text:
Mercer County, Trenton	 January 11, 2022
Platform & Canopy Improvements and New Accessible High-Level Platform Will Enhance Safety and the Customer Experience at Vital Transit Hub
Related MidJersey.News story here from October 23, 2020:
Governor Murphy Announces $18M To Modernize Trenton Transit Center
NJ TRANSIT's Board of Directors yesterday, January 10, 2022, approved a contract for full design services and construction support services for canopy, platform, and accessibility enhancements at the Trenton Transit Center. The contract is part of a $29 million effort to rehabilitate two existing platforms, and their associated canopies, elevators, and escalators, as well as to convert a low-level platform into a fully accessible high-level platform with elevator access. The project will promote increased customer safety and convenience, increase capacity, reduce maintenance costs, and mitigate congestion on platforms.
"NJ TRANSIT is pleased to be advancing significant improvements at one of our state's most essential multi-modal transit hubs," said NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kevin S. Corbett. "Ultimately, this project will create a safer, more modern, and more accessible Trenton Transit Center – with additional capacity and convenience for the thousands of customers who use it every day."
In today's action, the Board of Directors awarded a $1.9 million contract to AECOM Technical Services, Inc. for all design and construction support phases of this project.
The scope of work on the two island platforms will include the replacement of existing deteriorating wooden platform sections with a more durable concrete platform, the addition of new tactile strips and rub rails, the reconstruction of platform deck joints, and the repair of concrete spalls. Deteriorating canopies that were last reconstructed in 1992 will also be restored. The existing low-level platform will be upgraded to a high-level platform with a larger waiting shelter and a new elevator from the concourse above. In the past, NJ TRANSIT had upgraded the main station entrances and pedestrian overpass at the Trenton Transit Center.
NJ TRANSIT was chosen as one of only 11 other transportation agencies in the nation to receive a competitive Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) State of Good Repair Grant that will be used in part to fund this project. The $18.2 million grant represents the federal share of the nearly $29 million total infrastructure improvement project.
A station has existed at the site since 1863. New stations have been built to replace old, outdated ones several times through the course of history; in 1893, 1976, and most recently by NJ TRANSIT in 2008 when new station buildings were built on the north and south sides of the tracks including a new passenger concourse over the tracks connecting the two.
About NJ TRANSIT
NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 925,000 weekday trips on 253 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines, and through Access Link paratransit service. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 166 rail stations, 62 light rail stations and more than 19,000 bus stops link
File Photos


text:
Johannes (John) Dich (28. marts 1865 i København – 27. juni 1951 i Gentofte) var en dansk arkitekt, der primært er kendt for en håndfuld bygninger i Københavns Frihavn udført i en engelskinspireret nybarok og nationalromantisk stil.

John Dich var søn af stolemagermester Lars Christian Dich og Margrete Peronard. Han tog realeksamen i Randers 1880, var i murerlære hos Køhler, København, blev murersvend 1883. Samtidig læste han på Teknisk Skole i København og blev optaget på Kunstakademiet i 1883. Han tog afgang i 1892. Dich var konduktør hos Ferdinand Meldahl, Albert Jensen (restaurering af Christian VIIIs palæ på Amalienborg 1896), Martin Nyrop, Ove Petersen og Martin Borch. Han blev Officier d'Académie, Paris i 1900. Han var arkitekt for Københavns Frihavn fra 1913 til 1941.

Dich rejste i Tyskland, Østrig, Dalmatien, Italien 1893-94 og Petrograd 1914-15.

Han blev gift 29. maj 1894 i København med Dagmar Krabbe Termansen (1. januar 1867 i Non Mølle, Dollerup), datter af mølleejer Chr. Joachim Termansen og Elisa Antoinette Daniella Krabbe.

Værker
 Afdelingen for Færøerne, Island og Grønland på verdensudstillingen i Paris 1900
 Ålsgårde Badehotel (nedbrændt i 1940'erne)
 60-70 gymnastikhuse over hele landet
 Desuden en række villaer
 2 pakhuse i Petrograd for dansk-russiske selskaber (1914-15)
I Københavns Frihavn:
 Post- og Telegrafbygning, nu Trip Trap A/S, Hovedvej (1917)
 Lille kontorbygning (1917-18)
 Pakhusene C (1918) og D (1921)
 Udvidelse af toldkammerbygningen med den søndre gavlbygning i 3 etager (1933, fredet)
 Den oversøiske bygning samt flere mindre bygninger

Kilder
 Merete Bodelsen og Povl Engelstoft (red.), Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon København: Aschehoug 1947-52.
 Sys Hartmann, "(John) Dich", i: Sys Hartmann (red.), Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon, København: Rosinante 1994-2000.

Arkitekter fra Danmark
Personer fra København
Danskere i 1900-tallet
Nationalromantiske arkitekter

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
package org.apache.samza.sql.avro;

import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
import java.time.Instant;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
import java.util.stream.IntStream;
import org.apache.avro.Schema;
import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericData;
import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericRecord;
import org.apache.avro.generic.IndexedRecord;
import org.apache.calcite.avatica.util.ByteString;
import org.apache.samza.SamzaException;
import org.apache.samza.config.Config;
import org.apache.samza.operators.KV;
import org.apache.samza.sql.SamzaSqlRelRecord;
import org.apache.samza.sql.data.SamzaSqlRelMessage;
import org.apache.samza.sql.data.SamzaSqlRelMsgMetadata;
import org.apache.samza.sql.interfaces.SamzaRelConverter;
import org.apache.samza.system.SystemStream;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

/**
 * This class converts a Samza Avro messages to Relational messages and vice versa.
 * This supports Samza messages where Key is a string and Value is an avro record.
 *
 * Conversion from Samza to Relational Message :
 *     The key part of the samza message is represented as a special column {@link SamzaSqlRelMessage#KEY_NAME}
 *     in relational message.
 *
 *     The value part of the samza message is expected to be {@link IndexedRecord}, All the fields in the IndexedRecord
 *     form the corresponding fields of the relational message.
 *
 * Conversion from Relational to Samza Message :
 *     This converts the Samza relational message into Avro {@link GenericRecord}.
 *     All the fields of the relational message become fields of the Avro GenericRecord except the field with name
 *     {@link SamzaSqlRelMessage#KEY_NAME}. This special field becomes the Key in the output Samza message.
 */
public class AvroRelConverter implements SamzaRelConverter {

  protected final Config config;
  private final Schema payloadSchema;

  private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(AvroRelConverter.class);

  public AvroRelConverter(SystemStream systemStream, AvroRelSchemaProvider schemaProvider, Config config) {
    this.config = config;
    this.payloadSchema = Schema.parse(schemaProvider.getSchema(systemStream));
  }

  /**
   * Converts the nested avro object in SamzaMessage to relational message corresponding to
   * the tableName with relational schema.
   */
  @Override
  public SamzaSqlRelMessage convertToRelMessage(KV<Object, Object> samzaMessage) {
    List<String> payloadFieldNames = new ArrayList<>();
    List<Object> payloadFieldValues = new ArrayList<>();
    Object value = samzaMessage.getValue();
    if (value instanceof IndexedRecord) {
      fetchFieldNamesAndValuesFromIndexedRecord((IndexedRecord) value, payloadFieldNames, payloadFieldValues,
          payloadSchema);
    } else if (value == null) {
      // If the payload is null, set each record value as null.
      payloadFieldNames.addAll(payloadSchema.getFields().stream().map(Schema.Field::name).collect(Collectors.toList()));
      IntStream.range(0, payloadFieldNames.size()).forEach(x -> payloadFieldValues.add(null));
    } else {
      String msg = "Avro message converter doesn't support messages of type " + value.getClass();
      LOG.error(msg);
      throw new SamzaException(msg);
    }

    return new SamzaSqlRelMessage(samzaMessage.getKey(), payloadFieldNames, payloadFieldValues,
        new SamzaSqlRelMsgMetadata("", "", ""));
  }

  public void fetchFieldNamesAndValuesFromIndexedRecord(IndexedRecord record, List<String> fieldNames,
      List<Object> fieldValues, Schema cachedSchema) {
    // Please note that record schema and cached schema could be different due to schema evolution.
    // Always represent record schema in the form of cached schema. This approach has the side-effect
    // of dropping the newly added fields in the scenarios where the record schema has newer version
    // than the cached schema. [TODO: SAMZA-1679]
    Schema recordSchema = record.getSchema();
    fieldNames.addAll(cachedSchema.getFields().stream()
        .map(Schema.Field::name)
        .collect(Collectors.toList()));
    fieldValues.addAll(fieldNames.stream()
        .map(f -> convertToJavaObject(
            recordSchema.getField(f) != null ? record.get(recordSchema.getField(f).pos()) : null,
            getNonNullUnionSchema(payloadSchema.getField(f).schema())))
        .collect(Collectors.toList()));
  }

  private SamzaSqlRelRecord convertToRelRecord(IndexedRecord avroRecord) {
    List<Object> fieldValues = new ArrayList<>();
    List<String> fieldNames = new ArrayList<>();
    if (avroRecord != null) {
      fieldNames.addAll(avroRecord.getSchema().getFields()
          .stream()
          .map(Schema.Field::name)
          .collect(Collectors.toList()));
      fieldValues.addAll(avroRecord.getSchema().getFields()
          .stream()
          .map(f -> convertToJavaObject(avroRecord.get(avroRecord.getSchema().getField(f.name()).pos()),
              getNonNullUnionSchema(avroRecord.getSchema().getField(f.name()).schema())))
          .collect(Collectors.toList()));
    } else {
      String msg = "Avro Record is null";
      LOG.error(msg);
      throw new SamzaException(msg);
    }

    return new SamzaSqlRelRecord(fieldNames, fieldValues);
  }

  /**
   * Convert the nested relational message to the output samza message.
   */
  @Override
  public KV<Object, Object> convertToSamzaMessage(SamzaSqlRelMessage relMessage) {
    return convertToSamzaMessage(relMessage, this.payloadSchema);
  }

  protected KV<Object, Object> convertToSamzaMessage(SamzaSqlRelMessage relMessage, Schema payloadSchema) {
    return new KV<>(relMessage.getKey(), convertToGenericRecord(relMessage.getSamzaSqlRelRecord(), payloadSchema));
  }

  static public GenericRecord convertToGenericRecord(SamzaSqlRelRecord relRecord, Schema schema) {
    GenericRecord record = new GenericData.Record(schema);
    List<String> fieldNames = relRecord.getFieldNames();
    List<Object> values = relRecord.getFieldValues();
    int nullFieldValueCount = 0;
    for (int index = 0; index < fieldNames.size(); index++) {
      if (!fieldNames.get(index).equalsIgnoreCase(SamzaSqlRelMessage.KEY_NAME)) {
        String fieldName = fieldNames.get(index);
        /**
         * It is possible that the destination Avro schema doesn't have all the fields that are projected from the
         * SQL. This is especially possible in SQL statements like
         *        insert into kafka.outputTopic select id, company from profile
         * where company is an avro record in itself whose schema can evolve. When this happens we will end up with
         * fields in the SamzaSQLRelRecord for company field which doesn't have equivalent fields in the outputTopic's schema
         * for company. To support this scenario where the input schemas and output schemas can evolve in their own cadence,
         * We ignore the fields which doesn't have corresponding schema in the output topic.
         */
        if (schema.getField(fieldName) == null) {
          nullFieldValueCount++;
          LOG.debug("Schema with Name {} and Namespace {} doesn't contain the fieldName {}, Skipping it.",
              schema.getName(), schema.getNamespace(), fieldName);
          continue;
        }

        Object relObj = values.get(index);
        if (relObj == null) {
          nullFieldValueCount++;
        }
        Schema fieldSchema = schema.getField(fieldName).schema();
        record.put(fieldName, convertToAvroObject(relObj, getNonNullUnionSchema(fieldSchema)));
      } else {
        // Count key towards null field values for accounting purposes.
        nullFieldValueCount++;
      }
    }

    // If all field values in the record are null, return a null record.
    return (nullFieldValueCount == fieldNames.size()) ? null : record;
  }

  static public Object convertToAvroObject(Object relObj, Schema schema) {
    if (relObj == null) {
      return null;
    }
    switch(schema.getType()) {
      case RECORD:
        return convertToGenericRecord((SamzaSqlRelRecord) relObj, getNonNullUnionSchema(schema));
      case ARRAY:
        List<Object> avroList = ((List<Object>) relObj).stream()
            .map(o -> convertToAvroObject(o, getNonNullUnionSchema(schema).getElementType()))
            .collect(Collectors.toList());
        return avroList;
      case MAP:
        return ((Map<String, ?>) relObj).entrySet()
            .stream()
            .collect(Collectors.toMap(Map.Entry::getKey, e -> convertToAvroObject(e.getValue(),
                getNonNullUnionSchema(schema).getValueType())));
      case UNION:
        return convertToAvroObject(relObj, getNonNullUnionSchema(schema));
      case ENUM:
        return new GenericData.EnumSymbol(schema, (String) relObj);
      case FIXED:
        return new GenericData.Fixed(schema, ((ByteString) relObj).getBytes());
      case BYTES:
        return ByteBuffer.wrap(((ByteString) relObj).getBytes());
      default:
        return relObj;
    }
  }

  // Two non-nullable types in a union is not yet supported.
  static public Schema getNonNullUnionSchema(Schema schema) {
    if (schema.getType().equals(Schema.Type.UNION)) {
      if (schema.getTypes().get(0).getType() != Schema.Type.NULL) {
        return schema.getTypes().get(0);
      }
      if (schema.getTypes().get(1).getType() != Schema.Type.NULL) {
        return schema.getTypes().get(1);
      }
    }
    return schema;
  }

  // Not doing any validations of data types with Avro schema considering the resource cost per message.
  // Casting would fail if the data types are not in sync with the schema.
  public Object convertToJavaObject(Object avroObj, Schema schema) {
    if (avroObj == null) {
      return null;
    }
    switch(schema.getType()) {
      case RECORD:
        return convertToRelRecord((IndexedRecord) avroObj);
      case ARRAY: {
        ArrayList<Object> retVal = new ArrayList<>();
        List<Object> avroArray;
        if (avroObj instanceof GenericData.Array) {
          avroArray = (GenericData.Array) avroObj;
        } else if (avroObj instanceof List) {
          avroArray = (List) avroObj;
        } else {
          throw new SamzaException("Unsupported array type " + avroObj.getClass().getSimpleName());
        }

        retVal.addAll(
            avroArray.stream()
                .map(v -> convertToJavaObject(v, getNonNullUnionSchema(schema).getElementType()))
                .collect(Collectors.toList()));
        return retVal;
      }
      case MAP: {
        Map<String, Object> retVal = new HashMap<>();
        retVal.putAll(((Map<String, ?>) avroObj).entrySet().stream()
            .collect(Collectors.toMap(
                Map.Entry::getKey,
                e -> convertToJavaObject(e.getValue(), getNonNullUnionSchema(schema).getValueType()))));
        return retVal;
      }
      case UNION:
        return convertToJavaObject(avroObj, getNonNullUnionSchema(schema));
      case ENUM:
        return avroObj.toString();
      case FIXED:
        GenericData.Fixed fixed = (GenericData.Fixed) avroObj;
        return new ByteString(fixed.bytes());
      case BYTES:
        return new ByteString(((ByteBuffer) avroObj).array());
      case FLOAT:
        // Convert Float to Double similar to how JavaTypeFactoryImpl represents Float type
        return Double.parseDouble(Float.toString((Float) avroObj));

      default:
        return avroObj;
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Nuking Politics: Nuke the Punchline: Kill Me!
Nuke the Punchline: Kill Me!
#4 g: ...Sarah Jessica Parker wouldn't leave Michelle's side. Turns out it was her one chance to look attractive.
#3 FormerHostage: ...was announcing the winner in High Klingon.
#2 Oppo: ...was that Jimmy Tingle got a Matthews up his leg.
The weirdest thing about Michelle Obama's appearance was her gracious entry. When she ripped her way out of John Hurts chest, everyone pretended not to notice.
Bloomberg recently dictated that, instead of 2 liter bottles of soda, pizza places...can only serve soda in tiny bottles like the whiskey bottles you get on airplanes.
No straight line for today. Sorry!
"No straight line for today. Sorry"
Does that mean we must come up with a gay line?
You're sorry? What is this? A Nuking Politics apology tour?


The City of Independence was named a 2018 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in honor of its commitment to effective urban forest management. The City's Tree Commission takes an active role in this effort each year and has events planned in April and June to help educate the public on trees and gardening.
Independence achieved Tree City USA recognition by meeting the program's four requirements: a tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.
"Tree City USA communities see the impact an urban forest has in a community first hand," Arbor Day Foundation President Dan Lambe said. "Additionally, recognition brings residents together and creates a sense of community pride, whether it's through volunteer engagement or public education."
The City will celebrate the Tree City USA recognition and Arbor Day on April 27 at the Garden Faire at the Independence Uptown Market, 211 W. Truman Road, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors can enjoy demonstrations including hypertufa, concrete leaf making, fire pit building, fairy gardens and much more! There will also be a tree raffle thanks to donations from the City's Power and Light Department.
About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a million-member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information is available at arborday.org.


text:
Q: Groovy JNA implementation of GetWindowRect is throwing java.lang.ClassCastException: [I cannot be cast to [Ljava.lang.Object; Using Groovy and JNA to implement GetWindowRect() for Windows environment. The code come from Hovercraft Full Of Eels' answer here. The only difference is I am using Groovy instead of Java.
So instead of
int[] rect = {0, 0, 0, 0};
My code has
int[] rect = [0, 0, 0, 0]
This results in a ClassCastException exception being thrown. So I tried the following ways of initializing rect as int[]:
def rect = [0, 0, 0, 0] as int[]
def rect = (int[]) [0, 0, 0, 0]
def rect = [0, 0, 0, 0].toArray(new int[0])

But none of them solve the casting issue. What am I doing wrong?
Here is the stack trace:
java.lang.ClassCastException: [I cannot be cast to [Ljava.lang.Object;

at com.sun.jna.Function.concatenateVarArgs(Function.java:763)
at com.sun.jna.Library$Handler.invoke(Library.java:207)
at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy21.GetWindowRect(Unknown Source)
at bnsf.create_trains.JNAWin32ApiInterface$JNAUser32$GetWindowRect$4.call(Unknown Source)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:45)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:110)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:130)
at bnsf.create_trains.WindowsApp.getRect(WindowsApp.groovy:178)
at bnsf.create_trains.WindowsApp$getRect$0.callStatic(Unknown Source)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCallStatic(CallSiteArray.java:53)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callStatic(AbstractCallSite.java:191)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callStatic(AbstractCallSite.java:211)
at bnsf.create_trains.WindowsApp.kickoff_mainframe(WindowsApp.groovy:94)
at bnsf.TestAutoMain.TestAutoMainMethod(TestAutoMain.java:60)

A: The answers you post generally work for me in groovysh, I tried
int[] rect = [0,0,0,0]
rect=[0,0,0,0]
rect=[0,0,0,0] as int[]

and they all worked, HOWEVER the example you quote uses:
int[] rect = {0, 0, 0, 0};

Which does not seem to work in groovy (And honestly I'm surprised it works in java but it does, you learn something new every day)
I'm guessing the difference is that groovy uses {} for closures and has better ways to initialize arrays so there are some forms of initialization it disallowed to avoid confusion.
Is there any chance you are using an old version of groovy or maybe the statically typed version?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Adolescent Identity and Depression: Why and What To Do...?
Struggles with adolescent identity and depression usually set in when an adolescent experiences a loss. The most important loss in their lives is the changing relationship between the adolescent and their parents (McCoy 15).
They are no longer the cute, little child that once experienced love no matter what they did. Now it often feels like their parents' love is "with strings" because they are growing into an adult and therefore are given higher expectations and more responsibilities.
Often teenagers are confused as to what their parents expect of them and feel like they are always complaining about something, whether it is their torn jeans, choice of music or choice of friends. Adolescents long for the time when they could do anything and their parents would love them attributing their "faults" to their child-like immaturity.
"Depreciation, rejection and the inability to live up to high parental expectations can cause significant loss of self-esteem and trigger reactive depression in adolescents" (McCoy 15).
Teen depression can be extremely intense at times because of physical and hormonal changes but emotional instability is part of being a teenager. Their changing mind, body and relationships often present themselves as stressful and that change, they assume, is something to be feared.
How Younger Teens and Older Teens Struggle Differently With Adolescent Identity and Depression.
There's a difference in how older and younger teens show their depression. Research has shown that younger adolescents tend to display destructive and antisocial activity. They show anger towards other people and themselves. They tend to have an external method of coping by punishing the world and themselves as a result of feelings of being a terrible person (Myers 27). As a way of coping with an unpleasant and depressive home life, some teens run away to escape it.
Older adolescents have a tendency to cope more internally and be apathetic, bored, tired, feeling worthless and restless. Some older teens may still act out externally but this would be an indicator that their emotional development has not yet met their age and maturity level to where it should be (Myers 27).
The most important factor in a teen's life is her home life. If she lives in a family with relational conflict and stress, she will be prone to suffering from depression because she is not yet equipped to know how to deal with the conflict of adults around her. (Beach 91). Her struggle with adolescent identity and depression is almost always directly related to her home life. Children of parents with depression are also 2-5 times more likely to develop depression or other mood disorders (Beach 89).
What's the best thing for a teen struggling with adolescent identity and depression?
The most effective strategies for teens have been counseling therapy where a counselor shows them how to recognize their negative thinking patterns and turn them into positive ones. Common ways to do this has been through individual therapy, group therapy and skill training (Arnett 439, 440).
Myers writes that there are also many ways that the adolescent can cope without seeking professional help. Making a conscious effort to put things into perspective and see them differently in their present way is the best way to cope. This includes checking their assumptions about themselves and others. Adolescents could make a list of some good things in the past and set realistic and achievable goals for the future. Confiding in friends has also proven to be helpful, as this would make the adolescent feel less isolated and lonely. Chances are, their friends are feeling the same way (Myers 108-110).
Investing in family relationships and developing positive perceptions about life situations reduces adolescent depression. (Colomba, Santiago and Rosello, 1990).
What parents/care givers can do?
If you are a parent or guardian, I'm glad you're reading this!
Arnett, Jeffrey Jernsen. Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc., 2004.
Beach, Steven R.H., ed. Marital and Family Processes in Depression. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2001.
Colomba, Marangelí Velázquez, Emily Sáez Santiago and Jeannette Rosselló. "Coping Strategies and Depression in Puerto Rican Adolescents: An Exploratory Study." Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Vol. 5(1), February 1999: 65-75. PsycARTICLES Database.
Garber, Judy, Nancy Shanley and Bahr Weiss. "Cognitions, Depressive Symptoms, and Development in Adolescents." Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Vol. 102(1), February 1993: 47-57. PsycARTICLES Database.
McCoy, Kathleen. Coping With Teenage Depression: A Parent's Guide. New York: New American Library, 1982.
Myers, Irma and Arthur Myers. Why You Feel Down-And What You Can Do About It. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1984.


text:
STEVE LAW COMPOSER
Memorable melody, 'kaleidoscopically varied works….jazzy…impressionistic atmosphere…slowly burning passion.' Music Web International
STEVE LAW bio
CONCERT EXCERPTS – GERSHWIN, DUDLEY MOORE, BILLY MAYERL, SCOTT JOPLIN & CLASSICAL COMPOSERS
BILLY MAYERL
MEMORABLE MELODIES BY STEVE LAW 1
PIANO CONCERTO (2021)
SONGS: 3 POEMS BY LORNA LAW (2018)
VIOLIN CONCERTO (2014)
12 POP PRELUDES (2013)
OTHER COMPOSITIONS
80s SYMPHONY (2005)
HEAVEN ON EARTH (1994-1998)
LISTEN / BUY CDS
LISTEN TO EXCERPTS
ARRANGEMENTS / BUY SHEET MUSIC
GERSHWIN transcriptions
DUDLEY MOORE transcriptions
RUSS CONWAY transcriptions
JAZZ AND BOOGIE-WOOGIE
FILM and TV transcriptions
STEVE LAW original scores
Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 100th Year Anniversary
Prokofiev's greatest piano concerto?
The Genius of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 in C major. Op.26 – Analysis by Steve Law
The best recordings of Prokofiev's third piano concerto
What made Prokofiev great?
Teacher profile
Exams and scholarships
Pupils' Concerts
Contact STEVE LAW
First Movement:
Andante – Allegro
The opening melody that works in minor and major keys
How difficult is it to write a beautiful, pure and memorable melody? How difficult is it then to make that melody work in both a minor and major key? (See 1. And 2.) The answer is extremely difficult! I challenge any composer to write such a beautiful, simple tune and memorable tune that works in both major and minor keys!
Minor key:
The opening melody of the introduction is played by solo (then duo) clarinet, a memorable and original way to start a piano concerto. It starts in A minor, the relative minor key of C major, then the strings and woodwind repeat the theme in a romantic rich harmonisation in the tonic key of C major. The beautiful F minor / G harmony at bar 9 is sometimes carelessly missed on recordings. This is due to the violas being divided into 3. The A flat needs to be given enough tone to be heard as it is a vital and emotional note in the harmony. See how many recordings you can hear which have been careless enough in the mix to miss this A flat out!
First subject group – a fantastic build up for the entry of the soloist!
Having not wasted a single note in the beautiful melody of the introduction, the tempo quickens for the famous ascending scale build up (initally on strings) to the piano's entry at fig.3 (in the orchestral score). This staccato ascending semiquaver scale run, and the theme with which the piano enters, can be seen as the first subject group.
Has there ever been a more exciting or impressive way for a piano soloist to be introduced in a concerto?!
As this concerto had been planned by Prokofiev for many years, specifically to be a virtuoso vehicle for him to perform, the composer made sure he gave himself the greatest possible intro!
A great riff and white notes only
The ascending scale sequence is clever in a number of ways. As each sequence is completed, it prepares for its repeat an octave higher. It perpetually pushes the music upwards. It is also written entirely on the white notes of the piano (in C major). It is a deceptively simple but ingenious idea which builds up in a crescendo of tremendous excitement.
Musician Rick Beato describes this semi-quaver build-up as "the greatest riff of all time written with only the white keys".
Prokofiev's thinking of composing using just the white notes goes beyond this riff. He had started to write a string quartet written entirely using white notes (i.e. a diatonic scale with no sharps or flats) in 1918. Prokofiev must have seen this as an interesting compositional challenge to his melodic genius, but eventually he abandoned the project, thinking the end result would be too monotonous. However, he took the first and second themes of the quartet's finale to use in the finale of the third concerto and used other material later on in his opera The Fiery Angel.
The piano's first theme – Prokofiev's fresh and original harmonies.
What chord would you use to accompany the entry of the piano in a concerto in C major? Prokofiev avoids the mundane by giving us this arpeggiated harmony (fig. 3) – B diminished / C (similar in effect to a dominant 7th / tonic C.)
This chord keeps us immediately on our toes, making us unsettled and agitated in anticipation. A lesser composer may well have harmonised this theme with a predictable (and boring!) C major chord.
The piano enters with a 3 note motif which is a retrograde version of the first notes of the introduction's theme. It is similar to a motif found in the first movement of Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto – a work which, according to his diaries, Prokofiev enjoyed playing. (This contradicts Prokofiev's comments stating that he liked and played Rachmaninoff's first two piano concertos but found the third too dry.)
Prokofiev avoids predictable functional harmony.
After just two bars Prokofiev takes us in an unexpected direction. There follows two beautiful extended harmonies in the orchestra – E flat minor 2nd inversion over A flat major second inversion (fig. 2) followed by B flat minor second inversion / A flat 7/9 (fig.4) – and then a D flat to G flat ostinato in the bass with a series of ascending chords.
On the repeat of the 3 note motif Prokofiev gives the music a lift by changing the harmony to Dm7 / G major second inversion. These substitutions for traditional functional harmony create new sensations for the listener.
Two chromatic harmonies lead us to the climax of the first subject group on a kind of G major seventh and C/D chord alternation (ostinato) with more ascending chords. What beautiful and joyous chords these are! You can hear an influence of Debussy and Ravel with these chords.
The piano then cascades down with broken chords alternating between the hands. These broken chords – black notes overlapping white ones – remind us of figuration found in Ravel's piano pieces like Jeux d'eaux or Gaspard de la Nuit. The idea of overlapping black notes over white notes on the piano is something Prokofiev returns to frequently in this concerto.
From figure 6 there is a transitional passage which takes us from the first subject material to a build-up in tension towards the second subject at figure 13. This completely contrasting second subject has a quirky and darker feel in the relative minor key of A minor.
Second subject closing section – a brilliant and original piano idea
This flippant and audacious idea stems from one brilliant, original but simple idea on the piano:
First, play a descending broken octave in the right hand on the white notes. Next, play a black note a semitone underneath with your left hand, play the right hand broken octave ascending then cross over your left hand to hit the black note a semitone above! Repeat and vary in sequences and play around with the idea!!
It is an athletic and fun idea – not to mention an innovative and ingenious one.
There is an almost Wagnerian climax to this section which includes some piquant chords in the brass from fig. 22:
Development and recapitulation section (in sonata form) combined
There is a brief, passionate outpouring of the introduction theme by the full the orchestra at fig.26 followed by (reversing the original order) the solo clarinet playing the theme – this time accompanied by strings at fig. 27.
There is a gorgeous harmonic moment where the first violins cross over to the D above the clarinet's A two bars before 28. It is amazing how so many performances rush this clarinet solo or the moment of tenderness and stillness at this point. It is a beautiful moment and it should be savoured.
The introduction theme is then played in imitations and in stretto between the piano and orchestra in a magical and flowing development. There are many beautiful moments to savour such as the contrary motion strings a bar before fig. 30. This bar sounds amazing with a little rallentando.
The end of the section from fig.30 sounds like a fairy-tale.
The white note riff then returns in non legato semiquavers in the piano and orchestra at fig.32. This tremendous build up leads us to a repeat of the first subject theme at fig.36.
At 39 we have more fun with those white note broken octaves and criss-crossing left hand playing black notes.
From fig. 41 we have a series of ascending triads with overlapping hands that was one of the earliest conceived passages Prokofiev wrote for the concerto back in 1911.
After some glissandi in the piano with the first subject motif repeated in the orchestra, there follows at fig.47 the second subject A minor theme, returning in a discordant rendition (along with the castanets, with an even more prominent role).
At the end of the section there are 'veloce' scales in the piano before the coda of the white note riff at fig. 50 rounds off the first movement.
Second Movement:
Prokofiev was a master of writing variations (we think of the Quintet and Second Symphony from the 1920s which also have brilliantly inventive variations). Prokofiev gives us five sharply contrasting variations on a gavotte like theme – which is full of trademark Prokofiev slights of hand in harmony.
Prokofiev before Gershwin?
The piano enters for variation 1 with a trill and swift ascending scale, reminiscent of the opening of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue written three years later. Pianist Barbara Nissman wrote in the Prokofiev Foundation Journal that Gershwin's friend, the pianist Oscar Levant said in his writings that Gershwin always carried with him two cherished scores: Debussy's Preludes and Prokofiev's third piano concerto. I have not been able to verify this but it is a tantalizing story for someone who loves Gershwin and Prokofiev as much as I do. (Prokofiev's third concerto and Rhapsody in Blue played such a big influence in my early musical life.)
The first variation ends elegantly with high trills in the piano. It gives way to a blistering second variation which prominently features magnificent piano figurations, ostinato patterns, pedal points and solo trumpet.
Piano acrobatics
At figure 60 the pianist has to negotiate considerable acrobatic hazards with large leaps and swiftly crossing left hand notes. The variation ends with a mysterious sort of plagal cadence which is repeated at the end of variation 3 and at the end of the movement.
Variation 3 has catchy cross rhythms between piano and cellos/basses. There is a bitonal feel to this variation. Just before figure 67 we get a section of predominantly white notes in the right hand and black notes in the left hand. It seems looks forward somehow to the first movement of Stravinsky's brilliant Sonata of 1924.
A fleeting moment of beauty
Sandwiched between the discords and strident rhythms there is a moment of Tchaikovsky-like melodic beauty and tenderness at figure 68 with a wonderful and original flash of melody. The harmonic progression is typically Prokofiev – totally instinctive, a sort of chromatic progression within E major. (See 7.)
Icy atmosphere
Variation 4 – Andante Meditativo – is a slow, dreamy, atmospheric but often lonely landscape. This is the section that most feels like a traditional slow middle movement of a concerto and feels like the central point structurally and emotionally for the whole work.
The descending lines of (mostly) chromatic thirds in the piano add to the uneasy atmosphere. (They derive from the first and second bar of the theme.) Their final extended and icy descent is marked 'freddo' – Italian for cold.
From two bars after 70 up to 71 there is an exquisite passage of chromatic harmonies in the oboe and first violins that needs to be milked for all its beauty.
There is a light and fleeting section of thawing from the cold with tremolo strings and demisemiquavers in the piano at bar 112.
The last two harmonies of variation 4 deep in the bass of the piano are difficult for the ear to decipher; they are chord substitutions for the more obvious oscillating notes in the right hand.
More fireworks
The piano launches into the allegro giusto of variation 5. This is initially balletic and acrobatic until a heavier variation emerges at 77. This builds to a climax with incessant octaves in the piano part. At 81 the ballet returns with arpeggios cascading up and down the piano between the two hands and chugging Tchaikovsky-like staccato woodwind chords. The bass line descends chromatically as the rest of the orchestra surge upwards ecstatically to another climax where the clouds break and the theme returns at 83 – this time with delicate staccato chords in the piano.
Return of the theme
The classical delicacy returns and the theme fades out at 87. Two bars later the piano cries out a dissonant echo of the 'plagal cadence' before low strings end the movement in a solemn mood. Their stillness is broken by the bass drum and piano in very low register; reminding us of the serious undertone present thorughout much of the movement.
Third Movement:
A brilliant ritornello theme
Marked 'Allegro man non troppo', the third movement begins with its catchy and memorable ritornello (recurring) theme in unison octaves with pizzicato strings and bassoons in A minor (the relative minor key). Though in ¾ time but it could be mistaken for a march at its outset. The simplicity and symmetry in its design is a stroke of genius. It has an ascending and descending perfect fifth with three notes in between of a similar outline to the first three notes of the introductory theme in the first movement (see fig.8). This gives a sense of connection between the first and last movements.
Grieg's piano music was an early influence on the young Prokofiev and the mood of this ritornello theme is not far removed from Grieg's famous In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt Suite. Both themes share a hint of the macabre. However, Prokofiev contrasts this macabre feel with more expressive harmonisations as we shall see later on.
The piano enters with a rapid scale split between alternating hands. This leads to a rhythmic idea of minor triads jumping by an octave in contrary motion.
The ritornello theme is then heard in the home key of C major, again with pizzicato strings and bassoons. The piano makes another entry which leads to an expressive harmonisation of the ritornello theme built on a G pedal note.
A second theme with an impressive sweep
After some little jostling between the piano and orchestra with the ritornello theme and more jumping triads in the piano, a second main theme enters in the piano accompanied by strings. It is made from swift demisemiquaver scales with an impressive sweep that makes the music take flight (see 9). There is no doubt we are listening to a mature Prokofiev in full flow.
At bar 70 the piano takes up the ritornello theme with the second theme swirling around in the orchestra. This leads to climax in B flat minor at figure 99 in the score. A menacing mood is created in the orchestra, making use of repeated beats on the bass drum. This makes way for the ritornello theme to return in the piano in a grotesque manner (marked Poco piu mosso).
The grotesque alternates with joyous and beautiful harmonies
Continuing from this grotesque statement of ritornello theme in the piano, the music modulates upwards in chromatic steps and culminates in the second expressive setting of the ritornello theme starting out in C major at figure 103. This is a precursor for a similar (and even more) joyous harmonisation in the coda at 135 and 141.
This expressive harmonisation, in rich chords in the piano, is heard in canon like imitation with single notes and bass in the orchestra. Two bars after the piano's entry at bar 100 the first violins and clarinets enter with the theme. This leads to a beautiful moment where the key changes at bar 102 beat 2. The rhythmic counterpoint bounces between the piano and orchestra, confusing the down beat for the listener when the harmony changes on the weak second beat of bar 102. The orchestra then enters before the piano with the theme (with flute and oboe in octaves) in canon like treatment.
Hints of the ending of the concerto
At figure 105 and 106 the piano plays a repeated note rhythm in fortissimo octaves and demi-semiquaver flourishes, which hint at the last pages of the concerto. The conclusion of the opening Allegro contains some chromatic and discordant descending passages which sound almost like laughing! We are reminded of Prokofiev's opera The Love of Three Oranges, as do many other passages in the concerto. The opera was completed a year before but Prokofiev premiered the concerto as soloist as well as rehearsing for the premier of his opera in the same week! Quite an undertaking!
The big romantic theme
The famous romantic melody that fills the middle of the movement is first heard by the orchestra at 110. It is based in C sharp major but Prokofiev's amazing twists of harmony send it around it's relative major (E) via G sharp minor over B, then to B aug to B over A and back to C sharp major second inversion. It is a simply sublime and magical creation, with Prokofiev finding inspired and heart wrenching modulations for one of his most memorable melodies. It is surely influenced by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Rachmaninoff in its grandeur, but it is unmistakably Prokofiev in its harmonic and melodic language.
A chilly interruption
Following the first hearing of this romantic theme, the piano enters surprisingly with a completely different idea and mood at 114. This detached and sardonic theme is made up of repeated notes, an upwards demisemiquaver flourish, discordant notes and chromatic scales. There is a cold eeriness in the interplay between piano and woodwind instruments and perhaps a lonely tragic undertone.
Two beautiful variations building up to the passionate statement at the climax
The romantic theme returns at 119 in a variation where Prokofiev exploits the high register of the cellos for the soaring melody (which is repeated a major third lower). The piano plays chromatic triad patterns in between melody notes. This sounds forward looking to the early works of Oliver Messiaen such as The Dove from 8 Preludes for piano 1928-29.
The second variation is a beautiful harmonisation at 124 using pedal notes at the outset (the first starting with F sharp major over D.) Silvery quintuplet chromatic runs in the piano descend like gently cascading water. There is a beautiful stillness and the mostly chromatic descending thirds in the flutes and clarinets add to the dream-like atmosphere.
This variation repeats a major third higher before the theme returns at bar 257 back in its original key of C sharp major. The piano and strings build the melody up to an ecstatic climax which is followed by an expressive calando.
The Coda – saving the best till last
The coda is one of the most original and exciting finales in the repertoire.
The ritornello theme returns in the woodwind with pizzicato cellos and basses at 131. This has a new harmonisation with a chromatic ascending bass line which unashamedly creates unusual 'wrong note' clashes.
The piano then enters with the theme with the ascending bass line hopping around in thirds in the left hand. The theme then sticks on alternating pedal notes G and B with bitonal sounding scales ascending and descending in the piano. There is a real sense of the macabre here andthe motor rhythm is firmly established for the entire coda.
Theme in canon
At 135 the ritornello theme has its most joyous and expressive harmonisation. By playing these chords slowly in the piano you realise how expressive and romantic they are. Their crotchet lengths should be observed in order to contrast from the spiky version of the theme heard at the outset of the coda.
There is another beautiful cross play of imitation between first violins with oboes (entering first at 135) and the piano. The theme is built up to a modulation to A flat major7 at 136. This is where the piano plays an ascending rhythmic sequence of spicy chords between the two hands leading up to the famous double note written glissandi in C major.
The orchestra accompany with ostinatos rhythms derived from repeating a sort of inverted snippet of the ritornello theme. For example: G-E-E flat- C. Who else could have chosen those notes but Prokofiev? We keep marvelling at originality and uniqueness of this coda.
Playing on the cracks between the keys – innovation
The famous double note glissandi have been interpreted in several ways by pianists. The written score requires the performer to play two notes on one finger on most of the fingers (on the cracks between the keys!). This is innovative and difficult to perform. Some pianists have substituted glissandi, which actually produces a brilliant effect in its own right and is easier to perform.
A varied repeat
The spiky version of the ritornello theme returns, this time with a more static bass line on a pedal note F before it settles again on G and B again. Con legno strings add to grotesque atmosphere.
The expressive harmonisation returns in imitation with the orchestra in reverse order. There is surprise key change leading us down a tone to B flat. We have another change to enjoy this material in a different key.
This key change at is typically Prokofiev – superimposing familiar chords in unfamiliar combination. It is a great moment to be savoured.
The theme modulates down a major third as before, this time from B flat to G flat major7 where the piano takes up the inverted ostinato snippet in octaves before the music cleverly slips back into C major for the written out double note glissandi. The final glissando is heard over a C bass note in the orchestra (instead of E). Although we have reached the home key of C major feels more like a chord during the journey to the final page.
Coda to the coda – and to the whole concerto
There follows a sort of coda for the whole concerto. There is no reference to any themes. The key continually shifts and the piano has many passages of the left hand crossing over the right. The rapid cross hand arpeggio sequences are followed by 4 quaver rhythms heard earlier in the coda.
Prokofiev saves the very best till last. It is such an original conception and an impossible passage of music to copy.
What just happened? One of the most original passages in all music?
The final pages contain one of the most original moments in all music. The slicing triplet chords between the two hands – where the left hand plays black note chords over the top of right hand octave chords on white notes. The combination of this extraordinary effect superimposed over an entirely different rhythm in the orchestra leaves the listener dazzled and wondering which planet Prokofiev was beamed down from!
The strong repeated note rhythms in the orchestra (prominently the strings) provide a magnificent effect. It propels the music all the way to the final note.
Who else but Prokofiev could have thought up such an original and convincing chord progression to return the concerto back to the home key of C major for the final pages? B flat to E to C in the bass. An incredible route that sounds utterly perplexing to the ear and yet convincing.
The sustained As in the brass over the E bass note during the slicing triplets section resolve down onto a C major harmony, adding a beautiful major seventh note in the second horn at bar 413. The spacing of the string chords are original. There are no banal voicings of the C major 7th chord to be found.
Following the extraordinary slicing triplet section the piano concludes the concerto with beautiful octave and third scales played over the repeated note rhythms in the orchestra. The piano finishes by hammering out C octaves at the very top of the piano with the final C major 7th chord marked ff in the orchestra.
If there is a more exciting or greater end to a piece of music, I have not heard it!
Notes by Steve Law Copyright 2021.
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College basketball player Mike Lewis II has orchestrated several comebacks for the Duquesne Dukes this season, but it was a 30-second video on his Twitter page that earned the sophomore guard MVP praises.
Lewis had noticed a woman living in a car near the team's practice facility in Pittsburgh.
"It started last Wednesday. I was walking back from practice, when I saw the lady after practice. Thursday I noticed her again. I saw her on Friday and I confirmed that she was living in her car," Lewis told ABC News.
After Duquesne's 71-60 loss to Davidson on Saturday, he grabbed some of the team's food and walked toward the woman.
"First he scared the living daylight out of me. I was sleeping [and] he knocked on the window and I was like, 'Ah,'" Patricia Smith told ABC Pittsburgh affiliate WTAE.
Patricia Smith said she was really touched by Lewis' gesture.
"He gave me a pizza and chicken wings. He said we're doing this for people. I'm like, 'Really?' Couldn't have asked for a better time," she added.
Lewis decided to share his good deed on Twitter. "Noticed a lady living in her car the past week and did what I could, don't just walk past people if you can help do so," he wrote.
At first, Lewis was unsure whether to share the moment with his Twitter followers.
"I was skeptical about posting on social media but I was trying to show positivity on social media to kids that follow me," he explained.
Smith said she stays at a nearby shelter, and was waiting for a Social Security check when she was surprised by Lewis.
"It felt good, you know. Somebody remembers you," she said.
Lewis, a psychology major at Duquesne University, earned a spot on the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team in 2017.
Duquesne University basketball player Mike Lewis II, seen in this team photo, was hailed for helping a homeless woman.


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'Game of Thrones':Early Look at Which Cast Members Deserve Emmy Consideration 下一个 年
So in the spirit of highlighting some of Season 7's standout performances, here are the actors and 女演员 who should start prepping their campaigns sooner rather than later.
提交 由 drewjoana 一年多以前
'Thrones wins Scream awards
It won Best TV Show, Peter Dinklage won Best Supporting Actor, and Emilia Clarke won for Breakout Female Performance,
"Blood of My Blood" ratings mark low point for season 6
The numbers from last Sunday are in and, though the Game of Thrones episode "Blood of My Blood" outstripped its competition, the ratings could still be better.
"Game Of Thrones" Kinda Confirmed A 粉丝 Theory And It Was The Best
"Game Of Thrones" Put An End To Two 粉丝 Theories This Week
"Game Of Thrones" Turned A Consensual Sex Scene Into A Rape Scene And Ruined Everything
On last night's episode of "Game of Thrones," a climactic and much-anticipated consensual sex scene between incestuous brother-sister duo Jaime and Cersei Lannister was twisted into a violent rape scene for seemingly no reason at all.
"Meryn Morghulis": Ian Beattie on Meryn Trant's brutal final moments
Game of Thrones': Ian Beattie 'Burst Into Tears' Over Meryn Trant's 'Nasty Side'
"SNL" Brought Us To "South Centros" In This Epic "Game Of Thrones" Spoof | Buzzfeed
Jaimie Etkin of BuzzFeed breaks down SNL's 'South Centros' sketch in 照片 and gifs. The video is probably US only, but there's a version that should work for everyone linked to in the comments.
提交 由 DarkSarcasm 一年多以前
"Valahd"—The odd story behind Daenerys' command to Drogon
In "A Dance with Dragons," the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones Season 5, Daenerys is surrounded 由 the Sons of the Harpy, an insurgent group bent on her murder.
Bastards, Cripples, and Broken Things—A look ahead at the season finale
Warning: This is an 文章 written from the perspective of a book reader. There will be spoilers from the end of A Dance With Dragons. Unsullied, considered yourself warned.
... 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 ...


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From Different Corners
Smaller species may go extinct without fossil trace
Category: From Different Corners
New York, March 22 (IANS) Many of the species now perishing due to the ongoing sixth mass-extinction event -- especially the smaller ones -- may vanish without a permanent trace, says researchers.
The fossil record is much more durable than any human record, said one of the researchers Roy Plotnick, professor of earth and environmental sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago, US.
"There are species going extinct today that have never been described," Plotnick said.
"Others are going extinct that are known only because someone wrote it down," Plotnick noted.
All such species would thus be unknown in the far future, he said, if the written historical record is lost -- as it might well be.
Animals least likely to be found as fossils are "the small, cute and fuzzy ones, like rodents and bats", Plotnick said.
"Body size is an obvious factor -- bigger things tend to leave a fossil record, as do things with larger geographical ranges," he pointed out.
For the study, the researchers compared the "Red List" of endangered species with several ecological databases of living species and three paleontological databases of catalogued fossils.
"Comparing the current biodiversity crisis, often called the 'sixth extinction,' with those of the geological past requires equivalent data," Plotnick pointed out.
They ran a statistical analysis to indicate which threatened species were most likely to disappear with no mark of their existence.
The researchers were shocked to find that more than 85 percent of the mammal species at high risk of extinction lack a fossil record.
And those at highest risk have about half the probability of being incorporated into the fossil record compared to those at lower risk, the researchers said.
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OBJECTIFS SHORT FILM INCUBATOR 2022: SHORT FILM FORUM
Industry professionals on composing music, networking, producing, and directing
The Objectifs Short Film Incubator is an initiative presented by Objectifs that focuses on developing short film scripts. The programme is open to Southeast Asian filmmakers working with moving images, and will provide five selected participants with mentorship and a valuable support network as they work on their scripts.
Leong Puiyee, Senior Manager at Objectifs, is the key facilitator for the Short Film Incubator. Momo Film Co is the programme partner for the Objectifs Short Film Incubator.
The following online events by guest speakers are open to the public. Please click on the links below to register.
While these are free events, please consider donating to Objectifs if you are able to. Your contribution goes directly to supporting our programmes, and the freelancers and artists we work with.
Programme Partner
The Objectifs Short Film Incubator is supported by
Finding the Right Sound and Music for Your Films
with Lindsay Wright
Fri 1 Jul, 8pm – 930pm (SGT) via Zoom
Having worked on prominent films and television series like "The Crown" and "This Is Joan Collins", award-winning composer Lindsay Wright will share what it means to create a visceral and emotional score, and her approach to composing music for documentaries and fiction works.
Lindsay Wright is an award-winning British composer combining traditional practices with experimental techniques. She utilises her skills as a performer and her experience with music technology to create visceral, emotional and enigmatic scores for all genres of visual media. She began her career working as an assistant, programmer and music editor for composers such as Carly Paradis on the Netflix drama series The Innocents and BBC's Line of Duty; Ben Bartlett on the acclaimed ITV detective series Vera; and Theo Vigden for the second season of the BBC comedy series Hold The Sunset and Disney's 101 Dalmatian Street.
She has since worked on the music for a variety of television productions and films. Notably, her music for Mudlarks starring Mirren Mack (Sex Education) was nominated for Best Score at the British Short Film Awards. Lindsay was the music editor for the third and fourth series of Netflix's multi-award-winning drama The Crown, starring Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham Carter. Alongside her colleagues, she was nominated for the 2020 Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing in a Comedy or Drama Series. She has also edited soundtrack albums for BBC's Peaky Blinders and Black Earth Rising.
Importance of Building Networks in your Short Film Career
with Kobi Mizrahi and Alemberg Ang
Sat, 2 Jul 6pm – 7.30pm (SGT) via Zoom
The importance of building your own community and network in the film world should not be underestimated, as these networks can lead to future collaborations and opportunities.
Oscar-nominated producer Kobi Mizrahi from Israel and Alemberg Ang, a schoolteacher-turned-award-winning producer from the Philippines, will share personal experiences and discuss the value of building one's own network in their film journey.
Oscar nominated producer Kobi Mizrahi is an alumnus of the EAVE Producers' Workshop, Emerging Producers Workshop, Amsterdam Post Lab, Nipkow Program Berlin, Berlin talents, Rotterdam producers' lab and Cannes producers' network. He opened KM Productions, an Israeli production company focused on creating a true and sustainable relationship with young innovative directors in order to produce both shorts, features, and documentaries.
He has produced multiple award winning films, including feature film The Dive (2018) directed by Yona Rozenkier which won awards at Jerusalem International Film Festival and Locarno, and screened internationally. Kobi also produced Water (2012), an Israeli-Palestinian omnibus project which opened critics' week in Venice, screened in Busan and won the Amnesty International award. He has also produced multiple winning short films, including White Eye by Tomer Shushan (Oscar Nominee, SXSW Jury Award Winner 2020), Butterflies by Yona Rozenkier (Cannes, Toronto 2019), Open your eyes by Ilay Mevorach (Clermont Ferrand 2018), and Shmama by Miki Polonski (Silver Leopard award, Locarno 2017).
His upcoming features are Decompression by Yona Rozenkier, Curtain Call by Roy Assaf, Available Now by Assaf Machnes and the creative documentary Necropolis by Keren Alexander.
School teacher turned film producer Alemberg Ang's filmmaking is shaped by his passion for socio-civic issues, and Philippine arts and literature. His films have travelled extensively to festivals in Busan, Torino, Warsaw and Tokyo, among others. He has been invited to the UNESCO International Meeting of Independent Producers, Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talents, La Fabrique Cinéma du Monde and EAVE Producers Workshop. His projects have participated at Cinemart, Locarno Open Doors, and the Tribeca Film Institute Network. His most recent projects are Divine Factory, winner of the Docs-in-Progress award at Cannes Docs and the Singapore International Film Festival's SEA-Doc Grant, and Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, winner of the SEAFIC Prize, Talents Tokyo Next Master's Program's development grant and Singapore's Southeast Asian Co-production Grant.
How Hard Can Producing a Film Get?
with Davy Chou and Soros Sukhum
Sat 2 Jul, 8pm – 9.30pm (SGT) via Zoom
From pre-production, to co-producing, to the distribution of a film, producing a film is a long journey that can take years. Film producing is often fraught with challenges, from raising money, to finding the right collaborators to getting the film to the right festival or screening platforms. So, how difficult can producing really get? Join us for this candid talk with established producer Soros Sukhum from Thailand, and director/producer Davy Chou from Cambodia as they share about the realities of film producing.
Davy Chou is a filmmaker and producer. He directed the documentary Golden Slumbers (2011), about the birth of Cambodian cinema in the 1960s and its destruction by the Khmer Rouge. In 2016, he directed Diamond Island, which won the SACD Award at Cannes Critics' Week. His latest feature film, Return To Seoul, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2022, under the Un Certain Regard section. He is one of the founders of Cambodian production company Anti-Archive.
Soros Sukhum is regarded as the most important independent producer working in Thailand. He currently supports a generation of Thai filmmakers including Aditya Assarat, Sivaroj Kongsakul, Anocha Suwichakornpong, and Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit. His resume includes numerous prizewinners including Rotterdam Tiger and Busan New Current winners: Wonderful Town (2007), Mundane History (2009), Eternity (2010) and 36 (2012). He recently co-produced award-winning film such as Diamond Island (2016) from Cambodia's Davy Chou as well as Singapore's Pop Aye (2017) by Kirsten Tan. as well as Memoria a Columbia-Thai co-production film by Apichatpong Weerasetakul that won a Jury prize at Festival de Cannes 2021.
Soros is the first Thai producer to receive a national Silapathorn Artist Award for Film and
Video from Ministry Culture of Thailand. In 2020 he received a FIAPF Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Film in the Asia Pacific Region.
How to Stay True to Your Directorial Voice and Vision
with Martika Ramirez Escobar, moderated by Pom Bunsermvicha
Sun 3 Jul, 8pm – 930pm (SGT) via Zoom
What does it mean to have a directorial voice and how does one continue to maintain your vision in a constantly changing world? Award-winning director Martika Ramirez Escobar from the Philippines and director/producer Pom Bunsermvicha from Thailand will discuss their personal filmmaking journeys and the struggles of staying true to their directorial vision.
Martika Ramirez Escobar is a filmmaker-cinematographer based in Manila. After she graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines, her thesis film Stone Heart competed at the 19th Busan International Film Festival and won Best Film at Cinemalaya. She is an alumna of the Berlinale Talents Tokyo, Asian Film Academy, Southeast Asian Film Lab and is a recipient of the Purin Pictures Film Fund. Her first feature film Leonor Will Never Die recently had its world premiere at Sundance, where it won the Special Jury Award for Innovative Spirit. Most of her works are bizarre reflections on her relationship with cinema.
Pom Bunsermvicha is an independent director/producer based in Bangkok, Thailand. Her work, which mostly combines documentary elements with fiction, has been shown at festivals in Southeast Asia and abroad, including International Film Festival Rotterdam, Locarno Film Festival, MoMA's Doc Fortnight, Hamburg International Short Film Festival, and SeaShorts.
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3. Objectifs is committed to maintaining a safe and inclusive space for this online discussion. By registering for this session, participants agree to abide by the following guidelines:
Treat all people with courtesy and respect.
Harassment/discrimination of sexual, physical, vocal, emotional or any other nature based on gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, ability, physical appearance, race, ethnicity, or religion are not appropriate.
Short Film Incubator 2022 Events


text:
THE FAMILY EDITION
BEYOND EXISTENCE
Beyond Existence is an exciting female-led feature film from Capital Films made by industry professionals from the UK's best TV shows, commercials and branded content campaigns The team were on the hunt for final investors in order finish the film's post production at the level it deserves.
The film follows Ellen, the ultimate professional, and The Professor, an old drunk with an acid tongue, don't exactly make for the perfect travel companions. But the pair learn just how important their newfound relationship is when the road trip turns into a car chase.
As they flee from the Mysterious Man – a bounty hunter resolute that The Professor sticks to his original assignment, Ellen discovers that the technology assumed to make her civilisation superior, is also the source of a predetermined path of destruction: and the Professor is the instigator.
To save humanity, Ellen will go beyond fate, beyond destiny, and beyond existence.
Strike were thrilled to join this project and bring attention to an exciting new up and coming sci-fi film. The main aim was to bring attention to the film's Indiegogo campaign, to do this the team created an engaging press release resulting in news stories from key Sci-Fi publications as well as general film focused press. Following the press release, Strike also pushed for interviews with the key creative team behind the film securing a two-page feature in May's issue of Film Stories magazine as well as other opportunities.
2020 © Strike Media Ltd


A 42-year-old woman dressed in scrubs attended patient rounds and observed operations at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston even though she wasn't a physician, according to the Boston Globe.
Cheryl Wang first gained access to restricted areas at Brigham and Women's Hospital in September by requesting to shadow a surgeon while her application with the National Resident Matching Program was pending.
A surgeon agreed to let Ms. Wang shadow him not knowing she had been dismissed from a surgical residency program at Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital in New York City in May and reported to the New York Office of Professional Misconduct. It was also later discovered that Ms. Wang forged the three letters of recommendation attached to her application with the National Resident Matching Program, according to the report.
Ms. Wang returned to the hospital the week of Dec. 5 dressed in scrubs bearing the Brigham and Women's logo. She gained access to five operating rooms over two days. Staff said she observed operations by standing on a stool, which is a common practice among observers.
Although Brigham and Women's staff are required to scan their identification badges to enter surgery suites, Ms. Wang slipped into the operating rooms by walking in behind other employees who were holding the door for one another during shift changes. A Brigham spokeswoman told the Boston Globe Ms. Wang did not "touch, treat, or provide care to a single patient."
Hospital security escorted Ms. Wang off of the property Dec. 7 after she attended patient rounds in thoracic surgery and physicians realized she was not authorized to be there. Security emailed an alert to OR staff with a picture of Ms. Wang as well, according to the Boston Globe.
On Dec. 8, Ms. Wang attempted to attend a medical staff discussion at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. After being caught and interviewed by investigators from Mass General and Brigham and Women's, Ms. Wang went to Boston Children's Hospital, which is connected to Brigham and Women's, where she was turned away by security.
Since the incident, Brigham and Women's has changed its policy for observers in its surgical suites. A physician sponsoring an observer is now required to verify with the student's educational institution that the student is in good standing.
To receive the latest hospital and health system business and legal news and analysis from 10 Updated In Bars Philadelphia Pa The Last Dive January Best Becker's Hospital Review, sign-up for the free Becker's Hospital Review E-weekly by clicking here.


text:
One thousand years ago, four sisters were cursed by a god.
Alyona
Can they break the curse? Do they even want to?
Deep Curse
Myths are very real.
Ten years ago, mermaids went from mythical to real. Arik Grayson, a marine biologist, studies the elusive creatures. A discovery of a mermaid in the deep sea reveals there's more to these creatures than Grayson previously thought.
Over a thousand years ago, Alyona and her sisters were cursed to the oceans by a god. She had given up hope. Until she meets Grayson. Together, they look for clues to break her curse.
But Alyona's sisters don't want the curse broken and are willing to do whatever it takes to stop Grayson from helping Alyona. As more people are hurt, Alyona is left with a heartbreaking choice: break the curse and loose her sisters forever or return to the deep and never see the man she has grown to love again.
Deep Curse is a mermaid fantasy about forgiving one's past mistakes and embracing a new future.
Steam rating: Warm (Mild explicit sensuality.)
Coming January 7th 2022 on Patreon.


text:
Q: In Mozilla Firefox, the placeholder is working but issue on pressing esc key First I tested support by:
function SupportsInputPlaceholder() {
    var i = document.createElement("input");
    return "placeholder" in i;
}

$(document).ready(function(){
    if(!SupportsInputPlaceholder()) {
        alert("no support");
    }
}

So the alert did not pop up.
But in on clicking on the input field with placeholder and pressing escape, the placeholder text becomes the permanent textbox text. This does not happen in Chrome.
To resolve this I tried the following code on document load:
$(document).ready(function(){
    if(!SupportsInputPlaceholder()) {
        alert("no support");
    }
    $("[placeholder]").keyup(function(e) {
          var i = $(this);
          var placehold;
          placehold = i.attr("placeholder");   // this line has problem

          if (e.keyCode == 27) {

              alert("placeholder is " + placehold);
              if (i.val() == i.attr("placeholder"))  {
                  i.val("");
              }
          }
    });

So on printing  alert("placeholder is " + placehold); The placehold value contains ""
Should not the  i.attr("placeholder") return the placeholder text?

A: Your code has an error:
if (i.val() == i.attr("placehold"))

That should be
if (i.val() == i.attr("placeholder"))
// -----------------------------^^

A: The issue resolved if I replace "js/jquery.min.js" src I was using with "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.10.1/jquery.min.js" src
So the project was using own placeholder functionality code which has problems and not the jquery placeholder.


Enhance the flavour of baked fish with this beautiful side salad.
Combine the cannellini beans, onion and spinach in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Gently toss to combine. Serve immediately.


Sydney Shop Girl: Coming Home.
There really is no place like home. From that moment my key turns at the front door, the cares of the day just lift off my shoulders. Sometimes I imagine these cares have their own wings that enable them to just drift away with the prevailing winds. Other days, those cares have jet propelled wings that propel them away faster than the speed of light.
Then I get to ease my shoes off, land my bag somewhere in the vicinity of the sofa close to the door and pad around barefoot for a while, relishing the quiet and the solitude. Just not having to talk or think hard or make a decision more complicated than what to do for dinner.
Many of my favourite 'at home' sounds and smells revolve around the kitchen. I have fond memories of living with mum and dad and coming home or waking up to the smell and sound of dinner being prepared. That 'waking up' bit makes me sound really lazy but I lived at home during a crazy period of time where all I seemed to do was go on night shift and waking up to dinner cooking (as opposed to having to find it myself) helped keep me sane.
I like making dinner from scratch. It's a rarity during the week but ironically, it's a whole lot more satisfying than reheating a series of containers in the microwave. Tonight, I just had to make the effort. I didn't feel like watching TV, I was too restless to read and not on quite the right spiritual plane to hit my yoga mat.
Nothing sticks on Anolon pans. Nothing.
The wonderful sounds and scent of onions meeting heated oil and butter soon had me feeling perkier.
I enjoyed it so much I did it twice. Once for the base for my butter chicken and an encore for a spicy basmati rice with peas.
The chopping, frying and stirring were very cathartic this evening.
I'm on a bit of a roll with fancy rice side dishes this week. Tonight's spicy rice was from the current issue of Super Food Ideas.
Hope you're all having a cozy night in.
Butter Chicken recipe pleaaaaaaaaaaase lady!!!
You're so right about coming home and not having to think, it's bliss.
This post is very soothing SSG...I feel the warmth of your home here in these words and images.


Being addicted to drugs can cause irreparable damage to a person's life if not treated. Fortunately, there is help in Binghamton. When drug abuse is not treated, a person puts them selves at significant physical and psychological risk. Overdose and the development of disease are both real possibilities. Drug abuse left unchecked will only worsen. A drug addiction left unchecked or untreated can lead to distressful life for the addict and their family and also death. Those in the Binghamton, NY who need help getting clean and staying that way, should call our offices today.
An alcohol addiction should not be ignored. We are able to help individuals in the Binghamton area. Many people struggle with consistently drinking too much alcohol. An alcohol addiction is not a minor problem but a serious one. Individuals who are alcoholics must reach out for help. Rehab or treatment for alcohol addiction of some kind may be in order. If you reside in the Binghamton, New York area, we can help you get sober. Call us today.
If you live in Binghamton, and would like a holistic approach to rehab, we can help. Holistically treating addicts is the most effective way in overcoming addiction. Each individual is provided with a personalized plan. We don't use the same plan for everyone. We prefer a more specialized approach. We can help you if you with your alcohol or drug addiction if you live in Binghamton, NY.
We are there to help those in Binghamton overcome their alcohol and drug problems. We will work hard to develop a comprehensive alcohol and drug rehabilitation plan. Some staffs are inexperienced, poorly trained and unprofessional. That does not describe us. We use everything that we have learned to help you overcome your substance abuse addiction. We provide rehab services for those in Binghamton, NY. Please contact us using the phone number at the top of this page for more information.


The Student Information Department gathers and processes data on student enrollment and attendance; maintains a detailed, ongoing census of all district residents; conducts demographic analysis, and prepares student enrollment projections for the school district.
Use our address locator to check the schools assigned to a specific address within our boundaries. Students attend the school in the attendance area where they live or they may apply to transfer to a different school in the district, if space is available.
This State program allows you to transfer your student from one Minnesota district to another.
This program allows you to transfer your student to another public school district after January 15th. This application is renewed annually.
This program allows you to transfer your child within District 196. This program is not to be used for meeting daycare needs. The application expires at the end of 5th, 8th and 12th grade.
This program allows you to transfer your Elementary student within District 196 to meet your daycare needs. the application is renewed annually or as necessary.
Do you have a new baby? Are you new to town? Did you move recently? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is important for our future planning to get all children on our census files. After providing your family's information, you will receive important updates including preschool screening information. Please call Student Information Services at 651-423-7640 with your family's information.


What happened to the sunshine?! This past week in Manchester the weather has been 95% gloomy af with frequent rain showers making it difficult to find the opportunity to shoot some snazzy outfit shots for what is meant to be the 'summer'. Oh how I love British weather. Thankfully the weather Gods spared us from the rain this Sunday meaning I could share with you all this cute little blue number I'm currently loving. Featuring my newest pair of shoes from Zara... how beautiful are they?!
This time of year is the most difficult to dress. The days begin cloudy (usually raining) and then by 4pm it has brightened up and the sun is in the sky. This outfit is perfect for those unpredictable weather days. Jeans (black of course because I am so summery) and a leather jacket to keep you warm if it rains, but can easily be switched up with sunnies and look summery with last year's staple bardot tee. Featuring the prettiest tie sleeve detailing. Effortless British summer dressing at its finest.
As you can probably tell, I live for simple, comfort dressing. But who says simple can't be hella stylish?! Every single pair of new shoes I ever buy ALWAYS cut the back of my ankles to shreds. Even trainers. The struggle is real. And so when I came across this pair in Zara I instantly fell in love. With an open back made for comfortable wearing and the prettiest subtle fringing detail; I just had to have them.
I spent my Sunday indulging in a lush af pub lunch. Nothing better than that on a Sunday, am I right?!
What have you been up to this weekend? Share your activities in the comments below!


Humans. Night elves. Dwarves. Gnomes. Draenei. Worgen. And the occasional pandaren. They are the Alliance: a group of nations that marches under the banners of nobility and justice. Don these shirts and stand with the Alliance against the enemies that threaten it in Battle for Azeroth!
Available in men's sizes S-3XL. Knitted from 100% combed ring-spun cotton; 30/1. Lightweight 4.3 ounce jersey. Features slim-fit body.


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Kendrick & Cara's Winery Wedding was at Stones Of The Yarra Valley.
What an amazing winery, situated in the gorgeous surrounds of The Yarra Valley I was way too excited to get down there and meet up with Kendrick and Cara the day before.
Cara first got in touch with me from Sydney, where she and Kendrick now live. After they booked the two of them came down for an engagement shoot in early September at the stunning Turpins Falls near Kyneton. It was wonderful to meet up with them and get to know a bit about what they had planned for the 25th of January 2015.
Wow… Beautiful photos… Well done!


Shoot in fine detail with the 20.3-megapixel super-zoom Nikon COOLPIX B700.
Experience legendary NIKKOR optics in a 60x optical zoom ED glass lens capable of reaching awe-inspiring distances – extendable to 120x Dynamic Fine Zoom¹ – with High-performance Autofocus (AF) System for precision shooting. Future-proof your work with 4K UHD movies and shoot RAW (NRW) for high-quality photo finishing. 5-stop Dual Detect Optical VR (Vibration Reduction)² and side zoom control minimise camera shake, plus you can shoot with the electronic viewfinder or vari-angle LCD monitor. Keep your camera connected to your smart device with SnapBridge.
Reach far horizons in crystal clarity with the Nikon COOLPIX B700.
Capture wildlife from a safe distance, shoot stars in the night sky, or take impressive shots at sporting events with the outstandingly long-range 60x NIKKOR zoom lens, extendable to 120x Dynamic Fine Zoom¹. The zoom range covers from 24 mm wide angle to super-telephoto 1440 mm angles of view (equivalent in 35 mm format) and supports powerful macro photography for subjects as close as approximately 1 cm to the lens. Superior performance is guaranteed with trusted NIKKOR optics, featuring Super ED glass. A Super ED lens has advanced capabilities, including an extremely high ability to remove secondary spectra, offering superior chromatic aberration correction characteristics.
The high megapixel count of the camera's CMOS image sensor allows in more light for finer detail capture in your images, while the ultra-responsive high-speed AF locks onto your subject rapidly, so you'll never miss a decisive moment. Target finding AF allows for more flexible composition, as the optimal focus area size and position are chosen according to the subject. When you aim your camera at your subject, it instantly predicts the area where focus should be acquired. The active focus area is automatically set in relation to the size of the subject, ensuring all images will be in clear focus. Target finding AF is as effective with subjects in the centre of frame as those that are off-centre, and works as well for smaller subjects like flowers and food as it does for human subjects.
Shoot impressively smooth movies in 4K Ultra High Definition (3840×2160/30p) – ensuring that your recordings are state-of-the-art and future-proof as 4K UHD becomes standard – with great sound quality from the zoom microphone, which adjusts directivity along with zoom operation. Start filming instantly with a dedicated movie-record button. HDMI support means you can connect your camera to a TV or other external monitor with an optional HDMI cable.
The high-definition 921k-dot, 0.2-in LCD (with diopter adjustment) electronic viewfinder gives 100% of frame coverage, so you'll always know exactly what you're shooting. Switch shooting styles seamlessly from screen to viewfinder, as the eye sensor automatically switches from monitor shooting when your eye gets close to the sensor. Viewfinder shooting is useful for cramped conditions and also ensures stable posture, minimising camera shake.
The large vari-angle screen gives huge flexibility for creating different viewpoints – shoot high over crowds at concerts, take a low angle for wildlife and nature images, or shoot at a completely unique angle for architectural or travel shots. Self-shooting is simple with the vari-angle monitor, making it easy to add your personal commentary to the movies you're shooting or snap a quick selfie when you're in an unusual location. RGBW alignment provides superior visibility even in direct sunlight and offers low power consumption.
Vibration reduction reduces camera shake so you'll always get sharp images with optimal exposure, regardless of your shooting conditions. The 5-stop Dual Detect Optical VR² gives a compensation effect equivalent to a shutter speed 5 stops faster. This can eliminate the need for faster shutter speeds, preventing issues like improper exposure or over-increased sensitivity. By utilising the camera shake information detected by the angular velocity sensor together with the data on direction and amount of camera shake (motion vector information), the newly-developed VR algorithm enables a more accurate calculation of the amount of image blur to achieve a greatly enhanced vibration reduction performance.
When there are no second chances for a shot, you can rely on the super-responsive operation of the B700. With a fast start-up time of approximately 1.3 seconds, High-speed AF giving you crystal clear focus in around 0.09 seconds, and short shooting time lag, you'll be capturing the action the second that it starts. You'll never miss a crucial moment again.
Shooting RAW in Nikon's NRW format means you never have to worry about any degradation in image quality. When images are written to the memory card in NRW format, the exposure compensation, white balance, hue, tone and sharpening information are saved as instruction sets within the file. You can change the instruction set on your images as many times as you like without ever disturbing the original RAW data.
² Measured in accordance with CIPA standards at approximately 350 mm (equivalent focal length in 35 mm  format).
1. When the f-number is set to f/7.6 (wide-angle position).
2. Battery life does not reflect the use of SnapBridge and may vary with the conditions of use, including temperature, the interval between shots, and the length of time that menus and images are displayed.
3. Individual movie files cannot exceed 4 GB in size or 29 minutes in length. Recording may end before this limit is reached if camera temperature becomes elevated.


Inflammable Graham Thomas commented: "Surely it is necessary only to know the verb to inflame in order to be in no doubt as to the meaning of inflammable?" That might seem so, but as inflame is used figuratively, the connection isn't especially obvious. That's true of inflammation, too. Therefore, to answer Pádraig McCarthy, there's no risk of us being urged to use flammatory language or anti-flammatory medication.
Kathy Phillips remarked, "While reading your comments I started wondering about debone versus bone in relation to cooking. Which term is correct, to bone a chicken or debone it? Or are these interchangeable also?" My impression is that, in Britain, bone is easily the more often encountered of the two. Debone is a comparatively recent introduction in North America, dating from the 1880s, and is much more common there. It's an odd formation because it implies the opposite is also possible.
In 2009, J C McKeown of the University of Wisconsin described his book Cabinet of Roman Curiosities as an opusculum, an assessment both appropriate and modest. An opusculum is a little work, usually a book.
For most of us, opusculum means nothing, which disgusted the late Anthony Burgess. In one of his diatribes in old age lamenting the decline of education he challenged guests at his dinner table with idiolect, palinlogue, desquamation, lesbic, autophagous, monophthongal, autocephalous, inesculent, allomorph, strabismus … and opusculum.
I may return to some of these another time, but for the moment must restrict myself to explaining that opusculum is the diminutive of Latin opus. For the Romans, opus was any sort of labour, but it has come to mean an artistic work, in particular one on a large scale. We meet it most frequently in music but it can be used of books, paintings and other media. It appears also in magnum opus, literally "great work", the most important creation of an artist.
Burgess would undoubtedly have known that if one were in the unlikely situation of wanting to discuss the most significant output of several artists, one should describe them as their magna opera.
Though opera is the plural of opus it's rarely used that way, since opera has taken on a life of its own as a singular noun for the musical genre. This came about in Italian, in which it meant a composition in which poetry, dance, and music were combined, thus including several types of opus.
The plural of opusculum is opuscula, which widely appears in scholarly contexts but is otherwise rare.
It is many years since Sir Sacheverell Sitwell's Collected Poems appeared: more than 40, indeed. Since then, a few privately printed opuscula have been distributed among friends.
Financial Times, 7 Aug. 1982.
Passing on The term hand-me-up appeared in several UK newspapers this past week as the result of some research by the online retailer Pixmania. It's an obvious play on hand-me-down, which is known from the early nineteenth century, but I'd no previous memory of it and was surprised to find that it's been around for decades. In the current sense, an early example appeared in BusinessWeek of July 1998: "And more and more older users are joining the throng as PC prices fall and adult children give 'hand-me-up' computers to mom and dad." The recent usages relate to mobile phones which young people consider outdated but which parents and older relatives, less concerned with fashion, find useful. The term can be traced back still further, to 1986, in the related sense of people passing on items of clothing to older relatives.
River low, mountain high There are about 7000 languages in the world. It has long been realised that their diversity, area for area, is much greater in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region than in Europe and the Americas. Jacob Bock Axelsen and Susanna Manrubia wondered to what extent environmental factors influence the distribution of languages. They made a detailed statistical analysis covering a large number of possible factors, including vegetation, temperature, rainfall, altitude and population density. They reported last week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society that — as common sense might suggest — the most important factors are rivers and mountains, which act as barriers and lead to isolation and the fragmentation of languages in the same way that they cause biological populations to create new species. Rivers can paradoxically also make communication easier, bringing languages together and promoting the creation of new ones.
Q From : I remember discussions we once had on a Patrick O'Brian list about his use of the word marthambles for a disease. We spent much time looking for its origin and meaning but couldn't uncover it. Did he make it up?
A The author Patrick O'Brian rarely invented words, as he was a careful and accurate researcher of all matters maritime and medical, though he did have an impish sense of humour. He seems to have been rather fond of marthambles, using it in six of his naval stories about Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr Stephen Maturin.
He asked 'How is our fourth man?' meaning Abse, a member of the afterguard, whose complaint was known as the marthambles at sea and griping of the guts by land, a disease whose cause Stephen did not know and whose symptoms he could only render more nearly bearable by opiates: he could not cure it.
The Nutmeg of Consolation, by Patrick O'Brian, 1991.
However, O'Brian is seriously inconsistent. In The Surgeon's Mate, he says Maturin "had cured Mrs Broad, the landlady and an excellent plain cook, of the marthambles" and in Desolation Island the crew says he similarly cured Prince Billy of it (this is presumably Prince William Frederick, great-nephew of George III, widely known as Silly Billy). Another surgeon claims in The Wine-Dark Sea that the disease is "as deadly as measles or the smallpox to islanders". We are left ignorant of the nature of the ailment and how serious it really is. There's a good reason for that — it's not a real disease.
These quacks may fitly be called soliniates, because they prescribe only one kind of physic, for all distempers: that is, a vomit. If a man has bruised his elbow, take a vomit, says the doctor. If you have any corns, take a vomit. If he has torn his coat, take a vomit. For the jaundice, fever, flux, gripes, gout, — nay, even the distempers that only my friend the famous Dr. Tuff, whom you all know, knows as the hocognicles, marthambles, the moonpauls, and the strongfives, — a vomit; tantum.
I can find no other example of soliniate; tantum is medical Latin from tantus, meaning "so much".
Marthambles is a very fine word that I found in a quack's pamphlet of the late 17th or early 18th century advising a nostrum that would cure not only 'the strong fires' and a whole variety of more obvious diseases but the marthambles too. I have never seen it anywhere else and it has escaped the OED.
There is newly arrived from his travels, a gentleman, who, after above forty years' study, hath, by a wonderful blessing on his endeavours, discovered, as well the nature as the infallible cure of several strange diseases, which (though as yet not known to the world) he will plainly demonstrate to any ingenious artist, to be the greatest causes of the most common distempers incident to the body of man. The names of which take as follow: The strong fives, The marthambles, The moon-pall, The hockogrocle. Now, though the names, natures, symptoms, and several cures of these diseases, are altogether unknown to our greatest physicians, and the particular knowledge of them would (if concealed) be a vast advantage to the aforesaid person; yet, he well knowing that his country's good is to be preferred to his private interest, doth hereby promise all sorts of people, a faithful cure of all or any of the diseases aforesaid, at as reasonable rates as our modern doctors have for that of any common distemper.
As quoted in Ten Thousand Wonderful Things, by Edmund Fillingham King, 1860. King slightly modified the spelling and orthography of the original.
Marthambles — later also spelled markambles — was an invention by Dr Tufts to frighten patients into paying for his useless nostrums. He wasn't alone in his trickery — others in the same period created the bonny scrubs, the glimmering of the gizzard, the quavering of the kidneys, and the wambling trot as ailments worthy of their well-paid attention.
Patrick O'Brian slyly bamboozled his readers with his various statements about its nature. Fair enough, it was mythical, after all. But I wonder at his failure to borrow hockogrocle.


Hotel PHAEDRA is a family hotel with a swimming pool, built with care on the golden beach of Kato Stalos Kidonias, Chania, awarded with the "Blue Flag" of the European Union.
It consists of 19 flats, bungalows and studios, with private balcony or patio overlooking the deep blue of the Cretan sea.
PHAEDRA Hotel - Apartments is situated just 7 km away from the picturesque city of Chania, 19 km from the port of Souda and 23 km from Chania International Airport. A bus-stop is situated nearby the hotel allowing for transportation to all the hot-spots of the area.
The villages of Ag. Marina and Platania are situated within close proximity to the hotel where there are plenty of shops of tourist goods, car rentals, supermarkets, as well as taverns with traditional Cretan food, beach-bars, nightclubs that would satisfy all your moods and needs during your holidays.
Είστε ιδιοκτήτης ή διευθυντής στο PHAEDRA HOTEL - APARTMENTS; Εγγραφείτε τώρα για δωρεάν εργαλεία, που μπορείτε να χρησιμοποιήσετε για να βελτιώσετε την καταχώρησή σας και να συνδέσετε την ιστοσελίδα σας και το σύστημα κρατήσεών σας.