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Qatar: Between the Scylla of Coercion and the Charybdis of Accommodation: aan inquiry into sub-regional geopolitics
[Prefatory Note: Responses to Interview Questions on Sub-Regional Geopolitics in the Persian/Arab Gulf countries, Qods News Agency, 10 Dec 2020. Qatar is caught between seeking the end of the coercive diplomacy led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE and not wanting to end its necessary cooperation with Iran, especially with respect to large maritime natural gas deposits. The efforts at accommodation can turn out to be either a lessening of a confrontational approach to Iran or its intensification. Coming months, perhaps weeks, will be clarifying.]
Q1: What is the role of Saudi Arabia in the structure of countries like Iraq, Syria, Yemen, or even Lebanon?
There is little doubt that Saudi Arabia seeks to spread its influence throughout
the Middle East, both to enhance the regime stability of the monarchy and to contain challenges of Iran arising in the countries mentioned in the question. Saudi Arabian security is also linked to sectarian identity, not only to give hegemonic legitimacy to its particular version of Islam but to express its view that Shi'ism is responsible for turmoil and strife throughout the region, and is the basis of Iranian influence beyond its borders. These issues cause political controversy and explain external intervention in the four countries mentioned. In each one Iran is perceived by the Saudi government as blocking national ambitions in Riyadh to be the regional leader, but also of the perceived threats to Saudi security and legitimacy. The Islamic Republic of Iran is seen by Saudi Arabia as being not only a challenge to Sunni dominance of Islamic allegiance and identity in the region but also as an abiding threat to domestic security due to the strategic presence in the society of discontented and radicalized Shi'ite minorities and by Shi'ite insistence, clearly articulated by Ayatollah Khomeini, that monarchy is not compatible with Islamic values.
Q2: Given the fact that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE obey the US policies, what is your assessment of the current dispute among them?
It is a mistake to assume that the U.S. controls all aspects of Gulf country behavior. I believe that Saudi Arabia and UAE were disturbed by what they regarded as Qatar's independent line of political behavior that collided with their policy preferences. These governments wanted there to be unity of purpose and policy with Gulf Cooperation Policy under their reactionary leadership, and opposed Qatar's normalized relations with Iran, their openness to giving asylum and diplomatic support to Muslim Brotherhood leaders and prominent Hamas leaders living in exile, as well as their relative openness to 'modernity' with regard to freedom of expression and independent media, particularly Aljazeera, which carried articles that were critical of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in relation to the Syrian strife and otherwise. From available information, the U.S. never was comfortable with this split among Gulf countries, except at the very outset when the Saudi anti-Qatar received the obviously ill-considered blessings of President Trump while he was in Riyadh. Shortly afterwards, the U.S. Government realizing its strategic interests, quickly shifted its position and began using it diplomatic leverage to encourage reconciliation. It is plausible to believe that U.S. influence might have discouraged more aggressive moves against Qatar. The large U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar undoubtedly was a factor leading Washington to promote accommodation and at the same time likely inhibiting the Saudi/UAE led coalition from making any serious effort to implement their reported intention to achieve regime-change in Doha. It is likely that the Biden presidency will persist in its efforts to restore harmony among the Gulf monarchies, which is also what Israel seeks.
Q3: What reasons caused the shift of Arab world leadership from Egypt, Syria, and Iraq to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar? What were its effects?
Egypt, Syria, and Iraq exhibit national situations that each have their own special features generating distinct atmospheres of national emergency. At the same time, they share all-consuming preoccupations associated with domestic turmoil, strife, and conflict within their respective countries. These crisis situations dominates the energies of the political leadership of these governments. It is hardly surprising that the search for stability at home take precedence over the regional agenda. As well, these countries are not nearly as worried as are Saudi Arabia and the UAE by Iranian expanded influence in the region, or particularly threatened by anti-Sunni sectarianism. In contrast, as suggested above, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are relatively stable domestically, while giving greater attention to developments within the regional context of the Middle East. Qatar seems differently motivated, and can be best understood as asserting its independence as a sovereign state, thereby overcoming being in the shadows cast by its larger neighbor. Qatar uses its fossil fuel wealth and active political imagination to overcome its subordinated and mini-state reality, which it did so successfully as to provoke Saudi and Emirate elites, apparently particularly annoyed that Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 World Cup.
Q4: What are the reasons for the current regional security and political crises in the Middle East?
There are four principal reasons for these serious, prolonged crises: first, the various regional reverberations of the Iranian Revolution that has generated since 1979 a counterrevolutionary series of responses led, and even financed by Saudi Arabia and regional allies, and strongly endorsed by Israel and the United States. Each of these political actors has their specific motivations and priorities, as well as convergent policy objectives; secondly, the regionally destabilizing impacts of the Arab Uprisings of 2011, and the various efforts to reverse, or at least neutralize, those challenges directed at the established economic and political order. As well, the severe unresolved civil strife in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Libya have offered occasions for competitive interventions that have led to several proxy wars; thirdly, the U.S./UK attack on and regime-changing occupation of Iraq in 2003 had the effect of intensifying sectarian tensions and contributing to political extremism, dramatized by the rise of ISIS, and other manifestations of transnational terrorism; fourthly, the outside reactions to these developments in Iraq increased the scale of regional and international interventions in Syria and Yemen, produced oppression in Egypt, and led to frequent unlawful military actions by Israel in Syria. Such turmoil was aggravated by various U.S. undertakings designed to destabilize Iran, including by covert actions and sanctions maintained during the COVID pandemic despite international appeals to suspend sanctions and mitigate acute civilian suffering and adverse humanitarian consequences. The United States and Israel have given a high priority to curbing Iranian regional influences in relation to Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and more recently, Lebanon, as well as in Gaza.
Q5: What is your opinion about the role of the Persian Gulf Arab countries in the formation of terrorist groups?
I am not an expert on this topic, nor is it easy to assess, given the role of secret and disguised behavior of Persian Gulf Arab countries. For many years, Saudi Arabia invested many billions in support of madrassas in Asian Sunni countries that encouraged Salafi versions of political extremism that
inspired terrorist organizations and political agendas, and also led to an increased reliance on state terrorist tactics and weaponry in carrying on counterterrorist warfare regionally. It is my impression that the lower profile military engagement by the U.S. during the Trump presidency led the Gulf Arab governments to be more regionally cautious, seemingly worried about escalation that might lead to war if Iran was unduly provoked, with the assumption that a full-fledged regional war would produce catastrophic results for all sides. Illustrative of a more cautious Gulf style of confrontation was the muted response to the drone attack attributed to Yemen, but with Iranian weaponry and alleged political support,t on the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil processing facilities located at Abqaiq in eastern Saudi Arabia. Whether Biden will revive American participation in the 2015 Nuclear Program Agreement in Iran, ending sanctions, will affect how Persian Gulf Arab governments deal with anti-Iranian terrorist organizations. As always, expectations about such behavior in the region should be tentative as many uncertainties loom on the road ahead.
Tags: Gulf Dispute, intervention, Iran, Qaatar, Saudi Arabia
Categories Commentary, Iran, Iran Sanctions, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
Interrogating the Qatar Rift
The abrupt announcement that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, UAE, Yemen, the Maldive Islands, and the eastern government in divided Libya have broken all economic and political ties with Qatar has given rise to a tsunami of conjecture, wild speculation, and most of all, to wishful thinking and doomsday worries. There is also a veil of confusion arising from mystifying reports that hackers with alleged Russian connections placed a fake news story that implicated Qatar in the promotion of extremist groups in the region. Given Russian alignments, it makes no sense to create conditions that increase the credibility of anti-Iran forces. And finally the timing and nature of the terrorist suicide attacks of June 7th on the Iranian Parliament and on the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini adds a particularly mystifying twist to the rapidly unfolding Qatar drama, especially if the ISIS claim of responsibility is substantiated.
Four preliminary cautionary observations seem apt: (1) the public explanation given for this rupture is almost certainly disconnected from its true meaning. That is, the break with Qatar is not about strengthening the anti-ISIS, anti-extremist coalition of Arab forces. Such an explanation may play well in the Trump White House, but it is far removed from understanding why this potentially menacing anti-Qatar regional earthquake erupted at this time, and what it is truly about. (2) Any claim to provide a clear account of why? And why now? should be viewed with great skepticism, if not suspicion. There are in the regional context too many actors, crosscurrents, uncertainties, conflicts, mixed and hidden motives and contradictions at play as to make any effort at this stage to give a reliable and coherent account of this Qatar crisis bound to be misleading.
(3) Yet despite these caveats, there are several mainly unspoken dimensions of the crisis that can be brought to the surface, and sophisticate our understanding beyond the various self-serving polemical interpretations that are being put forward, including the centrality of Israeli-American backing for a tough line on Iran and the realization that Gulf grievances against Qatar have been brewing for recent years for reasons unrelated to ISIS, and led to an earlier milder confrontation in 2014 that was then quickly overcome with the help of American diplomacy.
And (4) The anti-Iran fervor only makes sense from the perspective of the Gulf monarchies (other than Qatar) and Israel, but seems radically inconsistent with American regional interests and counter-ISIS priorities—Iran is not associated with any of the terrorist incidents occurring in Europe and the United States, and ISIS and Iran are pitted against each other on sectarian grounds. Intriguingly, neither Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), nor Israel, that is, the principal antagonists of Qatar, have been ever targeted by ISIS.
The main contention of the anti-Qatar Arab governments, led by Saudi Arabia, is that this coordinated diplomatic pushback is motivated by anti-terrorist priorities. On its face this seems to be a ridiculous claim to come from the Saudis, and can only make some sense as part of a calculated effort to throw pursuing dogs in the hunt for ISIS off a course that if followed would inevitably implicate the Riyadh government. It has long been known by intelligence services and academic experts that it is Saudi Arabia, including members of its royal family, that have been funding Jihadi extremism in the Middle East and has for many years been spending billions to spread Salifist extremism throughout the Islamic world.
By comparison, although far from innocent or consistent of terrorist linkages, as well as being internally oppressive, especially toward its migrant foreign workers, Qatar is a minor player in this high stakes political imbroglio. For the Saudis to take the lead in this crusade against Qatar may play well in Washington, Tel Aviv, and London, but fools few in the region. Trump has with characteristic ill-informed bravado has taken ill-advised credit for this turn against Qatar, claiming it to be an immediate payoff of his recent visit to the Kingdom, ramping up still further the provocative buildup of pressure on Iran. To claim a political victory given the circumstances rather than admit a geopolitical faux pas might seem strange for any leader other than Trump. It is almost perverse considering that the al-Udeid Air Base is in Qatar, which is the largest American military facility in the Middle East, operated as a regional command center actively used in bombing raids against Iraq and Afghanistan, and serviced by upwards of 10,000 American military personnel.
Netanyahu warmongers will certainly be cheered by this course of events and Israel has not hidden its support for the anti-Qatar moves of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It achieves two Israeli goals: its longtime undertaken to encourage splits and disorder in the Arab world and its campaign to maximize pressures on Iran.
Interestingly, Jeremy Corbyn at the start of the week when the momentous British elections are scheduled to take place, called on Teresa May to release a report (prepared while David Cameron was prime minister), supposedly an explosive exposure of Saudi funding and support for Islamic extremism in the Middle East. All in all, a first approximation of the Qatar crisis is to view it as a desperate move by Riyadh to get off the hot seat with respect to its own major responsibility for the origins and buildup of political extremism in the Middle East, which has indirectly produced the inflaming incidents in principal European cities during the last several years. Such a move to isolate and punish Qatar was emboldened by the blundering encouragement of Donald Trump, whether acting on impulse or at the beckoning of Israel's and Saudi leaders, confusing genuine counter-terrorist priorities with a dysfunctional effort to push Iran against the wall. Trump seems to forget, if he ever knew, that Iran is fighting against ISIS in Syria, has strongly reaffirmed moderate leadership in its recent presidential elections, and if Iran were brought in from the cold could be a major calming influence in the region. True, Iran has given support to Hezbollah and Hamas, but except in Syria not with much effect, and on a scale far smaller than what other actors in the region have been doing to maintain their control and push their agendas. In effect, if Washington pursued national interests in the spirit of political realism, it would regard Iran as a potential ally, and put a large question mark next to its two distorting 'special relationships,' with Saudi Arabia and Israel. In effect, reverse its regional alignments in a way that could replace turmoil with stability, but this is not about to happen. The American media, and thoughtful citizens, should at least be wondering 'why?' rather than staring into darkness of a starless nighttime sky.
But this is not all. The Saudis, along with the UAE and Egypt, have long resented and maybe feared the early willingness of Qatar to give some sanctuary and aid and comfort to various elements of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. It is hardly farfetched to assume that Israel is outraged by the Emir of Qatar's friendship and earlier support for the Hamas exiled leader, Khaled Mashaal. Saudi Arabia strives to obscure its incoherent approach to political Islam. It loudly proclaims Sunni identity when intervening in Syria, waging war in Yemen, and calling for confrontation with Iran, while totally repudiating its sectarian identity when dealing with societally or democratically oriented Islamic movements in neighboring countries. Such an anti-democratiing orientation was dramatically present when Riyadh and Abu Dhabi scolded Washington for abandoning Mubarak's harsh authoritarian secular rule in Egypt back in 2011 and then welcoming the anti-Morsi coup led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi two years later, even welcoming its bloody suppression of Sunni adherents of the Muslim Brotherhood. As has been long obvious to close and honest observers of the Kingdom, the Saudi monarchy has become so fearful of an internal uprising challenging its oppressive rule that it will oppose any liberalizing or democratizing challenge anywhere in its neighborhood. The Kingdom is particularly wary of its Shia minority that happens to be concentrated in locations near where the main Saudi oil fields are located. Similar concerns also help explain why Bahrain behaves as it does as it also fearful of a domestic Shia led majority opposition, which has made it a strategically dependent, yet ardent, adherent of the anti-Qatar coalition.
Also far more relevant than acknowledged is the presence of Al Jazeera in Doha, which at various times has voiced support for the Arab Uprisings of 2011, criticism of the Israeli practices and policies toward the Palestinians, and provided an Arabic media source of relatively independent news coverage throughout the region. Qatar is guilty of other irritants of the dominant Gulf political sensibility. It has arranged academic positions for such prominent Palestinian dissidents as Azmi Bashara and more than its neighbors has given welcome to intellectual refugees from Arab countries, especially Egypt. Given the way the Gulf rulers close off all political space within their borders it is to be expected that they find the relative openness of Qatar a threat as well as consider it to be a negative judgment passed on their style of governance.
Qatar is very vulnerable to pressure, but also has certain strengths. Its population of 2.5 million (only 200,000 of whom are citizens), imports at least 40% of its food across the Saudi border, now closed to the 600-800 daily truck traffic. Not surprisingly, this sudden closure has sparked panic among Qataris, who are reportedly stockpiling food and cash. The Doha stock market dropped over 7% on the first day after the Gulf break was announced. Qatar is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, and is a major source of Turkish investment capital. Western Europe is wary of this American project to establish an 'Arab NATO,' and sees it as one more manifestation of Trump's dysfunctional and mindless impact on world order.
What this portends for the future remains is highly uncertain. Some look upon these moves against Qatar as a tempest in a teapot that will disappear almost as quickly as it emerged. The U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and the Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, have urged mediation and offered reassuring comments about anti-ISIS unity remaining unimpaired. It is true that the existence of the Udeid Air Base in Qatar may in time dilute deference to the Saudi-led desire to squeeze the government in Doha, possibly to the point of its collapse. A more fearsome scenario is that the Trump encouraged confrontation sets the stage for a coup in Qatar that will be quickly supported by Washington as soon as Riyadh gives the green light, and will be promoted as part of the regional buildup against Iran. The notorious ceremony in which King Salmon, Trump, and Sisi were pictured standing above that glowing orb with their arms outstretched can only be reasonably interpreted as a pledge of solidarity among dark forces of intervention. Many of us supposed that George W. Bush's policy of 'democracy promotion' that provided part of the rationale for the disastrous 2003 attack on Iraq was the low point in American foreign policy in the Middle East, but Trump is already proving us wrong.
While this kind of 'great game' is being played at Qatar's expense in the Gulf, it is highly unlikely that other major players, especially Iran, Russia, and Turkey will remain passive observers, especially if the crisis lingers or deepens. Iran's foreign minister, Javad Mohammed Zarif, has non-aggressively tweeted to the effect that "neighbors are permanent; geography can't be changed," stating his view that the occasion calls for dialogue, not coercion. If the isolation of Qatar is not quickly ended, it is likely that Iran will start making food available and shipping other supplies to this beleaguered tiny peninsular country whose sovereignty is being so deeply threatened.
Russia, has been long collaborating with Iran in Syria, will likely move toward greater solidarity with Tehran, creating a highly unstable balance of power in the Middle East with frightening risks of escalation and miscalculation. Russia will also take advantage of the diplomatic opportunity to tell the world that the U.S. is seeking to raise war fevers and cause havoc by championing aggressive moves that further the ambitions of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel. Such Russian diplomacy is likely to play well in Europe where Trump's recent demeaning words in Brussels to NATO members made the leading governments rethink their security policies, and to view the United States as an increasingly destabilizing force on the global stage, such feeling being reinforced by the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
Turkey seems to believe that its immediate effort should be similar to that of the Tillerson and Mattis approach, having tentatively offered to mediate, and advocates finding a way back to a posture of at least peaceful co-existence between Qatar, the Gulf, and the rest of the Arab world. Turkey has had a positive relationship with Qatar, which includes a small Turkish military facility and large Qatari investments in the Turkish economy.
To cool things down, the Foreign Minister of Qatar, Sheik Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, while denying the allegations, has also joined in the call for mediation and even reconciliation. Bowing to Gulf pressures, Qatar has prior to the current crisis withdrawn its welcome from Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood exiles, and seems poised to yield further to the pressures of the moment, given its small size, political vulnerability, and intimations of possible societal panic.
While the civilian population of Yemen is faced with imminent famine as an intended consequence of the Saudi intervention, the Saudis seems to be again using food as a weapon, this time to compel Qatar to submit to its regional priorities and become a GCC team player with respect to Iran—joining in the preparation of a sectarian war against Iran while maintaining a repressive hold over political activity at home. One preliminary takeaway is that ISIS dimension is serving as a smokescreen to draw attention away from a far more controversial agenda. The Saudis are deeply implicated in political extremism throughout the region, having likely paid heavily for being treated, temporarily at least, as off limits for Jihadi extremism. Qatar, too is tainted, but mainly by being a minor operative in Syrian violence and in 2015 paying ISIS an amount rumored to be as high as $1 billion to obtain the release of 26 Qataris, including members of the royal family, taken hostage while on a falcon hunting party, of all things, in Iraq. We can gain some glimmers of understanding of what is motivating these Arab governments to act against Qatar, but little sympathy. In comparison, the new U.S. foreign policy in the region defies any understanding beyond its adoption of a cynical and unworkable geopolitical stance, which certainly does not engender any sympathy from the victimized peoples of the region, but rather fear and loathing.
Tags: Arab uprisings, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Qatar, Sisi, Trump, Turkey, War wiith Iran
Categories Commentary, funding terrrorism, Gulf Cooperation Council, Iran, ISIS, Israel, Qatar, Reflections, Special Relationships, Trump


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Q: Why is my SSD performing so far over spec? While setting up a new laptop, I plugged in an SSD from an old computer, a 1TB Samsung 840 EVO 2.5" SATA III. This drive is rated for 540 MB read / 520 write according to Samsung.
At first it only benchmarked at 316/501, but after fiddling with my power settings and installing Samsung Magician and doing some optimization, speeds jumped up to 1509/1764, faster than I thought SATA drives were known to go.
After transferring some data and wiping the drive, now it's benchmarking at 7079/8159! This is over twice as fast as my NVMe SSD (Western Digital SN720 1TB), which is running at 3223/2772. What is going on here? My NVMe slots are PCIe3 so I suspect I can't get it much faster than it already is, but why is my SATA drive blowing it away?
Numbers given are from CrystalDiskMark Sequential Q8T1.

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Wests Tigers Intrust Super Premiership Coach Paul Stringer has finalised his team to take on the New Zealand Warriors in their Round 17 clash today at Mt Smart Stadium.
Kickoff for the match is 12:40pm AEST (2:40pm NZ time) with coverage live on Fox Sports 1.
In a huge boost for Stringer's side, Curtis Sironen will make his return from injury and has been included on the interchange bench for today's game.
After returning to Wests Tigers recently from Manly-Warringah, Manaia Rudolph will play his first game of the season for the Club.
Rudolph, who can play a number of positions including halfback, departed Wests Tigers for the Sea Eagles at the end of the 2013 season after two successful years in the Holden Cup.
The side will go into today's game without Manaia Cherrington, Jack Littlejohn and Justin Hunt in what will be a huge test against the second-placed Warriors.
See the final Intrust Super Premiership side for today's clash at Mt Smart Stadium below!
Secure your seat at ANZ Stadium for today's big clash against the Penrith Panthers!


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Make Locavore Habit
Local food organization hires first executive director, Patrick Brown
by Brianna Brey
Just over a year ago, hyper-local food education organization, Locavore, opened its marketplace in a nearly abandoned, industrial corner of First Street. The mission of the market and the non-profit is to provide access to fresh, nutrient-dense and in seasonal local food, while educating the public about the sustainable benefits of locally produced food. Last week, it announced the hire of its first full-time executive director, former organic farmer and Locavore market manager Patrick Brown. The Source sat down with Brown to talk local food and the future of Locavore.
Source Weekly: How did you end up at Locavore?
Patrick Brown: I moved to Bend this summer. I had been living in Japan for 16 years.
While I was looking for work I started volunteering at Locavore, then took on the WWOLF program (Willing Workers on Local Farms) and volunteered in the marketplace.
In December, they chose me to take over the marketplace. Originally, it was only open three half days a week. Jen Smith, the previous market manager, expanded the products, the hours, and really got things going. I took over as market manager in January.
SW: Why does Locavore need an ED?
PB: All the board is volunteers. That's a little stressful when you have board members with full-time jobs who are spending 20-30 hours a week helping to run Locavore. We needed a full-time person to take the load off the volunteers and allow the board to focus on specific projects. Nicole Timm is still the president of the board. Now she can get out of the day-to-day market issues and focus more on outreach and events.
SW: What will your job be as ED?
PB: Managing the market is a good 60 percent of the job, as well as running corporate sponsorship, fundraising, supervising volunteers and programs. It's essentially everything. This year it will also be getting more cooperate sponsorship so that we can get our name out there tied with other local companies that we think are doing good things. One of those is E2 Solar. They're a new sponsor, they're trying to get more people to go with solar power. Locally produced clean energy is a great thing. It's just as good as locally produced vegetables.
SW: What success have you seen in your time with Locavore?
PB: Market sales have been great. Things really picked up in the fall and then in January and February.
SW: That seems like a weird time for a locally sourced market to get busy.
PB: A lot of it is getting the word out. Every day we have new people in here. With the
lack of farmers' markets in the winter, we are a place where people can get affordable organic produce and it's from Oregon.
SW: What are the biggest challenges that Locavore faces?
Because we're a non-profit it's always that line where you need to make enough money to cover your expenses and help you grow, but we have a very specific mission, to provide affordable, nutritious and local food. In the market, every item we decide to add to the store is an ethical debate. Do we need quinoa? It doesn't come from Oregon, it doesn't come from the US, but if we don't have quinoa will that mean people don't come and buy the local vegetables? We sit around and decide is this something a lot of our shoppers would want, is it essential?
How we grow the market is going to be a challenge. Hopefully, one of our issues in the near future will be that the place is too small.
SW: What are your goals as you take over as ED?
PB: Increasing the number of locally produced items. Right now, it's around 75-80 percent, but we'd like to get even more, particularly food products.
SW: Why is Locavore important to Central Oregon?
PB: We're important for a variety of reasons, but our mission with the market is to help small producers that can't sell in other places to have one more market to sell at. For example, there's a small ranch north of Madras that sells goat and lamb meat. Before, they were coming in for farmers' markets, but it was a 50-mile trip and a really big hassle for them. Now, they can bring stuff to one spot and sell. They're not big enough to sell at Devore's or Whole Foods. We love those stores, they are great stores, but Devore's has a niche of organic. We only have two producers that have the sales volume to go though the trouble to get certified organic. We are giving producers opportunities to sell, to grow so we can produce more in the Central Oregon area.
The other part is educating the public about where their food comes from, what their options are, how to grow, getting kids involved in agriculture, and things like that. We are trying to start a small farmer support program. We did a kick starter for that, and this year we plan to choose three farms, and using our connections and the funds we've raised, help get them things like accounting services, online presence, possibly packaging as well, as we want to try to build up a tool bank. An equipment bank, so basically, if you only have an acre or two of potatoes, it's not worthwhile to buy a potato digger. But if we had one that farmers could share, borrow or rent for a small fee, then maybe a lot more people could grow potatoes.
Brianna Brey
Matthew Grimes
Bacon, Eggs and Coffee!
Gunpowder Ranch has breakfast covered
by Delano Lavigne | Feb 25, 2015
Speaking of Locavore, Patrick Brown
Farmer Dinner Series: Beer and Beef Pair
Little Bites: Celebrate Local Food, a Pop-Up Farmers Market and Dine Out for Good
Go Here 6/1-6/8
More by Brianna Brey
A rundown of Bend's pinball machines and bar games
A Philosophical Sage
Wordsmith Sage Francis breaks the mold
The Difference Between Violin and Fiddle
The Urban Pioneers splice classical with barn dance

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Home » What's On » LiveMusic » Jazz Masterclass – Masaru Uchibori
Jazz Masterclass – Masaru Uchibori
LiveMusic - Jazz
Masaru Uchibori, Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra
$150 (participant), $100 (observer); 20% off (*Fringe members), 30% off (**Student, Senior)
Jazz Masterclass is one of the programmes of the "Jazz-Go-Central, Jazz-Go-Fringe" project, co-ordinated by the Fringe Club and the Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra (SNJO). Japanese big band arranger Masaru Uchibori will conduct a masterclass on Big Band arrangement for band-members.
The masterclass will be divided into three parts:
SNJO will play the original scores of Take the A Train by Duke Ellington and or April in Paris by Count Basie followed by Uchibori-san's arrangement. After listening, Uchibori-san will illustrate the making process and how he come up with such arrangement.
Uchibori-san will then talk about basic music theory, harmony, rhythm, format and Big Band style.
SNJO will play different Big Band scores from old swing band to contemporary Big Band with Uchibori-san's comments.
It's open to the public to sit-in as audience. Musicians are also invited to be the participants, bring your own instrument to play together or replacing SNJO member's seat.
In the "Big Band Night - All That Swing" concert on Sat 28 April 2018, SNJO will perform pieces arranged by Uchibori-san. Click here for details.
Take the A Train by Duke Ellington:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV8Hj_E8LJc
Take the A Train arranged by Masaru Uchibori:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrjK05-icno
Masaru Uchibori
Masaru Uchibori was born in Tokyo. At high school, he joined the school brass band, and has played trombone ever since. He was a member of the big band and the brass band at university, learning jazz theory from Mr. Sadao Watanabe and playing trombone in Watanabe's rehearsal orchestra.
In 1974, Uchibori received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, and after graduating he returned to Japan, where he works as a freelance arranger of various music genres.
In 1995 he formed the Masaru Uchibori Big Band, which performs monthly. Since then, he has worked with many bands and musicians, including the Tokyo Union Big Band with Jimmy Scott, the Sharps and Flats Big Band with Helen Merrill, the New Hard Big Band with Carroll Sloan, the Blue Coats Big Band with Salina Jones, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Air Self Defense Force Central Music Corps and the Ground Self Defense Force Central Music Corps.
He has been the judge of many music contests, including the Yamano Big Band Contest and the Asakusa Jazz Contest, and is active in events for amateur bands. He has released two CDs: WAYNE (2004) and A Dedication To Jazz Giants (2010).
If you are interested in participating in the master class, please select "$150 - Participant" ticket price category. Please bring your own instrument to the Masterclass. Limited quota, first-come-first served.
If you would like to attend the master class as an audience, please select "$100 - Observer" ticket price category. Seats are limited, first-come-first served.
*Fringe Club membership card MUST be presented at the door.
**Student card/ Identity card MUST be presented at the door.
"Jazz-Go-Central, Jazz-Go-Fringe" is financially supported by the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
The content of these programmes does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hong Kong Fringe Club reserves the right to change the programmes and performers


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2 Chainz launches his own legal marijuana brand
2 Chainz is the latest rapper to join in on the legal cannabis industry.
The Atlanta emcee recently announced the launch of his own premium cannabis brand, Gas Cannabis Co.
The brand's strains are differentiated by premium gas percentages (87, 89, 93), with the 87 line described as being "the most affordable." The 89 Gas line supplies a "supercharged and powerful" but a "smooth ride," while the 93 Octane is "high-quality, super premium GAS… with the signature deep aroma, 93 will keep your engine running smoothly."
The newly announced brand will also feature pre-rolled joints, concentrates, topicals, and edibles in their product line.
"I know quality Gas by the look, the feel, the smoke. Gas stands for one thing, and you'll know it when you experience it," said 2 Chainz in a press statement. "It's top-end, but at an affordable price, because I want everyone to be able to understand that Gas is the real fire."
2 Chainz has advocated for cannabis legalization long before launching his brand, and once famously debated TV personality Nancy Grace on the topic.
Gas Cannabis Co. products are available now at the Westside Station dispensary in Van Nuys, California, and will soon be distributed throughout more legal dispensaries.
https://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2018/10/30/2-chainz-launches-his-own-legal-marijuana-brand/
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Flail chest is a condition in which the injury to the chest wall was so great that a section or group of fractured ribs cause the chest wall to become instable and make breathing difficult. This injury most commonly occurs due to a blunt, direct hit to the chest wall, often in a motor vehicle accident, resulting in three or more adjacent ribs to fracture.
The force required to cause a flail chest injury is so great that often there are numerous associated injuries to the heart and lungs resulting in immediate loss of consciousness. The severity of their injury is often noticed when watching them breathe – you will see a section of their chest wall moving in and out dramatically as they inhale and exhale.
These people will have difficulty breathing and a great deal of pain.
Depending on the severity of the injury and the amount of difficulty you have breathing, a breathing tube may be necessary. Surgery to stabilize the chest wall where the ribs are fractured is necessary once the patient is stable and any other injuries have been assessed. Often, pain medication through an IV, such as morphine, will be started upon arrival at the hospital.
If any associated injuries are not life-threatening, the typical prognosis is a good recovery.
A victim suffering from a flail chest injury may experience life-changing consequences as a result of the accident. Family members will also have to consider the cost of extensive medical treatment and aftercare. We understand the importance of holding negligent parties responsible for your injuries. Our diligent St. Louis cardiac trauma lawyers can help your family obtain full compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, and other losses. For a free case evaluation, please call us at (314) 322-8515 today.


text:
Q: Maps for China - which is correct, Satellite or default street map ? does that mean geocoding results are wrong? So it is known that the maps, either the regular street map or the satellite map, does not line up correctly in specific parts of China.  So which map lines up correctly, the satellite map or the default street map?  Some sites suggest that the satellite map is correct.  But the Google Geocoder is placing locations correctly on the google street map and not on the satellite map.  So if the satellite map is considered to be correctly aligned with China, does that mean that the Google Geocoder is also returning incorrect coordinates for locations in China?  I have not been able to find any official document on this.

A: Satellite image is correct.  The government of China enforces a kind of non-linear shift to online map provider for security concern. You can see overlapped streets on the border of China. For example, populated border area on Hong Kong-China border, Macau-China border and Vietnam-China border are the proofs.  If you are using Google map in China, there is another version report streets correctly.

A: Based on my tests, only the street-map is shifted but the satellite-map is  correctly aligned with the GPS coordinates.
You can use http://ditu.google.com/maps?output=classic instead of the classic Google Maps.
In Google Earth you could try this overlay: http://ge-map-overlays.appspot.com/google-maps/china.
By the way, this is not only in specific parts of China maps, but in all China maps, and it seems to be due to some legal issues which Google never explained.


text:
J.C. Penney Branches Into Used Apparel as Sales Tumble
By Suzanne KapnerWSJ
Micah MaidenbergWSJ
J.C. Penney Co.'s sales fell 9% in its latest quarter and the retailer said Thursday it would start selling second-hand clothes as part of a broader effort to transform itself.
The Plano, Texas-based chain has been reeling from years of changes in its leadership and strategic direction. Penney's CEO Jill Soltau, who joined the company in October, said the changes had eroded the company's basic retail practices.
"We are not simply running a business, we are rebuilding a business," she told analysts on a conference call.
Penney narrowed its quarterly loss to $48 million, or 15 cents a share, for the three months that ended Aug. 3, compared with a year-earlier loss of $101 million, or 32 cents a share. But the retailer reported net sales of $2.51 billion, down from $2.76 billion in the year-earlier period.
Sales at stores open at least a year fell 9%. Excluding the impact from the company's exit from the appliance and furniture business, same-store sales fell 6%.
Department stores have been especially hard hit as shoppers buy more online and spend less time in malls. On Wednesday, Macy's Inc. reported a disappointing second quarter that sent its stock plunging.
In its effort to transform itself, Penney said on Thursday that it would partner with resale marketplace thredUp Inc. to sell second-hand clothing and accessories in 30 of its stores. Macy's announced a similar partnership with thredUp on Wednesday.
On the bright side, gross margins increased on lower markdowns and inventory was down 12.5%.
The company's shares closed at 58 cents, up 2.2%. The stock is down roughly 44% this year. Penney recently said its shares are at risk of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because they haven't maintained an average closing price of at least $1 for 30 consecutive trading days.
Penney will need to refinance its debt, although it has no major maturities coming due in the near term. Its $17 million in operating profit in the latest period was more than wiped out by the $74 million of interest expense the company paid to service its debt, which "shows the degree to which the company is running up a down escalator," said Neil Saunders, a managing director of GlobalData Retail.
Penney has been filling in its depleted executive ranks of late. It appointed a new chief customer officer in May, a new senior vice president for women's apparel in June and in July announced a new executive vice president of stores would start this month. On Thursday, it announced a new executive to oversee its home business.
Write to Suzanne Kapner at Suzanne.Kapner@wsj.com and Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com


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Neo is a community project that uses the technology of the blockchain as a way for individuals and organizations to manage their digital assets. This project was founded in 2014, and they maintain an open source Git-hub repository of their source code.
The Neo project wants to be at the forefront of the "Smart Economy", and their project has put itself in an excellent position to be the building blocks of new businesses and start-ups to break into the blockchain economy and host their applications on a decentralized platform.
While it operates in a manner that's similar to Ethereum they also offer many more robust features, and they lack the scaling issues that big brother ETH currently has in dealing with high volume DApps like Cryptokitties.
The Neo blockchain allows users to digitize assets of any kind, and then trade or manage them on the blockchain. This creates a real world link to physical goods in the world of cryptocurrency. This not only gives users the ability to trade currencies, but exported goods or even commodities can also be easily digitized.
In addition it establishes a more concrete usage for the blockchain so it's thought of as more than just a speculative asset. By using the ledger this platform establishes a trusted and transparent way to verify these assets or trade them. This not only applies to currencies and goods but also to digital identities of people, corporations or any other entity that needs to be verified for safety. NeoX also allows for the ability to execute cross-chain trades for assets that are not on the home blockchain.
The Neo platform also has full integration for smart contracts. Their approach keeps developers from having to learn new programming languages. Instead, they can utilize those that they already know such as C# or Java.
This saves a lot of time and money for businesses who would like to build on top of the Neo chain, because they do not need to hire or train additional employees. This opens the doors for millions of already trained developers to quickly begin developing applications on the blockchain without being weighed down by the need to learn completely new skill sets.
Since the Neo platform is decentralized it also means better up time, cheaper hosting, and more security in regards to DDos attacks. This relieves a lot of the headaches for small start ups and development companies in regards to managing their applications.
The Neo chain also offers the benefit of greater scalability. Blockchain bloat has long plagued Bitcoin, and even Ethereum has been shown to not be immune to this problem.
Neo solves this problem by placing these transactions off chain. By giving applications their own chains it stops them from interfering with the regular network, and it allows the platform to process a much higher amount of transactions per second. Neo's platform allows for 1,000 or more transactions per second to be processed by using state channel technology to scale the blockchain.
NEO's roadmap includes incorporation of quantum-resistant cryptography (NEOQS), atomic swaps and cross-chain integration (NEOX), off-chain scaling solution, issuance of digital identities in accordance with international standard and greater emphasis on regulatory compliance.
Whereas Ethereum's development is dictated by emerging demands, NEO's platform focuses on pre-empting demands of a future smart economy.


text:
'Codification of a Slur' Continuation
My Twitter diatribe continuing on yesterday's post about the proposed specialty license plate for Orofino High School:
Much of my day was spent thinking about my late uncle who spent half of his childhood at what was then the Idaho State School and Colony.
— Tara Rowe (@politicgame) February 6, 2016
I remember how disturbed I was in 2004-2005 as I read for the first time about the history of Idaho's state hospitals. It all made sense.
I quickly understood why he referred to it as "that place" and how Nampa became a curse word for him. I finally grasped why as a 9yo, he...
...was suffering from malnutrition. I wasn't surprised that he had been abused. The taunting, the staring, the cage-like rooms.
And then it hit me: This was 1960. Idaho's hospitals were no longer overcrowded. Psychiatry had come leaps and bounds with pharmaceuticals.
If in 1960 he was so mistreated, what must it have been like in 1950? 1940? When research took me there, I wasn't prepared for what I found.
Idaho's state hospitals, going back to the 1880s in Blackfoot & early 1900s in Nampa & Orofino were where people were left to be forgotten.
They remained some of the most inhuman places in this state until the deinstitutionalization of the 1970s. We cannot forget this history.
We cannot forget that we as Idahoans allowed this to happen as we mocked those patients with our taunts of 'maniac' and 'lunatic'.
While they were physically, sexually and emotionally abused, we did nothing. We treated them like outcasts and poked fun at their existence.
People were starved in those hospitals. They were left there by families and courts to never be seen again. Some died and were buried there.
The least we can do to respect their memory and to apologize for our own faults and ignorance is not use a mascot like Maniacs.
The least we can do is not emblazon the image of an obvious mental patient on state-sponsored license plates.
The Codification of a Slur
Words matter. What we call one another reflects on both ourselves and on those around us.
If I were to use a slur against you right now, how would it be read? First, it would speak to who I am--my values, principles, worldview--and then it would inevitably say something about you--your race, religion, culture. This has always been how we process information that underlies a slur.
Now think about the slurs that we don't allow in our culture, at least to the degree that we do not condone their use and often shame their users. Did the n-word come to mind? Of course it did. There are slurs that most of us think of as so heinous that even uttering them in an explanatory way may cause a visceral reaction. Slurs used against African-Americans, Jews and women tend to fall in this category for many Americans.
If we as a country have come to a place where we largely accept that these types of slurs are not acceptable, even slurs against Hispanics and the LGBT community are now widely denounced, why can't we jointly reach the conclusion that slurs against and in reference to the disabled are equally abhorrent?
I've written about the End the Word campaign here numerous times. The use of the r-word remains a blight on our society. But it's more than that one word. As I will explain, and as Leonard Hitchcock, a dear friend, did here, it's more than being politically correct, that oft-heard phrase in today's politics, it's about respecting every human being as just that--human. And in communities of developmentally disabled and mentally ill people, the r-word is not the only word that is offensive.
The United States, like many industrialized nations, has a dark history with respect to how it has treated the disabled and mentally ill. For generations, disabled and mentally ill people were locked away from the outside world, set up in self-sustaining communities in often remote parts of counties and states, where the fear of those inside would not have to be faced by the population at large.
This brings me to Idaho. Idaho was not immune to this heinous history.
For those not familiar, Idaho has long had state-operated psychiatric hospitals. They once went by names like Northern Idaho Sanitarium and Insane Asylum, Idaho Sanitarium for the Feeble-minded and Epilectic and Idaho State School and Colony. You may now know these hospitals as State Hospital North (Orofino), State Hospital South (Blackfoot) and Idaho State School and Hospital (Nampa).
State Hospital North, a state-run psychiatic hospital is located in Orofino. Built in 1905, the hospital has long been in Orofino, but not always a part of Orofino. Asylums, sanitariums and the like were closed communities. They had their own land to raise their animals for slaughter on, some had their own slaughterhouses, they kept up self-sustaining farms, they had housing for their staff and had burial grounds for their patients, continuing their seclusion even in death. However secluded, the often inhumane treatment of patients at those hospitals occasionally spilled out into the communities around them. In the 1940s, the Idaho governor's office undertook an investigation of the Blackfoot hospital after a series of patients died under mysterious circumstances, some quite violently.
Let's take a moment to discuss what is meant by inhumane treatment: Until pharmaceuticals were invented that could treat mental illness (and even afterward to a degree), medicine as a practice didn't always know how to deal with the developmentally disabled and mentally ill. Electroshock therapy, lobotomies, insulin shock, hydrotherapy and other extremely distressing treatments were used to attempt to cure illnesses, if not manage them. Perhaps the greatest reason that so many ghost hunting shows and horror flicks are set in asylums is because of the fact that for over a century, we treated these patients as if they were animals, nothing resembling human.
Beyond the medical treatments afforded these poor souls was the language in which we referred to them. 'Imbecile', 'retard', 'moron', 'lunatic' and 'maniac' were common both within the medical community and the general population. In fact, it has taken until the last ten to fifteen years for state and federal government to remove these despicable terms from code.
In the 21st century, I believe we as Americans have learned that groups who have historically been disparaged by a slur have the right to reclaim that slur and use it about themselves or others of their demographic. Whether they use it about themselves or not, that gives us no right to use those words about them, in reference to them or indirectly about anyone or anything else. This applies to the n-word as much as it applies to words like faggot, kike or spic.
To my point: The Orofino High School mascot has been the Maniacs for decades. The mascot is a direct reference to the residents of the hospital, both in name and image. The mascot has hair standing on end and appears to be wearing a hospital gown as it "freaks out" in some way that apparently connotes mania. The issue of whether or not 'maniac' is a slur or not has been coming up in Orofino for at least 25 years. Never is it more at issue than now when, once again, Paul Shepherd (R-Riggins) wants a specialty license plate with the image of the Orofino Maniac proudly displayed on it. The legislation has been "toned down" by removing the term 'maniac' from the plate itself, but the image of the gowned maniac remains.
In response to concerns that using the mascot is offensive to those with mental illness as well as those who work with the mentally ill, the comments have been a bit hard to wrap one's head around. The state hospital in Orofino? They apparently are "proud of their maniacs" and don't have a problem with the plate. A local councilwoman said that it is positive representation of the community. Thankfully, some don't have the same position. For instance, the Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities "opposes the legislation because of the stigmatizing effect the word 'maniac' has on people experiencing mental health issues."
The entire reason Orofino High School wants a specialty plate is to raise money for a district that is strapped for funds. Isn't there a better way of doing this than portraying a segment of the population in this way? The answer is yes. I personally believe there is.
A place we can look to for a similar example of people grappling with language and what words we choose to use to refer to an entire race of people has to do with Native Americans. In the last few years, Americans, particularly football fans, have been confronted with the question of whether or not a team in the National Football League should be allowed to use both an image and a slur against American Indians as its mascot. For years, fans of the Cleveland Indians have protested the same thing. My own team, the Atlanta Braves, faces all kinds of scrutiny, rightly so, for the Tomahawk Chop, prior use of the character Chief Noc-A-Homa and a logo featuring a screaming Indian. There are few instances of collegiate or professional teams willingly changing their mascots to suit the world we live in. Florida State, rather than ditch the Seminoles mascot, asked the tribe itself for permission to continue its use. There is a lot of work to be done and it will be years before we see real change.
There is hope for high schools, however. Adidas has offered free design assistance and money for new gear if high schools will phase out their mascots that feature Native American imagery. I took it upon myself to personally reach out to Adidas to ask if they would be willing to expand the parameters of this program to include a mascot like that of Orofino. Not only could Orofino benefit from this in a monetary way, schools like Salmon High School where they are the Savages could also apply. Wouldn't the free design help and money to replace their sports equipment be just as useful to their districts as whatever dollars they could raise from a specialty plate? I realize that the Adidas money, or similar money from an organization with the same intent, is a one-time infusion whereas the plate money would be ongoing, but there has to be a way to continue bringing funds to a school district that needs it in exchange for the kind of goodwill teams would create in the community and the state with a more appropriate mascots.
Why does this matter? Why does a single word matter? Please consider three things:
First, in 2010 the Idaho Legislature and Governor Otter finally removed words like 'mentally retarded', 'idiot', 'feeble-minded', 'lunatic' and 'mentally deficient' from Idaho Code. Even in 2010, there were 73 laws that had outdated and deeply painful words and phrases that represent long-since abandoned thinking about the developmentally disabled and mentally ill. Those references forever inked in Idaho Code went back as far as 1908 when the state hospital system was beginning. Why then in 2016 would we want to insert 'maniac' back into Idaho Code, in word or in reference to this image? Why would we want to go backward when we don't have to?
Secondly, the dark and distressing history of psychiatric hospitals in this state and the words once used to describe the patients there deserve your careful consideration. While I do not doubt that the current community respects and is proud of "their maniacs," that has not always been the case. When we use the term today, without ill will, remember that we are not speaking just of the current patients at the hospital in Orofino, we are speaking of the patients throughout the history of that hospital. We are speaking of those that led secluded, lonely lives, shunned by society and treated horrendously by both family and those that were entrusted with their care. We're speaking of the men and women who were stared at, beaten and abused, treated as animals and left to die in these hospitals. In the beginning, these patients were brought by train to Orofino and housed in tents. At the height of demand, 600 patients would be housed in a building intended for 450. Their illnesses were treated with isolation, extreme temperatures like ice water baths, lobotomies, insulin shock therapy and straight jackets. When the people of the town would drive by the hospital in horror, fear or curiosity, they would point at the patients and call them maniacs. There was nothing loving in the way that word was used.
And finally, ask yourself this: If they were the Orofino Retards or OHS Feeble-minded, would you be okay with having that on a state-sponsored license plate? Of course not and neither should we be okay with the Maniacs.
The legislation introduced by Rep. Shepherd has been approved in the House Transportation Committee and will go to a vote.
▼ February 2016 ( 2 )


'Azhar' is clearly made as an attempt at redemption for the tainted cricketer and India's ex-captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Unfortunately, you walk out of the theatre with no emotions, no sympathy, except for remorse at having wasted another two hours of your life on a strictly mediocre film.
It is sad because Tony D'Souza, the director of 'Azhar' biopic (or is it not as the long disclaimer at the beginning of the film tries to tell us in no uncertain terms) is supposedly talking about the tumultuous and adventurous life of one of the finest cricketers that the country has seen and all we remember now is how shockingly tacky any subject in hand, however interesting, can be turned into.
As most of us in this cricket loving nation would know, Azharuddin was a revered cricketer and the captain of Indian team, before he was banned from playing after he was accused of being part of a match fixing scandal in 2000. The film mainly focuses on his journey and struggle after the ban till eight years later he was given the clean chit, due to lack of evidence. If his alleged involvement in the scandal hugely disappointed his fans, this movie is only going to disappoint them further. Narrating a tale of this kind of a upheaval in a cricketing genius' life requires a lot of research, thought and of course, a clear vision. Lacking in all three, the direction, the script and even the dialogues just about skim the surface, refusing to take pains to go any deeper or even invest any time and energy in showing some real on ground cricket.
In what could be one of the worst cases of casting, the director doesn't seem to have even bothered to waste any thought over the peripheral characters around Azhar. While they are happily named after the real cricketers of that time, Manoj, Ravi, Sachin, Kapil, Anil etc., not one actor looked like the original players of that time.
Emraan Hashmi as Azharuddin has a tough task at hand, as his body type is entirely different from the real character that he's playing. However, Emraan plays it with so much sincerity that at times he is the only one who seems to make any sense in this forgettable movie. Full points to him for admirably aping the stylish gait that Azhar was popular for. Then there is Prachi Desai playing Azhar's jilted first wife Naureen. She looks beautiful and vulnerable as her character is expected to be. Nargis Fakhri, who plays Azhar's second wife actress Sangeeta Bijlani, makes no attempt at acting or whatsoever and walks through her part in a daze.
The courtroom drama in the second half is almost unbearable with Lara Dutta as a prosecutor lawyer screeching her way till the end with Rajat Arora's bordering on nonsense rhyming dialogues and, of course, a feeble attempt at trying to attribute Azhar's deed (or misdeed?) to patriotism.


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Aquesta entrada fou publicada el Sunday, 02/10/2011 (14:52) i està arxivada dins Contes, Prosa, Selecció personal, Sentiments. Per a seguir els comentaris subscriu-te al fil RSS 2.0. Pots deixar un comentari o fer un retroenllaç des del teu web.
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Okay, so I know, two months between posts isn't exactly keeping you in touch with our life. But, it's been a bit busy the last two months. No, the wedding pictures aren't up yet. Yes, they will be soon. It takes some time to go through six hundred photos and create some sense of order in them. And trust me, you do NOT want me just to dump them on to google and let you figure it out. In the meantime, we're going to jump ahead to Christmas and Christmas photos.
That's us, on our first Christmas morning as husband and wife. It was also our very first Christmas morning in our own home. And my first Christmas morning, ever, not with my parents and sister. I won't pretend I wasn't worried it would be lonely, but it wasn't. Alex was a great sport about doing all the Christmas traditions together. He even set up the tripod so we could take Christmas morning pictures of us together, and then made sure that we got pictures throughout the morning. (The dog still hasn't figured out how to operate the camera without thumbs, so she's no help there.) Instead of being lonely, it was mellow. And romantic. I liked opening our gifts just the two of us and really having the time to enjoy each bit of it.
Alex got me great gifts - a YMCA membership for both of us and a 'gift certificate' to have the sprinkler system in my garden repaired. Trust me, this was the most romantic thing he could have done. Neither of us wanted more "stuff" after finally putting all the wedding presents away and I really, really wanted both of the things he got me. The sprinkler system, pretty self-explanatory. I actually use it fairly rarely, since its better to use the drip hose and spot water, espectially in Florida. But when I do use it is when life is really, really busy and I don't have even ten minutes to water my garden or when we're out of town. Not having it for those times has been frustrating, and I've lost plants as a result. I'm pretty excited about getting it fixed. And the Y membership is for both of us, with a promise from him to work out, too. We both need to get back in to the habit of regular exercise, for our health and for our stress levels. We haven't been on our regular exercise routine for months, and it's been showing the last few weeks.
My favorite gift, though, was one I made for him. Look how cute. Its kind of hard to see at this size, but it says "Sleeps With Dogs" and then has a picture of Gwen lounging on it. And look at her there sleeping next to him while he "works" on the internet. I found the biggest, softest shirt I could find, and he's been actually using it as his lounging/sleeping shirt. That's no small accomplishment, trust me. I get such a kick out of seeing him wearing it with Gwen cuddled under his arm or against his 'kidneys' while they watch TV, play poker or go to sleep.
The animals had a pretty good Christmas, too. Nala got a catnip ball that she proceeded to play with all day. You can see her here saying "giving me that already." She's not so impressed with the picture taking.
Gwen had to wait until that evening, when Lily came and we exchanged gifts with my family. But, she was pretty happy to see Lily and her Aunt Megan gave her the best gifts ever. Things I have never even known to buy her - Yogurt vitamin drops (her new favorite treat), a plasticy dental bone that she loved much to my amazement, and a little tug toy since she's reverting back to her puppy playfulness much more often recently. Plus, nobody made her wear strange Christmas decorations around her neck.
Lily liked the gift she got from us just fine, though. You can see she doesn't mind that it's just a stuffed squeaky toy and the same old dingos they get all the time. It seems any day she gets a dingo is a good day. I started to unwrap it for her, but as you can see her she clearly told me that she could take care of that for herself. And much faster, thank you very much. Craig Ferguson recently joked about the amount of money Americans spend on their pets at Christmas, but how can you resist moments like this?
We didn't forget the people, though. Christmas Eve we went to my aunt's home and spent the evening with all the racuous family. It was fun, but as usual a bit overwhelming. However, after a relaxing Christmas morning, we had part of my immediate family over for Christmas dinner and gifts. That was the best. My family did a great job following the 'we really don't want more stuff' plea and gave us things we will actually use - and then donated money in our name to Hungersite charities addressing concerns we really care about. Mom did follow her tradition of everyone needs one toy at Christmas, but she did a great job of it. Alex received a remote control tarantula that was an absolute riot, and he'll enjoy pulling that out from time to time. For me she bought yarn made of banana fibers. What knitter doesn't need cool yarn to add to their stash?
I was looking at the Christmas gifts, still piled up under the tree, again today and thinking that everyone really did a good job keeping it reasonable, useful and fun. I don't think there's anything there we won't really use and delight in. However, I don't think anyone was more excited about her gift than my Mom. Alex bought her a long-coveted Ipod, and then spent part of the evening putting music on it for her. Her reaction was even better than Lily smelling that dingo. She spent large chunks of the night playing with it and asking questions about how to use it. Sort of like the little boy who gets his first Nintendo. (Geesh, I'm dating myself there. I'm sure there's a better game system that I should be using in that analogy. The Wii, I guess?) It was great.
And then we spent the rest of the night visiting, eating, listening to music.
What? You didn't end your Christmas day trying to figure out how to play the Bulgarian bagpipe?


For tostadas: Brush olive oil on both sides of the corn tortillas. Sprinkle with salt and chili powder. Place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes until crisp.
In a skillet, brown beef with a pinch of salt and cracked pepper over medium high heat until cooked through. Remove meat to a paper towel lined plate and pour off fat. Wipe out pan and place back on the stove. Over medium high heat, add oil. Once it is shimmering, add onion and garlic. Once onion becomes translucent, add tomato paste. Reduce heat to medium and mix paste in well. Cook until a deeper color develops and bits begin to stick to the bottom of the skillet. See picture. Add water and scrape up brown bits. Add meat back to the skillet with the remaining ingredients. Cook over a medium heat until liquid is mostly absorbed and flavors have fully integrated. Cover and keep warm for service. Keep meat warm to at least 170 degrees. Meat can store overnight and be reheated with a little water added.
To assemble: place corn tortilla on a plate, add meat, green leaf lettuce, avocado tomatillo salsa, pickled red onions, cherub tomatoes, crumbled queso fresco, sour cream, lime and cilantro.
Queso fresco is a mild, crumbly cheese.


The Geography and Plays is a collection of Gertrude Stein's. This edition makes it possible for students and other devotees of Stein to see the developing strategies of one of the acknowledged giants of literary modernism, whose pathbreaking departures in literary style have recently been assigned still greater importance in light of new theories about women's writing. My brother had been at some sort of a gathering of literary people on the evening before and someone had read aloud from Miss Stein's new book. The party had been a success. After a few lines the reader stopped and was greeted by loud shouts of laughter.
Finally I get this ebook, thanks for all these Geography and Plays I can get now!
Geography and Plays was the best books I ever buy. Geography and Plays did exactly what you said it does.
I will recommend you to my colleagues. Geography and Plays is the most valuable books we have EVER purchased. I'd be lost without this. I am completely blown away.


Finally our new Homepage is ready to start. Meridis started the complete modification under own initiative. By this point we want to give a big Thank You to all persons being involved in this project and giving us their knowhow, photos and videos. Now we wish you lots of fun discovering the world of Meridis Dive and Relax.


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Johnathon McReynolds, Kirk Franklin, Erica Campbell & Kelly Price Sing "Love Theory"
June 24, 2019 Category: News
In anticipation for the return of BET's Sunday Best, the full crew of coming judges from the show came together to perform Kirk Franklin's newest song "Love Theory". Erica Campbell who is no stranger to the BET Awards stage opened up the song with soulful, Gospel crooner Jonathan McReynolds and the R&B powerhouse Kelly Price. Kirk Franklin is the master of hits in Gospel music and it looks like this song is going to be another hit to add to his collection! Watch the full video below to see what we mean. This team of vocal powerhouses created a fresh rendition that is sure to leave an imprint on your heart after listen. You might as well get used to hitting the repeat button on this one!
Don't miss these four powerhouses on BET's Sundays Best returning June 30th at 8/7CT.
A post shared by Sunday Best (@betsundaybest) on Jun 13, 2019 at 9:10am PDT
Tamara Young
Tamara is the founder of ArtSoulRadio.com and a contributor for Ebony/Jet Magazine and other publications. She also works in TV/Film production and has a strong passion for the arts, community outreach, teaching and working with the youth. Learn more at www.tamarallyoung.com and follow her on social media.
Eshon Burgundy Releases New Video for Third single off "The Passover" Album!
Angie Rose X Doxammillion Release Visual to Single "Already"
Beautiful | By Rahkii
J. Kwest Releases Visual for "LiveStrong"
Jonathan McReynolds – The Way That You Love Me
for King & Country "Run Wild" (Official Live Room Session)
::NEW VIDEO:: "Freedom Isn't Free" | By Lecrae
Exclusive Interviews: Stellar Awards
Todd Dulaney Presents


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Die römisch-katholische Pfarrkirche Wals steht im Ort Wals in der Gemeinde Wals-Siezenheim im Bezirk Salzburg-Umgebung im Land Salzburg. Die Pfarrkirche hl. Georg gehört zum Dekanat Bergheim in der Erzdiözese Salzburg. Die Kirche steht unter .

Sie wurde erstmals 788 urkundlich erwähnt. Der romanische einschiffige Bau mit im Kern gotischen Turm und barockem Turmhelm wurde 1860 nach den Plänen des Diözesanbaumeisters Georg Kamml reromanisiert und 1863 durch Erzbischof Maximilian Joseph von Tarnóczy neu geweiht.

Geschichte

Erste urkundliche Erwähnungen von Wals in der Mitte des 8. Jahrhunderts als Walchwis bzw. als Vicus Romaniscus verweisen darauf, dass hier Romanen (Walchen) im Gegensatz zu der mehrheitlich bajuwarischen Bevölkerung des Umlandes lebten. In den Güterverzeichnissen des Erzbischofs Arno von Salzburg, den sog. Notitia Arnonis, wird Walahowis als eine der dreiundsechzig Eigenkirchen der Salzburger Erzbischöfe geführt. Nach der Trennung des Erzbistums Salzburg und des Benediktinerklosters St. Peter im Jahr 987 kamen die Besitzungen in Wals an das Kloster. Im Jahre 1106 wird zum ersten Mal ein Friedhof um die Walser Kirche erwähnt. Im 12. Jahrhundert wurde Wals der Pfarre Siezenheim unterstellt und diese wurde wiederum dem Salzburger Domkapitel inkorporiert. 1614 ist in Wals als erster Mesner der Höglerbauer Wolf Mäzinger bekannt. Ab 1736 wurde eine Volksschule beim Mesnerbauern installiert und von einem Siezenheimer Kooperator als Katechet betreut.

Bis 1860 blieb Wals eine Filialkirche von Siezenheim, wobei an jedem zweiten Sonntag, an verschiedenen Feiertagen sowie bei Begräbnissen Gottesdienste gehalten wurden. Da zwischen 1852 und 1859 in der Erzdiözese Salzburg 38 neue Pfarren eingerichtet wurden, beantragten auch die Bürger von Wals, Gois, Walserberg, Käferham und einige aus Viehhausen die Schaffung einer eigenen Pfarre. Als Gründe wurden der lange Weg nach Siezenheim und das Vorhandensein eines Friedhofs und einer Schule in Wals angeführt. Die Genehmigung einer eigenen Pfarrei war an die Bedingung eines Kirchenneubaus und der Zusicherung eines eigenen Pfarrhofs geknüpft. Die Bewohner erklärten sich bereit, diese Kosten zu übernehmen und entsprechende Robotleistungen zu erbringen.

Trotz heftigen Widerspruchs eines Teils der Viehhausener Bevölkerung, der wegen seiner Gräber an Siezenheim gebunden war, wurde Wals 1860 eine eigene Pfarrei. Der Pfarrdistrikt wurde 1956 zu einer eigenen Seelsorgestelle geändert, 1967 kamen einige Ortschaften von Wals zur neuen Salzburger Stadtpfarre Kendlersiedlung St. Vitalis.

Baugeschichte
Über das Aussehen des Vorgängerbaus ist wenig bekannt. Aus frühen Beschreibungen und dem Umbauplan von 1860 ist klar, dass das Gotteshaus aus einem Westturm, einem gewölbten gotischen und im Kern vermutlich romanischen Langhaus mit angebauter Sakristei und Vorhalle im Süden sowie einem im Osten gelegenen Chorquadrat mit einer Apsis bestand. Die zwei Meter dicken Wände im Osten deuten auf romanischen Ursprung hin.

Der in den unteren Teilen gotische Kirchturm wurde 1737 mit einem barocken Obergeschoss mit einschwingenden Uhrengiebel und einem mehrfach eingeschnürten Zwiebelhelm ergänzt. Wegen der Kirchenerweiterung von 1860 ist der Turm aus der Mittelachse verschoben.

Beim Umbau kam die alte Einrichtung in andere Hände: Die vermutlich aus dem Salzburger Dom stammende Kanzel von 1512 kam an die Filialkirche zum hl. Kreuz und zur hl. Elisabeth. Ein der Schmerzhaften Muttergottes geweihter marmorner Seitenaltar wurde nach Teichting bei Petting in Bayern verkauft.

Heutige Erscheinung
Die Kirche besteht heute aus dem Westturm, einem mit einer satteldachförmigen Holzdecke abgeschlossenen kubischen Langhaus und einem mit einer großen Kalotte abgerundeten Chor mit dem Hauptaltar. Die Kirche steht umgeben vom Friedhof auf einem Konglomeratfelsen über der Saalachebene.

1949 bekam die Kirche vier neue Glocken aus der Glockengießerei Oberascher in Kasern. Die Sakristei wurde 1973 vergrößert und es wurde eine Priestergruft angelegt. 1972 wurde ein neuer Pfarrhof mit Pfarrsaal und Proberaum für den Kirchenchor bezogen. Frühere Umbauten aus den 1930er Jahren wurden zwischen 1985 und 1998 wieder zurückgenommen.

Links der Eingangstür befindet sich ein römisches Relief aus dem 2./3. Jahrhundert, das eventuell Teil eines römischen Grabdenkmals war. Es stellt Rumpf und Hinterbein eines Pferdes dar, unter dem ein Strauch wächst.

Im westlichen Teil des Friedhofs befindet sich eine spätgotische Totenleuchte, die um 1500 aus hellem Marmor gefertigt wurde. Der gedrechselte Schaft steht auf einer prismatischen Basis und wird von einem Lichttabernakel, der in ein klobiges Kreuz übergeht, abgeschlossen. Die Säule geht auf eine Stiftung eines Bauerngutes an das "St. Jörgengotteshaus" in Wals mit der Widmung zurück, in der Nacht und an hohen Feiertagen ein Licht zu unterhalten.

Im Süden der Kirche findet sich eine in die Friedhofsmauer eingebaute Marienkapelle. Diese wurde 1927 ursprünglich als Leichenhalle erbaut und 1984/85 zu einer Kapelle umgestaltet. An der Stirnseite der Kapelle befindet sich eine Stele mit einer Marienfigur von Friedrich Koller, die nach der Beschreibung der Apokalypse gestaltet ist ("Und es erschien ein großes Zeichen im Himmel: ein Weib, mit der Sonne bekleidet, und der Mond unter ihren Füßen und auf ihrem Haupt eine Krone mit zwölf goldenen Sternen." Offenbarung ).

Literatur
 Dehio Salzburg 1986, Wals, Pfarrkirche hl. Georg, Seiten 477 f.
 Christliche Kunststätten Österreichs, Nr. 435. Salzburg: St. Peter, 2005
 Herbert Berndl (Kunsthistoriker): Die Kirchen der Pfarre Wals: Pfarrkirche zum hl. Georg in Wals. Salzburg: St. Peter, 2005
 Pfarramt Wals: Von der Filialkirche zur Großpfarre. 150 Jahre Pfarre Wals 1860-2010. Pfarramt Wals, 2010

Weblinks

Pfarrkirche Wals
Kirchengebäude im Land Salzburg
Georgskirche
Pfarrkirche in der Erzdiözese Salzburg
Wals, !
Erbaut im 9. oder 10. Jahrhundert
Romanische Kirche
Gotisierte Kirche
Barockisierte Kirche
Kirchengebäude des Historismus
Historistisch überarbeitetes Bauwerk
Unbewegliches Denkmal unter Denkmalschutz im Land Salzburg
Wals

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Rustic Mountain Modern Wedding Invitation Suite. Modern typography, clean kraft paper style and scenic mountain horizon invite for your mountains theme wedding. You can buy all suit with mountain save the date card and RSVP or just one wedding invitation.


text: Q: windows.h in c++ clr forms application using visual studio 2019 i try to include the "Windows.h" header in the windows forms c++ extension from visual studio 2019 (Community Edition) but if i try to include this ("Windows.h"), there are dozens of errors - all with the message like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Include\um\minwinbase.h(292,19): error C4430:" ... without it works correct ... maybe you know the solution.


Office Tab Enterprise is an application that provides users with the possibility to open multiple documents in Microsoft Office at the same time, and to manage them in a tabbed interface. Office Tab – Tabbed Browsing, Editing, and Managing of Documents in Microsoft Office 2016, 2013 – 2003 and Office 365. With Microsoft Office, you can not view and edit multiple files within a single tabbed window. Office Tab changes this by introducing a tabbed user interface – as seen in web browsers such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer new versions and Firefox. It brings the tabbed interface to Microsoft Office 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003 and Office 365 (include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Project and Visio).
All in all, Office Tab Enterprise can easily prove a handy add-in for Microsoft Office users working in corporate environments, as it allows them to open and manage multiple documents at the same time from the same window. It includes various bulk action options and also offers a series of interface customization features, for increased convenience.


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Tag: Shawn Smyth
The Cold Equations
April 17, 2017 / ilanderz / 0 Comments
The Cold Equations is a short story by Tom Godwin, first published in Astounding Magazine in August 1954. You might want to read it before we go any further. I wouldn't want to spoil anything for you.
The spoilers begin here.
The story's about a teen-aged girl named Marilyn Lee Cross who stows away on an emergency space shuttle with disastrous results. I chose it as one of the two radio dramas we included in our science fiction radio pilot Faster Than Light.
I chose The Cold Equations because it was dark and sombre. I'm partial to humour, but I wanted something with a little gravitas, something that I thought people would take seriously. I wasn't the first to adapt The Cold Equations for radio. It had been adapted twice before, for an episode of the radio program X Minus One in 1955, and for the radio program Exploring Tomorrow in 1958.
August 1954 edition of Astounding Magazine, which included Tom Godwin's The Cold Equations. Cover art by Frank Kelly Freas
In the story, Marilyn just wants to visit her brother on a nearby planet. The emergency shuttle is delivering critical medical supplies to sick miners on that planet.
Unbeknownst to Marilyn, the shuttle is designed with a strict set of parameters: it has just enough fuel to carry its sole pilot and his critical cargo to the planet. With Marilyn on board, the shuttle will run out of fuel, the mission will fail, and the miners will die.
Critics of the story point out that the writer, Tom Godwin, unnecessarily stacked the deck against the girl. Why was it necessary to design the shuttle with such a slim margin of error? Godwin might argue that fuel would be a precious resource in space; you wouldn't want to use any more than was absolutely necessary. Of course, the real reason is that Godwin needed to create a very specific set of circumstances for the story to work. But consider the recent plane crash in Colombia that tragically killed most of the Brazilian Chapecoense Real football team. The plane ran out of fuel because the company that owned the plane skimped on fuel to save money, with horrific consequences. Godwin's plot may not be so unrealistic after all.
Realistic or not, in the universe of the story the girl must be jettisoned from the shuttle into deep space for the mission to succeed. Not exactly a Hollywood ending. My story editor, Dave Carley, felt that Marilyn learns the consequences of her ill-fated decision to stow away too quickly. She spends the rest of the story waiting to die, while the pilot reflects on the cold, harsh reality of the universe. There is no hope and therefore no real tension.
I didn't necessarily agree, at least initially. I'd originally come across the story in an English class in high school in one of our text books. I began reading it during class, during the teacher's lecture, and quickly forgot about the lecture. I found the story utterly gripping. This was long before cold-blooded authors like George R. R. Martin began killing off our favourite novel and television characters with impunity. I didn't believe that the girl was going to die. I kept waiting for her to be saved, and was utterly gobsmacked when she was finally jettisoned from the space shuttle. Reading the story as a teen-ager, I had never encountered such a brutal ending before. It left quite an impact.
But Dave felt strongly that we needed more tension, more suspense, so for my version of the story I concocted a storyline where there was some slim hope that another ship (the Stardust) would catch up with the emergency shuttle and rescue Marilyn. I made other changes as well. In the original story, Marilyn was older, in her late teens. I reduced her age to thirteen to make it more believable that she would do something so ill-considered as to sneak onto an emergency shuttle without understanding the consequences. This also injected a little more pathos into the story. Because it was radio, I needed her to speak at the beginning of the story to help illuminate to the listener what was going on. (You can't just have a character say, "I'm sneaking into the shuttle now," and so on. Well, you can, but that would be narration, and I didn't want a narrator.) So I had Marilyn sneak into the shuttle while talking to her cat, Chloe (which happened to be the name of one of my cats at the time.)
Story Editor Dave Carley (far right) on the job in Studio 212 with Gordon Pinsent and Linda Grearson during the taping of the Radio Play Test Drive (photo by John McCarthy).
Writing the adaptation, I felt like I was writing yet another draft of Tom Godwin's story. This may be horribly presumptuous, and my apologies to Tom Godwin, but I felt like it was an opportunity to correct some of the story's flaws. For one thing, the original story was quite wordy. I cut an awful lot out of it. Now, I have a lot more respect for Tom Godwin than some, such as editor Algis Budrys, who reportedly once said that The Cold Equations was "the best short story that Godwin ever wrote and he didn't write it" — referring to the fact that editor John W. Campbell sent the story back to Godwin three times before Godwin finally got it right—that is, before Godwin stopped coming up with ingenious means of saving the girl. Oh, and allegations that he borrowed the idea from a story published in EC Comics' Weird Science #13 .
Anyway, Campbell recognized the true power of the story: the idea that the universe is impartial. It doesn't care whether you live or die. Reading it back in high school, I glimpsed, perhaps for the first time in my life, a sense of the implacability of the universe. You play by its rules or you die. The stowaway is done in by cold, hard facts. For others to live, she had to die.
Several drafts into my version of the story, I was happy with everything except the ending. Something was missing. It didn't feel complete, somehow. Endings don't always come easy for me. I work hard at them because I consider them extremely important. Getting the ending wrong can ruin an entire story. Getting it right can elevate all that came before.
Producer Barbara Worthy
I discussed it with my wife. Something she said (unfortunately, I don't remember what, exactly) made me realize that the pilot didn't need to talk or think after ejecting Marilyn from the shuttle. He needed to acknowledge what he'd just been through. He needed to cry. It was an epiphany for me. It allowed me to cut a bunch of extraneous boring dialogue and get on with the emotion of the scene.
Later, one of my colleagues suggested that if you allow a character to cry, you are depriving the audience of the chance to cry themselves, because you're doing it for them. I felt differently. Making the pilot cry felt like what would actually happen. I know that truth doesn't necessarily equate to good fiction—the truth is deeper than that—but sometimes it does. So my pilot cried, and it felt right and true to me.
Matthew MacFadzean
Once the script was complete, we held auditions for the cast. An embarrassing amount of actors showed up for the casting call (we auditioned for both radio plays included in Faster Than Light at the same time, The Cold Equations and Captain's Away). Ultimately we cast Matthew MacFadzean (not to be confused with British actor Matthew Macfadyen) in the role of the shuttle pilot, and Vivian Endicott-Douglas as the young stowaway Marilyn. Shawn Smyth played the stowaway's brother Gerry Cross. Andrew Gillies played Commander Delhart of the Stardust. Sergio Dizio played the Clerk and Jennifer Dean one of the surveyors. Julia Tait was our casting director (replacing regular CBC Radio Drama Casting Director Linda Grearson, who, I believe, was subbing for Deputy Head James Roy at the time).
Barbara Worthy directed The Cold Equations while I sat behind the Neve Capricorn console recording the show. Matt Willcott did all the live sound effects. I was extremely happy with the work of our actors. I have to single out Vivian, though, who was extra-ordinary. She nailed every single take of every single scene. We could have used any of her lines in any take.
We did have trouble with one lengthy scene during which the pilot must stoically accept Marilyn's fate. Couldn't quite nail the pilot's tone and neither Barbara nor I could figure out what direction to give Matthew to make it work. We did four takes and were running out of time—we only had the actors for so long. We were forced to move on and record other scenes. Just before production wrapped for the day we came back to that problematic scene and did two more takes. Matthew finally nailed the tone, sounding troubled yet together.
Vivien Endicott-Douglas
It didn't take me long to edit The Cold Equations, probably a couple of hours. I used most of the scenes we recorded in their entirety, which was unusual. Usually we scavenged lines from other takes of the same scene. I mixed the twenty-five minute long play in a single day in Sound Effects Three, my favourite mixing studio.
I didn't have the budget for much original music, but I was able to use an original piece of music for the opening called Snowfire Reprize, by Rod Crocker. I used a couple of Manheim Steamroller pieces from Fresh Air 1 for a couple of tiny music bridges. At the end, I had Mozart's Lacrimosa swell up underneath the pilot's tears. At first I thought it might be too much, a little too heavy, but after listening to the completed mix in the studio I was convinced that the pathos of the piece supported it.
The Cold Equations may not be the most accomplished or sonically interesting radio play I've ever worked on.
But I'm pretty darned happy with it.
The Cold Equations was originally broadcast as a part of Faster Than Light on Sept 22nd, 2002 on Sunday Showcase (in mono) and again Sept 23rd on Monday Night Playhouse (in stereo).