A large international fashion retailer contracted Miebach Consulting in order to evaluate operations changes required to accommodate the forecasted growth in volume and distribution. The 2 distribution centers handling hanging and flat garments were nearly at maximum storage and dispatching capacity. Therefore, the project team considered alternatives for a new DC and new stock and sorting equipment as possible solutions.
Due to growth, a chemical company was on track to double its manufacturing capacity and turned to Miebach Consulting to create a site masterplan for the extension of an existing plant. A material flow study was conducted which led to several design options. A comprehensive simulation of scenarios supported by Miebach's in-house engineering tools enabled the selection of the best option. Finally, a detailed layout plan and an execution strategy were developed.


Katmai volcano was incorrectly thought to be the source of the largest eruption of the 20th Century. The great eruption began on June 6, 1912 after large earthquakes shook the region on the previous two days. The area was so remote that it was four years before Robert Griggs led an expedition to investigate the eruption. The expedition was funded by the National Geographic Society.
Prior to the great eruption the volcano was a little known 7,500 ft peak in Alaska. The expedition studying the eruption found that the volcano was drastically altered after the event.
The summit of the volcano had collapsed when magma drained out of the volcano during the eruption. The summit's collapse formed a two mile wide caldera that had started to fill with water from melting snow.
The expedition found a valley filled with pyroclastic material from pyroclastic flows that covered 40 square miles and a small dome a short distance from Katmai volcano.The expedition named the dome Novarupta.
Griggs was sure that Katmai was the source of the eruption because of the summit collapse on Katmai volcano. During the next forty years textbooks attributed the great eruption to Katmai.
Griggs was so impressed with his findings that he persuaded President Woodrow Wilson to create Katmai National Monument in 1918. Today the area is a national park where visitors can visit the volcanoes in the area and watch bears feed on salmon as they come up the streams in the summer and fall.
Scientists studying the eruption in the 1950s discovered that Novarupta Volcano was the source of the all the pyroclastic material. The only new magma that flowed out of Katmai during the eruption formed a small dome.
Yellowstone Caldera Yellowstone is a supervolcano with magma close enough to the surface to produce geysers and hot springs.
Loihi, Hawaii's Newest Volcano Find out more about the newest member of the Hawaiian Island chain.
The Krakatoa Eruption Pyroclastic flows during the Krakatoa Eruption swept across the ocean to other islands and created tsunamis.
Vesuvius Eruption The Vesuvius eruption is the first volcanic eruption with a written account of what happened during the event.
Katmai Volcano This volcano was once thought the source of the greatest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century.


text:
Tough trading conditions forecast for 2020
27 December 2019 — 2 minute read
While it may be the festive season, most business leaders feel there will be little to celebrate in the new year, amid expectations of falling sales and tougher competition.
Several recent polls have painted a disappointing picture for business conditions in 2020.
A poll on the My Business website over the month to 20 December found that only one in four (26.7 per cent) respondents believes their business will be better off in 2020 compared with 2019.
The highest proportion (41.7 per cent) see their business outlook getting worse, while a further 24.4 per cent believe that things will simply stagnate.
The remaining 7.2 per cent of the 180 respondents admitted they were unsure how the year would turn out for them.
Meanwhile, figures compiled by McGrathNicol — from the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index, the ABS and the NAB Online Retail Sales Index — show that retail sales volumes were flat in the month of October despite the lead-up to Christmas, although they did manage to beat inflation over the year to climb by a modest 2.2 per cent.
Perhaps most surprising was that online sales actually fell in the month, down by 1.4 per cent, although they were up by a healthier 6.6 per cent over the past year.
But the headline figure was a stubbornly downward trend in consumer sentiment.
In December 2019, McGrathNicol said that consumer sentiment was down by 2.0 per cent for the month, continuing a 3.2 per cent fall over the past quarter. These losses saw consumer sentiment slump by 8.9 per cent over the past year.
"We expect consumers to remain conservative in 2020, continuing the low growth environment where retail sales growth tracks closer to GDP growth, with potential downside risks," the firm's Ciaran Mannion and Damien Pasfield wrote in a post dated 19 December.
"Retail sales have outpaced GDP and wage growth in recent years; however, the gap has narrowed. This means that consumers have spent at a greater rate than the relative growth of their disposable income, resulting in a steady reduction in household savings over the past 10 years from over 10 per cent in 2009 to only 3 per cent in 2019."
The duo said that despite interest rate reductions and tax cuts this year, "there are a number of reports from various financial institutions and agencies which report individuals are channeling the surplus disposable income into reducing credit card debt and their mortgage, rather than consumption".
Corporates more upbeat, and Aussies lead the charge
Despite these findings and commentary from the Reserve Bank around its decision to cut interest rates three times since June, a separate poll suggested that Australian corporate leaders are more upbeat, and particularly so compared with their international counterparts.
International recruitment firm Robert Half polled 5,165 business leaders from around the globe, including 501 here in Australia, and found considerably higher level of confidence down under.
According to the agency, 69 per cent of respondents said they feel "very confident" in their company's growth prospects in the first half of 2020. Only 28 per cent said they are "somewhat confident", and just 3 per cent confessed to being "not at all confident".
That was much higher than the 56 per cent of respondents in all countries who said they feel "very confident". Only a slightly higher number (4 per cent) globally said they are "not at all confident", with the remainder stating they are "somewhat confident".
"C-suite sentiment is positive, driven largely by public infrastructure investment, the recovery of the mining sector, as well as ongoing digitisation efforts and robust trade relations," Robert Half Australia's director, Andrew Morris, said.
"Our research shows that companies are capitalising on the opportunities this presents by investing in their permanent headcount to support their forward growth strategies, from expanded business operations to the implementation of new initiatives or investments."
He continued: "Rapid advances in technology are changing the way companies do business, and in order to remain competitive in a global market, leaders should continue to employ a flexible staffing strategy that combines permanent and contract employees in order to gain access to niche, low-supply skills while upskilling the existing workforce at the same time."
Chicken Treat embarks on east coast expansion
Millennial, Gen Z spending habits revealed
Last Updated: 20 December 2019 Published: 27 December 2019

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
100 Best Bars in DFW 2022
Best of Dallas
Observer Careers
Dallas' independent source of
CBS v. Belo v. Katrina
Robert Wilonsky March 23, 2006 9:12AM
If you want to read the complete file in the case of Infinity Radio, Inc. v. Belo Corp. et al, the subject of a news story in this week's Observer, here are the kinda-simple steps necessary. And lemme say I wish I knew how to do this Friday, after getting stonewalled by CBS' helpful P.R. department and the downright lovely assistant to chief corporate counsel Lou Briskman; just remember, in New York, "I can't do nuttin' for ya, so piss off" means "Have a very nice day."
First, go to the New York State Unified Court System's Web site.
Then click on "The Filing by Electronic Means System" link, which takes you to another page. From there, click "Public Inquiry," which then directs you to the records search page.
Where it says "Claim/Index Number," click the circle and type in this case number: 650001/2006. Then hit "search." On the next page, click on the case number, then, on the next page, ask it to "List Documents," and from there, well, you will have access to minutes' worth of interesting reading. (Belo's filing, especially, is pretty good stuff--like a snarky blog entry, doused with the scent of righteous indignation.)
If only I had known about this Friday. Jeez, do not tell my friend Christy I sent her down to the court house for nothing--well, $30, actually. I gotta remember to pay her. --Robert Wilonsky
KEEP THE DALLAS OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. With local media under siege, it's more important than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" program, allowing us to keep offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food and culture with no paywalls.
Robert Wilonsky
Contact: Robert Wilonsky
Suburban Prostitution Sting Should Shed More Light on Victims of Human Trafficking
Can Alex Stein Troll His Way onto the Highland Park ISD School Board?
Tracks of His Tears
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text:
import { getAuth, connectAuthEmulator } from "firebase/auth";

const auth = getAuth();
connectAuthEmulator(auth, "http://localhost:9099");
// [END auth_emulator_connect_modular]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The latest date for online registration will be March 9th, 2016. Any registration form received after this date, will be processed on site at the Conference venue.
Conference registration for PPoPP 2016 includes admission to any session in the three co-located conference (PPoPP 2016, HPCA 2016, CGO 2016), digital conference proceedings, banquet and excursion, breakfast, coffee breaks, and lunches.
During registration process you can also purchase 1 or 2 days of workshop/tutorial passes, as well as extra social event tickets. Workshop/tutorial only registrations are also available on the main registration page. Authors can purchase up to two additional pages beyond the standard 12-page paper length.
Students attending U.S. universities are also eligible to apply for PPoPP's NSF funded student travel grant, and all students who are authors of a paper are eligible to apply for a PAC SIGPLAN travel grant. Alternatively, students can apply for PPoPP Scholarship. Note that funds received from travel grants cannot be used to pay conference registration fees as the student fees are already discounted.
Registration fees are listed below. Remember that the workshop/tutorial registration fees are an additional charge not included in the main conference fee.
A cancellation fee of 50,00€ will be withheld if refund is requested in writing before February 3rd, 2016; and 50% of registration fees if before February 20th, 2016. No refunds will be accepted if requested after that date, (February 21st, 2016). All refunds will be done after the Conference.


Mengistu is a young boy from Ethiopia who needs $1,500 so he can walk normally and live without pain.
Click on Mengistu's picture to head on over to the Watsi site and see him & all the other patients currently in need.
Eight-year-old Mengistu lives in Ethiopia with his two siblings, father and step-mother. "The family lives in a two room mud house and does not have access to electricity or running water," says OF.
Mengistu has kyphosis- an exaggerated rounding of the back. He has trouble standing straight and is developing a hunch back. He walks at a very slow pace.
For $1500, OF can correct Mengistu's kyphosis and allow him to live without constant pain and discomfort. He is also expected to regain full mobility.
"At such a young age with such a severe deformity, this surgery will save his life," says OF.
Let's help make it happen!
P.S. This kid is the cutest. The end.


To support projects to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables among low-income consumers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by providing incentives at the point of purchase. The program will test strategies that could contribute to our understanding of how best to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants.
Applications may only be submitted by government agencies and non-profit organizations. Award recipients may sub-award to organizations not eligible to apply provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project.


text:
Q: Seat reservations and check if seats are available This is a school project. I have finished most of it, but I am stuck on something.
Here's what I have done till now:
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
class train1
{
  public static void main() throws IOException
  {
    InputStreamReader isr=new InputStreamReader(System.in);
    BufferedReader x=new BufferedReader(isr);
    int tp=0, c=0, no=0, r, o;
    boolean flag = true;
    boolean ar[][]=new boolean[10][4];
    System.out.print("***********WELCOME TO TICKET RESERVATION SYSTEM***********");
    System.out.println();
    System.out.println();
    System.out.println("                TICKET RESERVATION");
    while(no<10 && flag==true)
        {
    System.out.println("                   Main Menu");
    System.out.println("1. Book Ticket");
    System.out.println("2. Exit");
    System.out.print("Enter Choice   :");
    int choice = Integer.parseInt(x.readLine());
    switch (choice)
    {
        case 1:

          System.out.println();
                System.out.println();
                System.out.print("*********TRAIN TICKET RESERVATION COUNTER***********");
                System.out.println();
                System.out.println("Enter the number for the station as given in the menu below");
                System.out.println("1 for Station A");
                System.out.println("2 for Station B");
                System.out.println("3 for Station C");
                System.out.println("4 for Station D");
                System.out.println("5 for Station E");

                System.out.print("START STATION: ");
                int s=Integer.parseInt(x.readLine());
                System.out.print("DESTINATION STATION: ");
                int d=Integer.parseInt(x.readLine());
                s=--s;
                d=--d;
               **//Here how do I check if seats are available or not?**
                int f=0;
        String starttime="", reaching="";
           if(s==0 && d==1)
            {

                f = 50;
                starttime = "08:00";
                reaching = "10:00";
            }
                 if(s==0 && d==2)
            {
                int a =0;
                int b =2;
                f = 100;
                starttime = "08:00";
                reaching = "12:00";
            }
            if(s==0 && d==3)
            {

                f = 150;
                starttime = "08:00";
                reaching = "14:00";
            }
             if(s==0 && d==4)
            {
                int a =0;
                int b =4;
                f = 200;
                starttime = "08:00";
                reaching = "16:00";
            }
             if(s==1 && d==2)
            {

                f = 50;
                starttime = "10:00";
                reaching = "12:00";
            }
             if(s==1 && d==3)
            {

                f = 100;
                starttime = "10:00";
                reaching = "14:00";
            }
             if(s==1 && d==4)
            {

                f = 150;
                starttime = "10:00";
                reaching = "16:00";
            }
             if(s==2 && d==3)
            {

                f = 50;
                starttime = "12:00";
                reaching = "14:00";
            }
             if(s==2 && d==4)
            {

                f = 100;
                starttime = "12:00";
                reaching = "16:00";
            }
             if(s==3 && d==4)
            {

                f = 50;
                starttime = "14:00";
                reaching = "16:00";
            }
           if (s==4 || d==0)
           {
             System.out.println ("Wrong Choice. Your ticket was not booked");

            }

                for (int i=0; i<no; i++)
                {
                    for (int j=s; j<=d; j++)
                    {
                        ar[i][j]=true;
                    }
                }

                /*
                Now what I have been unable to do is. Suppose a person
                is going from station A to B. Then row 1 column 1 is
                true, and if the next passenger wants to book from B-D
                then how do I get the seat booked in the row 1 if there
                is space available. And is seat is not available then
                it should go to row 2. How do I do that? What I am
                doing is "no++" so it goes to row next every time
                */

                    System.out.print("ENTER THE NAME: ");
                    String people=x.readLine();
                    System.out.print("ENTER THE AGE: ");
                    int age=Integer.parseInt(x.readLine());
                    System.out.print("GENDER OF THE PERSON: ");
                    String gender=x.readLine();
                    System.out.print("DATE OF JOURNRY: ");
                    String date2=x.readLine();

                System.out.println();
                System.out.println();
                System.out.println("      *****RESERVATION TICKET*****");

                    System.out.println("Name :"+people+"     "+"Age :"+age+"      "+"Gender :"+gender+"       ");

            System.out.println();
                System.out.println("START STATION: "+s);
                System.out.println("Boarding time: " + starttime);
                System.out.println("DESTINATION STATION: "+d);
                System.out.println("Expected time of Arrival:" + reaching);
                System.out.println();
           System.out.println("TOTAL AMOUNT: "+ f);
                System.out.println();
                System.out.println(" ***WISH YOU A HAPPY AND SAFE JOURNEY***");
                System.out.println("COURTESY: ROMIT RAILWAY STATION");

                break;

                case 2:
                flag=false;
                System.out.println ("You have exited");
                break;
                default: System.out.println("Choice Does not Exit");

    }
    no=no++;
}
}

Let me tell how it must work. Main Menu must contain 2 options one to book and one to exit. I have done that. Now we need to enter boarding and destination which I have done if booking is selected.
Now the program must check that if seats are available. This is where I am stuck. I have created a 2D array in which I am taking 10 rows and 4 columns. Whenever a ticket is booked I am storing it as true and initially all the places are false. Now whenever a new ticket is booked there will be a change in in the state of array. I have done that too.
What I have been unable to do is: suppose a person is going from station A to B. Then row 1 column 1 is true, and if the next passenger want to book from B-D then how do I get the seat booked in the row 1 if there is space available. And is seat is not available then it should go to row 2. How do I do that?
Also if all the seats are filled then it must show me that seats are not available. How do I do that? I don't know Java very well because I use BlueJ. So it would be better if someone can give suggessions on BlueJ.
I am a class 10 student so please don't bother with SQL system.

A: Your first question, about A-B and B-D can not be answered with your data structure because you store a ticket by station (start, intermediate and destination). To solve this you could switch to a data structure that not uses stations, but trajectories (ie AB, BC, CD, etc). You would then need to translate the user input ('from A to B' will become 'trajectory 1 (AB)', and 'from B to D' becomes 'trajectories 2 (BC) and 3 (CD)', now there's no overlap).
To address your other questions, you will have to re-think what you do with the 'no' variable. First of all it doesn't make sense (from what I can tell) to have your loop at line 126 run from 0 every time, you only book one ticket, and in your current code you book seat number stored in no. So you only need to set that index of your array (but for every station / trajectory, of course).
Instead of simply incrementing no in every loop, you will have to inspect your data structure after the user input, to determine if there is a seat index (first dimension of your array) for which there is still space on all the stations (or trajectories) the user requests. If so, book that, if not: there's no seat available.
(edit: hint: you should not do this with another gigantic if statement, but instead solve this with for loops, a few simple if statements and probably one or more boolean variables to keep track of results. You may also look into break and perhaps even continue, which are useful statements to use inside for loops.)
(alternatively, you could check for every trajectory if there is any seat available: there will be more chance the user can book a ticket, but he/she may have to switch seats....).
As a sidenote, for bonus points: the big part of your code are if statements that convert start and stop stations (s and d) into f (fare), starttime and stoptime. What happens to the length of your code if you have 10 stations? It explodes because you would need 81 if statements! There is an easier way to do this. Hint: compare for each case d - s with the fee. Do you see a pattern? Now compare the d to the starttime. Do you see a pattern? Same for s. See if you can simplify your code so that it seems doable to ('in the future') expand to 10 stations without writing a lot of code.

A: This is what I worked on after getting the suggestions....
 import java.io.*;
 import java.util.*;
 class Train
{
 public static void main() throws IOException
 {
InputStreamReader isr=new InputStreamReader(System.in);
BufferedReader x=new BufferedReader(isr);
int tp=0, c=0, no=0, r, o, i, count=0, position=0;
boolean flag = true;
boolean ar[][]=new boolean[10][4];
for (int row=0; row<10; row++)
{
    for (int column=0; column<4; column++)
    {
        ar[row][column]=false;
    }
}
System.out.print("***********WELCOME TO TICKET RESERVATION SYSTEM***********");
System.out.println();
System.out.println();
System.out.println("                TICKET RESERVATION");
while(flag==true)
    {
System.out.println("                   Main Menu");
System.out.println("1. Book Ticket");
System.out.println("2. Exit");
System.out.print("Enter Choice   :");
int choice = Integer.parseInt(x.readLine());
switch (choice)
{
    case 1:

      System.out.println();
            System.out.println();
            System.out.print("*********TRAIN TICKET RESERVATION COUNTER***********");
            System.out.println();
            System.out.println("Enter the number for the station as given in the menu below");
            System.out.println("1 for Station A");
            System.out.println("2 for Station B");
            System.out.println("3 for Station C");
            System.out.println("4 for Station D");
            System.out.println("5 for Station E");

            System.out.print("START STATION: ");
            int s=Integer.parseInt(x.readLine());
            System.out.print("DESTINATION STATION: ");
            int d=Integer.parseInt(x.readLine());
            int stat=d-s;
            s=--s;
            d=--d;

                while (no<10)
                {
                for (i=0; i<5; i++)
                {
                    if (ar[no][i]==false)
                    {
                        count=count+1;
                        position=i;
                    }
                }
                 if (count>=stat)
                 {
                   for (int j=position-stat+1; j<position; j++)
                   {
                      ar[no][j]=true;
                   }

                }
                if (count<stat)
                {
                    no=no+1;
                }
                count=0;
                no=0;
            }
    if (no>=10)
    {
        break;
    }
    else
    {

           int f=0;
    String starttime="", reaching="";
       if(s==0 && d==1)
        {

            f = 50;
            starttime = "08:00";
            reaching = "10:00";
        }
             if(s==0 && d==2)
        {
            int a =0;
            int b =2;
            f = 100;
            starttime = "08:00";
            reaching = "12:00";
        }
        if(s==0 && d==3)
        {

            f = 150;
            starttime = "08:00";
            reaching = "14:00";
        }
         if(s==0 && d==4)
        {
            int a =0;
            int b =4;
            f = 200;
            starttime = "08:00";
            reaching = "16:00";
        }
         if(s==1 && d==2)
        {

            f = 50;
            starttime = "10:00";
            reaching = "12:00";
        }
         if(s==1 && d==3)
        {

            f = 100;
            starttime = "10:00";
            reaching = "14:00";
        }
         if(s==1 && d==4)
        {

            f = 150;
            starttime = "10:00";
            reaching = "16:00";
        }
         if(s==2 && d==3)
        {

            f = 50;
            starttime = "12:00";
            reaching = "14:00";
        }
         if(s==2 && d==4)
        {

            f = 100;
            starttime = "12:00";
            reaching = "16:00";
        }
         if(s==3 && d==4)
        {

            f = 50;
            starttime = "14:00";
            reaching = "16:00";
        }
       if (s==4 || d==0)
       {
         System.out.println ("Wrong Choice. Your ticket was not booked");

        }
                System.out.print("ENTER THE NAME: ");
                String people=x.readLine();
                System.out.print("ENTER THE AGE: ");
                int age=Integer.parseInt(x.readLine());
                System.out.print("GENDER OF THE PERSON: ");
                String gender=x.readLine();
                System.out.print("DATE OF JOURNRY: ");
                String date2=x.readLine();

            System.out.println();
            System.out.println();
            System.out.println("      *****RESERVATION TICKET*****");

                System.out.println("Name :"+people+"     "+"Age :"+age+"      "+"Gender :"+gender+"       ");

        System.out.println();
            System.out.println("START STATION: "+s);
            System.out.println("Boarding time: " + starttime);
            System.out.println("DESTINATION STATION: "+d);
            System.out.println("Expected time of Arrival:" + reaching);
            System.out.println();
       System.out.println("TOTAL AMOUNT: "+ f);
            System.out.println();
            System.out.println(" ***WISH YOU A HAPPY AND SAFE JOURNEY***");
            System.out.println("COURTESY: ROMIT RAILWAY STATION");
            }

            break;

            case 2:
            flag=false;
            System.out.println ("You have exited");
            break;
            default: System.out.println("Choice Does not Exit");
     }
         }
       }
        }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


In the world of precious gems, the Sapphire is one of the most desirable stones that can present itself in many exotic colors. September's birthstone also known as mineral corundum has gone through history picking up some fantastic myths and folklore. A fun fact about this blue form of corundum is that if it was a the red varietal it would be considered a Ruby at that point and no longer a sapphire!
There is an old rhyme that goes: "If on your hand this stone you bind, Your in Tarus born will find…. Twill cure diseases of the mind, The Sapphire". Interesting enough all over the internet and stories from customers and families have been told that there is a strong relationship to health and astrology as well. Since the Middle Ages, several references have been made to the antidotal properties sapphire may have in regards to poison. Supposedly wearing a sapphire that touched your skin would make the wearer's health stronger and ward of illness.
The gem comes in a variety of colors, Blue is the most popular and well known globally for sapphires. Recently other colors like violet and yellow shade have been become more and more popular in place of diamonds for engagement ring and jewelry in general. Sapphires are found all over the world with certain geographic origins creating additional premiums. The most desirable origin for sapphires is from Kashmir. Kashmir sapphire have consistently trended up in value, some being traded even at $50,000 use for a gem one carat stone.


Our Toddler Mermaid Tails are perfect for your little Mermaid – just learning to swim. We have left the bottom of the tail open, so that feet and legs are free to kick. Made from our same high quality sparkly nylon/ spandex swim fabric – your Little Mermaid will love to get into the water to learn how to swim (with Parent, of course)! We've even added little Hot Pink side waves – unique for our Toddler Mermaid Tails.


text:
OSA Publishing > Optics Express > Volume 23 > Issue 2 > Page 963
Dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders for wide-angle band absorbers
Su Shen, Wen Qiao, Yan Ye, Yun Zhou, and Linsen Chen
Su Shen,1,2 Wen Qiao,1,2 Yan Ye,1,2 Yun Zhou,1,2,* and Linsen Chen1,2
1College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
2Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
*Corresponding author: zyun@suda.edu.cn
S Shen
W Qiao
Y Ye
Y Zhou
L Chen
Su Shen, Wen Qiao, Yan Ye, Yun Zhou, and Linsen Chen, "Dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders for wide-angle band absorbers," Opt. Express 23, 963-970 (2015)
Wide-angle, polarization-independent and dual-band infrared perfect absorber based on L-shaped metamaterial (OE)
Polarization-independent and omnidirectional nearly perfect absorber with ultra-thin 2D subwavelength metal grating in the visible region (OE)
Metal-dielectric-metal based narrow band absorber for sensing applications (OE)
Diffraction and Gratings
Metamaterial absorbers
Optical fields
Photonic devices
Resonant modes
Subwavelength gratings
Subwavelength structures (050.6624)
Optical design and fabrication (220.0220)
Surface plasmons (240.6680)
Absorption (300.1030)
Original Manuscript: November 5, 2014
Revised Manuscript: December 28, 2014
Manuscript Accepted: January 4, 2015
2. Structures and simulation results
3. Analysis and discussions
We propose nano-meanders that can achieve wide-angle band absorption in visible regime. The nano-meander consists of a subwavelength dielectric grating covered by continuous ultra-thin Aluminum film (less than one tenth of the incident wavelength). The excited photonic resonant modes, such as cavity mode, surface plasmonic mode and Rayleigh-Wood anomaly, are discussed in detail. Nearly total resonant absorption due to funneling mechanism in the air nano-groove is almost invariant with large incident angle in transverse magnetic polarization. From both the structural geometry and the nanofabrication point of view, the light absorber has a very simple geometrical structure and it is easy to be integrated into complex photonic devices. The highly efficient angle-robust light absorber can be potential candidate for a range of passive and active photonic applications, including solar-energy harvesting as well as producing artificial colors on a large scale substrate.
Light absorbers have attracted much attention because of their potential applications in photovoltaics [1,2], solar cells [3], sensors [4,5], thermal emitters [6–8]. A number of device configurations based on various working principles have been reported to achieve high absorption for a broad range of incident angles over broadband or multiband spectrum, such as plane film stack relied on Fabry-Perot cavity [9,10], metamaterial-based surfaces combined with noble metal nanoparticles [11–18] and metallic nanostructures employing surface plasmonic phenomenon [19–24]. Plane film stack can work as perfect absorber, however, its absorption response is always found sensitive to the incident angle [9]. Metamaterial absorbers have been investigated theoretically and experimentally because they can achieve perfect absorption with robust angle-independence over a certain bandwidth [11–16]. In order to enhance the trapping of electromagnetic field in small gaps and consequently intensify the absorption, the performance of this type of absorber involves building a highly dense nanocomposite with different size, shape, density, and distribution of the nanoparticles on a dielectric spacer layer which must be attached to a bulk metal block, but they are only suitable for black absorber in the whole visible spectrum Metallic nanostructures (such as perforated metallic film, strip metallic grating) appear as an inescapable solution for the design and realization of optical nano-antennas able to couple the selective incident optical power with high efficiency [25,26]. However, there are two obvious drawbacks in the above mentioned metallic nanostructures: one is that metallic substrate is usually required to enhance the absorption, the other is that it is fussy to fabricate discrete metallic gratings.
Here we demonstrate and characterize a light absorber with dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders, exhibiting angle-robust band absorption in visible regime. Metallic meanders have been investigated for subwavelength-imaging and selective reflection applications [27,28]. For the purpose of absorbance application, nevertheless, there are several distinct effects introduced by the meanders: (i) coupling of photons with the meander to evanescent wave, where the increased density of photon modes above the light line makes wide-angle coupling from incident light to trapped local cavity modes possible. (ii) light funneling effect, the fundamental transverse magnetic guided mode with non-existing cut-off frequency, which leads to squeezing light into air nano-groove much smaller than incident wavelength. (iii) with continuous ultra-thin metallic film (less than one-tenth of the incident wavelength), it is an outstanding candidate as high-efficiency absorber from both the structural geometry and the nanofabrication point of view. This paper is organized as follows. In part 2 we describe the configuration and present the optimized structure. In part 3, we analyze the simulation results in detail, including the dispersion relations, the excited photonic resonant modes and the influence of the geometrical parameters of the structure on the device performance. We demonstrate the important role played by the cavity mode for angle-robust behavior. In part 4, we summarize the paper.
Figure 1(a) shows schematic configuration of the dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders, which consist of a substrate and dielectric grating covered by continuous thin Aluminum (Al) film. Air nano-grooves are formed between two neighboring meanders. The heights of the air nano-grooves are the same as that of the dielectric grating layer (h1). The thickness of the Al layer is h2. The pitch of the meander is p and its ridge width is w, respectively. The width of the air nano-groove is d, where d = p-w-2h2. The transverse magnetic (TM) polarized light is incident from the top air side at an angle of θ. The dielectric constants of Al [29,30] are fitted by the Drude-Lorentz model and the refractive index of the substrate and the dielectric grating is set to 1.5 with a negligibly small optical loss.
Fig. 1 (a) Schematic of the proposed dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders. (b) Absorption spectra of TM polarized light vary with the incident angle θ. The geometric parameters are chosen as p = 160 nm, d = 30 nm, h1 = 220 nm, and h2 = 30 nm.
Figure 1(b) shows the absorption spectra versus the incident angle θ, where p = 160 nm, h1 = 220 nm and d = 30 nm. The dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meander chain produces an absorption peak at the wavelength of 446 nm with full width at half maximum of 80 nm, which bandwidth is much wider than those based on hybrid guide-plasmon resonance [22,23]. The absorption approaches nearly 100% at normal incidence. It is obvious that the peak position does not change, even though the absorptive efficiency gradually decreases from unit to about 83% with respect to the incident angle θ increasing from 0° to 60°.
When light is incident on the meanders, several photonic modes, such as cavity resonant mode(CM), surface plasmonic mode (SPM) and Rayleigh-Wood anomalies (RWA), can be excited through the dielectric/metal composite nanostructure [21,27,28,31]. The physical origin of the wide-angle absorption of the meanders relies on the excitation of the localized evanescent field and CM through a waveguide funneling effect, which is controlled in a flexible fashion by the geometrical parameters over a large spectral range with continuous ultra-thin (less than one tenth of the incident wavelength) metallic film. Indeed, the coupling effect gives rise to omnidirectional absorption due to the excitation of the localized CM. However, absorbance enhancement through SPM and RWA at a given wavelength occurs only within very narrow angular range. The dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders give birth to spectacular effects allowing to manipulating light at nanometric scale.
3.1 Angle-robust absorption in the dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders
Figure 2(a) presents the absorption as a function of the normalized wavelength and the normalized tangential wave vector kx in the first Brillouin zone. The geometric parameters are chosen as the same as those in Fig. 1(b). There are several comprehensive optical responses occur for incident wave, such as CM, SPM and RWA. The solid lines represent the dispersion of the SPM obtained from kSPM/G, where (kSPM=k0εmεdεm+εd), shifted by a multiple m, where G is the meander pitch vector with G=2π/p, m is an integer that defines diffraction order, εm and εd are the permittivity of the metal and dielectric materials, respectively. The dotted lines represent the dispersion of RWA obtained from kRWA/G shifted by a multiple m. The symbol '-' denotes the excited wave traveling in reverse x-axis direction. The strongly confined 1st and 2nd order CMs cause perfect absorption of incident photons for a broad range of incidences.
Fig. 2 (a) Absorption spectra as a function of the frequency and the wave vector kx in the first Brillouin zone of the meander with a pitch of 160 nm. The solid lines and dotted lines represent the dispersions of SPM and RWA, respectively. (b) The colormap represents the amplitude of the time-averaged power loss density Q and the arrows represent Poynting vector at the incident wavelength of 446 nm at normal incidence. Contours of horizontal electric field Ex (c), vertical electric field Ez (d) and magnetic field Hy (e). The alignment of surface charges dipole is denoted by symbols "⊕" and "ⓛ". The surface currents are denoted by white arrows. (f) Phase of Ex and Hy along z-axis at the center of the cavity (x = 80 nm). Dotted-lines depict schematically the profile of Al film.
The mechanism responsible for the angle-robust absorption of the dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders can be compared with that of nano-grooves etched on metallic surface [32]. The Poynting vector distribution at p/λ = 0.358 (λ = 446 nm) in Fig. 2(b) distinctly shows that the incident flow bends when reaching the meander surface, and propagates along the interface toward the air nano-groove, which can be attributed to the magnetoelectric interference of the incident wave with the scattered evanescent field. Stronger photo flux at the aperture of the groove and charge dipoles at the corner is observed, since the size of the arrows is proportional to the magnitude of the Poynting vector. The fundamental TM mode guided between two neighboring meander metallic sidewalls does not have a cut-off frequency, then the energy flow squeezes into the air groove which size is much smaller than the wavelength. Multiple reflection from the bottom metal layer yields standing wave patterns and they do not feature any dispersion as a function of the incident wave vector kx=ωc0sinθ. The time averaged resistive heating (Q) generated by the structure is also shown in Fig. 2(b), which is calculated using Q=(1/2)ε0ωIm{εAl(ω)}|E|2. Most of the loss energy is found to be absorbed by the Al sidewalls instead of its surface parts, which gives a solid proof that the CM plays a key role in the angle-robust absorptive behavior in the meanders. Such strong resonances effectively trap light and provide sufficient time to dissipate it by the Ohmic losses within metals.
Figures 2(c)-2(e) shows the field distribution of Ex, Ez and Hy at the resonant wavelength. The invariant field distribution of Ex and Hy along x-axis direction is observed and it is a solid proof that it is TM0 mode being excited in the air nano-groove. The Ez component is strongly localized around the metallic corners. The distribution of charges and currents induced on the metallic sidewalls, which are provided by σ=E⇀•n⇀ andJ⇀=H⇀×n⇀, with σ the sheet charge density, J⇀ the surface current density, and n⇀ the outgoing normal the metallic walls, indicated in Fig. 2(c) and Fig. 2 (e). It is noteworthy that there is a nearly π/2 phase difference between Ex and Hz along z-axis in the center of the air nano-groove, as shown in Fig. 2(f), which is characterized by the standing wave reflected from a perfect electronic conductor. At optical frequencies, however, metals have finite conductivity and their complex index is finite. Inside the cavity, there is a little variation from π/2 which helps to couple the incident wave into cavity mode and make the absorption possible. Dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders can provide an efficient way to couple in and out the radiation, which is also suitable for the oblique incidence case when the symmetry is broken.
3.2 Angle-sensitive absorption in the dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders
The wave vectors of RWA and SPM mode are governed by the well-known grating formula kRWA=kinc,x±mG and the SPM excitation equation kSP=kinc,x±mG respectively, where m is 0, 1, 2, …. Due to the above equations, both of these two modes are sensitive to incident angle in nature. However, the excitations of RWA and SPM are based on different mechanisms, by which RWA is a passing-off of a spectral diffraction and SPM is collective charge oscillations.
Figure 3(a) shows the absorption spectra as a function of the normalized wavelength and the normalized tangential wave vector kx with a meander pitch of 300 nm. The thickness of the Al layer and the width of the air nano-groove between two Al sidewalls remain 30 nm. The reason that 300 nm pitch is chosen is based on the fact that the absorptive band can be in visible regime in this case. An absorption band is between the first order of the negative SPM and RWA. The absorption is 84% with the resonant wavelength 378 nm at incident angle 15° with full width at half maximum of 2 nm. The coupling effect is still allowed under oblique incidence, but a large portion of the incident electromagnetic energy is transferred to resistive heat on the top Al layer, as illustrated in Fig. 3(b). It is interesting to note that the net time average wave intensity is found greatly enhanced and almost parallel to the meander surface in the near-field region. It can be explained as following. RWA plays the key role in this case, however, the SPM is excited because of the very close dispersion relations of the first order of –RWA and –SPM. by scattering of the meanders. A large portion of the incident electromagnetic wave energy is disspitated on the top Al layer compared to that shown in Fig. 2(b). The field distributions of Ex, Ez and Hy are shown in Figs. 3(c)-3(e). The incident light excites opposite dipoles much weaker,and leaky wave funneling into the air nano-groove is much smaller. Inside the cavity, there are also localized CM occuring and a nearly phase difference of π/2 between Ex and Hy along z-axis direction at the center of the air nano-groove, as shown in Fig. 3(f).
Fig. 3 (a) Absorption spectra as a function of the frequency and wave vector kx in the first Brillouin zone of the meander with a pitch of 300 nm. The square symbol represents the resonant wavelength 378 nm at incident angle 15°. The solid lines and dotted lines represent the dispersions of SPM and RWA, respectively. (b) The colormap represents the amplitude of the time-averaged power loss density Q and the arrows represent the Poynting vector. Contours of horizontal electric field Ex (c), vertical electric field Ez (d) and magnetic field Hy (e). The alignment of surface charges dipole is denoted by symbols "⊕" and "ⓛ". The surface currents are denoted by white arrows. (f) Phase of Ex and Hy along z-axis at the center of the cavity (x = 150 nm). Dotted-lines depict schematically the profile of the metallic Al film.
The simulation results provide theoretical support that both SPM and RWA contribute to the enhanced absortpion of light in this case. We call it a hybrid mode of SPM and RWA. For the SPM, it can absorb light by collective excitation of electrons in the form of a plasmon, causing enhanced power flow near the surface and a loss of power in the remaining propagating orders. The surface plasmonic wave is bound to the surface and the electric field intensity decreases exponentially with distance from the meander surface (to the distance of a wavelength). For the RWA, a diffracted order becomes evanescent the energy associated with that order can be absorbed. The electric field in the RWA extends far from meander surface. Compared to the CM effect, the mechanism above can provide angular selectivity and polarization selectivity.
3.3 Geometry's influence on the meander behavior
In order to obtain angle-insensitivity, one has to avoid relying on grating coupling for a hybrid mode of SPM and RWA excitation. In the dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meander, light funneling into nanoslits is exploited to generate strong CM resonance for the TM-polarized incident light. Funneling effect with narrow slits much smaller than the incident wavelength occurs and the light is trapped in the metal-dielectric-metal cavity Both effects possess plasmonic mode coupling with efficiency comparable to that of grating coupling. We studied the influences of the structural paramters of the meanders on absorption properties.
Figure 4 shows the absorption spectra as a function of incident wavelength, the air nano-groove (d = 30 nm, 60 nm), the meander pitch (p = 160 nm, 200 nm, 240 nm) and the incident angle (θ = 0°, 45°). Other geometric parameters are the same as those in Fig. 1(b). The plots clearly show that the meander pitch does not affect the position of the absorption peak as the pitch decreases. When d is decreased from 60 nm to 30 nm, there is redshift of peak position for the propagation constant of the metal-dielectric-metal waveguide is changed. The narrow absorptive peak in the d = 30 nm and p = 200 nm case is attributed to the excitation of the hybrid mode of SPM and RWA. A general conclusion from the above results is that in order to enhance angle-robustness, one needs to maintain a relatively small pitch and a narrow air nano-groove.
Fig. 4 Absorption spectra plotted as a function of incident wavelength, air nano-groove (d = 30nm, 60nm), meander pitch (p = 160 nm, 200 nm, 240 nm) and incident angle (θ = 0°, 45°). Other geometric parameters are the same as those in Fig. 1(b).
Figures 5(a)-5(c) shows the absorption spectra as a function of the grating height h1, which depicts that the angle-robust behavior is regardless of h1. As h1 is increased to 240 nm, shown in Fig. 5(c), two absorptive peaks are generated. They are the first and sencond order of the CM. Combining these structural parameters gives access to a range of interface reflection and band absorption that can be engineered by modification of the geometries.
Fig. 5 Absorption spectra with different dielectric grating height h1. (a) 170 nm; (b) 220 nm; (c) 270 nm.
In conclusions, dielectric-based subwavelength metallic meanders have been demonstratred as wide-angle band absorbers, in which there is no need for a bulk metallic substrate as in conventional absorbers. The meander can achieve perfect absorption and a good angular tolerance up to 60° for TM light incidence with continuous ultra-thin (less than one tenth of the incident wavelength) metallic film. It suggests that the angle-robust absorbance is due to collective efforts of the cavity mode resonances through the excited charge dipoles at the corner of the meander. Well-defined choices of the meander pitch, height and air nano-groove width allow us to control the properties of optical fields, which is a condition difficult to reach at the micro- and nanoscale owing to rather limited variations in the permittivity and permeability of conventional materials, thus the highly efficient visible light absorbers can be potential candidates for a range of passive and active photonic applications, including solar-energy harvesting as well as producing artificial colors on a large scale substrate.
This work was supported by the key Natural Science Foundation of the Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu Province (grant No. 10KJA140048, 13KJB430018, 14KJB140014, 14KJA510006), by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NFSC) Major Research Program on Nanomanufacturing (grant No. 91323303), by the NFSC (grant No. 91023044), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (grant No. BK20140357, BK2012184), the Science and technology project of Suzhou (grant No. ZXG201427, ZXG2013040), the project funded by Soochow University (grant No. SDY2012A18) and the project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).
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N. C. Panoiu and R. M. Osgood., "Enhanced optical absorption for photovoltaics via excitation of waveguide and plasmon-polariton modes," Opt. Lett. 32(19), 2825–2827 (2007).
R. Esteban, M. Laroche, and J. J. Greffet, "Dielectric gratings for wide-angle, broadband absorption by thin film photovoltaic cells," Appl. Phys. Lett. 97(22), 221111 (2010).
N. P. Sergeant, O. Pincon, M. Agrawal, and P. Peumans, "Design of wide-angle solar-selective absorbers using aperiodic metal-dielectric stacks," Opt. Express 17(25), 22800–22812 (2009).
N. Liu, M. Mesch, T. Weiss, M. Hentschel, and H. Giessen, "Infrared perfect absorber and its application as plasmonic sensor," Nano Lett. 10(7), 2342–2348 (2010).
A. Cattoni, P. Ghenuche, A. M. Haghiri-Gosnet, D. Decanini, J. Chen, J. L. Pelouard, and S. Collin, "λ³/1000 plasmonic nanocavities for biosensing fabricated by soft UV nanoimprint lithography," Nano Lett. 11(9), 3557–3563 (2011).
N. I. Landy, S. Sajuyigbe, J. J. Mock, D. R. Smith, and W. J. Padilla, "Perfect metamaterial absorber," Phys. Rev. Lett. 100(20), 207402 (2008).
Y. Q. Ye, Y. Jin, and S. He, "Omnidirectional, polarization-insensitive and broadband thin absorber in the terahertz regime," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27(3), 498–504 (2010).
L. Meng, D. Zhao, Q. Li, and M. Qiu, "Polarization-sensitive perfect absorbers at near-infrared wavelengths," Opt. Express 21(S1), A111–A122 (2013).
S. Shu, Z. Li, and Y. Y. Li, "Triple-layer Fabry-Perot absorber with near-perfect absorption in visible and near-infrared regime," Opt. Express 21(21), 25307–25315 (2013).
W. Wang, Y. Cui, Y. He, Y. Hao, Y. Lin, X. Tian, T. Ji, and S. He, "Efficient multiband absorber based on one-dimensional periodic metal-dielectric photonic crystal with a reflective substrate," Opt. Lett. 39(2), 331–334 (2014).
C. M. Watts, X. Liu, and W. J. Padilla, "Metamaterial electromagnetic wave absorbers," Adv. Mater. 24(23), OP98–OP120 (2012).
D. Yu. Shchegolkov, A. K. Azad, J. F. O'Hara, and E. I. Simakov, "Perfect subwavelength fishnetlike metamaterial-based film terahertz absorbers," Phys. Rev. B 82(20), 205117 (2010).
X. Liu, T. Starr, A. F. Starr, and W. J. Padilla, "Infrared spatial and frequency selective metamaterial with near-unity absorbance," Phys. Rev. Lett. 104(20), 207403 (2010).
J. Hao, J. Wang, X. Liu, W. J. Padilla, L. Zhou, and M. Qiu, "High performance optical absorber based on a plasmonic metamaterial," Appl. Phys. Lett. 96(25), 251104 (2010).
C. Hu, Z. Zhao, X. Chen, and X. Luo, "Realizing near-perfect absorption at visible frequencies," Opt. Express 17(13), 11039–11044 (2009).
B. X. Zhang, Y. H. Zhao, Q. Z. Hao, B. Kiraly, I. C. Khoo, S. F. Chen, and T. J. Huang, "Polarization-independent dual-band infrared perfect absorber based on a metal-dielectric-metal elliptical nanodisk array," Opt. Express 19(16), 15221–15228 (2011).
M. Yan, J. M. Dai, and M. Qiu, "Lithography-free broadband visible light absorber based on a mono-layer of gold nanoparticles," J. Opt. 16(2), 025002 (2014).
M. A. Kats, R. Blanchard, P. Genevet, and F. Capasso, "Nanometre optical coatings based on strong interference effects in highly absorbing media," Nat. Mater. 12(1), 20–24 (2012).
T. V. Teperik, F. J. Garcia de Abajo, A. G. Borisov, M. Abdelsalam, P. N. Bartlett, Y. Sugawara, and J. J. Baumberg, "Omnidirectional absorption in nanostructured metal surfaces," Nat. Photonics 2(5), 299–301 (2008).
E. Popov, S. Enoch, and N. Bonod, "Absorption of light by extremely shallow metallic gratings: metamaterial behavior," Opt. Express 17(8), 6770–6781 (2009).
A. Roszkiewicz and W. Nasalski, "Reflection suppression and absorption enhancement of optical field at thin metal gratings with narrow slits," Opt. Lett. 37(18), 3759–3761 (2012).
W. Zhou, Y. Wu, M. Yu, P. Hao, G. Liu, and K. Li, "Extraordinary optical absorption based on guided-mode resonance," Opt. Lett. 38(24), 5393–5396 (2013).
J. Zhang, W. Bai, L. Cai, X. Chen, G. Song, and Q. Gan, "Omnidirectional absorption enhancement in hybrid waveguide-plasmon system," Appl. Phys. Lett. 98(26), 261101 (2011).
M. Toma, G. Loget, and R. M. Corn, "Fabrication of broadband antireflective plasmonic gold nanocone arrays on flexible Polymer films," Nano Lett. 13(12), 6164–6169 (2013).
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text:
Alabama only state to limit media to 1 witness at execution
KIM CHANDLER
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama will be the third state to carry out an execution during the COVID-19 pandemic and will be the only prison system to reduce the number of news media witnesses to a single reporter.
The Alabama Department of Corrections said because of COVID-19 precautions only one reporter, a representative of The Associated Press, will be allowed to witness Thursday's lethal injection of Willie B. Smith. The state in the past allowed five media witnesses, although the number of outlets sending reporters is sometimes less than that.
Only the federal government, Texas, and Missouri have carried out executions since the pandemic began last year. None reduced the number of media witnesses to a single reporter.
There have been 19 executions carried out since April of 2020, according to a database maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center. All of them were attended by multiple reporters with the exception of one lethal injection in Texas where the prison system neglected to notify reporters it was time to carry out the punishment.
Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said the media serves an "irreplaceable function" as "the public's witnesses and play a vital role in holding states accountable when executions visibly go wrong."
"If an execution is not safe enough to be witnessed by the full complement of reporters, the remedy is not to decrease accountability and increase secrecy by excluding media witnesses who would otherwise be permitted to attend. If an execution is not safe enough for witnesses, it is not safe enough to go forward at all," Dunham wrote in an email.
Paige Windsor, the executive editor of the Montgomery Advertiser, said the news organization disagreed "that the press restrictions were necessary for COVID mitigation, especially once a vaccine was available."
"We object to any laws, procedures or practices that limit press coverage of state business, particularly when that business involves killing a human being in the public's name. Reporting on all aspects of these proceedings is how a free press ensures the public's business is carried out as prescribed," Windsor said in an emailed statement.
The Alabama Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The prison system wrote in a media advisory issued Monday that the number of witnesses were being limited, "due to measures necessary because of the COVID-19 pandemic."
It is the same procedure and witness restrictions the state planned to use at Smith's original execution date in February. That execution was called off by the state.
Two reporters witnessed the two executions carried out in Missouri during the pandemic. And two or more reporters witnessed the executions in Texas, with the exception of the May lethal injection of Quintin Jones. Two reporters had been set to witness the execution, but a prison spokesperson never received the usual telephone call to bring them to the execution chamber.
Thirteen of the 19 executions were carried out by the federal government. The AP served as the national media pool, providing coverage to other outlets, but local news outlets also witnessed the executions. An AP analysis earlier this year found that those executions may have acted as a superspreader event for COVID-19 infections.
Most states have not carried out death sentences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smith is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection for the 1991 kidnapping and killing of Sharma Ruth Johnson, 22. Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson at gunpoint from an ATM in Birmingham, stole $80 from her and then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the back of the head.
Smith's attorneys on Tuesday asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the lethal injection, arguing the intellectually disabled inmate could not understand the prison paperwork that laid the groundwork for the planned lethal injection.
Lethal injection is the main execution method used in Alabama. But after lawmakers authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method in 2018, the new law gave death row inmates a 30-day window to select nitrogen hypoxia as their execution method.
Nitrogen hypoxia is a proposed execution method in which an inmate would breathe only nitrogen, thus depriving him or her of oxygen, causing unconsciousness and then death. Three states have approved it as an execution method, but it has never been used.
Smith did not turn in a form selecting nitrogen, paving the way for the state to execute him next week by lethal injection. The state has not developed a procedure for using nitrogen as an execution method, and at least for now is not scheduling executions with nitrogen hypoxia.
"I did not understand the Election Form because I'm slow and have trouble reading," Smith said, according to a declaration filed with the emergency request for a preliminary injunction.
As part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day D.C. Peace Walk, the King family and more than 100 national and local civil rights groups strode across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge calling on President Joe Biden's Democrats to pass a bill in the U.S. Senate. The march followed a disappointing week for Biden, who went to the Capitol to urge Senate colleagues to change filibuster rules so they could overcome Republican opposition to the bill, only to be forcefully rejected by two conservative Democrats who effectively hold veto power in the evenly split chamber. In a separate speech livestreamed to the late Rev. King's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Vice President Kamala Harris also urged the Senate to act, warning that efforts to restrict voting in some U.S. states could make it more difficult for millions of Americans to vote.
It's time for the weekly CBC Ottawa news quiz
Where did a devastating explosion and fire take place Thursday afternoon? Which high-profile Ontario minister announced Friday they would not seek re-election? And what animal was depicted on clearly fake toonies that police found circulating in Hawkesbury, Ont.? These are just a few of the questions designed to vex and perplex you in this week's CBC Ottawa news quiz. On a desktop computer? For the best quiz-taking experience, click on the arrows in the bottom right-hand corner of the quiz widge
Ontario reports 3,887 hospitalized with COVID-19, antiviral doses for most at risk arriving soon
14-year-old injured in shooting inside Montreal home
Montreal police are investigating after a teen was injured by gunfire yesterday evening. Véronique Comtois, spokesperson for the Montreal police, says officers received a call around 6 p.m. Saturday reporting a shooting on Dr. Penfield Avenue near Côte-des-Neiges Road. The teen was injured in his lower body, but police say his life is not in danger. After assessing the scene and questioning the victim, investigators said the teen was shot inside a home near the intersection. No suspects were arr
MONTREAL — A new poll suggests support may have slipped for a key element of Quebec's secularism law, known as Bill 21. A web panel survey carried out by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies earlier this month found 55 per cent of Quebecers are in favour of banning religious symbols being worn by public school teachers. That appears to be a drop from the results of a previous Leger survey published in September that found 64 per cent of Quebecers were in favour of Bill 21, which applie
Top news stories today | January 16th – Midday


Small cell carcinomas are the most aggressive, highly malignant neuroendocrine tumors; among these, gastric small cell carcinoma (GSCC) is extremely rare. Here we report a case of a patient with primary GSCC, presenting as linitis plastic, who was diagnosed using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided biopsy. With undiagnosed linitis plastica, an 80-year-old woman was referred to our institution. Abdominal computed tomography revealed irregular wall thickening extending from the gastric body to the antrum. Endoscopy suspected to have Borrmann type IV advanced gastric cancer. EUS of the stomach showed diffuse submucosal thickening of the gastric wall, mainly the antrum. EUS-guided bite-on-bite biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of GSCC. In general, GSCC is difficult to diagnose and careful examination is necessary to determine the therapeutic strategy; however, EUS is particularly helpful in the differential diagnosis of a lesion presenting as linitis plastica.
Primary gastric small cell carcinoma (GSCC) is a rare and the most poorly differentiated neuroendocrine tumor, accounting for less than 0.1% of all gastric cancers and 15% of all gastric neuroendocrine tumors . Most small cell carcinomas usually arise from the lung and rarely from the gastrointestinal tract [1,2]. GSCC is diagnosed by endoscopic biopsy of the primary ulcerative or ulceroinfiltrative mass . Herein we report a rare case of primary GSCC presenting as linitis plastica that was diagnosed using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided biopsy.
An 80-year-old female with undiagnosed linitis plastica was referred to our institution for epigastric pain. Before visiting our hospital, she had undergone endoscopy at another hospital and was suspected of having Borrmann type IV advanced gastric cancer; however, histological examination had not confirm the malignancy. She showed epigastric tenderness after eating, which had gradually aggravated in the last month. Results of her initial physical examination were unremarkable except for epigastric pain. Her family health history was negative, whereas her medical history included medications for hypertension and diabetes mellitus over the last 10 years. Laboratory values for the serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 were within normal limits. Abdominal computed tomography of the patient revealed irregular wall thickening extending from the gastric body to the antrum, with no remarkable findings such as metastasis and infiltration of the lymph nodes or peripheral tissues (Fig. 1). No additional information was obtained from positron emission tomography-computed tomography (Fig. 2). Upper endoscopy showed severe mucosal fold thickening with a narrow gastric lumen and normal mucosa (Fig. 3), raising a suspicion for Borrmann type IV advanced gastric cancer. Multiple biopsies were performed; however, results of pathologic examination with endoscopic biopsy were negative. EUS (TGF-ME1; Olympus Optical Co., Tokyo, Japan) showed normal mucosal and muscular layers and diffuse, homogeneous, and slightly hypoechoic submucosal thickening (approximately 12 mm thick) of the gastric wall. Although enlargement of lymph node was not observed, a small amount of ascites was detected in perigastric area (Fig. 4). Using EUS-guided biteon-bite biopsy, multiple biopsies were performed over the thickest lesion at the antrum (eight bites per lesion) to acquire the submucosal tissues. Histopathologic examination showed small, dense, uniform tumor cells with hyperchromatic nuclei and scant cytoplasm. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were found to be positive for cytokeratin and CD56 and negative for thyroid transcription factor-1. Ki-67 immunostaining, which reflects the proportion of highly proliferating tumor cells, revealed that 100% of tumor cells were Ki-67 positive (Fig. 5). After the diagnosis, the patient underwent systemic chemotherapy with etoposide in combination with cisplatin, administered intravenously every 3 weeks. After the first cycle of chemotherapy, the patient was no longer able to tolerate chemotherapy owing to its adverse side effects and died due to cancer progression 3 months post-diagnosis.
Generally, the clinical course of GSCC is as aggressive as that of lung small cell carcinoma. Arai and Matsuda reported that approximately all GSCC patients die within a year of the diagnosis . GSCC is associated with a high incidence of lymphovascular invasion, marked deep infiltration, and distant metastases . Given its rarity and lack of randomized controlled trials, the standard treatment for primary GSCC has not yet been established .
The first case of GSCC was reported in 1976 by Matsusaka et al. [7,8] Generally, it is difficult to diagnose GSCC preoperatively. Kusayanagi et al. reported that only 40% of patients with GSCC are diagnosed correctly before surgery . Tumor cells may not be detectable in biopsy specimens because standard endoscopic biopsy sampling of submucosal infiltrating tumors often yields a false-negative result. The negative biopsy results is possible that the biopsy specimen included only the normal mucosa covering the tumor owing to the infiltration of tumor cells mainly into the submucosal layer.
Linitis plastica is a type of gastric cancer characterized by poorly differentiated tumor cells that diffusely infiltrate the gastric wall, leading to reactive fibrosis. Its endoscopic characteristics include poor distension of the gastric walls and morphological changes in the gastric folds. These features make it difficult to diagnose before operation. Furthermore, though bite-on-bite biopsy is a commonly used approach for the diagnosis of linitis plastica, the diagnostic yields of the samples have not been determined .
EUS may be an important diagnostic tool with increased diagnostic accuracy to safely detect gastric infiltrating tumors, based on their endosonographic characteristics [11,12]. Furthermore, EUS is known to be helpful in diagnosing gastric linitis plastica [11,12]. Under the guidance of EUS, gastric linitis plastica is generally characterized by the disappearance of five sonographic layers, which are replaced with a hypoechogenic thickening of the gastric wall, and blurring and thickening of the first three sonographic layers . However, in the present case, the mucosal, muscular, and muscularis propria layers were intact, and there was hypoechogenic thickening of the submucosal layer. For accurate biopsy, EUS is effective for select the optimal biopsy site. As EUS-guided bite-on-bite biopsies could obtain adequate samples, re-examination using EUS-guided bite-on-bite technique for deep biopsy of submucosal tissues led to a correct diagnosis. Thus, we believe that EUS-guided bite-on-bite biopsy is an effective and safe diagnostic method for gastric infiltrating tumors in patients with negative biopsy results.
Immunohistochemical examination is remarkably valuable for the pathological diagnosis of GSCC. GSCC has an immunohistochemical presentation similar to that of lung small cell carcinoma, but it is unique in its positive reactions to synaptophysin, chromogranin A, neuron-specific enolase, CD56, and S-100 protein, indicating the presence of neurosecretory granules [14-16]. In the current case, immunohistochemical examination showed positive expression of cytokeratin and the neuroendocrine marker CD56.
In conclusion, we report a rare case of GSCC presenting as linitis plastica that was successfully diagnosed using EUS-guided bite-on-bite biopsy. Although GSCC is difficult to diagnose before treatment, careful examination should be performed to determine the appropriate therapeutic strategy, and EUS may be particularly helpful in the differential diagnosis of a lesion presenting as linitis plastica.
Abdominal computed tomography showing diffuse thickening of the gastric wall extending from the body to the antrum (arrow).
Positron emission tomography-computed tomography of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis showing fluorodeoxyglucose uptake along the gastric antrum and body (arrow), with a maximum standardized uptake value of 7.76.
Esophagogastroduodenoscopy showing diffuse circumferential thickening and poor distension of the gastric walls from the antrum to the gastric body.
Conventional endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) images. A gastric infiltrating tumor diagnosed using EUS (A, B). EUS showing homogeneous, slightly hypoechogenic thickening of the submucosal layer (12 mm) and intact muscularis propria layer shows reactive wall thickening (C, arrow). The thinnest part of the mucosal lesion was selected for the biopsy after EUS localization (D, arrow).
Microscopic findings of the gastric tissue. Hematoxylin and eosin stained biopsy specimens show small tumor cells with irregular nuclei and scant cytoplasm (A). Tumor cells stained positive for cytokeratin (B) and CD56 (C), while they were negative for thyroid transcription factor-1 staining (D). Detection of a strong Ki-67 reactivity was observed (E). All the images were captured at ×200 magnification.
1. Kim KO, Lee HY, Chun SH, et al. Clinical overview of extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma. J Korean Med Sci 2006;21:833-837.
2. Wu QQ, Qiang WG, Wang F, et al. Management of primary gastric small cell carcinoma in China. Int J Clin Exp Med 2015;8:1589-1597.
3. Namikawa T, Kobayashi M, Okabayashi T, et al. Primary gastric small cell carcinoma: report of a case and review of the literature. Med Mol Morphol 2005;38:256-261.
4. Arai K, Matsuda M. Gastric small-cell carcinoma in Japan: a case report and review of the literature. Am J Clin Oncol 1998;21:458-461.
5. Fukuda T, Ohnishi Y, Nishimaki T, Ohtani H, Tachikawa S. Early gastric cancer of the small cell type. Am J Gastroenterol 1988;83:1176-1179.
6. Frances N, Zeichner SB, Francavilla M, Cusnir M. Gastric small-cell carcinoma found on esophagogastroduodenoscopy: a case report and literature review. Case Rep Oncol Med 2013;2013:475961.
7. Matsusaka T, Watanabe H, Enjoji M. Anaplastic carcinoma of the esophagus. Report of three cases and their histogenetic consideration. Cancer 1976;37:1352-1358.
8. Matsusaka T, Watanabe H, Enjoji M. Oat-cell carcinoma of the stomach. Fukuoka Igaku Zasshi 1976;67:65-73.
9. Kusayanagi S, Konishi K, Miyasaka N, et al. Primary small cell carcinoma of the stomach. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2003;18:743-747.
10. Chambers LA, Clark WE 2nd. The endoscopic diagnosis of gastroesophageal malignancy. A cytologic review. Acta Cytol 1986;30:110-114.
11. Bohle W, Scheidig A, Zoller WG. Endosonographic tumor staging for treatment decision in resectable gastric cancer. J Gastrointestin Liver Dis 2011;20:135-139.
12. Vetro C, Chiarenza A, Romano A, et al. Prognostic assessment and treatment of primary gastric lymphomas: how endoscopic ultrasonography can help in tailoring patient management. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk 2014;14:179-185.
13. Songur Y, Okai T, Watanabe H, et al. Endosonographic features of a calcified mucinous gastric carcinoma. Endoscopy 1995;27:347.
14. Matsui T, Kataoka M, Sugita Y, et al. A case of small cell carcinoma of the stomach. Hepatogastroenterology 1997;44:156-160.
15. Brenner B, Tang LH, Klimstra DS, Kelsen DP. Small-cell carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract: a review. J Clin Oncol 2004;22:2730-2739.
16. Nakamura Y, Otani S, Otaka M, et al. Gastric small cell carcinoma with marked response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Int J Clin Oncol 2005;10:348-352.


The Department of Transportation is sending states another $417.3 million in highway-related grants, on top of any lingering stimulus spending and TIGER grants.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the money will aid projects from maintenance of interstate highways to research into innovative bridge materials and construction methods.
The money comes from 14 separate grant programs overseen by the Federal Highway Administration under the multi-year transportation bill, outside of funds allocated to states on a formula basis.
These awards come as President Obama ramps up his push to win more transportation infrastructure spending once Congress returns next month, and as the DOT's stimulus spending fades from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The FHWA said its request for proposals triggered more than 1,800 applications asking for $13 billion in project funds. LaHood said that demand "shows just how critical the need is for infrastructure investment." The DOT issued a detailed state-by-state list of the awards.
The administration is pushing out extra transportation money from several sources, ahead of next month's end of its 2011 budget year. The Department of Energy issued $175 million in grants this month to improve fuel use by heavy trucks and passenger cars.
Obama unveiled a multi-agency plan to spend $510 million to jump-start advanced bio-fuels for trucks and airplanes, and the Commerce Department issued a flurry of small infrastructure development grants.


These creatures are all unique individuals and have their own personalities. Made from vintage and re-purposed fabrics, they make great gifts.
As they have arms and legs, they are best suited to children over the age of five or adults of any age!


We are into our second week of anything goes over at Mad For Markers. And if I was going to go anywhere today I would like to go on roller skates!
I love this image .. she looks so relaxed and happy, not a care in the world. She was also delightful to colour! Her name is Roller Mae from Some Odd Girl. You can find some gorgeous stamps from Some Odd Girl over at the Mad For Markers store.
I coloured Mae in RV17, BG49, E11 & E13 for her clothes.


Watch Escape to Witch Mountain on Putlocker - The twins, named Danny and Anna, are found by Zoe Moon (Perrey Reeves), a young waitress. She notices when the children's hands touch.
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Disney Movie-Escape To Witch Mountain 1995 (full movie.stars Robert Vaughn, Elisabeth Moss, Erik von Detten. To clear your cache press Ctrl+shift+del. When you get a popup from this or other videos that takes you to another site, it is an ad.


Atheaton Films, charmed by a living and breathing romantic scenario, the wedding scenario, is dedicated to capture in a unique way the precious moments from bride's boudoir to the honeymoon. Shooting with drone and using equipment of the latest technology, Atheaton introduced a new shooting style in wedding cinematography and received many distinctions. But it never was just about videography, or photography although it could be. It's all about the journey. Atheaton is blessed to travel all around Greece and meet exciting people, willing to narrate their own original scenario.


The Chapman Conference program is AGU's premier opportunity for scientists to gather in small meetings with the explicit purpose of significantly advancing their field of research. Chapmans are designed to be transformative such that, years later, participants exclaim that their Chapman was where everything changed. The meetings should be bold and with great purpose resulting in lasting excitement for future discoveries.


text:
classes + consulting
how i learned
silent virtual write-in
BLAISE ALLYSEN KEARSLEY
Hello, it's me. I know the name looks complicated. I would like to help you with that:
My first name is pronounced BLAZE, my middle name is just ALISON, but with some
different letters, and my last name sounds like KEEEER-S-LEE.
That's it for this first section of my website. It's been pretty demanding already.
[ about
Blaise Allysen Kearsley is a New York-based Black-biracial writer and teacher and the creator/producer/host of How I Learned, a long-running storytelling, comedy, and reading series.
Her writing has appeared in Catapult, Longreads, VICE, The Boston Globe, Midnight Breakfast, Electric Literature's The Nervous Breakdown, Oldster, Elle.com, and four anthologies—Nonwhite and Woman (Woodhall Press, 2022), PEREGRINE (Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. VII, No. 2, 2002), Cringe (Crown Publishing, 2008), and Mortified: Real Words. Real People. Real Pathetic. (Gallery Books, 2006). She has written for several magazines and online outlets dating back to 2001 that are perhaps not worth mentioning by name and probably don't even exist anymore.
She teaches mostly memoir and personal essay writing at Gotham Writers Workshop, 7 Daughters of Eve Theatre & Performance Co., Writing Workshops, and Blaise Writers Workshop, which she founded in 2017.
She is a contributing editor at Vestal Review, the oldest flash fiction journal on the planet. As a storyteller she has performed at The Moth, Risk, Literary Death Match, Mortified, The Gotham Storytelling Festival, and at various venues that serve booze and sometimes snacks. In another life she took a lot of pictures with actual cameras, and some of those pictures were published in places like New York Magazine, Gawker, Playbill, The Morning News, JPG Magazine, and Nerve.
She lives in Brooklyn but if you need her for something somewhere else, maybe she'll go there.
[ select writing
🜃 Words to Call a Sweater PEREGRINE, Yellow Arrow Journal (Vol. VII, No. 2), 2022
🜃 A Jet All The Way Oldster Magazine, 2022
🜃 The First Time It Happened Nonwhite and Woman Anthology, Woodhall Press, 2022
🜃 The Story of My Father's Hands Catapult, 2022
🜃 Finding Oneself in 'Surviving the White Gaze' The Boston Globe, 2021
🜃 Why Mr. Bauer Didn't Like Me Longreads, 2019
🜃 3 Songs About Being Young and Disenfranchised Before The Internet The Weeklings, 2014
Blaise Writers Workshop + Consulting is committed to cultivating a safe space for writers BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled writers. (In a perfect world that would go without saying.)
[ current classes + consulting
One-Day Webinar Intensive:
Writing The Hard Stuff
February 13, 4:00-6:00 pm ET. (Zoom) Open to all.
Writing is hard. Personally, I don't always feel better when I write, but I feel worse when I know I need to pull up to the page and I talk myself out of it / clean my apartment / organize my folders / rearrange my bookshelves / make 10 new playlists... You get it. In this intensive we'll talk about how to confront the hard stuff without torturing ourselves. Whether we're writing about straight up trauma or just trying to put into words what's most difficult to say, we'll consider various strategies for finding our way through it.
What are the stories we've tucked away? What needs to come out? How do we even know if we're ready? Must we trigger ourselves? Where and when do you proceed with a light touch or bulldoze your way through? What level of safety do you need? What are the risks worth taking? How do we avoid victim overload in our narrative? We'll also discuss humor in darkness. Does it have a place? If so, how do we incorporate levity into painful stories without forcing the funny? We'll dig into it all and we'll hold space for one another. We got this.
Recording will be available to everyone who registers.
Sponsored by Writing Workshops
Info / Join
BIPOC Writers' Creative Nonfiction Workshop
8 weeks; Wednesdays, November 30th - January 18th; 7:00 - 9:30pm ET (Zoom); Limited to 8 people.
Whatever form of creative nonfiction you're working in—personal essay, short-form narrative nonfiction, full-length book, flash memoir, or hybrid—if you're a writer of color, here's a creative working and growing and bonding space just for us. The focus will be on workshopping submissions and discussions on issues relevant to being underrepresented in the world and the particular challenges creative BIPOC face. We'll soak up the insights and expertise of writers: Amy Tan, Toni Morrison, Margo Jefferson, Cathy Park Hong, Felicia Rose Chavez, David Mura, and Matthew Salesses, and more.
[ Class Full ]
Write Your Memoir
in 12 Weeks
12 weeks beginning January 4th; Text-based and virtual discussion, feedback, plus optional write-ins. Open to all.
So I've been asked to develop a text-based and asynchronous course called "Write Your Memoir in 12 Weeks." I know, I know, It sounds gimmicky. Or maybe good. Also both.
The deal is you want to finish a complete draft of your book. Any draft of your book. Think of your narrative nonfiction opus not as an ALL-CAPS GOAL but more as a system—one that is built ground-up from craft insights, self-knowledge, and writerly intuition. Gather up all your intentions for writing that memoir. Consider what you can see yourself actualizing in your real life in this real wild world. Let the unrealistic (for now) intentions fall away. Channel your fear, pride, recklessness, discombobulation—any and all of the things you feel—into next right steps. Make space and time for getting lost, unexpected detours, and heavy emotional traffic. Power straight through pages and pages and don't turn back. Find the path by walking.
Lectures posted weekly. Four Zoom meetups and optional self-guided silent, communal writing sessions. Peer and instructor feedback on up to 2,000 words each week. Let's have fun y'all.
One-On-One / Consulting
One-on-one work gives writers an opportunity to receive individual expertise, personalized creative direction and guidance—whether you're working on a book or trying to finish stand alone pieces to pitch for publication.
During one-hour sessions (remotely or in person, as the pandemic allows), we'll identify your goals and projects, and develop a work plan. You'll receive extensive critical feedback and other forms of support catered to your needs.
In the universally perpetual quest for accountability and momentum, signing up for 3 sessions at a time is recommended.
Sliding scale for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ disabled writers.
Payment plans available.
Work by current and former students has appeared in Modern Love, Blavity, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Bright Flash Literary Review, McSweeney's, Elle.com, Rolling Stone, Manifest Station, Refinery29, 11th Street Journal, Dame Magazine, and elsewhere.
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[ things people say
"Blaise's class made me a stronger writer.
It was the hardest workshop I've ever done, but also one of the most important."
— Jennifer Stewart
"I've taken several workshops over the years, all over the country, and this was by far the best. Blaise is a goddamn treasure."
— Anonymous
"I feel so inspired, enriched, encouraged, and empowered in my writing practice. I've been sitting at my desk since we all logged off just feeling how full of gratitude my heart is—for you, the workshop, and the entire group."
— Adaeze Elechi
"Blaise was really able to build a community on Zoom. This is an incredibly difficult thing to do, and she made it seem so easy."
"Deadlines do wonders for circumventing procrastination. Nothing sharpens the mind like presenting personal work to a great, vetted group of writers."
— Ravi Kroesen
"This is a fantastic format. The small class size ensures everyone gets ample time and submission opportunities. Blaise is such a skilled reader and editor, and her notes are always valuable. She offers wonderful perspectives, and assembles groups of writers with keen perspectives of their own. Highly recommend."
"I love that the readings center BIPOC, women, and LGBTQ voices. That has been an important and edifying element."
— Kimberly Balsam
"Blaise believed in me and my writing and showed me how I, too, can believe in myself and my writing. The level of care she provides for her students is unparalleled."
—Tiffany Yo
"1. Your exuberance and contagious laughter made everyone feel more open. 2. My God, revising is your super power. The before and after is astonishing and I might frame a page or two. I will take anything of yours I can get a spot for."
— Robert Bond, Jr.
"I genuinely looked forward to each week. The advice you gave sent me back out into the world with confidence and purpose."
"During quarantine I had to show up for myself and others who counted on me, even when I felt like all I wanted to do was hide under my couch. Being part of this creative group of writers saved me."
— Anna Grundström
"This class has been water in the desert for me."
— Mary Robertson
"What Blaise does is so specific and special. You can't find that in other workshops."
"I want to thank you for not only helping me improve my writing, but the confidence and practical knowledge I got from your classes to polish and submit my work. Your feedback and mentorship has meant so much to me."
"You treat every question with such a genuine desire to give the best possible answer and it made me happy every time. I admire that you focus on building people up. For someone like me, that means the world."
"Thank you for creating this generous space for us to try new things and be vulnerable, for the insightful feedback, and for leading us through the last 8 weeks. I'm really grateful."
— Alex Fendrich
[ how i learned
Photo: Jon Boulier
Blaise Allysen's Kearsley's HOW I LEARNED series, a live reading/storytelling/comedy show, was born on the Lower East Side in 2009 and had a 10-year(!) run. The series featured Janelle James, Aparna Nancherla, Alexander Chee, Anna Sale, Ayo Edebiri, Joel Kim Booster, Nore Davis, Dodai Stewart, Jo Firestone, Jami Attenberg, Chloe Caldwell, Ophira Eisenberg, Isaac Fitzgerald, Nick Flynn, Mira Jacob, Rakesh Satyal, Lizz Winstead, Sasheer Zamata, Isaac Oliver, Mike Albo, Phoebe Robinson, Choire Sicha, Dan Kennedy, Rob Sheffield, Rosie Schaap, David Crabb, Kevin Allison, and many, many, many, many, many more.
Named one of "Five Best Comedy Shows Hosted By Women" by CBS New York and one of the Best Storytelling Series and Best Reading Series by Time Out New York.
"Hostess Blaise Allysen Kearsley makes sure to keep it awkwardly funny." -CBS New York
"...Always hilarious, sometimes touching, and without fail entertaining." -Brooklyn Magazine
"This show has renewed my faith in this whole storytelling endeavor and what it means in the world." -David Crabb, Host of The Moth
"Blaise Allysen Kearsley is a charming host with an irrepressible, humming little laugh that seems to be a compromise she's made with some wicked guffaw within." -LitWrap
[ silent virtual write-in
Join me and other creatives for a free 2.5-hour virtual write-in, a held space for quiet focus and accountability. No prompts. No sharing. Just good vibes and productive energy.
Pop in for part of the time or stay for the whole thing.
OK, this is the end of my website. You did a great job.
Email: thisisblaise@gmail.com
Photo: Adam Paul Verity
Logo: Andy Ross Creative
© 2023 Bazima Productions