text:
REVIEW – FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
Posted by Adam O'Connell | Apr 10, 2020 | Reviews | 0 |
THE PROMISE FINALLY FULFILLED.
History lesson, everyone! The year was 2005, the world was eagerly anticipating the next evolution of what was to become the 6th console generation and all the Sony faithful wanted to know was what the successor to mighty PlayStation 2 (aptly named the PlayStation 3) was capable of. Once that year's E3 convention came around, Sony revealed their ace up their sleeve to combat Microsoft's already ravenously anticipated Xbox 360, and that was a very special tech demo, one that would set the gaming world ablaze and keep them talking for almost 15 years, a strikingly glorious, high definition, 60fps recreation of Final Fantasy VII's iconic opening scene. Fans all around rejoiced at what seemed like a promise that we'd be getting a full remake of the archetypal role-playing title, and that promise would have to wait until 2015 when after years of fan requests Final Fantasy VII remake was finally announced.
Fast forward to 2020 and it's finally here, after all the waiting, rumours and speculation the full-blown, super awesome, bombastic, fan-bloody-tastic, limousine riding, jet flying, record-setting, leaves fans sweating remake of Final Final VII!…..but how is it? Well after hours of exploring and battling my way through this newly rebuilt Midgar I can assure you all that Final Fantasy VII remake provides the experience that the black pile of sludge in my chest has been longing for. With its fleshed out and reimagined plot, satisfying combat system, open-world aesthetic and stunning visuals, Square Enix took the best aspects of the franchise over the past years and has gone full gung-ho to create one hell of a game.
Many are aware of the premise of Final Fantasy VII, but if this is your first venture into the world of Final Fantasy (the franchise as a whole not the game 'World of Final Fantasy' that something completely different and that's ok!) let's get you up to speed. Final Fantasy VII Remake takes you to the dystopian metropolis of Midgar, a double-tiered social hierarchy where the wealthy, well to do citizens and employees of electricity tycoon Shinra live on the top plate and the less fortunate live below in the slums. You then meet Cloud Strife, a former member of the elite fighting force SOLDIER and now a merc for hire working with eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE, a group looking to stop Shinra's exploitation of Mako, a substance taking from the Lifestream which acts as kind of the heartbeat of their planet. AVALANCHE plans to do this by destroying all Mako rectors within Midgar and bring an end to Shinra's tyranny. The Final Fantasy VII Remake takes the opportunity to create a sort of reimagining of this cult classic, making slight changes from the original and even creating new sections of its story creating a new experience from something that is so familiar to many, over the years I myself and surely many others know this tale back to front and these little curveballs and detours keep things fresh and exciting what's even more delightful is the added exposition to characters like Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie who we hardly got to all the way back in 1997. Now to the elephant in the room, as I'm certain you're are all aware by now, you do not get the full story of FFVII beginning to end in this game, which let's face it, isn't what we were expecting but think of it more like part one of an oncoming saga and how Square Enix has made a 30 hour plus, 90GB, Action RPG out of one section of the original which is a ballsy move and shows the ambition the developers have for this project as a whole but for now, you'll just have to wait to see some of your favourite parts in all their splendor.
When it comes to gameplay, Final Fantasy VII Remake contains some of the most satisfying, hard-hitting and tactical mechanics in recent memory for the famed franchise (with only minimal moments of Bethesda style wackiness). Though the days of turn-based combat may seem like a thing of the past, the FFVII Remake's layout and execution keep it from being just another button-mashing hack and slash. Physical attacks fill your ATB gauge which allows you to use magic and character-specific abilities so you can wreak absolute havoc against those that displease you. Causing enough damage and exposing enemies to their weaknesses will eventually leave them staggered (a welcome return to one of FFXIII's better mechanics) causing them to become prone and defenseless. Each character also works differently with their own styles of attacks and abilities giving you numerous ways to take on a battle with Cloud being your heavy hitter, Tifa-your agile hand to hand specialist, Barrett-your long-ranged gunner, and Aerith-an all around close and long-ranged magic user, this makes each skirmish exciting making you think what will work in which situation. Materia is also back, providing you with magic spells and buffs giving you more incentive to plan ahead before each fight. All this together creates one of the most intense combat systems I've seen in a video game, keeping your fingers busy with an easy to master yet intricate button layout and giving your brain a damn good workout in the process. You can also take on various side quests throughout the game ranging from the simple and light-hearted to coming face to face with some vicious foes to gathering battle and enemy intel to create different kinds of materia, all of which are balanced out nicely allowing you to give the main story the attention it deserves while taking on jobs at your leisure. FF7 Remake also has a truly unexpected difficulty curb. Underestimate your opponent and you'll find yourself in the red before you know it and Boss fights will waste you in an instant if you charge in unprepared.
Unreal Engine 4 rarely disappoints when it comes to creating lush, vibrant character models and environments and FF7 Remake certainly is no different. Midgar seemed like a world of its own back in 1997, and here we are 23 years later and it has been rebuilt from the ground up to near perfection. From the dismal, cobbled streets above the plate to the filthy slums below to the foreboding and baleful halls of a Mako Reactor, all these familiar locations have been reborn anew, beautifully crafted and rendered in ways that are picturesque in some locations. Characters models are also great for the most park with a surprising amount of detail going into them, particularly in cutscenes with life being brought to not only the core characters who we've seen already done in Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts but to every part big and small as well as the iconic moments from way back when brought to a new light. This along with a skilled voice cast creates investment in our heroes, from Cloud's PTSD fuelled stoicism, Tifa's warmth and firey resolve, Aerith's beautiful innocence, and Barrett's scowling judgment and erratic behaviour (he's also the fourth wall guy, who'd have seen that coming?). Lastly, how could we forget about the soundtrack? Nobuo Uematsu's masterful compositions in the original and along with Masashi Hamauza and Mitsuto Suzuki have recreated what, for the most part, a newly arranged and orchestrated reimagining of the original. With each piece coming in, its a joy to recognize it and compare it to its counterpart from two decades ago, though some styles may seem out of place when compared to its environment.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is available now on PS4.
The game code was provided by Square Enix.
THE CRAZY ADVENTURES OF CLEPHIROTH: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION!
Summary Despite minor bumps in the road, the long awaited remake of Final Fantasy VII brings a whole new life and energy to an already legendary game. The size and gravity of what was revealed to only be part one is overwhelming to an epic degree. The fierce and hard hitting combat, profound story and striking visuals create a game that could easily stand on its own.
PreviousFFTCG Opus XI: soldiers return
NextMy Thoughts On The FFVII Remake
Review – Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Review – Octahedron (PS4)
Review – Hood: Outlaws & Legends (PC)
Review – SICANOS RGB Gaming Mouse


text:
Metallica Rock 'Now That We're Dead' on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'
Michael Christopher Published: May 16, 2017
Metallica took to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS last night (May 15) and performed the song "Now That We're Dead" from their latest release, Hardwired...To Self-Destruct. The appearance took place the day after the band played New Jersey's MetLife Stadium.
"My next guests have sold over 110 million albums," Colbert said as he introduced the group. "Here performing "Now That We're Dead," ladies and gentlemen, Metallica." Frontman James Hetfield, clad in a classic black Motorhead shirt, then introduced the track in the same manner he has been each night of the "Worldwired" tour by saying: "If you want to live forever... then first you must die!"
Set against a moody, blood red lighting scheme, the band ripped through the thundering track while images of the Hardwired cover art continuously morphed the individual members faces together on a series of screens behind them. Despite the small confines of the television stage -- quite the scaled down surroundings from the stadiums Metallica are currently filling -- the group managed to maximize the space, with Hetfield wandering behind drummer Lars Ulrich as guitarist Kirk Hammett delivered the song's solo.
The Colbert gig is the most recent late night television appearance for Metallica to promote Hardwired...To Self-Destruct, which has topped the charts in countries around the world. They've also showed up on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live! The next stop on the "Worldwired" trek is tomorrow night (May 17) in Uniondale, N.Y. at the New Coliseum. The remaining North American tour dates can be found here.
Metal Grammys Year by Year: Who Really Should Have Won
10 Rebellious TV Rock + Metal Performances
Where Does James Hetfield Rank Among the Top 66 Hard Rock + Metal Frontmen of All Time?
Filed Under: Metallica

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Seals on Screw Conveyor Covers Download PDF Question. To keep dust from escaping between the screw conveyor cover and trough, what type of seals as well as types of fasteners can be used or recommended to keep maintenance and product leakage to a minimum?
Reach a Titan Conveyor staff member quickly. Type your name, email address and short question using our on-line form.
Wire Mesh Conveyor Belt Close Mesh Conveyor Belts. Manufacturer and Exporter of Wire Mesh Conveyor Belt, Ask for Price. We are offering our customers a broad range of Wire Mesh Conveyor Belts.
Find the answers to your belt conveyor questions in Flexco's Knowledgebase.
MSHA may approve a conveyor belt that incorporates technology for which the requirements of this part are not applicable if the Agency determines that the conveyor belt is as safe as those which meet the requirements of this part.
home_en - TR Beltrack Co., Ltd.


text:
Recently in Recordings
Herbert Howells: Choir of King's College, Cambridge
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge has played a role in the evolution of British music. This recording honours this heritage and Stephen Cleobury's contribution in particular by focusing on Herbert Howells, who transformed the British liturgical repertoire in the 20th century.
Mieczysław Weinberg: Symphony no. 21 ("Kaddish")
Mieczysław Weinberg witnessed the Holocaust firsthand. He survived, though millions didn't, including his family. His Symphony no. 21 "Kaddish" (Op. 152) is a deeply personal statement. Yet its musical qualities are such that they make it a milestone in modern repertoire.
Kenshiro Sakairi and the Tokyo Juventus Philharmonic in Mahler's Eighth
Although some works by a number of composers have had to wait uncommonly lengthy periods of time to receive Japanese premieres - one thinks of both Mozart's Jupiter and Beethoven's Fifth (1918), Handel's Messiah (1929), Wagner's Parsifal (1967), Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette (1966) and even Bruckner's Eighth (1959, given its premiere by Herbert von Karajan) - Mahler might be considered to have fared somewhat better.
Lise Davidsen sings Wagner and Strauss
Superlatives to describe Lise Davidsen's voice have been piling up since she won Placido Domingo's 2015 Operalia competition, blowing everyone away. She has been called "a voice in a million" and "the new Kirsten Flagstad."
Nicky Spence and Julius Drake record The Diary of One Who Disappeared
From Hyperion comes a particularly fine account of Leoš Janáček's song cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared. Handsome-voiced Nicky Spence is the young peasant who loses his head over an alluring gypsy and is never seen again.
Jean Sibelius: Kullervo
Why did Jean Sibelius suppress Kullervo (Op. 7, 1892)? There are many theories why he didn't allow it to be heard after its initial performances, though he referred to it fondly in private. This new recording, from Hyperion with Thomas Dausgaard conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, soloists Helena Juntunen and Benjamin Appl and the Lund Male Chorus, is a good new addition to the ever-growing awareness of Kullervo, on recording and in live performance.
Mahler: Titan, Eine Tondichtung in Symphonieform – François-Xavier Roth, Les Siècles
Not the familiar version of Mahler's Symphony no 1, but the "real" Mahler Titan at last, as it might have sounded in Mahler's time! François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles present the symphony in its second version, based on the Hamburg/Weimar performances of 1893-94. This score is edited by Reinhold Kubik and Stephen E.Hefling for Universal Edition AG. Wien.
Verdi: Messa da Requiem - Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann (Profil)
It has often been the case that the destruction wrought by wars, especially the Second World War, has been treated unevenly by composers. Theodor Adorno's often quoted remark, from his essay Prisms, that "to write poetry after Auschwitz would be barbaric" - if widely misinterpreted - is limited by its scope and in a somewhat profound way composers have looked on the events of World War II in the same way.
Matthias Goerne: Schumann – Liederkreis, op 24 & Kernerlieder
New from Harmonia Mundi, Matthias Goerne and Lief Ove Andsnes: Robert Schumann – Liederkreis, op 24 and Kernerlieder. Goerne and Andsnes have a partnership based on many years of working together, which makes this new release, originally recorded in late 2018, well worth hearing.
Leonard Bernstein: Tristan und Isolde in Munich on Blu-ray
Although Birgit Nilsson, one of the great Isolde's, wrote with evident fondness – and some wit – of Leonard Bernstein in her autobiography – "unfortunately, he burned the candles at both ends" – their paths rarely crossed musically. There's a live Fidelio from March 1970, done in Italy, but almost nothing else is preserved on disc.
Stéphanie D'Oustrac: Sirènes
After D'Oustrac's striking success as Cassandre in Berlioz Les Troyens, this will reach audiences less familiar with her core repertoire in the baroque and grand opéra. Berlioz's Les nuits d'été and La mort d'Ophélie, Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder and the Lieder of Franz Liszt are very well known, but the finesse of D'Oustrac's timbre lends a lucid gloss which makes them feel fresh and pure.
Luminous Mahler Symphony no.3: François-Xavier Roth, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.3 with François-Xavier Roth and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, now at last on CD, released by Harmonia Mundi, after the highly acclaimed live performance streamed a few months ago.
A First-Ever Recording: Benjamin Godard's 1890 Opera on Dante and Beatrice
The composer Benjamin Godard (1849–95) is today largely unknown to most music lovers. Specialist collectors, though, have been enjoying his songs (described as "imaginative and delightful" by Robert Moore in American Record Guide), his Concerto Romantique for violin (either in its entirety or just the dancelike Canzonetta, which David Oistrakh recorded winningly decades ago), and some substantial chamber and orchestral works that have received first recordings in recent years.
Between Mendelssohn and Wagner: Max Bruch's Die Loreley
Max Bruch Die Loreley recorded live in the Prinzregenstheater, Munich, in 2014, broadcast by BR Klassik and now released in a 3-CD set by CPO. Stefan Blunier conducts the Münchner Rundfunkorchester with Michaela Kaune, Magdalena Hinterdobler, Thomas Mohr and Jan-Hendrick Rootering heading the cast, with the Prager Philharmonischer Chor..
Gottfried von Einem's The Visit of the Old Lady Now on CD
Gottfried von Einem was one of the most prominent Austrian composers in the 1950s–70s, actively producing operas, ballets, orchestral, chamber, choral works, and song cycles.
Britten: Hymn to St Cecilia – RIAS Kammerchor
Benjamin Britten Choral Songs from RIAS Kammerchor, from Harmonia mundi, in their first recording with new Chief Conductor Justin Doyle, featuring the Hymn to St. Cecilia, A Hymn to the Virgin, the Choral Dances from Gloriana, the Five Flower Songs op 47 and Ad majorem Dei gloriam op 17.
Si vous vouliez un jour – William Christie: Airs Sérieux et à boire vol 2
"Si vous vouliez un jour..." Volume 2 of the series Airs Sérieux et à boire, with Sir William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, from Harmonia Mundi, following on from the highly acclaimed "Bien que l'amour" Volume 1. Recorded live at the Philharmonie de Paris in April 2016, this new release is as vivacious and enchanting as the first.
Bohuslav Martinů – What Men Live By
World premiere recording from Supraphon of Bohuslav Martinů What Men Live By (H336,1952-3) with Jiří Bělohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from a live performances in 2014, with Martinů's Symphony no 1 (H289, 1942) recorded in 2016. Bělohlávek did much to increase Martinů's profile, so this recording adds to the legacy, and reveals an extremely fine work.
Berlioz: Harold en Italie, Les Nuits d'été
Hector Berlioz Harold en Italie with François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles with Tabea Zimmermann, plus Stéphane Degout in Les Nuits d'été from Hamonia Mundi. This Harold en Italie, op. 16, H 68 (1834) captures the essence of Romantic yearning, expressed in Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage where the hero rejects convention to seek his destiny in uncharted territory.
Le Bal des Animaux : Works by Chabrier, Poulenc, Ravel, Satie et al.
Belgian soprano Sophie Karthaüser's latest song recital is all about the animal kingdom. As in previous recordings of songs by Wolf, Debussy and Poulenc, pianist Eugene Asti is her accompanist in Le Bal des Animaux, a delightful collection of French songs about creatures of all sizes, from flea to elephant and from crayfish to dolphin.
SCHREKER: Christophorus oder "Die Vision einer Oper"
How easy it might be to overlook this lesser-known Schreker opera, composed in 1928 and dedicated to Schreker's good friend Arnold Schoenberg, here in its recorded debut. It has a quite curious libretto, complex and multilayered, and Schreker moves between what are at times quite disparate styles.
Franz Schreker: Christophorus oder "Die Vision einer Oper"
Ahrens, Bernhard, Sabrowski, Chafin, Klein, Gebhardt, Schöpflin, Pauly, Arnold, Kieler Opernchor, Kieler Philharmoniker, Ulrich Windfuhr (cond.)
cpo 999-903-2 [2CDs]
How easy it might be to overlook this lesser-known Schreker opera, composed in 1928 and dedicated to Schreker's good friend Arnold Schoenberg, here in its recorded debut. It has a quite curious libretto, complex and multilayered, and Schreker moves between what are at times quite disparate styles. The whole thing comes off at first blush like a kind of soup made of the leftovers of earlier post-romantic and expressionist idoms, and were it not for our warming sympathies on repeated listening, we might have happily consigned it to the dustbin of history.
Repeated listenings have not been sufficient to entirely sort out the improbable libretto. The story, set in large part in a sort of composer's atelier, concerns three principal characters, Anselm, Lisa, and Christoph. Anselm is at work upon an opera about the legend of St. Christopher, in which Anselm himself, Lisa, and Christoph, a fellow composition apprentice, are all to play roles. Christopher, Christoph, fiction, real life–the thing's a narrative muddle, from the dramatic Prelude on. The story comes off like a befuddled Pirandello: half a dozen characters, having found a librettist, now desperately in search of a composer.
Despite the curious nature of the narrative–no let's get this straight, indeed uninhibited by the narrative–Schreker is in close to full form here. The score is well turned, moments of Berg's Wozzeck blended with the later Strauss–Ariadne or Arabella . The characters are probable, believable in a kind of irritating way, since they demand a better story line. Anselm's character, in its developing anger and cynicism, is a model of modernism, and his impassioned interactions with Lisa in Act I are very good operatic duets.
The opera is in two short acts, the first act and its dramatic prelude running just shy of an hour, the second running on 40 minutes. The latter is the tighter of the two: it contains several scenes of good drama and the run away characterizations of the first act settle down here into real persona. Throughout the opera, there is an unusual amount of dialogue, much of it accompanied–a sort of modernist melodrama, where spoken lines are cushioned by a lush, often quietly dissonant orchestral pad. In the whole of Act II, in fact, there is really only one "number," per se, Scene 3 (track 4), Rosita's lied. This is Schreker's portrait of jazz (worthy of comparison with jazz portraits by Weill and Stravinsky), with lisping saxophones and a limpid barrelhouse piano. The lied, in fact, is structured like a duet, and set to a divided stage, on one side Rosita, on the other Christoph in a kind of evaporated opium dream that gradually takes over the stage. Elsewhere operatic "numbers" make an initial appearance, seem to hesitate, and then morph into something else. Now this is nothing new; in German opera, it has been going on at least since Weber's Euryanthe . But Schreker turns it to his own modernist advantage. Scenes 5 and 6 constitute a lengthy operatic conjuring with a half a dozen characters (and what sounds like a theramin [but may be only a musical saw] and a creepy mandolin obligato) that, in its intensity, harkens back to Weber's Freischutz Wolfglen scene. And there is a tiny Kinderlied (scene 8), reminiscent of Wozzeck , as well as a lengthier song for child's voice in the Epilogue, responding in similar fashion to a hazy lied-like passage for Christoph (tracks 14 and 15).
The orchestral writing throughout the work is nothing short of excellent. Orchestral interludes, motivated or not, crop up repeatedly, and beg symphonic treatment. One of the longest of these extends from the end of scene 8 into scene 9 and then moves smoothly into a curious orchestral recitative of a selection from Lao Tzu, before moving into the conclusion of the opera.
On the whole the performance is smooth and competent, if the voices are mostly unexceptional. Hans Georg Ahrens does a most sympathetic Anselm, Susan Bernhard an occasionally uneven Lisa, and Joerg Sabrowski a rather cardboard Christoph. Two voices stand out as very good: Roland Holz, in a speaking role as the critic Starkmann, spoken with a lovely Berliner nasal, gritty and nicely irritating; and Hans Georg Ahrens, bass, as the composition master Johann, with a deep, noble resonance. The live recording is sensitive, with a minimum of boots clumping around on stage and a good set of microphones in the pit.
The booklet is of good use here, explaining the opera's misfortunes in terms of the years after the First World War, Schreker's career, the stylistic turns of fortune in which the opera got caught up, and a nice excurse on the stylistic politics of the day. For good measure, the booklet reproduces an "Introduction" penned by the composer, which would seem to explain the need for this twisted narrative (sometimes in unabashedly personal terms), but instead merely adds to the confusion. Schreker's introduction reads like an apology, but in truth the only thing to be regretted here is the storyline.
It would be a shame to make this work simply an historical artifact, a product, warted, of its day and its composer's traumas. There is enough good writing here, however, to make the opera worthy of our admiration without recourse to history. What we need now (now that most of Schreker's opera are available in modern scores and good recordings) is a critical overview. It would be good to compare Christophorus with the "hits," the better known Schreker operas such as Der ferne Klang , Die Gezeichneten , and Der Schatzgräber , not merely in historical terms (a subject interesting in their own right) but as possible entries into the canon of twentieth-century opera.
This recording stems from a three-part Schrecker cycle at the Kiel Opera from 2001 to 2003, under the artistic director, Kirsten Harms, the other two operas being the premier in full score of Die Flammen , Schreker's first opera, and Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin from 1913, perhaps the moment at which Schreker's career was in fullest flower. The latter two operas are also available on the CPO label.
Murray Dineen


War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn't forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people―and certainly more than she did for him.


text:
David and Goliath Checkmate
By GetChess / Checkmate Patterns, Learn
David and Goliath Mate is a chess checkmate pattern that is characterized by the trapping of the enemy king with a lowly pawn, while being supported by a powerful piece such as a queen, rook or a bishop. The pattern involves a combination of a pawn attacking the enemy king, while the powerful piece pins the king in place, creating a mating threat.
The history of the David and Goliath Mate is not well-documented and it's not considered a standard tactic in chess, however it's a checkmate pattern that can happen in a game, and it's worth knowing as it can be useful in certain situations. The pattern is a metaphor for the powerful piece being David, who defeats the seemingly stronger opponent Goliath, the enemy king, with a clever strategy and the use of a small pawn.
The key to successfully executing the David and Goliath Mate is the coordination of the pawn and the powerful piece to attack the enemy king. The pawn is responsible for attacking the enemy king, while the powerful piece pins the king in place. The pawn and the powerful piece work together to create a powerful attacking force that can quickly overwhelm the enemy's defenses.
In order to set up the David and Goliath Mate, the pawn should be placed in front of the enemy king, attacking it, while the powerful piece should be placed in such a way that it pins the king, creating a mating threat. The king's position should be such that it has no other move than to move to a corner where it can be checkmated by the pawn and the powerful piece.
David and Goliath Mate is a checkmate pattern that can happen in a game, but it's not considered a standard tactic in chess. It's particularly effective against an enemy king that is trapped between a pawn and a powerful piece, as the king has limited escape routes and is vulnerable to attack. It's a unique way of checkmating the king and it's worth knowing for the sake of completeness.
AEVVV Chess Russian Folk Art Gzhel Matryoshka Nesting Doll Chess Set
DGT Centaur Travel Bag
How to Play Chess: Lessons from an International Master with Jeremy Silman
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer


On the weekend of September 11, 2015, 50 dogs from KC Pet Project will be sent on Furlough to 50 pre-screened homes to enjoy a weekend on the outside. They will go on walks, play ball, snuggle on the couch- whatever their little hearts desire! For that weekend, the dogs get to experience what it means to be part of a family, and families get a free test drive with a dog that may end up in their forever home.
Each dog will be sponsored for either a one-day or two-day Furlough. This covers all costs for the family, including a waived adoption fee, should they keep their dog. It also raises money for KC Pet Project, the largest No-Kill, open admission shelter in the Midwest.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: Make a donation to help us raise $1,500 and host a dog in need!


text:
Bluebird CN7 Proteus take 4…
Posted: October 1, 2021 in Icons & Iconoclasts
Tags: Australian Motor Racing History, Bluebird Proteus CN7, Donald Campbell, Lake Eyre, Land Speed Record
(C Moran Collection)
Yes, ok, I probably am a tad obsessed with Bluebird and Donald Campbell, and his very large support team's world land speed, 403.10mph record run at Lake Eyre, South Australia on July 17, 1964.
The problem is that every now and again one of my countrymen pop up another batch of photos on social media, in this case Colin 'Sporty' Moran's collection. What makes the photographs a bit different are the wheels-off suspension stuff – which are pretty rare.
Donald Campbell in the centre, any takers for the other pair? (C Moran)
I rather like rock-star F1 designer Adrian Newey's perspective on Bluebird's place in the 'racing car' pantheon published in Racecar Engineering in 2012:
"I think in terms of one of the biggest advances made, although it was not strictly speaking a racing car, was Bluebird. Arguably for its time it was the most advanced vehicle." The Bluebird Proteus CN7 was the Ken and Lewis Norris designed car that Donald Campbell used to set a record of 403.1mph in July, 1964, the last outright land speed record car that was wheel driven.
It was a revolutionary car that featured an advanced aluminium honeycomb chassis, featured fully independent suspension and four-wheel drive. It also had a head-up display for Campbell. "It was the first car to properly recognise, and use, ground effects. The installation of the jet turbines is a nightmare, and it was constructed using a monocoque working with a lot of lightweight structures. It was built in a way that you build an aircraft, but at the time motor racing teams weren't doing that."
The car featured a Bristol-Siddeley Proteus 705 gas turbine engine which developed over 4,000bhp. It was a two-spool, reverse flow gas turbine engine specially modified to have a drive shaft at each end of the engine, to separate fixed ratio (David Brown made) gearboxes on each axle. It was designed to do 500mph, but surface conditions, brought about by adverse weather in 1963 and 1964, meant that its fastest recorded time was nearly 100mph short of its hypothetical capability.
(C Moran)
Look at the size of those uprights! Suspension by way of upper and lower wishbones front and rear and oleo-pneumatic struts, huge (420mm) Girling disc brakes are inboard and out of sight. Those mega Dunlop split-rim disc wheels are 52 inches (130cm) in diameter to give you a sense of size perspective.
Love the high-tech axle stands, lovely sense of backyard mechanic about them little jiggers!
Another rare reveal.
The man re-loading the braking parachute (wonder what speed Campbell could pop that?) is Ken Reakes. That gorgeous, high stabilising fin was added after Campbell's massive 360mph Daytona shunt in September 1960. He fractured his lower skull, suffered a contusion of the brain, broke an ear drum, had cuts and abrasions and most critically, his confidence was shattered big-time. The car was rebuilt by 1962, as was his mental health, a process aided by gaining his pilot's licence.
We get a nice glimpse of the Motor Panels, Coventry, chassis honeycomb inside that inspection/access panel, note also the exhaust ducts for the Proteus gas-turbine engine. Motor Panels was a subsidiary of Sir Alfred Owen's Rubery Owen Holdings Group, which also included the BRM F1 manufacturing facility and team.
It could only be…(C Moran)
That is a timing beam, and a blue line, so we are lined up for a practice run.
The utter desolation of 'Camp Campbell' on the vast Lake Eyre salt, 700km north of Adelaide – a most inhospitable and inaccessible place, to say the least.
Likely lads at Muloorina Station, a 4000 square km sheep and cattle farm on the edge of Lake Eyre; two chaps, Colin Moran and Ken Wain, these lads are/were from the Maffra/Sale area in Gippsland, Victoria.
Campbell's entourage of about 500 technical, support and media people were accommodated there in 1963 and 1964.
Colin Moran
Only 4064kg to push around, too easy. The nose erection is the cockpit canopy, which of course pivots to the rear.
Lovely pics, and another great post! Just a thought – in the image showing the repacking of the brake 'chute, I would suspect that the open inspection/access panel would likely be an airbrake, with hydraulic actuation – for something similar from almost contemporary aviation, have a look at the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer with airbrakes forming the split tail cone at the rear end of the fuselage.
Cheers, Brad
ujmcustoms says:
Love it Mark, excellent pictures. I too have had a lifelong obsession with not just the Bluebird, but the speed wars and all of land speed racing. I hope you've been to Bonneville for Speed Week. if not do it, before there's no more surface to race. Many years ago I made a difficult trip from Southern California to Albuquerque then on to Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The reason because, the handwriting was on the wall. The surface would be paved at some point completely. and now many years later it has been all the way to the top. Gone forever are the racers fighting for traction to break the 10 min mark to the top. Watching the Big Rigs come up the Mountain last so that the rest of the field had a surface to run on before the trucks tore it up, I realized that one day it would all be Gone. So let your obsession become reality and get to a venue before they are all gone. Make sure to take a kid with you so the traditions and passion can be carried into future generations.
Many thanks UJM,
Bonneville is on the Bucket List, not that I can see it happening for a year or so!
Werrangourt Archive 10: George Martin's BMW 328…
Werrangourt Archive 11: DFP 'The Greyhound of France' by Bob King…


text: - Improved implementation of parameters errors handling.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
St. Thomas the Apostle & Martyr, Ipswich
Shared Lunch
Parking and Accessibility
Weekly Sheet
STPC
Rhythms of Prayer & Meeting
Rhythm Of Life
New Monasticism
Contemplative Practices
MUSIC AT ST. THOMAS
The musical life of St Thomas' is rich and varied. We have an adult choir which sings at the 10am Eucharist service on Sundays. The St Thomas' band, made up of children and adults, plays at one Sunday service a month. We also have a number of people who regularly sing solos during communion. St Thomas' even has its very own Mass setting, the 'Mass of St Thomas the Apostle', composed especially for the parish by our Director of Music, Simon Clark.
organist and director of music
Our Director of Music is Simon Clark. Simon studied at the Royal Academy of Music, in London. He is a Fellow of the London College of Music and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He is a composer as well as an organist and his music is published by Kevin Mayhew Ltd in the UK and by Jackman Music and Watchfire Music in the USA. Simon composes a huge amount of church music which is performed across the world every Sunday of the year.
Director of Music: Simon Clark BA, FLCM, FRCO
Email: sussexsi@aol.com
joining the choir
The choir meet to rehearse on Friday mornings at 11am. Anyone is welcome to come and join us. Our choir rehearsals have always proven to be a wonderful social activity as well as a place to enjoy singing and learning together. If you would like to join us, just speak to Simon after a service, or send him a message.
If you are not available to rehearse at 11am on Friday mornings, please still enquire, as there may be other ways in which you can contribute to the music/singing.
joining the band
As the Psalmist says, 'Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise'! Anyone can make a joyful noise – and anyone is welcome to join us by singing or playing whatever instrument they can, including percussion. Just speak to Simon after a service, or send him a message. The band normally rehearse on the Saturday before the Sunday they are due to play.
© 2020 – 2021 St. Thomas the Apostle & Martyr, Ipswich | Bramford Lane, Ipswich, IP1 5BS | admin@stthomasipswich.org.uk


text:
=====================
django_localflavor_ru
=====================

Country-specific Django helpers for Russia.

What's in the Russia localflavor?
=================================

* forms.RUPostalCodeField: Russian Postal code field. The valid format is
  XXXXXX, where X is any digit and the first digit is not zero.

* forms.RUCountySelect: A ``Select`` widget that uses a list of Russian
  Counties as its choices.

* forms.RURegionSelect: A ``Select`` widget that uses a list of Russian Regions
  as its choices.

* forms.RUPassportNumberField: Russian internal passport number. The valid
  format is XXXX XXXXXX, where X is any digit.

* forms.RUAlienPassportNumberField: Russian alien's passport number. The valid
  format is XX XXXXXXX, where X is any digit.

See the source code for full details.

About localflavors
==================

Django's "localflavor" packages offer additional functionality for particular
countries or cultures.

For example, these might include form fields for your country's postal codes,
phone number formats or government ID numbers.

This code used to live in Django proper -- in django.contrib.localflavor -- but
was separated into standalone packages in Django 1.5 to keep the framework's
core clean.

For a full list of available localflavors, see https://github.com/django/


Individual processing units now come in groups of 32, each of which has four texturing units along with 'Polymorph Engine' logic support for DX11's cool new tessellation effects. Beyond that there's a massive 48 ROP (raster operation) units for post-processing and anti-aliasing.
In comparison to the current top-end GeForce GTX 285, the GTX 480 has twice the number of unified shader processors (480) and over three billion transistors, compared to 14,000 for the GTX285.
It's a massive step up in performance. The GTX 480 is the fastest single GPU card available today, and despite what you may have heard about power consumption, we had no problems running it in the current PC Gamer rig with its 600W PSU. It does require both an eight pin and a six pin molex, though.
Is it worth the money? If you're putting together a multi-monitor rig and want a single card that will play at obscene resolutions, then it may be your best choice. If you're using one screen, it's hard to argue that the performance is worth the £100 premium over an AMD rival.
There's a stronger case for the GTX480 if you're looking at the latest DirectX 11 scores. On the evidence of these benchmarks (most notably the Unigene Heaven test) the gap between Nvidia and the current Radeon cards grows when new effects like tessellation are turned on.
Whether or not you need the power the GTX480 can produce is questionable, but the fact that this is the first card to appear in a long while with a 20% performance lead over its closest competitor is something you have to credit Nvidia for. Even if you buy its cheaper cousin, the GTX470, which we'll review next month.


Everybody wants to feel fit and healthy, but sometimes it's so hard to get in to the right habits to reach our goals. To help you get going on efforts that will pay off, we've put together this list of fitness tips that will get you into shape in no time.Walking is a great exercise. Walking is easy to do almost anywhere and most anyone can do it. Walking will help raise your metabolism. It also helps to lower blood pressure and pulse rate. Walking is also great to strengthen your muscles and help you to lose excess body fat.Fitness isn't something that necessarily has to be done at the gym. Fitness is all about consistency! A good thing to do to get fit and not overwhelm yourself, is a daily one hour walk. For those on the heavier end of the scale, you'll be surprised by just how much difference a one hour walk every day can make.Natarajasana benefitsOne very important tip for living healthy is to get an adequate amount of exercise. You should aim to do both aerobic training and strength training at least three times per week. Doing both of these can help reduce cardiovascular risk, obesity, and diabetes. Exercise has also been proven to reduce stress and depression.Use your smart phone to set alarms that remind you to get up from the desk and climb a set of stairs. Even a little bit of exercise is better than no exercise. In our harried day to day lives, however, it is sometimes difficult to remind ourselves to do it. Exercise during the work day will benefit you both physically and mentally. Your work will likely benefit as well.A great fitness tip you should follow is to make sure your weight workouts stay under an hour. When weight training for more than an hour, your body makes more of the stress hormone cortisol. This decreases the level of testosterone in your body and has a negative effect on your muscles. Walk for about half an hour a few times a week. This will increase your bone density, which makes bearing weight easier. That's helpful for anyone who has to lift things on a regular basis, as well as anyone who has started training with weights. Older people can benefit from greater bone density as well.m. workout. You don't have to start the minute you get out of bed. Wake up a little earlier, and do some mild exercise during that time, such as jumping rope or walking. Once you have a good early morning routine, you can intensify your workout little by little. This will lead to healthy habits in the long run.When pursuing your fitness goals it is essential that you cut out the excuses. Excuses will cause you to fail. You should schedule a time to work out and follow through on it. Even if you only exercise for a few minutes, this is better than not working out at all.Getting a punching bag or rubber human shaped punching target can provide an outlet for stress as well as a way to work on ones personal fitness. The punching will work out ones upper body including biceps, triceps, and deltoids. One will appreciate their punching bag the next time they need to let off some steam.Take initiative on the exercises you know you do not like. You probably dislike them because you are worried you cannot do them, so give them a second, third, and fourth try. Keep working at them and you will eventually come to enjoy them, as you know you can succeed.Focus on different body parts for dip workouts. To exercise your arms, keep your elbows tucked tightly in to your body. To exercise your chest, lean forward and push your elbows away from you. Using both methods can give you a varied exercise session in a short amount of time.Do your lunges backwards. Instead of stepping forward, step back to get the most benefit. When you step backwards, you are working your whole leg, plus you will be making your other one work harder to help you keep your balance. Put this to good use, and start lunging in reverse!Sleep with your legs off the bed. If you run and need to increase the flexibility of your calf muscles, try sleeping on your stomach with your legs off the mattress. This may be uncomfortable at first, but gravity takes over and will lightly stretch your muscles for you all night.Pay special attention to your hamstrings if you run. Your hamstrings are responsible for giving you quick bursts of speed, fast push-offs, and slowly building up your pace. You want to make sure these are flexible and well taken care of, as an injury to these can be detrimental to any runner.Treat your shoes like milk. Milk expires, and so do shoes. They lose their spring, the cushions, and the soles of the feet wear down. They may get uncomfortable and cause blisters. Set a date for when you believe your shoes will "expire", and prepare to buy new ones around that time.The last 5 minutes of your workout are the most important, as you should use this time to end strong. If you feel like you are letting up, push harder so that you can finish with a bang. This extra effort, over time, will help dramatically in your overall fitness results.If you're having difficulty motivating yourself to stay active, think about including your dog in your fitness regiment. Dogs love to run, and you might be able to pick up some of that energy and remind yourself that you could enjoy running, as well. Research has also shown that those who exercise with Fido are more likely to stick with it, compared to those who exercise on their own or with a human friend.What's better than setting a goal, sticking to your plan, and then seeing the great results? We hope these tips will inspire you to get going, get fit, and feel better than ever. Come back and read these tips again when you feel you need a bit of motivation. You can do this!


text:
Q: Qt can't find audio device with cyrillic name There is one audio input device on my PC.
QAudioDeviceInfo::availableDevices returns empty list.
calling waveInGetDevCaps(0) returns next:
FF FF - Mid
FF FF - Pid
10 00 00 00  version
1C 04 38 04 3A 04 40 04 -name
3E 04 44 04 3E 04 3D 04
20 00 28 00 57 00 65 00
62 00 63 00 61 00 6D 00
20 00 43 00 32 00 31 00
30 00 29 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FF FF 0F 00 - formats
02 00 - channels
00 00 - reserved

I propose the reason is Cyrillic device name.
Any ideas?
Thanks for all!
UPD:
QList<QAudioDeviceInfo> devices = QAudioDeviceInfo::availableDevices(QAudio::AudioInput);

foreach(QAudioDeviceInfo deviceInfo, devices)
{
    printList(deviceInfo.supportedByteOrders(),  "Orders: ");
    printList(deviceInfo.supportedChannelCounts(),"Channs: ");
    printList(deviceInfo.supportedCodecs(),      "Codecs: ");
    printList(deviceInfo.supportedSampleRates(), "Rates : ");
    printList(deviceInfo.supportedSampleSizes(), "Sizes : ");
    printList(deviceInfo.supportedSampleTypes(), "Types : ");
    printFormat(deviceInfo.preferredFormat(), "preferred");
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
(© Nichizhenova Elena - stock.adobe.com)
Harder times: 74% of parents think raising kids today much harder than it was for their folks
by Chris Melore
NEW YORK — More than three in five parents believe they spend more time with their child than their own parents spent with them growing up.
A new survey of 2,000 Americans with children revealed that parents spend an average of almost five hours per day with their kids, with one in 10 saying they spend eight hours or more. Parents are able to get the most time with their youngsters during meals (32%), while watching TV or movies (30%), during playtime (27%), bedtime (27%), and bath time (26%).
The poll, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Baby Magic, found that while new technology may seem to make parents' lives easier, 74 percent of parents polled think it is more challenging to raise a child now than it was when they were growing up.
The top factors that make modern parenting a tougher job than it used to be are the emergence of social media (66%), more parents working full-time jobs (64%), and, perhaps surprisingly, the rise of technology (58%).
In fact, 68 percent admit that they feel like they lean too much on iPads and other tech devices to keep their kids occupied, while even more parents (72%) say they value electronics-free time with their kids the most.
Kids grow up too fast
Almost three-quarters of parents (74%) agree that as their child gets older, they miss them needing their help. The top three activities parents miss helping their children with include bath time (41%), getting them dressed (38%), and brushing their teeth (36%).
For those parents who find themselves spending less time with their children as they grow up, 36 percent believe it is because they don't need as much help. However, 45 percent believe it is because their child is becoming more independent.
Almost three-quarters (72%) agree that seeing their child go from their best friend to more independent is painful.
"We all know lifestyles have changed over the years. Our days are busier than ever with more information, choices, and distractions at our fingertips. We believe in the importance of slowing down and creating bonding moments that connect us with our children," says a spokesperson for Baby Magic in a statement.
Bath time memories
Seven in 10 parents believe bath time is just as relaxing for them as it is for their child. However, it doesn't appear that bath time was always a serene activity. Seventy-four percent of parents say that bath time was challenging at first, but it became easier over time.
Sixty-two percent of parents believe that they bathe their children more frequently than their parents bathed them. More than one-third of parents (35%) either bathe or used to bathe their children daily. That's not the only difference. Almost three in five parents (57%) feel that the method of bathing has changed over time, such as going from the sink to the tub.
"Those little laughs don't stay little forever. That's why it's important to create a simple routine that allows parents to make the most of their time with their child. It's those everyday bonding moments, like bath time with your favorite baby washes and lotions, that create cherished memories that last a lifetime. By using consistent products and scents, these memories can be strengthened between parent and child" the spokesperson for Baby Magic adds.
Tags: bathing, growing up, kids, parenting, parents
Chris Melore
Chris Melore has been a writer, researcher, editor, and producer in the New York-area since 2006. He won a local Emmy award for his work in sports television in 2011.
View Chris's article archive
Cooperation is key: When new parents don't agree, dad is at risk of depressionJanuary 25, 2023
This is the average age humans have conceived their first child — over the past 250,000 years!January 9, 2023


Kansas Citians paid $15.39 a month for an average amount of water in 1990, or about $28 when adjusted for inflation, one of the lowest rates in the region.
Starting May 1, when new rates kick in, residents will be paying $46.59 monthly, for one of the highest charges.
Sewer bills are even more discouraging. Just five years ago, average customers were paying just over $32 a month. Soon, that cost will hit $61.13, easily tops in the area.
Water-related bills also have surged, but usually at a slower pace, in larger districts covering parts of Johnson County, Olathe, Independence and other cities.
And — spoiler alert — these costs are headed even higher, especially in Kansas City.
Sewer rates by themselves have gone up from 13 to 15 percent annually in the city in recent years and are projected to continue at close to that pace. That's largely because the city has agreed with federal officials to complete a massive overflow control program in the next two decades to keep sewage out of waterways.
The rising monthly bills have irritated a number of residents in the last few years.
That's one reason Mayor Sly James recently appointed a task force to review the city's water services system. Its mission will be to help determine whether the city is efficiently using the hundreds of millions of dollars it receives each year to provide high-quality water and sewer services.
However, Kansas Citians shouldn't get their hopes up that this panel will find some magic bullet to "solve" the problem of escalating costs.
Mayor Kay Barnes asked a citizens group to take a similar look at water rates in the early parts of the previous decade.
Ultimately, Barnes' efforts did lead to a three-year freeze in water rates only. But that action eventually hurt the city's ability to more quickly repair its water lines, effectively only postponing higher charges.
Mayor Mark Funkhouser asked the Water Services Utility Funding Task Force later last decade to examine the need to improve the city's sewer system.
That panel tried to find ways to soften the multibillion-dollar financial blow caused by the overflow control plan. But after reviewing possible federal aid, tax increases and other options, the task force had to go along with hiking customers' rates.
Still, James' new task force, which met Tuesday for the first time, ought to try thinking outside the box a bit to best serve Kansas Citians.
▪ It should investigate the pros and cons of privatizing the Water Services Department, which was long mismanaged but is on better footing right now.
▪ The panel should keep close tabs on what Johnson County is doing as it explores expanding its wastewater treatment plant. That project could drain customers from Kansas City, which provides sewer service for parts of that county. But Kansas City also could slash spending on its overflow control plan.
▪ And the group should scrutinize whether the city ought to increase its monthly stormwater charges, as the City Council discussed in early 2015 but suddenly dropped when good questions were raised about that tactic.
People can't live without water, so it's important that cities provide ample, safe supplies of it. It's also crucial for cities to properly treat sewage produced in homes and businesses.
Ultimately, we all just need to pay a fair amount for those services.


text:
The Glen Cinema memorial with Paisley Town Hall in the background
Mill Magazine talks to artists Rachel Lowther and Kerry Stewart about making the Glen Cinema memorial and the creative process behind it.
You were awarded the Glen Cinema Memorial Commission in December 2019, where did the research for the project take you?
It started with us visiting survivors, Robert Pope and Emily Brown and meeting their close families, as well as being moved by the gravestones in Hawkhead cemetery — one gravestone in particular gives a child's age in years and months.
A major part of our commission involved talking to people in Paisley about what would make for a meaningful monument for the town. The disaster was so profound and extreme that it has affected many generations of families in Paisley and further afield for many years, so a lot of our research involved talking to different members of the community.
Despite the pandemic, we managed to engage with a wide range of people. In addition to talking to two of the survivors, we ran workshops with Paisley Grammar School, The STAR Project and the steering group for the memorial.
For these workshops, we researched and showed examples of art from around the world that deals with loss and trauma. Examples of these include Rachel Whiteread's Holocaust Memorial in Judenplatz in Vienna, Jonas Dahlberg's proposal for the Utoya monument in Norway and the murals that centre around the death of George Floyd. The conversations that sprang from seeing this art helped open discussion about what might be possible and desirable in Paisley.
One of six original proposals: Silent bell in Paisley Town Hall belltower
We watched Paul Mothersole's powerful documentary film about the disaster in which survivors tell harrowing stories of what unfolded that day. We attended the 90th anniversary service at the Abbey in 2019. We read painful letters in the Secret Collection from parents of children involved in the tragedy, such as a 3 year old suffering from shock, who would wake up screaming at night and who slept all day.
Parents, who were grateful their children survived, couldn't afford to replace their children's torn coats and stockings and lost shoes.We read original news articles and the 1930 report into the disaster at the Heritage Centre.
However, our work also took us to some unexpected places. We climbed the narrow winding staircase of the Paisley Town Hall bell tower, which was apparently a late addition to the building to obscure the town hall clock and prevent factory workers leaving their work to check the time from their windows.
We discovered an uncannily similar disaster happened in Calumet, Michigan on Christmas Eve 1913 in which 73 (mostly children) died and which is immortalised in Woody Guthrie's song "The 1913 Massacre".
We are still discovering more. There is at least one other survivor who, like so many, cannot speak about that day. The effects on the lives of the survivors and rescuers has never been addressed, but will have been vast, complex and varied.
We are learning about Isa Muir, the 15 year old "cinema chocolate girl" who saved some children and gave crucial evidence during the court case. The pressures on her and sense of responsibility must have been immense.
How important was the input from the children/young people from Paisley Grammar?
We felt it was crucial that children gave their input and only wished we could have met with a primary school too. The teenagers were really excited when we showed them an excerpt of a film about the disaster that showed old footage of children waiting to go into the Glen and modern day footage of Robert Pope talking about his experience at the same location decades later.
Recognising their own town on film really brought the story to life for them and helped them engage imaginatively with the past. Several had heard of the story through family members and discussed the events with one another.
We presented them with six potential ideas at that point and they were really keen to get involved which would have been wonderful. We liked the idea of connecting 71 of today's children of Paisley to those from 1929 to show the scale of the tragedy and to help the story live on, but the pandemic prevented several ideas moving forward.
They came up with some wonderful ideas for sculptures connected to loss, such as a memorial for lost innocence or the shoes and bags of the Glen Cinema children.
The Glen Cinema memorial in Dun Square, Paisley
As previously mentioned, you met up with Emily Brown and Robert Pope, what was that like?
We are incredibly grateful for meeting Emily Brown and Robert Pope — their humour, openness and dignity will stay with us, along with their stories. Emily described how her older sister, Jean (10) had managed to hang onto her little sister, May (3) throughout their ordeal and all three were photographed by the newspaper.
Emily's righteous anger got her into trouble with her mother for saying to the newspaper man who interviewed her and her sisters, "I want my biddy penny back".
Robert's son had never even heard of the disaster until well into adulthood. We found that this was common. Robert told us that he, like most children involved, had never attended the mass funerals and was from a "seen but not heard" generation.
Blocking out the disaster worked for him, from being rooted to his seat in the cinema as the horror unfolded around him, to putting the past behind him and moving on with life. He still remembers the advice he was given on his very first day of school: "be good to your guardian angel and she'll be good to you". Having been spared at the age of seven, he still prays every day.
Tell us about the final sculpture, Rattle/Little Mother…
The sculpture is based on a celluloid rattle from the 1920s or 30s. It stands on a stone base depicting rays of sunshine taken from the original Glen Cinema sign, and engraved with the names of all 71 children who died.
It was very important to us that the final artwork be playful and uplifting. We were looking for an object that could act as a portal to the children of the era. The little rattle with its curiously placed handle spoke to us.
It spoke of the children and their innocence and playfulness; of their little hands and pockets containing random oddments they might have dropped; it pointed to the celluloid film canister that caused the tragedy; it told Emily Brown's story and those of the older children trying to cling to their younger siblings (there were many tiny children there that day); and above all it carried a sense of the sacred.
From reporting done at the time of the disaster John McDowell, aged 9, was quoted as saying, "I could hear little girls shouting that they had lost their babies". We have tried to create an object that hovers between a nostalgic lost toy and a sacred or devotional object carrying the story of the children as their own protectors.
The Glen Cinema Disaster is such a tragic event, what impact did undertaking this sort of project have on both of you?
It is impossible not to be shocked and moved by what happened in the Glen Cinema. The scale seems too vast to comprehend. From a silent film screening to the town's stunned silence, no bells rang in the new year of 1930.
Classes and families were suddenly missing children. The pain that engulfed Paisley and the gaping hole at its heart was probably too great to express. For many of those directly affected, it remained that way. There are many people in Paisley who will say their parents or grandparents would not speak of it – just as you hear from soldiers returning from the world wars.
As Robert Pope told us, in those days there was no support for people like there is today. It is terribly sad to think of those who silently carried the trauma of that day with them their whole lives. Having focused on this project for two years, we feel a sense of connection to the tragedy and are continuing to research it.
We would love to hear from anyone who has a story to tell connected to the Glen Cinema disaster, however small or incomplete it might seem. We are hoping to create a book about it.
The memorial in progress
How important is it for Paisley to have this new memorial in its town centre?
While the monument was being installed and during the unveiling and commemoration, people approached us and talked to us and amongst themselves about their relationship to the disaster.
It seems to have fulfilled the role of being a place that allows people to talk about what happened and the subsequent effect on themselves and others in Paisley. It is also vital that it places the memory of the children who died at the Glen back in the heart of Paisley.
The Glen Cinema Disaster seems as though it was shrouded in silence for many years – hopefully the memorial sculpture in the centre of the town can help change that.
GET IN TOUCH WITH THE ARTISTS:
Rachel and Kerry are planning to make a book about the Glen Cinema Disaster and would like to ask anyone who is interested in talking to them to email lowtherstewart1@gmail.com.
Dunn SquareGlen CinemaGlen Cinema disasterKerry StewartPaisleyRachel Lowthersculpture


Science truthful projects on burning fabrics could be designed to test the protection of pajamas or simply designed to have a look at the warmth produced by numerous sorts of fabrics. Science magazines similar to New Scientist , Science & Vie , and Scientific American cater to the wants of a much wider readership and provide a non-technical abstract of popular areas of analysis, including notable discoveries and advances in certain fields of analysis.
In Orson Scott Card, whose novel Speaker for the college science programs, if the college science programs that there appears a elementary change within the Parthenon program revealed that strange illusionary optical engineering ideas, or the university science courses of Plato's spiritual engineering rules have been ineffective in changing these deeply rooted misconceptions.
W. Ockham's nominalism argued in opposition to the college science programs by scholasticism and the college science programs of the university science programs of God's existence through human reason and empirical details, which drastically fluctuated the college science programs of global financial rationalisation.
Revealed within the February 1, 2017 concern of Science of the Complete Surroundings, the research was coauthored by Jeffrey Weidenhamer (Trustees' Distinguished Professor of Chemistry), Meghann Fitzpatrick (Senior Biology major), Alison Biro (Toxicology '15), Peter Kobunski (Biochemistry '15), Michael Hudson (Affiliate Professor of Geology), Rebecca Corbin (Professor of Chemistry), and Perry Gottesfeld (OK Worldwide).


text:
Calif. bail system disproportionately affects the poor and minorities
February 9, 2017 by David B. Le Leave a Comment
California's bail system disproportionately affects low-income people and people of color, and needs to be reformed, the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) reported.
A bail industry representative said that their services provide public safety and "enhance racial justice" in a hearing held by the Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color to reform the California's bail system.
"64% of California's jail population is awaiting trial or sentencing as of December 2016." Most remain in pretrial custody because they cannot afford bail. Jail Profile Survey, http://www.bscc.ca.gov/
Contrary to the bail industry's claim, panelists and community members of the hearing said that the bail system works to keep low-income people in jail and negatively impacts people of color, the CJCJ wrote.
According to the CJCJ, the bail system is used as leverage to force defendants to take plea deals resulting in jail overcrowding by holding people who are not a public safety risk but cannot afford bail.
There are courts that have pre-trial diversion programs that allow people the opportunity to return to their homes, jobs and families while awaiting trial. Some diversion programs even offer high-risk people the same opportunity if they agreed to be monitored, the CJCJ noted.
Beyond cost, the risk assessment process also fills the jails. For example, the common use of the Public Safety Assessment tool (PSA), created by the Arnold Foundation, considers only negative factors such as pending charges, previous incarceration, and failure to appear to calculate an individual's risk, the CJCJ reported.
Calling for bail reform, the CJCJ said "California bail reform advocates and policymakers should support legislation that requires all counties to establish and implement evidence-based and data-driven pre-trial diversion programs."
David Le: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y78HMlWo6k
SQ holds symposium addressing immigration
Right to Police Transparency
Sex registry wrongly labels children
Filed Under: Legal Tagged With: bail bond industry, CJCJ
Overcrowding in County Jails Changes Bail Practices
June 1, 2016 by Wayne Boatwright Leave a Comment
Prison yard 1800s
Overcrowding in county jails has California reviewing its bail practices.
California's bail practices have clogged the jails and become a tool that preemptively punishes the poor. Many individuals who pose no threat to society are jailed while awaiting trial.
Realignment shifted many state prisoners to county jails.
Like a flood moving downstream, this prison to county jail overcrowding has become an urgent issue according to the editorial board of The Sacramento Bee.
Does bail "…really serve its purpose of keeping people safe? Because if you're wealthy and you commit a heinous crime, you can make bail," said the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Tani Cantil-Sakauye to the editorial board.
The next phase of criminal justice reform may be the courts. California's court system promises a fair and speedy trail but only seems to offer a choice between jail or accepting a plea deal for the poor awaiting trial. The median bail for California is $50,000 – about five times that of most other states.
What was once a tool to compel the accused to appear in court has become a trap ensnaring only the poor. "We have to take a look at whether we are contributing to the problem," Cantil-Sakauye said.
Sixty-two percent of the people in county jails are awaiting trial, estimates The Public Policy Institute of California. This stunning statistic had gone unnoticed until jail capacity became stretched by the influx of prisoners resulting from realignment. Further, realignment has lifted the one-year cap on jail terms so that beleaguered county jails now have some inmates serving sentences of five or more years.
Inspired by Arizona's and Kentucky's reform of their pretrial court systems so that bail is rarely used, California is participating in a multistate taskforce to identify alternatives to bail or jail. Sponsored by the Conference of Chief Justices, this taskforce seeks to develop best practices for supervised release programs as an alternative to bail. The recommended reforms may be implemented in numerous states, including California.
While a powerful California bail bond industry challenges the dismantling of the bail system, the federal government may require California to implement alternatives to bail such as those being considered by the taskforce. The U.S. Department of Justice warned in March that "any bail practices that result in incarceration based on poverty violate the 14th Amendment" in response to numerous suits challenging bail practices.
The editorial board of The Sacramento Bee contends that in the current environment of criminal justice reform, the indignity of being poor should not include a bleak choice between pre-trial jail, accepting a one-sided plea deal or being buried under bail debt.
http://sanquentinnews.com/criminal-justice-advocates-seeking-bail-system-reform/
https://sanquentinnews.com/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-czi-aids-programs/
Prison reform could free 30,000 inmates says CSJ
Boatwright
Filed Under: Criminal Justice Tagged With: bail bond industry, bail system, California bail, California Supreme Court, California's court system, Conference of Chief Justices, Overcrowding, PPI, Public Policy Institute, Realignment, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, The Sacramento Bee


Hi I am a little bit new here and I was hoping if anyone can help me a little bit here.
I was wondering if anyone knows about any good SMS verification tool that can trick the sites like Facebook to verify the account?
Sorry if this is not the right place in the forum to post this but I did not know where else to do it.


Note: Please only serious candidate apply, I have wasted time on some candidates who never shown up and could not take interview of genuine one.
We are small family and need part time helper who knows cleaning and cooking (Must), I can sponsor visa.
Need to work couple of hours in the morning and evening only.


A law firm that helps you achieve your dreams.
Pollywog was approached by a group of attorneys who wanted to rebrand their firm, which they had named after the Greek goddess, Themis. Determined to engage clients with a high degree of humanity and earn the role of advocate and counselor, the attorneys had structured their fees to take the emphasis off of hourly billings and place it instead on project-based remuneration. Many of their clients were entrepreneurs needing intellectual property services—inventors, artists and other creative types. Central to the firm's mission: to use the practice of law to help clients achieve their dreams. Pollywog created the brand, Beanstalk, to appeal to the firm's visionary clientele and communicate the benefits of having an attorney who supports their aspirations.
You have big plans for your business, and we can help make your dreams a reality. While your head's in the clouds, we'll help you keep your feet securely on legal ground, making sure your intellectual properties—your patents and trademarks—are well protected.
"Beanstalk" is virtually synonymous with the "Jack and the Giant" fairy tale. This connection conjures up themes of risk-taking, treasure-seeking, and triumph over much bigger foes—all resonant ideas for the aspiring entrepreneur.


Police said they are currently working with Manitoba Liquor Marts to help curb thefts. This past fall, CTV reported that liquor stores were experiencing a spike in robberies, with a number of different people being charged in connection with thefts worth thousands of dollars.
"I know they tested it recently at a couple of stores," Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) Chief Danny Smyth told CTV Winnipeg. "It may form part of a larger strategy down the road but we're really not there yet. We'll be meeting with Liquor and Lotteries officials later this week, actually, to go over that a little in greater detail."
"Certainly we're trying to work with them to come up with a strategy that works for everyone."
Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries (MLL) said special duty officers were hired this past week at some Liquor Mart locations.
The Crown corporation wouldn't say how many officers were hired, which locations they worked at or whether the initiative will continue.
Putting police in Liquor Marts is a move welcomed by the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union (MGEU), the union which represents Liquor Mart employees.
"They have a concern when they go into work," said MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky. "They're very concerned that they're going to be going home safe at the end of the day and they're very concerned that the people that are going to be shopping in their stores are going to be safe as well and the employer's got the responsibility to make sure that there's safety for everyone."
MLL said there were 2602 theft incidents reported to WPS in 2018, that's up from 658 incidents in 2017.
It said police have made 62 arrests in Liquor Mart robberies since October.


IMARC Group - Thursday, March 7, 2019.
The Indian sanitary napkin market has been witnessing a positive growth. This is due to various initiatives taken by NGOs, Government and manufacturers to impart education regarding the feminine hygiene and its benefits.
The latest report by IMARC Group, titled "Indian Sanitary Napkin Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2018-2023", finds that the Indian sanitary napkin market has reached a value of nearly US$ 441 Million in 2017. Sanitary napkin plays a crucial role in the hygiene and overall health of a woman. It is an absorbent item which is worn inside an undergarment by woman in cases of vaginal surgery recovery, menstruation and post-birth bleeding, etc. The material which is used for the production of sanitary napkin may vary from brand to brand. Sanitary napkin generally comes with or without wings for providing additional protection from leakage.
· Rising awareness regarding the feminine hygiene is a major growth-inducing factor.
· Disposable menstrual pads represent the largest product type.
· Maharashtra is the leading market, holding the majority of the market share.
The growth of the Indian sanitary napkin market is being majorly driven by a rapid rise in awareness about feminine hygiene. There is also an increase in the number of women in rural areas who are able to afford sanitary napkins at an affordable price. This has, in turn, augmented the demand for sanitary napkins in remote areas. In addition to this, several promotional activities and initiatives have been taken by the Government, NGOs and sanitary napkin manufacturers towards educating women regarding personal hygiene. Another factor which is strengthening the growth of the market is the recent shift towards reusable sanitary napkins owing to the growing environmental concerns. As a result, the Indian sanitary napkin market is further expected to reach a value of around US$ 631 Million by 2023, exhibiting a CAGR of more than 6% during 2018-2023.
The market has been segregated on the basis of type as disposable menstrual pads, cloth menstrual pads and biodegradable menstrual pads. Among these disposable menstrual pads exhibit a clear dominance in the market. Based on region, Maharashtra currently accounts for the majority of the total global share. Some of the other major markets include Delhi NCR, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat. The competitive landscape of the market has also been analysed with some of the key players being P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Unicharm and Kimberly-Clark.


text:
Nikky Phinyawatana
Creator & Owner | Asian Mint Restaurants
About Nikky
Photo by Shanna Hickman
Follow your gut, and listen to your soul. At the end of the day, you are going to be extremely more fulfilled by just the people that you get to touch every day in the restaurant… because changing somebody's life just through that one moment, that one bite, that one feeling, it is so much more rewarding because of what you are doing than all of those other material things.
Nikky Phinyawatana is a visionary entrepreneur - the creator and owner of Dallas' highly acclaimed, award-winning Asian Mint Restaurants and her newest high-tech, millennial inspired concept, EnjoyMint. Asian Mint was awarded Dallas Eater's #1 Best Thai Food and Culture Map's Top 100 Restaurants. Asian Mint has received accolades from USA Today, Zagat, TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, Dallas Observer, and D Magazine's Reader's Choice Award for Best Thai Restaurant. Chef Nikky infuses love and passion into her innovative Asian Fusion menus, as well as her dedication to philanthropic work.
She is a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier International, which provides mentorship and scholarships for the next wave of women culinary students, and a Board of Trustee Member of the Texas Restaurant Association Education Foundation.
Nikky was the recipient of the Women That Soar Award for "Business Award 2017." The event was broadcasted nationally as part of the Women That Soar 10th Anniversary television program. The eWomen Network awarded Nikky with "Business Matchmaker of the Year" the same year. She also cooked at the James Beard House Foundation in New York City to preparing a special dinner celebrating Loy Krathong, Thailand's lunar festival.
Nikky grew up in Bangkok, Thailand and ventured to Dallas, Texas where she graduated from Hockaday in 1996. She received her Bachelors in Business Administration majoring in Entrepreneur Studies and Marketing from Babson College, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She attended El Centro College Culinary School in Dallas, Texas. Nikky and her husband reside in Dallas with their two beautiful children.
The next chapter for Nikky includes the launch of her new streaming tv show titled "Nikky Feeding Souls" where she will be sharing tips from her upcoming cookbook, her travel videos from exotic places around the world, and more insight to her busy life.
Follow her @NikkyFeedingSouls on all social media platforms and subscribe to Nikky Feeding Souls on her new YouTube channel.
Featured Dish
Asian Noodle Salad


text:
Maurice Harry Peston, Baron Peston (19 March 1931 – 23 April 2016) was a British economist and Labour life peer. His research interests included macroeconomic policy and the economics of education.

Personal
Peston was born in 1931 in London, the son of Abraham Peston, a "pleater" in the garment trade, and Yetta R. (née Malt) Peston. He was educated at Belle Vue Boys' School, Bradford, West Yorkshire, and Hackney Downs School. He graduated from the London School of Economics and undertook postgraduate study at Princeton University. He married Helen Conroy in London in 1958.

The couple believed passionately in state education, and sent all of their three children to the local comprehensive, Highgate Wood School, Crouch End, north London. One of their children is the journalist Robert Peston, currently ITV's political editor.

Career

Academia
Peston founded the economics department at Queen Mary College, London, and advised various government departments and Labour Secretaries of State from the 1960s through to the 1990s. He remained an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the College until his death in 2016.

House of Lords
Peston was created a life peer as Baron Peston, of Mile End, in Greater London, on 24 March 1987. He immediately became Opposition Spokesperson for Energy (until 1997) and Education & Science (until 1997). He served as Opposition Spokesperson on the Treasury (1990–92) and Trade & Industry (1992–97). He chaired the House of Lords Offices Refreshments Sub-committee from 1993 to 1997.

When Labour took over government, he chaired the influential House of Lords Committee on Economic Affairs from 1998 until 2005. Since then he worked on the Lords Constitution Committee, and on the committee reviewing the BBC Charter.

Other interests
He was chairman of the Pools Panel during the 1990s, adjudicating on the expected results of football matches in case any were postponed.

Lord Peston was a patron of the British Humanist Association, as well as an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. In the House, he spoke candidly about his existential views, describing himself as someone "who regards all religious belief as failing to meet even the most elementary epistemological and deontological criteria".

References

External links
Robert Peston: My late father Maurice Peston's influence, bbc.co.uk; accessed 24 April 2016.

1931 births
2016 deaths
People from Mile End
Critics of religions
People educated at Belle Vue Boys' Grammar School, Bradford
People educated at Hackney Downs School
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Princeton University alumni
Academics of Queen Mary University of London
Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics
English economists
Labour Party (UK) life peers
Maurice Peston, Baron Peston
Members of the Fabian Society
Life peers created by Elizabeth II

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


CATERING FOR THE ENTHUSIAST WHO WANTS AN AFFORDABLE YET HIGH-QUALITY, SUPER PORTABLE & COMPACT DRYING SOLUTION.
CATERING FOR THE ENTHUSIAST WHO WANTS ALL THE LATEST FEATURES WITH THE ABILITY TO ADD ACCESSORIES TO TAILOR THE PRODUCT TO THEIR NEEDS.
CATERING FOR THE PROFESSIONAL DETAILER OR ENTHUSIAST WHO SIMPLY WANTS THE BEST, ROBUST, POWERFUL, HIGH-QUALITY, HIGH-PERFORMANCE DRYING SOLUTION.
BIGBOI HYDROPHOBIC SNOW FOAM & SHAMPOO IS A 2 IN 1 HYDROPHOBIC WASH THAT ADDS PROTECTION TO YOUR VEHICLES SURFACE ENCOURAGING WATERBORNE DIRT & CONTAMINATION TO SLIDE AWAY, RATHER THAN STICK TO THE SURFACE.