text:
Yemen war: Ceasefire won't be renewed after repeated violations, say Saudis
15 rebels and nine loyalist troops killed in clashes overnight near Taiz, hours before end of 48-hour ceasefire
A pro-government fighter walks among the ruins in Taiz during the 48-hour ceasefire (Reuters)
MEE and agencies
Published date: 21 November 2016 12:50 UTC | Last update: 6 years 2 months ago
The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government against Houthi rebels said a 48-hour ceasefire ended at midday Monday hours before it was due to because of repeated "violations" in the city of Taiz.
"There is no respect (for the truce), only violations," coalition spokesman Major General Ahmed Asiri told AFP, adding that there were "no orders to extend the ceasefire".
"There have been more people killed in Taiz and more attacks with surface-to-surface missiles, so automatically the conditions are not there" for prolonging the truce, he said.
The ceasefire began on Saturday following an intervention by US Secretary of State John Kerry who met rebel representatives in Oman and urged the government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to sign up.
The coalition had said the truce could be renewed if the rebels abided by the deal and allowed aid deliveries into besieged cities.
Yemeni government forces and rebels were engaged in fierce fighting as a 48-hour ceasefire declared by the pro-government Arab coalition approached its end on Monday, military officials said.
Fifteen rebels and nine loyalist troops were killed in clashes overnight in and around the flashpoint southwestern city, military and medical sources said.
Four civilians were killed and 11 others wounded in rebel bombing of loyalist-held neighbourhoods, the sources said.
Early on Monday, forces loyal to President Hadi attacked Houthi rebels and their allies on the western outskirts of Taiz, military officials said.
The offensive, coming hours before the midday local time end of the ceasefire, targeted an air defence base, the officials said, while witnesses reported loud explosions.
Four of the Houthi casualties were killed in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition, which has been fighting the rebels since March 2015, when Houthi rebels expanded their control and forced Hadi into exile.
Saudi bombing
Coalition warplanes have also hit rebel positions in Nahm, north of rebel-held capital Sanaa, and in the Houthi's heartland in Saada province, witnesses said.
Warplanes from the coalition also conducted numerous sorties over Sanaa early Monday.
Elsewhere, pro-Hadi forces said they repelled a rebel attack on their positions in Sarwah, in Marib province, east of the capital.
The ceasefire began on Saturday following an intervention by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who met Houthi rebel representatives in Oman and urged Hadi's government to sign up.
Major General Ahmed Asiri said the truce could be extended if there was a "complete halt to the violations" he attributed to the rebels.
He accused the rebels of 180 violations in the first 10 hours of the truce.
A spokesman for renegade Yemeni troops allied with the rebels accused the other side's forces of more than 100 violations of the ceasefire.
Middle East Eye reported earlier this year the sheer scale of death and destruction from the capital city of Sanaa after months of air strikes from the Saudi coalition.
The scale of bombing was so severe that Yemenis described the aerial campaign by the Saudi coalition as turning the "skies into fire".
Human Rights Watch also accused the Saudi led coalition of purposely bombing factories, warehouses, farms and power plants during its air campaign in Yemen.
The Saudi coalition have denied all claims of breaking international humanitarian law during its bombing campaign in Yemen.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have also been accused of breaking international humanitarian law.
Yemen's conflict began in 2014 when the rebels overran Sanaa and other parts of the country.
The UN says more than 7,000 people have been killed and nearly 37,000 wounded in Yemen since March 2015, when the coalition intervened on behalf of the government.
UN's Yemen envoy says prospects for peace growing
US Navy says weapons seized en route from Iran to Yemen
US and UK-armed air strikes in Yemen 'killed 87 civilians' in just over a year
Violence puts Yemen ceasefire extension in doubt
Rebel, rebel: The protest songs of Yemen's war
Yemen truce strained by reports of air strikes, fighting around Taiz


For online advisory products wherever possible we provide a sufficient free of cost trial period which gives the customer enough time and data to assess the suitability of product. The client should purchase the product only after he is thoroughly satisfied of its suitability to him/her. In case a client incorrectly purchases a product and informs us at support@salatinvestments.com within 3 days of making the payment a 50% refund less the taxes and other charges would be provided. No other requests of refund would be replied to.
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In spite of its difficult spelling and pronunciation (/ˌiːlæŋ ˈiːlæŋ/), Ylang Ylang is an extremely popular essential oil throughout the world. It has been used for centuries in The East, including China, Indonesia and surrounding countries. Ylang Ylang is now very popular around the world due to it's antiseptic and anti-depressant properties. It can help relieve stress, because it has sedative like properties.
Ylang Ylang is commonly found in cosmetic products and fragrances, and the oil can be used in a diffuser to provide a fresh aroma. This oil is safe to apply to the skin when used with a carrier oil, and ylang ylang can be used in a bath to assist in depression and anxiety relief, and inflammation reduction.
The reason that ylang ylang is popular for anxiety relief is that it has the ability to relax the body while boosting one's mood.
Certain people believe that ylang ylang is also a mild aphrodisiac. All of these properties make it a perfect primary ingredient in our KININ Meditate blend.


text:
New-found Voices: Women in Nineteenth-century English Music
Derek Hyde
March 31, 2020 Forthcoming
Series: Routledge Revivals
December 20, 2018 by Routledge
For Instructors Request Inspection Copy
Available for pre-order. Item will ship after March 31, 2020
First published in 1998, this volume by Derek Hyde remedies the lack of information concerning the contribution made by women to musical life in Britain during the nineteenth century in this carefully researched survey. The book reveals the significant role played by women in the production and performance of certain genres of music, such as piano music, songs and ballads, and touches on the reasons why they were more prominent in these areas than in the male preserves of chamber and orchestral music. In particular, the pioneering work of Sarah Glover in Sol-fa notation and the part played by Mary Wakefield in establishing the Competitive Festival Movement are charted.
The third edition includes a new introduction, taking into account recent research in the field of gender and music. There is also a revised chapter on the work of Ethel Smyth, the first woman composer to enjoy a measure of success in England. This book will be of interest to social historians, musicologists and those concerned with women's history alike.
1. The New Concert Artists. 2. Creative Outlets and the Victorian Ballad. 3. Sarah Glover and the Contribution of Women to Music Education. 4. Mary Wakefield (1853-1910) and the Competition Festival Movement. 5. Ethel Smyth (1858-1944).
We provide complimentary e-inspection copies of primary textbooks to instructors considering our books for course adoption.
e-inspection copy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Ara LED by Nemo is a floor lamp is a floor lamp with LED sources. It is composed by two elements in extruded aluminium: depending on versions, body is painted in white, anthracite and champagne while the main body can be brushed or painted in white. The halogen uplight source is integrated in the body and it creates a widespread light.
Ara LED by Nemo is a floor lamp is a floor lamp with LED sources. It is composed by two elements in extruded aluminium: depending on versions, body is painted in white, anthracite and champagne while the main body can be brushed or painted in white. The halogen uplight source is integrated in the body and it creates a widespread light, while a fluorescent source is integrated in the main body for a widespread and adjustable light. Double switch dimmer on the cable.


text:
The climate crisis is the greatest threat to Indian Country
By Bax Meyer on January 26, 2023
For many people who know me, one of the first things that comes up is that I'm a proudly enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe (Oglala Lakota Oyate). I'm proud to be Native, and I'm proud to be enrolled. On this side of my family, I'm also a…
Grieving for Pigeons: Lahore, loss and memories
By Rahim Hamid on January 26, 2023
"What is lost, however, changes: it could be a home, a neighborhood, or a person. Memory joins these losses in a latticework, in which the disparate points can be elusive and sometimes unexpected." I've lived in Lahore, Pakistan for the vast majority of my relatively short life. Slowly, the city…
Little love lessons: The technique of texting
By Mark Fernandez on January 26, 2023
It could be the end of the world. It probably is. You press send. It's a text message, a simple text message. Yet, it feels like a bowling ball is sitting in your stomach. Actually, it feels like seven bowling balls are sitting in your stomach. Then your phone buzzes.…
What is "Super Mario Bros." about, really?
By Ben More on January 19, 2023
I want to tell you about a conspiracy that's been going on right under our noses for almost 40 years and has bled into the upper echelons of society. You see, the most famous video game franchise in history is absolute bullshit. It doesn't make any sense. It's the classic…
Education and ChatGPT
By Will Brewster on January 19, 2023
I had never really wanted to write about ChatGPT — or consider it for that matter — when I came across the novel algorithm in December. Nonetheless, I submitted a request for the algorithm to write me a poem about some complex social issue of our day, akin to modernist…
Sovereignty is a verb
This Saturday, I had the privilege of attending an event hosted by the Prairie Island Indian Community near Red Wing, Minnesota, presenting the "Honoring Dakota Project." This project is dedicated to advancing relationships between the city of Red Wing and the Prairie Island Indian Community through storytelling and sharing the…
Football is violence, is that okay? What the Damar Hamlin tragedy means for football and America
By Eliot Klus on January 13, 2023
When I watch football, I expect violence. It is a game in which grown men train their bodies to smash into each other for a living. Sitting down on a Sunday afternoon to watch the majority of NFL teams test their mettle against each other, one can expect to see…
Avoiding the social chill
It's 11 p.m. It's freezing. It's absolutely freezing. We all have a point where we draw the line between going out and staying in. Unlike the Fall Term, another variable must be added to our equation of socialization: the cold. Before crossing campus to find a party or deciding to…
The way we see the internet
The evolution of media as portrayed by many flows along an accelerating timeline with flashpoints featuring the camera, the telegraph, the radio, the television, etc. The evolution follows a particular narrative that runs with one of economic and material success, demonstrating the fruits of modernity. We see the evolution of…
Memorial service honors Black educator who helped change Carleton
By Joe Nathan on November 11, 2022
Hundreds of people honored Black educator and activist Fred Easter last Saturday, November 5, at the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Easter was described by one of the speakers as "a man entrenched in the culture of Carleton who inspired many of us with his dedication to making this campus a more…


Distance from hotel to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU), 6 miles (10 kms).
Introducing the Sheraton Old San Juan Hotel, overlooking the cruise ship docks in San Juan Bay, the hotel is just steps from incredible shopping, dining and entertainment of the Old City. And with the Sheraton Service Promise, you are assured a first-class experience.
• Pets are allowed (only under 25 pounds and a deposit of $150.00 USD is required).
• Rooftop Pool (outdoors) ($) Denotes a fee may be charged. Please note: Some hotel amenities listed above may have an additional fee associated with them.
• Additional fees (for early check-in or late check-out) may apply.
• Children aged 16 and under stay free when sharing room with parents, using existing bedding.
• Traditional - 2 adults.
• Deluxe City - 4 adults or 2 adult and 2 children.
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Traditional, (TDL) Interior or Restricted view rooms with tropical decor and 1 king bed, air conditioning, carpet, direct dial cordless phone with data port, coffee maker, electronic safe, color cable plasma television, AM/FM clock radio, hair dryer, iron & ironing board.
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• View: City or Partial City.
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• View: Bay or Partial Bay.
Junior Suite, City or Partial City view rooms with tropical decor, 1 king bed, appointed sitting area , air conditioning, carpet, direct dial cordless phone with data port, coffee maker, electronic safe, color cable plasma television, AM/FM clock radio, hair dryer, iron & ironing board.
• Bedding: 1 king bed. View: City or Partial City.
One Bedroom Suite, (1BS) Bay or Partial Bay view rooms with tropical decor and 1 king bed or 2 double beds, appointed sitting area with a pull out sofa bed in the living room, air conditioning, carpet, direct dial cordless phone with data port, coffee maker, electronic safe, color cable plasma television, AM/FM clock radio, hair dryer, iron & ironing board.
• There are 240 beautifully appointed guest rooms including 42 diverse suites. A selection of guest rooms specifically designed to meet the special needs of disabled guests are also available.
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• Room service is available from 6am-11am and 5pm-11pm.
• Rollaways are available upon request at a charge and subject to availability.
• Rollaway beds are not allowed in rooms that have 2 double beds.
Palio Restaurant, conveniently located on the second floor, includes a variety of Italian cuisine dishes with local infused ingredients. Romantic environment, with indoor and outdoor seating with a terrace overlooking the San Juan Bay. Opens daily for breakfast (6am-11am) and re-opens its doors, just in time for dinner (5pm-11pm) with the daily Sunset Happy Hour starting at 5pm.
• Rates vary by days of the week (weekend vs. weekdays). Weekdays are considered Sunday-Thursday.
• Weekends are considered Friday-Saturday.
• Rates for deluxe accommodations for the value season (May 1st - December 15th, 2018) include continental breakfast.
• Meal coupons can be purchased for use at select restaurants. These need to be ordered and prepaid prior to guests' arrival. Please contact the Reservations office for details.
• Valet parking services are offered by an outside company to hotel's guests. Currently the daily charge per vehicle is $23.00, plus applicable taxes, for unlimited in/out privileges (this fee is subject to change). There is additional public self-parking available within walking distance from the hotel.
• Please ask for details if interested.


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When I play chess, I'm solving problems, having fun: Viswanathan Anand
Hello Chess Blog friends,
Last November, three defeats over 10 games without victory against Magnus Carlsen robbed Viswanathan Anand of more than just the world title. The largely cynical world of chess was quick to write the five-time World champion off. With his pride seriously bruised, Anand suffered in silence, states a nice feature in The Hindu. Read on:
Last month, three victories over 14 games without a defeat in an elite field earned Anand more than just a rematch against Carlsen. It restored his pride and brought back the respect of his critics and peers alike.
Despite his unparalleled consistency — he has been among the world top-10 since July 1991 — there has been no dearth of critics in Anand's illustrious career.
When he did consistently well in tournaments, he was belittled for not doing well at the world championship. When Anand held the World title from 2007 to 2013, his detractors pointed to his lack of tournament success, accusing him of being concerned only with world-title matches and hiding his preparations while playing tournaments.
"Such statements are just one of those things floating around, and I have no idea where they come from. I've never withheld preparations from my tournaments. I would often say that my focus had been on the (world title) matches. I meant my mental focus. Not that I am playing second-rate stuff (in tournaments)," said Anand, on his return from Khanty Mansisyk (Russia).
"From my point of view, I can say that it is a very silly idea that I was holding something back (in tournaments). I would have gladly used all my ideas if I could. But, may be, my preparation for matches was so oriented towards one opponent that it was hard to find ideas that I could use against others.
"Or, perhaps, I was unable to focus on tournaments with the same intensity as matches.
"These are statements that I can live with. The one that I withheld something because I felt, in some way that playing tournaments like this was okay, I think it's an insane idea," Anand said.
Even though the criticism evidently hurt, Anand retained his sense of humour.
"I just think some of the explanations they come up with are reasonably good guesses, even if they are not correct. Some tend to be accurate but even I cannot see them," he said.
"The point is, it doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter if they hit on something that might turn out to be a good explanation. I don't particularly think the way you play chess is to solicit a second opinion. At least, that is not the way I play chess.
"When I play chess, I am solving problems, having fun."
Finally, has Anand re-discovered himself?
"Well, one can go now and say all kinds of things. But I don't see the point. I tell myself, just put it (the performance in Candidates) in the bank and keep playing well," he said.
Labels: Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, world chess champion
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DescriptionWord of Faith Christian Center, will hold their annual fair on Saturday June 27th from noon to 3:00 PM at the church at 4355 Paul St. Phila. 19124 Basketball tournament, children's play/skit, face painting, dunk tank,(State Rep. Tony Payton, or a representative), will be inside, moon bounce for younger children, aerobics instruction, Health& wellness tips presented by physicians from a local hospital for children, and adults, children's dental information. "Jewels" the clown will entertain, as well as a local drill team, and a Latin musical group. Gospel rap will be performed by our very own "100 FOLD" group.Gently used clothing for all will be given away. Food will include hot dogs, pretzels, water ice, bottled water. The event is totally free of charge. All are welcome.


So, you know I just had to write about Donald Trump right? I mean, wouldn't it be a disservice if I didn't? And like the Nigerian that I am, I need to use his story to teach a lesson!
Like a lot of young people, I got a large portion of my news about the 2016 American election from the media, specifically social media. I mean, Facebook, twitter and snapchat were the ways i knew who did what and who said what and believe me, from all I saw, I pretty much expected Hillary Clinton to win the elections.
Imagine my surprise when I woke up at 3am on the 9th of November to find out that Donald Trump had won! I mean, the media said everyone hated him, they also said made it seem like no sane person would vote for him, so what happened?
Well, I thought about it, and thought about it, and I came to an understanding, which I'd always known, but it really hit home this time. The media told us what we wanted to hear. Now, I am aware that the way the American Electoral system runs is a bit different, but even considering all that, it still boils down to the simple fact that they painted a picture that we wanted to see.The popular picture, the picture that would make the people that we think count, happy.
And that, brings me to my topic today.
The fact is, just like most things, the media is a means to an end. This means that in as much as you think it's all for your benefit, it actually isn't. For one thing, the media doesn't share views that aren't unpopular, why? Because if they can't gain from it, then really at the end of the day there isn't a point in it.
In addition to that, Have you ever noticed how selective the media is? Social media especially. They tell us what we want to hear and everything else is pushed under the carpet. They tend to give us half the story, get opinions from people who think a certain way, and project things from an angel that only shows half the picture.
The thing is, media caters for only a select group of people, however, they package their thoughts and ideas in such a way, that the rest of the world buys into the ideas of said people without even realizing it, because since we live on social media these days, we get brain washed into thinking that what we see is the reality. But that isn't always the case, and it's high time we not only see that, but we accept it and act on it.
Because the truth is, half of the things we see on social media and media in general aren't even true. Or they are half-truths which in turn makes them lies. So before you make a decision, based on what the media has told you, why not take a second and get your facts right? Why not take a second and search inside yourself for the real motive behind why you're doing it. Why they did it.
Most times, you'll find that you don't really want to be associated with the things you thought you wanted to be associated with, if you take the time to simply get your facts right and search yourself.
Simply because some famous person has endorsed it doesn't mean it's true, right or even real. We can't keep making uneducated decisions and forming opinions solely based on what the media tells us, because like I said earlier, the media isn't the most trustworthy place to get your info.
To be honest, I take everything I find on social media with a pinch of salt. When I see a post about something, I don't make any comments or form any definite opinions on that issue until I have some confirmation from a reliable source that said thing is true. Because, the fact is, again the media most times only says so much and I don't want to find myself advocating for a cause I don't believe in, simply because the media told me so.
So the next time something big is happening, and you feel like you need to have an opinion on that thing, don't let social media and media in general be the thing that carries the most weight in your mind. Get your facts right and know your principles. It'll save us all a lot of hassle, surprise, astonishment and disappointment in the long run!


Topic: disability is normally understood in terms of individual impairment, but the social model of disability understand disability as a social phenomenon. People are disabled, not by their physical differences, but by a social environment ill fitted to their capacities. This presentation explores the implications of the social model of disability for justice in the church and broader society.
About the speaker: Shane Clifton is Professor of Theology at Alphacrucis College. He teaches in the fields of theology and ethics, and his research is focused on the intersection between theology, virtue ethics, and disability. In 2010, Shane had a serious accident that left him a quadriplegic. He is married to Elly and together they are the parents of three boys.
About PEACE: PEACEtalks is a monthly event hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. 'PEACE' stands for 'political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement'. As such, our events seek to take all of these areas of our shared humanity seriously in a world where such things are often marginalized. We also seek to demonstrate the ways in which spiritual and theological reflection enable us to look at all of these important areas afresh. All welcome!


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Q: MIPS assembly, stacks and basic addition I am currently working on an assignment for class that requires us to accept user input values for two variables (a and b) and solve the equation [a - ab + 8a - 10b + 19] while using only the stack and registers $t0 and $t1.
I understand what I need to do, but I cannot figure out why my program displays incorrect solutions when I compile it. With stacks am I supposed to refer to specific locations [4($sp), for example] when I pop and push? I'm getting inconsistent answers from googling.
My apologies for any strange methods you see taken here, I have been fidgeting with it for awhile to no avail.
results: [a=4, b=3, solution = 51] [a=6, b=4, solution = 67]
    .data

aprompt:    .asciiz "Input a value for a: "
bprompt:    .asciiz "Input a value for b: "
eq:         .asciiz "a - ab + 8a - 10b + 19 = "

    .text

main:

    la $a0, aprompt         # print the prompt for a
    li $v0, 4
    syscall

    li $v0, 5               # read input as integer
    syscall
    move $t0, $v0           # store variable a in $t0

    la $a0, bprompt         # print the prompt for b
    li $v0, 4
    syscall

    li $v0, 5               # read input as integer
    syscall
    move $t1, $v0           # store variable b in $t1

    addi $sp,$sp,-4         # decrement stack pointer by 4
    sw $t0,($sp)            # push a on the stack at 0

    mult $t0,$t1            # a*b
    mflo $t0                # store result in $t0
    addi $sp,$sp,-4         # decrement stack pointer by 4
    sw $t0,($sp)            # push a*b on the stack at 4

    li $t0,10               # load 10 into $t0
    mult $t0,$t1            # 10*b
    mflo $t0                # store result in $t0

    lw $t1,($sp)            # pop the stack and store in $t1
    addi $sp,$sp,4          # increment stack pointer by 4

    add $t0,$t0,$t1         # add a*b and 10*b
    lw $t1,($sp)            # pop the stack and store in $t1
    addi $sp,$sp,-4         # decrement stack pointer
    sw $t0,($sp)            # push a*b+10*b on the stack at 0
    addi $sp,$sp,4          # increment stack pointer

    li $t0,8                # store 8 in $t0
    mult $t0,$t1            # 8*a
    mflo $t0                # store in $t0

    addi $t1,$t1,19         # a + 19

    add $t0,$t0,$t1         # store (a + 19) + 8*a in $t0

    lw $t1,($sp)            # pop the stack and store in $t1
    sub $t0,$t0,$t1         # (a + 19 + 8a) - (ab + 10b)

    move $a0,$t0            # print solution as integer
    li $v0,1
    syscall

    li $v0, 10              # exit
    syscall

A: lw $t1,($sp)            # pop the stack and store in $t1
sub $t0,$t0,$t1         # (a + 19 + 8a) - (ab + 10b)

lw $t1,($sp) is actually popping a, not ab + 10b.
You can fix it by popping ab + 10b instead from $sp - 4.
add $t0,$t0,$t1         # store (a + 19) + 8*a in $t0
addi $sp,$sp,-4         # decrement stack pointer
lw $t1,($sp)            # pop the stack and store in $t1

sub $t0,$t0,$t1         # (a + 19 + 8a) - (ab + 10b)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Idol Beat: Viva Nash Vegas
Pete Vonder Haar
Pete Vonder Haar | January 28, 2011 | 10:00am
I was randomly scrolling back through past Idol Beats last night, doing my best to ignore mentally unbalanced dental hygienist Christine McCaffrey's butchering of "I Hope You Dance," when I realized something. The American Idol beat for Rocks Off is basically the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position at Hogwarts: it attracts questionable characters, is potentially lethal, and nobody holds it for more than a year at a time.
Why Nashville -- the so-called "Music City" -- only warranted one hour of coverage for its two days of auditions while Milwaukee scored the coveted Wednesday slot I'll leave as an exercise to the reader. And to the unquiet ghosts of Robert Altman and Johnny Cash, though as musical atrocities go, having Idol tryouts in the Ryman Auditorium probably is about on par with watching OneRepublic suck it up on that venerable stage.
Loath as I am to admit it, Steven Tyler is a lot more entertaining than I imagined, even if I almost choked on my beer when he urged the broken-up couple to get back together because of the importance of love.
You know who I'm talking about: Rob Bolin and Chelsee Oaks. They've been broken up for three years but still perform together. They're like Fleetwood Mac, only not successful or likely to become so. Seriously, after the novelty of your whole Stevie-Lindsay thing wears off, you'll be headed back home on the same Greyhound with Stormy Henley.
Who could forget Stormy? If contestants could skate through merely on how much they made Steve Tyler's pants move, the former Miss Teen USA (no relation to Don) would be in the finals already. As it is, she had to rely on Randy's predictable spinelessness to move on.
At this point, it looks like nobody is prepared to step up and be the Cowell this season. J-Lo has toughened up somewhat, and everyone takes their turn at being the dream-crushing asshole, but it's not consistent. Who knows? Maybe that's what the show needed to save it from the abysmal depths of mediocrity. I guess we'll see.
As for the rejects, I really wanted tattooed biker guy Allen Lewis to move on, because I think he'd have a lot to...how you say..."offer" week 1's Ashley Sullivan. Alas, the meathead was booted after violating Skynyrd's "Simple Man," one of my all-time faves. Serves you right, beardo.
I also think we needed to see more of the Blue Man guy, who appeared (for the seven seconds of air time he got) to have a decent voice. Hey, 7 Seconds. Now there's an idea for a guest appearance.
I also could have done with more of the Russian contestant, but that's mostly thanks to an unhealthy fascination with Slavic accents stemming from my Regina Spektor infatuation.
Of those going to Hollywood, Jackie Wilson was very good, but she has two things going against her: her Fashion Bug by way of Wal-Mart sense of couture, and her creepy old ass boyfriend. Honey, you can celebrate your love of septuagenarians all the live long day, just don't let Ryan Seacrest see you. The man sniffs out and punishes weirdness.
Finally, in an unpleasant twist, we had two uplifting/horrifying stories to close out the show. First was Matt Dillard, whose parents have fostered some 700 children in recent years, many of the kids with special needs. He's the dude you knew will be moving forward, evem spite of his sporting of the bendy cowboy hat every girl I knew in my 20s wore while tubing the Frio.
But he barely made it. Worse yet, he had some stiff competition in the sob story category from Georgia's Lauren Alaina, who sang to raise money for her cancer-stricken cousin. The judges went bananas for her, which I'd attribute to hysterical exhaustion except they sleep in hyperbaric hotel rooms and fly private jets all week. In any event, Lauren is an early favorite.
Next week the show heads to Austin, home of ACL, SRV, and any number of other musical acronyms. Texas represent! Or something.
Follow Rocks Off on Facebook and on Twitter at @HPRocksOff.
Pete Vonder Haar is a regular film contributor at Voice Media Group. VMG publications include Denver Westword, Miami New Times, Phoenix New Times, Dallas Observer, Houston Press and New Times Broward-Palm Beach.
30 Songs By 30 Acts From 30 Days of Music in Houston, Second Set
30 Songs By 30 Acts From 30 Days of Music in Houston, Closing Set


text:
Urodzeni
 24 lutego - Jelizawieta Böhm  (zm. 1914), rosyjska malarka
 3 maja - Aleksander Sochaczewski (zm. 1923), polski malarz
 29 kwietnia - Pedro Américo (zm. 1905), brazylijski malarz i pisarz
 9 września - Alejandro Ferrant y Fischermans (zm. 1917), hiszpański malarz
 31 października - Henri Regnault (zm. 1871), francuski malarz
 2 listopada - Mark Antokolski (zm. 1902), rosyjski rzeźbiarz
 José Armet Portanell - (zm. 1911), hiszpański malarz
 Eugene de Blaas - (zm. 1932), malarz pochodzenia austriackiego
 Georges Clairin - (zm. 1919), francuski malarz i ilustrator

Zmarli
 7 lutego - Antoni Laub (ur. 1792), polski malarz miniaturzysta
 7 lub 8 czerwca - Georges Michel (ur. 1763), francuski malarz
 9 lipca - Washington Allston (ur. 1779), amerykański malarz, poeta i pisarz
 4 września - Daniel Kondratowicz (ur. 1765), polski malarz
 10 listopada - John Trumbull (ur. 1756), amerykański malarz
 Rosario Weiss (ur. 1814), hiszpańska malarka

Kalendarium sztuk plastycznych
Wydarzenia 1843

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/2022/03/10/james-harden-sixers-react-to-offensive-struggles-in-home-loss-to-nets/
James Harden, Sixers react to offensive struggles in home loss to Nets
AP Photo/Matt Slocum
March 10, 2022 11:31 pm ET
PHILADELPHIA–There was a lot of hype heading into a big matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center. It was the first matchup between the two teams since the big trade that sent James Harden to Philadelphia and Ben Simmons to Brooklyn.
While Simmons didn't play in this one, although the crowd let him know about their displeasure all night long, the focus was on Harden facing his old Nets team for the first time since the trade. With all eyes on him, The Beard struggled in a 129-100 loss to the Nets.
Harden shot only 3-for-17 and he had 11 points with six rebounds and five assists while also having four turnovers.
"Just miss shots," said Harden. "There's no excuses. I gotta be better individually. Some turnovers were just careless. Individually, I gotta be better and as a team, I'll watch film to see where can we be better and we'll just continue to improve. This is only our sixth game together as a unit. I'm still trying to figure things out."
The Nets were blitzing Harden all night long and sending waves of defenders at him in what was an overall just tough game.
"They doubled, they trapped, but teams have been doing that," said coach Doc Rivers. "They were so much more physical. That was the only thing I thought we succumbed to their physicality tonight. When you see guys running through dribble handoffs, that's a problem. That should never happen and I'm gonna say nine times that happened tonight. It's something we'll look at the film and we'll fix."
With that being said, it wasn't just Harden who struggled in this one. Matisse Thybulle shot 1-for-5, Tyrese Maxey was 2-for-7, and even Joel Embiid was 5-for-17 from the floor in this one. Shake Milton was 0-for-6 off the bench.
"It wasn't just James," Rivers finished. "I don't think it was just James. The whole team struggled. I struggled. Everybody struggled. We win together as a team, we lose together as a team, but I don't think it was just James. I thought it was everybody that struggled. Part of it was we didn't space, we didn't move the ball. Everybody wanted to win the game, but we didn't understand you have to play together to win the game so that's a good lesson for us."
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
Multiple Sixers try to explain the slow start in blowout loss to Nets
Allen Iverson posts picture honoring Sixers MVPs featuring Joel Embiid
Doc Rivers excited to see former Sixers Seth Curry, Andre Drummond
Nets star Kevin Durant has a lot of praise for Sixers star Joel Embiid
Sixers vs. Magic: Prediction, point spread, odds, over/under, best bet


Each of these traits and how they contribute to constructive leadership are covered in detail below.
Good leadership requires a variety of characteristics, one of which is the ability to lead by example. While introverts may not be inclined to engage in long, attention-grabbing speeches, or to try and make themselves the center of attention, letting their actions speak for them is right up their alley. When it comes to inspiring others, leading by example can, in many cases, be more effective than simply telling people what to do.
When a company's employees see that managers are ready and willing to get their hands dirty and take part in the day-to-day activities that make up the company's business, it sends a positive message. Thus, having leaders at a company who are comfortable expending time and effort to work side by side with employees is a valuable asset. Introverts are naturally suited for this role, and if they complement the hands-on approach by overcoming their natural aversion to give speeches it can make them even more valuable leaders.
Introverts can be just as confident in their abilities as extroverts, but they are, by nature, less inclined to feel the need to broadcast this assessment of their skill to others. The best leaders are those who can listen as well as instruct. This requires a degree of humility that is likely to be common with introverts. By listening to other employees and team members, a leader who is an introvert can better judge the business climate and what needs to be done to motivate employees to excel.
Beyond human interaction, humility is valuable as a spur to learning more about a situation or process. If a person feels that they don't know everything they need to know in such cases, it can motivate them to attempt to learn more to gain a clearer understanding. This is a valuable trait in a leader, as the more information a leader has about a situation, the better their decisions about it are likely to be.
Possessing considerable drive is an asset in helping leaders succeed. When times get tough, and things don't go as planned, a leader must be able to remain committed to achieving the objective. This drive can inspire others to persevere through difficult periods as well, which is why it is such an important leadership trait.
Given that introverts are less susceptible to external stimuli than extroverts, they are likely to be less affected by negative reactions when things don't go as planned. Their approach is more likely to remain unchanged in such situations. Additionally, if solutions aren't immediately apparent, introverts are more likely to persist in seeking a solution since they have less need for positive feedback than extroverts.
Introverts typically internalize motivation as a result of their tendency to be more driven by internal stimuli. This trait is especially valuable in leaders working on complex, long-lasting projects. Work on such projects may experience numerous ups and downs before reaching completion.
The concentration and focus required by such projects is best suited to a leader who can resist the urge to become distracted or disenchanted when encountering hurdles. Introverts, with their penchant for internalization, can ride out such stressful periods by staying positive, at least outwardly, and steering the project to eventual success.
While leaders must be bold at times, caution is also a quality that leaders can benefit from. A company that continually takes excessive risks is one that may very well find itself out of business at some point. Extroverts tend to be more sensitive to external rewards, making them more likely to engage in risk-taking behavior.
By contrast, introverts, who are not as driven by external stimuli, are more likely to examine an issue from all sides, giving them a chance to weigh the risk in taking an action against its likely reward. This caution can serve a company well by serving as a check against the desire to take greater risks than are warranted by the potential rewards.
A good leadership team generally is one that has a balance of skills and personalities. A team made up exclusively of risk-taking extroverts is not necessarily ideal, especially if a company operates in an industry where taking on too much risk can lead to a rapid loss of market share or worse.
Adding an introvert or two to a leadership team can pay benefits by balancing out the risk-taking characteristics of the team and putting the company on a viable path to growth without betting the farm on opportunities which become available.
Because introverts tend to "live" more in their minds than others, they are often, as mentioned earlier, very good listeners. This tendency is aided by the fact that introverts don't rely as much on external rewards for self-affirmation. As a result, they don't have as strong a desire to be the center of attention by having others listen to them. This gives them the patience to listen to others at length.
This can not only increase buy-in to a leader's approach by showing employees that a leader is sincerely interested in their input, but it also gives a leader a better chance to gather valuable information about business conditions from employees.
As a company grows larger, listening to employees becomes an even more valuable means of keeping company leadership acquainted with conditions on the ground, where the nuts and bolts of the company's business takes place. Companies where leaders don't regularly listen to employees run the risk of losing touch not only with their employees but with fundamental business trends as well.
Introverts, with their inclination to value listening as much speaking, can use this trait to become excellent leaders, especially at companies where interaction with employees is essential to conducting a company's business successfully.


text:
https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Alison-Krauss-to-headline-at-amphitheater-12634991.php
Alison Krauss to headline at amphitheater
Published 12:00 am CST, Tuesday, February 24, 2015
ALTON — The Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater on Tuesday announced that one of the world's most well-known bluegrass-country acts will be coming to Alton June 13 to help support a local charity.
"We are excited to announce our first concert in the 2015 Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater Summer Concert Series will be Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, with special guest The Harman Family Bluegrass Band," amphitheater staff posted on its Facebook page.
The Feed the Need concert, presented by Senior Services Plus, aims the community together with the goal of raising awareness for the Meals On Wheels Program. All proceeds from the concert will benefit the agency's Meals On Wheels Program. Senior Services Plus is providing 650 meals daily, covering 22 townships in Madison and St. Clair counties.
Tickets go on sale March 6 at 10 a.m. via MetroTix/Alton Convention & Visitors Bureau and Senior Services Plus. Lawn seats are $40 and Golden Circle tickets are $65.
Krauss, a native of Champaign, has won 27 Grammy Awards from 41 nominations. Her group may be best known for the hit "Man of Constant Sorrow" from the movie "O' Brother, Where Art Thou?"


text:
Player::Player(GameWorld *gameWorld, Vector3 beginPosition): mHP(100)
{
	mGameWorld = gameWorld;
	mPosition = beginPosition;
	soundCounter = 0;
	underwaterCounter = 0;
}

Player::~Player()
{}

/// render the player's model
void Player::render()
{
	// Drawing stuff
	glLoadIdentity();							// reset identity matrix
	CAMERA.update();
	// NOTE: Why do I need "+ 1.2f"? Ditto @ c_enemy
	// 03-11-11 22:36: BECAUSE THE MODEL IS RENDERED FROM IT'S CENTER POINT!
	glTranslatef(mPosition.x, mPosition.y + 1.2f, mPosition.z);	// position model
	glRotatef(mRotation.x, 1, 0, 0);					// rotate model x axis
	glRotatef(mRotation.y, 0, 1, 0);					// rotate model y axis
	glRotatef(mRotation.z, 0, 0, 1);					// rotate model z axis
	glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, (GLuint)mGameWorld->mEngine->mPlayerTextureID);
	mGameWorld->mEngine->mPlayerMesh.render();
}

void Player::update()
{
	int mx, my, mb;

 	int key, keytrig;
	int keycode, keycodetrig;

	if (mHP <= 0)
	{
		mGameWorld->mEngine->mGamestate = GAMESTATE_LOSE;
	}

	/// Draw player model
	render();

	// damage player if below water surface
	if (mPosition.y <= 2.0f)
	{
		underwaterCounter++;

		// player is underwater for ~1 second
		if (underwaterCounter >= 30)
		{
			// damage the player
			hurt(20);
			underwaterCounter = 0;
		}
	}
	else // player is not below water level
	{
		underwaterCounter = 0;
	}

	/// Set player's height
	setHeight(mPosition);

	/// Handle input for the player
	CML_GetKeys(&key, &keytrig);
	CML_GetKeycode(&keycode, &keycodetrig);
	CML_GetMouse(&mx, &my, &mb);

	if (!soundCounter && (mb & CML_INPUT_MOUSEBUTTON_LEFT))
	{
		Soundsystem_PlaySound(&(mGameWorld->mEngine->mSwordSlash), 0);
		soundCounter++;
	}
	else if (soundCounter > 0 && soundCounter <= 30)
	{
		soundCounter++;
	}
	else if (soundCounter > 30)
	{
		soundCounter = 0;
	}

	// angle in degrees
	mRotation.y = -(mx / PARAM.RotationSpeed);

	// reset animation
	if (!key && !keycode)
	   mGameWorld->mEngine->mPlayerMesh.initAnim(0);

	//if (getHeight(mPosition.x, mPosition.z) * SCAPESCALE < 13.0f)
	{
		if ((key & CML_INPUT_KEY_UP) || (keycode == 'W'))
		{
			// move forward animation
			mGameWorld->mEngine->mPlayerMesh.initAnim(1);
			mPosition.x += sin(DEG2RAD(mRotation.y)) * PARAM.MoveSpeed;
			mPosition.z += cos(DEG2RAD(mRotation.y)) * PARAM.MoveSpeed;
		}

		if ((key & CML_INPUT_KEY_DOWN) || (keycode == 'S'))
		{
			mPosition.x -= sin(DEG2RAD(mRotation.y)) * PARAM.MoveSpeed;
			mPosition.z -= cos(DEG2RAD(mRotation.y)) * PARAM.MoveSpeed;
		}

		if ((key & CML_INPUT_KEY_LEFT) || (keycode == 'A'))
		{
			mPosition.x -= -cos(DEG2RAD(mRotation.y)) * PARAM.MoveSpeed;
			mPosition.z -= sin(DEG2RAD(mRotation.y)) * PARAM.MoveSpeed;
		}

		if ((key & CML_INPUT_KEY_RIGHT) || (keycode == 'D'))
		{
			mPosition.x += -cos(DEG2RAD(mRotation.y)) * PARAM.MoveSpeed;
			mPosition.z += sin(DEG2RAD(mRotation.y)) * PARAM.MoveSpeed;
		}
	}
	//else
	{
		//mPosition = lastPos;
	}
}

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/// @brief	Calculates the height of the player, based on its position
/// @param	x Position on the map
/// @param	z Position on the map
/// @return	Height of the player
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void Player::setHeight(Vector3 &v)
{
	float frontpos, backpos;
	float frontleft, frontright;	// 2 position to calc frontpos
	float backleft, backright;		// 2 position to calc backpos
    float subx, subz;				// Everything after the floating point of (x/4)
    float asubx, asubz;				// opposite/anti version used in calc

	// posx & y
	int tilex = (int)floor(v.x / (int)mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mTileSize);
	int tilez = (int)floor(v.z / (int)mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mTileSize);

	// if player is within the map...
	if (tilex >= 0 && tilez >= 0 && tilex < mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mWidth - 1 && tilez < mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mHeight - 1)
	{
		frontleft	= mGameWorld->mEngine->mHeightMap[tilez * mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mWidth + tilex];
		frontright	= mGameWorld->mEngine->mHeightMap[tilez * mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mWidth + tilex + 1];
		backleft	= mGameWorld->mEngine->mHeightMap[(tilez + 1) * mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mWidth + tilex];
		backright	= mGameWorld->mEngine->mHeightMap[(tilez + 1) * mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mWidth + tilex + 1];

		subx = v.x / mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mTileSize- tilex;
		subz = v.z / mGameWorld->mEngine->mGameWorldMesh.mTileSize - tilez;

		asubx = 1 - subx;
		asubz = 1 - subz;

		frontpos	= asubz * ((subx * frontright) + (asubx * frontleft));
		backpos		= subz  * ((subx * backright)  + (asubx * backleft));

		// set height
		v.y = (frontpos + backpos) * SCAPESCALE;
	}
}

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/// @brief Health Points getter.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
int Player::getHP()
{
	return mHP;
}

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/// @brief	This function damages the player's health for @b damage points
/// 		and make the screen flash red.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void Player::hurt(int damage)
{
	/// hurt player if he enters the water for longer then a second
	/// @todo Make the screen flash red

	static s_sprite red;
	static int redID;
	static bool first = 1;

	// This is run only once.
	if (first)
	{
		CML_CreateSprite(PARAM.ScreenWidth, PARAM.ScreenWidth, &red);
		redID = CoreGL_CreateTextureGL(CML_GetBitmapFromSprite(red));
		CML_DrawFilledBox(0, 0, PARAM.ScreenWidth, PARAM.ScreenHeight, 0xffff0000, CML_GetBitmapFromSprite(red));
		first = false;
	}

	Soundsystem_PlaySound(&(mGameWorld->mEngine->mGrunt), 0);
	mHP -= damage;
	CoreGL_DrawSprite(0, 0, red, redID);
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Cosmo's Editor Suggests Brands Will Be Able To Sell Products Through Snapchat Discover
Joanna Coles says Hearst's "Sweet" channel on Snapchat Discover will eventually evolve into an e-commerce platform.
Tim Peterson on February 17, 2016 at 10:30 pm
Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles (right) on stage at Re/Code's Code/Media conference.
Joanna Coles is the editor-in-chief of Hearst magazine Cosmopolitan, which is one of 20 publishers that operate their own channels with Snapchat's Discover section in the US. She's also on Snapchat's board. So she has a better idea than most of what the mobile app has in store for media companies. Apparently, that includes opening up e-commerce stores on Snapchat.
Hearst's other Snapchat Discover channel, Sweet, which only exists on Snapchat, "will evolve to an e-commerce platform so eventually you will be able to buy from it," Ms. Coles said on stage at Re/Code's Code/Media conference in Laguna Niguel, California, on Wednesday.
Ms. Coles didn't offer details, like when Sweet would start selling stuff on Snapchat, how those sales would work or whether other Discover publishers would be able to add e-commerce to their Snapchat channels. A Snapchat spokeswoman declined to comment on Ms. Cole's remarks.
If Snapchat does let publishers sell products through their Discover channels, that could make Discover more attractive to publishers, who might want to diversify their revenue beyond advertising, as well as advertisers, who could conceivably pitch publishers on offering their products through some kind of bundled sponsorship deal.
But that's assuming this actually happens. Snapchat has a spotty history when it comes to commerce. In November 2015, the company began selling "lenses," or filters that people could overlay atop the photos and videos they post to Snapchat. But two months later, Snapchat reversed course and closed that business. Instead it would offer all lenses to its users for free, including sponsored ones paid for by brands.
It shouldn't be too surprising that Hearst would be among the first publishers to get its hands on a new Snapchat feature. Not only is Ms. Coles on the company's board, but Hearst also has a history of jumping at the chance to work with Snapchat. Hearst's Cosmopolitan was one of the first publications to join Discover when Snapchat launched its version of a publisher portal in January 2015. And according to Ms. Coles, that was a snap decision.
"We made a decision within a day to be on Discover," Ms. Coles said. The reason that magazine giant jumped at the chance was pretty straightforward. There wasn't a good enough reason not to do so. The feeling among Ms. Coles and Hearst execs David Carey and Troy Young was "f**k it. If it doesn't work, who cares," she said.
A little over a year later, it appears to still be working, considering that Cosmopolitan remains on Discover as some other publishers have been pulled.
But Snapchat isn't the only distribution avenue that Cosmopolitan is committed to. It's still very much wedded to its print magazine, and for good reason.
Print magazines "make enormous amounts of money, so that seems to be a legitimate reason to do something," Ms. Coles said. She added, "I can't imagine a time we wouldn't offer a print version of Cosmo."
Tim Peterson
Tim Peterson, Third Door Media's Social Media Reporter, has been covering the digital marketing industry since 2011. He has reported for Advertising Age, Adweek and Direct Marketing News. A born-and-raised Angeleno who graduated from New York University, he currently lives in Los Angeles. He has broken stories on Snapchat's ad plans, Hulu founding CEO Jason Kilar's attempt to take on YouTube and the assemblage of Amazon's ad-tech stack; analyzed YouTube's programming strategy, Facebook's ad-tech ambitions and ad blocking's rise; and documented digital video's biggest annual event VidCon, BuzzFeed's branded video production process and Snapchat Discover's ad load six months after launch. He has also developed tools to monitor brands' early adoption of live-streaming apps, compare Yahoo's and Google's search designs and examine the NFL's YouTube and Facebook video strategies.
Channel: Social Media MarketingE-CommerceSnapchat


text:
ACCEPTED

#### According to
Index Fungorum

#### Published in
null

#### Original name
Sphaeronaema decorticans Lév.

### Remarks
null


text:
Secrets from the X-ray lab
We journey deep underground to the Museum's X-ray lab with Scientist Dan O'Flynn to take a look at six objects, and learn what X-rays can reveal about them.
Dan O'Flynn, Scientist: X-ray Imaging 12 March 2021
You may be surprised to hear that the British Museum has a cutting-edge X-ray imaging laboratory located four floors underneath the Museum. Using both traditional and innovative methods and equipment, scientists – including me – are able to answer questions that help with the interpretation and understanding of objects in the collection, including:
How old is it?
Where does it come from?
How was it made?
Here are six such objects with secrets that X-ray technology has helped reveal.
Brass ewer
One of the star objects of the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic world is this ewer (large jug) from Herat, modern-day Afghanistan, with beautiful birds surrounding the collar. With X-ray CT scanning (shown on the left above), we were able to determine how the birds were made. The X-rays can be very high in energy and are therefore very helpful for looking through metal objects such as this.
On the right of this picture is the X-ray tube. The X-rays come out from just behind the brass square in the centre, pass through the ewer and make an image on a digital detector.
By rotating the ewer while taking images, we can see the inside from all angles, allowing us to make a full 3D picture (which you can find out more about in this Twitter thread). Since the ewer is 40cm tall, I scanned it in two halves, top and bottom, then stitched the two halves together to give the result in the first image.
X-ray image showing the changes in brightness that denote the different materials.
In the X-ray image above, we can see the silver inlaid design (it appears brighter because silver is denser than brass and so absorbs more X-rays) and various solder attachments. But what about the birds' heads?
A video showing a cross-sectional view of the ewer.
To answer this question, we can go through the 3D picture of the ewer slice-by-slice – click to play the video above. On the right-hand side here, you can see that the bird head on the collar is a white outline, continuous with the body of the vessel (the handle is completely solid).
The birds' heads, thought to be parakeets or pheasants, were made by hammering outwards from the inside of the vessel and were not made separately and stuck on, as originally thought! It is clear that incredible artistry and skill was needed to make this ewer.
Dan in the X-ray imaging lab, working with another ewer.
Cuneiform tablet
In the ancient Near East, clay tablets were inscribed with text called cuneiform, as well as clay envelopes to hold letters or important documents. With X-ray CT imaging, we were able to virtually strip back the clay envelope surrounding this cuneiform tablet, allowing us to read text that hasn't been seen in over 4,000 years – without damaging the object!
With X-ray CT imaging, we were able to virtually strip back the clay envelope surrounding this Cuneiform tablet, allowing us to read text that hasn't been seen in over 4000 years – without damaging the artefact @britishmuseum @JonTaylor_BM pic.twitter.com/FkJTNiQCwa
— Dr Dan O'Flynn (@danoflynn) December 21, 2017
The X-ray scans revealed the following text, translated by curator Jonathan Taylor:
2,427kg wool, as rations for the men of (the village) Gaka, under the supervision of the chief minister, via (Mr) Shesh-Utumu, from (Mr) Aradmu, governor of (the city) Girsu, have been withdrawn.
(Sealed with) the seal of (Mr) Babati.
Year Shu-Sin became king
By itself this information may seem insignificant, but it gives a valuable insight into the economic life of ancient Mesopotamia.
Tibetan thangka
This thangka (a painting on cloth) was featured in our recent major exhibition Tantra: enlightenment to revolution.
At the British Museum, we normally use X-ray imaging to look inside 3D objects, but it can also be effective on some more 2D objects including paintings and textiles. This Tibetan thangka depicts a Tantric teacher, or Mahasiddha ('Great Accomplished One') called Saraha, and was discussed in our blog about its conservation treatment here.
The thangka after its conservation treatment, showing the colourful front side, as well as the reverse.
Conservation of the thangka was carried out in the Museum by conservators Alice Derham and Teresa Heady, and colour scientist Joanne Dyer to see if we could learn anything about the painting process.
Joanne identified paints containing gold, lead, mercury, iron and copper on the thangka. X-rays are good at detecting these heavy elements on carbon-based backgrounds – such as cotton or paper – so we hoped to be able to see them in an X-ray image.
The X-ray image below shows details of the Mahasiddha Saraha. A reworking of the gold lines radiating from the Mahasiddaha Saraha can be seen, as well as brushstrokes from the application of red paint.
Detail from the visible image and X-Radiograph of the thangka. The latter shows two sets of gold lines radiating from the Mahasiddha Saraha.
Gandharan heads
In 2019, the Museum worked with Border Force to identify and return a number of heads of Buddhist sculptures from Afghanistan that were damaged by the Taliban and illegally trafficked to the UK (read more here).
Moulded and painted clay head of a female bodhisattva wearing a diadem (crown).
CT scans revealed how the heads were made and scientific analysis showed that the red and yellow pigments found on the sculptures were made from common iron-rich ores.
This X-ray CT scan shows a 'slice' through one of the heads, helping show how it was made with a two-layer technique.
An X-ray CT scan of the heads revealed a two-layered construction. Firstly, a coarse clay was used to roughly model the shape of the head. Afterwards, the face, hair and headdress were overlaid with a finer and more compact material which was then painted. The rediscovery of the sculptures was a good opportunity to conduct this work and we are very grateful to the National Museum of Afghanistan for permitting us to do so.
This X-ray CT scan shows the internal composition of one of the heads, and how this type of imaging can show the hidden cross-section of objects without damaging them.
Bronze age axe mould
This mould was used to cast bronze axe-heads, and is over 3,000 years old.
This copper alloy mould came to the X-ray lab through the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which registers finds of treasure in the UK. This fascinating object is a 3,000+ year old Bronze Age mould for making palstave axes from southern England. The X-rays revealed the extent of the partially visible cracks in the two halves, and corrosion (seen as small dark circles on the images).
3D models of the palstave axes made using moulds like this are available to view on Sketchfab here.
X-rays showed the full extent of cracks that were only partially visible with the naked eye.
Townley Discobolus
Dan in the X-ray lab with the Discobolus sculpture.
This marble sculpture shows an athlete stooping, about to throw a discus. It is one of several Roman copies made from a lost bronze original made in the 5th century BC.
X-ray images have revealed the multiple restorations conducted before the statue came to the Museum. The statue is famed for having a head that does not belong to the original body. The head is very close in age and style, and uses marble that is exceptionally well matched to the torso, but it has been attached at the wrong angle! Complete statues from the time reveal the head to be turned to look towards the discus, rather than the floor.
The images below show some of the other, less visible, restorations.
Here you can see the chin, mouth and nose have been reattached using metal rods for stabilisation.
And the left index finger of the statue is actually a modern restoration (made of resin), of which we have a record. You can see a rod has also been used here.
We hoped you enjoyed this brief introduction to X-ray imaging at the Museum. You can read more about scientific research in our blog celebrating 100 years of science at the Museum here.
Researching LGBTQ connections in the South Asia collection
Ancient healthcare fit for a king
14 of my favourite items from the British Museum Archive


The following article introduces Funding on Bybit.
Before a futures contract expires, its price could deviate from the Spot Price; the difference between the prices is called the Basis of the futures contract. It eventually converges to zero as the contract approaches settlement.
Perpetual Contracts have no settlements and no expiry date. Then, how does Bybit minimize the basis and make sure that the Last Traded Price always tethers to the Spot Price? Well, this is the magic of the Funding mechanism.
Funding is the primary mechanism to ensure Bybit's Last Traded Price is always anchored to the global Spot Price. It is similar to the interest cost of holding contracts in spot margin-trading.
On Bybit, Funding is exchanged directly between buyers and sellers every 8 hours at 04 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and 20 o'clock UTC. When the Funding Rate is positive, long positions pay short positions. Likewise, when the Funding Rate is negative, short positions pay long positions. You will only pay or receive Funding if you hold a position at one of these times. Otherwise, if you close your position prior to the Funding Rate exchange interval, you will not pay or receive any Funding.
How does Funding help Bybit's price stay close to the Mark Price?
When the last traded price on Bybit is significantly higher than the Mark Price, there is a higher probability that long positions will pay Funding to short positions. Traders would then be less likely to continue holding long positions as they may want to avoid paying. Some arbitrageurs might also spot this opportunity to sell in the market. Every 8 hours, the last traded price on Bybit would thus end up moving closer to the Mark Price. An additional benefit is that this would also increase the market depth and liquidity on Bybit.
Every contract traded on Bybit comprises of a Base currency, such as BTC, and a Quote currency, such as USD. The Interest Rate is a function of the interest rates between these two currencies. For BTCUSD, it is the difference between the borrowing costs of BTC and USD.
On Bybit's website, records of previous Interest Rates can be found in the Index section under the "Contracts" tab.
What is Premium Index (PI)?
Bybit's Perpetual contracts may trade higher or lower than the Mark Price. In this situation, a Premium Index will be used to increase or decrease the next Funding Rate to be level consistent with where the spot price is.
On Bybit's website, history records of Premium Indexes can be found in the Index section under the "Contracts" tab.
How to calculate the Funding Fee?
The Funding Fee applied to a trading account will be equivalent to the value of all its positions multiplied by the Funding Rate. It is applied every 8 hours at 04 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and 20 o'clock UTC.
Traders can view the Estimated Funding Rate & Fee in the "Contract Details" tab in real time. It will show the estimated figure for the next Funding Rate exchange interval.
The estimated rate will be updated every minute according to the price movement on Bybit. Traders can adjust their positions accordingly if they don't want to pay Funding.
What does Bybit's gain from Funding?
Bybit does not gain any profits from Funding, as it is directly exchanged between long and short positions. The main purpose of the Funding mechanism is to maintain a balance in the buy and sell ratio every 8 hours. Because of it, the price on our exchange does not deviate too much from the index spot price. Traders are able to trade with confidence knowing that the last traded price on Bybit is Mark to market and reliable.
On Bybit, we value transparency. This is why traders can view the funding history at any time.
This closes today's article about Funding on Bybit. Should you wish to learn more about the Dual-Price mechanism, ADL, Insurance Fund, or Isolated Margin & AMR, please watch the corresponding videos, or read the related articles. Follow us for more information on the exciting world of cryptocurrencies.


AIDEN O'BRIEN scored on his international debut as the Republic of Ireland came within minutes of ending a turbulent week with a morale-boosting victory in Poland.
The Millwall striker's 53rd-minute header was cancelled out by Mateusz Klich's 87th-minute equaliser during a competitive 1-1 draw.
Having spent much of the run-up to the game in Wroclaw having to handle the fall-out from assistant Roy Keane's X-rated summer rant at Harry Arter and Jonathan Walters, Ireland responded to their Nations League drubbing in Wales on Thursday evening.
O'Neill's men were roundly criticised after their 4-1 defeat in Cardiff, where they were porous in defence and toothless in attack as they slipped to a fourth defeat in five games.
However, a team featuring only two regular starters in keeper Darren Randolph and midfielder Jeff Hendrick, reverted to type in front of a crowd of 25,455, denying the Poles time and space and looked to have nicked victory until Klich intervened.
The manager's latest experiment with a five-man defence yielded more promising results than in the past, but it was the impetus provided by Bristol City midfielder Callum O'Dowda as the game opened up after the break which caught the eye.
O'Neill had little choice but to turn to his under-studies after injuries and unavailability had ripped his squad apart, but they answered his call for a reaction to the debacle in Wales.
With Callum Robinson and O'Brien stretching the Polish defence, they made an encouraging start, Robinson forcing skipper Kamil Glik into a hurried headed block and then prompting a scuffed clearance from keeper Wojciech Szczesny from which O'Brien almost profited.
However, Ireland were fortunate to escape when they failed to deal with Arkadiusz Reca's 10th-minute long-throw and Jakub Blaszczykowski flicked on for Arkadiusz Milik to head wastefully wide as Enda Stevens, making his first start for the Republic, slipped.
With Shaun Williams marshalling a three-man midfield, the visitors managed to contain their hosts for long periods, but after Stevens had intervened to deny Krzysztof Piatek a clear run on goal, they almost succumbed from the resulting 28th-minute corner.
Rafal Kurzawa's set-piece eventually fell to Marcin Kaminski on the edge of the box and his shot was flicked just wide by Grzegorz Krychowiak.
Milik warmed the otherwise under-employed Randolph's hands with a well-struck effort from distance 10 minutes before the break, but a late goalmouth scramble apart, O'Neill's men made it to half-time unscathed.
Ireland had created little going forward and if that was a theme of the manager's comments at the break, it was addressed within four minutes of the restart when O'Dowda broke free and exchanged passes with wing-back Cyrus Christie before testing Szczesny with a curling effort.
Christie might have opened the scoring but for a sliding block by Glik after he burst into the penalty area three minutes later, and the Poles failed to deal with the resulting corner and when the ball fell to O'Dowda, he curled a cross to the near post for O'Brien to head gleefully past Szczesny.
The game opened up as the home side looked for a way back with O'Dowda firing over from distance as he exploited the space they left behind.
Ireland were forced to defend deep with Poland mounting a sustained bid for parity with time ticking away, and they eventually succumbed with just three minutes remaining when Klich played a one-two on the edge of the box and clipped the ball past the exposed Randolph.


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Q: Android access views from another process What I'm trying to do is use a joystick to interact with my device(emulate tab or jump focus), I want to be able to access the contents of whatever activity is currently active (not my app screens).Root access is not a problem. What is the best approach to this? I can't seem to find many information online
Please point me in the right directions and I'll update this post with relevant information for future references

A: This is not universally possible due to security reasons and how Android processes are structured.
One way to implement this would be to have a common Intent-driven interface with the developers of the app, allowing you to send Intents to their app to trigger specific actions.
Apart from that, it would probably require a custom ROM which would allow such interaction between processes.


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Home Anime/Comics Why Hollywood Needs to Stay Out of Anime (At Least For Now)
Film/Televison
Why Hollywood Needs to Stay Out of Anime (At Least For Now)
Morgana Santilli
Last week I read a wonderfully-written but also terrifying article on Comics Alliance in reference to the supposed Akira Hollywood remake pioneered by director Jaume Collett-Serra. I certainly don't want to rehash the entire article for my own post here, but suffice it to say that Collett-Serra's racist vision of an all-white Akira doesn't stop just there; he has accused all of Japanese storytelling to be lacking entirely in strong characters. To say that I was furious and flabbergasted upon reading this severely understates the sputtering and ranting that ensued in my small apartment for the better part of two hours.
There are so many things that I could say about this whole fiasco, many of which were already very aptly put by the author of the article that I read. The one thing that keeps sticking out in my mind, however, is that until Hollywood drastically changes the way it operates, it should absolutely not be trying to make live-action anime films.
Media apologists everywhere would have you believe that Hollywood only runs the way that it does because of this concept called "marketability." We could never have Asian-American headliners in an Akira movie because we don't have enough big-name Asian-American actors. We can't keep the integrity of the original story because it's not culturally significant to an American audience. We have to stereotype characters of color because that is what audiences have come to expect. And we have to set the film either on American soil or in some romantic location in Europe because we want European-descended audience members to feel as though they can relate to the setting. God forbid a movie challenge an audience's perspective on another culture or give them an insight into how other parts of the world react to certain situations. That's the job of art, not films.
If you can't tell, I don't buy a bit of it. Aside from all of these inherent issues within Hollywood, there is the other genuine issue that Collett-Serra directs action films. I'm not trying to say that there isn't a good deal of action in Akira, and I'm not even trying to assert that the film has characters with profound personalities or development. But the movie on the whole is an allegory for a post-World War II-ravaged Japan, a nation of victims, a nation who is still trying to rebuild itself after having its national integrity jeopardized, not to mention two of its major cities all but obliterated. This is a very Japanese film, and an incredible peek into the Japanese sense of national identity and fear. And to boil all of that pain and significance down to an American white-headliner action flick is degrading and, yes, absolutely racist.
And even beyond that is this idea that an American director can just look at one part of the whole picture. To just look at Akira the film without taking into account Katsuhiro Otomo's original six-volume manga set (each of which ranges from approximately 300-400 pages) or the context in which it was written is just poor adaptation at best. Nothing in popular culture exists in a bubble, and just as all American films very clearly reflect American ideals and fears, Japanese films and books are a reflection of the same in Japan.
As a fan of anime, and as someone who first watched Akira at the tender age of nine (yes, way too young), I would not watch a Hollywood adaptation of the film. And let's be real, if the fans aren't going to watch it, who the heck is going to go see a vaguely-anime-based action film for which they have no context? Has Hollywood not learned that they can't use the DragonBall: Evolution method of adapting anime into American live-action?
I don't know if anything can be done for Akira at this point. The idea of it being adapted by a man who doesn't even care for the story or the characters, and who has no context outside of the film, makes me feel sick. It shouldn't come as a surprise to me that the American film market is doing stupid, horrible things to masterpieces of animation. But part of the reason I like anime so much is that it has a different idea of marketability than American film and television, so it gives me a little bit of balance in my media consumption. I don't want the non-anime-viewing members of the West to think that anime, especially something as influential as Akira can be boiled down to chase scenes and explosions. There is an angry energy, a self-awareness, and a hopefulness in Akira that is so delicately rendered, and I don't trust Jaume Collett-Serra to get that across. And if he, or any other American director, can't do that, I'd rather the work not be touched.
actors of color
Jaume Collett-Serra
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S.M. Stirling February 19, 2014 At 12:45 am
"and that their government really needs to get on the ball with owning up to it. That is neither here nor there."
— it is most certainly there, and here.
They can't blame it on "the government", as if the government was something that dropped down out of the sky on them.
This would be like a German blaming it all on "the Nazis".
How did that go? "Oh, yes, no Nazis in our town except Hermann, who died on the Russian front, and Oskar, who got killed in the bombing. The rest of us were all members of the White Rose and hated Hitler, only we were too afraid of the Gestapo to say so."
Oh, pull the other one, Fritzie, it's got bells on it.
My father ran into that attempt to weasel out numerous times in the late 1940's when he was on duty in Europe.
But on the whole Germans eventually owned up to their collective responsibility and didn't try much of this "oh, poor us" stuff. Despite the fact that they got kicked a lot harder than Japan, on the whole.
The Japanese, with some exceptions, have not faced up to it. Fictions like Akira have helped to entrench this attitude of being hard-done-by in the popular consciousness.
Hence the myth of the "Japanese victim", which is pernicious and needs to be called out whenever it crops up.
Nobody made ordinary Japanese peasant conscripts rape comfort women, or run amok in Nanking; or forced ordinary Japanese to treat the people in their occupied territories like vermin, which they generally did. Ask a Korean about it, or a Chinese.
There's still a deep burning well of hatred there, not without violent potential even generatons later, and Japanese attempts at denial or playing-down or (Ghu help us) demands for sympathy haven't helped.
The Japanese people as a whole fought and worked hard to support their government during the China Incident and the Pacific War.
Japan was not a democracy at the time, but neither was Italy, and -they- gave up whenever they could.
The secret police cannot force you to fight to the death, or throw your children off a cliff and jump after them, which happened in the Marianas. That takes deep voluntary interior conviction.
And more recently… remember the camera "so simple that even a bakachon can use it"?
"that normal, ordinary folks had their lives entirely derailed by not one but two atomic bombings on mostly civilians."
— so?
The conventional B-29 raids on Tokyo killed 100,000 people in a single night, with nothing more high-tech than incindiary bombs creating a firestorm, and Curtis LeMay then proceeded to systematically burn one Japanese city after another to the ground and roast their people alive. Hiroshima and Nagasaki survived as long as they did only because they were secondary targets, and were deliberately saved so that there would be something for "Little Man" and "Fat Boy" to blow up. Nuking Tokyo would just have made the scorched rubble bounce.
Nuclear weapons are just very powerful explosives. They can't kill you deader than dead, or deader than thermite and bayonets. They are not "Supernatural Evil", they're just another weapon. Weapons are intended to kill and destroy.
"Akira is one of those ways that normal, civilian people have found to deal with those feelings of victimization."
— how about they just accept that the Japanese nation as a whole brought those consequences on their own heads and stop asking for sympathy, from themselves or others? How does the Latin phrase run: "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxissima culpa"?
"No one ever, ever has any violence "coming" to them."
— well, yeah, actually, they do; to deny it is to deny human responsibility. That's why we hung Frank and Kaltenbruner and Eichmann and the others.
And among Japanese war criminals, Muto Akira. Odd coincidence, that last name, isn't it?
That's also why when Justice is symbolically represented, she carries a naked sword in her right hand.
"an allegory for the rebuilding of post-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, simply because America – or, rather, one person on behalf of America – was the one who caused the issue at the outset."
— excuse me, but how was rebuilding Hiroshima different from rebuilding Tokyo, or for that matter Dresden and Hamburg?
The Japanese started a war — multiple wars against nearly everybody they could reach, actually — and then got kicked and pummeled until they gave up; that's how wars end. Hiroshima and Nagaskai gave the Emperor and his circle a chance to overcome the lunatics who wanted to resist until all the inhabitants of Japan were dead. Though that was a near-run thing; fanatical army officers were running through the palace trying to take the Emperor prisoner as the broadcast was made.
The bombing therefore saved a good many American lives, and even Japanese ones; that's simple fact.
The Britsh author George MacDonald Fraser was in central Burma in 1945. Just before the news of the Japanese surrender came through, a Japanese soldier attacked his patrol. The Japanese in question was naked except for a loincloth, emaciated to the point of starvation, covered in open sores and equipped only with a bamboo spear. They had to shoot him multiple times, the last bullet being put into his head as he crawled forward and tried to stab Fraser in the foot with his piece of sharpened bamboo. As Fraser put it, it looked like a long walk to Singapore before the news about the atomic bomb came through.
"And I realize that there were other atrocities in other countries that were caused by the Japanese military, but that also is neither here nor there."
— well, there's an understatement — but I guess 22,000,000 dead Chinese civilians is just one of those unfortunate things, eh? (Other estimates run twice that high, but I'm being conservative here.)
Including the ones killed by the bubonic plague fleas dropped by General Ishii's "Unit 731" bacteriological warfare squads, not to mention the poison gas, both tested extensively on prisoners. Or the "rice offensives" intended to cause famine by confiscating all the food down to the seed grain.
If the Chinese had had nuclear weapons in 1945, the only Japanese left on the planet would be in San Francisco.
I'm second to none in my admiration for Japanese cultural achievements; but the attitude to the Pacific War expressed in Japanese popular culture and collective memory is not one of their more glorious episodes and nobody should abet it.
Morgana Santilli February 19, 2014 At 10:47 am
I think part of the reason we're at a bit of an impasse here is because I'm a pacifist and I don't believe that capital punishment actually solves problems, so any act of violence seems arbitrary and awful – yes, even the things done by Japan.
But here's the thing of it: To be a civilian in a country overrun with war, a country with a military government, is not something an American can really understand. An all-out war hasn't been fought on American soil for centuries. World War II is *still* a very sore spot for the rest of the world.
My grandparents were Italian civilians – children – during World War II. They grew up fearing air raids and Gestapo and Blackshirts. There were many Italians who did try to stand up to the Fascist government, but people like my great-grandfather wore his little black shirt and toddled off to work because he was afraid. To go against the government was to die, no questions asked. The freedom to protest or to overthrow was not something afforded to every citizen.
When I was in Italy a handful of years ago, the Italian people were still accusing their government of being Fascist, and still seeking out Communism as a viable alternative. I went to Berlin, too, and saw the monuments and the concentration camps and the pins that say things like "Never Forget." The rest of the world lives with WWII every day, and we only cover how the Nazis were bad and the American involvement in our history classes in school.
Since you know all of these haunting facts about the Japanese atrocities, you probably also know that immediately following the war they completely disbanded their entire military for the duration of the American occupation, and whenever they made attempts to start over with it, the Japanese population spoke out against it with severe anti-war sentiment. The Japanese people have traditionally been a very reserved culture, and things such as protest are somewhat recent. And again, a lot of the people probably lived in as much fear as civilians in the other countries that were actually seeing war.
Speaking of the Occupation, did you know that thousands of rapes were committed against the Japanese people by American soldiers? The government was so afraid of this that they organized so that experienced prostitutes could be made available for the soldiers to protect the rest of the women and girls in the country. Didn't actually work out so well. We don't talk about this in history class.
Oh, Americans also set up Japanese internment camps and barred Asian-Americans from many services here in the States. Not as bad as the Nazi concentration camps, but not really what I'd call a step in the right direction. Civilians didn't do very much to prevent that from happening. In fact, most of them pointed out anyone they thought might be vaguely Japanese. We don't talk about this in history class, either.
If history and justice go hand in hand, and if perpetrators of genocide deserve punishment, I'd like to know where the punishment is for the slaughter of Native North Americans is? We still haven't owned up to that, and we still act like children when confronted with the issue.
The atomic bomb is another weapon of war, meant to kill people. No, it's not necessarily worse than any of the other acts of war, not when you mention it that way. Between the two bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, approximately 350,000 people were killed. That's a little more than a third of number of people the Nazis killed in their concentration camps in one year. And we did it in two days. And actually, that's a real kicker, too – that after we knew what the bomb actually did, and after the REST of the world knew what the bomb did, we dropped a second one.
Once again, the film Akira does not at all glorify the way Japan has dealt with this problem. Neo Tokyo (yes, it actually takes place in Tokyo) has an entirely incapable government, the civilian population is angry and oppressed, and the military has too much control. As much as it is allegory, it is also criticism. But it is Japanese criticism of Japan, and to bring that story through Hollywood would rub away all of that meaning.
Also, Akira is a given name, not a surname. In the English format, we would have called him Akira Muto.
S.M. Stirling February 18, 2014 At 2:17 pm
"But the movie on the whole is an allegory for a post-World War II-ravaged Japan, a nation of victims, a nation who is still trying to rebuild itself after having its national integrity jeopardized, not to mention two of its major cities all but obliterated.
— those screams of wrath and outrage are coming from China and Korea and… well, from all sorts of places.
Remeber Pearl Harbor?
The Rape of Nanking?
The Bataan Death March?
The 'comfort women'?
To listen to some Japanese, or to watch their anime, you'd think Japan was selflessly trying to lead Asia to freedom and prosperity when the dastardly Americans nuked them.
This article (and the Japanese attitude embodied in a lot of post-1945 Japanese pop culture) is a perfect illustration of Japan's refusal, unlike Germany, to honestly come to terms with their role in the Second World War.
And the fact that with suffering, basically they had it coming, firestorm raids and all.
Japan does not get to play the victim card.
As to the Akira remake, it's probably going to be an abortion, like "47 Ronin + Keanu Reaves".
The reason isn't that Hollywood is 'racist', the reason is that Hollywood is full of stupid chicken***ts who despise their audience and think they can't tell a Japanese story without some Gaijin in it because all the folks out in Flyover Land are bigots and ignoramuses.
The box office record proves that they're wrong, of course.
The American audience is perfectly willing to watch movies without round-eyes. Japanese-produced movies have often done well here, as have moves from China ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" comes to mind).
Morgana Santilli February 18, 2014 At 6:47 pm
I'm certainly not trying to downplay the fact that Japan, as a nation, has done some horrendous things, and that their government really needs to get on the ball with owning up to it. That is neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that normal, ordinary folks had their lives entirely derailed by not one but two atomic bombings on mostly civilians. It wasn't the civilians who initiated Pearl Harbor or the Rape of Nanking or the Bataan Death March or any of that. But they had to live with the consequences of other people making those decisions, and Akira is one of those ways that normal, civilian people have found to deal with those feelings of victimization.
No one ever, ever has any violence "coming" to them. I feel that it's particularly injudicious for the American film market to be adapting a film that is an allegory for the rebuilding of post-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, simply because America – or, rather, one person on behalf of America – was the one who caused the issue at the outset. And please don't even try to tell me that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were "just desserts" for Pearl Harbor, because the American military had the gall to drop an atomic bomb on civilians twice, whereas the Japanese military attacked a military base. And I realize that there were other atrocities in other countries that were caused by the Japanese military, but that also is neither here nor there. There have been a good deal of atrocities committed by just about every government the world over, and it's not like we don't all play the victim at some point or another.
I encourage you to remember that Akira, and media like it, was created by a single person who had nothing to do with the decision to attack any nation for any reason. It is a reaction to living in a country that has had to deal with this issue. Additionally, the character of Tetsuo, who is meant to symbolize Japan, is actually kind of hard to sympathize with. He's whiny and bratty and full of himself – so it's not like Otomo isn't self-aware enough to realize that playing the victim isn't a healthy way of dealing with the problem.


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https://www.bigrapidsnews.com/sports/article/Youngsters-stay-active-with-outdoor-basketball-15414431.php
Youngsters stay active with outdoor basketball
By John Raffel
Published 8:07 pm EDT, Thursday, July 16, 2020
Elliot Lindsey (right) makes a point to Jamison Hunter and other players during Saturday's Future Stars Become Legendary practice at Baldwin's Hollister Park. (Pioneer photo/John Raffel)
BALDWIN - FSBL.
At Baldwin's Hollister Park, FSBL stands for Future Stars Become Legendary.
For league director Elliot Lindsey, a past standout in Baldwin athletics, it's all about giving youngsters some valuable basketball instruction. He's been doing it Saturday afternoons and last weekend marked the fourth week of the outdoor program.
"I get a group of kids from a small town that really doesn't do anything, and get them to play basketball and learn some life skills and learn how to play together," Lindsey said. "I've got kids from Evart all the way down to Ludington. This whole coronavirus is messing things up."
Action starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The length of the workout "all depends," Lindsey said. "If I get a lot of kids I'll do it for an hour or two."
Last Saturday, he had six youngsters around high school age including his son, Carmelo, who will be a sophomore, and Jamison Hunter, also from Baldwin. Daulton Higgins, of Evart, a junior, was also at Saturday's practice.
Local gyms are still unavailable because of state restrictions dealing from COVID-19.
Ferris women's hoops team still in search of first win of season
"A majority of my kids are from Baldwin," Lindsey said. "But like I said, I have a lot of kids from all over. There's travel time and it's summer."
Lindsey noted various school districts, including Baldwin, are trying to set summer/fall programs and camps. But there have been several delays in getting this done.
"That's why I'm here doing this," Lindsey said.
He indicated he plans to continue to do it on Saturdays during the summer.
Hunter will be a freshman this school year and is working on getting in as much basketball time as possible.
It's why he's been participating in the league. He's been attending for five weeks and said the practices have been helpful.
Local youngsters have been limited in what they can do since the COVID-10 pandemic started in March.
Youngsters haven't been able to get into school gyms yet. Hunter and his teammates continue to work on fundamentals and play in the FSBL program at Hollister.
Hunter has been playing basketball five years. He's been in the program five months. He's been trying to engage in any outdoor activities as much as possible.
Hunter also plays football at Baldwin and is waiting for practices to begin in that sport.
His favorite sport? Whichever one he's playing, Hunter said.
Football practices right now are scheduled to begin on Aug. 10. But the MHSAA has said it will announce the fall schedule sometime next week or shortly afterwards.