text:
Q: Formatting answers to correct number of significant digits in C For example, if the user inputs two numbers such as 12.5 and 101.2, after doing some calculations the program would return a number with 3 sigfigs since 12.5 has the least amount of significant digits.
I would first need to determine how many sigfigs each number has, and then use format specifiers in the printf statement to return the answer using sigfig rules. I know that you can restrict it to a specific number of decimal places using something like
printf(".2f",ans);

but how can I restrict it to a specific number of digits?
Here's an example of a simple calculation you could make taking significant figures into account.
user inputs 12.5, 101.2
ans=101.2+12.5
return 114

The answer would normally be 113.7, but since 12.5 only has 3 significant digits the program would have to round it to 114.

A: One of printf() format specifiers %g has possibility to specify maximum number of significant digits. From C11 (N1570 draft) 7.21.6.1/4 (emphasis mine):

An optional precision that gives the minimum number of digits to
  appear for the d, i, o, u, x, and X conversions, the number of digits
  to appear after the decimal-point character for a, A, e, E, f, and F
  conversions, the maximum number of significant digits for the g and G
  conversions, ...

Thus in your case it's possible to restrict result into three significant digits like:
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
    double ans = 101.2 + 12.5;

    printf("%.3g\n", ans);

    return 0;
}

Result:
114

Note however that %g may choose scientific notation in some other cases.

A: According to the specs, you can't format the number this way. printf -
Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with blank spaces.
The value is not truncated even if the result is larger.

You will need to provide your own function to "partially" print sigfigs of a float variable.

A: The format specifier %e forces scientific notation. Use precision along with it to force the number of significant digits. For example,
printf("%.2e\n", 101.2+12.5);

outputs
1.14e+02


Should you decide to undergo chemotherapy, which is used in mainstream medicine to treat various types of cancer, the drugs used in a chemotherapy regimen, whilst killing cancer cells – also kill healthy cells within the body. Therefore, as cancer treatments have become more aggressive over the last 20 years, the need for new techniques to manage nausea, pain and other aversive side effects of such therapy has become apparent.
Every person experiences chemotherapy differently, both physically and emotionally. Similarly, each person experiences side effects from chemotherapy differently, and different chemotherapy drugs cause different side effects.
NACHP & CNHC Registered Clinical Hypnotherapist and Nutrition Consultant, Dr. Jacqueline Preston has launched the new cutting edge Elevated Therapy ® Coping with Chemo in association with Dr. Michael Millett, and in partnership with Elevated Therapy International at the prestigious `Clinic of Hypnotherapy and Holistic Practices` at "Tipperary House" in Grantham's Town Centre to encourage recovery in cancer care, and potentially support your immune system by creating a more positive mind-set.
Elevated Therapy ® Coping with Chemo has been launched to provide a unique service in Grantham, and Newark, and surrounding areas for people undergoing chemotherapy, and cancer treatments who would like to address one or more of the side effects caused by the array of chemotherapy drugs. Acting not as a replacement intervention, but as an adjunct and supportive role to conventional medical treatment and medication provided by mainstream medical specialist teams. Hypnotherapy, along with nutrition therapy, and the many other complementary and holistic therapies provided by Elevated Therapy International, offers discerning clients throughout the East Midlands of England as well as London, and the South-East, and abroad – a complementary alternative, choice and approach with residential stays as a further option. * Please note that we do not offer to treat cancer itself.
"At Elevated Therapy International we are able to provide hypnotherapy sessions in Grantham tailored to suit your own unique individual requirements, and circumstances, and target one or more of the side effects of chemotherapy, and help in relieving the sufferers perception of pain, and even help reduce the concept of negative side effects often associated with traditional cancer treatments".
"We are also able to provide hypnotherapy sessions in Grantham and Newark dedicated to pain management, plus guided meditation sessions to help create a positive mind-body approach towards the anticipatory anxieties and stress that cancer patients experience on a daily basis, and especially as they build up towards their next round of chemotherapy".
Following a no obligation, initial discussion / exploratory consultation with Jacqueline, which usually lasts approximately an hour – she is then able to create a personalised hypnotherapy plan for you, either as a "one-off" session, or working alongside you with full empathy and understanding throughout the course, and journey of your chemotherapy, and / or cancer treatment programme toward wellness, with sessions available as little or as often as you require.
Telephone 07906 601758 between 8am and 8pm.
Please leave a message outside of these hours and Jacqueline will endeavour to return your call as soon as possible.
Alternatively – complete the Quick Enquiry / Email Appointment Form here.
"Clinic of Hypnotherapy and Holistic Practices in Grantham" at `Tipperary House` for client's choice and convenience.
As registered clinical hypnotherapists and professional complementary therapy practitioners, it is important to remember that any therapy offered by Elevated Therapy ® Coping with Chemo is not a replacement or substitute for medical intervention, treatment or advice. If you suspect that you have a medical condition you must always seek the advice of a registered medical practitioner in the first instance.
Jacqueline Preston, Elevated Therapy ® Coping with Chemo providing professional, and supporting care, and complementary treatments to cancer sufferers in Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and Leicestershire – including Sleaford, Bingham, Stamford, Bourne, Oakham, Rutland and Melton Mowbray.


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Official RWBY 1/8 Scale Figurine For Sale In The Official Rooster Teeth Store. RWBY Is A Rooster Teeth Original Animation. Watch New RWBY Episodes Plus Save In The Rooster Teeth Store With A Rooster Teeth FIRST Membership.


Last February 2017, Reddit introduced Embed and CrossPost Features, but it was only available to a few beta testers. I was one of them. As you may have noticed, I have been testing out the embed feature on my website for the past several months to help Reddit work out the kinks.
The embed feature is pretty amazing as it allows you to embed ANY post, thread, comment, or reply from Reddit into your blog or website.
Look under any thread, post, reply, or comment on Reddit, click "share", then click the orange arrow icon, it'll give you the embed code, them just past it into your website and BOOM, instantly there it is, complete with all the links back to Reddit already in place!
The Crospost feature is a bit more limited, as you have to be a sub-mod to use it right now, but it allows you to instantly repost any thread on Reddit over to the sub you mod, complete with it's comments!
These are two new amazing tools to help drive traffic to your subs on Reddit. If you haven't tried them yet, test them out today.
Look under the OP of any thread on Reddit, to see "crosspost" click it and follow the instructions.
I'm going to cross post some threads to here for you so you can see what it looks like.
The sub-reddit for the FaceBook Group of the same name.


ADM Animal Nutrition's Fortified Feeds are concentrate feeds based on higher energy, limited starch formulations that utilize highly digestible, fermentable fiber sources and vegetable fats. High-quality proteins and GROSTRONG® Vitamin-Mineral fortification is also included. Typical feeding rate is 5-6 pounds per day which avoids overloading the equine digestive tract.
Copyright © 2018 ADM Animal Nutrition, a division of the Archer Daniels Midland Company.


A photo of Donald Trump edited with Chinese selfie company Meitu's app — and promotional material for a controversial filter the company once built.
Business Insider spoke to more than a dozen former employees, and from some heard allegations of sexism, wild stories of shamings and scathing criticisms in front of other employees, and tales of a brutal workplace culture.
Famous over-the-top perks like on-campus massages, ice cream shops, and volleyball courts have earned the American tech industry the reputation for being a worker's paradise —a place where hard work and progressive management combine to form a happy lifestyle. But in the case of Meitu, a Chinese company which has built a $4.4 billion empire by churning out a series of popular selfie-editing apps, the glitzy perks of a Silicon Valley dream job covered up a much harsher reality.
In a lengthy statement provided by Lui on behalf of Meitu, the company said it would not comment on "some personal views from your sources, as it may not reflect the full picture of our company's culture and values," and noted that it was bound by confidentiality agreements with employees and partners.
With respect to Lui's 2017 comments about the departing employee, the statement reads: "On certain occasions, Fox informed the team of the reasons why the company had to let go of some people and encouraged the team to be more outspoken with the aim of creating a more transparent working environment. In Fox's opinion, this is in line with the company's cultural values."
Meitu CFO Gary Ngan, Founder and Chairman Cai Wensheng, and founder and CEO Wu Xinhong.
Meitu's US adventure began in classic startup-style, with staff working out of an apartment — usually around the dinner table — in Los Angeles's Venice neighborhood in 2015. Other US offices would later open in Palo Alto and Santa Clara, in the heart of Silicon Valley, fleshing out a constellation of other international teams in places like London, Mexico, Sao Paulo, and Mumbai.
"People went into Meitu, myself included, with some really big, big expectations," one source who spoke favorably of their time at the company said. "We would be able to ... affect change, we would be able to shape and potentially succeed at growing a Chinese company here in the US ."
Meitu's stock, after an early spike, has since dropped back to around its IPO price.
Meitu's spacious LA office can fit dozens of employees — but it's almost completely empty. This photo was taken by a source in 2017 and provided to Business Insider.
One ex-employee said she overheard employees discussing her weight and height in Chinese, not realising that she spoke the language. Another claimed to have heard a Meitu executive commenting on the size of a female employee's breasts to that employee. A third acknowledged that he himself had been accused of sexism while at the company, but believed the allegation was baseless and came about as a result of employees' other grievances.
Two sources said they felt there were different expectations for men and women's behaviour, with women expected to be "docile" while men "had freedom to act aggressively." Others disputed that men and women were treated differently, though they were still critical of the company. "I don't think [Frank Fu] treated women or men particularly well," one said.
The issue exploded in early 2017, when Meitu went viral in the US and was subsequently accused of being racist, lightening the skintones of people of color. Ex-employees said they didn't believe Meitu was being deliberately racist; the company just hadn't listened to the concerns that Western employees had raised before the crisis erupted.
Promotional imagery showing the controversial Meitu filter.
Do you work at Meitu? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at rprice@businessinsider.com, by Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (650) 636-6268, WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at@robaeprice. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.


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text:
Turkish army rejects opposition's criticism
Turkey's military rejected on Tuesday opposition politicians' criticism of its handling of a major ground offensive against PKK in northern Iraq.
Earlier on Tuesday, in rare criticism of the armed forces, the leader of the nationalist MHP said the military had helped the image of the militants by issuing statements that effectively depicted them as worthy opponents.
"For the first time in our 24-year struggle against terrorism, the Turkish armed forces have become the target of such meaningless attacks," the General Staff said in a statement posted on its Web site.
"These attacks hurt the determination of the Turkish armed forces to fight terror even more than the traitors do," it said, describing the criticism as "unfair and underhand".
The statement did not name the critics, but it was clearly aimed at MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, who said the General Staff had lent to the PKK a certain prestige by speaking of outlawed militant command centres as if they were a conventional enemy army.
Turkey's military has been thrown on the defensive since last Friday's surprise decision to pull all troops out of Iraq after eight days of often fierce combat with the outlawed PKK militants in the snow-bound mountains of northern Iraq.
The military said the ground operation had achieved its objectives, including the deaths of some 240 PKK members and the destruction or seizure of PKK equipment and facilities. Both the General Staff and the government say Turkey reserves the right to send troops back into northern Iraq against the PKK if this is deemed necessary.
Last Mod: 05 Mart 2008, 15:56

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In order to sustain Albuquerque's $2 billion dollar a year tourism and travel industry, the support of local residents is imperative. The tourism and travel industry has taken on a new initiative to reach out to locals in Albuquerque, requesting they become "ambassadors" of their home city.
ACVB books more than 350 meetings a year on average. Imagine what we could do with the support of the local community! The logical question is how does this work? Locations for most events, conventions, and meetings are decided by someone's mere suggestion and the host destination ultimately reaps the benefits. Locals are encouraged to become ambassadors of these events, conventions, and meetings. The bonus is that those who bring the meetings and conventions to Albuquerque no longer have to do it alone.
This effort unquestionably generates economic impact for Albuquerque. Currently, the meeting industry is responsible for $60 million in direct spending to the local economy each year. Here are several examples of locals who belong to a specific association for leisure purposes or is a member of a professional organization who has assisted in generating tourism dollars.
D'Nienne (Dee Dee) Hatch-Sanders, helped attract Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., which had a direct spending of $669,200.
Jim Tilley, helped secure the US Youth Soccer regional tournament, which had a direct spending of $4,350,000.
Brenda Yager and Winston Brooks, helped draw the Council of the Great City Schools to the area in 2013. This meeting is expected to bring a direct spending of $385,700.
Rick Miller and Rich Ceronie attracted USA Track & Field Masters and USA Track & Field Indoor, respectively. The masters brought a direct spending of $371,500 and indoor brought $522,200.
Vicki Clough, Marcel Lucero and Mike Tull worked together to attract the Community Transportation Association of America to Albuquerque, which will bring an expected $2,059,700 in direct spending.
Sarah Holcomb and Benjamin Zimmerman, helped attract the Region VI Pretreatment Association meeting, which expects to bring a direct spending of $135,090.
Going forward, all we ask is this: think about the personal and professional associations or organizations that you belong to. Have they hosted a meeting or convention in Albuquerque? If not, contact the office of your association's president or director and strongly suggest that they consider our destination. If yes, recommend Albuquerque again.
At the very least, contact the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau and alert us if you know of any opportunity. We have specialized individuals who will talk to you about booking and organizing a meeting in Albuquerque.
Last but not least, spread the word to your colleagues, friends and family. All it takes is a little awareness of your potential to become ambassadors for our city, and a small gesture to make it happen. The outcome, with all of us contributing, will have profound effects on this economy.


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text:
Andrew Charles Thomas Gomarsall MBE (born 24 July 1974, in Durham) is a former rugby union player who played at scrum-half for Leeds Carnegie and England.

He previously played for Gloucester Rugby, Bedford and Wasps. Until May 2006 he was contracted to Worcester Warriors for three seasons from 2005, but was released after one year of a three-year contract – an action which is still subject to potential legal action by Gomarsall. He was released by Harlequins F.C in 2009 and joined Leeds Carnegie for the 2009–2010 season to continue Guinness Premiership rugby.

Biography

He was a member of London Wasps' 1999 Powergen Cup winning side, eventually transferring to Bedford as a captain, before joining Gloucester Rugby. He was a Gloucester Rugby favourite, and participated in the 2003 Powergen Cup. He also started in the 2002 Zurich Championship Final (the year before winning the play-offs constituted winning the English title) in which Gloucester defeated Bristol Shoguns.

Gomarsall started all three of England's 2004 Autumn internationals at Twickenham and was vice captain in the England XV against the Barbarians in May as well as the Churchill Cup tour.

However, injury led to his replacement at both Gloucester Rugby and England, and so to prolong his career he signed a three-year deal with Worcester Warriors in June 2005. However, his injury worries returned to plague him, and he was released along with nine other players by Worcester in May 2006, two months short of the end of the season.

On 25 September 2006 Gomarsall signed a one year "pay-as-you-play" deal with Harlequins: ""It was shocking what happened to me and I wouldn't want that to happen to anyone else. I love rugby so much and have really missed it. I'm very grateful to Quins for giving me this opportunity.".

Gomarsall performed well for Harlequins and was selected for the England squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. It was his kick down the touchline that enabled Josh Lewsey to score 5 points – the eventual winning margin for England that sent them into the final against South Africa on 20 October 2007.

In 2008, Gomarsall started the first two Six Nations games before being dropped for the third against France.

In 2015 Gomarsall played for Old Actonians RFC Vets in a dramatic thrashing of Local Rivals Ealing Vets.

He was a co-commentator for ITV's coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Gomarsall is now building his father's business, Network 2 Supplies Ltd. as a director.

References

External links
 Harlequins profile
 England Profile
 Wasps profile
 Profile at scrum.com
 Andy Gomarsall photo by sportingheroes.net
 Andy Gomarsall column

1974 births
Living people
English rugby union players
Rugby union scrum-halves
Wasps RFC players
Bath Rugby players
Bedford Blues players
Gloucester Rugby players
Worcester Warriors players
Harlequin F.C. players
Barbarian F.C. players
People educated at Bedford School
Members of the Order of the British Empire
England international rugby union players
Rugby union players from Durham, England
Leeds Tykes players

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
CN never saw crude-by rail having 'long-term role' in Alberta: Ruest
Shane McNeil, BNN Bloomberg
Crude-by-rail not a long-term driver for our business: CN Rail CEO
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See Full Stock Page »
The chief executive of Canada's largest railway says he never expected crude-by-rail to be a long-term solution for the nation's energy sector.
"We've always assumed that eventually pipelines will be built, and the role of the railroads – including CN – is to be a bridge role, a role to move products to market until the time that the pipeline would have capacity sufficient to move what was produced in Alberta," Canadian National Railway Co. CEO Jean-Jacques Ruest told BNN Bloomberg in a Tuesday interview.
"We've never believed our role to be a long-term role," he added. "In our view it is a role for the next three years and after that we assume that the pipeline issues are resolved, and the pipelines will be in operation, moving product to market, including maybe to Asia."
Newly-sworn-in Alberta Premier Jason Kenney targeted Canada's railroads during his election campaign – and specifically the $3.7-billion deal signed by his predecessor to boost crude-by-rail capacity out of the province – going so far as to call Rachel Notley's plan "a catastrophic mistake."
Ruest said that even if the deal with the province is struck down, some of the sector's producers will likely want to sop up the excess capacity on the rails.
"Last year from sometime in the spring or summer we started to really crank up and ramp up capacity to be able to move natural resources, including crude by rail," he said. "We obviously do that typically for private companies, which is what we did last year, and the capacity we created is available to any players in Alberta who want to restart moving crude by rail, including the government."
"It's an opportunity for Alberta to consider."
MARKET CALL: CN RAIL (CNR.TO)
Brian Madden discusses CN Rail
Bryden Teich discusses CN Rail
Paul Harris' Top Picks
Along with the opportunities he sees for crude-by-rail trainsport, Ruest said the railway is doing a better job making room for Canada's other commodity producers, including grain and lumber.
Both industries cried foul in 2018 over a perceived preference on the railway's end for crude shipments, but Ruest said CN is already improving on a year-to-date basis.
"Last year, grain and forest products were two segments of our customer base who weren't very satisfied," Ruest said, before saying the railroad has moved 1.9 million metric tonnes more in the crop-year-to-date than the same point a year ago.
"This year grain's been moving very well, despite the seven weeks of very cold temperatures on the prairies and on the forest product side we did a much better job making sure that the lumber can get to market," he said.
CN reported lower-than-expected first-quarter profits on Monday, which it blamed on a "very, very cold, bitter winter." Ruest said Monday that the brutal weather hindered train lengths and added significant costs to clearing snow.
Harsh winter takes a toll on CN Rail's Q1 revenue gains
CN Rail growth should ramp up despite Q1 miss: Analyst
CN Rail to challenge CTA determination that it breached service obligations


text:
id: bad87fee1348bd9acde08712
title: Usare il design responsivo con i contenitori fluidi di Bootstrap
challengeType: 0
forumTopicId: 18362
dashedName: use-responsive-design-with-bootstrap-fluid-containers
---

# --description--

Nella sezione HTML5 e CSS di freeCodeCamp abbiamo costruito una Cat Photo App. Ora torniamo ad essa. Questa volta, la stilizzeremo usando il popolare framework CSS responsivo Bootstrap.

Bootstrap capirà quanto è largo lo schermo e risponderà ridimensionando i tuoi elementi HTML - da qui il nome <dfn>design responsivo</dfn>.

Con un design responsivo, non c'è bisogno di progettare una versione mobile del tuo sito web. Si vedrà bene su dispositivi con schermi di qualsiasi larghezza.

Puoi aggiungere Bootstrap a qualsiasi app inserendo il seguente codice nella parte superiore del tuo HTML:

```html
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-BVYiiSIFeK1dGmJRAkycuHAHRg32OmUcww7on3RYdg4Va+PmSTsz/K68vbdEjh4u" crossorigin="anonymous"/>
```

In questo caso, lo abbiamo già aggiunto per te a questa pagina dietro le quinte. Nota che è accettabile usare sia `>` che `/>` per chiudere il tag `link`.

Per iniziare, dovremmo annidare tutto il nostro HTML (tranne il tag `link` e l'elemento `style`) in un elemento `div` di classe `container-fluid`.

# --hints--

Il tuo elemento `div` dovrebbe avere la classe `container-fluid`.

```js
assert($('div').hasClass('container-fluid'));
```

Il tuo elemento `div` dovrebbe avere un tag di chiusura.

```js
assert(
  code.match(/<\/div>/g) &&
    code.match(/<div/g) &&
    code.match(/<\/div>/g).length === code.match(/<div/g).length
);
```

Tutti gli elementi HTML dopo il tag `style` di chiusura dovrebbero essere annidati in un `.container-fluid`.

```js
assert($('.container-fluid').children().length >= 8 && !$('.container-fluid').has("style").length && !$('.container-fluid').has("link").length);
```

# --seed--

## --seed-contents--

```html
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lobster" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<style>
  .red-text {
    color: red;
  }

  h2 {
    font-family: Lobster, Monospace;
  }

  p {
    font-size: 16px;
    font-family: Monospace;
  }

  .thick-green-border {
    border-color: green;
    border-width: 10px;
    border-style: solid;
    border-radius: 50%;
  }

  .smaller-image {
    width: 100px;
  }
</style>

<h2 class="red-text">CatPhotoApp</h2>

<p>Click here for <a href="#">cat photos</a>.</p>

<a href="#"><img class="smaller-image thick-green-border" src="https://cdn.freecodecamp.org/curriculum/cat-photo-app/relaxing-cat.jpg" alt="A cute orange cat lying on its back."></a>

<p>Things cats love:</p>
<ul>
  <li>cat nip</li>
  <li>laser pointers</li>
  <li>lasagna</li>
</ul>
<p>Top 3 things cats hate:</p>
<ol>
  <li>flea treatment</li>
  <li>thunder</li>
  <li>other cats</li>
</ol>
<form action="https://freecatphotoapp.com/submit-cat-photo">
  <label><input type="radio" name="indoor-outdoor"> Indoor</label>
  <label><input type="radio" name="indoor-outdoor"> Outdoor</label>
  <label><input type="checkbox" name="personality"> Loving</label>
  <label><input type="checkbox" name="personality"> Lazy</label>
  <label><input type="checkbox" name="personality"> Crazy</label>
  <input type="text" placeholder="cat photo URL" required>
  <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
```

# --solutions--

```html
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lobster" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<style>
  .red-text {
    color: red;
  }

  h2 {
    font-family: Lobster, Monospace;
  }

  p {
    font-size: 16px;
    font-family: Monospace;
  }

  .thick-green-border {
    border-color: green;
    border-width: 10px;
    border-style: solid;
    border-radius: 50%;
  }

  .smaller-image {
    width: 100px;
  }
</style>
<div class="container-fluid">
  <h2 class="red-text">CatPhotoApp</h2>

<p>Click here for <a href="#">cat photos</a>.</p>

<a href="#"><img class="smaller-image thick-green-border" src="https://cdn.freecodecamp.org/curriculum/cat-photo-app/relaxing-cat.jpg" alt="A cute orange cat lying on its back."></a>

<p>Things cats love:</p>
<ul>
  <li>cat nip</li>
  <li>laser pointers</li>
  <li>lasagna</li>
</ul>
<p>Top 3 things cats hate:</p>
<ol>
  <li>flea treatment</li>
  <li>thunder</li>
  <li>other cats</li>
</ol>
<form action="https://freecatphotoapp.com/submit-cat-photo">
  <label><input type="radio" name="indoor-outdoor"> Indoor</label>
  <label><input type="radio" name="indoor-outdoor"> Outdoor</label>
  <label><input type="checkbox" name="personality"> Loving</label>
  <label><input type="checkbox" name="personality"> Lazy</label>
  <label><input type="checkbox" name="personality"> Crazy</label>
  <input type="text" placeholder="cat photo URL" required>
  <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
</div>
```

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I have listed a new property at 419 950 CENTRE AV NE in Calgary.
Here it is! This fourth floor 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo easily meets all of your needs and wants. With almost 1,200 sq ft of living space, this move in ready condo boasts an oversized master suite with 4 piece ensuite, walk in closet, and a gas fireplace. Enjoy an open concept living/dining/kitchen area with a three sided fireplace. The condo is complete with a sizeable den, second bedroom, additional bathroom, and laundry room. This very desirable and rare SW corner unit, comes with private South and West outdoor areas. The abundance and massive windows throughout allow for unobstructed views of Murdoch Park and our beautiful Downtown. That is not all! You will also enjoy 2 TITLED side by side underground parking spots and additional storage. The building is fantastic with underground secured visitor parking, bike storage & a car wash. This beautiful condo in trendy Bridgeland can't be beat!


text:
All eyes on the neutral beam source
François Geli, Neutral Beam Source Mechanical Engineer
Millions of watts of heating power can be delivered to the plasma using neutral beam injection—the work horse of ITER's external heating methods. A research and development program is underway to test the critical heating neutral beam components before the manufacturing phase is launched.
An exploded isometric view of the ITER/MITICA beam source, composed of a radio frequency ion source and a seven-grid extractor and accelerator.
Neutral beam injection consists of shooting high-energy particles into the plasma. Outside of the ITER Tokamak, charged deuterium particles are accelerated to the required energy level and then passed through an "ion beam neutralizer" where their electrical charge is removed to allow them to penetrate the magnetic cage. At that stage, the high-velocity neutral particles can be injected into the heart of the plasma where, by way of rapid collision, they transfer their energy to the plasma particles.
One of the most critical components of the heating neutral beam injector is the beam source—composed of the radio frequency ion source and a seven-grid extractor and accelerator.
R&D ahead of operation
Although neutral beams are routinely used in tokamak devices as the workhorses of auxiliary heating, ITER's neutral beams will be the first high-energy beams at 1 MV based on a negative ion source. Extensive R&D is underway to resolve the numerous technical challenges.
The critical components of the heating neutral beam program are being developed at the Neutral Beam Test Facility (PRIMA) in Padua, Italy. Europe, Japan and India are contributing all components according to the specifications of Procurement Arrangements signed with the ITER Organization; Italy is building the facility at Consorzio RFX as a voluntary contribution to the neutral beam development program. Two test beds are under development—SPIDER (which will test and develop the ITER-scale radio-frequency negative ion source) and MITICA (where a full-power, full-energy beam will be tested at full pulse length in preparation for the heating neutral beam at ITER).
The source generates 40 A of negative hydrogen or deuterium ions, which are then extracted and accelerated to 1MeV. These ions are converted further downstream in the injector to a "neutral" beam by neutralizing the ions in the gas cell neutralizer. After filtering out the remaining ions in the residual ion dump, neutrals are injected into the ITER plasma.
The heating neutral beam source—situated inside the neutral beam injector—is 3 metres wide, 3 metres deep and 4.5 metres high with a total weight of 15 tonnes. ITER will host two neutral beam injectors and space is reserved for a third in order to maintain an important potential for flexibility in the operation of the ITER facility should an upgrade be decided.
Over the last nine months, under the terms of a first-stage framework contract with the European Domestic Agency, three suppliers have been in competition to finalize the MITICA beam source (see box) build-to-print design and to initiate manufacturing documentation. This first stage has served to mitigate fabrication issues before the start of the manufacturing phase (stage two). One supplier will now be chosen for the manufacturing of the MITICA beam source, which is a prototype of the ITER heating neutral beam source.
The interim period between the two stages of the framework contract has offered a good opportunity to review the findings and share experience with various experts on beam sources. On 1 June, the ITER Neutral Beam Section reunited more than 25 experts—from the European, Japanese and Indian Domestic Agencies, Consorzio RFX, and laboratories—in Padua for a collaborative exchange based on the respective experience of each supplier with manufacturing, experimentation and prototyping.
The technical collaboration meeting on 1 June in Padua brought together ion source experts before the launch of the second-phase of beam source framework contract—manufacturing—which is planned to start at the end of the year.
The objective was to ensure that all available expertise and knowledge for this critical component can be retrofitted into the manufacturing technical specifications. RFX Consorzio and the European Domestic Agency provided a detailed status of the technical improvements and feedback gained from suppliers during stage one and also highlighted the remaining open issues on which the ITER Organization is seeking advice from the ion source community.
India provided valuable feedback from the manufacturing of the diagnostic beam source (for example, achieving manufacturing tolerances of the beam source grids and positive results on the concept radio frequency coils). Experts from IPP Garching provided technical feedback on the type of radio frequency driver to use to prevent electrical breakdowns and the use of molybdenum coating based on the results from its experimental test beds BATMAN and ELISE.
From this fruitful discussion, held in a very collaborative atmosphere, several identified actions will now be tracked to directly benefit the ITER/MITICA beam source project, leading to higher confidence for the launch of the manufacturing phase of the MITICA heating neutral beam source.


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In the today's data-driven world, the issue of privacy is drawing an increasing amount of attention. And rightfully so, as privacy is an essential human right. One must at all times be able to retain this right and protect one's personal data from mining by tech giants trying to figure out browsing and spending patterns.
Monero (XMR) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that seeks to address the issue of privacy present in most today's cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, is pseudonymous, meaning it offers some level of anonymity as long as nobody knows the real-world identity behind a particular public address. As we've come to learn, identities can, in fact, be linked to addresses by analyzing transaction patterns associated with an address.
Unlike most blockchains that achieve security at the cost of privacy, Monero harnesses the magic of cryptography to provide an anonymous digital cash system. Monero transactions are often described as unlinkable and untraceable. While those are similar concepts, it is important to note that unlinkability implies that no transaction can be linked to any particular address with a sufficient amount of certainty, and untraceability means that coins cannot in any way be traced back to previous transactions, which essentially makes XMR fungible.
their IP addresses — Kovri, an I2P router.
Ring signatures are not a new invention and have been used here and there from the early 00s. But before we can understand them, let's go back and talk about transactions.
Like in many other cryptocurrencies, in Monero transactions are done by passing the right to spend coins from one user to another using digital signatures. A user makes a transaction by referencing all the outputs of past transactions by which they came into possession of the coins.
A ring signature is a digital signature that obfuscates the sender's output by mixing it together with other past transaction outputs randomly pulled out from the blockchain. An outside observer has no way of telling the true source of the transaction, which, in other words, hides the address of the sender. But with no one to know who sent the transaction, is there a way to tell if the money has not been already spent? Yes, by way of key images. A key image is a unique cryptographic key of an output and is attached to a transaction. Though each output has a unique key image, there is no way of telling which key corresponds to which output. Thus, key images prevent double-spends.
Each Monero wallet address is a 95-symbol string which contains a public view key and a public send key. When a user initiates a transaction, their wallet takes the recipient's view and send keys as well as some random data to generate a one-time public key known as a stealth address which is then broadcasted to the network. Everyone can see the stealth address but no one can read it, except the transacting parties. The sender, if they ever need to, can use the stealth address to prove that they actually sent the money. The recipient uses their private view key to find the stealth address and retrieve the money. The recipient will be able to generate a one-time private key that corresponds to the one-time public key and spend the money using their private spend key.
Ring Confidential Transactions, or RingCT, are a mechanism that hides the amount of a transaction by hiding the funds in rings with other coins. Whenever a user sends a transaction, they make a commitment declaring that the sum of the inputs and the sum of the outputs of their transaction are equal. Users cannot commit to a negative value of the sum to get coins due to a special protection called the Range Proof, which makes sure the sum is greater than zero. The commitments are then can be read by miners and verified.
Kovri is an anonymity technology developed by Monero. It is an I2P router which hides the IP addresses of Monero users by passing the transaction data through an overlay network. The message goes through a network of nodes which cannot read the message but know where to pass it. Each time the message passes through a node, it is encrypted once again. Kovri is currently under development.
Monero was launched on April 18, 2014 as a fork of Bytecoin.
Monero uses a Proof-of-Work mining algorithm called CryptoNote v 2.0 which was described by Nicolas van Saberhagen.
Piconero is the smallest unit: 1 monero = 1000000000000 piconero.
Block rewards in Monero gradually decrease until the total supply reaches 18.123 million XMR and the tail emission stage begins (expected to happen in May 2022). At that point the lowest block reward will be set at 0.6 XMR. This implies a theoretically infinite supply of XMR and a 0.87% yearly inflation. For more math, read /u/Amichateur's post on Reddit.
The block time is 2 minutes.
There are 7 core developers, the 2 known developers are David Latapie and Riccardo Spagni.
Monero is designed to be ASIC-resistant and can be somewhat efficiently mined using CPUs and GPUs.
The word 'monero' means 'coin' in Esperanto.
As of October 2018, Monero places 10th on coinmarketcap.


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Home » Et cetera » Articles & Extracts » Issue 56 » Lives and Letters
Lives and Letters
Michael Holroyd on becoming a biographer
No one asked me to be a biographer. Quite the opposite. My grandfather hoped I might set off for India and make a career at the tea plantations there. He had been presented with some shares in one of the Assam tea companies by his father. He used these shares as if they were tickets that took him on a summer holiday which he called 'following the business'. What he really wanted was to go abroad without his family from time to time. I saw a photo of him in India once: he was smiling in a way I had never seen him smile at home. And he was encircled by rather bemused-looking planters.
Back at home he taught me the skills of making a proper cup of tea. It was not easy: how to hold the cup correctly; how to boil the water to an exact temperature – and then how to engage the small spoons of tea with water at the right moment. Then there was the difficulty of preparing the milk and adding it. Sugar was never tolerated. Writing a biography was far easier than preparing a correct cup of tea – or so it seemed to me. In the end I wrote a small biography of my grandfather and placed it in my autobiography.
Most people do not encourage members of their family to become biographers. There is no telling what trouble they will get into. If you write fiction any member of your family who appears on the pages of your book can be hidden by a different name that prevents them being recognized. But biographers are always invading other people's families uninvited, writing about the dead who cannot answer them and presenting what they have written to their subjects' families and friends. It's no surprise we are not welcome.
I was fortunate in never being at a university, going instead to the public library for my education. In the library I found hundreds of possible subjects lined up in alphabetical order and waiting to be chosen. There they all were: Dickens, Samuel Johnson, Hugh Kingsmill, Shakespeare. Which one would you have chosen? I chose Hugh Kingsm
Back at home he taught me the skills of making a proper cup of tea. It was not easy: how to hold the cup correctly; how to boil the water to an exact temperature – and then how to engage the small spoons of tea with water at the right moment. Then there was the difficulty of preparing the milk and adding it. Sugar was never tolerated. Writing a biography was far easier than preparing a correct cup of tea – or so it seemed to me. In the end I wrote a small biography of my grandfather and placed it in my autobiography. Most people do not encourage members of their family to become biographers. There is no telling what trouble they will get into. If you write fiction any member of your family who appears on the pages of your book can be hidden by a different name that prevents them being recognized. But biographers are always invading other people's families uninvited, writing about the dead who cannot answer them and presenting what they have written to their subjects' families and friends. It's no surprise we are not welcome. I was fortunate in never being at a university, going instead to the public library for my education. In the library I found hundreds of possible subjects lined up in alphabetical order and waiting to be chosen. There they all were: Dickens, Samuel Johnson, Hugh Kingsmill, Shakespeare. Which one would you have chosen? I chose Hugh Kingsmill. He seemed to have something the others didn't have: an absence of biographies about him (though he wrote some biographies himself – all of them safely out of print). He was, I thought, an obvious choice. I finished my biography of him within two years – keeping alive by doing odd jobs and writing reviews of other people's biographies. Over the next two years I sent my typescript to sixteen publishers who sent it back to me with a polite letter. They thanked me for sending it to them and implied that they would have very much liked to publish it: but unfortunately couldn't. They were sorry – and so was I. Sorrow filled the air. But eventually it was taken by someone who had recently given up publishing: Martin Secker. He was, someone told me by way of explanation, almost blind. Mine was the last book he published in his life and he did so with a colleague. It was brought out in 1964 by the Unicorn Press and I was given a generous advance of £25. This came in useful when Kingsmill's second wife objected to a couple of pages in which she appeared and I paid for the rewriting. This rare first edition revealed that it was 'the strange and mysterious quality of her silences which exerted so compelling a power'. I wish she had been more silent with me. I was gradually learning the complexities of biography which was almost as difficult as my grandfather's tea-making. My father, if asked, would say that I was a historian, which sounded more respectable. He could not see how I would make a career from writing and wished I had become a scientist. If I had a proper career I could, he said, write people's Lives on Sundays – and, if absolutely necessary, on Saturdays too. What more could I need? As it was, one of the publishers who had amiably turned down my Kingsmill suggested I should try someone else – preferably someone not unknown but not yet written about. Such subjects are hard to find, I discovered, but eventually I came up with Lytton Strachey. He was a biographer without a biography. What could be better? Indeed he was so good a choice that I was given twice the £25 advance for my first biography. But since it took me seven years to complete the book I had to renegotiate this part of my contract as many times as Britain negotiated joining ‒ and then leaving ‒ Europe. In one of his essays the Bloomsbury art critic Clive Bell had written after Strachey's death in 1932 that it would be impossible to write his biography for a long time. It certainly took me a long time to write his Life – though that was not what Bell had in mind. In the early 1960s homosexuality was still illegal. It was brave of some of Strachey's friends to talk to me about this. 'Shall I be put in jail?' one of them asked. 'Will I be allowed to watch cricket any more at Lord's?' asked another. It seems ridiculous now, and it was fortunate that the law changed shortly before my biography was published in 1967. Some of the most charming readers of the book were men who invited me to dinner – but were disappointed. What involved me most deeply was Strachey's extraordinary relationship with Dora Carrington. Though my biographies usually have a man's name on the title page, women take over many chapters. This was inevitably true with my next subject, the artist Augustus John. Walking along the streets of Chelsea in London he sometimes patted the heads of children in case, he explained, 'they are some of mine'. Sometimes I'm asked how I choose the people whose biographies I write. And I have no idea ‒ no memory of choosing any of them. The fact is, as it were, they choose me, or to put it another way, a minor character in one book gets my attention and becomes my next subject. When I began writing about Ellen Terry (having got to know her when working on my Life of Bernard Shaw), I had no intention of writing about her fellow-actor on the stage Henry Irving – but it was impossible to leave him out. And not leaving him out opened the door to both his and her children. So what had begun as a single short pen-portrait of one person expanded into a group biography covering two generations over a period of a century. No one was more surprised than me. Am I writing a biography now? Certainly not! Or rather I don't think so. But of course anything may happen on the next page.
Extract from Slightly Foxed Issue 56 © Michael Holroyd 2017
Michael Holroyd has been studying his 'Ancestors in the Attic', which is the title he has given to an illustrated book he is struggling to prepare.
Basil Street Blues (No. 29)
Michael Holroyd
Pair – Basil Street Blues & The Secret Orchard of Roger Ackerley
Michael Holroyd, Diana Petre
Pair – Basil Street Blues & A House in Flanders
Michael Jenkins, Michael Holroyd
Bundle Sold Out
Pair – Facts and Fiction & Basil Street Blues
Facts and Fiction


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Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers", are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity. Because they supply power only occasionally, the power supplied commands a much higher price per kilowatt hour than base load power. Peak load power plants are dispatched in combination with base load power plants, which supply a dependable and consistent amount of electricity, to meet the minimum demand.

Although historically peaking power plants were frequently used in conjunction with coal baseload plants, peaking plants are now used less commonly. Combined cycle gas turbine plants have two or more cycles, the first of which is very similar to a peaking plant, with the second running on the waste heat of the first. That type of plant is often capable of rapidly starting up, albeit at reduced efficiency, and then over some hours transitioning to a more efficient baseload generation mode. Combined cycle plants have similar capital cost per watt to peaking plants, but run for much longer periods, and use less fuel overall, and hence give cheaper electricity.

As of 2020, open cycle gas turbines give an electricity cost of around $151–198/MWh.

Peaker plants are replaced with battery storage in some places. The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is seeking to replace gas peaker plants with battery storage, 142 Tesla Megapacks (providing 100 MW) replaced a gas peaker plant in Ventura County, California and in Lessines, Belgium 40 Tesla Megapacks (50 MW) replaced a turbojet generator. Australia's Clean Energy Council found in April 2021 that battery storage can be 30% cheaper than gas peaker plants.

Peak hours
Peak hours usually occur in the morning or late afternoon/evening depending on location. In temperate climates, peak hours often occur when household appliances are heavily used in the evening after work hours. In hot climates, the peak is usually late afternoon when air conditioning load is high, during this time many workplaces are still open and consuming power. In cold climates, the peak is in the morning when space heating and industry are both starting up.

A peaker plant may operate many hours a day, or it may operate only a few hours per year, depending on the condition of the region's electrical grid. Because of the cost of building an efficient power plant, if a peaker plant is only going to be run for a short or highly variable time, it does not make economic sense to make it as efficient as a base load power plant. In addition, the equipment and fuels used in base load plants are often unsuitable for use in peaker plants because the fluctuating conditions would severely strain the equipment. For these reasons, nuclear, waste-to-energy, coal and biomass are rarely, if ever, operated as peaker plants.

Renewable energy
As countries trend away from fossil fuel-fired base load plants and towards renewable but intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar, there is a corresponding increase in the need for grid energy storage systems, as renewable alternatives to building more peaking or load following power plants. Another option is broader distribution of generating capacity, through the use of grid interties, such as the WECC Intertie Paths.

Types
Peaker plants are generally gas turbines or gas engines that burn natural gas. A few burn biogas or petroleum-derived liquids, such as diesel oil and jet fuel, but they are generally more expensive than natural gas, so their use is limited to areas not supplied with natural gas. However, many peaker plants are able to use petroleum as a backup fuel, as storing oil in tanks is easy. The thermodynamic efficiency of simple-cycle gas turbine power plants ranges from 20 to 42%, with between 30 and 42% being average for a new plant.

For greater efficiency, a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) is added at the exhaust. This is known as a combined cycle plant. Cogeneration uses waste exhaust heat for process, district heating or other heating uses. Both of these options are used only in plants that are intended to be operated for longer periods than usual. Natural gas and diesel generators with reciprocating engines are sometimes used for grid support using smaller plants.

Another option for increased efficiency and power output in gas turbines is installing a turbine inlet air cooling system, that cools down the inlet air temperature increasing mass flow ratio. This option, in combination with a thermal energy storage tank, can increase the turbine power output in on-peak periods up to 30%.

Hydroelectric dams are intentionally variable; they can generate less during off-peak and quickly respond to peak demands, consequently hydroelectricity may function as load following or a peaking plant and with sufficient water, a base-load plant. Natural gas turbines or pumped storage are often used where there is not enough hydroelectricity to respond to daily and weekly variations in generation and consumption. It is not unusual for a dam to be built with more capacity than can be sustained by the water supply, allowing for a higher peak output. Upgrading equipment at existing dams can be one of the least expensive ways of increasing peak generation. The ability to vary the amount of electricity generated is often limited by the requirement that minimum or maximum flows downstream are satisfied.

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity is the largest-capacity form of grid energy storage available, used for averaging off-peak and peak electrical demands. The site stores energy using the gravitational potential of water stored in a reservoir. Low-cost off-peak electric power from base load or intermittent sources is used to pump water at a low elevation to storage in a high elevation reservoir. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power. Start up times are only a few minutes, and some can start in a few tens of seconds.

Batteries are used in some cases where conditions favor it to smooth flow (avoiding a costly power line upgrade) as well as supplying peak power and other grid services such as operating reserve, sometimes in hybrid configuration with turbines or diesel engines. Battery power is by far the fastest responding of all powerplants, and can respond to grid conditions at millisecond timescales, giving slower responding equipment a chance to react to outages.

Pumped-storage and batteries are net consumers, as they have no inherent energy source, and the conversion between electricity and storage and back incurs some losses.

Solar thermal peaker plants were proposed in 2017, under a US Department of Energy Technology 2 Market award to Hank Price of SolarDynamics, whose paper "Dispatchable Solar Power Plant"  proposed utilizing the thermal energy storage inherent in a solar thermal energy power plant, that enables this heat-based form of solar to generate like a gas peaker, to supply power on demand day or night, and in return be controlled by the utility and paid in capacity payments to be available when needed, like a traditional peaker plant. A solar thermal power plant makes electricity in a steam cycle power plant like a traditional power plant but the heat for steam is supplied by solar energy heating a material such as molten salts and storing the heat until needed to make steam for power generation.

Base load power plants
An economical electrical supply system will also include base load power plants. These generating units will emphasize low incremental fuel cost, but may use a higher capital investment to improve efficiency. For example, a peaking plant might use only a gas turbine, while a base load plant might also add a steam "bottom cycle" to improve the overall plant fuel consumption per unit of electricity produced. Nuclear and coal burning plants generally operate continuously, stopping only for maintenance or unexpected outages. The low incremental fuel cost of nuclear power plants  compared with high capital cost makes it most economic for them to be used for base load supply. Hydroelectric plants with few restrictions on water supply may be used for base load as their incremental fuel cost is zero. Since a steam cycle power plant may take hours to go from cold standby to full rating, they are not usually used to provide peak load service.

Intermediate load following power plants such as hydroelectric operate between these extremes, curtailing their output on nights and weekends when demand is low. Base load and intermediate plants are used preferentially to meet electrical demand because the lower efficiencies of peaker plants make them more expensive to operate.

See also

 Geothermal power
 List of energy storage projects
 Smart grid
 Vehicle-to-grid
 Turbine inlet air cooling
 Load following power plant

References

Power station technology


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Field Hockey: Northwestern falls 2-1 to North Carolina in national championship heartbreaker
STORRS, CONN. — Northwestern's quest to hold onto its title as national champions ended in heartbreak Sunday with a 2-1 loss against North Carolina. The Wildcats (20-5, 5-3 Big Ten) looked outmatched...
Field Hockey: Swann: Northwestern's sluggish offensive performance was its downfall in championship loss
In its final matchup on the biggest stage, Northwestern fell short against an undefeated North Carolina team, losing the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship. The Wildcats walked into Sunday's...
Field Hockey: Rapid Recap: North Carolina 2, Northwestern 1
The national title is headed back to Chapel Hill for a record 10th time. Northwestern(20-5, 5-3 Big Ten) fell to North Carolina (21-0,6-0 ACC) 2-1 on a chilly championship Sunday in Storrs, Connecticut. The...
Field Hockey: Northwestern defeats No.3 Maryland 2-1 to advance to NCAA Championship
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Or, in Northwestern's case, when hard-earned revenge punches a ticket to the NCAA Championship for a chance to earn its second straight title. The Wildcats...
Field Hockey: Rapid Recap: Northwestern 2, Maryland 1
Northwestern (20-4, 5-3 Big Ten) is headed to a second-consecutive national championship after defeating Maryland(19-4, 7-1 Big Ten) in Storrs, Connecticut. Unlike the last time these two teams faced...


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The Simpsons' top 30 movie references
The Simpsons has pastiched hundreds of movies in its time. From Hitchcock to Kubrick to Disney, we select our top 30 favourites...
By Robert Keeling | April 24, 2015 |
The Simpsons has a long history of peppering its stories with pop culture references, and some of the show's finest gags stem from the world of cinema. These have ranged from the briefest of quotes, to full on shot-for-shot parodies and extended episode-long homages.
Most striking in trying to put this list together was the sheer volume of movie references there are to choose from. In pretty much any given episode of The Simpsons, there are at least a couple, with nods to James Bond, 2001: A Space Odyssey and the work of Alfred Hitchcock proving three of the most regular candidates. The tributes to numerous great horror movies in the show's Treehouse Of Horror episodes could have been used to fill this list all on their own.
Trimming down my choices to a manageable number was a challenge in itself, but here are the thirty examples that provided some of the show's most memorable movie-referencing moments…
30: Terminator 2 – Homer Loves Flanders (S5 E16)
When Homer becomes uncharacteristically fond of his neighbor, Ned and the Flanders family try to sneak away for some quality time without him. When Homer spots them speeding into the distance however he gives chase while wielding a golf club in each hand, eventually latching on to the back of the car and holding on for dear life.
This scene is of course reminiscent of the sequence in Terminator 2 where the T-1000 gives chase to the escaping heroes, only he had the added benefit of being a mimetic metal alloy, thus allowing him to form his own bespoke gripping implements.
29: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – Homer The Vigilante (S5 E11)
This one might have passed a few folks by given that the source material isn't that well known in the first place, but the final section of this episode is directly lifted from madcap ensemble comedy caper It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. When Molloy sends the whole town out on a wild goose chase after hidden treasure, whole shots, camera angles and even the music, are directly lifted from the movie. The strange section where a Phil Silvers-esque character is tricked by Bart into driving through a river also mirrors a similar moment in the film involving the real Phil Silvers.
It's a slightly obscure reference, but one which is appropriated perfectly in order to showcase how easily the residents of Springfield can be whipped up into a frenzy.
28: Thelma and Louise – Marge On The Lam (S5 E6)
This whole episode is essentially a parody of Ridley Scott's movie, but it's the final iconic scene that sticks firmest in the memory. Marge and Ruth Powers are on the run from the cops and with no way out in sight, they find themselves out in the desert careering towards a yawning chasm. Unlike in the movie however, they balk at flying off into the abyss and instead manage to stop just short. It's the brain trust of Chief Wiggum and Homer in hot pursuit however and somewhat inevitably they end up flying into the chasm themselves instead.
27: On the Town – Boy-Scoutz 'N The Hood (S5 E8)
When Bart and Milhouse get all loaded up on sugar thanks to an extra thick Super Squishy and decide to go crazy "Broadway style," it leads to a catchy spoof of the classic Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra musical On The Town. While in the latter it is sailors arriving in New York ready to enjoy some shore leave (producing the now legendary "New York, New York" musical number), here we have two young pals decrying their love of old Springfield town. The sugar-fueled fun before the terrible morning after.
26: The Fugitive – Lisa's Rival (S6 E2)
Everything was emphatically not coming up Milhouse in this episode after Bart has his pal placed on the list of America's Most Wanted criminals. At one stage this includes him being held at gunpoint in a dam drainpipe by an agent who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tommy Lee Jones' U.S. Marshal, Sam Gerard from The Fugitive. He even uses the infamous "I don't care" line when Milhouse professes his innocence, after which Milhouse is left with no choice but to take a deep plunge. In the context of the episode it's utterly irrelevant, but hilarious nonetheless.
25: The Graduate – Lady Bouvier's Lover (S5 E21) / Lisa's Substitute (S2 E19)
I'm flagrantly cheating here I know, but I just couldn't separate these two nods to Mike Nichols' classic comedy-drama. In the former, Grandpa Simpson interrupts Marge's mum's wedding to Mr Burns by banging on the church window, and he and Mrs Bouvier then make their escape on the backseat of a bus just as Benjamin and Elaine do in the original movie.
In the latter, Benjamin Braddock himself, Dustin Hoffman, voices Lisa's substitute teacher Mr Bergstrom and when he is hit on by Mrs Krabappel, he is then able to deliver the immortal line, "Mrs Krabappel, you're trying to seduce me."
24: Basic Instinct – Who Shot Mr Burns Pt 2 (S6 E1)
One of the most paused moments in home video history was immortalized on The Simpsons courtesy of a risqué Groundskeeper Willie. During the investigation surrounding Mr Burns' shooting, the setting of Willie's interrogation is reminiscent of Sharon Stone's in Basic Instinct, and then sure enough, the kilt wearer even uncrosses his legs in the same sultry manner. Unfortunately for Willie, his take on this classic moment is far less well received.
23: Pulp Fiction – 22 Short Films About Springfield (S7 E21)
Both the segmented nature of this episode's storyline, as well as much of the plot itself, is clearly influenced by Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Several moments stand out including the policemen's discussion of what they call a Krusty Burger with cheese at this new-fangled McDonald's restaurant and Snake stopping at the red light only to be recognized by Chief Wiggum just like Butch and Marcellus Wallace in the original film. Likewise, Herman's Military Antique Shop is a perfect stand in for Maynard's Pawnshop, luckily though Milhouse inadvertently saves the day before Zed arrives.
22: A Clockwork Orange – Dog Of Death (S3 E19)
Of all the references to Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange that The Simpsons has adopted over the years, this is arguably the finest. When Mr Burns decides his new attack dog, Santa's Little Helper, needs toughening up a bit, he brainwashes the poor mutt by forcing him to watch footage of dogs being mistreated by men while his eyelids are held open.
This is of course referring to the Ludovico technique we saw used to such devastating effect on young Alex in Kubrick's film. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, a piece synonymous with the movie thanks to Alex's love of old Ludwig Van, also plays over the top of the clips.
21: The Birds – A Streetcar Named Marge (S4 E2)
This episode is brimming with allusions to famous movies, including a neat little nod to Citizen Kane where a bored Homer tears up his playbill during Marge's play, just as Kane's old pal Leland does during Suzan's operatic debut. Perhaps more noticeable though is the wonderful moment where Homer and the family arrive to pick Maggie up from daycare only to find the babies all eerily sat sucking on their pacifiers.
These closing shots closely mirror the end of Hitchcock's The Birds where a flock of birds simply perch menacingly while the film's heroes cautiously escape. Interestingly, when Homer emerges from the daycare centre, an Alfred Hitchcock-looking character wonders across the screen walking his dogs, a direct reference to the director's own cameo in the original film.
20: Fantasia – Itchy And Scratchy Land (S6 E4)
There are several allusions to Disney theme parks and Walt Disney himself throughout this episode, but the most creative link comes in a clip from Itchy and Scratchy cartoon 'Scratchasia'. This is an ultra-violent take on the Disney classic Fantasia that sees the cat and mouse duo recreating the iconic 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' sequence.
One choice moment sees Scratchy chopping Itchy into countless tiny pieces, only to inhale him in dust form and be killed from the inside. A unique blend of vintage Disney and classic Itchy and Scratchy ultra-violence.
19: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof – Secrets Of A Successful Marriage (S5 E22)
The revelation that perennial bachelor Waylon Smithers was once married is a bit of a surprise in itself, but what is entirely predictable is that it ended due to his unwavering dedication to Mr Burns. The story of this tumultuous marriage is told to us in a flashback mirroring a similar struggle between Paul Newman's Brick (constantly boozing and walking using a crutch) and Elizabeth Taylor's Maggie in the 1958 adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play. The pair's tempestuous and unaffectionate marriage is the perfect backdrop for Smithers' own doomed love affair.
18: North By Northwest – Homer Vs. Lisa And The 8th Commandment (S2E13)
This scene is actually referenced twice by the Simpsons team, as it was used again in season ten's Kidney Trouble. Its first outing however was way back in season two. When Homer charges out into the road and frantically tries to stop the cable guy who has been offering illegal cable, he stands in front of the oncoming truck before lying down in its path, forcing it to stop. This mirrors the sequence in Hitchcock's thriller in which Cary Grant's desperate Roger Thornhill does likewise in order to hitch a ride to safety.
17: The Great Escape – A Streetcar Named Marge (S4 E2)
Maggie Simpson's finest moment comes in this parody of John Sturges' The Great Escape. When she gets left in the Ayn Rand School for Tots while Marge takes up acting, she soon rebels against the disciplinarian regime of the day-care's owner, Ms Sinclair. When Maggie breaks the rules regarding pacifiers, she gets sent to "the box," a clear play on Steve McQueen's character being sent to "the cooler," complete with a ball of her own to bounce. The baby's elaborate breakout scheme to rescue their stolen pacifiers is also scored using the film's stirring Elmer Bernstein theme in a further tip of the hat to Sturges' movie.
16: 2001: A Space Odyssey – Deep Space Homer (S5 E15)
Kubrick's Sci-Fi classic is referenced countless times on The Simpsons but perhaps the finest example comes when Homer takes an eventful trip into space. After Homer foolishly opens a bag of crisps (or potato chips for any Americans reading), his fellow astronauts becomes concerned that they will clog up the instruments. Homer then begins a graceful zero-gravity float around the ship, hoovering up the loose chips to the tune of "The Blue Danube," a great twist on the docking shot in 2001 which likewise saw a colossal entity floating majestically through space to the same piece of music.
15: Crocodile Dundee – Bart Vs Australia (S6 E16)
This may not be the most clever example on this list, but it is certainly among the funniest. When the family visit Australia they find themselves in a typical Aussie bar. When Bart starts playing with a flick-knife, a gruff looking local approaches him and repeats the legendary line from Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee, "that's not a knife, this is a knife." Only of course, as Bart points out, it's actually a spoon. To which follows the inimitable reply, "I see you've played knifey-spoony before," a quote which has now far surpassed the original in terms of enduring popularity.
14: Night of the Hunter – Cape Feare (S5 E2)
This brief but clever tribute to Robert Mitchum's character in Night Of The Hunter is one of several great references throughout this episode. In the original movie, Mitchum's dangerous preacher has 'Love' and 'Hate' tattooed on his knuckles. In this case however, due to the characters only having three fingers to work with, Sideshow Bob instead merely has "LUV" and "HĀT" scrawled on his.
In the case of the latter, I have been reliably informed that the line above the A means it is a long drawn out vowel, thus meaning that phonetically at least, the latter would technically be pronounced 'hate.' I await being duly corrected on this by any resident language experts.
13: Batman: Last Exit To Springfield (S4 E17)
When Lisa discovers she requires braces, her hopes for a shiny new discreet set is quickly tarnished as she is instead forced to wear a horrific eyesore that better suits the family's tight budget. As she comes to from the anaesthetic, Lisa demands that the dentist passes her a mirror so she can see what he has done. Upon seeing her own shocking reflection, she laughs maniacally before smashing the mirror to pieces while the doctor cowers. This whole sequence is channelling a similar scene in Tim Burton's Batman in which an acid-scarred Jack Napier first glimpses his own transformation into The Joker.
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12: The Godfather – Mr. Plow (S4 E9)
Another great example here of The Simpsons team matching classic scenes almost shot for shot. In this instance, during the snow storm that engulfs Springfield and prompts Homer to start his own snow plow business, Bart faces a barrage of snowballs from the town's kids in a sequence that is directly lifted from Sonny Corleone's unfortunate incident at a toll booth in Coppola's masterpiece The Godfather. A slightly less bloody recreation but still a clever little nod nonetheless.
11: Psycho – Itchy And Scratchy And Marge (S2 E9)
An impressive recreation here of one of the most memorable scenes in cinema history. In Hitchcock's original, Marion Crane is brutally stabbed to death in a shower at the Bates family motel by an unseen assailant and we witness the murder through a series of quick shots. This time however it is Homer falling victim to a brutal assault by young Maggie Simpson who is influenced by the excessive violence found on children's TV.
It's almost a shot-for-shot reconstruction complete with Bernard Herrmann's legendary score. Plenty of clever touches like the nearby curtain being ripped off its rings and the shot of red paint spiralling down the drain make this both a remarkably accurate and particularly clever spoof.
10: The Untouchables – Homer Goes To College (S5 E3)
In the original movie, De Niro's intimidating Al Capone stalks around a table containing his assembled henchmen, lulling them into false sense of security with a speech about team work, before violently pummelling one of them over the head with a baseball bat. Here, as he attempts to persuade the admissions committee of Springfield University to accept Homer into the college, Mr Burns channels his inner Capone and attempts to do likewise.
Unfortunately he doesn't quite have the requisite strength to cause the necessary damage, but luckily he still gets his way in the end when the committee seems to take pity on him. "Smithers, dismember the corpse and send the widow a corsage."
9: The Godfather Part II – Last Exit To Springfield (S4 E17)
In one of the show's greatest ever episodes, Homer begins to fantasise about a life in organized crime and his daydream bears an uncanny resemblance to the scene of Don Fanucci walking his streets in Coppola's The Godfather Part II. While in the original the Don receives gifts of a necklace and an orange, here Homer is instead offered the most precious gift of all, doughnuts. Everything about the scene is perfect, from the Nina Rota style music to the bustling Little Italy market place.
8: Alien – Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song (S5 E19)
One of cinema's most nerve-wracking sequences is put to great use here when Santa's Little Helper accidentally gets loose in the Elementary School's air ducts. Just as in Ridley Scott's Alien, where the crew watch as their heat seeking equipment shows the alien lifeform closing in on Dallas in the ship's ventilation system, here we have a dog and a greased up Scotsman stalking one another in the school's ducts. Principal Skinner keeps track using the inexplicably hi-tech heating computer and looks on aghast as the two creatures' heat traces get gradually closer together.
7: Rashomon – Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo (S10 E23)
Some entries make this list due to them being such neatly worked in movie homages, many of them being shot-for-shot remakes with expertly appropriated dialogue. Here though, we have a very brief reference to Kurosawa's masterpiece Rashomon that earns its place purely by being both extremely funny and very clever. When Homer is looking glum at having to go to Japan, Marge attempts to cheer him up and the following two and fro takes place: "Come on Homer, Japan will be fun. You liked Rashomon." "That's not how I remember it."
If you aren't familiar with the movie, just take a quick glance at its central premise and you'll see just how perfect this joke is.
6: Rear Window – Bart Of Darkness (S6 E1)
Pretty much the entire second half of this episode parodies Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, with Jimmy Stewart's L.B. Jeffries even making a brief cameo appearance. Stuck in his room due to a broken leg, Bart begins spying on his neighbors using a telescope and as in Hitch's movie, he seemingly witnesses a heinous crime in the process.
The episode's crowning glory comes in its final moments where Lisa Simpson is sent over to find clues at the suspect's abode only to find herself thrust into grave danger just like Grace Kelly's Lisa in the original movie. It's an all-round great episode and one with perhaps the finest of many Hitchcock parodies in The Simpsons.
5: Cape Fear – Cape Feare (S5 E2)
This whole episode's plot is lifted from both the 1962 original and the 1991 Scorsese remake of Cape Fear, though it's the specific references to the latter version which really stand out. Sideshow Bob's tattoos closely resemble those of Robert De Niro's villain Max Cady and the shot where he leaves prison with a sinister look on his face as storm clouds gather in the distance is identical to one found in the film. However, perhaps the most enjoyable parody comes when Bob mimics De Niro's Cady and begins smoking and laughing uproariously in the cinema to the anger of the nearby Simpson family.
Some of the shots are directly taken from the film, including one where Bob leans back in his chair and exhales a plume of cigar smoke into the air. Alas though, at no point did De Niro's Cady reveal a Die Bart Die tattoo.
4: Planet of the Apes- A Fish Called Selma (S7 E19)
Troy McClure's finest hour comes in this episode in which he experiences as unexpected career renaissance and lands a part in the musical version of The Planet Of The Apes, entitled of course, "Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to Get Off." The look of the apes is clearly based on those of the original 1968 movie, and there's even a character called Dr Zaius, and this time he even gets his own theme song to the tune of Falco's "Rock me Amadeus."
Everything about this musical is brilliant, but perhaps its finest moment is one of the greatest lines in musical history, "I hate every chimp I see, from chimpan-A, to chimpan-zee".
3: Citizen Kane – Rosebud (S5 E4)
Much like with "Bart Of Darkness" and "Cape Feare," the plot of this whole episode is based on a classic movie, in this case Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. The episode's title, "Rosebud," is of course a reference to Kane's mysterious last words, and Burns' search for Bobo, a lost symbol of childhood innocence, likewise mimics a key aspect of Welles' movie.
My favourite reference though comes at the episode's outset where we zoom in on Burns Manor, in a scene reminiscent of the movie's own famous opening shots, to find Mr Burns suffering a restless night's sleep. He lets out a whimper for his old bear Bobo and then lets a snow globe fall from his grasp which then shatters into pieces on the hard floor. Even Smithers' entrance witnessed through the broken shards of glass is a direct lift from Kane and sets the tone for this wonderfully crafted parody.
2: Goldfinger – You Only Move Twice (S8 E2)
In what may well be the show's greatest ever episode, there are countless allusions to the Bond movie franchise with the title stemming from You Only Live Twice and elements of the plot from Moonraker cropping up along the way. However it's a fresh take on an immortal scene from Goldfinger which is the pièce de résistance.
Much like Auric Goldfinger did with Bond in the original movie, here Homer's new boss, Hank Scorpio, holds a distinctly Connery-esque spy hostage on a table while a laser slowly edges towards his body. This time however, Bond can't talk his way out of trouble and instead attempts an ingenious escape. Before he can get very far though, Homer tackles him to the ground where he is then unceremoniously shot by Scorpio's guards. It's a great spoof of the old Bond movie cliché regarding evil villains and their needlessly elaborate death traps.
1: Raiders of the Lost Ark – Bart's Friend Falls In Love (S3 E23)
This remains the Simpsons movie reference to which all others are compared. In this classic episode from season three, we open on a practically shot-for-shot recreation of a legendary scene from Steven Spielberg's Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Rather than Indy and an ancient fertility symbol, here we have Bart attempting to steal Homer's change jar. Even the smallest mannerisms are captured perfectly with Bart wiping the sweat from his face just as Dr Jones does in the movie. He then is forced into a daring escape which involves sucker-darts fired by Maggie and of course an enraged Homer standing in perfectly for the huge boulder that is triggered to roll after Indy.
Everything about the sequence is inspired and the attention to detail is particularly impressive with little flourishes like Bart rescuing his hat from the under the closing garage door really making it extra special.
Tags: 2001: A Space OdysseyCape FearCitizen KaneFoxGoldfingerRaiders of the Lost ArkThe BirdsThe GodfatherThe Simpsons
Robert Keeling
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Stepping Back From the...
Stepping Back From the Edge
By Bill Ventres
Bill Ventres
I can walk.
It's not pretty. It's not easy. It's not without assistance. But I can walk.
Six weeks ago, I wasn't able to walk. A few days before that, I'd begun a visit to the city of Antigua, in Guatemala, and was enjoying its colonial ambiance with friends.
Then, after a brief bout of sore throat, I contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that afflicts the peripheral nervous system. My body's defense system, its antibodies triggered by the offending virus, had decided to attack the nerves in my arms, legs and trunk.
Upon awaking at 7:30 am on November 2, 2011, I could barely get out of bed. On rubbery legs, I made my way to the bedroom door to call for help. Six hours later, I was 99.9 percent paralyzed from the neck down.
In twenty-five years of practice as a family physician, I had never seen a case of Guillain-Barre. And in all honesty, I couldn't remember any statistics associated with the illness, such as the fact that it affects about two in 100,000 people. I only remembered that it came on quickly and could have devastating effects, which I was experiencing already.
The consulting physician at Antigua's small private hospital told me that there were no artificial respirators in town, and that I would need to be transferred to a place where one was available. After all, he noted, given how fast I was worsening, it was probable that sometime over the next twenty-four hours I'd be relying on such a machine to do my breathing for me.
With that information in mind, I decided to bypass Guatemala City's hospitals and return to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, where for the better part of a year I'd been teaching master's students in public health at the University of El Salvador.
Before making the trip, though, I needed to choose which hospital to go to. I considered San Salvador's national public training hospital, but my employers at the Fulbright Commission sent an unequivocal message: I should go to the city's one luxury hospital, favored by wealthy residents and the local American military and Embassy personnel. I could have asked to be airlifted back to the States, but knowing that my grown children were scattered across two other continents, and feeling my own strong bonds with my Salvadoran friends and adopted family, I felt that my life was here.
A seven-hour ambulance ride (with a physician and portable ventilator by my side) brought me to the hospital. I was met on arrival by an intensive-care physician who is also a colleague and friend.
In an effort to overwhelm my errant antibodies, he started me on high-dose immunoglobulin therapy. Unfortunately, this didn't have the desired effect; the nerves supporting my diaphragm had been severely damaged by my body's mistake, and within two days, besides being unable to move or swallow without difficulty, I was also laboring to breathe.
Ironically, my ordeal took place in amid supremely comfortable surroundings–a private room that featured a large-screen TV, room service, great food and a bed for my kids when they flew in to visit.
I am a lucky man. I managed to avoid being intubated, and six days after being admitted, I slowly began to regain my ability to inhale and exhale without a struggle.
Each day that followed brought some new return of function. Little had I known how much it would mean to be able to move my little finger, swallow without effort or sit up unassisted. Every new gain took on special significance, as a light along the way back to defining myself not as an illness but as a person, a survivor.
I don't really know what triggered my improvement. Perhaps it was the immunological treatment; perhaps the illness simply ran its course, stopping short of completely shutting down my capacity to breathe. My adopted Salvadoran family believes that destiny played a part in both my succumbing to the illness and my recuperation. "Everything is written," they said. "It is all part of God's plan."
For my part, I believe that two forces have played important roles in my recovery, which is still in progress.
First, I am convinced that a certain inner strength helped to buoy me when things looked bad. I'm not sure I can identify its source, but it comforted me when there was little I could do besides lie there and hope that I wouldn't be among the nearly one in twenty people who die from Guillain-Barre. It calmed me when I felt anxious, hungry for oxygen. My prayer and mantra, between gasps, was "May I be strong."
Second, I have felt the power of the kindness shown to me by others. The kindness of a resident physician who reached out to shake my motionless hand and continued to hold it as he asked about my medical history and condition. The kindness of a nurse who massaged my feet as she trimmed my toenails–a gesture of humble yet profound caring in the face of my devastating loss of control and power. The kindness of family and friends and colleagues from around the world who sent emails full of hope. I am embarrassed to say that, before now, I never knew how much they cared. I feel deeply grateful for their words of encouragement.
When I return to the clinical practice of medicine, whether here in Central America or back in the US, I will take these remembrances with me. And I will recollect the myriad thoughts and feelings that came to light during my incapacitation. Guillain-Barre affects only the peripheral nervous system; it leaves the mind free to explore fears and worries, joys and pleasures–a whole spectrum of ideas and emotions. I will recall the terror of imagining that my next breath would be my last, and the refuge of knowing that I am loved.
I'm fond of recalling the words of Octavio Paz, the Mexican poet and Nobel laureate, in his book The Labyrinth of Solitude. Love, he wrote, is "a perpetual discovery, an immersion into…waters of reality."
I am experiencing such an immersion and discovery right now, as I go about building new foundations of strength and endurance.
I know that my recovery will take time, perhaps months or even years. Yet, having faced the acute challenges of catastrophic illness and felt the outpouring of love from others and from within myself, I feel Paz's words ringing within me more poignantly and richly than ever before.
May I take them with me as I return to my own state of normalcy. May I hear them when I attend to others in their hour of need.
And the next time it is my turn to know suffering–the next time when, literally or metaphorically, I cannot walk–may I remember them, and find peace and contentment.
So may we all.
Bill Ventres is a family physician and medical anthropologist. In late 2010 he left Portland, Oregon, for the city of San Salvador, in El Salvador, to teach in the University of El Salvador's master's in public health program as a visiting research professor, funded by the Fulbright Commission of the US Department of State. His favorite number is now fifty-three, given that in this, his fifty-third year of life, he has experienced a succession of life-changing experiences–living abroad in Latin America, returning to the US to care for his mother in a hospice program, becoming engaged to a wonderful Salvadoran woman and, of course, contracting Guillain-Barre Syndrome. These and other adventures have offered him new perspectives on joy, friendship and the deeper meanings of life. He is profoundly grateful.
Story editor:
Diane Guernsey
doctor as patient, gratitude
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