text:
AccessiblePublishing.ca
Resources for Publishers
Ressources pour les éditeurs
Accessible Publishing Summit
February 2023 Summit
Sustainable Event Commitment
Community Agreements & Accessibility Guidelines
January 2020 Summit
2020 Accessible Publishing Summit: Summary
2020 Logistical Information
Accessibility Testing of PretNumerique – 2021
Conducted by the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS)
This report was written with support from the Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program – Disability Component.
The opinions and interpretations in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Canada.
About NNELS
The National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) is a digital public library of ebooks for Canadians with print disabilities,[1] and an advocate for an accessible and equitable reading ecosystem for Canadians with print disabilities. NNELS supports principles of openness, inclusion, and choice. NNELS is hosted by the BC Libraries Cooperative, a community service not-for-profit cooperative and a national leader in information and technology services.
Our team of Accessibility Testers has expert knowledge in the areas of accessibility testing, analysis, software development, and leadership. The team works to educate and advise publishers, technology vendors, and public libraries on best practices for accessibility. Our testers have lived experience with a range of print disabilities, including blindness, low vision, and learning disabilities.
PretNumerique is available as a website and a mobile application. It provides access to various types of content including ebooks and audiobooks using local libraries, and the available content may differ by region. For this report, our testers used the Montreal Public Library as well as Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ). Our team was provided with test accounts through both of these libraries.
Our testers used screen-reading and magnification software to assess the usability of the apps and website across supported platforms. A complete list of all the software and operating systems used in this assessment can be found in the Systems and Assistive Technology section of this report. The objective of this assessment is to determine the usability experience of readers with print disabilities,[2] and to what extent they can access audiobooks and ebooks through their local public library effectively and efficiently. It is important that readers with print disabilities can choose the reading systems that offer the accessibility features they require.
Both the French and English website and mobile applications were tested and yielded comparable experiences. The results show that testers encountered moderate accessibility barriers, including unlabeled or mislabeled controls and inconsistent navigation. The website was found to be the most accessible option, with significant changes made to benefit screen-reader users. This report highlights the accessibility barriers of the PretNumerique mobile app and website, explains the barriers that these issues pose and why they are problematic, and advances some recommendations to enhance the usability experience for readers with print disabilities.
Introduction to Assistive Technology
All mainstream operating systems include built-in screen-readers (Narrator on Windows, VoiceOver on Apple devices, and TalkBack on Android) that read the contents of the screen out loud, allowing users with visual disabilities to browse apps and websites, send and receive texts and emails, and accomplish many other tasks with ease. Keyboard commands and custom touch gestures provide a flexible way for a user to find and interact with the controls on-screen. Windows also has alternative screen-reading software available, most notably a commercial option called Job Access with Speech (JAWS) and a free and open-source option called Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA). The text spoken by a screen-reader can be sent to a refreshable braille device. Mainstream operating systems are also equipped with user interface magnification, large text options, and high-contrast viewing mode to assist people with low vision.
To ensure usability and accessibility of an application by people with print disabilities, all functions and controls must be accessible using assistive technologies. The DAISY Consortium explains that the basic assumption of accessibility evaluations is that reading systems "should support reading with eyes, ears, and fingers." (DAISY Consortium, 2017). It should be possible for users to read the content of the document by:
Reading the text with screen-readers or self-voicing text to speech (TTS) applications
Adjusting the display including font size, alignment, and color contrast, or combination of some or all these options
Reading the text with a refreshable braille display
Reading with assistive technologies designed for persons with dyslexia or other disabilities
Reading with the app's built-in read aloud functions
Accessibility Performance and Recommendations
In the following sections we dive deeper into specific accessibility issues of the different features of the PretNumerique apps and website. Below you will find the testing results and their related recommendations as they pertain to:
Signing in
Discovering and managing content
Bookshelf management
Audiobook player usability
Ebook reader usability
Visual adjustments/customization
We highlight some of the problematic issues as they relate to the different parts of the application in each of the platforms tested. The Development Recommendations sections contain suggestions for improving the interface on each platform.
The iOS version was found to have minor accessibility barriers for screen-reader users, including challenges in searching for books and navigating search results, as well as interacting with borrowed books. There were also some buttons which would benefit from clearer labeling. Some visual adjustment and customization settings are present, but these could be expanded to further enhance accessibility.
Tested iOS Version: 14.2
Tested App Version: 2.2
Screen-reader: VoiceOver
No issues were encountered adding a library catalogue to the app; however, other users may find this process confusing because the app does not immediately ask them to add a library, and the option to do so is not immediately available on the home screen.
Discovering and Managing Books
Several issues were encountered when searching for and browsing titles:
When accessing a library's catalogue, categories such as recent releases do not expose their titles to VoiceOver until the see all button is pressed.
Screen-reader users noted that VoiceOver did not announce which search filters were selected, and there was no way to clear or reset them.
VoiceOver reads each book entry as separate controls–title, author, and availability status. Grouping these controls together would allow for more efficient navigation of book lists when using left or right swipe gestures to navigate from one control to the next. Additionally, this control should be given a role of button so that users know it can be tapped or clicked.
After opening a book from search results, then going back to the results screen, the text field to perform a search is scrolled off the screen. The user must swipe down (with three fingers if using VoiceOver) to reveal the search box again.
Titles in the bookshelf are not announced by VoiceOver, which presents a significant problem. As one tester described the experience:
"According to VoiceOver, the bookshelf tab does not have names, authors, total elapsed time, or any other information about each book besides its expiration date. At present, the control for each book simply reads "21 days". Even tapping on one of these entries does not reveal the title on the next screen. I found that I was able to long-press the "21 days" controls, choose "info", and find the title this way. I can then play the book directly from the info screen."
Similar problems were reported when navigating the recently read section of the app. Additionally, screen-reader users reported that they could not find or access the loans section of the app in order to view the titles they had checked out on other devices.
The audio book player worked well for all testers, though some minor labelling issues are noted below:
The media controls have labels such as play.circle, pause.circle, goforward and gobackward. Their meaning is still clear, but better labels should be used for increased readability and clarity for all users, such as: play, pause, next_chapter, and previous_chapter.
The button to close the sleep timer and speed menus is not labelled.
The button to access table of contents and bookmarks has a label of "list". A label such as "contents and bookmarks" would provide more clarity.
The ebook player is screen-reader accessible, but there are a few barriers. Screen-reader users found that the book could not be read continuously; instead, the next page button needed to be pressed. There are two switches both called scroll mode which appear to have no effect on the book view. Moving through pages one at a time can be cumbersome, and having to interact with the device to read each new page disrupts the non-visual reading process.
Additionally, there are minor labelling issues in the reader that should be corrected for clarity:
The next and previous page buttons are spoken as "reader_forward_a11y_label" and "reader_backward_a11y_label", respectively. We recommend clear names such as "next_page" and "previous_page".
The button to open the table of contents and bookmarks is labelled "drag".
Visual Adjustment
The iOS app has a wide range of settings to adjust the text appearance in the ebook viewer. This includes several fonts and styles, font size, and spacing adjustment for character, word, and line.
Testers noted that there are no settings for text, highlight, or background colour, no way to remove all styling from book text, and hyphenation could not be turned off. This presents barriers for users with low vision or learning disabilities–such as dyslexia–who require as many colour and contrast settings as possible to adapt the text to their needs. For example, many people with low vision find it helpful to use a custom colour theme such as yellow text on a blue background.
Development Recommendations
Clearer labels in the ebook and audiobook player screens
In catalogue booklists, group the controls for each title together, or place the title under a heading for quicker screen-reader navigation.
Indicate which search filters are selected when filtering results
Allow ebooks to scroll continuously
The Android version was found to have minor accessibility barriers for screen-reader users, including a consistent loss of focus[3] while using the ebook viewer and a small number of unlabelled controls. The app has some visual adjustment settings, but lacks a way to adjust text spacing and has limited colour themes available. Coupled with the lack of a read aloud feature, this creates a negative reading experience for many users with print disabilities.
Tested Android Version: 10
Tested App Version: 1.0.16
Screen-reader: TalkBack (Android's built-in screen-reader)
TalkBack repeats the words "end of text field" as every character is entered into the account and password fields. Some users may find this confusing and interpret it as a sign that the text field is not accepting their input, and it is certainly unhelpful and repetitive. However, it is possible to review the text that has been typed into each field, and the sign-in process was otherwise accessible for all testers.
After a subsection such as the Montreal catalogue is opened, the navigation tabs disappear from the bottom of the screen. This makes it harder to jump between sections of the app, sometimes requiring several presses of the back button before the tabs will reappear.
When searching for books, it is not possible to locate the button to filter search results by genre, content type, etc. using TalkBack.
Search results and catalogue entries are labelled well, with the title, author and availability status all in a single control.
Testers using TalkBack were not able to find either the loans or holds list within the Android app. Totally blind testers did not know whether this option is available on Android. For these users, the experience was as if the button is invisible to TalkBack.
The my books tab reads well, with each book announcing its title, author, and remaining loan time. A long press on a book title brought up a menu with options pertaining to that book, including delete and return. Although this works well, it may not be intuitive for all users.
Testers evaluated the accessibility of the audiobook player, including setting and returning to bookmarks, accessing the table of contents, and changing playback settings. The audiobook player was found to be intuitive and simple, though with a few mislabelled controls:
The play controls have the word "btn" in all the accessibility labels, causing TalkBack to be unnecessarily verbose when reading them.
When a book is playing, the play button does not switch its label to pause, as most play buttons would do.
The elapsed and remaining time counters both accessible to screen readers, but they are not labelled, so only the numbers are spoken. Their purpose is obvious while a book is playing, as one is counting up and the other down, but for clarity we recommend labeling them.
The ebook reader defaults to full-screen view until the screen is tapped, which could confuse users who are not familiar with this behavior. Once revealed, controls are accessible with clear labels. TalkBack uses a two-finger swipe to scroll and turn pages, and this was found to work in the reader view whether the controls are visible or not.
TalkBack users noted that they would sometimes lose focus while swiping right through the contents of each page, resulting in TalkBack jumping to a different part of the screen. This behavior was also observed while using continuous reading mode. It is important to note that this can create confusion for some users.
The Android app includes a range of visual adjustment settings for the ebook viewer. A selection of fonts is available, including Accessible DFA; and visual themes are available, although their buttons are not labelled and TalkBack cannot read their names. Even though these buttons are most helpful for users with some vision, it is important to label all controls so that low-vision users relying on a combination of screen-reading and visual adjustment are still able to use them effectively.
Testers noted that while the Android app included settings not found on iOS, there was no way to adjust character, word, or line spacing, and the selection of themes was quite limited. This could negatively impact readability for users with low-vision, dyslexia or other learning disabilities.
Add bottom tabs to all catalogue screens for easier navigation
If it is possible to access loans and holds, ensure these options are accessible with TalkBack
Fix labels in audiobook player
Troubleshoot TalkBack's loss of focus in the ebook reader
Add a read aloud option, especially if the TalkBack issue cannot be solved
If TalkBack is loaded, do not hide ebook reading controls
Add settings for character, word, and line spacing
Label the names of visual themes so TalkBack can read them
The website was tested across Windows and MacOS using a variety of assistive technology and browser combinations. Accessibility appears to have been part of the design process, and it has resulted in a more positive user experience than the mobile apps. The page structure facilitates navigation and readability, including the addition of landmarks, headings, and other HTML markup. Testers noted several remaining accessibility barriers, including mislabelled controls and inconsistent navigation in the audio and ebook viewers; verbose and unhelpful announcements from the ad carousel; and the need for additional visual adjustment settings.
The sign-in process was accessible to all testers, though it was noted that the login button was difficult to find. Testers noted that while most parts of the interface were available in French and English, the sign-in page was only in French.
All testers reported success with searching, reviewing results, and filtering results. Each title is under a separate level 3 heading, allowing a screen-reader user to move quickly from one to the next. The format (ebook or audiobook) is under a separate level 4 heading underneath it.
The search filters are well-labelled and easy to find, and the process is intuitive. Users also reported success with managing and returning loans.
Borrowing a book causes a page reload so that the user can enter their e-mail address. Several testers described this process as cumbersome. They recommended an option that would automatically open the book without sending a link, or a small pop-up on the existing page to ask for e-mail address.
Audiobooks can be read directly on the website using an integrated player. Several users noticed that the playback controls did not have a text label, though they do have a title attribute that displays their function (such as play, back, and forward) in a tooltip. Some screen-readers have trouble picking up on this, so a proper label would still make this player more accessible. Keyboard shortcuts would also make this player easier to use.
Testers also reported that the position and volume sliders were not accessible with the keyboard. They can be reached with the tab key but adjusting them with the arrow keys has no effect. To help with this, native sliders could be adjusted with the arrows, page up / down, and home / end keys. Some web-based media players also include global hotkeys, such as j, k and l to skip backward, play/pause, and skip forward; and the up and down arrow keys for adjusting volume. Many non-disabled users also find these features convenient for eyes-free playback control.
The website's integrated ebook reader is accessible with some compromises.
Our testers were not able to switch the reader to single-page view, so it continued to show two separate frames with two separate pages. It would be useful if a single page could be shown at a time, or the text could be presented in a continuous scrolling view. This would help low-vision and screen-reader users respectively.
One low-vision tester remarked that "The placement of icons for read aloud and enlarge could be placed more towards the centre of the screen. They can be "lost" to anyone using screen magnification."
The read aloud function has an inaccessible speed control. Some testers were able to adjust speed successfully; others were not.
More than one tester reported that the text of ebooks was sometimes invisible to screen-readers. This could not be reproduced reliably, but it seemed to happen when moving from one page to the next.
The menu button at the beginning of the page is not labelled.
When searching within a book, it is unclear where each search result appears in context. It would be helpful to have a page number after each result to give the reader a sense of the position of the result in the book.
Testers noted that font size could be changed, but that the slider was not accessible to NVDA.
There are two font face options, including a dyslexic font.
Font and background colour cannot be adjusted independently, only selected from the available themes.
Page view cannot be changed from dual-page to single, or to a continuous scrolling view. This would help low-vision users who would prefer to see one page at a time.
Ad carousel: Screen-reader users noted that the ad carousel was problematic for multiple reasons: The text being announced is not informative: It does not tell the user it is an ad, and consists of a long URL with no information about where it goes. The carousel also announces text to the screen-reader even when it doesn't have focus, which interferes with navigation. Additionally, the carousel's navigation controls are not labelled.
Heading hierarchy: There are instances where heading hierarchy is incorrect. A level 2 heading should always be under a level 1 heading, and a level 3 heading should always be under a level 2 heading.
Label the controls in the audiobook player and resolve keyboard navigation of position and volume sliders
Add more visual adjustment to ebook reader, including page layout
Fix accessibility of settings and reading speed in the ebook viewer
Change the ad carousel so that it does not announce confusing text to screen-readers.
The PretNumerique apps and website are somewhat accessible, and provide a range of visual adjustment settings, but these settings are not consistent across platforms and many users with low vision or learning disabilities would find the experience lacking. With a screen-reader, sections of the mobile applications range from confusing to unusable, which could frustrate less experienced technology users. The main pages of the website are quite intuitive and accessible, though the audio and ebook readers have minor accessibility barriers and lack some of the customization options available in the mobile apps. Implementing the development recommendations for each platform would create a much more intuitive experience covering a wide range of accessibility needs.
Systems and Assistive Technology
Windows 10 (20H2)
Mac OS 10.15 (Catalina)
iOS 14.1 and 14.2
PretNumerique 2.2 (iOS)
PretNumerique 1.0.16 (Android)
Chrome 86 through 88
Firefox 81 through 83
NVDA 2020.3 (Windows)
JAWS 2021 (Windows)
VoiceOver (MacOS)
VoiceOver Touch (iOS)
TalkBack (Android)
Magnifier (Windows)
ZoomText 2020 (Windows)
Zoom (iOS)
The following people contributed to this report, including testers and editors.
Karoline Bourdeau
Mélissa Castilloux
Maryse Glaude-Beaulieu
Simon Jaeger
David Kopman
Riane Lapaire
Daniella Levy-Pinto
Ka Li
Laetitia Mfamobani
Deanna Ng
John Ylioja
[1] Print disabilities are defined by Canada's Copyright Act and include visual, mobility, or comprehension impairments such as dyslexia.
[3] Screen readers "focus" on focusable elements, like buttons, search fields, controls, etc., as the user interacts with the app via their device.


Ruby Schmid, 62, of Easthampton, was arraigned in Northampton District Court today on a charge of negligent motor vehicle homicide, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and a civil crosswalk infraction, in connection with a December 3, 2018 crash on Cottage Street in Easthampton that claimed the life of Denise Herzog, 63, of Easthampton.
Schmid was released by the Court on her personal recognizance, with the conditions not to operate a motor vehicle and not to leave the Commonwealth without permission from the Court. Schmid is due back in Court on April 18, 2019 for a Pretrial Hearing.
Negligent motor vehicle homicide is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 2 ½ years in the House of Correction. A conviction carries a 15-year loss of license.
Easthampton Police, Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services, and Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section investigated the collision.


text:
We're Jammin'
Everywhere in Kenya these days, people are jamming, on corners, at gas stations, and even on buses. That's because there's a presidential election Tuesday and appealing to the youth vote – 40 percent of the electorate – is critical for a win.
But irrespective of the catchy tunes, the mood is anything but frivolous in East Africa's economic hub. Instead, it's tense as many worry about looming violence, as occurred in many of the country's past elections.
This time, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta can't run for a third term, according to the country's constitution. But Kenyatta's influence on Kenya's presidential election on Aug. 9 reflects his outsized political influence in the East African country. And he's decided to use it to endorse his former rival, Raila Odinga, over his deputy president, William Ruto, causing a furor among those who normally would have taken anything Kenyatta said as gospel. Ironically, Ruto had helped Kenyatta defeat Odinga in the last two presidential ballots.
Speaking to the BBC, attorney Wahome Gikonyo said that Kenyatta had stabbed Ruto in the back. "Ruto did the donkey work in 2013 and 2017," Gikonyo said. "Were it not for him Uhuru would not have become president. Is that the way to repay a friend?"
Those sentiments are one reason why Odinga has a slim lead in polls but is falling short of topping the 50-percent mark he needs to avoid a run-off election.
Kenyatta and Odinga joined forces after the 2018 presidential election when civil unrest erupted over allegations of unfairness over the vote, explained the New York Times. Police cracked down brutally on protesters who called for Kenyatta to step down, killing dozens and injuring scores of others.
Since Kenyatta distanced himself from Ruto, some voters are having second thoughts about the president's legacy. "Not only is he a scion of the richest and most influential of Kenya's kleptocratic political families, but the record of his 10 years in power consists largely of an unbroken procession of corruption scandals and graft-ridden projects," argued Kenyan cartoonist Patrick Gathara in an Al Jazeera opinion piece.
Even Kenyatta admits that corruption is endemic in the country. He has claimed that people steal more than $16 million a day from public funds, according to the Nation, a Kenyan newspaper.
Odinga, whose nickname is "Baba," (Father) has promised to stamp out corruption and institute a universal healthcare program called Babacare as well as other social welfare service improvements. Ruto, meanwhile, refers to himself as a would-be "Hustler-in-Chief" on the campaign trail, repeating how he once sold chickens in the Rift Valley in order to highlight his knack for getting things done, CNN wrote.
Corruption might alter the direction of the vote as the Conversation noted in a piece that drew from many experts in portraying the state of things before the vote. Fears of vote rigging, gender violence, vigilantes and militia groups taking to the streets and targeting members of specific tribes have caused concern of a repeat of 2018 or even the 2007-2008 crisis when as many as 1,500 people died in post-election violence.
The conditions are ripe for a rocky transition.
Still, despite its recent history of turbulent elections, Kenya stands out for its relative stability in a region where some presidents-for-life pull out all stops to stay in power, the Associated Press noted.
And there lies hope in the millions of Kenyans under 35, whose tribal loyalties are considerably weaker than their elders, analysts say. Over the weekend, for example, young local artists organized a community-wide celebration of ethnic diversity in Nairobi's diverse Kibera district, one of the world's largest slums, and a center of election violence in the past.
"We know what happened in previous elections in this country and we as young people cannot go back to where come from," Esha Mohammed, a director of the National Youth Council, told Al Jazeera. "We cannot allow ourselves to be in that situation (again)."
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
A Fragile Peace
ISRAEL/ WEST BANK & GAZA
Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip reached a ceasefire agreement this week, ending three days of conflict that began following the arrest of a senior Hamas leader, the BBC reported.
As of Monday, the Egypt-brokered truce appeared to be holding. Israel announced it was lifting its blockade to allow fuel and humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
The latest clashes – the most serious since the 11-day conflict in May 2021 – ignited following the arrest last week of Bassem Saadi, the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the West Bank.
Israel said it began its military operations following threats from the PIJ, with the country's military officials saying that 1,100 projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip during the flare-up, with 200 landing inside Gaza.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials blamed "Israeli aggression" for the deaths of at least 44 people, including 15 children in Gaza. No Israeli casualties have been reported.
Israeli officials also said it hit 170 PIJ targets during the military operation, adding that a number of deaths were caused by PIJ fire. It said it would investigate the civilian deaths.
The Iran-backed PIJ is considered one of the strongest militant groups operating in Gaza. It has been held responsible for a number of attacks, including rocket fire against Israel.
In November 2019, Israel and the PIJ fought in a five-day conflict that left 34 Palestinians dead and 111 injured. Israeli officials reported 63 injured.
Coming to the Table
Chad's military government signed a peace deal with more than 40 opposition groups Monday, an agreement that is expected to kickstart reconciliation talks in the restive African nation, Al Jazeera reported.
The government and rebel groups signed the accord in the Qatari capital of Doha following months of negotiations. Since March, Qatar has been mediating talks between the armed rebels and the government of Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, a general who seized power after his father, President Idriss Déby Itno, was killed in a battle with rebels last year.
Under the accord, participants will attend a national dialogue – known as the N'Djamena talks – later this month. It aims to pave the way for presidential elections later this year. The deal also commits the signatories to a ceasefire during the talks. The Chadian government said it would guarantee the safety of the rebel leaders attending the dialogue.
Officials said 42 of the 47 factions signed the accord. Even so, the main rebel group, Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), rejected the deal.
FACT officials warned that participants in the reconciliation talks will not be treated equally and demanded a new committee to organize the negotiations. It added that the deal's guarantees were insufficient and that Déby must forswear running in future elections.
Following last year's takeover, Déby pledged there would be elections in 18 months. However, he has retained the authority to extend his administration's "transitional" rule for an additional 18 months.
Chad has had little stability since it became independent from France in 1960. Still, the talks will be closely observed internationally as the country remains a key ally in international efforts to fight armed groups around the region.
India unexpectedly withdrew a proposed data protection bill this month, which had raised fears among tech giants and privacy rights advocates about government overreach, the New York Times wrote.
The government said it is now working on new legislation, two years after unveiling the previous bill, because it had grown too complicated.
The scrapped bill would have required internet companies such as Meta and Google to obtain specific permission for most uses of an individual's data, and made it easier to request that such sensitive data be removed.
Tech companies worried that the bill would have forced them to increase their compliance burden and data storage requirements. Others complained that the bill would have made it difficult for global tech giants wanting to expand in India, the world's second-largest Internet market after China.
But the draft law would have also given the government broad powers over personal data and would have exempted authorities from the bill's provisions – apparently for national security reasons.
Privacy activists and opposition politicians lamented that the legislation would have provided the government with the ability to store, use and control large amounts of data on its citizens, including fingerprints and iris scans.
Meanwhile, analysts said the withdrawn bill was another attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rein in tech companies. His government has enacted rules that allow authorities to demand that posts critical of them be hidden from users in India.
Still, some privacy advocates say a measure is needed to safeguard the data of citizens online and hold companies responsible for misusing users' personal data.
UKRAINE, BRIEFLY
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that talks with Kyiv or its foreign allies may not take place if Moscow stages referendums on joining Russia in occupied areas of Ukraine, according to Radio Free Europe. Russian forces and Moscow-backed rebels now control huge swathes of territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and in the south. Russian-installed leaders in both areas have suggested organizing referendums on joining Russia.
The threat of a nuclear disaster caused heightened international concern Monday amid weekend strikes on a Russian-controlled power station in Ukraine that is nearly twice the size of Chernobyl, NBC News wrote. The facility is damaged but remains running. Meanwhile, at a ceremony in Tokyo marking the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for independent inspectors to be granted access to the massive nuclear complex in Zaporizhzhia.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder will remain a member of the Social Democrats Party (SPD), despite his connections to Russian energy corporations and friendship with Vladimir Putin, Politico reported. An internal SPD arbitration committee rejected an expulsion motion against the controversial ex-chancellor on Monday, finding he had "not been guilty of a violation of party rules."
A Harsh Mistress
Scientists recently discovered that Earth's satellite is not entirely inhospitable, saying there are spots on the moon that are "very cozy," the Atlantic reported.
A research team recently analyzed data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter of two lunar caverns located in the Sea of Tranquility in the Moon's northern hemisphere.
Their findings showed that one of these cylindrical-shaped caverns had a pleasant, cool temperature of 63 degrees Fahrenheit that didn't change much from a lunar day to night.
A lunar day lasts about a month on Earth, which means that the Moon's surface experiences about 15 days of nonstop, scorching sunlight that can boil water. The lunar night, meanwhile, is a period of intense cold.
Lead author Tyler Horvath explained that sunlight illuminates only a part of the 328-feet-deep cavern, while the rest is permanently in the shade. This prevents it from heating up too much and stops the warmth from escaping at night.
But Horvath's team noted that this cavern also had a small dent in the wall, which they believe to be the entrance to an underground cave.
They added that these structures were created during the Moon's formation billions of years ago and could be the perfect spots for future lunar colonists to build permanent homes on the celestial body.
Earth's satellite has no atmosphere, lacks defenses against dangerous cosmic radiation and is occasionally bombarded by small meteorites.
Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein had a point when he titled his book, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Big Leicester employer's vision for how the city can fight back after coronavirus
Free parking, better planning rules and family homes 'could save cities like Leicester'
Tom PegdenBusiness Editor
Leicester City Centre the day after Boris announced a lockdown. Mattioli Woods
Leicester must make big changes to adapt to the impact of Covid-19 on its shops, restaurants and workplaces, says the boss of one of the city's biggest employers.
Ian Mattioli, chief executive of Mattioli Woods, said things like free parking, a better planning system and more family housing could help the city centre fight back.
He said his team, like many big firms, is working out how to shift from home working to a safe and socially distant move back to the office.
Mr Mattioli – who decided to move his wealth management business to New Walk from Grove Park a couple of years ago – is passionate about the city.
And as Leicester remains locked in the tail end of its extended local lockdown, he said the big changes ahead would be part of the cycle of inner city life that has defined it for decades.
He believes the city – and businesses like his own – will adapt, but said added support is needed to get the ball rolling.
And councils should, he said, be allowed to borrow extra cash to help with that.
The chair of Leicester City Council's planning committee, meanwhile, said while the planning system had been affected by people working from home through lockdown, applications were still being thoroughly vetted and decided upon.
His wealth management company has a distinctive new build office off Welford Road with capacity for 600 workers.
Pre-lockdown it had around 400 people working there, and post-lockdown he expects that figure to be around 250-300, with some staff continuing to work from home.
Nationally his company has 600 employees and offices across the UK.
Mr Mattioli said: "We have to get a lot of people back into our office because otherwise the economy nationally and locally will start to creek.
"There's only one coffee shop open around us at the moment. We overlook New Walk and there are only a few people walking along it.
"A lot of people have found working from home revolutionary. We are using Teams, Zoom and social media.
"We took very quick action. I would like to see the councils take quick action. In Leicester it's just re-introduced car parking levies for on-street parking – it should get rid of them.
"Bring people in. Speak to the owners of the car parks. Open them up, get people back into the cities.
"Don't hang around with planning permission. I've spoken to a lot of developers who say 'the council is shut, we can't get anything agreed'.
"You've got to lead from the front. Civic responsibility and business responsibility have got to work arm in arm to really get things back.
"Councils can create the funding for projects that might take a while to be achieved, but parking is an easy one."
Ian Mattioli (Image: Will Johnston Photography)
On the issue of shops and restaurants not reopening, he said: "Change happens. Buildings can be reused. We designed our new building to be multi-functional. Our ground floor is 2ft higher than the other floors just in case we needed to put shops in.
"There are a lot of great buildings in Leicester that could be converted to family accommodation. Let's get behind that. Probably what we don't need at the moment is more restaurants and more shops because they are going to suffer for a year or two.
"But the space in and around Leicester is still really valuable, cosmopolitan, inclusive and all the things that historically made Leicester a great place to be."
Mr Mattioli said the business had operated well through the lockdown with new tech brought in just before the pandemic allowing the team to work remotely.
Mattioli Woods also put a hold on bonuses, the executive took a salary cut and he decided to forgo his own salary.
It also avoided using Government money he said, while at the same time investing in new senior management members.
Acquisitions have continued and Mr Mattioli says will continue.
It comes as new figures show revenues for the business rose by 1.6 per cent to £58.4 million in the year to May 31, with pre-tax profits up more than a third to £13.4 million, "significantly ahead of expectations at start of the year".
Assets under management dropped marginally to £9.3 billion.
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He said: "Life is very different. I think Covid-19 took us a little bit off-balance as you would expect.
"But we have worked really hard to ensure that whilst we are off-balance we are still very much on-purpose.
"If you look at some of the things we have done locally in lockdown we have taken on the best part of a dozen new people through our recruitment programmes to deliver long-term consultants and long-term administrators.
"We have continued to grow our tech team.
"We have invested a lot of money in our infrastructure, not just buildings, going from old style servers and changing our operating system in July/August last year, and in light of what happened that was absolutely the best thing to do.
"As we went into lockdown we closed the offices and the following morning we were operational from people's homes.
"There was no rationale as to why we wouldn't continue to grow because one thing the pandemic has brought about is individuals asking questions of their own financial positions – "what have we got? How sustainable is it? Is there enough?".
"All of these things help and drive out business forward."
City council cabinet member Coun Vijay Singh Riyait, who chairs the local planning committee, said the ongoing lockdown was having an impact on opening up Leicester.
But he said the council's local plan, which would soon be out for consultation, could be used to address some of the issues people have.
And, he said, Government proposals to change the planning system also had to be looked at.
He said: "With people working from home, lots of things have been impacted, not just the council.
"To say that new planning applications are getting delayed is a little bit unfair.
"People think there's a bottleneck with planning, but if you look at things like the Space Park Leicester and the new hotel opposite the Sainsbury's in Melton Road, things are happening. We are also continuing with the Waterside development.
"I guess one of the difficulties is how do you get people into the city centre, and Leicester is still in a particular lockdown situation.
"In terms of parking, that would be for the city mayor to decide, and there may be a case for extending free parking. But it's difficult because the council's budget has been impacted and parking does provide some revenue.
"I know more and more people are moving into cities, and the Waterside area is probably our biggest chance for affordable housing near the city centre, and there is definitely a good case to be made for that.
"The message is the planning system is their to support development in Leicester and we have a good track record for that."
A city council spokesman said the authority has processed 427 applications since the beginning of April: "Our planning department is definitely open for business and has continued to operate throughout the pandemic, dealing with more than 400 planning applications over the past five months, despite most staff working from home and with more limited IT capacity.
"The volume of applications dealt with on time compares well to previous years.
"The team has set up virtual planning committee meetings and will shortly begin citywide consultation on the Draft Local Plan.
"Levels of application submissions are close to pre-pandemic levels and staff are working hard to service these and to continue supporting the encouraging levels of development interest in the city."
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The Real Poplar Nurse Behind Call The Midwife
Laura Reynolds The Real Poplar Nurse Behind Call The Midwife
"Midwifery is the very stuff of drama," wrote Jennifer Worth in her 2002 book Call The Midwife: A Memoir Of Birth, Joy And Hard Times. Little did Worth know at time of writing that her own midwifery would be made into a Sunday night drama watched by millions.
Call The Midwife, the BBC One drama set in Poplar, was based on the real life memoirs of Jennifer Worth, a midwife and staff nurse who worked in a Poplar where "the death of children was taken for granted and poverty was frankly regarded as a moral defect".
Here's the story of the real woman whose books inspired the show.
Life in Poplar
Born 25 September 1935 in Clacton on Sea, Jennifer Worth was raised in Amersham before moving to Poplar aged 22 to train as a nurse. It's reported that she chose Poplar because she wanted a challenge.
She was hired as a staff nurse at the London Hospital, Whitechapel in the 1950s, and worked with the Sisters of St John The Divine, an Anglican order of nuns, who viewers of the show know better as the nuns of Nonnatus House. This work was predominantly midwifery.
She later became a Ward Sister at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in Bloomsbury, and finally at Marie Curie Hospital in Hampstead. Worth retired from nursing in 1973 to focus on music.
Life as a musician
By 1974 she was teaching piano and singing at the London College of Music, performing throughout Britain and Europe.
Writing her memoirs
During her time as a musician, and once she had retired from the trade, Worth began to pen her memoirs of her time as a midwife in the East End. By the time she retired from medicine, the East End that she had known was long gone: in post-war Poplar, slums were being cleared, houses bombed in the war were rebuilt, and the East End as a whole was undergoing a rapid transformation from the squalid and overcrowded place it had once been. She wrote to try to record a way of life that had once been.
One of the most important changes that Worth witnessed was the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1961.
"In the late 1950s we had 80 to 100 deliveries a month on our books. In 1963, the number had dropped to four or five a month. Now that is some social change," writes Worth in Call The Midwife.
The first part of her memoirs, Call The Midwife, was published in 2002, and reissued in 2007 when it became a bestseller, along with the second and third parts of the trilogy, Shadows Of The Workhouse and Farewell To The East End.
The books tell of a life with water from standpipes, no telephones in homes and babies delivered by candlelight.
"There was no law, no lighting, bedbugs and fleas", she recalls. "It was a hidden place, not written about at all."
Yet throughout her books, as is reflected in the television adaptation, a strong sense of community shines through. Her fourth book, In The Midst Of Life, focuses on the later part of her medical career, caring for terminally ill patients.
In her later life, Worth became better known for her opinions on abortion, specifically in relation to Mike Leigh's 2004 film Vera Drake, about a 1950s woman who helped other women to illegally induce miscarriages.
Writing in The Guardian, Worth criticised the film for its unrealistic depiction of illegal abortion.
"I was a district midwife in London in the 1950s and I certainly never saw a survivor of that method," she wrote, going on to describe "the horrors of backstreet abortions" as "beyond imagining and defy[ing] description". Elsewhere, Worth had written of hearing the "stifled screams" of women undergoing backstreet abortions in 1950s Poplar, at a time when there was no contraceptive pill and abortion was illegal.
Jennifer Worth died on 31 May 2011, just seven months before her work was first broadcast on television.


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Home > Work > Arts > Features > Sex, Lies, and Violence: Did Noah Just Rape Helen in 'The Affair'?
Sex, Lies, and Violence: Did Noah Just Rape Helen in 'The Affair'?
Noah Solloway (Dominic West) is a mess, as everyone agrees, and tells him. As of tonight, he is a mess who possibly just sexually assaulted his ex-wife. Let the debate begin.
The Affair's battered, flawed lead male character is a crucible of crisis. He went to jail because he felt guilty for having an affair, and because he loved two women very differently, one—ex-wife Helen (Maura Tierney) as the mother of his children, and second wife Alison (Ruth Wilson) romantically. Alison is now his soon-to-be second ex-wife.
Both women contributed to the death of Scott Lockhart (Colin Donnell)—Helen by running him over and Alison by pushing him in front of the car.
Noah took the rap, and went to jail for three years, and has been stabbed in the neck by a mystery assailant.
This might be Gunther (Brendan Fraser), a vicious, sadistic prison guard, who envied Noah for his glamorous life and who violently menaced him for his prison term, doing particular damage to his shoulder.
The show has become a hive of complication: Noah still wants Alison, and reunited with her without realizing she'd had sex with her ex-husband Cole (Joshua Jackson). Then they left each other. Helen still wants Noah, and came across him splashing about in a pond last week next to his dead father's house, Noah seeing the ghoul of his own teenage self in front of him.
He's off his head on Vicodin for the busted shoulder, which means he's hallucinating and on edge, and Helen found him like this and ferried him back to Brooklyn. And from there, in Anya Epstein's seventh episode of the third season, The Affair returned to type—and two very different interpretations of the same events.
In Helen's version, she is the plainly dressed, sad, and compromised caretaker of her ex-husband, trying to build bridges with Nina (Jennifer Esposito), Noah's sister, by phone and trying to ameliorate the inevitable concerns of her hot new boyfriend Vic Ullah (Omar Metwally). Noah's holed up in the basement, sick, and the meek accepter of her merciful tenderness.
Helen is in her element, co-opting Noah's phone, making good with his parole officer. It's kind of like Misery, with nicer furnishings. Poor Noah must ask Helen to leave while he has a bath. Vic was irritated, naturally, to discover the ex was living downstairs, and with his attempted murderer still on the loose.
Still, on Helen's request, Vic—"Dr. Ooh-la-la," Noah calls him, which earned a guffaw from this sofa—takes a look at him, though won't agree to Noah's request for lots more Vicodin, prescribing some antibiotics instead. "The man's a mess," he says to Helen, asking her to get him out of the house. He'd be better in a rehab facility.
Noah says to Helen that Vic hates him, and she passes her drug-addicted ex-husband an Ambien as well as the antibiotics. He thinks his hears his children upstairs, but they are not there.
Suddenly, daughter Whitney (Julia Goldani Telles) appears, needing a tent for an upstate camping trip with her awful boyfriend Furkat (Jonathan Cake), who is also her boss, a photographer, and prize dickwad. His name is ridiculous, he is a sleaze, and of course he has a daughter called Juniper.
Whitney, for whom the word "troubled" was invented—alongside "brat"—can't believe Helen has let Noah back into the house after all the hurt he has caused and heads off, only to find her dad being beaten up by Furkat outside.
Noah is left again a mess.
Afterward, Helen can't work out why Noah didn't fight back—unaware of the abuse he has suffered at the hands of Gunther. And even we don't know the full scale of this, though Gunther's malevolence has an implication of sexual violence to it. Was Noah raped?
Whitney wonders why Helen hates herself so much, and why she—rather than Noah—is so crazy.
And Helen's love for Noah is crazy, as evidenced when she lies down next to him to sleep in the drugged captivity she has helped create. She finally has Noah back where she wants him.
Their son Trevor's (Jadon Sand) voice disturbs her. He's in a musical production of Jane Eyre, and he is just talking about "the crazy lady in the attic" when a thud is heard. Helen says it's plumbers, Vic knows it is still Noah, and—reasonably enough—tells Helen he's out. It's obvious to Vic that Helen still loves Noah, or in some fundamental way will never be able to jettison him from her life. She has no answer when he asks why Helen can't let Noah go. And so Vic goes.
(Finally, Vic and I can be together! Vic, the key's under the mat!)
Just then Noah appeared, and was sorry if Vic had left because of him. Helen took her glass of wine to her dim patio. She was crying. She told Noah she forgave him, that he had to stop punishing himself. He was puzzled as to why Helen should need to forgive him. (Oh Helen, you're so wrong about Noah.) They kiss, and kiss more, and then head to bed, and mid-sexual flow stop. "What?" Helen asks.
Noah obviously recalls the passage of events differently. For one, on that car trip back from his dad's, he recalled stopping in at Gunther's family hunting shop. Gunther's mother is there, and reveals to Noah—who buys a brute-looking knife in a sheath—that "John" is her oldest child, married 16 years to a wife called Kayleigh, who is a hairdresser.
He was always itching to get out of town, Gunther's mother says. You can see why his envy and hatred burns so bright for Noah. Noah tells her to tell Gunther he sends his best, and accepts a gift of fresh beef jerky.
Helen is worried about his shoulder. He just wants to sleep. At home he does hear family life above him, even if in Helen's version the kids aren't there.
Noah also recalls Vic seeing him, but Vic is dressed in a crisp white shirt in Noah's memory and much harsher. We learn Gunther's abuse led Noah's shoulder to be broken in three places, but as in Helen's memory Vic won't give him Vicodin.
In his memory Vic checks his neck wound, and tells him a bad infection could lead to hallucinations, which might explain the ghosts of Gunther that Noah keeps seeing—if they are ghosts.
Vic hisses at Noah to leave, and tells him he is not worried about his presence, comparing Noah's ill, drug-addicted self to Vic's healthy stability.
Noah falls asleep, and dreams of Gunther again, visiting him in his solitary cell to torment and needle him. He is ensuring Noah isn't eating properly or getting enough water. Gunther asks why he's in the slammer. When Noah reveals he had an affair, Gunther sneers that he cannot understand why. Noah had everything. Now he is no better than Gunther.
Noah sneers back that he'll be out of here, while Gunther will stay in this awful place.
That earns more physical punishment on Noah's shoulder, and a vow by Gunther to make sure Noah won't get out of jail. When Noah tries to stop the assault, Gunther claims he is assaulting him—more solitary time beckons.
On waking (and Noah has no memory of Helen being next to him), Noah hears voices. Furkat is outside, and he too sneers at Noah about how pathetic he is, and the gross stories Whitney has told him. He punches Noah, who looks up to see Whitney dressed in a less dressy get-up than Helen recalled.
When he wakes again, post-that beating, he hears Trevor talking above, while in the shadows of the room Gunther is there smoking. They fight, Noah asks what he wants. Noah again comes off worst, although when he rushes upstairs after Gunther has left Helen hasn't seen him. Was Gunther really there? Did that happen, or was it the meds?
The Helen Noah recalls is wearing a sexy dress, the patio is beautifully lit, and Helen is not at all sad about Vic's departure. Helen encourages Noah, his perfumed, enabling gaoler, to take more Vicodin. Noah in a drugged state is even more hers.
Helen tells Noah seductively that he's done some bad things, but that she forgives him. Which Helen is the real Helen, hers or his? She tells him, her drugged, pliant ex-husband, that all will be OK. Sex begins. Where Helen's memory ended on her asking "What?" as Noah hesitated mid-intercourse, in his memory he tells her, "You don't know me."
"I do," Helen says.
"You don't," Noah says.
As the sex gets more violent, Noah repeats that she doesn't know him. If the sex began as consensual and initiated by Helen, it ends as disturbingly violent, and an assault on her. It was rough sex she did not want, or elicit.
Its violence and consensual ambiguity might have reminded some fans of the time Noah had disturbingly violent sex with Alison against a tree, and there was debate online back then over whether it was rape or not. A similar debate may well happen again after tonight.
It also reflected the theme of sexual assault on campus, played out around the dinner party debates of earlier in the season. Noah's novel featured a fictional distillation of his assault on Alison, so he knows what his critics may think him capable of.
Noah has also opined that sex is blurred, "a war between intellect and instinct."
The dual perspective of The Affair worked meaningfully tonight: Helen's elided the assault completely, whereas Noah—unsparing on himself—recalled it all too graphically.
That included his memory of Helen crying into the pillow at the end. If this was a sexual assault, was Noah—drugged, out of control, out of himself—recalling and re-enacting his own rape at the hands of Gunther? Or the violence that Gunther represents?
That would be no excuse of course—and if you did see it as a sexual assault, then it means Noah has done the same to his two wives.
Because Noah is such a mess all the time, and mess keeps unfolding around him all the time, the first assault on Alison wasn't interrogated that much in the drama.
How about this second time, and will Helen—who wants this man back in her life so desperately—see his violation of her as the most brutal and revealing manifestation of why a reunion right now would be a terrible idea?
Whatever, The Affair just got even darker—if that were possible.
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blog home Military Defense Soldier Acquitted of Aiding the Enemy Charge in WikiLeaks Trial
Soldier Acquitted of Aiding the Enemy Charge in WikiLeaks Trial
By Joseph Low on August 7, 2013 - Comments off
The high-profile WikiLeaks case is nearing its conclusion after the Army Private accused of releasing thousands of classified documents to the popular whistle-blowing website was found guilty of 19 out of 21 charges. The Private faces a possible 136-year prison sentence for charges including espionage, theft, and computer fraud.
Ultimately, the presiding judge found the accused Private not guilty of aiding the enemy – a serious charge that drew a lot of attention to the trial in the first place. Prosecutors argued that the accused Private had indirectly disclosed classified information to the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, while the Private's defense lawyer argued that aiding the enemy should only apply to those who directly conspire with America's enemies.
If the charge of aiding the enemy had been upheld, legal experts feared that the ruling would set a dangerous precedent that releasing sensitive information to the public would be considered an act of treason. Such a ruling would threaten investigative reporters and whistleblowers hoping to hold the government accountable for its actions.
The sentencing phase of the WikiLeaks trial is currently underway at the time of this writing.
San Diego Military Defense Attorney Joseph H. Low IV has dedicated his career to protecting the rights of military members facing serious, life-changing accusations. As a former Marine, Mr. Low understands the complicated procedures of military court and will do everything he can to ensure that his clients' are heard and receive a fair trial. If you are facing criminal military charges, Joseph H. Low IV can help. Call (888) 454-5569 for a free and confidential consultation.
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what to say ? ....... you're incredible Liv .
again , wonderful work .
Thanks a lot Caio . this is my newest painting .
so I have to start creating new stuff now !
I almost always agree with caio, and once again I must agree with him!
great work, good luck on the show!
Allways good to have your comments !
This is such a nice design with exquisite figures, shapes and color. I'm seeing the everyday objects and obstacles of life on a revolving global stage with two unique travelers precariously moving through it all. This may not have anything to do with your intent but I love this piece none the less.
very nice work. I like the colours you use and while looking at some older ones I saw this funny structures inside some people and animals. Your paintings have a very special atmosphere.
THANK YOU SO MUCH , NICHOLE !!!
thanks so much , Momom Luna !


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Tag Archives: Bruce Swedien
State of Independence – Donna Summer
Donna Summer was among the original crop of artists to sign to David Geffen's new Geffen label, along with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Elton John and John Lennon & Yoko Ono. Geffen was perturbed that, Double Fantasy apart, the first records by his chosen signees all flopped. This was an intolerable state of affairs; the artists had all received large advances that would now not be recouped in one album cycle, but more importantly, they had harmed the reputation of his new label in its very earliest stages. Asylum had been a boutique operation, an artists' label ("I don't think that every record we make is a hit or that every artist we record is going to be a star but I think that all the music we put out is very valid", said Geffen in a TV interview); Geffen Records was about making money, and being seen by the industry to be making money.
When Summer was working on the follow-up to The Wanderer, that flop first Geffen record, David stepped in, cancelling the project and insisting that she work not with her usual collaborators, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, but with Quincy Jones instead. It may be no exaggeration to say that Summer, Bellotte and Moroder had changed the course of recorded music when they made I Feel Love, but for Geffen this was not enough. Jones's involvement, Geffen felt, would guarantee a hit (after all, Quincy had made Off the Wall and Give Me the Night) and Summer needed a hit. Geffen needed a hit.
Recorded between late 1981 and early 1982, Donna Summer was the last record Jones worked on before commencing Thriller and tells us quite a bit about where his head was at, particularly in regard to rhythm tracks. For Thriller, Jones made use of the new drum machines that had come on to the market (his engineer Bruce Swedien namechecks the Univox SR55, but it's safe to assume the ubiquitous Linn LM1 was in there too) as well as his first-call session drummers (John JR Robertson, Jeff Porcaro).
State of Independence got there first. The herky-jerky swing of Summer's Jon & Vangelis interpretation foregrounds its mechanical qualities and doesn't pretend to have been played by people. Jones:
We started with a Linn Drum Machine, and created the patterns for different sections. Then we created the blueprint, with all the fills and percussion throughout the whole song.
From the Linn, we went through a Roland MicroComposer, and then through a pair of Roland Jupiter 8 synthesizers that we lock to. The patterns were pads in sequencer-type elements. Then we program the Minimoog to play the bass line.
The programs were all linked together and driven by the Roland MicroComposer using sync codes. The program information is stored in the Linn's memory, and on the MicroComposer's cassette.
Interview with Recording Engineer/Producer magazine
The question becomes, how do you add humanity, soul, to this kind of production? Fortunately Summer was adept at this kind of thing. She had done it ever since I Feel Love. Jones was moving into her territory on this tune, not the other way round.
I'd love to know if Summer handpicked State of Independence for her record. Jon & Vangelis's original is, politely, all over the place. Anderson's vocal is staccato, playing up the abstract, disjointed nature of his lyric and downplaying the gospel. Only in the "Sounds like a signal from my heart" does he seem to relax in his phrasing. Summer takes this as her starting point. The track's early-days sequencing be as Brian Eno pointed out in a BBC documentary "crudely mechanical", but Summer's vocal is as sinuous as Pharaoh Sanders tenor solo.
But what truly puts the song over the top is the all-star chorus, described by Jones as a dress rehearsal for We Are the World: Michael Jackson, James Ingram, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Loggins, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and Michael McDonald. Jones and Swedien created the most glorious-sounding vocal texture in recorded-music history. Nothing else sounds like it. Every time, every time, I hear this song, the chorus give me goosebumps. But Summer earns the right to bring so much heavy-duty vocal power to bear in the preceding section with her own performance; there's so much spirit and joy in her own interjection of "hey, hey" after the "holy water to my lips" line, and when she insists "his truth will abound the land", it's hard not to believe her, whatever you believe when the record finishes.
Not a big US hit, State of Independence did much better in Europe and still gets airplay in the UK. It deserves it. Outside of his Jackson work, it may be Quincy Jones's finest production; outside of I Feel Love, it may be Donna Summer's finest record.
New recording by the author. The author cannot sing like Donna Summer or produce like Quincy Jones
This entry was posted in Music and tagged Asylum, Bad Girls, Brian Eno, Bruce Swedien, David Geffen, Diminished, Dionne Warwick, Disco, Donna Summer, Double Fantasy, Elton John, Geffen Records, Giorgio Moroder, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, Give Me the Night, gospel, his truth will abound the land, Hot Stuff, I Feel Love, James Ingram, Jeff Porcaro, John JR Robertson, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Jon & Vangelis, Jon Anderson, Joni Mitchell, Kenny Loggins, Linn LM1, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Michael McDonald, Neil Young, Off The Wall, Pete Bellotte, Pharaoh Sanders, record production, Recording Engineer/Producer magazine, Roland Jupiter 8, Roland MicroComposer, sound recording, Sound recording and reproduction, State of Independence, Stevie Wonder, Univox SR55, Vangelis on January 31, 2015 by rossjpalmer.
Underrated Drum Tracks I Have Loved, Part 2
What's exciting and endlessly fascinating about recording drums (and the same is true for when you're listening to music too, I think, although when I began placing microphones I became consciously aware of all the practical implications of something I'd previously understood unconsciously) is that every drummer in the world – every single one – is different. Give them the same boom-boom-bap drum pattern to play and the same tempo to play it at, and every drummer will be different. Different feels, different internal balance between the kick, snare and hi-hat. Some will feel almost metronically perfect. Others will get on top of the beat and look to push the excitement by playing the snare right on the very front of the beat. Some will lay back, adding a don't-hurry-me swing. Hopefully these three wildly different drum tracks will demonstrate this (listen to the first 30 seconds of #4, then switch to #5 – you should really hear what I'm talking about!
3) Rock With You – Michael Jackson
John 'JR' Robinsons' drums on Rock With You are almost superhumanly tight, but they're not rigid. It feels great. You could never listen to this song and assume that the rhythm track was programmed – it's too playful. Two and four on the snare, 16th notes in the intro and choruses, 8th notes in the verse, displaced quarters in the pre-chorus (by which I mean he plays the 'and', as in one-And-two-And-three-And-four-And), endless little 'pssts' and emphases – he's having a ball.
The recording of the drums, by Quincy Jones's long-time engineer, Bruce Swedien, is fantastic. Like Alan Parsons (qv), Swedien is not a fan of compressing signals with heavy transient content (like drums). Over to Bruce:
Good transient response is especially important when recording acoustic instruments. This is one case where it's extremely important for one to have equipment that is able to capture as much of the initial transient as possible, and all its accompanying delicate details.
In the music that I am normally involved in, I have always felt that good transient content is one of the very most important components of the recorded image.
I would even go so far as to say that transient response has at its core a direct relationship to the emotional impact of a recording. Particularly in the main genres of music that I record…. namely R&B and pop recordings.
The faithful recording and reproduction of sound source transients makes the strong rhythmic elements in R&B and pop recordings much more dramatic. These are the elements that are so important, such as the 'kick' or bass drum, the snare drum, hand-claps, percussion… etc.
I think that well recorded transients give R & B and 'Pop' recordings a feeling of tremendous energy.
To me, the excessive use of compression and limiting diminish the drama of sound source transients in recorded music.
(from a Q&A on gearslutz.com, where Bruce did his best to school the tin-eared masses)
Back to JR. As well as being the creator of some of the most danceable drum tracks in this history of popular music (Rock With You, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, The Way You Make Me Feel, Give Me the Night), his opening snare fill on Rock With You is one of the all-time fills.
4) Every Breath You Take – The Police
Stewart Copeland is a famously 'busy' drummer, so it's not a surprise that his simplest part may be also his most underrated. But it perhaps also allows us a little look at what makes him tick as a player. Copeland's tricky hi-hat fills in songs like Walking on the Moon showed a player who liked to fill space, but the choruses to songs like Roxanne revealed the power and energy he had in the tank when he chose to use it (listen to the outro when Copeland plays a double-time backbeat alternating between the snare and toms – he's clearly giving the toms what for).
So Copeland's playing had an oafish streak to it, at odds with his reputation as a progger and reggae fan. But there's another factor in his drum part to Every Breath You Take: his frustration at Sting's insistence that he play a very simple kick and snare part with no hi-hat in the verse, and no fills. This tension boiled over frequently in the studio and soon enough would end the band. But in terms of this recording, we ended up with a drum track in which Copeland strains at the leash all the way through. He's right on top of the beat, almost to the point of being early. He's this barely contained energy animating the whole song. Again, the indispensability of Copeland's contribution is confirmed by listening to any of the godawful cheesy versions Sting has done live since the Police split up.
5) If It Makes You Happy – Sheryl Crow
Every time I hear this song on the radio I'm tickled by just how lazy the drum track feels. I don't mean that the drummer can't be bothered; I mean that the drummer couldn't be any more at the back of the beat without the song grinding to a halt. There's no doubt that this effect is intended. The lazy swagger of the song is the whole point. The drummer wisely keeps the fills to the minimum, concentrating on placement of the backbeat at the very back end of the beat, but his sudden, frantic 7-stroke triplet drum roll at the end of the last verse, under the song's key line 'So what if right now everything's wrong?', is a great addition.
According to Discogs, the drummer was Michael Urbano. Jim Keltner and Pete Thomas (the Attractions) also play on the parent album, and as much as I love those two guys (Pete Thomas on Elvis Costello's Sulky Girl is one of my favourite drum performances ever), I can't imagine even those all-time greats playing the song better than Urbano did.
This entry was posted in Music and tagged Andy Summers, Bruce Swedien, drummers who can drum/singers who can sing, Elvis Costello, Every Breath You Take, Gearslutz, Hugh Padgham, If It Makes You Happy, Jim Keltner, John JR Robinson, Michael Jackson, Michael Urbano, Off The Wall, Pete Thomas, Quincy Jones, Rock With You, Sheryl Crow, Stewart Copeland, Sting, Sulky Girl, Synchronicity, The Attractions, The Police on November 3, 2013 by rossjpalmer.
George Benson – Give Me the Night
The CVs of George Benson and Quincy Jones are so absurdly overstuffed with accomplishments in jazz that their pop records can seem like mere trifles in comparison. Platinum-selling, Grammy-winning trifles.
Just another day in the office for Q, who won 27 Grammys during his career and more lifetime achievement awards and honorary degrees than I can list. In fact, he's probably won another award since I finished typing that last sentence. But for Benson, making the first record to be released on Quincy's new label Qwest, this was the peak of his second career as an R&B singer and hitmaker, begun four years earlier with an early vocal performance, a cover of Leon Russell's This Masquerade (a song that, in truth, Karen Carpenter had sung better. But she sang everything better than everyone else, so there's no disgrace in that).
Benson had thitherto been known as a virtuoso jazz guitarist, who had played on Miles in the Sky and Songs in the Key of Life. He employed a picking technique adapted from gypsy jazz, and had a way with hyperspeed octave lines that even Wes Montgomery would have envied. If he veered towards the commercial end of jazz, it was by instinct, not because he couldn't hang with the heavy players. He could play his arse off. But still, if around the time of Breezin' (1976) you'd been asked which contemporary jazz player might also become a pop star, Benson would have been a good guess, a guess proved right when Benson recorded The Greatest Love of All for the Muhammad Ali biopic The Greatest. I'll quickly declare a prejudice here: The Greatest Love of All is high up my list of the worst songs of all time. Absolutely loathsome from the first bar to the last. I'm a forgiving guy and don't hold it against George, Whitney or anyone else who's committed the aesthetic crime of recording that most mawkish of instant showstoppers, but I'd be very happy never to hear that song again.
Jones clearly recognised a kindred spirit in Benson and so picked him as the first artist for Qwest, setting his A Team to work on the new boy's next record: engineer Bruce Swedien and songwriter Rod Temperton, the blackest white man ever to come out of Lincolnshire. A typically strong Temperton song, Give Me the Night employed the arrangement style developed by Jones for Off the Wall, filling every part of the frequency range with details and ear candy, sculpting a sound heavy at the bottom and airy at the top, mixing the latest synth sounds with brass fanfares that could have sat happily on a Sinatra swing record from the fifties. Prolonged contact with Benson's pop work might induce hyperglycemia, but as a one-off single Give Me the Night sits halfway between the revelation of Off the Wall and the apotheosis of Thriller.
George Benson, octopus hands
This entry was posted in Music and tagged Bruce Swedien, funky white guys, George Benson, Grammys, hi-fi, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, Sound recording and reproduction, the highest of fi on April 20, 2013 by rossjpalmer.


text:
Q: Append data from 1 file to another using AWK I have an already existing script to check the exclusive data between 2 files and load it in 3rd file. The command is below.
var='FNR == NR {keys[$1 $2]; next} !($1 $2 in keys)'
awk -F\| $var file1.dat file2.dat > file3.dat

The requirement is to reuse the same but just append the data from file2 to file3 ignoring file1. I tried to do the below but it is spooling the data from both file1 and file2. All I need is, though there are 2 file names provided in the awk command, only the 2nd file data to be appended.
var='{print $0}'
awk -F\| $var file1.dat file2.dat > file3.dat

Can anyone help with the exact command.
Below is the data in each file and expected output.
File1 (Can have 0 or more) - We should not look at this file at all
123
456
789

File2:
123
ABC
XYZ
456

Expected output in File3 (All from file2 and just ignore file1 input, but I have to have the file1 name in awk command)
123
ABC
XYZ
456

A:
All from file2 and just ignore file1 input, but I have to have the file1 name in awk command.

If you must use file1 and file2 in arguments to awk command and want to output content from file2 only then you can just use:
awk 'BEGIN {delete ARGV[1]} 1' file1 file2 > file3

123
ABC
XYZ
456

delete ARGV[1] will delete first argument from argument list.

A: With your shown samples and attempts please try following awk code. Written and tested in GNU awk. Simply use nextfile to skip first Input_file named file1 itself and read 2nd file onwards.
awk 'NR==1{nextfile} 1' file1 file2

A: also remember not to waste time splitting unneeded fields

{m,g}awk 'BEGIN { delete ARGV[_^=FS="^$"] }_' file1 file2

and it's MUUUCH faster not reading it a row at a time :

mawk2 'BEGIN { delete ARGV[_^=FS="^$"] }_'             "${m2p}" "${m3t}"

 out9: 1.85GiB 0:00:01 [1.11GiB/s] [1.11GiB/s] [ <=>]
 f9d2e18d22eb58e5fc2173863cff238e  stdin

mawk2 'BEGIN { delete ARGV[_^=RS=FS="^$"] }_^(ORS=__)' "${m2p}" "${m3t}"

 out9: 1.85GiB 0:00:00 [1.92GiB/s] [1.92GiB/s] [<=> ]
 f9d2e18d22eb58e5fc2173863cff238e  stdin

and try to avoid the slow default mode of gawk :

gawk 'BEGIN { delete ARGV[_^=FS="^$"] }_'             "${m2p}" "${m3t}"

 out9: 1.85GiB 0:00:03 [ 620MiB/s] [ 620MiB/s] [ <=> ]
 f9d2e18d22eb58e5fc2173863cff238e  stdin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Got better at first, but then the recovery stalled, and stalled… and stalled again. A month later I still couldn't shake off the fatigue.
It took a phone call, from a good friend, to make me aware that I was burnt out – that I had, what some people call, 'chronic fatigue'.
She should know, she'd had chronic fatigue for the last few years, and was now starting to come out it.
With her offer of support, and her assurance that it is possible to get through this, I finally let myself fall into the fatigue.
What happened subsequently was amazing: I really crashed, was more tired than I'd ever felt in my life.
A life of push-crash cycles had taken it's toll.
All energy was gone. I could not move.
Had to completely switch off – even from thinking. Or at the very least, press the 'pause' button.
No longer able to 'go and get', I thought that I might as well learn to receive – to go into my heart and be open to what existence showed me next.
Moving into uncharted territory – scary and exhilarating at the same time.
The amazing thing was that when resting and trusting, I was happy. Beautiful things and people started coming towards me.
Slowly, slowly, after about a month I was getting better, a delicate journey of discovering new ways of being and doing business.
But, whenever I tried to do more than I was able to, I relapsed.
Luckily I knew how to respond. Rest.
Stop the intellect overriding messages from the body – start by being emotionally honest, both to yourself and to others.
Healing often comes from a direction we don't expect, or have not yet considered.
A good friend, coach or therapist can help us, can point the way. The healing is in us all.
So if you resonate with what I say and do – and you feel the need for some help to find the healing in you, get in touch with me. I am back in the world – present and here for you.
Can you heal yourself? Yes you can!


Drawings with a Graphics Tablet. How to Draw a Raccoon step by step; How to draw a Macaw; Sailing Ship Drawing; How to draw a Ballerina ; How to draw a realistic Cat; How to draw a Kangaroo; How to Draw a Snake (King Cobra) How to draw a Woodpecker; Lion drawing for kids, step by step; The steps to Deer drawing in pencil; How to draw a Wolf tutorial; The steps to drawing a Tiger; How to draw... Easy Things To Draw, Things To Doodle, Learn How To Draw, Easy Eyes To Draw, How To Draw Good, How To Draw Babies, Cool Stuff To Draw, How To Draw Doodles Easy, How To Doodle William Howe "Serf Raccoon"
How to Draw Pocahontas and Meeko Raccoon Easy Step by Step Drawing Tutorial for Kids and Beginners. Today I'll show you how to draw Princess Pocahontas and her cute cartoon raccoon, Meeko, with easy step by step drawing instructions that can be found below. how to add index to google stock app Next up, begin sketching out the raccoon's actual head and face structure. Draw in the cat like ears, and then be sure to make the cheeks kind of fluffy. Draw in the cat like ears, and then be sure to make the cheeks kind of fluffy.
Easy Things To Draw, Things To Doodle, Learn How To Draw, Easy Eyes To Draw, How To Draw Good, How To Draw Babies, Cool Stuff To Draw, How To Draw Doodles Easy, How To Doodle William Howe "Serf Raccoon"


After publication of this work , we found evidence for a gene (or two tandem genes) orthologous to Leutx in a genome assembly for the African elephant produced by the Broad Institute and accessible on the UCSC Genome Browser, assembly version Broad/loxAfr3 . Elephant Leutx homeodomain sequences are highly divergent from that of human LEUTX (48% identity), but regions of identity outside the homeodomain plus genomic synteny (Figure 1) confirm orthology. We also found divergent putative Leutx orthologues in some other mammals including dog, cat, horse, pig and cow but, as reported in our original publication, not in rodents or outside the placental mammals. These findings imply that Leutx did not originate in primate evolution as we originally suggested , but arose early in the radiation of placental mammals and was secondarily lost from rodents. This finding strengthens our original conclusion that rodents have experienced far more homeobox gene loss than have primates. Leutx is added to Ventx, Argfx, Dprx, Shox, Rax2, LOC647589, Tprx1 and Nanognb on the list of homeobox genes lost in the evolutionary lineage leading to rodents (Figure 2).
The LEUTX homeobox gene (orange arrow) plus four unusual non-homeobox genes (light grey arrows) form a linked set of genes in the human genome (dashed box). Divergent putative Leutx genes are located in syntenic regions of cow, dog and elephant (orange arrows), but absent at the equivalent location in mouse and rat. Non-homeobox genes used as indicators of chromosomal synteny are shown as grey arrows.
A summary of homeobox gene dynamics in the mouse and human evolutionary lineages. The majority of homeobox genes are conserved between mouse and human lineages (grey squares), although some have undergone duplication to different extents (cascaded boxes). Humans have lost the Msx3 gene; mice have lost Leutx, Nanognb, Tprx1, LOC647589, Rax2, Shox, Dprx, Argfx and Ventx (dashed boxes). Three new homeobox loci (Gm7235, Gm5585 and Crxos1) and one new cluster (Obox) arose in the rodent lineage.


text:
Wayzata product Alex Schilling begins reign as Air Force's starting goaltender
By Chris Bayee, SportsEngine, 09/23/20, 5:15PM CDT
The Trojans alumnus made his first start for the Falcons as a sophomore last fall, proving to be a steady force in net while helping his team erase an 0-7 record to start to the season.
Former Wayzata goalie Alex Schilling (left) made his first start for Air Force in November 2019 against Sacred Heart. He won, helping the Falcons find stability after starting the season with an 0-7 record. All photos courtesy of Air Force Athletics
It was a no-brainer as far as Andy Berg was concerned.
The Stillwater native and Air Force Academy associate head coach had liked what he'd seen in Wayzata's goaltender on a few scouting trips during the 2015-16 season, but the 2016 Minnesota State Class 2A state tournament cemented his decision to move Alex Schilling way up his recruiting list.
"We were recruiting a couple of other guys from his team, so I'd watched Alex a few times that season," Berg said. "But he stood on his head in the state tournament. I can't emphasize enough what an impression he made. He was just tremendous."
Backstopped by Schilling, the Trojans captured their first state title that season, and the even-keeled goaltender played a huge part in that.
Fast forward four years, shifting from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul to Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Schilling was selected by his teammates as the Falcons' MVP as a sophomore after rescuing a season that could have stayed grounded.
What's remarkable about Schilling's ascent is he accomplished it despite rarely having played prior to his first collegiate start. He logged minimal minutes during his freshman season with the Falcons and he made just two relief appearances totaling little more than two periods in the first seven games of the 2019-20 season.
Taking flight after getting an opportunity
Early last November, after relieving starter Zach LaRocque during a 7-1 shellacking at Sacred Heart, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Schilling helped the Falcons defeat the Pioneers 4-3, giving the Falcons their first victory in eight starts.
Schilling never relinquished the net after that, starting Air Force's next 29 games before the NCAA hockey season was called due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"If I had known how he'd do, I'd have played him sooner," said longtime Air Force coach Frank Serratore, a Coleraine native and former goaltender who played at Bemidji State. "I love when guys prove me wrong, and he did. I should have given him a chance sooner."
Alex Schilling
Schilling hit the tarmac running, helping Air Force win six of its next 10 games and getting points in three more contests. After the Sacred Heart victory on Nov. 2, he allowed more than two goals only twice in that stretch.
The Falcons ultimately went 12-11-6 in Schilling's starts and were gaining momentum heading into the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) quarterfinals.
Schilling wrapped his year with a respectable .903 save percentage and a 2.39 goals-against average while logging 1,734 minutes in goal.
"The biggest shame was not being able to show what he and the rest of the group could do on a big stage," Serratore said. "We had won five of our last six games and were playing our best hockey when the virus suddenly ended the college hockey season just prior to the conference playoff quarterfinals.
"I would have loved to see how he would have performed because he's always been a winner, whether in Minnesota hockey or the North American League. He finds a way to get it done."
Winning breeds winning
Going back to his prep sports career at Wayzata, there was no doubt about Schilling being a winner.
He won a state title in tennis as a doubles player during his sophomore year, and then, of course, the big-school hockey crown as a senior.
"That was an extremely special time," Schilling said. "I played at Wayzata Youth Hockey Association for 10-plus years. When you play with the same guys for all that time in Minnesota you really form a unique bond with your teammates.
"We went into that season with a good team. We had some [NCAA Division I] recruits (including Mark Senden, who went to North Dakota, and Union's Colin Schmidt), but there is a lot of talent in Minnesota.
"Benilde-St. Margaret's was No. 1 all season, and we had to beat them in our section to go to state. They were upset in the semifinals. It all came together for us — we had a lot of seniors and made a special run."
Schilling was at his best when it mattered most — posting a .936 save percentage and a 1.67 GAA in the state title run.
"You could see his athleticism," Berg said. "We liked his background, and he seemed like he understood the position. And he played really, really well under pressure. He seemed like a calm, cool guy."
Off to the Centennial State
Schilling committed to Air Force midway through his second season playing for Austin in the North American Hockey League. He had a decent rookie campaign and then his career surged in his second year. He had a 22-13-0-2 record with a 2.35 GAA and a .916 save percentage en route to receiving Central Division Goalie of the Year honors. He followed that with a strong seven-game playoff run, posting 2.17 GAA and .914 save percentage.
"You could see his natural progression in junior hockey," Berg said.
Schilling committed to the Falcons in December 2017.
"It took a while for me to commit," Schilling said. "It wasn't like I thought 'I'm only going to a military academy.' When I went to juniors the goal was playing Division I. I wanted to graduate from a place I could be proud of and I wanted a challenge. I wanted a great academic institution.
"When Air Force talked to me, and I learned more about the academy, it was a win-win for everything I wanted."
A couple of things stood out to Schilling almost immediately upon his arrival in Colorado Springs.
First, he wasn't going to play as a freshman. Billy Christopoulos was ensconced as Air Force's starting goaltender, LaRocque was a veteran backup, and the Falcons were coming off their second consecutive NCAA tournament.
Second, Schilling wasn't yet physically ready for the demands of playing Division I hockey.
Goalie Alex Schilling (shown in net) hadn't made a start for Air Force prior to the 2019-20 season but was selected the team MVP following his sophomore-year campaign.
Add it all together and it amounted to a redshirt season for Schilling, not necessarily a bad thing at Air Force, given its military and academic demands.
"Those two components helped me going into my sophomore year," Schilling said. "Billy was a senior, and he was the man on the team. I really looked up to him.
"I wanted to see myself in that position when I got the opportunity. He taught me how he adapted, how he succeeded at the college game. We sort of had the same playing style. That was a major key for me. I didn't have to play right away; I could learn the system and learn from Billy. That was really helpful."
The other part of the equation required plenty of sweat equity.
"Physically, he wasn't very strong," Berg said of Schilling. "But one advantage we have here is our facilities. We thought if we could get him a little stronger, a little quicker, it would maximize all of his abilities."
This wasn't breaking news to the 6-foot-1 Schilling.
"I had to get stronger, I realized that right away," he said. "The coaches put me on a summer training program — a lot of heavy lifts — when the season was still going on. I'd stay after practice to lift, or I'd lift before games. I knew I was not going to get in the net."
Getting the call
Schilling's body eventually caught up to his mind and he was ready when the call came for him to become a key contributor to help reverse Air Force's fortunes last fall.
"Technically he's very sound, and mentally he's very balanced," Serratore said. "His panic point, I don't think you can find it.
"He's that way as a person. He's got a really good mental makeup — calm, cool and collected."
That conjured up memories of his predecessor Christopoulos, and it made the transition to Schilling that much easier for the team, which helped facilitate the Falcons' turnaround.
"It's just like playing in front of Billy," said Falcons co-captain Zach Mirageas. "Schills brings so much confidence to the team in the defensive zone."
Schilling's good-natured demeanor was another essential ingredient for finding success, Mirageas added.
"Schills is a glue guy who brings everyone together," Mirageas said. "He never really has a bad day and it translates to the ice. He'll make remarks to the refs after a whistle, joking around."
Mirageas also said that if Schilling has bad days or rough practices his teammates don't see it. Schilling is known for bringing the same attitude every day and for making everyone laugh.
And as Minnesota prep hockey fans know, victories follow.
MN Hockey Hub
@HockeyHub
Hockey Hub Headlines
Minnesotans taken in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft
By John Kelsey, SportsEngine 10/08/2020, 12:30pm CDT
Former Andover defenseman Wyatt Kaiser was one of eight players from the State of Hockey who were selected in the two-day event.
Minnesota high school athlete eligibility rules get fresh scrutiny
By David La Vaque, Star Tribune 06/02/2020, 7:30pm CDT
The Minnesota State High School League is exploring revisions of two contentious league bylaws that help determine student-athlete eligibility.
2019-2020 MN High School Hubs Photo of the Year winner
By SportsEngine 05/15/2020, 2:00pm CDT
See which picture was voted the best from our coverage this past year.
Prep basketball teams deprived of tournament get consolation honor
All teams in contention for basketball state titles when the COVID-19 pandemic ended play will be known as "finalists'' and receive trophies and medals.
The Class of 2020 fills out the state's career record books
By Paul Patane, SportsEngine 03/26/2020, 6:45pm CDT
Eight seniors and two juniors skated their way up the all-time leader charts in Minnesota for career points, goals and assists this past season.
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Tag(s): Home Lake Wayzata


text:
The Court's Decision – Did Penny Do Enough To Keep Him In Seattle? Plus – Super Wild Card Week Quick Picks
Court Weston
What to do with Rashaad Penny? That's a hot question following the running back's phenomenal end-of-the-season run. Finally healthy and getting thrust into a starting role following injuries to Chris Carson and Alex Collins, Penny shined. Over the final five weeks of the 2021 season, the fourth-year pro churned out 671 yards and six touchdowns on 92 carries – good for averages of 134.2 yards per game and 7.3 yards per carry – by far the best production of his injury-riddled career.
If he had somehow sustained his averages from the final five weeks over an entire 17-game season, the 5-11, 220-pound running back would have finished
→ Continue reading at Oregon Sports News
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text:
Taşova (türkisch für Steinebene) ist eine Kreisstadt und ein İlçe (Landkreis) der türkischen Provinz Amasya. Die Kreisstadt beherbergt mehr als 37 Prozent der Landkreisbevölkerung.

Der Landkreis ist der zweitgrößte der Provinz und grenzt im Osten an den Landkreis Erbaa (Provinz Tokat), im Westen an die Landkreise Amasya und Ladik (Provinz Samsun), im Norden an den Landkreis Çarşamba (Provinz Samsun) und im Süden an Turhal (Provinz Tokat). 15 km entfernt liegt der Borabay Gölü. Administrativ wird der Kreis in die Kreisstadt sowie in 63 Dörfer (Köy) gegliedert, von denen 22 mehr Einwohner als der Durchschnitt haben. Durchschnittlich wird jedes Dorf von 300 Menschen bewohnt, das ist der höchste Durchschnitt von allen Landkreisen der Provinz. Alpaslan (1139) und Uluköy (1093) sind die einzigen Dörfer des Landkreises, die mehr als 1000 Einwohner haben.

Die Bevölkerungsdichte ist mit 31 Einwohnern je Quadratkilometer in etwa halb so hoch wie der Provinzwert (60 Einw. je km²). Der städtische Bevölkerungsanteil (türk. Şehir Nüfus) liegt bei über 37 Prozent.

Geschichte
Taşova gehörte seit der Republikgründung 1923 bis 1944 zum Landkreis Erbaa (Provinz Tokat). Damals hieß es noch Yemişenbükü. Am 4. August 1944 wurde es zum Landkreis erklärt. 1953 wurde Taşova von Tokat getrennt und der Provinz Amasya eingegliedert.

Einzelnachweise

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia