We provide Trust Building Services via our Digital Platform for Pre-Schools, Schools and Educational Institutes, for their teaching and non teaching staff like attenders, bus drivers, conductors, house keeping staff, security guards, peons, aayas, watchmen, gardeners, etc. We provide services like school staff training, background verification services, psychometric assessments, attendance management system, financial services and more. Staff training can be for both job skills as well as etiquette and children safety & security topics. We believe in the concept that the more you know about your staff, the more comfortable you will be in trusting them with your children and your hard earned credibility. We are trusted by many of the leaders in the industry and we are partnered with some of the leading associations in the country.
Compliance Gaps w.r.t CBSE guidelines on Children Safety, etc.
Pre-Hiring Assessment – Psychometric, Job Skills.
Financial Services – Loans, Insurance, Health Checks, etc – Address basic financial needs.
Why BetterPlace is No.1 Provider for Trust Building Services like Assessments, Onboarding, Background Verification, Training, Attendance, etc for Schools ?
Unlike other companies in the segment, BetterPlace is focused on the Blue Collar segment exclusively and the solutions are designed keeping the challenges in mind.
We are trusted by some of the large employers of blue collar workforce in the country, similar to the Education Industry like Private Security Industry, Facility Management, Logistics Companies, On-Demand Services companies, Retail, etc.
Our pricing is keeping in mind the needs of this segment of employers where the operation budgets are limited and employee churn is high.
BetterPlace organised this event in collaboration with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.


text:
Eswatini Prime Minister Dies of COVID-19
Home » News » Eswatini Prime Minister Dies of COVID-19
Rilwan Balogun
Prime Minister of Eswatini, Ambrose Dlamini who tested positive for COVID-19 four weeks ago has died from the virus.
Dlamini, 52, who was hospitalised in neighbouring South Africa, gave up the ghost on Sunday evening.
"Their Majesties have commanded that I inform the Nation of the sad and untimely passing away of His Excellency the Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini. His Excellency passed on this afternoon while under medical care in a hospital in South Africa", Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku revealed in a statement.
Dlamini was taken to South Africa to fast-track his recovery but he hardly recovered.
He became Prime Minister in 2018, after he left his office as Chief Executive Officer of MTN Eswatini. He was also the former Managing Director of Nedbank Limited, Eswatini.
The Southern African country has been plagued with the Coronavirus pandemic, recoding more than 6,000 cases from its population of 1.2m people.
COVID-19 has led to the death of high-profile politicians across the continent with some nations counting their losses.
There are fears that a second wave of the virus will shake the continent more than the first and nations and their nationals have been advised to brace up for the challenges ahead.
Related Topics:Covid-19EswatiniFeatured
After 27 Years, U.S. Delists Sudan From Terrorism State Sponsors
I regret bleaching my skin – Veteran highlife artiste, Obuoba Adofo
The Conference of European Rabbis (CER) on Wednesday warned that Tunisian Jews may become targets after President Kais Saied blamed them for rising social tensions in the country.
President Saied had in a recent meeting with residents of the low-income Al-Tadamon neighborhood – also known as Ettadhamen-Mnihla – in Greater Tunis blamed Tunisia's woes on "thieving Jews".
A recording of the visit to Al-Tadamon, including the president's comments, were uploaded to his Facebook account on Tuesday.
CER's Chief Rabbi, Pinchas Goldschmidt, condemned the president's verbal attacks on the Jews.
"The Conference of European Rabbis wishes to express its deep concern following the serious and public remarks made by Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed this morning, accusing Jews of being responsible for the instability in the country"
"The CER urges the Tunisian President to withdraw these remarks, which constitute an immediate threat to the physical and moral integrity of Tunisian Jewish citizens.
"We consider that the Tunisian government is the guarantor of the security of Tunisian Jews. Such allegations threaten the integrity of one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world," he said.
Abdulateef Ahmed
Tropical storm Eloise made a landfall on Tuesday across the North-East of Madagascar bringing gusty winds & heavy rain. Eloise has weakened but is forecast to escalate as it exits the west coast and heads into the Mozambique Channel towards Southern Mozambique later this week.
At the moment, Eloise is currently considered as a Moderate Tropical Storm, with a central pressure less than 1000 hPa (hectopascal). It is however set to intensify in the coming days into a cyclone.
In December, Cyclone Chalane hit parts of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Weather experts say South Africa may experience heavy rains over the next few days. The storm is expected to reach the Kingdom of Eswatini this weekend, with strong winds and heavy rainfall making its way from Mozambique.
South African Meteorologist Francois Engelbrecht forecasts severe winds and flooding.
"Right now, for South Africa, if the storm is going to follow this track into Southern Mozambique and then towards our eastern escarpment in the North East, some parts of our Limpopo province and then southwards along the escarpment in Mpumalanga all the way to Swaziland, these areas [are] getting 100mm of rainfall on Sunday and Monday."
Engelbrecht said rains of up to 200mm in certain areas indicate a high chance of flooding.
After making a landfall, Eloise is expected to push further south-westwards towards South Africa and Mozambique. Extreme rain is expected over southern Mozambique, eastern Lowveld, escarpment of Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces as well as Northern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa up until Monday 25th January.
Against this backdrop, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) warns that possible impacts of these rains may include general flooding, damage to road infrastructure, bridges and possible displacements of affected communities.
SAWS relying on modern satellite remote sensing as well as advanced ensemble numeric modelling techniques will continue to closely monitor and make further timely updates to the public.
According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) group, no fewer than 2,500 people have died, over half of them civilians.
The United Nations on Wednesday, disclosed militant attacks in northern Mozambique have created a "worsening humanitarian crisis," estimating that over half a million people had now fled their homes.
A shadowy militant group that calls itself Ahlu Sunnah Wal-Jama has terrorized residents in gas-rich Cabo Delgado province since 2017, ransacking villages in a campaign to establish an Islamist caliphate.
The group, after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019, intensified its attacks, sometimes carrying out executions and beheadings and abducting women and children.
Thousands have had to flee their homes, mainly seeking refuge with friends and relatives in the regional capital Pemba, due to the militant attacks.
"The United Nations is deeply concerned by the worsening humanitarian crisis and escalating violence forcing thousands to flee in Cabo Delgado province," the UN's southern and eastern Africa directors said in a joint statement.
"According to the government, militant attacks by non-state groups have forced more than 565,000 people to flee … abandoning their crops and livelihoods."
They added that the upcoming rainy season and the coronavirus pandemic have only aggravated existing issues like the shortage of food, sanitation and schooling among the displaced.
The UN has called for more aid and resources to help uprooted families start from scratch, as they were "completely reliant on humanitarian assistance".
"We reckon that 1.6 million people are in need of help," UN resident Mozambique coordinator Mytra Kaulard said in an online press briefing.
"There is a cholera epidemic in Cabo Delgado that we are struggling to contain," she added.
The UN's statement coincided with a three-day visit by Portugal's foreign minister, Augusto Santos Silva, on behalf of the European Union, to discuss security situation in its former colony, which is constantly getting worse.
Mozambican forces have struggled to regain control of Cabo Delgado, which also houses Africa's three largest liquid natural gas (LNG) projects.
Militants have so far seized large swathes of territory, including the key port town of Mocimboa da Praia — about 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of a $20 billion gas exploration project led by Total, the French energy giant.
In late December, insurgency forced the company to suspend construction on its LNG site.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne had a meeting this week and the president vowed to "establish a security plan" to safeguard the project.
East Africa Politics News60 mins ago
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Rumors are swirling inside Time Inc. that the company is looking at four magazines as selloff possibilities: Coastal Living and Sunset—as a unit—and maybe Health and Golf.
There is also chatter that the media giant will sell off its British wing, known as IPC, which includes 64 magazines.
Time's London wing was said to have absorbed about 100 of the 300 people who are being cut in the global downsizing announced Tuesday, according to insiders.
When Time said in April it was not going to entertain buyout offers for the entire company, it also said that the ongoing strategy would include a big digital push as well as "portfolio rationalization" — which means asset sales.
Time on Thursday declined to comment on which properties it plans to sell.
As Media Ink earlier revealed, McKinsey & Co., the management consulting behemoth, has been hired to try to figure out what stays and what direction to go in the future. Time has not officially acknowledged it hired McKinsey.
Filed under media ink , mergers & acquisitions , time inc.


text:
/* import external libraries */
import Graph from 'graph.js';

/* import internal stuff */
import {extend, isDefined, indent, oncePer, s, t}       from './util.es6.js';
import Path                                             from './Path.es6.js';
import define_OperationTypes                            from './operationTypes.es6.js';
import define_Modify                                    from './Modify.es6.js';
import define_ContainerProxy                            from './ContainerProxy.es6.js';
import {ApplicationOrderCycle, UnresolvedDeltaConflict} from './Error.es6.js';

export default oncePer('DeltaModel', (deltaJs) => {

	define_OperationTypes(deltaJs);
	define_ContainerProxy(deltaJs);

	//noinspection JSUnusedLocalSymbols
	deltaJs.newOperationType('DeltaModel', class DeltaModel extends deltaJs.Delta {

		constructor(...args) {
			super(...args);
			this.graph = new Graph();
		}

		clone() {
			var result = super.clone();
			result.graph = this.graph.clone(d => d.clone());
			return result;
		}

		_assertNoUnresolvedConflicts() {
			for (let conflictInfo of this.conflicts()) {
				if (conflictInfo.conflictResolvingDeltas.size === 0) {
					throw new UnresolvedDeltaConflict(conflictInfo.conflictingDeltas);
				}
			}
		}

		precondition(target, options) {
			for (let [name, delta] of this.graph.vertices()) {
				if ([...this.graph.verticesTo(name)].length === 0) { // source vertices
					let judgment = delta.evaluatePrecondition(target, options);
					if (judgment !== true) { return judgment }
				}
			}
			return true;
		}

		applyTo(target, options = {}) {
			/* throw an exception if there are unresolved conflicts */
			this._assertNoUnresolvedConflicts();

			/* no unresolved conflicts: apply the delta model */
			for (let [, subDelta] of this.graph.vertices_topologically()) {
				subDelta.applyTo(target, extend({}, options, { weak: true }));
			}
		}

		toString(options = {}) {
			let str = super.toString(options);
			if (this.graph.vertexCount() > 0) {
				let deltas = '';
				for (let [name, delta] of this.graph.vertices_topologically()) {
					deltas += `[${name}] ${delta.toString(options)}\n`;
				}
				str += '\n' + indent(deltas, 4);
			}
			return str;
		}

		conflicts() {
			/* clone the graph */
			var g = this.graph.clone();

			/* source and sink keys */
			var sink = '(sink)';
			while (g.hasVertex(sink)) { sink = `${sink}'` }

			/* create sink vertex, connect it to all other vertices */
			g.addNewVertex(sink, null);
			for (let [name] of g.vertices()) {
				g.setVertex(name, null);
				if (name !== sink) { g.ensureEdge(name, sink) }
			}

			/* transitive reduction */
			g = g.transitiveReduction();

			/* find all pairs of 'incomparable' deltas, plus the closest deltas that are 'greater' than both */
			var resolutions = new Map(); // first -> second -> Set<possible-resolving-delta>
			var getResolutionsIn = (name) => {
				if (g.vertexValue(name)) { return }
				let ancestors = new Map(); // pred -> Set<ancestors-inc-pred>
				for (let [pred] of g.verticesTo(name)) {
					getResolutionsIn(pred);
					let additionalAncestors = new Set([pred]);
					for (let ancSet of g.vertexValue(pred).values()) {
						for (let anc of ancSet.values()) {
							additionalAncestors.add(anc);
						}
					}
					ancestors.set(pred, additionalAncestors);
				}

				g.setVertex(name, ancestors);
				for (let pred1 of ancestors.keys()) {
					for (let pred2 of ancestors.keys()) {
						if (pred1 < pred2) {
							let ancs1 = new Set(ancestors.get(pred1));
							let ancs2 = new Set(ancestors.get(pred2));
							for (let anc1 of ancs1) {
								for (let anc2 of ancs2) {
									if (anc1 === anc2) {
										ancs1.delete(anc1);
										ancs2.delete(anc2);
									}
								}
							}
							for (let anc1 of ancs1) {
								for (let anc2 of ancs2) {
									s(resolutions, ...[anc1, anc2].sort()).add(name);
								}
							}
						}
					}
				}
			};
			getResolutionsIn(sink);

			/* out of the incomparable deltas, find those that are actually in conflict, and find any */
			var result = new Set();
			for (let first of resolutions.keys()) {
				for (let second of resolutions.get(first).keys()) {
					let x = this.graph.vertexValue(first);
					let y = this.graph.vertexValue(second);
					if (!x.commutesWith(y, { weak: true })) {
						var conflictInfo = {
							conflictingDeltas:       new Set([first, second]),
							conflictResolvingDeltas: new Set()
						};
						for (let nearestResolver of resolutions.get(first).get(second)) {
							for (let [resolver] of [[nearestResolver], ...g.verticesWithPathFrom(nearestResolver)]) {
								let z = this.graph.vertexValue(resolver);
								if (resolver !== sink && z.resolves(x, y, { weak: true })) {
									conflictInfo.conflictResolvingDeltas.add(resolver);
								}
							}
						}
						result.add(conflictInfo);
					}
				}
			}

			/* return the conflict results */
			return result;
		}

	}, class DeltaModelProxy extends deltaJs.ContainerProxy {

		constructor(...args) {
			super(...args);
			this._childOptions               = new Map(); // key -> options
			this._childApplicationConditions = new Map(); // key -> application-condition
		}

		/**
		 * @public
		 * @method
		 * @param rawArgs {Array.<*>}
		 * @return {?{ options: Object, args: Array.<*> }}
		 */
		processProxyArguments(...rawArgs) {
			// rawArgs is parsed as (...options, name, ...options, path, ...args),
			// though name and/or path may also be passed as options directly
			var options = {};
			do {
				if (rawArgs.length === 0) { throw new Error(`The argument list for this Modify.DeltaModel method is insufficient.`) }
				var arg = rawArgs.shift();
				if (typeof arg === 'string') {
					if (!options.name) { options.name = arg   }
					else               { options.path = arg   }
				} else                 { extend(options, arg) }
			} while (!options.path || !options.name);
			return { options, args: rawArgs };
		}

		/**
		 * @public
		 * @method
		 * @param delta   {DeltaJs#Delta}
		 * @param options {{path: Path, name: string, feature: boolean}}
		 * @return {DeltaJs#Proxy}
		 */
		addOperation(delta, options) {
			var {path, name, feature} = options;

			/* create application condition and optional eponymous linked feature */
			if (!this._childApplicationConditions.has(name)) {
				let appCond;
				if (feature) { appCond = deltaJs.newFeature(  name,            options                           ) }
				else         { appCond = deltaJs.newFeature( `delta__${name}`, extend({ hidden: true }, options) ) }
				if (isDefined(options['resolves'])) {
					appCond.if(options['resolves']);
					options = extend({}, options, { feature: false });
				}
				if (isDefined(options['requires'])) {
					appCond.selects(options['requires']);
				}
				if (feature || appCond.conditional) {
					delta.applicationCondition = appCond;
				}
				this._childApplicationConditions.set(name, appCond);
			}

			/* create proxies */
			var deepestProxy;
			if (path.prop) {
				let newOptions = extend({}, options, { name: undefined });
				let childProxy = this.addChildProxy(name, new deltaJs.Delta.Modify());
				deepestProxy = childProxy.addOperation(delta, newOptions);
			} else {
				deepestProxy = this.addChildProxy(name, delta);
			}

			/* store options */
			if (!this._childOptions.has(name)) {
				this._childOptions.set(name, options);
			}

			/* return the deepest created proxy */
			return deepestProxy;
		}

		/**
		 * Dynamically compute and return the delta belonging to this proxy.
		 * @public
		 * @method
		 * @return the delta belonging to this proxy
		 */
		delta() {
			var result = super.delta();
			result.graph.clear();
			for (let name of this.childKeys()) {
				let options = this._childOptions.get(name);

				/* delta in the graph */
				let delta = this.childDelta(name);
				result.graph.addVertex(name, delta);

				/* application order */
				for (let subName of [ ...options['resolves'] || [],
				                      ...options['after']    || [],
				                      ...options['requires'] || [] ]) {
					result.graph.createEdge(subName, name);
					let cycle = result.graph.cycle();
					if (cycle) {
						result.graph.removeExistingEdge(subName, name);
						throw new ApplicationOrderCycle(cycle);
					}
				}

				/* application condition */
				if (options.feature || this._childApplicationConditions.get(name).conditional) {
					delta.applicationCondition = this._childApplicationConditions.get(name);
				}
			}
			return result;
		}

	});

	/* composition */
	// to compose delta models, we simply have one apply after the other
	// without any composability checks; in the future, this may become more clever
	deltaJs.newComposition((d1, d2) => (
		d1 instanceof deltaJs.Delta.DeltaModel ||
		d2 instanceof deltaJs.Delta.DeltaModel
	), true);

	/* equality */
	deltaJs.newEquality( t('DeltaModel', 'DeltaModel'), (d1, d2) => {
		var g1 = d1.graph.transitiveReduction();
		var g2 = d2.graph.transitiveReduction();
		return g1.equals(g2, (x, y) => x.equals(y));
	} );

});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Current Event Connection
NASA Wants YOU!
NASA has announced that it is seeking new astronauts. Find out what you need to apply! (Washington Post)
Do you really need five reasons why it's awesome to be an astronaut? Here they are, in any case! (And it doesn't even count having your poop become shooting stars!)
Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers' Toolkit.
Learn more about being an astronauts here!
Discussion Ideas
What type of education do you need to be an astronaut?
You need a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics. (Find out if your school is accredited here.)
FYI: The following are not qualifying degrees: technology (engineering technology, aviation technology, medical technology, etc.); psychology (except for clinical psychology, physiological psychology, or experimental psychology, which are qualifying); nursing; exercise physiology or similar fields; social sciences (geography, anthropology, archaeology, etc.); and aviation, aviation management or similar fields.
What type of work experience do you need to be an astronaut?
Your degree must be followed by at least three years of related, progressively responsible, professional experience or at least 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. (An advanced degree, such as a Ph.D., may be substituted for experience.)
FYI, science teachers: Teaching experience, including experience at the K-12 levels, is considered qualifying experience for the Astronaut Candidate position and educators are encouraged to apply!
How old do you have to be?
There is no age limit for astronauts, but given the education and experience required, you probably have to be old enough to drive a car.
Astronaut candidates selected in the past have ranged between the ages of 26 and 46, with the average age being 34.
The youngest actual astronaut in space was Sally Ride, who was 32 when she was part of the space shuttle Challenger crew in 1983.
The oldest astronaut in space was John Glenn, who was 77 when he was part of the space shuttle Discovery crew in 1998. (Thirty-six years earlier, Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth; he was 40 at the time, and went through NASA's first astronaut candidacy procedures a few years earlier.)
Do you have to be a U.S. citizen to be a NASA astronaut?
Yes. However, NASA has agreements with several other space agencies such as JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency), ESA (European Space Agency), and AEB (Brazilian Space Agency). Astronaut hopefuls are encouraged to apply through their country's space program.
Do you need to be a pilot?
It depends on what you want to do.
Commander and pilot astronauts must have at least 1,000 hours pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. During flight, the commander has onboard responsibility for the vehicle, crew, mission success, and safety of flight. The pilot assists the commander in controlling and operating the vehicle.
Mission astronaut specialists are not required to have flight time. Mission specialist astronauts work with the commander and the pilot and have overall responsibility for coordinating operations in the following areas: systems, crew activity planning, consumables usage, and experiment/payload operations.
Do you have to have served in the military?
Nope, although former and current members of all branches of the military are encouraged to apply.
Do you need to be very healthy and physically fit?
You need to have 20/20 vision, either uncorrected or corrected; your blood pressure must be 140/90 when measured in a seated position; and you must be between 62 and 75 inches tall (about 5'2" and 6'2", for commanders and pilots) or 58.5 and 76 inches tall (about 4'9" and 6'3", for mission specialists).
You must be able to pass NASA's physical fitness assessment, which includes tests of strength, endurance, and agility. Get started on your own "Space Gym" with our activity featuring NASA astronauts.
Other standards for NASA astronauts include nutritional intake, aerobic endurance, and muscle strength.
What is the salary for an astronaut?
Like all government employees, astronauts are paid using the General Schedule (GS) scale. Astronauts are paid at grades GS-11 and GS-14—between $66,026 and $144,566 per year.
How tough is the competition to be an astronaut?
Very! In all recorded history, there have only been about 300 astronauts; here's the list.
According to the Washington Post, "[w]hen NASA put out a call for applications in 2011, they received over 6,100 applications and only selected eight as potential future astronauts. That's an acceptance rate of just over 0.1%. Not to mention the fact that you still have to get through training after making the cut. But a 0.1% chance is better than a 0% chance, which is what your odds of becoming an astronaut are if you just sit around moping."
Mission Specialist Joseph R. Tanner waves waves toward the camera of his spacewalk colleague, Mission Specialist Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, as the two share extravehicular activity (EVA) duties. The STS-115 astronauts and Expedition 13 crew worked on construction of the International Space Station.
Photo by NASA
TEACHERS' TOOLKIT
Washington Post: NASA is looking for new astronauts. Do you have what it takes?
NASA: Be an Astronaut: NASA Seeks Explorers for Future Space Missions
NASA: @NASA Astronauts
Nat Geo: 5 Reasons Why Astronauts Are Awesome
NASA: 5 Myths About Becoming an Astronaut
NASA: Astronaut Selection and Training
NASA: Astronaut Career FAQ
NASA: Astronaut Selection Program (and how to apply)
NASA: All Things Astronaut
NASA: For Educators
carylsue 11/05/2015 11/05/2015 astronauts, careers, NASA, space, United States
2 thoughts on "NASA Wants YOU!"
NASA will get you to sign secret act not to reveal they can't get pass the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding the earth. Never been anywhere all lies all crap. NWO deception.
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Every human is poetry. Exploring the significance of braided sweetgrass, T @youarepoetryedu Ss wove their stories… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 hours ago


text:
FIVE GUYS & ME - Feasting In Florence (Italy) - Day One
FIVE GUYS & ME
Feasting In Florence (Italy)
It was hard leaving Lyon (well, hard leaving all that great food), but we did and headed out for our adventure in Provence...
http://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-food-network-adventure-in-provence.html
We left Provence over the "To Catch A Thief" High Corniche and crossed the Italian border and made our way to the medieval city of Alba, mountain top restaurants, truffles and truffle hunting dogs...
http://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2009/11/truffles-flourishes.html
Then onto ancient Reggio Emilia and castles and frescos and balsamic vinegar that rivals fine port...
http://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2009/11/not-your-trader-joes-balsamic.html
By now I was in love w/ Germany, France and Italy. I wanted to live everywhere... Everything was so wonderfully... well, old! Ancient! But nothing prepared me for Florence, but more on that a bit further 'down.'
I had to admit as we drove to Florence, I missed Barry's droll humor. What I didn't miss, however, was sharing the back seat of the Passat. With Jim and Jason in the van following close behind, Charlie was again driving with Richard riding shotgun and giving directions. I sprawled out in the back and enjoyed the scenery as we caravaned to Florence. We were on our way to Tuscany. Tuscany!
Though the ride was smoother than our long mountain drive to Alba, my emotions weren't. By the time we reached the outskirts of Florence my stomach was growling and I was getting a tad 'out-of-sorts.' As we entered the city, Charlie – and Richard – lost their way completely which only added to my crankiness. A few Cheez-Its or a small bag of chips, even a nut would have calmed me down, but the only thing we had in the car was chewing gum. I hate chewing gum!
We finally found our way into the ancient part of the city - a maze of narrow one way streets jammed with smart cars and Vespas.
We drove up and down the streets and alleyways for what seemed like hours. Charlie tried to get directions, but none of us spoke Italian and we found no one who spoke English. Other than the noise my stomach was making, I remained quiet for fear I might start hyper-ventilating because, along with no Cheez-Its or chips, we had no paper bags to breathe into. Finally Richard jumped out of the car waving a piece of paper with the name of our hotel and its address and jumped into an empty taxi in front of us. The cab took off. Charlie followed and the equipment van w/ Jason and Jim followed Charlie. A turn at the next corner and a half a block later we were in front of our hotel. Why didn't he think of that before?!
Richard rushed back to the Passat and opened my door.
As I got out and saw the old, cramped, ugly buildings on our street and the New York City flop house marquee marking our hotel, I burst into tears. Dozens and dozens of Vespas careened noisily up and down the street, narrowly missing us as we unloaded the car while I sobbed quietly to Richard that this wasn't the Florence we always dreamed of visiting.
I got it together, however, as we walked under the old, ugly marquee and into the tiny lobby of our hotel. Inside, I began to feel a little better. It had a charm that belied the outside. There was some lovely Italian pottery on display. The guys checked us all in and made arrangements for the van and its equipment as I "inspected" the sweet little mahogany bar in the rear of the lobby and the hotel's small dining room. My stomach was still growling, but I was "adjusting." We finally made it upstairs to our room which was very simple, but had an artistic flare. The ceiling was high and surrounded by crown molding. The plastered walls had wonderful faded stenciling here and there. There was an antique desk and chair and a lovely painted armoiré. The heavy, dark drapes covering the windows added a sense of drama. The duvet was plush. I sat down on the bed and let out a sigh of relief. Richard suggested we go explore and get something to eat. I grabbed my purse.
As we walked along the streets looking for a café I felt I was in the midst of a glorious outdoor museum. No movie or picture prepared me for all the amazing artwork. Everywhere! Just hanging out in the piazzas w/ us ordinary folk.
We wandered into an outdoor market filled with vendors selling beautiful leather goods, clothes, artwork, jewelry, pashminas, scarves and Tuscan pottery.
(a souvenier Tuscan pottery plate - great for cheese or a salad)
We decided we'd explore all the stalls later as we still wanted to get some lunch. We turned a corner and, for the second time that day, I thought I was going to hyper-ventilate… this time not from panic or frustration, but from the sheer beauty of what we were seeing. There in front of us was the Piazza del Duomo and the 15th century Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, a/k/a Il Duomo.
Its massive size was overwhelming. I was positive it could house every citizen of Italy behind its walls. The magnificent terra cotta colored dome cast a warm shadow over the piazza… hell, it cast a warm shadow over all of Tuscany, that's how big it is! The inside of the dome was magnificent!
There were carved marble figures, gargoyles and mosaics, a bell tower that reached toward the heavens
stained glass windows and a figure of Mary holding a flowered scepter over the intricately carved door and mural.
I was breathless. Though this was Italy and not medieval England, I wondered if this magnificent neo-classic cathedral was Ken Follet's inspiration for his novel, "The Pillars of the Earth." My hunger forgotten, we strolled in the piazza examining the cathedral from every angle for what seemed like hours. There was so much to see just on the outside that we didn't notice the sun beginning to set. It was time to get back to our hotel and get ready for dinner.
Back in our room, I showered and put on my black DKNY traveling pants suit, a cream-colored silk blouse and strands of Coco Chanel pearls. Tonight we were going to experience some of Italy's finest dining at the Ristorante Enoteca Pinchiorri and, like the restaurant in the Hostellerie de Levernois in Beaune, France, it's a member of the Relais & Chateaux group – Relais Gourmand. Richard had discovered it on-line when he researched the sites in Florence and had made the reservation. Since it was in the old part of the city, Charlie, Jason, Richard and I walked the narrow streets to the restaurant. Jim didn't join us. It seemed he fell in love that afternoon with a beautiful shopkeeper and was playing Romeo to his newly discovered Juliet.
As we approached the restaurant we were greeted by a plain door to a building with an unremarkable façade. I didn't react. I learned my lesson when I misjudged the outside appearance of our charming little hotel. We entered and walked up a short flight of stairs to a small foyer. We were greeted by the maitre'd who led us to our table in a stunning garden atrium with colorful flowers in huge stone urns and tall carved statues of what I assumed were Roman gods. The tables were dressed with 'aged' pink cloths and the walls were a pale yellow. Through a doorway on the other side of the atrium I could see another dining room in the same pink and yellow theme with vases filled with brightly colored flowers. An old world landscape in a gilded frame hung on a wall. Our waiter brought us menus and a tiny little chair that he placed on the floor beside me. I hadn't a clue what it was for until he unhooked by Vuitton bag hanging on the back of my chair and placed in on the chair. A purse chair! Who knew? But it was then that I knew we were in for a memorable evening… no detail was too small.
Our food ordered, the sommelier chose a bottle of rich red Italian table wine (the only one we could really afford even on an expense account) from the restaurant's cellar that houses about two hundred variety of wines.
We shared the appetizers: sea scallops with herbs and bell pepper, lobster 'gratinated,' a quinoa salad with ginger and yogurt, and an endive salad dressed with hazelnut oil. We talked about the past three weeks and all the shoots we'd been on for the Food Network while the waiter replenished our wine glasses. He really didn't understand English that well, but he did understand "Food Network" and began asking us all sorts of questions… Who were we? Why were we in Florence, etc? By the time we finished the delicious appetizers and answering his questions, the wine was gone. But, sadly, "our" budget didn't allow for another bottle.
However, when our waiter returned with our entrees, the sommelier also returned with a second bottle of wine, compliments of the chef, explaining that the chef couldn't allow people from the Food Network to eat his creations without "complementing" it with wine. I wanted to cheer, but restrained myself. This bottle of red was far more complex than the one we had just finished and went beautifully with each of our entrees. We shared a handmade tagliatelle pasta filled with ricotta and basil served with chanterelle mushrooms, mozzarella and capers. Richard and Charlie had the duck cooked two ways. The breast came separately – tender and juicy – followed by the legs which were served up in its confit. Jason had a lamb shoulder with asparagus and sesame seeds and I had the pigeon with thyme and garlic, squashed potatoes with a black pepper and chicken liver sauce. I had a taste of everything. Oh my!!!... This Tuscan food the chef made using French techniques was amazing. We couldn't eat another morsel… well, except the cheese wheeled in on a cart by the chef. Not as extensive a selection as the restaurant in Beaune, but filled with some of the most delicious cheeses I've ever had.
Jason paid the tab, we thanked the chef, telling him that this was one of the greatest meals we'd ever had and walked back to our hotel.
www.enotecapinchiorri.com/econtenuti.html
Tomorrow was another day in Florence. I couldn't wait.
Labels: Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Il Duomo, Restaurant in Florence Italy, Ristorante Enoteca Pinchiorri
FIVE GUYS & ME w/ The Lion of Lyon
With The Lion of Lyon
Our stomachs were filled with Edmund Fallot mustard sauces when the guys finished shooting our 'lunch.' We packed the van and began our caravan to Lyon where we were to meet one of France's most famous chefs… Paul Bocuse, the father of nouvelle cuisine. He's so famous, in fact, that his cooking earned him France's highest civilian award, the French Medal of Honor, bestowed on him by President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
By the time we reached Lyon it was after dark and we were hungry and tired. We were booked at the old-world Grand Hotel Mercure Chateau (a/k/a the 'train station' hotel) and when we saw the hotel sign from the autostrata, we gave out a group weary sigh of relief… However, finding the hotel once we left the autostrata was another matter altogether. The hotel seemed to have completely disappeared.
Driving through the streets of Lyon at night isn't the best way to see the city. But here we were, once again 'touring' a town, as we tried to track down our lodgings. The van was behind us and Barry kept assuring Jim and Jason through a walkie-talkie that our hotel was just around the corner. He lied. Around every corner was just another dark street filled with French people in cafes eating cheese and sipping wine. Though we did discover a lovely carousel in the middle of some plaza we kept driving around. But it's charm eluded me...
My stomach growled. I growled. Finally, even Charlie had had enough 'touring' and forced Barry to stop the Passat in front of a little hotel… not our hotel. The van stopped right behind us blocking the street. We didn't care. Armed with a desire to end our endless search, or maybe just his strong desire to use the bathroom, Charlie jumped out of the car and ran inside. Ten minutes later he was back with directions to our hotel which, we discovered, really was just around the corner.
We pulled into a parking space in front of the hotel. We still couldn't figure out how we lost it because there, just meters away, was the imposing old train station that the hotel was built to service tired travelers back 'in the day.' It was very dark standing there on the street barren of trees or foliage and the illumination from the hotel and street lights gave the whole area a mysterious aura. I expected a misty fog to waft down at any minute. We grabbed our bags and went inside.
Walking into the hotel was like walking into 'old' Europe. The name "Grand Hotel" suited it. I could visualize men in waistcoats and spats carrying silver-headed walking canes and women in form-fitting skirts to their ankles, high-buttoned shoes, gloves and large picture hats arriving at the station with their Vuitton steamer trunks that bellmen collected on baggage carts as they entered the lobby. High up over mahogany paneled walls and a substantial front desk were large, pastoral landscape murals.
I just wanted to sit in one of the lobby's easy chairs and soak up the atmosphere. But food service in the hotel's restaurant was about to end for the evening, so we all quickly settled into our rooms then met in the restaurant for dinner. With lush red carpets, red leather high back chairs surrounding tables covered with cream linen table cloths, the room was very elegant. Very – uh - 'French.'
At dinner we met my sixth guy. Oliver. Because Paul Bocuse didn't speak English and none of us spoke French that well, the show hired a translator who showed up in the form of a twenty-something Swiss student studying in France. Dressed in jeans and tee in that throw-away chic so many Europeans are born with (especially if they speak French), his dark brown hair tied back into a pony tail, his personality fit his appearance. Young 'fluff,' but charming. The meal was ordinary, but we didn't care. Not every restaurant can be four stars… not even in France. The guys finalized the next day's agenda then we were off to bed.
For the show Monsieur Bocuse was making his renowned truffle soup then priced at $50 a bowl (it's now $90) on his menu. But first we were to meet him at his favorite indoor farmer's market where 'we' would tape him shopping for the ingredients of the day… then back to his restaurant to shoot him making the soup.
It was fun following him around as he talked to his extended 'family' of food merchants while Oliver translated and the guys taped. Well, it was fun until I had to go to the loo. I'm not crazy about public restrooms, especially public restrooms in such a big venue. But nothing compares to a public restroom in a big venue that has holes in the floor instead of toilets. Talk about your "old Europe."
The shoot at the farmers' market over, we drove to Bocuse's restaurant… an exquisite space in an old stone building. We walked through the tall wooden gates and entered a tiled courtyard with carved frescos and mosaics on the stone walls. Atop the outside walls were large splashes of bright reds and greens.
Inside, there was a separate room for the bar and "cocktail lounge."
But it was the main dining room that left me speechless… lush fabrics on the tables and windows, upholstered chairs and banquettes. Everything was elegant, expensive, yet oddly home-like and cozy. The china, designed for the restaurant, has "Paul Bocuse" embossed on each piece and playful animals and landscapes in cornflower blue, yellows, greens and reds painted on the rim.
In the entry, the china was on display for sale for anyone wanting to take home a souvenir. I just had to buy a charger to use as a cake plate and a small cheese plate to bring home for a friend.
By the time Monsieur Bocuse was ready for his close-up, it was lunch time and the dining room was packed with people. The kitchen was too busy with cooks and sous chefs preparing meals, waiters bustling in and out and my guys: Jim working the audio; Richard directing Jason as they followed Bocuse from stove to counter preparing the soup; Oliver interpreting everything except "BAM" which Bocuse learned from his friend, Emeril; Charlie organizing things and doing paper work; and Barry overseeing everything. There was no room for me and nothing I was needed for. The bar was empty, so I sat down, pulled a paperback from my backpack and read while smells from the kitchen invaded my senses.
Finally the shoot was over, all the patrons had gone and Monsieur Bocuse invited us to sit down in the kitchen at the long picnic-style dining table used by the sous chefs, cooks and waiters on their food breaks. Chilled bottles of sancerre were opened and poured for me and my six guys.
I was admiring the Chagall-like artwork of the menus stacked on a nearby table...
when a waiter served each of us a bowl of truffle soup topped with a chicken pot pie-type of pastry crust. We broke open the crust and dipped into the soup filled with carrots, mushroom, beef, celery, fois gras and hundreds of dollars an ounce black truffles. Bocuse uses black truffles because, unlike white truffles, one can cook with them. White truffles disintegrate. A bottle of Bordeaux appeared on the table… the only wine Monsieur Bocuse said should be served with this soup. I watched Jason look at the bowl wondering if he was going to at least give the soup a try. We explained that truffle was just a fancy word for mushroom. He tentatively put a spoonful in his mouth and as he chewed on a truffle he smiled. I don't think he thought it was a mushroom, but I think he was the first one finished. I'm not surprised - it was the most amazing soup I'd ever tasted.
When the individual soup tureens were removed, we all started to get up to leave, but quickly sat back down when a platter of ripe, stinky cheeses was brought to the table… followed by a salad… followed by red mullet topped with a potato crust which was scalloped to look like the scales of a fish (the presentation was only matched by the taste of the fish and potato mixture)… followed by a chocolate bombe dessert… and many bottles of white and red wine. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
As we were about to leave, Richard and Monsieur Bocuse wanted to have a picture taken together. They had bonded. Bocuse in his two foot high chef's hat, arms folded across his chest in his famous pose and Richard standing beside him. I snapped. No flash. I tried again. Still no flash. No one else had a 'snapshot' camera. But Bocuse wasn't about to give up. He went to his private rooms on the second story above the kitchen and brought down his own personal camera and gave it to me. He and Richard posed again. I snapped. No flash. We gave up, made our good byes and headed back to the hotel and early to bed. We were off to Provence in the morning except Charlie, who went ahead on the train to do a bit of location scouting for our next shoot: that olive grove with a 1,000 year old tree I wrote about recently. The grove's olives make a very delicious and very expensive olive oil… But olives were the last thing on my mind as I fell asleep with visions of truffle soup dancing in my head.
Posted by ilona saari at 8:38 AM 9 comments:
Labels: Grand Hotel Mercure Chateau, Paul Bocuse Restaurant in Lyon France, Train Station Hotel. truffle soup
FIVE GUYS & ME - Cut to the "Beaune"
5 GUYS & ME
Cut to the "Beaune"
Though reluctant to say goodbye to the beauty of champagne country, we left Reims early the next morning for the medieval walled city of Beaune in the Dijon area of France.
After endlessly driving around the narrow, cobblestoned streets searching for our hotel, Barry quipped that this was the last totally walled-in city left in France, so we needed to tour the city a few times to really capture its old-world glory. Ha, ha.
Charlie eventually figured out that our hotel was not within the city walls, but beyond them on the other side of the autostrada. Our Beaune "tour" finally ended and we arrived at the Hostellerie de Levernois, a member of the Relaix & Chateaux Group some of the finest hotels and restaurants in the world. We drove onto wooden bridge over a storybook brook to enter the property that was nestled in acres of gardens. I immediately wanted to move in. The rooms, decorated in country French florals (well, we were in country France), were set apart from the main building that housed the check-in desk and restaurant. Each room had a lovely terrace overlooking those gardens and, unlike any of our other hotels in Europe, this one had wash cloths. I was in heaven.
After settling in, we drove back to Beaune for lunch and more sightseeing… this time on foot. The city is truly out of an Alexander Dumas novel with worn cobble-stone streets...
and courtyards.
I half-expected to see D'Artanagn, Athos, Porthos or Aramis come flying off one of the geranium-covered balconies at any moment.
A light lunch in the plaza at a charming cafe
and a whole roll of film later...
we returned to the hotel to get ready for dinner in the hotel's world-class restaurant.
When I had packed for this trip I knew we'd be on our feet working 'on location' most of the time so I basically threw in "crew" clothes: cargo pants, jeans, tee shirts and comfortable 'tie shoes' and sneakers. But, just in case we had a fancy night out, I packed my DKNY black pants suit and a couple of silk shells. This was the night for DKNY and a strand of pearls.
Jason's room offered the best garden view so we met on his terrace before dinner to share the bottle of vintage Ruinart champagne that Guy had given us as a farewell gift.
We sipped the smooth as silk wine and watched the sunset. As our reservation witching hour approached we finished the bubbly and strolled to dinner through the gardens
and over the expansive front lawn.
The hotel's multi-star restaurant didn't disappoint in upscale elegance and amazing food. Richard and Charlie each had the five course tasting menu that included sweetbreads. Richard had never before tried sweetbreads and wasn't all that excited to see them included as one of his courses. Innards! Shiver! But in the spirit of our food adventure, he tasted them. He liked them. He really liked them. When Jason asked what they were, none of us had the heart to tell him. Jim had Bresse chicken with a sauce reduction that must have taken hours. Barry had a three course dinner that included red mullet sautéed with Provencal herbs. My dinner was baby rack of lamb and included a fois gras appetizer that I still dream about today. Jason? He ventured out of his shoe-leather-meat comfort zone and tried a filet of sole dinner which contained no food or ingredient that he hadn't eaten in some way, shape or form back home in Knoxville.
The wines: Burgogne and Sancerre.
Desserts ran the gamut from chocolate delights to fruit pastries. But as delicious at it was, what I remember most about the meal was the cheese tray… though 'tray' is a gross understatement. It was a cheese cart. A big cheese cart. Two tiers! Filled with every imaginable French cheese. I realized that when the waiter asked me what cheeses I'd like to try I was suppose to select three or four – perhaps five at the most, but nooooooooo. I wasn't going to be dining there again any time soon, so I went for it and asked to taste everything… the stinkier the cheese the better. I was in cheese heaven. All-in-all the restaurant, considered one of France's greatest, lived up to its reputation.
The next morning we ventured to the gourmet mustard-making facility of Edmond Fallot to shoot the making of his renowned mustard.
As soon as we arrived we were given clear plastic cover-ups designed like scrubs to cover our clothes, shower caps to contain our hair and face masks to filter our breath. The plant was very sanitary.
The guys shot the bottling room, the labeling room and the packing room.
When they finished, we were led to the second floor where the 20 + varieties of mustard are made, including gingerbread mustard and black currant mustard and my personal favorite, walnut mustard.
The fermenting fumes of vinegar and peppers were overwhelming.
As Jason climbed a ladder to shoot inside one of the huge stainless steel vats, his eyes began to burn and tears rushed down his cheeks. He couldn't see – not a good thing if you're a cameraman. Every other guy was busy doing something, so I grabbed some tissues from a nearby table, climbed up a second ladder and wiped his eyes… then wiped my eyes… then his again, as he leaned over the vat and rolled tape.
There wasn't a dry eye in the house! But Jason was finally able to see his way through the taping.
The shoot ended with our Fallot tour guide taking us all to Le Benaton for lunch where 'my' guys shot the chef making a langoustine (tiny baby lobster) dish that he layered in tiers on our plates with Fallot mustards of the Gods. The dish was heavenly.
Lunch over, good byes said, it was onto Lyon.
Labels: Beaune France, Edwin Fallot Mustards, Hostellerie de Levernois
FIVE GUYS & ME - Reims, France
In Champagne County
Reims, France
That drive from Germany to France took about three - four hours without "practicing" or any other driving incident… though hilltop castles whizzing by while going 90 mph on the autobaun never let me forget that we were not on the 405 in Los Angeles. However, by the time we reached the city of Reims, we re-entered our "practicing" mode and had to retrace our driving steps around what seemed like a million round-abouts.
(one of the million round-abouts)
Never one to be deterred from his goal (in this case keeping us calm while trying to find our hotel), Barry dipped into his bag of explanations and came up with: "We aren't lost… I just wanted us to all share the experience of being in this beautiful city from both sides of the streets." Consequently we arrived late at the "inn" and only had time for a quick meal in the hotel restaurant. Though Europeans are accustomed to eating dinner after ten o'clock, I'm not, and I didn't want to eat anything too heavy before going to bed. I ordered a shrimp salad. By the time the salad reached my table I had downed two glasses of wine so I didn't care that the black, beady eyes of the shrimp stared up from the plate as if pleading for a stay of execution. I was hungry and, since they'd already been boiled and chilled, I ignored their pleas, plucked out their eyes and scarfed them down.
At 6:00 am sharp the next day we were at Ruinart, the oldest champagne house in the world...
founded by a monk just before a "rival" monk established Dom Perignon.
Guy (not to be confused with one of "my guys" as his name is pronounced "gee" with a hard 'g') DeRivoire, a senior executive at the winery, was our tall and elegant host.
He introduced us to Ruinart's cellar master, whose nose and taste buds make him one of, if not the most important person at the champagne house. It is the cellar master who chooses the blend of grapes that make up the champagne.
After shooting a demonstration of the master at work...
Guy took us down into the cruyeres ("caves") where literally millions of bottles of champagne are stored.
(original cave entrance - we took an elevator)
Ruinart uses these cruyeres because the temperature is consistently cool, thus preserving the wine. So cool, in fact, we needed sweaters and jackets. These spectacular caves, one as deep at 150 feet, are actually ancient chalk quarries the Romans had dug and mined in 200AD to use for constructing roads and buildings. It was down there where we met the riddler. Not the "Batman" Riddler, but a man whose sole job is to turn the champagne bottles an eighth to a quarter of an inch each time so that the sediment from the wine's second fermentation slowly makes its way to the neck of the bottle.
There it's "disgorged" by de-corking the bottle and expelling the sediment. The bottle is then re-corked and stored till it's ready for the consumer. A good riddler can turn as many as 40,000 bottles a day. Talk about a job made for carpel-tunnel syndrome.
As the guys videotaped the riddler riddling and the disgorger disgorging ...
I explored the caves and discovered a tunnel lined with thousands of bottles of champagne, then another tunnel and then another.
However, away from the crew's lights, the cold air was seeping through my jean jacket so I returned to watch the remainder of the shoot and bask in the warmth of the camera's lights.
When the guys were finished, Guy took us to lunch at Flor Brasserie, a sunny bistro where we had oysters, baked shrimp casseroles, fresh sautéed fish, faux grois, cheeses (Jason basically stuck w/ the cheese and eyeless shrimp) and champagne…very good, very expensive Ruinart champagne.
We started with the rouge, a slightly pink champagne the color of which comes from the skins of the pinot noir grape. The juice is clear, however, and part of the champagne blend. This champagne was delicious and way up the ladder from any pink champagne you might have had before. After the rouge, we moved to the Ruinart non-vintage champagne. A non-vintage champagne, I learned, is the winery's "house blend" and is consistent in its taste from year to year. The cellar master is totally responsible for this consistency. Ruinart's non-vintage champagne is truly delicious. Its vintage champagne (which we got to taste the next day) is spectacular. A champagne is 'vintage' when grapes from only a certain year are used. This is where the cellar master can be creative, as it has nothing to do with the winery's "house blend." He can blend the grapes anyway he sees fit to get the taste he wants. One bottle on display in the tasting room was a $2,000 vintage champagne in a clear glass bottle to highlight the amber color of the wine encased in a spider web of silver designed by Kristof.
After lunch the guys shot a bumper w/ two lovely French girls welcoming the TV audience to France...
then we off to shoot a champagne vineyard...
and discovered a magical little town just outside Reims
Champagne fact: All grapes for all French champagne come only from the Champagne district in France. And, according to Guy, champagne made with grapes from anywhere else, be it Italy, Germany or Napa Valley, is not champagne, but sparkling wine.
On our last day in Reims we toured the city shooting B roll...
and I found a new job as part of the crew: the "sit in the van guarding the equipment reading a trash novel" job. Actually, it wasn't really a 'trash' novel, but the latest paperback alphabet mystery by Sue Grafton. So for a couple of hours I was back in California with Kinsey Millhone. Finally, Charlie knocked on the van window. I was relieved of my duties and could now wonder around and see some of the city's sights. Reims is filled with stone archways where gilded coaches led by black stallions and driven by velvet clad coachmen once rode through as they entered the cobbled stone plazas.
But the city's real claim to history is a breathtaking cathedral, Notre-Dame de Reims (Our Lady of Reims) finished in 1211 and considered one of the most beautiful in the world...
with stained glasses windows designed by Marc Chagall during its restoration some years ago.
According to the church's literature, every king in France had been crowned in that cathedral.
As was fast becoming our tradition, we had to celebrate the end of our second shoot and decided to go back to Flo Brasserie for dinner. Jason was in the mood for beef, but was afraid it would still be mooing on his plate if he ordered it. However, he threw caution to the wind (he was a world traveler now) and ordered chateaubriand--- well-done. Of course, it was still walking and talking when he got it, but we convinced him to send it back. He did and when it was served to him again, it only seemed rarer. Afraid the chef would come out and de-bone him, Jason bravely carved himself a bite, but we stopped him from eating it and again convinced him to send it back. This time the steak returned medium-well and he was a happy guy. If only he could have tasted it as it should be… Oh well, we still had a couple of more weeks to convince him.
Back in our hotel sated and happy, we packed for our morning departure and our next culinary adventure... Beaune, in Dijon, the mustard capital of the world.
Labels: Flo Brasserie, Notre-Dame de Reims, Ruinart Champagne
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Tuesday, 4 December 2018 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm (CET), online. This webinar, hosted by NCD Alliance with the support of Lilly, will highlight the challenges of implementing integrated health care in LMICs and discuss how this can be overcome.
It is time to end the siloed and vertical response to AIDS, and to "make common cause with the global health field", says a new report by the International AIDS Society (IAS)–Lancet Commission.
The report provides a set of case studies demonstrating the practical benefits of an integrated approach to NCDs, drawn from countries including India, Malawi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya & Vietnam.


Bradley Wayne Penny (born May 24, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Penny played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida / Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, and Detroit Tigers, and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He was an All Star in 2006 and 2007.
He was immediately sent to the Arizona Summer League, where he ranked fourth in the league in ERA (2.36) and was named Arizona's Organizational Pitcher of the Month in August. With the South Bend Silver Hawks in 1997, he was 10–5 with an ERA of 2.73 in 25 starts.
In 1998, with the High Desert Mavericks, he went 14–5 with a 2.96 ERA in 28 starts and was named to Baseball America's first team Minor League All-Stars, the California League Pitcher of the Year, California League Most Valuable Player, Arizona Diamondbacks Minor League Player of the Year and "A" Level Player of the Year.
In 1999, he started the year with the El Paso Diablos at the Diamondbacks Double-A level, and had a 2–7 record with a 4.80 ERA when he was traded to the Florida Marlins along with Abraham Núñez and Vladimir Núñez in exchange for relief pitcher Matt Mantei. The Marlins assigned him to their Double-A team in Portland. Penny combined with Luis Arroyo for the first no-hitter in Portland history in his first game in the Marlins' organization on August 8.
After a good spring, he made the Marlins starting rotation in 2000. He made his first major league appearance and first start on April 7, 2000, against the Colorado Rockies. Penny pitched seven innings, giving up only one run, to get his first win in the Marlins' 4–3 victory. At the end of the season, he ranked second among NL rookies in winning percentage (.533), third in wins, tied for fourth with 22 games started and was sixth in both innings pitched ( 119 2⁄3) and strikeouts (80).
In 2001, Penny pitched 205 innings for the Marlins. He finished 10-10 in 31 starts. In 2002, due to injuries and ineffectiveness, Penny saw his ERA rise from the previous season, from 3.69 in 2001, his ERA in 2002 was at 4.66 in just 24 starts.
In 2003, Penny bounced back, finishing the 2003 campaign with 14 wins for the Marlins and helping them reach the playoffs. Penny collected the win in Florida's NLCS clinching victory over the Chicago Cubs and in the World Series against the New York Yankees he went 2–0 with a 2.19 ERA in his two starts.
Penny started the 2004 season with a 8-8 record with a 3.15 ERA in 21 starts before being traded to the Dodgers.
Penny pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers during spring training action in Arizona, 2008.
On July 30, 2004, Penny was traded along with Hee-Seop Choi and pitching prospect Bill Murphy to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Guillermo Mota, Juan Encarnación, and Paul Lo Duca. However, in the first inning of his second start with the Dodgers he suffered a serious arm injury and went on the disabled list. He returned in September, only to promptly reinjure himself after three innings in his first start off the DL. His recovery time from his injury caused him to begin the following season on the disabled list, but he rejoined the Dodgers on April 24, 2005, and proceeded to have a solid season.
On June 12, 2005, Penny signed a three-year contract extension worth a guaranteed $25 million and a team option for the 2009 season.
Penny was named by Houston Astros manager Phil Garner as the National League's starting pitcher in the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. He hurled two innings, allowing one home run to Vladimir Guerrero, striking out the side (Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter, and David Ortiz) in the first inning, and receiving a no-decision.
On September 23, 2006, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Penny joined the small club of pitchers who have struck out four batters in one inning. Due to the uncaught third strike rule, Penny was credited with striking out Chad Tracy, but because catcher Russell Martin failed to catch the ball cleanly, Tracy was allowed to attempt to run to first base, and made it there before he could be thrown out. Despite giving up three runs in the inning, Penny recorded three more strikeouts to complete the four-strikeout inning.
He also threw the fastest fastball of all NL starters in 2006, averaging 93.9 miles per hour.
Penny had a strong start to 2007 that continued throughout the season, with an ERA of 3.03 for the season and was the first Dodger pitcher to start out with a 12–1 record since Phil Regan went 14–1 in 1966. Penny was selected to the All-Star game for a second consecutive year. Penny had several memorable outings in 2007, including on May 7, 2007, against his former team, the Florida Marlins, Penny struck out a career-high 14 in a Dodger 6–1 win. Another memorable performance was against the San Diego Padres in a pitcher's duel against All-Star teammate Jake Peavy just before the All-Star break. The match ended in a draw with both pitchers going seven innings giving up one earned run on five hits. Penny struck out seven, while Peavy struck out six. The Padres would eventually win the game 3–1 in 12 innings. He also threw the fastest fastball of all NL starters in 2007, averaging 93.4 miles per hour.
Besides being a hard throwing pitcher, Penny has developed into a good hitting pitcher since being traded to the Dodgers. In 2006, his batting average was .185, but was above .200 for most of the season and was as high as .240 before Penny ended the year in an 0 for 12 slump. He batted .246 in 2007. Penny also had six doubles, seven RBI, and seven runs scored.
For the 2008 season, Penny was selected as opening day starter against the San Francisco Giants, shutting them out over seven innings, but he struggled in 2008 overall, going 6–9 with a 6.27 ERA and a stint on the DL. After coming back from the DL in September, Penny made a few appearances out of the bullpen but struggled in that role and returned to the DL. After the season, the Dodgers declined his option year, making Penny a free agent.
Penny during his tenure with the Boston Red Sox in 2009.
On January 9, 2009, Penny signed a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox with a base salary of $5M. Incentives and performance bonuses were included to increase the total deal another $3M.
Penny recorded his 100th career win on June 17, 2009, against his former team the Florida Marlins, in a five inning effort only giving up one unearned run. The win came on the Red Sox's 500th consecutive sell out at Fenway Park.
During his last five starts with the Red Sox, Penny was 0–4 with a 9.11 ERA. After a disastrous start against the rival Yankees, it was decided on August 22, 2009, that Penny would be replaced in the rotation by veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield who was coming off the disabled list soon. During Wakefield's August 26 start, Penny was placed in the bullpen as insurance, but was never needed with Wakefield pitching a strong seven inning effort giving up only one run. With Wakefield completing a healthy start, reliever Billy Wagner being added to the roster, and Penny not wanting to be a reliever, the Red Sox granted his wish to be released late that night. During his time in Boston, Penny's record was 7–8, with a 5.61 ERA.
On August 31, 2009, Penny signed with the San Francisco Giants after clearing waivers. The Giants paid Penny only the pro-rated remnant of a $400k MLB minimum salary (i.e. under $100k), with the Boston Red Sox picking up the remainder of his $5M salary for the year.  In his debut, Penny pitched eight shutout innings in a 4–0 win over Philadelphia. Penny demonstrated his past success in the National League, going 4-1 in 6 starts for the Giants. He became a free agent after the season.
On December 10, 2009, Penny agreed to a one-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. On May 21, 2010, Penny hit his first career grand slam, to give his team an 8–4 lead during interleague play against the Angels. He was pulled the next inning with an injury and therefore did not earn the win. The injury was an aggravation of a pre-existing oblique muscle strain that landed him on the disabled list for the remainder of the season.
On January 18, 2011, Penny agreed to a one-year $3 million contract with the Detroit Tigers. Being added to the Tigers roster reunited Penny with past teammates in Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins and Victor Martinez from the Red Sox.
Penny started off the season with the Tigers as their number two starter, behind Justin Verlander and in front of Max Scherzer. In exception to May, in which Penny went 3–1 in five starts with an ERA of 3.24, Penny had a sub-par first half of the season, going 6–6 with an 4.50 ERA, and with the Tigers' acquisition of Doug Fister in July, in addition to the success of Scherzer, Penny was moved to the number four spot in the rotation. Penny had a worse second half, going 5–5 with a 6.53 ERA after the All-Star break.
When the Tigers went to the Postseason, he was added to the roster in the bullpen. He appeared in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Texas Rangers, his only appearance in both the Division and Championship series, and pitched 1.2 innings while giving up 5 runs. The Tigers went on to lose that game 15–5, which sent the Rangers to the World Series. The Rangers lost in 7 games to Penny's former club, the St. Louis Cardinals.
On February 5, 2012, Penny agreed to a one-year $3 million contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. However, after allowing six runs and five stolen bases in only 3 1⁄3 innings in his debut game, Penny claimed that he injured his elbow and asked to be removed from the game. He was immediately sent to the disabled list and took two MRI exams (one in Fukuoka, and one in the United States), but both results were negative. Penny was released from his contract a month later, on May 8. He was a "huge disappointment," and local newspaper reported that signing Penny was "the worst decision in franchise history."
On May 18, 2012, Penny signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants. On June 30, Penny faced the Cincinnati Reds in his first game of the season. He went 2.1 innings, giving up 0 hits and 0 earned runs while striking out 1 batter. He finished the season 0-1 with a 6.11 ERA while appearing in 22 games.
Penny signed a minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals on January 16, 2014. He was released on March 7.
On June 18, 2014, Penny agreed to a minor-league contract with the Miami Marlins. He made his first start with the club on August 9, 2014, against the Cincinnati Reds.
On December 16, 2014, Penny signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox. After a mixed spring training in 2015 (1-1 record with a 6.89 ERA in 15.2 innings), he failed to win a spot in Chicago's rotation and played with their Triple-A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights, in the International League. He elected free agency on November 6, 2015.
On December 17, 2015, Penny signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays that included an invitation to spring training. On March 18, 2016, Penny announced his retirement.
In October 2009, Penny began dating professional dancer Karina Smirnoff. They became engaged in October 2010, but ended the engagement in December 2011.
Penny subsequently began dating former Oklahoma City Thunder dancer Kaci Cook. They became engaged in January 2013, and married on August 1, 2013 in Hawaii.
↑ "Brad Penny Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
↑ "Brad Penny's Los Angeles Dodgers profile". Retrieved August 20, 2007.
↑ "Lo Duca, Mota, Encarnacion, Choi also in deal – MLB – ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
↑ "Penny to get $25M over next three seasons". ESPN.com. Associated Press. June 12, 2005. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
↑ "Penny gets All-Star starting nod for NL". MLB.com. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
1 2 "Major League Leaderboards » 2006 » Pitchers » Pitch Type Statistics". Fangraphs.com. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
↑ Buckley, Steve (December 29, 2008). "Red Sox agree with Brad Penny, Josh Bard". Boston Herald. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
↑ Red Sox Reach Deals With Free Agents Penny, Bard Archived December 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
↑ "Red Sox Sign Free Agent Righthanded Pitcher Brad Penny To One-Year Contract". Boston Red Sox. MLB. August 8, 1999. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
↑ "Penny granted release, making room for Wagner". BostonHerald.com. August 26, 2009. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
↑ Jon Heyman, SI.com (August 31, 2009). "Penny signs with Giants". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
↑ "Giants sign two-time All-Star Penny". Sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com. August 31, 2009. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
↑ Leach, Matthew (December 10, 2009). "Cards upgrade rotation at winter meetings". MLB.com. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
↑ "【ソフトB】右肩痛ペニーは異常なし". nikkansports.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
↑ "【ソフトB】ペニー米国でも「異常なし」". nikkansports.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
↑ "Brad Penny cut by Japanese team after one start – ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
↑ "Brad Penny the latest big name to disappoint in Japan – Spokesman.com – May 12, 2012". Spokesman.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
↑ "Giants sign Brad Penny to minor league contract – HardballTalk". Retrieved December 16, 2014.
↑ "Brad Penny called up by San Francisco Giants to aid bullpen – ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
↑ "Royals bring on veteran Brad Penny". ESPN.com. January 16, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
↑ "Brad Penny released by Royals after poor outings". ESPN.com. Associated Press. March 7, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
↑ "Penny agrees to minor-league contract with Marlins". ESPN.com. Associated Press. June 18, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
↑ "The White Sox sign Brad Penny to a minor league deal – HardballTalk". NBC Sports. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
↑ "International League Transactions". milb.com. p. November 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
↑ "Blue Jays add pitcher Brad Penny on minor-league deal". Sportsnet. December 17, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
↑ Fordin, Spencer (March 18, 2016). "Penny calls it a career at Blue Jays camp". MLB.com. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
↑ Gray, Mark (November 7, 2010). "Karina Smirnoff Is Engaged to Brad Penny". People. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
↑ "Karina Smirnoff, Brad Penny Split, Says Source". Us Weekly. December 5, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
↑ Hyde, Samantha (August 5, 2013). "Pitcher Brad Penny, Thunder dancer marry in Hawaii". Fox Sports Southwest. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brad Penny.


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A visual communication program which copies lines from your terminal to that of another user.
To talk to a user on another host, uname is of the form user@host.
It doesn't matter from which machine the recipient replies, as long as his login name is the same.
Once communication is established, the two parties may type simultaneously; their output will appear in separate windows. Typing control-L (^L) will cause the screen to be reprinted.
The erase, kill line, and word erase characters (normally ^H, ^U, and ^W ) behave normally.
To exit, type the interrupt character (normally ^C); talk then moves the cursor to the bottom of the screen and restores the terminal to its previous state.
netkit-ntalk 0.15 talk supports scrollback; use ␛p and ␛n to scroll your window, and ctrl-p and ctrl-n to scroll the other window.
To block talk requests use mesg n. By default, talk requests are normally not blocked.
Certain commands, nroff, pine, and pr, may block messages temporarily in order to prevent messy output.
Also, the version of talk(1) released with 4.2BSD uses a different and even more braindead protocol that is completely incompatible. Some vendor Unixes (particularly those from Sun) have been found to use this old protocol.


text:
Q: copying and pasting information between datasets How to copy data fully from one dataset to another dataset when one of the dataset consists of dots as shown bllow ?

A: The dots you are seeing are most likely undisplayable data so a utility is the best bet.
There are many ways to move data around on z/OS.  If you are simply trying to copy an existing dataset to another to make a copy you could use a batch utility like IEBGENER.  Here is some sample JCL
//IEBGENER JOB (CCCCCCCC),'HOGSTROM',
//             MSGLEVEL=(1,1),
//             MSGCLASS=O,
//             CLASS=A,
//             NOTIFY=&SYSUID
//*
//*----------------------------------------------------------
//*       IEBGENER
//*----------------------------------------------------------
//GENER02  EXEC PGM=IEBGENER
//SYSPRINT DD  SYSOUT=*
//SYSUT1   DD  DSN=USER1.TEST.DATA,DISP=SHR
//SYSUT2   DD  DSN=USER1.TEST.ODATA,DISP=(,CATLG,DELETE),
//             UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,5,RLSE),DCB=USER1.TEST.DATA
//SYSIN    DD  DUMMY
//

You could also use online tools like ISPF Option 3.2 to create the new dataset

and 3.3 to move / copy it.

A: It's not clear to me what question you're asking, or why you'd do such a thing by hand.  I'd instead suggest using one of the built in z/OS tools.  Specifically, IEBCOPY.
//COPYLIKE JOB MSGCLASS=H,TIME=1440
//COPYREP  EXEC PGM=IEBCOPY
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSUT1   DD DSN=SYS1.LPALIB,DISP=SHR,UNIT=3390,VOL=SER=D83RL2
//SYSUT2   DD DSN=SYS1.LPALIB.ORIG,
//        LIKE=SYS1.LPALIB,
//        DISP=(NEW,KEEP),VOL=SER=D83RL2,UNIT=3390
//SYSIN    DD *
/*

Also, as a note, the source dataset doesn't consist of dots, it consists of undisplayable data.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
namespace ui {
class Accelerator;
}

// This contains the list of accelerators for the Aura implementation.
namespace chrome {

struct AcceleratorMapping {
  ui::KeyboardCode keycode;
  int modifiers;
  int command_id;
};

// Returns a list of accelerator mapping information for accelerators
// handled by Chrome but excluding accelerators handled by Ash.
CHROME_VIEWS_EXPORT std::vector<AcceleratorMapping> GetAcceleratorList();

// Returns true if the desktop host type indicates Ash and if the
// command id has an associated accelerator which is handled by
// Ash. If the return is true the accelerator is returned via the
// second argument.
CHROME_VIEWS_EXPORT bool GetAshAcceleratorForCommandId(
    int command_id,
    HostDesktopType host_desktop_type,
    ui::Accelerator* accelerator);

// Returns true if the command id has an associated standard
// accelerator like cut, copy and paste. If the return is true the
// accelerator is returned via the second argument.
CHROME_VIEWS_EXPORT bool GetStandardAcceleratorForCommandId(
    int command_id,
    ui::Accelerator* accelerator);

}  // namespace chrome

#endif  // CHROME_BROWSER_UI_VIEWS_ACCELERATOR_TABLE_H_


Israel Studies: The Berkeley Program on Israeli Law, Economy and Society (ILES) is the only institution on the Berkeley campus dedicated to the study of Israel. It coordinates Israel Studies classes in a variety of departments, brings visiting professors to campus, and supports public programs, collaborations with Israeli scholars and Universities, and student and faculty research on Israel.
Jewish Law and Thought: The Berkeley Program on Jewish Law coordinates programming, courses and research on Jewish law, thought, and civilization.


text:
Could A Toe-Hang Mallet Solve Your Putting Woes?
By Mike Stachura Photos by Jeffrey Westbrook
Mallets, known for being stable and forgiving, have long been the putter of choice for golfers in need of help, while sleek blade putters have defined the best players. Then Jason Day won the 2015 PGA Championship and rose to No. 1 using a TaylorMade Spider Tour prototype. Suddenly, mallets were cool. Players using mallets have won four of the past nine men's majors. Besides forgiveness, many now have blade-like heel weighting (known as toe-hang, above right). The buzz got us wondering: Is the toe-hang mallet the putter we've all been waiting for? Scroll down for an analysis.
RELATED: America's 100 Best Clubfitters
FOUR OF THE PAST NINE MEN'S MAJORS HAVE BEEN WON BY PLAYERS USING MALLET PUTTERS.
More than half of the top-50 players in the world use mallets, many of which feature heel-shafted, toe-hang weighting. Toe-hang mallets encourage an arcing stroke, the kind of motion that usually matches only with blade putters.
"One of my theories is that putters have been getting heavier and heavier, and people have lost the feel," said Austie Rollinson, chief designer at Odyssey, the top-selling putter brand in the world. More than 70 percent of Odyssey's sales are mallets. "A heel shaft gets you to feel where that face is a little more."
What makes the current atmosphere different is that more of these mallets that swing like blades also offer the off-center-hit forgiveness usually reserved for oversize, face-balanced shapes designed for a pendulum stroke. Of course, with mallets and blades seemingly interchangeable these days—particularly some of the new wide-sole blade models—what's the average golfer to do? Well, don't just buy the first putter in the golf shop after you make a few 10-footers, or worse, the one you just saw on TV. "It's a fact that certain putt-er shapes and toe-hang models marry with certain strokes to roll the ball the best," says Nick Sherburne, master fitter for national clubfitting chain Club Champion, a Golf Digest 100 Best Clubfitter. "Toe-hang mallets filled a gap that wasn't available for that kind of stroke type before. But it's not necessarily the best of both worlds."
Getting fit for a putter is no less important than being fit for a driver, especially with putting launch monitors more widely available. And in terms of saving strokes, a putter-fitting might just be twice as valuable. Toe-hang mallets can help "because most golfers rotate along their path, and mallets are more forgiving on mis-hits," says Ken Johns of 100 Best Clubfitter Miles of Golf. "If you aren't making any putts, you're in the wrong putter." — Mike Stachura
A HEEL SHAFT HELPS YOU TO FEEL WHERE THAT FACE IS DURING THE STROKE.
Photos by Jeffrey Westbrook
TOE-ING THE LINE: MALLETS THAT FEEL LIKE BLADES
ODYSSEY TOULON DESIGN ATLANTA
Thanks to multiple hosel choices, this mid-mallet comes in face-balanced and toe-hang versions. The head is made from milled stainless steel with an aluminum soleplate.
ODYSSEY O-WORKS RED MARXMAN S
Once only face-balanced, the familiar Marxman shape now gets a slant-neck hosel to give it toe hang. It's still got the classic mallet aiming line and perimeter weighting for extra forgiveness.
PING SIGMA G TYNE H
The parallel arms frame the ball at address and offer stability. The offset, Anser-style hosel fits a slightly arcing stroke, and the milled face pattern provides consistent speed on mis-hits.
TAYLORMADE TP COLLECTION ARDMORE 2 L
There are five of these "Ardmore" mid-size mallets to match different stroke types, including varying degrees of toe hang. All include a grooved face insert for quicker roll.
SEEMORE MINI GIANT FGP
The center of gravity is designed to keep the putterface square to your path. The wide-sole blade uses four copper heel and toe weights for forgiveness.
PATH FINDER: HOW A TOE-HANG MALLET MATCHES YOUR STROKE
The long-held theory about face-balanced mallets is that they are designed for a straight-back, straight-through putting stroke (above, bottom row). But those who advocate toe-hang mallets suggest that a pendulum-style stroke really isn't possible without forcing the hands to manipulate the putter on a straight line. Because the shaft is at an angle (not straight up and down like a croquet mallet), a toe-hang mallet's weighting and offset hosel can make it easier to feel the putter work in that plane (top row). "There's no magic as to why mallets are face-balanced in the first place," says Paul Wood, Ping's vice president of engineering. "Our research has shown that not all mallets should be face-balanced. If you have some arc in your stroke—and most people do—you tend to putt better with a putter with some toe hang."
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
TRENDS: THE HOTTEST CLUB ON TOUR
In some ways, PGA Tour players are like everyday golfers. That's particularly true when paying attention to a club that has enjoyed success. Over the past two years, few clubs captured the imagination as much as toe-hang mallets.
Unlike face-balanced mallets, toe-hang mallets are a good match for those with an arc in their stroke. Although Jason Day's use of a mallet might have started the conversation, Dustin Johnson followed, going from a blade to a TaylorMade Spider Tour toe-hang mallet, and becoming No. 1 in the world. Jon Rahm also uses a toe-hang mallet, as does Justin Thomas (above), making it the choice of three of the top four players in the world.
Scotty Cameron of Titleist says about 50 percent of his putters in play on tour are mallets. The reasons are multiple: success by others, availability of product, and the ability to see the benefits via technology. "When Justin won those tournaments, it increased interest," Cameron says. "And having the option of face-balanced along with toe hang led to an increase in usage on tour. But for tour players, seeing is believing. They get in the studio and see the numbers via the high-speed cameras. They convince themselves at that point." Cameron reminds people that toe-hang mallets are not new—he created one with the Red-X line 13 years ago. The benefits, however, remain the same: more forgiveness via larger, more stable heads and better alignment features. So, is this a fad or a trend? Cameron believes it's the latter: "It's showing no signs of slowing down." — E. Michael Johnson


osCmax™ shopping cart software forums > Community > General Topics & Chit Chat > the best payment module is...?
View Full Version : the best payment module is...?
You tell me. I'm new at this and haven't a clue, so I thought I'd start out by asking more experienced users. I'm looking for ease of setup and not outrageous fees, and ...is there anything else I should consider?
There is so much to this equation. If you are already an existing business with a bank account and credit card accepting facility, you may wish to go to your provider to see if one of the existing methods in oscmax can work in their system. Something like Authorize.net might be the "easiest". If you are new to business, you might find that the Paypal IPN fits the bill. It can be accepted with no monthly charges, it is already built-in to oscmax, and is fast to configure. Figure that if you are starting from scratch, the no monthly minimum trumps the very slightly higher fees compared to a few other methods. However, as you grow, you can change to a different module, quite easily.
2)get payPal Pro and incorporate payPal in to the ecomm site and have seemless transactions-user never leaves your ecomm web site. I thought the second type was $30.
Or maybe I'm mistaken. I'm just learning all this. I'd love to know.
Have been out of town and with no internet. Sorry.
The IPN is the software, not a cost it works at no additional charge with osCMax.
You are correct with the two points you mention for how to use Paypal.
Really this could be debated - what works best for you. If you use any processor - you have to watch there charges for everything. Cheapest is OFFLINE - manually handle the transaction. Time consuming - yes. Best way - no. Potential for fraud, lost sales, errors - big!
Quickest easiest to get up and running is Paypal. No up front merchant fees etc... by no means is it the cheapest in the long run running a ton of orders though a month.
We support a variety of processors - and even more are supported. Shop and compare.


Hi guys. I'm new here, and I must admit I have not backread the threads so if there's an existing one about this topic, please let me know.
I wanted to know if there's anybody here who's into graphic novels and/or comic books?
I like a few of the celebrated ones - The Sandman series, Y: The Last Man, The Walking Dead, and The Watchmen. I wonder if there are other kindred spirits out there who can share their faves, or recommend new ones.
Maybe googling "pex graphic novels" or "pex comics" will bring up the older threads. Anyway, Y: The Last Man's my favorite. then again I havent read The Sandman. Here in Manila TRESE comics might interest you, available in NBs. Wala pang .CBR files sad to say.
I'm a girl but I'm into those gory and bloody ones, haha.
Watchmen. Check. No wonder its the only graphic novel to end up in Time's 100 Best books of all time. And no wonder Tim Kring used it as an inspiration for the series Heroes.
Sandman is a staple. I am now a Neil Gaiman snob. The moment he became popular here late 1999 to early 2000 and the Sandman graphic novels became popular, I completely cut him off, haha.
I was also into The Preacher series. Gotta love that Jesse Custer preacher and the **** Cassidy and their misadventures.
I basically just read them for free online, hehe.
watchmen and dark knight returns should be a given..
I read them but hardly collect except for a few that my kid cajoles me to buy.
I also like Graphic versions of classic literature. I saw one of "The Alchemist"; "Dante's Inferno"; "Merchant of Venice" and the like.
They combine arresting visuals and profound ideas into one. San ka pa.
Any garth ennis title is superb. Highly recommended.
For local titles, you can try Trese by Budjette Tan and Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan.
From the company I work for, we're also selling the eBooks of 12 by Manix Abrera (http://www.flipreads.com/book/12/) and High Society by Paolo Chikiamco (http://www.flipreads.com/book/high-society/).
For manga titles, if you're into sports, there's Eyeshield 21 and Slam Dunk.
Pluto, which is a retelling of Astroboy, was also enjoyable.
Uzumaki, which is a must-read for any horror fan.
I've stopped reading comics after years and years of collecting.
I felt the writers are just recycling old stories and the focus has shifted to showcasing the talents of the pencilers/artists.
just snatched the complete sandman from demonoid.
How are these two holding up for you?
My problem with Kurosaki Corpse Delivery Service is that it's still very episodic ten volumes in.
Si 20th Century Boys naman, kamusta? Hindi ka ba nabitin --> 21st Century Boys?
na-enjoy ko naman ang kurosaki, though nasa volume 3 pa lang ako. medyo nahuli lang ang pagkakaset-up ng mas malaking arc dahil sa volume 2 pa lang lumalabas ang mga possible antagonist and allies nila. though nag-work naman ang volume 1 niya bilang episodic dahil sa idea naman ng introduction of the characters at ang nature ng business nila.
di rin ako nabitin, natuloy ko naman hanggang sa 21st century boys. at nagustuhan ko rin ang live action adaptation niya.
Currently reading Oyasumi Punpun by Asano Inio - excellent set of characters and unique art style.
Pangarap ko mabuo yung Absolute Sandman. Pag nadadaan ako sa book store, napapatitig lang ako sa naka-display, sinasabi ko sa sarili ko, "Balang araw, mapapasaakin ka rin."
I'll try to start Y: The Last Man this year. Tagal ko na hawak to, pero hindi ko pa nababasa. Syet.
Anybody here heard of Locke and Key? It's supposed to be turned into a TV series, kaso no one picked it up for this season, the pilot is floating around on the interwebs if you want to see it And it's written by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King.
joe hill, son of stephen king.
what a shame. :hiya: kung di ko pa mababasa to hindi ko pa malalaman.
i listened to his 20th century ghost and would like to read heart-shaped box.