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June 7, 2019 Americana 'n' all that, Drugs, Rock's Backpages, Soul 1 Comment
Goodnight to the Night Tripper: Dr. John R.I.P.
An Incantation to the Jollamallawalla Gods
I only interviewed Mac Rebennack once, though I met him socially on a coupla other occasions. He was a delightful man, and absolutely the fonkiest white dude I ever encountered. Here's the piece I wrote for MOJO, published in September 1995. You can hear the audio of my chat with Mac by subscribing to Rock's Backpages…
A QUARTER OF A CENTURY has passed since Malcolm Rebennack, trading under the sinisterly exotic stage name "Dr John The Night Tripper", descended the steps of Trident Studios in London's Soho to commence work on his fourth album, The Sun, Moon, And Herbs.
When he opened the door of Trident's main room, so the story goes, the Doctor couldn't quite believe his eyes. Not only was the room packed with a multitude of drummers and percussionists from several continents, he could also make out the familiar faces of Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton among the throng – superstars who, in the haphazard spirit of those times, had simply dropped in to jam with 'Mac' because they knew that an intensely fonky time would be had by all. Also present were Clapton's fellow Dominos Carl Radle and Bobby Whitlock, soul siren Doris Troy and Graham Bond, the black-magic-dabbling Brit for whom Rebennack had produced an album in Los Angeles two years earlier.
Many things have happened since that particular aggregation of revellers congregated in the English capital. Carl Radle and Graham Bond are no longer with us. Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton are even bigger superstars than they were then. And Mac Rebennack would appear to have given up the old night-tripping for good. Curiously, though, he is now signed to Blue Thumb, the very label to which his managers Charlie Greene and Brian Stone were attempting to sign him 25 years ago – even though the Trident sessions were being financed by Atlantic. Something seems to have come full circle.
"That trips somethin' in my brain cells," says Rebennack, who, back in London to promote the new Afterglow, looks just like a character sitting outside a French Quarter bar on a steamy summer's day. It's less the hat and the braces and the famous walking stick you fix on; more the sheer size of the man's huge moon face and the history embedded in it. It's the eyes – stoical, sleepy –which have seen too much. And it's the slow, gravelly voice, thick with the music of the city whose torch he continues to carry: the Big Easy the magical and crazy Crescent City of New Orleans.
ASK ANY of his peers in the business – or "the bidness", as he pronounces it–and they'll tell you Mac Rebennack is the gen-u-wine musical article. Jerry Wexler, who produced Dr John's Gumbo (1972), calls him "the blackest white man in the world". Everyone from The Band to The Rolling Stones has come knocking at his door, hoping that a little of his hoodoo 88-key funk will rub off on their records. More recently – simply because there's no-one else around to do the job – he's become a kind of unofficial custodian of New Orleans R&B, so closely identified with the city's spirit that he was hired to play in a Southern Comfort ad.
"Well, I wear that jacket now and then," says the man who now lives in New York City. "Somebody hung it on me yesterday, sayin' I should be the official musicologist of N'awlins music. But see, when you been workin' with musicians like [saxophonist] Red Tyler for, like, 40 years, it sounds like we're talkin' about history but to us it's real personal things. Red Tyler doesn't remember anything about Little Richard sessions he cut 40 years ago, but he'll remember some little incident that only musicians would remember. Man, a lotta times we black out the memories, 'cos they wadn't all that great."In last year's riveting autobiography Under A Hoodoo Moon, Rebennack lamented, en passant, "another little bit of vanishing New Orleans". Does he think all the great Crescent City traditions will eventually be eroded?
"The saddest thing is the amount of New Orleans artists that only had one hit record, There was nobody ever there to look out for anybody's career, with the exception of Fats Domino, who had Dave Bartholomew. Some o' the younger cats is startin' clubs, 'cos they been so caught in the corner of havin' no gigs that they actually had to, but there's very little happenin'. New Orleans is a very poor place, and it doesn't attract a certain element of investment. Willie Tee just built a new studio, and Allen Toussaint's startin' to revamp his place. But, I mean, just compare it to Nashville."
Almost as central as New Orleans to the Dr John legend is the heroin habit the man hauled around with him for the best part of 40 years, and from which he only properly freed himself six years ago. Reading Under A Hoodoo Moon, you wonder where he found the energy to put one foot in front of the other, let alone make dates on the road and in the studio.
"I look back to my life early on, way back in the '50s, and I see that somethin' was wrong even then," he says. "Somethin' should have said, This is not makin' things better. I have no idea what I was thinkin'. Least I know what I'm thinkin' today. My life is so much nicer and pleasanter."
What about the multitude of premature and/or violent deaths with which his book is strewn? Does it ever shock the Doctor when he looks back on the toll that the life took?
"It makes me real disgusted when I see the same stuff goin' on today. I mean, just two weeks ago in New Orleans one of the young kids in the Rebirth Brass Band got murdered. He was another one of the Lastie family. The number of people in that family who've died young is so phenomenally out of synch with any family I've ever met, and they were all so talented."
You could say it's a miracle that Rebennack himself is still with us today, and clean and sober into the bargain. Vivid in his mind are the words of veteran Dixieland banjoist Danny Barker, who died not long after playing on Mac's superb Goin' Back To New Orleans (1992). "Danny said to me right before he passed, 'A lotta things that happened changed my life, but now I look back and it don't even seem like that was my life'."
LOOKING BACK, of course, certain uncharitable souls have suggested that Rebennack's long journey from Gris Gris and Babylon (with their heebie-jeebie lyrics and deranged time signatures) to In A Sentimental Mood and Afterglow (with their faultless big band arrangements of Tin Pan Alley standards) has effectively been a retreat – even a betrayal. He sees it less as a gradual move towards the Harry ConnickJr market than as an inevitable process of deceleration, and makes no apologies for either of his "standards" albums."I really feel like it's all music. I'm just tryin' to learn how to sing in tune – little things like that. At some point I figured I better learn how to be a frontman and how to be a singer. I always felt comfortable playin', but I'm tryin' to learn how to do this stuff professionally. That's the only thing that's really at all different to me. And now I'm not panicked for chump change or immediate fixes and nervous breakdowns and all o' that. And I'm gettin' older, and all of that goes together with something and it's like, I can take time to enjoy things. As far as the journey I've made, it's like the song says: 'I have had my fun if I don't never get well no more'."
ONE OF the lesser-known facts about Mac Rebennack is that he only became Dr John because there was no-one else around to play the part. (The original intention was for Ronnie Barron, sometime member of the Night Tripper's band and a piano legend in his own right, to assume the role of the mid-l9th century New Orleans root doctor.) It says a lot about the man's innate humility that for a long time he never saw himself as much more than a glorified sideman.From his earliest days hanging around the great musicians at Cosimo Matassa's famous studio on Governor Nicholls Street, Rebennack rarely strayed into the spotlight for more than the odd number, the odd single. He penned songs like 'A Losing Battle' (for Johnny Adams) and Lights Out (a hit for 'Jerry Byrne'), but otherwise worked primarily as a bandleader and A&R man. A formidable guitarist, he rapidly became a pianist fit to choogle alongside the great keyboard masters of New Orleans: Archibald, Huey Smith, James Booker and of course Professor Longhair (purveyor, as he memorably puts it in his book, of "deeply-felt spirituals with a rhumba-boogie beat, incantations to the jollamallawalla gods").
Mac had no loftier ambitions when, in 1965, he followed the trail which had lured so many New Orleans greats to the gold-paved boulevards of Los Angeles. Not that he was exactly enamoured of what he found there as a sessionman. "Walking into a Phil Spector date with massive amounts of people makin' minimal amounts of music was a total culture shock," he says. "Just seein' the kind of money New Orleans guys like Earl Palmer was makin' blew my mind. When I first went to Earl's apartment, it was like walkin' into a cathedral."
Mildly appalled by the way such Crescent City homeboys as Palmer and Harold Battiste were squandering their talents on the likes of Sonny & Cher, Rebennack decided to carve out a little piece of New Orleans magic in California. Using down time during a Sonny & Cher session at the Gold Star studio where Spector had cut so many hits, he rounded up a band of exiles – Battiste, Jessie Hill, Dave Dixon, Ronnie Barron, Alvin 'Shine' Robinson and others – and cut the extraordinary tracks that became the 1968 debut by Dr John The Night Tripper.
By pure coincidence, the exotic and darkly menacing Gris Gris album – featuring the original 'Walk On Gilded Splinters', as covered by everyone from Marsha Hunt to Paul Weller – was released into a world only too receptive to all things freaky and deaky. "Because nobody knew anything about New Orleans, everybody thought it was just some psychedelic thing," Mac remembers. "But it wasn't. We was so outta synch with what was happening, but people didn't realise. We thought Gris Gris was just keepin' a little of the New Orleans scene alive, it dint sound that freaky to me. Man, we didn't have a clue about hippies. We thought anyone who smoked a joint in public was outta they minds!"
Mac says he only realised how out of step he was when "a little kid, literally" wandered up to him in San Francisco and said, "you guys are like dinosaurs…everybody's groovin' on acid and you're just a buncha junkies!" Actually, they were more than just a buncha junkies; band members like the percussionist Didimus were fairly heavy customers, and most of them (like Mac) had done time.
Rebennack says that when he delivered 1969's Babylon – a thoroughly wacked-out response to post-psychedelic America replete with choice couplets like "Donate the chef to the charcoal barbecue/transplanted heart sewed to the sole of my shoe" ('The Patriotic Flag Waver') – he figured Atlantic would never release it and "it would end the whole Dr John thing so's I could get back to doin' some other things".
Fortunately, the label stuck with Mac long enough for him to team up with Jerry Wexler and record the paean to N'awlins that was Gumbo, and for Allen Toussaint to produce the righteously funky In The Right Place (1973), Dr John's most successful album to date. Boasting the Top 10 single 'Right Place, Wrong Time' alongside the equally lubricious 'Such A Night', 'In The Right Place' also featured Art Neville's Meters, then unquestionably the hottest band in New Orleans.
"Everything I ever did with Allen Toussaint is real special to me," says Rebennack. "Jest playin' on sessions with him from day one was special, and then it was double special when we did In The Right Place. The Meters was the funkiest little band you could ever find, and the combination of Allen and us was so hip. I felt real good about bein' on the road with the Meters, but when Allen honed some of those tunes down in the studio it was killer. He's a piece of work, man. I always look at him like he's a prince, like he's some mystical presence."
The '70s success of Dr John notwithstanding, Mac Rebennack never completely gave up his side gig as a star sessionman. It is a mark of his pedigree and longevity that he can talk about playing on a record like Exile On Main Street and make the experience sound as if he'd merely been cutting demos with a bunch of mates. "When you do sessions all the time, every now and then one sticks out. And at the time, that session was somethin' similar to a lot of other Stones stuff. See, when I'm doin' a date, I'm waitin' to hear somebody do somethin' new"
Rebennack's book clears up one little mystery about Exile, which is the identity of 'Amyl Nitrate', the marimba player on 'Sweet Black Angel': turns out it was none other than Didimus, the Night Tripper's fearsome percussionist. "And I'll tell you somethin'," says Mac. "Didimus was real pissed about that credit. Those guys [Messrs Jagger and Richards] don't know how close they came to gettin' hurt! I mean, Didimus hurt a lot of people over the years. It was probably good that he couldn't get a passport to come to Britain."
Slightly more memorable, for different reasons, was the session he played with John Lennon in December 1973. Was he surprised by the mess Lennon was in when he showed up to play on Rock And Roll?
"At that time I was in a weird zone with John, and with Harry Nilsson and Phil Spector too. I was gettin' further and further away from John by the minute, and I blame a lot of it on that chick who was hangin' around [May Pang]. I always think things wouldna been so bad had she not been there. That situation was bad, and it led to some incidents with John where I had to just cut him loose. Last time I saw him was when he was doin' a record in New York and there was the same set of people all around him, and I had to get out of there. I told [guitarist] Hugh McCracken to tell John l said goodbye."
One gets the feeling that Mac Rebennack is not overly impressed by the egocentrism of his fellow rock'n'roll stars. Fair or unfair?
"Well, you know what it's like. When we was in Paris recently and the Stones was playin', I felt like seeing some o' the people. But I said, Lets go see 'em after the gig, 'cos I don't wanna be around all that shit. Even when I was in the middle o' that shit in the '70s I couldn't handle it. It all started when they screamed for The Beatles, 'cos they wasn't even listening to the music. It's like, a whole other thing is happenin'. I like it better if they're dancin' or something – at least connected in some way to the music."
I ask him if he feels any differently about Van Morrison, whose Rebennack-produced album A Period Of Transition was the recipient of some undeserved flak when it was released in 1977.
"Van is a deep cat. That poetry that comes out of him is like automatic writing or just spiritual flows. It's so hip, man. He's still got that thing and it's so powerful. I just got blew away the other night when I heard him doin' a thing on the radio and it just brought me to a place, man, it touched me real good. I still think if the original idea of me and [veteran R&B producer] Henry Glover doin' somethin' with Van had come off, it woulda been a whole other thing. I think maybe if I had been around Van a little longer, I would've started readin' him better."
IN UNDER A HOODOO MOON, Rebennack says that his worst nightmare was always that he'd "end up a solo-piano lounge act, staring at Holiday Inns or bowling alleys for the rest of my natural life". Ironic, therefore, that two of his best-loved albums are the solo-piano collections Dr John Plays Mac Rebennack (1981) and The Brightest Smile In Town (1983), both recorded for the tiny Baltimore label Clean Cuts. Ironic, too, that one of his dearest friends and principal inspirations, James Booker, did a long stint in a Pennsylvanian cocktail lounge in the early '70s.Of all the musicians namechecked by Mac Rebennack, the mercurial Booker is the one who seems to haunt him the most, and the one who perhaps best embodies the tragicomic spirit of New Orleans' musical history.
"Booker and me was so close," says Mac, "and then t'ward the end we weren't tight any more, and I felt bad about it. It broke my heart. After he lost his eye, he lost all the people in his life that he was close to, and he flipped. He started writin' these newspaper articles that became stranger and stranger. And he'd go to this seminary in Mississippi and chill out, and there were so many weird things going on. I used to try to talk to him, because I felt like I owed him so much. But the more I would try to open him up the worse it would get. He'd say things like, 'I'm gonna lose my other eye and then I'm gonna be like Ray Charles.' It got really scary, and when he started doin' these little solo gigs it got even stranger. He was writin' songs that insulted people in the clubs and he was sabotaging everything he could."
After Booker died of a cocaine overdose in November 1983, it transpired that due to a mix-up he'd been left unattended in a wheelchair in New Orleans' Charity Hospital. "I heard that he'd been dead for a while," Rebennack says grimly of the man who was a regular fixture of his band for several years. "That's a terrible thing, and he didn't deserve it. All of his life was really unnecessarily bad."
Mac's tone as he says this almost suggests the guilt of the concentration camp survivor: how come I'm still around when so many of my junco partners is dead and buried? But then he remembers his other great friend Doc Pomus, the New York songwriter who co-wrote most of Mac's City Lights and Tango Palace albums and whose main concern, battling heroically against cancer on his death bed in 1991, was that the song 'I'm On A Roll' should be finished properly.
"It was somethin' he was still writin' in the hospital," laughs Rebennack, "and the last words Doc ever said to me was, 'Make sure it sounds like one o' them Louis Jordan songs!" Fittingly, Mac performs the song on the recently-released Pomus tribute album Till The Night Is Gone.
ONE OF the tunes Dr. John pulled out of the cupboard for Afterglow was 'There Must Be A Better World Somewhere', a mournful Pomus-Rebennack ballad which earned B.B. King a Grammy when he cut it back in 1981. By way of concluding our interview, I ask Mac if the song's sentiments still speak for him today."That song means somethin' different to me than maybe the way it looks on the surface," he replies. "It came out of me tellin' Doc about this old hymn and him coming up with a little vignette. It really turned me out when I heard Irma Thomas doin' it on the Doc Pomus tribute album. She did it almost like it was originally written – a little churchy, a little in the vibe of Percy Mayfield's 'Please Send Me Someone To Love'.
"See, it ain't about wallowin' in pain. It really is like a hymn to me."
March 5, 2019 Drugs, Punk rock Leave a comment
The Prodigy's Fat: Keith Flint R.I.P.
I can't pretend I adored the Prodge, but when Rolling Stone asked me to review The Fat Of The Land I declared it was "a thrilling, intoxicating nightmare of a record". I think it still is. And poor Keith Flint was undoubtedly one of the most disturbingly exciting front men the world has ever seen. Here's the review, published 7th August, 1997…
RARELY HAS a pop trend been so shamelessly spoon-fed to America as the hold-all genre dubbed "electronica". Rarely, indeed, has the music industry tried so hard to convince us that the Next Big Thing is in fact a done deal – that another wave of English boys holds the future in its hands and we'd better get used to it.
Lately, dissenting voices have questioned the wisdom of the electronica hype. Geeky boys with keyboards may find in-crowd success in the country's hipper conurbations, they argue, but the Chemical Brothers will never rock Cleveland. Enter the Prodigy, four manic street ravers from working-class Essex, with their bullishly-titled third album The Fat Of The Land. To say that the Prodigy are anything but self-effacing synth nerds would be a comical understatement. To suggest that they are the Sex Pistols of techno would not be such an exaggeration. What the Prodigy have done, quite simply, is to drag techno out of the communal nirvana of the rave and turn it into outlandish punk theater. And they've done it brilliantly.
The group's chief weapon, of course, is not their menacing cyber-yobbo frontman Keith Flint, or their leering dancer-rappers Maxim and Leeroy Thornhill, but their one-man engine-room Liam Howlett. A loopy genius of the µ-Ziq or Aphex Twin variety he may not be, but on The Fat Of The Land Howlett has gone boldly where no techno maestro has gone before, easily surpassing the band's 1994 opus Music For A Jilted Generation and fashioning some of the most ferociously exciting music of the year so far.
The point about The Fat Of The Land is that it packs all the visceral punch of rock at its incendiary best – not least on the frantic, panic-inducing 'Firestarter'. There is nothing genially Kraftwerkish about Howlett's seismic bass grooves or skittering drum programs. There's no soothing cosmic-prog balm about his shrieking machines. Nor is he exactly shy about his rock references. Crunching guitars abound on the album, and a moshworthy cover of L7's 'Fuel My Fire' rounds it out. 'Climbatize' all but steals the pulsing pre-climax keyboard riff of the Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again', and the savage 'Serial Thrilla' (sampling Skunk Anansie's 'Selling Jesus') is as rabid as any Rage Against The Machine track. The debt to the Pistols, meanwhile, is only too explicit in the chorus of 'Breathe', a thrilling paean to drug psychosis which has already topped the charts in eight countries.
Howlett laboured on The Fat Of The Land for the better part of two years, and the results speak for themselves. His grasp of rhythm and texture – and of basic song structure, come to that – has matured immeasurably from the days when the Prodigy were churning out frenetic rave novelties like 'Charly'. He may reject the cerebral world of ambient, but he has also left behind the hyperventilated hardcore techno of old. Squelching synths bounce round each other on 'Mindfields', creating a mesmerising funk force-field. On 'Breathe', everything drops out for eight bars to make way for a mournful, Joy Division-ish guitar riff. Voices from India and North Africa, alternately seductive and sinister, seep into 'Narayan' (a collaboration with Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills) and the furious opening track 'Smack My Bitch Up'. Only when Howlett opts for more conventional formulae – the old-school hyper-rave of 'Funky Shit' or the pounding hip hop of 'Diesel Power' (featuring the formidable Dr. Octagon) – does The Fat Of The Land lose its rollercoaster momentum.
The Prodigy are greeting the dystopian future with a crazed kind of glee: there is no pre-millenial tension on this, their third album. Nor do they appear to be very interested in the Sixties. Where the Chemical Brothers cast a fan's eye back to the psychedelic past of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and Lothar and the Hand People, the Prodigy are crafting futurist soundtracks for disenfranchised youth, populist electro-punk that serves as a perfect Brit counterpart to the industrial noir of Trent Reznor and the jittery soundscapes of Wu Tang's RZA.
The Fat Of The Land is a thrilling, intoxicating nightmare of a record, an energy flash of supernova proportions. "This is dangerous," spits Maxim on 'Mindfields'; "Open up your head, feel the shell shock!" If America can accept Keith Flint as a psycho frontman – and accept the Prodigy's essential in-your-face hooliganism while they're about it – there's no telling how far the band's marriage of man and machine could take them.
October 2, 2018 Drugs, Festivals, readings etc, Soul 1 Comment
A Song for Her: Back to Amy Winehouse
I was honoured to be asked to contribute to Charles Moriarty's book of photographs of the great Ms. Winehouse. My essay "A Song for Her" is included in Back to Amy, published this week by Octopus. I dropped into the piece this review of Amy's awesome show at London's Somerset House in July 2007:
From Silver Lake to Somerset House, via a Miami wedding and a Mercury Prize nomination: would Amy stand me up a second time? Well, she didn't, and she told us – more than once – how she'd looked forward to this for "months". I'm guessing she's caught a show or two here herself, experienced its summer-piazza feel for the pleasant change it makes from your average concert venue.
I was instantly smitten by Winehouse's sophomore opus Back to Black: not by novelty item 'Rehab' per se (I'm bored to fuck by Priory Rock) but by the album's other treasures, which all did something I didn't think possible: take the basic Sixties soul template, tweak it just enough for a tattoo'd post-hiphop generation, and turn the whole ritual into something vitally personal and contemporary.
Me? I was never convinced by Joss Stone and never will be. But this little slip of a Jewish street princess comes over 100% credible, customising her soul and ska influences to fit her fucked-up persona. Someone said Winehouse's lyrics read like pages from a drunken teenager's diary, but they're more than that: they're piercingly believable, achingly sharp, rid of cliché.
Great artists combine artfulness with something that's rawly their own: the key is that we can't separate the two from each other, to the point where it ultimately doesn't matter anyway. With Winehouse we're drawn in by an uncanny mix of hip (hop) toughness and about-to-implode vulnerability (which might just be part of her "act" – how can we know and why, frankly, should we care?)
Here she is, this skinny slumming hiphop Ronnie Spector with her mascara mask and piled-high beehive, the sole female onstage with a besuited band that look like rude-boy bodyguards: the two black dancer-singers, the three white hornmen, the guitarists and drummer who resemble some late Sixties Kingston session band.
Here she is, underplaying every vocal flourish and girlish provocation, and we can't tear our eyes from her dark elfin figure. We want to know more, to know how dangerous this really is. The remarkable thing is, she's not a brat at all. She lets her music do the talking. (Stop the press: she's a total pro!)
She sings brilliantly, saving herself and placing every line just so, periodically letting herself go in a melismatic cry from the heart. The voice is essentially Lauryn Hill's, as the passage from 'Doo Wop (That Thing)' tacitly acknowledges, but you don't actually think Fugees or Miseducation when you hear it.
While the whole effect – the iconography and the choreography – is a hair's breadth away from Stax-Motown pastiche, it never feels like that. In fact, the essential feel of Back to Black isn't Stax/Motown at all but the early Sixties girl-group soul that came out of Chicago and New York's Brill Building, infused with the street-sharp mood of ska and bluebeat (and even 2-Tone, as the cover of the Specials' 'Hey Little Rich Girl' makes clear). 'Me and Mr Jones', perhaps her most startling song, almost feels pre-soul. 'Wake Up Alone' and the heartbreaking 'Love is a Losing Game' are more Luther Dixon or Berns/Ragovoy than Berry Gordy or Booker T. and the MGs. The genius of Back to Black is that it recreates the ornate feel of that music while emphatically yanking it out of the museum.
"What kind of fuckery is this?" I'm not sure I know, other than that Winehouse gets me deep in my gut. I dare say she'll crash and burn like every other codep dipso celeb in London, but even if she does she'll have left behind at least one remarkable record. As she winds up with the Zutons' 'Valerie', everyone is smiling and jumping with untrammelled joy: live music doesn't get any better than this.
February 21, 2018 Drugs, My books Leave a comment
Never enough of Never Enough
Out in paperback from Constable tomorrow (at the slightly less daunting price of £8.99).
September 26, 2017 Drugs, My books 1 Comment
Tales of addiction: Never Enough in the TLS
My addiction memoir gets a very nice review in the new TLS as part of an omnibus roundup of various books on the theme.
Eric J. Iannelli describes Never Enough as "erudite and ruminative" and writes:
"In 'My Chemical Romance', the first of two sections, the music critic and journalist, now approaching sixty, looks back on himself in his late teens and sees in the discontented peripheral figure who is unable to blunt the fervency of his emotions 'an addict waiting to happen'. At twenty, he shoots up for the first time, immediately discovering a 'one-size-fits-all remedy for the core angst of sentient being'. 'I can see my crippling self-doubt', he writes of the instant when the drug hits his brain, 'but – most precious of all gifts – I can no longer feel it.'
"This mirrors the epiphanic moment experienced by many addicts, the first magical encounter with a substance that allows us to inhabit ourselves fully and elude that pervasive sense of soul-deep discomfort, to feel genuinely at home among humanity and yet uniquely separate from it, impervious to its malice and somehow more attuned to its beauty. Thus begins, as the title Never Enough suggests, the interminable quest to re-experience that moment in perpetuity.
"For Hoskyns, this quest lasted three increasingly desperate years, until he grew sufficiently exhausted by its futility. He has spent the nearly three decades since in recovery attempting to anchor 'the poor little tentacles of self' – a phrase he borrows from Edith Wharton for his memoir's second, more philosophical and introspective section – to firmer stuff. He draws considerably on other writers and thinkers as he contemplates how self and ego function in the addict, teasing out universalities that once in a while tread too close to oversimplification. By and large, however, his writing is worth savouring for his descriptions of the multifaceted nature of addiction, the paradox of sobriety that makes surrender a form of victory, and the role of our zeitgeist in stoking the flames of disenchantment, self-seeking, alienation, impatience and invidious distinction that drugs are, however fleetingly, able to dampen. 'There's such a desperate hunger to be somebody and mean something' in this age of social media and unbridled narcissism, writes Hoskyns; 'the entire machine of global capitalism . . . has become addictive and compulsive'.
"Though relatively slender in terms of page count, Never Enough is substantial and satisfying…
September 9, 2017 Drugs, My books, Small Town Talk Leave a comment
Never Enough at Appledore
Sunday 24th September
8.30pm – 9.30pm
St Mary's Hall, Appledore, Devon
At the end of this month I'll be discussing Small Town Talk and Never Enough: A Way through Addiction with Richard Havers at the Appledore Book Festival, just north of Bideford in gorgeous North Devon. The festival also boasts Ian Rankin, Jeremy Paxman… and Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards.
August 13, 2017 Drugs, Festivals, readings etc, My books Leave a comment
Addiction: Everybody hurts
I'll be discussing my book Never Enough: A Way through Addiction with Granta publisher Sigrid Rausing (left), author of Mayhem, and Alex Clark (right) at the CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL on SATURDAY 14th OCTOBER at 2:30 pm. The event is entitled "Addiction: Everybody Hurts"…
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import java.awt.Color;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;

import org.apache.poi.hslf.model.AutoShape;
import org.apache.poi.hslf.model.Line;
import org.apache.poi.hslf.model.ShapeTypes;
import org.apache.poi.hslf.model.Slide;
import org.apache.poi.hslf.model.TextBox;
import org.apache.poi.hslf.usermodel.RichTextRun;
import org.apache.poi.hslf.usermodel.SlideShow;

public class ApacheAddImagesInSlides
{
	public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
	{
		String dataPath = "src/featurescomparison/workingwithslides/addimages/data/";

		SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();

		Slide slide = ppt.createSlide();

		// Line shape
		Line line = new Line();
		line.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(50, 50, 100, 20));
		line.setLineColor(new Color(0, 128, 0));
		line.setLineStyle(Line.LINE_DOUBLE);
		slide.addShape(line);

		// TextBox
		TextBox txt = new TextBox();
		txt.setText("Hello, World!");
		txt.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(300, 100, 300, 50));

		// use RichTextRun to work with the text format
		RichTextRun rt = txt.getTextRun().getRichTextRuns()[0];
		rt.setFontSize(32);
		rt.setFontName("Arial");
		rt.setBold(true);
		rt.setItalic(true);
		rt.setUnderlined(true);
		rt.setFontColor(Color.red);
		rt.setAlignment(TextBox.AlignRight);

		slide.addShape(txt);

		// Autoshape
		// 32-point star
		AutoShape sh1 = new AutoShape(ShapeTypes.Star32);
		sh1.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(50, 50, 100, 200));
		sh1.setFillColor(Color.red);
		slide.addShape(sh1);

		// Trapezoid
		AutoShape sh2 = new AutoShape(ShapeTypes.Trapezoid);
		sh2.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(150, 150, 100, 200));
		sh2.setFillColor(Color.blue);
		slide.addShape(sh2);

		FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(dataPath + "ImageInSlides_Apache_Out.ppt");
		ppt.write(out);
		out.close();

		//Print Message
        System.out.println("Shapes added successfully.");
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Sweet Spot™ is a revolutionary tool bringing you ice cream instantly. No more rock salt. No more waiting. No more store bought pints. Pull the Sweet Spot™ from the freezer, add your ingredients and make delicious, homemade ice cream.


I spend alot of time behind the camera, and editing fancy videos. So this is a leap for me, to be the subject. The soft focus error on this video drives me nuts, and you know what? It doesn't really matter! We're all on the journey here together. Today I embrace the blur and other glitches in this video!
PODCAST VERSION: Listen to the message.
This week you orient yourself to the course, get your intentions set, and map your current decision-making reality. Complete pages 1-8 in the Holistic Vision workbook.
Give yourself an hour this week to complete these exercises.
Preview the week's email blasts! Prepare your mind for the information coming. Spend some time in silence.


text:
require 'httparty'

module Vkontakte
  module App
    class Base
      include ::HTTParty

      base_uri "https://api.vk.com"
      format Vkontakte.config.format
      debug_output Vkontakte.config.logger

      attr_accessor :auth

      def initialize(app_id = nil, app_secret = nil)
        @config = {
          :app_id => (app_id || Vkontakte.config.app_id),
          :app_secret => (app_secret || Vkontakte.config.app_secret)
        }
      end

      # http://vk.com/developers.php?oid=-1&p=%D0%90%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F
      # Site auth:
      # https://oauth.vk.com/access_token?
      #   client_id=APP_ID&
      #   client_secret=APP_SECRET&
      #   code=7a6fa4dff77a228eeda56603b8f53806c883f011c40b72630bb50df056f6479e52a
      #
      # Server auth:
      # https://oauth.vk.com/access_token?client_id=' + APP_ID + '&client_secret=' + APP_SECRET + '&grant_type=client_credentials'
      #
      # Response:
      #   {"access_token":"533bacf01e11f55b536a565b57531ac114461ae8736d6506a3", "expires_in":43200, "user_id":6492}
      #
      def authorize(code = nil, params = {})
        params = {
          :client_id => @config[:app_id],
          :client_secret => @config[:app_secret],
          :code => code
        }.merge(params)

        # Server auth
        if params[:code].blank?
          params.delete(:code)
          params[:grant_type] = 'client_credentials'
        end

        @auth = get("/access_token", {:query => params, :base_uri => "https://oauth.vk.com"})
      end

      # Check if app is authorized
      #
      def authorized?
        auth && auth['access_token']
      end

      # Выполнение запросов к API
      # https://api.vk.com/method/METHOD_NAME?PARAMETERS&access_token=ACCESS_TOKEN
      #   METHOD_NAME – название метода из списка функций API,
      #   PARAMETERS – параметры соответствующего метода API,
      #   ACCESS_TOKEN – ключ доступа, полученный в результате успешной авторизации приложения.
      # Example:
      # https://api.vk.com/method/getProfiles?uid=66748&access_token=533bacf01e11f55b536a565b57531ac114461ae8736d6506a3
      #
      # More info: http://vk.com/developers.php?oid=-1&p=%D0%92%D1%8B%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%BA_API
      #
      def call(method_name, params = {})
        params[:access_token] ||= @auth['access_token'] if authorized?

        unless params[:access_token].blank? && !Vkontakte.config.without_token
          get("/method/#{method_name}", {:query => params, :base_uri => "https://api.vk.com"})
        else
          raise VkException.new(method_name, {
            :error => 'access_token is blank',
            :error_description => 'You need first authorize app before call API methods.'
          })
        end
      end

      protected

        def get(method_name, options = {})
          response = self.class.get(method_name, options)

          if response['error']
            raise VkException.new(method_name, response)
          else
            return response
          end
        end
    end

    # Errors
    # {"error":"invalid_grant","error_description":"Code is expired."}
    # {"error":{"error_code":5,"error_msg":"User authorization failed: invalid application type","request_params":[{"key":"oauth","value":"1"},{"key":"method","value":"getProfiles"},{"key":"uid","value":"66748"},{"key":"access_token","value":"533bacf01e11f55b536a565b57531ac114461ae8736d6506a3"}]}}
    #
    class VkException < Exception
      def initialize(method_name, options)
        error_hash = options.symbolize_keys
        @message = "Error in #{method_name}: "

        if error_hash[:error].is_a?(Hash)
          @message += error_hash[:error].inspect
        else
          @message += [error_hash[:error], error_hash[:error_description]].join('-')
        end

        super @message
      end
    end
  end
end


A naturally aspirated 5.0 V8 producing 600 horsepower at 8000rpm. Christian von Koenigsegg suggests it should also last for about 200 years.
At the Geneva Motor Show, I chatted with both Spyker CEO Victor Muller and Christian von Koenigsegg, Spyker's freshly announced engine supplier to talk about the specifications, future collaborations and their plans in general.
But the first thing you need to know is that the silver Spyker lettering on the displayed engine was hand-painted by Koenigsegg. Apparently, he didn't like it in base orange and grabbed a brush with a can of paint just before the show. Talk about hand-crafted!
Needless to say, Victor Muller could have not been happier. His 50 Preliator coupés are all sold out, and now, he had to tell his customers that their cars will be delayed by nine months, only so they can be supplied with Koenigsegg V8s instead of the ancient Audi engine with a supercharger bolted on its top. That's not a bad trade, and the kind of news that made his new Preliator convertibles even more desirable in an instant.
Mr. Muller told me he never liked the supercharger's whining noise, and has been looking into a partnership with five different engine suppliers in his quest to find Audi's replacement.
Koenigsegg won the competition with flying colors, and as Spyker moves towards building its SUV using the very same V8, Victor Muller is already fantasizing about the time when his cars can get Koenigsegg's Freevalve cylinder heads as well. Either way, this is an absolute game-changer for the Dutch supercar company.
Spyker's main man believes 600 is a very conservative horsepower estimate and his engine is basically the same as Koenigsegg's own V8s, except for being naturally aspirated without any bits made out of "meteorite" like in a Regera. Plus, his version gets linked to a six-speed manual with an exposed linkage, of course.
So basically, for us to have time to do this and resources, since we're a small company, we only change what we have to change, and remove what we have to remove to make it work. So, it's over-engineered for their needs, because the structure can take 1500 horsepower and they're having 600. So, basically they have the same crank, connecting rods, camshafts, cylinder heads…but we changed what we needed to. The dry-sump lubrication, the exhausts, the intake for normal aspiration, bumping up the compression ratio, and the injectors are smaller because there's no need for that kind of flow. We maintain the dual injectors not because they're really needed, but because it makes it easy for us because we're used to controlling dual injectors, and at the same time, with duals, the injectors can be super small, which means super accurate, so we turn it into a benefit, even though it's an extra cost you might not need. And of course are engines are bulletproof with 1360 horsepower, our customers don't kill engines, so that engine will last for I don't know…200 years or something. All this means they're paying a little bit of a premium for the engine because they're getting stuff they don't need, but it makes it easier for us, and they get a jewel of an engine. With this optimized engine for natural aspiration, from five liters, we get 600 horsepower at 8000 rpm. A beautiful setup for the car.
Our main focus is getting our own cars to the highest level and deliver them to the waiting customers as soon as possible. At the same time, we are developing so many systems, technologies, electronic platforms and Freevalve engines, this and that. And to only develop those things for twenty cars a year? Well, we can make that work. We have a good business with that. But it's a bit of a shame not to let others use the technology, to make it come to use in a bigger picture. And it's also potential income for the company of course, improving economic spread. We are kind of at the beginning, but in the long term, it should make sense. Because if we have a software or an electronic circuit board or something, that's so easy to produce thousands of…or hundreds of thousands of. It doesn't make any difference, you just put a different number into the machine, or copy paste the software more times, so, why only put that technology into 20 cars a year? From that point of view, I would say yeah, we'll probably see more of these. We're collaborating with more and more other car manufacturers as well. Of course our smaller friends like Spyker and so on who don't have the technology, we're happy to share with them. We think the world is still a big place, we're not competitors with Spyker at all, and not even with companies similar to us, like Pagani or Bugatti. I almost don't see them as competitors, because we all sell out our cars, so it's not like we're fighting over the customers. So, we can help each other, basically.
A naturally-aspirated V8 revving to 8000, connected to a six-speed manual in a car looking as special as a Spyker. That's a real thing now.


text:
Home › ATARI ARCADE HITS VOLS 1 & 2 +1Clk Windows 11 10 8 7 Vista XP Install
ATARI ARCADE HITS VOLS 1 & 2 +1Clk Windows 11 10 8 7 Vista XP Install
Actual Games
Atari Arcade Hits Vol 1 & 2
Super Breakout
Gravitar
(Hasbro 1999-2000)
This listing includes the original game CDs. Online help is available within the game. The boxes are pictured for reference only and is not included.
I will also provide a compatibility CD that will allow the game to run under ALL VERSIONS of Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP, both 32 and 64 bit. Note that Internet play is not supported.
If you were born around 1970 or earlier and frequented Arcades in their early days, you surely remember the games in this compilation. You also probably have a fondness for them in your heart and have found it disconcerting that you can't find them in your local Arcade anymore. And even if you could find them, you probably wouldn't want to stick around and play them, with all the deafening explosions and chest-pounding music emanating from the latest shoot-to-kill game.
What I love about this compilation is the way it feels. You see each game presented on your screen with the original cabinet art, complete with clickable buttons at the bottom as if you're standing in front of the machine at the Arcade. Best of all, each one has been rigged with unlimited free games and you can go into the Configure box to tweak the settings. The package not only includes the games with changeable operator options in their original style and enhanced style, but also the Atari Archives, with media content that goes from flyer scans to advert videos, desktop themes based on the games offered in each package and online high score charts.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Don't Hang Up (2017) Review
Vertical Entertainment
Don't Hang Up
Something new and something borrowed; a group of generic run-of-the-mill teenagers find their lives in stereotypical peril after a prank call goes horribly wrong and they end up on the blade end of the joke!
'Don't Hang Up' is one of the least original movies to make its way on to the horrorscape in quite some time. Starring a freshman cast that includes Gregg Sulkin (Runaways), Garrett Clayton (King Cobra), Bella Dayne (Humans) and Jack Brett Anderson (Wolf Blood), the film tells the cautionary tale of what could happen if a prank call goes wrong.
One of 'Don't Hang Up''s major flaws is its unorth-
"Don't Hang Up is formulaic to the very core but does have a few surprises in store for its target audience."
odox overuse of four decades' worth of horror plot bearings with only minor adjustments made when adapting them to their own moral commentary on the disconnect between online activity and real-world repercussion.
Written by Joe Johnson (The Skulls III) and directed by Alexis Wajsbrot (Red Balloon) and Damien Macé (Red Balloon), the film's concept has been done to death and trots out almost every horror faux pas available to fans of the genre. However, even with the concept treading water throughout, the capable cast is truly the film's big pay-off.
The Joe Johnson material explores the blurred lines of the two worlds colliding with enthusiasm and when the s**t (quickly) hits the fan, turning deadly with the mysterious stranger playing the teenagers at their own game, the claustrophobic levels are turned up to maximum, hat tip to direction from Alexis Wajsbrot and Damien Macé.
Johnson's ideology when he sat down to write this contrived slice of stale popcorn cinema must have been that he'd hoped moviegoers hadn't seen films such as 'When a Stranger Calls', 'Scream', 'Saw', 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and Gary Sherman's 'Lisa' (1990), a film that sees its victim unbeknownst to her fall prey to a serial killer after stalking him by phone, and what begins as a prank turns into a cat-and-mouse game to the death.
'Don't Hang Up' is formulaic to the very core but does have a few surprises in store for its target audience. However, there's not enough originality in the recycled outfit to warrant 80 minutes of your time. The two leads do manage to pull off the likability factor even though they are not exactly innocent victims. The atmosphere is fitting enough to create an impact to carry the barebones forward and the masked villain of the piece, who doesn't take long to make his physical presence known, manages to make decent use of his screen time through body language alone, but sadly is generic enough to fall foul of being ultimately forgettable.
'Don't Hang Up' borrows from several contemporary cult classics and even though it has entwined the commonplace together there is just enough for it to weather the storm of being called a copycat thanks to its solid cast, but will it stand up to repeat viewing? I don't think so.


What is the fastest way to get rid of pimples | Best Ways to Get Rid of a Pimple—Fast!
To dilute the tea tree oil, you can mix 1 drop of tea tree oil with 3 drops of water or some base oil like almond or olive oil. Chilli Peppers It may sound bizarre, but it totally true that the use of chilli peppers can reduce acne swelling. It has a high antioxidant content to help you keep your skin healthy. Switch to water based makeup to control any pimple outbreak. Leave on for 20 minutes and rinse off. Cinnamon with its antimicrobial properties can stop bacteria from intruding your skin pores. Add two teaspoons of honey and blend them.
Potato Having bleaching properties, potato is also a natural remedy for pimples. The most common skin condition in America, acne, often called zits, seems to pop up out of nowhere. Steam Steam can be a great way to treat acne because it helps open your pores, preventing them from becoming clogged. Want to see some proof of someone who got rid of their acne and blemishes in 3 days? Papaya is also rich in Vitamin A-which scientists believe is a key ingredient in fighting all kinds of skin problems and especially pimples. Note: These options are not meant to replace a full acne treatment system.
Use The Aloe-Vera Overnight Aloe vera gel can be utilized directly on the affected area to get rid of pimples fast. When you pick at scabs, you increase the healing time and increase the chances of scarring. Just make sure to apply a band-aid over as the honey will certainly leak down your face. It also helps reduce inflammation that may be caused by acne. It is a normal part of the natural oil maintenance system of the skin.
Now, apply it on the pimples with the help of a cotton ball. Just wait for the benzoyl peroxide to dry first. It contains sulfur, cinnamonic acid, urea nitrogen, salicylic acid, and lupeol which fight acne-causing bacteria. Rinse your face with warm water. Fractional lasers penetrate the top skin layers, where its light energy stimulates collagen production and resurfaces the top layer of the epidermis.
This is the best way to get rid of acne for individuals with mild forms such as blackheads and whiteheads. Regularly indulging in physical exercise can help to keep pimples at bay. Reducing your acne while still being kind to your skin is not a fast process though. They contain anti oxidants, fatty acids and other beneficial ingredients that are good for the skin. Take two to three drops of peppermint oil and apply it on your pimples. To prevent future outbreaks, you may want to consider using tea tree oil.
Papules are usually the precursor to pimples. Vitamin C can get rid of scars, marks and signs of photo-damage. That being said, and especially in case of essential oils e'g. More remedies other than natural one are in below article on our website. Leave it on for 4-6 hours or overnight.
The best concentration of benzoyl peroxide for most people is around 2. The idea of using baking soda for pimples and acne, actually, get a lot of mixed reactions. And they are very easy to use. But you can also buy the extracted gel and use to spot treat the pimples on your face. Apply directly over your pimple and let it dry overnight.
How to use : Take peels from two oranges and a little water. After using a salicylic acid product for several weeks, many of the blackheads will resolve, but others will just loosen. For extra antibacterial results add a few drops of tea tree oil to the water. Applying ice to your pimple will reduce the swelling and inflammation and therefore it will take less time for the pimple to heal. Castor Oil Having antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities, castor oil can speed up the healing process, making it perfect for acne-prone skin.


text: Q: Non trivial bijective maps from $\mathbb{N}^{3}$ to $\mathbb{N}^3$ The main reason I ask this question is because I want to implement an information scrambling or permutation algorithm on a $3$-D cube. The input to my bijective map would be the coordinates $(x,y,z)$ of the cube and the action of the map would be to output a triplet $(x',y', z')$ belonging to the cube.  What i want  further is that the mapping should seem random but should be deterministic. I guess chaotic maps such as Arnold Cat map does this job. But are there any other maps where i can look for or can we construct such bijective mappings. Any suggestions would be helpful. can simebody help me out with this?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Филимоново — деревня в Дмитровском районе Московской области, в составе Сельского поселения Костинское. Население —  чел. (). До 2006 года Филимоново входило в состав Гришинского сельского округа.

Расположение
Деревня расположена в юго-восточной части района, недалеко от границы с Пушкинским, примерно в 18 км на юго-восток от Дмитрова, высота центра над уровнем моря 199 м. Ближайшие населённые пункты — Исаково на юге и Щепино на западе.

Население

Примечания

Ссылки
 Городские и сельские поселения Дмитровского муниципального района.
 Карта Дмитровского района.

Населённые пункты Дмитровского городского округа

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


User experience (UX) design is the process of creating products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. This involves the design of the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability, and function.
You probably already know how easy it is to start a website with WordPress. But once you add features and content, things get complicated fast. One of the important aspects you have to keep in mind is the UX best practices for WordPress. User Experience (UX) holds the key to your business success. It's the users who buy your goods and services, not the search engines.
It is common to find website owners or even developers and designers who confuse UX with User Interface (UI). Both UX and UI are closely related but are different enough to warrant an explanation.
Web Usability: It's the ease of use of a website.
User Interface (UI): A place where the humans interact with the machines. For example, a button is a part of user interface. Developers use tools to develop a user interface which should align with the business requirement.
User Experience (UX): This concerns users and how they feel about your website. Designers need to ensure that the user experience is always top-notch and user interaction is pleasant.
For example, a WordPress theme with great user experience can have many user interfaces (like the theme), but each one of them must provide the best possible user experience for your specific niche.
If you have a corporate website the homepage should make clear what your business is about, what your core philosophy/values are and possibly display your products or provide a way to get a quote. Many corporate websites use a big "above the fold" photo or a background video of their offices. Maybe they showcase their main products, how they're made and what benefits they offer. If you run a corporate website, it's important to state your case immediately.
For other niches, different factors may come into play. If you're a blogger, people want to know more about you personally, your background and your competence so focus on making yourself transparent and likeable to induce trust. If you're a musician than you had better highlight your music and latest album or EP art.
Good usability is an integral part of a great user interface. A user interface is a front face of your brand's online presence as it directly influences the user experience. Now we know what the difference is, let's move on to the best UX best practices for WordPress.
WordPress is a CMS that excels at providing the tools to build your website, but it doesn't warrant it will be perfect in every way. You need UX best practices to make it worth your visitors' time and build trust from their first interaction with your brand.
Do you know what attracts people the most? A clean and simple design. It is common to find developers always working to get a website full of features. But, they often forget what the true reason they are building the website is. Users don't care about the functionality until and unless they can use the website with ease.
It is a good idea to keep asking yourself "Will the visitors or the website admins be able to use it with no difficulty or confusion?" This will ensure that your final design meets current design standards. If at any step the answer is "no" then you need to go back to the drawing board and think how to make it more intuitive.
When your users land on focused, uncluttered pages, it gives you more chances to convert them into subscribers and/or customers. People don't like to think hard when browsing. It's your job to do this for them. The good news is that most of the best WordPress themes offer a simple and clutter-free design that can easily be customized. If you are looking to design your WordPress website make sure you stick to simplicity. It gives you more flexibility and less moving parts that can break.
One of the crucial aspects of modern user experience (UX) is to have a responsive web design. Mobile devices have taken over the internet. I've heard people run their entire businesses on smartphones, especially with the rise of 5.5-inch devices and bigger. This makes it important for WordPress websites to be responsive and adapt to all screen sizes, but also all screen resolutions and retina screens.
Not only having a responsive design improves user experience, but it also improves your traffic. Dwell Time is something Google uses these days to measure how satisfied users are when they click on your website in the SERPs (search result pages). If they spend less time than on the other results near yours it means something is not right with your website and they move it further down in the SERPs.
A good user experience means the website delivers usable information on all screens.
Almost every other website I see today has a complex information architecture associated with it. They have multi-level pages or posts. A designer must work with a developer to make sure that the visitor can easily navigate through the website through proper navigation. WordPress comes with all the tools you need to add a navigation menu, but you can always add a mega menu plugin such as Uber Menu if you have a lot of links to include.
You should also choose a plain permalink structure if possible. Unless you run a news website or publish several articles a day, I suggest you go with a "Post name" structure (you can use this guide to changing your permalinks to make the switch as well).
One of the most popular WordPress plugins, Yoast SEO, gives you an option to add breadcrumbs to your WordPress theme. The Visualmodo WordPress themes are compatible with Yoast SEO and it's easy to add breadcrumbs.
Creating a lot of different ways for users to navigate your website ensures better usability and a more pleasant user experience for them.
Without content no website is complete. Great design can be attractive but it is the content that will help you sell your business to the target audience. The content-focused layout is not only pleasing to the eyes, it enables users to digest your content easily. The more content users digest, the more they know about you and trust you, the more leads you get.
A UX design based on best practices will always consider the text first. Select the right typography for your niche and create UX around content.
Highlight important parts of your content to break the text line and make your writing more interesting.
Your content should look good. The right font type, size, and colour can make your content shine and make users take an interest in what you have to say. Formatting should also complement your content flow. Right formatting means you use headings and subheading, bullet lists, different sentence length, use words in bold or italic to emphasize important words, images, lists etc. All this makes your content more interesting to read.
Micro-interactions are a simple way by which the visitor interacts with your website. They include subtle effects when you click on an article header or tooltip, hover and scroll effects or an icon animation while your download is in progress, etc.
This doesn't seem much but in reality, it plays a crucial role in UX best practices for WordPress. Microinteractions are small rewards for your users. Improve user experience by implementing them.
Creating an appealing website is not a simple task. WordPress makes it easy for anyone to create a website in minutes, but it requires a lot of thinking to create a usable enough UI with great UX. You should always try to consider how visitors will use a page or a section and then implement the features and functionality. It's also important to make your website fault tolerant so make sure you have a custom 404-page template. Non-existing or error pages can be starting points, not just dead-ends.
If you are impatient or don't have the time and effort to focus on UX best practices for WordPress, you can simply get one of our hand-made Visualmodo themes. They all use UX best practices and are a great starting point for any new website's design.
User Experience is a complex trade and it is not possible to encompass all the concepts in a single blog post. Hopefully, the article offers an introduction to key UX best practices for WordPress and something to think about when you create or buy your next WordPress theme.
What do you think about UX best practices for WordPress? Does your current WordPress theme offer good user experience to your users and why? I'm listening.


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text:
A Latin Grammy-díj, egy különálló, a Grammy-díj átadótól önállósodott zenei díjátadó az Egyesült Államokban, amely kifejezetten a latin zenei világ művészeit díjazza különböző kategóriákban.

Története

Már 1989-ben felmerült a Grammy-díj szervezőinek egy külön a latin zenének szóló díjátadó megszervezése, mert a Grammy-díj átadó műsoridejébe már nem fért bele a latin művészek díjazása.
A Latin Grammy-díj Gála 2000 óta kerül megrendezésre az Egyesült Államokban. A ceremónia keretében a latin zenei élet tagjait díjazzák különböző kategóriákban. Alapvetően a díjátadón azon művészek lehetnek jelöltek a díjra, akik bárhol a világon spanyol és portugál nyelvű művet adnak elő, azonban a kecsua, katalán és guarani nyelv is beletartozik.
Az első Latin Grammy-díjakat a CBS csatorna közvetítette, amiben a műsorvezetők a felkonferálásokat még angol nyelven folytatták, 2005 óta a spanyol nyelvű Univisión csatorna közvetíti.

Helyszínek

 2000 – Staple Center, Los Angeles
 2001 – Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles (A 2001. szeptember 11-ei terrortámadások miatt elmaradt az aznapra tervezett gála, ehelyett sajtótájékoztatón jelentették be a győzteseket)
 2002 – Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles
 2003 – American Airlines Arena, Miami
 2004 – Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
 2005 – Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
 2006 – Madison Square Garden, New York
 2007 – Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas
 2008 – Toyota Center , Los Angeles
 2009 – Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas
 2010 – Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas
 2011 – Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas
 2012 – Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas
 2013 – Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas
 2014 – MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise
 2015 – MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise
 2015 – T-Mobile Arena, Paradise
 2016 – T-Mobile Arena, Paradise
 2017 – MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise
 2018 – MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise
 2019 – MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise

Műsorvezetők

 2000: Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, Andy García, Jimmy Smits és Antonio Banderas
 2001: Jimmy Smits és Paul Rodriguez
 2002: Gloria Estefan és Jimmy Smits
 2003: George Lopez
 2004: George Lopez
 2005: Rebecca de Alba és Eduardo Santamarina
 2006: Lucero és Victor Manuelle
 2007: Eugenio Derbez és Lucero
 2008: Cristian de la Fuente és Patricia Manterola
 2009: Eugenio Derbez és Lucero
 2010: Eugenio Derbez és Lucero
 2011: Lucero és Cristián de la Fuente
 2012: Lucero és Cristián de la Fuente
 2013: Blanca Soto, Omar Chaparro és Lucero
 2014: Eugenio Derbez
 2015: Roselyn Sánchez és Jacqueline Bracamontes
 2016: Sebastián Rulli és Roselyn Sánchez
 2017: Roselyn Sánchez és Jaime Camil
 2018: Carlos Rivera és Ana de la Reguera
 2019: Ricky Martin

Főbb kategóriák

 Az év albuma
 Az év felvétele
 Az év dala
 A legjobb új előadó
 A legjobb album női előadótól
 A legjobb album férfi előadótól
 A legjobb album duotól vagy együttestől
 A legjobb rock dal
 A legjobb solo rock album
 A legjobb rock duó vagy együttes albuma
 A legjobb alternatív zenéjű album
 A legjobb urban zenei album
 A legjobb urban zenei dal
 A legjobb ranchera album
 A legjobb rövidfilm videó
 A legjobb hosszúfilm videó

Kapcsolódó szócikkek
Latin Billboard-díj
Lo Nuestro díj
Premios Juventud

Latin Grammy-díj
Zenei díjak

zh:格萊美獎


The image on the reverse of this striking coin is based on an original wooden carving by Haida artist Carol Young for the Royal Canadian Mint. The "moon mask" carving is a popular one amongst many First Nations cultures, referencing "Grandmother Moon"; it is the notion that the crone, a symbol of feminine wisdom, is symbolically tied to the ripe full moon. There is a connection between the round sphere of the moon and the elder woman's role as leader, sage, and guardian of a clan's history. This coin is handcrafted, resulting in a phenomenal level of three-dimensionality that remains faithful to the original sculpture, right down to the original wood grain. Struck in almost one ounce 99.99% fine silver, this coin features a mintage of 6,000 coins worldwide, making it a desirable addition to any collection of fine silver coins. It would also make a thoughtful and impressive gift for any First Nations history and culture enthusiast in your life.


Sandblasted into heavy glass, this design is a menorah made To look like an old olive tree.
The Hebrew word "Israel" is etched into the trunk and 50 golden leaves adorn its branches.
This award is presented by Israel Bonds for fifty thousand dollar bond purchases.


Lifelike shapes, excellent details and craftsmanship, great toys for children to know some animals,..
Educational Toy High Quality Individually Hand Painted ..
Lovely figurine from the Collecta brand, known for its realism, this is a great XL-sized sperm whal..
Winged flip and whirl rainbow dash figure can do a special trick Sit her down, then watch her flip ..
Includes six plastic jumbo jungle animals Perfect size for little hands Great for jungle themed ima..
Individually Hand Painted Figures Promotes Imaginative Play Educational Toy Extremely Lifelike With..
Expertly sculpted hand-painted Majestic ..
Jungle animals toys made of plastic, solid, it's a great birthday gifts or party supplies for kids ..
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Exclusive Wild Rainbow Pony Figure: "The Cutie Mark Crusaders" ..
Schleich figured are detailed and lovingly hand-painted We stand for educational and valuable play ..
Posable collectable baby figure Comes with a crib and a baby bottle Dressed in removable fabric clo..
8cm Fluttershy pony figure includes bracelet You can scan the figure's Cutie Mark to unlock the cha..
Individually Hand Painted Figures Promotes Imaginative Play Educational Toy Extremely Lifelike High..
Figure Peppa Pig Golden Boots Comansi figure Peppa Pig Golden Boots Comansi for distribution and wh..


A little Christmas sewing happening over the weekend, I'm making Microwave Bowl Cosies.
and I just love how quickly it goes together.
I'm making the rounded version as I like the look of it better than the square version.
After I cut out the beginning squares (prior to cutting down to size) I do a couple of rounds of quilting on each half (each half is made up of one square of fabric paired with one piece of cotton wadding) - I'm using the Circular Stitcher on my 222k Featherweight to do this...... love that gadget!! I do two rounds of quilting, that's enough for this project. It will get more at the end.
To make the bowl shape you do four pleats. I like to use a very small stitch length for this. I cut my rounded edges using the pattern and my rotary cutter (after cutting the pleats) - nice smooth rounded edges.
I use my walking foot for the construction, it helps to keep it all together nicely - my seam allowance ends up being just a smidgen over 1/4". Trim the seam allowance to 1/8" after stitching the pleats. Do the same for the seam allowance after stitching each half of the Bowl Cosy together. The only bit I leave at full seam allowance is where I have left the turn through opening - I also stitch off at each end of the turn through opening.
Here is a similar method to how I sew the turn through opening... http://keyka.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/11/how-to-slip-stitch-a-seam-closed.html.
The only thing I add is that I stitch off to the outside edge at each end of the opening. This keeps the 1/4" seam allowance in place when I turn the cosy right sides out. The "opening" will press nice and flat and if I'm using a 1/8" seam allowance to top stitch then the opening will get closed with that topstitching.
So my turn through opening is in between the blue lines. I stitch out on those two lines using a very small stitch length and I stitch between the two lines using a long stitch length. Once I press the seams back after stitching, I remove those long stitches.
Once I turn it all right sides out I find giving the rounded "corners" a good press helps to set it in place ready for the final topstitching. I topstitch using a little longer stitch length than I use for piecing. I like to do the topstitching about 1/8" from edge. The turn through opening will be closed with the top stitching.
The last bit of stitching is to quilt on the diagonal both ways from the centre of the curved corners.
These are fun to sew. I think the best way to do a bunch of these would be to prep a whole lot of them and then chain stitch. I'm setting up two machines ... the 222K for the circular stitching and my Brother PQ1500 to do the rest of the stitching.
Such great tips, Helen. Thanks for sharing!


text:
Q: How to get an array of coordinates that make up a circle in canvas? So, if this is the code I'm using to draw a circle on my canvas:
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(centerX, centerY, radius, 0, 2 * Math.PI, false);
ctx.lineWidth = 3;
ctx.strokeStyle = "black";
ctx.stroke();

... how could I get an array of coordinates of the points that make up this circle so I can save them in a database and load on canvas later using the context.moveTo() and context.lineTo() methods to connect the dots, drawing the same circle?
I guess I'm asking if it's possible to draw this kind of circle using not .arc() method but by connecting dots with lines, if I only know my center coordinates and circle radius (and of course the width of the line and color). This should enable me to save each dot coordinates in an array as I loop through.

A: @Octopus is on the right track:
var centerX=100;
var centerY=100;
var radius=40;

// an array to save your points
var points=[];

for(var degree=0;degree<360;degree++){
    var radians = degree * Math.PI/180;
    var x = centerX + radius * Math.cos(radians);
    var y = centerY + radius * Math.sin(radians);
    points.push({x:x,y:y});
}

Then you can draw the circle using the point objects in the points array:
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.moveTo(points[0].x,points[0].y);
for(var i=1;i<points.length;i++){
    ctx.lineTo(points[i].x,points[i].y);
}
ctx.closePath();
ctx.fillStyle="skyblue";
ctx.fill();
ctx.strokeStyle="lightgray";
ctx.lineWidth=3;
ctx.stroke()

A suggestion, however...
Instead of saving all the points in the database, just save the centerX/Y and radius in the database.
Then you can use this same math to create the points and draw the circle.

A: You are asking for the formula for a circle which is:
radius*radius = (x-centerX)*(x-centerX) + (y-centerY)*(y-centerY)

Or if you want to generate n points do something like this:
for (i=0;i<n;i++) {
    x[i] = centerX + radius* Math.cos( (i*2*Math.PI)/n );
    y[i] = centerY + radius*-Math.sin( (i*2*Math.PI)/n );
}


text:
Questa voce raccoglie le informazioni riguardanti il River Volley nelle competizioni ufficiali della stagione 2012-2013.

Stagione
La stagione 2012-13 è per il River Volley la quinta, la quarta consecutiva, in Serie A1, sponsorizzata sia dal gruppo Rebecchi che da quello Nordmeccanica: nella fase di mercato viene ingaggiato un nuovo allenatore, Davide Mazzanti, sostituito poi durante il corso della stagione da Giovanni Caprara, ed acquistate nuove giocatrici come le due palleggiatrici Francesca Ferretti e Danica Radenković, le schiacciatrici Lucia Bosetti, Floortje Meijners e Manuela Secolo, il libero Stefania Sansonna e diverse giovani come Laura Frigo ed Alessia Gennari; durante il campionato inoltre, arriva, dal Chieri Torino Volley Club, anche Martina Guiggi.

Nel girone d'andata del campionato, dopo una partenza alquanto altalenante, una buona serie di successi spinge la squadra nelle zone alte della classifica, tant'è che al termine della prima fase il River Volley è al secondo posto in classifica, risultato utile per qualificarsi alla Coppa Italia. Anche il girone di ritorno scorre via tranquillo, con solo due sconfitte: il club mantiene quindi il secondo posto in classifica alla fine della regular season, alle spalle della Futura Volley Busto Arsizio. Nei quarti di finale dei play-off scudetto la sfida è contro il Robursport Volley Pesaro, superato in due gare, con qualche difficoltà incontrata solamente in gara 1: il copione si ripete anche nelle semifinali, dove la squadra ad essere sconfitta è il Volley Bergamo; la formazione piacentina incontra poi in finale la sorpresa Imoco Volley di Conegliano: le prime due gare sono vinte al tie-break dalle emiliane, mentre gara 3 è persa con lo stesso risultato. La gara che assegna il primo scudetto della sua storia al River Volley è quella 4, con una vittoria per 3-1: tale successo consente anche la qualificazione, per la prima volta, alla Champions League 2013-14.

Il secondo posto in classifica al termine del girone d'andata permette al River Volley di partecipare alla Coppa Italia: nei quarti di finale supera sia all'andata che al ritorno la squadra di Torino e ciò consente l'accesso alla final-four di Assago; in semifinale la vittoria è contro il Volley Bergamo, mentre in finale viene sconfitto il Gruppo Sportivo Oratorio Pallavolo Femminile Villa Cortese: per il club di Piacenza è la prima affermazione nella competizione.

Il raggiungimento delle semifinali nella stagione 2011-12 consente alla squadra piacentina di accedere per la prima volta ad una competizione europea, ossia la Coppa CEV 2012-13: nei sedicesimi di finale la sfida è contro il Volejbol'nyj Universitet Luck, che a sorpresa vince la gara di andata e dopo aver perso quella di ritorno, fa suo il golden set, eliminando dalla competizione il River Volley. Tuttavia, da regolamento, la società italiana accede alla Challange Cup ed il cammino è spedito fino alla finale, superando nell'ordine due formazioni cipriote, l'ES Le Cannet ed il Turnverein Fischbek von 1921; in finale la sfida è contro lo Ženskij volejbol'nyj klub Dinamo Krasnodar, il quale vince la gara di andata, ma perde quella di ritorno: è nuovamente il golden set a negare la gioia della vittoria alla formazione emiliana.

Organigramma societario

Area direttiva
Presidente: Vincenzo Cerciello
Presidente onorario: Antonio Cerciello
Vicepresidente: Giovanni Rebecchi
Direttore generale: Giorgio Varacca
Segreteria generale: Samantha Marchionni
Area organizzativa
Team manager: Andrea Cagnin
Direttore sportivo: Michele Carra
Direttore finanziario: Antonio Cerciello
Segreteria amministrativa: Marco Zambelli
Addetto arbitri: Massimo Cervini
Coordinamento staff campo: Pietro Casalini

Area tecnica
Allenatore: Davide Mazzanti (fino al 13 febbraio 2013), Giovanni Caprara (dal 18 febbraio 2013)
Allenatore in seconda: Giulio Bregoli
Scout man: Filippo Schiavo
Coordinamento atlete: Marco Ramacci
Area comunicazione
Ufficio stampa: Paolo Ghilardi
Fotografo: Laura Rovellini
Speaker: Luca Mulazzi
Responsabile comunicazione: Alessandra Sperzagni

Area marketing
Ufficio marketing: Carla Moggi
Area sanitaria
Medico: Giuseppe Marletta, Pietro Zacconi
Preparatore atletico: Sebastiano Chittolini
Fisioterapista: Gianluca Grilli

Rosa

Mercato

Risultati

Serie A1

Girone di andata

Girone di ritorno

Play-off scudetto

Coppa Italia

Fase ad eliminazione diretta

Coppa CEV/Challenge Cup

Fase ad eliminazione diretta (Coppa CEV)

Fase ad eliminazione diretta (Challenge Cup)

Statistiche

Statistiche di squadra

G = partite giocate; V = partite vinte; P = partite perse

Statistiche dei giocatori

P = presenze; PT = punti totali; AV = attacchi vincenti; MV = muri vincenti; BV = battute vincenti

Note

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

2012-2013
Piacenza


Words affect change…these are one poets.
To all those that stop here and connect with my words. I may not always have the moments to personally remark as my posts are created and want to express my true gratitude to each of you that mingle here with my message.
© Carey Rose O'Connell and The World Poetized 2010-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Carey Rose O'Connell and The World Poetized with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
The World Poetized by Carey Rose O'Connell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.theworldpoetized.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.theworldpoetized.com.


The Ambient Visitor - Thirteen - BFW recordings netlabel - ambient shoegaze indie experimental electronica - music is free!
The new longform ambient album from The Ambient Visitor, a side project of BFW founder Bing Satellites.
A continuous, 57 minute piece split into three parts.
each note is played in a long loop, the length of each loop if different for each note, so although the music may seem to vary only slightly, it never quite repeats itself.
I decided, perhaps because this is the thirteenth album, to start off in a darker mood. However, the key changes from the minor to a brighter major around half way.
The tracks on this album (and albums to follow) is named after Apollo near-Earth asteroids, objects whose orbits cross that of Earth.
There are many hundreds of known Apollo asteroids, though only a few dozen have been named officially, so I may run out of names from this list as quickly as I did with TNOs.
is one ambient alter ego of BFW founder Bing Satellites.
The music is generative - each note is played in its own loop. The length of each loop is slightly different for each note, so patterns occur and the music never quite repeats itself.


The stunning self-supporting hyperboloid sculpture is made from a lattice of glulam (glued laminated) PEFC certified Siberian Larch laths supported by a series of steel rings. The structure is illuminated at night by over 600 low energy LED lights which can be programmed for both intensity and colour to achieve a range of visual effects.
The ALIMAK SE 630FC Passenger/Goods lift is required for maintenance. It was originally manufactured in 2004 for use as a temporary passenger lift for projects with Newham Council so it hasn't travelled far as Strand East is also located in Newham. To comply fully with the Lifts Regulations, it was fully refurbished and modernised using the latest Alimak ALCII lift controller and a new car operating panel with dual illuminating push buttons and autodial telephone.
The new lift is driven by rack and pinion, so all the drive machinery is carried on the top of the car and mounted to a modular structural mast. This eliminates the need for a load bearing lift shaft or a separate machine room so kept construction costs to a minimum and did not detract from the slender elegance of the sculpture. It also meant the lift fully meets all health and safety requirements.
Strand East is the second biggest private investment in the area after the Olympic Park and will be larger than the Olympic Village. This will be the first major British development for LandProp (part of the Inter Ikea Group) the company's investment arm and will be a 10 year project to regenerate an area which has been neglected for some considerable time.
LandProp Holding submitted a hybrid planning application for Strand East, the company's first major UK investment, to London Thames Gateway Development Corporation. It was validated by the London Borough of Newham on 28 February 2012. The developer's plans, prepared by architects Arc-ML, will transform the 26 acre, near derelict site just south of the Olympic Park into a vibrant, waterside city neighbourhood. The plans will deliver 1,200 new homes (40% of which will be family oriented with three or more bedrooms), 620,000 sq ft of space for businesses, including local shops, cafes, restaurants and other community facilities, together with a 350 bedroom hotel. Around 25% of the development will be open space, including a riverside park that will run along the western edge of the site overlooking the River Lee Navigation. The planning received full approval from LTGDC on 18 July 2012.


Welcome to Dr Peter Etcell and Associates, Fairfield's family dental choice since 1942.
Your family's oral health is important.
Finding the personalised care your family deserves is essential to promote good oral, and overall, health. At Dr Peter Etcell and Associates, we offer comprehensive dentistry to families of all ages with modern dentistry amenities in a family-friendly environment.
We firmly believe that protecting the teeth you have will provide you with a healthier, more comfortable smile. We organise personalised treatment plans based on your needs. Dentistry is never a one-size-fits-all solution.
We recognise that patients' health can change throughout their lifetimes. Medical challenges and certain conditions put your oral health at risk. We are committed to ensuring that you get the type of dentistry you need when you need it most.
Whenever possible, we offer tooth-coloured restorations to complement your smile rather than using metal components that may cause feelings of self-consciousness or keep you from showing off your smile.
That goes for replacing existing metal-based fillings, crowns and bridges with more aesthetic options. Today's tooth-coloured dentistry is durable and reliable enough to keep you smiling.
Don't live life with dental pain. Dr Etcell's expertise can have you feeling comfortable and healthy again.
Dental pain will often worsen over time. Let our solution-oriented team help you feel like yourself again.
We recommend that your child have an orthodontic evaluation by age seven so we can detect any development and growth concerns early on. Phase I orthodontics can adjust growth patterns to eliminate common orthodontic conditions.
Space maintainers, palatal expanders and interceptive orthodontics will often reduce the time children spend in phase II treatment.
We also offer solutions for our adult patients wishing to improve their health and appearance with a straight, lovely smile.
When planning cosmetic dentistry, we look at the whole face rather than just the teeth and gums. Aesthetic dentistry treatments such as teeth whitening, veneers, dental implants and tooth-coloured crowns can enhance your natural teeth for a more youthful, stunning outcome.
We also offer anti-wrinkle injections to eliminate gummy smiles and the fine lines that form from daily expressions like smiling, concentrating and squinting.
Full smile makeovers have changed our patients' lives and given them the confidence they thought would elude them forever.
Searching for a Fairfield Dentist?
Our experienced team and modern technology provide ideal outcomes for patients of all ages. We welcome you to give us a call to arrange your next dental appointment and look forward to welcoming you with a smile.


Horror, She Wrote explores the episodes of the ever-popular detective series Murder, She Wrote, featuring Angela Lansbury's unstoppable Jessica Fletcher, that were highlighted by performances from genre film actors.
Blessed with a radiant presence, Jennifer Runyon brought a delightful grace to the screen in such terror themed projects as the girls' school slasher To All A Good Night, renowned comedy Ghostbusters and the Roger Corman produced Carnosaur. This purity made her a natural to play innocents accused of wrongdoing in two episodes of Murder, She Wrote.
In 1989's Seal of the Confessional, Runyon is Kelly Barrett, a frightened native of Cabot Cove, the fictional town where many of Jessica Fletcher's adventures took place. Sure that she has murdered her abusive stepfather, Barrett takes refuge in a church with a handsome priest (soap opera stalwart Hunt Block). Determined to cover up her crime, she ultimately resists the clergyman's offer of help and runs away. Of course, Fletcher eventually discovers that the culprit is not the frightened young woman, but not before Runyon gets to play, thoughtfully, in the fields of wide emotion, enacting everything from elusive terror to steely determination.
Scripted by Lynne Kelsey, this storyline actually is one of the long running show's most poignant. Graced with the series' usual down home charms and lighthearted mystery, it also reflects, subtly, the emotional damage inflicted by parental misadventure. Runyon's bruised portrayal aids greatly here, allowing the audience to feel, fully, for her character and proving that she would have been perfect to play tortured heroines in those gloomy noir epics of the 40s.
Nicely, 1991's Murder, Plain and Simple has more of a soap opera edge. Focusing on an Amish community ruled over by an extremely evil patriarch (Michael Sarrazin), this episode also reunites Runyon and Block. The two play former sweethearts torn asunder by Sarrazin's devious Jacob Beiler. Naturally, Beiler winds up dead, found by Runyon's Rebecca, a pitchfork shoved deep in his chest.
Runyon glows with resigned dignity here, relieved to be out of Beiler's controlling grasp, but glad, once she is no longer considered a suspect, to be free of him, as well. Sarrazin, who imbued such projects as The Reincarnation of Peter Proud and Frankenstein: His Story with the gravity of his deep set eyes, nearly steals the show, though. He is obviously having a ball being so heartless and the scenes where he twists logic and decorum to get his needs met would make any arch daytime drama baddie proud.
Meanwhile, fans of the series should be sure to check out Murder She Wrote Fans: https://www.facebook.com/Murder-She-Wrote-Fans-120892357995729.


text:
Q: how to delete a value from array in cookie array? I am using Cakephp 3.0.I am new in cookie concept. I have successfully created a cookie but i want to delete a value from cookie array.
Here is my code:-
enter code here
$cookiedata=
Array
(
[0] => 2
[1] => 1
)

$_GET['id'] = 2;

public function cartitems(){
    $cookiedata = $this->Cookie->read('ProductCartdata');
    $this->loadModel('Products');
    $query = $this->Products->find('all')->where(['id IN' =>$cookiedata]);
    $products = $query->hydrate(false)->toArray();
        if(isset($_GET['id'])){
            if(($key = array_search($_GET['id'], $cookiedata)) !== false) {
                    unset($cookiedata[$key]);
            }
    $this->redirect(['controller'=>'test','action' => 'cartitems']);
   }
        $this->set(compact('products','cookiedata'));
}

And i want that result:-
enter code here
Array
(
[0]=>1
)

A: You can read up on the Cookie-component in the documentation. There is a delete-method if you completely want to remove the data in your cookie:
Cookie::delete($key)
In your case it probably makes more sense to write over the existing data after looping:
$this->Cookie->write('ProductCartdata', $cookiedata);


Internet technology, as well as other networking technologies, is running based on some assumptions, such as the existence of an end-to-end path between source and destination, low data loss rate, utilizing a packet-switching mechanism in communication and end devices supporting the TCP/IP protocol suite. However, these assumptions may not hold in the emerging challenged networks such as mobile ad-hoc networks. Thus, new solutions are needed to address the arising problem in challenged environments. Delay-tolerant Networking (DTN) approach is one robust way to enable communication in the environments with high delay and frequent disruption.
Due to the challenged environments, DTN nodes have limited contact opportunities to forward messages. Therefore, the message delivery ratio of DTN networks is always lower compared to that of the traditional Internet. With the intention of enhancing the network performance and increasing the message delivery ratio, we deploy a set of infrastructure nodes, which are called message repositories (MRs), into DTN networks. MRs are the normal DTN nodes with infrastructure connectivity and supporting specific message exchange mechanism. When a mobile user connects to a MR, they are able to retrieve messages which they are not hold from each other following a specific message exchange procedure.
We evaluate the performance of the MR scheme by means of simulation. We expect to figure out in which cases, and by how much the MR increases the message delivery rate and shortens the message delivery delay in DTN networks. We unitize an urban scenario with multiple environmental variables for our simulation. The most important environmental variables include underlying DTN routing protocols, the number of MRs and MRCs, node buffer size, etc. Furthermore, we compare the performance of multiple message exchange mechanisms of MR scheme in our simulation.


Taking one look at these two maps tells you all you need to know.
Colorado rocks! Since 1990, Colorado has had the nation's lowest percentage of obese adults. And on the CDC's latest map of adult obesity prevalence, Colorado is the only state shaded in dark blue, because of its low percentage -- 18.7% -- of obese adults.
So how does Colorado stay fit and trim while the rest of the nation continues to grow 'wider'?
Here are seven nuggets of Colorado's weight wisdom, from James O. Hill, PhD, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Denver and co-founder of America on the Move, a nonprofit group focused on healthy lifestyles.
"That's the first goal," Hill says. "If we could first keep from getting worse, and then gradually start going down, that would be very, very good."
2. Cultivate a culture of health.
"I think Colorado has more of a culture of health than other places," Hill says. "People value lifestyle, they value physical activity, they value healthy eating. We have an environment that's conducive to that. It's a wonderful place for physical activity. "
Small changes, that is. "The advice to the rest of the country is ... you aren't going to turn this around overnight and so start thinking about a lot of small changes." Those changes start with behavior -- being more active and eating healthier. Over time, those small changes make a difference.
Do your surroundings promote a healthy, active lifestyle, or are they kindest to couch potatoes? "We have a weather pattern where you can be outside pretty comfortably summer and winter," Hill says. But there's more to it than that. "If you're encouraging people to walk more, do they have places to walk? Are there parks? Are employers encouraging walking? On the food side, we encourage people to make better choices. Are better choices available?"
Hill says that Colorado is trying to work with restaurants to make meals healthier and portions more reasonable. "The thing that makes Colorado different is that the public, private, and academic sectors tend to be pretty agreeable to working together to try to find a common goal," he says.
6. Put out the welcome mat.
Colorado's obesity rate might be getting some help from fit people moving to the state. At least, Hill hopes so. "That ability to live a healthy lifestyle is something that people value," he says. "My hope is that we are beginning to attract people who want to come to Colorado because it's easier to be healthy in Colorado."
7. Have some humble pie.
Colorado doesn't have a whole lot of bragging room. Obesity is on the rise nationwide, and Colorado's adult obesity rate of 18.7% is knocking on the door of the upper limit for the "dark blue" color on the CDC map. "We don't want to get in that next color," Hill says. "I believe with all the efforts going on right now in Colorado, we will stay out of that next color and I wouldn't be surprised if next year, we actually show that rates go down -- probably a little bit, but hopefully in the right direction."
Heh. Looks like we've got a weight problem here in Arkansas.
Yet another thing to be proud of, yeah?
Yeah, unfortunately you're right. I'm just glad we weren't lumped in with Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.


Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines celebrated an historic coming together of its fleet of four ocean ships – 'Balmoral', 'Braemar', 'Boudicca' and 'Black Watch' – in Cádiz, Spain on 10th September 2018. Entitled 'Captains in Cádiz', this was only the second time ever that the fleet has converged in one place, anywhere in the world.