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Presented by Regal Cantera at Regal Cantera Stadium 17 & RPX Movie Theater, Warrenville IL
The first full-length documentary on the life and work of Country Music Icon, Minnie Pearl (aka Sarah Cannon). This is her story… simple, yet complicated. A permanent fixture in country music yet music was clearly not her gift.
She was a dichotomy – Sarah was educated, serious, intelligent, articulate, ambitious and untraditional in many ways. Minnie was uncomplicated, direct, playful and quite traditional. A young girl hailing from a small Tennessee town with big dreams of being a Shakespearian actress on the world stage was more like a delusion in the 1930's. But she did make it on the world stage – with her recognizable costumes and same opening line that never grew tiresome. The legacy she let was on of
She was a dichotomy – Sarah was educated, serious, intelligent, articulate, ambitious and untraditional in many ways. Minnie was uncomplicated, direct, playful and quite traditional. A young girl hailing from a small Tennessee town with big dreams of being a Shakespearian actress on the world stage was more like a delusion in the 1930's. But she did make it on the world stage – with her recognizable costumes and same opening line that never grew tiresome. The legacy she let was on of compassion, empowerment and innovation. But mostly she made us laugh.
Running time 90 mins
Feb 6, 2023 at 04:00 pm (Mon)
Regal Cantera Stadium 17 & RPX Movie Theater
28250 Diehl Road, Warrenville, IL 60555
Feb, 06, 2023 at 04:00 pm (Mon) Feb, 06, 2023 at 06:30 pm (Mon)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Curious emergency on water and sanitation
By Editorial Board
Buhari reminds Nigerians to guard unity of Nigeria jealously
Armed Forces Remembrance Day: Buhari, Osinbajo, governors honour fallen heroes
17 hours ago Nigeria
Poll: Fani-Kayode, Reno Omokri, Dino Melaye, Wike, 6 others rated top opposition voices in Nigeria since 2015
Buhari, President of Nigeria
President Muhammadu Buhari's declaration of a state of emergency on water and sanitation the other day is an eye opener that things are really bad in this (public health) sector and so require urgent solution. The evidence is everywhere in the country.
Declaration of a state of emergency at anytime, anywhere, evokes an urgent situation arising from natural disaster or tragedy that puts lives and property in danger. It is not often that a state of emergency is declared even in some ugly situations. But it is commonplace in the country as many declarations have been made on sectors and critical infrastructure including housing, electricity, education, corruption and others without any follow-ups.
It is thus clear to all that solution to such challenges is not on regular declaration of emergency on them but on actions initiated to provide solution.Not long ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo decried the high death rate of children from unsafe drinking water. Osinbajo expressed his disgust in Abuja at the unveiling of the National Water Policies and launching of the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH), organised by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
Again, while inaugurating the National Action Plan for Revitalisation of Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector at the State House Conference Centre, President Buhari directed government at all levels to redouble their efforts and work towards meeting the nation's water supply and sanitation needs. The Vice President 'decried' while the President 'directed' actions on water and sanitation without executive policy instrument to direct relevant agencies to deliver such services unfailingly.
The president said the declaration has become imperative to reduce the high prevalence of water-borne diseases, which has caused preventable deaths in different parts of the country. Buhari described the statistics on open defecation, access to pipe-born water and sanitation services in the country as "disturbing," warning that henceforth, Federal Government's support to state governments will be based on their commitment to implementing the National WASH Action Plan in their respective states and to end open defecation by 2025.
The president used the occasion to reiterate that the provision of potable water supply, adequate sanitation and hygiene are primarily the responsibilities of state and local governments. Sadly enough, those who are supposed to serve the people have, over the years, failed woefully in their responsibility.That common potable water, a basic necessity of life, is still lacking in 21st century Nigeria that has reaped stupendous wealth from oil since independence, is an indictment on the country's leadership at all levels.
It is regrettable that this development underscores again failure of governance in the public health sector. This newspaper believes that the country should have moved beyond this level of rhetoric in water supply and sanitation. It should not be part of what leaders should be addressing publicly. Sadly, the people have been left behind in the comity of really developing and civilized nations despite heavy expenditure on MDGs (2000-2015) and now SDGs.
The issue of provision of potable water nationwide is one thing that has defied solution over the decades. Most cities and state capitals cannot boast of potable water supply. People suffer preventable debilitating diseases as a result. Thousands are dying every day and sadly, most ignorant people blame witches and wizards for such self-inflicted calamities. Therefore, the state of emergency is welcome. This is the time the authorities should accord the issue of water provision the high priority it deserves. A healthy populace is an asset to the nation.
Unfortunately, rather than improve, the gains made in the past are being lost. For instance, available data shows that access to piped water services which was 32 per cent in 1990 has declined to 7 per cent in 2015, while access to improved sanitation has also decreased from 38 per cent in 1990 to 29 per cent in 2015. It is still the same story till date.
Similarly, WASH services in the rural areas are unsustainable as 46 per cent of all water schemes are reportedly non-functional and the share of spending on WASH sector has declined from 0.70 per cent of GDP in 1990 to about 0.27 per cent in 2015, which is far below the 0.70 per cent benchmark for West Africa sub-region.
Since the 1970s, the country developed a blue print for national, state and even urban water supply that were apparently abandoned, which explains why we are in a mess.There was the national framework for achieving the UNICEF mandated International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation decade (1981-1990), under which the issue of water supply and sanitation would have been addressed but it never happened.
Under the programme, Nigeria, like every other nation should have a country plan of action. What did the country achieve during the period? What percentage of the population had access to potable water? As water is also one of the critical issues under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Nigeria failed to actualise the national cum global water supply objective under the programme.
All these simply show how the country has fumbled, having wasted all opportunities to tackle the water and sanitation problem. This is why public health programmes have not been successful because the foundation has been ruined, so the superstructure is bound to be unreliable.
Now that a state of emergency has been declared, what are the implications? What action plan is on the table and for how long? What targets have been set for states and local governments and how are they evaluated or monitored? How is the Federal Government going to support the states and local governments under the emergency? In a good political setting, this is an issue a local political party could use as core campaign issues to be addressed.
It is not just enough for the Federal Government to hinge its support on mere commitment by states to the programme. There should be clear-cut policy framework to guide action and funding, otherwise, nothing would be achieved. The National WASH Action Plan could serve that purpose.
Water is a public good. Without water, talking of sanitation doesn't make sense. The Federal Government should not be acting as a lone ranger on this very important matter. The states should be carried along at every stage to realise the objective of this emergency regime.
More important, how are the states prepared to deliver themselves from this kind of reproach? Water and sanitation challenge should not be a federal affair. It is rather a federation issue. All states should address this shame without recourse to the centre most people now believe should devolve powers and responsibilities – such as water and sanitation.
Muhammadu BuhariYemi Osinbajo
Tunisia set to lose stolen millons in Swiss banks


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Tag: Voskhod 2
Spacewalker
MPI;
Drama;
$14.99 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray;
Not rated.
Stars Yevgeny Mironov, Konstantin Khabensky, Vladimir Ilyin, Alexandra Ursulyak, Yelena Panova, Anatoly Kotenyov.
The Russian film Spacewalker takes a look at the Soviet side of the space race by focusing on the 1965 mission in which Alexei Leonov became the first person to perform an EVA.
The story plays a bit like a cross between The Right Stuff and Apollo 13, providing a harrowing story of spaceflight most Americans will be wholly unfamiliar with beyond the milestones achieved, if that.
By the mid 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a race to put the first man on the moon, a target America had boldly set after being beaten by the Soviets to a number of spaceflight milestones, such as the Sputnik, the first object to reach orbit, in 1957, and the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin in 1961.
There were a couple of key differences between the American and Soviet space programs. First, the U.S. was more transparent with the progress and goals of its space program, while the Russians conducted theirs behind a veil of secrecy. So, while the American NASA would publicly announce timetables for its mission goals, the Soviet space agency wouldn't announce anything until it had already done it, and even then it had a tendency to lie about how successful it was.
That's due largely to the second key difference between the programs — the Soviets were a bit more lax in their safety standards, which could result in cutting corners on the engineering of their spacecraft, since a lot of their motivation was simply to show up the West. (America would learn the lesson of trying to rush through goals with the Apollo 1 fire in 1967.)
Spacewalker begins in 1963, with the chief Soviet designer, Sergei Korolev (Vladimir Ilyin) learning details of America's Gemini program — in particular plans to conduct an extravehicular activity in 1965. So, Korolev advances his own timetable by two years in an effort to beat the Americans.
The crew chosen for the mission are Pavel Belyayev (Konstantin Khabensky) and hotshot pilot Leonov (Yevgeny Mironov, also one of the film's producers). However, moving up the timeline puts a lot of pressure on the crew's training, not to mention the engineering team to get the spacecraft right. Korolev too is under tremendous political pressure simply to beat the Americans, a fact that weighs on his conscience as he seems to be the only one concerned with the safety of the cosmonauts. When he attempts to delay the mission for a year after a disastrous test flight, Leonov and Belyayev proudly volunteer anyway.
The launch of the Voskhod 2 mission in March 1965 (two-and-a-half months prior to Gemini IV, the first American spacewalk), seems to go off without a hitch, and offers one of the films highlights. However, the mission quickly becomes plagued by mishaps due to defects in the Voskhod capsule and Leonov's spacesuit. While he completes the spacewalk, providing the few seconds of footage they proudly released to the world to demonstrate their space prowess, most of what happened next they kept hidden for the most part. Namely, that hardware malfunctions pushed the craft off course during re-entry and left the crew to fend for survival in an icy Russian forest trying not to freeze to death before a rescue team could locate them.
The fall of the Iron Curtain in the 1990s revealed that such miscues weren't uncommon with the Russians, (most notably the later Soyuz 1 and 11 flights that resulted in the deaths of their crews). But even the aftermath of supposedly successful flights such as Leonov's demonstrate the immense risks inherent in spaceflight that many people wouldn't even consider.
The film looks great in high-definition and should be highly entertaining to space enthusiasts. It might be a harder sell to those without at least a passing familiarity with the space race, though it does present some valuable history and I hope it leads to more depictions of the Soviet side of spaceflight (contrasting with American depictions such as First Man and From the Earth to the Moon).
Being a Russian production, the film was shot in Russian and can be viewed in its native language with English subtitles. However, the default setting on the Blu-ray is to play an English dub, which is slightly awkward at first but becomes less distracting as the movie plays on. The film was known by several names as it toured the festival circuit beginning in 2017, from The Age of Pioneers to The Spacewalk, before being dubbed Spacewalker for its American release.
The Blu-ray includes two rather substantial bonus featurettes: the 26-minute "The First Walk in Space," centered on an interview with the real Leonov (who died in 2019), and "The Story Behind Spacewalker," a 25-minute look at the making of the film, including a detailed look at the creation of the impressive visual effects. Both are in Russian with English subtitles.
Author John LatchemPosted on February 22, 2021 February 22, 2021 Categories ReviewsTags Alexei Leonov, MPI, MPI Media Group, Soviet Union, Space Race, Voskhod 2Leave a comment on Spacewalker


The editorial, "Connecticut should withdraw from flawed, foolish popular vote compact" does a disservice to your readers. It bases its opposition on a series of falsehoods, anti-democratic thinking and name-calling, starting with the pejorative description of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact as a "contrivance." An electoral reform that makes every vote matter, and has been favored by more than 3,000 state legislators across the nation, cannot be dismissed as a contrivance.
The compact would make every vote matter. In the 2016 election, 673,215 Connecticut citizens voted for Donald Trump. Because we use winner-take-all, their votes made no difference to the outcome. They could have all stayed home and the Electoral College count for Trump would have been the same. For the past 30 years not a single vote cast for a Republican presidential candidate in Connecticut had any impact on the outcome.
In a strange take on the democratic process, you believe Connecticut should back out of the compact. As polled by Make Every Vote Count, a substantial majority of Connecticut voters across party lines (78 percent) agree that the candidate who wins the most votes nationwide should become president.
Last year a majority of legislators in both chambers of the General Assembly heeded the will of the people and voted to join the compact. You criticize the Democratic leadership because it is unlikely to give Rep. Vail's bill (to withdraw from the compact) a hearing. Apparently the hearings in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018 — during which hundreds of citizens voiced their support or opposition — count for nothing.
It is untrue that the "right way" to achieve a direct popular vote election for the presidency is to amend the Constitution. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution explicitly and exclusively leaves it to the states to determine how to assign their Electoral College votes. The compact does nothing more than exercise that responsibility so the presidential candidate with the most votes nationwide wins.
You applaud that, on its face, small states have greater voting power than large states — an outcome of allocating Electoral College votes according to congressional representation. But in reality what determines whether a vote matters is whether it was cast in one of the dozen battleground states. Candidates ignore voters who live in reliably red or blue states, including Connecticut. In the 2016 election, 94 percent of general election campaign events were held in just 12 states — the battleground states. Except for New Hampshire, none of the battleground states is small.
The editorial incorrectly concludes that the design of the Electoral College was to give small states "comparable standing" as larger states. It was not; it was to give slave-owning states (that were mostly smaller) more power. The scheme worked; slave owners from Virginia won the presidency in eight of the nine elections following ratification of the Constitution.
Your editorial alleges problems with the compact that have no basis in fact. It asks, what happens if a state pulls out of the compact in a tight election? Article IV of the compact prohibits withdrawal less than six months prior to the end of the president's term. Secretaries of the State are not known to violate their states' laws.
The editorial makes a final Hail Mary by questioning the constitutionality of the compact. The board cites the Constitution's Article I, Section 10 prohibition on states entering into agreements with other states, but it ignores the 1893 Supreme Court decision in Virginia v. Tennessee that determined that the Compact Clause is limited to agreements "which may encroach upon or interfere with the just supremacy of the United States."
Since the Constitution gives states plenary power to award their electors, legal experts have concluded the compact does not violate the Constitution or require congressional approval.
Jonathan Perloe is the state coordinator for National Popular Vote CT. He lives in Cos Cob.


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St. Charles County municipalities have begun to talk about what to do if "single-stream" recycling goes away.
Lake Saint Louis City Administrator Paul Markworth said Sept. 6 that his city, O'Fallon and Wentzville have begun preliminary discussions with St. Peters, which has a recycling facility and provides dual-stream recycling to its residents.
St. Peters officials also acknowledged that preliminary discussions have occurred but nothing has been finalized.
Markworth said St. Peters might be able to help take recyclable material for the short term; however, making it into a long-term solution may require changes in what materials can be recycled. That action could prompt an education program for residents.
Single-stream recycling involves residents placing a number of materials, including newspapers, cans, cardboard and other material, into a container or cart that is picked up at a home's curbside.
Dual-stream recycling involves sorting materials to keep paper and cardboard separate from containers, including glass and plastic containers and cans. Some of the benefits include lower levels of contamination, higher quality and more valuable recovered material as well as lower costs.
In recent months, some companies that accept recyclable materials, such as Resource Management, which has a processing facility in Earth City, has decided they will no longer accept curbside recycling materials. Single-stream recycling may be universally gone in the future, Markworth said.
People often view recycling containers as second garbage cans and if the recyclable material gets too contaminated, the city could get kicked out of the program, he said.
Markworth said city staff has found items such as shoes or pillows in recycling containers.
Lake Saint Louis officials don't anticipate any serious discussions with St. Peters until after Sept. 17. And the city may not do anything about its current trash contract until it settles this recycling issue.
In January, the city approved a three-year contract with Meridian Waste Solutions, which began working in the city in March. But Mayor Kathy Schweikert, aldermen and city staff said at a Board of Alderman work session on June 18 that they were hearing widespread complaints from city residents about the service. Thus, the city decided to survey its residents about the service Meridian was providing.
Markworth said about 670 residents responded with 60 percent of the respondents saying they had some contact with Meridian whether for a complaint or request for service.
The company scored a 3.2 approval rating on a scale of one to five.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they liked same-day pickup for yard waste and recyclables, but 75 percent also said no to paying for better service.
City residents pay $16.75 a month, which is less than other municipalities in which recycling and yard waste is included, Markworth said.


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Der Kreis Nancha () der bezirksfreien Stadt Yichun in der chinesischen Provinz Heilongjiang im Nordosten der Volksrepublik China hat eine Fläche von 3.012 km² und zählt 82.895 Einwohner (Stand: Zensus 2020). Bis Juli 2019 war Nancha ein Stadtbezirk von Yichun.

Nancha liegt im Südwesten von Yichun, der Tangwang He fließt von Norden nach Süden durch den Kreis.

89,4 % des Kreises sind mit Wald bedeckt, damit ist Nancha ein bedeutender Holzlieferant.

Administrative Gliederung
Auf Gemeindeebene setzt sich Nancha aus zwei Großgemeinden und einer Gemeinde zusammen. Diese sind:
 Großgemeinde Haolianghe (浩良河镇)
 Großgemeinde Chenming (晨明镇)
 Gemeinde Yingchun (迎春乡)

Weblinks
 Offizielle Website

Einzelnachweise

Ort in Heilongjiang
Ehemaliger Stadtbezirk in China
Yichun (Heilongjiang)
Kreis / Banner (China)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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The How To of Seeing Double
When television was acknowledged as a threat to the cinema, all producers were looking for gimmicks to attract audiences, and one of the ways they lured them into the dark was through 3-D movies, which had their heydays in 1953. "A Lion in your Lap" ...or was it a girl? Anyway, 3-D movies were subsequently blown out of the water by the very wide screen 2-D CinemaScope, that was easier to project and didn't need glasses to view—but not before some very interesting experiments had taken place.
Disney produced An Adventure in Music: Melody with Professor Owl, Ernie Birdbrain, Penelope Pinfeather and the Canary Sisters, a bird and a cricket and a willow tree, and later Working for Peanuts with Donald Duck, Chip'n'Dale and Dolores the elephant...
Melody was released 05/28/53, Working for Peanuts 11/11/53.
Both were shown in Disneyland from 06/16/56 within the recently restored live-action Mouseketeer vehicle 3-D Jamboree.
The system to actually make these films is described in Disney's engineer Bill Garity's patents, the first describing the Methods and Means for producing the films. It is a really simple system, based on punching the artwork differently for each eye...
[Note: Garity made these for Walter Lantz' studio. It would not surprise me if the Disney system was somewhat similar, but I have not seen any evidence of this, or to the contrary.]
...and the second a more specific description of the paper and cell punching device used. The animation is produced in the usual way, and the cells are inked and painted. Then, using this special punch which registers to the original three holes, four new separate holes are punched. Two holes are used to register the cells for the left eye and two for the right. The distance between these holes can be varied between cel levels, which results in different apparent distance from the screen when projected using 3-D projection systems. When the holes are centered, the drawing is in center, and the image is in the screen plane. Turning the knob moves the two sets simultaneously, but in opposite directions. Move the two sets closer together, the image seems to be behind the screen; when moved apart the image appears to be in front of the screen.
A little calculating based on the drawings of the punch: we know the standard "old" Disney pegs to be 3.75" apart. [Though, of course, these were Lantz pegs, probably 4" apart.] The "new" 3-D peg sets, two pegs for each eye, were this same distance apart, and the sets are spaced 1.5" from each other in neutral position. It seems they could move about 1.4" further apart and 0.7" closer together. This seems logical, as the displacement for the area in front of the screen needs to be larger than that for images appearing behind the screen. The center lines for the new pegs were obviously parallel to the original pegs, but half an inch further away from the edge of the cel.
The two patents were filed in 1953. When they finally were granted in 1957, 3-D was a thing of the distant past, and would stay that way for another 50 years.
We have previously seen other Garity patents for Disney, including the ubiquitous click track. He also held the patent for Walt's Multiplane camera, which I intend to come back to later.
During the last 3-D Expo at the Egyptian in Hollywood, during the "specials" screening, not only was 3D Jamboree screened to many wet eyes (Annette in 3-D!), but a film strip was shown for the first time that to me was one of the most exciting experiments of the time:
Though normally the 3-D screenings used two regular film strips and polarized lenses and glasses, this was a SINGLE strip IB Technicolor film with one eye printed POLARIZED on one side of the film, the other eye on the other side. It was generally considered impossible to print the thin polarized lines on film, but here it was! This was a test strip from the Land corporation, and it used Disney's Melody as its subject. And it worked! It proved that a single-strip polarized synchronous 3-D film was possible!But it was too late: when they made this test, Fox had already introduced CinemaScope.
The test was shelved, and not seen until 2006...
Note: I updated the List of Feature Production Numbers!
Labels: Bill Garity, Other Disney, Patents
Nice Try, Bill...
Bill Justice is known to the world as quite an all-round animator, and though he neither invented nor designed them, his name is for all time connected to Chip'n'Dale, whom he imparted amazing amounts of life into. Later he made, with X. Atencio (and designed by Tee Hee) the short film Noah's Ark (1959), and their intro for The Parent Trap is also a classic, as is their work on Symposium on Popular Songs (1963). They can be seen in the 1961 Walt Disney Presents segment Title Makers. I am glad to have met Bill Justice a few times—it is nice to have had the chance to thank him for his contribution to my "upbringing."
That Bill Justice invented a forerunner of the Xerox process in 1942, patented in 1944—well, I had not heard of it! His system was based on drawing with a special pencil, and using pressure, transferring it to a cel, then fixing it. Already here we find reference to wanting to remove the inking phase from the animation equation in exchange for a more artistic look. I do not know that this was actually used. Maybe in a war-time film?
Labels: Other Disney, Patents
Walt and Ub Sharing a Patent
Did you know there is one patent that has Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks as shared inventors? Well, now you do!
On the date of the very first anniversary of Disneyland, Walt and Ub filed the patent application for a method of filming a 360 degree panoramic film using eleven 16mm Kodak Cine-Special cameras (and projecting them in 16mm). The first showing of Circarama was on opening day July 17th, 1955, a "Tour of the West", followed in 1960 by the glorious "America the Beautiful".
The patent was granted June 28th, 1960.
Later the system was altered to utilize nine 16mm Arriflex cameras, projecting 35mm blow-up prints, and renamed Circle-Vision 360°. From 1967 until 1984, "America the Beautiful" was shown using this system, followed by "American Journeys" and "Wonders of China". The Disneyland show building was used for displaying this system until 1996—where now you can shoot up Evil Emperor Zurg with Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.
I corrected part of my previous posting, on the recording on Sleeping Beauty's score! Remember to check it out, as this is new info!
Click Loops
In my quest to futher the case of musical timing in animation, I have previously mentioned click-loops. Here now are a few images and a quote to underline the historical importance of this material.
Please turn to page 88 of Bob Thomas' The Art of Animation (Simon & Shuster 1958), basically the book on the Making of Sleeping Beauty. If you haven't got one, you can still buy one. We read:
>>The animation composer has two indispensible companions in his office—his piano and his moviola.
The moviola has long been used in the motion picture industry as a fast method of viewing film. It is a machine that stands waist-high and reproduces film action on a small screen. But the composer's moviola is different from other ones.
At the end is a reel on which can be played a continuous loop of film. This is called a click-loop, and it provides the sound of whatever tempo the composer desires for the sequence.
The click-loops are kept in a series of cubbyholes above the piano. They are numbered in eights, from 6, 6 1⁄8, 6¼, 6 3⁄8, etc. up to 30. [See my note below the photos. HP]
What does all this mathematical mumbo-jumbo means [sic] to the animation composer?
Simply this: musical beats must be measured by the film frame, so the animator will know when to draw the action that corresponds to the beat. The fastest tempo is six frames to the beat; the slowest thirty frames to the beat. Since there are twenty-four frames per second, slowest beat is one every one and one-quarter second.
Higher mathematics comes in when the beat is varied. "It becomes too mechanical to use the same beat throughout the passage," Paul Smith remarks. "I like to vary it. I might start a chase with 9, then switch to the beat of 9 3/8."
To begin his operation, the composer runs through the moviola a rough treatment of the action (or the finished version, in the case of post-scoring). With the aid of a stopwatch, he figures out what beat would be suitable for the composition.
Perhaps it is a march that calls for a 12-beat. He tries the 12 click loop on the moviola. If that doesn't jibe, he tries the 12¼ or 12 3/8 and so on until he gets the proper beat. With that established, he starts to sketch out the music in more or less sketchy form.<<
As I have mentioned earlier, the whole timing-to-music started with Steamboat Willie and changed the face of animation - and of the Disney Studios. In the beginning, the director decided the tempi aided by the musical director (Bert Lewis, Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul Smith). They would choose whole beats, as these would be easy to copy from bar sheets to exposure sheets. The counting in eigths of frames apparently started around 1936. During Fantasia they also found that "wild beats" could be used: beats dictated by the music recording. I suggest, if you are interested in reading more about this--in my mind VERY important and interesting--topic, to read more in my older postings about barsheets etc.
Since Sleeping Beauty was the subject of Thomas' book, I can mention that (like for pretty much all of Disney's production) some of the music cues for it were recorded using a click track, another Disney invention. In the case of Sleeping Beauty the tracks were first recorded March 4th, 1957 at the studio in Burbank, Disney's very first true stereo recording. A year later, September 8th to 15th, 1958, it was completely re-recorded on four tracks with a 66 piece orchestra at the UFA studios in Babelsberg, outside Berlin, Germany.
Vocals were then re-recorded in Burbank, with a 22 voice choir using John Rarig's arrangements, replacing Walter Schumann's earlier 28 voice arrangements.
Composer and historian Alex Rennie adds: "Composer George Bruns did not always work to a click track as in the case of Sleeping Beauty where several of the cues were conducted to stopwatch (where Bruns used a clock with a sweep second hand to guide his tempo). In addition, composers at Disney, and elsewhere, often used "built" or "variable" click tracks -- tracks with tempos that sped up or slowed down to suit the needs of the animation. Paul Smith was a prime mover behind the development of this technique and Oliver Wallace in particular was famous for his use of built click tracks.
Two of the sequences for the film were initially recorded in the states: Flora, Fauna and Merriweather bake a cake/make a dress for Briar Rose and the Dragon Fight. (Both were rerecorded in Germany.)
The reason the score was ultimately recorded in Germany was because of a strike by the American Federation of Musicians that prohibited the possibility of recording in the states (not because of recording equipment that was uniquely available in Germany -- multi-channel recording was already taking place on a wide scale in the United States by the early 50s)." [Thanks, Alex!]
Of course, nowadays moviolas belong in a museum and film as intermediate work-media has been replaced by computers.
Yet - the METHOD can still be used, and, as I mentioned before, it need not sound like a crutch. If used well, it gives your story a backbone, and can add to making your film exciting and entertaining!
The first two photos show Ollie Wallace "in an expansive mood" in front of his piano, from The Art of Animation. Note the moviola on the left, and a metronome on his table in the second image. The third photo shows George Bruns in front of his piano with Roy E. Disney, from an Annual Report in the 70s.
Above the pianos: the box of click-loops...
For the sticklers among you, yes, there is a cubbyhole missing! The boxes of loops above the pianos are 24 across, 8 high. I would suspect they would start at 6 top left, in eigths down - next one to the right would be 7, then 8 etc. Now - that would mean that the last one would be 29, and the last hole bottom right would hold 29 7⁄8. No room for a 30 beat! Is this why both Wallace and Bruns have a loose loop on the piano? Does anyone but me even care?
Labels: Barsheets, Other Disney
A Disney Version
Something completely different...
Richard Schickel's The Disney version came out in 1968, and I read it in 1980. I read it in one go - and then could not remember anything.
I know several people who will say "you didn't miss much, then..."
Like Neil Gabler's bio, it does not give a very positive picture of the man Walt Disney. At least Schickel had met Walt, as can bee seen on this picture, from an in-house publication of 1966...
<< Click Here!
This image shows Walt, in the last months of his life, aware of the importance of PR until the end.
If you want to read a good book on Walt Disney, read Mike Barrier's The Animated Man. Mike knows that Walt the man and his work are not to be contemplated separately!
As I write this, some of my friends are attending the NFFC sales show in Garden Grove. Although I hear that there has been better "stuff" many years ago, I still wish I could have been there, as I have found some nice things there at the previous shows...
Labels: Other Disney
posted by Hans Perk at 12:00 PM 2 comments
Hearsay - Sleeping Beauty at the Academy
As I noted elsewhere, I was not able to attend yesterday's first public screening of the newly restored print of Sleeping Beauty at the Academy. I have spoken with some of my dearest friends who attended, and I value their opinion greatly.
They found that the image was beautifully crisp, actually so much so that a few scenes seemed to be originally shot out of focus. Also, this restoration was made from the original three black and white Technicolor negatives, and there seemed to be some color variance, as some characters seemed to have slightly different colors from scene to scene. The fish that King Hubert fights with is beautifully blue, though, and when he put it back in his belt, it got a bigger laugh than ever before.
The sound was gorgeous, though for the cinema mixed by folks who are used to mixing realistic 5.1 mixes, while this film originally was produced with a kind of "fantasy stereo," a sort of caricature of real life sound. My friends recall the screening of the 1979 release (and following panel discussion which I believe included Frank, Ollie, Milt, Woolie and Marc!), and the mix there was more surrealistic. But the new mix is not bad per se, and the sound quality is amazing! The Once Upon a Dream number ended with a chord that they did not remember ever hearing...
Putting together a restoration of a Technicolor film with multichannel sound means making ethical decisions that are going to be based more on taste than on science, and with this in mind, my friends gave this restoration a "both thumbs up." Everyone will have things they would have done different, but in all, the new release seems to still be a good reason to finally invest in a Blu-Ray player! I for one am certainly looking forward to it - and also to seeing it in the cinema at the El Capitan later this year!
Labels: News, SleepingBeauty
Rounding off Sleeping Beauty
Going out on a limb, I would think the perceived flaws in Sleeping Beauty's storytelling can be traced back to the film being quickly pushed into full production. Walt saw the costs rising and just wanted the film over with, especially since he had divested in so much else, including Disneyland. The story has been told somewhere that, in Bob Thomas' The Art of Animation (1958), the final photo of Walt in the corridor with Eric Larson was the moment he said that the film was growing way too expensive and something needed to be done, putting quotas in place and effectively relieving Larson of further supervising directorial duties and pushing the film out with the seemingly quite disliked Geronimi and "GI-Joe" Reitherman.
[Comment by Mike Barrier: "Actually, Hans, what Eric Larson told me and Milt Gray back in 1976 (in an interview I made available to John Canemaker) was that Walt was saying, when that photo at the back of The Art of Animation was taken, was this: "I don't think we can continue, it's too expensive." See p. 559 of Hollywood Cartoons." Thanks, Mike!]
Read John Canemaker's book Walt Disney's Nine Old Men on Eric Larson again for more on this. It seems he was not only a great animator, but also a very nice person, a stickler for details. I often found personally that the best directors weren't necessarily the best draftsmen, because they would not see the bigger picture.
The main critique of the film says it is cold, it lacks heart. This can well be by people who do not like Eyvind Earle's design style. But those who give it half a chance (and those who have studied the Duke of Berry's Tres Riche Heures) find it an appealing look back to the late middle ages and early renaissance, where they can find warmth in the love of the fairies and the humor of the kings, as heart-warming as any other film, save maybe Dumbo. As I said yesterday in a comment, Sleeping Beauty is a bit of an acquired taste. Let's hope, with the new Blu-Ray discs, a new audience will be found that acquires this taste. Sleeping Beauty deserves a loving audience!
Today seeing the first public performance of the newly restored Sleeping Beauty, and having finished the posting of the draft, I thought it nice to end this string of postings with a document that was stuck in the back of my draft. It is the film's "Character & Effx Sequence Preference Schedule" of 2/5/57. It shows the order and dates that the sequences were expected to be OK for Inking.
This is the time I urge everybody who uses this material to step up and comment. What did you learn you didn't know? Were there surprises? Did you expect someone to have animated something, and found it was correct - or not? Let's hear from you. To be honest, that is what makes it all worthwhile for me! You know, I COULD just sit in a corner and leaf through these by myself! It is my opinion that we ALL can learn from each other. So bring it on!
By the way, have you visited our homepage lately? You can find our showreels and clips from films in production. If you look around carefully, you can find a nice list of the 39 (THIRTY-NINE) theatrical feature films we have worked on since we started our studio in 1988, ten of which are completely our own productions! Yet we are largely ignored by the world around us, as "only" a Danish studio.
Labels: A.Film, SleepingBeauty
Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 21.0 Girl Awakens and Ending
Directed by Gerry Geronimi, laid out by Tom Codrick and Ernie Nordli.
Animation by Milt Kahl (Prince, King Hubert), Marc Davis (Aurora, Queen), John Lounsbery (Kings) Jerry Hathcock, Ollie Johnston (Fairies), Bob Carlson (court crowd), Ken O'Brien (small Aurora and prince).
This sequence immediately starts with scenes by four of the "Old Men." Where they were lacking in the scenes before, here they are used in abundance.
Ken O'Brien was left with the unenviable task of being in charge of Aurora and Prince Phillip slowly descending the stairs - and waltzing in the last scene. The cleanups were blown down to a small size and inked. The re-registring of these alone must have been an awfully tedious task, of the kind where, when it is finally ok, nobody notices it, while the tiniest glitch can send a director through the roof. But he did it and therewith sends Sleeping Beauty off into the ages.
This FINAL draft of 7/1/58...
Tomorrow marks the latest reissue of the newly restored film, with a sold-out performance at the Academy in Hollywood (which I sadly cannot attend). Look forward to the upcoming Blu-Ray disc, folks, as you will get to see - and hear it as never before, mixed from the original four-track stereo masters originally recorded in Germany. You can now see it and know who animated what. Remember, you saw it here, first...
Finally, lets not forget that today is the 53rd birthday of Disneyland, and its landmark Sleeping Beauty's Castle, one of the most famous buildings in the world. Congratulations, Disneyland!
Labels: Draft, SleepingBeauty
posted by Hans Perk at 7:00 AM 16 comments
Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 19.0 Fight
Directed by Woolie Reitherman, laid out by Basil Davidovich.
Woolie was at first considered an action director, which becomes very obvious here. We also see more of his time-saving reuses, which became his hallmark, quite infamously at times. And where the previous sequence was brimming with star animators and "Old Men," this one seems to use what then was considered the second string, though of course still very accomplished artists. It is quite impossible to pinpoint exactly who did what, as some of the artists did a bit of every character, it seems!
Animation by Ambi Paliwoda and Dale Barnhart (Maleficent), Ken Hultgren and Dick Lucas (prince & horse), Bill Keil (prince, horse, fairies, dragon), George Goepper (prince, horse, fairies, Maleficent reuse), Ted Berman (prince), Eric Cleworth (dragon). Effects by Dan MacManus and thorns by Al Stetter.
This sequence has a slew of famous images - it has so much we all grew up on, as it was shown so often in Christmas shows and the like. At least now we can read that the famous scene of Maleficent growing into a dragon is by effects animator Dan MacManus. It is interesting to see that a sequence as ubiquitous as this was not considered "worthy" of even one scene here or there by Milt, Marc, Frank or Ollie. Yet it works - it does the job - and we know it so well.
This FINAL draft of 11/5/58...
[Oh! I see I already posted this 7/6/06!]
Prod. 2082 (Sleeping Beauty) - Seq. 18.0 Maleficent's Castle. Meeting of Maleficent and Prince. Escape from Castle.
Animation by Fred Kopietz, Les Clark, Frank Thomas, George Nicholas, Ollie Johnston, Bob Youngquist, Don Lusk (Fairies), John Sibley, John Lounsbery (Goons), Marc Davis (Maleficent), Milt Kahl (Prince), Jerry Hathcock (Raven, Goons, Prince, Fairies), Ken Hultgren (Prince on Horse), Jack Bailey, Cliff Nordberg, John Kennedy, Blaine Gibson (Raven). Effects by Dan MacManus.
And lots of "Music Room, Scene Planning..."
This sequence shows, like no other, the division between Acting and Action specialized animators. Or at least it shows how animators are cast that way. We find six of the "Nine Old Men", and such long-time Disney staples as Youngquist, Lusk and Nordberg, each of them deserving an article like the great one on Sibley by Pete Docter.
We also find Fred Kopietz, born in 1909, who started with Ub Iwerks in 1930, worked for Walter Lantz on Oswald and Andy Panda from 1933 to 1940, and for most of his life was assistant at Disney, with a few animation credits to his name, including on Jack King Donald shorts in the early 40s. Demoted to assistant again during the round of firings after Sleeping Beauty, he actually tendered his resignation in 1960, seemingly feeling that he was worth more than he was credited for. It seems he convinced the powers that be to at least raise his wage as Assistant Class I. He retired from Disney in 1971 and passed away in Sedona, AZ in 1992.
It certainly is very hard to make great pictures without good artists like Kopietz to assist the star animators, and they also deserve our attention. (I am thinking back on some great assistants I have had in "my days," like Søren Larsen and Jens Leganger...)
Mike Sporn posted storyboards and screen grabs from this sequence!


Mars in the Houses, Ruling Planet, Mars in the Birth Chart.
Mars in Aries people begin with new ideas, spearheading action, and fresh assignments. Relationships with them are thrilling but keeping up with them can be challenging. They get easily irritated.
Mars in Taurus people abound in strength and stability. Most define long-term goals and the determination to hit them. They are not the type of people to take on too many projects at once.
In addition to having passion for words they get angry quickly. They rely on their strong wit to win arguments. They are talkative and often boring on verbal grounds.
These people don't accept change and ward off direct confrontations. They are manipulative but prefer to handle situations with peace.
Mars in Leo inpidual have well-crafted goals and with authority and power that their personal magnetism endows them, they acquire the potential to get what they want. They are ruled by their heart.
Mars in Virgo people are protective about their maneuver and get energy and life force from their action —their work and any kind of projects they undertake.
These people have a habit of defending themselves and others. Nevertheless, their overall goal is to live with harmony, they stimulate others up with their desire to balance everything.
Mars in Scorpio peoples often challenge themselves to strive for impossible. These people create formidable opponents. They make all type of rules and aims just for the personal happiness that comes from achieving or mastering them.
These people get irritated and basically have a number of projects running side by side. They are playful and fun-loving.
Mars in Capricorn inpiduals want to be on top of things. They are goal-oriented and focused people. They work towards virtual and attainable goals.
These peoples are quite proud of their liberty. They cannot be fooled easily. Mars in Air signs are clever at getting what they want.
These people don't find any harm in playing games to get what they want. Their desires are flexible and moody, and it's hard to know where these people stand on any particular issue.
You are an active, energetic, dynamic and hard working person. Some of you might instigate trouble when you are bored.
You are hard worker, although you appreciate the method and might be slower as you focus on the technique and tend to take each step carefully.
You speak out easily, sometimes shooting from the hip in terms of expressing yourself. You have a great knowledge about variety of subjects. You are straightforward and clear when it comes to liaise.
You are protective of your near and dear ones. Your actions are ruled by your instincts, and you are straightforward.
You have a great urge for pleasure and you love to directly pursue romance. You are sports lover, and anything risky appeals to you.
You are enterprising often to the point of exhaustion! You put a lot of effort into your work. You can quickly get impatient if other members of a team are not working at par with you.
You have terrible sexual energy which keeps you going. You need a challenging partner, someone who holds his/her own in an argument.
You have strong desires, and once you decide to possess something, you succeed in achieving so. You often feel lack of love and money to encourage you to be less touchy in these areas of your life.
You are open-minded and love challenges. Avoid a habit to become self-righteous and to reject the opinions of others. You are sexually energetic and experimental.
Such people are born to succeed. Success comes to them easily and from quite a young age. They need appraisal and approval.
You have only a few dear friends, as you are too busy expanding your circle to nurture several permanent relationships. You find that support is essential to extend your ambitions. Cooperation is your key factor for success and is important in your life-pattern of expansion.
You feel down before you begin. You give up easily and you are convinced that any effort to win would be of no use.
People with Mars in Fire are often passionate. They like to get what they want, and don't hide this fact. These people are far too impatient to play games or to employ too much maneuvers to get where they want to go.
These people are rarely aggressive. They are determined people. Their goals in life are often quite achievable as they are realistic.
Such people generally have multiple interests and drives. They are especially clever about getting what they want. They prefer to settle things on an intellectual level.
These people are generally adept at strategy. They are sensitive and instinctual inpiduals.


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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that the per mile rates for the use of a private automobile for standard business and the special rate for moves will decrease January 1, 2006. The new rates will be effective through December 31, 2006.
Questions on these changes may be directed to travel@ucsd.edu for an immediate response.


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Use of Neogel-90 explosives foxes sleuths
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The use of Neogel-90, an explosive used for commercial purposes, in Saturday's twin blasts in Hyderabad has foxed security agencies probing the attacks even as the needle of suspicion pointed at the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami and Naxalite groups.
Though a chemical analysis of the explosive material was awaited, sources in central security agencies did not rule out the possibility of RDX being used to trigger Neogel-90, an ammonium nitrate-based material.
Sources said the devices comprised explosives put inside a three-walled wooden box and covered with copper plates on the fourth side. Ammonium nitrate is hazardous when it comes in contact with metals like copper as it becomes combustible, they said.
While the first bomb was placed in a bag and kept near an ice-cream vending machine, the second one was kept on a bench.
The third one, which did not explode, was found hanging from a scooter, the sources said.
Some of the evidence from the blast sites suggested they could be the handiwork of HuJI, which has been known to use ammonium nitrate. But Neogel-90, usually used in the construction of roads, indicated the hand of Maoist groups, sources pointed out.
The Naxalites have also been planning to retaliate against the Andhra Pradesh government's policies, they said.
The use of Neogel-90 in terror attacks might be new to India though there were reports of two isolated seizures of similar explosives in the country and its neighbouring region -- one in Vadakkaenchery in Palakkad district in Kerala [Images] on February two, 2005 and another at Kantipur in Nepal in February 2006, when 475 kg was recovered.
According to the sources, 90 per cent of the casualties were caused by the puncturing of vital organs like the skull and heart by metal balls that were packed into the explosive devices.
They said a digital watch was used to trigger the blasts and a cell phone detonator was kept as a second line mechanism in case the first one failed.
© Copyright 2007 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
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im 22 i was born july 7 1995 but i sound and look a lot younger and most people mistake my age.after i heard about toon it shocked and disguised me.i know he wont be at the con but how safe am i? this will be my 1st trip alone and my 1st con i keep having night mares ill need to tell the con staff abut something. to make matters worse i have autism and im really shy and socially awkward. i was willing to break that thou when i come to brony con. i live in a small town so doing eney thing like this is hard for me but i fell back on the fandom because i trusted it. but now im scared and feel unsure about going mabby i wont be safe? i just don't know. im am an adult tho so i guss i will be fine. eney suggestions to de stress?
It's a normal thing to be scared epically at ones first con. I've been there and felt just as scared. If anything you can stay with me. This will be my third time going. Let me know if you would like to stay with me.
That's fine. I understand completely just know you have someone to talk to if you need to.
My First CON was BC 2017. They ran a "meet & greet" event for people just like you to get them comfortable (I skipped that). But really, everyone there is really friendly. Just sit down next to someone in a panel, and they might start the conversation for you. Also, the lines to get into one is also a great place to talk. Everyone wants to because it makes the wait time go faster.
I feel your pain I'm 24 turning 25 in June and was born on June 16th, 1994. Last year was my first time going to a con. I have autism also and I also have epilepsy so I was worried to fly alone and scared of things as well. "What if I have breakthrough Seizure attack, What if people don't know how to treat me if I had a seizure?" So I brought my father with me cause I knew if I had a breakthrough attack he would at least be able to help get me the right care. I also don't like flying alone it mentally messes me up if I don't have someone I know to blab to during take off. My advice is to try to find someone you trust to join you so u have a sense of security also when it comes to shyness embrace it if you're in the audience of a panel sit more towards the back. to de-stress find something u enjoy whether it be a playlist of fave songs a notebook to doodle or write in. they have recharge rooms to take breaks in they have security to keep you safe they have medical personnel, they have an accessibility booth when u pick up your name badge and that booth has these color-coordinated tags that you can change whenever you want. [Green means come talk to me, Yellow means I'm not sure if I want to talk, Red means please don't talk to me at all.] Best of luck and hope you come.
Hi! Please don't be scared, BronyCon is legitimately the most welcoming convention that I have ever been to, and I have been to a lot of them. That said, if you're feeling worried or scared or just need a quiet place to recharge, come find a staff member! There are people at the info booths around the convention that can point you to some help, and you can always come find one of the security folks in the royal blue shirts - they really stand out - and they're walking all over, and that's what they're there for.
Just remember that all of us on staff are here to help you have a safe, happy, fun convention, and we're here to help how we can.
Go with a group, you'll come across recruitment threads on this forum. That's how I found one and rolled with my first BC and it turned out great.
Staff members are stationed all over the convention area and are generally friendly. So if you need anything feel free to talk to them.
They've also introduced a color badge system for you to nonverbally communicate to others whether you're open to chit-chats or not.
Incidents like the one with Toon are generally rare, hence the massive amount of attention given to them when they occur. As long as you follow common sense (Be clear with your message and don't accept unwanted advances, etc) you're most likely gonna be fine. Of course, BC staff are around to help you.
Thanks I'm sure I'll be fine!
Hey kitten! This'll be my first Con (as an attendee) as well! There really isn't anything to be worried about if you've got friends to go with and make friends instantly (which will be easy with how welcoming the community is) Don't focus on the negatives and you'll have a great time! I'm going to be hanging with some of my friends at the con who are pretty awesome people, so if you want to stick with us so you're not so alone let me know! Plus I'll be easy to spot since I'm going to be wearing a kilt the entire time at the Con. Hope everything in the tread helps ease your stress.
My son would like to go to bronycon this year but I don't know if we will be in the area the full weekend. Which day is the best day to be there?
That would be Friday, and Saturday. Those are the days with the most events. It's a bit slow on Sunday as everything is winding down.
If you can only come for one day, Saturday has the most going on. But it's also the most crowded. I've been going with my 2 kids the last 4 years in a row. But we live nearby so we can just drive home. I'm sure the costs off staying add up fast!
I live near Baltimore and have been with my teens the last 4 years. I have always felt absolutely safe inside the Convention Center. They have tons of staff and only BronyCon attendees are admitted. They do look to make sure you have a badge to get into any room or panel. And bronies are SO friendly and nice!!
Don't think of the what ifs those always scare people the most just enjoy the time you get to spend with friends of old and new!!


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States sue Trump administration over changes to Michelle Obama's school lunch standards
'Common-sense flexibilities'
Jana J. Pruet
Edwin Remsburg/VW Pics via Getty Images
A group of states has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its rollback of some nutritional standards for school lunches championed by former first lady Michelle Obama.
The lawsuit, filed in New York federal court on Wednesday, is a response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2018 rule that relaxed some of the guidelines surrounding its federally subsidized meal programs, ABC News reported. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's new rules allow local schools more freedom to create meals that meet their communities' needs.
The complaint filed by New York, California, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, and the District of Columbia says USDA Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue violated federal law by not allowing a public comment period before the rollback. It also argued that the guidelines contradict the nutritional requirements set by Congress.
Nearly 5 billion school lunches were served to nearly 30 million children last year, according to the lawsuit. And more than 14 million children received breakfast through federal meal programs.
What are the details?
In 2012, changes to the federal lunch program led by Michelle Obama called for limits on sodium, no flavored milk, mandatory use of whole grains, and a calorie cap on lunches. Perdue initially announced plans to relax the guidelines in 2017, which took effect in December 2018.
The recent changes give schools the option to offer 1 percent milk in flavors such as chocolate and strawberry, eased sodium reduction targets, and only half of the grains in an item must be whole grain.
The lawsuit has called on the court to reverse guidelines made in 2018 and allow for public comment before dietary changes are made to school meals.
"Plaintiff States bring this case to protect the health of the school children in their States by ensuring that nutritional standards for school meals are not changed without an opportunity to comment on the changes and that, as required by Congress, the standards are based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences, and scientific research regarding children's nutrition," the complaint reads.
Why were the changes made in 2018?
The USDA made the changes as a way give local schools more freedom to make decisions that work for their communities.
"USDA is committed to serving meals to kids that are both nutritious and satisfying," Perdue said in a statement in December. "These common-sense flexibilities provide excellent customer service to our local school nutrition professionals, while giving children the world-class food service they deserve."
The move wasn't meant to diminish nutritional standards but rather to provide greater flexibility for meal preferences on a local level, according to the USDA.
"If kids are not eating what is being served, they are not benefiting, and food is being wasted," Perdue said. "We all have the same goals in mind — the health and development of our young people. USDA trusts our local operators to serve healthy meals that meet local preferences and build bright futures with good nutrition."
"We will continue to listen to schools, and make common-sense changes as needed, to ensure they can meet the needs of their students based on their real-world experience in local communities," he said.
What did the states' attorney say?
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the lawsuit, told The Hill that school meals should be healthy and that the rollbacks are shameful.
"Over a million children in New York — especially those in low-income communities and communities of color — depend on the meals served daily by their schools to be healthy, nutritious, and prepare them for learning," James told The Hill in a statement. "The Trump Administration has undermined key health benefits for our children — standards for salt and whole grains in school meals — with deliberate disregard for science, expert opinion, and the law. My office will use every tool at our disposal to fight back against these shameful rollbacks and ensure our children our protected."
A USDA spokesperson declined The Hill's request for comment, citing its policy to not speak about ongoing litigation.
Also on Wednesday, the group Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Science in the Public Interest and Healthy School Food Maryland.
"American children are fed too much sodium — raising their risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke," CSPI Vice President for Nutrition Margo Wootan said in a statement.
"Kids are also getting too much white refined flour and not enough whole grains," Wootan said. "After working for over a decade to improve school nutrition and seeing the tremendous progress that schools are making, it's heartbreaking to see the Trump administration reverse course. The Trump rollbacks are recklessly putting kids' health in jeopardy."
Several US states sue Trump administration over school lunch rules ›
US states sue to undo Trump rollback of healthy school lunch rules ›
6 states and D.C. sue over changes to school lunch rules - CBS News ›
States sue Trump admin over rollbacks on school lunch standards ... ›
College Board admits defeat at the hands of Ron DeSantis, and liberals are outraged: 'A win for fascist intimidation'
Trump lambastes Florida governor as 'RINO GLOBALIST'
Alleged drunk driver slightly injured after splitting his car into 3 parts, but his pregnant fiancée suffered gruesome death
Top Biden official unable to spin her way out of contradiction exposed by CNN host on classified docs scandal
Male accused of raping girls ages 4 and 9 to serve less than 180 days in jail – not required to register as sex offender
Republican lawmaker abruptly switches course before House votes to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from committee


Please click the RED course schedule button to be directed to the course schedule for National Registry classes.
This course is the National Registry skills testing for Paramedic & AEMT. Lunch will be provided during the testing.
If you are retesting stations, we charge $50.00 per station.
We will be holding a National Registry Skills practice on 8/1/2017 from 6-10pm. This will allow you to do hands on practice with the equipment prior to testing. There is a charge of $75.00 and you can register for the practice session on this website.
A $50.00, non-refundable fee is do upon registration to hold your spot. This fee is deducted from the total tuition.


In the summer of 2013, the Texas Legislature weakened the graduation requirements for Texas students. Schools are now encouraged to put students in different paths, called "endorsements," toward graduation: some college bound and some bound for jobs that don't require college preparation. This phenomenon is present in different guises all across the United States. Colleges and universities do not pay much attention to the endorsement (or track) of high school students. Rather, they examine the transcript for the courses and grades: math, science, social studies and English, as key examples.
This month, IDRA is releasing the fourth in a set of toolkits developed from the Annual IDRA La Semana del Niño Parent Institute in 2017 for use in training and technical assistance for school districts to strengthen family engagement. The aim of this assistance module is to inform the families on how to best counsel and guide their children, especially those in middle and high school. This workshop and these materials are very specifically for those families whose children are not perceived to merit a path to college. Parents don't need to know the content of pre-Calculus or chemistry to insist to the counselor or teacher that their child be enrolled in those classes or that, if a course seems too difficult for a student, that the teacher and the school offer other support for achieving in that subject.
The materials present families with specific recommendations, in English and Spanish, and follow-up steps. Good retorts to the admonition: College is not for everybody. The family and student chose the academic path, not the school.
Aurelio M. Montemayor, M.Ed. is an IDRA senior education associate. Comments and questions may be directed to him via email at aurelio.montemayor@idra.org.


Satcom Global has announced that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan, has granted Satcom Global an official telecoms license to supply the Iridium Extreme 9575 satellite phones and associated airtime in Japan.
Satcom Global is one of only three providers legally approved to supply the leading handheld satellite communications service within the Japanese market following a rigorous application and approval process. The communications company was appointed the license after demonstrating extensive expertise in supplying satellite solutions across Japan, as well as having served other global markets with Iridium services for over 15 years.
With a strong customer base in Japan, the Satcom Global team in Tokyo has identified a strong appetite for Iridium phone services across a range of land based sectors including media, education and utilities. By adding the Iridium 9575 to the product portfolio, Satcom Global can provide a means of reliable communication to those operating remotely outside of terrestrial networks or in emergency situations.
The Iridium Extreme 9575 is one of the most reliable and durable satellite phones available on the market today, making it the phone of choice for use in emergency situations or extreme environments. As well as enhanced voice and messaging services supported by the global Iridium network, the military grade handset boasts a range of features including an SOS emergency button and an IP65 rating.
Takeki Tsunoda, VP Sales, Satcom Global Japan said that the appointment of the license to supply the Iridium 9575 in Japan is a significant accomplishment for Satcom Global. The license enables the company to enhance the firm's communications portfolio offering within Japan, bringing additional services to current customers as well as new markets and is also a testament to the company's strong position as an experienced leader in the Japanese satellite communications market.


6 Bedrooms apartment for sale in Fuengirola - £1383963 (Ref: AP2199417).
This is a magnificient property boasting 315 metres of wrap around terrace and 180 degree views of the coast, mountains and sea. Situated in the very centre of Fuengirola steps away from shops, restaurants, transport and the beach. Built on two levels as two independant living accomodations. The property covers the whole top of the building leaving no room for any other apartments on the same level. The upper floor was previously used as a dentist clinic, this could easily be made into one large apartment or divided into two as it already has two kitchens on that level. A unique property with breathtaking views from every room.
This property listing (ref: M265417) is an advertisement supplied by Your Dream Home Spain and does not constitute property particulars. While aplaceinthesun.com (APITS Ltd.) requests all advertisers supply correct details, it does not carry out checks on the information supplied and cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies. Aplaceinthesun.com recommends seeking independent legal advice prior to any overseas property purchase.


text:
S. Brandon Owen
Mr. Owen is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is also admitted to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and the Utah Supreme Court. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Owen served as a law clerk to the Honorable Randall R. Rader, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
His practice includes all facets of intellectual property law including the preparation and prosecution of trademark, patent and copyright applications in the United States and foreign countries and litigation. He counsels clients surrounding all aspects of trademark selection, clearance and enforcement, including domain name disputes, and provides representation in opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board.
He also represents clients seeking copyright registrations in the U.S. Copyright Office and in copyright infringement matters. Mr. Owen's practice has included experience with a number of technologies including general mechanical systems, computer software/Internet, business methods, and medical devices. Mr. Owen also engages in the preparation of licensing, publishing, and other agreements related to intellectual property. Mr. Owen is experienced in drafting and negotiating domestic and international technology agreements, including e-commerce and multi-media licenses, co-branding, marketing, software development, and distribution agreements.
Mr. Owen has been included on the list of The Best Lawyers in America© 2021 in Litigation-Intellectual Property and Trademark Law. He has been selected for inclusion in Mountain States Super Lawyers (2008-2013, 2016-2020) in the category of Intellectual Property, and has been voted by his peers throughout the state as one of Utah's "Legal Elite," as published in Utah Business Magazine (2011, 2014-2020).
RELEVANT REPRESENTATION
TRADEMARK CLEARANCE AND REGISTRATION
Mr. Owen provides a full spectrum of trademark services to clients from the creation, searching, investigating, clearing, and selection of new trademarks to the registration and maintenance of trademarks in the U.S. and abroad. He counsels clients on the proper use of trademarks, protection of trademark rights, and enforcement strategies.
TRADEMARK AND DOMAIN NAME ENFORCEMENT
Mr. Owen counsels clients on a wide range of trademark infringement matters involving passing off, reverse passing off, sponsorship confusion, the Federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, infringement involving metatags, keyword internet advertising, and initial interest confusion. His practice also involves proceedings in federal and state courts as well as before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and domain name disputes under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy.
LICENSING AND PUBLISHING LAW
Mr. Owen handles a variety of legal matters in the licensing and publishing areas. His experience includes drafting and negotiating international and domestic licensing agreements involving patents, trademarks and copyrights. Mr. Owen's licensing practice includes work in the publishing, software and e-commerce industries.
COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT
Mr. Owen is experienced in securing and enforcing copyright registrations for literary and musical works, computer programs, pictoral and graphic works and as wells as drafting and negotiating transfers and licenses of copyrightable authorship.
Mr. Owen is a registered patent attorney. He has experience prosecuting patents related to a number of technologies including general mechanical systems, computer software/Internet, business methods, electronic devices, nutritional products and medical devices.
Mr. Owen focuses his litigation practice on patents, trademarks, copyrights and other complex areas of commercial litigation. His federal and state court practice focuses on trademark and copyright infringement, in addition to patent infringement cases. As a clerk at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Mr. Owen worked on many patent cases involving a variety of technologies including software, pharmaceuticals, exercise equipment, and medical devices.
S. Brandon Owen was last modified: August 25th, 2020 by RQN
Winter Sports Practice Group
J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, J.D., 2003
Member, Law Review
Brigham Young University, M.B.A., 2003
University of Utah, B.A., Economics, 1997
Honors Degree
Technical Background, Physics
Minor, German
Board Member, Utah Tennis Association, 2015 - current
Chair, Utah State Bar, Intellectual Property Section, 2009-2010
Member, CLE Committee, Utah State Bar, Intellectual Property Section, 2005-2011
Board Member, Friends for Sight, 2006-2012
Instructor / Developer Intellectual Property Law Course, Salt Lake Community College, Department of Education
Forty-Eight Ray Quinney & Nebeker attorneys Selected by their Peers for Inclusion on Utah Business Magazine's list of "Utah Legal Elite"
Blake R. Bauman, David B. Dibble, Michael K. Erickson, and S. Brandon Owen are Elected Shareholders/Directors


The Kingswood Secondary Academy - Sam Learning Award	- Again!
Sam Learning Award	- Again!
Our students have now completed over 3000 task hours, and we are one of only 250 schools to achieve this award. The difference this year is that we have achieved this level of usage months earlier than last year which of course means that students have been working harder than ever before.
We will be endeavouring to further increase our students' use of this website. If any student is uncertain of how to log on to the site then they simply need to look on page 1 of their Student Planner for a reminder. If a student forgets their password then they should see Mr. Lawson who will reset it for them.


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Q: Samba and luks encrypted disk together: Huge performance loss despite plenty of CPU resources, LUKS and samba alone works as expected Setup:
SSD encrypted with luks aes-xts 512 bits (256 bits AES key), ext4 filesystem
dd write performance of 138 MB/s, CPU usage 97-100 %
dd if=/dev/zero of=testfile status=progress bs=32M count=128
4294967296 bytes (4,3 GB, 4,0 GiB) copied, 31 s, 138 MB/s
128+0 Datensätze ein
128+0 Datensätze aus
4294967296 bytes (4,3 GB, 4,0 GiB) copied, 31,0463 s, 138 MB/s

dd read performance 110 MB/s, CPU usage starts with > 90 %, then falls to about 50-60 % and then at the end of file reading goes up to > 90 % again.
#crop cache before
sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches"

Now do the test:
dd if=testfile of=/dev/null status=progress bs=32M
4261412864 bytes (4,3 GB, 4,0 GiB) copied, 39 s, 109 MB/s
128+0 Datensätze ein
128+0 Datensätze aus
4294967296 bytes (4,3 GB, 4,0 GiB) copied, 39,1345 s, 110 MB/s

Now lets take a closer look at samba:
Writing a 1 GB file to a samba share at disk benchmarked above gives about 73 MB/s, CPU usage is only about 70 %.
Reading a 1 GB file from samba share gives only about 64 MB/s, CPU usage is about 55 %. Also watch this graph: It starts slowly and then speed goes up and down, generating some kind of wave form.

Copying this file immediately again, when it is in cache, then it is copied with 112 MB/s, so full GigabitEthernet speed as it should.

Compare to unencrypted drive:
dd write speed 133 MB/s
dd read speed 207 MB/s
Samba write: 112 MB/s
Samba read: 112 MB/s

So LUKS encryption alone gives sufficient speed, Samba alone also has sufficient speed. In combination there is a huge performance drop while there are still plenty of CPU ressources available which are used when solely dd is used.
What is wrong here? Why isn't CPU fully used when doing operations for samba while it is with dd? What can be done to have also full performance / CPU usage with smb and luks encryption?

A: I've dug deeper into it.
It seems like a wrong display of CPU usage.
Reading with samba from unecrypted drive giving 112 MB/s requiring about 38 % CPU usage on whole system

CPU usage is floating between 29 % and even sometimes goes shortly up to 94 % while reading from unencrypted drive.
Now taking encrypting read performance of 110 MB/s reduced by 38 % gives 68,2 MB/s. Thats quite close to the 64 MB/s.
So from a logical point of view: Samba itself requires relatively much CPU and in combination with encryption the resulting speed seems to make sense now.
BTW: System done these tests on is a Rasperry PI 400 with 4 core arm CPU @ default clock of 1,8 GHz. cryptsetup benchmark reports for aes-xts with 512 bits key (so 256 bit AES encryption) 77 MB/s for encryption and 66,9 MB/s for decryption. However cryptsetup does these tests with only one CPU utilized, so I guess powermanagement clocks down CPU thats why with real encryption and decryption there is much more performance like dd shows.
I've also done some other performance tests.
I've also increased read ahead size both on /dev/mapper and /dev/sdd from 256 to 65536 via sudo blockdev --setra 65536 /dev/sdd and sudo blockdev --setra 65536 /dev/mapper/sdd_crypt however these did not make any noticeable difference.
Digging still deeper into it I found this very interesting article https://blog.cloudflare.com/speeding-up-linux-disk-encryption/
Their research lead to no_read_workqueue and no_write_workqueue beginning with Kernel version 5.9. Luckily current Rasperry PI OS is on 5.10.11-v7l+, so dmcrypt supporting these options.
However latest cryptsetup version 2.1.0 on Raspberry PI OS Buster don't support these options. So I've compiled cryptsetup 2.3.4 to use no_read_workqueue and no_write_workqueue (see  https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/device-mapper/dm-crypt.html) and mounted via
cryptsetup open --perf-no_read_workqueue --perf-no_write_workqueue /dev/sdd sdd_crypt

however performance was massively reduced on this particular setup reading from device and not RAM disk.
In conclusion: Since the resulting speeds are plausible it seems like a wrong display of CPU Usage.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Deinbollia angustifolia D.W.Thomas, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 73(1): 219 (1986), D. W. Thomas, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 73 (1): 219, 1986
Kuetegue, Felix, Sonke, Bonaventure & Ameka, Gabriel K., 2019, A checklist of rheophytes of Cameroon, PhytoKeys 121, pp. 81-131: 81
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.121.29924
http://treatment.plazi.org/id/087A9F72-6AE0-AE02-48E9-E477ED19FDCA
PhytoKeys by Pensoft
Deinbollia angustifolia D.W.Thomas, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 73(1): 219 (1986)
Type.
Cameroon - SouthWest Region, near Mundemba, 4°56'N, 8°52'E, rocky bank of Idu River at Bulu on path to Ekumbako, 10 m, 07 Mar 1984, D. W. Thomas 3253 (holotype: MO; isotypes: K, P, YA).
Stenophyllous shrub of about 1 m high; roots spreading and deep; stems strong but flexible; leaves narrow 20-25 × 1-1.5 cm, grouped at the summit of the stem.
Specimens examined.
Korup Reserve, 4°55'N, 8°50'E, 16 Jul 1983, D. W. Thomas 2243 (YA); between Bulu and Dibunda, 4°55'N, 8°52'E, 07 Mar 1984, D. W. Thomas 3253 (YA); between Bulu and Ekumbako, 4°56'N, 8°52'E, 00 Jun 1984, D. W. Thomas 3497 (YA).
Rocky bed of rivers, on banks of streams and rivers.
Distribution.
Cameroon (Fig. 23 View Figures 20–25 ).
Conservation status in Cameroon.
Deinbollia angustifolia
is listed on http://www.iucnredlist.org as Vulnerable by Cheek (2017a). It was earlier assessed in Onana and Cheek (2011) as Vulnerable. The taxon is endemic to Cameroon and currently known from three localities. The extent of occurrence of this species is estimated less than 100 km2, and the area of occupancy is about 12 km2. The habitat of D. angustifolia
is threatened by illegal timber logging. Based on this threat, and the continuous decline of vegetation cover in the area, extent and /or quality of habitat, the assessment of Cheek (2017a) is maintained as Vulnerable. IUCN Red List Category: Vulnerable VU B2a b (ii, iii).
Figures 20 - 25. 20 Ixora inundata Hiern 21 Virectaria angustifolia (Hiern) Bremek 22 Virectaria salicoides (C. H. Wright) Bremek 23 Deinbollia angustifolia D. W. Thomas 24 Deinbollia saligna Keay 25 Podostemaceae distribution.
Deinbollia


Dave's Margaritas N More Party Rentals can be found at Sacramento in . The following is offered: Food Services, Party Rentals, Balloons, Party Supplies . In Sacramento there are 18 other Food Services. An overview can be found here.


Features a cushioned, non-skid, rigid rocker sole and moulded heel counter for comfortable support and complete, shockabsorbing stabilization.
Durable soft inner lining allows foot to breathe while moulded heel collar contours around heel for a better fit.
D-ring closure ensures even compression and adjusts to accommodate bulky dressings and edema, while open toe design helps prevent friction on toes.


This 12 minute version of 'Give I Strength' is different from the one previously appeared on the album 'Rockers: Graduation In Zion 1978-1979 (DSR-LP-001)'. Kiddus I recorded the song for his debut album 'Jah Power, Jah Glory' but it remained unreleased. The most of recordings he did at this time was very long and Kiddus I recalls this was possible because he used to 'treat' those musicians in a hospitable manner. This allowed musicians to be very improvisational in their playing on songs written by Kiddus I. The B-side version has an instrumental to the A-side.


Former San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane, from left, Mark Kirk, one time chief of staff for former Supervisor Gary Ovitt. and developer Jeff Burum.
The jurors of three defendants in the Colonies bribery trial listened to nearly eight months of testimony, but spent a little more than a day deliberating before reaching not guilty verdicts Monday on all counts stemming from a $102 million settlement in 2006 between the county and a developer that prosecutors claimed was corrupt.
Former San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane, developer Jeff Burum and Mark Kirk, a former chief of staff for one-time county Supervisor Gary Ovitt listened as they were acquitted on bribery, conflict of interest and improper influence of a public official charges, their faces reflecting astonishment and then relief when they realized their years-long criminal case was over.
Jurors who spoke after the verdict said the panel — it was the same 12 throughout the trial — quickly concluded the prosecution's case, whether exhibits or testimony, came nowhere close to convincing them beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants were guilty.
Mitchell Gibson, who served as Juror No. 3 for Biane, Burum and Kirk, said Monday he was ready to vote on a verdict as soon as he entered the jury room.
"It was all unanimous from the beginning… There was not enough evidence." said juror Daniel Morris, 31, of Redlands.
Gibson said jurors believed they were presented evidence they did not feel was germane to the case and did not prove anything.
He said the jury was unwilling to comply with Deputy Attorney General Melissa Mandel's request during final arguments that they review all the exhibits and piece together in the deliberation room a paper trail she believed would prove the defendants' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
He said carts stuffed with binders were rolled into the jury room, and the table had to be moved to make room for them.
Morris said jurors also soured on the prosecution's two key witnesses, former county Assessor Bill Postmus and former Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman, both of whom testified under plea agreements in return for reduced charges and more lenient sentencing.
"A lot their evidence relied on a liar — Aleman — you could tell when he was on the stand he was lying through his teeth," Morris said.
As for Postmus, who was addicted to methamphetamine during the time of the Colonies settlement negotiations and during the subsequent investigation, "A lot of his stuff, he was on drugs. He didn't remember," Morris said. Postmus has said he has been sober since 2012.
Defendant Mark Kirk hit a particular soft spot, said Gibson. He said the evidence showed Kirk's former boss, Gary Ovitt, had long supported the Colonies settlement, before Kirk had even entered the picture.
"The things that they were doing to Mark Kirk, personally, I think were sad," Gibson said.
"We can't have progress if we don't have developers, and we can't have developers who are going to do any good if they don't have politicians who think the same way that they do," said Gibson, who said he has a background in construction and whose family has been developing property for years.