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Classical music: How will Brexit affect classical music in Great Britain? Many musicians and audiences are preparing for the worst
London has long been a international hub of culture, with a special reputation as the home base of many of the great musicians who perform regularly on the Continent.
But how will "Brexit" affect the future of classical music and classical musicians in Great Britain?
Some pretty prominent, active and knowledgeable musicians, including the pianist-conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim, think it will be for the worst.
One sign is that the European Youth Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Adamik, and in the YouTube video at the bottom), which receives a subsidy from the European Union, is moving from London to the city of Ferrara in Italy before Great Britain exits from the European Union.
A particular cause of concern is what kind of confused logistics will happen if visas are required for British groups to tour and perform on the Continent, something that apparently has opera houses especially worried.
A recent story goes into more detail, including charges from Brexit defenders that musicians and representatives of the culture industries in general are being alarmist.
Here is the story, published by The Independent in the United Kingdom and then reproduced in the United States in The New York Times: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/brexit-classical-music-musicians-europe-vladimir-ashkenazy-daniel-barenboim-eu-a8483271.html
Leave your opinion in the COMMENT section.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BrassMusic, #DanielBarenboim, #EconomicNews, #EuropeanUnion, #EuropeanYouthOrchestra, #Ferrara, #JohannSebastianBach, #MusicEducation, #OperaCompany, #OperaHouse, #OrchestralMusic, #OrchestralPlayers, #PercussionMusic, #PoliticalNews, #StringMusic, #TheContinent, #TheIndependent, #TheNewYorkTImes, #UnitedKingdom, #UnitedStates, #VladimirAshkenazy, #WoodwindMusic, #WorldCulture, #YouTubevideo, active, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, blog, Brexit, Cello, Classical music, composer, conductor, culture, Daniel Barenboim, economics, England, European Union, European Youth Orchestra, global, great, industry, international, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, knowledgeable, logistics, London, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart, Music, Music education, Musician, New York Times, opera, Opera house, Orchestra, percussion, Pianist, Piano, Politics, prominent, reputation, strings, symphony, The Continent, tour, U.S., UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, Viola, Violin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Bach Musicians, with dancers and guest vocal soloists, will perform a tragic Purcell opera and comic Bach cantata this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon
This coming weekend the Madison Bach Musicians — an acclaimed local group devoted to period instruments and historically informed performance practices — will present a double bill that features the tragic opera "Dido and Aeneas" by British composer Henry Purcell (below top) and the comic "Coffee" Cantata, BWV 211, by Johann Sebastian Bach (below bottom).
Both performances take place in the Atrium Auditorium (below in a photo by Zane Williams) of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.
On Saturday, April 7, there is a 6:45 p.m.  lecture by MBM founder and artistic director Trevor Stephenson followed by a 7:30 p.m. performance.
On Sunday, April 8, there is a 2:45 p.m.  lecture by Trevor Stephenson followed by a 3:30 p.m. performance.
Purcell's vivid and eloquent operatic masterpiece, Dido and Aeneas is based on the tragic love story told in Book IV of Virgil's epic Latin poem "Aeneid"and is depicted in the 1815 painting (below) by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.
The performance of the Baroque opera uses a full baroque orchestra.
In addition there are three guest singers as soloists: Chelsea Shepherd (below top) as Dido; Elijah Blaisdell (below middle) as Aeneas; and Nola Richardson (below bottom) as Belinda.
Adding to the production are dance sequences, all coming together thanks to the collaboration of director David Ronis (below top in a photo by Luke Delalio) of the University Opera; Karen McShane-Hellenbrand (below middle) of the UW-Madison Dance Department; and Baroque-performance specialist conductor and UW bassoonist Marc Vallon (below bottom in a photo by James Gill).
J. S. Bach's witty Coffee Cantata will add some mischievous fun to the program.
This work suggests that perhaps Johann Sebastian himself was a coffee enthusiast at a time when coffee was sweeping the Continent and often seen as a sinful new fad. "Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee…." sings Lieschen in an aria that you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Bach even premiered and performed many of his works at Zimmermann's Coffeehouse in Leipzig, which he frequented and which is depicted below in an 18th-century engraving by Georg Schreiber.
As usual, MBM artistic director Trevor Stephenson (below) will offer his insightful and entertaining commentary on these two diverse masterworks in his lecture preceding each concert.
Tickets are $38, $35 for seniors and $10 for student rush tickets at the door if the concert is not sold out.
Advance tickets are available at the Willy Street Coops East and West. More information about the production and tickets can be found at madisonbachmusicians.org
Tags: #BachCantatas, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOpera, #BassoonMusic, #CoffeeCantata, #CoffeeHouse, #DidoAndAeneas, #EpicPoems, #EpicPoetry, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #GreatBritain, #HenryPurcell, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #JohannSebastianBach, #KIss, #LatinLiterature, #LatinPoetry, #LeipzigGermany, #LoveStory, #MadisonBachMusicians, #PeriodInstruments, #Sin, #Sinful, #TheAeneid, #TheContinent, #UnitedKingdom, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, Aeneas, aria, Artistic director, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Baroque opera, Bassoon, British, cafe, Cantata, Cello, choral music, Classical music, classics, coffee, comedy, comic, composer, Concert, conductor, dance, Dido, Early music, earlymusic, eloquent, engraving, epic, etching, fad, founder, Germany, Henry Purcell, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, kisses, Latin, lecture, Leipzig, Love, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Music, new, opera, operatic, Orchestra, painting, performance, Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, poem, Poetry, production, senior, singer, Singing, soloist, song, story, Student, sweet, tragedy, Tragic, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vergil, Viola, Violin, vivid, vocal music, Wine, Wisconsin, YouTube


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AQUA – "Barbie Girl"
Tom • Popular • 72 comments • 11,920 views
#776, 1st November 1997
Branding, unsurprisingly, started with cows. When it moved from livestock to consumer goods, it expanded from a mark of ownership to a mark of consistency, but also of quality. As Andy Warhol put it in 1965, "All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it." The same went for Barbie.
What this meant was brand owners could begin to decouple consistency and quality. If all the Cokes are good, they need not actually be the same. You can have Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke. You can have coke bottled in Bialystok and Bilbao. You can have squirts of Coke syrup mixed with nozzled soda water, and by the power of the brand, all of it is Coke. The material existence of the product and the symbolic existence of the brand become more separated than ever but also more mutually dependent. Marketing, advertising, research (and a chunk of Warhol's art) is very often about understanding and exploiting the relationship between them. The product Barbie creates the brand Barbie, but the brand Barbie is what then makes the existence of Ken possible.
By the late-90s – when I sold out and started working in the 'communications industry' – excitement in the symbolic side of branding had reached a new level. Much of the talk was around the intangible assets a brand represented on a balance sheet – its "equity". But the new models of branding held that those assets sprang from a brand's existence as a symbol for something wider than just a product range – what it represented in people's mind beyond the product. Escape. Joy. Security. Rebellion. This was its brand image, or brand personality. Coca-Cola, for instance, meant happiness. Volkswagen meant safety. As for Barbie, Barbie meant fun, imagination and aspiration – three qualities the brand knotted firmly together. "With Barbie", gushes the Superbrands site, "A little girl can be whatever she wants to be!". A paragraph or two before they write "Barbie is always successful… always fun."
Marketers and businesses loved this new emphasis on the symbolic aspect of branding. For a start, if a brand could plausibly claim to be different because of its 'personality', it could make savings at the sharp end, in production and quality control. But more – aligning a brand with happiness or fun ennobled it, and let marketers see themselves as something more creative than simple businessmen. Like artists, brand owners had their hands deep in the clay of the human psyche, manipulating powerful, ancient ideas. Research into brands became ever more focused on brand image – whether or not people could detect their symbolic identities.
This emphasis on brand image had two huge potential flaws. First, business people were not especially good at the manipulation of symbols. They tended to approach brand in the same way they had approached production – something to be set, scaled up and controlled. They wanted their brands not just to be symbols, but fixed symbols, which left them running to catch up with more playful or imaginative uses of their brand. "Subverting" a brand is one of the oldest tricks in the DIY artist's book, but it works partly because brands are – or were – so uptight about their symbolic potential.
The other flaw is that brand image glossed over the other side of branding – the everyday reality of the product. And not just the often awful conditions in which it's made. Marketing books are full of stories of managers spending time with the people who actually bought their stuff and being astonished at what they actually did with it. The idea that the intended use of something and its actual uses are different is a no-brainer for any critic, just like the idea that fixed symbols are vulnerable to inversion and playful manipulation – but marketers have rarely paid much attention to critics.
"Barbie Girl" works because it hits both of these brand flaws at once. It starts from part of the everyday reality of dolls which is absolutely familiar to most adolescents but which Mattel can't directly admit: one of the things bored kids of a certain age do with toys is make them have sex. And then it exploits the Barbie brand's attempt at being a fixed symbol for fun by making Barbie's chirpy sexy funtimes be an exploitative relationship with a leering brute.
For me, both of these succeed because of the other – it means "Barbie Girl" doesn't settle down into commentary or crassness. Crassness on its own gets you "Cotton Eyed Joe". Commentary on its own is more worthy, but ends up fighting fun with not-fun, often to their mutual bafflement. Aqua, very obviously, are flirting with crassness a lot more than anything else, but they're also happily complicating their hooks-first annoyance value at the same time as they push it unashamedly hard.
Their best – meaning funniest – asset in all this is René Dif as "Ken", playing the Einar to Lene Nystrom's Bjork. At the time some critics took "Barbie Girl" entirely at face value and condemned its Neanderthal attitudes and/or gross materialism – criticisms that really shouldn't survive their first brush with Dif's saucer-eyed, wolfish voice, which is absolutely committed but an easy tip off that whatever else this record is, it's not seriously endorsing much of anything. Most of the rest of the anti-Aqua focused on the record's hammering catchiness – "Barbie Girl" infuriated enough people to be voted the worst record of the 90s in Rolling Stone, only three years ago. People can't choose what annoys them, of course, so all I can say is that this song doesn't bother me. Aqua – like most Europop – are remorseless in their dedication to earworming you, and accept your later loathing as collateral damage. After four weeks I was as pleased as anyone for Barbie to bugger off back to her dream home, but I'm happy to hear the record now.
The third big criticism of "Barbie Girl" is that it sexualised Barbie. There's no way of refuting this – it's much of the point of the record, and even if the lyrics had no undressing or hanky panky, the entire duet dynamic relies on smutty oversinging, So why not go all in? Another way of hearing "Barbie Girl" is as a consensual kink scene – playing dolls as playing roles. The (glorious) video even backs this up to an extent: Barbie World may well be Barbie's world, but Lene and René are certainly making no attempt to cosplay Barbie and Ken ("Why is Ken bald?" cry several of the 110 million YouTube viewers). They're tourists here, having a splashy delight of a time, acting like naughty toys. In the final scenes someone dressed very like an actual Ken shows up, and looks – like Mattel – entirely horrified.
A footnote: In my outline of branding I've stuck to the past tense because attitudes have shifted a little recently – the Internet has forced brand image to become more flexible and has seen a huge surge of interest in 'user experience' which connects brands and products more intimately. This will end up being important to Popular – honest! – as you can also see a difference in how pop acts are conceived and marketed. Meanwhile, Aqua's ambiguity is something a savvier company can and will catch up with – after years of embarrassingly trying to sue the band, Mattel inevitably ended up in 2009 just adapting "Barbie Girl" for an ad campaign.
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flahr on 1 Apr 2014 #
This song marks the only occasion on which my music writing for the student newspaper ever received comment. I did a 'classic album' review of Aquarium, and as an adjunct to that wrote a rather long* thinkpiece on the feminist implications of "Barbie Girl" (readable here) – this was, of course, too long/borin^H^H^H^H^Havant-garde for the paper, but they supplied my email address at the end of the article for anyone who wanted to read it to contact me via.
A week later, I received an email – from the editor of the newspaper, formally apologising to me for publishing my email address, since it transpires this was against the newspaper's code of practice.
Anyway, this is an occasion where the bunnies are so much better that I think of "Barbie Girl" as bland by comparison and somewhat resent its being so much more famous. Good drumming tho'. 5?
*'rather long' to be taken in comparison with the paper's typical Christgau-sized reviews – it's probably shorter than most of Punctum's opening sentences
JLucas on 1 Apr 2014 #
For me this song is at the absolute pinnacle of its genre (i.e. gleefully novelty Euro-pop).
I love Aqua. A little of their chipmunky pop-art goes a long way, but they were always a lot smarter than their critics gave them credit for.
I also adore a forthcoming Bunny where they briefly wrong-footed everyone who wrote them off as a one-trick pony. But we'll get to that.
Izzy † on 1 Apr 2014 #
Woah, I had completely forgotten about this. Such a magnificent, clever, catchy, cheeky, hooky record, it is pure joy. 'Absolute pinnacle of its genre' is right. (10)
Chelovek na lune on 1 Apr 2014 #
Fabulous write-up around what is really a pretty fabulous *product* (the video being a near-essential accompaniment to the song). Lene's strained little-girl-lost voice – clearly put on as part of the act – would be grating at greater length, but, along with René's vocal leering, it's all part of the show, and key to the chararacterisation.
Good, unexpectedly intelligent, pop that reveals itself as a delight once the initial, quite possibly intended, sense of irritation has worn away. 8.
(on branding, and as a not entirely unrelated aside: to my knowledge only one Scando-pop act has had their name, or a slight variant thereof, adopted by a mobile phone operator: Ace&Base, serving Ukraine a few years after the height of the melancholy Swedes' fame. Can't help thinking an Aqua-fon might have been a bit more playfully, engagingly, fun)
lonepilgrim on 1 Apr 2014 #
I don't remember seeing the video before – but it's a lot of fun. That and the song are like a poppier response to 'In Every Dream Home a Heartache'.
hectorthebat on 1 Apr 2014 #
Sample watch: The drums are from "Give it Up" by The Goodmen, and are therefore the same drums as on Fairground by Simply Red.
James BC † on 1 Apr 2014 #
My brother played this on repeat while I was on the computer. When I hear it I still see Sim Tower.
Seb Patrick † on 1 Apr 2014 #
As an indie music-loving teenager, obviously I hated this when it was out – and yes, would probably still hate it if it were on the radio all the time. Nowadays, when it's more commonly encountered on late night music television or in karaoke booths, I faintly love it to the extent that I'd have given it a higher mark than 6.
Kinitawowi † on 1 Apr 2014 #
Torn.
'Nuff said.
6: I'm absolutely gobsmacked by this! I mean it's obvious now that I know, but so many times I heard this record and never even noticed the beat, let alone placed it.
thefatgit † on 1 Apr 2014 #
Time has been kind to "Barbie Girl". I tend to smile when I hear it. And I too, believe it has a deeper feminist message, like "The Land Of Make Believe" was a critique on Thatcherism, BG held up a mirror to what the Patriarchy expected young girls "should" aspire to. Yes, BG is much more feminist than any declaration of Girl Power. Not that BG made me think about the Patriarchy in 1997. When I first heard this on the radio, I thought it was Whigfield with a comeback single. Aqua? Who is this Aqua? MTV provided the answer with the bright cartoon-coloured video. It definitely put a different spin on the song, watching Rene's leery "come on Barbie/let's go party" interjections. But a pop song as seemingly simple as this can be fashioned to fit anyone's view, for good or ill. Either skip along the surface and see it as nothing more than a song about a doll, or delve deeper and think about how a little girl's interactions with her doll is how they make sense of the world they exist in. And how a male-dominated society skews their dreams and ambitions. How girls are taught to apologise for being girls, how the burden of being a girl in a man's world, means everything from hair to shoes is so much hassle.
What do boys have to do? Mostly keep their pits and privates clean and wander through life without having to worry about what others think of them, or if anyone is following them or judging them or if today's the day they get raped.
My daughter played with Barbie and Cindy, her British competitor. She was too old for those Hip Hop usurpers, Bratz. The Cindy dolls used to belong to her mum. The Barbies were birthday and Christmas presents, presented in garish Pepto-Bismol pink boxes with accessories and outfits and shoes. The outfits for both were interchangeable, although Cindy's paisley leisure-suits and maxi-dresses clashed with Barbie's on-point '90s fashions. It didn't matter. What difference is there between Twiggy and Cher Horowitz to a 10 year-old girl? They all ended up with back-combed hair poking out of pink or yellow hair-bands, lined up in a row as my daughter re-enacted school more often than not. Ken never got a look in. Ken never featured in her world. After what seemed like a few short months, they all ended up back in the box in the attic as her attentions turned to Beanie Babies. Such is the fate of all Barbies, one supposes, packed in a box in the attic until the next generation come along to play with them again. Barbie doesn't rot. Barbie will "outlive" us all. One hopes the attitudes that Barbie helps to reinforce, wont.
mapman132 † on 1 Apr 2014 #
Since I've been following this site regularly, I've tried to guess what Tom's rating is going to be based on his past preferences. Sometimes I do better than other times (The Verve's low rating surprised me; CITW's did not), but this record may have been the hardest to guess yet. Brilliant piece of catchy satire, or cheesy piece of annoying crap? I was pretty sure 10 wasn't happening, but honestly any score from 1 to 9 would not have shocked me.
So I'm happy to see it get a decent score. I myself am wavering between 7 and 8 – it seems the very definition of "earworm". I wouldn't want to hear it over and over again, but in small doses, it's quite fun. And making fun of a well-known brand is just an added bonus.
Back in 97, this was one of those occasional hits that was unique enough to inspire its own newspaper articles. In fact, I think this may have been how I was introduced to it, reading about it before I actually heard it on the radio. It peaked at #7 on the Hot 100, which understated its US impact as I think its chart life was affected by a limited single release which may have in turn been caused by Mattel's legal pressure at the time. I remember the video was particularly popular – kind of a Youtube-type meme before there was a Youtube. It spent multiple weeks atop the request chart of video channel The Box, which was otherwise dominated by hardcore rap videos that MTV wouldn't touch.
This song appeared to be a classic one-hit wonder at the time, but as we know, we'll be encountering Aqua twice more here. Of course, this wouldn't be the last time a successful career would be launched with what many would consider a novelty hit – a far more spectacular example will occur 11 years later….
JR1 on 1 Apr 2014 #
This was a fun track. The female singer sounded like she was channeling early Madonna (though with, of course, less impressive musical results).
Andrew Farrell † on 1 Apr 2014 #
#12 That's quite unfair to Alexandra Burke, I can't help thinking…
anto on 1 Apr 2014 #
I've never really associated it with Barbie as in Mattel's Barbie. Maybe because she doesn't have blonde hair. It hardly matters as I think this is chronic gunk, facing in the opposite direction, ho hum.
nixon † on 1 Apr 2014 #
Kind of surprised nobody has drawn parallels between the Girl Power marketing of the last entry and this. Barbie the brand found itself unwillingly repositioned in the 90s, and not in a flattering way – Mattel may have been baffled that their creation had stopped being progressive (she can be a surgeon! She can be black! Well, one of her friends is, but it's the same basic doll extruded in dark brown plastic, does it matter if we put a different name on the box?)
But this record plays to the new cultural shorthand image of Barbie, seemingly obvious though actually relatively recent (in terms of the doll's lifespan): the perception of Barbie as an airheaded bimbo, a vapid woman with a defined and defining role in a patriarchy, not only an unsuitable role model but actually a potentially damaging influence, from body image to intellectual ambition to relationships.
One of my favourite things about the record is that it plays Barbie as a pathetic, tragic figure (I won't say "sad" as it's not actually made clear whether the narrator is meant to be happy with her lot). To take Tom's imagery one step further, at what point does a doll being put through the motions of sex become an out and out sex doll?
By using Barbie as an implied pejorative – take a good look, girls, is this REALLY what you want to be? – I think it becomes a kind of cautionary tale which makes a great deal more of an effective Girl Power point than, say, prancing about in your pants, or a Union Jack dress. Had the Spice Girls dolls hit the market at this point?
Also, it's maddening in its catchy pounding, which is great. 7 or 8 for me.
ciaran † on 2 Apr 2014 #
I was half dreading going near this one as I expected a hostile reception given the 'worst song/Number 1 ever' existence it has had to endure but I'm delighted to read the largely positive comments so far. Don't know if this is the best comparison but it seems like the 'Japanese Boy' of the 90s.
When you consider what Tom has had to endure since Hanson I wouldn't be annoyed with BG at all. Fair dues for Aqua to make a universal single – wish i'd thought of it.
The package is what sells it here. Fun name, Cracking video, Inspired title.You couldn't ignore it really.Like CITW perfect for substituting your own words to it which was surely done everywhere but unlike CITW a very welcome listen.
A 7 for sure. Best get back to proper geezer music like Oasis/Blur now and pretend that I'm outraged by this!
taDOW on 2 Apr 2014 #
heymanrememberthenineties? love how this is a mix of 90s ironic anti-corporatism (by this point hardening into an adbusters/baffler shell) and boom economy giddiness. for me in 97 it was part of a string of ridiculously shameless pop singles that i fell in love w/ that summer, each better than the last, 'barbie girl' being preceded by los umbrellos' now forgotten 'no tengo dinero' and followed by the chumbawumba's still recurrent 'tubthumping'. it occurs to me now that all three play w/ that 'children of marx and coca cola' dynamic. i played the hell out of stereolab that summer as well.
listening to 'barbie girl' now what strikes me isn't the obv lol 90s aspect of it but how surprisingly contemporary this thing could be, released today it would be obvious clickbait pop a la 'gangnam style' and 'the fox', the sort of corrupting force in the charts whose presence at #1 would be indicative of how things are wrong now, how the internet has changed everything. still, it's no 'tubthumping'. it's no 'gangnam style' either. 6.
Jarman † on 2 Apr 2014 #
As someone who is not much a fan of Europop by any meas, "Barbie Girl" kind of terrifies me because it does something I don't think should be done and it does it very, very well — probably better than anyone ever has. This absolutely deserved to be a number one hit, for better or worse.
tonya † on 2 Apr 2014 #
I can't separate this from all the feminist Barbie theory I read in the early 90's. Her lack of a real response to the "c'mon Barbie let's go party" also makes me think of the college consent codes and no-means-no culture. There's no way I could have not seen this as a feminist record in 1997. 8 or 9 from me, it might be a 10 if I could stand Ken (Einar's) voice.
Re Coca Cola: I knew someone who attended a presentation by a senior Coca-Cola executive in 1981 or so, and the exec said "Coke is only ever Coke, and there will never be a Diet Coke."
Billy Hicks on 2 Apr 2014 #
My Dad, who had recently turned the age of thirty, picked me up from school one autumn afternoon. "I just heard the worst song ever!" he said in the car on the way home, eager to hear my reaction. "It goes 'I'm a Barbie Girl in a Barbie world'?!" I laughed, thinking he was joking. Soon enough I heard for real what he was talking about.
This outpeaked 'Wannabe' as the song that I decided I hated more than anything else in the world. It was about GIRLS and only girls liked it, stupid icky girls and I bet whoever likes this likes the Spice Girls as well. Any irony or parody went completely over my head – indeed I thought the song was a complete celebration/idolisation of Barbie and would not have been surprised had I learned it was produced by Mattel themselves. So I made up my own version to amuse in the school playground. Sadly today I only remember half of it, starting with "You can eat my hair, and throw me anywhere, imagination, nothing's your creation". Then Ken's bit turned into "Barbie I don't want to go party". My fellow Year 4s judged it hilarious, and for the first time – if briefly – I could actually consider myself cool, even with the older Year 6s.
Can't really bring myself to give it more than a 6 today as I never had that real liking of the song over a million others did, but agreed production-wise it *is* the late 1990s and a very well put together song. What I didn't know was that they'd get better, to the point where by 1998 I could happily call myself a fan of theirs!
swanstep † on 2 Apr 2014 #
Tom, I find your 'two huge potential flaws' paragraphs difficult to follow: is the difference between the two flaws just the difference between two sorts of audience? Semiotic sophisticates/subversives will turn your product on its head for their own ends, ….and so will, to a smaller but more potent degree, kids' own uses of the product. On this reading, Aqua are both arch sophisticates and kids who grew up ripping their dolls' arms off, etc.. Is that what you're saying? But if so how does that distinguish them from everyone else who's mutilated a few dolls in the name of high art/protest, etc, e.g., Cindy Sherman?
I tend to think that Aqua differ from Sherman, et al. in that they have at least some affection for the damn doll and the idealized happy life it represents (not so different, after all, from the glamorous world of pop videos or the fashions of Clueless), and ingeniously their song tries to not only get inside Barbie's head but also make sense of a whole strand of persistently ludicrous pop music, i.e., as what Barbie and Ken listen to.
I didn't get this myself immediately at the time, but I was brought up short when my ultra-feminist g/friend dug the hell out of the tune. Part of her response was just that, ha, she loved to set aside the weight of the world and bop around to Hi-NRG pop, but the other side was the track's true ingenuity which she had to explain to me. Just as The Matrix's master-stroke (and the thing it had over all of the other'90s 'virtual reality' films (13th Floor, Existenz, etc.) was that it provided a kind of retrospective explanation for martial arts movies ('they can do all their wild moves because they're in a mind-constituted Matrix'). Similarly, Aqua's master-stroke is retrospectively explaining everything from The Archies to SAW to 2 Unlimited to Whigfield (and predicting the appeal of Nsync, Krazy Bunny, What does the Bunny say?, etc.).
Note that there was plenty of griping but amusing thought in the early '90s to the effect that 'that bitch Barbie *is* everywhere, she *can* do anything'. Here's Kathleen Hanna in Melody Maker in 1994:
"You know how there's a Rap Barbie doll? We in Bikini Kill have got this feeling that they're gonna start manufacturing a Riot Barbie. And she'll come packaged with a little beat-up guitar, some miniature spray paints that don't work and a miniature list of dumb revolutionary slogans like 'Riot Coke just for the taste of it'."
One person's subversion is another person's brand extension and occupation of every niche I suppose. Anyhow, BG both depicts Barbie's World and raises the question of the extent to which that's the real world. That's conceptually superb in the way that 'Setting Sun' was, or 'Relax' and 'Two Tribes' were. The music's not quite at the level of Aqua's follow-up tracks, but this is their conceptual high-point and in my books it's an easy:
weej † on 2 Apr 2014 #
The thing I loved about Aqua was their ability to present adult life in all its complexity as a fun game for everyone to play. The videos are an essential part of this, and Barbie Girl in particular is a complete success – a parody, a cultural critique and social commentary all rolled into one, but never feeling preachy or pessimistic. Other examples of this sort of thing tend to have too much of a knowing wink about them, but Aqua are happy to invite everyone, whether they 'get it' or not.
A 9 for me.
Swanstep @22 – The Fox isn't a bunny, in fact it only got to number 17 in the UK. Surprisingly enough for such a big novelty hit it only got to #1 in Norway.
@weej, 23. Thanks for that clarification. I don't pay close attention to the charts these days, but I tend to just assume that if I hear about it (esp. through my nieces and nephews) then it must have topped the charts (and charts seem so close to uniform across the world these days). In this case the enthusiasm of my young relatives for the track – in their world it was huge! – misled me.
Cumbrian on 2 Apr 2014 #
On branding: I appreciated Tom's opening to this entry. I have a (possibly inside baseball) question on this though. I work in market research for a company that makes stuff for kids and, through that work, have struggled to work out whether kids (below a certain age at least) have any real concept of brands, at least that they can articulate. When you ask them about their favourite toy/TV channel/game/website and why it's their favourite, they don't tend to say things that you tend to think of as brandable (a good example is TV channels, where they tend to say something is a favourite because it's got x, y and z show and I like them – not that the channel itself is funny, interesting, dramatic, etc). In some respects, this is quite refreshing – kids won't just swallow any old rubbish that you're trying to tell them about some product or other. This has lead us down the route of advertising features of the products rather than anything more brand led or sophisticated, that kids just don't appear to get. On the other hand, there are branding elements that clearly work for kids, even if they can't articulate it (monkeys advertising Coco Pops for instance).
So, when it comes to down to it, who is the branding around Barbie for? Is it for the kids – and it's having some subconscious effect, or is it for the parents (who will probably be the gatekeeper for whether Barbie is put in their child's hands)? Or both in some measure?
On the song: this is alright, I reckon. Satire wrapped in europop that I don't really want to listen to more than a couple of times. Tied into the above though, I'm not sure that the actual point of it would have been got by children – not that this necessarily matters, though I guess it might – so I look at it as a weirdly adult message wrapped in something that might appeal to children, like a good Pixar movie. I would have been up for Torn getting a week at #1 out of Aqua's 4 though. Would have been nice to have both.
Tom on 2 Apr 2014 #
#25 Young kids react to branding on a fairly visceral logo-association level (the cattle/consistency level) – every now and then you'll get a horror-story poll going round about 3 year olds recognising McDonalds but not their own surname (or something). The thing about shows and channels is interesting – kids don't particularly care about umbrella brands like a channel or a supermarket, and they don't really get branding in that sense, but they do get congruence (which underpins a lot of branding). I used to play a game with my kids called "Daddy Got It Wrong" where I would get details of a show wrong by inserting some character from a different show eg "My favourite episode of Chuggington is where Spud switches the signals so all the Chuggers get confused", which was the cue for the 3-year old in question to bellow "DADDY GOT IT WRONG" and explain that Spud was in a different programme.
But I think that changes fairly early. CBBC/Cbeebies (as we'll be talking about very soon!) is a good example, because the branding is grounded in something the kids do think about once they start school – is this babyish/something I've grown out of? I think a more adult sense of branding starts creeping in too – my 7 year old just had to do the "what do you want to do when you grow up?" talk at school, and his answers (footballer and videogame designer) included the detail that he would be a designer for "Nintendo or Activision".
Said 7 year old also found "Barbie Girl" hilarious and horrifying, unfortunately because "it's for girls" rather than anything else. (My 4 year old loved it and ran around going "Barbie let's go party!" for ages.) Which is the really pernicious element of branding and kids – the stuff that works tends to be the stuff that goes with the grain of gender-specificity in the culture, which in turn creates even more of it.
"Torn" is definitely one of those songs that 'should' have been a number one but to be honest I've never liked it that much and I'm no sadder that I don't get to write about eg Texas.
iconoclast † on 2 Apr 2014 #
I remember this as being simultaneously aggressively inane and infuriatingly catchy, both to a high degree; however, at seventeen years' remove it comes across more as harmless, albeit mildly enjoyable, nonsense. I can't help wondering what was wrong with her voice, though. SIX.
#22 The two flaws are related, certainly – they both center on the way branding leads to a kind of corporate self-absorbtion. The first though is a sin of commission – companies trying to fix the abstract/symbolic meaning of their brand which leaves them (more) vulnerable to other people's play with it – or just to the drift in meaning that comes from them being unable to control who buys it. (There's another related issue – the belief in "target demographics" – but that's actually more relevant to the next two entries…)
The second flaw is a sin of omission – marketers caring so much about their brand that they lose touch with how it 'works' in the real world. This has a much easier solution – it's not actually that difficult to do "consumer ethnography" or UX. I think you're quite right about the difference: the enthusiasm for the product – which is definitely part of Aqua's deal – is crucial here. Aqua are making dolls have sex as a version of 'playing with dolls', it's still playful and silly and imaginative i.e. still well within the use-cases of a toy.
Rory on 2 Apr 2014 #
Cumbrian @25: "Parents … will probably be the gatekeeper for whether Barbie is put in their child's hands" underestimates the devastating power of the wrapped Christmas/birthday present from extended family.
If this was number 1 when you were born paste [stork-boy] or [stork-girl] into the start of your comment :)
I'm writing about every UK number one single, in order. It's taken a while, it'll take a while longer. Wander around in the archives, or join in with the marvellous bunch of commenters we've managed to attract - new voices always very welcome!
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A warning that smog was blowing into Japan from China has led to sales of air purifiers rising.
The devices are used to help combat air pollution and provide a cleaner living environment.
A meeting has been proposed between officials from Tokyo and Beijing in order to take action over the persistent problem.
According to data from the Japan Electronics Manufacturers' Association, there was a 48 per cent rise in the sales of air purifiers, compared to February 2012, after the country warned its residents about the smog.
This equates to 450,000 units being sold in one month alone.
Reuters said that local media has also been citing pollution as a cause for concern, while the Japanese environment ministry has said that higher than usual pollution levels could leave tens of thousands of people suffering from allergies.
The smog in China is caused by both industry and the sheer number of cars on the country's roads, which is why manufacturers are working hard to invent cleaner ways of motoring.


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text:
Mr. Raouf Mazou
Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Mr. Raouf Mazou took up his appointment as Assistant High Commissioner for Operations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva on 1 February 2020. Prior to this appointment, he was the Director of the Africa Bureau in 2019 and the UNHCR Representative in Kenya for over five years. In the four years immediately preceding this assignment, he was a Deputy Director in the Africa Bureau, covering the East and Horn of Africa Region. Other senior positions he has occupied in UNHCR include: Deputy Director of the Division of Operations Support and Head of the Emergency and Security Service, a position in which he oversaw UNHCR's global emergency management and staff security interests. Having served UNHCR for over 28 years, Mr. Mazou has worked in the field in many capacities, starting in the early nineties in the Great Lakes Region and subsequently in West Africa, in the context of the Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugee crises. He has garnered expertise in various areas of UNHCR's activities, particularly in emergency response, repatriation and the development of strategies aimed at bridging the gap between relief and development.
Mr. Mazou holds a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is fluent in English and French.
SESSIONS BY Mr. Raouf Mazou
PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES FOR INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT


text:
\section{Introduction}\label{intro}
The formation of the elements in the Universe is
closely related to the weak interactions between neutrinos and matter.
From the light elements made in the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis to the heavy elements that
are made by the neutron-capture processes in explosive
astrophysical environments, neutrino interactions
can interchange protons and neutrons (free or inside the nucleus)
and play an important role in shaping the neutron-richness
of the baryonic matter. In the explosive astrophysical
events such as core-collapse supernovae and
mergers of binary neutron stars or a neutron star with
a black hole, the role of neutrinos in determining
the property of the ejected matter and the outcome of the
associated nucleosynthesis has been extensively studied,
mostly using hydrodynamical simulations with detailed
neutrino transport equations
and post-processing the nucleosynthesis
by an extended nuclear reaction network
(e.g.,~\citep{Martinez-Pinedo:2013jna,Just:2014fka}).

However, an important aspect that currently cannot
be modelled in the hydrodynamical simulations is the quantum
phenomenon of neutrino flavor oscillations.
As neutrinos with different flavors interact differently with
matter, any mechanism that alters the flavor
of the neutrinos after their production can potentially
affect the prediction of the matter property and the
outcome of the nucleosynthesis (e.g.,~\citep{Duan:2010af,MartinezPinedo:2011br}).

Neutrino flavor oscillations which arise from the mixing
between their flavor eigenstates and the mass eigenstates have
successfully accounted for the results of terrestrial and Solar neutrino experiments.
In fact, nearly all the mixing parameters are precisely measured, except for the
sign of the atmospheric mass-squared difference and the CP violating
phase(s) \citep{Agashe:2014kda}.
However, in the extreme astrophysical environments,
due to the high baryonic density which can be
higher than the nuclear saturation density and the high temperature,
large neutrino number density which is comparable to the densities of baryons and
electrons is typically present.
As a result, neutrino self-interactions that must be considered in
modelling their flavor oscillations lead to a non-linear coupling between
the different neutrino quantum states.
Despite numerous works studying neutrino flavor oscillations
in those environments during the past decade
(see e.g.,~\citep{Duan:2010bg,Duan:2015cqa} for reviews and the references therein),
it remains a challenging and exciting problem to be solved
in order to fully appreciate the role of neutrinos in supernova explosions
and in the nucleosynthesis of elements. In this article, we discuss some of
our recent works along this direction in improving
the link between neutrino flavor oscillations and
the nucleosynthesis of elements, particularly in core-collapse supernovae.

\section{Neutrino flavor oscillations in medium}\label{sec-form}
For neutrino flavor oscillations in the dilute gas limit such that
neutrinos kinematically decouple from matter,
the equation of motion for the neutrino density matrix
$\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})$ is given by \citep{Vlasenko:2013fja}
\begin{equation}\label{eq-eomfull}
\frac{\partial\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})}{\partial t}+
\mathbf{\hat v}\cdot\nabla\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})
=-i[H(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p}),\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})].
\end{equation}
The Wigner-transformed density matrix $\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})$ can be explicitly written
in the flavor basis for the active neutrinos:
\begin{equation}\label{eq-dmtr}
\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})=
\left [
\begin{array}{ccc}
\varrho_{ee} & \varrho_{e\mu} & \varrho_{e\tau} \\
\varrho_{e\mu}^* & \varrho_{\mu\mu} & \varrho_{\mu\tau} \\
\varrho_{e\tau}^* & \varrho_{\mu\tau}^* & \varrho_{\tau\tau} \\
\end{array}
\right ],
\end{equation}
where the diagonal terms $\varrho_{\alpha\alpha}(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})
=f_{\nu_\alpha}(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})$ are the statistical phase-space
distribution functions of neutrinos with flavor $\alpha$.
The off-diagonal (correlation) terms encode the information of neutrino flavor mixing.
The Hamiltonian $H(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})=H_{\rm vac}(p)+H_m(t,\mathbf{x})+H_{\nu\nu}(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})$
contains the contribution from the vacuum neutrino mixing, neutrino forward-scattering
with matter \citep{Mikheev:1986gs,Wolfenstein}, and neutrino forward-scattering among themselves
\citep{Fuller:1987,Pantaleone:1992eq,Sigl:1992fn}.
$H_{\rm vac}(p)=UM^2U^\dagger/2p$ where $U$ is the unitary mixing matrix,
$M={\rm diag}(m_1,m_2,m_3)$ with $m_i$ being the mass of the $i$th neutrino
mass eigenstate. $H_m(t,\mathbf{x})=\sqrt{2}G_F
[n_e(t,\mathbf{x}){\rm diag}(1,0,0)-n_n(t,\mathbf{x})\mathbbm{I}_{3\times 3}/2]$,
$n_e(t,\mathbf{x})$ is the net electron number density
and $n_n(t,\mathbf{x})$ is the neutron number density.
The $\nu$-$\nu$ Hamiltonian
\begin{equation}
H_{\nu\nu}(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})=
\frac{\sqrt{2}G_F}{(2\pi)^3}\int d^3q (1-\mathbf{\hat p}\cdot\mathbf{\hat q})
\lbrace\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{q})-\bar\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{q})+
{\rm Tr}[\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{q})-\bar\varrho(t,\mathbf{x},\mathbf{q})]\mathbbm{I}_{3\times 3}\rbrace,
\end{equation}
where $\bar\varrho$ is the density matrix for antineutrinos defined
in the same way as in Eq.~(\ref{eq-dmtr}).
In the above equations, we have neglected the sub-leading terms
in the Hamiltonian which
can cause the helicity coherence \citep{Vlasenko:2013fja} and
the beyond-mean-field correlations \citep{Volpe:2013uxl}.

The above formulation can be easily generalized to describe the
flavor mixing between active neutrinos and the sterile neutrinos ($\nu_s$)
by enlarging $\varrho$ to include the components $\varrho_{\alpha s}$
that however do not contribute to the Hamiltonian $H_{\nu\nu}$
in the leading order. Therefore, the only change to the Hamiltonian
is the addition of vacuum mixing entries in $H_{\rm vac}$.

\section{Collective neutrino oscillations and supernova nucleosynthesis}\label{sec-cno}
To apply the above formalism in the astrophysical environments
such as supernovae, we first assume that all neutrinos decouple
from matter kinematically at a sharp neutrinosphere $r=R$.
We further make the assumptions that the supernova environment is
spatially spherically-symmetric, temporally stationary during the
time of neutrino propagation, and the flavor evolution of neutrinos
preserves these symmetries. In this case, Eq.~(\ref{eq-eomfull}) can
be reduced to :
\begin{equation}\label{eq-eomred}
\frac{d\varrho(t,r,u,E)}{dr}=-i[H(t,r,u,E),\varrho(t,r,u,E)],
\end{equation}
where $E$ is the neutrino energy, $u=\cos\theta_{\rm em}$
with $\theta_{\rm em}$ being the emission angle of the neutrinos
from the neutrinosphere w.r.t to the radial direction.
The initial conditions are given by setting the non-zero diagonal elements
of $\varrho(t,r,u,E)$ equal to the neutrino distribution
function $f_{\nu_\alpha}(t,r,u,E)$ which can be parametrized
or given by supernova simulations with detailed neutrino transport.
Supplied with the density profiles $n_e(t,r)$ and $n_n(t,r)$,
Eq.~(\ref{eq-eomred}) can then be solved for each given $t$.

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.28\columnwidth, angle=-90]{fig1.pdf}
\caption{The angle-averaged survival probabilities of
(a) $\nu_e$ and (b) $\bar\nu_e$ as functions of
the neutrino energy $E$ and the post-bounce time $t_{\rm pb}$.
(Reprinted figure from \citep{Wu:2014kaa};
\href{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.065016}{copyright (2015) by the American
Physical Society.})}
\label{fig-1}
\end{figure}

We performed a set of comprehensive numerical calculations
to map out the flavor conversion probabilities
$P_{\nu_\alpha\rightarrow\nu_\beta}(t,r,u,E)$ between active flavors \citep{Wu:2014kaa}
for the supernova models of \citep{Fischer:2009af}. We found that within the first $\sim 500$~km,
the neutrino flavor conversion is dominated by the $\nu$-$\nu$
contribution. This leads to the so-called
``collective neutrino oscillations'' \citep{Duan:2010bg,Duan:2015cqa},
which may give rise to a sharp transition of $P_{\nu_\alpha\rightarrow\nu_\beta}(t,r,u,E)$
at some specific $E$ (the ``spectral splits/swaps'').
Fig.~\ref{fig-1} shows the angle-averaged survival probabilities for the
initial $\nu_e$ and $\bar\nu_e$ as functions of $E$ and
the time post supernova core-bounce, $t_{\rm pb}$,
at $r=500$~km where the collective neutrino
oscillations have ceased for the $18$~$M_\odot$ supernova.
We see that the feature of the spectral splits
is indeed present in our calculations. More importantly, the
survival probabilities change substantially as the supernova evolves
with time. At the later stage, the flavor conversions
between $\nu_e\leftrightarrow\nu_{\mu,\tau}$ and
$\bar\nu_e\leftrightarrow\bar\nu_{\mu,\tau}$
are more suppressed.

We stress here that this time evolution has important consequences for
supernova nucleosynthesis in both the $\nu$-driven wind and
the $\nu$(-induced) nucleosynthesis in the supernova envelopes.
For the $\nu$-driven wind which may be a site
of heavy element formation, the time scale relevant for the
neutrino-matter interactions to change the ejecta composition can
last a few seconds if it is initially proton-rich such that
the $\nu$p process can occur \citep{Frohlich:2005ys,Pruet:2005qd}.
Similarly, for the $\nu$(-induced)
nucleosynthesis (e.g.~\citep{Heger:2003mm,Sieverding:2015oya}),
it is the total exposure of nuclei to
the neutrino fluence that determines the final yields. In this study, we found
that due to the suppression of flavor conversion in
the $\bar\nu$ sector, collective neutrino flavor oscillations
have little impact on the $\nu$p process.
As substantial flavor conversion occurs in the
$\nu$ sector, the production of rare nuclei such as
$^{138}$La and $^{180}$Ta may be enhanced by
the flavor conversion of $\nu_e\leftrightarrow\nu_{\mu,\tau}$.
Nevertheless, we note that these results
are subject to change once the effect of symmetry breaking
of neutrino flavor oscillations
(see e.g.,~\cite{Raffelt:2013rqa,Chakraborty:2015tfa,Abbar:2015mca,Abbar:2015fwa,Dasgupta:2015iia})
can be self-consistently taken into account in the future.

\section{The interplay between flavor oscillations and hydrodynamics}\label{sec-oschy}
The discussion in the last section is based on the assumption that
neutrino flavor oscillations do not change the hydrodynamic
variables such as the baryonic density $\rho$, the temperature
$T$, the fluid velocity $v$, and the matter composition.
However, if neutrino flavor oscillations
happen deep enough inside supernovae where the neutrino-matter
interactions are still important in setting up the hydrodynamic
properties of the environment, one has to evolve the flavor
equations along with the hydrodynamic equations. In principle,
for a fully consistent derivation, one needs to extend Eq.~(\ref{eq-eomfull})
to full quantum kinetic equations \citep{Vlasenko:2013fja} by
including the collision terms
and couple them with the hydrodynamic equations. However, as a
first step, we make the assumption that the neutrino interactions
with matter are weak enough such that the collision terms can
still be neglected for flavor evolution while those interactions may be strong enough
to change the hydrodynamic properties.

Based on the above, we have coupled the further reduced flavor
evolution equation using the so-called ``single-angle approximation'' \citep{Duan:2010bg}
which assumes that the flavor evolution history is independent
of the neutrino emission angles:
\begin{equation}\label{eq-eomsa}
\frac{d\varrho(r,E)}{dr}=-i[H(r,E),\varrho(r,E)],
\end{equation}
with the steady-state hydrodynamic equations that may adequately
describe the physical conditions in the $\nu$-driven wind
from the proto-neutron star (PNS) \citep{Qian:1996xt,Thompson:2001ys}:
\begin{subequations}\label{eq-hydro}
\begin{align}
& \dot{M}=4\pi r^2\rho vy, \\
& \frac{1}{y}\frac{dy}{dr}+\frac{1}{\varepsilon +P}\frac{dP}{dr}=0, \\
& \frac{d\varepsilon}{dr}-\frac{\varepsilon +P}{\rho}\frac{d\rho}{dr}
-\rho\frac{{\dot q}_\nu}{vy}=0,
\end{align}
\end{subequations}
where $\dot M$ is the constant mass outflow rate of the ejecta,
$v$ is its radial velocity, $y^2=(1-2GM/r)/(1-v^2)$,
$G$ is the Newtonian gravitational constant,
$M$ is the mass of the PNS,
$\varepsilon$ is the total energy density, $P$ is the pressure,
and ${\dot q}_\nu$ is the net energy gain/loss rate per unit
mass by $\nu$ heating and cooling. For ${\dot q}_\nu$,
we have included the charged-current $\nu$ absorption,
$\nu\bar\nu$ annihilation and their reverse reactions,
and $\nu$ scattering with $e^\pm$ and nucleons.
Detail expressions will be reported in a forthcoming
publication \citep{Wu:2015}.

For the matter composition of the wind, we consider the phase when
the temperature is still high enough so that matter consists of free protons, neutrons,
and $e^{\pm}$.
In this case, the matter composition is determined by
the electron number fraction $Y_e=n_e/(\rho/m_u)$ where
$m_u$ is the atomic mass unit
and the evolution of $Y_e$ is governed by
\begin{equation}\label{eq-Ye}
(vy)\frac{dY_e}{dr}=(\lambda_{\nu_en}+\lambda_{e^+n})(1-Y_e)+(\lambda_{\bar\nu_ep}+\lambda_{e^-p})Y_e,
\end{equation}
where $\lambda_{\nu_en}$, $\lambda_{e^+n}$, $\lambda_{\bar\nu_ep}$ and $\lambda_{e^-p}$
are the corresponding charged-current reaction rates.

We consider here in particular the reduced flavor subspace of $\nu_e$ ($\bar\nu_e$) and
$\nu_s$ ($\bar\nu_s$), with a mass-squared difference
$\delta m^2\approx 1.75$~eV$^2$ and the vacuum mixing
angle corresponding to $\sin^22\theta\approx 0.1$, as indicated by the
neutrino anomalies \citep{Acero:2007su,Mention:2011rk}.
Such an active-sterile flavor conversion
for the initial $\nu_e$ and $\bar\nu_e$ can happen at $Y_e\approx 1/3$ such
that both ${\dot q}_\nu$ and $Y_e$ are
greatly influenced as suggested by previous studies without considering the feedback
of flavor oscillations on hydrodynamics \citep{McLaughlin:1999pd,Tamborra:2011is,Wu:2013gxa}.

Eqs.~(\ref{eq-eomsa})--(\ref{eq-Ye}) can be solved given the boundary conditions below:
\begin{itemize}
\item The $\nu$ luminosity and the temperature,
$L_{\nu_\alpha}$ and $T_{\nu_\alpha}$, at the PNS surface $r=R$,
assumed to be given by a Fermi-Dirac distribution with zero chemical potential.
This specifies the neutrino density matrix element
$\varrho_{\alpha\alpha}(R,E)=f_{\nu_\alpha}(E)=1/(1+e^{E/T_{\nu_\alpha}})$.
\item The hydrodynamic conditions at the PNS surface, $T(R)=T_{\nu_e}$, $\dot{q}(R)=0$ and ${\dot Y}_e(R)=0$.
\item An outer boundary temperature $T_b$ at some large radius $r\gg R$.
\end{itemize}
We have performed such a calculation with the parameters
$(L_{\nu_e},L_{\nu_e},L_{\nu_{\mu,\tau}})=(1.67,2.01,2.58)\times 10^{51}$~erg/s,
$(T_{\nu_e},T_{\nu_e},T_{\nu_{\mu,\tau}})=(2.68,3.78,3.71)$~MeV,
$M=1.282$~$M_\odot$, $R=18.07$~km, and $T_b=0.12$~MeV at $r=10^3$~km.
Those values are taken with the guide of a supernova simulation \citep{Martinez-Pinedo:2013jna}.
To understand the role of the convoluted feedback of the composition and hydrodynamic changes
on the flavor oscillations, we have performed additional calculations as follows:
\begin{enumerate}
\item No feedback: Eq.~(\ref{eq-eomsa}) decoupled from Eq.~(\ref{eq-hydro}) and Eq.~(\ref{eq-Ye}),
i.e., we first derive $Y_e(r)$ and $\rho(r)$ from Eq.~(\ref{eq-hydro}) and Eq.~(\ref{eq-Ye})
without considering flavor oscillations.
We then evolve Eq.~(\ref{eq-eomsa}) with the derived $Y_e(r)$ and $\rho(r)$.
\item Feedback on $Y_e$ only: Eq.~(\ref{eq-eomsa}) coupled with Eq.~(\ref{eq-Ye}) but decoupled from Eq.~(\ref{eq-hydro}),
i.e., we first derive $\rho(r)$ from Eq.~(\ref{eq-hydro}) and Eq.~(\ref{eq-Ye})
without considering flavor oscillations.
We then evolve Eq.~(\ref{eq-eomsa}) and Eq.~(\ref{eq-Ye}) with the derived $\rho(r)$.
\end{enumerate}

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.76\columnwidth]{prob_abu.pdf}
\caption{(a) The average $\nu_e$ survival probability
as a function of radius for different cases discussed in the text, and
(b) the corresponding elemental abundances of nucleosynthesis as a function of atomic number.}
\label{fig-2}
\end{figure}

In Fig.~\ref{fig-2}(a), we show the
energy-averaged $\nu_e$ survival probability $P_{\nu_e\rightarrow\nu_e}$
as a function of radius for all three cases described above.
It clearly shows that both $Y_e$ and hydrodynamic evolution
have strong impact on the neutrino flavor conversion.
In the case of ``no feedback'', nearly all the initial $\nu_e$ are
converted to $\nu_s$, due to the so-called ``matter-neutrino resonance'' (MNR)
mechanism \citep{Malkus:2014iqa,Wu:2015fga}. For the ``feedback on $Y_e$ only'' case,
$\nu_e$ are less converted to $\nu_s$ but the flavor conversion
process takes place up to a much larger radius.
As for the fully coupled case, only $\sim 15\%$ of $\nu_e$
are converted. The main differences between those results
arise mainly because MNR can be extended to a much larger radius
once $Y_e$ is affected by $\nu$ interactions.
However, this extended resonance may not remain stable,
depending on the velocity of the ejecta, which is affected by
the change of ${\dot q}_\nu$. The details will be reported in
a forthcoming publication \citep{Wu:2015}.

In Fig.~\ref{fig-2}(b), we further show the resulting elemental abundances
as a function of the atomic number $Z$. Because $P_{\nu_e\rightarrow\nu_e}$ differs
when a different level of coupling
among Eqs.~(\ref{eq-eomsa})--(\ref{eq-Ye}) is employed,
the nucleosynthesis outcome can be dramatically different.
As expected, when $\nu_e$ are converted more to $\nu_s$,
the matter composition becomes more neutron-rich,
which results in the production of heavier elements.

\section{Summary}\label{sec-summary}
In this article, we have discussed two aspects in
connecting neutrino flavor oscillations to the nucleosynthesis
of elements. We have shown in Sec.~\ref{sec-cno} that due to the time evolution
of the neutrino characteristics and the density structure
above the PNS in supernovae, it is important to include
this time-dependence when studying the collective neutrino
flavor oscillations and their impact on the nucleosynthesis
in the $\nu$-driven wind and in the supernova envelopes.
In Sec.~\ref{sec-oschy}, we have shown that when
neutrino flavor oscillations take place very close to
the PNS, which may happen when considering the possible
active-sterile neutrino flavor transformation,
the change of the matter composition and hydrodynamic
quantities may have a large impact on the $\nu$
flavor evolution histories, thereby complicating the determination of
the nucleosynthesis outcome in the
$\nu$-driven wind.\\

\textbf{Acknowledgements:} This work was partly supported by the Helmholtz Association (HGF)
through the Nuclear Astrophysics Virtual Institute (VH-VI-417),
the Helmholtz International Center for FAIR
within the framework of the LOEWE program launched
by the state of Hesse
and by the US DOE grant DE-FG02-87ER40328 at UMN.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Constanza valley is located in the mountain zone of Dominican Republic, in Cibao country, 4 miles from local airport Expedición 14 De Junio.
It's easy to reach taking the diversion from Duarte highway next Bonao. When to reach the Cruce del Abanico crossing, before the bridge on the highway, follow the road sign to Constanza on the right (exit n. 12).
Constanza is located at 1.200 meters above sea level, and is called Caribbean Swiss because of temperate climate in summer and cold in winter (minimum 5 degrees celsius). The economy is based on agriculture (with cultivation of potatoes, garlic, strawberries and floriculture) and on tourism (Balneario Las Palmas is one of the most visitated locality by the Dominicans in Easter and in summer). The zone is suited for excursions by off-road vehicles and for jeep safari, discovering the gardens and the nurseries, the Pyramids inside Valle Nuevo National Park and Scientific Reserve. We recommend a visit to Salto de Aguas Blancas Falls to see the water dropping from 1.680 meters.


This company is an advanced machining supplier focused on aerofoil and rotative components. They are at the leading edge of machining technologies, and are dedicated to delivering efficiency and reduced cycle times for their clients in the aerospace sector.
Their advanced milling, turning and 5-axis capacity enables them to machine a wide range of products including bespoke ring, casing, gearbox, aerofoil and aerostructure components. To-date, they have manufactured components for Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Siemens, Bombardier and are looking to expand their machining capabilities over the coming year.
To develop and maintain all engineering processes to meet the demands of the business within budgeted cost and timescale.
- Pre-production launch pack: Create a production launch pack to allow manufacturing to commence.


text:
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Remembering Dick Knowdell (1934-2021)
Dick Knowdell, International Career Leader, Card Sort and JCTC Coach Certificate Developer passed away December 13, 2021.
An NCDA Fellow and recipient of NCDA's Centennial Award, Dick was also the recipient of APCDA's and the California CDA's Lifetime Achievement Award, while contributing to the field as author and trainer. He impacted millions within the career development field as a career coaching innovator. Known for his Card Sorts (Motivated Skills, Career Values, Leisure/Retirement, Occupational Interests, and Career Development & Job Search Profile), the Career Planning Network, and Journal of Career Planning and Adult Development he was recognized for creating easy to use products and practitioner training worldwide.
Born November 12, 1934 in San Francisco, CA he is survived by wife Barbara Knowdell, and nephew Chris Knowdell of Sacramento. A dedicated mentor, and generous international colleague, he was a dear friend and training partner with Bobbi Floyd and Rich Feller. Tim Tsi and Amy Lew, Michael Robinson (who recently purchased Dick's Career Research and Testing Company), Amhed Mostafa, Ashraf Jamie, and Vera Chapman were a few of his 8000+ Job and Career Transition Certificated Career Coaches.
Dick lived in Woodside, CA through high school and served as a US Air Force medic, transporting the wounded during the Korean War. Relieved from active duty in 1964 he retired from the Air Force Reserves in 1984 as Chief Master Sergeant.
Dick was very proud of having worked in more than forty jobs during his lifetime (including plumber's helper, cigarette salesman, post office worker, and HP employee). Attending San Jose Community College on the GI Bill, a counselor convinced him he was "college material". He earned a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology at San Jose State University. His education and work experience provided a lens which championed all work as dignified and honoring of each trade and worker. He pioneered the idea of a Job and Career Transition Coach, and Job and Career Development Coach Certification in 1979. That training is available virtually across the world.
Employed in several Silicon Valley company Employee Assistance departments, Dick was very proud of his influence over several years at Lawrence Livermore Labs. He started a private counseling practice while there and transitioned to full-time private practice and consulting. He is acknowledged as one of the first full-time career development entrepreneurs, career coaches, and career conference developers. His International Career Conferences were some the largest in the world for many years. Appointed by President Clinton to the Board of Examiners for the US Foreign Service, he authored six books.
Dick died peacefully in his sleep at home. He always said he wanted to go to sleep and not wake up. He got his wish. There will be no service of any kind per his wish. He will be cremated and his ashes scattered at sea by the Neptune Society. His family asks that friends "do a kindness for someone in memory of Dick since he was always trying to help and support others".
View an interview with Dick about his major contributions to career development here. For those who wish, please write a short tribute (by 1/5/22) to be compiled within a Dick Knowdell Memorial Book- send to Rich.feller@colostate.edu
Dick Knowdell was a founding member of the Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) and his wisdom guides APCDA today. His influence on the association was profound and his contributions were many, earning him the status of Lifetime Legacy Partner. Please see his bio on the Legacy Partner page. He attended every in-person conference APCDA has held, representing his company, Career Development Network. His life was long, active, and full of important accomplishments. Please send your memories of Dick Knowdell to Info@AsiaPacificCDA.org by Friday, Dec 24 and we will publish them in our news blog and send them to the Dick Knowdell Memorial Book.
Kathryn Troutman on Tuesday 12/21/2021 at 08:53PM wrote:
I remember meeting and talking to Dick and Bobbi for many years of NCDA and other conferences. He was always training, traveling and talking about his card sort and the conferences. I will miss him and he contributed so much to the careers industry and our work.
Amy Mazur on Friday 12/24/2021 at 05:33AM wrote:
What I remember most about Dick was his level of energy and optimism. He would come to Boston periodically to offer Trainings for the Career Counselors' Consortium Northeast, and the level of energy he exuded from the start of the day until the end of the day was remarkable. He was so committed and passionate about his work and about sharing what he knew. And he will be missed.
Ahmed Mostafa on Sunday 12/26/2021 at 10:23AM wrote:
It was shocking to hear this very sad news; I kept reading the e-mail i got from Barbara several time hoping that I miss something, and what I understood is wrong, but the reality is he is gone. Richard Knowdell gone with his buddy but he will remain in our mind and heart.
I met Dick early 2009 when I attended his JCTC/JCDC workshop in San Jose, and I remember that, part of my career plan I came-up with out of this program is to work with him. 2010 we had the chance to have him in Egypt, 2011 I developed the Arabic version of his Card Sort, 2012 I became his assistant and did the first workshop with him in April. Since that time he became my Boss, Mentor, and my great supporter. I still can't digest the idea that I'm not going to work with him again, or not going to travel with him again. It is hard for me to accept this reality, but all what I can do is to keep what I have learned from him and to extend his mission to everywhere I go. I owe him a lot, and it's the time to pay him back all the good things he did for me.
Jennifer Rogers on Friday 12/31/2021 at 11:38AM wrote:
I'm so sad to learn the news of Dick's passing! He 'got me at his first card sort.' I've been a fan and using his career values card sorts since the beginning. I met him at an NCDA conference in the mid-1990's and it struck me then how genuine and generous he was.
I'd love to connect with Michael Robinson to learn of his plans for the career research company!
My sympathies to Dick's family, friends and colleagues. We are all experiencing this loss.
Sally Gelardin on Wednesday 01/05/2022 at 01:40PM wrote:
Dick was a mentor and friend. I met him in 1995 at my first NCDA conference in San Francisco. As a former President of the California Career Development Association, I served on the Executive Committee of the International Career Development Conference, that he founded. I have used his card sorts effectively with a variety of ages and stages, from youth to elders in assisted living. Thank you, Dick!
Raymond Ayinde on Saturday 01/08/2022 at 05:02PM wrote:
What a sad news. I met Dick in 2018 when I invited him over to Nigeria. He taught me how to use his card sorts effectively. During his visit to Nigeria he demonstrated his card sorts to over 300 final year university students. I love his energy.
He was a generous man, we ate at different restaurants, became friends and partner.
I will miss you so dearly.
Rest in peace Dick. 😭😭
Carry Shen on Monday 01/17/2022 at 11:25PM wrote:
I have been met Dick in NCDA and APCDA conference several time. I always remember he and his career card and warm smile. He is such a kind man and always give us guidance when he could. I will miss him.
NCDA's monthly web magazine for career practitioners
Providing individuals with relevant skills and knowledge to assist others in planning careers and obtaining meaningful work
Diverse, high quality competency-based credentials that effectively uphold NCDA's standards and ethics
Quality products for use by everyone in the field of career development
The premier, annual Global Career Development Conference


What kind of analytics can I perform on question banks? And how do I do this?
I am a relatively new Canvas user with questions about gathering statistical data from question banks. During our training, I remember hearing something about this and I would really like to explore this further. My understanding at the time was that exam questions could be sorted into banks according to course and program outcomes. From this, I would be able to derive information about nursing student outcome achievement. Is this correct? If so, can you point me to instructions?


text:
Q: Find the closest CCSprite I am trying to find the closest "player" to a "ball" and each of these objects are CCSprite Objects. This is my first app, so if there's a better way to do this, feel free to suggest it :)
Here's my code so far:
for(CCSprite *currentPlayer in players) {

        // distance formula
        CGFloat dx = ball.position.x - currentPlayer.position.x;
        CGFloat dy = ball.position.y - currentPlayer.position.y;
        CGFloat distance = sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy);

        // add the distance to the distances array
        [distances addObject:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:distance]];

        NSLog(@"This happen be 5 times before the breakpoint");
        NSLog(@"%@", [NSNumber numberWithInt:distance]);

}

So this seems to work well; it logs each distance of the player from the ball. But then when I loop through my "distances" array, like this:
for(NSNumber *distance in distances ) {

        NSLog(@"Distance loop");
        NSLog(@"%@", [NSNumber numberWithInt:distance]);

}

And this is logging a huge number each time, like 220255312. I declare my distances array like this:
// setting the distance array
NSMutableArray *distances = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for your time!

A: Use distance for the @"%@" like this:
for(NSNumber *distance in distances ) {

    NSLog(@"Distance loop");
    NSLog(@"%@", distance);

}

[NSNumber numberWithInt:distance]
In your first part distance is a CGFloat.
In the second part distance is a NSNumber.
numberWithInt can't take a NSNumber as its argument.
Hope this helps!

A: CCSprite *nearestPlayer;
for(CCSprite *currentPlayer in players) {
    if(nearestPlayer == nil){
        nearestPlayer = currentPlayer;
    }
    if(ccpDistance(ball.position, currentPlayer.position) < ccpDistance(ball.position, nearestPlayer.position)){
        nearestPlayer = currentPlayer;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
PUSH TO PASS
FINAL STINT
SPORTSCAR AMERICA
KATIE'S RACING LINE
Purdue Grand Prix
Box Box Box
PHOTO: INDYCAR, CHRIS JONES
2016 IndyCar Season Preview: Threats for Multiple Wins
This is part of a set of articles previewing the 2016 IndyCar season. I recently predicted that the 2016 IndyCar Champion would score between 548 and 561 points and win four races. Based on those predictions, I classified drivers into the following categories based on how I anticipate they'll perform in 2016: long shots (part one and part two), potential winners, threats for multiple wins, dark horse championship threats, and championship contenders. Here I preview the threats for multiple wins. Check back with Slipstream Network regularly for more IndyCar season previews.
PHOTO: INDYCAR, SHAWN GRITZMACHER
Sebastien Bourdais scored his first unified IndyCar win in 2014, and followed that up with a pair of wins in 2015. For a small team like KVSH Racing, that's the best-case-scenario for any season. KVSH is too small to compete with Team Penske and Ganassi Racing for a championship;winning a few races each year is a realistic goal. Bourdais has a chance to win several races in 2016, especially with his skill on road races.
For Bourdais fans interested in the final point standings, there's reason to be optimistic about 2016. Bourdais finished tenth in points in both 2014 and 2015, and based on his average road course finish last year, he has the potential to do a bit better in the future. Bourdais averaged a 14th place finish on road courses in 2015, down from 8.0 in 2014. If he can keep his average finishes on ovals and street courses constant and return to earlier form on road courses, Bourdais could be seventh in points at the end of 2016.
I'm slightly concerned about what will happen to Bourdais' win total if Honda cars are roughly equal to the Chevrolets in 2016. Improved Honda cars would likely mean more wins for Honda drivers. IndyCar is a zero sum game, so those additional Honda wins have to come at the expense of Chevrolet drivers. Bourdais drives for one of the smaller Chevrolet teams that won a race last year, so it wouldn't be a total surprise if his wins decline in 2016.
Potential weakness: ovals
Bourdais isn't strong enough on ovals to challenge for a championship. He had his best average oval finish in four years in 2015, but the average was only 12.0. In his defence, his average oval finish improved by over three positions each of the last two years, so he does seem to be getting more comfortable on ovals.
2016 could be a challenging year for Josef Newgarden. Like Sebastien Bourdais, Newgarden won races for Chevrolet last year with a smaller team. If Honda is able to close the performance gap to Chevrolet in 2016, there's a good chance that Chevrolet cars will win fewer races. If Honda cars are more competitive in 2016, smaller teams like Ed Carpenter Racing, where Newgarden will drive in 2016, are the likely candidates to win fewer races.
The question Newgarden will answer in 2016 is whether he can continue the season-to-season improvement he's shown during his first four IndyCar seasons. Newgarden earned his first two career wins in 2015, so he would ideally win at least another pair of races and begin to show more consistency from race to race.
Potential weakness: consistency
Newgarden had 11 finishes of ninth or worse in 2015. That's a non-issue for a driver who isn't competing for a championship, but I'm holding Newgarden to a higher standard. If Newgarden wants to grow into a championship contender in a few years, he'll need to score more points on the days he doesn't win. He proved that he's capable of winning and running well last year. His next step is to run well more often than not. It's an arbitrary number, but Newgarden should aim to have eight or fewer finishes of ninth or worse in 2016.
Bourdais IndyCar Josef Newgarden Newgarden Season Preview Sebastien Bourdais Spotter's Stand
Dusty Zach Racing Show Ep 1
Dusty and Zach are back to discuss open wheel racing and autocross.
Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | RSS
Download: Episode 1
Dusty Michael
We're Back – P2P S4E1
The stars and brand new cars of the Verizon IndyCar Series are back on track – and so are Dusty and Zach! INDYCAR President of Competition, Jay Frye, jumps on to discuss the response to the 2018 universal aerokit. Subscribe: iTunes | Google...
Push to Pass Season Recap – P2P S3E32
It's been a while since the last Push to Pass, so the whole crew comes together to try to catch up on the latest in the world of the Verizon IndyCar Series. Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | RSS Download: Push to Pass...
Space Shuttle Door Gunner – BO 68
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History, Parties and Racing - Being a Fan at the 12H of Sebring
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text:
Warehouse jobs increased by 50,000 this month. Are those jobs here to stay?
Justin Ho Dec 3, 2021
Heard on:
https://www.marketplace.org/2021/12/03/warehouse-jobs-increased-by-50000-this-month-are-those-jobs-here-to-stay/
Warehouse employment has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the job market since 2019. Above, workers in an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. Chris J. Ratcliffe/AFP via Getty Images
Sign up for the daily Marketplace newsletter to make sense of the most important business and economic news.
One downside of today's jobs report was the retail sector, which lost jobs in November. However, sectors that support the retail industry are adding jobs, specifically in transportation and warehousing.
That industry added 50,000 jobs in November and now employs more than 200,000 more people than before the pandemic. Do those jobs have staying power?
At the start of last month, Greg Warwick started leasing a warehouse for the baking equipment supply company he runs, TMB Baking.
Given how challenging it is to import the products he sells, he said: "We need to increase the amount of our goods available to our customers, so they can have the equipment when they need it."
Warwick is also hiring a full-time employee to help manage the warehouse and prep items for shipment. And that position is here to stay.
"If our strategy is to take on additional space, to have more product, then we need to ensure that we can also continue to move that through," he said.
For other companies, a lot of the transportation and warehousing jobs added last month were only seasonal hires, according to Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University. That said, warehouse employment has been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the job market since 2019.
"We're not going to see a sudden massive decline in warehousing employment once we get to the other side of the pandemic," Miller said.
But for workers, warehousing roles tend to be physically demanding. Plus, the positions can have unpredictable hours and higher rates of injury, said Kathryn Zickuhr at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.
"Even if the total number of jobs increases in these sectors, the jobs themselves might be far from stable from the workers' perspective," she said.
As a result, she said, the warehousing jobs may stick around, but they're likely to have a lot of turnover.
Job gains slow in November as pandemic hampers recovery
To avoid price hikes, businesses are finding other ways to protect their margins
Retailers try to hire tens of thousands of workers
Holiday temp work down this year, even with a lot of e-commerce hiring
Job postings tell two different stories of recovery so far
Leaders in the construction industry anticipate influx of federal funds


text:
About IDSI
Sharing Courses
Potential Collaborations
Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy
The Israel Data Science Initiative is pleased to collaborate with the Helmholtz Information and Data Science Academy (HIDA). HIDA is an umbrella organization that coordinates Data Science activities among the 19 Helmholtz research institutes located throughout Germany. This partnership will provide a platform for collaboration between IDSI and HIDA in promoting research and development in Data Science in Israel and in Germany. One of the first joint projects is a summer exchange program for doctoral and post-doctoral students, allowing them to spend time in one of the research centers in the partner country – in one of the university Data Science research centers in Israel, or in one of the Helmholtz Institutes in Germany.
Helmholtz & IDSI Student Exchange Program 2022
(Open to Researchers from the Data Science Research Centers affiliated with IDSI)
Call for hosts - is no longer available
Call for Students
The International AI Archeology Challenge - April 25-26, 2022
Discover Ancient Agricultural Terraces in the Negev Desert
© 2023 IDSI | Powered by Beaver Builder


text:
The Mountain Marries a Molehill
Ashley Reese
Attention height-difference fetishists: A very large actor from that TV show that's finally ending next year just married his very tiny girlfriend.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who plays The Mountain—AKA Ser Gregor Clegane, AKA One Scary Motherfucker—on HBO's Game of Thrones married his girlfriend Kelsey Henson in Iceland over the weekend.
"It is with great pleasure that I now get to call Kelsey Morgan Henson my wife!" wrote Björnsson in an Instagram post which definitely showed off his softer side. "I get to hold this beautiful woman through thick and thin for the rest of our lives! I'm so excited for all of the future adventures we will tackle side by side."
He followed up the caption with an emoji of a newborn chick and a gorilla. I think he's the gorilla! I think she's the chick!
In case you're curious: People reports that Björnsson is 6 feet 9 inches tall, while Henson is 5 feet 2 inches tall.
The man is a ruler and a half taller than her.
"Looking forward to pulling this big guy around for the rest of my life," wrote Henson in her own Instagram post from their big day. "I love you now and forever and promise to stand by your side through all that life throws at us. I love you baby!"
Wow, I love love.


text:
Semi Truck Spill Closes Kansas City Entrance Ramp — St. Louis Mack Truck Accident Law Firm
By Jeff LoweFebruary 23, 2009July 17th, 2019Highway Safety
A semi truck rolled over and spilled hazardous chemicals on an Interstate 70 entrance ramp Feb. 6, the Kansas City Star reported. According to the paper, the trucker got out of the truck himself and was taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. No other vehicles were involved. A hazardous materials unit from the Kansas City, Kan. Fire Department was called to deal with leaks of antifreeze, oil and diesel fuel caused by the accident.
Load spills are a common problem in trucking accidents, because almost all large commercial trucks exist to ferry goods around our big country. Even a spill of materials that aren't hazardous can be a problem because of the sheer quantity of goods spilled into the highway; goods like logs can pose a special risk because of their size and weight. But when hazardous materials like gasoline are spilled, the danger increases dramatically. In addition to the problems posed by any spill, a gasoline spill is highly flammable, slippery and polluting. Other hazmat spills could pose a danger to humans because of their volatility or toxic fumes.
A rollover accident involving a large truck is also a serious concern. The size of a large truck poses a threat even when it's upright and under control; a rollover raises the possibility that it could literally fall over onto another vehicle. And despite the fact that large trucks were just 3.9% of all of the vehicles involved in traffic accidents in 2007, they had a disproportionate share of rollover accidents — 3.5% of truck accidents were rollovers, whereas 1.8% of passenger car accidents were rollovers. And a large truck is also much taller than most passenger vehicles, making it top-heavy and thus more likely to roll over than a low-riding economy sedan.
Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt in this Missouri truck accident. But when large trucks crash and roll over, they can cause brain damage, paralysis, serious burns or even deaths for the people who are unlucky enough to be in nearby vehicles. If the crash is the truck driver's fault, victims and their families have a legal right to hold that driver — and his or her trucking company — legally responsible for the physical, financial and emotional results.
Carey, Danis & Lowe can help. Based in St. Louis, we represent victims of serious trucking accidents throughout Missouri and southern Illinois. To set up a free consultation with our experienced truck accident attorneys, please contact us online or call 1-877-678-3400 today.
Highway SafetyUncategorized
Staying Safe on Snowy & Icy Winter Roads
Jeff LoweJanuary 19, 2015
Highway SafetyTraffic Safety
Safe Travels During the Holidays
Highway SafetyTrucking AccidentsVerdicts and Settlements
Jury Awards $18.5 Million to the Estates of Two Men Killed in Trucking Accident
Jeff LoweSeptember 25, 2013