text:
Tri-dimensional board games: How does the additional dimension extend possible player requirements & game structure?
Recently I saw the Star Trek chess game in a serial and looked it up on wikipedia. It exists as a real game, but it seems it's not too popular, too tricky, too unwieldy to carry and play everywhere, and the rules are too complex (?). There seem also to be no world-wide championships or other questions on boardgames.SE ;)
Does anyone know of a good scientific site/report (maybe a topic in neuroscience experiments) describing different rule sets for e.g. 3D-chess which covers a bit the theory how in general 2D games differ from 3D games? Differences might include more possible game moves, the role of spatial perception (afaik men and women have different strong faculties here - so maybe 3D games are not gender-neutral and less popular besides hardly portable/digital playable?), or mappings of well-known game strategies from 2D.
PS: My first question here. I have no idea if this question is too open, so please reformulate if so. I'm more asking for some good links shedding some light on the general differences in game theory/structure between 2D and 3D.
game-design game-development 3d-chess
ire_and_curses
HauserHauser
The most problems are physical representation of boards, i think.
– Zhen
While I've not seen serious work on it... I have played trek-style 3d chess
Take the pawn. In 2d, it has one move option. in 3d, given the start locations, it has 2, sometime 3, options Twice that many "covered" squares it can attack to.
The 3D has several effects:
increasing piece movement options
different board shape reduces flat move options for many pieces
perception of good versus bad moves is more difficult
occasional adjustment of board results in different dynamic (small boards are mobile)
this al means a direct comparison is difficult as the needed strategies change.
3D tic tac toe, however, merely gets more move options - the same strategies apply. So it varies by how the 3D is done.
aramisaramis
This answer seems too specific to examples, not the general question. Perhaps the question can be clarified to be one or the other?
– Neal Tibrewala
The general question is practically unanswerable because it's too general, and not much is really done on it academically.
– aramis
@aramis thx. What academic branches deal in general with this topic? Psychology, Game Theory...The star trek chess looks also quite unsymmetric :), so you go constantly around the board to view from diff. angles?
– Hauser
Star Trek chess is actually fairly symmetric along one axis. It just doesn't look it. The few times I've played, we just both sat to the sides; one's playing upwards, the other downwards, but it's easiest to see moves from above and to the sides.
3D games are not fundamentally different, but are less common because they are usually harder for people to understand the basic game mechanics. The main problem with 3D chess is that spaces on the board are adjacent without easy visual indication of such.
Full Explanation
Let's start with games with discrete spaces (like Chess, Risk, etc), the important principle is not the "dimensionality" of the board (2D vs 3D), it's the graph of the spaces on the board. 2D games usually have a planar graph, whereas 3D games are usually made that way to intentionally have a non-planar graph. They could still be made on 2D boards, but are not for the sake of novelty. There are still plenty of examples of games with 2D boards that still have non-planar graphs, such as the following:
Scythe, which deviates from being planar with the special movement rules)
StarCraft: The Board Game, which explicitly calls the exceptions to the planar nature "Z-axis connectors"
Cosmic Encounter, which has something approaching a complete graph for a board
The thing about non-planar graphs is that they are harder to reason about because there the visual cues for adjacency of spaces are either weaker or abstract. Edge detection is a key facet of both the neuroscientific study of human vision and the machine learning approach to computer vision. Thus, having adjacent territories share an edge means that you can have a human "understand" that adjacency in the Occipital Lobe. Two adjacent territories that are physically separate and only indicated to be adjacent on the board need to make it through the Occipital lobe and to the Cerebrum for someone to understand the adjacency, though there are at least high level visual cues they can use to help.
Two adjacent territories that are adjacent by means of game rules and not visually indicated at all or using something other than color (such as "vertical overlay plus 2D adjacency" in your 3D chess example) are probably the hardest to handle because there is no support whatsoever from the visual cortex, and this is purely effortful abstract reasoning. Effortful abstract reasoning is a major obstacle to gameplay when present in the basic mechanics. Take the classic Diplomacy map as an example of how much visual cues matter: many players miss the fact that Norway and St. Petersburg are adjacent because the border between them isn't very wide, even though the rules for adjacency are quite unambiguous.
Games that are popular tend to be ones that people get "intuitively". This is a really hard concept to define, but is best understood through examples. If, in Magic the Gathering, a goblin could fly and an angel couldn't, this would be really hard for people to remember (even though there is no rules reason this could not be the case), whereas the other way around is quite easy. If Settlers of Catan used species of plankton as the five resources, it would be an identical game, but would be far harder for people to remember what resource did what (since plankton have nothing to do with building roads and cities) and would consequently be massively harder to play. Similarly, that physically adjacent spaces allow movement between then is easy to understand, whereas physically disjoint spaces with no visual indicator allowing movement between them is hard.
Even in regular chess, the knight is usually the hardest piece for new players to "visualize" the movement of due to the fact that it cheats adjacency in it's movement, and consequently has fewer visual cues as to how it moves. Try playing chess on a board that is all one color (instead of alternating colors) and see how hard it is to visualize the movement of bishops.
The 3D chess game you give as the example is most likely unpopular primarily due to all of the reasons above making moving non-intuitive. The rules of the game are intentionally complex to take advantage of the novelty of the 3D structure of the board. While this is certainly entertaining for a game or two, it leads to a game that is more about not making mistakes than one with interesting strategic analysis, since you have to spend so much cognitive effort even understanding what moves are legal. From what I can find about the rules the proper way to visualize a move is to look at the board from above, but due to the overlap of the boards, this requires you to look at the board from a number of sides to see what is obscured by the bird's eye view. Add on top of this the fact that some of the boards can move to different positions and intuitive adjacency goes out the window. The lack of portability of the game is a minor inconvenience in comparison.
All of the above has been with regard to games with discrete spaces. There are plenty of examples of 3D games that are very successful that aren't about spaces:
Barrel of Monkeys
The success here is that they don't require reasoning about complex 3D structures; they're just object manipulation and the human intuition about physics. I'd file Blacksmith puzzles (also known as tavern puzzles) as also having the attribute of successfully using 3D geometry to create engagement, but these are intended as solo exercises rather than having competitive rules draped on top of them.
As an extreme example, Allan Calhamer (the inventor of Diplomacy) made a four-dimensional game called "Hyperspace", though embedded the four dimensions onto a 2D board with some interesting movement rules. This ended up being sufficiently unintuitive that the answer to multiple questions in the included FAQ in the rulebook is "You don't understand hyperspace."
ZagsZags
I have played an 8x8x3 version of Chess, somewhat similar to Millennium 3D chess But since I received my set in 1978 nd that dates from 2001 they can't be quite the same. The board had three plastic chessboards stacked one above the other (not offset as in the Star Trek version), and pieces could make their regular flat moves or make related moves across levels.
At the tiem I was a fairly inexperienced chess player, and I did not find the experience very different, except that the end game was harder with another way for a king so slip away from a pending mate. One had to have at least one piece on the adjacent level to block the king's escape, and it was pointless to try to mate on the middle level except with overwhelming strength. The physical positioning allowed fairly easy visualization of relative positions and move. It helped that the "white" squares were actually transparent.
David SiegelDavid Siegel
This question possible does need to be a bit more specific, so I am going to restrict my answer to tri dimensional chess. In tri dimensional chess, where the different levels of boards overlap, the overlapping squares are considered to be the same positions and a piece ending its move on an overlapping square has a choice of levels to end on. This aspect alone completely over hauls a 2D chess players rule book. Depending on which rule set is employed. By far, the most played rules are Andrew Bartmess' Federation Standard rules, adopted by memorabilia 3D chess board makers and sanctioned, initially, by the makers of Star Trek. The additional strategic mechanisms open a whole new range of options for each move. Unfortunately, Federation Standard rules offer a major tactical advantage to whoever plays from the top board, in what is commonly referred to as the 'highest board' move. I won't go into it here but there's a good explanation on boardgame geeks:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2725970/why-highest-boards-rule-so-bad
Two other popular rule sets are Jens Meder's and the jedi smurf rules, both utilised in many computer versions of the game. These severely undermine the point of the overlapping squares as a piece on any level can block the path of any other piece.
To really explore the 3D space across all the boards, I recommend the World Tri Dimensional Chess Federation rules.
http://w3dcf.com/information/laws
They make blocking harder as pieces may move along any path, provided there are corresponding empty squares. They are also more intuitive for 2D chess players.
sanepetesanepete
You have grafics, or, pictorals, &, symbolics in, any 3d communications. ONEdemention is always simple "graphics." The other, 2 are "symbolics &, pictoral" because, it's a 3 D/demention, &, 3D conceptual design. THEREFORE, It's HOW your brain views the strategy, of, the game, as, a cube, OR, a flat surface graf, not, unlike "graff paper."
The 3D is a 3d "concept," W/, invisable sides, a top, midle, &, base/floor demention.
It's a more solid open, constructive play, automatically, vs. the flat 1-demention graff paper, flat, foward, backward, corner, to corner moves.
The 1 dementional is more "grafic" not, unlike a stick man represents a person drawing, to the mind. whereas, the 3D dementional is more "pictoral" &, the moves played, ARE on, more than, 1 level, in, one single move per, piece is highly "symbolic," in otherwords, I move here, &, below, & impose a pictoral, upon, the oponent, a 3d concept when, I start my piece moving, in a cube sphere.
The instantaneous pictures, create solid symbolics, in the shape of, posts, ladels, &, sides, which, in, turn, invisablly contains the Opponents piece's &, imprisons the moves, by the mere 3d design &, conceptual piece.
ALL the opponents moves are "symbolic" attempts, on, levels above, or, below, their pieces.
If, a pyramid, or triangle were 3 D conceptual design, INSTEAD OF THE 3 CHESS BOARD TRIPLE STACK, you cant move, or even leave the game, unless, you go outside, the invisable boundaries, or resort back into, the one demention flat "graphics" With no 3d conceptual design communications, because, AGAIN, In order, to play the game you must use "pictorials &, symbolics" in a 3d conceptual design, to communicate ALL your moves.
Theres no concept structure, In 1 demention, you just, keep playing in a flat 1dementional graphic, non-pictoral level, completely, w/ out any higher "symbolic" required thinking.
*Uno.
Understand? Its a "pictoral "game of "symbolics" &, intentions, vs. Simple "graffics" 1 piece moves flat demention no conceptual 3d design communications just 1 "grafic" cross stick movements.
Les NicholsLes Nichols
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text:
"""
Functions for computing isothermal spectra from CHIANTI IDL
"""
import contextlib
import io
import os

import asdf
import astropy.units as u
import ndcube
from ndcube.extra_coords import QuantityTableCoordinate
import numpy as np

__all__ = [
    'compute_spectral_table',
    'write_spectral_table',
    'spectrum_to_cube',
    'read_spectral_table',
]

_chianti_script = '''
ioneq_name = '{{ [ ssw_home, 'packages/chianti/dbase/ioneq', ioneq_file ] | join('/') }}'
abund_name = '{{ [ ssw_home, 'packages/chianti/dbase/abundance', abundance_file ] | join('/') }}'
wave_min = {{ wave_min | to_unit('Angstrom') }}
wave_max = {{ wave_max | to_unit('Angstrom') }}
wave_range = [wave_min, wave_max]
delta_wave = {{ delta_wave | to_unit('Angstrom') }}
log_temperature = {{ temperature | to_unit('K') | log10 }}
log_em = {{ emission_measure | to_unit('cm-5') | log10 }}
density = {{ density | to_unit('cm-3') }}

;generate transition structure for selected wavelength and temperature range
ch_synthetic, wave_min,$
              wave_max,$
              output=transitions,$
              ioneq_name=ioneq_name,$
              logt_isothermal=log_temperature,$
              logem_isothermal=log_em,$
              {% if ion_list -%}sngl_ion=[{{ ion_list | string_list | join(',') }}],${%- endif %}
              {% if use_lookup_table %}/lookup,${%- endif%}
              density=density

;compute the spectra as a function of lambda and T
make_chianti_spec, transitions,$
                   wavelength,$
                   spectrum,$
                   bin_size=delta_wave,$
                   wrange=wave_range,$
                   abund_name=abund_name,$
                   {% if include_continuum -%}/continuum,${%- endif %}
                   {% if photons -%}/photons,${%- endif %}
                   /no_thermal_width
'''

@u.quantity_input
def compute_spectral_table(temperature: u.K,
                           density: u.cm**(-3),
                           wave_min: u.angstrom,
                           wave_max: u.angstrom,
                           delta_wave: u.angstrom,
                           ioneq_filename,
                           abundance_filename,
                           photons=True,
                           emission_measure=1*u.Unit('cm-5'),
                           ion_list=None,
                           include_continuum=True,
                           use_lookup_table=False,
                           chianti_dir=None):
    """
    Compute spectra for a range of temperatures using CHIANTI IDL in SSW.

    Given a specified temperature and density profile, compute the spectra
    over the desired wavelength range at each temperature and density pair.
    This is computing by first calling the ``ch_synthetic`` and then
    ``make_chianti_spec`` in CHIANTI IDL as distributed in SolarSoft.

    Parameters
    ----------
    temperature: `~astropy.units.Quantity`
    density: `~astropy.units.Quantity`
        Must have same dimensions as `temperature`. Both `temperature`
        and `density` are assumed to vary along the same axis.
    wave_min: `~astropy.units.Quantity`
        Lower limit on wavelength range
    wave_max: `~astropy.units.Quantity`
        Upper limit on wavelength range
    delta_wave: `~astropy.units.Quantity`
        Spectral bin width
    ioneq_filename: `str`
        Name of ionization equilibrium file, including extension
    abundance_filename: `str`
        Name of abundance file, including extension
    emission_measure: `~astropy.units.Quantity`, optional
        Emission measure used when computing synthetic spectra. Note that
        this is divided out anyway.
    ion_list: `list`, optional
        List of ions to include in the synthetic spectra, e.g. 'fe_13' for
        Fe XIII. If None, all ions will be included.
    include_continuum: `bool`, optional
        If True, include free-free, free-bound, and two-photon continuum
        contributions to the spectra.
    chianti_dir: `str` or path-like, optional
        Path to the top level of CHIANTI installation, including directories
        for IDL code and database files. If not specified, the default CHIANTI
        available in the local SSW installation will be used.
    use_lookup_table: `bool`, optional
        If True, use the `/lookup` option for `ch_synthetic` to speed up the
        level populations calculation.

    Returns
    --------
    spectra: `~ndcube.NDCube`
        Resulting spectra as a function of temperature and wavelength
    """
    # Import here to avoid circular imports
    from synthesizAR import log
    # setup SSW environment and inputs
    input_args = {
        'wave_min': wave_min,
        'wave_max': wave_max,
        'delta_wave': delta_wave,
        'emission_measure': emission_measure,
        'ioneq_file': ioneq_filename,
        'abundance_file': abundance_filename,
        'ion_list': ion_list,
        'include_continuum': include_continuum,
        'use_lookup_table': use_lookup_table,
        'photons': photons,
    }
    # NOTE: do not want this as a hard dependency, particularly if
    # just reading a spectral file
    import hissw
    if chianti_dir is not None:
        ssw_packages = None
        ssw_paths = None
        idl_root = os.path.join(chianti_dir, 'idl')
        dbase_root = os.path.join(chianti_dir, 'dbase')
        # Set up extra paths
        extra_paths = [d for d, _, _ in os.walk(idl_root)]
        header = f'''
        defsysv,'!xuvtop','{dbase_root}'
        defsysv,'!abund_file','{os.path.join(dbase_root, 'abundance', abundance_filename)}'
        defsysv,'!ioneq_file','{os.path.join(dbase_root, 'ioneq', ioneq_filename)}'
        '''
        # Set up header
    else:
        # Use SSW installed CHIANTI
        ssw_packages = ['chianti']
        ssw_paths = ['chianti']
        header = None
        extra_paths = None
    env = hissw.Environment(
        ssw_packages=ssw_packages,
        ssw_paths=ssw_paths,
        header=header,
        extra_paths=extra_paths,
    )

    # Iterate over T and n values
    all_spectra = []
    for T, n in zip(temperature, density):
        input_args['temperature'] = T
        input_args['density'] = n
        log.debug(f'Computing spectra for (T,n) = ({T}, {n})')
        _wavelength, spec = _get_isothermal_spectra(env, input_args)
        all_spectra.append(spec)
        # This ensures that wavelength is never None unless
        # everything is None
        if _wavelength is not None:
            wavelength = _wavelength

    # Filter out any none entries
    spec_unit = f"{'ph' if photons else 'erg'} cm3 angstrom-1 s-1 sr-1"
    for i, spec in enumerate(all_spectra):
        if spec is None:
            all_spectra[i] = u.Quantity(np.zeros(wavelength.shape), spec_unit)

    # Build NDCube
    spectrum = u.Quantity(all_spectra)
    meta = {
        'version': get_chianti_version(env),
        'ioneq_filename': ioneq_filename,
        'abundance_filename': abundance_filename,
        'ion_list': 'all' if ion_list is None else ion_list,
        'include_continuum': include_continuum,
    }
    cube = spectrum_to_cube(spectrum,
                            wavelength,
                            temperature,
                            density=density,
                            meta=meta)

    return cube

def _get_isothermal_spectra(env, input_args):
    # Import here to avoid circular imports
    from synthesizAR import log
    log.debug(input_args)
    # NOTE: capturing the STDOUT here as when there are no relevant
    # transitions in the wavelength and temperature range, CHIANTI
    # returns nothing and so we have to treat this as an exception
    # to catch and return a placeholder
    f = io.StringIO()
    with contextlib.redirect_stdout(f):
        output = env.run(_chianti_script, args=input_args,
                         save_vars=['spectrum'])
    idl_msg = f.getvalue()
    log.debug(idl_msg)
    if 'No lines in the selected wavelength range !' in idl_msg:
        log.warning(idl_msg)
        return None, None
    spectrum = output['spectrum']['spectrum'][0]
    wavelength = output['spectrum']['lambda'][0]
    units = output['spectrum']['units'][0]
    # The unit string from CHIANTI uses representations astropy
    # does not like so we fake those units
    u.add_enabled_units([
        u.def_unit('photons', represents=u.photon),
        u.def_unit('Angstroms', represents=u.Angstrom)
    ])
    wave_unit = u.Unit(units[0].decode('utf-8'))
    wavelength = u.Quantity(wavelength, wave_unit)
    spectrum_unit = u.Unit(units[1].decode('utf-8'))
    spectrum = u.Quantity(spectrum, spectrum_unit)
    # Originally, the spectrum was computed assuming unit EM.
    # Divide through to get the units right
    spectrum /= input_args['emission_measure']

    spec_unit = 'ph' if input_args['photons'] else 'erg'
    spec_unit = f'{spec_unit} cm3 angstrom-1 s-1 sr-1'

    return wavelength.to('Angstrom'), spectrum.to(spec_unit)

def get_chianti_version(env):
    output = env.run('version = ch_get_version()',
                     save_vars=['version'],
                     verbose=False)
    return output['version'].decode('utf-8')

def write_spectral_table(filename, cube):
    """
    Write result of `compute_spectral_table` to an ASDF file
    """
    tree = {}
    tree['spectrum'] = u.Quantity(cube.data, cube.unit)
    tree['temperature'] = cube.axis_world_coords(0)[0]
    if 'density' in cube.extra_coords.keys():
        # FIXME: there has to be a better way of accessing the data for the extra coord
        # FIXME: use gwcs instead?
        tree['density'] = cube.extra_coords['density']._lookup_tables[0][1].model.lookup_table
    tree['wavelength'] = cube.axis_world_coords(1)[0]
    for k, v in cube.meta.items():
        tree[k] = v
    with asdf.AsdfFile(tree) as asdf_file:
        asdf_file.write_to(filename)

def spectrum_to_cube(spectrum, wavelength, temperature, density=None, meta=None):
    """
    Build an NDCube of spectra as a function of wavelength and temperature

    Parameters
    ----------
    spectrum: `~astropy.units.Quantity`
        Spectra as a function of wavelength and temperature
    wavelength: `~astropy.units.Quantity`
        Wavelength array corresponding to the first axis of `spectrum`
    temperature: `~astropy.units.Quantity`
        Temperature array corresponding to the second axis of `spectrum`
    density: `~astropy.units.Quantity`, optional
        Density variation along the temperature axis. If specified, should
        be same dimensionality as `temperature`
    meta: `dict`, optional
        Metadata dictionary

    Returns
    -------
    : `~ndcube.NDCube`
    """
    gwcs = (
        QuantityTableCoordinate(wavelength, physical_types='em.wl') &
        QuantityTableCoordinate(temperature, physical_types='phys.temperature')
    ).wcs
    spec_cube = ndcube.NDCube(spectrum, wcs=gwcs, meta=meta)
    if density:
        spec_cube.extra_coords.add('density', (0,), density, physical_types='phys.density')
    return spec_cube

def read_spectral_table(filename):
    """
    Read a spectral table file and return an NDCube

    Parameters
    ----------
    filename : `str` or path-like
        Path to ASDF file containing CHIANTI spectral table

    Returns
    -------
    : `~ndcube.NDCube`
    """
    # Read file
    with asdf.open(filename, mode='r', copy_arrays=True) as af:
        temperature = af['temperature']
        density = af['density']
        wavelength = af['wavelength']
        spectrum = af['spectrum']
        meta_keys = ['ioneq_filename',
                     'abundance_filename',
                     'ion_list',
                     'version']
        meta = {k: af[k] if k in af else None for k in meta_keys}
    return spectrum_to_cube(spectrum, wavelength, temperature, density=density, meta=meta)

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text:
"I could build that in five minutes!"
2020-08-06 by @edent | #accessibility #usability | 11 comments | Read ~1,015 times.
It's rather dispiriting when you launch something, only to have people berate you for not launching sooner.
A few months ago, I was involved in a medical questionnaire launch. Before it was released, I had several people send me polite (and not-so-polite) queries as to why it was taking so long. "I could build that in five minutes!" was the common refrain.
Some people, dissatisfied with our progress, did just that. They quickly built their own questionnaires and opened them to the public. That's the joy of the Web – you don't need to ask anyone's permission to publish. Some of the questionnaires were pretty good – but many were not.
Here are some of the problems I found with things which people launched in five minutes. This is non-exhaustive, and lightly edited for anonymity. But they were all genuine problems that were found. The problems broadly fell into two categories:
Submitted medical data over http.
Allowed anyone to look up a previous submission.
Stored medical data on a shared webhost in the USA.
Any user could edit another user's medical information.
Invasive advertising tracking on the form.
No mechanism to prevent duplicate submissions.
Loaded 3rd party JavaScript without SRI.
Vulnerable to SQL injection.
Asked for information which wasn't medically relevant.
Didn't ask for specific information which was medically useful.
Questions assumed users understood medical terminology.
Used free-text boxes which another form control would be more suitable.
Poor accessibility meant visually impaired users couldn't reliably answer some questions.
Just Five Minutes
It's really easy to build a form in 5 minutes. What takes the time is doing it right way.
Most of the time, getting the wrong answer quickly is not as useful as getting the right answer slowly.
11 thoughts on ""I could build that in five minutes!""
Geza says:
Wow, you just described my life in a blog post 🙂
Jobsworth haha
Chris Beeley 👩🌾💃🧙♂ says:
This mindset is a massive problem even in healthcare where you'd think people would be a bit more switched about insecure HTTP, SQL injection, and the rest
Steve Upton says:
Yep, the start of the technical debt mountain
Luke Radford says:
A reminder that the problem with quick and dirty is that dirty remains long after quick has been forgotten.
Thank you for constantly waving a flag for users like me with little or no sight. It's very much appreciated.
Ben Smith says:
Rule of thumb, people asking "how hard can it be?" are normally saying "I've no idea how hard this is".
the hatter says:
None of the building correctly you describe even adds substantially to the five minutes. What it comes down to is already having the full domain knowledge, or at least understanding that you don't, and working with someone who does. Frankly, you probably could have built and released yours quicker, but turns out the people with this experience aren't always as available to put the time in, because these skills have value and are in demand. There is also value in sitting on what you've done and thinking about the current completed product/section before deciding either it's good, or actually you could do a bit or a lot better, with the value of hindsight, rather than just pushing it out of the door (or more formally, testing it – internally, and end-user)
Disclaimer: I know nothing of you, your product, or medicine. I do know web development and infosec, and a bit of the overlap into GDPR, HIPAA and similar caretaking schemes.
Phil Booth says:
And they could. And some of them did. And, as @edent points out in some of his 'lightly anonymised' examples (and as have we on occasion, albeit a little less politely) they have broken the #law.
#MoveFastDOESBreakThings, so take care…
Matthew Buck says:
Applauding: A worthy companion to the 'it took many decades to learn how to do this' meme.
Stuart Chalmers says:
Love this post.
I found this lots in a previous role. Esp. the "well, I know a friend/contractor who has done this for X in half the time, so why would it take you so long?".
No thought on legacy, integration, security, re-use of data etc.
The thing that really bugged me was the inevitable (after a separate bit of functionality like this was built): "Why won't your original system integrate with this? You'll need to replace/re-write it.."
Guillaume-J Herbiet says:
Inspiring story I might quote whenever someone proposes a quick and dirty solution w/o security, testing, logging, monitoring and/or an acceptable level of maintainability shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/08/i…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Filter: Actors
Milton Sills, Alla Nazimova, Actors, Silent Film
Madonna of the Streets (1924)
QUESTION: A remake of Madonna of the Streets was made only six years after the original, starring Robert Ames and Evelyn Brent in the rolls originally played by Milton Sills and Alla Nazimova. What was the biggest different between the two versions, besides the actors?
A) The remake was done in color
B) The remake was British, not American made
C) The remake added sound
D) The remake was a musical
Alla Nazimova. Milton Sills. Two American actors. Neither of them have a large fan base today but, in the 1920's, they were both considered high celebrities for either their professional or private lives. They starred together in the film Madonna of the Streets in 1924. Based on the William Babington Maxwell book The Ragged Messenger, it is the story of Reverend John Morton (Milton Sills), who aspires to follow the teachings of Jesus. Shortly after inheriting a fortune from a deceased uncle, he meets and marries Mary Carlson (Alla Nazimova). Things do not go well between the two, in no small part because it was revealed that Mary had been having an affair with John's uncle when he died. Feeling she deserved the money from his uncle, Mary seduced Morton. Having none of it, John sends Mary away and spends the money on charitable causes. One of those causes is a home for fallen women. When he spots Mary as one of the patients, he expresses his remorse for his harsh treatment of her, and the two are reunited.
Sadly, Madonna of the Streets is one of the thousands of films of the silent era considered lost today. In 1909, a U.S. Copyright law was passed that required one copy of every film ever made be sent to the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, the law did not stipulate that the Library was required to keep the print sent to them, and they often returned them to the studio that produced them. From there, they were often misplaced, forgotten, or destroyed. Often, the destruction was intentional on the part of the studios, which saw no historic value in retaining the movies in the limited space of their vaults. Now, it is believed, less than half the films produced between 1927 and 1950 survive today, with even worse odds of survival for films made before 1927 (up to ninety percent for some years!). Fortunately, a movement has begun to preserve those films that survive. Let us treasure these wonderful movies that depict a world we can barely comprehend today - a world from before the invention of the first video games!
ANSWER: C) The remake added sound. The original was silent; however, the technology to incorporate sound had been patented in the interim.
Tagged: Silent movies, lost films, alla nazimova, milton sills, w.b. maxwell, film adaptations
Silent Film, Actors, Milton Sills
QUESTION: Milton Sills starred opposite yesterday's blog topic Alla Nazimova in what 1925 film?
A) As Man Desires
B) Madonna of the Streets
C) The Knockout
D) Paradise
Alla Nazimova was a controversial woman in her own time thanks to her multiple (simultaneous?) marriages and outrageous parties. In contrast, today we would like to talk about another silent film era actor, Milton Sills. His rise to fame was hardly as dramatic as Nazimova's, although it was a little unusual. Sills was born in 1882 to a successful mineral dealer and the heiress to a successful banking family. His life was set out for him from day one. He was a prominent student at the University of Chicago, and was lecturing on philosophy and psychology when he hosted a lecture by a popular stage actor named Donald Robertson. Robertson liked Sills, and suggested that he abandon teaching to become an actor. Sills did.
It may come as a surprise that Sills succeeded. He starred in around a dozen plays between 1908 and 1914. That was the year he signed on with a studio to become a film actor, and he not only starred in numerous films over the next sixteen years, including the highly popular Flaming Youth and 1924's top-grossing movie The Sea Hawk, but wrote a number of them as well. His star kept rising when, in 1930, he suffered a fatal heart attack while playing tennis with his wife, the actress Doris Kenyon. He was 48 years old.
ANSWER: B) Madonna of the Streets. And, as everyone knows, Paradise was released in 1926, not 1925. So that is just a ridiculous answer!
Tagged: Milton Sills, Silent Movies, Actors, University of Chicago, Philosophy, Psychology, Broadway, Flaming Youth, Doris Kenyon, Sea Hawk
Silent Film, Alla Nazimova, Actors, LGBTQ, Russia
QUESTION: During the silent film era, Alla Nazimova helped establish the careers of Jean Acker and Natacha Rambova. Both women were married (at separate times) to what famous actor?
A) Charles Boyer
B) Rudolph Valentino
C) Douglass Fairbanks
D) Orson Welles
The American Treasure Tour has more stories throughout its amazing collection than can possibly be told in one blog. But we try. Today, we would like to discuss a woman who was at one time enormously popular on the stage and in theater, but who is all but forgotten today. Born Adelaida Yakovlevna Leventon in Yalta, part of the Russian Empire (prior to becoming a part of the Soviet Union) in 1879, she abbreviated her first name to Alla, and took on as her last name that of a fictional character from a Russian novel. Nazimova emigrated to the United States when she was 26, having become a famous actor across much of Europe by 1905. She continued her success on Broadway for many years, then made her film debut in 1916. This led to bigger and better things until the bigger and better became smaller and not quite so good. By 1925 her film career was over, aside from a few cameo appearances in films of the 1940's.
What makes Nazimova fascinating to students of Hollywood today is actually her private life. She was a married woman when she left Russia. And she was still married when she became involved in what is called a "lavender marriage," which is to say one or both participants are homosexual and hiding that from public scrutiny. Nazimova was outed, which caused a scandal and played a large part in her retirement from film in 1925. She is also accredited with coining the phrase "sewing circle" to discreetly describe lesbian or bisexual actresses. Her reputation for hosting wild parties at her Sunset Boulevard home was quite possibly accurate, and she was definitely entrenched in Hollywood culture. One of her friends, Edith Luckett, asked her to be godmother to her daughter. Her name was Nancy Davis, who would marry Ronald Reagan and become First Lady of the United States.
ANSWER: B) Rudolph Valentino
Tagged: Alla Nazimova, Silent Film, Russia, Actors, Gay Actors, Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard


This is the first publication presenting the vintage prints of Mike Disfarmer (1884-1959), one of America's greatest portraitists. For a half century Disfarmer was the people's photographer of Heber Springs, Arkansas. He made studio portraits at pennies a picture to satisfy his rural clients, yet he was an odd genius who created a style of portraiture all his own. Until now Disfarmer has been known to the world only through prints made from negatives found years after his death. Now, with the discovery of his vintage prints, we get to see the pictures as he made them.
Prima pubblicazione delle stampe vintage di Mike disfarmar (1884 - 1954) uno dei maggiori Dell 'America \ portraitists.


text:
← Low Profile – We're In This Together (January 25,1990)
Public Enemy – Fear Of A Black Planet (April 10, 1990) →
Digital Underground – Sex Packets (March 26, 1990)
Tupac Shakur: Probably the most famous (an infamous) rapper ever to walk the face of the earth, which in part can be credited to his very public personal issues and ultimately his untimely and controversial death that somehow remains unsolved to this day (but that's a story for another day). Before Tupac became a household name the group in today's review is responsible for giving him his big break into the game: Digital Underground.
Digital Underground is a west coast hip-hop collective that begin to sprout in the late eighties, led by Greg "Shock G" Jacobs with a supporting cast that changed its roster more often than a newborn baby's diaper. They will always be best known for their party vibe, frat party humor, and their big nosed caricature Humpty Hump (more on that later). DU released their debut album Sex Packets in 1990, a concept album based loosely around a fictional pill for him or her to meet their sexual needs. Sex Packets , which fused P-funk samples with live instrumentation, would go one to earn the group a platinum plaque and even earned a spot on a The Source's top 100 hip-hop albums of all time in 1998.
20 years later let's see if Sex Packets still stands up. I'm talking about the album…get your minds out the gutter!
The Humpty Dance – If you had any type of pulse in the early nineties you're already familiar with this song, which is easily the biggest hit in the DU catalog. Shock G plays his big nosed alter ego Humpty Hump and proceeds to drop random boasts from his sexual prowess (I always thought it was funny that the video censored "funk" which apparently the powers that be mistaken for "fuck") to how sick he is on a microphone, then finally using the third verse to give instruction on how to do the "Humpty Dance", which if done correctly you'll look like "MC Hammer on crack". Shock's funk instrumental acts as the perfect backdrop for Humpty's hilariously random rhymes. Nice way to start the show.
The Way We Swing – Over another funk driven instrumental (get use to that, folks) Shock G holds down microphone duties (like he will for the majority of the album, including his alter ego) explaining to America how DU gets down, musically speaking. Shock G manages to sound pretty good, although is verses are repetitive. It was slightly funny to hear him say "America we hope you like are sound, but if you don't we really don't give a fuck". The instrumental was very nice. My only real issue with this song is its length as there is absolutely no reason this should have gone on for nearly 7 minutes. All in all, still an enjoyable listen.
Rhymin' On The Funk – The title pretty much says it all. Shock G and Money B tag team the mic on this one (which also happens to run over 6 minutes). While Shock G sounds decent on the mic, Money B quickly displays why his mic time on Sex Packets is limited and why his name will never be found on any one's top ten list (remember Raw Fusion? Stop laughing!) as he at want point proclaims himself as "the poop". Really? Who calls themselves "shit" unless they're using the term "shit"? DU used a popular Parliament sample which sounds decent enough. While I gave "Way We Swing" a pass for its excessive length I won't do the same for this one. DU would later recycle this instrumental and use it on "Arguing On The Funk", which was included on DU's EP, amply titled This Is An EP (which is a play on acronyms but more on that at a later date). That version pairs Shock against Humpty discussing funk pioneers and who is and who isn't worthy of props. That versions in fairly entertaining, plus no Money B.
The New Jazz (One) – Nothing more than a piano interlude. Much to short to have a legitimate opinion on.
Underwater Rimes (Remix) – Sticking with the funk instrumental theme, "Underwater Rimes" pick up were we left off at prior to "The New Jazz". Shock G rides this smooth track with infinite references to water or objects found in water, and the results are liquid solid. Shock adds yet another alter ego to his repertoire, introducing the listener to MC Blowfish, who picks up where Shock let off, closing the song on a funny note. I've never heard the original, maybe I'll spend some time looking for it on the World Wide Web. This also marks the first real song on the album that runs under 6 minutes.
Gutfest '89 – Shock G and Money B share mic duties again (well, kind of) for this misogynistic song ode to booty. I found it mildly interesting that Shock referred to receiving head as "skull" or "brains", which might make him the first in hip-hop to refer to oral sex as such. This might be the first song on Sex Packets that falls in line with the album title, but it still does nothing for me. Apparently the cassette release of Sex Packets
has an extended version, in which I will not personally waste any energy seeking out. Next…
The Danger Zone – I don't think any one's ever bought a Digital Underground album looking for music with a message, but DU uses "The Danger Zone" to take a stab at it. Shock G speaks on the drug (mainly crack) epidemic that was very much prevalent when Sex Packets was released. Props for the attempt but DU should leave these types of song to PE or BDP, and stick to the humorous joints.
Freaks Of The Industry – Getting back to the album's overall theme: Shock G and Money B spin tales of their sexapades while proving that they're the biggest freaks in the biz over a smooth laid back groove accompanied by a funk guitar rift. While I can't recall any of Money B's verse, Shock G saves the day providing a very entertaining verse while the Piano man takes us out over some jazzy keys. Overall this was pretty good.
Doowutchalike – The first single off of Sex Packets . I still remember seeing this video for the first time and thinking "who the hell are these guys?" Who'll ever forget Humpty instructing the ladies to grab a guy they like "in the biscuits"? Shock's shout out to Vanessa Williams "just to hear her name in his rhyme" was pretty comical too. Nice touch to leave a space at the 3:30 mark of the song for radio station to insert their station identification and even provide a fade out, only to come back in for another 4 and a half minutes, which I can tolerate since this includes my favorite part of the song, as the Piano man (making his second contribution in as many songs) provides a dope medley on the keys. If any one song could accurately depict DU's personality, "Doowatchalike" is that song. This still works over 20 years later.
Packet Prelude – The "Piano man" provides a pleasant piano piece that segues into…
Sex Packets – The title track. Over a laid back Prince-esque (at least the synthesizer sound used over the refrain) groove, Shock G goes into crooner mode to describe a pill that, depending on your preference, will bring to life a man or woman to fulfil all your sexual needs when your significant other isn't available or just plain isn't in the mood. Or as Shock G so eloquently puts its: "biochemically compacted sexual affection" or "your favorite toss-up in a pill". This still sound nice, and props to DU for the original concept.
Street Scene – Interlude to set up the next song.
Packet Man – Somebody has to distribute the sex packets, right? Shock G plays the dealer trying to solicit Humpty for a few packets, an attempt that ends successful. Kudos to Shock G's attention to detail as you can visual the interaction between himself and himself Humpty as he paints it. The storyline and lyrics are dead on but I've never cared much for the instrumental used to back this one. The instrumental used on the remix (included on the This Is An EP) works a lot better as the beat captures the essence of the scene Shock is trying to paint.
Packet Reprise – Instrumental version of "Sex Packets". And with that, Sex Packets
is a wrap.
The cassette version of Sex Packets has three addition songs ( "Hip-hop Doll", "Sound Of The Underground" and "A Tribute T0 The Early Days") as well as an none of which I've heard, but might seek out after I finish this blog.
After listening to Sex Packets again after all these years, I've come to the conclusion that Shock G who, let's face it, pretty much IS Digital Underground, is severely underrated. No, Shock isn't one of the greatest emcees of all time and Sex Packets is not one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made either. Sex Packets is a solid debut and the majority of the credit should go to one of the most creative minds in hip-hop (yeah, I said it. What??!) While Sex Packets does have a few mishaps, over all it's a comical- funky-enjoyable listen. In a genre that often takes it self way too serious, albums like Sex Packets are always a fun treat to revisit.
1 Response to Digital Underground – Sex Packets (March 26, 1990)
Tony a Wilson says:
Hip Hop Doll was the b side of DooWutchalike 12 inch single.


Will donated his stem cells to potentially save someone's life. He's shared his story to bust myths about donating and encourage more people to register.
Before I started volunteering with Marrow, I'd signed up to join the stem cell register at one of their events. A couple of years later I got a call to say I was a potential match! I ended up donating my stem cells twice.
Anthony Nolan covered all the costs – even paying me for my two days off work.
I was working full time and was worried about how I would be able to take the two days off, one for the medical assessment and one for the donation day.
My employer was very supportive and was more than happy for me to take two days of unpaid leave, and Anthony Nolan reimbursed me for the salary lost.
The medical examination is straightforward and takes about three hours. After the medical, they confirmed that I was okay to donate. For four days prior to donating, you have a series of injections that will help your body release stem cells from your bone marrow into your bloodstream. The nurses visited me at work and at home, so it doesn't inconvenience you at all.
Apart from an aching back, I didn't experience any side effects and was playing football the night before my donation!
I went to London for the donation. Anthony Nolan organises and pays for all of your transport and accommodation. There was nothing intrusive and everyone was really professional.
The actual donation day started at about 08:30 at a private hospital in Regent's Park, which is more like a hotel than a hospital! You arrive and are shown to your bed, where you'll have some blood samples taken and some checks. Once you're ready, a needle is inserted into each arm, one of which you are able to freely move and one that must stay still to ensure the blood can flow out freely and deposit the stem cells.
The blood leaves your static arm and gets spun in a high-tech machine that separates the stem cells, and then is returned into your other arm.
It can be slightly uncomfortable at times but is not at all painful. You can have your laptop set up, chat with fellow donors/nurses or watch TV, which makes the four hours fly by! The nurses are all really friendly and ensure you are always comfortable. Plus, you get to order lunch from an extensive menu!
After around four hours, the nurses disconnect you and you're free to go!
You could save someone's life – so what are you waiting for?
At the end of the day, surely this is all worth it when you know that it could potentially save someone's life? Trust me – it's an amazing feeling!
Anthony Nolan finds lifesaving matches for three people with blood cancer every day. But there are still so many people who are still waiting, because there isn't anyone on the register who's a match. Who knows, it could be you!


text:
Q: how to fetch a block in regular expression conditionally Suppose i have following block in regex
Username: apple
email:apple@gmail.com
password:*****
userid:12
address:123HA

Username:ball
email:cat@gmail.com
password:*****
userid:123
address:8223

Username:hello
email:hello@gmail.com
password:*****
userid:12
address:12 jan

I want to fetch a block from the above data where userid:12
How can i achieve this using regex.
Thanks in advance

A: One possible approach, using re.findall:
inp = """Username: apple
email:apple@gmail.com
password:*****
userid:12
address:123HA

Username:ball
email:cat@gmail.com
password:*****
userid:123
address:8223

Username:hello
email:hello@gmail.com
password:*****
userid:12
address:12 jan"""

matches = re.findall(r'\bUsername:(?:(?!\bUsername:).)*\buserid:12\s+\baddress:.*?(?=\r?\n|$)', inp, flags=re.DOTALL)
print(matches)

This prints:
['Username: apple\nemail:apple@gmail.com\npassword:*****\nuserid:12\naddress:123HA',
 'Username:hello\nemail:hello@gmail.com\npassword:*****\nuserid:12\naddress:12 jan']

This regex pattern says to:
\bUsername:            match 'Username:'
(?:(?!\bUsername:).)*  then match any content provided that we DON'T cross the
                       next Username: line of the following block
\buserid:12            match target 'userid:12'
\s+                    one or more whitespace characters (e.g. \n, or \r\n)
\baddress:.*?          match 'address:' followed by any content until reaching
(?=\r?\n|$)            the next CR?LF or the end of the input

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Yellowcard + Saves The Day + The Wonder Years @ HMV Institute, Birmingham, UK – 29 November 2011
Posted by Bianca on Tuesday Nov 29, 2011 Under Alternative, Pop-Punk, Rock
It's been over five years since Yellowcard last headlined in the UK, and this short tour – just four dates across England and Scotland – marks a welcome return since the band reformed in late 2010.
Despite such a long absence, their fans clearly haven't forgotten about them, and the small Library venue was packed to the rafters.
Accompanying Yellowcard as co-headliners were Saves The Day, a power pop foursome from New Jersey. Both bands have been writing and touring since the mid-90s and were there to promote their seventh studio albums.
Support was provided by Philadelphia rockers The Wonder Years who, despite having around 10 years less touring under their belt than the main acts, have already made a name for themselves.
With three hours of music to look forward to it promised to be an exciting evening.
The Wonder Years kicked things off with a brief but energetic set. They had strong support – a sizeable portion of the crowd had clearly come especially to see them, which only added to the atmosphere.
They played a mixture of songs from their two most recent albums, The Upsides and Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing. Being such a short set they were able to focus on favourite tracks such as Melrose Diner, Logan Circle, and My Last Semester.
Lead singer Dan "Soupy" Campbell had some issues with "the smallest, sketchiest stage we've ever played on", almost falling off twice while leaping around. He solved the problem by diving into the crowd and performing two songs surrounded by dancing, singing fans – a definite highlight of an excellent set.
Saves The Day seemed to be the odd-band-out of the night. Although they were co-headliners and have a large fanbase in their own right, it seemed that not many of them had turned up to see them play. Only about three people really got into the set, with everyone else standing around politely waiting for Yellowcard.
Sadly this drained the mood in the room, and the band themselves did little to help matters – there was only minimal talking between songs, and they made very little effort to engage the audience.
Their set focused on their latest album, Daybreak, but also included a good selection of older songs like Nightingale, Firefly, and At Your Funeral.
They played with enthusiasm but after a while all the overly-poppy songs began to blend into one, and Chris Conley's love-it-or-hate-it voice grated more and more. All in all it was a disappointing set, and most in the room seemed quite relieved when it was over.
If Saves The Day had left everyone feeling rather subdued, it didn't take Yellowcard very long to liven them up again. They opened with For You, and Your Denial, the first single from their latest album, When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes.
From the moment Sean Mackin's violin riff exploded from the speakers the fans were hooked and going crazy, creating an electric atmosphere and setting the bar for the rest of the night.
Although the tour was aimed at plugging this newest release, as well as the more recent acoustic version, Yellowcard were sure to include plenty of old favourites like Way Away and Believe.
The pace didn't let up, with the Florida pop punkers belting out great song after great song, and interspersing things with amusing chats to hook the crowd further.
About three-quarters of the way through their set, all band members except lead singer Ryan Key left the stage while he performed a moving acoustic version of Sing For Me.
Written from the perspective of his terminally-ill aunt Steph, who sadly recently died of brain cancer, it was clearly an emotional song for Key and a poignant moment amid all the mayhem.
Rather than finish the night on a sad note, the band closed with three real crowd-pleasers – Lights and Sounds, Only One, and the obligatory Ocean Avenue. The fans were left buzzing and wanting more, which bodes well for their planned return to the UK next year – here's hoping they come back sooner rather than later.
Yellowcard Gig Review by Pete Williams
Yellowcard Gig Photos by Helen Williams
2 Responses to "Yellowcard + Saves The Day + The Wonder Years @ HMV Institute, Birmingham, UK – 29 November 2011"
Wayne Fox Says:
December 7th, 2011 at 09:53
Loving the hairy drummer RAWK!
Rob Taylor Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 13:35
Saves The Day are playing a special last minute intimate show at The Asylum 2 in Birmingham on Tuesday (28th August). Make sure you get down! Ticket link above!


text:
Are Earnings or an Acquisition to Blame for This Stock's Tumble?
Investors' patience is starting to run thin.
Keithen Drury
(TMFTripleOption)
Nov 7, 2021 at 6:45AM
The acquisition will allow for Zendesk to better understand customers.
Legion Partners fully opposes the transaction.
A strong third quarter is overshadowed by the acquisition.
Acquisitions are a touchy subject for investors, as few companies can pull them off successfully. AT&T (NYSE:T) purchased DirecTV for $48 billion in 2015; then spun it off for a measly $16 billion this year. Investors had few thoughts occupying their mind besides a disaster like that when Zendesk (NYSE:ZEN) announced it was acquiring Momentive Global (NASDAQ:MNTV), the parent company of Survey Monkey.
The acquisition is on shaky ground
It takes a bit of imagination to realize how Zendesk will integrate Survey Monkey into its product suite. Zendesk provides customer service software, a sales platform, and even has a solution for employees to contact their employer's help desk. Surveys don't seem to fit that niche.
Zendesk's CEO and founder Mikkel Svane said the company is going to "create a powerful new Customer Intelligence company" to "deliver a rich, colorful picture of every customer so businesses understand their customers and can build more authentic relationships." By understanding the customer, Zendesk will arm its users with powerful information to bolster sales and improve service. The key to this acquisition is opening a new revenue stream, not augmenting the existing ones. Zendesk sums up the acquisition by saying it "responds to what customers say and do," where Momentive "captures how customers think and feel." After being enlightened by Zendesk's plans, does this acquisition still makes sense?
Momentive's buyout price isn't cheap. Zendesk is forking over $28 per share, valuing Momentive at around $4.1 billion. This works out to a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 10, which is not crazy in this market. However, with Zendesk's market cap hovering around $12.5 billion, the Momentive acquisition would make up a quarter of the company.
Further complicating matters, Legion Partners opposes the deal. Legion owns 1.4% of Momentive and wants to do anything it can to stop the transaction. While Legion wanted Momentive to look into selling, it believes Momentive did not shop itself around enough. Shareholders still need to confirm the acquisition, so Zendesk still may end up empty-handed.
Impressive third-quarter results
Further complicating the situation was Zendesk's third-quarter results, as the acquisition and quarter were announced on the same day, Oct. 28. Revenue growth was strong and continued to accelerate for the fourth consecutive quarter.
Revenue Growth YoY
Q4 2020 Q1 2021 Q2 2021 Q3 2021
SOURCE: ZENDESK. YoY = year over year.
Zendesk also issued fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $366 million to $372 million, representing 30% growth, and potentially setting the stage for a fifth quarter of revenue growth increase with a small revenue beat. Its net expansion rate also grew to 122%, citing a 22% year-over-year decrease in discontinued plans as the catalyst.
The company remains unprofitable on a net income basis, but does produce free cash flow when stock-based compensation is pulled out. This brings up another issue with both the acquisition and Zendesk; Zendesk has been diluting its share count since going public. Over the last five years, Zendesk has increased its share count by around 5% each year. Much like how inflation decreases how much a dollar can buy, each share now owns less of the company when Zendesk issues new shares for acquisitions, to raise capital, or to pay employees. Because Zendesk plans to pay for Momentive with stock, the dilution will hurt shareholders even more.
Time to buy Zendesk on sale?
Since releasing news of its acquisition plans, Zendesk's stock has plummeted about 15%. Even worse, it now sits at nearly 35% below the 52-week high. Investors may be excited about Zendesk's growth prospects, but not so much about the combined company. If the deal gets rejected and Zendesk's shares fall further, it may be a good time to purchase a position. However, investors will need to trust Zendesk that the acquisition is in its best interest provided it goes through. Trust has indeed been a winning strategy, as Zendesk has risen nearly 650% since its IPO in 2014. However, the Momentive acquisition may be the last straw for some shareholders.


The foliage is still not coming in full, but you wouldn't know it by looking at these oak leaves at the barn and a blue sky that looks Photoshopped.
We walked down around the barn to let the dogs get some exercise. The early dropper leaves created a crunch brown carpet on the ground.
When we rounded a corner at the back, I saw the sun filtering through the trees, and these leaves which looked as if there were on fire.
I hope you don't tire of autumn photos because I love this time of year.
Beautiful shot of the perfect time of year! I'm enjoying reliving this season through you and your pics! Ours was a beautiful Fall, but it was over way too fast!
Lucky you, you still have such great beauty around your place. Our Fall leaves are just about done but there are still some trees with yellow leaves up the road from here.
I used to love to walk through the fallen leaves in a park near my home growing up when I was a young girl! I loved everything about it...the sound of the leaves, the feel, and even the smells. Back then people would rake the leaves up and burn them...we can't do that now with the pollution laws and all, but I remember it all well.
Love the pictures. Thanks for sharing. I hope that you have recovered from that nasty bite from the yellow jacket.
That's a great photo. I don't mind the autumn shots because my leaves won't change color until December or January.
I do love the colors of autumn and you certainly have captured them here! Mother Nature's artwork!
I have always loved the colors that autumn brings to us, cannot tire of that.
From an artistic point of view, this is that time of year when nature shows off. I love it!
How can you ever get tired of beauty?
You have a knack for great color. Good on you!


text: Q: A topological space whose connected components are locally connected We say that $X$ is locally connected at $x$ if for every open set $V$ containing $x$ there exists a connected, open set $U$ with $x\in U\subseteq V$. The space $X$ is said to be locally connected if it is locally connected at $x$ for all $x\in X$. Now let $X$ be a compact $T_0$ topological space  whose  connected components are locally connected. Is there any characterization for such a space?


text:
Stage & Scream in Kansas City
Theater & music news and reviews from Kansas City
Weird history
Month / August 2012
August 23, 2012 by Robert Trussell
George Hamilton on the road: 'La Cage' star reflects on Evel Knievel, Hank Williams and so much more
Actors, Broadway, Movies, Touring
Evel Knievel, George Hamilton, Hank Williams, musicals, Starlight Theatre
The Kansas City Star
The other day I rang up George Hamilton.
He was out in L.A., catching some rays poolside. And my first thought was: Well, where else would he be?
"Couldn't be a better day," the actor/producer said. "I love to be in the sun, sitting around the pool."
Hamilton, thought of less as an accomplished actor than a charming personality, is on the road with the national tour of "La Cage aux Folles," the award-winning musical that opens next week at Starlight Theatre. Hamilton plays Georges, the owner of a nightclub where his partner, Albin (played by Christopher Sieber), performs in drag as the club singer Zaza.
When Georges' son brings his fiancée and her conservative parents to visit, Georges and Albin have to conceal the nature of their relationship. Laughter ensues.
Hamilton, 73, plays the "straight man," as it were, but says his real job is to charm the audience.
Hamilton has been performing steadily since the late 1950s, when he was a contract player at MGM. In that era he appeared in a number of high-profile films — "Light in the Piazza" with Olivia de Havilland, "Home From the Hill" with Robert Mitchum, "All the Fine Young Cannibals" with Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood — and he has maintained an active career since.
Christopher Sieber and George Hamilton in "La Cage." (Paul Kolnik)
He played Hank Williams in "Your Cheatin' Heart" and eventually began developing and producing his own films, including a biopic about daredevil Evel Knievel and the comedies "Love at First Bite" and "Zorro the Gay Blade."
He was part of the cast of the prime-time soap "Dynasty" and even appeared on "Dancing With the Stars."
In 2008 he published a memoir in which he described his unconventional upbringing — his father was a bandleader, his mother an actress — and his relationships with a cavalcade of actresses and other famous women, including Lynda Bird Johnson when her father was president.
The book also revealed that he and his stepmother had an affair when he was 12, although he hardly considered himself a victim.
But in our conversation, Hamilton revealed a businesslike attitude when it comes to his chosen art form. He's not a man who tries to impress you. But he does have some great stories to tell.
Q. Tell us about life on the road.
A. I've grown to like the show. It's a very difficult thing to do for me. It's a steep learning curve. I love to do things that are a little out of my reach, sometimes out of my grasp. But I always like the challenge. And so it's gotten easier for me. If the audience doesn't feel you're pleased to be there, why should they?
I like the people I'm working with. I like the part. I like the atmosphere. The challenge is always still there because there's so many … things that go on in a live performance that you have to develop a whole new set of techniques than you would in film. And I like that a lot. I've had a lot of things happen that have given me a chance to dig down and try things I hadn't tried before.
Q. How long had it been since you performed on stage?
A. Four or five years. I was on Broadway with "Chicago." But then I was hurt and had to have an operation on my knee, and then I came back and did it again.
Broadway is a different animal than touring, and touring is a different animal than dinner theaters and plays. There's a circuit of summer things that a lot of actors do, and I used to do without telling anybody because it's the only way to learn timing. So I made it my business from the time I was under contract to the studio to make them think I was in the south of France living the life of a playboy, but the truth was I was often billed above the roast beef out in the sticks. So it's been fun for me to do it. Touring for me is pretty hard. It's much harder than Broadway. You have eight shows a week, five of which are Friday through Sunday. And you then have to go to the next city and get ready for your next performance. And you have press and travel all in the same time. So there's no time off. You learn a whole different set of survival techniques.
It's not very glamourous, the life on the road.
Q. A couple of years ago a local theater company produced the musical "Light in the Piazza." Coincidentally, Turner Classics showed the (1962) film about the same time, so my wife and I watched it. We agreed you were convincing as a young Italian guy and there you were playing Rossano Brazzi's son. What was that like?
A. You can be in the business for a lifetime and still not have captured what you're about on film or have a performance you can point at and say, "This is really good or great." Because this business is about their vision of you and not what yours is. It's very hard to break molds and stereotypes, especially when you're under contract to a big studio as I was.
Yvette Mimieux and George Hamilton in "Light in the Piazza."
That movie came at a time when contract players were thought of as chattel. So being under contract to a studio was not a really a help. It was more of a hindrance. New actors were coming on the lot and they were independent. … (The studio) knew they had you in a pinch, but they didn't respect that very much.
So I knew that I had to do things that were not expected.
They used to have what they called the script cage, where they mimeographed all these scripts at night that would go out to producers. So I spent a lot of time after hours … and I'd read every script the studio had. And I found "Light in the Piazza." I loved the idea of it. I thought it was a very sensitive movie and one that would be hard to pull off.
So I started working on the accent, and I went to Rossano Brazzi and said to him, "I want to play your son." Rossano was a very nice man, typically Italian, and was henpecked by his wife quite a lot. But I spent time with him, and I would watch every mannerism he had and how he would speak.
I went to the head of the studio, who didn't want to know about it at all, and he said they had a fellow by the name of Tomas Milian, who was a young actor, and he was going to play the role. And I said, "He's not Italian." And he said, "It doesn't matter, he's got an accent." I said, "It does matter. Don't you understand the difference between an Italian accent and a South American accent?"
So I said, "Why don't you let me do the (screen) test?" They were surprised that they had the guy right under their nose who could play the role.
I had a lot of other things I wanted to do. But even if you did that they didn't believe you could play another character. And characters were what I wanted to play.
There was a character named Hank Williams. He was a very sensitive country and western musician … and he was really a wonderful writer. So I went down to Nashville. It was a small picture. It wasn't thought of as anything except the exploitation (of the songs).
And I actually worked on it and could do the songs to the point where they almost let me do the album. But I had to convince them. And that was the hard thing. They really wanted to put me in the playboy roles and leave it that. So I had to buy my way out of my contract with MGM.
Hamilton in "Love at First Bite."
And then finally when I got to produce my own movies, I would hire me. You know, I'd say, "OK, I'm going to play Dracula and do 'Love at First Bite' and put myself into it." So I raised the money, had the script written and played the role — and made $78 million dollars for them. … Then I had the ability to go on and produce another movie, which was "Zorro the Gay Blade," and I again hired myself for that role.
It's much easier to produce a film than it is to convince the producer of another film to hire you. I found that out the hard way. And there were periods when I was basically dead in Hollywood.
Q. If we could go back to "Your Cheatin' Heart" for a moment, didn't Hank Williams Jr. actually record the songs for the soundtrack?
A. The studio was very uncertain about the music track because Audrey Williams (Hank's widow) wanted a lot of money and wanted certain controls. I went down to Nashville and spent about a month with her and convinced her that I was the right actor for the role.
The studio didn't see that at all. They thought I was a sophisticated playboy. I had to explain to them I was born in Memphis, Tenn., and went to military school in Mississippi. I knew all about country music.
Poster for "Your Cheatin' Heart."
Finally I began rehearsing the songs. Because anyway you figured it I had to sing 'em to lip-sync them. And I got them nailed to the point where I could finger the guitar and sing the songs. … They were willing to let me do the recordings for the movie, but finally they made a deal with Audrey that Hank Jr. would do them. So I was lip-syncing to Hank Jr.'s interpretations of his father's songs.
Q. You also produced and starred in a film on the life of Evel Knievel. How did that come about?
A. I was doing a TV series at Universal, and it required some stunts. And there was a young producer on the lot and I kept having lunch with him, saying, "God, I've got to get a stunt man who can do this stunt for me." And he said, "Well, get Evel Knievel."
And I said, "I don't know what you're talking about. Who's Evel Knievel?" And he told me about this guy and my first thought about him was he was kind of outrageous, kind of ridiculous. But I had the studio hunt him down. I had a stunt that had to be done, and he said he could do it.
He didn't show up when he said when he was going to show up … and then one day, we were a week away from shooting the stunt and they called me from the gate and said there was a man out there with a huge semi-truck and some backup cars named Evel Knievel wanting to meet with me. … And I said, well, have him come to the commissary and meet me for lunch. And they said, "He can't walk."
They carried him into the commissary and put him down in the booth with me. And I said, "Mr. Knievel, I think there's been a big mistake here. I would love for you to do the stunt, but I can see you can't do it, and it would be ridiculous to pursue this."
The real Evel Knievel.
And he said, "No, no, no, no, you've got it all wrong. When is the stunt?" And I said it's in a week. He said, "I'll be ready." I said, "You'll be ready to do a stunt in a week?" He showed me this 11-pound piece of metal that was going into his … left leg.
He said, "I'm going in tomorrow morning, they're gonna put that in there and they'll snap this thing into the hip, and I'll be out of there in three or four days and be ready to go."
And I just sat there looking at him thinking, "This man is totally out of his mind." And the more I started realizing that he was out of his mind, the more I found him interesting.
I said, "Look, you don't have to do this stunt, but I'd like to talk to you about other things." And he said, "Well, let's get the stunt out of the way. I wanna know if your money's good."
So he called me on the day of the stunt. He called me from a hospital, and he said, "I'm ready to do the stunt for you. Which gate should I go to?" And he's talking and suddenly I hear this kaplunk and … I thought the phone went dead. And then a nurse picks it up and said, "Mr. Knievel just passed out. He shouldn't have been out of bed." I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.
So I went out there and he was lying in bed and he said, "Oh, I had a little problem there. They gave me too much medicine. I could have come and done it. I told them not to give me any pain medication but they gave it to me. It's their fault."
So I kept trying to talk to him and find out his psychology and what he was about. And I thought this is what America is about. It's about making our mark on the north wall of the Grand Canyon. It's a little bit crazy here, what we're doing.
I found him very interesting. He was a sociopathic guy. And he was a very potentially dangerous human being. … Evel put a shotgun to my head one night when I brought the script to him.
Hamilton as Evel Knievel.
And I said, "What is this about?" He said, "I want you to read the script to me." I said, "I don't need a gun stuck to my head to do it." He said, "You do in my case because if this is gonna be a bad movie it's gonna be ended right now." I read that script probably better than anything I read in my life.
Q. What's next for you after this tour?
A. It's always a good question because you don't know. I never plan my life, and I'm surrounded with people who do and they're always a year or two years ahead. There's been an offer for a TV series, weekly, based on "Love at First Bite."
There's a one-man show that I would take on the road. … I kind of don't know what I really want to do yet. I think after this the first thing I'll do is settle in for a long winter's nap.
Q. Well, thank you for this time.
A. I didn't talk too much about "La Cage" (laughs).
Q. I did read a quote from your co-star, Christopher Sieber, who said you don't have a diva bone in your body.
A. (Laughs.) That's nice. I like to believe that I am a very dedicated and totally professional actor, and I don't have any room in my life for ego. You can't expect to be as proficient as people who have been in this play for a long time, who are singers and dancers and dedicated to Broadway.
But what you can bring to it is a certain showmanship and a sense of providing the audience with a kind of permission to enjoy themselves because you're enjoying yourself. That's a hard thing to do. You can't fake that one. You just have to enjoy it, and if you do it's infectious. My gift, if there is such, is to be delighted to be there.
Read more arts and entertainment new from the Kansas City Star at kansascity.com.
August 8, 2012 August 8, 2012 by Robert Trussell
KC Fringe: It's all about the ripple effect
Actors, Kansas City theater
comedy, Kansas City theater, KC Fringe, Seven Samurai
Posted on Tue, Jul. 31, 2012
Funny thing about KC Fringe — even when it's over, it's not over.
The annual festival of music, dance, theater, film and visual art in venues scattered across the Crossroads and midtown officially wrapped up Sunday. But the ripple effects continue.
Katie Kalahurka, for example, will reprise her Fringe show, "Lessons From Marlene," this Friday and Saturday at the Fishtank Performance Studio to coincide with First Friday.
Vicki Vodrey's impressive play, "Thank You Notes: Headed to Heaven With Flat Jimmy Fallon," which received its world premiere at the Fringe, moved on to New York to be seen as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival this week.
Samn Wright and the creators of "Slaughterhouse Opera," a rock musical about the zombie apocalypse, plan to mount a Kickstarter campaign to record the piece.
And David Gaines, who attracted sizable audiences with his "7 (x1) Samurai," stayed over to conduct a clowning workshop Tuesday at Just Off Broadway Theatre.
Marcie Ramirez, left, Eric Tedder and Amy Hurrelbrink in "Sexing Hitler." (Susan Pfannmuller/Kansas City Star)
The eighth edition of KC Fringe appeared to come off without a hitch, although some spectators were still confused by the requirement to buy a $5 festival button before buying a ticket to an individual show. But most people who attend the festival and learn how it works tend to take its general inefficiency for granted.
There were 160 artist entries this year, which translated into 459 performances at 20 galleries, theater spaces and other ad hoc performance venues. Events followed a complicated, staggered schedule. The festival's website is well-organized and fairly simple to negotiate. But this all happens with a volunteer work force. The only people who get paid are the tech crews who run lights and sound for performances.
Throughout the year the organization is run by an operations committee of 23. During the festival itself, that number jumps to 140. The front-of-house volunteers — the people who sell and tear tickets — put in an estimated 3,000 hours this year, according to festival director Cheryl Kimmi.
Part of the time is consumed by the nightly task of tallying that day's attendance by physically counting paper tickets.
"We have a team that does that every night, and we're usually here until 2 or 2:30 in the evening," Kimmi said.
David Gaines performs his one-man show "7 (x1) Samurai" at KC Fringe. (Jill Toyoshiba/Kansas City Star)
Kimmi said the festival leaders have a wish-list that includes an automated ticket system, but there's no money for one in the immediate future. The festival receives small grants from the ArtsKC Fund, the Missouri Arts Council and the city of Kansas City, but most of the festival's revenue comes from the sale of the $5 festival buttons.
Kimmi said the festival has formed a development committee to explore more fundraising options. Kimmi is glad the tech crews can be paid, and she said the next step would be to pay the house managers at the venues.
"We're planning to take it to the next level," she said. "We have to grow it correctly."
Last year the festival attracted an audience of about 14,500, and Kimmi said the festival was on track to match that figure once the final tally is in. Anecdotally, this reporter saw no sparsely attended shows this year, and two were standing-room-only.
Kimmi said attendance on most nights grew by double digits compared to last year, including a 27 percent jump on the first Saturday of the festival. But midweek performances, which usually attract fewer spectators than weekend shows, experienced a huge increase: 49 percent on Monday and 55 percent on Tuesday.
The final Friday of the festival saw a big drop-off, which Kimmi jokingly attributed to the opening night Olympic ceremonies on television.
From a critic's perspective, the festival has played a significant role by allowing performing artists an opportunity to take risks and by exposing the public to experimental performances. It has also helped break down some of the barriers between art forms.
"There are different crowds for different things," Kimmi said. "The fashion-show crowd is very much focused on the fashion show. But we have some crossover. That's what our goal is, to cross over these audiences so we give the hard-core theater crowd an opportunity to experience dance and music, and we have the hard-core dance crowd who has the opportunity to experience theater."
Fringe Festival highlights
The final week of the KC Fringe Festival, which ended Sunday, offered typically diverse performances. Here are some highlights:
• "Sexing Hitler," written by Bryan Colley and Tara Varney and directed by Varney. This peek into a weird corner of Nazi history — Heinrich Himmler's decision to manufacture inflatable "comfort dolls" to prevent the spread of venereal disease among the troops — managed the neat trick of being raucously amusing, touching and ultimately haunting all in one package.
It was a loose-jointed performance, but central to the show's success was dancer/choreographer Amy Hurrelbrink, who played the doll prototype. In the eyes of her manufacturers and the soldiers who "test" her, she gradually acquires human characteristics, only to be destroyed in the Allied firebombing of Dresden.
• "Lessons From Marlene," written and performed by Katie Kalahurka. Kalahurka is a gifted comedian, and her trippy, absurdist step into a kaleidoscopic dream-world populated by the ghost of Marlene Dietrich and a character named Katie, among others, becomes a showcase for a memorable performance. The show, directed by Vanessa Severo, has been extended through the weekend. Kalahurka will perform the piece at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Fishtank, 1715 Wyandotte St. Call 816-809-7110 or go to brownpapertickets.com/event/260143.
• "Buck Hoss," written by Scott Cox and directed by Trevor Belt. Cox's attempt to transpose "The Bacchae" by Euripides to a backwoods Americana context didn't quite work, but the Fringe production showcased some strong performances, particularly by Corbin Hernandez and Chris Roady as cousins, both preachers, each claiming divine ordination. The show admirably addressed heavy questions about human spirituality and our conceptions of God.
• "Pilgrimage," written by Ry Kincaid and directed by Bob Paisley. Kincaid's rock musical based on Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" was an impressive achievement. Kincaid's rhyming verse was consistently clever, and his songs were irresistible. He had a formidable cast to help him bring the show to life, including Cody Wyoming, Katie Gilchrist and Vi Tran.
• "Skillet Tag," written by Pete Bakely and directed by Sam Slosburg. This was the second memorable R-rated farce I saw at the festival — the first was Natalie and Talia Liccardello's "Ice Cream Social…Issues" — and it again demonstrates that there's an appetite out here among the great unwashed for rude, crude comedy. This show depicts a "team building" exercise at a megalomaniacal executive's home that goes terribly wrong, resulting in a series of murders and some very strange sex. The festival cast was strong, with standout performances from J. Will Fritz and Kenna Hall.
• "7 (x1) Samurai," written and performed by David Gaines. This was the most polished show I caught during the festival. Gaines celebrates and spoofs Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai" in this 60-minute performance.
Gaines has performed this piece a lot and it showed. He's a highly skilled clown, and his mime-based performance, punctuated with guttural samurai "dialogue" and the occasional phrase in English, was very funny but also conveyed something of the film's epic sweep.
August 8, 2012 by Robert Trussell
KC Fringe: Where comedy and tragedy share time and space
dark comedy, Kansas City, KC Fringe, playwrights
How nice it would be to see every single KC Fringe performance. Alas, that would be impossible unless your humble theater critic could be cloned three times over.
But the best of five shows I caught during the first weekend of the annual festival was "Thank You Notes: Headed to Heaven With Flat Jimmy Fallon," a play by Vicki Vodrey, for whom raucous humor and profound tragedy are in no way incompatible.
Scott Cox and Vanessa Severo in "Thank You Notes: Headed to Heaven With Flat Jimmy Fallon." (Megan True/Kansas City Star)
Steven Eubank directed the show, which is playing at the Unicorn Theatre during the festival, and had the benefit of a superior cast in the form of Vanessa Severo, Scott Cox and Mandy Mook. Severo plays Angela, a suicide victim who becomes an irreverent presence at her own funeral as her twin brother Ethan (Cox) reads a eulogy composed entirely of "thank-you notes" Angela wrote before she died.
The play is an eccentric comedy in the early going, but its seriousness is revealed as Angela's notes become increasingly revelatory. The funeral becomes a transformative event for Ethan and his wife, Betsy (Mook).
Severo and Cox are equally matched, each handling difficult roles with spectacular results. This play is disturbing, but it's also inspiring. Vodrey has a unique voice. There's one more performance at 8 p.m. Friday at the Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main St.
Other shows from the first weekend:
• "Ice Cream Social … Issues" by Natalie and Talia Liccardello is a clever comedy about a family intervention that goes as wrong as possible. People have gathered for an ice cream social in a church basement in an effort to get help for a family member who is a heroin addict. Everything deteriorates rapidly. Manon Halliburton, as a Xanax-gobbling aunt with control issues, is excellent. She delivers a memorable comic performance and anchors an excellent cast. Directed by Warren Deckert, who demonstrates a keen eye for character details.
Performances are at 6:30 p.m. today and 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main St.
Manon Halliburton, left, and Danelle Drury in "Ice Cream Social . . . Issues." (Megan True/Kansas City Star)
• "Tack Driver," written and directed by Jerry Genochio. I caught this on the opening night of the festival, and I imagine it's considerably different now. This is Genochio's first play, in which Kyle Hatley and Matt Rapport are cast as brothers who swore an oath to kill their abusive stepfather. Apparently rewrites could continue right through the festival. At times on opening night, Hatley and Rapport performed holding pages with new dialogue. It's intriguing and rich with possibilities — and it's fun to watch Hatley and Rapport work together. It's at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Off Center Theatre in Crown Center.
• "Foreign Bodies" by Arika Larson. Larson's three-character comedy imagines what might happen if a gay man and a lesbian fell in love. Directed by Scott Cordes, this smart comedy of manners about sex and love in an urban, digital world highlights Greg Brostrom, Kate O'Neill and Missy Fennewald. It continues at 6 p.m. today and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Just Off Broadway Theatre, 3051 Central St.
• "4Play," a quartet of one-acts by Jose Faus, Ken Buch, Michelle T. Johnson and Jack Phillips. This grouping of short comedies covers religious mania, sex, love and hypocrisy with varying degrees of success. Best of the bunch: "As the Guiding Light Turns," a witty piece by Johnson about church politics and sexuality. See it at 11 p.m. Friday and 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, 3614 Main St.
Read more theater news at http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/theater.
(c) 2012 by the Kansas City Star
Bob Barker is the Devil
Ephemera, TV
cancer, game shows, pop culture, TV
[ Note: This column, in slightly different form, was published in 2005 in the Sunday magazine of The Kansas City Star. ]
Bob Barker is the devil.
You know it's true. You've watched him on television your entire life. He never goes away. He's always there, smiling, intoning, seducing, inviting us into a world of naked materialism.
Maybe this seems self-evident, but my conclusion was not reached lightly. It began when I drove my wife to the emergency room. There was no way we could know it at the time, but that was the prelude to our passage into cancer world.
Hospital waiting rooms and oncology clinics are never very happy places, of course. Patients and their loved ones gathered there devote their psychic energy to a set of basic goals: Don't bolt from your chair and flee. Don't scream. Don't cry. Don't do that thing you see people do in movies where hysterical laughter morphs into inconsolable sobbing and only a slap to the face can return them to their senses.
They gather every morning in clinics and hospitals across America, sitting beneath flourescent lights in rooms often lined with dreary wood paneling, terrified of what the doctors may find but trying not to show it.
Some people thumb through magazines. Some stare into the distance. Others watch television.
The Monarch of Hell
There's always a television. And it's always on. And in the mornings it's always tuned to the station that carries The Price Is Right.
This is why I will always link the image of Bob Barker, the 81-year-old host of the longest-running game show on television, with my wife's cancer.
When I sat in a waiting room at Baptist Medical Center during her surgery, Bob Barker was there. When I accompanied her to chemotherapy at her oncologist's office on Prospect, Bob Barker was there. Not long ago I drove her to a sonogram at St. Joseph Health Center, and there was Bob Barker—the silver-haired, silver-tongued Dark Lord of Greed.
Here's a memory: My wife is seated in a recliner as a plastic tube pumps chemicals into her system through a port imbedded in her chest. From a television across the room emanates the screams and antiseptic music of "The Price Is Right." I'm in a room full of women facing their own mortality, and there on the screen are screaming, jumping contestants focused on one thing only: Taking home a Cracker Jack prize.
My wife and I had fallen into the living hell of cancer—there's no better word for it—and Bob Barker was our master of ceremonies. This is how I came to view him as El Diablo.
Look at his face and tell me I'm wrong. Study the glint in his eye as he builds the expectations of contestants who moments later walk away empty-handed. Listen to that effortless tone of empathetic disappointment when a contestant loses or the calculated elation in his voice when somebody wins a coveted piece of merchandise.
Oh, Barker's good. He has been performing before television cameras for most of his adult life. In the '50s he starred on Truth or Consequences, a game show that featured, among other things, a chimpanzee named Beulah the Buzzer.
But for most television viewers below a certain age, Barker is the face of The Price Is Right, a show that never goes away. It began in 1956 with a different host, but Barker's involvement goes back 32 years—longer than many of his viewers have been alive.
Recently I made a point of watching several episodes of The Price Is Right. The experience simply confirmed my belief: Bob Barker is the Prince of Darkness, a leering, malevolent presence in doctor's offices across America.
With a soothing tone, suave bearing and calm authority he appeals to the worst instincts in all of us. The show celebrates our lust for possessions and our need to be anesthetized against the horrors, big and small, of daily existence. Crucial to its popularity is the implied promise that you can get something for nothing.
That's untrue, of course. There's always a price. Those who fill the Bob Barker Studio at CBS in Hollywood each day agree to humiliate themselves for a chance to spin the Big Wheel or to play Bonkers or Pick a Pair or Switcheroo. They greet Bob with a frenzy usually reserved for football games and rock concerts.
They cheer. They shout. They scream. They high-five each other. They exchange hugs. It all has the aroma of a tent revival, with Bob Barker playing the role of preacher. It is, in fact, a form of worship—the worship of stuff.
Listen to him.
Barker put it rather eloquently at the conclusion of one episode. A contestant named Kathleen had won the "Showcase Showdown" and rushed off camera to be with her new possessions.
"And there she goes," Bob Barker said, "to look at her motorcycle and her boat and all that stuff."
Bob likes people to win. He doesn't much care what they win as long as they win something. Cars, living room furniture, cappuccino machines, sailboats, motorcycles, gas grills, luggage—the list is infinite. The unseen Rich Fields—successor to legendary announcers Johnny Olson and Rod Roddy—trumpets the unveiling of each product with a high-decibel carnival barker's pitch: "It's a new C-A-A-A-R-R!" or "It's an exciting P-O-O-O-L table!"
Barker is beloved by his contestants, and they seem to love him all the more when he mocks them in his cool, detached way.
One day a contestant named Alisa played a game called 3 Strikes, shoving her hand into a canvas bag designed to look like a big baseball in the hopes of pulling out the correct token to win a new Lincoln LS. With each unsuccessful try she screamed bloody murder.
"That scream may sound loud at home but I'm telling you when you're no more than 36 inches away from it, I will never hear out of this ear again," Barker said.
The camera never gets too close to Bob on The Price Is Right. You usually see him from the waist up and sometimes in head-to-foot shots. That way you can see Bob's masterful body language and the cut of his suits.
A few years ago, however, Bob made a cameo appearance on the long-running daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful. Bob appeared as himself, accompanied by a couple of his "beauties," the models who with fluid hand gestures and frozen smiles "present" the refrigerators and ranges and motorcycles and new cars.
But The Bold and the Beautiful showed Barker in disturbing close-ups. The unnatural tan had a sort of radioactive glow, and there was something about the thick white hair that wasn't right. He looked like an animatronic theme-park character.
This is why it's so easy to imagine Bob as a demonic presence. He seems "natural" only on the set of The Price Is Right. Remove him from his universe of cardboard sets and garish lighting and it just seems wrong—even when you insert him into the phony world of a daytime soap.
For many The Price Is Right is nothing more than addictive entertainment. And Bob is widely admired for his devotion to animal rights. The former Springfield, Mo. resident projects an unassuming Midwestern manner, often greeting his guests with "Howdy."
Cloven Hoof and friend
Oh, there were some unpleasant lawsuits from former staffers and models a few years ago. They accused Barker of behavior that was unbecoming to a beloved celebrity.
But Bob has never been distracted from his overriding goal—dragging Americans into a vortex of consumerism. Picture yourself, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, caught in the eye of a tornado, with patio furniture, vacuum cleaners and skate boards spinning all around you.
That's where Bob wants you to be.
But the funny thing about products is that they really don't mean much to people dealing with cancer. People on chemo just can't get excited about new kitchen gadgets or curio cabinets.
What they see on Bob's show is an endless river of disposable junk—cars that will rust, vacuum cleaners whose belts will break, furniture that will someday be scarred and pitted. All the shiny new products destined to reside in landfills simply remind us that our bodies will eventually fail and that life must come to an end, no matter how diligently we try to forestall the inevitable.
But Barker keeps on keeping on, his place in the Television Hall of Fame secure. Five days a week he torments his guests with condescending charm as they struggle to guess the price of a stereo or a sofa or a ping-pong table.
Maybe you have your own notions of the Dark One. Maybe you believe he really exists. Maybe you just see him as a metaphor for the human animal's capacity to inflict evil on his own kind.
Regardless, history and literature offer plenty of stand-ins for His Satanic Majesty: Vlad the Impaler, Richard III, Jerry Springer, Hannibal Lecter. It's a long list. And somewhere near the bottom is my personal Mephistopheles: Bob Barker.
And what an impoverished figure he is. At the end of the day he's just a huckster with a cane and megaphone promising unimagined pleasures if only we'll step inside the tent.
(c) 2005 the Kansas City Star