Morphylogeny: MMPR 148 "Plague of the Mantis"
#48: MMPR 148: "Plague of the Mantis".
and episodes 4 & 3 of Zyu2.
The ep, with opening, lasts roughly 20:50;15 from very start to end of the end credits and past the Saban logo (also includes a bit of black slug for opening commercials and quickly post Saban logo).
Side shot of Rita ceasing touching Repulsascope, turns to our right and says, "Finster! Make me a monster!", touching chest briefly then turning around and exiting.
Recycled, runs a little longer than before.
Chest up shot of US Goldar, talking while facing our left, lifting left hand with pointing index finger, then is just about to finish doing it again with more gusto.
Close up of US Goldar's face as he talks right at us, motioning left hand up pointing twice.
Rita walks into the workshop, facing Finster, Squatt & Baboo, thrusting arms in and out as she talks, causing all three to cheer and applaud.
Close up of Squatt, raising right index finger up, talking and nodding widely twice.
Close up of Baboo raising right index finger and nodding.
Close up of Finster, while holding carving knife near horned creature mold, nods, blink, and talk, before resuming work.
Recycled, shortened to end of sequence.
Close up of Rita as she looks at us, scowling "Get them!" as she holds her right hand like a claw and pokes it at us three times.
Alpha, back to console, looks to our left, moving arms. Zordon talks, then finally, Alpha says something while appearing happy.
Recycled.Transitions in via venetian blind effect.
Recycled. White flash after bolt and at end.
In forest, briefly upward angled, Yellow Ranger leaps in, and immediately begins doing a cartwheel, leading right into a pair of backwards handsprings.
Pan up close on Yellow, she crosses arms then spreads them out, looks from side to side, gives an "up yours" gesture to the right, then turns and does a cyclone kick, punching up then center, before backflipping over, landing on all fours, getting up, spreading arms, then punching twice forth.
Side angle on Yellow, as holds out fist, lowering it when noticing Mantis stepping out of the shadows to her right.
Yellow quickly holds arms in front of chest in a defensive maneuver as she backs up a tad.
Mantis talks, motioning right foreleg-arm while doing so, then doing the same with his left, finally spreading both out in a pose.
Yellow poses fiercely with right arm up and left arm centered.
Mantis sees this, and thusly reaches right raptorial arm around nearby tree.
Close up of the thin tree trunk getting sparkily slashed in half by Mantis, causing the top half to fall.
Yellow alertly backflips out of the way of the falling tree, then poses.
Mantis readies raptorial arms then rushes forth through the downed tree.
Yellow dives and rolls under Mantis's arm, turns and spins kicks arm away but then flips over it when the arm slashes at her. Yellow spins away from another slash, then ducks and rolls when Mantis sparkily slashes into another tree, before turning and sparkly slashing into Yellow, knocking her away.
Pink & Red flip over the camera under blue sky with Blade Blasters in sword mode in their hands.
Recycled, trimmed to just the end to avoid Yellow.
Black & Blue flip over the camera under blue sky with Blade Blasters in sword mode in their hands.
Recycled, cuts before Yellow can appear.
Smoking-chested Yellow rolls to the feet of her approaching teammates, Pink comforting her, as Red steps ahead to confront the monster.
Sharp zoom in on Mantis, motioning arms up and down.
Continued from two shots ago, Red raises a fist and then is about to rush into action, when Yellow grabs him, stops him, then steps ahead of him.
Close on Mantis, who then leaps up, teleports to the near distance our right, poses, then jumps and teleports across the grassy field to the left, poses, then jumps and teleports to the far center, poses, then jumps and teleports away.
The team remains in place, stepping forth in shock at the disappearance of the monster. Yellow looks down, clenching fist to chest and seeming disappointed.
As camera tracks around balcony edge, Rita turns her back to us with a wicked smile, raising right arm as she talks, her team rushing up the steps to face her (Baboo, Goldar, Finster, and Squatt lags behind).
Partially recycled, but goes on way longer, start and finish, than ever before.
Close up of Finster as he does a fidgeting gesture with his arms, then raises both of them over his head.
New footage from previously seen segment style.
Close up of Squatt, raising right hand for a moment, then shuffling forward, talking, tilting head to our left, and nodding before holding arms out.
Recycled, but runs a few frames longer than prior uses.
Close up of Baboo, shaking head profusely, holding hands out, palms up at sides, then slowly lowering, frowning all the while.
Short zoom out as Rita walks to railing, pointing forth then making a determined fist while talking; Rounding out the scene: Baboo stands, Squatt wipes nose while preparing to look into Repulsascope, and Goldar looms.
Mantis crosses arms in quarry, then walks forth.
Slowed. Altered to fit in Viewing Globe.
Rita, right eye closed and looking in Repulsascope with her left, laughs, jerking her wand just a little offscreen, mouth open wide, tongue visible.
Recycled, shortened. Runs a few frames longer than prior uses.
Real close on US Goldar's face facing our slight left on dark balcony, talking up a head-bobbing storm.
Recycled, but cuts zoom in and likely runs longer.
In quarry, Yellow Ranger faces Mantis, who's off in the distance. Slowly, both in a fighting stance, each switches a few steps to their left, remaining focused on one another.
Transitions in via diagonal multiline wipe.
Reverse angle, over Mantis' left shoulder, as Yellow in distance points, gestures to chest, spreads arms, then resumes posing. Both then take a wide step to their left.
Mantis throws arms up, then charges forth during zoom in.
Yellow Ranger gets down on a knee and spreads out to pose, before getting back up and charging forth during zoom in.
Close on Mantis' feet as they race across the quarry.
Close on Yellow's feet as they race across the quarry.
Zoom in as Mantis and Yellow race at one another, the Ranger cyclone kicking the monster, who ducks. She then dives and handsprings over away from Mantis' attempt to strike, only to get kicked by him. Mantis then swipes at her, she dives and rolls, gets into a crouch, and both pose at each other.
Close on Mantis, crossing arms in quarry, then walks forth with a slash of the right arm.
Recycled, but unaltered and first in context.
Mantis slashes Yellow sparkily in the chest, then tries to kick into her, but she dives and rolls, getting up and cyclone kicking his arm away, dodging another strike, but getting sparkily slashed by the other arm in return. Yellow spins back around, and finds Mantis charging with both arms grabbing at her from each side, barely grabbing them and holding their sharp edges back away from her.
Zoom out as Rita rhythmically walks up to balcony railing, talking, then finally sticking her tongue out. Flute-playing Baboo, concertina-playing Squatt, and drum-playing Finster pass by her, while Goldar taps his sword in his hand to the side.
Trims start to cut down on her dialogue.
Four Putties flip over the camera under a partly-cloudy sky.
On the ground, Yellow points ahead, then scrambles back to her feet and poses defensively.
Transitions in via diamondy pattern effect.
Mantis raises arms, then crosses them while pushing into the screen.
Close on Yellow as she crosses arms then leaps up.
Just as Mantis brings arms together, Yellow flips onto them.
Close-up of Yellow's feet landing atop Mantis' crossed arms.
With her knees almost in his face, Mantis is flabbergasted upon seeing Yellow standing atop his crossed blade-arms, unable to break free.
Yellow does the mantis-style hand gestures, and scratch-smacks the heck out of Mantis' face.
Close-up of Yellow's feet as she flips up off Mantis' crossed arms.
Yellow kicks Mantis' face as she backflips off his arms.
Second take, on Yellow kicking Mantis' face as she backflips off his arms.
Third different take, as Yellow kicks Mantis' face as she backflips off his arms.
Zoom out from Yellow as she lands and poses, while Mantis falls onto his back, then gets back up.
Mantis rises up, then spreads out arms.
Five Putties rush up behind and flip over Mantis' outstretched arms.
Yellow Ranger finds herself surrounded by Seven Putties, who then begin to race around her in a circle.
Close on a Putty as it makes a few intimidating arm gestures, then dashes forth, pan right past the other six Putties.
The circle of Putties suddenly closes in on Yellow all at once, trapping her beneath them.
Close on Putty swiping Ballhand at the screen.
Yellow Ranger is knocked out of the center of the Putty huddle, flipping over and hitting the ground, before rolling away and backing up.
Close on Mantis, waving arms up and down while laughing.
Close on Yellow getting up on her feet in a crouch, keeping her arm out defensively.
Close on Mantis, motioning right arm forth, then spreading both out and up.
Zoom in past defeated Putty (how'd that happen?!), as Yellow leaps up.
Yellow leaps up into the air, and holds fingers in mantis-style gesture.
Yellow jumps past Mantis, kicking down into his shoulder as she passes, causing him to turn in a daze.
Zoom out as Yellow lands in a crouch, Mantis comes close, so she spins around and kicks behind his knee, he spins, so she kicks behind his other knee.
Close-up of Mantis' gut as Yellow rapidly strikes it with her mantis-style gestured hands.
Zoom out from Power Dagger as Yellow prepares it, then uncrouches as she strikes the Mantis' way.
Zoom out as Yellow leaps up, sparkily slashes Mantis with Power Dagger, then spins around and poses as he falls and rolls.
Transitions out via jagged split effect.
Upward POV of Putty standing over camera in woods, raising left leg up and trying twice to stomp down on it, but it keeps moving.
Upward POV of Putty standing over camera in woods, raising left leg up and putting foot right down on the lens.
Alpha stands in the Command Chamber, looking at the Viewing Globe at our slight left, motioning arms excitedly in response to what he sees, before turning and talking up to Zordon.
Standard original morphing sequence, minus Trini.
Recycled. Flash after bolt. Fades to white.
As her teammates rush up and get in formation behind her, Yellow spreads arms out, then poses with Power Dagger.
Close on Mantis as he suddenly jerks back to face our right.
Pink Ranger leaps up and fires arrow from Power Bow.
Mantis swats the arrow out of the air with left arm.
Close on Pink as she switches Power Bow around into use as a blunt object as she descends.
Mantis sparkily slashes through Pink's chest as she flips over him.
Zoom out sharply as Pink lands on her back, rolls over as the three male Rangers regroup around her, then pose, before rushing off to fight.
Mantis ducks under Red's kick, blocks Black's kick before sparkily slashing him off, turns, blocks Blue's kick then sparkily slashes him off, then smacks Red's kicking leg away.
Closer as Mantis blocks Red's punch, then sparkily slashes him down, causing the Ranger to roll away.
Rita, her back to us, stands at balcony railing, facing cut-out of Earth. She holds wand across both hands, then pulls it back in right arm, preparing to throw.
Rita, looking right at us, throws wand out of frame, screaming "Grow!".
Mantis grows gigantic amid fading updraft of smoke.
Close on Red as he gestures fist across chest, nod-talks, then zoom out as he and his teammates all raises their right arms and summon to the skies.
Mastodon Dinozord surfaces from its icy domain.
Mastodon exhales its icy breath.
Triceratops Dinozord appears within the sands of the desert.
Triceratops raises its head and opens mouth while driving through the dusty desert.
Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord sprints through the jungle.
Sabertooth Tiger opens its mouth in a close up.
Sabertooth Tiger leaps out of the greenery.
Pterodactyl Dinozord soars upwards amid lava lights.
Pterodactyl Dinozord flies out of the smoking volcano and heads for the trees, not quite reaching them.
Red holds up Coin, which glows, forming his gleaming Power Crystal as he wipes hand across from Coin-holding hand.
Close up of Red Ranger inserting Power Crystal into control slot with red energy results.
Four square shots of each Ranger in their cockpits, preparing to insert crystals.
Four square shots of close ups of each Ranger inserting Power Crystal into control slot with colored energy results.
Red Ranger in cockpit, zoom in as he presses controls forth.
Four square shot of (clockwise from top left) Tyrannosaurus connecting with Tricera & Sabertooth legs electrically, Mastodon component floating, Mastodon connecting with Tyranno with energy release, Sabertooth folding down into leg form.
Zoom in on cockpit as Red Ranger raises fist up, then forth, then grips control.
Tank folds up into body of the standing Megazord.
As dust blows in near his feet, Mantis stands poised, motioning arms up, then down, menacingly.
Close on Megazord as it marches in toward our left, then in zoom out, faces front and poses battle ready near mountain.
Facing each other across the battlefield, Mantis and Megazord stand frozen, as dust blows past them, from our right to left.
Slow zoom in on Red in Megazord cockpit, turning to Blue & Yellow, nod-talking, then looking to our slight left.
Trims start to remove his talking to Black & Pink.
Close on Black in Megazord cockpit, looking to slight left, nod-talking quickly with a bit of a sitting up.
Close on Yellow in Megazord cockpit, looking to slight left, pointing with left hand briefly and talking a little.
Cuts before she makes other finger gestures.
Close on Red in Megazord cockpit, looking downward to the slight left, giving a wide nod, as Pink clutches mouth with hands.
Trims start to cut his first motion, then cuts before pan over to Yellow.
Zoom out from Mantis' feet as he slowly moves to our right, one leg over the other, arms up, while the Megazord looms in the foreground in place.
Reverse angle, as Mantis poses in place, while Megazord steps forth, gets in a battle ready stance, and the dust blows in.
Close on Mantis' feet, as he finally scrapes right foot across the dirt in a half circle, before bringing his feet together and leaping.
Mantis leaps up into the sky, gets poised and slashes right arm forth.
Mantis lands both sharp arms into Megazord's chest sparkily, then clenching arms around Mega's sides, only to have it defend with its own arms, locking the pair. After a shift to the side, they break off. Mantis then kicks, its blocked, Mega dodges the monster's next hit, until he twists around and sparkily slashes it away.
Pan up from Megazord's stumbling-back feet, chest smoking, before finally posing battle ready.
In Megazord cockpit, Red looks to our upper left and summons.
Zoom out as Megazord catches Power Sword in right hand, then poses battle ready with it.
Mantis rushes up, he and Megazord lock arm & sword, before breaking off, turning around, they clash weapon to arm again, before Mantis sparkily slashes Mega in the chest. During all this, the camera is tracking around to the left. Mantis raises both arms and slices downward, prompting Megazord to lift the sword horizontally to block. They struggle, shift positions, and finally break off, just so the monster can sparkily slash the Megazord in the chest again.
Close on Mantis, readying arms up, then leaping with them poised.
Mantis lands both arms downward into Megazord's horizontally held sword, until it uses the leverage to toss him away.
Megazord flips Mantis completely over.
Zoom out as Mantis falls, rolls, and gets back up in a daze.
Megazord raises sword up, then steps forth and prepares to slash.
Megazord sparkily slashes into Mantis, then does it again as it passes by him, before turning and stopping, facing us.
Zoom out from Red, as all five Rangers in cockpit raise right arms and make slashing downward motion.
Megazord motions sword, pulsing with lightning and electricity, powering it up while raising it to the sky, which surge with a reddish storm.
Close on Mantis, as he nervously says his prayers. Nyuk, nyuk.
Under reddish skystorm, Megazord swoops sword underhand, slashing upward and diagonally, leaving a visible trail.
Zoom out as a pinkish energy slash cuts across Mantis, causing him to blue sparkle and yellow pulse ring, before spinning about as pinkish electricity crackles. He falls, a blue flare erupts, and he explodes massively.
Blackened smoke from a fireball wafts upward over brief but bright burst of sparks, leaving a small, lingering fire in the spacious wilderness.
Zoom out from Power Sword as Megazord swipes it about in a chest-up pose.
Recycled. Trims catch & march forth.
Zoom out from screaming Rita as she stands before her bowing henchmonsters, hitting Squatt with wand, then Baboo, then Goldar twice, the preparing to hit Baboo again.
Recycled, but runs longer than prior uses and brighter. Transitions out via downward pixel wave.


What are the factors affecting HIC performance in pipeline steel?
Seamless line pipe is mainly used to transport high pressure oil and gas near the wellhead. With the increasing problem of hydrogen sulfide corrosion, the development of sulfur-resistant seamless line pipe is imminent, and the performance of sulfur resistance is the key.
With the deepening of oil and gas exploitation, the mining conditions are complex and there are more and more oil and gas wells in the sulfur-containing environment, and the problem of hydrogen sulfide corrosion is very sharp. In recent years, the demand for anti-sulfur seamless line pipes at home and abroad has been increasing. The seamless line pipe is mainly used for conveying high-pressure oil and gas near the wellhead. It is a steel pipe without weld seam manufactured by seamless pipe production. This paper discusses the factors affecting HIC performance in the anti-sulfur seamless line pipe.
1) pH value. A large number of studies have shown that the sensitivity of hydrogen bubbling decreases with increasing pH in the range of pH 1-6. When pH>6, hydrogen bubbling does not occur.
2) H2S concentration. The higher the concentration of hydrogen sulfide, the greater the sensitivity of hydrogen bubbling.
3) Chloride ion. In the range of pH 3.5 to 4.5, the presence of Cl- increases the corrosion rate and increases the sensitivity of hydrogen bubbling.
4) Temperature. At 25 degrees Celsius, the CLR is the largest and hydrogen bubbling is the most sensitive. Below 25 degrees Celsius, the temperature rise causes the corrosion reaction and hydrogen diffusion rate to increase, and the sensitivity of hydrogen bubbling increases. Above 25 degrees Celsius, the sensitivity of hydrogen bubbling is reduced due to the decrease in H2S concentration.
5) Time. The test used 96 h as a comparison. Under normal circumstances, the corrosion degree tends to increase with the increase of test time.


Snack manufacturer, Pirate's Booty, will have a rooting interest in this weekend's Kentucky Derby. The brand will sponsor contenders Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty during the running of the 137th Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Pirate's Booty's largest shareholder, Mike Repole, owns both horses.
Among other benefits, the Pirate's Booty logo will be displayed on jockeys John Velazquez (Uncle Mo) and Ramon Dominguez (Stay Thirsty) during the running which will be televised live on NBC.
But this is more than a C-suite passion play. Repole, who earned a degree in sports management from St. John's, is definitely no stranger to building brands through sports and entertainment. After co-founding Glacéau in 1999 with J.Darius Bikoff, Repole is credited for growing the Vitaminwater and Smartwater brands through partnerships with athletes and celebrities like Tom Brady, Carrie Underwood and 50 Cent. Glacéau was sold to Coca-Cola in 2007 for $4.1 Billion.
Pirate's Booty is also looking to expand its brand with partnerships outside of sports, recently announcing a collaboration with Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films' Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The partnership will include a packaging promotion with the film as well as a Caribbean vacation sweepstakes.
This weekend, the focus will be on the Kentucky Derby however.
"We, at Pirate's Booty, are excited for millions of viewers to experience the Pirate's Booty brand in such a high-profile and fun way on two outstanding horses," said Eric Berniker, Pirate's Booty's vice president of marketing. "The Kentucky Derby epitomizes the fun traditions that we all love to celebrate and this year we're hoping to start a new one -- Mint Juleps, Kentucky Hot Browns and Pirate's Booty!"


I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING TO DO WITH FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S! ALL CREDIT GOES TO SCOTT CAWTHON!
Hey guys! I'm creating a new game!
Plot : After a fatal incident at 'Freddy Fazbear's New Pizzeria' You are forced to move from Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria to the night shift in hell. More animatronics, cameras and scares than ever before!
Are you ready for Freddy?
Well, yeah. I'm not a Stencyl pro. I have 99% of the graphics done, but I need a bit of help. I've never made a game in Stencyl before. Would anyone be willing to help?
Just so you know, that disclaimer doesn't protect your game being taken down due to copyright or trademark infringement.
Correct. I did also email Scott about the game and he said it's fine. Is that good enough?
Yes, that shouldn't be a problem then.
I've never made a game in Stencyl before. Would anyone be willing to help?
I just needed a bit of help with game mechanics. If I can get the cameras, doors and lights working, then I'll be fine.
The biggest issue that you will run into is that the FNAF game was probably done in a 3D environment. I say that because the creatures can run down the hallway towards you and the view of each scene is rotating instead of panning.
1. The running down the hallway could be done with sliding and growing events for a similar feel. However, the creature would not be running under the camera unless you animate the rotation and have precise timing for triggering all three events (slide, grow and animation sequence).
2. Doors opening and closing are pretty simple, when space bar (or whatever control) is pressed, if door is open, close door.
3. Camera, as in the camera view of a scene, I have not looked into as much. I would guess that having Left and Right arrow keys triggering a change in the x position of the camera would work. But it would take some tweaking to get a proper feel to it.
4. Cameras, as in the surveillance cameras, would be tricky. I don't think you would actually want to be changing scenes since you need split second timing for stopping the creatures. However, the alternative is stacking lots of animations all into one scene. That could also hinder split-second timing.
The game was actually made in 2D environment All things flashing or moving were just images changing.
i wish i can help but I'm not pro too. I'm just a pile of mushy potatoes. sorry. altough, im working on my own game.
The biggest issue that you will run into is that the FNAF game was probably done in a 3D environment.
If it can be done with Fusion 2.5, I'd be surprised if it could not be done with Stencyl.
Visit www.TheStencylBook.com - the only published book for learning Stencyl.


text:
Q: String lexical rule in ANTLR with greedy wildcald and escape character From the book "The Definitive ANTLR 4 Reference":

Our STRING rule isn't quite good enough yet because it doesn't allow
  double quotes inside strings. To support that, most languages define
  escape sequences starting with a backslash. To get a double quote
  inside a double-quoted string, we use \". To support the common escape
  characters, we need something like the following:

STRING :  '"' ( ESC |.)*? '"'  ;
fragment
ESC :  '\\"'  |  '\\\\'  ;  // 2-char sequences \" and \\

 ANTLR itself needs to escape the escape character, so that's why we need \\ to
  specify the backslash character. The loop in STRING now matches either
  an escape character sequence, by calling fragment rule ESC, or any
  single character via the dot wildcard. The *? subrule operator
  terminates the (ESC |.)*?

That sounds fine, but when I read that I noticed a certain ambiguity in the choice between ESC and .. As far as STRING is concerned, it is possible to match an input "Hi\"" by matching the escape character \ to the ., and to consider the following escaped double-quote as closing the string. This would even be less greedy and so would conform better to the use of ?.
The problem, of course, is that if we do that, then we have an extra double-quote at the end that does not get matched to anything.
So I wrote the following grammar:
grammar String;

anything: STRING '"'? '\r\n';

STRING: '"' (ESC|.)*? '"';
fragment
ESC: '\\"' | '\\\\';

which accepts an optional lonely double-quote character right after the string. This grammar still parses "Orange\"" as a full string:

So my question is: why is this the accepted parse, as opposed to the one taking "Orange\" as the STRING, followed by an isolated double-quote "? Note that the latter would be less greedy, which would seem to conform better to the use of ?, so one could think it would be preferable.

A: After some more experimentation, I realize the explanation is that the choice operator | is order-dependent (but only under non-greedy operator ?): ESC is tried before .. If I invert the two and write (.|ESC)*?, I do get

This is not really surprising, but an interesting reminder that ANTLR is not as declarative as we may sometimes expect (in the sense that logic-or is order-independent but | is not). It is also a good reminder that the non-greedy operator ? does not extend its minimization capabilities to all choices, but just to the first one that matches the input (@sepp2k adds that order dependency only applies to the non-greedy case).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
altrockchick
Music reviews with a touch of erotica
Jimmie Rodgers
Early Rock
Eddie Cochran
Elvis Presley (1st RCA album)
Elvis Presley – Elvis -(2nd RCA Album)
Dad's 45's
Dad's 45's, Part 1, 1955-58
Dad's 45's, Part 4, 1966
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles (White Album)
Let It Be . . . Naked
Past Masters, Volume One
Past Masters, Volume Two
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
All Things Must Pass
Flaming Pie
Out of Our Heads
December's Children (And Everybody's)
Aftermath (UK Version)
Between the Buttons (UK Version)
Their Satanic Majesties Request
Let It Bleed
Exile on Main St.
The Kinks Greatest Hits
The Kink Kontroversy
Village Green Preservation Society
Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround
The Kink Kronikles
Muswell Hillbillies
The Great Lost Kinks Album
Everybody's in Show Biz
Preservation (Acts 1 and 2)
Schoolboys in Disgrace
Come Dancing
Other People's Lives by Ray Davies
Herman's Hermits
The Zombies: Odessey and Oracle
The Lovin' Spoonful
Psychedelic Series
Electric Music for the Mind and Body
Moby Grape
Forever Changes
Axis: Bold as Love
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Anthem of the Sun
The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse
S. F. Sorrow
Stand!
It's a Beautiful Day
The Who Sell Out
Who's Next
Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy
The Who By Numbers
Phil Ochs
All the News that's Fit to Sing
I Ain't Marching Anymore
Pleasures of the Harbor
Tape from California
Rehearsals for Retirement
Greatest Hits and Gunfight at Carnegie Hall
Tull
Thick as a Brick
Living in the Past
A Passion Play
Minstrel in the Gallery
Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die
Songs from the Wood
Heavy Horses
The Broadsword and the Beast
Crest of a Knave
Ziggy Stardust
Aladdin Sane
Station to Station
Give 'Em Enough Rope
Sandinista!
Combat Rock
Streetcore
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Shoot Out the Lights
Rumor and Sigh
Mirror Blue
Mock Tudor
Blur – Modern Life Is Rubbish
Blur – Parklife
Blur – The Great Escape
Blur – Blur
Denim – Back in Denim
Denim – Denim on Ice
The Masterplan
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Familiar to Millions
Heathen Chemistry
Don't Believe the Truth
Dig Out Your Soul
Pulp – His 'N' Hers
Pulp-Different Class
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
Pulp – We Love Life
Sleeper – Smart
Sleeper – The It Girl
Supergrass – I Should Coco
Supergrass – In It for the Money
Suede (album)
Bikini Kill – The First Two Records
Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill
Ani DiFranco – Not a Pretty Girl
Spice Girls – Spice
Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
Pablo Honey
The Bends
Kid A
Amnesiac
In Rainbows
The King of Limbs
A Moon Shaped Pool
Great Broads
The Andrews Sisters
Ani DiFranco – Out of Range
Annette Peacock – X-Dreams
Aretha Franklin – Never Loved a Man
Aretha Franklin – Lady Soul
Billie Holiday – Lady Day
Brody Dalle – Diploid Love
Early Girl 7″ Hits Part 1
Edith Piaf – Vol. 4
Françoise Hardy – La Question
Joni Mitchell – Hejira
Joni Mitchell – The Hissing of Summer Lawns
June Tabor – Airs and Graces
Memphis Minnie
Neko Case – Fox Confessor
Nina Simone – The Essential Nina Simone
Patti Smith – Radio Ethiopia
Phoebe Snow
PJ Harvey – 4-Track Demos
PJ Harvey – Is This Desire
PJ Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
The Shangri-Las
Sade – Love Deluxe
The Shirelles
Sinead O'Connor – I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sol Seppy – The Bells of 1 2
Tanita Tikaram – Ancient Heart
A Peter Green Playlist
Albert King – King of the Blues Guitar
Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East
Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite – Get Up!
Electric Flag – A Long Time Comin'
Elmore James – Best of the Fire Sessions
Howlin' Wolf – His Best
Little Walter – His Best
John Lee Hooker – Best Of
John Mayall – Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton
John Mayall – The Turning Point
Memphis Minnie – Essential Recordings
Muddy Waters – Best Of
Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings
Sonny Landreth – Grant Street
Bill Evans Trio – Portrait in Jazz
Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um
Charlie Parker – Best of the Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recordings
Frank Sinatra – In the Wee Small Hours
Frank Sinatra – Songs for Swingin' Lovers
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
John Coltrane – Giant Steps
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
Les McCann and Eddie Harris – Swiss Movement
Louis Armstrong: The Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Miles Davis – Sketches of Spain
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
Thelonious Monk – Monk's Dream
Ruth Brown – The Essentials
Motown!
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
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Sly and the Family Stone – Stand! – Classic Music Review
By altrockchick on July 28, 2014
Soul music went through its psychedelic period, too, thanks in large part to Sly Stone. The transformation wasn't quite as drastic as in rock: the songs became longer and there was more effect-coated guitar work, but The Temptations still sounded like The Temptations. Sly's influence is more obvious in the development of funk, where his guitar stylings merged with James Brown's strong emphasis on the downbeat to create the sound you hear in George Clinton's bands. Sly also spurred Motown to move beyond the limitations of boy-girl romance tunes and into songs with socio-political messages.
I'll give him all that, but music critics have consistently overrated Sly Stone's influence, as well as the overall quality of his work. Joel Selvin wrote in his oral history of the group that "There are two types of black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly Stone." My goodness! Lumping Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Little Richard into a homogenous group of primitives is an astonishingly stupid claim. Having grown up in the same town as Mr. Selvin, all I can say is dumb shit like this is what reinforces the stereotype of San Francisco as hopelessly provincial. Mr. Selvin is a San-Francisco based critic who used to write for the San Francisco Chronicle, and Sly and the Family Stone were a San Francisco-based band. Think there's a bit of hometown bias operating there? I found that this trend is embedded in the DNA of San Francisco music critics; my dad says that Ralph Gleason pulled the same shit with John Fogerty, anointing him the Mark Twain of rock music.
As for the quality of Sly's work, it was wildly inconsistent, but he did manage to produce some pretty good songs before he became a slave to drugs in the period after Stand! became a runaway success. To his credit, Sly was colorblind when it came to music, and his openness to the work of white artists gave him more territory to explore in his own music ventures. When he was a DJ with KSOL, he stunned his listeners by mixing songs by The Beatles and The Stones in his playlists. He produced white bands like The Beau Brummels, The Mojo Men and The Great Society. When he formed Sly and the Family Stone with his two siblings, he hired two white guys to play sax and drums, an act that seriously pissed off The Black Panthers. While I love the message and the meaning of his work, I have to say that Stand!, like nearly all psychedelic albums, is a mix of good stuff and bad stuff, of solid lyrics and mish-mash, of creative highs and undisciplined indulgence.
The title track opens the album, and once you get beyond the rather annoying self-help lyrics and the underpowered bass guitar, you find a well-arranged piece with definite enthusiasm and energy. Many people have commented that the best part is the "gospel" section following the self-help pamphlet. Well, I agree and disagree. It's a solid, less-than-a-minute sample of good hard funk music, but the cut from the song proper to this segment is so abrupt that it feels tacked-on at the last minute. The contrast is also heightened by the sudden emergence of the bass that had been missing in the song, which is explained once you realize that half of The Family Stone weren't around to record this section and Sly and the remaining members worked with studio pros to get the job done. A better approach would have been to let "Stand!" fade into nothingness and extend this promising piece of funk music into a track of its own.
Instead, the next track is "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey," a title that I'm sure was very provocative at a time of Black Power and White Backlash. As for a message to back up the promise of that title, fugheddaboudit. Here are all of the lyrics:
Don't call me nigger, whitey
Don't call whitey, nigger
Well, I went down across the country
Ana I heard the voices ring
People talkin' softly to each other
And not a word could change a thing
That's it? Perhaps calling the song "Wimp Out" might have given the listener fairer warning. The song clocks in at six minutes, though, and Sly chose to the fill the time playing with his new toys: a vocoder and a wah-wah pedal. The result defines the word "tiresome."
Next up is the studio version of the song made famous at Woodstock, "I Want to Take You Higher." This is a pure groove song where the words don't matter at all, but it's pretty obvious that the word "higher" was used specifically to score points with stoners (a point conclusively proven by the call-and-response on the live version from the Woodstock album). Ignoring that shallow attempt at consumer manipulation, this is still a great dance floor piece with undeniable energy and a well-executed arrangement that blends a solid foundation with sonic variation. It also highlights the strength of the family approach, with the four vocalists each getting a line of verse before coming together in the chorus. "I Want to Take You Higher" is easily one of the best songs of psychedelic soul, synthesizing soul, rock and funk into a power-packed, get-down-and-dirty experience.
The idiot who wrote the Wikipedia article on Stand! described "Somebody's Watching You" as a "somber song about paranoia," defining himself as yet another male with his head stuck firmly up his ass. Any woman will tell you that this is a song about female cattiness. We broads (self included) have been programmed to check each other out: shoes, makeup, hairstyle, shape and scent. It's a little different with me, since the reason I check out women is to see if I want to fuck them, but I fell into the habit of eyeing the competition during my formative years because all my girlfriends were doing it. The practice stems from centuries of cultural indoctrination that we need to compete for male attention; its main purpose is to find something wrong with the other woman you can pick at, giving yourself a little buzz of haughty superiority. When the woman is clearly superior, you're left with, "She must think she's pretty hot shit, the bitch," which isn't half as satisfying. Think of it as the female version of trash-talking, but unlike guys, women really fucking mean it. The effect of all this is to put additional pressure on women to think, look and act beautiful, and that's really what "Somebody's Watching You" is all about. It's a message to women to relax, be themselves, explore the whole person inside and stop spending so much time in front of the mirror:
Pretty, pretty, pretty as a picture
Witty, witty, witty as you can be
Blind 'cause your eyes see only glitter
Closed to the things that make you free
Ever stop to think about a downfall
Happens at the end of every line
Just when you think you've pulled a fast one
Happens to the foolish all the time
The closing line "Jealous people like to see you bleed" is no fiction: there are women in the world who deeply resent those who are prettier, and would love to scratch the sheen off their lovely complexions in a cat fight. The music features nice movement, relaxed spot harmonies and some very tasty counterpoint guitar work. The processed vocals on the last verse are a bit irritating, as the processing lowers the volume and reduces the bottom, but all in all, this is a pretty good tune. I can't say the same for "Sing a Simple Song," no matter how many Motowners covered it. It's like something that you might hear in the soul version of The Sound of Music: flaccid, superficial and sanitized. "I hate each Julie Andrews film they've made," sang Vivian Stanshall, and I feel the same way about "Sing a Simple Song."
As luck would have it, though, it's followed by "Everyday People," one of the great singles of all time. For once on this album, Sly strips the arrangement down to the absolute essentials, allowing the groove to carry the song without a lot of extraneous noise. The piano sticks to the vamp, Larry Graham's slap-pop bass keeps the throb going, and the space is cleared nicely with the soft "ooh, sha-sha" for Sly to belt out the most important line, "We've got to live together." I love the horn section's supporting pattern of melody and counterpoint and would love to hear an instrumental-only version. The message is still relevant today, as we all struggle with the notion of "different strokes for different folks." I have a hard time with gun owners, religious zealots and the greedy rich; people can't accept me because I smoke, have sex with both genders and engage in various perversions. My solution was to leave the U. S. and live in a place where the people who make me uncomfortable are in shorter supply, but while the move has definitely improved my spirits, I have a weird, nagging guilt that I copped out instead of standing my ground. Maybe I don't believe in "different strokes for different folks" if it means tolerating someone's violent, dogmatic or selfish proclivities. Sigh. I'm another flawed human being, I guess.
Hmm. Lots to think about. Well, there's that and then there's the truth. I'm stalling because I loathe the next piece.
Casual readers who read my tagline and find my bare ass halfway down the page may assume that I would automatically like a piece of music entitled "Sex Machine." I would tell those people, "Look, I may be horny most of the time but I still have a brain and a pair of ears connected to that brain and I don't do all of my thinking through my clit!" Those ears tell me that "Sex Machine" is probably the worst instrumental in all of psychedelia, a rancid piece of garbage more foul than any pointless jam recorded by the Grateful Dead. Sly's obsession with his vocoder is taken to bizarre extremes, as this structurally boring jam pretty much covers the entire vocabulary of that regrettable piece of technology in thirteen excruciating minutes. The piece engenders a feeling that combines simmering irritation with the creeps, and I hope I never have to hear it again as long as I live.
And that's me trying to be nice.
Stand! ends with "You Can Make It If You Try," bookending the album with another set of self-help and self-affirmation messages. The song has a good strong groove but the lyrics are a string of Successory-like clichés designed to buck up those who need more confidence. My prescription would be a few shots of single malt scotch or whatever your favorite likker happens to be. I also think the message "you can make it if you try" is silly, as it ignores the institutional racism, sexism and elitism that can't be conquered by putting your nose to the grindstone. This is Sly channeling the naive optimism of the hippies, and while it probably helped sell records to white people, he was capable of more nuanced and intelligent thought.
All in all, I found Stand! an album of highs and lows. What I noticed most is that it didn't generate anywhere near the excitement I felt listening to the records in my Motown series or to the live performance of the band on the Woodstock album. Despite a track called "Sex Machine," Stand! isn't a particularly sexy album. While Martha Reeves, The Temptations and Smokey Robinson consistently stimulated both my hip muscles and libido, Stand! leaves me stuck in neutral. Even the social commentary seems milquetoast in comparison to later songs like Edwin Starr's knock-you-on-your-ass-take-no-prisoners classic, "War." My hypothesis is that there was something about the psychedelic music ethos that resulted in music that was more diffuse and less focused.
I wrote that, read that and said, "Well, duh!" Less focused? No shit! Everybody was higher than a frigging kite!
GO TO THE NEXT POST IN THE SERIES: IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY
Posted in: 1960's, Classic Music Reviews, Soul/R&B, The Psychedelic Series | Tagged: alt rock chick, altrockchick, everyday people, female blogger, female music blogger, music review, psychedelic soul, san francisco chronicle, sly and the family stone, sly stone, stand!
Bazzabab July 28, 2014 at 7:52 am | Reply
Hmmm… many years since I last heard this album and I no longer have any Sly in my collection other than a handful of the hits which is pretty much all the Sly I really need.
I could never quite put my finger on what it was about them that failed to satisfy me but I think you've come up with the simple answer – it doesn't make me want to get up and dance my pants off save for one or two tracks here hence why one is better off with a basic greatest hits package since yes… sitting through sludgy rubbish like the dreaded "Sex Machine" is distinctly unrewarding.
No denying they were a great band and had the potential to be incredible as their best moments prove but sadly, Sly was too busy pandering to commercialism and enjoying his party lifestyle far too much to the degree the music ceased to matter any more. If Sly couldn't be bothered to turn up for gigs and sessions then why should the rest of us bother with him? A total waste of talent and as of a few years ago, nothing has changed, he's still pulling his stupid prima-donna stunts which harmed his legacy even more.
As for that Joel Selvin… what an asswipe. To dismiss all those legends you listed to which I'll add the obvious one – Miles Davis as well as Berry Gordy – is pure arrogant blinkered ignorance. The damning thing is, he'll have gotten PAID for writing that rubbish whereas here we have a superb writer who offers more insight in one sentence than Selvin could manage in his entire career. Jeez… people like that do infuriate me!
altrockchick July 28, 2014 at 11:53 am | Reply
Ha! I've tried to get my head around Selvin's comment, and the only thing I can come up with to give him the benefit of the doubt is that he was talking about the music business before and after Sly: Sly opened things up for funk, which led to rap and hip-hop. Stand! is one of the most sampled records of all-time, a despicable procedure where you simply play a patch over and over for your shitty, misogynistic poetry (and call it rap or hip-hop). If that's what he was talking about, his articles should have appeared in the business section of the Chronicle, not the Arts section. Rap and hip-hop are artistic regressions, not progressions.
Classic Music Review: S. F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things | altrockchick August 4, 2014 at 8:23 pm | Reply
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text:
3,000 miles for addiction recovery
July 14, 2020 delduduit
Del Duduit
People celebrate milestones differently.
My wife and I took a cruise to Alaska to commemorate 30 years of marriage. Others do outlandish things while some prefer to keep things quiet and allow self-gratification to be their reward.
But Greg Nance has a massive plan to recognize his 3,000 days of being sober – that's more than eight years.
On March 16 of this year, Greg hit this milestone, and he has a big bash planned. But due to the coronavirus, it won't be until next year. And that's okay because it gives him more time to plan.
But the cool part about this is that you can help celebrate, if you happen to see him whiz by.
Greg says that next year, he will be the first person to run from New York City to Seattle.
No Ubers. No cabs. No hitchhiking.
Only a few pairs of running shoes are all he needs.
He is making the jaunt from the Big Apple to the Emerald City to bring awareness to the epidemic of drug and alcohol addiction. And along the way, he will see the wonderful sites of America.
"I can't think of a better way to celebrate my sobriety and bring awareness at the same time," he said. "I've jogged in 49 countries and run some of the toughest foot races on the planet. I've set 10 fastest known time running records and completed seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. But this will be my biggest challenge."
Greg told me that when he was 16, he turned to alcohol to drown his sorrows after his grandfather, Charlie, suffered a debilitating stroke.
"He was my hero," he said. "I watched him fade away and was powerless. I couldn't do anything."
Greg also had a bad case of tendinitis in his arm, and that put his dreams of playing baseball in jeopardy.
Soon he was introduced to opioids to help with physical pain and became addicted. And the alcohol masked the grief he felt for his grandfather.
"I needed it to feel okay, and to not feel the pain." Greg Nance
His drinking habit escalated from casual drinks on the weekends with friends to drinking alcohol before school at 7 a.m.
"I needed it to feel okay," he said. "And to not feel the pain."
He was in denial about his abuse and depressed about life.
Running was his way to escape – it was his salvation.
Compassionate mentors and a daily training regimen saved him and gave him a reason to get up every day.
He soon realized he was not the only person who suffered from addiction and depression.
There are more than 40 million Americans who are hooked. That's one in seven adults. And for 3,000 days and counting, he's been clean.
"As I run across America, I want to hear and share some of those stories," he said. "I want them to tell me about their struggles because I was there."
He is partnering with documentary director Sarah Schutzki who will chronicle the journey.
"The run by itself will be amazing, but having her along to weave my personal story with addiction and recovery, and to weave it along with stories from others who have struggled with this disease, will hopefully inspire and educate people," he said.
Follow me on Twitter here.
Greg's journey's is incredible and inspirational.
I have never been addicted to anything, but I have suffered from depression, and It's serious.
Anxiety and discouragement are often misunderstood by the church:
It is not a character defeat or a spiritual disorder: And it's not a choice. No one wants to be depressed. If someone tells you it's a lack of faith, just walk away from that person who has a narrow-minded outlook.
Depression and anxiety are not a sign of sin either: Don't let someone tell you that.
Depression doesn't look how we often think: I post a lot of inspirational and encouraging posts, but sometimes I need the same from others. "You seem so happy, and your life is perfect" are words I appreciate, but they are sometimes inaccurate descriptions of me.
Find comfort in the Word of God: Friends are great to lean on for a support system, but you can also find the answers in a favorite verse. Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he [it is] that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (Deuteronomy 31: 6 KJV)
I hope to cross paths with Greg next year, when he dashes through Ohio. Maybe that will happen.
He found his stride through running and is now making an impact, and his message is loud and clear.
Greg runs long distances to prove a point about addiction recovery.
"It's not a sprint," he said. "It is indeed a long journey – its' a marathon."
For more information on his trek across America, visit Greg's website here.
Join Coach Prasek and me each Tuesday on #PJNET.tv at 9: 30 p.m. EST
http://PJNET.tv
Tagged Del Duduit, Greg Nance, marathon, overcome addiction, sober
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8 thoughts on "3,000 miles for addiction recovery"
Inspiring. Wow!
thanks — greg is an inspirational person.
beckielindsey says:
Another inspirational story to celebrate! Thanks for sharing, Del.
Thanks Beckie — Greg was fun to talk with.
So inspiring and uplifting! Kudos to Greg, and may God bless his run.
Blessings, Del!
Greg is an inspirational person.
Wow! What a story of overcoming an addiction and celebrating in quite a unique way. I sure hope you do get to catch up with him next year as he runs through Ohio. Hope you can keep up with him :0) ~ Ben C.
Thanks Ben. I hope to meet up with him next year. Del


text:
CANYON FLOOR
photo by Brent Holman
Brent Holman
Bob Weaver
Dance Hall - Jason Williams
Daryl Forester
Chuck Clark
Adam Elliott
Ronnie Harris
John Pope
photo by John Alford
Dismals Canyon was designated a "National Natural Landmark" in 1975 by the National Natural Landmarks Program. NNLs are administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Deep in the canyon, on the canyon floor, is where you'll find the geological and biological splendor that makes Dismals Canyon worthy of the National Natural Landmark designation.
It contains a rich diversity of native plant life, including a stand of old-growth virgin timber composed chiefly of Hemlock, Tulip Poplar, Sweetgum, Bigleaf Magnolia, and Beech.
National Natural Landmarks Program
"Encourage and support the voluntary conservation of sites that illustrate the nation's geological and biological history, and to strengthen the public's appreciation of America's natural heritage."
Through the heart of the canyon flows "Dismals Branch", a winding stream that enters the canyon with a roar through "Rainbow Falls".
A 1.5 mile hiking trail on the canyon floor follows the stream through sky-reaching boulders, past thundering waterfalls, into a secret world of mossy-green and pearl gray filled with ferns and giant trees. Its waterfalls, natural bridges, cliffs and boulders give this place a magnificent splendor.
Explore the strange and beautiful labyrinth of caverns, grottos and small slot canyons formed by massive house-size boulders broken off the towering bluffs and strewn about by geological events going back to the Paleozoic era - 300 million years ago.
Among the shadows of this primeval sunken forest, you'll see the mysterious sanctuaries occupied by Paleo, Cherokee, and Chickasaw inhabitants.
photo by Shannon Williams
Alabama ranks as the fourth most biologically diverse state in the nation. As a shimmering example, Dismals Canyon contains a rich diversity of native plant life, including a stand of old-growth virgin timber composed chiefly of Hemlock, Tulip Poplar, Sweetgum, Bigleaf Magnolia, and Beech.
More than 350 different species of Exotic Flora have been identified by botanists exploring the canyon.
The roots of trees clutch giant boulders instead of growing under ground. A clump of Trailing Arbutus grows out of solid rock instead of from leaf mold. Microhabitats of Moss and ferns cover boulders like thick blankets. And giant Canadian Hemlocks rise into the air.
photo by Jimmy Emerson
Until an ice storm destroyed one of them, twin Canadian Hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) towered up from the canyon floor. One of them remains and looks sturdy and healthy for its 370 years. It is 138' tall, 8'9" around and has a crown spread of 50'. It is the largest of its species in Alabama and thought to be one of the largest anywhere in the world.
These Hemlocks are in an isolated spot hundreds of miles distant from their normal range of growth. It is believed the twins are sole remnants of arboreal flora pushed south during the age of glaciers.
The area around "Secret Falls" is a natural arboretum. Within 100 feet grow 27 species of native trees. In fact, the official state tree of 30 states can be found on the canyon floor.
"Witches Cavern" - just below "Rainbow Falls" - is a strange and beautiful labyrinth of moss and fern covered boulders where the largest colony of Dismalites resides.
Visitors to the canyon are always amazed to find such uniquely wild beauty in Alabama.
In Film
Dismals Canyon was used to film a segment for the Discovery Channel documentary When Dinosaurs Roamed America. That segment was set in Late Cretaceous New Mexico
Rare Hellbender
photo by Sean Graham
In 2006 a Hellbender (giant Salamander) was found at Dismals Canyon. It is currently the most recently encountered hellbender in Alabama, and one of only three specimens that have been found in the state in the past twenty years. It's about 2 feet in length.
The organization Alabama Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (www.alaparc.org) has initiated a conservation effort (Alabama Hellbender Initiative) to assess the status of hellbenders in Alabama.
Dance Hall - photo by Jason Williams
Located in northwest Alabama, Dismals Canyon was originally occupied nearly 10,000 years ago by Paleoamericans.
From artifacts found scattered among bluff shelters, grottos, and other sanctuaries, we've learned that many cultures of Stone-Age humans were at Dismals Canyon.
Temple Cave - photo by Ronnie Harris
"Temple Cave" - a bluff shelter on the canyon floor - was home to Paleoamericans about 10,000 years ago. This shelter has never been excavated but samples of Paleo spear points have been found in different areas of the Canyon. Paleoamericans were the first humans known to inhabit this part of North America.
It has also been home to Chickasaw and Cherokee.
In 1838 U.S. Troops rounded up the Chickasaw Native Americans - forcing them from their ancestral lands - and held them under guard in this Canyon for two weeks before herding them like cattle to Muscle Shoals where they embarked on the Trail of Tears.
old mill stone
Besides a lazy little pool at the top of "Rainbow Falls", early settlers built a water mill, cotton gin, and sawmill. The mill and water wheel were destroyed by a flood sometime in the 1950s, but one of the mill stones is still below Rainbow Falls - where it landed after the flood.
On Sunday afternoons church congregations would escort their new converts to the chilly waters for old-time open-air baptizing.
The early settlers who first named this hidden canyon a century ago were largely of Scotch-lrish descent. Some believe they brought the name from that beautiful and rugged spot in Scotland called "Dismals".
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY
photo by Ronnie Harris
Dismals Canyon was designated a "National Natural Landmark" because of it's uncommon wild rugged character - largely the result of its geological history.
Once a primeval swamp, this area was lifted upward during the geological events of the late Paleozoic era (roughly 300 million years ago). Over time, the force of draining waters helped to carve a canyon and gorge system punctuated throughout by dozens of sandstone-sheltered grottos, two waterfalls, six natural bridges, and giant moss covered boulders strewn about by ancient earthquakes.
Huge blocks of sandstone have broken away from the gorge walls and lie in haphazard fashion on the floor, producing many natural bridges and damp rock-face microhabitats.
This natural wonder contains one of the oldest primeval forests east of the Mississippi River untouched by ax or fire that is open to the public.
Frame from Scott Neverdusky video
National Natural Landmarks Program In-Depth
Watch this short video that explains what the National Natural Landmarks Program is and how it works.
CANYON FLOOR POINTS OF INTEREST
Dismalites
Past twilight the canyon lights up with tiny creatures we call Dismalites. Guided night tours are available throughout most of the year.
Rainbow Falls
These falls were the source of power for a great mill and water wheel that was destroyed by a flood sometime in the 1950s.
Geological events going back millions of years arranged these house-size boulders together to form natural bridges and a cool green grotto.
A winding natural rock stairway. At the top is Pulpit Rock from which you have a panoramic view of part of the canyon.
This covered area was used for cooking and tribal rituals by Chickasaw Indians.
Temple Cave
About 10,000 years ago this bluff shelter was home to a tribe of Paleo Indians - first man known to inhabit this part of the U.S. This shelter has never been excavated but samples of Paleo pottery & arrow points have been found in different areas of the Canyon. The large rock was used for grinding corn.
Champion Tree
This Eastern/Canadian Hemlock is the first Champion Tree in Franklin County. There were two Champion Trees until an ice storm destroyed one of them. The tree is 138' tall, 8'9" around and has a crown spread of 50'. It is the largest of its species in Alabama and thought to be the largest anywhere in the world.
Weeping Bluff
Looking up at the bluff, you can see the face of an Indian Maiden. The water that seeps from this bluff is said to be tears shed by the Canyon for the loss of its only true friends-the Chickasaw Indians. But it's really just water trickling through from the land above.
Secret Falls
The water creating these falls flows from an underground mountain stream that opens onto the earth's surface about 3/4 of a mile upstream. The area around "Secret Falls" is a natural arboretum. Within 100 feet grow 27 species of native trees.
This well camouflaged area-protected from the sun and the elements-was used by the Chickasaw Indians for shelter. It is the only place where the rock has been worn smooth by centuries of human use.
Fat Man's Misery
This narrow opening (16" wide) between the two big boulders was the original entrance to the Canyon floor.
Witches Cavern
A strange and beautiful labyrinth of moss and fern covered boulders where the largest colony of Dismalites resides.
If you bring your dog, we ask that you keep it on a leash.
If you plan on taking the Dismalite Night Tour, you will want to bring a flashlight (preferably one with a red filter). Read more about about red light and night vision on the Dismalites page.
Remember to take plenty of water - or a water filter - with you on the trail. If you do not bring your own, we sell water and other beverages in the Country Store.
If you camp, it's a good idea to bring a NOAA Weather Radio. (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service office. NWR broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Proper Apparel for the trail:
The Hiking/Nature trail through the canyon is relatively easy for all ages, but is not your average stroll in the park. In some places, you may want to cross ankle deep water and - depending on recent weather - the trail may be muddy.
We suggest wearing shoes that you won't mind getting wet or soiled. The same goes for other apparel.
PLEASE BE CAREFUL while hiking the canyon floor:
It is easy to trip or fall. There are many large roots and rocks, and in many spots it can be very slippery.
Handicap Accessibility:
The canyon floor IS NOT wheelchair accessible. There are stairs to traverse in order to get down onto the canyon floor, and the trail is on very uneven terrain.
Fees and Admission:
Dismals Canyon is not a state or federal park. It is a natural conservatory privately owned and operated. There are admission fees.
Wild Animals:
Although not many animals are usually seen in the canyon, it is possible to see snakes or other wild animals. Do not attempt to kill or harm any animal you may encounter. And please note: we do not refund admission fees because you were frightened by an animal. This is nature.
Leave nothing, take nothing
Dismals Canyon is a National Natural Landmark Registered with the U.S. Department of the Interior. $1,000 fine for removal or defacement of rocks, plants or animals.
Q. I have a National Parks Pass. Is it good for admission into Dismals Canyon?
A. NO. Although Dismals Canyon is designated by the National Park Service as a NATIONAL NATURAL LANDMARK, it is not a State Park or National Park. It's an 85 acre Natural Conservatory - privately owned and operated. There are admission fees.
Q. Do you offer RV camping / hookups?
A. NO. We do not offer RV camping.
The closest RV camping is at Bear Creek Lakes, not far from Dismals Canyon.
Q. When are you open? What is your seasonal schedule?
A. See our Operating Schedule page.
Q. What are your latitude and longitude coordinates?
34° 19' 38.00" N
87° 46' 57.00" W
Q. Are dogs allowed?
A. YES. But we ask that you keep them on a leash.
Q. How many miles of hiking trails do you have?
A. A 1.5 mile hiking trail on the Canyon Floor.
Q. Do you have horse or bike trails?
A. NO. BUT that may change soon.
Q. Do you have bathhouse / restroom facilities for campers and visitors.
A. YES. the Bathhouse / Restrooms are located in the parking area. See Rim Map on Maps page.
LEAVE NOTHING • TAKE NOTHING
"Dismals Canyon" is a National Natural Landmark registered with the U.S. Department of the Interior.
$1,000.00 FINE FOR REMOVAL OR DEFACEMENT OF ROCKS, PLANTS OR ANIMALS.
PLEASE STAY ON TRAIL TO AVOID DAMAGING VEGETATION


text:
Q: Maven Compile Error When I build and run my program in Netbeans, it works without a problem. But with same pom.xml file when I try "mvn compile" I get this error:
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile (default-compile) on project hadoop-test: Compilation failure
[ERROR] /home/metin/NetBeansProjects/hadoop-test/src/main/java/com/citusdata/hadoop/HadoopTest.java:[53,8] error: generics are not supported in -source 1.3

My java version is not 1.3, here the result of "mvn -version"
Apache Maven 3.0.4
Maven home: /usr/share/maven
Java version: 1.7.0_03, vendor: Oracle Corporation
Java home: /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/jre
Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: UTF-8
OS name: "linux", version: "3.2.0-27-generic", arch: "amd64", family: "unix"

and this is the line 53:
Token<BlockTokenIdentifier> token = locatedBlock.getBlockToken();

A: You have to add some informations in your pom.xml. Something like that:
   <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.2</version>
        <configuration>
             <source>1.6</source>
             <target>1.6</target>
        </configuration>
  </plugin>

A: The problem is that maven-compiler-plugin in Maven2 by default uses -source 1.3 and target 1.3
You can fix it by adding this to your pom:
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
      <configuration>
        <compilerVersion>1.5</compilerVersion>
        <source>1.5</source>
        <target>1.5</target>
      </configuration>
    </plugin>

It's practical to put this into pluginManagement section in your topmost parent pom so that your derived poms do not need to care about this.

A: In your log, I see this line:
generics are not supported in -source 1.3

Check the source and target configuration of maven-compiler plug-in, and update it to 1.5.

A: It seems your maven compiler plugin version is 1.3.
Have a look at this link to force the compiler to run with JDK 1.7, http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/examples/compile-using-different-jdk.html

A: It seems your maven java home point to a jre not jdk
Java home: /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/jre

You have to change it to a jdk.
Try java -version and see what is there
use /usr/sbin/alternatives --config java  to change your java version.

A: Here is a slightly different way to fix the same error in Eclipse Indigo.

*

*Open your (maven) project in Eclipse.

*right click on pom.xml

*select ...Maven...Add Plugin

*Enter:
  - groupId: org.apache.maven.plugins
  - artifactId: maven-compiler-plugin
  - version: 2.3.2

This will insert a new section in your pom.xml and open a window for editing.
Then you can add the source and target xml elements as described above to select the correct JRE.
The section looks like this in my project:
<build>
  <plugins>
     <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.2</version>
        <configuration>
           <source>1.6</source>
           <target>1.6</target>
        </configuration>
     </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>

Note the extra tags for "build" and "plugins" absent in some of the other posts.
Once you save the file, Eclipse will notify you that your pom is out of synch with your project.
You can then right click the project ...choose Maven..update project
A key insight for me was that Maven will automatically re-set the build path in Eclipse. Which you can verify by Project...build path..configure build path...Libraries.
So in essence this means you should not have to mess with directly configuring the build path in Eclipse if you are using a Maven project.
HTH

A: Please Execute Maven Run from eclipse and then run mvn test from command prompt. In my case all issues resolved with this step.

A: Add this to Pom.xml
<properties>
    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
    <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
</properties>

A: If you are running your application with Java 8 and Spring Boot then you can fix this issue by adding the below lines to your pom.xml file
    <build>
            <plugins>
                    <plugin>
                            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                    </plugin>
                    <plugin>
                            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                            <version>2.3.2</version>
                            <configuration>
                                 <source>1.8</source>
                                 <target>1.8</target>
                            </configuration>
                    </plugin>
            </plugins>
    </build>


text:
COLINA VAN BEMMEL
Behind Exposure
'Behind Exposure' is a short portrait about a photographer who strives to capture an honest picture of the daily life of people forced to live in extreme conditions or conflict areas. In stead of chasing the latest sensational shots, he works slowly and uses analogue film. This documentary explores how he deals with his photography work in Kurdistan and his view on the status quo.
Being exposed to tense political situations, he reflects on his own position in the middle of conflict.
Director/Camera/Editor: Colina van Bemmel
The People of No Man's Land
'The People Of No Man's Land' is a 25 minute exclusive documentary, which takes the viewer on a journey inside Al-Rukban camp, an unofficial and unsupported refugee camp between the borders of Syria and Jordan. Since no journalist or media have access to Al-Rukban.
Its' an emotional journey that connects feelings of hopelessness with hope and the determination to survive. This documentary doesn't only show us the political situation, but it aims to give a human perspective to a crisis that previously has only been discussed from outside.
Leaving us with only one question: Where is the humanity?
Director/Producer: Daham Alasaad
Writer/Editor: Colina van Bemmel
The Peace Between
'The Peace Between' is a short documentary that looks beyond the word "refugee" as a political and divisive term, and explores 3 friendships which open a space for honest and sympathetic conversations about Europeans and refugees living in community together.
A metaphorical road trip through the lives of 6 characters in 3 cities: Budapest, Copenhagen, and Brest.
When home is home no more, we create family under extraordinary circumstances.
Director: Caroline Kamya
Producer: Talitha Brauer
Editor: Colina van Bemmel
Watch Over Me
'Watch Over Me' is originally a 1-minute film. It deals with the digital confession of a drone operator for the army. Exploring the role of technology in our lives, questioning how far we can go with outsourcing certain activities - in this case spirituality but also the act of war and killing.
Are advancements still advancements if they detach us from what makes us human?
Colina van Bemmel © 2019


text:
Fake sheikhs and royal trappings
Do the British people get the press the 'red-tops' think they deserve? Or are the tabloids' pious protestations of public interest really just a self-serving attempt to halt declining circulation?
Peter Burden examines the News of the World's performance – with its Fake Sheikh and the illegal mobile phone tapping that led to a jail sentence for royal reporter Clive Goodman and the resignation of the editor. He also highlights the paper's hypocrisy when Mazher Mahmood, the Fake Sheikh, was himself unmasked.
This is a book for everyone concerned about standards in British tabloid journalism and privacy rights and the debate about the public interest versus the interest of the public.
'A well-documented exposure of underhand tactics, gross intrusion and embarrassing cock-ups'
Derek Jameson, former News of the World editor
Before becoming a full-time author, Peter Burden worked as a restaurant troubadour, fashionista, frustrated race-horse owner and a writer of radio jingles.
His first novel Rags, published in 1987 and based on his experiences in the fashion trade, was described by the Mail on Sunday as 'a splendidly lively whiz through the fashion fringes of the Swinging Sixties'. It was followed by several more novels, including collaborations in turf fiction with John Francome. Peter was later responsible for transforming Jenny Pitman into a best-selling novelist, ghosting three best sellers for her. He also ghosted the posthumous autobiography of Sixties heart-throb David Hemmings.
more titles coming soon...


Perfect for road trips or a far-away vacation, this lightweight softside luggage is sure to meet your travel needs. Expandable, it offers maximum packing capacity. This collection features 4 dual multi-directional wheels for easy mobility. The soft touch handles allow you to lift your luggage, or carry it by hand when rolling isn't an option. Luggage available in different sizes, while quantities last. Each item sold separately.


text:
to the RI Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals The quality of our schools and the availability of affordable health care continue to be two of the most talked about issues in our state. These issues are at the cornerstone of the RIFTHP. The Federation is a diverse organization, representing more than 10,000 members who work as teachers, nurses and other health professionals, school related personnel, higher education faculty and staff, and state and municipal employees.
The Rhode Island Educational Mission
The quality of our schools and the availability of affordable health care continue to be two of the most talked about issues in our state. And these issues are at the cornerstone of the RIFTHP. The Federation is a diverse organization, representing more than 10,000 members who work as teachers, nurses and other health professionals, school related personnel, higher education faculty and staff, and state and municipal employees.
Frank Flynn, President, RIFTHP
Rhode Island Teachers and Education News
RI AFLCIO Leads Workers First Caravan For Economic, Racial Justice
https://upriseri.com/2020-06-18-workers-first-caravan
Source:upriseri.com
D-Day and Reopening America: What History Teaches About Endgames
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/501462-d-day-and-the-reopening-of-america-what-history-teaches-about-endgame
Source:thehill.com
No Vets On Beaches This Year
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/no-d-day-veterans-on-normandy-beaches-as-anniversary-events-cancelled
Source:theguardian.com
Rare Invasion Photos Reveal Chronology of Events
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/d-day-invasion-photographs/index.html
Source:washingtonpost.com
5 D-Day Movies Worth Watching This Weekend
https://www.ksat.com/entertainment/2020/06/05/5-d-day-movies-worth-watching-this-weekend
Source:ksat.com
Teachers Face Layoffs As Districts Grapple with Virus Fallout
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/02/metro/hundreds-rhode-island-teachers-face-layoffs-districts-grapple-with-coronavirus-fallout/
Source:bostonglobe.com
CFTU Prez : A Quote, Devastating Impact
https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200603/central-falls-teachers-union-says-possible-layoffs-would-have-devastating-impact
Source:providencejournal.com
Facing Outcry, Committee Votes Down Deeper Cuts
https://www.valleybreeze.com/2020-06-03/cumberland-lincoln-area/committee-votes-down-deeper-layoffs-after-outcry
Source:valleybreeze.com
Please Register for a site account. Get daily email alerts from RIFTHP
RIFTHP Calendar


text:
Charles Rogers Death | Obituary: Former Detroit Lions Dies
Charles Rogers, a former Saginaw High and Michigan State star has died. He passed away on Monday, according to Saginaw High Coaches.
Charles Rogers cause of death has been pointed to cancer and liver failure.
"I called his mom at the hospital over the weekend and got a chance to talk to Charles," former Saginaw High football coach Don Durrett said. "He said he was going to the Lord."
According to Durrett and former Saginaw High basketball coach and athletic director Marshall Thomas, Rogers also battled cancer.
"He had cancer, whether that was related to his liver I don't know," former Saginaw High basketball coach and athletic director Marshall Thomas said. "They had given him 30 days to live if he didn't get a liver transplant."
Charles died at the age of 38. He starred at Saginaw High in football, basketball and track, leading the Trojans to a football state championship and adding an individual track state championship. He played at Michigan State, claiming the Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver in college football, and the Detroit Lions selected him with the second overall pick in the 2003.


This striking luxury apartment located on 18th floor offering magnificent city & water views with convenient lifestyle.
Spacious open planed and living interiors stretching to 2 large balconies where let you enjoy complete city & water views with access from lounge and bedrooms.
Suburb offering extraordinary playground with its 430 hectares of unspoiled parkland, internationally famous stadium, and sporting and leisure facilities among the best in the world, will be the source of fun, fitness and entertainment for your entire family.


I like to work in multiple operating systems, partly because some things are much easier in one OS than others (and some things are only available in one OS), and partly because I like the way it gives me a broader idea of what computing is about, in the same way that I imagine being properly multilingual would give you a broader idea of what language is. And if I were properly multilingual I might not write such dreadful run-on sentences.
Most of the time I work on Macs, because one of the things I particularly like about them is that they're very shiny, visual and easy to use on top … but underneath it's basically POSIX-compliant BSD Unix, so you can do the full-on GNU/Linux command line thing properly if that's the best way to get a job done. Historically, one of the big drawbacks of Unix-related stuff – and legendarily GNU – was that getting hold of a new bit of software and making it work on your machine could be a bit … involved. Especially when to get X working you had to install Y and Z, and Z required P and Q, which both require Y, and so on. Never mind keeping it all up to date. But modern package managers do a great job of making it much, much simpler.
Alas, the Mac doesn't come with a package manager – Macs have their own (generally much more user-friendly) way of installing software, which doesn't work for GNU/Linux software. Happily, there are several ways of dealing with this.
This post is a techie log of what I did to make a Mac work a bit more like a GNU/Linux machine at the command line, for my own reference (I'm expecting to have to do this again soonish), and for anyone running in to the same problems I did.
My proximal goal was getting Image Magick (for some image tweaking) and Octave (for a Coursera Machine Learning MOOC) working, and several other useful bits and pieces, on an iMac running Mac OS X 10.7.5 Lion.
There are three main choices for package managers on a Mac: MacPorts, Fink and Homebrew. I've previously used MacPorts but had problems here and there that were too much bother to fix. But based on this useful StackExchange post on the pros/cons of MacPorts, Fink and Homebrew, some personal recommendations, and realising that the whole 'it all (looks like it) lives in /usr/local' approach made sense in my muddled old-school head in a way the other approaches hadn't, and very much liking to minimise the use of sudo and root on principle, I decided to go with Homebrew.
Before doing any of that, I installed XCode, which you need for doing anything involving compilation on a Mac. Easiest way (for me) was the free install from the App Store. Once installed, start XCode, go to Preferences, then the Components tab, and install 'Command Line Tools'. C was my first proper programming language (which you can probably tell if you ever catch sight of my code in any other language I try to write in), so I banged out a quick hello.c (with cat, so I could feel properly old school) and make hello and it worked fine.
and then 'brew update' worked fine, doing plenty of work.
gnuplot> set terminal aqua enhanced title "Figure 1" size 560 420  font "*,6"
… ran Octave again, and all was well.
I'm not sure whether you need to install X11 manually or not these days (I suspect not) – you need it for Gimp, and I'd already installed that. There doesn't seem to be an official Homebrew formula for Aquaterm (to get more Mac-native-looking plots), and Aquaterm seems quasi-abandoned since mid-2011, but it might be worth trying (maybe: uninstall gnuplot with brew uninstall gnuplot, install Aquaterm with the dmg, then brew install gnuplot again and remove the .octaverc diverting it to X11. But reading a bit of the Aquaterm mailing list about needing to recompile to get plot widths beyond 1000px wide suggested X11 will do fine for now.


Learning Coding is now deemed a very important life skill, but what else do children and students need to know about digital technologies and computers?
I'd like to start by rejecting the premise of the question. Learning to code is no bad thing, but it's about as useful a 'life skill' as learning to play an instrument, write a poem or paint a picture. It merits its place on a broad and balanced curriculum not because of its utility but because, as the lab work of computer science, it provides unique insights into how the world, natural, technological and social, is, and furthers the scope for students' creative expression.
That apart, a few thoughts on what else should students know about digital technology.
Firstly, that computers can only do so much: that in any bit of software, or any system, something is lost – the digital is granular: you see the bits if you zoom in closely enough; the analogue is far finer grained – at least all the way down to the Planck length. When we computerize something we keep what we think matters – the audio and the video in the hangout, but don't worry about the rest – those online have no knowledge of how warm it is in here, or what it smells like.
Students ought to know, we have to admit, how to get things done, with whatever the right / best / available tool is for the job in hand. Often this comes down to a grasp of the steps to follow, but an attitude of looking for better ways is useful too – witness those who center text using the space bar or go to Facebook by searching for it on Google every time. I'd been led to believe that computers were meant to make things easier, let's let them.
Akin to this is looking for the common ground, the repeatable patterns, the ways of working that transfer from one application, or application, to another – write first, format later. Write first, correct later, save as you go, keep a backup, invite and provide review, be generous, be kind etc.
At a bigger scale, students should also know how to go about managing projects. A former colleague did a memorable assembly on how to eat an elephant – one bite at a time. Teaching students, or giving the chance to learn, that research projects, media assignments, whatever, are tackled through breaking big problems down into smaller ones, and then getting on with solving these, isn't just an IT thing, but IT is one of the domains where the need might be greatest.
And finally, and again not just for IT, but a little criticality would do no harm – being able to spot the weak point in an argument, being able to evaluate digital content and consider its relevance and reliability, being able to think through the implications of their (and others') actions, online and off, seems ever more important in an ever more connected, remembered, survailed age.
Of course, what I've just done is give examples of how some of the ideas of what we now call computational thinking, specifically abstraction, algorithms, patterns, decomposition and logical reasoning, can be applied out beyond the narrow realm of coding and other aspects of CS. Studying computer science is one, I think particularly effective, way to develop these capabilities, but it's not the only one nor, for most, will it be an end in itself.


text:
Swell(s) Height: 5 Foot
Currant almond scones
Cajun kale soup
Pot roast shepherd's pie
Grilled bacon and provolone sandwich
Salmon salad pita pocket
Artichoke, feta, calamata pizza
Fruit Salad bar
Baked meatloaf and gravy
Italian roast sirloin au jus
Broiled Mahi Mahi with shrimp mousseline sauce
Panache green beans amandine
Taita Hill zucchini and tomatoes
Tropical rice pilaf
Baked seasoned potatoes with sour cream
Zucchini biscuits
Rocky road brownies
Pulling pictures
We made a sacrifice to Poseidon last night, but to be honest we weren't expecting such a speedy response. We got one, however. In the tradition of the expedition, our bounty came wrapped in the guise of yet another setback.
This time the fates chose the towed camera. The tow-cam is essentially a Nikon digital camera attached to a sled, which is periodically pulled behind RV Atlantis to gather information about the sea floor. Last night, it snagged on a horizontal overhang. For more than an hour-and-a-half, it was stuck.
After a bit of delicate ship maneuvering, the sled was freed, with barely a scratch for its trouble. When it surfaced, it brought up a special treat in addition to its customary 1,800 or so photographs: coral. Lots of coral. Instead of the hundreds of individual Desmophyllum cristagalli that we'd gotten used to, however, this D. cris was in large chunks, which had been ripped from the seamount when the sled came up.
Tim Shank, a biologist and veteran of these cruises, said the odds of something like this happening are "not even one in a million...more like one in a billion." Thank you, Poseidon.
Along with the day's haul from Alvin, today was very productive indeed. Tomorrow will be the last dive on Muir Seamount. After that, we'll head back to Manning Seamount, where the weather seems to have finally calmed down enough for our purposes.
The episode with the towed camera encouraged us to investigate further what that important tool is all about. It's a relatively simple technology when compared to some of the equipment around here, but it greatly improves our efficiency with Alvin dives.
The tow-cam was actually built to be a camera/rock-corer—a device that can break off small chips of rock on the sea floor and bring samples up for testing.
On this cruise, however, rocks aren't what we're after. So the tow-cam functions primarily as a moveable digital camera. There's a Nikon Coolpix attached to a sturdy sled, capable of taking a picture every 10-15 seconds over a time span of 5 hours. To store all that data (roughly 1,800 photographs, depending on which resolution the camera is set at), there's a 2-gigabyte memory card installed.
"It's a way of surveying the sea floor without near the expense of Alvin or an ROV (remotely operated vehicle)," says scientist Rhian Waller. "We can use it as a tool to look at an area before we trawl or really study an area in more depth."
Waller is a tow-cam veteran, along with scientist Bob Green, whose role it is to look after the WHOI tow-cam. Waller works out of Southampton Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom, and she says that towed cameras at that institution are often used for environmental surveys, to count animals or ocean flora.
Operating the tow-cam takes a good deal of human effort and attention. Attached to a cable, it is lowered on a cable from the side of the ship using a hydrowinch, until it approaches the ocean floor. At about 100 meters above the floor, an altimeter kicks in, so that the operator can keep the sled at its optimum distance from the seafloor: 6 meters.
This entire time, the tow-cam operator aboard the ship is watching computer monitors that relay water information as well the tow-cam's position. How often does she or he need to adjust the tow-cam's position? It depends entirely on the terrain. If the seafloor is flat, you've got a relatively easy time. Last night, moving it up a steep slope, Bob Green was continually making adjustments.
Every once in a while, the tow-cam gets stuck. When that happens, you stop the ship, which until then has been traveling at a speed of a quarter-knot, and back up. The goal is to get the cable back to a vertical position.
Sometimes re-positioning the cable and freeing the camera sled takes quite a while. Last night it took just under two hours. We were happy to have it back, coral on board or not, just so it can keep on diving, and keep on helping.


If you are missing all or most of your teeth, we here at David R. Moyer Cosmetic & Family Dentistry can help. We offer several full-arch restoration solutions, including fixed implant dentures, that can drastically improve your life.
A dental implant is a small titanium screw that we placed underneath the gum tissue and into the jawbone during minor surgery. If you are missing multiple teeth, then we place multiple implants. Once the implants have been deeply embedded into the jawbone, we will suture the incisions.
Over a span of six months or so, the implants and your jawbone will fuse during a process called osseointegration. The process of osseointegration is largely responsible for the many benefits of dental implants. Thanks to this process, your implant-supported restoration will look, feel, and function just like your natural teeth.
A denture is a removable appliance used to replace an entire arch of missing teeth. Most dentures consist of prosthetic teeth set in a flesh-colored acrylic base. The base fits over your gum tissue and typically requires some form of adhesive to stay in place. Unfortunately, many patients find dentures to be difficult and uncomfortable. It is not uncommon for patients to experience embarrassing slips while talking, chewing, and smiling. These activities take practice with removable dentures but do get easier with time.
A fixed implant denture, as the name suggests, relies on a series of implants for support, rather than your gum tissue. The number of implants you receive depends on the type of denture. Some removable dentures can be held in place by as little as two implants, while other fixed restorations require up to eight.
In some cases, we may immediately load a temporary denture after your surgery. Once your healing period is complete, we can fabricate your final restoration. The length of the procedure and the healing period depends on your circumstance.
A fixed implant denture solves many of the problems commonly associated with traditional dentures. The implants anchor the restoration in place, which prevents embarrassing slips, and allows you to chew, eat, and speak with confidence. You will be able to eat anything you want without worry!
A fixed implant denture also provides improved esthetics and durability. Most implant restorations are made from porcelain or zirconia. These ceramic materials match the light reflective properties of tooth enamel, making them the next best thing to your natural teeth. Many people may not even notice you have a restoration. Under the right care and maintenance, your fixed implant denture could last for many decades. In some cases, a fixed implant denture can last a lifetime.
Dental implants also provide physical stimulation to the jawbone that prevents any further deterioration. Dentures do not. Over time, many patients with dentures need to have them replaced, repaired, or relined due to bone deterioration.
If you would like to learn more about fixed implant dentures, call 480.935.6295, and schedule a consultation appointment now!