Sometimes one comes across a DVD that is perfectly adequate but one really wonders why that particular production/performance was picked for a DVD release. Such is the 2014 recording of Massenet's Manon from L'Opéra Royal de Wallonie. Daniel Barenboim once said that the only reason to do this piece was a s a vehicle for star singers. I'm not sure I entirely agree but having them helps enormously and when the catalogue already has recordings of Netrebko and Dessay, both with Villazon one wonders how Annick Massis and Alessandro Liberatore can compete. Bottom line, they can't really.
The production, by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, has its moments. It's mostly created in pastel shades and the chorus scenes in Acts 1, 3 and 4 are quite pretty. There's even a curious kind of flashback effect in Act 1 where end-of-opera Manon and Des Grieux seem to be singing about how they met while it's acted out behind a scrim. It would have been nice though if the director had given as much attention to the direction of the characters. There's a lot of operatypical gesturing, especially from Liberatore. And there's no big idea. It's not as glitzy as the Berlin "film star" production or as dark as the Lyceu effort. It's just kind of OK.
It's the same with the performances. The leading lady and man are both very adequate singers who would happily go see and the elder Des Grieux; Roger Joakim, is quite distinguished. The eye candy quotient is quite high too with more than average amounts of flesh on display (though not perhaps a match for a young Netrebko in her underwear). Both orchestra and chorus are decent and conductor Patrick Davin seems to have the French vibe down. But, a "night to remember" it's not.
Technically it's perfectly OK DVD. The picture is good. Curiously the stereo sound track seems to be more vivid than the Dolby surround, though even that is OK. Jacques Croisier's video direction is unobtrusive though he does flit back and forth in front and behind the scrim in Act 1. I'm not sure why. The booklet contains a track listing and an essay contrasting the Massenet with the near contemporary Puccini version. Subtitle options are English, French, Italian, German and Korean.
Bottom line, if you saw this performance in your local opera house you likely wouldn't complain but it isn't really special enough to stand up in the DVD catalogue.
This entry was posted in DVD review and tagged croisier, davin, dvd, joakim, l'opera royal de wallonie, liberatore, massenet, massis, mazzonis di pralafera by operaramblings. Bookmark the permalink.


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Notes and Links from the February 2019 Meeting
Posted on 9th February 2019 by Eddie Dealtry
The Chairman for the meeting appealed for volunteers to organise future Member's Observing Sessions after this month. For this month we will include a waxing, crescent moon hopefully before our Public Moon Watch on Saturday 16th February.
News Roundup for February
Until Sunday 24th February the Museum of the Moon comes to Preston with an exhibition and events.
Saturn's rings are suspected of being a relatively recent phenomenon.
The Hayabusa 2 landing on Ryugu was delayed last month.
The Nasa Insight lander begins a two-year mission to monitor any seismic activity on Mars.
Is this ancient moon rock from Earth?
Sky Notes for February
Aurora was visible from Kendal – imaged by member Carol Grayson who responded to a mobile phone alert from Glendale Aurora Alert also on our EAS Links Page
From Saturday the 9th Jupiter, Venus and Saturn will be visible together above the south-eastern horizon for an hour before sunrise at 7:43am in Kendal, joined by the waning, crescent moon on Thursday 28th
See our EAS Sky notes for this month in our area
Member's Photographs
An EAS Member displayed his impressive time-lapse video and Astro photographs recently of:
40 second time-lapse of last month's Total Lunar Eclipse
Image of the Crab Nebula
Image of the Orion Nebula
Dr Steve Williams of Lancaster University speaking on Nova Explosions
A Nova explosion owes its name to what was once considered a 'New Star'. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Observed novae involve closely located binary stars one of which is a White Dwarf. A white dwarf is the remnant dense core of a star at the end of its life. No nuclear processes are occurring and the star is steadily cooling. The white dwarf draws hydrogen from the nearby companion main sequence giant star which covers its surface. If the hydrogen gets hot and dense enough, nuclear fusion occurs on this surface and the white dwarf star brightens, a 'Nova' explosion, until most of the hydrogen is used up and the star dims and the process starts again… If the White Dwarf gains mass to exceed 1.4 solar masses, a supernova is possible – although the exact mechanism for this is still unclear and is thought to only occur with carbon-oxygen white dwarfs and not carbon-neon white dwarfs. Research is still ongoing into this fascinating subject.
Visible light is suddenly emitted in a characteristic, exponentially decreasing light curve. The known curve allows time of initiation and then the absolute magnitude of the Nova to be determined and thus the distance from any apparent magnitude that was caught on an observation.
Not only visible light is suddenly emitted but also x-rays that do not penetrate the ejected shell of unburnt hydrogen until the shell density drops to a known level that allows the size of the shell to be determined.
Unlike Supernovae, Novae both leave behind a remnant that may last for centuries and the ejected shells fall back onto the remnant. The whole process may subsequently repeat many times in known Recurrent Novae. A number of Recurrent Novae have been discovered by inspection of archived observations. With the current telescopic ranges, all observed novae occur either in our own Milky Way or our companion and satellite galaxies – such as The Andromeda Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. Detection is difficult in the Milky Way because of obscuring dust along the plane of the galactic disc. Around 40 new Novae/year are discovered in the Milky Way – a number still being discovered by Amateur Astronomers.
See also links from Nova on Wikipedia
Chairman's report on the work of the committee over 2018.
Chairman stood down and a new committee was elected making seven members in all. Chairman for 2019 to be selected at the next Committee meeting.
Sky Notes for January
Total Lunar Eclipse enters the full eclipse stage 04:45 Monday morning 21st January See: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2019-january-21
and: Upcoming Eclipses
After the flyby of Pluto last year, a few days ago the New Horizon mission encountered the most distant object ever visited and returned images of Ultima Thule from the Kuiper belt. Thule is about 31 x 19 km and looks to be two objects that coalesced into a snowman shape.
See also: NASA's Mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
Chang'e 4 landing on the far side of the Moon
On the 3rd, China's 1.2 ton Chang'e 4 probe made the first landing on the far side of the moon. After touch down a 140kg rover was deployed. A satellite is being kept in a high orbit, around a theoretical Lagrangian point, relaying all the comms between Earth and the remotely controlled lunar vehicles Chang'4 Relay Satellite.
Part of the exploration programme will be to return samples to Earth by Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_4
Society Telescopes
The society has a number of telescopes available to members for as long as the member wishes to retain and keep them in good condition. One exception is the recent donation of an 11″ (28cm) Schmidt-Cassegrain. EAS is sharing the telescope with Cockermouth Astronomical Society where it will be available to EAS from late December to late June each year.
Dr James Osborn talk on Adaptive Optics
Dr Osborn gave a talk on his work on providing instrumentation for the world's large, optical telescopes.
The marked rapid introduction of atmospheric distortion from a small to a large telescope was illustrated where the star images in the latter visibly oscillate. Astronomers and engineers are developing adaptive optics technology to remove such atmospheric bouncing and blurring so that scientists can see distant objects more clearly.
The disturbance to wavefronts from the target area is measured by using a laser to excite sodium atoms in the atmosphere to create an artificial star-like object. Fibre optic communication systems relay measurements of the distorted return signal to computer systems that control the telescope correction equipment. The AO system corrects the atmosphere distortion of the wavefronts from this artificial star in real time by flexing mirrors at a kilohertz rate to compensate for the atmospheric turbulence in the direction of viewing. Conformation and calibration of the laser systems are achieved at sites by a number of proved systems around the large telescope.
Q&A was informative. Included in that was the fact that in many parts of the world where large telescopes are located there is no need to warn aviation when launching 20 watts of laser light into the sky.
See alsohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_optics
Notes and Links from the November Meeting
Chairman's announcements
The chairman welcomed members and guests to the November meeting.
A Celestron telescope of some vintage has been donated to the society. Currently, the telescope is being renovated, mould removed from the tube and optics, to be used at EAS Observing Sessions.
Sky Notes for November
Astronomical Dark now begins before 7pm.
Mars is the only feasible planet for observing this month and there are two periodic comets, one the target of last year's Rosetta mission, that will be visible towards the end of November. See Sky Notes.
Observing Evening
Check for the Observing Evening, page for the next member's evening.
Dark Sky accreditation for the Lake District
Johanna Korndorfer presented a talk on the work of Friends of the Lake District to gain internationally recognised 'Dark Skies Reserve' status for the Lake District National Park.
Concepts of Dark Sky Accreditation were introduced together with the implications for and actions to be potentially taken by authorities. In particular, 'Core' dark areas in the Lake District and surrounding 'Buffer' zones, where light pollution will impact the Core, need to be identified. Members were asked if they wished to help measure the sky darkness using light meters loaned to them by Friends of the Lake District.
An extensive Q&A followed querying the implications for towns and rural communities.
An illustrated talk on Hyabusa2
After a speaker cancellation, David Glass valiantly presented a talk on the progress of the probe Hayabusa 2, now in orbit around Type C (low metal mostly rock) asteroid Ryugu.
Of the multiple propulsion systems, the Ion drive thrusters, with a force of micro-Newtons that consume a small amount of fuel over long periods, are deployed to adjust the inter-planetary transition orbit. The Ion Thrusters consume far less fuel than conventional thrusters.
Hayabusa 2 will launch a number of deployable modules designed to land on Ryugu and bounce up to 15 times between measurements and experiments.
A Small Carry-On Impactor weighing 2 kg will be 'fired' at a selected area of Ryugu to create a crater, while the main module hides behind the asteroid, where the sub-soil will be revealed as a target site for material sampling.
Hayabusa 2 will retrieve samples from the target crater and two other sites and then return a capsule of samples back to Earth.
Member's Astrophotographs
Finally, a member presented some recent astrophotographs taken in the Kendal area.
Notes and Links from the October Meeting
Posted on 5th October 2018 by Eddie Dealtry
The chairman welcomed members and guests to the October meeting and commented on the result of a recent feedback survey on how the club was meeting its expectations; news items and sky-notes were well received by respondents and lectures were reckoned to be set at a level "about right" for most of the audience.
Sky Notes for October
Mid October the skies are astronomically dark at 8:15. A general roundup was made of the many objects to be seen in the October sky. Lots going on!
If the observing evening was not organised this weekend then it may be prudent to wait until around the 31st October when the skies were dark at 6:45 pm. Members were again reminded to check the web page, Observing Evening, on this site and not to travel to an observing evening unless the red text had changed to blue!
This exoplanet detecting satellite is now fully operational and monitors the change in luminosity of nearby stars that may indicate planets. Proving to be very capable data is now being received from Tess that is characteristic of planets passing in front of stars. Further updates to follow.
Hyabusa2
David Glass explained the intricacies of this fascinating Japanese project that involves instrumentation landing on the asteroid termed Ryuga. Of interest to early solar system research, this operation will aim to capture material from the asteroid and return it to Earth for further analysis. For a detailed but (mostly) understandable description, see: Hayabusa 2
A recent photograph of Opportunity on Mars that has now lost contact with its project team.
Analysed data from ESA`s Gaia surveyor has narrowed down where the interstellar traveller Oumuamua may have come from. The database combined with trajectory science has narrowed the source of Oumuamua to 4 stars within our galaxy.
Bright objects on Ceres have now been associated with mud deposits. New research has indicated water and rock have erupted and may be responsible for the bright surface detail on the surface of Ceres.
Guest speaker: Prof. Lionel Wilson of Lancaster University who spoke on recent ideas on the volcanic history of the Moon
An interesting talk on the ancient volcanic lava flows on the moon and how there may be lessons to learn with Earth`s volcanism both in the past and in the future!
IMP`s and RMDS were discussed at length. These are Irregular Mare Patches and Ring Moat Dome structures. 70 IMPs have been discovered 19 of which are around obvious vents. The recent research indicates there may be consequences for the Earth because we may be due a major basalt eruption on a scale of an extinction event.
The far side of the moon has a crust that is 60% thicker than the nearside that faces Earth. Most volcanism occurred on the nearside face of the moon and occurred more than 1 billion years ago.
Eruptions on the moon form dome shapes because there is no atmosphere. Sinuous rilles (look like rivers) form due to the thermomechanical erosion of the surface of the moon and can extend for several kilometres; the turbidity of the lava flow and a high lava discharge rate are key features in their formation.
Ring-Moat Dome Structures (RMDS) are a newly discovered feature on the lunar surface; low domes surrounded by a shallow cavity or moat. Large-scale lava flows are now thought to have occurred on timescales much more rapid than previously thought.
Theoretical models were discussed regarding their construction and magmatic foams were highlighted as a possible precursor. Over 2000 of these structures (RMDS) have been identified.
For further details see the recent Geophysical Research Letter: – Newly Discovered Ring-Moat Dome Structures in the Lunar Maria
Notes and Links from the September Meeting
The chairman welcomed the Dark Skies Project Officer for the Friends of the Lake District and asked for volunteers to be a liaison to work for dark Sky Accreditation. A communication from Ullswater Yacht Club who are looking to open their grounds for the use of members. Members were notified of UCLAN public lectures in Lancaster and Preston during October 2018. Members asked to finalise their requests to visit Alston Observatory after the next meeting on Tuesday 2nd October.
Two news roundups were given by two members. Galaxy news links:
Galaxy evolution hiatus 1: Milky Ways second life
Galaxy evolution hiatus 2: Earliest galaxies found 'on our cosmic doorstep'
Earliest/most distant/ largest redshift galaxy record broken after 20 years
Solar Orbiters:
Parker Solar Orbiter
ESA Solar Orbiter
Sun Spot Cycle 25?
Ice confirmed at Moon's Poles
Mars-encircling dust storm settles
More Astronomical News
New Horizons approaching Kuiper Belt Objects
Japan's Hayabusa2 landing site on an asteroid
OSIRIS-REx 's first images of asteroid Bennu
Nasa's chemical sniffer retires
First mass eruption from a star that's not the sun
The Ecliptic
Arising from question Why Mars farther than other planets from Ecliptic last year. Planetary orbits are inclined to the ecliptic plane by up to 6° (maximum reached by the planet Mercury). The Ecliptic coordinate system, Celestial equator, Ecliptic and Celestial poles were covered as well as equinoxes.
Not to be confused with the orbit shape 'ecliptic' the word comes from the fact that when the moon crosses the ecliptic we experience an eclipse.
Sky Notes for September
From the Ecliptic the meeting was focused to the constellations near to the Zenith, where starlight travels through the minimum depth of atmosphere to the telescope. By the middle of September, we will be experiencing 7 hours of Astronomical Dark from 9 PM. See Sky Notes in particular.
Guest speaker, Stuart Atkinson Famous Fake Astrophotos
Stuart gave an entertaining but informative talk that also warned of the dangers of false attribution of astrophotographs taken by members. Since the advent of digital cameras and post-processing software images are not only easy to fake, as opposed to the valid enhancement of target features. In addition, the internet has released a Pandora's Box where the distribution fake images become impossible to control. Images were illustrated from obvious Artistic impressions being passed off as factual to the deliberate stealing of images. For the latter, defences were outlined such as 'Watermark' signing to the proven method of introducing errors.
Notes and Links from the August Meeting
Posted on 8th August 2018 by Eddie Dealtry
This Saturday, 11th August the Perseid meteor shower will occur on a moonless night. However, the forecast at the moment is poor.
Members may still join arrangements for a second visit to Alston Observatory is being organised for Tuesday 2nd October
The NASA Parker Solar Probe is due to be launched this Saturday 11th August. The probe will fly into the solar corona and will investigate the Solar wind and the heating of the solar corona to very high temperatures.
A pair of images of Neptune illustrated the gain in using new Adaptive Optics by the VLT. The images demonstrate that the VLT with the latest adaptive optics can be competitive with the Hubble Space Telescope. The new technology is also applicable to the future 40m-class telescopes (e.g. the E-ELT) and is essential to get the best out of these new assets.
The MeerKAT interferometric radio telescope in South Africa can now produce science images. An image of the centre of the Milky Way was shown, which reveals new detail of unexplained filaments in the region.
Orbital Physics and Spacecraft Manoeuvring
A member gave an Illustrated talk and demonstration to explain an orbit: throw hard enough until your ball goes over the horizon and continues to fall towards the planet at the same rate as the ground 'falls away' due to the curvature of the planet resulting in a circular orbit. The problem of manoeuvring without changing orbits was illustrated with the failed docking scheduled for Gemini 4 before their first spacewalk. From a distance, increasing speed by the trailing vehicle changes the vehicle's trajectory into a higher and more elliptical orbit.
Olber's Paradox
Why is the night sky dark? A member's talk described the paradox attributed to Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers ( 1758–1840). Given an infinite number of stars that compensate intensity decrease with distance, the night sky should light. Although the Big Bang specifies that the material in the universe is finite, there are more than enough galaxies to cover one per a pixel on telescopes in the foreseeable future making the paradox still valid. The currently the solution accepted is that space is expanding: thus, cooling radiation and shifting radiation towards the red and radio. Other explanations are also mooted.
Explanatory solution addendum added by a member:
Infinite or not, the universe is of a size that means that even travelling as fast as they do, photons from some distant stars have yet to reach us. There will certainly be some redshift arising from the expansion of the universe, but this effect can be ignored by recasting the paradox in terms of radiation generally, rather than the much smaller visible spectrum. So irrespective of wavelength, the paradox is why there is not an infinite bath of radiation. The "fractal" explanation is a way round the homogeneous assumption inherent in the paradox, and as in the talk, the fractal calculations of the universe diverge from the required dimension. So I think we're left with the "it hasn't reached us yet" solution. And, of course, it never will reach us – but that's a different talk.
Telescope Mount Alignment
The types of astronomical telescope mounts were explained by a member: Altazimuth and Equatorial . Current 'GoTo' software offers the opportunity to iterate polar re-alignment. How accurately does the polar alignment need to be for time exposure photography? After much work and many calculations , our member discovered that the error reported by the software, for the polar misalignment, may be used as the drift across the image in 24 hours. Hence the rate of drift can be quickly calculated. The pixel coverage for a given camera together with the focal length of the system can be used to determine the sky coverage per pixel, eg 2 arc seconds/pixel. The rate of drift can then be used to determine the time to drift across one pixel (or maybe more) to find the maximum exposure time for the reported polar alignment error. In summary, tolerance for the error in polar alignment can be calculated beforehand. The telescope polar alignment procedure can then cease when within the desired tolerance.
Notes and Links from the July Meeting
Posted on 6th July 2018 by Eddie Dealtry
Chairman's reports and sky notes
See Sky Notes. In particular:
There will be no actual astronomical darkness until August as the sun skims under our South Lakes horizon.
The moon will rise on Friday 27th July at 21:12 already in the maximum phase of a total lunar eclipse – see data for the lunar eclipse for Kendal 27th July
During the latter part of July, all the visible planets will be in the night sky from Kendal although Mercury will be too close to the sun to observe
A second visit to Alston Observatory is being organised for Tuesday 2nd October
The JAXA spacecraft Hayabusa 2 successfully arrived at the asteroid 162173 Ryugu, on 27 June due to return material from the asteroid to Earth by the end of 2020. See also: Astro Bob.
Two new methods of detecting exoplanets in the news:
by detecting disturbances in the molecular gas (carbon monoxide) within the protoplanetary disc using ALMA
by direct imaging using a occulting coronagraph and adaptive optics with the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) discovered the first planetary accretion disc
Comet imaging in Stereo
One of our members presented images of comets which may be viewed through a Stereograph. The main obstacle to Astro-stereo images is determining an adequate separation between two simultaneous images. Images were displayed that had used overlapping times from a telescope in Spain and a telescope in South America. Also, a stereograph was available during the break to view a video gif of the displacement of a close-approach comet imaged from the Earth at two different times.
Guest speaker Professor Jim Wild, Weathering Solar Storms
Professor Wild gave an illustrated talk that progressed from the physics of solar storms, through a history of destructive storms to current developments to defend against the effects of a violent storm of electrically charged particles on our society dependent on electricity, electronics and satellite transmissions not forgetting long-distance space travel out of the Earths protecting magnetic field..
A sequence of early photographs of a comet showed the effects of a solar storm passing by in the background. Current forecasting of the arrival of one of the many storms from the sun is made difficult by only be able to view an approaching storm head-on, compared with the numerous meteorological stations used for weather forecasting, A number of satellites are planned to be placed in the Lagrangian points (parking places) relative to the Earth and the Sun that would be able to detect approaching storms from side-on.
Implications for exoplanets were highlighted. A necessary condition for a planet to sustain life (see Goldilocks Zone) is that the planet must have a magnetic field – that will protect from charged particles released from the parent star.
Notes and Links from the June Meeting
Venus, just after about 10:30 PM, is at the bright magnitude -4 above the western horizon near the crescent moon on the 16th June.
Jupiter is visible from sunset to sunrise, starting low in the south-east.
Saturn will rise with the full moon late in the month.
Links to the items raised:
Methane Ice dunes on Pluto
Alan Bean biography
Apollo 12 Flight Journal includes MP3s, transcripts and inserted explanations and summaries
Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity 2nd Powered Test Flight
ALMA detects most early signs of oxygen in the universe
Hubble detects supernova blink into a Black Hole
New Fundamental Particle? – possible Dark Energy explanation
Amateur astronomer detects Supernova
Variable star photometry
One of our members presented results taken over two nights of measuring the light detected from two stars, using a QHY163c CMOS astro camera connected to a 10″ telescope, compared to the light received from nearby comparison stars of known magnitude – the technique known as differential photometry. The first star was a well known contact binary star system V523Cas (with a magnitude change of ~0.9 magnitudes) which acted as a useful and successful testbed for the photometry system. The low noise permitted the second study – the attempt to detect the transit of planet across the face of a distant star from a Kendal backyard. An online search (http://var2.astro.cz/ETD/predictions.php) on the next clear night, 10 December 2017, suggested the excitingly labeled XO-6b with a relatively large magnitude change of 0.013 magnitudes. This 10 magnitude star, 270 light years away, was measured over an evening of deteriorating conditions. The sky conditions deteriorated so badly that all stars dimmed by 50%!
The change in brightness signal of the target star, blue, and three potential comparison stars during the night of the observations.
Nevertheless, comparisons with light levels from neighbouring stars indicated a 1.2% diminution of the light from the target star. The diminution is caused by an exoplanet, twice the size of Jupiter at 8% of Earth's orbit radius, that transits the star approximately every four days. The timing and dip in brightness occurred at both the right time and expected size.
Smoothed magnitude change for the exoplanet transit across the face of the star XO-6b.
Telescope Night (outside)
The second half of the evening was spent outside in the Museum grounds under a blue sky. Members and guests milled around asking questions and demonstrating their own telescopes, mounts and software.
Notes and Links from the May Meeting
Guest speaker: Professor Ian Robson "Confessions of an Astronomer"
Professor Ian Robson gave a light-hearted talk covering his career in astronomy from a telescope on the top of Queen Mary University above a London street in the 1960's to the top of a snow-drifted Mauna Kea, Hawaii – including frequent, confessional asides. Some aspects may have been expected, such as bids for project finance and student and graduate applications on a professor's desk. Less expected were the thousands of air miles accumulated over a lifetime in astronomy.
Prof Robson has written a book demonstrating the connections between observations and theory: Active Galactic Nuclei
Member's Talks
Sky and Society Notes for May
Venus at the bright magnitude -3.9 in the evening presents a three-parts, waxing gibbous phase visible in small telescopes.
Jupiter is visible from sunset, starting low in the south east.
Full astronomical darkness will not occur again until August.
Major night sky imaging proposal
The society has been offered the opportunity to participate in a world wide public outreach project using the Las Cumbres Global Telescope Network. Our choice of target is likely to be the Hyades cluster in Taurus. Of significance to EAS, the displaced positions of Hyades stars were those measured by Sir Arthur Eddington during the 1919 Solar Eclipse confirming Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
FollowLCO_Global
Kendal Outreach
Volunteers to present are just about enough to hold the proposed Solar System in Kendal event on Saturday 18th August.
The Constellation of the Month
Our regular member's presentation of Constellation of the Month featured the low, summer constellation of Virgo. Leo was also included.
NASA successfully launched their Insight Mission a week ago to arrive on Mars in two months time. Over the following Mars-year (approximately 1.5 Earth years) the mission lander will probe the surface with a seismometer and then wait to measure the vibrations from any subsequent seismic events.
The upper atmosphere of an exoplanet (WASP-107b) has been analysed using the light filtered through it during a transit, revealing the (not unexpected) presence of Helium. Work to test the method on Earth's atmosphere (Yan et al. 2014) proved that atmospheric compositions can be studied in this way and that significant biomarkers (oxygen, water, NO2) can be detected. They analysed the light that passed through Earth's atmosphere and bounced off the moon during a lunar eclipse.
The universe expands with distance at a rate which is given by the Hubble Constant – or are there two Hubble Constants? 68 km/sec or 73 km/sec – or, even, both. Measurements have been made using the structure of the early Universe and using 'standard candles' in galaxies as in our February guest speaker's research. The values obtained by the two methods appear to be different, and the chance that the difference is a fluke is currently less than 0.01%. This is nearly at 'discovery' level but not quite. If the difference is true, it may point the way to new physics or an overhaul of cosmological models. In the words of our member: 'Over to the Cosmologists to sort this one out'.
Notes and Links from the April Meeting
Posted on 10th April 2018 by Eddie Dealtry
Sky and Society Notes for April
See Sky Notes in particular.
The society has been offered a one-hour imaging session of an astronomical object of their choice on the Las Cumbres Global Telescope Network . The offer has come from Carl Pennypacker, one of the teams whose studies of supernovae led them to infer in 1998 the existence of dark energy driving the expansion of the universe. The society is keen to involve any members who wish to engage with this imaging project, including local schools if appropriate. We have until December to choose an object and conduct the imaging. Please get in touch here if you would like to be part of this project, or if you have any suggestions for imaging targets.
UCLAN lecture
The meeting was reminded that the upcoming event at UCLAN in Preston: The Jeremiah Horrocks Spring Lecture Comets, Asteroids and Impacts. Should we worry and what can we do? Tuesday 15th May 2018 – 6:30 pm.
More volunteers are required for a few hours during the proposed Solar System in Kendal event on Saturday 18th August.
The next Member's Observing evening will be in autumn when dark nights return.
The next public Moonwatch will be on Saturday 24th November
One member demonstrated an impressive difference in colour hues using Pixinsight on the Horsehead Nebula Not cheap software package but highly recommended for colour correction using a star catalogue. Now listed on our Links page under Software used by members
The farthest star ever detected has been imaged by the Hubble telescope, a Blue Giant in a galaxy nine billion light years distant: Hubble Uncovers the Farthest Star Ever Seen. Forget the Kepler space mission , a recent paper encourages more enthusiastic, if not radical, members to use their standard DLSR cameras to join in the search for exoplanets.
Guest speaker Robert Ince "Widefield and time-lapse astrophotography"
After answering to a professional career migrating from explosives to his lifetime interest in Astronomy, Robert Ince illustrated his personal revival of astrophotography with a camera only – without his 12″ telescope. Beginning with landscapes with star backgrounds and star trails, the talk progressed through driven exposures, including time-lapse video and panning sequences, to the use of filters. Robert described in detail his post-exposure processing using a wide range of software. A number of useful links were listed:
StarStaX
Startrails – free, Microsoft only
Sequator – free, Microsoft only
The links above are now on our Software used by members

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Dutch cleaners' strike – an example for the labour movement
Zowi Milanovi
In the Netherlands there is a very militant cleaners' strike that has been going on for more than a month. This is not the first time; in 2010 they were out on strike for nine weeks, the longest strike in the Netherlands since the 1930s. There are lessons in this for the whole labour movement.
A few years ago almost nobody would have thought that the Dutch cleaners were going to be one of the most militant sections of the Dutch working class. Then came their militant strike in 2010, after which the Dutch media reported that "class struggle was back". Now they are striking again, fighting for dignity and better working conditions.
The 2010 strike
The first cleaners' strike was in 2010. Nobody expected the cleaners to strike, because it was an unorganised section of the working class. There was a time when companies just hired their own cleaners as workers of their companies. With the booming of the services sector in the Netherlands, this changed. There was a rise of large cleaning companies that offered their services to big clients such as Philips, Ahold, the Dutch Railways, Schiphol Airport and government buildings. These cleaning companies compete in terms of working conditions. Wages are very low and there is high work pressure, because the cleaning companies are competing by offering shorter cleaning times and fewer cleaners for a cleaning assignment. On top of that, there is no sick pay.
Under these conditions the trade union FNV Bondgenoten tried an experiment by sending "organisers" (the English word 'organisers' is also used in Dutch) to different work locations to recruit and check on the conditions and mood of the cleaners. The organisers found a situation ripe for industrial action, and they united all the cleaners in the different work locations. That is how the nine weeks strike for 'respect' and a pay rise came about, with a lot of sympathy from the public. As there has been a long trade union tradition of compromise and talking with the bosses' organisations, this was a very significant strike. The 2010 cleaners' strike was the longest strike in the Netherlands since the 1930s! The strike united all the cleaners of different ethnic backgrounds, male and female. Their consciousness grew by leaps and bounds and the trade union recruited more than 1000 new cleaners through the strike.
The current strike
After the first strike, which appeared as a small revolution, a festival where the 'invisibles' showed their strength, with the cleaners winning their meagre wage demands, the bosses tried to reverse the gains of 2010 by putting up the pressure again. The times allocated for a cleaning assignment were shortened in the competition between the different cleaning companies. For the cleaners it looked like all their gains and the respect they had won were being lost again. With their high level of class consciousness they were ready for another strike. Their demands are very clear: a small wage raise of 50 cents together with statutory sick pay. These are certainly not "greedy" demands!
The strike has now been going on for over a month. It has been accompanied by "Marches of Anger" and "Marches of Respect" in different cities and towns throughout the Netherlands.
Significance for the Dutch labour movement
The Dutch trade union movement is in a crisis. There is an old tradition of talking with the bosses' unions and the government, and getting gains through compromise. This is called the "polder model", and was once praised internationally as an exemplary model.
However, since the beginning of the present crisis this model has broken down. That was clear in the new pensions agreement between the unions and the employers. The age of retirement is going to rise from 65 to 66 in 2020 and to 67 in 2025. The only things the unions were able to achieve were to delay the years when the age of retirement commences, and win some special procedures for the heaviest jobs. When the two biggest unions in the FNV trade union federation, FNV Bondgenoten and ABVAKABO, opposed this agreement, the federation still voted for it, by using the vote of the smaller unions in the federation to bureaucratically push the agreement through.
After this debacle, the leaderships of the different unions decided to reform the federation into De Nieuwe Vakbeweging (DNV – The New Trade Nnion Federation). While there is still a large part of the old bureaucracy in the new federation, it will focus more on youth, casual workers and workers in sectors where there is almost no union organisation. While it is true that this reform is being used by the trade union leaders to cleanse the image of the federation, it is nonetheless a step forward, for it leaves more room for "organising". This method has been used for a few years by the union FNV Bondgenoten to organise the more difficult work places. After the success of the first cleaners' strike, organisers were sent to the meat industry and distribution centres for the supermarkets.
This should be seen as a positive development. Although there are those who criticise it as a means whereby the union bureaucracy is trying to strengthen its own position outwards by having more militant members, they do not see the dialectical relationship whereby having more militant members also puts pressure on the leadership to shift to the left. These organising drives should be spread to all sectors and branches where there is very low or no unionisation. The cleaners are a good example. They consist of many immigrants and many women, parts of the population that traditionally have low levels of unionisation. They now have become one of the most militant sections of the Dutch working class and have become an example for the rest of the workers' movement.
On top of this, there should be a drive to recruit young workers to the unions. Because of the low levels of unionisation among the youth, some parties and the media attempt to promote an artificial "conflict between generations" as a means of turning young people against the trade unions. This is a warning and should be taken seriously, as this new divide and rule strategy was also used in France in 2010 (without success) and in the recent general strike in Belgium (with some success).
Solidarity is needed
The cleaners' strike is very international in its nature, as the cleaners come from all parts of the world. The cleaning strike has united cleaners from Turkey, Morocco, African and Asian countries, Suriname, the Antilles together with their native Dutch colleagues. It has done away with prejudices against people with another colour or with a headscarf. Thus, this strike has done more to fight prejudice and discrimination than all the anti-discrimination bureaus put together.
However, while the cleaners are very determined, they need your solidarity. On Labourstart there is a campaign where you can send protest letters to the clients of the big cleaning companies.
Support the Dutch cleaners' strike!
Source: Vonk (Netherlands)
Netherlands: the provincial elections and rise of the FvD 15 Apr 2019
Netherlands: Revolutie paper launched 13 Apr 2018
Dutch general elections: instability the name of the game 17 Mar 2017
Elections and rising instability in the Netherlands 14 Mar 2017
Netherlands: The conviction of Geert Wilders 21 Dec 2016
FNVschoongenoeg


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Center Me
Mount Vernon to Clinton
Routes: SR 20
Estimated Driving time: 1.5 hours
From the fertile lowlands of the rich farming country on the Skagit River Delta, this route leads to the shores of Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands, indented by many inlets. Fantastic carvings of the rocky banks, through the long assault of sea and weather, give these coves an air of austere mystery, and rumor in times past has dubbed them smugglers' retreats. Back from the shores, the gently rolling slopes of Whidbey Island are marked by patches of woodland, fields of waving grain, and fruitful orchards. A favorable combination of soil and climate has given Whidbey, second largest island in the United States, the reputation of being the garden spot among the islands of Puget Sound. The rich soil, known to agronomists as Ebey Sandy Loam, is said to be unique among soils. In 1894 a wheat yield of 117.5 bushels per acre established a world's record that still stands. Along the route tall silos and barns, hangar-like in their proportions, attest to the productivity of Whidbey's agriculture. Bulb raising, seed growing, and berry culture are important branches of farming; but poultry raising and dairying supply more than half of the island's economic structure.
Natural Setting
Scenic Byway
Washington State Ferry traveling between Port Townsend and Coupeville on Whidbey Island with the Cascade Mountains in the background.
Source: Tom Collins via Flickr
Ca. 1910 view of the Langley dock and nearby buildings.
Ca. 1940 view of Deception Pass Bridge, looking south.
1913 image by Asahel Curtis of a female cannery worker on a dock, holding two fish. Apex Cannery, Anacortes.
Ca. 1940 view along First Avenue in Mount Vernon.
1963 image of Bush Point Lighthouse, Whidbey Island, by Werner Lenggenhager. Looking NW.
Source: State Library Photograph Collection, 1851-1990, Washington State Archives
Ca. 1973 view of the Coupeville waterfront and Harbor Store.
Key waypoints on this leg include: Mount VernonDeception Pass State ParkCoupevilleClinton
Index of all tour locations Down Arrow Icon Triangular icon pointing downwards
Skagit Flats
Swinomish Slough
Lake Campbell
Clover Valley
San De Fuca
Penn's Cove
Kennedy's Lagoon
Prairie Center
Smith Prairie
Greenbank Farm
Holmes Harbor
Bush Point
Choose route direction: Mount Vernon to Clinton Clinton to Mount Vernon
Spur or 'side-trip' off the main tour leg.
The seat of Skagit County, it was named for Washington's Potomac home. The Skagit River has played an important part in the development of the town; in 1870 fur traders, finding it navigable, established a post here. Prospects of gold along Ruby Creek stimulated the activity of the settlement, and when hopes of striking pay dirt faded many of the prospectors began logging and farming in the Skagit Valley. By...
Learn more about Mount Vernon
Lincoln Theater and Commercial Block
Mile: 2
The tour crosses the Skagit Flats just west of Avon, an area which in the 1940s produced a large share of the country's supply of cabbage seed. The town's name was chosen by W. H. Miller, founder of the settlement in 1882 for the Avon River in England, famous as the home of William Shakespeare. It was a port for a short time but did not have a rail connection...
Learn more about Skagit Flats
Located on Telegraph Slough near the south end of Padilla Bay. It was founded as Padilla by Rienzie E. Whitney in 1882. When the Great Northern Railway was built in 1890, the town was moved to the railway, and the name was changed to that of the town's founder.
Learn more about Whitney
Side Trip
Sidetrip: La Conner
This side trip is an 11 mile round trip drive across La Conner flats to the La Conner historic district along the Swinomish Channel.
Take the La Conner side trip
The tour once crossed both Telegraph and Swinomish Sloughs linking the mainland with Fidalgo Island, where the route continues. Telegraph Slough is now filled and reclaimed. Swinomish Slough is now known as Swinomish Channel. The island, separated from the mainland only by shallow sloughs, was named for Salvador Fidalgo, an explorer in one of the Spanish expeditions of 1790-1. A town called Fidalgo flourished briefly in this vicinity until the...
Learn more about Swinomish Slough
Sidetrip: Anacortes
This 10 mile side trip leads out to Anacortes, located on the north end of Fidalgo Island, the city experienced many early-day booms, and now has several substantial industries.
Take the Anacortes side trip
The largest of several small lakes on the island, lies at the base of a rounded knoll in a farming area. In the center of the lake is a small wooded island.
Learn more about Lake Campbell
The ghost of a former town at the east end of Deception Pass. First called Deception, then Fidalgo City, two adjacent townsites were platted in 1889, Gibraltar and Fidalgo. To secure land grants offered as a bonus for a railroad construction, trackage of the Anacortes and Fidalgo City Electric Railway was completed in 1891. Two train trips were made - enough to ensure title to the grants—and the tracks torn...
Learn more about Dewey
The park is notable for the variety of its land and seascapes; along its borders are wave-tossed, and placid, bays. Rugged, fjord-like shores of rock shelve up to deep forests; across Rosario Strait, to the northwest, lie the tumbled forms of the San Juan Islands; to the southwest, across Juan de Fuca Strait, where ocean sunsets flame in the summer sky, are the rugged contours of the Olympic Range. Eastward...
Learn more about Deception Pass State Park
The main highway continues southward along the center of the island, named for Master Joseph Whidbey who, on June 2, 1792, discovered the pass that proved it an island. Four days before finding the passage, Whidbey, a member of Vancouver's expedition, landed here to make observations. Since Vancouver charted "Whidbey's Island," usage has often dropped the "e" from the name, though the original spelling is officially retained. Along the main...
Learn more about Clover Valley
The largest by far of the island's three towns, and named for the oak trees on the surrounding prairies, Oak Harbor is a brisk trading center. The semi circular harbor is almost bisected by a narrow sand spit and is southwest of the U.S. Naval air station. The first white settler, Zakarias Taftezon, a Norwegian, came here in 1849. Others soon followed, and John M. Izett, who arrived in 1854...
Learn more about Oak Harbor
Bayshore Drive Vista
Pioneer Way Vista
Windjammer Park
Oak Harbor Marina
A little village on a hill overlooking Penn Cove, the site once had a pea cannery and a small sawmill. The farm of R. B. Holbrook, who settled here early in the 1850s, was purchased for a townsite, and San De Fuca (a contraction of San Juan and Juan de Fuca) boomed in the nineties as the east end of a proposed canal to bisect the island. The town was...
Learn more about San De Fuca
Bordered by red-trunked madronas, Madrona Way reaches the head of Penn's Cove and bears southeasterly. Cranes, standing motionless in the shallows of the sand flats or flapping overhead in ungainly flight, are a common sight. This commodious harbor was important in pioneer days, and the home of many retired seafaring men. It was named by Capt. George Vancouver in 1792 in honor of "a particular friend." The person honored was...
Learn more about Penn's Cove
The Old Courthouse (Grennan and Crannery Store), built in 1855 as a store, is a well-preserved frame structure. The many-windowed front facing the road has two entrances, and the gabled roof bears two brick chimneys. A stately maple at one corner reputedly was planted by Captain Henry Roeder.
Learn more about Kennedy's Lagoon
The city spreads along the south shore of the cove. Once called the Port of Sea Captains for the number of retired mariners who settled here, the town was officially named for the first of them, Captain Thomas Coupe, who took a donation claim here in 1852. Along the water front a small business section, composed mainly of independent, one-story, frame structures, parallels the tidal shore. A scattering of houses...
Learn more about Coupeville
Town Park
Captain Thomas Coupe House
First Methodist Church
Penn Cove Water Festival
A wayside trading point once dominated by two large white two-story school buildings. This descriptive name became official through use over many years. Modern school buildings have replaced the old but the Tyee Restaurant and Prairie Center Grocery hark back to the historic importance of this crossroads. Whidbey Island's first car, a Holsman built in 1902 in Chicago, was exhibited in the automobile dealership that once stood at the northeast...
Learn more about Prairie Center
Sidetrip: Ebey's Landing
This side trip is a 9 mile loop, departing from Prairie Center the route extends out through the prairie for a tour of wheat farms and historic Ebey's Landing.
Take the Ebey's Landing side trip
Named for Joseph S. and Julia Ann Smith, who took a Donation Land Claim of 636 acres on the prairie south of Snatelum Point in 1853.
Learn more about Smith Prairie
Sidetrip: Keystone
This 7 mile side trip is a loop out along Admiralty Bay out to Fort Casey and Keystone on Admiralty Head.
Take the Keystone side trip
Sidetrip: Greenbank Farm
This 2 mile side trip leads out to a former dairy farm that has been converted to an arts and events center.
Take the Greenbank Farm side trip
The single store, marking the entrance to Holmes Harbor, was named by a settler for his boyhood home of Green Bank, Delaware. To the east, across Saratoga Passage, is Camano Island, midway between Whidbey Island and the mainland. Tiny Hackney Island also is in sight. The name was chosen in 1906 by Calvin Phillips of Seattle for his boyhood home in Delaware.
Learn more about Greenbank
South of Greenbank the highway follows the central ridge of the island overlooking Holmes Harbor, named for Silas Holmes, assistant surgeon of the Wilkes Expedition in 1841. Noted for its salmon, the harbor is a favorite trolling ground for saltwater fishermen. Holmes Harbor is a branch of Saratoga Passage extending south into Whidbey Island for six miles.
Learn more about Holmes Harbor
Sidetrip: Bush Point
This 8 mile side trip ledas out to the former site of the Pirate's Lair.
Take the Bush Point side trip
Located near popular salmon-fishing grounds. The settlement was first named Equality by its Socialist founders, who started a co-operative sawmill but dispersed in 1904, after litigation had been started by creditors. In the 1940s, orchards and dairy farms surrounded the town, which consisted of a modern store, a half-dozen residences, and a small sawmill. Nichols Brothers Boat Yards moved onto the old sawmill site in 1964 and is still in...
Learn more about Freeland
A small trading center near a number of small lakes attractive to freshwater fishermen. Alongside the store is the Bayview Community Hall. At one time, this was an outfitting point for a number of Whidbey Island resorts, most of which were accessible from the town. The store was recently restored by the Goosefoot Foundation.
Learn more about Bay View
Sidetrip: Langley
This 8 mile side trip leds out to an inviting stretch of sandy beach and a remarkable historic town.
Take the Langley side trip
Sidetrip: Maxwelton
This 10 mile side trip is a brief excursion off to the southern extremity of the island.
Take the Maxwelton side trip
Sidetrip: Glendale
This 5 mile side trip leads out to a community nestled between sheer bluffs along the shoreline.
Take the Glendale side trip
Formerly known as Phinney, the place looks across Possession Sound toward the city of Everett on the mainland. It was named for Clinton County, Iowa, by Edward C. Hinman who came from Iowa in 1883 and filed a timber claim. He built a hotel and a steamer landing, supplying steam ships with wood and water. A post office was established in the 1880s two miles from Clinton and was called...
Learn more about Clinton
You've reached the end of the tour!
Take another?
Next Leg — Mount Vernon to Clinton
Continue Tour


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V-1.3 - Act respecting off-highway vehicles
79. The layout and the operation of a trail by an off-highway vehicle club are subject
(1) on private land, to the express authorization of the owner; and
(2) on public land, according to law, to the express authorization of the Minister or the body having authority over the land.
The layout of the intersection of a trail with a public highway is subject to the express authorization of the maintenance authority.
Every authorization is valid for the period determined by the authority granting it.
An authorization obtained under this section does not release the person in charge of laying out a trail from the obligation to, with respect to neighbouring properties, comply with section 74 and the distance requirements provided for in that section.
2020, c. 262020, c. 26, s. 79.


Let's face it: social media can be a little baffling when it comes to getting the word out about your business or your products.
You know your customers are out there somewhere, but on the wide open web they can sometimes feel a little difficult to find. You know you should be building up a presence on social media, but on which sites? What does "building up a presence" even mean?
Fortunately, these users tend to flock to social sites in demographically predictable ways – which means that with a good understanding of your customer base, you can almost always start off your social media marketing on the right foot. Here's how to target 73% of online adults with your social media marketing.
Succeeding on social media is all about understanding your audience. Are they young? Professional? Spontaneous shoppers or more likely to carefully consider every purchase? Urban? The better you know your customer base, the more of a jump start you can get on your social media expedition.
You know better than anyone that your customer base is diverse and hard to categorize. That's why you don't need to lump them all into one homogenous group. Instead, it is a good idea to create customer profiles for two or three of the types of customers your product or service was made for. That doesn't mean you need to lock down exact demographic characteristics yet – after all, consumers are more easily persuaded by ads that appeal to their personality type instead of their demographic – but it's important to have an understanding of who tends to buy from you and who just doesn't.
Once you have considered what qualities your customers have in common, you can better identify on which networks your business would succeed with flying colors, and where you would utterly flop.
Not sure who your ideal customer is? If you're just starting your business or not seeing a lot of success yet, you may just need to experiment in order to figure out your customer base. When in doubt, Facebook is a great place to start – after all, with over 1.2 billion users and counting, they've got a great cross-section of pretty much any audience you could be looking for.
Once you've narrowed down the window a little to the characteristics that identify your ideal customers, it's time to take a look at the groups that tend to flock to different social sites. If you see a lot of similarities between your target market and the user base of a particular network, it might be time to get your business on that site.
With so many users, Facebook is a safe bet for almost any demographic you might be targeting. Currently, 71% of online adults use Facebook. However, there are some trends which might make it a little more appealing to some business owners than others.
Though almost every social network is skewed towards younger users, Facebook is one of the only networks where a marketer can reliably reach those above the age of 65. Its user base slightly favors women. Half of Facebook's daily users access the site via mobile.
According to Pew Research, Twitter is currently used by about 18% of online adults. With an even balance of men and women, the site caters to a younger and middle-aged audience (almost all of the site's users are age 49 or younger). It has seen particularly high adoption with African Americans; almost a third of online African Americans use the site. The site appeals more to an urban/suburban audience than a rural one.
Globally, Instagram is currently the fastest-growing social network; it increased its user base by 23% in the second half of 2013 alone, and is used by 17% of online adults. Instagram has the youngest audience of any of the top five social networks; at the end of 2013, 90% of its users were under the age of 35. Its users are slightly more likely to be women, and has particularly high adoption rates by African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Its users primarily live in urban and suburban areas.
Pinterest is well-known for its obvious primary demographic: of the 21% of online adults who use the site, most of them are women. In fact, a full third of online adult women use the site! These users tend to have college degrees and a higher level of income; according to Search Engine Journal, the average user's household income is over $100,000 per year. Pinterest is particularly popular with those in suburban areas.
Currently, 22% of online adults use LinkedIn, the professional social networking site, and they have perhaps the most unique demographics of any of the top five sites. More men than women use the site, and they tend to be middle-aged. Users tend to have a college degree and about half of them have a household income greater than $100,000. These users tend to live in urban and suburban areas.
After considering these demographics, you probably are starting to see your ideal customer fit into one or more of these networks. It is usually best to get started on one social media site, test the waters, and then expand to others, rather than jumping onto three or four sites all at once. Again, if it is still unclear, Facebook is a great place to start.
Once you've set up shop on a social site, it's time to do some experimenting. Your goal is to determine what kind of updates appeal to your audience. Most social networks have their own native tools to track the success and engagement of your updates, such as Facebook Insights and Pinterest Analytics, but in other ways you will need to use your intuition.
In some cases, the most successful updates will be obvious from the start; for example, Instagram's users want to see compelling imagery that isn't just trying to sell them something. That might mean showing your services in progress or your product in use; that might mean capturing lifestyle snapshots that appeal to your target audience. You'll want to focus on the features that make each network unique, which in Instagram's case is the heavy reliance on hashtags, even more so even than the birthplace of the hashtag (Twitter).
On Facebook, photo updates have historically been and still are the type of update that drives the most engagement. In 2013, 93% of the most engaging Facebook posts were photo posts. Videos and status updates, on the other hand, both came in at about 2% of the most engaging posts. That can look a little depressing from a marketing standpoint, especially considering Facebook's recent algorithm changes. Now, users are even less likely to see your link updates unless you pay the site to "boost" these posts to more eyeballs.
So is it even worth it? Well, yes. Because Facebook is the social giant, they can really do whatever they want to in order to try and monetize the massive audience they've built. However, even if your posts are only making it out to 2% or perhaps a generous 10% of your audience, the potential audience is still, at the moment, far larger than on any other site. The best thing you can do is work hard to create updates that will inspire your audience to engage – once Facebook has seen that the people who saw the update enjoyed it, they are more willing to show it to a larger subset of your audience, for free.
The best thing you can do for your business' social marketing strategy is to take a look at the characteristics of your ideal customer and build your business up on networks that appeal to that demographic. Doing so will give you a jump start on engaging that audience, allowing you to stand out against all the other noise they see on the web every single day.
Adrienne is an Earned Media Analyst at WebFX. She's a foodie, traveler, and Francophile.


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Tag "beatles peter jackson"
'The Beatles: Get Back' Docu-Series Blu-ray, DVD Get New Release Date
Made entirely from never-before-seen, restored footage, director Peter Jackson's acclaimed work premiered over Thanksgiving weekend on Disney+
Beatles' 'Get Back' Book Shows a Surprising Bond: It's Fab
The companion book to Peter Jackson's film and the expanded editions of the Let It Be album documents the band working and laughing together in the studio
Beatles Release Sneak Peek From Revealing 'Get Back' Documentary
Director Peter Jackson has shared a roughly five-minute clip as a "preview of what we've been working on." The montage shows the group playfully rehearsing
The Scene: Please Release Me
Beatles Reissues: What Will Be Next?
2019 marks Abbey Road's 50th anniversary. All signs are there for the 1969 album to be the next title in their catalog to get the deluxe treatment


The Peanut could almost fit in your pocket! Designed to be deliberately small, the Peanut has a voice all its own due to the undersized body and special sound port on the side of the body. It has a unique individual tone that's unlike any other and is a great addition to any uke player's arsenal of goodies!


At first your daughter doesn't even know that she's separate from you. Her understanding of what it means to be a woman comes largely from observing you and she learns by copying you. You show her how to take care of herself, not only in the way that you nurture her but also in the way that you cherish yourself.
Make five minutes each day just to be with her. You may already spend hours every day with her but this has a different intentional quality. Spend five minutes just sitting beside her and watching her, really watching her. Pay really good attention to her. Nothing more. Look at her face, her eyes, the way she holds herself, the way she moves, the way she talks. Smile at her if she looks at you.
Take five minutes of every day for yourself too; five minutes alone. Make sure your daughter is safe or perhaps choose a time when she's napping and then find a place in your home that feels nice to you. Just for five minutes, sit there listening to the sound of your own breathing. If you have to think something, think: How can I take care of myself today?
If finding those five minutes proves tricky to begin with, start by doing it on a Sunday. Then see if you can find the time on Wednesday too. When you feel able to, gradually increase this to include the other days of the week.
Start today! Ten minutes is all it takes. Five minutes with her and five minutes with yourself.
One minute your daughter is playing with her dollies and the next she's wanting to borrow your eyeliner. Suddenly your little girl is dressing like a teenager and she's worried that she's fat. Her girl friends seem to have so much influence over what she wants.
Your daughter's probably beginning to spend more time away from you and with her friends. Perhaps this coincides with you spending more time away from home too.
This is your time, just you and your daughter, once a month for a few hours to have fun, to really talk, to share a simple pleasure, or to do something you've both been longing to do. The point is to be together, regularly; time she can count on. Be as creative, simple, adventurous, ordinary, inexpensive, extravagant, experimental as you wish. Once she realises that you plan to take this time together every month, she feels your commitment to her. Children feel loved and special when you give them your time.
Also notice when your daughter warms to another woman and encourage the special connection. Inviting other women to take a mentoring or auntie role with your daughter will enrich both their lives.
Girls Together Time with your daughter can form the basis of a healthy on-going relationship with her into the teenage years. Puberty is a time of such rapid change, a magical time, but a time when your daughter needs you close. You can prepare her. One day, maybe not soon but someday, your daughter will begin to bleed once a month. This monthly treat of Girls Together Time should then shift to the week of her menstruation and can become a valuable pressure-release-valve where you can give her the opportunity to talk, sound off, weep, take a break, and feel your support.
Girls Together Time is a simple idea and its power is not immediately obvious. Many mothers however report amazing developments in their relationships with their daughters as a direct result. Try it!
Once a month, every month, take some time out together — just you and your daughter.
Take her to your favourite cafe, watch a good film, go on a country walk, visit your childhood home. Go swimming, get your nails done, redesign her bedroom together, sky-dive. Tell her about what you admire in her, about your dreams as a teenager, about your mother, about your aspirations for yourself now. Above all, listen to her. Listen without judging or guiding her (even if only for these few hours).
Make a monthly date in the family diary and let her know that she can rely on you to spend special time with her every month, no matter what else is going on. Everything that is precious about your relationship will show itself here. Everything that is hard about your relationship will also surface here.
When the time comes, have a Monthly Moment Together during the week that your daughter is menstruating. Her feelings can be heightened around this time of the month and, especially if you've already established this monthly habit of spending time together, it can become an opportunity for emotional release and support. It recognises her changed status too.
If I only inspire you to do one thing, let it be that of making a commitment to spend special time every month with your daughter. This gift of time she will experience as your love for her. It is a deceptively simple suggestion, but extremely powerful.
Girls need mentors as well as mothers. For women who have chosen to take a special interest in a girl's life, trust your instincts about how to stay connected in whatever way works for you both. Although you may see each other infrequently, every call, text, outing or visit lets her know that you care. Your presence in her life is enormously valuable. Mothers who encourage their daughters to build friendships with other women who they can trust are showing their girls the benefits of having a circle of female support.
Don't take your relationship with your daughter for granted — all relationships need nurturing so continue to make a special effort by making a space for your daughter outside of your everyday interactions with her. Invite your daughter on a date regularly — monthly if you can. Find ways to stay in touch, especially when she's no longer living with you. Schedule treat-time together, even when she's still at home.
Even if it seems like her life is filling with other things, don't give up on offering her a mother-daughter space. Invite your daughter to the cinema, a cafe, a day trip, a sale, a bike ride, a sauna, an exercise class… If you live far apart, you could arrange to watch the same programme and then call afterwards, handwrite her a letter, send her cuttings from magazines that you think will interest her (no hidden agenda), set a time to skype while you each enjoy a cup of tea and a cupcake (send her the cake!).
It will be important for her to feel that you're revising your relationship with her, allowing her to become the woman she now is and no longer treating her as the little girl she was.
The mother-daughter bond can be a powerful one. Nourish yours.


What better way to end my summer hiatus from blogging than to improve the blog's most-read post? Back in March 2012 I hit "publish" on Battle of the Forms Explained (Using a Few Short Words). It's a brief primer on section 2-207 of the Uniform Commercial Code–one of the more complicated areas of contract law–and it's received about three times the traffic of my next most-popular post.
I included in the post an attractive flowchart illustrating the law and was recently informed by the chart's creator, Todd Feldman, that he'd created a new and improved chart. I've incorporated the new chart into my original post and you can also find Todd's handiwork on his website at picjur.com. Just click on the chart on his site to get a full-sized version.
Brian, Thanks for this excellent article. Could you comment on the apparent conflict between UCC 2-201 (1) and 2-207 (3)?


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Q: C++ Object array stack overflow when i try to create an array of 'gameObject'-s i get a stack overflow exception, any idea what might be the reason?
Edit: for an array of 1 it DOES NOT throw an exception, i was mistaken
(creating just a 'gameObject' variable is fine)
I know my code is messy, and just all around bad, but i'm fairly new to c++ so please excuse my code :(
Here is my Main.cpp:
int main()
{
using namespace std::literals::chrono_literals;

HWND myconsole = GetConsoleWindow();
HDC mydc = GetDC(myconsole);

bool loop;
loop = false;

std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point start;
std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point end;
std::chrono::duration<float> duration;

gameObject test(mydc, "test.dat");
gameObject objList[100];

test.posX = 200;
test.posY = 10;

std::cout << getCurrentId();

while (true)
{
    start = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();

    if (GetKeyState(VK_DOWN) & 0x8000)
    {
        test.move(0, -3);
    }

    if (GetKeyState(VK_UP) & 0x8000)
    {
        test.move(0, 3);
    }

    if (GetKeyState(VK_RIGHT) & 0x8000)
    {
        test.move(6, 0);
    }

    if (GetKeyState(VK_SPACE) & 0x8000)
    {
        gameObject shell(mydc, "shell.dat");
        shell.type = 1;
        shell.posX = test.posX + test.l;
        shell.posY = test.posY + test.h;
        objList[getCurrentId()] = shell;
    }

    if (loop == false)
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
        {
            if (objList[i].type == 1)
            {
                objList[i].move(1, 0);
            }
        }
    }

    if (loop == false)
    {
        loop = true;
    }
    else
    {
        loop = false;
    }

    end = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
    duration = end - start;

    if (duration < 0.0333s)
    {
        std::this_thread::sleep_for(0.0333s - duration);
    }

}
}

and here is the 'gameObject' class:
class gameObject
{
public:
    gameObject(HDC currentDc, std::string dataFile);
    gameObject();
    ~gameObject();

    void clear();
    void draw();

    void move(int x, int y);

    void loadSprite(std::string spriteName);

    bool collide(gameObject);

    unsigned short h = 1;
    unsigned short l = 1;

    int posX;
    int posY;

    unsigned short type;

    COLORREF spriteData[256][256];

    unsigned short id;

    HDC dc;
};

A: You are creating all your objects on the stack gameObject objList[100];, and each of them has a big array in them COLORREF spriteData[256][256];. That's your stack overflow.
Use a std::vector to store your objects.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Ceblepyris és un gènere d'ocells de la família dels campefàgids (Campephagidae ).

Llista d'espècies
Segons la Classificació del Congrés Ornitològic Internacional (versió 10.2, 2020) aquest gènere està format per 5 espècies:
 Ceblepyris cinereus - eruguera de Madagascar.
 Ceblepyris cucullatus - eruguera de les Comores.
 Ceblepyris graueri - eruguera de Grauer.
 Ceblepyris pectoralis - eruguera argentada.
 Ceblepyris caesius - eruguera grisa.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks of some condemned old craft. European minnow priapumfish mosshead warbonnet shrimpfish bigscale. Cutlassfish porbeagle shark ricefish walking catfish glassfish Black swallower.