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[ January 15, 2021 ] Interview: Scottish singer-songwriter Kerri Watt on Neptune's Daughter and recording in Austin	Interviews
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[ January 15, 2021 ] Justin Moses "The Lightning And The Thunder" – Listen	Tracks
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[ January 14, 2021 ] AUK's top 10 americana albums ever: Lyndon Bolton	Features
HomeReviewsAlbum ReviewsAlpha Mule "Blue Sky Blue" (Giant Meteor Records, 2020)
Alpha Mule "Blue Sky Blue" (Giant Meteor Records, 2020)
March 25, 2020 Guy Lincoln Album Reviews 0
So, is it possible to 'do music' as a side-line? Alpha-Mule are a self-identifying "Californian Americana band" – essentially the duo of Joe Forkan on guitars and vocals, and Eric Stoner on banjo and guitar. They have produced new music, spread over two lps, whilst pursuing actual full time salary paying careers in the visual arts and education. So a listen to these records may give some clue as to the answer to that question. This new music is their second outing following well received debut 'Peripheral Vision', released over two years ago.
The first release and the 'proper' album is 'Blue Sky Blue'. 'Something in the Water' came a few weeks later and its subtitle of 'First Takes & Second Thoughts' gives a clue to its nature with a mix of re -recordings of old songs, remixes of songs on 'Blue Sky Blue' and just a couple of new tunes. A companion piece rather than an "odds n sods" record perhaps. Here we'll focus on 'Blue Sky Blue' with the occasional acknowledgement that there is also 'Something in the Water'.
Taking from their self-description again, Alpha Mule's music is "largely influenced by traditional country, folk, rock, bluegrass, and blues" (wot, no jazz or hip-hop?). This ranging around the genres without ever fully nailing any of them tends to the sound of 'peripatetic supply-teacher' Americana. Vocally (and to a lesser extent musically) there is a cast of characters on display that creates an almost theatrical feel to the record. So for example we get 'Window out of Here' that is musically and vocally reminiscent of Lyle Lovett with the archest of eyebrows. Also 'Moon Dogs', a lovely plaintive ballad that is the epitome of this presentation of characters. In the space of three minutes 47 seconds it manages to invoke the spirit of Jim White, Richmond Fontaine, The Friends of Dean Martinez and Tom Russell (at least!). Despite all this the record does manage to remain oddly coherent. It avoids the aloof over complication that can beset this kind of collection, offering instead a sympathetic Vaudevillian folk-troubadour aesthetic that permeates the grooves.
Aha! I hear you exclaim, "Vaudevillian folk-troubadour" – Tom Waits surely? Well perhaps. There are two covers across these albums, both of them songs by Waits. 'Strange Weather' is a non-more Waits reading of the song and could almost be a reference point for the overall sound of 'Blue Sky Blue'. Maybe the added Waits is in here to bring the grit that is needed to produce the pearl, because this is what is missing from their own songs. These sound appealing but the particular spark of interest to really grab our attention is largely absent, nothing truly sticks with us and each time we listen is like the first time. Only far too rarely do we get moments that might offer the spark that we seek. Like the use of prominent bull fiddle on 'Ironically´ and 'Hand to Hold' that affords a nice loping gate, which would be great to hear more widely across future records.
Forkan and Stoner are earnest and committed, determined to do a good job and trying really hard to get things right. There is no doubting their attention to detail. Whilst their craft is evident throughout they don't quite generate the connection with the listener of really good records. We can appreciate their skill but not quite feel their love. Evidence for this can be found on the 'Something in the Water' companion piece, where they seem to let loose and play with more freedom and less concern over the technicalities and the sound is all the better for it.
Lyrically the record remains opaque and somewhat unfathomable. Alternatively, if you prefer, they provide the listener with plenty of space to enact their own readings of the songs; though this may turn out to be a difficult proposition. Indeed Alpha Mule seem to offer a warning against too close an inspection of meaning "be careful not to pry you don't want to know who's on the line, still trying to make up your mind but it gets stranger all the time". What we might discern perhaps, is a pervading sense of loss or unease, a dissatisfaction with self and even a desperation for change. There are no simple narratives on offer in songs that seem to consider the inner workings and drivers of people's thoughts and emotions, often from a third party perspective, in a way that can give them a distancing effect. As a result it can be hard to find any signs of hope or confidence for the future in these songs. Indeed, the record tails off into the distance with the banjo flecked instrumental 'If I Return', a downbeat, almost throwaway sign-off that seems to emphasise the lyrical lack of light at the end of the tunnel.
The extended psychedelic run out of the 7 minute plus version of 'Something in the Water (Rabbit Hole Version)', illustrates the issue at the heart of the matter. This version of the song is to be found on the second lp and is just 'more', in every way. It goes where they daren't (don't want to?) on 'Blue Sky Blue', having a loose playfulness that is most welcome. Being less concerned about the craft and more about the heart/feel might just be the way forward.
Well crafted and methodical largely acoustic songs from California duo
Alpha Mule
About Guy Lincoln	35 Articles
Americana, New Country, Alt-country, No Depression, Twangcore, Cow-punk, Neo-traditionalists, Countrypolitan... whatever.
The Lost Brothers + Llamadme Pastor, Purcell Rooms, Royal Festival Hall, 3rd March 2020
Forgotten Artists – Barefoot Jerry
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Americana Roots: Pixie & the Partygrass Boys
Americana Roots highlights the freshest and most original Americana and bluegrass from across the pond in the US. It covers everything from brand-new, just out of the box bands, to cult favourites, to established acts [...]
Americana Roots: Grayson Capps
American Roots highlights the freshest and most original Americana and bluegrass from across the pond in the US. It covers everything from brand-new, just out of the box bands, to cult favourites, to established acts [...]
Americana Roots: Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
American Roots highlights the freshest and most original Americana and bluegrass from across the pond in the US. It covers everything from brand-new, just out of the box bands, to cult favourites, to established [...]
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Americana Roots: Tenth Mountain Division
Americana Roots highlights the freshest and most original Americana and bluegrass from across the pond in the US. It covers everything from brand-new, just out of the box bands, to cult favourites, to established [...]
Interview: William Lawrence talks drumming, the Felice Brothers and songwriting
Interview: Corey Ledet on zydeco's history and modern relevance
Interview: Passenger on writing in lockdown, his new album and how 2020 changed him
Interview: Lady Nade discusses her AMAUK nomination and the Music Venue Trust
Kerri Watt discusses the influence of Van Morrison and Sheryl Crow and how female artists still need to work extra hard to breakthrough It is not very often that an artist who has just released […]
William the Conqueror return this March with a new album called 'Maverick Thinker' which will be released via Chrysalis Records. Well known for their bravura performances and ability to give it all in the service […]
Justin Moses has a new album slated for release on January 22nd, it's called 'Fall Like Rain' and 'The Lightning And The Thunder' is a stand-out track from it. It's a rollicking Bluegrass number featuring […]
Check out the video premiere of William Poyer's new single 'Round the Bend'. It's the fourth video created alongside director Jose Grageda and is a suitably moody accompaniment to an absorbing song. As well as […]
Welcome once more to AUK's quest to identify the top 10 americana albums ever. Looking back it is quite striking to see not only the diversity of the selections so far but also the consistent […]
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Today's Globe Opinion Politics Magazine Education Science NECN Special reports Obituaries
Elite in India campaigning against antigay legislation
Gay and transgender people marched in Calcutta this June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York, widely considered the beginning of the gay rights movement. (Bikas Das/ Associated Press)
By Amelia Gentleman, International Herald Tribune | September 24, 2006
NEW DELHI -- Amid a climate of growing sexual tolerance in urban India, a campaign to force the government to decriminalize homosexuality is gaining momentum.
Some of India's most influential figures, from author Vikram Seth to the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, have joined their voices in a protest letter demanding the repeal of ``cruel and discriminatory" legislation banning gay sex.
Unusually, the letter brings together senior names from India's traditionally conservative elite, its business world, civil service, and judiciary, alongside the more expected representatives of human rights groups. Activists say it marks a radical change in attitudes toward homosexuality among India's establishment.
``Some of India's most distinguished people have come together to say that this is a fundamental human rights issue which must be addressed," said Siddharth Dube, a writer and senior official in the UN's AIDS prevention effort . ``The most respected people in our society are standing up and saying they believe something is really wrong. It would be very surprising if the government does not sit up and take notice now."
About 150 high-profile signatories have called for section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which bans gay sex, to be overturned immediately. The law has been used to ``systematically persecute, blackmail, arrest, and terrorize sexual minorities," said the letter, which was published in various Indian newspapers earlier this month. ``It has spawned public intolerance and abuse, forcing tens of millions of gay and bisexual men and women to live in fear and secret at tragic cost to themselves and their families."
Hostility to the law has intensified recently for two reasons: because it is seen as an anachronism, redolent of an earlier, less tolerant era, and because health care officials, struggling to contain India's AIDS epidemic, warn that it hampers their efforts to contact vulnerable groups.
The letter, which was also signed by Soli Sorabjee, a former attorney general, and Nitin Desai, a former UN undersecretary general, as well as prominent figures ranging from newspaper editors to admirals, stresses that the law has been ``used by homophobic officials to suppress the work of legitimate HIV-prevention groups, leaving gay and bisexual men in India even more defenseless against HIV infection."
The letter's release has been timed to trigger renewed debate in advance of a critical ruling from Delhi's High Court, expected early next month, on the validity of the legislation.
This is the latest stage of a long-running attempt by an HIV-AIDS prevention organization, the Naz Foundation, to have the law overturned.
Their case was rejected by the government last year on the grounds that ``public morality" should ``prevail over the exercise of any private right," but the petition is being heard again on appeal, and the mood within the government appears to be softening.
UNAIDS said in May that India had the highest number of people in the world living with HIV -- about 5.7 million. A few weeks later, the government's AIDS-prevention body called for the law to be overturned.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


To bring you: Me Bungee Jumping.
It was from the Titan Crane, a 150 foot A-Listed crane that used to be used in the ship-yards in Clydebank in Glasgow.
I think my screams could be heard over Glasgow!
It was by the scariest thing I've ever done – but well worth it!
What's the biggest adrenaline rush you've experienced?
I booked it a while ago for my other half's birthday which is tomorrow, but she freaked out and couldn't do it… I guess it was more of a present for me, though!


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06 May The American Dream is at Stake
Posted on May 06 2019 18:00h by Sonya Sepahban
The "American Dream" is evoked often in the social and political rhetoric of the day. My own story is a story of living that dream (more on that later). But the Tech industry's equity gap, when it comes to diversity groups, is one of the biggest modern day threats to it.
The American Dream is "the national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals … in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers."
You know there are "barriers" to freedom in our society when Black and Hispanic students are earning computer science degrees at twice the rate that they are hired by leading tech companies. Another indication is that the workforce at "Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter — according to those companies' own reports — were just 3 percent Hispanic and 1 percent black in 2016."
Why does it matter so much? In the recent two decades, the Tech industry has been the biggest producer of high paying jobs. Unfortunately, these high paying jobs have also resulted in the largest equity gap in generations, with diverse groups like women, African Americans and Hispanics, not benefiting proportionately.
Consider the median pay at Facebook, roughly $240,000 as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle through their analysis of the first year of public company pay disclosures. Meanwhile, the median pay was a little over $66,000 at Wells Fargo, and about $140,000, even at premier companies like Chevron and PG&E.
It's clear that a career in Tech provides a significant "opportunity for prosperity and success." When the opportunity to get those jobs are limited or unavailable to certain groups, there is indeed a threat to the American Dream. By going mostly to elite US universities and ignoring community colleges, lesser-known universities, and specific sources of diverse candidates (for example, HBCUs), the Tech industry is doing just that!
As promised, a word about my own story and why I'm passionate about this issue. As the first generation American-born daughter of immigrant parents, I was able to rise to the highest levels of my chosen profession (Engineering) at Fortune 500 companies in the industry of my choice (Aerospace and Defense). Despite many challenges, my determination, education and hard work led to a dream career and the wealth building opportunity that provided a comfortable life, and even more opportunities for my son.
I believe in the American Dream because I've lived it, and because it fuels the freedom, security and economic prosperity we enjoy. We must pay attention to the alarming data indicating that dream is out of reach for many, and do all that we can to reverse these dangerous trends.
What would MLK dream of today?
Holiday Season Card Builder


text:
package com.compomics.thermo_msf_parser_API.highmeminstance;

import com.compomics.thermo_msf_parser_API.interfaces.ChromatogramInterface;
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

import java.io.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.zip.ZipInputStream;

/**
 * Created by IntelliJ IDEA. User: Niklaas Date: 21-Feb-2011 Time: 10:55:51
 */
/**
 * This class represents a chromatogram
 *
 * @author Davy Maddelein
 * @version $Id: $Id
 */
public class Chromatogram implements ChromatogramInterface {
    // Class specific log4j logger for Thermo_msf_parserGUI instances.

    private static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(Chromatogram.class);
    /**
     * The raw file id
     */
    private int iFileId;
    /**
     * The trace type id
     */
    private int iTraceTypeId;
    /**
     * The trace type
     */
    private String iTraceType;
    /**
     * The zipped chromatogram xml
     */
    private byte[] iZippedChromatogramXml;
    /**
     * The unzipped chromatogram xml
     */
    private String iUnzippedChromatogramXml;
    private List points;

    /**
     *
getPointsVector.

     *
     * @return a {@link java.util.List} object.
     */
    public List getPointsVector() {
        return points;
    }

    /**
     *
Setter for the field points.

     */
    public void setPoints() {
        String lXml = getUnzippedChromatogramXml();
        String[] lLines = lXml.split("\n");
        List<Point> lPoints = new ArrayList<Point>();
        for (String lLine : lLines) {
            if (lLine.trim().startsWith("<Pt ")) {
                lPoints.add(new Point(lLine));
            }
        }
        this.points = lPoints;
    }

    /**
     * The chromatogram constructor
     *
     * @param iFileId The file id
     * @param iTraceTypeid The trace type id
     * @param iZippedChromatogramXml The zipped chromatogram xml
     */
    public Chromatogram(int iFileId, int iTraceTypeid, byte[] iZippedChromatogramXml) {
        this.iFileId = iFileId;
        this.iTraceTypeId = iTraceTypeid;
        if (iTraceTypeId == 1) {
            iTraceType = "TicTrace";
        }
        if (iTraceTypeId == 2) {
            iTraceType = "BasePeakTrace";
        }
        this.iZippedChromatogramXml = iZippedChromatogramXml;
    }

    /**
     * Getter for the file id
     *
     * @return int with the file id
     */
    public int getFileId() {
        return iFileId;
    }

    /**
     * Getter for the trace type id
     *
     * @return int with the trace type id
     */
    public int getTraceTypeId() {
        return iTraceTypeId;
    }

    /**
     * Getter for the trace type
     *
     * @return String with the trace type (TicTrace or BasePeakTrace)
     */
    public String getTraceType() {
        return iTraceType;
    }

    /**
     * Getter for the zipped chromatogram xml
     *
     * @return byte[] with the zipped chromatogram xml
     */
    public byte[] getZippedChromatogramXml() {
        return iZippedChromatogramXml.clone();
    }

    /**
     * Getter for the unzipped chromatogram xml
     *
     * @return String with the unzipped chromatogram xml
     */
    public String getUnzippedChromatogramXml() {
        if (iUnzippedChromatogramXml == null) {
            try {
                File lZippedFile = File.createTempFile("zip", null);
                FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(lZippedFile);
                try {
                    fos.write(iZippedChromatogramXml);
                    fos.flush();
                } finally {
                    fos.close();
                }
                BufferedOutputStream out;
                ZipInputStream in = new ZipInputStream(new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(lZippedFile)));
                ByteArrayOutputStream lStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream(50);
                out = new BufferedOutputStream(lStream, 50);
                try {
                    while (in.getNextEntry() != null) {
                        int count;
                        byte data[] = new byte[50];
                        try {
                            while ((count = in.read(data, 0, 50)) != -1) {
                                out.write(data, 0, count);
                            }
                            out.flush();
                        } finally {
                            out.close();
                        }
                    }
                } finally {
                    in.close();
                }

                if(!lZippedFile.delete()){
                   throw new IOException("could not delete temp files");
                }
                try {
                    iUnzippedChromatogramXml = lStream.toString("UTF-8");
                } finally {
                    lStream.close();
                }

            } catch (IOException ioe) {
                logger.error(ioe);
            }
        }
        return iUnzippedChromatogramXml;
    }

    /**
     * Getter for the different points in the chromatogram
     *
     * @return Vector with the different points
     */
    public List<Point> getPoints() {
        String lXml = getUnzippedChromatogramXml();
        String[] lLines = lXml.split("\n");
        List<Point> lPoints = new ArrayList<Point>();
        for (int i = 0; i < lLines.length; i++) {
            if (lLines[i].trim().startsWith("<Pt ")) {
                lPoints.add(new Point(lLines[i]));
            }
        }
        return lPoints;
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override
    public int getChromatogramFileNumber() {
        return iFileId;
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override
    public void setChromatogramFileNumber(int newFileId) {
        this.iFileId = newFileId;
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override
    public int getTraceTypeID() {
        return iTraceTypeId;
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override
    public void setTraceTypeID(int newTraceTypeID) {
        this.iTraceTypeId = newTraceTypeID;
    }

    /**
     * This class represent one point in the chromatogram
     */
    public class Point {

        /**
         * Time
         */
        double iT;
        /**
         * Intensity
         */
        double iY;
        /**
         * Scan number
         */
        int iScan;

        /**
         * The Point constructor
         *
         * @param lLine An xml line that will be parsed
         */
        public Point(String lLine) {
            String[] lElements = lLine.split(" ");
            for (String lElement : lElements) {
                if (lElement.startsWith("T=\"")) {
                    iT = Double.valueOf(lElement.substring(3, lElement.lastIndexOf("\"")));
                }
                if (lElement.startsWith("Y=\"")) {
                    iY = Double.valueOf(lElement.substring(3, lElement.lastIndexOf("\"")));
                }
                if (lElement.startsWith("Scan=\"")) {
                    iScan = Integer.valueOf(lElement.substring(6, lElement.lastIndexOf("\"")));
                }
            }
        }

        /**
         * Getter for the t (time) value
         *
         * @return double with the time
         */
        public double getT() {
            return iT;
        }

        /**
         * Getter for the y (intensity) value
         *
         * @return double with the intensity
         */
        public double getY() {
            return iY;
        }

        /**
         * Getter for the scan
         *
         * @return int with the scan
         */
        public int getScan() {
            return iScan;
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I was thrilled when the Charlotte Tilbury makeup collection launched. She is one of my favourite makeup artists and has Brit chic thing down to a tee. The Colour Coded Palettes was an item that I was immediately interested in. Each palette has its own "Iconic" look associated with the four shades. So in theory there should be one suitable for every girl, From The Uptown Girl to The Golden Goddess. Within the range, there were few palettes that would suit my look and skintone but the one that caught my eye was the Charlotte Tilbury The Dolce Vita Palette. Charlotte describes the Dolce Vita look as "Killer curves, luxe perfume and a sultry smoky eye. You embrace your femininity to conquer the world". That's a look that I could buy into even if it sounds a little more than my usual!
This palette is a quartet of stunning warm toned browns, golds and shimmers. They are all powder based eyeshadows but are so creamy, butter soft they almost don't feel like they aren't powder. I found them to be especially pigmented even without a primer. Each shade applied evenly over the lid with minimal fallout (although the glitter needs to be patted onto the lid, but less than I imagined). The Colour Coded Palettes are colour coded (clue is in the name eh?) and contain a Prime, Enhance, Smoke and Pop shade. This is so you have a rough idea of where each shadow goes when layering them up. The Prime shade is a brightening satin champagne, Enhance is more of a reddish/brown satin finish. The Pop shade is a stunning copper with lots glitter. And finally the Smoke shade is more of a dark brown matte brown.
The Dolce Vita look Charlotte talks about on her website (she has video tutorials of how to use all her products!) is a little too much for my everyday look, but I think I toned it down for a bit more of a day look. To do this I used Prime all over the lid, then using Enchance in the crease and running it along the lower lash line to define the eyes. If I wanted I could have added a little of Pop and Smoke, just to add drama to the look and take it from day to night.
The price is super premium, I'd never usually shell out so much for one single palette. Particularly one with so few shades contained within it. However I cant fault them, They are a dream to use, high quality, and I love how they can create so many different looks. They are right up there price wise with the Tom Ford Makeup line which I think this palette really reminds me of. I've not tried them so I cant compare though! Overall I think its dupable in terms of shades, but I think the quality of this palette is something else. Definitely a luxury item, but so worth it.


text:
You are here: Home / Abortion911 / Stamford Planned Parenthood Summons Ambulance for 21st Known Medical Emergency in 5 Months
Stamford Planned Parenthood Summons Ambulance for 21st Known Medical Emergency in 5 Months
Stamford, CT — For the second time this year, an ambulance was dispatched to the Stamford Health Center Planned Parenthood, an abortion facility located in Stamford, Connecticut.
The incident occurred soon after a group of pro-life activists had left for the day. However, one activist remained in the neighborhood running errands when he happened to notice an ambulance headed in the direction of the Planned Parenthood center.
He returned to the street to pray for whoever needed assistance until the ambulance left, which was followed closely by a private vehicle that had been parked in the lot. No lights or sirens were used.
A radio dispatch recording obtained by Operation Rescue revealed that an ambulance and a rescue unit had been dispatched using the Delta priority designation, which is a non-life threatening priority code that does not require the use of lights and sirens.
The subject was a 29-year old female who had lost consciousness, but was breathing normally. It is assumed she was transported to a nearby hospital.
This follows a previous medical emergency that took place on February 15, 2017, in which an ambulance was called to the Planned Parenthood facility for a patient suffering a seizure. Photos and a radio traffic recording was included in a February Operation Rescue compilation video featuring 18 medical emergencies at Planned Parenthood since January 2016, which was meant to persuade Washington legislators to defund Planned Parenthood.
Since then, Operation Rescue has documented a total of 48 medical emergencies at Planned Parenthood abortion facilities since January 2016 – twenty-one of which took place within the first five months of 2017.
"Whether it is a minor condition or a life-threatening abortion complication, the public need to be aware that ambulances are being summoned to Planned Parenthood abortion facilities at an alarming rate," said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. "Planned Parenthood's inability to guarantee the safety of their patients and the fact that their facilities are ill-equipped to handle even a minor incident, provided an urgent reason to stop propping up Planned Parenthood with our tax money.
Please contact your Senators and demand that they immediately #DefundPlannedParenthood.
Pick your state at this link for contact information.
MUSLIMS AGAINST SLAUGHTER
That looks like a dump too!
They are usually a dump
Kim Bruce
This dump reminds me of a stripper bar that couldn't pay the bills until they realized they could convert the bar into an abortion mill.
There is no sense of responsibility among the worker at Planned Parenthood — and certainly not in their leaders and executives. They have no respect for human life.
As a minimum!!! They are murderers – no question!
ADRoberts
We will all die eventually. Some lay down and give their lives away to murders.
Spiritual death follows.


Users who directly shop around in a physical outlet need to acquire the product and services to indulge their demands. For commitment and assured approval, companies should learn effective ways to pay attention to their customers.
Say, any type of auto repair professional can assert that they're a good service technician. Having said that, the best service tech hears the patron's concern just before something else. The service technician inspects the motor vehicle in person. They seek questions, focus attention on what the user certainly states, and does not offer their own goods promptly.
Patrons come and go—that's a reality. However, even if it is true, does not suggest the supplier have to act like it the consumers' presence.
Say, a hotel business may face avalanches of jet-setters from time to time. Nonetheless, a frequent upsurge of patrons doesn't forgive the hotel employees for dismissing efforts in making the potential customers believe they're very special. Consumers like being embraced with tenderness and earnest assistance.
Any enterprise can allow their establishment acquire an outstanding track record if they integrate genuineness in caring for their users.
They are professionals in evaluating and envisaging necessities.


Good morning!!! Can't believe it is already Monday, but unlike usual Monday mornings, I feel relaxed and ready to start the week off right. This weekend was filled with fun, but also really relaxing, which is nice for a change. I started this morning off on the right foot with a 6am Body Pump class followed by a big smoothie!! Definitely my favorite way to start the day.
Let's back up to Friday so I can show you what the weekend looked like around here! Friday night, my husband and I had plans to try out a new restaurant, but unfortunately with the bad weather in Texas, his flight got diverted to OKC and he didn't make it home in time for our date. But that's okay, we had a rainy night in catching up on the new show, The Night Of. Are any of ya'll watching this show? It is getting goooood.
Saturday began with a dog walk and some coffee before a quick at-home work out.
My mom is currently driving with my cousin from Ohio to Arizona to take him back to college for his Junior year. Saturday they stopped at our house for dinner and a good night's rest before continuing on the long drive. Riley was SO excited to see my mom. He sleeps in bed with her every time she visits and last night he went and sat by the guest room door just waiting for her thinking she was still there. Oh, the sweetness!
Good luck to my cousin, Sean, in his junior year in college this year! Such an exciting time in life!
My sister and her boyfriend came over for dinner Saturday night so we started the night with some appetizers. One dip is a store bought red pepper hummus and the other was a lentil dip I made.
We grilled salmon, corn on the cob, and roasted potatoes for a yummy dinner. After dinner we spent time chatting and played a game of Catch Phrase, which is always very entertaining.
After a long walk with the pups on Sunday morning, my husband and I headed out to the lake for a little boat time. We cruised around, ate lunch and I pulled my husband on the wakeboard for a while before calling it a day.
My sister and her boyfriend have been playing tennis lately and invited us to play Sunday evening. My husband played tennis in high school and still plays on a few leagues and I am the most uncoordinated person you will ever meat. I definitely improved as the evening went on, but I still need a LOT of work. 😉 It sure was fun to switch things up and try a new form of exercise though.
Sunday around lunch time, I decided to throw a bunch of veggies (leftover roasted sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, onion, and broccoli) in a saute pan with some spices and top the mixture with avocado and two fried eggs. It was SO good. I always forget the simplicity of veggies topped with an egg, but this meal will definitely be in my current meal rotation for a while. Yum!
I am off to breakfast with my husband to make up for our lack of a date night on Friday. Have a great week, ya'll!
What meal is currently a favorite at your house?
Next > Does Therapy Make Me Weak?
YES! Veggies potato and egg is my JAM! hahaha its so good! Im loving tacos tacos tacos!
oh yesss! can't go wrong with tacos!!


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STAR POWER: Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins in Game 1.
THE World Series has returned as a TV event after years of striking out with viewers.
Wednesday night's series opener in The Bronx drew nearly 20 million viewers — football-type numbers that the Fall Classic has not seen in years.
Much of the success is due to the fact that two old-line, big-city teams — the Yanks and Phillies — are squaring off, says industry analyst Brad Adgate.
The Phillies 6-1 victory Wednesday night drew the biggest Game 1 audience since the 2004 World Series (Red Sox-Cards) — and was up more than a third over last year's Game 1 (Phils-Rays).
A big part of the series ratings struggles in recent years can be traced to the lack of a "Big Game" focus.
"The Super Bowl is just one game, but they've been able to create such a big marketing event around it," says Adgate.
Last year's World Series, in fact, was the lowest-rated in history, averaging 13.7 million viewers over five games.
It is hard to remember that there was a time when the World Series was one of TV's biggest draws — and that other networks put on reruns rather than try to compete with it.
But this year, the baseball playoffs are bringing in big audiences.
Last Sunday, the game that clinched the American League championship for the Yanks had a bigger rating than a Giants football game on NBC — the first time anyone can recall a baseball game outdrawing the NFL in primetime.
Also, for the first time in years, Fox has been starting the game a half-hour earlier, "so people could stay up and watch more of the game," he says. "That's a contributing reason for the numbers.
"And clearly the two best teams are playing," says Adgate.


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Lista över offentlig konst i Kalmar kommun är en ofullständig förteckning över främst utomhusplacerad offentlig konst i Kalmar kommun.

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Källor
 Kommunens skulpturförteckning från 2013-06-14
 Statens Konstråd, Byggnadsanknuten konst införskaffad 1997-2012.

Kalmar
Kalmar
Kalmar kommun

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Aretha Franklin movie has found its director.
Deadline.com reports Liesl Tommy, who was nominated for a Tony Award for the 2016 production of "Eclipsed," will helm the project, which has been titled "Respect."
Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson ("Dreamgirls") will star as Franklin in the film, which will cover the Queen of Soul's early years singing in her father's church choir and becoming a recording superstar.
"The story of Aretha Franklin's journey from child prodigy in Detroit to international supernova is rife with struggle and triumph, making her life one of the great American stories of all time," Tommy said in a statement.
Callie Khouri, who wrote "Thelma & Louise" and created the TV series "Nashville," will pen the script.
No details on the movie's filming schedule or release date have been announced.
In other Aretha Franklin movie news, "Amazing Grace" (see our review here), the documentary that captures Franklin's legendary 1972 performance at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, has been picked up by distribution company Neon and is slated to be released in early 2019. No date has been set.


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Why You'll Love Working Here
Our organizational culture is thriving. But don't just take our word for it.
In 2022, 95% of our staff participated anonymously in our annual, third-party engagement survey, generating a staff engagement score of 90%. This result—9% higher than the average industry benchmark—is a testament to our strong culture.
So, what makes working at GS1 Canada unique?
At GS1 Canada, family and health come first. That's a non-negotiable. Putting people first also means fostering a culture of learning, where it's okay to fall forward and learn from mistakes. It means challenging ourselves, as an organization, to improve, innovate and evolve.
We Celebrate What Matters
Whether it's your GS1 Canada work anniversary or the kick-off to summer, we celebrate as a team in big and small ways, making time for hybrid staff events and team activities. This includes paint workshops, talent shows, virtual Friday BYOBs and more! Employees are recognized and celebrated with annual awards such as the Fast Track Rookie—could you be our next winner?
We Take a Flexible Approach
Whether it's remote or hybrid work, employees know what works for them. We believe in flexibility and giving our team what they need to excel at their jobs, where work and life outside of work can co-exist and thrive.
We Are Collaborative and Engaging
Our culture is created by our people. Regardless of your title, how long you've been with GS1 Canada or what area you work in, everyone has a voice. We listen to our employees through engagement surveys, quarterly business updates with staff Q&A, regular check-ins with your manager and more. Innovation and new ideas are always welcome.
What Else You'll Love About Working Here
In addition to our thriving culture, other perks of working here include:
The People - We hear from staff every day that the people at GS1 Canada are the best. Prepare to work with a team of colleagues who are positive, supportive and committed to doing good work for our subscribers and the world.
Work with a Purpose - We're a not-for-profit organization working in partnership with big and small companies across Canada in support of a safe and efficient supply chain. Your work at GS1 Canada has a positive impact for patients and consumers in Canada, and contributes to a better world.
Learn and Grow - We want you to keep learning and growing. At GS1 Canada, team members can explore new career paths, experience growth and make lateral moves. As part of a global organization with 116 member organizations, you'll learn and engage with counterparts from all over the world. Read more about our learning tools, education and certification reimbursement program here.
Do Good and Give Back - Our ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) efforts contribute positively to the health, safety and well-being of our team, our local and global communities, as well as our planet. From supporting our annual charity of choice to decreasing our carbon footprint, we are actively deepening our commitment to doing good. Join GS1 Canada to create a better business and a better world.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - 63% of our executives and 52% of our employees are women. And our team of over 300 were born in more than 27 countries. We strive to maintain an inclusive environment where all team members are enabled to reach their potential, and we are always challenging ourselves to do more to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion.
Browse our Current Job Opportunities
Want a closer look at what we do and what it's like to work here? Connect with us on social media to learn what makes our organization unique.


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A Look at Stress, Diabetes, and the Brain: What Are We Learning, and Can Yoga Offer a Solution?
Two articles in Evidence-Based Diabetes Management examine the relationships among stress, diabetes and the brain, and the growing body of research into yoga's positive effects on reducing stress and improving health.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAY 27, 2014
PLAINSBORO, N.J. — Physicians and researchers are understanding more about how stress affects the brain, the body, and the severity of diabetes, and the most recent issue of Evidence-Based Diabetes Management takes a look at these relationships through the eyes of two Duke University researchers who have been studying them for three decades: Mark Feinglos, MD, and Richard Surwit, PhD. For the full story, click here.
The collaboration of a medical doctor and a psychologist to get at the mechanisms driving the epidemics of diabetes and obesity shouldn't seem so unusual. But medicine—in practice and especially in reimbursement—tends to separate the brain and body. Drs. Feinglos and Surwit have worked against that tide to learn a great deal, some of which has been translated into new therapies.
Their interview in Evidence-Based Diabetes Management, a news publication of The American Journal of Managed Care, is accompanied by a story on the increase in scholarly work on the effects of yoga, including yoga therapy. Yoga is increasingly embraced by medical professionals as an alternative treatment to relieve stress or pain, and promote wellness. The number of research articles on yoga listed on PubMed has jumped six-fold over the past decade, and the insurer Aetna has even sponsored a story on yoga's effects on its employees taking part in a wellness program. However, reimbursement for yoga by health insurers remains elusive.
Among the insights offered by Drs. Feinglos and Surwit:
An exploration of how the brain and central nervous system are involved in the etiology of diabetes suggests that something goes awry in the neurologic control of blood glucose that makes a person at risk for developing diabetes. Further studies may yield information on how existing drugs could be used to aid those with type 2 diabetes, particularly those who are obese.
Stress doesn't affect everyone the same way. By itself, it will not cause diabetes, but it can speed up the disease process for those whose body characteristics put them at risk for diabetes or other ailments linked to stress.
Addressing how stress affects diabetes is difficult because it is time-consuming, and today's primary care physicians are sorely pressed for time. A diabetic person who might benefit from seeing a nutritionist or a mental health professional to alleviate stress—and improve other health indicators—may or may not be referred to these specialists.
Fat intake has an important role in glucose management, and caffeine's effects on diabetes are not yet fully understood.
CONTACT: Mary Caffrey (609) 716-7777 x 144
mcaffrey@ajmc.com
www.ajmc.com
Kaiser Permanente Division of Research: Telemedicine Gets Boost From Pandemic-Era Study
For National Women's Health Week, One Company Emphasizes Cardiovascular Risk Management
What We're Reading: Eli Lilly to Expand Diabetes Drug Plant; Providers Billing for Emails; Gallup Poll on Universal Health Care
How Can Employers Leverage the DPP to Improve Diabetes Rates?
Health Systems and Telemedicine Adoption for Diabetes and Hypertension Care
KDIGO 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline: Management Updates for Diabetes, CKD
Kaiser Permanente research finds low rate of in-person follow-up needed after telephone, video visits, suggesting a long-term role for virtual care
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Joanne Armstrong, MD, MPH, vice president and chief medical officer for Women's Health and Genomics at CVS Health, on the distinct pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease in women and how her own health experiences have influenced her perspective on cardiovascular disease management.
Eli Lilly will tack on $450 million more to increase capacity in a diabetes drug plant in light of shortages; patients emailing and messaging medical providers online might be charged; 57% of adults in a recent survey think that the federal government should secure health care coverage for all Americans.
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Jill Hutt, vice president of member services at the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health, explains the Coalition's efforts to reduce diabetes rates through the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).
Small practices reduced their use of telemedicine during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Technical support may help expand and maintain telemedicine in small practices.
Updated guidelines include 13 recommendations and 52 practice points for clinicians treating patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD).


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Pullback attractors for globally modified Navier-Stokes equations with infinite delays
On piecewise affine interval maps with countably many laps
September 2011, 31(3): 763-777. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2011.31.763
On the birth of minimal sets for perturbed reversible vector fields
Jaume Llibre 1, , Ricardo Miranda Martins 2, and Marco Antonio Teixeira 2,
Departament de Matemàtiques, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia
Instituto de Matemática, Estatística e Computação Científica, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083–859 Campinas, SP, Brazil, Brazil
Received June 2010 Revised May 2011 Published August 2011
The results in this paper fit into a program to study the existence of periodic orbits, invariant cylinders and tori filled with periodic orbits in perturbed reversible systems. Here we focus on bifurcations of one-parameter families of periodic orbits for reversible vector fields in $\mathbb{R}^4$. The main used tools are normal forms theory, Lyapunov-Schmidt method and averaging theory.
Keywords: Invariant torus, Limit cycle, Averaging method, Isochronous center, Reversible system., Periodic orbit.
Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary: 34C29, 34C25; Secondary: 47H1.
Citation: Jaume Llibre, Ricardo Miranda Martins, Marco Antonio Teixeira. On the birth of minimal sets for perturbed reversible vector fields. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems, 2011, 31 (3) : 763-777. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2011.31.763
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Shengqing Hu, Bin Liu. Degenerate lower dimensional invariant tori in reversible system. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems, 2018, 38 (8) : 3735-3763. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2018162
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Sze-Bi Hsu, Junping Shi. Relaxation oscillation profile of limit cycle in predator-prey system. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - B, 2009, 11 (4) : 893-911. doi: 10.3934/dcdsb.2009.11.893
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Jaume Llibre Ricardo Miranda Martins Marco Antonio Teixeira


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An Eclectic Feast of Food, Fiction, Folderol and Chewy Culinary Verse
friday feast: are your tomatoes laughing?
June 14, 2013 September 14, 2017 ~ jama
Seriously, who could resist a poetry book called Laughing Tomatoes?
Well, I certainly couldn't, but I shamefully admit I didn't actually know about this fabuloso feast of pure delight until just a few months ago.
This Pura Belpré Honor Award-winning bilingual 20-poem collection by Chicano poet Francisco X. Alarcón and Maya Christina Gonzalez was first published by Children's Book Press back in 1997. Where was I?!
Likely staring at grumpy, aloof tomatoes and not appreciating strawberries for the "sweet tender hearts" they are, living a bland life full of ho-hum edibles, certainly not hearing the warm morning sun calling to me through my window, and — *shakes head* — totally oblivious to dew, "the fresh taste of the night."
But now, having read this glorious, jubilant celebration of Spring and its earthly delights, family, culture and community, my life is complete!
I'm happy to say Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems/Jitomates Risueños y otros poemas de primavera is one of my favorite children's poetry books ever. 🙂
Oh, I know what you're thinking. But it's not just because of the food (though it's easy to love tortillas who applaud the sun, exploding chiles, and the gift of corn, whose "tender ears are born pointing to the sky"). It is the exquisite marriage of text and art, that rare commingling of creative visions that takes your breath away, when you know you are witnessing something extraordinary (Red Sings from Treetops and Water Sings Blue come to mind).
Here, poetry is art, and art is pure poetry.
In a Writer's Sanctuary audio interview, Gonzalez compares their collaboration to jazz improvisation. Alarcón playfully riffs on the wonders of nature and life (first rain, smiling green hills, his grandmother's songs, his dream of "a garden in every home"), enabling us to see everything for the first time. Gonzalez responds with vivid, exuberant, magical, bursting-from-the-page riffs of her own, complete with an expanded narrative featuring dogs, cats, and joyous children swinging from trees, picnicking, picking strawberries, adorned with colorful flowers.
Perhaps you are wondering why the tomatoes are laughing? How much do I LOVE these tomato smiles!
Sí, this festive feeling is downright contaigious, and it's beautifully balanced with tender feelings of sadness and reverence — we play, but we also honor these marvelous people and things in our lives. Have you ever laughed and cried at the same time?
In his Afterword, Alarcón says he started writing poems by jotting down the songs his grandma sang to him in the kitchen. He believes a poem is incomplete until someone reads it and makes it their own.
A collection of poetry is like a tomato plant. From a small seed it sprouts, then grows and grows. Poems need good soil, sunlight, air, and lots of care and tending. Some of these poems were written first in Spanish, others in English, and some came out in both languages almost at the same time. Poems, like tomatoes, grow in many forms and shapes. And somehow they change every time you read them. This is the magic of poetry.
Laughing Tomatoes was Alarcón's first published book of poetry for children, and is actually part of his Magical Cycle of the Seasons Series, which earned three Pura Belpré Honor Awards as well as many other well-deserved accolades. I'm anxious to see the other books in the series, especially From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems/Del ombligo de la luna y otros poemas de verano. I imagine it has the same timeless feel, perfectly capturing child mind and spirit.
A beautiful closing thought:
Did you know "words are birds that arrive with books and spring . . . the letters they leave on this page are the prints they leave by the sea."
*swoon*
What child could resist this invitation to wonder?
LAUGHING TOMATOES AND OTHER SPRING POEMS/JITOMATES RISUEÑOS Y OTROS POEMAS DE PRIMAVERA
written by Francisco X. Alarcón
illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez
published by Children's Book Press/Lee & Low Books, Inc., 2012
Poetry Picture Book for ages 6+, 32 pp.
Cool themes: Seasons, Family, Community, Cultural Diversity, Bilingual, Poetry, Mexican Americans, Spring, Nature, Food
*Visit the publisher's website for a Teacher's Guide and audio interview with author and artist
Margaret is hosting today's Roundup at Reflections on the Teche. Flash your biggest tomato smile and check out the full menu of poetic goodness being served up in the blogosphere this week.
*Spreads posted by permission of the publisher, text copyright © 1997 Francisco X. Alarcón, illustrations © 1997 Maya Christina Gonzalez, published by Children's Book Press/Lee & Low. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2013 Jama Rattigan of Jama's Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.
Posted in book reviews (all genres), poetry friday artbook reviewscelebrationschildren's poetrycultural celebrationsfoodillustrationlatino cultureliteratureMexican Americanspicture bookspoetryspring
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35 thoughts on "friday feast: are your tomatoes laughing?"
Kate Coombs says:
Jama, I have all four books (one per season) and I'm with you–they're a real treat! I also find that there aren't enough poetry books about or for Latino children, so I really appreciate these.
jama says:
I think I must be the only one on the planet who hadn't seen this series before. Better late than never, though — and now I have much to look forward to with the other books. I agree — definitely not enough children's poetry books by or about Latinos.
mattforrest says:
Some beautiful imagery in this book! I love the title poem with the 'Christmas trees in spring.' Thanks for sharing!
I love Alarcón's unique imagination and open heartedness :).
Robyn Hood Black says:
How could ANYone resist? Thank you for sharing all this beauty and warmth and wonder.
I'll be looking at our tomatoes with a fresh eye, and I love books and poems that make me laugh and cry at the same time. ("My Grandma's Songs" says SO much in just a few stanzas….)
Tomatoes will never be the same for me, either. I also love practicing my Spanish :).
LInda Baie (@LBaie) says:
This is just wonderful, Jama, another addition to our library for our "gardeners" and for those who wish! I have found the books at the library, so they'll be in my fingers soon!
Glad to hear your library has these, Linda. Wish I had discovered them much sooner.
Reblogged this on the open book and commented:
Love this review of LAUGHING TOMATOES, which definitely puts me in the mood for summer!
madelyn rosenberg says:
Oh, my gosh, this would be great for the Spanish teachers at our school! (plots.)
Yes, they'd love the series (though I would think they'd have already heard of it).
Bridget Magee says:
Exploding chiles? I'm there! Love the simplicity and truth of the statement, "A poem makes us see everything for the first time." Thanks for sharing another wonderful find, Jama! =)
It's so refreshing and fun to read poems like these. Though written for kids, they give us old fogeys a chance to stand on our heads and change our same-old, same-old perceptions.
haitiruth says:
It's true – a poem DOES make us see everything for the first time! This book looks absolutely wonderful. I will look for it.
Definitely look for it. I know you'll enjoy the series!
Catherine Johnson says:
Wow, poetry manna from heaven. Thanks, Jama!
That's one way of putting it. Have to agree, Catherine :).
Doraine Bennett says:
I think my favorite is the grandmother poem and the way her songs bring even the chairs and the sheets to life and laughter. Beautiful book.
The grandmother poem is my favorite in the book, though every page turn is a delight :).
thiskidreviewsbooks says:
Cool, tasty book! 😀 I love how it is bilingual! I think that really helps some kids learn other languages. I love how the author wrote the songs his grandma sang. 🙂
You're right — books like these really help kids learn other languages (two servings for the price of one)!
I also thought it was very cool that Francisco wrote down his grandmother's songs. The kitchen is a magical place! Budding poets can get lots of inspiration there — food for the body as well as the spirit :).
readingtothecore says:
These poems are bursting with energy and joy! They do indeed make me see these things "for the first time."
The joy and energy are very contaigious. Feel free to dance in your kitchen this weekend 🙂 . . .
Renee LaTulippe says:
How gorgeous! I love bilingual books anyway, but those tomato smiles seal the deal on these. I'm so glad you found them and brought others like you (e.g., me) out of the dark and into the sun. 🙂 <–that's a tomato smile
Oh, thanks for that dazzling tomato smile, Renee! There's another spread I really love where the boy is wearing tomato pajama bottoms and a black cat is cuddling a tomato. You just can't help but feel happy with pictures like that.
maryleehahn says:
You're not the only one on the planet who missed these books back in 1997! I agree with Kate that there's not enough poetry about or for Latino children — I'm adding this whole series to my poetry shelf! Now, where are the joyous poetry books featuring Middle Eastern/Arabic children?!?!
Phew! So glad I'm not the only one who missed these books. We definitely need more poetry books about all cultures. I don't know of any featuring Middle Eastern/Arabic children.
I love the illustrations! I've never heard of this book or author. Now I have to do some digging around my local library. Lee & Low publish so many great books.
I was happy to see my library had all four books in the series :).
Amy Butler Greenfield says:
Gorgeous! I will be getting this one, Jama!
Glad to hear it, Amy!
Maya Gonzalez says:
this makes me so happy to see!!!! you've included the first secret i ever hid in a book. can you find it? it's very small. i'll give you a clue. it's on the page with the same poem as the title of the book.
Hi Maya! So honored you dropped by. Your paintings are too amazing.
Secret? Do you mean the one-eyed cat? Is he winking? 🙂
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How much is the taxi fare from Playa Flamenca from Valencia?
Are there coach transfers from Alicante to Playa Flamenca?
What is the nearest Playa Flamenca airport?
Is there a bus from Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca?
Getting to Playa Flamenca from Alicante airport?
Is there a bus from Murcia airport to Playa Flamenca?
How much is a shuttle Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca?
Playa Flamenca Spain nearest airport?
How much by bus from Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca?
Playa Flamenca to Alicante how far?
Bus from Playa Flamenca to Valencia?
Can I get a transfer direct to Playa Flamenca from Alicante airport?
What is the distance between Alicante airport and Playa Flamenca?
How long will it take to travel from Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca?
How to get from Murcia airport to Playa Flamenca?
Is there a train from Alicante to Playa Flamenca?
Most visitors to Playa Flamenca, Spain, will arriving at the nearest major airport of Alicante Airport which is 71 km to the south. The journey time is approximately 49 minutes from Alicante to Playa Flamenca.
Having arrived at Alicante airport you will want to know the cheapest ways of getting to Playa Flamenca and you will want to know the cost and prices of taxis, public buses, coaches and private shuttle services.
Although the nearest Playa Flamenca airport is Alicante airport, there are also options to fly into Murcia airport which is 25 km to the south of Playa Flamenca with a transfer time of 25 minutes or even Valencia Airport which is 260 km to the north with a transfer time of 165 minutes.
We are often asked, how much does it cost to get a taxi from Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca?
Getting a taxi from Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca is a good option because there are unlimited airport taxis at all times of the day (and night) directly outside the doors of the arrivals terminal at Alicante airport. You won't have to wait around as you would with a bus and it will take you directly outside your hotel, villa or apartment in Playa Flamenca.
Catching a taxi is the easiest and most stress free option to get from Alicante to Playa Flamenca. You can expect to pay €75 during the day for your fare from Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca.
You do have to remember while looking at this rate that you will have to pay this kind of fare again on your day of departure to return from Playa Flamenca to Alicante.
Playa Flamenca Taxi Tip – Most taxis from Alicante to Playa Flamenca only can carry four people so if your group numbers more than this consider instead a private shuttle transfer service with a large minibus.
In this section we answer the popular question, how much is a private shuttle bus from Alicante to Playa Flamenca?
A shuttle transfer needs to be researched as there are many competitors out there and you do want to get the best possible deal. To give you an example Shuttle Direct offer a private shuttle transfer from Alicante to Playa Flamenca for £30 per person each way. This private shuttlebus is exclusively for your use, meaning you are not sharing the journey with other passengers who also need dropping off in Playa Flamenca.
An alternative is to take a shared shuttlebus in which obviously there are other people also going to Playa Flamenca but this at least cuts down on the cost although obviously each person needs to dropped off one by one in different places. The size of vehicle varies from small mini-buses to coach transfers to Playa Flamenca.
Example of prices – a return transfer from Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca for 3 passengers in June would be €130 which is about £110.
Example of prices – a return transfer from San Javier Murcia airport to Playa Flamenca for 2 passengers in June would be €90 which is about £70.
Private shuttlebus transfers from Valencia airport to Playa Flamenca for £165 per person one way or private shuttlebus transfers from Murcia airport to Playa Flamenca for £20 per person one way.
Pre-booking a private shuttle bus from Alicante airport to Playa Flamenca will get you a much cheaper rate than taking a taxi on arrival. As with a taxi, a private shuttle takes you directly to your Playa Flamenca hotel or apartments in Playa Flamenca. Slight downsides could be that the airport shuttle also has other people going to other Playa Flamenca hotels so it may not be as quick or direct as a taxi.
Hiring a car from Alicante airport to get you to Playa Flamenca is a great idea if you also want to explore the Orihuela Costa area of Spain. Playa Flamenca car hire from Alicante airport is inexpensive with the smallest economy cars costing approximately £80 for a week.


It is necessary that you check for the reputation of the said professional before you can hire them for your job. It is vital that you do not fail to look at the customer reviews on the website of the dental firm in question. It is advisable that you avoid hiring the services of the dentist whose clients have expressed contention from the services that they received from them.
You should ascertain that the clinic will accept payment through your dental insurance policy if you have one. It is in this way that you can rescue a significant amount of cash that you could have spent in the process of maintaining oral health.


text:
The Lost Classic of Hip House Plunderphonia
"All sounds on this recording have been captured by the KLF in the name of mu. We hereby liberate these sounds from all copyright restrictions, without prejudice."
The statement appears around the center label of The KLF's very first full-length recording, published under what would be the first of many monikers, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. John Higgs notes in his book, The KLF: Chas, Magic, and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds that the name, lifted from The Illuminatus! trilogy represented "the principle of chaos working against the corporate music industry, a guerilla band of musical anarchists who existed to disrupt, confuse and destroy."
The year was 1987, and Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty were pillaging the music industry with reckless abandon. The album, titled 1987 What The Fuck Is Going On? could never be reissued in today's world of militant copyright litigation. The record makes liberal use of samples ripped from massive artists who would be untouchable in the 21st century, including Stevie Wonder, The Fall, Beatles, ABBA, The Monkees, The J.B.s, Dave Brubeck, Sex Pistols, Scott Walker, Led Zeppelin and Bo Diddley.
You don't make friends in the music industry by sampling just about the entire refrain of ABBA's "Dancing Queen", and the duo was promptly investigated by the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, who in August of that year ordered The JAMs to recall and destroy all unsold copies of 1987. In an effort to salvage the project, The JAMs traveled to Sweden with the remaining copies of the album hoping to negotiate with ABBA. Sadly, the band wouldn't hear of it, and so, quite ceremoniously, The JAMs burnt the remaining LPs in a pyre in the Swedish countryside, the scene depicted on the front and back covers of their 1988 JAMs farewell, Who Killed the JAMs. The album featured the track, "Burn the Bastards," a sample-heavy celebration of the fire set to house music.
1987 stands as a piece of history – a snapshot of a sliver of time when an act of plunderphonia like this was still possible. It embodied the ideas of sampling, hip-hop, and Discordianism and somehow, it all made sense together.
Higgs contextualizes the intent and the perception of this recording: "If and when The JAMs are remembered today, it is for their pioneering role in establishing sampling as a legitimate creative act in modern music. In many ways, that misses what it was they were doing." While today's understanding of sampling concerns itself with manipulating and reshaping elements of a recording and repurposing them for something new, The JAMs had something else in mind. "They took things not for how they sounded, but for what they represented," Higgs explains. "When they took parts of ABBA and The Beatles, it was not because of the quality of the sound, but very specifically because they were records by ABBA and The Beatles." The act was an exercise in what the Situationists called, détournement, which involves taking the cultural images forced upon us and using them instead for our own ends.
Remix culture really came into its own in the digital age, where the technology to rip and reshape culture became democratized to the point where any 13-year-old can start remixing and mashing copyrighted works. But in 1987, just two years after John Oswald's Plunderphonics EP was released, and at the dawn of Negativland, this was still new and unplundered territory in the world of music.
And the world is waiting for August 23rd, when The KLF will close their 23-year contractual hiatus, returning to the eternal question asked with their first release.
What the fuck is going on?
Photograph by: The KLF
on July 20, 2017 at 7:34 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: 1987, 23, ABBA, Bill, Burn the Bastards, Cauty, copyright, Dancing Queen, discord, discordianism, Drummond, Illuminatus!, Jimmy, John Higgs, John Oswald, justified ancients of mu mu, Negativland, plunderphonia, plunderphonics, Remix, sample, sampling, The Beatles, The JAMs, The KLF, U2, What the Fuck is Going On?, who killed the jams
Evocation Poème Symphonique
Once in a blue moon, (or in this case a blood moon), I shed my polished sophisticate exterior and get a little creative. Tonight is that night, so light the incense, don your beret and check out what's cookin'.
I seldom get into poetry, doing my best to avoid anything with a rhyme scheme or regular meter. But I do fancy a particular strain of poem – nonsense verse and cut-up/plunderphonia.
John Lennon developed his own delightful style of jabberwock in his books, In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works which inspired my first exercises writing "Lennonish" in college.
And in more recent years I found a fascination with the history of plunderphonics, perhaps best-executed by James Joyce is his masterwork, Finnegans Wake. This evening I tried my own hand at the cut-up method, constructing something of a self-portrait from fragments of my music library. The library will be my legacy and I hope it will survive far beyond my years, so its content seemed well-suited for such a task.
pulse steady
a chance operation
in and out of phase
from houdini's musical box
deep distance kontakt
and the kosmische braindance
i sing the body electric
strange overtones
intergalactic echowaves
funky breaks and solo flute
one finger snap and the jazz of tomorrow
tricks of the light
cirrus minor
the broken radio of Istanbul station
turn me loose
walking like a shadow
voodoo fusion or synesthesia
a prayer for the paranoid
an index of metals
walkin' the blues
it's wonderland syndrome
tones for mental therapy
and bird's lament
straight no chaser
alone again with the dawn coming up
we are the music makers
fast 'n bulbous
and the curse of ka'zar
all this and more
tonight at innerspace
Regular readers will undoubtedly pick up on 20-30 references to favorites from my collection. But I think it functions just as well without the cliff notes
Thanks for indulging me. Back to our regularly-scheduled exercises in library management.
on September 25, 2015 at 10:19 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: a spaniard in the works, Cut-Up, finnegans wake, in his own write, james joyce, john, lennon, lennonish, method, plunderphonia, plunderphonic, poem, poetry, technique


text:
Urban Airship CEO on bringing brands to the palm of your hand
By Phil Wainewright March 5, 2019
We speak to Brett Caine, CEO of Urban Airship, about its recent acquisition and the business of bringing brand experiences to consumers on their smartphones
It's a truism of modern life that, whenever a group of people are quietly gathered together, it won't be long before somebody's phone punctuates the silence with a subtle ping, beep or buzz. Many of those notifications come from brands that we're signed up to, delivered via the infrastructure of a handful of companies that specialize in this form of real-time messaging.
One of the world's largest such companies is Urban Airship, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, which became significantly larger in January after acquiring Paris-based Accengage, its biggest rival in Europe. The two businesses combined send more than 90 billion messages worldwide each month, on behalf of brands ranging from the BBC, Caesars Entertainment and Vodafone to Air France-KLM, Lidl and Zalando. Yet this is still such a young market that when the two compared their European customer lists, they found virtually no overlap, says Urban Airship CEO Brett Caine, who I spoke to a couple of weeks back:
Across 700 customers we only had two customers in common, which is really quite unique when you acquire a direct competitor.
Spanning push notifications, in-app messaging, SMS, email, digital wallets and now — thanks to Accengage — Facebook Messenger, Urban Airship's mission is to help extend the brand experience into the palm of the customer's hand, Caine tells me. He cites the example of professional basketball team the Cleveland Cavaliers, which no longer has to wait for people get to the stadium to start building anticipation ahead of a match. Mobile notifications about traffic, weather and player status let them engage fans even before they've set off from home. This helps keep the brand front of mind for much longer, he explains:
When we're so interrupt driven, moving from one thing to the next, it's vital for brands to have the continuous experience — and keep the people who are their most enthusiastic customers excited about the brand.
Brands building 'first-party' connections
This is a new level of engagement that has only been possible since the emergence of smartphones in the past decade, and is just starting to go mainstream. Use cases range from push alerts for news channels and banks to digital ticketing, integrated with Google Pay, for cinemas and airlines.
One of the reasons brands are investing heavily is that it's an opt-in channel that gives them a direct connection to the consumer. This 'first-party' connection is particularly important at a time when people are becoming increasingly concerned about who's holding their data and how it's being used, Caine points out:
The whole ad-tech market and Facebook occurrences are really driving brands to understand how they can use first-party data to create experiences that are so vital for the brand. Data that comes to you [in an app] is owned content — it's your first party data.
We see brands across every industry adopting that because they're saying, why do I have to go to Facebook for that? You don't. Mobile engagement from first-party data is core to their strategy, we help them to do that. It's a direct relationship with potential and current consumers.
The advent of GDPR, Europe's stringent data privacy regulation, has sharpened focus globally on the issue. Some of Urban Airship's customers are already applying GDPR as their default privacy standard worldwide, says Caine. Acquiring Accengage helps increase the company's GDPR credibility, as well as adding a European data center — but the nature of mobile is that it's always been transparent about what's happening with user data, he asserts:
Our business has always been opt-in based. It means the consumer's choosing to receive that information. There's many best practises we've applied on mobile that we're now extending to these other channels.
Connecting the experience to the data
The real value comes when brands are able to manage their mobile interactions in the context of all the other data they hold on a customer. Therefore, as well as providing a sophisticated messaging infrastructure, Urban Airship offers data analytics tools along with integration to back-end marketing, merchandising and customer information systems. "I refer to it as 'embrace and extend' the stack," says Caine:
As our platform has matured we capture more and more of the experience in big data and machine learning, and deliver that back to our customers so that they can embed the mobie experience inside their own analytics tools across all the digital channels, whether we power them or not ...
What we hear from our customers is they're really looking for a digital hub — a place to create, manage and orchestrate these experiences for the consumer ... It's very important for marketers to have a single dashboard to manage this complex experience.
Putting that experience in the context of a 'single view of the customer' across the many different channels of engagement is a challenge that brands are currently grappling with, he adds:
Every brand has some form of primary customer data in a warehouse effort under way, to bring that all together. It's unlikely today that [Urban Airship] will be the system of record of that, but we have as part of our platform something called a named user. If you can identify that person in some way, we can attribute all the actions and data persisted with it and deliver that to the primary system of record.
That's very valuable and we do it in real time. While they're sorting out the monolithic element of their CRM or datalake, we're infiltrating it with very valuable mobile data.
The advent of smartphones introduced an entirely new channel for brands to interact with consumers — one that's much more digitally sophisticated than a conventional website or email newsletter. Whereas these earlier phenomena were essentially digital versions of their physical equivalents, the smartphone enables truly digital-native experiences. This in turn has led to the emergence of an entirely new generation of companies that specialize in enabling these new experiences.
It's interesting that these companies are growing into substantial businesses that remain separate from the giant marketing cloud vendors. While the likes of Salesforce, Oracle and others have acquired or developed mobile notification capabilities, these lack the sophistication of specialists like Urban Airship and its main rivals, who include Braze, Leanplum and Swrve.
The acquisition of Accengage marks the first major consolidation within this mobile marketing segment. It's a sign that this separate layer of marketing technology may prove distinctive enough to remain independent alongside the larger players rather than ultimately being swallowed up by them.
Image credit - Airship over clouds 3D illustration © Michael Rosskothen - shutterstock
Disclosure - Oracle and Salesforce are diginomica premier partners at time of writing


It is usually quite hard to succeed without the help, support and prayers of those closest to you. There are times when the pressure becomes too much and you are so confused that the only thing that can keep you going is words of encouragement from your loved ones. Ask any successful celebrity and they will tell you they could not have made it without the help and support of their parents or siblings.
Kevin Hart is one of the most successful actors, producers and television personalities in the world. Many people find themselves glued to their TVs when the comedian is on screen. If you are his fan, then you might be interested to know the kind of family the comedian comes from including his siblings. This will help you know the pillars who have stood by him and helped groomed him into the Hollywood star you love today.
To begin with, Kevin's both parents are still alive and are in contact with him. Kevin was born to Henry Robert Witherspoon and Nancy Hart on July 6, 1979 in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Almost from the onset, Robert was not capable of being a father to his son. He was a cocaine addict who spent most of his time in and out of jail.
Nancy, Kevin's mother had the difficult and daunting responsibility of raising her son on her own. Being a single mother, she had to work hard to provide for her sons. According to what Kevin says, his mother suffered to raise them and he actually grew in the streets. She tried to put him and his brother through school and managed to take them to not so good schools. To help support his single mother and bear the burden of running the family, Kevin took a job as a shoe salesman.
Kevin had the natural ability to make people laugh and also a passion for stand-up comedy. He used his unique talent as a coping mechanism to deal with struggles of his family. He succeeded and stayed out of trouble. It is needless to say but it appears Kevin Hart gave his mother an easy time. As you may know, most children raised by single mothers usually end up badly especially if the single parent does not have a steady and good income.
The good news is that Robert actually went for rehabilitation and quit cocaine use. He is now better and his relationship with his son has greatly improved.
The comedian has an older brother named Robert Hart. The two grew up together in Philadelphia and were cared for by their single mother. There is very little information on Robert Hart but his kid brother is very supportive of him. He has mentioned him in many of his best moments and in his jokes.
The other important people in Kevin's life include his ex-wife Torrei Hart and their two children, a boy and a girl aged 7 and 10 respectively. Torrei was his college sweetheart and have been there for him right when he began his career helping him make important decisions that have led to his success. Although he divorced her, he still loves and cares about her and both have since remained friends. Another important person soon to be part of Kevin's family is his fiancee Eniko Parish of whom he is engaged to and set to marry on August 8, 2016.
Now you know the important people in Kevin Hart's life. It is right to say that the comedian did a lot to gain footing in Hollywood and despite his humble beginnings and not so good family background. He deserves a lot of respect for staying out of trouble and dealing with challenges in his early life. We also have to give a lot of credit to his mother who struggled to provide for his basic needs despite the fact that she was a single mother to two children.