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Home | Mendel
Mendel
By | May 13 2016
Bruce Schoenfeld charts the distinctively Argentinian and artisanal contribution of a remarkable family and a talented winemaker to their country's burgeoning wine culture, through "wines that taste like somewhere"
A nation of immigrants, Argentina has always looked to Europe for validation. Argentinians, the historian Joseph A Page has written, feel "alone on the edge of a wilderness, far from the centers of power and culture." They tend to view Europe "through a magnifying glass that distorts the importance of both events and opinions abroad."
If you've visited Buenos Aires, you've encountered the mind-set. It's nearly impossible for a foreigner to complete a taxi ride from Aeropuerto Ezeiza to Avenida 9 de Julio without hearing a polemic from the front seat about how the nation is a victim of geographic misfortune, stranded on a godforsaken continent with country bumpkins. Clearly, the harangue goes, the Argentinian character has far more affinity with France, Italy, Spain, England, and the rest of civilized Europe than it does with Colombia and Peru, or even Brazil and Chile.
In the 1930s, when the ongoing cycle of economic booms and busts resulted in unprecedented — and quite temporary — affluence for the country, an attempt was made to transform Buenos Aires into the Paris of the New World. One of the more opulent manifestations of this rather ridiculous enterprise was the construction of the Alvear Palace in Recoleta. Built in 1932, it is a Belle Epoque hotel in the grand style. It wouldn't look out of place along the Champs Elysées.
Eight decades on, the Alvear Palace remains a bastion of Old World elegance, more Parisian than Paris itself. Curtains are silk. Chandeliers are crystal. The cuisine of Jean-Paul Bondoux's La Bourgogne has antecedents in the pages of L'Escoffier. An ornate breakfast is served daily on silver platters at L'Orangerie. And every weekday morning, ladies who imagine themselves on the Rive Gauche gather at the circular tables of the Lobby Bar and sip coffee that costs as much as an entire lunch most anywhere else in the city.
It would be easy to mistake Anabelle Sielecki for one of them. There she is, a raven-haired woman in her 50s, stylish to her designer shoes, stepping into the Alvear just before noon. She orders an espresso, then another, holding court with friends in several languages. "I don't care at all about politics," she says with a wave of a hand, as though her situation is immune to such concerns.
Yet Sielecki is hardly the bastion of the haute bourgeois establishment that she appears. Trained as an architect, she emigrated to the United States for a decade. Then she returned to Argentina, reinvented herself as a real-estate developer, and created and edited several magazines. Married to one of the most powerful men in the country, she nevertheless remains a philosophical outsider.
Part of that is her background. On Christmas Eve 1926, her father arrived in Argentina, a Jewish refugee from a Polish town astride the Russian border. Seventeen-year-old Mendel Sielecky came alone, speaking no Spanish, no French, no English. "I doubt that he even spoke Polish," Anabelle says now. "Only Yiddish." As if it might make him seem less exotic, his name was changed on arrival to Manuel.
Perhaps it worked. Sielecky quickly learned to communicate and found almost immediate employment as a telephone dispatcher. By 1929, he had saved enough money to send for his parents. He started a company that imported pharmaceuticals. Along the way, he married a Jewish Argentine whose family had run a paper business in Warsaw. They had a son and, later, had two more. In between, when Sielecky was 47, Anabelle was born. For ease, modernity, or whatever other nebulous reasons, his children have always spelled the name to end with an i.
Manuel Sielecky lived until 1999. A collector of English silver, he was an admirer of work of high quality — intricate craftsmanship of any kind. "He liked to see things done well,"
Anabelle says. He enjoyed fine food and, especially, Champagne, not least for the degree of skill required to make it. Anabelle Sielecki may claim a lack of interest in politics, but politics has informed her adult life. In April 1977, her future father-in-law was abducted from his Recoleta high-rise by 20 armed agents of the Argentinian military junta. The editor and publisher of the left-leaning newspaper La Opinion, Jacobo Timerman had refused to silence his writers after the 1976 coup, so the government silenced him: He was arrested and tortured.
In captivity, Timerman became the face of the struggle against Argentina's politically motivated Dirty War. Those protesting his treatment by the government included then-president Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, the Vatican, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In 1979, stripped of his citizenship, he was allowed to emigrate to Israel. While there, he wrote Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, Argentina's equivalent of Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago. He became an international celebrity, a symbol of courageous and principled resistance to tyranny.
Hector Timerman, his son, was working as an editor when he fled Argentina for New York with Sielecki, his new bride, following his father's arrest. Hector studied international relations at Columbia, founded magazines, fought for human rights. When democracy returned to Argentina in 1989, he and Sielecki did, too. In 2007, Hector became the country's ambassador to the United States. Since 2010, he has served as the country's foreign relations minister. He can be glimpsed by the side of the president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, whenever she leaves Argentina.
Adding vibrancy
What does this have to do with wine? In 2002, three years after Mendel "Manuel" Sielecky died, the opportunity arose for his children to purchase a vineyard.
It seemed enticing. Argentinian wine had only recently become plausible internationally. For the first time, it had cachet. Investors and consultants were flocking to Mendoza, planting vines, creating brands, and exporting to North America and Europe, where the top cuvées graced wine lists at respected restaurants. The real-estate market in Buenos Aires, on the other hand, had gone bust. Projects had ceased abruptly with the onset of the Argentinian Great Depression, which began in late 1998 and was exacerbated by the pricking of the dotcom bubble. The national economy eventually shrank by nearly a third.
The Sielecki children knew little about wine beyond drinking it. But unlike most everything else in Argentina, that industry was growing. Here was a chance to add a bit of vibrancy to the national economy at a time when successful small-business launches were rare. "The idea came up with my brothers," Sielecki says. "'Let's get the vineyard and do a great wine.' As a small business, it sounded doable."
I had visited the country in January 1995, when the move toward making and exporting world-class wine had barely begun. "We can produce a Chardonnay that is close to the quality of a $25 California Chardonnay and sell it for $15," Dr Nicolas Catena, then an economist operating a family wine business almost as a hobby, told me when we lunched together in Recoleta, not far from the Alvear Palace. "That's the future."
On that trip, I spent my time with Argentinians. Outside consultants in Mendoza were rare. The country's wine industry still catered to the domestic population. The rough, heavy reds and oxidized whites that I drank with my meals probably resembled the simple regional wines that families such as Bianchi, Lagarde, Flichman, and Bosca — all major names in the Argentinian wine industry at that time — had drunk in Europe a century before.
One afternoon, I tasted with the enologist Raul de la Mota at Bodegas Weinert. His 1977 Weinert Malbec had attained legendary status as the domestic equivalent of a 1947 Cheval Blanc. It was being sold as a library release for the impossible sum of $75 in the United States. I sipped that wine with him at the bodega, which at the time looked more like a shoe factory than a tourist destination, then described it in print as a "fresher, fruitier, but equally intense Margaux." While I didn't rank it with the finest bottlings I'd tasted, it opened my eyes to the possibilities inherent in Mendoza and, by extension, the rest of Argentina and the continent beyond.
By the time I returned to Argentina in 2008, its enological landscape had been altered beyond recognition. On that visit, I tasted wines and shared meals with winery owners and winemakers for several days before I had my first extensive conversation with an Argentinian. I met with the American Paul Hobbs, the Spaniard Jose Manuel Ortega Fournier, the coterie of Frenchmen who were running Cheval des Andes, and Alta Vista's Count Patrick d'Aulan, who has both maternal and paternal ties to European royalty. I happened upon Michel Rolland between rows of vines in the imposing Clos de los Siete vineyard, then lunched nearby with Jean-Guy Cuvelier, whose cousin, Didier, I'd known in Bordeaux. I called on Dassaults and employees of Rothschilds. I drank the wines of Roberto Cipresso of Montalcino and Alberto Antonini of Vinci.
By then, Nicolas Catena had essentially done for the Argentinian wine industry what Robert Mondavi had done in the United States: He had pulled it into the 20th century and set his eye on the 21st. His daughter Laura, who was emerging as the face of Argentinian wine, was among the only Argentinians I saw. And even she had grown up in Berkeley, California; had been educated at Harvard, Stanford, and UCLA; and was living with her husband and children in San Francisco.
As usual, Argentina was looking abroad for advice, influence, and approval. "There was a reason why all those people came and were welcomed," Anabelle Sielecki says now. "There were some very good wines being made in Argentina before then, and some very good winemakers like Raul de la Mota. But most of the production was, let us say, not sublime. We needed the help."
For one of my last stops on that trip, I visited Bodegas Mendel and tasted its wines for the first time. While they were polished enough for international distribution, I also sensed stylistic antecedents in the best of those primordial Argentinian wines that I'd tasted years before. The Mendel Malbecs seemed genuine, not confected or contrived for distant markets. I also liked the scale of the winery, which was blatantly modest. This wasn't the Mayan temple of Catena or the art gallery of Bodegas Salentein or the faux château of Alta Vista. It didn't have a polo field like Cheval des Andes or the flying-saucer architecture of O Fournier, or even a high-class restaurant like Vistalba. It was a stucco compound with an unkempt lawn. It felt like a small family business.
And that, it turned out, is exactly what it was. For the four children of Mendel Sielecky, creating a wine empire was never the idea. Rather, they wanted to honor their father by committing to the excellence in craftsmanship that he'd long admired. The name Mendel was an encomium but also a mission statement. "We never intended to get into the big leagues," Anabelle says. "It's the local aspect we wanted to stress. It was, 'How great, to just get the best wine we can from our little vineyard.' That was the idea when we were starting the winery. We sat around and talked about it. It was exciting.
"But then," she adds, "reality strikes. And at a certain point you say, 'What happens now? How the hell do we do this?'"
A heritage emerges
Not long after arriving in Mendoza in February 2014, I was invited to a tasting of mature Argentinian wine in a private home in Chacras de Coria, an upscale suburb. Despite pounding rain and severe flooding around the city, many of the luminaries of Argentinian wine managed to get there. Bernardo Weinert, still robust at 83, sat across from me. Alejandro Vigil, who runs the winemaking at Catena Zapata, was also at the table.
The wines were poured one by one over the course of more than two hours. We tasted one white, a 1983 Trapiche, and then a series of Malbecs, Malbec-based blends, and the occasional Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. We began with a 1984 Luigi Bosca Malbec and ended, 15 wines later, with a 1969 Bodegas Arizu SA de la Cava Privada.
At one point, I was astonished to find myself being served a glass of the 1977 Weinert Malbec, the wine that I'd tasted with Raul de la Mota in 1995. Thirty-seven years after harvest, it was the color of stained blood. Its savory flavors, cranberry and sour cherry, verged on bitterness but sweetened as the wine found a home in the mouth. An extended finish faded out like a 1960s rock song. The wine avoided the tang and sourness that many of the other Malbecs were showing. It reminded me of an antique Rioja from an excellent vintage. Its evolution seemed to have stopped in time.
The host of the event was Raul de la Mota's son. Now 53, with a trim gray beard and eyes caught between kindness and sadness, Roberto de la Mota had known since early childhood that he'd end up making wine. "I'd go to school in the morning, race home to do my homework, then head to the winery," he told me. His father had been one of the first Argentinian winemakers to spend time in the vineyards, and one of the first to travel extensively internationally. Roberto earned a secondary degree at Cuyo National University in agriculture, then followed it with the equivalent of a master's at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique in Montpellier, France. He spent his 20s and the first half of his 30s at Weinert, working with his father.
In June 1994, he was hired by Bodegas Chandon as a vineyard manager. Later, he became the winemaker at Chandon's Terrazas de los Andes. In 2001, he was promoted to technical director for the team producing Cheval des Andes, which was positioning itself as an Argentinian first growth.
By then, Chandon was part of the LVMH consortium. Pierre Lurton, the managing director of Cheval Blanc and Yquem, visited Argentina to help guide the project. One evening, Roberto invited him to a cookout at his home. Halfway through the meal, Lurton looked up from the wine he was drinking and said, "Roberto, this is a very important moment for me. I needed to know that a wine such as this existed here in order to realize the value of this project." The wine was that 1977 Weinert Malbec.
Working for LVMH, Roberto was able to travel extensively. "They treated me well," he said. But in 2002, the Sieleckis approached him about consulting for a winery they planned to start, based around a parcel of mature vines they'd purchased in Mendoza's Lujan de Cuyo district. "It took a big effort to bring back to life the vineyard we'd bought," Anabelle says now. "We couldn't do it alone. At a certain point, we started looking for people who could help us. Somebody had suggested a list of names, and Roberto was the one we preferred. He'd had a lot of experience at Terrazas, and he was the one who had been crafting Cheval, which we all loved. We wanted to make something of the highest quality, and we wanted to partner with someone who had the same intention. And it mattered that he was Argentinian."
In the context of consultant-rich Mendoza, where every ambitious winery had its passport-toting European or American expert on display, this was a daring decision. More than any other, it shaped the winery that Mendel would become. "Our culture and soil in Argentina are so different than in other parts of the world," Laura Catena explains. "We needed the help, but at a certain point we came to believe that the ancient knowledge passed down from generation to generation is crucial, that you just can't get it from someone who has come in from the outside. At Mendel, they decided to work with not just an Argentinian but the son of really the only winemaker who had been making profound wines in Argentina, this icon of Argentinian wines. It was very smart."
Discussions about consulting evolved into a partnership. Roberto was impressed by the site and intrigued by the autonomy. But the most enticing aspect lay a step further.
"One of the biggest problems in enology today is imitation, which in the end always becomes caricature," Raul de la Mota had told me. This new venture, his son understood, wouldn't be making European wine in Argentina, aiming at the best of Bordeaux as Cheval des Andes was doing. Instead, this wine would be wholly and gloriously Argentinian. He started work on the Mendel vineyard almost immediately. In 2004, the first vintage of Mendel Malbec was released.
Mendel, de la Mota, Finca Remota
A decade later, Mendel's production has grown to some 12,000 cases annually. De la Mota makes 5,000 cases of the varietal Malbec, maybe 1,500 of a Malbec/Cabernet blend called Unus, half that of Cabernet Sauvignon, slightly less of a surprisingly interesting Semillon, and fewer than 200 cases of a single-site Malbec called Finca Remota that is made from 60-year-old vines in Altamira.
During that decade, he has emerged as one of the most important and influential Argentinian enologists. A vice president of Wines of Argentina, he gave the keynote address at the annual Argentine Wine Awards last February.
While he has been at Mendel, something else happened that has even more profoundly altered de la Mota's life. In August 2007, he was returning from the small Patagonian city of Neuquen, where he had been consulting at Bodega NQN on a wet, chilly afternoon. His car struck a patch of black ice and skidded off the road. He broke every rib and suffered a collapsed lung. Helicoptered to Mendoza, he was lying in the hospital bed when he learned that he was permanently paralyzed below the waist. His first question to the doctor was, "But how will I be able to visit the vineyard?"
He has learned to manage. He negotiates a specially outfitted, four-wheeled ATV through the rows. An ardent motorcyclist before the accident, he has thrown that energy and passion into his wines. "Your life changes; you change," he says. "I actually work more than before." He's in the vineyard less often than he was – it's no longer possible to make a quick stroll through to look at the grapes before work in the morning. But while he's there, he pays closer attention than ever. "He was this mover and shaker, running around," Laura Catena says. "Now he's just so there. When he's talking to you, he's talking to you. He's nowhere else."
That attitude shows itself in the wines. Always nuanced, always balanced, the most recent vintages of Mendel display an urgency like never before. "He's even more focused on expressing the sense of place in his wine," said Daniel Pi, the director of viticulture and winemaking at Bodegas Trapiche. "He learned quite a lot in France and from working for LVMH, but now his international travel is limited because of the accident. So, he is working even harder to express the best of Argentina. You can taste it in the Finca Remota. And that's exactly what today's premium customers are looking for: a wine that tastes like somewhere."
One afternoon, Roberto joined me at the Mendel winery for a comprehensive tasting that included each vintage of Finca Remota. First, we had a traditional Argentinian lunch at a long wooden table in the rudimentary tasting room. We ate corn empanadas purchased from a stand near Roberto's house, pulled chicken, fresh tomatoes and avocados, and sweet melon.
The winery itself didn't seem to have changed since my visit in 2008. "In many ways, it is one of the most impractical wineries," Sielecki said, but I don't agree. The rooms are small and the equipment relatively basic, but there's a palpable spirit of graciousness that can't help but influence the creation of exceptional wines. The best comparison I can make is to Napa Valley's Spottswoode, which was a family home for years. This just feels like one.
There are small concrete and stainless-steel fermenters. Most are 50hl or 70hl, but the production of Finca Remota is made entirely in one of 27hl. A manual bâtonnage softens tannins; there are no pumps. And no presses: All the reds are made entirely from free-run juice. They're fermented for two to five weeks and aged in Taransaud oak.
The story of how Finca Remota came to exist is typical for these types of cuvées. In 2006, Mendel began sourcing fruit from Altamira. That's a long way away, more than an hour's drive from the winery, about as far as Beaujolais is from Beaune, so it wasn't surprising that those grapes displayed different characteristics than the ones that de la Mota was getting in Lujan de Cuyo. Tasting each barrel to figure out the composition of that year's Unus, he came across this special lot. It was "extremely fruity and extremely aromatic," he recalled, with "a strong scent of violets even after a year in oak."
Today, there's a bit of bricking on the rim of that first Finca Remota, but the wine remains fruity, aromatic, and fresh. All of them do. The finest Finca Remotas are the 2011 and still unbottled 2012 and, especially, the 2008 and 2009. As tasted that afternoon, that latter vintage may rank with the finest Argentinian wines ever produced, standouts such as the rarefied Catena bottlings, the best of Roberto Cipresso's Achaval-Ferrers, and that 1977 Weinert.
The summer of 2008/09 was warm in Mendoza; many of the wines from that vintage show the bulky muscularity and lack of fineness that I associate with the lower altitudes of Napa Valley. Yet the 2009 Finca Remota's overriding characteristic is charm. It has a tightly constructed but not abrasive framework of tannins and an umami-like note to balance the sweet fruit. As it opens in the glass, it smells like a bouquet of violets.
This wine appears to have been misunderstood, at least by American reviewers, upon release. The Wine Spectator tasting note in October 2011 included the admonition "Drink now." Sure, it doesn't have the stuffing of the still reticent 2008, which may not be fully realized for half a century. But it's far brighter, livelier, and more charming at this stage, and I don't believe it will be at its best for another 10 or 15 years. I remembered being surprised to learn that the '77 Weinert carried nearly 15% ABV. "Those were my father's favorite wines," Roberto said. "He always felt that the best Malbecs were at least 13 percent – that you couldn't make a great Malbec without that degree of ripeness. But you also need the acidity and freshness to go with it if you want the wine to age." In that sense, this warm-vintage Finca Remota is a kindred wine. Despite an alcohol level of 14.9%, it has a similar near-weightlessness in the mouth. Combined with its purity and intensity, that marks it as a wine of unusual interest from the first sip.
Mendel is named after Anabelle Sielecki's father, but the connection between father and son that shows itself in the glass is the de la Motas'. "There's a very strong relationship between my wines and my father's wines," Roberto acknowledged. "It's no coincidence. I worked with him for nine years, talking about wines, tasting, discussing every aspect of them. We both believed in wines that have intensity but at the same time elegance. Wines you love to drink more than comment on.
"When I see people drink my wine, maybe they aren't usually talking about it," he added. "But a couple that finishes a bottle with their dinner – that's what my father wanted, and that's what I want. To see that happen for me with a bottle of wine like this one? It's a dream come true."
Belonging in Mendoza
On a chilly but bright morning in Mendoza, Anabelle Sielecki sits on a hotel patio drinking mint tea. She's wearing a shapeless gray sweater with elbow patches, jeans, a scarf, and no noticeable makeup. The comparison with the woman who was sipping espresso at the Alvear Palace less than a week before is striking. "That other woman," she says with a laugh, "is not me. I might perhaps — depending on the outfit or the occasion — look like something else, but I really am a very simple person. I've always been like that. With grapes or without them."
The hotel, Cavas Wine Lodge, cultivates its own vines. On this morning, the grapes are hanging off them like pendant earrings. Harvest is imminent, though the summer and early fall have been uncommonly cool and wet, despite spikes of high temperatures. In the decade that Mendel has existed, Sielecki has learned to look to the horizon and beyond, to wait before passing judgment, and then to wait some more. "It has been a strange growing season," she says now between sips of tea. She shrugs. "What that will mean for the wine, I don't know."
Like her father, who learned a language and a culture, she has adapted to circumstance. Soon she will be flying back to Buenos Aires to accompany her husband to a formal event in honor of a world leader. Then she'll travel to New York for a trip that will keep her away from Argentina for several weeks. That's tomorrow, the next day, and beyond.
But on this Friday morning in the midst of the Argentinian winelands, it's the start of a working weekend. The grapes don't follow the calendar; they'll be ready when they're ready, whether that's Sunday or two weeks from Tuesday. Until then, they must be watched, ministered to, consulted. It's a different way of thinking, and Anabelle has found that it suits her. "She's coming from a wealthy family," said Pi. "She could be in any other place, owning a château in France, doing whatever she wanted. But when she is in Mendoza, she belongs."
There's nearly a full pot of tea on the table. The chill is lifting from the air. She takes a sip, stretches her arms, revels in the stillness of the morning. Another world awaits, but she's in no hurry.


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Arsenal 3-0 AC Milan: So Very, Very Close
There are times that I thank fate, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or whatever for the fact that I have a nice, stable corporate job. Then, there are times where Arsenal almost pull off the greatest comeback in European football history, and I suddenly wish I were unemployed.
I followed the Guardian's minute-by-minute in the midst of frantically trying to finish something I had due for my boss today...and now, I'm watching the highlights on 101 Great Goals. I'll touch on the major events of the game in due course, but first I wanted to mention how impressed I am with this Arsenal team today.
Today, they gave us a battling performance worthy of the cannons on their shirts. For the very small minority who I have seen say this wasn't good enough, I tell you with all due respect to get stuffed. You can't say on one hand that all you ask is that the team care and that they give their best effort (a common trope stated during losing streaks, including by yours truly in fairness), and then on the other bitch and moan about how our guys tired a bit and couldn't find the fourth goal. Yes, we bloody know that there isn't enough depth in the squad. Yes, we bloody know that we're over-reliant on Robin van Persie. Yes, we bloody know that the first leg in Milan was a disaster, a shitshow of epic proportions.
If you can't enjoy the fact that our guys showed guts, heart and determination and essentially recreated the end of Rocky ("Arsenal doesn't think this is a damn show...they think it's a damn fight!"), then what on earth do you follow this stuff for? I'm not going to be one of those tossers that resorts to "Go and support S***s!" the second someone disagrees with me, but I think that sometimes there's a lot to be said for losing with honor and with fighting spirit. The true window into a person's or a team's character is what they do (not say, do) in the face of adversity.
Arsenal triumphed in that respect, even if they didn't win.
For their part, AC Milan gambled a bit with their tactics. Massimiliano Allegri attempted to fight fire with fire, countering Arsene Wenger's highly attacking lineup (RVP, Theo Walcott, Gervinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all started) with a front three of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Stephan El Shaarawy. If I were in Allegri's shoes, I'd take into account the S***s and Liverpool results and figure that Arsenal would come out guns ablaze for 15-20 minutes, set up my stall to catenaccio the threat away, and then release the hounds as they tired.
Instead, Laurent Koscielny took advantage of decidedly non-Italian defending to give us the lead inside of 8 minutes. Off of a corner kick, the big Frenchman was left disgracefully unmarked by Ignazio Abate on the near post. Koscielny didn't get the cleanest contact possible on the ball, but it was more than enough to guide it into the net.
Had Milan gone out today, Abate would probably have been strangled to death by goalkeeper Cristian Abbiati in the locker room after the game. Further, no sane jury would have convicted him.
From what I read, Arsenal tore into them from there, as a bit of panic surely set in for Milan.
Now, I may get slated for comparing my own humble 7-a-side experiences to a major European tie, but fuck it, I'm going to do it anyway. If you've ever played a team sport at any level, I sincerely hope this hasn't happened to you. But, sometimes you get out to a big lead and a potent combination of over-excitement, arrogance and a tinge of fear seeps into your play. On one hand, everything is going great and victory is in your grasp, but all it takes is one little pinprick and the bubble spectacularly bursts. Two seasons ago, my Sunday league team was in the hunt for the title yet again (we are infamously the close-but-no-cigar team in the league) and we were playing our bogey team - the one that gets one jammy, shitty goal and then catenaccios us to death the rest of the way. Well, this time we were up 3-0 inside of five or six minutes. All it took was one crappy deflected own-goal though, and the wheels came off. Panic set in, defensive posts were abandoned in a suicidally-high line, and all of a sudden we were down 4-3 at halftime...which is how it finished. Again, death by catenaccio.
The point is, I can almost sympathize with Milan here.
Once I saw Koscielny scored, I thought to myself "one more goal here and this may get interesting." Sure enough, Goal Machine Tomas Rosicky doubled our lead and tightened sphincters all up and down Europe's Boot.
A Milan team in control of themselves would never have conceded it, though. A simple cutback across the face of goal was intercepted by Thiago Silva. He could have put it anywhere else on the pitch and the danger would have passed - instead, he under-hit a lazy clearance straight down the middle of the area to Rosicky. That was bad enough, but the Czech man didn't have a defender anywhere near him, leaving him with the time and space to fire past the helpless Abbiati and in.
Say what you want about our defense, and most of it will be true. But, that may be the worst goal I've seen conceded this season, and I saw the 5-2 evisceration of our nearest and dearest. By the way, the color commentator made a big deal about the Milan keeper being beat at his near post. The color commentator is also an idiot - if any keeper expected his teammate to give away the ball that badly that close to goal, then that's not good anticipation, that's PTSD.
Clearly, this was a side that would have benefited from an ice hockey-style timeout. Had Allegri had the chance to remind them that they were still well ahead and that one patient counter-attack would kill off the tie for good, they may have recovered mentally enough to continue. The great thing about this sport is that such a thing isn't an option, allowing for a story like this to continue.
Arsenal pressed on, and their hard work was rewarded when Milan's defense creaked again in the 41st minute. Oxlade-Chamberlain didn't have much in the way of support as he made his run, so the direct route was the only option. He fearlessly charged into the Milan area, and was sandwiched by Djamel Nesbah and Antonio Nascerino on his way to goal. Again, a Rossoneri side in normal circumstances calmly shepherds The Ox away from danger or nicks the ball off of him. Instead, in a panic, they concede a mindless penalty which RVP duly dispatched into the top corner as cool as you bloody like.
If Milan were panicking before, they were shitting themselves now. To put this in perspective, if Abbiati hadn't made the single greatest save I've seen in Europe this season in the first leg, we'd have been winning at this point on away goals.
Arsenal apparently flagged a bit in the second half, the pace of the game and the gravity of the occasion wearing on what was already a bedraggled squad. How different things could have been though with a little bit of luck in the 58th minute. Rosicky won the ball in midfield, and sent a through-ball in to a wide-open Gervinho. Had it not been fractionally behind him, the Ivorian was in alone on Abbiati. Even still, he got a shot away that deflected off of the defender. If only that butterfly in the Amazon Basin flapped its wings a little faster, it's an own-goal and Milan have well and truly thrown it all away. Abbiati brilliantly repelled it with his legs, but the rebound came out to an unmarked RVP on the back post.
I would have bet my mother's life that the Dutchman would have buried it. Thankfully for me, her and my family, that option was not available to me.
Instead, his tame effort was hoovered up by the grateful Abbiati. Had that gone in, there's no doubt in my mind that the fifth would have come - the Italians would have absolutely went to pieces. It was not to be, though. That's how fickle momentum can be in this game - all it takes is one goal to make a huge lead seem vulnerable, and yet all it takes is one stroke of luck to remember that you can play this game after all...and to make it seem like that great comeback is destined to fall just a little bit short.
Milan started to haul themselves back in it, and forced Wojceich Szczesny into some decent saves. Nocerino then had a glorious chance to apply the coup de grace, but fluffed his lines in much the same manner as RVP had some minutes before. It didn't matter, though. There wasn't enough gas left in the tank to seriously test Abbiati from that point on, and throwing on Marouane Chamakh and Ju-Young Park wasn't going to change anything.
Arsenal were out, but only on the judges' scorecards.
There's no ratings or MOTM today, as I didn't see the whole thing. All I know is that I'm proud to be a Gooner today...and I'd much rather be in our shoes than Zenit St. Peterburg's, that's for sure.
The hell with it, let's go Geordie hunting on Monday.
Preview by Numbers: Queens Park Rangers v. Arsenal...
Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa: Easy Peasy
Preview by Numbers: Everton v. Arsenal
Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle United: Comeuppance
Preview by Numbers: Arsenal v. Newcastle United
Preview by Numbers: Arsenal v. AC Milan, Champions...
Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal: The Battle of Helm's Deep
Preview by Numbers: Liverpool v. Arsenal

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Knut Johan Wilhelm Rudman Bergenstråhle, född den 26 oktober 1856 i Skönberga socken, Östergötlands län, död den 20 augusti 1913 i Västra Eds församling, Kalmar län, var en svensk militär.

Bergenstråhle blev underlöjtnant vid Andra livgrenadjärregementet 1876 och vid Svea livgarde 1877. Han blev löjtnant vid Svea livgarde 1883 och kapten där 1896. Bergenstråhle var lärare vid Infanteriskjutskolan 1895–1896 och chef där 1902–1906. Han befordrades till major i armén 1902 och vid Svea livgarde 1903, till överstelöjtnant i armén 1905 och vid Södermanlands regemente 1906. Bergenstråhle blev överste och chef för Västernorrlands regemente 1908. Han invaldes som ledamot av Krigsvetenskapsakademien 1905. Bergenstråhle blev riddare av Svärdsorden 1898 och kommendör av andra klassen av samma orden 1911.

Källor

 Bergenstråhle nr 1696, tab. 44 på Adelsvapen-Wiki

Svenska överstar
Svenska regementschefer
Ledamöter av Kungliga Krigsvetenskapsakademien
Kommendörer av andra klass av Svärdsorden
Svenska militärer under 1800-talet
Svenska militärer under 1900-talet
Personer från Skönberga socken
Wilhelm
Födda 1856
Avlidna 1913
Män

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Driven by recommendations from the Connecticut state police, Governor Dannel Malloy's administration recently invested more than $250,000 into the governor's Hartford mansion security system, according to a report by the Hartford Courant. While there are a number of reasons to upgrade the protection of the governor and his home, one of the main factors is that there have been multiple intrusions to the back of the property since Malloy became governor.
"We hadn't done any major security updates since 2006, so it was time to review the whole system," Connecticut Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Donald DeFronzo said, according to the news source. "The state police did a threat assessment and made recommendations on what needed to be improved."
The budget included more than $65,000 for surveillance cameras installed throughout the property, as well as more than $40,000 for several locksmith additions to gates around the premises, the news source reported. Installing a new security system was also important because Malloy lives in the mansion full time and also hosts non-profit events on the real estate more often than prior governors.
"This governor seems to be using the residency for state business purposes far more than any recent governor," DeFronzo said, according to the Hartford Courant. "We have probably tripled or quadrupled the use of the residency for business. It is somewhat a unique building because it is not only the residence, but it is also an historic site and a public venue."
A separate report by IMS Research noted that many buildings operating across industries are updating perimeter security systems to ensure valuable assets are kept out of the hands of malicious individuals. Thermal imaging surveillance cameras, in particular, are becoming more commonly deployed throughout large buildings in an attempt to boost security during inclement weather.


Sweet Tooth Auto Feminised by Barney's Farm Seeds is renowned for growing compact and short plants that offer immediate flowering and an abundant bud production.
A great choice if you're looking to grow weed indoors and outdoors, these high quality weed seeds produce extremely high yields and flower within 60 to 65 days. Inducing an intense body high that is pleasant and enjoyable, these marijuana seeds also contain a high CBD content, meaning they are ideal for treating a number of common medical ailments such as chronic pain.


Vita United Pharmacy provides medicine for all medication and other types of vitamins and skin care products.
3.10 Collect or store personal information about others.
5.1 Product information may be incomplete: In the interest of continuous improvement, the Company reserves the right to modify or change floor plans, materials and features without prior notice or obligation. Such changes may not always be reflected in the website or our models. Ask your sales representative for details. Although every effort has been made to ensure that the prices and terms contained herein are accurate and current, at any time such prices and terms are subject to change.
5.2 The Company undertakes no duty to keep the website updated. Product and other information, including availability is subject to change at any time. The website may contain inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-date information. Prices may increase or decrease at any time. Postings to the Website are made at such times as determined by the Company at its discretion. Users of the Website should not assume that the information contained on the website has been updated or otherwise contains current information. The Company does not review past postings to determine whether they remain accurate, and information contained in such postings may have been superseded.
6. No offer to purchase / rent: No information or material on this website is to be construed to be an offer or solicitation for purchase / rent. You must visit a Company sales office to purchase / rent a unit. The information on this website is provided for informational purposes only.
7. Release, disclaimer and limitation of liability: To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, you hereby waive, disclaim and release the Company and its officers, directors, employees, agents, successors, and assigns, from all claims of any kind (specifically including any and all claims for actual, incidental, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, attorneys' fees and costs, or claims for interest, even if the Company is advised of the possibility of such damages), related to, or arising from, directly or indirectly, your access to (or inability to access) the website or the use of any information or material contained therein. Without limiting the foregoing, everything on the website is provided to you "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express of implied, including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title or non-infringement.
8. Intellectual property: The information on the website including, without limitation, all design, text, images, photographs, press releases, and other information, are protected under United Arab Emirates and other copyright laws and are owned by the Company and/or used under license from the copyright owner. The information may not, except under written license, be copied, reproduced, transmitted, displayed, performed, distributed, rented, sublicensed, altered, stored for subsequent use or otherwise used in whole or in part in any manner without the Company's prior written consent, except to the extent that such use is authorized under the United Arab Emirates and other relevant copyright laws. The Company's trademarks, logos, images, and service marks used on the Website are the property of the Company and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Company and without proper acknowledgment.
9. Children: To respect the privacy of children, we do not knowingly provide products or services to children under the age of 21. The website is a general audience site that is not designed nor intended to collect personal information from people under the age of 21. If you are under 21 years old, you should not request any information nor provide any personal information to the website.
10. Copyright: The copyright in the material and information included in this website is the property of the Company. The content is provided by the Company as a service to the public and is to be used for informational purposes only. Any violation of the foregoing condition or use will subject you to the possibility of full prosecution under applicable law. No content from this website may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way except that you may display, and subject to any expressly stated restrictions or limitations relating to specific content, download or print portions of the content from the different areas of the website solely for your own non-commercial use, , provided that you acknowledge and agree that all prospective customers must visit a sales office to purchase / rent a unit. Any other use including, but not limited to, the reproduction, distribution, display or transmission of the content of this website is strictly prohibited. You further agree not to change or delete any proprietary notices from content downloaded from the website.
11. Information usage: The Company respects your privacy and is committed to protect it through its compliance with this policy. This policy applies to information collected on this website, in email, text and other electronic messages between you and this website, through mobile and desktop applications or when you interact with our advertising and applications on third party websites and services if those applications or advertising include links to this policy. We do not share, sell, or rent any of the information collected to any third parties and do not intend to do so in the future. Your personal information will be available only for the officers who need to be aware of such information. Your personal information will not be available for public perusal without your approval. In addition, the personal information for the website users will not be exchanged or sold or transferred to any party without your prior consent. Getting access to such information is only available to such specialists who take over providing services, conforming to the nature of your dealing with our website.
12.4 To send periodic emails: The email address you provide for order processing, may be used to send you information and updates pertaining to your service, in addition to receiving occasional Company news, updates, related product or service information, etc.
13.1 We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described herein to (i) our subsidiaries and affiliates (ii) contractors, service providers and other third parties we use to support our business (iii) to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of the Company's assets , whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceedings in which personal information held by the Company about the website users forms part of the assets to be transferred (iv) to fulfill the purpose for which it was provided (v) for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information, and (vi) with your consent.
14. Links: The website may contain links to the websites of other entities or persons of the private and public sector that are subsequently not managed by the Company. The latter does not supervise command or control such websites or links or their contents, does not review or control the content of such websites, and does not guarantee the content or their effectiveness and workability. The Company provides such links only for convenience for the users and for their information only. Posting such links on the Website is not a promotion for the websites related to such links or the products, services and information included in the related websites and does not imply any link between the Company and the operators of the said websites. When you select any of these links, you will be subject to the terms and conditions of the owner/sponsor of the website. The Company is not responsible in any way whatsoever for those links or systems and is not liable for any direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of such links whether the damage is material or moral.
16. Governing law: By accessing this website, you agree that the Laws of the United Arab Emirates and the Laws of Dubai shall govern such access and the provisions of any services and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Dubai Courts.


What would the world be like if the normal curve was not discovered?
Centre de recherche mathématique (Montreal) on October 1, 2010 (in French) and at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (Toronto) on oct 29 (in English).
Canada-wide Math Performance Festival for grades 4-6 students and teachers.
Mathematics with Eye and Hand.
Keynote speeches by Dr. Alan Kay and Seymour Papert, February 27 at 7 PM, OISE Auditorium, Toronto.
Teachers Conference, "Reinventing the Math Teacher"


De La Vie from The GoodPeople is a light blue shirt made from 100% linen. The shirt is garment dyed and has contrasting buttons. Furthermore, this The GoodPeople shirt has a regular fit, is made in our Portuguese factories and is easy to combine with everything from your wardrobe.


There are often many accommodations that can assist a person with a disability to perform job tasks. Often a person is able to do most tasks, but there will be some tasks that their disability precludes them from doing altogether, or in an efficient manner. During our evaluation, we will work with the client to break down their work into job tasks and identify those job tasks that could be enhanced by assistive technology.
Because every job and every person is unique, there is no cookie cutter solution. We tailor all of our recommendations specifically for a particular client for their particular job.
Ergonomics (from the Greek word ergon meaning work, and nomoi meaning natural laws), is the science of arranging or designing items to optimize them for human use. Ergonomics is sometimes referred to as human factors engineering.
The overriding idea behind ergonomics is to bring the work to the person instead of the person going to the work. Proper ergonomics allows a person to keep their body in the most neutral position and then work related items are placed so that the neutral position can be maintained.
These principals are the same for someone is able bodied or if someone has a disability. When disability is added to the mix, this just adds another layer of complexity to achieve that neutral position. Often we need to use specialized equipment in order to maintain good ergonomic position, but the overall goal is the same.
In addition to the concept of neutral position, a good ergonomic evaluation should address repetitive motions to help prevent repetitive stress injuries. There are four factors to consider with repetitive stress injuries – vibration, force, awkward position, and static loading.
Vibration occurs typically when operating tools with moving parts such as drills or saws.
Force is how much weight must the body support to perform a task.
Awkward position is placing the body in a position outside of a neutral position when performing the task.
Static loading is how long does the body need to hold a position to perform a task.
If any of these factors are experienced for an extended period of time, a repetitive stress injury can occur. If any of these factors are experienced in high amounts for a short period of time, injury can also occur.
Some examples of this would be if a worker needs to put their body in a bad position many times throughout the workday to reach an item, such as reaching for an item on a very high or very low shelf. The worker may not experience pain when performing the task one time, but repeated awkward reaching over the course of days, months, and years, can add up to an injury.
We can analyze a job and find potential sources that could contribute to repetitive stress injuries. Often we are working with clients who have already experienced an injury and we are looking to resolve the sources of the problem.
Computer workstations are a common environment that we are called upon to address.


text:
Q: How to get a variable from controller How can I access to a variable from my controller and use it in my page? This is the code of my controller:
public ActionResult Agence(AgenceQuery model)
{
    var result = Test.Areas.Admin.Models.WebUser.GetUser(model.Num_RA);
    if (result == null)
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("CustomError", "Cette agence n'éxiste pas");
        return View();
    }

    return View();
}

And thank you everyone for your help.

A: Use ViewBag
In the Controller
public ActionResult Agence(AgenceQuery model)
{
    var result = Test.Areas.Admin.Models.WebUser.GetUser(model.Num_RA);
    if (result == null)
    {
        ViewBag.Error = "CustomError, Cette agence n'éxiste pas";
    }

    return View();
}

in the View, retrieve it :
@Html.Raw(ViewBag.Error)

A: Try
ViewBag.Result = result;

And in your view:
@ViewBag.Result.FieldThatYouWantToDisplay

Or
ViewData["Result"] = result;

And in your view:
@ViewData["Result"].FieldThatYouWantToDisplay

Or
return View(result)

And in your view:
@model Full.Path.To.The.Type.Of.Result.Variable

@Model.FieldThatYouWantToDisplay

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


UChicago Dining Locations will remain open over Summer Quarter with different hours of operation, changes starting on June 15. Check out the UChicago Dining Website here or here for more information.
Additionally, the changed hours of operation during Convocation, June 12th-14th, can be found here.


Roll the grated vegetables in two kitchen towels stacked together to absorb any moisture. Squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the vegetable mixture with the eggs, bread crumbs, green onion, salt, and pepper. Using your hands, mix until very well combined.
In a large and deep frying pan, pour the oil 1/4-inch deep and heat over medium heat until hot. Use your hands to form mixture into golf ball sized balls. Using a large slotted spoon, drop balls into the hot oil a few at a time. Smash each ball into about a 4-inch circle, spaced far enough apart for the oil to flow between them. Cook, turning only once, until golden brown on each side. This should take about a total of 5 minutes per latke. Drain latkes on paper towels. Repeat until all are done.
Serve with applesauce or sour cream, if desired. Personally, I like mine with spicy brown mustard.
This is the file photo.


text:
Style / Hers
Fashion collaborations have reached fever pitch. How did we get here?
Anna Solomon
In the last week, two major fashion collaborations have been announced: Balmain and Barbie, and a three-way partnership between Balenciaga and Yeezy Gap. Before that, 2021 was announced as 'the year of the collab', and the trend is showing no sign of letting up. But brands teaming up in nothing new, although their motivations and manifestations have shifted over the years…
14 January 2022 | Anna Solomon
ashion brands have worked with artists, musicians and athletes for decades, from Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí's 'art-fashion' collaboration in the 1930s to the pairing of Vivienne Westwood and Keith Haring in the '80s. The Air Jordan was born of a partnership between Nike and Michael Jordan in 1984 and remains the sportswear brand's most ubiquitous shoe.
But in the Noughties the collaboration game changed, largely thanks to fast-fashion outlet H&M. In 2004, the Swedish outfitter partnered with Karl Lagerfeld to create a one-off collection – it whipped up a media storm, and consumers clamoured to get their hands on cheap pieces designed by the Chanel and Fendi frontman. It was an eye-opener for the fashion world; collaboration, once shunned as a form of brand dilution, was now a leading and lucrative strategy.
In recent years the blueprint has updated, with brands looking for ever-more inventive ways to reach both consumers' wallets and social media feeds. Here's your essential primer to the shifting world of the fashion collaboration.
The high-low collaboration
The high-low collaboration – a marriage of retail and luxury – was perhaps the original iteration of the trend and, as anyone who watched Halston on Netflix last year will know, has been around for decades.
Pioneered by H&M and its dalliance with Lagerfeld, retailers including Topshop, Uniqlo and Target in the US followed suit, and the formula has been played out again and again by a who's who of high-end labels including Balmain, Comme des Garçons, Moschino, Marni, Erdem, Christopher Kane, Versace and Stella McCartney.
The appeal here is clear. It's about the democratisation of fashion and drawing in an aspirational audience – the consumer that can't necessarily afford luxury, but aspires to the lifestyle. According to data platform GWI, 37% of global consumers fit into this category, making it a huge resource for brands.
Ye and Demna Gvasalia announced their partnership last week
Of course, the idea of 'cheap luxury' has always held appeal. In 2001 Marc Jacobs recruited cult artist Stephen Sprouse to design a collection of Louis Vuitton bags, resulting in the iconic graffiti motif. Sprouse bags cost up to £6,000, so they can hardly be called cheap, but the idea was there when Jacobs referred to the partnership as 'anti-snob snobbism'.
While consumers may no longer be camping overnight on Oxford Street to be the first to shop the latest collaborative collection, the concept is still going strong, with one of the most iconic high-low coalitions of our time welcoming a third name into its fold last week: Yeezy Gap. Ye's high-fashion label joined forces with Gap in 2020, at which time analysts estimated that the partnership could bring in $1 billion in sales in the first year. While financials for the Gap, Ye, Balenciaga team-up haven't been disclosed, it goes without saying that designers are well-compensated for such projects – Stella McCartney and Karl Lagerfeld reportedly earned around $1 million per day for their work with H&M.
The mutually beneficial collaboration
West and Gap's collaboration breathed new life into both. The latter, reliably providing the mass market with everyday essentials, was suddenly cool – and received a fresh stream of positive press at a time when it was struggling to keep its bricks-and-mortar stores open. Yeezy, meanwhile, enjoyed a gateway into the mainstream.
Yeezy Gap
This is the fundamental driving force behind fashion collaborations: mutual benefit. For instance, in 1999, then-nascent Supreme wanted to make trainers. It didn't have the resources to do so, so it approached a name who did: DC Shoes. Today, Supreme generates more than $500 million in annual revenues.
By partnering up, brands can benefit from each other's budget, reach and reputation. Collaborations are huge marketing boons for both high-street retailers and emerging luxury brands: Proenza Schouler, Meadham Kirchoff, Halpern, Marques Almeida and Ashish are just a few beneficiaries of the strategy. Meanwhile, labels like Richard Malone and Ahluwalia owe their success to teaming up with bigger names (Mulberry and Ganni respectively), while UGG and Crocs have been given a new lease of life thanks to collabs with Balenciaga, Telfar, and Molly Goddard.
The Fendace 'special project' finale
But it's not all about business. At the risk of sounding totally naive, sometimes collaborations are based on a certain simpatico – matching sensibilities that produce something magical. For example, Malone described his partnership with Mulberry as a 'meeting of minds, where two brands… truly work together'. How sweet.
Similarly, the Fendace collection, which dropped in September of last year, at least appeared to be a labour of love between longtime friends Kim Jones and Donatella Versace. The relationship between Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons has also been cast in the language of creative affinity: speaking at a press conference, Prada said of their co-directorship, 'we like each other, we respect each other, we will see where that takes us'.
Harris Reed x Oxfam
This collaborative way of working reflects a shift in the mood of society, and could do tangible good. In early 2021 budding designer Harris Reed sent a DM to Veronica Etro that resulted in one of the year's best mash-ups: Etro donated old fabric to Reed, who used it to make upcycled shirts. Creative solutions like this could be the answer to a fashion culture that demands more while undeniably needing to waste less.
The makes-absolutely-no-sense collaboration
In 2018, Birkenstock was approached by Supreme to join forces. CEO Oliver Reichert refused in no uncertain terms, explaining that he stood to gain nothing 'except prostitution'. Strong words, but, to be fair, Birkenstocks are what your dad wears on holiday while Supreme's target demographic is teenage 'hypebeasts'.
But this kind of logic means nothing in the world of fashion collaborations. Perhaps the turning point came in 2014 when Vetements linked up with courier company DHL, but, somewhere along the way, collaborations got kind of weird. In fact, the fact that both Birkenstock and Supreme do footwear actually makes them more qualified to get into bed together than 99% of modern partnerships, where their wildly differing target markets would be the very thing that presented the appeal.
Today, 'out of the box' pairings with the apparent sole purpose of garnering attention are common. We have our internet and social media culture to thank – brands are scrambling for relevance in a world of constant information-sharing. For example, no one saw a collection co-authored by Supreme and Tiffany & Co. – preserve of Park Avenue princesses – coming. What does that target audience even look like? A 23-year-old sneakerhead who holidays in the Hamptons? And yet, when the collection went live in November 2021, it sold out within seconds.
Then there are the cross-demographic partnerships, like the new coalition between Balmain and Barbie, that are even stranger. Other examples include Frame Denim and The Ritz Paris (are you even allowed to wear jeans in The Ritz?), or Japanese designer NIGO and KFC (just why…). And what to make of the combination between The Hundreds and Andrew Lloyd Weber, which resulted in absolutely baffling 'Phantom of the Opera' bomber jackets?
Once you find yourself wearing Pepsi-branded sunglasses, one may wonder whether fashion join-ups have become more about cash than creativity. But, done right, cross-demographic partnerships can be fun. We loved Balenciaga's short film featuring The Simpsons characters catwalking its clothes. The late, great Virgil Abloh was the king of random collaborations, once telling Dazed that 'being a fashion designer is selling it short if it's just limited to making clothes'. So, he made water bottles, rugs, and cars in partnerships with Evian, Ikea and Mercedes Benz respectively.
Even heritage giants like Dior have got in on the action with recent collusions with Technogym and Vespa – the latter given even greater exposure thanks to its starring role in season two of Emily in Paris (even Netflix isn't immune to the charms of a good partnership). Creative and wonderful or tacky and cynical, mismatched collabs provide an element of surprise that is a critical weapon in the war to stay current.
The high-high 'blockbuster' collaboration
What's more unlikely than a fashion house partnering with a fast food outlet? Joining forces with its biggest rival, of course.
As the world of collaborations became noisier and noisier, the biggest brands decided to do something to shut everyone up. Enter the high-high collab: the concert of two fashion behemoths. Versace and Fendi thrilled us all with 'Fendace' – 'the swap' that saw Donatella Versace and Kim Jones create collections for one another. Not to be outdone, Gucci and Balenciaga embarked on their 'fashion hack', which followed a similar format. High-high collabs are a bit like when characters from your favourite show cameo in your other favourite show – it's so bizarre and delightful to see them on one runway.
Fendi by Versace
But they can also feel like planets colliding – two astronomical budgets being rear-ended to create more money, more spectacle, more stuff… more, more, more. Weren't the lessons we learned from Covid all about scaling back fashion? Wasn't it all about levelling the playing field to make room for upstart designers? If so, why are engorged collaborations between legacy brands dominating the stage?
Gucci's Balenciaga-hacked Aria collection
Brands will always swap ideas and images for clout, and the results can encapsulate everything that is right about fashion: the creativity, the beauty, the ingenuity. But the industry should be mindful of wielding its collaborative influence for good – the limited edition collaboration is the antithesis of slow fashion, and the majority are in addition to the constant stream of seasonal, resort and pre-collections (and their fast fashion copycats) already creating a sustainability crisis. Is our planet really worth an Off-White-branded water bottle or Balmain x Barbie necklace?
Read more: The best luxury resale sites for sustainable shopping
The Shopping List: Brilliant things to buy this week
Cut from a different cloth: London's most stylish independent menswear boutiques


When you die, you can take it with you! Take on the role of Egyptian nobles at the time of the pharaohs, preparing for death and burial in the Valley of the Kings.
Take on the role of Egyptian nobles at the time of the pharaohs, preparing for death and burial in the Valley of the Kings. Players want to fill their tombs with food, amulets, and other treasures, and to do so they acquire cards that are laid out in the shape of a pyramid; purchase cards at the base of the pyramid, and it "crumbles" to bring cards higher in the pyramid to the base where they can be bought. The pyramid resets each round with new offerings.
You score only for cards that you remove from your deck and stash in your tomb, so if you keep using valuable cards for their effects and don't entomb them before the game ends, you could lose out on big points! Whoever collects the most valuable artifacts in her tomb wins.
Valley of the Kings: Last Rites, the third standalone VotK title, introduces the various citizens and roles of people in the ancient Egyptian kingdom.


text:
South Jersey Dining Guide
Sal Pal Training Camp Confidential
Sal Pal at Super Bowl LII
Bridal Spotlight
Best of SJ
Top Docs for Kids
Top Attorneys
Best Dentists
Marianne Aleardi
Jason Springer
Maury Z. Levy
Sally Friedman
This is South Jersey
Distributing Dignity
Helping homeless women with the most personal of needs
By Kate Morgan
In 2009, longtime philanthropists Joanie Balderstone and her wife, Rebecca McIntire, were outfitting homeless women in Camden with business attire.
"We'd been collecting gently used business clothing for these women to wear to interviews," Balderstone says. "One of the people who was working with us went and made the delivery, and before she left a woman pulled her aside and said, 'Listen, thank you so much for the suit, but I don't have a decent bra to wear underneath it.'"
Balderstone and McIntire immediately reached out to shelters and day centers to ask what else the women there really needed. The answer came quickly: they needed bras and feminine hygiene products. Balderstone and McIntire were taken aback – not that such a need existed, but that it had never occurred to them.
"One woman was brave enough to speak up and say, 'OK, but I really need a bra,' and because of her we found out there are so many women in the same position," Balderstone says. "Our contact at the shelter told us they get lots of donations of shampoo, toothpaste and deodorant, but they almost never get tampons. Now we have a lot of people say they never even thought about it. We tell them we honestly hadn't thought about it either. For over a decade, we've been donating other toiletry items and never thinking we should be providing this one important thing."
In response, the women planned a get-together at their Cherry Hill home in the spring of 2010. They called it "Mardi-Bra" and asked each guest to bring along a new bra or an unopened package of tampons or maxi-pads.
Since that first party, the organization has grown. "We officially launched Distributing Dignity on March 1, 2014," McIntire says. "In the past year, it's been a combination of factors helping us grow. We've had more of our own events, but the majority of it is other people having collections with groups of women. They collect from their friends or their employers or their book clubs. We've had groups of young women from local universities hosting collections."
Distributing Dignity wraps all donations so the recipient feels like they are receiving a gift
Balderstone estimates that Distributing Dignity has given away more than 500 new bras and a huge number of feminine products. They receive a constant stream of donations, which they then distribute to their network of partner institutions spanning New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. Balderstone and McIntire have expanded the organization quickly, thanks in part to sponsorships from regional and national corporations, and the low overhead costs associated with running the nonprofit from their home.
"It's almost comical how many pads and tampons are in our house," McIntire laughs. "We started out storing them all in a guest-room closet, and that blossomed into the whole guest room, and now there are stacks in our living room, dining room and foyer. It's like a tower of tampons in here, but it's a great problem to have."
The women have worked with local businesses and institutions like the Cherry Hill Public Library to establish drop-off sites for donations. The only requirements are that packages of pads and tampons are unopened and bras are new with tags.
"You start out just wanting to meet a specific physical need any way you can, but we feel this is about so much more than that," McIntire says. "Sure, we could donate gently used bras, but by giving something new, we're sending these women the message that they are valued, they have worth."
To drive home that message, McIntire and Balderstone take things a step further whenever possible by packaging each bra in tissue paper with a ribbon and a card.
"For organizations like day facilities or crisis centers, we provide a cross-section of our inventory and let them distribute the bras as needed," Balderstone says. "But the residential organizations – where women may live for two months or more – can provide us with a size list. We wrap each of those bras so it's like receiving a gift. Someone said that at some point, once the organization gets to be a certain size, we'll have to give up doing that. I told them that at no point will we ever be so big that we can't hand-wrap a bra. It's important that it be personal, that we see every woman who will be helped by this; every woman who is homeless, every woman fleeing domestic violence, every veteran who served her country and now can't live on her own. Every single woman."
Distributing Dignity accepts donations of bras in all sizes, colors, patterns and styles, which McIntire sees as a representation of their supporters.
"We've had women say to us, 'Well why not? Why not give them something really pretty?'" McIntire says. "The donations we get in all different sizes and colors are such a beautiful reflection of the women who are out there helping us."
Balderstone and McIntire also make an effort to provide a varietry of sizes and styles of feminine products to the facilities they support.
"It seems like such a small thing, but the choice is so empowering," Balderstone says. "We take for granted that we can go out and buy whatever products we prefer, anytime. We've all had that instance where we've been out somewhere and been unprepared, but imagine feeling that way every month, or always having to settle for something that makes you uncomfortable, because it's the only thing available."
Though the organization does have some male supporters, Balderstone says the majority of Distributing Dignity's allies are women.
"That's empowering, too," she says. "Far too often, women are encouraged to put each other down. People say that women can't work together, but this organization is proof of what we can accomplish. I think a big part of it is that every single woman can relate. We think we have nothing in common with women who are homeless or living in shelters, but this is the one thing we are all going to need, regardless of our situation."
Balderstone and McIntire assume that Distributing Dignity will ultimately become a national organization. After all, McIntire says, the mission "sort of sells itself." No matter how far their work spreads, though, the women are deeply committed to helping women in South Jersey.
"The goal is to grow further," McIntire says. "We plan to expand to have organizations we help in locations across the country, but we'll always give in this area. This is where our commitment began, and this is where our heart is."
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NewTek Discussions > NewTek Forums > General Discussion > City Engine Software - Whoaa !
View Full Version : City Engine Software - Whoaa !
Is this not the site?
This was rendered using Maya and Renderman. I know some of the guys who did it ..
The engine (as stated) focusses on the procedural modelling aspects.
I'm getting this piece of smart programming!
There is only one word I can think of to describe that - Awesome!
Though I am holding back my enthusiasm until I can find out what the system requirements are. Does any one know? I couldn't find it on the website.
I looked all over for that. I can run Linux X86 but it looks like I don't have the right CPU since my current desktop is a G5. This will have to wait until I update or they feel like coding for an old system.
Looks great!! let's hope it don't cost toooo much. I'm a freelancer and it takes me a good while to save up any real chunk of change given the slow economy where I live and of course inflation!!
It says that a fully functional trial version will be available for non-commercial work, also on the 23rd. It would be nice if it wasn't time limited.
It looks like a great tool and I'm hoping I can afford it.
I too hope I can afford it.
But serioiusly, it looks like a fantastic tool for the professional artists.
Downloaded the free models play with, hmmmm, GI cache test!
This makes lwcad quite obsolete, doesn't it?
I have seen it running first person (it was developed by other staff members within my university), and a comparison with LWCAD is frankly irrelevant.
If you are asking which would be better to generate an entire city of (randomly) different buildings, then this is your tool.
If you wish to accurately recreate a single building, LWCAD will do it in a fraction of the time. That is not what this program is for.
What I mean is, the setup time for the Pompeii example was months to generate the different architectural permutations .. and then the applications were endless.
Nothing can make LWCAD obsolete!
Not on the site anywhere. I suspect that it will be announced when it is released.
I dont think it will make LWCAD obsolete, we have not seen the price yet. i will wait to see the demo before i make any real judgment, seen to much of this in the past, great looking software but when it was finally released did not live up to expectations.
Im looking forward to seeing it in action.
Depending on the price. i would say if this city builder exports objs then i can imagine that the files are going to be insanely large. so if it expansive it might be better to use Lwcad and hd instance to build your city.
Nice find, although it's certainly no threat to LWCAD.
I think a lot of poeple see LWCAD as just an ArchViz tool, which is exactly what Procedural is, but that's not the case. LWCAD has two major bonuses here; it is designed to let you create accurate models or profiles of 'anything' you want (not just buildings), and the cherry on the cake is that it all works 'within' LightWave.
Regarding Procedural for what it is; it sure looks like an awesome tool for generating a good city scape very quickly. I think it'll suffer somewhat in that it will be overused. You'll suddenly start to see so many cityscape renders that you'll wish you never complained about the 'Babes with Guns' variety. People will probably say 'Yeah, nice work, but it was knocked out in Procedural in five minutes'.
In that respect Procedural is nothing more than 'Poser' for the ArchViz community.
I'll certainly take a look at it, maybe even buy it if it's priced in the disposable category. But no way is that thing any substitute for LWCAD. LightWave without LWCAD is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
Procedural sure looks cool, but LWCAD is much more of a tool.
Indeed. The example wavefront files are not small, some up to 15 million polys; some less. Without some radical improvement of the memory handling in LW, this is not going to be the whole answer to cityscapes - you'll still likely end up exporting subsections with a view to using HDInstance to make the shot work.
only eight days to go to find out pricing !!! yeah !!!
Should we place bets on the price? Or is that called internet gambling?
If it came with a carpet bombing plug-in, I might buy it.
Looks like a great app, I just wonder what it's going to cost.
Doesn't reflect well, I agree, especially since the date was so exact...not "the latter half of May" or "before June", but "the 23rd".
I'm betting it's going to be four figures, easily. This is a tool like Massive or FaceRobot, rather than being a hobbyist's toy.
http://www.c3technologies.com/ these swedes have made a similar thing.
;D For those of us who are impared in the realm of environments (not having vue, *cough*:cry:) *<---which is me* :D This seems like one of those programs where it could really help to set the background, therefore allowing the time to be spent doing the modeling and animation of the actual subjects.
We are on the home stretch for the CityEngine finalization and are battling out heavy fights with Vista's memory management. Due to these unpredictable circumstances, we are slightly behind schedule. But we are confident to win the battle with Mr. Gates' OS. However, we apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience.
Please do keep us fill us in on how well it works for you!
So this finally came out. wow i was wrong about the price by alot "A regular CityEngine license costs $ 6'950.- without VAT (we will add VAT only for Swiss customers)."
About 4500 euro. Quite steep. I should visit these guys next week, will see how it's going ..
but I still wish them luck and success with this innovative idea !!
Hm, the only similarity is that both techniques are used for cities.
C3 is dealing with real world data and tries to extract geometry from various sources (such as LIDAR scans).
City Engine however builds cities and building based on a set of rules - which may be based on real world variables but mustn't be.
Modelling an existing city using City Engine (to match the real world counterpart exactly) wouldn't make that much sense, just as you wouldn't want to use C3 for imaginary, designed cities.
Well, it makes a lot of sense. They won't sell many seats, even to larger studios, since one artist is enough to operate it even for a lot of different scenes.
And if it shaves a few weeks off your modelling time then it isn't that much anymore (looking at it from a "professional" - getting paid for your work - context).
I get paid, but this is a bit beyond the price point at the moment. Of course it goes without saying that when the right job/client comes along the price would no longer be a significant issue.
Ive downloaded the trial and i try it in the next few days, when i get the chance. Cant save or export and only 30 days, like has been said leraning edition would be nice.
With that price, why not go for Houdini non-starving edition? You get much more, and the tutorial for doing cities costs (if I remember correctly) USD$50.
With my humble budget, I'll stick to Vue and learning Houdini... eventually.
wow thats pretty expensive, but I guess if you had the right project to pay for it it would be reasonable. I'm a little bummed it isn't a tad cheaper. if it were 1k I'd snap it up just to have it in the quiver.
Very good! And very expensive, but I guess if you are in archi waters, it comes in handy.
I asked them to release only the procedural modelling part ( not the city plannning part) as a separate app to model buildings one at a time... so import several variations to come up with a single mixed version of a new building. They said they are looking at new ideas like this but couldnt confirm it would happen. I told them I woul certainly but that at a reasonable price.
glad to see though that things seem to be working out for them.
BUMP: have a gander just AWESOME : was talking to them on FB , https://www.assemblive.com/event/WevDj6qEKK/ the software's moving fast !
The latest news is that there are now 'INDIE (500 bucks) and STUDENT (150) versions of CityEngine, for those interested.
Just so you know. The new videos are pretty impressive.
I'm too old to be a student anymore - 55 yrs. old!! That's about all my budget would allow these days.
How about someone recode the Blender python city building code for the eventuality of LW and Core having python?
Am I missing something? I haven't played with it for much time, but the buildings it generates in the demo are really low poly. Are there better looking assets in there somewhere, or are they expecting you to provide your own, higher detail stuff?
More aimed at teams and large scale vis groups.
For that price, I'll hold off to see what Viktor comes up with in LWCAD. Supposedly he's going to do procedural buildings/city type features.
i'm sure i read somewhere that citygen is now inside 3dsmax 2011....i have 2011 but as of yet not got around to installing as we all know it's a pain in the *** to move my old icon sets over to new 3dsmax as i HATE the new el bland icons!...so one day i'll sort it but not yet! and max already has a great freeby building generator that quite detailed and not lo poly.
I think you mean CityScape (http://pixelactive3d.com/), to be more precise, their "Promo" offer bundled with max?
Imdeed, very nice for a freeby.
When I saw how much they are asking ($19,000) for a for a full version license, I lost all my interest.
Simcity is much cheaper :D.
City Engine are running a comp to win a free Indie Version " take note NT "
you recive a sticker then stick it somewhere , so I buit a city out of spare parts . . . .


text:
DDB Hong Kong promotes Irene Tsui and Keith Ho to co-MDs
April 30, 2018 8:18
by MUMBRELLA STAFF
DDB Hong Kong has promoted four members of its leadership team, handing its chief creative officer the role of co-managing director.
Keith Ho, who joined the agency as CCO and managing partner last year, will take on the role of MD in addition to his creative remit.
He will share the role with Irene Tsui, a 10-year veteran of DDB Hong Kong and its former general manager.
Irene Tsui and Keith Ho
In addition, the agency has also promoted Andreas Krasser, formerly head of strategy and innovation, to the role of chief strategy officer of DDB Group.
Meanwhile, the digital lead of DDB Group agency Tribal, Leo Tsui, has been promoted to president of Tribal and chief digital officer of the Hong Kong group.
In a press statement, the agency claimed to have won 25 new accounts within the last 15 months, with Tribal taking more than half of these.
From left: Krasser, Irene Tsui, Ho and Leo Tsui
New brands include: SmarTone, Hotels.com, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Duty Free Shop, Hong Kong International Airport, AXA and Mead Johnson, among others.
Ho said: "Creativity is the lifeblood of this agency. This energy is infectious and the motivation and morale are high – we're looking forward to a golden chapter in HK marketing for our clients."
DBS moves creative chunk from DDB to The Secret Little Agency
Hotels.com APAC switches creative account from Grey to DDB
topics Andreas Krasser, DDB Hong Kong, Irene Tsui, Keith Ho, Leo Tsui, Tribal


text:
How the #UNODC is Fighting Human Trafficking during the pandemic
10 May, 2021 | 9:58 am
Written by Staff Writer 10 May, 2021	| 9:58 am
COLOMBO (News 1st); A recent regional expert group meeting for Asia-Pacific region hosted out of Vienna by the UN Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) represented a major milestone in forging fruitful Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) that improve the lives of vulnerable populations worldwide.
The event convened dozens on experts under the banner of "Public Private Partnerships to Counter and Prevent Trafficking in Persons" and marked the path forward for further collaboration in combating human trafficking.
The event saw State representatives from Australia, Cambodia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The event also garnered the interest of the private sector; professionals from companies such as British Petroleum, Facebook, HSBC, Microsoft, Far Eastern International Bank, MAST Human, Outland Denim, the Bayat Group and Sri Lanka's Capital Maharaja Group.
The meeting was opened by Sabine Baun, Director of International Employment and Social Policy at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Government of Germany — the main donor behind this initiative and was moderated by Rebecca Miller of the UNODC.
Serena Grant from The Walk Free Foundation stressed the importance of being cognizant to get the right people to the table to discuss a wide range of issues linked to human trafficking, while speaking from Sri Lanka, Chevaan Daniel of CMG highlighted the critical importance of addressing period poverty amongst migrant workers returning from the Middle East due the pandemic.
This Asia-Pacific meeting is one of four regional meetings, with the others focusing on South Eastern Europe, the Americas and Africa. The event aims to improve effective partnership between the public and private sectors with a view to better assisting Member States in their implementation of the United Nations Transnational Organised Crime Convention (UNTOC) and its supplementing Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Trafficking in Persons Protocol).
Sri Lanka crush Zimbabwe by 5 wickets to win 1st ODI
Sri Lanka crush Zimbabwe by 5 wickets
Over 4.6 Mn booster shots given in Sri Lanka against COVID-19
Over 4.6 Mn booster shots given in Sri Lanka


text:
NAPA Anesthesia Patient Safety Institute Earns AHRQ Patient Safety Organization Listing
As one of only 89 PSOs in the US, NAPA offers a culture of safety for healthcare providers
30 janv. 2020 13h26 HE | Source: North American Partners in Anesthesia North American Partners in Anesthesia
Melville, New York, UNITED STATES
MELVILLE, N.Y., Jan. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NAPA Anesthesia Patient Safety Institute has become one of only 89 Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) in the country, following approval granted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on December 10, 2019.
Establishing its own federally listed PSO is a giant step forward for North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA), which has grown to become one of the nation's leading single-specialty anesthesia and perioperative management companies since it was founded by physicians in 1986. This puts NAPA on the path to creating a uniform culture of safety across its entire geographic footprint. NAPA annually serves more than 1.2 million patients in over 300 hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers from coast to coast, and as a PSO, NAPA clinicians in any state can now discuss cases without fear of punitive repercussions. NAPA's PSO status facilitates—and, in fact, encourages—open discussion among clinicians and healthcare facility partners about adverse events, root cause analysis and action plans, in pursuit of achieving better outcomes.
Julie Marhalik-Helms, BSN, RN, NAPA's Vice President of Quality Improvement, said: "NAPA has long recognized the value that a PSO bestows on providers, partners and patients. As a founding member of the Anesthesia Business Group (ABG), NAPA supported the establishment of the ABG PSO in 2009 and utilized that pathway to drive a patient-first organization. As NAPA has grown and developed its infrastructure, our belief in the powerful impact that a PSO has on patient care and clinician wellness inspired the evolution of the NAPA Anesthesia Patient Safety Institute. With our own PSO, we can develop new initiatives, maximize data and allocate more resources to case reviews and caring for our clinical caregivers."
PSOs were mandated by the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act) to improve quality and safety by reducing the incidence of events that adversely affect patients. In proposing the Act, legislators acknowledged that to reduce adverse events and hospital readmissions, healthcare providers needed a protective environment that would allow for the free exchange of information. To this end, conversations and activities under the PSO are legally protected, so that providers can review adverse cases through the PSO to identify how best to prevent reoccurrence and ultimately deliver safer patient care.
Marhalik-Helms added: "NAPA's investment in creating a PSO signifies our dedication to being the anesthesia destination of choice. For anesthesia clinicians, this means working confidently in a culture of safety and collaboration, in an environment where everyone understands that if we expect our clinicians to deliver the best care for our patients, we must do everything we can to take care of our clinicians."
About NAPA
As a clinician-led organization, North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) is redefining healthcare, delivering unsurpassed excellence to its partners and patients every day. Since its founding by physicians in 1986, NAPA has grown to become one of the nation's leading single-specialty anesthesia and perioperative management companies, serving more than 1.2 million patients annually in more than 300 healthcare facilities nationwide. For more information, please visit NAPAanesthesia.com.
Judith Santana, Marketing Manager
North American Partners in Anesthesia
E: JSantana@NAPAanesthesia.com
anesthesia patient safety organization quality NAPA anesthesia patient safety anesthesia management ahrq


Here at Zuppe clothing we are firm believers that as a retailer it is essentail you pass on your knowledge of fashion to your customers! So suggesting your customers have a wardrobe detox would be a fantastic idea. Tell them to have a good rummage to find their favorite pieces. Once they have got rid of the clothing they know they won't wear again they can begin to mix the old with the new.
Now I'm not advising your customers just keep everything they have in their wardrobe, I'm actually a firm believer in wardrobe detoxing and anti-hoarder. In fact, I just finished another wardrobe detox and it feels like so much weight off my shoulders. But needless to say, you have to be real sure that the things you do get rid of, are really the things you feel you will never wear again. Or they have to be replaceable, in the case of a re-emerging trend.
Once your customers have taken your advice make sure you have some fantastic new stock to help them build their wardrobes back up! Tell the newest tredns for the seaon and try and get an idea of their favourite pieces they ended up keeping instead of throwing away so you can help them create some great new outfits using "the old" and "the new".
With being autumn you can suggest your best fine knitwear to go under that timeless biker jacket your customer decided to keep. Or suggest some tailored check trousers to go with those fantastic high heeled shoes you decided were too good to throw away.
The aim here is to inspire your customers and have a little fun along the way. If one of your customers does decide to go ahead and follow your advice, i am sure they will be thanking you shortly after.


text:
Daybreak Re-iterates It Was Never Purchased By Columbus Nova As Layoffs Ensue
By Jason Winter, News Editor April 26, 2018
This morning, Daybreak Game Company issued a statement regarding its ownership -- a matter of some debate over the past several days -- which was posted to its various games' forums, like this one. We've reproduced it in full below:
This comes as news to former SOE/Columbus Nova President John Smedley, who's keeping mostly quiet regarding the controversy but said via Facebook that "we were told we were bought by Columbus Nova. Simple as that." And senior management doesn't depart a company over "miscommunication." Naviaux isn't the only one leaving, either, as various outlets are reporting that a round of layoffs is underway.
It's also news to whomever wrote the EULAs for Daybreak's games. Those have been altered recently, but archived versions very clearly indicate that "Columbus Nova Private Equity Group" is a "parent company" of Daybreak.
Possibly relevant: here's a story about a company buying back some of its shares from Columbus Nova's parent company, Renova, earlier this month in the wake of sanctions being announced against it and its chairman, Viktor Vekselberg. Here's another such story. And another. So companies are trying to distance themselves from Renova, which is understandable, but at least they're not saying Renova was never part of their ownership, as Daybreak has done.
I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not going to speculate on what the legal ramifications of all this might be. Even without taking those into account, it's going to be hard for Daybreak to win players over regarding this kind of obfuscation and misinformation. This is a bigger deal than canceling EverQuest Next, which was already the final nail in Daybreak's coffin for a lot of people. Daybreak Game Company lied to its players for three years, or is lying now, and that's a trust issue that might never be overcome.
8 MMO Shooter Games To Keep An Eye On In 2023 (Video)
8 Shooter MMO Games To Keep An Eye On In 2023
PlanetSide 2's Construction System Will Get An Overhaul So Builders Can Make Bases That Players Enjoy Fighting At
In this article: DC Universe Online, EverQuest, PlanetSide 2, Everquest Next, Everquest II, H1Z1, daybreak game company, Columbus Nova.
Jason Winter, News Editor
Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.
Style Unlocking Comes To DC Universe Online
Few things are more important to MMORPG players than how their characters look.
By Jason Winter - 4 years ago
ESO Announces "Shadow Over Morrowind," A New Adventure Starting In March And Debuting The Arcanist Class
Players can start the adventure in March through an upcoming dungeon DLC.
CWA Withdraws Request For Unionization Vote At Proletariat; Blames CEO's "Confrontational Tactics" Causing Unfair Election
A dicey situation just got worse for Proletariat workers.
Set Sail In An Eternal Hurricane With New, Co-Op, Floating Island Survival Sandbox Game, Aloft
Enjoy your new life in the clouds.
Eville Season 2 Takes Players To The Home Of The Orcs, And You Can Finally Dance!
Explore the snow-covered mining town of Frostpit, in the mountains.


During the past decade, private equity firms have been heavily investing in the health care industry. Deal opportunities in health care continue to abound, and they're driving investor interest and fierce competition.
With its robust health care M&A practice, Epstein Becker Green has extensive experience with health care mergers and acquisitions and other complex business transactions. We advise on dozens of health care deals every year, including working with venture capital and private equity funds on health-related targets.
We provided health regulatory due diligence advice and counsel to our client, a provider of technology-driven solutions across the health care delivery system, in its acquisition of a vendor of business process outsourcing services for government-financed health plans. The combination of capabilities resulting from this acquisition will significantly enhance our client's business process platforms.
We gave health regulatory due diligence advice and counsel to our client, an integrated Medicare Advantage health plan and health care delivery network, in its sale to a major health benefits company.
We represented our client, a medical benefits management company that seeks to contain health care costs and identify opportunities to improve the quality of care, in its sale to a major pharmacy benefits manager. This deal would help the combined company manage medical spending while delivering quality outcomes.
We provided health regulatory due diligence advice and counsel to a global investment firm in connection with the merger of two large pediatric-focused home health care providers. The merged company, which will be an even larger provider of pediatric home health care services, will be part owned by our client.
We provided advice regarding a global investment firm's financial support of a publicly traded chain of outpatient surgery centers during the acquisition of one of the chain's smaller competitors.