text:
EUROPEAN ANNALS of DENTAL SCIENCES
European Annals of Dental Sciences publishes three issues annually.
EADS is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
This journal has been first introduced in 1972 under the name of "Ankara Üniversitesi Diş Hekimliği Fakültesi Dergisi / Ankara University Faculty of Dentistry Journal". The publication language was Turkish but abstracts were also published in English. In 2021, the title was changed to "European Annals of Dental Sciences" and the publication language to English.
The European Annals of Dental Sciences aims to promote quality researches in dentistry and respective related fields to the international scientific community to share and create a continuous training platform for contribution to the scientific and social communication of the academics. It is the official journal of the Ankara University, Faculty of Dentistry. The European Annals of Dental Sciences serves both researchers and practicing clinicians by providing a forum for the presentation and discussion of evidence-based research, treatment concepts, techniques, and procedures.
The objective of the European Annals of Dental Sciences is to facilitate the effective worldwide transmission of new and innovative research and knowledge related to dental, oral, and facial areas. The journal publishes original scientific articles presenting information that is new and relevant to dentistry as well as clinical reports and systematic reviews.
Ownership & Management
European Annals of Dental Sciences is published by the Ankara University Faculty of Dentistry. Appointed Dean of the Faculty is also the owner of the journal. As the Dean of the Faculty, he/she is also responsible for appointing the Editorial Board Members who actively manage the journal.
Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
Responsibilities of Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief is responsible for making the final decision on the status of papers submitted to the journal and has full authority over the editorial content and the timing of publication. She/he is expected to cooperate in any legal investigation including, but not limited to, insult, defamation, copyright infringement, plagiarism regarding the content of the journal. Editorial decisions should not be affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion of the authors. Editing and/or publishing decisions should not be determined by the policies of governments or other agencies outside of the journal itself. Any information regarding a properly submitted paper/manuscript/document is confidential and should not be shared with anyone other than the corresponding author(s), reviewer(s), potential reviewer(s), editorial board member(s), and the publisher(s). Materials and/or data included in the rejected documents or which are under review cannot be used for Editor-in-Chief's or Editorial Board members' own research. Editor-in-Chief should obtain necessary disclosure and conflict of interest statements from the author(s). Editors should avoid conflicts of interest. If she/he participates in a scientific debate within his/her journal, she/he should arrange for some other qualified person to take editorial responsibility. Editor-in-Chief should protect the integrity of the published records by issuing corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct. An editor should take necessary measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a published paper, in conjunction with the publisher.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
This journal use double blind independent peer-review system. Reviewers contribute to the editorial process by assisting authors to improve their work and by providing their opinion on the suitability of the papers for publication in a timely manner. Reviewers should promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief and excuse themselves from the process if they will not be able to complete the review by the time frame agreed upon or think that they are not qualified to provide suggestions. A manuscript sent for evaluation should be treated as a confidential document and its content should not be discussed with others. Reviewers should not seek the identity of the authors. Reviewers cannot use the information they gained by reviewing a manuscript for their own research purposes until it is published. Reviewers should provide their objective criticism based on scientifically and/or logically proven background. Personal comments are not appropriate. All comments and/or questions directed to the authors should be stated clearly and concisely. Reviewers should be alert for inadequate citation of previous work and similarity between the manuscript under consideration and published papers. In order to avoid any potential conflict of interest, reviewers should immediately contact the Editor-in-Chief and refuse to take part in the editorial process if the manuscript they agreed to examine is closely related to their ongoing research projects which can result in competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connection with the authors.
Responsibilities of Authors
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their research as well as its objective and comprehensible presentation. All necessary data, technical details and references should be included in the submission to ensure reproducibility. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are not acceptable. Raw data of the research should be kept available and easily accessible, as the authors may be asked to provide additional information during and after the editorial process. All submitted documents should present the result of an entirely original work done by author(s). If the author(s) has/have used the work and/or words of others, these should be properly cited and/or quoted. Manuscripts describing essentially the same research should not be submitted to more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and must be avoided at all times. Ethical approvals and/or written consents for research studies involving animal or human subjects should have been properly obtained before the experiments and necessary details such as the name of the organization which has granted the approval and project number should be mentioned in the manuscript. All authors should disclose their source of funding and/or financial support for their projects that might be perceived as potential conflict of interest. Authorship should be limited to person(s) who had significantly contributed to the conception, design, execution and interpretation of the project. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Other persons who are not qualified as authors but have had significant contribution should be acknowledged or listed. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission. If an author discovers a significant error and inaccuracy in her/his published work and/or submitted manuscript, it is her/his responsibility to immediately notify the Editor-in-Chief and cooperate in the retraction or correction process of the paper.
© 2021 by EADS creative team


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Entelea arborescens or whau is a species of malvaceous tree endemic to New Zealand. E. arborescens is the only species in the genus Entelea. A shrub or small tree to 6 m with large lime-like leaves giving a tropical appearance, whau grows in low forest along the coast of the North Island and the northern tip of the South Island. The dry fruit capsules are very distinctly brown and covered with spines. The common name whau is a Māori word that appears to derive from the common Polynesian word for hibiscus, particularly Hibiscus tiliaceus, which it superficially resembles. Alternate names include 'New Zealand mulberry', 'corkwood' and 'evergreen lime'.

Description
Within the Malvaceae, Entelea is placed within tribe Sparrmannieae and subfamily Grewioideae, a position confirmed by ndhF DNA sequence data. As is the case with most malvaceous plants, E. arborescens has alternate, stipulate foliage. The bright green, obliquely cordate leaves are large (10 to 20 cm long), and have from 5 to 7 nerves and long petioles. The flowers are borne profusely between early spring and mid-summer. They have 4 or 5 sepals and 4 or 5 petals. They are 2 cm in diameter, scented, white, with a central tuft of densely-packed yellow stamens. The brown seed capsules, which are 1½ cm long, bear 2½ cm long rigid bristles.

Whau has very lightweight wood, rivalling balsa (Ochroma pyramidale) for lightness, and less dense than cork. The wood was used by Māori for the floats of fishing nets and for similar items. The pale brown wood forms several bands of unlignified pith-like parenchyma per year. This is a characteristic shared with related plants including Sparrmannia, and causes there to be no distinct growth rings in the wood.

Distribution
The species is extremely light-demanding and is unable to live under an unbroken canopy. It cannot tolerate even moderate cold, strong wind, or a very dry or ill-drained soil. Its occurrence is sporadic even in undisturbed coastal forest. In lowland rain-forest whau is rare, found only beside streams in valleys near the coast where open ground and sufficient warmth and light are found.

Although whau occurs here and there in Nelson and Marlborough in the South Island, occurrence is local south of Lat. 38°. The plant has never been found more than 8 km. from the sea (Waitākere Stream, near Auckland), nor higher than 350 m. Extreme minimum temperatures for localities where Entelea really thrives are always, so far as the records show, well above 0 °C.

Ecology
In its natural habitat the tree depends mainly for success upon its prodigious seed production, the remarkably long life of the seed, and, after germination, rapid growth. In forest, whau is essentially a transient, opportunist species. The characteristics which cause it to be effective in such a role include: its ability to quickly occupy ground where light has been temporarily let into the forest; its tremendous rate of growth; its ability to rapidly produce fruit; its enormous seed production, especially as it is about to die; and the fact that its seeds are capable of germinating as soon as the capsules open.
Whau seeds can be stimulated into growth by fire after lying on the surface of the ground for many years. Having germinated, whau establishes itself with striking rapidity. In a study on Taranga (Hen Island), in favourable conditions whau was often the first new plant to appear, followed by Urtica ferox (tree nettle), Macropiper excelsum (kawakawa), Coprosma macrocarpa (coastal karamu) and Coprosma lucida (shiny karamu); forest-dominating trees were slower to come in – Corynocarpus (karaka) most quickly, followed by Beilschmiedia tawa (tawa).

Cultivation
Preferring a rich moist loam, whau can be grown outdoors in sun or light shade in mild climates, or in a conservatory or glasshouse in cold climates. It is intolerant of drought and is able to withstand barely 3 °C of frost. Propagation is from seed, which is available commercially. It also strikes readily from hardwood cuttings about 20–30 cm long with leaves and twigs removed. Thrust deep into gritty damp soil in black PB bags and covered with a wet sack or newspaper for a week to keep moist; new leaves will appear after about three weeks. Best left a few months until strong re-growth is obvious before transplanting.

References

 L. H. Millener, 'A Study of Entelea arborescens R. Br. (Whau): Part I. Ecology'. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 76, 1946–47, pp. 267–288.

Grewioideae
Monotypic Malvales genera
Trees of New Zealand
Endemic flora of New Zealand

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Press down security cap for use in the shower.
All skin types (except sensitive skins) In particular for acne, & congested, aged sun-damaged skins.
Apply to wet skin after cleansing with asap gentle cleansing gel or asap daily facial cleanser. Massage gently with a Konjac sponge Black or Green for excellent results. Rinse thoroughly with asap deluxe facial cloth.
Gentle enough for everyday use on most skin types.


text:
Q: Errno 13 Permission Denied when using Tkinter's asksaveasfile I am making a tkinter gui for school worksheet generation. The program works perfectly on my own PC, but when tested on another's as a .exe file, it sometimes throws the following error (only sometimes??):
Exception in Tkinter callback
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "tkinter\__init__.py", line 1921, in _call_
  File "MathGen.py", line 350, in create_doc
  File "tkinter\filedialog.py", line 436, in asksaveasfile
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'C:/Users/steph/Documents/test.docx'

The code relating to the save function:
for i in range(questnum):
    document.add_paragraph(f'{i + 1}. {questions[i]}\n\n')
f = asksaveasfile(initialfile='Untitled.pdf', defaultextension="*.*", filetype=[('Word Document', '*.docx')])
document.save(f.name)
self.final_screen()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Having 2 small children means we need to put a lot of our display decoration and every day objects out of reach for them. We have the classic book shelves on both side of the fireplace in our living room and we keep putting all the interesting and small objects higher and higher so they can's reach them. We also have shelves in the children's room – too keep all the cuddly toys (their collection grows day by day and all the stuffy toys are apparently equally very important to them) off the floor space. And whilst shelving systems save a lots of space, it can also be decorative and part of the look. Here's my ideas how to do this.
A metal grid combined with storage pockets can give home to your everyday objects like stationary – installed on the wall. A few different sized organisers that attach to the grid for storing anything you see fit. It can be installed in the kitchen for utensils or around the working desk in your office. Painting it to the colour matching to the room's features will complete the look.
Dedicating a wall for your house plants will make that corner of the room look like a little oasis. Place the big post on the floor and add some shelves and hanging basket on the wall to really utilise your surfaces.
Buy a spiral shelf display or floating shelves to make it stand out and for a bit of unusual touch. You can mix up the items or keep them only for one type of objects like books, they will still make a decorative and stylish addition to any room.
Wether you prefer a sleek, minimalist design or you like to play around with colours, your shelving systems can be perfectly matched to any style. Paint them, scrap them, make them look vintage or shabby chic if you like. You can use different materials too.
Oh I'm glad! Good luck with the decorating.
Oh I love this! Looks so cool and arty. I have so many little nic-nacs around my house, but I'm pregnant so soon going to have to move them onto shelves like this! They look so cool and homely.
Maybe you should just give it a go and see how it goes? I feel like that though sometimes!
This shelving is very nice. You can never have enough storage and display space in the home , these are perfect.
They are a good space saver, aren't they?


text:
Q: nginx and php-fpm permission I have a problem with nginx / php-fpm permissions.
I run a website in /var/www/clients/client1/web1/web, the owner:group of that folder and subfolders is web1:client1. When I try to create or upload a file with a PHP script in that folder i get a Permission Denied error because the new file get's created as www-data:www-data and it can't write to the folder (I have tested this by using the 777 permission).
How can I make it so nginx / php-fpm can write to those folders using web1:client1 and not www-data:www-data?
php-fpm pool file for that site:
[web1]

listen = /var/lib/php5-fpm/web1.sock
listen.owner = web1
listen.group = client1
listen.mode = 0660

user = web1
group = client1

pm = dynamic pm.max_children = 10
pm.start_servers = 2
pm.min_spare_servers = 1
pm.max_spare_servers = 5
pm.max_requests = 0

chdir = /

php_admin_value[open_basedir] = /var/www/clients/client1/web1/web:/var/www/clients/client1/web1/private:/var/www/clients/client1/web1/tmp:/usr/share/php5:/usr/share/php:/tmp:/usr/share/phpmyadmin:/etc/phpmyadmin:/var/lib/phpmyadmin
php_admin_value[session.save_path] = /var/www/clients/client1/web1/tmp
php_admin_value[upload_tmp_dir] = /var/www/clients/client1/web1/tmp


Works great for bottling day. The Master Vintner™ mini wine corker gives you versatility and durability all in the palm of your hand.
This Mini Wine Corker may not look like much, but it is a great hand corker. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in durability and functionality. The Master Vintner Mini Corker works with sizes #7 and #8 corks of all compositions. Applying direct force to the cork ensures a proper seal to keep your wine protected. We would recommend using a rubber mallet to help insert the cork into the bottle. See our wine corker page for other options.
Works well with a rubber mallet thumps them right in just be sure to place your operation on a sturdy surface.moisten your corks with sanitizer.then they fit like a glove.
Soaking the corks in very hot water really helps. They slipped right in with out much effort.
I can't imagine anybody who weighs less than 175lbs getting this thing to plug the cork in! I can put my whole weight and still not get the cork in the bottle. It takes some force and maybe a rubber mallet would help, if you have two people. That said I've used it for many bottles and it hasn't broke itself or the cork. If you want to add your sweat along with the wine to the bottle, then this tough corker is for you! Simple but effective.
got this with a bottling kit that came with bottles, the corker, and some corks. Soaked the corks while I was working on the bottling process, maybe not long enough or hot enough water, but this was kind of difficult to use. I eded up using a hammer to get the corks in with this thing, which did the job eventually. When I went to open a bottle, the cork ended up breaking.... not sure if it is related, though.
I used it on a very limited batch basis and it worked fine. I can certainly see where a mechanical corker with more leverage would be better for more extensive use.
This came with my kit. As a woman bottling her first wine, I have to say that this corker was next to impossible for me to use. I simply don't have the strength.
I do, however, have a hammer. Not the gentlest way to get this done, will be looking into methods that require less "man power."
If you get this with a kit, may as well use it. But I would just splurge for the next best corker. This is difficult to use and requires a bit of strength.
How to use the mini corker?
BEST ANSWER: I put the smaller part over the cork then used the larger part as a kind of hammer to plunge it into the bottle i wouldn't buy this again!
Wet the rim of the bottle with a bit of water to add lubrication.
Throw it away and get a real one, that's what I did.


text:
Blizzard Boston Devs Blame Boss For Torpedoing Union [Update]
Ethan Gach
A person looks at a Dragon flying across from them in art for World of Warcraft.
Workers at Proletariat Studio, also known as Blizzard Boston, won't be unionizing after all. The Communications Workers of America Union announced on Tuesday that it will pull its petition for a union election, and blames Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak for treating workers' organizing efforts as a personal betrayal and holding a series of meetings to undermine them.
"CWA has withdrawn its request for a representation election at Activision Blizzard's Proletariat studio," a spokesperson wrote in a press release. "Unfortunately, Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak chose to follow Activision Blizzard's lead and responded to the workers' desire to form a union with confrontational tactics. Like many founders, he took the workers' concerns as a personal attack and held a series of meetings that demoralized and disempowered the group, making a free and fair election impossible."
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A spokesperson for Activision Blizzard called these allegations false and said Sivak was simply defending his employees rights to express their opinion on unionization in an anonymous vote. "We appreciate that the CWA has unilaterally decided to withdraw its petition in response to employee feedback," media relations VP Joe Christinat told Kotaku in an email. "As we've stated, we welcomed the opportunity for each employee to safely express their preferences through a confidential vote. Our team at Proletariat does extraordinary work every day. They remain focused on working with their teams to continue to make Proletariat a place where all can grow, thrive, and be part of an amazing team and culture."
Workers at Proletariat, which were organizing with CWA under the name Proletariat Workers Alliance, would have been the third union within Activision Blizzard if their bid was successful. The group announced their intentions last month, claiming a supermajority had already signed union cards in support. After Activision Blizzard refused to voluntarily recognize the union, however, an election with the National Labor Relations board was required. It now appears CWA and Proletariat Workers Alliance don't feel they have the necessary support to win a majority vote.
The groups claim that's at least in part due to meetings held by Sivak aimed at undermining their efforts. "Unfortunately, our CEO responded by holding meetings which framed the conversation as a personal betrayal, instead [of] respecting our right to join together to protect ourselves and have a seat at the table, especially after Activision Blizzard acquired Proletariat," Proletariat software engineer, Dustin Yost, said in a statement. "Those meetings took their toll."
Oddly, despite these accusations, CWA does not appear to be pursuing any union busting charges with the NLRB in this instance. That's in stark contrast to other union fights at places like Starbucks and Amazon where accusations of interference by management precipitated high-profile legal challenges. CWA has also pursued union busting charges against Activision Blizzard in the past.
Proletariat was founded by Sivak and four others after Zynga closed its Boston studio in 2012. It was funded by venture capital to work on mobile games before later pivoting to console releases with free-to-play shooter Spellbreak. It was then acquired by Activision Blizzard last summer to work on World of Warcraft, beginning with the recently released Dragonflight expansion.
Unlike the company's Raven Software and Blizzard Albany studios, whose quality assurance departments successfully unionized last year, Proletariat workers were attempting to unionize the entire studio, including all developers outside of those in senior management roles. That was a much more ambitious effort, and it's unclear how much disagreements over who would ultimately be included in the proposed bargaining unit contributed to the effort's unraveling. Axios also previously reported that some current employees felt the union push had happened too quickly.
"While we are withdrawing our union election petition today, and truly hope that management will prioritize the concerns that led us to organize, I still believe that a union is the best way for workers in our industry to ensure our voices are being heard," Yost said.
Update 1/25/23 5:57 p.m. ET: More devs at Proletariat spoke up on Twitter today pushing back on the CWA's statement and pointing to a complex series of disagreements within the studio over the unionization push.
Artist Kat Donlan told Axios the villainizing of Sivak was "laughably fabricated" and the studio's meetings on the subject were "neutral and supportive." She continued on Twitter, "I'm pro-labor, and I wanted a vote because the OC was not transparent with us. It's hard to work together with your peers when the CWA is fanning the flames they lit."
Meanwhile, art director Damon Iannuzzelli laid out his version of events in a long thread, describing disagreements over which employees would be included or excluded from the union, and said some staff "didn't like CWA's adversarial communication tactics that publicly attacked coworkers and the studio's reputation."
Yost also weighed in, tweeting that some nuance was missing from the original statement provided via the CWA, and that the Proletariat team is "full of folks with very complex PoVs."
Update 1/24/23 3:50 p.m. ET: Added statement from Activision Blizzard.
Update 1/24/23 4:27 p.m. ET: Added further clarification from Activision Blizzard.
More from Kotaku
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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PACKING THE FISH FEED INTO DIFFERENTS SIZE BAGS ,FROM 5KG TO 50KG/BAG FREELY .


version for the Linux platform?
possibility, we'll look at both sides of the coin.
which needs to be tackled.
and Excel, since they've become the de facto Office suites under Windows.
underlying OS. They're happy as long as their favorite application runs!
users to switch to Linux.
Does Microsoft have enough reasons to support an alternative platform?
making inroads into the desktop segment.
System Division and spin them off as separate companies.


Patients with continuous flow Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD) and concomitant Cardiac Implantable Electrical Devices (CIED) are prone for device and lead-related complications requiring intervention.
We sought to describe the incidence and characteristics of CIED-related procedures and complications and their association with survival in a multicenter LVAD cohort.
We retrospectively reviewed data on 480 LVAD patients with a CIED from 5 centers. Of the 480, 235 patients had accurate long-term CIED follow-up data were used for this analysis. Kaplan Meier analysis was used to assess survival differences between patients with CIED-related complications versus those who did not.
Of 235 patients with an LVAD and a CIED (Age 58±13, 80% male), 130 had a CRT-D and 105 had ICD only. During a median LVAD follow-up of 692 days, 103 patients required a CIED generator replacement with CRT-D patients having a significantly higher rate of generator replacement compared to the ICD only group (68[52%] vs 35[33%], p=0.003). A CIED or lead-related complication occurred in 36 (28%) of CRT-D patients and 16 (15%) of the ICD patients (p=0.06). 20 (15%) patients in the CRT-D group and 14 (13%) in the ICD group underwent lead removal or extraction during follow-up (p=0.5). Both the CRT-D and ICD groups had comparable incidences of pocket hematoma (8% vs 5%), pocket and/or lead infection (9% vs 4%), and lead malfunction (8% vs 9%). Kaplan Meier analysis showed no significant survival difference between those who had a CIED-related complication versus those who did not (log rank p= 0.7).
CIED related procedures are common in LVAD patients. Compared to ICD only, continued CRT-D post-LVAD resulted in a significantly higher number of generator changes and showed a trend towards higher device or lead related complications. CIED-related complications were not associated with reduced survival.


text:
This Portfolio (the0hawk)
Art Prompts
Apple iOS.
Mother Earth's gift
The utopian misery
At some point, we all have wished our lives were perfect, right? Wish again...
Insanity of Humanity
When you do the same thing repeatedly expecting different results.
Almost Springtime in the North
musing on being cold.
The Box in the Corner (Play)
by BScholl
Rated: E · Script/Play · Other · #1847565
The Box in the Corner -- The Play
Created: February 11th, 2012 at 5:15pm
Modified: October 23rd, 2013 at 2:13pm
Paging: Previous Item · Next Item
The Box in the Corner – The Play
Based upon the short story:
The Box in the Corner (13+)
A woman discovers something missing. (3 EDITOR'S PICK & HON. MENTION)
#1628020 by BScholl
Setting -- a typical small nursing home in the U.S. midwest (a region that changes seasons). The residents are mostly old with varying maladies, most being physical in this particular wing of the home. Residents are on a normal schedule of eating, activities, and physical therapy. Most also have medications to take.
Lighting -- normal for inside a nursing home. Two windows -- one in the dining area and one in Patty's bedroom play a role in time movement.
Sound -- Sounds will be important in setting the mood of each mini-scene. These need to be vivid and part of Patty's imagining of the events from the book.
Props -- A counter, several tables make up the left side of the stage. This is where the residents gather to socialize, eat, get visitors, and do activities. The right side of the stage is Patty's room and will double as the church and bathrooms in Sam's scene. Other props will be book, boxes, various completion stages of the quilt, quilting supplies, wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, etc. Typical of what you'd see in a nursing home.
Style -- Issues dealing with the elderly in general. Most residents being quite pleasant, but a few being difficult/stuck in their ways or even bitter about being there. Most have friends within the home and congregate/talk together. No extreme behavioral issues, but physical and sentimentality are very apparent in manners and discussions. (Showing family photos, discussing past family affairs and the like)
Leonard -- An orderly who always gets assigned the 'grunt' work of the place. Disorganized, bumbling, lumbering personality who always seems to be busy, but never quite getting anything accomplished.
Stacey -- A typical caregiver who is overworked yet seems to find the joy in her job when she can. A caring, curious personality who likes routine and sticks to it.
Patty -- a rich sentimental old woman who finds comfort in the little independence afforded to her. Somewhat quiet, but loves to hear the stories of the other residents and their families. Pleasant and accommodating personality who likes to read.
Harry -- a crotchety old man, set in his ways who thinks highly of his son. He is loyal to a fault, but also is temperamental and dislikes being in the home in general, but thinks the world of Patty.
Charlie -- A handsome successful young man (Harry's son) who is busy, but cordial. He is task oriented and dependable. Very pragmatic in his approach. Has a tinge of guilt leaving Harry in a nursing home.
Residents -- Vary from loud to quiet. From grouchy to congenial. They have various physical ailments.
Dark scene. Sounds of Leonard lifting and grunting and scooting something. A light fixes on the entrance to Patty's room and gets steadily brighter. Leonard lets out a another grunt or two and then emerges from Patty's room. He wipes his brow with a hanky and walks off stage.
Leonard totes another box across the stage. He sticks it against a wall. Totes another one on stage and places it in another spot.
A voice behind him offstage: "I want all of this junk out of here, Leonard."
Leonard: "Right away Mr. Thomas. I'm on it. It'll be cleaned out of here by tomorrow."
Mr. Thomas (still off stage): "It had better be all gone by this time tomorrow. That community garage sale was months ago. I just want it gone, you understand?"
Leonard: "I understand." Mumbles and turns to the audience, "I understand that I get to lug this stuff around and find somewhere to haul it off to. Like this place is a warehouse or somethin'." (Turns and looks around) "All this junk and nowhere to put it. Leonard -- I says to myself -- you need a better job. This one's gonna break yer back and you never get used to the smell in here." (Keeps mumbling and rambling a bit...)"
He takes another box and places it in Patty's bedroom corner.
Mr. Thomas: "Leonard!"
Leonard: "I'm coming. I'm coming." He turns to look at the box and throws his hand at it. "I'll get it all later. Man just works me to death! Leonard get this. Leonard get that." (Keeps mumbling) He exits quickly.
(Music) Light comes up slowly. Patty is sleeping in bed. An slightly open window with wind blowing swaying the curtains.
(Birds tweeting.)
Mrs. Jenkins stirs and yawns, enjoys the sunshine through the nearby window. She takes her walker and goes near the window when she notices the box.
She picks up a large "scrapbook" type book out of the box and sits down with it and begins leafing through it for a minute, stops on a page and reads. Smiles, then laughs out loud.
Enter Stacey. She cleans and dusts several things and folds a few towels and such. Patty keeps thumbing through the book. She looks up a time or two to notice what Stacey is doing, but goes back to reading. Stacey breaks the silence as she finishes folding and putting them in Patty's closet. She closes the closet door.
Stacey: "Hello, Ms. Jenkins. How are you today?"
Patty Jenkins: "I'm ok, Stacey. A little stiff as usual, my dear."
Stacey: "Patty, I hope I'm half as spry as you at 77 years old."
Patty: "I'm not certain you could call me spry (chuckles). My bones don't tell me I'm spry. My eyes don't tell me I'm spry. My hip doesn't tell me..."
Stacey: "Oh, Mrs. Jenkins (flippantly waves hand at her and giggles, then looks up and peers at the book. Walks over and points at it.) What's that you're reading?"
Patty: "Just a book."
Stacey: "New one?"
Patty: "Yes it is. I've read a couple of pages already."
Stacey: "Well, looks like you've got yourself something to do for a while. By the thickness of that thing, it'll be for a long while." (Smiles big)
Patty: "Yes. Perhaps. It's kind of cluttering up my tiny little space here, but it's sure nice to have something to do." She places the book on the bed and ponders. She looks up. "Is Harry up yet?"
Stacey: "Didn't see him. But you know how he is. He's up with the chickens."
Patty picks back up the the book and examines the cover. Stacey helps Patty to her feet and to her walker then she makes the bed. After her last few chores of laying out some meds, she turns back to Patty who is smiling with signs of reminiscing on her face.
Stacey: "I'll see you at breakfast Ms. Jenkins."
Patty: "Yes. 7:30 sharp. You know I like to be punctual. It takes me a while, but I like to go myself. Makes me feel good."
Stacey: "Oh, I know. You'll get noooo help from me. (smiles big) I've got lots of work to do anyways today. I'll set up the corner table for you to look out the window with Harry as usual."
Patty: "You are such a dear. I'll be along in about half an hour."
Stacey: "Of course. I'll tell Harry. Bye now."
Patty places the book in the little basket in the front of her walker. The scene darkens while the left side of the stage becomes brighter.
Three residents around a breakfast table.
Patty walks into the picture with a walker. She stops and listens...
Resident #1: "My granddaughter was so cute the other day. They sent me a video of her running down the hill at the park. You know the one at the far end of the walking track. She had a fistful of dandelions and came racing down toward her mama. It wasn't until she was right up close that you could see her little nose all covered in yellow. I could hear my daughter just laughing.
Resident #2: "Oh, that is funny. Reminds me of the time my son and his wife took his daughter to the park and they were on the swings. He was pushing her higher and higher with her a giggling all the while. My son was giving all he could with every push and she'd fly into the air. That's when, Rhonda -- that's my son's wife -- chimed in with 'That's high enough now'. It wasn't but fifteen minutes later that my son was pushing her again and she yells out to her father 'Push me high enough, Daddy!'
(Residents all laugh. Patty smiles broadly, but looks saddened afterward. She starts making her way to where Harry sits.)
Resident #3: "High enough, eh? Quite a scene. Quite a scene. My only daughter lives far away with her husband in the military. They've moved so many times that I've lost track. She's expecting their first child at the age of 44! Only a few months away now. They got me a prepaid phone with that new-fangled texting feature on it. I'll never use such a thing. Just a bunch of silliness. My arthritis and pushing all those buttons!?"
Resident #2: "Now, now. I'll help you out. That there is a smart phone. They got all kinds of little programs on them. You'll be gushing about that new little grandbaby in no time flat, and showing us all videos. Of course, he won't compare to mine, but not every grandparent can have grandchildren as pretty and perfect as mine."
Resident #1: (Rolls eyes) "Not as cute as my granddaughter. I can tell you that!
Resident #3: "Balderdash. I'm no good with those things."
Resident #2: "It's easy. My five year old grandson can figure it out. I KNOW you can. You're just being too hard on yourself. It isn't as hard as you think."
Resident #3: "I hope they send me a video or two. I sure do miss them. I guess I've got nothing but time to figure it out. You say it's easy huh?"
Resident #2: "Harry figured it out. (points in the background at the corner table with their thumb)"
Resident #3: (A quizzical 'really?' type look) "Now I don't feel so bad. If he can do it..."
Harry: (Gruff) "Hey! Those little phone things are harder than they look. Tiny buttons. No screen. Don't have much volume either."
Resident #1: (Intentionally loud) "That's because you're half deaf!"
Harry: "Humph! Like I'm the only one in this place!"
Patty slides into the picture with her walker "It's true and you know it. You old geezer." She arranges herself across from Harry.
Harry looks at Resident #1 and glances across at Patty. "Wow. You two are something. Calling me an old geezer in a rest home. What's next? You gonna tell me the sky is blue? Or grass is green? Or maybe cars drive on roads?"
Resident #1 shakes head and turns to the others at their table. They begin speaking in mumbled tones -- unintelligible to the audience.
Scene IV
Patty is at the corner table with Harold across from her. He sips coffee and reads a newspaper. She has the big book and occasionally eats a bite of her eggs. Stacey talks to the other residents and brings them food.
Harold (hard of hearing -- speaks a bit loud): "What's that you got there?"
Patty: "Just a book. It's quite interesting."
Harold: "Not much for big books. I'll take my newspaper any time. Looks like the President is about to approve the budget that those sharks in Congress finally passed. Bunch of idiots up there in Washington if you ask me. I ought to write another letter to those buffoons."
Patty: "You know I don't care much about politics, Harold."
Harold: "What's that you say?" Leaning forward.
Patty: "I don't much care for politics." (louder)
Harold: He smiles. "Better than that old book. At least this (points at newspaper) affects our lives. That's probably some flight of fancy. Probably some romantic jibber-jabber."
Patty: "Stop it you old coot. You just go back to your paper. I'll go back to my reading. They're going to do whatever they want anyways. It doesn't matter what we say."
Harold: "Hmmmph. I guess. Still doesn't hurt to be informed. You should read some real news. Never know. You might get to liking it." (Harold pushes his glasses down and looks over them directly at her)
Patty turns her attention back to the book and smiles and nods. After a few minutes, Harold places his paper on the table and taps his finger a few times to get Patty's attention. His look changes to a more serious one.
Patty: "What Harold?"
Harold: "Patty. (pausing) There's something I've been meaning to tell you. I just don't know how."
Patty: "Well, go ahead. What is it?"
Harold: Harold looks down and twirls his finger on the table. "Well.... uh... My son, Charlie, is coming by at the end of the week."
Patty: "That's delightful. It's funny how he calls me his step-mom and all."
Harold: "Yes. I know. I'm an 'Uncle' to about half the residents' kids here. Some visit regular and others like Charlie come but a couple times a year, but at least he comes. (with a finger in the air) At least he comes."
Patty: "Yes, usually at big holidays. He's quite the handsome young man. I've heard he looks a lot like you when you were his age. What's the occasion for Charlie this time?"
Harold: (Looks down) "Well. There's just no easy way to say this.
Patty: "Harold?" (concerned)
Harold: "He's transferring me to another nursing home. Says they have better this and... better that. Plus it is closer to him and I can see my grandson a bit more."
Patty: "Oh." (Dejected) "I see." She stares out the window.
Harold: "Been meaning to tell you. I've known for a week now." (long silence) "... I'll really miss having breakfast with you." Harold fiddles with a corner of the paper. "I'll really... really miss it."
Patty: "I understand. I will too." (quietly)
They sit in silence for a few moments. Stacey meanders over.
Stacey: "How's everything over here?"
Harold: "Not too good. I just told Patty that I'm leaving."
Stacey pats Patty on the back.
Stacey: "We're all here for you. You can take part in a few more activities with the group. You won't miss old Harry here a bit. You'll see."
Patty: "I think I'd like to go back to my room now."
Stacey: "Sure. Looks like you're nearly done anyways. Harry, take care of yourself."
Harold: "What's that?"
Stacey (a bit louder): "I said take care of yourself."
Harold: "What about my hair?"
Stacey (louder still): "No. I said take care of yourself.
Harold: "Oh. You too."
Stacey retrieves a wheelchair. She helps Patty up and into it and wheels her back to her room where she transfers her onto her bed with the book in her lap. Stacey leaves and Patty gets up with her walker and goes over to the box. She pulls out a baseball jersey and lays it on the edge of the bed facing the audience. She holds up a picture tucked between the pages of the book. She smiles and nods and looks back and forth between the jersey and picture.
Scene V
Spotlight side scene. Young boy dressed in the same jersey, stands with his hands on his knees and a baseball mitt on his hand.
Announcer: "Here we are in a one-run ball game. The Tigers are up by one at 8-7. The Cubbies are at the plate. A lot is on the line as one of these teams will go on to the playoffs. The other will go home."
Ump voice: "Strike one"
Announcer: "Close one there. The ump calls a strike. 0-1 count. Two outs and runners on second a third. A single likely sends the Cubbies home with the win. An out and the Tigers are the victors."
Ump voice: "Ball"
Announcer: "Oooh. Looks like the batter, Caleb Hester, a .320 hitter this season checked his swing on that one. If you don't like this game folks you don't like baseball."
The young boy pounds his mitt a few times and looks antsy. He crouches down into the same stance as before.
Announcer: "That one got away from the pitcher there. The runs can't advance though as the catcher makes a nice block on the play. The batter digs in and awaits the next pitch."
Ump voice: "Steeeeee-rike two"
Announcer: "I don't think the batter liked that call but it was very close. Looked to be a tad outside though. That makes the count 2-2 and the crowd is on pins and needles."
(Crack – Crowd noise arises)
The boy reacts and starts running back looking up .
Announcer: "It's a long drive back into centerfield. The fielder has a bead on it and it running like crazy! He dives and bangs into the fence!"
The boy looks dazed and struggles to his feet. Crowd "ooohs" at the smash into the fence.
Announcer: "Is he alright? Does he have it? The ump runs out as the runners race home!"
The boy looks down into his mitt and pulls out a gleaming white baseball and grins. He jumps up and down in pure excitement as the scene fades to black.
Announcer: "The ump gives the out sign! He's got it! He made the catch! Absolutely amazing!"
Patty holds up the shirt as the first scene goes dark too.
Scene VI
Patty sits at the corner table with Harold. He reads his paper. She has the book. Harold places the paper on the table and leans forward a bit.
Harold: "This is my last day. Charlie comes to get me any time. I'll stay at his place for two weeks and transfer to Springfield Manor down in New Bree."
Patty looks up.
Patty: "I'll miss you." A long pause. "You've been a good companion for thirteen years here, Harold. I'm sure Charlie is doing what's best for you."
Harold: "Truth be told I'd rather stay, but Charlie foots the bill and well, I think financially it makes sense for me to go to New Bree." Harold pats her hand.
Patty: "It's OK. I'll be OK. I'm thinking about taking up knitting or quilting to pass the time."
Harold: "Quilting? Didn't you say you and your mother did that when you were little?"
Patty: "Yes. We had the time with it. Cutting out cloth into squares. I'd sit and watch her. She'd stick her fingers with the needle. She'd let out a yelp, but she'd go right back to it. Not sure I would have endured that much pain and work."
Harold: "I bet you'd make a fine quilt."
Charlie enters the scene.
Patty: "Hello, Charlie."
Charlie: "Hello, Ms. Patty." (He hugs her) "How's my favorite step-mom doing?"
Patty: "Oh, please. I'd never marry an old codger like your father."
Harold: "Hey, now! (All chuckle) I'm as young as I feel and I don't feel too bad. Just this hip causes me some issues."
Charlie: "We've got pretty much everything packed. Margie and the kids are out in the car. So, we'd best get going." He helps get his father to his feet.
Harold: "Guess this is good-bye, Patty. Been real nice. You'll get along well… I'll try to write a bit. May even get on that confounded computer they have there or one of those smart phones." Harold gives her a hug in her chair. She nods.
Patty: "Good-bye." (crying) "Go on. I'll be fine."
Harold: "Yeah." Harold turns and starts shuffling toward the door.
Charlie: "Take care Patty. Make a new friend."
Patty: "Oh, I'm sure my kids will visit me." She lays her hand on the book.
Harold: "What's that? What did she say?" (looking at Charlie)
Charlie: "Nothing about you. I just said to make a new friend and all. Her kids will keep her company."
Harold: "What? But she doesn't...."
Charlie: (interrupting) "Come on now, Dad. We have to go."
Harold: "But…. Oh all right. Margie and the grandkids are in the car, huh?"
Charlie: "Yes. They're dying to see you. It's been a long time. Jake even has a girl friend now. (He turns and waves) Good-bye all."
Several of the residents wave and pipe up "Bye Harold." "See ya" etc.
Patty lays the book in her lap and wheels herself to her room still crying.
Scene VII
Patty over at the box pulls out a frilly dress and lays it (facing the audience) across the bed. She sits in a rocker and begins to read the book.
Spotlight of secondary scene to the left. A young girl stands fidgeting and pacing. A woman (back to the audience with same hairdo, height, weight as Patty) grabs her and starts fixing and smoothing one the ruffles on her dress.
Maria: "Mommy?"
Mother: "Yes, dear."
Maria: "Do I have to go out there?"
Mother: "I suppose you don't have to, but you certainly would disappoint Ms. Roberson. She picked you special for the solo."
(applause in the background and some music starts)
Mother: "Sounds like it's about to start. Your song is next."
Maria: "I know."
Mother: "You'll do just fine. Your father and I are so proud of you. Plus you sing like an angel."
Maria fidgeted more. "Mommy."
Mother: "Yes, dear." She smiles and looked into that tiny face.
Maria: "What if I mess up?" Her feet tap in antsy anticipation
Mother: "Oh, honey. You'll do fine. You're my girl after all. Plus you have a wonderful voice."
Maria: "I don't want to go. They will laugh if I mess up."
Mother: "Now, Maria. Mrs. Roberson is counting on you. She told me that you have a great voice. I'll tell you what. You know that perfume that mommy just got that you like?"
Maria: "Uh, huh."
Mother: "I'll let you wear it for the rest of the day, but you have to be a big girl and go out there and sing. Sing like I know you can."
Maria grinned briefly and meekly lifted her eyes to meet her mother's. "Ok. But don't let Billy Ruiz come near me. That would just send him over the edge. He already tries to kiss me at recess." Patty couldn't help but laugh at the image in her mind.
"Ohhhh, Maria. I love you little girl. Now, go out there and make me proud." She hugs Maria tight.
Girl walks off stage and a large applause. The mother holds a kerchief to her face and walks off (not revealing her face).
The secondary scene fades.
Patty makes her way over to the bed and picks up the dress. She holds it to her face.
She whispers loudly: "I can still smell the perfume."
Scenery change over to "church" backdrop to the right.
Scene VIII
(Back in the dining hall. Patty sits in the corner next to the window alone. She watches as several residents receive visitors for Easter. Several hearty laughs and smiles. A small child plays some kind of board game with another resident. Patty watches, listens, and occasionally stares out the window.)
She picks up the book as the left scene fades. She pulls out a broad striped shirt and lays it across the table toward the audience
"Oh, no." Patty said aloud. "I didn't realize this was… " Her voiced trailed off. "I just… ". Her hands covered her mouth. The shock on her face clear. "That was so funny!" She held up a small orange and black, broad-striped shirt and laughed.
She begins to read and the right scene lights up as a woman walks to the edge of the stage holding hands with a mischievous little boy dressed in a broad striped shirt. A small room that says "Restrooms" and another "Sanctuary" sign with an arrow pointing to the darker side of the stage. A door separates the two scenes. A church hymn is sung in the background (Rock of Ages)
Sam was no more than three, and like most small boys his size, full of mischief and energy. Laura, the music director's wife, had toddler duty at the church that day. Sam was his usual self, and played seemingly with all the toys in the nursery, all at the same time. Laura had her hands full that day with Sam and five other toddlers, Sam being the oldest. She enlisted the help of one of the teenagers, Sherry. Even with the extra help it proved to be a difficult day. The inevitable came.
Laura: (Talking to someone off-stage right) "Sherry?"
Sherry: (off stage) "Yeah."
Laura: "I'm taking Sam to the restroom. You think you can handle the toddlers for a few minutes?"
Sherry: "Not sure. They're all over the place today! Hurry back! Jacob get off that table!"
Laura smiles and talks directly to the audience: "Tell me about it! And I had to pick their leader to take to the bathroom!"
Sam: "Miss Laura?"
Laura: "Yes, Sam." Laura chimed back as all experienced pre-school workers do.
Sam: "I really need to go to the bathroom." Sam's brown eyes batted back at Laura.
Laura: "Ok. I'll take you." (stepping toward the restrooms and starting to reach for the handle)
Sam crossed his arms and gave her a look. "I can do it. I'm a big boy."
Laura: "Oh. I'm sure you are." Laura smiled down at him.
Sam: "I hear pastor Nay-Nay singing."
Laura: "Why yes, Sam. He's my husband. He does sing so well. Next is the preacher. Now, you get on in there and be a big boy!"
Sam: "OK." Sam runs, opens the door, and scoots in.
Laura waited. And waited. He had been in there a long time.
Laura: "He is a big boy." She talks to the audience. "I'll give him a few more minutes. Besides, it's nice to have left Sherry back there with the other kids. (A loud cry from stage right). She smiles. Laura wanders up and down the hall -- waiting.
Laura: "He sure is taking his time," She whispered to herself. She goes over to the doors. The hymn ends and the preacher starts as she listens through the doors. A sermon moans on in the background about unexpected events and how God works through them.
Sam opens the restroom doors, throws off his broad striped shirt, holding a full roll of toilet paper, and streaks past her in two blinks of an eye dressed only in his underwear -- right into the the sanctuary.
The sermons stops with a pregnant pause.
Laura: "Ohhhh, nooooooooo!"
Giggles at first from stage left and then full wild laughter. Laura rushes in. There stood Sam, naked, with a roll of toilet paper in one hand and only a mischievous grin to wear.
"Mommy! I'm a big boy!" He cried out.
She scooped him up and darted to the door. Sam throws the toilet paper roll close to his shirt as Laura exits stage left. Laughter fades and the right scene fades with it. The left scene gets brighter.
Patty stops reading and picks up the broad striped shirt. She smiles and chuckles.
Patty: "Stacey?"
Stacey weaves through the other residents still chatting and playing games with their relatives.
Stacey: "Yes, Patty?"
Patty: "I need to make a phone call, Dear."
Stacey: "Well, this is unusual. Who are you going to call?"
Patty: "I need to contact my aunt. Dear me.... she must be nearly 90 by now! We'd best hurry."
Stacey laughs. "Oh, Mrs. Jenkins, you always know how to make me laugh. But why do you need to contact her?"
Patty: "She knows all about quilting. She can tell me just what kind of thread to use and I'm certain she has the needles and such. I do hope we can reach her."
Stacey: "That's a wonderful idea. This will certainly take your mind off of Harold leaving."
Patty: "Yes, I want to make the quilt for my children."
Stacey looks oddly at her. "Your children? You certainly haven't spoken of them much. Do they live nearby?"
Patty: "Very close, my Dear. Very close. (She lays her hand on the book). Now let's get to that phone."
Stacey goes to the counter and retrieves a phone and hands it to her. "Here you are."
Patty: "Thank you." She 'dials' in the air.
Stacey: "What are you doing?"
Patty: "Trying to recall her number. It's called having a senior moment, my dear. You'll understand in about forty years."
Stacey: (chuckles) "Oh."
Patty: "I believe that's it." Mumbling to herself. She dials. "Hello?"..... "Christina! How are you?" .... "This is your aunt Patty.... No, no. On your mother's side, dear..... Her sister. Right.... Right..... Is your mother around? Oh, sleeping? Well, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor. Does your mother still have her quilting supplies? Marvelous! .... yes, I am going to make a quilt... excellent. You know how to get to Farnsdale Nursing Home? No, no in Brandenburg.... I know it's a long way.... Ship them? I sure would like to visit with you. I understand. Yes. You can come then? This next Tuesday? That would be fine.... Give my love to your mother. Bye, love."
Stacey: "That's wonderful, Ms. Patty."
Leonard: "What's up, Stacey?"
Stacey: "Just letting Mrs. Jenkins here use the phone. Sounds like her niece is paying a visit."
Patty: "Yes, and bringing the quilting supplies I need to make my quilt."
Leonard: "That's great, Ms. Jenkins. Been a while since you had a visitor."
Patty: "Yes, I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to start cutting out the squares right away. I should get as many as I can ready. Perhaps she'll stay and sew a few with me."
Leonard: "Hey, Ms. Jenkins. Did I leave one of them boxes in your room? I've got to drop them off at goodwill today."
Patty: (Eyes widen and she seems a bit panicked) "A box?" (She looks at the book and back at him) "No. I don't think so. No boxes in my room that I don't want."
Leonard: "Great. That's one more thing off my list. Mr. Thomas has been on me 'bout getting my chores done. He's...."
(off stage) Mr. Thomas: "Leonard! Get in here!"
Leonard shakes his head. "See! I gots to do everything around here. Leonard, carry this. Leonard, wheel this patient here. Leonard, change this bedpan...." Walks off muttering.
Stacey: "What a character."
Patty: "He's a good guy. Hard worker too."
Stacey: "Patty, what are you going to use as your cloth? Your niece is only bringing the needle and thread stuff."
Patty: "That's easy, my dear. I'm making the quilt from my kids' clothes."
Stacey: "That will be really neat."
Patty: "I hope so."
Stacey: "I can hardly wait to see it! It will be the talk of the residents. That is such a neat idea."
Patty: "I'll work on it as soon as my niece drops off those supplies. I remember making quilts with my mother when I was a little girl."
Stacey: "Is your mother still alive?"
Patty: "Oh, no. She died almost twenty years ago."
Stacey: "That's too bad. Your kids will be thrilled though. How many do you have?"
Patty: "Four all together. The quilt is more for me. Motherhood and all."
Stacey: "I understand. I'll let you know as soon as she drops it all off."
Patty: "Thank you, Stacey."
Scene IX
Scene goes dark. A young woman with a large bag of quilting supplies stands at the counter. Stacey smiles and nods. She points to Patty's room. She holds up the bag and motions to her to follow, but the niece shakes her head and glances at her watch. Stacey beckons her to follow, but again she checks her watch and points. She waves toward the door and then points at it. Stacey shakes her head.
Stacey: "I'll be sure your aunt gets this. A shame you couldn't stay."
Niece: "Sorry. But I have to go. Say hello to Aunt Patty for me."
Stacey: "Will do."
Niece leaves. Stacey puts the quilting supplies next to the box. Patty is sleeping but arouses at the noise.
Stacey: "Yes, Ms. Jenkins. It's me."
Patty: "What are you doing in here? You know I don't need help to breakfast."
Stacey: "I wouldn't dream of it. I was just dropping off these quilting supplies. Your niece just dropped them off."
Patty: (Brightens up) "Is she still here? I'd love to see her."
Stacey: "Afraid not. She had to go. Seemed to be a busy lady."
Patty: "Oh. (saddened and looking down at the floor). I see. I'm sure she is."
Stacey: "You get ready now. I had Carl the cook fix you an extra special breakfast -- blueberry muffins."
Patty: "You are too good to me Stacey. Just like Maria."
Stacey: "Maria?"
Patty: "My daughter. (Glances at the book and seems to reminisce) She made the best muffins on her thirteenth birthday."
Stacey: "Ok. Well, there's the supplies. I need to get back to work."
Patty: "Of course. "I'll be along in about..."
Stacey: (walks toward the door and looks over her shoulder)... a half an hour. I know. I know...."
Patty smiles.
She gathers her things together and places the book, a few pieces of clothes, and quilt supplies in the basket on her walker. She makes her way to the dining hall at the table near the window. She begins to sew.
(Patty is sewing the quilt. Two other residents sit with her at a table. Stacey flits about getting everything ready for lunch. Leonard lugs a few tables around and sets them up.)
Resident #1: "My son Eddie just took a new job at that hi-tech company Google. He has achieved so much. I think he's making over $100,000 now."
Resident #2: " Oh, isn't he the one that stopped by over Memorial Day weekend."
Resident #1: "The very one. I am so proud of him."
Patty: "He is a handsome one too. Just like my Timmy and Sam. "
(Residents look at each other in puzzlement.)
Resident #2: "My granddaughter just got the lead in the school play and she's only a freshman."
Resident #1: "What play are they doing?"
Resident #2: "Wizard of Oz. She gets to play Dorothy."
Patty: "Maria got to sing a solo. She was so nervous. I remember it like it was yesterday. She looked so pretty in that dress."
Resident #1: "Maria?"
Patty: "My daughter silly. She was always such a precocious child. But one that became so used to being on stage and being in front of an audience."
Resident #1: "You've never mentioned a daughter before, Patty."
Patty: "Doesn't mean I don't have one."
Resident #2: "Sorry. She didn't mean anything by it."
Patty: "Oh, I know. No worries. She was so cute. Reminded me of Shirley Temple."
Resident #1: "Being a parent sure does have its rewards."
Resident #2: "Yes. Heartaches too."
Patty: "I know exactly what you're saying."
(They all smile and nod.)
Resident #1: "We'd best get up to there to get the fresh food. You do not want those green beans they mix in later from a few days ago."
Resident #2: "For sure. I'll go with you. You coming Patty?"
Patty: "No, I'll just stay here and sew."
Resident #2: "All right."
Both residents go up to the serving line while Patty remains behind.
(Scene should be about 5 minutes long. Alternate between food servings, light and dark, people talking to Patty, Patty sitting in various spots but always with the quilt sewing, Stacey stopping by, and Leonard lumbering by and waving/occasionally talking to Patty. They mime-talk to her and her to them as shows the progress she'd made. The seasons change outside the windows from spring to fall. Residents have little fans to show it is hot. The window opens with a breeze blowing in. The quilt takes shape with the final scene showing fall leaves outside with a few drifting in the window and fall on the table where Patty sits.
(Should be about 5 or 6 of these brief scenes.)
Scene goes dark.
Scene X
Patty sits in the chair next to her bed, near the window, and the box. She holds up the quilt with one patch remaining. She peers into the box and grabs a small piece of clothing -- a onesie -- from it. She trembles and tears stream down her cheeks. She clutches it to her cheek and mops her tears with it.
Patty: "James. My little angel."
Spotlight secondary scene to the left.
The doctor and nurse went about their business. The nurse prepared the wash basin, while the doctor checked her progress.
Nurse: "Eight centimeters dilated -- Time to push."
Mother: "Arrrrggggh. Ooooohhhhh. Awwwww!!! Something is wrong!"
The nurse holds her hand tight.
Doctor: "Push!" the doctor said in a stern professional voice. "You have to push! He's almost out." The doctor waits patiently as he stared at the head. The forceps were firmly in his hands. "Just a bit more!"
The doctor latched onto the head and helped pull the baby out. James finally emerges. "It's a boy." He stated clinically. "Nurse! Emergency procedures on a code blue infant, stat!" The nurse rushed to the doctor's side, wrapped up the baby, and placed the limp child upon a waiting bed atop a gurney. Off they whisked him.
Mother: "What's wrong?" She asked frantically. "Where are you taking him? What's wrong!?! What's wrong!?!" She screamed. "Oh, my God. Please. He's dead isn't he? Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Her hands covered her face at the mere thought.
Doctor: "No. He's not dead, but he isn't breathing. We need to take him to intensive care right away. This is very serious. The emergency physician, Dr. Nettles will be working on your child while I wrap up here."
Mother: "What's going to happen to him?" Her mind was swimming. "James. My little James." Reaches her hand after the child.
Doctor: "They'll do all they can for him. Dr. Nettles is an excellent doctor. Just try to be calm as we wait for the afterbirth."
Mother: "Where did they take my baby!?!"
Scene XI
Mother lying in bed with tall man (husband) next to her. The doctor stands on the other side of the bed talking to them.
Doctor: "The next 24 hours will tell the tale. Your little boy has a severe infection. His lungs just aren't very strong. He is breathing, but with some help."
Mother: "No." (She buries her face in her husband's chest. He consoles her. She looks up at the nurse.) "Can we see him? I want to hold him. Please."
Doctor: "In the morning..."
Scene darkens.
Scene XII
Mother and Father stand looking into nursery.
Mother: "At least he isn't all blue any more."
Father: "Yeah."
Mother: "Oh, God. I want to hold him. He's just so small."
Father: "He does look very frail. I'm not sure they'll let us."
Mother: "Can you ask? We've waited for a day. Surely they will let us hold our little boy."
Father walks off stage. Mother waits impatiently.
Nurse and Father come on stage. Nurse is holding the baby.
Nurse: "The doctor says you can hold him now. I'm afraid he only has maybe an hour left. So, you might as well love him as much as you can. There's just nothing we can do. His lungs are just too weak."
Mother holds out her hands and takes the child from the nurse. She looks down at him.
Nurse: "I'm so, so sorry."
Mother and Father huddle around the child facing the audience.
Mother: "Such a lovely little onesie."
Father: "Our little angel."
They go over and sit at the table. Both admire the child for a long time. The mother suddenly becomes alarmed.
Mother: "Go get the doctor!"
Father leaves quickly and the doctor rushes on stage. He takes the child and does a few tests and puts his stethoscope to the child. He shakes his head.
Doctor: "He's gone. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
Mother and Father hug tight (both sobbing).
(Lights fade out)
Scene XIII
That scene fades while Patty on the other side brightens. She clutches the onesie to her cheek and sobs (in a similar manner to the last scene). She lays down on the bed, pulls the quilt up over her (showing that the clothing patches are sewn in it), stills crying she puts the onesie back to her cheek
Patty: "James." She states.
She falls asleep and then dies.
Scene XIV
Leonard grunted as he lugged a box of stuff out of the room and into the hall. He returned to the room and grabbed an old book and a quilt and proceeded to drop them into the box. Stacy saunters in for her 10 am shift.
Leonard: "Hey, Stace."
Stacey" "Hey, Len. What's going on?"
Leonard: "Oh, Mrs. Jenkins died late last night." He paused and glanced into the room. "Went peacefully as I understand it."
Stacey: "Patty Jenkins? The rich old woman in the private room?" Her voice filled with surprise.
Leonard: "Yeah. Found her this morning." He turned and brought out a small box of shoes. A pair of fuzzy slippers lay on top.
Stacey: "Ohhhh, that's such a shame." Stacy shook her head in lament. "She'd been very happy recently. It's been so hard since Harry left. She was working hard on that quilt. It looked like it was coming along quite nicely. I never even knew she could quilt until recently. I remember when her niece stopped in to give her all the quilting supplies a few months ago."
Leonard: "Yeah, she was wrapped up in it, but look." He nodded toward the box, "It wasn't quite finished." He pointed to the box with a corner of the quilt hanging over the side.
Stacy walked over, pulled out the quilt, and held it up to the light streaming from the room's open window.
Stacey: "There is a piece missing, isn't there?" She shook her head. "Maybe I could finish it." She examined the patches, and peered into the box.
Harry comes in. Charlie is in the background.
Harry: "Came as quick as I could. I heard about Patty."
Stacey: "Yes. Such a shame. She died last night."
Harry shakes head and looks sad.
Stacey looks down in the box. "What's this?"
Leonard: "Oh, she was holding that when she died. Evidently, it meant something to her."
Stacey: "Looks like a onesie."
Harry and Leonard: "A what?"
Stacey: "You know. A onesie. A newborn's outfit." Stacy dropped the quilt, grabbed it and held it up. "Our Little Angel," she stated. "Oh and what's this?" She spied the old book. She picked it up and felt the worn leather binding. The faded letters and cracked cover dulled in the fluorescent lighting.
Harry: "Looks old."
Stacey: "It looks like a diary."
Harry: "Where did this box come from?" Harry pushes and pokes the side.
Leonard: "Oh, I recognize it. This is one of those boxes that was brought in about a year ago. It was left over from our community garage sale for the nursing center. You know. Kind of a fund raiser. People donated all kinds of stuff and the proceeds went to the care of the residents. I guess someone (looks guilty for a moment) just stuck the box, clothes, and that old book in her room, and never went back for it." Leonard wiped the sweat from his brow onto his sleeve.
Stacy tapped the cover a few times and stared at Leonard, then Harry.
Stacey: "Yes. I remember now. Patty carried this book around with her for months on end. She constantly had it with her. As I recall, she laughed and smiled a lot, and even cried at times when I'd see her reading it. This book meant a lot to her."
She cracked open the book with reverence.
Stacey: "Oh, my God. It is a diary."
Stacy stiffened, and read the inside flap. "This diary belongs to Katherine Boggs. Dedicated to my children, (read slowly) Timothy, Maria, Samuel, and our little angel, James." Stacy's brow crinkled, and she looked at Harry and Leonard.
Leonard: "Who's that?"
Stacey: "Don't know." She flipped through a few pages, paused, and then looked up. "Has her next of kin been notified? You know, Patty's kids?"
Harry: "Patty? She didn't have any children. She wasn't able to have them."
Stacey: "But she talked about them."
Harry: "I'm telling you. She couldn't have kids. She had a full hysterectomy. No way she could have them."
Stacey: "So whose clothes did she make this quilt from?"
(All of them pause to think.)
Leonard: "I think she borrowed them."
Stacey: "Of course! She became so engrossed in this diary that these kids became her kids!"
(Harry and Leonard nod in agreement.)
Stacey walks to the front of the stage with the book. Spotlight on her.
(To be read slowly and deliberately with great empathy.)
"Patty Jenkins may not have had any real children, but to her they were as real as yours, or mine. She found, in an old dusty book, tucked away in a box in the corner with a stack of kids' clothes, something that she'd never had before. (pause) Experienced something she'd never known before -- being a mother. She felt all the joy, laughter, and heartache any parent has ever known. All through the eyes of someone -- Katherine Boggs -- that she'd never met. Her diary (holds up diary) was a window to a world Patty could have only imagined before. If we could all be so lucky as to experience our most cherished dreams, we could understand what life is really all about."
Based upon the short story
© Copyright 2012 BScholl (the0hawk at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.


text:
Arab-Israeli conflict Begin Egypt Israel Mubarak Palestinians Sadat
Mubarak and the alternate universe of Israel's vicious critics
Events in Egypt have reinforced my sense of living in a different universe than the one inhabited by Israel's most vicious critics (let's call them IMVCs) in the blogosphere. Oh, we have a few things in common. Like them, I am inspired by the Egyptian crowds demanding the overthrow of a tyrant. Like them, I am appalled by the continuing Israeli occupation and settlement expansion and the sufferings of the Palestinian people. But they still appear to reside in a kind of alternate reality, harboring assumptions that do not apply to the universe I know. Here are two of those assumptions:
1-The Israel lobby in the U.S. is the only reason America has propped up Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak and his corrupt regime for so long. This assumption derives from a longtime, reflexive habit of blaming JEWS for what it is wrong with the world.
Early on, when the Egyptian tumult was first getting televised and the U.S. was struggling to formulate a public stance, the increasingly influential Philip Weiss weighed in on MondoWeiss (and then Salon):
Barack Obama's failure to honor the Egyptian protesters in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, and Joe Biden's cold negativity toward them last night (they're not up against a dictator, we can't encourage them, this is not the awakening of eastern Europe) reveal the unwavering influence of the Israel lobby in our public life, and how conservative that influence is.
The administration's statements reveal that it prefers stability in Egypt, no matter the cost to civil rights and human rights there, to freedom for Arab people. And why? Because Egyptian stability preserves the Israeli status quo, in which Israel gets to imprison West Bank protesters without a peep from the U.S. government and gets to destroy civilians in Gaza again without a peep from the alleged change-agent in the White House.
Weiss jumped the gun. The night after that post, Obama warned Mubarak to avoid violence and stop censoring digital media, sending at least some encouraging signals to the Egyptian protestors. Obama could have given them more, but if the Mubarak-loving Israel lobby were so powerful, surely he would have kept his mouth shut.
What is revealing here is Weiss' eagerness to believe that Israel and its support base in the U.S. was the SOLE explanation for American policies, instead of a very important explanation. Apparently he could not imagine any other reason for U.S. support of Mubarak. There was no mention of the perceived need for stability in order to free up the Suez Canal, which is the conduit for billions of dollars worth of oil and American military vessels. There was nothing about the perceived American need to fight al-Qaeda and violent Islamic extremists (who would exist without Israel), and the plain fact that Mubarak's regime helps in this regard. There was nothing about growing investments from America's private sector in the region. The actual, complex calculus employed by American foreign policy decision makers is inconvenient to Weiss, as it is mitigating evidence against the inherent evil of Zionist influence.
Now, it is one thing to claim that the perceived benefits of supporting stability in Egypt –including the preservation of its cold peace with Israel– do not warrant the coddling of a brutal autocrat. Of course they don't. The U.S. clearly should have pressed Mubarak much more forcefully on human rights and democratic freedoms.
But it is both simplistic and dangerous to assert that Israel and the Israel lobby are the only drivers of America's Egyptian policy. Yet that is a common assertion by IMVCs. Check out this interview with Alison Weir ("If Americans Only Knew"). In the comment threads, the alleged power of the JEWS sometimes extends to controlling Egypt itself, as noted in this insight by someone named Art Allm:
Yes, it seems that Mubarak and his regime are controlled by the Israel Lobby. That is the reason why he is called a "democrat" (speak "good dictator"). The democratic movement in Egypt will be called "anti-democratic", that is so predictable. Who controls the language, also controls the outcome of any discussion.
Mr, Allm, here's a tip from the inner circle of the Elders of Zion: we also control the air traffic control system, and the weather, so you should never fly again.
2—There was and is something inherently wrong with the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. I've been tangling with America's conventional Israel lobby and the mainstream Jewish community for much of my adult life. But I share that community's fond memories of extraordinary moments in 1978, when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's limousine rumbled through the streets of Jerusalem, as Israeli throngs applauded and wept, grateful that an Arab leader was, for the first time, offering a hand of peace instead of inveterate hostility. As HDS Greenway recalls, "the joy in the streets of Cairo was no less when Israel's Menachem Begin made his reciprocal visit to Egypt. Egyptian cab drivers refused to take fares from visiting Israelis, some of whom had not been there since the days of the British Palestine Mandate."
It is manifestly true and tragic that Sadat's deal(s) with Begin did nothing for the Palestinians. It was reprehensible that Israel did not take advantage of a historic opportunity to foster Palestinian self-determination and end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But none of that detracts from the fact that the Israeli-Egyptian peace has also saved untold numbers of lives on both sides of the border. In the IMVC universe, those lives do not seem to have any significance. Here, for example, is Alex Kane:
The Mubarak dictatorship is a core pillar of the U.S./Israeli order in the Middle East, an order that completely ignores the wishes and aspirations of people on the ground. The U.S. and Israel are scared of the new order that is to come.
As As'ad Abu Khalil notes at his blog, "the Israeli strategy in the Middle East has been firmly set on the continuity of the Sadat-Mubarak dictatorship." Israel's peace agreement with Egypt in 1979 removed a military threat to Israel and secured millions of U.S. dollars and military support for the Egyptian dictatorship. The Mubarak regime got carte blanche for its repressive rule.
Everything Kane says is true, but, based on what he omits in this and other posts, he appears to believe that saving lives and stopping war is of little consequence. Yes, Israel made and then sustained a peace deal with a despotic government, because that was the government Israel had to deal with. It had no choice. Imagine what Kane and his ilk would have said about "Zionist hegemony" if Israel had encouraged the overthrow of Mubarak and called for free elections. One gets the impression that Kane and Weiss feel that, as long as Palestinians are suffering, there is something untoward about Israelis wanting to live without a major military power threatening them from the southwest. In the universe I live in, peace, even peace with dictators, is better than war.
Yes, the Israelis are, as Kane notes, "scared of the new order that is to come." They are scared of what could happen if the sophisticated arms Egypt has been receiving from the U.S. all these years are in the hands of a regime that is overtly hostile to the Jewish state. The Israelis who are scared include post-Zionists, anti-Zionist supporters of the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement, and other activists against the occupation. They include many people who empathize with the Egyptian people's struggle and strongly support democratic values and democratic reform. But they must deal with the universe as it is. There, a deeply flawed arrangement with Egypt has left the Palestinian people in the lurch. It has helped to prop up a dictatorship. But it has probably prevented a major military conflagration that would have slaughtered Arabs and Jews alike. That may be a devil's bargain, but it is better than no bargain at all.
Update: For a perceptive piece on Israelis' reaction, check out the latest from Noam Sheizaf. It is entitled "Israelis are not hostile to the Egyptian revolution, simply anxious."
American Jews Gaza Strip Israel J Street
The Israeli spin machine is sputtering
December 28, 2008 December 28, 2008 Dan Fleshler
The carnage in the Gaza Strip has shaken me out of my blogger's hibernation. The best response, thus far, comes from Gideon Levy in Haaretz: Once again, Israel's violent responses…exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness, morality, international law and wisdom…Israel did not exhaust the diplomatic processes before embarking yesterday on another […]
May 19, 2010 Dan Fleshler
AIPAC American foreign policy Americans for Peace Now Barack Obama Israel Israel lobby J Street Palestinians
Glimmers of hope for a sane American Middle East policy
After the carnage of the last few weeks, there are many compelling reasons to give up hope for an enduring peace settlement between Palestinians and Israelis. But there are shards of hope to be found in the Obama administration. Assuming, as I do, that a fair, evenhanded American approach to both conflict management and more […]
Chilling video from Tahrir Square…and chilling rationalizations


Woolworths is using converged infrastructure as the foundation of a transition to private cloud, but the the ultimate destination will be a hybrid setup that leverages multiple public clouds, the supermarket chain's infrastructure chief, Matt Chamley, today told the Sydney leg of EMC Forum 2014.
Hybrid cloud will be based on private infrastructure and multiple public cloud providers, with a zoning construct developed by the IT team profiling the needs of discrete existing workloads.
"We've defined zones based on how we would host those workloads," Chamley told the conference.
"So we have the internal zone zero, which is the existing mess of our network. Zone one would be our internal private cloud. And as we scale out we go into different zones for domestic-based virtual data centres, domestic-based bespoke environments, international VDCs, international bespoke environments and then software-as-a-service type offerings.
For Woolworths, cloud can deliver increased agility as the supermarket giant competes with much smaller but fast-moving Internet-native retailers. The challenge is to "turn the oil tanker into a speedboat," Chamley said.
"To do this we've initiated an internal project called Storm Front, and Storm Front is our first stepping stone into a true private cloud infrastructure," Chamley said.
The key infrastructure component for this is Vblock converged infrastructure from VCE, Chamley said. VCE is a joint venture between EMC, VMware (owned by EMC) and Cisco.
Woolworths has deployed two Vblock 720 systems across two data centres. The use of converged infrastructure has vastly simplified capacity planning and patch management, Chamley said.
Woolworths' "Frankenstein-like" legacy environment comprised HP Proliant servers, and EMC DMX and Clariion storage arrays.
The switch to converged infrastructure has cut capacity provisioning time from 6+ months to 6-7 weeks, Chamley said.
Software-defined networking will be another important part of Woolworths' private cloud efforts, the infrastructure manager said.
"We're evaluating a couple of options at the moment but at this stage we're really intrigued by the Cisco ACI [Application Centric Infrastructure] story," Chamley said.
The supermarket chain has upgraded to ACI-ready switches and is looking at deploying Cisco's Application Virtual Switch.


text:
Hans-Jürg Sommer (* 1950) ist ein Musiker und Komponist aus der Nordwestschweiz.

Er entstammt einer Arbeiterfamilie und absolvierte eine Dekorateurlehre. Am Konservatorium Biel schloss er 1978 seine Ausbildung zum Gitarrenlehrer ab. 1979 begann er, im Selbststudium das Spiel auf dem Alphorn zu erlernen. Da es schwierig war, Noten für das Alphorn zu erhalten, entschloss sich Hans-Jürg Sommer, selbst Melodien für das Alphorn zu komponieren und aufzuschreiben. Ungefähr ein halbes Jahr später trat er mit einer Eigenkomposition am Jodlerfest auf und erreichte die Klasse 1.

In seinem Schaffen entstanden über 500 Melodien. Heute ist er der wohl meistgespielte Alphornkomponist. Die Schweizer Landesfonotek listet über 116 Tonträger, bei denen er entweder mitwirkt oder Kompositionen von ihm gespielt werden.

Hans-Jürg Sommer wurde 2002 für seine musikalischen Verdienste mit dem Goldenen Violinschlüssel ausgezeichnet.
Im Jahr 2006 verlieh ihm der Kanton Solothurn in Anerkennung seiner kulturellen Leistung den Preis für Musik.

Weblinks
 Website von Hans-Jürg Sommer
 Biographie bei der Ehrung mit dem Goldenen Violinschlüssel

Alphornspieler
Schweizer
Geboren 1950
Mann


text:
Commentary: Nextdoor makes welcome changes to…
Commentary: Nextdoor makes welcome changes to end racial profiling
Credit: TNS illustrationSocial networking website Nextdoor recently changed its posting policies inan attempt to reduce racial profiling among users wanting to alertneighbors about "suspicious" activities.*Lisa Wrenn*Executive Features Editor, Bay Area News Group*(San Jose) Mercury News, www.mercurynews.com **East Bay Times, www.eastbaytimes.com *925-943-8251lwrenn@bayareanewsgroup.comOn Twitter: @lwrenn
By Martha Ross | mross@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 1, 2016 at 10:28 am | UPDATED: September 22, 2016 at 12:25 am
A few weeks ago, I was gratified to read that the neighborhood networking site Nextdoor was making changes to discourage users from racial profiling.
Those changes, as described in an Associated Press story, are designed to stop users from rushing to label people of color spotted in their neighborhoods as "suspicious" — when they are doing nothing more than walking or driving down the street.
Ever since joining Nextdoor two years ago, I've had a love/hate relationship with the site. I love it for giving neighbors in my East Bay suburb a place to help one another find lost cats and dogs, to share recommendations about the best local handyman or to learn about a community-wide garage sale. And, for the most part, the posts warning about "suspicious activity" have been useful in a traditional neighborhood watch way — letting people know about how to prevent holiday package thefts or detailing recent car break-ins on a nearby street.
But every once in a while, I've seen the kind of post that has earned Nextdoor bad press, including from me. In one case, a neighbor boasted about how he called police on an African-American man who was knocking on doors, asking people about real estate. As the responding officer found, the man was not a burglar casing homes but, in fact, someone who indeed worked in real estate. What made me especially queasy about the post was how other neighbors had chimed in with comments, praising the neighbor for his vigilance.
I guess things were worse in some gentrifying Oakland neighborhoods. According to the East Bay Express, someone posted a photo of a black boy walking his dog, saying the police should be called because he failed to pick up his dog's poop.
Aside from the obvious concerns in our post-Ferguson era, these posts are worrisome in other ways. In my neighborhood, they have provoked online arguments that don't lead to better understanding, just create hard feelings. There are those, like me, who are turned off by the fear-mongering and potential racism. On the other side are those who decry "political correctness" and say it squelches common sense and people's rights to be safe and secure in their homes.
It turns out that Nextdoor executives themselves had grown increasingly uneasy with these posts. That's why the San Francisco-based company, which operates in 99,000 neighborhoods across the United States, recently announced changes in how people create them.
In a phone interview, CEO and co-founder Nirav Tolia told me that Nextdoor's mission is to use technology to build stronger and safer communities. Racial profiling undermines that mission, he said. He recognizes how debates on Nextdoor often "mirror" divisions in larger society. He said Nextdoor aspires to be a positive force in society.
To discourage racial profiling, Nextdoor turned to city and community leaders in Oakland and also received input from Stanford associate psychology professor Jennifer Eberhardt, a MacArthur "Genius" grant winner and expert in how deeply rooted biases affect law enforcement.
The changes Nextdoor came up with — which the company is testing in the Bay Area — are actually pretty simple. Tolia said they recognize that people generally mean well, don't want to unfairly target specific groups but need guidance in how to pen truly informative posts.
Now, for any crime and safety alert, a prompt pops up, asking people to explain why someone's actions should be considered suspicious. They also are asked to provide detailed descriptions of possible offenders, including, yes, race, but also height, build, hair color, clothing and car make or model. Basically, the prompts get people to pause and think before they post and to provide details similar to what police list in their be-on-the-lookout alerts.
"To help your neighborhood, the information you post has to be useful, it has to be news you can use," Tolia said.
My neighbors had mostly positive things to say about the changes. However, after I shared a link to the AP story, others accused Nextdoor of caving in to political correctness and said it would discourage people from posting news about any suspicious activity involving people of color for fear of being labeled racist.
Things even got a little heated. One guy cheekily said he was glad to see Nextdoor making this move because he was "worried about hurting criminals' feelings." The cheeky guy apparently got his comment flagged as inappropriate, so he started another discussion thread slamming "censorship." A female neighbor accused me of being the flagger, saying I probably had the discussion closed because I didn't like people disagreeing with the information in the AP story.
For the record, I didn't flag anyone's post. And as Tolia explained, Nextdoor, as a private company, isn't a forum for free speech and can set its own tone for posts. But in the spirit of Tolia's stated purpose of building stronger connections between neighbors, I sent these two people private messages, asking if they wanted to share their concerns about political correctness and public safety.
I didn't hear back, but I talked to two other neighbors, Richard and Greg, who have previously expressed impatience with PC types like me.
Richard, who identifies himself as a "liberal Democrat," worried that the changes meant that a racial description would be banned.
"That just wouldn't be common sense," he said. "I think people are really far too ready to find things to be offended about."
But when he and Greg read up on the specific changes, they were fine with them.
"When I actually went on and read about them, I thought it sounded like a good idea," Greg said.
Following Nextdoor's changes, I'm feeling better about the site. We'll see how they work as far as reducing the number of questionable posts.
Meanwhile, I'm grateful that Nextdoor's news prompted me to reach out to some neighbors. The conversations with Richard and Greg turned out to be pretty pleasant, in part because I think we all learned we have more in common than we thought. But it was also nice to get off the site and to actually have a real-life dialogue with neighbors, instead of hashing things out online.
So, I have to give it to Nextdoor for giving a place to at least meet online. And it gives me some optimism the site might wind up delivering on its promise.
Martha Ross
Martha Ross is a features writer who covers everything and anything related to popular culture, society, health, women's issues and families. A native of the East Bay and a graduate of Northwestern University and Mills College, she's also a former hard-news and investigative reporter, covering crime and local politics.
Follow Martha Ross	@marthajross
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This recipe comes from Mrs Victoria Stephenson, who makes a variety of mousses and salads for Justin de Bank's provision shops in London. Sometimes we eat it on rye bread, with a bottle of white wine, at five or six in the evening, sometimes as a first course. It goes with cold salmon trout and wholemeal bread and butter, as the main course of Sunday lunch in June.
1. Lightly oil a 1 litre capacity ring mould or decorative mould of your choice.
2. Mix the cucumber, salt and vinegar together in a bowl. Then turn the mixture into a colander, put a heavy plate on top and leave for an hour at least. Remove the plate and press the cucumber with a clean cloth to get the last of the liquid away.
3. Dissolve the gelatine in hot water and whisk in the cream gradually until the mixture is smooth and very thick, but not stiff. Beat in the cream cheese.
4. Stir in the cucumber.
5. Taste the mixture and add a little more vinegar and salt if necessary, but be careful to overdo neither. Sometimes a couple of pinches of caster sugar will help to bring out the flavour; this depends on how good the cucumber was to start with.
6. Add a good grinding of black pepper and the chopped chives, parsley and spring onion.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared mould and leave overnight in the refrigerator to set.
Just before serving, turn out on to a plate and serve with plenty of wholemeal or rye bread.


text:
Q: RuntimeError: Can't resolve dependencies Django Groups with Users Now I had a problem
RuntimeError: Can't resolve dependencies while running tests and after long debugging We found that a forigen key relationship is the problem
Yet we need this relation in our app
I have to get an owner relation to Django Groups
The models like that:
class UserAccount(AbstractUser):
    arabic_name = models.CharField(max_length=128, default='', blank=True)
    parent = models.ForigenKey('self', null=True)

django.contrib.auth.models import Group

Group.add_to_class('owner', models.ForeignKey('users.UserAccount',
                              blank=True,
                              null=True,
                              related_name='groups_created'
                              ))

As I need to define an owner to the groups as I have my specific hierarchy system for users so no one can see others groups
So what Can I do?

Update - Solution
class UserAccount(AbstractUser):
        arabic_name = models.CharField(max_length=128, default='', blank=True)
        hierarchy_id = models.PositiveIntegerField()

django.contrib.auth.models import Group

Group.add_to_class('hierarchy_id', models.PositiveIntegerField(null=True))

#script populate hierarchy
h_id=0
for user in users:
    if user.is_parent:
         then user.hierar...... = h_id

and so on.. I populated hierarchy ID instead of relation
Thanks

A: Actually I found you can do a circular dependency without your knowledge, in case you do a relation and migrate it then do the reverse relation after a while then migrate it , it will not clash but when both migrated instantly in tests for example it will clash. so I tried this solution and tested, after a year from asking the question, it is working well.
class UserAccount(AbstractUser):
    arabic_name = models.CharField(max_length=128, default='', blank=True)
    hierarchy_id = models.PositiveIntegerField()

django.contrib.auth.models import Group

Group.add_to_class('hierarchy_id', models.PositiveIntegerField(null=True))

#script populate hierarchy
h_id=0
for user in users:
    if user.is_parent:
         then user.hierar...... = h_id


text:
Q: System frozing using Android Studio The problem is next: Ubuntu 14.04 lts just freezes forever, when i'm opening android monitor in Android Studio 2. I've done everything written here:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/520013/ubuntu-14-04-freezes-when-running-project-in-netbeans-8-with-jdk-7
But it does not help=(.
In fact, the problem is in Adb, i just can't even take a look on the devices list, connected to laptop, using terminal, because the system becomes frozen too.
Help, please