text:
DURAN DURAN – "Is There Something I Should Know"
Tom • FT + Popular • Pop • 68 comments • 5,619 views
#518, 26th March 1983
"Is There Something" – released between albums to maximise chart returns – is by no means Duran Duran's finest moment. The chorus is a chant in search of a hook, and the shamefully half-hearted middle eight is a collection of atmospheric blurts in search of an editor. It's also – one notorious line aside – the least exciting of Duran's mid-period hits. It lacks the gleeful absurdity of "Rio", the sleaze of "Union Of The Snake", the shameless drive of "Hungry Like The Wolf".
For all that, there's an aura of dumb confidence about the band that carries this record through. It reminds me a bit of Slade, another Midlands band who seized their moment and owned it completely. Not that they sounded anything like Slade, but like Slade they're immediately recognisable, brazenly direct and seemed to have a sense of total security in their sound. (This is what made the band's later fragmentation into cringing side projects so embarassing.)
That sound being? Well, you hear references to synthpop and to funk but those never quite capture it. On "Is There Something I Should Know" the defining feature of the music for me is that even though only Nick Rhodes played synths, everything sounds like a keyboard: vivid, staccato, and shiny. Except Simon Le Bon, who sounds as uncomprehendingly pained as ever, and as such was the group's secret weapon.
Being Duran Duran's singer meant you had to learn to sing absolute nonsense with absolute conviction, and if their next #1 was the greatest sustained example, "Is There Something" has their most famous line. "You say you're easy on me / You're about as easy as a nuclear war" – the lyric sums up the band's sometimes clunking overreach, but Le Bon's crunching delivery reminds you why they got away with it.
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Malice Cooper on 22 May 2009 #
The title of the song is very apt as to how this managed to get in the top ten , let alone come in at number one.
They did actually make some good records but this wasn't one of them
I guess it was a stage in their career where whatever they released would have got to number 1 but this is absolute crap which hasn't aged well at all, rather like Simon Le Bon.
wichitalineman on 22 May 2009 #
Re 25: I can hear Take On Me powerpop-style, and The Sun Always Shines On TV with a ringing 12 string, sung in the Searchers' harmonies.
Conrad on 22 May 2009 #
Bridge, so called because it bridges the verse and chorus. Sorry to be so muso! (sometimes referred to as a pre-chorus)
Tom on 22 May 2009 #
Rockist!
Erithian † on 22 May 2009 #
Funny thing about Duran Duran is that before I left to live and work in Brittany for nine months, they were a well-respected band with a solid record of chart success over 18 months or so, still looking for that number one but reliable for top ten placings. When I came back they were the new Bay City Rollers! – or at least it seemed that way. I'd missed the silliness that was the "Rio" video (I didn't see it until years afterwards), and of course it was a total shock to have them straight in at number one. That opening PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME NOW line was suitably dramatic stuff to blast out of the radio for what was still a rare event in the UK chart.
But really this is among the weakest of their singles. "Planet Earth" sounded cutting edge, "Save a Prayer" was as lovely as its travelogue video (was it sponsored by the Sri Lankan Tourist Board?), "Hungry Like The Wolf" was meaty, etc. Like the Jam, I suppose, their journey to the top of the tree was better than what they did once they got there.
Mind you, Duran did provide a highlight of my time teaching English at the Lycée Lesage. When I did a quiz based on the top ten UK chart acts of 1982 and included the question: "The name Duran Duran comes from the film Barbarella – who played the title role?" – the shyest kid in the class suddenly revealed himself to be a film buff and shouted "JANE FONDA" louder than I'd ever heard him.
AndyPandy on 22 May 2009 #
Completely agree about good Duran Duran = the stuff before this and the bad = this and just about everything they did afterwards (excluding 'Ordinary Day'). Interesting about the Beatles references as I remember thinking from the day I first heard this back in 1983 how it had certain things in common with early period Beatles.
Good (and pretty early) example of use of Mellotron Moody Blues albums from 1967-about 1972.
lonepilgrim † on 22 May 2009 #
I was opposed to the Drans at the time but realised around the time of Notorious what a cracking pop band they were. The dressing up obscured how memorable their best songs were and, possibly because they grew out of a New Wave/New Romantic club scene, their songs were always danceable. Mind you the lyrics were nonsense.
Nick Rhodes and John Taylor compiled a wonderful CD called 'Only after dark' which has a fantastic selection of music that was played at the Rum Runner club in Birmingham.
Doctor Casino † on 22 May 2009 #
Metallic and empty-sounding but the real problem is the tempo – this is one PLODDING song and if you mentally will it into going just a bit faster it becomes much more tolerable. That would also make it shorter, which would help as well. 6 seems weirdly high for the song and for the text of the review but ah well.
Coming of musical age in the 90s, Duran Duran were already a joke "remember the 80s?? hahah!" type reference but I briefly entertained the idea of sort of liking them…it just didn't take.
Jonathan Bogart on 23 May 2009 #
Once someone mentioned the "please please tell me now" intro I recognized it, but I don't think I'd have been able to pick it out of a lineup as a Duran Duran song.
In fact, that's the only bit rattling around in my head; searching my memory banks for a melody associated with "is there something i should know" only turns up Frida's "Something's Going On."
I'm much more solid on Rio and their second self-titled album, the first because it's one of the epochal albums of its era and the second because of how old I was when it came out; everything in between — and before and after — is a blur.
#38 you may be right about the mark – a fondness for the band (heightened by my Twitter/Spotify experiment the night before) may have bumped the mark up a notch higher than it oughta be.
David Belbin † on 23 May 2009 #
This is my favourite DD single but I don't like it a lot. Last year, idly clicking, I won two free standing tickets to see Duran Duran at Nottingham's arena. I kind of assumed that my partner liked DD before she met me, shortly after this song was number one. I was wrong. She hated them. I would still have gone to the show if I could have found someone to go with, but the only DD fan I could track down that afternoon was busy. I wasted the best part of an hour trying to give one or both tickets away. MTD, reviewing the show for our local paper, said they were pretty good, but that's something I didn't want to know.
wildheartedoutsider on 23 May 2009 #
Sometimes I suppose "taste" is formed as much by deciding what you DON'T like as discovering what you DO like.
It occurs to me now, looking back on the recent run of Number Ones here that this was a pivotal period in developing my personal taste in music. Thinking back to 1980 I recall I'd been dipping into all sorts of musical styles – from the sublime to the ridiculous. Sometimes I'll come across a home-made compilation tape from that era and I'm forced to remember what I ACTUALLY listened to (as opposed to what my later tastes prefer me to remember from the mish-mash of sounds and styles which had caught my ear on the radio at the time).
I often forget that I listened to (and even owned) a wide variety of '80s pop' – including a fair amount of New Romantic and synth music which I would never actively choose to listen to these days. A few years ago I saw an old "Top of The Pops" from 1980 and was reminded that one of my favourite bands from that year was the little-remembered synth-pop band New Musik (Straight Lines, Living By Numbers, Sanctuary). I also enjoyed early O.M.D., Human League… even The Buggles!
The music I now 'remember' liking at the time was by artists like Dexys Midnight Runners, The Specials, Madness, Elvis Costello and XTC. I remember those groups partly because those are the ones I can still enjoy listening to today but also because they helped forge my musical directions (and in many instances, encouraged me to delve backwards into the various styles from the 60's which had inspired those artists)
It's a strange thought now but I actually quite appreciated the first songs I heard by both Spandau Ballet AND Duran Duran! It's still true that "To Cut A Long Story Short" and "Planet Earth" are the only songs by either artist I remember with any real fondness. The thing is, that both acts went on to release songs I either didn't like, actively disliked… or loathed with a passion. And with each new "New Romantic" release which came out (and each new group which came along) I became more and more convinced that I was NOT a New Romantic …that this was not how I wanted music to sound or to BE.
So thank you, Duran Duran, I realise now that songs like this played their part in helping me discover my musical taste.
#14 Thanks for reminding me about JoBoxers! I hadn't listened to them in years but within seconds of putting on their CD I understood why I would have been far more interested in them than Duran Duran back in '83. I was starting to understand by that point in time that I had an in-built liking for 60s soul and I can hear in the unsubtle foot-stomping rhythm and arrangement of "Boxer Beat" shades (albeit "poppier" shades) of the 60s soul influences I'd heard – and loved – listening to early Dexys (and, to some extent, Elvis Costello). I remember having high hopes for JoBoxers at the time, though they never really delivered (with the exception of "Just Got Lucky") but the flip-side to my feelings about "Is There Something I Should Know" is that "Boxer Beat" was exactly how I wanted music to sound back then.
peter goodlaws † on 23 May 2009 #
Could never stand this effete gang of pillocks and ITSISK is about as dismal as it gets. That's all.
Kat but logged out innit † on 23 May 2009 #
Apart from the title lyrics I find myself struggling to remember how this one goes. I start singing the melody to 'Hungry Like The Wolf' over the tune to 'Planet Earth' instead.
#43 – I always thought that Jo Boxers appeared a contrived industry response to the success of bands like Dexys – whereas DDs origins were more DIY.
pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on 23 May 2009 #
joboxers' origins were subway sect
LondonLee † on 23 May 2009 #
I still have an old flyer from the early 80s for some nightspot called Club Left on Wardour Street. The listed DJs/Performers include Vic Godard and a Mr. Dig Wayne who was, of course, later to be JoBoxer's lead singer.
#46 Then perhaps I am exposed as someone who preferred groups who were possibly put together with the express intention of making the kind of music I liked over groups who maybe evolved organically but released music I considered to be a pile of sh*t. This may or may not make me unusual!
Billy Smart † on 25 May 2009 #
I think that people have generally been a bit harsh on this.
It's true that if you listen to Duran's hits chronologically, then this feels a bit disappionting – their sound ironed out and simplified, with less of the crazed sense of excess that makes their better work so compelling. But that's what it took to win over a wider public, and to my ears this is full of appealing hooks;
1) Please Please! clarion call
2) That lovely shimmery guitar line, the bass playful under it.
3) The way the vocals descend on "there's a dream", mirrored by the way they then rise on "feel the same"
4) Morose "Uuuh oh!" backing vox.
5) Contentiously, I maintain that "Don't say you're easy on me – You're about as easy a a nooclear war!" is a great line. If you're going to do this sort of thing, you can't go at it half cock. It makes Le Bon sound like an idiot, but in an Elton John thrillingly ridiculous way, not a Phil Collins vapid earnestness sense.
6) Odd middle eight bit – long enough to make its mark, short enough not to outstay its welcome
6) Various elements of 1-6 are then combined together at the song's conclusion.
Tom OTM with Slade comparison – It's that sense of confidence that's attractive if it carries you along with it, trying if you're not in the mood for it. See Oasis for a more recent example of this.
intothefireuk † on 26 May 2009 #
Loved the first album (esp. Careless Memories), went to see them live (they were very good) and watched their rise to fame with the 2nd album. So, by the time this single was released I was expecting great things and therefore, in context, it is a somewhat disappointing single sounding hastily constructed and over-produced. Not a demise though as they would make great singles again, the next being 'Union Of The Snake'.
Re:- Synths – Nick Rhodes favoured Roland Jupiter keyboards. These were polyphonic synths with analogue oscillators. Therefore they had a warmer and more natural sound and to these ears at least were far more preferable to the harsher & colder digital FM synthesis of Yamaha's DX7, first produced in this year and to become inescapable over the next few years.
TOTPWatch: Duran Duran performed Is There Something I Should Know? once on Top Of The Pops.
22 March 1983. Also in the studio that week were; JoBoxers, Orange Juice, Big Country, Nick Heyward and Altered Images. John Peel and David 'Kid' Jensen were the hosts.
Light Entertainment Watch: Here are some of Duran's British television appearances;
THE (NOEL EDMONDS) LATE LATE BREAKFAST SHOW: with Mike Smith (Reporter), Duran Duran, Su Pollard (1984)
BLISS: with David Cassidy, Marc Almond, The Cult, Duran Duran, Scritti Politti (1985)
BOB HOPE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY: with Ray Alan, Rowan Atkinson, Marti Caine, Chevy Chase, Phyllis Diller, Duran Duran, Charlton Heston, Julio Iglesias, Ben Kingsley, Spike Milligan (1985)
THE BRITISH ROCK AND POP AWARDS: with Bad Manners, Dollar, Duran Duran, Toyah Willcox (1982)
FRIDAY NIGHT WITH JONATHAN ROSS: with Cate Blanchett, Heston Blumenthal, Duran Duran, Kelly Brook, Penny Lancaster Stewart (2007)
THE KENNY EVERETT TELEVISION SHOW: with Duran Duran (1983)
LOOK! HEAR!: with Duran Duran, Eclipse (1981)
MARTI CAINE: with Tony Christie, Wall Street Crash, Elena Duran (1981)
THE MONTREUX GOLDEN ROSE POP FESTIVAL: with Adam Ant, Bananarama, Roger Daltrey, Thomas Dolby, The Dolly Dots, Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, Cyndi Lauper, Nena, Queen (1984)
THE MONTREUX ROCK FESTIVAL: with Agnetha, Depeche Mode, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Go West, Huey Lewis And The News, Men At Work, Billy Ocean (1985)
THE O ZONE: with Duran Duran, Texas (1993)
THE OLD GREY WHISTLE TEST: with Duran Duran, Richard Strange (1981)
ONE TO ONE: with Duran Duran (1989)
THE OXFORD ROAD SHOW: with The Thompson Twins, Duran Duran (1983)
POP QUIZ: with Duran Duran v, Spandau Ballet (1984)
THE TUBE: with Jools Holland, Paula Yates (Host, Except Number 11), Alf, Duran Duran, Steve Cram, Eric Burdon, Andy Summers, Mark Miwurdz, Strange Days, Yazoo (1982)
THE TUBE: with Jools Holland, Paula Yates (Host, Except Number 11), The Jam, Heaven 17, Pete Townsend, Sting, Bananarama, Duran Duran, The Toy Dolls, Muriel Gray (1982)
THE TUBE: with Jools Holland, Paula Yates, 14 Karat Soul, The Cure, Mel And Kim, Duran Duran (1987)
THE TUBE: with Jools Holland, Paula Yates, Duran Duran, Skin, Mel & Kim, The Cure (1987)
WOGAN: with Patrick Duffy, Duran Duran, Bob Hope, Rick Springfield (1985)
WOGAN: with Duran Duran, Louis Malle, Liam Neeson, Captain Mark Philips (1990)
THE WORD: with Duran Duran, Jimmy Hill, Melle Mel, Mary J. Blige, J Pac & Strike, Simon Le Bon & Nick Rhodes (1995)
(Louis Malle was on Wogan!?)
Matthew H † on 26 May 2009 #
Well, this was the first single release that I was aware of in advance – thanks to that Oxford Road Show appearance, I think. I was in WHSmith as soon as the lunch break bell went, thumbing the lower racks for the new 7″s. Devastatingly exciting. They were my favourite band for a few months (I was 10), hmmm, maybe for a couple of years, and this was – at last – a No.1-in-waiting.
All the playground talk after the TOTP appearance was of Le Bon's suit. We reckoned it was oddly subversive.
The song's actual qualities are, for me, all wrapped up in memories. Can't tell if it's good or not, it's just so – yes – exciting. The crisp guitar, the synths falling in a glittery heap before the chorus, the never-treblier final ad libs – it's an arrogant piece of work that knows what it's going to get.
#52, Nick Heyward, looking rather sullen and lost, forgot to mime the opening line of "Whistle Down The Wind" on that TOTP, which rather summed up his confused post-Haircut state.
#49 PLSC has skewered my assumptions about the band. I'm finding it interesting to revisit the 80s as I'm discovering that a lot of my opinions about music from that time are based on similar levels of ignorance and prejudice to my views on the Joboxers. I'm still not sure that I'm that enthusiastic about them now, however.
#50 The nooclear war line appeared far more contentious at the time when the Greenham Common protests and the Cold War were current issues but I agree that it is more enjoyably ridiculous than earnest.
The fact that the ex-Subway Sect portion of JoBoxers were put together with lead singer Dig Wayne by ex-Clash/ex-Specials/ex-Dexys manager Bernie Rhodes probably helped me believe in their 'credibility' at the time – but listening to their CD now I'm reminded of both why I had high hopes for them AND why I felt they never really delivered the promise of their first couple of singles.
a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît † on 26 May 2009 #
"Current activities: According to Bernie Rhodes' website he has written a trilogy of books which will be published starting in 2008."
It better be a fantasy epic with BALROGS and that, or everything I believed abt Bernie will be overturned into saddisarray
Bernie Rhodes knows… don't argue!
pink champale † on 27 May 2009 #
i'm reallly interested that so many people are mentioning the beatles because i'm sure that this was the big talking point when PPTMN first came out, probably with a big subtext of ah, finally *proper* music. but i can't see it at all, and it's always totally coloured my relationship with the song – ever time i've ever heard it i've just anxiously wondered which bit is supposed to sound like the beatles and why it is i can't see it.
PPTMN was the first record i can remember being on the video jury bit of saturday superstore, where the programme's guests – usually a smattering of pop stars and actors plus the odd footballer (and once, famously, thatcher) – review the latest singles. i always used to get incredibly excited at this bit, gabbling my own judgements at the telly and cheering on my favourites. in its various incarnations over the years the jury was incredibly important to my relationship with pop – at least until at some point in the nineties i realised that no one EVER said anything interesting on it…
*and i presume it was round about this time that they first became big in the US and you started getting all the second british invasion, new beatlemania cultural cringe flag waving (that at the time of course i bought into without reservation)
#60 I think your final point may well have been the key factor. I think people were still LOOKING for a group to be the "new Beatles" in '83. Bear in mind that it was only 13 years since the Fab Four had broken up at that point (and it's now THREE TIMES that long!) I think perhaps there was a desire to make the evidence fit the theory…
A bunch of young lads with (almost) 'mop-top-ish' hair, from a city in England north of London, threatening to be successful in America… now let's see, their new song, there's almost a bit of a guitar riff there, hmmm, the Beatles used to make songs with guitar riffs… and, ooh wait a minute… the word "please" features quite prominently (a bit like "Please Please Me"!) – ah, sorted… they're the new Beatles!
I was tinking a bit about this from a slightly different angle — remember that the Beatles' unprecedented success derived in part from their being all things to all people; they were THE runaway crossover success, where crossover meant you liked them EVEN THOUGH your younger brother and your little sister and your parents and grandparents and snooty/black-sheep cousins all liked them
so "new beatles" actually means something different to all these various constituencies — a different element in the crossover is being highlighted as the key
"properly-crafted songs but young teenage girls love em: sort of a bit soft at the edges and plasticky and manicured but, you now, self-motivated and on top of things craft-wise" isn't a territory that's as well-served as you'd expect: there's a particular "credibility gap" which is strangely rarely breached
(it sort of comes between "pop" and "rock", but it isn't quite this simple — a lot of "anti-rock" and "pre-rock" stuff is just as careful not to breach it)
misschillydisco † on 27 May 2009 #
dang, i was on holiday when this post went up. this going to number 1 is one of my defining childhood moments, so i honestly can't say anything objective.
it's the intro! i love songs that just launch straight in!
Rob M † on 19 Jun 2009 #
Sorry it's taken a long time to get back to Popular but there's been circumstances beyond my control which have enforced a year long absence.
In the meantime, I felt that "Is there something I should know?" should be the record to return on. There are many reasons for that decision, not least some of the surrounding things of the time. Let me explain.
The spring of 1983 was an crucial time for me. Going back slightly, the Christmas of 1982 had finally meant I had a record player. I was 13, so it was important to me. Two Christmases previously I had been given a radio cassette player, a little mono thing, which was my constant friend for two years as I started to discover the radio and pop music. I'd always been aware of pop music, it was a constant in my life even when I was very young, my parents had always played records around the house, so much so that I am nearing what I call my "Towards 1972" project – to collect all the records my parents owned in 1972. As a side line, I mentioned this to my parents recently and whilst they found it a bizarre idea, when I compiled them a CD-R of songs from the project they thoroughly enjoyed hearing songs they'd not heard for years. But in 1982, my father and mother had seemed to lose interest in music and it was my brother – 18 months older – who was influencing my choices of music. However I found a lot of what he was listening to unspeakable rubbish and hated it. (In retrospect his choice of music at the time was half great – Kinks, Stones, Small Faces – and half appalling – Oi!, the worst late 70s Lou Reed). I needed to find some music of my own. I had started in the right direction previously, my mono cassette player had played the first 3 Jean Michel Jarre tapes I had endlessly. The New Pop thing had kind of passed me by, I was aware of it but not really noticing that much. It was just what was on the radio.
All this changed when I had my own music centre beside my bed. First of all, now I could wear headphones in bed and enjoy music in stereo, instead of through those horrible uncomfortable white plastic mono earpieces you used to get. Music, in stereo! Then I had a record player, so I could buy singles or albums if I wanted, and compile tapes of favourite songs. Or tape songs off the radio, as I did. Then I realised that I could listen to the radio as well, and started to explore radio stations around the dial. CBC – the local Cardiff radio station that is now known as Red Dragon – had a very good late night Saturday show hosted by "The Major" who played a lot of interesting stuff I'd not heard before – Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith. To a 13 year old, this was a bit of a revelation. But THE discovery on the dial was Radio Luxembourg. If you could get through the static and noise, the music they played was fantastic. The week I found it, they had three "Powerplays" – songs they thought would be hits and played for a week after the news on the hour, so on the hour you'd hear one of these three songs. That week it was "Is there something I should know?", "Let's dance" and "Doot doot" by Freur. All three records that I loved immensely, but only one would I end up buying. Also around the same time they had a competition for Duran tickets or something, and the jingle was the introduction of the single – "Please please tell me now!" etc, three times, followed by the DJ saying something or other. This jingle was played so often that when the song was played for real, the DJs had to say "We're playing the song now, not the jingle…" But this era – Spring 83 – was a period of great music for me. Those three powerplays, "Genetic engineering" by OMD, "Numbers" by Soft Cell, "Stepping out" by Joe Jackson. Then on Thursday nights on Luxembourg, there was the "Futurist Chart", a great place to discover some new music – they played "Doot doot" too, and in the future some odd choices of Futurism – "Birds fly" by Icicle Works? "First picture of you"? Whatever, they added to the picture of the time.
Now why I liked "ITSISK?" is a little perplexing. I'd not really liked anything the Duranies had done previously, and in the future wouldn't really like them much again. I was aware of them, seeing them doing "Planet earth" on "Cheggers plays pop" and things like that, and the "Rio" album was loved by the female element of my school class. So much so that they used to write which member they lusted after on my pencil case, much to my annoyance. There'd be Lesley wanting Simon, Melissa wanting Andy, Elaine wanting John… but what I wanted to know was who Debbie wanted. For around the same time as this, my hormones kicked in and I started to notice the opposite sex, and in particular Debbie who I considered the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. That shy smile, the coyness in her eyes. Of course, it was completely unrequited, and once I told someone it was all over the school and I stood no chance. And then she left a year later and we wrote letters and I admitted my love for her and she said she might have stayed had she known, and what more perfect heartbreak can there be for a teenage heart? But that's beside the fact. I still think of her now and then, and wonder what may have been and where she is. But hell, that's "Quicksilver" by the Field Mice, not "Is there something I should know?" The song itself is so wrapped up in what happened around it that I can't be objective about it. It is part of my history and exists there. Many years later, I even bought a copy from Oxfam for 20p and it's still there in my attic now.
As for "Doot doot". Well, on Saturday April 30th 1983, I went into Cardiff with my friend Adrian to the newly opened HMV shop – at last Cardiff had a decent record shop (I didn't know about Spillers at the time) – and bought the twelve inch of it, besides "Dazzle ships" by OMD. Two records which I played constantly and poured over the sleeves and took in all the details like they were the most important records in the world, which they were. Of course, I kept buying OMD and Freur records, and was even disappointed when Freur became Underworld but that is another story. And I kept listening to the radio, and discovering more and more. And that was the real start of my musical life. Discovering more music which spoke to me about my life and how I felt. And now I was an active participant in the process too. Not that my record choices would affect the records we encounter on Popular.
zorphone † on 22 Jun 2009 #
duranduranduran is better
Great post, Rob M. Funny how these unrequited-love stories end up being so long (he says, just having posted a thousand words of his own elsewhere).
Ludovic † on 25 Sep 2009 #
There's something oddly thrilling about the 12 inch version of this. It has a dream-like quality to it which is partly achieved by the near removal of Le Bon's vocals. The song, however, is not one of their best although like much of their work, it has dated surprisingly well.
Brooksie on 1 Mar 2010 #
This feels rapidly recorded and slight. You just know that they were filling in for an album not yet made. To me, this doesn't suffer for its 'rushed' feeling, if anything it makes it better. When sat between the somewhat contrived and over-produced songs on the previous albums (and the ones that followed) this sounded to me like Duran finally coming to terms with their status as popstars and pin-ups. This song did what all good pop should do; it declared "We're a pop group, and we're great!" loud and clear. The fans dutifully took it to the top.
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4 Jan 2005 An OLD MAN and a WISE MAN are sitting on a bench. WISE MAN: Tell me, Old Man, if you had one piece of advice to give young students, what would it be? OLD MAN: I would tell them to be neither too proud or too ashamed of their music taste. The music you hear […]
Rage vs X-Factor: Winners and Losers
21 Dec 2009 Well, that's that: the machine has been given a good beating and we can look forward to "Bulls On Parade" on the festive Argos ad next year. I will admit I didn't think the RATM crew could do it: I was wrong. But as the dust settles on this most fractious and increasingly entertaining Christmas […]
Blog '92: Introduction
15 Aug 2007 On my eleventh birthday I received a copy of a tape called "Rave '92" through the post from my sister Grace, who was away at university. It was the second tape she had made for me whilst she was away, (the first being a random mix of grebo, soul, indie and 'Love Shack' by the […]
Download This! 2002
1 Jan 2003 101. THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS – 'My Elastic Eye': 'It sounds exactly like an elastic eye!' said Fred S. I scoffed, but you know what? – it does! Though maybe more a clockwork one – but the wobbly fuzz-bass still sounds like it's looking, even probing the track for something. Every music-box noise here is luxurious […]


Is it possible to fix the glitches that occurr when you make really huge sectors? What happens is that some sectors inside that sector is partially or completely clipped away from some angles. I am working on a map and always have to revert to that old backup no matter what methods I try. I know splitting sectors help, but it is not desirable in this case. Is it possible to fix this glitch in any way?
Not really a fix per say, but I think you will if you run the map in Polymer it won't have that glitch.
I meant if there was a way to edit the source code to fix it. Clearly, it has to do with how the engine is rendering huge sectors. So that it would be possible to create these big sectors without that happening in the first place.
I had the same problem with my Sonic 3D levels (they're TOO huge). But i don't needed to revert to that old backup, cuz Craigfatman explain to me, how to fix these glitches with help of LeBuild. It's easy.
You should just insert more vertexes on the really long walls. The latest Eduke32 snapshots come with a warning color, if your wall is a certain color then that means that you should make it shorter by adding a vertex.
The only thing on my dream list to be added to Eduke is to expand that annoying wall point limit I keep hitting when making maps. Lol, I know there is the way of splitting maps, But still it is difficult to get doors to open or enemies to spawn in one map from triggers in the other.


text:
Personal construct theory
(Redirected from Personal construct)
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Personal construct theory or personal construct psychology (PCP) is a theory of personality and cognition developed by the American psychologist George Kelly in the 1950s.[1] From the theory, Kelly derived a psychotherapy approach, as well as a technique called the repertory grid interview, that helped his patients to analyze their own constructs (schemas, or ways of seeing the world) with minimal intervention or interpretation by the therapist.[2] The repertory grid was later adapted for various uses within organizations, including decision-making and interpretation of other people's world-views.[3] The UK Council for Psychotherapy, a regulatory body, classifies PCP therapy within the experiential subset of the constructivist school.
Kelly explicitly stated that each individual's task in understanding their personal psychology is to put in order the facts of his or her own experience. Then the individual, like the scientist, is to test the accuracy of that constructed knowledge by performing those actions the constructs suggest. If the results of their actions are in line with what the knowledge predicted, then they have done a good job of finding the order in their personal experience. If not, then they can modify the construct: their interpretations or their predictions or both. This method of discovering and correcting constructs is simply the scientific method used by all modern sciences to discover the truths about the universe we live in.
Kelly proposed that every construct is bipolar, specifying how two things are similar to each other (lying on the same pole) and different from a third thing, and they can be expanded with new ideas. More recent researchers have suggested that constructs need not be bipolar.[4]
PrinciplesEdit
A main tenet of PCP theory is that a person's unique psychological processes are channeled by the way s/he anticipates events. Kelly believed that anticipation and prediction are the main drivers of our mind. "Every man is, in his own particular way, a scientist," said Kelly, in that he is always building up and refining theories and models about how the world works so that he can anticipate events. We start on this at birth (for example, a child discovers, "if I cry, mother will come") and continue refining our theories as we grow up.
We build theories—often stereotypes—about other people and also try to control them or impose on others our own theories so that we are better able to predict their actions. All these theories are built up from a system of constructs. A construct has two extreme points, such as "happy–sad" and we tend to place people at either extreme or at some point in between. Our mind, said Kelly, is filled up with these constructs, at a low level of awareness.
Kelly did not use the concept unconscious; instead, he believed that some constructs are preverbal. A given person or set of persons or any event or circumstance can be characterized fairly precisely by the set of constructs we apply to it and the position of the thing within the range of each construct. So Fred for instance may be just half between happy and sad (one construct) and definitively clever rather than stupid (another construct). The baby above may have a preverbal construct "Comes... doesn't come when I cry". Constructs are applied to anything we put our attention to, including ourselves, and also strongly influence what we fix our attention on. We construe reality constructing constructs. Hence, determining a person's system of constructs would go a long way towards understanding him, especially the person's essential constructs that represent very strong and unchangeable beliefs; and also the constructs a person applies to him/herself.
Therapy approachEdit
Kelly believed in a non-invasive approach to psychotherapy. Rather than having the therapist interpret the person's psyche, which would amount to imposing the doctor's constructs on the patient, the therapist should just act as a facilitator of the patient finding his or her own constructs. The patient's behavior is then mainly explained as ways to selectively observe the world, act upon it and update the construct system in such a way as to increase predictability. To help the patient find his or her constructs, Kelly developed the repertory grid interview technique.
The repertory gridEdit
Main article: Repertory grid
To build a repertory grid (a sort of matrix) for a patient, Kelly would first ask the patient to select about seven elements whose nature might depend on whatever the patient or therapist are trying to discover. For instance, "Two specific friends, two work-mates, two people you dislike, your mother and yourself", or something of that sort. Then, three of the elements would be selected at random, and then the therapist would ask:"In relation to… (whatever is of interest), in which way are two of these people alike but different from the third"? The answer is sure to indicate one of the extreme points of one of the patient's constructs. He might say for instance that Fred and Sarah are very communicative whereas John isn't. Further questioning would reveal the other end of the construct (say, introvert) and the positions of the three characters between extremes. Repeating the procedure with different sets of three elements ends up revealing several constructs the patient might not have been fully aware of.
The repertory grid itself is a matrix where the rows represent constructs found, the columns represent the elements, and cells indicate with a number the position of each element within each construct. There is software available to produce several reports and graphs from these grids.
In the book Personal Construct Methodology, researchers Brian R. Gaines and Mildred L.G. Shaw noted that they "have also found concept mapping and semantic network tools to be complementary to repertory grid tools and generally use both in most studies" but that they "see less use of network representations in PCP studies than is appropriate".[5] They encouraged practitioners to use semantic network techniques in addition to the repertory grid.[6]
Organizational applicationsEdit
PCP has always been a minority interest among psychologists. During the last 30 years, it has gradually gained adherents in the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Italy and Spain. While its chief fields of application remain clinical and educational psychology, there is an increasing interest in its applications to organizational development, employee training and development, job analysis, job description and evaluation. The repertory grid is often used in the qualitative phase of market research, to identify the ways in which consumers construe products and services.
Cognitive analytic therapy
Decisional balance sheet § ABC model
Idios kosmos
Relational frame theory
Schema therapy
^ For example: Kelly 1991 (first published 1955); Kelly & Maher 1969; Bannister 1970; Bannister & Fransella 1986 (first published 1971)
^ For example: Fransella, Bell & Bannister 2004 (first published 1977); Jankowicz 2004; Caputi et al. 2011
^ For example: Stewart, Stewart & Fonda 1981; Gaines & Shaw 1993; Bradshaw et al. 1993; Simpson, Large & O'Brien 2004; Carrillat et al. 2009
^ For example: Riemann 1990; Yorke 2001; Kuška et al. 2016
^ Gaines & Shaw, "Computer-aided constructivism", in Caputi et al. 2011, pp. 183–222
^ On constructivist multimethodology see also, for example: Bradshaw et al. 1993
Kuška, Martin; Trnka, Radek; Kuběna, Aleš A.; Růžička, Jiří (June 2016). "Free associations mirroring self- and world-related concepts: implications for personal construct theory, psycholinguistics and philosophical psychology". Frontiers in Psychology. 7: 981. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00981. PMC 4928535. PMID 27445940.
Winter, David A.; Reed, Nick, eds. (2016). The Wiley handbook of personal construct psychology. Chichester, UK; Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9781118508275. ISBN 9781118508312. OCLC 913829512.
Salla, Marta; Feixas, Guillem; Ballén, Cristina; Muñoz, Dámaris; Compañ, Victoria (January 2015). "The couple's grid: a tool for assessing interpersonal construction in couples". Journal of Constructivist Psychology. 28 (1): 53–66. doi:10.1080/10720537.2013.859110.
Winter, David A.; Procter, Harry (2014). "Formulation in personal and relational construct psychology: seeing the world through clients' eyes". In Johnstone, Lucy; Dallos, Rudi (eds.). Formulation in psychology and psychotherapy: making sense of people's problems (2nd ed.). London; New York: Routledge. pp. 145–172. ISBN 9780415682305. OCLC 894506578.
Caputi, Peter; Viney, Linda L.; Walker, Beverly M.; Crittenden, Nadia, eds. (2011). Personal construct methodology. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9781119953616. ISBN 9780470770870. OCLC 730906380.
Carrillat, François A.; Riggle, Robert J.; Locander, William B.; Gebhardt, Gary F.; Lee, James M. (2009). "Cognitive segmentation: modeling the structure and content of customers' thoughts". Psychology and Marketing. 26 (6): 479–506. doi:10.1002/mar.20284.
Neimeyer, Robert A. (2009). Constructivist psychotherapy: distinctive features. The CBT distinctive features series. Hove, East Sussex; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415442336. OCLC 237402656.
Gabalda, Isabel Caro; Neimeyer, Robert A.; Newman, Cory F. (December 2009). "Theory and practice in the cognitive psychotherapies: convergence and divergence". Journal of Constructivist Psychology. 23 (1): 65–83. doi:10.1080/10720530903400996.
Leitner, Larry M.; Thomas, Jill C., eds. (2009). Personal constructivism: theory and applications. New York: Pace University Press. ISBN 978-0944473948. OCLC 434613248.
Winter, David A. (September 2008). "Cognitive behaviour therapy: from rationalism to constructivism?". European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling. 10 (3): 221–229. doi:10.1080/13642530802337959.
Stein, Miriam (June 2007). "Nonverbal techniques in personal construct psychotherapy". Journal of Constructivist Psychology. 20 (2): 103–124. doi:10.1080/10720530601074689.
Caputi, Peter; Foster, Heather; Viney, Linda L., eds. (2006). Personal construct psychology: new ideas. Chichester, UK; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9780470713044. ISBN 978-0470019436. OCLC 694910981.
Milton, Nick R.; Clarke, David; Shadbolt, Nigel (December 2006). "Knowledge engineering and psychology: towards a closer relationship" (PDF). International Journal of Human–Computer Studies. 64 (12): 1214–1229. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.08.001.
Fransella, Fay, ed. (2005). The essential practitioner's handbook of personal construct psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470013236. OCLC 694910981. This is a concise (abridged) paperback version of Fransella (2003).
Simpson, Barbara; Large, Bob; O'Brien, Matthew (January 2004). "Bridging difference through dialogue: a constructivist perspective". Journal of Constructivist Psychology. 17 (1): 45–59. doi:10.1080/10720530490250697.
Jankowicz, Devi (2004). The easy guide to repertory grids. Chichester, UK; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470854044. OCLC 51984819.
Winter, David A. (2003). "The constructivist paradigm". In Woolfe, Ray; Dryden, Windy; Strawbridge, Sheelagh (eds.). Handbook of counselling psychology (2nd ed.). London; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 241–260. ISBN 978-0761972075. OCLC 52594976.
Fransella, Fay, ed. (2003). International handbook of personal construct psychology. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9780470013373 (inactive 2019-02-19). ISBN 978-0470847275. OCLC 51178396.
Raskin, Jonathan D.; Bridges, Sara K., eds. (2002). Studies in meaning: exploring constructivist psychology. Studies in meaning. New York: Pace University Press. ISBN 978-0944473573. OCLC 48390934.
Neimeyer, Greg J.; Neimeyer, Robert A., eds. (2002). Advances in personal construct psychology: new directions and perspectives. Wesport, CT: Praeger Publishing. ISBN 978-0275972943. OCLC 50434439.
Yorke, Mantz (April 2001). "Bipolarity... or not?: some conceptual problems relating to bipolar rating scales". British Educational Research Journal. 27 (2): 171–186. doi:10.1080/01411920120037126. JSTOR 1501708.
Neimeyer, Robert A.; Mahoney, Michael J., eds. (1995). Constructivism in psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ISBN 978-1557982797. OCLC 31518985.
Bradshaw, Jeffrey M.; Ford, Kenneth M.; Adams-Webber, Jack R.; Boose, John H. (1993). "Beyond the repertory grid: new approaches to constructivist knowledge acquisition tool development". In Ford, Kenneth M.; Bradshaw, Jeffrey M. (eds.). Knowledge acquisition as modeling. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 287–333. ISBN 978-0471593683. OCLC 26851198.
Epting, Franz R.; Probert, James S.; Pittman, Stephen D. (January 1993). "Alternative strategies for construct elicitation: experimenting with experience". International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology. 6 (1): 79–98. doi:10.1080/08936039308404333.
Gaines, Brian R.; Shaw, Mildred L. G. (March 1993). "Knowledge acquisition tools based on personal construct psychology". The Knowledge Engineering Review. 8 (1): 49–85. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.33.2205. doi:10.1017/S0269888900000060.
Winter, David A. (1992). Personal construct psychology in clinical practice: theory, research, and applications. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415005272. OCLC 23082076.
Fransella, Fay; Dalton, Peggy (2000) [1990]. Personal construct counselling in action (2nd ed.). London; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-0761966142. OCLC 44502510.
Riemann, Rainer (April 1990). "The bipolarity of personal constructs". International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology. 3 (2): 149–165. doi:10.1080/10720539008412806.
Soldz, Stephen (October 1988). "Constructivist tendencies in recent psychoanalysis". International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology. 1 (4): 329–347. doi:10.1080/10720538808412783.
Mahoney, Michael J.; Lyddon, William J. (April 1988). "Recent developments in cognitive approaches to counseling and psychotherapy". The Counseling Psychologist. 16 (2): 190–234. doi:10.1177/0011000088162001.
Fransella, Fay; Thomas, Laurie F., eds. (1988). Experimenting with personal construct psychology. London; New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0710210623. OCLC 15855887.
Epting, Franz R.; Landfield, Alvin W., eds. (1985). Anticipating personal construct psychology. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803228627. OCLC 11290933.
Bannister, Donald, ed. (1985). Issues and approaches in personal construct theory. London; Orlando, FL: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0120779802. OCLC 10996166.
Epting, Franz R.; Neimeyer, Robert A., eds. (1984). Personal meanings of death: applications of personal construct theory to clinical practice. Series in death education, aging, and health care. Washington, DC: Hemisphere Pub. Corp. ISBN 978-0891163633. OCLC 9557799.
Reason, Peter; Rowan, John, eds. (1981). Human inquiry: a sourcebook of new paradigm research. Chichester, UK; New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0471279358. OCLC 7206012.
Stewart, Valerie; Stewart, Andrew; Fonda, Nickie (1981). Business applications of repertory grid. London; New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0070845497. OCLC 8061567.
Gaines, Brian R.; Shaw, Mildred L. G. (July 1980). "New directions in the analysis and interactive elicitation of personal construct systems". International Journal of Man–Machine Studies. 13 (1): 81–116. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.414.3762. doi:10.1016/S0020-7373(80)80038-1.
Fransella, Fay, ed. (1978). Personal construct psychology, 1977. Second International Congress on Personal Construct Theory. London; New York: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0122654602. OCLC 5674889.
Bannister, Donald, ed. (1977). New perspectives in personal construct theory. London; New York: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0120779406. OCLC 10274182.
Fransella, Fay; Bell, Richard; Bannister, Donald (2004) [1977]. A manual for repertory grid technique (2nd ed.). Chichester, UK; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470854907. OCLC 52587457.
Bannister, Donald; Fransella, Fay (1986) [1971]. Inquiring man: the psychology of personal constructs (3rd ed.). London; Dover, NH: Croom Helm. ISBN 978-0709939504. OCLC 12583609.
Bannister, Donald, ed. (1970). Perspectives in personal construct theory. London; New York: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0120779604. OCLC 131128.
Kelly, George; Maher, Brendan A. (1969). Clinical psychology and personality: the selected papers of George Kelly. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0471563563. OCLC 6272.
Kelly, George (1991) [1955]. The psychology of personal constructs. London; New York: Routledge in association with the Centre for Personal Construct Psychology. ISBN 978-0415037990. OCLC 21760190. Originally published as: Kelly, George (1955). The psychology of personal constructs. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. OCLC 217761.
The PCP Portal
Centre for Personal Construct Psychology
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Personal_construct_theory&oldid=906602305"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Rails merge (and manual assignment) assigning nil I am trying to create a model in a controller using strong params in Rails 5.1 (some things changed from previous for strong_params). However, when I inspect the params, the merged ones are NOT present and I am getting an ForbiddenAttributesError tracing back to the Model.new line below. The only thing in the Model is verify presence for all the attributes.
class ModelController < ApplicationController
  before_action :application_controller_action

  def create
    @model = Model.new(strong_params)
    if @model.valid?
      result = @model.save
    else
      render html: 'MODEL NOT VALID'
    end
    render html: 'DONE'
  end

  private
    def strong_params
      # attr_1 and attr_2 are set in the application controller and are available here.
      params.require(:model).permit(:name, :attribute_1, :attribute_2).merge(attribute_1: @attr_1, attribute_2: @attr_2)
      # Inserting the following two lines causes a ForbiddenAttributesError
      puts params.inspect  # DOES NOT INCLUDE @attr_1 and/or @attr_2
      return params
    end

I may be doing something wrong though because I've even tried putting the strong params into a model with the attributes (which I can inspect just before) and it still fails because the validation for attr_1 and attr_2 fail in the Model.
def create
  puts @user.inspect  (not nil)
  @model = Model.new(name: strong_params[:name], attribute_1: @attr_1, attribute_2: @attr_2)

UPDATE:
OK, I'm getting some weird errors from my troubleshooting. It seems the merge is not working correctly, though I'm sure it was at one point.
The first thing I checked was @attr_1 and @attr_2, they are definitely getting set.
For troubleshooting purposes, I've reduced the application before_action to this:
def application_before_action
  @attr_1 = Model.first
  @attr_2 = Model.last

With the code above, inspecting the params object and then returning it after the require().permit(), I am getting a ForbiddenAttributesError (no indication of what). If I remove those lines, I get a missing attributes error from the model indicating that @attr_1 and @attr_2 are missing.
UPDATE 2
Changed the title of the question, because I probably got confused during troubleshooting. I think the issue is just that the merge is assigning nil... but strangely so is the manual assignment suggested by (myself originally) and another answer here. The attributes keys are there, but they're getting assigned nil. Also, noticed my example was using a single Model, when there are actually two Models, Model1 and Model2. I am assigning the values from Model1 to Model2.
Here is a better demonstration of the error:
def create
    puts '0:'
    puts @model1.inspect
    puts '1:'
    puts strong_params.inspect
    @model2 = Model2.new(strong_params) do |m|
      m.user_id = @attr_1
      m.account_number = @attr_2
    end
    puts '3:'
    puts @model2.inspect

    if @model2.valid?
      result = @model2.save
      render html: 'SUCCESS' and return
    else
      render html: @model2.errors.full_messages and return
    end
end

Outputs in console:
0:
#<Model1 id: 29, attribute_1: 'test_value_1', attribute_2: 'test_value_2', created_at: "2018-08-15 03:55:08", updated_at: "2018-08-15 04:05:01">
1:
<ActionController::Parameters {"name"=>"test_name", "attribute_1"=>nil, "attribute_2"=>nil} permitted: true>
3:
#<Model2 id: nil, name: 'test_name', attribute_1: nil, attribute_2: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil>

Obviously the nil id and timestamps are because the model has not been saved yet.
The html model2.errors.full_messages are: ["attribute_1 can't be blank", "attribute_2 can't be blank"]
SOLUTION
Coming from a pure ruby environment previously, I was mistaken about ActiveRecord default accessors for models. Removing the accessors seems to have resolved the problem.

A: Instead of mucking about with the params hash you can just assign the odd values one by one:
class ModelController < ApplicationController
  before_action :application_controller_action

  def create
    @model = Model.new(strong_params) do |m|
      m.attribute_1 = @attr_1
      m.attribute_2 = @attr_2
    end

    if @model.valid?
      result = @model.save
    else
      render html: 'MODEL NOT VALID'
    end
    # don't do this it will just give a double render error
    render html: 'DONE'
  end

  private

   private
    def strong_params
      params.require(:model).permit(:name, :attribute_1, :attribute_2)
    end
end

In general this is a much more readable way to merge params with values from the session for example.
The reason your strong parameters method does not work is its just plain broken in every possible way. The main point is that you're not returning the whitelisted and merged params hash. You're returning the whole shebang.
You also seem under the faulty impression that .require, .permit and .merge alter the orginal hash - they don't - they return a new hash (well actually an ActionContoller::Parameters instance to be specific).
def strong_params
  # attr_1 and attr_2 are set in the application controller and are available here.
  permitted = params.require(:model).permit(:name, :attribute_1, :attribute_2)
        .merge(attribute_1: @attr_1, attribute_2: @attr_2)
  puts permitted.inspect
  permitted # return is implicit
end

Or just:
def strong_params
  # attr_1 and attr_2 are set in the application controller and are available here.
  params.require(:model).permit(:name, :attribute_1, :attribute_2)
        .merge(attribute_1: @attr_1, attribute_2: @attr_2)
end

A: You could convert to hash before merge
params.require(:model).permit(:name).to_h.merge(attribute_1: @attr_1, attribute_2: @attr_2)

You would have to be very sure that you are assigning non-user input though otherwise you are negating the purpose of strong parameters.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Chancellor unveils £4.6 billion lockdown grant package
UK businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are to be given one-off grants worth up to £9,000.
The payments are expected to support 600,000 business properties across the UK. A further £594 million will be made available to councils and devolved nations to support businesses not covered by the new grants.
The Chancellor said: 'The new strain of the virus presents us all with a huge challenge, and whilst the vaccine is being rolled out, we have needed to tighten restrictions further.
'Throughout the pandemic we've taken swift action to protect lives and livelihoods and . . . we're announcing a further cash injection to support businesses and jobs until the spring.
'This will help businesses to get through the months ahead – and crucially it will help sustain jobs so workers can be ready to return when they are able to reopen.'
Further information on the grants can be found here.
CBI urges government to 'act on COVID business support' ahead of Budget
Ahead of the 2021 Budget in March, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has urged the government to provide more financial assistance to businesses affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Supreme Court backs small firms on business interruption claims
The UK's Supreme Court has found in favour of small firms receiving payments from coronavirus (COVID-19) business interruption insurance policies.
COVID-19 is reasonable excuse for self assessment late filing, says HMRC
HMRC says it will accept coronavirus (COVID-19) as a reasonable excuse for the late filing of self assessment tax returns.


text:
Boxing Insider Notebook: Joshua, Pulev, Jacobs, USA Boxing, and more…
Compiled By: William Holmes
The following is the Boxing Insider notebook for the week of September 19th to September 26th; covering the comings and goings in the sport of boxing that you might have missed.
Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Sport
Joshua vs. Pulev Heavyweight World Championship Fight to Air Live on Showtime on October 28th
SHOWTIME Sports® will close out a banner year of world-class boxing with back-to-back Saturdays featuring heavyweight world championship fights live on SHOWTIME. The network announced today coverage of unified heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua's upcoming WBA and IBF world title defense against top-rated mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev on Saturday, October 28 live on SHOWTIME from Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
The October 28 SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast will be the first of two heavyweight world title fights airing live on SHOWTIME on consecutive Saturdays, with WBC World Champion Deontay Wilder set to defend his title against undefeated contender Luis Ortiz on Saturday, November 4. Both main event bouts will air live on SHOWTIME as the network concludes a robust 2017 boxing campaign that will have featured 22 world championship fights, 16 bouts matching fellow undefeated fighters, three world title unifications, three world title rematches and the emergence of three bright young stars (Errol Spence Jr., Gervonta Davis and David Benavidez) as they earned their first world titles.
With the addition of Joshua vs. Pulev, four of the consensus top-five heavyweights in the world will compete on SHOWTIME in consecutive weeks. Joshua vs. Pulev and Wilder vs. Ortiz will be the ninth and 10th heavyweight world championship bouts to air live on SHOWTIME in the last two years.
"There's so much to be excited about in the sport of boxing, and it all comes to a fever pitch on consecutive Saturdays this fall on SHOWTIME," said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of SHOWTIME Sports. "This has been a great year for boxing. More specifically, it has been a great year for SHOWTIME boxing. There's no better way to end it than with two major heavyweight world championship events. We are proud to be in business with the two biggest punchers in the sport, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, and the rest of the talented and hungry heavyweight challengers of today."
Joshua, the undefeated British superstar (19-0, 19 KOs), exploded onto the world stage in April when he defeated heavyweight legend Wladimir Klitschko via a spectacular come-from-behind knockout. In the year's leading Fight of the Year candidate, a bout that aired live on SHOWTIME, Joshua picked up the vacant WBA heavyweight title to go along with his IBF belt. Now, Joshua returns to take on the top-ranked IBF challenger in Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs) at the 70,000 seat national stadium in Wales.
Joshua, 27, has remarkably knocked out all of his opponents since turning pro shortly after winning gold in the 2012 Olympics. The Watford, England native won his first title with a second-round KO of defending IBF Heavyweight Champion Charles Martin in April 2016, earning a heavyweight belt in the fewest number of fights in more than 20 years. He has since successfully defended the title three times – against Dominic Breazeale in June of 2016, Eric Molina in December and Klitschko in April.
Pulev, of Sofia, Bulgaria, will be making his second attempt at winning the IBF world championship, having lost to Klitschko in his first try in November 2014. After that, his lone loss, Pulev quickly rebounded and became a two-time European champion with a win over Dereck Chisora. He also holds wins over two former world title foes of Klitschko in Samuel Peter and Kevin Johnson.
Joshua vs. Pulev is promoted by Matchroom Sport. Fewer than 200 tickets remain on sale via www.StubHub.co.uk priced at £300.
Daniel Jacobs Signs with Matchroom Boxing, to Return to HBO
Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing are delighted to announce their first American signing as Brooklyn native Daniel Jacobs, (32-2, 29 KO's) pens a multi-fight deal as part of Matchroom Boxing's new venture in the US.
The former Middleweight World ruler will make his debut under the new banner in November live on HBO® as 'The Miracle Man' aims to reclaim his World champion status.
Jacobs' last outing was against fearsome pound-for-pound king Gennady Golovkin in March at a jam packed Madison Square Garden in New York where 'GGG' edged the Brooklyn star out on points, and 30 year old Jacobs wants to get back into fights with the likes Golovkin and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez as he kicks-off an exciting new chapter in his career with Hearn and Matchroom.
"I'm truly excited to be joining Matchroom Boxing and HBO," said Jacobs. "This is a new beginning for my career and I get a chance to showcase my skills to the world. I can't wait to return to the ring in November, being active and recapturing the World middleweight title."
"It's an honour to welcome Danny Jacobs to the Matchroom Boxing team and to join forces with HBO boxing to showcase his fights," said promoter Eddie Hearn. "I believe Danny has proved himself as the top Middleweight in World boxing and has one of the most inspirational stories you will ever see in the sport which must be told. We plan on keeping Danny nice and busy kicking off in November, then back in the spring with the obvious target of the Canelo vs GGG winner.
"This signing marks the first of many in the US market as we look forward to building on our success in the UK, raising fighters' activities levels and profiles and providing fans with atmosphere and drama from this great sport."
"Inspiring and electric in the ring, Daniel Jacobs is a true ambassador for boxing," says Peter Nelson, executive vice president, HBO Sports. "Daniel is a force to be reckoned with in the stacked middleweight division. We look forward to watching his exceptionally bright future unfold as part of the HBO family."
USA Boxing Launches Alumni Association
USA Boxing announced the official launch of the USA Boxing Alumni Association today during a press event in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Alumni Association was created to champion a lifelong, mutually beneficial relationship between USA Boxing and its alumni, including boxers, officials, coaches and boxing fans. The membership, which costs $40/year, allows members to relive amateur boxing experiences with former teammates, opponents, coaches and other members of the USA Boxing community.
"The Alumni Association will be looking to connect generations of champions of the sport," said Mike McAtee, USA Boxing Executive Director. "This association will bring former boxers that reached all levels of success in amateur boxing, as well as coaches, officials and people who have a love for Olympic-style boxing together."
"The ability to connect, reconnect and interact with former participants and lovers of our sport is exciting," stated USA Boxing President John Brown. "This association has been talked about for over 30 years and will allow us to accomplish goals only previously dreamed of."
The Alumni Association will be open to anyone possessing a love for the sport and looking to stay connected with amateur boxing. Becoming a member will grant members access to a variety of special events hosted by the Alumni Association, including the first annual USA Boxing Alumni Association Hall of Fame reception. The reception will be held on December 8 in Salt Lake City during the USA Boxing Elite and Youth National Championships & Junior and Prep Open.
The USA Boxing Alumni Association will begin taking registrations on November 1, with the Alumni Association website launching in the coming weeks.
For more information on the USA Boxing Alumni Association follow USA Boxing Alumni Association on social media (@USABoxingAlumni) or call (719)-866-2778.
Jeff Horn Backs Dennis Hogan to Win World Title
World Boxing Organisation (WBO) number six ranked junior middleweight Dennis "Hurricane" Hogan has received support in his bid for a world title shot from Australia's only current world champion ahead of the WBO eliminator that could decide his future.
WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn says there is no reason Hogan can't emulate his performance when he ripped the world championship belt from the waist of eight-division world champion and pound-for-pound stalwart Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane last July.
"Dennis impresses me with his work ethic and his strength as a boxer," says Horn, who trains alongside "The Hurricane" at coach Glenn Rushton's Stretton Boxing Club.
"He can definitely emulate what I have done, being ranked number six himself.
"Dennis just needs to fight hard and win every round as it goes. Hard work and belief was my key to success.
"It is extremely important to have a strong team behind you who you can trust."
But first Hogan is going to have to get past world number seven Yuki Nonaka from Japan who he faces in a decider for the number two spot at the Convention & Exhibition Centre in Brisbane on 14 October.
"Nonaka is a slick, elusive counterpuncher, but I'm used to that style," says Hogan, who has a professional record of 25-1-1 with 7 knockouts. "I do very well against guys like that so I'm very confident going in.
"As an amateur I was light heavyweight champion of Ireland so I got used to boxing guys taller than me. It's all about nullifying him, frustrating him, breaking him down and making him do what we want him to do, then we'll catch him."
Nonaka comes highly credentialed and is ranked in the top 15 of all four major sanctioning bodies. The Osaka southpaw is undefeated in eight years but he has never fought outside of his native Japan.
"This is one of the biggest sporting events to be held in Australia this year and the second biggest fight behind only Horn and Pacquiao," says Paul Keegan of DDP Sports Management who are promoting the event.
"We want to bring arena style boxing back to Australia and encourage all sports fans to get along to see what all the hype is all about.
"Dennis is set to be Australia's next world champ and we want to give Aussie sports fans the chance to see this kid fight live and be part of his journey."
Hogan says that he has left no stone unturned in his preparation and is looking forward to doing his fans across two countries proud.
"I'll have youth on my side, I'll have aggression on my side and I'll be ready to go all out for the full ten rounds," says Hogan.
The 32-year-old Hogan moved to Brisbane from Kildare, Ireland seven years ago to pursue a professional boxing career when the Irish economy was tanking due to the fallout from the global financial crisis.
DENNIS HOGAN QUOTES
On training at the Stretton Boxing Club: "We know all the ingredients are there, it's just about doing everything that we need to do. The gym is structured really well, it's a really good set-up. You manage to get all the stuff done in a good way and it's actually enjoyable going up there to train, even though it's tough work. You can go years smashing out sessions and you very rarely get to see things changing because of the intense nature of the work. But when you get to see big changes on a regular basis and stuff that really works to your advantage when you're in the ring, you start to realise this stuff is working. It gives you a lot of confidence and more motivation to come back and do it all again."
On his fight with Jack Culcay for the WBA world title: "I learned a lot about what happens when you're the away fighter. And what that means is that you can't leave anything to chance. You have to make sure every little thing is spot on. Even if you're winning the rounds you can't relax for a second, you've got to stay on for the whole lot and you can't even give those guys an inch. I used to give people an inch and now I'm working on not giving them nothing. That fact that I've been there and done that, now I know I can be there and win that."
On his Australian and Irish supporter base: "In this fight I'm going to make a statement. And after this people are going to know we mean business. After this I look forward to gaining more momentum with the crowd and hopefully getting more Queenslanders and Aussies behind me, along with the Irish. I have great support from the Irish community here and just want everyone to come together and support me, together we can make it work. I will be the world champion and with the support of those people, it's only going to help."
On the keys to success: "If you believe in yourself and keep pushing yourself to keep going, good things will come to you. I really believe that. There were days when you didn't know whether you were national level, regional level or world level. It seems like it's so far away, the goal of being world champion. But I kept saying to myself 'I'm going to be world champion and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get there'. And I showed up every day and put in the work and here I am. I'm on the cusp of it now, I've already had a world title fight, I'm close to having one again and I'm here to put it right."
On a world title shot in Australia: "If we can bring that a world title fight here and in some way replicate the atmosphere and the crowd that Jeff Horn had for his fight with Manny Pacquiao, it would just be phenomenal. It would be phenomenal for me, it would be phenomenal for the fans, and it would phenomenal for the country. It would really bring big time boxing back here. I know it was a dream of Jeff's before, a dream of Glenn's, and I want to be a part of that too. That's another goal of mine too, to make that happen. I'm under no illusion that I have to put in a big performance here if I want to get the support needed to bring a world title fight to Brisbane."
On moving to Australia: "I boxed on the Ireland amateur team for a few years and travelled the world with them. We came through Brisbane and I met a guy here who had a professional set up and stuff, so three years after that I was starting to think about going pro. Back then I had a bit of an offer from Boston and I had an offer from here. I remembered being here and it was beautiful and I had a cousin living here as well. I thought about the beautiful weather, the beautiful people here, and I just said 'you know what, I'll go back there and try that'. I thought it might only be for a year or something, but I just loved it here, I just loved it here and decided to stay. And even when I have had training camps and in Miami and Florida I kept coming back because I love it here."
Barthelemy-Ramirez Ends in Dubious Draw
A loud chorus of boos rang out as another controversial Las Vegas decision was rendered in tonight's Leduan Barthelemy vs. Eduardo Ramirez featherweight battle at the Cannery Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Ramirez, of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, seemed to have done more than enough to deserve the nod over a listless Barthelemy in the 10-round featherweight main event of a Premier Boxing Champions "Cuba vs. Mexico" TOE-TO-TOE TUESDAY event, televised nationally on FS1 & BOXEO DE CAMPEONES on FOX Deportes.
After 10 rounds of pounding and chasing the exhausted Cuban around the ring, often landing multi-punch combinations to the head and body, Ramirez and corner rightfully celebrated their well-deserved upset victory… But in Las Vegas boxing, nothing is certain, especially scoring.
While Judge Glen Trowbridge was able to pick the right winner at least (but by too tight a margin) at 96-94, the other two inexplicably scored the lopsided beating (Tim Cheatham) 95-95 and an unbelievable 97-93 Barthelemy from Patricia Morse Jarman.
This controversial scoring is the second time Las Vegas judges have made major blunders on national television in a short time, as it comes less than two weeks after the Canelo vs. GGG scoring debacle.
It is also not the first time Morse Jarman has been involved in controversial and highly questionable scoring.
Her decades of head-scratching scores include having Fernando Vargas ahead of Oscar De La Hoya at the time of De La Hoya's 11th round stoppage victory, as well as having Beibut Shumenov winning 117-111 in a fight against Gabriel Campillo that Campillo clearly dominated and was robbed. Also among her long list of missteps, Morse Jarman had Marco Antonio Barrera beating Nasim Hamed by a mere three points in a fight regarded by all (except Morse Jarman) as a one-sided beating.
With the "draw" Barthelemy escapes to 13-0-1, 7 KOs. Ramirez undeservedly sinks to 20-0-3, 7 KOs.


Unknown Ichnuemon - What's That Bug?
We live in Clearwater, FL and found this sort of waspy looking bug on the side of the garage. We've never seen anything quite like it and wondered if you could help us identify it! Thanks.
We believe this to be an Ichneumon. Ichneumons belong to the order Hymenoptera which includes wasps. Ichneumons are important parasite species that lay eggs singly on a host insect. The larva then begins to eat the internal organs which results in the death of the host. If it were not for Ichnuemons, other species of insects would overpopulate, hence they are important in the balance of nature.
Stump Stabber stepped on in Denver!!!
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I love those Polaroid cookies! Yum.
Yummy! But they're too cute to eat! Organizing a wedding event in Brisbane next week and I was thinking of suggesting edible favors because they're cheaper but are totally lovely too!
your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you've any? Please permit me recognize so that I may subscribe. Thanks.


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Empire of the Celestial Dragon: Book 1
Alison Goodman
Sixteen-year-old Eon has a dream, and a mission. For years, he's been studying sword-work and magic, toward one end. He and his master hope that he will be chosen as a Dragoneye-an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune.
But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a twelve-year-old boy. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; if anyone discovers she has been hiding in plain sight, her death is assured.
When Eon's secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a deadly struggle for the Imperial throne. Eon must find the strength and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic...and her life.
Eona
Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon's army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona's power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the selfstyled "Emperor" Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power - and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans. . . .
Eona, with its pulse-pounding drama and romance, its unforgettable fight scenes, and its surprises, is the conclusion to an epic only Alison Goodman could create.


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Chan Sau Chung 陳秀中, The Monkey King (May 6, 1934 in Hong Kong – February 7, 2020) was the Head of the Tai Shing Pek Kwar Kung Fu.
He was the protégé and sole successor of Gan Dak Hoi, of Tai Shing Pek Kwar Kung Fu.

Early training
Chan Sau Chung became a student of Gan Dak Hoi 耿德海 (Geng De Hai) when he was roughly 12 years old and has been practising ever since. Initially he was taught sanshou by Gan, however over time Gan began to teach him Da Sheng Pi Gua. Gan Dak Hoi had learned Pi Gua kung fu from his father, Master Gan Wing 耿榮貴. Gan Dak Hoi later invited Chan to study kung fu everyday and to help manage his school in Hong Kong. At the age of 16 years Chan quit his regular school and became a full-time teaching assistant to Gan Dak Hoi at the Hong Kong school.

Chan Sau Chung also learned Da Sheng Pi Gua from Gan Dak Hoi, who in turn had learned it from its founder Kau Sei (Kou Si) 寇四. Having learned the entire Pi Gua system, Gan Dak Hoi then taught his young protégé all five styles of Da Sheng Kung Fu.  As Chan's knowledge and expertise in Da Sheng Pi Gua grew Gan Dak Hoi would take him into the mountains outside of Hong Kong for special training in Da Sheng kung fu. This included walking tightropes, scrambling up ropes, rolling around on rocky ground and walking around in a slightly bow legged monkey styled squat until his legs burned. However, not all training included physical exercise as once or twice each week Chan would go to the Kam Shan Country Park (金山郊野公園) just outside Hong Kong to watch the monkeys play, fight, frolic and generally be themselves. He gradually incorporated their gestures, eye movements, facial expressions and their short sharp burst of speed in his kung fu routines.

Opening of first school
Chan Sau Chung and three of his batch mates Lam Sy Fun, Hiu Hoi and Chow Sing Fun were selected by Gan Dak Hoi and authorised to teach Da Sheng Pi Gua. In 1954, at the age of 22, Chan Sau Chung opened his first school in Hong Kong. It had only eleven students nonetheless, Chan Sau Chung was determined to continue teaching kung fu, things remained very slow and low-keyed until the late sixties when monkey kung fu burst onto the international scene.

Trainer of champions
In 1969, Chan's student Chan Goon Tai won five straight matches to claim the middleweight title in the Southeast Asia Open Martial Arts Tournament. For the next three years Chan sent a fighter who won his weight class. After having trained four South-east Asian champions, Chan Sau Chung retired. Over the years Chan Sau Chung has trained many students.

Hong Kong Kung Fu Association
Chan Sau Chung established the Hong Kong Kung Fu Association Ltd. in 1977 to better organise the kungfu community in Hong Kong. He was elected as the Chairman in 1978. Under his supervision, the Association gave many charity shows and all receipts from sales tickets were donated to charity institutions. The most significant one was the "Saving Child Sponsoring Schooling" campaign organized by the Hong Kong Wah Kiu Yat Poa. The Malaysian Government sent a Senior Governor to Hong Kong to invite him to give performance charity shows in Malaysia in 1978. He led a group of over 30 people and gave shows in 5 cities in Malaysia. Chan was also the chairman and consultant of the other major kungfu associations in Hong Kong, and he was the Permanent Honorary President & Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Association.

Da Sheng Pi Gua International Kung Fu Federation
Chan Sau Chung formally launched the Da Sheng Pi Gua International Kung Fu Federation in Hong Kong on December 7, 2000. It sought to lend organisation and structure on a worldwide basis, to the teaching of genuine Da Sheng Pi Gua Kung Fu together with this, the official Federation website was also launched.

The Federation's website offered site visitors a view into the origin, development and evolution of Da Sheng Pi Gua Kung Fu as well the option to learn Da Sheng Pi Gua Kung Fu by taking video courses. These courses were offered at four levels as follows:
 Beginner
 Intermediate
 Advanced and
 Masters.

Each level had its own costs and students would be provided with video taped lessons containing the curriculum for that level which included stances, strikes and various forms and were allowed to train at their own pace and at the point where they felt comfortable they were required to make video recording of themselves doing the forms and send these to the Federation for grading and assessment. At the Beginners level the stances and strikes were very basic and the forms were really an introduction to Pi Gua Kung Fu. As each student progressed, the material provided got more advanced and there was a gradual introduction to Da Sheng Kung Fu. It was mandatory that each student go through the natural progression of successfully completing each level, be assessed and if successful, permission would be granted to advance to the next higher level. No skipping of levels was allowed whatsoever. It was at the Advanced level that the student began learning advanced Monkey Forms. The length of time required to complete each level depended on each student, whether they were practising kung fu prior to commencing the program, how often they trained and how committed they were to the program. The Beginners level was expected to take anywhere from six to eighteen months, Intermediate was expected to last between twelve and thirty months, Advanced was expected to last between eighteen and forty months while at the Masters level the student would be required to train in Vancouver under direct supervision from Master Chan Kai Leung and Grandmaster Chan Sau Chung. The Master's level period of training could take upward of five years prior to successful completion. It is important to again note that no skipping of levels was allowed so no student could enter the program at the Master's level. Bear in mind also that there are five variations taught by the Federation (lost monkey, stone monkey, wooden monkey, tall monkey and the drunken monkey) and that there are upwards of one hundred and twenty-six weapon and empty hand forms. At various levels, approved students were permitted to participate in tournaments as members of the Da Sheng Pi Gua International Kung Fu Federation. Upon successful completion of the Master's level training, students would be graded and where appropriate certified by Grandmaster Chan Sau Chung to open their own Da Sheng Pi Gua Kung Fu schools.

Together with the video taped lessons, Intermediate level students were initially provided with a book written jointly by Chan Sau Chung and his son Chan Kai Leung, entitled "Essence Of The Monkey". This book gave very detailed insights into the development of Da Sheng Pi Gua Kung Fu and provided information obtained directly from Gan Dak Hoi himself etc. It also provided information on ALL students who were trained by Gan Dak Hoi and which ones were certified to teach Da Sheng Pi Gua Kung Fu. The Federation continues to update this family tree with the modern day students who have mastered all five variations but only those from the lineage previously certified by Gan Dak Hoi.

For reasons related to the preservation of information, the Federation came to the conclusion that it had to take down the website and make the "E
essence Of The Monkey" book available to its Advanced and Masters students only.

References

Sources

Martial arts school founders
1934 births
2020 deaths
Hong Kong kung fu practitioners

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: automysqlbackup failes with ERROR 1045 (18000) Access denied ... after password change I have two almost identical ubuntu database servers, and automysqlbackup  was happily running on both of them on using Percona 5.7 databases.
On one of them I have changed the database root password. Sucessfully apparently, as I can logon to the database via mysql -u root -p using the new password.
I updated the /etc/automysqlbackup/automysqlbackup.conf file to include the new root password.
BUT, then automysqlbackup always failed with the dreaded error 1045 for user 'root'@'localhost'.
Rebooting the server made no difference.
When I change the database root password back to what it was, then everything works OK; even though the /etc/automysqlbackup/automysqlbackup.conf file still has the 'changed/new' password!
So this one has me stumped. Does automysqlbackup cache the content of /etc/automysqlbackup/automysqlbackup.conf somewhere that I need to purge?

A: tracked this one down. The issue is that automysqlbackup is taking the password from /root/.my.cnf rather than from /etc/automysqlbackup/automysqlbackup.conf, even though the conf file is being used for some parameters.
Not clear why this is, but I am using this fork of automysqlbackup for 5.7 support which might have something to do with it.
So essentially, if you change the database password, then update the .my.cnf file, and the conf file too to make everything future proof.