After missing last month's Ratcheugh Racing Club card, Catherine Walton made the perfect start in her defence of the Northern Area Ladies Championship with a short-priced treble on Dun Faw Good, Knocklong and Catchamat in the West Percy fixture at Alnwick on Sunday.
Dun Faw Good comfortably defied top weight of 12st 4lb in the Carrs Billington West Percy Members Race to provide Walton with her 100th career winner, comprising 64 between the flags and 36 under Rules. Leading most of the way in a slowly run affair, he quickened up after the last to beat Summoned by a couple of lengths. The 9 year old, owned by Alnwick Clerk of the Course, Tom Oates and trained by Walton's mother, Claire, ideally wants better ground and is likely to go hunter chasing later in the season.
After ending a three and a half year losing run at Alnwick in December, Knocklong wasted no time in following up in the Apartment Group Ladies Open Race. Another fluent jump at the last sealed a three lengths victory over the favourite, Nowurhurlin. The winner is owned and trained by Mark Johnston's farrier, Justin Landy, who said: "It's been a great benefit to have the Middleham gallops on the doorstep and so we've not been held up by the bad weather. He's a dream horse to train, is very tough and will probably return here on February 14." Landy added: "I must give credit to my uncle, Jimmy King, who spotted Knocklong in the Doncaster Sales entries last September and I managed to buy him privately."
Catherine's red letter day was completed on Catchamat in the JH Greenwood & Company Restricted Race. Jimmy Walton's home-bred mare travelled supremely well before taking a clear lead two out and going on to win by 10 lengths from Mickey Miller. "She's still very green but much improved from last season and there's more to come," said Catherine, who for the record opened her account on Be A Better Boy at Mosshouses on 7 May 2006.
The experienced Wicklow Lad, previously successful in 8 of his 60 career starts under Rules, landed a dramatic 10 runner Hazelrigg Racing NPPA Club Members Race under Kit Alexander but had luck on his side as stable companion, Royal Chatelier was about eight lengths clear when unseating two out. After being left in front, Wicklow Lad almost pulled himself up on the run-in but just had enough in reserve to repel a late challenge from Barachois Silver by half a length. Alexander said: "He's been keener than ever at home so we tried him in a first-time hood but the visor will be back on next time. He settled well and probably needed the run and definitely wouldn't have caught Royal Chatelier."
In a slowly run two and a half mile Ancroft Tractors Open Maiden Race, 5 year old debutant Nobuttaboy only had to be shaken up after the last by John Dawson to beat his solitary rival, Ballybough Best by two and a half lengths. Bought as an unbroken 3 year old at Tattersalls Ireland in August 2014, the winner is trained by Malton-based Guy Brewer and owned by his father, Colin. "Jumping is his strength and this was an ideal introduction," said Guy.
Spare a thought for Dawson, who was kicked by his mount in the winners enclosure and sustained a badly bruised right leg , as well as his wife, Alice, who spent Saturday night in hospital after a hunting fall left her with cracked vertebrae in her back.
Unusually, the Northern Structures Men's Open was the slowest race of the day. Gwladys Street set a modest pace and was still one length up five out. In a tactical affair, the favourite, Crazy Diamond led after the next from Kilmacallogue Bay. There was little to choose between them over the last two fences but they were both swallowed up on the run-in by the Gemma Anderson-trained gelding, Robin Will, who quickened away under the in-form Richard Smith to score by one and a half lengths.
Previouly trained in Devon, the imposing 11 year old, who stands over 17hh, now carries the colours of the Carlisle-based Six Thix Partnership, headed by John Reay, after being bought privately in September. This was a 4th winner of the season for Smith, who said: "He's a hold up horse and has to be delivered as late as possible. A gap appeared at the right time after jumping the last and he picked up well."
The concluding Sintons LLP Open Maiden Race saw Tom Hamilton open his 2016 account on the odds-on favourite, Danehills Well. After being held up on a tight rein, he moved smoothly through to tale a narrow advantage five out and was never headed from that point. Here's To Harry, who made a pleasing comeback from a near 23 month absence, went in pursuit from three out but never looked like overhauling the leader, who stayed on well to secure a 5 lengths verdict. Hawick-based owner/trainer, Gavin Hamilton said of the 8 year old: "He's settling much better in his races than he did but it's been hard to work out his ideal trip. He's a great jumper and probably wants better ground."
After 2 of the 4 Alnwick meetings, Catchamat and Knocklong are joint leaders in the Ratcheugh Races Champion Horse Award, sponsored by J R Adams Transport, which carries a £500 first prize.
Underfoot conditions were as testing as they have ever been at Alnwick but Tom Oates, Jimmy Walton and their team of helpers deserve plenty of praise in getting the meeting on after the atrocious weather in North Northumberland since the December fixture. Taking out the 10 double entries, the seven race card had a very respectable total of 35 runners (70% of the 50 individual horses entered).


The Winter Soldier elevator fight is still one of the best action scenes in a Marvel movie—I love it, you love it, hell, it is unsurprising that Chris Evans also loves it.
But what's surprising is just why Evans looks back fondly on getting to punch up a tiny box full of stuntmen.
"I'm partial to that fight scene in the elevator. That was the first scene we shot in the second Captain America movie. It was my first time working with the Russos, it was the first time where it felt like Cap was kind of on his own. In the first Cap movie you know, you really felt like everyone was holding my hand, and the first Avengers movie I just did my best to not get in the way. The second Cap movie is the one that I really kind of felt, I suppose, pressure, and that first elevator fight scene came out really great in my opinion."
We already knew that Evans went through a lot of practice and training for the fight—ahead of Infinity War's release last year, he proudly shared training clips of him memorizing his moves and blocking out the fight with other actors on social media. But it's interesting that Evans sees his commitment to it as having to prove that he really could stand on his own as Captain America, even after The First Avenger and Avengers. Five years on from Winter Soldier's release, I think it's safe to say he's more than proved himself as the star-spangled man with a plan.


Read this 98-page ebook to learn the 80/20 of graphic design. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.
What happens when you follow a random link, only to be met with ugly blog design?
Chances are, you become very suspicious of the content on the website.
There have been many studies made on this, showing that design and overall usability of your website immediately affect how first-time visitors view you and your brand. For example, design is the most important credibility criteria for 46.1% of the participants in this study.
Your blog design crucial for your readers' first impression and how they perceive you as a source of information. Before they start reading any of your writing, they'll judge you by your design.
Want to market your blog by reaching out to guest post on other blogs? Tough luck! With an ugly blog design, you don't stand a chance of getting a reply. Other blog owners will see just what you are — a total blogging noob. How can they trust you?
Many beginner bloggers and website owners put off design saying that it's expensive, or that they haven't got time for it. Well, that's all over!
In this monster-sized guide (it has over 2000 words!) on blog design, I will guide you through the essential graphics you will need when launching a brand new blog or podcast website.
I will teach you how you can save time and money and do all of it yourself. I'll share the tools and resources I use, and throw in a few free downloads as well.
As a blogger or a content website owner, you're super-busy with just regularly creating good content. Not to mention networking, marketing, site updates, managing freelancers, and research. You really don't have the time to spend hours thinking about blog design each time you post a new article.
That's why throughout this guide, I will encourage you to develop your own design templates.
Templates will help you create consistent graphics, in much less time. Later on when your site grows, they will help you outsource graphic design effectively and more cheaply.
Well, instead of hiring a professional designer to create each graphic from scratch, you'll be able to get someone from Fiverr to simply follow your template and crank out a bunch of them.
Creating a template is simple. just pick a tool you will be using for graphic design and create a sample graphic to be used for a specific task, using your fonts and colours. Then, every time you need a new blog post image, simply open up the template, customise it, and then export the gorgeous end result in minutes.
Speaking of tools, let's first talk about the software you can use to keep and create your graphics. When you're starting out, it may be overwhelming to try to evaluate thousands of design tools, so here are 4 that I recommend.
I like Sketch. It's far from flawless, but it's a very well thought-out app, perfect for designers with a DRY (don't repeat yourself) approach.
It's great for style guides, designing a logo, creating blog post images, but it can't do photo manipulation so I still have to supplement it with Photoshop.
Canva is a free online tool that works surprisingly well for social media images and such. While you won't be able to create a logo with it, it's definitely worth taking a look at. They also offer templates and photos you can buy within the app.
I don't personally use Canva at this moment, but I can see how it can be a great tool to create templates with and share them with your freelancers or team members.
It has a stupid name, but it's a quite serious design app. It gives you a lot of freedom to create; from filters to brushes to fonts to stickers, it's all there. It seems like this app is more geared towards more experienced designers.
If you don't want to be too creative and just want something that would help you create clean graphics, look into Pablo. It gives you very few options, but at least you'll be sure you won't over-clutter the design. It's perfect for quick Facebook and Instagram quotes.
First things first. After you've decided on a topic, your blog will need a name, a domain name, and create blog's logo.
Logos can cost up to $2000 and more. For a new blog, obviously investing this much doesn't make sense. Regardless of what your "get rich blogging" guide told you, this new blog may never make you money — so it's better to stick to a small budget.
I've written a great guide on how to design a simple logo. Don't worry, you don't need much skills. In fact, you don't even need an idea. Just follow the tutorial and you'll end up with a decent logo.
Typically, designing a logo takes a long time. You have a million different fonts and styles at your disposal, and it's easy to get caught up into the nitty gritty of logo meaning and the overall design.
Try to move along from this step as quickly as you can. In the end, it won't be the logo that will make or break your blog — it will be the content and your ability to market it.
Style guides are a tool that large companies like Microsoft and Apple have been using forever. It's a handy little document that keeps everyone who has to do with visual look of the company (journalists, graphic designers, UI designers, CEO) on the same page.
Bloggers can use a similar, but a much more simplified tool to keep their blog's branding in check. Typically, you'll only need to specify your logo, your brand's colours, and fonts.
For blogs, I recommend you also paste in the templates for blog post and social media images (we'll talk about those in a moment).
Here's a free style guides template you can build upon.
If you're more tech-savvy, you also can build a pattern library for your website following the Atomic Web Design principles.
Buffer uses a style guide with reusable components to accommodate their speedy growth.
After you're done with the style guide, it's time to set up the website. There are many tutorials out there on how to set up a new blog with WordPress, so I won't go into that.
At this point, it's time to use your style guides and simply follow it to customise your WordPress theme. Try to be consistent with the use of colours (for example, make all clickable objects a certain colour) and fonts (use 1 or 2, but not more).
Setting up the website is the easy part. Now, we move along to the featured images that will promote your posts and podcasts.
67% of consumers consider detailed images to carry even more weight than customer ratings, reviews, and product descriptions. Articles with relevant featured images get 94% more page views than those without.
Featured images are like book covers. They help drive more traffic and make each post more noticeable.
I use free stock photos for the blog you're reading right now. It's convenient, but there's a thing with free stock photos — you start noticing them everywhere. Everyone uses them.
This doesn't look too professional, does it? It's as if 20 other blogs used the same logo as you. No bueno.
Well, you don't have to skip stock photos altogether. But you should learn to customise them so that they look completely different from the original.
As always in design, details matter.
For example, you can work some Photoshop magic to make the stock photo your own. Actually, I used the same technique (replacing the laptop's screen) in this post right here.
This website is using a common stock photo from Pixabay, but with a twist.
But a much easier way to make stock photos your own is a simple colour overlay.
Internet Business Mastery blog uses colour overlay to better marry photos and text.
To move it up a notch, you can use a Photoshop filter. It will give all your photos a similar feel. Trying to stay consistent will help build a brand when your post gets shared around the web.
Here's a HUGE list of free stock photos you can use for your blog.
To take a look at some premium photo filters, check out CreativeMarket's Actions Category.
I created these photos in a few clicks using this free Photoshop action.
Paying an illustrator to draw a custom blog post image for every post is going to add up. Luckily, there is a trick to still get that awesome laid-back illustration style for your blog design.
Simply using one single icon pack to create all your post images is a quick and easy way to clean and gorgeous post images.
A Better Lemonade Stand's founder uses icons to create fun and colourful blog post images.
The point is, you don't need to create all your graphics from scratch. A lot of illustrations, icons, photos, and templates are already out there, and for the cost of a few dollars, you can end up saving yourself hours of work.
In the age of short attention span, social media graphics are gaining in popularity. People are much more likely to engage with posts that include a graphic of some sort.
A research done on Google+ posts showed that posts containing an image were much more successful in terms of re-sharing and virality.
Posts containing an image are 3 times more likely to have a high number of resharers than text-only posts.
I think I made the case for social share images. Let's find out how to create them.
Social media images break down into profile and share graphics. Profile graphics are an attempt at making your Facebook and Twitter profile match your website, to make your readers feel at home even when they're away from your site.
Shareable images build your brand and help bring people back to the site. Let's look at how you can create them.
Use the colours and fonts of your brand and include your logo somewhere — ideally in the profile picture.
Facebook and Twitter covers often steer away from the branding slightly, becoming an advertising space for the newest call-outs.
Tom Tailor uses a Facebook cover and profile pictures that are consistent with their overall branding.
If you intend to share quotes, infographics, and gifs, it's a good idea to create a template for each and simply swap the text and underlying photo every time you want to make a new post.
Even though you can add them, logo watermarks aren't absolutely necessary for a good brand recognition. Make sure to create and post image updates that look similar — this will be enough for your followers to visually connect them with your brand. It may even encourage them to share the post.
Samsonite's posts are quite recognisable even without any visible branding.
Every social media has a specific size that will look best. On Instagram, only square images will look right. On Pinterest, long images get shared the most, while Facebook would only display a portion of that same image.
WPBeginner's Youtube channel is a good example of consistent use of templates for video thumbnails.
It may seem like you don't have the time to invest into producing blog design templates and style guides. But keep in mind that productivity doesn't mean to be just busy.
From the very beginning of starting your blog you need to think carefully where you invest your time and energy. Into writing great content or mulling over a unique new blog post graphic design?
The sooner you create your guidelines and templates, the more time you'll be able to save.


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Lee Abraham
With his latest album, The Seasons Turn, recently reviewed at TPA, Lee Abraham is back. Leo Trimming took the opportunity to speak to Lee about the album, his career and future plans.
Leo Trimming: Hi Lee, The Seasons Turn is your latest impressive album, released on Festival Music. What was your main inspiration for the epic title track, and is there a theme to the whole album?
Lee Abraham: Hi! I guess the theme is the passing of time, that's where the seasons turning reference comes from. Also there is Live for Today and The Unknown, both talking about 'journeys' in their own way. With the title track I never set out to write a 24 minute song… who does!? I wrote the middle bit as a stand alone song, then the final section happened, so then I wrote an intro section to glue the whole thing together. I'm very proud of it, its quite a monster song!
Leo: Yes, it's an outstanding, epic opening song. It's great to hear Martin Orford, once of legendary Prog band IQ, back in action on flute on the title track. How did you persuade him back into the studio and what was it like working with him?
Lee: Martin, well I worked with him in the past on my View from the Bridge album in 2004. He gave me lots of advice back then and he was pleased for me when I later joined Galahad, so I like to think he's always "looked out" for me. I asked him to do flute and he agreed straight away, no question.
Leo: There's a feeling of a passage through the album from the Spring like hope of Live for Today, the summer brightness of Harbour Lights and Say Your Name Aloud through to what feels to me the more elegiac Autumnal or Winter feeling of The Unknown. Was that a conscious passage planned for the album from the start or did the songs grow to suggest that theme as you wrote the album?
Lee: I guess they grew that way. It's never a conscience decision to write songs that link together. It just kind of happens over time (passing of time again!).
Leo: There is a real sense of optimism and positivity on songs like Live for Today and Harbour Lights. Are they based on personal experiences or feelings?
Lee: Not really! Lyric writing is the hardest bit for me. I was once advised by a song writing friend years ago to think of a song title first. Get the song title and then try to build a short story out of it. So that's how it works for me. A title just springs to mind and then I get writing. I do tend to write lyrics as quickly as I can, usually because I'm desperate to get the vocal melodies recorded before I forget them! I think it's good not to dwell on anything artistic, you can ruin it by over-correcting it.
Leo: The artwork by Paul Tippet beautifully reflects the music and feel of this album. I think Paul has done the excellent and striking artwork for all of your albums. How was the artwork devised for The Seasons Turn and how much input do you have into that process?
Lee: To be honest, not a great deal! I send him MP3s of the songs (which are usually unfinished at that time) and he just gets to work using the lyrics and feelings from the melodies. He's a huge music fan and so he can understand where the album's coming from. He's also a very creative chap so he can almost envision an entire artwork concept just from giving him an album title!
Leo: He does a great job combining artistically with your music. I particularly love the cover of your Black and White album. Can you describe the creative song writing process for you? For instance, does the music or the lyrics come first?
Lee: Always the music. I sit down either with a piano or a guitar and work out a few chords, throw things about, see what sticks…. Then hum a melody over the top and try to find something pleasing and melodic. Sometimes I record entire songs without any vocal melodies at all, you just leave gaps for the verses and choruses to slot into. I'm a great user of the 4 chord pattern; The Seasons Turn chorus for instance is a great example – A, G, D and F. All fairly simple really. Then the vocal melody comes last when I've written lyrics.
Songs like Live for Today are very riff driven and written on guitar. Same process really but just not on a piano! The prog bit usually comes out by where you take the song, what other sections you give it – like a quiet section with Mellotron and flute (that's VERY prog!). Whereas a song like Say Your Name Aloud is very not prog, its just a soft rock song. But sometimes I throw prog sections into those too (Celebrity Status from Black and White was a pop song but a bit proggy in the middle).
For me, the term "progressive" means there are no rules… I mean there aren't any rules with art at all, but with prog I like to think you can take it anywhere, go in any direction, mix it all together. It might feel like my music has a certain sound, but in terms of styles, there's rock, prog, pop, even some metal in there…
Leo: An interesting insight into your creative process. What do you prefer? Writing or recording?
Lee: Recording. Writing is OK, but can be very frustrating. As Billy Joel once said "there's nothing more frustrating than writing, but there's nothing more enjoyable than having written"… something like that anyway! I first got into writing because I wanted to create songs and albums that sounded like my favourite music. How did they get those sounds? How did they create those lush layers, etc. That's all about production and mixing. Writing, for me, just gives me the material to be able to create those sounds.
Leo: The guitar work on The Seasons Turn is outstanding, stellar in places. How do you feel your guitar playing has developed since the earlier albums, and what contribution do other guitarists play on the album? Whom is your favourite / most influential guitarist?
Lee: Half and half really! I used to do a lot of them myself in the old days and use a lot of guests now. Having said that, there is a lot of my guitar work on The Seasons Turn. I play a lot locally these days, more than ever really, so it's improved me as a player. I also had a few lessons from Jamie Humphries and Dec Burke – both of whom gave me new tips and tricks and let me know where I was going wrong on a few levels! It always helps to get advice every now and then, even if you're a well-practised pro! It feels great to be more confident on guitar and pull off things I couldn't years ago. Although I still get others in to add colour and variation to the album. As for a favourite guitarist I would choose David Gilmour for 'feel' and John Petrucci for technical brilliance.
Leo: You have collaborated with an impressive array of reputable Prog artists on your last three albums (including Martin Orford (ex–IQ), Gary Chandler (Jadis), Dec Burke (ex-Frost* & Audioplastik), Steve Thorne, John Young (Lifesigns), Robin Armstrong (Cosmograf), Sean Filkins (ex-Big Big Train), Marc Atkinson (Riversea), Mark Colton (Credo), Jem Godfrey (Frost*), John Mitchell (It Bites, Frost*, Arena, etc., etc!) and Simon Godfrey (ex-Tinyfish & Shineback), amongst others). How do you go about recruiting such talented artists to play on your albums, and how do you choose them for each specific song? Are there any other particular artists you would really like to work with on your next album?
Lee: In days gone by I would just have a think about who would be suitable (and available!) to fill certain gaps on stuff I'd already written. Nowadays, having worked with a good number of people, I tend to write specifically with people in mind. Marc Atkinson is a great example. He sang on some demos of mine years ago that never got officially released so I knew his style and range. So when I'd written Corridors of Power (from my last album Distant Days) I knew he'd be perfect. For this album I wrote The Seasons Turn epic and tweaked the vocal melody to enable Marc to sing it, so I'm almost "writing to order" now!
In people like Marc Atkinson, Simon Godfrey and Dec Burke I have found my "go to" vocalists. Mark Colton of Credo was a great surprise on this album too. Singing a pop song is usually out of his usual style and comfort zone, and yet he did a brilliant job! He's such a cool guy too, that always helps, as there's a lot of prima donnas, even at this level!!
As for singers for the future, well I'm a big Steve Overland, vocalist in the band FM, fan. I've wanted to work with him for ages. I have contacted him and made enquiries in the past. As you can imagine his session rates are quite high! One day though.
Leo: You have also produced and collaborated with other artists on their albums. Especially impressive in terms of production was Sean Filkins' great 2011 solo album War & Peace & Other Short Stories. What qualities do you bring to those artists, and do you have plans to produce or collaborate with other artists?
Lee: People usually just like the sounds I produce so ask me to be involved. I get the odd guest slot or get asked to mix things for people sometimes but it's not a huge aspect for me. It's certainly not my living! I think if I relied on studio production to pay my bills I'd fall out of love with it. Being a hobby is just fine.
Leo: On previous album sleeve notes you have paid 'Inspirational Thanks' to artists such as Steven Wilson, Neal Morse, Sting, Dream Theater and It Bites (and Neptune's Sofa?!). Are there any other significant artists for you? (and just who or what is 'Neptune's Sofa?!)
Lee: No, that's just about everyone!
Neptune's Sofa were a band made up of Gerald Mulligan, Simon Nixon, Paul Tippett (check my album credits) and a couple of other guys. They rehearsed a few times with a view to doing an album, wrote some material but ultimately never really got off the ground, but some of the band members "talked up" the band for years and years on internet chatrooms, etc., so much so that there was a little bit of buzz around the band and I drew influence from the perspective of "never give up, however the odds might be stacked against you, keep it going!" Sadly, the inevitable happened and Neptune's Sofa are no more…or are they?
Leo: You were previously a member of Galahad and played on their Empires Never Last album of 2006. How did you join them and what was it like playing/writing with a band compared with your experiences as a solo artist? Do have any contact with your old band now?
Lee: I answered an ad I saw on a prog forum. Contacted Stu Nicholson (Galahad Vocalist), met him in a pub and arranged an audition. I think I was the only person to reply! I loved my time with the band and have some great memories. I think they did some of their best gigs and tours while I was with them so I was lucky to be part of it. I also learned a lot about being in a prog band, studio work, touring, etc. Ultimately though it was touring that put me off. Being away from home when you have a young family for something that is essentially a hobby took its toll. The last mini tour of Poland I did in 2009 burned me out. I got ill on that trip too and really just wanted to be home. I quit more or less as soon as we got back. We didn't write a great deal while I was in the band as Empires Never Last had been done just as I joined. We started to throw around a few ideas and I remembered a few riffs and melodies from those sessions when I heard their later album Battle Scars but to be honest, writing as part of a team is not something I'm used to, whereas for them, it's how they work so there may well have been conflicts there had I stayed.
We didn't speak for years but then at Celebr8.3 Festival in 2014 when they played and I played guitar for Cosmograf we met backstage and it was like the silent years never happened! They were in good spirits and it was great to see them all. We have since connected again on Facebook so I chat to Stu every now and then.
Leo: I saw you play a great gig with the Lee Abraham Band at the Winter's End Festival in Stroud in 2010 with Sean Filkins on vocals. You also played with Cosmograf at Celebr8.3 (which apparently was a highlight of the festival). I know you play regularly with your rock band Something Else near where you live. However, you have only played these rare live 'Prog' gigs as far as I am aware – I know it's not easy making the figures add up for such gigs but are there any plans to play your solo Prog material with the Lee Abraham Band?
Lee: That's exactly it. The numbers just don't add up at this low level. Steven Wilson can play the Albert Hall as he knows he can now sell it out. I'd be lucky to sell out the Gents toilet there!!!! Festivals are really the only place a lot of lower level bands can play at and unfortunately the prog festivals are dwindling now. I was saddened to hear that Celebr8.3 would be the last one. It seemed really well attended so I don't know what more the organisers could've done?
I have chatted to the guys in my band and we're all up for a festival appearance or two on the back of The Seasons Turn, in fact we're going to have a rehearsal of the some of the material later in the summer…we'll see how it goes…watch this space!
Leo: You have collaborated with various South Coast based Prog artists such as Sean Filkins, Robin Armstrong (Cosmograf), Steve Thorne and Martin Orford amongst others. It's quite an impressive array of talent in one area. Is there any chance of you collaborating further in the studio or jointly as a live project with these artists? (You would make up a great band!)
Lee: You never know! Having said that, Martin is retired from music really these days. He just does the odd bit here and there. Both Sean and Steve I've not seen in a while, they both keep low profiles these days, not sure why? Robin Armstrong is still very active and we connect on a regular basis. He's done really well over the last 5 years. However, he really dislikes playing live though. If he did tour I could see him as being the next Steven Wilson in another 5 years…
Leo: One last question – a bit of a silly question. Imagine you're imprisoned in a cell and you can only take 5 albums in with you – you can take two Lee Abraham albums – which two and which three other albums would you choose, and why? (I've allowed you two Lee Abraham albums because understandably I feel sure you're going to say The Seasons Turn as one of them, and I'm interested which other album you value most).
Lee: Yeah, The Seasons Turn I guess! I am very proud of it though. Also Black and White I think as that album did kind of propel me into much bigger audiences and was a watershed album in production terms (first one I did using Apple Mac and Pro Tools).
As for other albums, well I'm very much into Dream Theater's The Astonishing. I've not thought much of their post-Portnoy albums but this one is so good! Many layers and the orchestra and choirs sounds amazing!!
Next one would be Once Around the World by It Bites – just amazing song writing – pop, rock, prog; its all on there – a big influence for me. Happy to have had John Beck as a mate for a while a few years ago too.
Last choice – Maybe something from Iron Maiden as they were the first band I got into aged 10. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son perhaps?
Lee: Thanks for the interview.
Leo: Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions, Lee, for The Progressive Aspect interview and good luck with the album The Seasons Turn.
LINKS – Website | Facebook | Festival Music
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text:
Man arrested for arson after serious house fire
Emergency services were called to the scene in Howden at 3.30pm
Hannah Robinson
A man has been arrested after emergency services were called to a house fire in Howden.
Humberside Fire & Rescue were called to a semi-detached property in Derwent Road at 3.24pm on Monday, with firefighters seen "covered in black".
An eyewitness at the scene said: "All the windows in the house have been opened and you can see it is black inside.
"There is fire damage to the plastic on the windows and it looks like they have melted. Some of the firefighters are in breathing apparatus and they are just covered in black.
The rear of the property in Howden
"Police have taped off the road and nobody can get near the row of houses. I can't see anyone coming out of the house that might live there."
Humberside Police and ambulance crews were also in attendance, with four fire engines from Brough, Snaith and Howden.
Firefighters are currently tackling the house fire in Howden
Fire damage could be seen at the rear of the property, with fire crews attaching a ventilation pipe to the rear windows.
Updates as 'thick, black smoke' seen across east Hull
A man is now in police custody on suspicion of arson.
Emergency services were called to the house fire in Howden
A spokeswoman for Humberside Police said: "We were called out this afternoon to a house fire on Derwent Road in Howden around 3.30pm where Humberside Fire and Rescue Service were in attendance.
"A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson and has been taken into custody. No one has been hurt in the incident.
"The fire has now been extinguished and surrounding roads are being reopened. Investigations are ongoing."
Humberside Fire & Rescue Service


text:
Cyn's Workshop
Nicholas Hoult Soldiers Up For Rupert Wyatt's WWI Love Story
12/02/2013 by Cynthia BujnickiMovie News
By: Nick Venable
At the rate he's working, actor Nicholas Hoult might star in every fifth film released in the next few years. Having recently shown his undead chops as the lead in Jonathan Levine's Warm Bodies, Hoult is quickly proving he's capable of any genre he tackles. He's got Jack the Giant Slayer on the immediate horizon, and Mad Max: Fury Road and the next X-Meninstallment coming next year. Now audiences can expect to see him as a soldier in a war drama.
Variety reports Hault has joined the WWI love story Birdsong, adapted from Sebastian Faulks' time period-shifting 1993 novel of the same name. The film will be directed by Rupert Wyatt, who gave us 2011's highly enjoyableRise of the Planet of the Apes. Wyatt, who also gave us 2008's The Escapist, wrote the screenplay on this one as well.
Hoult will star as Stephen Wraysford, who is sent to France for work and gets involved in a scandalous relationship with an older woman before being shipped off to fight in the Great War. There is no word on whether the film will also include the sections of Faulks' novel that involved Stephen's granddaughter, and her investigation into his life, but that could make a more interesting tale. Casting is underway to fill in the film's other roles.
Wyatt seemed ecstatic about landing Hoult, calling him "the holy grail in my search for Stephen." He goes on to say, "His great weight, depth and range as a fearless young actor allow us to explore this timeless story of a boy broken by a tragic love affair and what it means for young men to experience the real horror of war."
It's almost certain one of Hollywood's more talented 40-year-olds will land the female lead on this film's path to award nominations. It isn't necessarily something I would personally anticipate viewing, but it would take a conscious effort to mishandle that solid source material.
Source: Cinema Blend
Escapist, Jonathan Levine, Nicholas Hoult, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Rupert Wyatt, Sebastian Faulks, World War I, Wyatt
Cynthia Bujnicki
Cynthia Bujnicki is an avid reader with a Bachelors in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College. She spends her time working on her own novels, publishing under the name Nia Dragin, while she reads and reviews at for her own enjoyment. SHe was the former Creative Director of the YA, Fantasy and Sci-Fi section on the online publication World Light Review. As a manager at her local movie theater she also enjoys free movies while she works on building her own publishing company. An avid cat lover, she has a kitten named Mr. J the Kitten Who Thinks He's Batman and another named Boo. She lives in too sunny South Florida with her husband.
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The one call center relays requests for job site facility meetings with facility owners/operators to the affected facilities owner/operator. If a meeting is required to show the limits and schedule of the work, the one call center indicates that a meeting is requested. The one call center requires that the excavator provide sufficient information to fully identify the boundaries of the proposed work site. A meeting request does not necessarily eliminate the need for a locate request.


text:
Sojuz 11A511 (ros. Союз 11A511) – radziecka rakieta nośna wykorzystywana w latach 1966–1975 dla lotów bezzałogowych i załogowych w programie Sojuz, będąca modyfikacją pocisku balistycznego R-7 przystosowaną do wynoszenia zarówno satelitów, jak i kapsuł załogowych.

Dane techniczne

Rakieta Sojuz była trzecią modyfikacją pocisku R-7 przeznaczoną do lotów załogowych (po rakietach dla statków Wostok i Woschod).
Wysokość rakiety wynosiła 46 metrów, zaś średnica (1 człon i 4 bloki boczne) 10 m. Udźwig rakiety na niską orbitę okołoziemską wynosił 6,5 t. Rakieta posiadała dwa stopnie. Podobnie jak inne rakiety typu R-7 ta również nie mogła startować z pomocą jednego członu, gdyż silnik RD-108 (ciąg 977 kN) był zbyt słaby, by rakieta mogła oderwać się od ziemi. Stąd użyto czterech bocznych bloków, z 4 silnikami RD-107 każdy o ciągu 944 kN. W drugim członie użyto silnika RD-0110 wytwarzającego ciąg 294 kN, co wystarczało do ostatecznej korekcji orbity. Materiałami pędnymi była mieszanina RG-1 i ciekłego tlenu.

Historia
Wszystkie starty rakiety Sojuz odbywały się wyłącznie z Kompleksu nr 1 i Kompleksu nr 31 w Bajkonurze, gdyż platforma w Plesiecku nie była gotowa. Pierwszy start odbył się 28 listopada 1966, rakieta wyniosła na orbitę pojazd Kosmos 133. Pierwszy nieudany start odbył się 14 grudnia 1966, zakończył się eksplozją rakiety i zniszczeniem prototypowego pojazdu Sojuz. Drugi udany start miał miejsce 7 lutego 1967, dzięki czemu na orbitę doleciał statek Kosmos 140, który podczas powrotu na Ziemię rozbił taflę lodu na Jeziorze Aralskim i zatonął.

Pierwszym załogowym lotem rakiety była misja Sojuz 1, która rozpoczęła się 23 kwietnia 1967. Lot ten miał tragiczny koniec, gdyż kapsuła powrotna wskutek uszkodzenia systemu spadochronowego roztrzaskała się o grunt, a pilot Sojuza 1 (płk Władimir Komarow) zginął na miejscu.

Ostatni start rakiety Sojuz miał miejsce 24 maja 1975, wynosząc na orbitę pojazd Sojuz 18.

Starty
 28 listopada 1966, 11:00 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 133; Uwagi: start udany
 14 grudnia 1966; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 7K-OK; Uwagi: start nieudany – 27 minut po nieudanej próbie startu i rozpoczęciu wypompowywania paliwa z rakiety załączył się system awaryjnego przerwania startu, doprowadzając do zapalenia się paliwa w zbiornikach 2. stopnia i eksplozji rakiety. W wyniku eksplozji zginęła co najmniej jedna osoba, wielu innych zostało rannych.
 7 lutego 1967, 03:20 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 140; Uwagi: start udany
 23 kwietnia 1967, 00:35 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 1; Uwagi: start udany
 27 października 1967, 09:29 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 186; Uwagi: start udany
 30 października 1967, 08:12 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 188; Uwagi: start udany
 14 kwietnia 1968, 10:00 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 212; Uwagi: start udany
 15 kwietnia 1968, 09:34 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 213; Uwagi: start udany
 28 sierpnia 1968, 10:00 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 238; Uwagi: start udany
 25 października 1968, 09:00 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 2; Uwagi: start udany
 26 października 1968, 08:34 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 3; Uwagi: start udany
 14 stycznia 1969, 07:30 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 4; Uwagi: start udany
 15 stycznia 1969, 07:04 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 5; Uwagi: start udany
 11 października 1969, 11:10 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 6; Uwagi: start udany
 12 października 1969, 10:44 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 7; Uwagi: start udany
 13 października 1969, 10:19 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 8; Uwagi: start udany
 1 czerwca 1970, 19:00 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC31), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 9; Uwagi: start udany
 22 kwietnia 1971, 23:54 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 10; Uwagi: start udany
 26 czerwca 1972, 14:53 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 496; Uwagi: start udany
 15 czerwca 1973, 06:00 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 573; Uwagi: start udany
 27 września 1973, 12:18 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 12; Uwagi: start udany
 30 listopada 1973, 05:20 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 613; Uwagi: start udany
 18 grudnia 1973, 11:55 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 13; Uwagi: start udany
 27 maja 1974, 07:20 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Kosmos 656; Uwagi: start udany
 3 lipca 1974, 18:51 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 14; Uwagi: start udany
 26 sierpnia 1974, 19:58 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 15; Uwagi: start udany
 10 stycznia 1975, 21:43 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 17; Uwagi: start udany
 5 kwietnia 1975, 11:04 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 18-1; Uwagi: start nieudany – silnik 2. stopnia został załączony, jednak nie doszło do rozłączenia 1. i 2. stopnia, kapsuła została rozłączona od modułu serwisowego i wylądowała w górach Ałtaj.
 24 maja 1975, 14:58 GMT; miejsce startu: Bajkonur (LC1), Kazachska SRRŁadunek: Sojuz 18; Uwagi: start udany

Konstrukcje pochodne

Rakieta Sojuz, podobnie jak rakieta Wostok, doczekała się swoich konstrukcji pochodnych:
 1. Sojuz-Ł: testy radzieckiego lądownika księżycowego ŁK.
 2. Sojuz-M: loty bezzałogowe, pierwsza rakieta Sojuz startująca z Kosmodromu Plesieck.
 3. Sojuz-U: loty bezzałogowe i załogowe (do 2002), wycofana w 2017.
 4. Sojuz-U2: loty załogowe i bezzałogowe, jako paliwa używała nafty syntetycznej, wycofana w 1996.
 5. Sojuz-FG: loty bezzałogowe i załogowe, używana do dziś.
 6. Sojuz-2: wynoszenie satelitów, pierwsza rakieta Sojuz startująca z Kosmodromu Kourou oraz Wostocznyj.

Konstrukcja rakiety Mołnia-M również została zapożyczona z rakiety Sojuz.

Przypisy

Rakiety R-7
Program Sojuz

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Despite Gang Injunction, Reports of Shootings Remain High in Townsend
Adam Elmahrek/Voice of OC
A street sign in Santa Ana's Townsend neighborhood, where residents are fighting a gang injunction.
By Adam Elmahrek | April 5, 2016
When touting the controversial gang injunction in Santa Ana's Townsend Street neighborhood, law enforcement officials have said that while the approach may seem heavy-handed to residents, in the end it makes them safer.
But a Voice of OC analysis of one significant indicator of neighborhood safety — the number of reported shootings — shows the injunction has had no discernible effect.
There were 64 calls to police regarding shootings within the Townsend boundaries in the roughly year and a half before the injunction was instituted in August of 2014; and 65 shootings in the same number of months since, according to the analysis of department data.
Critics of the injunction say the numbers, which include reported shootings through the middle of February, provide evidence for what they've been saying all along – that gang injunctions have no measurable impact on increasing neighborhood safety.
James Spady — an associate professor of American history at Soka University and a gang injunctions researcher – said the data confirms that "injunctions are utterly unproven as effective techniques for reducing violence," and are therefore a "dangerous, aggressive experiment in public policy."
However, Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas says the data isn't that clear because police calls for service is an unreliable indicator. A more accurate measurement of whether the injunction works is to determine whether the people targeted by the injunction – Rojas says only 24 of the "worst of the worst" gang members are covered – are still in the area committing crime.
Rojas said he didn't know off hand what's happened with those gang members.
Differing Views of Injunctions
A gang injunction is a civil order that restricts illegal and otherwise legal, everyday activities of the gang's members in what prosecutors describe as a "safety zone." Those enjoined are prohibited, for example, from associating with gang members in public spaces within that safety zone, or from acting as lookouts, or intimidating anyone in public.
Residents of Townsend Street are legally challenging the injunction, which was approved by an Orange County Superior Court judge last year in a default judgment. It is the second Santa Ana injunction to be approved by the courts, and some residents have expressed concerns that more injunctions are to come.
Many neighborhood residents and activists say the injunctions go beyond simply targeting gang members and in effect criminalize the normal, everyday behavior of all residents in the so-called safety zone
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials have pointed to studies that show gang injunctions reduce violent crimes in neighborhoods. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas during his swearing in ceremony last year said violent crimes in the county's injunction zones "fell by up to 65 percent after the injunctions were put in place."
Spady said statements like these "cherry-pick" studies that work in favor of injunctions. A broader look at injunctions show that in some zones violence goes up, while in others it goes down, Spady said. In other words, the jury is still out on whether injunctions work, and for now the answer is "completely inconclusive," he said.
Consider a 2009 RAND Corporation study of the 2006 gang injunction in the city's Santa Nita neighborhood that found while property crimes decreased, violent crimes spiked by up to 40 percent following the injunction.
Yet, despite such studies, Spady sides with Rojas in cautioning against making broad conclusions from calls for services data. The problem is it's unclear how many of the calls were false reports, like a resident mistaking a firework for a gunshot. Another problem is there are sometimes two or three calls for the same incident, making the data redundant at some points. And it's unclear how many were gang related, Rojas said.
While the debate continues over whether gang injunctions work, they definitely create an atmosphere of police intimidation, with residents feeling that officers are coming down too hard on them, Spady said.
"The injunction absolutely accomplishes that. I don't know if that's a very good thing," he said.
A notable aspect of data obtained by Voice of OC is it indicates that the injunction zone was not impacted by the recent spike in shootings citywide.
In January, there were 41 shootings throughout Santa Ana, a 71-percent increase from the 24 shootings in January of 2015, the Orange County Register reported. Of the shootings this January, only two were in Townsend.
However, there were at least six violent incidents – which includes shootings but also other acts of violence — recorded in January, according to the data obtained by Voice of OC. And there were only two violent incidents recorded in January last year, the data show.
Abraham Medina, director of Santa Ana Boys and Men of Color, said city leaders often talk about a three-pronged approach to law enforcement in troubled neighborhoods like Townsend – "enforcement, prevention and education."
But, as Medina points out, it's often the enforcement leg of the stool that receives the bulk of the funding, while the other two legs have little to stand on. And it can't be said that city leaders are seriously approaching the issue until the city invests more in prevention, he said.
"What [police are] really saying to the community is we're not taking what's going on seriously," Medina said.
Medina said a more serious effort would involve a citywide initiative that has the kinds of resources that are being allocated towards hiring more police officers – Rojas says 25 recruits are in training now – and studying the community infrastructure needs of each neighborhood.
The places most in need of help would receive it in the form of daycare and recreational centers, after-school programs, or whatever the study finds is most needed in that neighborhood.
Rojas acknowledges gang injunctions aren't a "silver bullet" and that there are larger social problems at work. He said he expects other groups like nonprofits to do their part in reducing crime in the area.
It can't all be up to the police department, Rojas said.
"I think you have to take a balanced approach. Of course you want to get at the root cause. It's not just a police problem. It's a societal issue that's taken place in these areas," Rojas said. "We're not the only solution even though often times we're the focus. Some people feel that, hey, whatever we do is supposed to bring the ultimate solution."
Please contact Adam Elmahrek directly at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter: @adamelmahrek
Abraham Medina
Carlos Rojas
gang injunction
Santa Ana police
Tony Rackauckas
Santa Ana Youth Need More 'Positive' Spending, Says New Study by Health Advocates
Santa Ana spends more money arresting young people than developing them positively through libraries, mentorship, job skills and other initiatives, according to a new study commissioned by health advocates.
State Auditors Find Problems With How Santa Ana Police Handle Gang Database
A review of 25 people entered into the CalGang system by Santa Ana police showed that three were in the database without adequate justification. This could mean that hundreds across Orange County could be wrongfully entered.


text:
This kind of collaboration between the two Texas chapters, the first in nearly a decade, was made possible after identifying leaders from each chapter and was facilitated through in-person planning meetings at the ACS Clinical Congress, the Leadership & Advocacy Summit, and Texas Surgical Society meetings.
"We realized that a combined meeting is a great way to synergize political lobbying efforts to energize individual chapters," Dr. Ko said. He noted that a successful joint venture of this scale requires equal partnership and added that both the North and South Texas Chapters intend to have a joint meeting approximately every four years.
GSACS: Stop the Bleed
"Our first annual Trauma
Awareness Day in Georgia
is our success in a nutshell—
and it took us a long time
to get there," said Dennis
Ashley, MD, FACS, President-
Elect, GSACS, and Milford B.
Hatcher Professor and Chair
of Surgery, Mercer University
School of Medicine, Navicent
Health, Macon, GA. The GSACS
has participated in the ACS
Lobby Day Grant program
since its inception, according
to Dr. Ashley, and when the
College instituted a Lobby Day
pilot program this year with a
larger stipend of $15,000, the
GSACS made it a goal to use
the additional funds to institute
a Stop the Bleed® program.
Before applying for the larger pilot project grant, the GSACS secured buy-in and support from the Georgia Trauma Foundation, the Georgia Committee on Trauma, and the Georgia Trauma Commission, ultimately forming the Georgia Trauma Awareness Day Coalition in October
2016. "'Stop the Bleed' was our battle cry," Dr. Ashley said.
On February 7, the GSACS, other coalition members, trauma surgeons, and advocates from around the state met at the Georgia State Capitol to train legislators in Stop the Bleed techniques. The coalition also asked legislators to allocate
$1 million from the state's Super Speeder fund to place bleeding controls kits in all Georgia schools and to train teachers and staff about hemorrhage control tactics. (The Super Speeder fund is composed of monies collected from violators of Georgia's Super Speeder Law, which fines drivers
$200 for speeding more than 75 miles per hour (mph) on two-lane roads or more than 85 mph on any road within the state.)
More than 300 legislators,
staff, and visitors were trained
in Stop the Bleed techniques
during Georgia's inaugural
Trauma Awareness Day, with
surgeons in their white coats
leading the program. As a
result of this effort, three large
trauma stations were installed
at the Georgia State Capitol,
and the $1 million in additional
funds were appropriated to the
Georgia Trauma Commission.
Overcoming burnout
"Work-related burnout is a triad composed of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or a dehumanized perception of others, and dissatisfaction with job-related accomplishments," said Krista L. Kaups, MD, MSc, FACS, professor of clinical surgery, department of surgery, University of California–San Francisco, Fresno. "Burnout refers specifically to one's relationship to work, unlike depression, and is seen in occupations with a high level of personal involvement and interactions with others," she said, citing a 2008 ACS survey in which 40 percent of 7,905 respondents met the criteria for burnout.
According to the survey, surgeons tend to experience two components of the burnout triad—emotional exhaustion and depersonalization—but


Sandy is a graduate of The Royal Academy of Music. As well as fronting 'The Sandy Suchodolski Trio', he is one of the founding members of the 'John Cervantes Quintet' which also features Gareth Lockrane. He can be heard at Ronnie Scott's with 'The Quentin Collins Quartet' – and with various other bandleaders.
As well as Ronnie Scott's, Sandy has performed at The 100 Club, The Spice of Life, The Hammersmith Apollo, The 606, The Prince of Wales, Dominion, Vaudeville and Noel Coward West End Theatres and many other venues across the UK and Europe. He has performed with The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, The BBC Big Band, Jay Craig and his Orchestra, John Wilson, The Gordon Goodwin UK Band (featuring Wayne Bergeron, Eric Marienthal and Gordon Goodwin), Scott Hamilton, Claire Martin, Tina May, Ken Peplowski, Alan Barnes, Gilad Atzmon, Mark Fletcher, Criag Milverton, Sam Miles, James Maddren, and Matt Skelton to name a few.


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text:
Larry's Letters
Larry Niven's Gallery
Niven Filks
larryniven-l
Niven Swifties
Lightbulb Jokes
Guestbook Archive
Map of Website Vistors
Niven's Universes
Known Space Timeline
Exploring Known Space
The Kzinti
The Puppeteers
Human Worlds
Niven Gallery
Known Space Gallery
Ringworld Artwork
Ringworld RPG Art
Puppeteer Gallery
The Kzinti Gallery
Mote Gallery
The Magic Goes Away Art
Humans and Human Worlds in Known Space
Humans are scattered throughout Known Space, living on planets or in asteroid belts or spending their time flying between stars. The worlds that humanity has settled have begun to shape mankind into wildly differing breeds.
People from earth are sometimes known as Flatlanders and are considered naive and arrogant by the rest of the galaxy, having grown up in an environment that was tailor-made for them. Earth's 18 billion people seem to devote a lot of their time to goofing off and wearing exotic fashions, including exotic skin dyes and artificial eye-and-hair coloring.
Earth is ruled by the U.N. and its Amalgamated Regional Police, or the ARM. The ARM are technology police, making sure no dangerous new weapons are built and deployed. They also controlled the illegal practice of organlegging until prosthetic technology outpaced transplant technology. More recently the ARMS became involved in "extremely foreign relations," handling contact with alien races (for example, pushing the Kzinti off of Wunderland and monitoring the Puppeteer retreat from Known Space).
Notable Flatlanders: Gregory "Elephant" Pelton, Lucas Garner, Gil "The Arm" Hamilton, Carlos Wu
For Further Reading: "Flatlander," Ringworld, Flatlander
A separate entity but ruled along with Earth by the U.N., the moon has several major cities and customs of its own.
For Further Reading: The Patchwork Girl, "The Woman in Del Rey Crater"
Sol Belt (Asteroid Belt)
When the miners in the Asteroid Belt completed work on Confinement Asteroid, the first large bubble-world, they declared independence from Earth and the United Nations. Several years of tension followed, but eventually an era of trade and prosperity set in, not threatened until the arrival of the Kzinti.
Notable Belters: Jack Brennan, "Lit" Shaeffer
For Further Reading: World of Ptavvs, Protector, "Madness Has its Place"
Very few humans live on Mars. The Martians killed the first explorers, before they themselves were wiped out by the impact of a water-laden comet on the red planet's surface. Even though the Martians are now extinct, almost no one goes to Mars except archaeologists because it contains nothing of value that can't be more easily obtained elsewhere in the solar system.
For Further Reading: "Eye of an Octopus," "How the Heroes Die," "At the Bottom of a Hole," Protector
Mercury would be utterly uninhabited if not for the crews that maintain the giant launching lasers that were built there to push the first colony ships out of the solar system. These lasers found a second use as defensive weapons during the Kzinti attempts to invade Sol.
For Further Reading: "The Coldest Place," "Madness Has its Place "
The first human colonies were explored by ramrobots, unmanned probes that sought habitable landing sites. Thus, some settlements in Known Space exist on worlds that are only partially habitable, such as Jinx and Plateau, or habitable only for part of the year, such as We Made It. The following is a partial list of explored and colonized worlds in Known Space.
Jinx (Sirius)
Jinx is an oblong moon, pulled out of its round shape by its proximity to Primary, a gas giant orbiting the star Sirius. The equatorial region is shrouded in high-pressure gas, and no one goes there except to hunt Bandersnatch. The Ends stick out of the atmosphere entirely, providing centers for vacuum-based industry centers and spaceports. Between the Ends and the center are two bands of habitable living space.
Jinx has more mass than Earth. Over the years, the people of Jinx have evolved into a squat, stocky race, as wide as they are tall, and very strong compared to humans, though they tend to die younger. Jinxians are horrible punsters.
Notable Jinxians: Dr. Julian Forward, Emil Horne, "Captain Kidd" (real name unknown)
For Further Reading: World of Ptavvs
Wunderland (Alpha Centauri)
The closest colony to Earth, Wunderland is a fairly Earth-like world. The "19 Families" who landed with the first colony ship declared themselves an aristocracy, and vestiges of their attitude can be seen today in the unique asymmetric beard worn by many of Wunderland's upper class. A strong germanic tradition pervades the society; the capitol city is called Munchen.
Wunderland suffered for many years under Kzin occupation during the First Man-Kzin War. In the years to follow, Wunderland has produced some impressive technology, including amazing kitchen computers for use on starships, and the Wunderland Treatymaker, one of the few weapons that can actually cow Kzinti into surrender (or so they claim). The U.N. has had a foothold on Wunderland since retaking the planet from the Kzinti, which has led to various underground "Free Wunderland" movements and even a revolution by Louis Wu's time.
The Serpent Swarm is Alpha Centauri's asteroid belt. It is not actually a full belt but a semicircle, hence the name. The capital asteroid, Tiamat, houses a large postwar Kzinti population.
Oh, and some Wunderlanders, notably the aristocracy, have highly moveable ears.
Notable Wunderlanders: Richard Schultz-Mann
For Further Reading: Protector, "A Relic of the Empire"
We Made It (Procyon)
The first colony ship to Procyon crash-landed. The city that grew up around the wreck was called "Crashlanding City" and the planet was dubbed "We Made It" by its citizens, known from then on as Crashlanders. Procyon's axis points along the plane of the ecliptic, and for half of the year the planet is whipped by ferocious winds. The citizens live underground, and about 40 percent of them are albinos. But the planet's lower mass has allowed them to grow up tall.
Notable Crashlanders: Beowulf Shaeffer
Plateau (Tau Ceti)
This venus-like world would be uninhabitable but for Mt. Lookatthat, which rises out of the soupy, misty atmosphere into a temperate layer, and has a livable surface area on top that's about the size of California. Citizens of Plateau are sometimes called Mountaineers.
The crew of the first colony ship to Plateau, the Planck, declared themselves the ruling class upon landing and forced a social order upon the newly-thawed colonists. When the Arthur C. Clarke landed a few years later, its passengers were forced to adhere to the same code. The Planck, the Clarke, and the Hospital became the center of the Crew high society; colonists were easy to control because they relied upon Crew for medical care and transplants. Colonists who disobeyed the law went into the Organ Banks. The arrival of cheap medical technology from Earth spelled the beginning of the end of the Organ Banks, sparking a revolution that ended with the destruction of the Planck and the end of the social stratification.
Notable Mountaineers: Matthew Keller
For Further Reading: A Gift From Earth, "The Ethics of Madness"
Home (Epsilon Indi)
This Earth-like colony "failed" and was quarantined when Jack Brennan seeded the atmosphere with his variant of Tree-Of-Life in order to raise an army of protectors. Most of the population was killed by Brennan's virus, and the planet itself sustained some damage in the subsequent battle with a Pak scout ship.
By the time of Beowulf Shaeffer, several hundred years later, Home has apparently been re-settled.
For Further Reading: Protector
Gummidgy (CY Aquarii)
This jungle world is popular with hunters. The sessile "Gummidgy Orchid-Thing" is a carnivorous beast that hangs on tree branches awaiting prey. They are popular decorations of the wealthy.
For Further Reading: "Grendel"
Silvereyes (Beta Hydri I)
Three large patches of Slaver Sunflowers dominate the view of Silvereyes from space. Seen from certain angles, the Sunflowers fields can resemble shining silver eyes.
For Further Reading: "The Color of Sunfire"
This low-pressure world was a former Kzin holding until it was hit with the "Wunderland Treatymaker," basically two modified Slaver disintegrators run in parallel 20 miles apart, which dug a huge furrow in the planet's surface. The atmosphere in the manmade canyon is breathable, and there is a sea at the bottom. People live in abodes set into the walls of the canyon.
For Further Reading: The Ringworld Engineers
A former Kzin world until given to humans in reparation following a war. Home of Grogs. In orbit around Down's sun is a remote-control ramscoop that will fire into the sun if it ever becomes known that the Grogs pose a threat.
For Further Reading: "The Handicapped"
This former Kzin holding is mostly ocean. The one continent is called Shast, a Kzin word meaning "burrowing murder." Humans and Kzinti live side-by-side on the surface and in underwater cities.
For Further Reading: Crashlander
Margrave is only in the first stages of colonization late in the Known Space timeline. "Rocs" are enormous birds native to Margrave.
For Further Reading: "Safe at Any Speed"
Cue Ball (Beta Lyrae)
An uninhabitable ice world.
For Further Reading: "The Soft Weapon"
Sheathclaws
A colony established by rebellious Kzin telepaths and humans seeking to escape the first Kzin incursions into human space. Its location remains a secret, though the Patriarchy would dearly love to capture the entire population of potential Telepaths and press them into service.
For Further Reading: "Fly by Night"
© 1998-2014 (Known Space) All rights reserved
Based on: HTML5 UP
Maintained by: Cortex Media and Design


President John F. Kennedy is often credited with being a champion of civil rights, but, in fact, he was a reluctant advocate. He only delivered his famous speech describing civil rights as a "crisis" and a moral issue in 1963, after years of racial confrontations about school desegregation and violent protests in many American cities. Only when he saw the brutal attacks by Birmingham, Alabama, police on peaceful student demonstrators, egged on by the governor and the mayor, did he realize he had to speak to the nation.
For Martin Luther King Jr., Kennedy's 1963 speech, though long overdue, was the culmination of his efforts to engage the president on the urgency of addressing the civil rights crisis taking place in America. In his new book, Kennedy and King: The President, the Pastor and the Battle Over Civil Rights, Steven Levingston, a Washington Post book editor and author of The Kennedy Baby and Little Demon in the City of Light, takes a look at the complicated, often frustrating relationship between these two leaders, and how King's influence helped shape Kennedy's legacy. In the end, Martin Luther King, his allies, and Robert Kennedy succeeded in pushing the reluctant president to take action. After his speech, Kennedy sent a major piece of civil rights legislation to Congress that became the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Lyndon Johnson.
Mother Jones spoke with Levingston about leadership, the relationship between these two men, what forces were at play to constrain Kennedy's commitment to civil rights, and what, finally, made him turn the corner.
Mother Jones: In some ways the individual stories of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy are very well known. Why did you think it was important to connect them?
Steve Levingston: The two men had a great influence on each other. King had a tremendous influence on how Kennedy evolved during his term as president. And, in fact, Kennedy had an influence on King as well, in how King managed and pushed forward the civil rights movement, especially in late 1963. There was a real exchange going on between the two men that I felt gave a different and new picture of what the civil rights movement was in those early years of the 1960s. I wanted to understand how John Kennedy went from being a man who came into the White House uninterested in being a true advocate for civil rights, and how he became, by 1963, what you could say was our first civil rights president. I found again and again, that Martin Luther King was really instrumental in helping guide and teach Kennedy to develop the conscience, the empathy, and the moral courage to take the actions that were necessary.
MJ: Do you think JFK was a kind of unconscious racist, the way that many white people, even well-intentioned Northerners, were at the time?
SL: No, I don't really think he was. When they were young, Robert Kennedy told a story about how, when the family was around the dinner table, they were told it was really their obligation to help those who were less fortunate than they were—because they were very fortunate. What was interesting about that is they never really talked in terms of separating the races. They really didn't even think in terms of black and white. But at the same time, they didn't really associate with African Americans except on a servant level. They had valets or other workers who helped them in their lives. When John Kennedy was in college, he had a valet that his father paid for who was a black man; he included that guy in a lot of his activities. There was sort of a fraternity there where he brought him in, but he didn't bring him in too closely. It was a difficult balance, but I don't think there was ever really a racist impulse in John Kennedy.
MJ: How did JFK get from being a reluctant champion of civil rights to becoming a civil rights president?
SL: It wasn't easy. He was very ambivalent for a good part of the time. He was concerned about the economy and taxes and unemployment. And he was also concerned that if you moved too quickly on civil rights, his agenda would be impaired by Southern senators who did not want to move on civil rights. So, there was a bit of a trade-off. He would take small steps. He would go forward a little bit; then he would go backward again. But he listened over time and became more empathetic to the plight of the black community through the lessons that he was learning from Martin Luther King, where he really developed a sense of empathy and understanding for the plight of the individual black man and black woman and black family.
He tried to understand what it felt like to stand in another person's shoes and see what the world looked like. And through that, gradually, in June of 1963 he went before the nation and announced civil rights legislation and talked about civil rights in moral terms. He finally come to the realization that something serious had to be done.
MJ: The title is Kennedy and King, but not just one Kennedy was involved. What was Bobby Kennedy's role in this story?
SL: If we say Martin Luther King was instrumental in John Kennedy's education, I think Bobby Kennedy was also. Bobby Kennedy was moving a little bit faster than his brother. Bobby was a more passionate figure. He was in some ways more inquisitive about the differences in social condition in the nation. He went out, and he wanted to learn about it in a very direct way, much more so than his brother did. In one famous incident, Bobby invited a group of black intellectuals to the Kennedy apartment in New York. He wanted to hear from them what they felt the situation was for black people in the country, but he also wanted to tell them what he felt the administration was doing.
One of the intellectuals was named Jerome Smith, and he was a veteran of the Freedom Bus Rides. He had been beaten many times and actually been hospitalized. He even had some medical conditions as a result of his activity in the protest movement. He was a young guy who started out believing in King's nonviolent protest but had changed his tune a little bit after he had seen what had happened to him, and what was happening to the movement.
Bobby Kennedy went away stunned, and not knowing what to make of it. But he didn't go away and maintain his anger. He went away and he thought long and hard about it.
Bobby Kennedy couldn't believe it. He sat down, and he stared off in the distance, and he really felt hurt and confused. He didn't really know what it was all about. Others started to lay into him, pointing out the conditions of the black community in kind of an aggressive way. Bobby Kennedy went away stunned and not knowing what to make of it. But he didn't go away and maintain his anger. He went away and he thought long and hard about it, and he talked to people about it. And he probed his own conscience over it. And in time, he began to understand what these protesters, what these intellectuals, were trying to tell him. He began to understand and to see what their perspective was. This was a real turning point in Bobby Kennedy's development. He brought this new sensibility into the White House, and into his discussions with John Kennedy, as well, and helped foster progress within the White House.
MJ: So what are the greatest misunderstandings about JFK and civil rights?
SL: A misunderstanding, in regard to John Kennedy—and this was really one of the fundamental starting points for my book—is that he has come down through history as a civil rights president. So much so that in many black homes over the years, there have been three portraits on the wall: Martin Luther King, Jesus Christ, and John Kennedy. But it was actually a very hard journey for him to reach that point. And we need to understand how far he came, and what help he had from people like King and others in the movement, and his own brother. He had to evolve and develop enough as president to see that real action was necessary on civil rights.
MJ: What do you think this tells us about presidential leadership?
SL: History has become much more relevant in the sense that one of the cardinal principles for any president is to be able to grow and mature in office. And Kennedy demonstrated that quality. I feel like suddenly, we're in an environment right now where that issue has become tantamount, and we're all hoping that our latest president will also understand the need to grow and develop and evolve in the White House, to understand the need for empathy and conscience and moral courage.
MJ: Speaking of our current president, the FBI has been in the news a lot. Can you talk a little bit more about the troubling role of Edgar Hoover in this story?
SL: Hoover was an amazingly powerful man at the time. And he was a genuine racist who wanted to destroy King in any way he could. Once the [Kennedy] administration was in power, he also tried to influence and disrupt the relationship between [King and Kennedy]. He tried to pollute the relationship with the White House and with the Kennedy's on that basis. And it was just another difficult hurdle that got in the way of a very difficult situation in trying to bring progress to civil rights.
MJ: What do you think the biggest takeaway from this book should be?
SL: The people who we think of as icons are really just like us. And like us, they all are trying to grow and improve and to be better people. So you have to look very closely at the actions and the development of people to see how that progresses. I think it truly happened with John Kennedy, and it was certainly happening with Martin Luther King ever since he became leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the '50s. By King's example, Kennedy was pulled along as well. He was able to find it in himself to grow and mature and really change the course of American life—as much as he could in his short time in the White House—despite the great hurdles that lay ahead. The two of them together were on path of personal evolution for the betterment of the country.


text:
package eu.binjr.core.data.timeseries.transform;

import eu.binjr.common.logging.Logger;
import javafx.scene.chart.XYChart;

import java.time.Duration;
import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

//FIXME: This introduce a right-shift to the series.
public final class AverageResamplingTransform extends BaseTimeSeriesTransform<Double> {
    private static final Logger logger = Logger.create(AverageResamplingTransform.class);
    private final int threshold;

    /**
     * Base constructor for {@link BaseTimeSeriesTransform} instances.
     *
     * @param threshold The number of sample to keep.
     */
    public AverageResamplingTransform(int threshold) {
        super("AverageResamplingTransform");
        this.threshold = threshold;
    }

    @Override
    protected List<XYChart.Data<ZonedDateTime, Double>> apply(List<XYChart.Data<ZonedDateTime, Double>> data) {
        if (threshold > 0 && data.size() > threshold) {
            List<XYChart.Data<ZonedDateTime, Double>> reduced = new ArrayList<>(threshold);
            var start = data.get(0).getXValue();
            var end = data.get(data.size() - 1).getXValue();
            double stepNanos = (Duration.between(start, end).toNanos()) / (double) (threshold);
            reduced.add(data.get(0));
            var nextSampleTime = start.plusNanos((long) Math.floor(stepNanos));
            double bucketAgg = 0;
            long bucketSize = 0;
            for (int i = 1; i < data.size() - 1; i++) {
                if (data.get(i).getXValue().isBefore(nextSampleTime)) {
                    bucketAgg += data.get(i).getYValue();
                    bucketSize++;
                } else {
                    reduced.add(new XYChart.Data<>(nextSampleTime, bucketAgg / bucketSize));
                    //initialize next bucket
                    nextSampleTime = nextSampleTime.plusNanos((long) Math.floor(stepNanos));
                    bucketAgg = data.get(i).getYValue();
                    bucketSize = 1;
                }
            }
            reduced.add(data.get(data.size() - 1));
            logger.debug(() -> "Series reduced from " + data.size() + " to " + reduced.size() + " samples.");
            return reduced;
        }

        return data;
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Did board members conspire against a dentist? A trial may decide
Posted on April 7, 2014 in Discipline, Sample Articles
Photo by Partha S. Sahana
A district court was legally wrong when it granted summary judgment against a dentist who charged his license was revoked through misuse and manipulation of state dental board proceedings by other dentists, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit, ruled November 20, 2013.
Noting that there is a "plethora of disputed facts" in the case, the court remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings. "The unresolved issues preclude the grant of summary judgment," the court said.
In the case (Haygood v. Dies), dentist Ryan Haygood alleged that another dentist, members of the state board, and investigators conspired to deprive him of his dental license by defamation, malicious prosecution, and unfair trade practices. A key statute on which the case hinges is LUTPA, the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act, which creates a right of action for any person who suffers any ascertainable loss for a violation of the statute.
Haygood opened a practice in Bossier City in 2005, conducting an aggressive advertising campaign. When the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry opened an investigation into Haygood's treatment of patients and dental plans, Haygood suspected that another dentist whom he regarded as his direct, primary competitor, Ross H. Dies, whose practice was one mile away, had conspired with board members to trump up complaints.
According to court records, the board sent two investigators to Haygood's office, who posed as patients with false symptoms. Those investigators are included as defendants in the suit filed by Haygood.
After the dental board found Haygood had committed eight violations, it imposed maximum fines and costs totaling over $173,000, and Haygood relocated out of state, filing suit September 26, 2011 against Dies, the board, and the investigators.
According to Haygood's complaint, the board's actions were zealous and exceeded its authority including hiring unlicensed investigators to work as dental hygienists at his office, offering them immunity for testifying against him, and retaining Dies as an expert to evaluate complaints.
As the court notes, "the ensuing litigation has been complex." But in brief, in 2012 the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal overturned the decision to revoke Haygood's license, citing gross due process violations by the board, including the board's attorney having overstepped his bounds in the investigation.
Among the items of evidence in the complex case are cell phone records of calls by Dies to board members, emails from a broker to Dies allegedly regarding Dies' potential purchase of Haygood's practice, and a deposition by one of the investigators stating that Dies bragged to her that he was "in charge" of the investigation and "couldn't be touched." Dies has denied a competitive interest in stopping Haygood, denied the allegations that he ever attempted to buy Haygood's practice, and asserted that Haygood could not prove the contents of Dies' numerous phone calls to board members. Dies also contends that board proceedings cannot be construed as commerce and thus LUTPA does not apply.
In its November 20 decision, the Louisiana Court of Appeal said that the Fourth Circuit ruling—which suggests the potential of a corrupted investigation and a strong inference that other members of the board engaged in the conduct attributed to Dies—plus the large number of contested issues of fact in the case, make summary judgment "simply inappropriate." If some of the allegations regarding Dies' behavior are proved, the court added, they "would strongly suggest that Dr. Dies's conduct was motivated less by altruistic concern for the public than animus to suppress a competitor. They would also prove that other board members agreed with Dr. Dies to engage in conduct to accomplish these objectives."
The allegation "that a direct, primary competitor may have initiated a board investigation, served as an expert, and rendered spurious opinions that resulted in revocation of the competitor's license," remains to be resolved, the court said in reversing and remanding the case to the district court.


This wall mounting bracket makes it possible to mount the WR-G31DDC receiver to a wall or under a desk, thus saving desk space. Also useful for installation in boats and vehicles. An elegant and useful accessory.
These products are also available via .


← Olé, olé olé olé!
Chicago has 13 people running for Mayor right now, with early voting already open and the first round vote due on the 26th. If no candidate gets an outright majority, the top-two vote-getters will have a runoff election on April 2nd.
There are also contested elections in several wards, including mine. I've got a lot of reading to do in the next 3 weeks.


text:
Tory Lanez won't be offered plea deal in Megan Thee Stallion shooting
Tory Lanez (Photo credit: Bang Media)
Tory Lanez won't be offered a plea deal for allegedly shooting Megan Thee Stallion.
The "Say It" rapper was accused by the "WAP" hitmaker of shooting her in the foot after a party at Kylie Jenner's house in July 2020 and at a court meeting on Wednesday Nov. 3, 2021, a preliminary hearing in the felony assault case was set for Dec. 14.
And despite "possible settlement discussions" taking place in September, it was also confirmed Lanez will not be offered a plea deal.
The 29-year-old rapper — whose real name is Daystar Peterson — is facing two felony charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, as well as the charge of having "personally inflicted great bodily injury."
If he is convicted on all charges, he could spent more than 22 years in jail.
Continue reading on the next page.
Megan Thee Stallion, rolling loud festival, Shooting, Tory Lanez, wap
Check out the hot new 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Premier
Documentary On Largest-ever Gift To Israel To Screen At International Film Festival
Disney Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Will Smith: Could Actor Return To This Movie Franchise?


text:
Get the latest weather updates
WRAL.com/weather ›
Interact with our analysis ›
Jon Stewart returns to TV with new current affairs show for Apple TV+
Posted October 27, 2020 4:45 p.m. EDT
Updated October 27, 2020 6:24 p.m. EDT
CNN — Jon Stewart is coming back to TV. Well, Apple TV+, that is.
The former anchor of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" will host a new current affairs series for the tech company's nascent streaming service, Apple announced Tuesday. It will be a part of a new production deal that the comedian has signed with the company.
It will be the first time that Stewart has had his own regular show since leaving "The Daily Show" in 2015.
While details are scarce, Apple says Stewart's hour-long as-yet-untitled series will "explore topics that are currently part of the national conversation and his advocacy work." Each season will also have a companion podcast.
Apple did not say how many episodes each season would have, or how the episodes would be rolled out. The series is expected to kick off next year.
Apple TV+ is $4.99 a month and launched last November.
Eggs: the essential ingredient for all your fall baking!


Robert, Mack and Richard Chase (from left holding shovels) along with Mack Energy employees observe a ground-breaking ceremony this morning for the company's new corporate building in Riverside. The building will be approximately 55,000 square feet and house Mack Energy's accounting, production, land and geology departments, among others. The bid for the project was granted to Jaynes Corporation of Albuquerque. Construction is scheduled to be complete by late summer 2011.


I decided to concentrate today's post on organising my time & tasks. I've been using bullet journal for the last 14 months & love it. I noticed an article in this week's Observer newspaper on the rise of bullet journals which got me thinking about my use of them.
I initially heard about bullet journals from Jo Alcock's blog post. I was looking for a simple way to organise my tasks that would allow me to use both analogue and digital devices. Bullet journals let me keep track of what I need to do and what I've done. If I don't have my bullet journal with me I simply make a note on my phone and then transfer it at a later date.
Have read Jo's comments on bullet journals I followed this up with a few You Tube videos & many hours on Pinterest. I then took the plunge & started using it on a daily basis.
I quickly learnt to value the contents list at the start (what you'd expect from a librarian) as a way of keeping track of my thoughts & tasks in the notebook.
It's good for keeping ideas in one place, like lists (or collections as they're known in bullet journal parlance) of films, exhibitions or plays I want to see. Then ticking them off once I've seen them, or scratching them through if I decided not to see them. Plus I appreciate having details of my crafting accomplishments in one place. A log of achievements for the year.
The month task log & day logs are a great way for organising my time. Over the last year I've begun to notice what tasks I procrastinate over & prioritise these to get them done quicker; there's still room for improvement there.


SQL Server Social No. 9 – New Format!
SQL Server Social No. 9 is just around the corner, if you haven't already you should go and register right now. This month we are introducing a new format to the event: Ask The Experts.
Our Ask The Experts format incorporates the best bits of any networking event: keeping it social, relatively unstructured but with the bonus of having industry experts on hand to answer YOUR questions. These industry experts have kindly agreed to be at the event for your benefit. So do your homework, and come prepared with some good questions.
This Month the focus is on Business Intelligence. Our experts are three of the best. Boyan Penev, Darrren Gosbell and Simon Selves will be at hand to answer your questions and provide advice on the vast topic of SQL Server Business Intelligence and GIS.
Boyan is a SQL Server MVP who specialises in all components of the Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence stack.
Boyan's topics of conversation will include Microsoft SQL Server BI Stack, Microsoft Office and the future roadmap of these products, their current capabilities and features, as well as Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Best Practices and concepts.
Simon is a GIS Masters Graduate with 14 years of Spatial Industry experience in both the UK and Australia, with strong expertise in the use of MapInfo and ESRI systems.
Simon specialises in Spatial Data Warehouse design and implementation using MS SQL Server 2008 R2 technology, Retail Network planning and analysis, Socio-demographic modelling and analysis for targeted marketing campaigns.
So come to SQL Server Social next week and meet our experts as well as other Melbourne data professionals. And don't forget that this is a sponsored event, so we will have food and drinks available for registered attendees.
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Director Mamat Khalid only has one goal in mind when he stepped onto the set of Hantu Kak Limah (reviewed here) – to make a movie that will entertain audiences.
"I want audiences to laugh out loud. I want them to relax," he says when asked about the reason for the film's lighter and straightforward storytelling approach.
Over the course of his 20-year filmmaking career, Mamat says he has done his fair share of movies which explore complex themes and heavy subject matters but the results weren't as well-received.
"For example, with Lebuhraya Ke Neraka, because the subject was heavy, people didn't want to watch it," he recalls. Released last year, Lebuhraya Ke Neraka, which explores a group of bikers on their journey to the afterlife, only made about half a million ringgit.
"As a director and screenwriter, I have to think about my investors. I can't just do as I want," he adds.
The 55-year-old, who won Best Film and Best Director at the Malaysia Film Festival in 2008 for Kala Malam Bulan Mengambang, was speaking to the media at a press event promoting Hantu Kak Limah.
Produced by Astro Shaw and Infinitus Gold, Hantu Kak Limah is the fourth horror comedy film set in the fictional village of Kampung Pisang.
The film opens with the mysterious death of Kak Limah after marrying a younger man, Khuda. The folks at Kampung Pisang seem to be haunted by Kak Limah's spirit.
Mamat says he is very proud of the fact that the film is premiering in cinemas just 10 months after filming first began. He says it's quite an achievement considering the fact that he has a heart condition and has been advised not to stress himself out.
"I wasn't feeling well but I'm blessed to have cast and crew members who were very understanding. I didn't feel stressed. On the set, they told me to sit down, and they would come to me," he says.
Actor Zul Ariffin says he also felt at ease working on the set of Hantu Kak Limah even though it was his first time trying his hand at comedy.
Zul is known for playing macho-man action roles in films like J Revolusi, Tombiruo: Penunggu Rimba and the upcoming Sangkar.
This time, the 31-year-old actor plays a scaredy-cat silat guru Solihin who tries to take on Kak Limah's spirit.
He talks about tapping into his comedic side: "The thing with a Mamat Khalid film is, the script itself is already funny.
"With other films, sometimes it is the actor who has to make the film funny.
Hantu Kak Limah is now showing at GSC cinemas nationwide.