Letters to the Editor were plentiful this week with several addressing comments about POA board members and senior staff. Another letter takes another look at the invasive plant list.
Scroll down to see all six letters.
I would like to honor those individuals whose names were published in one of David Hopkin's recent postings, which he calls the Toxic Wall of Shame. They were listed by name and he says they had the audacity to criticize him and his diatribe of poisonous attacks on the character and integrity of our leadership—volunteer POA board as well as professional staff. I hope he will honor me by adding me to that list.
I am writing this first as a property owner. Nevertheless, it will be easy for Hopkins to say that my response should simply be viewed as someone properly defending his wife, Carolyn Littell. She was a POA board member during the land sale years—and last summer was asked by Mike Rhodes to take his place as the developer board representative.
From my personal standpoint, Hopkins crossed the line in his February 26 posting. In there, he named both Carolyn and me, and cleverly implied—by posing his innuendo in the form of a question—whether the purchase of our now two-year old home we built in Wildcat, was somehow aided through "commissions" received, or other financial benefits, from the 2016 land sale. That seems to be the way he words things to avoid being liable for slander.
I strongly believe that by threatening to post the names of those who criticize him, David Hopkins has just provided the ammunition and call to action for the silent majority of the Big Canoe community to speak up. There are literally hundreds of residents who have known and worked with our past and current leadership and know their dedication to serving our community.
If mistakes have been made, they need to be addressed and corrected. Nevertheless, I believe that most within our community are incensed at the way he has chosen to paint our leadership as anything other than dedicated individuals committed to maintaining the character of Big Canoe and the financial viability of our community.
As a largely volunteer community, we have many dedicated and talented property owners who have sacrificed hundreds of hours of their time to make this community what it has become. I believe the vast majority of our residents resent the way Hopkins has painted our leaders as incompetent and, in some ways, dishonest.
Any volunteer organization must depend upon advice and counsel from our professional staff as well as outside experts as we did during the negotiations of the land deal. And again, if there are areas of concern that need to be addressed, they should be done so with appropriate civility and professionalism.
David Hopkins also most likely violated what has been one of the long-understood prevented practices within Big Canoe by utilizing the community directory to do his blanket emails.
In one of his recent postings, he suggests we need a new team at Big Canoe. I think David Hopkins should organize that new team but do it outside the gates of Big Canoe.
We became Big Canoe property owners two years ago after having visited for almost 30 years. We've been graciously welcomed and feel very fortunate to live here. Since that time I have been part of numerous committees/subcommittees as well as Leadership Big Canoe, and interact with staff, management, committee members, or members of the Board almost daily.
At no time have I thought anyone was not operating in the best interests of Big Canoe, and while I have disagreed with various decisions, I did not feel marginalized or ignored. There are reasonable ways to provide input and feedback. Why are we fouling our own nest with derogatory comments on social media? This costs us all in time and treasure.
For anyone reading this contemplating living in Big Canoe, we have an enormous number of incredibly nice residents with various interests, talents, and points of view. We looked all over the Southeast before moving and consider this place a bargain…choosing a planned, gated community comes with rights and obligations, and it is incumbent on you to understand them before making that choice. Every time I drive in those gates I'm happy to be back on campus.
For property owners not often on property, busy working, or who just want to live here peacefully, Big Canoe has many dedicated volunteers along with financial procedures and controls in place—as a former internal and external auditor I've personally seen how many of these function, and improvements are continually made. You won't agree with every decision, but few things in life are irrevocable and corrections can be made.
Remember it's a whole lot easier to complain than to govern. Please understand it is not possible for staff and volunteers to respond to every question posed individually. Sign up for all communications, don't spread rumors based on half information, ask questions in a forum where questions and answers are available to everyone unless it is a truly private matter, and then form an educated opinion. For those interested in being actively involved in governance by serving on committees or the board, becoming a graduate of Leadership Big Canoe is a great place to start. Please become part of the solution and not part of the problem.
I am writing to the Big Canoe community to say I knew well and worked with David Hopkins father, Sam Hopkins, when he was political editor of The Atlanta Constitution and with his grandfather, the late Leonard Cochran, a distinguished Methodist minister in the South Georgia Conference of The Methodist Church.
Sam was an honorable journalist who wrote from facts without attacking personal character as his son David has done with among others Debbie Pickett, a long time senior POA staff member who receives monthly treatments for breast cancer, silently bearing her discomfort as she fulfills her daily duties of which David has no knowledge.
I ask that David stop the yellow journalism he uses in his newsletters about Big Canoe and rise to the level of character and professionalism his late father and grandfather lived by. I believe both of those men would say to him what I am saying now: You are better than this.
David Hopkins has been on quite a roll lately posting articles regarding problems he believes exist in Big Canoe. While everything may not be perfect in our community, matters certainly are not as awful as he claims them to be. And the persons he is attacking in a defaming and slanderous manner are certainly not the persons he claims them to be either.
I know these perspectives to be the case in that I have been a Big Canoe property owner since 1994, and throughout have been a property owner interested in the affairs of our POA—both board and staff members. In fact, it recently occurred to me that I have likely attended more POA board meetings and town halls than anyone presently involved with the community; the only likely exception being Debbie Pickett, one of the persons he has wrongfully debased in one of his latest articles.
While I was initially impressed with his document research efforts re: the 2016 Land Purchase, his credibility with me disappeared when he went into the attack mode against the board members. Yes, it appears some mistakes were made, such as missing the Blackwell Creek parcel. This, I suspect, is because of ineffective legal counsel, of which I and many other property owners have long been concerned. My hope is that this matter will be remedied. Hopkins' other claims are completely off base as I see it.
In the overview, I am at a loss as to why his focus appears to be the destruction of our beautiful community through his unending attacks on persons associated with our POA. While no person is perfect, as we all know, none of these persons is as bad as he claims them to be. My unqualified surmise is that he is lacking in self-confidence and self-respect; and motivated to tear down others, particularly those in positions of authority, in order to make himself appear superior. Yes, an interesting misplaced anomaly of human nature.
Since 1994 our community has grown dramatically—back then there were 232 families on the Permanent Resident List; we are now likely tenfold that number. There are reasons for this being the case—our community's scenic beauty and the pleasantness of the persons who have been attracted to live here. I know of no community that comes close to what we have in this regard. The Big Canoe community is truly a special place.
I ask Hopkins to please do all of us a favor; turn over a new leaf. His negativity and aloofness are completely misplaced in my opinion.
I have never known it to do any good to criticize the POA or employees in private. They have to be called out. A consistently irresponsible procession of POAs has transformed what is supposed to be a quiet secure private residential community into a commercialized commercial business.
The POA has made endless poor decisions, buying land at outrageous prices, permitting the developer to introduce high density housing, giving away the water company to be run at a profit for private interests at the community's expense, leasing the facilities to outside groups, wasting money in unnecessary projects and over-maintenance, and withholding information from the community by refusing to abide by sunshine laws applicable to local governments.
The last imposed assessment was an arbitrary action by a small handful of people who did not bother to bring it before the community.
Away from the "he said she said" for a moment on the plant list. As I try to piece together the process to date, for I have heard multiple stories, this all began when a few folks somehow got charged with the task of digging into the issues surrounding invasive plants within our community.
It now has snowballed into a battle between management and homeowners that should never have happened in the first place. For me, it feels sneaky and has the perception of a small group of folks meeting behind closed doors, making decisions in a vacuum, without our input or understanding of the drivers from the start. The product of that now is the emotional mess we find ourselves in today playing out in social media and in the Smoke Signals.
Once the dust settles—and as I suspect, the list will change without a community vote—who will be responsible for enforcement and at what expense both in dollars and hurt feelings! I know I would struggle if my neighbor has a beautiful azalea species next door and I buy the same plant at Home Depot and plant it only to have a representative from architectural control send me a note telling me to remove that plant.
While the efforts of many in the past seem to have stood the test of time, I also understand change is required to manage growth. It's how change is implemented that either creates buy-in and trust in leadership, or conversely, what we now have, feelings of confusion, deception and anger.
Lastly, in my humble opinion, I implore the POA to call a major time out. Let's all take a breather, broaden the scope of those involved, while giving the community a chance to heal and come together to find a workable solution.


text:
package com.blinkbox.books.auth.server.sso

class RefreshTokenSpecs extends SpecBase {

  import env._

  "The SSO client" should "complete correctly return sso credentials if the SSO service returns a successful response" in {
    ssoSuccessfulAuthentication()

    whenReady(sso.refresh(SsoRefreshToken("some-refresh-token"))) { creds =>
      creds should matchPattern {
        case SsoCredentials(_, "bearer", exp, _) if exp == validTokenSSOExpiry =>
      }
    }
  }

  it should "correctly handle a bad-request response from the SSO service" in {
    val err = "The request is invalid"
    ssoInvalidRequest(err)

    failingWith[SsoInvalidRequest](sso.refresh(SsoRefreshToken("some-refresh-token"))) should matchPattern {
      case SsoInvalidRequest(m) if m == err =>
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Why doesn't this segfault I stumbled across something "interesting" and I cant put my finger why the behaviour isn't coherent.
Check this code.
char buf[100];
sprint(buf,"%s",bla);

Simple, right. It's easy to understand what is going on when bla is a NULL pointer.
This should always segfault right!?
In one machine the executable segfaults, on another (my development machine), it's just business as usual.
My devel PC is running Windows7 and I'm compiling with gcc/MingW. The computer where this is crashing is XP and it does have Visual studio 6 installed.
Why doesn't this crash on my PC?

A: Because printing a null reference as a string is (as far as I know, haven't verified with standards) undefined. Many systems will just output (null) in the result.
It's the same with the other printf functions:
printf ("%s", NULL); // Outputs (null) to the console on some systems but can crash others

A: ISO C99: 7.19.6.3 The printf function
Synopsis
 #include <stdio.h>
 int printf(const char * restrict format, ...);

The printf function is equivalent to fprintf with the argument stdout interposed before the arguments to printf.
7.19.6.1   The fprintf function
7.19.6.1.9
If a conversion specification is invalid, the behavior is **undefined**. If any argument is
not  the  correct  type  for  the  corresponding  conversion  specification,  the  behavior  is **undefined**.
So your code invokes Undefined Behavior [(ISO C99 3.4.3)
behavior, upon use of a nonportable or erroneous program construct or of erroneous data,
for which this International Standard imposes **no requirements**]

This should always segfault right!?

Not necessarily, Undefined Behavior means anything can happen.

A:
This should always segfault right!?

No. This invokes undefined behavior. A segmentation fault is but one of many possible results of invoking UB.

A: Apart from that, a segfault is never guaranteed. If it occurs, there is an error somewhere; but having an error somewhere doesn't imply a segfault.

A:
This should always segfault right!?

No. It depends on the implementation of the sprintf function that came with the standard library of the compiler.
As far as I know sprintf specification doesn't say you should provide a non-null address.

A: It all depends on what bla is pointing to at the time.
What sprintf() will do is copy all of the characters pointed to by bla until it encounters a zero (0x00) character.
If it encounters a zero character before it reaches the limit of buf[100], then, there's no segfault because we are not writing beyond the buf limit.
Also, in some systems, if bla points to a read-access protected memory region, it may also cause a segfault as soon as the data is read.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Create a Task (or Observable) from legacy class (start method + events) I have a legacy class which I would like to consume in a more convenient way.
class Camera
{
     void RequestCapture();
     public delegate void ReadResultEventHandler(ControllerProxy sender, ReadResult readResult);
     public event ReadResultEventHandler OnReadResult;
}

The class manages a camera that takes pictures. It works by:

*

*Invoking the RequestCapture method

*Awaiting for the OnReadResult to be raised (obviously, you need to subscribe to this event in order to get the captured data)

The operation is asynchronous. The RequestCapture is a fire-and-forget operation (fast!) operation. After some seconds, the event will raise.
I would like to consume it either like as regular Task or as an IObservable<ReadResult> but I'm quite lost, since it doesn't adapt to the Async Pattern, and I have never used a class like this.

A: Following the example in this article my rudimentary approach (untested!!) would be:
class AsyncCamera
{
    private readonly Camera camera;

    public AsyncCamera(Camera camera)
    {
        this.camera = camera ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(camera));
    }

    public Task<ReadResult> CaptureAsync()
    {
         TaskCompletionSource<ReadResult> tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<ReadResult>();
         camera.OnReadResult += (sender, result) => {
             tcs.TrySetResult(result);
         };
         camera.RequestCapture();
         return tcs.Task;
    }
}

Possible usage:
public async Task DoSomethingAsync()
{
    var asyncCam = new AsyncCamera(new Camera());
    var readResult = await asyncCam.CaptureAsync();
    // use readResult
}

EDIT taking Stephen's comment into account (T H A N K you!)
So, this is my naive take on unsubscribing the event handler. I didn't have the time to make any tests, so suggestions for improvement are welcome.
class AsyncCamera
{
    private readonly Camera camera;

    public AsyncCamera(Camera camera)
    {
        this.camera = camera ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(camera));
    }

    public Task<ReadResult> CaptureAsync()
    {
         ReadResultEventHandler handler = null;
         TaskCompletionSource<ReadResult> tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<ReadResult>();

         handler = (sender, result) => {
             camera.OnReadResult -= handler;
             tcs.TrySetResult(result);
         };

         camera.OnReadResult += handler;
         camera.RequestCapture();
         return tcs.Task;
    }
}

In case comments get "cleaned up": Stephen said

Unsubscription isn't handled in the MS examples, but it really should be. You'd have to declare a variable of type ReadResultDelegate (or whatever it's called), set it to null, and then set it to the lambda expression which can then unsubscribe that variable from the event. I don't have an example of this on my blog, but there's a general-purpose one here. Which, now that I look at it, does not seem to handle cancellation appropriately. – Stephen Cleary

Emphasis by me.
Seems to work: https://dotnetfiddle.net/9XsaUB

A: You could convert the Camera.OnReadResult event to an observable sequence using the FromEvent operator:
var camera = new Camera();

IObservable<ReadResult> observable = Observable
    .FromEvent<Camera.ReadResultEventHandler, ReadResult>(
        h => (sender, readResult) => h(readResult),
        h => camera.OnReadResult += h,
        h => camera.OnReadResult -= h);

Alternatively you could use the Create operator. It's more verbose, but also probably easier to comprehend.
IObservable<ReadResult> observable = Observable.Create<ReadResult>(o =>
{
    camera.OnReadResult += Camera_OnReadResult;
    void Camera_OnReadResult(ControllerProxy sender, ReadResult readResult)
    {
        o.OnNext(readResult);
    }
    return Disposable.Create(() => camera.OnReadResult -= Camera_OnReadResult);
});


text:
Few Women Run the Nation's School Districts. Why?
"I have never been soft," says New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. "If anything, I know what I want, I know how I want it, but I know that sometimes you take a step backward before you go three steps forward. And how you create the climate to make those difficult decisions is very, very important."
—Victoria Will for Education Week
Stubborn gender gap in the top job
By Denisa R. Superville
November 15, 2016 | Corrected: March 8, 2017
Nearly a decade after she was hired as the first woman to run the Council Bluffs, Iowa, school district, Mary Martha Bruckner is often one of the only women in the room.
That was the case last month when about two dozen superintendents and finance officers from Iowa's urban school systems met to set their legislative agenda for the coming year.
Surveying the room, Bruckner spotted two other women.
"It was like, 'Wow, things haven't changed much at all,' " said Bruckner, who is used to being a pioneer. In 1986, she became the first female high school principal in the Ralston, Neb., district.
Even though K-12 education is largely a female enterprise, men dominate the chief executive's office in the nation's nearly 14,000 districts, numbers that look especially bleak given that the pool of talent is deep with women. Women make up 76 percent of teachers, 52 percent of principals, and 78 percent of central-office administrators, according to federal data and the results of a recent national survey. Yet they account for less than a quarter of all superintendents, according to a survey conducted this summer by AASA, the School Superintendents Association. But that number represents improvement since 2000, when 13 percent were women.
"So many of us go into education to teach children, and there are so many other roles in the education system," says Park City, Utah, superintendent Ember Conley. "I have a responsibility to continue to encourage not only other females, but also our males who have the skills, to become superintendents."
—Chad Kirkland for Education Week
In Utah, the number of women in superintendent's offices can be counted on one hand. Schenectady, N.Y., hasn't had a woman in charge in the district's 162-year history. Just two years ago, Richmond County, Georgia's 12th-largest district, hired its first female superintendent.
"It's a huge problem," said Margaret Grogan, the dean of the college of educational studies at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. "If we have talented administrators, wouldn't you want all of the talented administrators to move into the superintendency? After all, that's the position that has the most power to facilitate the growth and development of all of the children and families in the district."
An Unappealing Job?
Though only a small number make it to the helm, women currently run some of the largest school systems, including those in New York City, Los Angeles, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., and Albuquerque, N.M.
So why do so few women occupy the top job?
Some simply don't want it. They prefer teaching and being close to students. The hours are punishing, school board politics can be brutal, and public scrutiny is intense. The average superintendent stays on the job less than five years. For some women, that uncertainty is not worth uprooting their families.
SEE ALSO: N.C. Superintendent's Philosophy on Being a Woman and a Schools Chief: 'You Just Do the Work'
The search for superintendents also traditionally has pulled from districts' pool of secondary school principals. Women, who were more likely to be elementary principals, were less likely to be immediately tapped. Part of the problem stems from districts' lack of planning for long-term leadership, which makes it difficult to spot talented educators, including women, who could be groomed to be in charge. Educators also see subtle biases in how school boards and search firms recruit candidates, and negative stereotypes about women's abilities to lead large institutions are still pervasive.
And with so few women in the top job, prospective female leaders have limited opportunities to network—losing out on mentors who can advise them on applying for the job, getting the right experience, and navigating difficulties.
"For women, I think you just have to always do more than 100 percent," says Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Michelle King. "You have to go over and beyond to demonstrate you can do it. And then folks have to see that that's happening, and then they'll take a chance."
—Brinson+Banks for Education Week
While educators and scholars say it's crucial that more women occupy the top leadership positions in K-12, the more than one dozen current or former women superintendents interviewed by Education Week are adamant that they want to be hired because they are qualified.
"I don't want to be offered a position because I am a woman; likewise, I don't want to lose a position because I am a woman," said Julie Mitchell, the superintendent of the Rowland Unified district in Southern California. "It's really about what you can contribute to the organization, and what you can contribute to the work that can be done, regardless of what your gender is."
At the same time, Mitchell acknowledged: "I think it would be naïve to think there are not some stereotypes that exist."
It wasn't always that way, said Thomas Glass, a retired professor of education leadership at the University of Memphis.
In 1930, when the education profession was even more female-dominated than now, the American school system was mostly rural, and women ran many of the nation's countywide districts, Glass said. With the end of World War II, and male veterans' taking advantage of the GI Bill, more men started entering the profession.
"Women kind of got shoved to the back of the bus in the '40s, '50s, and '60s," Glass said.
Qualifications, Not Gender
When they do get the job, women often face scrutiny men don't, some superintendents said. They are told to smile more, their appearances are critiqued, and they can face harsh treatment when they assert their authority.
Deborah Jewell-Sherman, a former superintendent in the Richmond, Va., district, recalled a searing moment when she rebuked a colleague at a meeting.
"I heard somebody pulling him off to the side, and I heard the B-word," said Jewell-Sherman, now a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
"I think [it] was, in part, that I had the audacity to challenge something he was saying," she said. "Part of it, I think, is race and gender. I think there is an additional burden for women of color in that role." Jewell-Sherman is African-American.
Gender is not a consideration when hiring a superintendent, some school board members said.
"We only pay attention to the qualifications of the candidates," said Judy Nieh, a former school board member in California's Rowland Unified, who was on the board in 2005 when it hired its first female superintendent, Maria Ott.
"As long as the person is a good match with the district, I think that's far more important than whether they are male or female," Nieh added.
But Chapman University's Grogan said board members who don't look for diverse backgrounds when they consider candidates are compounding the problem, which also plagues other sectors trying to address underrepresentation of women, African-Americans, Latinos, and other groups. Top executive positions in most fields are defined by what worked for the people who've held the jobs in the past: men. Two prime examples: long and inflexible hours and the types of previous job experiences believed to be stepping stones.
School boards also have more authority than they might think to attract more female candidates to seek superintendents' jobs, said Jacinda "Jazz" Conboy, the general counsel for the New York State Council of School Superintendents.
"They can say we value diversity, we want women applicants, we want minority applicants," she said.
It's not that women are better leaders or get better results for students, Grogan and others say. But they may bring attributes that can be huge assets. The majority of women superintendents started their careers in classrooms and bring an expertise on good instruction, and because so many were principals, they know how to set goals and work with many players to achieve them, Grogan said.
Barbara Jenkins, the superintendent of Florida's Orange County district, said those asking for better representation for women are not seeking special preference. The issue, she said, is making sure well-qualified women have a fair shot at landing the job and the right supports to get there.
"My opinion has always been that in this day and age, [gender] shouldn't hold anyone back, and that we make our own opportunities," says Westminster, Calif. superintendent Marian Kim-Phelps. "But is it noticeable when you go to meetings and there are a lot more males in the room? Absolutely. But that doesn't hold me back."
—Emile Wamsteker for Education Week
Jenkins credits Ronald Blocker, her predecessor in Orange County, with persistently pushing her.
"He'd say 'Snatch the pebble from my hand, it's time. It's time for you to take on that role,' " she said, quoting the 1970s "Kung Fu" television show.
Women often must make extraordinary personal sacrifices, and having supportive families and friends is essential, superintendents said. Marian Kim-Phelps, the superintendent in California's Westminster Unified district, commutes weekly from San Diego, where her husband and daughter live.
'She Meant Business'
In Bruckner's case, she was at the right place at the right time.
In 2007, after serving five years as the associate superintendent in the Millard school system in Omaha, Neb., she told her superintendent she was ready for the top job herself in another district.
"I didn't have as much influence as I wanted to, and I realized that the only way I was going to have more influence was to become a superintendent," said Bruckner.
At the same time Bruckner was ready to move up, Council Bluffs, a district of about 9,000 students across the Missouri River from Omaha, was looking for a superintendent. It had one of the lowest graduation rates in Iowa. Bruckner officially applied and was the only woman among eight finalists.
The school board hired her.
"I can be very fierce, and I am sure that that comes across with the B-word," says Council Bluffs, Iowa superintendent Mary Martha Bruckner. "I think we've probably gotten to a point in our society that we shouldn't assume that all women are going to be the same or all men are going to be the same, and one or the other is going to be better than the other."
—Daniel Johnson for Education Week
"We needed somebody who could help us as a community turn that around, and she just came across as somebody who would be able to do that," said school board member David Coziahr. "To be kind of blunt, she meant business."
Council Bluff's graduation rate has increased during Bruckner's tenure, climbing from 68 percent to 88 percent over eight years. In 2015, she was named Iowa's superintendent of the year.
Coziahr thinks other Iowa districts may be more willing to hire women based on Bruckner's success.
Bruckner herself credits a cast of mentors and former supervisors—some of them men—for encouraging her, and she said the men she works with do not treat her differently. If her gender has been an issue, she hasn't dwelled on it, she said. Her salary, however, which is $225,000 annually, draws attention every year from local news media and the community.
"There are people in my life who believe that if I were a male receiving a nice salary, it wouldn't be as big of a story," she said. "That may or may not be true. I don't know. I know I make more money [than most people] in a school district that's 70 percent free and reduced lunch. But I know I make less money than the bank presidents and big corporate leaders. I make less money than other superintendents in Iowa, but … just wonder if part of the pushback is [from thinking that] females don't deserve that salary."
Some states—New Hampshire, California, and New York—have higher-than-average percentages of female superintendents. In sheer numbers, California leads the country, but the state also has the second-largest number of districts, more than 1,000. When the ASSA conducted its survey this summer, California had 335 women running districts.
This year, the AASA launched an initiative to find women who are prospective leaders, match them with mentors, and help them become superintendents. The program has enlisted women leaders from education and business to dig deeper into the barriers that women face and how those hurdles can be overcome.
And there are other efforts underway to bring more gender balance to the superintendent's office. In California, the Association of California School Administrators added a component to its leadership conference that includes mock interviews for women who are ready to make the leap, resume reviews, and advice about things like maintaining healthy work-life balance. In New York City, Chancellor Carmen Fariña launched a leadership development program for stellar principals and others who want to move up. Ten of the 12 fellows currently are women.
Conboy, who is on the AASA's panel, has been spearheading a similar effort in New York state, where about 30 percent of superintendents are women. It grew directly from what Conboy was hearing from women about the challenges they faced, including blatant bias.
"I hear a lot from women that they are still being asked inappropriate questions in interviews like, 'Do you have children? How do you think you can do this job if you have children?' " she said. Through the initiative, Conboy hopes to identify future district leaders and find ways for them to fill gaps in their experience.
Superintendents of both genders say men must be part of finding solutions. In New York, male district leaders are key allies, signing up female technology coordinators, teacher-leaders, and other women to be part of the women's leadership development program. Rich Calkins, the superintendent of the 627-student Alfred-Almond district, about 80 miles south of Rochester, N.Y., has recruited five of the district's female teacher-leaders for the initiative.
"We have a huge amazing force of women who are working each and every day and doing great things in the classrooms," Calkins said, "and I know with the right support and the right leadership, … they will be great leaders in the district."
Coverage of leadership, expanded learning time, and arts learning is supported in part by a grant from the Wallace Foundation, at www.wallacefoundation.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
Vol. 36, Issue 13, Pages 1, 10-11, 13
Published in Print: November 16, 2016, as Few Women Run School Districts. Why?
An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the size of the Richmond County, Georgia, school district.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Collins pars final 2 holes for 60, David Hearn T4 at Barbasol Championship
(Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Chad Collins missed a chance for the 10th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history and third of the season, parring the final two holes for an 11-under 60 on Friday in the second round of the Barbasol Championship.
Collins hit his approach to the back fringe on the par-4 18th, leaving a 70-foot downhill birdie try that he hit 5 feet past.
"I just got myself out of position off the tee, which you can't do," Collins said. "Probably one of the easiest hole locations on the green, so it was kind of unfortunate to not hit the fairway and I probably would have had a better look at birdie there. I gave it a run. I'm not too disappointed at all by 60, so I'll take it."
After six straight birdies on Grand National's rain-softened Lake Course, the 38-year-old player from Indiana player missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th.
"Hit a good shot, but I hit it a little heavy," Collins said. "I didn't think it was going to get back there and it must have had a lot of overspin, hit the downslope, chased back there. I wasn't sure how close it came to going in, but had to come pretty close. And then the putt was a little tricky. We couldn't quite figure out if it was kind of right centre, right edge or left centre, left edge. Just kind of lost a little bit of speed and broke off the left edge. "
Jim Furyk shot a record 58 last year in the Travelers Championship in Connecticut and is one of eight players to shoot 59. Justin Thomas and Adam Hadwin shot 59s in January – Thomas in his victory in the Sony Open in Hawaii, and Hadwin in the CareerBuilder Challenge in California.
Brantford's David Hearn is five strokes back of Collins at 10 under par (67-65).
Collins was at 15-under 127 for a four-stroke lead over Grayson Murray (64) and Cameron Tringale (66).
Collins had five birdies in a front-nine 30, parred the 10th and ran off the six straight birdies to get to 11 under for the round.
"It kind of crossed my mind probably on the par-5 16th," Collins said about breaking 60. "Didn't hit a very good tee shot there, but it was probably going to be a three-shot hole anyway. Then hit a good approach shot in there to 10 feet or so. When I made that, obviously with two holes to go, just needed to make one."
He made the 36-hole cut for only the fifth time in 23 events this year. The two-time Web.com Tour winner had missed five straight cuts and 11 of 12.
"This year's been kind of a struggle for me," Collins said. "I haven't been playing that well and it's super nice to see putts fall in, good ball-striking and being in position on the weekend."
Collins had his lowest round on the PGA Tour and tied the course record set last year by Jhonattan Vegas. He had 23 putts Friday.
"Owe it all to the putter," Collins said. "I did strike it well, but I made a lot of putts. Made a few that I probably shouldn't have made, had a stretch going there on my back nine of five or six in a row. Hit some clutch shots, but just made a lot of putts."
He also shot 60 in a 2013 Web.com Tour event in Utah, playing his first nine holes in 9-under 27 with an eagle and seven birdies.
Murray had five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine.
"I saw the 15 (Collins' total) before I even teed off and I was 11 back and now I'm four back, so I'll take it," Murray said. "He's a good player and there's a lot of good players up at the top. Just got to keep making birdies on this course."
Tringale played the back nine first, also making five birdies on the side.
"The course is set up for scoring today, a lot of front pins, a lot of opportunities to get the ball close," Tringale said. "Just got to get it in the fairway, and my iron play has been strong most of this week, so that's really my plan, just keep it in front of me."
Furyk had a 68 to get to 5 under. The 47-year-old U.S. Ryder Cup captain is playing the event after failing to qualify for the British Open. He took the last three weeks off for a long-planned European river cruise with his family, and has been fighting a shoulder problem.
Davis Love III, at 53 the oldest player in the field, followed his opening 72 with a 67 to reach 3 under. Son Dru Love missed the cut, shooting 73-72.
Click here for the full leaderboard.


YAY!!! I can finally upload pictures! And double YAY! We crossed the state line into South Carolina this afternoon so we have officially been in 49 states together since we were married over 42 years ago. Hawaii is the only one left. That will have to wait.
We have moved on, will spend the night here and then onto Hillsville, Virginia. THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE SERVED, THOSE WHO HAVE HAD/HAVE A FAMILY MEMBER SERVING. God Bless all those families who have lost loved one in defense of the United States, they have paid the ultimate sacrifice. We stayed at the KOA in Fort Mills, an OK campground, they are next to Carrowinds Amusement Park, about 15 miles from Charlotte NC. They did hove one unique feature a haunted house that is open in October.
Our starting mileage from Columbus, and for the trip, was 45583 miles. We went to Fort Mill SC and stayed at a KOA there. We ended with 46026, for total miles today of 443. It was very sunny and clear - no fog - but cold. There was snow on the ground from about Charleston WV and there is still snow on the ground here. It is supposed to get down to 15 degrees tonight, so we are just using our tanks and are not hooked up to water. The hose would freeze. I will take a picture tomorrow before we leave.


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Highlight: Canadian and Caribbean parliamentarians discuss open data
On April 27 and 28, the International Development Research Centre co-hosted a two-day meeting on open data and open parliaments with the Canada Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. This inaugural meeting of the Canada-Caribbean Twinning Initiative brought together parliamentarians from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, and Canada, as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. Clerks from the Ontario and Alberta Legislative Assemblies also attended.
The association is spearheading the idea of twinning Canadian provincial and territorial legislatures with their Caribbean counterparts to promote the sharing of good governance and parliamentary practices.
Improving people's lives through open data
Open data emerged as the ideal theme for this first meeting because it offers so many solutions to challenges faced by governments, communities, and individuals around the world. Data that is freely available, in a format that allows it to be re-used and redistributed, can spur business growth and catalyze innovations in health, education, agriculture, and other sectors.
"We're delighted to bring together experts, who are looking at how open data can improve people's lives, and decision-makers, who can make those improvements a reality," said IDRC President Jean Lebel in his opening remarks. "This is what IDRC is all about: Not only do we invest in solutions, but we make sure that they reach people in the developing world who need them most."
Sharing examples
Maurice McNaughton, director of the Centre for Excellence for IT-enabled Innovation at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica, presented examples of open data projects in the Caribbean. Government data on 180,000 farms is now open and has led to the development of several applications, thanks to the Caribbean Open Institute, an IDRC-supported network promoting the knowledge economy in the region. The applications, including an interactive map, provide business intelligence to farmers, Ministry of Agriculture staff who advise farmers, and bankers assessing loans to farmers, explained McNaughton, a founder of the Institute.
Participants from the Caribbean included Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, Minister of Public Administration in Trinidad and Tobago; Julian Robinson, Minister of State in Jamaica's Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, John Boyce, Minister of Health in Barbados, and Dr. Jerome Walcott from the Senate of Barbados. They shared examples of open data initiatives in areas such as agriculture, tourism, education, and health. Canadian provincial parliamentarians also mentioned open data in government procurement, infrastructure, and natural resources, including water quality.
Experts and parliamentarians alike stressed that a cultural shift was required, not only among parliamentarians, but public servants as well. As government data is often perceived as the property of the departments that produce it, officials who are used to protecting the data must become its publishers.
Toward open parliaments
Open parliaments were also on the agenda in a session moderated by Senator David Smith, in the Centre Block of the Canadian Parliament Buildings. Increased information about legislative activities and greater opportunities for dialogue between citizens and their parliaments hold the promise of improving governance worldwide by making it more transparent, accountable, and effective. Senator Raynell Andreychuk and MP Randy Hoback joined the group to discuss citizen expectations, technologies enabling broad participation, and the need to create new forms of debate. Senators Smith and Andreychuk are members of the Canadian Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Randy Hoback is the Chair of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas.
The meeting was organized by the Institute on Governance, a non-profit institution with 20 years of experience in advancing understanding and practice of good governance in Canada. The parliamentarians expressed a strong interest in pursuing a twinning program between Canadian provinces and Caribbean nations and in exchanging further on the subject of open data.
Canada's Action Plan on Open Government
Caribbean Open Institute
OpenNorth, a Canadian nonprofit that creates online tools to educate and empower citizens to participate actively in Canadian democracy
IDRC's open access policy
Descubra mas investigación en acción
Investigación en acción
Centros regionales KIX
Recursos educativos para niños
Mejorando la resiliencia climática en ciudades latinoamericanas
Nuevos proyectos de InnoVet-AMR
Artificial intelligence for development
Mejorando la conservación de la fruta con la nanotecnología


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Q: Analytical and numerical solution to the Diffusion Equation Consider the following diffusion equation:
$$\frac{\partial}{\partial t}y(x,t)=D\frac{\partial^2}{\partial x^2}y(x,t)+Cy(x,t)$$
where both $D$ and $C$ are constants
Solve the equation over the interval, $\frac{L}{2}\le x \le \frac{L}{2}$ subjected to the following boundary conditions:
$$y(-\frac{L}{2},t)=y(\frac{L}{2},t)=0$$
1) Analytically, determine the critical length of the system ($C,D=1.0$), beyond which always lead to an exponentially increasing solution.
2) Implement a numerical finte difference method in order to solve this equation.
For the analytical part, i tried solving this using the separations of variables:
$$y(x,t)=v(x)q(t)$$
Substitute $C,D=1$ into the diffusion equation and substituting the separation of variable into the diffusion equation and dividing though by $v(x)q(t)$:
$$\frac{1}{q(t)}\frac{\partial q}{\partial t}=\frac{1}{v(x)}\frac{\partial^2v}{\partial x^2}+1$$
I am quite confused at this part, and do not know if this is the correct method to solve this equation, if so, how do i proceed.

A: Before applying separation of variables, make the substitution $y(x,t)=u(x,t)e^{t}$. Then the PDE is $$\frac{\partial (ue^t)}{\partial t}=\frac{\partial^2 (ue^t)}{\partial x}^2+ue^t,$$ which is $$\frac{\partial u}{\partial t}e^t+ue^t=e^t \frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x^2}+ue^t,$$ and so $$\frac{\partial u}{\partial t}=\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x^2}.$$ We now recognize that $u$ solves the heat equation, whose solutions are well-understood and can be solved by separation of variables if necessary. Then multiply by $e^t$ to get $y$.


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Sahffi Lynne is an international medicine musician and vocal coach, offering their music, meditations, ceremonies, and teachings as medicine to illuminate our connection as human beings.
They just released their music video for their moving single "Let the Healing Begin," an acoustic folk-like song about using creative processes to heal from grief and pain. The video depicts this kind of healing by way of 3 separate forms of art. Sahffi is depicted writing a song, a woman is depicted painting, and a man is depicted dancing.
The video is a beautiful piece that complements the single perfectly. Everything about it, from the people to the setting to the action is stunning. Even as we watched it, it provided catharsis as a viewer, almost like we felt seen.
"My own experiences have shown me that with a combination of meditation, creativity, plant medicines, and professional support, one can truly heal trauma and reclaim their birthright of living in love. I am honored to carry the medicine of music to teach and guide those interested in doing the necessary work to connect with their true voice and purpose," shares Sahffi.
We got a chance to speak with Sahffi about their song and video and dove into the specific artistic choices:
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?
Actually, the interesting thing about this song is that it was completely channeled! I often hear music in the wind or hear melodies in the woods, yet this is the only time (so far!) that I watched my hand write the lyrics without a clue of what I was writing! I then picked up my guitar, and as I read the lyrics, the song just poured out of me. The message, "you can let the darkness win, or you can let the healing begin," was so profound for me at that specific moment of my life. I was struggling to move forward after a bitter breakup, an illness that temporarily kept me from singing and working, and a subsequent move out of my home because of income lost. This song was a beautiful reminder for me that I had the choice to continue on in life or give up. The song gave me strength and truly helped to heal my heart!
I was talking with a friend after the album, "Pulse of Evolution," came out in 2021. ("Let the Healing Begin" was released on that album.) I told her I'd love for more people to hear the song, as I hoped it would touch others as it did me. She reminded me that many people "consume with their eyes" these days (as she put it!), and her words planted a seed that a beautiful video needed to be created for this powerful song!
I am grateful so many others resonate with this song's message of hope and strength, and I am proud the video represents and reflects the message of this song so beautifully.
What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?
The video originally was going to be an animation, yet the plans for that fell through. I didn't know how I was going to make a video, yet a Facebook friend, Maranda Kosten, reached out saying she felt called to talk with me about how we could work together. I thought perhaps she would be interested in voice lessons, (which she did end up taking!), yet she mentioned she worked for Do Good Video Productions. Within a couple of weeks we were meeting with the team at Do Good, along with my director, Lucas de Britto, talking about making a video! I couldn't believe how easy it was to have found such an amazing team of people as excited about this song and project as I was!
My last hurdle was funding, yet I was grateful that over 150+ of my community supporters donated to my birthday campaign to make it happen!
The storyline follows three artists (a dancer, a painter, and me, a musician), from their lowest point, through creation, and ultimately to their reconnection of their spirit. Throughout it all, they each have elders watching over them, encouraging them with their silent wisdom and strength. I love how the video shows the process of healing includes the movement of creation!
One fun fact: the video starts out in muted colors and becomes more vibrant by the end. The inspiration for that effect was "The Wizard of Oz!"
What was the process of making this video?
This project was a year in the making! It started with a seed of an idea, then quickly jumped to a crowd sourcing campaign. The IndieGoGo campaign was a huge success, with over 150+ of my supporters making contributions, and one angel investor matching the total! I am so grateful for the support I receive for my music!
With my community's support, we started site visits to the location of the video, my dear friend's private land in Pennsylvania lovingly called "Hawk's Ridge." Magically, the dates for the shoot in May worked for everyone involved, and we were grateful for beautiful weather that weekend!
Do Good Productions was wonderful to work with, offering a fantastic production and creative team, and the shoot went off without a hitch. In fact, we all mentioned how unusual it is to have everything fall into place so easily! My director, Lucas de Britto, was also the editor, and I am grateful for his sweet temperament and amazing talent.
Everything came together for a holiday 2023 release, and I am super proud of this community-supported project! I hope everyone will be touched by the song and story line of the video as I have been.
Connect with Sahffi Lynne via:
Website / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Spotify
Standard | Posted in Interviews, Video | Tagged Acoustic, folk, interview, Let the Healing Begin, Modern Mystery, Music video, Sahffi Lynne, Video Voyager | 0 comments
Video Voyager: Happy For No Reason's "Canaries (Hot Summer Night)"
Happy For No Reason is a band that is the antithesis of their name. The band based out of Portland Oregon celebrate every single one of life's precious moments as two of their members are literally happy to be alive. Comprising of Jo Alexis (vocals and percussion), Neil Goldstein (guitar), and Mark Pritchard (flute), the founding members of Happy For No Reason navigate the rich waters of Jazzy Folk with a pinch of rock, a dash of soul, and even a touch of Bossa Nova.
Their jazzy folk rock single "Canaries (Hot Summer Night)" was revived from Neil and Jo's early music careers. Neil wrote this chord progression with a jazz band in 1974 and Jo wrote the lyrics in 1991. They put them together one night in 2015 to make the song we hear now. It's an example of how many of their songs came together.
"The lyrics are about my boyfriend who was working in Harlem at the time and I went to visit him knowing we might break up," says Jo. "Breaking up when you are still in love is painful but the song has turned into a raucous uptempo sing-along, like the rat pack with a female lead!"
They finished recording, mixing, and making the music video during the pandemic. A friend of Jo's told suggested the lead vocals were initially too aggressive. So, Jo bought a new microphone and redid her parts, also learning how to use Logic, the DAW (digital audio work station) and spent many hours comping the flute and piano solos.
Their video for "Canaries(Hot Summer Night)" depicts the band on a steampunk style ship, captained by Jo. They are on a mission to catch a canary. The ship and crew are eventually wrecked and never catch the canary. It's a metaphor for self-destruction, you want something so bad that you're willing to ignore red flags.
We spoke with Jo Alexis about the video:
We didn't actually choose it but trusted the animator to come up with something fabulous! I saw one of his videos on YouTube and looked him up. He does a combination of live action and animation and I thought it would be amazing for this song!
What was the inspiration behind this video?
Honestly, we gave Christian Bolorinos, our director/animator/producer complete creative freedom on this so all of the ideas were his and we showed up in costume and followed direction. He is SUCH a joy to work with and has an incredible sense of humor! I was delighted with the result and so was the wonder world. The video has acquired 136k views on Facebook and is also a favorite on my YouTube channel.
The process was so much fun! We rented a studio in Portland and showed up in steampunk outfits(during the pandemic so we wore masks except when shooting!). We shot the music video in Portland but our director, animator and script writer, Christian Bolorinos, was in Barcelona. So we FaceTimed with him during the shoot which actually worked out really well! He directed us from Spain and we just followed his directions. I rented boat props like a steering wheel and a nautical telescope and of course, ropes. We used a fan to make it look as if we were in a terrible storm. Here are some cool pics of our shoot with the band in steampunk costumes.
Connect with Happy For No Reason via:
Website / Facebook / YouTube / Spotify
Standard | Posted in Interviews, Video | Tagged Canaries (Hot Summer Night), folk, Happy For No Reason, Jazz, Modern Mystery, music, new music, rock | 0 comments
Video Voyager: Josiah Mann's "Angel"
Ford Photographs – Nashville Architectural Photographer
Josiah Mann is the indie singer/songwriter who's driven by passion and perfectionism. This is evident right off the bat in his debut single "Angel," from his forthcoming debut album, Grace. He has an Ed Sheeran and John Mayer quality to his music with that sweet acoustic sound and smooth vocals. The song bursts with new-romance euphoria and the lyrics here poetically hopeful.
The video for "Angel" depicts the message of the song: a love story. He shares the story in the first minute and a half of the video of how he met his first girlfriend. The rest of the video goes on to show a young couple, a younger Josiah and his girlfriend, on a date and falling in love.
We got a chance to speak with Josiah about his video. Let's dive in:
The music video is literally the actual story of the song. I wrote this song 15 years ago for my girlfriend after our first date. A couple weeks later I recorded the song and then gave it to her for Valentine's day!
We wanted to match the visuals to the lyrics of the song. It was important to me that we captured some of the lyrics like "then we watched the stars" by showing a couple watching the stars together outside.
We booked a great location in Nashville to film at this beautiful wedding venue / barn. We were thinking about having me play the younger version of myself, but a few days before the shoot we decided to hire actors instead. We found two great actors and working with them made the process even more fun. It was super cool and trippy to see this recreation of a real thing that happened in my life so long ago!
Connect with Josiah
Website / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / TikTok / Spotify / Soundcloud
Standard | Posted in Interviews, Video | Tagged Acoustic, Angel, indie pop, Josiah Mann, Modern Mystery, Music video | 0 comments
Video Voyager: AP Tobler's "Claustrophobia"
AP Tobler has released their new single "Claustrophobia" and it's accompanying video, an alt rock grunge song reminiscent of Green Day meets Weezer.
The song is about how uncomfortable they are in their own skin and is translated into their video. The whole thing is quick frames of a variety of different shots, consisting of AP in several different positions and outfits, the empty coach, and the empty coach with just their guitar. The many different ways they orient themselves is a perfect representation of trying to find comfort with yourself.
We spoke with AP about their video. Check out what they had to share about the "Claustrophobia" music video:
Claustrophobia is about feeling trapped and uncomfortable in your body. I wrote this song at a point of severe discomfort with myself. I was also just getting out of a spell of writer's block and it took me quite a while to bring the song to completion. In the video, I wear all sorts of different clothes. The line, "You can't become a new person every day," inspired these outfit changes that show my futile attempts to renew myself.
The video features myself singing the song while sitting on a desolate sofa. My outfit and position changes often in the video. These outfit changes represent that no matter what external things I change, I am still the same at the core, even if I don't want to be.
The process of making the video was super easy and quick. The shoot consisted of myself singing along to the track in varying outfits and positions. The video was different from my others as we used a single camera angle for all the shots. We shot in my house which helped us prepare test shots and make sure we would get what we wanted. I did multiple sing throughs in each outfit and my dad did the editing. The tv frame and glitches represent changing the channel on an old television. While the concept is simple it is one of my favorites.
Connect with AP Tobler via:
Website / Instagram / Twitter / Facebook / TikTok / YouTube / Spotify / Soundcloud
Standard | Posted in Interviews, New Releases, Video | Tagged alt rock, AP Tobler, Claustrophobia, Grunge, Modern Mystery, music, Music video | 0 comments
Video Voyager: Yutao's Lofi Single "Sensation"
Yutao is the indie bedroom pop artist based in Los Angeles. His songs are emotive but elusive, with lyrics that explore frustration, lost love, identity, wanting to belong, and music that is delicately dense with lush ambience and airy melodies. His aesthetic evokes alternative electro-pop artist keishi, and the vibrant scene of young Asian musicians around the 88rising record label.
His video for his latest single "Sensation," is a hypnotic counterpart to the song. It's somehow both still and ever-moving. He captures a sense of passion and whirling emotions, the sensations of a new relationship, but also shares the fast-paced nature of it. The camera never stops moving, almost like a visual time limit. Nothing lasts forever.
We spoke with Yutao about the music video for "Sensation":
The story of this song is about capturing the sensation of those "fireworks" like emotion & relationship. As if two people know nothing will last, the moment is too beautiful to pass.
The inspiration summarizes my past relationship experience; just when you were still in the moment of the "firework," the show ended without you even realizing it.
We found a location in LA where the owner renovated the whole house into a trippy greenhouse. After discussing the direction, we decided to take the approach to a more dreamy and psychedelic type of experience to recreate the short-lasting sensation.
Connect with Yutao via:
Website / Instagram / Twitter / Facebook / TikTok / YouTube / Spotify
Standard | Posted in Interviews, Video | Tagged Indie Bedroom Pop, lofi, Modern Mystery, music, Music video, Sensation, Yutao | 0 comments
Video Voyager: The Speaker Wars "It Ain't Easy"
Hall of Fame drummer Stan Lynch and singer-songwriter Jon Christopher Davis have come together to create the music they want on their own terms; they are The Speaker Wars. Their music has a vintage classic rock vibe with a contemporary spin. Their video for their latest single "It Ain't Easy" is simple yet effective. It's all in black and white and depicts the band playing in the studio. The song itself if about aging in any industry, but specifically the music industry for Stan and Jon. Getting older doesn't have to be a negative thing and this video shows their grace and acceptance of it. Just them playing music is all they need to share this message.
We spoke with Jon Christopher Davis about the video. Let's dive in:
"It Ain't Easy"' is about finding a renewed sense of purpose while learning how to age gracefully. I think it speaks to the confrontation of aging in any industry.
To simply show that mojo doesn't have an expiration date unless you let it. Getting older and wiser is cool. It's a privilege and it's liberating. Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste.
We shot our scenes separately during the middle of the pandemic. Stan was in Florida, and I was in Texas. It's always a challenge whenever you can't be in the same room, but it turned out great thanks to our director, Brad Osborne. It's simple and soulful, and that's what The Speaker Wars are all about.
Connect with The Speaker Wars via:
Website // Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Spotify // Soundcloud
Standard | Posted in Interviews, Video | Tagged interview, It Ain't Easy, Modern Mystery, music, Music video, rock, The Speaker Wars, Video Voyager | 0 comments


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ABOUT CLASSES TEACHERS
At Scenic City High School Tutorial (SCHST) our mission is to offer core high school classes in a small classroom environment. Courses will be taught with a biblical worldview to prepare students for education beyond high school, developing skills needed to think critically, evaluate and communicate information by maximizing the gifts and talents God has given them.
SCHST offers a la carte high school classes for homeschoolers in mathematics, history, language arts, and writing with a heavy emphasis on critical thinking across the curriculum. Our first year primary offerings will be in the areas of mathematics, history, and Latin. As would be expected, this will be a challenging environment, and students will be stretching in thinking new ways. We believe it's okay for work to be hard because hard work is rewarding and honors our Creator. We are looking for students who feel the same way.
FALL CLASSES
Monday 9:00 - 10:30am
Government & Economics
Monday 1:00 - 2:30pm
Algebra II
Mon/Wed 9:00 - 10:30am
Mon/Wed 10:45am - 12:15pm
Precalculus / Trigonometry
Mon/Wed 1:00 - 2:30pm
*Scheduled classes will require a minimum of four students to be offered. Latin and Mathematics classes meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. History classes meet on Mondays only. Classes begin on Monday, August 17, 2020.
Cost per class:
$70 per month (Latin & History) + $35 application fee
$75 per month (Mathematics) + $35 application fee
Wayside Presbyterian Church
2502 Fairmount Pike Signal Mountain, TN 37377
Doris Southerland, Admissions Coordinator Speight Overman, High School Administrator
The Scenic City High School Tutorial admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.


Nollywood actress and proud mother, Tonto Dikeh, might not be taken seriously for some time by her fans might be forgiven though after she had lied on several occasions that she is not pregnant.
Lots of insight stories have been shared about her pregnancy but she had refused to affirm it until the sudden news that she put to bed surfaced.
After her child birth, she has began releasing photos of how she looked while in the nine months journey which also made her stay away from social scene.
Well, credits should be given to her and her family for maintaining a low profile on her all through the journey until she had a safe delivery.
But with her dark skin, some mothers say it is because it is a boy that was why she suddenly turned black in the pregnancy please any doctor in the house?


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Short Module Review: One Hand Washes the Other (Eastman Dunn Press): 4.5 Stars
December 16, 2018	0	By Realmwarp Media
Luckily for you, a skilled steeplejack has his own problem that you are uniquely suited to resolve. While transporting her employer's jewelry, the steeplejack's wife was robbed. He knows where the thieves fenced the jewelry, and he's willing to repair the chimneys at a considerable discount if you can recover the jewelry before it's missed.
Eastman Dunn's, Waterdeep: Leverage is a short Waterdhelvian heist module the players can use to help fix Trollskull Manner. While it's heavily Waterdeep based, it's probably possible to modify it for other settings. The heist element of the module is riveting, and the "complication point" mechanics the authors introduce are an amazing addition which I look forward to in more of their works. Overall, Leverage challenges players to adapt, plan ahead, and keep their heads low as they try to pull off a minor heist with potentially major consequences.
The Heist. There's a lot of heist modules being produced since Dragon Heist, and I don't know if this one is particularly unique. What I do know is this heist will be enjoyable. It is "for a good cause" allowing players to remain "non-evil". There is the likelihood of payouts beyond loot, and consequences beyond merely getting caught. While intended for low levels for a relatively simple purpose (repairing Trollskull Manor), the consequences (both positive and negative) could reverberate for the rest of the character's lives. Throughout the adventure, the authors attempt to predict the players' actions, and in general, paint a picture of a daring heist limited only by the imaginations of players and DM.
The Complications. Eastman and Dunn introduce "complication point" mechanics which they've derived and adapted from systems like Dungeon World and 7th Age. The system is a flexible way for players to "succeed with a price" when they fail ability checks. The Dungeon Master secretly keeps track of such points to "cash them in" at a later time. These may result in things like being trapped in a burning building, encountering more guards than planned, being watched by the town guards, or be tempted from completing their mission. While not all of the complication mechanics are clear, contextually realistic, or even negative, they add the most unique and valuable element of the module. I cannot wait to see it expanded upon in Eastman Dunn's future work.
Production. The production and layout was nearly perfect. With only a few minor, and non-distracting proofreading oversights, the quality enhances, rather than detracts, from the value of the work. With a map from Dyson Logos included, as well as appropriate artistic choices, Eastman and Dunn have produced a high quality product they should be proud of.
Needed More. Despite the quality and ingenuity of the module, my one complaint is I was left wanting more. It seemed almost incomplete or over too quickly. It's hard to say what caused, this–perhaps a more detailed list of complications that could arise, or more instruction for the DM would help. At only 6 pages of actual content (not including maps and stat blocks) the reading goes by almost too quickly. I wish I could express more what would could help–but even so, it's well worth the price.
Waterdeep: Leverage is a short but exciting heist module that utilizes (what I hope are) "up and coming" mechanics for 5e. I'm rating it 4.5 stars, and saying it's Recommended for anyone playing Waterdeep and using Trollskull Manor. Pick it up in our shop, or by clicking the picture below:
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CategoryReview
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Ever since I got my iPhone X, one of the features that I've been so fascinated with is its wireless charging capability. It was one of the things that I was really excited to take advantage of.
If you know me well or have been with me during any of my trips, you'd understand why. Anywhere I go, I make it a point to bring along a power bank and a charging cable. I never want my phone's battery charge to dip below 90%. It gets me all restless and uneasy. I'm "praning" like that. LOL!
You can just imagine my joy when I learned that Baseus, a brand I have trusted for quite sometime now, have come up with their own line of wireless charging solutions.


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Alabama city's ban on dog tethering to take effect in March
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — The city council of Huntsville, Alabama, has passed an ordinance to ban the tethering of unattended animals, and it goes into effect next month.
News outlets report the ban says owners will be fined several hundred dollars for animal cruelty if unattended animals are left restrained to stationary objects. The director of Huntsville Animal Services, Karen Sheppard, says the ban was part of a nationwide push to determine if it's fair to leave a dog chained to a fixed spot. She says "more and more cities are saying no, it's not."
The ordinance that banned tethering passed in November and also strengthened other area pet regulations, inlcuding requiring outdoor pets have access to potable water, weatherproof shelter and food. The ordinance goes into effect March 1.


While the comedian is looking for an opportunity to bounce back following his old homophobic tweets controversy, these nine celebrities are able to do that.
AceShowbiz - In this social media era, celebrities find it easier to communicate with fans through their accounts, though that means they have to choose their words more carefully or it will bring troubles for them. More often than not, they land themselves in hot water due to their own social media posts.
A recent example of that is Kevin Hart, whose old homophobic tweets have cost him his hosting gig at the 2019 Academy Awards. The comedian himself has already apologized for what he did in the past, saying on the micro-blogging site, "I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. I am sorry that I hurt people. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together, not tear them apart."
While Hart is still dealing with the backlash over his old remarks, there are actually other celebrities with similar experience in the past who have been accepted back by public. We've compiled nine celebrities who managed to bounce back after causing controversy due to their social media posts. Let's check it out!
Iggy Azalea was enjoying the peak of her career when a series of her old tweets which many deemed homophobic resurfaced online. Due to the backlash that she received from the LGBTQ community, she was pulled out of a headlining gig at the Pittsburgh Pride event in 2014. The rapper later admitted to her mistake and apologized to people who were offended by her old tweets. She even tried to make up for her mistake by holding an LBGTQ event.
Thankfully, she was able to gain people's love again after that. In the following year, she led nominations at several music awards, including the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. She was also honored with Woman of the Year Award by GQ Australia in 2016 in addition to signing on to be a judge in the eighth season of the Australia version of "The X Factor".
While some celebrities still run their social media accounts after making controversial posts, it wasn't the case for Ashton Kutcher. The backlash that he received for defending a molester on Twitter in 2011 prompted him to delete his account for a while, before re-activating it months later. He doesn't handle the account himself though, as he lets his management run his Twitter account.
Fortunately for him, the backlash was short-lived. He received praises from many people due to his portrayal of Walden Schmidt on "Two and a Half Men". The show even won three Emmy Awards in 2012 and made Kutcher become the highest-paid actor on television for four years. The series finale, which was aired in February 2015, brought in the show's highest audience with 13.52 million viewers tuning in to the finale.
Adam Richman's show "Man Finds Food" was pulled after he came under fire for using the hashtag #thinspiration on Instagram in 2014. When people called him out for the hashtag, Adam did not take it well and hit back at the critics, though it resulted in him getting more backlash. That's because he told one of his critics to "grab a razor blade and draw a bath. I doubt anyone will miss you." He also told another that the only "f***ed up thing was your Dad's choice to go without a condom."
Two years later, people seemed to have forgotten about the controversy and moved on. Adam bounced back with Travel Channel, which was supposed to air "Man Finds Food", and premiered a new show titled "Secret Eats with Adam Richman". Talking about his past behavior in a statement, the network said, "We addressed and moved on from the incident that happened two years ago."
Even Gwyneth Paltrow could make a social media mishap. Back in 2012, the actress was under attack for using the N-word when captioning a photo of Jay-Z and Kanye West performing onstage in Paris. "N****s in Paris for real," she wrote along with the photo. Even though her caption was actually a title of the rappers' collaborative song, as she had already clarified it, the caption still upset many social media users who were quick to slam her.
Fortunately for her, she managed to bounce back pretty quickly. She continued to reprise her roles as Pepper Potts in several Marvel movies in addition to starring in a romcom "Thanks for Sharing" with Mark Ruffalo and "Mortdecai" with Johnny Depp, Olivia Munn and Paul Bettany. She was also named PEOPLE's "Most Beautiful Woman" in 2013.
Trevor Noah had similar experiences as Kevin Hart's. Just hours after he was announced as the new host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show", he faced backlash over his old Twitter jokes that were deemed anti-Semitic and sexist. Many urged the network to fire the South Africa native for his past behavior, but the network eventually decided to keep him.
People seemingly have moved on from the issue as his debut appearance on the show was met with positive reviews. James Poniewozik of The New York Times praised his performance, whilst Robert Lloyd of Los Angeles Times described him as "charming and composed." His success on the show led to three stand-up specials on Comedy Central and Netflix in addition to him signing extension contract as host of the show for five years. He also produced and hosted annual end-of-year specials for Comedy Central.
When many people were mourning the victims of tsunami in Japan in March 2011, Gilbert Gottfried made a series of jokes about the disaster on Twitter. Unsurprisingly enough, he was met with huge criticism at the time, to the point where Aflac decided to dismiss Gilbert from voicing its duck mascot and announced a casting call for his replacement.
Fortunately for him, the insensitive jokes didn't ruin his career entirely. In the following year, he made guest appearances on several hit shows such as "Family Guy" and "Hannah Montana". He also premiered a podcast series with Frank Santophore called "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Podcast" in 2014.
Kathy Griffin landed in a lot of troubles after she posted in May 2017 a video of herself holding "a mask styled to look like the severed, bloody head" of President Donald Trump. After receiving backlash from a number of Trump family members, she took down the post and apologized. Still, the comedienne was fired from his New Year's Eve broadcast hosting gig and was under a federal investigation by the Justice Department for two months.
The controversy fortunately did not let her down. In August of the same year, just months after the controversy, she announced a worldwide comedy tour called "Laugh Your Head Off" in reference to the infamous joke. Several shows sold out within minutes, leading Griffin to add additional shows to the lineup. She embarked on a North American leg of the tour in May 2018.
Blake Shelton was also among the victims of old problematic tweets. He faced a huge backlash in 2016 after his followers unearthed a series of past tweets that had been labeled as racist, misogynistic and homophobic. One tweet featured him sharing his "sick fantasy" about the then-16-year-old Dakota Fanning. He also urged his neighbor to "learn some English so I would at least now what he's planning to bomb" in one tweet.
Shelton didn't need a long time to make his comeback following the controversy. One month later, he was selected to perform "Forever Country" along with other 30 musicians. The single debuted atop Billboard's Hot Country Song chart. He was also honored at Oklahoma Creativity Ambassadors Gala in addition to having his 2017 album "Texoma Shore" debuting at No. 4 on Billboard 200. He was also named PEOPLE's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 2017.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn was put under fire after a series of his old offensive tweets resurfaced online in 2018. Some of the tweets found him making a number of jokes about pedophilia and molestation. While Gunn has apologized for what he wrote in the past, Disney decided to fire him from the Marvel movie franchise.
However, cast members of "Guardians of the Galaxy" and fans did not agree with the network's decision, leading them to launch a petition to rehire the filmmaker. Even though the petition was signed by thousands, Disney still stood by its decision to fire Gunn. It didn't take too long for him to get a new job though, as he was later hired by Warner Bros. Pictures to write the sequel to "Suicide Squad".


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#define LOG_TAG "MetaData"
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#include <binder/Parcel.h>
#include <utils/KeyedVector.h>
#include <utils/Log.h>

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

#include <media/stagefright/foundation/ADebug.h>
#include <media/stagefright/foundation/AString.h>
#include <media/stagefright/foundation/hexdump.h>
#include <media/stagefright/MetaData.h>

namespace android {

MetaData::MetaData() {
}

MetaData::MetaData(const MetaData &from)
    : MetaDataBase(from) {
}
MetaData::MetaData(const MetaDataBase &from)
    : MetaDataBase(from) {
}

MetaData::~MetaData() {
}

/* static */
sp<MetaData> MetaData::createFromParcel(const Parcel &parcel) {

    sp<MetaData> meta = new MetaData();
    meta->updateFromParcel(parcel);
    return meta;
}

}  // namespace android


There has been a lot in the news recently about benefits being provided by CPA firms. Most of these claim to help with recruiting and retention. One company is now offering paid maternity leave and increased personal time off — including unlimited vacation for managers and principals — based on years of service at the firm. One national firm announced the introduction of a "Dress for Your Day" pilot program intended to give team members choices of what they can wear to work based largely on where and with whom they will be working. Another firm was recently profiled in its local paper talking about its work environment that included stand-up desks and a meditation room.
While I firmly believe these are attractive benefits from a recruiting perspective and some (like the paid maternity leave) will help with retention, some of these are just bells and whistles. In my experience, the bells and whistles matter only if you already have an engaged staff. No employee has left a firm because of not having a jeans policy or lack of stand-up desks.
However, forging a more friendly work environment does help with productivity. Here are some of the benefits we actually believe could have an impact on productivity and retention and are affordable for most firms.
Most staff want more control over the hours they work. It's not that they want to work less. Consider offering flex days at any point during the week which will give them options for when they want to work on the weekends during tax season. Also, don't make people work late until they have to. Focus on performance and demand.
A key driver in employee engagement is challenging work.
Close the office the weekend after March 15 and the day after April 15.
Breaks in work will help everyone be more productive.
As a partner (aka owner), you must set the expectations with clients and manage workflow.
Stand-up desks are actually not a bad idea. People are often more productive while standing and think better on their feet. Healthy snacks and encouraging quick breaks for a walk outside will also help with productivity.
Be kind to your employees.
While policies are important from an HR standpoint, sometimes you need to make exceptions to those policies. I distinctly remember the call I had to make to my then bosses when my father passed away unexpectedly. We had a clear three-day policy, but that would not have covered what I needed. My bosses told me to take whatever time I needed. They didn't dock my vacation time or pay for being out longer and never made me feel guilty. The odd thing was, I found I worked even harder for them and stayed much longer in my role than I might have otherwise.
This post first appeared on the CPASNET where Sarah Johnson Dobek regularly contributes articles for accounting firms.


Sometimes a girl just needs a blow dry. There isn't much more too it then that. A quick pamper session and visit to a fancy salon in-between hair cuts is what the doctor ordered. I was lucky enough to be invited to HOB Salons in Leeds to try out their new Energy Blow Dry. Even better I could bring a friend, so of course we made it into a real ladies who get pampered session.
Ok I'm starting with the end result to entice you in. Hello fancy products, a glass of something fizzy and two bouncy blow drys. Coming straight from work I can promise you our hair did not look this good when we arrived an hour earlier.
It is a long time since we've both been to a salon, maybe 5 years. See one of our best friends is a hair dresser and we have our hair done at home. So this experience was a real mid week treat. I see going to the salon a real luxury and I'm not going to lie; I was excited to have my head massaged while having my hair washed.
The Energy Blow Dry is a little different from your bog standard normal blow dry. It includes a personalised consultation to find out which products will suit your hair the best.
You go through a quick questionnaire about what you like about your hair and what you don't. It also includes questions to do with hair length and if it is damaged etc. From this there is some wizardy and your unique Energycode is identified. From your Energycode you get a personalised selection of products that are used throughout your blow dry. This means that your new shiny Energy blow dry should last longer then a few hours and feel rather fabulous.
Ok so did I enjoy the blow dry experience? Yes I did. My hair is always a challenge, it is very fine but there is a lot of it. It is also oily and as I have a full fringe it can look greasy in a matter of hours. Kathryn's hair on the other hand is thick, has a bit of a curl and there is lots of it. Two totally different hair types and one blow dry doesn't normally mix. However as the Energy Blow Dry is personalised we both ended up with the same treatment but totally different results.
I got bouncy waves that I can report lasted pretty well. I had to give the ones at the back a quick tweak with my tongs the next morning as they had dropped a little. But hello super fine hair, it was always going to happen. Kathryn reported back that her straight bouncy blow dry lasted perfectly and still felt really soft the next day.
Honestly I never thought I'd be a blow dry kinda gal. Normally I end up just quickly straightening my hair before going on a night out. But if I was going somewhere special I think that i'll be taking a trip back to HOB Salons for a little extra pampering.
There is another little secret that I will let you into – HOB Salons in Leeds offers NHS employees a 20% discount! Now if that doesn't tempt you into a post work Energy blow dry I don't know what will.


Here is a summary written by long-time member cellist, Richard Clark.
rehearsals" or informal "publick actes," avoiding the stressful "C word"
semester to help pay the conductor and cover music costs.
increasingly experienced membership of over 80 instrumentalists.
sponsorship of an annual concerto contest for local pre-college musicians.
appreciate the continued support of our community and UNC-CH.


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The Eiffel Tower is closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic !
All the tickets bought on our web site www.toureiffel.paris have been cancelled and refunded.
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What to see around the Eiffel Tower ?
Modified the 07/01/21
To round out your visit, discover the cultural sites located near the Eiffel Tower. We've selected a variety of museums and historical landmarks that will delight you and help you discover another side of Paris.
Tower observation points
There are number of sites around Paris that offer exceptional views of the Tower. We consider three of them must-see spots for the best possible souvenir of the Iron Lady.
Closest to the Tower is the Champ de Mars, where you can relax and stroll through the vast park. On the Palais de Chaillot side, the Trocadéro terraces also offer a stunning panorama of the Tower in its entirety. For an unobstructed view with the Seine in the foreground, visit Bir-Hakeim Bridge, where you'll also find the Renaissance France statue.
The Eiffel Tower seen from the Bir-Hakeim Bridge © SETE - Pierre Nicou
Quai Branly Museum
Inaugurated in 2006 by Jacques Chirac, the Quai Branly Museum showcases non-western indigenous arts in its permanent collections and varied temporary exhibitions.
Its 300,000 works and 700,000 photos from Oceania, Africa, Asia, and the Americas will take you on a journey through a multicultural universe where the arts meet the history and cultures of the world. The bookstore, media library, and Claude Lévi-Strauss Theater will complete your tour.
The museum is situated just a dozen meters or a 5-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower. It's open Tuesday through Friday, from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm (open until 10:00 pm on thursday).
For more information, consult the Quai Branly Museum website.
© Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Thomas Garnier
Situated across from the Tower in the Palais de Chaillot, the Musée de l'Homme or Museum of Mankind offers a new vision of the human species through presentations on various biological, cultural, and societal aspects, as well as the history of our evolution over the centuries.
Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? The museum strives to answer these three major questions in its laboratory, collections, conferences, and film screenings.
Enjoy a break in its restaurant, the Totem, which offers an amazing view of the Tower. The Musée de l'Homme is a 15-minute walk (crossing the Seine on the Pont d'Iéna) or a 10-minute bus ride from the Tower. It's open Wednesday through Monday, from 11 am to 7 pm.
For more information, consult the Musée de l'Homme website.
© MNHN-MH/Jean François Krettly
The Guimet Museum
The Guimet Museum is the largest museum in Europe dedicated entirely to Asian arts. For over 130 years, it has presented visitors with a vast collection of Asian art acquired during the travels of its eponymous founder, Emile Guimet, in Asia.
Japan, India, China, Korea, the Himalayas, Southeast Asia... as many places as there are collections inviting you to discover the history of these arts. 5 millennia of Asian art are presented through a collection of archaeological objects, ancient arts and textiles that is constantly being enriched and diversified.
The National Museum of Asian Arts - Guimet is located near the Eiffel Tower, a 15-minute walk or an 8-minute bus ride away. It's open from 10 am to 6 pm, Wednesday through Monday.
For more information, consult the The National Museum of Asian Arts - Guimet website.
© Stéphane Ruchaud
Spanning 22,000 square meters, the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine is the world's largest architecture center. Classed as a historic landmark, its mission is to promote architecture through its library, museum, and school along with a line-up of temporary exhibits, conferences, and numerous activities for younger audiences.
You'll discover a vast collection of monumental sculptures and exceptional models demonstrating French architectural know-how from the Middle Ages to today while enjoying a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower and the Champ de Mars.
Housed in the Palais de Chaillot, it can be reached in a 10-minute walk from the Tower and is open Wednesday through Monday, from 11 am to 7 pm, and Thursday until 9 pm.
For more information, visit the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine website.
© Denys Vinson
Paris Aquarium
Inspired by Jules Verne's book Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Cinéaqua is among the world's premier aquariums. Nestled in the gardens of Trocadéro and renovated in 2006, it is currently home to 13,000 fish, 38 sharks, 2,500 jellyfish, and 700 colonies of coral in its 3,500 square meters.
Numerous interactive activities, shows, and a restaurant allow you to take full advantage of your experience while discovering life under the sea.
Located between Trocadéro and the Seine, Cinéaqua is a 10-minute walk from the Tower. It's open every day from 10 am to 7 pm.
For more information, consult the Paris Aquarium website.
© Aquarium de Paris
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Valentine's Day: There's love in the air and on the Eiffel Tower!
On February 14, 2020, the Eiffel Tower will be more romantic than ever. Come and celebrate Valentine's Day from the esplanade to the top and discover a program of original activities. You might be lucky enough to see your Valentine's love tweet projected on the Tower with #Eiffel...
What events took place at the Eiffel Tower in January?
In January 2020, the Eiffel Tower hosted several events that delighted its visitors.
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We all know the Tower bears Eiffel's name, but did it ever really belong to Gustave Eiffel? By Bertrand Lemoine
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You're not supposed to cry at space movies. That's just an understood truth of the genre. Astronauts must suppress feelings. But if you don't leak at least a cubic centimeter of sodium chloride solution while watching "Gravity," your heart is clearly made of titanium.
Sandra Bullock will crack your emotional armor with her performance as Dr. Ryan Stone, a talented but withdrawn rookie mission specialist during a real bad day in space. She will make you cry in empathy, in joy and in frustration. She'll make you giggle, recoil and cringe too. As her character fights to stay alive, she comes alive inwardly as well. Stone becomes less stony.
All parents take note: This story hits close to home.
Yes, Sandra Bullock is that good.
Her character is strong, and weak, outwardly bulletproof and utterly vulnerable. To say her Dr. Stone has gravitas is too lightweight an idiom. But she is not at all one of those righteously stuffy fly-girls you've been led to expect.
NASA cast its entire culture in the persona of its early test-pilot astronauts. In the space agency's public-facing universe, acronyms are cool, emotions are not. An overabundance of self-control and compartmentalization was long considered the mark of space professionalism.
Real astronauts are real people however and, in this reporter's experience, not a bit like this icy-image in real life. But you'd never know it from NASA Public Affairs Officers' propaganda. No wonder two generations of taxpaying Americans feel alienated from their space program.
Sandra Bullock will change your mind about all that. If you've seen "Gravity's" nerve-wracking trailers, you know you're in for a wild cinematic special effects ride. What you may not be prepared for is the emotional roller coaster.
As Bullock's Ryan Stone persona works through all the stages of confronting tragedy, Bullock will shift your vectors of emotional inertia completely around. She will completely suspend your sense of clock time, even as she convinces you that you're suspended in low-Earth orbit beside her. She'll get you in a place where your guts control the tempo; where you evolve from heartbeat to heartbeat.
She can be so excellent thanks to a startling story by the father and son team of Alfonso and Jonas Cuarón. As Bullock told me, "Gravity" is a very personal story for the Cuarón family, which juxtaposes a mother figure floating above and separated from the ultimate Mother Earth. Alfie, as he's known, directs.
Beyond Bullock's craft, and the Cuarón's story, the film works so well because there is no moment where you doubt its truth. Authenticity, apparent in every prop, costume and set piece, matters even to audiences who don't geek out on space hardware. The filmmakers spent an enormous amount of expense on matching — then extending in subtle ways — the exact appearance of NASA's space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz and the International Space Station inside and out.
Motion, too, must be perfectly "spacey" or the film's illusion is instantly blown. This required Bullock to train and tone to a place where she can convince you of weightlessness just through an exquisite degree of body control. She had to unlearn certain actors' tropes of movement that assume a gravity vector. She had to carefully research the very different way the human body moves in microgravity.
"I had to retrain my body to react in the way it would react in space," Bullock said in a statement. "Every single part of my being had to be used to execute zero gravity in a way that was poetic and lyrical."
For some scenes, Bullock literally became a puppet. The effects team created a unique servomotor-controlled 12-wire rig clewed to a carbon-fiber harness custom-molded to Bullock's body contours.
Making "Gravity" changed Sandra Bullock. Space changes astronauts. Pilot-astronauts in particular (CDRs and PLTs) tend to come from military backgrounds where ecological sensitivity is not, shall we say, a requirement on the resume. Yet nearly all of these steely-eyed missile men and women return from their first trips to orbit as ardent environmentalists.
"I used to think astronauts wanted to go into space for the thrill and adventure," Bullock said. "When I spoke to them, though, I was so moved by their deep, deep love of that world and the beauty of Earth from their perspective."
She also appreciated their photographic abilities. Many astronauts are remarkable photographers, able to bring a planetary perspective down to Earth. "What blew me away is how they are able to show off this world of ours," said Bullock. "I'd never seen it before and felt guilty that I had never appreciated it as much as I do now."
Gravity is an upcoming drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The film stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as surviving astronauts in a damaged space station.
Gravity is more than an irresistible physical effect of mass. It's the power behind re-entry of Bullock's character into the human community. The film tracks at least three of the primal seven great plots of literature. It's at once, "voyage and return," and "death and rebirth," and a bit of "mythic quest" as well.
The metaphor of choosing to be cast out, by rocket launch, from the protective cradle of Earth — then having to fight her way back in — lies close to the core of Bullock's performance motivation. "It's a story about what makes us try when it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel," she says. "What is it that makes you go that extra step, just in case it was worth the effort?"
The same could be truly asked of all inquisitive exploration, and especially of our forays beyond mother Earth into space.
America's first female astronaut, Dr. Sally Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012), was also the first President of SPACE.com. She worked tirelessly to break the "glass ceiling" for young female scientists, engineers and students wishing to pursue challenging careers. Sally fought to protect our home planet. But she also wanted young women's opportunities to be as big as the Universe.
We cannot speak for Dr. Ride, but based on her editorial guidance in the time she was our boss, we believe Sally would have strongly approved of the Dr. Ryan character and especially of Ms. Bullock's powerfully soulful portrayal. The real Dr. Ride and the fictional Dr. Ryan teach us much about what we humans can be for one another.