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In ANNIHILATION, the sophomore directorial work of Alex Garland (EX_MACHINA, also author of The Beach and screenwriter of 28 DAYS LATER, SUNSHINE, NEVER LET ME GO and DREDD), Natalie Portman (LEON THE PROFESSIONAL) takes a journey into the heart of weirdness. Her character Lena is a cell-loving ex-Army biology professor at Johns Hopkins University (also the alma mater of Gil Scott-Heron, Wes Craven and Wolf Blitzer) whose presumed-K.I.A. husband Kane (Oscar Isaac, SUCKER PUNCH, THE NATIVITY STORY) suddenly shows up alive and odd and unable to explain anything. Sort of like the also mourning Amy Adams character in the also brainy-adapted-from-an-acclaimed-novel-sci-fi-movie ARRIVAL, she's taken to a site (Area X) where soldiers and scientists face an unexplained, unprecedented phenomenon. In this case it's not a spaceship but a sort of slowly expanding spectral bubble they call "The Shimmer" that surrounds a chunk of land and no one who has entered it has ever come back out. Until Kane.
Lena manages to get herself on the next mission, though she hides her personal connection from most of the team (much like Padme hid that she was Queen Amidala when she went to Tatooine). Psychologist boss lady Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh, EYES OF A STRANGER, FLESH + BLOOD, MIAMI BLUES), tough paramedic Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez, DEEPWATER HORIZON), physicist Radek (Tessa Thompson, CREED, THOR: RAGNAROK) and geologist Sheppard (Tuva Novotny, ID:A) make a strong squad of scientists who, like anybody in an ALIEN movie, seems to have had some amount of gun training as a job prerequisite (though Lena clearly has the most experience in that).
Big surprise, but their radios and compasses and shit don't work inside The Shimmer. So much for live-Tweeting this. They have blackouts, messing them up from the beginning. But it just looks like peaceful, quiet nature and abandoned places. Hey, maybe nobody comes back because they're having so much fun camping? Is that too optimistic?
At first the oddities are small things, like "This cabin is kind of tilted and has water in it" or "Hey, these are a bunch of different types of plants but they're growing from the same stalk." But the further in they trek the less normal shit gets, the more the DNA of everything gets fucked up, the shakier reality gets. Even the story structure of the movie dissolves (see also SUNSHINE).
They see rainbow colored mold and moss that they compare to tumors. Walls are covered in white something or other that looks like roots that look like veins that look like bones. There's a profound trip into a butthole cave, just like in THE LAST JEDI. (I suppose most people will say it's vaginal imagery, but I'm leaning butthole.) At some point a tattoo transferred from one character to another but that doesn't seem that weird by the time you see the veiny penis lighthouse. How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've been to the veiny penis lighthouse?
There is danger. There are animal attacks. Those present two layers of terror:
1) I'm being attacked by this animal
2) Holy shit this animal was made wrong
A normal bear would be just as dangerous, but a bear that has half its skull exposed and keeps emitting the dying screams of your recently deceased friend is gonna leave an extra emotional mark if you manage to escape physically intact. Which you won't, necessarily. There's a half a second of exposed jaw that I believe would be on the cover of Fangoria right now if it was being published. One of those beautiful "where is that in the movie?" stills they used to excel at finding.
By the way, Fear Bear would make a really good talking teddy bear, and I wonder if they've considered rebooting Yogi Bear with The Shimmer instead of Jellystone Park and Lena as the ranger?
I'd like to think that as I get older and gain the wisdom of experience and the freedom of not giving a shit that my third eye will finally come in, my brain'll sprout some beautiful butterfly wings and I'll be more open to the surreal and unexplainable. But so far it seems like I'm going the other direction, turning more literal, wanting more structure and graspable meaning, less weird for weirdness' sake, which I used to think was subversive because it made people uncomfortable – people like the one I'm turning into.
ANNIHILATION tips a little to the who-knows-what-thefuck-it-means end of the scale, but it doesn't lose me. I still got enough of a taste for a sci-fi with a splash of that Zarathustra juice, that starchild amniotic fluid, that 2001 light show melted down into a liquid that gets in the camera and makes it film scenes that are about the mood and tone and feeling of evocative imagery more than dumb old human logic that can be explained in words. There's stuff here that's beautiful and creepy and beautiful-creepy. There is spectacle, but not the type where a laser cannon fires into a building on the side of a cliff and then everything cracks and crumbles and the hero jumps out and the camera floats around him and he falls in the water and all the flaming debris is falling past him and the camera looks up through the surface of the water at the light of the explosion or whatever. I'm talking about the kind where a beloved actress spews light from her eyeballs and glows from within and stretches out and creates a faceless being that looks crudely formed of cracked metal that mirrors another character like an acting class exercise. Surely one day every American will have to deal with a shimmer twin, but until then this is pretty weird shit.
ANNIHILATION is based on a 2014 novel by Jeff VanderMeer. Garland said he intentionally only read it once, so it must be a very loose adaptation. There are two other books in the "Southern Reach Trilogy" and he hadn't read those yet either. So far of the people I've talked to, everyone who has read the book didn't like the movie and everyone who hasn't did. I haven't read the book.
It's good whenever there's a sci-fi movie that doesn't quite fit the usual templates. I suppose this one is similar to ALIEN (and PROMETHEUS and COVENANT) in that it's a team going to study a weird place they don't understand, finding evidence of the disaster that befell the last people there. But the setting and overall feel are different enough that that didn't occur to me while watching it. It lures you in by playing like a normal mainstream movie but eventually it's gonna a get a little UNDER THE SKIN. The score is by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, the same team who scored EX_MACHINA and made the cool rejected score for DREDD that was released as the album Drokk: Music Inspired By Mega City One. It starts with a gentle guitars but its DNA mutates into an ever growing wall of digital drones and blorps that are as much of a reason to see this in a theater as the blinding space-odyssey-on-land visuals. I felt like the vibrations in my ears and ribs were as important as anything else in the movie.
(In most countries, unfortunately, it skipped theaters on account of weirdness, and just came out on Netflix.)
But there was one great sci-fi movie it kept reminding me of. With all the extravagantly grotesque misshapen flesh on display, and not created digitally as far as I could tell, I couldn't help but think of THE THING. But THE THING is an all male team of scientists investigating something weird and, as Lena notes here, she's on an all female team.
That's significant because it's part of why they behave differently than the fellas of THE THING. They don't just get screwed over by being in the wrong place at the wrong time – they choose to go there, from a mix of curiosity and self loathing. This is a suicide mission, and they're not doing it because they're macho. They're doing it because they're suicidal.
For the most part they don't have the same paranoia and distrust as in THE THING. I'm not sure it's cool that the character specified as a lesbian is the only one that does flip out and tie the others to chairs. I guess the reason could be that she's the one with the most traditionally masculine qualities.
SPOILER: The ending is kind of a reflection of THE THING also. But instead of two people waiting and wondering if one of them is The Thing, and not really knowing, it's two people figuring yeah, we probly both are The Thing, aren't we? Heh.
As life goes on, people change. They become different people. Literally, they are a different set of cells. Figuratively, their experiences change their personalities, whether it's going off to war, starting a new career, being apart, or just growing. Here are a husband and wife who have become different people. But they still have each other. I thought it was kinda nice.
P.S. I recommend this very personal Vulture piece by Angelica Jade Bastien about ANNIHILATION's depiction of depression.
VERN has been reviewing movies since 1999 and is the author of the books SEAGALOGY: A STUDY OF THE ASS-KICKING FILMS OF STEVEN SEAGAL, YIPPEE KI-YAY MOVIEGOER!: WRITINGS ON BRUCE WILLIS, BADASS CINEMA AND OTHER IMPORTANT TOPICS and NIKETOWN: A NOVEL. His horror-action novel WORM ON A HOOK will arrive later this year.
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33 Responses to "Annihilation"
CJ Holden
I'm surprised that this went straight to Netflix outside of the US. The "If it bombs in the States, it goes DTV everywhere else" model seemed to be dead since a decade or two.
Mr. Majestyk
I didn't read the whole review because I intend to see this someday and suspect it's best to see it knowing as little as possible, but I got as far as the term "also mourning" and was reminded of how tired of am of movies that start with the characters already sad about something. Every horror movie or thriller is about a couple who lost a child or a single mom whose husband just died or some kids getting over the loss of their parents. The movie starts in sadsack lugubriousness that prevents you from ever feeling a sense of normalcy for the inevitable horror/action to disrupt. It also makes it seem like all this stuff happened just to give the main character a boilerplate redemption arc. It's incredibly solipsistic. It's also fake drama, the kind of Screenwriting 101 bullshit that turns every story into a fill-in-the-blanks hero's quest. Why can't we just see somebody have their regular day interrupted by some crazy shit instead of having everything in the whole universe revolve around teaching some poor sad bastard a lesson?
Well, the mourning in this one is about the premise explained in that opening paragraph – that she thought her husband was dead, and now he's alive but confused and dying. At any rate you can't really say it's forced drama in this case, because unhappiness and depression are largely the topic of the movie.
I read the book and liked the movie.
The book is great — it's like LOST as written by HP Lovecraft. Super creepy, 100% about developing mysteries and a mood of dread (as I recall it's all in the form of the protagonist's journal) as opposed to answers to any of the mysteries of Area X.
The movie changes lots about the book but I was OK with the changes. Some weird, memorable things from the book happen differently in the movie (like SPOILER!! why expedition leader yells the word "annihilation" at a key moment); some other weird, memorable things are added (like the screaming bear Vern describes–yikes!).
The bear attack is one of a few moments in the movie that felt to me like being in a waking nightmare, where everyday reality starts to slip into something scary or just "wrong" somehow — and that's what I remember most clearly from the book as well.
BR Baraka
Vern: I'm not accusing this movie, which I haven't seen yet but plan to, of anything. It just sparked off some thoughts about some trends I've been noticing in other movies.
renfield
I fucking loved this movie. Still trying to unravel the ending
For some reason, I expected (GOOD TIME) to be one of the Jennifer Jason Leigh credits you would link to, but it turns out you haven't reviewed GOOD TIME and I guess I just dreamed you did. You should put that one on your list, if you have one.
I really like your comparisons here Vern. I have seen a bunch of reviews likening this film to PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK which I think is a real disservice since instead of being simply about an insoluble mystery Weir's film was about a community's reaction to that mystery.
Glad you dug it, sir! Its been haunting me for a few weeks now since I saw it. I was telling people its like The Thing crossed with Stalker. (Dna blending going on, just like the movie!)
I feel like Garland has a rep of making heady sci-fi but he loves pulp just as much, and I think that's why i dig most of his flicks.
But this is definitely one I'm glad i caught in a good house with a great sound system. I want that alien noise to be my text message alert.
The Kurgan
Mr. M- I think the trend you mention does seem especially notable recently in horror movies. There seems to be a push to really literalise a lot of what might previously have been subtext. The first thing I thought of when I read your comment was The Babadook, where the main character's grief and guilt are personified into the titular monster, but It Follows and the recent (pretty good!) netflix piece The Ritual also sprang to mind. Even something like the second Purge flick, our main man is mourning the death of his son and two other characters are in the middle of a divorce. Like, it's ok guys, I'd be interested in watching them try to survive a city-wide murder hellscape even without wondering if these kooky kids will ever make it work.
I suppose in a lot of ways the literalisation of abstract horrors has always been what the genre is about, but I agree it'd be nice to get some more Drag Me To Hell-style "regular person gets their day ruined by a demon" flicks going too.
I might be thinking about it in an overly literal manner, but the blocking of the final confrontation between her and the entity seems so deliberate. I believe there is no Tyler-Durden-car-crash ambiguity in terms of that the body that enters the lighthouse is the same body that leaves it.
So there are a few things that I think might explain it.
-The whole essence-transferal mechanism that they believe led Sheppard's dying consciousness to be grafted onto skullbear. When it dies, the entity uploads itself into her.
-Among the crew, Lena seems uniquely immune to the shimmer…but is she really? Maybe because, being the only one with a "reason to leave" as the film states, her transformation is one that allows her to leave and carry the shimmer out into the world … while being a close enough simulacrum to the Real Lena to be able to pass as such.
-It's pointless to try and figure it out because like UNDER THE SKIN it is a wildlife documentary about something that is too alien to be understood. The film is about the futility and frustration about grasping human rationality onto something that is genuinely not us. I think a lot of dialog revolves around this idea, and there's also the fact that they all seem pretty dismissive and uninterested in one another's various theories about how to explain the phenomena they encounter.
-It's pointless to try and figure it out because it's a metaphor for depression, the shimmer is their externalized mental illness and you want to try and rationalize your way out of it but you can't. Even if Lena's the only one* who somewhat conquered her depression it's always gonna be with her. I know this film has resonated strongly with some individuals that suffer from depression and it's clearly a central theme but I'm not sure how metaphorically to take what we see on screen.
*Not sure how Kane fits into it either
Majestyk and Kurgan – Good points. Also add THE INITIATION to the list.
BrianB
THE STRANGERS sequel out now struck me as a nice counter to that overall trend. I'm hoping it gets a review at some point.
I heard Netflix offered $40 million for the international rights and I'm guessing based on what they thought was the likely take overseas, took the money as a result.
I didn't like this film but I like that they make films like this (see also mother!).
pegsman
I read somewhere that the distributors feared that the movie was "too smart" for European audiences. Yeah, right!
Wait. When did Europe become the place, where people don't appreciate "smart" movies?
CJ – in Britain it was surely when we voted for Brexit.
That's the smartest thing you ever did. But I was more interested in knowing if they think that our friends on the other side of the big ocean are smarter than us.
I have never actually seen STALKER all the way through but the book it came from (Roadside Picnic) is the obvious inspiration for this movie. I guess I am supposed to be happy that the ending doesn't answer any questions and this makes it "cerebral", but I am not. I'm with Vern. It's too fucking easy to throw ideas at the screen without any real conclusion. I've seen 2001 ten times and love it to death but at least the individual episodes themselves have some resolution. The apes learn to use tools. The scientists set off the obelisk on the moon. HAL goes crazy. Dave lives out his life in a weird room and is reborn as a space-baby. It doesn't necessarily make sense, but it's not completely random bullshit.
Roadside Picnic has an explanation for the weirdness that is going on, or at least one of the characters has a theory, and it's a brilliant one. And as a result the characters are just going through their meaningless lives trying to make ends meet and not get killed in a dangerous and unexplainable environment, but that is actually the point. They are dealing with things that are beyond their understanding. Is that the case here in ANNIHILATION? Yes… and I guess this movie has some touches of the novel Blindsight in it too, where aliens not only don't understand us, and we don't understand them, but they don't even seem to have consciousness to understand us with.
But if that is the point of your movie, then fucking say it. Don't just throw some shit at the screen and then throw up your hands and say "I don't know" a dozen times. That's too easy, and lazy, and as good as some of the parts of the movie are, at the end it just feels like a waste of time to me. This is not PROMETHEUS-level random number generator storytelling but it's close. I had a feeling of dread when Portman went down the hole into the ALIEN ripoff underground lair, and there was the expedition leader and weird shit started happening. I was afraid they were just gonna wrap this all up with a weird shitshow and not explain anything. And yep, that's what happened.
The Portmanteau dancing alien thing was kind of cool. The screaming bear was great. The flowers stuck to all the trees looked fake and tacked on in a pretty amateurish way. The eel-belly guy who flowered into a giant fungus skeleton was pretty neat. The lesbian going nuts and tying up the other women was pretty dumb. The affair and the marriage woes were pointless and dull. Yeah it is supposed to be an allegory for dna mutating or splitting cells or cancer or whatever, but we never asked for artsy fartsy stuff in our sci fi films. Or maybe we did. We were wrong. We were so wrong.
Borg9
Like Pegsman and the WILD BUNCH, I watch STALKER all the way through – the ending is the kicker! – every couple of years, and I have on two occasions traveled some distance to catch it on a big screen. After THE WILD BUNCH it's my favourite film. I've read Roadside Picnic, and for a long time held to the hope/fantasy that Steven Soderbergh would film it relocating it back to its North American setting, ideally with Bruce as Red Schuhart, the Stalker. This by way of full disclosure.
So, I was and am interested in this and had thought there was space for another take on this kind of story. And Garland is in credit with me. But I've not seen this yet, because I'm not on Netflix just now.
But I feel bound to speak up for "arty fartsy stuff in our sci fi films". Not that I don't agree with Mr M that LOCKOUT is awesome – it is – and not that I don't think there is real art in the movies we love anyway – THE THING is surely art, even down to its initial reception. However, leaving aside the issue of whether the best films come from giving people what they asked for, I guess here "arty fartsy" is intended to mean willfully difficult, obscure and pretentious – my apologies rainman if I misinterpret.
Let's not open the BLADE RUNNER can of worms again, but how about UNDER THE SKIN, THE FOUNTAIN, CLOUD ATLAS, PRIMER, UPSTREAM COLOUR, A SCANNER DARKLY, either version of SOLARIS? Hell, I'll take the Tokyo Highway sequence from Tarkovsky' SOLARIS over another lazy ALIEN ripoff any day:
And it sounds like the arty fartsy stuff here may be cover for laziness – again, I haven't seen ANNIHILATION – which is always gonna be the real problem.
If anyone is interested in a rigorous arty fartsy read on STALKER, I can recommend Geoff Dyer's Zona, which is a scene-by-scene retelling of the film with history, commentary and often very funny tangential asides.
Also, apologies to Pegsman, if I have suggested above that he and THE WILD BUNCH watch STALKER together. That was just my lazy grammar.
I watched STALKER with my brother once, and we like to think of ourselves as the Gorch brothers! Does that count?
Yup, that definitely counts, but only as long as your Lyle. Much though I love the name Tector, one should always choose Warren Oates to play oneself. Think how much better PATCH ADAMS would've been had Dr Adams applied that simple rule (even with Oates having been dead for 15 years by the time they made the movie).
Sorry, my looks and personality is more Tector, and my brother is more Lyle. He's younger too.
I refer you to my previous remarks. Don't blame me if Rob Schneider gets to play you in the movie now.
Ben Johnson owns Warren Oates' ass in WILD BUNCH!
To be sure. But there's hardly anyone in THE WILD BUNCH who isn't doing career-best work. And what careers!
I always loved the story that Johnson didn't want to do THE LAST PICTURE SHOW because he thought it was dirty.
Yes, "willfully difficult, obscure and pretentious" is bad, if it is used as an excuse not to give any explanations whatsoever.
I hated UPSTREAM COLOUR and had to turn it off about 45 minutes in.
I have seen both SOLARI, the Tarkosvky version once and the Clooney version a couple times. They are both pretty good, with definite edge given to Tarkovsky. Those movies don't necessarily spell everything out to you but at least you know, kind of, what's going on. The planet itself is alive and has thought, and it is trying somehow to communicate with these tiny things floating above it, by creating dopplegangers of their innermost thoughts, but that's as far as it has gotten in its strange attempts to relate. SOLARIS is about communication and the difficulty and maybe impossibility of understanding between two intellects that operate on huge differences in scale and that can't even have the same goals, ideas, dreams, or relationships. There's only one planet, and it doesn't have family or friends or children, so wtf is it supposed to think about these humans that show up? What are we supposed to say in return, and how do we say it? The planet probably doesn't have a language, who is it supposed to communicate with? SOLARIS is about this intellectual conflict and the mistakes that arise out of the gap between the two "species" (if a planet-scale intelligence can be called a species), and the unintentional consequences of the planet's probably well-intentioned attempts to communicate with the humans through replicas of the humans that they feel most strongly about.
What if we found a species of ants that have intelligence, but not on an individual scale and instead on a hive level where the "mind" of the hive is achieved through chemical interactions between individual ants much like the interactions between our brain cells? An insect hive does work somewhat like this already — the "thoughts" of the hive to attack, defend, reproduce, etc are not decided by individual ants, or by the queen, they come from the aggregate of chemical signals passed around between ants. What if this evolved to the point where the hive was actually conscious? (This idea is explored about halfway through the book "Goedel, Escher, Bach", and halfway is about as far as I've ever gotten through that book.) How would we try to communicate with it? How well would that work out? Sci fi usually represents these kind of interactions as if we taught the ants English and then they just act like humans with slightly different needs from then on.
In STALKER, we're the ants, and the aliens just don't give a shit about us. They have probably seen enough primitive species living out their lives on backwater planets that they just move on without giving us a second thought. The aliens aren't even in the book! We only know about them from the trash they left behind which fucks up half a country worth of real estate. I don't particularly like the ending of "Roadside Picnic", with the wishing machine etc, and I think the novel goes a little bit off the rails after the first half of the book and never recovers, but on the other hand I have no idea how I would have ended the book. There is really nowhere to go from here and that's part of the point, really.
Both SOLARIS and STALKER have deep ideas behind their plots, and the plots are really just explorations of the consequences of these ideas. That's what makes great sci fi. ANNIHILATION is just… "What if some alien shit landed on Earth that started mutating DNA? Then some weird shit happened, let's throw in some symbolism with a failed marriage and make it kind of like MAGNOLIA or some shit, and there ya go."
What is the "big idea" behind ANNIHILATION? And I am not talking about the splitting / mutating / self destruction motifs going on, that is just window dressing here. Sci fi is about ideas. If you've got a great idea and then you add some artsy motifs and symbolism on top of it, great, maybe you've got a genius movie destined for the Library of Congress, but without the central sci fi idea you've just made an art film and pretended it was sci fi by putting in some nebulous aliens.
CrustaceanLove
From the comments here I was expecting something completely off-the-wall and impenetrable but the themes of the movie seemed pretty explicit and well-articulated to me. I don't even need to spell them out, because there are dozens of reviews out there that do it better than I could. I don't think it's as good as SOLARIS (either one) but I don't think it's any more opaque than that film. I certainly don't think this movie is ambiguous out of laziness or "weird for weirdness' sake", both of which seem mildly insulting to the filmmaker. I mean, I've been to student film festivals, I know what lazy ambiguity looks like, and ANNIHILATION ain't it.
RBatty024
Wait, the dude from Portishead made a rejected score for the Dredd film? How am I just now finding out about this?
neal2zod
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:19 am
*SPOILERS* I wish I liked this alot more – there's some beautiful imagery, music, and next-level sound design, but I guess I'm one of the stupid unwashed masses who just "didn't get it", because I left the theatre with a giant shrug. I'm not opposed to "cerebral", heady sci-fi – Arrival was probably my favorite movie of that year. I'm also down with slow, ambiguous, moody, dream-like movies (Blade Runner, Upstream Color, anything Terrence Malick). Combining a movie with these lofty ambitions plus a Predator-style creature feature sounds up my alley, but I was unsatisfied on pretty much all fronts. The pulpy moments are underwhelming – I have no idea why people are acting like the CGI gator was some great accomplishment, or that the bear scene was incredible when it basically seemed like a retread of The Relic in appearance (and concept!). I don't like that Gina Rodriguez suddenly acts like a pro-wrestling "crazy girl" out of nowhere. I don't like that this has the Lindelof-ian habit of being incredibly mysterious and obtuse until characters literally spell out themes and plot points. ("She cuts herself not because she wants to die…but because she wants to feel alive!") I don't like that I have no idea what happened to 2 out of the four members of the team, I don't like that I have no clue what the hell happened in the last 15 minutes of this movie. And if we are to actually trust what we see onscreen, I don't like that this is a "heady" sci-fi movie that somehow ends with a Death Star-style "fix everything by blowing something up" finale.
It's certainly more professional and better well-made than the similarly dumped-on-Netflix Cloverfield Paradox, but I'm actually shocked and a little saddened at how similar the two are.
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IT has been just over two weeks since Malaysia voted for a change, for a new government. There are promises of reform, a clean-up, a transformation to make Malaysia better. I just hope that environmental issues will not be excluded.
There is no Environment Ministry in Pakatan Harapan's core Cabinet.
However, I am not too concerned for now. The new government has lots to do, and there are other pressing matters that they have to address first.
At this juncture, it is permissible to let the environment take a back seat.
But we cannot afford to ignore the environment for long.
We need to have an Environment Ministry that will address conservation and sustainability matters. If anything, past events that have had an impact on the environment have underscored the urgent need to address these issues.
Take bauxite mining in Kuantan, for example, that saw the rivers and sea turning red from 2015 to 2016. The mining activities got so out of hand that it spawned a full-blown ecological disaster.
Bauxite literally painted the town red, and with the rock's aluminium content, who knows what long-term impact it has caused?
Malaysia is also seen as a hub for the illegal trade of wildlife and timber. In the past few years, there has been a substantial increase in seizures of ivory, pangolin scales and testudines (turtles, tortoises and terrapins) in Malaysia.
It has been reported that nearly 20% of ivory seized worldwide from 2003 to 2014 was on its way to or from Malaysia, or was in the country itself. This indicates that Malaysia is a popular transit point for such contraband, and this is an issue that has to be addressed.
Even our own wildlife is under threat. There have been reports of several deaths of endangered species in the past, notably, Malayan tapirs, sun bears and Bornean pygmy elephants.
These animals are under threat from habitat loss, poaching and ending up as roadkill.
Human-animal conflict is also another problem, and several elephants have been killed in the past for wandering into human territory.
Several animals are also critically endangered, such as our Sumatran rhinoceros, Malayan tiger, anteater and banteng (a species of wild cattle). If we don't do anything about it, they may slide into extinction.
These are just a handful of environmental problems that are plaguing our country, and these problems are not going to go away by themselves.
Unfortunately, the environment has had less prominence in the Federal budget in the past few years. So I hope that the new government will allocate more funds to tackle Malaysia's environmental issues.
Not only do we need funds to start implementing conservation plans, we need the money to have more officers on the ground to be our eyes and ears.
We need to have more protected areas as safe havens for our species, and these reserves should not be encroached by highways or other development projects.
Malaysia is a beautiful country rich in biodiversity, and we need to do more to protect it.
I don't want a modern concrete jungle, I want a lush green one.
I don't want to simply read about our Malayan tiger, I want to see it roaming in its natural habitat.
If we don't act now, all these things we love, and maybe take for granted, will one day be lost.
We need a ministry that will enact appropriate laws to protect our environment and have personnel to properly enforce these laws.
I also hope that the ministry would consider introducing environmental awareness and civic consciousness in schools.
We need youths to be interested in the environment and learn how they can play their part in protecting it. Simple things like picking up rubbish, recycling, and caring for our wildlife will go a long way.
I hope there will also be healthy engagement among the government, businesses and civil society, so that all stakeholders can work together to create a better and greener Malaysia.
More needs to be done to protect wildlife and the environment that we have now. It is imperative that we act now before it is too late.
Here's hoping for a greener and cleaner Malaysia!
Online reporter Victoria Brown's Behind The Cage tackles the pressing issues of animal rights and environmental awareness.
Victoria Brown thinks it is all too easy to acknowledge animal rights and environmental issues but do nothing concrete to support the struggle. Her dream is to transform Malaysia into a better place for animals and humans alike.


This is a Triple Threat match between some of the top competitors in WXW. Two former champions are in this match: Alicia and Talia Madison. This is a perfect shot for Cha Cha to prove that she has the potential to be a future champion with a victory.


Hime, you guys from ncwest are really trying to destroy live servers? sometimes looks like that's your intention, 3 useless events one after another, in a moment that live servers are in the edge of the abyss, if you do not realize yet, live servers are in bad situation as it ever was before, the way things are right now it will not take long till ncsoft have to close live servers.
This is the 2 week that we cant defend the base, first time we think was because server restart and we dont have ppl to defend it, but the true reason was because players are destroying the defense towers, there was lots of pts defending it this time and yet like 8 min after it start it fail, peaple see one guy destrying defense towers, Rivendale his name, ncsoft need to make that towers unabe to be target/destroyed by players, reset the instance, investigate all the peaple who use that bug to harm the entire server and punish them.
one guy killed the npcs we need to defend.
Everyone know Live servers are almost dead, we already have few players and everyday more peaple leave, only one good event, can save this servers, the current event just make things worse and discourage even more the few players we have, this is not the time to try new events that we dont know what will be the effect, its time to do events that everyone like, and RED LIBRA its exactly what we need now, that will keep the current players on server and bring back some that was discouraged with his/hers class, and event helping new players, everyone win and ours live server will survive a little more.
Are you crazy? need one good equiped lvl 105 to do a lvl 100 instance, its not an average instance, its impossible for most of the players, that alone make it a bad event.
amazes me how ncsoft know nothing about his players, they dont know that most of the players dont have equips to do that event.
Its not only healer/iss/tank that cant do this event, my titan 101 with +8set, full rb jewels and tauti 2h cant do it, its only for top equipped dds.
Dimensional Rift lvl 100 no more mana regen?
Hello, after this pach that fix auto macro, i try to do dimensional rift lvl 100 in my mage and them i see that mana regen was not working anymore, is this a bug or it was intentinal?


text:
Buick may add smaller car; GM would develop vehicle off its Epsilon platform
By Autoweek
By RICK KRANZ
AND DAVID GUILFORD
DETROIT - General Motors is considering a car for Buick's lineup that is smaller than the Regal and Century.
If approved, the car likely would not go on sale until about the 2007 model year.
A GM manager, who asked not to be identified, said Buick "has been looking for products in a number of areas, and that is one of them. But there is nothing approved. There are no funds committed" for the car.
Two industry sources said the projected annual sales for the proposed small Buick would be 65,000.
It would be developed off the global Epsilon architecture for mid-sized vehicles.
The architecture can be used to create a wide range of models, including front-drive sedans and convertibles and taller all-wheel-drive vehicles. The architecture's flexibility allows for six wheelbases.
So far, GM has announced that Epsilon will be shared by Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Opel and Saab. Worldwide, 14 models will be created.
The first vehicles to use the new architecture are the 2003 Opel Vectra and 2003 Saab 9-3. Due next year are the 2004 Chevrolet Malibu and Malibu Maxx, a long-wheelbase hatchbacklike vehicle. Also on the schedule is the 2005 Grand Am and a Saturn to replace the L series no earlier than the 2006 model year.
Long term, Buick will have a core portfolio of three cars and three trucks, "and other products will come and go," said a source familiar with Buick's strategy.
Under Buick's product plan, the automaker will add a sport-utility, the Rainier, in 2003. GM is scheduled to redesign the LeSabre and Regal in 2004. A minivan is coming no sooner than 2006. The Rendezvous will be restyled in approximately 2007.
What has not been decided is whether Buick's flagship sedan, the Park Avenue, will be replaced. Some minor styling changes are planned for the 2004 model year.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


New Delhi - The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) called for greater participation of the Indian railways and waterways authority to meet the transportation demand of the auto sector.
Abhay Firodia, President, SIAM and Chairman, Force Motors said that the Indian railways has been a major catalyst and "a lever in transformation of our country". He spoke at the 4th SIAM Automotive Logistics Conclave which was held here.
"It has the power to move things, people and freight, which have huge impact on efficiency and cost," asserted Firodia.
Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani, who was the chief guest at the conclave said that his organisation will spare no effort in meeting the auto industry's logistics needs.
"We want private investments in this segment. We have a scheme of entering in long term partnerships. The long term contract agreement will help reduce logistic cost," Lohani explained.
"We understand that the manufacturing of vehicles has gone up and so the requirement of logistics is crucial for the sector. Automobiles are symptom of how our economy is doing."
Currently, the railways' share in transportation of automotive units like cars stands at 4-5%.
According to Inland Waterways Authority of India's Member, (Technical) S.K Gangwar movement of cargo through waterways is more economical than road, especially for long distances."
Gangawar informed that currently cars can be transported through waterways but not vehicles like trucks.
India has a navigable length of around 14,500 km, of which 5,200 km of river and 4,000 km of canals can be used for water transportation.
However, the total cargo moved in the country is just about 0.1% of the total inland traffic in India, while it is over 20% in the US.


It seems I am getting more problems besides my problem 'proj'. I am following instructions from http://maptools.org/fgs/index.phtml?page=fgs-sandbox.html to get the FGS-DEV modules.
But I still get the error. Sorry if I'm having more problems but please help me. I will try what you said for 'proj' once I obtain download FGS-DEV. I obtained FGS-DEV before with no problems so now I want to have a fresh download.
To: Reyes, Jr., Buenaventura L.
> Yes I could not find the 'proj' file, but can you direct me to where I can download or get that 'proj' package. I am new to Linux and I am just doing it bit by bit.
>> It seems that 'proj' package is not installed in your Red Hat Linux.
>> this is not the root cause for the problem.


Linda L. Florey, Shirley M. Michelman; Occupational Role History: A Screening Tool for Psychiatric Occupational Therapy. Am J Occup Ther 1982;36(5):301-308. doi: 10.5014/ajot.36.5.301.
Psychiatric hospitalization has become telescoped, thus focusing on short-term acute care. Since discharge plans are needed on admission, occupational therapists must evaluate the patient quickly and succinctly. A screening tool was developed as a preliminary device to identify critical information in two major areas: patterns of skills and achievement or patterns of dysfunction in past and current occupational role; and the degree of balance or imbalance between leisure activities and those activities associated with occupational role. The screening tool, the Occupational Role History, was used in a pilot study on 20 adult inpatients at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. The results of the pilot study suggest that this tool is useful in establishing treatment priorities from an occupational therapy perspective.


The original dynamic action suspender, still extremely comfortable, reliable and hugely popular. The Dyna-Fit utilizes high grade elastic to connect the suspender button hooks to the cotton webbing of the main body.
Quick Adjust. Suspenders with Quick Adjust mechanism to allow snug fit after easy donning.
Measuring should be done when wearing bunker pants. Measure from between the left front suspender buttons, up and over the left shoulder, then down and across the back to between the right rear suspender buttons. 40 or less, order short. From 41 to 45 order regular. From 46 to 50 order long.


Another reason I wanted to visit China was to get another tattoo. I figured I would start with my eldest niece, Evie Caris.
As I thought about a good design for Evie, I realized that three of my nieces had middle names that meant "Grace:" Evie Caris, Eleanor Anne, and Adelaide Grace. With this in mind, I figured it might be beautiful to get this in a different language. After some help from my friends that speak Mandarin, I went with 格蕾丝 (Ge Lei Si) which is the name Grace. I also wanted to work in their favourite colours. So Purple for Evie, Pink for Eleanor, and Yellow for Addie.
Now that I had the idea picked, I needed to find a shop that had an artist who spoke English. I found this article, and in it, I found a couple good options. I decided on Mummy Tattoo with the artist Xing Xing. Turns out he didn't speak English, but the others did. I worked with them on font and layout.
The shop was a little difficult to find, but Mao came down to let me in. It is a nice clean setup.


text:
← Musical palate cleanser, just drive edition, part three
For the crime of not being Nick Saban… →
In Knoxville, it's on to the next settlement.
The school settles with the eight women who filed suit about sexual assaults involving student-athletes for a tidy $2.48 million, getting a few things in return: one, no admission on its part of guilt, negligence or unlawful acts; two, nobody in the administration from Booch on up has to face being questioned under oath and three, the plaintiffs agreed to withdraw two complaints they filed with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights last year. Such a deal.
Hell, you can't put a price tag on peace of mind, can you?
The kicker is this:
It is the third financial settlement involving the athletics department under the leadership of Dave Hart in two years.
I bet they're getting real good with all this settlement experience.
UPDATE: I missed this on first reading, but it's worth a special mention.
The settlement acknowledges that UT has agreed to stop giving out a list of Knoxville attorneys to athletes accused of misconduct. The university now refers student-athletes seeking attorneys to the local bar association.
Huntley Johnson strenuously objects.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange, See You In Court
30 responses to "In Knoxville, it's on to the next settlement."
Sam Johnson
This seems cheap since the plaintiffs had cleared procedural hurdles and were set for full discovery. $2.8 mm for eight victims of sexual assault and attorney fees just sounds like a pittance given the revenues of Tennessee athletics, the severity of the alleged injuries, and the continuing negative publicity. I'm also wondering who appoints the members of the reported independent commission. If they hire Pepper Hamilton (the firm that investigated Baylor), it would at least show they are serious. I'm betting it will be a Tennessee firm with lots of UT grads.
Cheap indeed. And the athletic department only has to pony up 1.4mm. Pretty sure they spent more than that on shower technique and hygiene a couple yrs ago.
DavetheDawg
Don't forget they're still paying for SOD's golden parachute through the end of the year. #moneywellspent
$2.48M minus legal fees divided between eight plaintiffs?
Peanuts.
Yup, disgusting. The predators essentially go unpunished. That's the reason why the guilty continue to do the same stuff.
Anyone want to bet how much of this settlement goes to UT's lawyers for a job well done? And how much of it bounces back to the university and athletic department in the form of contributions for season tickets and other considerations?
I doubt the plaintiffs will see much of this at all.
The victims might not want to testify.
$350K per person before taxes and legal fees?
There aren't taxes on settlements, are there?
It's worth pointing out (at least it is to me) that when this suit was filed the feds were pushing colleges to make sexual assault charges much easier for plaintiffs. They were pushing to eliminate a lot of due process items and lower the burden of proof, etc.
Since then, the tide seems to have receded on the feds' ideas and things aren't as easy for plaintiffs anymore. I suspect that the number of successful lawsuits against colleges, by innocent accused people, has had something to do with it. The 'one in five women are assaulted' canard has been debunked. 2.8 million doesn't sound like a very large amount. Perhaps the plaintiffs and attorneys saw the sea change in the law.
To repeat a thought that several folks around here have expressed: colleges have no business adjudicating sexual charges in the first place. This lawsuit is an outgrowth of a college procedure decision against the plaintiffs. It looks bad because there were football players involved, but they're entitled to the same US Constitution as everybody else.
(of course since it was at UT the fix was in) 😉
I don't like the idea of a campus having to turn a blnd eye to criminals on their campus whether it's rape, murder, assault etc… The idea that those are purely law enforcement issues not to be addressed by the schools at all is short sighted.
On the other hand, it does not seem that schools are not equipped to fairly determine fault in these issues. Bias towards athletes is only one of many concerns.
In the end I don't think the answer is either abandoning the issue or status quo, but trying to work towards a system that promotes safety and fairness.
A system requiring temporary separation pending legal resolution (in certain delineated serious offenses) and an insistence upon no interference on behalf of the school would probably be better than litigating on campus matters that aren't worthy of actual charges might be a reasonable framework.
scottdavid329
Sadly outside of the Titans in Nashville, UT football is the biggest game in the state and arguably bigger. The Knoxville cops and probably most of state law enforcement agencies realize where their bread is buttered.
I'm not sure any state agencies are willing to take a stand. I remember how incompetent the campus cops were at my college and can't imagine them doing a real investigation. I don't buy into the "rape culture" in colleges now but if many of these cases are entitled football players I'd say that after you see enough smoke there's probably a fire.
I don't have a daughter but I'd really have to look myself in the mirror if I swept a lot of this shit under the rug.
you'd also have to explain to your wife why you swept shit under her Persian rug.
It's probably unrealistic to always expect cops/prosecutors/judges not to operate on their biases, whatever they might be, but we (the NCAA) can certainly punish interference from the schools into law enforcement investigations regarding student-athlete misconduct.
It seems to me that the schools should protect both the safety of the students and the rights of the accused in a way that is fair and impartial. Turning the entire matter over to the legal system, flaws and all, is likely the best we can do.
That being said I don't have a problem with universities policing conduct to some degree despite the due process concerns that come with it so long as they aren't permanently kicking kids out of school for first time offenses.
There are always reasonable solutions. Reasonable people? That's a little harder to find. Even harder is finding politicians who aren't willing to exploit and manipulate unreasonable people for their own gain.
Florida State prepared Dave Hart well.
All juniors return for their senior seasons. Everyone stays eligible.
This is what #winning looks like.
Joe, what does juniors returning for their senior seasons have to do with #winning? If you aren't going to be taken by the 3rd round, it doesn't make sense to leave early.
It was the right thing for Stafford, AJ, Knowshon, TG3II, Jarvis Jones, Reshad Jones, Floyd, Ogletree, etc. to leave early. These guys need to go to the League when the money is there.
On the topic at hand, these women weren't forced to accept a $2.8m settlement. They could have taken their chances in court in Tennessee … do you really think a jury of hillbillies was going to hang UT out to dry with a big award? Does something appear to smell in Knoxville? Yes, but until the Knox County DA wants to wade into it, nothing is going to change.
I will give you Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who was a projected 5th-round pick and can improve his draft standing by gaining weight and having a solid 2016 season starting at linebacker.
However, Cam Sutton was already a projected 2nd to 3rd-round pick and Alvin Kamara, a likely 5th-round 2016 pick at RB, decided to return this season at second-string behind Jalen Hurd. With the limited shelf-life of NFL RBs, this appears to be an odd choice.
The latter two were surprises, in my opinion.
I don't follow Tennessee's roster that closely. I would have taken Keith Marshall over Kamara any day of the week. Sutton is a surprise, but maybe he thinks he can get to the 1st round with a good season.
Such bullshit.
Soccer Dawg
It does seem cheap to me. But, TN still faces an independent investigation and the victims can hope that a Pepper Hamilton like inquiry gets the real goods on Booch. The Tennessean (7/5, 378K) reports that the University of Tennessee-Knoxville has settled a Title IX lawsuit "about sexual assaults involving student-athletes, ending a dispute that pitted eight young women against the $126 million football program." The $2.8 million settlement includes an agreement that the university appoint "a special independent commission to review the response to sexual assaults at all universities within the UT system," but the school did not admit to wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs agreed to withdraw their complaints filed with ED's Office for Civil Rights, though "it's unknown whether that will end the ongoing probe of possible violations of federal Title IX rules that govern how colleges and universities must respond to sexual assaults." An ED spokesperson said that withdrawing a complaint does not automatically lead to an end to an investigation.
I agree, the women taking the cash should not preclude the Title IV investigation from proceeding at all. The settlement may have bought off the prior issues but the government attack dogs haven't gotten their pound of flesh yet. The payoff doesn't change the environment that exists/ed is the culprit they are after. And where is the Sgt. Carter issue of intimidating a player for helping a victim? Every bit as revolting as Briles' and Paterno's involvement to me.
Kenny Grimes
$310,000 per. WOW!
Lrgk9
Got to be a couple of dads that aren't satisfied. I know I wouldn't be if it was my kids.
I assume that the women had to sign off on the settlement since they are legal adults. The dads might not be satisfied, but they really don't have much influence over the outcome unless their daughters asked them for input.
I agree … $310k before legal fees (like 30-40%) wouldn't be enough to me as a father.
KornDawg
Strenuously objects? Is that how it works?
Demi Moore thinks so.
ClydeBoogie
I got two girls they are real daddy's girls, in high school and college i was known as the "Your dad looks like he went prison" pa. My girls asked me to to quit looking so mean when on campus.I always told them their safety was always my chief concern if my ugly ass mug frightened off some guys oh well. This is the most shameful BS I've seen in a while those are some damn animals up there.
Aburn-esque performance to AC/DC's 'Money Talks'
Apparently the Dali Lama's ass under the orange silk sheet is still trashy, rashy and exposed: '….the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR)… launched an investigation into a lengthy list of sexual assault allegations at UT, a handful of which involved football players…' This part isn't over yet (that I have seen) and is unrelated to the civil action that the UTK AD just had fixed (some pricey PIs turned up tire dirt on the victims, undoubtedly, and UTK exercised their constitutional right to civilized blackmail). Butch and Co. 'do things the right way'. Only UTK can make the $ sign look self-righteous.
fred russo
You have one school TN that recruits sex criminals and one school MISS that buys players. both disgusting!!!!!


text:
DOJ Got It Right on the Merger
First and foremost, a black cloud of uncertainty hanging over the satellite industry since the proposed merger was first announced has begun to dissipate.
After a delay of more than a year, the Department of Justice announced on March 25, 2008 it would not block the proposed merger of XM and Sirius.
Although that is not the final step in the process, as the FCC must still give its blessing to the deal as this issue of Radio World goes to press, it served to remove a major stumbling block in the way of its progress. It also represented good news for the satellite industry as a whole on multiple fronts.
First and foremost, a black cloud of uncertainty hanging over the satellite industry since the proposed merger was first announced has begun to dissipate. A number of contemplated transactions that had been on hold awaiting the final word on the deal can now move forward.
Second, the approach taken and the final outcome reached by the Department of Justice represent major positive milestones for the industry.
While the immediate reaction to the department's decision has, in some quarters, been one of scorn and derision, the actual analysis conducted is quite sophisticated and perceptive, albeit somewhat unconventional, in terms of traditional duopoly combination situations.
Rather than attempting to number-crunch market share figures or quantifying concentration levels, the department eschewed these techniques in favor of an analysis of the actual behavior patterns of XM and Sirius and their customers in the telecom marketplace today, and what impact, if any, the combination would have on the future marketplace behavior of the various participants and affected parties.
And while it may seem counterintuitive at first glance that the merger of the only two U.S. satellite radio operators would not diminish customer choice and potentially lead to price increases, in fact — as the department properly concluded — the likelihood of such outcomes occurring was overblown and did not rise to the level where government intervention to block the merger would have been appropriate.
As the department correctly observed, there was very little competition between the two companies to date in terms of price or customer choice. The largest percentage of their business was generated as a result of customized satellite radio equipment installed in vehicles, so the determination of which satellite radio provider a particular customer would select was dictated by vehicle purchase.
Nor would anyone credibly suggest that a car purchaser decides which car to buy based on which satellite company's receiver comes installed in the vehicle. Also, a portion of the mass-market retail sales made by the two companies were to customers who already subscribed to one of the two companies and were buying a second or third receiver to complement their existing subscription.
Again, it would be hard to believe that potential price or content competition would have any bearing on this type of purchase decision.
The only place where price or content competition between XM and Sirius could have an impact was in that portion of mass-market retail sales for stand-alone equipment for new subscribers, where the department correctly took note of the robust competition already present between satellite radio providers and over-the-air AM/FM broadcast radio, HD Radio, Internet radio and devices such as MP3 players and cellphones.
It was quickly concluded that the merger of XM and Sirius would have a negligible effect, if any, on competition in this expanded market segment.
This analytical methodology was music to the ears of the satellite industry on two levels.
First, it signaled recognition by antitrust authorities of how competitive, dynamic and diverse the telecommunications content delivery marketplace in the United States (and, for that matter, globally) has become, which can be taken as a positive harbinger of their approach in the future to the telecom sector in general.
Second, it demonstrated a willingness in such circumstances to dispense with more conventional competitive impact approaches that fail to accurately capture actual marketplace behaviors.
The final benefit to the satellite industry came by eliminating (or at least downplaying) a specific regulatory concern that potentially faced other segments of the satellite industry, in particular the mobile satellite services segment. While today the MSS sector is in the process of experiencing a rebirth of sorts, there is a broad consensus that some rational industry consolidation is required to avoid the potential for costly, and possibly fatal, over-investment.
However, one of the uncertainties associated with such potential consolidation has been whether the FCC or the antitrust authorities might have special concerns with regard to mergers between two companies operating in the same frequency band (i.e., L-Band, such as Inmarsat and MSV; or S-Band, such as Terrestar or ICO), particularly where doing so might consolidate the allocated spectrum in that band in the hands of a single operator.
And while it could be a mistake to read the outcome of the XM/Sirius merger too broadly on this issue, a decision by the department to oppose the merger could have had a chilling effect on consideration of other possible consolidations involving companies that share the same frequency band allocation in a manner similar to XM and Sirius.
O'Rielly in Middle of C-Band Debate
FCC Poised to OK T-Mobile-Sprint Merger
Rehr's Remarks to the Conclave
DOJ Puts Conditions on Univision, HBC Merger; Files Lawsuit to Block Current Deal
Inside the Jan. 18, 2023 Issue of Radio World
Hey! It's Got AM!
An Ultimate DIY Project


Stuff Is Happening! I Promise!
I've been neglecting the blog and the everything else a bit recently. My bad. While I enjoy all of the tasks I'm given, they build up every now and again and it makes things a little hard to keep track of. That being said, we've been very busy as of recent.
The main thing that I'll touch on briefly here is that Chris, Beth and I are now all in one place. That of course means we had to spend some time moving and getting settled in. But that was all happening while we are still in the height of production on a short film. More about all of that later.
We've also released a few podcast episodes since the last update. Including, "Kong: Skull Island", "Your Name" and "Cowboy Bebop". For the last two, we've had Beth on as a special guest. We've also been recording with a different method than usual, using one microphone for all of us. We tried it out for those two episodes and it's something we're only going to use if there are more than two people being recorded locally. Otherwise, we're using the classic two mic method. The audio quality is different (both in good and bad ways), so I hope that's not too distracting. Not sure when exactly we are doing the next episode, but it will be some time soon-ish.
I'll try to convince the others to do a video update or something so we can go more in-depth on everything and officially talk about the short. We'll see.


Spacious rooms, soberly decorated, comfortably furnished.
The central spaces inside the house are the living room and the kitchen. The living room has a dinner table the size of an Italian family, an indoor fireplace, a wood stove, a couch and comfy chairs to relax.
Next door there's the kitchen, with granite tops and a big oak kitchen table, well equipped with a 5-pits gas stove and oven, 2 fridges, a microwave and a dishwasher, an abundance of kitchen appliances and enough plates, glasses and cutlery to serve you all.
We spent considerable energy to make the private spaces really comfortable. The house consists of 6 big bedrooms with terracotta floors, white walls and high ceilings. The interior is really simple, somewhat monastery-like. Beds are full sized singles, with comfy mattresses, summer duvets and fluffy cushions, all covered in clean, white, cotton linens. We used the wood of a huge pine tree that got blown over nearby to create minimalist tables and nightstands.
Comfortably, there are four bathrooms, each with a luxury hot shower and toilet, with the walls and floors all done in rustic Italian ceramics. We provide guests with clean towels and, respecting the environment to which all the water we use is returned, we provide bio-degradable soaps, shampoos and laundry detergent.
For groups bigger than 20 we have a great big Bedouine tent set up in the garden. Stylish, fully waterproof and furbished with exactly the same beds as inside, the tent offers a unique experience for another 6 people.


Together with the Treat event agency, we organize a variety of themed dinners. In addition to being served a delicious and perfectly arranged dinner, you take part in an interactive and entertaining game show – a great way to spend an evening with friends, colleagues, or family.
We also offer an extensive menu of dishes prepared with gluten-free products for guests who are gluten intolerant. Check out our menu for more information.
If you would like to surprise someone with a delicious dinner or a great lunch, just give them a gift voucher from Grand Café D'n Ingel.
Call 043-3217226 for reservations or make reservations online.
7 days a week from 10 AM to 2 AM.
Kitchen hours: 7 days a week from 10 AM to 11 PM.


text:
Edward Winslow arrives in England, where he gets a warm welcome, thanks largely to the ample supply of furs he brings. Moreover, Winslow learns that the White Angel will not be charged against the Pilgrims—but Winslow is still asked to testify about the state of the colonies before the "Right Honorable Lords Commissioners for the Colonies in America." Winslow explains that both the Dutch and the French have encroached on the Connecticut territory, building forts and interfering with England's patent.
It's suggested that the English investors recognize the profitability of the Plymouth colony, and therefore don't feel the need to charge the Pilgrims for the White Angel. However, the colony's profitability has brought it into conflict with the Dutch and French colonists, who also seek to expand their trading routes and landholdings.
Winslow's testimony leads some members of the Commission to propose allowing the colonists to resolve the trade dispute in their own way. However, Sir Ferdinand Gorges, a member of the Commission (and father of Robert Gorges) is planning to serve as Governor General, and wants to establish his authority over New England, "disturbing the peace of the churches." However, Gorges' plan comes to nothing. In the following days, Winslow is questioned by the Lords, and his character is called into question—it's suggested that he's an immoral man for marrying couples without proper religious authority. Winslow is imprisoned for seventeen weeks for his alleged abuse of power. He's released, and the Commission never sends forces to resolve the trade dispute.
Winslow's testimony is an important moment for the Plymouth colonists. At this moment, the New England colonies face the possibility of coming under the control of one overarching Governor, Sir Ferdinand Gorges. However, in the end, the English crown never sends Gorges to run the colonies. This is good news for the colonists, since it allows them to continue practicing their own religion and running their own affairs. (Bradford doesn't say why the English never send Gorges to America, but in part it's because the English state was weak at the time, due to plague and economic problems.)
On September 7th, 1635, James Sherley sends the Plymouth colony a letter explaining that he's sending the Pilgrims a letter of attorney that will enable them to sue Allerton for the costs of the White Angel.
The Pilgrims further strengthen their finances when Sherley arranges for them to sue Allerton.
In 1635, the Pilgrims sustain a heavy loss from the French colonists. In Penobscot harbor, French colonists, led by one Monsieur d'Aulnay, take control of several English settlers' homes in the name of the King of France. The Pilgrims retaliate by sending an armed brigade, led by Myles Standish, to sail to the harbor and demand that the French return the property. However, Standish quarrels with the captain of the ship, a man named Girling—first over Girling's payment and then about the proper time to fire on the French. Girling clumsily begins shooting before the ship has even reached the harbor, wasting their supply of gunpowder. Embarrassed, Standish has no choice but to turn back.
Although the Pilgrims are economically self-sufficient and fairly healthy, they lack a strong military. This becomes a major problem because neighboring colonies can steal English property with impunity, embarrassing the New England settlers (though of course Bradford doesn't comment on the fact that the colonists first stole the land from the Native Americans). While Bradford doesn't dwell on the d'Aulnay affair for long, it's a very influential moment in Pilgrim history, inspiring Bradford to strengthen Plymouth's defenses (in the next few years, the Pilgrims fight a war and form a military alliance with their neighbors).
The Pilgrims try to resolve the dispute with the French by contacting the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Massachusetts leadership supports the Pilgrims but claims that it cannot spare resources to deploy troops. Toward the end of 1635, they send troops for the Pilgrims' mission, but apologize for being unable to provide more. Around the same time, Massachusetts merchants begin trading with the French, providing them with ammunition. To this day, Bradford writes, the French disrespect English trade and English property, largely because of the guns and ammunition they've obtained through English merchants.
Plymouth tries and fails to get military assistance from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As a result, the Plymouth settlement experiences a humiliating defeat—the French colonists snatch away the Pilgrims' property, and the Pilgrims are unable to reclaim it. Less than a decade later, however, Plymouth forms a strong military alliance with Massachusetts, ensuring that enemy colonies won't be able to do this again without facing opposition.
In August, a storm decimates the Pilgrim community, especially near Connecticut. The same month, there's a lunar eclipse. Shortly afterwards, settlers in the Massachusetts Bay venture into Connecticut, knowing that the storm has cleared the area—and in doing so, they interfere with the Pilgrims' land rights. In the end, the colonists reach a treaty: the Plymouth settlers will keep their property along with "a 16th part of all they bought from the Indians," leaving the remaining territory for the Massachusetts settlers. However, the memory of the Massachusetts settlers' rudeness is not soon forgotten.
The Pilgrims quarrel with the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlers in the Connecticut area. However, they reach a treaty with Massachusetts, ensuring that both colonies will be able to own property in Connecticut. Bradford's noting of the lunar eclipse is an interesting aside, as he hardly ever comments on nature or larger external events except as they relate to the colony. The storm and eclipse so close together might be seen as bad omens.
Edward Winslow, still in England, is under orders to recruit a new minister for Plymouth. He recruits a man who dies just before the voyage, meaning that he must quickly find a replacement. He settles on a man named Mr. Norton. Norton is unsure if he wants to live in Plymouth; in the end, he spends a year in Plymouth, but then moves to another colony.
The chapter ends on a depressing note: in just one year, the colony experiences a humiliating defeat, quarrels with one of its key allies, experiences a devastating storm, and can't even recruit a preacher.


text:
<?php

namespace Lexik\Bundle\FormFilterBundle\Event\Listener;

use Doctrine\ORM\Query\Expr\Composite;
use Doctrine\DBAL\Query\Expression\CompositeExpression;

use Lexik\Bundle\FormFilterBundle\Event\ApplyFilterConditionEvent;
use Lexik\Bundle\FormFilterBundle\Filter\Condition\ConditionInterface;
use Lexik\Bundle\FormFilterBundle\Filter\Condition\ConditionNodeInterface;
use Lexik\Bundle\FormFilterBundle\Filter\Doctrine\DoctrineQueryBuilderAdapter;

/**
 * Add filter conditions on a Doctrine ORM or DBAL query builder.
 *
 * @author Cédric Girard <c.girard@lexik.fr>
 */
class DoctrineApplyFilterListener
{
    /**
     * @var array
     */
    private $parameters;

    /**
     * @var string
     */
    private $whereMethod;

    /**
     * @param string $whereMethod
     */
    public function __construct($whereMethod)
    {
        $this->whereMethod = (null === $whereMethod) ? 'where' : sprintf('%sWhere', strtolower($whereMethod));
    }

    /**
     * @param ApplyFilterConditionEvent $event
     */
    public function onApplyFilterCondition(ApplyFilterConditionEvent $event)
    {
        $qbAdapter = new DoctrineQueryBuilderAdapter($event->getQueryBuilder());
        $conditionBuilder = $event->getConditionBuilder();

        $this->parameters = array();
        $expression = $this->computeExpression($qbAdapter, $conditionBuilder->getRoot());

        if (null !== $expression && $expression->count()) {
            $qbAdapter->{$this->whereMethod}($expression);

            foreach ($this->parameters as $name => $value) {
                if (is_array($value)) {
                    list($value, $type) = $value;
                    $qbAdapter->setParameter($name, $value, $type);
                } else {
                    $qbAdapter->setParameter($name, $value);
                }
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * @param DoctrineQueryBuilderAdapter $queryBuilder
     * @param ConditionNodeInterface      $node
     * @return Composite|CompositeExpression|null
     */
    protected function computeExpression(DoctrineQueryBuilderAdapter $queryBuilder, ConditionNodeInterface $node)
    {
        if (count($node->getFields()) == 0 && count($node->getChildren()) == 0) {
            return null;
        }

        $method = ($node->getOperator() == ConditionNodeInterface::EXPR_AND) ? 'andX' : 'orX';

        $expression = $queryBuilder->{$method}();

        foreach ($node->getFields() as $condition) {
            if (null !== $condition) {
                /** @var ConditionInterface $condition */
                $expression->add($condition->getExpression());

                $this->parameters = array_merge($this->parameters, $condition->getParameters());
            }
        }

        foreach ($node->getChildren() as $child) {
            $subExpr = $this->computeExpression($queryBuilder, $child);

            if (null !== $subExpr && $subExpr->count()) {
                $expression->add($subExpr);
            }
        }

        return $expression->count() ? $expression : null;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


One of the top gun bloggers has set his keyboard aside and has fired-up his motorcycle. Borepatch has called "cease fire" after seven years. We wish him well.
FB Comrade and author Matt Bracken linked to this story today: Iconic gunmaker Colt is on the brink of bankruptcy - Company missed a $10.9 million interest payment on its debt in mid-May. The signs were there. Like US car manufacturers, Colt's quality tanked in the 80's. Then they missed the polymer revolution. Then they failed to foresee their home state's desire for gun-control, nor leave in 2014 when the state passed a stupid assault-rifle law. I think we'd agree though, if a US gun manufacturer is going to disappear, we'd all rather it be by mis-management rather than by the hand of tyrants. A shame nonetheless.
Remington has dumped both its CEO and its CFO. Like I saw Colt do in the 80's, Remington has put innovation and quality on the back burner of late, hoping their brand can carry the company. I was unaware of the 700 rifle issues, but who could have missed the R51 disaster last year? And we all know about Mr. B's frustration with the Remington buyout of Para.