Jephson Gardens in Leamington: what a landscape, what a tree scape, what colour, form and imagination!
I'm a resident of Leamington and visit Jephson Gardens most days. I would love your readers to take a new look at the gardens to appreciate the outstanding work that has gone into creating something so beautiful this season.
Not only are the beds of annuals planted in full vibrant glory, but also the natural walks by the river, the new garden near the clock with its sculpture and artistry, and the shape of the lawns and trees are breathtaking. And of course this great environment gives huge amounts of pleasure to all generations.
So, thank you so much to the team which does this for us all - local people and visitors alike.


Contemporary graphic art fair Supergraph takes over the Royal Exhibition Buildings from the 13-15th February.
Showcasing leading graphic artists and supporting Australia's newest talent, this family friendly event is also running art classes for creative Superkids!
"Put a Bird on It" a 3D paper collage workshop for ages 7-12.
There is also a competition to make your best, giant, paper Superplane and create your own dinner plate that will then be delivered to your home.
For more information and masterclass bookings visit the Supergraph Homepage.
Entry is $8 for adults, $5 for concessions and children under 12 are free.


text:
On behalf of the County of Simcoe, Warden Gerry Marshall presented a $1-million cheque to Lakehead University Oct. 18 during a special event at the 500 University Ave. campus in Orillia.
This brings the total amount of contributions to Lakehead by the County of Simcoe to approximately $6.5 million since 2009.
"Lakehead University has been Simcoe County's university for over a decade, and the County has been a consistent, generous, and exceptional supporter of it since before we opened our doors in Orillia and Central Ontario," said Lakehead University President & Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Brian Stevenson.
"The impact of the County's contributions over the years has served as a value-added investment in the region," added Dr. Stevenson. "Today's gift furthers Simcoe County's growth — growth in the success of our teaching, community service, and research activities, as well as increased economic impacts."
Dr. Stevenson, along with Orillia Campus Principal Dr. Kim Fedderson, reported to the County's Council members and guests how their investment has supported Lakehead's growth. The positive impacts have included the impressive growth of students enrolled at the campus — from just over 100 students in 2006 to almost 1,500 today; growth of academic programs, including those in partnership with Georgian College; as well as graduate level programs, international student growth, and the expansion of research activities.
"County Council understands that our region's post-secondary educational facilities will play a vital role for generations to come," said Warden Marshall. He explained that the contribution stems from the County of Simcoe's Strategic Plan that supports post-secondary education with a vision for the future.
Tanya Clark, a 2010 graduate of the Bachelor of Administration program thanked the County for its support on behalf of students and alumni.
"As a Georgian College transfer student, I was able to take advantage of the amazing post-secondary opportunities in Simcoe County, which have helped me achieve my career goals," Clark said. "Not only has the generosity and commitment of the County of Simcoe supported student education, it has also supported the many other ways that this University contributes to the community. In my position with the Couchiching Conservancy, the University is a valued partner."
After the cheque presentation, County councillors and guests were invited to visit the University's New Sun Art Gallery, recently opened in the Alumni Commons, a space recently developed for quiet study and now well used by students daily.
In the photo: Lakehead Orillia Campus Principal Kim Fedderson, County Council member Bill French; Lakehead University President & Vice-Chancellor Dr. Brian Stevenson; County of Simcoe Warden Gerry Marshall; and County Council members Harry Hughes and John O'Donnell.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Processing - Getting Keys I'm programming a game in processing, but I'm having the following problem:
When I press the left arrow key, the character moves to the left. But if I keep the key pressed and then press jump(up arrow key) while pressing the left arrow key, when the character arrives the ground he stop the movement.
This happens because somehow the Processing stop getting the pressed key after you press another.
There's anyway to fix that?

A: There is keyTyped() but I never get it to work as described in reference... You may try it thoug... The keyPressed() is called once when a key is pressed, but not for the time it still pressed. A usual way of doing this is to use booleans called from both, keyPressed() and keyReleased() to keep track of the states you need, like:
[EDIT2] code adapted:
    boolean[]keys = new boolean[5];
final int A = 0;
final int W = 1;
final int S = 2;
final int D = 3;
final int R = 4;
char keyP;
PVector p;

void setup(){
  size(400,400);
  p = new PVector (width/2, height/2);
}

void draw(){

  background(255);
  ellipse ( p.x, p.y, 10, 10);
  if(keys[A]){
    p.x--;
  }
  if(keys[W]){
    p.y--;
  }
  if(keys[S]){
    p.x++;
  }
  if(keys[D]){
    p.y++;
  }
  if(keys[R]){
    println("what should I do?");
  }

}

void keyPressed() {
    keyP = key;

    switch(keyP) {
      case 'A':
      case 'a':
          keys[A] = true;
          //println("a pressionado");
          break;
      case 'W':
      case 'w':
          keys[W] = true;
          //println("w pressionado");
          break;
      case 'S':
      case 's':
          keys[S] = true;
          //println("s pressionado");
          break;
      case 'D':
      case 'd':
          keys[D] = true;
          //println("d pressionado");
          break;
      case 'R':
      case 'r':
          keys[R] = true;
          //println("r pressionado");
          break;
    }
}

void keyReleased(){
    keyP = key;
    switch(keyP){
      case 'A':
      case 'a':
          keys[A] = false;
          //println("a solto");
          break;
      case 'W':
      case 'w':
          keys[W] = false;
          //println("w solto");
          break;
      case 'S':
      case 's':
          keys[S] = false;
          //println("s solto");
          break;
      case 'D':
      case 'd':
          keys[D] = false;
          //println("d solto");
          break;
      case 'R':
      case 'r':
          keys[R] = false;
          //println("r solto");
          break;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Super gentle skin nourishment that absorbs in seconds, leaving both you and your baby's skin feeling super soft, silky and moisturized. This perfect versatile oil can be used as a moisturizer, for a gentle massage, to soothe cradle cap, as an after swim or bath oil.
Calendula is added for its' anti-inflammatory and calming properties, phenomenal for Eczema and Cradle Cap as it can help reduce or minimize redness and itchiness.
Apply a small amount of our Calm Baby Massage Oil on baby's skin for a soothing massage or also use a capful in baby's bath.
Calm Baby Calendula Oil is perfect to layer under Sensitive Skin Organic Face&Body Lotion for extra moisture support during dry winter months and harsher weather conditions.
Calm Baby Calendula Oil: Massages are a wonderful bonding experience for you and your baby, but also help baby relax, cry less, sleep better, and in fact helps baby grow and thrive! Pour a capful of Calm Baby Massage Oil onto your hands and warm the massage oil to your skin temperature. Using circular strokes, very gently rub your baby's skin, starting with the calves and thighs, and work your hands up to the chest and tummy. Very softly then place both hands flat against the centre of your baby's body and spread out your hands flat to the sides in a circular motion. Keep going for as long as your baby seems to be enjoying it.
Other Uses:Literally everyone in your family can use this oil for super dry skin and as a nourishing hair serum too for repairing dry ends.Apply to the tips of your towel dried hair right out of the shower, and lightly around the crown of your hair. Lavender oil is great for calming fussy babies (and tired parents).
Ingredients: Helianthus Annus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Cocos (Coconut) Nucifera Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia Oil, Vanilla Planifolia Leaf Extract, Rosmarinus (Rosemary) Officinalis Leaf Extract,Tocopherol (Vitamin E).


text:
Journey to Justice
JtoJ Membership
Making the Case
The Impact of JtoJ
Trustee Board
Volunteers and personal donors
Newham History
Hidden Stories
JtoJ all over the land
The Postcards Project
Exhibition & Training
Resources and Credits
Start-up guide
Train the Trainers – using the JtoJ approach: history, the arts and social change
Events & Films
1. Introduction and Keynote (5 minutes)
2. History & Storytelling (7 minutes)
3. Arts Activism (6 minutes)
4. Social Change (5 minutes)
5. Planning & Evaluation (5 minutes)
See all parts together in a 35 minute film:
Follow Up and Impact
Challenge Prejudice and Hate Crime
Watch the film below, made by young people living in Richmond and Kingston who attend Ham Youth Centre. They have been appalled by the wave of prejudice and venom unleashed by events in the last couple of years. They wanted to make a film which could be used to raise awareness amongst their peers to enable them to reflect on essential issues like stereotyping, being a critical consumer of information and the portrayal of refugees. They also helped to create a resource pack with group work activities that schools or youth clubs could use to explore these issues further. (Ben Skelton, Youth Worker, Richmond). Some of the activities were based on those used at the JtoJ Train the Trainers course.
Marion Permaul, Head of Sociology at Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College, Waltham Forest, inspired by the TTT introduced JtoJ as part of their enrichment programme with the help of colleagues & JtoJ team members
Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College Report 2019
Journey to Justice is about galvanising people to take action for social justice, but it is often hard to identify whether and how this has taken place. Our project at Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College in Waltham Forest enabled us to see the process happening and how positive the outcomes can be.
Monoux JtoJ was initiated by Head of Sociology Marion Permaul and her colleague Jannine Jacobs-Roth after Marion had been inspired by our Train the Trainers day. The aim was for students to identify an issue they cared about and then plan and carry out an action of some form. After an introductory story-telling sessions by JtoJ volunteers Tania and Martin – full of examples of people taking action in their communities – students got to work.
Husna, Enitan, Faduma, Ozlem, Sabeehah and Muskan wanted to do something practical and preventative about homelessness:
"So we began putting ideas together and discussing exactly how we were going to target that issue. After a lot of research, thought and discussion we realised that the main cause of homelessness for women and children was domestic violence and abusive relationships, which resulted in them leaving abusers and ending up on the street. Therefore, we believed it would make more sense to target the cause of the problem rather than homelessness itself …
We first thought we could hold an event for mothers and children in our college hall … [but] … there were practical problems as well as safeguarding issues; we wanted out project to be smart and realistic … [so] … we really started to dig deeper into how to tackle the issue of domestic violence. Finally we had it: we thought that we could educate young boys and girls in relationships, helping them to see what is healthy and what isn't and the dangers of an unhealthy relationship."
They felt they should get young people to think about how they handle relationships and what goes wrong that leads to abuse in the home. Evidence suggests that gendered abuse can start very young, between siblings and influenced by adult behaviour. So they planned an awareness- raising lesson for schools and took it to Year 9 classes in two local schools. Their aim was to help younger students to understand the seriousness of the problem and get them thinking about how they relate to friends and partners. With the help of games, a quiz, group discussion and film they discussed coercive control as well as emotional, physical, sexual, financial and online abuse. They also gave out handouts with addresses to contact in case of need.
Responses from Year 9s were overwhelmingly positive. Here are some of their comments:
"I learnt quite a lot of new facts about domestic violence and how it's not only affecting women, but also men."
"I learnt how to understand the different types of domestic violence and where to go."
"The goal was to have an understanding … so we don't end up in the same situation."
"There should be more types of session like this."
"I think it's pretty cool how students just a few years older than me start a little organisation."
After the session in one school, the head of year wrote back:
"The students found it really interesting and informative. I would love for you to come back and deliver to my other two form groups."
Gulsah, Mustafa, Amy, Tasnia, Sanjida and Salma were concerned at the rise of Islamophobia and how it was affecting British Muslims' feeling of belonging. They ran a poster campaign based on the message 'We can't let the myths about faiths destroy our common humanity', to generate discussion among their peers across the college.
Amar, Imaan, Kameron, Melodie, Sophia, Taylor and Rebecca were worried by the low level of sexual health understanding among their fellow students and felt this needed to be tackled. Kameron explains what they did:
"In February the sexual health nurse came into the college and we, as sexual health mentors, went in and helped provide students with condom cards and the ability to take tests for chlamydia. Which may have seemed embarrassing to the students that took the free test but once we explained to them that there are no common symptoms for it they agreed. I feel like overall we achieved our objective because we informed a sufficient amount of people about sexual health and encouraged them to be safe when having sex."
Taylor adds:
"Regarding the future of our journey to justice, we have been appointed as sexual health student mentors , we hope to take part in future pathway assemblies and continue to educate others on safe sex. We also plan on assisting the college sexual health nurse during her future campaigns and presentations as a way of involving ourselves further into the community and increasing recognition and knowledge of safe sex."
Mental health and schizophrenia was the issue of concern for Jada and Ksanet so they carried out a questionnaire in college and developed materials for use in assemblies. While they did not manage to use the materials, they did comment that the project had helped them gain more knowledge so they feel far better informed about mental health awareness.
Another student, meanwhile, shared her experience:
"I'm an 18 year old and … if I were to come out as bisexual I would be made homeless. Due to faith reasons my family think that loving people regardless of gender is sin, there are very few places in which I know I am safe to be completely myself…
In college there are certain groups of people I can come out to, however that's not the case for everyone. If I were to come out to everyone I feel there could be a lack of security due to people's conflicting views. This could lead to me constantly having to defend my sexuality without any support, something I shouldn't have to do…"
She took the lead in organising the first Pride event in college. As one of her teachers commented:
"College staff have been grateful for LGBTQ students in telling us what we can do better …In February, we held our first Monoux Pride – an event for LGTBQ students to loudly say 'we're here!' and for allies to loudly say 'we're here for you!' One of my favourite aspects of Pride was how students who hadn't intended to be part of it, were happy to stay. … it seems the large majority of our students – from all faith backgrounds – are keen to be allies, whether they are LGBTQ themselves or not."
The project happened thanks to the energy and commitment of Marion and Jannine working closely with JtoJ's Martin and Tania. Thanks also to Vice Principal James Massara who has enabled strong support from the college leadership. He commented that students involved had performed outstandingly in leadership interviews.
We are delighted JtoJ was invited to help plan the same approach for a second year, this time coordinated by Monoux staff members Carol Green and Marcus Burke. Students are designing actions on mental health, LGBTQ+ awareness and knife crime. Our hope is that the project will be a permanent part of college life. More news to come!
They celebrated their achievements on June 20th 2018
The project galvanised sixth formers to take action on LGBTQ, schizophrenia and Islamophobia (awareness raising); domestic abuse (teaching sessions with Y9 classes in two schools); safe sex (working with a nurse to help run clinics in college). Students received JtoJ certificates, several college staff attended and the college is committed to continuing the project next year. Staff commented that students involved had performed outstandingly in leadership interviews. Special credit due to Monoux sociology teachers Marion and Janine and to Martin and Tania for JtoJ.
Tweets by @freedomandjobs
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"Three rival salons owners against each other to find out whose treatments offer the best value for money.
"Each episode sees three local beauticians take it in turns to visit each other's salons, where they are plumped, preened and pampered to perfection before deciding how much they're willing to pay for their treatments. At the end of all three visits, the salon that's been paid the highest percentage of their total bill is crowned that week's Spa Wars winner.
Rylan Clark-Neal hosts, and we're promised a guest celebrity to give the results on each show.
The show publicised the hashtag #spawars.
Publicity for the show acknowledged similarities to Three in a Bed and Come Dine with Me.
This page was last modified on 28 August 2017, at 20:59.


text:
Home > Brisk Condo Sales Boost Rockwell Profit
Brisk Condo Sales Boost Rockwell Profit
By: Miguel R. Camus – @inquirerdotnet
Property developer Rockwell Land Corp. reported higher profits in the first nine months of the year as it sold more residential condominium units, its quarterly report showed.
Rockwell, a subsidiary of the Lopez clan's First Philippine Holdings Corp., said net income from January to September this year hit P1.59 billion, up 31 percent from year-ago level.
The builder, best known for developing the upscale Rockwell Center mixed-use community in Makati City, said total revenue rose 36 percent to P10.7 billion in the first nine months.
It said the sale of condominium units alongside the accretion of interest income accounted for 86 percent of total revenue during the period.
As noted, residential developments accounted for the bulk of its business. This segment generated P9.4 billion in sales. Commercial development revenue amounted to P1.06 billion, up 11 percent.
The company said retail operations generated some P683 million in revenue, or about 6 percent of total. This included retail leasing, interest income and other mall revenues.
During the same nine-month period, Rockwell Land said total Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) hit P2.71 billion, higher by 16 percent. The gain was mainly on account of its residential business.
Overall Ebitda margin was at 25 percent, lower than 30 percent in the same period last year.
The builder said residential development, commercial development and hotel contributed 63 percent, 35 percent and 2 percent to the total Ebitda, respectively.
Rockwell Land's total capital expenditures through September hit P8.87 billion, up 20 percent.
The expenditures consisted mostly of development costs for Proscenium, RBC Sheridan and The Vantage projects, it said.
Source: http://business.inquirer.net/241086/brisk-condo-sales-boost-rockwell-profit
« Celebs in Rockwell Glad over 'complete Roll-out'
Power Plant Mall Christmas Raffle and Elite Raffle Promo 2017 »


text:
Q: Find top N oldest files on AIX system not supporting printf in find command I am trying to find a solution similar to the one used below to find the Top N oldest files (modification time) on my AIX system starting from a given directory and digging though all sub-directories as well under it . Unfortunately printf is not supported on AIX ( my version being 7.1) find command. Is there an alternative way to accomplish the same task on AIX?
$ find /home/sk/ostechnix/ -type f -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort | head -n 5

Source: https://ostechnix.com/find-oldest-file-directory-tree-linux/
AIX man page for find command: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_aix_71/f_commands/find.html

A: This formulation might work on AIX:
find /home/sk/ostechnix/ -type f| while read line; do echo "$(date +%s -r "$line") $line"; done|sort -n -k1|cut -d' ' -f2-

source

A: This is a POSIX solution.
stat could help but it is not required by POSIX. In general POSIX tools cannot fully replace stat. Parsing ls -l to get mtime is a non-trivial task.
The only(?) approach that is relatively straightforward is find -newer:
# parameters (adjust them)
set -- /home/sk/ostechnix/ /another/starting/point "/and another/"
N=5

# fixed code (nothing to adjust)
find "$@" -type f -exec sh -c '
   f="$1"
   shift
   c="$(find "$@" -type f ! -newer "$f" | wc -l)"
   printf "%s\\t%s\\n" "$c" "$f"
' find-sh {} "$@" \; | sort -k 1n,1 | head -n "$N" | cut -f 2-

For each file the code finds and counts files that are not newer (in terms of mtime i.e. modification time). The rest is sort … | head … | cut ….
Notes:

*

*This will fail for pathnames containing newline characters.

*Results cannot be trusted if files are added, removed or modified when the code runs.

*The solution does not scale well with the number of files. I think it's O(n2). Start testing on a directory containing at most few hundred files. I can think of one or two approaches that could scale better, but they are quite complicated and you'd better just compile GNU find that supports -printf.

*It may seem we can interrupt the inner find when it finds big enough number of files older than the current file, because at some number we can be sure the file cannot be among N oldest files, right? But ! -newer means "older or equally old" and there may be arbitrary many files that are equally old. I tested this. An "optimization":
c="$(find … | head … | wc -l)"

can significantly speed things up, but in case when there are equally old files the results can be wrong. I won't elaborate. I think if find provided something like -older (strictly older, not the same as ! -newer) than we could optimize this way.

*find-sh is explained here: What is the second sh in sh -c 'some shell code' sh?.

*The code supports multiple starting paths. Keep in mind if the same file appears under two (or more) starting paths then it will be considered by find as two (or more) files (e.g. cd /dev && find ./ /dev /dev/null /dev//null | grep /null prints four lines referring to the same file). In such case it may happen that two or more of N oldest files will be the same file. The command you found is similar in this matter. Specifying paths that don't overlap is the right thing.

*If you want to specify just one starting path then you can speed things up a little by using this modified code instead:
# parameters (adjust them)
start=/home/sk/ostechnix/
N=5

# fixed code (nothing to adjust)
find "$start" -type f -exec sh -c '
   start="$1"
   shift
   for f do
      c="$(find "$start" -type f ! -newer "$f" | wc -l)"
      printf "%s\\t%s\\n" "$c" "$f"
   done
' find-sh "$start" {} + | sort -k 1n,1 | head -n "$N" | cut -f 2-

Here we spawn fewer shells by passing multiple results from the outer find to a shell. We couldn't easily use this trick in the previous code because we needed to pass an arbitrary number of starting paths.

*Run the code in a subshell, so it doesn't affect anything ($N, $f, $c, positional parameters or $start) in your main shell.

*In general find runs many, many times; it tests the same set of files (not with exactly the same tests though). If there are some problems like permission denied then they will appear many times. Consider redirecting stderr to /dev/null, at least for the inner finds (c="$(find … 2>/dev/null | …)").

A: After searching the web , I came up with the below one line solution based mostly on the answer provided here : https://superuser.com/a/294164  and https://stackoverflow.com/a/23478116
The below solution first uses find command to find files (starting from current directory) and then pipes the output to perl command to do the sort and then pipes the resultant list of files into another perl command to get the timestamp of each of the file in a desired format.The result will show Top 5 oldest files.
I am not a perl expert but i am guessing the below can further be simplifed. Please do let me know if this is the case. The below solution seems to be working fine as of now.It works well on my AIX system.
find . -type f -print  2>/dev/null |
perl -l -ne '
$_{$_} = -M;
END {
    $,="\n";
    @sorted = sort {$_{$b} <=> $_{$a}} keys %_;
    print @sorted[0..5];
}'  | xargs -I {} perl -MPOSIX   -e 'print "\n $ARGV[0] -------> $1 " . strftime("%A %Y-%m-%d  %H:%M:%S", localtime((stat "$ARGV[0]")[9]))  '  {}

This gives an output as follows:
./file1.txt ---> Sunday 2018-03-04 15:20:32
./sample/file2.sh ---> Sunday 2019-01-27 08:30:45
./test/file3.txt ---> Tuesday 2019-05-21 18:45:32
./sample/temp/file4.sh ---> Friday 2019-12-27 12:30:45
./file5.txt ---> Tuesday 2020-06-13 15:20:32

A: When faced with such limitations, I usually turn to perl, which is typically installed on AIX systems. The File::Find module is helpful for doing the heavy lifting. The script below uses that module to discover files, just like find would, and captures the modification timestamps as it goes along, using perl's stat() function. Once it's collected the files, it trims the results down to the "N" given, sorted by the oldest modification date. I've split out a line of code that strips the timestamp out; if you want to mimic the find ... printf '%T+ %p\n' behavior of printing the timestamp next to the filename.
Using perl has advantages over shell-code workarounds because:

*

*it doesn't choke on filenames with whitespace (particularly newlines) or other escape characters

*it doesn't require the support of a GNU date program

*it doesn't rely on parsing the output of IBM's istat program
There is potential confusion when outputting the filenames; here, I've delimited them with newlines, but be aware that a filename containing a newline will be visually mistaken for an additional file.
I'm by no means a perl expert, so the code is a little bit "brute-force" and simple, but I appreciate obvious simplicity in the face of future maintenance concerns, unless & until performance or memory restrictions are a concern. Note that the current script requires enough memory to store all the filenames and timestamps as an array of strings, plus as many sorted results as was requested.
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# prints N oldest files

use strict;
use File::Find ();

# expect at least 2 arguments: N and 1 or more starting directories;
# $#ARGV is "number of arguments minus one", counting from [0]
if ($#ARGV < 1) {
  die "Usage: $0 N dir1 ..."
}

my $n = shift;
unless ($n =~ /^\d+$/ && $n > 0) {
  die "$0: N must be a positive integer"
}

my @results = ();

sub wanted {
  return unless -f $_;
  push (@results, (stat($_))[9] . " " . $_);
}

# using "no_chdir=1" so that stat() and $_ have the full filepath
File::Find::find({wanted => \&wanted, no_chdir => 1}, @ARGV);

# array is zero-based, so subtract one...
--$n;

# keep N within the range of the results
$n = $#results if $n > $#results;

# a plain numeric sort works with the age-in-seconds as the leading data;
# files with the same timestamp will then sort on filename
my @oldest = (sort @results)[0..$n];

# strip the timestamp out
@oldest = map { $_ =~ s/^\d+ //; $_; } @oldest;

print join("\n", @oldest) . "\n";


text:
Musings of an Artist's Wife
By Wendy Rodrigue Magnus, Wife of Artists George Rodrigue and Douglas Magnus
Rodrigue On Stage
George Rodrigue and I worked as a team on stage for many years. Recently, especially after he became ill, I filled in for him occasionally on my own; yet he was always there, coaching me beforehand and quizzing me afterwards.
(pictured, at the Clinton Library, Little Rock, Arkansas, 2010; click photo to enlarge-)
This weekend, for the first time, I'll speak in public truly without him. I've thought a lot about my half hour presentation----how best to represent George and our foundation, and how best to honor Louisiana's young artists, brought together for the 6th annual GRFA Art Scholarship Awards Ceremony. (Details and ticket info here-).
I've also thought about how, during my first return to Louisiana in more than a year, to face and answer questions with both the sincerity George's fans deserve and the discretion that I require. It's a complicated and emotional pursuit, and I doubt I'll have an answer... even as my plane lands... even as I approach the stage.
(pictured: Soul Mates, an original silkscreen by George Rodrigue, Artist Proof, 1997)
As long as I knew him, George lived outside of the box. This was true in his art, in our relationship, and in his joie de vivre. He broke rules and took chances, and he taught me to do the same ---to live by instinct and heart over establishment and expectations.
He wasn't afraid, for example, of criticism that might accompany a short painting demonstration:
"I watched him paint that whole canvas in under an hour!"
...exclaimed on-lookers, some impressed and some, especially after learning the price, aghast.
(pictured: A painting demonstration for the LSU Museum of Art, 2011; click photo to enlarge-)
In 1997 George and I first entertained an audience with a painting demonstration at the Red River Revel in Shreveport, Louisiana. As he painted, I shared George's history, while clarifying his style and approach through anecdotes.
"I can't talk and paint at the same time," he laughed.
This began a tradition, and we found ourselves in demand across the United States. We presented similar events at the National Arts Educators Association Convention, the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, the Phoenix Art Museum, and numerous book fairs and schools.
For these demonstrations, we geared our unscripted banter to the audience. George used large brushes and paint straight from the tube, an approach he developed for public painting because, he admitted,
"If I had to watch an artist paint for as long as it really takes, I'd get bored."
He wanted his fans to see what appears to be a complete painting materialize from a blank canvas in under an hour, even if, in reality, it was only a rough design.
Subject matter usually included both the Blue Dog and the Oak Tree ---visual aids that materialized before the audience's eyes. In the loose sketch below, for example, painted during a 2001 lecture in Houston, Texas, George illustrates the simple elements that are the basis for his paintings.
-click photo to enlarge-
Using one of his typical landscape compositions, he emphasizes three components, each of equal importance on his canvas: tree, background, and foreground. He used these elements to create infinite arrangements of shapes. This was the reason, he explained, that his paintings, even as he repeated the same subjects hundreds of times, remained varied and interesting to the eye.
Note: The number "3," which should indicate the foreground in the sketch above, is trapped instead inside of the oak. After the lecture, George extended the trunk of the tree so that it better filled the space, creating a new bottom line to the oak's shape, and covering part of the original foreground space.
Following the demonstration, George returned the painting to his studio where he reworked it for anywhere from several days to a week. In the photo above, he shares the finished painting, My Second Birthday, completed in his Carmel, California studio following a painting and cooking presentation with Chef Paul Prudhomme. (story here)
"People thought it looked good on the stage," he said. "But I was never happy with it and always repainted it afterwards."
Prior to these public painting demonstrations, George's brushwork typically was tight. However, influenced by his style on stage, he gradually loosened his approach on some canvases in the studio as well. As a result many paintings since the late 1990s reveal looser, freer strokes. Eventually, George admitted that, despite hundreds of tightly controlled compositions, one of his favorite ways to paint is to simply walk up to the canvas without any preconceived ideas. He enjoyed working out a successful design based on the circumstances of the moment, while reflecting with honesty, his psyche.
"I know it will have a Blue Dog," he said, "but beyond that, the challenge for me is in creating and just letting it happen. That's why my favorite painting is always the one I'm working on now."
It is this approach, rather than a formal speech with lecture notes, that guides me on my return to the stage this weekend. I'll also unveil a few rarely seen paintings borrowed from the wall of George's home studio. My hope is that these symbols will embody, with both their personal and historical resonance, my partner's influence, so that I might represent him well, with genuine and heartfelt sincerity during this auspicious event.
-please join me in New Orleans on Saturday, April 18, 2015 for the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts Scholarship Luncheon, honoring 15 finalists from more than 600 statewide entries inspired by this year's theme, "Louisiana's Music." 11:30 a.m. at the New Orleans Sheraton Hotel. Details and tickets here- http://www.rodriguefoundation.org/site479.php
-don't miss "Rodrigue: Houston," a special Texas exhibition opening this month. Details here- https://georgerodrigue.com/rodrigue-houston/
Posted by Wendy Rodrigue Magnus at 12:48 PM
Labels: Blue Dog, Landscapes, Schools
The Petro Brothers
"Ya' here to look or to buy?..."
…barked Bud Petro from the porch of George Rodrigue's Jefferson Street gallery. From a rocking chair, he watched the Esso station he owned with his brother Norman, while monitoring and, according to George, "scaring away" potential Rodrigue collectors.
"I couldn't tell him to leave," laughed George. "He was part of my gallery experience!"
(pictured, The Petro Brothers, 1978 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 30x40 inches; Bud and Norman Petro with André Rodrigue, photographed by George Rodrigue, 1978; click photos to enlarge)
George Rodrigue loved to tell and retell stories about his friends, long gone, and the Petro Brothers were among his favorite subjects for storytelling ...and for paintings.
Bud Petro (1909-1985) and Norman Petro (1917-2011) owned and operated the Lafayette, Louisiana Esso station, sharing a busy corner with Borden's Ice Cream and Rodrigue's Jefferson Street home and gallery.
(pictured, Petro's Newspaper, 1987 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 14x11 inches; rather than buy his own, Petro read George's paper every morning, returning it to the doorstep before George, who painted all night, awoke-)
Although friends with both brothers, George spoke most often of Bud. "Petro" was his traveling companion for many years. They drove much of the southeast and Texas together in George's van, carrying paintings to clients.
On one journey, while parked at a Dallas, Texas café, they returned to a broken window and missing camera equipment. To George's relief, the thieves left the large paintings; however, they absconded with something far more valuable (in Petro's mind) ---- Bud's suitcase.
"My clothes!"
...cried Petro about his irreplaceable wardrobe. I can hear George in my head telling the story and laughing, as he described the polyester suits and wide collars that remained Bud's staple long past the disco craze.
"He was so upset that he wouldn't go to dinner," recalled George. "I met with my collectors and didn't get back until late. When I knocked at Bud's motel room with a bucket of chicken, he grabbed it, shouting, 'Well it's about time!,' and slammed the door in my face."
(pictured, a photograph George labeled "Mr. Petro," showing Bud Petro (center) with Frankie Mandola (L) and Ray Hay, photographed by George Rodrigue at Ray Hay's Cajun Po-Boys in Houston, Texas, 1978; notice the poster of Rodrigue's classic Jolie Blonde, 1974; click photo to enlarge-)
George wrote of the painting below, as pictured in the cookbook, Talk About Good! (pub. 1979, Junior League of Lafayette)...
"This painting portrays Ray Hay holding his Cajun Po-Boy sandwich, and beside him is Bud Petro of Lafayette, Louisiana. The two are discussing one of the new items on the menu, Petro's juicy fried rabbit. The preparation of the rabbit is so secret, that Mr. Petro was flown in to Houston to teach the cooks how to prepare this Cajun delicacy."
George often photographed and painted his son André with Bud Petro, posing them in his Jefferson Street backyard and manipulating the landscape around the figures on his canvas.
(pictured, two versions of Let's Play Ball, 1980 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 40x30; click photos to enlarge-)
George's favorite Petro Brothers images, however, are slides from a day among the azaleas with Diane Bernard Keogh. He photographed Diane often and painted her numerous times over some thirty years, as Evangeline from Longfellow's epic poem, Evangeline: A Tale of Arcadie, 1847. (See a selection of paintings here-)
George loved these photographs and viewed them repeatedly, always laughing about young, beautiful Diane with the older, indelicate brothers. (Note: I had difficulty choosing here, so you get all of them; be sure to click the images to enlarge-)
These too became paintings, the last one finished the year Bud died.
(pictured, Two Uncles and a Niece, 1985 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 24x36; click photo to enlarge-)
George's favorite Petro story, the one he retold countless times, recalled a trip to Shreveport with Bud, as they delivered a painting to Palmer Long (1921-2010), son of Louisiana Governor and U.S. Senator Huey Long (1893-1935):
"Don't open your mouth..."
...warned George, as they approached the Long house.
But as the door opened, George fell silent, stunned by Palmer, whose eyes were exactly like his father's.
"I knew those eyes well," said the artist, "because I had just finished painting them."
(pictured, The Kingfish, 1980 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 60x36 inches; click photo to enlarge, and learn more here-)
"Howdayado, Mr. Long,"
...said Bud, thrusting out his hand before George could stop him.
Without breathing, Petro blurted out, fast.....
"I wanna tell ya how much I appreciate your daddy havin' made the highway run in front of my service station."
Upstaged already, George realized that Palmer Long was more fascinated by Bud Petro than he was with the painting. The two shared hunting stories, which also left out George, who was never a hunter.
As the evening wore on, Palmer showed off his prized wooden duck call:
"Petro made a fuss over it,"
...recalled George, shaking his head.
"Then he reached in his pocket, cupped his hands at his mouth, turned his back, and produced a far superior sound."
Curious and impressed, Long asked to see the duck call.
"Petro turned around, slow...."
...said George, a bit quiet and with a build-up...
"...and then he fanned open, like butterfly wings, his empty hands."
"Aww man,"
continued George,
"…. it was fantastic."
-above: me, imitating George, imitating Petro-
-for more on the Petro Brothers, read Norman Petro's obituary here-
- please join me April 18 in New Orleans for the 2015 George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts Scholarship Awards; details here-
- "Rodrigue: Houston," a special exhibition with original Rodrigue paintings spanning 45 years, opens April 25, 2015; details here-
(above, with Frankie Mandola, photographed by Diane Bernard Keogh, Houston, Texas, 2013; click photo to enlarge-)
Posted by Wendy Rodrigue Magnus at 6:19 AM
Labels: Andre, Cajuns, Evangeline, Lafayette, Louisiana Governors, Photography, Portraits, Texas
Life & Legacy Foundation
2020 Tour Schedule
Houston Chronicle Sept 2019
Baton Rouge Advocate Sept 2019
Fall 2019 Life & Legacy Schedule
New! WWL-Radio Interview, Apr 2019
WWL-TV, Apr 2019
NPR for Radio Tulsa, Nov 2018
TV Interview Fox 8 News Nov 2018
NPR with Wendy Rodrigue, April 2018
LSU Museum of Art, Rodrigue's Cajun Landscape, Gallery Talk, Nov. 4, 2018
The Dufrocq School Baton Rouge, George Rodrigue Media Center Dedication, Nov 8, 2018
LSU Women's Center, Presentation and Unveiling with original Rodrigue paintings, Nov 8, 2018
Tulsa, OK Museum Events & OKA+ Schools, Nov 15-17, 2018
Video Interview at Ohr-O'Keefe Museum 2018
"Legacy Tour Chance to Extend Life of Rodrigue, Blue Dog" from BR Advocate
New Orleans Magazine 'People to Watch' 2018
NOLA Famous Podcast Oct. 2019
Groundbreaking, George Rodrigue Park, New Iberia, Mar 2019
LSU Museum of Art (Baton Rouge, LA): "Rodrigue's Cajun Landscape" Nov 1, 2018 - Feb 10, 2019
Sand Springs Cultural and Historical Museum (Sand Springs/Tulsa, OK): "The Art of George Rodrigue: Shiny Happy Blue Dog" Nov 17, 2018 - Feb 17, 2019
Bayou Teche Museum (New Iberia, LA): "Rodrigue's Artist Studio" Ongoing
Video: Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art (Biloxi, MS) 2018
NPR for Mississippi Public Broadcasting, 2018, Start Time: 18:19
Video: Rodrigue Sculpture Unveiling (Rosemary Beach, FL) 2017
CBS Los Angeles
PBS Interview
Painting Demonstration & Lecture
Rodrigue Wall Calendar 2020
Book: The Other Side of the Painting
NPR March 2018
Video: "Politics with a Punch" Dec 2017
NPR "The Reading Life" Oct 2013
Video: "The Other Half" 2012
Ohr-O'Keefe Museum 2018
Life & Legacy Tour 2018
Don't Slow Me Down
Rodrigue Jewelry
George Rodrigue: Fun for Me
Shidoni: A Friendly Greeting
An Intimate Painter
BLUE DOG
In the Beginning, 1984-1989
The Ghost of Tiffany, 1990-1992
Out of Control, 1993-1995
Blue Dog Man, 1996-1999
2000, the Year of Xerox
Abstract Blue Dog, 2001-2003
Dark Period, 2006-7
Swamp Dogs 2011
Hollywood Stars 2012-13
A Life of Its Own 2013
Absolut Blue Dog
Blue Dog, the Book
Blue Dog Relief
Circle of Life: Round Paintings
Dogs in Space
Eyes: A History
Jazz Fest Posters
Rocky Mountain Blues
My Favorite Painting
Aioli Dinner
Begneaud Collection
Boudreaux in a Barrel
Breaux Bridge Band
Broussard's Barber Shop
The Cajun Bride of Oak Alley
Cajun Mardi Gras
Cajuns, the Book
The Class of Marie Courrege
Cora's Restaurant and CODOFIL
The Daughters of Andre Chastant
Doctor on the Bayou
Festivals Acadiens
John Courrege's Pirogue
Jolie Blonde
Mamou Riding Academy
The Patchwork Gift
Petro Brothers
Pirate Jean Lafitte
The Saga of the Acadians
Spinning Cotton in Erath
The Traiteur
Clifton Chenier
President Clinton
Marion Edwards
Eisenhower and Higgins
Flora Levy Lecture Series
Iry LeJeune
Louisiana Legends
Chef Paul Prudhomme
President Reagan
Gus Weill
EARLY YEARS AND FAMILY
Baby George Became an Artist
Rodrigue: Pronunciation
The Artist's Mother
Mignon's Flowers (Wendy's mom)
The Artist's Father
For my Father (Wendy's dad)
Catholic High, New Iberia
Museums and Critics
A Gallery of His Own, Louisiana
Galerie Blue Dog, California
Andre and Jacques
Heather the Great
Bodies/The Nude Figure
Intellectual Property/Copyrights
GEORGE'S FAVORITES
Swamp Women
Blue Dog: A Life of its Own
America, Unexpected
My Blues Brothers
WENDY'S FAVORITES
Dance with Me, George!
The Lone Artist
Alligator Crossing
The Silent West
The Lost Painting
NY Art in West Texas
I'm a Writer!
Wendy Rodrigue Magnus
Updated 2019: My late husband George Rodrigue (1944-2013) encouraged "Musings of an Artist's Wife" some ten years ago as a continuation of my life's work. Since 1991 I've shared his artistic, personal, and philanthropic legacy in as broad and quality a manner as possible. George and I partnered on the development of all aspects of his career and life, including his galleries, museum exhibitions, a dozen books published both nationally and internationally on his art, and extensive education outreach. In 2017 I established The Life & Legacy Tour, expanding George's vision further through exhibitions of original artwork from his archives, as well as vignettes, quotes, background, and memorabilia. Projects include museum exhibitions, education initiatives, an ongoing public lecture series, and written and online publications. Today, when I'm not on the road for Life & Legacy (now its own 501(c)(3) foundation), I live between New Orleans and Santa Fe, NM, with my current husband, Douglas Magnus, also an accomplished artist, and George Rodrigue's longtime friend.
Tour Requests & Comments


text:
Published: October 8, 2008 Last Updated: April 4, 2019
Photograph from Eve18 on Flickr
A recent headline in the trade press heralded: "Options for chocolate lovers tripled." Cynically, I thought this was a come-on for the release of a raft of new chocolate products from some mass market candy company. Intrigued nonetheless, I clicked on the link to see that current research into cacao genetics is starting to bear fruit (pun intended).
Juan Carlos Montemayor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Germplasm Repository and lead scientist of cocoa genetics at Mars, Incorporated, and his group announced recently that ten genetically distinct varieties of cacao actually exist instead of just three, which have been almost universally recognized by the scientific community for at least 40 years.
Chocolate aficionados are probably aware of the two best-known varieties (criollo and forastero) as well as one originating in Ecuador (nacional), and a common hybrid of criollo and forastero called trinitario, named after the island of Trinidad, where it was developed after a blight devastated the cacao crop in the 1700s. This new research, performed by genotyping 1,241 cocoa samples from different geographical origins, resulted in the identification of ten genetically distinct clusters.
The genetic clustering has led scientist Motamayor et al to propose "a new classification of cacao germplasm into 10 major clusters, or groups," which "maintains the terms used to identify the traditional cultivars Amelonado, Criollo, and Nacional, and separates highly differentiated populations within what was previously classified as the Forastero genetic group."
At the classification level, this means the cacao variety previously referred to as "forastero" has been differentiated into eight varieties: Amelonado, Contamana, Curaray, Guiana, Iquitos, Maranon, Nanay, and Purus.
Amelonado, derived from the Spanish word for melon and a reference to the shape and surface texture of the fruit, is a traditional name for a type of forastero cacao. The rest of the new names refer to general geographic origin. These eight join the remaining two, criollo and nacional.
Goals of the Cacao Genotyping Research
The original stated goals of the research were to assist in the hybridization of cacao for the purposes of increasing yield and disease resistance as well as improving flavor. The proposed changes to the classification system are a side benefit as is resolving, once and for all, the origin of cacao: South America.
For many years, some researchers have theorized that cacao originated in Central America and migrated south. This new research confirms an alternate viewpoint, that South America is the ancestral home of cacao and that it migrated north down the Amazon and Orinoco river basins to the northern coast of South America. From there, it was transported into Central America where it was adopted by various Mesoamerican cultures. Reputedly, the Olmecs and the Toltecs were among the first cultures to domesticate cacao.
Originally, according to archaeological evidence recovered from a site near Puerto Escondido, Honduras, Mesoamericans followed the practice of their South American cousins by fermenting the pulp into a mildly alcoholic (about five per cent) lightly effervescent beverage. Cacao "wine" as it is now called, is still made throughout Central and South America. One researcher involved in analyzing potshards recovered from the dig described the beverage as having, "an unusual, slightly sweet taste," that, "doesn't taste like anything else."
On a trip to the Toledo District of Southern Belize last May, I tried cacao "wine" for the first time. It had a distinct crisp bubble but it wasn't really fizzy. Nor was it refined or filtered like most beers are, so it had a distinct alcoholic kick. Served cold, it was very refreshing.
At some point, cacao use in Central America diverged from that in South America, and Mesoamericans began cultivating, breeding, and using the beans instead of the pulp. If Columbus had anchored off the coast of what is now Venezuela, instead of off the island of Guanaja in the Gulf of Honduras, the Spanish might have returned to Spain with a new form of alcoholic beverage, not the dark, bitter, spicy concoction that eventually became the chocolate we know and love today.
Cacoa Beverages Today
For the past 500 years, very little has been made of beverages fermented from cacao pulp. There has been no intersection of these beverages with chocolate, until recently.
Earlier this year, Claudio Corallo (pronounced coe-RAW-low) started producing a chocolate bar with an unusual inclusion. (Inclusions are chocolate-speak for solid stuff that get mixed into chocolate such as nuts and dried fruits.) In this bar, the inclusion is raisins that have been soaked in the distillate of fermented cacao pulp. In other words, Corallo takes cacao wine and distills it into cacao eau de vie, then soaks the raisins in this before mixing in chocolate he makes from beans he grows on the island of Sao Tome.
This is one of the most unusual chocolates I have ever tasted—unusually good, though somewhat of an acquired taste. The taste of the raisins is alcohol-y, yeasty, fruity, musty, vinegary, and sweet all at the same time and the aroma reminds me of the smell coming off a pile of fermenting cacao beans. Which is a good thing. Really. You can have your offal (shudder), I want these raisins.
Chocoholic: Chocolate Shortbread Sandwich Cookies
Chocoholic: No Knead Chocolate Babka
Break Me Off a Piece of That Azuki-Bean Bar


1) In the get orders method, what is the relation between the orderId and orderMasterId fields?
orderMasterId is the number of the order that was forwarded to the Extra's customer and orderId is the order of the specific merchant. Remember that a customer can add products of different merchants to the same order.
2) Why do I need to wait about 20 minutes for my products that were sent through load in Sandbox to be made available on resource/sellerItems (Merchant's products)?
This time is necessary, because the product goes through a process that is similar to what happens in the production environment: it starts with the validation of the images that were sent, until the product indexation, in order to make it available for orders creation.
3) Can I mark an order as delivered without going through the dispatched step?
No, the current process demands that the order goes through the EPR (dispatched) status before marking it as ETR (delivered).
4) Do I always need to use two TOKENS (AUTH_TOKEN and APP_TOKEN) in my calls?
Yes, all the calls need to have the APP_TOKEN, which identifies the application or platform, and the AUTH_TOKEN, which identifies the store. For more information about this subject, please read the tutorial "First access to the API"
5) Does a merchant need to be registered as a developer?
No, it's not mandatory that a merchant registers himself as a developer. If he will integrate by using the open API, he will need a TOKEN called AUTH_TOKEN, and this token as well as the APP_TOKEN, need to be sent in all the requests.
6) How should I fill out the accessKeyNfe tracking field?
The text must be filled out with the tracking electronic invoice key, like this: orderItemId = order's list of items, controlPoint = EPR (dispatched), occurenceDt = current date, carrierName = MERCHANT, originDeliveryId = order number (to avoid repetition), accessKeyNfe = 42131084684182000157550010000000020108042108 (this is an example of a key accepted by our validation).
7) How do I update the form of a product?
If the product is already being registered by the Extra Marketplace's Registration Team, or if it is effectively registered on the Extra website, do not use the LOADs service to update the registration form (images, name, description, attributes, etc.). Updates are not made directly in the products; the Marketplace Team needs to review them first. If any readjustment is necessary, the merchant must open a ticket on their admin, in the support tab.
If the merchant already has products registered on Extra Marketplace, even if they were not sent through an API, it's possible to check the registered products in the GET/selleritems service, so that the platform addresses them properly (example: FROM-TO of IDs) before sending new loads of products. Already existing SKUs must not be sent again.
The LOADs service must not be used to update the SKUs' stock/price. It must be used to send new products only. As soon as the product is registered by the Extra Marketplace's Registration Team, it will be made available, and then the stock/price can be updated (/sellerItems/).
10) How does the products classification work?
The products must be classified according to our category tree, as the table.
12) What are the rules to send a load in Via Varejo?
Attention: Some loads can also be canceled due to the manufacturer sale restriction (please see the Blacklist).
13) EAN is mandatory for which categories?
Some items cannot be sold on Marketplace, whoever the merchant is, such as items of sexual appeal, fire weapons and used products. Other items are sold by specific stores only. The sale of some products with certain brands is forbidden and because of these rules, we have created the Blacklist: a list with everything that cannot be sold on our websites. Please, download the Blacklist.


My first exclusive summon I got the water Archangel!!
Got water martial cat. envy me.
got to get them all?
do the stones reset after 15 days also or just the monsters? like if I don't manage to get 50 of them in time will I have to start from 0 after the reset?
Spent 300 energy and only. 3 stones. FML.
WTF IS A GUILD SHOP?
Of course it's not easy to get a 5* monster if it was that easy would com2us wouldn't do this kind of event. being P2P or F2P has nothing to do w/ the summoning rate of natural 4*-5* monster. I think this event is good because when you get the lightning you are hoping to get you won't get the awaken monster of a natural 3* monster. It won't be a good and addictive game if you get what you want so easily.
when i seen this at 6 in the morning i was so excited.


My portrait prices are transparent and are based on my time and the products you may choose to order.
My hourly shoot fee is £100.00 and the associated hourly post production fee is £50.00. One hour shoot equals one hour post production.
It excludes any high resolution Jpegs, prints or products, which may be purchased separately.
A pre-session consultation where we will discuss the location and style of the portrait photo shoot, products you may be interested in purchasing and where you may envisage displaying the art work in your home, once it has been created. The pre-session consultation will take place either in person or on the phone.
A 14 day access to a private online-gallery to preview your images.
All edited images in low resolution.
A post-session consultation where we will be looking at presentation products and wall art. If you decide to purchase wall art, I will be using software which enables me to show you how your chosen images will be looking on your walls, within different rooms, décor settings and a variety of wall framing and display styles for your portrait photos for you to choose from.
The entire photo session archived for one year.
Copyright usage rights: personal printing and social sharing privileges.
Travel within 25 mile radius from my postcode – SW1V 3PG. Travel outside the 25 mile radius will be charged at 45p per mile.
Two purchasing options are available to you. You can choose the duration of the shoot and then choose the products that suit your requirements from my à la carte price list, or purchase one of my collections which offer the greatest value and are based on my experience of what my clients like to purchase. My collections start at £350.00 based on a two hour shoot and two hours post production. Please contact me to receive my collections options and my à la carte price list.
I aim to produce beautiful, timeless images that you will be proud to display in your home as a work of art and that you will treasure for ever. I work hard to make sure that every photograph I take is "just" perfect and this is the reason why I only use professional printing labs.
I have also partnered with leading professionals for my albums, prints, frames and wall art display. I really believe that images are not meant to sit on a computer and only by printing them you will make them come to life, something to cherish and share with family and friends, to frame and hang and enjoy again and again.
Albums are a popular choice to display your portrait photos and ideal for "telling" a story. I have partnered with Folio Albums one of the world leaders in fine art albums. The albums produced by FOLIO are simply stunning and of impeccable quality. I hand design each album using as many images from the photo session as you wish.
I offer a choice of beautiful, hand made contemporary and traditional style frames that have been meticulously selected to offer the very best in high quality presentation. I will be able to show you different samples for you to choose from.
I offer a canvas wrap which utilises a canvas – certified by the fine Art Trade Guild – as archival. Special re-tensional bars and museum grade UV varnish give long lasting protection and a permanent taut finish.
They are becoming a favourite for their vibrancy and gloss finish. A 12 mm back panels sit proud from the wall to create added depth. The overal presentation is stunning for a modern home.
They are an ideal choice if you would like to keep all your prints together, either mounted or unmounted. They also come with a beautiful, branded USB key that will hold all your digital images. Print Boxes are also ideal for gifts.
I believe that images are only as good as papers and inks and for this reason I have searched and found a printing company that I can trust to produce the best, consistent results that will do justice to my images. I have partnered with Folio Albums, a boutique fine art printing company based in Yorkshire, who produce stunning quality fine art prints which are a world away from what you will get with any printing companies on the high street. Folio Albums only works with professional photographers. They produce a range of acid free, heavy weight, matte-finished fine art papers of archival, museum quality which gives razor sharp definition to images and which will not fade or discolour with time. Fine art prints from Folio Albums are made from sustainable sources and comes with a certificate of quality. The company is so confident about what has achieved that they have developed their own Folio hallmark, combining the iconic Yorkshire Rose with an oak leaf symbolising their commitment to the environment.
If you would like to receive any further information or check my availability, please forward you request using the contact page. Also, check the Kind Words page for what my clients say about working with me.
A native Italian photographer based in Pimlico, central London specialising in lifestyle portraits of babies, children & families, teenage & adults and Boudoir. On Location across London and the UK. Luciana offers an exceptional level of customer service with a range of quality presentation products to suit a customer's home decor and style.


text:
MAIN : All : Voluntary Departures from Clinical Zoo Medicine
Zoo Vet, I Quit: Voluntary Departures from Clinical Zoo Medicine
Amy L. Shima, DVM
Tumbleweed Veterinary Services, P.C., Rockville, UT, USA
This paper provides some thoughts and observations about what factors would cause someone to voluntarily leave the "dream" job of clinical zoo veterinarian, as well as a brief discussion about some of the options that people who have left clinical zoo medicine have pursued.
The job of a zoo veterinarian is perceived by many to be a "dream" job—glamorous, fulfilling and challenging. That the number of students interested in zoological medicine as well as the number of postgraduate training opportunities specific to the field has expanded greatly over the past 20 yr bears witness to this perception. Successfully pursuing a career in zoological medicine requires hard work, dedication and maybe a little luck. Why then, one might ask, would anyone who has a job as a zoo veterinarian want to leave the field? This presentation will attempt to shed some light on some of the factors that play a part in zoo veterinarians deciding to choose to pursue life "outside," and on where they go after escaping from the confines of the zoo.
Why would someone want to leave the dream job of working as a zoo veterinarian? The brief answer is that something has caused the person to wake up and realize that the reality is different from the dream. In some cases, the person comes to realize that the dream has become something more like a nightmare. Other times, the wake-up call comes from circumstances outside of work. Sometimes, the choice to leave is a pro-active move to avoid ending up in a situation where involuntary removal from a job is a likely outcome. For some, economics play a factor in the decision to leave work in a zoo. The income potential from working in a private practice can be considerably more than the salary of the average zoo veterinarian.
Satisfaction with work seems to be one of the common reasons cited for with making the choice to leave a zoo. A reality of zoo work is that one has to deal with economic, time and political factors that may impose restrictions or limitations on the ability to fully pursue investigation of clinical problems. This can result in frustration at having to spend time just "putting out fires" (especially when the same fires seem to flare up time and time again) and eventually lead to job "burn out." The realization that the fun has gone out of work is frequently cited as a reason for choosing to leave clinical zoo work. Some individuals recognize the early signs of "burn out" and act to change their situation before it become untenable. Often these individuals leave work in clinical zoological medicine for new and different challenges in related fields such as pathology or academia. Some express satisfaction at being able to more completely pursue cases—being able to find out "why" something happened rather than just having to deal with the immediate problem. Others note that being out of the zoo, they have to justify and find financial backing to pursue investigation of an interesting clinical case or disease outbreak, whereas in the zoo situation they left behind, they might have been free to pursue a case that was of interest without having to justify or fund the investigation. In general, zoo veterinarians who have chosen to leave a traditional clinical job and go into different related fields express satisfaction at the change and seem to relish the different challenges that their new jobs present.
Individuals may also leave for the more uncertain but also more autonomous world of work as a relief veterinarian, or as an independent contractor working off grants or contracts with NGOs or government agencies. The key descriptive term when it comes to doing relief work or working as an independent contractor is "uncertain." An independent contractor must actively solicit work, formulate proposals, and successfully apply for grants to fund the work. Opportunities to work as an independent contractor or as a relief zoo veterinarian are sporadic and dependent on unpredictable factors. There is neither job security, nor financial stability. There can be months without any work. Unless one is in the enviable financial position of not needing a regular source of income, one needs some sort of "back-up" job that can provide income but will also allow taking time off when relief work opportunities arise. Working as a relief veterinarian or an independent contractor is not a job for someone who wants a low-stress, familiar, comfortable work environment. It is a field best suited for someone who is highly adaptable, skilled at quickly assessing new workplace "cultures," and flexible in how they approach clinical zoo medicine. Moving to a new location and starting a new job score high in stress factor rankings and are two of the essential elements in relief work. The willingness to "pull up stakes," sometimes on relatively short notice, leaving home and family for a length of time that may vary from weeks to months is another factor that must be considered by anyone considering work as an "itinerant" zoo veterinarian.
Negotiating work conditions and figuring out licensure requirements for a relief position can be challenging. While salaries for zoo veterinarians have improved, it is still not uncommon for zoos (or sometimes even zoo veterinarians) to think that a "relief vet" rate is exorbitant, even when that rate is comparable to rates charged by private practice relief veterinarians. Traditionally, zoo veterinarians have accepted salaries that are much lower than those they would be earning in private practice. The occasional zoo veterinarian will, based on lifestyle choices and family responsibilities, choose to leave the field for the more lucrative realm of private practice. A relief zoo veterinarian is essentially in private practice, providing the same services as a small animal relief veterinarian, with additional special skills and experience unique to zoological medicine. In negotiating contracts for relief work, the lack of fringe benefits (which would normally be provided by a zoo to its employees) should be taken into account. The veterinarian must provide for private health insurance, professional liability insurance, temporary accommodation and incidental expenses associated with living away from home, and must cover all of this while maintaining a separate "home base."
Family-related circumstances such as pregnancy/maternity leave or family leave to care for an aged parent or other relative with a serious illness are, in the author's experience, the most common reason that a zoo relief position opens up. Ironically, these same circumstances can be the reasons why one might choose to leave a full-time clinical zoo position. The opportunity for relief work may also present itself when a zoo is searching for a full-time, "permanent" veterinarian. Whether the temporary lack of a "permanent" veterinarian is due to the voluntary or involuntary departure of the previous veterinarian carries implications for the relief veterinarian. The degree of difficulty of a temporary position can be quite variable and dependent on the unique circumstances of the situation. For example, a temporary position that opens up due to involuntary departure of the incumbent zoo veterinarian can be a very challenging and stressful situation. Zoo relief work isn't a career option that will work for everyone. It requires a different outlook on zoo work, an ability to adapt to how other people practice medicine, and the willingness to accept financial and job instability. But for the zoo vet who doesn't want to work at a "permanent" full-time job, but isn't yet ready to completely leave the field, relief work or work as an independent contractor may be viable options.
Individuals who go into zoological medicine tend to be type-A personalities: hard-working, compassionate, goal-oriented, creative problem solvers. As such, when faced with the realization that work as a clinical veterinarian isn't as fulfilling as it once was, some choose to move up within the zoo hierarchy. The challenges associated with moving into positions that deal more with policy and implementing programs are cited as the impetus for some to move beyond the boundaries of clinical zoological medicine. It is not uncommon to see veterinarians transition from positions as clinicians to department heads or even zoo directors. There have also been cases where a senior veterinarian finds that he/she has become mired in the meetings, management and political issues and identifies that situation as the source of diminished job satisfaction. Some choose to leave such a position for one which will involve more clinical and less management work.
The pressures and responsibilities attendant to work as a zoo veterinarian, and their effect on quality of life, play important roles in the choice to leave the world of clinical zoo medicine. Striking a balance between the responsibilities of a job that is intellectually, physically, and sometimes emotionally demanding and having a "normal" personal life can be very challenging. Childcare, spouse, or partner career choices, personal or family health concerns and the baby-boomer issue of caring for aged/infirm parents are all considerations that have caused zoo veterinarians to leave the field. Because of the physical demands of practicing zoological medicine, age-related health conditions may cause some to consider leaving behind full-time zoo work. These are not issues that are unique to our profession. It is only because the job of zoo veterinarian is perceived to be a "dream" job that choosing to leave for personal reasons may be seen to be very radical.
In summary, there is no easy answer to why someone chooses to leave work in a zoo and where they can go after "escaping" from the zoo. Some exchange the role of clinical zoo veterinarian for a position higher up the hierarchy within a zoo. Others move outside the walls of the zoo and go on to careers in related fields such as pathology, academia, research, lab animal medicine, or work for government agencies or for NGOs. Some leave zoological medicine for the more financially lucrative world of private practice. A few leave to pursue other interests, but still make occasional forays back into zoos doing relief work or working on fixed term contracts. In the final analysis, it can be said that the choice to leave clinical zoo medicine is taken, based on decisions about quality of life. It is never an easy decision to leave the security of a job, let alone a "dream" job. But in the end, people make that choice for a variety of personal and professional reasons. The job of zoo veterinarian is interesting and challenging but has both good and bad points. In the final analysis, it's just a job.
Tumbleweed Veterinary Services, P.C.
Rockville, UT, USA


text:
Q: Hide/Show images does not show up eith even space in between I have 7 icons all with the same size. The icons are displayed next to each other using display: inline-block; For the sake of explaining the problem I like to name the icons (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.)
5 of these icons are viable "ie. (A, B, D, F, G)" and 2 are hidden "(ie. C, E)"
When a user clicks on icon B, I want to hide icon B and show icon C instead. Also, when a user click on icon D I want to hide icon D and show E.
I am able to use show() and hide() to accomplish what I need. however, the problem is in that the gap between the icons as it is not the same size.
In other words, when icon C becomes viable after clicking on icon B the gap/margin between icon A and icon C will show larger than the gap that was between icon A and icon B.
To demonstrate the problem virtually, I created a fiddle page for review
How can I do the show/hide without changing the gaps "margin" between the 2 images?
Below is my html markup "it is also in the fiddle.

A: You are doing the display:none; on the wrong elements. Do the display:none; on the parent elements of the image you want to hide.
For example, instead of :

do:

The reason is that all of the blanks spaces and/or line breaks are adding up.
EDIT:
I didn't want to spend much time at all on this fiddle, but look at what i did for the pause icons. Lot less code.
https://jsfiddle.net/grtLd0qk/10/

A: This is because you're show/hide the inner div ( the one with id ) but not the outer one. Just do

$('#icwsButtonHoldOff').click(function() {
  $('#icwsButtonHoldOn').parent().show();
  $(this).parent().hide();
});

and move style="display:none;" to the outer div will do.
Or even better, you can have only one div and assign a common css class to all 7 icons that set display:inline-block. This way your javascript will just need to toggle the status, no more .parent()


text:
US DC Apple Privacy 2 (CR)
Apple: FBI Asking For 'Something We Don't Have'
Dateline: Washington - 1 March 2016
Washington - 1 March 2016
+++SOTS SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASHES+++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Bruce Sewell, Senior Vice President and General Counsel Apple, Inc.:
"The FBI has asked a Court to order us to give them something we don't have. To create an operating system that does not exist — because it would be too dangerous. They are asking for a backdoor into the iPhone — specifically to build a software tool that can break the encryption system which protects personal information on every iPhone. As we have told them — and as we have told the American public — building that software tool would not affect just one iPhone. It would weaken the security for all of them. In fact, just last week Director Comey agreed that the FBI would likely use this precedent in other cases involving other phones."
"The FBI is asking Apple to weaken the security of our products. Hackers and cyber criminals could use this to wreak havoc on our privacy and personal safety. It would set a dangerous precedent for government intrusion on the privacy and safety of its citizens. Hundreds of millions of law-abiding people trust Apple's products with the most intimate details of their daily lives – photos, private conversations, health data, financial accounts, and information about the user's location as well as the location of their friends and families."
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Landau, Professor:
"Now the FBI already has some excellent people and expertise, but FBI investment capacities is not at the scale and level necessary. Rather than asking industry to weaken protections, law enforcement must instead develop the capabilities for conducting sophisticated investigations themselves."
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus049757
Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell says Apple has no sympathy for terrorists and the "utmost respect" for law enforcement and their work.
But he says the FBI, in seeking access to a phone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers, is asking a judge to "give them something we don't have" and to create an operating system that does not exist.
He maintained that the government is "asking for a backdoor" that would allow the FBI to break into every iPhone and weaken security for all of them.
The hearing comes amid two significant and conflicting court rulings in New York and California on whether Apple can be forced to help the FBI gain access to locked phones.
Sewell says the U.S. government has spent millions on supporting strong encryption used by activists and journalists, many in countries with fewer free-speech rights.
Mobile phones , Smartphones , Government and politics , Freedom of speech , Law enforcement agencies , Consumer electronics , Technology , Human rights and civil liberties , Social issues , Social affairs
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States government
Washington , Washington , United States


"In 1916 France Commander Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) wants General Mireau (George Macready) to have his battered division take the "Ant Hill", an impregnable German fortress, promising Mireau a promotion and another story if he succeeds. Mireau orders Dax (Kirk Douglas) to lead the charge, which is a complete failure. When soldiers are pinned down by German artillery and machine gun fire Mireau orders his own artillery to fire on their own trenches, screaming, "If those sweethearts won't face German bullets, they'll take French ones!"
"Paths of Glory" has a deserved reputation as a great anti-war film but I think that director Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Humphrey Cobb's 1935 semi-fictional novel is a rather specific indictment of both a particular military and a particular war. The suicidal attack in the first act of the film was loosely based upon the battle for Fort Douamont during the Battle of Verdun, where over 300,000 French soldiers lost their lives. The assault, doomed to fail before it began, is ordered by French generals more concerned with prestige and promotions than the lives of their troops or the actual prospects for success. In the wake of the disaster three men are selected to be tried and then executed for cowardice. They are defended in court by their commander, Colonel Dax, the lone voice of reason speaking out against the insanity of what has happened.
This film was banned for almost twenty years in France and it is an indictment of the French military on a par with those films that have touched on the infamous Dreyfus case. I have trouble extending this indictment beyond these French generals, not only because in cinematic history there is this sense of this being standard practice for the French military but also because hypocritically sending troops to such senseless death is rare in American military history. John Bell Hood sending Confederate troops in a series of useless charges to teach them a lesson at the Battle of Franklin comes to mind, but I remember most American generals as taking blame and responsibility for such slaughters (e.g., Ambrose Burnside at Fredericksburg, Robert E. Lee after Pickett's Charge, Ulysses S. Grant with regard to the final assault at Cold Harbor).
But there is also a sense in which we identify this sort of waste of young soldiers with World War I. In cinematic terms the obvious comparison is to "Gallipoli," where British troops are having tea on the beaches while Australian troops are gunned down in a needless charge ordered by stubborn British generals (another category of military leaders easy treat with disdain given how they are portrayed in the movies). The Civil War has provided amble evidence that troops charging entrenched or fortified positions was horribly futile and yet fifty years later European armies were still sending thousands of men against machine guns (the iconic weapon of the first World War). As the opening narration explains, "Successful attacks were measured in hundreds of yards - and paid for in lives by hundreds of thousands."
The title of the book/film comes from a line in Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," where the poet writes, "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." This might be an anti-war film but it still shows the heroism of the troops as Kubrick uses a tracking shot to follow the Dax and his soldiers across No Man's Land against the German fort. After all, these men are fighting an army that has invaded their country, so there is a sense in which the title is inappropriate simply because these men are not involved in a quest for glory.
The film was shot in Germany and cinematographer Georg Krause provides one of the sharpest black & white films you have ever seen. The clarity is almost daunting and it is impossible not to think that it is not but another part of Kubrick's grand design. As for the performance by Douglas I would agree with the general consensus that this is his finest performance, even over what he would provide for Kubrick three years later in "Spartacus."
In the end Kubrick makes a final argument for the universality of human experience when a German singer (Susanne Christian, who was Christiane Kubrick wife of the director) is forced to sing a song for the French troops whose jeers turn to tears. There are, relatively speaking compared to other wars, relatively few films about the First World War. But it is rather impressive when you start listing the ones that immediately come to mind ("Wings," "All Quiet on the Western Front," "Sgt. York," "Gallipoli") how good they tend to be and how many of them are, at their essence, anti-war films. For that, I think the credit for linking that particular war with the idea of the futility of war clearly belongs to Erich Maria Remarque, author of "All Quiet on the Western Front.""
"When you are the one who gets to decide who lives and who dies, what are the criteria that the rest of us should buy into before giving our consent? If a general, or a CEO for that matter, asks the impossible, how far must men go in following their orders before disobedience is permissible? When is it ok for a cog in the machine to stop being a machine and start being a human being? This film suggests that the Ant Hill could only have been taken by live soldiers, and if all the soldiers were being slaughtered in the attempt to cross no mans land, the few survivors should naturally turn back, and live to fight another day. Under these circumstances, taking the Hill would have been impossible.
Ah, but that was an embarrasment for the general who ordered the attack. His judgement could not have been wrong, so, therefore, the men must be cowards. The role of Reason, the nature of absurdity, courage, and cowardice are all examined in this simple story, and the implication is clear that it is better to die bravely in front of a firing squad than to grow comfortable with mendacity and cower before the truth. The real cowards in the story were those who ordered these men to their deaths on the battlefield, because they were afraid to say no and risk their reputations for daring, and also those who ordered their deaths in front of a firing squad, and also those who concealed the truth out of fear of the consequences. Again, it is better to die bravely than live in cowardice. And the bravest of them all was the colonel played by Kirk Douglas, who fought for reason, justice, truth, and against the enemy on every side, even when the enemy was his superior officer. Yes, the enemy can be found in your own ranks, even among your commanding officers.
In the end they are all ordered back to the front. However, the next to the last scene in the cafe, is one of the most astonishing moments in cinematic history.
The soldiers, young and old, are making sport of a pretty young German girl who is being put forward by the proprietor for their entertainment. She has no talent, save for a little 'natural talent' he says, gesturing along the length of her body. "She cannot dance, she cannot tell jokes, but she has a golden throat, she sings like a bird", he tells them. They are laughing and taunting her, and she is nervous and intimidated, and begins to sing, haltingly, but plaintively, and one by one, the men grow silent. The camera moves from face to face, young, old, battle weary, her voice reminds them of all that is delicate and sweet, all that is not brutal and meaningless and horrible. And they all can remember a time, long ago, when they were not fighting and killing and struggling to keep alive, and slowly, one by one, they begin wiping away the tears, then picking up her melody and gradually joining in. Kirk Douglas peers in through the window when the sargeant comes up with their orders to return to the front. "Give them a few more minutes," he says, and turns heel. It is a devastating moment. This is a film with a clear and powerful message. But it is not an anti-war movie. It is anti-mendacity, anti-authoritarian, and anti-injustice. The war setting is just a timless trope to carry the weight of these more significant issues."
"Paths of Glory is a complicated film experience, that on first viewing appears to be an anti-war diatribe, but repeated viewings make it far more complex. The film's plot revolves around the brutality of trench warfare and the total disconnection between the suffering of the foot soldier and the French Army's High Command. The generals, fearing mutiny among their exhausted soldiers, order executions after the failure to take a position. The three martyrs are represented by their commanding officer, who also happens to be a lawyer (Kirk Douglas), but since they are sacrificial lambs, chosen by lot, their fate is preordained. It is the dance of death that Kubrick focuses on, in the trenches, in the elegant chateau that houses the senile General Command, and the courtroom where the farce is played out. This is not the first film focusing on the total stupidity of trench warfare. All Quiet on the Western Front(by Lewis Milestone) and The Road to Glory (Howard Hawks) are equally effective in portraying the madness of WWI. Paths of Glory is equally fascinating for revealing the concerns that Kubrick would focus on throughout the rest of his career. These concerns go way beyond plot and story. Kubrick worked with first rate writers on this film (Jim Thompson and Calder Willingham), but the vision is his own. The endless brutal moving camera as it snakes through the trenches, pulling the characters through the crazed landscape, the lateral tracking shots during the attack sequences, the brilliantly composed close ups of men under unending duress and pressure all help to create a universe that is beyond the control of man. Kubrick's vision is one of the strongest visual creations in modern cinema and should not be forgotten when we get caught up in the compelling storyline. His connection with Kirk Douglas was so successful that when the filming of Spartacus ran into directorial roadblocks, the star was able to convince the producers to bring in the unknown Kubrick to take on the Hollywood mega epic. The producers of Spartacus had never heard of Paths of Glory and it is only through video tape that we can get to see a crucial work from Kubrick's early career. It's also a great companion piece to Full Metal Jacket, another Kubrick war film released thirty years later and a film that continues to display the director's concern with creating a visual world of total entrapment that is outside the comprehension of the ordinary man."
"It has been almost 50 years since this anti-war film appeared, one which was banned in France until 1970. It is based on Humphrey Cobb's novel. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas who also produced it, the film examines a fictional (but nonetheless wholly believable) situation during World War One when French troops are ordered to achieve an impossible military objective: Climb and secure the "Ant Hill," a heavily-fortified German position. Of course the troops are decimated. Whom to blame? General Broulard (Adolph Menjou) who gave the order? The troops' general, General Mireau (George MacReady), whose career ambitions overcame his doubts about the order? The officer (Colonel Dax) who led the attack? General Broulard gives a second order: Select three of the survivors, charge them with cowardice, give them a perfunctory military trial, and then execute them. Their commanding officer is Colonel Dax (Douglas) who had been an attorney in civilian life. He is ordered to be the defense counsel. After the inevitable verdict, the three representatives are executed by a firing squad.
Kubrick presents all this on film as if it were a documentary of actual events. Appropriately, he filmed it in black-and-white, in part to dramatize the obvious juxtapositions of right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice, etc. The battlefield carnage is extensive but not gratuitous. For me, the insensitivity, indeed inhumanity of the two generals -- far removed from combat in luxurious comfort -- is far more upsetting than the assault on the "Ant Hill." The men who followed orders and lost their lives or their limbs may have died in vain but at least died with honor, if not glory. Kubrick leaves absolutely no doubt about the generals who sent them into battle. Colonel Dax understands the need for military discipline. Orders must be followed. He eventually realizes that no matter how logical and eloquent his defense, the three men are doomed as were so many of their comrades were while climbing the "Ant Hill." Dax also realizes Broulard and Mireau will never be held accountable for the order nor for denying any responsibility for its tragic consequences. Dante reserved the worst ring in hell for those who, in a moral crisis, preserved their neutrality. Kubrick ensures that Menju and MacReady portray Broulard and Mireau not as neutral accomplices but as agents of evil: a more dangerous adversary than the one their troops face in battle.
With regard to Dax, he did everything he could to save the three men. He leaves absolutely no doubt in the minds of Generals Broulard and Mireau what he thinks of them, both as officers and as human beings. However, they are his military superiors and the war continues after the executions. I mention all this by way of suggesting a context for my opinion that the final scene in the cafe has a very important purpose: to communicate Kubrick's reassurance to those who see his film that even amidst war's death and mutilation, the very best of human instincts somehow prevail. They cannot be defeated by the "Ant Hill," nor by Broulard and Mireau and their obscene abuse of military justice. In my opinion, that is what Dax realizes in the cafe as he and other soldiers listen to a terrified girl sing. And that is the final "message" which Kubrick seems determined to leave with his audience."
"If Stanley Kubrick had not directed anything else, he'd still be lionized for this unrelenting look at the irony of war. Praise must also be bestowed on Kirk Douglas who had a big hand in getting this picture made. The trench scenes are realistic, the HQ drama is devastating and the 3 doomed soldiers are symbolic of the lost generation of WWI, picked at random and executed for cowardice to make up for lost honor and stupidity. The Humphrey Cobb novel sadly is out-of-print and how can this be? It is a classic on the level with Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet On The Western Front and Catch-22. I urge anyone who is interested in an intelligent war film (no oxymoron) to buy this for repeated viewings and to search out the book for a fuller appreciation of the artistic vision of Kubrick's masterpiece. The final scene where the German girl sings for the war-weary soldiers chokes me up everytime I see it. No other war film holds a candle to this one."


text:
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3)There's not much sea glass anymore, too many beachcombers, even on my private beach!
4)I've worn nothing but jeans since last August!
5)The wild strawberries will be ready in about a week... come on up!
Er... not bad, even. Ack!


text:
MathRider » Game Play
MathRider is a totally new and innovative math game for kids to practice their number facts.
Practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division from 1 to 12 is no longer a boring chore of filling in pieces of paper that then need checking, or playing flat web games on-line that just serve random numbers.
Game Intelligence
Mid-game Multiplication Statistics – green means mastered, the number nine needs more practice, and the top challenge is 8×8 (red). Grey squares mean these questions have not been tried yet.
While the rider is playing, the game learns what the rider knows and what he or she still needs to practice. Every single response (or non-response) is stored in an internal database and statistically analysed by the software. In this way the program is able to custom-tailor to each rider, which questions are asked next. No repetitive drilling of random number facts the rider already knows – but real practice of what actually needs to be practiced!
Plenty of feedback is given on the rider's mastery of each number fact and operation, including an innovative overview map of mastery for each number table. This is highly beneficial for both the rider and the parent/educator. You can see with one glance where your child is at and where he or she might need further assistance. Top challenges are also listed in a separate list box for further easy reference.
Clicking on a question brings up more information on it, including a visual representation as well as some detailed statistics.
A Fun and Entertaining Math Game
multiplication practice in the enchanted forest
Your child is taken into a land of fantasy and quests. Living in the Land of Ray and riding a horse called Shadow, he or she will set out on various noble adventures. Riding across amazing, digitally matte-painted moving backdrops of distinct fantastic lands, they will accomplish their quest, be it finding magical flowers, returning gems to the elves or even rescuing a princess!
Each operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) contains four quests, ranging from easy to master.
The four quests are the same across the four operations, however, the rewards are not. Every combination of quest and reward holds a different reward. The rewards are all animated according to how well the player answered the questions.
All rewards are displayed on the main screen of the game. In this way there is a direct feedback and incentive for your child to do as best as they can.
multiplication practice – rescue the princess
A lot of otherwise good games suffer from quirky controls or from making the game-play itself too difficult. It is incredibly sad to watch kids fail a math game, even though they know the correct answer, because they mistimed their spaceship's shot, or because jumping over that ledge is just too hard. These things have nothing to do with math, so why put hand-eye coordination requirements into a math game?
In MathRider we specifically designed the controls such that they will not get in the way of practising maths. If you can do the math, you win, simple as that. All the player needs to do is key in the correct number and press 'Enter'. The game does the rest. Sound effects, animation, riding speed and so on are automatically controlled and adjusted. In this way, your child can fully focus on practising their math while still enjoying a highly entertaining game.
Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division All In One Game
We have found that many older children, already learning multiplication and division actually lack complete mastery of addition and subtraction. To give these older children the benefit, we decided to produce one game covering all four operations, rather than splitting the game into two. As such, the game is designed so that a younger child can complete just addition and an older child can focus on multiplcation and division, but also revise their addition and subtraction as well.
Multiple Users Supported
The MathRider game allows more than one child to play the game. Every person creates their own rider, and the game tracks each rider's progress and unique practice results individually. Via a simple login screen, each child logs in to their own game environment.
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MathRider - Innovative Mathematics Games for Kids