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Ecuador Ecuador government Lenin Moreno Rafael Correa Guillermo Lasso Hugo Chavez Fidel Castro General news Election recounts Elections Government and politics Presidential elections National elections Crime COVID-19 pandemic Coronavirus Infectious diseases Diseases and conditions Health Lung disease
Questions abound as Ecuador heads to presidential runoff
By GONZALO SOLANO and REGINA GARCIA CANO - Feb. 17, 2021 12:27 PM EST
Presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso, representing the Creating Opportunities party or CREO, flashes a thumbs up after attending an event with rival Yaku Perez, of the Pachakutik political party, in which both are asking for a ballot recount of Sunday's election, in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. It remains undecided which of the two has the votes to advance to the run-off race in April to face frontrunner Andres Arauz. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador is headed toward a presidential runoff that so far has brought disappointing results for nearly all involved at a time when the country, battered by a sour economy even before the pandemic, has been struggling for direction.
The leftist faction that has won the past four general elections is the clear favorite heading into the April 11 ballot, but its candidate, Andrés Arauz, barely managed to get about 33% of the votes in the election's first round Feb. 7.
A conservative who lost the last two presidential contests, Guillermo Lasso, emerged with a little under 20% of the votes, giving him a perilously fragile edge to get the other spot on the runoff ballot.
Yaku Pérez, a challenger from an environmentalist-Indigenous movement, made an unexpectedly strong showing, but so far has fallen just short of Lasso in the fight for the second runoff spot.
That has prompted allegations of fraud from Pérez's backers, who are part of a movement that led major challenges to a series of governments, toppling presidents at least twice in recent decades and which on Wednesday announced a march "in defense of democracy" scheduled to reach the capital next week.
Electoral authorities failed Tuesday to agree on the scope and rules for a partial recount of first-round votes to determine if Pérez or Lasso will face off with Arauz in April. By law, they were supposed to reach a decision by Wednesday.
A member of the electoral council, Luis Verdesoto, said on Twitter that its failure to reach a decision so far damaged "institutional stability and democracy."
No matter who wins, "The outlook is very dark from this point on," said Grace M. Jaramillo of the University of British Colombia, who formerly led the department of international relations at a leading university in Ecuador. "Under the three different scenarios, Ecuador is going to face a very difficult time in the following four years. It's very pessimistic with Arauz, Yaku or Lasso."
Arauz is backed by ex-President Rafael Correa, a former ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez who remains heavily influential despite a corruption conviction that has left him watching from afar in Belgium, beyond the reach of Ecuadoran prosecutors.
Arauz has proposed making the wealthy pay more taxes, strengthening consumer protections, public banking and local credit and savings organizations, and backing away from agreements with the International Monetary Fund.
Correa became president in 2007 and was reelected twice with solid margins. He oversaw strong growth and declining poverty for much of his mandate, but was accused of increasing authoritarianism and repression of indigenous groups and the press.
His chosen successor, Lenin Moreno, won in 2017, but veered away from Correa toward more market-friendly policies that have stumbled at a time of high debts and low prices for Ecuador's oil. He feuded bitterly with his former mentor and chose not to seek reelection.
Correa's version of leftist politics often collided with that of Indigenous and environmental movements alarmed by oil and mineral developments. Pérez's Pachakutik party and other movements have mobilized protests, some that turned into major clashes, against a series of governments from right and left.
"They are completely against any candidate who is with Rafael Correa," Jaramillo said of the Indigenous groups and their left-leaning backers. "It's a vote against somebody, not a vote in favor of somebody."
Indigenous communities led protests in October 2019 that forced Moreno's government to back down on a move to end fuel subsidies.
Lasso is again running for the presidency after a long career in business, banking and government. He favors free-market policies and Ecuador's rapprochement with international organizations.
Correa was sentenced in absentia in April to eight years in prison for his role in what prosecutors described as an elaborate scheme that demanded millions of dollars from businessmen in exchange for the contracts of large infrastructure projects between 2012 and 2016. He calls the allegations trumped-up charges for political ends.
On Friday, Pérez and Lasso agreed to seek a full recount in the coastal province of Guayas, where the conservative candidate has strong support, and to ask for verification of 50% of votes in 16 other provinces. But Lasso appeared to backtrack on his support for some of those recounts.
Marlon Santi, Pachakutik's national coordinator, vowed to use "all the nececessary (legal) resources and means" to support Perez.
"We are not going to allow them to steal our victory and our right to participate in the second electoral round and achieve victory against the candidate who represents the return of corruption and authoritarianism," Santi said.
Regina Garcia Cano contributed from Mexico City


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360 Kuwait, Shaikh Jaber Al Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah International Tennis Complex, Sixth Ring Road, South Surra Al Zahra'a Area.
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A great mix of tennis basics learning and comprehensive sport skills development, this program allows kids to combine school schedule commitments and daily (or bi-weekly) training at the Academy. Based on a social, fun & mixed content this program offers a great opportunity to jump on the court several times during the week and guarantees a great sport & personal development for kids aged 7 to 16.
You're looking for fast learning, shape the best ever forehand or serve, you want to prepare a competition or your next doubles match with friends, enjoy our private training lessons through 1to1 sessions with one of the RNA Coach. All starts with an observation & listening of your expectations with the aim of designing the most adapted training content for you or your kid. Packages of multi-private-lessons are available and our team can make it at any time from 7am til 10pm to suit your personal & work obligations.
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Our great team of fitness specialists is here to serve your fitness project and help you to build the body that you want by providing individualized 1to1 training sessions and/or slimming or strengthening custom-made programs. Meet your coach, trust him or her, book him and make the best out of your capacities and personal motivation. Rafa Nadal Academy is a home of high-level training and inspiration, you'll definitely be treated like a pro.
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Henry Bartlett
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Having competed in sports at a young age and going on to play cricket semi-professionally, Henry has always had a love for sports and training. He has worked for a variety of professional clubs and athletes, including a Premier League Football Club, UFC fighters, Kickboxers and many more. He has worked with Kuwaiti athletes and gym goers and is passionate about guiding Kuwaitis on correct training practices to ensure they achieve their goals.
Nuno Marques
Head Tennis Coach
Nuno is a former professional tennis player from 1988-2001. He was the first Portuguese to reach the top 100 ATP rankings. Nuno played against Pete Sampras, Albert Costa, Alex Corretja, e. Kafelnikov, Mats Wilander, Tomas Enqvist, Marcelo Rios, Richard Krajicek, Petr Korda. His career high was singles ATP 86; Doubles: 57. He played Davis Cup from 1986 to 2001 and was Davis Cup Coach from 2014-2018. Played Olympics Sydney 2000. He has been coaching since 2002, and was Coach and Head Coach of Women in Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca since May 2016.
Martijn Belgraver
Martijn is a former tennis professional from 1991-2000 with personal success of being Dutch Singles Champion in 1999 and having played many top players on the ATP tour like Marcelo Rios, Nicolas Kiefer, Fabrice S antoro. Coach of Martin Verkerk from 2001-2002, later finalist at Roland Garros. Martijn is the founder and owner of INTIME Tennis Academy in 2002 until 2019, having coached and trained 25 Dutch junior champions, 2 European champions and 1 Junior Davis cup winner.
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Lisa started her career by working at a law firm and studying for a law degree in France. Upon graduation, she moved to New York City for three years. She earned a Master's degree in Fashion and Luxury Management in Paris. These experiences have made her a really energetic and enthusiastic person. Her hobbies are fitness, football and yoga.
Jad Ayoub
Jad is an international business graduate and an MBA holder in "Management & Finance" from Holy Spirit University - Lebanon. He started his working journey in 2007 in the banking sector where he spent the first 9 years of his professional career, after which he followed his ambitions and love for sports and moved to the Fitness industry as a branch manager for almost 4 years now.
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Charles is a former professional tennis player on the ATP Tour until 2001. He participated in all Grand slam events. Charles competed against two former ATP n°1 : Gustavo Kuerten & Jean Carlos Ferrero He is the founder & owner of ISP Academy (2003-2017), one of the leading tennis academies in Europe. Charles is the Associate Director of French Touch Sport Consulting, specialized into the construction & management of major sport complex.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Astyris lunata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Columbellidae, the dove snails.

Description

Distribution
This marine species occurs off Canada: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick; USA: Maine; also offFrench Guiana

References

 Brunel, P.; Bosse, L.; Lamarche, G. (1998). Catalogue of the marine invertebrates of the estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 126. 405 p
 Pelorce J. (2017). Les Columbellidae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) de la Guyane française. Xenophora Taxonomy. 14: 4–21

External links
 Orbigny A. d'. (1841–1853). Mollusques. In: R. de la Sagra (ed.). Histoire physique, politique et naturelle de l'Ile de Cuba. Arthus Bertrand, Paris. Vol 1: 1–264 [pp. 1–240, pls 1–10?, 1841; 241–264, 1842; Vol. 2: 1–380 [pp. 1–112, pls 10–21?, 1842; 113–128, 1844; 129–224, pls 22–25?, 1847; 225–380, pls 26–28]
 Rosenberg, G.; Moretzsohn, F.; García, E. F. (2009). Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in: Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas
 Trott, T. J. (2004). Cobscook Bay inventory: a historical checklist of marine invertebrates spanning 162 years. Northeastern Naturalist. 11, 261–324

Columbellidae
Gastropods described in 1826

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Miscellaneous Movie Musings: Part VII
Tags: 007, Arch Motorcycle, Bret Easton Ellis, Donnie Darko, Drew Barrymore, Francis Lawrence, Generation Wuss, Generation X, James Bond, Jennifer Lawrence, Justin Timberlake, Katniss Everdeen, Keanu Reeves, Minneapolis, mother!, Netflix, NFL, Nikita, Passengers, Red Sparrow, Roger Moore, Sad Keanu, Snowflakes, Squarespace, Superbowl, X-Men
As the title suggests here are some short thoughts about the movies which aren't quite substantial enough for each to merit an individual blog posting.
When a movie has its release date shifted repeatedly, when its trailers shout about how many Oscar nominations and actual Oscars its cast and crew have, and when its studio eventually abandons it in the betwixt Oscars and between blockbusters wastelands of March you can draw your own conclusions. Jennifer Lawrence could really use a hit about now, after Passengers and mother!, to prove she can top the box office when not Katniss, and it looks like this creepily hyper-sexualised retread of Nikita is not going to be it. So, far from her deigning to return for another X-Men movie in November, as it initially appeared, it now looks a lot more like the X-Men are doing her a solid by putting her in a big movie guaranteed to achieve a review-proof basic level of box office gold.
"You should pick a name that is not my company"
It's hard to get very excited about the commercials for summer blockbusters that used to be such an attraction of the Superbowl. Too much CGI, too many comic-book movies, too many remakes, reboots, and spin-offs. But if like us you are less interested in the football than in seeing if Justin Timberlake does or does not do a Prince tribute in the Mini Apple, there is one bizarre series of ads this year that will be right up your alley. Check out Keanu Reeves advertising website builder Squarespace via the emotional rollercoaster of creating the website for his own motorcycle company, Arch Motorcycle. Click through for the longer version: https://www.maxim.com/entertainment/keanue-reeves-super-bowl-commercial-2018-1
"It's meant to be ironic" "Excuse me, you need to go back to grad school"
Just over a month after a lengthy piece hereabouts on the Roger Moore Bond movies, occasioned by ITV 4's absurdist week of nightly 007 outings, comes depressing news. Netflix has put up the Bond back catalogue and the snowflakes, or Generation Wuss as Bret Easton Ellis dubbed them, are not impressed. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5315501/Millennials-watching-old-James-Bond-not-impressed.html) So of course they are performing their displeasure in public, online, as always. I'm not tackling those comments here, but the flap instantly made me think of this scene in Donnie Darko, and how those of us who grew up watching Bond and didn't turn out moral monsters are now in the role of Drew Barrymore; being hectored not by an uncomprehending older generation, but by youngsters. The 'you need to go back to grad school' jibe is also strangely relevant, as these hurlers on the ditch utilise a Newspeak of academic jargon to bludgeon anyone who disagrees with them. Poor old 007…
Tags: Adam Driver, Carey Mulligan, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dave Von Ronk, Dean Moriarty, Ethan Coen, F Murray Abraham, Frances Ha, Gambit, Garrett Hedlund, Inside Llewyn Davis, Intolerable Cruelty, Joel Coen, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, O Brother, On the Road, Oscar Isaac, Please Mr Kennedy, Raising Arizona, Stark Sands, The Coen Brothers, The Coens, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Gaslight Cafe, The Ladykillers, Where Art Thou?
The Coens return with their worst film since their mainstream disasters Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, and this time round they can't say their vision was distorted by mainstream pressures.
Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) performs a folksong at the Gaslight Cafe in 1961. Walking backstage he's punched in the face, an unwelcome reminder of the Coens' Gambit script. The effectively homeless Llewyn wakes up on the Gorfeins' couch and leaves their flat in accidental possession of their cat. His next planned couch, that of occasional lover Jean (Carey Mulligan), has been promised to earnest GI singer Troy (Stark Sands). Worse still Jean is pregnant and, unsure of the paternity, wants to abort the baby. The needful money comes from Jean's boyfriend Jim (Justin Timberlake) inviting Llewyn to join Al Cody (Adam Driver) as a session player on Jim's novelty song 'Please Mr Kennedy'. After Llewyn alienates everybody he knows he is reduced to sharing a car to Chicago with rude jazzman Roland Turner (John Goodman) and his valet Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund), in a quest to impress Chicagoan music impresario (F Murray Abraham). Can Llewyn finally get his voice heard?
You won't care… Even if you're still conscious after the tedium of the tedious road-trip, you won't care because Llewyn is comprehensively as obnoxious a protagonist as you have ever seen. He's an abrasive, unreasonable, uncaring, and only slightly talented egomaniacal dick. But he's not compelling as a character, and he's not even consistent. In a horrific scene he curses the inexplicably hospitable Gorfeins for wanting him to perform after dinner when he's 'a professional musician'. A few scenes later he performs to entertain the driving Johnny, even though he's still 'a professional musician'. A character this toxic infects everything… The crudity of dialogue is astonishing, and having Llewyn upbraided for his foul mouth doesn't overcome it. The acting also decays: Mulligan shouts or snaps nearly all of her lines, snapping being one gradation below shouting with her, On the Road's Hedlund's appearance seems an unfunny in-joke, because he's playing a meaner Dean Moriarty, and Goodman is on uncommitted auto-pilot.
I only love two Coen films, the most absurd ones: Raising Arizona, O Brother. I've long felt they were over-rated given their taste for crunching violence, blank characters, and a curious air of superiority, but this is a startling nadir. I can't give you any reason to see Inside Llewyn Davis. Its full performances of minor folksongs can be bettered by throwing on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, a truer sense of that scene can be acquired by reading Dave Van Ronk's memoir, a more insightful study of a failing artist featuring Adam Driver is Frances Ha, and a more compelling abrasive guy getting into shouting matches stars in Curb Your Enthusiasm. But I also can't explain Inside Llewyn Davis' existence. Singers need to perform to an audience, and Llewyn can't properly connect with audiences, so his unrelenting monstrousness isn't redeemed personally or artistically. If that's the point, then… we all encounter enough jerks in life without needing films about them…
The Coen Brothers often give the impression they have a smirking contempt for their cipher characters, but this film shades over into contempt for their adoring audience in addition.
Top 5 Muse Soundtracked Film Scenes
Tags: All These Things That I Have Done, Anna Kendrick, Blackout, Britney Spears, Catherine Hardwicke, Cecile de France, David Slade, Eclipse, I Belong to You, Justin Timberlake, Kristen Stewart, Mandy Moore, Matt Bellamy, Muse, Neutron Star Collision, New Moon, Newborn, Pixies, Richard Kelly, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Southland Tales, Supermassive Black Hole, Switchblade Romance, Taylor Lautner, The Killers, The Rock, Top 5 Muse Soundtracked Film Scenes, Twilight, Wave of Mutilation
(5) New Moon
'I Belong to You' is a great song, and Matt Bellamy even re-worked some elements of it for the purposes of this movie, but of all the films to waste it on… I don't think I could ever stomach re-watching New Moon; with its endless moping by Kristen Stewart and its failure by Taylor Lautner to make any impression despite an ocean of screen time because his dialogue is so poorly written; even to enjoy hearing it.
(4) Eclipse
The throwaway nature of this usage of Muse is rather hilarious and is what makes it noteworthy. Director David Slade (former music videos lenser) puts the soaring track 'Neutron Star Collision' on a stereo in the background of a party scene so that Anna Kendrick can excitedly say 'Oh, I love this song', before the camera pans away from her to follow other characters away from the music and towards the actual dramatic purpose of the scene. Delightful.
(3) Southland Tales
Richard Kelly's Southland Tales is a fascinating mess but it does have any number of memorable moments, and many of the best involve music: The Rock running scared to the surf version of the Pixies' 'Wave of Mutilation', Justin Timberlake showily performing The Killers' 'All These Things That I Have Done', and Muse's magisterial 'Blackout' providing a suitably odd soundtrack to a scene where The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Mandy Moore clash at an opulent mansion.
(2) Twilight
The greatest cinematic game of baseball ever played sees the Cullen family take advantage of an approaching thunderstorm to hide the tremendous cracking sound made when a super-strong vampire batter hits a baseball thrown by a super-strong vampire pitcher. Thirteen director Catherine Hardwicke's gritty films may make her appear miserable but soundtracking this with Muse's incredibly funky (and allegedly a parodic attempt at doing a Britney Spears song) 'Supermassive Black Hole' shows a well cultivated sense of fun.
(1) Switchblade Romance
Alexandre Aja's French shocker from 2003 has, for me, made the best use of any movie of Muse's unique sound. Cecile de France, having been scared out of her wits while stealthily hiding from the psychotic trucker who has slain her friend's family and kidnapped her friend, is reborn as an avenging fury when she roars off after him in a yellow sports car to the sound of 'Newborn' by Muse; escalating in as the car-chase proceeds.
Miscellaneous Movie Musings
Tags: Alfred Pennyworth, Bane, Batman, Bronson, Christopher Nolan, Commissioner Gordon, Gotham, House, House MD, In Time, Justin Timberlake, Knightfall, Olivia Wilde, Rachel Dawes, Ras Al'Ghul, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, The Ides of March, The Joker, The Killing Joke, The Scarecrow, Thirteen, Tom Hardy, TV, Two-Face
I'm expanding my tweeted reservations about Bane's role in The Dark Knight Rises. I've heard it argued that Bane is a great villain because he makes Batman physically vulnerable. But Nolan's Batman is already physically vulnerable. We've seen Scarecrow set him on fire, Ras Al'Ghul drop a log on him and Two-Face shoot him. Bane making Batman scared of a beating isn't really that interesting, and it's certainly not as interesting as what the Joker did to him. The Joker was able to wound Batman deeply both emotionally and ethically, and it's not at all clear that you can actually top that combined intensity and subtlety of villainy. Ultimately Bane remains defined by his physique, hence the casting of the post-Bronson bulked-up Tom Hardy; he is a hulking villain in the proper sense of the word. But therein lies the problem, Bane's physique is his defining characteristic to the exclusion of almost all else. His appearance instantly raises the question of whether this film will end with the Dark Knight crippled in a wheelchair after Bane easily breaks his back. Choose nearly any other villain in the Batman universe and it doesn't lead to that sort of immediate mere physicality based second-guessing because they have multiple interesting storylines in the comics. Bane has Knightfall…
I'm becoming increasingly aggravated at the spoiler-filled trailers and TV spots being authorised by major studios for films. The Ides of March's TV spot gives away all but one development in the entire freaking movie, which is meant to be twisty. Knowing beforehand how characters react to events you haven't seen yet only diminishes a movie. But there're worse examples. Olivia Wilde Thirteen dies in the first act of In Time. I knew this before I saw the film because it was flagged by a voiceover and accompanying dramatic images on a TV spot. If you know your story structure and can calculate her star value, you can easily guess that her death marks the end of the first act and is the traumatic plot-point that spurs our hero into violent action against the villains in the second act. And you'd be right. But it'd be nice to find that out in the cinema as a genuine shock rather than be told it on TV by seeing a frantic Thirteen running and collapsing into Timberlake's arms with her body-clock showing all zeros as we're warned 'just don't let your time run out'…
The Dark Knight Dies
Let's second-guess Christopher Nolan shall we? Nolan said The Dark Knight had been chosen as a title for a very specific reason so I instantly assumed something sent Batman over the edge of his code, and predicted that it was Joker killing Alfred. I later refined that to Alfred or Rachel, and was thus not too surprised when it came to pass. I'm convinced that The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer is subtly hinting that Batman is going to die in its final minutes. I think the closing images of rising up past skyscrapers are the hallucinations of a dying Batman imagining an ascent out of crumbling skylines, as Gotham's consumed by evil, to the white light of Heaven. Bane will probably break someone's back but I think it won't be Batman it will be Gordon, and that's why Gordon is in hospital in this trailer…
Filed under: Talking Movies (Reviews) — Fergal Casey @ 12:27 pm
Tags: Alex Pettyfer, Amanda Seyfried, Andrew Niccol, Anne Rice, Benjamin Franklin, Bonnie & Clyde, Charles Darwin, Cillian Murphy, Craig Armstrong, Dayton, Fortius, Gattaca, Henry Hamilton, In Time, John Stuart Mill, Justin Timberlake, Karmacoma, Massive Attack, Matt Bomer, New Greenwich, Olivia Wilde, Phillipe Weis, Sylvia Weis, The Truman Show, Vincent Kartheiser, White Collar, Will Salas
Andrew Niccol, writer of Gattaca and The Truman Show, brings his usual intelligence to a sci-fi actioner which takes Ben Franklin's dictum 'time is money' at face value.
Justin Timberlake stars as Will Salas, a 28 year old living minute to minute – literally. All humans have been genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, and then die one year later unless they can earn more time by working, borrowing or stealing. Salas encounters Henry Hamilton (White Collar's Matt Bomer), who, like an Anne Rice vampire, just wants to die as his mind has had enough, and has come to the Dayton ghetto to 'time out'. He gifts Salas a century of time urging him – "Don't waste my time". Salas though is almost immediately struck by personal tragedy and so travels to New Greenwich, the richest time zone of them all, to try and use his time to bring down the corrupt system. He's quickly made by timekeeper Leon and kidnaps time heiress Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), who becomes an unlikely ally in his crusade.
Timberlake sells the hurried nature of ghetto dwellers well with jumpy physicality, and also conveys a burning sense of righteousness, but, while Seyfried is gifted at comedy, here her huge eyes and pouting lips prove remarkably inexpressive and she's out-acted by Olivia Wilde – who only has three scenes. Wilde's stunt-casting concretises the high-concept by being Timberlake's mother, but the horror on her face when a bus-fare suddenly rises lethally beyond her means is visceral: "But it's a 2 hour walk. I only have an hour and a half left", "So run…" Cillian Murphy is superb as Leon. He can't be bribed, and to Salas' amazement jumps, runs, shoots, and lets his time run low just like the ghetto inhabitant he used to be, making him formidably implacable. Leon is a great villain as he understands the system is unjust but swore to uphold it. Supporting turns are less nuanced but still effective. Alex Pettyfer is career-definingly loathsome as ghetto criminal Fortius, a sadistic but cowardly psychopath, and Vincent Kartheiser essays another weasel as time magnate Phillipe Weis.
Niccol fleshes out his high concept with numerous delightfully re-imagined phrases, "Do you come from Time?", but like the best sci-fi this scarifying future is really dissecting our present. A critique of Darwinian capitalism it pits Weis' "For a few to be immortal, many must die" against Salas' "No one should be immortal if even one person has to die". Salas' motto is essentially an allegorised version of JS Mill's moral axiom "Every person alive ought to have a subsistence before anyone has more" and is obviously morally right. Niccol though can't mesh sci-fi brains with action brawn never mind square his allegorical circle. Salas and Sylvia become a latter day Bonnie and Clyde car-jacking the time-rich and staging heists on time-banks to the strains of Craig Armstrong's 'Karmacoma' sampling score before then re-distributing time throughout the Dayton ghetto. We're explicitly told robbing time-banks cannot break the system, yet that's all Niccol proffers as ultimate solution to his problem. That and a credit crunch referencing possibility of time-market contagion…
In Time buckles in the third act, feels like it's missing a detailed back-story between Leon and Will's father, and features remarkably under-populated cities and a tendency to remove obstacles too easily, especially travelling across time zone borders. And yet it's so near greatness that you want to like it. Well worth your time.


text:
The Audition, or My Prologue, or Meet Frank.
I wrote this in July of '09. I am amused by my own belly button gazing and the absolutely panicky tone. I'm all over the place. I'm long-winded. I'm trying too hard. Right now, I'm howling rereading it. Laughter? Pain? I want to edit, edit, edit. (I was so into the incomplete sentence a year ago.) I won't. I'm going to let it stand. It is my prologue.
My New Side, born 18 months ago after a harrowing car accident, is amused by my lack of alacrity in opening it. "What's the worst thing it could say? You didn't make it? You were there. You did it. Whether or not you are a fit with that group is irrelevant. Take this opportunity to learn how to get a rejection. Heck, print it up and frame it. Your first official improvisation rejection. And," she says with a twinkle, "you never know. You just may actually have to deal with a congratulations!" My Chatter Clowns, firmly planted in my left brain from birth it seems, are already pecking me: how self-unctuous is it to publish your own blog? Did you just use the word "unctuous." Stop stalling and start writing! Is anybody there? Does anybody care? (My Chatter Clowns like to quote verses from classic Broadway musicals.)
Since my car accident in November of 2007, I've attempted to harness the clowns that slyly get me to trail my toe through my own self-analyzing wading pool. Part of the reason for studying improv is to get out of my head and focus on the here and now, to give the clowns a break, and try to trust that other half of my brain, the Primal Artist and shut out the self criticizing, envious, insecure ego and to stop analyzing and turning every look, every nuance, every piece of non-verbal communication for what it really means. (A handy skill for an English teacher.) I can find symbolism and meaning and woe in a nutrition label….not healthy though. All interactions become meta conversations.
Improvisation is supposed to yank you out of your own bs, focusing you on your partner, your environment. In a perfect world, you step aside and let the divine creative voice take over, hopefully distracting your left brain enough with object work and wondering if the class is going to go out for coffee after playing its zillionth round of Freeze Tag.
When it works, it is glorious, liquid, beyond you, explosive. When it doesn't work it's like my audition this morning.
I love auditioning. I am pretty good at it. Frankly, I often feel I disappoint my directors because I tend to take several rehearsals to get back to the level of insight, ability, and energy that seems to come so effortlessly in auditions…because I am not in my head in auditions.
I like the psychology of auditioning. It plays to my strengths: working under pressure, not showing nerves, reading an audience, reading a script, quick analysis, while under pressure to perform being able to remember basic tenets of success.
What is impossible to prepare for, of course, is other people. For a life-long planner like me, that's tricky. In an audition where 75% is improvisation, necessarily focusing on others, reacting, responding, breathing in concert with an actor you met by the vending machine, creating a character based solely on the fact that you've got serious pit stains from flop sweat making you pull your arms in tightly around you, inspiring a whole pinched approach to life…well, for a life-long planner like me it's both terrifying and liberating.
It is, in some cases like today, a place for me to fail publicly and completely, both victim and master of disposable art.
Maybe being in the official SC uniform — dark pants, solid button-down, gave me a false sense of security, an arrogance. How surprised was I to see my 9 fellow auditioners in jeans and tees. Except for one guy: jeans and a sweater. It's July. It's 85 degrees out. Get your Bill Cosby sweater-wearing behind to Target.
There's something about being in the lobby of Second City that makes me look for cosmic signs, as though Belushi and Radner were trying to break through the firmament and give me semi-sarcastic thumbs up. Usually before class if one of the security guards whose uniform fits him like a stripper (velcro tabs in the back?) gives me his usual "Hey there, Mama" greeting, I know I'm in for a rollicking class. If the second soap dispenser from the left in the doors-always-open ladies' room is broken, well, it's not that class is bad, I just feel so dirty.
Today some interesting signs — I saw dear Arthur, whom I haven't laid eyes on in months (although I follow his antics religiously on Facebook. Arthur has the most disgusting and hysterical experiences on Chicago Public Transportation). We chit-chatted. Arthur said I was funny. I think that's like saying "Hamlet" backstage at a theater, cuz after that, all hell broke loose.
Was that Peyton Daley? That's an awesome sign. It should mean something besides the fact that she probably teaches a class on Saturday morning.
Do we get some sort of credit for being awake, willing, and not hung over on a Saturday morning?
At 9:59, Intern comes out with the giant black check-in table and says they are running late. Thanks for our patience. All the folks hanging around the lobby who are just there to be loud and funny before class leave. We're left with ten of us. In an effort to be super-tricky, I turn around to see who I will be auditioning with…who am I there to make look good? Who are these 9 other people there to make me look good (gotta love those odds!) And, crap. They're all sitting together. I go over to introduce myself to my new besties. Crap. They all know each other from class, other shows, yoga, previous lives…I lost count after awhile. I am concerned because they are all so happy to be auditioning with each other and look at me like I'm from Peter Horton from Children of the Corn — not because I'm an interloper, but because they know there's a real possibility I will go on to star in The Geena Davis Show and that is quite unforgiveable.
The director comes out and herds us all into a classroom. Apparently Room 402 is where all the action is because every audition I've had at Second City (two now!) has been there, and there is a hand written note telling some other class to go elsewhere. We're squatters already.
Starts out typical — introduce yourself to the panel of writers and director. Say your favorite snack food. Although I'm pretty sure this is just a way to see if we're poised and give the panel a way to remember us, my fellow auditioners start fretting over their snack choices. Do I really believe that you eat peanut butter straight out of the jar after putting both chocolate chips and potato chips on there? No. No I do not. Do I need to hear your dissertation on why mixing together buttered popcorn and Goobers and/or Raisinets makes your movie going experience that much more enjoyable? Then it's my turn. "Jackie Pick. Doritos" After five dissertations on savory, sweet, and combo snacks ("I like Bubble Gum Ice Cream at Baskin Robbins." No, you don't. No one over the age of 6 can eat that and not want to immediately beat themselves silly with Tiger Beat), the writers grin, perhaps smirk, at my brevity. They are shocked and look up from whatever they're scribbling, not sure if I'm just taking a dramatic pause. I'm not. If you're going to cast us all based on this and this alone, at least you know I'm not going to make your show run long with my crazy editorializing about the merits of Sour Patch Kids mixed with Jicama chips.
I'm feel trapped in some sort of bizarre competition here. The 4 folks after me seem to be straining for the Right Snack. One gal is actually a little pissed that someone "took hers." Yeah, you're the only one in the world who eats Peanut M&Ms. Way to blaze trails.
I wait for the first instruction and see that half of the actors are waving — waving — at the writers.
The writers wave back. It is at this point I feel that I've lost any edge I had being the only one in the "Second City Uniform" of dark pants and a solid button down shirt.
We move on to the nebulous "I'm going to call your name. Start a scene and then 1 or 2 people from the back row come in and support them." I don't know if that's the actual name. Probably not. There's a shorthand to naming improv games. Explaining the games often takes longer than playing them ( "Bunny Bunny" for example.) The part of this that resonates with me, because Lord knows I'm always trying to figure things out, is that the person whose name is called INITIATES the scene. Then some brave souls, who may or may not jump out at the same time, joins in.
My interpretation was way off, and it was a free for all. Tom is called? Tom may or may not initiate the scene, depending on whether Lola jumps in to "help" and opens her mouth first. Whoever speaks first, apparently, gets the points. At least in the mind of the actors.
I of course was determined not only to use my ever-honed improv skills (come in with a character! how do you feel about the other character?! And, if feeling snazzy, play the opposite of what's expected.) but also to follow the rules. You call my name, I'm going to initiate. No one, of course told my scene partner this.
I went out and took a second to notice my body position. I opened my mouth, rather curious as to what would come out. I realized I was about to start a Segue tour of Gitmo. Topical! Funny! Damn it all if Vanessa jumped out from the back line, God bless her, and started a scene that was not the one in my head. It took me a second to recover and say something brilliant (I think I came up with the astounding, "Yes!"). I spend the rest of that 30 seconds pissed that people weren't playing by the rules and more pissed that I was absolutely being dragged behind some sort of improv car and desperately simultaneously dragging my feet to slow down the vehicle because of risk of bodily harm and not wanting to slow the car down because the scene was well underway and I needed to go along for the ride.
That, by the way, that mangled, over-reached for analogy? That was the level of my audition today. Awfully precocious.
I of course jumped in to support other people's scenes, my instructors' guidance at the forefront: Be there for your partner. Make your partner look good. All scenes are about relationships.
I went out with Bill, who seemed to be taking a moment to ground himself in his environment. I dig that. I waited and saw him raise his arms quietly, as though he were about to give a sermon of some sort. Then he looked at me, bobbled his arms, and screamed, "And that's how you juggle hamsters."
The writers laughed.
I paid close attention to my gut reaction. Are you shitting me with this? Yeah, I can go with disbelief…and now who am I in relation to rodent juggling dude? His manager. Good. My hand is already on my hip. Use that.
That thought process, mercifully, takes less than a second. Juggle Man is still screaming at me.
I hold my hand up, "Phil, I…"
Phil the Juggling apparently works solo. "Pick up your hamsters over there and start juggling." I did.
"Phil, I…"
"And the skunk! Don't forget the skunk!"
"I — "
I was now down to single syllables and juggling my improv roadkill.
Finally, Phil/Bill took a breath and I saw my chance to do my thing.
And I asked a question. I could see Ghosts of Belushi and Radner and Marion Talbot (the resident ghost of my college dorm) cringe, wince, and go to squat over by Phil/Bill to catch any errant hamsters that got away.
"And…scene!" called the director.
Just. Awesome.
Next challenge? Be called out with two other people, be given a location, and … scene! I was in a scene with two of the more aggressively perky young women. Aggressive doesn't bother me. Perky bothers me.
"You are…on a front porch…go"
I immediately struck a pose like I was leaning back against a railing, looking out at the view. My two partners looked at me, shrugged, and proceeded to knock on an improv door. Instead of looking out at a view, I was now staring at improv aluminum siding. And I now had to justify that. To be sure, I looked like a jerk.
The other two gals got into an argument about who was going to ring the bell and who was going to light the bag of poo. I stood there and tried to turn my "staring off into the distance after a satisfying meal of steak and maybe a nice glass of port" into "staring into the window of a house we are about to vandalize."
Starblossom and I'm-Wearing-A-Knit-Scarf-in-July-Because-I-Look-Artistic stopped arguing. Starblossom said to me, "Well, what do you think we should do?"
I said, in an attempt to be slow, laconic, sincere, and different from the hyperactive poo flamers they were establishing, "Well, whatever you decide is fine. I know that with all this planning, nothing could possibly go wrong."
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"Nope. I mean every word of that. This is a really great idea," I said with the earnestness and sincerity of a Sesame Street muppet (if you ever want to learn how to be devoid of sarcasm, watch that show.)
"I think you are being sarcastic. I'm in National Honors Society. I know these things."
There were two things I could do here. I could get into an argument, which is easy and not particularly interesting for very long, or I could do something else.
Like panic and say nothing. Which is exactly what I did. I shrugged and let the two of them argue for a while and finally said, exasperated, "I'm going to ring the doorbell."
And I did. And while I screamed and pretended to run, they just stood there. Let's play "Who Looks Like a Jerk?"
Finally, the poor pained director stopped our scene. The writers had the decency not to make eye contact with me. I love pity. It at least is better than being ignored entirely.
Finally, the scenes were handed out. We were assigned parts to read over and given about 2-3 minutes to go over them with our partners. I was paired with Starblossom. By the grace of God, my character had some damned good lines. Also working in my favor was that this was a stereotypical scene of stereotypical Jewish mothers at what appeared to be a rather stereotypical Bar Mitzvah. Talk about a wheelhouse.
My only screw up was one part where my character says something about the coffee she's drinking. I somehow managed to drink my improv coffee after saying the line, but maybe the panel thought I was going for a prognosticating angle. Or they thought I was stupid. Either way, I got a few laughs at what was a fairly bland script.
In a moment of weakness, panic, and perhaps mild embarrassment, I hear the bouncing chatter in the back of my head, little evil Chatter Clowns in little evil hooped pants giggling merrily. The clowns all have names. Babies Were Up All Night; Hubs Is Pokey and Made Me Late (he's tied at the hip to That Drives Me Nuts); Everyone Thinks I Should Be Better At This Than I Am; I've Been in a Slump in Class for Four Weeks; I'm Feeling Bloated and Unfunny; and Frank. I hate Frank. Frank is the smallest Chatter Clown, not unlike Willie Olsen, who knows my weak spot. Frank is Ever-present Failure.
Frank has been on vacation for the last 18 months and I'd sincerely hoped he'd retired.
I thought about my teachers. Kim, Matt, Brian, Kevin, and that dude who looked like Treat Williams who covered on class who I adore to this day for his Zen Approach. Mark? Mike? What would they tell me at this point, the point of no return, the point where it's just not going anywhere good but you have about half a mile to go before you break the tape and someone hugs you and hands you some Gatorade and tells you all about how they followed you to three separate check-in points.
Have fun. I'd forgotten to have fun. I was having less and less fun as the audition went on. That is my fault and my fault alone, but easily resolved. I was ready for what would probably be the last part of the audition.
Other actors read their scenes and the director had us line up one more time in front of the panel. I was itching to do something…hopefully a singing game. I love those. I smile and feel confidence warmly tingle my toes.
"All right, we cast pretty quickly so if you're in, you'll get a call in the next day or two. Thank you all very much!"
Fun would be had another time.
I thanked the panel as I gathered my things. Director started talking with Starblossom and her scarf(!) and about how many times they've bumped into each other on the improv scene here in Chicago.
I figure at worst, my audition success rate is 50%, which is pretty darned good.
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text:
Konstanty Kalinowski (ur. 26 marca 1935 w Wilnie, zm. 27 grudnia 2002 w Poznaniu) – historyk sztuki, profesor UAM, doradca prezydenta RP Aleksandra Kwaśniewskiego do spraw rewindykacji utraconych dzieł sztuki. W latach 1990–2000 dyrektor Muzeum Narodowego w Poznaniu

Życiorys
Urodzony w Wilnie, studia z historii sztuki odbył w latach 1953–1957 na Wydziale Filozoficzno-Historycznym Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, równocześnie uzyskując dyplom w klasie gry na fortepianie Państwowej Szkoły Muzycznej w Poznaniu.

W latach 1957–1961 był asystentem w Dziale Malarstwa Obcego w Muzeum Narodowym w Poznaniu, od 1961 pracownikiem naukowym tamtejszego Uniwersytetu. W latach 1966–1967 ukończył studia uzupełniające w Instytucie Historii Sztuki Uniwersytetu Wiedeńskiego. Habilitował się w 1971, od 1973 był dyrektorem Instytutu Historii Sztuki UAM, a od 1981 profesorem nadzwyczajnym.

Był przewodniczącym Polskiego Komitetu Narodowego Międzynarodowej Rady Muzeów (ICOM) w latach 1999–2002. Do 2000 był dyrektorem Muzeum Narodowego w Poznaniu, odwołany 1 września 2000 roku w dość kontrowersyjnych okolicznościach.

Od 2001 kierował Zakładem Historii Sztuki Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, gdzie opracował m.in. nowy program studiów oraz organizował Studium Ochrony i Zarządzania Dziedzictwem Kulturowym. Poza tym był członkiem rady naukowej Muzeum Marynarki Wojennej w Gdyni oraz Muzeum Historycznego Miasta Gdańska. Pracował również jako jedyny Polak w Radzie Naukowej Germanisches Nationalmuseum w Norymberdze. Znany był z deklarowania konieczności powrotu dzieł sztuki do miejsc ich powstania.

Pochowany został na Cmentarzu Junikowskim w Poznaniu 4 stycznia 2003.

Ważniejsze prace
Autor licznych prac z dziedziny historii sztuki XVII i XVIII wieku, m.in.:
 książki:
 Lubiąż (1970),
 Gloryfikacja panującego i dynastii w sztuce Śląska w XVII i XVIII wieku (1973),
 Architektura barokowa na Śląsku w 2 połowie XVII wieku (1974),
 Architektura doby baroku na Śląsku (1977),
 Rzeźba barokowa na Śląsku (1986),
 redaktor naukowy czasopisma "Artium Quaestiones"
 współautor publikacji:
 Barockskulptur in Mittel- und Osteuropa (1981),
 Studien zur europäischen Barock- und Rokokoskulptur (1985),
 Studien zur Werkstattpraxis der Barockskulptur im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert (1992),
 Studien zur barocken Gartenskulptur (1999)

Ciekawostki
 Sala nr 116 w Zakładzie Historii Sztuki na Wydziale Filologiczno-Historycznym Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego przy ul. Bielańskiej 5 w Gdańsku nosi jego imię.
 W 1999 nie zgodził się na prezentację w foyer Muzeum Narodowego instalacji I dom, i muzeum autorstwa Zofii Kulik, na którą składała się między innymi grupa komputerowo przetworzonych fotografii pt. Skarby z Ermitażu (1997–1999) – co spowodowało protesty artystki i kuratora wystawy.

Bibliografia

 Notka na Gazeta.pl Trójmiasto
 Współcześni uczeni polscy. Słownik biograficzny, tom II: H–Ł (redaktor naukowy Janusz Kapuścik), Warszawa 1999, s. 248 (z fotografią)

Absolwenci Wydziału Historycznego Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Dyrektorzy Muzeum Narodowego w Poznaniu
Ludzie urodzeni w Wilnie
Pochowani na Cmentarzu na Junikowie
Polscy historycy sztuki
Wykładowcy Wydziału Historycznego Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego
Wykładowcy Wydziału Historycznego Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Urodzeni w 1935
Zmarli w 2002


Even though I'm a hunter/jumper person, I've always had a soft spot for the Arabian. The very first horse show I attended was an Arabian competition, and I still remember that experience vividly. I was 5 years old, and my friend and I spent lots of time in the stables afterward just petting the horses. One exhibitor, noticing our passion for horses, gave each of us a ribbon out of the collection she had won. I had that pink ribbon in my bedroom for many years, even after I started winning ribbons of my own.
So, it was especially rewarding to spend time photographing Arabians this past year. For this week's A-Z Archive letter "S," I couldn't help but choose a photograph of Spike, an Arabian stallion I photographed several times last summer. He's a past national champion (hence the red flowers he's sporting) and one of the most beautiful horses I've ever met.
Such a beautiful horse! Fun to remember moments from childhood and realize the influence and inspiration they provided.


Mom Caught Her Parrots Having THIS Hilarious Conversation. What They Were Saying? ROFL!
Lavender the violet colored parrot and his best friend, Clover the green colored parrot love to have conversation whenever they are alone in the house. So one day, dad decided to secretly capture them talking to each other. But what he ended up capturing left him in shock!
According to the video description, Lavender is actually very rich in vocabulary. But in front of the camera, he is being little shy. Instead, Clover is taking this chance to shine in front of the camera. Owner also adds that Clover especially likes to say "Dottie no!". Apparently, Dottie is their dog who used to bark when Clover and Lavender were new. They had to say "Dottie no!" whenever he did so, and now Clover has learned to say it too.
Watch this hilarious and adorable conversation in the video below. Did this make you smile? Let us know in the comments!


text:
Q: Can such an "orthogonal" matrix exist? I know that the definition of an orthogonal matrix is that $A \in \mathbb R^{n \times n}$ is orthogonal if $AA^T = A^T A=I$, no problem with that whatsoever.
My question is this - Why only square matrices?
Is it possible that there is a matrix $A \in \mathbb R^{n \times k}$ such that $AA^T =I_n$ and $A^TA= I_k$?
if so - could you find an example? and if not - why not?
This is not for homework, this is merely my curiosity

A: Got it. if $AA^T=I_n$ then $A$ has rank $n$ at least, and if $A^TA=I_k$ then $A^T$ has rank $k$ at least. Since $rank(A)=rank(A^T)$ that means $A$ has rank at least $k$ and at least $n$, so they must be equal.

A: You've already answered your question correctly with "no". However, the concept of orthogonal matrices can be somewhat generalized to non-square matrices. An $n \times k$ matrix $A$ is called semi-orthogonal if $A^TA$ or $AA^T$ is the identity matrix.
Another characterization of this property is that $A$ has no singular values other than $0$ or $1$.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


ValPromise is an Ethereum based distributed value promise protocol for creation of the contracts for managing weather related risks. Project is developed by founding team of WeatherPal, Chinese largest weather risk management platform with 200,000+ users and monthly risk protection amount exceeding CNY 20 million or around USD 3 million.
Official information about the project is available on the webpage and in the whitepaper. Webpage has English, Turkish, Chinese and Japanese. Whitepaper is available in English and Chinese only.
We note that whitepaper is rather outdated, as roadmap and team composition does not agree with those on the website. Also, it seems that English whitepaper was not translated by professionals, as there are logical and syntax mistakes.
All in all, ValPromise provides comprehensive information about the project. Both business and technical aspects are covered.
Conclusion: Project's whitepaper is outdated, however all information needed for informed decision making is available.
In a nutshell, ValPromise is a transition of an existing platform, Weather Pal, to the blockchain with simultaneous emission of platform's native token VPP.
Weather Pal is a Chinese platform where users can initiate contracts to hedge against undesirable weather conditions. On this platform users create a contract that determines the sum, contract's logic, execution criteria and time span. Contract price is determined by the system. Since launch in 2016, team declares 200,000 contracts sold with more than 100,000 users served. Main users of the platform are tourism, travel and agriculture companies, whose businesses have high exposure to weather risks.
At the moment, team wants to transition Weather Pal infrastructure to Ethereum blockchain to benefit from better data management and increased scalability. Though it is not specified, project seems to target China as the only market for operations.
It is hard to verify outer data, needed to estimate execution conditions.
ValPromise is creating a platform where any individual or organization can create a smart-contract to hedge against weather risks. It is unclear if users will have to create smart contract templates by themselves or their will be any assistance service. Creators will get a portion of a transaction fee charges form smart contract user by ValPromise. This percent is not specified yet. Also, creators will pay a fee to issue a contract template. Such decentralized creation mechanism will create conditions where any particular need of customers can be met be specific contract increasing platform's overall service level.
After the contract is created it needs to be marketed. For this purpose WalPromise will have a specific type of users, called Delegators. Their role is to promote smart contracts among potential users increase size of the network and platform liquidity. To participate on the platform delegators will pay a deposit and will get fees for each new trader brought to the platform.
Market makers role is to quote contracts on the price basis. For this they will get a reward.
Lastly, traders are individuals or entities who use ValPromise smart contracts to meet their hedging needs.
Users will have access to the platform form various Dapps. One was already by ValPromice team and is available for testing here. Project will allow other developers to create apps on top of ValPromise infrastructure to increase usability and user experience.
Hedging contract pricing will be done on the platform with the help of the specific model. Weather data will also be stores on the blockchain and will be acquired from IOT devices and weather offices to guarantee transparency in contract execution.
The platform only financial asset will be a VPP ERC20 token. All fees and prices will be denominated in VPP.
Proposed ecosystem has a potential to solve all aforementioned problems, however it is not as good as it may seem.
First of all, though now contracts will be priced be the platform and not by third-parties, it is still a single point of failure. There only difference is that pricing model is developed and in run on ValPromise.
Secondly, amount of fees that will be paid by users and the portion if these fees redistributed to delegators, market makers and smart contract creators are not defined. This is crucial to estimate project's economics and incentive for contributors, therefore without this information no judgment about project's potential can be made.
Thirdly, it is unclear if smart contract templates will go through audit proses. Without security check, the whole model is undermined as creators may exploit purposely implemented bugs to still users' money. If this will be the case, platform will lose all clients in a matter of weeks.
Conclusion: Despite project proposes improvements that has all chances to significantly contribute weather risk hedging market, it lack some important features that will define project's success. Also, it is not defined how easy it will be to create a contract. If no assistance is provided, users will have to hire professional Solidity developers who are scares and cost a lot. It this will be the case, total costs of using a platform will be high and may decrease the demand in the beginning, when contracts are developed. Another issue is project's adoption rate. Financial institutions are reluctant to innovations, therefore project will have to spend a lot on marketing to bootstrap adoption. Until these issues are clarified, project's success is questionable.
When the contract is initiated, user, who initiated is verified. As contracts will require VPP stake equal to the contract price plus execution costs, users accounts will be checked for the presence of the required sum. After that, contract goes through two verification stages. First includes self-checking algorithm two finalize payment verification. This algorithm is not covered in the whitepaper and remains unclear.
Second stage is verification by nodes, operating in the system. This will be an iteration process, with N nodes selected at each iteration until 95% of them agree. After that nodes will be awarded with VPP. Also, node that were right get increased voting power, while nodes, that for two successive rounds where inconsistent with 70% of all nodes, get their voting power decreased. Voting mechanism is not described in the whitepaper, however it seems that it will be a traditional Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism.
Project will use Ethereum blockchain. It was chosen because company considered it the easiest to transition its existing platform to.
On the core level contracts will be initiated and executed with accordance to the scheme described above. Also, on this level the weather data needed to decide on contracts' results will be stored.
Contract service level is where users perform their functions and get rewards.
The application layer is the entry to the network.
Conclusion: Technical side of the project looks well thought-of and clear, however further clarification of consensus mechanism. Also, Ethereum blockchain at the moment quite low tps that is not suitable for high volume networks dealing with IOT. This problem is not covered in the whitepaper. Also, technical description of how contracts are created is superficial.
Project has the following roadmap on the website. We note that the roadmap provided in the whitepaper is outdated.
Project also has a three stage development plan.
On the first stage, Weather Pal (company developing ValPromise) will create a Weather Index Insurance contracts and release them on ValPromise platform.
On the second stage, users will be provided SDK and API to build their own contracts. Also, at this stage ValPromise services will be promoted among industries other than tourism and agriculture.
Third stage mainly focuses on promoting ValPromise among new potential users, like ForEx or crude oil industry.
Conclusion: By now, team managed to stick to the deadlines. Since project is actively working on development chances are high that they will deliver updates on time. However, we note that roadmap is short-term. Also, roadmap does not cover BD aspects.
Doctor of Computer Science; Chaired and participated in the National Natural Science Foundation, a major national science and technology project, and a joint research and development project of Fortune 500 companies.
founding partner of PreAngel Fund, executive director of China Youth Angel Association, executive committee / executive director of Haitian Association and a well-known blockchain project investor; managed more than 6 funds valued over 300 million yuan and has invested nearly 300 technology start-ups.
Investor of Didi Chuxing Technology Co; Was in charge of development and organization of Alibaba B2B Beijing area and Alipay Merchant Division.
Co-founder of Tencent, was the former Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent, CEO of Tencent e-commerce holding company and founder of Weiguang Venture and Investment.
Former employee at Qihu 360 and APUS Group.
We note that information in whitepaper does not correspond with that on the website. Since website proved to be more up to date, only team member and advisors, mentioned on the website, were discussed in this section. Also, in advisors and investors section, team does not clarify who is who.
Team also has a wide range of partners, all of which are Chinese.
Conclusion: Team provides contradicting information about team composition. If website information is correct, we note that initial team lacks blockchain experience. Nevertheless, team has strong advisory board that can significantly contribute to the project.
Hedging industry was bootstrapped by appearance of derivatives. In 2017 option and futures derivative turnover was $2,764,145,000,000,000 or $2.7 quadrillion dollars. Investopedia is more conservative in its estimates of the derivatives market and provides a figure of $1.2 quadrillion. Nevertheless, this is an outstanding sum. Clearly, ther is a huge demand for hedging from various entities all over the world.
There are also specific instruments for hedging against weather. Among the most popular are HDD and CDD. HDD refers to Heating Degree Days and is a measure qualifying the demand for energy needed to heat the building. Weather derivatives, like weather swaps or weather futures, are priced with accordance to HDD.
Since weather can have a significant impact on some businesses, like agriculture, tourism, energy production or energy-intensive businesses, this hedging instruments are crucial to secure companies' profits.
Conclusion: Financial market cases prove that weather derivatives instruments are really applicable in the real life. In addition, there is no other company that provides a blockchain solution for weather derivatives. This creates a prosperous environment for ValPromise. However, since project targets only China, that may be an unnecessary limitation bounding potential profits.
We note that only 15% of total token supply (5 billion) will go to the public. 750 million VPP will be distributed. Supposedly, release to suitable group refers to development costs. Random incentive is also questionable as 10% will be sent to people who are not involved or affiliated with the project. Taking into account that there is no lock-up mechanism, the majority of them will immediately sell tokens dragging the price down.
No information on bounty program or airdrop is available.
Conclusion: Since only 15% of the tokens will go public, adaption may be limited since potential users will have to buy VPP on the secondary market from either delegators and other platform members or from those who received tokens randomly. We also note that since only 15% are distributed, there can be a lack of liquidity. In addition, there is no information on use of proceeds.
VPP will be the only means of payment on the ValPlatfrom, therefore everybody will have to buy it to get access to weather hedging tools. Also, team mentions that all participants will receive dividends generated by operations. What fraction of revenue will be distributed and how it will be done is not explained.
Users will have to stack VPP to initiate the contract or to buy it. Potentially, this will decrease velocity and increase VPP price respectively. Since weather contract hedging is not itself subject to high transaction volume, users to not have an incentive to hold VPP between contracts, therefore they may sell it right afterwards, treating as resource instead of financial asset. This will have a pressure on price.
The team has provided legal opinion from Tzedek Law LLC stating that VPP is not a security.
Conclusion: Despite token economics is promising, incentives to hold token are not clear.
Project has an active Twitter, Facebook, Twitter and WeChat. Project has 225 followers on twitter, 5,000+ participants in Telegram chat and 312 followers in Facebook group.
According to Simmilarweb, 70% of traffic comes from direct and 30% from search.
Conclusion: Since information about Chinese part of the internet is unavailable on BE1 platform, marketing efficiency can hardly be judged, since China is the primary market. However, we note that project has poor representation in social media.


text:
Kyle Hall
The Way Fellowship Church, Arizona
Ministry Fund ID:
009009-Hall,Kyle
Serving As: Evangelism Catalyst
Location: Peoria Arizona
Church: The Way Fellowship Church
Born: January 27
Kyle holds a B.A. in history from Arizona State University (2007) and a Master of Theological Studies from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary (2011). Kyle and Mallery have been married since 2010 and have one daughter, Natalia, and three sons, Ty, Nathan and Eli.
The Way Fellowship Church was planted in 2007 and is located in Peoria, Ariz. Kyle serves The Way Fellowship Church as a pastor/elder and evangelism catalyst. His duties include the evangelism and disicpleship ministries of the church.
Kyle previously served as a campus missionary with Christian Challenge from 2007–2015. He worked on the campuses of Arizona State University West, Glendale Community College and Estrella Mountain Community College.
Support the Local Ministry of
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For our church as we attempt to engage and reach our community with the gospel truth. For our family as we continue to raise support.
Commit to long-term support. Pray for us.
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Fund ID: 009009-Hall,Kyle


Ravnica Allegiance gave us a bunch of interesting cards for constructed and today we'll have a look at good old Golgari and try the new toys out.
Not much introduction needed. The card is just a dream of any Midrange deck. A perfect mana sink that gives you an uncounterable card draw against Controls. Life gain against Aggro and a huge body + the first two against Midrange.
The new dork seems quite promising, this + 《Llanowar Elves》 makes turn 3 《Vivien Reid》, 《Doom Whisperer》 possible, unlike the most mana creatures it is not that useless in a mid-game, and once it Adapts you still have some ways to utilize as much mana as possible.
The new 《Squadron Hawk》 is a great mana consumer, provides a considerable amount of beef on the board and is another good 2-drop option.
There are already dozens of Sultai decklists (and by the time the article s published there will probably will be dozens more), but all of them can be divided into 2 groups.
《Wildgrowth Walker》 based builds (such as presented on SCG events) are good against Aggro decks, but, despite I've played the 《Wildgrowth Walker》 almost the entire previous season, I don't like it now.
Against mirror or other Midrange it may seem 《Wildgrowth Walker》 could get out of Control quickly unless it gets the removal and your opponent can't have the removal for all your creatures. But even if opponent doesn't have much in his list, on what you think he'll waste it, the Explore team?
Against Izzet Drakes, 《Wildgrowth Walker》 is OK, but don't be fooled once it gets 3/5, to tip the scales you'll have to do a couple more Explores, they just won't bother dealing with 3/5 creature.
Unlike Jeskai, Esper Control doesn't care about your creature stats. 《Nexus of Fate》 decks and 《Wilderness Reclamation》 decks neither.
Unanswered 《Tocatli Honor Guard》 makes this build helpless.
No 《Wildgrowth Walker》 builds are more flexible and fitting the unknown meta.
Suffers a lot more from White Weenie and Mono Red builds.
An extra set of mana creatures could get you ahead in the Planeswalker or 《Hydroid Krasis》 race in the mirror.
Although 《Growth-Chamber Guardian》 is still far from my dream 2nd drop, most of the time I'm happy to see it not only on turn 2.
I tweak it almost every day and it's far from the final version, so we'll just take a look at the cards, to decide which toppings in what amount to add will be easier for you given the meta and personal preferences.
《Llanowar Elves》 are the classics, but you may consider siding it out versus 《Goblin Chainwhirler》 on the draw.
《Incubation Druid》 got its introduction earlier, it's unlikely I'll side it out in any case.
《Growth-Chamber Guardian》 : It is OK so far, the deck needs Turn 2 action. I'm trying to figure out is it worth siding out 2 of them sometimes (Like the Fog decks or Mirror), if you connect it Turn 2, usually you have better options than just go for another one and late game is not about the 4/4 creatures, once you've pulled the last one out you can even try to lure the removal with the Adapt ability.
《Jadelight Ranger》 : Double Explore is twice as good and the lack of 3 drops make the 《Ranger》 a fine add, if you get land flooded the Adapt guys and 《Hydroid Krasis》 will be happy to help.
《Thrashing Brontodon》 : Quite a universal card, a 3/4 body lets it survive all burn spells except 《Lava Coil》. 《Experimental Frenzy》, 《Search for Azcanta》, 《Wilderness Reclamation》 and 《The Flame of Keld》 are still out there. Goes out in mirror and some Midrange matches.
《Hostage Taker》 : A bane of 《Hydroid Krasis》, it takes the place of 《Ravenous Chupacabra》. Usually a desirable topdeck in the late game. Unlike 《Ravenous Chupacabra》 you can stop 《Rekindling Phoenix》 with it for a turn and if are lucky even get some profit. I'm not sure 3 is the right number, but I'm very happy with them so far. Goes out versus creatureless decks.
《Hydroid Krasis》 : Despite the card is great and you always want to play at least 1 per game, I like the 3 copies, with 《Vivien Reid》 finding 1 is not that much of a problem and once you resolve 1 you should find the tools to seal the game or survive until another.
《Cast Down》 : I like 3 copies, because against Aggro decks you'd better have an answer at ready (And due to pros and cons I don't want to play the 《Wildgrowth Walker》 build), for me it's like a general strategy, if you are not sure the Control decks will prevail in the meta, configure your main versus Aggro/Midrange. Versus Control matches you still have Adapt and Explore, it'll keep them busy for some time.
《Vraska's Contempt》 : A universal removal spell will always find a place in the main deck. Some people keep it against 《Teferi, Hero of Dominaria》 Control decks and I disagree with it. You have tons of ways to deal with him, keeping a very situational card is not necessary.
《Find // Finality》 : Without lots of Explore the 《Find》 part slightly loses value, but not enough to abandon the card, it still has a great versatility in the unknown metagame. Feel free to side it out versus Control.
《Vraska, Golgari Queen》 : I've put it after quite a bunch of matches against Nexus decks in a row, she is a perfect example of "OK" card, most of the time you'll find some use for it, just don't expect too much. I don't remember siding it out often, but it's a candidate when you're unsure what to side out.
《Vivien Reid》 : I think this card is still as good as she used to be, in the new meta she also takes care of 《Rhythm of the Wild》, 《Wilderness Reclamation》, 《Hadana's Climb》, 《Skarrgan Hellkite》 and 《Spawn of Mayhem》. With 8 mana creatures installing her on turn 3 is quite possible and that's a huge threat for any deck, except maybe Mono Red.
The manabase is a bit painful, but being not able to access all 3 colors will be even worse.
The card could be just nuts in some situations and an absolute blank in another. I don't think as a Midrange deck you can allow yourself to play the cards that are doing nothing sometimes.
The card has the same problem as 《Hadana's Climb》– it just doesn't belong to this deck (especially the 《Walker》 less builds), the body and card draw are OK, but you have no lack of either.
The good old giant implacable death lizard is still fine, but the place in the main deck is reserved by 《Hydroid Krasis》.
There is a contest between it and 《Vivien Reid》 for a 5 mana slot, I'm in a Planeswalker boat so far, but after some metagame shift demon could get its ticket back.
Right now I like the idea of sideboard, focused on beating Nexus and Control decks. If you try to adjust your main deck, it will affect your good matchups drastically.
Countermagic and hand disruption were always good against spellbased decks, in theory you want to play 1 in the beginning to prevent opponent from getting the hand he wants, and 1 to seal the game, to be sure of that I like the total of 6-7, preferring 《Duress》 due to its mana cost and the information it provides.
《Moment of Craving》 : A perfect time buyer against Weenie and Mono Red, dealing with an early 《Runaway Steam-Kin》 is critical.
《Unmoored Ego》 : I start to like the card in the current metageme, 《Teferi, Hero of Dominaria》 and 《Nexus of Fate》 are very tempting targets.
《Nightveil Specter》 was one of my favorite sideboard cards back in the day, once you have it on board against Midrange, Control or any removalless deck, you just have to provide it a minimum support and the cumulative advantage will win you the game.
Your biggest guns versus the decks where you have the time to play it. Keeping 《Hydroid Krasis》 in mind, I think a total of 3 is the largest amount you can allow.
A good defensive card against Weenie and Mono Red, it also kills 《Wilderness Reclamation》.
That's my vision of Golgari deck evolution for now, thanks for reading and I hope you have found it interesting.
See you online and good luck.