text:
Dark Knights and Hell Boys.
by AARON on July 21, 2008 at 3:47 am
SPOILER ALERT PROBABLY!
Yep, that Dark Knight movie sure has collected a lot of hype over the past few weeks. I haven't seen so many gushing superlatives hurled at a comic book movie since… ever.
Incredibly, the movie totally lived up to the hype. It's really unbelievable.
I don't really want to write a whole THING about it, though, seeing as how I'd just be sort of repeating a million other THINGS people have written. Mariah pretty much wrote my review for me, anyway. (Thanks, Mariah!) I honestly can't imagine there'll be a better movie this year. What's coming down the line to even compete? The Road, maybe? Burn After Reading? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?
I do, however, want to take this moment to do what no other Dark Knight bloggist has yet to do: Congratulate the MPAA on yet another towering triumph in the field of movie ratings.
Sure, I just watched a PG-13 movie in which I was seriously worried I was about to witness a man with half his face-flesh burned off put a bullet in an 8-year-old boy's skull in front of his crying, screaming family, but thanks to the good people at the MPAA, I had absolutely no fear of any nude female nipples sneaking into the scene. Thank you so much, MPAA. Because of you and your stalwart vigilance on behalf of our nation's many unspoilt young minds, I can rest assured whenever children go to see crack-y, psychotic clowns stick knives in people's mouths, those clowns will never, under any circumstances, dare to use the word "fuck." I doff my hat to you all.
Yeah, the PG-13 rating is a joke. This is a dark, intense film…. Which is, of course, exactly why I loved it. The Dark Knight is a tar-black film about nothing less than the fragility of hope and the allure of chaos – Yes, it's exactly that pretentious. But – oh my god, are you shitting me – they pulled it off! They really did! Through a combination of actors who take the material seriously, a director who never pulls his punches, 3 writers willing to take a summer blockbuster into places summer blockbusters just do not go… they did it. This is a "Fall prestige picture" disguised as a superhero spectacle and dumped in the middle of July to record crowds.
And god, this thing is brutal. I swear to god, there were moments in the theater when I was genuinely afraid of what I'd have to watch the Joker do. I was uncomfortable. And that kind of thing never happens to me. You can believe the hype. This Joker is one of the best movie villains of all time, Oscar nomination for sure (and not just as some cheap "Sorry to hear you died!" consolation prize, either).
You know those videos you can find on the internet of terrorists sawing people's heads off with knives and whatnot?* Heath Ledger's Joker is the guy with the knife. Only instead of a mask, he's got clown paint smeared all over his mutilated mouth. Oh, and he's laughing.
(I bet you could show those videos in a PG-13 movie. Y'know, as long as no one says "tits.")
One more thing before this becomes a THING… Having grown up in Chicago, it was really cool to see where they staged the big car chase in the middle of the movie. Those hellish orange lights along the "lower" streets used to haunt my dreams when I was a kid.
SPEAKING OF HELLISH…
I also enjoyed the hell out of Hellboy 2. (Now THAT was a proper PG-13.) It was just one big, 2-hour-long orgy of the most inspired, imaginative production design you've ever seen. Brilliant action choreography, too (miles ahead of the Dark Knight, unfortunately, except for maybe that car chase scene). BUT… I'm not sure I agree with the consensus that Hellboy 2 is such an improvement over Hellboy 1, though. The main villain is definitely more compelling this time around, and there's frankly just a lot MORE on the screen to appreciate, but I dunno… It seemed like Guillermo Del Toro (one of my favorite-ever guys, if you recall) really upped the SILLY for this one, occasionally venturing dangerously close to Men In Black territory. I'm usually a big proponent of the silly, but in this case, I was a little distracted. The tone just seemed slightly off from what they established the first time around (and miles away from the comics).
And what was going on with Abe Sapien in this new one? He betrays them all toward the end, then just kind of stands around while everyone else fights? What's going on there, Fish Guy?
These are pretty minor complaints, though. Hellboy 2 is, without question, a beautiful movie full of agonizingly beautiful visuals (The dying elemental! The regenerating army! The rock door guy!), the best action scenes of the year, a note-perfect performance by Ron Perlman, and tons of really nice character animation (that poor, dying tooth fairy…). Also: Johann Krauss is worth the price of admission alone. Family Guy voice and everything.
Y'know, The Dark Knight and Hellboy 2 will make a good double-feature when I have the discs here at home. After two and a half hours of punishing Gotham oppression, maybe I'll better appreciate the light and silly adventures of the hellborn demon destined to destroy mankind.
It's been a really cool summer movie season, hasn't it?
THREE DAYS TO COMIC-CON!
*A friend of mine e-mailed me a link to one of those videos SANS WARNING one time. Luckily, someone told me what it was before I clicked it, but other friends were… not so lucky.
Mr. Blithe
July 21, 2008, 8:37 am	| # | Reply
The PG-13 rating for Dark Knight meant that no one felt bad about bringing toddlers and young adolescents to the show. So not only will the kids have nightmares and grow up to commit terrible acts of wanton cruelty in a grim effort to "clear their heads," but I had to listen to them talking through the entire darned movie because they were too young to even be able to tell what was happening!
"Daddy, why'd he kill that guy?"
"Because he is the personification of evil and chaos, son."
Bushido Hacks
Wait, there was a nipple shot in The Dark Knight? I don't recall that. Are you sure that Tyler Durden wasn't working the projection screen? Oh wait…was this on the boat where he left. Hopefully there will be a Benny Hill like outtake leaving that old man on the boat with all those women.
The Dark Knight had the feeling of an R-rated movie (Christian Bale as BATEMAN–er, Batman!).
Pleanty of dead people in this movie. I reckon atleast 100 people were dead in this movie.
One thing I've seemed to notice alot lately are these British and Welsh people speaking like they are from America. Christian Bale and Huge Laurie are no exception. It's going to be real interesting when David Tennant plays the part of The Riddler in the thrid movie. The Doctor has been thinking about it, and I'm all for it.
Having Christopher Nolan reboot Batman has been a blessing so far. I recall the Squee comic from about 10 years ago (yes, it's been that long ago!), where Jhonen had addressed his concerns that Gilbert Gottfried would be in a Batman movie. Unless Nolan gets really, really drunk we won't have to work about art imitating life.
ojsimpMovie
December 23, 2009, 12:09 pm	| # | Reply
saved, i will add your blog to my toolbar right now


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It aims to increase awareness of the complex dynamics of identity and development. It also intends to clarify the understanding of a wide range of racial/ethnic groups as well as other groups (e.g. sexual orientation, disability, etc.) in order to compare cross-cultural clients and coping forces within their social groups and communities.
This study has been a wonderful and useful experience in my own practice and I have demonstrated here the need to be able to focus my learning and my teaching through this study of criminal behavioral treatment with a clear understanding of cultural traditions, customs and values paying particular attention to the understanding of effective approaches between different identity groups and how this influences the development of criminogenic behavior in order to foster a deeper understanding in the diagnosis and treatment of criminogenic behavior.
I use this knowledge today, in my current practice as well as the teaching of my undergraduate as well as graduate students, specifically focused on etiology, diagnosis and collaboration with clients to determine the desired change in regarding their desired behavior change.


Born June 19th, 1968. Cand. Mag. Molde College (Norway), MSc and PhD in Economics from University of Bristol (UK).
Arnstein Aassve received his undergraduate degree in Law, Economics and Computer Science at Molde College in 1992, before attending postgraduate studies at University of Bristol in 1993. He received his MSc in Economics and Finance in 1995 and his PhD in Economics in 2000, after having worked on poverty issues in the US. Since receiving his PhD he has worked as a lecturer in Economics at University of Bristol and University of Leicester. From 2000 to 2002 Aassve was a Research Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock with Professor Billari, then as a Research Scientist at University of Essex. He has received research grants from The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Economic and Social Research Council, European Science Foundation, and is currently holder of an European Research Council Starting Grant (Consequences of Demographic Change). Currently he is an Associate Professor in Demography, the Director of the Bachelor in International Economics, Management and Finance (BIEMF) and also the Vice Director of Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics, which he has held since 2007. He is a research fellow the Central Bureau of Statistics in Norway and at Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Essex University. Dr Aassve has since his PhD published in a range of scientific journals, including economics, social policy, demography, social medicine, applied statistics and family planning. He has taught numerous PhD courses in panel regression as well as event history modeling and has supervised several PhD students, both in statistics and Demography, as well as several post-docs. He is also an active member of the Gender and Generations Program (GGP) consortium (http://www.ggp-i.org/).
Economic demography, poverty and deprivation, comparative social policy, micro-econometrics, event history modelling, simulations.
"Age norms on leaving home: Multilevel evidence from the European Social Survey", Environment and Planning A, 2012 forthcoming (with Arpino and Billari), Grandparenting and Mothers' labour force participation, Demographi Research 2012 forthcoming (with Arpino and Goisis), "Grandparenting and childbearing in the extended family", European Journal of Population 2012 forthcoming (with Meroni and Pronzato), "Explaining attitudes towards demographic behaviour", European Sociological Review 2011 (with Bassi and Sironi), Happiness and Childbearing across Europe" Social Indicators Research 2011 (with Sironi and Goisis) "Social Age Deadlines for Childbearing of Women and Men", Human Reproduction (with Billari, Goisis, Liefbroer, Settersten, Hagestad and Speder), "Estimating the Causal Effect of Fertility on Economic Wellbeing: Data Requirements, Identifying Assumptions and Estimation Methods" Empirical Economics 2010 (with Arpino), "Women's wages and childbearing decisions: Evidence from Italy, Demographic Research 2010 (with Billari and Rondinelli), "Cash benefit policy and childbearing decisions in Norway, Marriage and Family Review 2010 (with Trude Lappegaard), "Does Fertility decrease household consumption? An analysis of poverty dynamics and fertility in Indonesia, Demographic Research (with Kim, Englehardt and Prskawetz), "The highest fertility in Europe - for how long? Determinants of fertility change in Albania" 2009 Demografia, "WHat keeps yound adults in permanent poverty? A comparative analysis using ECHP", 2009 Social Science Research, "Demographic Change: How Government support influences birth rates" 2009 European View, "Childcare cash benefits and fertility timing in Norway" 2008 European Journal of Population (with Lappegaard), "youth Poverty in Europe", report series of the J. Rowntree Foundation 2007 (with Iacovou), "Marital Disruption and Economic Wellbeing: A comparative analysis", Journal of Royal Statistical Society Series A, 2007 (with G. Betti, S. Mazzuco and L. Mencarini); "Strings of Adulthood: Analyzing work-family trajectories using sequence analysis", European Journal of Population 2007, (with F.C. Billari, and R. Piccarreta); "Does leaving home make you poor? Evidence from 13 countries", European Journal of Population, 2007 (with M. Davia, M. Iacovou and S. Mazzuco); "An empirical investigation into the effect of childbearing on economic wellbeing in Europe" Statistical Methods and Applications 2006 Vol 15(2): 209 227 (with S. Mazzuco and L. Mencarini); "Societal Transition, Policy Changes and Family Formation: Evidence from Hungary", Journal of European Population 2006 (22):127 152, (with F.C. Billari and Z. Speder); "Fertility and poverty in developing countries: a comparative analysis", Population Review 2006 45(2), (with H. Engelhardt, F. Francavilla, A. Kedir, J. Kim, F. Mealli, L. Mencarini, S. Pudney and A. Prskawetz); "Youth poverty in Europe: What do we know?" Demographic Research 2006 15(3): p21 50 (with M. Iacovou, and L. Mencarini); "Employment, Family Union, and Childbearing Decisions in Great Britain", Journal of Royal Statistical Society Series A 2006 Vol 169(4):781 804 (with S. Burgess, C. Propper, and M. Dickson); "Childbearing and wellbeing: A Comparative Analysis of Welfare Regimes in Europe", Journal of European Social Policy, 2005 n.3, vol.15 (with A. Aassve, S. Mazzuco, L. Mencarini); "Sequence analysis of BHPS life course data", in M. Vichi, P. Monari, S. Magnani, A. Montanari (Eds.), New Developments in Classification and Data Analysis, Springer, Berlin, 2005 (with F.C. Billari, R. Piccarreta); "Social Policies and Lifecourse Outcomes: The Impact of Cohabitation and Marriage on first Births in Germany and Sweden", Population and Environment 2004 Vol. 25(6) 531 561 (with P. Baizán, and F. C. Billari); "Sequence analysis of BHPS life course data, in CLADAG 2003. Book of Short Papers, CLUEB, Bologna (with F.C. Billari and R. Piccarreta); Incomes and the Transition to Independent Living, Marriage and Divorce among Young Americans, Journal of Population Economics 2003 Vol 16(3): 250 267 (with S. Burgess, and C. Propper); The Impact of Economic Resources on Premarital Childbearing and Subsequent Marriage Among Young American Women, Demography, 40(1):125 126; Cohabitation, marriage, first birth: The interrelationship of family formation events in Spain. European Journal of Population 2003 Vol 19: 147 169 (with P. Baizán, and F. C. Billari); "Leaving Home: A Comparative Longitudinal Analysis of ECHP data", Journal of European Social Policy, 2002 12(4):259 275 (with F.C. Billari, S. Mazucco, and F. Ongaro); "Transitions from Home to Marriage among Young Americans", Journal of Applied Econometrics, 2003 17(1):1 23 (with A. Aassve, S. Burgess, A. Chesher and C. Propper); "Changing Patterns of Marriage and Fertility Behaviour in a Time of Social and Economic Change: Evidence from ". Studies in Family Planning, 2002 33(2):165-172 (with G. Altankhuyag); "Das Verlassen des Elternhauses durch junge Erwachsene in Europa und seine demografischen Konsequenzen", in Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Jahrbuch, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Monaco di Baviera, 2002: 727-729 (with P. Baizán and F.C. Billari); "The Impact of Income and Occupational Status on Leaving Home: Evidence from the Italian ECHP sample", LABOUR: Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, 2001 15:501-529 (with F. Billari and F. Ongaro); "Income and Assets", chapter 6 in "The ECE/PAU Generations and Gender Programme: Concepts for a second round of Fertility and Family Surveys in Europe, with particular attention paid to persons of reproductive/working age", edited by J. Hoem, report commissioned by the Population Activities Unit, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.


Oooh the dreaded stretch marks, they are inevitable! They say they are genetic, and appear if you gain weight at a fast pace. What helps is to keep hydrated, gain weight at a slower rate, and applying certain oils and lotions.
With my first pregnancy I used a well known brand, Palmers because that's the first one and only one available at the stores. For the oil I used a different brand Bio-Oil. I didn't defeat the stretch marks but they were tiny and subtle on my belly so I was happy about that.
They offer three products; renewing body oil, stretch mark cream, and whipped belly butter. They are not too expensive the oil is $9.99, cream $12.99 and whip $14.99 at Target's website, if you use your Target Redcard like I did you get free shipping and save 5% of your total purchase. I placed my order when I was three months pregnant, meanwhile I had been using some left over Palmer's. After the three months I switched to Boppy. I've been using it through out my pregnancy and so far reordered twice so it lasts a good while. I apply the oil once a day after my shower. I allow it to absorb which doesn't take long since it is not greasy. I apply either the whipp or cream afterwards. At night I only apply either the whip or lotion. I'm currently 34 weeks and I haven't noticed any new stretch marks!. The products have NOT erased my old stretch marks, but did smooth them out. I'm going to go over each product and share my thoughts on the products.
The renewing body oil is 4 fl oz. It is non-greasy and fast absorbant. It keeps my skin hydrated protecting it from stretch marks. It has a nice citrus shea scent, which I really like!! You can use it in the morning and at night. All three products are hypoallergenic, paraben free and phthalate free so they are safe and effective both during and after pregnancy. I only use it once a day and it lasted 4 months. I reordered my second bottle and will start applying twice since I'm hitting my final months.
The stretch mark cream is 6 fl oz. It contains a triple moisture blend of coconut oil, shea butter and vitamin E combine to smooth and hydrate skin for stretch mark protection. This too has the citrus shea scent and is non-greasy. The texture is smooth like butter and feels nice to apply it, it feels very rich. I used it twice a day and it lasted three months before reordering.
Now on to the cherry on top, the whipped belly butter! It is also 6 fl oz, citrus scent, and non-greasy. This stuff is amazing literally feels like whip. The texture is so decadent and rich. It keeps my skin hydrated and deeply moisturize. I used it twice a day lasting me three months. Personally you can do the oil and either the cream or whip or use all three it's up to you.
I'm glad I found this product because they are amazing in quality, results, and are inexpensive. Best of all I can stand the citrus shea scent over the cocoa butter! This product has prevented new stretch marks from appearing. Now you know there are other options out there and this one is worth trying. They make the perfect gift for the new mommy-to-be. Here is a picture of my belly to show you that they have worked for me, perhaps they'll work for you too.
Glad it was helpful, oils and butters are liquid gold.


Somewhere at the edge of the World ice cream vans go to die, I know I saw them from the train back from Brighton, I just had to go and have a look. I was received warmly by the busy proprietors going busily about their business, readying the working vans for their working day on the coast. It seems they break the invalids up for spares keeping the ageing vehicles on the road for another season – dispensing joy to jolly girls and boys in cornet, tub and lolly form. There is however something inevitably heartbreakingly poignant, seeing the signage fade, in the southern sun, as brambles weave in and out of open window, steering wheel, wheel arch and fridge. Ask not for whom the chimes chime. They chime for you. Nevermore.
Cycling along Curzon Road one sunny Sunday afternoon, I found to my surprise, facing me across the Whiteacre Road junction.
– An empty yet extant launderette.
One lone drier tumbling, lonely – an absence of presence, save myself.
The usual spartan interior almost unkempt, enlivened by four legged, almost alien, ovalish plastic laundry baskets. A sunlit shimmer of brushed steel surfaces, low lit and deeply shadowed linoleum tiles.
Under the illuminating hum of bare fluorescent tubes.
I snapped and exited, unwashed.
Embassy Court has always had a very special place in my heart.
Forty years ago as a young art student attending nearby Portsmouth Polytechnic, we were taken by Maurice Denis in a minibus to visit the modernist buildings in our locale, this was my first love.
Two days ago I returned to Brighton, sprinting spryly along the prom to meet an old friend.
We were ever so pleased to see each other after all these years, I walked around admiringly and smiled.
"Embassy Court is an 11 storey block of flats situated on the Brighton seafront on the corner of Western Street and the Kings Road. It was designed by the architect Wells Coates and completed in 1935.
It is amongst of the most outstanding examples of pre-war Modernism in the UK, it has a grade II* listed status and remains a major Brighton landmark. This beautiful, elegantly proportioned block contains 72 flats, with awe-inspiring sea views, is considered one of the coolest places to live in Britain.


…and just like that, it was over. BOA 2012 ended its run on Saturday and much hugging, drinking, dancing, congratulating, sleeping, and ripping up of stages ensued (mostly in that order). Followed by more sleeping.
I want to extend my own personal congratulation to everyone involved, and ginormous THANK YOUs to our spectacular audiences (particularly the packed-to-standing-room closing weekend houses!).
But I guess what has really stuck with me, and what I hope continues to be a discussion in the Bay Area small theater scene, is how deeply entrenched we are in our separate art-making spheres. One of the wonderful things about BOA is that it smushes together 10 different producing companies (each with a different style, philosophy, mission, history) almost by brute force: many, if not most, of these companies probably wouldn't choose to share a billing like this, and have not worked together in the past. In fact, a common topic of conversation among the actors seemed to be, "so what does your company do?" Genuine interest in each other's work — and an equally genuine ignorance of each other's very existence — characterized many of the interactions that I observed and/or participated in.
Why don't we know about each other? It's somewhat disheartening to realize the extent of our tunnel-vision: how can we expect audiences to find us and know about us if we aren't even really aware of each other?
I have no idea how to fix it. I suspect that an increase in cross-pollination and artistic polyamory would go a long way, and certainly things like BOA are invaluable to our little community, knitting us together into a lovely, ephemeral, messy patchwork of local small theater. In general, the Bay Area small theater community is amazingly collaborative, active, and supportive. I'm not saying we have to love each other's work, I did not love every piece in BOA, but really, in the grand scheme of things, we're all on the same team, right?
WARNING: SELF-IMPORTANT METACOMMENTARY AND PAINFULLY CLICHE METAPHOR AHEAD: maybe THIS VERY BLOG can start poking little air holes in our cozy bubbles.


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Absolute record of Covid-19 cases: 95,159 in 24 hours
rows tests.jpg
Amid the exponential increase in cases, the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT) approved the use of Covid-19 self-test. According to what is indicated by the organism, these are the products Panbio COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test, SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Self Test Nasal, SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test (COVID-19 Ag), WL Check SARS-CoV-2 Ag Self Testing.
The sanitary portfolio indicated that they are 1,396 those hospitalized with coronavirus in intensive care units, with a percentage of occupancy of adult beds in the public and private sector, for all pathologies, of 37.2% in the country and 38.1% in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area.
Of the total infected, 5,390,524 were discharged and 407,825 are confirmed active cases.
According to the Public Vaccination Monitor, The total inoculated amounts to 77,717,765, of which 38,343,044 received one dose, 33,069,651 both, 2,645,508 an additional and 3,659,562 a reinforcement, while the vaccines distributed to the jurisdictions reach 94,657,083.
The Ministry also indicated that they were carried out in the last 24 hours 170,639 tests and since the beginning of the outbreak there have been 28,646,641 diagnostic tests for this disease.
The report stated that 28 men died; 9 in the province of Buenos Aires, 3 in the City of Buenos Aires, 1 in Corrientes, 1 in Córdoba, 1 in Entre Ríos, 1 in Jujuy, 1 in Mendoza, 6 in Neuquén, 1 in Río Negro, 3 in Salta and 1 in Santa Fe.
The report indicated that 24 women died; 8 in the province of Buenos Aires, 2 in the City of Buenos Aires, 3 in Corrientes, 5 in Córdoba, 1 in Mendoza, 3 in Salta and 2 in San Luis.
This Wednesday 34,866 cases were registered in the province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires; in the City of Buenos Aires 11,226; in Catamarca 1,033; in Chaco 1,676; in Chubut 590; in Corrientes 706; in Córdoba 15,253; in Entre Ríos 1,466: in Formosa 632; in Jujuy 1,117; in La Pampa 929; in La Rioja 207; in Mendoza 3,324; in Misiones 240; in Neuquén 1,713; in Río Negro 1,140; in Salta 2,275; in San Juan 1832; in San Luis 944; in Santa Cruz 1,297; in Santa Fe 8,149; in Santiago del Estero 2,334; in Tierra del Fuego 296 and in Tucumán 1,914.
The total accumulated by district indicates 2,291,466 cases for the province of Buenos Aires, in the City of Buenos Aires 621,000; Catamarca 57,294; Chaco 107,467; Chubut 86,483; Currents 99,271; Cordoba 635,744; Entre Ríos 143,464; Formosa 64,259; Jujuy 54,277; La Pampa 73,838; La Rioja 35,256; Mendoza 178,629; Missions 39,190; Neuquen 124,720; Rio Negro 110,383; Skip 98,961; San Juan 75,966; St. Louis 86,077; Santa Cruz 65,424; Santa Fe 508,947; Santiago del Estero 89,681; Tierra del Fuego 33,765 and Tucumán 234,133.
Existing cases in the Malvinas Islands are included according to press information (due to the illegal occupation of the United Kingdom, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, it is not possible to have our own information on the impact of Covid-19 in that part of Argentine territory) .
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More than half of Chileans believe that Chile will do "very well" with Boric as president

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The brain tour
How does the brain work? - Alzheimer's Society (1)
How do brain cells work? - Alzheimer's Society (2)
What is dementia? - Alzheimer's Society (3)
What is Alzheimer's disease? - Alzheimer's Society (4)
What is vascular dementia? - Alzheimer's Society (5)
What is dementia with Lewy bodies? - Alzheimer's Society (6)
What is frontotemporal dementia? - Alzheimer's Society (7)
Unsubscribe from Alzheimer's Society?
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia and also the best understood. It is thought to be caused by the formation of abnormal deposits of protein in the brain. These are called plaques and tangles, and they are made up of two key proteins: amyloid and tau.
Amyloid and tau are present in healthy brains, but in Alzheimer's disease they function abnormally. Amyloid forms plaques outside cells and tau forms tangles inside them. These plaques and tangles damage the nerve cells, causing them to die. When lots of cells die, this causes the brain to shrink.
Interested in getting the latest updates from the Society?
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Alzheimer's Society is the leading support and research charity for people with dementia, their families and carers.
The term 'dementia' is used to describe the symptoms that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions. Symptoms of dementia include loss of memory, confusion and problems with speech and understanding.
Support the fight against dementia and visit us at
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk
If you have concerns about Alzheimer's disease or about any other form of dementia, please contact the Alzheimer's Society National Dementia Helpline on 0300 222 1122.
Leading the fight against dementia
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I was really looking forward to Katie and Kevin's Stock Brook Country Club Wedding. I have shot at Stock Brook Country Club on a few occasions. It's a large exclusive club set on the outer fringes of the picturesque village of Stock. The manor house itself enjoys space and breathtaking views from every vista. It's light and airy and has bags of space. This is great when shooting inside because all the guests are not on top of each other making it impossible to see everything. The amount of light that comes in through the large glass windows is brilliant, which means even on a dark day, you can create something.
The day started at Katie's house where her and her bridesmaids were getting ready. They all looked stunning. I particularly liked shooting the images of Katie presenting the girls with their thank you presents. They were a close group and it was really emotional. Katie looked incredible and after some quick portraits it was off to the church to shoot the ceremony. The priest was great and let me shoot from the front. I much prefer shooting from the front, because you can see everyone's facial expressions. It was a beautiful ceremony and Katie and Kevin did not stop smiling.
It was then back to Stock Brook Country Club for their wedding reception. I used the pretty apple blossom in their portraits. I always try and incorporate something from the season in my images. Orange leaves in autumn and of course blossom in spring!
The speeches were great to shoot because the light was so great, lots of fantastic expressions to capture. After the cake cutting the dancing continued long into the night.


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Life on the borderline
Home > Sports	> Football
Alex Gersbach	- Contributor
It feels like time is standing still for me right now.
I don't know if I'll still be playing for my Norwegian club, Rosenborg, next season and I don't know who the next Socceroos coach is going to be – the guy I'm going to have to impress most in 2018.
I'm obviously not the only player sweating on finding out who's going to replace Ange Postecoglou, but some of the others can be pretty sure they'll be in the squad for the World Cup regardless.
Me? I'm probably a bit closer to borderline. I was in and out of the squad during the qualification campaign and a lot of the times I was in the squad, I sat on the bench and didn't play. So there are no guarantees.
If the new coach is another Australian, he'll know plenty about me. But if he's from overseas, he may not be as familiar.
The bottom line is I need to be playing regular club football and impressing not only my coach there but the man who's going to pick the Socceroo squad to go to Russia in June.
I will have turned 21 by then. What a sensational 21st birthday present that would be.
NORWAY OR THE HIGHWAY
The Norwegian season runs by the calendar year, so we're in our off-season now. I'm back home in Sydney with my girlfriend, Hannah Bacon, for Christmas and New Year with the family. Hannah used to play for Sydney FC and she's playing professionally in Norway as well.
It's cold and it gets dark by mid-afternoon there in winter, but the sun doesn't go away in summer and everyone's happy.
In the middle of summer, the sun sets at about 11.30pm and rises about 3am. It's really strange when you see it for the first time and Norwegians are big on strong blinds and curtains to block the sun out in the middle of the night.
We've got those in the bedroom, so we're OK there, but the blinds in our living-room aren't so strong. We set up a bed in the living-room for some friends from Australia to stay and they got a bit of a shock when sunlight started peaking through in the middle of the night. They weren't happy!
It's a great country, with a fantastic culture. You fall in love with Norway.
Seriegull nr. 25 for @rosenborgballklub ?? proud to be a part of the last 2
A post shared by Alex Gersbach (@alexgersbach) on Nov 19, 2017 at 2:01pm PST
But I didn't play nearly as much this season as I did last year and I can't have that happen again. I've got to be playing regular club football to give myself the best chance of being at the World Cup.
Rosenborg bought another left-back, a Norwegian, early in the season and it's hard for an Aussie in Europe when there's a local in your position and he's a good alternative.
I still played more than 20 games in all competitions, but there was a period for a month before Australia's play-off games against Syria that I wasn't getting picked at all and I got left out of the Socceroos squad.
That was a crushing reminder that you've got to be playing regularly. Fortunately, I got back in the squad for the final play-off games against Honduras. I didn't get to play that time, but at least I was a part of it.
Now I've got to see where my immediate club future lies.
I'm contracted to Rosenborg for another 18 months, but the January transfer window is coming up. Ideally, I'd like to stay at Rosenborg because it's a terrific club, but I need to be on the field week in, week out or I won't be in the squad for the World Cup.
I'm not sure what Rosenborg's plans are, but if it means playing regular football – and they want to sell me or even send me out on loan – I'm happy to do that.
The club realises my situation. They know they can't keep me there sitting on the bench. It's no use to them or me, so I think they're going to be quite understanding about it.
They're probably going to want to earn a decent transfer fee out of me if I am to go, but I can't really worry about that because it's out of my hands. I've just got to let my agent deal with the club, so we'll see what happens.
I know if I did leave there would be no guarantees wherever I went, but at least you can weigh up offers and get a good idea if you're a chance of playing regularly. After that, I'd be ready to fight for a place and show them I deserve to play.
When you assist the own goal but @birger_meling pretends you scored ???
A post shared by Alex Gersbach (@alexgersbach) on Oct 2, 2017 at 1:43am PDT
WATCHING ANGE LEAVE
It's weird to think the Socceroos are in the World Cup but we don't know who's going to be the coach.
There was obviously a lot of speculation and rumours that Ange was going to quit, but everything was normal in camp for the games against Honduras.
We were expecting him to say something about it, you know, maybe knock it on the head, but it was business as usual. It made a lot of us think all the talk was wrong.
Once we qualified, I thought he'd be taking the team to the World Cup.
I went back to Norway and I was following all the stories via Twitter and about a week later I saw Ange was going to hold a media conference with David Gallop from the FFA.
It was about 11pm my time and I was sitting there ready to watch the live coverage on the internet. I thought they were going to announce Ange was staying on, that's honestly what I expected.
But a minute or two before the media conference started I got an email from the Socceroo team manager, Joel Freeme, that had obviously been sent to all of the players.
It forwarded on an email from Ange which said goodbye to all of us and thanks for everything. He basically said, 'You guys have been fantastic along the road and I want you to carry it on and take everything we've learned to the World Cup and show the world what we've got.'
So that was a shock. Then the media conference started and I watched it all. It was sad and hard to watch. The boss got a bit emotional in the middle of it and I got a bit emotional as well.
It had been a long qualifying campaign. I wasn't there for every minute of it, but I still felt like I was heavily involved and we all created a really good atmosphere within the squad. It was a hard road and we'd finally qualified and that meant an awful lot.
Ange was a different sort of boss to what I was used to. He doesn't seek to form personal relationships with the players, which is understandable, but when he talks to the group as a team he's a fantastic motivator.
One of his speeches that really got to me personally was when he talked about the late cricketer, Phillip Hughes. Ange told us you never know what your circumstances are going to be in life and to treat every game like it could be your last. That way, you won't leave anything out on the park.
Growing up, I was a big cricket fan and a cricket player as well before I settled on football, and being a batsman myself Phillip Hughes was one of my favourite players. So when Ange spoke about him, it really meant something to me.
Ange set out to make football better in Australia and he succeeded in doing that.
WHO'S THE BOSS?
There's obviously a lot of talk about who might get the job now. I'd be very happy if it was Graham Arnold. It wouldn't give me an automatic pass to go to the World Cup, but he would know what I'm capable of.
Arnie is the one who gave me my chance at Sydney FC at 17 and made me the player I am.
I think a lot of the other players would be happy as well if Arnie got the job. He knows Australian football inside out and I think it would make sense if he got the job.
But, whoever is appointed, we're all going to have to perform or miss out, so nothing will change there.
I've played four matches for the Socceroos now – a couple of friendlies against Greece, a Confederations Cup game against Cameroon and a World Cup qualifier against Thailand.
I've been in more than 10 camps over the last two years – regularly in 2016 and in-and-out a bit this year.
After starting in that Confederations Cup game, I stayed in the next squad for the qualifiers and playing against Thailand was such a big breakthrough moment for me.
I thought I did quite well, too. I'd started to feel like I was really a part of it, but then I went back to Norway and had that barren period there and got left out for the Syrian games. That was hard to take, but you've got to accept those things and just try harder.
It's inevitable you're going to experience some turbulence from time to time as a professional footballer. It can be smooth sailing and next it's like being on a roller-coaster.
This year has been up and down, but I've got no regrets. I've represented my country and I've taken the number of games I've played for Rosenborg to over 50 in my two years at the club. I've learned a lot and I know I've become a better footballer.
Now I've just got to make sure I get this next part of my career right, because there's so much riding on it.
More about: Ange Postecoglou | FIFA World Cup | Graham Arnold | Socceroos | Sydney FC
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Here are a few quick shots from a wedding we did in Breckenridge a few weeks ago! They got married at the Black Canyon Inn and we were able to get some great mountain shots! Andy and I love the mountain weddings because everywhere you look is a great shot! The weather was great and we had great time!
We are in the middle of wedding season now and we are having so much fun! We have so many great weddings this year and so many great venues! Here are some of my favorites from the first wedding of the season! They had their reception at The Chop House in Denver and it was a beautiful night! Enjoy!


Skeletal muscles combust both lipids and carbohydrates during exercise. The carbohydrates consist of both glycogen stored in the muscles as well as glucose extracted from the blood. Being a major sink for glucose disposal, skeletal muscle represents an important model tissue for studying the intracellular signaling pathways leading to increased glucose transport.
This is important because it is known that the contraction-induced signaling to stimulate glucose transport is distinct from that utilized by insulin. Thus, for individuals in which insulin only has little effect (insulin resistance) the contraction-induced pathway represents an alternative pathway to increase glucose uptake. For pharmaceutical companies this pathway represents a possible and attractive alternative signaling pathway for pharmacological intervention in regulating glucose homeostasis.
Researchers from Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen have in collaboration with scientists at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard University in Boston focused on a novel protein called SNARK which was found be activated in skeletal muscle in response to contraction and exercise in both rodents and humans. Furthermore, by the use of transgenic animal models and by over-expressing an inactive mutant of SNARK in mouse skeletal muscle, it could be shown that contraction-induced glucose uptake was severely blunted by 40-50% compared with control animals.
The data in this study clearly support a role for SNARK in regulating glucose transport during muscle contraction and exercise, but it also strongly suggests that multiple, or redundant signals may mediate the effects of contraction on activating glucose transport.
These data have now been published in the prominent journal Proceedings of the Nation Academy of Sciences (PNAS).


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Home / Health News / Coronavirus vaccines could be available for all Americans by March: HHS Secretary Azar
Coronavirus vaccines could be available for all Americans by March: HHS Secretary Azar
Fox News Flash top headlines for October 21
One or more COVID-19 vaccines could be ready before the end of 2020, but leaders from federal health agencies coordinating the distribution of future vaccines warned it's still vital for Americans to follow health precautions in the meantime.
Based on the progress of ongoing clinical trials, one or maybe even two COVID-19 vaccines could be available later this year, according to Dr. Jay Butler, the deputy director for infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We're cautiously optimistic that vaccines will be available, although in limited quantities, before the end of 2020," Butler told reporters during a news conference Wednesday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar went even further, estimating that there would be enough vaccine doses for all senior citizens, health care workers and first responders by the end of January, and for all Americans who want them by late March or early April.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said to wash hands frequently, watch your distance and wear a face covering. Also, avoid any situations where those are not possible. (Alyssa Pointer /Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
VOLUNTEER IN ASTRAZENECA CORONAVIRUS CLINICAL TRIAL DIES, REPORT SAYS
"There is hope on the way in the form of safe and effective vaccines in a matter of weeks or months," Azar said.
The federal government is currently manufacturing six potential vaccines through a program named Operation Warp Speed. The plan is to be able to begin distributing vaccines the moment they've been cleared for use by the Food and Drug Administration.
Once they're available, vaccines will first be distributed to people most at risk for the virus and essential health care workers, according to Butler. He said all jurisdictions had submitted their distribution plans to the CDC and the plans were currently under review.
Despite the cheery assessment on vaccine progress, officials warned that the coronavirus pandemic is still the most serious public health crisis the U.S. has faced in more than a century. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, noted that the number of COVID-19 cases around the world passed 40 million this week and that new cases are rising again across the U.S.
The coronavirus has infected more than 8.3 million people and killed more than 221,000 in the U.S. alone, according to Johns Hopkins University. And the average number of new cases confirmed each day was trending upward over the past week.
Redfield warned that the U.S. is "approaching a critical phase" with the virus and said Americans must "remain diligent."
"I know it's been a difficult year for Americans, but we are going to come through this on the other side," he said.
Butler, the CDC's infectious diseases deputy director, pointed to four general "rules of thumb" for assessing coronavirus risk: how closely you're interacting with others, how long interactions last, whether interactions occur indoors or outside and how many people are involved.
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Azar said Americans should follow the three Ws: wash hands frequently, watch your distance and wear a face covering. Also, avoid any situations where those are not possible.
"That advice is the same for any type of gathering," he said.
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A Loan is an agreement to let a borrower use a certain amount of resources for a period of time in exchange for a series of payments over a predefined period of time, equal to the original loan plus an interest rate.
Loans allow people immediate access to products that they couldn't purchase outright.
Loans are beneficial to the lender by benefiting from excess capital.
A Loan involves an agreement to let the borrower use a certain amount of resources for a certain period of time. In exchange, the borrower must pay the lender a series of payments over a predefined period of time, which is equal to the original loan plus a predefined interest rate.
Have some amount of money to lend.
Find people who want to borrow that money.
Set an interest rate that compensates you adequately for the loan.
Estimate and protect against the possibility that the loan won't be repaid.
Used responsibly, loans allow people to benefit from immediate access to products or services that would otherwise be too expensive to purchase outright.
Mortgages allow people to live in houses without having hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank. Auto loans allow people to drive new vehicles in exchange for a monthly payment instead of a 100 percent down payment. Credit cards allow people to purchase goods and services immediately, then pay for them over the course of several months.
Loans are beneficial to the lender because they provide a way to benefit from excess capital. The addition of compound interest on top of the original loan (the "principle") means that the lender will collect much more than the original loan—in the case of long-term loans like mortgages, often two to three times more.
After the loan is made, little additional work is required on the part of the lender aside from collecting payments—unless the borrower stops making payments.
Accordingly, the process of identifying how risky a particular loan is—a process called "underwriting"—is critically important for lenders, who often require some sort of asset as collateral to protect against the risks of a loan gone sour.
If the loan is not repaid, ownership of the collateral is transferred to the lender, then sold to recoup any funds lost in the transaction.
Does delivering value via lending assets to others make sense for your business idea?
"Money talks — but credit has an echo."
Bob Thaves, cartoonist and creator of "Frank and Ernest"


The Middle Georgia Epic is the longest multi-surface road race in Georgia, offering both a 200k and 100k distances for racers to choose from. The race starts and finishes at the charming Blue Goose, Georgia's only bike hostel, in Irwinton. Each route consists of gently rolling country roads, with approximately half the route paved, the other half a mix of gravel, sand, dirt, and clay. The variety of surfaces along the route make bike/tire choice an interesting challenge. Skinnier tires are faster on the pavement, but will struggle on loose/soft surfaces. The race will be held rain or shine, so keep that in mind when choosing equipment!
Y'all asked, we listened – we're adding a shorter distance fun ride to the event this year. The perfect ride for folks who are newer to the sport or those that simply don't want to ride their bike all day long. The 35k route (~22 miles) will be a shorter version of the 200k & 100k routes – about half paved, no course markings, and one aid station. The fun ride is indeed a ride, not a race, so we won't be timing you, no awards, etc, and the entry fee will be a bit lower. You'll still get a SWAG item and a post ride meal!
There will be no course markings or signage. Riders can download the GPX/TCX file and load it into a GPS, or they can prepare their own cue sheets. Cue sheets are allowed, but you have to make them yourself. This is not a closed course – riders will encounter traffic and are expected to respect all rules of the road. Ride smart, ride safe.
Both races and ride will have minimal official support, meaning riders need to be well prepared and self sufficient. Each route will have only one official aid stop near the half way point where water and some snacks will be provided. Riders will be provided with a 1-gallon ziplock drop bag they can use to send items ahead to the aid station. In order to keep the race fair, and keep traffic off the route, no personal outside support is allowed. Racers are allowed to use any stores or publicly available services along the route however, so feel free to stop at a gas station to buy water, but racers cannot have family/friends/team members meet them anywhere on the course – including the aid stations. Racers are allowed (and encouraged) to help one another if needed.
Helmets are required for all racers. Lights are encouraged as well.
Click HERE to register. Registration is limited to 200 racers. SWAG, including a sweet t-shirt, and a post ride meal are included with your registration. If you register, we will prepare for you whether you show up or not, so registration fees are not refundable. If you register but are unable to attend, you can transfer your spot to another racer up until Feb 12th. There is a $5 fee to transfer registration. Contact us for information on how to transfer your spot.
Exact location will be announced as we get closer to the race date.


Since hundred of years the market is very competitive for the Turkish rugs against the others, but in the same time the silk rugs of Turkey are leading their category without any challenge. This is not only the result of the unique quality of the silk, but also the unbelievable high density. Over 3000 knots per square inch can be reached with this silk and the best quality silk comes from the city, Bursa.
Then world famous name "Hereke" cannot be seen as a rug, but as a piece of art. Hereke rugs are made since over one hundred years and most of these art items from the looms decorating the palaces of the ottoman sultans. These exiting beauties of silk Hereke rugs are made for the palaces only or used to be the official gifts for the other dynasties. Today these rugs are woven by the masters is the city Hereke on the coast of Marmara Sea.
On those turkish double knotted silk rugs are mainly floral designs and bright colors used. Some of the prayer rugs with flower designs are finished with gold threads and sim fibers in to a special condition.
According to the light reflections, the surfaces of silk rugs show an amazing color change, reason being the system, on the piles Turkish double knotting. Hereke silk rugs having usually 645 double knots per sq inch, which is aquivalent to 1.000.000 per sq m, considered to be one of the most difficult handwork, exactly falls in the human eyes as one of the finest items of arts.
Different types of silk rugs are made also in the region Kayseri with the world famous silk from Bursa. With their designs known as tree of life, medallion prayer rugs, hunting party's ect. and with density of 413 double knots per sq. inch the Kayseri rugs are the second best silk rugs of the world after Hereke.
The possibility of having a very big choice by the color combinations and various sizes Kayseri silk rugs are specially asked on the worlds carpet markets by the carpet collectors and carpet lovers.


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Spatially enabling national sport and recreation data
By Spatial Source on 15 January, 2013
A collaborative project between Centre for eCommerce and Communications (CeCC) and the School of Health Sciences at the University of Ballarat, in partnership with the Australian Sports Commission, Victoria University and VicHealth that involves the development of a spatial ICT system of sporting and recreation data, is gaining much interest from peak sporting organisations in Australia.
The Sport and Recreation Spatial project, which is being lead by Dr Rochelle Eime, joint VicHealth Research Practice Fellow (Physical Activity) at the University of Ballarat and Victoria University, provides a national system for presenting spatial data about the sports industry. The project is also being supported by researchers Dr Jack Harvey and Dr Neroli Sawyer. Through the development of a sport and recreation spatial ICT system – tailored specifically for this project by CeCC – national and state-specific data (including national survey data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics; data from the Exercise Recreation and Sport Survey, ERASS; Victorian sport and recreation facility data; Victorian State Sporting Associations membership data) can be mapped and statistically manipulated to gain a greater understanding of sport and recreational participation across Australia.
The spatial ICT system has wide application and appeal. Not only will it have the potential to offer a greater understanding of the current sport and recreation industry in Australia, but it will provide the industry with evidence to make informed decisions to systematically grow their sport participation in the future. In addition, Sport and Recreation Spatial will provide the capacity to investigate the 'value of sport' in terms of participatory health benefits via access to national health and well being measures. It is anticipated that the spatial ICT system will facilitate new research initiatives around the health/wellbeing benefits of sport participation at a community, state and national level. The data system is set for launch in August 2013.
Interest in this project has gained momentum in recent months. In September, Rochelle visited Canberra to showcase the project. A highlight of the trip was a meeting with Cecilia Hemana, Research Manager at the Australian Sports Commission who invited Dr Eime to return to Canberra in January 2013 to present the project to the CASRO Research Group (CRG). CRG is a sub-committee of the Committee of Australian Sport and Recreation Officials (CASRO); one of the key objectives for this group is to improve the range and quality of information about sport and recreation data and research on physical activity trends, and associated impacts and benefits. Importantly, the keen interest and feedback on this project, to date, suggests that the project has significant longer-term research potential.
Further promotion of this project also continues to occur. It was a featured project in the most recent Research Connections newsletter (Victoria-Tasmania edition). In addition, Dr Eime recently presented the Sport and Recreation Spatial project in the Health cluster at the University of Ballarat heats for the Australian Competitive Research Symposium. During the presentation, Rochelle provided a brief yet innovative five-minute overview of the project, using only 3 slides. Rochelle was selected to represent the University of Ballarat in the final of the competition in November where she will compete with finalists from other Australian Universities.
The sport and Recreation Spatial website is accessible at http://www.sportandrecreationspatial.com.au/
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Home > Archive > Archive > ICC reports record profit for 1988
ICC reports record profit for 1988
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — The state-owned ICC Bank, which is expected to be sold later this year, has reported its most profitable year since it was set up in 1933 to promote economic growth in the country.
It reported that the group's 1998 profit before taxes was up 30.7 percent, to £21 million , and total group assets up by 29 percent, to £2.1 billion.
During the year ICC, which changed its name from the Industrial Credit Corporation in 1992, completed a total of £15.5 million new venture capital investments, advanced about £1.4 billion to customers and had a total dividend payout of £3.6 million, up from £2.5 million in 1997.
The good figures will increase its attractiveness to potential purchasers, which are reported to include the Bank of Ireland, the Bank of Scotland, Irish Life and Permanent, and Inter-Continental Bank.
Several other international banks are also thought to be interested.
Keep up to date with the latest news with The Irish Echo
Chairman Phil Flynn said the first essential criteria for a buyer will be the ability to replace the state guarantee.
"It has to be capable of instilling the same confidence in the markets and with our customers as a state guarantee," Flynn said. "That is essential. Any expression of interest that can't meet that will fall at the first fence."
He said there were other aspects of the state's involvement, such as guarantees of employment to over 300 staff and no compulsory redundancies, which will also have to be satisfied.
The staff are also seeking a shareholding in the bank of up to 15 percent, but Flynn did not believe that would be a stumbling block for the sell-off, though it obviously would affect the price.


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Reinhold Rudenberg (or Rüdenberg; February 4, 1883 – December 25, 1961) was a German-American electrical engineer and inventor, credited with many innovations in the electric power and related fields. Aside from improvements in electric power equipment, especially large alternating current generators, among others were the electrostatic-lens electron microscope, carrier-current communications on power lines, a form of phased array radar, an explanation of power blackouts, preferred number series, and the number prefix "Giga-".

Early life and education

Reinhold Rudenberg was born in Hannover to a family of Jewish descent. His father Georg was a manufacturer, who operated a plant for preparing, cleaning feathers and down goods. His mother was a daughter of the Chief Rabbi of the county of Braunschweig. He attended the Leibniz University Hannover (then Technische Hochschule), and after receiving his electrical engineering degrees (Dipl. Ing.) and doctorate (Dr. Ing.), both in 1906, he worked for Professor Ludwig Prandtl as a teaching assistant at the Institute for Applied Physics and Mechanics at Göttingen University. There he also attended courses in physics and the celebrated Advanced Electrodynamics course by Emil Wiechert, who only ten years earlier had been one of the discoverers of the electron.

In 1919 Rudenberg married Lily Minkowski, daughter of the Göttingen mathematician Hermann Minkowski and Auguste née Adler. The physicist H. Gunther Rudenberg (1920–2009) was the son of Reinhold and Lily Rudenberg.

Work and research

Rudenberg taught at Göttingen, Berlin, London, and in the U.S. at MIT and Harvard University. At Harvard he was head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Graduate School of Engineering from 1939 to 1952, when he retired.

After leaving Göttingen in 1908 he started at the manufacturer of electrical machinery Siemens-Schuckertwerke (SSW), part of the Siemens group of companies, in Berlin. He entered as a machine design engineer, and quickly advanced to head this department. His work soon broadened to include transmission lines, distribution systems, and protective relays and switches. In 1923 he was appointed Director of the Scientific Department (Wissenschaftliche Abteilung) of SSW responsible for the research on and development of machinery and systems for the firm. Simultaneously he was named Chief Electrical Engineer (Chef-Elektriker) of the firm.

In 1916, Rudenberg designed the electric generator for the main power station in Cologne, then the largest known.

He had a keen and agile mind, published much and became a prolific inventor. His books, especially on electrical transients, were widely read and used as college texts. Among his contributions were:
 Carrier current communications (patent)
 Hollow conductors for overhead high voltage power transmission
 Electron microscope with electrostatic lenses (patent)
 Reversing or Backing of Ships and Propellers
 Phased array radar "geoscope" (patent)
 First analysis of explosives blast overpressure versus energy of charge
 Hyperbolic field lenses for focusing electron beams
 Electric power directly from atomic radiation (patent)
 Explaining the contributing cause of electric power systems blackout

Electron microscope and patents

In 1930, just after returning home from a summer vacation on the Dutch seaside, his 2 -year-old son became ill with leg paralysis. This was soon diagnosed as poliomyelitis, which at that time was a frightening disease with a death rate of 10–25% as the disease progressed to the lungs. Polio was then known to be caused by a virus, too small to be visible under an optical microscope. From that time Rudenberg was determined to find or invent a way to make such a small virus particle visible. He thought that electrons, because of their subatomic size, as he had learned in Göttingen from Wiechert, would be able to resolve such small virus particles, and he investigated ways to focus these to create their enlarged image.

Already in 1927 Hans Busch, his friend since Göttingen, had published an analysis of a magnetic coil acting as a lens. Rudenberg reasoned that an electron beam leaving a point on an object in an axially symmetric electrostatic system could be focused back to an image point if the radial electric field was proportional to the electron distance from the axis. Thus he believed that real magnified images could be obtained under these conditions. As the date of a public lecture on electron optics was approaching Siemens applied for a patent on Rudenberg's electrostatic-lens instrument and his general electron microscope principles on May 30, 1931. Siemens also obtained patents in six other countries. In Germany this, or patents derived therefrom, were granted at various later times from 1938 to 1954. Some competitors voiced complaints against the Rudenberg patents, but ignored or did not notice the earlier year that Rudenberg began his invention (1930) nor the difference of the stimulus that initiated it, nor would they recognize the technical differences between his electrostatic electron lenses and the magnetic lenses used by others.

Honors
 1911 –  Montefiori Prize, Institut Montefiore, Liège, Belgium
 1921 – Dr.Ing. h.c. T.U. Karlsruhe
 1946 – Stevens Institute Honor Award and Medal "For notable achievement in the Field of Electron Optics as the inventor of the electron microscope."
 1949 – Cedergren Medal, Sweden
 1954 – Eta Kappa Nu Eminent Member
 1956 – TU Berlin Honorary Senator
 1957 – Grand Cross of Meritorious Service of the Federal German Republic, Germany's GVK medal "Pour le Merite" (Große Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik)
 1961 – Elliott Cresson Medal, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia

Works
 Rüdenberg, Reinhold (1916) Artilleristische Monatshefte, No. 113/114, 237–265, 285–316 (in which Rudenberg analyzes the mechanism and the propagation of shock waves from heavy explosions and determines the laws of destruction at a distance).
 Rüdenberg, R. (1932) Elektronenmikroskop (Electron microscope). Naturwissenschaften 20, 522
 Rüdenberg, Reinhold (1943) The frequencies of natural power oscillations in interconnected generating and distribution systems. Trans. Amer. Inst. Elec. Engineers 62, 791–803 (In which Rudenberg shows the fundamental period of power surge and sag after a major transient, that may trigger a total blackout).
 Rüdenberg, Reinhold (1943) "The Early History of the Electron Microscope", J Appl. Physics 14, 434–436, (in which Rudenberg describes stimulus to begin his work, also patent excerpts showing his electrostatic aperture electron lenses).
 Rüdenberg, Reinhold (1945) J. Franklin Inst. 240, p. 193ff & 347ff (in which Rudenberg investigates the reversal and the transient behaviour of propellers and ships during maneuvering for controlled rapid action and the prevention of loss of control from propeller "cavitation").

Notes

References
 Jacottet, Paul; Strigel, R (1958): Reinhold Rüdenberg zum 75. Geburtstag. ETZ-A 79, 97–100. [on his 75th birthday] [in German] (List of publications)
 White, J.T. (1965) Rudenberg, Reinhold, in The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 47:48–49, J. T. White & Co. New York
 Weiher, Siegfried von (1976) Rüdenberg, Reinhold, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 11: 588–589, Ch. Scribner's and Son, New York.
 Schoen, Lothar (1994) Rüdenberg, Reinhold, in Feldtkeller, Ernst; et al. (Eds.) Pioniere der Wissenschaft bei Siemens), Wiley-VCH Verlag, Weinheim  pp. 53–59   (Pioneers of Science at Siemens capsule biography, career and main contributions to science and Siemens during his tenure 1908–1936). [In German]
 Schoen, Lothar (2006) Rüdenberg, Reinhold Neue Deutsche Biographie 22: 210–212 [In German]

Further reading
 Rudenberg, H. Gunther and Rudenberg, F. Hermann (1994), "Reinhold Rudenberg as a physicist – his contributions and patents on the electron microscope, traced back to the 'Göttingen Electron Group'", MSA Bulletin, 24, No. 4, 572–578.

External links

1883 births
1961 deaths
Harvard University faculty
Engineers from Hanover
German electrical engineers
20th-century German inventors
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
American electrical engineers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
En astronomia, drenatge fa referència a un període de l'evolució d'un estel on una zona de convecció de la superfície s'estén cap avall a les capes on el material ha començat fusió nuclear. De resultes, els productes de fusió es barregen en les capes externes de l'atmosfera estel·lar i aquests núclids poden aparèixer en l'espectre de l'estel.

El primer drenatge es produeix quan un estel de seqüència principal entre en la branca gegant de les vermelles. Com a conseqüència de la barreja convectiva, l'atmosfera exterior mostrarà una signatura espectral de fusió d'hidrogen: les ràtios 12C/13C i iC/N es rebaixen, i les abundàncies superficials de liti i beril·li es poden reduir.

El segon drenatge succeeix en estels de 4 – 8 masses solars. Quan la fusió de l'heli acaba al nucli, la convecció barreja els productes del cicle CNO. Aquest segon drenatge produeix un increment de l'abundància superficial de 4He i ¹⁴N, mentre la quantitat de 12C i ¹⁶O decreix.

El tercer drenatge es produeix després que un estel massiu entre en la branca asimptòtica de les gegants i ocorre un flaix al llarg de la capa on es produeix la combustió de l'heli. Aquest drenatge fa que productes d'heli, carboni i de procés-S pugin a la superfície. El resultat és un increment de l'abundància de carboni en relació a l'oxigen, el qual pot crear un estel de carboni.

Els nombres dels drenatges venen determinats per l'estat estructural i d'evolució de l'estel, i no per la seqüència de drenatge de l'estel. Com a conseqüència, els estels de baixa massa experimenten el primer i tercer drenatge en la seva evolució però no pas el segon.

Referències

Vegeu també

Astronomia


And now that China is openly exporting deflation, and is eager to risk massive capital outflows, the global currency war just entered its final phase, one where the global race to the bottom is every central bank's stated goal. Well, except for one: the Federal Reserve. We give Yellen a few months (especially if she indeed does hike rates) before the US too is back to ZIRP, maybe NIRP and certainly monetizing even more things that are not nailed down.
The People's Bank of China said Tuesday that the yuan will from now on better reflect market forces, but the central bank is unlikely to tolerate sustained depreciation so long as it feels it needs to maintain financial stability and avoid spooking capital flows.
The near-2% depreciation engineered via the central parity fixing on Tuesday was described by the PBOC as a "one-off revision." The yuan's real effective exchange rate has risen nearly 15% over the past year and the central bank said it wanted to correct this deviation. Tuesday's depreciation was presented as a reform step designed to improve the central parity fixing mechanism.
But the fixing rate, and the bank's explanation, rocked regional markets as investors sold off on concerns that China will now competitively devalue the yuan to help prop up its flagging economy.Domestic asset prices also weakened because a weaker yuan risks worsening capital outflows, leading to tighter onshore monetary conditions and possibly destabilizing the financial system.
"The yuan may keep falling as the market needs time to understand but the central bank will keep the exchange rate stable because it is in China's interest to do so," he said.
Another person stressed the market reforms imbedded in Tuesday's statement and said "we cannot simply understand the yuan central parity from this depreciation angle." Tuesday's announcement comes ahead of an International Monetary Fund decision later this year on whether to include the yuan in the basket used to value its Special Drawing Right.
"It's the PBOC's invisible hand -- it looks like this is the first line of defense now," said a trader with one of the Big Four state banks. Another trader said the PBOC may step up intervention for now, but said the longer-term outlook is for a more market-oriented -- and presumably weaker -- yuan.
It has faced mounting pressure from within the bureaucracy to allow the yuan to weaken to help support the export sector, MNI reported last week. July's dismal trade report -- showing an 8.3% y/y plunge in exports -- made the PBOC's ongoing resistance to depreciation untenable.
The new method for fixing the morning central parity rate does promise greater input from market forces. The PBOC instructed market makers that their central parity quotes "should refer to the closing rate of the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the previous day, in conjunction with demand and supply condition in the foreign exchange market and exchange rate movements of the major currencies."
But those bids will still be calculated by the PBOC for publication by the bank at 0915, giving the bank considerable scope to manage the exchange rate according to China's economic needs.
All of the above, incidentally, was explained in our post from March 6 titled "How Beijing Is Responding To A Soaring Dollar, And Why QE In China Is Now Inevitable"


I have to be completely honest. I read Four Day Fling without reading the blurb beforehand. I didn't feel the need to because I love Emma Hart's writing. That being said, I was just as shocked to find out Poppy's wedding date was a famous professional hockey player. It made the story that much funnier for me — and Four Day Fling was hilarious.
Poppy was a mixture of snark and awkwardness. She was a hot mess and I loved her for it. From her t-shirts with sayings to the way she dealt with her family, Poppy was a character who made me laugh. I adored her and her crazy ways. I found her to be a refreshingly blunt character who had confidence along with real life insecurities. It was fun reading about her falling for Adam.
Adam was all cool confidence. The guy knew how to go with the flow. His willingness to accept all the crazy going on added to the enjoyment of this story. I loved how Adam loved what other people saw as Poppy's flaws.
Poppy and Adam made a great match. The way they navigated a wedding and Poppy's crazy family as a fake couple was hilarious. I couldn't get enough of this story. I didn't want the four days to end…and when it did…the story continued to in a way suited to both Adam and Poppy.
If you're looking for a fun romantic comedy to enjoy on this beach or just take your mind off things, Four Day Fling is the perfect book.
This entry was posted in Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Romance and tagged Contemporary, Family, Fiction, Humor, Romances, Sports by anovelglimpse. Bookmark the permalink.
wonderful review! I need to pick up a copy!
Thank you! It was just a light, fun read. I hope you love it if you read it!


text:
Nurturing respect and appreciation for the natural world
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Explore our newest exhibits!
New at the Zoo!
The concepts and practices for the care of exotic animals have undergone dramatic changes in the past two decades. In 1999 the Zoo's professional staff, in conjunction with other experts and the Board of Directors, began developing a long-range Master Plan with a singular compelling goal: the renewal and transformation of Utah's Hogle Zoo, making it a place of excellence in every way for its animals and guests alike.
Learn about our Feature Exhibits
The African Savanna exhibit opened in 2014 and totally reconfigured the east end of the Zoo, moving the giraffes to the front of the zoo and putting them with zebra, ostrich and Guinea fowl in a 4 acre mixed species exhibit with expansive views over the entire area from a new viewing area called Twiga Terrace. African Savanna also features African lions in a large exhibit overlooking the mixed species area. Through it all, the Zoo's Safari Express Train winds through the exhibit with spectacular views all along the track Click here to learn more about this exhibit!
Rocky Shores is an extensive multi-animal habitat featuring bears, sea lions, seals and otters. You will see up-close, underwater viewing of the animals as they swim through crystal blue water, as well as unprecedented views from ground level in a habitat depicting the physical, cultural and social landscape of the western shores of North America. Click here to learn more about this exhibit!
Asian Highlands
Asian Highlands opened to much fanfare in 2006 after massive renovations to the existing Cat Building. The exhibit features cats from highland regions of northeastern Asia, including, Amur tigers, Snow leopards, Amur leopards, Siberian lynx and Pallas' cats. Visitors will enjoy immersing themselves in the Asian themed architecture with lots of glass viewing into many of the exhibits. You can also learn about the culture of the region by visiting "Grandma's House" to see how the animals of the region play an integral role in the history and folklore of many Asian cultures. Click here to learn more about this exhibit!
Elephant Encounter
In 2005, the Zoo opened its largest animal exhibit in 25 years and invited everyone to enjoy an encounter with our pachyderm pals. Elephant Encounter brings a part of the Serengeti to Salt Lake City in the re-creation of an African plain featuring African elephants and white rhinoceros. Click here to learn more about this exhibit!
Other Zoo Exhibits
Great Apes, Primate Forest, and the Small Animal Building are other areas of the Zoo you can find animals in our collection.
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text:
Better, Faster, Cheaper: Sometimes Front Line Workers Are the Best Problem Solvers
May 4, 2016 by Lynn Nordby
A recent issue of Bob Behn's Performance Leadership Report entitled Obliterating Worst Practices brought to mind an application of lean management principles I implemented long before the term ever became popular. I found that problems that seem intractable at the management level, can often be fixed by those employees that understand the processes the best.
Our "worst practice" involved major inefficiencies in utility billing. The city operated a water utility in addition to a natural gas utility. The water utility employed a meter reader who read the meters on a regular schedule so that approximately half the water accounts were billed each month. However, the gas utility billed all its accounts every month and during that time, the whole crew would stop any other work and read all the meters.
An added inefficiency was that each system was billed separately on an over-sized postcard requiring first class postage. If you happened to have both water and natural gas service, every other month you got two bills in the mail for your city utilities, one for natural gas and one for water, sewer, and solid waste.
I was told by my management team that various attempts to come up with a better way in the past had been unsuccessful. It was further complicated because not every account received both water and gas service, nor were the service areas congruent. But I was sure there was a solution. If nothing else, I thought we could at least print the bills on a standard postcard and save on mailing costs.
Years before Ken Miller would advocate this technique in his books We Don't Make Widgets and Extreme Government Makeover, I decided to take the issue to the employees closest to the work, our billing technician and the meter reader.
I gave them a challenge: devise a way for a single meter reader to read both gas and water meters and for the city to bill them on a single statement while continuing to bill water accounts every other month and gas accounts monthly.
IT WORKED! In less than a week the two of them came up with new meter reading routes combining both gas and water and a system to identify on which cycle the water meters were to be read. They also contacted the company that printed our forms and got a proposal for a newly designed bill that accommodated a line for natural gas on a standard postcard.
The two employees were proud of their achievement and appreciated the confidence we'd shown in their ability to tackle the problem.
Behn says:
All organizations have multiple 'worst practices.' Everyone knows what they are. They've been complaining about them for years. They are not just hurting performance. They are also hurting morale.
Ken Miller describes the same thing and advises his readers and clients to let the employees closest to the inefficient systems devise the solution to the "clogged pipes" as a way to increase morale and productivity, and deliver better public service.
I already knew that.
A Basic Approach to Succession Planning


text:
Aneta Maria Szczepańska (Włocławek, 20 de junio de 1974) es una deportista polaca que compitió en judo.

Participó en los Juegos Olímpicos de Atlanta 1996, obteniendo una medalla de plata en la categoría de –66 kg. Ganó una medalla de bronce en el Campeonato Mundial de Judo de 1995 y una medalla de plata en el Campeonato Europeo de Judo de 2004.

Palmarés internacional

Referencias

Judokas de Polonia
Medallistas olímpicos de plata de Polonia


text:
Raising the bar on web uploads
Posted on April 25, 2012 by Scott Schiller
With over seven billion photos uploaded since day one, it's safe to say that uploading is an important part of the Flickr experience.
There are numerous ways to get photos onto Flickr, but the native web-based one at flickr.com/photos/upload/ is especially important as it typically accounts for a majority of uploads to the site.
A brief history of Flickr "Web Uploadrs"
Flickr "Flashy" Uploadr UI (2008) vs. Basic Uploadr UI
Earlier versions of Flickr's web-based upload UI used a simple <form> with six file inputs, and no more. As the site grew in scale, the native web upload experience had to scale to match. In early 2008, an HTML/Flash hybrid upgrade added support for batch file selection, allowing up to several gigabytes of files to be uploaded in one session. This was a much-needed step in the right direction.
The "flashy" uploader does one thing – sending lots of files – fast, and reliably. However, it was not designed to tackle the other tasks one often performs on photos including adding and editing of metadata, sorting and organizing. As a result, "upload and organize" has traditionally been reinforced as two separate actions on Flickr when using the web-based UI.
The new (mostly-HTML5-based) shiny
Thanks to HTML5-based features in newer browsers, we have been able to build a new uploader that's pretty slick, and is more desktop application-like than ever before; it brings us closer to the idea of a one-stop "upload and organize" experience. At the same time, the UI also retains common web conventions and has a distinct Flickr feel to it. We think the result is a pretty good mix, combining some of the best parts of both.
As feedback from a group of beta testers have confirmed, it can also be deceivingly fast.
The new Flickr Web Uploader. It's powerful, it's got a dark background, and it's fast.
Features: An Overview
Here are a few fun things the new uploader does:
Drag and drop batches of files from your OS. Where present and supported, EXIF thumbnails are shown in the UI almost immediately.
Fluid photo "grid" shows photo thumbnails, allows larger, lightbox-style previews, inline editing of description/title and rotation.
Mouse and keyboard-based grid selection and rearrange functionality similar to that of desktops.
"Editor panel" shows state of current selection, provides powerful batch editing features (title + description, adding of tags, people, sets, license, privacy etc.)
"Info" mode shows overlay icons on grid items, allowing for a quick overview of pending edits (privacy, people, tags etc.)
Auto-retry and recovery cases for dropped / lost connection cases
Technical Bits
A small book could probably be written on the process, prototypes and technology decisions made during the development of this uploader, but we'll save the gory details for a couple of in-depth blog posts which will highlight specific parts of the UI. In the meantime, here are some notes on the tech used:
HTML5 File APIs
Modern browser file APIs make up the core of file handling functionality, including drag-and-dropping of files right into the browser. FileReader-type APIs allow access to data from disk, enabling things like EXIF thumbnail parsing and retrieval where supported. EXIF parsing is almost instantaneous and thumbnails are hugely valuable, of course, in prompting users' editing decisions.
(For browsers without the relevant file APIs, a Flash-based fallback is used in which case file drag-and-drop is not supported, and EXIF thumb previews are not implemented.)
Thanks to growing support across newer browsers, we've been able to produce a modern design that takes advantage of CSS-based gradients to achieve visual goals that would have traditionally required external images, and occasionally, hacks or shims in our HTML and JavaScript.
CSS3's border-radius, text-shadow and box-shadow are also featured nicely in this new design, alongside visual transform effects such as rotate, zoom and scale. Eagle-eyed users of newer Webkit builds such as Chrome Canary may even see a little use of filter with blur here and there.
CSS transitions are also featured extensively in the new uploader, a notable shift away from animation sequences which would traditionally have been calculated and rendered by JavaScript. Good candidates for transitions include the expanding or collapsing of a menu section, or a background color fade when a text area is focused, for example.
While triggering transitions and/or transforms can be a little quirky depending on the current "state" of the element (for example, an element just added to the DOM may need a moment to settle and be rendered before transitioning,) the advantage of using CSS vs. JS for "enhancement"-style UI effects like these is absolutely clear.
Thanks to YUI3, the new Flickr Uploader is a highly-modularized, component-based application. The editr module itself is comprised of about 35 sub-modules, following YUI's standard module pattern. In Flickr's case, modules are defined as being JavaScript, CSS or string (i.e., language translation) components. This compartmentalization approach reduces the overall complexity of code, encourages extensibility and allows developers to work on features within a specific scope.
A sneak peek: Screencast (Beta Version)
At time of writing, the new uploader is being gradually rolled out to the masses. For those who haven't seen it yet, here's a demo screencast of an earlier beta version showing some of the interactions for common upload and editing use cases. (Best viewed full-screen, and with "HD" on.) The video gives an idea of what the experience is like, but it's best seen in person. We've really had a lot of fun building this one.
Posted in Uncategorized	| Tagged css3, fileapi, html5, javascript, uploader, uploadr
Building an HTML5 Photo Editor
Posted on April 18, 2012 by Eric Gelinas
Introducing guest blogger, Ari Fuchs. He is a Lead API Engineer and Developer Evangelist at Aviary. He has spent the last 3 years building out Aviary's internal and external facing APIs, and is now working with partners to bring Aviary's tools to the masses. He also did a lot of work to bring the Aviary editor to Flickr. Follow him on Twitter and send him a nice message to make him feel better about his stolen bike. Now, on to his post…
At Aviary, we've been passionate about photos since day one. It's been five years since we released our first creative tool, Phoenix, a powerful, free Flash-based photo editor. Phoenix offered functionality on par with Adobe Photoshop 5 and a price point that opened its usage to anyone with an internet connection. As amateur photographers worldwide began trying their hand at editing, we watched our product join the ranks of a small number of companies working to democratize the process of photo editing for the first time.
Around two years ago we began rethinking the future of our tool set. While our original tools offered incredible functionality, they did have a learning curve which meant that the average person couldn't just sit down and begin editing without investing time to become familiar with the tools. We wanted to build a powerful editor that anyone could use.
Because we were rebuilding the editor from the ground up, we took the opportunity to switch from a Flash based solution to one built using HTML5 technologies. We saw this as an opportunity to build on a growing standard, and to support the most platforms.
In fall of 2010 we released our HTML5 photo editor which has evolved into the product we're proud to share with you today.
Widget Encapsulation
During our initial foray into the online editor space, we took a straightforward approach by having API users launch our editor in a new page or window. This simplified integrations and allowed us to own the editing experience.
When we rebuilt our editor in JavaScript, we took the opportunity to re-architect our API as well. Our first big change was making the editor embeddable. This meant that third party developers could load the editor on their own sites, maintaining user engagement while controlling their experience. We built out customization options that allowed the site owner to decide which tools appeared in the editor. A real estate site, for example, might not want its users adding mustache stickers to appliances in photos.
Our editor, unlike many rich HTML widgets, does not require an iframe and is truly embedded into a hosting webpage. This posed many challenges during development, but the result is a more seamless, lightweight integration.
Constructor API
When we rebuilt our API, we took a leap by assuming that web developers integrating our editor would have experience with other JavaScript libraries and plugins. We built our API to use a Constructor method that accepts a configuration object to allow for the aforementioned tool customization. The configuration object is also used to configure callbacks, image URLs, language settings, etc., and allows us to continue building out our API without losing backwards compatibility.
Simplifying the Save Process
Saving image data is always a challenge in the browser, and can require various cross-browser workarounds. An obvious method would be to initiate a form post to the server and include the base64 image data in a hidden field. This breaks in Safari, where form fields have an undocumented value length limit. We worked around this by switching to an ajax post with the appropriate CORS headers to get around cross domain issues. In browsers that don't support CORS, we fall back to the form post method.
To hide this complexity from the developer, we've abstracted the save process completely. When a user saves an edited image, we temporarily save the image data to our own servers and return a public URL so the host application can download the image to their own.
One of the coolest features of our editor is the high resolution image support — that being said, it certainly has a number of challenges. There's the practical issue of limited real estate in the browser (keep an eye out for updates addressing this in the near future), as well as performance issues that are harder to quantify. Even in Flash based tools, the size of the image you can edit in the browser is limited by a number of gating factors: hardware specs, number of running processes, etc. To get around these client limitations, we've set a configurable maxSize on the editor and added a configuration field for an original-resolution version of the image to be edited: hiresUrl.
When a hiresUrl is supplied, every user edit action is logged. On save, the aptly named "actionlist" is sent to our server along with the hiresUrl. When it hits our render farm, the actionlist is replayed on the high resolution image, and the final results are returned to the host site via a new hiresUrl.
"imageorigsize": [
"actionlist": [
"action": "setfeathereditsize",
"action": "flatten"
"action": "redeye",
"radius": 5,
"pointlist": [
[545, 183], [546,183], [547,182], [548,181], [548,179], [548,177], [547,177], [545,177], [544,177], [543,177], [542,177], [541,179], [541,181], [541,183], [542,184]
[481, 191], [481,193], [481,195], [482,196], [483,197], [484,198], [485,197], [485,196], [485,193], [485,190], [485,189], [485,188], [484,188], [482,188], [480,189], [480,190], [480, 191]
"action": "sharpen",
"value": 21.69312,
"flatten": true
As a side note, we maintain feature parity across all of our platforms (mobile included) by prototyping new tools and filters in the JavaScript first, and then porting them to C for our render farm and Android, and then to Objective-C for our iPhone SDK. By maintaining feature parity and synchronizing output across platforms, we're able to ensure that users get the edits they expect on their high resolution photos, and we keep the door open for future server-side support for our mobile SDKs where the original photo might not be stored on the device.
Tools and Libraries
We use some pretty awesome tools to help us maintain cross-browser compatibility.
LESS CSS
We moved a lot of the cross-browser concerns to build-time with LESS and a library of mix-ins inspired initially by Twitter Bootstrap, though the final result is wholly our own. LESS's color math and variables let us achieve a textured and rounded look and feel while minimizing complexity during development.
/* LESS */
.avpw_inset_button_group {
#gradient > .vertical(lighten(@conveyorBelt, 4%), darken(@conveyorBelt, 1%));
.box-shadow(inset 0 0 4px darken(@conveyorBelt, 20%));
.border-radius(8px);
/* EXPANDED */
background-color: #2a2a2a;
background-repeat: repeat-x;
background-image: -khtml-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#383838), to(#2a2a2a));
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #383838, #2a2a2a);
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #383838, #2a2a2a);
background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%, #383838), color-stop(100%, #2a2a2a));
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #383838, #2a2a2a);
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #383838, #2a2a2a);
background-image: linear-gradient(top, #383838, #2a2a2a);
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#383838', endColorstr='#2a2a2a', GradientType=0);
-webkit-box-shadow: inset 0 0 4px #000000;
-moz-box-shadow: inset 0 0 4px #000000;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 4px #000000;
With CSS3, we've just about managed a complete break from the DHTML effects of the past. The new UI uses CSS3 transitions and transforms wherever possible to remain future-proof.
Yes, our editor does indeed have a Flash fallback for browsers that lack certain HTML5 features (namely canvas). We initially built the editor as a move away from Flash, but because of the legacy IE7 and IE8 userbases on our larger partner sites, we had to go back and rebuild certain components in Flash to support those browsers.
We've architected the editor so that Flash is only being used where necessary. Some tools, such as draw, have been completely rebuilt in Flash; for others, like effects, the bitmap data is being exported and manipulated in JavaScript (using a reverse implementation of pibeca). This allows for code reuse, and enables us to build new features faster with more backwards compatibility.
While the feedback for our editor has been overwhelmingly fantastic, we're continuing to work hard building out new tools and features, and performance enhancements to our existing set.
Posted in Uncategorized	| Tagged aviary, CORS, flash, html5