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Catastrophe Modeling: The Third Wave of Disruptive Technology
Robert Muir-Wood July 11, 2018
Catastrophe models, conceived in the 1970s and created at the end of the 1980s, have proved to be a "disruptive technology" in reshaping the catastrophe insurance and reinsurance sectors. The first wave of disruption saw the arrival of fresh capital, to found eight new "technical" Bermudan catastrophe reinsurers. The "Class of 1993" included Centre Cat Ltd., Global Capital Re, IPC Re, LaSalle Re, Mid-Ocean Re, Partner Re, Renaissance Re and Tempest Re. Using catastrophe models, these companies were able to set up shop and price hurricane and earthquake contracts without having decades of their own claims history. While only two of these companies survive as independent reinsurers, the legacy of the disruption of 1993 is Bermuda's sustained dominance in global reinsurance.
A second wave of disruption starting in the mid-1990s saw the introduction of catastrophe bonds: a slow trickle at first but now a steady flow of new structures, as investors who knew nothing about catastrophic loss came to trust modeled risk estimates to establish the bond interest rates and default probabilities. Catastrophe bonds have subsequently undergone their own "Cambrian explosion" into a diverse set of insurance-linked securities (ILS) structures, including those in which the funds go back to supplement reinsurer's capital. Again, this disruption in accessing novel sources of pension and investment fund capital would have been impossible without catastrophe loss models.
The Third Wave of Disruptive Technology
Since 2000, catastrophe modeling has delivered a third wave of disruptive technology through flood risk cost data delivered at building resolution. Flood hazard is different to other common perils such as high winds and damaging ground shaking. In most circumstances a flood can be precisely determined, unlike chaotic gusts of wind or the wild range of frequencies and durations of strong earthquake shaking. The height of the flood water is typically consistent among nearby locations. It is the elevation of buildings that varies.
The revolution in high resolution flood risk modeling is a consequence of the availability of big data sets on daily rainfalls and river flows, allied with the vast outputs of climate models and digital terrain data. The development of these high-resolution flood loss models has required massive computing power, to model runoff to river flow, and river flow to flooding, generating synthetic historical catalogs of flood events, resolved at building-specific granularity, across thousands of simulation years. Where there may be intrinsic uncertainty, as in inferred threshold elevations, in principle at least it is now possible to calculate flood risk costs.
This ability to measure flood risk cost has opened Pandora's Box in revealing information that a wide range of agencies, officials and the general public do not really know how to handle.
Simple Schemes for Complex Problems
In many developed countries, flood insurance systems were developed through the 1960s and 1970s, at a time when it was not possible to calculate the individual property and portfolio-wide flood risk costs. Hence these schemes adopted a range of simplifying strategies — some applying implicit, but unquantified cross subsidies from those outside the flood zone, while others simply flat-rated the risk. Politics often underlay the flood pricing model. In the U.S., the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) gave large and perpetual discounts for pre-existing properties in flood-zones. The total annual revenues collected by the NFIP proved just enough for the scheme to break-even in ordinary years but failed to accumulate reserves needed to pay for tail losses. As a result of running an unsustainable business model, the NFIP has had to borrow more than twenty billion dollars from the federal government. An attempt to move the system to technical pricing was backed by Congress in 2012 but proved so unpopular it had to be rescinded.
In the U.K. a 1960s "Gentleman's Agreement" meant that insurers sustained homeowners' flood insurance as long as the government invested in building more flood defenses. For the insurers, the differential between properties with high and low flood risk was suppressed, with those on the hills subsidizing those in the floodplains.
As with the early days of catastrophe modeling, building-resolution flood risk quantification has taken a decade to become refined and established. The disruption in the industry that is a consequence of this capability is still spreading its way through the institutional architecture of preexisting and new flood insurance schemes.
Using the new risk pricing models we can calculate the flood risk costs that would be saved in establishing a new flood defense and measure the loss if the flood wall should be overtopped or fail. If we know by how much extreme rainfall intensity or sea level rise is expected to change in a warmer world, we can calculate the impact on property-level flood risk costs.
Challenging Convention
The new building-resolution flood risk cost information has challenged how people and governments think about flood risk and the role of insurance. The preconception is that the cost of household insurance should not vary significantly, but should be as consistent as fuel prices, or mortgage rates. The reality is that flood risk costs can vary a hundredfold.
The disruption brought by building-resolution flood risk cost quantification has already transformed the U.K. residential flood insurance sector. Armed with the new ability to calculate flood risk costs, insurers wanted to apply full flood risk rating. For those at highest risk this might reasonably require paying thousands of pounds each year. Knowing that such prices would be politically unacceptable, insurers preferred to drop the coverage to those at highest risk. In turn, these homeowners complained to the government in such numbers as to require a policy change.
Rather than let the calculated risk costs prevail, the Flood Re system now caps the costs and gets everyone with lower risk to subsidize those at high risk (not so different to the previous system). However, for those who are currently subsidized, insurance prices are intended to trend to the technical risk costs over a 25-year period, conveniently beyond the career of a politician in government. For properties constructed before January 1, 2009, the Flood Re formula has no incentive to drive flood risk mitigation. Therefore, full risk rating in 2040 may be no more palatable than it was in 2015.
Will flat-rated schemes, like the French Cat Nat scheme, survive now it becomes clear how to use risk models to calculate the wide differentials in the underlying cost of the risk? Are such schemes established in the name of "solidarity" or ignorance?
FEMA's iconic demarcation of the "100-year flood" (one percent annual probability) line, which determines whether a U.S. homeowner is obligated to purchase the NFIP flood policy when taking out a mortgage, used to pass without challenge. In many places, the line is now seen as unreliable, perhaps the highest level reached in historical floods rather than a full analysis of potential storm surge or river flow profiles and their probabilities.
Going Granular on Flood Risk
RMS high definition (HD) flood models are already available for Europe and have recently expanded to include Ireland and Italy, to provide coverage for 15 European countries. The RMS U.S. Inland Flood HD Model will follow later this year. These models deliver this granular flood hazard and risk information, and also capture two unique components of the peril.
First, the largest floods can persist for weeks often shifting their geography. A flood wave can take days to travel down a large river. Also, once the ground is saturated it takes much less rain to renew the flooding. In the model there is a need to track flooding day by day, to see how alternative definitions of duration will affect the "event" cost.
Second, the deterministic nature of floods means that they can be held at bay with a flood defense. (There is no prospect of building a wall to keep out hurricane winds or earthquake shaking.) This wall needs to be included in how we model the extent of flooding. Yet this defense could overtop or fail, so we need to explore what impact this would then have on the extent of flooding and the losses.
Part of the disruptive challenge of the new flood models is that they can reveal a precipitous landscape of flood risk costs with peaks and steep gradients. This flood risk landscape is far from intuitive. The risk cost can vary by a factor of ten even among neighboring properties with only a few feet difference in their elevation. The new generation of flood models will also be needed to help educate homeowners why flood risk costs can be so granular, and in certain situations, so high.
But that does not need to be the end of the conversation. While the owner of Ferryman's Cottage on River Road may be unable to change the hazard, through understanding what mitigating actions he or she could take, such as waterproofing the building or elevating the furniture when a flood is forecasted, there could be many available ways in which to lower the risk cost. Homeowners need to know the truth about their flood risk, or the steps to building resilience and mitigation will simply stall.
Twenty-First Century Pandemic Risk Management
Climbing Out of "Lockdown": The Great Restart
Robert Muir-Wood
Chief Research Officer, RMS
Robert Muir-Wood works to enhance approaches to natural catastrophe modeling, identify models for new areas of risk, and explore expanded applications for catastrophe modeling. Robert has more than 25 years of experience developing probabilistic catastrophe models. He was lead author for the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and 2011 IPCC Special Report on Extremes, and is Chair of the OECD panel on the Financial Consequences of Large Scale Catastrophes.
He is the author of seven books, most recently: 'The Cure for Catastrophe: How we can Stop Manufacturing Natural Disasters'. He has also written numerous research papers and articles in scientific and industry publications as well as frequent blogs. He holds a degree in natural sciences and a PhD both from Cambridge University and is a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction at University College London.
#high definition flood model
#U.K. flood
#U.S. flood


text:
The Early Life of Harriet Tubman
Dan Bryan, February 7 2015
Harriet Tubman, as she would someday be known, was born a slave around 1821 in Dorchester County, Maryland. At birth her name was Araminta Ross. It was only in her adolescence that she came to be called Harriet. By the time of the Civil War she would be one of the most illustrious conductors on the entire Underground Railroad. Before that happened, she had to escape herself. What were Harriet Tubman's formative experiences? What was the society like that she grew up in? And how did she escape from her lot in life?
The part of Maryland where Harriet Tubman was born is known as the Eastern Shore. It was and is a very rural, agricultural region of the state. Her master was a man named Edward Brodas.
One of the great divides in slave society was that between field slave and house slave. In general, house slaves avoided the worst of the hard work and ill treatment which most other slaves were subject to. Of course, this often led to their being ostracized and despised by the majority of field slaves. The legacy and rhetoric of this divide survived for a long time.
Harriet did some field work as a child until her master took to hiring her out. This was a system whereby a slaveowner could gain extra revenue from a slave who they couldn't personally make use of on a continuous basis.
In the first instance, she was hired to be a house slave to the wife of a local man -- known as "Miss Susan" in one biography. Having never seen the inside of a proper house, Harriet was ill-prepared for this work and was given little sympathy when she bungled the tasks assigned to her. On her first day she was whipped more than once because she left dust behind as she cleaned the parlor. It was finally through a sympathetic relative of her mistress that she was taught how to clean and dust a room to the standards expected of her. Eventually "Miss Susan" grew tired of Harriet and sent her back to her master.
At a subsequent stop, Harriet received an injury which remained with her for life. On this occasion, while she was but twelve years old, she was hit in a head by a two-pound weight as she attempted to interfere in the pursuit of a slave by a plantation overseer. This blow nearly killed her and caused episodes of narcolepsy and hallucination for the remainder of her life.
After these episodes Harriet returned to the life of a field hand, where she became quite strong and adept at plowing, as well as cutting and hauling timber. This work left her in outstanding physical shape by the time she was a young woman, which prepared her for her eventual escape.
Harriet Tubman's Escape to the North
Harriet married a free black named John Tubman in 1844. Maryland was somewhat unique compared to other southern states in that it contained a large free black population. Such "mixed" marriages were common in that region and era, but any children born would inherit their status from the mother, Harriet, and thus be slaves. However, Harriet was permitted to stay in John's house during the night.
In 1849, Harriet's master Edward Brodas died suddenly. This represented a real danger to the future of Harriet Tubman and her family. By the 1840s, Maryland was no longer a center of the slave economy. Therefore, in the ensuing estate sale it was highly likely that Brodas's slaves would be sold to locations further to the South. On top of separating Harriet from her family and husband, this would also likely place her in a much more brutal situation so far as her daily work would be concerned. One of the most grueling places for a slave to be was on a cotton plantation in the deep south. The phrase "sold down the river" came into being to describe this fear of being sold into the heart of the cotton region. Such a thing had already happened to two of Harriet's sisters.
For the time being, though, Harriet was fortunate in the sense that her plantation was located ninety miles from the Mason-Dixon line. Naturally, her thoughts turned to making use of a potential escape route. One day as she was working in a field, an unknown Quaker woman provided her with a "ticket" to the Underground Railroad -- in this case a slip of paper informing her where her first destination would be, should she decide to flee.
Knowledge of the North Star was essential for making good on an escape. This stationary star, Polaris, always indicates true north, and Harriet learned how to track it in her upbringing. In an age with few other aids to navigation, this knowledge was essential.
However, to make it out of the slave states, one had to dodge both professional bounty hunters and white slave patrols. In Harriet's case, a bounty of $100 was placed on her head for safe return. Anybody with the wherewithal to retrieve her could have collected this reward, and some men made their living by tracking escaped slaves. At $100 a head (prices varied based on the slave in question), even a few retrievals per year would have provided a good living in the 1840s.
Harriet Tubman's bounty, as printed when she escaped.
As for the slave patrols, these operated in a good many jurisdictions and were considered a civic obligation, similar to jury duty. In the case of Georgia, there is a good online resource explaining some particulars of this practice. These patrols were generally also rewarded for any runaways they apprehended.
Harriet fled her plantation on September 17, 1849. Initially her two brothers also planned to escape, but they had a change of heart and turned back. Harriet proceeded alone, therefore, traveling off road and doing her utmost to elude detection. This involved traveling at night and sleeping deep in the woods by day. On October 3, 1849, a notice of her escape along with a bounty was published in the Cambridge Democrat.
It is unclear exactly how long it took Harriet to travel the ninety miles to Pennsylvania. However, she was able to cross the Mason-Dixon line without incident. In her own recollection she said:
"When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven" -- from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman
Harriet's next objectives were to seek paid employment in Philadelphia, save money, and plan for her first attempt to free other slaves from the South.
Recommendations/Sources
Sarah Hopkins Bradford - Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman
Sarah Hopkins Bradford - Harriet, the Moses of Her People
Harriet Tubman (NNDB)
Catherine Clinton - Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom
Kate Clifford Larson - Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero
Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman
Dan Bryan
Dan Bryan is the founder and editor of American History USA. He holds a B.A. in American History from the University of Chicago. He has created this site to empower Americans of all backgrounds to increase their historical literacy.
Previous: Quakers, Abolitionism, and Women's Suffrage
Next: Chinatown's Sex Slaves - Human Trafficking and San Francisco's History
Previous: The Three-Fifths Compromise, Black Personhood, and Southern Representation
Next: Django Unchained or Django Unhinged? A Critical Perspective
East Coast History
Next: The Virtual Dime Museum -- "The Cock of the Walk"
George Washington and "Neutrality" in Party Politics

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Providing quality care for your senior dog is easier than you think.
Nothing illustrates the quick passage of time more than watching your dog grow old. One day he's a tiny puppy and before you know it, he's a senior dog.
You want to keep your canine companion around for as long as possible, and the best way to do that is to give him the special care senior dogs need. Giving him special consideration can help him stay with you as long as nature will allow.
Start by taking your senior dog to the vet for a wellness exam. Small- to medium-sized dogs over the age of 6 years should make yearly visits to the vet for a physical. Larger dogs should start at age 4.
The veterinarian will give your dog a thorough exam, looking into his mouth and eyes, checking his skin and coat, and palpating his abdomen, kidney and other organs. The vet will also perform a blood test that will show whether your dog's body is functioning properly. This entire exam is important because it might provide early clues to any illness that could be developing. Early detection is the key when it comes to treating older dogs.
In between regular exams, pay close attention to your dog's behavior. If he stops eating, develops diarrhea that doesn't pass in a day, is breathing rapidly, acts lethargic or behaves in anyway out of the ordinary, take him to the vet immediately. A host of ailments, ranging from parasites to kidney failure, can take a serious toll on an older dog if you don't act quickly. Fast intervention is essential with senior dogs, who can succumb quickly to an illness they might have been able to fight off when they were younger.
Older dogs sometimes need special diets to help them get the most out of their meals. Consult with your veterinarian to find out what you should be feeding your dog. Also consider giving him a joint supplement containing glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM, since older dogs are prone to arthritis. Other nutriceuticals, such as fish oil and kidney or liver support supplements, might also be in order, depending on the results of your dog's veterinary exam.
Most dogs spend a lot of time outside, sometimes in bad weather. Because of his advancing age, your older dog may have trouble staying warm in the winter and cool in the summer while he's outdoors. In uncomfortable weather, bring your dog inside to spare him extreme cold or heat.
Older dogs often have stiff, aching joints and weaker muscles. Give your dog a thick, soft bed to sleep in. Consider raising his food and water dishes up off the ground so he doesn't have to bend his neck as far to reach them. If your dog is having trouble jumping up into your car or on your bed, lift him, or buy or make him a ramp.
Just because your dog is old doesn't mean he doesn't need stimulation. Take him for walks, or give him a light job to do around the yard (like fetching sticks for you or finding slugs in the garden). If he's a playful dog, throw a tennis ball to him for a few minutes each day. Not only will the activity help him stay physically fit, it will do wonders for his attitude. It will also help foster the bond between you, which is crucially important to his state of mind as he ages. A happy dog will want to stick around longer.


Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms Using the Pipeline Flow-Diverter Embolization Device: A Single-Center Experience with Long-Term Follow-Up Results.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Flow-diverting devices now offer a new treatment alternative for cerebral aneurysms. We present the results of a large single-center series of patients treated with the PED, including long-term follow-up.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Between November 2008 and September 2011, sidewall aneurysms with a wide neck (≥4 mm) or unfavorable dome-neck ratio (≤1.5); large/giant, fusiform, dissecting, blisterlike, and recurrent sidewall aneurysms; aneurysms at difficult angles; and aneurysms in which a branch was originating directly from the sac were treated with the PED. Patients were premedicated with dual antiplatelet medications. Data, including demographics, aneurysm features, clinical presentation, complications, results, and follow-up information, for up to 2 years are presented.RESULTS:Two hundred fifty-one aneurysms in 191 patients were treated. Of these, 96 (38.3%) were large or giant (≥10 mm). In 34/251 (13.5%), PEDs were used for retreatment. Adjunctive coiling was performed in 11 aneurysms (2.1%). The mean number of devices per aneurysm was 1.3. One aneurysm ruptured in the fourth month posttreatment (0.5%), and symptomatic in-construct stenosis was detected in 1 patient (0.5%) treated with percutaneous transarterial angioplasty. Any event rate was 27/191 (14.1%), with a permanent morbidity of 1% and mortality of 0.5%. Control angiography was available in 182 (95.3%) patients with 239 (95.2%) aneurysms. In 121 aneurysms (48.2%), 1- to 2-year control angiography was available. The aneurysm occlusion rate was 91.2% in 6 months, increasing to 94.6%.CONCLUSIONS:Use of the PED is safe, efficacious, and durable in cerebral aneurysm treatment, with low morbidity-mortality and high occlusion rates as confirmed with mid- to long-term control angiography.
Neurointerventional Section, Department of Radiology, Hacettepe University Hospital, Sihhiye, Ankara, Turkey.
Previous Document: The U Sign: Tenth Landmark to the Central Region on Brain Surface Reformatted MR Imaging.


The P500 dividing wall is an attractive high technology system based on a structural frame with steel ceiling and floor sections. It has solid or glass framed panels with aluminium sections that connect to the main structure with clips.
The panels can be made completely from one piece or in horizontal partitions (in a glass or solid version). These dividing screens can be used with any range from ARLEX design, offering a wide selection of dividing wall solutions for offices.
Visual and acoustic privacy can be attained by making the most of the surface area and the quality of the P500 wall. The free inner space in the solid version can be filled with a sound-insulating material. The soundproofing guaranteed by the P500 – used for offices and meeting rooms – makes it the perfect combination of design and technology.
You can add solid panels in a wood or melamine finish to the support structure. This dividing system can be used for all ceiling heights thanks to the use of horizontal panels that connect with clips to create a linear, elegant geometric effect.


 How do I apply for residence?
Students attending Saint Mary's for the first time who are interested in living in residence can apply online through our Housing Portal. Learn more on our Apply for Residence page.
Please note: If you are a TLC student, you may apply for residence through the TLC Centre.
You do not pay for residence through our office. The residence fees get applied to your student account for the fall term in mid-August (mid-December for the winter term) and are paid the same way you would pay for your tuition. The payment options are available on the Service Centre webpage.
What are my residence fees?
Depending on where you have been assigned in residence, different room types have different amounts of residence fees. You can locate the residence fees document on our main residence page HERE.
Can a first-year student get a single room?
Yes, if a student applies early, their chances of being placed in the residence of their choice (as well as their preferred room type) increases.
How many people will be living on my floor?
In Loyola, no more than 23 students will live on your floor. However, this residence is divided into four suites, so you will only share your bathroom with up to five other students.
In Vanier, no more than 18 students will live on your floor. However, this residence is divided into four suites as well, so you will only share your bathroom with a maximum of four other students.
In Rice, no more than 23 students will live on your floor. However, this residence is apartment-style, so you will only share your bathroom with two or three other students.
Can I see my residence room before I move in?
Unfortunately, given residence operates throughout the year (including the summer months) and the complex logistics involved in turning over 1000 beds, we are not able to show residents their specifically assigned bed spaces/rooms prior to their assigned check in dates.
However, we do have 2 dedicated tour rooms available for year-round viewing: a Loyola Single and a Vanier Double. Individuals interested in tours / rooms viewings can arrange them through the Centre for New Students. The Centre for New Students can be reached by calling (902) 491-8691, by emailing cns@smu.ca or by stopping by the Centre located in McNally Main Building.
How do I do laundry? Do I need coins for the laundry machine?
No. Our laundry machines are card-operated. There are card vending and loading machines in front of the Loyola Residence Desk that allow residents to purchase a loadable laundry card and then add value (money) to their laundry card using a credit or debit card. Residents can also register online through Coinamatic, our laundry provider, to add value online at www.coinamatic.com. Laundry cards are available for purchase during move-in weekend in the fall and the card vending machine allows residents to purchase a replacement card throughout the year.
What can I do if I am not getting along with my roommate or suitemates?
RA reviews guidelines for meeting (i.e. one person talks at a time, be respectful, no interrupting, no name-calling, tell the truth, etc.).
First person states their concerns - RA clarifies and paraphrases.
Second person states their concerns - RA clarifies and paraphrases.
Both parties agree upon the key issues that need to be addressed.
Both parties work together to brainstorm ideas to resolve each issue, one at a time.
RA writes up what was agreed upon - roommate contract - and each party signs.
Either party can request to re-visit agreement in the future, if it is not working.
How do I get a room change?
Residence students are expected to occupy the room and bed assigned to them by the Housing & Residence. However, if students are experiencing problems with their particular room assignment they can apply for a room change. All room changes must be pre-authorized by the Housing & Residence. "Room Change Request Forms" are available in the Centre two weeks after classes begin. Request for room changes will not be considered before this time. Students may be required to participate in a mediation session with their roommates or suite (if applicable) before a room change is approved. Room changes are prioritized at the discretion of the Housing & Residence, based on the needs of all those who apply (not just on a first come first serve basis). Naturally, all room changes are also subject to the availability of alternate accommodation.
What is a Notice of Fine (NOF)?
A NOF is a fine, ranging from $50.00 to $100.00,that is issued for minor violations of the Residence Policies (outlined in the Handbooks). These fines are issued by Residence Staff, Residence Services Officers (RSOs), Residence Assistants (RAs), and Residence Coordinators (RCs).
The NOF becomes payable to a student's account after four (4) business days (payable online using self-service banner or in person to the Service Centre).
A student, who is issued four NOF's with one Academic year, may be dismissed from Residence at the discretion of the Director, Residence Department.
Can I do anything about a NOF I feel I did not deserved?
If you feel that you are receiving a NOF undeservingly it is in your best interest not to dispute the fact with the Resident Staff issuing the fine. Arguing with the Residence Staff members may result in an additional fine for being uncooperative with Residence Staff.
Once you receive your copy of the fine, please refer to the reverse side of the fine to find detailed instructions on how to appeal. There is a Student Disciplinary Committee made up of residence students who hears the appeals.
Please review the Student Disciplinary Code along with the Residence Handbook to find out what your rights and responsibilities are as a resident.
Can I have overnight guests in my residence room?
Yes, you may have overnights guests, however, you must remember that you are responsible for your guest's actions while they are in residence. They are subject to residence Rules and Regulations as well. Any misconduct of your guest will be your responsibility.
It is the basic right of every student to have privacy in his/her assigned room. No student should feel obligated to relinquish this right. In a shared accommodation, overnight guests and visitors are allowed only with the consent of all roommates. Further to this, an overnight guest or visitor may be asked at any time to leave the room in the interest of preserving privacy.
Your guest is allowed in residence for two consecutive nights (assuming you have the consent of all roommates). Should you wish to have them stay longer, you must contact the Housing & Residence to gain permission.


DJ Khaled fans will get to peek into his new Weight Watchers lifestyle.
While on tour, DJ Khaled is bringing along his personal chef, Melissa Zuniga, who will be dishing out Weight Watchers-approved snacks to the public. New Yorkers will also get a chance to eat all the desserts at Dessert Goals, paying it forward by eating oysters and celebrating women with beet ricotta toast.
Bar Belly in New York is launched its Shuck It Forward NYC program yesterday. Throughout the year, diners can get two martinis and six oysters for $24. They can also pay it forward and purchase the martini and oyster pairing for other diners. Ten percent of proceeds going to the Billion Oyster Project, an organization dedicated to restoring New York's oyster beds.
New York's Italian fast-casual restaurant, The Sosta, is dishing out beet ricotta toast all March long in celebration of Women's History Month. House-made focaccia is topped with hazelnuts, tarragon and lemon. Thirty percent of proceeds will be donated to I Am That Girl, a non-profit organization that promotes self-love and confidence in young girls. The promotion is part of Goldenrod Pastries' Empower Through Flour campaign where female chefs and pastry chefs created a purple limited menu item.
Today before DJ Khaled's concert in Brooklyn's Barclays Center, his personal chef, Melissa Zuniga, will be cooking out of a food truck to offer a peek into the entertainer's new Weight Watchers lifestyle. Khaled's Kitchen is touring along with Khaled for the month. Check out more details here.
The fourth Dessert Goals festival is setting up shop in New York City March 17-18 and March 24-25. Bring a power bank for your phone because there will be Instagrammable sweet treats as far as the eye can see. Tickets available here.


text:
BLKOUT to release their new album in July [UPDATE]
BLKOUT have announced that they are going to release their new record "Point of No Return" on July 6th through Resist Record (AU), Six Feet Under Records (US) and Demons Run Amok (EU).
Pre-order the outing here.
In regards to the making of the album, frontman Scott Angel states:
I'm not trying to sing about cryptic shit I know nothing about. I'm just writing about what I'm living in, what's happening around me and what I see on a daily basis. The song, No Escape, I wrote about when I was having ongoing issues with the police about an accident I had that left the other party with a disability. I wasn't at fault, but I had them on my case trying to get me to admit to something I didn't do. It was proven I did nothing wrong in the end, but it sucks that someone is left with a permanent condition from this.
The label commented:
At the heart of BLKOUT's sophomore full-length for Resist Records, these five musicians have ventured into new territory as they embrace the struggles of modern middle-class youth – from poverty and desperation to brushes with the law. Originally an outlet for the band to pay homage to New York greats like Cro-Mags and Breakdown, the range of influences this band shares have seeped on to this release with diverse instrumentalization favored over the traditional hardcore fanfare.
Collaborating once again with Sydney producer Lachlan Mitchell at Def Wolf Studio, who lent a hand to the No Justice No Peace 7", experimenting was a natural progression for the band. Brutally sincere and uncompromising, Point Of No Return sets in stone that BLKOUT are willing to push the boundaries of Australian hardcore to their hilt. .
The album will be available as an LP from SFU here in the USA. The LP and CD will be available in Europe from Demons Run Amok and from Resist Records in Australia.
300 copies will be available on colored vinyl, with each label having 100 available. The remaining copies will be on black.
BLKOUT live:
PUBLISHED on May 2, 2012.
UPDATED on June 11, 2012 – pre-order link and another statement added.
Related Items:blkout, hardcore, hardcore punk
RADIOHEAD live at Bonnaroo festival 2012
Recall: NIRVANA live in Philadelphia, 1989


Developed for use in transaxles, manual transmissions and transfer cases. Recommended particularly for BMW, Ford, GM/Opel, Honda, Nissan, Toyota/Peugeot/Citroën (PSA), Volvo and vehicles from other manufacturers.
Low-viscosity high-performance transmission fluid with excellent high pressure and wear protection properties. Multi-purpose. Reduces friction, lowers fuel consumption and emissions and ensures smooth shifting operations. The outstanding thermal and oxidative stability guarantees a clean transmission and a long oil service life.
The specifications and instructions from the assembly or vehicle manufacturer must be followed. Optimum effectiveness is only possible when the product is used unmixed.


"As it is described a super king mattress firm tension extra super comfy!!! Delivered and put in place with no fuss or mess."
"Just what we wanted, & we tried lots."
"Fabulous mattress so comfortable and supportive."


There's a very interesting historical site south of Prince Rupert, BC in Port Edward. At one time it was a working cannery, one of hundreds on the west coast of the province. The day we were there we had the place to ourselves, except for the rather well-fed cat that had free reign over the place.
I loved the lines of this place. I wasn't sure I'd find anything but falling down buildings and rusting machinery but I was wrong. The lines and simplicity of the buildings really struck me. I was also happy it was low tide so I could see the pilings the buildings were on. I don't think the photo would have the same feeling as it does with the exposed pilings and the dark shadows. Then again, it may have been interesting to see a "floating" building.
Development: Small tank for 9:30 at 20 degrees Celsius. Agitation was for the first minute, then five inversions per minute.
Copyright: © 2006 Chris Jones. All rights reserved. More information.


I have been spending a lot of time with H., S.'s nanny. She started working for us three weeks ago. She is a soft-spoken and kind-hearted lady in her late forties with a lot of experience with young babies.
Both H. and I like to cook and I think that's how we hit it off. We have a natural curiosity for each other's cuisines and are keen to learn from one another. She cooked a few jiāchángcài (home dishes with pork mainly, including the famously delicious Shanghainese dish hóngshāo ròu) using many of the ingredients I already had (dried mushrooms and dried tofu) in my pantry but didn't know how to use. She's also explained to me at length which foods you should eat when according to the heat or lack thereof within your body (basic principle of Chinese medicine). Unfortunately, I am ashamed to say that so far I think I only understand 60% of what she tells me and am therefore not in a position to faithfully relate all of it but I get the jinx of it. I hope that with time I'll get used to her accent (very Shanghainese whereby all the sh become s and the zh z) and build up my vocab.
Two days ago, I saw a small box in our fridge containing some kind of shapeless black paste. I didn't ask H. about it, she's welcome to put whatever she needs in our fridge. Over lunch, she asked me whether I had seen the box and offered me a piece. Looking at it, the paste could be many things; the first thing that came to my mind was a brownie with very dark chocolate. As I took a bite of the piece she gave me, I naturally asked H. what it was. She said it was lǘpí but it didn't ring a bell. While she was trying to explain and even mimic something, the paste's taste invaded my mouth. It wasn't particularly horrible, though not good either. Mostly it was very strong. I continued chewing and trying to make sense of what she was telling me, I knew pí can mean skin but still wasn't sure what it was. Then I finally understood, took my phone to double check the translation and suddenly my heart sank more than a little bit, when I figured that I was eating donkey skin!
As I was trying to recover from the shock and hide it, H.'s explanations started to become clearer. Basically she told me that eating lǘpí is very helpful during winter if you have some sort of deficiency (don't ask me which one). She added that this one in particular came from the province of Shandong (northeast of China) and was of really good quality. I told her that the taste was too strong for me and that I wasn't used to it, to which she replied that she couldn't feel it but that her family thought likewise and wouldn't eat lǘpí. She laughed when she said that they even ask her how she could it! Very kindly, she told me that if I didn't like it, it wasn't a problem.
I now have this remaining piece I bit into in my fridge. As much as I like to be open-minded or to think that I am, I am not quite sure what to do with it. I would hate to throw it, out of respect for H.'s kindness. What I am sure of is that I don't feel like eating it. I don't look forward to its taste and now that I know it is donkey skin (I have eaten Italian donkey salami a long time ago) I can't stomach it.


Dyari Abdulla carried a 20-kilo (44-pound) bag containing rice and sugar on his back on the border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan near Halabja. He waited in an orchard until his relatives from a nearby town in Iranian Kurdistan arrived, then he handed over the bag. �My relatives are suffering because of the high prices in Iran," Abdulla told Al-Monitor.
He remembers the harsh living conditions experienced by Iraqi Kurds in the 1990s when thousands of people died due to malnutrition because of international sanctions on Iraq. Like thousands of other young Iraqi Kurds, Abdulla risked his life trekking across the mountainous border illegally and flooding big Iranian cities seeking work so he could send money back to his family to survive. Now he fears for those across the border.
"It's going to get worse for people," Abdulla said.
Now, as Washington tightens the screws on Iran with crippling sanctions to bring the ayatollahs to their knees, hundreds of Iranian Kurds are flooding into Iraqi Kurdistan in search of work.
The US sanctions are causing turmoil in Iran, with the Iranian currency � the rial � losing half its value since April. High inflation, the lack of employment and spikes in the prices of essential commodities have caused intermittent protests across Iran in recent months.
�Let me be clear: The reimposition of the sanctions, we think, is already having a significant effect on Iran�s economy and on, really, popular opinion inside Iran,� US national security adviser John Bolton told Reuters Aug. 21 in Jerusalem. US President Donald Trump "has made it very clear � his words � he wants maximum pressure on Iran, maximum pressure, and that's what's going on,� Bolton added.
The United States appeared to have scored a victory when Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi surprised many by stating Aug. 7 that his government, while opposing the sanctions, nonetheless abides by them. This baffled many influential figures in Iraq, given the tremendous influence Iran exerts in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in all spheres including political, military and economic.
"I call on everyone to stand with the Islamic Republic of Iran and assist it," Ammar al-Hakim, head of Iraq's Hikma bloc and a close ally of Iran, said Aug. 8.
Senior Iranian Kurdish politician Abdullah Ramezanzadeh snapped back at Abadi: �We shouldn't have prevented the disintegration of Iraq,� he said in reference to Tehran helping Abadi's government defeat the Iraqi Kurds following their ill-fated independence referendum Sept. 25, 2017.
Reuters reported Aug. 21 that the Iraqi government �plans to ask Washington for a waiver� from some sanctions, given the close trade ties between Iraq and Iran.
There were mixed messages from Kurdish circles in Iraq about the sanctions. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative in Tehran, Nazim Dabagh, said relations between the Iraqi Kurds and Iran are historical. �Abadi was hasty and shouldn't have taken such a position, because his government is a transitional government,� the veteran Kurdish diplomat said.
He added, however, that the KRG should be cautious in dealing with both the Iranians and Americans. �I believe the Kurdistan Region should tread carefully and not become involved" in US-Iranian rivalries that would "use Iraq and Kurdistan as a battleground to settle scores," he told Al-Monitor from Tehran.
But KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, who spent a formative part of his life in Iran and speaks fluent Persian, was quoted Aug. 16 by Rudaw � which is affiliated with his Kurdistan Democratic Party � as somehow supporting the sanctions. �To deal with US sanctions on Iran, the Kurdistan Region will take a step as part of Iraq and will abide by Iraq decisions. To that effect, we have spoken to the Americans and Iraqis, and we have asked for a US delegation to visit us and clarify which goods are allowed [to be traded] and which are not,� Barzani said.
As the Iraqi and Kurdish parties debate the wisdom of abiding by the American sanctions, the Iranian Consulate in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, announced Aug. 18 a huge boom in the number of Iraqi Kurds visiting the country during the holiday season thanks to the strong Iraqi dinar against the rial. The consulate said that in the first half of August, it issued 2,800 visas every day, while the figure was 630 daily in the previous year.
Washington has tried to limit Iran's power in Iraq since US forces arrived there in 2003, but to no avail. It's not clear if Washington will succeed this time around, given the complexities of the relations between Iran and Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region.
Abdullah says he will continue to help his relatives across the border in Iran, as even more difficult times are approaching when US sanctions on the oil and gas sector kick in November. �Iranian Kurdistan was a lifeline for us when we were under sanctions,� he said.
Dabagh believes that even if Iraq complies with US sanctions, the KRG could act independently �to help in whatever ways possible to assist [Iran]� in order to reciprocate Iran�s friendship over the past six decades. �The countries that have come to the region for their own interests and to incite wars and create problems � I believe if their interests were realized tomorrow, they would abandon us once again,� he said.


text:
In Ukraine, Public Opinion Sours On The United States
By Lucian Kim
Mike Pompeo arrives in Kyiv today. It is his first trip to Ukraine since taking office as secretary of state nearly two years ago. And as NPR's Lucian Kim reports from Kyiv, the secretary's visit comes at a time when many Ukrainians are becoming disillusioned with the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Vocalizing).
LUCIAN KIM, BYLINE: It's evening Mass in Kyiv's St. Volodymyr's Cathedral, named after a leader who ruled 1,000 years ago. On Friday, another Volodymyr, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy, will receive Secretary of State Pompeo. After their country found itself at the center of the impeachment process, many Ukrainians are wary of Pompeo's visit.
A short walk from the cathedral, I meet political commentator Ivan Yakovina.
IVAN YAKOVINA: Those people who are actually into politics - they are disillusioned because, you know, previously, it was like Ukraine, which was unpredictable. Now we have no idea what's going to happen in the United States in the next week, who's going to be the president.
KIM: And it's not just the political elites, says Yakovina, who's feeling a growing distance between Ukraine and the United States.
YAKOVINA: A lot of people - they are disappointed. America used to be like a beacon of freedom, of liberty, of anti-corruption efforts. And now a lot of Ukrainians feel like, yeah, we are by ourselves.
KIM: People I spoke with here in Kyiv wonder why Pompeo was making his first official visit to Ukraine now, at the height of President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate.
I met journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk in a Kyiv cafe.
NATALIYA GUMENYUK: Maybe there is an idea that with this visit, Secretary Pompeo wants to show that, look; I care about Ukraine. I come to Ukraine so it could be used as well in the impeachment trial.
KIM: Gumenyuk says the timing is awkward for Zelenskiy, who's been trying his best to keep clear of the political fray in Washington. Relations with the U.S., Ukraine's most powerful ally, have taken a hit since Trump's July phone call with Zelenskiy. Now, says Gumenyuk, Ukrainians will be happy just keeping the status quo.
GUMENYUK: There are some things which should be discussed, but I think it just becoming very pragmatic relations - that we do as much in order to have OK relations.
KIM: She says Zelenskiy should not trust Trump to stand by Ukraine. But not everyone thinks the situation is so bleak.
In a fancy downtown cocktail bar, I meet Ivan Pohrebniyak, an IT entrepreneur. He doubts that Pompeo was speaking for the Trump administration when he questioned Americans' interest in Ukraine last week.
IVAN POHREBNIYAK: Is this general opinion of the entire government of the U.S.? I don't think so. Probably not. I hope so. How much did previous presidents care about Ukraine? I don't know.
KIM: Pohrebniyak, who frequently travels to the U.S. on business, says he admires Donald Trump as an entrepreneur and is keeping an open mind about the impeachment trial.
POHREBNIYAK: I believe that the truth is somewhere in the middle. Politics has one game. Media has another game. So be careful as to what others are saying and what you're reading. You know, try to form your own unbiased opinion.
KIM: Ivan Yakovina, the political analyst, says Ukrainians understand there will be a lot at stake when President Zelenskiy meets Secretary of State Pompeo.
YAKOVINA: The most important asset of Ukraine, the most valuable asset, is bipartisan support for Ukraine from the United States. So nobody wants to risk any part of this bipartisanship, neither Democratic nor Republican.
KIM: Yakovina believes Ukrainians' current disillusionment with America won't last forever.
Lucian Kim, NPR News, Kyiv.
(SOUNDBITE OF CASHMERE CAT'S "MIRROR MARU") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Lucian Kim
Lucian Kim is NPR's international correspondent based in Moscow. He has been reporting on Europe and the former Soviet Union for the past two decades.
See stories by Lucian Kim


Alma 1 Light Pendant with LED down light is 19" tall x 9" wide x 6" deep. Shown in Bronze Finish with Amber with Red veins onyx shade. Weighs 13 lbs. Ships with canopy and 2' of S-hook chain. 1 Light - 60 Watts Max - Edison Base. 1 LED MR16 Dimmable 5 W-2700K.


text:
Freshman dethrones Jackson Carman as Clemson football's biggest player
Todd Shanesy
Some of Clemson football's big additions to both sides of the line for this season are even bigger now.
The Tigers had their annual "Big Weigh-In" on Wednesday as players reported for fall practice, which begins Thursday. Some of the freshmen have made significant jumps since the last roster was released during the spring.
Among the freshmen offensive linemen, Bryn Tucker went from 290 to 315, John Williams from 280 to 302 and Kaleb Boateng from 300 to 317; and Tayquon Johnson, who has switched from defense to offense, went from 320 to team-high 337. On the defensive line, DeMonte Capehart gained 16 pounds to reach 306 and Brian Bresee 10 pounds to hit an even 300.
Meanwhile, junior offensive lineman Jackson Carman went the other way, trimming down from 345 to 333, handing the heavyweight title to Johnson.
More:Clemson football's road to national championship just got tougher
More:Clemson alum hoping to 'Save the Clemson Carolina game' with petition
In all, Clemson has 14 players who are at least 300 pounds and another six who are just a cheeseburger or two short at 298 or 299.
On the opposite end of the scale, junior walk-on running back Sylvester Mayers is the smallest at 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds. Cornerback Jake Herbstreit and wide receiver Tye Herbstreit, twin sons of ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, are next at 170 and 172, respectively. Then it's the kickers, B.T. Potter and Aidan Swanson at 178 each.
Defensive end Xavier Thomas, wide receivers Justyn Ross and Ajou Ajou as well as tight end Sage Ennis did not weigh in. No explanation was given.


DataDirect Networks (DDN) (http://www.ddn.com/) today announced that the University of Queensland has deployed DDN high-performance storage solutions to improve data access between its main campus and its off-site data center. Leveraging DDN GRIDScaler(R) parallel file system appliances (http://www.ddn.com/products/parallel-file-system-gridscaler/) integrated with IBM Spectrum Scale(TM) (built upon GPFS), the Australian research university has rolled out an innovative new data storage fabric that spans both the main campus and its off-site data center, known as MeDiCI (the metropolitan data caching infrastructure), and allows users to access data regardless of where it resides quickly and easily - no additional user involvement is required.
Known for its leading research in fields ranging from genetics and genomics to environmental engineering and water management, the University of Queensland facilitates collaborative partnerships and engagements with geographically dispersed researchers across its various locations to integrate research capacity and accelerate time to discovery. To support its research, the University uses QRIScloud, a high-capacity cloud storage node of the NCRIS national research infrastructure operated by QCIF. QRIScloud is located at the Polaris Data Center in Springfield, Australia about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the University's St Lucia Campus. QRIScloud and the University's data storage fabric are interconnected and designed to exchange stored data automatically. Before implementing the high-performance data storage fabric, exchanging data between QRIScloud and on-campus data centers was handled manually - a suboptimal use of busy researchers' time.
"The University's researchers are making landmark discoveries in fields spanning human heritable disease, cancer, agriculture and biofuels manufacture - and they depend on our IT team to provide them with the fastest, most efficient data storage and compute systems to support their data-heavy work," said Professor David Abramson, University of Queensland Research Computing Center director. "Our IBM, SGI (DMF) and DDN-based data fabric allows us to deliver ultra-fast multi-site data access without requiring any extra intervention from researchers and helps us to ensure our scientists can focus their time on potentially life-saving discoveries."
Since 2007, DDN has worked with IBM to drive a technology vision providing data intensive environments with the best solutions to cost-effectively manage their data while actively deriving value and business benefit from the storage content. Partnering with IBM, DDN's innovation is delivering best of class forward-thinking solutions for data analytics, chip design, bioinformatics and genomics; financial services risk calculations, computational fluid dynamics, computer aided design and seismic processing.
In data centers such as the University of Queensland and others across the globe, data analytics, cloud computing and open source software integration are taking center stage. Solutions from DDN and IBM provide the software-defined storage layer and high performance hardware necessary to keep pace with today's rapidly growing data demands.
DDN offers IBM Spectrum Scale as an integrated part of its GRIDScaler high-performance NAS solutions ( http://www.ddn.com/products/parallel-file-system-gridscaler/ ) . DDN GRIDScaler solutions include a wide range of value-add features unique to DDN that expand on core IBM Spectrum Scale functionality, including in-storage processing that can reduce application latency by more than 50 percent and tiering to DDN WOS(R) Object Storage (http://www.ddn.com/products/object-storage-web-object-scaler-wos/) .
throughput to a single file system.
With the latest releases of GRIDScaler and IBM Spectrum Scale, DDN is now able to provide additional new features and capabilities including support for both Omni-Path and 100GigE, new archiving options that extend parallel file system storage to both local and remote object storage via DDN WOS and S3 targets, and new GUI options that simplify usability across a wide range of high performance storage systems.
The University of Queensland is one of Australia's leading teaching and research universities, ranking in the world's top universities as measured by key independent rankings. UQ is one of only three Australian members of the global Universitas 21; a founding member of the Group of Eight (Go8) universities; a member of Universities Australia; and one of only two Australian charter members of the prestigious edX consortium, the world's leading not-for-profit consortium of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Our greatest assets are our 236,000 graduates, who include a Nobel Laureate, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, an Academy Award winner, and leaders in government, law, science, public service, the arts and sport. Across our three campuses in South-East Queensland, more than 50,000 students study at UQ, including more than 13,800 postgraduates and approximately 12,600 international students from 140 countries. UQ has one of Australia's largest PhD enrolments and has graduated more than 12,350 PhDs. Through a strong focus on teaching excellence, UQ has won more Australian Awards for University Teaching than any other university in the country, and attracts the majority of Queensland's highest academic achievers as well as top interstate and overseas students. It has established nine research institutes, many with a multidisciplinary focus, and is a partner in the Translational Research Institute (TRI) - an Australian first that represents the future in biomedical research. For a breakdown of UQ's international rankings, please visit uq.edu.au/research/research-at-uq/world-rankings.
(C) 2016 All rights reserved. DDN Storage, DDN, GRIDScaler and WOS are trademarks owned by DataDirect Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


text:
Laurent Cassegrain [lorán kasegrein] (kolem 1629, oblast Chartres – 31. srpna 1693 Chaudon, Eure-et-Loir) byl francouzský katolický kněz, fyzik a vynálezce.

Život
O jeho životě není mnoho známo. Jeho rodiče byli Mathurin Cassegrain a Jeanne Marquet. Není známo, kde a jak studoval, ale roku 1654 už byl knězem a profesorem, kterého patrně zajímala akustika, optika a mechanika. Později učil přírodní vědy na Collège (vyšším gymnáziu) v Chartres.

Dalekohled

Cassegrain patrně zdokonalil Newtonův zrcadlový dalekohled. V dalekohledu místo rovinného sekundárního zrcadla použil zrcadlo vypuklé, jež odráží paprsky do středového otvoru v dutém primárním zrcadle a do okuláru, který se nachází na zadní straně tubusu.

Výhodou je zkrácení stavební délky soustavy, respektive prodloužení ohniskové vzdálenosti. Toho se využívá zejména ve fotografii, většinou ale už ve verzích Schmidt nebo Maksutov. Vzhledem k tomu, že je sekundární zrcadlo umístěné zhruba v polovině optické délky soustavy, kde je optický svazek ještě poměrně široký, dochází vlivem zastínění ke snížení světelnosti oproti klasické soustavě Newtonově, která má sekundární zrcátko menší. Dalším důsledkem je zhoršení teoretické ostrosti vytvořeného obrazu.

Vylepšením Cassegrainovy soustavy jsou pak soustavy Schmidt, Maksutov nebo Ritchey - Chretien.

Odkazy

Externí odkazy

 Chaudonské stránky o Laurentovi Cassegrainovi (francouzsky)

Související články
 Cassegrainův dalekohled

Literatura
 Christiaan Huygens: Réflexions sur la description d'une lunette publiée sous le nom de M. Cassegrain (Dopis #1892 adresovaný Jeanu Galloisovi), Œuvres complètes, sv. 7, str. 189-191, 1888
 André Baranne and Françoise Launay, Cassegrain: a famous unknown of instrumental astronomy, Journal of Optics, 1997, sv. 28, č. 4, str. 158-172(15)

Narození v roce 1629
Úmrtí v roce 1693
Francouzští fyzici
Optici
Francouzští římskokatoličtí duchovní
Muži
Narození v Chartres

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Following the hugely successful The Damned which premiered at the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais des Papes at the Festival d'Avignon 2016 and was repeated at Salle Richelieu, Ivon van Hove once again joins forces with the company of Comédie-Française, delivering another impressive gallery of characters, focusing on the House Atreides. This second collaboration of Comédie-Française with one of the internationally acclaimed masters of theatre, this time on an ancient Greek tragedy, was the perfect opportunity for Éric Ruf, general administrator of Comédie-Française, and Vangelis Theodoropoulos, artistic director of Athens & Epidaurus Festival, to bring together these two great institutions of European theatre in a collaborative project.
This performance marks the first time ever that the oldest active theatre company in the world will perform at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.
Ivo van Hove, who opened Athens Festival 2018 with his extremely successful stage adaptation of Bergman's Persona / After the Rehearsal has clarified that all of his collaborations are born out of his love at first sight with a particular text. In this case, the director brings together two Euripides plays telling the story of Electra and Orestes and more specifically how the two siblings reunite and make a pact to take revenge against their mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. This performance also marks the first time that Euripides' Electra will be performed by Comédie-Française. Orestes was last presented by the company at Salle Richelieu back in 1923.
Widely acclaimed for his formidable talent and his ability to dramatize texts, the director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam constantly redefines his aesthetics and his relationship with the actors. Even though Van Hove denounces the concept of the 'method,' he revisits the ancient drama, paying tribute to its social dimension and illuminating the myth with a very clear sense of its relevance to our times.
Electra and Orestes are brother and sister. Young, hurt, fragile and vulnerable, they turn into savage beasts. They have never really known their father, who left when they were little to serve as the commander of the Greek army during the Trojan War. They think of their mother, Clytemnestra, as the enemy, and of their family home as the battleground. Agamemnon's absence has elevated him into a hero in their eyes. Driven away from their home, the former royal offspring, Electra and Orestes, have become refugees inside their own family and their own country.
With the actors of Comédie-Française: Claude Mathieu (Coryphaeus), Cécile Brune (chorus), Sylvia Bergé (chorus), Éric Génovèse (Phrygian slave), Bruno Raffaelli (old Mycenaean man), Denis Podalydès (Menelaus), Elsa Lepoivre (Clytemnestra / Helen), Julie Sicard (Chorus), Loïc Corbery (Pylades), Suliane Brahim (Electra), Benjamin Lavernhe (Mycenaean man), Didier Sandre (Tyndaerus), Christophe Montenez (Orestes), Rebecca Marder (Hermione), Gaël Kamilindi (Apollo).
The family is the Gordian knot of society, and, as such, creates a number of problems. We are standing in front of a mirror reflecting the negative image of our own impulses. Is this an incestuous family? Not in the literal sense (or at least, not just in the literal sense) of the word, but in the sense of family as a battlefield on the one hand, a place where problems are resolved, and on the other hand, a place to separate the wheat from the chaff, those who have been chosen to stay from those who will be permanently banished.
In our performance of Electra / Orestes, we want to enact a world of great cruelty, a naturalistic world even, on stage. Truth be told, I conceived this performance as a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art in the Wagnerian sense of the term, in the sense that we are perhaps taking part in a ritual.
I consider myself Belgian as much as I consider myself European and citizen of the world. Talking about society means talking about the world at large.
The Greeks pose a crucial question: what is that element which unites us instead of dividing us? This is the central question in Electra / Orestes.
I hold my collaboration with the actors of Comédie-Française in high esteem. I felt they have a burning desire to perform theatre; a visceral need to embrace an artistic adventure. Admittedly, Comédie-Française and Toneelgroep Amsterdam are my two best experiences as a director. When Éric Ruf proposed yet another collaboration, I accepted his proposal at once.


NOTE: This is NOT the most significant thing happening at Kaleo's Theology Lab. But it's so unusual that I had to post a pic that was sent to me.
Each week, some faithful believers gather at Josh & Renee White's house to talk the Bible and its relation to their lives. This week, Jake Dietrich was scheduled to lead, but couldn't be there due to illness. In the past, the solution might have been to get someone to step up and lead on short notice. But this week, Jake led the group over the internet, connected to the White's TV, using Gmail's video chat function.
Technologically – very cool. And what I really appreciated hearing was how this change didn't hinder the work of God in lives, as the people there encouraged one another, confessed struggles and looked together at Scripture for answers.
RMG Life: And We're Off!


text:
Tesla increases range and price of the Model 3 Long Range
- Nov. 1st 2019 1:43 pm ET
Tesla has updated its Model 3 online configurator today to increase the rated-range and price of the Model 3 Long Range.
When Tesla launched the $35,000 Model 3 earlier this year, the automaker surprised many by announcing that it would increase the range of all existing Long-Range Model 3 with rear-wheel-drive vehicles delivered to date.
CEO Elon Musk said at the time:
"There's also some things we've been able to do for existing customers that are pretty cool. Tesla is as much a software company as a hardware company and we've been able to via firmware improve the range of the long-range rear wheel drive car from 310 miles to 325 miles. This will affect all customers including those that were all long range cars shipped to date and new cars. So both existing and new customers will get a 15 mile range increase from 310 to 325."
In March, Tesla started pushing the update and some saw the range increase, but it didn't affect all owners equally.
On top of the software update for the now discontinued Model 3 Long Range RWD, Tesla has now updated its online configurator to list the Model 3 Long Range all-wheel-drive range at 322 miles:
The automaker has also increased the price of the model from $47,990 to $48,490.
Tesla also recently increased the range of the Model S and Model X with the new Raven powertrain.
During Tesla's last earnings call, CEO Elon Musk and VP of Technology Drew Baglino said that it was due to an error during "certification", but they also said that power, range, and comfort improvements would come through a software update.
As we previously reported, Tesla has played with EPA ratings to advertise all Model 3 versions with 310-mile range even though the Long Range version was able to get more when they first launched Model 3.
Tesla was already able to advertise the range of the Long Range Model 3 at 325 miles, but they chose not to — presumably in order to be able not to advertise the range of the less expensive version as being longer than the more expensive dual motor and performance versions, which are not seeing the same range increase even though they use the same battery pack.
The Tesla Model 3 is the first vehicle built on Tesla's third-generation platform. It aims to reduce the entry price for electric vehicles while not making any compromise on range and performance. The Model 3 starts at $35,000 in the US and deliveries to employees and company insiders began in mid 2017 - customer deliveries begin in late 2017.


text:
RPMGlobal brings Software as a Service to the haulage sector
RPMGlobal has launched its first Software as a Service (SaaS) product, providing mining companies, it says, with the capability to undertake haulage calculations in a cloud environment.
With more and more operations choosing to move business-critical operations into the cloud, RPM has leveraged the growing shift from the desktop by collaborating with industry partners to launch a service-based approach to haulage calculations, known as Haulage as a Service (HaaS).
This cloud enabled, service-oriented approach to haulage analysis means users are no longer confined to one application on the desktop. Under the new SaaS model, customers are able to write their own applications to interact with HaaS. Users can then configure haul traces, haul routes, settings and trucks to run travel time calculations automatically in the cloud.
HaaS leverages the travel time calculation engine contained within RPM's TALPAC product which has been the de-facto standard for simulation within the mining industry for more than 40 years, according to RPM. This calculation engine enables users or customer applications to undertake travel time calculations on demand.
RPMGlobal Chief Executive Officer, Richard Mathews, said: "HaaS is tailored to the current requirements of our customers to cloud-enable their operations and enable their businesses to be conducted remotely no matter where they or their people are physically located.
"Providing our customers with flexible and scalable ways to use RPM's software is a key part of our customer service promise, and cloud-hosted options enhance our ability to support our customers through an internet-enabled cloud access to the hosted application.
"Making our innovative software available through a variety of delivery methods will remain critical moving forward and with a number of our customers undergoing the transition to cloud environments, we are proud to be at the forefront of this migration."
The reporting and calibration benefits within the cloud HaaS offering are already resulting in miners requesting access to HaaS, RPM says. Miners are using HaaS as a way of measuring haulage performance and identifying areas of haulage improvement, including being able to automatically compare the actual values out of their fleet management systems (FMS) with calculated values, straight after the haulage route is complete on a consistent basis.
With HaaS, miners have increased operational agility to undertake haulage calculations from any location, according to the company. Because there is no desktop application, the calculations can be delivered via the web or mobile apps instantly.
Mathews said RPMGlobal's cloud-enabled SaaS solutions help to solve several key industry challenges, including the problem of siloed data.
"With HaaS, data is no longer trapped within individual desktop applications or siloed with individual users," he said. "This cloud-enabled approach enables operations to get the best overall haulage performance right across their operations irrespective of where the users or applications calling the cloud service are physically located.
"Mining is a dynamic and fluid environment, often making it difficult to benchmark the performance of trucks. Miners have had to use key performance indicators such as Effective Flat Haul in an attempt to normalise data. HaaS addresses this challenge by allowing miners to compare every haul against a benchmark calculated value."
Mathews concluded: "If there can be one positive thing to come out of the global challenges of COVID-19 it is an understanding that companies need to be able to operate their businesses remotely no matter where their people are physically located, and being able to utilise SaaS applications means they can do exactly that."


text:
package tbdb4java.bussiness.factories.imp;

import tbdb4java.bussiness.SAFilms;
import tbdb4java.bussiness.factories.SAFilmsFactory;
import tbdb4java.bussiness.imp.SAFilmsImp;

public class SAFilmsFactoryImp extends SAFilmsFactory {

	@Override
	public SAFilms getSAFilms() {
		return new SAFilmsImp();
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Quick Answer: Harvest Songs For Church?
1 What is the name of a song usually sung in church?
2 What are the most popular hymns?
3 Do churches have to pay to sing songs?
4 How do you pick a worship song?
5 What is the most beautiful hymn?
6 What's the difference between a hymn and a song?
7 What are the top 20 hymns?
8 What is the greatest hymn ever written?
9 Is Abide With Me a funeral song?
10 Is it legal to stream church services?
11 Is CCLI legal?
12 Does CCLI cover YouTube videos?
13 How many songs should a church have?
What is the name of a song usually sung in church?
Hymn, (from Greek hymnos, " song of praise"), strictly, a song used in Christian worship, usually sung by the congregation and characteristically having a metrical, strophic (stanzaic), nonbiblical text.
What are the most popular hymns?
From a list of one hundred hymns, here is the order in which they rank:
How Great Thou Art.
In Christ Alone.
Be Still, For The Presence Of The Lord.
Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind.
Here I Am, Lord (I, The Lord Of Sea And Sky)
And Can It Be.
Abide With Me.
Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer/Jehova.
Do churches have to pay to sing songs?
Truth: Churches do not need a performance license to play / perform copyrighted music IN A WORSHIP SERVICE. In such cases, you need to follow copyright protocol and pay for the licensing. It's only in the case of the worship service that you are free to use the music either by playing it or performing it.
How do you pick a worship song?
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I want to show you the six things I consider most often while choosing worship songs.
Consideration #1: God.
Consideration #2: Gospel.
Consideration #3: The message or theme of the day.
Consideration #4: Song Frequency.
Consideration #5: The Band.
You might be interested: FAQ: Church Wedding Songs?
What is the most beautiful hymn?
11 Of The Most Beautiful Hymns Covered On YouTube
It Is Well With My Soul – 3b4hJoy.
Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing – Phil Wickham.
Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus – Andy Cherry.
There is a Fountain – MercyMe.
Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior – Hasan Green.
His Eye Is On The Sparrow – Lee and Sig Evangelista.
What's the difference between a hymn and a song?
A hymn is considered a traditional hymn; a song is considered a praise song also called a worship song. Hymns are always sung to the same tune or rhythm like 8.8. 8.8. The melodies and lyrics of the hymns can be interchangeable.
What are the top 20 hymns?
50 Best Loved Hymns
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven.
The Lord's my shepherd.
Holy Father, God of might.
All creatures of our God and King.
God that madest earth and heaven.
Jesus, lover of my soul.
Be thou my vision.
What is the greatest hymn ever written?
Here are top 10 hymns of all that that have impacted and ministered to my soul.
O for A Thousand Tongues to Sing.
The Solid Rock.
Jesus I Am Resting, Resting.
O The Deep Deep Love of Jesus.
Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
Blessed Assurance.
Rock of Ages Cleft for Me.
Is Abide With Me a funeral song?
A traditional Christian hymn popular across denominations. It is often sung at military services, sporting events and state funerals.
Is it legal to stream church services?
While the Religious Service Exemption in US copyright law outlines the permissions for churches to perform songs that are copyrighted during their religious services, it does not permit that performance to be streamed or broadcast over the Internet.
You might be interested: Question: Old School Black Church Songs?
Is CCLI legal?
CCLI makes copyright easy. With the CCLI Church Copyright License, churches, organizations and schools can be legally covered. With the license options, you are covered for the copying activities listed below. All while saving administrative time, effort and expense.
Does CCLI cover YouTube videos?
In 2011, CCLI added the Streaming License as a supplement to our Copyright License. It is primarily intended to cover the live service webcasts on your church's website; however it also covers third-party social media platforms, like YouTube and Facebook.
How many songs should a church have?
Take your average number of songs per week and multiply it by 12. A church with 3 songs a Sunday would benefit with a repertoire of 30-40 songs. A church with 8 songs each week would be around 90-100 songs. It's would be a general rule because
Often asked: How To Play Church Songs On Piano?
FAQ: How Many Songs You Need To Worship At Church?
FAQ: What Are Some Good Songs For Memorial Day Church Service?
Top Church Worship Songs?
FAQ: Eric Church Song Lyrics?


Established in 2004, Dance Arts Conservatory Center for the Performing Arts is a school of dance and musical theater located in the heart of Wellington. It is our mission to provide a professional environment for our students to flourish in artistically, all the while providing the highest quality of training.
Our curriculum is designed for students ranging from the novice to the professional and classes are administered by our knowledgeable faculty of Arts educators who are all mature, experienced teachers with broad experience in performance and professional companies. Our program places an emphasis on ballet and concentrates on developing a well-rounded dancer who can perform proficiently in all of the dance forms. We also feature pointe, variations, tap, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, modern, acro, musical theater, creative movement, youth combination classes, & adult classes. And although current dance studio culture often seems concentrated in competitive programs, trophies and competitions, here at DAC we are focused in providing strong dance programing and outstanding performance opportunities for our students.
We also provide a top-notch musical theater program in which students will work with directors, musical directors, choreographers and theater staff, from learning how to read scrips, sing, act and dance in the productions, to learning how to quick-change costumes, move sets on and off stage, and use a props table... our industry professionals teach them from the ground up, properly.
Wellington Ballet Theatre, is a pre-professional dance company dedicated to providing the highest standards of classical training and dance performance education to the South Florida area. By providing opportunities to perform in classical/and innovative full-length ballets, it seeks to build self-esteem and professionalism in its dancers as well as to promote a deep appreciation of the dance arts throughout the community. Under the Ballet Direction of Melissa Waters, WBT strives to be an example of excellence for dancer development, preparing students for entering college, University and professional dancer careers by providing intensive artistic and dance experience with an emphasis on ballet.
With our dance company "Momentum", we are strongly focused in dance education and artistic performance. It is our mission to provide enriching performance opportunities for our young dancers of tomorrow. Our company dancers are passionate about performance and are highly committed students. Our program is designed to prepare serious students to enter into the professional arena by providing dance training in all of the major styles, with a strong emphasis on ballet to ensure that excellent technique is developed throughout. Momentum performs innovative works throughout the season and usually includes showcases at the South Florida Fair Expo Center, City Place and the Binks Forest Fall Festival.
Excellent programming. Unforgettable friendships. Life changing experiences.


Let's Play - Shadow Complex (14) Secrets Through Interprative Dance!
[30:43] Let's Play - Shadow Complex (14) Secrets Through Interprative Dance!
[WR] Shadow Complex Xbox 360 Speed Run completed in 5:14. Yes nearly 5 minutes! No cheats used!
[13:37] [WR] Shadow Complex Xbox 360 Speed Run completed in 5:14. Yes nearly 5 minutes! No cheats used!
[10:46] WHAT THE **** HAPPENED TO SONIC!?
What Makes a Great Metroidvania?
[05:44] What Makes a Great Metroidvania?


text:
"Yeoman" is an antiquated term a now almost-defunct British social class. The yeomanry were small-scale rural landowners who shared attributes with both the upper and working classes, though had little in common with the urban middle class. A yeoman could be equally comfortable shovelling manure on his farm, educating himself from books, or enjoying country sports such as shooting and hunting. Isaac Newton was a famous member of this class, inheriting a small farm which paid the bills for his academic work. The yeomanry continues today to a small extent, especially in the north of England where family-owned farms have still not been replaced by corporate-structured agriculture.
The term suggests someone upright, sturdy, honest and trustworthy. (eg. 'hail, oh stout yeoman of the bar').
Yeoman is also a U.S. naval occupation, roughly equivalent to a secretary. In navies derivative of Great Britain, it can denote someone responsible for a specific duty, such as the Chief Yeoman of Signals, or someone acting as an aide to a superior for certain functions, such as the Navigator's Yeoman.
Yeomen, Yeomanry refers to the extra-judicial military force organised by property owning class in 18th century Ireland to protect the British occupation.
Compare Yeomen of the Guard and Yeomen Warders.
A Gilbert and Sullivan operetta was entitled The Yeomen of the Guard.
Yeomanry were the territorial cavalry regiments of the British Army during the First World War though as the war progressed many regiments fought as dismounted infantry. Many of these regiments retained their "yeomanry" designations after the war, and through modern times.
There is a town called Yeoman, Indiana.
Yeoman is the name given by Owen Aisher, the UK yachtsman, to the succession of racing yachts he owned. The tradition was continued by the family after the death of Owen Aisher. Starting with the first then Yeoman II and progressing to Yeoman XXXX and beyond. Yeoman XV (an International 5.5 metre racing yacht) skippered by Owen's son Robin Aisher won a bronze medal at the 1968 Olympic Games sailed in Acapulco.
The Oberlin College sports teams are the Yeomen and Yeowomen.
This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. If an article link referred you here, you might want to go back and fix it to point directly to the intended page.
Retrieved from "http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Yeoman"
Categories: Disambiguation
This page was last modified 17:29, 9 Jun 2005.


Ok, throwing in one more tune from my past.. This is By your tail with The Glendoras. We recorded this song in 1999. For a short while I lived in my moms house, she had moved out and was about to sell the house, and I was looking for a flat. Since my mom had moved, there were almost no furnitures in the house, so we moved in all our equipment, plus Göran's recording gear, and "built" ourselves a "studio" there. The Farfisa got one bedroom, the drums another bedroom. The bass amp was placed in the kitchen, while we took turns with the guitars in the hallway. The mixer and recorder ended up in the living room. It took us a few days, but eventually we got about ten songs recorded. By your tail was one of them. I came up with the music and lyrics, obsessed by Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns and influenced by Night of the sadist. The song turned out pretty good I think. I love Patrik's psychedelic organ solo, and the rest of his playing for that matter!


text:
Q: Can't produce to Confluent Kafka topic through Kafka REST API I have a trouble producing to Kafka topic through Rest API proxy.
I have a running confluent kafka cluster in which I'd like to create a topic and produce a message to it using REST API.
For that purpose I have followed the documentation and created API key and secret.
I manage to create topic:
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Basic <BASE64_ENCODED_AUTH_KEY_SECRET>"  \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"topic_name\":\"test1\",\"partitions_count\":6,\"configs\":[]}" \
https://pkc-xmzwx.europe-central2.gcp.confluent.cloud:443/kafka/v3/clusters/lkc-1zoqz/topics" | jq

-------------------
returns:
{
  "kind": "KafkaTopic",
  "metadata": {
    "self": "https://pkc-xmzwx.europe-central2.gcp.confluent.cloud/kafka/v3/clusters/lkc-1zoqz/topics/test1",
    "resource_name": "crn:///kafka=lkc-1zoqz/topic=test1"
  },
  "cluster_id": "lkc-1zoqz",
  "topic_name": "test1",
  "is_internal": false,
  "replication_factor": 0,
  "partitions_count": 0,
  "partitions": {
    "related": "https://pkc-xmzwx.europe-central2.gcp.confluent.cloud/kafka/v3/clusters/lkc-1zoqz/topics/test1/partitions"
  },
  "configs": {
    "related": "https://pkc-xmzwx.europe-central2.gcp.confluent.cloud/kafka/v3/clusters/lkc-1zoqz/topics/test1/configs"
  },
  "partition_reassignments": {
    "related": "https://pkc-xmzwx.europe-central2.gcp.confluent.cloud/kafka/v3/clusters/lkc-1zoqz/topics/test1/partitions/-/reassignment"
  },
  "authorized_operations": []
}

MY PROBLEM:
I can't produce to that topic (can't produce to ANY topic through Kafka Rest API) :
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Basic <BASE64_ENCODED_AUTH_KEY_SECRET>"  \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data "{"records":[{"value":"S2Fma2E="}]}" \
"https://pkc-xmzwx.europe-central2.gcp.confluent.cloud:443/kafka/v3/clusters/lkc-1zoqz/topics/test1"

-----------------
returns:
    {"error_code":405,"message":"HTTP 405 Method Not Allowed"}

ALSO TRIED LIKE THIS:
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Basic <BASE64_ENCODED_AUTH_KEY_SECRET>"  \
                   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
                    -d  "{ \"key\": {\"value\": \"S2Fma2E=\"} }" \
                   "https://pkc-xmzwx.europe-central2.gcp.confluent.cloud:443/kafka/v3/clusters/lkc-1zoqz/topics/test1/records"

----------------
Returns the same:

    {"error_code":405,"message":"HTTP 405 Method Not Allowed"}

IDK if this has something to do with ACL management? Looking into that right now....

A: Are you using Confluent Platform (hosted) or Confluent Cloud API?
If the latter, this API is not supported, here's the documentation on what's supported by Cloud API: https://docs.confluent.io/cloud/current/api.html

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Sometimes you just need a dedicated, narrow focus application to perform a specific task. If cutting video is that task, then Bandicut Video Cutter is the app.
If you need simple video cutting ability but don't want to pay out for a professional video editing suite, Bandicut will do the job nicely. You will have to pay a little to remove the watermark in the exported video, however. Note that the processing time is greatly increased if not using high speed mode.
Bandicut is super-fast video cutting/splitting/joining software with an easy-to-use interface.
With Bandicut, everybody can easily select the cutting area and merge multiple videos.
You can also quickly split a large video file into smaller video clips or trim unwanted parts of video such as commercials, outtakes and trailers.
There are lots of video cutter programs. However, if you want to cut, trim, crop, split your video files or merge multiple segments without decreasing the video quality, please try Bandicut!
The cutting/joining area can be selected per frame which allows the user to precisely choose the cutting/joining area. Other software cuts quickly only between "keyframes". However, Bandicut is able to cut quickly between "any frames" that the user selects.
Easy to use, reasonable price. I am not good at handling computer or some electronic things. This program is really good for me because it's easy to use some functions such as cutting, adding. So I could edit very easily even though I am not good at doing computer things.
What do you think about Bandicut Video Cutter? Do you recommend it? Why?


When I was a young girl, my sister and I spent hours doing the stereotypical little girl thing – playing house with our dolls. We were unconcerned with stereotypes, feminism, and equal opportunity for women. We simply loved our dolls, dressing them, feeding them and playing the role of mom.
We attempted to include our extremely uncooperative younger brothers, but they refused to play the role of husband and we had to settle for them being an annoying, slobbering, panting dog that got underfoot and truly didn't add to our homemaking experience.
My sister and I never discussed our goals or future. We both went on to college, I became a teacher and she an engineer. But in the end, we found ourselves making a career of the one thing that came naturally to us both, homemaker.
I come from a long line of homemakers who relished the job, made it look easy and left me some big shoes to fill. Once Caleb came along and I gave up teaching to stay at home, I had visions of following in their footsteps and being little Suzy homemaker, a domestic force to be reckoned with.
The 'mom' thing came pretty natural to me once I overcame those first months of postpartum depression and believing my life as I knew it was ruined. I settled into my new role and obviously loved it enough to eventually add four more little fellows to the Brandsma band.
But in my mind, a homemaker was like my mom, my grandma, my aunts; someone who sewed and mended, cooked and baked, canned and preserved, cleaned and tidied. And so, I endeavoured to take my place among the homemaking greats.
But I learned very quickly that my ancestors were a hard act to follow.
Rule # 1 – Grow most of what you eat in your own garden. Darn, my first road block. My green thumb had turned black; right about the time I was done sucking it 40 years ago.
Rule # 2 – In order to save money, learn to sew. The ladies in my family, made their own moccasins and sewed their own bathing suits for goodness sake. Bathing suits! So, I bought a sewing machine and made 'cute' little outfits, using Caleb as my less than impressed live manikin. Second road block—Caleb couldn't say much, but if looks could kill….
Rule # 3 – Can and preserve your own wares. Steve, coming from an equally homemaking proficient lineage, kindly offered to help. Having bought the apples, peaches and cherries that I had no hope of growing, we worked together as a newly married couple, canning and preserving the night away. The glow on my face, partly due to standing over that hot stove for hours, came from the knowledge that I was keeping up the standard of home cooking that my husband was accustomed to. Road block # 3—canned fruit that explodes out of their jars and tastes more like fermented wine really isn't meant to be eaten, even when topped with generous amounts of ice cream.
Rule # 4 – If at first you don't succeed, try again. 4th road block—some people are beyond hope. Despite the countless times my mom has patiently taught and retaught me, when left on my own devices, the jars refuse to seal. My boys are forced to eat mountains of sweet jam mingled with my salty tears of frustration before it spoils.
Rule # 5 – Don't buy it if you can make it. That includes bread, crackers, pasta, pizza crust… Sheesh, these ladies I'm related to don't give a girl a break. Not only do they mix and knead the bread dough, no joke, they grind the wheat to make the flour to make the bread dough. And so, in an effort to fit in, I bought the wheat grinder and the wheat and jumped in with gusto. Road block # 5—bread making is a science and I'm no scientist. If you run out of time to bake the bread, putting it in the fridge to wait till later isn't your best bet.
Yeast waits for no man (or woman)!
After 22 years of trying, I've raised the white flag. There have been successes along the way, but I've had to discover my own way to make a home.
I make a delicious monster cookie for my boys to pack in their lunch. I make a mean spaghetti out of the jar for those nights when I'm cooking on a time crunch. I'd say most of my meals are from scratch even if the ingredients are bought at the store. I can't sew them an outfit, but I can hot glue cow ears to a headband and turn them into the cutest cow ever for their school play. I can juggle guitar lessons, soccer practice, doctor appointments, youth group, hockey games and countless other things and still manage to keep my kids fed and the house liveable.
Now that my youngest is in school full time I've had to adjust to this idea of homemaker all over again. Is it a badge I can wear with honour as my mom and grandma did before me, even if I do it differently than they did? Absolutely!
And so, I'm going to put my name up on that list of homemaking giants. A few of the genes passed down from my ancestors may have skipped my generation, but enough squeaked through that I'm crowning myself, "Krista—homemaker," a domestic force to be reckoned with!
I really enjoyed this story! What's inspiring to me was the fact that you have peace with your OWN version of "Homemaker"!
Thanks again Krista for making me feel normal ?
Krista, I really liked your article. It is important that we celebrate who we are as women and not to compete with other women, including mothers of a different generation. What an accomplishment and God's grace to have happy, healthy, well adjusted children! You go girl!??
Thanks krista for sharing your beautiful writing ? Love your honesty!
I laughed hard at this one. Guess what I can't write stories like you can and I never took you kids to all the activities you take your kids to. You are right you are a domestic force to be reckoned with.
As I was thinking about this one I remember how many years you guys had to eat flopped bread. It took me many years to get my bread to be good. Once in a while I still have to make a batch of bread into bread crumbs.