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International Women's Day (a day too late)
March 09, 2016 by Ana Tajder in General
Since it was International Women's Day yesterday, here a Hollywood story about equality. Few weeks ago, new six episodes of X-Files premiered and caused a big stir. Not so much because of the fans and their genuine interest in seeing what agents Scully and Mulder have been up to in all this time, but more because of one of Hollywood's two new favorite topics: women & Hollywood and race & Hollywood. Equal pay is all the rage for past years, becoming a huge issue after Patricia Arquette's Oscar acceptance speech last year, with Jennifer Lawrence quickly jumping on the bandwagon.
The fact that women should be paid the same amount for the same job as men is undisputable. But the world of profit is more complicated than that. And that's what the entertainment industry is: a business. In this world, the question is not what work you have delivered. The question is if your name will lure people into buying a movie ticket. Or turn on the TV. Basically the question is: do you have the potential to earn millions? Or to put it other way: Are you replaceable?
The stir started when Gillian Andreson told the press that she was initially offered half of Duchovny's pay for the new X-Files. (Apparently at the end she got the same amount.)
The initial reaction may be OMG! But the reality of show business is more complicated (and harsher) than that.
While the fact is that she has worked continuously since X-Files (and surely did awesome work), the real questions are: do you remember one thing she was in? Would her name help you decide to go see a movie or a TV show? If Duchovny got replaced in the new X-Files would she be able to carry the show?
And then there's David Duchovny, the star of Californication, his own extremely successful show that ran for seven seasons (in the industry the length equals the success) and a face (name) we've seen in a few big movies since the original X-Files. Now the same questions apply: Would his name help you decide to go see a movie or a TV show? If Anderson got replaced in the new X-Files would he be able to carry the show alone?
It's tough. Because at the end of the day it's not about if you're a woman, a man, black, white or pink. It's about the profit.
As long as profit is the only goal, and the only factor for making decisions, it will be very hard (impossible?) to fight for equality, let alone justice, environment, or peace. And no, it isn't fair.
March 09, 2016 /Ana Tajder
Feminism, Hollywood, L-A-


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Top 9 Strongest Celebrity Bromances
The term "bromance" originated sometime in the 1990s and is often used to describe a strong friendship or bond between men. The sturdiest bromances are usually created between male celebrities who once worked together and have since been able to develop and maintain their strong friendships. Below you will find a list of 9 iconic celebrity bromances forged in Hollywood.
1. Brad Pitt and George Clooney
After working together on Ocean's 11, both actors carefully kept their friendship hidden from prying eyes, but never once have they hesitated to compliment one another on a job well done. Clooney admitted in an interview that he is very happy to live on the same planet as Brad Pitt, calling him very funny and generous. In a similar fashion, Brad calls Clooney "the best friend a man can get."
2. Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Channing and Joseph's friendship began in high school, and although they sometimes have to compete in castings, this does not affect their bromance in any way. Tatum likes to take care of him in very specific ways. For example, one time, he broke into Joseph's house through a window in the middle of the night to give him a lecture about his carelessness. After that, Joseph admitted that he'd always close the windows.
3. Michael Cera and Jonah Hill
The bromance between John Hill and Michael Cera has roots so deep they reach the center of the Earth. Their friendship started the day when they co-starred in Judy Apatow's comedy "Superbad." After this project, they developed a strong male bond, which can be easily seen on the big screen.
4. Paul Rudd and Jason Segel
The acting careers of Paul Rudd and Jason Siegel began to intertwine when they showed up on the set of "Knocked Up." They developed an even deeper relationship when they starred in "I Love You, Man," where they played a couple of sidekicks who loved each other. Strictly platonically.
5. Tobey Maguire and Leonardo Di Caprio
According to some rumors, the bromance of Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio is already over 30 years old. They had been friends long before filming "The Great Gatsby." It is, in fact, one of the longest-lasting bromances in Hollywood that began when both of them were still teenagers.
6. Bradley Cooper and Gerard Butler
Bradley Cooper and Gerard Butler were first spotted together during the men's singles competition at Wimbledon. A jolt of bromance was rumored to flash between them when they noticed they were wearing the same type of light-colored jackets. You know that if this were female celebs, there would be blood on that court.
7. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton
In 1990, at the casting for "Edward Scissorhands," Johnny was immediately cast for the main role. From that moment on, the young and talented Depp became Tim Burton's muse. Together they had crazy creative chemistry and were so in tune they finished each other's sandwiches. And they still do.
8. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson
The "True Detectives" stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have been friends in real life for years. The actors became friends after spending months working together, and now they're best pals. Even after 12 years of friendship, they still like to meet up with their other friends annually and go on the friendship tour, and that's freaking adorable.
9. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck
Finally, we have our perfect couple – Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. These two say that the key to their everlasting friendship is honesty. They met each other in 1978, when they lived on the same street. So naturally, becoming best friends was very easy and the bond between the two actors has only grown stronger. Both came to prominence after the "Good Will Hunting," written by Ben and starring Matt. Their careers only went up from then on, but the actors lived next door and saw each other almost every day. Affleck once joked that if he ever woke up in a shabby hotel with a dead prostitute in the bed, the first person he'd call would be Matt.
Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Bradley Cooper, Channing Tatum, George Clooney, Gerard Butler, Johnny Depp, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, Paul Rudd, Tim Burton, Tobey Maguire, Woody Harrelson
Yura Lysenko

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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LOCATION: 253 West 125th Street, New York, NY (btw 7th & 8th Ave.)
VENUE: Apollo Theater
Buy Tickets From the Jazz Foundation of America
The Jazz Foundation of America: Tribute to Herbie Hancock with Quincy Jones October 24, 2014
CONCERT 8:30 PM
PERFORMANCES BY:
FEATURING A RARE COMBINATION OF ALL-TIME LEGENDS AND UNKNOWN GEMS FROM THE WORLDS OF JAZZ, BLUES, R&B AND ROCK
We will be witnessing history to see Herbie Hancock receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from Quincy Jones, with special guest Bruce Willis. Herbie himself will make an all-star tribute to our beloved trumpeter Clark Terry. Appearances by Questlove and Verdine White.
10-time GRAMMY winner Chaka Khan will pay homage to Maurice White (of Earth, Wind and Fire).
As always, we will have seat-rocking talent from young gems like the soon-to-be-famous Cuban sensationJorge Luis Pacheco and 13-year-old piano prodigy Matthew Whitaker, plus veterans like Jimmy Heath, Albert 'Tootie' Heath, Wallace Roney, Bennie Maupin, Buster Williams, Eddie Henderson, Julian Priester, Billy Hart, Steve Jordan, Clifton Anderson, Mike Williams, Ron Blake, Eddie Allen, Greg Pittman, James Genus, Mike Willaims and "The Soul of America" Charles Bradley and blues-rocker Susan Tedeschi, not to mention the wonderful surprises to be announced as we get closer to "Showtime!"
official Hotel Sponsor: The London Hotel
The concert will be broadcasted live on WWOZ radio from New Orleans. You can listen online here.
HONOREE: Herbie Hancock
ABOUT THE GALA
The Jazz Foundation presents its annual "A Great Night in Harlem" gala concert to benefit our Jazz Musicians Emergency Fund. This evening will raise funds to assist countless elder jazz and blues musicians in crisis across the country, artists who have spent their lives making ours richer with their music.
Held at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, the concert brings together legends of the Music to say "thank you" for keeping the musicians and the music alive.
Past performances and appearances have included legends like Bill Cosby, Quincy Jones, Bono, Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, Danny Glover, Chevy Chase, Hank Jones, Abbey Lincoln, Odetta, Macy Gray and many others.
This year's concert is seeking to raise $1.7 million and, with your help, we can do it!
Concert tickets range from $75 (heavens), $150 (upper mezzanine), $300 (lower mezzanine), $600 preferred lower mezzanine) to $1500 (VIP cocktail party, orchestra seating and dinner) and are available for online purchase.
Please see upper right side of our website for ticket sales, or for purchase over the phone at 212-245-3999 ext 10. Ticket purchases are tax-deductible to the extent of the law.


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Finitribe with David Miller
Finitribe special with David Miller in conversation
The band formed in Edinburgh in 1984 by Chris Connelly, John Vick, Andy McGregor, Philip Pinsky, David Miller and Simon McGlynn.
Initially a post-punk guitar outfit, the band released a debut E.P. Curling and Stretching on their own Finiflex label in the summer of 1984, graduating to their first John Peel Session in 1985 before rethinking their whole approach in the mid 80s.
Tired of the conventional drums, bass and guitar set up, they acquired a sampler and began experimenting with electronic music. The result was Let The Tribe Grow, an EP released on the Glasgow label Cathexis and featuring 'De Testimony', a seminal dance floor anthem for the original Balearic/Acid House generation. Subsequently, they signed to Chicago label Wax Trax and released two singles, "I Want More" (a cover of the Can song) and "Make it Internal", raising their profile in the States and resulting in extensive radio and club success.
A long and arduous "toilet" tour of the UK in 1988 led to the departure of three members – including Connelly who relocated to the States and joined the Revolting Cocks and Ministry – and a parting of the ways with Wax Trax Records.
This in turn resulted in a resurrection of the Finiflex label and a distribution deal with Fast Forward for a long-awaited debut album, Noise Lust and Fun. The band was now made up of Pinsky, Vick and Miller along with various contributions from Little Annie, Rosanne Erskine and Wilf Plum. A series of remix EP's proved their electronic and dance floor credentials and brought indie chart success.
The band met and signed a long-term publishing deal with Andy Heath (director of Beggars Banquet and Momentum Publishing), allowing the band to grow and develop without the constant need for advances from record companies.
After signing a new deal with One Little Indian the band with encouragement from label boss Derek Birkett ran into controversy almost immediately with the 'Animal Farm' EP. Subverting the nursery rhyme "Old MacDonald" for the purposes of berating the similarly titled hamburger outlet, Finitribe (as they were now known) offered up a flavour of the anti-consumerist stance prevalent on new album Grossing 10k (1989). The subsequent threat of legal action was not exactly helped by a "Fuck off McDonald's" poster and T-shirt campaign.
The band continued to develop stronger links with the electronic music world for their next single and album. Andrew Weatherall produced and remixed the single "101" (1991) along with Graham Massey from 808 State. Justin Robertson then worked with the band to remix and produce the singles "Ace Love Deuce" and "Forevergreen" (1992). These singles all featured on the band's most critically and commercially successful album, An Unexpected Groovy Treat (1992), the last album they were to record for One Little Indian.
The success of this album allowed the band to re launch their 'Finiflex' label and the in-house production team recorded and released many singles including those by Justin Robertson, State of Flux, Ege Bam Yasi and Sparks. A Finiflex Compilation album And Away They Go was released to critical acclaim in 1993. The band was redeveloping their studio complex in Leith during this period and coordinated all management, recording, press and merchandise from there.
After leaving One Little Indian the band further developed their studio complex and looked for a new recording deal. With the assistance of Tom Watkins (Pet Shop Boys, East 17) the band negotiated a deal with Pete Tong at London/FFRR. This deal allowed for the completion of the state of the art recording studio in Leith and facilitated complete independence for the recording of their next album.
For the writing and pre-production of the band's fourth album they relocated to a small crofting settlement called Sheigra. near Kinlochbervie in the north west of Scotland. In 1994 the band released the single "Brand New" and although a minor hit the relationship with London/FFRR was cooling. A further single "Love Above" and the album Sheigra were released in 1995. The band followed this with a tour with Sparks and then their own headlining tour of the UK.
By early 1996 David Miller and Philip Pinsky split from John Vick, the former continuing with Finitribe and John Vick successfully continuing with the studio complex Finiflex.
The slimmed down Finitribe, now operating from house built on the side of a volcano, started a new label U.G.T and released an LP by Acid House maverick Ege Bam Yasi. While looking for a new label and a new singer Finitribe went to Essex to work with former Prodigy collaborator Jason Byrne. The result was the EP Squelch and the meeting up with future producer Witchman(John Roome).
For a short while the band hooked up with Chas Smash (Madness) as manager, this indirectly led to a meeting with Korda Marshall and a deal was struck with Infectious/ Mushroom Records(home of Garbage and Ash). Philip and David recruited a band and picked up some guitars and drums.
The band's fifth album 'Sleazy Listening' was recorded in Edinburgh with John Roome (Witchman) producing. It featured Paul Haig, Little Annie, Niroshini Thambar, Chris Ross, John Roome and Katie Morrison. The album mixed electronica and live instrumentation and received critical acclaim. Melody Maker stating that, " If Finitribe had lived and worked in Bristol they would have won the Mercury Music prize by now".
The album was launched with a sell out gig at The Shooting Gallery, Edinburgh with Davy Henderson's Nectarine No. 9. The band toured the UK with their most successful gigs for several years, headlining the ICA in London. They recorded the first ever John Peel live session and released three further singles for Infectious.
This was the band's last album and tour. Their last gig was at a sell out Bath Moles Club in the summer of 1998.
Other interests and priorities meant that Philip and David put Finitribe to one side . One more single was released 'Bored' (2000).
In January 2014 the band reissued "De Testimony" on limited 12" vinyl and have plans to reissue further classics from their catalogue.


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Dashboard TV
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Besuchen Sie unsere Unternehmens-Website |www.quantumcast-digital.de|

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The Need & The Mission
ArtWatch UK Archive
Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Rodin's Fragile "L'Absolution" Treated for Display & Travel?
Auguste Rodin, L'Absolution (c. 1900), before treatment. Courtesy: The Art Newspaper (14 March 2017).
Ruth Osborne
The Art Newspaper reported last month on an extremely fragile piece by sculptor Auguste Rodin, held in the collection of the Musée Rodin in Paris, that is now to go on exhibition and on the road.
The work, titled "L'Absolution", was created from plaster and cloth by Rodin, approximately around 1900. Its complicated construction consists of over 6′ of plaster sculpture in three pieces created in the 1890s – the torso of a seated Ugolino [of Dante's Divine Comedy], a martyr's head, and the Earth – draped delicately over with a cloth molded by the artist in a thin layer of plaster. You can find archival images of the work in black & white from the Musée Rodin here.
The upcoming move is described by the new chief curator of collections Christine Lancestremère as "a little scary", and the article acknowledges she also "[suspected] that its fragility prevented it from going on display before". Then why is this display and move still happening? According to the report, the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Rodin's death demanded this item go into the "Kiefer Rodin" exhibit (Mar-Oct 2017), which will highlight several works by contemporary artist Anselm Kiefer conceived as responses to sculptures and drawings by Rodin. The exhibit is also set to travel to the Barnes in Philadelphia in November, and will be on display there thru March 2018. After that, "L'Absolution" will move to the Musée Rodin in Meudon to be on permanent display there. You can find a list of the sponsors of this joint exhibition on the Barnes' website here.
But first, of course, a little handling by conservators to try and make the work more "stable" for travel and display. After all, the cloth makes structure of the work itself so delicate that it must be displayed behind glass "to prevent the fabric from moving with the wind". Safe movement of the piece alone made some of the plaster on the cloth fall off.
Conservator examines Rodin's L'Absolution. Courtesy: The Art Newspaper (14 March 2017).
Conservator examination of the sculpture involved:
(1) Recently fallen plaster restored.
(2) Securing fabric back into original position on the sculpture.
(3) "Cleaning" of the entire piece.
Meanwhile, there is very little documentation on the work itself from the artist. Lancestremère admits that they don't even know if it is finished or not. All they had to work from in this treatment was one photo of this rather complicated 3-dimensional object: "Rodin did not make a marble or terracotta work from it, which is rare for the artist, and there is nothing in the archives about the piece except for one photograph."
However, upon visiting the Musée Rodin's online collections portal, we found these three black & white photographs, though they have no visible date associated with them.
The funding for the treatment was awarded by TEFAF for "restoration and reconstruction of the never before seen work". TEFAF itself was originally founded in 1988 by a group of art dealers as an art fair, and has only 5 years ago established its Museum Restoration Fund. Upon ArtWatch inquiring about why TEFAF was chosen for funding the restoration, Lancestremère said that this was the choice of the Museum's selection committee, and that the remainder of the operation was being financed by the Museum's budgeted funds for restoration. TEFAF itself has an interesting, if questionable, history related to (1) forgeries appearing at its fairs (see here) and therein (2) vetting its own experts (see here).
A quick overview of TEFAF's Museum Restoration Fund on the website shows that it "was launched to mark TEFAF's 25th anniversary in 2012". Since then, it has restored a mixture of paintings and sculptural objects – including ancient Egyptian coffins and a sarcophagus – at major museums in the U.S. and Europe. But why is an art fair – which makes money off of the success of art sales and a space in recent years wherein one expects to uncover new "discoveries" and attributions – supporting such a questionable conservation project and exhibition?
TEFAF's report at the announcement of the award itself is telling:
This is the first time it has been restored since its creation. Absolution resembles no other work by Rodin and it testifies to his bold and modern outlook.
Being connected with such a rare, unique work is certainly a selling point for TEFAF as a "bold", "modern" art fair. This statement also makes it clear that TEFAF is getting in on the ground floor, so to speak, of understanding and analyzing the work, as it is "the first time" there have been hands on this work other than Rodin's. For technical details on how the conservation actually worked, TEFAF's announcement went on to say:
The restoration of this work is particularly complex and requires two different kinds of expertise from two specialists: a painting restorer for the drapery and a sculpture restorer for the plaster elements. Currently, the three plaster sections have come apart, and need to be repositioned and fixed. The fabric pieces have lost their folds and shape and there are many losses in the plaster coating that held the drapery in place, with splinters that are in danger of breaking off.
So from this, one would be remiss to ask how did the three plaster sections come apart? Did they fall spontaneously or were they moved? According to our conversation with Lancestremère:
It seems that the three plaster subjects remained together until the 1980s. We do not know when exactly they were dissociated, but it is probable that it occurred perhaps on the occasion of a move from one reserve to the other […] the whole was considered too fragile, and it was preferable to separate the most prominent elements, the head of the Martyrdom, and the body of the Earth. The elements did not fall on their own because they are not broken. On the other hand, the textile had already had to slip and the folds to be discarded because, in the 1980 photographs, there are already numerous losses of material and a positioning of the drape which is not compatible with the remains of plaster present on the textile.
So the damage due to the piece over time and various potential moves while remaining in storage was not well documented. But if damage occurred to a piece that has only ever been in storage, would this fragility not concern the conservators in preparation of its travel outside the Musée Rodin to two different locations? When asked about how the multi-part piece was stabilized, Lancestremère let us know that the splintered pieces and the plaster-coated textile were stabilized by a mixture of adhesive and magnets: The three gypsum elements were reattached to each other with a reversible system composed of metallic elements fixed on the plaster by bonded resin studs (reversible adhesive) inside the plaster test. In the case of draped plaster fabrics, the gypsum scales raised were fixed with a fixative on the fabric. And the textile is held in place thanks to magnets of different sizes.
The piece has since gone on display at the Musée Rodin, where we will see how well these repairs hold up under the gaze of thousands entering the galleries. ArtWatch has also asked Lancestremère if, given the vulnerability of the sculpture, the Musée Rodin is concerned about its vulnerability in traveling overseas, but the exhibit opening it seems has kept the staff quiet for now. We will keep you posted on this development. In the meantime, take a look at their press packet for the exhibition here, which shows this photo (below) of the work on display in the center of one of the galleries.
L'Absolution on display in Kiefer-Rodin exhibit, Musée Rodin, Paris, March 2017. Courtesy: Musée Rodin, Paris.
We've just received an update from the Musée Rodin in Paris on the treatment of Rodin's L'Absolution and its travel status for the Kiefer Rodin exhibit. We would also like to thank the Musée Rodin staff for the below photographs of the work during treatment.
Lancastremère writes:
the Absolution sculpture will not go to Philadelphia. It is much too fragile for such a long and complicated journey […]The very large presence of the textile, which can not be supported or genuinely wedged, makes the packaging very complex and inevitably very "fragile". Vibrations and other shocks are a risk both for assemblages between the different subjects in plaster and for the textile coated with gypsum, the very fine scales of which are liable to fall.
Treatment of L'Absolution. Courtesy: Musée Rodin, Paris/ph. P.Hisbacq.
April 11, 2017 /0 Comments/by Nick
Tags: Absolution, art restoration, Auguste Rodin, Modern arts, Musée Rodin, Rodin, sculpture, TEFAF, traveling exhibition
https://www.artwatchinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017-04-11-Conservator-Rodin-Absolution.jpg 415 620 Nick https://www.artwatchinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Artwatch-International-300x138.jpg Nick2017-04-11 18:48:022017-09-14 15:57:38Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Rodin's Fragile "L'Absolution" Treated for Display & Travel?
UPDATE: Mucha's "Slav Epic" in Transit
Old Dutch Masters in New York: Mottled Vermeers in Manhattan Collections
Sistine Ceiling 2.0: Restoration of the Carracci Gallery Frescoes.
A Look at Art Conservation in the News.
Louvre Atlanta, 2006-2009
Critique on Restoration Methods
Readability of a Painting: Visibilité en peinture, lisibilité en restauration - L'objectif de lisibilité en restauration et ses conséquences sur les peintures
The Education of Art Conservators – Examining the Field at its Foundations
AAM AAMD architecture art conservation art damage art restoration art sale Berkshire Museum collection stewardship conservation Corcoran Corcoran College Corcoran Gallery Corcoran Gallery of Art deaccession Delaware Art Museum exhibition Florence frescoes Giotto Greenwich Village Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation historic preservation Italian art Italy James Beck James Beck Memorial Lecture Landmarks Preservation Commission Leonardo Leonardo da Vinci looted art Metropolitan Museum of Art Michelangelo National Gallery London National Gallery of Art Padua Picasso Renaissance Renaissance art restorers Sistine Chapel traveling exhibition Vatican Vatican Museums William Holman Hunt
ArtWatch Italia (1)
ArtWatch UK (2)
Position Statement (38)
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Mucha's "Slav Epic" On Tour: What Story Will the Canvases... Review: Center for Art Law Event "F for Fake"


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Hollywood Once upon a time in Hollywood showing good response at box office
Once upon a time in Hollywood showing good response at box office
Once upon a Time…in Hollywood,Quentin Tarantino's love letter to the industry in 1969, showed a great opening at the box office in its opening weekend. The film made $40 million domestic Bussines.
It's now the second-highest opening ever for a, nearly besting record holder Inglorious Bastards (when the latter's roughly $38 million. Once Upon a Time also set a record for first-day earnings for a Tarantino film.
The story line of this film revolves around the faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.
On the other side, film is also facing criticism from the Bruce Lee's daughter. Shannon Lee said it's disheartening to see her father portrayed as an arrogant blowhard, because in truth, as an Asian-American in 1960s Hollywood, he had to work much harder to succeed than Booth and Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicaprio), the fictional, white protagonists of the film.
She further added that "I can understand all the reasoning behind what is portrayed in the movie,".
"I understand that the two characters are antiheroes and this is sort of like a rage fantasy of what would happen… and they're portraying a period of time that clearly had a lot of racism and exclusion."
She also said that "I understand they want to make the Brad Pitt character this super bad-ass who could beat up Bruce Lee. But they didn't need to treat him in the way that white Hollywood did when he was alive."
Previous articleDoris Day will be remembered everyday for her great performances # Obituaries
Next articleOne more star kid is all set to rule the film industry # Check out "Giti"
Hollywood's future is seen to reside with the winners of L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future
Meghan Markle astrological prediction on celebrating Christmas in a Simpler tradition and not in Royal tradition #Must check out
Obama Reveals His Favorite films and TV shows #Check out
A journey from side walk to ramp walk #Check out
Is it Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are becoming friends again #Check out


An 11-year-old girl has drowned while on a boating trip on the Greek island of Lefkada, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
The youngster, believed to be named Laura Morgan, fell from the boat during a holiday, according to Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry.
No further details about the family or the nature of the incident, off the Ionian Sea island in West Greece, were immediately available.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "I can confirm that an 11-year-old girl did drown.
"Further than that we do not release personal details of minors."
He said the family had not requested consular assistance.
But he added: "Of course we stand ready to assist in any way that we can."
Lefkada is home to a yachting port and is popular among water-sports enthusiasts.
It is one of the most popular sailing areas in Greece.
The fourth biggest of the Ionian islands, it boasts attractive villages and long white-sand beaches. Boating trips are popular among tourists who try to spot dolphins.


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Environmental Must-Reads – June 30, 2015
In Main, News Round-Up
New York formalizes ban on fracking, ending 7-year review
New York formalized its ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing for natural gas on Monday, concluding a seven-year environmental and health review that drew a record number of public comments.
"After years of exhaustive research and examination of the science and facts, prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing is the only reasonable alternative," Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens said in announcing the decision. "High-volume hydraulic fracturing poses significant adverse impacts to land, air, water, natural resources and potential significant public health impacts that cannot be adequately mitigated."
Green group's unconventional fight against fracking
The residents of Grant Township, Pennsylvania, were worried about Little Mahoning Creek, a picturesque trout stream best fished in the spring when the water runs fast.
The Pennsylvania General Energy Company had acquired a federal permit to drill an injection well down 7,000 feet about seven miles from the creek to dispose of wastewater from its natural gas hydraulic fracturing operations.
For U.S. power firms, EPA ruling barely a bump on road to natgas
For big U.S. power companies like FirstEnergy Corp, the Supreme Court's decision knocking back landmark rules reducing air pollutants from coal-fired plants has arrived too late for them to turn away from a natural gas-fueled future.
Big coal-fired generators said on Monday that they would press ahead with facility upgrades and plant closures even after the court invalidated one of President Barack Obama's major environmental initiatives, which would set new limits on the amount of mercury and other hazardous pollutants.
Slow-motion tragedy for American workers
Six weeks before Chris Johnson was born in 1974, the U.S. government issued a warning about a substance that would nearly kill him 30 years later.
The substance was silica, a component of rock and sand that is the scourge of miners, sandblasters and other workers who breathe it in. When pulverized into dust, it can cause silicosis — a scarring of the lungs that leads to slow suffocation — as well as lung cancer.
Drillers to submit electronic records on fracking chemicals to Pa. DEP
Pennsylvania will require shale gas companies to disclose electronically the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing in a new state-run database by next summer.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley said the department will end its partnership with FracFocus, an independent online catalog of fracking records, and develop what he considers a more comprehensive and user-friendly online database.
Judge grants Broomfield's request to temporarily suspend lawsuit over fracking moratorium
A district court judge has granted Broomfield's request to temporarily suspend the Colorado Oil and Gas Association lawsuit seeking to invalidate the voter-approved fracking moratorium.
Broomfield sought to have the case held in "abeyance" pending the outcome of two "substantially similar" cases being appealed. COGA opposed the request in a motion of its own.
Pennsylvania Governor and Fracking Sector Face Off on Budget, Regulations
Since taking over from a Republican administration this year, Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf repeatedly has said he supports the state's booming shale gas industry. But lately, the industry is questioning his commitment.
State regulators, who have begun reviewing dozens of environmental cases the previous administration handled, recently imposed an $8.9 million fine for a gas well they said is contaminating drinking water—the largest ever against a gas operator in state history.
Public Reaction to EPA Report on Fracking Reveals a Fractured Society
It keeps happening. A science-based report on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been released, and public reaction is polarized. In this case it's the EPA report on the impact of fracking on drinking water released earlier this month. Based on an exhaustive and objective assessment of existing studies, the report concluded that fracking has not caused widespread contamination of drinking water supplies. That's not to say that the process is without peril though. The report also detailed known risks and instances of previous contamination, and observations of important differences between locations where fracking is employed.
California oil train risks worse in minority areas: report
Californians most exposed to the risks of oil train derailments or fires overwhelmingly live in poorer, minority neighborhoods, two environmental groups in the state said on Tuesday.
The report, the first of its kind to explicitly link issues of class and race to the ongoing oil train safety debate, urged state regulators to ban oil imports by train into California and reject permits for several projects refiners have proposed to expand oil-by-rail cargo capacity.
Oil train traffic down on BNSF lines in Minnesota, Wisconsin
New documents show BNSF Railroad is hauling fewer crude oil trains through Minnesota and Wisconsin than it was last winter.
BNSF now averages 25 unit trains per week along its line that follows the Mississippi River from the Twin Cities to Illinois, according to a report released Friday by the Wisconsin Department of Emergency Management.
That's down from an average of 36 reported in September, a drop of about 25 percent.
Natural gas pipeline project in University Heights, Beachwood, Lyndhurst will end in July
A $1.8 million gas-line replacement project on Cedar Road in University Heights, Beachwood and Lyndhurst is scheduled to wrap up July 23.
Workers are replacing pipe on Cedar between Milton and South Green roads in University Heights and between Fenway Drive in Beachwood and Stonelake Drive in Lyndhurst. Traffic is being maintained in both directions during the project, which started in May.
Sunoco seeks to calm fears of Mariner East pipeline project in Chester County
Sunoco Logistics took its pipeline-promotion show on the road to Chester County on Monday, seeking to calm residents' concerns surrounding the construction of a of a major new natural gas liquids pipeline from the Marcellus Shale of southwestern Pennsylvania to a processing plant at Marcus Hook near Philadelphia.
Company officials sought to offset fears over flaring, pumping stations and land contracts in two presentations and an accompanying "open house" at West Chester University where residents were invited to hear about the company's plans and ask questions, during an evening-long program.
Pipeline builder gives 3 Lancaster County conservation groups $1.5 million
Three grassroots environmental groups from Lancaster County will share more than $1.5 million for stream restoration from special environmental stewardship grants set up by the builder of a controversial proposed gas pipeline.
Oklahoma-based Williams, which wants to build the Atlantic Sunrise Central Penn Line South through Lancaster County, selected 17 projects in five counties to receive $2.5 million in one-time grants as part of the Atlantic Sunrise Environmental Stewardship Program.
Shell, Chevron win bid to dismiss gas station employee's cancer suit
A federal judge in New Orleans has thrown out the lawsuit of a widow who claimed her husband developed a deadly blood cancer after being exposed to benzene in gasoline as a gas station attendant in the 1950s and 1960s.
Defendants Shell Oil, Chevron USA and Texaco asked the court to dismiss the case after successfully challenging key expert medical testimony.
BP, Anadarko Rejected by U.S. Supreme Court on Gulf Spill Fines
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals from BP Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and left intact a ruling that opens the companies to potentially billions of dollars in fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
In declining to hear the appeal, the high court let stand a ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans that BP and Anadarko were automatically liable as co-owners of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Supreme Court intervention might have delayed Barbier's pending ruling on a U.S. request for as much as $13.7 billion in civil fines from BP and more than $1 billion from Anadarko. His decision may come at any time.
Scientists say sandy clumps on Sunset Beach contained BP oil from 2010 spill
Five years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster off the coast of Louisiana dumped between 3 million and 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, scientists now say they have proof that a little bit of it wound up on a Pinellas County beach.
Small sand patties that washed ashore along a 30-yard stretch of Sunset Beach near Caddy's on the Beach restaurant in Treasure Island contained traces of the Deepwater Horizon oil, as well as of the chemical dispersant that BP sprayed on the spill, according to a just-published paper by scientists from the University of South Florida.
Body of Evidence: How the White Pelican Spreads Oil
In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, disturbing photographs of Brown Pelicans coated in oily sludge played nonstop on TV news and ricocheted around the Internet. Now American White Pelicans, which migrate inland (unlike their brown relatives), seem to be revealing the far-reaching consequences of the disaster more than 1,400 miles from the Gulf, at Marsh Lake on the Minnesota River, where 12,000 to 14,000 pairs nest in May and June.
Biologists from North Dakota State University and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have been collecting samples in the form of eggs and the odd-looking bill knobs, or nuptial tubercles, that pelicans shed after mating season. The scientists are analyzing the samples, looking for evidence of chemicals from both the oil and the dispersants used to clean up the spill.
Oil-munching microbes cleaning up Gulf marshes faster than expected
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill left the Gulf Coast's vast and delicate marshlands in desperate need of cleaning. But soil microbes are on the job.
Since the spill, populations of oil-degrading microbes have boomed in some of Louisiana's most heavily oiled marsh soils. These invisible-to-the-eye janitors are breaking down the goopy brown oil faster than expected, scientists report June 19 in Environmental Science & Technology. Although some researchers are skeptical of the data, the study hints at a relatively speedy ecological recovery.
Fishing resumes in waters fouled by California oil spill
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife allowed fishing to resume on Monday across 138 square miles of water off the Santa Barbara coast that was closed following last month's huge oil spill.
Fish and Wildlife officials said decided to reopen the area following word from scientists that consuming fish caught in those waters poses no threat to human health. They said their scientists worked with their counterparts from the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to test a broad range of finfish, shellfish and other marine life to evaluate their exposure to oil chemicals.
Oil spill causes 'ecological disaster' close to Nefteyugansk city
A rupture in a key pipeline led to oil pouring into Ob floodwater with the polluted area now put at more than ten hectares. Pictures showed the scale of the damage in an area close to the city of 123,000 people in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region.
The Ob was anyway flooded when the spill occurred on 23 June and the key damage is to an area already underwater.
Former Sea Shepherd Vessel Sinks, Causes Oil Spill in Canada
The Research Vessel (R/V) Farley Mowat, which was once under the command of controversial Canadian conservationist Paul Watson, has unceremoniously sunk in Nova Scotia. The R/V Farley Mowat was once the flagship vessel of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which was founded by Mr. Watson, and it was used for direct action conservation efforts in various parts of the world, including a historical and ill-fated operation off the coast of Costa Rica.
Agencies respond to oil spill in Savannah River
An indeterminate amount of food-grade palm oil was spilled over the weekend from a tanker ship offloading at Vopak Terminal on the Savannah River just east of Georgia Ports Authority's Garden City Terminal, Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus said Monday.
First responders, including Moran Environmental, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and the U.S. Coast Guard are on the scene, she said. Some 5,000 feet of containment boom has been stretched along the river's edge.
China's Energy Giant Settles Oil Spill Lawsuit
The China National Petroleum Corporation is the country's largest producer and supplier of oil and natural gas.
Five years ago, two of the company's pipelines exploded—spilling an estimated 15-hundred tons of crude oil into waters around the northeastern port of Dalian.
That's the equivalent of about 11 thousand barrels of oil…the worst oil spill in China's history.
Senators' measure calls for pipeline river crossings study
A U.S. Senate committee has approved a measure that requires federal transportation officials to report on the safety of pipelines that cross beneath rivers following two major oil spills into the Yellowstone River.
Montana U.S. Senators Jon Tester, a Democrat, and Steve Daines, a Republican, co-sponsored the amendment included Thursday in a Transportation Department funding bill.
Oil companies played hardball in bid to defeat climate outsiders
Petty legal filings. Diversionary ballot measures. Counting abstentions as no votes. These are just some of the tactics U.S. oil companies used this spring to quash efforts by investors to win the right to nominate climate experts for board seats.
Led by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and proposed at 75 U.S. companies in various industries this year, the so-called proxy access measure would give investor groups who own 3 percent of a company for more than three years the right to nominate directors. At the 19 oil and gas companies targeted, the aim was to demand more accountability on global warming.
Midstream companies to build Houston-area pipeline and crude storage
Magellan Midstream Partners LP (NYSE: MMP) and LBC Tank Terminals LLC have partnered to build a $95 million crude oil storage and pipeline infrastructure in the Houston Gulf Coast area.
According to a release from the Magellan, the companies have formed the joint venture project Seabrook Logistics LLC to build, own and operate the infrastructure. The project is owned 50-50 by Magellan and LBC.
Safe For Now: Imperial Oil, Exxon Mobil, and BP Suspend Plans to Drill in Canada's Beaufort Sea
In a surprise announcement, Imperial Oil and its partners–ExxonMobil and BP–informed two Canadian regulators that they would "defer the proposed Beaufort Sea Joint Exploration Drilling Program." NRDC engaged early in the regulatory process to highlight the severe risks posed by Imperial's proposal to commence deep sea drilling in the Canadian Arctic without essential safeguards (such as relief wells). By stopping this industry proposal to waive a critical safeguard for offshore drilling in Canada, this victory means that deep water Arctic exploration will for–the time being–not put these fragile waters or our climate at risk. It also means that it is time to begin a meaningful and detailed conversation about economic development and indigenous community opportunity in the Arctic–a conversation that considers viable alternatives to oil and gas development and its propensity for boom and bust cycles.
Shell says could begin Arctic oil exploration off Alaska in late July
Royal Dutch Shell could begin drilling for oil in the Arctic off Alaska as early as the third week in July, when it expects sea ice to begin clearing, a spokesman said on Monday.
The Polar Pioneer drilling rig arrived in Dutch Harbor, in Unalaska, off mainland Alaska, early on Saturday morning and will remain there until ice begins clearing over the area in the Chukchi Sea where the company plans to drill through late September, spokesman Curtis Smith said.
U.S. activists to protest against Shell Arctic oil rig
U.S. environmental activists said they planned to protest on Tuesday against the launch of the second of two oil rigs central to Shell's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic.
The Washington state activists, who have staged frequent demonstrations over the last two months against Royal Dutch Shell's oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea off mainland Alaska, said they expected the rig to leave a Seattle-area port in the early morning and were planning a water-borne protest.
Battling for the Arctic: Lummi Canoe Leads Kayaktivists Against 'Death Star' Oil Rig
In an ominous foreshadowing of possible things to come, the EPA granted Shell Oil permission to dump 13 separate streams of waste from the oil rig Polar Pioneer into the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska, reported Joel Connelly in a June 15 Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog. In addition to bilge water, streams of such things as water-based drilling fluids and drill cuttings, deck drainage, sanitary wastes, domestic wastes, blowout preventer fluid and boiler blowdown will be dumped into the pristine environment of the Arctic Sea starting next month when the massive oil rig begins drilling at four separate exploratory well sites.
Arctic BP Lawsuit BP Oil Spill Fracking Hydraulic Fracturing Keystone XL oil trains pipeline Pollution
Trump's DOE places a ticking nuclear time bomb at Hanford Site
A stunning case of kids, radioactivity and government neglect emerges in Ohio
Seven years after Deepwater Horizon, and we haven't learned much
Louisiana's wetlands do not need this


text:
Kevin Hart pulls him back to host Oscars
Wednesday afternoon was comedian Kevin Hart announced as the host for the 91st edition of the Oscars. Less than two days later, after a storm of criticism because of past statements about the LGBTQ community, he announced that he retires.
The statements that Heart ultimately fatal were dating ten years ago.
In the first instance, tried the comedian, the case is still to be done with a Instagram video, but to shoot his goal past.
"My team told me that everyone is appalled by the tweets that several years ago, I had written," according to Hart. "Man, I'm almost 40 years old. If you do not believe that people change as they get older, then I dont know what I can say. If you have people in a situation you want to bring that they constantly have to answer for the past, then I am the wrong person."
A lot of people saw this message, if only more fuel to the fire. Several hours handed Heart a new video, in which he told about the ultimatum that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – the organisation behind the Oscars – he had imposed: either you can offer your apologies to either find a different host.
"I thanked for the requirement to apologise," he said. "This this is because I have given in the past already several times have been addressed. I'm not going to me endlessly to apologize for things that in the past took place, while I am now a totally different person."
Also this message was, however, not resented. Two hours later came the verdict. On Twitter showed the 39-year-old comedian know that he retired as host, after he had finally been apologies offered.
"I have decided to get me to withdraw as host for the Oscars," wrote Heart. "This is because I am not in the spotlight want to be at an event where talented artists of all attention to earn. I apologize at this also with the LGBTQ community for my callous comments from the past. I am sorry people have hurt you. I am a different person today. My goal is to get people to unite together and not apart."
The Academy must now look for a new host. That will be no easy quest, since the announcement of Heart on december 5, came reasonably late in comparison with the previous years.


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text:
Why are stock markets soaring amid so much uncertainty?
Business·Analysis
One of the biggest forces in global economics right now is uncertainty — it has weighed down the stock market and shaved as much as 0.75 per cent off U.S. GDP growth. Yet the market is setting new records.
Despite gloomy forecasts and slow growth, it doesn't take much to spur investors
Peter Armstrong · CBC News · Posted: Nov 05, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: November 5, 2019
The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 have made notorious gains since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency. It's part of the longest bull run in history. But those gains levelled off over the past two years.
All three major U.S. stock market indexes hit record levels to start the week. Fuelled by trade optimism, strong corporate earnings and continued job growth, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit new all-time highs.
U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to tout the records, saying: "Stock Market hits RECORD HIGH. Spend your money well!"
But there's something of a paradox at play. In spite of Trump's enthusiasm, most forecasts remain gloomy. Uncertainty still dominates the global landscape. Global growth has slowed.
Yet it doesn't seem to take much more than a hint of good news to spur investors.
For example, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had said early on Monday that trade talks with China have "come very far along." It was a vague statement and made no allusion that anything is final. It was also not the first time investors have heard that sort of thing from either the U.S. administration or the Chinese. Still, that sliver of positivity helped drive up markets around the world.
"It is fascinating to see equity investors, like Pavlov's dog, respond over and over again to the same piece of news," David Rosenberg, chief economist at the investment firm Gluskin Sheff wrote in a letter to clients.
On the other hand, one of the biggest forces in global economics right now is uncertainty — over the state of the U.S.-China trade war, over a slowing global economy. China recently posted its lowest quarterly growth in 26 years. Europe is struggling too. And some of the gloomiest signals are coming from bond markets around the world.
Bank of Nova Scotia's deputy chief economist Brett House says "erratic policy from the White House" has weighed on growth. So, even a small step toward removing some of that uncertainty, like Ross's comment about China, is bound to drive up stocks.
"While it doesn't roll back much of the damage that's been done," he says. "It takes some of the uncertainty on the forward outlook away."
House says all those unknowns have shaved as much as 0.75 per cent off U.S. GDP growth.
And it's weighed on stock market returns as well. The Dow and the S&P have made notorious gains since Trump won the presidency. It's part of the longest bull run in history. But those gains levelled off over the past two years. At the beginning of October, the S&P stood about where it had in January 2018. The more recent highs have broken through that plateau, but there just doesn't seem to be as much wind in the sails of optimism any more.
Rosenberg points out that indexes like the Dow and the S&P which trade in larger, more globally oriented companies are making gains. But indexes that cater to smaller companies aren't doing as well.
Trump sets White House meeting with Chinese trade negotiator
The Goldilocks president says he wants to keep the boom alive: Don Pittis
Rosenberg mused whether those bigger companies are doing better because they benefit from a perception of a thaw in U.S.-China trade tensions, while indexes more tied to the domestic U.S. economy aren't gaining nearly as much. He says the Russel 2000 is still nine per cent off its all-time high.
"The [smaller companies] derive 79% of their revenue from the U.S. economy," he wrote. "Q4 GDP estimates now show a US economy sputtering and catching down to the rest of the world."
The other major factor here is the cost of money.
"The vast majority of the worlds' major central banks [are] lowering interest rates and making money even cheaper," said House, at Scotiabank. "That provides a further lift to real economic activity"
One of the biggest forces in global economics right now is uncertainty — including uncertainty over the state of the U.S.-China trade war, and over a slowing global economy. (Richard Drew/The Associated Press)
But, House adds, it also means the alternative to investing in stocks doesn't look terribly attractive to investors.
Usually, the bond market acts as a sort of safe haven for investors worried about risk. In North America, bond yields are at historically low levels. Worldwide, the bond market is increasingly dominated by bonds with a negative yield. Instead of paying investors a small amount, negative yielding bonds actually charge investors for the privilege of investing.
Hopes for trade war truce emerge as U.S. scales back Chinese tariff threat
Stock markets remain jittery even as Trump and China try to ease trade war fears
Right now the amount of bonds with a negative yield has ballooned to a record $15 trillion worldwide. That's a whole lot of money very worried about the future.
So stock markets and bond markets are telling us dramatically different things about the economy right now. There's nothing inherently wrong with them sending different signals. But they won't remain at odds for ever. Eventually, either the optimistic stock market or the deeply troubled bond market will be proven right.
Donald Trump's 'erratic policy' has weighed on global growth, according to economists according to one Bank of Nova Scotia economist. (Getty Images/Tasos Katopodis)
Senior Business reporter for CBC News. A former host of On the Money and World Report on CBC Radio, Peter Armstrong has been a foreign correspondent and parliamentary reporter for CBC. Twitter: @armstrongcbc


text:
class Import < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :courses

  has_attached_file :csv_file,
    path: ":rails_root/tmp/:class/:attachment/:id_partition/:filename",
    url:  ":rails_root/tmp/:class/:attachment/:id_partition/:filename",
    preserve_files: false

  validates_attachment :csv_file,   content_type: { content_type: ["text/plain", "text/csv", "application/vnd.ms-excel", "application/octet-stream"] }
  #validates_presence_of :csv_file, :message => "Sorry the CSV File needs to be present", :on => :create

  before_create :download_remote_image, :if => :upload_url_provided?
  after_initialize :default_values

  def upload_url_provided?
    !self.upload_url.blank?
  end

  def run_import!
    prepare_run
    do_import
    finish_import
  end

  def default_values
    self.status ||= "ready"
    self.imported_num ||= 0
  end

  def prepare_run
    self.update_attribute(:status, "running")
  end

  def finish_import
    self.status = "finished"
    self.finished_at = Time.now
    self.save
    Course.where.not(import_id: self.id).destroy_all  #delete old courses
    log_info "Finished import #{Time.now}"
  end

  def do_import
    file = self.csv_file.path
    rows = CSV.read(file, :headers => true, :header_converters => :symbol,  :col_sep => "," , encoding: "ISO8859-1:utf-8")
    log_info "preparing to import courses from CSV with #{rows.size} rows"
    count = 0
    errors = 0

    rows.each do | row |
      course = Course.find_or_create_by(lcc_code: row[:lcc_course_code].strip)

      updated = course.update({title: row[:course_title],
                          description: row[:course_description],
                          hours: row[:learning_hours].to_f,
                          provider_code: row[:provider_course_code],
                          start_date: row[:start_date],
                          end_date: row[:end_date],
                          start_time: row[:start_time],
                          end_time: row[:end_time],
                          category_1: row[:category_1],
                          category_2: row[:category_2],
                          target_group: row[:target_group]
      })
      unless updated
        log_error "Could not update course: #{course.inspect}"
        next
      end

      provider = Provider.find_or_create_by(name: row[:provider])
      telephone = row[:contact_tel_no]
      telephone = nil if telephone && telephone[0] == "?"

      email = row[:contact_email]
      email = nil if email && email[0] == "?"

      updated = provider.update({ url: row[:provider_url], telephone: telephone, email: email })
      unless updated
        log_error "Could not update provider: #{provider.inspect}"
      end

      venue = Venue.find_or_create_by(name: row[:venue])

      updated = venue.update({
        postcode: row[:venue_postcode].strip,
        address_1: row[:address_1],
        address_2: row[:address_2],
        address_3: row[:address_3]
      })

      if venue.saved_changes?
        log_error "venue changed #{venue.name}"

        lookup_address = [row[:venue],row[:address_1],row[:address_2],row[:address_3],row[:venue_postcode].strip].select {|a| !a.blank?}.join(", ")
        lon_lat = Course.get_lon_lat(lookup_address, "google")

        if lon_lat && lon_lat[:latitude] > 54.50 #hacky fix for google approximate results
          lookup_address = [row[:address_1],row[:address_2],row[:address_3],row[:venue_postcode].strip].select {|a| !a.blank?}.join(", ")
          lon_lat = Course.get_lon_lat(lookup_address, "google")
        end

        unless lon_lat.nil?
          venue.latitude = lon_lat[:latitude]
          venue.longitude = lon_lat[:longitude]
        end

        venue.save
      end

      unless updated
        log_error "Could not update venue: #{venue.inspect}"
      end

      #if the venue doesn't have a name or a postcode, or is otherwise invalid, make sure that the corresponding course is not saved
      if venue.invalid?
        course.destroy
        next
      end

      course.venue = venue
      course.provider = provider

      course.latitude = venue.latitude
      course.longitude = venue.longitude
      course.lonlat = "POINT(#{venue.longitude} #{venue.latitude})" unless venue.longitude.nil?

      course.save
      count += 1
      print "."

      self.courses << course
    end

    self.update_attribute(:imported_num, count)
    Topic.update_counts

    log_info " "
    log_info "count: #{count} rows processed"
  end

  protected

  def download_remote_image
    csv_upload = do_download_remote_image
    unless csv_upload
      errors.add(:upload_url, "error with CSV URL")
      return false
    end
    self.csv_file = csv_upload

  end

  def do_download_remote_image
    begin
      io = open(URI.parse(upload_url))
      def io.original_filename
        filename =  base_uri.path.split('/').last

        if  !filename.blank?
          basename = File.basename(filename,File.extname(filename)) + '_'+('a'..'z').to_a.shuffle[0,8].join
          extname = File.extname(filename)
          filename = basename + extname
        end

        filename
      end
      io.original_filename.blank? ? nil : io
    rescue => e
      logger.debug "Error with URL upload"
      logger.debug e
      return false
    end
  end

  def log_info(msg)
    puts msg  if defined? Rake
    logger.info msg
  end

  def log_error(msg)
    puts msg  if defined? Rake
    logger.error msg
  end

end


Sales are underway at Sky House a new 139 unit luxury condominium being constructed at 11 East 29th Street between 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue.
A Clarett Group project designed by acclaimed architect Bruce Fowle of FXFOWLE, Sky House is a handsome new sleek residential tower in Madison Square Park North near the Flatiron district.
Most of the apartments will have stunning open city, East and Hudson river views or overlook the adjacent Church and gardens of The Church of the Transfiguration.
Contact me for showings or to have listings emailed from Sky House or any other Manhattan new development.


text:
Review: Bose SoundTrue on-ear headphones
Leigh D. Stark
GadgetsSmart Living
The name "Bose" generally brings with it a solid audio heritage, sending the message that what you're about to listen through won't just be great for your ears, but high quality across the board. But high quality often comes with high prices, and Bose's SoundTrue on-ear headphones could do away with that.
Two models of the SoundTrue have been made available, with the around-ear style relying on a small circumaural can design where the pads sit around the ears, while the on-ear design (the ones we're reviewing) is supra-aural and sits immediately on top. Both designs rely on memory foam to conform to the shape of your ears.
Over on the headband, consumers will find some light cushioning on the top, making the handset easy to grip with a slight hug on the head.
The cable is replaceable and plugs in using a 2.5mm headset jack on the cans, executing in a 3.5mm headset jack for the media player, with a three button microphone-equipped remote near the top of the cable Only one cable is included in the package.
A carrying case is also included, capable of storing the Bose SoundTrue on-ear phones when they're folded up.
When you're talking about headphones, portability doesn't always necessarily mean small. Rather, it just means it has to fold up and fit nicely in a backpack or handbag. Small, though, isn't the same, with mid-size headphone cans that can sit on the ear, but still occupy a relatively large set of space.
Bose's SoundTrue on-ear headphones are a little different, though, providing a very small headphone made for smaller ears, with a look reminiscent of the Bose brand and less that of the celebrity headphones we're beginning to see more of.
Going by the look alone, these are very easy on the eyes, though not necessarily as fashion-conscious as the Beats, Monster, or Soul headphones penetrating the market.
In fact, if you've ever seen the Bose silver noise cancelling headphones, these take on much the same approach, with a single colour on the headphone casing and the "Bose" name printed in a different block colour. For us, that means white headphones with a blue Bose printed, a name that tells the world yes, you're listening to what should amount to a good pair of cans.
Put them on and you'll find the comfort level matches that last observation, with no clamping or heavy pressing against the skull.
While the surface area of the headphones is relatively small, and your ears won't necessarily be covered (unless you have small ears), the SoundTrue have a rather light touch, making them one of the comfiest pairs of headphones we've felt to date.
In the past few years, we've even met people who will find this a welcoming thing, as some people seem to be particularly sensitive to heavy headbands. If this is you, consider trying a pair of the SoundTrue on-ears, as they seem built specifically to get around this problem.
Over to the sound quality, because that's the part that really matters, and really, we couldn't be more delighted.
While the SoundTrue headphones lack the warmth of the KEF M500 or the detail of the Aedle VK-1 (the last headphones we reviewed), they are very balanced across the board, with excellent lows, mids, and highs.
Testing with our regular headphone track test, we only needed to run the headphones at a little over half the volume amount on our test handset, the Sony Xperia Z2.
There, with Dave Brubeck's jazz take on the West Side Story piece "Maria," the trumpet in the highs was detailed and clear over the piano in the mids, with the double bass still evident in the lows. Very clear sound, and very balanced through the range.
Over in the world of rock, the balance continued, with heavy bass drums and loud electric guitar working with each other in Muse's "Supremacy," while the pop rock sound of Panic At The Disco's voice could be heard over the instruments in "New Perspective" without any clash from the other parts.
Pop and electronic held their ground just as well, with Sia's "Chandelier" only sounding a little empty over the synthetic drums, but otherwise fairly clear. There was a touch of fuzz as this track began to blow out in volumes, and that may have been attributed to the track, as Mooro's heavy electronic track "M66R6" showed no signs of the same which produced solid bass hits interchanging with high keyboard sounds.
A quick change into something a little more top 40 was also clear, with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis very clear over the mix of lows and mids in "Can't Hold Us" with a recreation that would make any casual listener smile.
Overall, the Bose SoundTrue seem to make themselves ideal for anyone that listens to music, with no real genre or category preferred by these cans, which is our favourite style of headphone, since it doesn't play to specific bass boosts or styles of music.
Motorola g9 Plus – there is life in 4G yet
But we do have a few niggling concerns, though, not least is the build quality.
While the comfort level on the SoundTrue on-ear headphones is excellent, without any hugging of the head at all, the construction is not.
Even though there's a backbone of metal in the mostly plastic design, we can already hear some rattling after a few days of use. We're not sure what it is, or precisely where it's coming from, but the rattling is noticeable when you move the headphones, and that doesn't bode well for the long term build.
We're not totally confident in the light weight plastic either, as it feels like it won't take much for the headphones to snap off, so we're guessing it will happen at around the year mark, either just before or closely after. If we were skeptics — and we are — we'd say probably right after the warranty ends. You know, Murphy's Law and all.
Also a bit of a concern for us is the cable, and there's only one of them in the box.
Sure, that might be just enough, but it's also not a very well made cable, and does feature a 2.5mm headset jack at one end, the side that connects with the headset itself. That's a design we've seen once before with a pair of KEF headphones, and we complained about it then, too, as it makes replacing the cable more of a chore since 2.5mm to 3.5mm cables are rarer, and will probably require a trip to the Bose store.
That is likely intentional, and while Jaycar or another electronics store will likely have something you can use, most people will end up walking into a Bose store and walking out with another cable, thereby completely the cycle.
From our point of view, Bose could have kept the cycle by sticking with the standard 3.5mm cable, which consumers would have preferred since it's easier to find.
If you're after a pair of headphones that's compact and comfortable, Bose has definitely nailed the formula with the SoundTrue headphones.
We wish the build quality was a little better, though, and we're a tad worried they won't make more than a year, but otherwise, if comfort, excellent sound, and portability is what you're after, the SoundTouch should totally be considered.
Fantastic sound; Comfortable to wear; Very compact; Includes carrying case; Replaceable cable;
Replaceable cable uses a 2.5mm jack on one end, making it harder to replace; Only one cable included; Build quality is less than desirable;
Boseheadphones
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Home / Lifestyle / Energy price cap: get the best deals now before prices go through roof
Energy price cap: get the best deals now before prices go through roof
The price of the cheapest deals has risen sharply since October 2016, when the Tories first announced their plans to cap energy bills for those on standard deals.
One provider, SSE, raised its cheapest gas-and-electricity tariff by almost 40pc between October 2016 and May 2017 – or from £782 to £1,072, based on average household usage.
As disclosed by The Telegraph, the gap between the best deals and the standard tariffs has narrowed, even though providers have in many cases increased their standard tariff rates too.
The average "Big Six" cheapest deal is now just £137 less than the cost of a standard tariff compared with £226 in October.
Energy experts suggest that the implementation of the cap will further limit the benefits for those who shop around. So, for now, read on for the best available deals and advice on how to switch.
Scroll down for…
Does it pay to switch?
What to do right now
Best fixed and variable deals
Predictions: what next for prices?
Bookmark this page – updated regularly – to keep your bills low
LATEST: Energy prices are on the rise.
Over the past 12 months the cost of the cheapest fixed-rate tariff has increased from £745 a year (which was offered by SSE in April) to £879 (from Avro Energy) based on average usage.
At the same time the price of the best variable deal has risen even more. In spring GB Energy Supply customers could expect to pay £765 per annum – now the best tariff costs £888.
Most of the biggest energy suppliers have announced price hikes this year including SSE, npower and EON. See here for the full list.
Compare energy tariffs across the market
Gas that will be delivered next year is being traded now. Prices change regularly and reflect expectations of supply meeting demand.
Avoid the traps by shopping around for a better contract. You will need to know the name of your current energy plan and an estimate of your usage.
If you haven't kept your bills, or have recently moved and don't have access to the previous occupant's bills, you can ask for these details from your supplier.
Most variable tariffs will let you switch without a charge. But some fixed-rate deals and online-only offers might charge if you leave before the end of the term.
Even if you are locked into a fixed-rate tariff with an exit fee, you may be able to negotiate a better deal with your current supplier or elsewhere. Ring your supplier and ask whether it can make a counter offer. If not, check whether the saving from switching to a new supplier outweighs the costs.
Best fixed deals
The cheapest deals are currently fixed tariffs but even these are on the rise.
Back in April the cheapest fixed deal was £745 based on average usage. The average cost of the top 10 deals was £757.50. This crept up to £784 in September, according to MoneySupermarket, and is now £900.50.
Be wary of fixed deals that come with a costly exit fee, such as the £60 charged by a number of suppliers to customers who switch.
Ofgem says all suppliers must contact customers 42 – 49 days before their fixed tariff comes to an end. Once you have received the letter you are free to switch without penalty.
Even if you're on the cheapest fixed deal be sure to switch when it comes to an end or risk being rolled onto your supplier's standard variable fixed tariff
And for a gamble, the best variable prices
Fixed-rate prices are traditionally cheaper than variable tariffs but recently the gap has narrowed.
In theory you could take a gamble with a variable tariff and hope it could soon drop below the fixed deal costs. However, as the general sentiment is that prices are rising, it may not be the best time to take the chance.
If you're already on a variable tariff remember suppliers must notify customers 30 days before a price rise, which means there is time to switch to a cheaper deal. Early exit fees do not apply to variable tariffs.
Advice for spring 2017: switch to a fix
Variable and fixed-rate tariffs are similarly priced but if you fix you'll protect yourself against rises.
There are also some fixed deals, such as Avro Energy's 'Simple and Fix' and Bristol Energy's one-year fixed tariff that do not come with early exit fees, so customers can switch if something better comes along.
You may be able to make greater savings by reducing your power use, either through energy-saving appliances or smarter practices at home. Energy-saving goods may be cheaper to run, but can be costly to purchase and install. There is a risk that people who want to reduce their carbon footprint are falling for misleading claims.
• Five quick tricks saved this family £400 a year on bills
• Can I make more money by moving my solar panels?
The 'big six': recent ups and downs
There was little activity among suppliers until the start of 2016 when all of the big six announced reductions to the price of gas. The cuts were minimal at around 5pc.
E.On was the first to announce a 5.1pc price cut at the end of January, quickly followed by SSE. Scottish Power joined the price war on February 2 with a 5.4pc reduction. Days later NPower announced gas would be 5.2pc cheaper from March 28.
British Gas and EDF announced their cuts within hours of each other on February 11.
British Gas said it would lower the price of gas by 5.1pc from March 11. It estimated it would save its customers an average of £31 per year. EDF quickly followed and announced a 5pc cut to gas.
Last year, experts predicted energy bills would rise by 5pc in 2017 – but some providers have already pushed up prices by more than that.
Energy price 2017-04-04
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Agricultural & Rural Development
Village Adoption Program
Raising Crop Productivity
Organic Farming with Effective Micro-organisms
Prosperity 2000
Biofuels & Wasteland Development
Primrose School
Your child can be a genius
National Education Program for India
Farm Schools
Tenfoldsales.com
Eternal Romance
Life in Literature & Cinema
Pride and Prejudice Project
Novels & Motion Pictures
Social Development in India
Full Employment
Internet Based Employment Generation
India : Vision 2020
Indicators of Development
Missing Links in Development Strategy
Multiplier Effects of Village Adoption Program
Social Science Research
Theory of Social Development
Strategies for Full Employment
Intl Commission - Peace & Food
Spirituality in Life
Process of Creation
The Mother & Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine
Karmayogi.net
Accomplishment in Life
Spirituality & Yogic Practice
Human Personality
Psychology of Conscious Evolution
Character of Life
MSS HISTORY
Dimensions of spiritual progress
Spiritual progress means a great many different things to different people -- to be of service to others, pray, meditate, acquire healing powers, read and understand philosophic and religious texts. Others want direct spiritual experience -- to expand their consciousness, feel the reality of God, commune with the universe, discover their soul or realize a higher state of knowledge and bliss.
Human Science is based on the premise that there is a spiritual dimension to reality which is the foundation and creative source of all that exists and that a progressive evolution in consciousness makes it possible for human beings to experience and give expression to this spiritual dimension in their personal lives. The varieties of spiritual experience are very great. They vary in form, direction, depth, height, intensity and permanency. They include such experiences as cosmic consciousness, a concrete sense of oneness with other beings, awareness of an infinite emptiness or void beyond the manifest universe, discovery of one's soul or psychic being, realization of a transcendent Spirit or Conscious Being, contact with godheads from what Sri Aurobindo refers to as the Overmental plane, etc.
Spiritual progress is the ultimate goal which any individual can choose to pursue. It is also the most difficult, because it requires us to give up our normal and habitual way of functioning and acquire a higher way of functioning which is supra-normal. In the words of The Mother, those who want to seriously pursue spiritual progress should make it not just one of the aims of their life, but the only aim.
Many techniques and methods have been devised to help people concentrate and enter into conscious contact with the spiritual planes of consciousness. Often when we return to our normal life situation and daily activities, we find the higher experiences rapidly fading away. That is why many people who seek spiritual experience tend to withdraw from life activity into some peaceful solitude where they can concentrate undisturbed.
The term spiritual experience is often used or confused with any type of experience on the subtle or occult planes of existence that are not normally accessible to our external consciousness – experiences of subtle beings and forces that influence our lives, of occult powers and subtle sounds, visions, voices, etc.
Here we reserve the term spiritual only for those powers and experiences that come from the higher spiritual planes of consciousness. Experiences from these planes are universally associated with spiritual qualities such as patience, peace, silence, equality (equanimity, non-reaction), harmony, self-giving, truth, freedom, light and compassion. Spiritual experience makes us more aware of our oneness with other people. It helps us escape from the confines of our ego and see the world impersonally and see other people through their eyes and from their point of view. Broadly speaking, progress that enhances the presence and expression of any or all of these spiritual values in the personality and life of a person may be regarded as forms of spiritual progress.
There are three main dimensions in which we can progress spiritually in life:
Individual: We can contact the inner psychic or spiritual center deep within us behind the heart and allow the spiritual qualities of peace, joy, love and harmony to express in and through our outer personalities.
Universal: We can expand our consciousness beyond the narrow bounds of our ego to identify with other people and feel our oneness with the universe around us.
Transcendent: We can raise our consciousness from its physical-vital base to higher planes and bring the higher consciousness back down into our physical lives.
Universalize
We live in the ego, separate and cut off from the rest of the world, thinking of ourselves, struggling for our own survival, success and enjoyment. Spiritual knowledge tells us that the ego is not our true self. Our true Self is universal. It is one with all other selves. It is one with the cosmos. It is infinite. It not only embraces all other selves. It lives in them and through them. We can move along the axis from ego to universal by forgetting ourselves, taking interest in other people, identifying with them, becoming selfless, practicing self-giving, taking joy in the success and happiness of other people, overcoming the limitations of our small self to discover the greater powers and capacities that lie unexpressed within us.
It is a spiritual truth that every trait and characteristic we encounter in other people is present in our own consciousness. That is so because we are all expressions of universal human nature. We tend to see the defects in other people while turning a blind eye to our own. We become sincere and humble when we realize that every trait that is there in others is also present in us. Humility helps to free us from the limitations of ego.
We can move from the ego to the universal by
Thinking of others and forgetting oneself
Understanding and taking other people's point of view rather than our own viewpoint
Becoming expansive and giving up limitations
Becoming generous
Giving up selfishness in favor of selflessness
Progressing from selflessness to active self-giving
Elevate your values
The Spirit is the ultimate conception of perfection. It is the Absolute value from which all relative values emerge. Values are ideals of perfection. Values determine how our human energies are expressed in action. As skills determine how we express our physical energy, values determine how we express our psychological energy. Values are spiritual skills. They are the standards for which we strive. The higher the values we seek to express, the higher and more refined our consciousness and energy become.
All temporal human values and life values ultimately derive from 12 eternal values of existence which constitute the characteristics or properties of pure spiritual consciousness: Infinity, Eternity, Silence, Peace, Unity, Truth, Goodness, Knowledge, Power, Beauty, Love and Bliss. Out of these 12, 1200 or 12,000 values arise. Each of these values expresses one aspect or dimension of a higher spiritual principle in life. For example, all values related to aspiration, strength, heroism and high Endeavour derive from the original spiritual value of Power. All values related to loyalty, affection, and self-giving issue from Love. All values related to cooperation, harmony, sympathy and identification issue from Unity. All values related to integrity, honesty, accuracy and objectivity issue from Truth. All values issuing from goodwill, benevolence, compassion and magnanimity issue from Goodness. All that expands and creates without limit is an expression of Infinite Being. All active, dynamic expression is founded on and supported by Peace and Silence.
The pursuit of one or more of these 12 values is the essence of all spiritual paths, regardless of their goals, forms or methods. The integration of these values with life is the highest of all human pursuits. To establish these values in one's life is a full-time pursuit, which is yoga. To accept these values inwardly and act in outside society according to the highest values of the society – the higher side of the right values – is to convert life into yoga. It is to integrate human life with the Spirit.
While all values are ultimately spiritual, some values directly express the spiritual consciousness and have the power to invoke that higher consciousness to express powerfully in our lives. Truthfulness, harmony, self-giving and goodness are Spiritual values that can elevate and transform our entire lives.
To express a spiritual value in life means to
Fully understand and embrace the spiritual truth which the value represents.
Express it perfectly without compromise or exception, because values have power only when they are expressed perfectly.
Express the values in the least important matter and with the least important person, not just in circumstances you consider very important or special.
Expressing values genuinely gives you a feeling of elevation, expansiveness, inner richness and fulfilment.
Even the simplest physical value such as cleanliness or punctuality acquires spiritual power when it is implemented with a spiritual motive and not merely for physical reasons.
Raise your consciousness
Human consciousness can be divided into three broad levels -- Physical, Vital, Mental. Each of these three levels can be further subdivided into a physical, vital and mental part, making a total of Nine Levels. We refer to these as Levels 1 to 9. We each exist and live on all nine levels, but some levels are more developed and prominent than others and one level tends to be predominant.
Above these nine levels of human consciousness lie multiple planes of spiritual consciousness. We can rise up to these higher planes during periods of meditation. The consciousness of these higher planes can also descend into our normal mental, vital and physical personality.
Most people, even those who are very intelligent and well educated, tend to live predominately at the physical and vital level. A few people really center their lives in the mental plane.To live from a higher than mental plane is only for the exceptional. Spiritual progress means to continuously try to raise our consciousness from the physical level to the mental level and beyond. We are identified with our bodies and think of ourselves as physical beings. Our consciousness is physical. We know the world through the five senses. We are preoccupied with physical needs and pleasures. But that is not all we are. That is only the base and foundation for our life in the world.
We are not just material beings. We are also vital beings capable of interacting with other people and forging positive relationships. When we move from the physical center to the vital center, we raise our consciousness. We become more alive, energetic and dynamic. We shift the focus from survival and comfort to expansion, accomplishment, and adventure. We become interested, courageous and generous.
The mental consciousness is based on our capacity to know, think, understand, perceive. It is far more conscious than the physical and vital consciousness. It seeks knowledge. It is capable of accepting ideals and striving for perfection. When we shift to the mental consciousness, we spend less of our time and energy in doing things and more of it in trying to understand ourselves, our lives and how we can accomplish more. We become better organized and more efficient, more creative, imaginative, innovative, tolerant, individualistic and idealistic. Above the mind there is a plane of higher mental consciousness in which we receive knowledge in silence without any mental effort or activity.
To move up the scale of human consciousness:
To outgrow physicality
Do not seek physical comfort and convenience. Seek to make progress at every moment.
Whatever you do physically do it carefully and perfectly.
Try to perfect physical values such as cleanliness, orderliness, punctuality, regularity, accuracy and quality.
To outgrow vitality
Do not insist on doing only the things you like or are interested in. Take interest in everything you do
Never gossip.
Never lose your temper or self-control.
Try to reduce the amount of talking you do and learn to speak softly.
To outgrow mentality and become spiritual
Think before you speak and act. Do not just repeat what you know or have heard.
Be open to new ideas.
Do not insist on your own ideas and beliefs.
Learn to listen to others.
Learn to take the viewpoint of other people.
Learn to see the other side -- there is always truth in the opposite viewpoint.
Learn to quiet the mind and receive knowledge in silence.
Learn to go within, to concentrate deep within and behind one's heart in the psychic center which is full of peace, love and joy.
Signs of spiritual progress
How do we know when we are growing spiritually? Here are some of the indications:
Patience: We are more patient and tolerant.
Peace: We feel more calm and peaceful, even in the midst of other people and intensity activity.
Silence: Our minds become settled. Thoughts are no longer insistent. We may even experience periods in which the mind is completely still.
Equality: We do not react to disturbing events. We are capable of greater equanimity. We have the capacity to remain undisturbed without being indifferent.
Knowledge: We understand the significance of all experiences that come to us and know how to grow or outgrow the need for them.
Goodwill: We joy in the joy of others. We no longer feel jealousy, resentment, or competition at the success of others.
Self-giving: We identify with others and aspire for their fulfilment more than for our own.
Joy: We feel a quiet, causeless happiness, a sense of contentment, an inner rich fullness that remains with us at all times.
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Q: Mono Shared Runtime is enabled I am trying to create archive for Xamarin Android application created in Visual studio 2017. I always get an error "Shared mono runtime is enabled in your project" but I actually it is disabled and Release mode is selected but still not working.
Disabled Shared runtime and set on Release mode

A: It's a old question but my answer may help someone.
In your Android project file *.csproj set false to AndroidUseSharedRuntime.
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
   ...
   <DebugSymbols>false</DebugSymbols>
   <AndroidUseSharedRuntime>false</AndroidUseSharedRuntime>
   ...

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