text:
\section{Introduction}

As videoconferencing applications incorporate higher sampling rates
and multiple channels, the problem of cancelling acoustic echo becomes
harder. One of the main difficulties in stereo echo cancellation is
the strong coherence that exists between the left and right channel,
making it hard or even impossible to correctly estimate the acoustic
impulse response \cite{Benesty1998}.

To improve the performance of a stereo acoustic echo canceller, it
is very useful to reduce the coherence between channels \cite{Benesty1998,Sondhi1995}.
This can be done by altering the signals using some form of non-linear
transformation, as illustrated in Fig. \ref{fig:Stereo-echo-cancellation}.
However, most of the methods proposed so far to reduce inter-channel
coherence \cite{Morgan2001,Ali1998,WU2005} do not take into account
human perception and tend to introduce too much audible distortion
to the signal, especially at high sampling rates. In this paper, we
propose a non-linear processing that closely matches human perception
in order to minimise coherence while maximising audio quality. We
show that by combining a shaped comb-allpass filter and psychoacoustically
masked noise, it is possible to achieve better reduction in coherence
while preserving higher audio quality than other nonlinear algorithms.

The paper is divided as follows. Section \ref{sec:Overview-And-Motivations}
presents an overview of the stereo acoustic echo cancellation problem.
Sections \ref{sec:Shaped-Comb-Allpass-Filtering} and \ref{sec:Psychoacoustically-Masked-Noise}
describe the two parts of the algorithm, which are the all-pass filtering
and the noise injection, respectively. Section \ref{sec:Evaluation-And-Results}
presents comparative results and Section \ref{sec:Conclusion} concludes
this paper.

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}\includegraphics[width=1\columnwidth,keepaspectratio]{echo_stereo}\end{center}

\vspace{-4mm}

\caption{Stereo echo cancellation system.\label{fig:Stereo-echo-cancellation} }

\vspace{-3mm}
\end{figure}

\section{Overview}

\label{sec:Overview-And-Motivations}

In a multi-channel audio system, there usually exists a strong coherence
between channels (loudspeakers) that causes the filter optimisation
problem to be ill-conditioned. It is shown in \cite{Gansler2002}
that the normalised misalignment $\eta(n)$ is inversely proportional
to $\left(1-\gamma^{2}\right)$, where $\gamma$ is the inter-channel
coherence. In the frequency domain, the square inter-channel coherence
is defined as \cite{Benesty1998}
\begin{equation}
\gamma^{2}\left(f\right)=\frac{\left|E\left\{ X_{1}^{*}\left(f\right)X_{2}\left(f\right)\right\} \right|^{2}}{E\left\{ \left|X_{1}\left(f\right)\right|^{2}\right\} E\left\{ \left|X_{2}\left(f\right)\right|^{2}\right\} }\ ,\label{eq:coherence}
\end{equation}
where $X_{j}\left(f\right)$ denotes the Fourier transform of channel
$j$, $E\left\{ \cdot\right\} $ denotes the mathematical expectation,
and $\left(\cdot\right)^{*}$ denotes the complex conjugate.

It is desirable to maximise the audio quality, while minimising the
inter-channel coherence. Several approaches proposed so far to reduce
inter-channel coherence have focused on using memoryless non-linearities
\cite{Morgan2001}. Although they have the main advantage of being
easy to compute, these non-linearities introduce a great amount of
inter-modulation distortion, which quickly degrades the audio quality.
They also provide little control regarding how much perturbation is
caused as a function of frequency.

Another popular approach is to alter the phase of the signal in a
time varying way \cite{Ali1998,WU2005}. The time-varying aspect of
the transformation is important because the transformation would otherwise
be linear and thus have no effect on inter-channel coherence. The
phase of an audio can be altered either through the use of an all-pass
filter, or in the short-term Fourier transform (STFT) domain.

The algorithm we propose in this work was designed to minimise inter-channel
coherence, while maintaining good quality audio, including the stereo
image. Additionally, it is important not to add any significant delay
to the audio because latency is a very important aspect in the perception
of acoustic echo. Although this rules out analysis/synthesis algorithms
based on the DFT, it still allows the use overlapping windows, as
long as the processing within each window is causal.

The human auditory system localises sounds using two sets of binaural
cues. Interaural phase difference (IPD) is used at low frequencies
($\leq1.5\:\mathrm{kHz}$) and while interaural intensity difference
(IID) is used at higher frequencies ($\geq2\:\mathrm{kHz}$). We propose
a strategy that takes into account these binaural cues when altering
the audio signals. At higher frequencies, we propose to reduce coherence
by altering the phase (IPD) while preserving the IID. Because it is
not possible to alter IID without altering IPD at lower frequencies,
we use wideband psychoacoustically-masked noise with emphasis on lower
frequencies. Note that, unlike \cite{Benesty1998}, the noise is not
only shaped, but predominantly added to the lower frequencies. The
approach is illustrated in Fig. \ref{fig:Overview-of-system}.

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}\includegraphics[width=0.65\columnwidth,keepaspectratio]{overview}\end{center}

\vspace{-4mm}

\caption{Overview of the proposed algorithm (for each channel).\label{fig:Overview-of-system}}

\vspace{-3mm}
\end{figure}

\section{Shaped Comb-Allpass (SCAL) Filtering}

\label{sec:Shaped-Comb-Allpass-Filtering}

Allpass filters have a flat frequency response with non-linear phase
and can be represented by the general causal form
\begin{equation}
A(z)=\frac{\sum_{k=1}^{N}a_{k}z^{k-N}+z^{-N}}{1-\sum_{k=1}^{N}a_{k}z^{-k}}\ .\label{eq:allpass-causal}
\end{equation}
It is hard to design an all-pass filter starting from the general
form (\ref{eq:allpass-causal}) for high orders. However, it is possible
to construct a filter that alters the phase similarly across all frequencies
by using a simple comb-allpass filter of the form
\begin{equation}
A(z)=\frac{\alpha+z^{-N}}{1-\alpha z^{-N}}\ .\label{eq:comb-allpass}
\end{equation}
The filter in (\ref{eq:comb-allpass}) combines an all-pole comb filter
to a maximum-phase all-zero comb filter, so the poles and zeros are
equally spread around the unit circle with radii of respectively $\alpha^{1/N}$
and $\alpha^{-1/N}$.

For the processing to be non-linear, it is required to vary the coefficient
$\alpha$ controlling the filter. This is achieved through using overlapping
windows with $\alpha$ held constant over each window. We use both
an analysis window and a synthesis window to prevent any blocking
artifacts. The signal is reconstructed using weighted overlap-add
(WOLA). Because all-pass filtering is a time-domain process, no extra
delay is added because at any given time, we do not need to apply
the allpass filter on the whole window. The analysis-synthesis window
is required to meet the Princen-Bradley criterion \cite{Princen1986}
and we use the Vorbis window \cite{VorbisSpec}.

Interaural phase difference (IPD) is the main localisation cue at
lower frequencies, so the human ear is more sensitive to phase distortion
in the low frequencies. For that reason, it is important to ``shape''
the phase modulation as a function of frequency so as to limit distortion
of the stereo image. It is desirable to introduce less distortion
to the phase at lower frequencies than at higher frequencies. To do
so, we propose a shaped comb-allpass (SCAL) filter of the form
\begin{equation}
A(z)=\frac{\alpha\left(1-\beta z^{-1}\right)+z^{-N}}{1-\alpha\left(-\beta z^{-N+1}+z^{-N}\right)}\ ,\label{eq:shaped-comb}
\end{equation}
where $\alpha$ controls the \emph{depth} of the filter and $\beta$
controls the \emph{tilt}. Stability is guaranteed (sufficient condition)
as long as
\begin{equation}
\left|\alpha\right|\left(1+\left|\beta\right|\right)<1\ ,\label{eq:stability-criterion}
\end{equation}
so (\ref{eq:stability-criterion}) can be used to determine the upper
bound on $\alpha$ as a function of $\beta$. The effect of the \emph{tilt}
parameter $\beta$ is demonstrated in Fig. \ref{fig:Effect-of-tilt}
and can be explained by the fact that as $\beta$ increases, the poles
and zeros of the all-pass filter move closer to the unit circle at
high frequencies and away from the unit circle at lower frequencies.

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}\includegraphics[width=0.44\columnwidth,keepaspectratio]{polezero}\includegraphics[width=0.56\columnwidth,keepaspectratio]{phase_resp}\end{center}

\vspace{-4mm}

\caption{Effect of the \emph{tilt} parameter $\beta$ (with $\alpha=0.4$,
$N=10$). Location of the poles and zeros (left) and phase response
for different values of $\beta$ (right).\label{fig:Effect-of-tilt} }
\vspace{-2mm}
\end{figure}

When using a filter of order $N$, there are $N+1$ points on the
frequency axis where the phase response is zero, regardless of $\alpha$.
In other words, there are frequencies where no coherence reduction
occurs. For this reason, we also vary the order $N$ of the filter
so that the ``nulls'' in the phase response change as a function
of time.

The order $N$ is changed randomly for each new window, subject to
$N_{min}\leq N\leq N_{max}$. We then vary $\alpha$ using
\begin{equation}
\alpha(N)=\min\left(\left(\alpha(N-1)+r_{0}\right),\frac{1-\epsilon}{1+\left|\beta\right|}\right)\ ,\label{eq:random-alpha}
\end{equation}
where $r_{0}$ is a uniformly-distributed random variable chosen in
the $[-r_{max},r_{max}]$ range (typically $r_{max}=0.6$) and $\epsilon\ll1$
controls the distance to the unit circle of the high frequency poles.
The SCAL filter has a delay of $N_{max}=10$ and an overall complexity
of only 23 operations per sample, which is negligible when compared
to the complexity of the adaptive filtering used to cancel the echo.

\section{Psychoacoustically-Masked Noise}

\label{sec:Psychoacoustically-Masked-Noise}

The SCAL processing in Section \ref{sec:Shaped-Comb-Allpass-Filtering}
is mainly effective for frequencies above 2 kHz. For lower frequencies,
the ear is more sensitive to phase distortion (altering stereo image),
so it is preferable to inject noise that is uncorrelated to the audio
signal. In this work, we use the psychoacoustic model from the Vorbis
audio codec, as described in \cite{ValinAES2006}. The output of the
psychoacoustic model determines the amount and spectral shape of the
noise that can be added without significantly altering perceptual
audio quality. The psychoacoustic model is also tuned to introduce
less noise in higher frequencies because those are already decorrelated
by the SCAL filter.

The noise to be added is generated in the frequency domain. Again,
we make use of weighted overlap-and-add to reconstruct the time-domain
signal. To avoid adding a delay to the signal of interest, only the
noise is delayed and is added to the non-delayed input signal. This
can be done without significant audio quality degradation because
of the temporal masking effect. Because we are adding a random signal
during the WOLA process, it is the power that is additive and not
the amplitudes. For that reason, we again need to use a window that
satisfies the Princen-Bradley criterion, even though it is only applied
once. Although a lossy codec could be used \cite{Gansler1998} to
add the noise, it would cause a significant increase in the total
delay (>100 ms with MP3).

\section{Evaluation And Results}

\label{sec:Evaluation-And-Results}

We compare four different coherence reduction algorithms:
\begin{itemize}
\item Proposed algorithm, with shaping and variable order (\textbf{SCAL}),
$\beta=0.43$, $5\leq N\leq10$
\item Proposed algorithm, without shaping or variable order (\textbf{Comb-allpass}),
$\beta=0$, $N=7$
\item Smoothed absolute value (\textbf{smoothed absolute}), $\alpha_{abs}=0.3$
\item First-order, time varying all-pass filter (\textbf{allpass}), $\alpha_{min}=-0.985$
\end{itemize}
The smoothed absolute value non-linearity is included because it was
shown in \cite{Morgan2001} to be among the best memoryless non-linearity.
The time-varying first order all-pass filter is implemented as described
by \cite{Ali1998} but using $\alpha_{min}=-0.985$ to account for
the different sampling rate used in this work.

The block-based phase alteration method proposed in \cite{WU2005}
is excluded from the comparison because the boundary artifacts caused
by the implicit rectangular window causes major quality degradation
at high sampling rate, even for very small amounts of decorrelation.
While a WOLA approach could be used, it would involve additional delay,
something which is not acceptable in this context.

In both the proposed algorithm and the first-order all-pass filter,
there is a random component, so it is possible to independently process
each channel with the algorithm. On the other hand, applying the same
memoryless nonlinearity (smoothed absolute value in this case) to
each channel would not reduce the coherence. For that reason, we invert
the sign of the gain $\alpha_{abs}$ used for each channel.

\subsection{Methodology}

We evaluate the algorithms on eight audio excerpts sampled at 44.1
kHz. Four of the samples are voice samples (male and female speech,
Suzanne Vega, quartet) taken from the EBU Tech 3253 - Sound Quality
Assessment Material (SQAM), while the other four are various music
samples (classical, folk, rock, castanets).

Because we need the ground truth, all recordings are simulated using
real impulse responses measured in a room with around 220 ms reverberation
time (-60 dB). On the remote end, the samples are played one meter
in front of an XY-stereo microphone (16,384-sample impulse response).
These first recordings are processed using each of the algorithms
in the comparison. The quality of the processed files is evaluated
using the MUltiple Stimuli with Hidden Reference and Anchor (MUSHRA)
\cite{BS1534} methodology\footnote{We used the RateIt graphical interface available at http://rateit.sf.net/}.
Although in the final application the listeners hear the audio through
loudspeakers, we have decided to perform the evaluation using headphones
to make artifacts -- especially stereo image artifacts -- more noticeable.

The processed signals are played on the near end at the back of another
XY-stereo microphone (16,384-sample impulse response) and some background
noise is added to obtain a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 40 dB. Stereo
echo cancellation is then performed using a variant of the MDF algorithm~\cite{Soo1990}
for a 8,192-sample filter length. The filter misalignment is measured
between the filter found by the echo canceller and the first 8192
samples of the real impulse response.

\subsection{Quality and Misalignment}

Fig. \ref{fig:Quality-MUSHRA} shows the results we obtained with
10 listeners\footnote{Results from one additional listener were removed during post-screening
because they were inconsistent (e.g. all algorithms rated 0 including
the reference).} on a MUSHRA quality comparison of the algorithms. We observe that
for both voice and instruments, the quality with the proposed (SCAL)
algorithm is very close to that of the reference (``no process'')
and significantly higher than all other algorithms, with greater than
99\% confidence on a permutation test. This also shows that the shaped
aspect (parameter $\beta$) of the comb-allpass filter is important,
since the simple comb-allpass filter has significantly lower quality.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=1\columnwidth]{quality}\vspace{-2mm}

\caption{Quality of the signal from different algorithms obtained from a MUSHRA
test (higher is better).\label{fig:Quality-MUSHRA} }
\end{figure}

Fig. \ref{fig:Inverse-misalignment} shows the misalignment obtained
using each algorithm after 10 seconds. We can observe that convergence
with the proposed method is a significant improvement over the smoothed
absolute value, the first-order allpass filter and the unprocessed
signal. The total misalignment is approximately the same as with the
simple comb-allpass filter.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=1\columnwidth]{misalign}\vspace{-2mm}

\caption{Inverse of the filter misalignment (higher is better).\label{fig:Inverse-misalignment}}
\vspace{-4mm}
\end{figure}

Lastly, the average inter-channel coherence is shown in Fig. \ref{fig:Coherence}
as a function of frequency for a male speech sample. We see that the
proposed algorithm is more constant than other algorithms. It can
also be observed that for the comb-allpass filter with a constant
order some frequencies are still highly correlated. This is due to
``nulls'' in the phase response that do not depend on the value
of $\alpha$.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=1\columnwidth]{coher}\vspace{-2mm}

\caption{Inter-channel coherence after processing (lower is better)\label{fig:Coherence}}
\vspace{-4mm}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Qualifying Algorithm Artifacts}

Listening to the samples makes it possible to qualify the artifacts
caused by the algorithms under test and make the following remarks.
\vspace{-2mm}

\subsubsection*{Proposed algorithm}

Some listeners reported a mild ``flanging'' effect when listening
to the proposed algorithm, along with slight movement of the stereo
image from left to right. Overall, the artifacts are less severe than
those of the other algorithms and the stereo image distortion would
likely become less noticeable when listening with loudspeakers. \vspace{-2mm}

\subsubsection*{Proposed algorithm, without shaping and variable order}

When we remove the shaping of the comb-allpass filter, the flanging
effect becomes worse and the distortion in stereo image becomes much
more noticeable. This is due to increased changes in phase below 1
kHz, which affects the interaural phase difference (IPD). That degradation
is most noticeable on the well known Suzanne Vega \emph{a cappella}
excerpt.

\vspace{-2mm}

\subsubsection*{Smoothed absolute value}

Being a non-linear function, the smoothed absolute value produces
inter-modulation distortion. On harmonic signals such as speech, the
distortion is mostly masked and is perceived as additional ``harshness''.
Another artifact can be observed in the castanets sample. Because
castanets produce strongly asymmetric time-domain impulses, the smoothed
absolute value causes one of the channels to be amplified more than
the other, resulting in a very disturbing ``bouncing'' stereo image.
On tonal non-harmonic signals such as the glockenspiel (not included
in the formal evaluation), the inter-modulation distortion effect
can cause new tones to appear in some regions of the spectrum. Some
tones even appear at low frequencies, which has the effect of changing
the perceived fundamental frequency. \vspace{-2mm}

\subsubsection*{First-order all-pass filter}

The main artifact introduced by the first-order all-pass filter is
a nearly white crackling noise that is the result of varying the filter
coefficient $\alpha$ from one sample to another. For most samples,
the noise is masked at lower frequency, so it is usually perceived
as a high-frequency crackling noise. It is mainly perceivable on very
tonal samples, that do not leave much room for masking noise components.

\section{Conclusion}

\label{sec:Conclusion}

In this paper, we have demonstrated that it is possible to reduce
the coherence between the left and right channels in a video-conference
application without significantly reducing the audio quality. The
proposed method includes a shaped comb-allpass (SCAL) filter to reduce
coherence at higher frequencies and psychoacoustically masked noise
injection at lower frequencies. Novel aspects of this work include
the shaping of the phase alteration to better match human stereo perception,
as well as the use of windowing the allpass filter output to prevent
blocking artifacts.

The proposed method was shown to outperform other existing methods
both in terms of quality and amount of decorrelation provided, leading
to better echo cancellation results. Moreover, the total complexity
of the proposed algorithm is kept small so that it does not significantly
increase the complexity of a complete echo cancellation system.

\bibliographystyle{IEEEbib}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Hey! We're Lindsay and Maelle, a couple of Caribeens island who love traveling. We're coming to Australia for the first time after 7 months of travelling in New Zealand. We extremely love animals! In our home country we have a little dog "Zealand" a little Bichon X Shih Tzu. We miss she so much. It will be a real pleasure to take care of your animals like our own dog. We're exciting to reconnecting with pets and care of them.
We love sport and long walkout and with pets it's always better.
We're looking foreword to meet your family and your pets.


text:
Multi-State E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Ground Beef
The Centers for Disease Control says the outbreak has sickened seven people, sending five to the hospital.
ATLANTA (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control says a multistate outbreak of E.coli has sickened seven people, sending five to the hospital.
The CDC said Saturday that the outbreak of E. coli, which can cause intestinal illnesses, likely is linked to beef products from Adams Farms Slaughterhouse in Athol, Massachusetts.
People from 1 year old to 74 years old have become sick. They're from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. No deaths have been reported.
The CDC says five people who were interviewed said they'd eaten ground beef in the week before getting sick and that tests conducted in Connecticut on leftover ground beef from an ill person's home and a restaurant found E. coli.
The CDC says Adams Farm Slaughterhouse on Saturday recalled various cuts of beef, veal and bison products.
Top 10 Technologies from IMTS 2016

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The beach – its sandy ground and the sound of the waves as it crashes against the shore is what makes the drive out from the San Gabriel Valley worth it every single time. I sometimes take for granted on how rich in nature Southern California can be – not just the beaches, but our local mountains and not to mention the deserts that are all within a few hours of driving from me. When we met with Tram and Tien for their portrait session at the beach it was truly a beautiful day – not a cloud in sight, Catalina Island can be seen across the ocean, and we were able to seek refuge for a couple of hours from one of the biggest heat waves Los Angeles has seen in years. It's a pleasure to share these photographs from this dynamic duo and their dog, Puffy. Both Tram and Tien just celebrated their two-year anniversary as a couple and taking photographs is just a fabulous way to commemorate their love.


WORKHOUSE oversaw a special concert for legendary Ronnie Wood (and surprise special guests) at The Golden Nugget Atlantic City. Wood, the long-time Rolling Stones guitarist, will bring his extraordinary musical talent to fans in New Jersey, coming to the Golden Nugget directly off the heels of his second Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction for his work with The Faces. His first induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was in 1989 with the Rolling Stones. Formerly the Trump Marina, the Golden Nugget Atlantic City finished a $150 million renovation and rebranding project that included new bars, lounges, restaurants, rooms, and gaming areas.


text:
FCC Auctions Mobile Licenses
A dash for fresh new airwaves for mobile wireless devices began on Tuesday, with companies offering a net $404.8 million in the first round of bidding, the Federal Communications Commission said.
Eighty-seven bidders are competing for 422 licenses that will enable them to launch new products, fill gaps in coverage and improve service in a sale of spectrum that analysts expect will be the most lucrative in U.S. history.
Theta Communications, backed by money manager Mario Gabelli and linked to Lynch Interactive, bid the most in the first round, a net $79.5 million, including $31.8 million for one of the licenses in New York City.
VoiceStream Wireless bid a net $68.2 million for licenses covering Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., while Sprint bid a net $48.2 million for licenses in Los Angeles, Dallas and Boston.
Licenses in the New York and Los Angeles markets received the highest bids in the first round, $31.8 million and $21.2 million respectively, according to the FCC.
A second session of bidding will run from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday.
Winners will be able to use the licenses to offer mobile telephone and fax services as well as advanced tools capable of two-way data transmission via mobile phones, pagers and other wireless devices.
Many industry analysts have expected the auction to raise at least $16 billion and possibly much more, given the consumer demand for wireless services.
"We may see higher numbers than the bidders would normally want to pay simply because they need this spectrum," said Rudy Baca, an analyst at independent research firm The Precursor Group.
Salomon Smith Barney on Tuesday put its estimate at between $15 billion and $20 billion. But Lehman Brothers, citing evidence from recent spectrum auctions in Europe, in a research note on Monday set its sights a bit lower at $11 billion, still above the net $9.2 billion raised in a 1996 FCC sale.
Allegheny Communications late on Monday unsuccessfully sought to delay the auction, charging the FCC's rules for entrepreneurs that offer licenses to smaller companies were a sham for bigger players.
The company cited as an example of its concern the relationship between Salmon PCS and Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between local phone giants BellSouth and SBC Communications.
Salmon qualified as a designated entity to bid on 170 licenses allotted only for small, developing companies, proving they had gross revenues of less than $125 million in each of the last two years and total assets of less than $500 million.
The FCC opposed Allegheny's move and a U.S. appeals court refused to halt the auction, according to the agency. However, Allegheny could challenge any licenses ultimately awarded.
Also late on Monday, NextWave Telecom filed the first brief in its effort to reclaim licenses that were repossessed by the FCC because of nonpayment and are now a part of the agency's auction.
"Fundamental fairness should have precluded holding an auction before the merits of NextWave's appeal have been decided in court, particularly in light of the FCC's 'guarantee' to restore the licenses," NextWave spokesman Michael Wack said in a statement.
The FCC has said if NextWave were ultimately successful in its bid to win back the 95 licenses it won in 1996, the companies that had won the licenses in the latest auction would have to relinquish them but would be reimbursed.
One hope at the FCC is that fresh spectrum will encourage companies to develop and launch third-generation devices that allow for faster and more advanced services such as video display and wireless Internet access.
In Japan, for example, i-mode mobile phones have garnered 14 million users who can log on to the Internet on a screen the size of a business card – much more advanced than offerings in the United States.
What may also make bidders throw down large chunks of money in the latest U.S. auction are licenses in major markets where there is already massive congestion that can lead to dropped calls or poor connections.
The bidding will run each business day until no more new bids are submitted, which theoretically means the auction could go on for months, although agency officials expect it to be concluded in a matter of weeks.
To provide a break around the Christmas and New Year holidays, the FCC will stop the auction after bidding finishes on Dec. 21 and will resume on Jan. 5.


text:
Cyro Persiano de Almeida Vellozo (Caravelas, 5 de fevereiro de 1843 — Curitiba, 10 de março de 1908), foi um político brasileiro.

Nascido em Caravelas, no extremo sul da Bahia, mudou-se para o Rio de Janeiro, onde foi abastado comerciante. No Rio, casou-se, em 14 de agosto de 1868, com Zulmira Marianna Dias de Castro, que faleceu em 17 de setembro de 1879. O casal teve dois filhos: Dario Persiano de Castro Vellozo e Tito Lívio Persiano de Castro Vellozo.

Depois de viúvo, mudou-se, em agosto de 1885, com os dois filhos, para Curitiba, onde se casou novamente, em 1886, com Maria Izabel da Cunha.

Em Curitiba, Cyro Persiano de Almeida Vellozo foi o segundo prefeito eleito da cidade, para o período de 1895-1896, tendo ganhado a eleição com 672 votos. No início do seu mandato, Curitiba enfrentou longa estiagem e o prefeito mandou abrir poços de água para suprir as necessidades da população, mas pouco tempo depois a cidade foi castigada por inundações que arrancaram pontes e provocaram estragos nas ruas e bairros. Durante sua gestão, arrumou o passeio público, determinou o esgotamento da água do logradouro e transferiu animais e aves para o parque, para atrair o público. Em março de 1896, um ano após ter sido eleito, renunciou ao cargo desgostoso com os vereadores.

Faleceu em Curitiba em 10 de março de 1908, aos 65 anos de idade.

Prefeitos de Curitiba
Naturais de Caravelas (Bahia)
Mortos em 1908

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The Nonfiction of Skin
I have calluses on my hands that trace the top of my palms and the tips of my fingers. Each location—top of palm, tip of finger—marks a side of the rein I hold in each hand while riding a horse on Wednesdays. At just once a week of wear, the callouses are not rough or scaly or beaded but slight, flexible, a slope of firm skin.
I started horse-riding lessons because I loved Buck Branaman's The Faraway Horses; because my husband, Michael, took riding lessons as a toddler and liked the idea of riding with me; because my two year old son says "hersies" as he falls asleep or when we are driving in the car, and one day, I hope to take horse riding lessons with him; and, because I wanted to write an essay about horses. Perhaps I shouldn't admit that I wanted to write an essay before I signed up, but I did, and I'm admitting it.
I have another confession: I wrote the paragraph about the calluses on my hands before they existed, in the first one or two weeks of riding a few months ago. What I said is becoming true, albeit more slowly than I thought and just barely on my fingertips, but I predicted it from memory: skin had told me that story before. Not from riding horses, but from swinging on the monkey bars, or holding my shoes and hiking barefoot to the waterfall near my home, or muscling the five gallon bucket of water across the backyard to the chicken coup my dad had built. Warm, lovely calluses, familiar gatherings of skin beneath my fingers. We're all familiar with wear and tear turning into toughness, the finish of friction protecting us against further assault.
Each person's skin tells two stories. The first is the story of birth, the mark of our umbilical cord etched into the nest of our navel, a story that transforms "navel gazing" from the ultimate solipsism into a study in genealogy. This is the story John Gardner supposedly referred to as "A stranger comes to town." Each of us came to town at the genesis of our lives, such small and needy strangers. Perhaps this is one of our more private stories; we generally do not hoist up our shirts to show off our belly buttons the way we might pull up our sleeve or pant leg to show off a tattoo or scar at a party. It's unnecessary, of course. We know that each of us has a belly button, that each of us was born, our umbilical cords cut. But we also decline to show off those little craters in our skin for modesty, reserving such examinations and revealings for close quarters, for familial, intimate connections.
The second story of skin is the story of loneliness. Skin is the border of the body, the physical border of the self. Lovers can feel the contours and textures of each other, but neither can feel what the other person's skin feels. All of us are granted experience through the limits of our own body; we are not given access to another's. We live separately, separated. "A man goes on a journey," and we go a journey alone. The ultimate story of the body is a story of aloneness.
But our lives are not uniform, however fatally archetypal. Somewhere between the coexisting forces of connection and separation, we march out each an impossible existence, unpredictable and idiosyncratic. As we cross and endure so many roads and rivers, the world wears against our skins. A nail pierces a foot sole, the sun kindles our cells, a collar chafes against the back of a neck. Our skin responds with a wound, a burn, a rash—with bruises and blisters, freckles and wrinkles, stretch marks and scars.
This is not, by the way, an essay about horses. Or at least, it's not the essay I was hoping for, illuminated with wonder and catharsis and a grounded human-horse connection. I don't feel like I understand them any better than before I started riding. I like my lessons—they make a fun date with Michael, and I look forward to helping my son learn to ride, and the horses are beautiful and strong-willed and forgiving. Maybe in time, understanding will form in my mind like calluses on my hands, but for now, the horses remain oblique to me; difficult to understand, difficult to ride, difficult to trust when I lay food pellets on my palm and let their teeth come near my fingers.
"We assume," Paul de Man says, "that life produces the autobiography as an act produces its consequences, but can we not suggest […] that whatever the writer does is in fact governed by the technical demands of self-portraiture?" (20) In my lessons, I fall directly into de Man's proposition. I started riding because I liked a book, and because I fancied the idea of myself as someone who writes about horses. But, the reality of horse riding resists my preconceived notion. The horses I ride are uninvested in my self-portrait. As much as we produce our own autobiographies, outside forces push back, disrupting our intentions.
My favorite part of the lesson, it happens, is the beginning and end, when I stand to the side of the horse, rubbing his nose and neck with my naked and clammy palms, feeling loose hairs fly up against my wrists from the motion and pressure, sweat and oil mingling on my skin.
The monosyllabic skin is an economic word for the largest organ in our bodies. The word is short and quick to travel across the expressions a mouth can make—hiss, cough, groan— sensual and aesthetic, perhaps best pronounced by a breathless lover or between the teeth of a villain.
Such a different word than its medical alias, epidermis—long and capacious, evoking an authoritative and rhythmic finality. "Your epidermis is showing," my classmates used to say in grade school, and for a moment, I would panic, looking down at myself for signs of impropriety. The joke evokes the private world and the taboo of immodesty. It recasts a phrase that might say "your belly button is showing," a phrase that clearly lets you know, your belly button should not be showing. The word epidermis has the phonetic hallmarks of bare physiology with its latinate roots, sounds that children like me first encountered in a fifth grade maturation class. It so happens that epidermis sounds remarkably similar to the epididymis, an internal feature of the testicle.
But of course our skin is always showing, and that is the silent punchline. We are all, as Rita Rudner says, naked beneath our clothes.
As I write in a public lobby, a relatively small percentage of my epidermis is showing: my sandaled feet, my face and neck, my hands and wrists. I am as modest as any stern matron might expect of me, in my jeans and buttoned-up long sleeve shirt. Even so, I think, my skin begs an audience—if only of myself.
Such as, for instance, my wrists. When I pause writing to open and close my hands, stiff from typing, I enjoy the cliffs and valleys of my tendons peeking out from under my shirt sleeve, enjoy the little blue veins where my mom used to hold my wrist and rub a drop of her perfume. In "A blessing," James Wright describes a pony nuzzling his left hand, "And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear / That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist." Wrists are intimate, like the ear of a horse; vulnerable, acquiescing, defenseless when held.
I like wrists—my own, and everyone else's—for their graceful immodesty, their communicative seduction. Barthes says, "Is not the most erotic portion of a body where the garment gapes? […] the intermittence of skin flashing between two articles of clothing (trousers and sweater), between two edges (the open-necked shirt, the glove and the sleeve)" (9-10). A wrist is a site of reveal and conceal, the place where our skin goes from visible to hidden when wearing a long sleeved shirt or a coat, but it is also a site of reveal and conceal in how we hold them—tendons facing down, the hard armor of our radius and ulna posed upwards. We raise a palm when we wave, and the underside of our wrist admits a shy presence.
That, I think, is what writing is all about—a shy presence intent on connecting with the reader. Barthes uses the word "erotic" as a metaphor for texts that want the reader and engage in a drama with the reader through the promise of reveal and conceal. And so, among other examples, he provides us with the wrist, the unheralded handle to our hands. Wrists are a pivoting point, the base of my hands as I type right now or when I draw with my son. The word "wrist" means the twisting joint, and this act of twisting, of rotation, is the means by which connection is maintained and suspended within a text.
This rotation never ceases. The pleasure of the text, Barthes says, is not a singular, culminating revelation—not "the hope of seeing the sexual organ (schoolboy's dream) or in knowing the end of the story (novelistic satisfaction)" (10). Rather, it is the pleasure of revealing our own basic form, as in the creation of a nude portrait, "to learn the origin and the end," an endless quest. In seeking the origin and the end, we embark upon an infinite regression, encountering origin upon origin and end upon end. The denuded form is not a static thing but a shifting state, constantly dying and being born anew.
For months after giving birth, I wore almost no clothes. For the three days after my son's delivery by C-section, I spent most of my time in the hospital stuck on a bed, trying to pump, my body bare except for the hospital panties I bled into. In that state, I talked with my OB and met my son's pediatrician, both men, and shook the pediatrician's hand. At one point, I told my mom that I didn't care who saw me naked in the hospital and she said, "Of course you care!" so, I started covering up a little more, but only because I understood, vaguely, that some people might not be at ease with my nakedness.
After we went home with our newborn, I stayed in my bedroom, topless, pumping or painfully engorged or trying to help my baby nurse, holding him close with skin to skin contact. When I did start to leave the house, I nursed uncovered. Mostly, I figured no one else minded. Nothing reduces nudity to normalcy like birth and the demands of newbornhood, and I thought everyone must have experienced sudden comfort with my nakedness just as I had. Nakedness seemed so practical and obvious. In any case, while nursing in public, my baby rejected my attempts to cover him, to shield him from onlookers. Sometimes, though, as I pulled my neckline down over one breast and let my son nurse, still less exposed than I would be in a swimsuit, men at church would gape at me, or once, a college student cat-called—as if they had never been so primal in their need for food, so naked as a baby.
In Desirae Matherly's "In Defense of Navel Gazing," she says, of navel gazing, "Such attention, composed in stillness, transports us to places where we are indeed altered." The essay, she argues, is a form well-suited to belly button examinations, to ponderences of self and origin. The essay is intimately self-conscious, both of its author and of its form. David Lazar says, "In a sense, almost all essays are about the essay, because essays are so hopelessly, or better yet, hopefully, reflexive" (1). The essay is acutely aware of its body, and likes pointing to it. When someone shouts, "Your epidermis is showing! Your essay is showing!" the essay looks down for a modest moment before smiling and realizing, of course it is showing.
Genesis says, Adam was formed from the dust, and Eve from Adam's rib. A few weeks ago I learned, for the first time, that apologists engage in heated debates over whether or not Adam had a belly button. The question had never occurred to me, and I admire the kind of curiosity that stews obsessively over these sorts of riddles. How else would Newton see an apple fall and think, gravity!, naming the force that keeps each of us from ascending into heaven?
I suspect that the hundreds of articles and discussion boards proliferating the internet about "the great debate," as some apologists term it, are not really concerned with Adam's abdominal cosmetology. Rather, I think the riddle touches on a fear that Adam was not like us; how can he have been, with no navel? A navel speaks more to who we are than a hand or a leg or a rib or a lung. Who cares if Adam didn't have all of his ribs? But a navel! Any navel would do, I think; a mark on the back or side, a swirling nodule on the top of his head. Just some tribute of separation, a remnant of the being Adam grew out of.
But this must be wishful thinking on my part. Otherwise, more people would be wondering about a mark in Eve's side, the place where she grew after a rib was separated from Adam. Searching did Eve have a belly button produces links titled, Did Adam have a belly button, or, Why are Adam and Eve painted with belly buttons?—no interest in Eve's umbilical status, belly or ribs or elsewhere.
So, no, not any navel will do.
On the day of my son's birth, my genesis as a mother—my second birthday, the saying goes, not accounting all of my previous births and deaths—I delivered my son by C-section. At four to five inches of skin, my C-section is my largest scar, skin-through-womb deep, now inelastic and numb but for an occasional shade of irritation. I do not understand the laws that order wounds into scars, and my efforts to read articles about healing skin have so far confused more than enlightened me. However, I am always pleased to happen across the phrase, wound cell activities. I think it a poetic phrase, one that conjures an image of busy medics collaborating around a cite of disaster. But perhaps my imposed image isn't quite right; after all, wound cells are the same as damaged cells. A better image might be civilians packing sandbags after a flood, returning to their water-damaged homes more weary than before. Wound cells recover damage, but they don't go back to what they were. They remember, sometimes leaving a mark—a scar—that outlasts generations of cells.
"All I want is to prove that this happened" (37) Rafferty says of tragedies where he could find no memorials, no scars. I am no longer pregnant, my abdomen no longer sore, but I can look down and see, however faintly—remember, there. That happened.
A trauma I cannot prove happened: once I was almost trampled by horses, or so I believed. I was little, sitting in my front yard by the corner of my house. I suspect that I was lost in thought, or rather, moored in a state of concentration that left me senseless to the world. Then, three horses from the pasture behind our house, Dolly, Zeb and Gabby, galloped around the corner, hooves striking the ground and beating a path through the grass in front of me.
I have no memory of the horses startling when they saw me, no memory of a sudden spook in their posture. I was likely not really in their way at all. But a seven year old does not know that horses are adept at noticing and avoiding the carefree creatures in their path. Perhaps even a seasoned horseman doesn't know it, when three horses appear suddenly and wildly as they round a corner in their race to escape. Whatever my brain might have known or not known, my body knew for certain that I should have died, and the fact of my survival shot through my guts and bones in ripple after ripple of pain.
In grade school, even more common than "Your epidermis is showing," I remember the joke that went "Look! Gullible is written on the ceiling!" This time, instead of looking down for signs of impropriety, I would look up for a moment of shared spectacle, only to realize I had, once again, been caught.
My siblings especially liked to play this joke on me, who always looked up, and who had a reputation for being incurably gullible. Eventually, I started giving long monologues during family meals about how it wasn't gullible at all to look at the ceiling; looking was a way of finding the truth for one's self. To this, my siblings snickered, just as they did when I suggested that saying "I'm not being defensive" didn't necessarily mean that I was being defensive.
In the Garden of Eden, the first human hurt was the shame of gullibility; the second, the shame of skin. After Adam and Eve hid their naked bodies, God asked, surprised at their shame, "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?"
Adam spoke first: "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." Whom thou gavest to be with me—Remember, Father? Woman you made from my rib, bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh? Woman for whom man should leave his father, and cleave unto her, one flesh? Adam had followed his best friend away from home, the two as innocent as children.
"And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat."
In high school, I believed I was anorexic, mostly because my classmates and teachers told me that I was—but, if I had seen an actual psychologist, I doubt they would have said so. I was happy with my size, and my lack of eating was generally not a conscious choice. Rather, I felt, and continue to feel, a prohibitively low appetite. At times, I can stomach only very mild food, and I often have to remind myself to eat enough.
As a teenager, I rarely listened when people told me I should eat more. Eating activated a kind of gag reflex that exhausted me, and I didn't want to set aside the hours of emotional and physical energy it eventually took, towards the end of high school, when I worked so hard to feed myself. I'm not sure I would have taken food seriously, if it hadn't been for two marks on my skin—a four inch line down my bicep, and a little ribbon of red on my wrist. The mark on my bicep came from scratching myself on a branch, barely drawing little beads of blood. The ribbon on my wrist came from burning myself, lightly, with an iron. Both marks stayed for months, refusing to heal.
It was my skin that convinced me I was starving. I had been told before that if I didn't eat enough I might not be able to conceive, which concerned me, but the thought of motherhood was moored in a remote future, and I felt no urgency. Seeing my body so helpless, though, made real the possibility that I was being irrecoverably damaged. And so, I ate.
A few weeks ago at my dad and stepmom's for dinner, my brother said, "Lizzie, I hear you're still gullible. We need to test your gullibleness."
I said, after asking who had told him I was gullible and receiving no answer, "Wouldn't that be hard to test when I'm anticipating it? And anyway, I still insist that someone who looks at the ceiling to see if 'guillibe' is written on it is smart, not gullible, because they found out for themselves.
"See?" I looked up. "I've checked, and 'gullible' isn't on the ceiling." Perhaps I would have continued my monologue if everyone at the table hadn't folded into a unanimous fit of laughter. I looked again. There it was on the ceiling, a little piece of paper that read, gullible.
I tried to explain that I was wearing an old glasses prescription that made it hard to see, but I was embarrassed. I could read it okay; I just hadn't looked very closely. I said, to preserve some dignity, that my blunder would go great in an essay I was writing and pulled out my tablet to take notes. My brother said, "I love you Lizzie!" and a few minutes later, my dad said, "You've got some good material now, even if it was at your expense."
Such is the privilege of writers, I suppose: the universe is constantly supplying gifts. "Everything I see or hear is an essay in bud," Alexander Smith said, perhaps favoring the universe at rest to the universe in commotion, but demonstrating nonetheless the writerly impulse to turn everything into material. Writers are proverbial cowboys sitting around the campfire, showing off scars and swapping stories. I've never sat around a campfire with cowboys, but I imagine that even though a big scar is impressive among strangers, any scar will do among friends. Friends are less interested in competition than communion, funny or somber or trifling in tone, and an essayist writes as a friend.
Sitting around a campfire, though, implies inaction and repose. The horse has stopped bucking, the cows are gathered in. Writing, too, creates an illusion of emotional respite. The pain has passed, the writer is not in imminent crisis. But this is true only of the persona. The literal writer, like everyone, is always in the midst of crises. Resolution and relief last only a moment before the drama of life picks up again, aching and seemingly impossible to bear.
Yesterday, at my riding lesson, I was trotting circles when my horse, irritated by her bit, broke into a gallop. My instructor shouted "Easy, whoa," and tried to shorten the lead rope, telling me to pull on the reins—which I did for a moment before gripping the saddle pad, reins still in hand, certain I would lose control if I let go. The horse picked up speed, running circles around my instructor, and the saddle started shifting to the side by degrees.
For a moment, I thought about jumping off in case I couldn't stay on the saddle as it shifted, but then I saw another instructor walking over, and I knew I could hold on a little longer. I couldn't help but smile from relief and the thrill of flying. A minute later, my horse had stopped. The crisis was over, and I thought, this belongs in an essay.
Fair enough, it belongs in an essay; here it is. But that was yesterday. Today, I am no cowboy. Instead, I lie in bed with an aching back, an intermittent migraine, my thighs as tender as a bruise. My skeleton is decidedly moody and my muscles are complaining all over. It was a bit much for me, the high speed, my untrained body slamming into the saddle repeatedly. Perhaps I'll feel differently tomorrow, but for now, the writer lying in bed is in pain, and an essay, a scar to show off in the form of words, feels like poor compensation.
Another trauma I cannot prove happened: while I sat on the couch in my apartment living room as a college freshman, a group of boys outside of the building starting shouting and hitting the window above me. I shut the blinds and locked the door and moved away from the couch. The pounding continued, then progressed to the door, doorknob rattling, a stampede of blows.
Shortly after, they left, and a few minutes later I opened the door to make sure no one was outside. A note was left on our doorstep. It was handwritten and short, maybe twenty words, over half of which I didn't recognize. I searched for each word on the internet, learning terms for anal sex and incest and other slang, before throwing the note away. When my roommate got home, I told her what happened and mentioned the letter.
"Why did you look up the words?" she asked, in the wake of her alarm.
I said something like, "I don't know. I was just curious."
Five or so years after that, we went to lunch, where my roommate told me that she had told our bishop, the local church leader, about what happened. His response, she said, was that it would be best if she didn't mention it anymore; it could get a boy into trouble. She had followed his advice, even though we had no idea who the boys were. She only told me his response years later.
Since then, I've tried to remember some of the words in that letter, wanting to weigh the injury of its content. I felt gutted after reading it, horribly aware and ashamed of my body. But I can remember only one phrase, turkey jive, which Google tells me should be jive turkey, a mild slur, as they go—an exaggerator, or a liar. Seeing its definition, I can't help but wonder if I am exaggerating, can't help but believe that I must be lying, though I don't know what about.
In "Fashioning a Text," Annie Dillard says that storytelling replaces memory. She uses sharing a dream as an example, as when "at the end of the verbal description you've lost the dream but gained a verbal description." I resist her example as a general truth for writing, when so much of our memory is already processed into a mood, a script, an image. I remember, from childhood, the horses behind my house blinking off flies (an aggregate scene), and I retain a mental image after transferring it to words. Whether or not we write, our memories are perpetually deconstructing into symbolized, artistic form. Writing adds a file, a symbolic construction, but it doesn't necessarily replace the files we had before. We can read our words and compare them with still-intact memory. We can say, no, that isn't quite right; let me try again.
I do think, however, that Dillard conveys how writing ages unprocessed memory, as with recent memory (including, say, a dream), or memories that refuse to age with time. That is one of the great mercies of writing. Writing changes traumatic memory the way wound cell activities change skin. Both recover an injury, reforming and fading or becoming a scar that may, or may not, keep the shape of an original wound. Writing ages memory.
Before writing about the horses I thought had almost trampled me, I could still feel the zinging around my viscera when it came to mind. After writing, it is just another story I want to remember, a story I engage with from a distance. But if a wound is deep enough, a record stays whether we want it to or not. A scar remains, and the damaged skin, no longer in crisis, loses sensation. A piece of memory fades into coded information, cool to the touch, no longer so raw and bright.
Adam and Eve were naked again, obviously, after leaving the garden. Such is the inescapable deduction of Abel and Cain. I imagine the first time, undressing from the clothes they left the garden in, asking themselves— remember those days? Their first time intimate must have been a traumatic reminder of the innocence they had lost, and the onset of shame. Under so much pressure and pain, I can't imagine a sweetness more comforting than the acceptance and proximity they found in each other, the awareness that their bodies were, once again, lovely.
Nine months after conception came another nakedness, a kind that Eve had never known before—exposure to the steadfast course of nature, the uncontainable course of labor. A nakedness of bloated skin and engorgement and chafed nipples, of pain and longing and the promise of breakability unique to newborns. I imagine it was hard for Eve to put her clothes back on, eventually, when she remembered again the shame of nakedness. After dressing again, I wonder if she put a hand under the hem of her shirt to trace the alternating terrain of her belly, hollow stretch marks between plump skin, like letters beneath her fingers.
Barthes, Roland. The Pleasure of the Text. Trans. Richard Miller. New York: Hill and Wang, 1975. Print.
de Man, Paul. "Autobiography as De-facement." Modern Language Notes. 1979
Dillard, Annie. "To Fashion a Text." Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
Koch, Kenneth. "One Train May Hide Another." poets.org. Web.
Lazar, David. "Introduction: An Essay Upon Essays Upon Essays Upon Essays." Essaying the Essay. Gettysburg: Welcome Table Press, 2014. Print.
Matherly, Desirae. "In Defense of Navel Gazing." The Essay Review. Web.
Rafferty, Colin. "The Path." Hallow This Ground. Indiana University Press, 2015. Print.
Smith, Alexander. "On the writing of essays." Quotidiana. Ed. Patrick Madden. 27 Oct 2006. 17 Apr 2018 <http://essays.quotidiana.org/smith_a/writing_of_essays/>.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. Web.
Wright, James. "A Blessing." Poetry Foundation. Web.
Alizabeth Worley lives in Utah with her husband, Michael, and their two sons, just north of BYU where she received an MFA. She was a 2016 poetry winner of the AWP Intro Journals award and her essays, poems, and illustrated works have appeared in Iron Horse Literary Review, Hobart, Sweet: A Literary Confection, and elsewhere. You can find more of her work at alizabethworley.com.


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text:
Cricket Indian Cricket Team
Rohit Sharma strikes form, Ajinkya Rahane's struggles continue against West Indies 'A'
Ajit Vijaykumar 22:01 17/08/2019
India batsman Ajinkya Rahane.
India began preparations for the two-match Test series against the West Indies with a tour game against the 'A' team in Antigua on Saturday.
The Indians batted first with KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal opening the innings. They didn't make any significant impact with the first wicket falling on on 36.
The bigger disappointment for India was the form of Test specialist Ajinkya Rahane, who departed for just one from six balls. Rahane, who is the captain for the match, has been struggling in red ball cricket for some time.
In 14 first-class innings, including his latest outings for Hampshire in county cricket, Rahane has one century and one fifty. Also, he has been out for nought on three occasions and for one twice.
Solid as a rock - @cheteshwar1 gets to a patient half century now. #TeamIndia 170/3 👏🏻👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/V1cIRDelLz
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 17, 2019
Alternative ICC Awards for 2019: India star Rohit Sharma is Cricketer of the Year
India vs Sri Lanka : Visitors Outclassed as India begin year 2020 with a victory at Indore
While Rahane struggles will give the Indian management some headaches, Rohit Sharma's efforts should fill them with confidence. The ODI specialist has been given another chance to resurrect his Test career and he put his best foot forward on Saturday, hitting a fifty along with Cheteshwar Pujara. Rohit eventually departed for 68.
If it comes down to a toss-up between Rahane and Rohit, the latter might just get nod for the first Test in North Sound which starts on Thursday.
Ajinkya Rahane Cheteshwar Pujara India cricket Rohit Sharma West Indies
International Cricket Indian Cricket Team


text:
Photographer wasn't stumped by camouflaged owl family
Cast your vote for the best of the 16 Woods and Wildlife finalists. Enter your photos in the Four-Season Fun contest!
From a distance, it's just a decaying tree stump in various shades of brown.
But John Fortener of Allen Park had his eyes peeled for a Great Horned Owl at Island Park in Ann Arbor. And there it was, inside the stump.
"As I began to take a photo of this bird, to my surprise, two owlets popped up," he said. "This particular day is one I will not soon forget."
Fortener's "Great Horned Owl and Chicks in Nest" is among the last four finalists in The Detroit News' Celebrate Michigan Photo Contest under the Woods and Wildlife theme. With 1,893 photos entered, the Detroit News judges had a difficult time making the final choices. At least two dozen more were under serious consideration.
Ultimately, these three photos completed the pool of 16 that will become eligible for two $300 prizes:
"Boys Gathering," by James Timmer of Troy. "The young bucks were trying out their ability against some veterans" in a field in Troy, he said. "It was special to see the fun they were having."
"Keyhole," by Cameron Wilcox of Marquette. Wilcox shot this woods scene in Bewabic State Park this spring, wanting to "catch those early leaves before they could really unfurl so they were a nice light green color. That area has a lot of nice hardwood forests, so it looks like a storybook. I found that old stump with a hole in it and the sun lined up just right for a photo."
"Pure Northern Michigan," by Sasha Woodruff of Roscommon. During a walk in her hometown's woods this summer, she spied a charming sight: "Four sweet baby raccoons!"
Vote for your favorite
Two of the 16 finalists will receive $300 prizes. One winner will be chosen by The Detroit News photo staff. The other will be determined by an online public vote Wednesday through Sunday, July 28. Go to https://apps.detroitnews.com/vote to cast your vote for the People's Choice Award.
Both winners will be announced next Wednesday, July 31.
Enter the final contest theme
The Celebrate Michigan Photo Contest is accepting entries until noon August 16 for the final theme of the summer, Four-Season Fun. Share your photos of favorite activities and beautiful scenes from any of Michigan's four seasons at https://apps.detroitnews.com/submitphotos.
The contest is open to non-professional photographers age 18 and older. Go to https://detroitnews.com/celebrate-michigan to read the official rules and find weekly stories, plus a growing photo gallery of the finalists and winners selected to date.


text:
Mom Found in Case of N.J. Toddler Missing for 22 Years
Atlantic City police can finally question the mother of a toddler who has been missing for more than 22 years.
The child's father found her by accident.
Authorities had been looking in vain for Bonita Sanders since February. That's when police got a tip about where the body of the toddler also named Bonita Sanders may have been left in September 1986.
A search of the area did not reveal any evidence.
Authorities also said they wanted to question the child's mother. But she could not be found until Tuesday.
Abdul Salaam spotted her during his regular bike ride around Atlantic City.
She was arrested for contempt of court in unrelated cases. She has not been named a suspect in her daughter's disappearance.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/mom-found-in-case-of-n-j-toddler-missing-for-22-years


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If you're gluten-free or are on a low-carb diet, or diabetic, then the bread is one of those things that you can often really miss. Many of the gluten-free or low-carb bread substitutes taste pretty awful and are much more expensive. Oopsie buns are the simplest and cheapest low-carb bread.
Although, they don't exactly taste like bread. Think of them more as a bread alternative, in the same way, that you might use crackers, or a tortilla wrap instead. They're very light and airy and taste more similar to a pancake or very spongy bread.
Oopsie buns are moist and very delicate. So, if you have a lot of filling, it can get a little messy and drop everywhere. They're also a little too fragile to spread on but are perfect to sandwich a burger or chicken breast.
The recipe makes 8 buns. Preparation and cooking time is 30 minutes. Nutritional value per bun: 63 Calories, 5 g Fat, 0 g Carbs, 4 g Protein. There are only 3 g Carbs in the entire blend.
At first, preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Then cover a non-stick baking tray with baking parchment.
Separate the egg whites and put them in a clean bowl, with the cream of tartar. Using a clean whisk, whip the egg whites until they can create firm, stiff peaks. If you've done it right, then when you tilt the bowl (or turn it upside down), the mixture should remain stuck.
Get another bowl, and put the cream cheese into, then whisk in the egg yolks and salt.
Next, carefully fold the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture, using a spatula. Fold in only 1 or 2 scoops of the whites at a time, rather than all at once. You're aiming to keep the mixture aerated, so don't stir!
Then place 8 evenly-sized blobs onto your baking parchment. Carefully flatten them with your spatula, so they resemble cookies. Keep them at least half an inch apart, otherwise, they'll join together as they cook.
Put in the oven for 20-25 minutes until they turn golden (but not brown).
Once cooked, allow them to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire cake rack to finish cooling. They're very moist and delicate, so this is to allow some of the moisture to evaporate. Serve and enjoy!
Note: If you have any left over, then once they're cold you can store them in the fridge. Avoid putting them in an airtight tub, otherwise, they go soggy.
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text:
Night Job
Written by Karen Hesse
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more titles by G. Brian Karas
G. Brian Karas's bio
author: Karen Hesse
illustrator: G. Brian Karas
When the sun sets, Dad's job as a school custodian is just beginning. What is it like to work on a Friday night while the rest of the city is asleep? There's the smell of lilacs in the night air, the dusky highway in the moonlight, and glimpses of shy nighttime animals to make the dark magical. Shooting baskets in the half-lit gym, sweeping the stage with the game on the radio, and reading out loud to his father in the library all help the boy's time pass quickly. But what makes the night really special is being with Dad. Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse's quietly powerful story of a boy and his father is tenderly brought to life by G. Brian Karas in this luminous tribute to an enduring, everyday sort of love.
With lyrical narration and elegant, evocative artwork, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse and illustrator G. Brian Karas share the nighttime experience of a father and child.
$17.99 / $23.99 isbn-10/isbn-13:
Picture Books / Hardback
3 yrs - 7 yrs # of pages/size:
32 / 7 7/8" x 10 5/8"
Business, Careers, Occupations; Family; Health & Daily Living;
Karen Hesse is the author of numerous books for young people, including Out of the Dust, winner of a Newbery Medal and a Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction; The Cats in Krasinski Square; and Letters from Rifka. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellows Grant in 2002, Karen Hesse lives in Vermont.
illustrator's comments:
G. Brian Karas has illustrated more than ninety children's books, including two by Megan McDonald about Ant and Honey Bee; Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle; and Are You Going to Be Good? by Cari Best, a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year. G. Brian Karas lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.


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