This guide was originally posted on Jobstart and is written for the growing number of startup employees who help make the wheels of innovation spin and rarely get enough credit.
Before we get into the large number of warning signs it might be time to leave a startup company let's first set some expectations. All startups have problems — 90% of all startups fail and even the successful ones tend to hit multiple "near death" events along their path. It is at least to some extent the duty of a startup employee to know the challenges before going in and not bail on a company before they've given it a chance to correct course.
A decision to leave your startup ultimately comes down to balancing your belief in the company against the myriad of problems you'll face. If only a couple problems below sound like they're a match, over-communicate and get them fixed. If you resonate with a large number of the warning signs below, the writing might already be on the wall.
Our coaches at Jobstart interact with people leaving their startups on a daily basis. The most common thing we hear? "I wish I left 6 months ago". We hope the warning signs below will help you assess your own situation.
When you work at a startup you should know how many total outstanding shares there are. Heck, you should know these numbers before signing an offer letter, else you don't know the % equity you were granted! If the financials are under strict lock-and-key, that's a warning sign there is something to hide.
Good, so you know how many shares you have and how many are outstanding? Make sure you get updates when the company goes through funding rounds! Most companies that perform well should be able to raise money without heavy dilution. Heavy dilution occurs when investors think your company is good enough to back, but not good enough to give great investment terms. On paper, your shares will be worth the same amount of money, but heavy dilution is a warning nonetheless.
When Founders Fund raised money, they set a hard deadline for their investors: tell us tomorrow or you're not in. They raised a billion dollars and were able to do it because investors wanted in so badly. When a company is "stuck" in fundraising mode, that means the fundraiser is having difficulty. The average seed round takes ~2 months to close while the average Series A can take 3–5 months. If your company is always in fundraising mode and you're not closing impressive investors, the money might be running out!
The goal of a startup is to find a reproducible, scalable business model. If a large amount of money is exiting the company but growth isn't being hyper-charged by it, that might be a warning flag. Eventually overspending leads to having to raise more money before it's ideal, which leads to the things above… heavy dilution, indefinite fundraising mode, etc.
Some startups say "we'll worry about making money later". That's ok as long as 1) you have a good plan to make money later, 2) your user growth is stellar, and 3) your investors like that your user growth is stellar. If the plan to make money is unclear, you might be building a house of cards. Product/Market fit is fragile and many times core product functionality must change to monetize the business. If the free nature of that core product function was a key aspect of the market fit, then companies can end up in hot water.
Unit economics — the business efficiencies of handling a transaction or customer — are often overlooked by startups. It's so bad in fact that Sam Altman, President of YC wrote ablog post about this entire trend. At the end of the day, if the business model doesn't make enough money and the company has invested in hyper-growth for a while, they're going to hit a serious wall.
The importance of talking to your users cannot go understated. This is more true the earlier stage the company — if you're a seed-funded or Series A company, most employees should know what their users think and be able to do something about it. Relying on other sources of information for direction just isn't as effective.
Startups are all about growth or the promise of future growth. Later stage companies can get away with less, but seed stage should aim for more — people say roughly 10% week over week in one primary metric. If you don't know your week over week growth and people don't care, that's worrying.
Rocketship companies spread quickly because they built something 10x better than anyone else. When you build something that good, people tell their friends about it and you grow. This is referral-based growth — aka "organic" growth. If you have to pay people to use your product it's probably not sticky. There is a single exception here, and that is if your unit economics are healthy: spending $20 to acquire a user is ok if, on average, they pay you back $30 within a couple months.
These are all too easy to mix up but lead to startups chasing their tail — they think they're onto something, but it's not reality! Obviously dangerous. Make sure assumptions are scrutinized and tested. After all, when you learn something and are confident in that learning, it's a great feeling.
Startups only live when the team is working together efficiently. The foundations for an efficient team are a clear roadmap and shared feeling of ownership. A roadmap is made clear when it is communicated properly and areas of difficulty are discussed. In all too many situations, people fail to communicate and hit roadblocks that could have been avoided. When companies fall behind, management tends to get nervous and start setting completely unrealistic expectations.
Life is too short to not build something you believe in. If you think you're building a clunky piece of software or that the design is terribly off, it's probably worth your sanity to move on. This point is also important for your future career: when people look at your old work, you want them to see something of quality. Every moment you're building something less than your capability, you're selling yourself short.
This is the slipperiest slope of them all! "A players" — people who will dramatically improve the companies odds of success — like working with other A players. B or C players are usually introduced because a startup is too resource constrained and simply needs to get work done. Over time though, they end up hiring other B and C players. Before you know it, the A players have gotten aggravated, left the company, and now everyone is mediocre. If you notice your company has lowered the hiring bar, it's a sign of future things to come.
All C-level "executives" should display strong leadership skills. You should enjoy working with them and feel like you're learning when around them. Everyone has their weaknesses, but all too frequently startup employees will underestimate the importance of having a strong CEO. If your CEO tends to make you cringe, misrepresent the product, or display a lack of vision — run!
When one person isn't pulling their weight, they should know it and fix it. When multiple people aren't pulling their weight, you have a systemic problem with your culture. Cultural problems are extremely difficult to solve. Even the best COOs and inspirational CEOs struggle to fix ingrained habits. Viral laziness is probably the deadliest of them all since it stems from a lack of respect or self-motivation.
Although Silicon Valley tends to think of meetings as the epitome of evil, they can certainly be productive. You just have to have the right amount of them and talk about important things. This seems like common sense but when people call meeting after meeting, discuss the same things over and over, or change strategies repeatedly, efficiency suffers greatly. This issue can be resolved if operationally-minded people address is and put in structure for decision-making, but all too often employees treat it as an unsolvable issue.
Although obvious, this one stealthily creeps into startups over time. Deadlines only have meaning if people take them seriously. This warning creeps in 1) by people joining the company with an already lax stance on deadlines or 2) by deadlines being missed over and over until people become numb. When you accept failure, in a way you've already quit on your company.
Startups deal with tens of problems daily. They stack up quickly if they're not solved promptly or triaged effectively. If you're dealing with the same problems over and over again, not only is the team unable to actually solve it, but there's also a growing mound that's lurking in the shadows.
No on can succeed and solve highly complex problems by themselves. It's surprising how quickly politics can enter a startup's culture: when one person gets successfully outmaneuvered or "stabbed in the back", other people start thinking they can do the same.
If your boss is the C-level and isn't taking the time to understand you, that's weak leadership and you can refer to #8 above. If your boss is not, then it's unlikely they're getting proper mentorship or coaching to become a better manager. Most managers aren't very great and if you complain, you're putting yourself directly in a line of fire. That being said, talking to your boss frankly and letting them try to resolve the issue is a good option before throwing in the towel.
If you're not having fun at your startup, you're doing it wrong! Startups are supposed to excite you. By being at a startup, you're sacrificing stability for the sake of freedom and a higher rate of learning. If you find neither freedom or the rate of learning fun, you're not meant for startups. If your love for freedom & learning is overpowered by your fear of failure, you're probably in too early-stage a startup.
There are many engineers who end up taking startup jobs that use outdated stacks and technologies. If you take a job working on PHP/Zend right now, you're not optimizing to land a great engineering job 3 years from now. Top engineers in the valley just don't work on PHP very often anymore. React is an example of something to learn right now. Companies are gobbling up engineers who develop in React. Learning new things not only shows that you're nimble, but also that you're passionate!
You should be confident enough in your company to make your friends come onboard. If you're hesitant and don't think they could handle the culture or number of broken things, perhaps you're putting yourself in their shoes. It's odd how many people ignore this warning in their own thoughts.
Hey — the world's not going to end if you don't get all of those things done this week, right? Technically the world will likely be ok, but if you're at a startup and have this mentality, you could have it way better somewhere else. Find a place where you're so passionate you feel like you want to be productive. Find a place where you want to impress your co-workers and get things done!
"Market" value is a bit hazy. Startups are unlikely to offer you 160k the way Google or Facebook do, but it's illogical how many good engineers accept salaries below 75k. Startups that make these low-ball offers will attempt to hype up their equity packages as magical entities of cash creation. Don't fall for it. In a seed stage company, assume your equity is going to be worth something minimal and take the job because you believe in the mission. Stock is usually given in the form of options. That means you have to exercise the options when you leave the company, which can end up costing tens of thousands of dollars. Most engineers will never see any real value out of their stock and those that do only see it because the company grew immensely and either sold or IPO'd.
The back of your mind saying "Oh wow, that one company's software looks so cool. I wish I could work on something like that." You can! Go apply to that company instead.
Everything is subjective and no company is alike. These are meant to be general rules of thumb — you should ultimately weigh any career decision heavily and get personal input on the matter from multiple sources.
If you're thinking about finding a new startup, we recommend you read the next guide in our 4 part series: "Your Next Job: Finding a Startup You'll Love".
Personal, expert guidance to land your next software job.


Will I receive a "report" of my inspection?
As part of our testing and inspection work, your system or apparatus receives a tag. In addition you will receive confidence test reports and/or have 3rd party reporting submitted on your behalf, for all applicable systems.
How can I be sure that my fire system was tested thoroughly and all deficiencies were reported?
Because there are often no visible queues, it's that much more critical for you to partner with a team you trust. Our technicians are licensed, experienced, and thorough, and are willing to educate you along the way.
Is AAA Fire Protection able to show me pictures of the deficiencies they listed on my confidence test report?
We are the only fire protection company in the region that has made the investment to adopt and implement cloud-based technology to capture deficiencies visually, whereby providing our customers proof of a deficiency in conjunction with a proposal to rectify the problem, all in real-time. Providing pictures go along way in helping our customers expedite immediate issues, and budget for long-term capital expenditures.
Does AAA serve both commercial and residential customers?
We serve multi-family, mixed-use, commercial, industrial communities and a host of other niche industries. We do not currently offer mobile services to the single family residential community. Many of these customers do visit our retail counter looking to get their fire extinguisher, carbon monoxide and smoke detector, and CO2 needs met.
Where can I find information on specific fire code requirements?
Give us a call – 1-800-223-FIRE (3473). If we can't answer the question we will either place a call on your behalf with the local jurisdiction and or guide as to where you are likely to get your answer.
Will the same technician service my equipment each year?
Yes, technicians serve the customer on an assignment model. We have designed this model with the goal of assigning a technician(s) to your property for all your needs, for the life of our relationship with you and the building. This model creates continuity between AAA and our customers, and reduces 'down time' associated with familiarization with the building and its systems, whereby saving you money, and improving the quality of fire protection.
Do I have to keep track of my fire protection equipment testing schedule?
According to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), it is the owners responsibility to ensure his fire equipment is tested and inspected at specific intervals. However, when you work with AAA Fire Protection, we take this responsibility off your plate by contacting you in advance of the due date and scheduling to do the work.
How often does my fire protection equipment need to be inspected?
Every piece of fire protection equipment has its own minimum periodic testing requirements, governed by the fire code, and enforced at the local and/or state level. Give us a call. We'll walk you through your requirements.


text:
Christi's JUCE TV Music News: New Releases from Anthony Evans, V. Rose & More
By Christi Given
'God Has Me Right Where He Wants Me' Justin Bieber Announces 2020 Album, Tour, and Docuseries
Lindsay Elizabeth - December 30, 2019
In a surprise move, pop-singer Justin Bieber announced a special gift for his fans on Christmas Eve. The twenty-five-year-old announced a 2020 album, tour,...
Outspoken Christian Hollywood Couple Releases Trailer to Their New Netflix Show, "Messiah"
On New Years Day, Netflix will be releasing a new show called "Messiah," that will follow the life of a single man, who may...
PI Girls, our blogger Christi Given is here sharing the latest in Christian music news and culture! Christi is a host on JUCE TV with Trinity Broadcasting Network and has an online show called JUCE TV NEWS. The show is broadcast on social media for the network. Join in the fun and get the latest JUCE news right here!
Missed last month's episode? Click here.
Anthony Evans, a competitor on NBC's The Voice in 2012, released his latest album, Real Life/Real Worship, on March 25, 2014. Check it out on iTunes here.
Phil Wickham has a damaged vocal chord—let us lift him up in prayer. He has been writing about his experience; go to philwickham.com to read his blog and get more on his newest album, The Ascension.
V. Rose's new album, Forever After, featuring Flame, KJ52 and others was released on May 20, 2014. Songs include "Am I Trending?" (featuring Flame), "When He Finds You," "Tortured Mind" and "Turn Up Your Light" (one of my favorites). Click here to listen or to purchase the digital album.
PI Girls, who is YOUR favorite artist right now?
Previous articleMemes, Memes, Memes!
Next articleSurvey: What's Your Workout Routine?
Christi Givenhttp://www.christigiven.com
Christi Given is a former Trinity Broadcasting Network host for the JUCE TV NETWORK, and has been featured on the Hillsong Channel. Her passion is to reach the youth with the Gospel and her music. Given has been writing for Project Inspired since 2011, and hopes to encourage the younger generation in their faith.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Long Lane, Bermondsey, London SE1 (UK)
Stage: Tender
This modern extension consists of a double height work/live studio space comprising a work area, ample storage space and a bathroom on the lower level and a bedroom on the mezzanine storey. It is annexed to an existing duplex flat on the top floors of a five-storey building, occupying part of its large roof terrace.
The new volume is connected to the existing flat via a glass passage, which creates two distinct terrace zones on each side. The passage creates a transparent connection between the existing flat and the new extension, with intertwining vistas of the garden/green roof space to the north side and the more social space with seating and a hot tub on the south side.
The stretched woven metal mesh cladding softens the appearance of the new volume, whilst the glazed south elevation and sloping roof offer full views of the Southbank and the city skyline. A circular window on the mezzanine level projects outwards, allowing a deep reveal that can be used as a window seat - a quiet and intimate space between the inside and the outside.
Copyright © Obiter Architecture Ltd
34 Bentley Road, London. N1 4BY.


text:
Tag: Nobuhiro Yamashita
Hard-Core (ハード・コア, Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2018)
Posted on May 16, 2019 by Hayley Scanlon1 Comment
"The world will always be corrupt", the cynical brother of the angry young man at the centre of Nobuhiro Yamashita's Hard-Core (ハード・コア) advises him, "you just have to work around it". Unfortunately, Ukon (Takayuki Yamada) just wants to do "the right thing", but it is constantly unsure of the best way to do it while remaining resentful and conflicted in his conviction that the world has already rejected him. Yamashita has made a career out of chronicling the struggles of disenfranchised young men but Ukon and his pals are less genial slackers than potentially dangerous idealists looking for a way back to a simpler time in which the world was not quite so rotten.
An opening bar scene in which Ukon gets slowly drunk and then lays into a rowdy bunch of guys bothering a middle-aged woman (Takako Matsu) just trying to enjoy a drink showcases his propensity to abruptly lose his temper and fall into a self destructive cycle while also subtly pointing out his entitlement issues in his taking the guy to task by praising himself for leaving the lady alone while he presumably had exactly the same desire not to. In any case, after getting banned from the bar, he ends up joining an ultranationalist political cell, the Crimson Hearts, which aims to teach the youth of Japan to re-embrace its traditional culture. In order to facilitate his goals, the elderly and eccentric leader, Kaneshiro (Kubikukuri Takuzo), has enlisted Ukon, along with a friend, Ushiyama (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa) who is almost entirely mute, to dig out a mysterious cavern where he is convinced there is buried Edo-era treasure.
It's easy to see why Ukon might fall for the rather insane ramblings of Kaneshiro. They reinforce his sense of moral decline while giving him a banner to follow and a place to belong. His loyalty to Kaneshiro is as absolute as a retainer's to his lord, though he is perhaps conflicted in his commitment to the core ideology even as he sees obvious merit in wanting to reclaim something of the old Japan. Meanwhile, his relationship with his family appears strained. His younger brother Sakon (Takeru Satoh) has become a cynical salaryman out for nothing other than greed and self interest, staring into his own empty eyes in the reflection of the full glass panelling of his high rise office as he has meaningless sex with anonymous office ladies. Ukon just wants to do the right thing, but Sakon wants to make the smart choice and doesn't particularly care about the wider implications of his choices.
Meanwhile, Ukon is fiercely loyal to his friends and fellow outsiders in solidarity with all those who feel the world will never be willing to accept them. Ushiyama, a man laid low by familial expectation and societal pressure, lives in an abandoned factory where he has made "friends" with a broken robot that Ukon manages to repair and names "Robo-o". Believing that Robo-o is just like them in that he would be ostracised if people discovered his true nature, Ukon and Ushiyama set about disguising him and even get him in on their gold hunting gig (where he gets paid!) at which he proves adept considering his considerable technical superiority. Ukon's first instinct is to protect his friend, while Sakon's is how best to exploit him.
Nevertheless, events at the Crimson Hearts begin to escalate as unpleasant underling Mizunuma (Suon Kan) considers taking the battle to the next stage to "overthrow the corrupt totalitarianism masquerading as democracy" through actions others will regard as terrorist. Meanwhile, Ukon has also begun to fall for Mizunuma's damaged daughter Taeko (Kei Ishibashi) whom he met by chance after being inappropriately charged with spying on Mizunuma's new girlfriend to make sure she wasn't sleeping around (as women do, according to Mizunuma). Ukon, as the first scene implied, is not in favour of all this obvious misogyny but can only find the strength for passive resistance. What he chooses, in the end, is his friends and his precious group of outsiders, albeit with his hopes pinned on his cynical brother and the illusionary lustre of historical treasure. The power of friendship eventually enables even Robo-o to break his programming, though it's Sakon's cynicism that, in one sense at least, seems to triumph. Yamashita takes his troubled young heroes on a rocky, noirish path through the "rotten" world which they are increasingly convinced holds no place for them but finally finds hope in human compassion even if that compassion may be the long buried treasure of an archaic civilisation.
Hard-Core was screened as part of the 2019 Udine Far East Film Festival. It will also be screened at the 2019 Nippon Connection Film Festival on 31st May at 22.30pm and 1st June, 22.45pm.
Posted in Japan, Nippon Connection 2019, Udine Far East Film Festival 2019
Tagged 2010s, 2018, Garon Tsuchiya, Japan, Japanese, Kei Ishibashi, Kisetsu Fujiwara, Kubikukuri Takuzo, manga adaptation, manga to movie, Nippon Connection, Nippon Connection 2019, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Suon Kan, Takako Matsu, Takashi Imashiro, Takayuki Yamada, Takeru Satoh, Takuzo Kubikukuri, Udine Far East Film Festival, Udine Far East Film Festival 2019, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa
Over the Fence (オーバー・フェンス, Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2016)
Posted on April 27, 2017 September 24, 2017 by Hayley Scanlon7 Comments
Nobuhiro Yamashita may be best known for his laid-back slacker comedies, but he's no stranger to the darker sides of humanity as evidenced in the oddly hopeful Drudgery Train or the heartbreaking exploration of misplaced trust and disillusionment of My Back Page. One of three films inspired by Hakodate native novelist Yasushi Sato (the other two being Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's Sketches of Kaitan City and Mipo O's The Light Shines Only There), Over the Fence (オーバー・フェンス) may be among the less pessimistic adaptations of the author's work though its cast of lonely lost souls is certainly worthy both of Yamashita's more melancholy aspects and Sato's deeply felt despair.
Shiraiwa (Joe Odagiri) wants nothing to with anything or anyone. His wife has divorced him and he doesn't see his child but he still wears his wedding ring and feels like a married man, unable to move on from the suspended end of his marriage. Having no place else to go, Shiraiwa has come back to his home town of Hakodate – a run down harbour town on the southern point of Hokkaido. For no particular reason other than it allows him to continue claiming unemployment benefits, he's enrolled in a back to work scheme at a vocational school which teaches carpentry skills. Keeping himself aloof and explaining to anyone that takes an interest that he's "human scum" and they'd best keep away, Shiraiwa is eventually convinced to go drinking with fellow student Dajima (Shota Matsuda) at his favourite bar.
Dajima introduces him to a much needed motivating factor in his life, a free spirited hostess girl with the strangely manly name of Satoshi (Yu Aoi). Satoshi argues loudly with customers in the street and dances with wild abandon in the middle of a room of quiet drinkers but on getting to know her better her rapidly changeable moods and occasional fits of violent despair speak of a more serious set of problems which Satoshi herself feels as ill equipped to deal with as Shiraiwa has been with the failure of his marriage.
Failure is something which hangs heavily over the film as the grey dullness and stagnant quality of the harbour town seems to bear out its inescapability. Unsurprisingly, in one sense, everyone at the vocational school is there because they've already failed at something else though some of them have more success with carpentry than others. Shiraiwa takes the work seriously even if he doesn't really see himself heading into a career as a carpenter but there's an additional reason why the environment is so oppressive and the uniforms not unlike those of a prison. Everyone is here because they have to be and they can't leave until they've completed their re-education. The teacher at the school is always quick to remind everyone how it was when he worked in the field, only he never did, he's a failure and a prideful fantasist too.
The other men face various problems from age and dwindling possibilities, to intense pressure to succeed leading to eventual mental breakdown, and trying to build a new life after leaving the yakuza, but Shiraiwa is unique among them in the degree to which he has internalised his essential failures. Having convinced himself that he's "human scum" Shiraiwa wants everyone else to know too as he intentionally refuses any sense of forward motion or progress in his life to reassure himself that there is no possible future for him. Satoshi has convinced herself of something similar though her dissatisfaction and fear of rejection are deeply ingrained elements of her personality which are permanent personal attributes. Pushing Shiraiwa to address the questions he could not bear to face, she helps him towards a more positive position whilst simultaneously refusing any kind of reciprocal self analysis.
There's an additional cruelty in Satoshi's manic declaration that Shiraiwa drove his wife insane that's in part self directed and raises a mutual anxiety between them as Shiraiwa may be falling for a woman who already feels herself to be "mad". Satoshi's strange impressions of birds and animals point to her closeness to nature and separation from conventional society but also perhaps of her fear of hurting other people through her periodic descents into self destructive cruelty. As caged as the animals in the zoo where she works, Satoshi decides to try letting them out only to discover that the eagle has no desire to leave his perch.
Hakodate becomes a kind of purgatory for all as they each attempt to conquer their demons and win the right to move on to better and brighter things. Melancholy as it is, Yamashita adds in touches of his trademark surrealist humour but even in its sadness Over the Fence leaves room for hope. Climaxing in an inconsequential yet extremely important softball game the meaning of the film's title becomes apparent – you'll never know if you can hit that ball over the fence until you find the courage to take a swing but you may never be able to find it without the help and support of a kindred spirit.
Over the Fence was screened as part of the Udine Far East Film Festival 2017.
Posted in Camera Japan 2017, Japan, Nippon Connection 2017, Udine Far East Film Festival 2017
Tagged 2010s, 2016, book to film, Haruto Nakano, Hideki Hoshino, Japan, Japanese, Joe Odagiri, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Ryo Takada, Ryuto Kondo, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, shinya Tsukamoto, Shota Matsuda, Takumi Matsuzawa, Tokyo Theatres, Tsunekichi Suzuki, Udine Far East Film Festival, Udine Far East Film Festival 2017, Yasushi Sato, Yu Aoi, Yuka, Yukiya Kitamura
My Uncle (ぼくのおじさん, Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2016)
Posted on April 26, 2017 May 4, 2017 by Hayley Scanlon1 Comment
Crazy uncles – the gift that keeps on giving. Following the darker edged Over the Fence as the second of two films released in 2016, Nobuhiro Yamashita's My Uncle (ぼくのおじさん, Boku no Ojisan) pushes his subtle humour in a much more overt direction with a comic tale of a self obsessed (not quite) professor as seen seen through the eyes of his exasperated nephew. "Travels with my uncle" of a kind, Yamashita's latest is a pleasantly old fashioned comedy spiced with oddly poignant moments as a wiser than his years nephew attempts to help his continually befuddled uncle navigate the difficulties of unexpected romance.
Yukio (Riku Ohnishi) has been given one of the most dreaded homework assignments ever – he's supposed to write an essay about an "interesting" family member. This is a problem because Yukio thinks his family is very boring – dad is a civil servant, mum is a housewife, and his little sister is very frank but fails to generate sufficient interest for a whole essay. At this point, Yukio's eccentric Uncle (Ryuhei Matsuda) enters the scene to enquire if the next edition of a children's manga magazine has been released yet. Yukio says it has but he doesn't buy it anymore because he's grown out of it. Uncle hasn't and wants him to buy one as soon as possible, convincing Yukio to pay 30% of the sticker price in the process. Annoyed, Yukio starts chronicling his Uncle's strange adventures in school essay which proves a hit with his teacher (Erika Toda) who has accidentally become Uncle's biggest fan.
Uncle lives with the family because he's "a philosopher" which involves a lot of rejecting capitalist ideals and lying on his futon "thinking" or reading manga to give his brain a rest. Though Uncle's brother and the father of the family (Kankuro Kudo) is content not to rock the boat, his wife (Shinobu Terajima) is often fed up with Uncle's behaviour and is trying to set him up with proposals for an arranged marriage to get rid of him. Uncle is having none of it but is instantly smitten after being introduced to Japanese-Hawaiian photographer Eri (Yoko Maki). Eventually chasing her all the way to Hawaii with Yukio in tow, Uncle tries his luck with romance but only seems to get himself mixed up in even more unpredictable mischief.
There's something so pleasantly innocent about My Uncle with its almost nostalgic tone and embrace of the surreality of everyday life. As seen through the eyes of Yukio, Uncle is not an entirely sympathetic figure at the beginning of the film. A part-time professor, Uncle talks big but spends his life rooting through ashtrays looking for smokable cigarette butts and collecting coupons to use for cheap dinners. Attempts to entertain the children backfire when he gifts them a very realistic plastic toy of a giant millipede though he does sometimes take Yukio out on "thinking expeditions" – usually on weekends and holidays to not be in the house to be shouted at by Yukio's parents who are rapidly loosing patience with Uncle's inability to progress in life.
If this were a series (and one could only hope) you could easily call the first instalment "Uncle Falls in Love" as Uncle finds himself finally thinking about settling down with the beautiful and outgoing Eri. Eri does seem to be among the few people who finds Uncle's unusual qualities charming though he might need to rethink his plan of action if he's finally to win her heart. Unfortunately, Eri is about to move back to Hawaii but invites Yukio and Uncle to visit. Uncle is desperate to go but as he can't even afford to buy cigarettes, international travel is out. Undeterred, Uncle comes up with a number of labour intensive schemes to get there rather than actually working for the money but eventually makes it with Yukio's help. There is, however, a rival on hand in Eri's former boyfriend Shinsuke (Shigeyuki Totsugi) who is equally determined to win her back.
Life with Uncle may be one of constant exasperation but as Eri points out it's never boring. Whether he's getting himself arrested for accidentally buying weed or making up wild stories about himself in a misguided attempt to impress people, Uncle lives on a different plane of existence. Yukio reflects on all of this with a world weariness worthy of a 70 year old man but eventually comes to a kind of grudging affection for his silly old Uncle who is quite clearly setting himself up for a fall even if he has his heart in the right place. Yamashita mixes in poignant moments such as a reflective look over Pearl Harbour which gives rise to a discussion of life as a Hawaiian citizen of Japanese descent during the war, but broadly the tone is a bright one of zany humour and ironic one liners. Hilariously funny in a gentle, old fashioned way, My Uncle is Yamashita in full on comedy mode but all the better for it even as he leaves us desperate to find out what other strange adventures befall Uncle in the continuing saga of his existence.
My Uncle was screened as part of the Udine Far East Film Festival 2017.
Tagged 2010s, 2016, Erika Toda, Gin Pun Chou, Japan, Japanese, Kankuro Kudo, Kenji Iwatani, Midoriko Kimura, Morio Kita, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Ryuhei Matsuda, Shigeyuki Totsugi, Shinobu Terajima, Toei, Udine Far East Film Festival, Udine Far East Film Festival 2017, Yoko Maki
Hazy Life (どんてん生活, Nobuhiro Yamashita, 1999)
Posted on February 6, 2016 December 1, 2016 by Hayley ScanlonLeave a comment
Starting as he meant to go on, Nobuhiro Yamashita's debut feature film is the story of two slackers, each aimlessly drifting through life without a sense of purpose or trajectory in sight. His humour here is even drier than in his later films and though the tone is predominantly sardonic, one can't help feeling a little sorry for his hapless, lonely "heroes" trapped in their vacuous, empty lives.
Kee (Hiroshi Yamamoto), a rocker with a giant quiff, meets Tsutomu (Teppei Uda) outside a pachinko parlour and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. Tsumtomu, a little gormless looking and near silent, ends up moving into Kee's apartment where his main "job" appears to be copying videotapes of the amateur porn (sorry, "erotic cinema" movies) made by his friend Todokoro and his girlfriend(?) Akiko. In fact, Kee sometimes "stars" in the films too, which is something he might have wanted to tell Tsutomu before showing him the video. Kee also has a four year old child he doesn't really get to see who lives with his ex-partner and only knows him as "uncle".
As in many of Yamashita's other films, nothing much happens as Kee and Tsutomu kill time whilst worrying and not worrying about the future. Neither of the guys has a proper job or any concrete ambitions, they mostly just eat time playing pachinko, drinking and hanging out with Tadokoro and Akiko. Kee is still mooning over his ex-girlfriend and, though it's not clear why they split up, his own fecklessness may be the reason he's not more involved in his child's life even if he clearly would like to be. Tsutomu has developed a bit of a crush on Akiko but he never really tries to do very much about it (though he does have the good grace to turn down Kee's invitation to become a star in one of the videos).
In constrast to his later work, Yamashita injects a number of fantasy sequences which seem to take place entirely within Tsutomu's mind. Mostly they're quite gentle – making a bunch of money at Pachinko and taking Akiko out for a slap-up meal or the poignant final scene of all the characters together as they enjoy a picnic under the cherry blossoms like one big happy family. However, there is one very unexpected scene which occurs after Tsutomu is caught shoplifting (which he does very badly) offering only the excuse that he's forgotten his wallet and was too lazy to go back and get it. This fairly shocking scene of violence is one that does not typically re-occur in Yamashita's later work and is notable for its extreme bloodiness and direct contrast to the overall tone. Perhaps intended to show Tsutomu's inner frustrations (he spends much of the rest of the film asleep), this scene becomes one of the most intriguing in the film.
Hazy Life is a "zero budget" affair and makes no attempt to hide that. Shot on low quality equipment and committed to a "natural" look, it makes no claim to aesthetic prettiness though it does display Yamashita's gift for interesting compositions this time working within a 4:3 frame. The fantasy sequences themselves are presented as reality bar one use of double exposure which is in general out of keeping with Yamashita's naturalistic style as is the brief use of time-lapse photography.
Not uninteresting, but perhaps more interesting as a taste of things to come rather than as a feature in its own right. Hazy Life is just that, hazy and somewhat meandering as Kee and Tsutomu muddle through life with an air of mild depression and no particular hope in sight. "what day is it?", "I don't know", "Well never mind – at least we're alive". This late conversation more or less sums the entire film and it's poignantly sweet, fantasy sequence ending adds another layer of pathos to this subtly humorous look at laid-back modern life at the bottom of the heap.
Posted in Japan, Uncategorized
Tagged 1990s, 1999, 4:3, Hiroshi Yamamoto, indie, Japan, Japanese, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Uda Teppei
Ramblers (リアリズムの宿, Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2004)
Posted on January 10, 2016 April 16, 2017 by Hayley Scanlon1 Comment
Nobuhiro Yamashita is well known for his low-key, naturalistic style often focusing on the everyday musings of youthful slackers. Ramblers (リアリズムの宿, Realism no Yado), his third feature film takes this idea and pushes it to the max as it follows two filmmakers wasting time in the mountains after their ultimate slacker actor friend lets them down at the last minute.
The two guys are Tsuboi, a screenwriter and the younger of the two, and Kinoshita – a director and a little bit older in his late twenties. The trip has been organised by a mutual acquaintance, Funaki, who's an actor and the other two have met once or twice before but don't exactly know each other. Funaki has overslept and will be late, or he might just come tomorrow or something. He tells the other two to go ahead without him. With nothing else to do the two guys wander off into the mountains to kill time while they wait for their Godot-like friend where they have various encounters with the strange mountain-folk all while a gentle friendship builds up in the background.
By far the most important episode occurs whilst the pair are sitting on the beach "rambling" on about nothing in particular when a scantily clad young woman, Atsuko, comes running towards them out of the sea. Hilariously, the pair try to run away as if she were some kind of terrifying sea monster but eventually decide to help her after she tells them that all of her belongings, including her wallet with her ID and money, have been washed away to sea. They end up adopting her for two or three days, paying for her new clothes, meals and board each a little taken with her but nothing untoward in mind. Suddenly this episode ends, leaving a curious hole in the young guys' relationship.
Other than getting to know Atsuko, the guys waste time fishing, chatting with the interesting staff at the various inns they end up staying at and just generally hanging around wondering where the hell Funaki has got to. Having failed to arrange accommodation (slackers!) the pair decide to inn hop a little whilst roaming around the area though it's definitely the off season. After their adventure with Atsuko the boys' funds start to run down and they're reduced to sharing meals which gets them noticed by a shady guy in cafe who insists they stay over with his friend – though it turns out to be not really his friend's place at all and, feeling awkward, the pair attempt to find somewhere else last minute ending up at every traveller's worst nightmare. The final "inn" is not even really a B&B, just a freezing room in someone's house which is filled with children, a father who's dying in the corner and a bathroom which would definitely not pass any kind of health and safety regulation. Getting a little fed up, the boys spend their final night laughing off the strange and sometimes rotten adventure they've been having – wondering first about Atsuko and then feeling annoyed about their "friend" who doesn't seem to have been very invested in this particular enterprise.
As usual for a Yamashita movie, nothing really happens while quite a lot is happening. We get invested in Tsuboi and Kinoshita's vacation as their friend pulls a Godot style stunt on them by repeatedly failing to appear but always promising to be there soon. Whilst travelling and killing time the two guys talk about various things and get to know one another better. Their time with Atsuko actually seems to bring them closer together rather forcing them into the roles of rivals, though a late stage revelation about Atsuko's sudden disappearing act may also give them a collective sense of befuddlement mixed with mild guilt. The Ramblers ramble on for 83 minutes, though it never feels like an over extended stay. Once again Yamashita crafts a low-key, nuanced character piece that allows his naturalistic, humorous eye to shine through.
Suprisingly, you can actually buy this on UK iTunes with English subtitles!
Posted in Japan, Udine Far East Film Festival 2017
Tagged 2000s, 2004, Bitters End, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Japan, Japanese, Keishi Nagatsuka, Machiko Ono, Maki Ishikawa, Masaaki Takakura, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Quruli, Ryuto Kondo, Takeshi Yamamoto
La La La at Rock Bottom (AKA Misono Universe, 味園ユニバース, Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2015)
Posted on January 1, 2016 December 1, 2016 by Hayley Scanlon2 Comments
Nobuhiro Yamashita has made something of a career out of championing the underdog and La La La at Rock Bottom (味園ユニバース, Misono Universe) provides yet another foray into the lives of the disposed and degraded. With a lighter touch than some of his previous work, the once again musically inflected film is another testament to the power of redemption and that you can still turn your life around if you only have the courage to take the chance.
The film begins with a young man being released from prison. The guard apologises about the smell of mothballs emanating from the man's jacket, usually the family bring clean clothes. No family has come for this inmate though – just a couple of cool seeming characters who profess their gratitude for "what you've done for us" but the reunion is anything but warm. A little while later the man is unceremoniously bundled into a car and taken off to a quiet place where he is beaten half to death by thugs using baseball bats. After waking up, he stumbles around and eventually chances on a summer festival with a band playing on the mainstage. Zombified, the man grabs the mic and starts singing before promptly collapsing again.
The band's manager, a young girl, takes the man home whereupon she discovers he's lost his memory. Giving him the ironic nickname of "Pooch" (Kasumi also has a habit of picking up stray dogs), the band and local villagers quickly "adopt" the confused stranger and let him work at their karaoke rooms and studio whilst coaching him to become their new lead singer. However, as Pooch's memories start to return it seems that his former life may not have been as tranquil as his laid-back amnesiac persona might suggest.
Like much of Yamashita's previous work, music plays a central role with the one thing that Pooch remembers from his former life being the lyrics to a particular song and his innate singing talent. The leading role of Pooch himself is played by real life singing star Subaru Shibutani of Kansai based idol band Kanjani Eight who proves himself more than capable of belting out these hard rock/enka tracks as well as being able to imbue Pooch's amnesiac blankness with his own specific character. He is ably supported by the popular young actress Fumi Nikaido who turns in yet another impressively nuanced performance as the older than her years Kasumi.
The beginning of the film gives us quite an idea of the man Pooch may have been and the kind of life he's led. As the revelations pile on and Pooch's memories inevitably return threatening the new life and personality he's begun to build with the band and the possibility of fulfilling a long abandoned dream of being a singer, his dark side begins to break through and we're shown a man lost in rage and violence left with nowhere to turn. At the end of the day, "Pooch" has been given a valuable opportunity to start all over again but it requires him to make the choice to do so. Go back to being "Shigeo", a self hating thug who's alienated absolutely everyone in his life or choose to become Pooch and earn a second chance to be the man he always wanted to be.
Like Yamshita's previous film, Tamako in Moratorium, with which it also shares a lot in terms of style, La La La offers no great revelations or technical bells and whistles but revels in the simple pleasure of a tale told well. Like much of his other work, the central message is that it's never too late to begin again (even if there are bridges which have been burned beyond repair) only that it requires you to make the sometimes scary choice to take a chance on something new. That choice rests with one person but is greatly aided by the support of others and the unusual bond between the two central characters (which stops short of romance) plus the uncompromising faith which Kasumi places in Pooch are some of the greatest joys of the film.
Perhaps not a career best from this still vastly underrated director, La La La at Rock Bottom is nevertheless another beautifully constructed addition to his filmography. Offering an extreme depth of performance from each of its ensemble cast, the film is rich with detail whilst also reflecting Yamashita's trademark cinematic naturalism. Once again a musical feast for the ears, La La La at Rock Bottom is destined to become one of the director's best loved films even in a career which has already offered so many as yet undiscovered gems.
Tagged 2010s, 2015, Akainu, amnesia, Fumi Nikaido, Futa Takagi, GAGA, grief, Haruki Nakagawa, Izumi Matsuoka, Japan, Japanese, Katsumi Kawahara, loss, music, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Osaka, Sarina Suzuki, Shinji Imaoka, Shohei Uno, Subaru Shibutani, Suon Kan, Takashi Noguchi, Takumi Matsuzawa, Tomoe Kanno
Tamako in Moratorium (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2013)
Posted on June 18, 2015 December 1, 2016 by Hayley Scanlon4 Comments
We've all been here.
Nobuhiro Yamashita is, in this writer's opinion, one of the best Japanese directors working today. Probably best known for the girl band high school comedy drama Linda, Linda, Linda, Yamashita has made gentle character studies infused with wry humour and occasional social comment a speciality. Tamako in Moratorium is a slight diversion in his career so far as it had a slightly unorthodox genesis beginning as a series of TV shorts intended as a vehicle for ex AKB48 star Atsuko Maeda (who also starred in Yamashita's previous film, Drudgery Train). Its TV origins bring both an episodic structure plus a slightly different shooting style and aesthetic than we've previously seen from Yamashita yet given these constrained circumstances, he's been able to craft yet another nuanced and charming character drama that is perhaps his quietest yet.
23 year old Tamako has returned home after graduating university but has failed to find a regular job and is content to have returned to the days of blissful adolescence where she rejects all adult responsibilities in favour of hanging out at home reading manga and playing video games while her father cooks, cleans and does her washing for her. We follow her through four seasons as various things change or don't and really nothing much happens but that's the beauty of the tale. Tamako has called a moratorium on being herself, as for when or why it might be lifted? Only time will tell.
It would be easy to read Tamako a symptomatic of a larger cultural malaise and a growing class of young people who have, quite literally, lost the will to live were it not for the fact that most of Tamako's contemporaries seem to be doing OK ("seem" being the operative word seeing as one late scene in the film would suggest it's not all as hunky-dory as it looks). We're given plenty of possible reasons for Tamako's lack of enthusiasm for life though no one great explanation for her refusal to engage. "Japan's rubbish" she's fond of shouting at the TV as if to blame her current lack of success on an entire nation, "No it isn't" counters her dad "You are". A fact which Tamako doesn't seek to refute.
Her lack of self esteem also prevents her completing her current CV where she can't come up with any personal hobbies or skills and ends by saying that she doesn't quite feel herself right now, as if everyone's just expected to play several different roles throughout a lifetime. A realisation which sees her set her sights on a rather improbable career opportunity which nevertheless cheers her father up and leads to her forming a slightly strange friendship with a young teenage boy. Indeed, Tamako avoids most of her old friends in town, preferring to stay at home out of sight, and only really communicates with her father (and then barely).
Her father by contrast, though perturbed and worried about what's to become of this listless child who's sinking like a stone, is nevertheless content to try and give her the space to figure out how to get herself out of this mess that seems to be of her own making. However, paradoxically, this may actually be the exact opposite of what she wants and it's only when the bond with her father looks as if it's about to be disrupted that something begins to reawaken inside Tamako's soul. Like an odd subversion of Ozu's Late Spring, father and daughter must one day part – it is the natural way of things after all, but this time it feels like a much more positive thing.
Tamako in Moratorium began on TV and unsurprisingly has a televisual quality that's difficult to escape from. Shot with a largely static camera and shallow depth of field, it also feels oddly formalist relying as it does on classical compositions and close-ups with the added effect of making the world seem claustrophobic, as if some invisible pressure is pressing down on Tamako and keeping her sleepily imprisoned within the frame. Aesthetically, the film has a much more HD video look than Yamashita's other work with a hyperreal sharpness that paradoxically makes everything look unreal and is occasionally distracting but not detrimentally so.
"The feelings just naturally disappeared". Sometimes it's like that, no grand event or epiphany just a gradual process of things working themselves out, almost unseen in the background. Has the moratorium been lifted by the end? Not sure, but something has changed, shifted into gear. Uneventful on the surface, Tamako in Moratorium is a wry and nuanced character study that is full of incidental details begging to be unpacked and reassembled by the attentive viewer and is another well crafted effort from Yamashita.
Tagged 2013, Atsuka Maeda, Japan, Japanese, Nobuhiro Yamashita


text:
Home News Transport & Logistics
Urban greenery sprouting atop city buses in Spain
An environmental landscape artist has devised a simple solution to different urban issues such as increasing carbon emissions and loss of green spaces via a roof garden system on public transportation
By Elga Reyes
Spanish landscape artist Marc Grañén has devised an eye-catching rooftop garden system for city buses as a way of spreading his appreciation for nature, and currently, a prototype bus is shuttling tourists back and forth a camping site in Estartit, a town near the city of Girona in norheastern Spain.
Called the Phyto Kinetic roof garden system, the mobile garden is designed to create pockets of greenery in cities, improving the urban landscape and boosting photosynthesis to clean the air.
According to the European Environment Agency, in 2010, more than three-quarters of Spain's population lived in urban environments and a significant proportion is intermittently exposed to high concentrations of pollutants.
The advantage of the Phyto Kinetic system is the use of existing spaces, specifically the roofs of city buses, in increasing the amount of green areas in the city, which helps alleviate air pollution, Grañén explained to Robin Horton of Urban Gardens, a website on city life and nature, who first covered the system.
On top of a bus, a perforated stainless steel grid system is installed with a thin, lightweight hydroponic foam and sedum carpets. These components replace the use of soil and fix the garden in place, taking into consideration the technical aspects of both garden and vehicle. For example, the grid is shaped according to the roof of the bus, accounting for antennas, air-conditioning and emergency exits.
Grañén also noted that the Phyto Kinetic was designed to pass all control and safety tests imposed by European public transport regulations. The weight of the garden and its effects on sudden braking or even road accidents were carefully studied.
Once the bare structure is mounted, small shrubs can be planted depending on the preference and creativity of the city government, transport company, or corporate sponsor. Plants like aromatic herbs, ornamental plants, ivies and different types of grass can be planted, and company signboards or logo can also be placed, he explained in an effort to encourage business partnerhships. He said, "These types of plants can be found everywhere in the world, but it is important to consider each city's weather in determining which varieties to use."
As for watering the plants, Phyto Kinetic uses condensation from the bus's air-conditioning to irrigate the roof garden, giving purpose to a commonly wasted by-product.
Alex Puig, a green wall expert in Catalonia, helped Grañén in creating this roof garden system, providing added technical expertise and the roof garden materials.
According to Grañén, several other experts assisted in developing the system, such as a mechanical engineer from a big automotive firm. He said, "All these people have worked with me gratis because they trust and believe in the project."
Phyto Kinetic not only provides public transportation with "ecological and tourist appeal" but also increases carbon dioxide absorption, he wrote on his website.
He added: "The lungs of a city must grow at the same rate as its population, but much needed green areas are not always available. Phyto Kinetic has grown out of this supposition with the goal of delivering a practical and tangible solution."
The roof garden system, he explained, also aids in energy reduction. During a test in the middle of summer, the Phyto Kinetic bus came out 3.5°C cooler than a regular bus. "Madrid, for example, has more than 2,500 buses. Imagine how many more are on the streets of New York City." Approximating a bus roof size at 20 square metres, the landscape artist pegged the total amount of possible green roof space in New York City at 100,000 square metres.
Currently, Grañén, who won the 2012 Iberflora Award for Best Sustainable Initiative, is in talks with a major auto company to fund an entire fleet of Phyto Kinetic buses in Barcelona. He also recently partnered with a Barcelona landscape design company to install the system on their vehicles, and come September, he will bring a Phyto Kinetic bus to the World Green Infrastructure Congress in France.


Producing quality, handcrafted items is our passion and one we take very seriously. We stand behind our products and should you have an issue with your item, we want to know about it so we can make it right.
We are lovers of many furbabies. All of our products are made in a smoke-free, pet friendly home.


The Iceland Gull certainly got more than its share of aggravation from the Herrings and Black-backs. I suppose this assailant is just a Herring but I thought its primaries looked a bit too Venetian-blind like and not as contrasting as normal. If any gullers out there can shed any light on why I find this bird annoying I'd be glad to hear from you!


Even though things are tough right now, I'm still keeping my optimism in full. I believe hard things are tests of our will to fight on and survive. I have failed these tests many times but vowed to improve. My positive attitude keeps me stable, and centers me even when things are out of control. There is happiness to be found even in the darkest of times. And even sadness or the ache of loss are a part of our human experience, and vital to who we are. We distinguish between pain and joy, and the contrast makes each one so much more real. We need to hurt, in order to appreciate laughing sometime later.
Amanda is struggling. She's not been into work in a while. Her symptoms are severe. She's as depressed as I've ever seen her, and it concerns me. I don't know that there's much I can do to help, but I've offered my unending support and loyalty through her trials. I will be right there with her. I think things are still going to trend downward for a while until she can get in to see her psychiatrist. Treatment plan not working. Help.
My dad is undergoing a SECOND spinal surgery tonight as a new MRI indicated his spinal cord was still being pinched. He lost feeling in his left hand during rehab earlier this week. I am going by to see him tomorrow morning during my lunch break.
I'm hoping for the best, but things are tough right now.
Your light of compassion will help your dad in some way and your positive attitude will draw upon a positive potential future. All the best!


text:
Q: Number format a decimal in Birt reports I have a table which gives me values in Nos. and Decimal (weight-kg)
E.g.10.455 Kg ( that is 10 Kg and 455 gms)
     and nos. as in 10 Nos.
Now all these values come from a column (Decimal (10,3)-mysql) in table and based on the unittype column I have to decide whether to have 3 decimal or zero decimal in the BIRT report.
I know that through scripting the values can be modified.. but I am unable to utilise the scripting.
I am writing this on onFetch
if(row["unittype"]=="Nos")
var df = new Packages.java.text.DecimalFormat("#,###.##");
else
var df = new Packages.java.text.DecimalFormat("#,###");

df.format(row["invoicedquantity"]);
this.setDisplayValue(df);

I am unable to get the values

A: I don't believe this can work from the onFetch script, this kind of script should be put in "onRender" event of a data element. Furthermore, the formatter returns the result so it should be:
this.setDisplayValue(df.format(row["invoicedquantity"]));

But i think it would be easier to create a computed column as datatype "String" in the dataset, with expression:
if(row["unittype"]=="Nos"){
  Formatter.format(row["invoicedquantity"],"#,###.## Kg");
}else{
  Formatter.format(row["invoicedquantity"],"#,### Kg");
}

EDIT:
After a deeper look at this, i found a more appropriate way, by changing "numberformat" property. In onRender or onCreate script of the data element (which should be a number datatype), we can do something like:
if(row["unittype"]=="Nos"){
  this.getStyle().numberFormat="#,###.## Kg";
}else{
  this.getStyle().numberFormat="#,### Kg";
}

This is a better approach because the data element has still a numeric datatype, so that if the report is exported in excel it will be recognized by excel as a number.

A: Easiest way is use Number formatting with Fixed decimals,
Select the field
Go to: Property Editor -> Number formatting
Select Currency and change accordingly.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


At Theatrical Makeup Supplies we have the full selection of Ben Nye professional makeup brushes for your professional makeup applications.
We carry an exceptional selection of Ben Nye sponges and other makeup applicators at Theatrical Makeup Supplies for your professional makeup application needs.
When you are looking for the finest in professional Ben Nye makeup brushes and makeup applicators, look no further than Theatrical Makeup Supplies for all your professional makeup needs.
We are your one-stop source online and in Virginia Beach, Virginia for Ben Nye makeup brushes and applicators for film, stage, photoshoots, runway, Halloween, Goth, and so much more!


text:
/* @flow */

export * from './template';

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Water Supply System for the Mid-river Basin of the Tempisque River and Coastal Communities (PAACUME) consists of new infrastructures in the canal to automate gates, expansion and cladding, 55 kilometers of canal; Río Piedras Reservoir; dam to generate electric power and transmission and distribution network of 300 kilometers of canals.
Investment of $ 425 million would be financed by the CABEI, plus the $ 75 million from the Government of Costa Rica. Works, in operation by 2022.
The high demand for water in Guanacaste is a fact that has motivated authorities to implement infrastructure plans to ensure it for human consumption and irrigation. The benefit should reach families, communities and productive sectors of the cantons of Santa Cruz, Carrillo and Nicoya.
Through the Water Supply System for the Mid-river Basin of the Tempisque River and Coastal Communities (PAACUME), that should be in operation by 2022, the Government sets conditions to quench the thirst of the Guanacaste people, after years of requesting for State intervention to confront this problem.
The PAACUME consists of a new infrastructure Project in the Western Canal of the Arenal Tempisque Irrigation District, designed to automate the gates in Section I, from the Miguel Pablo Dengo Dam in Cañas to the siphon of the Piedras River; to expand and clad 20 kilometers of Section II, from the Piedras River, where the reservoir will be located, to the Cabuyo River, and the construction of 35 kilometers in Section III, from the Cabuyo River to the community of Palmira in the canton of Carrillo.
The Project also includes the construction of the Piedras River Reservoir, with a water surface of 850 hectares; the dam´s infrastructure to generate hydroelectric power and the construction of the transmission and distribution network of new 300 kilometers of canals in the cantons of Carrillo, Santa Cruz and Nicoya.
The project´s progress shows that construction and environmental impact studies are ready.
The status of the Project was part of a rendering of accounts submitted by President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera on July 22, at the Coopeguanacaste facilities in Santa Cruz, in the framework of the commemoration of the 193 anniversary of the Annexation of the Nicoya Party to Costa Rica.
The PAACUME Project requires an investment of $ 425 million that would be financed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), plus the $ 75 million to be provided by the Government of Costa Rica.
"This is an essential project that Costa Rica begins and must continue to build to provide a comprehensive response to a territory that –like others in the country– requires a strong and articulated interaction within the communities, productive sectors, local governments and public institutions to work thoughtfully and with a forward-looking approach. We have developed the PAACUME Project with transparency and taking into account the people of Guanacaste, to whom we have explained its components and scope, to guarantee water for irrigation and human consumption in a sustainable balance, climate change adaptation as well as generating employment, wellbeing and productivity", President Solis Rivera said.
Water of the new canals will envisage four uses: 16.5 cubic meters per second for agricultural irrigation; 2 cubic meters for human consumption; 1.5 cubic meters for irrigation in tourist areas that allows the recovery of aquifers, and 36 Gigawatts of annual hydroelectric generation.
"The Arenal Tempisque Irrigation District (DRAT) generates between $150 and $200 million to Costa Rica annually. The Project´s new works will increase the irrigation areas, will double the number of agricultural producers benefited and will improve water use efficiency", said Patricia Quiros, Manager of the National Service of Groundwater, Irrigation and Drainage Service (SENARA).
The 18,800 hectares that will benefit from irrigation in Carrillo, Santa Cruz and Nicoya can be used to grow rice, sugar, grass, fish farming, citrus, papaya, pineapple, onion, cotton, watermelon, dairy and fattening cattle.
Water for human consumption would be delivered by the SENARA to the AyA (Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers) in Sardinal, Filadelfia, Santa Cruz and Nicoya. Treatment and final distribution would be the responsibility of this institution.
Water for irrigation in tourist areas, would allow the aquifers of the region to recover, given that a substitution of uses for surface water for this purpose is encouraged.
It is expected that works are contracted in 2018, begin in 2019 and are concluded by 2022.
Northern Pacific Integral Program to Supply Water to Guanacaste, or PIAAG, managed by the SENARA.
2017: delivery of construction, environmental impact studies and proposed bills.
850 hectares of flood in the Piedras River Reservoir.
55 kilometers of the western canal, from the Reservoir to Palmira.
300 kilometers of transmission and distribution network.
Beneficiaries: more than 1,000 farmers.
Santa Cruz, Carrillo and Nicoya, with irrigation.


text:
Children's football match turns into 20-strong mass brawl including spectators and players as police are called after '14-year-old boy is punched in the face'
An under-15s footballer was left with a bloodied nose following a mass brawl
Bedfordshire Police are investigating after the fight 'involving 15 to 20 people'
Photo shows the boy's face covered in blood looking shocked after the incident
By Rod Ardehali For Mailonline
Published: 10:40 EST, 9 December 2019 | Updated: 11:13 EST, 10 December 2019
An under-15s footballer was left with a bloodied nose following a mass brawl which allegedly involved spectators and players during a Saturday League match.
Photos taken from the scene shows the 14-year-old St Joseph Youth's player with blood dripping from his nose, having reportedly been assaulted during the melee at Harrier Leys, in Wixams, near Bedford on Saturday.
Up to 20 young players and spectators were involved in the fight, Bedfordshire Police said.
Photos taken from the scene shows the 14-year-old St Joseph Youth's player with blood dripping from his nose, having reportedly been assaulted during the melee at Harrier Leys, in Wixams, near Bedford on Saturday
Martin Powell - who is a UEFA coach - shared a photo of the bleeding boy and said: 'What's the game coming to.'
He added that someone ran 'on to a pitch' and punched 'a 14-year-old lad in the face.'
The photo shows the boy's face covered in blood looking shocked after the incident. The tweet has got more than 3,300 retweets and 10,000 likes.
Festive couple light up one of Britain's darkest villages... Boris Johnson bizarrely grabs phone from ITV reporter who...
TalkSPORT commentator and ITV Sport pundit Sam Matterface was among those to comment.
He said: 'This is an awful story. I hope the incident is reported to the relevant authorities.'
Jon Cook - a coach for the MK Dons Academy - added: 'That is probably one of the worst grassroots incidents I've seen on here.'
The Bedfordshire Football Association responded to Martin on Twitter and said: 'Martin thank you for bringing this to our attention.
'Our Safeguarding Office is in contact with the club Welfare officer and we will assist the police in their enquiry.'
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Southam, of Bedfordshire Police, said: 'We were called at around 12pm on Saturday to reports of a disturbance at a football match off Harrier Leys, Wixams.
'Between 15 and 20 people were reportedly involved in an affray at a youth football match.
'Those involved included players and spectators. Officers attended, by which time the disorder had been broken up.
Martin Powell - who is a UEFA coach - shared a photo of the bleeding boy and said: 'What's the game coming to'. He added that someone ran 'on to a pitch' and punched 'a 14-year-old lad in the face'
'We are in contact with the Bedfordshire FA over this incident, and would welcome any witnesses or anyone with relevant details to come forward.
Fellow teams have come to the support of the team which was established in 1970 and has scouting links with Championship side Fulham.
Mill End Sports FC, a senior team based in Hertfordshire, said: 'OMG firstly, I hope the lad is ok and not too shook up about the situation.
'And secondly, let's hope the perpetrator is dealt with accordingly, wtf is local football coming to.
'These boys should be playing for the love of the game, so so sad, and terrible in the same breath!'
MailOnline has approached St Joseph's YFC and Wixams Wanderers, both based in Bedfordshire, for comment.
Children's football match turns into 20-strong mass brawl


Unlock your iPhone 6 with the Unlock Tmobile iPhone 6 Code Generator!
The Unlock iPhone 6 Code Generator is one of the many software application tool that are advertised all the time on the social networks on the blogs and many other web pages. But what makes the Unlock Tmobile iPhone 6 Code Generator stand out above all others?
The Unlock Tmobile iPhone 6 Code Generator not like the other tools from many aspects.
First of all this is a tool that offer a free SIM unlock service, most of the other tools either have hidden cost or are openly pricey.
Second of all, the Unlock Tmobile iPhone 6 Code Generator provides an official unlock. Other tool would unlock your iPhone 6 but in a way that differs from the official and this can be a great risk that the SIM lock will be activated again in the near or far future.
Many of the other tools can help unlock once specific brand of cell phone device. Or even one specific type of model.
So if you have two or three different iPhone 6 models? You would have to download two or three different SIM unlock software application tools. What's worse you must even pay for those. However, with the Unlock Code Generator you can unlock all the different iPhone 6s in the house without paying a dime.
Hence, you should not waste any of your time and you should absolutely get to work ASAP! Open your trusted browser and type the title of the Unlock Tmobile iPhone 6 Code Generator and follow the downloading link. Read the instructions and start the unlock.
Before your cup of coffee is finished you will have the solution to your problem. In the image of a SIM unlock code in an email message from the Unlock Tmobile iPhone 6 Code Generator. That is how effortless are simple the SIM unlock with the Unlock Tmobile iPhone 6 Code Generator really is!


The most memorable graphic representations of historical events are often those we can take in at a single glance. Charles Minard's famous mapping of Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign in 1812, for instance — widely celebrated as the greatest statistical graphic ever devised — is both elegant, and elemental. Its greatness derives, in large part, from its simplicity.
The recording tape pictured above, meanwhile — while not quite on a par with Minard's creation — is another striking distillation of a consequential moment. In this case, the moment is among the 20th century's weightiest: 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, the instant the First World War ended. More accurately, that was the very moment that the war's final ceasefire went into effect; the belligerents had signed the armistice agreement six hours before, and at 11 a.m. sharp, the guns stopped firing.
To the left, the jagged lines on the recording tape indicate massive artillery activity just seconds before the ceasefire goes into effect; the smooth, straight lines to the right confirm that, very suddenly, all went very quiet.
No single picture can possibly capture the scope and the import of that instant, when four years of mechanized carnage came to an abrupt, long-dreamt-of end. But for a stark, rather simple image, this reproduction of a few seconds' worth of data on a century-old recording tape is remarkably eloquent — and surprisingly moving.
NOTE: For a better, more readable view of the picture's complete — and fascinating — caption, view it in "Full Screen" mode.


The Chevron Bracelet is made with a thick chevron pattern chain, it's perfect for layering with our initial chain bracelets or bangle bracelets (sold separately).
6" of chevron chain, plus 1.5" of adjustable chain at the end. Can be connected at 6"-7.5"


text:
Biography of John Cena
Photo by Snerkie
Overview and Background
John Felix Anthony Cena was born on April 23, 1977. He is an American actor, hip hop musician, and professional wrestler who is presently employed by World Wrestling Entertainment WWE on its Raw brand.
Cena was born in West Newbury, Massachusetts and is the second eldest of five brothers Dan, Matt, Steve and Sean. He graduated from Cushing Academy and then attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. While in college he was a Division III All-American centre on the college football team. He wore the number 54, which may still be seen on some of his WWE merchandise. He went on to graduate from Springfield in 1998 with a bachelors in exercise physiology. Once he left college he pursued a career in bodybuilding and also had a job on the side as a chauffeur for a limousine company.
Photo by interbeat
He has had a successful career in professional wrestling. He is a six-time world champion who has won the WWE Championship one time while on SmackDown and three times while on Raw and the World Heavyweight Championship twice while on Raw. He has also won the WWE United States Championship three times and the World Tag Team Championship two times, one time with Shawn Michaels and another time with Batista. He also won the 2008 Royal Rumble match.
Cena began his professional wrestling career in 2000, when he wrestled for Ultimate Pro Wrestling UPW, where he held the UPW Heavyweight Championship. By 2001, he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation WWF and was subsequently sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling OVW where he was awarded the OVW Heavyweight Championship and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship with Rico Constantino.
Besides his career in wrestling, he has also released the rap album entitled You Can't See Me, which debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and has starred in the feature films The Marine (2006) and 12 Rounds (2009). He has also made guest appearances on a few television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, and Punk'd. He has also been a contestant on Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, where he succeeded to the final round before being eliminated. He placed third in the overall competition.
Photo by JeepersMedia
Appearances in Advertisements
Before he began his professional wrestling career he appeared in an advertisement for Gold's Gym. Since being a professional wrestler he has endorsed the energy drink YJ Stinger and appeared in these commercials at the start of October 2003. He has also appeared in advertisements for Subway along with their spokesperson Jared Fogle in November 2006, it aired the following January. For a period during 2007 he also endorsed two "signature collections" of energy drinks and energy bars sold by American Body Builders. In 2008, he also filmed a commercial for Gillette's "Young Guns" NASCAR campaign. As of 2009, he broadened his relationship with Gillette by establishing a new online campaign called "Be A Superstar" which features himself alongside WWE Superstars Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes. This campaign incorporates videos to help guys look, feel and be their best.
During the period in which he was promoting his 2009 film, 12 Rounds, he announced his engagement to his girlfriend Elizabeth Huberdeau. They have since married as of July 11, 2009.
Posted in Movie, Music, Sport •


All requests to a search service need a read-only api-key that was generated specifically for your service. The api-key is the sole mechanism for authenticating access to your search service endpoint and must be included on every request. In REST solutions, the api-key is typically specified in a request header. In .NET solutions, a key is often specified as a configuration setting and then passed as Credentials (admin key) or SearchCredentials (query key) on SearchServiceClient.
Keys are created with your search service during service provisioning. You can view and obtain key values in the Azure portal.
An api-key is a string composed of randomly generated numbers and letters. Through role-based permissions, you can delete or read the keys, but you can't replace a key with a user-defined password or use Active Directory as the primary authentication methodology for accessing search operations.
Two types of keys are used to access your search service: admin (read-write) and query (read-only).
Admin Grants full rights to all operations, including the ability to manage the service, create and delete indexes, indexers, and data sources.
Two admin keys, referred to as primary and secondary keys in the portal, are generated when the service is created and can be individually regenerated on demand. Having two keys allows you to roll over one key while using the second key for continued access to the service.
Query Grants read-only access to indexes and documents, and are typically distributed to client applications that issue search requests.
Visually, there is no distinction between an admin key or query key. Both keys are strings composed of 32 randomly generated alpha-numeric characters. If you lose track of what type of key is specified in your application, you can check the key values in the portal or use the REST API to return the value and key type.
It is considered a poor security practice to pass sensitive data such as an api-key in the request URI. For this reason, Azure Search only accepts a query key as an api-key in the query string, and you should avoid doing so unless the contents of your index should be publicly available. As a general rule, we recommend passing your api-key as a request header.
You can obtain access keys in the portal or through the Management REST API. For more information, see Manage admin and query api-keys.
List the search services for your subscription.
Select the service and on the Overview page, click Settings >Keys to view admin and query keys.
Query keys are used for read-only access to documents within an index for operations targeting a documents collection. Search, filter, and suggestion queries are all operations that take a query key. Any read-only operation that returns system data or object definitions, such as an index definition or indexer status, requires an admin key.
Restricting access and operations in client apps is essential to safeguarding the search assets on your service. Always use a query key rather than an admin key for any query originating from a client app.
Select the service and on the Overview page, click Settings >Keys.
Use the query key already generated for your service, or create up to 50 new query keys. The default query key is not named, but additional query keys can be named for manageability.
A code example showing query key usage can be found in Query an Azure Search index in C#.
Two admin keys are created for each service so that you can rotate a primary key, using the secondary key for business continuity.
In the Settings >Keys page, copy the secondary key.
For all applications, update the api-key settings to use the secondary key.
Update all applications to use the new primary key.
If you inadvertently regenerate both keys at the same time, all client requests using those keys will fail with HTTP 403 Forbidden. However, content is not deleted and you are not locked out permanently.
You can still access the service through the portal or the management layer (REST API, PowerShell, or Azure Resource Manager). Management functions are operative through a subscription ID not a service api-key, and thus still available even if your api-keys are not.
After you create new keys via portal or management layer, access is restored to your content (indexes, indexers, data sources, synonym maps) once you have the new keys and provide those keys on requests.
Key security is ensured by restricting access via the portal or Resource Manager interfaces (PowerShell or command-line interface). As noted, subscription administrators can view and regenerate all api-keys. As a precaution, review role assignments to understand who has access to the admin keys.
In the service dashboard, click Access control (IAM) and then the Role assignments tab to view role assignments for your service.
For identity-based access over search results, you can create security filters to trim results by identity, removing documents for which the requestor should not have access. For more information, see Security filters and Secure with Active Directory.


Another unfortunate Tampa car accident occurred Friday night as rescue workers attempted to help a Hillsborough Bay driver whose car crashed right through the balustrade on Bayshore Boulevard. The driver, who was not breathing when he was taken out of his car, was taken by the rescue workers to Tampa for personal injury treatment at the Tampa General Hospital.
On their way to the hospital, rescue workers were able to restore the man's pulse, though he was still not able to breathe on his own. A few witnesses were on hand to describe the scene as the man's car drive right through the balustrade and directly into the bay.
Fortunately, no pedestrians were caught in the car's path during the accident. Bayshore Boulevard was still crowded with people walking and exercising at the time of the crash. Some witnesses were within a few feet of the car when it lost control and drove into the water, escaping by only a narrow margin.
The car left a trail of damage before plunging into the water. Several of the balusters were taken down into the bay along with the car as well as a large chunk of the concrete railing along the heavily populated sidewalk. A 10-foot hole was left by the car.
After seeing the disastrous plunge of the car, at least three people immediately dove into the water in order to try to rescue the driver. Unfortunately, as the car was fully submerged underwater, it was a difficult task, and ultimately none of these initial rescue attempts were successful.
A dive team from the Tampa Police Department was able to arrive five minutes after the crash. They were able to pull the unconscious man from his car within a matter of minutes. In an attempt to save the man's life, the team rigorously worked to pump the man's chest and expel all of the seawater from his body.
After the man was taken to the hospital, police divers aided a towing company in retrieving the car from the bay. Though the condition of the driver remains uncertain, it is fortunate that there was no one else in the car at the time and that no pedestrians were killed or injured as well.


text:
Explosion in a residential neighborhood in Stockholm with no injuries
File AFP
An explosion occurred in a residential neighborhood in Stockholm on Monday, causing damage to a building, according to the police, noting that the incident that did not lead to injuries comes in the wake of a series of bombings in the country.
Pictures published by Swedish media showed damage to the building's facade, shattering the entrance, breaking glass and debris falling to the ground.
Also, the unknown cause of the explosion damaged a number of cars in the district of Ostermalm.
A police spokeswoman told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that "it is not possible at this time to determine whether the explosion occurred inside or outside the building."
The police were informed of the explosion shortly after 01:00 a.m. (0000 GMT), and residents were evacuated from the building shortly after the security forces arrived.
An investigation was opened into "destroying the lives of the public in danger."
Two hours later, at about 3:00 p.m., another explosion occurred in front of a nightclub in Uppsala, about 70 km north of Stockholm. There were no casualties, and it was not clear that there was any link between the two explosions.
Violence in Sweden, ranked as one of the richest countries in the world, remains few compared to other western countries.
However, in recent years, the country has seen an increase in gang violence, often linked to drug trafficking.
In addition to the shootings that expect dozens of deaths and injuries annually, gangs have started using explosives to intimidate their opponents, grenades, and hand-made bombs.
Between January and November 2019, there were 236 explosions, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, noting that very few of these explosions resulted in serious injuries.


Who would have thought that Porsche would become Germany's first automaker with 2 production plug-in vehicles in its stable?
With the plug-in Panamera S E-Hybrid already on sale in Germany, the addition of the 918 Spyder will bring Porsche's plug-in vehicle count to 2.
Can any other German automaker make that same claim?
The 918 Spyder will make its worldwide debut at the upcoming 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in about a week's time. It'll go on sale immediately following its debut.
The Porsche 918 Spyder is quite possibly the world's most advanced plug-in hybrid.
887 horses are on tap. 0 to 62 mph comes in 2.8 seconds or less. The gas engine revs to an astronomical 9,150 rpm and the whole package weighs in at 3,715 pounds or less.
It's the plug-in hybrid we lust for, but unfortunately it costs near $1 million, only seats 2 and lacks real luggage space. Oh well...we're sure it's a blast to drive though.


text:
Friends & Fam
Nikita	 March 31, 2017
MFWF Feature: The House of Food & Wine, Your Culinary Home
The top feature of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival this year is undoubtedly The House of Food & Wine. The doors of this home, which is tucked down a laneway in true Melbourne style, have been thrown open just for you and your closest 14,000 friends. You're to treat it as your home away from home, and your hosts wish to ply you with the best food, booze & art that Melbourne has to offer.
Morgan McGlone is the brains behind institutions such as Flinders Inn & Belle's Hot Chicken, and he's in charge of putting together the ultimate menu of small plates inspired by chefs from past Festivals, which are to be served on 8 styles of hand-made porcelain plates designed especially for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival by Ryan Foote of the R.L. Foote Design Studio
Fred Siggins, a renowned cocktail expert, is responsible for the alchemy behind the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival signature cocktail this year, Mark Protheroe, the winner of more Sommelier awards than I can comprehend, has curated the Victorian all-star wine list and finally Patrick Sullivan, Gippsland's low interventionist winemaker, has supplied two wines on tap which were created just for the House Bar.
Beci Orpin is in charge of the creative direction of the interior, Alice Oehr created a range of graphic patterns and illustrations which are around the venue, and Anna Vu of Good Food Crap Drawing has created a body of work profiling iconic dishes from the last 24 years, and will also supply a new original work each day based on a Melbourne Food & Wine Festival she attends the day before.
The House of Food & Wine
361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne
Open daily from 12 noon
How To Learn To Surf In Melbourne & Torquay
Best Tools To Find Cheap Flights & Plan Travel Dates (2020)
Ultimate 3 Day Melbourne Itinerary (+Lots Of Free Activities)
Previous Post MFWF Feature: Fed In French, Melbourne's First French Food Market
Next Post Melbourne Food & Wine Festival Guide For 2017
All content copyright © 2019 von kita


Amy Sarah Roberts Jones, 1876-1944, was a housewife and 1900 Mount Holyoke College graduate. Her papers consist of correspondence, primarily documenting her academic and social experiences at Mount Holyoke and comments on the Spanish-American War and a fire that destroyed the Seminary Building.
Archives and Special Collections documents Mount Holyoke College's past and present through letters, diaries, rare books, scrapbooks, photographs, ephemera, and other types of unique material. Opened in November 1837, Mount Holyoke was one of the first institutions of higher education in the United States to offer female students coursework equivalent to that available to male college students, and the school is the first of the historic Seven Sisters Colleges. Archives and Special Collections is a rich and lively resource for women's history and the history of women in higher education.
Archives and Special Collections' digital collection includes select items that have been digitized from physical collections housed at Mount Holyoke. To learn more about an entire physical collection, please see the collection finding aid or contact the Archives and Special Collections staff at archives@mtholyoke.edu.