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Porchfests
ColdCar
Timko&Co
The Almighty Buck
Music In Melrose
Boston Loves Music
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January News
*** Happy New Year!
It goes without saying, that 2021 sure has a lot of expectations to live up to. Good luck everyone.
*** Here it is!!! The "Whatchya been doin?" list.
go here... https://bostonlovesmusic.com/home
While so much Covid isolation has kept live music behind the curtain, many of us have found time to work on other musical projects such as studio albums, YouTube channels, new songwriting, dusting off old material, etc. etc. However, not all of us are connected to each other via social media, sooooo here's a chance for all of us to share what we've been up to! We had a ton of fun going through these submissions to see what musical creations have surmised over the last year. Thanks to all who participated. Check it out for yourself.
note: viewing will be better on a computer.
Artist or Band Name
Artist/Band main web presence link
Whatchya been doin in 2020... in about 3 sentences.
Specific 2020 music project link
Steve Robb
www.steverobb.com
Writing and releasing tunes.
TIMKO
https://www.facebook.com/SteveRobbMusic
Ethan B. Miller
Played harp on 2 releases in 2020, both by Cold Car, one of which was a live album recorded in 2020 at a rare backyard BBQ.
https://coldcarmusic.bandcamp.com/album/this-afternoon
Zack Bolles
https://www.facebook.com/Zack-Bolles-music-125946312140810
Been messing' around with music, writing, streaming, collaborating.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfeAE-LcAEhn6cr8VfldZVQ
Wild Sundays
https://www.facebook.com/johnhansonproject
Led by married couple John and Melissa Hanson, Wild Sundays was formed in 2019 to perform at the John Hanson Project album release show. Wild Sundays first album, "Oh", was released in 2020.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kM3PyWJw13HhuTOBelQmIY0tEJyq23PTw&fbclid=IwAR2fAcVq_haPs75ancW7-0MoyQvzcczWZHyKUskrw7gDkvoUpYwyl7RrMvI
Tony Grassi
Regularly posting songs with the lovely Kylie Klinger on Keys, Keeping the open mic spirit alive, and tagging the Timko's Open Mic at Tommy Doyle's crew.
Alex Kane
https://www.facebook.com/AMKanerNation/
Released 2nd album, The Catalyst, at the end of 2019. Moved to Nashville just before the pandemic started in 2020.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7u4uix6jmtJjSCPSZ2XrqT
ODB Project
https://www.daemonchili.rocks
Michael Dion, songwriter/leader, of " Daemon Chili", also of "Hot Day At The Zoo", has been keeping fresh in a one-man-band style solo effort, aka, ODB Project.
https://www.facebook.com/odbproject/
Prateek
https://www.prateeksongs.com/
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/09/arts/singer-songwriter-prateek-releasing-music-during-chaotic-year-pivoting-livestreams-chilling-out-sweat-pants/?mc_cid=f3234ba213&mc_eid=7981c89e0a
Erin Harpe
https://www.erinharpe.com/
October 30th our new album, "Meet Me In The Middle", was released, with a live-stream album release party to celebrate! The album is a hit with DJ's, and it debuts at #13 on the Billboard Blues chart, and makes it to #9 on the Roots Music Report's Blues Album Chart!
https://erinharpe.bandcamp.com/album/meet-me-in-the-middle
Alastair Moock
https://moockmusic.com/item/be-a-pain/
Moock's latest family album is a joyful, musical rallying cry for young (and old) leaders in these turbulent times. It looks to the heroes of our past and present to inspire our kids to move the ball forward. The album won a 2020 Parents' Choice Gold Medal.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbT1OpUMZPXt80aDyC2-FzA
John x Micki
https://www.instagram.com/johnxmicki/
Written when we were in Panama right before the world was shutting down to covid. We almost got stuck there! Anyway, hope you enjoy the song and there'll be more to come!
https://open.spotify.com/track/319pCJoXEJspuyU5fIbcfj?si=wZ_fCjSfSNCI41SXq1YC2A
Peter Parcek
https://www.peterparcekband.com/
Premier Guitar has chosen Mississippi Suitcase as one of the best albums of 2020! "Mississippi Suitcase is elemental: a celebratory bonfire, radiating Parcek's virtuosity, creativity, and musical intelligence...He is truly a master, and I love this album."
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ7kYBpsZX54GiL2Oh9dPZV3trx-t9p3J
Pete LaGrange & the Ghost Riders
https://www.instagram.com/ghostridersnpt/
After a breakthrough performance in Newport back in January, the pandemic struck. Throughout the year, we continued to build upon our repertoire of rock n' roll and western songs from the 50's & 60's and look forward (hopefully!) to our return to the stage in 2021.
Pete LaGrange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaI2suh5_-A&list=PLPit13ycAzD830M0ru-HQ5rxu4Os75jAg&index=1
https://stanlyness.com/
Writin'. At stanlyness.com, see the video Boston Neighborhood Network did of a new Brighton song ("Ride The Fifty-Seven"), my own lame video ("I Know More"), a new attempt at commercial country ("Skin-Tight Mask"), and hey, a Christmas song ("Talking ZeroAD Shepherds' Blues").
Stan Lyness
In addition to the stanlyness.com songs above, here's a tiresome audienceless open mike for Medford Public Access https://medford.vod.castus.tv/vod/?video=948783f6-ec34-4497-89f4-00517b3ea70c
Michael Maloney
https://www.facebook.com/michaelmmusic
In addition to working full time as a physical therapist, I have been writing and recording new songs & finished my long gestating album "January Hopeful", which is coming out 1/1 on all major digital markets for streaming and download.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/25dsJuBGhpKW1jSHEpiYdA?si=frqR__jKSLm2ek_dsLYxsQ
Available 1/1
Jadon Czerniach
Jadon (of Screaming Sushi fame) has been writing and producing music. Check out new releases on Spotify. In December, he was asked by Tufts Medical Center to arrange and produce the music for a music video with a public health message to be sung by his mom, Hospital Epidemiologist Shira Doron, MD. The video got over 40,000 views by Christmas Day.
Shira Doron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5j8-o7U40o
www.offlabelband.com
The doc rockers from Off Label are getting pretty tired of pandemic fighting. To blow off steam, we still get together (outside or with masks on and 6 feet of distance) to jam. We enjoyed partnering with Notes of Hope (noteshope.org), an organization that put together a concert series streamed every night at 7pm for healthcare workers during the first surge. Off Label was part of the grand finale with Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Pops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y18U-wOvsHo
TOKYO TRAMPS
www.tokyotramps.com
We've been posting a weekly video of our Performance From Home on our Facebook page. We also released 8th album, "I'm A Tiger". And we've been doing the best we can to stay safe and healthy. Patience, patience, patience.
Satoru Nakagawa
http://www.tokyotramps.com/news
Cha Feliz
https://chafeliz.bandcamp.com
Cha Feliz has been recording solo guitar instrumentals that range from being melodic, psychedelic, and minimal. 'rooted in the earth' was recorded April 11, 2020. There are no overdubs or samples.
https://chafeliz.bandcamp.com/album/rooted-in-the-earth
SlowPoke N Turtle
https://slowpokenturtle.bandcamp.com
SlowPoke N Turtle just finished 'present to past' a collection of instrumentals inspired by the music of West Africa. It was recorded by Aaron Bellamy of A1produx and released on October 2, 2020.
Charlie McLaren
https://slowpokenturtle.bandcamp.com/album/present-to-past
Cold Car
Www.coldcarmusic.com
Cold Car had a productive 2020! We released a self produced EP "TheNow," Mixed/Mastered by Alexis Guneratne, Produced by Ken & Leah and released in November 2020. We were able to play a few live, socially distance outdoor shows. In August 2020, Leah was able to produce one of our performances as a live album titled "This Afternoon," available on Bandcamp.
Leah Lodato
https://coldcarmusic.bandcamp.com/releases
The Acemakers
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQW4C_HpHMeGj1iPo2dF_QA
The Acemakers had our best show at the Square Root in Roslindale in late Feb and then the lock down started. The band was very pumped during the early stages of Covid and we quickly put out three "At Home" videos. We did manage to play a short set at the Walpole Porch Fest on a 94 degree afternoon in July! We also were invited to play at the Walpole Arts Festival on the town Common in August. Unfortunately, as the months went by, we lost of bit of our MoJo. Hopefully, we can ramp things up again after the new year. Being able to see what everybody else has been posting here is a great motivator!
Ace Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvTaB0lT904
I Need Never Get Old - The Night Sweats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUgZ_pwlM08
Bad Guy - Billie Eilish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMItPvrXQvw
Would I Lie to You - The Eurythmics
Scott O
https://www.reverbnation.com/musician/scotto?profile_view_source=header_icon_nav
As an expert in social distancing I've adapted pretty well to hiding in my house and playing guitar. I've also been lucky to connect with some people locally to jam on a semi-regular basis, one of the results of which is linked below.
Scot O
https://youtu.be/M4fQdUokXGE
Jam Sandwich Rock Band
www.jamsandwichrockband.com
Like everyone, the majority of our gigs were cancelled, but we did manage to play at a number of Farmers Markets and at the Wachusett Mountain music festival. For the last few months, we have been playing outside, socially distance gigs for our Bass play Tom's neighborhood in Norwood. Great group of people down there.
Rich Miller
Video of Jam Sandwich's original song "Love" shot at the Wachusett Mountain Music Festival over the summer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC8ep_jfe3w
Billy Claiborne
Billyclaiborne.com
Released new album. "Storm Doors" Available everywhere
https://billyclaiborne.hearnow.com/
TIMKO & Co.
www.timkomusic.com
Lost in the throws of life with little music, I found this recording of a live original set I played in Feb. of 2020 before everything shutdown. Has bandmate, Leah Lodato singing on it, had it mastered by Joel Plante, found some local Covid-inspired graffiti by YN-Prop to use as an album cover, and now have my first solo acoustic original live album to share.
Live album:
TIMKO & Co. "Live 2020"
featuring Leah Lodato, mastered by Joel Plante, all songs by Tim Kochanski
Tim Kochanski
"Closest I've Been To Heaven" (feat. Jodie Poye)
by Yebba Studios
Up for release in December 2020, is a new electronica single out of Boston's Yebba Studios. "Closest I've Been to Heaven" features English singer Jodie Poye, laying a bed of soft vocals over a sultry mix of beats, keys, and sonics by multi-instrumentalist and producer, Bryan Yebba. The 3 1/2 min. pining love song could gladly go on forever. It immediately puts the listener into a trance of "deep breath in... and out". The opening piano has a drifting-away-into-outer-space vibe. Relaxing without being sleepy, soothing ear candies trinkle like tiny icicles all throughout the song. The beats keep the song moving and engaging. Yebba does a good job of lifting each repeat of the chorus into a Gospel fashion build, but never climaxing. The song's dynamics are perfectly suited to the sultry sense of Poye's whispering vocals. This is their first collaboration together after meeting on the musicians' app, Fiverr, and we're looking forward to more.
LISTEN HERE...
https://yebbastudios.com/album/1786762/closest-i-ve-been-to-heaven-feat-jodie-poye
https://www.facebook.com/yebbastudios
https://www.facebook.com/musicbyjodiepoye
*** Covid Year
I truly hope everyone is doing as best as possible during such a crazy year. Grunt.
*** SHARE US YOUR MUSIC!!!! "Whatchya been doin?" sign up list.
Please fill out the form by Dec. 30th
While so much Covid isolation has kept live music behind the curtain, many of us have found time to work on other musical projects such as studio albums, YouTube channels, new songwriting, dusting off old material, etc. etc. However, not all of us are connected to each other via social media, sooooo here's a chance for all of us to share what we've been up to! Please fill out the form by Dec. 30th and we'll post the big list in an "end of year" email blast for all to see. I'm personally looking forward to having a place where I can go to see what everyone has been up to, as opposed to coming across it in a random swipe, on FB, Insta, or such.
*** A special thank you to those who have grabbed the torch and are keeping our Open Mic spirit alive throughout this crazy year, specifically, the Tuesday Tommy Doyle's Open Mic posters, Tony Grassi & Kylie Klinger, Bob Greenman, Alex Kane, and more, plus Chris Steele and his Facebook group, Virtual Necessity Open Mic page.
*** Brian Reilly
Some very sad news to share with you... our good friend, Brian Reilly, has passed away after a strong fight against cancer. Brian was a friendly, welcoming guy whom I first met at the old Mick Morgan's open mic in Newton, MA. He had recently moved from Hawaii, back home to the Boston area. In life, he was a graphic designer and artist, who had many amazing adventures. In music, he was a great guitar player with several sweet axes and pedals, and also played bass in many instances, notably for ALL of our annual Fat Tuesday Tommy Doyle's celebrations, with the Mojo Jubilee Swamp Band. He regularly played with his good friend, Patrick Fitzgerald, at Tommy Doyle's Open Mic in both the "Dreamtime Travelers" and the "Ben G. and the Bureau Cats" band. I'll always remember Brian's kindness thinking of when he took me to see Dave Mason (Feelin' Alright) with his son and sister and friends at the Cabot Theatre in Beverly, MA. Rest in music Brian Reilly, we'll miss you, but keep you in our hearts.
RELEASES to check out:
*** Please fill out the "Whatchya been doin?" sign up list by Dec. 30th so we can see what YOU've been up to musically. https://bostonlovesmusic.com/home
*** Cold Car release, "TheNow" https://coldcarmusic.bandcamp.com/album/thenow
Cold Car has released their 2nd album, "TheNow", this time a studio effort engineered by Alexis Guneratne. It is a snapshot of the ever-shifting and collaborative nature of Cold Car, featuring songwriter/vocalist Ken Carter, supported by bassist Leah Lodato, percussionist, Clint Sours, and guest performances by Ethan Miller, Charlie McLaren, Jeremy Parker and Tim Ko.
*** JohnxMicki Christmas Carols ( https://www.instagram.com/johnxmicki/ )
You may recognize John and Micki from Devlin's & TD's Open Mic scene... they've put themselves together as an official group! Check out their joyful YouTube page with holiday carols here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCDoHUCsnvSWm4d4KJPeuag
*** Crowes Pasture made a Holiday Playlist on Spotify
"Folksy Holiday and Winter Songs to get you in a tree trimming, cookie baking, slipper wearing, fire tending mood."
...features covers by popular artists and includes tunes by Boston locals Prateek Poddar and Crowes Pasture
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3cPHOVPbm1IpcSrCPAQvz4
*** TIMKO & Co.
Timko is releasing his first solo acoustic album of original music in December of 2020. It's called "Live 2020", was recorded at a "Zack Bolles" house concert in February of 2020, features a duet with Leah Lodato, and was mastered by Joel Plante.
Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iSAOUDP48xxE7Mtiw68S3?si=xSW0vLAHSdmNPV2AstKGVg
...and here's a Christmas song as well...
https://open.spotify.com/album/35yHh5zJiYySD0607MavMG?si=JxEpDeCVQX6i0KLBgKM4jw


The Mobile Meditator Inflatable Meditation Cushion and Travel Pillow is a meditation travel pillow designed for both home and travel use. The Mobile Meditator is a fully meditation pillow with three adjustable chambers which allows for adjustment to your comfort level. This cushion is ideal for meditating but can also be used for outdoor picnics and/or camping trips.
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In just a few short days, gamers from around the world will be able to take part in the Anthem VIP demo that should give them a taste of what to expect come February 22, 2019.
While a demo usually just consists of a portion of the final game, the same can't be said for a shared world services game like Anthem. BioWare will have players skip the tutorials, the in-game economy will be different, and lots more. Over on Twitter, Executive Producer Mark Darrah touched upon the differences between the Anthem demo vs launch build the studio is currently toiling away on.
That's more than a handful of differences, no? Of course, if the combat is satisfying, and the loot grind is rewarding, then I don't think players will mind what the differences are. And it's not like the game is taking a turn for the worse in the time it's being developed.
In other Anthem news, check out our early look at the game's map, and there's also a damage chart that shows us some of the different abilities each javelin has.


Paris is such a wonderful city, with so much culture and tourist attractions. The food is incredible and its just got a fab vibe to it. There are a few down sides, as there is to pretty much anything in life. The metro isn't exactly the most fabulous thing in the world, some areas (especially on the outskirts or less seen areas) are a bit smelly and dirty. But the main parts are beautiful and there are some hidden gems too!
From the Uk you can obviously fly to France, get the ferry or even the Eurostar. I have been to Paris twice now and have flown and got the Eurostar. For my first trip I got the Eurostar. This involved me going to London the day before, we stayed in a cheap B&B right by St Pancras, then got the first Eurostar train on the Monday morning. This got us into Paris for 9:15am. Our hotel was literally a 2 minutes away from the Gare De Nord Station.
We booked a really cheap hotel/hostel type accommodation as we only needed to sleep there. It was quite central and there was a metro station 2 minutes away – Perfect!
We bought a metro card for our time there. We were there for 5 days – despite the name of this post! Which was €70 but a 2 day metro pass is €41 this gives you travel to pretty much anywhere you need to get to. Walking is an option too!
Everyone said to me that Paris would be so expensive. I say it is what you make it. Of course if you are going to stay in a 4 or 5* hotel and eat at the swankiest places and going designer shopping it all adds up. But if you are there to grab a pastry or two, see a whole load of sights and not too fussed on sleeping arrangements then it can be quite affordable!
Some top tips for making your trip super cheap and easy!
If you are under 24 and european – take form of idea i.e. passport and you will get free entry to lots of tourist attractions such as the champsellyse and the louvre.
Eat on the go to save time and save one night for a big splash out meal if you like!
If you get the first Eurostar or an early flight and get there for early morning. drop your bags off at your accommodation and have a quick freshen up if you need to ahead of a jam packed day! I definitely recommend taking advantage of the cities many patisseries and grab a croissant and coffee whilst you get your bearings and plan your next move!
Next up hop onto the metro , you're heading to the famous Arch De Triumph. Walk along the Champs-Élysées and glance in ore of all the designer shops you could dream of. It really starts to feel like you're in Paris. Keep on walking until the small thing in the faint distance becomes a big arch with the most beautiful architecture. Inside the arch is a visiter centre, with information and where you can go to the top for some pretty fantastic views of paris. This was as I mentioned in my top tips, one of the attractions that is free if you are under 24 and european. But was not too expensive in price if you did have to pay!
After those views and wandering around the arch, maybe grab another coffee for on the way back down the long Champs-Élysées, before hopping back on the metro for your next destination!
Le louvre – now this is a massive museum, I was a fool to think we could do the whole thing in a day. But if you are after a quick glimpse of the infamous french treasure, the Mono lisa and a few selfies with the iconic Triangular prisom then make this your next stop. Grab a map to help you find your way (and makes a cute souvenir). I must say that I loved the museum however found the Mona Lisa rather disappointing. Le louvre itself was magnificent and I am so glad I got to go there and take in all the other art and culture.
You could probably fit in a night time visit to the eiffel tower at this point, trust me the queues are busy! I went in october and the queues were horrendous all day everyday. Or if you fancy going for a freshen up and then look for somewhere authentic and local to eat thats a good option too before getting a few hours sleep in for the next busy day of adventures!
For the second day you are going to be up early and the priority is finding somewhere cute for food! I would ideally like to give you a few places as recommendations but as I said, it was 2 years ago since this trip and my last trip was to disney land. I didnt write down the places we went to eat – how annoying! But the french do food very well so you will find something easily!
You need to hop back onto the metro to find the Notre Dame (My favourite!). This is honestly one of the most amazing things I have seen! The most amazing architecture and interesting features, the grounds around it are so beautiful and it was absolutely packed with tourists taking pictures of everything. Go on inside, its like no cathedral you have ever seen before, it oozes history and culture but feels so elegant and enchanted. Going to the Notre Dam really changed my opinion on cathedrals and churches, I was really drawn to the beauty of this building. Down the sides, on the street were cute restautaurnts and patisseries selling coffee and crepes. We couldn't turn this down whilst queuing to go to the top of the Notre Dame, waiting in the freezing cold autumnal air. after waiting for a good hour we finally were going up. I completely underestimated how tall this building was. There were 2 different levels both with amazing views of the city. When we finally reached the top, and the gargoyles where far below us. The view of Paris was breathtaking and it was such a special moment. Afterwards we sat on a bench opposite the Notre dame to take it all in and listen as the bells went off, It was incredible. If you do one thing when you visit Paris, I would recommend this above everything!
If that was exciting enough, grab your bag (and possibly another coffee… caffeine overload). Its time for the EIFFEL TOWER! Get back on the metro, maybe grab a baguette or a bite to eat and prepare for a queue and a climb. The eiffel tower is on a lot of peoples list. It was certainly on mine. I am so happy I got to see it in person and go up to the top. I do feel like its slightly overrated, especially after doing this after the Notre dam. However once you get to the top, the views are like nothing you have seen in Paris yet. Try and spot the Arch De Triumph and the Notre Dam, they look so tiny from all the way up there. After seeing the views from each one it got grander each time. But the view from the top of the Eiffel tour are insane! It's definitley something you have to do whilst in paris and I'm sure I will do it again! This was one of the only things that we went to that cost money. If you are under 24 its €14.50, over 24 €17 and for children under 11 its €8 to go to the top (its slightly cheaper just to go to the second floor).
If you are aren't too tired then hop back on the metro to find some shops! Paris is a fashion capital and there is shopping just about anywhere. I went shopping on the Champs-Élysées. And before you think WHAT!? I wasn't shopping in Chanel and Dior (I wish), theres tonnes of highsreet shops such as Zara, H&M and french hightstreet shops too! not to mention one of the best things about going away… SEPHORA!
To mark then end of the trip why not head back, dress up nice – maybe with something you've bought! and go out for a nice french meal, maybe some cocktails too! enjoy the french ambiance before heading back to reality!
I would also recommend if you have a chance to go to Disney for a day too! Disneyland Paris is as magical as it gets really! We added an extra day onto our trip after we accounted for all our touristy days and a shopping day to also have a day trip to Disney Land – it was our first time going there and we both loved it! Its not too expensive getting a day ticket either – it was around £45 each and you can hop on a RER train with your metro card which takes you right to the gates!
That's what I love about Paris, there is so much amazing things to see and do and you can do loads in just a couple of days. There is of course so much more to see and do, but it gives you an excuse to go back again! As I said Paris is in fact one of my favourite cities and places I've visited in general. I can't wait to go back again!
Let me know if you are planning a trip to Paris any time soon? Hopefully this post will give you some inspo for your trip or some ideas in how to cram in as much as possible!


Busy Cleaning are pleased to announce that they have been awarded the cleaning / janitor contract at a Prestigious Residential Apartment block in SA1, Swansea offering Cleaning and full Janitorial services.
The 14 storey Aurora tower is set on Swansea's beautiful waterfront, in the prestigious Maritime Quarter, enjoying an enviable location in the heart of the South Wales city. Built with impeccable attention to detail, the high specification for these apartments includes stainless steel finishes in the fully equipped kitchens, solid oak doors, full-wall bathroom tiling, and underfloor heating.
Cleaning of foyer level and all twelve floors, landings, corridors, stairway and stairwell as well as lift cabin and doors.
Remove recycling or any rubbish to refuse room and reline recycling receptacles.
Fogging of inside waste disposal shoot with Cleanitise germicide cleaner.
Clean and mop floors, wash walls and shoot access cover with Cleanitise germicide cleaner.
Keep post box area free of junk mail.
Clear entrance of litter and sweep clean – pressure wash as necessary.
Remove all litter and sweep as necessary all external paved area to the front and rear of the property including car park, landscaped area and stairs.
Clean all external glass panels.
All internal and external lights to be checked and bulbs replaced where required.
Check and touch up as necessary internal walls and paintwork to all areas including ceilings; and check for marks and scuffs and remove carefully.
Spraying of weed killer to all external areas.
Appropriate gritting or de icing of external areas as necessary due to adverse weather conditions.
The directors of Busy Cleaning wish to congratulate the residents of Aurora, Swansea on forming their new management company.
Other contracts we have won this year by Busy Cleaning are the offices at Unit 4, The Woodman (Punch Taverns) and Swanseas newest French Restaurant The Pantygwydr.


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Have you ever noticed how an aroma can fill a room. It makes me think of those Sunday's my mother made a roast when I was growing up. Before we would leave for church she would put it in the oven with its seasonings and potatoes and carrots. When we left there was nothing that would stand out. But when we returned we would step into a house that was permeated with the most wonderful aroma. It was amazing to see how this simple smell had reach every part of the house.
And so a vivid word picture is drawn for us. As the bright flower stand out amid the dark and grey, so Christ stands out in a lost world. As the flowers "fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air" (2 Corinthians 2:14 – 17), so Christ permeates every aspect of our lives. As the light "dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere"(John 1:4 – 5), so Christ drives the darkness of sin and death from our lives.
Fully Man and fully God. An image that is portrayed in scripture. He was a man of flesh (John 1:1, 14), and by His own testimony, one with the Father. (John 10:30) It is this that uniquely makes Him able to give us hope of a new life, that make Him able to save us from sin and death. He is the "Child of Mary, who felt our human woe." He knows the trials and tribulations that fill out lives in this fallen world. At the same time He is the "King of glory, who dost our weakness know." Not only does He knows the trials we face, but he knows our weaknesses and is able to give us strength to face them.
This entry was posted in Christmas, Devotional, Hymns, Worship and tagged aroma, Christ, flower, fragrance, fully God, fully Man, incarnate, permeate, rose, Son of God, Son of Man on December 4, 2014 by Brian Olson.


sorry i was on the phone for so long!
erm…why do you have to NOT be Albert in the first place?
Actually … i only like the settings of the whole Venice background. The story line is kinda like well … expected … the humors … bit dry. And Sienna Miller … i just dont know why … i dont find her interesting!
On other thought, there's a long clip available on Apple's trailers page. I'm not impressed and I rather spend the money to watch Buli Balik for 2nd or 3rd time.
Well , he ain't FAT Albert XD .


Ok yall, it's still hot out and as promised here is recipe #1 to help your pup beat the heat!
This one is super easy. Just grab a watermelon, slice it up into about 1" slices and then use your favorite cookie cutters to cut your watermelon into great shapes. After all that just pop them in the freezer and they will be perfectly chilled for your pup to enjoy.
*tips- to avoid wasting the watermelon cut your watermelon out like you would rolled out cookie dough.
Also, any leftover bits of watermelon can be save and put into ice cube trays for watermelon cube treats.
Keep following for us for new recipes all month long! Our next recipe will be just as simple and tasty!


This is only a small part of all the references of Rama in Ramayana. It is the most frequent noun, repeated around 3187 times.
vrm.1.1 One" emerged from Ikshvaku dynasty and known to people as Rama by his name, and he is conscientious, highly valorous, resplendent, steadfast and a controller of vice and vile.
vrm.1.1 "In valour Rama is comparable with Vishnu, and in his looks he is attractive like full moon, he equals the earth in his perseverance, but he is matchable with era end fire in his wrath.
vrm.1.1 a Rama" being the possessor of suchlike merits, whose truthfulness alone is his courage, embodied with best intrinsic values, ever involved in the welfare of people, besides being the dear and eldest son of Dasharatha, and hence the king Dasharatha affectionately intended to establish such a Rama as crown prince to all intents and purposes of country s welfare.
vrm.1.1 b "Bound by the truthfulness of his plighted word and by the halter of righteousness that king Dasharatha exiled his dear son Rama to forests.
vrm.1.1 "Such a brave one as he is, that Rama repaired to forest for the reason of appeasing Kaikeyi, and as directed by the verbal directive of his father, and to follow his father s word of honour.
vrm.1.1 b, a "The citizens of Ayodhya and even his father Dasharatha have followed that virtue souled Rama for a distance when he started on his exile.
vrm.1.1 Later Rama reached the tribal chief named Guha, who has a liking for Rama, on the bank of River Ganga in a town called Shringaverapura.
vrm.1.1 "On Rama s going to Chitrakuta thus, King Dasharatha is aggrieved by the grief for son and went to heavens grieving for son.
vrm.1.1 "Even though Rama is a really benevolent one, even though he is a readily willing one, even though he is a greatly reputed one for endowments, even though he is a highly capable endower of whatever sought by his adherers, even then Rama did not desire the kingdom, to keep up his own pledge and also owing to his father s directives.
vrm.1.1 Hence Rama indeed entered Dandaka forest, determinedly about his plighted promise to undergo exile and decidedly about the elimination of Rakshasas.
vrm.1.1 "That lotus eyed Rama on his entering the vast of Dandaka forest eliminated the Rakshasa Viraadha, and indeed descried Sage Sharabhanga, also even Sage Suteekshna, also Sage Agastya and likewise Sage Agastya s brother.
vrm.1.1 a "On the advice of Sage Agastya Rama took a bow of Indra from Sage Agastya, which Indra once gave to Sage Agastya, along with a sword, and two quivers in which arrows will be ever replenishing, and thus Rama is highly pleased to receive befitting weaponry.
vrm.1.1 b, a Rama" conceded to the supplications of those Sages of that forest, which forest has become an abode of Rakshasas, and Rama also promised those Sages who are the dwellers of Dandaka forest, and whose glow is like that of the Ritual fire, to eliminate all of the Rakshasas in combat.
vrm.1.1 b, "While Rama is living there in Dandaka forest, a guise changing Rakshasi named Shuurpanakha, who is a resident of Janasthana, a place in Dandaka forest, is disfigured.
vrm.1.1 "Then in a combat Rama eliminated all the fourteen Rakshasas who rebelliously came at him in the first round of combat incited by the provokes of Shuurpanakha, and then in second round Rama eliminated Rakshasa chiefs called Khara, Trishira, Duushana, who are none but the cousins of Shuurpanakha and Ravana, together with all of their hench Rakshasas.
vrm.1.1 "During his stay in Dandaka forest Rama eliminated fourteen thousand Rakshasas in all, who are the inhabitants of that very forest.
vrm.1.1 b, a "But Maricha deterred Ravana telling him time and again, oh, Ravana, unpardonable will be your rivalry with that formidable Rama, formidable because fourteen thousand clansmen of ours could not triumph over him.
vrm.1.1 "Then heedless of Maricha s advice and ushered by the time of his own doom, Ravana advanced to the threshold of Rama s hermitage along with Maricha.
vrm.1.1 b, "That Rama whose arms are highly powerful has eliminated and cremated that Rakshasa Kabandha, and Kabandha while going heavenward told Rama, oh, Raghava, proceed to the ascetic lady of right conduct and an expert in rightness, namely Shabari.
vrm.1.1 a "He who is a great resplendent one and an enemy eliminator, that son of Dasharatha, Rama arrived close at Shabari, and Shabari venerated him, thoroughly.
vrm.1.1 b, a Rama" met the vanara Hanuma on the banks of Lake Pampa, and upon the word of Hanuma Rama indeed befriended Sugreeva.
vrm.1.1 b, a "On listening all that has happened from Rama, that vanara Sugreeva befriended Rama where the witness for that friendship is flaring fire, for it alone is auspicious.
vrm.1.1 b, a "Then that woeful king of Vanaras Sugreeva woefully informed Rama about his saga of feud with his brother Vali in reply to Rama s query, in friendship and in its entirety.
vrm.1.1 "Then Rama solemnly promised Sugreeva to eliminate Vali in retaliation to his foul deeds in respect of Sugreeva and of probity as well, and then that vanara Sugreeva started to tell about the sinews of Vali.
vrm.1.1 b, That omni dextrous Rama looked at the skeleton, smiled in aplomb, then that very energetic Rama flicked that skeleton with tip of his foot s big toe wholly to a ten Yojana lengths.
vrm.1.1 "Again Rama ripped seven massive trees called sala trees with only one great arrow, which not only rived the trees but also rent through a mountain, and to the nethermost subterranean of earth, in order to inculcate certainty in Sugreeva.
vrm.1.1 Vali" came out only on pacifying Tara, his wife, who deterred Vali from going to meet Sugreeva in a combat, as she doubted that Sugreeva must have come with Rama, and then Vali met Sugreeva head on.
vrm.1.1 "On eliminating Vali in combat upon the word of Sugreeva, then Rama established Sugreeva alone for that kingdom as its king.
vrm.1.1 "That inestimable intellectual Hanuma on approaching that great souled Rama, and on performing circumambulation around him in reverence, subtly submitted that, Seen.
vrm.1.1 "Then, Rama along with Sugreeva and other Vanaras has gone to the seashore of Great Ocean, and when Ocean god is unyielding to give way, then he started to put the Ocean god to turmoil with his arrows, as with Surya who puts an ocean to turmoil with his sunrays.
vrm.1.1 "The Ocean god revealed himself and upon the word of that Ocean god alone, Rama put up vanara Nala to build a bridge across the ocean.
vrm.1.1 "That impeccable Rama rejoining with all of his brothers in the village Nandigrama removed his matted locks of hair along with them.
vrm.1.1 "When Rama is enthroned then the world will be highly regaled and rejoiced, exuberant and abundant, also rightly righteous, trouble free, disease free, and free from fear of famine.
vrm.1.1 "While Rama is on the throne men will not see the deaths of their children anywhere in their lifetime, and the ladies will remain husband devout and unwidowed during their lifetime.
vrm.1.1 "In the kingdom of Rama there is no fear for subjects from wildfires, gale storms or from diseases, and there is no fear from hunger or thieves, nor the cattle is drowned in floodwaters, as well.
vrm.1.1 a "May it be a township or a remote province, it will be replete with coin and grain, and as to how people lived in high gladness during the earlier Krita era, likewise people will live in Rama s period also with the same gladness.
vrm.1.1 and whoever reads this Legend of Rama, he will be verily liberated of all his sins.
vrm.1.1 "Any man who reads this lifespan enriching narrative of actuality, Ramayana, the peregrination of Rama, he will be enjoying worldly pleasures with his sons and grand sons and with assemblages of kinfolks, servants etc.
vrm.1.2 b a "Oh, Brahman, that speech of yours sprang forth at my wish alone, hence oh, eminent Sage, you shall render the legend of Rama, in its entirety.
vrm.1.2 "You shall narrate the legend of Rama, the virtuous, intellectual and an intrepid one, and a godlike person in this world as well, as you have heard it from sage Narada.
vrm.6.64 "Having lost his advantage, who would feel inclined to reduce to submission, an enemy, who is rich in advantage and determined to lay down his life, as an ordinary person?" "O Kumbhakarna, the foremost among the Rakshasas! How do you wish to combat with Rama, with whom none in the human beings is equal and who is equal of Indra and the sun?" Having thus spoken to the enraged Kumbhakarna, Mahodara on his part spoke as follows, in the midst of Rakshasas, to Ravana, who made the people cry.
vrm.6.64 "Announce by a beat of drum in the city streets that myself, Dvijihva, Samhraadi, Kumbhakarna and Vitardana these five Rakshasas are setting out for the battle to kill Rama.
vrm.6.64 "Moistened with blood on having our bodies torn with arrows marked with the name of Rama engraved on them, we shall come back here from the battle.
vrm.6.64 Saying Rama" as well as Lakshmana has been devoured by us", we shall clasp your feet.
vrm.6.64 "O king! Then, have it proclaimed by beating of trumpets in the entire city, on the back of an Elephant, that Rama has been killed along with his brother and his army.
vrm.6.64 "When this thick rumour has gone to all sides that Rama along with his companions have been devoured by the Rakshasas and you approach Seetha in private and restoring her to confidence and even conciliating her, tempt her with gold and grain, as well as luxuries and precious tones.
vrm.6.64 As soon as you see Rama, a calamity will happen.
vrm.6.65 Hearing the words of Mahodara, Kumbhakarna rebuked him and then spoke to his brother, Ravana, the chief of Rakshasas as follows: "By annihilation of that evil minded Rama, I will wipe off your terrifc fear today.
vrm.6.65 Hearing the words of the intellectual Kumbhakarna, Ravana the king of Rakshasas, bursting into laughter, replied as follows: "O dear brother, well versed in the art of war fare! This Mahodara is frightened of Rama.
vrm.6.65 The hearts of Rama and Lakshmana will get broken asunder.
vrm.6.65 Rama", together with Lakshmana, is the root cause for the attack on our city.
vrm.6.65 Therefore, I shall kill that Rama in battle.
vrm.6.66 "Coming face to face with Rama, Kumbhakarna will not go back alive, any more than a moth meeting a blazing fire.
vrm.6.67 Taking leave of you, I desire to march forward towards Rama.
vrm.6.67 "Because I have been gratified by you by way of your ability, strength and firmness in battle, I for my part desire to kill Rama alone, for when he is killed, all the army will be killed.
vrm.6.67 "When Rama is killed by me battle here, I will make my army to fight with others who remain on the battle filled and destroy them.
vrm.6.67 But, see Rama the son of Dasaratha, standing here unmoving like a mountain.
vrm.6.67 Hearing in this manner, that mighty Kumbhakarna the Rakshasa, brushing aside Lakshmana and crossing him, ran, as though he is causing an earth quake, towards Rama.
vrm.6.67 Thereupon, Rama, the son of Dasaratha, employing a spell used to charm arrows called Raudra, discharged sharp arrows into Kumbhakarna s chest.
vrm.6.67 Flames of fire mixed with particles of charcoal came forth from the face of Kumbhakarna, who was thus struck and who was running quickly towards Rama.
vrm.6.67 Then, that Kumbhakarna, comparable to Yama of terrific prowess and strength, firmly holding a fearful mountain peak, hurled it towards Rama.
vrm.6.67 While that mountain peak was still on its way and had not yet reached him Rama, fixing together his well known bow and arrows, split the mountain in the middle, with seven straight going arrows.
vrm.6.67 The mighty Rama saw the powerful Kumbhakarna, the annihilator of enemies, wearing a crown and his eyes blood red with anger.
vrm.6.67 Rama saw that Kumbhakarna, looking like Vindhya and Mandara mountains, adorned with armlets of gold, emitting blood from his mouth and appearing as a rising rainy cloud.
vrm.6.67 Seeing that Kumbhakarna, the foremost of Rakshasas, having a splendour of blazing fire, Rama, the excellent of men, then stretched his bow.
vrm.6.67 Enraged by the twang of Rama s bow, Kumbhakarna, the foremost of Rakshasas, not tolerating that sound, ran towards Rama.
vrm.6.67 Thereupon, Rama spoke to the dashing Kumbhakarna looking like a cloud driven by the wind, whose arms were like the coils of Vasuki the king of nagas and appearing like a mountain in the battle field as follows: "O leader of the Rakshasas! Come on.
vrm.6.67 "O faultless excellent Rama born in Ikshvaku dynasty! Show your prowess on my limbs.
vrm.7.105 In this wise Rama, a lion amongst the kings, undertook the celebration of the horse sacrifice.
vrm.7.105 And in that Ashwamedha of Rama presents were given unto people as long as they were not satisfied.
vrm.7.105 In sooth at the horse sacrifice of the high souled Rama, to their fullest satisfaction, sweets and other things were distributed unto people.
vrm.7.105 And though this sacrifice, gifted with all marks, of Rama, a lion among kings, continued for a year still his accumulated treasure was not exhausted, but rather was increased.
vrm.7.106 "Do ye carefully and delightedly sing the whole of Ramayana in the highly holy hermitages, of the Rishis, in the homes where perpetual fire is kept up by the Brahmanas, in streets and palaces, at the gate of Rama s house, in the sacrificial arena and before all Ritvikas.
vrm.7.106 If Rama, the lord of earth, invites you to sing the Ramayana, you may fearlessly sing it there in due notes and measures before the assembled ascetics.
vrm.7.106 Of what avail is wealth unto ascetics living perpetually on fruits and roots ?If Rama asks you about your father you may say, "We are both desciples of the high soulcd Valmiki.
vrm.7.107 Hearing such a song from the boys Rama was striken with curiosity.
vrm.7.107 Thereupon taking leave from business for some time and inviting the great ascetic Valmiki, kings, learned men, persons well versed in Nyaya, Puranas and science of words, all old men, twice born ones, those conversant with the signs of music, Brahmanas desirous of hearing the Ramayana, persons deep read in palmistry, Gandharvas, citizens, all those who have mastered the use of words, letters and Samasas, those who have studied well metres, those well informed in the science of music, those well versed in astronomy, those who are well up in the knowledge of rites and ceremonies, those expert in the despatch of business, logicians whose fame has spread far and wide, those well versed in reasonings and arguments, poets, historians, Vedic Brahmanas, painters, and songsters Rama resquested Lava and Kusa lovingly to sing the song before the assembly.
vrm.7.107 Greatly delighted the highly effulgent ascetics and kings again and again looked towards them as if drinking them up with their eyes, And they all attentively said to one another "Both of them look like Rama, like unto a bubble resembling the one it rises from.
vrm.7.107 There would not have been perceived the least diference between them and Rama had they not been cloathed in bark and used clotted hair.
vrm.7.107 Thereupon being anxious to learn of the origin of the poem, the highly effulgent Rama asked the two Muni boys, saying.
vrm.7.107 "What is the proof of the story of this poem ?How great is his fame who has composed it ?What leading ascetic is the author of this great poem Rama?" having thus asked them those two Muni boys said The illustrious Valmiki is the author of this poem.
vrm.7.107 Saying so it shall be Rama bade them adieu and they too, delighted, repaired to where Valmiki, the foremost of Munis was.
vrm.7.107 Thereupon having heard that charming song in the company of ascetics and kings the high minded Rama repaired to the place of business.
vrm.7.108 And understanding from the story that Kusa and Lava were Janaki s sons, Rama mentioning her name said before the assembly "Send a good emissary unto the illustious Valmiki and let him communicate unto the ascetics that if Janaki is sinless and has lead pure life in the forest; let her give proof of purety by the great ascetic s permission.
vrm.7.108 Hearing those wonderful words of Rama, the emissaries speedily went to Valmiki and saluting the high souled ascetic burning in his effulgence and of incomparable lustre, communicated unto him, in sweet words all what Rama had said.
vrm.7.108 Heaing the words of the messengers and understanding Rama s intention the ascetic said What Rama has said shall be satisied.
vrm.7.108 The great ascetic having said this, the highly powerful emissaries, approaching Rama, communicated unto him what the Muni had said.
vrm.7.108 Hearing the words of the high souled Valmiki, Rama was greatly delighted.
vrm.7.108 Hearing the words of the high souled Rama, all the high souled Rishis began to speak of him in high terms and said :"O foremost of men, such an action becomes thee not any one else.
vrm.7.108 Thereupon having settled that Sita would swear next day, Rama, the slayer of enemies, dismissed them all.
vrm.7.108 And having made arrangements that Sita would go through the trial next day, the high minded, generous king Rama bade adieu unto all kings and Rishis.
vrm.7.109 Next morning Rama, being present in the sacrificial ground and having sent for the Rishis, Vasishta, Vamadeva Javali, Kashyapa, Viswamitra, carrying on penances for a long time, Durvasa, Pulastya of hard austerities, Salastri, Bhargava, Markandeya living long, the highly illustrious Madgalya, Gargya, Chyavana, Satananda, conversent with religions, effulgent Varadwaya, Agnis son Vasuprava, Narada, Parvata, the great Gautama and other ascetics of firm vows, assembled with minds possessed by curiosity.
vrm.7.109 With her face downwards,folded palms, eyes full of tears and meditating upon Rama in her mind, Sita, following the Rishi, came before the assembly.
vrm.7.109 Amongst the visitors some praised Rama, some praised Sita and others eulogised both of them.
vrm.7.109 Thereupon having entered that huge assemblage in company of Sita, the great ascetic Valmiki addressed Rama, saying "O son of Dasaratha, in fear of calumny, thou didst renounce her near my hermitage, albeit Sita is pure and follows the ways of morality.
vrm.7.109 O Rama of firm vows, thou art afraid of the censure of the people.
vrm.7.109 I tell you the truth, O Rama, that these irrepressible twin brothers are your sons, O descendant of Raghu, I am the tenth son of Pracheta, so, far from speaking untruth it does not even spring up in my mind.
vrm.7.110 Thereupon beholding all people assembled there, Janaka s daughter, wearing a red cloth, with her face and looks downwards and folded palms said "I have never thought of any other person in my mind but Rama; by the strength of this vitue let the goddess Vasundhara give me room.
vrm.7.110 I have always with my mind, body and words prayed for Rama s well being and by vitue hereof may the goddess Vasundhara give me room in her womb.
vrm.7.110 Some cried aloud in joy, some remained silent, and some motionless espied Rama or Sita.
vrm.7.111 Stricken with sorrow and grief and lowering down his head, Rama, with eyes full of tears, face downwards, and a dejected mind, sat down.
vrm.7.111 O Rama, this first epic poem, Ramayana, has been composed describing thy works.
vrm.7.111 Hearing the words of the great Patriarch instinct with well being, the highly effulgent Rama said to Valmiki: O illustrious sir, the Rishis living in Brahmas region have grown desirous of hearing my future history.
vrm.7.112 The night being over and having invited the leading ascetics, Rama told his sons to sing the poem fearlessly.
vrm.7.112 Sita having entered Patala by the strength of her vow, and the sacrifice having terminated, Rama grew poorly in spirit.
vrm.7.112 Rama being engaged in governing the kingdom and performing many pious rites long time passed away.
vrm.7.112 Thereupon after many years, the illustrious, Kausalya, Rama s mother, surrounded by her sons and grand sons, breathed her last.
vrm.7.112 Besides, having worshipped the deities and manes on the occasion of his father s Sraddha ceremony the high souled Rama distributed many jewels and engaged in the performance of a very difficult sacrifice.
vrm.7.113 Once upon a time Yudhajit, the king of Kekaya, sent into the high souled Rama, Gargya son of his own preceptor Angiras a Brahmin saint of unmitigated prowess; and with him he sent, as tokens of affections, gifts of Ten Thousand horses, numberless Blankets, various jewels, diverse clothes and well washed coverlets.
vrm.7.113 Hearing those words of Rama the great saint communicated unto him the object of his coming, saying.
vrm.7.113 Hearing the words of the maternal uncle communicated by the great saint, Rama, with delight, said "What you have commanded shall be satisfied.
vrm.7.116 In this wise the virtuous Rama having spent some time Kala, assuming the shape of an ascetic, arrived at the palace gate.
vrm.7.116 O thou of great strength, for a particular business, I have come here to see Rama.
vrm.7.116 Thereupon saying "So be it," Saumitri conducted, the effulgent ascetic unto Rama s house.
vrm.7.116 And having approached Rama the foremost of Raghus, the ascetic, burning in his own energy, said to him, in sweet accents: O great king, may prosperity crown thee.
vrm.7.116 And having welcomed him with water and Arghya the highly effulgent Rama asked him about his well being.
vrm.7.116 Being asked by Rama as to his welfare, that foremost of ascetics, skilled in the art of speech, sat on a golden seat.
vrm.7.116 Thereupon welcoming him Rama said "Do thou communicate unto me his words by whom thou hast been sent.
vrm.7.117 Hearing those unequalled words of the Patriarch from the mouth of Kala, the destroyer of all, Rama smiling said: I have been greatly pleased and happy for thy coming here, O my son.
vrm.7.118 Rama is engaged in some business so kindly wait here for some time.
vrm.7.118 Hearing the words of Rama, the highly powerful Durvasa, the foremost of Munis, said.
vrm.7.118 "Hear, O Rama fond of virtue.
vrm.7.118 Hearing those words Rama was greatly delighted and gave proper food unto that ascetic.
vrm.7.118 And feasting on that nectar like sweet food, Durvasa, the foremost of Rishis, thanked Rama and repaired to his own hermitage.
vrm.7.118 Thereupon remembering the words of Kala, Rama was greatly sorry.
vrm.7.120 Raising up the subjects according to the words of Vasishta Rama said "What good can I do for you!" Heaing Rama s words they said: O King, we shall follow thee wherever thou shalt go.
vrm.7.120 Observing such a firm devotion of the citizens Rama agreed to that.
vrm.7.121 Having been despatched by Rama, quick moving emissaries speedily arrived at Mathura.
vrm.7.121 And there he saw the great Rama, clothed in silk raiment burning like fire in the midst of the ascetics.
vrm.7.121 Thereupon remembering his duty he saluted Rama, conversant with piety and with folded hands said "I have placed my two sons on the throne of my kingdom.
vrm.7.121 And they all said "O Rama, O foremost of men, if thou dost repair to heaven forsaking us all, it will be hurling Yama s rod upon us.
vrm.7.121 The highly powerful Sugriva too saluting Rama said: "O lord of men, having placed Angada on the throne I have come hither.
vrm.7.122 After the night had expired the highly illustious Rama having a spacious breast and eyes like lotus petals said to the priest: Let the brilliant umbrellas Agnihotra, and Vajapeya go with the Brahmanas before, which look well in the great road.
vrm.7.122 The high souled Rishis and great Asuras followed the high souled Rama to the open gates of heaven.
vrm.7.122 The ministers and the servants, with their sons, beasts and fiends, followed Rama delightedly.
vrm.7.122 When Rama issued out of the city, whoever came to see him followed him being desirous of going to heaven.
vrm.7.122 All beings Ayodhya, whoever breathed and are very minute, accompanied Rama.
vrm.7.123 And having crossed that river of rising waves to some extent, Rama, with his followers arrived at the place where he should give up his person.
vrm.7.123 And then Rama prepared himself to descend to the waters of Sarayu.
vrm.7.123 Hearing the words of the Patriarch and determining everything the high minded Rama entered there bodily with his brothers in his Vishnu form.


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Rushmere Manor Heath and Reach
Rushmere Manor May 2008
Rushmere Manor was never a manor house. The Manor of Heath and Reach, originally called the Manor of Gladley, later Nares Gladley, was centred in this part of the parish but not at this property. It was listed by the former Department of Environment in 1980 as Grade II, of special interest. It is an 18th century building built of grey brick with red brick facings and comprises two storeys and attics. The roof is made of clay tiles with stone gable coping.
Under the terms of the Rating and Valuation Act 1925 every piece of land and building in the country was assessed to determine the rates to be paid on them. Heath and Reach was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting this property [DV1/C205/114] noted that it was owned by a man named Brantom but was unoccupied. Directories reveal that from at least 1931 to at least 1940 it was occupied by Captain Philip Spencer-Smith (retired).
The house stood in 0.843 acres and contained three reception rooms, a kitchen and scullery with three bedrooms and a bathroom ("not fitted with bath") above. Two attic rooms lay on the second floor. A brick and tile garage stood outside. The valuer commented: "Farm house type. ? whether converted into two again. Attractive. Not enough garden".

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Visual geometry
Posted on 11 June 2021 by John
If you're puzzled by the title of this post, allow me to explain.
A natural reaction would be "Isn't geometry intrinsically visual?" Indeed, geometry is motivated by things we can visualize. But modern developments of geometry have become heavy with formal machinery, so much so that one could reasonably ask "What happened to the geometry?"
Tristan Needham has a new book entitled Visual Differential Geometry and Forms that aims to put the geometry back into a first course on differential geometry. I expect it's a good read based on having read his previous book Visual Complex Analysis.
I just got a review copy in the mail, and flipping through the book I can see that it lives up to its title. It has lots of illustrations, just as you'd expect from a book on differential geometry if you hadn't taken courses in the subject.
Posted in Math
Tagged Differential geometry
Calculating dogleg severity
Posted on 29 March 2021 by John
Dogleg severity (DLS) is essentially what oilfield engineers call curvature.
Oil wells are not simply vertical holes in the ground. The boreholes curve around underground, even if the intent is to drill a perfectly straight hole. With horizontal drilling the curvature can be substantial.
Dogleg severity is calculated by measuring inclination and azimuth every 100 feet along a well. Inclination is the angle the hole makes with the vertical axis, like the angle φ in spherical coordinates, 90° minus the latitude. Azimuth is the angle of the projection of the well to a horizontal plane, like the θ or longitude angle in spherical coordinates. So if a well is nearly vertical, the inclination angles will be small. If a hole were shaped like a corkscrew, the inclination would be constant while the azimuth makes multiple rotations.
When I said 100 feet along the well, that is 100 feet of arc length. If a hole were perfectly vertical, this would be a change of 100 vertical feet, but generally it is less. If a segment were perfectly horizontal, it would be a change of 100 horizontal feet with no change in vertical depth.
Dogleg severity models a section of an oil well as a piece of a big circle. We assume our two inclination and azimuth measurements taken at two points along this circle, separated by an arc of 100 feet. If this arc makes an angle ψ, then the length of the arc is
ρ ψ = 100 ft
where ρ is the radius of the circle. Engineers call the angle ψ the dog leg angle, the angle of the sector between two measurements. Mathematicians call 1/ρ the curvature, so curvature is proportional to DLS.
To calculate curvature or DLS you have to calculate ψ from the two inclination and azimuth readings, (θ1, φ1) and (θ2, φ2). This is exactly the same as calculating distance from longitude and latitude. Instead of longitude and latitude on the earth, imagine a large sphere tangent to the wellbore at the two points where the measurements were taken. To put it another way, we imagine this section of the well as being a piece of a great circle on this sphere.
The only difference is that instead of the radius ρ being fixed and solving for distance, as in the longitude and latitude problem, our distance is fixed at 100 ft and we want to calculate ρ, or equivalently calculate ψ. From these notes we have
ψ = cos-1(cos φ1 cos φ2 + sin φ1 sin φ2 cos(θ1-θ2)).
So, for example, suppose we had inclination 4° and azimuth 30° at one point, and inclination 7° and azimuth 40° at the next measurement, 100 ft of arc length away. Then
ψ = cos-1(cos 4° cos 7° + sin 4° sin 7° (cos40° – 30°)) = 3.138°
This says ρ = 1826 feet, i.e. our section of the well is curved like a circle of radius 1826 feet.
We could compute this in Python as follows.
from numpy import sin, cos, arccos, deg2rad, rad2deg
def dls(inc1, az1, inc2, az2):
ph1 = deg2rad(inc1)
th1 = deg2rad(az1)
return rad2deg( arccos(
cos(ph1)*cos(ph2) + sin(ph1)*sin(ph2)*cos(th1-th2)) )
Here we assume input and output are in degrees, but internally we do calculations in radians.
If we call dls(4, 30, 7, 40) we get back 3.138°.
Computing distance from latitude and longitude
Kissing circle
Posted on 2 July 2020 by John
Curvature is a measure of how tightly a curve bends. A circle of radius r has curvature 1/r. So a small circle has high curvature and a big circle has small curvature.
In general the curvature of a curve at a point is defined to be the curvature of the circle that best fits at that point. This circle is called the osculating circle which means the circle that "kisses" the curve at that point.
From Online Etymology Dictionary:
osculate (v.) "to kiss (one another)," 1650s, from Latin osculatus, past participle of osculari "to kiss," from osculum "a kiss; pretty mouth, sweet mouth," literally "little mouth," diminutive of os "mouth"
The center of the osculating circle is called the center of curvature and the radius of the circle is called the radius of curvature.
I'll give two examples. The first is a set of ellipses that all have the unit circle as their osculating circle on the left end. So they all have curvature 1.
An ellipse with equation
has varying curvature at each point. At x = –a the curvature simplifies to a/b². So to make the graph above, I used a range of values for a and set each corresponding value of b to √a.
Next, instead of fixing the osculating circle I'll fix the curve. I'll use the equation to fit an egg that I've used before and plot the osculating circles at each end. The plot below uses a = 3, b = 2, and k = 0.1.
The curvature at the fat end is a(1-ka)/b² and the curvature at the pointy end is a(1+ka)/b². These are derived here.
Setting k = 0 gives the curvature of an ellipse at each end used above.
More on curvature
Total curvature of a knot
Curvature and automatic differentiation
Surface of revolution with minimum area
Suppose you're given two points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) with y1 and y2 positive. Find the smooth positive curve f(x) that passes through the two points such that the area of the surface formed by rotating the graph of f around the x-axis is minimized.
You can state this as a problem in calculus of variations, which leads to a differential equation, which leads to the solution
f(x) = c cosh((x + d)/c).
In other words, the surface area is minimized when the graph of f is a piece of a catenary [1].
This is interesting because the answer is not something you're likely to guess, unlike say the isoperimetric problem, where the it's easy to guess (but hard to prove) that the solution is a circle.
There's also some interesting fine print to the solution. It's not quite right to say that the solution is a catenary. To be more precise we should say that if there is a unique catenary that passes through both specified points, then it is the smooth curve with minimal area when rotated about the x-axis. But there are a couple things that could go wrong.
It's possible that two catenaries pass through the given points, and in that case one of the catenaries leads to minimal surface area. But it's also possible that there is no catenary passing through the given points.
My first thought would be that you could always find values of c and d so that the function f passes through the points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2), but that's not true. Often you can, but if the difference in the y's is very high relative to the difference in the x's it might not be possible.
Suppose the graph of f passes through (0, 1) and (1, y2).
Since the graph passes through the first point, we have
c cosh(d/c) = 1.
Since cosh(x) ≥ 1, we must also have c ≤ 1. And since our curve is positive, we must have c > 0. We can maximize
c cosh((1 + d)/c)
for 0 < c ≤ 1 subject to the constraint
c cosh(d/c) = 1
to find the maximum possible value of y2. If we ask Mathematica
NMaximize[
{   c Cosh[(1 + d)/c],
{0 < c <= 1},
{c Cosh[d/c] == 1}
{c, d}
we get
{6.45659*10^8, {c -> 0.0352609, d -> -0.142316}}
meaning the largest possible value of y2 is 6.45659 × 108, and it occurs when c = 0.0352609, d = -0.142316.
Update: See the comment by Bill Smathers below arguing that the maximum should be unbounded. If the argument is correct, this would imply the code above ran into a numerical limitation.
A curious property of catenaries
Objectives and constraints
[1] See Calculus of Variations by I. M. Gelfand and S. V. Fomin.
Self-curvature
Posted on 23 October 2019 by John
If you look at a sine wave, its curvature is sorta like its values. When sine is zero, the curve is essentially a straight line, and the curvature is zero. When sine is at its maximum, the function bends the most and so the curvature is at a maximum.
This makes sense analytically. The second derivative is something like curvature, and the second derivative of sin(x) is -sin(x). The negative sign suggests that if we look at signed curvature rather than absolute curvature, then the values of a sine curve are roughly proportional to the negative of the curvature at each point.
Here's a plot showing sin(x) and its negative curvature.
Steven Wilkinson wrote an article [1] addressing the question of whether there is a curve so that the curvature at each point is proportional to the value of the curve. The curvature of a graph of y = y(x) is
and so a curve that is proportional to its curvature is a solution to the nonlinear differential equation
General theory says that there should at least be a solution in a (possibly small) neighborhood of 0, but it's not obvious a priori that interesting solutions exist. It turns out that if we pick the proportionality constant a = -1 and the initial conditions y(0) = 0 and y '(0) = √3 then we get a periodic solution that looks something like a sine.
The following Mathematica code will plot the function for us.
s = NDSolve[
{y''[x] = -y[x] (1 + y'[x]^2)^(-3/2),
y[0] == 0, y'[0] == Sqrt[3]},
y, {x, 0, 10}]
Plot[Evaluate[{y[x] /. s}], {x, 0, 10}]
The plot looks a lot like a sine wave. In fact, I imagine that when asked to draw a sine wave, most people would draw something that looks more like this than like an actual sine wave.
Curvature of a squircle
Curvature of an egg
[1] Steven Wilkison. Self-Curvature Curves. Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 82, No. 5 (December 2009), pp. 354-359
Tagged Differential equations Differential geometry
Curvature of an ellipsoid
Posted on 7 October 2019 by John
For an ellipsoid with equation
the Gaussian curvature at each point is given by
Now suppose a ≥ b ≥ c > 0. Otherwise relabel the coordinate axes so that this is the case. Then the largest curvature occurs at (±a, 0, 0), and the smallest curvature occurs at (0, 0, ±c).
You could prove this using algebra by manipulating inequalities, or using calculus with Lagrange multipliers.
To see intuitively why this might be true, it helps to exaggerate the shape. First imagine that a is much larger than b or c. Then you have a cigar shape, the greatest curvature as at the two ends. And If you imagine c being much smaller than a and b, you have sort of a pancake shape which is flat on top and bottom.
The maximum curvature is (a/bc)² and the minimum curvature is (c/ab)².
More curvature posts
Equation to fit an egg
Tie a knot in a rope and join the ends together. At each point in the rope, compute the curvature, i.e. how much the rope bends, and integrate this over the length of the rope. The Fary-Milnor theorem says the result must be greater than 4π. This post will illustrate this theorem by computing numerically integrating the curvature of a knot.
If p and q are relatively prime integers, then the following equations parameterize a knot.
x(t) = cos(pt) (cos(qt) + 2)
y(t) = sin(pt) (cos(qt) + 2)
z(t) = -sin(qt)
This is in fact a torus knot because the curve stays on the surface of a torus (doughnut) [1]. We can get a trefoil knot, for example, by setting p = 2 and q = 3.
We'll use Mathematica to compute the total curvature of this knot and other examples. First the parameterization:
x[t_, p_, q_] := Cos[p t] (Cos[q t] + 2)
y[t_, p_, q_] := Sin[p t] (Cos[q t] + 2)
z[t_, p_, q_] := -Sin[q t]
We can plot torus knots as follows.
k[t_, p_, q_] := {
x[t, p, q],
y[t, p, q],
z[t, p, q]
Graphics3D[Tube[Table[k[i, p, q], {i, 0, 2 Pi, 0.01}],
0.08], Boxed -> False]
Here's a more complicated knot with p = 3 and q = 7.
Before we can integrate the curvature with respect to arc length, we need an expression for an element of arc length as a function of the parameter t.
ds[t_, p_, q_] :=  Sqrt[
D[x[t, p, q], t]^2 +
D[y[t, p, q], t]^2 +
D[z[t, p, q], t]^2
Now we can compute the total curvature.
total[p_, q_] := NIntegrate[
ArcCurvature[k[t, p, q], t] ds[t, p, q],
{t, 0, 2 Pi}
We can use this to find that the total curvature of the (2,3) torus knot, the trefoil, is 17.8224, whereas 4π is 12.5664. So the Fary-Milnor theorem holds.
Let's do one more example, this time a (1,4) knot.
You can see that this is not actually knot. This doesn't contradict what we said above because 1 divides 4. When p or q equal 1, we get an unknot.
When we compute its total curvature we get 24.2737, more than 4π. The Fary-Milnor theorem doesn't say that total curvature in excess of 4π is a sufficient condition for a loop to be knotted; it says it's necessary. Total curvature less than 4π proves that something isn't a knot, but curvature greater than 4π doesn't prove anything.
More on curvature and knots
Squircles and curvature
Globe knots
[1] If you change out the 2s in the parameterization with a larger number, it's easier to see from the graphs that the curves are on a torus. For example, if we plot the (3,7) knot again, replacing 2's in the definition of x(t) and y(t) with 5's, we can kinda see a torus inside the knot.
Tagged Differential geometry Mathematica Topology
Unit speed curve parameterization
A friend asked me a question the other day that came out of a graphics application. He needed to trace out an ellipse in such a way that the length of curve traced out each second was constant. For a circle, the problem is simple: (cos(t), sin(t)) will trace out a circle covering a constant amount of arc length per unit time. The analogous parameterization for an ellipse, (a cos(t), b sin(t)) will move faster near the longer semi-axis and slower near the shorter one.
There's a general solution to the problem for any curve. Given a parameterization p(t), where p is vector-valued, the length covered from time 0 to time t is
If you change the time parameterization by inverting this function, solving for t as a function of s, then the total length of curve traversed by p(t(s)) up to time s is s. This is called either the unit speed parameterization or parameterization by arc length.
The hard part is inverting s(t). If you had to find a unit speed parameterization in a calculus class, the problem would be carefully designed so the function s(t) is easy to invert. Real applications don't usually work out so easily.
Digression on elliptic integrals and elliptic functions
My response to my friend's question was that there probably is a closed-form unit speed parameterization, but it would probably involve elliptic functions. He didn't need much resolution, and decided to do something ad hoc.
Starting with the parameterization p(t) = (a cos(t), b sin(t)), the arc length s(t) is given by a special function known as an "incomplete elliptic integral of the second kind." I remembered that the Jacobi elliptic functions were related to the inverses of elliptic integrals, so my hunch was that you could make a unit speed parameterization using Jacobi elliptic functions. Maybe you can, but it's not as easy as I thought because the Jacobi functions are related to the inverses of elliptic integrals of the first kind.
Elliptic integrals are so named because they were first identified by computing arc length for a (portion of) an ellipse. Elliptic functions were discovered by inverting elliptic integrals, but not the same class of elliptic integrals that give the arc length of an ellipse. (There may well be a transformation that makes these more directly related, but I'm not aware of it.)
Incidentally, elliptic curves are related to elliptic functions, but they are not ellipses! There is a connection from ellipses to elliptic curves, but it's historical and indirect.
What if we had a more general curve than an ellipse, say something parameterized by cubic splines? Cubic splines are piecewise cubic polynomials, patched together in such a way that the first and second derivatives are continuous across the patches. We can find length of a spline by finding the length of each polynomial patch.
If p(t) is the parameterization of a curve in 2 or 3 dimensions (or really any number of dimensions) and each component of p is a cubic polynomial, then each component of the derivative of p is a quadratic polynomial, and so the sum of the squares of the components is a fourth degree polynomial. So finding the arc length involves integrating the square root of a fourth degree polynomial. This makes it an elliptic integral!
Unfortunately, knowing that the arc length of a cubic spline corresponds to an elliptic integral is not so useful because it could be any type of elliptic integral, depending on its parameters. You'd have to do some work first to put it into a form where you could call on elliptic integrals to finish your problem.
Numerically computing arc length and unit speed parameterization
The elliptic integral path is something of a dead end. It could still be useful if you needed high accuracy, or if you had some restriction on the class of curves you're interested in. But in general, you'd need to use numerical integration to find the arc length.
You could also find unit-speed parameterizations numerically, using root-finding to invert s(t) at particular points. Since s is an increasing function of t, you could use a bisection method, which is not the most efficient approach but very robust.
It takes a fair amount of computation to carry root finding where each function evaluation requires computing a numerical integral. But this would work, and depending on your context it could be efficient enough.
If you needed more efficiency, say for a real-time embedded system, you could take a different approach. Your spline is probably an approximation to something else, and so your solution only needs to be as accurate as the spline approximation. This gives you the wiggle room to do something more efficient. You might change your parameterization slightly to make the arc length calculations easier, or come up with a way to approximately invert the arc length function, something that takes advantage of your particular problem and error tolerance.
Tridiagonal systems and cubic splines
Bezier basics
Tagged Differential geometry Special functions
Curvature is tedious to calculate by hand because it involves calculating first and second order derivatives. Of course other applications require derivatives too, but curvature is the example we'll look at in this post.
Computing derivatives
It would be nice to write programs that only explicitly implement the original function and let software take care of finding the derivatives.
Numerical differentiation
Finite difference approximations for derivatives are nothing new. For example, Euler (1707–1783) used finite differences to numerically solve differential equations. But numerical differentiation can be inaccurate or unstable, especially for higher order derivatives.
Symbolic differentiation
Symbolic differentiation is another approach, having the computer manipulate expressions much as a person would do by hand. It works well for many problems, though it scales poorly for large problems. It also requires functions to be presented in traditional mathematical form, not in the form of source code.
Automatic differentiation
Automatic differentiation is a third way. Like numerical differentiation, it works with floating point numbers, not symbolic expressions. But unlike numerical differentiation, the result does not have approximation error.
As someone put it, automatic differentiation applies the chain rule to floating point numbers rather than to symbolic expressions.
Python implementation
I'll use the Python library autograd to compute curvature and illustrate automatic differentiation. autograd is not the most powerful automatic differentiation library for Python, but it is the simplest I've seen.
We will compute the curvature of a logistic curve.
The curvature of the graph of a function is given by
Here's Python code using autograd to compute the curvature.
import autograd.numpy as np
from autograd import grad
def f(x):
return 1/(1 + np.exp(-x))
f1 = grad(f)  # 1st derivative of f
f2 = grad(f1) # 2nd derivative of f
def curvature(x):
return abs(f2(x))*(1 + f1(x)**2)**-1.5
Curvature plots
The graph is relatively flat in the middle and at the far ends. In between, the graph bends creating two regions of higher curvature.
x = np.linspace(-5, 5, 300)
plt.plot(x, f(x))
plt.xlabel("$x$")
plt.ylabel("$y$")
plt.title("Logistic curve")
plt.savefig("logistic_curve.svg")
Now let's look at the curvature.
y = [curvature(t) for t in x]
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.ylabel(r"$\kappa(x)$")
plt.title("Curvature")
plt.savefig("plot_logistic_curvature.svg")
As we should expect, the curvature is small at the ends and in the middle, with local maxima in between.
We can also look at the signed curvature, the same expression as curvature but without the absolute value.
We plot this with the following code.
def signed_curvature(x):
return f2(x)*(1 + f1(x)**2)**-1.5
y = [signed_curvature(t) for t in x]
plt.ylabel(r"$k(x)$")
plt.title("Signed curvature")
plt.savefig("graph_signed_curvature.svg")
The result looks more like a sine wave.
The positive values mean the curve is bending counterclockwise, and the negative values mean the curve is bending clockwise.
Related post: Squircles and curvature
Tagged Differential geometry Python SciPy
Apple design, squircles, and curvature
Posted on 13 February 2018 by John
A "squircle" is a sort of compromise between a square and circle, but one that differs from a square with rounded corners. It's a shape you'll see, for example, in some of Apple's designs.
A straight line has zero curvature, and a circle with radius r has curvature 1/r. So in a rounded square the curvature jumps from 0 to 1/r where the flat side meets the circular corner. But in the figure above there's no abrupt change in curvature but instead a smooth transition. More on that in just a bit.
To get a smoother transition from the corners to the flat sides, designers use what mathematicians would call Lp balls, curves satisfying
in rectangular coordinates or
in polar coordinates.
When p = 2 we get a circle. When p = 2.5, we get square version of the superellipse. As p increases the corners get sharper, pushing out toward the corner of a square. Some sources define the squircle to be the case p = 4 but others say p = 5. The image at the top of the post uses p = 4. [*]
To show how the curvature changes, let's plot the curvature on top of the squircle. The inner curve is the squircle itself, and radial distance to the outer curve is proportional to the curvature.
Here's the plot for p = 4.
And here's the plot for p = 5.
If we were to make the same plot for a rounded square, the curvature would be zero over the flat sides and jump to some constant value over the circular caps. We can see above that the curvature is largest over the corners but continuously approaches zero toward the middle of the sides.
More squircle posts
Swedish Superellipse
History of the term "squircle"
Higher dimensional squircles
[*] Use whatever value of p you like. The larger p is, the closer the figure becomes to a square. The closer p is to 2, the closer the figure is to a circle.
You can even use smaller values of p. The case p = 1 gives you a diamond. If p is less than 1, the sides bend inward. The plot below shows the case p = 0.5.
As p gets smaller, the sides pull in more. As p goes to zero, the figure looks more and more like a plus sign.


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'A Midsummer Night's Dream' || A High Spirited Spectacle Presented by St. Thomas
Director Dan Green embraced his sixth staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream with an inventive take, both saucy and sweet, worldly and enchanted, on William Shakespeare's fantasy comedy.
Dangerous and mysterious potions, fairy warfare, and crazy mixed-up love are the themes of this 400-year-old fusion of Greek mythology and cringe comedy. There was plenty of plot to manage and showcase during the October presentation in Cemo Auditorium at the Moran Fine Arts Center.
The mischievous fairy Puck is a reckless figure of anarchy and compassion played with zest by Jordan Navarijo '20. He and the king and queen of the fairies – Bishop Yokubaitis '21 as Oberon and Caroline King (St. Agnes Academy '20) as Titania – turn their enchanted wood into a magical place for mortals in love. But since this is a comedy of errors, they all fall for the wrong people. Chaos reigns. And hilarity ensues.
In this case, the wrong people include Robert Frank '20 as Bottom, who becomes the object of Titania's affection. Audrey Moffet (Incarnate Word Academy '20) plays feisty Hermia. She's taken with Lysander, played by Patrick Pham '21, but is promised in marriage to Demetrius, played with gusto by Gus Boettcher '21. And Caitlyn Gilliam (SAA '20), as the desperate pursuer of Helena, is after Demetrius, even as he lures for emotionally wayward Hermia.
"There was a willingness from the entire program to accept the challenge of William Shakespeare and exceed all of our expectations," Green says. "Everyone surprised everyone with commitment and execution. There wasn't a single weak link. The four lovers were wonderful … the fool's play within the play brilliant … the fairies poetic and intoxicating."
Green and his creative team including co-director Kim Shipman embraced these busy, discordant elements wholeheartedly and crafted an immersive production with stunning set design, costuming, musical accompaniment and, most importantly, captivating performances.
"The actors brought so many of their own ideas to this story," Green says. "The lovers' fight with Patrick and Gus was very physical, a natural and logical sequence. Bishop brought a great physicality and strength to Oberon. He and Jordan and Caroline worked to give those fairy characters an otherworldly quality. It was suggested that Jordan's Puck was imitating (Marvel Comics character) Deadpool when in fact it was Deadpool imitating the natural writing of Puck. And Jordan identified the playfulness and ran with it. Gus's snooty, snobby quality made us all truly dislike Demetrius. He was tremendous. It was grand fun."
[HERE FOR GALLERY]
The sprightly cast was alive with spot-on comedic timing, fully in sync with Shakespeare's dazzling wordplay while creating energy infused chemistry onstage. In a play filled with scene stealers, no one pulls off a great heist. But it seems clear that all the performers here were inspired by Frank's bottomless passion to take on any role and to turn every thought and impulse into theatrical action.
"Frank provides the heart and soul of the play, a fool with great ambition," Green says. "He played the part better than I ever did. He had the arrogance but also a vulnerability right under the surface, and neither was obtrusive that you wouldn't laugh."
The production encouraged confidence from the outset, starting with scenic designer Phil Gensheimer's set, assisted by Daniel Bryant '93. Superb collaboration from audio/visual coordinator Chris Hodge and lighting manager Benjamin Haworth helped create the worlds of real and metaphysical. Essential contributors included stage manager Katy Neaves and St. Thomas Choir Director Josh Wilson, who was involved in his 16th STH production.
"It was the grandest set we've ever had and I've loved every set we've had without exception," Green says. "We knew what we wanted but didn't know how we were going to get there. The finish was beyond what we expected. There was so much mobility and interaction on stage. Slides and trampolines. It was a playground."
A deep personal connection to Midsummer continues to return Green to what is thought to be Bard's family-friendliest comedy.
"This is the first Shakespeare play I ever laugh at," Green says. "A PBS showing from New York City (1982) with William Hurt (as Oberon), Christine Baranski, Ricky Jay, and five-year-old Emanuel Lewis running around. It was so amazing. I was then cast in a role at Spring Hill College.
"I believe this is the play that most teaches actors to love Shakespeare. There are other works that students read to understand and appreciate the Renaissance. But I want to give students something they naturally like and this is one part Animal House, one par "Love Stinks" (think J. Geils Band), one part Greek mythology, one part screwball comedy, all with assorted Bunny/Daffy Duck antics. I had always thought Shakespeare to be inaccessible but then I discovered Midsummer hits initially like The Three Stooges, and then on a second viewing The Three Stooges with some profound meaning."
In the hands of Green's thespians, the Shakespeare tale of potions and potent feelings, of love lost and found in an enchanted forest became a gleeful tribute to the joys of losing and finding yourself through acting, and not merely the silly show-off antics that were on display.
"With Guys and Dolls (spring 2019) or The Addams Family (spring 2017) the tone for the actors is established by the music, that's the emotional suggestion on how to act," Green says. "With Midsummer, you have to first translate the language and discover what the characters are saying. Then they have to learn how to act, both vocally and physically. The missing element is always the audience telling them it's funny. By the end of rehearsals, they knew this was funny."
Whatever the countless translations for Shakespeare's most malleable play, all audiences ever seek is magic and a sense of joy. Without question this thoughtful, relatively risky St. Thomas take on a familiar classic was well worth experiencing. If Shakespeare were always as much fun as this mounting, the kids would all demand to see it.
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By St. Thomas High School|2019-12-16T10:46:50-06:00October 24th, 2019|Academics, Campus News, Student Life|0 Comments
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About this page
---------------

This page will provide templates, best practices, and code snippets for maps, charts, and timelines developed for energy.gov and all of its sub-sites.

This page is currently under active development and is not yet meant to be used.

This codebase is licensed under the [MIT open source license](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) though it is intended to be used internally by employees of the Department of Energy and other cabinet level agencies.  See the ``LICENSE`` file for the complete license.

Assumptions
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If you're building a map or chart for energy.gov

 * You can write css, javascript, html.
 * You have read and grasp the basics of whatever library you are using.
 * You have reviewed the Best Practices (below) and reviewed the map template (if applicable).

Libraries
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 * [Jquery](http://jquery.com/) for DOM manipulation (default on all Energy.gov page).
 * [Timeline JS](http://timeline.knightlab.com/) for timelines (soon to be integrated in Drupal).
 * [Leaflet JS](http://leafletjs.com/reference.html) for mapping
 * [Mapbox JS](https://www.mapbox.com/mapbox.js/) for mapping
 * [Highcharts JS](http://www.highcharts.com/) for charts and graphs
 * [D3 JS](http://d3js.org/) for SVG and canvas advanced charts
 * [Dragdealer JS](http://code.ovidiu.ch/dragdealer/) for dragable bars
 * [Underscore JS ](http://documentcloud.github.io/underscore/) for functional programming (where Underscore and jQuery overlap, i.e. each(), prefer Underscore).
 * [Enquire JS ](http://wicky.nillia.ms/enquire.js/) for responsive javascript.

DOE note: all libraries must be approved prior to use on energy.gov

Best Practices
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Find a comprehensive best practices [here](https://github.com/energyapps/bestpractices).

The best practices page is cribbed from the [NPRApps Best Practices](https://github.com/nprapps/bestpractices/blob/master/README.md).

Credits
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This template is based off of quality work from the [NPRApps team](https://github.com/nprapps/app-template/blob/master/README.md).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Q: Why is the model performance better with more data, while it does not seem to be due to reduced model variance? So according to most of the sources I saw, increasing training data size will only benefit high-variance ML models by exposing the model to less spurious patterns, which occur more frequently in smaller data sets.
However, I observed that my NLP model had consistently low (which suggests that it is not due to high variance) prediction accuracy when the training data set is small, and its prediction accuracy improved dramatically with more training data.
The image below is the learning curves for three runs of the same NLP algorithm.

This seems intuitive as statistical methods need more data to be trained properly. However, I'm interested to know if there's any theory/rules that explains this observation?

A:
However, I observed that my NLP model had consistently low (which suggests that it is not due to high variance)...

I don't believe this is necessarily the case.  Variance in the sense of bias-variance tradeoff refers to the variance over different training sets of the model's output on a fixed (unseen) datapoint.  A very high-variance model will likely have very poor scores on any new test set.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange