The scene opened with the views of the fortified temple, now in ruins, smoke billowing from the tattered remains. Screams and shouting as well as the creaking of wood set on fire filled the air. Chaos always followed Oda Nobunada where he went, but generally it affected his enemies more than his own forces. Today was proving to be a very special day, as everything seemed upside down.
Oda warriors ran in all directions, prey of fear and lack of leadership and morale. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion for your eyes. The six of you were awestruck, mouth agape as everything happened around you. A stray ashigaru, the footsoldiers of the army, ran into your midst, bumping against Akihito's horse, as he was looking at his back without paying attention to where he was going. Bōfū, being the trained and smart animal he was, barely reacted to that. The ashigaru scrambled to his feet and ran away. The small incident took you out of your stupor, and you regained your senses.
In front of you, Zenshō-ji laid destroyed. To your backs you have the forest of Owari, and your left leads to the fortified town by the same name, where the Oda clan's fortress lies. Looking to your right, you see the banners of Imagawa Yoshimoto raising in front of the dying sun. Yahata could feel his heart pounding at the excitement of war about to break loose, but then he realises he is now on the loosing side of the conflict. Imagawa probably heard the commotion and was marching to the temple to seize the chance and crush the remaining Oda forces. The sheer dishonour of that made Dai Jin sick of her stomach. The enemy would be at the temple in about an hour, unless they sent their cavalry first, in which case 15 minutes would be all that it takes before the raiders arrive. The wind suddenly changes direction, and started blowing from the south. Soyokaze is reminded of the bad omen this represents, and Hama can feel the humidity raising up in the air. A storm was brewing, no doubt about it.
Of the six, only Kuro was grateful at the coming of the night and the darkness that would soon cover everything. Regardless, if was imperative that the virtuous six decide what to do next.
"I hate to even suggest this,but we need to get out of the area NOW before Imagawa's Horemen get here. Kuro,you have better sight in the darkness,so lead us to Owari.Ounce we get behind some walls,we'll look at our Options to find Lord Nobunaga...."
Kuro crouched close to the ground, every fibre of his being tensing as he yearned to leap into the fray. He could practically taste the carnage about to unfold here. How could this have happened? Nobunaga-sama had gone missing and all was in chaos and disarray around them.
The yokai snapped his head to the direction of the approaching enemy army, then towards the forest and finally to the fortified town. "Death flows all around us. Death on this coming field of slaughter, death in the destroyed temple and death in the teeth of the approaching enemy army. Only those lacking the wits to see this or those too frozen by fear to act will stand here."
The certainty of his voice cut through the din around them like steel through reeds. He turned towards Akihito after he spoke, regarding the human for an uncomfortably long moment before shaking his head. "We can disappear into the forest in the darkness more easily then we can escape an encircled town."
Last edited by McGuffin on Thu May 31, 2018 7:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"We must check for survivors within the temple." The old man says, though the prospects were bleak for such. He starts to scramble out from their observation position.
"Then where!?", Hama snarls at a pair of trembling soldiers before her, her brow furrowed and her narrowed eyes darting between them. With a long hiss of irritation, she releases her mystic hold on the men's legs, pacing as she surveys the blazing temple before whipping her head around at Soyokaze's voice.
"Two storms are coming, old man. Neither of them will leave those men in a burning temple, and I doubt you could weather either!" she snaps at Soyokaze, "If we survive this night it will not be here!"
She turns away from Soyokaze as he moves away, facing towards Akihito and Kuroi before nodding once "A bowman and a nightbeast seem the perfect pair to instruct the rest of us on how to run away. Should it begin to rain, my vision will surely outstrip this thing's, but until that time I shall have to trust in you." she says, before her attention is drawn by a flaming timber collapsing in the temple.
Hama spits in irritation, whirling once more to face the remaining members of the small band. "And what of you honor-blind idiots, will you be wasting your blood here or coming with us!?" she demands of Dai Jin and Yahata.
"Come on,we can't let sofu go on his own or he'll get killed...."
Hey,that was a good roll!
Kuro scoffed in annoyance as Soyokaze did what he always did and acted according to his heart instead of his head. He could never understand what drew him so to the humans.
He reached out to grab the old healer. "Stop, you old fool. Even you should have the wisdom to see that anyone still in the temple is as dead as any caught on the field of battle here by the Imagawa forces. Follow the archer to the town, at least there you can still be of some use there."
Kuro looked to Akihito. "Lead the way." He picked his way less stealthily after the former Yakuza, his impatience clear to see in his carelessness.
The woman looks upon the destruction, her teeth grit in anger. At the cowardly tactics employed to destroy the temple, at the man himself who's army marched on, at her own lord for vanishing at such a time, and at herself for the very fact there was nothing that could be done. To go into the flames would be foolish no matter how much she wished to, in her heart she knew that this battle was lost. If she were to go in now, she may as well have just thrown herself upon her sword.
"Enough, Hama! Do not think us so dull and blind to not realize when it's time for us to take our leave. Lǎorén, you can not help these people any more then I can take on that hún dàn and his band of fools. Save your alchemy for those that can still be saved yet. After he's done here, he's sure to march upon Owari. If you were to perish here in a vain attempt to save those already dead, who will help to heal the woman and children once their forces spill into it's streets?"
...Maybe he'll listen to reason?
A very young-looking man with a white dove perched upon his shoulder looked on at the destruction of the temple, his emotions torn between repulsion and appreciation. As a connoisseur of the ways of war, this tactic was awfully underhanded... but admittedly effective. The disarray it had generated in Oda Nobunada's army was swift and widespread. Yahata cursed his current weakness. Were he at the height of his power, and if Amaterasu commanded it to be, he could lay waste to Imagawa's forces with his godlike power and a flock of magical doves. For now though, his current strength and Jingu was what he had to make due with, and he was not foolish enough to see himself victorious in this fight. The bird flutters its wings.
"Do not think us so dull and blind to not realize when it's time for us to take our leave."
"I have no intentions of dying here today," Yahata boasted to Hama with a smirk, sticking a thumb to his chest. "But trapped under burning rubble, waiting to be killed, is no way for a warrior to die. Soyokaze and I can be in and out; we'll be back in the presence of your sparkling personality before you know it, Hama! he said with no hint of sarcasm.
OOC: You said it would be, at the earliest, 15 minutes for enemies to arrive. Was that something we have a sense of automatically, or do we need to roll something? I have Expertise: Warfare if that works, which I can take 10 on with Skill Mastery for a total of 20. Also, how far away from the temple are we? Is running there for an in-and-out search feasible? Yahata can move at Speed 1 (Speed 2 with a 4 or more on Athletics), and Soyokaze has Flight 2.
Last edited by Bill from Accounting on Fri Jun 01, 2018 6:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
"This young fool, that old fool, the entire lot of you!" Hama exclaims as she notices Akihito and Kuroi following Soyokaze. She glares and mutters to herself "That lying fool had best not be in there still."
A moment later she turns and, with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes, announces "Very well! Old man, young warrior, I shall have us all to the temple in the blink of an eye, I shall find any who still live within it so you may singe yourselves saving them, I shall whisk us away after. And in return you two shall owe me a single favor each. Or will you instead stumble your way there and flail at rubble until Imagawa arrives?"
Soyokaze pauses to consider Dai Jin's words, the blademistress made a very good point, then Hama offered to get them there quicker.
"You would do this, not for favors from us, WaterMaid, but as a gamble that the man who could give you the glory you seek yet lives. I do this because life is precious and if there is even a chance to preserve some, I must try. As I would do for any of you."
"You have a sense of bodies - flesh and blood, do you not, Hama-san? it will not take long to determine if our aid is of value." the old man says.
"If it's required to get your aid here,then I'LL owe you the favor personally...."
"sofu,i know you might not like to hear this but we may already be too late to save anyone.We'll still try, but only for a few minutes.Then we must get to Owari, to see to those whom we can...."
She spat to the side, with several comments in the language of Ming. "Senseless bravery it is then. I won't simply stand by and let all of you get slaughtered if his horsemen arrive." Drawing her sword from it's sheath, she started to tun in the direction of the temple. But where they were aiming to save those trapped within, she wad aiming to place herself before the oncoming army itself.
"Be quick! Even with my training, I'll never be able to hold back the tide forever."
Jin is moving to place herself as a target for the cavaliers to go for first. Taking a defend action when she get's there, otherwise readying for the first attack.
"Ha! See old man, this is what generosity and good will looks like. Well said, Akihito!" Hama exclaims as her hair begins to ripple and her eyes glow faintly. The entire group suddenly lifts into the air with a sharp snap of movement and a cry of "Don't leave sight!", more sudden yanks keeping everyone from crashing against the side of the temple or the ground below.
All party members can now be flung around at speed rank 7, in luckily the appropriate ways to get where they want to go without any injuries.
She grit her teeth as she felt the woman's control flow over her body, forcing it to glide over the land like a dragon. It was not a pleasent sensation, but it was one she would tolerate. In just a few short steps, she was in place, her sword poised against the entire might of the Imagawa.


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BSN Hyper Shred is a high quality weight management aid that has been made with the best ingredients to help you along the way. It contains ingredients that are made to work. These include the like of Green Tea Extract, Zinc, Caffeine, L-Tyrosine, MaxiTherm, Yerba Mate and L-Carnitine.
This product is great to take for anyone who is on a calorie strict dieting and looking for something to help aid them on their weight management plan.
BSN Hyper Shred uses Caffeine to help with mental focus, alertness and increasing your energy levels. Caffeine is amongst most weight management supplements. It also contains Green Tea Extract. This is normally ran alongside Caffeine due to it having the same properties. Green Tea can help with mobilizing fatty acids from fat tissues which can also be used for energy.
This product also contains L-Carnitine. This is a naturally occurring amino acid. It plays an important role of transporting fatty acids into your cells Mitochondria. Mitochondria then helps burn fat stores to create useable energy for our body.
BSN Hyper Shred is perfect to be taken before training so you can use it as a boost due to the Caffeine content used within this product.


text:
Middle East selected
Barrel bombs 'kill 517 in Aleppo since 15 December'
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25541726
Media captionFootage earlier this month showed the apparent aftermath of barrel bombs
Barrels packed with explosives and dropped from Syrian aircraft have killed 517 people in the northern province of Aleppo since 15 December, activists say.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 151 were children and 46 women.
The city of Aleppo has been the focus of bitter fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels.
A Norwegian frigate is meanwhile preparing to collect chemical weapons from Syria for destruction.
The arms are due to be taken from the Syrian port of Latakia to Italy.
There, they will be loaded onto a US Navy ship and taken to international waters for destruction in a specially created titanium tank on board.
The global watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical arms stockpile, has called on Damascus to "intensify its efforts" to help the operation.
The OPCW said it was up to Syria to mitigate the risks involved in transporting the stockpile to the port.
'Poised and ready'
Syria agreed to abandon its arsenal to avert possible US military action in response to a sarin nerve gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus in August.
Under a deal brokered by the US and Russia, the complete elimination of all chemical weapons material and equipment must be completed by the first half of 2014.
OPCW chief Ahmet Umzucu said in a statement that the international community was "poised and ready".
He said the UN, Russia, and other countries directly involved in the removal had agreed on how to escort the cargo vessels from Syria, after a two-day meeting in Moscow.
Equipment involved in the operation includes Russian armoured vehicles, US satellites and Chinese surveillance cameras to protect the hazardous cargo.
Syria's chemical weapons
Syria is believed to possess 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents including sarin and more potent nerve agent VX
US believes the arsenal can be "delivered by aircraft, ballistic missile, and artillery rockets"
Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention on 14 September; it signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in 1972 but never ratified it
Chemical stockpile
How to destroy chemical arsenal
Q&A: Disarmament deal
21 August attack: What we know
Mr Umzucu said Syrian authorities now had to "consider all possible options" to ensure the chemicals' safe transport from 12 storage sites in Syria to the loading bay in Latakia.
The port lies 300km (185 miles) north of the capital Damascus.
The OPCW earlier said that it did not expect to meet the 31 December deadline for shipping out the "most critical" chemicals.
Shifting battle-lines and road closures caused by bad weather appeared to be the main causes of the delay.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group with links to the opposition, condemned the continuing use of barrel bombs in Aleppo and urged outside intervention.
The organisation, which relies on secret networks to relay information from the ground, also described those who failed to criticise the raids as "complicit in the massacres that have been committed and continue to be committed by the Syrian regime".
While the most of those killed by barrel bombs over the past two weeks were civilians, 46 were rebels, according to the SOHR.
The devices have rarely been used on such a sustained scale, says the BBC's Arab Affairs Editor, Sebastian Usher.
Aleppo is devastated and divided, with fighting at a stalemate, but with a major peace conference due next month, the Syrian government is trying to wrest back control of as much territory as possible, our correspondent adds.
In the most recent attack, 25 civilians are reported to have been killed when explosives were dropped on a vegetable market in Aleppo on Saturday.
Syria's war

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As we have seen, Nokia's Lumia series of Windows Phone devices was a big hit and has created a huge push for Microsoft and Nokia both. Nokia is set to release some more Lumia devices soon as seen on China Mobile's websites. These new devices include the Lumia 1000, which is said to be the next flagship for Nokia.
We are guessing that Lumia 1000 will come with the new Advance PureView sensor with maybe 41 Megapixel sensor. There are some more reports that suggest that Nokia is going to release these devices at MWC 2013 this year, but keeping in mind that Lumia 920 was released just a few months ago, we might not see another flagship soon.
As you can see, there are more devices in the list that also include Lumia 720 and Lumia 520, which we are expecting to launch at MWC. Both these devices will be in mid range category.
The Lumia 720 is expected to with a 4.3-inch screen and a 1GHz dual-core processor. The smartphone will come bundled with 8GB of on-board storage and a micro-SD card slot for storage expansion. This will have a 6 megapixel primary camera and a 2 megapixel front camera.
The Lumia 520 is expected to have a 4-inch 'Super Sensitive' screen, a 1GHz dual-core CPU, 8GB of internal storage along with a micro-SD car slot and with a 5 megapixel rear camera but no front-facing camera.
As MWC 2013 is just around the corner, we expect to see these devices soon.


text:
/*
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package com.comcast.cdn.traffic_control.traffic_monitor.util;

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.security.MessageDigest;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.security.SecureRandom;
import java.math.BigInteger;

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

public class StableBloomFilter implements Serializable {
	private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(StableBloomFilter.class);
	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
	final private byte[] byteSet;
	final private int k; // number of hash functions
	final private int p; // cells to decrement
	final private int m; // cell count
	// int d; number of bits per cell: 8
	final private int max; // value a cell is set to

	static final Charset charset = Charset.forName("UTF-8"); // encoding used for storing hash values as strings
	static final MessageDigest digestFunction;
	static { // The digest method is reused between instances
		MessageDigest tmp;
		try {
			tmp = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA1"); // SHA1, MD5
		} catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
			tmp = null;
		}
		digestFunction = tmp;
	}

	public StableBloomFilter(final int cellCount, final int k, final int p, final int max) {
		this.k = k;
		this.p = p;
		this.m = cellCount;
		this.max = max;
		this.byteSet = new byte[cellCount];
	}

	private static int[] generateHashes(final byte[] data, final int hashes) {
		final int[] result = new int[hashes];

		byte salt = 0;
		for (int k = 0; k < hashes; ) {
			byte[] digest;
			synchronized (digestFunction) {
				digestFunction.update(salt);
				salt++;
				digest = digestFunction.digest(data);
			}

			for (int i = 0; i < digest.length/4 && k < hashes; i++) {
				int h = 0;
				for (int j = (i*4); j < (i*4)+4; j++) {
					h <<= 8;
					h |= ((int) digest[j]) & 0xFF;
				}
				result[k] = h;
				k++;
			}
		}
		return result;
	}

	public int getK() {
		return k;
	}
	public int getP() {
		return p;
	}

	public void clear() {
		Arrays.fill(byteSet, (byte)0);
	}

	public void add(final String element) {
		add(element.getBytes(charset));
	}
	public boolean add(final byte[] bytes) {
		final boolean hit = contains(bytes);
		for (int i = 0; i < p; i++) {
			final int pi = (int) (Math.random()*m);
			if(byteSet[pi] != 0) {
				byteSet[pi]--;
			}
		}
		for (int hash : generateHashes(bytes, k)) {
			final int index = Math.abs(hash % m);
			byteSet[index] = (byte)this.max;
		}
		return hit;
	}

	public boolean contains(final String element) {
		return contains(element.getBytes(charset));
	}

	public boolean contains(final byte[] bytes) {
		for (int hash : generateHashes(bytes, k)) {
			if (byteSet[Math.abs(hash % m)] == 0) {
				return false;
			}
		}
		return true;
	}
	public double getFPS() {
		final double d11 = 1/(double)k;
		final double d12 = 1/(double)m;
		final double d1 = d11 - d12;
		final double d2 = (p*d1);
		final double d4 = Math.pow((1.0/(1.0 + (1.0/ d2))),max);
		return Math.pow((1 - d4), k);
	}

	public static void main(final String[] args) {
		final SessionIdentifierGenerator generator = new SessionIdentifierGenerator();
		final int elementCount = 800000;
		final StableBloomFilter sbf = new StableBloomFilter(elementCount, 2, 4, 2);
		LOGGER.warn("FPS: "+sbf.getFPS());
		final int strCount = 100000;
		LOGGER.warn("strCount: "+strCount);
		final String[] strList = new String[strCount];
		int fnCnt = 0;
		int fpCnt = 0;
		for(int i = 0; i < strCount; i++) {
			strList[i] = generator.nextSessionId();
//			LOGGER.warn(strList[i]);
			sbf.add(strList[i]);
		}
		LOGGER.warn(" --- ");
		for(int i = 0; i < strCount; i++) {
			final boolean result = sbf.contains(strList[i]);
			if(!result) {
				fnCnt++;
			}
//			LOGGER.warn(strList[i] + " : "+result);
		}
		LOGGER.warn("fnCnt: "+fnCnt);
		for(int i = 0; i < strCount; i++) {
			final String rstr = generator.nextSessionId();
			final boolean result = sbf.contains(rstr);
			if(result) {
				fpCnt++;
			}
//			LOGGER.warn(rstr + " : "+result);
		}
		LOGGER.warn("fpCnt: "+fpCnt);
	}

	static class SessionIdentifierGenerator {
		final private SecureRandom random = new SecureRandom();

		public String nextSessionId() {
			return new BigInteger(130, random).toString(32);
		}

	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
'Don't Tread on Me' License Plates
States are sponsoring an increasingly controversial image.
James Joyner · Wednesday, August 10, 2022 · 20 comments
NPR ("A Florida license plate has reopened the debate over the 'Don't tread on me' flag"):
When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently tweeted an image of what he said was a new state license plate featuring a coiled rattlesnake and the words "Don't Tread on Me," he said it sends a "clear message to out-of-state cars."
So, I'm not sure sending messages to out-of-state cars is what license plates are for. And, especially for a state that thrives on tourism, unfriendly ones are particularly foolish.
The imagery of the Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flag dates to Benjamin Franklin but has, for many, come to symbolize a far-right extremist ideology and the "Stop the Steal" movement that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
"'Love, love, love' Florida Gov. DeSantis new license plate; 'Don't Tread on Me!'" one Twitter user said. "This is how we feel about our great country..that is right now being systematically destroyed by the radical Left."
How the Gadsden flag came to represent "Stop the Steal" is unclear to me but it had long been adopted by libertarians and Tea Party types.
But such plates have gotten push back, not only in Florida, but in states such as Kansas, Missouri and Virginia, where similar plates have been available, in some cases for years, as fundraising tools for various organizations.
"The state can't claim a lack of knowledge about what this image represents to most of the public," says Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director of research and analysis for the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
She says it's become clear that the flag has been used for some "really awful" causes, most notably the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, where violent protesters attacked police as part of an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The proliferation of organizational and other customized license plates has been ongoing around the country for decades. As we've gone from plates hand-made by prisoners, usually with a solid background with contrasting numbers and letters in a single color, to computer-printed plates that can be rather ornate, there has been a lot of opportunity to raise additional revenue from those wanting to represent some organization or cause. Alabama was doing that as far back as I can remember and Virginia, where I have lived almost exactly 20 years to the day now, is supposedly the state with the highest percentage of customized and personalized tags.
The plates I used to illustrate the post are in fact rather popular here and have been for quite some time. A report from 2013 had some 22,000 of them currently on the road. Because they've been around so long, I don't associate them with the Stop the Steal movement or even Trumpers per se. But, in my unscientific but widespread sampling, I have determined that those who have them on their vehicles seem to have a disproportionate propensity to be asshole drivers.
Carroll Rivas compares it to a similar controversy over the use of the Confederate "stars and bars" flag on license plates. In 2009, the group Confederate Veterans, Inc., requested the flag on a specialty license plate, but Texas refused. The veterans group sued, and the case ultimately went to the Supreme Court. In 2015, in a 5-4 decision, the court held that such specialty plates (not to be confused with "vanity plates") were government speech and therefore states have the right to pick and choose what goes on them.
That case was odd, indeed, and may or may not hold up. The majority opinion was written by Stephen Breyer, who is now retired, and joined by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan—with Clarence Thomas, of all people, providing the deciding vote. The dissent was written by Samuel Alito and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and two departed justices, Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia. It's anyone's guess whether that precedent would be followed by the current group.
While I could preach the issue of whether these tags constitute "private speech" or "government speech" either way, I tend to side with the point made by Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller in oral argument: "that while people are free to festoon their cars with bumper stickers saying whatever they want, they cannot force the government to give its stamp of approval to those messages." Surely, the state shouldn't be forced to sell "Ku Klux Klan" tags if the requisite 500 people (or whatever the number; it's usually rather low) commit to purchasing them.
Benjamin Franklin was the first to use the rattlesnake as a symbol of defiance against the British crown, says Marc Leepson, a journalist, historian and author of Flag: An American Biography. In 1775, Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina politician, "took that menacing rattle rattlesnake and put it on the flag," Leepson says.
"One thing we can say about its origins, regardless of how it's used or who uses it or why it's used today, is that it really was just completely an anti-British [and] anti-colonial symbol," he says.
The journalist Rob Walker, writing in The New Yorker in 2016, said, "The Gadsden design remained something of a Revolutionary relic for many years." However, "[by] the nineteen-seventies, it had some popularity in Libertarian circles, as a symbol of ideological enthusiasm for minimal government and the rights of individuals."
It seems like something I've always seen around. And it has been used off and on over the years as an official symbol of the US Navy. But it clearly took off in a big way with the Tea Party movement.
Then came the Tea Party movement, which adopted the banner in 2010 as a sort of catch-all symbol of disgust with government. Since then, it has gone on to become a symbol for anti-government groups and individuals.
Extreme or not, First Amendment scholars such as Eugene Volokh of the University of Southern California say the Gadsden flag and the "Don't Tread on Me" motto are legitimate — and protected — speech, whether they are on a flag waving inside the besieged U.S. Capitol or on a vehicle license plate heading down a Florida highway.
"We know that some people are upset by that slogan," Volokh says. But, "the government is perfectly entitled to take controversial stands or in this case stands that have become newly controversial because some very small group of people have ended up using a symbol for purposes that are very different" from what it originally signified.
I bow to Volokh's superior expertise in First Amendment law but, again, the most recent (only?) SCOTUS ruling went the other way.
Other political and potentially controversial slogans routinely appear on license plates across the country, says Matt Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.
"I've seen some 'Live free or die' license plates in New Hampshire, which of course has been the state motto for decades," Dallek says. "You could argue that that certainly is a political statement" with a "fairly strong libertarian streak." District of Columbia plates, which have long sported the colonial-era rallying cry "No taxation without representation" are also in that vein, he says.
"But I think that 'Don't Tread on Me' has different, more extreme connotations, and therefore is more political and certainly is much more politicized," Dallek adds.
That's a slippery slope, of course. Obviously, there are groups and ideas that almost everyone considers "extreme." But the Tea Party could just as easily have adopted "Live Free or Die" over its more active counterpart. Would it then become an "extreme" slogan?
Politicized plates are available for other hot-button issues, as well. For example, "Trust Women/Respect Choice" is an option in Virginia, just as "Choose Life" is available on plates in Nebraska.
Rather obviously, whether plates are private or government speech, allowing "Respect Choice" and not "Choose Life" plates or vice-versa would constitute viewpoint discrimination. Virginia sells both ("Choose Life" is here). I'm not seeing a pro-choice plate available in Nebraska, but it's possible that there simply hasn't been a group sponsor for it.
In the states where "Don't Tread on Me" plates have been introduced, they appear to be top sellers. And that's good news for the Florida Veterans Foundation, a veterans' advocacy group that stands to get $25 per Gadsden flag license plate.
But it hasn't been an easy road, says Chairman Dennis Baker. The choice of the Gadsden flag was made not by the group, but by a lawmaker pushing for the fundraising plate in 2019. "I think it was because other states were having such good success with it," he says.
He says the money the foundation hoped to raise could go a long way toward helping Florida veterans.
"Then January 6th happened and it was like, 'oh, s***,'" he says. By then it was too late, because Florida's legislature had already approved the design.
That's a rather amusing irony—the controversial plate is raising money for a rather uncontroversial cause, the leaders of which didn't even choose the plate design.
The opposite was true in Kansas:
While Florida introduced the plate design in 2019, Virginia and Missouri did so a decade ago. Kansas approved the "Don't Tread on Me" plates only weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, when television images of rioters waving the flag were still fresh.
Democrat Dinah Sykes, minority leader in the Kansas Senate, opposed the measure when it came up for a vote in March of last year. "Whatever the original symbology of [the Gadsden flag] was … I think a lot of people would argue that it's become a symbol of the people who marched on the Capitol," she says.
The plate design, meant to raise funds for the Kansas State Rifle Association, was subsequently vetoed by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, before the Republican-controlled legislature overrode it.
"I don't think it's appropriate," says Sykes, who is the Kansas Senate minority leader. "When I see that, whether it's a flag or a license plate … it's not a good feeling for me."
FILED UNDER: Society, US Politics, Alabama, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, California, Clarence Thomas, District of Columbia, Elena Kagan, Eugene Volokh, Florida, George Washington University, graduate school, Kansas, libertarian, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, NPR, poverty, Ron DeSantis, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, South Carolina, Tea Party, television, Texas, The New Yorker, Twitter, US Navy, Virginia
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College and a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm vet. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.
Kurtz says:
Wednesday, 10 August 2022 at 14:09
Ha! I saw one the other day and thought, "Can I get a Black Lives Matter one?"
OzarkHillbilly says:
"Don't Tread on Me," he said it sends a "clear message to out-of-state cars."
Hey Ron? I hate to be the one to tell you this, but my truck never graduated kindergarten. It is functionally illiterate. FTR, so is your car.
As for the Gadsden flag. I want to have a stamp made that will impress a footprint with the word "corporations" spelled out in it on every Gadsden bumper sticker I come across in the local WalMart parking lot. I want one, but not enough to go to the effort of procuring one.
JohnSF says:
Surely it should read: "Please don't run over me!"
In VA that is a Tea Party plate. It has been around so long now. Many that have it now just think it looks cool etc.. When I see it I think TP, but know many who have it because it's cool looking. But yeah, in VA, as you note, it's a Type A driver plate lol. Cut you off on 66 and flip you the bird with a support the troops ribbon sticker lol. Such compassion
CSK says:
Aren't Confederate Veterans a little long in the tooth to be operating motor vehicles?
Jay L Gischer says:
I don't think that what Volokh said contradicts what the TX solicitor general said. Volokh appears to be say, "Yeah, the government can put this on a license if it wants to". And also, the government can NOT put it on a license if it doesn't want to.
Honestly, it's just eye rolling at this point. Wave a rattlesnake picture around all you like.
Break into the Capitol, go to jail.
Stormy Dragon says:
The Gadsden Flag is kinda like the OK hand sign. It was harmless once, but it's increasingly becoming the case that when you see someone drawing attention to it, you know what they really mean.
In this case, the Gadsden Flag is basically the replacement Confederate Flag now that the Confederate Flag isn't socially acceptable.
Haven't seen any plates yet in my little SW FL corner of paradise. I see the Gadsden flag in one format or another all the time, I expect the vets group will make some good money off them. I hope they continue to be a bit embarrassed by it. DeSantis' comments are what you'd expect. The important thing is to impress the base that he's owning the libs.
The wide use of the Gadsden flag is an illustration of my misquote of Churchill, "Never in the course of history have so many been so pissed about so little."
dazedandconfused says:
@JohnSF:
"Don't laugh at me!"
Michael Reynolds says:
This is another symptom of the crisis of masculinity: tactical gear, (onesies with extra pockets), body armor, extravagant beards, camo, tattoos, guns guns n'more guns, and lots of performative belligerence. Men who fell behind on the educational curve. Men who can't get a date (incels). Men who think manliness is strutting around perfectly safe streets like they're walking through Mogadishu. Men very upset that there's a female Hulk.
All these men cosplaying as soldiers who lack the physical, intellectual or psychological wherewithal to actually serve in the military. Hoorah! Yeah! Gonna fuck someone up! High-five! Grunt grunt grunt! 50 year-olds pretending they still have the testosterone of teenagers.
I have a conflict between my empathetic (and political) understanding of the genuine anomie these men are feeling, and my contempt for them as specimens of manhood. The type isn't new – every man has had to endure these twats all through our childhoods and school years. Long before they get around to making women want to throw up, we've already had to deal with them.
Two big things have changed: one is the way they insist on parading their insecurity, over-sharing their weakness, and their refusal even at advanced ages, to grow the fuck up. The other is that there is a majority formed of most women and most men who are just sick of these assholes and are no longer afraid to say so.
Gustopher says:
That's a rather amusing irony—the controversial plate is raising money for rather uncontroversial cause, the leaders of which didn't even choose the plate design.
We need to get the Trevor Project or some similar organization to start sponsoring crazy ass Right Wing plates.
Nothing would make Trumpers happier than discovering that they are donating money to help Trans Kids.
Scott F. says:
From the NPR story referenced:
"'Love, love, love' Florida Gov. DeSantis new license plate; 'Don't Tread on Me!'" one Twitter user said. "This is how we feel about our great country..that is right now being systematically destroyed by the radical Left."
While the radical left has been busy systematically destroying our great country, the patriotic right has been putting their efforts into vanity plates and really big Trump flags. No wonder these people feel they are losing the country. /snark
@Michael Reynolds:
Two big things have changed: one is the way they insist on parading their insecurity
The cruel irony is they usually end up ultimately being the source of their own insecurity. There's a lot of really weird people in this world that needed to, at a young age, find people to tell them that their weirdness is what made them beautiful. Instead they only found people who told them to be ashamed, and now they spend their lives slowly dying inside pretending to be the same as everyone else while trying to bully the weirdness out of others so no one will ever begin to realize they might be weird too.
But the Tea Party could just as easily have adopted "Live Free or Die"
Ugh, no.
Seriously, it's annoying AF that all of these wacko groups are co-opting existing flags and slogans etc.
The Virginia Dare group and others, including the KKK, have at times adopted the "Betsy Ross" flag, turning that into a hate symbol. New Hampshire has had oodles of the Gadsden flags up for years, typically it's flown by the Free Staters/Libertarians. Now it's part of Trump's crew?
I can't keep up.
The lack of creativity is yet another sign of American decline.
@Jen: Ugh, no.
You misspelled "Yes."
Nah, otherwise whoever it was who said, "Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery." wouldn't have.
Kari Q says:
Generally I agree but:
Long before they get around to making women want to throw up, we've already had to deal with them.
Unless you/ they went to an all boys school, they were making life miserable for girls at a very young age, and the girls were usually told "they're only doing that because they like you."
@Kari Q:
You are absolutely correct. Also, as it happens, I did do 2-4th grade in all-boys French schools. Hmmm.
Kevin McKenzie says:
Thursday, 11 August 2022 at 06:34
@Jen: @Jen:
No, I think that for whatever reason, the cultural right almost never has the cultural creatives in it. Probably because a hatred of things that are new make it hard to come up with new ideas.
ptfe says:
@Jc: "In VA that is a Tea Party plate."
TIL that's just a run-of-the-mill customized Virginia plate that does not do revenue sharing. Seriously, what gives? Why is Virginia sponsoring a plate that's only associated with right-wing organizations? And how do I get a fine leftist brand in on that free advertising action?
@Kevin McKenzie: I was being a wee bit tongue-in-cheek with that statement. 😉
@OzarkHillbilly: I really don't like the notion of state mottos being co-opted by political parties or hate groups. New Hampshire's "Live free or die" state motto is ripe for it, of course, but it still bugs me.
Supreme Court To Decide If State Can Deny License Plate With Confederate Flag Design
Supreme Court Says Texas Can Ban Confederate License Plates, Endangering Freedom Of Speech
Virginia Judge Rules Automated Collection Of License Plate Data Illegal
ACLU: Police Can Read, Track, And Store Your License Plate Number Wherever You Go
Racist Vanity Plates and the Law


Helen Beedham joined Cityparents in 2014 and is now a Director, leading our Cityworks network for employers and managing our corporate relationships. Prior to Cityparents, she worked in management consulting for 15 years helping major corporate and Government clients to implement organisational, HR and people-related changes. She is married with two grown-up step-children and a daughter in primary school and lives in Kent. She is also on the Committee for the Women's Network at Trinity College Cambridge. You can contact Helen directly here.
Kathryn Ryan joined Cityparents in October 2017 and helps to run our employer forum, Cityworks. Kathryn started her career in HR, working for both the public and private sectors, before transitioning into management consultancy. Kathryn worked for leading consultancy firms for 10 years, helping corporate clients to drive HR efficiency and implement organisational change. Kathryn is married and has two daughters, aged 4 and 2, and lives in London. You can email Kathryn directly here.
Louisa Symington-Mills established Citymothers in November 2012, and Cityfathers in April 2014. Over the past 10 years, Louisa has established a strong career in banking and finance, and was until recently Chief Operating Officer at LPEQ (www.LPEQ.com), an international association of listed private equity companies. Previously, Louisa spent six years as a sell-side analyst covering listed alternative investment funds at Royal Bank of Scotland and subsequently Jefferies. Prior roles were held at M&G Investment Management and a multi-family office. Louisa works part-time and remotely, and lives in Dubai with her husband Mark and daughter Rose, born January 2012, and son Laurence, born August 2013. She contributes regularly to The Telegraph online covering women, networking, work and business topics. You can contact Louisa directly here.


Assisi, a town in the lush province of Umbria, is the birthplace of Saint Francis and Saint Claire, and the town continues to hold historical, religious, and artistic importance.
This town has something to satisfy every curiosity and cultural palette. The animal lover will revel in the frescos and artifacts dedicated to animals everywhere as part of the mark of St. Francis, the patron saint of animals, on this town. This picturesque hill town draws the lover of religious and artistic history to its environs, and the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, which was completed in 1253, is a world heritage site. By renting an Assisi villa, you will feel as if you are a part of an historical movement that today continues to fascinate and evoke passion from people all over the world.
Traveling around the old village by foot gives you the sense that you are living the true vita italiana and at each turn you will find yourself facing a cathedral like the Basilica of Santa Clara, that is sure to take your breath away with its massive buttresses, stained glass windows, and frescos from the 13th century. A special treat is the upper church of St. Francis's basilica, which holds frescos thought to be painted by Giotto that illustrate Francesco's life and depict his deep connection with animals. In your Assisi villa, you may enjoy the luxury of your own private Italian residence, where you can design your days as you wish.
Choose to spend the morning strolling the town's cobblestone streets, admiring the two medieval castles that dominate the town, Rocca Maggiore, which has been an object of interest to numerous popes, and the smaller castle, which was built in the Roman era. Or you may elect sit back and enjoy the peaceful feeling that is characteristic of Assisi and St. Francis as you sample fresh produce and taste the region's best wine at one of Assisi's outdoor markets.
Use our search screen to find your Assisi villa rental - See a list of properties by entering your preferences and travel dates. When you find properties you like, send us an inquiry or reservation request.
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Existing scanning techniques often affect the molecules being studied.
Researchers have used quantum computing tech to miniaturize a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, making it small enough to pick up the structure of single biomolecules without damaging them or losing information in the process. This could make it a key tool for drug discovery and other biotech research.
Scientists at the University of Melbourne, lead by Professor Lloyd Hollenberg, used atomic-sized quantum bits (usually used inside quantum computers), to act as quantum sensors to image each atom that makes up more complicated bio-molecules. "By using quantum sensing to image individual atoms in a bio-molecule, we hope to overcome several issues in conventional biomolecule imaging," Prof Hollenberg said.
Current techniques involve using a crystal of the molecule that needs to be imaged, and X-ray diffraction to pick up the molecule's average structure. Both parts of this can lead to important information getting dropped in the process. Some bio-molecules can't be crystallized either, according to the news release.
"In a conventional MRI machine large magnets set up a field gradient in all three directions to create 3D images; in our system we use the natural magnetic properties of a single atomic qubit," says University of Melbourne PhD researcher Mr. Viktor Perunicic. In short, atomic quantum bits make great nano sensors. "The construction of such a quantum MRI machine for single molecule microscopy could revolutionize how we view biological processes at the molecular level, and could lead to the development of new biotechnology and a range of clinical applications," added Professor Hollenberg.


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By Emma Janzen Alcohol-Free, Articles September 9, 2017
The Brave New World of Pre-Ground Coffee
If there's one undebatable takeaway from the third wave coffee movement, it's that the best coffee is fresh coffee. When whole beans meet the grinder, quality diminishes in minutes as the beans oxidize and lose key components that contribute to flavor. So when companies like Perfect Coffee started to tout new technology that would preserve the freshness of coffee for months after being ground, many industry pros, including Blue Bottle's James Freeman, were skeptical.
"When Neil Day, founder of Perfect Coffee, initially approached us to taste his pre-ground beans, we were certain that we would be able to pick his pre-ground coffee out of a lineup of our own just-ground coffee beans. I truly intended to hate his product," Freeman recalls. Then Ben Brewer, Blue Bottle's director of quality control, encouraged Freeman to host a blind tasting. Turns out there was no detectable difference between ground-to-order Blue Bottle beans and Day's pre-ground packets. "We were stunned that we couldn't discern a difference in flavor and quality. No one had been able to do this before."
Recognizing the potential, Blue Bottle purchased Perfect Coffee in 2015 to get ahead of the trend. The system is simple: Customers receive a box containing five envelopes of single-portioned ground coffee, packaged using Day's proprietary sealing technology. The coffee in each packet is custom ground to suit a chosen brewing method (think French Press, AeroPress, pourover, etc.), and coffee options range from single origins to blends. Simply pour the grinds in a coffeemaker of choice, add a specified amount of water and brew. "We took the guesswork out of [making a good cup]," says Freeman. "At Blue Bottle, our baristas spend months learning how to 'dial it in'—that is, how to find the grind most appropriate for a specific roast and brewing method. A package of Blue Bottle Perfectly Ground is as close as you can get to a roaster's and barista's specific expertise."
Blue Bottle isn't the only specialty roasters to recognize the potential. Earlier this summer, La Colombe debuted The Vault, a special release of their Corsica coffee blend that comes ground specifically for drip, pre-measured and packaged in cans. Like Blue Bottle, La Colombe CEO Todd Carmichael says part of the impetus for the line was "to simplify the brewing process without sacrificing the integrity of the product." La Colombe preserves the grounds under pressure, which extends the coffee's life by five times. "Coffee naturally degasses, so in this case roughly 16psi is naturally released into the can from the coffee," Carmichael says. "Eventually, the gas in the can and the gas in the coffee find an equilibrium, halting the aging of the coffee and preserving it in time."
Meanwhile, in Salt Lake City, Saint Anthony Industries has spent the last 18 months refining their process for preserving pre-ground coffee. "The idea came from my love for good coffee, combined with my laziness when I'm at home," says founder Khristian Bombeck. "We have really phenomenal grinding technology at work, but I don't have that setup at home, so for me the loss of quality I was getting when I switched to my home grinder was noticeable."
With the help of one of Saint Anthony's board members, an MIT grad, Bombeck and his team developed a proprietary process that displaces atmospheric gas with some more inert gasses, to preserve quality within the package. The new project, called SurpriseBrand, will launch this month as a subscription-based service that distributes pre-ground packets from a handful of major roasters, sealed in their proprietary 97 & Better packaging. "The reason we call it 97 & Better is because if a perfect coffee experience scores 100 percent, by going to pre-ground [in the proprietary system], we've minimized the loss of quality to about 3 percent," Bombeck says.
In addition to simplifying the morning coffee routine, Bombeck hopes Saint Anthony's pre-ground coffee program will appeal to a wider audience of coffee drinkers. "There's the idea that it will make coffee more available to people who had not really considered it and open them up to specialty coffee in a way that they might not have had time for before."
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Q: Why didn't 1000BASE-TX gain more popularity than 1000BASE-T? 1000BASE-T uses all 8 wires in a twisted pair to both RX and TX at the same time. It does it using (what seems to me) a complicated process known as echo cancellation. Details here.
1000BASE-TX dedicates two pairs (four wires) in a Twisted Pair to TX only, and the other two pairs to RX only. Conceptually, this seems far simpler to implement and work with than the alternative.
My question is, why did 1000BASE-T become the de facto standard for Gigabit Ethernet? Why not implement the (apparently) simpler standard of 1000BASE-TX? Why didn't 1000BASE-TX gain more popularity than 1000BASE-T?
Wikipedia had this to say about it:

However, [1000BASE-TX] has been a commercial failure, likely due to the required Category 6 cabling and the rapidly falling cost of 1000BASE-T products.

But I was hoping for a more detailed explanation, or maybe alternative reasons entirely.

A: I'm not entirely certain of this, but given who advanced this 1000BASE-TX standard, namely TIA (aka the cable people, the standard being TIA-854) and not IEEE, I have the strong impression that it was largely a promotional exercise for Cat 6... a standard which is also defined by TIA. This impression was reinforced by reading how this standard was described as one of the first Cat 6 applications. I wasn't able to locate any vendor who made a PHY product for this 1000BASE-TX... although I've read in vague terms that something might have existed.
In other words, it seems stuff went like:

*

*TIA: hey PHY makers, we've made this standard for a faster cable and here's a PHY spec for making your Ethernet life easier using it: cuts the number of your transmitters and receivers in half (but each needs to be twice as fast).

*PHY vendors: crunch some numbers on potential sales of PHY for cables probably twice as expensive [back then] but giving the customer the same link speed and shrug at the potential sales. Don't invest in any R&D for this "golden opportunity".
In order for a PHY [standard] to have success, it needs commercial backing... from a PHY maker (not cable guys) In this case it seems none was really there.
It's worth noting that 100BASE-T4 vs 100BASE-TX wasn't entirely the same affair. At least there the latter had a bonus in terms of full-duplex operation. Also 100BASE-TX was actually part of IEEE802.3.
Even today (ok Dec 2014):

For budgeting purposes, and for the sake of this discussion, plan on Cat 6 costing roughly 30% more then cat 5e, and Cat 6A 30% more than Cat 6.

But at least nowadays the latter lets you run 10GBASE-T... up to 37m-55m on Cat 6 (exact max depends on nearby cables) and the usual 100m on Cat 6A. 10GBASE-T also uses all four pairs. There's not even a whiff of a "10GBASE-TX", by the way. Apparently those who design these PHY things concluded that more parallelism is preferable to faster clock... after a certain threshold. This is perhaps not unlike what happened with CPUs.
Also, this 2006 Broadcom presentation [on 10GBASE development] doesn't even mention the [2002 or so] 1000BASE-TX so the latter was probably a complete flop from the start.

Also from later slides of the same presentation, work on 10GBASE-T started in late 2002... so I think the IEEE efforts/focus went into that instead (rather than more gigE copper standards that apparently were not exciting for chip makers).
Oh yeah, the final nail[s] in the coffin are:

*

*incompatible with 1000BASE-T; 1000BASE-TX proposed to use TBI (8b/10b) encoding (same as GigE over fiber), whereas 1000BASE-T uses 4D-PAM5. So basically not inter-operable in any way at switch level without a dual PHY. I guess nobody wanted to make that.

*Probably incompatible with 100BASE-TX as well. Or at least there's no obvious provision for any sort of compatibility. 4D-PAM5 basically has a mode that uses only 3 voltage levels when it's not transmitting data (instead of 5 when it is), so that it can be compatible with MLT-3 used by 100BASE-TX. I don't see any effort in that direction in the 1000BASE-TX spec.

These are just my [semi-]educated guess[es].

A: I would say that it is a tradeoff between the price of interfaces and the price of using more expensive cables (and having to change the cables in buildings).

*

*100BASE-TX needs Cat5 cable and 62.5MHz bandwidth.

*1000BASE-T expects Cat5e cable and 125MHz bandwidth.

*1000BASE-TX needs Cat6 cable and 250MHz bandwidth.

Cat5e is certainly much cheaper than Cat6 and was installed for 100Mbps with the prospect of upgradability to 1Gpbs.
The inverse occurred between the Cat3 100BASE-T versus Cat5 100BASE-TX. 100BASE-TX won but the advanced encodings (which allows to reduce cable bandwidth) from 100BASE-T were eventually used in 1000BASE-T.

A: Application point of view, 1000BASE-TX usually a point to point link, packets need not be repeated, therefore no need for collision detection within the domain, just two pair wire, just CSMA part of media access. Used in Avionics.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Scott Thunes
Scott Thunes was born in Los Angeles in 1960. His family moved to the Bay Area when he was 8 and his older brother made him learn to play the bass so they could perform Beatles songs and the theme to the Batman TV show for their parents.
He played in his first band when he was 13, took music classes at his local junior college during his junior and senior years of high school (ages 15-17), and became a professional musician, fluent in the languages of written music, jazz, rock, classical, and the nascent but vibrant 'new wave' music.
In his early years, his older brother - as most of them do - turned Scott on to the music of Frank Zappa, specifically the early Mothers of Invention albums, even more specifically "Absolutely Free" and "We're Only In It For The Money" (which is still Scott's favorite musical work).
So when he turned 21 and auditioned for Frank's band, he was already very well-versed in the intellectual attitudes and necessary musical abilities for performing on stage with Frank.
He played bass (and synthesizer and sang some background vocals) with Frank for the 1981 North American Tour, the 1982 European Tour, 1984 World Tour, and finally, the ill-fated 1988 World tour, for which he 'broke up the band', according to the legends of the day.
He became rehearsal director for the 84 and 88 tours, organizing the band in Frank's absences and helping to arrange the songs.
He performed on Frank's Grammy-winning album "Jazz from Hell" and also on the #32 on the Billboard 'Hot 100' song "Valley Girl", eventually ending up on 21 Frank Zappa albums.
He later played bass with Frank's sons Dweezil (making 4 albums, and co-writing several songs) and Ahmet in the short-lived "Z" (which produced the album "Shampoohorn")
Since then, he has performed with the notorious punk band, FEAR (in 1993), Frank's ex-'stunt guitarist' Steve Vai (in 1994), quit music completely to raise a family and work in the then-burgeoning computer field, being drawn back in to music over several years with local bay area bands, and finally ending up back in the 'Zappa world' by performing two weeks in 2012 with Zappa Plays Zappa (which produced the album "F.O.H", the songs of which focus strongly on the Mothers of Inventions early years, allowing Scott to revisit these old memories with more mature and fresh ears)
In 2013 he performed electric bass in the on-stage rock band with the LA Philharmonic for the premiere of Frank's "200 Motels" in Los Angeles , and the following week with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Southbank Centre in London, UK.
in 2016 he performed electric bass in the on-stage rock band with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra
20-20 Holograms Putting A-List Talent That Draws Back On The Road Track 1Steve Martin • Wendy Dio • Jeff Pezzuti • Scott Thunes • Simon Wright • Ahmet Zappa


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Movies of the Soul
Where the Vampire Bat reviews worthy movies
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Divine Epic
Posted on April 6, 2013 July 18, 2015 by teny
There are a few characters we find difficult to forget. One of them might be that NYPD detective John McClane makes more than just an impact in a Los Angeles skyscraper. It was Die Hard and spanned four sequels, the last one being the most critically panned edition. The first of the series was one of those movies which ruled my childhood, and what Olympus Has Fallen managed to do is to remind me of that one. It is not really a bad thing, as Die Hard never really had a deserving sequel, and this one could have been the closest to being the same. There are terrorists of different nationalities, the setting and the type of building vary by a heavy margin and both the hostages and the redeemer are different, other than that, there might seem a similarity in style and the attitude of the hero in both these movies. With the support of the new technology and the experience gained by the new age movie makers, this one has almost become a worthy successor, not just by the skills, but also by divine providence. This movie's story is actually an opportunity to die hard, not just for the redeemer, but also for the terrorists – both sides have their own chances, as they have chosen to take the risk.
The name was the first thing to catch my attention. There is something "fallen", long time after I hear that word, for the second movie of Transformers had it in the name, and so do we hear it relating to the fallen angels of the firmament. But it is not someone who has fallen this time, for it is something. Just for a moment, forgetting the fact that Mount Olympus is also the name of a mountain in the Washington state, lets go to the other Mount Olympus whom we are more familiar about, the highest mountain in Greece, hailed in Greek mythology as the dwelling place of the Twelve Olympian gods of the ancient Greek world ruled over by the most powerful God of thunder and lightning, Zeus himself. According to the writing of the legendary writer Homer, Olympus was that great and divine that it was not shaken by winds nor was wet with rain, and never did snow fall upon it. So it was said about the abode of the twelve; Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Hermes, and here we have another Olympus, another seat of supreme power, the White House of the United States.
The hero of the story and another form of John McClane is Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), the lead Secret Service agent assigned with the United States President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) whose wife dies in an accident – an incident which Banning fails to prevent even as he manages to save the President's life. Eighteen months later, Banning works at the Treasury Department, not separated by the scars of the incident which blinded his senses. But he is still not separated from his skills. His office is not too far away from the White House and lives a quiet life with his wife Leah (Radha Mitchell) after being demoted. Meanwhile, during a meeting between the heads of the United States and South Korea, Korean-led guerrilla forces, aided by some people from the inside itself, launch a perfectly planned air and ground attack which surprises and even shocks the defence and leads to the capture of the White House. The ease with which they achieves this rather surprising, and the deaths which occur in this assault, especially of civilians is more of a thing of terror than strangeness.
Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker, where the South Korean prime minister is killed by the same terrorists. The attack has been lead by Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune), a wanted terrorist wishing for a reunification of Korea. He wishes to force the United States army to withdraw from Korea. He also wants to detonate all of America's nuclear weapons in their own soil and destroy the country by turning it into a nuclear wasteland, but for this, he will need a few access codes, and in achieving this, he will go to any limit, murder being just a simple thing of no significance. Meanwhile, Banning manages to get into the White House, and begins his own mission of saving the President's son who might be somewhere in the house and murdering the terrorists one by one before finally rescuing all the captives including the President himself. It is his miracle and his second chance given by fate on the way to redemption, his chance to become another John McClane, into which this character successfully transforms into. In the objective, he is aided by Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), the Speaker of the House and the Acting President through earphone.
Gerard Butler is at his best since his King Leonidas of 300; as he improves upon Gamer & unleashes the new action hero who is likable to most of the audience if not all of them. Mike Banning is the new John McClane, and there is no point in the movie where you can doubt it with full heart. He saves the day, and his world as well as of others, and he is alone in this job. He looks vulnerable on so many occasions, and is still strong throughout. He had his ups and downs in life and career. He has more courage and love for action than anybody else – he wishes to die hard. Radha Mitchell's role as his wife is limited, and Morgan Freeman's role is not that much as expected considering the posters. Rick Yune's villains is successful without doubt, not in the mission but with the audience. Aaron Eckhart's President works quite well. The best thing is that there is no silly romance, and even the screentime for married couple discussing future is pretty much low. There is no slowness in the movie, and even when the situation seem to calm down, there is a certain amount of thrilling factor ready to explode.
The movie can be termed as unrealistic and violent as most of the others of the same genre, but there are limits which the movie hasn't crossed, those which have contributed to the success of this movie for the common audience. Still the dose of patriotism and CGI might be a little high. The action and the blood reminds one of more than one first person shooters of the 2000s, for I shall not speak about 2010s and what is to come later. But, this is no computer game – still, the destruction is immense, not just with the bombing and shooting, but also with the two people of fearlessness on both sides, of good and evil, of saving and destroying. There might be less memorable dialogues in this one considering what one should be expecting, but the avoidance of unnecessary dialogues also contributes to the success of this movie, for it rests on Gerard Butler's character as what he is, rather than what he pretends to be, and what he appears to be. In that case, he is better than John McClane, even if not more interesting for the masses. The fall of the Olympus is one thing and the rise of the titan is another, and that titan in Butler as Banning, for he has to achieve what the Olympian gods couldn't, not by fighting them or himself, but by saving his own Olympus from the common outsider enemy.
As the upcoming movie White House Down also seems to deal with the same theme of a takeover of the White House, one has to wait and see which one ends up being superior. But for now, Olympus Has Fallen keeps the title of being the movie which has taken this theme to new heights. Even as it is more of a Die Hard happening in White House, there is no point where this can be seen as a thing of lesser energy or imagination. There has been no creativity which was left in the gutters with this movie, as it had that impressive style of taking the audience by surprise, at least in this part of the world where this is to be considered as a highly under-rated and a not much screened movie. The presence of the new 3D version of Jurassic Park and G. I. Joe: Retaliation's hesitation to leave might be the main reasons. But as even Life of Pi hasn't really left some of the theatres here, there is surely no surprise about. But the fact remains that it is time these movies get their due, even if they are not hyped enough and has no stars who are popular enough in this part of the world.
Release date: 22nd March 2013 (USA); 5th April 2013 (India)
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Cole Hauser, Ashley Judd, Melissa Leo, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell, Rick Yune
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Posted in Action, Adventure, English, ThrillerTagged Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Ashley Judd, Athena, Cole Hauser, Demeter, Dionysus, Dylan McDermott, fallen, g. i. joe, Gerard Butler, greece, greek mythology, Hephaestus, Hera, Hermes, Jurassic Park, Los Angeles, Melissa Leo, Morgan Freeman, mount olympus, NYPD, olympian, Poseidon, Radha Mitchell, Rick Yune, transformers, washington, White House Down, Zeus
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NEWS ( THE CIRCUS CAME TO TOWN LAST NIGHT FOR A TWO NIGHT'S STAY )
The Real Winner Of Last Night's Democratic Debate – "While it would appear that the mainstream media has crowned Senator Elizabeth Warren the winner of last night's first Democratic primary debate, on a more quantitative and objective level, it would seem there was another female candidate that stood out to the American audience. As Fox News reports, Tulsi Gabbard, an Army National Guard veteran who served in Iraq, grabbed the attention of the viewers every time she spoke about foreign policy and the military." – Tyler Durden – GABBARD MIGHT BE THE ONLY RATIONAL AND SANE DEMOCRAT RUNNING, TOO BAD SHE WILL BE REJECTED BY HER OWN PARTY!!!!!!
First poll has Tulsi Gabbard as the shock winner of the first Democratic debate and Beto O'Rourke as the clear loser – Ariel ZilberFirst poll has Tulsi Gabbard as the shock winner of the first Democratic debate and Beto O'Rourke as the clear loser – Ariel Zilber
With Warren getting so many debate questions, anybody want to believe the DNC hasn't got this rigged? – Monica Showalter
Dumb-ass Democrat Tim Ryan Blames Taliban for 9/11 – "The first "debate" between Democrat statists went as expected with one notable exception: Tulsi Gabbard "schooled" the idiotic Ohio "representative" Tim Ryan on Afghanistan and the Taliban." – Kurt Nimmo
The seven funniest moments at the Democrats' first debate – Thomas Lifson – THE FUNNIEST TO ME WAS WHEN THEY STARTED ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN SPANISH. I DON'T KNOW IF THEY THINK THIS COUNTRY IS MEXICO OR IF THEY ARE JUST TRYING TO GET THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT'S VOTES!!!!
First Democratic Debate, Summarized: – Caitlin Johnstone – EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trump Is Right about the Democratic Debate: Boring! – Jacob G. Hornberger
As Democrats Push a "Wealth Tax," Here's Why Other Countries Got Rid Of It – Daniel J. Mitchell
Candidates' Bad Ideas – "So many people want to be president. Unfortunately, many have terrible ideas." – John Stossel
Stickin' to His Guns? The NRA Helped Elect Bernie Sanders to Congress. Now He's Telling a Different Story. – Paul Heintz
Well whaddya know: Obama and Strzok secret connections are long and deep and dangerous – Ami Tiel
US War of Words on Iran Heads Toward Turning Hot – Stephen Lendman
Monsters Walk the Earth. Why These Three Countries Are the Real Troika of Evil – "Americans, Saudis and Israelis have become monsters in the eyes of the rest of the world even if in their own minds they are endowed with special privilege due to their being "Exceptional," "Chosen by God" or "Guardians of Mecca and Medina."" – Philip Giraldi – EXCELLENT ARTICLE!!!
Nuclear strike threat? Tehran says US has no other means to 'obliterate' Iran – "Blatantly threatening to launch a nuclear war against another country is not only illegal under international law, Iranian FM explained, but proves that President Trump does not think through the ramifications of his rhetoric. "There is a United Nations charter, and threat of wars is illegal," Javad Zarif told CNN paraphrasing Article 2.4 of the UN Charter, a day after President Trump spoke menacingly about "obliterating" Iran if the Islamic Republic endangers "anything American."" – RT
Russians Help Iranians Dig in as Final Battle Against Great Satan Looms – John Helmer
CIA Finances Another Group of Fraudsters: the Venezuelan 'Opposition' – Wayne Madsen
5G as a Globalist Tool -Renee Parsons
Twitter rolls out new guidelines for world leaders that could impact Trump's tweets – Lauren Feiner
The Propaganda Ministry Known as "the Free Press" – "Western peoples are largely unaware of the agendas of the national security state and ruling elites. People in all walks of life serve these agendas without knowing it. Those who try to inform them are usually dismissed as "conspiracy theorists." Obviously, there can be no democracy when the electorate is kept in the dark." – Paul Craig Roberts
Gowdy: These are the questions that Robert Mueller MUST be asked when he appears before House committee – Jon Dougherty
Where Did the 'Obstruction' Strategy Come From? (VIDEO) – "Efforts by members of Congress to advance the narrative that President Donald Trump "obstructed justice" have now replaced the disproven claims of Trump-Russia collusion. The public narrative of obstruction, however, originated prior to the conclusion of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller and his resulting report." – The Epoch Times
Brexit "Do or Die" Game Theory: Is Johnson Lying? Hunt? Ireland? EU? – Mish
Britain faces invasion of Asian Hornets that kill humans with one sting – "80 queens have already been found in the UK." – Henry Holloway
The United States of Google and the Rise of the 4th Reich – Dave Hodges
Project Veritas Banned By Vimeo After Uploading Undercover Google Exposé – Tyler Durden
Google and Wikipedia Team Together To Suppress Alternative Health Information – Brian Shilhavy
FACEBOOK'S LIBRA CRYPTOCURRENCY BETRAYS THE COMPANY'S TRUE AMBITIONS – "Talk about a milestone. It's like your little digital home is finally turning into its own … country. Yes, you guessed it, I'm talking about Facebook. And what I'm guessing is that this is exactly what Facebook wants to be. Not a company, a country." – Molly Wood
ALLEGED "STATE-BACKED HACKERS" TRANSFORMED A TELECOM GIANT INTO GLOBAL SPY SYSTEM – Mac Slavo
10 Quick Methods To Start Your Garden Today – Carmela Tyrell
U.S. Nuclear Target Map (Do You Live In a Death Zone?) – M.D. Creekmore
40 Lessons to Teach Your Kids Before They Leave Home – Daisy Luther
Post-TEOTWAWKI: Groups and Retreats, Pt. 1 – E.M.
The Real Reason Why The Fed Isn't Cutting Interest Rates – "Tightening liquidity and policy conditions into economic weakness is what central banks do to trigger chaos. But why would the Fed deliberately initiate a controlled demolition of the US economy? The bottom line is central banks are tools of the globalist elite. " – Brandon Smith – GOOD ARTICLE FROM BRANDON AS USUAL!!!!
Stranger Than Fiction – "Yesterday, the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced yet another settlement, both criminal and civil, for "spoofing" and market manipulation in COMEX precious metals, this time against Merrill Lynch, a unit of Bank of America. The infractions occurred hundreds of times starting at least in 2008 and continuing through 2014. Strangest of all is that the regulators are doing everything possible to avoid the 800 pound gorilla in the room – the real precious metals manipulation being run by JPMorgan since it acquired Bear Stearns in 2008." – Ted Butler
America's Adversaries Are Buying Gold Like A Nuke Is Going Off Tomorrow – Tyler Durden
Gold Standard Cometh In This The Asian Century (Part I) – "Jim Willie Interviews Mark O'Byrne of GoldCore about the coming Gold Standard. The 'Gold Standard' jigsaw: the global monetary pieces are falling into place as China quietly moves to re-establish some form of Gold Standard" – GoldCore
Europe Gives Up On Sound Money, Prepares To Join The Currency War – John Rubino
From Less-Splendid Housing Bubbles to Crushed Markets in America, June Update – Wolf Richter
Dangerous People: Central Bankers, Politicians and Bureaucrats – Peter Schiff
Hard Working Americans Sure Do See The Economy A Lot Differently Than The "Experts" Do – Michael Snyder
Proverbs 18:4 The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.


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Christian Lagata – Up and Around the Bend
UP AND AROUND THE BEND by Christian Lagata (Kursala + FUEGO BOOKS, 2015), BUY
Amongst black and white squares the subjects lies nearly within the square. Pale tones radiate through the pages as you get the sensation of heat with calm skies. People approach the maker, Christian Lagata, but then reside back to their lives. His search is never ending. Consistency reigns as objects make their way into the landscape, always found but never placed. The steady rhythm creates a song that quietly plays in the background.
A visual song.
We acclimatise to the surroundings as they become more prominent in our minds, slowly chipping away at how we see the environment around us. Quiet, never shouting, a man appears and shows a scar. The stitches repairing the skin, they are in a stage of recuperation. There are no sounds as they present themselves, as we all know the photograph is a silent object but an element of atmosphere builds. As the pages progress grey is ingrained in our minds.
The nature of the approach makes it a fascinating object. Built over many years, through maps and directions we receive his view and his route around the particular areas. Neutral in standpoint he is always staying on the side of truth but bends our perception of what order anything may be in. We do not know what time, day, year they were taken in, we have little context to withdraw our facts but we feel it. We feel..
Pixelated archives make their way into the middle of Up and Around The Bend. Completely away from the technicalities of framing and lighting. They are sketches from regular people, almost as if they have been lifted from online databases. They float there out of place but important in context. They suggest another way of seeing the areas through regular and you could argue 'normal' eyes.
The unique vision that comes across is acquired though hard work. Something we rarely touch upon when we talk about work. The work just appears and we don't think how or how long it took to make it. What went in to the research and how the ideas came about. That all stays silent.
Instead we are presented with a calming presence as you can almost feel the sand brush your ankles and you stand there in the desert like landscape, with the maker himself.
Their immersive qualities make it possible to always seem like you are a part of something you have just entered. With no prior knowledge or any sense of bearings. He leads the way through editing and the experience begins. This is the books greatest quality.
Although it's vague nature leaves a lot to the imagination, there is a clear linear path available if you look for it. Through design features, the map hugs the front of the book covering up imposing red letters introducing the work. The object itself becomes a guide to reading the work, if enough time is spent with it.
cargocollective.com/christianlagata
Written by Alexander Norton / Published 7 September 2015
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Ethann Fox, spiritual teacher and founder of the Flower of Life Center for Human Evolution and the Awake And Empowered Expo, always had a feeling that he had a gift with energy. From an early age and through his adult years in the business and financial world, he had an intense knowing that he could help people and never walked away from someone in need. Simultaneously, he walked the spiritual world, eventually becoming an accomplished astrologer and numerologist. Yet his logical, left brained mindset left him very skeptical of his energetic healing ability. He had dismissed many unusual and profound healing experiences as coincidence, until 1997 when a series of unmistakable events finally began to convince him. His belief was further confirmed upon meeting Barb Morey, a gifted aura reader who's abilities can be compared to those of the late, Edgar Cayce. What she saw in his aura that day sent Ethann on a quest to better understand his gift through a series of experiments and study groups within his Flower of Life organization. Suddenly, many of the unusual life experiences he had lived made complete sense.
What Ethann found is he is able to accept the karma and negative emotional energy from others without any adverse effects to himself. He is able to do this while raising the consciousness of entire groups of individuals at once and there seems to be a cumulative effect. Through these studies, he has also been able to measure permanent increases in consciousness and improvements in voice profile analysis of participants. Some people even have had dramatic improvements in health after only one visit. But the most consistent noticeable effect has been a steady increase in their level of happiness and ability to deal with turbulent circumstances in life with greater ease and inner peace. Now Ethann uses this divine gift to help others to live happier more fulfilling lives and to aid in the transition to a new world consciousness. After bringing his energy events to local and remote audiences around the globe, he is now offering a free monthly webcast.
At an Energy Transfer and Discourse webcast event, Ethann will talk about a variety of subjects in a broad range of topic areas including spirituality and consciousness, astrology, world events, health and longevity, and will take questions from attendees. But the real benefit to attendees is the energy that flows through him during the entire time. For about a half hour segment of the event, Ethann will sit quietly and increase the flow of energy to participants while asking them to direct their karma and negative energy toward him. In previous events, attendees have reported breakthroughs in their health and happiness as well as measurable changes in consciousness levels. Some even experience states of bliss. The effects of this energy on the lives and consciousness of those who attend his events are permanent and increase each time.
We are in a time of great changes in the world. Over the next several years, we will go through a period of transition from what was before to what will be the beginning of a new age on the Earth.
The future is quite bright and the greatest transition that we have seen in our present civilization is just around the corner. But first we must all go through this period of turbulent changes during which the old will pass away and the new will be born. It is the age of Heaven on Earth. We have already experienced the first buildup of pressures in the world and the resulting changes not only in the world but in our own personal lives. So how can we transition from here to there the best way possible and with the least suffering? For this purpose, Ethann is holding monthly Energy Transfer and Discourse webcast events. With the help of higher consciousness, we will let go of resistance and increase our spiritual vibration to increase happiness and to make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone. There is no charge and all are welcome.


Human remains unearthed in an Imperial Japanese Army shelter. Zensei Takaesu works on collecting remains in the shelter in the Maeda district of Urasoe.
A volunteer collecting remains of war dead unearthed ten sets of human remains in an Imperial Japanese Army shelter in the Maeda district of Urasoe on December 28.
Nine of them had teeth, creating the possibility for the researchers to collect DNA samples. Some of the items found have names on them, such as "Kuniyoshi" on a razor and "Araki" on a triangle ruler. This may assist in identifying the remains.
Takaesu started excavating from July after gaining permission from the landowners. He has worked collecting remains with 71 people helping him along the way. All of the remains had little damage. The passage of 68 years since the end of the war has seen about 180 centimeters of dirt build up in the shelter and the walls calcify. Takaesu plans to put the earth dug out of the shelter back within the year.
Maeda was the scene of some of the most significant and bloodiest fighting during the Battle of Okinawa. More than 60 percent of the Japanese soldiers killed in the battle died at the front line that ran from Kakazu to Shuri and included Maeda.
A razor bearing the name "Kuniyoshi" and the bones thought to be of its owner.


Germany School Holidays 2019-2020. Holidays are listed by Local Area / County, as well as on a school-level basis, where we allow schools to customise any additional days of holiday.
Providing dates for English, Welsh and Scottish schools. You can view term dates and holiday dates, print and share direct from the site, add plugins to your school website to countdown to the school holidays!
We save time for schools who can simply add INSET and occasional days to their calendar for parents and other stakeholders to view. Our website plugins allow you to embed your calendar and countdown widgets onto your school website.


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LuxuryTravel/Resorts & Spas
An Exquisite Escape to the Island of Anguilla at Zemi Beach House
ByJared Paul Stern Jul. 15th, 2021
Zemi Beach House
"We are re-opening at a very opportune time, as we are in the midst of a global travel resurgence, and already seeing strong occupancy for summer and beyond." Paulo Paias has a reason to be optimistic: he is the General Manager of one of the Caribbean's most desirable escapes, Zemi Beach House in Anguilla, which announced it would be re-opening on July 1st. Spearheading the re-opening along with Paias, is Zemi's new executive staff which includes Antoine Alsayah, Director of Sales & Marketing and Idalmis Hernandez, Senior Sales and Events Manager.
Situated in the Caribbean's Leeward Islands, Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory, and has the refined yet relaxed atmosphere that permeates former British colonies. Now part of LXR Hotels & Resorts, Hilton's collection of world-class luxury hotels, Zemi Beach House continues to be owned, operated and managed by the Goldstein Family of New York, who originally opened the property in 2016. Their hands-on, family-oriented approach is part of what makes the coveted resort so popular with the most discerning travelers.
Just this year, in addition to previous honors, the hotel was voted the No. 3 hotel in Anguilla by U.S. News & World Report. Set on six beautifully-landscaped acres, Zemi occupies a prized position on Shoal Bay Beach, widely recognized as one of the best white-sand beaches in the Caribbean, and boasts 1,000 feet of oceanfront. The boutique property pays tribute to Anguilla's native Arawak Indian heritage in various ways, and is named after religious stones, called "zemis," that were uncovered in an important Arawak cultural site nearby. The interior design of several of the public spaces and guest rooms and suites echoes this nod to tradition, in an airy, contemporary setting as imagined by the property's talented designers and architects.
One of the property's most impressive features is its three spectacular pools with cabanas for different levels of swimming or lounging. Other activities include a state-of-the-art fitness center, a grass tennis court, yoga sessions and beach volleyball. Best of all however is the Zemi Thai House Spa, one of the most enticing such features at any beach resort we've ever been to. Set in an authentic 300-year-old wooden house imported piece by piece from Thailand, it offers 15,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, and includes private treatment rooms, a sun deck for mud and salt body treatments, outdoor showers, a vitality pool, a wellness boutique, and a fresh juice bar in an ancient Thai rice barn featuring teas and cold-pressed juices made from fruits, herbs and plants from the spa's own garden.
Zemi Beach House's newly-appointed executive chef, Roberto Leoci is ready to welcome guests with new and refreshed menus for the property's two main restaurants, Stone and 20 Knots, two of its five F&B venues, in addition to new banquet, event and wedding menus. Stone is a fine dining restaurant serving seasonal, locally-sourced, "sea-to-table" cuisine alongside a well-curated wine list from the property's in-house sommelier. 20 Knots is a more casual "toes-in-the-sand" restaurant and beach bar with an international menu infused with the flavors of Latin America. Before or after dinner, a visit to the Rhum Room is a must.
One of the finest rum bars in the Caribbean, the elegantly-designed room offers more than 100 small-batch, single-estate rums that evoke the spirit of the region's 18th century sugarcane plantations. And rounding out the options are the casual Shoal Bay Zemi Beach Club, and the seaside Bohio Bar & Lounge, for cocktails, champagne and wines by the glass as well as live music on certain evenings. At the Rhum Room, which can be booked for private tastings and intimate dinners, a must-try is the Rhum Old Fashioned, which substitutes small batch rum for the traditional whiskey, and is made with a brown sugar cube, angostura bitters, and club soda, and comes garnished with an orange peel and half a vanilla pod.
Another popular cocktail at the resort is the Cucumber Refresh, combining Ketel One vodka, Cointreau, lime juice, simple syrup, and grenadine, garnished with fresh cucumber. "A hotel favorite, the Cucumber Refresh, is the perfect beverage for guests to enjoy after a long day of traveling to the island as its natural ingredients cool you down and refresh your mind for vacation mode," Paias says.
With the LXR Hotels & Resorts connection, Zemi Beach House is now part of Hilton Honors, the award-winning guest-loyalty program for Hilton's 18 distinct hotel brands, allowing members more options for traveling there. Those who book directly have access to instant benefits, including a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount, free standard Wi-Fi, and access to the Hilton Honors mobile app. Zemi is perfectly in keeping with LXR's stated mission to "provide sophisticated, luxury experiences in places where discerning guests want to travel."
The hotel has also partnered with private charter company Tradewind Aviation for its reopening, and has launched the Jetset to Barefoot Luxury package for those who truly wish to travel in style and fly directly to the island instead of taking a sea shuttle from St. Maarten. This includes an exclusive onboard amenity kit when you arrive for your chartered flight to Anguilla; a private cocktail-and-canapés evening reception at the Thai House Spa upon arrival; daily à la carte breakfast; a complimentary rum flight at the Rhum Room; a complimentary three-course dinner on the beach; and a $200 resort credit per day, with the booking of a two-bedroom residence.
Jared Paul Stern
Jared Paul Stern, JustLuxe's Editor-at-Large, is the Executive Editor of Maxim magazine and has written for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the New York Times' T magazine, GQ, WWD, Vogue, New York magazine, Details, Hamptons magazine, Playboy, BlackBook, the New York Post, Man of the World, and Bergdorf Goodman magazine among others. The founding editor of the Page Six magazine, he has al...(Read More)
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