Continuing on our review of the exciting 5th World University Bridge Championship, round two offered opportunities for the college teams to leverage their Bridge acumen. See here for round 1 play. Right away on the first board, the bidding tested the mettle of our youth.
After North opens in a minor and East overcalls 1 Heart, some South players will bid 1 Spade (counting master Spade suit distribution points) while others may preempt up to 3 Spades. Preempting when holding a 4 card side suit major with honors is usually a no-no when partner is not a passed hand. But after RHO overalls 1 Heart, a Spade preempt will tempt some younger players exuding their fair share of flair. Incidentally, when preempting with length in opponents suit you're almost guaranteed partner will be short in opponents suit so expect a bump from pard. With ideal cards (two Aces and stiff Spade), West will upgrade the hand and bid 4 Hearts. And indeed, with 13 HCP and a Heart singleton North will easily bid 4 Spades with no wasted values (all primary honors). Some East/West players figured it was double time while others rightly pushed to 5 Hearts, enticing a phantom 5 Spade sacrifice, down 1 (always doubled). And so when the dust cleared, those in 4 Spades made game with a few earning an overtrick with North's Kings behind West's Aces and South's minor suit singleton cards in the closed declarer hand. Interestingly, playing double dummy N/S can make 10 tricks in Spades with E/W able to make 10 tricks in the three remaining suits.
On board 2, it turns out the "minors" (school youth) should avoid playing in the MINORS.
South probably admires this shapely holding before opening 1 Diamond (regardless of 6-5-2-0 shape, no strong 2C openers here please). Now its West's turn to preempt, either 2 Hearts with a six bagger or maybe 3 Hearts with favorable vulnerability and pard's passed hand. Regardless, North will overcall in Spades. But for those frisky West's who shoot in a 3 Heart call to North's 3 Spades, South has an real problem with no Spades and no Heart stopper. Those in 3 Notrump made an easy game, some with overtricks while those in 5 or 6 Diamonds suffered their plight. Mom said life wasn't always fair.
Okay, one more hand. This time its dealer North to shoot high in first seat, but how high is right?
Well, if we preempt 2 Hearts with six, 3 Hearts with seven, and 4 Hearts with an eight bagger, do we risk 5 Hearts with nine? And if so, do the college youth have a conventional agreement asking partner to respond at 6 with wither the trump Ace or King, and 7 with both? Probably not likely. For those who sanely start with 1 Heart (adverse vulnerability) will find opponents quickly bidding a Diamond game that easily makes book. If so, North will persist to 5 Hearts, not quite "walking the dog" (rebidding slowly) as expected. Either side can make 11 tricks in their red suit, so with Heart being boss the 5 Heart contract gets top points for those North's who pushed onward. Yet the college teammates didn't travel that far just to toss cards without putting some skin in the game. And so some E/W erroneously doubled 5 Hearts while others pressed on to 6 Diamonds, also doubled but it turned out to be a great sacrifice saving 10 IMPs or more. And so it goes, playing computer dealt random hands with seemingly wild distributions – probably shuffled far more often and thus more random than most of us humans could/would/should do.
The competition is part of the International University Sports Federation. What's that you say – Bridge is not a sport? Not true for the IUSF, whose motto is "Excellence in Mind and Body." It's terrific to see that on the international front to see our exciting game of Bridge highlighted as a premiere sporting event, acknowledging our game's contribution to excellence of the mind. Here's a listing of their 29 competitive categories.
Okay, let's head for the tournament results here. When it's all said and done, we see the winners were: Poland, France, and Israel edging out the "A Teams" of USA, Germany and China (who entered two teams).
Looking at Round 1, Board 13 provided revealed the defender's ability to find the correct lead.
Most teams played 3 Notrump in the East, down 1. Those doing their homework knew to lead the Diamond King, the top of a broken sequence. However, several leaders went wayward with a Spade lead that allowed West to go up with the Jack in dummy for a quick 9 tricks. That lead costs their team a painful 12 IMP swing. Yet its lessons like these that reinforce Bridge axioms like leading from the top of a sequence suit. Promoting a student to a graduate is great – ditto on a well-deserved suit promotion.
Arguably one of the most exciting hands on the first round was Board 12, a competitive slugfest for our youth not concerned with trivial matters like unfavorable vulnerability.
Both sides may have 20 High Card Points, yet in a trump suit it's all about length. And when both sides have a double fit, the sky can be the limit in bidding and tricks made. At the University level, only a few North-South partnerships might have a special bid (like opening an artificial 2 Notrump) to show 5-5 in the minor suits. With unfavorable vulnerability, most mortal youth will be contented to open 1 Diamond anticipating a Club rebid should opponents find a Spade fit. And Spade fit they do find – a whopping 6-5 fit that quickly propels East in a 4 Spade contract after West's 4 Spade shutout bid. At this point, most North-South pairs were shutout yet the fearless USA Team A, Taipei Team B and Poland rolled the dice bidding 5 Clubs. Twice 5 Clubs was doubled, making 6 for 950 points; Israel sensed the big fit persisting upward to 5 Spades, down one doubled for 200 to Poland, far better than the sting of losing 950 points.
Look for more rounds of analysis here at our BridgeBlog. See Part 2 here.
On our upcoming series of Newcomer-Novice newsletter articles, we will explore the exciting world of transportation – at least at the Bridge table. Being blocked, stranded, stymied, stuck, snookered, obstructed or whatever you choose to call it, the result can be a bewildering moment.
The same can be true for our poor declarer, wanting to play a card from the other hand, typically the dummy yet lacking an entry card to long lonely suit.
Come to think about it, leading from the top of a sequence serves the same purpose, promoting a long suit. Enter the world of Bridge transportation – having the ability to play up to a winner in your partner's hand. Of course, there's always more to an iceberg than meets the eye so expect some twists and turns for the defenders, too.
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If you can't beat them, join em! Back in the 1930s (or so I am told) during the great depression, our Bridge game was king. With few distractions from radio and no television or internet, Bridge was the most fun you could have this side of the price for a few decks of cards. Fast forward 80 years and the internet is "where it's at" for youth and young adults. Internet games are a hip as ever, but these days the latest buzz is "First Person Shooters" and "Massive Multi-user Online Games." So is there a place left for our old fashion Bridge card game?
Absolutely yes, if the good folks at Online University Championship have to say anything about it! Using Bridge Base Online, each country has representative teams to play against one another in the virtual world of the Internet. Playing on BBO, 16 teams teams from 4 continents duke it out for fame, their college, and country.
The first online University Teams Championships were held in 2008 / 2009, attended by 16 teams from 4 continents. Italy won the final against Norway.
Here's another interesting hand, fresh from the pros at the World Bridge Series open pairs event. Our defending champions, Fu Zhong and Jack Jie Zhao, demonstrated that China has skills far beyond their manufacturing skills. In pairs games, every extra trick can make a huge difference in the scoring. So when partnership's do not have an 8 card major fit, pairs regularly stretch to enjoy the trick score benefits of playing in a notrump contract. Accordingly, on this hand Jack, playing North's hand, thoughtfully rebid 1 Notrump rather than 2 Hearts with his 5=4=2=2 shape. Do you see why he chose this approach?
Take a second look at North's honors – with non-working honors that are spread in every suit, rebidding 1 Notrump seems reasonable (although on the downside the partnership might miss a 5-3 Spade fit). At this point it's easy sailing for Fu, ultimately winning 3 Clubs, 4 Diamonds 1 Spade and 1 Heart for 150 points. So while many other players holding the pair's 5=4=2=2 and 2=2=5=4 shape tended to rebid their shape, Fu and Jack scored high marks for analyzing their spread honors.
You can see this and another of their interesting hands here as well as a link to the bulletins of the entire 16 day session here.
So after two weeks of grueling Bridge play, the 2010 World Bridge Series Championship Finals are in with Bobby Levin and Steve Weinstein taking home the gold. And while Zia Mahmoon and Eric Rodwell didn't fare quite so well, leave it to Zia keep Bridge as exciting as ever.
At first it looked like Zia would bid like a mortal, opening 1 Diamond and actually passing South's double in passout seat. But after North responded 1 Heart and partner Eric bid 1 Spade with East's cards, things started getting interesting. South responded 3 Hearts and in Zia's true form he actually bid 4 Spades! No, that's not a misprint. Yes, we know, we know, Zia has a Spade void – but you forget, this *IS* Zia after all. Next went 5 Hearts by North so what do you think Zia bid next? Would you believe 5 Spades? Well, we didn't think so either but that's what the recorder shows. So now we're in utter disbelief, too! Of course, South just couldn't resist the urge to double 5 Spades – could you? Well after South's (Louk Verhees) double, Zia was able to complete his "rapier psyche" (thrust and retreat), rebidding 6 Diamonds – promptly doubled by South. And the lead was… drum roll please… the lead is the… low Club 6. Zia inserted the winning 10 from the dummy, pulled trump, playing three more rounds of Clubs and pitching Hearts in dummy to make 13 tricks for 1190 points (69 of 70 matchpoints). Who said Bridge is a boring game. And our sympathies to Ricco van Prooijen sitting North. Leading a Heart will keep the declarer from making an undeserved overtrick, ensuring a much sounder sleep. Just ask us – been there, own that tee shirt.
Problem – Most traditional Bridge instruction is based on static text and diagrams or well intended but incomplete dialog.
Solution – Our BridgeHands multimedia videos are designed to provide everyday and advancing Bridge players fun, easy to understand commentary that is enlightening, entertaining, as well as educational. Imagine how quickly you will learn Bridge when choosing your topic of interest among hundreds of hours of video footage. Yes, you can view high resolution HD videos immediately upon signing up. And of course you can use the video playhead to "Scrub" the videos forward and backward, providing you complete control to enhance your learning experience. Gone are the days missing an important point or having to wade through uninteresting explanations.
And best yet, during the play of the hand you will be watching an animated screen sequence with all 52 cards clearly visible! Our members find its both easier to learn, understand and retain new concepts when the student has the luxury to view EVERYONE'S cards, not just their own hand and wonder what happened after the dust clears.
Finally, for Bridge Teachers we have a special program including significant discounts for ABTA members. See our sign-up page for details.
Please contact us at support@bridgehands.com if you have any questions.
Our special October happy birthday congratulations goes out to Lucille "Bucky" Buckner from Lake Havasu City AZ. At 102, in the last two years Bucky picked up over 40 masterpoints! And while reaching Grand Life Master (10,000 MP) may still take her some time, who could think of a better way to enjoy the good life?


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Revolutionary nanotechnology illuminates brain cells at work
Contact Sakiko Okumoto at 650-325-1521 x 636, sokumoto@stanford.edu;
Wolf Frommer at 650-325-1521 x 208,wfrommer@stanford.edu; or
Chris Somerville 650-325-1521 x 203,crs@stanford.edu
Stanford, CA. – Until now it has been impossible to accurately measure the levels of important chemicals in living brain cells in real time and at the level of a single cell. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Plant Biology and Stanford University are the first to overcome this obstacle by successfully applying genetic nanotechnology using molecular sensors to view changes in brain chemical levels. The sensors alter their 3-dimensional form upon binding with the chemical, which is then visible via a process known as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, or FRET. In a new study, the nanosensors were introduced into nerve cells to measure the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate—the major brain chemical that increases nerve-cell activity in mammalian brains. It is involved in everything from learning and memory to mood and perception. Too much glutamate is believed to contribute to conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The research is published in the May 30-June 3 on-line early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The fluorescent imaging technique allows us to see living cells do their jobs live and in color," explained Sakiko Okumoto, lead author of the study at Carnegie. "Understanding when and how glutamate is produced, secreted, reabsorbed, and metabolized in individual brain cells, in real time, will help researchers better understand disease processes and construct new drugs."
"FRET is like two musical tuning forks, which have the same tone," Okumoto continued. "If you excite one, it gives a characteristic tone. If you bring the second fork close to the first one, it will also start to give you a tone even though they do not touch. This is resonance energy transfer."
FRET is used to track the form of proteins that specifically bind metabolites such as sugars and amino acids. A protein of interest is genetically fused with two differently colored tags made from variants of the jellyfish Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). The colored tags are placed at each end of the molecule making a "biosensor." When the substance of interest binds to the sensor, the sensor backbone becomes reoriented, and the reorientation can be detected. Since light is a vibration, the same response occurs with two fluorescent dyes that have overlapping, but slightly different colors–in this case cyan and yellow versions of GFP. The cyan is excited and, if the distance between the colored proteins changes, more or less energy is transferred to the yellow protein. In this study, the cyan and yellow proteins behave as if they move away from one another when the sensor recognizes glutamate. Thus, there is more cyan and less yellow light than in the absence of glutamate. The sensors are encoded by genes and genetic ZIP codes can be used to target the sensors to any location in the cell and to its surface.
"We used a protein called ybeJ from the common bacterium E. coli. We first predicted the structure of this protein, and then placed the two fluorophores at specific positions on the binding protein," commented co-author Loren Looger. "After fusion to the fluorescent proteins, we placed the sensor on the surface of rat hippocampal cells. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is involved with emotional reactions, and it helps store learned information in memory. When neurons are activated, they secrete glutamate, and we could see this activity under the microscope by watching the color change. We stimulated the neurons and watched them secrete glutamate in response. We also saw the removal of the glutamate as the neurons returned to normal ready to fire again."
"This is a tremendously exciting technology," remarked Wolf Frommer, leader of the FRET team at Carnegie. "I'm anxious to see what we can learn about the vast complexities of the brain over the coming years, such as the role of glial cells in the process of glutamate removal from the synaptic cleft. It's fascinating to see a tool that we are using in plant biology open new areas in neuroscience."
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the NIH Roadmap Initiative Metabolomics Technology Development, the Human Frontier Science Program, and the Department of Energy.
The Carnegie Institution of Washington (www.CarnegieInstitution.org) has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research since 1902. It is a private, nonprofit organization with six research departments throughout the U.S. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science. The Department of Plant Biology is located at 260 Panama St., Stanford, CA 94305.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Melody F. Denham, M.D.
Kristin R. Seger, PA-C
Problems Treated
Occipital Neuralgia
Sacroiliac Pain
Chronic Pain Syndrome
Operations Performed
Comprehensive Pain Evaluations
Diagnostic and Therapeutic Spinal Injections
Epidural Steroid Injections
Facet-Joint Injections
Stellate Ganglion Blocks
Sacroiliac-Joint Steroid Injections
Occipital and Peripheral Nerve Blocks
Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)
Spinal Drug Delivery Implants
303-413-0100 3445 Penrose Place, Ste 140
Home / Our Services / Problems Treated / Spinal Stenosis
Spinal stenosis is the narrowing in one or more areas of the spinal canal as a result of injury or deterioration of the discs, joints or bones of the spine. Most cases of spinal stenosis develop as a result of the degenerative changes that occur during aging. Osteoarthritis is the main cause of spinal stenosis, since this condition causes deterioration of cartilage in the area that leads to the bones rubbing against each other. As bones make repeated abnormal contact, bone spurs form, narrowing the spinal canal.
Other causes of spinal stenosis are traumatic injury, herniated disc, ligament thickening and, in rare cases, spinal tumors, any of which can damage the alignment of the vertebrae. A subtype of spinal stenosis is foraminal stenosis. This condition is caused by a narrowing of the foramen, the opening within each of the spinal bones that allows nerve roots to pass through.
Patients with spinal stenosis may experience a number of troubling symptoms. These may include:
Pain in the back, neck, shoulders or extremities
Loss of sensation in affected areas
Bladder or bowel dysfunction
The loss of bladder or bowel control is a rare, but particularly distressing symptom, for which surgery is most often necessary.
In order to diagnose spinal stenosis, a medical history and a physical examination are always necessary. The condition is often difficult to diagnose, not only because its symptoms may resemble the symptoms of other conditions, but because they may only occur intermittently. A diagnosis of spinal stenosis is usually achieved only after ruling out other disease conditions. Typically, imaging exams such as a spinal X-rays, MRI, CT or bone scans are administered to definitively diagnose the condition and to pinpoint the spinal region affected. An electromyography (EMG) may also be administered to measure electrical impulses in the affected skeletal muscles.
Most cases of spinal stenosis can be effectively treated through conservative methods such as physical therapy, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), rest and a supportive back brace or cervical collar. In some situations, corticosteroid injections may provide relief.
For more severe cases, surgical procedures such as a decompressive laminectomy, laminotomy or spinal fusion may be required to relieve pressure on the nerves. When the patient is diagnosed with foraminal stenosis, a surgical procedure known as a foraminotomy may be performed. This operation widens the area where the spinal nerve roots project from the spine.
Whiplash is a common neck condition that occurs as a result of a sudden backwards-forwards motion of the head, often associated with car accidents. This type of injury can stretch the muscles and ligaments as the neck moves out of its normal range of motion. Women are more likely to experience whiplash than men, presumably because men's necks are usually stronger.
In addition to resulting from vehicular accidents, most commonly rear-end collisions, whiplash can occur from injuries suffered during:
Roller coaster rides
Any activity in which the neck area is moved suddenly or violently may result in whiplash. Being punched or tackled puts an individual at risk for the injury, as does being shaken. One of the injuries suffered in shaken baby syndrome is whiplash.
Patients with whiplash usually develop some symptoms within 24 hours of the injury. It is not unusual, however, for other symptoms to appear, or for symptoms to worsen, weeks after the original injury. Physical injuries after whiplash may include:
Neck pain and stiffness
Headaches, especially at the base of skull
A wide range of cognitive or emotional symptoms may also result from whiplash. These include:
Concentration difficulties
Depression, anxiety, irritability
Because whiplash may occur with other serious injuries, such as disc or ligament injury, or concussion, it is important for patients to report severe or worsening symptoms to their physicians, particularly if their pain spreads to their shoulders or arms, if they experience weakness, numbness or tingling in their arms, or if moving the head becomes painful.
Most patients recover from whiplash injuries within 4 to 6 weeks through the help of conservative treatments, such as applying ice to the area and taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication. More severe cases of whiplash may require corticosteroid injections or the use of a cervical collar for several hours during the day to immobilize the neck. It is important to wear a cervical collar for limited periods of time and only under medical guidance.
Patients with whiplash should be carefully evaluated by their physicians before engaging in any physical therapy for the condition. While gentle massage, chiropractic care, electrical stimulation or ultrasound can provide significant relief, exercise, even mild exercise, may be contraindicated if the patient has also suffered a concussion.
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Leicester, The Cookie
68 High Street, Leicester, LE1 5YP
The Cookie is Leicester's premier independent venue playing host to the biggest names in Music & Comedy. Since opening it's basement venue two years ago it has played host to Royal Blood, George Ezra, Drenge, Michael Kiwanuka and many more. Due to the success of the venue, a new 350 capacity main room will be opened in November 2014.
Accessible toilet available.
Personal assistant ticket available.
Queue jump available for people that can't stand for long periods of time.


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Europan NL
Call for submissions to Amsterdam – Sluisbuurt
Competition News, Locations NewsBy Madir Shah 24/05/2017
Open call for Architects and Urban Planners up to 40 years. First prize €16.000 + Design assignment. All shortlisted designs will be exhibited and published.
Amsterdam asks teams to generate a vision of productivity in a new multi-functional neighbourhood. Designs should follow the Europan 14 theme: Productive Cities
Register your participation before June 19th!
HOW CAN SLUISBUURT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PRODUCTIVE CITY?
On this location, the task is to generate a vision of productivity for a new multi-functional district that is more than just a label. The challenge is to give spatial expression to contemporary patterns of productivity, living and working in our modern cities. Vertical mixed- use that can be applied at the scale of a block, the scale of a street and the scale of a neighbourhood. The city considers that productivity in Sluisbuurt could be diverse and 'unexpected'. The competition seeks design proposals that can accommodate flexibility, future trends and possible changes in use.
CITY STRATEGY
Over the last 20 years, intense housing production has taken place in Amsterdam-Oost as old districts and former dockland areas were upgraded and regenerated. The site for the competition is located on Zeeburgereiland and in the future it will link the centuries-old Indische Buurt with the new residential districts in IJburg and Amsterdam's eastern docklands. Today, Amsterdam is under pressure to expand because it is recognised as an attractive international city. It is trying to find its own way to navigate these market forces. Sluisbuurt has been conceived as a compact city extension and while tall buildings characterize the vision, at street level the neighbourhood should feel typically Amsterdam.
Click here for more information & registration.
Call for submissions to Amsterdam – Piarcoplein
Amsterdam asks teams to propose a transformation of a parking lot into a vibrant mixed use urban quarter. Design should follow the Europan 14 theme: Productive Cities
HOW CAN PIARCOPLEIN CONTRIBUTE TO THE PRODUCTIVE CITY?
Work-related functions characterise the area but the quality of buildings and in-between spaces are poor. After the economic crisis, the city successfully initiated a series of bottom-up regeneration strategies. Looking to the future, the site requires further transformation. The question is what to do and how to do it? For the municipality, this is an open question, but one in which the theme of productivity can be explored in the widest possible sense in search for, perhaps, radical solutions. The site is surrounded by productivity. How can this influence and help orchestrate a new vision for the area?
The long-term strategy is to transform Sloterdijk Centrum from a monofunctional business area into a vibrant, mixed-use urban quarter. Recently, redundant offices have been converted to hotels, student housing, short stay accommodation, retail and other amenities. These changes have been guided by some of the most flexible zoning policies in the Netherlands. Sloterdijk Centrum's location mid-way between Schiphol international airport and the city centre helps to ensure that it will continue to be a dynamic area. There is no clear final image in sight but the large amount of infrastructure will remain a given.
Call for submissions: Amsterdam H-buurt
Amsterdam asks teams to improve the productivity of this mono-functional neighbourhood and propose a socially inclusive development model. Designs should follow the Europan 14 theme: Productive Cities.
HOW CAN H-BUURT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PRODUCTIVE CITY?
On this location, traditional light manufacturing industries such as a car wash and bakery already exist. These can stay, but a more comprehensive exploration of productivity is asked for in the competition. These ideas are needed in order to create a meaningful social and economic place in the city, which despite a recent influx of new residents it remains characterized by relatively high unemployment and high poverty. There is a need to attract private investment and from the perspective of the city, this be can achieved by proposing good design that is innovative and financially feasible.
The site is located in Amsterdam Zuid-Oost, an area characterized by mono-functional residential neighbourhoods and office undergoing transformation. High-rise residential buildings have been demolished and replaced by new blocks with a more human scale. Before the financial crisis, the municipality subsidised socially inclusive projects. In the current development model, the city would like to partner with developers to find new ways to safeguard strategies that can protect and nurture inclusive urban development. There is a desire to change the mono-functional area into mixed live/work neighbourhood that can foster the low-income economy.
Call for submissions to Amsterdam – Transformatorweg
Amsterdam asks teams to reconsider the relationship between education and living near a industrial district. Designs should follow the Europan 14 theme: Productive Cities
HOW CAN TRANSFORMATORWEG CONTRIBUTE TO THE PRODUCTIVE CITY?
The municipality is seeking an inspiring architectural vision that can bring together the aspirations of the municipality, who intend to promote the creation of a new mixed-use neighbourhood, and the desires of the stakeholder, who intend to expand their building and in doing so, support increased multifunctional uses on the site. Design proposals for the public space should increase the attractiveness of the location, help foster synergies between education and entrepreneurship, and make visible the changes taking place in the area.
The site is located in Sloterdijk 1 development plan, an area in the eastern part of Amsterdam's Port-City where in the long term, 40,000 homes will be built by 2040. The municipality wants to transform and convert this area into a coherent mixed-use urban district. Initially, the municipality is focusing on the area between Transformatorweg and railway tracks which will, over time, become a mix of living, working, educational and commercial facilities. The municipality wants to develop the area together with the existing owners and users. The first steps in this collaboration pro- cess has just started. 4,500 new homes will be realised in Sloterdijk 1 by 2025.

Call for submissions to Amsterdam – Papaverdriehoek
Amsterdam asks teams to reconsider the relationship between work and living on the 0.15ha site. Designs should follow the Europan 14 theme: Productive Cities
HOW CAN PAPAVERDRIEHOEK CONTRIBUTE TO THE PRODUCTIVE CITY?
A mix of new and traditional manufacturing industries is emerging in the area, which is being transformed from an unsightly industrial district into a 'Living Lab' model showcase for the circular economy. The municipality is working with developers, private owners, housing associations, businesses, and utility companies work to create a neighbourhood where raw materials and energy are re-used as much as possible in the same area. Experimentation, research and innovation are actively encouraged and implemented. Activities in the area are very diverse: from new creative industries to a dance school and car repair shops.
The site is located in Amsterdam-Noord, which has a different scale and structure than what most outsiders associate with Amsterdam: it is more open, spacious, industrial and raw. The site offers many opportunities to act as a pivot or hinge point between neighbourhoods in the north and south, and as a gateway to the Buiksloterham. The study area is characterized by spacious commercial buildings that are rapidly turning into living and working areas (ratio 50:50) where the sturdy industrial character remains. The municipality would like to retain many of the existing businesses in the area after the transformation process has been completed.


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Nature Thought Of It First
Posted on October 20 by Cheryl Rofer
The latest is combining two components to make an enormously strong glue, as we do with epoxy. That's what mussels have been doing much longer.
Mussels live in a difficult environment – sea rocks between the tide lines. They are constantly battered by waves. They glue themselves to the rocks with a glue that they form by mixing iron and vanadium compounds.
Tobias Priemel, Gurveer Palia, Frank Förste, Franziska Jehle, Ioanna Mantouvalou, Paul Zaslansky, Luca Bertinetti, and Matthew Harrington, at McGill University, found that mechanism. The photo illustrates how it works. And vanadium is a very rare metal in biological processes.
Longer article here, and preprint here.
Image credit: T. Priemel A scanning electron micrograph (left) shows part of a microchannel within the glue-secreting organ of a mussel. The channel is lined with cilia (blue). Mussels release adhesive protein sacs (green) from their tissues (yellow) into the microchannels. The sacs rupture, forming a fluid mass (purple). The mussel also releases metal particles into the channel, where they help crosslink the proteins and cure the glue. A 3D reconstruction of SEMs (right) gives a view across an entire microchannel. Microchannels are 10–100 µm across.
Cross-posted to Lawyers, Guns & Money
Those Northern Radiation Observations
Posted on June 28, 2020 by Cheryl Rofer
Nations to the northwest of Russia reported slightly increased levels of radiation on several days in June. The levels were harmless to human health and the environment.
The isotopes observed include Cs-134, Cs-137, Ru-103, I-131, and isotopes of cobalt. The possible source region for the June 22 and 23 observations was calculated by the monitoring organization for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBTO), which has isotope monitoring stations around the world. The tweet doesn't say this, but that region was probably calculated by considering the winds during that period. (Lassina Zerbo is the director of the CTBTO.)
22 /23 June 2020, RN #IMS station SEP63 #Sweden🇸🇪 detected 3isotopes; Cs-134, Cs-137 & Ru-103 associated w/Nuclear fission @ higher[ ] than usual levels (but not harmful for human health). The possible source region in the 72h preceding detection is shown in orange on the map. pic.twitter.com/ZeGsJa21TN
— Lassina Zerbo (@SinaZerbo) June 26, 2020
Iodine-131 was observed at more northerly stations and on different days than the other isotopes. It has a half-life of 8 days and is a fission product, as are the other isotopes except for cobalt. Cobalt is an activation product of the steel containment vessel for a reactor. It seems likely that these observations come from a leaking nuclear reactor, but where?
Russia has reactors in the suspect area, but officials there have said that none of them have leaked.
Last week, a test of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile was thought to be planned for the Kapustin Yar test site, north of the Caspian Sea.
The Burevestnik flight tests are probably being conducted in Kapustin Yar right now. Two no-fly zones closed by NOTAM for the period from June 22-27 everyday 8:00-23:00, this zones marked at red, blue is a permanent no fly zone over the KapYar. pic.twitter.com/mbgE6B2OWu
— Evgeniy Maksimov (@PararamTadam) June 24, 2020
Nothing more than a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was announced by the Russian government, so it's not clear why this exclusion would have been for Burevestnik in particular. Up until now, Burevestnik tests have been further north. The deadly test of last year was within the area calculated by the CTBTO.
There's not enough information to conclude anything more than that these emissions were from a reactor. Russia is party to conventions requiring it to provide information on accidents involving the release of radiation. The other nations within the possible source area have been conscientious about their adherence to those conventions. Russia hasn't.
Links – April 16, 2018
Posted on April 16, 2018 by Cheryl Rofer
I'm quoted in articles in The Verge and the Daily Beast (also Bellingcat) on chemical weapons in Syria. Rachel Becker discusses the long-term effects of chemical weapons. Adam Rawnsley debunks Russian disinformation.
Factbox: Chemical weapons inspectors – how do they work? Read More
Links – February 20, 2018
North Korea is upping its cyber attacks. Washington Post. Guardian. Photo from Washington Post.
The indictment of 13 Russian citizens and three Russian organizations. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's statement about the indictment. Rosenstein's letter appointing Robert Mueller Special Counsel.
The world after Trump: How the system can endure. We need to be thinking of how we will mend our institutions after the damage Trump and his people are doing. This is not all bad. Our systems are resilient, and there will be opportunities to improve on what we had before. The United States and Europe. Read More
Ruthenium-106 Over Europe
Posted on November 21, 2017 by Cheryl Rofer
In September, a cloud of ruthenium-106 spread over Europe. Ruthenium-106 is used in nuclear medicine, and it is extracted from used nuclear reactor fuel. The amounts were tiny – one of the things about radioactive materials is that they can be detected at very, very low concentrations.
There are many atmospheric sampling stations around Europe, and their readings were mapped. The top graphic is the result. The center of the cloud was between the Ural Mountains and the Volga River. The amounts over Europe were not dangerous to health, but the amounts closer to the source might have been. Ruthenium was no longer detected in France after October 13. Read More
Links – October 3, 2017
Posted on October 3, 2017 by Cheryl Rofer
I know that some of this may be repetitious. but it has to be said again and again, because the opponents of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, Iran deal) continue to misrepresent it. About those "sunset clauses." At least one opponent of the Iran deal has said he wants regime change. Read More
A Different Time
Posted on May 25, 2017 by Cheryl Rofer
After the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the directors of the nuclear weapons laboratories on both sides quickly got together to work on securing nuclear weapons and the materials they are made from. They were supported by their governments. NATO helped. The cooperation was a marvelous thing to see and to experience. I had a small part in dealing with leftover Soviet nuclear problems.
In 1998, I traveled to Estonia to help deal with a former Soviet uranium-processing plant. I've written up my experience. Siegfried Hecker, the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a primary mover in the lab-to-lab cooperation, has collected the experiences of many participants in a two-volume set, Doomed to Cooperate. He has also set up a website for more information, which is where my story appears.
Check it out. The top photos are mine, of one part of the site in 1998 and in 2011.
Cross-posted to Balloon Juice.
Tunnel Collapse at Hanford
Posted on May 9, 2017 by Cheryl Rofer
A tunnel collapsed in the 200 Area of Washington State's Hanford Reservation. The 200 Area is where fuel elements from Hanford's reactors were processed to recover the plutonium that went into American nuclear weapons. I was not aware of an underground rail system there. The system is probably in the 200 area only because the reactors are much too far away to make an underground system possible. Read More
How I Learned To Love Climate Modeling
I'm annoyed by the New York Times hire of Bret Stephens, more annoyed by the defense that Times editors are mounting on Twitter. I'm annoyed that this has to be said again, but here we are, as Times editors tell us that any criticism is merely trying to silence a conservative voice. My objections have nothing to do with Stephens's political views, except that it is clear that those views drive his views of climate change.
I was once a climate skeptic, with a great deal more basis than Stephens's sense that life is uncertain and therefore we should eat dessert first. My skepticism arose BECAUSE I knew something about the climate models. Read More
Iodine-131 Over Europe: Probably Medical
In early January, slightly elevated levels of iodine-131 were observed over northern and western Europe. The levels were measured during a temperature inversion, along with elevated levels of naturally occurring radioisotopes.
This, along with the deployment of an American WC-135 aircraft to the Mildenhall Royal Air Force Base in the UK, has led to speculation that the Russians have carried out a nuclear test. This is highly unlikely for several reasons. Read More


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Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (1958)
Director: Frank Wisbar
Actors: Joachim Hansen,	Wilhelm Borchert
Genre: Action Movies
Subgenre: War Movies
Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever (German: Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben) is an 1959 West-German film, directed by Frank Wisbar and based on the eponymous novel by Fritz Woss. The movie revolves around the Battle of Stalingrad. The title is vaguely drawn from Friedrich the Great's words when he saw his soldiers fleeing at Kolin: "You cursed rascals, do you want to live forever?"
More Like Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever?
Glory (1989)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Patton (1970)
G.I. Jane (1997)
They Were Expendable (1945)
Windtalkers (2002)
Men in War (1957)
Thunder in the East (1952)
Crimson Romance (1934)
The Fighting Kentuckian (1949)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Home of the Brave (1949)
The Great Escape (1963)
Too Late the Hero (1970)
The Way Ahead (1944)
Shout at the Devil (1976)
Decision Before Dawn (1951)
The Battle of the River Plate (1956)
Battle for Haditha (2007)
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Hell's Angels (1930)
The Next of Kin (1942)
Stalag 17 (1953)
March or Die (1977)
Saints and Soldiers (2005)
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Sergeant York (1941)
We Dive at Dawn (1943)
China Gate (1957)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)
The Eagle and the Hawk (1933)
Crash Dive (1943)
The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
Platoon (1986)
Sink the Bismarck (1960)
Escape to Athena (1979)
Tomorrow We Live (1943)
The Enemy Below (1957)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
The Horse Soldiers (1960)
Live from Baghdad (2002)
Aces High (1976)
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)
Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)
Go Tell the Spartans (1978)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The Fighting Seabees (1944)
Valkyrie (2008)
Escape from Sobibor (1987)
Carter's Army (1970)
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
Hell in the Pacific (1968)
Attack! (1956)
Casualties of War (1989)
Go for Broke! (1951)
Breaker Morant (1980)
To the Shores of Tripoli (1942)
Tunes of Glory (1960)
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Invasion U.S.A. (1952)
The Green Berets (1968)
The North Star (1943)
Ten Seconds to Hell (1959)
Gung Ho! (1943)
The Spy in Black (1939)
Fear and Desire (1953)
In Which We Serve (1942)
The Purple Plain (1954)
Beachhead (1954)
Contraband (1940)
The Moon Is Down (1943)
The Big Red One (1980)
49th Parallel (1941)
Confirm or Deny (1941)
A Midnight Clear (1992)


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Trains of Thought
We should not consider ourselves, in the true sense of the word, to be collectors. Yes, of course, we can lay claim to a stamp collection dating from childhood, a coin collection inherited inadvertently from a parent, as well as a stack - call them a collection if you will - of 'World of Interiors' which, put simply, have been bought over many years and never discarded. But when it comes to Fabergé eggs, Meissen, Aubusson, Georgian silver and Queen Anne country houses, these have all, thus far, failed to materialise in any number.
looking upwards to the roof at Art Market Budapest on the evening of the VIP Private View
It was, therefore, with no particular thought in mind that we accepted an invitation to the VIP launch of 'Art Market 2012 Budapest' at the end of last week. Directed by a friend, Attila Ledényi, this exhibition seeks to promote in his words 'Emerging Stars of the Future' as represented by galleries from around the world.
representing the Várfok Gallery, Kristina Kovács stands beside the work of Ádám Hollós
And so it was that within this glittering firmament of talent our eyes alighted on one particular spot brightly shining outwards from the stand of our favourite Budapest gallery, 'Várfok'.
Ádám Hollós' 'Hermeneutika' has a directness, a force, even for us a brutality, which demands notice. Here in the drabness of the railway carriage, so representative of Eastern Europe and in particular of Hungary, a faltering democracy, a child draws in the wet and grime of the window. He is somehow unlikeable: a set, impassive face, a look of concentration, of introspection, does not endear him to us. Seated within the train, he draws a train. In time, perhaps, he will add to the graffiti on the carriage wall. Later, maybe, he will become the artist who paints the picture of a child in a carriage and, in so doing, will reinforce, again, the perpetual cycle of life.
'Hermeneutika' by Ádám Hollós - click to enlarge image if required
A close examination of the painting reveals powerful brush strokes whereby the paint runs downwards in streams of colour. In places, such as the boy's satchel, carelessly placed on the seat, there is a tactile quality whilst throughout the whole each layer, for this work is assuredly layered, the abstract comes into play. And then there remain the series of horizontal lines, each one signifying a plane at which what is seen recedes further, even into an unknown.
packed and ready for transport on the Várfok Gallery stand, Kristina telephones for a taxi
And should this interpretation be incorrect, then we care not at all. For on Thursday evening we had spotted a star, emptied the piggy bank, hailed a taxi and brought home the start of a new collection.
Forget the Fabergé, we say!
Please note [16th. November, 2012]: We shall, for a week or so, be without internet connection. However, we will much look forward to catching up with all our friends and Followers in the near future.
Posted by Jane and Lance Hattatt at 05:37 254 comments
More Games People Play
Had one had the opportunity to enquire of Mr. Khrushchev or, later, Mr. Brezhnev, as to whether or not there were significant differences between East and West in the years, now long gone, before the collapse of the 'Iron Curtain', then one would have been foolish to anticipate any other answer than that the Soviet Union and its satellites, The Peace States, of which Hungary was but one, were superior in every way.
a colourful and entertaining game for the entire family - suitable for all ages
And could this superiority be better demonstrated than to take the example of a game happily played by contented comrades the length and breadth of The People's Republic of Hungary?
everything for an evening's enjoyable entertainment is to be found here
But let us digress for one moment, and place this within a context. 'Monopoly', the board game, is today known worldwide. In it participants, capitalists to a man and a woman, acquire property and money usually in direct competition with and at the expense of their fellow beings.
'Gazdálkodj Okosan!', the Hungarian version of the 1960s, differs only slightly in that there is no accumulation of wealth, no building of a personal fortune, but rather the unparalleled joy of furnishing one's State apartment with kitchen cupboards, the latest in the way of a vacuum cleaner [no 'Hoover' here] and sewing machine, and the crowning glory of a sitting room complete with a black and white television. Happy, happy families indeed!
all the pieces complete from the 1960s including the rules to be followed
Where 'Monopoly' relies on 'Chance' and 'Community Chest' cards, so the Hungarian game seeks to promote the better qualities of socialism where the players are not exhorted to 'Pay School Fees' but to 'Read books! Reading is a pleasant, useful and cheap entertainment'. Doubtless the government of the day could suggest which books!
a 'Community Chest' card which extols the benefits and pleasures of reading
We are reminded of all this when, a few evenings ago, friends Viktor and Zoli unearthed from the basement a splendid edition of the game in near perfect condition. And as we pushed our miniature workers around the board, we could not help but reflect on the changes of a lifetime.
P.S. We are grateful to Szabó Viktor for taking the photographs on our behalf, all of which may be enlarged at a click.


Last year, real estate and rental marketplace Zillow made a record $846.6 million in revenue, but also reported a net loss of $220.4 million, including a $130 million litigation settlement, according to its last-quarter and full-year 2016 reports.
For the fourth quarter of 2016, Zillow made $227.6 million – a year-over-year increase of 34%, and for the full year 2016 made $846.6 million, a year-over-year increase of 31%.
With big revenue records also came a big blow to Zillow, in the form of a June litigation settlement with competitor Realtor.com, which accused the company of stealing trade secrets. That settlement cost Zillow $130 million and contributed to an overall net loss of $220.4 million – a huge deficit compared with its $148.9 million loss in 2015.
The report indicated that the fourth quarter saw more than 140 million monthly unique visitors for Zillow Group's various brands – Zillow, Trulia, StreetEasy, HotPads and Naked Apartments. Its mobile apps and websites had a peak record of more than 171 million unique visitors in May.
"In 2017, we are committed to further extending our audience leadership in the online real estate category," CEO Spencer Rascoff said. "We expect to pass the $1 billion annual revenue mark in 2017, and we will press our advantage with continued investment across all Zillow Group's brands and emerging marketplaces."


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Griffin strives to meet – and at every opportunity exceed – client expectations through outstanding customer service and commitment to exceptional standards of craftsmanship. Griffin partners with many jewellery experts to provide superior quality and a variety of styles for every discerning buyer.
We offer one of the largest selections of Canadian diamond jewellery designed with you in mind. Come in and browse our wide selection of dazzling jewellery for every occasion and within every budget.


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There was definitly a certain irony about reading that blog post yesterday, and my interest to bring it here. When I think of these non-geology types that dress this way I am forced to think of places like Boulder and Bozeman, for example.
Another important thing (if not the most important thing) to look for when choosing fabric for your clothing projects is the weight . Fabric weight means how thick/heavy a fabric is, and the weight you choose depends on what you are making and the feel you want for your garment. It's a personal choice, but it also has to be practical. The different weights can be referred to as top-weight, bottom-weight, very light, light, medium and heavy.
We live in a richer world. But the gap between rich and poor is still very wide in individual countries. How to change this? Listen to Rob and Harry's discussion, and learn some related vocabulary.
This is definitely an American thing. You can always spot the americans because of the North Face jackets and the outdoor wear!
You will be invoiced in Ringgit, the final BND price will depend on the exchange rate applied by your credit card/bank
School leaders say some of the children are going to class with their shoes duct-taped together or wearing clothes which no longer fit them.
A lawyer representing Thrift Land USA of Yonkers, and its owner Carl Vella, refused to comment to CNNMoney.
A big advantage of making your own clothes is that you can choose from some amazing (and novelty) fabrics - including ones which you can use to pay homage to your favourite movie/tv program/actor etc - in fact you'll find kid's duvet covers are a great source of weird and wonderful fabrics!
Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer . Morningstar: © 2015 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2015. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2015 and/or its affiliates.
In a StoryCorps animation, Patrick Haggerty remembers the remarkable advice he got from his dairy farmer dad.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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KiKu Home ::Articles :: Reviews :: Videos ::New Films :: KinoNovosti :: Books&Biblio :: Guidelines :: Forum
Issue 25 (2009)
Aleksei Balabanov: Morphia (Morfii, 2008)
reviewed by Masha Salazkina © 2009
To say that Aleksei Balabanov's new film is bleak and demanding will not come as a surprise to most audiences familiar with the director's work. The new film is as graphic in its depiction of violence performed on human bodies as its preceding Cargo 200 (Gruz 200, 2007), as ideologically controversial in its use of ethnic slurs as Brother (Brat, 1997), and as visually stylized as Of Freaks and Men (Pro urodov i liudei, 1999)—the film to which Morphia is closest in terms of its historical context. It is also more subtle than either one of those films (at least in the first two thirds of it), visually more accomplished in its stunning color palette, painterly lighting design, and expert sound mixing. Yet it may also be Balabanov's most pessimistic—and ideologically conservative, in the technical sense of this term—movie to date.
Morphia is based on Mikhail Bulgakov's semi-autobiographical early stories and the script was written by late Sergei Bodrov Jr. The film has been discussed in terms of the triple "B" star power (Bulgakov, Bodrov, and Balabanov). As one may expect from auteur cinema, the latter wins—thus your appreciation (or tolerance) of this film will inevitably depend on where you stand vis-à-vis Balabanov's diverse and yet remarkably consistent aesthetic and ideology.
The first opening sequences set the tone. The film begins with the arrival of a train at a lonely God-forsaken Russian provincial outpost in the midst of snow, birch and pine trees. The young doctor Poliakov (Bichevin), wearing unmistakable "intelligentsia" round glasses, is picked up by a bearded peasant on a horse carriage. But while the picture is familiar to the point of cliché, the soundscape is immediately impressed upon the spectator with force: mixed ambient sound and an Aleksandr Vertinskii song overwhelm the dialogue and create a clear subtext—the Black Pierrot (as Vertinskii was known), who was a sign of decadence and cosmopolitan chic that is out of synch with the Russian provincial countryside, while contributing to the overall sense of nostalgia and melancholy that is so prominent in Vertinskii's own treatment of "Mother Russia."A title card stylized in the manner of pre-Revolutionary films with art nouveau font and "old" spelling announces the year "1917."
The young doctor's attitude towards the Revolution is indicated right away—with his demand to be referred to not as barin (landowner) but as grazhdanin (citizen). Picturesque nostalgia and melancholy are mixed with the sense of impending gloom, and inevitable downfall, with the bell (or clock) striking as the film title appears.
The doctor's introduction to the small cast of nurses who will join him in the noble—and, as the film will make clear, utterly futile—goal of helping the villagers, and the tour of the hospital sets the tone for much of the visual style of the film. The interior shots consist of darkened interiors with expert light design, intended to emulate gas and candle light, creating a "painterly" atmosphere. While the color scheme is muted, the light creates sharp contrasts enhanced by the alternation of darkened interiors with snow-covered planes the equally drab and indistinguishable whiteness of the winter. This initial "tour" allows for what will serve as a display of delicately fetishized "authentic" objects, akin to a tour of a museum with objects placed for our marveling; authenticity in the service not of the aesthetics of realism, but a higher level of stylization.
Music is re-introduced diegetically with the hero's attention brought to the gramophone with a collection of Russian music favored by the doctor's German predecessor, and again Vertinskii comes in—this time with his most recognizable cabaret selection. This gramophone and its musical selection will remain at the center of the doctor's existence, another instrument of re-animation, linked to the framed photograph of doctor's object of desire, a singer from Moscow, which he places next to it. The gramophone's function in the film is uncannily similar to Fanon's description of the Radio Algeria that "is one of the means of escaping the inert, passive, and sterilizing pressure of the 'native' environment. It is, according to the settler's expression, 'the only way to still feel like a civilized man.' It also gives him the feeling that colonial society is a living and palpitating reality, with its festivities, its traditions eager to establish themselves, its progress, its taking root." (Fanon 1965: 71). The Russian "intelligent" is in exile while "civilizing" the natives—but it is even more telling that Poliakov listens in fact not to a radio (which would transmit "living" simultaneous broadcasts) but rather a gramophone, an endless re-play of the dream of the metropolis.
For the rest of the film the gramophone music (mostly Vertinskii, with occasional songs by Varia Panina, another popular "city romance" singer of the time) acting as an aural equivalent of the play of lights in the otherwise dark and gloomy wasteland (the "Egyptian darkness" in Bulgakov's words) of the Russian countryside. The choice of Vertinskii over Verdi's Aida (in Bulgakov's original) to accompany the scenes of Poliakov's affair with morphine is characteristic of Balabanov's perchant for "popular music" (popsovye pes'ni toi epokhi, as he refers to the choice of the soundtrack in an interview on the official movie website). They provide not only "historical authenticity," but in many ways structure the film. Despite being historically anachronistic (most of Vertinskii's songs used in the film were written in the 1930s), both the choice and the mixed diegetic and non-diegetic use of music is most telling. The frenzied and yet repetitive waltz (the piano introduction from another of Vertinskii's songs, this time performed in contemporary—and intentionally amateurish, at once vulgarly sentimentalized and yet automatized—rendition) which serves as a leitmotif throughout the film, sometimes diegetically inserted, but more often as a generic soundtrack, clearly refers to the "there and now" of the narrative, its repetitive structures at once violent and dispassionate, naïve and ironic, and eventually simply nauseatingly mechanical and devoid of affect. The gramophone music, on the other hand, indicates another realm of the diegetic universe of Morphia—that of utopian escapism via morphine, sex, revolution, or entertainment.
With the very first vignette, "The First Injection," we are introduced to what will be another stylistic staple of the film: the casual, graphic treatment of bodies in pain, suffering in death, so direct that at times it provides a horrifyingly comic effect. The first death (which precedes and causes the first injection) is treated in medium shot, with the camera first moving languidly and then finally fixed unflinchingly on the scene with a dispassionate view enhanced by slow editing which merely allows a methodical change of the angle on the body (and the medical procedures) on display; this stands in slight dissonance with the drama unfolding on the screen, the screams, the doctor's and nurses' futile attempts to resuscitate the body. This almost medical distance of the camera parallels with that of the characters in the next sequence, where their casual conversation is framed off-center with the body occupying an equal framing in the background, for what feels like an interminably long time.
This cinematic method is applied to all the medical procedures in the film, and the casual and unflinching attitude is even shared by some of the patients, although, of course, not "the simple folk," whose only escape from suffering and pain, with rare exceptions, lies in death or by simply exiting the frame. In sharp contrast stands a woman smoking a cigarette with an exquisite cigarette holder during a gynecological examination. Such casualness quickly becomes sexually connoted, so it comes as no surprise that the next scene starts in bed. Sex scenes are shot with the same level of clinical detachment. Not surprisingly, the screened "attractions" (in Eisensteinian sense of the term) of the film—as commented on with varied degrees of awe and outrage by the reviewers and bloggers—include a birth scene, an amputation, a tracheotomy, a toilet scene, and a fellatio. The line between pleasure and pain, between patients and doctors, between living bodies and the dead ones is constantly blurred or simply rendered irrelevant, and subjectivities remain equally elusive. There is hardly any attempt at audience interpellation through character psychology, and affective audience response is exhausted half-way through the movie, which thoroughly invites the audience to disassociate its involuntary bodily responses to a never-ending visual stream of graphic bodily imagery (not surprisingly, Life.ru reported a 43-year-old man fainting during one of the films screenings).
For a film whose narrative documents change—the fall of the young, talented doctor with his naïve belief in the power of rational thought—its temporal structure is equally alienating. The passage of time is very difficult to discern, with inter titles such as "1917" or "Winter" providing only the broadest possible framework. Temporal bridges between vignettes remaining either intentionally vague or misleading (for example, "Winter" as an intertitle would traditionally suggest an implied temporal ellipsis— while through the dialogue it becomes clear that the events on the screen take place the following morning). Thus rather than indicating individual "vignettes," or discrete episodes, the intertitles break down individual episodes and provide very little sense of structure. Editing within each episode likewise offers only a weak sense of temporal continuity (giving no indication of how much time passed in between each shot), adding up to the general impression of the tedium and timelessness of life in the Russian provinces. Occasional references to the Revolution in the first two parts of the film give very little sense of its exact chronology, making it hard to measure historical time in relation to the characters' life. When the brutality of the Revolution finally enters the diegesis, it can only be measured against Doctor Poliakov's own loss of humanity.
Ultimately, the story of the doctor's decline, physical and moral, comes as no surprise in the diegetic universe populated by bodies in various state of decay, automatons and disembodied voices from gramophones, and equally repugnant representatives of all social classes constituting a veritable pantheon of Russian cultural stereotypes: ignorant and superstitious peasants, violent and stupid gentry; corrupt, arrogant and vulgar aristocracy, over-sexed and/or saintly self-sacrificing women, conniving Jewish revolutionaries. It may be true that Balabanov's philosophical vision extends beyond political allegories, being more akin to Kafka's. Nevertheless, however "subtle" the political context of the film may have been understood to be (especially by foreign reviewers), the revolutionary "decay" of the national body caused by utopian escapism and weakness of the Russian intelligentsia has not only been the overarching metaphor of much of Balabanov's work (with Of Freaks and Men providing the most obvious example) but is perfectly in line with the ideology of CTB, which Balabanov created with Sergei Sel'ianov. Sel'ianov brought his version of the history of Russian cinema to the screen in his film The Russian Idea (Russkaia ideiia, co-directed with Oleg Kovalov, 1996). His understanding of the role that cinema played in creating a mass utopia which destroyed the nation (that is to say, from Alexander the II to Stalinist peasants to the revolutionary avant-garde) by either acting as an instrument of escapism or, more dangerously, as an instrument of messianism of progressive ideology, can serve as a key to the ending of the film, which brings together its main motifs: the "darkness" (in the sense of ignorance) of the unwashed masses, the weakness of educated man, the imminence of death and destruction, and of cinema's complicity with all of it. After all, as Balabanov said in an interview, the film "is a story of Russian man."
Maria Salazkina
Colgate U
Comment on this review via the LJ Forum
Fanon, Frantz, "This is the Voice of Algeria," in A Dying Colonialism, New York: Grove Press, 1965.
Morphia, Russia, 2008
Color, 112 minutes
Director: Aleksei Balabanov
Scriptwriter: Sergei Bodrov jr.
Cinematography: Aleksandr Simonov
Art Director: Pavel Parkhomenko, Anastasiia Karimulina
Sound: Mikhail Nikolaev
Editing: Tat'iana Kuzmicheva
Cast: Leonid Bichevin, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Andrei Panin, Svetlana Pis'michenko, Katarina Radivoevich, Iurii Gertsman, Aleksandr Mosin, Irina Rakshina, Sergei Garmash, Iulia Dainegta, Aleksei Poluian
Producer: Sergei Sel'ianov
Production: CTB Film Company
Updated: 12 Jul 09


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Todd Phillips in Joker sequel discussions?
Todd Phillips is said to have been in discussions about a sequel to 'Joker'.
The 48-year-old filmmaker is reported to have met with Warner Bros. film chief Toby Emmerich to chat about the potential to make another motion picture following the success of the recent comic book movie, which saw Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role.
Insiders told Variety that the talks were preliminary and a deal has not been agreed.
What's more, a script is not yet being written and a storyline hasn't been decided on.
And The Hollywood Reporter also claimed Phillips met with Emmerich and he proposed developing several DC characters' origin stories for the big screen.
However, sources have told Deadline that Phillips and Emmerich didn't meet to discuss a potential follow-up film, and that the director doesn't want to oversee other character movies.
What is known for sure is that the 'Joker' movie has grossed more than $1 billion at the global box office.
Phoenix recently walked out of an interview in September when asked by a journalist about whether the film would "inspire" violence.
The 45-year-old star said: "It was an awkward position to be in because I thought, 'Well, I can't address this because this is the thing that is potentially - that's precisely what you shouldn't do.'
"So it suddenly seemed like I was being evasive and trying to avoid this topic because it made me uncomfortable. But I was really thinking, 'This is the very thing that would excite this kind of personality."
Phillips, 48, believes the film has been "vindicated" by its reception, despite the questions over its violent nature.
He said: "It's not the box office but the reception that's been vindicating. It's the fact that I get emails from people telling me that the movie made them look at their sister who suffers from schizophrenia in a different light.
"Ultimately, the film is about the power of kindness and the lack of empathy in the world, and the audience seems to have picked up on that. It's amazing that a movie that was supposed to inspire, as they put it, mass mayhem really has just inspired a bunch of people dancing down staircases. I think that speaks more to our times than anything."


text:
AW0096-06L
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With a 40mm, stainless-steel rose-gold tone case and brown leather strap, Citizen's Corso men's watch is a paragon of timeless elegance. This vintage-inspired timepiece has a navy dial, rose-gold accents and uses Eco-Drive technology, so it is powered by light — any light. It also tracks the date, making it a functional, stylish addition to any wardrobe
The Citizen Watch Company of Japan was founded in 1930 and since then, its record of achievement is distinguished by many firsts, such as the world's first analog watch, accurate to within 3 seconds per year, and the world's thinnest movement. In 1986 Citizen assumed the No 1 position in world watch production and has remained there ever since. Today Citizen is successful in many areas of 'non-watch' business – information equipment, electronic equipment, industrial machinery and equipment, jewelry and spectacles – and its Research and Development facilities are second-to-none, resulting in the development of technology that leads quickly to new products.


text:
Bloomberg Media's Adam Freeman on finding inspiration
Christian Koch
Adam Freeman, managing director for EMEA of Bloomberg Media, has been at the forefront of digital comms for over 15 years. Here he talks all-night celebrations, Ed Sheeran's genius and why teaching rugby keeps him sane
I'm a big believer in having open workspaces. I need to be around people for inspiration, not stuck in an office. London's Bloomberg offices are full of breakout areas and tropical fish tanks. We also have the TV studio in the middle of the floor. There's nothing like watching our TV shows go out live to remind us what we're all doing there.
Journalists are inspiring people to work alongside. I spent 13 years working at the Guardian, alongside some amazing journalists. One thing they all shared is a burning desire to question what is put in front of them. The ex-digital director of Guardian News and Media, Emily Bell, was years ahead of everyone else on the power the internet gave audiences.
Believe the Mad Men hype… advertising executives really know how to celebrate. One of my best team nights out was when the Guardian ad sales team won the Media Week Sales Team of the Year award. It was a long, adventure-fuelled night that ended with breakfast at Smithfield [famous London meat market] before heading straight back into the office.
We can all learn from Ed Sheeran. His down-to-earth personality and ability to perform such a wide variety of music is a lesson to us all.
I've been a youth rugby coach for 12 years. I currently manage Teddington's under-16 team as my middle son plays for them. It's a great decompression.
If you have a sparkling idea, don't let failure stop you. The brightest I ever had led to me founding my last start-up – AdPlus. Sadly the business didn't succeed. But I still believe that the advertising industry needs to respect people more than it currently does or it risks having its ads ignored and blocked.
I admire brands that inspire responsible business growth. One such company is Freeformers, which teaches businesspeople how to code. It has a one-for-one model so that for every businessperson trained, a disadvantaged 16- to 25-year-old is trained for free.
I have a tendency to doodle during meetings – lots of odd-shaped stars, for some reason.
Eating healthily while working is the key to staving off sluggishness. I mostly eat sushi for lunch, plus have recently discovered the NutriBullet blender (or 'nutrition extractor'), which makes fruit and veg smoothies.
Slogging it out at a fitness boot camp might seem a bizarre relaxation method, but exercise has always been my best way of escaping. I recently discovered Barry's Bootcamp [Hollywood-endorsed hour-long workouts]. It's a great way to stay fit. I've built it into my work routines.
I'm inspired by new websites. Current favourites include carwow.co.uk, which automates much of the car-buying process and MoneySavingExpert's resolver.co.uk, which makes complaining about bad service much easier.
My wife Andrea is my hero. We both met when 17 years old and her passion for life, plus willingness to put others first, makes her my hero.
@adamfreeman
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Alongside his work for Director, Christian has written features for the Evening Standard, The Guardian, Sunday Times Style, The Independent, Q, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, ShortList and Glamour in an eclectic career which has seen him interview everybody from Mariah Carey to Michael Douglas through to Richard Branson with newspaper assignments including reporting on the Japanese tsunami and living with an Italian cult.
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[09:59] - Flight CVA2025 is ready to depart CYQI with a final destination of CYHZ.
[10:54] - Landed at -274fpm. With 863lbs of fuel onboard and a pitch angle of 0deg.
[10:59] - Arrived safely at CYHZ. We hope you enjoyed your flight!


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A little over 14 weeks now and I can't zip up my jeans anymore. My bump's growing and becoming more evident. It's an awesome thing to watch my tummy grow, but wardrobe-wise, it's becoming quite a challenge. And I hate shopping for new clothes.
You can fold the the band below your belly button, but I like stretching mine over my whole bump because I find it more comfortable. And look, it goes smoothly over those unbuttoned jeans!
I just pull my top over the belly band and ta-da! See how smooth the top is? No unsightly unzipped and unbuttoned jeans. They can help hold your pants up too. I can breathe easy. Best of all, I can still wear my pre-pregnancy jeans.
The belly band is a great way to maximize shorts and pants that I currently have. That saves me a trip to the mall and major wardrobe money! It's also great for the phase I'm in now, when maternity clothes are still big for me, but I'm getting too tight for my current wardrobe.
There are different brands of belly bands in the market. I bought mine from the maternity store Havin' A Baby. One piece costs around P500. It's very much worth the price! It's so much cheaper than having to buy maternity pants for now. Belly bands come in different colors.
Mommy Toni… you're sooo cute!
awww baby bump is adorable… that is one nifty accessory.
Another use: it's super-useful for breastfeeding. You can breastfeed in a regular shirt and when you lift your shirt up, your tummy isn't exposed to the world.
rowies last blog post..Breastfeeding wear and pillows.
I wish I found those when I was still pregnant!
Hugs to my fellow preggy mom too!
It's my favorite maternity accessory! Oh wait, it's the only maternity accessory I have. Haha!
Hey that's an interesting piece of clothing.
You can wear one naman eh even if not preggy! 😉 Buy sa Amazon!
Shai Cogginss last blog post..Web Wednesday #18: The Return!
havin' a baby also has bra extenders. it saved me from buying bigger bras when i was pregnant. you hook the extenders to your bra hooks at the back so they get longer.
Thanks! I saw them also, will buy when I need na. But honestly I think I need new bras because the cups are beginning to get tight.
I used one similar to that called Bella Band and you're right. It's so worth it. I didn't start buying maternity clothes officially until I was in my 20th week or so.
There are Bella Bands here too! They're too pricey for me, haha. Buti nalang may local version!
dyanies last blog post..How many times did I watch YCML?
Will pass on that wave!
very practical accessory. hindi ko yan nadiscover when i was preggy a. cute at ang smooth ng bump ni mami toni! ingats!
that's very fashionable… meron na kaya nyan nung ako'y nagbuntis about 9 yrs ago? ang ganda!
That's a cool accessory. I've never had one when I was pregnant.
I'm glad I was told about it. At least I can still maximize my jeans!
Wow, you're expecting! Isn't it cool? Yeah the band is really perfect, huh. You take care!
Thank you for your submission to the advice for women from women blog carnival.
Thank you for including it!
Hi, it's great you've found Bella Band. You might also like to try Belly Belt, which holds up pants, skirts and so on. It actually works very well either with Bella Band or by itself with a long top. Some women find that it takes them almost all the way through pregnancy, and for others it will give them a good 2-3 months extra wear from their regular clothes.
Maybe this will be your second maternity accessory? Would be interested in your comments.
I bought mine at http://hipmomsandbabies.multiply.com for php250 each. Bought 3 :D.
That's a great site! Thanks for sharing the link!
Belly band are really important for expecting woman.


text:
Posted on May 16, 2013 by Pat Lopes Harris SJSU in the News
San Jose Mercury News: Local College Students Design Alternative Vehicles
Posted by the San Jose Mercury News May 12, 2013.
By Elizabeth Devitt
SAN JOSE — When local students took the challenge to design human-powered vehicles, they did more than build a bicycle — they made their futures brighter, too.
Since school started in September, two teams of seniors, majoring in mechanical engineering at San Jose State and Santa Clara universities, worked to create sustainable and practical models of alternative transportation.
"It's easy to dream up designs that you can't actually ride," said Brian Lai, student treasurer of the San Jose State University American Society of Mechanical Engineers. "So this gives us a lot of practical knowledge that can't be learned from a book."
ASME created an annual Human Powered Vehicle Contest, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, to give students a practical design experience that's also socially meaningful, said Dr. Mark Archibald, HPVC committee chair. The students are graded on design innovation, speed and maneuverability through an obstacle course.
The student designs were put to the test at the Human Powered Vehicle Contest held at San Jose State University and Hellyer Park Velodrome last month. Each team sent a male and female driver racing around the banked cycling track to test sprint speed. Then, there was a 21/2 hour endurance race — won by cranking out the most laps around a parking-lot course — with obstacles such as stop signs, tasks to deliver packages to simulate usefulness of vehicle, and six mandatory driver changes. Finally, judges evaluated innovative features of each entry.
Although both teams placed in the middle of the competitive pack — San Jose State came in 10th and Santa Clara placed 11th, out of 29 entries from the western states division — the experience will put all the students ahead of the game when they apply for jobs.
A core crew of three San Jose State University students, Henry Chea, Alex Houlemard and Daniel Kruusmagi, worked straight through spring break to get their steel-framed recumbent bicycle ready for competition. Chea came to the team with experience from the 2011 competition. But the stakes were higher this time, he said. The bike was everyone's senior project and students get graded on their efforts.
Their finished entry was named Apollo, paying homage to NASA and the Moffett Field site originally slated for the event. The 62-pound bike featured a wraparound fairing made of carbon fiber and a retractable stabilizer to balance the bike during stops and starts. Unlike other recumbent bikes, this one sported a split chain ring for better mechanical advantage and an adaptive headlight system that shines along the driver's line of vision.
"We knew we wanted a two-wheeled bike for speed," said Houlemard, "but we studied winning bike models from previous years for successful design tips."
The Santa Clara University team recruited its own adviser to get its project rolling. Under the guidance of engineering professor and former ASME president Terry Shoup, the nine rookie competitors focused on building an affordable bike that was stable enough to traverse any kind of territory.
Their cherry-red tricycle, dubbed Cerberus after the mythological three-headed dog, earned second place overall among the seven novice teams in the contest. The group spent less than $5,000 to make the 66-pound steel vehicle out of square, easy-to-weld parts.
The team placed eighth, overall, for best innovations. Contest rules gave them five minutes to explain unique design features that included a nonstop lighting system and the ability to store energy generated by a dynamo, a friction based device set against the rear wheel and wired to four AA batteries.
The Santa Clara team also earned an award for a well-used roll bar that protected the driver from injury during speed trials on the banked track at the velodrome. And the SJSU team was recognized for hosting the event when budget cuts forced a last-minute venue change; instead of designing a bike, 12 members of the team scrambled to manage the entire event, said Jonathan Ross, SJSU student president of ASME. The overall winner of the HPVC western division was Rose Hulman Polytechnic Institute from Indiana.
College of Engineering mechanical engineering
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Aviation Test Equipment Market size includes use cases such as test and maintenance of aircraft, spacecraft and artificial satellites to provide improved system reliability, safety and isolate failures. The equipment is employed for calibration, inspection, evaluation and qualification testing of various instruments in aircraft.
Growth in the aerospace and defense industry and increasing R&D activities are the major driving factors for the development of the aviation test equipment market. Increased development of software adaptable solutions, increased investment in defense sector by the governments and growing commercial aerospace industry further fuels the demand.
U.S. and Europe aviation test equipment market size are the key regional industries owing to production capacity, technical expertise and availability of skilled professionals. The companies are focusing on reducing turn-around time and built efficient customer support system to maintain the market share. Mergers of major airlines has made the airline industry profitable, which will drive the U.S. aviation test equipment market share.
APAC is a promising regional sector for the long-haul segment and heavily relies on medium and small wide body aircraft. Manufacturers are shifting their focus on countries such as India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Morocco due to availability of cheap labor, skilled employees and favorable government initiatives. For instance, in August 2016, Honeywell and Wuhan Hangda signed a new licensing agreement for providing MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) services for Honeywell's mechanical and pneumatic products on the Airbus A330 and A320, also the Boeing fleet. Honeywell with this five-year licensing agreement expects to address MRO services arising due to increasing aircraft fleet growth in China and Asia Pacific.
Some of the players in the aviation test equipment market are Honeywell International Inc., Airbus, Boeing, Rockwell Collins, Rolls Royce Holdings Plc, 3M, General Electric Aviation, Moog, Teradyne, SPHEREA Test & services, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Avtron Aerospace, Testek, DAC International, DMA-Aero Ideal Aerosmith Inc, etc.
The aviation test equipment industry is characterized by intense competition among the players. The parameters for competing includes product quality, reliability, cost, aftermarket service and innovation & technology. For instance, Airbus defense & space segment provides ATEC (automatic test equipment) Series 6 for major avionics equipment manufacturers on the Airbus, ATR and Boeing aircraft. This system is also used for 787 and A350 maintenance. ATEC S6 provides RFEM (Radio Frequency expansion module) designed to evaluate & test airborne RF component and TPEM (Test Power Extension Module) to test aircraft power electronics and electrical power controls.