text:
Задача про хід коня — задача про знаходження маршруту шахового коня, що проходить через усі поля шахівниці по одному разу.

Ця задача відома принаймні з XVIII століття. Леонард Ейлер присвятив їй велику роботу «Вирішення одного цікавого питання, яке, здається, не підпорядковується жодному дослідженню» (датується 26 квітня 1757 року). У листі до Гольдбаха він повідомляв:«… Спогад про запропоноване колись мені завдання послужив для мене нещодавно приводом до деяких тонких вишукувань, до яких звичайний аналіз, як здається, не має ніякого застосування … Я знайшов, нарешті, ясний спосіб знаходити скільки завгодно рішень (число їх, однак, не нескінченне), не роблячи проб.» Окрім розгляду завдання для коня, Ейлер розібрав аналогічні завдання і для інших фігур.

У термінах теорії графів кожен маршрут коня, що проходить через всі поля шахівниці, відповідає гамільтоновому шляху (або циклу, якщо маршрут замкнений) у графі ходів коня — графі, вершинами якого є поля дошки, і два поля з'єднані ребром, якщо з одного можна потрапити на інше за один хід коня.

Кількість всіх замкнутих маршрутів коня (гамільтонових циклів) без урахування напрямку обходу дорівнює 13 267 364 410 532 (кількість замкнутих маршрутів з урахуванням напрямку в два рази більше). У той же час завдання підрахунку всіх можливих незамкнутих маршрутів значно складніше і не вирішене досі. Відомо, що кількість незамкнутих маршрутів не перевищує числа сполучень .

Методи вирішення

Метод Ейлера і Вандермонда

Метод Ейлера

Метод Ейлера полягає в тому, що спочатку кінь рухається за довільним маршрутом, поки не вичерпає всі можливі ходи. Потім непройдені клітинки, що залишилися, додаються в зроблений маршрут (після спеціальної перестановки його елементів).

Розглянемо як приклад наступний маршрут:

Спочатку спробуємо з незамкненого маршруту зробити замкнений. Для цього розглянемо, куди можна піти з полів 1 та 60. З поля 1 можна піти на поля 2, 32 і 52, а з 60 — на 29, 51 і 59. У ціх двох наборах є поля, що розрізняються на одиницю, а саме — 51 і 52. Завдяки цьому можна зробити маршрут замкнутим, звернувши його частини. Для цього пронумеруємо поля з 52 по 60 в зворотньому порядку. Після цього ми отримаємо замкнений маршрут:

Тепер можна додати в маршрут деякі з непройдених клітинок. Оскільки наш маршрут замкнений, то його можна розірвати в довільному місці і до одного з кінців причепити відповідний ланцюжок з непройдених клітинок. Наприклад, якщо розірвати ланцюжок у клітинці 51 (перенумерувати клітинки і зробивши її останньою, а 52 — першою), то зможемо подовжити наш ланцюжок на клітинки a, b і d, які стануть клітинками 61, 62 і 63.

Метод Вандермонда
Александр Вандермонд спробував звести задачу до арифметичної. Для цього він позначав маршрут коня по дошці у вигляді послідовності дробів , де x і y — координати поля на дошці. Очевидно, що в послідовності дробів, що відповідає ходам коня, різниця чисельників двох сусідніх дробів може бути тільки 1 або 2, притому, що різниця їх знаменників становить відповідно 2 або 1. Крім того, чисельник і знаменник не можуть бути менше 1 і більше 8.

Його метод знаходження відповідної послідовності аналогічний методу Ейлера, але дозволяє знаходити маршрути коня тільки для дошки парної розмірності.

Рамковий метод Мунка і Коллін

Метод поділу на чверті Поліньяка і Роже

Правило Варнсдорфа

Правило Варнсдорфа, що є різновидом жадібного алгоритму для відшукання маршруту коня, формулюється так:
 При обході дошки кінь повинен ставати на те поле, з якого можна піти на мінімальне число ще не пройдених полів. Якщо таких полів кілька, то можна піти на будь-яке з них.

Цікаві маршрути

Маршрут Яниша

Цей маршрут цікавий у багатьох відношеннях: він утворює напівмагічний квадрат, а при повороті дошки на 180° перша половина маршруту (номери з 1 до 32) переходить у другу (номери з 33 по 64).

Узагальнення на довільні дошки

Замкнуті маршрути

Кількість замкнутих маршрутів з урахуванням напрямку в два рази більша. Замкнені маршрути існують на дошках  для всіх парних  ().

Незамкнуті маршрути

Для неквадратних дощок незамкнений обхід конем існує тільки при виконанні таких умов: якщо одна сторона дошки дорівнює 3, то інша повинна бути або 4, або не менше 7; якщо ж обидві сторони більші 3, то обхід конем можливий на всіх дошках, крім 4 × 4. Зокрема, незамкнуті маршрути існують на квадратних дошках  для всіх . Кількість незамкнутих маршрутів на дошках  утворює .

Реалізація задачі про хід коня мовою програмування С++
Нижче наведено програмну реалізацію мовою програмування С++.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <time.h>

using namespace std;

#define move_types 8

int possible_moves[move_types][2]  = {
        {-1, -2}, {-2, -1}, {-2,  1}, { 1, -2},
        {-1,  2}, { 2, -1}, { 1,  2}, { 2,  1}
};

int **global;
int size_x, size_y;
int max_moves, back_ret;

int move_possible(int x, int y)
{
        return x >= 0 && y >= 0 && x < size_x && y < size_y && global[x][y] == 0;
}

int find_path(int cur_x, int cur_y, int move_num)
{
        int next_x = 0, next_y = 0;
        global[cur_x][cur_y] = move_num;

        if(move_num > max_moves)
                return 1;

        for(int i = 0; i < move_types; i++)
        {       next_x = cur_x + possible_moves[i][0];
                next_y = cur_y + possible_moves[i][1];
                if(move_possible(next_x, next_y) && find_path(next_x, next_y, move_num + 1))
                return 1;
        }

        global[cur_x][cur_y] = 0;
        back_ret++;
        move_num++;
        return 0;
}

void main()
{
setlocale (LC_ALL,"");

int i,nrows,ncols,sy,sx,**desc = NULL;
time_t start,end;

cout<<"Введіть розмір дошки (від 2 до 8) :"<<endl
 <<"по осі \"X\"\t"; cin>>size_x;
cout<<"по осі \"Y\"\t";cin>>size_y;
if(size_x>8||size_x<2||size_y>8||size_y<2)
{cout<<"Неправильний розмір";system("pause");return;}

cout<<"Введіть початкові координати:"<<endl
 <<"Координата по осі\"X\"\t";cin>>sx;
cout<<"Координата по осі\"Y\"\t";cin>>sy;

desc = (int **)malloc(sizeof(int) * size_x);
for(i = 0; i < size_x; ++i)
        desc[i] = (int *)malloc(sizeof(int) * size_y);

back_ret = 0;
global = desc;
max_moves = size_x * size_y - 1;

for(int i = 0; i < size_x; ++i) {
        for(int j = 0; j < size_y; ++j)
                global[i][j] = 0;
}

if(find_path(sx, sy, 1)){
 cout<<"___"<<endl
  <<"\t*********Розв\'язок*********"<<endl
  <<"___"<<endl;
 for(int i = 0; i < size_x; ++i) {
  cout<<endl;
  for(int j = 0; j < size_y; ++j)
    cout<<global[i][j]<<"\t";
    cout<<endl;}
 cout<<"___"<<endl;
}
else cout<<"Немає розв\'язку"<<endl;

for(i = 0; i < size_x; ++i)
        free(desc[i]);
free(desc);

system("pause");
}

Див. також
 Сім мостів Кеніґсберґа
 Граф ходів коня

Примітки

Посилання
 Rediscovery of the Knight's Tour 1725—1825

Алгоритми на графах
Математичні шахові задачі
Гамільтонові шляхи та цикли
Статті з прикладами коду мовою C++
Рекреаційна математика


text:
Ricky Carruth Values Relationships Over Transactions
in Business, Entrepreneurs, Mindset
It is the guiding ideology behind everything that this powerhouse entrepreneur does.
by Luke Lintz Contributor.
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Most people might believe that making money is a personal endeavor, primarily relying on one's own efforts. Ricky Carruth is not most people. "Relationships over transactions" is the guiding ideology behind everything that this powerhouse entrepreneur does.
Carruth knows hardship, not as something he experienced from his childhood, but from the privilege of his own personal choices that he had made as a young adult. When he was 23-years-old, he lost a whopping million dollars. In fact, Carruth was homeless at one point, sleeping on friends' couches. His subsequent success didn't come for him overnight.
Today, Carruth is the founder and owner of Zero to Diamond which is the fastest-growing program that coaches real estate agents. He continues to work in the real estate world and closes over 100 properties every year.
So, how did Carruth become so wildly successful after all of the hardship that he went through? The entrepreneur credits his mindset. "Mindset is key. Just forget that the competition exists and focus on your work," he says.
Carruth advises business owners to stop focusing on the competition, and, instead, to zero in on their own work and projects to ensure success. Carruth explains that it does get easier over time. As work goes on, business owners get tougher to match the challenges. The hardest part really is the very beginning.
According to Carruth, one question that new owners should always ask themselves is, "Am I strong enough?" The answer should be a resounding "yes." He is exploring more avenues for growth past real estate. He has become a social media influencer, thanks to the invaluable advice that he is able to provide to others.
Carruth is a visionary. He switched his offer and began letting agents learn with him for free. It was this newfound vision of doing business that, as he puts it, led to the gates of his course being "flooded."
Carruth is also dedicated to helping people. He wants to bring the best out of everybody, no matter where they are.
However, Carruth warns that the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs are fear and laziness. As long as people manage to face those demons head-on, he is assured that success will come shortly.
Carruth does not see himself slowing down or retiring any time soon. He absolutely loves what he does and is eager to spread that knowledge. He deeply desires to create lifelong relationships with his students and strongly believes that this is essential in becoming a mentor.
Carruth does have one crucial piece of advice. He says that an owner who is determined to commit three to five years to build a strong routine and dedication, their chances for success are maximized. He warns, "Nothing comes overnight, don't believe in overnight success." It took him years to get to where he is now. Success came after some very hard lessons that not everyone would be able to withstand.
Ultimately, Carruth firmly believes that if you're dedicated, success will follow. Don't doubt that for a second. Today, he is focused on the future and is excited to see where his coaching practice takes him because the sky's the limit for this powerhouse entrepreneur.
Follow more of Ricky Carruth's journey on Instagram.
Published September 11th, 2020
Opinions expressed here are the opinions of the author. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and can not investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the author to disclose. VIP Contributors and Contributors, amongst other accounts and articles, are professional fee-based.
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Written by Luke Lintz
Luke Lintz is a founder of HighKey Holdings Inc; A company that owns a large equity position in HighKey Technology Inc., HighKey Agency Inc., HighKey Clout Inc., and Lyrical Inc.
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Carmit's interdisciplinary research links between disability studies, mental health, rehabilitation, and technologies. she explores well-being, quality life and community participation of people with disabilities (e.g., physical, sensory, cognitive and mental disabilities), including multiple disabilities, in various life domains such as employment, education, social and romantic relationships from individual and familial perspectives.
In particular, her two main fields of research are parental disability and information and communication technologies (ICT). As a mother with physical disability, she interested in exploring the meaning and implications of parenthood within the context of disability. In her second field of research, she focuses on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), such e-mentoring, online social networks and mHealth, to promote mental and physical health of individuals with disabilities. In her research, she apply both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Shpigelman, C.N., Reiter, S., & Weiss, P.L. (2008). E-mentoring for youth with special needs: Preliminary results. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 11(2), 196-200.
Shpigelman, C.N., Reiter, S., & Weiss, P.L. (2009). A Conceptual framework for electronic socio-emotional support for people with special needs. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research, 32(4), 301-308.
Shpigelman, C.N., Weiss, P.L., & Reiter, S. (2009). E-mentoring for all. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(4), 919-928.
Shpigelman, C.N. (2010). Electronic mentoring between youth with special needs. Issues in Special Education & Inclusion, 25(2), 5-18. [Hebrew].
Shpigelman, C. N., & Gill, C. J. (2013). The characteristics of unsuccessful e-mentoring relationships for people with disabilities. Qualitative Health Research, 23(4), 463 – 475.
Shpigelman, C.N., & Gill, C.J. (2014). Facebook use by persons with disabilities. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 610–624.
Mejias, N. J., Gill, C. J., & Shpigelman, C. N. (2014). Influence of a support group for young women with disabilities on sense of belonging. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61(2), 208-220.
Shpigelman, C. N., & Gill, C. J. (2014). How adults with intellectual disabilities use Facebook? Disability & Society, 29(10), 1601-1616.
Shpigelman, C.N. (2015). How to support the needs of mothers with physical disabilities? Disability and Rehabilitation, 37(11), 928-935.
Shpigelman, C. N. (2015). The voices of mothers with a physical disability. Israel Studies in Language and Society, 7(1-2), 184-199. [Hebrew].
Berger, R., Gelkopf, M., Versano-Mor, K., Shpigelman, C. N. (2015). Impact of Exposure to Potentially Traumatic Events on Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 120(2), 176-188.
Shpigelman, C. N., & Gelkopf, M. (2016). The experiences and needs of individuals with disabilities exposed to chronic political violence. Disability and Rehabilitation, 39(1), 23-35, DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2016.1138557.
Shpigelman, C. N., Zlotnick, C., & Brand, R. (2016). Attitudes toward Nursing Students with Disabilities: Promoting Social Inclusion. Journal of Nursing Education, 55(8), 441-449.
Shpigelman, C. N. (2016). Leveraging social capital of individuals with intellectual disabilities through participation on Facebook. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 1-13.
Shpigelman, C. N. (2016). Leveraging social capital of persons with intellectual disabilities through Facebook participation: The perspectives of family members and direct support staff. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 1-12.


As global businesses develop, there is an increased requirement of skilled manpower in various sectors and industry verticals. These escalating requisites of the job market have propelled the inception of various recruiting consultancies that provide staffing solutions to the recruiters as well as job hunters. However, most of these consultants often disappoint their clients by providing low-quality candidates. Having observed the hardships faced by companies in terms of hiring the right candidate during his working tenure, K.J. Naveen founded Arient Solutions in the year 2013. His objective was to bring apposite connection between the recruiters and candidates by providing superlative solutions to both the end.R.G. Saravanan, a close ally and now the Key person of Arient Solutions, was the supporting partner during the inception of Arient Solutions.
"Active candidates are always looking for a job change and the job market is huge. But the clients' requirements and needs have to be managed with the potential of that particular candidate. Thus, initially it was a learning task for us to match the candidates with the clients," says Naveen. He established the company with a motive to employ the unemployed and to eradicate the gap between employers and job seekers. In addition, he says, "Our motive is to never compromise on our service and quality". He strongly believes that head hunting requires efficiency and experience to connect the talented workforce with the clientele. Arient primarily works with small and medium sized businesses with its trademark services namely staffing(permanent & contract), technical Training, soft skills training, management training, career counseling, background checking, reference checking and IQ/EQ Tests.
The organization during its initial days faced challenges in terms of acquiring clients. Obtaining clients and delivering outstanding results does not always support sustainability. It is necessary for a company to build a strong bond with their clientele as well as with the candidates in order to strengthen their position in the market. According to Naveen,"There are two perspectives. One is the client perspective and another is the candidate perspective. The key task from the client perspective is to understand the requirement and expectations of the clients in order to dish-up the best result." Once the requirement is studied thoroughly, the company starts working on the profile and accordingly searches for the most suitable candidate for the position within a short span of time.On the other hand, the organization also concentrates on the candidate perspective and delivers them free services which help the consultancy gain more job seeking candidates.
Arient has gradually paced up and added some renowned companies in its clientele including CCD, Dominos, L&T among others. They have been placing candidates in various Client places across India and clients at Malaysia and Singapore as well.The organization now aims to progress by entering into payroll services along with its temporary and permanent HR solutions. Presently, the organization possesses clients across India, which includes Gurgaon, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, etc. Along with serving these clients, the association also possess freelancers working in Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.
While serving with proficiency, Arient is heading towards the path of betterment by satisfying its clients and working hard to fulfill the dream of eradicating unemployment across India.


text:
Q: Load Testing Thousands of SLOW Connections I would like to test an upload service with hundreds, if not thousands,
of slow HTTPS connections simultaneously.
I would like to have lots of, say, 3G-quality connections,
each throttled with low bandwidth and high latency,
each sending a few megabytes of data up to the server,
resulting in lots of concurrent, long-lived requests being handled by the server.
There are many load generation tools that can generate thousands of simultaneous requests.
(I'm currently using Locust, mostly so that I can take
advantage of my existing client library written in Python.)
Such tools typically run each concurrent request as fast as possible
over the shared network link.
There are various ways to adjust the apparent bandwidth and latency of TCP connections,
such as Linux's TC
and handy wrappers like Comcast.
As far as I can tell, TC and the like control the shared link
but they cannot throttle the individual requests.
If you want to throttle a single request, TC works well.
In theory, with many clients sharing the same throttled network link,
each request could be run serially,
subject to the constrained bandwidth,
rather than having lots of requests executing concurrently,
a few packets at a time.
The former would result in much fewer active requests executing
concurrently on the server.
I suspect that the tool I want has to actively manage each individual client's sending
and receiving to throttle them fairly.
Is there such a tool?

A: You can take a look at Apache JMeter, it can "throttle" connections to the throughput configurable via the following properties:
httpclient.socket.http.cps=0
httpclient.socket.https.cps=0

The properties can be defined either in user.properties file or passed to JMeter via -J command-line argument
cps stands for character per second so you can "slow down" JMeter threads (virtual users) to the given throughput rate, the formula for cps calculation is:
cps = (target bandwidth in kbps * 1024) / 8

Check out How to Simulate Different Network Speeds in Your JMeter Load Test for more information.

A: Yes, these are network simulators.  A very primitive one is in the form of WanEM.  It is not going to cover your testing needs.  You will need something akin to Shunra Storm, a hardware device which can manage individual connections and impairment with models derived from Ookla (think speedtest.com) related to 3,4,5g connections from the wild.  Well, perhaps I should say, "could manage," as this product has been absent since the HP acquisition of Shunra.
There are some other market competitors on the network front from companies such as Ixia, Agilent, PacketStorm, Spirent and the like.  None of them are inexpensive, but I see your need. Slow, and particularly dirty connections likes cell phones, have a disproportionate impact on the stack and can result in the server running out of resources with fewer mobile connections than desktop ones.
On a side note, be sure you are including a representative model for think time in your test code.  If you collapse the client-server model with no or extremely limited think time & impair the network only bad things can happen.  This will play particular havoc with both predictability and repeatability on your tests.  You may also wind up chasing dozens of engineering ghosts related to load in your code that will not occur in production because of the natural delays and the release of resources which should occur during those windows of activity between client requests.

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Heavy rain (total 26mm), heaviest during Sat afternoon. Warm (max 20°C on Fri afternoon, min 9°C on Sat night). Wind will be generally light.
Heavy rain (total 34mm), heaviest during Mon afternoon. Very mild (max 13°C on Wed afternoon, min 8°C on Mon night). Wind will be generally light.
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I just bought this laptop and I must say it is really not what i expected..
So many faulty small issues.
For instance, microsoft powerpoint and word does not always work when using in tablet mode, but switching it back to laptop mode and then back to tablet mode it works again..
I just wanted to close a ppt file but this machine couldn't even do that.
Will never ever ever ever buy a lenovo again. absolute company with an absolute rubbish website.
I even had to google how i could post a message or just ask a question..
for anyone looking at this particular model, don't buy it.
The screen flickers, settings are not saved that are supposed to be saved.
things like ticking the 'show pen battery' on, doesn't even work all the time..
Who even designed and made these laptops..
Yes, it's a terrible buy. There are many other problems with the model besides the flickering of the screen, the pen problem, the battery problem, the trackpoint problem, some have connection issues in certain circumstances, bleeding of white from the edges of the screen, and the list goes on. You can definitely not associate this with quality.
The keyboard is nice though. Rest is a pos.
The keyboard is nice indeed; but it just doesn't make it up for the fact that the rest is quite. How can Lenovo charge 1100euros for a machine that is built like an average 400euro laptop? And coming from the macbook pro retina late 2013, this thinkpad feels like rubbish. I hope enough people will read this so they won't make the same mistake as me.
Admin note: profanity / implied profanity edited. Keep it Clean!
I am quite frustrated about purchasing L380 as my first Thinkpad, it got so many problems, such as screen flickers cause by left usb port, coil whine, fan noise, battery charging thresholds issue, screen bleeding extremely. And there is even more for the Yoga.
Although, Lenovo team tried hard to deel with the issue, but most of the issue could and should be debuged and fixed before any release. I'm quite dissapointed about the QA and QC of lenovo, especially on the Thinkpad products line.
Screen flickers cause by left usb port => design fault => Wait for the HW solution (may be done by product recall).
Battery charging thresholds issue => BIOS issue => Wait for upcoming BIOS update.
So to recap, not only do they make bad machines; they also LIE and DECEIVE.
Thanks for everyone reading this.
by the way the links do not work in the link you sent me.
They are all working for me.
the link when selected the country did not work but it works fine now.


Questions about example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "Burnables"
We separate trash.There are designated trash days for burnables, recyclable plastics does this sound natural?
I like apples, bananas. → I like apples and bananas.
Example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "designate"
Example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "Recyclable"


text:
photo credit: Getty Images
photo credit: Charley Gallay/Getty Images Entertainment
Elisabeth Rohm Elizabeth Rohm
Prime-Time Drama [TV]
Elisabeth Röhm
Active - 1994 - 2022 | Born - Apr 28, 1973 in Düsseldorf, West Germany | Genres - Fantasy
Other Appearances ↓
Awards ↓
Biography by Nathan Southern
The daughter of an attorney father and writer mother, German-born Elisabeth Röhm spent the majority of her childhood and adolescence coming of age in New York. Röhm discovered an innate love of acting during her collegiate years (in the early '90s) and thereafter landed a regular role on the daytime drama One Life to Live. She graduated to fame, however, by virtue of two prime-time roles: Detective Kate Lockley on the supernatural drama series Angel (1999) and Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn on NBC's Law & Order. Big-screen roles include supporting turns in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) and Aftermath (2008).
Movie Highlights
See Full Filmography
Holds dual American and German citizenship.
Trained to be a professional equestrian.
Moved to Miami at the age of 17 to give modeling a try.
Landed first professional TV job in 1997 playing the role of Dorothy Hayes on the soap opera One Life to Live.
In 2002, was selected for Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list.
Co-owns a gym in Brentwood, CA, called Circuit Works.
Has worked for the Red Cross as an ambassador and a trained emergency volunteer.


Boeing said Friday that it will cut production of the 737 Max plane from 52 to 42 per month.
The move confirms earlier Reuters reports that this was among options the planemaker was considering.
Boeing's stock has fallen drastically after the two fatal crashes as Wall Street analysts revised their estimates for production and sales.
Boeing plans to cut the rate of its 737 production to 42 airplanes per month from 52 as it works to manage the grounding of its MAX aircraft in the wake of two deadly crashes, Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement on Friday.
Muilenburg said the company now knows that a chain of events caused Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents, with erroneous activation of so-called MCAS anti-stall software "a common link" between the two.
The company continues to make progress on a 737 MAX software update to prevent "accidents like these from ever happening again," he said.


The last few days have brought some surprise visitors to our backyard buffet. Saturday of the second week in May is International Migratory Bird Day…a big occasion here on the south shore of Lake Erie. Birds migrating northward to their summer homes have to cross Lake Erie if the route they take goes through Ohio. Their journey is long, the weather isn't always favorable, and when they reach Lake Erie, needing to rest up for the long leg of their trip across the Lake, birders in northeast Ohio find their forests and backyard inundated with an amazing variety of birds, many of which aren't commonly seen here. Surprises are not unusual, and this weekend we have had a few right in our own backyard.
One surprise was the reappearance of bluebirds showing an interest in the nesting box we recently installed in the backyard. We weren't sure they would return because until January I had never seen a bluebird in our backyard, but we bought and installed it anyway with the theory that, "If you build it, they will come." And they did. They are curious about the little house, although none have moved in yet. It may be too new and in need of seasoning.
Is he thinking about moving in with his mate?
The bluebirds make me really happy. I can't help smiling when I see them at the feeders, but the biggest surprise of all, the one pictured below, appeared yesterday.
I have never seen a redheaded woodpecker in our backyard!
But today he has come to visit. Serendipity!
There have been other surprise visitors too, but I will save them for another blog post. It is raining again tonight after several dry but chilly days. It doesn't seem much like May, but I heard a rumor that it might get really warm (maybe even hot) next week. That's something to look forward to!
Thanks for stopping by. I love it when you visit.


text:
Source: Global Legal Chronicle
Cardurion: Cardurion Pharmaceuticals' $300 Million Investment
Mintz advised Cardurion Pharmaceuticals on the deal. Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Cardurion), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, announced a private investment of up to $300 million from Bain Capital [...]
Cardurion's Competitors | Cardurion's News | Cardurion's Financials
The Business Journals
CinCor CEO: acquisition by AstraZeneca was more than a year in the making
Before CinCor Pharma Inc. agreed to a $1.8 billion acquisition by AstraZeneca plc, it turned down sev... See more »
Focus on Travel News
Minor International's Legal Claim Against Marriott Enters Decisive Phase
Minor International ("MINT") Thai legal claim against Marriott International enters a decisive phase.... See more »
Stay up-to-date with the latest news on Cardurion
Peter S. Lawrence
Cardurion is a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company that researches and develops novel therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
See Cardurion company profile »


SANTA CRUZ, CA –The Santa Cruz Warriors (7-0), who only suited up eight players, beat the Northern Arizona Suns (2-5) tonight, 99-92, in front of a sold-out crowd at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
Lead guard Darius Morris led the Warriors with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-17 from the field (52.9%) and 4-of-6 from deep. Morris sealed the game with a pull up three with 11 seconds remaining, putting the Warriors ahead for good.
Suns guard Peter Jok led Northern Arizona with 24 points on 52.9 percent from the field (9-of-17 FG), while forward George King contributed 17 points on an efficient 8-of-13 from the field (61.5%). Guard Daniel Dixon led all reserves with 18 points for Northern Arizona tonight.
Santa Cruz scorched the Suns in the first quarter by holding a 14-3 rebounding advantage, and guard Michael Gbinije led the way by scoring 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, including three from behind the arc.
Despite leading by as many as 24, Santa Cruz let Northern Arizona back in the game by tying a team record with 31 total turnovers tonight, including nine in the third quarter to ignite a 15-0 run over a five minute span. Despite holding a 6-1 turnover advantage, Santa Cruz survived thanks to a clutch block and fast break dunk by forwardJuan Toscano-Anderson and a layup and three by Morris to seal the game.
The Warriors will host a Black Friday matchup on November 23 (tip-off 7:00 PST, NBC Sports Bay Area Plus) against the Salt Lake City Stars at Kaiser Permanente Arena, with the first 1,500 fans to arrive receiving a Limited Edition Kevin Durant Bobblehead. For information on tickets for Friday and all Warriors home games, visit santacruzbasketball.com or call (831) 713-4400.


Countries need to work together to control pandemics, but without an independent assessment of national health security capability, it is difficult to fully understand needs, identify gaps, and track improvements over time.
Create a Global Health Security (GHS) Index to assess country capability to prevent and mitigate high-consequence biological events.
Recent infectious disease outbreaks – including the Zika virus in the Americas, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, MERS-CoV in the Middle East, and pandemic influenza – have exposed weaknesses in preventing, detecting, and responding to biological threats. Without adequate measures to address public health emergencies, outbreaks can rapidly spread, costing thousands of lives and billions in economic loss. Ultimately, this threatens global peace and security.
NTI, in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), is developing a GHS Index that provides a public benchmarking of global health security conditions. Learning lessons from NTI's Nuclear Security Index, the GHS Index will be a valuable tool for highlighting current needs by individual countries and boosting compliance with international standards for epidemic preparedness. The GHS Index draws from and complements the World Health Organization Joint External Evaluation process and is intended to influence decision-making; motivate regular country commitments, financing, and accountability; and—ultimately—to aid the improvement of pandemic preparedness.
In consultation with an international panel of experts that includes 15 widely respected scientists and public health experts from 12 countries and international organizations including the World Bank, the project team has developed a framework of national indicators for health security. It assesses countries' technical, financial, and political capabilities to prevent, detect, and respond to epidemics with international implications.
Motivating countries to undertake follow-on work to address shortcomings in current health security capabilities.
Members of an International Panel of Experts guiding development of the groundbreaking Global Health Security (GHS) Index held their final meeting in London April 1-3, to discuss the weighting for scheme for the Index indicators.
NTI will track global biosecurity conditions in a Global Health Security Index, with generous new grants from the Open Philanthropy Project and the Robertson Foundation.


Creating a set is another exciting aspect of being a photographer. We have a fun shoot coming up which requires equal amounts of creativity, resourcefulness and good old pen and paper.
Here is my preliminary concept sketch for our shoot which I sent to the art director after our initial conversation. A clear sketch is a useful element because the art director and creative director can see my vision without influencing the style with stock imagery composites. In addition, my clients and I are able to make some notes on it and send it back and forth to the studio for my stylist, set builder and myself to review. Stay tuned for more progress of this shoot and the final images.


Unbelievable. Just how low, how embarrassing, how indecent can the Obama administration make our diplomacy?
Really, do you remember the days during the last presidential campaign when Obama promised to "restore our standing" in the world. Was that a bad joke? A code phrase for "standing on our heads?" Will we have any allies left when these jackasses are done?
You are currently browsing the Public Secrets blog archives for the day Friday, February 18th, 2011.


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Хле́вное — село в Липецкой области. Административный центр Хлевенского района и Хлевенского сельсовета.

География
 Климат

История
Основано в 1630-е годы. Название — по Хлевному бояраку, упоминаемому в документах 1629 года. Здесь до этого были помещения (хлевы) для скота, от которых и получил название «боярак» (овраг).

В документах 1676 года село названо Подхлевно (то есть находящимся «под хлевами»). В то время в нём было 60 дворов. Владели селом помещики Ефановы.

В начале XXI века перед зданием районной администрации провели благоустройство пруда, устроили фонтаны и цветники.

Население

Транспорт

Через Хлевное проходит старая автотрасса «Дон» . В конце XX — начале XXI века  была построена новая автотрасса М-4, которая проходит на расстоянии 5 км от села. На трассе есть участок 19,8 км, проезд по которому платный.

С автостанции следуют автобусы до Липецка, Воронежа, сёл Хлевенского района. Также через Хлевное курсируют транзитные автобусы: Воронеж – Москва, Воронеж – Новомосковск, Воронеж – Липецк, Курск – Липецк, Воронеж – Орёл, Воронеж – Тула, Воронеж – Ефремов и другие.

Инфраструктура
 Улицы

 50 лет Октября пер.
 50 лет Октября ул.
 8 Марта ул.
 9 Мая ул.
 Береговая ул.
 Берёзовая ул.
 Буслова ул.
 Гагарина пер.
 Гагарина ул.
 Газовая ул.
 Горбунова ул.
 Гуляева ул.
 Дон пер.
 Дон ул.
 Донская ул.
 Дорожная ул.
 Жукова ул.
 Зелёная ул.
 Ивана Кожедуба ул.
 Интернациональная ул.
 Комсомольская ул.
 Красная ул.
 Красноармейская ул.
 Кретинина ул.
 Культуры пер.
 Кутузова ул.
 Ленинская ул.
 Лесная ул.
 Липовая ул.
 Ломоносова ул.
 Маршала Егорова ул.
 Матросова ул.
 Мира ул.
 Молодёжная ул.
 Надгорная ул.
 Нахимова ул.
 Некрасова ул.
 Никитинская ул.
 Октябрьская ул.
 Парковая ул.
 Победы пр-кт
 Победы ул.
 Покрышкина ул.
 Полевая ул.
 Призаводская ул.
 Прогресс ул.
 Пролетарская ул.
 Пугачёва ул.
 Пушкина ул.
 Революции пр-кт
 Рябиновая ул.
 Садовая ул.
 Свободы ул.
 Сиреневый б-р
 Советская ул.
 Солнечная ул.
 Сосновая ул.
 Степана Разина ул.
 Степная ул.
 Строителей ул.
 Суворова ул.
 Тенистая ул.
 Тухачевского ул.
 Февральская ул.
 Фрунзе ул.
 Чапаева ул.
 Энергетиков ул.
 Юбилейная ул.
 Южная ул.

Галерея

См. также

 Ефановы — древний русский дворянский род

Примечания

Населённые пункты Хлевенского района
Районные центры Липецкой области
Ефановы

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Watch the rocking 'Asmita Theatre group' performing at One Billion Rising 2015. Please note that this is not the whole recording.
Watch this band sing at One Billion Rising 2015. Please note that this is not the whole recording.
50+ REASONS WHY I'M A...FEMINIST?


Tens of thousands of protesters have descended on Tahrir to join and support hundreds of campers who have staged a sit-in in the square since the beginning of the month. For four hours angry crowds voiced dissatisfaction and resentment towards both the government of Prime Minister Esaam Sharaf and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which has ruled the country since the ousting of former President Mubarak in February.
The protesters charged that both the government and SCAF have been extremely slow in meeting the basic demands of the revolution that brought them to power. The most glaring failure remained the fact than more than five months after the overthrow of Mubarak, the deposed dictator had yet to be brought to trial, while the men responsible for the murder of nearly a thousand peaceful protesters, as well as the serious injury of thousands of others have yet to be held to account. Indeed, many of these men still held their posts in the police hierarchy.
The government's inability to prosecute officers accused of killing and injuring thousands of protesters in the January 25th uprising against the former dictator topped the list of grievances protesters brought to the square. At one end of the square, one young woman in her early 20s led a group of 200 protesters in chanting against the slow pace of trials for Mubarak, his family and other symbols of corruption over the last few months. At the other end of Tahrir, a middle-aged professional told crowds that he and many others have lost faith in SCAF and its repeated pledges to uphold the goals and slogans of the revolution.
Simultaneously, tens of thousands staged protests and marches in other cities, including Alexandria, Mansoura and Suez.
The revolution's supporters were also angered by the administration's neglect of the question of "social justice," which was among the top three slogans of the revolution. They objected to the approval of a budget perceived as glaringly in favour of the rich, crafted at the expense of middle and lower income groups – this in a country where 40 per cent of the population live on $2 a day.


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We ensure to have industry expertise in our consultants.
Strong long term relationships with our clients and candidates. This relationship continues even if we are not actively working with them.


A staff member at a seaside amusement became a have-a-go firefighter on Wednesday night (March 28) as he tackled a heater fire.
At approximately 9.25pm, a staff member of Stardust Amusements, based on South Road in Brean, discovered the heater above the main doors had stopped working and burst into flames.
A staff member removed the heater unit from the wall and used a fire extinguisher to subdue the fire.
The arcade remained open throughout the incident which lasted for a matter of minutes.
Witness Karl Newman said: "The heater above one of the main doors burst into flames.
"Staff managed to put the fire out using CO2. The amusement was full of burning plastic smell.
"It was isolated within minutes."
A manager for Stardust Amusements confirmed the arcade was open on Thursday morning (March 28).
Did you see the fire at Stardust Amusements? Do you have any photos or video of the incident? Let me know at michael.taylor@trinitymirror.com or tweet me at @JournoMikeT.


Kitchen Island Ideas For Small Kitchens Tags : Dashingkitchen Arrangement Ideasthat Challenge Your Opinion Stunningbest Kitchen Remodelsyou Need To See To Believe Prettykitchen Decoration Tipsthat Will Save You Some Time. Quainthome Kitchen Ideas.
Braylee Giles Kitchen design ideas, 2018-09-10 16:55:10. If you want more space to move around with while working you may add and assign extra space for a work area like chopping, slicing and dicing area especially for times when your kitchen will be very busy. This also proves helpful so you will have a view of where to place electrical outlets, as commonly is the overlooked aspect. You may also wish to provide a room for a separate pantry and an area dedicated for office work. Ensure also the lighting design especially your work areas. Take note of the appliances that you will be using and have the correct measurement of each including your cabinets. To give you ease and accuracy in planning your kitchen, try using a kitchen design software. There are various templates of designs that help you to create your dream kitchen.
Amya Johnson Kitchen design ideas, 2018-07-21 19:49:27. It is suggestive to maintain a proper distance between the sink, hob and place for appliances.
Amya Johnson Kitchen design ideas, 2018-09-16 00:26:19. In preparing your professional kitchen design ideas, you first need to measure you kitchen and consider its shape to see if it can accommodate everything that you will need. Select the places you will have the new professional items that you would like to have installed. Keep in mind that what you would like cannot always be had as there may not be room for it all. You should have alternative kitchen design ideas minus those nice but least important items.
Reina Wright Kitchen design ideas, 2018-09-16 02:56:20. Before starting, the general theme of the entire house has to be kept in mind while deciding on the kitchen design ideas. This is to ensure that the kitchen mergers in with the rest of the house.
Angelique Clemons Kitchen design ideas, 2018-09-16 19:25:03. You love to cook and the most important room in the house, to you, is your kitchen. But, not only do you cook, bake and preserve food for your family, you also cook for friends and neighbors for their special occasions. You thought perhaps a catering business will be nice to have since you already sell your preserved foods. However, your kitchen cannot accommodate a catering service as it is now. You will need a professional kitchen which will require some kitchen design ideas and ultimately, a kitchen renovation.


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Hitchhiking Guide by country…
Day 92: Badass Albanians – Durrës, Albania
by RichMc
King Zog
King Zog, ruler of Albania from 1928–1939 was once shot as he entered parliament, once in the hand and again in the hip. The assembled leaders of Albania were aghast as Zog calmly sat down at his table to continue working.
"Such things happen often," said Zog, puffing on one of his 200-a-day cigarettes, "we cannot tell when or where and therefore let us take the matter calmly."
During another of the 55 documented attempts made on his life, King Zog I, pulled out a pistol of his own and fired back – to this day, and probably forever, the only known world leader to have done so.
This badass attitude pervades the Albanian spirit. It is everywhere you look. Albania is like the rebellious teenager of Europe but unlike James Dean's archetypal role, the Albanians are rebels with a cause.
The Albanian response to draconian, or hardships invariably provides an example of Zogesk badassry.
Despite the state banning art in the 60s, the Albanians plastered the public spaces with colourful street art and funky cartoon characters. Despite Albania being proclaimed as the first atheist state in the world, they produce Mother Teresa, the most recognisable religious figure in modern times.
My favourite example of Albania's Zogesk attitude is the fact that there is no McDonalds in the country. There is, however, a fast-food restaurant called Kolonat which serves burgers, fries, chicken nuggets etc… When I saw the logo that Kolonat uses I burst out laughing in the street. A more flagrant example of brazen impudence you will not see. You have to love Albania all the more for it.
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WWE: CM Punk Achieves Another Big Milestone in WWE History
After celebrating one full calendar year as the reigning WWE Champion on November 19, CM Punk has achieved another major milestone in WWE Championship history as, as of this coming Monday, Punk will have surpassed the late, great "Macho Man" Randy Savage to become the seventh longest reigning WWE Champion in history. Monday, November 26 will mark CM Punk's 372nd day as the WWE Champion, beating out Randy Savage, who held the title for 371 days from March 27, 1988 to April 2, 1989. It will not be long before Punk achieves his next milestone as, ten days from today, Punk will surpass his longtime rival, John Cena, and have the sixth longest reign of all-time with 381 days as champion. With four weeks still remaining until the WWE TLC pay-per-view, it seems very likely that Punk will be earning this honor as well. To see where CM Punk stands in WWE Title history, here is the top 10 longest reigning WWE Champions of all-time (as of November 26, 2012):
Bruno Sammartino: 2,803 days (117 days short of an 8-year reign)
Bob Backlund: 2,135 days (55 days short of a 6-year reign)
Hulk Hogan: 1,474 days (4 years, 2 weeks)
Bruno Sammartino (second reign): 1,237 days (3 years, 142 days)
Pedro Morales: 1,027 days (68 days short of a 3-year reign)
John Cena (third reign): 380 days (1 year, 2 weeks, and 1 day)
CM Punk (second reign): 372 days (1 year, 1 week, and counting)
Randy Savage: 371 days (1 year, 6 days)
Billy Graham: 296 days (69 days short of a one-year reign)
Ultimate Warrior: 293 days (66 days short of a one-year reign)
How long do you think CM Punk will hold the WWE Title? Post your comments in the box below.
until the royal rumble when rock wins.


text:
Tag: 2011 movies
July 25, 2018 July 26, 2018 Dan Seeger Film
Then Playing — Four Impossible Missions
Given that he emerged as a movie star in the nineteen-eighties, the era when sequels emerged as Hollywood's favorite toy, it's remarkable that Tom Cruise was a solid twenty years into his screen career before he appeared in a film with a roman numeral in the title. Only The Color of Money qualified as a second installment, and that was hardly an eager cash-in on a recent hit. Cruise instead built his filmography like an old school cinematic icon, playing endless variants on his signature persona without ever actually repeating a role.
Whatever kept him from signing on for sequels, it wasn't until he had a greater stake in the production that he opted for a project that was transparently an attempt at launching a series. The first Mission: Impossible film was also Cruise's first producing credit, though he surely didn't foresee that he'd still be donning Ethan Hunt's masks over twenty years later.
I'm certain I will write about the sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible series in the coming weeks, and I at least touched up the prior entry in this space. The mission I now choose to accept is to complete the set.
Mission: Impossible (Brian De Palma, 1996). The introduction of Ethan Hunt and the team within the U.S. government's Impossible Missions Force arrived when studios were ransacking the big bin of old TV concepts with vigor, inspired in part by the surprise success of the big screen take on The Fugitive, released in 1993. Employing a distinctive director like Brian De Palma suggested a commitment to making the film a little more interesting than the average generic action outing, even if the filmmaker was still recovering from his consensus career nadir (he was coming off a minor comeback hit with Carlito's Way, but The Bonfire of the Vanities was still visible in his rear view). No matter the hopes and intent, the finished product is shockingly drab. Characteristically, De Palma is only enlivened by his few set pieces, and the film's script (credited to David Koepp, Steve Zaillian, and Robert Towne) is devoid of wit, unless Emilio Estevez capping an explanation of the detonation of a explosive device by saying, "Hasta lasagna, don't get any on ya" counts. (Note: It does not count.) Worse yet, the implausibilities peppered throughout play like lazy storytelling instead of a delight in the physically absurd that would someday be the most endearing hallmark of the series.
Mission: Impossible II (John Woo, 2000). A curious trait of the first few Mission: Impossible films is that the personnel involved hint at aspirations towards grand action lunacy that somehow didn't quite make it to the screen. John Woo was presumably hired on the strength of Face/Off, in which characters played by John Travolta and Nicolas Cage undergoing and entirely convincing surgical transplant of their respective visages might be the least delirious bit of invention among the kinetic loop-the-loops. Again, though, so little of the final effort is actually compelling. There's a biological weapon at play, along with the inevitable antidote that must be secured to keep the world — and a lovely thief, played by Thandie Newton — out of peril. The script again isn't good, but Woo's direction is more problematic, relying on visual symbols and hyperbolic editing techniques that were already growing tired.
Mission: Impossible III (J.J. Abrams, 2006). The third volume of the cinematic set serves as the big screen directorial debut of J.J. Abrams, who had just wrapped five seasons of the TV spy romp Alias. Accordingly, he sometimes packs a few weeks worth of gotcha twists into the film without realizing he hasn't got the time to develop the characters and situations enough to make the surprises impactful. Even so, this is the first film that burbles up with some of gonzo energy to come, with why-the-hell-not details like an stealth excursion into Vatican City and bombs as brain implants. Nabbing Philip Seymour Hoffman to play the chief villain seemed like a major coup at the time (it's technically his follow-up to Capote), but the acting great signals his disinterest throughout.
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird, 2011). When Ghost Protocol arrived, the inclusion of Jeremy Renner made it seem as if Paramount was easing Cruise out in favor of the younger star, who was already an Avenger and was tapped to take over for Matt Damon in the Bourne films. Instead, Cruise is positively rejuvenated. For the first time, Ethan Hunt is a distinctive character rather than a cipher. And he has flashes of fallibility — not quite making it cleanly through an open window of a daring swoop from the outside of a skyscraper, for instance — heightening the thrill of the stunts. It's a basic and yet underused strategy in action films. Watching Indiana Jones nurse his wounds in a ship's cabin or John McClane painfully pick shards of glass out of his feet serves to make the adventure more exciting, not less. Largely putting aside the projection of gleaming invulnerability found in his earlier action performance, Cruise favors a weariness that makes him significantly more interesting. Brad Bird, making his first live action film after a trio of animated triumphs, proves as adept with action staging when he's working with human beings rather than cels or computer programs. The closing scramble for a metal suitcase that can disable a launched nuclear missile, staged in a massive parking garage with constantly moving car elevators, is a joyful marvel. It took four tries, but finally everyone involved figured out that these movies, above all else, should be relentlessly fun.
July 31, 2017 Dan Seeger Film
Playing Catch-Up — Citizen Jane: Battle for the City; Concussion; The Debt
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City (Matt Tyrnauer, 2017). This documentary is the sort of non-fiction filmmaking that willingly, happily tips toward hagiographic agitprop, treating its central figure as a beam of inspiring light rather than a complicated person. As is usually the case with such endeavors, mileage will vary. My own political inclinations make me inclined to appreciate the spirited rabble-rousing of Jane Jacobs, who picked up her lance in the nineteen-sixties and tilted at the windmill of Robert Moses, the figure who spent decades controlling most urban planning efforts in New York City. Her story is that of democracy in its most boisterous, hardscrabble form, fighting callous or indifferent power with the shield and sword of collective refusal to bend. Tyrnauer tell the story effectively, interlacing archival footage and modern-day interview testimonials to give the impression that Jacobs almost single-handedly kept some of the most disruptive projects from moving forward. And Moses makes for a fine villain, repeatedly meeting news cameras with caustic dismissals of impoverished citizens that could have been put in the mouth a sneering silent movie fiend. All his missing is a oily, curled mustache and a looming top hat. I think Citizen Jane would be a better film if Tyrnauer were more even-handed in his appraisal of the skirmishes between Jacobs and the Moses-led system. But even if he's made more of a heated editorial than a film, at least it's soundly convincing.
Concussion (Peter Landesman, 2015). As the recent blockbuster article from The New York Times proved, the problem of players hobbled later in life by the long-lasting effects of multiple concussions isn't going away for the NFL anytime soon. This drama depicts one of the key starting point to the rumbling scandal. A Pittsburgh-area pathologist (Will Smith) is called upon to perform the autopsy on a former Steelers great (David Morse) who died in a decrepit state, alone in a pickup truck. Through his research, he discovers evidence of enduring and escalating brain damage, evidently caused by years of hard hits on the gridiron. In showing the uphill battle to bring to light unpleasant truths about a fixture of U.S. culture, the film recalls Michael Mann's The Insider. As a cinematic stylist, though, writer-director Peter Landesman lacks both Mann's intensity and panache. The film is too pedestrian to be fully compelling, even if its driving purpose is noble. Smith does a nice job as the doctor, taking care to prevent him from becoming too much of a cardboard crusader. The supporting performers face more of a struggle with roles that fall into overly familiar patterns. Albert Brooks and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have their moments, but poor Mike O'Malley is left to bark our lines of implausibly heightened hostility as a coworker of Smith's doctor. He's then to provide a first-act obstacle and nothing more.
The Debt (John Madden, 2011). A remake of the Israeli film Ha-Hov (which translates to The Debt) this drama follows a trio of Mossad operatives dispatched in the mid-nineteen-sixties to capture an East Berlin doctor (Jesper Christensen) who is suspected of being a Nazi war criminal nicknamed "The Surgeon of Birkenau." Told both in modern day and in flashback, the film takes what initially seems to be a fairly simple story and injects it with some slippery morality. The script and direction both sometimes get a little tedious. This is a plot that cries out for potboiler energy, but all involved are clearly more inclined to keep it all at an inoffensive simmer. The primary appeal is archival, since it contains an early performance by Jessica Chastain. The film made the film festival rounds in 2010, but didn't see theatrical release until the following year, when Chastain rocketed from an unknown to an ubiquitous figure in prestige film fare. She's still finding her way, but is already vividly present in a way that sets her apart from everyone else onscreen, including greats such as Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Ciarán Hinds.
September 7, 2016 Dan Seeger Film
Bernstein with Hooker, Chaplin, Friedkin, Lowery, Taylor
Terminator: Genisys (Alan Taylor, 2015). The reeling lesson of the just completed summer box office season is that the recycled repetition of brand-driven moviemaking may finally be sputtering its last. The ideal case study as to why arrived one year earlier. Arriving six years after the previous attempt at franchise revivification, Terminator: Genisys shows precisely how hollow the endeavor can be. The film trots out a procession of touchstones — familiar lines, restaged scenes, echoed character beats — without a hint of a central vision or an ounce of soul. Director Alan Taylor brings that same sluggish blandness that made Thor: The Dark World the weakest film yet released as an official part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The filmmakers can't even exploit the built-in benefits of an overall time travel storyline that creates endless possibilities for tinkering, instead using it to indulge in narrative switcheroos that obliterate established details and, even worse, defy basic logic. It's nonsense presented as shocking reinvention, mistakenly equating difference with quality.
Everything is Copy (Jacob Bernstein with Nick Hooker, 2016). This examination of the life and career of Nora Ephron is veers between point-by-point documentary and personal essay. The more it skews to the latter, the better it is. Directed by her son Jacob Bernstein (with an assist by Nick Hooker), the film is at its most intriguing when the intimacy of his attention comes through, even when its no more overt than the occasional interview subject referring to "your mom" when talking about Ephron. Simultaneously, the contradictions of Ephron's openness in writing about herself while being highly selective and even secretive about what was shared is introduced without being fully explored, an example of the reticence that naturally comes when making a documentary about family instead of a subject that allows for greater willingness to expose with something that might feel like unkindness but which is actually honesty.
City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931). Could any film that came before this be described as a melancholy comedy? Whether or not Charlie Chaplin finessed a new complexity into the cinematic fabric with this film is certainly up for debate. What's clear is that he firmed up the certainty that his voice was vital and transformative, which would be further cemented by his next feature, the masterful Modern Times. Though City Times has a compelling wholeness and a notable emotional resonance, it's also a clear product of its time, betraying Chaplin's background in two-reelers (as well as the general dominance of those shorter form works). There's an overarching story involving Chaplin's regular tramp character and a romance with a blind flower seller (Virginia Cherill) that's based in part on some inadvertent deception, but the film is also somewhat fragmented, making room for every clever set piece Chaplin devised. The best of the bunch is a boxing match that's a feat of choreography. An artifact of its time, it nonetheless sparks with the enduring thrill of a whole art form being invented on the spot.
Killer Joe (William Friedkin, 2011). This film adaptation of the first play written by Tracy Letts, before he remembered that less twisted depictions of familial discord held the key to official artistic reverence, builds to a cacophony of florid human gruesomeness. Directed by William Friedkin, who previously brought Letts's Bug to the screen, the film is hobbled by a fevered intensity that feels forced, like an overt attempt to demonstrate that the boundary-battering of nineteen-seventies cinema can be transmogrified to suit a more jaded twenty-first century. The basics of the plot are borrowed from dozens of crime drama ancestors: gambling debts, insurance policy, a hit man, and a klatch of seedy people on the edge of desperation. That puts the burden of shock and surprise on the details, leading to an overlong scene with a KFC drumstick. There are some nice performances in the film, led by Thomas Haden Church and Juno Temple, the latter giving a stereotype surprising depth of feeling. Emile Hirsch brings his typical wooden line readings and feigned, needy grittiness to a central role that requires an actor with a stronger sense of craft at hiss disposable. This film was also the starting point for Matthew McConaughey's respectability revival. He's strong through the first half, when the script calls on him to rein in his energy, but when the character pivots to bolder gestures, McConaughey's passion for playing unhinged brings him dangerously close to Nicolas Cage territory.
Ain't Them Bodies Saints (David Lowery, 2013). Director David Lowery can evidently bring a fable-like gentleness to just about any story. Ahead of this year's notably affecting Pete's Dragon, Lowery brought similar care and restraint to a very different story, involving a criminal (Casey Affleck), the woman he loves (Rooney Mara), and a concerned police officer (Ben Foster). There's a love triangle in there, but it's mostly a tale about the grip of the past and the quiet redemption in moving on. Lowery is occasionally so refined and careful in handling the narrative particulars of the piece that he pushes the film toward an emotional aridness. He clearly has a greater investment and corresponding gift in crafting imagery that will convey feeling all on its own. Collaborating with cinematographer Bradford Young, a ringer who's worked on two of Ava DuVernay's features, Lowery delivers enough shots of aching beauty to reasonably invoke comparisons to early Terrence Malick.
Banks, Bergman, Hamilton, Limon, Polanski
1971 (Johanna Hamilton, 2014). Clearly positioned as a history lesson for those who venerate Edward Snowden for his digital freedom fighting in bringing to light information about the U.S. government's shady spying on its own citizens, 1971 focuses in on a break-in at a Pennsylvania FBI office in the year of the title. Those who are shocked by the modern transgressions against privacy can watch this documentary for a bracing reminder that federal crime-fighting agencies are in full-scale same-as-it-ever-was territory, Patriot Act or not. Of course, that doesn't make current abuses acceptable, but the indignation is best shaped as part of a long arc instead of flashpoint ire over supposedly unprecedented betrayal. The film is solid, admirably underplaying its coup, captured on the coattails of the Betty Medsger book that inspired it, of revealing the identities of the perpetrators who remained unnamed for forty years. It unfortunately has the now commonplace indulgence of dramatizing the events for which footage is unavailable and could have better explored the splintered paths followed by the radicals in the decades since their altruistic crime. Overall, though, it makes a case for the value in pushing back against oppressive power structures, especially in a nation that is supposed to be resolutely of the people.
Fair Game (Doug Limon, 2010). This docudrama traces the Bush administration's outing of Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) as an undercover CIA agent, in clear violation of federal law and in a cheap attempt to cover up their own virulent dishonesty in the run-up to the Iraq War. The film is at its best when screenwriters Jez and John Butterworth stick to the plain mechanics of governmental officials and agencies at cross-purposes. It falters nearly everywhere else, as attempts to dramatize the interpersonal conflicts that the tense days stirred up feel leaden and didactic. Watts is strong and believable as Plame, but Sean Penn is clearly coasting as her aggrieved husband, Joseph Wilson. Limon, trying on serious filmmaking as a break from action spectacles, overcompensates for the perceived staidness of the story, too often flopping his camera around in a misguided attempt to create visual dynamism.
The Silence (Ingmar Bergman, 1963). This is Bergman at his chilliest and most emotionally abstract, even though the storyline hints at melodrama. Two sisters (Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom) are traveling, along with the young son (Jörgen Lindström) of one of them, and stop to stay in a fading grand hotel. There are tensions at play, perhaps stirred by immediate stressors (one of the sisters in gravely ill) but more likely the culmination of long-fermenting conflict. Sven Nykvist's cinematography is typically intoxicating in its gloomy beauty, and Bergman was in the midst of his long peak of crafting cinema that defied expectation in its willingness to engage in elusive rumination. Still, the archness of the tone is sometimes a little too distancing, making this comes across as a bit of rough draft for future masterworks.
Carnage (Roman Polanski, 2011). The screen adaptation of Yasmina Reza's stage work (the screenplay is co-credited to the original playwright and Polanski) is a quintessential example of making inert cinema by adamantly refusing to reshape material for a different form. With few exceptions, Polanski opts for structures and staging that could have worked as well in a theater as on a screen. The film could have arguably still been salvaged by strong performances, especially given the impressive stature of the cast assembled. But every last one of them overacts to at least a degree, with Jodie Foster, amazingly enough, the worst offender and Christoph Waltz coming the closest to a respectable turn, if only because the officiousness of his acting actually suits the character. To be fair, the film begins with abounding inherent problems in Reza's story, which is so labored and contrived that it would take a succession of moviemaking miracles to make it emerge as something sharply real.
Pitch Perfect 2 (Elizabeth Banks, 2015). I was hardly enamored with the first screen dance with a capella underdogs the Barden Bellas, but it looks sprightly and heartfelt compared with its witless sequels. The troupe is now three-time defending champs, soaring with diva-esque self-assurance until an accidental act of on-stage lewdness leads to an improbable ban from national collegiate competition, with only a daunting worldwide showcase available as a pathway to retribution. Banks directs with a frenetic indifference to coherently shaping the narrative, not that the screenplay by Kay Cannon (who also wrote the first film) has any evident concern for solid structure or internal consistency. It's a bunch of lackluster ideas and shapeless jokes heedlessly heaped together, as if upended a laundry basket onto a mattress will magically result in a crisply made bed.
June 4, 2015 June 4, 2015 Dan Seeger Film
Greatish Performances #20
#20 — Linda Cardellini as Kelli in Return (Liza Johnson, 2011)
In modern cinematic considerations of war, there is a broad agreement that the emotional aftermath when a soldier reached the homeland is just a brutal and devastating as anything that might have happened when they were deployed. Even a film as supposedly jingoistic and fully enamored with battlefield conquest as the ultimate in heroism as American Sniper needs to acknowledge that the military man whose prowess with a rifle is a such that he get deadly superlatives affixed to his name is going to win up staring blankly at a blank television screen when he's once again become a private citizen. Some of this is undoubtedly attributable to advancing knowledge and corresponding destigmatization of posttraumatic stress, but a more jaded part of myself wonders if a portion of the worthwhile attention might be inspired by the ease of spinning tense drama out of the situation, in much the same way that mourning parents have become the default for grim serialized detective dramas. Heightened emoting will be acceptable, with only the most churlish questioning the accuracy of the moment.
It is the distance from that safe, secure route that distinguishes Linda Cardellini's performance in Return. As Kelli, a National Guard soldier returning to her small town existence after a tour overseas, Cardellini resists any impulse to signal a tremulous, wounded soul, bedazzled by the capitalistic robustness of the United States. She's not primed to go off, nor does she give any indication that she's carrying some deep, dark secret. Kelli's only response to speculation that she must have had it tough over there is a sincere acknowledgement that it was far worse for others. By all indications, this isn't false humility or even deflection. Kelli worked at the base hospital, concentrating on keeping supplies stocked, a safe distance from the nerve-wracking duty depicted in The Hurt Locker. If part of what writer-director is positing is that wartime military service exacts a toll on every single person who serves, no matter how safe their task may, then the film is also wise enough to suggest there are varying levels of damage. In the context of a single life, however, those differentiations don't wipe away the pain.
Without the build to a grueling breakdown scene, Return is reliant on the performance of Cardellini for its impact. She delivers beautifully, largely through carefully calibrating her work to suit the more low-key tragedy. As she tries to settle back into her mundane life, defined the middle class necessities of a husband, kids, and mindlessly straightforward job, the boredom shows, drifting over Cardellini's eyes like a mountain mist coming down. She's no adrenaline junkie, but there's a strong sense that even in her low-level appointment with the National Guard, there was a purpose to her daily existence that her circumstances at home will never meet. The blandness of Kelli's life nags at her, Cardellini gently showing the ways the dissatisfaction slowly builds, even getting at the guilt and other conflicting sensations of not wanting something that is supposed to be her reward. There's a sad questing in her eyes, as if she's in the process of giving up on a version of the American Dream that maybe never made much sense to her to begin with.
It is a performance of great subtlety, scored by the catharsis that refuses to come. In Cardellini's acting, the withdrawn nature of Kelli is no result of trauma. Instead, it's a state of being, potentially triggered by her service, but more likely there all along and only noticed by her loved ones when she didn't fit into their thickly-rendered expectations of how a returning veteran is supposed to act. She doesn't push back as much as she slumps away from conflict, including the one that settles inside her own soul. Cardellini could have easily drawn on pathos to flesh out the character, but she opts for a trickier, more understated truth. She miraculously finds her way into a being that is impenetrable by design and makes her inner uncertainty piercingly present.
Previously….
About Greatish Performances
#1 — Mason Gamble in Rushmore
#2 — Judy Davis in The Ref
#3 — Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca
#4 — Kirsten Dunst in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
#5 — Parker Posey in Waiting for Guffman
#6 — Patricia Clarkson in Shutter Island
#7 — Brad Pitt in Thelma & Louise
#8 — Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
#9 — Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hudsucker Proxy
#10 — Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny
#11 — Nick Nolte in the "Life Lessons" segment of New York Stories
#12 — Thandie Newton in The Truth About Charlie
#13 — Danny Glover in Grand Canyon
#14 — Rachel McAdams in Red Eye
#15 — Malcolm McDowell in Time After Time
#16 — John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch
#17 — Michelle Pfeiffer in White Oleander
#18 — Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady in The Thing
#19 — Eric Bogosian as Barry Champlain in Talk Radio
January 13, 2015 January 13, 2015 Dan Seeger Uncategorized
Ford, Hancock, Huston, McDonagh, Robespierre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948). Huston's famed exploration of greed tainting a slapdash partnership of aspiration gold miners in the Mexican mountains is so deviously ingenious that the director booming cackle virtually echoes through the most feverish scenes. The best Tim Holt can do as the most upstanding, straightforward member of the trio is stay upright against the buffeting winds of Humphrey Bogart, all sweaty paranoia and flash fire intensity, and Walter Huston, delivering a just Oscar-awarded turn as the weather-beaten old-timer whose the one member of the party who's not a neophyte. The film is simultaneously bleakly mean and a comic marvel, flicking away at the spreading rust at the heart of the money-hungry.
My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946). This moody western offers a depiction of the Earp brothers initially unwilling relocation to the town of Tombstone, their upstanding inclinations helping to clean up a lawless town. Henry Fonda plays Wyatt Earp with the sort of lean ease that was his trademark. When he unfolds himself, using a deck post to lean back in an old wooden chair, he looks like a grizzled praying mantis at rest. Much of the story is just another blade on the cycling fan of Hollywood westerns, save maybe for the flintiness in the relationship with Wyatt Earp and "Doc" Holliday (Victor Mature). It's Joseph MacDonald's cinematography that distinguishes the film. Drenched in impossibly black shadows, multiple scenes play out in silhouette or something perilously close to it. That makes My Darling Clementine into a fascinating experiment in setting mood through visual concealment, a fairly daring choice for a director with rare skill for unfussy narrative mechanics.
The Guard (John Michael McDonagh, 2011). In its simplest interpretation, The Guard is just another variant on the shopworn buddy cop film standard, pairing temperamentally mismatched lawmen on a case that is more complicated than it appears. One in uncouth and the other is rigid and by-the-book. The even have the markedly different shades of skin, adhering to the preferred casting methodology in place since at least 48 Hrs. Two elements of the film make the difference. One is the performance by Brendan Gleeson as the slobby Irish cop who reluctantly works with a visiting FBI agent (Don Cheadle). The other is the precise sense of place and culture fostered by McDonagh. It is a quality that pushes the creation past smarts to something approaching wisdom, proving that even the most familiar material can feel fully reinvented if it plays out with an attentiveness to the world in which it is set. The Guard's mechanics may be tropes, but it comes across as a film that could have only been made in one place, in one way.
Saving Mr. Banks (John Lee Hancock, 2013). There's probably a decent movie that lasts, say, around 100 minutes lurking within this bloated stab at genial prestige. Depicting the arduous process of taking Mary Poppins, the creation of author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), from book to screen, the film has some nice moments that capture the pleasures of the creative process (a brief scene showing a key development in the writing of the song "A Spoonful of Sugar" is emblematic of what the film could've been). The march to the screen was made especially tough by the persistent dissatisfaction and combativeness of Travers, who resisted any cheerful, Disney-esque softening of her creation. The portion of the film that resides at the studios still presided over by Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) are agreeable if imperfect, shaped by the game but ultimately unconvincing portrayals of Thompson and Hanks. The real problem is that the film goes dead anytime tit cycles back to one of the the plentiful flashbacks to the youth of Travers, raised in hardscrabble Australia by a depressed mother (Ruth Wilson) and joyfully childlike but mentally unbalanced father (Colin Farrell). The background that could have been handled in a few deft strokes instead plays out as a sort of parallel film, a really dull one.
Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre, 2014). Robespierre's expansion of her 2011 short film garnered hefty praise for its frankness in dealing with abortion as an undesirable but realistic option in a woman's life, earning further agog marveling because it did so as a sharp-edged comedy. That's a significant part of its surprising artfulness, but dwelling on that as the film's signal achievement requires a fairly superficial reading of what's on screen. Jenny Slate plays a struggling New York City comedian whose rebound one night stand leaves her with a pregnancy that she never doubts she will terminate through the medical procedure that's been constitutionally protected for over forty years. Simultaneously, much of the rest of her life is crumbling around her. Besides the demolished romance, her day job is going away and even a paycheck to paycheck existence requires a lot of agonizing stretching between the two points. Robespierre pulls it together with a vibrantly alive, caustically witty tone, correctly relying on the charismatic, lived-in, and wildly expressive performance of Slate. A couple moments of cartoonish, fantastical absurdity are the only minor mars on an otherwise roundly winning film.
June 24, 2014 Dan Seeger Film
Faxon and Rash, Kasdan, Lloyd, Lord and Miller, Snyder
Darling Companion (Lawrence Kasdan, 2012). I've got loads of residual affection for writer-director Lawrence Kasdan, but he sure doesn't make it easy to be one of his defenders these days. Darling Companion was his first film in nearly decade, following the appallingly bad Stephen King adaptation Dreamcatcher. It doesn't make an argument that he used his creative downtime wisely. As wispy of a film concept as anyone's likely to come across, Kasdan's story (co-written with his wife, Meg Kasdan) concerns an older couple who adopt a stray dog and then lose that new furry family member in the woods around their Colorado vacation cabin. And that's about it. There are different personal conflicts and evolving relationships at play among the extended group of family and friends staying with them at the cabin, mildly heightened by the stress of the absent pet, but they have no depth or bite. Kasdan assembles a stacked cast that includes Kevin Kline, Diane Keaton, Dianne Wiest, Richard Jenkins, and, in a dinky part that could heave been written in its entirety on the back of a PetSmart receipt, Elisabeth Moss, causing my partner-in-all-things to refer to the movie as "interesting actors doing uninteresting things." She's spot-on.
Man of Steel (Zack Snyder, 2013). The kindest thing I can say about Zack Snyder's reboot of Bryan Singer's reboot of the adventures of the original superhero and the last son of Krypton is the director's worst tics, the stuff that makes other entries in his filmography downright unwatchable, are largely tamed. The oppressive slo-mo and fetishistic sexualization of everything in sight may be gone, but Snyder still has an evident love of the garishly bombastic. By all evidence, he values cool shots over all else, which could be acceptable if his version of striking visuals wasn't mired in some bizarre arrested development version of thought and creativity. Everything across the film's overlong running time comes across as the very first idea presented that made Snyder helplessly mutter, "Killer." It's a rough draft of awesomeness. It's also incredibly boring, proof that bigger sometimes leads to nothing more than bludgeoning excess. No one in the cast distinguishes themselves, but special scorn is necessary for Russell Crowe's amateurish shouting as Jor-El, Superman's pop from across the universe.
The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd, 2011). I read recently that Phyllida Lloyd maintains she was being completely deliberate with the hacky, cheesy elements of her directing job on the dreadful big-screen jukebox musical Mamma Mia! I wonder, then, what her excuse for the same bumbling, ham-fisted approach to staging and developing insight that crops up in her presumably serious attempt at making a biopic of legendary, controversial U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Played by Meryl Streep (and, for a surprisingly amount of time, Alexandra Roach), Thatcher is ultimately more of a witness to history than she is a shaper of it. Her vaunted steeliness–which gives the film it's very title–is in evidence in only the most facile way, in scenes that play like weak tea drama. Streep finally won her third Oscar for her performance here, but the work was basically incidental. With far more nominations than any other actor, she was going to get rewarded again, and the time had simply come. It's not a bad performance, but nothing really distinguishes it from boilerplate docudrama either.
The Way Way Back (Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, 2013). The writing team that got to stand near Alexander Payne as he gave a speech when they all won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for The Descendants may have been obscured in his heavy auteur shadow, but at least they got to leverage that experience into making their directorial debut. Supposedly pulled somewhat from the youthful experiences of co-director Jim Rash, the film is a fairly standard-issue slice-of-life, coming-of-age movie, settling into a crummy water park to help give it some added flavor. The film has its moments, many directly attributable to Sam Rockwell doing his Sam Rockwell thing as a mentor of mild ill repute the youthful protagonist (Liam James) gravitates to at the park. Rash and Nat Faxon pull the whole thing together with a reasonable skill and an eye for the occasional telling moment or side detail. It could use some more storytelling meat to make it seem like it has a real reason for being as a film.
The Lego Movie (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 2014). I think some of the heady praise doled out to The Lego Movie is an indication that a lot of critics were rounding up, but it's hard to deny that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller spun up art from the unlikeliest clay. Or, rather, plastic. Just as they've done in the Jump Street films, the pair sidestep the pitfalls of crassly conceived material by calling attention to the shallowness of it all, creating by explicitly pointing out how they're creating it, cheekily mocking all the inherent contradictions and compromises along the way. It's remarkable that a condemnation of Lego's current business model of ready-made construction kits is one of the less subversive elements of the film. It's occasionally a little sloppy and the pathos of the very weird third act twist sits a little awkwardly against the rest of the movie's wild energy, but the filmmakers deserve credit for seeing their vision through to its logical endpoint. I wonder how deep they got into the filmmaking process before they were sure–really, really sure–no one was going to take it away from them.


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Q: Questions regarding wordpress I am a developer who has never used wordPress before and just had a couple of questions about creating a custom theme

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*To create a specific look to a website do I create a static design then inter grate it with wordpress and add the dynamic content where it needs to be added?

*If you create a custom theme how do you make it dynamic rather then being static? When I switch themes I loose the all the appearance menu options such as (menu, widget, header and background) How do i create them?

*For stuff like image carousels if I want the images to be dynamic do I create a widget for it in the functions.php file?

*For all the text on the page do I just spit that out thru the visual editor?  seems to break links when editing

*What are starter themes?
Sorry I am quite new to Wordpress but have knowledge in html, css, js and php but I just struggle to understand how to integrate a custom design and make it all dynamic

A: *

*As a first step to create a basic new template I would recommend you starting with one of the default WP themes (e.g. Twenty Fifteen), leave all the core files (they contain dynamic parts e.g. functions loading header/footer/content) and just customize the css files and images. Further customization would require changing code in php files (e.g. header.php for the header, index.php for the homepage, single.php for the article page, etc.)

*It is true that some options related to header, background, etc. can be theme dependant, so when you change it the configuration gets lost, but the others like menus and widgets remain like they are when switching themes.

*Yes, for stuff like carousels you usually have to use custom widgets and plugins, you can find some really good ones on the web (e.g. this one), so you just upload the images and apply configuration in the backend.

*Yes you use the WordPress editor (as you see it has Visual and HTML view) for all the user content within the pages and posts. Broken links might be cause of using relative paths, just make sure they are complete.

*As mentioned in the first point you can always start with the default WordPress themes like Twenty Thirteen, Twenty Fourteeen, Twenty Fifteen etc.


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Q: How to fill in interior in a mesh region Say I have a mesh region which encloses a region. How do I get a mesh region where this region is filled? Take for example the meshregion below:
reg=MeshRegion[List[List[1.`,0.`],List[2.`,0.`],List[3.`,0.`],List[4.`,0.`],List[5.`,0.`],List[4.5`,2.5`],List[0.5`,2.5`],List[2.5`,0.5`],List[2.5`,4.5`],List[5.`,1.`],List[5.`,2.`],List[5.`,3.`],List[5.`,4.`],List[5.`,5.`],List[4.`,5.`],List[3.`,5.`],List[2.`,5.`],List[1.`,5.`],List[0.`,5.`],List[0.`,4.`],List[0.`,3.`],List[0.`,2.`],List[0.`,1.`],List[0.`,0.`],List[5.`,6.`],List[5.`,7.`],List[5.`,8.`],List[4.9`,7.`],List[4.`,8.`],List[0.5`,5.`]],List[Polygon[List[List[23,24,1],List[7,22,23],List[1,2,8],List[3,8,2],List[1,8,23],List[7,23,8],List[21,7,20],List[7,21,22],List[30,19,20],List[20,7,9],List[20,18,30],List[18,20,9],List[17,18,9],List[9,16,17],List[8,3,4],List[6,4,10],List[10,4,5],List[15,9,6],List[10,11,6],List[12,13,6],List[11,12,6],List[6,13,15],List[16,9,15],List[29,28,27],List[15,25,28],List[14,25,15],List[26,27,28],List[25,26,28],List[15,13,14],List[6,8,4]]]]]

Note that the mesh region is not concave and I want to preserve that so taking the convex hull is not solving the issue.
Related I would like to know how to get the filled mesh region of everything to a certain side of a mesh (until some cut-off).

The requested outputs would in this case be something matching: (but of course automatized)
Region@RegionUnion[reg, Rectangle[{0, 0}, {5, 5}]]

and the completion to the right (with cut-off 10)
Region@RegionUnion[reg, Rectangle[{0, 0}, {5, 5}],  Rectangle[{5, 0}, {10, 8}]]

completion to above
Region@RegionUnion[reg, Rectangle[{0, 0}, {5, 5}],
  Rectangle[{0, 0}, {10, 10}]]

I would like to also fill holes in cases that the boundary to the outside is a point. See for example the following region:
MeshRegion[List[List[1.`,0.`],List[2.`,0.`],List[3.`,0.`],List[4.`,0.`],List[5.`,0.`],List[4.5`,2.5`],List[0.5`,2.5`],List[2.5`,0.5`],List[2.5`,4.5`],List[5.`,1.`],List[5.`,2.`],List[5.`,3.`],List[5.`,4.`],List[5.`,5.`],List[4.`,5.`],List[3.`,5.`],List[2.`,5.`],List[1.`,5.`],List[0.`,5.`],List[0.`,4.`],List[0.`,3.`],List[0.`,2.`],List[0.`,1.`],List[0.`,0.`],List[5.`,6.`],List[5.`,7.`],List[5.`,8.`],List[4.9`,7.`],List[4.`,8.`],List[0.5`,5.`]],List[Polygon[List[List[23,24,1],List[7,22,23],List[1,2,8],List[3,8,2],List[21,7,20],List[7,21,22],List[30,19,20],List[20,18,30],List[17,18,9],List[9,16,17],List[8,3,4],List[10,4,5],List[10,11,6],List[12,13,6],List[11,12,6],List[16,9,15],List[29,28,27],List[14,25,15],List[26,27,28],List[25,26,28],List[15,13,14]]]]];

A: One idea is to convert the MeshRegion to a BoundaryMeshRegion, and then to extract the bounding polygon. Your MeshRegion:
reg = MeshRegion[
    {
    {1.,0.},{2.,0.},{3.,0.},{4.,0.},{5.,0.},{4.5,2.5},{0.5,2.5},{2.5,0.5},
    {2.5,4.5},{5.,1.},{5.,2.},{5.,3.},{5.,4.},{5.,5.},{4.,5.},{3.,5.},
    {2.,5.},{1.,5.},{0.,5.},{0.,4.},{0.,3.},{0.,2.},{0.,1.},{0.,0.},
    {5.,6.},{5.,7.},{5.,8.},{4.9,7.},{4.,8.},{0.5,5.}
    },
    {Polygon[{
        {23,24,1},{7,22,23},{1,2,8},{3,8,2},{1,8,23},{7,23,8},{21,7,20},
        {7,21,22},{30,19,20},{20,7,9},{20,18,30},{18,20,9},{17,18,9},
        {9,16,17},{8,3,4},{6,4,10},{10,4,5},{15,9,6},{10,11,6},{12,13,6},
        {11,12,6},{6,13,15},{16,9,15},{29,28,27},{15,25,28},{14,25,15},
        {26,27,28},{25,26,28},{15,13,14},{6,8,4}
    }]
    }
];

The equivalent BoundaryMeshRegion:
boundary = BoundaryMesh[reg]

Extract the bounding polygon:
p = First @ boundary["BoundaryPolygons"];

Visualization:
Region @ p

A: First, let's write the data like this:
coords = {{1.`, 0.`}, {2.`, 0.`}, {3.`, 0.`}, {4.`, 0.`}, {5.`,
    0.`}, {4.5`, 2.5`}, {0.5`, 2.5`}, {2.5`, 0.5`}, {2.5`,
    4.5`}, {5.`, 1.`}, {5.`, 2.`}, {5.`, 3.`}, {5.`, 4.`}, {5.`,
    5.`}, {4.`, 5.`}, {3.`, 5.`}, {2.`, 5.`}, {1.`, 5.`}, {0.`,
    5.`}, {0.`, 4.`}, {0.`, 3.`}, {0.`, 2.`}, {0.`, 1.`}, {0.`,
    0.`}, {5.`, 6.`}, {5.`, 7.`}, {5.`, 8.`}, {4.9`, 7.`}, {4.`,
    8.`}, {0.5`, 5.`}};
poly = Polygon[{{23, 24, 1}, {7, 22, 23}, {1, 2, 8}, {3, 8, 2}, {1, 8,
      23}, {7, 23, 8}, {21, 7, 20}, {7, 21, 22}, {30, 19, 20}, {20, 7,
      9}, {20, 18, 30}, {18, 20, 9}, {17, 18, 9}, {9, 16, 17}, {8, 3,
     4}, {6, 4, 10}, {10, 4, 5}, {15, 9, 6}, {10, 11, 6}, {12, 13,
     6}, {11, 12, 6}, {6, 13, 15}, {16, 9, 15}, {29, 28, 27}, {15, 25,
      28}, {14, 25, 15}, {26, 27, 28}, {25, 26, 28}, {15, 13, 14}, {6,
      8, 4}}];

We need to get the coordinates into 3D to use RepairMesh so we can fill the hole:
reg = MeshRegion[Append[#, 0] & /@ coords, poly];

Then we fill the hole. Notice how the mesh has a quite poor triangulation, even though it filled the hole properly:
filled = RepairMesh[reg, "HoleEdges"]

So we'll rectify that by getting it back into 2D and re-discretizing it. We'll get the polygons and drop the z coordinates, then convert to a Graphics and finally call DiscretizeGraphics:
gr = Graphics[Polygon[#[[1, All, 1 ;; 2]]] & /@ MeshPrimitives[filled, 2]];
(* re-descretize to get new clean mesh *)
DiscretizeGraphics@gr

This cleans up some of the triangulation issues, but there's still a problem. The faces that filled the hole are actually on top of the 2D mesh and not well connected. Any region operations on this mesh could produce spurious lines and connectivity issues. Unfortunately, Mathematica doesn't provide a way to set a tolerance in RegionUnion, otherwise I would have just union'd all the polygons to begin with.
To fix this I can rasterize the graphics first at a very high resolution and then use ImageMesh:
gr = Rasterize[
   Graphics[{White,
     Polygon[#[[1, All, 1 ;; 2]]] & /@ MeshPrimitives[filled, 2]},
    Background -> Black], ImageSize -> {2048, 2048}];
(* re-descretize to get cleaner mesh *)
GraphicsRow[{ImageMesh[gr], TriangulateMesh@ImageMesh[gr]}]

Note 1: Using the rasterize approach will cause the scale to change uniformly. If you need the original scale, you will need to use FindGeometricTransform on some select boundary points to find the scale/translate matrix that returns the region to the original size.
Note 2: The geometry produced by RepairMesh is not very good and introduces some extra polygons that shouldn't be there as shown below.

You could also accomplish the filling using the raster method using this much simpler one-liner:
reg = MeshRegion[coords, poly];
ImageMesh@
 FillingTransform[
  Graphics[{White, reg, ImageSize -> {2048, 2048}},
   Background -> Black]]

It's also possible to create a Graph of the RegionBoundary and find connected component subgraphs, then use FindShortestTour to get their polygons. This approach seems better to me because there's no scaling problems and it also gives you both the hole and the filled outer polygon:
reg = MeshRegion[coords, poly];
gr = Graph[
   MeshPrimitives[RegionBoundary[reg], 1] /.
    Line[x_] :> UndirectedEdge @@ x];

With[{cgc = ConnectedGraphComponents[gr]},
 Graphics[{Thick,
   Riffle[
    RandomColor[
     Length[cgc]], (EdgeList[#] /.
        UndirectedEdge[x_, y_] :> Line[{x, y}]) & /@ cgc]}]
 ]
polys = Polygon[Last[FindShortestTour[#]]] & /@
  ConnectedGraphComponents[gr]
MeshRegion[polys[[1]]]