text:
THURSDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:
CHARACTER MOMENTS
A few years ago SPOTLIGHT won Best Picture, so let's take a look at one of the director/co-writer's previous films, shall we?
In film reviews and coffee shops people always talk about gratuitous violence or gratuitous cursing or gratuitous special effects or gratuitous nudity or gratuitous everything. They take something exciting that has nothing at all to do with the story and paste it onto the film... you could remove that scene and no one would notice. It is extraneous stuff that isn't really part of the story (though characters from the movie are the ones getting naked or blowing stuff up). But people seldom talk about gratuitous characterization... even though I see it in movies all the time. Some scene that has absolutely nothing to do with the story that has been pasted into the film to give an actor a chance to do something really dramatic (but ultimately pointless). If you can remove the scene and it doesn't change the story at all, what is the scene doing there in the first place? It's really no different than that pointless car chase - just some artist doing good work in a scene that isn't really part of the story. In one case the artist is an actor, in the other the artists are a bunch of stunt men. This is different than a scene where the action or nudity or drama is required to tell the story. Since we're storytellers, we want all of those car chases and nude scenes and big dramatic moments to be integral to the story.
But story grows from character. Without characters and characterization and drama we wouldn't have any stories to tell. There may come a time in your script where you want to show us your character with a brief action or line that shows the very essence of the character or gives us a quick peek inside their mind... but may not seem directly related to the story. There's a funny character moment in ROAD WARRIOR where the Feral Kid sees the gyrocopter for the first time and is fascinated by the blades of the propeller... which are similar to the blade of his boomerang. It's a quick moment, but it always gets a laugh. It's both character (for the Kid) *and* story (it establishes the relationship between the two, which impacts the whole story).
THE VISITOR was one of my favorite little movies from a few years ago, and a great example of using small moments to show us character... and all of those moments are not just character related, they are *story* related. It's a nice little art house film, that takes a stuffy upper-middle class college professor and immerses him into a world of immigrants trying to make it in America.
Character actor Richard Jenkins plays a very uptight college professor who is practically forced to give a presentation in New York by his college. He seems to be suffering from inertia, and would rather just stay in his suburban home and take piano lessons. But, since he has an old apartment in New York that he hasn't been to in years, he's elected to give the lecture.
When he arrives at his unused NYC apartment... there are fresh flowers on the table. Someone's belongings in the living room. Someone is squatting in his empty apartment. Then he hears a noise from the bathroom... there's someone in the tub! A woman taking a bath! She screams and wants to call the police. Ends up a young immigrant couple have been living there - and they think *he's* the intruder. They have been playing rent to a "landlord" who seems to be a past super for the building with access to the keys. Jenkins even acts like he doesn't belong there - he almost allows himself to be run off. Once he proves it's his apartment, the couple agrees to leave... but when he sees them on the street and realizes they'll be homeless (and not by their fault - they did pay rent) he decides to let them stay temporarily. Until they can find a place to stay.
The woman (Zainab) is from Senegal, the man (Tarek) from Syria. She makes jewelry, he plays the bongos in several night clubs and in the park for donations. Completely different than Jenkins' stuffy college prof. Talk about an odd couple - these people are from completely different worlds.
The movie opens with Jenkins taking piano lessons, and not doing well. So we know he has some interest in music. He also has many CDs of a female pianist playing classical music that he listens to often... is it the music or the performance of the music that is important to him? When Jenkins comes back from his event to find Tarek playing his bongos in the living room, he's interested in the music. They may be reluctant roommates, but they have music in common. Tarek offers to teach Jenkins how to play the bongos, and it's funny to watch the stuffy guy playing a wild instrument. This is a great *visual* way to show an introverted and closed off character slowly opening up.
McCarthy's previous film, THE STATION AGENT, was about accidental relationships, and so is this film. Though Jenkins has nothing in common with Tarek, they bond over the drums... and a scene where Tarek takes Jenkins to play in the park with a few dozen other bongo players is a high point of the film. But just when you think the story will be about a closed off man learning to loosen up and the healing power of music, the story takes a major twist... and nothing is the same. I've decided not to reveal the twist, because you probably haven't seen the movie - and it's worth a rent.
One of the great things in THE VISITOR are those the small character moments - Jenkins delivers a letter from Zainab (wife) to Tarek (husband) at one point, and turns away as he reads it to give him privacy. This is not only a story scene (the letter) it is also a great character moment that tells us about Jenkins' character. In another scene, Tarek's mother prepares dinner, and measures salt into her hand. The way she has a million times before. Little bits of reality and character. There's even a nice little reveal about why Jenkins is taking piano lessons - it's the big character moment of the film and takes your breath away. Won't spoil that moment for you. Though the story may seem like McCarthy is making it up as he goes along, that life is just playing out; in reality this is a carefully constructed script where some minor thing early in the film plays off later. Little moments like the piano lesson are actually set ups that pay off in story later in the film. All of seemingly random bits are actually *not* random - they are part of the story all along. You can almost look at THE VISITOR as a "character mystery" - we don't realize that all of these moments are *clues* that will result in the audience being able to solve the mystery by the end. And clues have to be carefully planted so that the audience doesn't spot them as clues... and that takes skill and planning. This is a carefully planned story that seems like real life unfolding. That's great writing.
There's a great character moment in Richard Curtis' NOTTING HILL where Hugh Grant spies his best friend Max carrying his paraplegic wife Bella up the stairs. It's a tender moment that exposes how much these two love each other. A moment of insight into their relationship. Though that moment doesn't seem to be moving the story forward, it's what gives the Hugh Grant character the motivation to continue pursuing Julia Roberts. You can't really remove that moment from the story.
In THE FUGITIVE Harrison Ford has just lived through a massive prison bus/train wreck and is now on the run from the law. He sneaks into a hospital to treat his injuries... but there's a moment where he stops to tell an Emergency Room Doctor about the injuries to a patient brought in on an ambulance... one of the guards on the prison bus who was injured in the accident. Ford plays a doctor who can't stop helping people... even though it may result in his capture. That's a great character moment! Later in the film he is in disguise as a maintenance man in the hospital he used to work in, trying to find clues to the one armed man who murdered his wife. He overhears a doctor (Julianne Moore) telling another doctor to check a boy's ex-rays... but the doctor isn't listening. Ford blows his cover by checking the kid's ex-rays and changing the diagnosis on the kid's medical charts based on the ex-ray information. Then he tells the boy that he's going to be alright. This is a very brief scene that shows us that Ford is a good man, someone who would put his own freedom in jeopardy in order to help someone. Of course, he gets caught for his efforts - Julianne Moore grabs his ID badge and calls security. So the character moment ends up being critical to the story. By showing his true nature... Ford is captured! This scene shows us the key to creating a character moment that is integral to the story: The character contrasts with the story so that when character is revealed, conflict is created.
In ROGER DODGER Campbell Scott plays a womanizer who is teaching his 16 year-old nephew how to be popular with the ladies. But Scott has become the war between the sexes version of those movie cliche crazed Viet Nam vets who can't stop killing once the war is over. He sees women as an enemy that must be conquered or destroyed. All we really see of Scott's character are his defense mechanisms... until one great character moment in a house of prostitution when we're allowed to see the essence of his character. A moment of self-realization. A couple of seconds that expose the man beneath the defense mechanisms.
Think about ways to give the audience a concentrated look into your character - a moment of character that helps us to really know who they are. And if you can find a character moment that is secretly part of the story - you have struck gold.
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THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MOVIES
NEW: Updates On Films 7 & 8 Casting!
All Six Movies analyzed! All of the mission tapes, all of the �that�s impossible!� set pieces and stunts, the cons and capers - and how these scenes work, the twists and double crosses, the tension and suspense (and how to generate it), the concept of each film as a stand alone with a different director calling the shots (broken in the sixth film), the gadgets, the masks, the stories, the co-stars and team members (one team member has been in every film), the stunts Tom Cruise actually did (and the ones he didn�t), and so much more! Over 120,000 words of fun info!
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All five "Bourne" movies (including "Legacy" and it's potential sequels) - what are the techniques used to keep the characters and scenes exciting and involving? Reinventing the thriller genre... or following the "formula"? Five films - each with an interesting experiment! A detailed analysis of each of the films, the way these thrillers work... as well as a complete list of box office and critical statistics for each film. This book is great for writers, directors, and just fans of the series.
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*** THE TERMINATOR MOVIES *** - For Kindle!
He's back! The release of "Terminator: Dark Fate" is set to begin a new trilogy in the Terminator story... 35 years after the first film was released. What draws us to these films about a cybernetic organism from the future sent back in time? Why is there a new proposed trilogy every few years? This book looks at all five Terminator movies from a story standpoint - what makes them work (or not)? What are the techniques used to keep the characters and scenes exciting and involving? How about those secret story details you may not have noticed? Containing a detailed analysis of each of the five films so far, this book delves into the way these stories work... as well as a complete list of box office and critical statistics for each film. This book is great for writers, directors, and just fans of the series.
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Strange Structures!
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Contained Thrillers like "Buried"? Serial Protagonists like "Place Beyond The Pines"? Multiple Connecting Stories like "Pulp Fiction"? Same Story Multiple Times like "Run, Lola, Run"?
HITCHCOCK DID IT FIRST!
This book focuses on 18 of Hitchcock's 52 films with wild cinema and story experiments which paved the way for modern films. Almost one hundred different experiments that you may think are recent cinema or story inventions... but some date back to Hitchcock's *silent* films! We'll examine these experiments and how they work. Great for film makers, screenwriters, film fans, producers and directors.
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Alfred Hitchcock, who directed 52 movies, was known as the *Master Of Suspense*; but what exactly is suspense and how can *we* master it? How does suspense work? How can *we* create �Hitchcockian� suspense scenes in our screenplays, novels, stories and films?
This book uses seventeen of Hitchcock�s films to show the difference between suspense and surprise, how to use �focus objects� to create suspense, the 20 iconic suspense scenes and situations, how plot twists work, using secrets for suspense, how to use Dread (the cousin of suspense) in horror stories, and dozens of other amazing storytelling lessons. From classics like �Strangers On A Train� and �The Birds� and �Vertigo� and �To Catch A Thief� to older films from the British period like �The 39 Steps� and �The Man Who Knew Too Much� to his hits from the silent era like �The Lodger� (about Jack The Ripper), we�ll look at all of the techniques to create suspense!
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Screenwriting books have been around as long as films have. This series reprints vintage screenwriting books with a new introduction and history, plus new articles which look at how these lessons from almost 100 years ago apply to today�s screenplays. Anita Loos book is filled with information which still applies. In addition to the full text of the original book, you get the full screenplay to Miss Loos' hit THE LOVE EXPERT, plus several new articles on the time period and women in Hollywood.
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E BOOKS PAGE
E BOOKS: New Blue Books and Novelettes!
I am expanding all of the Blue Books from around 44 pages of text to around 200 pages! Some are over 250 pages! See what is availabale and what is coming soon!Also, I've been writing Novelletes and there will soon be novels.
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Cult Films, Exploitation, Bikers & Women In Prison, Monster Movies.
FIRST STRIKE PRODUCTIONS
Producing my own scripts, investment possibilities, pipe dreams.
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BOOKLETS & PRODUCTS
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Still looking for a great card for your guy? This is a fast one, and is the last in a series of 3 masculine cards using the Stampin' Up! Geared Up Garage Stamp Set. Today I introduce you to a card made with Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper.
Stampin' Up! has several types of paper, one being Designer Series (DSP). This paper is a little thinner than cardstock and will have a pattern on both sides. Some come in 12 x 12 inch size. The Classic Garage Designer Series Paper comes in 6 x 6 inches with 4 each of 12 double-sided designs.
The designs are pictured above. For this card I chose the lug nut design.
Measurements: Whisper White card base 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches folded in half at 4 1/4 inches; Whisper White 3 1/2 x 2 inches and 3 x 3/4 inches; Shaded Spruce 5 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches and Classic Garage DSP 5 1/2 x 3 inches.
This card will also be pretty quick to make. First I adhered the DSP to the Shaded Spruce. Then I adhered that piece to the card base.
I stamped the car image in Memento ink onto the Whisper White 3 1/2 x 2 inch piece.
Next, I stamped the sentiment "All Geared Up To Celebrate" onto the 3/4 inch strip of Whisper White. It is important to get the label on straight so you can stamp straight! See the post on the Stampin' Up! Cling Stamps to help you do this.
I cut the banner edge as shown.
I added 3 Stampin' Dimensionals to raise the sentiment up a bit.
You can leave the car this way, or choose to color it. Refer to the first post in this series for instructions on coloring and shading with the Stampin' Blends markers.
So there you have it my friends! A fast car card that was fast to make!
Stampin' Up! continues their Sale-a-bration sale! For every $50 you spend, you can choose a free product from the Sale-a-bration brochure.
Stampin' Up! Products used include: Stamp Set: Geared Up Garage #148590; Cardstock: Whisper White #100730 and Shaded Spruce #146981; Classic Garage Designer Series Paper #148482; Ink: Memento #132708; Stampin' Blends: Real Red combo pack #147935; Clear Block: C #118486 and D #118485; Paper Snips #103579; Stampin' Dimensionals #104430; and Multipurpose Liquid Glue #110755.
This is the 2nd in a series of Blog posts about masculine cards. I have had many a time when a holiday has crept up on me before I was able to get a card ready. Ever had that happen? Well, today I am making a Father's Day card, mostly because the sentiment is in the stamp set -Geared Up Garage-which I started using the other day. But also, I want to be ready this year!
This style of card is "grunge". It is a lot easier than it looks!
Measurements: Whisper White card base 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches folded in half and burnished with the Bone Folder, Basic Black 5 1/4 x 4 inches, Whisper White 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches and a scrap of Whisper White 2 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches, and Real Red 2 1/4 x 1 inch.
You will also need Memento ink and a C block to start. Later you will need an A, B, C and D block.
Just a reminder for how to put the label on the new Cling Stamps. First remove the stamp. Then turn the label sheet so the words are backward. Pinch the middle of the desired label.
Gently remove the paper backing without removing the label. Place the stamp with the foam side down over the label, taking care to line up the edges. Press firmly.
Now gently remove the label attached to the stamp. This is very sticky! Do not set it down on anything. Put it on the block right away and when finished, directly back into the stamp case. I do not always put the labels on, but I typically will put on the labels for sentiments.
Use the Memento ink and stamp the Father's Day sentiment onto the scrap of Whisper White. Note: You do not need the Piercing mat for the red rubber stamps, just stamp onto a smooth firm surface.
Use your paper snips to cut around the sentiment leaving a slight border.
Adhere the sentiment to the Real Red piece. Now cut a banner edge, first by making a cut in the center, then from each corner to the center as shown. Set aside.
Now for the "grunge"! Mount the lug nuts on an A block, the oil can on a B block, the tool box on a C block and the oil spill on a D block (Clockwise from top).
Start with the tool box since it is one of the larger images. Stamp an odd number of times.
Now stamp the oil can and then the lug nuts an odd number of times. I messed up and stamped 6 lug nuts! Fortunately the sentiment with cover one!
We are going to use a technique called "Stamping Off" for stamping the oil spill. First apply Memento ink to the oil spill stamp and stamp it on a scrap of paper. Then stamp onto the card piece. This gives a slightly lighter image. That way the oil spill doesn't over-power the rest of the images. It just makes it "grungy".
Continue to first stamp on the scrap paper, then on the card piece, until you like the result.
Adhere the Basic Black to the folded card base. Now adhere the stamped "grunge" piece.
Apply Dimensionals to the back of the sentiment banner and adhere to the front of the card. Viola! You have a Father's Day card ready to go! Now, if you can just put it away somewhere where you can find it!


Chair squats are the perfect solution for anyone who is trying to get better legs in less time with proper form. This exercise forces you to do them correctly, as the video guides you with fitness tips to keep you focused on the correct areas.
Trainer Tips: If you think this is too easy for you, try adding weights to increase the intensity. You can also change it up and do a one legged chair squat.
* A Big Thanks to fitness model, Bianca Lopez for participating in this video.
I thought your knees weren't supposed to come out in front of your toes when you did squats. Hers are.
Sue, Her knees do come forward but they don't go past her big toe. Your knees tend to naturally come forward during squats. However, as long as they stay behind your big to your still in "good form."


So you're building a universal JS application and you're taking advantage of Webpack for it's ability to require CSS files directly into the component. You may even be requiring in a SVG, PNG or markdown file, ooh the list goes on!
The first time I got that working in my client app... I felt pretty good! So good, that when I elegantly placed it in my universal app, I was expecting unicorns!... But no. The server side render just stared back at me with a vacant expression (in the form of an error).
"Excuse me programmer, what is .PNG?".
One way to alleviate this pain of the server render is to place a filter around the module require system in NodeJS. Some colleagues and myself have released a module that will do this for you, node-hook-filename. It allows you to pass an array of string values that will be tested against each require and then stub the require out.
The above code will catch any require/import that matches .scss and invoke an optional callback function with the matching file-name. It also allows you to return a new value that will be used instead of the module - this is very helpful for testing as you can supply spy objects.
What about image files? We need URLs in server render!
Node-hook-filename isn't enough. We need to import multiple asset types: images need to expose a path; SVGs might want to expose their mark-up; style files might wish to expose class names al a CSS modules.
Another consideration here is cache busting of assets. A nice feature of Webpack is to add a random hash to each compile of the build output. To get this working, the server needs to know when the compile has completed so it can perform the server render with knowledge of the necessary assets.
There is a fantastic tool that can allow your app to meet all of these criteria called webpack-isomorphic-tools. It plugs into Webpack to generate a JSON file that contains a map between each asset you require and the value you need; be it a path, mark-up or object.
Add the plugin to your Webpack config. Notice the isomorphic.config, this is where you define how to interpret assets.
"./src/app/icons/status.svg": "<svg viewBox=\"0 0 56 52\" width=\"56\" height=\"52\"></svg>"
The above JSON is the map between assets and values that your server render can use.
For the server render to make use of this object, webpack-isomorphic-tools also provides a function that you should wrap your server render in.
The above function isomorphicTools.server(), takes two arguments, the second is a callback that is invoked once the Webpack build is finished and the said JSON file is generated! Just make sure the server render happens inside the callback!
It then also replaces all of your asset requires in the server render with those defined in the JSON file... MAGIC! You can even access the asset object for building the link/script tags in your html page.
The above creates a custom asset type for SVG on the server render that builds the mark-up into a string, just the same way that SVG-inline-loader would for webpack.
What about CSS modules? We need class names!
For CSS Modules, we want our import statements to get an object containing the class names needed for our server render. While this is possible with webpack-isomophic-tools... it's can get quite messy with parser and filters in the config. But... there is another solution!
There is another module purely for CSS module imports, named, css-modules-require-hook! Put it before your server side render and it will do exactly what it says on the tin!
There are a few gotchas, one is random hash class-names that are very useful to prevent global class collisions... both Webpack and the hook need to generate the exact same hashes. To make this easier, both Webpack and the hook can simply generate class names based on the file location instead.
Another gotcha, is preprocessors. The hook comes with support for postCSS built in, which is great, but preprocessors such as SCSS require a little more work.
Here's an example set-up for the modules hook.
Put the above code in your server to get CSS modules working in your server render!
You will also need Webpack to be configured to generate similar CSS class names.
And that's all there is too it! Now you can cover pretty much any type of asset require!


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Feminist Democracy in action
Longworth's paper "Has Austery driven a Feminist Democracy"39.59 KB is published by FPSW today, 22nd January 2019.
Are women more powerful now as a result of austerity?
Historically, women's voices have been marginalised and their contributions to politics and the economy have been under-recognised and undervalued. There are well known cases where changes improving women's rights have been achieved through grass roots campaigns and activism which draw media attention. Less well known is the huge impact women's groups and individual women have had through behind the scenes collaboration at the policy making level, including internationally. During the period of austerity since 2010, the economic position of women has been worsened by more than that of men, and in the Brexit debate UK women's voices have been ignored, despite the continuing work of activists. This paper shows that, over the same period, the feminist movement has been successful in raising the profile of several individual issues affecting women, with the potential to influence policy. It raises the questions of whether such activity has been driven by austerity or something else, whether the techniques used on individual issues would improve the notice taken of women's voices in wider political decision making, and whether the 'end of austerity' will lead to the re-marginalisation of women's voices.
http://www.fairplaysouthwest.org.uk/images/Has_Austerity_driven_a_Feminist_Democracy.docx

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Welcome to the Spring Growing in Unity Spring Blog Hop!
Today I am participating in a little blog hop with several of the other Unity Stamps Growing in Unity Gals, who have each had a to be a Unity Stamp Company guest designer for a week. My week as a GIU Girl began April 16th. If you would care to check out my five April guest posts, they begin HERE.
Today I have a watercolored card using the May 2018 SMAK Kit, Gratitude & Joy to share with you.
I had hoped to have a short, edited video for this project. I had one; or so I thought. But when I went to edit it, I found there was a large problem: apparently I had some operator error with the record/stop recording button about midway through my day, so I was for quite a time, recording drying time rather than recording the actual painting time. And literally watching paint dry? I think we will skip that.
My card began with a piece of 300# Arches cold press watercolor paper. (I buy the Arches in 9x12" blocks, and then cut the sheets to 4.5x6" for cardmaking.) I used my Original MISTI to stamp the butterfly image onto my watercolor paper using Inkon3's new Fade Out No Line Coloring Ink. I left the stamp in place in my MISTI so I could re-stamp later.
I used my Fineline Masking Fluid Pen and a cheap flat paint brush to put down a thin layer of the making fluid which covered the butterfly entirely. (Make sure you clean your brush immediately!) I let the mask dry overnight. The next morning, I began watercoloring with my Sennelier L'Aquarelle watercolors and my new Escoda Reserva Travel brushes that I was spoiled with on Mother's Day. They are amazing quality, and are so pretty. They are just as beautiful as they feel, and the paint fabulously. I wet the background with clean water, then put a layer of a light violet. Then let it dry. I added a second layer of slightly deeper violet. Then let it dry... and so on.
Watercoloring is definitely an exercise in patience. When I watercolor, the actual process often takes all day, so I often will have several paintings in process, or I'll watercolor on the day I do laundry. Then my project can dry while I go fold and switch out loads of clothes. Depending on the amount of water, each layer can take from 15-60 minutes to dry. Today's project took all day. But truly, if it weren't for dry time? I probably only actually painted or stamped for 60-70 minutes, I just did 5-10 minute increments at a time.
With each thin layer, the color is built up gradually and you can have a certain luminosity in your colors that you can't always get with a single darker layer of watercolor. Once I was satisfied with my background color, I went back to my MISTI to re-stamp. I placed my paper in the exact same corner of my MISTI and stamped the image, this time using Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink. I had to stamp 3 times, using light pressure on the lid to make sure the ink was dark enough, and that I had gotten enough ink into the textured surface of the paper. I didn't want to force the ink to the paper with hard pressure, or I would smash the stamp and lose the crispness of the image and script. The liquid mask was still protecting my butterfly, so I was only stamping the background. Again, I left my stamp in place in my MISTI for later.
I wanted to create a bit of a mottled background, so I added some Wilted Violet ink with a foam blender to add a bit more color to my paper, then spritzed it with water droplets, let it sit a minute or two, then gently picked up the water, and the color it had lifted, with a paper towel. When my panel was fully dry, I added some tiny spatters of slightly watered-down white acrylic paint for more interest.
My next step was to remove the mask. Making sure my panel was VERY dry, so I wouldn't tear or damage the surface of the watercolor paper, I used a rubber adhesive remover eraser to very gently lift and peel off the masking fluid coating. This left my butterfly rather starkly white, with only my faint Fade Out Ink image. Much like as I painted the background, I painted the butterfly in several very pale layers, letting it dry between layers, and colors, building up the color very slowly. I also added a cast shadow, tentatively sketching it in first with plain water, then painting layers of a blue/Payne's Gray mixture. When I was happy with it, and it was dry, I once again went back to my MISTI. I very carefully, selectively inked small portions of the butterfly at a time with Distress ink cubes and stamped the details back over the butterfly. I used Black Soot on the body and antennae, and Broken China over the wings.
Next I trimmed my panel down to 4.25x5.5" and stamped my sentiment in embossing ink, and heat embossed with white. I also spritzed the entire panel with Sheer Shimmer: Sparkle to give it some extra shine and sparkle. When this was completely dry, I mounted my panel to an A2 top-fold card base with liquid glue, and weighted it down well with a heavy box so it would dry very flat.
Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoy today's hop! Your next stop should be Avra's blog, but before you go, leave a comment here on this blog post, and on the other five stops along the hop to be entered to win one of two prize packs of Unity Stamps!
beautiful. I love the butterfly stamp.
Gorgeous! Love your details too.
Gorgeous! I agree with first commentor, this is a work of art!
This is quite a process, but certainly worth it. Painting a shadow of the wings really made them pop.
You never disappoint Chris! Beautiful card. Now I need to add that set to my wish list!
Love the tutorial. I learned two things I didn't know. I had not thought of waiting between the water color layers to control the opacity with out having to go darker with the saturation with it is still wet. I also had not heard of the no line ink and yes, went immediately to order it. I will be applying what I've learned, thank you for the inspiration!
Fabulous! Always amazed by your technique.
Wow! Gorgeous! Will you teach me how to watercolor? And have patience? LOL!
Your card is gorgeous - I love the colours and you made me laugh about the video. Watching paint dry - too funny!
True-this is art. Way above and beyond.
Wow! Loved hearing about your process....so much detail went into this gorgeous creation. Thank you for sharing.
Wilted violet..love the color and the name!!! Beautiful!!
Sorry about your video, would have loved to see that, but thanks for not showing us "paint drying" lol. But thanks for all the steps. Your card is beautiful and your coloring is stunning. So pretty!
Thanks for sharing the 'how to' What a fabulous project!
OMGoodness! Such a beautiful project! I love the 3D look. PRETTY!!!!
Wow luminosity is the word to describe your card. It is amazing and beautiful. It was worth the time and effort it took for you to make this creation. It looks as if a bright light is shining on it! Thanks so much.
Not enough patience here, so greatly appreciate the time and effort for this beauty!
You are an extremely patient artist, but your final result is amazing! I am going to have to research the Fade Out no-line coloring Ink. I haven't heard about this product. Thanks for all your hard work.
Such a beautiful design. Just love your artwork.
Your butterfly card is so beautiful! I love the purple background! Thank you for sharing how you made the background.
I just re-read the tutorial. This is ONE SPECIAL card. I don't know if I have the "watercolor patience", but I'm glad you do. Thanks for sharing this creation.
Very interesting process. I understand the watercolor process, it is time consuming! I love how you masked off the primary image to color the background. I'll need to try that. I guess it could also work if the stamp required multiple colors. Great card!
Chuckling on the video of it drying. I love the soft effect this card has!
Ohhhh… love the magical feeling of your card. The color scheme is so very pretty and the shadow you painted on makes the butterfly looks like it is ready to take flight!
So Beautiful!! I liked reading about your process - so informative - this is a work of art! Thank you for the inspiration!
Wow, every work of art is a labor of love! Thanks for sharing your process! This is beautiful and worth every minute you spent on it.


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Concert Performances, Outtakes and Private Recordings
A sampling of rare material from 1940-1959
Royal Albert Hall recital, 1958
Sadly, with the exception of two Hollywood Bowl appearances in 1947-48 and a recital at the Royal Albert Hall in 1958, none of Mario Lanza's more than 150 concerts and recitals was recorded in its entirety. Even more frustratingly, neither Lanza's operatic debut at Tanglewood in 1942 nor his two Pinkertons for the New Orleans Opera Association in 1948 was captured for posterity.
What we do have on tape, however, is a tantalizing glimpse of Lanza the performing artist near the beginning of his career (1947-49) and towards the end (1957-58). (See A List of Existing Live Recordings of Mario Lanza for complete details.)
There are also a number of private recordings from the 1940s and early 1950s that provide fascinating examples of Lanza's vocal development from a neophyte 19-year-old to an assured artist of 31. Below are a sampling of these public and private performances (together with two outtakes and one of the tenor's final recordings). Several of these come from the CD accompanying Armando Cesari's biography Mario Lanza: An American Tragedy, which brings together arguably the best of Lanza's surviving live and home recordings----Derek McGovern.
Pecchè, 1940
Unknown Aria, 1944
Mattinata, 1945
Parigi, O Cara, 1947
È La Solita Storia, 1948
È il Sol dell'Anima, 1949
Testing a New Microphone, 1952
Questa Bocca Tua Profumata e Pura, 1952
Improvviso from Andrea Chénier, 1952
Qual Occhio al Mondo from Tosca, 1955
Serenade, 1955
E Lucevan le Stelle, 1957
Only a Rose, 1959
Pecchè?
Lanza in his late teens
Play recording (1:40)
Lanza was just 19 when he recorded this one-verse rendition of Carlo De Flaviis' Neapolitan song 'Pecchè?' as a present for his father's 46th birthday. One of the earliest authenticated recordings we have of the tenor, allowances should be made for the primitive sound quality and (more importantly) for the fact that Lanza had had virtually no vocal training at this point. But while his youthful vibrato is fast here and his upper register unsupported, the distinctive and beautiful timbre is already evident, as is his commitment to the words.
Return to Recording Listing
Unknown Aria
On 22 May 1944, the then 23-year-old Lanza recorded a number of arias for his friend and mentor Maria Margelli at New York's Melotone Studios. One of these was a snippet—probably from a now-forgotten verismo opera—of an aria that no one has so far been able to identify. Brief though this elusive snippet is, however, it offers startling proof that even at this early stage in his vocal development, Lanza was producing, as Armando Cesari observes, an "amazingly dark, rich and even [sound]." (More can be read about this recording on our forum here.)
RCA test record
Lanza in 1945
In June 1945 Mario Lanza made a number of test records of arias and songs for RCA. One of these was Leoncavallo's 'Mattinata,' and for years it was assumed by Lanza aficionados that only one take existed of this song. In February 2013, however, U.S. record collector Edward Skelly acquired a 78rpm in an estate sale that purported to be Lanza singing 'Mattinata' on the MGM label in March 1948. Curious about the recording's authenticity (since no Lanza discography lists a 1948 version), he contacted me to see if I could shed any light on the matter. Hearing the recording, it was immediately obvious that it was another take from the same June 1945 session. As to how it found its way on to an acetate with the MGM label, I have no idea, but I remain reasonably confident that this is the younger, slightly wayward Lanza prior to his voice technique lessons with Enrico Rosati. My gratitude to Edward Skelly for allowing me to share this previously unheard and spirited rendition. (For further reading, see our 'Mattinata' thread.)
Parigi, O Cara from La Traviata
With Frances Yeend, soprano
Eugene Ormandy, conductor.
This concert was a turning point in Lanza's career (ultimately changing the course of his life), for it was on the strength of his performance that evening that MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, who was in the audience, signed the 26-year-old tenor to a long-term movie contract. Listening to this outstanding rendition of the difficult 'Parigi, O Cara,' one can readily imagine the impact of Lanza's singing here on the opera-loving Mayer. Performing here with soprano Frances Yeend (with whom, along with bass-baritone George London, he had recently formed the Bel Canto Trio), Lanza is in ravishing vocal form, effortlessly negotiating the tricky mezza voce and diminuendo. Note: Lanza's and Yeend's magnificent performance at the same concert of the Act I love duet from Puccini's Madama Butterfly can be heard here.
(Lamento di Federico) from L'Arlesiana
Massey Hall, Toronto
Paul Scherman, conductor
Lanza began many of his concerts and recitals with the Lamento di Federico, and this 1948 performance from a very well-received appearance in Toronto was no exception. Arguably his finest rendition of Cilea's lovely aria, it's also his most restrained version—a controlled and musical performance with some hauntingly beautiful touches, particularly in the exquisite opening lines. As always, Lanza sings the interpolated high B natural that his idol Gigli had introduced many years earlier. (Read more about Lanza's various versions of the Lamento di Federico on our forum.)
È il Sol dell'Anima...
Addio, Addio from Rigoletto
With Mary Jane Smith, soprano John Green, conductor
This vocal tour de force is from Lanza's third and final appearance at the Hollywood Bowl. Singing with great sensitivity and beauty of tone in this duet with 18-year-old coloratura soprano Mary Jane Smith, Lanza makes a suave and convincing Duke. He ends the duet on a high D flat—his highest recorded note (and one that is no less thrilling for being slightly off-key).
Lanza Testing out a New Microphone
Lanza with Colleen (far left), Ellisa and Betty, 1952
Listen to Lanza amusing himself as he tests a new microphone, singing octave leaps and scaling baritonal depths to the delight of his four-year-daughter Colleen.
Questa Bocca Tua Profumata e Pura from Madame Sans-Gêne
With Constantine Callinicos, pianist
Rehearsing with Callinicos, 1951
Lanza was always interested in lesser-known operas, and at one stage intended to record an album of "forgotten" arias by late nineteenth/early twentieth century Italian composers such as Cilea, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, and Giordano. Here he is rehearsing the aria 'Questa Bocca Tua Profumata e Pura' from Act II of Giordano's rarely performed 1915 opera Madame Sans-Gêne. The recording begins five lines into the aria, and stops abruptly four lines before the conclusion (with the tenor apparently dissatisfied with "the lights"). Curiously, it then resumes with the closing lines of an aria from another as-yet-unidentified opera. At the end of this powerful rendition, Lanza says with stunning understatement: "I didn't hold back." (More can be read about this recording on our forum here.)
Improvviso from Andrea Chénier
Private recording. With Constantine Callinicos, pianist
As the critic James Miller once observed in Fanfare, Lanza would have been a superb Chénier, and it was one of the roles that the tenor most wanted to perform on stage. This 1952 home recording of the passionate Improvviso reinforces the sense that he was born to play the part of the romantic poet. The placement of the voice here, with its rich, focused spinto sound and ringing upper register, coupled with excellent diction and an unwavering commitment to the words, make it one of Lanza's finest operatic recordings. As the eminent musicologist Bill Park wrote in 2004, it is "a magnificent rendering of the aria . . . certainly to be ranked with the best."
Qual Occhio al Mondo from Tosca
Outtake. Ray Heindorf, conductor, Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra
Unused Tosca sequence (with Lilian Molieri) for Serenade, 1955
This brief snippet from Puccini's Tosca consists of six lines sung by the character Mario Cavaradossi during his long Act I duet with Floria Tosca. It was recorded and filmed for Lanza's comeback movie, Serenade, in 1955, but cut from the release print—presumably because of concerns over the length of the film. In the original screenplay, "Qual Occhio al Mondo" was to have been the third item in a planned six-number montage that was ultimately reduced to three arias. [Read this forum discussion for further information.]
Quale occhio al mondo può star di paro
all'ardente occhio tuo nero?
È qui che l'esser mio s'affisa intero.
Occhio all'amor soave, all'ira fiero,
qual altro al mondo può star di paro
all'occhio tuo nero?
Outtake. Jakob Gimpel, pianist
This is another discarded recording from Serenade. Written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Nicholas Brodszky, this song was replaced in the film by another number with the same title (also by Cahn and Brodszky). It's a shame this song wasn't used, as its fiendishly difficult tessitura would have provided a thrilling vocal moment in Serenade. Note: This is actually the second of two unused takes of the song. The first take appears on the 2004 BMG UK CD Serenade/ A Cavalcade of Show Tunes. Although the first take features a slightly better ending from Lanza, this is arguably the superior take overall. (See our forum discussion for further information.)
E Lucevan le Stelle from Tosca
Royal Variety Show, London Palladium
Constantine Callinicos, conductor
This rarely heard performance is by no means Lanza's most "correct" version of one of his favorite arias—either vocally or musically—but it is one of his most emotional renditions. And understandably so, for the occasion was a Royal Variety Performance in front of Queen Elizabeth II (and other members of the British Royal Family) after a six-and-a-half-year absence from the concert stage. Pale and visibly shaking before he walked on to the stage, Lanza nevertheless managed to control his nerves sufficiently to deliver a passionate performance that delighted his upper-crust audience. A video of Lanza performing this aria six days later at the same venue can be viewed here.
Only a Rose (Finale) from The Vagabond King
"Raw" recording
An ailing Mario Lanza recorded his penultimate album, Friml's 1925 operetta The Vagabond King, in Rome in one marathon session in July 1959, barely three months before his death. The exact recording date is unknown. For this album (and two others that Lanza recorded the same year), RCA made the dubious decision to record the tenor without the accompanying soprano—in this case, Judith Raskin—or the chorus present. The latter singers' contributions were subsequently recorded in New York a year after Lanza's death. What we hear on this recording, however, is the "raw" take—i.e. without Ms. Raskin or chorus—exactly as Lanza left it. The seventh number recorded that evening, "Only a Rose" concludes with a sustained high B-flat that provides thrilling evidence of his still-resplendent upper register.


- All possible background Windows services (such as error reporting, Cortana and etc. are off). I did not touch any services through msconfig though, they are at defaults.
What I am experiencing from time to time is dimming screen (Power Options -> Advanced Settings -> Display - > Enable adaptive brightness is both OFF (on battery and plugged-in).
1. What can be the cause for dimming?
2. Other question - battery is holding maximum 5.5-6 hrs (no resource heavy tasks, only browsing, 1080p videos on youtube). How to optimize that?
3. Windows update or simple JAVA setup can trigger fan to start working heavily blowing basically cold air - very annoying.
All newest drivers are installed. BIOS is updated to the latest version.
Feedback is highly appreciated. Thank you.
From what I've seen in similar posts, these dimming issues can sometimes be resolved by removing and reinstalling the display driver. I wouldn't know of any other way apart from the steps you already took.
You didn't specify by how much your screen dims and how often. However, a brightness setting of close to 100% with a UHD screen is usually going to be a very strong drain on the battery, so 6 hours of battery life seem more than reasonable. Just for comparison, I have a T560 and I rarely increase my brightness above 50%.
I will give it a try and re-install the display driver.
It dims everytime the system is on battery and from my observations, only when screen is at 95-100% brightness. When for example it was on 49% like last 2.15 hrs, it didn't behave strange.
I have now used the laptop for 2.15 hrs with brightness set to 49%. Battery went from 84% to 51% and it says 2.27 hrs remaining. What I've been doing - Youtube in background (720p) and Outlook e-mails.
It seems like I am getting like 4.42 hrs of work. Is this normal?
When I got my T570 a few days ago, I noticed the fan issue too, but then I updated all the drivers to the latest versions, and since then I haven't noticed it anymore. The system runs much cooler than I expected it to as well.
So make sure you have all the latest drivers, especially the power manager one.
Wouldn't cool mode cause *more* fan activity, not less? We need a quiet mode.
Frankly, I don't understand how High Performance (presumably lots of fan activity) is different from Cool Mode (also presumably lots of fan activity).


>Three years ago I went to Tex Tubb's Taco Palace with a friend before a concert at the Barrymore Theater and was so excited about the concert that I don't even remember what I had. Then, last year I went with my mom and grandma and got a capitol combo that came with a chicken enchilada, small chicken burrito, rice and beans. The entire dish was also covered in a tangy green sauce with just the right amount of spiciness.
So, when a friend and I decided to take a study break during finals week we headed out the Tex Tubb's on Atwood Avenue. While we were studying earlier in the week I perused the menu and discovered that they had taken my beloved capitol combo off the menu. So I proceeded to read the entire menu to decide what to get. We chose a single "fancy taco" for an appetizer and then both got an entree (there's a beauty in leftovers!). I got the Backyard BBQ taco with smoked pork in Jack Daniels BBQ sauce, coleslaw, fried avacado and sour cream. The pork was mega tender and the smokiness combined really well with the coolness of the coleslaw and the warm crunchiness of the friend avocado. My friend got the Butter Mountain Potato Hash taco with potatoes, red peppers, sour cream and red onions. She said the red peppers balanced well with the potatoes and queso fresco to taste something like a breakfast burrito.
Tex Tubb's on Atwood Ave.
For our entrees I chose the Smoked Chicken Taco Salad which comes with shredded chicken, salsa, free greens, cheese and chipotle ranch sauce. The taco shell was an amazingly thing and crispy house for a great combination of taco salad ingredients. The chicken was smokey and had a great heat to it, which was complimented by the black bean and corn salsa. The fresh greens kept the dish feeling more like a fresh salad then a heavy plate of meat and beans, and the chipotle ranch sauce added a hint of traditional salad dressing with a slight kick. Because the fancy taco I got was almost a meal in itself I ended up taking two-thirds of my already large taco salad home for later!
My friend go the Red Lentil Enchiladas. The dish came with 2 corn tortillas filled with red lentils, cheese and cilantro covered in traditional white sauce and cheese. She said the refried beans needed more seasoning and the enchiladas were a little bland (but she's not the biggest fan of white sauce).
I also got a raspberry limeade and it was the perfect balance of tang, sweetness and bitter lime. I thought the $3 price tag was a little high but I was very satisfied with the drink anyways.
Bottom Line: I keep going back to Tex Tubb's for the interesting menu options and the cool tex-mex and entertaining decorations.


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Q: C# Passing data back from Excel to Datagrid in ASP.NET Web Application I have a ASP.NET web application (Not the MCV application) that is deployed on IIS Express, which calls a Powershell script that invokes an Excel instance on the server and run some macro in the Excel instance.
The end results is currently dumped into a specific range in Excel and I would like to make the results somehow visible in a data grid (or other ways to display it, it is basically just a 6 columns by 20 rows table with headings and numbers) in the web page where it is being called so that the end user who have no access to the server itself could see it.
Is that possible at all? If so how should I do it?

A: If you've saved your data as .cvs file, open it as a File and put all data in a string, rows are separated with '\n' and '\r' and columns with ','.
By using Split(String data, Char separator) method for 2 times and putting it in an array as, you'll be able to cut your data from string and fill it in a DataGrid.
String data = File.ReadAllText(fileName);
String[] myColumns = Split(data,'\n');
String[] myRows = Split(data,',');

The first row is always your column's headers.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The TimeCutter® SS3225 zero turn riding mower is powered by a premium Toro® 452cc single-cylinder engine. It features a compact 32 inch wide, 4 inch deep, top discharge deck design with convenient washout port. An 18 inch extra-tall seat provides a smooth and comfortable ride. You'll find it easy to maneuver in tight spaces, plus the exclusive Smart Speed® control system allows you to choose from 3 speeds giving you greater control when trimming, towing attachments and mowing.
Smart Speed® Control System has three ground speed ranges (Trim, Tow, and Mow) giving you greater control of speed and maneuverability for cutting grass and pulling attachments).
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On 18th March 2015, Mike Erdos was awarded his well-earned PhD degree for his thesis on the "Genetic Etiology of Type 2 Diabetes. From Gene Identification to Functional Genomics". He is a Senior Staff Scientist in the Collins laboratory at the National Center for Human Genome Research, NIH (Bethesda, USA).
Last modified: 19 March 2015 6.34 p.m.


The Hotel Dimmer is a member of Logis, first European independent hotel chain.
The Hotel Dimmer is a member of the National Tourist Board of Luxembourg.
The Hotel Dimmer is a member of Regional Tourist Board of Mullerthal.
Website of the Mullerthal Trail, hiking in the region of the Mullerthal.
Website of Bed+Bike Luxembourg, Luxembourg label welcoming cyclists.


In the Obama years, U.S. policy had a hard time to come up with a coherent foreign policy that would urgently respond to different crises around the world. His policies in the Middle East were the most controversial ones. His decision to withdraw troops from Iraq, the lack of a strategy in Syria, and his stand during the coup in Egypt generated major debates both in and outside of the U.S. His policy toward Iran on the other hand generated major reactions from the U.S. allies in the region. For many, in order to be able to sign this agreement the president's aversion to confronting Iran's other activities in the region and for some even the non-involvement policy of the U.S. in the Syrian crisis has a lot to do with the Iran policy. Many would contend that this was an extremely Iran-centric Middle East policy. President Donald Trump last week declared that he is not going to certify the compliance of Iran to the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), despite the reports of intelligence services and international watchdogs for the nuclear facilities. It was clear that President Trump from the very beginning was against this deal, just like most of the deals that were negotiated multilaterally by previous presidents, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The president has argued that it was poorly negotiated and claimed that it was the worst deal ever signed by the U.S., giving an early signal of the possibility that the compliance of Iran would not be re-certified when he publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the deal. On Friday, this time he stated that he will not certify it and left it to Congress to come up with new sanctions against Iran in the next 60 days. If Congress fails to do so, he has threatened to end the deal. His explanations for this decision did not satisfy a lot of observers.
This de-certification and in case of the end of the deal this condition will generate serious repercussions for the U.S. policy and it already generated too many question marks. First of all it is not clear what will happen now. If Congress fails to bring more sanctions against Iran, will the president just end the deal. As mentioned in a previous column on the Iran deal, the Democrats who were against the Iranian nuclear deal now refuse to impose more sanctions against Iran, and Republicans do not look like they are thrilled by the possibility of bringing this issue to the agenda. In fact, this requirement of the certification of the deal was put forward by Congress and now Congress seems to lack the resolve and preparedness to go through with it. If the president is not going to terminate the deal, given the Iranian statements on the refusal of re-negotiation, what will be the next step? Does Trump think that the threat to eliminate the deal will be an effective deterrent to force Iran to make some concessions so that without any more steps he might achieve his goal?
Another question stems from the disagreement within the administration in regard to the deal. The secretary of defense, James Mattis, for instance, seems to be at odds with the president in regard to the termination of this agreement and although Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been criticizing Iran on the nuclear deal, he seems less enthusiastic to terminate it completely.
In addition to the internal dynamics of the U.S. government, this step also brings complications with U.S.' allies. During Obama's negotiations, the European allies backed the deal while Saudi Arabia and Israel had been against it. Now, with the decision of Trump, we have a reverse situation; Israel and Saudi Arabia are the only backers of Trump's decision, whereas the other members of the P5+1 stand behind the agreement. Does it mean the Trump administration will work together with these two allies instead of the European ones against Iran? But even for the supporters of this agreement, there is no clear Iran strategy on the table and it is not clear how to deal with the Iranian role in the region. Up to what extent will the goals and means of Iranian policy overlap? Thus, the already existing confusion among the U.S. allies will continue in the coming period. Furthermore, this decision may also have repercussions in regard to the resolution of the conflict in the North Korea. They argue that such a decision will increase the skepticism among other countries to the U.S. commitments.
Thus, there are too many unknowns in regard to the president's decision on Iran. The level of confusion among many is reminiscent of the extent of confusion among observers during the Obama years. If it is more than undoing Obama's diplomacy, there should be more explanations in regard to the path forward and an exit strategy that will clarify the situation for U.S. allies.
This article was first published in Daily Sabah on October 16, 2017.


text:
All Oakland in Webroot Com Safe
> Sort ByNewestTitleRating
WIBLINGEN MONASTERY LIBRARY
The Wiblingen Monastery was founded in 1093, and remodeled in the Baroque style decades later in the 18th century. The library is a favorite among art historians for its rich ornamentation and beautiful fresco ceiling. Inscribed at the entrance to Wiblingen is "In quo omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae," which means "In which are stored all treasures of knowledge and Read more...
Ridgefield High School
Ridgefield High School, a four-year public high school, supports social, academic, and civic growth while promoting a respect for diversity. Ridgefield High School helps students become self-reflective and self-directed learners and understand their responsibilities and roles as citizens. Students complete core courses in mathematics, language arts, social studies, and science. Ridgefield High School also offers courses in physical education, music, Read more...
Remede Spa
Repeatedly considered to be one of the best spas in the capital, Remède Spa provides you with the antithetical experience to the street upon which it's situated. Paseo de la Reforma is constantly thronged with people, whereas this 15th floor slice of relaxation is resolutely calm and cosy. With a broad choice of both treatments and treatment rooms, you can Read more...
Metroflex Gym
If you've ever wondered where those super ripped guys and girls went after the Planet Fitness lunk alarm sounded, Metroflex Gym is the place. This gym caters specifically to competitive bodybuilders, even offering diet help and posing tips for no extra charge. Planet Fitness can poke fun all they want but Metroflex has trained more than 100 champion bodybuilders, powerlifters, Read more...
Gold's Gym (Venice, CA)
Want to lift with the big boys? This three-story flagship is considered the "Mecca of Bodybuilding"— and for good reason. Complete with 35,000-square-feet of free weights and Nautilus machines, a posing room, and a larger-than-life guest list (including Lou "The Hulk" Ferrigno, Jim Morrison, and the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger), when it comes to "Pumping Iron," Venice Beach is still Read more...
Lakewood Center
Lakewood Center's 250 stores are anchored by JCPenney, Macy's Forever 21, and Target. It is owned and operated by The Macerich Company. Read more...
Blue Bottle Coffee
Iced coffee is courtesy of mad-scientist-style contraptions imported from Kyoto. And even your standard cup of joe takes a minimum of five minutes, as the beans are ground and individually filtered when you order. But all that care has paid off. In January the company scored $25.75 million in funding from techy A-listers like Instagram cofounder Kevin Systrom and Twitter Read more...
Though it's the second-smallest chain on our list, with just 42 US restaurant locations, Seasons 52 has made a big impact on diners. The grill and wine bar earned the top ranking for customer satisfaction and is favored for its elevated farm-to-table fare and "rustic cooking techniques." But the fresh seasonal and local ingredients come at a price: the average Read more...
Akron (Ohio) General Hospital
Vincent McCorkle, the new president and CEO of the hospital's parent, Akron General Health System, is fond of saying, "culture eats strategy." Rather than mandating changes, he prefers a participatory process, where everyone has a role. In a hotly contested market, not that far from heavy hitters like the Cleveland Clinic, 511-bed Akron General has had to stay nimble. The Read more...
The Australian-themed steakhouse is a cult favorite whose newest menu item — the french-fry-topped, loaded Bloomin' Onion — made national headlines last month in part because of its 2,360 calories. But the colossal dish is really nothing new for the chain. Since 1988, Outback has been offering generous portions of hand-trimmed steaks, grilled chicken, tender ribs, fresh seafood, and potatoes Read more...


Susan, 60, wants to make a gift to MPTF but would also like more income in the future. Susan creates a charitable remainder unitrust with annual lifetime payments to her equal to 6 percent of the fair market value of the trust assets as revalued annually. She funds the trust with assets valued at $500,000.
Contact Mikko Sperber at 818-876-1925 or mikko.sperber@mptf.com to talk about supporting MPTF by setting up a charitable remainder trust.


text:
Q: Create a method with a dictionary parameter where TKey and TValue types are indeterminate Wondering whether it is possible to have a method with a dictionary parameter where TKey and TValue types are indeterminate.  For example, I may want to send a key of int and a value as a custom object, or a key of string and value of a different object.
Can this be done via generic objects, is the best practice with overloads, or is there another method I have not yet located?
public static SortedDictionary<??, ??> CreateSortedDictionary(Dictionary<??, ??> d)
{
    SortedDictionary<??, ??> rv = new SortedDictionary<??, ??>();

    enter code here...

    return rv;
}

Thank you.

A: You can use generic types for the key and value, which can then be used for both the input and output dictionaries:
public static SortedDictionary<TKey, TValue> CreateSortedDictionary<TKey, TValue>(
    Dictionary<TKey, TValue> input)
{
    return new SortedDictionary<TKey, TValue>(input);
}


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RT600 is a water and soil resistant thermometer with covered pushbuttons for On/off, C/F and Minimum/maximum indication.
RT-600 is water and soil resistant with covered push buttons for On/Off, °C/ °F and minimum and maximum indication. There is a hole for hanging and a protective cover with a pocket slip. The cover may be used for stirring or may serve as an extra long handle. The large temperature range makes the thermometer very versatile.


Class for a pdf form combo box field.
The PdfFormFieldComboBox type exposes the following members.
Gets the values of the items in the combo box field.
Gets the number of items in the combo box field.
Gets or sets the selected item index for the combo box.
Gets or sets the selected item value for the combo box.


text:
In many team sports, defense (American spelling) or defence (Commonwealth spelling) is the action of preventing an opponent from scoring. The term may also refer to the tactics involved in defense, or a sub-team whose primary responsibility is defense. Similarly, a defense player or defender is a player who is generally charged with preventing the other team's forwards from being able to bear down directly on their own team's goalkeeper or goaltender.  Such positions exist in association football, ice hockey, water polo and many other sports.

By sport

Field sports

American football

Association football

Australian rules football

Bat-and-ball sports

In bat-and-ball sports, the defending team is in the field, while the offensive team sends only a few players into the field to try to score at a time. These sports generally involve a member of the defense throwing the ball to a member of the offensive team, who then tries to hit it and run to various safe areas of the field to score points. Failing to hit the ball properly, or failing to reach the safe areas before the ball is used against the offensive player, can result in that player being left unable to score.

Baseball
Baseball is unlike most other competitive sports in that the defense is given control of the ball. Additionally, the number of players on the field at any given time is lopsided in favor of the defense which always has nine players on the field; the offense has between one and four.

Historically, each player on the team had a role both on offense and defense. Most amateur and professional leagues have adopted the designated hitter (DH) rule introduced by the American League of Major League Baseball. In leagues that use the DH, pitchers usually do not bat, and the DH bats in lieu of the pitcher and does not play a defensive position. The main leagues that have not adopted the DH rule are the National League of MLB and the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Each play starts with the ball in the hands of the pitcher, whose job as a member of the defense is to use his skills to somehow prevent the batter from reaching base. The pitcher throws the ball toward the catcher, who must catch the pitched ball if it is not hit by the batter. In each half-inning, the defense attempts to force three outs.

There are three basic ways in which an out can occur: 1.) If three strikes are recorded against the batter, 2.) if a ball hit by a batter is caught by a defensive player before it hits the ground, or 3.) if a runner who is between bases or has not reached a base to which he is forced is put out by a defensive player in possession of the ball.

If the batter manages to hit the ball, all nine defensive players become active and use the ball in attempting to prevent the batter from reaching base and runners already on base from advancing or scoring. while the offense is busy attempting to move runners around the baseball diamond toward home plate, the defense uses the ball in various ways to achieve outs.

If the defense forces three outs, their team is moved into the offensive role. The exception is if it is the ninth or an extra inning and they are ahead, in which case, the game ends and the defensive team wins.

Cricket
In cricket, the fielding team is the defense, while the batting team is the offense; the batting team can only put two players on the field at a time. By getting the batting team's batsmen out before they can hit the ball to the boundary or run between the two batsmen's grounds, the fielding team can prevent the batting team from scoring points. Players can be gotten out if they hit the ball in the air and it is caught by a defensive player before touching the ground, or if the ball hits a batsman's wicket, either when delivered by the bowler or when the batsman is not in his ground. By getting all but one of the batting team's players out, the fielding team ends their opponent's scoring turn, and may begin its own scoring turn next (though it can choose not to, in the case of the follow-on).

Water sports

Beach volleyball

Water polo
In water polo, if an offensive player, such as the center forward, has the ball in front of the goal, and the defender cannot steal the ball, he may intentionally commit a foul. The forward then has a free throw but must pass the ball off to another offensive player, rather than making a shot at the goal. Defensive perimeter players may also intentionally cause a foul and then move toward the goal, away from their attacker, who must take a free throw. This technique, called 'sloughing', allows the defense an opportunity to double-team the center forward and possibly steal the inbound pass. The water polo referee may refrain from declaring a foul caused by a defensive player, if in his judgment this would give the advantage to the defending team. This is known as the Advantage Rule.

Floor and court sports

Futsal

Winter sports

Ice skating team sports
There are four officially established ice skating team sports worldwide, excluding their variants. This group includes: bandy, ice hockey, ringette, and rinkball.

Ice hockey

In ice hockey, there are normally two designated defencemen on the ice. A defence man can either be an offensive player better known for their ability to glean assists or goals rather than for their strong defensive play.  Such players are known as offensive defencemen.  The other is usually in a more defensive role and rarely show-up on the score sheet but are important for their defensive prowess; these players are known as stay-at-home defence. There are also defensemen who are good at both; known as two-way defensemen. Defense is a team game in hockey, and when the team is not in possession of the puck (also known as puck coverage), the aim is to effectively suppress the puck pressure coming from the opponents.

Bandy

In bandy, the number of defenders on the ice at a given time depends on the format being played, either "big ice" bandy which has a type of field format, or rink bandy.

Ringette

In ringette, there are two designated defenders on the ice in any normal game situation (the team is not serving any penalties). However, due to ringette's first-three-in rule these situations can vary; those playing in the defensive zone are not always designated defenders.

Rinkball

In rinkball, the number of defenders on the ice at a given time depends on the format being played.

Skateless winter team sports
There are three known organized skateless winter team sports worldwide, that are not organized forms of snowball fighting. This group includes: broomball, Spongee ( "sponge hockey"), and Moscow broomball.

Broomball

In broomball, the number of defenders on the ice at a given time depends on the format being played.

Spongee

In spongee ( "sponge hockey"), the number of defenders on the ice at a given time depends on the format being played.

Moscow broomball

In Moscow broomball, the number of defenders on the ice at a given time depends on the format being played.

See also
 Defensive Player of the Year Award
 Offense (sports)
 Goalkeeper
 Goaltender
 Man-to-man defense

Notes

Terminology used in multiple sports

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Marine arthropods include crustaceans, such as crabs, shrimp, barnacles, and lobsters. There are other land arthropods as well, but our focus is on the marine groups. We will discus crabs in this unit, and will get to the other arthropod groups at a later time.
External skeleton – either thin and flexible or rigid. They shed their exoskeletons and replace it with a large one through molting.
Segmented body – most of the body cavity is hollow and contains the internal organs and a fluid, called the hemolymph, which is the equivalent to blood. The hemolymph is pumped around the body by the heart in an open circulatory system (meaning it doesn't have blood vessels, and the fluid moves by diffusion). Most marine forms use gills for respiration and have well-developed sense organs.
Jointed appendages – some are used for walking and swimming, while others are modified into claws and antennae or adapted for feeding. Muscles are attached across the joints to facilitate movement.
Feeding - Feeding is extremely varied among all the arthropod members. Most crabs are scavengers that feed on dead and decaying organic matter. They are vital in helping to recycle nutrients.
Reproduction and Lifestyles - For most crabs, fertilization is internal. The fertilized eggs are held in sacs on the underside of the female crab. The eggs must be laid in water. When the eggs hatch, crabs have planktonic larvae that sink to the sea floor and become bottom-living, or benthic, as they mature. They tend to live alone unless seeking a partner to breed with.
Crabs are crustaceans with five pairs of legs. The first pair is modified as pinchers and the last four pairs are walking legs.
The blue crab's carapace (or shell) is about 7 inches (17.8 cm) wide and 4 inches (10.2 cm) long. It weighs 1 to 2 pounds (0.45 to 0.9 kg) when fully grown. The back of the blue crab is dark or brownish green and is drawn out on each side into a large spine. When fully grown the spine may be more than 8 inches wide. The abdomen and lower legs are white. Crab claws are various shades of blue, but the claw tips of the female are red.
Sexes can be identified by the abdominal flap or apron. In the male it is shaped like an inverted T, but in the female it is broader.
Blue crabs eat clams, oysters, and mussels, as well as almost any vegetable or animal matter, preferably freshly dead or freshly caught food-sometimes even young crabs. Its predators include red drum, Atlantic croaker, herons, sea turtles and humans. At 12 to 18 months, blue crabs have reached sexual maturity. Females mate only once, immediately after they have molted (shed their shell) for the last time. Males mate often. When the females are in their soft-shell stage (immediately after molting), the males transfer their sperm to them for storage, and then protect them until their new shells harden.
The females will spawn two to nine months after mating, laying up to two million eggs. Spawning season is from December to October, with a peak in spring and summer. When females are ready to spawn, they fertilize the eggs with the stored sperm and place them on the tiny hairs of the appendages on their abdomen. While carrying eggs like this, she is called a "sponge" or "berry" crab. Incubation time is 14 days. The megalops (or larvae), pass through eight stages in about two months before they begin to look like crabs. Perhaps only one or two crabs survive to become adults. Blue crabs can live up to three years.
After mating, the females travel to the saltier portions of the lower bays and gulf, while males remain in the estuaries. Blue crabs burrow in soft mud or hide in sea grasses to lie in wait for prey or avoid predators. Crabs are quite aggressive-perhaps inspiring us to refer to an aggressive or unpleasant person as a "crab!" Blue crabs suffer in low oxygen conditions. Pollutants from farms, sewage treatment plants, chemicals, homes and cars can have serious consequences for blue crabs.
Parasites are common on crabs. Barnacles, worms and leeches attach themselves to the outer shell; small animals called isopods live in the gills or on the abdomen; and small worms live in the muscles. However, most of these parasites do not affect the life of the crab.
Crabs can regenerate (regrow) pinchers or legs lost while fighting or protecting themselves. The lost limb will be replaced after two or more molts. The blue crab's scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, is from Latin and Greek: calli, beautiful; nectes, swimmer; and sapidus, savory-beautiful, savory swimmer. Like insects, blue crabs have stalked compound eyes and can see in almost every direction at once.
Blue crabs are bottom-dwellers in every type of habitat from the saltiest water of the gulf to the almost fresh water of the back bays and estuaries, from the low tide line to waters 120 feet (36 m) deep.
Blue crabs live in estuaries along the east coasts of North and South America. They have also been seen in the coastal waters of France, Holland, and Denmark.


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text:
Teacher fired over Facebook groping photo could get her job back
Back in October, I blogged here about Ms. Cook, an Idaho school teacher who lost her job after her employer learned about a photo on her Facebook page that showed her boyfriend touching her chest.
(Oh, fine, here's the pic)
What made this story unique — yeah, I know, teacher getting in trouble on Facebook is fast approaching "death and taxes" status — is that the female teacher's boyfriend, also taught at the same school. He was not fired; merely disciplined.
Well, according to this story from Jimmy Hancock at the Idaho State Journal, Ms. Cook should be getting her job back soon:
A grievance panel has determined that former Pocatello High School girls' basketball coach Laraine Cook should again be allowed to work as a teacher and that she should be rehired as the girls' basketball coach for the 2014-2015 season….Addressing the firing, the panel said it should be rescinded and considered a suspension without pay from the time of the termination until the time of the panel's decision.
The panel further noted that the lack of a social media policy afforded Ms. Cook little guidance as to what the school considered online behavior that could cost her her job.
So, use Ms. Cook's situation as a wake-up call to implement/revise your social media policy. Remind your employees that certain online conduct — even on their own time — could cost 'em their jobs.
Hiring & Firing and Social Media and the Workplace