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St. Michael's Church is a landmark of Hamburg and considered to be one of the finest Hanseatic Protestant baroque churches. The church was purposely built Protestant unlike many other Hamburg churches which were originally built by Roman Catholics and were converted to Protestantism during the Reformation. It is dedicated to the Archangel Michael. A large bronze statue, standing above the portal of the church shows the archangel conquering the devil.
The 132-meter high Baroque spire totally covered with copper is a prominent feature of Hamburg's skyline and has always been a landfall mark for ships sailing up the river Elbe.
The present church building is the third one at this site. The first one was built from 1647 to 1669. It became the church of the new town (Neustadt), which was created in 1625 inside the new city walls, and which grew steadily since. In 1687, the Michel became the fifth chapter church (Hauptkirche), as the new town became a parish. That church was destroyed on March 10, 1750, by a lightning strike. The original church has been replicated and built in 9 different cities around the world.
In 1786, a new construction of the current church following the design of Johann Leonhard Prey and Ernst Georg Sonnin was completed. It was reconstructed twice in the 20th century: after catching fire in 1906 during construction work and after the bombings of 1944 and 1945. Since 1983, renovation is ongoing: first the spire and then the roof.
Offering 2,500 seats, the Michael is the largest church in Hamburg. The pulpit is in the center of the building which was crafted out of marble by sculptor Otto Lessing from Dresden in 1910. It was designed to look like a rounded chalice and features a magnificent staircase. The large pulpit roof is crowned by the Angel of Annunciation.
Made from white marble, the baptismal font was crafted in Livorno in 1763 and donated by Hamburg merchants who lived there at that time. The baptismal font is reminiscent of a seashell and supported by three baptism angels.
The altar is 20 meters tall and was built from costly marble in 1910. The altar features three sections illustrating key scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. The central image portrays the Resurrection of Jesus and, below it, a relief depicts the Last Supper. Above the central image, there is a large crucifix. Located at the very top, the altar crown takes the form of a dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and is surrounded by a radiant circle. To the right and left of the radiant circle, two angels are kneeling and bowing their heads.
In the church crypt, there are 2,425 people interred, including Johann Mattheson and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The grave chambers are deeply excavated for four coffins above the other. During the French occupation of Hamburg in 1813, burials were banned within the city and therefore also in the crypt.
Emerging States (Germany)
Englische Planke 1, Hamburg, Germany
See all sites in Hamburg
Historical period: Emerging States (Germany)
Hamburg Town Hall (0,9 km)
St. James' Church (1,5 km)
St. Nicholas' Church (0,8 km)
Internationales Maritimes Museum (1,5 km)
St. Peter's Church (1,2 km)
Kunsthalle Hamburg (1,7 km)
Chilehaus (1,5 km)
St. Catherine's Church (1,1 km)
Hamburg Cathedral (2,5 km)
Church of John the Baptist (44,1 km)
St. Nicholas Church (43,6 km)
St. Michael Church (43,4 km)
Ahrensburg Castle (22,6 km)
Lüne Abbey (43,5 km)
Ohlsdorf Cemetery (9,5 km)
Nütschau Priory (38,1 km)
Wellingsbüttel Manor (12,2 km)
Neuengamme Concentration Camp (21,1 km)
Des le Grange (4 months ago)
Spectacular. A must see in Hamburg. 4 Euro to climb or take the elevator to the top, and another 2 euro to see the crypt. The views at the top are spectacular, but it is freezing up there in winter so dress appropriately. The information displays on the way up to the top need to be redone. In the crypt you are walking directly on the gravestones, there is no effort to preserve the stone engravings which I find very strange. I would give the crypt a 3 star, nothing amazing and would not really recommend it.
Varun Menghani (5 months ago)
Beautiful and massive church. You can go to the top of the tower and the crypt. View of Hamburg from the top was amazing. Ticket to go to the top is 5
Bianca Piza (6 months ago)
One of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen! So majestic! I have no words to describe. You HAVE to visit it someday in your life!
Carl Bray (7 months ago)
This was an amazing place, spotted the Christmas market outside then went into the Church only to find another Christmas market deep within the crypt beneath the Church ! Everyone was so friendly and one of the chocolate stalls let me try different ones before I bought some. Brilliant!The Church itself is a an amazing building, so massive and tall I used it as a focal point when getting my bearings. Majestic building.
Francis Lawton (8 months ago)
Great views of Hamburg from the top of the tower, reasonable entry cost and there's also a lift if you don't want to take the stairs. Great opportunity to see the port and the other churches of Hamburg. Would definitely recommend visiting near sunset. The rest of the church is also something to be marvelled at.


John Rayfield is the Resident Agent in Charge/Pilot U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement for Tennessee and Kentucky. Rayfield a Middle Tennessee native graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin with a degree in Wildlife Biology.
He worked as a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Wildlife Officer for 6 years, stationed in Region 1 (West Tennessee) and later as a TWRA Investigator with the Special Investigations Unit based out of Nashville. In 1995, Rayfield accepted a positon with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement as a Special Agent/Pilot. He was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, Columbia, South Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee. Throughout his career Rayfield has conducted international investigative coordination and training in Russia, Brazil, Canada, Thailand and the Philippines. Since 2012, Rayfield has been the Resident Agent in Charge for the states of Tennessee and Kentucky supervising an investigative staff (4 Special Agents) and an inspection staff of 18 Wildlife Inspectors located at the ports of Memphis and Louisville, Ky.


I'm Rees and I love the beauty of Photography!
Grand kids, Dancers, Sports, Landscapes, Family, Friends, oh yeah, and Hawaii, I'm there with the camera in my face.
My website is under construction right now, but you can still browse and order with all new lower prices.
Please come back soon when the dust settles!


Aspens on Guanella Pass on Sunday, September 9.
When Do the Aspens Change?
Now's the time to start planning your fall road trip.
Horses beneath the Teton Range in Fall.
Autumn colors in Portland's Japanese Garden.
If it seems like the fall colors are starting early this year, you're right.
Colorado Fall Foliage - Average Date of Peak Aspen Colors. Click for larger view.
We've prepared a list of the best places to see fall leaves and when you can see them at their peak beauty.


Another dawn, another trip to Blashford Lakes at 4.30am.
This morning I got up early to try my luck with the Kingfishers again. I visited again last saturday but very little activity was happening with them. Not many showing up and the ones that did were only there briefly.
Unfortunatly same again this moring except for one instance at around 5.40am, one came and landed on a branch with a perch in its mouth. As the light was so low I couldn't take any stills. However I did decide to try out the video mode on my Nikon D810.
Now anyone that knows me knows that I have the fact that camera makers are including video on SLRs these days. I really hate technology overlap. If I want video, i'll use my video recorder.
Anyhow I thought, what the hell and I tried it out. Have to say I'm quite impressed.
Heres the short video on YouTube. This was shot at 1/120s, f4 @ ISO-6400.
If nothing else its educational. My mother for example thought that Kingfishers took their food off to peck away at it. She was quite blown away when she saw this. Before heading back to start work, I did get a couple more shots of a loud Kingfisher Shrilling on the same branch again. They're in the gallery. Enjoy!


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10 of the best game stories (as proven with data)
Best of / September 19, 2022 September 19, 2022 / Alan Wake, Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons, Edith Finch, Firewatch, Gone Home, PC, Plague Tale, SOMA, Spec Ops: The Line, Steam reviews, To The Moon, Wolf Among Us
The internet is full of opinions about everything under the sun, and gaming is no exception. This article on the best game stories, in particular, has been written many times before with each author putting forward their own personal opinions and preferences. Inevitably, readers are quick to comment that the list is stupid, biased or missing their personal favourites. The whole process, whilst tiresome, is incredibly predictable as everyone has their own view on what the best game stories are.
So why have we written this list? Put simply; we have better data. BoredOfGaming.com has mined over thirty million game reviews on Steam, and run them through a proprietary comment coding engine which allows us to quantify what aspects of the game the review was commenting on. In this example, we've picked the 10 games whose reviews most frequently mention story and narrative elements.
This data is incredibly powerful as it helps gamers find a game that's right for them. It also helps us produce a list of games based on the opinions of millions of gamers, not just the few who write 'top X' articles. Ultimately, this is the closest thing to an objective 'best of' list that you're going to get.
Before we begin, it's worth pointing out that these are all games on Steam, so you won't see console exclusives or games only found on other PC stores (although many of the below are multi-platform). Regardleess, we're confident that this will still help those who want to experience the best game stories around. And don't worry – we won't be spoiling anything.
10 – The Wolf Among us (2013)
Developer: Telltale
Positive reviews: 98%
Steam link: here
For many, The Wolf Among Us is Telltale's best work. Released at the height of their powers in 2013, it is an interactive version of the Fables comic book series. You play the role of Bigby, the town sheriff, as he attempts to solve a grisly murder. You can expect the usual Telltale twists and turns, branching narrative and hard-hitting choices, but the dialogue is a step above what they have been able to produce before or since. Often shocking, always provocative, and a generally faithful depiction of its source material, The Wolf Among Us is a must-play for fans of Telltale type games.
9 – Spec Ops: The Line (2012)
Developer: YAGER
All of these games are best experienced unspoiled, but this is doubly true for Spec Ops: The Line. It's a harrowing tale of the stresses and trauma of war, and the ways in which its participants process the horrors they have to face, with several moments that will stay with you for a long time after the credits roll. It's multiple endings genuinely add to the game which benefits greatly from multiple playthroughs. Leave your expectations firmly at the door – this game is not what you might think it is.
8 – Brothers – A Tale Of Two Sons (2013)
Developer: Starbreeze Studios AB
Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons, has a stupid name and there's no getting away from that fact. It's also very linear, mechanically basic and lacks any real challenge. But it's also a game that is very easy to recommend due to two things. The first is the skill at which it builds its characters without relying on dialogue (it uses a made-up language). Their emotes and body language is expressive and amusing, and tells the story as well as words ever could. Secondly, I love it for a very late game 'puzzle' which cements its core theme far more effectively and innovatively than I would ever have thought possible.
7 – Alan Wake (2012)
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment has long been a studio that has revelled in exploration of the psyche – starting with Max Payne, later with Control, and passing through Alan Wake on the way. The game's start point isn't anything particularly novel – a man searching for a missing wife – but its twists and turns and constant feeling of dread make it a compelling play. The gameplay often divides opinion, but persevere and you'll be rewarded with one of the best game stories available.
6 – SOMA (2015)
Developer: Frictional Games
Full disclosure; I've not played SOMA because I'm a big baby who doesn't find any enjoyment in being constantly terrified. Which is a shame because others have told me that it's less jump-scare heavy than other games I have managed to complete, and that it actually revels in atmosphere and unease rather than being overtly frightening. The game also poses some big questions that forces the player to consider the nature of free will and consciousness, without ever spoonfeeding the answers or the developers' own points of view.
5 – To The Moon (2011)
Developer: Freebird Games
To The Moon is one of the most emotive games ever released, and one that hits you in the feels harder than a YouTube compilation of returning military personnel being reunited with their dogs. Made with RPG Maker, the game follows two doctors looking to fulfil a dying man's boyhood dream (no prizes for guessing what it is). The gameplay is incredibly simplistic, putting all the onus on the story and character development – so with a 96% positive rating you know it must be good. The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful too.
4 – What Remains Of Edith Finch (2017)
Developer: Giant Sparrow
What Remains of Edith Finch lasts just 2 hours, and uses every minute of that time to the fullest. Its premise is that every member of the Finch family eventually succumbs to the 'Finch curse' – a (usually) early and often unpleasant death which the game plays out a series of mini gameplay sections. Between these, the player explores the house uncovering untold mysteries about the family in hope of better understanding what is going on. Each of these short stories will impact different players in different ways, which I've found can change over time (the game's length makes it a perfect candidate to be replayed). Ultimately, I love it for one of the most perfect 10 minutes of any game I've ever played which doubles as one of the best game stories ever told.
3 – Firewatch (2016)
Developer: Campo Santo
I played Firewatch a couple of years ago now, and must confess I can't remember a lot of the plot. What I do remember is the incredibly natural and well voice-acted dialogue between the player character (a fire lookout called Henry) and his supervisor, Delilah. Over the course of the game their relationship develops to the point that you, as the player, feel the same sense of connection with Delilah as Henry does, and the same pain and loneliness when she's not in your ear. Ultimately, it's a game that places you firmly into another person's shoes, immersing you in the world and elevating the stakes until they feel almost real.
2 – A Plague Tale: Innocence (2019)
Developer: Asobo Studio
I was initially surprised to see A Plague Tale: Innocence so high up in the data, because I really don't think the main story is all that interesting. The big bad isn't all that compelling, nor are their motivations for said big baddery, and the ending left me pulling my hair out in frustration. However, looking beyond the main plot and viewing this as the story of a sister and brother having to quickly mature in a bleak, hostile world, and suddenly the data makes a lot more sense. You feel their highs, share their lows, and get to witness the evolution of their relationship first-hand. I'm very excited for the sequel.
1 – Gone Home (2013)
Developer: Fullbright
One of the original 'walking simulator' games, Gone Home was a pioneer for visual storytelling done right. The initial question you're looking to have answered is 'where has everyone gone' as you return to your childhood home to find it suspiciously empty. As you explore the house and dig deep (snoop) into the lives of people you haven't shared a space with for many years, more questions come to the fore and you find yourself solving many mysteries simultaneously. It's a game where every item you pick up feels like it has purpose and helps you better understand the characters, a feat that many games try, and fail, to achieve. The ending won't be for everyone, but the journey to that point is worth the price of admission – Gone Home truly is one of the best game stories you can experience today.
And there it is, our list of 10 of the best game stories. If this list has helped you at all, please share it with others and tell us all about it on Twitter. You can also read more about the process we went through to find these games or go straight to the data itself.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Cell service hit in Boston following bombings
Earlier reports cited security concerns over further bomb detonations as the reason for the service disruption, but the outage now appears due to capacity overload.
Eric Mack,
Declan McCullagh
April 15, 2013 2:43 PM PDT
Cell phone service went down in Boston today shortly after two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET
Shortly after at least two bombs exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line today, reportedly killing at least two people and injuring dozens, cell phone service in the heart of the city was severely disrupted.
An Associated Press report initially claimed, citing an anonymous law enforcement official, that "cellphone service has been shut down in the Boston area to prevent any potential remote detonations of explosives." But AP reporter Peter Svensson said on Twitter at 2:45 p.m. PT that "cellphone problems in Boston are not due to an intentional shutdown" and the wire service was publishing an updated story. AP subsequently reported that service was operating in the Boston area, though cell traffic was heavy in the aftermath of the bombings.
Boston police turn to Twitter for tips after twin bombings
Boston Marathon explosions online resource guide
Boston Marathon: Text, social media help get out updates
CBSNews.com's full coverage of the Boston bombings
Sprint had previously said its service was spotty because of an overloaded network. "There's no way the network can handle that kind of traffic," Sprint's Mark Elliot told the Boston Globe. Sprint later told CNET it had added additional capacity to its network in anticipation of the marathon and that its service is back to normal.
"Minus some mild call blocking on our Boston network due to increased traffic, our service is operating normally," Sprint Nextel spokeswoman Crystal Davis said. "Sprint did augment capacity on its cell sites along the marathon route in preparation for today's race and voice levels are returning to normal as law enforcement and first responders have cleared out the area as part of their emergency response. We are asking customers to text rather than call to free up lines for emergency personnel."
CNET Executive Editor Jim Kerstetter, a participant in today's Boston Marathon, sent this dispatch after the race:
I was stopped where Commonwealth Avenue goes under Massachusetts Ave., at roughly the 25.5. mark. When we realized what was going on, I was able to use a spectator's phone to leave a message for my wife to tell her I'm safe. After that, service generally went out. I walked home from there (it's a little over two miles to my house) with a woman who lived near me who did have a phone on her, and she was able to send sporadic text messages, including one to tell my wife to not come down to the finish line to meet me and to meet me at home. Service still seems sporadic.
Verizon Wireless provided CNET with a statement saying:
Verizon Wireless has been enhancing network voice capacity to enable additional calling in the Copley Square area of Boston. Customers are advised to use text or email to free up voice capacity for public safety officials at the scene. There was no damage to the Verizon Wireless network, which is seeing elevated calling and data usage throughout the region since the explosions occurred.
Neither T-Mobile nor AT&T immediately responded to CNET's requests for comment, though AT&T tweeted that Boston customers may experience issues with wireless voice and data service due to a spike in network activity. The carrier also asked people in the area to use text messaging and keep non-emergency calls to a minimum.
Many Twitter users, meanwhile, are calling for residents of central Boston to unlock their Wi-Fi routers so that all available bandwidth may be utilized by people trying to locate loved ones.
If you live in Boston, cell service is shut down. Today would be a good day to unlock your Wifi so people can contact one another.
— Mike Rafone (@Cali_Kid_Mike) April 15, 2013
The twin blasts occurred near the marathon finish line at 11:50 a.m PT.
Addressing the nation from the White House press room later in the day, President Obama said:
The nation will remember Boston in their prayers tonight. Federal officials are mobilizing resources to help. I've notified leaders of both parties; they agree that on days like this, there are no political parties.
Police, firefighters, first responders, and the National Guard responded heroically. We salute all those who responded so quickly and professionally to this tragedy.
We still do not know who did this or why; we still don't have all the facts. We will get to the bottom of this. We will find who did this and we will find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.
Today is Patriot's Day, a day that reflects the freedom Boston has celebrated throughout its history. Boston is a tough and resilient town; so are its people. I'm sure the people of Boston will pull together.
As we get more information, our teams will provide more briefings. We'll find out who did this, and we'll hold them accountable.
Last updated at 3:27 p.m. PT.
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Discuss: Cell service hit in Boston following bombings


Signs Of Stress In Dogs Save Your Dog's Life With Canine Rescue Breathing, All owners want one thing – for their loved pets to be healthy, happy, playful, and active. When animals become spiritless or inactive, owners should think about veterinary care. If symptoms progressively worsen, animals needs to be taken up a veterinary hospital. Many common diseases and illnesses within animals are easily cured; however, cancer is most beneficial treated at an animal hospital staffed by board-certified oncology professionals.
As dogs set out to age, their joints begin breaking down, in addition to ligaments, tendons, along with the fluid between their joints. This can lead to pain inside joints that may become swollen or stiff, and often affects the mobility in the dog. One common cause of arthritic increase in dogs could possibly be within their dietary plan. A diet containing a lot of steak, while a great protein source, can result in increased levels of uric acid, which plays a part in osteoarthritis. Up to 30% of dogs develop osteoarthritis, so providing them with glucosamine once they are middle aged might help reduce the likelihood of arthritis.
Health issues: The Irish Setter has a problem with bloat, and it is wise to feed this dog two to three small meals a day as opposed to one large one. This dog might have eye problems including PRA, autoimmune disease, and skin allergies, epilepsy and elbow and head dysplasia. Check often for ear infections and inflammations.
Reactions including the above are often far worse when the pet may be left alone. The worst thing a holder can perform to your scared dog is usually to stroke or sooth the dog even though this is an all-natural human instinct. The pet will identify this soothing measure as a reward for displaying fear as your new puppy likes petting as well because sound of your voice and will identify acting afraid since the right gesture. This will make matters far worse.
If you see signs and symptoms of aggression like growling or barring of teeth, do not punish your dog. Instead be firm and say 'No' in a loud voice so that your pet knows that what it is doing is wrong. If you punish your dog, it will learn how to hide the warning signs of aggression and turn to attacking you together with people suddenly.


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Marina/Marinos of Alexandria 12/02
Marinos was one of a group of saints we might describe as transmen, biologically female but who lived as male monks in men's monasteries. Some of these are known only by name, some of the stories may be variations of the same person's story under different names, but that of Mary / Marinos, also known as Pelagia, is one of the most completely known.
The story as we have it, is that Mary was an only child from the north of Lebanon, raised after her father's death by her widowed father, Eugene. Once Mary had grown up, Eugene told her that he would pass over to her all his possessions, as he wished to enter a monastery, for the sake of his soul. Mary was not happy with this, as she too was concerned for her own soul. So they agreed that Mary would cut her hair and adopt male clothing, so that she could pass as male, and enter the monastery together with her father. This they did, joining a monastery in Alexandria, Egypt, from which she takes her name. Inside the monastery, where the two shared a cell, the other monks noticed the higher pitched voice and smooth skin of their new brother (now known as Marinos), but assumed that either he was a eunuch, or that this was a special mark of the holiness they all saw in him.
Marina (in red) being brought to a monastery by her father Eugenius.
(14th century French manuscript).
In time, Marinos' father died, and he responded by increasing still further his ascetic manner of life. The abbot called him one day, and referring to his great holiness, sent him out in the company of a few others on monastic business, where they needed to spend one night in a public inn. The innkeeper had a daughter who set her sights on seducing the attractive Marinos, without success. She had however already been made pregnant by another (either one of the monks, or by a passing soldier – the sources diverge). When she realized she was with child, to protect herself she accused the innocent Marinos.
As he was biologically female, he quite obviously could not have been the father, but he could not have disclosed this without revealing himself, which he refused to do. So, he made no attempt to deny the charge, and accepted responsibility. He was expelled from the monastery, and thereafter lived as a beggar in the open air outside the monastery door. When the child was born, the innkeeper brought it to the monastery, and left it with Marinos, supposedly the product of his alleged sin. Thereafter, Marinus raised the boy as his own, living among the shepherds from whom he was able to obtain milk for the child.
After a few years, his fellow monks grew sorry for the two of them, and persuaded the abbot to readmit him to the monastery, where he was given only the most degrading chores, and where he continued to care for the child – who himself grew up to be a monk.
Worn out by hard labour, Marinus died. The abbot instructed the monks to wash the body and lay it out for burial – and only then discovered that their monastic "brother" had all along been biologically a woman, and quite obviously not responsible for the seduction of the innkeeper's daughter. Confronted with this, she finally confessed the truth, and was said to have been healed of a long affliction that had tormented her ever since her false accusation. It is furthermore recorded that the monks all received various blessing, and one who had been blind in one eye, received sight in both.
Marinos is venerated by the Maronite Church and by the Coptic Orthodox Church, with a feast day on February 12th (The legend was sometimes confused with that of Saint Pelagia, "Pelagia" being a Greek translation of the Latin-derived name Marina, or Mary).
Saint Mary of Alexandria, also known as Marinos (Mystogogy, quoting Saint Symeon Metaphrastes)
Saint Mary of Alexandria (Lives of the Saints, Coptic Place)
Marina the monk (Wikipedia)
Select bibliography on Trans Saints
Anson, J., "The Female Transvestite in Early Monasticism: the Origin and Development of a Motif", Viator 5 (1974), 1-32
Bennasser, Khalifa Abubakr, Gender and Sanctity in Early Byzantine Monasticism: A Study of the Phenomenon of Female Ascetics in Male Monastic Habit with a Translation of the Life of St. Matrona, [Rutgers Ph.D Dissertation 1984; UMI 8424085]
O'Neill, Denis: Passionate Holiness: Marginalized Christian Devotions for Distinctive People
Labels: transvestite saints
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Pitkin K'78 Poems Published in New Anthology
by Elizabeth Ely '21
Jo Pitkin K'78
Jo Pitkin K'78 recently had two of her poems published in the anthology Like Light: 25 Years of Poetry and Prose by Bright Hill Poets & Writers.
One of her poems, "Reading Baudelaire in My Backyard" was inspired by her college experiences at Kirkland.
Like Light includes the work of writers from around the world, like Pitkin, who have read at Bright Hill Literary Center in New York. Pitkin's latest collection of poetry, Rendering, was selected as one of four finalists in Utica College's 2017 Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize.
About Jo pitkin K'78
Major: Literature and Creative Writing
Campus Activities: Red Weather
More alumni news
In 2017, Pitkin was one of nine poets to be awarded a grant from Money for Women, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund for her manuscript titled Village: Recession.
Her poems have been published in numerous journals and anthologies including Little Star, Southern Humanities Review, The New York Review of Books.
In addition to her many publications and accomplishments, at Kirkland Pitkin won the George A. Watrous Prize in Poetry, and was founding editor of the extant campus literary magazine Red Weather.


Why is VNI promoting the open-sourced matplotlib library for plotting in Python instead of PV-WAVE (as Steve is doing in this post: [Dead link removed]?
Can't PV-WAVE be called from Python via CWAVEC? Is this a tacit admission that matplotlib is better than PV-WAVE? Or is VNI going to develop a PV-WAVE plugin for Python?
Secondly, if VNI recommends matplotlib over PV-WAVE, why don't they recommend pylab over PyIMSL?
I read that post you linked to. I think Steve is just recommending matplotlib as the graphics library to use for Python programmers. Seems pretty straightforward.
I am not sure about PV-WAVE from Python via CWAVEC, but that seems doable. Please report back with results if you try it.
Finally, your last question does not make sense. First, I don?t think someone saying ?if you are a Python programmer consider matplotlib for plotting? as a recommendation for using Python over PV-WAVE. Second, and more importantly, there is little to no overlap between pylab and PyIMSL: pylab is a MATLAB-like interface to the matplotlib graphics libraries and PyIMSL is a set of numerical analysis libraries.
Yes, VNI is recommending Python programmers use PyIMSL and matplotlib for Python development.
Is VNI one company or two? They ported IMSL to Python; can't they make a PV-WAVE plugin for Python? You would think that a company whose financial interest is being threatened by matplotlib would bring their product up to par and present an commercial alternative to matplotlib. Instead they are recommending their competition.
But apparently they want it both ways. They would have you buy PyIMSL when you can use the open-source SciPy. If matplotlib is good enough for visualization, why wouldn't SciPy be good enough for numeric analysis?
I think you have missed the whole concept of PyIMSL Studio. PyIMSL Studio is recommended for prototype to production of advanced analytical models into production applications and predominantly in C. IMSL is the defining technology of PyIMSL Studio, not the Python tools. Please read the following to help clarify your knowledge of the product.
We also did not port IMSL to Python, please keep the facts straight, read the previous posts and our Website, PyIMSL are Python wrappers. The PyIMSL Studio product is not about matplotlib or Scipy for production use, it is about embedding the IMSL C Numerical Library into production use at a significantly lower cost than traditional prototype to production methods.
For some applications, performance of Python might be adequate. If this is the case, the prototype developed using PyIMSL Studio can simply be deployed into production. ... Python can be used for the production deployment of applications because there are Python components available for creating high quality user interfaces for standalone applications and for web-based application development.
So my question still stands: Does VNI stand by the quality of PV-WAVE's visualization like it does the IMSL analytics? If so, why would they promote an open-sourced visualization module like matplotlib? Why would they not put wrappers around the PV-WAVE plotting capability and package it with PyIMSL?
And the reason I mention SciPy is for counter-argument sake. If you say, "Well, matplotlib is better suited for Python visualization", then I can respond, "If matplotlib is the de facto standard for Python visualization, is not SciPy the new de facto industry standard for Python analysis?"


Police believe a laser pointed at a plane approaching Luton Airport last week may have come from the Hitchin area.
A footballer from Hitchin has pleaded guilty to knocking a referee unconscious during a match, in a brutal incident that has prompted the victim to never take another game.
The family of a 62-year-old grandfather who died after being involved in a crash near Hitchin say his tragic loss has left them "dazed and broken".
Bedfordshire's police and crime commissioner has pledged to stamp out domestic abuse across the county with money from a £1.1 million fund.


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From Tvguide.com
Ask Matt (Wonderfalls mention)
By Matt Roush
Wednesday 31 March 2004, by cally
Ask Matt
Due to the volume of questions received, Matt cannot answer all questions or reply via personal email.
Question: I share your enthusiasm for Curb Your Enthusiasm, Scrubs and Joan of Arcadia. These series all share (at times) a pessimism about the human condition that the creators turn into well-written humor. Joan (especially) turns her often apathetic "whatever" attitude into positive results, with a little help from her friend. This brings me to Wonderfalls. The lead character's snarky, superior, "I'm so cool because I don't care" attitude is a total turnoff to me. Her "quirky," "wacky" family exists only in the world of TV, and is in stark contrast to Joan's TV family. This show is being embraced by critics, but if it dies a well-deserved death, it isn't because the great unwashed masses can't recognize quality television. I sampled this show and found it insufferably smug. - Jim B.
Matt: Thanks for this opposing view. Funny, but when I first watched the original Wonderfalls pilot last summer, I had much the same reaction: She was too overbearingly smug, and the show itself (the family, in particular) much too precious. Maybe because of all the disappointments I've weathered this season between then and now (Karen Sisco, Boomtown, Ed, you name it), when I more recently returned to watch a handful of episodes of Wonderfalls, I found myself unexpectedly charmed. I love the offbeat setting of Niagara Falls, I find Jaye more exasperated with life than smug about it, and while I concede your point that the zaniness of Jaye's family is the sort of thing you only find on TV, I've come to think TV could use a few more shows with oddball characters. Without a doubt Wonderfalls is uneven - of the episodes I've seen, some are noticeably more satisfying than others - but I respect its ambition and am glad that in such a dispiriting TV year, someone's still trying. The fact that a number of people will find the show off-putting is not a surprise. I can't imagine feeling neutral to it. You'll either love it or hate it, and is that such a bad thing, really?
Question: Wonderfalls isn't a bad show but the main character seems so much like a clone of the main character in the vastly superior Showtime series Dead like Me. It really looks like they gave the lead actress of Wonderfalls some tapes of Dead like Me and told her to give her best impression of Ellen Muth. I know that the creator of Dead like Me is also the creator of Wonderfalls, but stealing ideas from yourself is still stealing. - Sven L.
Matt: And here's where I admit that Dead Like Me was, to me, a complete turnoff. Ellen Muth's performance was like curdled milk: sour, unpleasant and left a bitter aftertaste. Talk about a smug, self-impressed series. But that's just me. Quite a few of this column's correspondents enjoyed it. And for those who've written in wondering about Dead like Me's whereabouts, a second season was ordered, but hasn't been scheduled yet to my knowledge. I'm guessing it will return in the summer.
Question: Doesn't it seem logical for Fox to move Wonderfalls to Thursdays, after Tru Calling? The encore of the first episode which aired in that time period did better than the first time it aired on Friday. Both shows have the same audience and would help each other. There is one other plus too: Forever Eden and Playing It Straight could die on Fridays. This is Fox, which is known not for doing the logical thing, but for killing shows. Any thoughts? - John
Matt: Friday or Thursday, both are probably death traps for Wonderfalls. But you're right that according to the ratings, a slightly larger audience tuned in to check it out on Thursday, and it's somewhat more compatible with the I-hear-dead-people conceit of Tru Calling. So yes, it would make sense to give that programming strategy a shot. And I continue to refuse to believe anyone would want to see Forever Eden on any night of the week. What a dud.


When I was in 7th grade I read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. If you aren't familiar with the book, it's basically about the Illuminati, Vatican City, CERN, and anti-matter. I loved the book so much that it briefly inspired my future career goals (nuclear physicist), though they have since changed dramatically. It also began a fascination with the Vatican City: the world's smallest country and the heart of Catholicism. Today I finally got to see it first-hand.
But I'm sure as hell going to try and see it in a day - rain and tired feet be damned.
rin and I bought tickets for the Roman Colosseum online last night, allowing us to bypass the lines upon arrival. Being inside the Colosseum was absolutely breath-taking. It's incredible to think that this was built in 70 AD and still has this kind of beauty.
Everyone I talked to about Italy said that Pompeii had to be given a full day. I knew you couldspend a full day exploring the archaeological site, but did I really have to? I mean I'm only in Italy for a week and there's a lot I want to do. So after some research on transportation and opening hours, I created a hefty and ambitious schedule for the day.


I never imagined I would write a string quartet. Then I heard the JACK Quartet, and I understood how I might be able to make the medium my own. The result was The Wind in High Places - a twenty-minute work composed entirely on natural harmonics and open strings.
Over the next few years, two more quartets followed. The second quartet, untouched, is a further exploration of the aeolian sound world of the first. Then, in Canticles of the Sky, the musicians finally touch the fingerboards of their instruments.
And now comes Everything That Rises.
This fourth quartet is more expansive, both in time and in space. It grows out of Sila: The Breath of the World - a performance-length choral/orchestral work composed on a rising series of sixteen harmonic clouds.
Everything That Rises traverses this same territory, but in a much more melodic way.
Each musician is a soloist, playing throughout. They surround the audience. Time floats.
Over the course of an hour, the lines spin out - always rising - in acoustically perfect intervals that grow progressively smaller as they spiral upward... until the music dissolves into the soft noise of the bows, sighing.


text:
Reviews: Gaming
Watch Dogs 2 is a Wonderful Mess of Memes, and it is Amazing [REVIEW]
Loveable characters
Light hearted story
Open world fun
Bad gunplay
Multiplayer issues
Sensory overload in the beginning
The premise of Ubisoft's Watch Dogs (2014), the first entry in the French company's open-world-hacking-Grand-Theft-Auto-Assassin's-Creed-Lite-hybrid, was truly fascinating. It put you in the shoes of a master hacker, vigilante and justice bringing hero. The game offered a multitude of vehicles, weapons, gadgets, and a massive open world to explore. It had a strong, yet dark, plot and a somewhat likeable lead character. Most of all, it had heart. Sadly, Watch Dogs (2014) ultimately fell into a repetitive struggle to maintain it's "hacking" premise, while hoping you would "shoot everything in sight" in a world that was severely underpopulated and poorly realised. People did not take kindly to it. Now Watch Dogs 2 (2016) has arrived, but how does it fair?
Ubisoft has clearly learnt from its past mistakes, and took the time to completely rethink the gameplay mechanics of its intriguing Intellectual Property (IP). From the moment the game starts, it is eye-openingly clear that Ubisoft went back to the drawing board for Watch Dogs 2 (2016). The sequel is one in name only, and improves on absolutely every single thing that its predecessor attempted to offer.
Just like the first game, Watch Dogs 2 offers a near-seamless "hacking" experience within an open-world. One that is filled with thugs, gangs, police, civilians and a variety of unique and interesting locations. The game has aptly been described as Grand Theft Auto with Hacking. Having said this, the ability to hack is actually a very small part of the game. Similar to the first game, you portray the role of a vigilante hacker in Watch Dogs 2 (2016). Someone who is able to find flaws in electronic systems and use them to your advantage.
Watch Dogs 2 puts you in the shoes of a young and talented man named Marcus Holloway, who was unfairly accused of being a suspect in a high tech robbery. As the protagonist, he is a super cool, smart and well-to-do young man. In fact, he is smart enough to receive a scholarship from MIT, but does not do so because he has the uncanny ability to hack into city-wide Connected Systems (ctOS – the operating system that connects everything) and is thus able to live a decent life on his hacking abilities alone. He is also a far cry from Watch Dogs' Aiden Pearce. Unlike Aiden, Marcus is a much less serious and far more fun and chilled guy who knows how to take a joke; and this shines through in the campaign. When Marcus is having fun, you are having fun.
Where the first game had extremely dark undertones of sexual abuse, human trafficking, and murder; Watch Dogs 2 instead aims for a much more light hearted and fun campaign. It is a roller-coaster ride filled with tongue-in-cheek references to Silicon Valley and the technology industry of today. It also makes no effort to hide the fact that it is a game for the geeks, and includes many references to science-fiction classics like Alien, Hackers, and Knight Rider, which are plastered all over the world to find and geek over. Unlike the first game, Watch Dogs 2 replaces the need to force players into empathising with the protagonist from an emotional standpoint [AKA "murdered niece" aspect from the original game] and instead gives the player an ensemble of characters to befriend. This way, everyone can relate much more naturally with Marcus, his adventures and final cause. With that said, the game is not without its flaws — most of which, interestingly, stem from the original game that this sequel is based on.
Story? Yeah I can dig that
Similarly to the previous game, the overarching narrative in Watch Dogs 2 can, at first, be really hard to follow. Once you are done with the initial "tutorial" mission, the game throws a myriad of things at you at once. It opens with two side quests and a main mission right from the get-go.
At the start, Marcus is roped into working with a hacking group called DedSec, a group of "hacktivists" that are clearly based on the real world's Anonymous. Together with this group, Marcus helps to: exploit personal home security systems for what they really are [expensive jokes]; expose corrupt government officials; hijack fully autonomous vehicles, and, among others, take down fake religious cults.
As you take down these various groups, gamers will notice that the story is interesting and varied enough to take them from locale to locale around the fictional 'San Francisco', without issue or inconvenience. In one instance, it jumps from a movie studio through to the Scientology-based cult that owns it, and eventually on to the security systems that they use. Granted, the story is not that easy to follow at the start. Rather, it feels like it gives you small pieces of a puzzle that you cannot yet complete. Then, as the story hits its first "oh man" moment, it suddenly shows you a glimpse of the complete puzzle and how to get there.
One of the best parts of Watch Dogs 2, and a supreme improvement over the original, is how the game's missions manage to stay vibrant and alive. This is due in part to the look and feel that Ubisoft decided to give the game, one that is wonderfully bright and inviting – much better than the doom and gloom of its predecessor. However, the true standout feature of the game is the world itself. Simply put, it feels 'alive', and is always teeming with colourful, weird, likeable, funny and interesting non-playable characters. There is always someone talking or doing something; like fighting in the streets, hugging "old" friends, and even calling up their booty calls. It is one of the most immersive open-world games I have had the pleasure of enjoying.
Although the world is like a character on its own, the other stars of the show are the characters that Marcus befriends along the way. When Marcus is alone on a mission, he is in constant contact with his friends. When he is with them, you get a glimpse into the wonderfully wacky "no-fuss" world of 'teenage' and 'young adult' hackers. Similarly, the missions that are given by any one of Marcus' DedSec friends all have their own personality. Each mission feels unique and harbours characteristics based on the character who initially gives Marcus the task to complete. Despite you 'playing alone', Marcus is always in touch with someone.
The walls are seeping with colours and memes
Before I continue with the characters Marcus meets in the game, I must mention the absolute ridiculousness of the game itself. As I started to play, I became overly irritated by the overbearing number of memes riddled throughout the cutscenes, and do not even get me started on the dumb mask the character called "Wrench" wears. It all felt rather inane, ridiculous, and just a bit too much… and then things changed.
Strangely enough, after a few more hours of gameplay, I felt myself slowly growing to absolutely adore the characters that Ubisoft's team of writers thought up and brought to life. The characters are more complex than I originally gave them credit for. Wrench, for example, is actually quite awesome once you get to know him better (even with the mask).
The character Sitara is the resident female of the group and is an artistic wonder. She handles the artwork and colours that populate the "hackerspaces" that you hang out in. Then there is Wrench. As mentioned above, he is an extremely likeable dude; although he can be a bit awkward. Wrench's mask covers his entire face, but the visor can emote according to how Wrench feels or what he thinks.
Together with those two, Marcus is also introduced to Horatio and Josh; two gentlemen with polar opposite characteristics. Horatio is a young man who works for Nudle, one of the bigger corporations in Watch Dogs 2's San Fransisco. It is not exactly clear what Nudle does, but the maps app in Marcus' phone is called Nudle Maps, which leads me to believe that it is based on Google. Horatio is the resident tactical coordinator. he identifies key intel that Marcus must retrieve in his missions. Josh, on the other hand, is a socially awkward teen with Aspergers. He is the one that writes most of the code for the team and can break into just about any security system. He is shown to be less receptive to social queues and triggers, but ends up being a loveable asset that no one wants to lose.
Over the course of the game, you meet a few more colourful individuals who I will not name since they are integral to some of the main missions towards the end of the game [#NoSpoilers – but you can get a glimpse of one of them in the official story trailer for Watch Dogs 2]. Even with the extreme amount of "playfulness" the game exudes, it has a refreshing air about it that does not drown you in overbearing lore or inane tasks. It is a light-hearted journey that pulls you in and plucks at your heart when something bad happens to the DedSec crew.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQBfX9VBu0
Wait! First let me take a selfie
Watch Dogs 2 took a page out of the good old Grand Theft Auto playbook and introduced a large variety of shops and points of interest that can be interacted with. It features different clothing stores with unique styles, coffee houses, and even pawn shops! My version of Marcus was anything but 'hippy', sporting leather, shades and an all around vibe of "cool".
Contrary to the original game, Watch Dogs 2 does away with 'side content' that is locked until certain criteria is met. Instead, the game simply requires you to download a few apps from the in-game Appstore, drive by a point of interest, and whatever side content was hidden, is now unlocked! In terms of missions, there are two apps in particular: Driver SF and ScoutX.
While Driver SF is a clear reference to Ubisoft's 2011 game, Driver: San Francisco, the app is a bit different. It allows Marcus to pick up clients and drive them to their destinations, much like Uber and Lyft. The twist here is that you actually do crazy things for the clients you pick up. ScoutX, on the other hand, acts as a successor to the City Hotspots app from the first game. It is an Instagram-like photo service that rewards Marcus with followers for every landmark he photographs.
Other apps include the Car On Demand App, the Camera, and obviously the Media Player app. This is my opportunity to voice how awesome the licensed music is in Watch Dogs 2. I hardly ever found myself running around without any music playing. In the first game, there was one particular radio station I listened to, and it was not a lot either.
Drones!
Marcus is not only a master of parkour and sneaking, but he is also the proud owner of two 3D printed drones! One of them is a Remote Controlled three-wheeled ground drone, and another is a robust quadcopter that can stay in the air for what feels like an eternity. The drones are a huge part of the "sneaking" aspect of the gameplay. In fact, there are multiple missions where Marcus just sits on the sidelines while his drones do all of the work!
The ground drone is the heavy lifter of the two. It is not only the first drone you get in the game, but it is the only one capable of hacking into systems and retrieving items. It can be upgraded with a speaker and higher jumping capabilities later on in order to distract guards.
The quadcopter may not be able to pick things up and hack into stuff, but it has an amazing ability: flight (no way, dude!). The quadcopter makes it possible to scope out entire zones and mark every single hostile in the area. It also allows for remote hacking into phones and communication systems in order to keep enemies off Marcus' back. This drone is also the most helpful in situations where you need to unlock a security system via the hacking minigame.
Where Watch Dogs 2 absolutely shines is the level design. Thanks to the addition of drones, Ubisoft went crazy with some phenomenal maze-like levels. This includes apartment buildings and warehouses, all whilst still maintaining the 'San Fran' look and feel on the outside.
Guns… WTF is this?
Where Watch Dogs 2 disappoints, however, is in the gunplay mechanics. Just like its predecessor, Watch Dogs 2 does not bar you from shooting your way through enemies and zones like the cyber vigilante that you are. Just like its predecessor, however, doing so is a chore because aiming has its issues, and so does the cover system. They work well for stealth, but not so much for direct action. Now, about that direct action.
In the first game, gamers got upset that Aiden Pearce killed without remorse. The entire premise of the original game was about Aiden trying to find justice for his murdered niece – hence the issue of rampaging through the streets killing everyone. In Watch Dogs 2, Marcus does not look like a killer. At all. As such, Ubisoft has placed a much heavier emphasis on being stealthy versus brute force. The aspect of stealth is something I personally enjoy, and I am thankful that the game encourages this sort of gameplay – although it may not be suited to every player. As such, Watch Dogs 2 not only has guns, but it also equips Marcus with a stun gun.
Thanks to that, players can go through the entire game and hardly ever kill a soul. Heck, you can even go so far as to not even put Marcus anywhere near the places he has to infiltrate; by simply leaving the dirty work to his drone – as long as you can keep them from being seen. Not only will noticed drones bar you from being the "perfect ghost", but it will also alert enemies and make them patrol with more ferocity. As mentioned above, it is best to avoid any gun fights.
Marcus, you're very much of a ghost presence
When it comes to the multiplayer in Watch Dogs 2, it seems to rely heavily on the patience a person is willing to bring to the table. Watch Dogs 2 takes what was good about the multiplayer in Watch Dogs, and improves on it in just about every way.
Players can "invade" each other's games "seamlessly" and attempt to hack and retrieve some of their data without being profiled. Watch Dogs 2 also adds new cooperative missions for two or more players to complete together; as well as a new "bounty hunter" mode where "invaders" must hunt down players who cause too much trouble in the open world. This last mode pits you against a rival player, with the police at your side. Hunt down and stop the troublemaker at any cost!
In my 15-odd hours with the game so far, I have been invaded and hacked only once. Similarly, I managed to enter the world of another player only once. That was before I got kicked due to a "server error". On top of that, I cannot tell if it is my region, but the multiplayer hardly ever connects to games. I would waste around 10 minutes every night, trying to find cooperative partners or invasion opportunities, but to no avail.
As such, I cannot speak too much for multiplayer until I have managed a few more hours online. I will update this section accordingly if I ever manage to connect properly. If it is anything like the first game, it is sure to inspire a heck of a lot of fun.
It's the end of the line, bub… (Conclusion)
Watch Dogs 2's unique and meme-heavy world will not warrant the game ageing very well. In five years from now, people will look back and call it a cringe fest of outdated memes and somewhat annoying teenage tropes. However, it will forever be remembered as the definitive Watch Dogs experience. I cannot say how many games there will be in this franchise, but this will undoubtedly be regarded as a start of a new era for this Ubisoft IP. Watch Dogs 2 does a great job at keeping the gameplay fresh and unique. It keeps you from thinking "oh, this is just another GTA" or just another "Assassin's Creed". It is set in the beautiful locale that is San Francisco — something that Ubisoft rendered perfectly.
Even if the first few missions leave you with a confused feeling, you know it is best to just continue along. Not because it promises a possible reward, but rather because you want to. One of the best parts of Watch Dogs 2 is how you will genuinely start to fit into the role of Marcus and care for him and his DedSec crew [shoutout to the #VCrewZA].
The main story took me roughly 15 hours to complete, which is excellent for a modern big-budget title. Even so, I know for a fact that I have barely scratched the surface of what is possible to do in this open-world sandbox that the game provides! Although quite large in scope, the game has an uncanny ability to make you feel like you have earned a massive pay off with every completed task. Really, I mean this sincerely. There is a morbid fascination and fulfilment of a "peeping Tom" curiosity when doing menial things like listening to phone calls and snooping on text messages. It really is amazing. Not only does the latter tie into two side missions, but the former opens up the world around you by making you feel like you are actually living in it. Before I got my hands on the game, Hans assured me that I would end up feeling like I was a part of the living world that is Watch Dogs 2's digital San Francisco. He could not have been more correct. Watch Dogs 2 is an incredible game that is very well polished. Not only does the game manage to draw you into its unbelievable world, but it also makes you care about the characters that live in it. There is a particular mission nearing the end of the game where I almost shed a tear. A tear! For a game! I might have my 'man-card' revoked if I am not careful.
I know that reading is not for everyone. As such, here is my tldr: Watch Dogs 2 is a game that is also an amazing work of art. It is a very current game that may not age all that well, but that does not impact the joy and fun that can be had playing it. In several years time, this game will still be regarded as one of the 21st century's greatest gifts to the open-world, sandbox genre. At least, to me it will.
Time Played 15 hours
Difficulty Realistic
Platform Xbox One
Acquisition Review copy courtesy of Megarom Interactive


Ticketfly is rolling out new partnerships today that make the pre-concert experience more social for attendees, and eliminate a lot of the logistical headaches for venues and promoters.
Ticketfly partnered with technology providers Aloompa and Intellitix to make event management smoother at venues, with radio frequency identification (RFID) authentication of tickets and passes, ticket scanning, and box office tools, all of which are available on Android devices and the iPhone.
For attendees, Ticketfly partnered with car sharing service Zimride to help concert-goers find carpools to events right after they have purchased tickets online. Ticketfly is an enterprise technology provider focused on providing end-to-end solutions for music promoters and venues, such as ticketing solutions, email and social marketing tools and analytics.
Dreskin says live festivals have come to the forefront of the music industry in the U.S. with events like the Ultra Music Festival, Bumbershoot and the Treasure Island Music Festival drawing crowds both regionally and nationally. Sometimes crowds come from even further afield.
By partnering with Zimride, Ticketfly is expanding access to events and helping attendees reduce their environmental impact at the same time. "The ability to marry Zimride's ridesharing solution with Ticketfly will save fans and venues millions of dollars on transportation costs while creating a new community for fans to meet before and after the show," said Logan Green, founder and chief executive officer of Zimride in a statement.
Winter is a slow time for the music festivals, so launching its new integrated product now may give Ticketfly and partners a chance to stomp out any bugs before the festival season ramps up again. In April, Coachella will kick off the music festival season followed by Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, Outside Lands and many more. These major music festivals of the spring and summer will allow Ticketfly and its tech collaborators to see how well their technology has worked together. Some Ticketfly partners are currently providing services to festival organizers such for Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, while Ticketfly certainly hopes to do so with its integrated offering.
The fees paid for purchasing tickets represent a $10 billion opportunity, says Dreskin. The face value of all tickets sold worldwide is more than $50 billion. "That's pretty juicy," says Dreskin.
Ticketfly is based in San Francisco, and has raised $15 million in funding. The company has 70 employees and has been generating revenue for the past 30 months, said Dreskin.


Dina Azar, Lebanese jewelry designer and television presenter and Miss Lebanon in 1995, was born in 1972 in Beirut, Lebanon.
Full report on the life story of Dina Azar, biographical information from Wikipedia and the latest news.
Titles: Miss Lebanon in 1995.
Dina Azar was born in 1972 in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. BA in English Literature. Celebrity Dew shows up on the BBC.


Signed binding: Frank Berkeley Smith.
Brown vertical-moiré-rib-grain cloth. Gold, black, and white stamping on front and spine. No decoration on back.
Book has illustrations by E.W. Kemble. Book contents: Strength of Gideon -- Mammy Peggy's pride -- Viney's free papers -- The fruitful sleeping of the Rev. Elisha Edwards -- The ingrate -- The case of 'Ca'line -- The finish of Patsy Barners -- One man's fortunes -- Jim's probation -- Uncle Simon's Sundays out -- Mr. Cornelius Johnson, office-seeker -- An old-time Christmas -- A mess of pottage -- The trustfulness of Polly -- The tragedy at Three Forks -- The finding of Zach -- Johnsonham, junior -- The faith cure man -- A council of state -- Silas Jackson.


The first foreigner ever to win the gold medal in the All-Japan Toyama Ryu swordsmanship competition, Stephen Fabian is presently U.S. Branch Head of the Hontai Yoshin Ryu system and senior advisor to the International Shudokan Martial Arts Association, as well as professor of anthropology at North Central College in Illinois. In this edifying and inspiring personal account, Professor Fabian's background in anthropology and his scholarly knowledge of Zen Buddhism and Japanese culture are brought to bear on over two decades of training in Asian martial arts. The result is an illuminating and often entertaining presentation of nine key lessons for mastering life and self. Although each lesson is gleaned from a discreet phase in the author's life experience or martial career, taken together they form a coherent, step-by-step program for personal mastery and success in life, one that can be understood and embraced by all, even those with no interest in the martial arts.


Back in 2008, our financial institutions were pretty careless with how they were lending money and creating crazy unregulated schemes to bundle mortgages and essentially allow bets on if these bundles would fail. The ratings agencies who were supposed to be the referee and keep things fair/honest, were totally bought out and influenced to give favorable ratings. This unregulated environment led to a near collapse of the world economy. As a taxpayer, it was unpalatable to see my tax money bail out irresponsible bankers, but if we hadn't the economy would collapse. As a result, rules/regulations were put in place to ensure we would not need to bail out institutions and mitigation our chances of economic implosion. My concern is that if we remove too many financial regulations, we will see short term accelerated growth, followed by popped bubble. Not saying that is going to happen, but this is an important concern to me. Proposed solution: Seeking an intelligent walk through of which regulations are being removed, why, and how it will help businesses moving forward. To date, I have only seen people in front of giant stacks of paper saying that there are too many regulations.
I feel like there used to be two camps, raise taxes and offer more generous government funded stuff (education, defense, infrastructure, food stamps, etc.) or reduce government waste and cut taxes. My present concern is that we have created a Unicorn where we cut taxes and increased government spending, which will result in short term growth, but will be followed by significant financial pain for Americans who bear this debt in the long run. Not saying this is going to happen, but this scares me. Proposed solution: America really needs to take a look at this issue and align on how much debt we want, how much is sustainable and how much more/less debt we want in 1, 3, 5, and 10 years from now. Let's align and hold ourselves/politicians accountable to those goals.
I saw a bald eagle last year, it was glorious. We figured out where they were nesting and would park our car across the lake from them and admire them perched in the tree by their nest. I've hiked all over Pennsylvania, fished its creeks, lakes, and rivers. A clean sustainable environment is very important to me. I've detailed this in previous posts, but people did make a lot of money off of coal, but it also ruined a lot of lives, the environment (land + air), and people in Pittsburgh are still having homes collapse in abandoned mines under them each year. The mine companies do not pay for it, the home owners require special mine insurance. My concern is that we have really reduced the oversight at the Environmental Protection Agency and have made bold proclamations that we will allow drilling at National Parks. I am unsure if the economic benefit will outweigh the environmental consequences. It is easy for me to say "save the environment", but I know some people will be pissed that this prevents them from making money off the land they own. My proposed solution: Have a strong EPA that makes people that care about the environment feel reassured that the people who are drilling and pumping on their properties are doing so in a sustainable fashion. Not saying you cannot drill, just saying you should do so in a way that keeps towns from having earthquakes, ruined water supply, toxic gases leaking from the ground, or houses caving in due to abandoned mines below.
Too many people die from guns. Not saying they should be banned, but really think the issue should be studied, we should identify the exact reasons why so many people are dying and put some rules in place to reduce the number of gun deaths. The answers might be really simple, like we need better education around appropriate use and storage, maybe stronger consequences for shooting someone, or improved counseling for people experiencing depression. This is a big and scary issue, it deserves a more thoughtful evaluation than a black or white debate on gun ownership.
There are a lot of communities that have been really hit hard by our changing economy. I am sure Walmarts put a lot of local general stores, grocery stores, and department stores out of business, primarily replacing those locally owned businesses with with low minimum wage hourly jobs. Rural towns that depended on mining are seeing less demand for coal and fewer jobs required/mines closing. There are kids that grow up in terribly poor neighborhoods in the city where the graduation rates are horrible. We need a pretty big disruptive force to break these cycles and advance them into the middle class. Food stamps are not the solution, making them work at McDonald's, or making them pass a drug test are probably not the solutions. There needs to be a bigger vision and I think there are things we can do with all the government spending that we generate, that could help these cities/towns.
These are 5 things that important to me, I know there are currently a lot of scandals and we can get distracted by the newest news story, but I really hope these 5 things can be addressed.
I tried to re-read this.
It's still boring. I stopped after "financial institutions" and then went and watched pro wrestling from 1992.


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AUSTIN, Texas, September 5, 2014 — The final step in constructing a single organization to lead process automation communications and integration technologies was completed when the members of both the HART® Communication Foundation and Fieldbus Foundation approved the merger proposed by their respective boards through a voting process that concluded on August 30. This completes a yearlong study and diligence period by a dedicated team of volunteers representing each of the foundations.
The new corporation, called FieldComm Group, will be led by a board of directors composed of representatives of the collective companies from the current boards of each foundation. Hans-Georg Kumpfmueller has been elected as the inaugural chairman of the board. Mr. Kumpfmueller will lead the direction of the FieldComm Group and oversee the addition of FDI LLC in mid-2015.
Mr. Kumpfmueller has served as a leader in setting the course of device integration in his role as chairman of the FDI LLC board and as CEO of Sensors and Communication at Siemens. He is convinced the formation of FieldComm Group is "a major step forward for the process industries by leveraging the strengths of each industry-leading protocol and adding the value of the next-generation integration strategy."
The board has appointed Ted Masters as president and CEO of FieldComm Group. He currently serves in the same capacity with the HART Communication Foundation. Mr. Masters brings a wealth of instrumentation and controls experience to bear in addition to a deep understanding of the use of data analytics in enterprise systems.
Mr. Masters believes the creation of FieldComm Group is an unprecedented opportunity to build upon existing technologies and develop a single future vision toward harmonization of standards for the process automation industry worldwide. He said, "I am excited about the opportunity to work together with distinguished leaders and technologies around the globe to integrate valuable process intelligence from devices to improve the operations of our users."
During the transition and integration of the two organizations, Richard J. Timoney will serve as executive vice president of FieldComm Group. Mr. Timoney currently is president and CEO of the Fieldbus Foundation. He commented, "The joining of Fieldbus Foundation and HART Communication Foundation will realize the automation industry's goal of a single, unified body to support advanced digital technology. The efforts of countless individuals and companies have helped us reach this milestone."
FieldComm Group will consolidate offices in Austin, Texas, and function as a single entity beginning January 1, 2015. Until that time, the HART Communication Foundation and Fieldbus Foundation will continue to operate independently.
About the Fieldbus Foundation
The Fieldbus Foundation is a global not-for-profit corporation consisting of leading process end users and automation companies. Within the Fieldbus Foundation, end users, manufacturers, universities and research organizations work together to develop an automation infrastructure that allows you to view your process in high definition; manage information effectively; and optimize people, processes and technology. For more information, visit their web site at www.fieldbus.org.
About the HART Communication Foundation
The HART Communication Foundation (www.hartcomm.org) is the technology owner and standards organization for the HART Communication Protocol. Founded in 1993, the Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit, membership organization providing support for the HART Communication technology and standards worldwide. The Foundation is supported by a global membership of 320 companies. HART Communication is the leading technology for process measurement and control with more than 40 million HART-enabled devices installed worldwide.


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How Long Did It Take To Make Cuphead (And Why)?
Exact Answer: 5 years
Cuphead is an American Run 'n' Run video game. It was released on Windows Xbox One on the 29th of September, 2017, macOS on the 19th of October, 2018, Nintendo switch on the 18th of April, 2019, and PlayStation 4 on the 28th of July in 2020. The complete name of the game is, Cuphead: "Don't Deal With The Devil".
How Long Did It Take To Make Cuphead?
Why Did It Take So Long To Make Cuphead?
Studio MDHR is the developer and publisher of the game. It was composed by Kristofer Maddigan and designed by Jared Moldenhauer.
Acts Of Significance In The Making Of Game Timeline
Total time in the creation of Cuphead 5 years
A total of 24 frames could be viewed in 1 second
Length of first teaser of the game 42 seconds
First Deadline of the release of game 2014
Second deadline of the release of game 2015
Third deadline of the release of game 2016
The actual release date on the game 2017
The creation of Cuphead was a laborious and tough job. It called for a lot of effort from the team and was also seemingly tough for ardent fans who had to wait for the five-year-long development period for the game.
They had dreamed of the game in 2013 as a Run 'n' Run game. Their cartoon setting was versatile and based on the 1930s theme. Initially, the pratagonist of their game was a green placeholder, but as their new game idea gathered wind, they changed it to the cuphead.
In the same year of 2013, the first teaser of the game was launched which was 42 seconds long. The teaser looked more of an interactive cartoon and it ended with an indication of being released in the next year in 2014.
However, the game was not going to be released anytime sooner. The release date would keep on getting postponed and postponed. As 2014 passed, 2015 became the next deadline which further passed the baton to 2015 and 2016.
How Long to Beat Cuphead Game – (And Why)?
How Long Did It Take To Make Avatar (And Why)?
How Long Did It Take To Make Coraline (And Why)?
The release of the game could not be materialized before 2017. However, on the 29th of September in 2017, it was released on Windows Xbox One.
The story of the creation of Cuphead was that of the creation of a game of a different league. It was a game from the period of 1930s while being released in 2017. This certainly made it a class apart which made it consume a large amount of time.
A simple reason why the game took so long to be developed was that the makers were in no hurry. They were calm and wanted to enjoy every bit of what they were doing. Developing the game was a fantasy for them.
The Moldenhauer brothers initially worked as part-time artists working on game development. Moreover, it was only after 2014, that they decide to hire more staff to speed up the process of game development. This certainly cost a lot of time which would otherwise, have been done in a relatively less timeframe.
Further, the team also felt the need to raise extra funds for their project in the middle of its development process. The team raised some loans to finance their project. Upon hiring more people, the total number of staff had increased to 12 people which made a clear and compact team required in making the game.
It took the team nearly half an hour to make just one frame of the entire game. The total number of such handmade frames was nearly 50000 according to some reports. In addition to that, 24 frames would be actively playing in just one second.
Cuphead was a unique game in the history of computer animation where each of the frames was drawn by hand. The game took five years in its development process and was delayed several times repeatedly before it was finally released in 2017.
Since a lot of work concerning the game was manual, it led to a lot of time being involved in it. Moreover, initially, the team was small which also hosted a certain amount of time.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17468477211025665
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jpcu.12751


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The Dalison Baronetcy, of Laughton in the County of Lincoln, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 29 June 1611 for Sir Roger Dalison, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance, and member of parliament for Malmesbury. He purchased the baronetcy but was unable or unwilling to pay the price. He was also found to have embezzled large amounts of money from the Ordnance, and died in Fleet Prison as a debtor. After his death, a clerical error was discovered in the register of baronets, which meant that his surviving son, Thomas, could not automatically inherit the baronetcy. On 27 October 1624 it was recreated for Thomas Dalison. The title became extinct when Sir Thomas was killed at the Battle of Naseby in 1645.

Not to be confused with the Dallison baronets of Greetwell in the County of Lincoln, created in 1644.

Dalison baronets, of Laughton (1611 and 1624)
Sir Roger Dalison, 1st Baronet ( – 1620)
Sir Thomas Dalison, 1st Baronet (died 1645)

References

Extinct baronetcies in the Baronetage of England

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Developer cited support from Towson University for off-campus dorm plan. TU said conversations never happened. – Baltimore Sun
Paul Hartman2019-12-20T15:52:52-05:00December 20th, 2019|Categories: Development|Tags: 706 Washington, dorms, student housing|Comments Off on Developer cited support from Towson University for off-campus dorm plan. TU said conversations never happened. – Baltimore Sun
A developer who wants to construct a 15-story, 241-unit student housing building in downtown Towson said during a community input meeting on Dec. 17 that he'd spoken with Towson University administrators about their interest in the project, demand for student housing and partnering on transportation to and from campus.
But, university officials said, those discussions did not take place.
"Contrary to comments made at a recent community meeting, the university administration has not had conversations regarding the development of the property and is not seeking to build nor partner on any student housing off campus," university spokesman Sean Welsh said.
Mark Manzo, the developer behind the project, said during the meeting that he had spoken with members of the administration at Towson University, and that the school was generally supportive of the project. In an email sent Dec. 19, Manzo clarified that he had met with members of the university's parking and transportation team and, he said, they committed to working with him.Welsh said Towson University has not committed to anything related to the proposed development project.
Read full article: Developer cited support from Towson University for off-campus dorm plan. TU said conversations never happened. – Baltimore Sun


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Eating the same old salad over and over gets really boring, really quickly. Switch it up with this arugula Parmesan salad recipe that literally only takes five minutes to make. You'll love how fresh the arugula tastes with the lemon-parmesan dressing. The lemon brings out the full, leafy flavor of the arugula and the Parmesan gives it a savory kick. Final step? Screw the croutons and add some color! We topped this salad with some crisp cherry tomatoes. Not only does it make it taste better, but it looks pretty damn good, too.
1. Mix olive oil, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
2. Combine arugula and tomatoes in a large bowl.
3. Top with lemon-parmesan dressing. For more lemon flavor, zest half a lemon on top.


Students at Hedgesville High School working cooperatively with EPCF and WVDOF have completed Level 1 (L1) Wildfire Risk Assessments of five communities in West Virginia. The L1 system developed by the Minnesota DNR Firewise Project allowed the students to rate a home's defensible space using 2003 SAMB aerial photography accessed via the Internet. Using this system, students assessed over 2,000 homes in five West Virginia communities.
GIS modeling techniques were applied to the student-collected data to assess overall community risk. The Density Surface Model (DSM) allows the accurate visualization of the concentration of risk within the community based on the number of homes and their defensible space rating. The highest risk neighborhoods "Hot Spots" were identified by this analysis.
Students at Hedgeville H.S. participated in five Field trips to "Hot Spots" in The Woods Resort identified by DSM maps. Students were instructed on how to use West Virginia's Level 2 (L2) Wildfire Home Hazard Assessment system. Over 700 homes were rated using the L2's two dozen criteria as conditions permitted and GPS units accurately located houses, spatially tagging each data record.
The following links download a PDF file. You will need Adobe Acrobat Readerto view.
The EPCF worked with members of the administration of HHS to bring the MNDNR and its MAGE model to HHS. The MNDNR program has been adapted to meet all WVDOE curriculum standards. This program fits nicely with the recently announced "21st Century Schools that Work" program by the WVDOE, with HHS being one of the sixteen schools selected to be a participant in this program. HHS will be first school in the state of WV to help establish the model of the West Virginia Alliance for Geographic Education (WVAGE) program. The program model being put forward by the EPCF and the WVDOF and developed at HHS will be the model utilized by others when it is moved to other school districts in the state of West Virginia sometime in the future. The EPCF has been working closely with HHS Principal Don Dellinger, Assistant Principal Ron Lyons and science teacher Sun Schroyer from the planning to implementation of the Firewise in the Classroom Project. The WVAGE program initiative at HHS will not only familiarize the students to GIS and GPS technologies but give them hands on experience with the technologies. The Firewise in the Classroom program will also give the students the opportunity to interact with the varied constituencies within the community at large while working to help those communities become Firewise Communities. Those other constituencies include: local volunteer fire departments, the local home owners associations, and leaders in Berkeley County. This program will bring visibility both to HHS and its participating students.


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People do love their illusions
Posted on November 2, 2021 by Joe
"For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust" (Psalm 103:14).
God is under no illusion about us. He knows we are made of humble stuff. He knew He was getting no bargain when He saved us. When we sin, the only one surprised is us.
Whether we are under false conceptions, i.e., illusions, about God is another question.
One thing is sure. We sure do love our illusions, our pipe dreams, our false ideas and wrong impressions.
No one should see how sausage or their laws are made. The internet traces that quote to Otto von Bismarck, German chancellor of the late 1800s, who is supposed to have said it more like "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."
Leave us with our illusions.
I grew up on Southern Gospel music and my family frequently attended their concerts. In adulthood seeing some of the groups up close and off stage, the profanity and carnal lifestyles forever ruined me. In time, I was able to enjoy some of their music, but without attending a concert or becoming a groupie. I had lost my illusion about these people.
Lovers of the old Andy Griffith Show are sometimes saddened to learn, after a little research, that their beloved Aunt Bee, played by actress Frances Bavier, was just that, playing a role. In a score of books on that show, cast members have said that Miss Bavier was often demanding, high maintenance, and hard to get along with. Not at all the sweet loveable Aunt Bea character she played in the show. And yet, we love the show and cherish the image–the illusion, if you will–she left us.
Trekkies are fans of the Star Trek series of televisions shows and movies. They flock to conventions and pay big money to see the stars, read their memoirs, and purchase the mementoes. Many of them can spout the philosophies of Spock's character and know the nationalities of all kinds of forces that have shown up in the show.
One thing is sure and I can vouch for this: People who write these shows think the Trekkies are nuts. Sure, they'll take their money and play the game. But as they board the plane and return home, they're shaking their collective heads at the ridiculous way these people fill their lives with such foolishness. "They should get a life," they're thinking.
That, incidentally, is what Coach Bob Devaney once said of fans of his Nebraska Cornhuskers team who took their devotion to absurd heights. Asked what he thought about the fan who bought a casket with the university's logo emblazoned in red across the top and left instructions about doing his funeral in a similar fashion, the coach said, "I think he should should get a life."
Five years back, I met the grandmother of the young man who had just married my oldest granddaughter. Daisy hails from Mansfield, Missouri. I said, "Laura Ingalls Wilder's hometown." "Yes," she smiled, and added, "I knew her."
"You knew her?" That was unexpected.
This author of a still-popular series of children's books lived from 1867 to 1957. Her writings supported her family through the Depression and in more recent decades, a well-loved television series was based loosely on her books. A controversy continues to this day over how much Mrs. Wilder's daughter Rose participated in the writings of the "Little House on the Prairie" books. Nevertheless….
"She was a crabby little old lady," said Mrs. Daisy. I laughed. "Really?"
I love gossip of this kind. That is to say, it's historical (and history is my subject) and since the subject is no longer living, our idle chatter is not going to do her any harm. No one is hurt by our conversation and so we are free to range far and wide.
"I worked in a bakery shop," said Daisy, "and she would come in. None of us wanted to wait on her, and would run to the back when we spotted her coming."
"She wore a hat and gloves year round, even in the heat of summer."
She mentioned that Mrs. Wilder had written some subsequent stuff about her daughter's mistreatment when they first moved to Mansfield, something about how the school children rejected her and were snooty because she was not dressed as well as they. Daisy said, "The truth was the opposite. They were the snooty ones, too good for the townspeople."
I laughed. To me this was a harmless little jest of no consequence. I have never read the "Little House" books and have no intention of doing so. I repeat the conversation here just to make a point.
It's perfectly fine with me if Mrs. Wilder's daughter Rose helped her write the books and if she herself turns out to have been crabby or snooty or to have embellished her stories. They were novels, for goodness' sake, and not autobiographies. She wasn't writing scripture.
When I posted a note on Facebook about how the elderly Laura Ingalls Wilder was said to be "a crabby old lady," a FB friend rebuked me. I should not be destroying people's illusions, she said.
People do love their illusions, don't they?
I'm going to end with a little story which speaks to the absurdity of people cherishing their illusions, no matter how flimsy
Leonard Mlodinow was a writer for the original Star Trek series. Once at a cocktail party, he came upon a man and woman who were handsome, articulate, and doubtless well-educated. In the midst of a conversation about their love for that show, one was quoting a lengthy passage of Vulcan philosophy to the other who was loving it. As Mlodinow listened, something occurred to him
I wrote that stuff.
"I wrote so much of it," he later said, "that I tended to forget it. And yet here these people were believing it, quoting it as gospel."
He was stunned and walked away shaking his head.
You find yourself amazed sometimes at the foolish things people believe. I just finished reading Leah Remini's autobiography Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. It may have been the most depressing thing I've read since…well, since Educated by Tara Westover, about growing up in a dysfunctional Mormon sect. Ever since, I have prayed for Tara and Leah to do one thing: to open the Gospels and see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not pray for them to become Baptists–smile please–but it will be sufficient, for the time being at least, for them to discover Jesus. He alone never disappoints.
There is Truth and His name is Jesus.
Let no one make the shallow assertion that since some religious views and teachings are nuts and are founded on the wild speculations of their founders, that every religious faith is equally false. That would be like saying since medical quacks abound, all medicine is fake.
There is a true Way. There is a solid Faith. There is One who commands our respect and deserves our trust.
His name is Jesus.
"If it were not so, I would have told you," said the Lord Jesus (John 14:2) as He made some amazing claims. He added, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6).
One of the apostles said, "We did not follow cunningly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty" (2 Peter 1:16).
"The Lord is upright; He is my Rock; and there is no unrighteousness in Him," declares the great song-writer of Israel (Psalm 92:15).
You can have illusions, or you can know the Truth.
You cannot have it both ways.
We have to choose.
Looking at the way people had turned away from Him to chase their illusions, the Lord God said, "My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and they have dug out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).
God or a hole in the ground. Truth or our illusions.
Such a simple choice; such a hard decision for so many.
This entry was posted in Lord Jesus, Truth by Joe. Bookmark the permalink.


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Healthcare Network
Blurred boundaries between public service and private interest
Bob Hudson
What can be done about civil servants who migrate to the private sector, taking all their insider knowledge with them?
Mon 22 Oct 2012 03.29 EDT First published on Mon 22 Oct 2012 03.29 EDT
A revolving door culture in the civil service blurs the boundaries between sectors and creates potential conflicts of interest. Photograph: Double Exposure/Getty Images
The most significant event in the NHS last week passed almost unnoticed – the resignation from the NHS Commissioning Board of Jim Easton to become managing director of the private provider Care UK.
To him had fallen the task of touring the country telling localities of the need to find £20bn of savings by working more smartly, including greater outsourcing. Now his insider knowledge and experience will be put at the disposal of one of the biggest private providers in the country with interests spanning primary care, secondary care, residential care, community care and specialist care.
Easton is not the first and he will not be the last. Previous senior officials in the Department of Health transferring their wallets to the private sector include Matthew Swindells, chief information officer at the DH who joined KPMG, along with Mark Britnell and Gary Belfield, who had run the DH commissioning programme; Simon Stevens, Tony Blair's senior health advisor from 1997-2004 became a vice-president for United Health; and Penny Dash, formerly DH director of strategy, left for McKinsey.
It is not just former officials who are transferring their knowledge and experience to the private sector. Tom Sackville, a former Conservative minister left to run the International Federation of Health Plans, representing a hundred private health insurers in 31 countries, while former secretary of state for health, Virginia Bottomley became a director of BUPA.
Does all of this matter? Yes it does. As early as 2006 the top ranks of the Department of Health were almost completely free of generalist civil servants. Instead, they were filled with people recruited from outside, who saw their task as policy implementation, rather than helping to formulate policy.
The "revolving door" between DH, the major management consultancies and private companies had begun to turn furiously.
All of this has gathered fresh momentum as a result of the coalition government's determination to increase diversity of providers in all public services. This increases the potential for movement of employees between the public and private sectors, blurs the boundaries between sectors and creates potential conflicts of interest.
On the same day the Easton move was announced, it was also revealed that Alan Cave, a director in DWP with responsibility for overseeing the Work Programme, was quitting to join Serco, one of the main contractors on the same programme.
The Public Administration Select Committee investigated the issue of "business appointment rules" earlier this year. These rules govern the take-up of employment by former ministers and crown servants, with non-binding advice given by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA).
The all-party committee was damning of ACoBA, concluding that it does not command public confidence and should be abolished. In its place the committee proposed a model based on the Canadian system, with an independent commissioner having the power to initiate investigations and to enforce statutory penalties.
This would certainly be an improvement, but as the report Cabs for Hire? by Transparency International points out, even stronger models can be found elsewhere. In France, for example, "having left civil service or public office to assume a private sector position in an industry over which they had previously exercised influence as a public servant" within a period of three years is a crime punishable by two years imprisonment and a fine of up to €30,000.
The Select Committee is not so drastic in its recommendations, but does propose prohibitions on public servants disclosing insider information for a period of two years for former ministers, special advisers and senior civil servants.
This is not a matter of hounding a handful of individuals, even though there seems to be good reason to question the ethics of their behaviour. The problem here is systemic – a system in which the boundaries between traditional "public service" and private interest have become so blurred that it is no longer possible to know if the public interest is being served.
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