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Interstellar Review
Posted: November 7, 2014 in Action, Reviews, Science Fiction
Tags: Anne Hathaway, Apollo Missions, Christopher Nolan, Dust Bowl, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine
Through the first half of its 169-minute runtime, Interstellar soars. Christopher Nolan launches this massive undertaking with equal parts skill and guile, and while the early going may be more "aw, shucks" than awesome, the narrative captures the spirit of optimism and possibility that the NASA space program provided in the 1960's. Every American boy growing up in that decade wanted to become an astronaut, and the laying out of the mission and the launching of the rocket in Interstellar refires those feelings. For one and a half hours, Nolan appears on the brink of completing an even more daunting task than identifying another planet suitable for human inhabitation – making a 21st century blockbuster from original material that qualifies as family entertainment without any of the usual pejorative undertones that accompany that phrase.
Then Anne Hathaway delivers a monologue about love.
Even as she speaks, the movie abruptly depressurizes, with oxygen and good sense hissing out of the script. Ballast shifts, the GPS is broken, the computers glitch, and the film spins out of control until it crash lands into a nonsensical morass on Planet Crap. Seldom can a turning point be so clearly identified, but it is as if a different director working from a different script completed the film. The tone turns dark, and the science becomes silly. Make no mistake: the failure of this film is due to pilot error. Nolan, either through simple misjudgment or hubris, does not settle for creating wonderful entertainment. Instead, he pursues a grander vision in the vein of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, but does not come close to accomplishing this feat. (To be fair, there is a hilarious reference to Kubrick's masterpiece made by the artificial intelligence aboard the spacecraft in Interstellar.)
The earth is dying at the beginning of the film. John Lithgow in a juiceless performance as the family grandpa explains it as six billion people all wanting the latest gadget. While the theory of the new iPhone causing a return of the dust bowl and mass starvation is intriguing, perhaps Christopher Nolan and his screenwriting partner, brother Jonathan, would have been better served by just laying it at the feet of climate change and leaving it at that. Lithgow's son-in-law is the former flight jockey turned farmer, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), who watches one crop after another turn to dust, as he raises children Tom (Timothée Chalamet) and Murph (Mackenzie Foy). Murph is like her old man, an engineer and scientists at heart, while Tom is the future farmer. Murph named after Murphy's Law (cue the groans) notices certain natural anomalies occurring in her bedroom which lead her and Coop to NASA headquarters, the space agency having become a secret agency after the government publically discredited the moon landings to keep the country's attentions on the problems here on planet earth.
Michael Caine, in an entirely predictable performance as Dr. Brand, the chief scientist for the program, convinces Coop that he must go on the flight that will save all mankind either through Plan A, finding a new world in a nice neighborhood with a low security deposit where everyone can move, or Plan B, using the fertilized eggs stored on board the spaceship to start over. Caine sends his daughter (Hathaway) and two others along with Coop toward a wormhole that has conveniently appeared just past Saturn. The willing suspension of disbelief during this stretch of the film is accomplished through superior pacing and a sweetly innocent approach to storytelling. That extends to the onboard robot TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin), which features both humor and truth settings, and is smart enough to capture all the best lines.
The crew follows 12 individuals who previously went through the wormhole to explore 12 different planets, but the Endurance only has enough gas in the tank to check out three of them. Time is another expendable fuel here, and relativity is more than a theory. Each hour on the first planet to be explored is the equivalent of seven years on earth. Spend too long sightseeing, and there will be no one left to save back home. The trip to the surface of the first planet is a dramatic and visual highpoint of the film. Unfortunately, the Hathaway monologue comes immediately thereafter. By the time they get to Matt Damon's planet, the story has become a black hole, sucking all logic into an event horizon from which nothing plausible can escape.
Hathaway is strangely flat, and her haircut is so unflattering it looks as if she lost a bet. Damon has the thankless task of portraying the all too human person frozen behind a myth. McConaughey fares better, although his folksiness fades in and out like an accent that has not been fully mastered. The surprise powerful performance in Interstellar belongs to Jessica Chastain as the grown-up Murph, who must solve Dr. Brand's equation and her missing father's motivation. It's left to her to save the world even as the movie goes down the tubes. Interstellar has several opportunities to finish with a flourish, although the potential power of each ending diminishes as the film grinds on. No pocket of sentimentality is left unexplored before this one finally fades to black, no matter how far into the time-space continuum we have to unwillingly journey.
Bad Turn Worse (aka We Gotta Get Out of This Place) Review
Faults Review


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Radical without a Cause: "Matisse: A Life in Color"
October 22nd, 2013 | Published in *, October 2013 | 2 Comments
at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
By Keith Banner
A docent was giving a tour of "Matisse: A Life in Color" at the Indianapolis Museum of Art when I was strolling through. I overheard her say, "Matisse didn't have any social causes in his work. He didn't want his art to be weighted down with those kinds of messages. He wanted to please people with his art." I wanted to add that he mostly was just trying to please himself. That wouldn't be a putdown or slight either. As you witness the show (mainly made up of works from the Cone Sisters Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art), up through January 12, 2014, you begin to understand that Matisse's self-involved playfulness is what created the grandeur and momentum of his work. His world, like the writer Vladimir Nabokov's, is a hermetically sealed universe of constantly reused signs and symbols, and his life work was the constant and feverish rearranging of all these colors and iconographies in order to find the perfect picture, encapsulating everything he was trying to do in one gorgeous, harmonious snapshot.
"Large Reclining Nude"
One of the first pictures to truly get at this great self-driven amalgamation is "Large Reclining Nude" from 1935, which is the centerpiece of "Life in Color." It holds a wall like no other small painting can. Vigorously colored, and painted with a sort of secondhand dreaminess, "Pink Nude," as it is also called, has a self-assurance and muscular whimsy to it; it seems to be contemplating Andy Warhol and Jasper John works that would be coming 25 or so years later, clean, quick, staring-straight-ahead pictures that have a Pop yet classical essence to them. The nude in the picture stares straight at you like Warhol's Liz Taylor, but the surrounding paint job has that singular this-is-nothing-but-a-painting brashness that is letting everyone out there know the artist is not interested in verisimilitude. He's trying very hard to find a picture worth painting.
In fact, next to "Pink Nude" in the show is a series of photos Matisse himself took charting the evolution of the work. It's truly a mindblower, watching a glum, mediocre kind of realist painting slowly morph day after day into a picture worthy of worship. First the face goes, globbed into multiple shapes and masks, only to end up as the final product, a sort of mythic goddess merged with a dime-store crush. The body as well gets mythologized, moving from shape to line and back again. Matisse is flattening the surfaces but increasing the tension between foreground and background, object and subject so that by the time he finishes the metamorphosis "Pink Nude" is more like a poem than a photograph. He blurs the lines between what we think is "there" and what's inside his head.
You can see this process as well in some earlier pictures from the 1920s across the way from "Pink Nude," especially in 1922's "Festival of Flowers," an oil painting that looks as if Matisse hardly used any paint. Dry and wispy, the painting is made up of lines used to form shapes disintegrating toward the edge of the canvas. It's a pretty run-of-the-mill set-piece featuring his daughter and her friend watching a parade pass by from the balcony of a hotel room, but the subject matter isn't really what Matisse wants to capture here. It's the essence of a memory of that moment, predicated on the desire of not losing it but not keeping it either. He's elegizing with oils, turning the medium into the message, and the effervescent sloppiness of his style allows you to leave the real and start thinking about the aesthetic, maybe even the spiritual. That's Matisse's gift to all contemporary artists, that slapdash, blissful sense of insouciance given serious thought and practice.
Matisse's very particularized genius is about taking what is conventional and staid and reinvigorating it through pulling it apart, running it through an aesthetic gauntlet inside his head, and creating pictures that are radical without really losing their sense of grace and even nostalgia for the predictable. His cause, if we were to posit one for him, was about a constant search for joy in the process of making art. While that sounds a little too whimsical and little too pompous, it's right there in front of you in the works themselves in "Life in Color."
The curators of the show validate Matisse's trip to bountiful by finishing with Jazz, his famous artist book made up of paper-cuts from 1947. By this time, Matisse was suffering from poor health, and was at times bedridden. He took to using scissors as a way of making art so he wouldn't have to stand in front of a canvas, and this pragmatic solution truly allowed Matisse to continue the burning away of what he didn't need in favor of capturing an exuberant form of home-made purity. The collages in Jazz are simply breathtaking not because they are the works of a master, but because a master mapped a way out of his own canonization and physical decline by mapping a way in. The starburst and Tahitian-frond shapes that haunt the collages have a crisp elegance without losing a sense of play, an innocence that's both effortless yet somehow constantly reconsidered.
Every image and shape in the Jazz portfolio has that sense of connectedness without losing a sense of disconnection, even disassociation, the scissor-work providing a sort of keyhole into yet another Matisse mansion. This last reinvention, however, was also a coda for a lifetime of experiments, a lifetime of quiet radical readjustments that created a body of work so immense and pleasurable one show can't really capture the grandeur.
"Life in Color" does catch lightning in a bottle through by simply focusing our attention on the spectacular pieces the Baltimore Museum of Art acquired. The curators align, organize and embellish at every turn. If you go, definitely get the audio-guide. There are also explanatory I-Pads stationed throughout, as well as videos and well-written wall–text. If not an exhaustive retrospective, "Life in Color" is a paean to Matisse's diligence and imaginative fortitude. The curators seem truly fond of his stubbornness to find perfection in whatever media he was using. In one of the accompanying videos in that last room of Jazz collages, an elderly Matisse cuts colored paper at a table, looking like a kid in a candy-store. That image is sentimental, but also transcendent, even symbolic. The last form of art-making he did was cutting away what he didn't need: he found a form of total joy through excising the past.
Annefesto says:
October 22nd, 2013at 2:59 pm(#)
Yes, god forbid anyone should have any fun with this stuff. It should be as fun to do as it is to look at. Yay, Matisse!!!
Cynthia Kukla says:
October 28th, 2013at 9:34 pm(#)
Great taste of the show I will be seeing soon. Let's also add that the great "Radical Intervention" show of Matisse at the Art Institute of Chgo showed his response to war and to Picasso/Cubism/Modernism. That show was brilliant and then, after Chgo, traveled to NYC. Shows them the Midwest knows what it is doing.So, tho Matisse was seen as 'playful' to use the reviewer's words, he was really more than that.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Thanks to AS student Carlos McCoy for some information on Bitcoin. BITCOIN, the world's "first decentralised digital currency", was launched in 2009 and unlike traditional currencies, which are issued by central banks, Bitcoin has no central monetary authority. Instead it is underpinned by a peer-to-peer computer network made up of its users' machines, akin to the networks that underpin BitTorrent, a file-sharing system, and Skype, an audio, video and chat service. However in today's environment it does maintain a good store of value relatively speaking when you look at alternative currencies. Below is Max Keiser with some very good points.
This entry was posted in Exchange Rates and tagged Bitcoin, Money on April 14, 2013 by Mark.


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Playing Fair
Over the past five decades, audiovisual content distribution services have evolved in many ways. In the 1970s, free-to-air TV was the main platform for content distribution and thereafter technological evolution allowed pay TV to go mainstream. However, it was not until the past decade that such providers started facing additional competition from a variety of sources and within a quite short time span.
Suddenly, higher broadband adoption and technical capabilities in both provision and consumption has allowed the internet to become an audiovisual content distribution platform that, given its nature, has introduced a great variety of relevant actors to the industry.
By banishing barriers to entry, the internet has made it possible for single users and companies alike to massively distribute audiovisual content at a very low cost. What started out as a new and clearly differentiated set of audiovisual content has rapidly morphed into first a complement and now a substitute to traditional content distribution platforms, as in the so-called 'cord-cutting' and 'cord-shaving' phenomena.
Additional competition is always a good thing - more diverse content from different sources means fulfilling previously unsatisfied consumer needs while making other providers offer innovative products and services. However, such a way to compete is inherently flawed if, as now is the case, the playing field is unbalanced or tilted towards one side, thus benefiting a set of players over the others.
Such unbalance comes from three main factors. First, traditional pay TV operators face a set of regulations concerning content distribution such as must-carry obligations that are currently not applicable to over the top (OTT) services and make the provision of their services costlier in many cases. Second, pay TV operators face, in many jurisdictions, special taxes and duty schemes which OTT services are not subject to – and even more dramatic is the fact that in most countries OTT services operated from abroad do not have to pay a single penny in taxes. The third factor comes from technological convergence, given that many pay TV operators are now broadband providers as well and must deal with the consequences of increased traffic coming from growing adoption of OTT services among their subscribers.
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Hi there, since the last update to this theme the slideshows no longer want to autoplay.
Maybe you can help, thanks.


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Hivemind Acquires Hit Comic Series "Gideon Falls" for TV Adaptation Following Multi-Studio Bidding War
An atmospheric thriller colliding rural mystery and urban horror, the series follows an ensemble cast of seemingly random strangers as they become drawn into a mystery connected to a long-forgotten local legend.
[via press release from Hivemind]
Hivemind Acquires Hit Comic Series GIDEON FALLS for TV Adaptation Following Multi-Studio Bidding War
New Company from Veteran Producers Sean Daniel, Jason Brown, and Kathy Lingg Adds Co-President Dinesh Shamdasani; Scores Hit Comic Franchise from New York Times Best-Selling Author Jeff Lemire and Superstar Artist Andrea Sorrentino
LOS ANGELES, June 28, 2018 -- Hivemind today announced that it has won an intense multi-studio bidding war and acquired the rights to bring the hit Image Comics comic book series, GIDEON FALLS, to television in partnership with co-creators Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. Hivemind's Jason Brown, Sean Daniel, Kathy Lingg and Dinesh Shamdasani will executive produce the series alongside co-creators Lemire and Sorrentino with high-level creative talent already circling the project.
An atmospheric thriller colliding rural mystery and urban horror, the series follows an ensemble cast of seemingly random strangers - a washed-up Catholic priest, an uncompromising female sheriff, and a young recluse obsessed with unraveling a conspiracy buried in his city's trash - as they become drawn into a mystery connected to a long-forgotten local legend.
Established in 2018, Hivemind is the new production entity from long-time producing partners Sean Daniel and Jason Brown, Bad Robot veteran Kathy Lingg and former Valiant Entertainment CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani. Dedicated to partnering with high-level creative talent and globally recognized intellectual properties from the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books, video games, anime, and more, Hivemind recently inked a first-look deal with Amazon Studios. GIDEON FALLS marks a major new rights acquisition for the label, which will develop the series as an hour-long horror drama based on Lemire and Sorrentino's repeatedly sold-out, critically acclaimed comic title of the same name that instantly became one of 2018's biggest breakout hits upon its debut in March.
"GIDEON FALLS is psychological horror told with a deeply humanistic touch, a story about imperfect people who confront their own demons - imagined and supernatural alike," said Hivemind Co-President Jason Brown. "It is this kind of expertly fashioned, character-focused genre storytelling that inspired us to form Hivemind, and it is our mission to collaborate with world-class authors, artists, and rights holders like Jeff and Andrea to bring their stories to the screen in an authentic way."
GIDEON FALLS is the latest property to join Hivemind's quickly expanding roster of film and television projects. The company currently produces the acclaimed science fiction series The Expanse - which recently made a historic move to Amazon - as well as Netflix's upcoming adaptation of The Witcher, based on the series of novels that inspired the best-selling game franchise. Its next feature film will be Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark with producer/co-writer Guillermo del Toro and director André �vredal, which begins production this summer.
"GIDEON FALLS is a story that is very near to our hearts, and Andrea and I could not be more excited to be partnering with Hivemind to bring the terror, and the story of Fred, Norton and The Black Barn, to an even wider audience," said series co-creator and writer Jeff Lemire.
"It's great to imagine GIDEON FALLS, and all these characters whom we've been working so hard to realize in the graphic novel, now coming to life on TV screens," added series co-creator and artist Andrea Sorrentino.
GIDEON FALLS will also notably re-team Lemire with producer Dinesh Shamdasani, who joins Hivemind as Co-President. Lemire and Shamdasani previously collaborated on multiple best-selling comics projects, including The Valiant and Bloodshot Reborn, during his time at the helm of Valiant Entertainment, which Shamdasani departed following a major acquisition in early 2018. In addition to his duties at Hivemind, Shamdasani is also currently producing a big-screen adaptation of the Bloodshot comic book series for Sony Pictures with star Vin Diesel, director Dave Wilson, and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer that is set to begin filming this summer.
"GIDEON FALLS is one of the most inventive stories anywhere in comics today, colliding a psychologically complex and intellectually nuanced cast against a stark and terrifying terrain of science fiction and horror," said Shamdasani. "It's no surprise that it comes from the brilliant minds of two of the most talented creators in the comics medium - Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino - or that it sparked a massive multi-studio bidding war."
About Hivemind:
Established in 2018, Hivemind (originally announced as Mythos) is dedicated to partnering with high-level creative talent and globally recognized intellectual properties from the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books, video games, anime, and more. The company's current projects include the acclaimed science-fiction series The Expanse for Amazon and the highly anticipated television adaptation of The Witcher for Netflix, as well as the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark feature film, based on the best-selling book series, from producer/co-writer Guillermo del Toro and director André �vredal, which goes into production this summer. Hivemind recently signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios for event television, and its leadership team includes former Universal Pictures president Sean Daniel, his producing partner Jason Brown, Bad Robot veteran Kathy Lingg, and former Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani.
About Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino:
New York Times best-selling and award-winning author Jeff Lemire is the creator of such iconic graphic novels as Essex County, Sweet Tooth, Underwater Welder, and Roughneck, as well as the co-creator of Descender with Dustin Nguyen, Black Hammer with Dean Ormston and Plutona with Emi Lenox. Having won the American Library Association's prestigious Alex Award - recognizing books for adults with specific teen appeal - Lemire has been nominated for eight Eisner awards, seven Harvey awards, and eight Shuster awards. Best-selling and acclaimed Italian artist Andrea Sorrentino was named IGN's Best Comic Artist of 2012 and, in the years since, has contributed to some of Marvel and DC Comics' greatest properties, including X-Men, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Secret Empire, and Green Arrow. He is currently working full time on GIDEON FALLS, while still also providing covers for Marvel and DC Comics. Lemire and Sorrentino are represented by Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company, Inc. and represented legally by Allison Binder of Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson & Binder.
About Image Comics:
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of bestselling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has six individuals on the Board of Directors: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino, and Eric Stephenson. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline Comics, Skybound Entertainment, and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.
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TBS Launches "The Misery Index" on October 22
Jameela Jamil stars as the show's host with The Tenderloins comedy troupe and stars of truTV's "Impractical Jokers" - Brian "Q" Quinn, James "Murr" Murray, Joe Gatto and Sal Vulcano - starring as recurring panelists.
NBC Comedy Icons and Multiple Emmy Winners Ted Danson, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock Unite for New Series
Danson will play a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons.
The Wilderness Pushes the Brown Family to New Limits in All-New Season of Discovery Channel's "Alaskan Bush People" Premiering Sunday, August 4
After six months on the mountain, the Wolfpack has fully re-dedicated themselves to the goal of total self-sufficiency they began in Alaska.
Danny McBride's "The Righteous Gemstones," Starring McBride, John Goodman, Edi Patterson and Adam Devine, Debuts Aug. 18 on HBO
McBride stars as Jesse Gemstone, the eldest of three grown Gemstone offspring, who looks to lead in his father's footsteps, but finds his past sins jeopardizing the family ministry.
"South Park" Season 23 to Premiere on Wednesday, September 25 at 10:00 P.M. ET/PT on Comedy Central
All-new episodes from season 23 will be available to stream in HD exclusively on South Park Studios and Hulu the day after they premiere.
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HBO Max Assembles Original Content Dream Team
Rolling up to Robert Greenblatt, this group of veteran executives has been involved in developing and producing popular award-winning film and television content for the past 30 years.
Documentary "Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist," Debuts July 31 on HBO
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12 teams of two will compete against each other in ambitious brick-building challenges to be crowned the country's most talented amateur LEGO builders.
ABC's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." to Conclude After Thrilling Seventh Season, Set to Air Summer 2020
"Agent Coulson is one of the most beloved cinematic heroes of our time, and we're so glad to have spent seven seasons with him and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they saved the world from countless unimaginable big bads," said Karey Burke.
Spectrum Originals to Make All 164 Episodes of the Classic 1990s Sony Pictures Television Series "Mad About You" Available on August 1 in Advance of Limited Event Reunion Series This Holiday Season
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"I Was Prey" Returns for an Exhilirating and Dramatic All-New Season This Summer
The all-new season premieres Wednesday, August 14 on Animal Planet.
Denise Richards Headlines "The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders" Kicking Off Lifetime's Cheer, Rally, Kill End-of-Summer Movie Line-Up This September, Starting on Labor Day
Four additional movies will air on back-to-back weekends as the dog days of summer wane.


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100 million people face severe weather while states pummeled by tornadoes
Posted 11:53 am, April 18, 2019, by CNN Wires
A storm system pushing its way from the Texas panhandle east to Louisiana Thursday, is expected to bring an increased threat of tornadoes, according to CNN meteorologist Michael Guy.
Huge swaths of the South, Midwest and East Coast are under the gun for severe weather as states still recovering from last weekend's tornadoeshunker down for more.
On Thursday, "the greatest threat for tornadoes will be along the Gulf Coast states of Mississippi and Alabama," CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.
The massive storm system won't leave the South quietly, either. It'll fan out to the Ohio Valley region and then the East Coast, threatening 100 million people with severe weather Thursday and Friday.
"Severe thunderstorms may produce damaging gusts, a few tornadoes (possibly strong), and isolated large hail today across the lower Mississippi Valley through the central Gulf Coast region," the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said Thursday.
In Louisiana, the forecast is so dire that New Orleans City Hall and other local government offices are closing early Thursday, the mayor's office said. New Orleans is expected to get pounded by the storm Thursday afternoon and evening.
Where are these storms headed?
This storm system will barrel toward the East Coast through Friday, unleashing tornadoes, damaging winds and hail from the Texas Panhandle to the coast of the Carolinas.
By early Friday morning, it will move through Georgia, then through other coastal Atlantic states by Friday afternoon.
Dangerous conditions will ramp up throughout the day Friday along the East Coast, spreading from the southern tip of Florida to all the way to Washington DC.
Track the storms here >>>
Who's at the greatest risk Friday?
The coastal parts of the Carolinas and southeastern Virginia have the greatest potential Friday for severe weather. That area is at "enhanced risk," the Storm Prediction Center said, referring to the third level of severity on a scale of five.
Damaging winds and tornadoes could strike the Southeast and mid-Atlantic states, especially within the "enhanced risk" area.
The threat should diminish throughout the overnight hours Friday into Saturday as the cold front linked to the storms finally pushes off shore.
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Outrage after dog recently euthanized by St. Louis County animal shelter
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Barry strengthens into Category 1 hurricane as it nears landfall in Louisiana
Barry is a triple threat of storm surge, high rivers and flooding as it gets closer to the Louisiana coast
Barry weakens to a tropical depression, but authorities still warn of dangerous flooding
A deadly storm system now threatens 90 million people with destructive weather — including major cities
Barry moves deeper into Louisiana with more rain on the way
Central US braces for rain, wind and hail as dozens of tornadoes reported
2 million people are at 'high' risk for catastrophic tornadoes in parts of Oklahoma and Texas
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The Gulf Coast could get walloped with a foot of rain in the next few days
'The worst is yet to come' as Barry threatens 11 million people with flooding
Here's why the US has seen tornadoes, floods and extreme heat in the past few weeks


This collection of the Opinions of Justice Traynor spans his entire time on the bench. During those thirty years, Justice Traynor wrote over 900 superbly-crafted scholarly opinions that were widely influential throughout the United States.
In 1948, Justice Traynor authored Perez v. Sharp -- striking down a state ban on interracial marriage for the first time in the nation. Other notable cases include Escola v. Coca Cola Bottling Company and Greenman v. Yuba Power Products, Inc., in which Traynor modernized tort law with the creation of strict products liability.
The U.S. Supreme Court would use Traynor's opinion in People v. Cahan as part of the rationale behind Mapp v. Ohio, disallowing the use of illegally obtained evidence at trial.
Justice Traynor's Opinions have and will stand the test of time and are an excellent resource for researching California jurisprudence.


Each month students are awarded certificates for demonstrating the virtues at school. They receive a certificate and pencil at the monthly assembly. Pictures of the virtue recipients are posted on the bulletin board and in the local newspaper.
Every year, a student, group of students or class is nominated for the Chase Savoie Caring Community Award for outstanding community involvement.
In June, award ceremonies and celebrations are organized by individual teachers in each grade. In the upper elementary, medals are given to students who demonstrate high achievement in the different subject areas. Plaques are also given to students for greatest effort, highest achievement and most improved.
A male and female student in grades four through six is awarded for demonstrating exceptional sportsmanship, skill and leadership in the area of Physical Education.
A student in grade six who demonstrates excellence in the area of fine arts either band, art or drama is presented this award.


2015 has been pretty freaking great. But I've also never been pushed out of my comfort zone like I have this year. The direction my life is taking is unnerving me. It's definitely an unsettling feeling.
I also have a lot of expectations from this year. It's around this time last year that I had embarked on my personal transformation journey.
It's when my heart had done an intervention and said to me: Darling, it's time to stop. Listen to yourself. Feel.
As I'm going through this uncomfortable yet magical process, I want to share some ways on how you can create space in your own life to invite magic and miracles.
Observe yourself as this process is unfolding. You will notice your energy changing towards the relationships and events in your life. You may find yourself becoming inspired and enthusiastic towards some.
For other things in your life, you may notice the opposite. Your energy is withdrawing. You aren't finding the same level of joy. That's like a sign that your life is letting go of the old and making room for the new.
I have found this happen to me many times throughout the year. And I find myself rattled every single time.
This leads me to my next point. Don't resist the discomfort. Don't fight it. Don't force and knock yourself out trying to figure out why you don't feel the same.
Let it be. Let them unfold the way they are meant to. This is when trusting the process comes in handy.
The highest form of trust is simply surrendering to what is unfolding. Many times, you won't have any idea why or how it's happening.
The interesting thing is that it will becoming glaringly clear about what you're attached to. You'll notice how attached you are to a certain person or circumstance in your life. Let the attachment and hold fall away. This will be an opportunity for you to recognize to not tie your self-worth, identity, value, or happiness to an external circumstance or person.
Expect lots of unsettling feelings to arise. I'll give you an example. This past weekend, my mind had been puddled with confusion. I was trying too hard to analyze and think about what was happening in my life that I was becoming a bit frustrated.
I was becoming upset at the emotions arising. At first, I wanted to ignore the emotions coming up. But then I decided to just accept how I was feeling.
Observe how you're feeling like an outside by-stander.
What's going on in your external world is a direct reflection of your inner world. Pay close attention to how you're feeling. Ask yourself questions like: How am I feeling? What's going on with me? How is my energy changing?
All these questions direct the focus to your inner world.
You're going to be rocked during this process. It's going to be incredibly uncomfortable. It's going to be pushing your limits. Then, that means you're going to have to really take care of yourself and pay attention to your needs.
You will have to be gentle and kind to yourself as you navigate the tricky waters of transformation. Make a smoothie. Go for walks. Treat yourself to a massage. Get your favorite cocktail with a girlfriend. Go out. Take nice, long luxurious naps. Meditate. Journal.
How do you make room for what is truly right for you? What is your biggest takeaway from this post? Please share with me in the comments.


text:
California's mental health crisis
By Jocelyn Wiener
Seven years after voters passed Proposition 63 -- the landmark legislation that was supposed to radically improve mental health care in the state -- California is facing a deepening statewide mental health crisis. As the state struggles under the weight of a lingering recession and an enormous deficit, county mental health programs are often failing to provide care for even the sickest patients. In many cases, the minimal safety net that used to exist is disintegrating.
Exploring cultural competency and mental health
By Erica Mu
A community's mental health is difficult to quantify: It's highly dependent on self-reporting and deeply entwined with cultural context. While physical health problems are easily spotted, mental health issues are harder to see – and often harder to fix.
The Markingson Files: Can a mentally ill patient consent to a clinical trial?
Documents behind a controversial Seroquel drug trial raise serious questions about how patients with mental disorders are judged competent to participate in clinical trials all over the world.
"Now I have friends"
By Kelley Atherton
While other social services are facing budget cuts, the funding to serve Del Norte County's mentally ill population seems relatively secure.
Why Don't Human Penises Have Spikes? Stanford DNA Researchers Offer an Answer
By Barbara Feder Ostrov
How did human penises evolve without spikes? Stanford researchers suggest one explanation, plus more from our Daily Briefing.
Innovations Bring Depressed Elders Back from "Living Hell"
By Paul Kleyman
Serious depression is a growing problem for multicultural seniors. But unlike older whites, ethnic people 50-plus are blocked from treatment by poverty, limited or no insurance, lack of programs geared for them—and the stigma of mental problems that permeates many cultures. New America media senior editor Paul Kleyman begins his occasional series on mental challenges for ethnic seniors with this article on treatable depression.
When work and life collide: Reporting on an emotionally-charged story at an emotionally-charged time
By Jennifer Biddle
One of the happiest moments of 2009 for me personally was when I found out I received a fellowship from the California Endowment to produce a video series on teen suicide.
Writing about Eating Disorders
By Sheila Himmel
Eleven million Americans have eating disorders. Here are tips on covering this complex disease from a veteran journalist who faced the issue in her own family.
"Today, actually the group the groups experiencing the greatest increase in overdoses are Black Americans & America… https://t.co/eTnE6QO74T
"At the beginning of this current crisis, it was conceived as more of a rural & white problem problem affecting whi… https://t.co/Hwq9h4dZSD
The second wave was a rise in in overdoses when the prescription opioid supply became tightened, and heroin was int… https://t.co/W3gH8CUZl7
Magdalena Cerdá said the U.S. is currently in the third wave of the opioid overdose crisis. The first wave began wi… https://t.co/6rcweUDknH
"The United States is not only in a national crisis, but it's actually a global leader in opioid overdoses,"… https://t.co/xsJoFE4YmS
@Magda_Cerda, a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the director of NYU's Center for Opioid Epidemiol… https://t.co/qcEhJsd6C4
"Sari (@SariHorwitz) and I have traveled around the country and spent a lot of time and in areas that have been jus… https://t.co/TcInuFkE1P
Reporter @ScottHigham1 opened the webinar with a brief history of the opioid epidemic in the United States, includi… https://t.co/262BJgG5yw
Happening now: The Next Wave of America's Overdose Crisis Webinar with Pulitzer prize-winning journalists in conver… https://t.co/WOPGuQQYXc
RT @Kristen_Taketa: Last year I wanted to go deeper into why exactly child care is such a broken system. After nearly three months of produ…


text:
Q: Matrix With Positive Trace can be Written as a PSD matrix plus a Commutator
Let $A \in M_n(\mathbb{C})$. Then $Tr(A) \ge 0$ if and only if $A = P + C$, where $P \ge 0$ and $Tr(C) =0$.

The one direction is trivial. Suppose that $Tr(A) \ge 0$ and note that
$A = \frac{A+A^*}{2} + i \frac{A-A^*}{2i}$
Then
$0 \le Tr(A) = Tr(\frac{A+A^*}{2}) + i Tr(\frac{A-A^*}{2i})$
Since $\frac{A+A^*}{2}$ and $\frac{A-A^*}{2i}$ are both hermitian, the only way $Tr(A)$ will be some real number is if $Tr(\frac{A-A^*}{2i}) = 0$. Hence, $Tr(\frac{A+A^*}{2}) \ge 0$.
Now I am trying to show that $\frac{A+A^*}{2}$ can be split into a PSD matrix and trace-zero diagonal, but I am having some trouble. The problem is reduced to the following:

Suppose that $H^*=H$ and $Tr(H) \ge 0$. Can $H$ be written as a PSD matrix plus a trace-zero diagonal?

Let $D(H)$ denote the diagonal of $H$. Here is what I tried:
$H = (H + D(H) - Tr(H)I) + (Tr(H)I - D(H))$
Clearly $Tr(H)I - D(H)$ will be trace-zero diagonal, but I don't think the other piece is PSD...I could use some help.

A: In fact, we can make things way easier: take
$P = \frac {Tr(A)}{n} I$,
where $I$ denotes the identity matrix.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Chinese military technology is reaching "near-parity" with the West, a new report from the London-based think tank IISS has found. Western dominance in advanced military systems can no longer be taken for granted.
China accounted for a third of Asia's military spending in 2016 and was looking to sell more arms abroad, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in a report on Tuesday.
China's overall defense budget last year was $145 billion (137 billion euros), 1.8 times higher than South Korea and Japan combined. China's spending was topped only by the United States which spent $604.5 billion (572 billion euros) on defense in 2016.
On air power, China "appears to be reaching near-parity with the West," IISS said, adding that Chinese-made drones had been seen in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
Its sales in Africa had moved beyond Soviet-era designs to exports of systems designed in China itself, the think tank's report found.
China's air force had introduced a "highly capable" short-range missile in a class only a handful of leading aerospace nations had been able to develop, it added.
Additionally, China's long range air-to-air missile seen on exercise last year posed a risk for aircraft tankers and AWACS surveillance aircraft that previously loitered safe out of range.
Given China's advances Western dominance "can no longer be taken for granted," said IISS director John Chipman.
Across all nations, there was a "growing proliferation of lethality," the IISS concluded, warning the West that increasing sophistication was "complicating" its military options.
In a reference to NATO, the institute said European nations were "only gradually" increasing their defense spending, an issue highlighted by the new US President Donald Trump.
Only two European NATO nations - Greece and Estonia - met the aim of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense in 2016, concluded the IISS.
The report also noted that Britain spent 1.98 percent of its GDP on defense, falling short of the 2 percent NATO target. A spokesman with the British Ministry of Defense denied the shortfall, saying that "NATO's own figures clearly show the UK spends over 2 percent of its GDP on defense."
Both British officials and the IISS emphasized that the UK's defense budget is still the largest in Europe.
With $60 billion in spending, Russia remained the "principle security concern," said the think tank. It stressed that Russian equipment outranged the missile and rocket artillery systems of NATO's most capable power, the USA.
"The Kalibr cruise missile, for instance, is being fitted to an array of Russian naval vessels - including an arctic patrol vessel," it said.
NATO would need to "refocus" on spending targets that lead to real capability improvements among systems that were increasingly complex, the IISS recommended.
Ahead of NATO talks in Brussels on Wednesday and the Munich Security Conference next weekend, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg admitted that the "picture is still mixed" with some allies "really struggling."
He was responding to a question about budget constraints in Italy, which is trying to reduce its budget deficit following the euro zone crisis.
Are talks between NATO and certain Middle East and Gulf states a human rights-free zone? Has it stood up for Europe as Trump claims that members owe the US money? DW asks NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller.
How should NATO recalibrate its strategic direction in a rapidly changing security environment? Our Bureau Chief in Washington Alexandra von Nahmen spoke with Wolfgang Ischinger, the head of the Munich Security Conference.
As NATO turns 70, how's the health of this now very middle-aged institution? DW's Teri Schultz takes NATO's pulse.


In winter, the days get shorter and darker. But it only takes a small flicker of light to dispel darkness. That's what many of our readers and contributors do all year long— light up the darkness. Whether it is by enlightening hearts and minds through awareness, or by literally stepping into darkness with the light of hope and freedom, we hope you enjoy many of their "illuminating" stories in this issue!
Being on the frontlines in the fight against human trafficking can be heartbreaking, but there are also wonderful moments when we actually get to see the glimmers of restoration and change that make it all worthwhile. Whether small steps forward, or giant leaps that exceed all expectations, it is always encouraging to see the fruits of our labor. In our Fall Issue we'll share the stories of many individuals and organizations who are seeing visible results.
Given the enormous scope of the issue of human trafficking, answers rarely come quickly or easily. To be effective for the long run takes perseverance. In this issue of VOJ, we hope you are inspired by the stories of several committed individuals and organizations that have have pressed in to make a difference despite the obstacles they have faced.
When it comes to the issue of human trafficking, hope is often in short supply. But we never want to focus solely on the darkness or the difficulty. Many on the frontlines of the fight against human trafficking are making a profound difference. We are privileged to share several of their inspiring stories of hope in our Spring issue.
Arts and Media can draw attention to issues of injustice and impact hearts in a way facts and figures cannot. In this issue we are pleased to share the stories of many creative freedom fighters who are using their gifts to make a difference in the fight against human trafficking. Check out their stories in our Spotlight section along with our regular features and several other great articles!
Based on sheer numbers, SE Asia and Southern Asia have the largest human trafficking problem in the world. Despite the enormous obstacles and complex issues that surround this reality, there are many organizations and individuals who are making a huge difference. We are honored that many of them have shared their stories in this issue of GAJ! We hope you'll take the time to read each of their stories and will jump in to partner with these organizations wherever you are able.
In the July/August edition of Grace as Justice, we not only take a look at how human trafficking is affecting women and children around the world, but we get a glimpse into what some amazing people and organizations are doing in the areas of prevention and restoration.
There is always a place for you to get involved and spread the word. If you're already involved, we'd love to know your story!
In the May/June edition of Grace as Justice, get a glimpse into the incredible works businesses are doing around the world to end the atrocity of human trafficking.
See how you can get involved, and how to spread the word. Just remember to let us know your stories!
In the March/April edition of Grace as Justice, get a glimpse into the incredible works businesses are doing around the world to end the atrocity of human trafficking.
In the January/February edition of Grace as Justice, get a glimpse into the incredible works various agencies and people are doing around the world to end the atrocity of human trafficking.
See amazing, creative and hopeful actions that are changing the world. Meet the people and hear from organizations that are working to end human trafficking and slavery.
If you want to download a copy to read on your computer here is the link. Keep in mind it is a fairly large file (59 MB) and may take a bit to load.
If you want to download a copy to read on your computer here is the link. Keep in mind it is a fairly large file (100 MB) and may take a bit to load.


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Tag Archives: US Embassy Nouakchott
@StateDept Dedicates New $181M U.S. Embassy Mauritania in the "Place of the Winds
October 19, 2017 By domani spero in AF |Africa, Contractors, Foreign Service, Functional Bureaus, New Embassy, State Department, Technology and Work, U.S. Missions Tags: Caddell Construction, first major wind-powered turbine, Mauritania, NEC Nouakchott, new embassy compound, State/OBO, US Embassy Nouakchott
Posted: 2:58 am ET
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According to the State Department's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (State/OBO), the new U.S. Embassy compound in Nouakchott, Mauritania is situated on a 10.5-acre site in the Tevragh Zeina district of the capital city. The new embassy compound includes a chancery, support buildings and facilities for the embassy community.
Known as the "Place of the Winds," the capital city of Nouakchott is located on the west coast of Mauritania where the Sahara Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean. With its unique location, the city is susceptible to seasonal winds from the Harmattan – battering it with harsh Sahara sand – and winds from the Atlantic Ocean – bringing in salty and humid air.
The design for the new Embassy draws inspiration from Islamic architecture, including Chinguetti, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in central Mauritania. More than half of the entire façade of the new Chancery features a perforated latticework copper, resembling a modern interpretation of a traditional mashrabiya – an element of Arabic architecture dating back to the Middle Ages that provides screening and shading from the harsh desert sun.
Copper represents a natural choice as it is one of Mauritania's leading exports and it is a proven material that can withstand Noukachott's environmental challenges.
A gallery space provides a place for large gatherings, events, lounge areas, and cafeteria seating.
Visitors to the Embassy will be invited through a gateway plaza with integrated site lighting, artwork,and plantings. Walkway patterns and stones are based on local textile methods and materials.
Construction began in June 2014 and was completed in early 2017.
An estimated 600 workers were involved in the construction of the new Embassy.
According to OBO, the new embassy is built for sustainability, and this is well and good, but we often wonder what kind of problems does post get in locating service personnel/contractors for maintenance of these buildings, the wind-powered turbine or even a wastewater treatment plant in country?
The new Embassy design is targeting Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Emissions-free power is produced from a 185 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic array, as well as a 50 kW wind turbine – the Department's first major wind-powered turbine for an American Embassy.
The new embassy is projected to reduce energy costs by 30% through light-emitting diode (LED) site lighting; dedicated heat recovery chillers; electric traction elevators; and variable frequency drives from pumps, fans, and motors.
Water from an on-site wastewater treatment plant will be reused to irrigate site plantings, which are carefully selected to reduce the required amount of irrigation.
Ambassador Larry Edward André Jr. — From Mauritania to Djibouti
September 12, 2017 By domani spero in Ambassadors, FSOs, Nominations, Officially In, Trump Tags: Larry Andre, Trump Nominations, US Embassy Nouakchott
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On September 2, President Trump announced his intent to nominate the current U.S. Embassy Nouakchott Chief of Mission Larry Edward André Jr. to be the next Ambassador to Djibouti. The WH released the following brief bio:
Larry Edward André Jr. of Texas to be Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Djibouti. Mr. André, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, has served as an American diplomat since 1990. He is currently the United States Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Previously a two-time Deputy Chief of Mission with appointments to nine American missions abroad, mostly in Africa, Mr. André has held senior policy positions at the State Department in Washington. His excellent leadership skills and experience working closely with the U.S. military provide him expertise on the challenges and opportunities of the Horn-of-Africa region and deep understanding of the context of United States policy goals there. Mr. André earned a B.A. at Claremont McKenna College and an M.B.A. at American Graduate School of International Management.
On November 3, 2014, Ambassador Larry André presented his credentials to His Excellency President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz as Ambassador of the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (US Embassy Mauritania/FB)
The US Embassy in Mauritania has a more detailed official bio:
Larry André, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, arrived in Mauritania on 25 September 2014.
He has served overseas as Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2008 – 2010); Political Counselor at U.S. Embassy Nairobi, Kenya (2006 – 2008); Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy Freetown, Sierra Leone (2002 – 2004); Regional Environment Officer for East Africa covering 14 countries from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2000 – 2002); and as Management Officer at U.S. Embassy Conakry, Guinea (1998 – 2000). He also served at U.S. Missions to Iraq (July – August 2005), Bangladesh (1994 – 1998), Cameroon (1992 – 1994), and Nigeria (1990 – 1992).
He has served domestically as the Director of the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan (2011 – 2013), Deputy Director of the African Affairs Bureau's Executive Office (2010 – 2011), and as the Deputy Director of the Office of West African Affairs (2004 – 2006).
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. André worked in Chad on a refugee resettlement project (1988 – 1990) and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal (1983 – 1985).
He holds an M.B.A. from the Thunderbird School of Global Management (1988) and a B.A. in Political Science from Claremont McKenna College (1983). Mr. André speaks French fluently.
State/OIG Semi-Annual Report to Congress (Apri 1-September 30, 2013)
January 3, 2014 By domani spero in AF |Africa, Congress, Contractors, Foreign Service, Govt Documents, State Department, U.S. Missions, USAID Tags: Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Chad, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Regional Security Officer (RSO), Semi-Annual Report, Senegal, State/AF, State/OIG, US Embassy Dakar, US Embassy Lilongwe, US Embassy Monrovia, US Embassy Ndjamena, US Embassy Nouakchott
— Domani Spero
State/OIG submitted its last semi-annual report to Congress signed by Harold Geisel in September. Steve A. Linick took charge of the OIG on September 30, 2013. The report was not published online until late December.
Via State/OIG
Under Oversight Review, State/OIG tells Congress it is conducting an in-depth review of Diplomatic Security's investigative process. This is in connection with last year's allegations that several recent investigations were influenced, manipulated, or simply called off. (See CBS News: Possible State Dept Cover-Ups on Sex, Drugs, Hookers — Why the "Missing Firewall" Was a Big Deal):
❝The Office of Investigations (INV) is conducting an independent oversight review of certain investigations conducted by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Office of Investigations and Counterintelligence, Special Investigations Division (DS/ICI/SID). This is an in-depth review of the DS/ICI/SID investigations to assess the adequacy of the investigative process.❞
State/OIG also informs Congress that it audited seven posts under the purview of AF that had threat levels ranging from medium to critical. The audit was conducted "to determine to what extent the selected embassies in Africa complied with current physical security standards, and whether management officials at these posts used available authorities to effectively implement the posts' security programs." The audit identified physical security deficiencies at Embassy N'Djamena, Chad; Embassy Monrovia, Liberia; Embassy Nouakchott, Mauritania and Embassy Dakar, Senegal. A brief summary of the audit is posted here but the reports are not publicly available.
The semi-annual report includes an item about the non-compliance of the local guard contractor for Embassy Lilongwe, Malawi, who was required to pay local guards $100 per month supplemental pay in addition to the guards' regular wages and benefits, based on a provision in the contract. OIG estimated that the amount invoiced by the contractor and not paid to the local guards as of June 2013 could be as much as $1,489,200.
Other items of note:
OIG conducted an investigation after receiving allegations of improper activities being committed by a major contractor that provides survey services to the Department and other agencies. The investigation determined that the contractor provided false pricing information to the Department during negotiations for a 5-year, sole source contract worth $25,000,000. OIG led a multi-agency investigation which resulted in the contractor agreeing to pay a $10.5-million civil settlement for improperly inflating Department and U.S. Mint contract prices and engaging in prohibited employment negotiations with a Federal Emergency Management Agency official.
OIG conducted a joint investigation with the OIG for USAID into allegations that two foreign real estate companies paid bribes to two LE staff members at the local embassy in order secure U.S. Embassy lease agreements. During the investigation, the company presidents admitted to paying the bribes and both employees were terminated from employment at the embassy. On May 9, 2013, the Office of the Procurement Executive issued six contracting debarments for a period of 3 years in connection with the case, two for each former employee, two for the two firms, and two for the presidents of each firm.
OIG conducted an investigation of an assistant regional security officer who submitted a false reimbursement voucher in connection with an extended hotel stay. The investigation determined that the officer knowingly submitted two fraudulent vouchers for reimbursement to the Department and received $14,630.83 to which he was not entitled. On March 11, 2012, The Department of Justice declined criminal prosecution of the officer. On March 28, 2012, the Bureau of Resource Management initiated a collection action against the officer for the full amount of the false claims, and on April 23, 2013, the Bureau of Human Resources issued a 10 day suspension to the officer.
See more Semiannual Report to the Congress April 1, 2013 to September 30, 2013 [1990 Kb] | Posted on December 30, 2013.
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Q: How can I get the HTTP_ACCEPT Headers from a browser using javascript? Is it possible HTTP Accept headers using only javascript? I know using PHP I would do something like this $_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'], but as far as I can tell javascript doesn't have this.
Perhaps I could do something with an XmlHttpRequest?
Any help would be awesome!
Thanks,
Mike

A: RE: "The headers sent to the server."
You could echo them back out in the server's response, and get them that way.
IE.) On a web-page you could make a hidden form field with the value, or pop the value into the javascript that gets emited from the page.
From a web service, you could include the value of the incoming header in part of the outgoing XML or JSON.
If you're using XmlHttpRequest, you could send a header back to the client with this value.
Possibilities are endless.
I'm dubious of why this would ever be useful though. The client should know what it's expecting before it requests it.

A: Are you looking for headers sent from the server or to?
If you're using Firefox and want to look at or alter headers going from the browser to the server, you might look at the sources for the Modify Headers plugin. It's not pure javascript, but it may help shake something loose.


text:
Teletext Ltd was the provider of teletext and digital interactive services for ITV, Channel 4 and Five in the United Kingdom.

Origins
Teletext Ltd started providing teletext services for ITV and Channel 4 on 1 January 1993, replacing the previous ORACLE service which had lost the franchise.

Ownership
The company is now owned by A&N Media, the consumer division of Daily Mail and General Trust's Associated Northcliffe Digital. Its main source of income is from the UK travel website Teletext Holidays.
The Chairman of Teletext Ltd is Chris Letcher who acquired a stake in Teletext Holidays from parent company A&N Media.
From 1 December 2013, Teletext Holidays moved from advertising holidays from 14 holiday suppliers (including Qwerty Travel, Lowcost Travel Group and Hays Travel) to working with one supplier, Truly Travel.

Closure
On 21 January 2009, Ofcom reported that "The increasing availability of text based services, both broadcast and online may mean that post 2014 there is no longer clear justification for continued intervention to maintain a public service teletext licence."

On 16 July 2009, DMGT announced that due to competition from the Internet, current economic conditions and Ofcom's findings, the service would cease broadcasting most of its services on analogue and digital television, with the exception of the commercial services broadcast on Freeview channels 101-107 such as Teletext Holidays and the firm's profitable travel websites in January 2010, with the switch off date subsequently brought forward to 14 December 2009 (Sky Digital) and 15 December 2009 (analogue TV, Freesat and Freeview).

Teletext's news and information service were removed from: ITV, Channel 4 and Five on analogue TV; ITV and Channel 4 on Sky Digital; ITV, Channel 4 and channel 100 on Freeview; editorial on Teletext Extra on Freeview; editorial on ch 986 on Freesat. The GameCentral section continued online on the Teletext website before joining another DMGT website Metro, renamed Metro Gaming.

Despite the withdrawal of news and information content, the service continued to broadcast. On 29 January 2010, the broadcasting regulator Ofcom revoked Teletext's licence to broadcast. On 27 May 2010, Ofcom imposed a financial penalty of £225,000 on Teletext Limited for ceasing to provide part of its service whilst its licence was still extant. Ofcom regulations state: "Public service broadcasting licences are offered for a fixed term, requiring the holder to provide the licensed service throughout the licence period. In accepting a licence, the broadcaster takes account of the likely cost of the obligations under the licence, and the value of the benefits associated with the licence, for the duration of the licence period." Teletext's licence was for the licence period 2004 to 2014.

The main Teletext service on Freeview was removed from channel 100 on the EPG on 21 June 2010. Teletext Holidays went digital in January 2011. In a deal between BBC Worldwide and Inview Technology Ltd, Teletext Extra was relaunched as Radio Times Extra on 31 January 2011, with editorial content from the Radio Times instead of Teletext Ltd.

Other teletext services

In spite of its name, the "Teletext"-branded service was neither the first nor the only teletext service in the UK. The BBC (one of the original developers of teletext) launched its Ceefax teletext service in 1974, the same year that Teletext's predecessor, ORACLE, also appeared. Although ORACLE closed at the end of 1992 (when Teletext Ltd outbid it for the franchise), Ceefax continued to run on BBC analogue channels until the cessation of analogue signals in October 2012.

FourText, originally called 4-Tel, was first run in conjunction with ORACLE, as an auxiliary teletext provider for Channel 4 from 1982. 4-Tel occupied pages 410-469 within ORACLE's page space. When ORACLE lost its licence and was replaced by Teletext Ltd in 1993, 4-Tel moved to its own page space on pages 300-399 (effectively its own magazine). Channel 4 enlisted Intelfax to run the service. In 2002, 4-Tel was renamed FourText. In addition, FourText also launched on digital television. In 2003, Channel 4 ended their contract with Intelfax and contracted out the service to Teletext Ltd. The new service was named Teletext on 4 and operated on pages 400-499 (which replaced pages 300-399 as Channel 4's page space). However, on 30 October 2008, Teletext on 4 on Channel 104 closed and replaced in December 2008 by 1-2-1 Dating. using Teletext on 4's old channel number.

See also
Teletext - the system
List of teletext services
Teletext Holidays
Ceefax
ITV (TV network)
Channel 4
Timeline of teletext in the UK
Bamboozle, a teletext multiple choice quiz game on Channel 4
Digitiser, the service's initial videogames section
GameCentral, the service's later videogames section
Teletext on 4, Channel 4's text service run by Teletext Ltd

References

External links
Teletext Holidays
Teletext Cars
A history of Teletext pages from The Guardian
mb21's Teletext Then and Now

1993 establishments in the United Kingdom
1993 in British television
2009 in British television
2010 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Daily Mail and General Trust
ITV franchisees
Teletext

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


No Refunds are possible for this event.
This is a ticket holder only event and tickets can only be purchased on line through this web page.
All tickets must be produced at the time of travel - you may be asked for additional ID.
Seating will be allocated by the railway once your booking has been completed and included on your ticket when printed and posted.


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Linq;
using Cake.Core;
using Cake.Core.Diagnostics;
using Cake.Core.IO;

namespace Cake.Arguments
{
    internal sealed class ArgumentParser : IArgumentParser
    {
        private readonly ICakeLog _log;
        private readonly IFileSystem _fileSystem;

        public ArgumentParser(ICakeLog log, IFileSystem fileSystem)
        {
            _log = log;
            _fileSystem = fileSystem;
        }

        public CakeOptions Parse(IEnumerable<string> args)
        {
            if (args == null)
            {
                throw new ArgumentNullException("args");
            }

            var options = new CakeOptions();
            var isParsingOptions = false;

            var arguments = args.ToList();

            // If we don't have any arguments, search for a default script.
            if (arguments.Count == 0)
            {
                options.Script = GetDefaultScript();
            }

            foreach (var arg in arguments)
            {
                var value = arg.UnQuote();

                if (isParsingOptions)
                {
                    if (IsOption(value))
                    {
                        if (!ParseOption(value, options))
                        {
                            return null;
                        }
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        _log.Error("More than one build script specified.");
                        return null;
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    try
                    {
                        // If they didn't provide a specific build script, search for a defualt.
                        if (IsOption(arg))
                        {
                            // Make sure we parse the option
                            if (!ParseOption(value, options))
                            {
                                return null;
                            }

                            options.Script = GetDefaultScript();
                            continue;
                        }

                        // Quoted?
                        options.Script = value;
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        // Start parsing options.
                        isParsingOptions = true;
                    }
                }
            }

            return options;
        }

        private static bool IsOption(string arg)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(arg))
            {
                return false;
            }
            return arg[0] == '-';
        }

        private bool ParseOption(string arg, CakeOptions options)
        {
            string name, value;

            var separatorIndex = arg.IndexOfAny(new[] { '=' });
            if (separatorIndex < 0)
            {
                name = arg.Substring(1);
                value = string.Empty;
            }
            else
            {
                name = arg.Substring(1, separatorIndex - 1);
                value = arg.Substring(separatorIndex + 1);
            }

            if (value.Length > 2)
            {
                if (value[0] == '\"' && value[value.Length - 1] == '\"')
                {
                    value = value.Substring(1, value.Length - 2);
                }
            }

            return ParseOption(name, value, options);
        }

        private bool ParseOption(string name, string value, CakeOptions options)
        {
            if (name.Equals("verbosity", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
                || name.Equals("v", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
            {
                // Parse verbosity.
                var converter = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(Verbosity));
                var verbosity = converter.ConvertFromInvariantString(value);
                if (verbosity != null)
                {
                    options.Verbosity = (Verbosity)verbosity;
                }
            }

            if (name.Equals("showdescription", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ||
                name.Equals("s", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
            {
                options.ShowDescription = true;
            }

            if (name.Equals("dryrun", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ||
                name.Equals("noop", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ||
                name.Equals("whatif", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
            {
                options.PerformDryRun = true;
            }

            if (name.Equals("help", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ||
                name.Equals("?", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
            {
                options.ShowHelp = true;
            }

            if (name.Equals("version", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ||
                name.Equals("ver", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
            {
                options.ShowVersion = true;
            }

            if (options.Arguments.ContainsKey(name))
            {
                _log.Error("Multiple arguments with the same name ({0}).", name);
                return false;
            }

            options.Arguments.Add(name, value);
            return true;
        }

        private string GetDefaultScript()
        {
            _log.Verbose("Using default 'Build' script...");
            return "Build";
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
// Copyright (c) 2012 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
// found in the LICENSE file.

#include "chrome/browser/extensions/api/declarative/rules_registry.h"

#include <algorithm>

#include "base/message_loop/message_loop.h"
#include "chrome/browser/extensions/api/declarative/test_rules_registry.h"
#include "content/public/test/test_browser_thread.h"
#include "testing/gtest/include/gtest/gtest.h"

namespace {
const char kExtensionId[] = "foobar";
const char kRuleId[] = "foo";
}  // namespace

namespace extensions {

TEST(InitializingRulesRegistryTest, FillOptionalIdentifiers) {
  base::MessageLoopForUI message_loop;
  content::TestBrowserThread thread(content::BrowserThread::UI, &message_loop);

  std::string error;
  scoped_refptr<RulesRegistry> registry =
      new TestRulesRegistry(content::BrowserThread::UI, "" /*event_name*/);

  // Add rules and check that their identifiers are filled and unique.

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > add_rules;
  add_rules.push_back(make_linked_ptr(new RulesRegistry::Rule));
  add_rules.push_back(make_linked_ptr(new RulesRegistry::Rule));
  error = registry->AddRules(kExtensionId, add_rules);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > get_rules;
  error = registry->GetAllRules(kExtensionId, &get_rules);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());

  ASSERT_EQ(2u, get_rules.size());

  ASSERT_TRUE(get_rules[0]->id.get());
  EXPECT_NE("", *get_rules[0]->id);

  ASSERT_TRUE(get_rules[1]->id.get());
  EXPECT_NE("", *get_rules[1]->id);

  EXPECT_NE(*get_rules[0]->id, *get_rules[1]->id);

  EXPECT_EQ(1u /*extensions*/ + 2u /*rules*/,
            registry->GetNumberOfUsedRuleIdentifiersForTesting());

  // Check that we cannot add a new rule with the same ID.

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > add_rules_2;
  add_rules_2.push_back(make_linked_ptr(new RulesRegistry::Rule));
  add_rules_2[0]->id.reset(new std::string(*get_rules[0]->id));
  error = registry->AddRules(kExtensionId, add_rules_2);
  EXPECT_FALSE(error.empty());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > get_rules_2;
  error = registry->GetAllRules(kExtensionId, &get_rules_2);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());
  ASSERT_EQ(2u, get_rules_2.size());
  EXPECT_EQ(1u /*extensions*/ + 2u /*rules*/,
            registry->GetNumberOfUsedRuleIdentifiersForTesting());

  // Check that we can register the old rule IDs once they were unregistered.

  std::vector<std::string> remove_rules_3;
  remove_rules_3.push_back(*get_rules[0]->id);
  error = registry->RemoveRules(kExtensionId, remove_rules_3);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());

  EXPECT_EQ(1u /*extensions*/ + 1u /*rules*/,
            registry->GetNumberOfUsedRuleIdentifiersForTesting());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > get_rules_3a;
  error = registry->GetAllRules(kExtensionId, &get_rules_3a);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, get_rules_3a.size());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > add_rules_3;
  add_rules_3.push_back(make_linked_ptr(new RulesRegistry::Rule));
  add_rules_3[0]->id.reset(new std::string(*get_rules[0]->id));
  error = registry->AddRules(kExtensionId, add_rules_3);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());
  EXPECT_EQ(1u /*extensions*/ + 2u /*rules*/,
            registry->GetNumberOfUsedRuleIdentifiersForTesting());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > get_rules_3b;
  error = registry->GetAllRules(kExtensionId, &get_rules_3b);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());
  ASSERT_EQ(2u, get_rules_3b.size());

  // Check that we can register a rule with an ID that is not modified.

  error = registry->RemoveAllRules(kExtensionId);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());
  EXPECT_EQ(0u /*extensions*/ + 0u /*rules*/,
            registry->GetNumberOfUsedRuleIdentifiersForTesting());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > get_rules_4a;
  error = registry->GetAllRules(kExtensionId, &get_rules_4a);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());
  ASSERT_TRUE(get_rules_4a.empty());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > add_rules_4;
  add_rules_4.push_back(make_linked_ptr(new RulesRegistry::Rule));
  add_rules_4[0]->id.reset(new std::string(kRuleId));
  error = registry->AddRules(kExtensionId, add_rules_4);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());

  EXPECT_EQ(1u /*extensions*/ + 1u /*rules*/,
            registry->GetNumberOfUsedRuleIdentifiersForTesting());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > get_rules_4b;
  error = registry->GetAllRules(kExtensionId, &get_rules_4b);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());

  ASSERT_EQ(1u, get_rules_4b.size());

  ASSERT_TRUE(get_rules_4b[0]->id.get());
  EXPECT_EQ(kRuleId, *get_rules_4b[0]->id);

  registry->OnExtensionUnloaded(kExtensionId);
  EXPECT_EQ(0u /*extensions*/ + 0u /*rules*/,
            registry->GetNumberOfUsedRuleIdentifiersForTesting());

  // Make sure that deletion traits of registry are executed.
  registry = NULL;
  message_loop.RunUntilIdle();
}

TEST(InitializingRulesRegistryTest, FillOptionalPriority) {
  base::MessageLoopForUI message_loop;
  content::TestBrowserThread thread(content::BrowserThread::UI, &message_loop);

  std::string error;
  scoped_refptr<RulesRegistry> registry =
      new TestRulesRegistry(content::BrowserThread::UI, "" /*event_name*/);

  // Add rules and check that their priorities are filled if they are empty.

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > add_rules;
  add_rules.push_back(make_linked_ptr(new RulesRegistry::Rule));
  add_rules[0]->priority.reset(new int(2));
  add_rules.push_back(make_linked_ptr(new RulesRegistry::Rule));
  error = registry->AddRules(kExtensionId, add_rules);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());

  std::vector<linked_ptr<RulesRegistry::Rule> > get_rules;
  error = registry->GetAllRules(kExtensionId, &get_rules);
  EXPECT_TRUE(error.empty());

  ASSERT_EQ(2u, get_rules.size());

  ASSERT_TRUE(get_rules[0]->priority.get());
  ASSERT_TRUE(get_rules[1]->priority.get());

  // Verify the precondition so that the following EXPECT_EQ statements work.
  EXPECT_GT(RulesRegistry::DEFAULT_PRIORITY, 2);
  EXPECT_EQ(2, std::min(*get_rules[0]->priority, *get_rules[1]->priority));
  EXPECT_EQ(RulesRegistry::DEFAULT_PRIORITY,
            std::max(*get_rules[0]->priority, *get_rules[1]->priority));

  // Make sure that deletion traits of registry are executed.
  registry = NULL;
  message_loop.RunUntilIdle();
}

}  // namespace extensions