This was such fun engagement photo shoot – though we started early, the downtown and beach was buzzing with people by 10am, but we managed to get some great shots!
Ryan and Michelle were excited to get their photos done for "Save the Date" cards as they are planning a wedding with 150+ guests – it takes a lot to pull of a party of that size but these busy bees fear no challenge! They run marathons, so they know how to pace in order to reach the finish line just in time.
Luckily the weather cooperated perfectly as their wedding is in the summer and we wanted to capture that endless summer feel. Enjoy!


text:
from django import forms
from lbutils import BootstrapFormHelperMixin

from lbworkflow.forms import WorkflowFormMixin

from .models import Leave

class LeaveForm(BootstrapFormHelperMixin, WorkflowFormMixin, forms.ModelForm):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kw):
        super().__init__(*args, **kw)
        self.init_crispy_helper()
        self.layout_fields(
            [
                ["start_on", "end_on"],
                ["leave_days", None],
                [
                    "reason",
                ],
            ]
        )

    def save(self, commit=True):
        obj = super().save(commit=False)
        obj.init_actual_info()
        if commit:
            self.save_m2m()
            obj.save()
        return obj

    class Meta:
        model = Leave
        fields = [
            "start_on",
            "end_on",
            "leave_days",
            "reason",
        ]

class HRForm(BootstrapFormHelperMixin, WorkflowFormMixin, forms.ModelForm):
    comment = forms.CharField(
        label="Comment", required=False, widget=forms.Textarea()
    )

    def __init__(self, *args, **kw):
        super().__init__(*args, **kw)
        self.init_crispy_helper(label_class="col-md-2", field_class="col-md-8")
        self.layout_fields(
            [
                [
                    "actual_start_on",
                ],
                [
                    "actual_end_on",
                ],
                [
                    "actual_leave_days",
                ],
                [
                    "comment",
                ],
            ]
        )

    class Meta:
        model = Leave
        fields = [
            "actual_start_on",
            "actual_end_on",
            "actual_leave_days",
        ]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Author: Madeline Fetter
As famed English explorer Henry Hudson began his exploration into North America, never would he imagine what he would soon discover. After joining the Dutch East India Company in 1609, he became the commander of one of the richest colonizing companies in all of the world. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean that same year, Hudson …
by Madeline Fetter
Peter Stuyvesant Statue
One of the most iconic figures from the beginning of New York City's history, Peter Stuyvesant was a Dutchman whose ambition for power drove him into joining the Dutch West India Company. Upon joining the company in 1632, he looked to tackle expeditions and lead settlements. By July 1646, Stuyvesant was appointed to the general of …
Bowling Green has always been a monumental part of the history of the Dutch New Amsterdam. Before the director of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant was able to acquire it from the Lenape in 1624, this area was a resting ground for the Native American population in Manhattan. With the Dutch needing to …
City Hall, also known Stadt Huys, was the original grounds of where the city hall was. Just like any city hall, the Stadt Huys was the center of the settlers' lives as it served a variety of purposes. This city hall would become a representation of the unity that would create a dynamic settlement. Although …
Wall Street, although now known for its booming financial industry and the stock market, simply started out as just a wall. "Fearing attack from New England during the first Anglo-Dutch War, [Peter] Stuyvesant built a high stockade fence (later Wall Street) along the northern border of the city in 1653.[i]" Peter Stuyvesant, at the time …

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


However, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide great opportunity for more inclusive development – opportunity for a seismic change in human development. After all, the overarching principle adopted with the SDGs is the theme of today's conference – "leaving no one behind". Whether it's the SDGs, or the World Bank's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and increasing shared prosperity, I believe that these lofty goals can only be achieved through economic and social inclusion of the most marginalized.
A World Bank-specific opportunity to help achieve these goals is our new Environmental and Social Framework – the ESF. The Framework contains new standards agreed to by our Executive Board – standards to promote environmental and social sustainability – requiring programs and services supported by World Bank loans and grants to go beyond "do no harm", and, in fact, not discriminate against any group. They require that benefits from projects supported by the World Bank should provide benefits without discrimination, and, with the added support of a precedent-setting Directive Addressing Risk and Impacts on Disadvantaged or Vulnerable Individuals or Groups, including on the basis of SOGI. Indeed, at the time of the adoption of the ESF the Bank issued this Directive that specifies that SOGI inclusion is one of the issues that Bank staff are responsible for addressing. This is a first for the World Bank, and makes it a leader among international financial institutions, and it will help ensure that we will be able to move the needle on SOGI inclusion.
LGBTI-specific data can make a big difference in our efforts to promote SOGI inclusion, but we need much more data than we currently possess if we are to convince many of our client countries that economic and social exclusion based on SOGI is a major problem – a problem for the individuals concerned, as well as a problem for their countries' economies.


text:
/** @file  OptimizeMeshes.cpp
 *  @brief Implementation of the aiProcess_OptimizeMeshes step
 */

#ifndef ASSIMP_BUILD_NO_OPTIMIZEMESHES_PROCESS

#include "OptimizeMeshes.h"
#include "ProcessHelper.h"
#include "SceneCombiner.h"
#include "Exceptional.h"

using namespace Assimp;

static const unsigned int NotSet   = 0xffffffff;
static const unsigned int DeadBeef = 0xdeadbeef;

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Constructor to be privately used by Importer
OptimizeMeshesProcess::OptimizeMeshesProcess()
: pts (false)
, max_verts( NotSet )
, max_faces( NotSet ) {
    // empty
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Destructor, private as well
OptimizeMeshesProcess::~OptimizeMeshesProcess() {
    // empty
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Returns whether the processing step is present in the given flag field.
bool OptimizeMeshesProcess::IsActive( unsigned int pFlags) const
{
	// Our behaviour needs to be different if the SortByPType or SplitLargeMeshes
	// steps are active. Thus we need to query their flags here and store the
	// information, although we're breaking const-correctness.
	// That's a serious design flaw, consider redesign.
	if( 0 != (pFlags & aiProcess_OptimizeMeshes) ) {
		pts = (0 != (pFlags & aiProcess_SortByPType));
        max_verts = ( 0 != ( pFlags & aiProcess_SplitLargeMeshes ) ) ? DeadBeef : max_verts;
		return true;
	}
	return false;
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Setup properties for the post-processing step
void OptimizeMeshesProcess::SetupProperties(const Importer* pImp)
{
    if( max_verts == DeadBeef /* magic hack */ ) {
		max_faces = pImp->GetPropertyInteger(AI_CONFIG_PP_SLM_TRIANGLE_LIMIT,AI_SLM_DEFAULT_MAX_TRIANGLES);
		max_verts = pImp->GetPropertyInteger(AI_CONFIG_PP_SLM_VERTEX_LIMIT,AI_SLM_DEFAULT_MAX_VERTICES);
	}
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Execute step
void OptimizeMeshesProcess::Execute( aiScene* pScene)
{
	const unsigned int num_old = pScene->mNumMeshes;
	if (num_old <= 1) {
		DefaultLogger::get()->debug("Skipping OptimizeMeshesProcess");
		return;
	}

	DefaultLogger::get()->debug("OptimizeMeshesProcess begin");
	mScene = pScene;

	// need to clear persistent members from previous runs
	merge_list.resize( 0 );
	output.resize( 0 );

    // ensure we have the right sizes
	merge_list.reserve(pScene->mNumMeshes);
	output.reserve(pScene->mNumMeshes);

	// Prepare lookup tables
	meshes.resize(pScene->mNumMeshes);
	FindInstancedMeshes(pScene->mRootNode);
    if( max_verts == DeadBeef ) /* undo the magic hack */
		max_verts = NotSet;

	// ... instanced meshes are immediately processed and added to the output list
	for (unsigned int i = 0, n = 0; i < pScene->mNumMeshes;++i) {
		meshes[i].vertex_format = GetMeshVFormatUnique(pScene->mMeshes[i]);

		if (meshes[i].instance_cnt > 1 && meshes[i].output_id == NotSet ) {
			meshes[i].output_id = n++;
			output.push_back(mScene->mMeshes[i]);
		}
	}

	// and process all nodes in the scenegraph recursively
	ProcessNode(pScene->mRootNode);
	if (!output.size()) {
		throw DeadlyImportError("OptimizeMeshes: No meshes remaining; there's definitely something wrong");
	}

	meshes.resize( 0 );
	ai_assert(output.size() <= num_old);

	mScene->mNumMeshes = output.size();
	std::copy(output.begin(),output.end(),mScene->mMeshes);

	if (output.size() != num_old) {
		char tmp[512];
		::sprintf(tmp,"OptimizeMeshesProcess finished. Input meshes: %i, Output meshes: %i",num_old,pScene->mNumMeshes);
		DefaultLogger::get()->info(tmp);
    } else {
        DefaultLogger::get()->debug( "OptimizeMeshesProcess finished" );
    }
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Process meshes for a single node
void OptimizeMeshesProcess::ProcessNode( aiNode* pNode)
{
	for (unsigned int i = 0; i < pNode->mNumMeshes;++i) {
		unsigned int& im = pNode->mMeshes[i];

		if (meshes[im].instance_cnt > 1) {
			im = meshes[im].output_id;
		}
		else  {
			merge_list.resize( 0 );
			unsigned int verts = 0, faces = 0;

			// Find meshes to merge with us
			for (unsigned int a = i+1; a < pNode->mNumMeshes;++a) {
				unsigned int am = pNode->mMeshes[a];
				if (meshes[am].instance_cnt == 1 && CanJoin(im,am,verts,faces)) {

					merge_list.push_back(mScene->mMeshes[am]);
					verts += mScene->mMeshes[am]->mNumVertices;
					faces += mScene->mMeshes[am]->mNumFaces;

					--pNode->mNumMeshes;
                    for( unsigned int n = a; n < pNode->mNumMeshes; ++n ) {
                        pNode->mMeshes[ n ] = pNode->mMeshes[ n + 1 ];
                    }

					--a;
				}
			}

			// and merge all meshes which we found, replace the old ones
			if (!merge_list.empty()) {
				merge_list.push_back(mScene->mMeshes[im]);

				aiMesh* out;
				SceneCombiner::MergeMeshes(&out,0,merge_list.begin(),merge_list.end());
				output.push_back(out);
			} else {
				output.push_back(mScene->mMeshes[im]);
			}
			im = output.size()-1;
		}
	}

    for( unsigned int i = 0; i < pNode->mNumChildren; ++i ) {
        ProcessNode( pNode->mChildren[ i ] );
    }
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Check whether two meshes can be joined
bool OptimizeMeshesProcess::CanJoin ( unsigned int a, unsigned int b, unsigned int verts, unsigned int faces )
{
	if (meshes[a].vertex_format != meshes[b].vertex_format)
		return false;

	aiMesh* ma = mScene->mMeshes[a], *mb = mScene->mMeshes[b];

	if ((NotSet != max_verts && verts+mb->mNumVertices > max_verts) ||
		(NotSet != max_faces && faces+mb->mNumFaces    > max_faces)) {
		return false;
	}

	// Never merge unskinned meshes with skinned meshes
	if (ma->mMaterialIndex != mb->mMaterialIndex || ma->HasBones() != mb->HasBones())
		return false;

	// Never merge meshes with different kinds of primitives if SortByPType did already
	// do its work. We would destroy everything again ...
	if (pts && ma->mPrimitiveTypes != mb->mPrimitiveTypes)
		return false;

	// If both meshes are skinned, check whether we have many bones defined in both meshes.
	// If yes, we can join them.
	if (ma->HasBones()) {
		// TODO
		return false;
	}
	return true;
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Build a LUT of all instanced meshes
void OptimizeMeshesProcess::FindInstancedMeshes (aiNode* pNode)
{
    for( unsigned int i = 0; i < pNode->mNumMeshes; ++i ) {
        ++meshes[ pNode->mMeshes[ i ] ].instance_cnt;
    }

    for( unsigned int i = 0; i < pNode->mNumChildren; ++i ) {
        FindInstancedMeshes( pNode->mChildren[ i ] );
    }
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#endif // !! ASSIMP_BUILD_NO_OPTIMIZEMESHES_PROCESS


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Chelsea target Andrea Belotti has suffered a potentially serious knee injury and could be sidelined for some time, according to The Sun.
As per The Sun, Belotti was on the Premier League champions' transfer shortlist in the summer, with Antonio Conte even failing with a £60M bid for the Italian before opting to sign Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid instead.
The tabloid believe that Belotti remains a target for Chelsea, who continue to hunt for attacking reinforcements. This injury could now alter our January strategy if we were planning to return with an improved offer.
The Sun report that Belotti had to be stretchered off during Torino's 2-2 draw with Verona on Sunday afternoon. He will need to have a scan before the full extent of the injury can be confirmed, but early signs don't look promising for the 23-year-old.
For Belotti's sake, and our own, we hope that it's not too serious and wish him a speedy recovery.


M. Beatrice Fazi is a Research Fellow at the Sussex Humanities Lab (University of Sussex, United Kingdom). Her primary areas of expertise are the philosophy of computation, the philosophy of technology and the emerging field of media philosophy. She is the author of the forthcoming book Contingent Computation: Abstraction, Experience, and Indeterminacy in Computational Aesthetics (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2018).


text:
Best team performances of the 2019 spring season
By Paul Patane and Brad Unangst, SportsEngine, 04/30/20, 11:45AM CDT
We chose a handful of the best team showings in baseball, softball and boys' and girls' lacrosse from a year ago. You decide which was best.
East Ridge players celebrate defeating rival Stillwater in a Class 4A semifinal last June. The Raptors went on to win their first state championship. Photo by Shari L. Gross, Star Tribune
Ah...springtime. A season when our attention normally turns to schedules filled with softball, baseball and lacrosse games. This year, however, the slate is bare, but we can still focus on the sports and the athletes who compete in them.
This is another article in a series of retrospectives the Hubs are producing to help fill the void left by the cancelation of the high school spring sports season.
Here is our interactive look at some of the best team performances from the 2019 season. We selected squads from each of the sports we cover and provided our take on why these accomplishments stood out.
This is by no means a complete list. It would take about eight weeks to identify, research and list all meaningful performances by teams from across the state last year, and by then, we'd all be ready for summer and some time at the lake.
Here are the rules: Read our selections and then vote in the poll below, where we've included an option for "Other." It's there for you to check if you think there's another team performance worthy of spotlighting, and to further your argument, please opine in the comments section below.
Keep it civil or else! We don't mind if you disagree with our selections, or those of other posters, but we do mind if your comments cross the line.
Let the discourse begin!
East Ridge baseball finally gets past rival Stillwater
Perhaps there's no better league to be in to prepare for a postseason run than the Suburban East Conference, where perennial powers such as Stillwater, which won the 2018 Class 4A state championship, and Woodbury, reside.
Both schools defeated rival East Ridge twice in conference play a season ago, with Stillwater finishing No. 1 in the conference standings and Woodbury No. 2, but it was East Ridge, which finished tied for third with Mounds View, that eventually broke through the logjam to claim its first Class 4A state championship in baseball last June, an accomplishment made even sweeter given the Raptors defeated the Ponies in a postseason matchup.
Tied 4-4 with Stillwater after seven innings in a Class 4A state semifinal at CHS Field in St. Paul on June 15, No. 5 seed East Ridge plated two runs in the top of the eighth, and did just enough in the bottom of the inning to slip past top-seeded Stillwater in a 6-5 victory. Ben North smacked two hits, tallied an RBI and scored a run for the Raptors.
"We kept battling back and battling back and showing resilience, that's what's hard," Stillwater coach Mike Parker said after the game to the Star Tribune's Jim Paulsen. "We took a loss at the wrong time of the season."
The Raptors used their triumph over the Ponies as a springboard to capture their 16th victory in 17 games, a run that culminated in a 7-2 defeat of New Prague at Target Field on June 20 to claim the big-school hardware.
Red-hot Badger/Greenbush-Middle River softball takes down defending champs
Badger/Greenbush-Middle River tallied six runs in a two-inning stretch late in a Class 1A state semifinal on June 6 to knock off two-time defending state champion New York Mills at Caswell Park in North Mankato.
Taking a 2-1 lead into the top of the fifth inning, the Gators struck for three runs, then plated three more runs in the sixth to secure an 8-4 triumph. Lauren Kvien and Mariah Christian each had three hits for No. 5 seed Badger/Greenbush-Middle River.
With their defeat of top-seeded New York Mills, the Gators extended their winning streak to 14 games. Badger/Greenbush-Middle River's hot bats cooled the next day, however, resulting in a 4-1 loss to No. 3 seed Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian in the state championship game.
Northfield players celebrate their state championship victory over Big 9 Conference foe Mankato West in Mankato last spring. Photo by Aaron Lavinsky, Star Tribune
Northfield softball makes first state tournament appearance count
Northfield tagged top-seeded Mankato West with five runs in the first inning and two more in the second of the Class 3A state championship game on June 7 to help secure the Raiders' first softball state title in school history.
Making their first state tourney appearance count, No. 2 seed Northfield got three hits and three RBIs from Caroline Pritchard, to set up the eventual 8-3 defeat of the Scarlets, who are Big 9 Conference rivals of Northfield. Brynn Hostettler gave up two earned runs, two hits and struck out 10 in a complete game effort for the Raiders.
"Those first few innings were crazy," Hostettler told the Star Tribune's Jim Paulsen after the game. "Getting that lead was awesome. You have the range to just throw your pitches. And I knew no matter what, my team was behind me."
Northfield lost to Mankato West in their only regular-season meeting last year, and the Scarlets lost just two games all season.
Prior Lake boys' lacrosse grinds out state tournament victories, defends title
Prior Lake's powerful offense was sputtering, and not at a good time. The Lakers were facing Eden Prairie on June 13 in the state semifinals, and the Eagles' stingy defense wasn't going to be easy to solve.
No worries. Second-seeded Prior Lake, led by new coach Casey Mithun, had trust in the Lakers' offensive scheme and they rallied to eke out a 4-3 victory over third-seeded Eden Prairie to advance to the title game.
The turning point came when the Lakers scored three times in three minutes — including two goals from Riley Bachinski and three assists from Luke Bloedow — to erase a 3-1 deficit. Bachinski finished the game with three goals for the defending state champions in the victory that set up a rematch with top-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret's in a highly anticipated title bout.
Prior Lake found itself in another low-scoring affair against the undefeated Red Knights in the championship game on June 15, but this time it was faith in their defense that kept the Lakers from capsizing in a 5-3 victory.
Goalie Colin Nauertz, who was dealing with a finger injury, stopped 10 of 13 shots while Joey Barnard won five of 11 faceoffs to help prevent Benilde-St. Margaret's star Jack Budniewski from taking over the game and stoking the Red Knights offense.
"Two minutes left I was like, 'They're going to make a run,' " Nauertz told the Star Tribune's David La Vaque after the game. "But we really put on the clamps on defense."
The Lakers, who lost to the Red Knights 4-3 in overtime in the regular season, finished with an overall record of 16-3.
Minnehaha Academy girls' lacrosse defeats longtime bully Blake
Recent regular-season showdowns with Blake likely hadn't been much fun for Minnehaha Academy. The Redhawks had been, well, plucked by the Bears — a juggernaut program that made 11 consecutive state tournament appearances and boasts a whopping six state titles — losing the last four regular-season matchups against its Independent Metro Athletic Conference rival by a combined score of 76-12. (Blake squeaked out a 12-11 victory over Minnehaha Academy in the 2018 state quarterfinals.)
It may have seemed that another regular-season loss was in store for Minnehaha Academy when it found itself trailing Blake by two goals at halftime of its 2019 season opener on April 18.
The Redhawks, however, escaped the caging and took flight behind three goals — including two just eight second apart — to soar to a 12-9 victory.
Claire Nelson had four goals and two assists, and Grace Nickoloff added three goals and an assist for Minnehaha Academy, which exacted revenge for all those years of lopsided losses to Blake (23-10 in 2018, 18-0 in 2017, 15-1 in 2016 and 20-1 in 2015).
Ending the drubbing proved to be a confidence booster for the Redhawks, who used it to announce their arrival as team to be reckoned with. Minnehaha Academy went on to finish the regular season with an 8-1 record.
"People may not have been talking about us yesterday, but they will be talking about us now," Nickoloff said to the Hub's John Wagner after the game. "Beating Blake was a huge goal for us, so we want everyone in Minnesota to know we are a force to be reckoned with."
Prior Lake players celebrate after receiving the state championship trophy. Photo by Nicole Neri, Star Tribune
Prior Lake girls' lacrosse powers past Eden Prairie to win first state title
Prior Lake's first trip to the state title game on June 15 had suddenly taken a potentially unsettling turn midway through the first half.
Perennial powerhouse and top-seeded Eden Prairie scored three consecutive goals, erasing the second-seeded Lakers' early lead and possibly bolstering the confidence of the Eagles — a program that has played in every state championship since 2007 and owns five titles.
Prior Lake corrected course before halftime and then stomped on the accelerator in the second half — fueled by five goals from midfielder Payton Bloedow — to power past Eden Prairie 17-12 and bring home its first state crown. The victory was the seventh in a row for the Lakers, who avenged a 10-8 loss to the Eagles in the regular season.
Bloedow finished the game with six goals and three assists and was one of eight Lakers to register a point in the game. Mackenize Salentre and Lauren Wick had three goals apiece for Prior Lake.
Baseball Hub Headlines
And the winner is...MN Baseball Hub Top Performer revealed
By Kassondra Burtis, SportsEngine 06/01/2021, 1:00pm CDT
See who fans voted as the top performer from May 24-29.
By Kassondra Burtis, SportsEngine 05/24/2021, 11:00am CDT
See who fans voted as the top performer from May 3-8.
See who fans voted as the top performer from April 26-May 1.
Tag(s): Home Hub Exclusive


text:
Simhachalam set in 'Legend' a visual treat: Director
Jan 9, 2014 IANS
Hyderabad, Jan 9 (IANS) The temple town of Simhachalam was recently recreated here for important scenes in upcoming Telugu political-drama "Legend". Director Boyapati Srinu says it will be a visual treat for the audience.
"The set has turned out to be very grand. I wanted it to look as realistic as possible and I'm happy we have achieved it. I'm sure the audience will be captivated as it will be a visual treat. We are shooting an importance sequence of the film in it," Srinu told IANS.
Simhachalam is one of the prominent Hindu temples located in Vishakhapatnam. Its set has been erected near Inorbit Mall here.
Nandamuri Balakrishna, who has paired up with Srinu for the second time, will be seen opposite Radhika Apte and Sonal Chauhan, while Jagapathi Babu will also be seen in a crucial role in the film.
"We plan to shoot on this set for a few more days. Scenes between Balakrishna and Radhika will be canned here," he said.
'Major' shoot ends, release date confirmed
Vijay Deverakonda joins 'Liger' set
Kajal Aggarwal wraps up shoot for 'Uma'
Big B, Prabhas start shooting for sci-fi movie
Chiranjeevi with his cute granddaughter


text:
European Poems And Transitions
Poetry by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
These poems on European themes by the author of Her (his Paris novel) and the enduring A Coney Island of the Mind were mostly written during the last seven years and, in the poet's words, are "transformations and transitions looking westward to America and beyond." Flowing from France to Italy to the Netherlands, on to Germany, back to France, and finally toward America, they follow Ferlinghetti's own recent journeying. The poems progress geographically and chronologically with a cohesive development of ideas and themes. In part he plays off T. S. Eliot's "summarizing the past by theft and allusion" but captures the present as well in fleeting incidents of daily experience, and, in his powerful concluding poem "History of the World: A TV Docu-drama," envisions a possible nuclear future. It is a view of our time and of where we are in it, seen by an eagle eye, told in Ferlinghetti's inimitable everyman's voice.
Paperback (published December 1, 1988)
American writer, publisher, activist, visual artist, and founder of City Lights Books


2018 was a busy year for the New Zealand Mint as they continued to popularise the silver foil with a whole swathe of variously sized designs. They've obviously had some success with the relatively new type of coin as we've already seen some new designs for 2019. We can now add Batman Villains to the list. The mint has three formats in general use. One apes the dimensions of a banknote (5g, 150 x 70 mm), another called 'Premium Format' weighs 35 grams (262 x 175 mm), and in the middle is a foil that is orientated and proportional in size to the premium foil, but the same weight as the banknote style. It is this latter one that has been chosen for Batman Villains.
Of all the characters in comicdom, irrespective of publisher, few have such an eclectic pantheon of villains as Batman. Now 80 years old, Batman has drawn on the imaginations of some true industry giants to create such nemesis' as Scarecrow, Riddler, Bane, Penguin, and at the top of the pile, the Joker. There have been countless incarnations of the 'Clown Prince of Crime' over the decades, and the foil depicts many of them from the comic books, although not from the movies. A great mix of images that represent the character well.
The obverse is patterned and has the standard Ian Rank Broadley effigy in its centre, so this is a coin (some of the other foils are not). The foil is sealed and comes presented in a sleeve that makes display nice and easy. A brightly coloured shipper box keeps it all together and it retails for $39.00 USD. Available to buy now, this is a pretty cool addition to the market and the first in a new series.


What is the difference between the All-University Commencement ceremony and the Diploma & Hooding ceremonies?
The All-University Commencement ceremony is the event in which all degrees are conferred and outstanding student and faculty leaders are recognized. We also expect to award honorary degrees to distinguished public figures. This ceremony is for all Stockton campus schools and the College of the Pacific, with the exception of the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. The school and college Diploma and Hooding ceremonies give students the opportunity for individual recognition and to be "hooded" as a graduate of Pacific.
How many guests can I bring to my graduation?
The All-University Commencement ceremony and the Diploma and Hooding ceremonies are not ticketed events. Seating is first come, first served for all ceremonies. Please feel free to invite all of your special guests.
How long will the ceremonies take?
The All-University Commencement ceremony runs between 1.5 to 2 hours long. Each Diploma and Hooding ceremony will be approximately 60-90 minutes.
How early should I arrive to get a good seat?
For both, the All-University Commencement and Diploma and Hooding ceremonies, it is suggested that everyone arrive 45 to 60 minutes prior to start time.
Parking is available across the entire campus. We suggest that you park in the first available spot you find. Wear comfortable shoes, because some parking lots are located on the opposite side of campus from the ceremony venue. For more information, see Maps and Parking on the Commencement website.
Yes. There are a limited number of disability parking spots available on campus. You are required to have a state issued disability placard in order to take advantage of this parking. A shuttle service is also provided for the outlying parking lots for those who have difficulty walking. For more information, visit our accessibility page here.
There are designated wheelchair accessible seating areas on the mezzanine of A.G. Spanos Center as well as Faye Spanos Concert Hall.
If you have guests with disabilities, please communicate your needs with your dean's office.
Can a family member videotape Commencement?
Families are welcome to videotape the All-University Commencement ceremony or any of the Diploma and Hooding ceremonies. Guests may set up cameras in the back of the A.G. Spanos Center (near the disability seating) at the All-University Commencement ceremony. Keep in mind you may be asked to move should someone need to utilize the disability seating.
Are there any complimentary refreshments or food for sale?
The University will provide complimentary coffee and water before the morning All-University Commencement ceremony, and there will be water available throughout the day at the information tents on campus. The Tiger Picnic provides a variety of food trucks that offer delicious food items for sale in the parking lot adjacent to the Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium following the All-University Commenecment ceremony. All guests are invited to sit and eat their lunch inside the Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium. Guests who have special dietary needs are encouraged to bring their own food on Commencement day. In addition, the university grocery store (The Grove) in the McCaffrey Center and The Marketplace in the DeRosa University Center, will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to purchase food, beverages and other items.
The University Bookstore will have a tent set up outside of the Alex G. Spanos Center and near the Knloes Lawn, offering flowers and fun souvenir items for purchase. The University Bookstore at the DeRosa University Center will also be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to purchase clothing, gifts and souvenirs.
Hotels located in the vicinity of the University fill up very early. We suggest that you make your reservations as early as possible. For a list of hotels, see Accommodations.
Are graduating students allowed to decorate their cap and gown?
The University does not allow gowns to be decorated or altered, however the top of the graduation cap can be decorated. Language or images that would be considered offensive or derogatory to the Pacific community are not permitted. The University will be hosting a cap decoration night(s) at the Stockton campus University Bookstore.
Are balloons and noise makers allowed at ceremonies on Commencement day?
No. Please refrain from bringing any air horns, noise makers, balloons or whistles to any Commencement day ceremonies.
What should attending guests wear on Commencement day?
For those who attend the morning ceremonies, we suggest that you dress comfortably. The mornings usually begin very cool and then warm up by mid-day. For a current forecast, see The Weather Channel.
Where do I get my graduation pictures?
GradImages is our graduation photographer. Your pictures are available online approximately five days after graduation. You can view and order your pictures from GradImages.
After graduation my family and friends want to have lunch/dinner together. Are there restaurants that will allow big groups?
Remember there will be seating and food items available for sale at the Tiger Picnic in the parking lot adjacent to the Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium following the morning Commencement ceremony. There are also several restaurants in Stockton that have the ability to host your post-graduation events.


text:
542 F. 2d 1128 - Burroughs v. Board of Trustees of Pension Trust Fund for Operating Engineers R Burroughs
542 F2d 1128 Burroughs v. Board of Trustees of Pension Trust Fund for Operating Engineers R Burroughs
93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2550, 79 Lab.Cas. P 11,713,
1 Employee Benefits Ca 1258
Benjamin R. BURROUGHS, Plaintiff-Appellant,
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF the PENSION TRUST FUND FOR OPERATING
ENGINEERS et al., Defendants-Appellees.
Benjamin R. BURROUGHS, Plaintiff-Cross-Appellee,
ENGINEERS et al., Defendants-Cross-Appellants.
Nos. 75-2897, 75-3289.
Oct. 4, 1976.
William H. Carder (argued), San Francisco, Cal., for Benjamin R. burroughs.
Thomas E. Stanton, Jr. (argued), San Francisco, Cal., for defendants-appellees.
Before WRIGHT and TRASK, Circuit Judges, and WATERS,* District Judge.
EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:
This case involves two appeals. One is brought by the Board of Trustees of the Pension Trust Fund for Operating Engineers (hereinafter Trustees) from a judgment of the district court holding that the Trustees acted arbitrarily and capriciously in applying retroactively a break-in-employment rule to plaintiff Burroughs so as to deny him pension benefits. Burroughs appeals from the district court's failure to award him attorneys' fees.
The Pension Trust Fund for Operating Engineers was established pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement, dated May 20, 1957, between Local 3 of the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Associated General Contractors of California, Inc. The agreement provided that, commencing January 1, 1958, the employers covered thereby were to make contributions to the pension fund for each hour worked by covered employees.
Under the terms of the pension plan, "pension credit" was defined as the number of years of service to the industry accumulated and maintained for each covered employee. "Past service credit" was defined as periods of employment prior to an employee's contribution date, and "future service credit" referred to periods of employment on and after the employee's contribution date. The contribution date for a given employee was defined as either January 1, 1958, or such later date as the Trustees might fix for a particular bargaining group.
Burroughs had accumulated 151/4 years of past service credit before 1958. From 1958 to 1972 he acquired 11/2 years of future service credit. He suffered a totally disabling heart attack in 1972 and applied for a disability pension.
His application was rejected because, by failing to work at least 350 hours for a contributing employer during any of the years 1958-60, Burroughs had suffered a "break-in-employment" under the terms of the trust agreement. That cancelled all his past service credit and rendered him ineligible for a disability pension.
Alleging that he had not received notification of the break-in-employment rule until 1960, at which time it was retroactively applicable to January 1, 1958, Burroughs sued the Trustees for wrongful denial of pension rights in violation of § 302(c)(5) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(5).
THE DISTRICT COURT'S DECISION
The district court indicated that the break-in-employment rule, when taken together with the provisions of the plan for the vesting of pension credits, was reasonable on its face and that its adoption by the Trustees was not arbitrary and capricious. It held, however, that the application of the rule to Burroughs at the end of 1960 was arbitrary and capricious because Burroughs was not notified of the rule until more than two years after the rule was in effect, cutting off his accrued pension rights.
SECTION 302(e) JURISDICTION
Section 302 of the LMRA in general forbids an employer to make monetary payments to any representative of its employees and forbids such representative to accept such payments. Section 302(c)(5) creates an exception for payments to an employee pension fund by stating that the general prohibitions of § 302 do not apply:
with respect to money or other thing of value paid to a trust fund established by such representative, for the sole and exclusive benefit of the employees of such employer, and their families and dependents . . . .
29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(5) (emphasis added).
Section 302(e) grants district courts jurisdiction to determine whether the provisions of a given retirement fund constitute a structural defect in violation of § 302(c)(5). Section 302(e) does not, however, confer general power to interfere with provisions of agreements freely entered into between unions and employers which regulate day-to-day administrative matters of pension coverage and eligibility. Lugo v. Employees Retirement Fund, 388 F.Supp. 997, 1001 (D.C.N.Y.1975).
A structural defect is present when a pension plan excludes a sizeable number of union members with no reasonable purpose behind their exclusion, thus failing to satisfy the requirement that the fund shall be for the "sole and exclusive benefit" of all employees. See Insley v. Joyce, 330 F.Supp. 1228, 1233 (D.C.Ill.1971).
In its conclusions of law the district court found that the failure of the Trustees to administer the trust in a manner consistent with fundamental due process was in substance tantamount to a basic structural defect and said:
(W)hether the unjust exclusion of a pensioner is obtained from the exclusive provisions of the trust fund itself or from the arbitrary and exclusionary implementation procedures of the trustees, the ultimate effect is that the trust is not operated for the "sole and exclusive benefit of the employees."
This finding is consistent with the law of this circuit. See Alvarez v. Erickson, 514 F.2d 156 (9th Cir.), cert. denied 423 U.S. 874, 96 S.Ct. 143, 46 L.Ed.2d 106 (1975).
ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS ACTION
A break-in-employment rule is not by itself arbitrary and capricious, as the district court implicitly held. This court, as was the court in Kosty v. Lewis, 115 U.S.App.D.C. 343, 319 F.2d 744 (1963), is not concerned with what the eligibility requirements for the pension are, but rather with how the changes in qualifications are made.
In Kosty, the plaintiff miner was already eligible for retirement and pension rights at the time the pension eligibility requirement was changed without notice or grace period. As that court stated, the bounds of fundamental fairness were overreached because of "the failure of the Trustees to accord any notice or period of grace which would have afforded some reasonable possibility for an employee like appellant to have elected to retire and take the pension available immediately prior to the change." Id. at 749.
Burroughs' pension had not vested when the negotiated pension plan went into effect, although it would have vested in 1966 had the break-in-employment not occurred. Pension rights need not be vested, however, prior to a change in qualification requirements before the change can be deemed arbitrary and capricious. In Lee v. Nesbitt, 453 F.2d 1309 (9th Cir. 1971), plaintiff seaman had been denied a retirement pension because at the time the break-in-employment rule was implemented he had not reached retirement age, although he had completed his minimal employment requirement. This court found such action to be arbitrary and capricious.
As the teachings of Kosty and Lee thus indicate, it was fundamentally unfair for the Trustees to apply the break-in-employment rule to employees such as Burroughs who had no notice of its existence and hence no reasonable opportunity to protect themselves from its impact during the years to which it was retroactively applied. As the district court stated in its conclusions of law:
(S)ince the Break-in-Employment Rule by its terms allows a participant three years in which to accumulate the required minimum hours of contributory employment . . . plaintiff should have been allowed three years in which to accumulate said required minimum hours from the date plaintiff was put on notice of the Rule.
ATTORNEYS' FEES
As emphasized in Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975), attorneys' fees are not ordinarily recoverable by the prevailing litigant in the absence of statutory authorization. Section 302 of the LMRA gives no such authorization. Under the historic equity jurisdiction of federal courts, however, some exceptions to the general rule have arisen: where a common fund or common benefit has been created by the prevailing litigant, Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co., 396 U.S. 375, 90 S.Ct. 616, 24 L.Ed.2d 593 (1970); Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 1943, 36 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973); where there has been bad faith by the losing party, Vaughan v. Atkinson, 369 U.S. 527, 82 S.Ct. 997, 8 L.Ed.2d 88 (1962); or where there has been willful violation of a court order, Toledo Scale Co. v. Computing Scale Co., 261 U.S. 399, 43 S.Ct. 458, 67 L.Ed. 619 (1923).
Under the common fund exception, courts originally permitted a plaintiff to recover attorneys' fees when his action in bringing suit resulted in the recovery or establishment of a fund in which others had the right to share. In Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co., supra the Court expanded this doctrine, holding that there was no need for the creation of an actual fund as long as a "substantial benefit" of some kind had accrued to the enriched class and the court had "jurisdiction over an entity through which the contribution can be effected." Alyeska, supra, 421 U.S. at 276, 95 S.Ct. at 1631 (Marshall, J., dissenting). It is argued by appellant Burroughs that the common benefit rationale should apply here.
In this case, however, no definite class of beneficiaries has been ascertained. It is argued that any other beneficiary of the pension plan who incurred a break-in-employment prior to December 31, 1963, the end of the third full year after notification to the members of the existence of the break-in-employment rule, will be in a position to take advantage of the ruling here. The Supreme Court, however, has identified a factor common to all its common-benefit decisions which is not present. It stated:
In this Court's common fund and common benefit decisions, the class of beneficiaries was small in number and easily identifiable. The benefits could be traced with some accuracy, and there was reason for confidence that the costs could indeed be shifted with some exactitude to those benefitting.
421 U.S. at 265, n. 39, 95 S.Ct. at 1625.
In this case, no records have been maintained which would have revealed the number or identity of persons benefitted by Burroughs' action. The class of beneficiaries is thus of indeterminable size and not easily identifiable. The decision of the district court is therefore affirmed.
Honorable Laughlin E. Waters, United States District Judge of the Central District of California, sitting by designation


text:
Chillin' with Sterling Sulieman
CELEBRITY CHILLIN' WITH
Sterling Sulieman Orders a Martini When He's Feeling Swanky
By Chilled Magazine	• 7 months ago
Named GQ's Breakout Actor to watch, triple threat and strikingly handsome Sterling Sulieman, best known as the nefarious Nate St. Germain in Pretty Little Liars and power-hungry Prince Escalus in Still Star-Crossed, has quickly become one of the most buzzworthy actors of his generation.
This fall, he's back on the small screen starring opposite Jaina Lee Ortiz (Girls Trip) and Jason George (ABC's Grey's Anatomy) as Grant, a delectable sous chef and fiery love interest of one of Seattle's finest in the ABC smash hit Station 19. Check out what Sterling had to say to Chilled.
Tell us a bit about the projects you are working on.
At this moment, Station 19! I'm very happy to still be part of the Shondaland family. I'm also voicing a character in the latest installment of Telltale's The Walking Dead game. And I'm also just finishing up my first feature comedy script with my writing partner, Ryan Garcia.
Chillin' with Sterling Sulieman
Photo Courtesy of Vince Trupsin
With your busy schedule, what do you like to do with your downtime?
I don't have an obvious schedule, so I like to think I'm always working. I love creating and doing art/theater/film things. But aside from that, I love to work out, hang out with friends, and travel. I finally went to Peru and Cuba just last year—those had been on the list for a while. I also partake in the occasional music festival or two. I've gotten addicted to dancing in the desert.
When you go out to eat, where do you like to dine?
It's L.A.; great food is everywhere. I like to keep it local to avoid traffic. But one of my favorite restaurants in L.A. right now is Rosaliné on Melrose. The flavors in the food are amazing, and so is the ambiance. I'll also eat Mexican or Japanese food anytime, anywhere.
What types of dishes do you usually order?
I'd love to be a vegetarian, but I've failed at that about three times now. So right now it's meat and seafood. I love fish. And lamb.
Do you cook?
I love to cook. I sometimes have a friend or two over for dinner or brunch. It's creative and delicious … can't get much better than that. And the drinks are free!
What types of drinks do you order when out?
I'm one of those lucky people who can drink everything and not get hung over, so it depends. I have wine with most dinners, tequila with Mexican food, and beer and sake with Japanese food. At a bar, I usually do a whiskey on the rocks, or if I'm feeling swanky, I go with a Martini because I'm secretly hoping to play James Bond … big dreams!
Do you prepare drinks at home?
Yes, but I am no mixologist. I have the materials to make Martinis.
Do you own a home bar?
I just moved into a new place this June and have the space for a home bar. I love it. It gets more use than my iron!
What's it stocked with?
Stoli, Cazadores, Jameson, Johnnie Walker Black, and of course, some bottles of wine.
What is your favorite drink/cocktail?
I like a Moscow Mule in the summer, but honestly, I like to order whiskey on the rocks, and a soda water on the side.
Have you ever been a bartender?
Once, when work was slow, I got certified to be a bartender from one of those schools. Then I got a job to bartend with a catering company before I promptly booked a pilot, so I never actually got to try out my skills. Maybe one day I'll play a bartender, though I have forgotten most of what I learned. I think I would have really enjoyed being a bartender.
Follow Sterling on Instagram and Twitter.
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Must Mix: Persea Martini
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Celebrate National Vodka Day with Wódka Vodka


text:
2017 review: Collaboration, consolidation & the rise of FAANG
By Kate Bulkley2017-12-07T16:09:00+00:00
Trends that have been emerging for years took effect this year, as traditional broadcasters responded to the threat from Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google through increased collaboration, consolidation and direct to consumer offerings, writes Kate Bulkley.
The saying goes that change always takes longer than expected to arrive but when it does, it comes with a bigger bang than originally anticipated.
And so it has been for television and broadcasting in 2017; many of the trends we have been watching grow for several years, like the rise of subscription on demand services, the rejection by consumers of the big pay TV subscription bundle and the growing appetite for mobile video, have not only arrived but are causing significant and long-lasting impacts on the media landscape.
Netflix has changed the game for audiences and content creators alike
Source: Netflix
2017 is pivotal because the Silicon Valley tech giants or FAANG companies – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google - are now well and truly focused on video, including live broadcasting.
They all see the power of video to attract and hold attention, particularly among the more fickle younger viewers, as well as the advertising money that video attracts.
Meanwhile, traditional broadcasters, led by Disney, Discovery and CBS, have acknowledged the threat and moved more aggressively towards direct-to-consumer services.
In the wake of the consumer rejection of big bundle pay TV services, particularly in the more mature US market, the biggest media companies out there are re-thinking strategic plans.
Speaking at an industry event in November, CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves summed it up: "We're competing against monstrous companies.
"Disney is six times as big as we are. Comcast is six times as big as we are. Netflix market cap is huge. Now Amazon, the number one company in the world, is producing content," said Moonves.
"We're sort of like an old-fashioned production company. We're a small guy. Eventually are we going to need to do partnerships with other content companies and distribution companies? The answer is probably yes."
Next week The A-Z of everything that happened in the world of cinema in 2017
No wonder the mergers and acquisitions market as well as the collaboration market have ramped up.
In the shadow of FAANG, scale is now seen as one way to counter the clout and deep pockets of Silicon Valley.
Meanwhile, the embracing of mobile video continues to grow with three quarters of all mobile traffic predicted to be video by 2023, according to a recent study from Ericsson.
Diversification was also on broadcasters' agendas, including moving more rapidly into digital products and distribution.
Scandinavian broadcaster Modern Times Group continues to leverage its position in the rapidly developing eSports business and in digital distribution so that by the end of 2017 some 34% of its sales came from its digital businesses.
Fake news phenomenon
All this in a year that also saw the rise of "fake news" and disturbing revelations about alleged sexual harassment in the TV and film business rocked the media business.
Aided and abetted by self-proclaimed populist US President Donald Trump, "fake news" has become a serious issue for legitimate news outlets, not to mention democracy.
The ire that President Trump holds for CNN has gone so far as to impact the ability of its owner Time Warner to sell to AT&T without first spinning off the "offending" unit.
The alleged sexual harassment, assault and rape by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein revealed in early October has moved far beyond being an isolated incident, snowballing into an avalanche of allegations against others from NBC's News Matt Lauer to Public Service Broadcasting's Charlie Rose to head of Amazon Studios head Roy Price.
Netflix has suspended House of Cards production of season six and black listed Kevin Spacey
The allegations have rocked the TV and film business, derailing production schedules as well as awards shows, for example, causing the International Academy of TV Arts & Sciences to drop plans to honour Kevin Spacey, the star of Netflix's House of Cards, after separate allegations emerged against him.
In the wake of these, Netflix first suspended production on season six of its House of Cards original, then announced the that it would no longer work with Spacey on this or any other Netflix production, casting doubt over if the actor's character would even appear in what will be the last of the series next year.
Committed to content
But what is clear is Netflix's commitment to continue to ramp up its original content investment – set to top $8bn in 2018, a third more than 2017, with 25% of the money to be spent on original content, including 30 new anime series and 80 original films.
The streaming company has also lured from ABC/Disney hit-maker Shonda Rhimes, who created Grey's Anatomy and Scandal.
To put all this in perspective, Netflix already outspends rival FX, CBS and HBO, the latter of which spends about £2bn a year on original content. Facebook and Apple have also both become deadly serious about video with Apple announcing its own $1bn move into video programming earlier this year.
It turns out that Facebook Live –where broadcasters were encouraged to use the platform to live stream events - was simply the opening act for a much bigger push by the social media giant into all kinds of video tailored to its various online communities.
Jay Hunt
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called out video early in 2017 as the next "megatrend" and started investing in short form content, including 360-degree videos, with the expectation that Facebook will be "mostly video" in the next five years.
Meanwhile, Apple hired big TV names Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht from Sony Pictures Television and, more recently, Jay Hunt, the recently departed chief creative officer at Channel 4, to lead its reported $1bn charge into video.
Carpool Karaoke featuring Will Smith and James Corden
The move began with the surprise acquisition in the summer of a 16-part TV series based on the Carpool Karaoke segment of CBS's The Late Late Show with James Corden.
It may not give Apple the transformational result that the remake of House of Cards did for Netflix back in February 2013, but the guess is that Apple is only getting started.
Among the biggest and most complex of the tech giants is Amazon, which is not only ramping up original content for its Prime Video service but it is also aggressively moving into the TV channel aggregation space, offering pay TV-like subscription services, delivered online, in various countires including the US, UK and Germany.
This is part of the move to "skinny pay TV bundles" that consumers are demanding. And of course, Google's YouTube continues to grow exponentially in terms of the amount of content available – some 480 hours of content is uploaded every minute, which is extraordinary, and 60% of that is being watched on a mobile device.
Just like the move to mobile before it, the move to direct-to-consumer services is clear.
It's taken awhile but now top legacy TV companies are endorsing the Netflix-like strategy as a big part of the future. Traditional broadcasters had given a nod to the SVOD tactic in recent years, but in 2017 there was an all-out rush in that direction.
The parent companies of Hulu – 21st Century Fox, Comcast, Disney and Time Warner – have refocused on the streaming service, which won the first-ever drama series Emmy for a streaming service with The Handmaid's Tale in September.
Its owners also seem committed to selling their back-catalogue TV shows to Hulu rather than feeding rival Netflix. Starting in 2019, Disney is planning to launch its own stand-alone streaming service and will withdraw its library from Netflix completely.
The threat to the traditional TV funding model also got a lot clearer in 2017.
BBC Director General Tony Hall claims that the pressure that SVOD is causing to the UK's leading broadcaster is serious.
Shortly thereafter, BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the public service broadcaster, announced it would merge with BBC Studios to achieve the scale it needs to compete against FAANG and avoid a mass takeover of the UK market by Netflix and Amazon and others, which are placing uniquely British content "under serious threat," according to Hall.
BBC's drama The Last Kingdom
He forecast that spending on TV programming in the UK looks set to fall by as much as £500mn over the next decade. "In the UK we often think of the BBC as a big player, but today the media market is truly global," said Hall.
"And in that vast solar system, we are tiny compared to the huge gas giants of the US And every day they're getting bigger."
Strategic compensation
Sky, the most commercial of companies, seems to be looking for help to counter FAANG.
Jeremy Darroch, the CEO of Sky, has called on Europe's policy makers to ensure a level playing field, saying that license broadcasters are disadvantaged having to compete with global online platforms.
"When paying taxes, employing people and complying with the law are competitive disadvantages, you know that you have a problem," said Darroch.
"It's a lop-sided contest and left unchecked, represents a real challenge where European champions and national broadcasters, be they public or private, will suffer. At best, our valued standards of content are being eroded; at worst, fundamentally undermined."
And adding a nod to TV's safer environment for advertisers and regulated news services, Darroch added: "At a time when there are serious questions over the veracity, safety and legality of much of the content to be found on the Internet, television remains the gold standard reference point for responsibility."
Darroch says that Sky's 22m subscribers across Europe are under threat when Netflix alone is all but matching Sky's programming spend.
BSkyB spent £7 billion on programming this year, but much of that is on sport in general and English Premier League football in particular.
New entrants with big money
Netflix, by comparison, has spent $7 billion this year on its own content and will increase that to $8 billion in 2018. That will include a staggering 80 new movies in the next 12 months. For contrast, HBO (the leading drama maker in the world) has a $2-3 billion annual budget for its shows.
Producer and head of Sister Pictures Jane Featherstone told the audience at the Bafta TV lecture this year that the power of FAANG to woo producers with large cheques will reduce the number of co-productions with traditional media companies, because FAANG want to produce for their global platforms and keep all the rights.
BBC and Amazon's Ripper Street
Partnerships such as BBC and Amazon's collaboration for Ripper Street will be over in the next 12-18 months, she forecast.
"The honeymoon is over," was how she described the upcoming phase of the relationships between new and old TV brands.
Less nuanced programming, less regional tastes and more content that works on a global scale is what the likes of Netflix prefer, she warned.
In light of these changes, broadcasters are looking to collaborate more to compete more effectively with FAANG and to keep up with changing consumer demands.
For example, as younger audiences bleed away from traditional linear TV broadcasting for streaming services, broadcasters are upping their catch-up and on demand services, collecting data to better understand what audiences want.
The FAANG impact on traditional broadcasters
Content alliances are also on the rise with ITV and Channel 4 and Sky even talking about co-producing together, certainly a first for the rival broadcasters. Taking a leaf out of the Hulu playbook, the BBC and ITV have formed Britbox, an SVoD service in America to highlight its best programmes.
Traditional documentary makers like Nat Geo and Discovery are expanding their content in an effort to be a more effective combatant in the FAANG content wars.
Nat Geo has moved into premium scripted drama based on true events including Mars and Genius, while Discovery has moved into live sports, buying the rights to the Olympics for its Eurosport channel and app, as well as spending $14.6bn to buy Scripps Interactive Networks, the owner of niche channels like HGTV and the Food Network, so that they can develop more "super fan" content where they own all the rights for every distribution platform.
National Geographic's Mars
In the case of advertising, broadcasters are also teaming up to create better offers for advertising clients who in an era of continuing media consumption fragmentation, are demanding that broadcasters offer more effective targeting for their advertisements.
Channel 4 has joined up with Germany's ProSieben, Italy's Mediaset and France's TF1 to develop a pan-European, digital advertising sales team that is especially focused on attracting money for the 16-34-year-old viewers who are drifting to the SVOD services.
Meanwhile, Former Sony Chairman Howard Stringer along with longtime TV distributor Jeremy Fox and the Modern Times Group Head of Programming and Content Development Jakob Mejlhede launched Atrium TV earlier this year, a drama financing club for OTT and SVoD projects to help broadcasters cobble together budgets big enough to compete with the deep pockets of the global digital platforms.
Just how the allegations of sexual harassment will affect the long term prospects of the industry is unclear, but the threat from FAANG is real and it's here to stay and now it seems, everyone knows it.
Of course, not all the moves the FAANG make work perfectly.
Facebook has faced a backlash for enabling fake news on its site and has begun to take more proactive action in that regard, while Google's YouTube has come under fire for playing host to, and in some instances making ad revenue from, extremist content as well as monetised videos that "exploit young children and appeal to paedophiles".
Google's Matt Brittin
The platform is taking steps to control the "bad actors" on its site and make sure they cannot monetise their activities, says Matt Brittin, Head of Business and Operations for Google EMEA.
At an RTS event in November Brittin threw down the gauntlet to the TV industry, calling it "wonderful" but also "incredibly inward looking".
He urged the TV industry to watch what consumers are doing more and to "experiment with different platforms and technologies," including YouTube.
When asked if he saw all TV going to IP /streaming eventually he said without hesitation, "Yes, of course." Maybe this was the most significant moment of the year because it encapsulated the changes that are taking place on a scale that both the traditional and new-style content companies now truly understand.
Read more Dealing with the threat from online players
2021 predictions: What to expect from broadcasters and streamers
Super-aggregation, sustainability and AI driven efficiencies join cloud deployment as key trends.


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Q: Scaling of a sum with factorials I am interested in how the sum
\begin{equation}
f(N)\equiv\frac 1{(N-1)!}\sum_{n=0}^{2N-1}\binom{2n+N}{2n-1}
\end{equation}
scales for large $N$. So far, I tried to expand the binomial into factorials and to use Stirling's approximation with the terms involving $N$; this, however, could not help in finding a simple scaling law.

A: Here is a rough approach.  The two largest summands are the last, ${5N-2 \choose 2N-1}$ and ${5N-4 \choose 2N-2}$  Their ratio is $\frac{(5N-2)!(2N-2)!(3N-2)!}{(5N-4)!(3N-1)!(2N-1)!}=\frac{(5N-2)(5N-3)}{(3N-1)(2N-1)}\approx \frac {25}6$.  That ratio between terms will not change quickly, so we can imagine it being a geometric series with that ratio.  The sum will then be $1+\frac 6{19}$ times the largest term, which we can expand by Stirling
$$f(N) \approx \frac {25}{19}\frac{(5N-2)!}{(3N-1)!(2N-1)!}\\
\approx \frac {25}{19}\frac{(5N-2)^{5N-2}}{(3N-1)^{3N-1}(2N-1)^{2N-1}}\sqrt{\frac{5N-2}{2\pi (3N-1)(2N-1)}}\\
\approx \frac {25}{19}\left(\frac {5^5}{3^32^2}\right)^N\frac6{5^2}\sqrt{\frac{5}{12\pi N}}$$
where the exponential terms cancel.  The term in parentheses is about $28.9$ so this gives an idea.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


That does seem like they are putting a lot of effort in it.
God of War: Ascension is scheduled to release next year but Sony Santa Monica have released a dev diary to show how difficult it is to design a multiplayer mode for a game such as these. Most God of War games have had a semi-movable camera where the developers mostly show you what needs to be shown, but in multiplayer it will change a bit.
The developers talk about all the little aspects like animations, camera, and other things that shows how it is to make a game. The game looks really fun at this stage and since most people are skeptical about the multiplayer component, it looks like the studio is taking those criticisms seriously and working hard on delivering a solid experience.
There's a single player mode too but you already know what to expect from it, right? The game is exclusive to the PS3 and comes out on March 2013.


The best summers are the ones sprinkled with exciting getaways, and the best getaways are the ones where you feel both energized and calm, poised to fully slip into vacay mode, be it for an exploratory adventure or a deep relaxation.
Which is exactly where CBD comes in.
With its wide range of healing properties that help treat conditions such as insomnia, inflammation and stress, plus the fact that it is non-psychoactive and mostly legal everywhere*, CBD is bound to become your new go-to travel companion. Here are 7 reasons that explain why.
Whether you're off to Iceland, Ireland or Idaho, travelling can wreak havoc on your sleep-wake cycle, confusing your natural rhythms and throwing your whole schedule off. This is the last thing you need on a business or pleasure trip, but thanks to CBD, especially the kind formulated with melatonin, you're literally one spray away from treating that nagging insomnia that's sometimes hard to shake on a trip.
Vacations often (and should!) come with day-drinking, cocktail hours and sunset drinks, which means having your hangovers in check will ensure your vacay flow remain intact. Whether you're exploring, chillaxing or doing a bit of both, CBD's anti-inflammatory properties will help keep body aches that come with drinking in check.
Even though your arrival to that remote beach with turquoise blue waters is perfection, the logistics that get you there can sometimes be hectic. Travel means a lot of rushing, running around, coordinating, and even awkward social juggling acts if you find yourself traveling with the wrong person or crew. But a daily dose of CBD on your trip will help tame anxiety, and keep you calm and centered through any and all of it.
Adding CBD Oil to your nighttime beauty regimen is the beauty hack you never knew you needed. Our founder Casey Cooper recommends you "rub it all over your face at night and you will literally wake up glowing." CBD is also wonderful to treat skin conditions such as eczema or acne, both of which can flare up with the stressors of travel.
Long flights and bad hotel mattresses can lead to stiff joints and muscles, which lead to aches and pains. Thankfully, CBD is known to manage sudden or chronic pain, whether you take it as a tincture, rub it on as a salve or lotion, or use it as a spray.
Are you the kind of person who gets tempted to smoke a cigarette when in Europe? Fear not. Vaping CBD has been shown to curb cigarette smoking, so get yourself a proper device, and vape your way out of harm's way.
*We do recommend that you check the CBD legality laws of whatever destination you decide to take on; but rest assured, when it comes to CBD, for the most part you should be good to go.


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He outlined that the quest for stronger economy is embedded in the strength invested in the future generation, whose hope lies in the personalities of leaders of today.
These advise was handed down by an economic expert, Godwin Ezeno at the launch of a football match between Amesi and Achina, a project instituted by Ezeno Godwin, pledged to go round the six communities in Aguata LGA of Anambra State .
According to the economic expert, investing in the youth would secure a brighter future for the aged, linking his investiture with the progress of work done by any leader as a litmus test to account for their roles as agent of transformation for a virile development in their immediate environment.
While emphasizing on the need for people in places of authorities to serve as a vehicle that will provide a developmental programmes of development straight to the grassroots, these leaders express hope that the project of nation development should be a collective project that all Nigerians should explore.
However, the demands for nation building is resolved not to be left in the hands of elective officers alone, indigenes of every locality are expected to look inward and ensure they make impact in their locality, to give room for qualitative youth engagement in meaningful activities at their tender ages, which would in turn become the fulcrum of development in the country at large.


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By LORI CROUCH Staff Writer
SunFest will undergo secondhand plastic surgery in the next year. Waterfront renovations by the city of West Palm Beach will change its face in 1995.
By the time the next festival rolls around, a new amphitheater seating up to 800 will replace the food court. The amphitheater will will be used for local acts. SunFest officials aren't sure where the new food booths will be located.
The main gateway into the festival moves north from Datura Street to Clematis Street, and a new road will make it easier for traffic to get into the downtown area where SunFest is held.
"We realize that SunFest is one week a year, and we will have to make a lot of adaptations to the festival," said Sue Twyford, SunFest's executive director. "We realize it's great for the community. Our goal is to find a win-win situation for everyone, so SunFest can survive and downtown can be vibrant."
Moving the food court itself is a puzzle SunFest organizers haven't yet solved. The present location, they say, is ideal: It has a grassy area for people to picnic, an asphalt parking lot where food vendors can park their supply trucks, and a drainage system SunFest built.
Sharon Grim, SunFest food coordinator, says next year could be tough for setting up the food booths. It's unlikely that 32 booths will be congregated in one area as they are now.
"It's going to be a year of trial and error," said Grim, co-owner of San Francisco Pfs and Stuff. "It's going to be reinventing the wheel. However, we have to realize the city doesn't revolve around us."
The new amphitheater, at Datura Street and Flagler Drive, will face north. SunFest organizers recommended the positioning so the stage faces away from east or west where the sun would get in the eyes of performers or audiences.
Another change: The main gate may move one block north from Datura Street to Clematis.
The Datura Street gate isn't attractive, but it is wide. Clematis, when the remodeling of the West Palm Beach Library's plaza is done, will be dramatic. It will tie in with the downtown shops and restaurants along Clematis and Narcissus. The plans include a computerized fountain with 100 synchronized water spouts.
On the other hand, Clematis is only one lane wide, making it difficult for people to enter and exit the fesitval.
The Downtown Development Authority, which is pushing the move, says SunFest would give the downtown shops a boost by moving its main entrance gate north.
"We see a new entrance on Clematis as a very big plus for downtown," Authority director Bill Fountain said.
SunFest fans don't mind the changes, especially the amphitheater. "It seems to get better every year. I'm sure it's going to get better next year, too," said Jim Kreidler, of Palm Beach Gardens.
Mary Stegner has one reservation about moving the gate.
"It depends on how the parking would be," the North Palm Beach resident said. "It doesn't make that much difference to me as long as you can easily get to the car."
One other change affects SunFest '95 indirectly. Construction will soon begin on extending El Campeon south of Clematis to Okeechobee Boulevard. That will ease traffic flow on Dixie Highway and Olive Avenue, because it will provide another north-south road east of the railroad tracks. Other ideas, lingering as tentative plans, could change the face of SunFest dramatically. For one, the empty Women's Club, now used as SunFest's operations headquarters, will become a children's museum.


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Q: How to query Django objects based on a field value in the latest ForeignKey? I have a Django application to store hourly price and volume (OHLCV candle) for several markets. What I'm trying to achieve is to compare the latest volume of all markets and set top10 = True to the 10 markets with the highest volume in the latest candle. What is the most efficient way to do that ?
EDIT: The queryset should select all the most recent candle in every markets and sort them by volume. Then return the 10 markets the top 10 candles belong to.
models.py
class Market(models.Model):
    top10 = JSONField(null=True)

class Candle(models.Model):
    market = models.ForeignKey(Market, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='candle', null=True)
    price = models.FloatField(null=True)
    volume = models.FloatField(null=True)
    dt = models.DateTimeField()

A: Finally, I've figured out the solution, I guess.
latest_distinct = Candle.objects.order_by('market__pk', '-dt').distinct('market__pk')
candle_top = Candle.objects.filter(id__in=latest_distinct).order_by('-volume')[:10]

for item in candle_top:
    item.market.top10 = True
    item.market.save()

latest_distinct = Candle.objects.order_by('market__pk', '-dt').distinct('market__pk') will select latest candle record for every Market.
candle_top = Candle.objects.filter(id__in=latest_distinct).order_by('-volume')[:10] will sort items in previous query in descending order and slice 10 greatest ones.
Then you iterate over it setting each market.top10 to True
Notice that I'm assuming that Market's top10 field is a boolean. You can substitute your own logic instead of item.market.top10 = True

A: I have found a solution to my own question by selecting the last candle in every markets with it primary key, and creating a list of lists with list element as [volume, pk]. Then I sort the nested lists by list element 0 volume and select top 10. It returns a list of desired markets:
import operator
v = [[m.candle.first().volume, m.candle.first().id] for m in Market.objects.all()]
top = sorted(v, key=operator.itemgetter(0))[-10:]
[Candle.objects.get(id=i).market for i in [t[1] for t in top]]


September 25, 2018 Vancouver, British Columbia, Nevada Energy Metals Inc. (the "Company" or "Nevada"), TSXV: BFF (OTCQB: SSMLF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) announces that it has closed a non-brokered private placement financing raising gross proceeds of $120,000. The Company issued 1,000,000 units at a price of $0.12 per unit. Each unit comprises one common share and one share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one additional common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.16 per share for a period of two years from closing, subject to TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") approval.
The Company also paid finder's fees in the amount of 75,000 shares and 37,500 warrants in connection with the private placement. The finder's warrants are on the same terms as the financing warrants. The finder's fee is also subject to Exchange approval.
All securities issued with respect to the private placement will be subject to a four‐month and a day hold period expiring on January 26, 2019 in accordance with applicable Canadian Securities Laws.
The proceeds of the Private Placement will be used for exploration and development and for general working capital purposes.
An insider of the Company purchased a total of 250,000 units under the Private Placement, which is considered a related party transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company relied on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in Sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a), respectively, of MI 61-101 in respect of such insider participation. No new insiders and no control persons were created in connection with the private placement.
Nevada Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's main exploration focus is directed at lithium brine targets located in the mining friendly state of Nevada. The Company has 100% ownership in 77 claims in Clayton Valley, only 250m from Rockwood Lithium, the only brine based lithium producer in North America; 100% interest in the 100 claim Teels Marsh West Project covering 2000 acres (809 hectares) in Mineral County, Nevada; 100% interest in the 90 claim Dixie Valley Project, which is optioned 100% to LiCo Energy Metals Inc.; 100% interest in the Black Rock Desert Property – 130 claims located in southwest Black Rock Desert, Washoe County, Nevada, which is optioned 100% to LiCo Energy Metals Inc..
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the contents of this news release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. Availability of financing, and general business conditions are all factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.


Martha's Garden brings you everything your skin needs from, scrubs to creams from your lips down to your toes. All our products are hand crafted using plant based natural ingredients.
Why not log in to our website and do a little shopping?. All products are available online.
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Our workshops are suitable for anyone of any age (14+) and you don't need anything but a desire to be creative to take part. We offer workshops on a 1-2-1 basis or for small groups of 2 or 3. Workshops usually last around 3hours. If you come as a group of 6 then the workshop lasts around 6hours which includes a free lunch. Workshops cost £50 per person and are inclusive of all raw materials, bottles an jars, ribbons and labels. In fact anything you will need to create your 5 lovely products. Oh and unlimited tea, coffe and cake too because being creative can be such thirsty work!
Alternatively, let us us bring our fabulous workshop to you. Book one of our workshops for your club/society or event. We can either run a full day with a group of people, two half days back to back or a drop in. Contact us to discuss prices and a format to suit you.
Pamper evenings: From Hen Parties to Baby Showers, Girls night in to Prom night we've got it covered. For something a bit different for your event, book a pamper party with Martha's Garden. You provide the people, the place and the Prosecco and leave the rest to us. We'll bring along our lovely products and while you sit back and relax we'll do hand scrub and massage, foot scrub and massage and fabulous facials on you and your guests. Cost for a 3 hour party £50 which includes all the products for use on you and your guests and is inclusive of mileage for a 10mile radius of Bicester (45p per mile therafter).
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Please go to our website for a list of events which will be attending this year.


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Montlaur-en-Diois – miejscowość i gmina we Francji, w regionie Owernia-Rodan-Alpy, w departamencie Drôme.

Według danych na rok 1990 gminę zamieszkiwało 80 osób, a gęstość zaludnienia wynosiła 8 osób/km² (wśród 2880 gmin regionu Rodan-Alpy Montlaur-en-Diois plasuje się na 1540. miejscu pod względem liczby ludności, natomiast pod względem powierzchni na miejscu 1121.).

Bibliografia

Miejscowości w departamencie Drôme

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