text:
Tag: experimental music
Exploring Helmut Lachenmann
Once in a while, I like to dip into UbuWeb: Sound. Part of the Ubu online collection of avant-garde art and video, it was originally conceived as a library of sound poetry but now encompasses a generous spectrum of experimental music, too.
I cherish the idea that these mostly out-of-print works have a home, but I have to admit, I also revel in the obscurity of it all. So much art from so many unfamiliar names. So much history! It's a playground for hipsters of the avant-garde: "I was into Laurie Anderson back when she was doing actual songs! On vinyl!" (Check out "It's Not the Bullet That Kills You, It's the Hole.")
So one day — the day I found that Laurie Anderson page, actually — I decided to spin the big wheel. Push the cursor blindly, investigate a name. It could have been someone extremely famous like Phillip Glass or Don Cherry. But I lucked out and got a modern classical composer of great renown who had so far escaped me: Helmut Lachenmann.
His purview is "musique concrète instrumentale," meaning the extramusical sounds that can be squeezed out of musical instruments. His pieces are like noise sculptures, full of extended playing and improv-like atmosphere. The sound of "a beetle on its back," the Guardian says, quoting the instructions from one of Lachenmann's pieces.
Ubu's collection includes two of his works, from a 1986 recording on the Col Legno label; it's still available on eMusic. A string quartet called "Gran Torso" fills the space with creaks, scrapes, bow bouncing, and the occasional wisp of an open-stringed tone. I can see how pieces like this might have informed works like Elliott Sharp's "The Boreal."
Even abstract noise can be used to carve a trajectory, a pacing, as "Gran Torso" does. The activity ebbs and flows in a storytelling fashion. It's enjoyable.
The secon piece is "Saut für Caudwell" for two acoustic guitars, played in clackety percussive style that I would have mistaken for violins. It gets into a snappy rhythm with the guitarists chanting in German — simple stuff, a 1/4 time signature in a sense. That's followed by a dynamic segment of springy, scraping sounds.
Exploring elsewhere, I've found that when Lachenmann's aesthetic is applied to an orchestra, the result is pretty much as I expected — lots of sparse abstract sounds, but a wider variety that comes at you from a multitude of directions. I'm also trying to get into his solo piano piece, "Serynade," which combines moments of fluid virtuosity; sudden, shrill bursts; and long bouts of silence.
I know there's a whole world of musique concrète to discover, but for now, I'm happy exploring Lachenmann's corner of it. His work essentially involves extended techniques on acoustic instruments, a milieu I'm more than familiar with, but I'm finding fresh aspects to his music. Despite the abstractness of it all, I think I can feel a common style and personality in the pieces I've heard so far.
Here's a performance of "Serynade" by Mexican concert pianist Anna Paolina Hasslacher. It's also on her Soundcloud page, but I like the way this camera angle reveals the techniques involved.
Craig M.	blather	Leave a comment November 28, 2017
Pail Bug
Pail Bug — Pail Bug (Generate, 2011)
For the record, I did give this a listen before going to New York and meeting Jeff Arnal in person. But I hadn't taken the time to write it up yet.
Pail Bug, an improvising quartet, is another collaboration between drummer Arnal and pianist Dietrich Eichmann. The first was in 2004, a Leo Records CD called The Temperature Dropped Again. That was followed by a vinyl 12″ record called Live in Hamburg, recorded in 2004 and released in 2007 as a 12″ LP on the Broken Research label.
The cover of Live in Hamburg shows what appears to be some kind of big structure being built, and that influenced my listening. It's always unfair to ascribe a visual image to a type of music, because so much depends on what's on your mind in the first place. It's arbitrary, like having a dream about something you did just the other day. Still — I listened to the spacious, sometimes raucous piano and drums, and I came up with images of grand architecture, of towering structures in progress.
The group Pail Bug adds two bassists — John Hughes and Astrid Weins, contributing lots of aggressive arco and extended technique to the sounds of the piano and drums. It's a busier, buzzier construction site, with the basses babbling and tapping, sometimes filling the percussive role while Arnal scrapes sticks against cymbals to form long tones. Eichmann dabbles in prepared piano as well.
"Second Pail" grabs you from the start, pushing directly into a gallop. It's an engaging and busy opening, and after about four minutes, it decelerates, with buzzing, metallic bass bowing giving the image of a large beast careening to a halt. The quiet segment that follows still has a sense of motion; you're still moving at a trot. A fast trio emerges later, with Arnal and one bass flying off the handle while another bass chugs along, its bowing providing the rhythm section.
I really like the sound of pizzicato bass, and that's what opens "Third Pail," accompanied by some kind of industrial-steam sound — I assume it's coming from Arnal, but I can't tell, and that ambiguity is a constant theme of Pail Bug's. The second bass adds some metallic scraping of the strings to complete the bustling, compact trio. Eichmann enters in a flurry, with an angular sort of boogie-woogie prancing, dire and bright, prompting Arnal into a more conventional drum-kit attack. All told, it's a dynamic 12 minutes.
There are five tracks, and you've probably figured out the naming scheme by now. "First Pail" opens the album with a quiet aesthetic, with small sounds creeping into the frame, starting as isolated chords or squeaks and building slowly into stirrings. The piece eventually builds into a howl built of bass strings and screeching, scraped cymbals.
"Fifth Pail" gives us a good dose of unabashed clatter, including plenty of Arnal's drum kit. "Fourth Pail" is along the same lines, with (if this makes any sense) a more tempered sound yet a more anarchic feel — except for one moment where the band suddenly hits a dead stop. It might have been cued visually, but on disc, it's an interesting little surprise.
Craig M.	CD/music reviews	Leave a comment August 15, 2012 August 18, 2012
Composers' Night at the Outsound Summit
The composers: Stanley, Shiurba, and Goodheart.
We got to see three types of musical composition at work in "The Composer's Muse," the composition-oriented night of the 2012 Outsound New Music Summit.
Specifically, we got exposed to a graphical score, a computer-driven (yet acoustically-produced) backdrop for improvisation, and a highly structured piece that still had high degrees of freedom.
(For more about the Summit in general, see here, or read this excellent overview at the Fenderhardt blog.)
Christina Stanley presented two graphical scores: oil paintings meant to be interpreted by string players. Before the concert, she explained that the players are given instructions. For "Put It On," the piece presented first, they start at the central confluence (that spot to the right and below center, where the spokes converge, I think) and work their way outward and then around the edges — but the direction and speed of motion are their choice. Different shapes represent different types of playing, small cells to be linked together. (You can see the painting on Stanley's web site and read more about her compositions in this interview on Sequenza 21.)
That piece got performed by the Skadi Quartet, with Stanley at first violin. It was an active piece, spiky and often aggressive but also featuring some airy slow bowing. The execution was a lot more organized than I'd expected. The players started with two quick notes, directed by Stanley, and as the piece progressed, Stanley would cue them into speeding up or slowing to a whisper. They also stopped at Stanley's direction (I'd been wondering how a piece like this would end.)
Her second piece, for a violin/cello duet, was more mellifluous, and in fact, the score looked calmer, with flowing squggles surrounding a central unit of musical shapes, the way a moat surrounds a castle. The sound was sometimes delicate, sometimes rich in melody. It was a lovely piece.
Matthew Goodheart performed a solo piece consisting of cymbals and gongs spread around the edges of the audience space, with little buzzers (computer speakers?) attached to the backs. These were activated by a computer program, creating rattling or buzzing sounds, or mimicking the small taps of a drum stick.
The piece started with whispery tones from the cymbals, eventually building to louder sounds. Goodheart's piano included some strident playing, full of big, stiff chords to stand up to the clamor of metal in the air. As with any installation piece, the sound depended on where you sat; I couldn't her the gong in the balcony, but I got an earful of the cymbal in the front row (the one at right).
The sound never got overwhelming, and the sensation of cymbals pinging and rattling behind me was interesting, reminiscent of the surroundsound experience at the SF Tape Music Festival.
Overall, Goodheart's piece was slow-moving yet created a feeling of constant motion, new sounds arriving all the time. Goodheart himself was hammering and bold at the piano keys, and he also provided some quieter and creaking sounds by working directly with the piano strings.
The piece ended with Goodheart hammering one piano note very fast, over and over, building up that tone in our heads and in the air. And when he stopped, I thought I could faintly hear the metal instruments shimmering in resonance. Whether it was there or not, it was a good effect.
John Shiurba's 9:9 was the most ambitious of the pieces, a 65-minute composition in nine segments, performed by a nine-piece ensemble.
The sound was a cross between modern classical music and pure improvisation, and in fact, the score opened many places for improvising, including some instructions that came in the form of pictures or diagrams without explanation. At the same time, Shiurba conducted with active zeal, using notecards to cue certain players to play particular notes or rhythms.
After the first few minutes, the structure started becoming clear. Each of the nine segments consisted of:
One soloist, who I think improvised throughout, dramatically standing out from the crowd at first and then blending into the mood of the piece. Each player got a turn being soloist.
Little songs, lyrics to which were cryptograms taken from The New York Times. One female vocalist (Hadley McCarroll) sang the corny English solution, while the other (Polly Moller) sang the encrypted part phonetically. The songs were entirely scored for both singers and all the instruments, and the melody was that cross-tonal, spiky sound of contemporary classical song.
Pre-determined phrases that two or three players performed on the side, almost in unison but not necessarily. Sometimes these consisted of fragments of the songs.
Little rhythms that other side players would create on cue. The rhythm was set, but the exact notes weren't.
Individual notes: small glancing blows. Shiurba used the notecards to execute these, pointing to a couple of players to hit the note, then stop.
The last three elements would be woven throughout the soloing part, but the songs stood by themselves, with all nine players included in the score.
The score. We were given handouts with the lyrics, including the encrypted part. It looks like Shiurba did not actually add vowels to make the pronunciation easier.
(Shiurba explains 9:9 in more detail in this interview with Polly Moller, published on Sequenza 21.)
There was a lot to take in — lots of moods, lots of soloing styles, and of course the ear-deciphering of trying to make out the cryptogram lyrics. The English part was easy to pick out of the mix; the encrypted side, less so, which shouldn't be surprising.
Some standout moments from a few segments:
Gino Robair, who had started the piece with a bit of solo percussion, also took the last solo — lots of fun pattering (pots and metal bowls placed on a towel, I think).
The bass segment, led by Scott Walton, got immense and droney, propelled by his bowing but also by the choices of the rest of the ensemble.
Ava Mendoza played acoustic guitar, turning in an engaging and tangy solo with lots of offbeat choices in the melody. I liked it a lot.
Shiurba encouraging the ensemble to take a bow.
McCarroll was the one performer I'd never seen before. She could certainly belt out the soprano (mezzo-soprano?) notes, but she also proved to be really good on the piano. Her solo was fierce and thundering.
Matt Ingalls, on bass clarinet, started off in a slow, patient mode, and the music around him continued with that glacial mood as he shifted gears into loud squeaks and ungodly howls.
The Summit ends tonight (Saturday) with "Fire and Energy," a program of jazz-inspired music from Jack Wright (who'll be very non-jazzy), Dave Bryant, Vinny Golia, and Tony Passarelli. Location is 544 Capp St., near 20th, in San Francisco's Mission District.
Craig M.	Bay Area music, shows (past)	Leave a comment July 21, 2012
Day of Noise Is Done (aka Photos)
Figured I should do a blog post with that title, just to confirm that the Day of Noise did in fact complete.
Photos of mine can be seen on Flickr. A few samples are below; they all link to the Flickr versions. (More detail about the Day of Noise is in the previous posting.)
More pics can be had at the Flickr streams of KZSU DJs Fo and Decca.
Frank Rothkamm plays K5, a new work for computer electronics.
Bill Orcutt chills out before his solo guitar set.
The many pedals of Thomas DiMuzio.
David Leikam signs the Day of Noise T-Shirt.
The green room — and yes, we had one. From left: John Ingle, Matt Ingalls, Matt Davignon, and Abode (Caroline Pugh and Paul Stapeleton).
Craig M.	Bay Area music	Leave a comment February 18, 2012 February 18, 2012
Day of Noise Has Not Yet Ended
UPDATE: I've now got a set of photos posted to Flickr. Other KZSUers will be posting photos there and elsewhere, I'm sure, and plenty are on Twitter (like this one). I'll add photos to the blog somehow — either this entry or another one — in the coming days as the Day Job permits.
I'm in the Green Room for KZSU's Day of Noise. Yes, there is a thing; we're borrowing the Stanford Drama Department's green room, just upstairs from the station.
Abode, the duo of Caroline Pugh and Paul Stapleton, are about to start their set; I'm watching the Ustream feed and seeing them setting up. Megabats, from Seattle, just got done performing; this is one of the few breaks during the day when we're spinning CD music between acts. We're managing to fill more than 90 percent of the 24 hours with live performance.
I haven't been at the station all 24 hours, although some have (some with no sleep at all, it seems). Here's some of what I've caught so far (and photos will be coming later):
* Brian B. James and crew started the day with a performance piece (as noted last night), the "score" of which was available on fliers at the station. It culminated in the performers literally preparing a meal — making sushi, specifically, with contact mics on every feasible tool and implement.
* One part I actually didn't see: Voice of Doom playing his Machinery of Doom, at about 4:00 a.m. Doom was a KZSU DJ in the '90s, the one who organized the first several Days of Noise, back when. Great to have him involved in this one.
* David Leikam and Joe Straub attacked a bass and a guitar with bows and random objects for a partly-toneful barrage of sounds.
* Leikam later brought his z_bug free-psych band into the studio for a good heavy set that culminated with a strong actual rhythm (oh no!) on drums. It was a well timed, soaring coda to the whole set, actually.
* Bill Orcutt, of Harry Pussy, attacked a four-stringed acoustic guitar with precision and abandon. A peg on one of the strings has been malfunctioning, so it became three-stringed guitar after a while.
* I was not able to hear much of Jessica Rylan's set, as I was attending to other duties around the station, but I'll note that she has a pink mixing board.
* Frank Rothkamm played the world debut of his newest song set, titled K5, to be released later on his Flux record label. We had a fun interview as well, where he talked about his love for older technologies: vinyl records, analog synths. He's got one of the very first (if not the first) Hewlett-Packard oscillators in his possession, it seems. And on his way out of the station, he was intent on visiting the Computer History Museum, which seemed fitting.
* Matt Ingalls and John Ingle played a terrific duo set that I heard in the car, with woodwinds playing off one another, sometimes in scribbly quick sounds, sometimes savoring the dissonant beats arising from simultaneous long tones. They got joined by Matt Davignon and Abode for a terrific second set. Paul Stapleton brought an array of insruments, including percussion; Caroline Pugh does a lot of inventive vocalizing, sometimes enhanced with props (an electric toothbrush, e.g.), sometimes in odd texts (a recitation of a recent dream). She has a lot of personality in her vocalizing; it's not too over-the-top serious.
* Megabats turned in a couple of good electronic improvisations, the last one being heavy on tone and melody. (Again: oh no! But seriously, we don't mind a touch of those qualities during Day of Noise.) Right now, they're in the Green Room with a stack of CDs they brought, and DJ Adam (who led the coordination of the whole Day) and others are geeking out with them over bands and CDs. It's pretty cool, and it's the kind of vibe that college radio should be all about: sharing common joys and new discoveries.
Photos later, as I noted. I'll tack some onto this post and/or put them into a separate post, and I might add annotations and links (and proofreading) to this post as well. The bands White Pee, The Lickets, and Vulcanus 68 — KZSU favorites all, especially among noise-minded students — are yet to perform tonight, and Thea Farhadian is due to be up right now. It's been a tremendously successful Day of Noise. Big props to the staffers, especially the students, who did most of the organizing, and of course a big thank you to all the artists for coming down to perform.
Craig M.	Bay Area music, news, playlists	Leave a comment February 12, 2012 February 13, 2012
Day of Noise Has Begun
KZSU's Day of Noise is now on the air.
It's just past midnight on the west coast, and Brian B. James and crew (one of whom is pictured above) have taken over the studio, kicking off 24 hours of live, on-air performances of noise, electronics, and improv. Also interviews, band introductions, and the like — but the core idea is that we'll be switching from one noise act to the next all day long.
The link above has the full schedule, and further links to hear and watch the whole spectacle. Note that "watch" means a stationary laptop streaming to Ustream; it's not hi-def and you'll have to stream the audio separately.
See previous blog entry for more info. I would have loved to have been there for this first act (the setup for which might extend out the hallway and out the front door, based on what I was told earlier)… but I need my beauty sleep to report to the station for duty tomorrow morning. I'll be doing behind-the-scenes helping, then interviewing Frank Rothkamm at 12:00 noon.
UPDATE: KZSU's Facebook page has a much cooler photo.
Craig M.	news	Leave a comment February 12, 2012 February 12, 2012
Brace for Impact: KZSU Day of Noise
The Day of Noise comes to KZSU on Sunday, Feb. 12.
It's 24 hours of noise music, experimental music, and free improv, with live performances taking up most of every hour. We will be pausing for musician introductions, interviews, etc. — but the idea will be to pack as much live performance into the time as possible. We've even set up an ersatz second studio for some of the performances, so we don't have to wait for setup time.
The whole program is available at the link above. Three things to note:
First — The opening act, Brian B. James, is apparently promising to do something visually spectacular. They're not telling me what it is. But it's so compelling that there's talk of putting up a screen in White Plaza on the Stanford campus just to expose passers-by to it. (Yes, this would be after midnight on a Saturday night, essentially — apparently there's quite a bit of foot traffic at that time.)
If all goes well, you'll be able to watch the video stream from the comfort of wherever-your-broadband-is, by watching the Ustream feed. (I don't think that feed will have audio, though; you'll have to get that from the usual on-air feed: kzsulive.stanford.edu.)
Second — "NegativWobblyland," originally listed as "Wobbly Black Hair People" is the combination of Peter Conheim (of Negativland) and Wobbly. They did a few live shows together in Europe in November. Expect greatness, or at least madness. They're due on at 2:00 p.m.
Third — It looks like I'll be interviewing Frank Rothkamm for about 20 minutes, preparatory to his performance, which (I'm told) is designed to last 33 minutes and 33 seconds. This'll start at noon on Sunday. Rothkamm's work includes electronics and modern-classical piano; I've mentioned his Spongebob Variations before.
Craig M.	Bay Area music, news	Leave a comment February 6, 2012 February 5, 2012
Bassoon and Bass Clarinet (but Mostly Bassoon)
It's tempting to say Leslie Ross and Katherine Young have cornered the market on bassoon multiphonics. They haven't, of course, but how many people do you think are out there making a name for themselves in that field?
I've written before about Young's solo bassoon album, Further Secret Origins. Now I'm discovering Ross' music, since she's making an appearance at Meridian Gallery (San Francisco) on Friday, Feb. 17.
Ross is a scholar of bassoon multiphonics. She's also a bassoon builder by trade, working out of a studio in New York, but a highlight of her web site is a painstakingly thorough multiphonics catalog, with charts, musical notation and sound samples.
The Meridian concert will be a chance to get inside the bassoon. According to the description, Ross' bassoon will be outfitted with microphones on every key, dissecting the sound and possibly throwing the components to different speakers around the room. I'm very curious what it's going to be like. If I can clear time for the show, maybe I'll give Young's Further Secret Origins another study as a point of comparison; it's not the same thing but does feature long drones of multiphonics.
I decided to hunt down some of Ross' recordings and came up with the late-1990s trio Trigger, with Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and Paul Hoskin on bass clarinet. It's one of the earliest releases on the Pogus label, Al Margolis' sanctuary for experimental music. The album All These Things is full of spirited improv (and some spirited composing, too), in mostly short tracks that are often jumpy, with all three players bouncing upbeat, abstract sounds off each other. It's novel to hear the bassoon's voice in here, alongside the wide range of bass clarinet sounds — lots of low end is possible with this mix.
There are multiphonics here and there, although I can't always tell which reed is producing them. It's not a primary focus of the music, but it does produce some nice moments where one reed is droning away at a multiphonic while the other two players keep chugging forward at a fast clip. It's as if they're taking turns swinging one another's weight forward in order to keep the assembly moving in one direction.
"Bang 448-2345" is a good 9-minute piece that has it all: uptempo classical composing (shades of Anthony Braxton's Ghost Trance Music, just for a moment); a quieter phase where Lonberg-Holm explores bowed cello sounds and Ross chugs along with rapid, popping bassoon notes; and frenzied group improvising.
Moment of kismet: Hoskin, who's from Seattle, has a Bay Area show coming up as well. He'll be at Studio 1510, playing solo and in duets with Scott Looney, on Friday, Feb. 3.
Craig M.	Bay Area music, CD/music reviews, upcoming shows	1 Comment February 2, 2012
SF Tape Music Festival: Night 1
It's not a 2001 homage. This is the front-stage speaker I stared at between pieces.
The title here might imply I'll be at Nights 2 and 3, on Saturday and Sunday. I won't. And Saturday's concert (Jan. 21, a.k.a. tonight) will include a backwards playing of "Revolution 9" — a "song" I know well enough that it would be really, really cool to hear backwards. Insert sad face.
But I did catch Night 1 of the San Francisco Tape Music Festival, and it was pretty darned cool.
I keep emphasizing the number of audio speakers that they place around the audience at this event, but there's a more important fact that occurred to me last night: These are really, really good speakers. I'm not an audiophile, but — they seem really good. Crisp sounds and percussive sounds are so clear, you feel like you could reach out and grab them.
As for Friday's program itself, here are a few arbitrary highlights. (Note that every night's program is completely different.)
Maggi Payne's "Glassy Metals" was a pleasure to hear on a bigger stage than my small headphones. More immersive, with precision added to the more crystalline sounds. (See "A Taste of Tape Music.")
This is where all the magic happens.
Two John Cage pieces sounded appropriately chaotic and cut-up. Both consisted of instructions for building a sound collage using sources that are arbitrary but that come from set categories. "Williams Mix" called for six types of sounds (city sounds, country sounds, etc.). That one was fun — sounds blipped at you from all directions — but "Imaginary Landscape No. 5" was a more grand descent into madness. The San Francisco Tape Music folks put that one together themselves, using fragments of Cage's own performances and lectures . It was a crazy mix of monologue and tiny music snippets, taking advantage of all 16 speakers around the house — and, adhering to the randomness required by the piece, it ended mid-sentence.
Jacob Felix Heule, not taken during the concert. It's from heule.us.
Bay Area drummer Jacob Felix Heule's "Counterpoint" was created by overdubbing one electronics improvisation and three percussion improvs, each performed without listening to the previous takes but with conscious attention to the memory of those takes. Heule did edit the final result a bit, so the disparate pieces did fit together nicely. Each improv included lots of long silences, so you weren't bombarded, and some of the starts and stops were aligned very nicely, a product of the editing, I'm assuming.
Thom Blum's "Couplings" was full of sour, grumpy sounds that I found interesting. These are supposedly paired with something more mellifluous, but I couldn't find that element. Maybe I was distracted by the rain on the roof (which was usually drowned out but caught my ears during this piece), or maybe I was looking for the wrong thing.
Source: Karamanlis' Bandcamp page.
"Στέρφος" ("Sterfos"), by Orestis Karamanlis, ended the program. Inspired by the sounds of his home in the Greek isles, the piece opened and closed with splashing water — delicious sounds, altered in places to sound almost like a verbal language. (Or, maybe listening to splashing for that long alters your perception of the sound, like saying a word repeatedly until it sounds funny?) There were also snippets of synthesized symphonic chords, folk music (or am I imagining that after the fact?), marketplace crowds, people talking in Greek… and loud sounds like firecrackers or gunfire. Not sure if that was also tied to life in Greece or if it was just electronics gadgetry added — the piece, composed in 2009, did use lots of modern computer-generated sounds as well. The 21-minute span, longest on the bill, was episodic; it did feel like Karamanlis was telling a story, in an abstract narrative-less sense. This piece won a 2010 Giga Hertz Award for Electronic Music.
You can hear stereo versions of the whole thing on Karamanlis' web site (linked above) or on Bandcamp.
So, weather be damned, you should set aside time for the festival Saturday or Sunday. The new ODC Theater is cozy and sleek, and the ginger snaps at the mini-cafe are yummy.
One tip: Sit in the center. Meaning, not to the left or right, but as close to the middle as possible. The stereo balance will be much better. As for whether you should sit to the front or the back — I dunno. In many pieces, most of the sound seems to come from the front, making it a pleasant surprise when sounds blip out from the back speakers. It might be a real treat to actually sit back there. I want to try that next time.
Craig M.	Bay Area music, shows (past)	Leave a comment January 21, 2012
A Taste of Tape Music
"Glassy Metals," off this album, is due to be performed at the San Francisco Tape Music Festival on Friday night, Jan. 20.
Maggi Payne — Arctic Winds (Innova, 2010)
The pieces on this CD give you a glimpse of the cinematic possibilities in soundscapes, or "tape music," or computer electronics — whatever you want to call it. The sounds move from speaker to speaker, and with changes in volume, you can almost feel them surging closer, then farther away. Imagine what could be done with a ring of 16 or 20 speakers surrounding the listener. The last minutes of "Distant Thunder" feel like they up the air pressure, as if you've been enveloped. It's interesting to hear in headphones, but the sound cries out for a more three- (or, really, two-) dimensional representation.
Of course, that kind of setup is exactly what the San Francisco Tape Music Festival is all about — see previous entry.
Maggi Payne lives and breathes this kind of stuff. A co-director of the of the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, she's been creating these kinds of pieces for decades.
She's never been to the Arctic, it turns out — so in that sense, Arctic Winds is unlike the Antarctic-inspired art of Cheryl E. Leonard or the field recordings of Douglas Quin. (Digression: Quin has a new LP on Taiga that I've seen at KZSU. Got to check that out.)
But Payne's artificial world gives us something that really sounds like it should be called "Arctic Winds." It's an eerie place, full of dark, agoraphobic moods. "Fluid Dynamics" does sound like surging cold winds, one furious wave after another, with pauses consisting of uneasy rustling. "Apparent Horizon" is a warmer track, full of cricket-like sounds and even some direct samples of astronaut communications, which ironically provide some of the more down-to-earth moments of the album.
"Glassy Metals," being performed tonight at the Festival, struck me as one of the smaller tracks on here, in terms of force-of -sound. It's a series of sounds, actually, a chain of episodes: insects in a warm swamp, steam rushing through pipes, a pulsing machine. It's a showcase of sounds, tickling the ears in different ways. In that sense, it's a fine choice to showcase in a bigger environment.
On a more down-to-earth level, Payne's liner notes provide fun descriptions of the sounds and inspirations that went into the album. Most of them are quite simple (ball bearings rolling and clacking against things seems to be a favorite) but are then transformed into something otherworldly. BART makes an appearance on "Glassy Metals," although you can't recognize it. Ironically, a very BART-like sound appears on the next track, "Fizz," which did use fizzing as a sample — one that apparently wasn't easy to get, either.
Craig M.	Bay Area music, CD/music reviews, upcoming shows	Leave a comment January 20, 2012


text:
Fall 2022 - IS 322 D100
Central Asia: Conflict and Security (4)
Class Number: 5124
Delivery Method: In Person
Course Times + Location:
Tu 8:30 AM – 11:20 AM
HCC 2945, Vancouver
Nicole Jackson
njj@sfu.ca
45 units. Recommended: IS 200.
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
Examines the new states of post-Soviet Central Asia, with particular reference to the relationship among democratization, development, autocracy and conflict, and the role of external actors in transnational security issues in the region. Students with credit for IS 412 may not take this course for further credit.
COURSE DETAILS:
This course is designed to develop student expertise on Post-Soviet Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan) though an inter-disciplinary study of its politics and international relations. The core themes which will be explored include: i) the relationships among democratization, security and conflict; ii) the security implications of the resilience and fragility of autocracies and semi-autocracies; iii) the role of external actors in transnational security issues. The course introduces key academic works in the study of Central Asia and also draws upon policy literature.
COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:
These include the ability to critically analyse modern politics and security studies in Central Asia; to analyse and evaluate theories, concepts and themes of Central Asian politics. Theoretical arguments will be critiqued and applied to empirical case studies; academic texts analysed; primary sources evaluated and deployed; reasoned arguments constructed. Students will also learn to communicate effectively in oral and written form, to develop policy proposal based on empirical and theoretical works, and to work independently and with colleagues to achieve set tasks.
Research Essay 40%
Scenario 15%
Group Position Statement 15%
Students will be required to submit their written assignments to Turnitin.com in order to receive credit for the assignments and for the course.
The School for International Studies strictly enforces the University's policies regarding plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty. Information about these policies can be found at: http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/teaching.html.
REQUIRED READING:
This course will have a heavy reading load. Readings will mostly include journal articles which can be accessed online through the library or will be posted on Canvas.
Adeeb Khalid, Islam after communism: Religion and politics in Central Asia (University of California Press, 2014).
Marlene Laruelle and Sebastien Peyrouse, Globalizing Central Asia, M E Sharpe, 2013
Kent E Calder, Supercontinent: The Logic of Eurasian Integration, Stanford University Press, 2019
Jeff Sahadeo & Russell Zanca (eds.): Everyday Life in Central Asia: Past and Present (Indiana University Press, 2007).
Daniel L Burghart, Ed, Central Asia in the Era of Sovereignty: The Return of Tamerlane? Rowman and Littlefield Publishing, London, 2018.
Kathleen Collins, Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Mariya Y. Omelicheva, Democracy in Central Asia: Competing perspectives and alternative strategies (University Press of Kentucky, 2016).
Sally N. Cummings, Understanding Central Asia: Politics and Contested Transformations (Routledge, 2012).
Thomas Stephan Eder, China-Russia relations in Central Asia: Energy policy, Beijing's new assertiveness and 21st Century geopolitics (Springer, 2013).
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU's Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
Search for a new outline

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Showing results by narrator "Paul Gibson" in All Categories
15+ Masterpieces of Gothic Horror. Classics Collection
Frankenstein, Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Carmilla, The Turn of the Screw, and Others
By: Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, and others
Narrated by: Paul Gibson, Peter Coates, Richard Williams, and others
Gothic horror is one of the oldest of the horror genres; darker, edgier, and on the romanticist end of romanticism. In addition to being important to the horror genre, the first sci-fi, fantasy, romance, mystery, and adventure authors drew inspiration from Gothic horror, so it's sometimes considered the parent of all modern genre fiction.
By: Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, Sheridan Le Fanu, Henry James, Arthur Machen, Nikolai Gogol
Narrated by: Paul Gibson, Peter Coates, Richard Williams, David McCord, David Miles, Martina Mercer-Hall, Rick Walz
10 Masterpieces You Have to Read Before You Die, Vol. 2
The Gold Bug, Romeo and Juliet, Faust, The Picture of Dorian Gray
By: Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Von Goethe, and others
Narrated by: David Miles, Luana Marantz, Abigail Reno, and others
This book contains the following works: 1. Edgar Allan Poe: The Gold Bug, 2. William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, 3. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: Faust, 4. Mark Twain: Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 5. Leo Tolstoy: The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Translator: Constance Garnett), 6. Arthur Conan Doyle: The Lost World, 7. Henry James: The Turn of the Screw, 8. Antoine de Saint-Exupery: The Little Prince (Translator: Marina Zhigalova), 9. Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray, 10. Kate Chopin: The Awakening.
By: Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Von Goethe, Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry James, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Oscar Wilde, Kate Chopin
Narrated by: David Miles, Luana Marantz, Abigail Reno, Sharon Plummer, Simon Jackson, Rick Walz, Kelli Winkler, Paul Gibson
The Pit and the Pendulum, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, At the Mountains of Madness, Frankenstein, No Longer Human. Confessions of a Faulty Man
By: Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and others
Narrated by: David Miles, Paul Gibson, Michael Goodrick, and others
This book contains the following works: 1. Edgar Allan Poe: The Pit and the Pendulum, 2. William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream, 3. Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden, 4. Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, 5. Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island, 6. H.P. Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness, 7. Jack London: The Call of the Wild, 8. Mary W. Shelley: Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, 9. Osamu Dazai: No Longer Human (Confessions of a Faulty Man)....
By: Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Robert Louis Stevenson, H. P. Lovecraft, Jack London, Mary W. Shelley, Osamu Dazai, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Narrated by: David Miles, Paul Gibson, Michael Goodrick, Richard Williams, Peter Coates, Sharon Plummer, Simon Jackson, Emma Gibson
Series: 10 Masterpieces You Have to Read Before You Die, Book Vol. 3, 10 Masterpieces You Have to Read Before You Die, Book 3
10 Masterpieces You Have to Read Before You Die, Vol.4
(Fantasy for Children): Gulliver's Travels, The Secret Garden, Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood and Others
By: Jonathan Swift, Lewis Carroll, Frances Burnett, and others
Narrated by: J.C. Lewis, Sarah Rife, Paul Gibson, and others
Full of mythical creatures, legendary quests, and daring heroes, these fantasy books are sure to leave your kids enchanted and spellbound. So enjoy one of these epic adventures, absorbing mysteries, and magical tales that are sure to delight and bewitch. No matter how old you are, it's never too early to start reading fantasy - especially with so many incredible works out there! And of course, bolstered by a kid's imagination, these stories can truly come to life, which arguably makes children the ideal audience for the genre.
By: Jonathan Swift, Lewis Carroll, Frances Burnett, Beatrix Potter, H.G. Wells, O. Henry, J.M. Barrie, Lyman F. Baum, Howard Pyle
Narrated by: J.C. Lewis, Sarah Rife, Paul Gibson, Martina Mercer, Judy Kriz, Candy Preston, Jim Girard
Series: 10 Masterpieces You Have to Read Before You Die, Book 4, 10 Masterpieces You Have to Read Before You Die, Book Vol. 4
By: Frances Burnett
Narrated by: Paul Gibson
Nobody loves Mary - the heroine of the famous story of Francis Burnett "The Secret Garden." However, she does not burn with love for others, and moreover - she can not stand the whole world. And then her parents are passing away prematurely. There is an impression that nothing good can happen to her in this life. But there is a miracle: the fate itself extends the heroine of the book to the saving hand and leads to the path leading to the beautiful Secret Garden.
the narrator's mistakes were not edited out
By Antares Martin on 10-08-21
Science Fiction Adventures Classics in Literature Collection
Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea; Arthur Conan Doyle The Lost World; H.G. Wells The Invisible Man; Ray Bradbury: Asleep in Armageddon
By: Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, and others
Narrated by: Chris Dabbs, Simon Jackson, Paul Gibson, and others
Man has always wanted to travel into the unknown and encounter what he has not, and perhaps cannot, experience in the real world. The early 20th century witnessed an explosion of science fiction literature. Authors studied the wonders of scientific and technological progress and imagined worlds that had developed even greater advances. Jules Vernes' and H.G. Wells' fantastic tales well whetted the public's appetite for adventure tales. Since then, science fiction has metamorphosized hundreds of times, each transformation introducing more sophisticated plots and otherworldly settings.
By: Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury
Narrated by: Chris Dabbs, Simon Jackson, Paul Gibson, Peter Coates, Mark Bowen
Series: Professor Challenger, Book 1
Collected Works of H.G. Wells
The War of the Worlds. The Island of Doctor Moreau. The Invisible Man. The Time Machine. The Magic Shop
By: H. G. Wells
Narrated by: Sharon Plummer, Martina Mercer-Hall, Paul Gibson, and others
Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called the "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback. He was most prominent as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. This comprehensive audiobook presents all the significant works of this famous and brilliant writer in one book - easy to listen to and easy to navigate.
Narrated by: Sharon Plummer, Martina Mercer-Hall, Paul Gibson, Judy Kriz
The Best Fairy Tales
By: Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, and others
Narrated by: Richard Williams, Paul Gibson, Dan Stieber, and others
In our swiftly changing world, one thing remains constant: For children and adults alike, it is absolutely impossible to live without the wonder of fairy tales. From ancient Aesops morality tales to modern storytellers such as J.K. Rowling, Terry Pratchett, and Dr. Seuss, stories guide our lives. The tales in this collection will appeal to all sorts of listeners: those who wish to be entertained, to laugh, to garner wisdom and moral lessons, and even those looking for a proper scare.
By: Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Jacobs, Russian Folk Fairy Tales
Narrated by: Richard Williams, Paul Gibson, Dan Stieber, Judy Kriz, Abigail Reno, Jeremy Albret, Luana Maranz
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Workbook
Learn to Control Anxiety, Regulate Your Emotions and Reduce Your Stress
By: Andrew Miller
If you arrived here, it means there is something you want to sort out about you. Let me ask you something: Have you ever had troubles controlling your emotions, particularly in stressful situations? Have you ever experienced a lack of self-confidence as a result of negative thinking? Would you rather run away from difficult situations than face the reality? If the answer to one or more questions is "yes", I think you should know more about dialectical behavior therapy.
Three Gothic Novels
Frankenstein, Carmilla, Dracula
By: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley
Narrated by: Paul Gibson, Martina Mercer-Hall, Peter Coates
A Gothic novel calls forth paradoxically thrilling feelings of horror and pleasure in the listener. These dark novels feature fictitious prose saturated with mysterious adventures, supernatural horrors, fantasy, and mysticism. Family curses, vampires, ghosts, and monsters frequently appear within the storylines.
Social Skills Guidebook
Learn How to Control Anxiety and Stress with DBT and Other Techniques
By: Scott Andrews
Narrated by: Paul Gibson, Danielle Williams
Do you constantly feel anxious? Do you always make negative thoughts about everything? Everyone has experienced anxiety, but many people are having a hard time dealing with it. Anxiety and stress make you feel powerless, this feelings lock you up in a cage from which it's difficult to escape. If you want a positive turn for your life and you want to get rid of what obstacles you to reach your interior happiness: Consider listening to this audiobook, these advices has saved me more than once.
This audio-book is great.
By Jonas Good on 02-20-20
Understanding Mindfulness and Finding Peace in a Stressful World
By: Thomas Magnum
Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
We all feel like we're being pushed against the grain by it all, but you don't have to feel this way. Practice mindfulness and make it a habit in your everyday life. It helps with our problems and brings peace to one's life. It's the best way to manage mental and physical stress and pain. In this thought-provoking, life-changing audiobook, Thomas Magnum will teach you how to practice mindfulness, create a habit of practicing mindfulness, and make a profound impact to rediscover the lost meaning of what it means to know yourself.
How to Create a Confident Life
Confidence Is the Key for Your New Life
By: Carlie Maxim
From your job to your home life to your mental health, confidence is critical. It's vital to our acing that work project and having the courage to go out of our comfort zone. A lot of us don't have as much confidence as we could because we don't know how to get it and the importance of it. This stops today! Through the art of reflection, Carlie Maxim will illustrate how to build and develop confidence so that you can live your best life and get the most out of every opportunity and situation.
By: Lyman Frank Baum
We invite you to make an amazing trip to the magical land of Oz, which was born as a result of the irrepressible imagination of the great American writer Lyman Frank Baum, whose books were beloved by more than one generation of children around the world. Having become acquainted with the kind and naive characters of the book - the girl Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and many others - you will surely love them and keep them in your heart for life.
10 Classic Fantasy Works
The Chronicles of Narnia (7 Books), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan
By: C. S. Lewis, Lyman Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, and others
Narrated by: Angela S. Clark, Peter Coates, Paul Gibson, and others
We bring you the very best in classic fantasy.
By: C. S. Lewis, Lyman Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, J. M. Barrie
Narrated by: Angela S. Clark, Peter Coates, Paul Gibson, Sarah Rife, Candy Preston
Series: Oz, Book 1, Peter Pan, Book 2, The Chronicles of Narnia (Publication Order), Book 1-7, The Chronicles of Narnia (Author's Preferred Order), Book 1-7, Alice in Wonderland, Book 1


text:
Q: Automatically Open and Close Database Connection Within a Method I have recently been put on an existing project and am trying to reduce the amount of duplicate code.
Right now there are many methods relating to database interaction. The Database connection is opened and closed within each of these methods. Essentially, the exact same code is used in every single method to open and close the connection.
    public static void AddToTable()
    {
        DbConnection con = Common.CreateConnection();
        DbCommand cmd = con.CreateCommand();

        //cmd.CommandText = SQL COMMAND GOES HERE
        //cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();

        con.Close();
    }

I understand the importance of opening and closing the connection but seeing these exact same lines of code in every method smells funny to me.
Does C# have some kind of way I could accomplish automatically creating the connection (in this case the con and cmd variables) when the method is started and then closing the connection when the method is finished?

A: public static void AddToTable()
{
    using( DbConnection con = Common.CreateConnection() )
    {
      DbCommand cmd = con.CreateCommand();

      //cmd.CommandText = SQL COMMAND GOES HERE
      //cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
    }

}

Because the DBConnection is inside the using and DbConnection implements the interface IDisposable the connections .Dispose() method will be executed once it goes out of scope.

A: You could do something like this:
using(var con = Common.CreateConnection())
{
  using(var cmd = con.CreateCommand())
  {
      //cmd.CommandText = SQL COMMAND GOES HERE
      //cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
  }
}

This will automatically close the connection when disposing of the cmd and con objects after closing the using block(s).  It doesn't refactor out the creation of those objects, but honestly that shouldn't be refactored out anyway.  It's best to keep those objects entirely within the scope of the method using them.  Repeated code isn't that distasteful when it's repeated for a very good reason.  (Indeed, one can argue that this isn't even repeated code since it's used for different business purposes.  It's simply repeated keystrokes.  Andy typing keystrokes into the IDE isn't the difficult part of software development, maintaining the code and abstractions therein is.)

A: If the method is doing database operations then you need to Open and Close database connections in the same method itself if no such requirement to open the connection indefinitely.
If you use 'Using' statement the compiler will convert the code to try/finally block.
See below,
using (SqlConnection sqlConn = new SqlConnection("connectionstring"))
{
      sqlConn.Open();

}

The compiler will convert this code as below.
try
{
     SqlConnection sqlConn = new SqlConnection("connectionstring");
     sqlConn.Open();

}
finally
{
     sqlConn.Close();
}

A: In addition to using blocks consider also the unit-of-work pattern which is used in Entity Framework for example. The main idea is to pick some logical parts of the app's DB work into a single unit and have a single connection open&close for each unit. Your method is called AddToTable so we can assume working with some concrete table data which itself is a set of some essences (rows in this table). One of the possible approaches in this case is to consider a unit of work as a set of operations with a single essence in a table like CRUD. The lifecycle of DB connection would be: open connection - CRUD single essence - close connection.

A: You could create helper method to move repeatable code into it. Something like
public static void WithDB(Action<SqlConnection, DbCommand> action)
{
    using(var con = Common.CreateConnection())
    {
        var cmd = con.CreateCommand();
        action(con, cmd);
    }
}

Use it like this
public static void AddToTable()
{
    WithDB((con, cmd)=>
    {
        //cmd.CommandText = SQL COMMAND GOES HERE
        //cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
    });

}

Proof.

A: Lambda is your friend.... (actually just spent time refactoring 400+ using statements down so there is only one place where the sqlcommand is created (and it is a using statement)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Do you need some free samples for summer? How well are you enjoying your summer? We have found a great limited time offer from Quality Health which will definitely add some happiness to your summer! Get your free summer samples today!
1 Comment on "Get FREE Summer Samples!"


Useful road map of Bilston district, town centre and surroundings.
Bilston Maps: With this easy to print map, you can see local districts of Bilston, its central area and surroundings within the county of West Midlands, England in the United Kingdom. Using this detailed Bilston map, you can find your way around the town and locate streets, roads and facilities in Bilston.
The view of the map shown on this page is of the town centre area of Bilston, use the minus ( - ) button (bottom right of map) to view districts of Bilston and surrounding areas, villages, towns and points of interest. Bilston district map. By viewing this map you can judge roughly how far Bilston is from these nearby places and see the distance between.
Things you can view include: Moorcroft Wood, Ettingham, Portobello, Bilston Craft Gallery & Library, Bradley, Bilston Central Tram Station, East Park, the Olde White Rose Inn Pub, The Market Centre Indoor Market, Bilston Baptist Church, Bilston Churchill Conservative Club, George Rose Park, Bilston Community Centre, The A41, Bilston The Crescent Tram Stop, Cafe Metro, Bilston Cemetery, Wetherspoons Pub (Sir Henry Newbolt), Bilston Citizens Advice Bureau, Bilston Town Bowling Club, Bilston Leisure Centre, Hickman Park, Holy Trinity RC Church and more (you may need to utilize "view on Google maps" link).
England Maps: Bilston, West Midlands street map. Printable map of Bilston England.
Bilston districts, Bilston streets, Bilston roads, Bilston attractions.
Town centre map Bilston, West Midlands, England.


text:
<?php

// ======================================================================== //
// PHP Version notice if version < 5.3
// ======================================================================== //

    function php_version_notice() {
        $class = 'notice notice-error';
        $message = __( 'Bootstrap 3 Shortcodes for WordPress requires PHP version 5.3 or later. You are running PHP version ' . PHP_VERSION . '. Please upgrade to a supported version of PHP.', 'sample-text-domain' );

        printf( '

%2$s

', $class, $message );
    }

    //Only run this if the PHP version is less than 5.3
    if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.3.0', '<')) {
        add_action( 'admin_notices', 'php_version_notice' );
    }

// ======================================================================== //

// ======================================================================== //
// Enqueue help button styles
// ======================================================================== //

    function bootstrap_shortcodes_styles_all() {
        wp_register_style( 'bootstrap-shortcodes-help-all', plugins_url( 'bootstrap-3-shortcodes/includes/help/css/bootstrap-shortcodes-help-all.css' ) );
        wp_enqueue_style( 'bootstrap-shortcodes-help-all' );
    }

    add_action( 'admin_enqueue_scripts', 'bootstrap_shortcodes_styles_all' );

// ======================================================================== //

// ======================================================================== //
// Function and filter to remove extra line breaks around shortcodes
// ======================================================================== //

    function bs_fix_shortcodes($content){
        $array = array (
            '
[' => '[',
            ']
' => ']',
            ']
' => ']',
            ']
' => ']'
        );

        $content = strtr($content, $array);
        return $content;
    }

    add_filter('the_content', 'bs_fix_shortcodes');

// ======================================================================== //

// ======================================================================== //
// Button creation and styles for the documentation popup button
// ======================================================================== //

    //Function to register and enqueue the documentation stylesheets
    function bootstrap_shortcodes_help_styles() {
        wp_register_style( 'bs-font', plugins_url( 'bootstrap-3-shortcodes/includes/help/bs-font.css' ) );
        wp_register_style( 'bootstrap-shortcodes-help', plugins_url( 'bootstrap-3-shortcodes/includes/help/css/bootstrap-shortcodes-help.css' ) );
        wp_register_style( 'bootstrap-modal', plugins_url( 'bootstrap-3-shortcodes/includes/help/css/bootstrap-modal.css' ) );
        wp_register_script( 'bootstrap', plugins_url( 'bootstrap-3-shortcodes/includes/help/js/bootstrap.min.js' ) );
        wp_enqueue_style( 'bootstrap-shortcodes-help' );
        wp_enqueue_style( 'bootstrap-modal' );
        wp_enqueue_style( 'bs-font' );
        wp_enqueue_script( 'bootstrap' );

        //Visual Composer causes problems
        $handle = 'vc_bootstrap_js';
        $list = 'enqueued';
        if (wp_script_is( $handle, $list )) {
            wp_dequeue_script( $handle );
        }
    }

    //Function create the documentation popup button
    function add_bootstrap_button() {
        //the id of the container I want to show in the popup
        $popup_id = 'bootstrap-shortcodes-help';

        //our popup's title
        $title = 'Bootstrap Shortcodes Help';

        //append the icon
        printf(
        '',
        esc_attr( $popup_id ),
        esc_attr( $title ),
        esc_url( '#' ),
        esc_attr( 'button add_media bootstrap-shortcodes-button')
        //sprintf( '', esc_url( $img ) )
        );
    }

    //add the button to the content editor, next to the media button on any admin page in the array below
    if(in_array(basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']), array('post.php', 'page.php', 'page-new.php', 'post-new.php', 'widgets.php', 'admin-ajax.php'))) {
        add_action('media_buttons', 'add_bootstrap_button', 11);
        add_action( 'media_buttons', 'bootstrap_shortcodes_help_styles' );
    }

// ======================================================================== //

// ======================================================================== //
// Include the help popup content in the footer
// ======================================================================== //

    function boostrap_shortcodes_help() {
        include( BS_SHORTCODES_DIR . 'bootstrap-shortcodes-help.php');
    }

    add_action( 'admin_footer', 'boostrap_shortcodes_help' );

// ======================================================================== //

// ======================================================================== //
// Add the Bootstrap Shortcodes button to Distraction Free Writing mode
// ======================================================================== //

    function bs_fullscreenbuttons($buttons) {
        $buttons[] = 'separator';
        $buttons['bootstrap-shortcodes'] = array(
            'title' => __('Boostrap 3 Shortcodes Help'),
            'onclick' => "jQuery('#bootstrap-shortcodes-help').modal('show');",
            'both' => false
        );
        return $buttons;
    }

    add_action ('wp_fullscreen_buttons', 'bs_fullscreenbuttons');

// ======================================================================== //

// ======================================================================== //
// Gravity Forms is bossy.
// Register this script with Gravity Forms (if present) so it isn't stripped out
// ======================================================================== //

    function bs_register_script($scripts){
        $scripts[] = "bootstrap-shortcodes-help-all";
        return $scripts;
    }

    add_filter("gform_noconflict_styles", "bs_register_script");

// ======================================================================== //

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Discussion in 'Archived Threads 2001-2004' started by Mikey L, Jul 17, 2001.
i currently loop my cable through my VCR. since it is an old VCR (not hi-fi, no s-video), i'm not going to be able to get cable in dolby surround. right now i need to set my input on my reciever (yamaha rxv-620) to VCR1 to get any sound from cable...is there a way to bypass my VCR or do i need to upgrade to a newer model to get cable in stero?
If your cable comes through a set top box, then it probably has at least composite stereo out. If your VCR has composite stereo out, then that would give you stereo, but you would still have to turn on the VCR to hear it.
You could use composite audio from the TV, if it is so equiped. Then anything you had on the TV could be heard through the stereo, but the sound tends to be a bit distorted when looping from some TVs (depends on the TV).
I don't think there is an easy way to extract the audio from a coax cable system cable.
All progress is based upon a universal, inate desire on the part of every organism, to live beyond it's income.


text:
Automotive Executives
Ford Announces Senior Leadership Changes
Ford Motor Co. announced three leadership changes to fully integrate and accelerate its transformation in a higher-growth and higher-margin business.
Automotive Legend Lee Iacocca Passes Away
Lee Iacocca, who led Chrysler out of near bankruptcy by introducing the K-car platform, has died. The automotive icon, 94, died of natural causes.
Toyota Appoints Fordiani to Lead Fleet Sales
Toyota Motor North America has named Don Fordiani group manager for fleet sales to replace Dave Depew, who retired earlier this year.
Ford to Unveil Next-Gen F-150 in 2020
Ford plans to reveal its next-generation F-150 pickup in 2020 as it plans to continue to dominate the U.S. pickup truck market, outgoing CFO Bob Shanks said at an investor event.
Audi of America's President Steps Down
Mark Del Rosso, who served as Audi of America's president for about six months, has resigned from his role. Cian O'Brien, chief executive officer of Audi's U.S. business, is taking over on an interim basis.
Nissan Commercial Vehicle Exec Leaves Role
Fred DePerez is leaving his role as vice president of Nissan's light commercial vehicle business unit to become a regional vice president for the brand's Northeast region.
Q&A: Ford's New Fleet Director
Mark Buzzell is no stranger to fleet. As the prior president and CEO of Ford of Canada, one of his key responsibilities was managing its Canadian fleet business. Buzzell understands fleet and recognizes its importance to Ford.
Mazda Brings North America President from Europe
Mazda North American Operations has named Jeffrey Guyton as its president, following the promotion of Masahiro Moro to chairman and chief executive of Mazda's North American business unit.
In Memoriam: Former Cadillac Fleet Director Poleni
Vic Poleni, retired fleet director of Cadillac, passed away on March 11. He was 83.
GM's North America President Batey to Retire
General Motors executive Alan Batey, who elevated the fleet business in the organization, is retiring from his role as executive vice president and president of North America after 40 years with the company.


Lawmakers approved Senate Bill 549 for $500,000 as the legislative session end quickly approached. It was one of 71 bills Gov. Brian Sandoval signed into law on June 8.
Bookmobiles, which deliver books to some of the state's most rural areas, are expected to receive about $30,000.


We provide a competitive PAT testing service for all your portable appliances, and equipment. Covering the complete Cotswold and surrounding areas, all our staff are fully enhanced CRB checked and qualified using the latest equipment.
We can provide a out of hours service to help minimise the disruption to the running of your business and carry a stock of typical leads etc that could require replacing to avoid any down time or disruption to your equipment and staff. Please email us on info@cotswold-energy.co.uk or telephone 07766737280 to discuss your requirements and receive a instant quote.
How frequently should I have my appliances tested?
Do I need to keep records of testing?


Though producer and customers are literally oceans apart, we wanted to create a brand image that follows the growing global trend of locally-sourced, conscience consuming. By putting a greater emphasis on simplicity and knowing where your food comes from, we hoped to appeal to a more heath- and socially-conscience demographic.
Beyond selling tea, the goal was to sell the lifestyle associated with tea; one of simplicity, balance and healthy living. Regarding the logo specifically–I came up with this bold type logo with a red seal that mimics a traditional Japanese hanko. The tag line "life steeped in happiness" reflects the values and aspirations of both the company and its customers.


Do you study with music on? Or do you prefer the sound of silence? The blog post below considers the pleasures and pitfalls of studying with music.
Hospitals now use music to reduce pain. Advertisers and retailers know that music can heighten interest in a product. Sports stars use tracks to train to and yoga get results from relaxation with music.
So what?......you ask! I'm STUDYING and I know music is supposed to help me, but half-the-time it does the opposite. What am I doing wrong?
Let's look at four dos and don'ts of Studying to Music and make the music work for us.
DO consider what you're trying to achieve. Are you trying to absorb ideas right now? Listening to instrumental music, with a regular, but gentle rhythm and smooth melody line would be perfect. Choose classical, or calming modern music that doesn't make you think about the music, but keeps your mind clear. Do you need some energy, as you copy, write up notes or brainstorm? Then you need something with bounce, rhythm and variety. Choosing your favourite songs and sounds for the time when you're relaxing multiplies the benefits of that time too.
DON'T listen to songs! Lyrics can kill your concentration and take your thinking in too many directions. Research has proved that rather than helping you, listening to the words will inhibit your progress! I'm quite sure that my perfect memory of all the lyrics of Pink Floyd's blockbuster 'The Wall', which I listened to during my high school years 35 years ago, is a good part of the reason that my exam results were rather less than stunning! While your mind is busy trying to understand new ideas, cut out songs with lyrics and reduce the number of 'programs' your brain is having to run.
DO prepare the music before you come to study. Experience shows that getting down to studying is much harder than spending an hour hunting out 'just the right music for today'. Whichever platform or means you use to listen, spend down-time to organise your music into categories in advance. 45-minute, bite-sized chunks of 'concentration', 'energy', 'calming' or 'relaxing', prepared in advance, means that you can give your full attention to studying your course material, not sequencing your songs!
DON'T listen to the radio while you study, as the music will be unpredictable and will be interrupted by speaking at regular intervals. Try as you might, your mind will not be able to ignore this. You'll end up with a brain full of too many things at once.
Four simple pieces of advice that should make 'Studying to Music part of the answer to those learning 'struggles'. Now, where did I put those headphones?


text:
Government's Most Destructive Policy Yet
Right now, the so-called Waxman-Markey bill is snaking its way through the greasy halls of Congress.
"Waxman-Markey" is the name given to the new "cap and trade" bill designed to limit America's carbon emissions. It looks like it's the most expensive thing to hit the economy since the financial crisis began.
Even the normally mild-mannered Wall Street Journal called it "one of the most ambitious efforts to re-engineer American social and economic behavior in decades, presenting risks and opportunities for a wide array of businesses from Silicon Valley to the coal fields of the Appalachians."
First off, the stated objective of cutting carbon emissions by 83% by 2050 will go down in history as outrageous – akin to when Who drummer Keith Moon drove his Lincoln Continental into the pool at the Holiday Inn. I think members of Congress must be smoking the same thing Moon was.
To show you how patently ridiculous such a goal is, I turn to Questar's CEO, Keith Rattie. Questar is an oil and gas company. Rattie is an engineer. He has been in the business since the 1970s. He walks us through the basic math in a speech he made at Utah Valley University on April 2 called "Energy Myths and Realities." Rattie uses Utah as an example:
Utah's carbon footprint today is about 66 million tons per year. Our population is 2.6 million. You divide those two numbers and the average Utahan today has a carbon footprint of about 25 tons per year. An 80% reduction in Utah's carbon footprint by 2050 implies 66 million tons today to about 13 million tons per year by 2050. If Utah's population continues to grow at 2% per year, by 2050, there will be about 6 million people living in our state. So 13 million tons divided by 6 million people equals 2.2 tons per person per year.
Question: When was the last time Utah's carbon footprint was as low as 2.2 tons per person? Answer: Not since Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers first entered the Wasatch Valley and declared, 'This is the place.'
You can extend this math over the whole country – a growing mass of 300 million people. To meet the Waxman-Markey bill's goals would mean we have to go back to a carbon footprint about as big as the Pilgrims' at Plymouth Rock circa 1620.
So I think the bill is absurd. I think it is also a great blow to what is left of American industry. But this is the way the world works. Politicians do dumb things.
Agriculture. Agriculture, for whatever reasons, is exempt from the new rules. So farmers don't have to worry about those manure pools out back or the flatulent cows emitting methane all over God's green meadows. Those big tractors? Burn up that diesel! Agriculture is a winner by virtue of not losing, like a hockey team that skates to a tie.
Steel. Big loser. U.S. Steel, AK Steel, and even foreign steel companies with U.S. operations all get a big kick in the family jewels on this one. Steelmaking emits all kinds of carbon dioxide. The worst-case scenario here is that the U.S. simply won't be making steel at some point in the future. The plants will all go to Brazil. China is already the biggest steel producer in the world. Now we just handed the country a bunch of new business. Avoid big steel in the U.S.
Oil refiners. Losers. This is an industry in which it is hard to make money most of the time as it is. Now, under the new bill, refineries are really screwed. Basically, they are on the hook for about 44% of U.S. carbon emissions. They would be among the biggest buyers of carbon emission allowances. I think with one stroke of the pen, the U.S. government just made the U.S. refining industry that much smaller. Lots of these older refineries will just have to close. U.S. imports for gasoline will rise.
I think the refinery industry already sees the writing on the wall. This is one reason why Valero, the biggest U.S. refinery, has been quick to get into the politically favored ethanol business. It's also expanding overseas. Avoid the refineries.
Trading desks. Winners. It figures. As if the government doesn't help financial firms enough, it is going to hand them a nice tomato in trading carbon credits. The head of Morgan Stanley's U.S. emission trading desk said: "Carbon, while relatively small, is a critical piece of our commodities offering." So some financial firms with trading desks in carbon get a nice little payday.
To sum up, this is only the beginning. At the end of the day, this obsession with carbon footprints means that Americans are going to have to pay a lot more for products that use fossil fuels. It means we are going to pay a lot more for energy. Obama and his crew can draw up whatever fantasies they want, but they can't repeal the laws of economics, which, like forces of nature, win out every time.
So there will be plenty of losers.
Labels: cap and trade, Oil, tax
THE OPTION STRATEGIST Weekly Updater 06/05/09
Weekly Market Update (6/5/09)
U.S. job losses
Market Reflections 6/4/2009
The fate of GM
Milton Friedman on Greed
Goldman Sachs: Expect oil prices to soar to $85 by...
A bit sick of it all…The dollar will remain the re...
Be long oil E&P stocks
Changes in Dow Index


This pack of 8 X 8 inch mirror card contains 100 sheets of shiny mirror card in assorted colours perfect for matting and layering. It will die emboss and die cut beautifully for stunning results on card making and craft projects.
100 sheets of 6 X 6 (152mm x 152mm) Assorted coloured Glossy Mirri Card Contains 20 sheets each of Gold, Silver, Red, Green and Blue Mirror Card This pack of 6 X 6 inch mirror card contains 100 sheets of shiny mirror card in assorted colours perfect for matting and layering. It will die emboss and die cut beautifully for stunning results on card making and craft projects.
100 sheets of 7 X 7 (178mm x 178mm) Assorted coloured Glossy Mirri Card Contains 20 sheets each of Gold, Silver, Red, Green and Blue Mirror Card This pack of 7 X 7 inch mirror card contains 100 sheets of shiny mirror card in assorted colours perfect for matting and layering. It will die emboss and die cut beautifully for stunning results on card making and craft projects.
100 sheets of 8 X 8 (205mm x 205mm) Silver Glossy Mirri Card This pack of 8 X 8 inch mirror card contains 100 sheets of shiny Silver mirror card perfect for matting and layering. It will die emboss and die cut beautifully for stunning results on card making and craft projects.
Crafty Devils - Die Cutting & Layering Packs - A6 Mirror Card - Assorted - 150pk Being A6 in size they can fit perfectly on a range of cards, for added effects. Alternatively you'll be able, to trim them down with ease to the size you desire. Each piece of card weighs 240 GSM, this is the perfect weight for punching and die cutting. Each pack contains 30 x 5 colours; Gold, Silver, Red, Green & Blue.


The bizarre implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill have proved a nightmare.
Assam is on the brink of a huge and invisible crisis. Its beautiful landscape, annually ravaged by the fiery floods in the Brahmaputra valley, across its green geography, is currently ridden with widespread fear and insecurity, mass phobia and trauma.
Indeed, this could lead to fissures and ruptures in the social fabric of this sensitive and strategic border state in northeast of India, and could move beyond redemption.
The current crisis revolves around two issues which have hit at the core of the state's social and political identity: the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill.
The bill, which was first tabled in Parliament on July 15, 2016, is backed by the ruling BJP, while it is being vehemently opposed by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and its political front, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). The NRC is backed by both the BJP and AGP.
The AGP is now in alliance with BJP in Assam to "stop the Congress and help the state recover from its bad governance". The Congress was in power in the state for 15 years with Tarun Gogoi as chief minister until it was defeated in the last Assembly elections in 2016.
However, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, founder president of AASU, and two-time chief minister of the state, told this columnist categorically in Guwahati on June 29 that the "AGP will break the alliance with the BJP if it pushes the Citizenship Amendment Bill".
The AASU led a big rally in Guwahati on June 29, and there were protests across the state on the issue. The party is convinced that the 'original inhabitants' of Assam and its indigenous people are already facing the brunt of massive demographic changes because of the influx of refugees post-Partition in 1947.
The situation is such that it is argued that they will become a linguistic minority in the face of the new influx if the bill is passed — pointing to the10 per cent Bengali-Hindus now based in 'secular' Bangladesh under Sheikh Hasina's leadership. If the bill is passed, Assam will become a "dumping ground" for Bangladeshi Hindus, they contend.
The Citizenship Bill seeks to radically transform the category of 'illegal migrants'. The bill will amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide citizenship to illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, who are of Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist, Jain, or Christian origin. Muslims are not included in this Bill, including those who are facing persecution in Pakistan, such as the Ahmadiyyas.
This schizophrenia originally emerged from the contentious 'foreigners' issue which has stalked Assam's borders and mainland since the Partition of India in 1947. It deepened after the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971 in which India actively participated and which led to tens of thousands of refugees camping in India. The protracted and often violent movement on the foreigners' issue led by the All Assam Students' Union from 1979 to 1987, which rocked the state, and whose reverberations are still felt across the interiors, also added to the fears.
The Nellie massacre of February 18, 1983, with the guilty not punished till date, is still etched in the minds of the people.
However, the most predominant fissure that might mark a new phase of deep division and insecurity is the process of detection of "foreigners" under the NRC, spearheaded and fast-tracked by the BJP-led regime, under the supervision of the Supreme Court.
The NRC had released its first report on December 31, 2016, in which 1.9 crore of the 3.29 crore applicants were declared as 'Indian citizens'. The second and final report (to be reportedly revised once again in December 2018) was meant to be released on June 30. However, it has been postponed till July 30, due to floods, as stated by the authorities, under the auspices of the apex court. Under the Assam Accord, the midnight of August 24, 1971, is the cut-off date for citizens to be declared Indians. Any individual who has entered Assam after that date will be declared 'foreigner'.
A massive exercise like checking out credentials of lakhs of individuals as bonafide Indian citizens or foreigners is a priori a gigantic and complex task. It has thereby fallen into a trap of accusations of bias, prejudice, and partisan conduct, with widespread controversies, confirmed and unconfirmed reports of fudging of evidence, racial and chauvinistic profiling, targeting of minorities, questionable, illegal and arbitrary detentions and arrests, and large-scale unrest and phobia.
Thousands of citizens are under the scanner of the 100 Foreigners' Tribunal, running to and fro from this hearing to that, holding bagful of documents (16 crucial documents are required, reportedly), trying to prove their citizenship. If they have to appeal - they have to approach the one-judge divisional bench of the Gauhati High Court, something most of them find extremely difficult to do.
If the high court bench rejects their appeal, they have to go back to the tribunal else they are simply declared as 'Doubtful Voters (D-Voter)' with a 'D' marked against their names in the electoral list. They can then be branded as a foreigner in other cases and packed off to jail, which serve as detention centres. In the 'detention centres', they have no prison rights and are treated as 'undertrials. They are condemned as 'foreigners', this includes even those voters who are under scrutiny because of technical or official anomalies in their documents.
It is an arduous, difficult and sensitive exercise directly affecting thousands of families, their emotional and national identity, their social life, and livelihood. In many cases, families, especially the poor and illiterate, are ravaged, torn apart, and pushed to the brink of devastation. And this can run into tens of thousands because the 'D-Voter' list itself goes beyond the official 1.25 lakh mark, and might only be rising. Unofficial estimates by activists claim that 35 lakh or more people might be affected by this NRC exercise.
Most of those directly impacted are Bengali-speaking Hindus and Muslims. Most of them are poor and inhabitants of far-flung areas.
A large number of women have been declared D-Voters because they have no birth/school certificates, no marriage documents and many of them have never voted. The panchayat certificate with magisterial powers was declared null and void by the court, but was accepted finally by the Supreme Court. Despite this there are allegations that the Foreigners' Tribunal (often accused of bias by locals with the allegation that those sympathetic to BJP-RSS and AASU have taken over the tribunals) refuses to accept the panchayat certificate as a valid document.
This columnist found a Hindu Rajbangshi husband in a village in Chirang, Kokrajhar who has been declared a bonafide Indian citizen but his aged wife, however, has been packed off to jail as a 'foreigner'.
An old woman in Jaipur village in Barpeta district is rotting in a Kokrajhar detention camp for the last three years though all her sons have been declared Indian citizens.
A young pregnant woman in Krishna Charali village in Goalpara district might have her entire family declared as Indians, but she was picked up by the police before a court hearing and packed off to a detention camp as a 'D-Voter'. The woman was released on bail at the time of her delivery. She doesn't even know what her crime is. Could it be because her primary and middle school certificate had technical anomalies?
Entire blocks and villages have been branded as 'doubtful' only to be later declared as citizens. Thousands have not been served notices for hearing at the tribunal, and majority of villages have no access to their names being listed on internet. If they miss the hearing because they have not been issued written notices, they might get picked up by the Assam Border Police, or declared 'foreigners' or D-Voters by the tribunal. It is a totally Kafkasque nightmare in the interiors of Assam.
Many are hanging in a traumatic twilight zone, running from pillar to post with documents to prove their identity. One brother might be an Indian citizen, but the other is in jail/detention camp. A bonafide citizen can be declared a non-citizen in no time even if he might have voted in various elections.
"We are helpless and hopeless," said a lawyer in the Goalpara district court. "The crisis has reached a peak. This will only lead to mass unrest."