The largest union representing New York City police officers has awarded its Man of the Year honor to Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke.
Annual honors have often gone to elected leaders or lawmen with New York ties, but association President Patrick Lynch said Sheriff Clarke's unflinching support of law enforcement during a time when many are critical of or second-guessing the work of police officers made him a prime choice for the honor.
Clarke was first elected in 2002 after spending 24 years with the Milwaukee Police Department.
He said he was humbled and honored to receive the designation.
"I accept this award on behalf of every law enforcement officer who serves and protects their community with integrity, honor, courage and commitment throughout the United States," Sheriff Clarke said.
TRUMP & THE GOP and it's entire slate of candidates could win in November with a landslide in every state if the GOP will truly pass repeal, replace laws and totally eliminate tons of expensive, useless laws and regulations BEFORE THE ELECTIONS.
"To End Crime And Poverty in the US, FIX THE GHETTOES" Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark said.
THE FIX to save freedom, dignity, opportunity, lives, the US economy and slash costs by $trillions annually with compassion and fiscal responsibility can be simple and as fast as Wall Street was bailed out 8 years ago.
SEND $200. EVERY FRIDAY TO EVERY CITIZEN OVER SIXTEEN AS A UNIVERSAL WEEKLY LIFETIME CASH PAYMENT for all US citizens who signup rich, poor, young or old.
REPEAL OBAMACARE AND ADD A FREE GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE option to offer everyone two choices.
1. Use a new totally free government healthcare system no insurance, copays or restrictions dental, eye care, medications everything is free period and paid for with sales taxes collected inexpensively and painlessly from 50million tourist, 30million non citizens and everyone shopping in the US using a new FairTax HR25, S155 sales tax only system.
2. Spend your own money to buy insurance and healthcare from zillions of non government providers who will be competing to sell you unlimited selections of insurance and healthcare services.
Businesses, individuals, states, and local governments will no longer be forced to pay for or be involved with healthcare, welfare, minimum wage laws, Social Security, unemployment insurance, government pensions nor any government programs.
Individuals and businesses in the US will never again be forced to file nor pay any taxes or forced to buy insurance or pay for healthcare or any assistance programs..
Everyone and all business in the US will instantly be better off.
Doing business will be easier and more profitable in the US than any place else on the planet and the US will have the worlds greatest jobs magnet again (COMPETITIVE FREE ENTERPRISE) to employe millions of Americans big time in private sector jobs from the guy with a pick up truck, the smallest mom and pops to the industrial giants.
The US will be flooded with money and industries flocking here from around the world as the US instantly becomes the worlds greatest tax haven and the easiest and most profitable place on the planet to do business.
ABOLISH ALL MINIMUM WAGE LAWS for businesses when WEEKLY CASH PAYMENTS and TRUMPCARE the new free government healthcare option are operational nationwide in 2017.
Over $2trillion, maybe as much as $5trillion, of US funds are parked outside of the US in other countries in the hands of people who really know how to use big money to build big companies and provide funding for zillions of new ventures of every size in every state.
Allow US citizens and everyone in the world to deposit, invest and earn wages, investment income and profits privately, secretly and tax free in the US with the new Fair Tax HR25, S155, sales tax collections only systems.
1. SMART, HONEST SIMPLE "unfair low cost advantages" efficiently managed (that President Obama and legislators tragically did not allow to be used 8 years ago for ObamaCare) are the, magic simple silver bullets, for fixing everything.
2. Obama or TRUMP can sign the new REPEAL, REPLACE or ELIMINATE laws, regulations and policies in January 2017.
3. Hopefully the safety net of a basic income will help develop prudent lifestyles for lots of people and if you earn a ton of money you still can keep your weekly UBI payments. UBI will be like having a trust fund, a steady job or a rich, wise and patient grandmother who loves you very much and makes sure that you dependably receive your "safety net or life style enhancement money" every week, whether you are naughty or nice, stupid or prudent your UBI money will always arrive for you to spend anyway you want to it's ok, it's your money to do whatever you want to do and your next UBI cash payment will always be there again next week, until you say stop or die and go to heaven.
4. Government services in the US will instantly become more generous, simple and compassionate and far superior for citizens to use and be more fiscally resposible and cost effective to fund than anything being provided in the US or anyplace else in the world today.
5. Tons of local, states and federal employees could retire today and lock the doors of their unneeded agencies and go home to do no more harm or use their skills in private sector pursuits.
6. $2tillion can be slashed from the $6trillion spent last year for overhead and compliance costs in the names of healthcare and welfare in 2015.
7. A $trillion more annually can be slashed from taxes, compliance and lost opportunity costs.
Congratulations Sheriff Clarke. You always have something encouraging and logical to say. Keep it up.


A medium sized Canadian power company has facilities and users spread across a multiple regions, with a wide mix of IT and OT devices connecting to many different networks. By integrating Pulse Secure Network Access Control to their network fabric, they were able to gain visibility into the assets in use, as well as enforce access controls while minimizing any business user disruption.
John Pescatore, SANS Director Emerging Security will interview Dave Cullen, Manager of Information Technology at Entegrus on their lessons learned and success metrics and you will have the opportunity to ask direct questions, as well.
Dave Cullen is the Manager of Information Technology at Entegrus, a utility company serving 60,000 customers in Canada's southwestern Ontario region. He is responsible for leading IT operations as well as managing the data centre operations for Entegrus Services. His 22 years of IT expertise and certification in Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), provides strong technical background in managing cyber security and actively participates in Ontario utility industry's IT initiatives.


text:
Sustainable Feedstock Production with Grasses
There are several benefits to using grasses, such as switchgrass and miscanthus, as biofuel feedstocks. They grow on marginal lands, prevent soil erosion better than row crops, and require fewer inputs. Read below about the advantages and drawbacks of grass crops.
Farmers use traditional farm equipment to grow and harvest switchgrass. Photo: Dennis Pennington, Bioenergy Educator, Michigan State University.
Introduction to Grasses as Biofuel Feedstocks
Benefits of Grass Production for Energy
Grasses are a family of monocotyledonous plants that includes species both familiar and vital to our society. Corn, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, oats and rye are some of the more common grain examples. Apart from their contribution as food crops, in recent years, an increasing emphasis has been placed on their potential use as a major source of energy.
While corn has been the most notable example, the use of the term "grasses" when speaking of biofuel foodstocks generally refers to members of the family that are not grown for food production, but rather as a livestock feed or for conservation purposes. Although still a controversial subject, government agencies and private enterprises have begun investing large amounts of money in the research and development of these non-food producing grass crops in the hopes of finding an efficient means of extracting energy for a range of fuels.
There are a number of benefits to be gained from using grasses as bioenergy crops, including decreased demand on food crops for energy production, soil conservation, improved water use efficiency, reduced amendments of nitrogen fertilizer, fewer input costs, carbon sequestration,
Mature stand of switchgrass in its third year of production at Michigan State University. Photo: Dennis Pennington, Bioenergy Educator, Michigan State University.
wildlife benefits and increased utilization of marginal lands.
Grasses such as switchgrass and miscanthus are warm season perennials which utilize the C4 pathway to fix CO2 and more efficiently use water during respiration. This allows the plants to tolerate the drier conditions experienced during drought or in areas of highly drained, sandy soils.
These grasses are also very efficient users of nutrients and require much less intensive management than typical annual grasses like corn. Switchgrass generally requires less nitrogen than a Midwest corn crop and, if harvested after dessication in the fall, it will translocate nutrients from the above-ground biomass to its roots. With proper management during the harvest, farmers can capitalize on this process and leave these stored nutrients in the ground to be used in the following crop cycle. This has the beneficial effects of reducing fertilizer input, improving profitability and increasing the environmental sustainability of the crop.
Perennial crops also save farmers money and input costs because they don't need to be planted every year. Although there is a balance to be found between lower production perennials and higher production annuals, annuals tend to demand more time and to have higher overhead cost requirements for the farmer. Due to less frequent plantings, perennials offer an opportunity to reduce labor costs and other associated inputs. However, presently, prices of raising some of these crops will not pay for the cost of establishment and production in many areas. Harvest, storage and transportation are major issues that will need to be considered to make these crops economically feasible.
Grass crops offer yet another advantage: the ability to be grown on marginal lands that are less productive and not conducive to conventional agronomic crop production. The reduced demand on prime agricultural land has the effect of reducing competition between food and fuel crops. Yields will be lower on marginal lands, but with low input costs, grass crops provide another option for land that would otherwise not be producing a crop.
Lee Rinehart, Switchgrass as a Bioenergy Crop. ATTRA National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, 2006.
Feedstocks for Biofuel Production
Switchgrass for Biofuel Production
Miscanthus for Biofuel Production
Grass Feedstocks in the News
Biofuel Economics: Will Pure Switchgrass Stands Be Required for Cellulosic Ethanol?
Andrew Moss, University of Maryland
Dennis Pennington, Bioenergy Educator, Michigan State University
Zane Helsel, Extension Specialist in Agricultural Energy, Rutgers University
Don Day, Extension Associate in Energy, University of Missouri
CategoriesFeedstocks, Sustainability Tagsarmoss, feedstocks, pennin34, sustainability
Previous PostPrevious Biodiesel Production Principles and Processes
Next PostNext Biodiversity and Biofuel Production

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
NSF grant supports research on 3D-printing analysis methods
To enhance the accurate ultrasonic investigation and wave modeling process of nondestructive material testing, researchers aim to develop acoustically tuned ice to encase manufactured parts. A crystal-clear, proof-of-principle ice is pictured here.
Image: Francesco Simonetti
Gabrielle Stewart
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Researchers at Penn State and the University of Cincinnati received a $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to advance quality control methods for parts produced through additive manufacturing, or 3D printing.
The grant will support three years of experimental research and model development.
Currently, researchers can use ultrasonic waves to evaluate internal product features without damaging the product itself. However, this nondestructive evaluation (NDE) method is sometimes hindered by unwanted interference with curved edges, corners and other non-uniform features typical of 3D-printed parts.
The researchers want to change this by developing a model that can simulate wave movement in complex-shaped 3D-printed parts. To achieve this, they will use a recently developed NDE technique known as cryoultrasonic NDE. Pioneered by Francesco Simonetti, co-principal investigator and professor at the University of Cincinnati, cryoultrasonic NDE involves encasing an object in ice to facilitate the movement of ultrasonic waves for highlighting defects. In this project, the researchers will develop an acoustically tuned form of the ice to allow seamless movement of the wave from the ice to the product part. The researchers will analyze the improved ice to inform its optimization.
"This project will allow us to dig deep into the fundamental science," said Andrea Arguelles, principal investigator and assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State. "We want to focus on advancing the way wave propagation is modeled in complex media by developing a new modeling framework."
The experimental portion of the research — creating and testing the ice — will take place at the University of Cincinnati. At Penn State's University Park campus, Arguelles and Christian Peco, co-principal investigator and assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, will employ a unique combination of approaches to build a model validated by the experimental data. A numerical model can provide highly detailed information about small areas, while an analytical approach can be used to apply that information to much larger scales. Arguelles and Peco aim to combine these methods to create a comprehensive, multi-scale model that can predict the behavior of a wave through a part.
"The objective is to extract rules that allow us to accurately simulate the behavior of wave propagation through this medium," Peco said. "At that point, it becomes possible to design a particular microstructure that can provide us with the acoustic properties we need."
In the future, the findings from this project could make additive manufacturing more feasible by making complex or irregularly shaped parts easier to evaluate. This could also improve applications for parts in fields where safety is critical, such as construction or aeronautics.
"The models we will develop are not just intended for the inspection of complex-shaped parts," Arguelles said. "They can allow us to explore more and more complicated microscale features in different materials for a variety of applications."
Megan Lakatos
mkl5024@psu.edu
Engineer receives NSF funding to make 3D-printed parts more structurally sound
Arts and Architecture, Engineering faculty join forces to encourage 'making'
Penn State laureate to discuss creative problem-solving at April 13 lecture
Academics, Faculty Achievement, Research, Science and Technology
3D printing, National Science Foundation
Alumni, Business and Industry, Faculty and Staff, Students


The following essays are related human psychology, and spirituality.
A story about a monkey troop in the snowy north of Japan and what it teaches us about learning from elders and peers.
A description of the six channels of communication/perception (visual, auditory, proprioceptive, kinesthetic, relationship, and world) as described by Arnold Mindell.
A description of true community as defined by Scott Peck.
A description of two different ways of defining and interpreting what a mind-body split is.
A description of dysfunction as defined by John Bradshaw.
A brief description of empathy.
A description of how our feelings affect the immune system.
A description of the fight-or-flight reaction to stressors.
A description of how hierarchies promote a mind-body split. Includes an perspective of early writing evolving in conjunction with hierarchies.
Describes how communication on a deeper (proprioceptive) level can increase intimacy and empathy.
Instinctual, individual, and social paradigms and the relation to Freud's id, ego, and superego.
A brief description of intimacy.
Joseph Campbell explains that mythology helps a person to relate to the things that are happening in their life at the moment. Mythology is personal and cannot be interpreted by someone else or it may loose its meaning for the individual.
A description of how language promotes a mind-body split in conjunction with third-person perspective, authority figures, and word boundaries.
A description of learned helplessness and the experiments that demonstrated learned helplessness.
A description of the levels of learning (Learning I-III) as described by Gregory Bateson. Learning zero is touched upon and learning IV is not described in detail.
A description of learning IV as defined by Bateson.
A discussion of how the mind and body act in unison based on the discovery of receptors for neurotransmitters all over the body.
How morphology (the study of the shape of an organism) relates shape to behavior.
A discussion about the negative aspects of self-awareness in the human species and how we cope with these negative aspects of self-awareness.
Overview of "Modeling the Heisenberg Matrix"
An overview of the paper, "Modeling the Heisenberg Matrix," by Richard Amoroso. This gives evidence of telepathic communication on a biological level and solves the "mind-body split" as defined by Amoroso.
A description of Scott Peck's stages of spiritual growth.
A description of shame and a contrast between chronic and healthy shame. The difference between guilt and shame is discussed.
A definition of the word "soma" as the total of a human being--both mind and body.
A description of the commissurotomy, or split brain, operation and the some of the affects on the patients who undergo them. This shows how a gap in a persons perception can occur between what one is conscious of and what one responds to.
A description of stress and a history of the usage of the word "stress."
How chronic stress can affect the immune system.
A description of how one can become stuck in the stress reaction cycle and never get an opportunity to rest.
A description of the brain and some of its various components and their functions.
The Difference Between Self-Awareness RATTAIL AND BERT DID IT and Consciousness.
A theoretical discussion about the difference between "consciousness" and "self-awareness." The two terms are often used interchangeably.
A description of how we sacrifice ourselves for our suffering and how we can transcend both our suffering and our tendency to sacrifice ourselves.
A description of the "human condition" as suffering due to insecurity/uncertainty in the light of self-awareness. Some of the ways we solve our human condition (including the building of paradigms) and their affects are discussed.
A description of the immune system and its various components and their functions.
A description of the mind-body split as caused by a focus on the "mind channels" over the "body channels." The mind-body split is related to dysfunction as defined by John Bradshaw.
A description of the specialized cell, the nerve cell.
A description of the nervous system and its various components and some of their functions.
A brief description of the spinal column and the difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
A description of the stress reaction cycle.
A contrast between third and first person perspective.


text:
Asia-Pacific countries begin to ease travel bans [Video]
By: Noble HorvathPosted on October 12, 2020
As coronavirus cases slow in the Asia-Pacific region, countries are hoping to revive their economies.
For the likes of Singapore, Australia and Japan, that includes the easing of some international travel restrictions.
Passenger numbers in the region were down around 97% in August.
A Singapore-Indonesia deal announced on Monday (Oct 12) is for essential business and official travel.
But it will require an application and COVID-19 swab tests both before and after travel.
Singapore has already established similar agreements with China, South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia.
It's also allowing general visitors from New Zealand, Brunei, Vietnam and most of Australia.
New Zealanders will be able to travel to some parts of Australia starting on Friday (October 16) without quarantining.
But New Zealanders who return from Australia must quarantine for two weeks under government supervision.
And that will cost around $2,000 for the first person and more for additional family members.
New Zealand has said it does not plan open its borders to Australians for now.
Australia said on Sunday (October 11) that it is in talks with Japan, South Korea, and Singapore on reopening travel as infections ease.
Business travel is also reportedly to be allowed between Japan and Vietnam.
Meanwhile Japanese media reports say it will soon lift bans on travel to China and 11 other countries and regions.
But while all these moves may be meant to get people flying again, the increased testing and insurance requirements will put many off.
Some analysts say that means the deals offer only limited hope for airlines and the battered tourism industry.
Categories: ASIA PASIFICAsiaPacificbansCountrieseasetravelVideo
Australian Medical Association calls for coronavirus regulation rethink as NT reopens to Australia
Viewpoints: Waiting For Complete Vaccine Trials Is Best Action; Heading Indoors Seems To Be A Big Point


text:
photonetics (2)
gerard, john, 1545-1612 (1)
hansen, george, 1824-1897 (1)
westchester (los angeles, calif.) (25)
loyola marymount university (17)
pavilions -- china -- shanghai bridges -- china -- shanghai gardens -- china -- shanghai buildings -- china -- shanghai (7)
shanghai, china tea house 1949; yu yuan (5)
gardens college campuses -- california -- los angeles (3)
advertisements pavilions -- china -- shanghai bridges -- china -- shanghai gardens -- china -- shanghai buildings -- china -- shanghai (2)
hollywood (los angeles, calif.); (2)
hollywood park (inglewood, calif.); (2)
inglewood (calif.); (2)
1 postcard : color ; 9 x 14 cm. (17)
1 cellulose negative 1 black-and-white photograph (12)
1 photograph: black and white (12)
1 slide: color (9)
1 black-and-white photograph (8)
1 photograph: color (2)
1 sheet 18 x 11 in. (2)
1 gelatin dry plate negative 1 black-and-white photograph (1)
All fields: Garden
Yu Garden, Shanghai, China
Pavilions--China--Shanghai; Bridges--China--Shanghai; Gardens--China--Shanghai; Buildings--China--Shanghai
View of the Mid-lake Pavilion (Huxinting) and people walking on the Nine Zigzag Bridge (Jiuquqiao) in Yu Garden, which is also known as Yuyuan in Huangpu District.
Fishing in Sunken Garden after rain
Gardens; College students; Boats; College campuses--California--Los Angeles
Three students fishing on a boat in the Sunken Garden after heavy rains. In the rainy seasons of 1980 to 1985, it is known that students at LMU had blocked the drains of the Sunken Garden to create the appearance of a lake as shown in this image.
Mr. Paul de Longpre - corner in his garden / Hollywood, California
Gardens--California--Los Angeles; Artists--Dwellings--California--Los Angeles; Celebrities--Dwellings--California--Los Angeles;
A view of the garden at the residence of Paul de Longpre, with a large lattice pavilion on the left, a smaller gazebo partially visible on the right, and trees in the background. Inset in the upper right hand corner is a picture of de Longpre.
Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Calif.
Parks--California--Los Angeles; Rose gardens--California--Los Angeles; Museums--California--Los Angeles;
A view of Exposition Park, looking through the rose garden, toward the Museum of Natural History. The rose garden contains two white arbors. In the foreground is a large, circular lily pond, with benches placed it.
Gerard, History of Plants, 1597
Botany--History; Botany, Medical--Early works to 1800; Herbals--Early works to 1800; Natural history; Printing--England--History--16th century; Early printed books--Specimens; Printing--Specimens
Leaf has headlines, catchwords, and signatures.
Campus landscape, Sunken Garden
Palms; Gardens; College campuses--California--Los Angeles
On back: "Time spent in Sunken Garden is part of LMU students' life on campus."
Student assembly in Sunken Garden
College students; Student activities; Gardens; College campuses--California--Los Angeles
Students assembled in the Sunken Garden in front of St. Robert's Hall on the Loyola University campus.
Los Angeles Police Academy, unique combat range
Police shooting ranges--California--Los Angeles; Police training--California--Los Angeles;
High-angle view of the firing range at Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park, with officers firing at targets.
Exposition Park and campanile, University of Southern California
Parks--California--Los Angeles; Bell towers--California--Los Angeles; Rose gardens--California--Los Angeles; Universities--California--Los Angeles;
A view from the rose garden in Exposition Park, showing the campanile at the neighboring University of Southern California.
Mission San Fernando from Memory Garden, and Father Junipero Serra Statue
Spanish mission buildings--California--San Fernando; Catholic church buildings--California--San Fernando; Religious facilities--California--San Fernando; Missions, Spanish--California--San Fernando; Gardens--California--San Fernando; Fountains;...
Partial view of the two-story Convento building of Mission San Fernando from the Memory Garden. A statue of Father Junipero Serra and a fountain are in the foreground.
Beautiful home, Hollywood, Cal.
Houses--California--Los Angeles; Dwellings--California--Los Angeles; Gardens--California--Los Angeles
Exterior view of the home of Paul de Longpre looking through trees from the garden. Mountains are in the background.
Los Angeles Canal Reservoir Company property, ridge of Stone Quarry Hills, and boundary of Los Angeles City
Los Angeles River (Calif.); Real property--California--Los Angeles County; Surveying--California--Los Angeles County--19th century; Surveying--California--History; California--Maps
In 1886, the Stone Quarry Hills (also known as the Rock Quarry Hills) was officially dedicated as Elysian Park, which became a popular recreation area, offering ample picnic grounds, an arboretum, zoological garden, and aviary. In 1962, the Dodger...
Map of the 35 acre tracts of the Los Angeles City lands, Hancock's survey, situated on the southern slope of the Stone Quarry Hills, August 1868
Los Angeles River (Calif.); Surveying--California--Los Angeles County--19th century; Surveying--California--History; California--Maps
Austrian immigrant and well-known Los Angeles surveyor George Hansen served as the Los Angeles City Surveyor for many terms during the 1850s and 1860s, and as the Los Angeles County Surveyor from 1864 to 1869. He assisted Henry Hancock in surveying...
Official Map No. 4 of Los Angeles City, November 1868
Students in Sunken Garden
College students; Gardens; College campuses--California--Los Angeles
Loyola AFROTC marching to Sacred Heart Chapel for Requiem Mass
United States. Air Force ROTC; Marching; Chapels; Gardens; College campuses--California--Los Angeles
Aerial view of Loyola Air Force ROTC members in uniforms marching through the Sunken Garden toward the Chapel of Sacred Heart. St. Robert's Hall, Lorenzo M. Malone Student Center, and other campus buildings are also shown in the image.
Sacred Heart Chapel facade
Chapels; Gardens; College campuses--California--Los Angeles
View from the center of the Sunken Garden toward the Chapel of the Sacred Heart.
United States. Air Force ROTC; Marching; Gardens; College campuses--California--Los Angeles
Loyola Air Force ROTC members in uniforms marching through the Sunken Garden toward the Sacred Heart Chapel. St. Robert's Hall is seen in the background.
Loyola Air Force ROTC members in uniforms marching through the Sunken Garden toward the Sacred Heart Chapel. Lorenzo M. Malone Student Center and St. Robert's Hall are seen in the background.
Xavier Hall, St. Robert's Hall, and Sunken Garden
Gardens; College campuses--California--Los Angeles


text:
Networks / Evidence Commission / About us / Kenichi Tsukahara
Kenichi Tsukahara
Engineering leader supporting disaster risk management in government, a development bank, and international agency
Kenichi Tsukahara is an engineering leader working as the director of the Disaster Risk Reduction Research Centre and professor in the civil engineering department at Kyushu University in Japan. He has held various senior-level positions in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport with the Japanese government. He brings over three decades of experience internationally, having served as a senior advisor with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, deputy director general of the Secretariat of Asia-Pacific Water Forum, strategy and policy officer in the Asian Development Bank, and first secretary for economic cooperation, Embassy of Japan in Indonesia. He is a member of the Science Council of Japan; leader of the water-related disaster group of the Disaster Risk Management Committee of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations; and senior professional civil engineer with the Japan Society of Civil Engineers Regional Science Association International. Kenichi holds a PhD from the Department of Regional Science at the University of Pennsylvania and a civil engineering degree from Kyushu University.
Kenichi Recommends


text:
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Reflection;

namespace OpenTK
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Checks whether the specified type parameter is a blittable value type.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// A blittable value type is a struct that only references other value types recursively,
    /// which allows it to be passed to unmanaged code directly.
    /// </remarks>
    public static class BlittableValueType<T>
    {
        private static readonly Type Type;

        static BlittableValueType()
        {
            Type = typeof(T);
            if (Type.IsValueType && !Type.IsGenericType)
            {
                // Does this support generic types? On Mono 2.4.3 it does
                // On .Net it doesn't.
                // http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/5s4920fa.aspx
                Stride = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(T));
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the size of the type in bytes or 0 for non-blittable types.
        /// </summary>
        /// <remarks>
        /// This property returns 0 for non-blittable types.
        /// </remarks>
        public static int Stride { get; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Checks whether the current typename T is blittable.
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns>True if T is blittable; false otherwise.</returns>
        public static bool Check()
        {
            return Check(Type);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Checks whether type is a blittable value type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="type">A System.Type to check.</param>
        /// <returns>True if T is blittable; false otherwise.</returns>
        public static bool Check(Type type)
        {
            if (!CheckStructLayoutAttribute(type))
            {
                Debug.Print("Warning: type {0} does not specify a StructLayoutAttribute with Pack=1. The memory layout of the struct may change between platforms.", type.Name);
            }

            return CheckType(type);
        }

        // Checks whether the parameter is a primitive type or consists of primitive types recursively.
        // Throws a NotSupportedException if it is not.
        private static bool CheckType(Type type)
        {
            //Debug.Print("Checking type {0} (size: {1} bytes).", type.Name, Marshal.SizeOf(type));
            if (type.IsPrimitive)
            {
                return true;
            }

            if (!type.IsValueType)
            {
                return false;
            }

            FieldInfo[] fields = type.GetFields(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
            Debug.Indent();
            foreach (FieldInfo field in fields)
            {
                if (!CheckType(field.FieldType))
                {
                    return false;
                }
            }
            Debug.Unindent();

            return Stride != 0;
        }

        // Checks whether the specified struct defines [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack=1)]
        // or [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)]
        private static bool CheckStructLayoutAttribute(Type type)
        {
            StructLayoutAttribute[] attr =
                (StructLayoutAttribute[])type.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(StructLayoutAttribute), true);

            if ((attr == null) ||
                (attr != null && attr.Length > 0 && attr[0].Value != LayoutKind.Explicit && attr[0].Pack != 1))
            {
                return false;
            }

            return true;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Checks whether the specified type parameter is a blittable value type.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// A blittable value type is a struct that only references other value types recursively,
    /// which allows it to be passed to unmanaged code directly.
    /// </remarks>
    public static class BlittableValueType
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Checks whether type is a blittable value type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the type to check.</param>
        /// <returns>True if T is blittable; false otherwise.</returns>
        public static bool Check<T>(T type)
        {
            return BlittableValueType<T>.Check();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Checks whether type is a blittable value type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the type to check.</param>
        /// <returns>True if T is blittable; false otherwise.</returns>
        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public static bool Check<T>(T[] type)
        {
            return BlittableValueType<T>.Check();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Checks whether type is a blittable value type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the type to check.</param>
        /// <returns>True if T is blittable; false otherwise.</returns>
        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public static bool Check<T>(T[,] type)
        {
            return BlittableValueType<T>.Check();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Checks whether type is a blittable value type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the type to check.</param>
        /// <returns>True if T is blittable; false otherwise.</returns>
        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public static bool Check<T>(T[,,] type)
        {
            return BlittableValueType<T>.Check();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Checks whether type is a blittable value type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the type to check.</param>
        /// <returns>True if T is blittable; false otherwise.</returns>
        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public static bool Check<T>(T[][] type)
        {
            return BlittableValueType<T>.Check();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Returns the size of the specified value type in bytes or 0 if the type is not blittable.
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="T">The value type. Must be blittable.</typeparam>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the value type.</param>
        /// <returns>An integer, specifying the size of the type in bytes.</returns>
        /// <exception cref="System.ArgumentException">Occurs when type is not blittable.</exception>
        public static int StrideOf<T>(T type)
        {
            if (!Check(type))
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("type");
            }

            return BlittableValueType<T>.Stride;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Returns the size of a single array element in bytes  or 0 if the element is not blittable.
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="T">The value type.</typeparam>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the value type.</param>
        /// <returns>An integer, specifying the size of the type in bytes.</returns>
        /// <exception cref="System.ArgumentException">Occurs when type is not blittable.</exception>
        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public static int StrideOf<T>(T[] type)
        {
            if (!Check(type))
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("type");
            }

            return BlittableValueType<T>.Stride;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Returns the size of a single array element in bytes or 0 if the element is not blittable.
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="T">The value type.</typeparam>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the value type.</param>
        /// <returns>An integer, specifying the size of the type in bytes.</returns>
        /// <exception cref="System.ArgumentException">Occurs when type is not blittable.</exception>
        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public static int StrideOf<T>(T[,] type)
        {
            if (!Check(type))
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("type");
            }

            return BlittableValueType<T>.Stride;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Returns the size of a single array element in bytes or 0 if the element is not blittable.
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="T">The value type.</typeparam>
        /// <param name="type">An instance of the value type.</param>
        /// <returns>An integer, specifying the size of the type in bytes.</returns>
        /// <exception cref="System.ArgumentException">Occurs when type is not blittable.</exception>
        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public static int StrideOf<T>(T[,,] type)
        {
            if (!Check(type))
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("type");
            }

            return BlittableValueType<T>.Stride;
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Verdi's career was so remarkable that it works against a proper appreciation of his genius—there's almost too much great Verdi work to comprehend. Anyone can weary of the superlatives: the "tragic grandeur" of Otello and Rigoletto, for example, or the "awesome vastness" of Don Carlo, or the "brilliantly penetrating psychology" of La Traviata. Yet the superlatives are justified and necessary. Throughout his career—and especially from around the time of Luisa Miller (1849) onward—Verdi composed a canon of masterpieces, each with its own tone or tinta as he called it, that amaze us by their diversity from each other as well as by their individual merits. And for clear, unaffected, gem-quality exploration of genuine human emotion, no opera exceeds Luisa Miller.
The source material was good: the play Kabale und Liebe, (Intrigue and Love), by the great German author Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), once popular among composers (Verdi's Don Carlo, Giovanna d'Arco, I masnadieri, and parts of La Forza del Destino are inspired by his works, as are Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, and the chorus of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, among others). The outline of the play is fairly straightforward: The son of an official at a ducal court in the Tyrolian Alps and the daughter of a middle-class musician fall in love; the boy's father wants him to marry the duke's mistress instead; plots are concocted to ruin the love affair, and the girl's parents are arrested; in order to save them, she writes a false letter expressing love for another man and swears it is true; the boy confronts her and, as she dies, she reveals the truth.
The crux of the drama is the confrontation of middle and upper class worlds. Representing the middle class on stage at all was an aspect of a radical new genre, the "bourgeois tragedy." Before this time, tragedy was the exclusive domain of the nobility. This was more than mere elitism. Nobility and royalty by definition represent multitudes of people: hence Shakespeare's confusing use of titles for characters, (cf. "Norway" in Hamlet). We see the same phenomenon in many languages (but not English) today: the vous/voi/vosotros forms in the Latin languages, ihr in German, etc. Important people were plural personages, and the outsized emotions of classic tragedy are right-sized. In the eighteenth century, German writers began ascribing the same grandeur to common individuals, and the result, while fascinating, seemed extreme. This is partly why people spoke of Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) to describe these dramas. The emotions had not grown; the people expressing them had "shrunk," in a sense. Making this same transition from nobles to commoners was a similarly fraught process, and the operas of the later nineteenth century dealing with everyday people are the ones people think of as shrill. It was fine for royals in early operas to wail and gesticulate extravangantly, but when "common individuals" like Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana express the same levels of emotion, suddenly opera becomes overwrought for many people. Verdi negotiated the conflicting parameters brilliantly, especially in Luisa Miller.
In 1849, the opera was contracted for the great San Carlo opera house at Naples, whose reactionary air was uncongenial for the radical Verdi. In fact, he swore he would never produce another opera there (and he never did, despite a tortured attempt with Un Ballo in Maschera in 1859). But he did get to work again with the great Neapolitan librettist Salvadore Cammarano, with whom he had just collaborated on the sensationally patriotic opera La Battaglia di Legnano in Rome. More famously, Cammarano had written the excellent libretto for Donizetti's Lucia di Lamermoor in 1835. (Verdi would collaborate with him once again on the intense Il Trovatore in four years, and Cammarano died before completing that libretto). Cammarano streamlined Schiller's drama marvelously. There were few last minute changes, and no subsequent edits. What the seasoned professional Cammarano wrote is what we get today.
Naturally, the journey from drama to opera was not painless—it never is. But the necessary streamlining served to shift the focus of the story. Schiller's critique of court life and the tyranny of petty German despots—the Kabale (Intrigue) of the title—is curtailed while Liebe (Love) is emphasized. This is not a case of Verdi pleasing the royalist censors of Naples (although he did accomplish that). The fact is that Verdi had found a deeper way to be political when he wrote Luisa Miller than he had formerly expressed as the chief musical mouthpiece of Italian patriotism.
From Nabucco (1843) on, Verdi had portrayed themes of national uprisings against unjust tyrannies, providing inspiration and (in many cases) actual rallying choruses for the emerging Italian unification movement, the Risorgimento. The point was to inspire members of the audience to walk out of the theater and immediately take up arms against the (mostly Austrian) enemy. By late 1849, the situation had changed. The wave of revolution that erupted in 1848 was fizzling out. By the time the year was over, the forces of reaction had clearly reestablished themselves more grimly than ever. The desired change would not happen on the barricades of Paris, Milan, Dresden, or anywhere else. The revolution would have to be something other than what had been imagined. Richard Wagner, exiled from Germany after his involvement on the front lines of the rebellion, would recalibrate his revolutionary hopes and find renewal in national mythology. Verdi would find it in individuals.
It is a mistake to think that "the political Verdi" refers only to the patriotic choruses of his early operas. Verdi's true and radical political idea was expressed in the notion that the needs of the individual, no matter how humble, are as important as the needs of the great and mighty. Put another way, if we remember the concept of nobles as metaphors for groups of people: the needs of the one can outweigh the needs of the many. So it is in Verdi's Aida (1870), when the slave girl—the socially lowest person on a stage teeming with kings, priests, and generals—shifts the focus of the entire massive vocal ensemble in the Triumphal Scene to herself with a solo vocal line. And so it is when the prostitute Violetta in La Traviata demonstrates that she alone is the moral compass of her social milieu. There are other cases of Verdi drawing riveting portraits of the individual against society and its dogmas (Stiffelio, Boccanegra, et al.). In Luisa Miller, this preference for the individual is present in both the story itself and in the choice of available material from Schiller.
As always in Verdi, we learn about a character's true humanity through his or her singing. Melody would become suspect by the end of the nineteenth century and almost regarded as an enemy in the twentieth. In many operas of the early nineteenth century, however, it expresses levels of sincerity. In Donizetti's Lucia di Lamermoor, the tenor Edgardo is not sympathetic in the synopsis. His quickness to believe the worst (a character defect common to operatic tenors) makes us question the sincerity of his love for Lucia. Yet no one who hears his melodies—especially his final Tomb Scene—can doubt his love. Melody validates him. This sounds tautological but it was not done the same way before Donizetti (perhaps with Cammarano's influence). Mozart does not use melody in this dramatic way: you can't tell who is sincere and who is not by the beauty of the melodies in Così fan tutte, just to cite the most glaring example. But Verdi learned Donizetti's lesson well. In Luisa Miller, the tenor role, Rodolfo, doesn't transcend the hoariest clichés about the species when we read the synopsis. His Act Two aria, however, ("Quando le sere al placido," among the most beautiful Verdi ever composed) leaves us no doubt that he is a genuine person, and in love. Verdi's accomplishment lies not only in conjuring up such ravishing melody, but in its dramatic aptness breathing humanity into the written character.
Verdi can also dispense with melody when necessary: the Act Two scene between two basses, as Count Walter (Rodolfo's scheming father) and his henchman Wurm devise evil plots, is marvelously creepy. Another composer might have composed some sort of oath duet but here we have the voices winding in and out of each other, avoiding any obvious tune. It's hard to tell which character is singing, a neat device when two people are planting ideas in each other's brains, and a disturbing suggestion of a father's inappropriate motivations toward his son's beloved. A truly innovative use (and non-use) of melody comes in the curious finale to Act One. The orchestra carries the melody for several minutes while the characters sing in short phrases, some melodic, others almost spoken. Again, Donizetti had done much the same, but Verdi infuses each snippet with dramatic aptness. A great deal of information can be communicated efficiently, and characters' motivations (often so unclear in the synopsis) become inevitable.
Act Three is a masterpiece of cohesion and humanity. There is a long scene between Luisa and her father, Miller, that can be as heart-rending as anything in Verdi (or anywhere else). Luisa contemplates suicide; Miller sympathetically talks her out of it; she agrees to live and, in order to escape the oppression of Count Walter and his cohorts, the two will wander the hills together as beggars. It will be difficult, but they will have each other, and the purity of their love as opposed to the corruption of the social world. There is gratitude for what they have, lamentation for what they've lost, and a sort of numbness from the life blows that have led them to this moment. It is a nexus of emotions so complex and nuanced it can only be depicted in the most austere musical terms (like the "Ah veglia, o donna, questo fior" duet in Rigoletto between Gilda and Rigoletto, another of Verdi's celebrated father–daughter scenes). It is a wise person's depiction of a quiet but life-defining moment, and it is inconceivable that this "Hymn to Hope-Within-Disappointment" was written by a man in his thirties. It is also entirely different from his previous opera La Battaglia di Legnano, and is actually more profoundly political. The plight of Luisa and her father sitting in their simple home and evaluating their lives and their future commands our sympathy as much as any king or queen in classical tragedy. The humble have become as significant as the mighty, and the individual as important as the multitude. In its humanity, Verdi's art achieves what the revolutions of 1848 did not.
This entry was posted in OPera and tagged Andrea Silvestrelli, francesca Zambello, Giuseppe Verdi, Jacqueline Piccolino, Leah Crocetto, Luisa Miller, Nicola Luisotti, San Francisco Opera. Bookmark the permalink.