text:
WWE bringing the Royal Rumble back to Philadelphia in 2018
Joseph Currier
WWE is bringing the Royal Rumble back to Philadelphia next year.
Though much of this week's focus is on Sunday's show at the Alamodome, Philly.com broke the news on Thursday morning that the 2018 Royal Rumble will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event will be held on January 28th of next year.
In addition to the Rumble, the arena will also host three other WWE shows that week, with NXT TakeOver taking place on Saturday, Raw on Monday, and SmackDown on Tuesday. Holding four straight nights of shows in the same city is WWE's plan for their "big four" pay-per-views going forward.
"WWE has enjoyed a very special relationship with the city and its fans over decades, and that important heritage made Philadelphia a very natural choice to host this unprecedented four-night celebration," WWE's executive vice president of special events John Saboor told Philly.com. "Our decision to place next year's Royal Rumble celebration in Philadelphia is truly another exciting and important step in the continued growth of WWE's four largest annual events."
Philadelphia was last home to the Rumble in 2015, where the fans were vocal in their opposition of Roman Reigns' win in the main event. The city has been in the running to host WrestleMania in recent years, but lost out to New Orleans for 2018's event.
royal rumble 2017headlineroyal rumble 2018


Here's the most entertaining way for children to get a good look at the human body and learn how bodies work: 28 fun and instructive, ready-to-colour illustrations. Coordinating text explores the muscular, skeletal, nervous, digestive, respiratory, and immune systems, and answers such questions as What is a hiccup? and Where is my DNA? Free Teacher's Manual available. Grades: 1-2.
Buy BOOST My First Human Body Coloring Book by Patricia J. Wynne from Australia's Online Independent Bookstore, Boomerang Books.


Abhay's website needed little in terms of design but more in terms of design aesthetics, page layout simplicity and ease of daily usage. Made in WordPress, this website is sans any loaded frill or feature. The website comes with an easy to use Content Management System (CMS) to make edits, do updates and add new items on the site a breeze.


Liverpool fans have hit out at the eye-watering away ticket prices being charged in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Supporters travelling to the away leg at Roma's Stadio Olimpico will be charged £73 for the privilege. Liverpool's Spirit of Shankly (SoS) group have called for action on the problem of away pricing in European competition.
"Once again, as happened against Porto earlier in the competition, Liverpool fans are being asked to pay a premium," SoS said.
"Liverpool are known, and respected, for their travelling support and clubs know they will sell out, even at high prices. But this is neither fair or right.
Elsewhere, Arsenal supporters were facing £79 away tickets for their Europa League tie against Atletico Madrid. However, the club has stepped in and will be subsidising travelling Gunners, making sure they pay no more than home fans (£36).
Arsenal supporters' liaison officer Mark Brindle said: "We know our match in Madrid is already shaping up to be an expensive one for our supporters with the early-May Bank Holiday increasing travel costs.
"On top of this, our fans are being asked to pay a higher 'non-member' price for their tickets to Estadio Metropolitano.
Spirit of Shankly are also asking their club to step in, but recognise that subsidies aren't a long-term solution.
"The importance of the role of supporters in our run to the semi-finals has been acknowledged by players, the manager and the national press," SoS said.
The problem of away ticket pricing in European club competition has been in the spotlight over recent seasons, and Football Supporters Europe (FSE), continue to lobby UEFA for better regulation.


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Европско првенство у уметничком клизању 2012. је такмичење у уметничком клизању које организује Међународна клизачка организација. Такмичење је одржано од 23. јануара до 29. јануара 2012. у Шефилдској арени у истоименом граду у Енглеској.

Освајачи медаља

мушкарци

Укупно је наступило 33 такмичара.

жене

Укупно је наступила 41 такмичарка. Србију је представљала Марина Сех која је такмичење завршила у квалификацијама.

парови

Укупно је наступило 19 клизачких парова. Због малог броја такмичара, квалифкације нису одржане.

плесни парови

Укупно се такмичио 31 плесни пар.

Извори

Спољашње везе
 Званична интернет презентација шампионата
 Списак учесника на сајту Светске клизачке организације
 Редослед наступа и резултати

Европска првенства у уметничком клизању
Спорт у 2012.
Спорт у Енглеској

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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@richardjmurphy doesn\'t really get this internet thing, does he?
Ragging on Ritchie
If you were to take a look back at the last 30 years, concentrating on the agora, the public space, what would be your overview?
Me, I think I\'d say that it was this here internet thing that had massively expanded it. From Usenet through blogs to Twitter and Facebook, the ability to broadcast one\'s views, discuss them, chew them over, have them criticised, corrected even, has expanded massively.
We are in a golden age of the public space I think it would be fair to say.
Which makes this from our favroute retired accountant from Wandsworth so interesting:
Geography is a really important part of this: having a location where people can meet and talk over a period is vital That's because for thirty or more years neoliberalism has very deliberately crowded out all dissent, in economics and politics. So we have a hegemony of neoliberal thinking in economics whilst politicians are cowed into offering one agenda within the framework of the current political domain.
This from a man who, as he is only too eager to tell us, runs the number 1 economics blog in the country, has near 7,000 Twitter followers?
What crowding out?
previousPaul Krugman on the Federasts
nextLaugh? I nearly died
11 thoughts on "@richardjmurphy doesn\'t really get this internet thing, does he?"
Surreptitious Evil November 3, 2011 at 2:55 pm
"and only pedants argue they should be outside the Bank of England, not St Paul's: they're in the City, which is all that matters."
More indication that his grasp on geography isn't all it is cracked up to be. That might be something to do with living in Norfolk where, I am assured, if you are away from the coast it is flat all the way from hedgerow to beet field.
NICK LUKE November 3, 2011 at 3:24 pm
He's simply admitting that there is no room for him in the arena of public discussion. He can only find a sufficiently sycophantic audience in the back rooms of small pubs (with one honourable exception, of course)
"its tax charges can also seriosuly distort reuyskts."
Has he started posting pissed?
Philip Walker November 3, 2011 at 4:08 pm
SE: How would we tell the difference?
Arnald November 3, 2011 at 4:14 pm
"…favroute.."
Gary November 3, 2011 at 4:23 pm
By Christ Arnald…I think you might be right!
diogenes November 3, 2011 at 4:55 pm
thanks to Murphy I now know that all politicians and central bankers and journos hold identical views on the economy, the Euro, how to react to the banking crisis etc…Thanks Murph-meister for another stunning insight.
Rob November 3, 2011 at 6:19 pm
Projection. He is the one famous for not tolerating criticism or dissent, so he projects that vice onto his hated enemies, the mythical "neo-liberal hegemony", which is so dominant the State is reduced to a desperate toe-hold of only 45%.
Mactheknife November 3, 2011 at 6:24 pm
The twat only knows one word "neolibralism" and he thinks by injecting this into every sentence it somehow makes him seem intelligent.
Although it is no longer true he is number 1 economics blogger. Money Blog is #1, TR #2 at TW #3 [1].
Or we could take the Total Politics ranking and he could declare himself as a "top 73" blogger [2].
I'm gonna guess that this fact will miss the printing deadline for his book 'The Incorrigible State'.
[1] http://www.wikio.co.uk/blogs/top/economy
[2] http://www.totalpolitics.com/blog/257577/top-15-nonaligned-blogs-2011.thtml
Matthew November 3, 2011 at 10:24 pm
Murphy reminds me of the type of creationist who uses Darwinism as an epithet. They're impervious to evidence as well.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Text by Aalika Mahindra
Beginning an eight-day road trip down the Albanian Riviera in Tirana, the capital city at the heart of a post-Communist awakening, prepares New York-based Aalika Mahindra to traverse the country's particular sociopolitical arc and her own progression as a traveller
Photograph by Maciej Dakowicz
National Museum of History in Skanderbeg Square
Before I touched down at Tirana International Airport, my knowledge of the Balkan enclave of Albania had, embarrassingly, been restricted to its history of isolationist Communism and the fact that it is where Mother Teresa traced her roots. As the plane's wing swept over the Adriatic Sea's prismatic cerulean blues, I experienced a quicksilver wave of nervous-yet-excited energy. It's unusual for me to visit a place sight unseen; I'm usually neck-deep in research, restaurant lists and random facts. For lack of time, I had to hand over control to my travel partner, leaving my imagination to give form to this vague territory. But the images and narratives it managed to summon hardly came close to the layered story of a European anachronism: the continent's poorest country once disfigured by authoritarianism and closed to outsiders, reshaping itself as a cosmopolitan democracy and preparing for the inevitable tourism boom.
Photograph by David Yvergniaux
Statue of Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu, The Kulla e Sahatit, the Et'hem Bey Mosque and The Plaza hotel
In the small and efficiently run airport, we're flagged down at the baggage claim by made-up women in miniskirts offering SIM cards and other forms of connectivity, their red-lipped smiles meant to reassure us that civilisation need not be abandoned on arrival. And I can attest to free Wi-Fi being everywhere. Whether for surveillance or convenience, we didn't complain…. After a 45-minute ride with a jolly, English-challenged cab-driver (he proudly ambushed his son, who coincidentally lives in Lyon, with a phone call to get translated directions from my French companion), we pull up to the misnomered Hotel Antigone. It's unassuming and minimally accoutered but far from tragic. The five-member staff's eager-to-help friendliness is almost suspicious in its constancy, although I appreciate this sincere national trait as the antidote to foreign cynicism. We hurriedly perfect the pronunciation of faleminderit, 'thank you', because it's a handier phrase than expected. Besides with the cab-driver, however, we didn't face a significant communication barrier in Tirana; English is commonly understood if not spoken. When needed, mainly further south, my rusty Italian helped us get by since it's a second language for many Albanians.
The Pyramid of Tirana
The hotel is located in Blloku, the capital's cool, art-minded neighbourhood, amidst a cluster of new late-night bars and restaurants with names such as Tribeca, Nouvelle Vague and Bunker 1944 Lounge. With only Staten Island's Albanian diaspora for context and the intense curiosity of a first-timer, I uncharacteristically subject the young Tirana residents that collect here to the cringeworthy prolonged gawk of The Tourist. Hard to distinguish as playing fashion catch-up or reflecting 2019's favourite throwback trend, their style belongs in a '90s MTV music video. I watch as Lycra-clad bodies hop freely from one electropop-thumping venue to the next and reclaim this sector, formerly blockaded for the Communist elite. Today, its buildings, particularly in Wilson Square, are enlivened by technicolour paint and eccentric murals, a typical sight throughout Tirana. An officially-appointed graffiti artist, Franko Dine, roams the city's streets, which also hosted the first MurAL Fest, Tirana last year. A 2013 project called PostBllok incorporates a 2.6-tonne piece of the Berlin Wall, the domed top of an atomic bunker and remnants from a forced labour mine, the miscellany of bleak 'sculptures' sitting in a park metres away from murderous dictator Enver Hoxha's erstwhile home and a KFC. Though the area evokes some apparent global counterparts: Bandra, Botafogo, Malleswaram, Bushwick, Vitry-sur-Seine, their specific raison d'êtres make it naïve to assume too much more than a superficial kinship, I know. In blatant contradiction to the energetic Blloku, the nearby Mother Teresa Square is a desolate and static expanse, bordered by the sternly arranged beige stone blocks of academic institutions, a real-life fascist version of Tetris.
Former location of Mumja Nightclub
The unpredictability of what lies ahead stalls the onset of heat-induced sluggishness, keeping me going until the next eccentric landmark. A short walk away, The Pyramid of Tirana — built to commemorate Hoxha's powerful rule from 1944-85 — rests forgotten and dilapidated, of service only to skaters or bored teens who clamber up the dingy tile-covered beams. The absolute absence of tourists, even in this peak season for the rest of Europe, is striking. I catch sight of the peeling flamingo-pink entrance that used to lead to Mumja Nightclub's original location inside the pyramid during the '90s, and I realise that it's an unnatural reality in which there are no phones pointed at something which clearly qualifies as an Instagram pitstop. It's also worth mentioning that I spotted only one other Indian tourist during my entire time in Albania, a detail that enhanced the atmosphere's parallel dimension-like complexion. Across the Lana River, a skinny strip of mountain-sourced water that bifurcates the city length-wise while transporting sewage, and the over-300-year-old Tanners' Bridge, is Reja (The Cloud). The geometric, interactive 3D installation by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto is temporarily set up outside the National Gallery of Arts, and it is uncrowded too — my thoughts turn to the fates of the tragically hip Dubrovnik and Reykjavik, whose besieged people are likely plotting a return to inconspicuousness. In the central, recently-made-car-free plaza, Skanderbeg Square, the Opera House stands with the National Museum of History. A commanding socialist mosaic mural aptly titled The Albanians overtakes the latter's façade. These conquering warriors face the equally dominating statue of 15th-century rebel military leader Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu, and the surrounding architectural make-up is a visual tribute to Albania's cultural mashup and atavistic instinct for religious tolerance. The Kulla e Sahatit, a 19th-century clock tower, mixes Ottoman and Western styles as a result of numerous renovations — it currently houses a Chinese-made clock — and keeps time over Skanderbeg with the square's eponymous mountains undulating behind it. To its right, the spindly minaret of the Et'hem Bey Mosque (the majority of the population is nominally Muslim) probes the skyline. Designed contemporaneously by the same architect as the clock tower, it reopened in 1991 after being closed under Hoxha's dogmatic agenda disguised as atheism. Capping off this medley are the five yellow stars atop a monolith of concrete pixels, the Plaza Hotel, Tirana's tallest building that rises from the foot of a memorial to the city's founder, Suleiman Pasha. A 2012 addition is the dramatic Resurrection Cathedral, an Orthodox Church just beyond Skanderbeg's periphery. At night, the square is a socialising site for locals; children splash through illuminated fountains that spout from the ground without warning, hawkers hawk flashing electronic toys as couples indulge in PDA and groups of cigarette-smoking teens infiltrate the Venetian-inspired carousel.
Ministry of Energy and Industry, Tirana
If these signs of life going on laissez-faire made me forget it, Bunk'Art 1 and 2, below the surface, are trenchant reminders of the grip Hoxha had on civilians until not much longer than 40 years ago. As the whole truths of his punishing regime are in the process of being disclosed, the many who were old enough then to remember it, bear the accumulated strain of an existence that is entangled in the still-overlapping tales of the diverging Albanias. The rooms of the two massive Cold War-era nuclear bunkers have been converted into tech-forward art galleries and museums that recreate life under the pre-WW2 Italian invasion and then Hoxha. The somberness of the past lingers in each space, in these (incidentally, never used) fortified labyrinths constructed for one megalomaniacal man's paranoia; an estimated 170,000-750,000 bunkers are scattered throughout the country's terrain. Such markers of the chasms between realities continually interrupt us, another being the glass-front multi-storeyed Toptani Shopping Center (not unlike Mumbai's first major signifier of capitalist consumerism — Crossroads Mall, now Sobo Central). It's a three-minute walk away, through Rruga Murat Toptani which is a public promenade designed as an urban Utopia, once we emerge from the chilling darkness of Bunk'Art 2.
Morning scenes on the edge of Skanderbeg Square
A pleasant surprise is the consistently enjoyable food and varied choice of places to eat and drink in, not to mention the startlingly affordable prices. For an average of 1200 Lek, less than 800 rupees, we dine on satiating three-course meals, including the native wine (finding its feet, but certainly better than some California blends I've tried). While the best of what we sampled was the home-cooking further south in the UNESCO-protected towns of Berat and Gjirokaster, we are able to familiarise our taste buds in Tirana. Breakfasts are comfortingly simple; varieties of home-made bread served with the ubiquitous feta-adjacent cheese, treacly jams, fresh fruit and mountain flower-steeped tea, and the drive down the coast didn't see it modify much. Fresh Garden near Antigone is an introduction to the good-quality pizza that Albania is intriguingly known for, a dish that diffused into its cuisine from the neighbouring Italy and is arguably divorced from the historic turbulence between the countries. A peek into the restaurant's namesake market tempts a comparison to India's Nature's Basket, thanks to its use of the same recognisable aesthetic strategy of globalised grocery shops: homespun-yet-ultramodern. And to fulfil any overwhelming cravings for a hearty Italian meal, the snug, 'nonna's kitchen'-modelled A La Santé is the best bet. Komiteti Kafe-Muzeum is an air-conditioned, Wi-Fied oasis close to the Pyramid and recommended in every guidebook and blog. Although, the advantages of coming to Tirana in this transitional moment are that it doesn't possess the air of performed authenticity that most tourist-savvy destinations display and nothing has been dismissed as overdone or cliché…yet. We sink into a couch in a dim alcove decorated with antique Communist artefacts and test out the local beer, Korça.
The quiet afternoons pick up after sundown, when the tchotchke-crammed bar-cafe-museum entertains a crowd that, I like to imagine, makes up a 21st century equivalent of the Parisian Enlightenment salons — the name fittingly translates to 'committee'. We've heard that Albanians welcome conversations about the state of things, and the extensive raki (a burningly strong indigenous alcohol made from fermented fruit like grapes, mulberries, plums) selection here is probably an effective debate instigator. The 20-something bartender readily shares both information and her amusement at our fascination, a reaction that we have come to expect. Despite their firm patriotism, the citizens haven't developed the collective self-esteem to fully fathom why anyone other than vacationing Italians has an interest in Albania let alone wants to come here. Radio Bar's Instagram page (which announces it as 'the lovechild of GREAT DRINKS, NICE MUSIC and AUTHENTIC DÉCOR') is a good point of reference for Tirana's position as a soon-to-be international hotspot, corroborated by the rare concentration of multiple languages my ears pick up in the actual venue. The Mad Hatter-ish interior design, also appropriating Communist paraphernalia as objets d'art, could universally be marketed as eclectic, and it gives off a vibe of casual abandon that's contagious. I easily lose track of the number of drinks ordered, especially consumed by people-watching in the primary-coloured patio which has been assigned its own genre of industrial-tropical chic.
A small vegetable stall in a residential area in central Tirana
When unable to settle on a preference, we head to the facelifted Pazari I Ri (New Bazaar) neighbourhood. It's essentially an extended open-air marketplace hosting fruit, vegetable and meat vendors, and the perimeter is lined with coffee shops, gelatarias and a diverse set of bistros. The nearby Oda, a hidden-away restaurant in an Ottoman-style house, provides traditional Albanian cuisine with a flavour of home life, but they can only accommodate us for a cup of tarry Turkish coffee and byrek (flaky sheets of pastry with a warm filling, usually cheese and spinach). We jealously watch the man on the next table extract chunks of perfectly-cooked lamb off the bone, wishing we hadn't arrived too late for lunch. Possibly sensing our stares, he turns to chat with us, and we learn that he's an American actor with a theatre production company that uses the medium to work with people in areas of conflict. By this time I'm suitably equipped for such peculiarities.
To make our foray into the slow food, fine dining scene, it's Mullixhiu. The farm-to-table restaurant is at the entrance of The Grand Park of Tirana, a tiered plot of nature ironically circling the city's gleaming Artificial Lake and the lone jet of water that erupts from underneath it (there's a noticeable obsession with seemingly ad hoc fountains in Tirana). It's dark by 6:30 p.m., but this appears to be when the mood is the liveliest, so we take the opportunity to cover what we can until our 7:15 p.m. reservation. One of the most popular recreational hubs, the park is the epitome of modern municipal efforts to focus on the citizens through these all-you-can-do pedestrianised zones. Strewn across its 289 hectares are an amphitheatre, children's playgrounds, three gyms, biking and running tracks, an indoor pool, a zoo, botanical gardens and of course, a smattering of 19th-century structures. At the packed Mullixhiu, Bledar Kola, though clearly frazzled, hospitably hands us a complimentary glass of tart cherry juice followed by wine while we wait for our table. The 35-year-old chef counts among Noma's many alumni, and the inspiration is evident when you walk into the low-ceilinged wooden interiors, reminiscent of a Nordic cabin. It's meant, however, to evoke an old mill, simpler times. A small enclosure to the side of the entrance is a primitive-looking bread-and pasta-making room, where dough in various stages, prepared from scratch, is laid out or hung. Jars of glossy jams and compotes are for sale in baskets near the bar, and they come from Mrizi i Zanave, an agrotourism destination in the northern village of Fishte, which is also where the restaurant gets a daily supply of meat and vegetables. The seasonal tasting menu — at under 2500 rupees — has a rugged edge, relying on staple ingredients of the pre-industrial diet. But traditional dishes are reinvented with the flair of an avant-garde kitchen: quail with a reduction of a region-specific sour plum, handmade petka or durum wheat flour pasta, with duck meat and porcini, dessert that incorporates both dehydrated and fermented maize, all served with intentionally crude crockery and mismatched cutlery. Mullixhiu distills the fusional quality of this city where I began to relate, in some way, to those who perceive time as non-linear.
A woman buys flowers in central Tirana
It's a curious sensation, to feel a muscular oneness with a place that was so nebulous until 48 hours ago. But the process of acquiring this internal proximity involves more than an exploration of streets; it's compelled by a deeper personal expression. Having the privilege to take off from my immediate surroundings often, I've wanted to, at the very least, consider this expression and objectively question what it is I'm looking for when I travel in order to gain a broader awareness. I turned to more articulate nomadic souls like Pico Iyer, Peter Mayle, Kiran Desai and Edith Wharton to help put these particular sentiments into words, and encoded in their sentences, as I interpret it, is the human desire to see ourselves reflected back to us as we're poised to be immersed in the unknown, willingly or not. But also the desire to resurface transformed. Perhaps it's that the underlying, very precise angst of the city's journey towards self-actualisation spoke to my own mid-thirties voyage. Perhaps there was a solaceful lesson in its acceptance of imperfection and polarities, in its people's immutable trustingness despite suffering at the hands of one of their own. Perhaps in two years an entirely contrasting place will be emblematic of my expectations. But this summer, similarly defined by introspection and willful optimism, I think I had been waiting for Tirana.
Tags: Albania, Featured, Mumja Nightclub, National Museum of History, Skanderbeg Square, The Kulla e Sahatit, The Plaza hotel, The Pyramid of Tirana, Tirana, Travel


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Q: iOS Testing Mock Subclass With Properties Using Kiwi I have an application, for which I use Objective Resource to create local objects to reflect remote responses.
The specific model classes have subclass an abstract-ish class to give them all a variety of additional functionality, most importantly the ability to serialize, write to disk, and load from disk, regardless regardless of what the specific properties are of that specific model object.
superclass.m

-(BOOL)saveToDisk{
    ...serializes and encodes all properties to disk
    ...return success
}

subclass.h : superclass

@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString* name;
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSArray* friends;
 ...etc

Then I would call
     instanceOfSubclass.name = "joe"
     NSLog(@"save status = %d",[instanceOfSubclass saveToDisk]);

I am new to BDD and test driven development generally. How do I create a mock object, using kiwi, to test this functionality abstractly, since I use this framework in lots of projects.
Specifically, I want to build tests that ensure that a subclass with various types of properties can be saved loaded, deleted, and overwritten.
My understanding is that this is where stubs and mocks come in, but I can't seem to figure out how to mock properties. Do I have to create an actual class with those properties?

A: Properties are methods behind the scenes, so:
I managed to do this with a combination of the +mock method as mentioned by @aopsfan, then using -stub:andReturn: were I guessed at the name of the methods that implemented the properties. This example worked, impersonating a TCConnection (from the Twilio iOS SDK):
// Instantiates a mocked object:
id fake_connection = [TCConnection mock];
// Creates a faked property accessor:
[fake_connection stub:@selector(parameters)
            andReturn:@{@"From": @"fake-caller"}];

// I could now call my TCDeviceDelegate 's
// -device:didReceiveIncomingConnection:
[myActualObject device:myActualObject.device
            didReceiveIncomingConnection:fake_connection];
// Check some results on the object:
[[myActualObject.connection should] equal:fake_connection];

This pattern particular example can probably be generalised to other situations. It's useful to call -stub (without the andReturn:) parameter to silence methods that can't be called in a simulated fixture.

A: There is some documentation for you at this location.  Basically, Kiwi provides an Objective-C category on NSObject that you have access to when you #import "Kiwi.h".  This allows all objects that inherit from NSObject to respond to +mock, mockWithName:, etc., which is configurable via the KWMock class.
Hope this helps, and sorry its a bit late :)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Empowering Society With Technology
Financial & Tech, Tech Debates
Vocational institute seeks to build a digital ecosystem enabling community members to leverage on connectivity for sustainable livelihoods.
By Brian Yatich
With the profound impact that technology has transformed various industries right from agriculture to the future of connected devices has been a fundamental shift in the structure of our global society.
However, with digital divide glaring at communities living in low-income areas in East Africa region it has hindered many residents from leveraging on the access and usage of ICTs for socio-economic empowerment. This has resulted in pushing the youth slowly away from job opportunities that are presented in the current digital age.
In Kenya for instance, the Ministry of Public Service, Youth, and Gender Affairs estimate that the unemployment rate among youth is estimated at around 80 percent with 90 percent of them lacking vocational training.
This damning report projects a big divide and demonstrates just how much more needs to be done, especially with the regions booming tech industry combined with a large number of young people who want skills.
However, there have been several initiatives taken by the government, private sector, and civil society to improve digital literacy skills for youth, especially those in remote areas. One of the largest such training programs is the Ajira Digital Programme facilitated by the national government's Ministry of Information Communications and Telecommunications back in 2016 with the aim of training 1 million youth to be digitally literate and improve their employment likelihood.
These shortcomings have also resulted in the development of more social-centric initiatives, one such organization is Tunapanda institute, whose goal is to build a digital ecosystem in education enabling community members to leverage on connectivity for sustainable livelihoods.
The institute, started 6 years ago by Jay Larson and Mick Larson, two global nomadic brothers from the United States offers free training programs for students between the ages of 18 to 30 in information and communications technologies (ICTs), design, and business as it is creating an alternative path for people to develop valuable skills and flourish to become teachers and professionals.
In East Africa, there is a big problem of youth unemployment and a severe shortage of teachers – especially in fields related to technology; since teachers with tech skills are in high demand from the private sector.
"This greatly contributes to wasted potential and sustained inter-generational poverty. Tunapanda institute seeks to empower residents of the city's largest slum with the skills and equipment to qualify for entry-level jobs in the tech market by shrinking the digital divide," Brian Mwevi, the institutes' partnership's lead, Kibera Aeronautics, and Space Academy (KASA) notes.
The institute has set up a training facility in Kibera, Nairobi's largest informal settlement, to test a new model of peer-to-peer learning and teacher training. The network, conceptualized in 2015, aims at providing youth in Kibera with access to digital educational content.
It currently accommodates around 30 trainees per cohort as it receives over 300 applications. "The idea was to have local youth access Tunapanda's eLearning platform (SWAG) and take online courses, should they not be successful in their application to join the program," Mwevi says.
"In the past year, dozens of young people from around East Africa have, through our intensive 3-month programs, taken steps that yield not only great jobs – but also more enthusiasm for life and personal confidence in tackling local problems with global implications," according to the organization's website.
The team is now focused on launching a new program, which will create an initial 9 micro-courses and test them with young people through their partners in Kibera, before releasing them for free to the public to help tackle real-world problems.
"KASA will be a learning centre in Kibera that will be run by local graduates of Tunapanda Institute's 3-month training program acting as a hub for space exploration and STEM education," he says.
Of the institute's graduates, 75 percent have found employment through the institute's placement assistance.
The institute works with partners around East Africa to spread learning through open source software and locally-created open learning resources.
"The model has applications around the world, and we are deploying initially in lowest-income parts of less-developed countries. Check out our video, above, to learn more," Mwevi says.
Through a partnership with the Internet Society, International Centre of Theoretical Physics (Italy) and Rhinotivity (Denmark), four nodes were deployed in 2017 serving two schools with over 1500 students and a youth centre serving 300 local youths.
According to Dennis Lighare, one of the beneficiaries of the program from 2016, the institute is creating a model that can be replicated globally – in both less-developed and most-developed countries. The software being created is open source and the educational resources (including videos and interactive learning tools) made are openly-licensed.
The institute is in the process of developing a larger, school-based initiative to provide access to digital literacy and economic opportunity.
At least 300 schools in Kibera will be given Internet access and devices, and connected by a common sharing network. Teachers and school administrators will be trained to understand and communicate the value of ICTs to their students as well as integrate them into their learning models. The community network connecting the slum's 300 schools is still in its early stages.
"Tunapanda also provides other services such as market research, web development and corporate training, which allows the organization to provide free, offline, open-source educative materials, and to run their digital literacy training free of cost," Lighare indicates.
Tunapanda's projects have progressed relatively slowly, as they have an entirely volunteer workforce and must devote a lot of time and energy to fundraising.
Impacts: Success Stories
Tech Dada, an initiative within the Institute, seeks to provide girls and young women with adequate mindsets and required skills for them to successfully carry out the opportunities in 21st Century ins one of the success stories from Tunapanda.
"Tech Dada envisions many East African young women pursuing careers in technology, design & business as they put their emphasis on solving real world problems both locally and globally. To achieve this, they have come up with a curriculum and various courses that increase the awareness of tech opportunities and they have community outreach programs which engages with local organizations and institutions, such as schools and nonprofit organizations," Says Renice, a graduate from the 4th cohort and one of the Tech Dada trainers.
Tunapanda Institute is actively partnering with organizations as well as looking for funding to replicate their projects. One such project is currently in development in Kawangware, a smaller slum in Nairobi. Another project is running in Kakuma, a refugee camp in northern Kenya.
Looking into the future, Tunapanda's eventual success involving prioritizing community outreach and collaboration is a major element of their development and deployment.
Tunapanda's work has determined that the Internet has potential in Africa, but without robust local content, infrastructural development alone will likely not have the desired impact.


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Scottish Independence?
Thread: Scottish Independence?
RahenyFG
When will the Scots ever gain independence. Has the SNP minority government backed down completely on a independence referendum being put before the people or has support for Scottish independence declined in the economic recession.
Eirenua
Re: Scottish Independence?
They will get it when they run out of gas and oil
Living in Edinburgh at the moment and there is no real mention of independence. People are more concerned the immediate problems i.e. the economy
There was talk of a Republic of Scotland happening by 2007. Will it ever happen now?
Cáthasaigh
Originally Posted by Eirenua
Their 'share' of the revenue from said gas and oil will be progressively cut off in proportion to the dwindling reserves.
"Do not be misled by the promises of politicians. Remember that the whole history of Ireland is a record of betrayals by politicians and statesmen, and remembering this, spurn their lying promises and stand up for a United Ireland - an Ireland broad based upon the union of Labour and Nationality." - James Connolly.
In the context of the EU, the notion of 'independence' looses some of its lustre, I would argue. For all of us still tangled up in the UK I think the great thing is to work hard to get power 'devolved' to us or 'ceded' to the EU itself, so that in the end the English have no power over us at all. It'll work differently in the various bits, but I reckon we should try to avoid a Quebec-type situation where we keep just-losing Independence votes: that is destructive.
Gobeithiaw y ddaw ydd wyf.
Scotland has actually received new budget powers today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11863388
DCon
heart of Europe
Barosso says Scots would no longer be in the EU after Independence
Scottish people could lose European Union citizenship if the region wins independence from the United Kingdom, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has suggested.
Nationalists believe an independent Scotland would have no problem remaining in the European Union.
Barroso has said any country winning independence from a current EU member state would have to renegotiate its membership.
"In the hypothetical event of a secession of a part of an EU member state, the solution would have to be found and negotiated within the international legal order," he said in recent remarks.
http://www.euractiv.com/uk-europe/sc...ip-news-514720
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. ~Oscar Ameringer
Captain Con O'Sullivan
Thats no problem. That sounds like an opportunity for Scotland.
Think National. Act Local. Oh- and superstition is just the dark matter of human history.
Originally Posted by Captain Con O'Sullivan
I assume the Scots would rather elect the Leader of their country than have to obey an idiot like Barosso
Last edited by DCon; 12-09-2012 at 07:56 AM.
Off to Scotland so.
hiding inside Brendan Gleesons underwear drawer...
Working on an oil rig for loadsa money....all them oil workers ....OK Off I go!...
History is the only true teacher, the revolution the best school for the proletariat - Rosa Luxembourg
Cammie baby and Salmond are signing a deal on a Scottish independence referendum
David Cameron is to sign a historic deal with Alex Salmond to hold a legally watertight referendum on Scottish independence, signalling the start of a 100-week battle over the UK's constitutional future.
The prime minister will fly to Scotland on Monday to settle the terms of a Scotland-wide referendum, expected to be held in autumn 2014, by publishing a 35-clause long deal with the first minister that is already being dubbed the "Edinburgh agreement" by Salmond officials.
With disputes over legal limits to campaign spending still yet to be solved, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's deputy first minister, said on Sunday that the deal would allow all the key elements of the referendum to be "made in Scotland".
UK government sources said they were not prepared to allow Salmond to postpone the referendum if opinion polls suggested he would lose.
Under UK referendum legislation, which is policed by the Electoral Commission, Holyrood will be allowed to extend the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds for the first time in a major vote. The Scottish parliament has already allowed them to vote in health board and crofting elections.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...?newsfeed=true
Maidir Le: Scottish Independence?
The dirty tricks brigade will be ramping up in Westminster. If I were Salmond I wouldn't be left alone with a maid at his hotel anytime soon.
They'll try everything to destroy this referendum opportunity in Scotland. It could be legendarily filthy between now and 2014 in Westminster/Holyrood politics.
This is going to make Braveheart look like the Croke Park Agreement.
Slim Buddha
Dublin North-West - the leading constituency!
Re: Maidir Le: Scottish Independence?
I haven't seen the Croke Park Agreement. Is Gibson in it? Who plays Biffo?
Quick Navigation Scottish Politics Top


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Kyle Cupp
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The Catholic Version of the Men's Rights Movement
January 7, 2015 by Kyle Cupp
The Catholic Version of the Men's Rights Movement January 7, 2015 Kyle Cupp
For those of you who haven't heard of it, the Men's Rights Movement (MRM) is a reactionary counter-movement to modern feminism. Those who associate with it believe that the feminist movement has disadvantaged, marginalized, and oppressed men and that men must now reassert and defend their rights. Some individuals and groups within the movement are known for their misogyny and conspiracy theories. My friend R. Tod Kelly wrote about the MRM for The Daily Beast back in late 2013.
I was reminded of the movement yesterday when I stumbled upon a website called "The New Emangelization." The site's tagline–"Drawing Men to Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church"–sounds innocuous enough, but an interview by the site's founder Matthew James Christoff with the prominent American cardinal Raymond Leo Burke shows a more belligerent face. Like the MRM, the New Emangelization project is antagonistic toward feminism and feminist social gains. It argues that the Catholic Church has been feminized and that this process had led to a "man-crisis," an "exodus" of men from the Church and men who are now casual about the faith because, in the words of Christoff, these men "think that the Mass is feminized and they don't really understand the powerful manliness of the Mass."
Cardinal Burke is on the same page, noting:
The Church becomes very feminized. Women are wonderful, of course. They respond very naturally to the invitation to be active in the Church. Apart from the priest, the sanctuary has become full of women. The activities in the parish and even the liturgy have been influenced by women and have become so feminine in many places that men do not want to get involved.
Men are often reluctant to become active in the Church. The feminized environment and the lack of the Church's effort to engage men has led many men to simply opt out.
For Cardinal Burke, feminism is largely to blame: "the radical feminist movement strongly influenced the Church, leading the Church to constantly address women's issues at the expense of addressing critical issues important to men." He believes feminism has also harmed marriage:
I recall in the mid-1970's, young men telling me that they were, in a certain way, frightened by marriage because of the radicalizing and self-focused attitudes of women that were emerging at that time. These young men were concerned that entering a marriage would simply not work because of a constant and insistent demanding of rights for women. These divisions between women and men have gotten worse since then.
In response to these alleged woes, Cardinal Burke says the Church must return to the tradition of "heralding the heroic nature of manhood." The Church, he claims, has "become too influenced by radical feminism and has largely ignored the serious needs of men," and so heralding the heroic nature of manhood would mean, in practice, emphasizing the serious needs of men and pushing back against what he sees are the influences on the Church by radical feminism. The cardinal, for example, would do away with girl altar servers.
While I agree that decreased Mass attendance and diminished reverence for the liturgy are serious issues in the Church, my head hits the desk at the New Emangelization project's blaming women and the pursuit of their rights for these ills, especially when the supposed "man-crisis" is the fault of men not being able to serve and worship as well in the company of women and in a more "feminized environment." If women pursuing their rights, fighting systematic oppression and marginalization, and gaining influence in the Church makes men reluctant to become religiously active, that speaks poorly of these men. They need to grow up, but they're not going to do that by being fed overly romanticized notions like the "powerful manliness of the Mass" and the "heroic nature of manhood." And pushing back against the service and influence of women in the Church, particularly by catering to immature men with unrealistic ideals of masculinity, will do women no favors. Quite the opposite.
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Cardinal Raymond Burke
Matthew James Christof
New Emangelization
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Ecphylus leukocoxalis is een insect dat behoort tot de orde vliesvleugeligen (Hymenoptera) en de familie van de schildwespen (Braconidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort werd voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd door Marsh in 2002.

leukocoxalis


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Data & Measurement Experience & Design Monetization Omnichannel Organizational Culture Programmatic Advertising
Insights Library Tools Tutorials
Emerging Technology Mobile Search YouTube
#TDThanksYou Wins Hearts Using YouTube TrueView
/ January 2015 / Video, Finance & Banking
TD Canada Trust created the country's most successful YouTube ad in 2014. As a result, it increased brand affinity and touched customers at home and abroad with a heartfelt campaign that is the envy of brand managers globally. What is the secret to the #TDThanksYou campaign success? Authenticity and choice.
Use a heartwarming video to share and heighten #TDThanksYou, an on-the-ground experiental campaign
Increase TD's brand affinity with consumers
Ensure that the video is viewed by as many people as possible, particularly millennials
Paid Strategy: Experiential to create the content, YouTube TrueView to seed it
Earned Strategy: Enable social sharing to get the attention of mainstream media and trade PR
Owned Strategy: #TDThanksYou site
An instant social media hit: the most watched video ad in Canada and one of the top in the U.S. during summer 2014
Media buzz around the world
Brand affinity increase of 26%
Google Consumer Survey found that people who watched the video were twice as likely to feel positive about TD
YouTube TrueView ads take TD video to the next level.
Our digital landscape is full of content clamoring for attention. We need more than the whispered call of a great campaign to engage our target audiences. So, it's a marketer's dilemma: Once you've successfully developed a creative ad, how do you get your audience to notice, and care?
An excellent example of a strategy that got all the elements just right is the #TDThanksYou campaign. When TD Canada Trust, one of Canada's largest banks, wanted to increase its brand affinity with consumers, it used its annual Customer Appreciation Day as an opportunity to achieve this in a distinctly different way. The idea was to thank customers with very personal, very human gestures that underlined the special relationship and to capture these acts in a video for promotion and social sharing.
A key element was to promote the video in a way that was aligned with the central message of thoughtful engagement, so TD chose YouTube TrueView ads. Would the choice of skipping its ad result in fewer views or would this choice itself enhance its message and subsequently the perception of the TD brand?
Behind the campaign
TD worked with agencies Diamond Integrated Marketing and Leo Burnett to build a campaign that demonstrates TD is truly the bank of comfort. TD wanted to show that it's a bank that cares more about its customers than about their money. How did it do this? In four cities across Canada, it transformed ATMs into Automated Thanking Machines.
"We wanted to say thank you to our loyal customers," explained Chris Stamper, senior vice president of corporate marketing, community, and environment at TD Bank Group.
A four-minute video ad captured genuine, compelling emotion as pre-selected customers received personalized gifts that took both their breath and viewers' breath away.
Plane tickets for a mother to be with her sick daughter back home in Trinidad. A trip to Disney for a single mom and her two boys. A Blue Jays jersey and the opportunity to throw out the first pitch to José Bautista for a passionate baseball fan.
The #TDThanksYou campaign video shares authentic moments of surprise and heartfelt gratitude when real customers are presented with such special gifts.
"It showcased the personal and meaningful relationships between bank staff and its customers. It captured hearts because it was real," said David Diamond, managing partner at Diamond Integrated Marketing.
TD couldn't give every one of its clients a trip or a special memento, but it could invite a worldwide audience to be a part of someone else's stirring moment, an experience in itself. From the outset, the strategy was not to create a viral video. It was to share and promote an authentic experience to a demographic that would appreciate and enjoy being part of that.
We wanted to say thank you to our loyal customers.
The campaign, embodied in the emotional video that said it all, was too special to leave to chance on a crowded internet.
TD worked with Google to implement a YouTube TrueView ad strategy that complemented and extended the reach of its campaign. The TrueView ad format offers the audience the choice to view or skip ads after five seconds. Given the authenticity of TD's story, this choice was well matched with the sincere, appreciative message of the creative and the results show that viewers let the gripping video continue.
And choice created goodwill, allowing the word "ad" to get out of the way for the user to enjoy an honest and moving online experience.
Within a week, the video ad had been viewed 5.2 million times and was a social media darling. Instead of skipping it, Canadians watched it, liked it, shared it, and talked about it on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Ultimately, it captured the top spot on the July 2014 YouTube Canada Leaderboard as the most-watched video ad in Canada and one of the top in the U.S.
The campaign was featured on CTV, NBC, Today, CNN Money, and Mashable, among others, and has become a campaign that digital marketers around the world study and learn from.
To understand the post-campaign impact of the ad, TD ran a Google Consumer Survey to measure change in viewers' perception about the TD brand. A Google Consumer Survey is a powerful online tool that allows brands to gather fast and accurate market research. Not surprisingly, TD brand affinity, a consumer's emotional connection with a brand, increased 26%. The survey also found that people who watched the video were twice as likely to feel positive about TD.
All because the authentic campaign was underpinned with a paid media strategy that engaged audiences at the right time in the right place and with true choice.
Comedy Central's Innovative Search/YouTube Strategy Sends Fans on an Internet-Wide Easter Egg Hunt
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Shaping the future of sensing
Key competences
Engineering services on the leading edge of technology
Prototyping and Experimentation
Developed in many years of research projects with industry, we have a strong background in the planning and execution of experimental investigations on leading edge sensor technology and novel application scenarios.
Analysis and Evaluation
Our expertise covers top notch methods and algorithms for offline and real time data analysis independent of type, size and origin. It also includes a variety of sophisticated approaches to assess discovered models and relations to guarantee practical relevance.
We have deep knowledge in the design, implementation and optimization of embedded classification and sensing systems with real time requirements, high frequency sensor data visualization and online processing systems for streaming big data.
NovelSense uses leading edge data analytics and experimentation methods to transform low-cost COTS devices into novel sensors with costs at a fraction of the competition while delivering state of the art or superior performance. Our offerings include novel sensors for the Smart City, Industrial Automation, Smart Traffic and Property Security markets. A speciality of NovelSense is the use of typical wireless communication signals as sensors, effectivly enabling cheap sensing-capabilities in all kinds of connected IoT hardware. The company is backed by a motivated and powerful team which has worked together sucessfully for years in an industry-close academic environment.
Sascha Rudolph, M.Sc.
Sascha is an industrial engineer with experience in business development, sales and consulting. He is the chief strategist at NovelSense. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Innovation Management.
Vincent-J. Schnitzbauer, M.Sc.
Embedded Development
Vincent is the creative director at NovelSense. He is passionate about data analysis, feature engineering and embedded sensor development. He holds a Master in Computer Science. Beside this he has experience in pushing ideas into business.
Dr.-Ing. Markus Scholz
AI Expert
Markus is the AI Expert at NovelSense. His passions are data analysis, online algorithms and visualizations. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He has extensive experience in research and development.
Adnan Khan, B.Sc.
Fullstack & Embedded Development
Adnan holds a B.Sc. in Computer System Engineering from UET Peshawar, Pakistan. He has previously worked as fullstack developer and embedded engineer. Currently, he is pursing an M.Sc. in Sensor System Technik at Hochschule Karlsruhe.
Huy Nguyen Cong, M.SC.
Huy studied electrical engineering at KIT. He did master thesis at NovelSense. His remit involves metrology and data analysis.
Dollmätschstraße 8, 76131 Karlsruhe Germany
info@novelsense.com
Novelsense © 2022


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Planning Site Visits
Planning and Environmental Protection Committee
Tuesday 2nd December, 2014 1.30 pm
Agenda frontsheet PDF 80 KB
Agenda reports pack PDF 45 MB
Venue: Bourges/Viersen Rooms - Town Hall
Contact: Philippa Turvey Senior Governance Officer
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Serluca, Martin, Sylvester and Ash. Councillors Rush, Johnson and Saltmarsh were in attendance as substitutes.
At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members' interests or is a "pending notification " that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.
Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.
Members' Declaration of intention to make representations as Ward Councillor
There were no declarations of intention to make representations as Ward Councillor.
Minutes of the Meeting Held on 4 November 2014 PDF 98 KB
The minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2014 were approved as a correct record.
Development Control and Enforcement Matters
14/01780/FUL - 55 Wisbech Road, Thorney, Peterborough, PE6 0SA PDF 21 MB
5.1 - 1401780FUL 55 Wisbech Road, Thorney , item 6. PDF 133 KB
The planning application was for a proposed new cottage style dwelling with a detached double garage at 55 Wisbech Road, Thorney.
The main considerations were:
· Design and impact upon the character and appearance of the surrounding area
· Landscape implications and the impact upon Thorney Conservation Area
· Neighbour amenity
· Amenity provision for future occupants
· Parking, access and highway implications
· Flood risk
· Developer contributions
It was officer's recommendation that planning permission be granted, subject to the signing of a Legal Agreement and the conditions set out in the report.
The Head of Development and Construction provided an overview of the application and raised the following key points:
· Two previous applications had been submitted for development on this site, both of which had been refused. The most recent refusal had been on the grounds of the size, scale and positioning of the proposal, which was considered to be cramped and not in keeping with its surroundings. The proposal had an overbearing impact and provided a poor outlook.
· The loss of hedging had also been cited as a reason for refusal, however as the hedge could be removed without requiring permission, this was not considered to be a relevant reason to refuse the application.
· The current scheme was in line with the neighbouring property and had been placed further away from the site boundary. It was felt that this addressed all the previous reasons for refusal.
· No objections had been raised from the Tree Officer or the Internal Drainage Board.
· A condition was included in the recommendation to ensure that rear bathroom and en-suite windows were obscure glazed and non-opening.
· Additional representations had been received from the parish council and neighbours.
· An error had been highlighted in the report. The distance from the building and the site boundary with 55A Wisbech Road was 1.9m, not 0.9m.
Councillor Sanders, Ward Councillor, address the Committee and responded to questions from Members. In summary the key points highlighted included:
· The proposal had attracted objections for the Parish Council and immediate neighbours.
· The development would be overbearing in size, cramped and not in keeping with the surrounding area.
· Previous applications for a bungalow on the site had been refused because of their intrusive nature. This one and a half storey development would be more invasive.
· The consultation had been incorrect and had not identified all the trees within the site. As such, those consulted were not in possession of the full facts.
The Head of Development and Construction clarified that whilst the document circulated for consultation had included the previously proposed building footprint, it did correctly identify all the relevant trees on site.
Andy Gutteridge, local resident, addressed the Committee in objection to the application and responded to questions from Members. In summary the key points highlighted included:
· The current application had not overcome the reasons for refusal set out in previous applications.
· The area surrounding the site was characterised by detached dwellings with spacious curtilage. The current proposal was for too small a site.
· The loss of ... view the full minutes text for item 6.
14/01789/FUL - Land To The North Of 29 Maxey Road, Helpston, Peterborough PDF 23 MB
5.2 - 1401789FUL Land to the North of 29 Maxey Road, Helpston , item 7. PDF 91 KB
The planning application was an in part retrospective application for the filling in of a ditch on land to the north of Maxey Road, Helpston.
· Drainage and surface water flood risk
· Impact on visual amenity
It was officer's recommendation that planning permission be granted, subject to the conditions set out in the report.
· When development on Maxey Road had originally been approved, the ditch was to be retained. The ditch had initially been isolated and subject to periodic scraping in order for water to drain from the highway.
· The developer departed from this plan and installed a pipe drainage system. Following this a retrospective application was submitted, then subsequently withdrawn.
· The current proposal retained the pipe drainage system and connected this to the existing Internal Drainage Board network.
· The highway verge would be regarded to slope toward the ditch, thus eliminating the need for periodic scraping.
· The Internal Drainage Board had no power to retrospective schemes, however had not expressed any objections.
· It was determined that the landscaping plan would not be affected, nor would it affect the pipe drainage system.
· Additional comments has been received from the Parish Council and residents.
Councillor Over, Ward Councillor, addressed the Committee and responded to questions from Members. In summary the key points highlighted included:
· The village of Helpston had grown and its rural nature had almost been destroyed.
· The dykes within the village were a traditional feature and worked to drain away flooding from the fields.
· The village was prone to flooding, with a number of houses built on raised banks.
· The proposed pipe drainage system may work for one or two years, but after five or 10 years the land may shift and break.
· The adjacent road was very narrow and cars would park on the verge, which could crack the pipe.
· Further infill development would continue to cause ongoing problems.
Mr Smith, Helpston Parish Council, addressed the Committee and responded to questions from Members. In summary the key points highlighted included:
· The dyke had previously run off to a nearby drainage channel.
· The retrospective application was not necessary, as the initial application had identified the dyke as a feature.
· The developer was circumventing the planning system by a 'planning creep' process or subsequent, retrospective applications.
· The trees that had been removed from the site had previously assisted in clearing any flooding.
· The application ignored the man-made causes for flooding.
· It was considered that the surface water situation had worsened since building work had commenced.
· It was believed that traffic parking on the verge would damage the pipe, which would then provide inadequate drainage.
In response to a question the Head of Construction and Development advised that as there was sufficient parking provided on site and that the verge was a highway verge, it was not considered necessary to provide a feature to physically block parking on the verge. ... view the full minutes text for item 7.
CIL Update Report PDF 63 KB
The Committee received a report which outlined a number of changes to how developer contributions were collected which were in process. Specific wording was identified to be added to all Committee reports during the period leading up to the adoption of a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
It was officer's recommendation that that a wording was inserted in all Committee reports during the lead up to the adoption of a CIL to prevent planning applications having to go through the Committee process twice.
The Head of Development and Construction provided an overview of the report and raised the following key points:
· The new CIL regime would commence in April 2015. Prior to this an examination would take place in January and results would be fed back.
· The main agents and developers in the Peterborough area were being written to, advising them of the timescale for upcoming changes.
· Current applicants were also being contacted and advised of the changes.
· A new set of wording had been proposed to include in future Committee reports, to address the CIL regime.
RESOLVED: that the wording:
[The Director of Growth and Regeneration] [The Planning and Environmental Protection Committee] recommends that planning permission is GRANTED subject to the following conditions and satisfactory completion of a Section 106 legal agreement.
If the required Section 106 legal agreement is not completed within a reasonable period, then the Committee delegates the issuing of a notice of refusal to the Director of Growth and Regeneration on the grounds that the development has failed to adequately mitigate its impacts.
Should the Community Infrastructure Levy(CIL) Charging Schedule come into force prior to the completion of the Section 106 legal agreement, the development may be wholly liable to CIL or the S106 legal agreement may be amended to exclude those items that could be funded by the CIL.
Items that could be funded by CIL will be listed on the Council's Regulation 123 List in accordance with Regulation 123 of the CIL Regulations 2010.
A Regulation 123 List will be adopted by the Council on the same day as the Council's CIL Charging Schedule. Currently, a Draft Regulation123 List can be viewed on the CIL pages of the Council's website."
be inserted in all Committee reports during the lead up to the adoption of a Community Infrastructure Levy.
Reasons for the decision
To prevent applications having to go through the Committee process twice.
Peterborough City Council. Town Hall, Bridge Street, Peterborough, PE1 1HF -(01733) 747474 - DX12310 Peterborough


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One morning about a week before Christmas I received a call from a woman in tears. She had 2 potbellied pigs which she could not keep. She had bought them from an ad she had seen in the paper. Apparently when she went to see the pigs, the conditions were so terrible that she felt she had to buy the pigs. They were in mud and were being chased and bitten by dogs. (both pigs still bear the scars from dog bites on their back legs) She had them for only four or five days when she realized she was not a "pig person". She got Janet Fine's number from the Sacramento SPCA. Janet in turn referred her to us, as we lived fairly close. She and her husband delivered the pigs along with a dogloo to our home. She told me that she had named them "Arnold" and "Mama". Mama had supposedly already had a litter of babies which froze to death outside, probably in the rain and mud.
We made a pen outside our bedroom window so we could monitor them. We separated the pen because Arnold was still a boar, and Mama was not spayed. They were in pens side by side and seemed happy. We decided to take Arnold down to the vet to be neutered. We suspected that Mama was probably pregnant because she did not seem to be coming into heat. When Arnold returned from the vet, we introduced him to some new friends in a larger pen. Mama stayed in the pen under our bedroom window. Mama was very shy and did not like to be touched. She was afraid of hands which led us to believe she had been hit at times. I began to spend more time with her, gently petting her and letting her know she could trust me. I prepared special treats for her and she started to come around. I was feeling real good about our developing relationship.
On the morning of February 27, I awoke to the awful sound of a pig screaming. I jumped out of bed and woke my husband, Lance. We have 12 pigs that sleep in the house and they were all up and in a panic. The dogs were growling but would not leave the house. We ran outside and at first we couldn't tell where the screams were coming from. It was still dark out and hard to see. All the other pigs were up and barking in panic and looking in the direction of Mama's pen. I yelled to my husband.....it's Mama, it's Mama. I assumed she was stuck in fencing or perhaps stuck in her house. Lance ran to her pen armed with a flashlight and a pair of scissors. He also assumed that she was stuck and he would need to cut the ties on the panels to free her. I will never forget his voice as he arrived at Mama's pen and screamed out,,,"OH MY GOD, IT'S A BEAR".......He was screaming at the bear and I joined in. The bear had climbed over the hog panels into the pen and was attacking Mama. As my husband watched and cryed out in horror, the bear lifted Mama in it's mouth by the scruff of her neck and climbed out of the pen. It ran down the hill towards the manzanita bushes with Mama in it's mouth. My husband chased the bear but when it turned around and faced Lance with Mama still screaming in it's mouth, he realized he had better return to the house and get a gun. I followed him, agonizing over Mama's screams which could still be heard. He grabbed the gun, ran back outside and fired shots into the air. At this point the screams stopped. I had stayed in the house with our 2 year old daughter , she was hysterical because she woke up and had heard the whole thing.
When Lance walked back into the house, I could tell by the look on his face that he was not able to save Mama. I said, "did he take her"? He just answered a quiet "yes". I remember being on my knees, sobbing and holding my daughter who kept repeating the same thing over and over. She said: " Don't make that sound, don't make that sound....... baby screaming."
Lance got dressed and armed with a rifle went out again to search the area. There was no sign of the bear or Mama. When the sun came up, he checked her pen and there was a small amount of blood. That was the only evidence that anything had happened..
We spent the morning in a state of grief and shock. We phoned our neighbors and some friends to tell what had happened. It was probably one of worst mornings of my life. Every minute was filled with thoughts of Mama and regret that we had failed her. We talked about it over and over, wondering how we could have saved her.
We live in a rural area with a lot of wildlife. We have had a little trouble with coyotes, and we know there are mountain lion in the area. The last thing in the world we expected to encounter however was a bear. We spoke to the game warden who said the attack was "extremely unusual". This did not console us. I couldn't get Mama's screams out of my head and I kept thinking about her unborn babies. It was unbearable.
When Lance had gone to work and our daughter was napping, I took the dogs and searched the bushes myself. Instinctively I called out to Mama knowing there wouldn't be a reply, but I couldn't help myself. Of course there was no sign of her.
The day wore on and I did all the usual chores. After the evening feeding of the pigs, I began to cautiously let the house pigs out to "do potty". I let the last pig out at about 5:30 pm. I stood out on the deck, gazing towards the parcel next door. It is an eleven acre parcel that has been vacant for about a year. Our pigs like to go there and graze and take advantage of the space. As I stood there, I noticed a small black pig-like animal wandering around. I thought to myself that I must really be losing it to have forgotten about one of my pigs. Who had I let out and not called back in? I thought I had been especially careful because of the bear attack so how could this have happened? I checked in the house and everyone was accounted for. The last pig I had let out was still wandering around on the deck, so I knew it was not her. I knew I had to go check it out so I filled a coffee can with pig chow and packed my daughter in the stroller. We headed down the driveway with 4 dogs and one pig in tow. About halfway down the driveway I spotted the small animal again and my heart started to pound. It was definately a pig. Could it be Mama? I told myself not to be a fool. There was no chance that Mama could be alive. As I approached the pig my heart sank. It wasn't Mama. This little pig was wearing a red harness. But as the pig came towards me, wagging it's tail, I realized it was not wearing a harness. It's flesh was badly torn and bloody...... It was Mama!!!! I called to her and she actually came running. I was so overwhelmed with joy and excitement that I barely knew what to do. But the other pig that had accompanied us down the driveway did. She grunted to Mama and led the way back up the driveway toward the house. Mama followed the other pig and I led them to the empty pen. I put Mama in and fed her some food. She was so hungry!!! I took that as a good sign.
I ran in the house and called our friends Bob and Patty Terrell. When Patty answered I could hardly get the words out! Mama's alive!!! She's hurt! Patty said Bob was on his way that instant. It took about 35 minutes for him to get here and during that time I sat with Mama and marveled at her. How could she be up and walking around for 12 hours with part of her neck and shoulders missing? How did she get away?
When Bob arrived he loaded her into a carrier and took her to Dr. Cyndie Hurst. I had called and told them what had happened.. When Bob got there with Mama and Dr. Hurst checked her over, she said Mama would need about 2 1/2 hours of surgery but she was too deep in shock to put her under anesthesia safely. Dr. Hurst injected her with antibiotics and steroids and planned the surgery for the next morning. She did say however that she probably could save Mama.
That night when Mama was safely at the vets, the bear returned. I was in our kitchen feeding my daughter when the dog outside started barking like crazy. He sat in front of the sliding glass door and looked right at me while he barked. I thought it was strange so I took a flashlight and went outside. Sure enough the bear was out there, right back at Mama's empty pen. I guess he was looking for the meal he lost. I made a lot of noise yelling and banging on things as I ran back in the house. I called our neighbor who came over firing rifle shots into the air. It must have really frightened the bear because it has not been back since, although we have spent many sleepless nights since, waiting for him.
Mama went through the surgery the next morning and she did real good. Her left shoulder was terribly shredded all the way to her spinal column. Dr. Hurst had to remove a very large portion of flesh from that area so it would be able to heal. The rest of the wound was sutured back together. Mama had to stay hospialized for a week. In the morning of March 6th Lance went and brought Mama home. It was an exciting morning to say the least! When Mama arrived home, I was surprised to see the large hole in her back. It was the size of a small dinner plate, and about 1 1/2 inches deep. She had lots of stitches. But Mama seemed oblivious to her injuries. She was so happy to be home and happy for all the treats and attention. She took up residence in our spare bedroom and made herself right at home. After looking at Mama for a while, I noticed she was getting a "milk line". She went down for a belly rub and I could see babies moving! I couldn't believe it at first because we had worried that after all the trauma, stress, and medication that she would lose the babies. But they were difinately alive! Since she was a rescue pig, we had no idea when she had been bred so we just had to wait and see when these little guys would decide to be born.
Two weeks exactly after Mama's near death experience, she went into labor. She tore up her room, charged us, and generally acted like a normal nesting , mother-to-be! Saturday morning March 14, Mama had nine babies. Six girls and three boys. They were very small and a greyish pink color. We called Dr. Hurst and told her that the babies didn't seem quite right. She said they were probably premature due to the steroid injections Mama recieved. Many of the babies did not open their eyes and it was hard to clean them up because the sacks were very sticky due to immaturity. One female died right away. Another died the next morning. The babies did not know how to nurse right away. Patti Terrell came over and spent the day with me, nursing each baby over and over until we were sure they had had colostrum.
For the next eight days I had to help those babies nurse around the clock. One more female died on the sixth day. Two of the boys did not open their eyes until the seventh day. During this first week , poor Mama seemed exhausted. She could barely haul her body around. We made daily phone calls to Dr. Hurst, as well as Janet and other pig friends. Dr. Hurst put Mama on Rimadyl which really seemed to help. By the ninth day I noticed how fat and chubby everyone was looking. I also noticed that they were nursing themselves and sleeping with Mama at night instead of under the heat lamp.
As I write this, it is day eleven. Last night those babies didn't need me at all! Everytime I went into check, they had already nursed and didn't want to be bothered. Mama is doing great. She is perky and bright, and seems to enjoy her babies. She is eating well and her wound is healing. She has become so friendly and loving. You wouldn't know this was the same shy, sad, little rescue pig who arrived around Christmas. This is a pig who survived a bear attack and gave birth, nursed and nutured six preemie babies while healing her own body as well. What a trooper!!!! What an amazing and inspiring animal. We love Little Mama and all her babies. We look forward to watching them all grow up together, safe and happy. _____________________________________________________________________________________
This is the story of the events experienced by Lance and Marie Lloyd and the very couragious" Little Mama". Marie has written this amazing story so I could share it with all you wonderful friends on Pig Pals. I hope in the near future these loving pig parents will be joining us on the list. I can't tell you how grateful Lance and Marie are for the contibutions to "The Little Mama Fund". Those of you that have helped will be hearing from them soon. Marie sent pictures of Mama and the babies. I will scan them as soon as I figure that part out. Janet
Go see the pictures of this brave piggy
WARNING!!! These are graphic!


text:
Un matematico è una persona che effettua studi, ricerche e sperimentazioni riguardanti problemi della matematica. Alcuni scienziati di altri campi di ricerca possono essere considerati matematici se la loro ricerca offre nuove idee matematiche; un esempio notevole è Edward Witten. Al contrario, alcuni matematici possono studiare problemi matematici relativi ad altri settori della ricerca scientifica e tecnologica (es. fisica matematica), queste persone sono conosciute come matematici applicati.

Storia
Uno dei primi matematici conosciuti è stato Talete di Mileto (624 ca. - 546 a.C.); è stato salutato come il primo vero matematico e il primo individuo conosciuto a cui è stata attribuita una scoperta matematica. A lui si attribuisce il primo uso del ragionamento deduttivo applicato alla geometria, derivando quattro corollari al Teorema di Talete.

Significato del termine

Il termine deriva dal greco μαθηματικός (mathematikós) che significa "studioso, desideroso di apprendere", a sua volta derivante da μάθημα (máthema), traducibile con i termini "scienza", "conoscenza" o "apprendimento". Originariamente, in epoca classica ed ellenistica, il termine identificava il metodo di lavoro e non un ben definito ambito di studi, come dimostra la sua derivazione da un aggettivo, e poteva applicarsi a campi come l'astronomia, l'ottica o l'idrostatica che oggi vengono fatte rientrare in discipline diverse. In epoca moderna e contemporanea si può dire che essenzialmente esistano due diversi usi della parola: il matematico può essere una persona attivamente impegnata nella ricerca matematica, dando origine per lo più a pubblicazioni in riviste specialistiche; oppure il matematico può essere definito una persona abile in matematica, o che abbia lavorato in un settore affine.

Lista matematici storici

Premi per la matematica

Non esistono premi Nobel per la matematica, ma a volte è successo che dei matematici abbiano vinto il premio Nobel in altri campi, come ad esempio in economia. Tra i più prestigiosi premi per la matematica vi sono:

 Clay Research Award
 Medaglia Fields
 Medaglia Sylvester
 Medaglia De Morgan
 Stampacchia Medal
 Premio Abel
 Premio Bartolozzi
 Premio Caccioppoli
 Premio Fermat
 Premio Gödel
 Premio Nevanlinna
 Premio Salem
 Premio Steele
 Premio Whitehead
 Premio Wolf

Bibliografia

 La matematica nella cultura e nella società, periodico dell'Unione Matematica Italiana
 Mathematical intelligencer, periodico edito da Springer
 Notices of AMS, mensile della American Mathematical Society
 G. H. Hardy A Mathematician's Apology. Memoir, with foreword by C. P. Snow.
 Riedizione, Cambridge University Press, 1992; ISBN 0-521-42706-1
 Prima edizione, 1940
 Dunham, William (1994): The Mathematical Universe, J.Wiley

Voci correlate

 Storia della matematica
 Filosofia della matematica
 Testi matematici
 Organismi associativi dei matematici
 Matematica su Internet
 Calcolatore mentale
 Fisico
 Informatico

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Indice delle biografie di matematici italiani nel sito Pristem
Elenco di matematici presso Il giardino di Archimede
sito della Association for Women in Mathematics
sito MAD, Mathematicians of the African Diaspora

Professioni della scienza


Feb. 14, 2017, 8:33 a.m.
Night time photograph of a bottle of Caiado red wine on the balcony of Hotel Arribas in Sintra Portugal facing the ocean. While picking out wine with my sister, I noticed a bottle with our last name on it, so I picked up a bottle of red and a bottle of white. I took this photo on our balcony facing the ocean at the hotel. No, it's not my brand, or vineyard or anything like that, and it wasn't specially made for me for an event or anything like that. I put this photo up as the background image on my other ruby on rails site http://arty.caiado.org for a while with no explanation and it caused some confusion. Anyway, here it is and I was really happy with how it turned out with no processing. Timestamp is in EST.


text:
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text:
Condé Nast Traveller (U.S.A.) - 01/08/2005
Download original source: Glam Rock (2.2 MB MB)
The eye of the needle from the sewing kit which arrived on a tray together with a shoehorn, laundry bag and list, shoe cleaning pad and a quotation from Virgil was too small: there was no hope of my repairing the swimming trunks with tropical fish motif. No matter: this was literally the only fault I could find in the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa, the property owned and run by Tonino Cacace in the village where Graham Greene wrote for several decades and the Swedish writer Axel Munthe built his temple to the wind and sunlight.
The Capri Palace in Anacapri was perfect in every detail, right down to the plump, pale-green olives served with drinks: the night lights massed by the fountain: the pots of speckled yellow canna lilies on the west-facing cocktail terrace: the basket of bread and fresh juices at breakfast: the curved hedge of cropped bougainvillaea by the entrance: the dish of grilled calamari and prawns that I chose five out of six times for lunch by the pool: and the tubs of thyme, rosemary and lemon verbena that heated up when the sun swung round and blew scents of the Mediterranean mountainside into the suite that we occupied for three out of our seven nights' stay.
Simply from professional pride I'd like to find more to criticise in the Capri Palace, but I can't, and this is principally because Cacace and his manager Ermanno Zanini (formerly of the Four Seasons Hotel Milano) have achieved a level of service that is the most intelligent and considerate I have experienced anywhere in the world. Good training and Zanini's watchfulness are behind it. When there's a small crisis, as there was at lunch one day. Zanini moves in and sorts out the problem without anyone noticing. As much as anything else, the spirit of the place is due to the self-respect that Cacace insists on in his staff, something the British generally find hard to recognise as being important to good service. It means a waiter at the Capri Palace
looks you in the eye as an equal human being who simply wants to do his job as well as he can. There is no sense of resentment seething below the surface; no hint of the curled lip once your back is turned and the tip trousered.
I had doubts about going to Capri because I imagined it would be crowded with shoppers and too small for my primary enjoyment of exploring. But there is a distinction to be made between the two villages, Capri and Anacapri. The latter is where Cacace's father built the hotel in the late 1950s. Capri village lies in the belly of the island and for eight hours of the day swarms with tourists from the mainland, buying or wishing they could buy from boutiques that stock Chanel, Valentino, Bulgari and Gucci. There are a lot of overpriced bars and restaurants and the sort of nightclub where you may bump into Nicolas Cage, as my neighbour at breakfast did. Anacapri sits majestically above all this activity, on Monte Cappello, some 500 metres above sea level.
When the Swedish writer, doctor and doglover Axel Munthe first came to the island in the 1870s as a young man, the only link between the two villages was the 800 or so steps carved into the rock by the ancient Greeks or Phoenicians nobody is sure which. Now there is a narrow road that clings to the cliff face and provides some of the most vertiginous bus rides outside Peru. A proportion of the trippers who land on the island in the morning make it up there to stand in lifeless groups being lectured by tour guides, who then lead them along an avenue of pines from the Capri Palace to Munthe's house or to a chairlift that takes them on a 12minute ride to Fortino di Bruto for one of the great views of southern Europe. But come 5pm they leave for the quays of the Marina Grande and board the jetfoils that chalk the sea to Positano. Amalfi. Sorrento and Naples. This is when to visit the beautiful house Munthe built on the edge of the cliff and perhaps to read the first chapters of his memoir, The Story of San Michele, in the shade of his exquisite garden. At this hour the warmth and companionable ease of Italian life suddenly resume in the village he loved so much, where Graham Greene could be seen making his way to the first sharpener of the day after completing his mandatory 500 words. In the late evening small concerts are sometimes held in the main square and there are public showings of movie classics. I watched one starring Massimo Troisi and was suddenly reminded of Cinema Paradiso, that hymn to Italian cinema and communality.
In the Capri Palace you remain largely unaware of the ebb and flow of the tourist tide. Indeed, once you enter the cool colonnade hung with billowing linen and climb a serpentine path to the entrance, you pretty much forget everything in the outside world. You come to a large white, stone cool hall and find Eduardo Esposito, the concierge who has been behind the desk since August 1960 when Tonino Cacace's father opened the hotel. Esposito is the sort of man who might he employed as St Peter's deputy. He is benevolent but misses nothing: he has imperishable standards yet is tolerant to a saintly degree. I watched him help a tattooed British tourist who had approached the reception desk hare chested. The encounter must have been much like a Roman poet meeting his first Visigoth. Although the man's appearance and attitude were presumably distasteful to Esposito, his expression did not alter as he dealt with the man's enquiry.
The hotel's 81 rooms and suites have all recently been redecorated. Four rooms and three suites have private pools and gardens: the largest of these is the enormous top-floor suite, which was occupied by singer songwriter Billy Joel while we were there.
Previous occupants include Whitney Houston. Julia Roberts and Harrison Ford. We took a perfectly comfortable smaller suite without a view for the first half of the holiday and were then upgraded to the Mondrian, one of three suites decorated on the theme of an artist's work (Miró and Kandinsky are the others) and which have glorious views over the Tyrrhenian Sea towards Ischia and eastwards to Naples and the hazy pimple of Vesuvius. Four more 'art suites' themed on famous performers (Callas, I Hepburn. Adjani and Monroe) have recently been added.
Below us was the hotel's Capri Beauty Farm, where my daughters and wife had facials and massages and where you can experience a comprehensive treatment under the supervision of Professor Francesco Canonaco, a medical doctor who specialises in food science, immunology and aesthetic medicine. There is a 'leg school' that battles sluggish blood circulation, varicose veins and fat with various unique treatments devised by the professor. I did not do any of this because I have a distaste for being mucked about with, but the girls seemed to enjoy their time.
All the activity at the spa dovetails with the hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant, L'Olivo, where you can choose to eat from one of three lighter menus starting from 800 calories. The 1,500calorie 'energising' menu even includes a glass of wine. The cooking is very good indeed, and although we tried three restaurants around Anacapri primarily because of their views I wished we had stayed at the hotel for chef Oliver Glowig's cooking and the impeccable service overseen by restaurant manager Francesco Mussinelli, who glided between the tables chivvying waiters and chatting to guests in any one of five European languages. (Alberto Colombo has now taken over this role.) On our last night I had amberjack carpaccio with watermelon and dried fruit, followed by veal braciola served with pine nuts and sultanas. It was easily the best dinner of the year. There is an intimidating list of 1,100 wines, and a cellar under the hotel where some 12,000 bottles are stored.
The Capri Palace does a big trade with honeymoon couples, who are offered a five-night package that includes a guided excursion to Tiberius's Villa Jovis, one spa treatment each, handmade sandals, a mountainside picnic and a night on the hotel's 20metre sailing sloop, South Wind. The activities are a rather good idea given the existential neurosis engendered by most honeymoons. Otherwise these wide-eyed couples would be left sitting by the pool studying more developed examples of married bliss: the austere and wordless French couples, the ¡Hola!-reading Spanish hippos, the pale, blobby English and the protein-addicted Americans. It is sometimes better to travel without knowing the destination.
I can stand about two hours per day of pool life, or pond life as I once heard someone call it. So I did a lot of walking around the coast: one trip to the palace from which Tiberius apparently ruled the entire Roman empire by means of signals from a lighthouse, another to the western shore and a third along the mountain range above Anacapri. It is worth doing these trips in the early morning or in the evening, although you will find Tiberius's palace incomprehensibly closed by 5.30pm. I had to scale a fence to do my tour. The other way of seeing the island, and this should not missed, is by boat preferably the South Wind, which costs €1,800 per day, or by hiring a vessel and skipper in the harbour at €300 per day. We tried both. The South Wind is a beautiful yacht. I was at the helm for an hour or so tacking across the Tyrrhenian in the light wind that blows after midday. The southern coastline is astonishingly beautiful. Rising 500 metres from the sea, it is unchanged since the time of Tiberius.
At the end of the day we dropped off at the Blue Grotto, one of those sights that lives up to its reputation, particularly if you swim in during the late afternoon when the tourist boats have gone. It's impossible not experience a surge of ancient panic as you are washed into the island's great blue womb, swim through the darkness, then stand on a ledge and gaze back at the unearthly blue glow.
I fell in love with Capri and found the Capri Palace to be the perfect place for five or six days' decompression and reading. The whole experience underlines the rule that a hotel owned by a man such as Cacace with his individual style and eye for detail is never going to be bettered by a place run as a part of a chain. There is nothing corporate about the Capri Palace, which accounts for the extraordinarily friendly and efficient service. The staff know they are working for Cacace, and his mission is an endless perfection of design, decoration, food and beauty care. Five stars well deserved.