text:
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class Constants {

	public static bool isMac;
	public static bool enableMouse;

	// player prefs strings
	public static class PlayerPrefs {
		public static class Developer {
			public static string EnableMouse = "developer/enableMouse";
		}
	}

	public static void Init() {
		isMac = (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.OSXPlayer) || (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.OSXEditor) || (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.OSXWebPlayer);

		enableMouse = System.Convert.ToBoolean(UnityEngine.PlayerPrefs.GetInt(PlayerPrefs.Developer.EnableMouse));
		Debug.Log("enable mouse: " + enableMouse);
	}

	public static void Dump() {
		Debug.Log("isMac: " + isMac);
	}
}


The full Senate and Assembly voted unanimously Monday to approve legislation recognizing 3+1 programs and amending state rules to allow students participating in those programs to remain eligible for state financial aid, including tuition aid grants, Educational Opportunity Fund grants and NJSTARS scholarships.
TRENTON — Legislation to correct a bureaucratic flap involving Rowan College at Burlington County students enrolled in the college's groundbreaking 3+1 program has finally made it to Gov. Phil Murphy's desk.
The 3+1 program, which the Burlington County college launched in 2017, allows students to earn credits toward a bachelor's degree in several majors while at the county college through junior year — and pay community college tuition and fees — before automatically transferring to Rowan University for their senior year.
And while those seniors pay university tuition, they can continue to take courses in Burlington County, allowing them to complete their bachelor's degree at a much more affordable price.
While the program has been hailed as a "game changer" for the county college and its students, the program does not conform to the state's current financial aid rules, which prevent students from receiving state aid at a county college or four-year school if they've already earned a degree from that institution. Because RCBC students technically earn an associate degree after their sophomore year, they become ineligible to receive financial aid through the college.
As a workaround to the problem, students enrolled in junior level 3+1 courses have applied for financial aid through both the college and Rowan University, which processes the application and receives the aid from the state. The university then reimburses the college and students.
If Murphy signs the legislation into law, the aid applications will be handled entirely in house by the college, reducing red tape for both the institution and students.
The measure was originally introduced by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd of West Deptford, and Assemblywoman Angelica Jimenez, D-32nd of West New York, after the issue with the program and financial aid rules was first discovered. The Senate first approved the measure in February, but the Assembly didn't vote on it until Monday, when the chamber approved a slightly altered version of the measure. The Senate voted on it again Monday in order to concur with those changes and send it to Murphy to sign or veto it.
College President Michael Cioce said the college appreciated the Legislature's support and was hopeful that Murphy would likewise approve it. The Democratic governor visited the college in February and heard from students enrolled in the program about how the affordable path to a degree has benefited them.
The New Jersey Business and Industry Association also applauded the Legislature's action.


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News / 2020 ELECTIONS / Politics
Trump reportedly refused to disclose coronavirus positive test results
Sunday, 04 October 2020 11:23 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 05 October 2020 12:02 PM ]
US President Trump looks on from the back of a car in a motorcade outside of Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on October 4, 2020. (AFP photo)
US President Trump reportedly refused to disclose a positive result from a rapid test for the coronavirus on Thursday.
Trump, who is now being treated for the coronavirus, received the result before making an appearance on Fox News, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"I'll get my test back either tonight or tomorrow morning," Mr. Trump said during the interview. At 1 am on Friday.
White House issues a series of contradictory messages about Trump's condition
The White House has said that US President Donald Trump, who is at a military hospital with COVID-19, feels very well and wants to get back to work but will remain hospitalized.
"Don't tell anyone," Trump told an adviser about disclosing the results of their own positive test.
"The initial secrecy within Mr. Trump's inner circle has created a sense of anxiety within the West Wing. Publicly, the White House has issued evolving and contradictory statements about the president's health that has some officials worried about their own credibility," read the report.
Trump left his hospital suite on Sunday to greet his supporters outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center from his motorcade.
BREAKING: President @realDonaldTrump greets supporters outside of Walter Reed:
pic.twitter.com/2BSt2Xz2te
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) October 4, 2020
"President Trump took a short, last-minute motorcade ride to wave to his supporters outside and has now returned to the Presidential Suite inside Walter Reed," deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.
President @realDonaldTrump drives by his supporters outside Walter Reed to thank them!pic.twitter.com/LlJr7umi8O
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) October 4, 2020
The "surprise" visit caused outrage from many, including the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) as well as James Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed.
Why is a sick President riding in an SUV waving to supporters outside Walter Reed, jeopardizing the Secret Service agents inside the car with him?
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) October 4, 2020
"Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential 'drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days," Phillips said. "They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. This is insanity."
WHCA President Zeke Miller also called the move "outrageous" in a statement.
President @realDonaldTrump just came out to thank his supporters in front of Walter Reed! Get well soon President Trump! pic.twitter.com/BhLqwSdBTJ
— Megan Powers (@_MeganPowers) October 4, 2020
"It is outrageous for the president to have left the hospital — even briefly — amid a health crisis without a protective pool present to ensure that the American people know where their president is and how he is doing," Miller said. "Now more than ever, the American public deserves independent coverage of the president so they can be reliably informed about his health."
pic.twitter.com/0Bm9W2u1x7
The president, meanwhile, claimed that he had actually "learned about" the virus.
"It's been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about covid. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn't the let's-read-the-books school," Trump said in a video posted to Twitter. "And I get it, and I understand it and it's a very interesting thing and i'm going to be letting you know about it."
US Trump covid-19
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There are three million African American Catholics in the United States.
About 76 percent of African American Catholics are in diverse or shared parishes and 24 percent in predominately African American parishes.
16 living African American Catholic Bishops, of whom nine remain active.
Currently six United Sates dioceses are headed by African American bishops, including one archdiocese.
The Black population in the Unites States is estimated to be just over 36 million people (13 percent of the total United States population).
By the year 2050, the Black population is expected to almost double its present size to about 62 million, and it will increase its percentage of the population to 16 percent.


Abstract: We introduce a new definition of $\pi$-flatness for linear differential delay systems with time-varying coefficients. We characterize $\pi$- and $\pi$-0-flat outputs and provide an algorithm to efficiently compute such outputs. We present an academic example of motion planning to discuss the pertinence of the approach.


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Victor Ashe blasts 'half-baked disclosure' of state museum donors
It is the latest spinoff in a long-running series of clashes over museum management and tangential issues between Victor Ashe and fellow members of the museum oversight board.
Victor Ashe blasts 'half-baked disclosure' of state museum donors It is the latest spinoff in a long-running series of clashes over museum management and tangential issues between Victor Ashe and fellow members of the museum oversight board. Check out this story on knoxnews.com: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/05/victor-ashe-blasts-halfbaked-disclosure-of-state-museum-donors/91069390/
Tom Humphrey, the Knoxville News Sentinel Published 3:13 a.m. ET Sept. 5, 2016
Tennessee State Museum
Victor Ashe (Photo: Michael Patrick)
Lois Riggins-Ezzell (State of Tennessee) (Photo: Lois Riggins-Ezzell)
Governor Bill Haslam. (Photo: Jed DeKalb)
Thomas S. Smith, chairman of the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission. (State of Tennessee) (Photo: Thomas S. Smith)
A rendering of the planned Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, which is schedule to break ground in spring 2016. (SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL) (Photo: Special)
NASHVILLE — Though a recent state attorney general opinion says donors to a $40 million fundraising campaign for the Tennessee State Museum can be kept secret, Gov. Bill Haslam — who is leading the campaign — says the names should be made public, but not the exact amount of each contribution.
The governor's position, relayed through spokeswoman Jennifer Donnals, is criticized as 'a half-baked disclosure' and likened to 'being a little bit pregnant' by Victor Ashe, a former Knoxville mayor and U.S. ambassador to Poland who is a member both of the board overseeing museum operations and the Tennessee Coalition on Open Government, which advocates transparency in governmental operations.
It is the latest spinoff in a long-running series of clashes over museum management and tangential issues between Ashe and fellow members of the museum oversight board, officially known as the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission. It does appear to be a first in that Ashe is directly differing with the governor, who is also a former Knoxville mayor.
The clashes continue otherwise, though the initial objective of Ashe's two-year crusade on museum matters — replacement of Lois Riggins-Ezzell as the museum's executive director — was apparently achieved last week.
Haslam and the commission's current chairman, Thomas S. Smith of Nashville, announced Thursday the retirement effective Dec. 31 of Riggins-Ezzell, 76, who has served 35 years in the position. Ashe had accused Riggins-Ezzell of mismanagement, favoritism toward friends in acquiring museum exhibits and other faults.
Haslam said last week that 'Lois has given her heart and soul to telling Tennessee's story and showcasing its rich history' during her tenure, which has seen the museum expand from basement housing with six employees to a 42-employee operation with a $3.8 million annual budget and housing on three floors of the James K. Polk State Office Building, located a block from the state capitol.
At Haslam's request, the Legislature has authorized construction of a new $160 million museum in a stand-alone building, scheduled to open in December of 2018. The money will come from $120 million in taxpayer funds with the remaining $40 million to be raised in private donations, with the governor spearheading the fundraising efforts.
Fundraising fight
The continuing clashes may be divided into two broad categories — one involving the choosing a successor to Riggins-Ezzell and the other fundraising efforts.
On the fundraising front, Attorney General Herbert Slatery has issued a legal opinion declaring that donations are not covered by the state's 'open records' law.
PDF: State Attorney General Herbert Slatery's legal opinion on museum donations
Basically, the opinion notes that the fundraising is being conducted by the Tennessee State Museum Foundation, which is set up as a separate nonprofit corporation and thus not directly attached to state government. Given that status, the opinion says the foundation could legally keep donations secret.
After the opinion was issued, Ashe declared that 'I hope Gov. Haslam will insist on transparency' and see that donations are disclosed even without a legal requirement to do so. At this point, nothing has been publicly disclosed on the fundraising campaign results.
Donnals, in response to an inquiry, said in an email Friday that Haslam anticipates disclosing 'later this fall' a preliminary report on the amount raised, coupled with disclosure of names of donors at that point.
'He also expects when the campaign is over that the names will be released along with an amount range,' Donnals said.
In disclosing 'an amount range,' donors would be categorized in groups according to the size of their contributions. Though Donnals did not provide the groupings, examples could be 'less than $1,000' or 'more than $1 million.'
Ashe said that would be 'woefully inadequate' and the specific amounts of each donation should be listed, just as with donations to political campaigns.
'Most of the corporations that will give are corporations that have done business with the state or that have an interest in state (regulatory) activity,' Ashe said in a telephone interview. In that situation, he said there should be full disclosure of precise amounts when taxpayer dollars are providing most of the funding for a public building. He conceded the 'partial disclosure' would be 'better than nothing.'
The attorney general's opinion was requested by state Rep. Steve McDaniel, R-Parkers Crossroads, who is also a member of the commission board. McDaniel proceeded Smith as chairman of the panel, finishing his term earlier this year. Ashe was chairman before McDaniel.
McDaniel said he asked for the attorney general's opinion because Ashe had raised the issue during a past commission meeting he chaired. The veteran legislator said that, in his own opinion, disclosure of donor information should be at the option of the donor. While some donors may be eager to have their contribution made public, he said, there may be cases where a person does not wish to be named and, if that leads to more money available for a public cause, the public benefits, he said.
Smith, observing that the fundraising is solely under the control of the foundation, not the commission, said he has no opinion on the matter.
Ashe said 'the truth is they (foundation board members) will do whatever the governor tells them to do.'
Bob Thomas, a Nashville lawyer who chairs the foundation board, was on an overseas vacation last week and unavailable for comment.
On Thursday, the same day Riggins-Ezzell's retirement was announced, the state Department of Human Resource issued a formal 'request for proposals,' inviting executive recruitment firms to seek a state contract for finding and recommending to the commission a successor to the longtime executive director.
That was a month after the initial Aug. 1 target date for issuing the RFP and almost a year after the commission first set up a board search committee to explore finding a new executive director. The department previously made an effort to sound out interest in firms conducting a search — called a "request for information" — but abandoned the move because of a lack of responses.
Ashe said the situation meant that 'anyone qualified' for the position would not apply because of the vagueness in lines of responsibility and potential conflicts with Riggins-Ezzell still in a supervisory role. The Nashville Post interviewed three 'experts' in management recruitment who offered similar views.
Ashe praised Smith and Haslam for 'arranging' the departure of Riggins-Ezell. Donnals says the governor had no personal meeting with the longtime museum leader prior to the announcement, though Smith acknowledges regular discussions with her.
The chairman, in an email to fellow board members responding to Ashe's questions posed in an email to all members, said that Riggins-Ezzell will have the title of 'executive director emeritus,' but that the designation will be 'completely honorary.'
'She will have no management role or office, etc. at the museum after she retires. It is to recognize her invaluable past service as was stated,' said Smith. 'The title would carry no duties or compensation.'
'What Lois does with her life after she leaves the museum is her personal business and does not come under the purveyance of the DHSMC,' he wrote.
Ashe, however, speculates that Riggins-Ezzell will wind up in some compensated role, perhaps through the foundation's fundraising.
He notes Riggins-Ezzell, who has repeatedly refused comment to media in recent months, included this remark in a retirement statement:
'I look forward to supporting ongoing efforts to get the new museum up and running, particularly as it relates to the on-going fund raising effort which Governor Haslam is leading.'
Ashe said Riggins-Ezzell has so far had 'absolutely no role' in fundraising and doubts she would be effective in soliciting donations. Still, he said the foundation board 'has shown it is subject to political pressure' and may be inclined to provider her a compensated position.
The RFP sets Oct. 20 as the date for signing a contact with a firm that will find a new executive director of the museum. The proposed contract would run for up to four months, but Smith says that 'ideally' a recommendation will be ready by early January, or soon thereafter.
'As has been repeatedly pointed out to me by others, the University of Tennessee, with an over $2 billion budget, can find a new president via a search in 4 months,' said Smith in an email responding to a report's questions after declining a direct interview. 'Surely with a professional search firm and the prospect of running a wonderful, brand new museum in Nashville, Tennessee, we can find someone qualified to do the job of running a $3+ million budget organization by then (referring to a previous reference to Jan. 1) or shortly — say 2/1/17 thereafter.'
Ashe has previously and repeatedly criticized the commission for 'slow walking' efforts to find a successor to Riggins-Ezzell, often citing the UT leadership search as an example. But now he says the commission may be rushing things now that the executive director has set a Dec. 31 departure date and a startup date for the search beginning Oct. 20.
This raises the possibility of an 'interim director' serving for some period of time, Ashe says, perhaps someone designated by Riggins-Ezzell.
Smith says discussion of an interim director is 'pure speculation' at this point and suggests 'trying to find a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.' In the unlikely event it arises in the future, the matter will be dealt with in appropriate fashion by the board, he said.
Battle on the board
Ashe contends that questioning of commission policies has led to retaliation from Smith, who did not appoint the former mayor to any committees after becoming chairman.
Robert Buchanan, president of the Tennessee Historical Society, was also excluded from committee assignments after raising questions, he said.
Smith said Buchanan is an 'ex-officio' member of the commission, or one who can attend meetings and comment but cannot vote on issues before the panel, and 'therefore I didn't see the need to appoint him to any committees.'
Ashe notes that Riggins-Ezzell is also an ex-officio member, but was appointed to committees by Smith — including the one overseeing the search for her successor. Smith, however, says that Riggins-Ezzell's assignment to committee membership is automatic under commission bylaws and he did not make the appointments.
'I am sorry if his feelings are hurt,' Smith wrote in an email. 'As to Commissioner Ashe, he has demonstrated that he won't hesitate to voice his opinions.'
And Smith added this comment on Ashe's means of voicing his opinions:
'Seems like Comm(isioner) Ashe should just come to some of these commission or committee meetings and ask these questions instead of 'pleading his case' via the news media? Just a curious strategy to me.'
Read or Share this story: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/05/victor-ashe-blasts-halfbaked-disclosure-of-state-museum-donors/91069390/
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REPLAY: Watch a news conference on the KPD scandal
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12-year-old entrepreneur finds success with…
12-year-old entrepreneur finds success with worm farm
Greta Johnson, twelve years-old, holds some of the 2000 European Night Crawlers that she raises for sale, at her home, Friday afternoon, June 15, 2012, in Fredrick Wisconsin. Greta started her "Worm Farm' two years ago as a way to earn extra money. So far she has five clients, three bait shops and two composters. Right of Greta is one of five large bins she uses to raise the worm. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)
One of the containers Greta Johnson, twelve years-old, uses for her business, at her home, Friday afternoon, June 15, 2012, in Fredrick Wisconsin. Greta started her "Worm Farm' two years ago as a way to earn extra money. So far she has five clients, three bait shops and two composters. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)
By Andrew Krammer | akrammer@pioneerpress.com |
PUBLISHED: June 16, 2012 at 11:01 p.m. | UPDATED: November 10, 2015 at 1:13 p.m.
Dressed in a pink shirt, pink sweatpants, pink socks and pink glasses, Greta Johnson isn't the typical worm farmer. Nonetheless, the 12-year-old has found an unusual way to make extra cash.
Aluminum wash bins and plastic containers filled with topsoil take up a corner of the basement in her rural Frederic, Wis., home.
"This is where the magic happens," she said.
While her peers babysit or help mom and dad for some allowance money, Greta may be one of the youngest business owners around.
She started her business, Greta's Worm Farm, when she was just 10 years old, telling her parents, Sue and Dale Johnson, that she wanted to make some side money. After flipping through a book on odd jobs, they came across worm farming.
Two years later, she is fully equipped with business cards, brochures and even more bins.
"We keep running out," Sue said.
Three regular bait shops buy her product. In one week, she made more than $90. But, following the formula set up with her parents, she puts half of it away for college. One quarter of it is for spending, while the other is for her employees.
One bin can hold up to 2,000 worms. Tasks for their care include shredding newspaper and grass, turning the topsoil and packaging the worms. This takes more than one person, so Greta often has her parents help out.
"Mom shreds the newspaper, and the grass is for Dad," Sue Johnson said. "It's a practical math thing. We teach Greta she has to pay her employees."
And Greta does just that, with a quarter of her profits going to her parents.
Nothing but household items and $500 were the foundation for Greta's business. The Johnson's spent most of the money on the initial worm purchase, her mother said. But now, they are savvy enough to use the eggs to grow new worms, and Greta's operation essentially is self-sufficient.
She grows European night crawlers, which are smaller and more manageable than their Canadian counterparts. Mixing the two it didn't work out so well.
"We read that Canadian night crawlers were burrowing worms and needed their space," Sue said. "We wanted to see if that was true."
The next morning, the Johnson's basement floor was riddled with dried, dead Canadian worms that had escaped their bins.
"-1/8European night crawlers-3/8 are a real hearty worm," said Dane Olson of Monty's Sportsman Haven, where Greta sells the bulk of her worms. "The best thing is they don't need refrigeration, and they stay lively on the hook, hardly fall off."
To help with that, Greta said the worms love coffee grounds and they get extra jittery when she feeds it to them.
"But they don't like chocolate or onions," Greta said.
"Or potatoes," Sue Johnson added.
No gloves needed, Greta picks through the topsoil and finds a worm, holding it up to her middle finger.
"They need to be at least 3 inches long before being sold," Greta said. "And this is how I test them."
It takes four months to get from the egg stage to 3 inches, Sue said.
As the business grows, planning has becoming increasingly important. Greta typically has a batch ready every month — unless someone wants a large order.
Greta's worms, European night crawlers, also are composting worms, meaning they eat food scraps and create compost for soil. It is important for Greta to monitor the soil and make sure there is enough food.
"We have to add shredded newspaper, sometimes grass. We add chicken feed, coffee grounds and egg shells, too," Greta said.
This unique aspect of the worm has helped Greta sell even more. She sold 2,000 worms to a Milltown, Wis., man who is starting an organic farm.
Another 250 went to a woman in their area looking to do the same thing.
"We had to sacrifice some of our Tupperware containers to fit them all in," Greta said.
As fishing season picks up, Greta has had to suspend her sales at times just to catch up on growing the worms.
This past week, they had to tell Monty's they would supply them later because Greta was all out.
"They had to actually buy from a competitor," Sue Johnson said.
Greta's Worm Farm won't be around when she goes off to college, Greta guessed. But, the $2.10 per 30-pack or $1.60 per 18-pack her worms sell for at bait shops will help pay for her education.
"I want to be a chef one day," Greta said. "I love to cook."
A branded container advertises her home-based business that is in rural Frederic, Wis. Greta started her Worm Farm two years ago as a way to earn extra money.
Andrew Krammer
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How all this relates to the concept of "Terroir" is an interesting debate!
Thanks, an interesting article showing how much the technical side of wine making has grown in recent years.
I was surprised to see Chilford Hall mentioned in there, things must have moved on in that vineyard, we lived not far from there years ago and frankly the wines were abysmal then, so if it has helped them great.
Yes, very interesting. I suspect, though, that some of those things will only be of interest to huge commercial concerns trying to create a bulk line with a certain flavour profile.
I was interested to read about the work done on understanding the source of passion-fruit flavours in NZ SB. That's a relatively new thing I think, though you really need to get a fresh bottle (within 1 year of bottling) to appreciate it as it is somewhat transient. I have reservations about the desirability of all NZ SB aiming for the same thing however.
I have reservations about the desirability of all NZ SB aiming for the same thing however.
Indeed! Even the Aussies refer to it as the "Savalanche".
Though it seems these things come in waves. There's now loads of interest in cooler climate Shiraz, and the "anything but chardonnay" reaction followed those buttery, overblown chardies. How long do we reckon before a major reaction to the tidal wave of bulk SB sets in?
How long do we reckon before a major reaction to the tidal wave of bulk SB sets in?
Seems there's a way to go yet!
Yes, I'm not at all surprised by that. But I suppose that these plantings are following the demands of the market, and I assume then that the market would tire first - then the price of the bulk wine will crash and mass plantings will slow or cease. (We're not talking about the specialist growers. Nor I suspect- without being too snobby about it - most society SB lovers).
This kind of brings us full circle back to the original post about wine chemistry. You can use the knowledge to make everything taste the same, or you can use it to ensure that whatever your grapes, whatever your land, you can have a confidence that your wine is expressing their uniqueness in the best way possible. Two radically different approaches.
An example where the demand created similar wines as in Shiraz Chardonnay and SB was Malbec, hugely popular in the USA because it gave them "big wines" at a low price vis a vis their own, the Argentines saw the light and high altitude and more extreme latitudes are bringing out some very different Malbecs and a lot more variety.


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New breakthrough offers hope for potential treatment of rare childhood epilepsy
Seizure disorders in babies are frightening and heartbreaking. A new basic science breakthrough offers hope for a potential treatment for rare developmental and epileptic encephalopathies resulting from a single genetic mutation. The gene in question, called SCN8A, controls a sodium channel that allows neurons to transmit an electric signal. When this gene is mutated, these channels can become hyperactive, resulting in recurrent seizures. The average age of onset of SCN8A-related encephalopathy is just four months old.
Approximately half of patients are severely impaired and cannot walk or talk."
Miriam Meisler, Ph.D.
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Meisler is the Myron Levine Distinguished University Professor of Human Genetics and a Professor of Neurology at U-M Medical School. She and her team have studied this disease and its genetic mechanisms for many years, painstakingly developing mouse models that would allow for testing new therapies.
Within the past few years, a new therapy called antisense oligonucleotide (ASOs) has entered the scene, enabling researchers to control gene expression. ASOs are short DNA or RNA molecules designed to block messenger RNA molecules and their encoded proteins. This allows them to control the amount of RNA expressed by mutated genes, dampening their effects on the body.
The team realized the potential of ASOs for this seizure disorder. Their first achievement was developing a mouse model that accurately and predictably mimicked the disease in people. They generated a mouse with the same SCN8A mutation found in several patients but with the mutation turned off long enough to test the therapy.
Developing mice with an "on switch", they were able to administer the ASO, and then turn on the mutation. "The effect was dramatic and unambiguous," says Meisler. "We had a four-fold increase in lifespan, with added effects of repeated treatments." There was no evidence of low-level seizure activity in the treated mice.
The amount of mRNA expressed was reduced by half after ASO treatment, which was well tolerated. The treatment was also effective against other types of epilepsy, including Dravet syndrome. They're currently testing other mouse models of seizure disorders to see how widespread the effectiveness might be, "This has the potential to go beyond sodium channel disorders," says Meisler.
She notes that ASOs are already FDA approved for several disorders, including spinal muscular atrophy. "I think this will be a breakthrough for these devastating neurological conditions; they are now amenable to a truly personalized treatment." The work is described in a recent publication in the Annals of Neurology.
Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan
Lenk, G.M., et al. (2020) Scn8a Antisense Oligonucleotide Is Protective in Mouse Models of SCN8A Encephalopathy and Dravet Syndrome. Annals of Neurology. doi.org/10.1002/ana.25676.
Tags Antisense Dravet Syndrome Encephalopathy Epilepsy Gene Genetic Medicine Mutation Neurology Neurons pH RNA Seizure
The DASH Diet Is Designed to Help Lower Your Blood Pressure and Your Risk of Heart Disease
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How wonderful…dance circles! Love it. And I get that about the 'third parent' too. My Eldest son is still that 😉 Beautiful kitty, and yes, these things take time. Finding our fit, our place, our home…and so we keep walking 🙂 Great post Lilka!


Georgiev, Todorov & Co. provides effective advocacy and representation under criminal cases before the pre-trial authorities and the competent judicial authorities regardless of the procedural status of the persons concerned – defendants, victims of crime, in all areas of criminal law, with emphasis in particular on crimes offence against the person, forgery, fraud and falsification, medical errors, economic crimes, financial and tax crimes and motor vehicle accidents. Our law firm also provides advocacy and representation before the French criminal authorities and courts as well as before the European Court of Human Rights.
Among the cases in the field of criminal law and before the European Court of Human Rights, where lawyers from Georgiev, Todorov & Co's team have been engaged with the defense and representation are the "Borilski" case, regarding court proceedings before the Bulgarian courts for a serious crime committed on the territory of France; "Mileva and Others v. Bulgaria" case, which is the first case where, with regards to Bulgaria, a violation of the respect for private and family life, home and correspondence under Art. 8 of the Convention has been found, concerning the respect of the private home; pre-trial proceedings under "Hitrino" case regarding a heavy railroad accident at Hitrino Station.


Our primary intimate relationship is a critical foundation for sustainable happiness and success.
When you are living in purpose, it is much easier to embrace patience.
Steve Dustcircle on anxiety and making the self vulnerable.


Months after uncovering the dangers, David Goldstein has an update on the old diesel buses that tend to catch fire.
Home Invasion Suspect Caught On Doorbell VideoPolice are looking for a man suspected of violently attacking a women inside her Santa Ana home.
3 Men Found Shot To Death In Glendale HomeThere was no sign of forced entry and investigators do not believe this was a random crime, but that the victims were targeted.
Cypress Hill Receives Star On Hollywood Walk Of FameCypress Hill, the first Latino American hip-hop group with a recording to go platinum, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Thursday morning.
'Girls To Greatness' Summit Seeks To Empower Young WomenCEO Betty Lamarr talks about what inspired her vision.
'Madame Secretary' Actor Erich Bergen In ConcertThe actor will be performing at the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood.
Still No Arrests After Three Men Found Shot To Death In Glendale HomeThree men were found shot to death inside a home in a Glendale neighborhood overnight Wednesday. Kara Finnstrom reports.
Amber Alert Issued For 15-Year-Old Girl Whose Mother Is Wanted In A Carson MurderAuthorities have issued an Amber Alert in the search for Alora Benitez, a missing 15-year-old Redondo Beach girl who is believed to be in the company of her mother and another man, both of whom are considered suspects in a killing that occurred in Carson Tuesday. Lesley Marin reports.
Cypress Hill To Receive Star On Hollywood Walk Of FameCypress Hill, the first Latino American hip-hop group with a recording to go platinum, will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Thursday morning. Matt Yurus reports.
99 People Arrested During Coachella Weekend OneArrests at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival were down from previous years with police announcing 99 arrests were made during the festival's opening weekend. Matt Yurus reports.
Danielle Gersh's Weather Forecast (April 18)Meteorologist Danielle Gersh has your latest forecast.
Search On For Teen Girl Whose Mother Is Wanted In A Carson MurderAuthorities are searching for Alora Benitez, a missing 15-year-old girl who is believed to be in the company of her mother and another man, both of whom are considered suspects in a killing that occurred in Carson Tuesday. Lesley Marin reports.
CBSLA: The Rundown (April 18)The latest news, weather and sports with Peter Daut and Danielle Gersh.
Driver Flees After Hitting, Killing Man In HollywoodPolice are searching for a driver who struck and killed a homeless man at a major Hollywood intersection early Thursday morning and then fled.
Calif. Board To Consider Halting Racing At Santa Anita Following 23 Horse DeathsIn the wake of nearly two-dozen horse deaths so far this season at Santa Anita Park, the California Horse Racing Board Thursday will consider a proposal to possibly close the park and transfer all races for the remainder of the season to another site. Kandiss Crone reports.
3 Men Discovered Shot To Death In Glendale HomeThree men were found shot to death inside a home in Glendale overnight Wednesday. Kara Finnstrom reports.
Pursuit Of Assault With Deadly Weapon Suspect Goes From Culver City To AlhambraThe suspect ducked into a parking garage. Authorities say two suspects are in custody and they are looking for a third. Stu Mundel reports.
Survivors, Victims, Witnesses Tell Harrowing Stories Of Man On Stabbing RampageThe 25-year-old suspect went on a rampage in Lake Forest Tuesday, police said. James Carlos Melendrez is being held on a $2 million bail. Stacey Butler reports.
It's Mueller Time (Finally!) As Report Is About To Be Released To NationWell not the redacted parts, or the classified parts. But after a long-wait and lots of political wrangling, Americans will see what Robert Mueller and his investigators found. Political reporter Dave Bryan reports.
Wild Pursuit Of Carjacking Suspect Ends With WhimperThe suspect was reportedly armed and he drove recklessly and dangerously on surface streets. In the end, following several near misses the suspect's stolen vehicle appeared to also give up. Stu Mundel reports in Sky9. Crystal Cruz and Sara Donchey report from the studio.
Tents With WiFi, Solar Panels For Rent In WhittierWhat started as a project to help the homeless is getting a big reaction from state officials tonight. They say the makeshift campsite has got to go.
Boat Burglary In UplandA boat was stolen in Upland. Nicole Comstock reports.
Police Warning Of Hiking Trail Car TheftsThere is a warning tonight for hikers in LA and Ventura counties. Crooks have been using a high-tech device to steal from cars parked outside hiking trails. Rachel Kim reports.
Victims Of Bizarre Stabbing, Carjacking Spree Speak OutThe crime spree including an assault with a deadly weapon, stabbings, a carjacking, a hit-and-run and an attempted murder. A quiet Lake Forest neighborhood was rocked by violence Tuesday. We spoke to some of the victims Wednesday. Michele Gile reports.
Coming Up Tonight: Doc Rivers KnowsDoc knows the Clippers need to be better, despite their comeback in Game 2. Tune into Sports Central on KCAL9 at 10:45 p.m.
Coming Up Tonight: Zlatan IbrahimovicZlatan Ibrahimovic doesn't need a trophy to let him know he's great. More from the @LAGalaxy star tonight on Sports Central at 10:45 on KCAL9.
Warmer Weather Means The Rattlesnakes Are OutDo you know what to do if you are your pet is bitten? Tina Patel reports.
Newsom Tackles Prescription Drug PricesOn his 100th day in office, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced an alliance with LA County to take on drug companies and high prescription prices. Newsom is rolling out a plan to make it easier for you to afford prescription drugs. Dave Lopez reports.
Eye On Entertainment (April 17)The whole "Sesame Street" gang is hitting the road and coming to L.A.


Maybe next time, bring somebody with you to hold the bag. This is 'Crappy News' for Tuesday, January 23rd.
Hackensack, NJ- A man found out firsthand the meaning of "adding insult to injury."
57-year-old Daniel Gallagher was crossing the street last Tuesday night when he got hit by a pickup truck.
Elizabeth City, NC- Donuts ruined a man's life...and it has nothing to do with health.
27-year-old Bradley Hardison won a donut-eating contest put on by his local police department back in 2014. But then he got arrested when the cops realized he was WANTED for three different burglaries.
Hardison received a three-year suspended sentence, which ended in October. But he just got busted again...for robbing a donut shop. It's not clear how they connected him to it...but at this point he's probably near the top of their list of suspects for any donut-related crimes.
Doomed by donuts. I can relate.
Taylorsville, UT- Things didn't go exactly as planned for an alleged bank robber.
39-year-old David Hamson entered the bank early Thursday evening, claiming to have a gun and demanding money.
Hamson made off with an undisclosed amount of cash and went out to his car to escape. However, he left the keys on the counter inside the bank.
Realizing he couldn't exactly go back inside to retrieve them, Hamson tried to run away. But the bag of cash got snagged and ripped open, causing money to fly out of the bag. Witnesses saw Hamson running and called the cops.


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New Mexico prisoners strike for increased rights, United States, 1971
Increase prison reforms and inmate education programs, reduce restrictions on inmates' movement
6 October, 1971 to 7 October, 1971
Location City/State/Province
Jump to case narrative
Expand all details
Methods in 1st segment
102. Prisoners' strike
159. The fast (fast of moral pressure, hunger strike, satyagrahic fast)
Methods in 2nd segment
Methods in 3rd segment
Methods in 4th segment
032. Taunting officials
063. Social disobedience
Segment Length
Approximately 8 hours
Leaders, partners, allies, elites
External allies
Involvement of social elites
Opponent, Opponent Responses, and Violence
Warden Felix Rodriguez, correctional officers, penitentiary administrators
Nonviolent responses of opponent
Campaigner violence
None known; while the prisoners destroyed property they did not cause harm to other persons
Repressive Violence
Correctional officers attacked inmates with clubs and tear gas
Group characterization
Joining/exiting order of social groups
Groups in 1st Segment
Penitentiary of New Mexico inmates
Success Outcome
Success in achieving specific demands/goals
4 out of 6 points
Case Study Details
Database Narrative
In August 1967, New Mexico governor David Cargo appointed J.E. Baker a reform-minded and rehabilitation-focused administrator, as the Penitentiary of New Mexico's warden. Through his time as warden, Baker implemented a number of changes in the prison's operating power structure, building direct ties and internal structure with inmates while diminishing the authoritarian power of correctional officers (COs). During this time, Baker also allowed the growth of inmate programs to improve educational and social skills.
Officers and administrators who favored the older system of discipline and custodial authority criticized Baker's reforms for the breakdown of authority structures between COs and inmates. On February 1970, Baker resigned as warden, and Felix Rodriguez took his place, slowing the process of prison reform and reinstating some of the authority COs had lost under Baker.
On 6 October 1971, inmates commenced a work and hunger strike, demanding the return of reforms and reduced restrictions on inmates. Rodriguez refused to address the inmates' demands as a collective, instead stating that he would listen to complaints on an individual basis, which the inmates refused. On 7 October, officers announced an ultimatum for the strike to end by 11 a.m. the next day, 8 October. In response, also on 7 October, inmates began to riot, destroying property in the dormitories. While the campaigners themselves were not violent towards other people, the COs responded by using clubs and tear gas to stop the property destruction by the prisoners. The one and a half hour riot also caused the destruction of $65,000 worth of prison property. Following the suppression on that day, the prisoners ended their work and hunger strike.
In the months after the event, a number of guards were indicted for brutality against the Prison of New Mexico inmates. Rodriguez began a return to Baker's track for rehabilitation through inmate programs and building connections to inmate administrators. This did, however, lead to demoralization and apathy among the prison's custodial authorities.
Colvin, Mark. The Penitentiary in Crisis: From Accommodation to Riot in New Mexico. Albany: State University of New York, 1992.
Colvin, Mark. "The 1980 New Mexico Prison Riot." http://www.radford.edu/~junnever/articles/prison.htm
Fatimah Hameed, 17/05/2013


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Tag Archives: graphic art
Posted on 26 July, 2016 by Bryony
True Crime Fictions
This post was contributed by Dr Joseph Brooker, from Birkbeck's Department of English and Humanities. Read the original blog post on the Centre for Contemporary Literature's website. Here, Dr Brooker reports from True Crime Fictions – a one-day, interdisciplinary conference held at Birkbeck investigating the growing corpus of hybrid fictions working with accounts of true crimes and their increasing interest to literary, legal and criminological scholars.
In Absolute Power (1997) Clint Eastwood plays a burglar who laconically states: 'I love true crime'. I always found it entertaining that Eastwood's next film as an actor was called True Crime (1999). These were fictions referring to a genre of non-fictional narrative, which capitalises on a public appetite for details of crimes that have really taken place. The critic Mark Seltzer has written a major work on the genre, describing it as 'crime fact that looks like crime fiction'. But what about 'true crime fiction'? What does that look like?
Northern Crimes: the Moors Murderers and the Yorkshire Ripper
Birkbeck creative writing lecturer Mark Blacklock's true crime fiction novel, "I'm Jack"
Het Phillips (Birmingham) started the conference with a discussion of materiality in true crime, drawing in a wide range of references, mentioning crime writing from the Moors Murders to David Peace. What most struck me was her emphasis on detail as a textual feature of crime writing. Detail might be a literary relative of the detective's 'evidence'; reading could be forensic attitude. Phillips referred not just to Roland Barthes' account of detail in 'The Reality Effect', but even, strikingly, to Hugh Kenner's discussion of material details in Joyce's Ulysses.
Martin King's (Manchester Metropolitan) approach was oriented to social science and media studies. His focus was particularly on David Peace's Nineteen Seventy-Four and the TV dramatization Red Riding, and on the versions of masculinity explored in both. King suggested that Peace cannot be wholly separated from a more prurient representation of gruesome crime. What Mark Blacklock called 'culture industry questions' – where is a fiction situated, who is the audience, whom does it benefit, is there profit to be made? – come into play.
Helen Pleasance (York St John) closed this panel with a paper given from a creative writing background, in which creative non-fiction and memoir were key genres. She revealed a personal connection to the investigation of the Moors Murders, via her father who was a probation officer in Greater Manchester at the time. This had deterred her from engaging with the history of that crime – yet she has ultimately been unable to avoid it, and spoke of 'what it means to know too much about Myra Hindley'. Pleasance criticized Jean Rafferty's award-winning novel Myra, Beyond Saddleworth (2012) but found much more virtue in David Constantine's story 'Ashton and Elaine' which she described at length. Constantine's story, it emerged, addresses the murders obliquely and looks to find a way beyond them for the region.
The panel not only highlighted the particular role of the North in crime writing, but also suggested that two cases in particular have dominated the modern history of 'Northern crime': the Moors Murderers and the Yorkshire Ripper. Of the two, it seems to me that the former has had the deepest hold over public imagination and has been more prone to mythologization – as was indicated, for instance, by the connections that various quotations drew between the Moors Murders and Wuthering Heights.
True Crime in the United States
The second panel shifted our attention over the Atlantic. David McWilliam (Keele) described the 'activist ethics' of author Sarah Burns' work on the 'central park five', a case of wrongful conviction. McWilliam's presentation opened issues of race, representation and incarceration in the United States. These were also pertinent to the presentation by historian Roger Panetta (Fordham University, New York), who is undertaking a history of Sing Sing Prison. His work took us back to the nineteenth century, as he outlined his aim to better describe the prison's inmates, 'retracing the lifelines knotted in one cell'. Adam Gearey (Birkbeck) discussed a work by the former Weatherman activist Bill Ayres, taking 'true crime' into the realm of what could be called 'domestic terrorism' or home-grown revolutionary activity in the counterculture era. Gearey's emphasis was not so much literary, legal or political as philosophical, drawing on Aristotle to emphasize ideas of virtue and self-fulfilment, and suggesting that bad rhetoric indicates bad ethical action.
Graphic Art and True Crime
Harriet Earle (Birkbeck) could not be present on the day but her paper was read out. Earle's discussion of comic book art offered tools for formal analysis, with the comics My Friend Dahmer (2012) and Green River Killer (2011) her particular examples. David Platten's (Leeds) presentation was on the fiction (written and graphic) of French communist author Didier Daeninckx. Platten showed how Daeninckx had returned repeatedly to the incident of state brutality on 17 October 1961, when Algerian protesters were murdered by police.
Ethical Issues in True Crime Writing
In the final two sessions we moved from criticism towards creative practice. Professor Martin Eve chaired a panel of authors who had written about true crime. Mark Blacklock spoke of his novel I'm Jack (2015), which fictionalizes the Wearside hoax that diverted police attention from the Yorkshire Ripper investigation. Andrew Hankinson is the author of You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat] (2016), a narrative based on extensive study of the Geordie killer's statements and actions. And Daragh Carville spoke of his authorship of a forthcoming BBC drama about the Shankill Butchers of Belfast. The intensity of the material struck me. Author events and interviews often stay at a genial, genteel level; but here, I gradually realized that all three authors had engaged with deeply disturbing and violent material, sometimes in forensic detail. This in turn raised ethical issues – who has the right to write true crime? What about the feelings of the victims' families? Can you be sued for libel? – which were aired in discussion.
Another point that connected the three was an emphasis on place. Hankinson's Geordie background connected him to the Moat case. Blacklock talked of his Sunderland background as his crucial motivation, even of his novel as an 'exorcism' for his home town. And Daragh Carville spoke of his love for 'that weird city', Belfast: a little like Helen Pleasance in her initial avoidance of the Moors Murders, he had avoided the Troubles all his writing life, but here at last he found himself confronting it directly. This intense concern with place – specifically with towns and cities – in turn made me wonder how large a city would need to be to transcend the effects of a particular crime. Sunderland, for instance, is a city of 175,000. Would London, at nearer 8 million, be too large to be haunted by one individual's actions? True, Jack the Ripper and the Krays are notorious London criminals, but they are also very closely associated with the specific area of the East End. Perhaps the last crime to feel 'London-wide' in its effects was the 7/7 bombings: a murder case belonging to that special category called terrorism.
True Crime and Memoir
©Line Kallmayer
The day closed with a presentation from Line Kallmayer, a visual artist from Denmark who is currently resident in Italy after several artistic residencies in different countries, notably the United States. She described the case of the serial killer Dennis Lynn Rader, who was caught in Wichita, Kansas in 2005. Kallmeyer gave us a narrative of Rader's life and crimes, but it was intertwined with an account of her own travels in Kansas investigating the case. True crime was mixed with memoir. But it was also a profoundly visual presentation, as Kallmayer's text was accompanied by a sequence of many photographs that she had taken on her travels. The effect was extraordinary. The academic format of the day was now incorporating a work of art, which accordingly asked for a different response. The quality of Kallmayer's writing was matched by her immaculate reading and the intriguingly uncertain, Sebaldian status of her images. I already thought that we had witnessed a day of high quality work, but Kallmayer closed it by taking it to a different place, and making us listen and watch differently.
What could the future hold for the study of true crime? Is there more discussion or publication ahead? I hope that this conference has started the conversation in a way that delegates will find helpful as they continue their research on true crime fictions.
This conference was generously supported by the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities
Creative writing courses at Birkbeck
English Literature courses at Birkbeck
. Reply . Category: Arts	. Tags: Creative writing, Crime, crime fiction, fiction, graphic art, literature, memoir, true crime


In this study, syngas combustion was investigated behind reflected shock waves in order to gain insight into the behavior of ignition delay times and effects of the CO2 dilution. Pressure and light emissions time-histories measurements were taken at a 2 cm axial location away from the end wall. High-speed visualization of the experiments from the end wall was also conducted. Oxy-syngas mixtures that were tested in the shock tube were diluted with CO2 fractions ranging from 60% - 85% by volume. A 10% fuel concentration was consistently used throughout the experiments. This study looked at the effects of changing the equivalence ratios (ɸ), between 0.33, 0.5, and 1.0 as well as changing the fuel ratio (θ), hydrogen to carbon monoxide, from 0.25, 1.0 and 4.0. The study was performed at 1.61-1.77 atm and a temperature range of 1006-1162K. The high-speed imaging was performed through a quartz end wall with a Phantom V710 camera operated at 67,065 frames per second. From the experiments, when increasing the equivalence ratio, it resulted in a longer ignition delay time. In addition, when increasing the fuel ratio, a lower ignition delay time was observed. These trends are generally expected with this combustion reaction system. The high-speed imaging showed non-homogeneous combustion in the system, however, most of the light emissions were outside the visible light range where the camera is designed for. The results were compared to predictions of two combustion chemical kinetic mechanisms: GRI v3.0 and AramcoMech v2.0 mechanisms. In general, both mechanisms did not accurately predict the experimental data. The results showed that current models are inaccurate in predicting CO2 diluted environments for syngas combustion.
Barak, Samuel, "Ignition Studies of Oxy-Syngas/CO2 Mixtures Using Shock Tube for Cleaner Combustion Engines" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5826.


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Шахматный листок — издательство Высшего совета физической культуры (ВСФК), которое специализировалось на выпуске шахматной литературы. Создано в Ленинграде (1926) на базе журнала с одноимённым названием.

Состав правления: Н. Крыленко (председатель), С. Вайнштейн, А. Ильин-Женевский, П. Романовский, Л. Куббель, С. Левман.

Издавало журнал «Шахматный листок» (см. в ст. «Шахматы в СССР»), книги по шахматам и шашкам, в том числе монографии Эм. Ласкера, А. Нимцовича, Р. Рети, С. Тартаковера, П. Романовского, Г. Левенфиша, Б. Блюменфельда, В. Созина и других, сборник партий Московского международного турнира (1925), «Словарь шахматиста» (1929). В 1927 «Шахматный листок» начал выпуск сборников «Задачи и этюды», в 1929 — «Библиотечки шахматиста», где печатались лучшие партии советских и иностранных шахматистов; разовые тиражи изданий от 3½ до 12 тысяч экземпляров. В 1930 издательство «Шахматный листок» было объединено с издательством «Физкультура и спорт».

Литература

Шахматная литература

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Little Green City, stand included.
New! New! New! A limited series of miniatures and very collectable.
"Little Green City" comes with the stand. It can go on a shelf or a beside cabinet or on a desk. It is a lovely and full of colour little gem...you will fall in love with it !
This artwork is sold and shipped to you by Maria Luisa Azzini, and will be packaged securely by the artist. Artworks are dispatched within 3 working days from United Kingdom.


Inspired by the L Ron Hubbard book Battlefield Earth. Overall size is the image size and is 605 x 405 mm. Printed on a textured paper. Dry-mounting is recommended before framing. Supplied unmounted. This is a properly licensed authorised print reproduction of Frank Frazetta artwork.


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Hannibal Episode 3.5 Recap
by Peter Counter | July 3, 2015, 12:54 pm
"You have to convince yourself the lion is not in the room. When it is, I assure you, you will know it."
-Hannibal Lecter, Episode 1.1, "Aperitif"
There is a common misconception that Hannibal Lecter is human. That he has human emotions and human reason, that he loves and laughs like a human, that is all a lie that we have been taught over years of misdirection. Up until Lecter gutted Will, killed Abigail, maimed Jack and turned Alana Bloom into Clarice Starling, we only ever saw him in his person suit, with quick glimpses through the seams. Now that's stepped out of that metaphysical clothing it turns out that, rather than a human, Hannibal Lecter is much more like a man-eating cat.
All of season three, when he's been featured in an episode, we have gotten to see who Hannibal Lecter really is, and though it's tempting to impose human-like features on him, he is truly separate from us. He has certain traits that we can understand: he is curious for one, and finds amusement in things, but Hannibal is so high above the rest of us that we can only really understand him through the personification we normally reserve for animals.
In "Contorno" we get to see the lion that draped itself in so many a plaid person suit, thanks in part to his interacting with two of his recent survivors. The hour, which I'm tempted to call the show's best yet, is a profile of Hannibal Lecter writ on a grand scale. This is who Hannibal is to his predators, his prey and his proverbial pride.
The alien nature of Hannibal's mind is perhaps best illustrated by the methods through which Mason Verger and Alana Bloom are hunting him. Dr. Lecter is a creature of habit, and though he's notoriously dangerous to approach, he's incredibly predictable from a behavioral standpoint. At least that's what Bloom sought to prove by recreating his dinner table at Muskrat Farms, and sure enough it lead her to a pile of receipts from Bedelia's Florentine grocery trips, pinning a location on the fugitive cannibal.
The idea behind the scheme is that Hannibal is a slave to his base senses — specifically taste, smell and hearing — the very ones he uses as predatory weapons. By setting her table, Alana hopes to get into the apex predator's mind. It's the best possible way to approach knowing Hannibal: by conceding that you do not see the world the same as he does, a concession that Bloom's partner in crime is incapable of making.
If Hannibal is the pinnacle of the un-human, his nemesis Mason Verger is a grotesque caricature of our species. His fixation on Alana's sexual relationship with Hannibal, expressed this week through his prime time TV standards-pushing dialogue about not being a quitter, traps Verger in his human frame of mind. Mason can't understand a man who isn't motivated by sex, despite Alana's insistence that Hannibal's behavior has never been motivated out of carnal gratification.
Mason is often referred to as The Joker to Hannibal's Batman, and this dissonance in world views is why. Mason is all of our worst qualities, and Hannibal exemplifies us at our horrifically unattainable best. We, like Mason, are crude swineherds, and Hannibal is the great consumer: a predator that has a taste for longer pigs that walk upright and are ruled by sex.
It is appropriate then, that "Contorno" subverted the usual TV expectation that Will and Chiyo would trauma-bond and become lovers on their train ride to Florence. The two are, at this point, practically Hannibal's abandoned family, each with their own inner Manstag that could complete their transformation into the Cannibal Doctor's progeny.
As they ride the rails from Lithuania to Italy, Will and Chiyo speak of transformation and survival while framed in a hyper-stylized manner. Their scenes are like a dissonant music video for spoken poetry. Darkness is given weight, and both characters are framed in a way that makes them seem more like landscape paintings than people. It would seem out of place, the strange beauty of these scenes in comparison to the slightly more realistic action of the rest of the episode, if it weren't for what the style change represents. Will and Chiyo are trapped in empathy mode, understanding Hannibal better than they ever have before.
The heightened reality on the train in "Contorno" is evoked by the same visual language and heavy dialogue that characterized Will's crime scene investigations in seasons one and two. Without a procedural element, in season three we aren't given a chance to watch Will do his metronome trick, but the integral ingredients are still present. The first half of this season has been one giant case of the week: the case of the handsome runaway cannibal.
With Will and Chiyo trapped in a weird demimonde between reality and Hannibal's memory palace, it therefore makes sense that their final confrontation uses the symbols of love as weapons. Staring into the night from the train's caboose, they talk about the different ways of compelling people, finally conceding that Will only knows violence. Chiyo kisses Graham and throws him over the back of the train. There's just about nothing more Lecter-esque than feigning love and then sticking the knife in.
Will, betrayed by what remains of his humanity, is nudged awake by his ravenstag, which he follows along the tracks. The time in Hannibal's mind, allowed by the feedback loop created between him and Chiyo, has allowed Will to once again feel the possibility of wholeness. And of course, the wholeness Will experiences with Hannibal is on of separation from his humanity. Will's great power is to feel and think like the predators that have transcended humanity through grisly transformation, and Hannibal is the greatest of them all.
There is hope for humanity in the face of the lion though, and his name is Jack Crawford. We see Jack become whole again too, but in a heroic way. He scatters Bella's ashes in a river from a bridge and throws away his wedding ring. It's touching and painful, and while there is a human anger in Jack when he does this, the transformation that occurs in him is great. He has emerged from a trail, once and man now a hero and fully human, emotions and all.
Jack's strength of character is juxtaposed with Pazzi, who succumbs to his human weakness. Crawford's strength then brings him into conflict with Hannibal in the show's first true moment of victory. Inspector Pazzi discloses that he has been disgraced, that he wants to give his new wife a lovely life, and that he wants Il Mostro out of his city. He sees opportunity in the three million dollar bounty on Hannibal's head and arranges to deliver Lecter to Mason Verger alive over a Google Hangout. The catch is that Mason requires a fingerprint in situ as proof of Lecter's identity.
Succumbing to his human pride, Pazzi commits hubris by going solo, aiming to collect a fingerprint off of a family heirloom torture device used on his ancestor. Hannibal cleverly circumvents the attempt with the strategic application of examining gloves, and then proceeds to use the Pazzi family history on Rinaldo himself. Lecter chloroforms Pazzi, taunts him, interrogates him, and answers his ringing phone to share a few words with Alana before executing him. Rinaldo Pazzi is disemboweled and hung from the balcony of the Palazzo Capponi in the same way his ancestor, Francesco Pazzi, was killed hundreds of years ago.
In Hannibal's taunting we see again the traits through which we like to humanize Hannibal. There is a humour he displays, and he uses words like fun to describe toying with Mason Verger with prank calls, but underneath it all is a tone of performance and imitation. It is play, but its is an animal's play. He interacts to learn and to feed, but nothing much else.
Pazzi's guts land at Jack Crawford's feet (Jack was going to check up on Pazzi on behalf of his concerned wife) and the hero races into the Palazzo Capponi to confront Lecter. The ensuing confrontation is the most gratifying moment of the series, and stands to show that there is still a place for the human spirit in the nightmare world of Hannibal.
Lecter uses his words to go for Crawford's heart. In exacting detail he stands to humiliate Jack by describing what his final days with Bella must have been like, asking if he practiced injecting medicine on an orange before graduating to her skin. But Jack has come through the cancerous fire that destroyed his family and emerged a paragon of righteous human love and retribution, all but beating a lion to death with his bare hands and a 16th century meat hook.
The confrontation ends with Hannibal's escape, descending the hanged husk of Pazzi after Jack tossed him from a window. Rather than giving pursuit, Crawford exercises that most human of all traits, mercy, and let's the predator return home to lick his wounds. Misunderstanding, it seems, is a two way street. Just as the predator relies on surprise to snatch its prey, so does the hunter.
Bowels Out- The death of Rinaldo Pazzi is among the most iconic deaths in the Thomas Harris canon. I was wondering if, like the Freddie Lounds burning wheelchair of season two, Bryan Fuller would in some way avoid murdering Pazzi while still using the image. In the end, while I will dearly miss Fortunato Cerlino, I'm happy this scene remained fully intact.
It's worth noting that, since Jack isn't ever in Florence in the book, Hannibal gets off nearly scott-free. He still gets an opportunity to mock Mason Verger though, waving at a tourist who catches the murder on tape, Hannibal knowing the video will eventually find it's way to the hands of his faceless nemesis.
A Movable Feast- Continuing her turn as dark-reality Clarice Starling, Alana Bloom employs the same trick used in Thomas Harris's Hannibal to get into the head of Dr. Lecter. By recreating his table, Clarice and Alana both successfully come to better understand the man they're hunting. In both scenarios, Mason Verger is incapable of getting over the idea that Hannibal must be a sexual being.
Self Editing- One of the most eye rolling lines in all of the Hannibal Lecter series was revised in "Contorno", and I am ecstatic about it. In both the book and the movie versions of Hannibal, Lecter's final words before chloroforming Pazzi are, "I've been giving serious thought to eating your wife." I normally think the Anthony Hopkins creep-factor of the Hannibal films is really unfortunate, and for me this line has always stood as a stain on the franchise's reputation. It's just so fucking dumb.
Thankfully, inn "Contorno" Hannibal instead turns it to a direct threat against Pazzi himself, saying: " I have been giving very serious thought to doing the same." Referencing the Archbishop that sunk his teeth into Francesco Pazzi's shoulder.. Count this as yet another victory for Bryan Fuller's revisionism.
Alana Bloom • Bryan Fuller • Contorno • episode 3.5 • Hannibal • Hannibal episode 3.5 • Hannibal episode 3.5 recap • Hannibal Lecter • Jack Crawford • Mason Verger • recap • review • Rinaldo Pazzi • Television • Thomas Harris • TV • Will Graham
Spoiled Rotten Episode 123 - REVISITING V FOR VENDETTA
On the latest episode fo @TDFSpoiled @DMPlatypus & @TheYungGuard connect recent events to this #TheWachowski's written film!
https://thatshelf.com/spoiled-rotten-123-revisiting-v-for-vendetta
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EnChroma co-founders Don McPherson and Andy Schmeder invented a color-blind glass technology that works and began marketing the eyewear in 2013.
EnChroma co-founders Don McPherson, left, and Andy Schmeder wear the sunglasses they created.
Approximately 13 million individuals in the United States have some degree of colorblindness, also called color vision deficiency. Colorblindness is inherited and runs in families. The X-linked trait is more common in men, affecting 8 percent of men and only 0.5 percent of women. Most individuals, 99 percent, are red-green colorblind, which means that the red- and green-specific cones cells in the retina of the eyes that interpret color for the brain overlap. This makes it difficult for the colorblind individual to distinguish red and green and associated colors like orange and pink; and it leads to color confusion. Plus the colorblind see a highly limited range of color shades, 10,000 to 100,000 in contrast to the noncolorblind who see between one to seven million different hues. The colorblind world is more muted, monochromatic, and dull. These individuals see with less detail, contrast, and depth perception, which can make everyday tasks — like picking fresh produce, cooking red meat, reading maps, or choosing clothes — difficult.
EnChroma co-founders Don McPherson and Andy Schmeder invented the colorblind glass technology and began marketing the eyewear in 2013. But it all started with a fortuitous discovery years earlier. McPherson, an artist with a Ph.D. in glass science, had designed protective eyewear for surgeons doing laser surgery. Soon he found the surgeons were wearing those glasses outside the operating suite, so McPherson tried the eyewear as sunglasses, too. One day, at an Ultimate frisbee match, McPherson let a buddy try the glasses on, and his response was immediate and ecstatic. His friend could see the fluorescent orange cones on the green field for the first time. A light bulb went off for McPherson — his friend was colorblind, and the glasses filtered out certain wavelengths of light that enabled him to better differentiate colors like red, green, brown, and orange. From there, McPherson applied for an NIH grant to study the glass and colorblindness and a couple years later partnered with Schmeder, a mathematician, who created an algorithm to test how the filter worked and best target color deficiency.
McPherson and Schmeder benefitted from another fortuitous event. People started posting videos of colorblind individuals trying the EnChroma glasses for the first time. The videos of their reactions — first amazement and awe at what they were able to see, followed by big smiles, overwhelming emotion, and often tears — went viral, and EnChroma's sales spiked. "We are giving people the experience of seeing colors for the first time. You see it on the videos, and I've witnessed it. It gives me chills," said McPherson.
Oakland resident Brian Blau learned that he was colorblind in high school when he took a color vision test at an exhibit on a visit to a science center. Not all schools test for colorblindness, and colorblind individuals may go into adulthood without knowing. A friend told Blau about EnChroma, and he went to visit the company to test the eyewear. "I walked outside and looked at the flower bed by the door, and I could see colors I had never seen before. Greens were more vivid with many more shades," said Blau adding, "Then a FedEx truck drove by, and I realized the logo was purple and red. I never knew that." He's been wearing EnChroma glasses nonstop and is on his second pair, prescription lenses.
EnChroma eyewear is available in 200 U.S. optic retailers around, but the majority of sales are online. You can take a color vision test at the EnChroma website (EnChroma.com) to determine if you have colorblindness and how likely the glasses are to help. The lenses enhance color vision in about 80 percent of users who are red-green colorblind. Indoor and outdoor lenses are available, but EnChroma recommends starting with sunglasses, because the color improvement is greatest with outdoor light. The sunglasses provide UV protection, come in 14 styles (plastic, wire, tortoiseshell, black, brown) and cost abput $350.


COMCAS 2019 continues the tradition of providing a multidisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas, research results, and industry experience in areas such as communications, antennas, Radar, RF and Microwave Circuits and Systems, and Bio-medical Engineering.
Following the previous COMCAS conferences, we expect more than 1500 participants from about 40 countries around the world.
IEEE Comcas 2019 will deal with issues including: Innovations in Technology, Digital AESA Radar, Intuitive Microwave Filter Design with EM Simulation, Space Oriented technology, Thermal Management, 5G and "Internet of Things" communications.
IEEE COMCAS 2019 will host the IEEE Young Professionals event, WIE Session (Women in Engineering) and COMCAS MicroApps session.
Attractive workshops (invited sessions) and seminars are also very important part of the IEEE COMCAS 2019 and are included in the 3 days registration.
We welcome you; scientists, engineers, managers, and researchers from academic and industry to register and be part of this fascinating conference, share knowledge and interact with leading companies and experts. You will enjoy our warm hospitality and the beautiful Mediterranean coast of Tel Aviv.
The biennial IEEE Conference on Microwaves, Communications, Antennas, Electronic Systems and Bio-Medical Engineering has become a familiar regional event uniting these overlapping topical areas. We are proud to continue the tradition of a high-quality technical program, recognizing particularly the exceptional contributions of the late Prof. Roger Pollard, who was Program Co-Chair in 2009 and 2011. Roger is remembered with respect and gratitude by his many colleagues and friends.
This conference is co-sponsored by the IEEE Israel Section and AP/MTT chapter, AEAI (The Association of Engineers in Israel), and international societies and professional organizations like the IEEE's APS (Antennas and Propagation), AES (Aerospace and Electronic Systems), EuMA (the European Microwave Association) and GAAS Association.
Reflecting this broad sponsorship, the program of this year's conference continues to be broad and interdisciplinary. We have significantly increased the number of tutorials and of industry-oriented invited sessions, making this conference more relevant than ever. Emphasis continues to be on applications-oriented research and development, from antennas and devices to systems and software, including calibration and testing, automotive radar and communications, and "5G" cellular mobile. Colleagues developing the products and systems of tomorrow and students just beginning to enter these specialized areas should find this conference particularly helpful to their projects and careers. We are pleased to have strong industry patronage and participation. We are grateful for this vital support, and happy that our industry focus is recognized. Our keynote speakers, too, represent high levels of industry leadership.
The COMCAS 2019 scientific program will comprises approx. 200 technical presentations, talks and tutorials, arranged in 50 sessions over two and one-half days with up to 6 parallel sessions running concurrently for much of the time. The technical presentations, reviewed, selected and accepted from a larger group of submissions, will be submitted for inclusion to IEEE-Xplore®. Thanks are due to the members of our large Technical Program Committee for their reviews and suggestions.


A tale of getting lost, letting go, setting forth without turning back. 'A Child Kills Himself' feels like one of the most personal pieces Jacques Rancière has ever written. It does not only come across as a touching account of how his view on Roberto Rossellini's Europa '51 has changed over time, but also of how his fundamental way of thinking has taken shape, much against the grain of the times. Indeed, when he describes the erratic wanderings of Irene, the character played by Ingrid Bergman, he might as well be referring to some of his own experiences. In Europa '51, the complacent bourgeois lifestyle of Irene is violently overturned by the suicide of her young child. This traumatic event leads her astray through the outskirts of Rome, where she hopes to find some answers to the impassable questions which haunt her. This "voyage to the land of the people" is guided by her friend Andrea, who attempts to give meaning to Irene's desperate search by situating it within the framework of Marxist thought: behind every individual agony, he suggests, we find an instance of the great social misery. What is hidden needs to be uncovered, what is unfamiliar needs to be explained, what is disordered needs to be cured. But there comes a time when the explanations given by others no longer suffice, when one needs to look elsewhere and see for oneself. That is how Irene's progression towards (class) consciousness leads her ever further away from the trodden paths where things can supposedly be healed and revealed by the rules of knowledge, further down the shores of the river towards the barren wastelands where she starts nursing a tubercular prostitute, towards the cement factory where she takes the place of a worker and the steps of the church where she discovers a new faith. Instead of an act of "consciousness", what takes place is a process of conversion. Irene's own unplanned exploration turns out to be a deviation which displaces her from the system of explanations and motivations that determines what the proper rules of conduct and models of social behaviour are, the common sense that defines what is "sensible". In letting go of all chains of causes and effects, knowledge and truth, she becomes a stranger who no longer has a valid place in the layout of paths and traces that others make up to be "reality"; a foreigner out of place and out of reason, lost in the void of uncertainty, in the niente, the nothingness that silently lingers throughout the film.
Rancière readily admits that when he first viewed the film during the 1960s, his Marxist-inspired critical expectations were frustrated by Irene's retreat into religious idealism, which seemed to contradict the first, "realist" half of the film. This part presented itself as a perfect marriage between Marx' historical materialism that provided the theoretical foundation of the workers' struggle and the materialism of the relation between bodies and spaces that defines the mise-en-scène. But as the main character ventures from the world of labor and oppression to the spiritual path towards sainthood, the materialist connection is radically severed. In order to reconcile the two seemingly opposing views, "it then became necessary to say", writes Rancière, "that the materialism of the mise-en-scène had been diverted by the personal ideology of the director." In the same way as Marx once praised Balzac, the reactionary realist, for unwillingly revealing the truths of the capitalist world, Rancière argued that Rossellini, the Catholic idealist, showed something other than what he intended: in her inability to achieve an understanding of the social formations in which she found herself caught, Irene did not find salvation, but utter "madness". Still not content with this interpretation, it took Rancière 25 years to change his view on the film: more than two decades of digging in the archives of proletarian dreams and aesthetic experiences, where he took flight from the Althusserian science of the hidden that he had denounced so fiercely after the events of 1968. "For one who had been invited to look behind things, the break comes from looking to the side instead," he writes. With that in mind, Irene's conversion no longer indicates a lack of "consciousness", but a departing from it: it does not stem from a revelation, but from an alteration that leads her towards places where she is not supposed to be, where all certainties are put into question. A world without coordinates where nothing is identifiable as such any longer. "Irene bids farewell to this consciousness in the Socratic manner: she lets it go." This is the Socratic atopia that characterizes Irene's wanderings: a being out of place that originates in an act of trust. Trust in what we see, in what lays before us and the uncertain paths that we may have to walk.
It is an idea that runs through all of Rancière's work, ever since he parted from Louis Althusser, his former teacher: the denunciation of all narratives of historical necessity and teleologies of "coming-to-consciousness", which are always based on a certain distribution of sense: there are some who need to speak for others who know not what they do, because they know not how to see. Such is the position of Andrea, Irene's well-intentioned guide: he is there to point out what is to be revealed, to make knowledge out of what others do not know. It is a position of basic mistrust, inherent in the Marxist critical tradition: truth can only be found behind appearances. But in the process of uncovering, the truth only gets reduced to the certainty of place, the only "right" place, the place of knowing. According to Rancière however, "the problem is not that of knowing what one does... The problem is to think about what one does, to remember oneself..." Remembering oneself by becoming foreigner, by refusing the dominant interpretative schemas that connect sense with sense: this is the fundamental idea which underlies Rancière's thinking. The challenge is not one of unveiling, he suggests, but of "encircling". That is what Irene's gaze does: an indeterminable encircling that unlocks the settled system of places excluding all forms of atopia, that undoes the certainty of social identities by exceeding everything that they are supposed to be one with. It is a matter of establishing a logic of "heterology": one that denies given identities that pin down people to certain names, relations, times and places; one that disturbs the fabric of the sensible sustained by the dominant network of meanings; one that unsettles and undermines the system of coordinates that determines where and what we are supposed to be. It is the foreigner's gaze that puts us in touch with the world, not the view of those who decide to stay on safe grounds, who stop looking, who cease to put their trust in what they see and sense. Irene, like Rancière, knows what to respond to all those who claim to be in the know, all those who designate what is meaningful and worthwhile and what isn't: there is something else to be done, something that is not determined, and will perhaps never be. Something that defies the reasoning behind the choices we all have to make at one time or another, we who are painfully torn between fragile sensitivity and common sensibility, mindless longing and mindful sustaining, between knowing and unknowing, holding on and letting go.
There is no essential form or content to cinephilia, but maybe there is something like an essential cinephile process or gesture. Let me put it this way: cinephilia is a war machine; a tactical, cultural war machine. Always a different war, and always a different machine, depending on where and when you are, who you're fighting with, and what you're fighting against. In this sense, everything that people have said about cinephilia – that it's melancholic or surrealist or whatever – can be true, if it fits the particular piece of cinephile history, and if you can tell that story well, if you can give it a mobilising energy.
Laten we veronderstellen dat het hier niet gaat om het naast-elkaar-bestaan van twee tegenstrijdige aspiraties van dezelfde filmmaker – aan de ene kant het engagement voor de strijd van de onderdrukten, aan de andere kant de 'esthetische' gevoeligheid voor het formele spel van licht, van schaduwen en van weerspiegelingen –, dat het politieke karakter zelf van deze films bestaat uit de manier waarop ze blijk geven van de rijkdom van de machtelozen door van hen acteurs te maken in dit theater van schaduw en licht.
"You are the sun. The sun doesn't move, this is what it does. You are the Earth. The Earth is here for a start, and then the Earth moves around the sun. And now, we'll have an explanation that simple folks like us can also understand, about immortality.


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