerful and they worked; they could raise the vision of red and call the War God back to its cage.
A flush of heat signalled the return of emotion. Embarrassment and self-hatred rose like bile in his throat; the whispers of his ancestor fell silent and he was finally alone. Then, like an irritant into a pearl, his woman and son existed once more and became something to him. Everything to him.
But there was still that unquenched thirst, rioted by what the old one had said. The doubt crept in behind his family like a lopsided raincloud, uneven and unknown. Long white clouds, he had said, with black eyes that blazed fire and spewed ash.
Questions swamped him from all directions and he laid his forehead on the warm grass. He tried. That was all he could do. Try to right the wrongs of the world, try to understand the prophecy, try to solve why the Children of the Gorge were challenging their borders.
He sang a song. A ballad of love between mother and son, and wishes for a peaceful sleep. Te Kaha spoke to his mother often, the wind her unintelligible replies. Unbecoming of a warrior but what else was he to do in this world of infinite possibilities, where kinships could be married then severed within the month. He spat.
'I miss your mother,' a voice came. Te Kaha responded by spinning on his knee and raising his quarter-staff above his head in defiance. He slid his tongue down to his chin in hunger. More of his hair, a river of slick, matted black swung loose from his topknot. Immediately, the shame seized him and he lowered his stance, moving back as the old one approached the water's edge. But Te Kaha did not apologise, for how can he apologise to the one who sleeps on the rim of both worlds?
There were many chiefs within his kin; many experts, many specialists. All were bent at the waist, and all had the customary cloaks made of the feathers of the long-nosed kiwi. But this one's cloak was different; a patchwork of dried flax, roughspun reeds, and batwings. It looked to swallow him like a rotted-out tree, leaving a bald, veined head with a crown of shocked white hair.
The old one leaned over with his hands in the water and shook them free of ash and watercress, his prayers for the dead complete. How he was so limber in his hundreds was beyond Te Kaha's comprehension and place, but if his own son ever asked, he would guess it was his diet of raw mutton and demons.
'Would you say you miss her?' The old one said and Te Kaha shook himself of his own trance.
'Yes,' he said, looking at the old one – not directly in his weak, half-closed eyes but his worn and weathered brow.
The old one nodded, looking pleased with himself. 'You know, it was me that taught her that lullaby. It was first said by my own mother.'
Te Kaha blinked, watching the old one move to a moss-cushioned boulder with a suspicion he did not mean to hold. Many times, he simply accepted the myth that the old one was immortal; a sliver of forever; not one who was simply born. Stupidly, he opened his mouth. 'You had a mother?'
Now it was the old one who blinked, a simple motion that made Te Kaha want to bloody his head against the rock. Then the pitted, death-mask, the old one called a face, arched into a warm, bewildered smile. 'Yes, boy, I have a mother. She is still with me in the same way yours is with you. I hear you talking to her.'
'I only sang,' Te Kaha said. 'No prayers were said.'
'It does not matter what rhythm or dress our speech may or may not have. What matters is that we say something. We annoy the young with repetitive stories about the old and gone, so even newborns know them. It is all we have to pass down. Talk.'
Speaking of talk… 'E te Rangatira,' Te Kaha said, keeping his interaction formal and respectful. 'I have a question to ask…'
'You want to know about the cloud hanging over you,' the old one said.
'Yes,' Te Kaha said, suddenly weak. 'How did you know?'
A craned hand appeared from the old one's cloak, long-nailed and full of quakes, and gestured to himself. 'I am me,' he said. 'That, and your cousins have noticed that you are beginning to mope about. It is making everyone's bums itchy.'
Te Kaha shook his head. 'It's bothering me. It's this reminder of sorts. Something is coming and I don't like it.'
'Te Kaha,' the old one said. The sound of his name coming from the ancient lips made the warrior want to wash himself. 'How many times have we beaten back the tribes to the north and south, and now the heathens from the Gorge?'
'Since I was my son's age.'
'And how many times did you enjoy spilling their blood, or depriving them of fathers and sons?'
'I never have.'
'But you journey forth, nonetheless.'
'Because the War Master said so.'
There was a lull with hints of disapproval. Te Kaha, now moving into his third decade, felt the need to cry under such scrutiny.
'Because the War Master said so…' The old one repeated. Te Kaha realised the disapproval was not his to shoulder. 'Yes, we have gone to war many times because my great grandson said so. Tell me, Te Kaha, have you ever buried children?'
Te Kaha thought of no worse nightmare. 'No,' he said.
'Old age has its blessings and its curses. Blessings in that I see our tamariki grow; I could even pick out your son's laughter in our meeting house. But curses in that as our borders expand or shrink I pray and bury more sons and even more laughter. I feel like I have failed,' he tapped his head with his fingers, a stabbing motion. 'With all that is in here, I feel I have failed to save our tribe. Illness, famine, war, one after the other or all at once. There is only one thing that keeps this head spilling knowledge instead of its own blood.'
Te Kaha waited and was rewarded with a finger aimed through the brush, over the salt cliffs, and at the setting sun. It roasted the horizon in yellows and oranges, the sea fading from hazel to ebony. He looked back at the old one, in absolute awe. Even the voice of the void doubts itself?
The old one nodded slowly. Thoughtfully. 'In a few hours, it will rise behind me and set in front of me. Rise, set, rise, set.'
'E te Rangatira,' Te Kaha said, careful with his words. 'The sun will tire eventually; the stars and clouds will catch it.'
The old one rose and shook his head. 'Speak plainly, cynicism has lapsed my creativity.'
'We cannot run forever,' Te Kaha said. 'Sickness, enemies, or this raincloud will catch us.'
The old one laboured past him, looking to chase the sun's vanishing glare along the grass. Then looked up as if discovering the answer in the indigo heavens. 'We could walk.'
'E te Rangatira,' Te Kaha said. 'Can you not look into the fires and see something new?'
'When I look into the fires, Te Kaha, all I get is a hot face and sore eyes.'
A wall in Te Kaha's belief and reverence took on a miniscule crack. 'You have been telling us what we want to hear?'
'No,' the old one said, playfully defensive. 'I have told you what you need to hear. You need to bathe in a hot spring; your cousin, Mokai, needs to bathe with perfumes; your other cousin, Hira, needs to eat less or we will all starve. It is all based on the present that I see the future, Te Kaha.'
The warrior slumped. No matter how sacrilegious it was, his nails dug further into the neck of his quarter-staff. 'So, you cannot explain the clouds with black eyes…'
'I can only know what I do know, Te Kaha. I know that everything we have and are is not going to last. Yes, the sun rises, but the sun has to set at some point. Life offers no clear waters.'
Creativity lapsed, he says… 'So, are we to just give up and let this supposed sun set on us?'
'What else can we do? We who are half dead and have run out of time.'
'And why not use that time to work towards a land where our tamariki do not bury tamariki? Is that not our job?'
'What builds great warriors?' The old one said, seeming to take on another subject as he nudged muddied pebbles into the water. The mud lifted like the red cloud, leaving a gleaming crumb of jade.
'Training,' Te Kaha said.
'No,' the old one said. 'War. Suffering and turmoil create our chiefs and our chiefs create tribes. No people were ever built on weakness.'
'And how do we know that, E te Rangatira?'
'We don't.' Plain and simple that remark was, banishing all but a small ounce of Te Kaha's patience. 'But why not hope? If we do not know, why try to chase answers if we do not even know the questions? Have you ever wondered how your son will survive without you?'
'Every day,' Te Kaha said, a bitter-sweet smile teased his cheeks. 'I have my doubts and fears.'
'So, all you can do is…?'
'Love him.'
'Exactly,' the old one said. 'Walk an old man to the dangerous, tilted cliff, won't you?'
Te Kaha rubbed his arm free of grime, cradled the old one's beneath the elbow, and guided him through the brush, sweeping branches aside with his quarter-staff. They went over roots and around marshes.
'We never know what we don't know,' the old one continued. 'I am a man who sees but does not see. I know what I am and in knowing, I see my limitations. You have your limitations too. They remind you with those scars on your body. You can only be so fast, be so strong. Someone or something out there will be better.'
'What can we do then?' Te Kaha began as they broke through to the cliff, the smell of salt and gull scat becoming almost unbearable. His jaw sank as he saw a madman's ramblings made flesh.
There they were, disobeying the horizon's blackening with the crisp white of clouds larger than any cloak. Tall, layered, and widened until they bottomed out into canoes. Huge wooden whales that flopped over the distant waves. Then there were the eyes, poking out of the hulls searching the foreshore for Gods know what.
'Two things,' the old one said, letting Te Kaha's stiff arm go. 'Hope that our children find the answers to the questions we asked, or do as Maui did, and slow the sun itself. I don't know which is more unlikely.' Then the old one took one long sigh, one that suggested he was resigning himself for some inevitability. Then there was silence. When Te Kaha looked for more guidance, the old man was gone.
3 – Truth-Telling
The fact that it had received 64 likes said a lot about the current state of humanity. I had nearly scrolled right past it, dismissing it as yet another update from Becky, telling the world about the latest milestone in her seemingly never-ending pregnancy. First, it had been the announcement photo: mummy and daddy running shoes dwarfing a tiny identical pair (because one thing this kid had to get straight right from conception was that this was a family who exercised together). Gushing ensued and the love emoji got a hammering. Next up, of course: the gender reveal. A video this time. Becky, surrounded by real-life friends and her husband hovering in the background, cutting into a cake. The icing was non-gender binary white, but inside, a bright lipstick pink, leaving no room for confusion. Later, photos of her husband struggling to put together a cot, but ultimately triumphing; snaps of the showroom-finished nursery; and constant updates of the expanding bump. I was in no doubt that this still-forming baby had a confusing arrangement of letters that no one would ever be able to pronounce, let alone spell correctly on the first try, in her future.
Today's post saw Becky celebrating her first Mother's Day. Who could not get on board with such a lovely occasion?
I am so thankful and excited to be celebrating my very first Mother's Day. Mummy can't wait to meet you, little one.'
Yes, the baby was still in utero. This would have always annoyed me. Even pre-Incident. But now it was post-Incident and I was a different person. Post-Incident me didn't take any prisoners and didn't care about being nice. The fact there were no comments, positive or otherwise, made me suspect I might even be speaking for the majority, too cowed by social niceties to poke their head up over the parapet. I typed my comment quickly. Careful to use plain language so no one could be in any doubt of my sentiment.
'I think you will find that the baby has to be born first before you can officially be called a mother. It's great you are so excited, though!'
I had been doing this truth-telling for a while now and yet every time I was surprised at how satisfying it felt.
'And how did that make you feel?' The post-Incident, HR-appointed counsellor tried to hold eye contact while tilting her grey head to the side. This was one of her 'methods'. I kept a mental note of these; nodding to show listening, rubbing hands as we neared the end of the hour and most annoying of all: never offering any direct or useful advice.
'It made me feel good to tell the truth. Becky was embarrassing herself.'
This was the opposite of where she had been leading me but my U-turn didn't rattle her. 'The truth is important to you, isn't it?'
I had to respect my husband when he told me the truth. Yes, we might have been married for eight years. Yes, we might have both wanted the same things at first. But the saga of infertility, the two miscarriages, and the failed IVF had made him re-evaluate what he wanted. And what he wanted was out. I decided that if I just pretended to go along with it, if I was reasonable and amicable then he would remember the true me hiding there under the layers of disappointment and lost babies and he would come back to me. But that wasn't what happened. He moved out. We split everything in half and he was gone from my life before it hit me that I should have fought for him.
I made a different vow. I vowed not to be bitter. I didn't want to turn into a person who despised everything and everyone who has what they wanted but didn't get. I was too old for a baby now. For the first time, I made peace with the fact that it was not my destiny to be a mother. I didn't get any counselling. I can't imagine how someone like old tilty head could have helped me. At night I lay in my bed and tried not to let my own disappointments consume me. I thought of bigger problems. I imagined myself floating on top of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I was a discarded straw compared to the world's problems. I imagined I was the woman I had read about in a news article who had less than 50 dollars to feed herself and her teenage daughter every week. I wandered through a dreamscape supermarket and made difficult choices between toilet paper and saveloy sausages until I fell into an exhausted sleep.
I practised gratitude. I was thankful for the things my friends who were parents did not have. I slept in, went to the toilet in peace and didn't have to reheat my cups of tea in the microwave. I'd been distracted in my career for years and now I returned to it with a vigour that must have pleased my superiors. I had never been one to be too friendly with colleagues, but I had always attended work events, dragging Rob along for every end-of-year Christmas celebration. Now I pushed myself to be friendlier. Julia was a younger co-worker and when it was obvious that she was pregnant I made sure to congratulate her one day when we were both in the copy room. I had met her partner once or twice; he was some sort of tradesman. I asked if he was excited. She busied herself with the laminating machine. But she was at least 20 weeks by then, so it couldn't have been that it was a secret. I noticed that Julia was more than happy to discuss it with the others, but when I approached her, everyone fell silent. I thought that despite my best efforts to keep my private life to myself, somehow everyone knew about me and Julia was trying to be sensitive to this. I thought of my vow and tried not to fixate.
Then the Incident happened. It had been a strange day. Usually, when someone left on maternity leave they had a baby shower in the office and everyone was invited to eat cake and watch the expectant mother open presents. Towards the end of the day, I noticed that people were heading into the conference room and that they were carrying gifts and balloons. Some women even came in from outside and were directed down the hallway. I frantically searched my emails for the words 'baby shower' and 'Julia' thinking that I had missed the invitation, but there was nothing. As Rhonda, an older and very grandmotherly sort made her way past my desk I beckoned her over.
'Is Julia having her baby shower?' I thought she would implore me to come along, maybe even add my name to her card so it wouldn't be too awkward. Ordinarily, on the email it said something like, 'and if we have missed someone off, please forward along.'
But Rhonda took a deep breath and shook her head, 'I don't really want to get involved. You girls need to sort it out between yourselves.'
So, it was clear then. Julia had for some reason deliberately not invited me to her baby shower even though it was occurring in an open-plan office during my workday. Rhonda's mysterious remark made me dismiss that it was out of sensitivity to my own situation.
I should have just packed up and left, but I had already planned on working late because I was meeting a friend for dinner and I didn't want to go all the way home and then come back into town. It had always been my plan. I tried to turn my body away from the comings and goings and focus on my work. Erupting laughter from the conference room occasionally broke my concentration and the noise of people trekking back and forth to the toilet was distracting. I never saw Julia and I imagined her sitting at the head of the table blurry behind tissue paper and tiny onesies. I was fixated on my computer screen when I heard the sound of a voice being cleared. It was the new girl, Donna. Despite only working here for five minutes, she had nabbed an invite.
'Are you working late?' It was difficult to respond to this question without sounding sarcastic.
'Yes, I am. I am going out to dinner later so…'
The girl screwed her face up in a careless way that an older woman would not attempt.
'It's just that it's a bit awkward because Jules is having her baby shower and -' I didn't like the new girl. She was over-familiar, calling people hun and babe. She was always laughing outrageously and leaning against desks chatting instead of working. Now it seemed she had been sent to shoo me away. Then Julia appeared, striding across the office floor, her newly plump face streaked with tears.
'Just leave it, Donna. It doesn't matter.' The whole situation was bizarre. I was trying to work out how my presence could be causing this much upset when I noticed something even more strange. Standing at the entrance, dressed in a familiar suit and tie, was Rob. Donna and Julia became hazy and out of focus while my depth of field sharpened around him. I quickly grabbed my bag and coat and made my way across the office. I had been right after all. I had played the situation correctly. But he had picked an unfortunate time to reappear and I needed to get him out of here or he would think that drama followed me around like a bad smell.
'Shall we go somewhere to talk?' I placed a hand on his arm and tried to steer him towards the exit. But when I looked into his eyes they weren't looking back.
Julia spun me around, 'Get your hands off him.'
'Do you want to talk about the incident?' The grey head adjusted to a micro tilt.
What is there to say? I lost it. I was unhinged. Apparently, you don't scream at co-workers. Especially ones who are nine months pregnant, even if they are having a baby with your ex-husband. I thought once I had revealed that to the HR manager I might have been given some understanding.
'All I see is a very sweet new mum to be, trying not to hurt someone's feelings and doing the best she can.' That's how everyone must have seen it. Everyone at work had known. They were in on it. It was the most exciting piece of gossip since whatshisname in Accounts had been caught watching porn at 10am on an otherwise uneventful Tuesday morning. It was the injustice of it that got to me. That they had all trooped along to her baby shower like it was the most normal thing in the world.
'That's why I am basically an internet troll now.' When I closed my eyes at night and imagined the Great Pacific Garbage Patch I was no longer just a straw. I was every single-use plastic bag that I had ever failed to responsibly recycle. And I was being pulled under.
'What do you think I should do?' I knew she wouldn't answer me. I was meant to tell her what I thought I should do.
She leaned forward and began rubbing her palms together. 'I think you should shut down all your social media accounts and get a job somewhere else.'
1 Meat
The only time I remember feeling pain was when I got kicked by the cow that killed my mother.
She was an ornery old cuss of a Red Hereford – the cow, not my mother - that my Da was slaughtering. I was watching mouse-like from under the railings of the little killing shed, and mum was holding the cow's head when it must've smelt blood and went ballistic. It started kicking like to bust down the gates of hell, bashing its great hooves into the railings. As I jumped up to get out of the way, it booted me right in the head, sent me flying back into the wall. Mum let go with a shout and leapt out to get me and the cow spun in that little stall and struck her right in her face with its front foot. Ma went down like a duck shot on the wing, her face crushed and blood flying everywhere, and the cow going crazy. It stood on Ma a few times before Da got the butchering knife into its neck and twisted so he could get past to Ma, and when he did, he lay down by her with his hand on her heart, and called her name over and over but even then he knew she was dead, and that great beast lay kicking and jerking beside them and I felt the world go black on the throbbing, shrieking ache in my head and in my heart. And that was that.
I woke up the next day, all bandaged and busted and missing my Ma, and that was the last time I felt pain. The doctor said that cow had kicked out some part of my nerves, the part that feels pain, but I thought there's only so much hurt you can have and then you just don't have any more.
Da was a butcher. It was hard on him, losing Ma, not only because he really loved her, loved her like Romeo and Juliet he'd say, but because she was his partner in the butchering business and now he was on his own. Except not quite, 'cos there was me, so I started helping him, first just with little slaughters like chickens or weaners, and later with the bigger beasts. I'd hold them while Da crooned to them. He was so gentle.
'Don't scare 'em', he'd say, 'and don't hurt 'em any more than you have to.'
Even after that cow killed Ma, he was still gentle with the beasts. I don't think he liked killing them, it was just his job and he didn't have much push to go and learn another one. He showed me how to put the knife to their throats, so quiet, so they couldn't see, and talk softly, then whack! All over red rover. He taught me to butcher too, drawing lines in black marker on the flayed bodies so I could see where to cut with the axe, and where to trim with the knife, and which knife for what, and how to clean and sharpen and wash down after. But he wouldn't let me do the kill.
I wanted so bad to learn the whole job, right from the slaughter to the selling. Since Da wouldn't let me, I figured I'd teach myself. We had mouse traps (where there's blood there're always mice) so I took to getting the little bodies and dismembering them after they'd been caught. After a bit, I got Da to get one of those no-kill traps and when he wasn't around, I carefully, quietly, held them in my hands and cut their tiny throats with Da's razor.
When it wasn't slaughter time Da and I would stock up the shop together. I'd sit on the bench watching and talking to the customers while Da served up packages of meat, wrapping steak in thin plastic, mince in a bag and chicken in chicken-paper before bundling it all up, adding up the sums in his head or writing them in pencil on the wrapping paper.
I was perched up watching one day when the boarding-house ladies came in for eight sausages, half a kilo of mince, two chicken thighs and a half-dozen eggs, which I knew by heart since they had the same every week for as long as I could think back. Bett started in on Da this time, started in about me.
'It ent right,' she said, her lips curling up as she spoke, 'thet little gel, should be in school, not here watchin' yez dishing meat. Should be getting edge-cated with the other little uns.'
The other lady just looked at her and looked at Da, like to see what he'd do, but he said nothing. I saw the skin on his neck get red and his eyes sort of drop a bit, but he didn't say anything.
'It ent right,' she went on, 'Little gel got no place 'ere in a butcher shop.'
She reached her crimpled hand out to me, took hold of my hair and pulled it up on my head. Her fingers brushed the flat place where the cow got me. 'Should be out playing and learning and stuff.'
Then the other one started too, 'She's right Bob, the child should be in school. How old is she now? Nine?'
'Ten,' I whispered.
'Ten! And soon she'll be getting – Bob, she's going to need a woman around, you know?' She looked at my Da like she had something secret going on between them. 'She'll be changing soon. Needs a mother's touch.'
Da had been quiet all this time, but then he leaned across the counter, pushed the meat at the ladies and said, 'I think you should go now.'
I saw a small dampening, a reddening in his eyes and face that I didn't like. The boarding-house ladies didn't like it either; they took their package and off they went.
But Da changed from there on, got sort of quiet and sulky. He stopped taking me out to the slaughters, and one day he came home with a bundle of books. He gave them to me, and I looked at them but I couldn't read, and neither, it seemed, could Da, so those books just sat in a corner and got forgotten.
A few weeks after the boarding house ladies thing, Da invited Uncle Ricky over. After dinner, Da told me to go to bed so he could talk to Ricky. I knew something was up 'cos Da had that funny red-faced look again, so I hid behind the door and listened. I just caught snippets of what was going on, bits and pieces of talk.
'I don't know, butcherin's no job for a girl …'
'…she'll need a woman around…'
'…maybe…'
'Treena would just love her… she always wanted children'
And on it went. After a while, I realised Da was going to give me away. I didn't know what Uncle Ricky and his flowery wife Treena would want with me, but over the next few weeks, Da got even more withdrawn and weird. I tried to impress on him that I would make a great butcher. I even considered showing him my work on the mice, but he shut me out more and more. When Ricky and Treena came over, I was always shuffled off to my room, and they'd talk. I'd sneak out and hide behind the door to listen. Treena spoke of 'girls' business', and they spoke in hushed tones when she mentioned moontimes and something she called 'the bleeding'. It sounded like what we did with the butchering, but mixed in with werewolves because of the moon part. And it had something to do with me.
One night Da told me that I was to go and stay with Ricky and Treena in the New Year.
In those few weeks, I felt the walls moving in around me. At night I could feel the moon through the window, and a huge empty space opened up in front of me where there used to be me and Da and the butcher shop business. Now it would be me and Ricky and Treena and who knew what?
The night before I was to go, Ricky was over again talking to Da. 'Treena's really excited. She's preparing a feast for tomorrow night. I tell ya, she's going to just eat that girl right up!'
It was then that I figured it out.
I was up as the sun tinged the sky a soft chicken-breast pink. I made my way quietly to the killing shed, where I got the big black marker pen. Lifting my nightdress, I looked carefully at my legs. The flesh curved gently between my ankle and knee, and again from knee to thigh.
That was a good joint, a long bone-in roast slashed through the knee, with a rack of round chops from the thigh. I put a line of dots around my lower ankle and another across my knee. Where my thigh joined my pelvis, I poked around until I found the joint and marked that out too, curving carefully where the sinew joined the bones together. I put an 'X' on my hands and feet, marking them as offal, then marked out my wrists, elbows and shoulders. I felt where my shoulder joints moved easily and put the lines there, imagining the joints sizzling thickly in a pan of fat and juices.
I pulled my nightgown over my head, discarding it on the slaughter floor near where my Ma had been killed, and I marked out my ribs one by one. Marinated spare ribs, rib-bone boil up, soup… Stomachs go into the guts pile for fertiliser, along with feet and hands. I put my hands on my lower abdomen uncertainly, then drew the offal mark on it.
When I'd marked my whole body, I lifted down the big jointing knife, all the while softly singing mum's killing song: 'gentle, gentle, calmly now, gentle, gentle, little cow…'.
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Lincoln, NH – Jean's Playhouse, NH's premier professional theater in the north country, has announced the hiring of new leadership for the company. Joel Mercier, current Producing Artistic Director of the NH Theatre Factory and Resident Staff of the Great Lakes Theatre and Idaho Shakespeare Festival, will be stepping into Jean's spotlight as the new Executive Director.
Joel Mercier, originally a native of Auburn, NH, has spent the last decade or so working all over the country at notable theaters such as the Goodspeed Opera House in CT, Northern Stage in VT, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in ID, the Great Lakes Theatre in OH, American Music Theatre in PA, and NYC's Duplex, Westbeth Off-Broadway & Nokia Theatre Times Square. Mercier returned to NH, part time, back in 2008 to become Artistic Associate of the New London Barn Playhouse and Guest Artist at Dartmouth College. In 2013, Mercier founded the NH Theatre Factory, a company in Southern NH that produces lesser known works, original pieces, and a thriving education program linking youth performers with out-of-state industry professionals.
← Jean's Teens and Lin-Wood Public School Present Alice in Wonderland!


text:
Concerto for Double Orchestra
ENS.2019.2 | 19′
2(=Picc).2.2(=BClar).2(=Cbsn)-4.1.3(BTb).1-Timp.3Perc.Pno.Harp-16.16.12.12.8
http://ericshanfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Concerto-for-Double-Orchestra-I.mp3
http://ericshanfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Concerto-for-Double-Orchestra-II.mp3
http://ericshanfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Concerto-for-Double-Orchestra-III.mp3
http://ericshanfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Concerto-for-Double-Orchestra-IV.mp3
If a Concerto for Orchestra features the sections of the orchestra as soloists, what is a Concerto for Double Orchestra?
I wanted to write an orchestral work filled with hockets and double hockets, where musical material bounced around from one group of instruments to another, and two antecedents came to mind: Simon Bainbridge's Fantasia for Double Orchestra and Kevin Volans's Concerto for Double Orchestra. In the first, material appears independently in each ensemble before being developed across a narrative joining the two halves together, while the second is a singular masterpiece, one gruff chord passed between the ensembles for twenty minutes and almost nothing else, hypnotic and ruggedly gorgeous.
My piece brings both approaches together. Simple ideas permute and rotate between the ensembles, so that from a distance the Concerto takes not the form of a sonata or symphony but a clock or automaton, gears turning within gears. Very simple gestures and flashes of melody move from one half of the orchestra to another, trading ideas back and forth as they slowly develop, or don't. Huge chords blast across the ensembles, breaking loose musical fragments and textures, falling apart and reassembling themselves, chords like columns supporting vast spans of stone, all ready to come toppling down at any moment.
The first movement is fast and abrupt, short shivering attacks evolving into longer, almost chorale-like episodes. In the second movement, sequences of colorful textures permute, creating a kind of aural Sol LeWitt wall drawing. The third movement is more austere, a slow double hocket over a persistent rhythmic fake gamelan in the percussion and keyboards. Convulsive, explosive hockets rub rhythmically against one another in the finale, a kind of brutal Bridget Riley sonic Op art.


text:
Windows 10 Redstone 3 Brings New Design and Improvements
December 02, 2016	Industry
Windows 7 and Windows 10 are clearly the preferred choices of Windows users, although there still are users running XP, but these are most likely organizations, companies, and state departments that are yet to migrate to newer operating systems. Read More
Facebook COO Sandberg donates $100 million to donor advised fund
Ms. Sandberg, a billionaire who has been at Facebook since before its initial public offering, transferred 880,000 of her Class A shares in Facebook to her donor-advised fund, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. This is not the first huge philanthropic push by Sandberg, but it is her largest. You can give in to the void... These past thirty days, I have spent many of my moments lost in that void.	Read More
Rainbow Six Siege Year 2 Pass detailed, available now
According to the Bit Bag , there will be four new countries confirmed to have their own operators for the new season of the game. Players can get the R6 Carbon charm with the Year 2 season pass. Notably, the " Rainbow Six Siege " first season pass is still available on the Xbox One store while the PS4 store replaced it totally. Well, they plan on extending the content expectations for seasons to come.	Read More
Nintendo and Universal join forces
If you love Nintendo , you're going to love the new themed area Universal Orlando has up its sleeve. A news release says the Nintendo areas will include attractions, restaurants and shops. "Since we're really bringing the world to life, I think Mario will feel like he finally came home". " All of the adventure, fun, and whimsy you experience through a screen will now be all around - in breathtakingly authentic ways", read the official announcement.	Read More
$420 million Powerball victor will be announced Tuesday
The owner of the shop, Joyce Gregory, scored $25,000 just for selling the winning ticket. According to the North Carolina Education Lottery, someone who played Powerball in a small coastal town won big in Saturday's drawings. She'll also pay for her care at a doctor's office of her mother's choosing. [Image by Damian Dovarganes/AP Images] Not all of the " Tennessee 20 " will leave the North American Stamping Group right away.	Read More
The Electoral College: A Primer
This year, Trump will win the Electoral College vote but lose the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. Mr Lessig's main argument proceeds in two steps. If Americans actually got to choose their president, Al Gore would have won in 2000, and Hillary Clinton would have won in 2016, but the Electoral College has once again proven its ability to thwart democracy in America.	Read More
Bezel-less iPad Pro planned sans the Home Button
November 30, 2016	Industry
The report cites supply-chain "informed" sources when stating this information, so in other words, this rumor comes from the same place a bunch of other ones do. Meanwhile, according to PC Advisor , the upcoming iPad Pro 2 will be released in March 2017; however, the publication has yet to confirm its specs and features.	Read More
DirecTV Now to Launch on November 30
DirecTV Now will square off in the market against other internet-delivered live TV packages, including Dish's Sling TV and Sony's PlayStation Vue . With the launch date of November 30 just a day away, what can potential customers expect from the service? AT&T is in talks with CBS to add its channels and Showtime to the service, Stankey said.	Read More
Watch The Thrilling Final Trailer of 'Rogue One
So, snag yourself some " Rogue One: A Star Wars Story " tickets as a gift to yourself while you're online shopping for holiday bargains. Tickets for Rogue One , the first of three spin off movies, go on sale today at 10am. The film stars Felicity Jones and Jyn Erso. The movie may be considered a risky move, money-wise; The Force Awakens was able to bring in the big bucks because it featured major Star Wars characters such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo , and Leia Organa -- who are ...	Read More
Gran Turismo Sport Looks Nice On PS4 Pro
The PlayStation 4 Pro is next in line in Sony's console family, but there are already discussions on the PlayStation 5, which is rumored to arrive in 2018. Many are claiming that it is, however, some examples of the PS4 Pro in action should give some consumer still on the fence pause. If they use 4K TV, then they can experience the HDR effect even if they don't upgrade the console.	Read More
Microsoft's Surface Phone Could Be The Ultimate Mobile Device
Rumors and speculation regarding Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ:MSFT) next-generation smartphone devices have picked up in recent weeks. The question is whether Microsoft has that killer function that will keep users tied to their Surface phones . Read More
Leaked images show 'glossy black' Galaxy S7 variant
Samsung didn't waste any time to issue a pre-emptive statement explaining that the Galaxy S7 lineup was free from any sort of danger and sent out pop-up messages to its Galaxy S7 users in a bid to restore confidence to their phone, and reassure that there was no recall for their smartphones. Read More
Android 7.0 Nougat Update For HTC 10 Now Available In The US
Today, as SamMobile reports , Samsung is rolling out its third Android 7.0 beta to those devices, starting in the UK. Smartphone maker HTC is upgrading its HTC 10 handsets to the latest Android 7.0 Nougat. Since we are almost nearing the end of November, it doesn't seem very likely at this point that HTC could begin updated carrier variants of the HTC 10 before the end of the year.	Read More
Samsung Galaxy C5 Pro Launching Soon in India, Reveals Zauba
Keep in mind to check back with us regularly as we will update this article with more great offers as they come to light. Verizon announced on Wednesday its Black Friday deals to match those of T-Mobile. The carrier offers customers the possibility to get the iPhone 7 for free with bill credits, but only if they subscribe to both AT&T Next (at least a $50 plan), and DirecTV (at least a $29.99) until November 30.	Read More
LG offering full refund for rebooting Nexus 5X units
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Shoppers hunt for deals, hit the shops for entertainment
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Hot deal: PlayStation 4 Slim at $239 beats Black Friday prices
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Joining AAP to save Punjab from Badals and Congress: Bains brother
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Alibaba Cloud's global expansion program rolls into Dubai
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Apple launches battery replacement program for iPhone 6s handsets with shutdown problems
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« first « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 »	last »
Facebook acquired private data of 187,000 through spying app
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Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass is heading to the PC
Posted May 31, 2019 | |0 Comments | |
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text:
Sanditon second season
"Sanditon" is back … and different; here's a guide
By all logic, there wouldn't be a second "Sanditon" season … or even a first one.
Its author (Jane Austen) had died after barely starting the novel. Two centuries later, the production company bailed out after one season; some key actors departed.
Yet here it is, starting its second PBS season (shown here) at 9 p.m. Sunday (March 20), two years after the first one ended. A lush and popular show is back … and renewed for a third season. Here's a guide to some sweeping changes: Read more…
By Mike Hughes / March 13, 2022
After changes and scrambles, "Sanditon" returns
Even before "Sanditon" reached America two years ago, PBS had a dilemma.
Like virtually everything on "Masterpiece Theatre," this was a global project, with a British network paying more and getting it first. And that network had already decided not to do a second season.
"We knew that (it) had been canceled before it even aired on 'Masterpiece,'" Susanne Simpsons, the "Masterpiece" producer, said in a Television Critics Association virtual press conference.
The new season (shown here) finally returns March 20, but she was taking a chance: If there never was a second year, characters would have been left hanging; viewers would have been bitter. Since this is based on a novel that Jane Austen had barely started before her death in 1817, they couldn't check a book to see how it ends. Read more…


To have met Margo is to have loved Margo. When we adopted her in Beirut, the volunteers at the shelter tried jokingly to convince us to pick another cat. They were so in love with her they couldn't bear to see her go. We promised them to send updates from her life in Beirut and later in London. She has a special place in the hearts of the dozens of our friends who have met her, and the hundreds who have followed her stories on social media. And it is impossible to express the role she has played in Nour's life, and my life, and in our life as a couple. The world is an emptier place for having said goodbye to her this morning.
The pitter patter of her feet rushing to the door to greet as we unlocked every day, the way she shoved her face into my hand or my cheek when she was feeling loving, the way she kneaded on Nour every morning, the way she curled up between us in winter to sleep. I have no idea how we will cope without these beautiful moments in our life.
A month ago we found out Margo had congestive heart failure. Her breathing had become laboured and we had to rush her to the vet for two days of procedures and stablization. The outpouring of love we witnessed from friends and family made us realize just how special a creature she was. As if we needed reminding. As she emerged from the hospital, we were told we could have a week, a month, a year with her. It was heartbreaking. She was only 3. She was supposed to be with us for 15, 16, 17 more years. Over the past month we have rushed back and forth to the vet and increased her medication progressively. As of this week she was on 4 medications, 6.5 pills a day, 4 times a day. So much to bear for her tiny little heart and kidneys. Finally during the night last night her body stopped responding to medication. Her breathing was at an unbearable rate, and the liquid was returning to her lungs. Nour stayed on the phone all night with the vets, and this morning she took her in to do the only humane thing we could do. The vets said she is beyond being able to care for. They said it is a miracle she lasted a month given how acute her heart failure was. She's was a fighter, a resilient Lebanese cat. I am abroad and Nour had to go through with this final moment alone. I will never forgive myself for not having been there for them.
Margo was with Nour and I since the beginning of our marriage. She was a permanent fixture in our first home together in Beirut and, when we moved, our second home together in London. When the world seemed like it was falling apart, Margo coming to sit next to us on the sofa to watch something funny on TV made it feel like everything would be alright in the end.
She has given us more than we could ever give her. She helped me through periods of crippling anxiety. As my first ever pet, she made me empathize with the natural world in a way I never had before.
We loved her so much, our hearts shattered when we heard her diagnosis for the first time. They shattered when we came home and it was empty of her. They have shattered a million times since, and each piece continues to shatter. In the coming weeks we will come across her white hairs everywhere. It used to annoy us sometimes, but in the last month we came to treasure the marks she left on our lives. Her phantom presence will be unbearable.
We want to thank Sheldon, Varan, Annika and everyone who cared for her during this difficult month at Village Vet Highgate and the Village Vet Hospital in Hampstead. They are compassionate animal-lovers and walked us through this horrible time with care and empathy. They made sure Margo's last days were as painless and humane as possible. And I want to thank our insurance company Petplan, who repaid — quickly and without questions — the thousands of pounds it cost to give Margo this extra month with us. And I want to thank Animals Lebanon for bringing her into our life, and for following up so many times about how she was getting along in London. We will be making a donation in Margo's honour, and I hope to find a way to work much more with them from now on.
And most of all, we want to thank Margo for shining a bright light into our lives for every moment she was with us.
We love you Margo. We will miss you always.