text:
Steve Biko: An Outstanding Leader and the Black Consciousness Movement
On September 23, 2014 September 23, 2014 By Dr. Y.In Great Moments, Great People
Steve Biko
The month of September is sadly quite a busy month when it comes to African martyrs: many of our martyrs were either born or assassinated that month, Ruben Um Nyobe, Agostinho Neto, Steve Biko, Amilcar Cabral, Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal Abdel Nasser, to name just a few. Today, I have decided to talk about Steve Biko.
Steve Biko, is known to many as the outspoken leader of the Black Consciousness (BC) movement.
Stephen (Steve) Bantu Biko was born on 18 December 1946 in Ginsberg township, in present-day Eastern Cape, in South Africa. Biko was the third of 4 children, and belonged to the Xhosa ethnic group. He was orphaned at the tender age of 4, after his father passing. As a child, he attended Brownlee Primary School and Charles Morgan Higher Primary School. He was sent to Lovedale High School in 1964, a prestigious boarding school in Alice, Eastern Cape, where his older brother Khaya had previously been studying. During the apartheid era, with no freedom of association protection for non-white South Africans, Biko would often get expelled from school for his political views. He was influenced by Frantz Fanon's and Aime Cesaire's works, and like Fanon, he first started as a medical doctor, before turning to politics.
Black Consciouness Movement flag
Steve Biko was not alone in forging the Black Consciousness Movement. He was nevertheless its most prominent leader, who with others, guided the movement of student discontent into a political force unprecedented in the history of South Africa. Can you imagine that: all alone they created a force that scared the apartheid regime, and started it on its end. Biko and his peers were responding to developments that emerged at the height of the hideous apartheid regime. This culminated with the Soweto uprising of 1976.
The Black Consciousness movement argued that blacks had to overcome the feelings of inferiority instilled into them by 300 years of domination, the "oppression within", before they could deal with whites as equals. "It [BC] seeks to infuse the black community with a new-found pride in themselves, their efforts, their value systems, their culture, their religion and their outlook to life," Biko explained in 1971.
Steve Biko was a very charismatic, tall, handsome, and articulate man. Once asked by a judge "Why do you call yourself black, when your skin is brown?" Biko replied "Why do you call yourself white, when you are actually pink?" – he bore himself with rare confidence that showed no hint of any "oppression within." Remember his famous phrase "Black is Beautiful", which was an inspiration to the civil rights movement in the USA, and to many other movements across the globe.
'I Write What I Like' by Steve Biko
In order for Black People to achieve their freedom being political and economical, Steve Biko believed that they should rally together; hence he said: "The realization by the Black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression – the blackness of their skin – and to operate as a group in order to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude."
Biko understood that the system we are facing is not just a matter of laws and policies that suppresses us, he knew that the system seeks to undermine our thinking, ideas, values and beliefs, thus he said: "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
On 18 August 1977, Steve Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 and interrogated by officers of the Port Elizabeth security police including Harold Snyman and Gideon Nieuwoudt. This interrogation took place in the Police Room 619 of the Sanlam Building in Port Elizabeth. The interrogation lasted twenty-two hours and included torture and beatings resulting in a coma. He suffered a major head injury while in police custody at the Walmer Police Station, in a suburb of Port Elizabeth, and was chained to a window grille for a day. On 11 September 1977, police loaded him in the back of a Land Rover, naked and restrained in manacles, and began the 1100 km drive to Pretoria to take him to a prison with hospital facilities. He died shortly after arrival at the Pretoria prison, on 12 September. The police claimed (and the apartheid government) his death was the result of an extended hunger strike, but an autopsy revealed multiple bruises and abrasions and that he ultimately succumbed to a brain hemorrhage from the massive injuries to the head, which many saw as strong evidence that he had been brutally clubbed by his captors.
'Cry Freedom' the movie on Steve Biko
Biko believed in the unity of the oppressed, he also knew we should constantly educate each other on what is happening in our society. Today, Biko's views could be applied to almost every society where there are oppressed people, oppressed by unfair laws, unfair economics that favors extreme greed, forced into poverty, and dehumanization.
I watched the movie Cry Freedom which talked about Biko's life, and also about his journalist friend Donald Woods who published the pictures of Biko's beaten body after his death, thus showing to the entire world that he had been brutally murdered by the South African police. I do recommend it, the main actor is none other than Denzel Washington. To learn more about Biko, you could read his own book I Write What I Like, or the autobiographic book Biko by Donald Woods. In 1980 the singer Peter Gabriel had a world hit titled Biko, in which he sang: "You can blow out a candle/ But you can't blow out a fire/ Once the flames begin to catch/ The wind will blow it higher." Let us all, keep the fire of Steve Biko. Enjoy this rare video of Steve Biko talking!
African leaderAfrican martyrBlack ConsciousnessBlack Consciousness MovementCry FreedomDonald WoodsSouth African leaderSouth African martyrSteve Biko
Proverbe Douala sur la méfiance / Duala Proverb on Distrust
The Return of Steve Biko and Quotes
2 thoughts on "Steve Biko: An Outstanding Leader and the Black Consciousness Movement"
What a sad loss to Africa and the world.
Thanks Tish… I totally agree with you. This was indeed a sad loss to Africa and the world.


Depression in children: how to help your child feel better about their life.
When your sweet little kiddo is just not feeling good. It happens to all of us parents. We try to make them feel better the best way we know how. But it doesn't always have the desired results. So what do you do when you notice your little one is simply not feeling right?
It took a while for your kiddo to start feeling this way and it will take a while to resolve the issues your child is struggling with. Give them time. Give them space. Tell them that their feelings are totally ok and that nothing is "wrong" with them. If you can, share if you have ever had those same feelings so they can relate and may feel less alone. Encourage them to solve this together with you and reassure them that you are there to help through it.
Any parent who's ever asked, "How was school?" and got the response, "Fine" knows that children can be reticent. When a child is depressed they are even less likely to talk. Create low stress and low distraction activities for your child to create an opening for conversation. Take a walk or cook together and ease your child into non-pressuring communication with you. If your child is preschool/kindergarten age and you can't get them to open up, teach them how to communicate their feelings with pictures and open-ended questions. This is a method I used every day as a preschool teacher and it often very quickly taught the child how to express their thoughts and feelings.
Read up about depression. Learn about the symptoms, causes and treatment. The more you know, especially about treatment options, the more effectively you can advocate for your child in the health care system and at school. If you end up having to consult a doctor, make sure they are knowledgeable, caring and someone who really listens. Take charge of your child's treatment. You may have to be tough and persistent, but this is your child and you have to speak for them if they can't speak for themselves.
These days there is a lot of pressure on young children. Parents are not always present. Children are often raised and massively influenced by TV, internet and social media. Modern technology stops them from doing the things we used to do when we were young. We played outside until dark. We played and fought with our friends and learned how to be creative and solve problems. Modern day kids put their thoughts and feelings on social media and are under constant peer pressure to be, look or act a certain way.
The history of the effect of essential oils on the emotions has been long documented. Not only that, I speak from experience within my own family when it comes to aromatherapy and the amazing effect essential oils have on how you feel. Before you take your child to a doctor and get them on prescription medication, try going back to nature. Try natural remedies the way people have for thousands of years. What do you have to lose? Our essential oils are 100% natural and the most tested and trusted essential oils in the world. They are used in hospital and veteran homes to battle PTSD and they are proven to be very effective when it comes to balancing moods and emotions.
We have a specific essential oil emotional aromatherapy kit that contains 6 amazing oils that balance and counteract certain emotions. These oils are fantastic to diffuse around your child when they need them. We also have a "touch" version of this kit, that is a diluted (with fractionated coconut oil) ready-to-go kit in 10 ml roller bottles that are safe and ready to be applied on the skin. Your child can take these to school or wherever they go and use them as they need them. You only need 2-5 drops in a diffuser so these bottles will last you quite a while.
If you are hesitant to try this kit, get a few single oils that your child likes and create their own personal "happy oil" for them in a 10 ml roller bottle diluted with fractionated coconut oil. That way they always have their oil that they love with them and they can apply it when they feel they need to. You will have enough oil to fill up quite a few roller bottles.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions, and if you're ready to give this kit a try you can go shopping here. Let's get that sweet kiddo of yours smiling again!


It's a ridiculously slow day at work, so in between re-teaching myself Bash scripting, I'm pestering you folks with 8000 posts per minute.
Yesterday, I was poking around 101 Cookbooks, a very nice source of vegetarian recipes. The link there is for a hearty and healthy breakfast bowl. I ate a variation of that most mornings a few years ago, then I let apathy route me back into grabbing whatever was quick and handy.
Making A Real Breakfast, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, takes more time – both in the cooking and in the eating. Here's my variation of Heidi's bowl. It's kind of breakfast cereal on crack – overly-healthy, full of more stuff than you can shake a stick at. Huge and filling.
Just before the grains finish up, dump everything else in there to get a little heated up, but not cooked. Serve. Voila. The cooking and the chopping takes less than 20 minutes, unless you're using rice – the eating might take a bit more.
It's a lot of food. Smaller appetites could cut the whole thing in half.
It'll stick with you, too. There's a lot of stuff your body needs in there. I'm the kind of person who likes to eat something small for breakfast, and it wears off after 2 or 3 hours. Thi s sticks with me for a good 5 or 6.
* How sad is it most of our society has no idea what a fig is, outside the context of a Newton? Figs are amazing. Figs rule. Eat more figs!


In postwar Korea in 1955, children under 14 made up more than 40 percent of the entire population, but the number has declined to 16.8 percent as of this year, an indication of the nation's rapidly aging population and low birthrate.
During the same period, the average number of students each schoolteacher had to teach at one time also shrunk, from 58.9 to 19.8, and farming industry production, which accounted for nearly half the nation's entire economic production, shrank to less than 3 percent.
These are examples of the dramatically altered landscapes in the Korean economy, culture and society, based on figures from the government statistics agency that tallied key information from 1952 until today. Statistics Korea, the state statistics agency formerly known as the National Statistical Office, published the Korea Statistics Almanac yesterday.
The database has more than 1,000 statistics entries, ranging from population, public health and education to economics.
Above all, the compiled data highlights the nation's rapidly aging society. Back in 1955, people aged over 65 accounted for only 3.3 percent of the total population, but now the presence of such senior citizens accounts for 10.7 percent of the whole population.
During the same period, the figure for those aged 15 to 64, considered the "economically active age," climbed from 55.5 percent to 72.5 percent, while the nation's entire population has increased from 21.5 million to 48.75 million.
In 1955, most school classrooms were crowded with more than 50 students, as Korean parents were eager to provide children with a good education at all costs even amid devastating poverty during the postwar period.
Back then, the average number of students for each schoolteacher was 58.9. But the number has declined to 19.8 as of this year, a remarkable improvement caused not only by efforts to improve education infrastructure but also by the ever-shrinking birthrate.
The data also highlights the dramatic change in the nation's economic landscape. Production in the agriculture and fisheries industries, which accounted for 45 percent of the whole economic population here in 1953, is now seeing its presence shrink to less than 3 percent. During the same period, the number for mining and manufacturing production jumped from 10 percent to more than 28 percent.
The database also showed fatalities during the Korean War, saying 990,000 Koreans were killed during the three-year war.


text:
Зла́та Могленская (, , Хри́са, Хри́сия, ; ум. , ) — православная святая, почитаемая Сербской и Болгарской церковью как великомученица. Память совершается (по юлианскому календарю): 13 октября (воспоминание чуда в Скопье) и 18 октября (день преставления).

Жизнеописание
О жизни святой Златы известно из её краткого греческого жития, написанного в 1799 году преподобным Никодимом Святогорцем со слов протоигумена Тимофея, бывшего свидетелем её мученичества.

Согласно ему, Злата жила в селе Слатина (современное греческое село Хриси в номе Пелла). Происходила из бедной христианской болгарской семьи, имела трёх сестёр. Злата отличалась красотой и привлекла внимание турка, который похитил её и попытался склонить перейти в ислам, пообещав жениться на ней. Злата отказалась, убедить её изменить веру попытались турецкие женщины, а также родные, которых принудили к этому угрозой наказания. Злата не поддалась на уговоры и была подвергнута истязаниям: её избивали палками, вырезали из её кожи ремни, прижигали лицо. В селе находился протоигумен афонского монастыря Ставроникита Тимофей, которому Злата передала просьбу помолиться за неё, он и стал свидетелем её мученической смерти. После всех истязаний, видя непреклонность девушки, турки повесили её на груше и, состязаясь друг с другом, рубили её тело саблями. Злата была тайно погребена своими односельчанами.

В 1912 году в городе Скопье вспыхнуло антитурецкое восстание сербов. По преданию, 13 (26) октября перед сербскими воинами явилась дева, которая укрепила их перед боем, чем помогла одержать победу над турками. В этой деве сербы узнали Злату Могленскую, которая после этого была  причислена к лику святых. В память о чуде в Скопье было установлено отдельно празднование великомученице Злате.

Святая Злата особо почитается в Македонии и Болгарии. На иконах её изображают молодой девушкой в национальном болгарском или македонском свадебном наряде.

Примечания

Ссылки

 Житие и страдание на св. великомъченица Злата Мъгленска

Православные святые
Христианские святые XVIII века
Канонизированные в XX веке
Святые Болгарии
Святые Сербии
Святые Северной Македонии

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
module REXML
  module Formatters
    class Default
      # Prints out the XML document with no formatting -- except if id_hack is
      # set.
      #
      # ie_hack::
      #   If set to true, then inserts whitespace before the close of an empty
      #   tag, so that IE's bad XML parser doesn't choke.
      def initialize( ie_hack=false )
        @ie_hack = ie_hack
      end

      # Writes the node to some output.
      #
      # node::
      #   The node to write
      # output::
      #   A class implementing <TT><<</TT>.  Pass in an Output object to
      #   change the output encoding.
      def write( node, output )
        case node

        when Document
          if node.xml_decl.encoding != "UTF-8" && !output.kind_of?(Output)
            output = Output.new( output, node.xml_decl.encoding )
          end
          write_document( node, output )

        when Element
          write_element( node, output )

        when Declaration, ElementDecl, NotationDecl, ExternalEntity, Entity,
             Attribute, AttlistDecl
          node.write( output,-1 )

        when Instruction
          write_instruction( node, output )

        when DocType, XMLDecl
          node.write( output )

        when Comment
          write_comment( node, output )

        when CData
          write_cdata( node, output )

        when Text
          write_text( node, output )

        else
          raise Exception.new("XML FORMATTING ERROR")

        end
      end

      protected
      def write_document( node, output )
        node.children.each { |child| write( child, output ) }
      end

      def write_element( node, output )
        output << "<#{node.expanded_name}"

        node.attributes.to_a.map { |a|
          Hash === a ? a.values : a
        }.flatten.sort_by {|attr| attr.name}.each do |attr|
          output << " "
          attr.write( output )
        end unless node.attributes.empty?

        if node.children.empty?
          output << " " if @ie_hack
          output << "/"
        else
          output << ">"
          node.children.each { |child|
            write( child, output )
          }
          output << "</#{node.expanded_name}"
        end
        output << ">"
      end

      def write_text( node, output )
        output << node.to_s()
      end

      def write_comment( node, output )
        output << Comment::START
        output << node.to_s
        output << Comment::STOP
      end

      def write_cdata( node, output )
        output << CData::START
        output << node.to_s
        output << CData::STOP
      end

      def write_instruction( node, output )
        output << Instruction::START.sub(/\\/u, '')
        output << node.target
        output << ' '
        output << node.content
        output << Instruction::STOP.sub(/\\/u, '')
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Main Menu Navigation
8th ANNIV PARTY
Her EX-Marines
Click the button for the HTML codes
Siren-Bookstrand Publishing
Rachel Lamb is on the run from the law. She is exhausted, hungry, and down to her last few hundred dollars after meandering for nearly six months from Miami to Slick Rock, Colorado. She applies for the position of secretary at the sheriff's department and sends up an alert when she asks to be paid cash in hand.
Sheriff Damon Osborn is horrified when he inadvertently learns what has happened to Rachel and vows to protect her with his life. He offers her a place to stay, knowing his brothers will be as attracted to the small woman as he is. The three Osborn brothers, Damon, Tyson, and Sam, have recently finished serving as marines and vow to keep Rachel safe using all their military training.
Rachel is kidnapped. Her life is in the balance. Will the three Osborn men save her in time? Or will justice fall by the wayside?
Book Review by Katie Cody (reviewer)
Mar 14, 2012 [ OFFICIAL REVIEW ]
189 people found the following review helpful
An action packed thriller with some very sexy heroes.
Rachel is a tough woman who is running from the law and down on her luck. She applies to be a secretary at a local sheriff's department and automatically sends up an alert by asking to be paid in cash. The Sheriff Damon inadvertently learns what happened to her and vows to protect her along with his brothers who are equally attracted to her. They are ex-marines and will use every one of their skills to protect the one woman for them.
Full of steamy m�nage encounters, this story will have you running for a cold shower or looking for some sexy ex-marines for yourself. The relationship between the boys and Rachel is a little hesitant at first on her part, but they will do anything to convince her that they are the men for her. I really loved how they interacted with each other and treated her as someone special when she was feeling anything but.
I highly recommend HER EX-MARINES to anyone looking for an erotic thriller that will curl your toes.
Book Review by SamCrescent
May 01, 2012 [ OFFICIAL REVIEW ]
Damon, Tyson and Sam, oh my. That is all I can say about those men. At least as a starting point.
Rachel Lamb is on the run from the law. She witnessed a murder and fears for her own safety and that of her mother's. When she walks into the Slick Rock, Colorado and applies for the position as a secretary for the Sheriff's department she immediately catches the eye of Damon Osborn. He takes her home, intent on caring for her and introducing her to his two brothers. The moment, Tyson and Sam see her, they know she was destined to be the one woman for the rest of their life.
HER EX-MARINES is a really great story that makes you fall in love with all four characters. One of my favourite scenes is when the younger brothers find out about Rachel staying at their house and the instant change in them when they see her. Becca Van has done it again and wowed me with her Slick Rock Series. I must put this on one of my places to visit.
This is a fantastic book and continues on with the series nicely. Each story can be read as a standalone even though each one will leave you wanting more.
A dazzling romance series
To return to her tribe, means sacrificing a future with the man she loves
What do you do when forever unravels?
#FREE at all major e-book retailers.
She is the deal he can't close, the precious jewel even his billions can't buy.
The Best Is Yet To Be (de Wolfe Pack Book 15)
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Diversity & equality in business
Institute for Fiscal Studies
Tories have £30bn black hole in spending plans, says IFS
Thinktank challenges Conservatives to explain where cuts would come from and insists SNP is not anti-austerity
David Cameron and George Osborne. The IFS calculates that the Tory manifesto would involve a 'net tax giveaway', including a cut in inheritance tax on property. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
Heather Stewart
Thu 23 Apr 2015 14.07 EDT First published on Thu 23 Apr 2015 06.37 EDT
The Conservatives have been challenged to explain how they will achieve £30bn in fresh cuts to Whitehall spending and a £10bn reduction in Britain's welfare bill if they are returned to power in May, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the gap between the two main parties' tax and spending plans was the widest at any general election since 1992.
The independent tax thinktank said the electorate had been left "somewhat in the dark" about the details of all the parties' spending plans but the Conservatives have more explaining to do, because they are aiming at much more ambitious cuts in public borrowing.
The IFS also sparked a row in the Scottish parliament by dismantling the Scottish National party's claim to be against austerity.
It argued that the SNP's spending plans are "essentially the same" as Labour's until 2018-19, but the SNP would continue to cut spending for a further year, leaving it spending less than Labour by the end of the parliament.
"While their plans imply a slower pace of austerity than those of the other three parties, they imply a longer period of austerity," the thinktank said.
George Osborne has promised to cut £12bn a year from social security spending, but the IFS said the detailed measures he has set out so far, including a two-year freeze on working-age benefits, would save just £1.3bn.
Paul Johnson, the IFS's director, said paring back the welfare budget by another £10bn-plus would require doing "something quite radical" to the benefits system.
Where the parties stand on the economy
David Gauke, the Conservative financial secretary to the Treasury, later refused to rule out further changes to child benefit, which Osborne has already removed from higher earners. When pressed on the BBC news channel, he said: "I'm not going to get into discussing the specific proposals that are out there."
The IFS's analysis of all the major parties' manifestos, published on Thursday, showed that even if the Conservatives succeeded in saving another £10bn from welfare and raising £5bn from a crackdown on tax avoidance, as Osborne has promised, they would still need to slash an extra £30bn from Whitehall departments over the next five years.
Once a Conservative government had set aside an extra £8bn a year for the NHS, and protected education and aid spending, the IFS said this £30bn of new, unspecified cuts would result in a further 18% real-terms reduction in the budgets of other departments over the next parliament.
"Despite planning for more austerity, the Conservatives' detailed tax policies amount to a net giveaway, their detailed social security measures would only provide a 10th of the cuts that they have said they would deliver, and their commitments on aid, the NHS and schools would increase spending in these areas," the IFS said.
The shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, went further, claiming the Conservatives would be unable to meet their pledge to protect NHS funding. "The truth the Tories won't admit is their plans are so extreme they would end up cutting the NHS," he said. "Countries which have cut spending on this scale have cut their health service by an average of 1% of GDP – the equivalent of £7bn."
By contrast, the IFS said Labour's less aggressive deficit-cutting targets would require "a mere £1bn" in further spending cuts over the next parliament, if Balls could achieve his aim of raising an extra £7.5bn through measures to tackle tax avoidance.
But the IFS cautioned that Labour had been "considerably more vague about how much they would want to borrow". In total, Labour could borrow up to £90bn more than the Conservatives over the next five years and still meet its fiscal targets, the IFS calculates.
The Conservatives seized on this £90bn figure, with David Cameron tweeting that the IFS's report was "a damning indictment on Labour's borrowing plans".
Frances O'Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, said the IFS's analysis showed that the scale of the cuts planned by Cameron after the election would put public services at risk.
"The extreme cuts the Conservatives want after the election will kill off the recovery, put wages back in decline and leave our schools, hospitals and other services without the vital revenues they need."
Carl Emmerson, the deputy director of the IFS, criticised all the main parties for providing too little detail about their proposals, but said: "There are genuinely big differences between the main parties' fiscal plans. The electorate has a real choice, although it can at best see only the broad outlines of that choice."
The SNP faced particularly withering criticism, with Gemma Tetlow, one of the report's authors, suggesting that the path of public spending under SNP plans "seems to be significantly at odds" with the party's anti-austerity rhetoric.
According to the IFS's analysis, the SNP's promise to increase total public spending by 0.5% in real terms each year would mask average cuts of 4.3% to other departments, as it protects the NHS and overseas aid, and boosts spending on the welfare system.
Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, who has styled her party as taking a radically different position from Labour on deficit reduction, rejected the IFS's analysis during angry exchanges in the Scottish parliament.
Scottish Labour's deputy leader, Kezia Dugdale, said the SNP's claim to want to end austerity was no longer credible. The first minister insisted that the IFS's report was "full of assumptions and speculations".
She said the SNP wanted to borrow 1.6% of GDP in 2019-20, and accused the IFS of wrongly assuming it was 1.4% in that year. But the IFS rejected her complaint, insisting that a 1.4% borrowing figure was the direct extrapolation from the SNP's stated plans for total spending and the effects of their tax measures.
Tetlow said: "The only assumption we made was that they increased spending in the way they said they would."


CES 2015 was packed with different virtual reality headsets, and it feels like we've been on the cusp of consumer VR for years. Oculus Rift hasn't released their consumer version yet, and other companies are trying to beat them to market.
The Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign launched back in 2012. It's now 2015, and Oculus is on their third prototype. So, when can us gamers and enthusiasts get our hands on one?
I had a chance to try the Oculus Rift "Crescent Bay" prototype demo at CES 2015. First, let me make something clear: While I've always been excited by the potential of virtual reality, I was actually very disappointed when I tried Oculus's first dev kit. The lack of positional head tracking and low-resolution that let me "see the pixels" made for a turn-off. I also tried the Samsung Gear VR at CES 2015, which was better — but still not particularly amazing.
The Oculus Rift Crescent Bay demo still managed to wow me. It's a standing demo, and you're free to look around, crouch, and lean as you experience it. The screen is now high-resolution and the head tracking makes for a much more immersive experience. You can lean in to get a closer look at something. You can crouch to crouch in the virtual world. You could get down on your hands and knees and press your head to the floor — you'd be staring at the virtual floor.
The headset is much more lightweight, and it even includes built-in headphones. New at CES 2015 was 3D positional audio support, too.
Oculus has previously released two "dev kits" targetted at developers. Typical users and enthusiasts were told to wait. The Crescent Bay prototype I experienced isn't yet available even to developers, and Oculus is clearly working on that. Based on what I experienced, the Crescent Bay prototype could easily become the first consumer release of the Oculus Rift. It certainly works much better than the units other manufacturers are showing off and will be releasing.
Having seen the Crescent Bay prototype in person, I believe it — 2015 could be the year we get our hands on this stuff for real.
Oculus has released two products, and both of them are branded "dev kits" intended for developers who want to start making VR experiences. I asked an Oculus Rift representative at CES 2015, and I was told there was still no consumer release date. After a bit of prodding — after all, there were other VR headsets on the show floor that were trying to beat them to market — I was told that I could just buy a dev kit if I wanted virtual reality now. I told the representative that the website says only developers should buy those, and she responded with a shrug.
Maybe Oculus is playing a bit of a game here. Perhaps the Crescent Bay prototype will come out as only a "dev kit," but we'll all still be able to order one. Having experienced the Crescent Bay prototype, I'm definitely buying the Crescent Bay hardware when it comes out, whether it's branded a dev kit or not. Heck, the Oculus representative even advised me to!
This would allow enthusiasts to buy into the product while encouraging the average consumer to stay away. It also might help set expectations correctly — after all, if something doesn't work quite right, you're still just using a dev kit.
One potential speed-bump could be the lack of ideal VR input devices. Oculus is making their own input method, and they've said it's on the way. They're not sure whether they'll release the consumer headset with the input device or just have users use Xbox controllers and similar gamepads.
Oculus has actually sort-of released a consumer VR headset in collaboration with Samsung, and it's something I also tried at CES. They were demonstrating them at both the Samsung and Oculus booths at CES 2015.
The Gear VR is a special headset for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. If you have this specific phone and the headset, you can slot in the phone and put the headset on your face to experience virtual reality. At CES, the demo was a Cirque du Soleil show playing on the headset, and you could move your head to the left or right to see other bits of the show playing around you. This wasn't being rednered — it was a recorded video of a show being played back. Unlike the Crescent Bay prototype, the Gear VR lacked the all-important positional head tracking — you can turn your head, but not lean or move it in other ways.
But this is a consumer product you can buy today — well, if you also want to buy a Galaxy Note. Oculus is working on their "Oculus VR Store" that runs on the Gear VR. It's not hard to see this as a testing bed for all the software that will be used in the final consumer release of the Oculus Rift itself.
The Oculus Rift Crescent Bay prototype certainly works much better than the Gear VR, which is already a released product. This is yet another reason the Crescent Bay prototype could actually launch as a consumer product in 2015.
CES 2015 was packed with other virtual-reality headsets, too. Razer's "Open Source VR Hacker Dev Kit" got a lot of attention, pushing an Android-like open platform for virtual reality. This isn't designed to be a finished product, but a competing platform.
Wandering around the show floors to the farthest corners, I even saw devices like the "Bee Noculus" mobile virtual reality headset. No, it's not an Oculus — it's a Noculus. Whether Oculus wants to release their headset in 2015 or not, they may be pushed to. The Crescent Bay prototype was by far the best virtual reality headset of the show, and worse ones are coming out in 2015, whether Oculus wants them to or not.
Initially, gamers will be the big audience for virtual reality. That much is clear, and even game developers are excited. Big-name AAA games like Alien: Isolation are shipping with hidden virtual reality modes because developers are so excited to play with it. You'll want a powerful gaming computer to power this stuff, anyway.
In the longer run, VR will have more uses. Watching videos (especially ones recorded in 360-degrees) — movies or even live sports or performances — could be huge. Samsung's Gear VR is already being used for such things. Other uses like meetings and communication are obvious, too. 2015 may be the year we all get our hands on these.


0:00 McDonald, Nathan at goalie for Lafayette.
0:00 Conrad, Brett at goalie for Harvard.
08:31 Shot by Lafayette McCutcheon, Tom, Save (by goalie) Conrad, Brett.
16:21 Corner kick by Harvard Friedman, Ross [16:21].
19:36 Shot by Lafayette McLaughlin, Jeff, Save (by goalie) Conrad, Brett.
23:46 Substitution!Harvard substitution: White, Oliver for Geberkidane, Ashi.
26:32 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Anyafo, Chuka for Adubato, Peter.
26:48 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Fraser-Pauls, C. for McCutcheon, Tom.
30:37 Corner kick by Lafayette Golini, Alec [30:37].
32:52 Shot by Harvard Klain, Michael, Wide.
32:58 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Chang, Andrew for Harrington, Kevin.
32:58 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Yen, Stephen for Giahos, William.
34:31 Shot by Harvard White, Oliver, Blocked.
35:01 Corner kick by Harvard WheelerOminu, Andrew [35:01].
35:12 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: White, Bryan for Golini, Alec.
35:12 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Gonzalez, Andrew for Egan, Ryan.
37:13 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Biggiani, Greg for Anyafo, Chuka.
37:13 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Zenner, Pieter for Barna, David.
40:44 Shot by Harvard Kobayashi, Hiroki, Save (by goalie) McDonald, Nathan.
45:00 For Lafayette: #20 McLaughlin, Jeff, #17 Egan, Ryan, #22 Cannon, Erik, #19 Adubato, Peter, #18 McCutcheon, Tom, #5 Golini, Alec, #21 Turner, Brandon, #3 Arronson, Nate, #25 Plummer, Julian, #10 Dodds, Ryan, #1 McDonald, Nathan.
45:00 For Harvard: #18 WheelerOminu, Andrew, #5 Klain, Michael, #20 Geberkidane, Ashi, #29 Smith, Daniel, #21 Harrington, Kevin, #2 Ashby, Mark, #17 Kobayashi, Hiroki, #4 Friedman, Ross, #15 Barna, David, #14 Giahos, William, #1 Conrad, Brett.
52:23 Yellow card on Lafayette Arronson, Nate.
57:22 Shot by Harvard Friedman, Ross, Save (by goalie) McDonald, Nathan.
57:56 Corner kick by Harvard Friedman, Ross [57:56].
58:04 Shot by Harvard Harrington, Kevin, Blocked.
58:24 Shot by Harvard Klain, Michael, Blocked.
58:31 Substitution!Harvard substitution: White, Oliver for Barna, David.
59:00 Shot by Harvard Geberkidane, Ashi, Blocked.
61:39 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Fraser-Pauls, C. for McCutcheon, Tom.
64:37 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Biggiani, Greg for Adubato, Peter.
65:41 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Yen, Stephen for Giahos, William.
65:41 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Chang, Andrew for Geberkidane, Ashi.
65:41 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Leondis, Alex for White, Oliver.
70:18 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: McCutcheon, Tom for Golini, Alec.
70:54 Shot by Lafayette Biggiani, Greg, Save (by goalie) Conrad, Brett.
72:44 Shot by Lafayette Arronson, Nate, Wide.
75:42 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Anyafo, Chuka for Biggiani, Greg.
75:42 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Giahos, William for Harrington, Kevin.
76:49 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Gonzalez, Andrew for McLaughlin, Jeff.
78:18 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Harrington, Kevin for Ashby, Mark.
78:18 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: West, Eric for Turner, Brandon.
78:18 Shot by Harvard Chang, Andrew, Save (by goalie) McDonald, Nathan.
80:10 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Golini, Alec for Fraser-Pauls, C..
80:10 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: McLaughlin, Jeff for Gonzalez, Andrew.
80:10 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Geberkidane, Ashi for Leondis, Alex.
84:12 Substitution!Harvard substitution: White, Oliver for Giahos, William.
84:12 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Turner, Brandon for West, Eric.
84:12 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Adubato, Peter for Anyafo, Chuka.
86:44 Shot by Lafayette Adubato, Peter, Save (by goalie) Conrad, Brett.
89:44 Corner kick by Harvard WheelerOminu, Andrew [89:44].
90:00 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Fleischman, Philip for White, Oliver.
95:21 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: West, Eric for Dodds, Ryan.
97:55 Shot by Lafayette McCutcheon, Tom, High.
98:00 Substitution!Harvard substitution: Leondis, Alex for Yen, Stephen.
98:00 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Gonzalez, Andrew for McLaughlin, Jeff.
99:00 Shot by Harvard WheelerOminu, Andrew, Save (by goalie) McDonald, Nathan.
99:53 Shot by Harvard Geberkidane, Ashi, Save (by goalie) McDonald, Nathan.
100:00 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Fraser-Pauls, C. for McCutcheon, Tom.
102:36 Shot by Harvard Geberkidane, Ashi, Wide.
103:42 Shot by Harvard Harrington, Kevin, Blocked.
103:51 Substitution!Harvard substitution: White, Oliver for Geberkidane, Ashi.
104:20 Corner kick by Harvard WheelerOminu, Andrew [104:20].
104:34 Corner kick by Harvard WheelerOminu, Andrew [104:34].
107:22 Substitution!Lafayette substitution: Biggiani, Greg for Adubato, Peter.


Under cover from a light drizzle, the Obamas greeted the Trumps at the North Portico of the White House, shaking hands, exchanging hugs and smiling for photographers. Mrs. Trump brought a light blue box, apparently a gift from Tiffany's.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his wife, Jill, also greeted Vice-president elect Mike Pence and wife Karen. All four couple were to have tea at the White House before proceeding in a motorcade to the Capitol for Mr. Trump's inauguration.
Also attending the White House reception were congressional leaders, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, and their spouses.


text:
Why are so many afraid to confront Britain's historical links with the slave trade?
David Olugsa, The Guardian, 5th of May 2019 | 10 June 2019
"Cambridge University has been accused of opening old wounds, but in curing itself of amnesia it might help Britain understand its past...…"
Family of Stephen McConomy apply for new inquest
| 25 May 2018
The family of Stephen McConomy have written to the Attorney General requesting he exercise his power under section 14 of the Coroners Act (NI) 1959 to direct a fresh inquest into his death.
Families challenge MoD and Prime Minister in London
PFC | 15 November 2016
British Prime Minister Theresa May warned the recent Tory party conference about what she called: "… activist, left-wing human rights lawyers [who] harangue and harass the bravest of the brave – the men and women of Britain's Armed Forces". She also vowed to defend soldiers against "vexatious...
What price a life? May's rhetoric and the MOD's reality
Tom Griffin, Spinwatch | 16 November 2016
In the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, recent months have seen an increasingly chauvinistic tone in British politics. One aspect of this has been a concerted campaign against investigations of abuse by the Armed Forces. Conservative MPs have pressed Theresa May to curtail the activities of the...
Northern Ireland families challenge May's defence of army
Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times | 15 November 2016
Mobile advertising campaign in London highlights cases of disputed killings by British soldiers
Batang Kali (3)
Michael Safi (1)
North-South Relations (1)
(-) #whatpricealife (3)
(-) David Olugsa (1)
(-) Padraig O'Muirigh (1)


text:
Öcsöd is een plaats (nagyközség) en gemeente in het Hongaarse comitaat Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok. Öcsöd telt 3546 inwoners (2007).

Plaats in Hongarije


text:
Rosemere Backpackers. Set in a central location to explore the sights of Wellington, Rosemere Backpackers features free WiFi throughout the property. The property is located 400 metres from Cuba Street, which is a boho precinct of shopping, dining and bars. Both the Cable Car
Wellington Information
Rosemere Backpackers
More Information and Bookings
Hostel - Wellington
Set in a central location to explore the sights of Wellington, Rosemere Backpackers features free WiFi throughout the property. The property is located 400 metres from Cuba Street, which is a boho precinct of shopping, dining and bars. Both the Cable Car and Te Papa are 800 metres away. The nearest airport is Wellington Airport, 5 km from the property. Guests can socialise and relax in the shared lounge area, or prepare a meal using the shared kitchen and BBQ facilities. All rooms are heated and feature carpet and a clothes rack. All rooms have access to shared bathroom facilities. Other facilities at the property include a sun terrace and a laundry which can be used for an additional charge.
Click Here for More Information and Bookings
6 Macdonald Crescent
Duckworth Lewis - Apartment, Long Term, Medium Stay - Mount Cook.
Located by the Basin Reserve (one of New Zealand's most iconic cricket grounds) and only a short distance from a range...
All Wellington Accommodation
Private tour of Wellington city and beyond with Rose - Private Tour - Wellington. Starting from $280.00 per person.
Discover the charms of Wellington city on a private tour with Rose.
All Rose's tours:
• Are exclusive, private...
All Wellington NZ Activities


Chile is ready to deepen relations not only with Russia, but also with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz told Russia's top diplomat Sergey Lavrov on Monday.
"We intend to expand our cooperation with Russia in the economic, political and military spheres," he added.
"I'm glad that we are able to agree on all areas of cooperation and intend to sign a document for the coming years today," Munoz said.
He noted that Santiago was "ready to make our relations harmonious and was glad to coordinate our stances at the international level." According to the Chilean foreign minister, relations between Russia and Chile were "remarkable and were developing in all aspects.".


Singling out strong sales for next-gen disc players, Amazon.com says the 2007 holiday shopping season was its best yet.
According to a company press release, Amazon customers ordered more than 5.4 million items during the retailer's busiest day (December 10th) -- that's more than 62 items per second.
The company went on to say that it had sold enough high-disc players during November and December to cover seven football fields.
The residual effects of such strong next-gen hardware sales appeared to be in full force late Wednesday, as HD DVD and Blu-ray discs dominated Amazon's real-time list of top-selling DVDs (fueled, no doubt, by a pair of post-Christmas sales for both formats -- see related stories below).
"We are very grateful to our customers," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "On behalf of Amazon.com employees around the globe, we wish everyone happy holidays and best wishes for 2008."


Prepare a pie crust or a graham cracker crust and put to side.
Pour into pie crust pan.
oven of 375 degrees and bake for 40 minutes.
Separate an egg. Mix together one egg yolk and 1/3 cup of milk and blend into flour mixture.
Pat crust mixture into a pie pan or roll the dough into a circle and place in the pie pan.
with friends on Tangier Island, VA in the Chesapeake Bay this past spring (2012).
snacking. Yogurt and eggs are always in the refrigerator. What a perfect combination for baking.
Cooking can be a creative and inventive act; like a painter at the canvas.
• Eating an apple is a more reliable method of staying awake than consuming a cup of coffee.
• The natural sugar in an apple is more potent than the caffeine in coffee.
got stuck in Adam's throat when he swallowed it.
• There are over 7000 different types of apples grown all over the world.
• An apple tree can produce up to 400 apples a year.
• Apples float in water because they are 25% air.


text:
Q: Why the Id value is not append with Id in Jquery?
This is my code
What I am expecting is
<input type="text"  name="procedurecode1" id="procedurecode1" value="">
But the result like below
<input type="text" +idvalue="" name="procedurecode" id="procedurecode" value=""> I dont know why?Thanks in advance.

A: I'm not sure of what you want but is that it : link

A: You were missing single quotes and +. Here is the modified version.
Fixed Code:
$("#procedurecontainer").append('<input type="text" value="" id="procedurecode"'
+ idvalue + 'name="procedurecode"' + idvalue + '></input>');

A: I think your quote escaping is getting confused.
It should be more like this:
You need to escape with single quotes when you're putting your variables in.
 $(document).ready(function() {
     $('#addprocedure').click(function()
{
    //alert($("#maxprocedure").val());
    var maxvalue=$("#maxprocedure").val();
    for(var i=1;i<=5;i++)
    {
        var idvalue=parseInt(maxvalue)+i;
        $("#procedurecontainer").append('<input type="text" value="" id="procedurecode'+idvalue+'" name="procedurecode'+idvalue+'" />');
        $("#maxprocedure").val(idvalue);

    }
});

});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Decentralized e-commerce applications like The Block are the next evolution of buying and selling on the internet. The Block team envisions a world in which free trade is available globally, regardless of your nationality, what language you speak, or what type of currency you use.
The buying and selling process of an online store today is riddled with fees, privacy invasion, and inefficiencies. A seller pays a listing fee, the store takes a percentage of the profit, a third-party payment processing system (like PayPal) charges buyers a usage fee and sellers a withdrawal fee, and your information is easily accessible to all companies involved. Conversely, The Block charges a $1 USD listing fee. Further, since all transactions are managed by smart contract, there is no need for third party payment processing, and there is no need for your information to be shared with anyone.


text:
Q: How to run python bottle on port 80? When trying to run python bottle on port 80 I get the following:
socket.error: [Errno 10013] An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forb
idden by its access permissions

My goal is to run the web server on port 80 so the url's will be nice and tidy without any need to specify the port
for example:
http://localhost/doSomething

instead of
http://localhost:8080/doSomething

Any ideas?
Thanks

A: Exactly as the error says. You need to have permissions to run something on the 80th port, normal user cannot do it. You can execute the bottle webapp as root (or maybe www-data) and it should be fine as long as the port is free.
But taking security (and stability) into consideration you should look at different ways of deployment, for example nginx together with gunicorn.

*

*Gunicorn Docs

*Nginx Docs

A: *

*Check your system's firewall setting.

*Check whether another application already use port 80 using following commands:

*

*On unix: netstat -an | grep :80

*On Windows: netstat -an | findstr :80

According to Windows Sockets Error Codes:

WSAEACCES 10013
Permission denied.
An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its
  access permissions. An example is using a broadcast address for sendto
  without broadcast permission being set using setsockopt(SO_BROADCAST).
  Another possible reason for the WSAEACCES error is that when the bind
  function is called (on Windows NT 4.0 with SP4 and later), another
  application, service, or kernel mode driver is bound to the same
  address with exclusive access. Such exclusive access is a new feature
  of Windows NT 4.0 with SP4 and later, and is implemented by using the
  SO_EXCLUSIVEADDRUSE option.

A: Sometimes dont need to want install nginx, python with gunicorn is a viable alternative with supervisor but you need to make lot of tricks for working
i assume you know install supervisor, and later install again requirements
pip3 install virtualenv
mkdir /home/user/.envpython
virtualenv /home/user/.envpython/bin/activate
source /home/user/.envpython/bin/activate
cd /home/user/python-path/
pip3 install -r requirements

create a supervisor file like that
nano /etc/supervisord.d/python-file.conf

and edit with this example, edit the program that you need, remember the python3 run in other ports > 1024
;example with path python supervisor in background
[program:python]
environment=HOME="/home/user",USER="user"
user=user
directory = /home/user/python-path
command = python3 /home/user/python-path/main.py

priority = 900
autostart = true
autorestart = true
stopsignal = TERM

;redirect_stderr = true
stdout_logfile = /home/user/.main-python-stdout.log
stderr_logfile = /home/user/.main-python-stderr.log

;example with path python gunicorn supervisor and port 80
[program:gunicorn]
;environment=HOME="/home/user",USER="user"
;user=user
directory = /home/user/python-path
command = bash /home/user/.scripts/supervisor-initiate.sh

priority = 900
autostart = true
autorestart = true
stopsignal = TERM

;redirect_stderr = true
stdout_logfile = /home/user/.main-python-stdout.log
stderr_logfile = /home/user/.main-python-stderr.log

and create the file
nano /home/user/.scripts/supervisor-initiate.sh

with the following content
source /home/user/.envpython/bin/activate
cd /home/user/python-path
gunicorn -w 1 -t 120 -b 0.0.0.0:80 main:app

i assume you file in python is called main and you initiate the app with flask or django that called "app"
only restart supervisord process
systemctl restart supervisord

and you have the app with gunicorn in the port 80, i post because i find for a very long time for this solution
Waiting works for anyone


1.16 Most orders placed on a working weekday before 2:00 PM will be dispatched the same day, after this time they will be dispatched the next working day. Most orders will require a signature on delivery. Items requiring personalisation may be delayed by a day.
If standard delivery is selected, then delivery will normally be attempted within 5 working days (often in 2 days) to most UK destinations. An upgrade to first class delivery may be available for some items. For first class, a delivery attempt will usually be made 1 to 2 days after dispatch. These timescales are not guaranteed. For guaranteed next working day delivery attempt, please select the Faster delivery option.
Faster UK delivery options are available at extra cost. If Faster Delivery is selected then this will be attempted the next working day after dispatch to most UK mainland destinations. A signature will be required. Please make sure that someone is in to sign for the delivery. If a courier is unable to obtain a signature, a card will be left with instructions on how to rearrange the delivery. A further attempt may be made the next day, depending on the courier. We unusually use Royal Mail Special Delivery, but may use UPS, DPD or another courier, depending on size and weight of the parcel.
For UK destinations, we currently use Royal Mail. Orders over just £25 qualify for free standard delivery. For orders under £25, standard delivery is £1.99. For faster delivery, the charge is £7.50 and will be sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery. We may use Parcelforce or UPS for packages too large or heavy for Royal Mail.
We are able to ship to some EU countries. We will use a courier where a signature will be required, e.g. UPS. Delivery should be attempted within 7 days after dispatch, depending on the destination. The delivery cost varies, but can be seen in the basket.
Some companies offer free delivery on all items, but add the cost into the item price. We think this is unfair as, if you buy two or more items, you are essentially paying twice for delivery, so small orders are charged £1.99. With orders over £25, we can absorb the cost of standard delivery.
1.18 Priced shown include VAT, Where the destination is VAT free (e.g. Channel Islands) the VAT should be deducted in the checkout, once the details are completed.
1.19 Subject to the exclusions in 1.24, customers have the right to cancel their order under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation & Additional Charges) Regulations.
1.20 Your right to cancel an order for goods starts the moment you place your order and ends 14 days from the day you receive your goods. Please return within 30 days of your notice of cancelling the order, complete with all the manufacturers packaging, tags, instructions and in a resalable condition.
1.21 To meet the cancellation deadline, please notify us via email, contact us page or phone about cancelling the order before the cancellation period has expired.
1.22 Once you are in possession of the goods you are under duty to retain them and take reasonable care of them. You are responsible for safe return of the order and costs (unless we delivered the item to you in error or the item is damaged or defective). We reserve the right to deduct an amount up to 100% of the original price for items returned which are reduced in value due to damage, missing parts, etc. whilst in your care.
(a) items that are made to the customer's specification or are clearly personalised, or are modified in any way after delivery.
(b) goods that are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly - such as a delivery of fresh flowers or food.
(c) goods or services where prices are dependent upon fluctuations in the financial markets, which are beyond the control of the retailer.
(d) unseal goods that are not suitable for return, due to health protection or hygiene reasons, e.g earrings for pierced ears.
(e) unsealed audio, video recordings or computer software that were sealed at the time of delivery.
(f) newspapers, periodicals or magazines.
(g) goods that are combined with other goods after delivery so that they become inseparable.


The journey of a lifetime ends with astronaut, Mark Watney, being left stranded on Mars. Assumed dead, he is left on this red planet with a life expectancy of 31 days. His mission has now become to survive – can he?
The Martian offers the perfect start. It completely intrigued me and captured my imagination; I was honestly hooked from the first page and drawn to the character's humour.
In the book, Mark Watney tells us his story through a series of log entries. The author continually builds suspense around Mark's outcome by introducing hurdles that stand to reduce the character's life expectancy, which left me unable to predict Mark's fate.
Whilst reading The Martian I was always on the edge of my seat. My head would swirl with questions: Does he survive? How can he survive? Could I be an astronaut?! This book left me wishing that I could read faster as I found the story truly fascinating, especially when the methods used to extend Mark's life on Mars were explained.
Author Andy Weir cleverly explained technical processes in simple terms, meaning I didn't once get lost or confused. The book often tugged at the geek in me and reminded me of my A-level days – the feeling of euphoria I'd experience upon finally solving a mathematical or chemistry problem. Each time Mark Watney would find a solution that would increase his life on Mars I would get giddy with excitement. I would wish that I could high five the character – another thought that kept recurring in my head!
The author always has you rooting for Mark throughout the book. He achieves a loveable character that you immediately wish was your mate. Throughout his heightened predicament, he remains positive, funny, sharp and most importantly believable. I honestly feel that if it wasn't for the strength of the character, this book would not be as successful.
There were many laugh-out-loud moments during this read, which were hugely welcome taking into account the fact the story is pretty much about a man continuously facing death. I was thoroughly entertained throughout this book and I highly recommend it.
Quite simply, it is like a funny, intense, edge-of-your-seat roller-coaster filled with suspense and I absolutely loved it. The Martian truly deserved the Good Reads 2014 Best SF book award.
Hugely deserving of the Goodreads 2014 Best Sci-Fi Book Award!
* Prima's book reviews are also available at Goodreads.


text:
Plant Cells: Crash Course Biology #6
YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=9UvlqAVCoqY
Previous: Buddha and Ashoka: Crash Course World History #6
Next: 2,000 Years of Chinese History! The Mandate of Heaven and Confucius: World History #7
Hank describes why plants are so freaking amazing - discussing their evolution, and how their cells are both similar to & different from animal cells.
Crash Course Biology now available on DVD! http://dftba.com/product/1av/CrashCourse-Biology-The-Complete-Series-DVD-Set
Like CrashCourse on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YouTubeCrashCourse
Follow CrashCourse on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thecrashcourse
This video uses sounds from Freesound.org, a list of which can be found, along with the CITATIONS for this video, in the Google Document here: http://dft.ba/-22aJ
Table of Contents annotations:
1. Re-watch the whole video 0:00
2. Introduction 0:00
3. Plant Evolution 0:56
4. Eukaryotic vs. Prokaryotic Cells 2:33
5. Cellulose and Lignin 3:58
6. Plastids and Chloroplasts 7:05
7. Central Vacuole 8:10
TAGS: crashcourse, biology, hank green, plants, plantae, chemistry, energy, learn, course, lycophyte, scale tree, carboniferous, angiosperm, eukaryotic, nucleus, prokaryotic, membrane, cytoplasm, organelle, cellulose, lignin, energy, photosynthesis, plastid, chloroplast, central vacuole, turgor pressure Support CrashCourse on Subbable: http://subbable.com/crashcourse
So plants are frickin' great because they have this magical wizard power that allows them to take carbon dioxide out of the air and convert it into wonderful fresh pure oxygen for us to breathe. They're also way cooler than us because unlike us, and every other animal on the planet, they don't require all kinds of hot pockets and fancy coffee drinks to keep them going. The only thing plants need to make themselves a delicious feast is sunlight and water. Just sunlight and water.
Paula Deen can't do that, she makes fried egg bacon donut burgers... I'm telling you this is surprisingly good. This is a different kind of magic. But, you know, part of this - is plants. Um, and everything in it, in fact everything that is in this McDonald's, in fact everything that you have ever eaten in your life, is either made from plants, or made from something that ate plants.
So let's talk about plants.
Plant Evolution
Plants probably evolved more than 500 million years ago. The earliest land plant fossils date back to more than 400 million years ago. These plants were lycophytes, which are still around today, and which reproduce through making a bunch of spores, shedding them, saying a couple of hail Marys, and hoping for the best.
Some of these lycophytes went on to evolve into scale trees which are now extinct, but huge swampy forests of them used to cover the earth. Some people call these scale tree forests "coal forests" because there were so many of them and they were so dense, and they covered the whole earth that they eventually fossilized in to giants seams of coal which are very important to our lifestyles today.
So this is now called the carboniferous period - see what they did there, uh, 'cause coal is made of carbon so they named the epoch of geological history over how face-meltingly intense and productive these forests were.
I would give, um, my left eyeball, three fingers on my left hand - the middle ones so I could hang loose - and, uk, and my pinky toe, if I were able to go back and see these scale forests because they would be freakin' awesome!
Anyway, angiosperms, or plants that use flowers to reproduce, didn't develop until the end of the cretaceous period, about 65 million years ago, just as the dinosaurs were dying out - which makes you wonder if in fact the first angiosperms assassinated all the dinosaurs! I'm not saying that's definitely what happened I'm just saying it's a little bit suspicious.
Anyway, on a cellular level, plant and animal cells are actually pretty similar. They're called eukaryotic cells, which means they have a good kernel, and that kernel is the nucleus -Not nucleus - and the nucleus can be found in all sorts of cells: animal cells, plants cells, algae cells, you know, basically all the popular kids.
Eukaryotic vs. Prokaryotic Cells
Eukaryotic cells are way more advanced than prokaryotic cells. We have the eukaryotic cell and we have the prokaryotic cell. Prokaryotic basically means "before the kernel" pro-kernel, and then we have the eukaryotic which means "good kernel"!
The prokaryotes include your bacteria and your archaea which you've probably met before in your lifetime. Every time you've had strep throat, for example. Or if you've ever been in a hot spring, or an oil well or something, they're everywhere, th-they cover the planet, they cover you.
But like I said eukaryotes have that separately enclosed nucleus. That all-important nucleus that contains its DNA and is enclosed by a separate membrane. Because the eukaryotic cell is a busy place there's chemical reactions going on in all different parts of the cell, it's important to keep those places divided up.
Eukaryotic cells also have these little stuff-doing factories called organelles - because we decided that we'd name everything something weird - but organelles, and they're suspended in cytoplasm - continuing with the really esoteric terminology that you're going to have to know.
Cytoplasm is mostly just water, but it's some other stuff too - well basically if you wanna know about the structure of the eukaryotic cell you should watch my video on animal cells which, uh, let's just link to it right here.
Plant and animal cells are very similar environments. They control themselves in very similar ways, but obviously plants and animals are very different things. So what are the differences in a plant cell that make it so different from an animal? Well that's what we're gonna go over now.
Cellulose and Lignin
First, plants are thought to have evolved from green algae which evolved from some more primitive prokaryotes, and something plants inherited from their ancestors was the rigid cell wall surrounding the plasma membrane of each cell. So this cell wall of plants is mostly made out of cellulose and lignin, which are two really tough compounds.
Cellulose is, by far, the most common and easy to find complex carbohydrate in nature, though if you were to include simple carbohydrates as well glucose would win that one. And this is because - fascinating fact: Cellulose is in fact just a chain of glucose molecules. You're welcome.
If you want to jog your memory about carbohydrates and other organic molecules you can watch this episode right here.
Anyway, as it happens, you know who needs carbohydrates to live? Uh, animals.
But do you know what's a real pain in the ass to digest? Cellulose.
Plants weren't born yesterday.
Cellulose is a far more complex structure than you'll generally find in a prokaryotic cell and it's also one of the main things that differentiate a plant cell from an animal cell.
Animals do not have this rigid cell wall. They have a flexible membrane that frees them up to move around and eat plants and stuff. However, the cell wall gives structure to a plants leaves, roots, and stems, and also protects it to a degree - which is why trees aren't squishy and they don't giggle when you poke 'em.
The combination of lignin and cellulose is what makes trees, for example, able to grow really really frickin' tall. Both of these compounds are extremely strong and resistant to deterioration.
When we eat food, um, lignin and cellulose is what we call roughage because we can't digest it. It's still, you know, useful for us and certain aspects of our digestive system. But it's not nutritious. Which is why, like, eating a stick is really unappetizing, and, like, your shirt is a 100% plant shirt but it doesn't taste good.
But we can't go around eating wood like a beaver, or grass like a cow because our digestive systems just aren't set up for that. However, other animals, that don't have access to delicious donut burgers, have either developed gigantic stomachs, like sloths, or multiple stomachs, like goats, in order to make a living eating cellulose. These animals have a kind of bacteria in their stomach that actually does the digestions of the cellulose for them. It breaks the cellulose into individual glucose molecules which can then be used for food.
But other animals, like humans, mostly carnivores, don't have any of that kind of bacteria which is why it's so difficult for us to digest sticks...
Ah, but there is another reason why cellulose and lignin are very very useful to us as humans: it burns my friends! This is basically what would happen in our stomachs: it's oxidizing, it's producing the energy that we would get out of it if we were able too, except it's doing it very very quickly. And this is the kind of energy, like this energy that's coming out of it right now, is the energy that would be, uh, useful to us if we were cows! But we're not. So instead we just use it to keep ourselves warm on the cold winter nights... ow! It's on me, ow, ah!
Anyway, while we animals are walking around spending our lives searching for ever more digestible plant materials, plants don't have to do any of that. They just sit there and they make their own food, and we know how they do that. They do it with photosynthesis.
Plastids and Chloroplasts
Another thing that plant cells have that animal cells just don't have are plastids, the organelles that plants use to make and store compounds that they need. And you want to know something super interesting about plastids? They and their fellow organelles, the mitochondria, that generate energy for the cell, actually started as bacteria that were absorbed into plant cells very early in their evolution. Like maybe some protos-like cell absorbed a bacteria and it found that instead of just digesting that bacteria for the energy that it had, it could use that bacteria, that bacteria could create energy for the cell or convert light into lovely glucose compounds which is crazy.
Nobody is precisely sure how this happened, but they know that it did happen because plastids and mitochondria have double membranes. On from the original bacteria, and one from the cell as it wrapped around it. Cool, huh?
Anyway, the most important of the plastids are the chloroplasts which convert light energy from the sun into sugar, and into oxygen which the plant doesn't need, so it just gets rid of it. All of the green parts of a plant that you see: the leaves, the non-woody stems, the unripened oranges, are all filled with cells that are filled with chloroplasts which are making food and oxygen for you.
You're very welcome, I'm sure.
Central Vacuole
Another big difference between plant cell and an animal cell is the large, central vacuole. Plant cells can push water into vacuoles which provides turgor pressure from inside the cell which reinforces the already stiff cellulose wall and makes the rigid like a crunchy piece of celery or something.
Usually, when soil dries out or a celery stalk sits in your refrigerator for too long, the cells lose some water, turgor pressure drops, and the plant wilts, or gets all floppy.
So vacuoles are also a kind of storage container for the cell. It can contain water which plants need to save up just in case, and also other compounds that the cell might need. It can also contain and export stuff that the cell doesn't need any more, like wastes.
Some animal cells also have vacuoles, but they aren't as large and they don't have this very important job of giving the animal shape.
So now let's do this, let's just go over the basics of plant cell anatomy.
1. They have a cell wall that's made out of cellulose, and so it's really rigid and not messin' around.
2. They've got a nucleus in its own little baggy that separates it from all the other organelles. This is basically the headquarters of any eukaryotic cell. It stores the genetic information for a plant and also acts as the cells activities director telling it how to grow, when to split, when to jump and how high - that sort of thing. Animal cells have this kind of nucleus too but prokaryotes don't, which is why they're stuck hanging around in oil wells and stuff.
3. They've got plastids, including chloroplasts which are awesome, green, food-making machines.
4. They have a central vacuole that stores water and other stuff that helps give the cell structural support.
And so, stack these cells on top of one another like apartments in an apartment building and you've got a plant.
And all of these unique features are what makes it possible for plants to put food on our table and air in our lungs. So next time you see a plant, just, just go ahead and shake its hand. Thank it for its hard work and its service.
Now we went over that stuff pretty fast. So if you want to go back and listen to any of it, we have a review section over here for stuff that you may not have totally picked up on, or just want to watch again. It's not a huge piece of your life to rewatch some stuff so go ahead and click on these things. If you have questions to do with plant cell anatomy, uh, please leave them for us in the comments and we will hopefully get to those. You can also hook up with us on Facebook and Twitter of course, and we will see you on episode 7 of Biology Crash Course.
John Green's An Abundance of


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GDP Targeting: The Real Message from Jackson Hole?
A controversial paper presented at this year's Federal Reserve confab may set the stage for open-ended asset purchases to stimulate growth.
By Rosalyn Retkwa
To Federal Reserve watchers, "Jackson Hole" — shorthand for the annual summit of central bankers hosted by the Kansas City Fed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in late August — is widely anticipated for the speaker who kicks off the proceedings, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
This year, Bernanke's speech didn't contain any market-moving surprises.
But another paper, delivered by Michael Woodford, a professor of political economy at Columbia University, caused a stir. In a 97-page study, Woodford maintained that with interest rates near zero, the time had come for the Fed to take a fresh approach in its efforts to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment by targeting growth in nominal gross domestic product (GDP) as its key indicator of when it should reverse course and start raising interest rates. The Fed has already promised to keep rates low through 2014, but if it were to switch gears, it would instead promise to keep rates low indefinitely, until nominal GDP, or GDP adjusted for inflation, was showing clear signs of a recovery.
"The thing that the central bank should wish to signal is not a commitment to keep interest rates low for a fixed calendar period, but rather a commitment to maintain policy accommodation until the nominal GDP target path is reached," Woodford said.
It's not a new concept. Last October Goldman Sachs published a paper titled: "The Case for a Nominal GDP Level Target," and right before Jackson Hole, Goldman said that moving to that target would be one of the ways in which the Fed could "open the door to 'unconventional unconventional' easing . . . until the economy has regained a bigger share of the lost output and/or employment." (The Fed's balance sheet/asset purchase policies are already considered unconventional.) But the fact that a paper of that heft from a monetary policy expert like Woodford was delivered in a forum like Jackson Hole may indicate that the concept is starting to gain ground.
It's not without its problems, notes Roberto Perli, managing director and partner, policy research, at the International Strategy and Investment Group (ISI) of Washington, D.C.
Perli, who worked on monetary policy in different capacities for the Fed for eight years before joining ISI in 2010, says that targeting nominal GDP "is an attractive idea from an academic perspective," but in practice, has a few issues. "For example," he says, "targeting a nominal GDP level would essentially mean creating inflation if real output growth remained stubbornly low as it is today. In that case, can policymakers be sure that inflation expectations would remain as stable as they remain in academic models?"
There's another set of obvious questions, he says. "What exactly is an appropriate nominal GDP target — 4 percent, 5 percent, 6 percent? How would the Fed pick one? How much inflation would a central bank be willing to tolerate to achieve that? Nobody knows," he says, but he notes that inflation "is already close to the Fed's 2 percent target," the level it sees as being "compatible with the dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability."
Perli believes the Fed could move in that direction "without actually going there," by promising "not to tighten policy even after the economy has begun its recovery." He believes the Fed has already done that "in a sort of timid fashion." In the minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the Fed said its guidance about it not raising rates until late 2014 "could be extended," and that, combined with other language in the minutes to the effect that "a highly accommodative stance" was "likely to be maintained even as the recovery progressed," suggests that the Fed "is likely to move somewhat in the direction suggested by Woodford at Jackson Hole, but in a cautious way that would leave many outs should inflation become a concern," Perli says.
Dimitri Papadimitriou, the president of the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, is also wondering how the Fed would put a strategy of targeting nominal GDP into practice. "How do you do this?" he asks. "There is no reliable transmission channel from monetary policy to GDP. The evidence is clear about that," he says.
Still, Papadimitriou says, "Woodford's long paper is interesting, and he is right about the ineffectiveness of monetary policy at zero-bound interest rates."
Tearing apart the Fed's current policies is a big part of Woodford's 97 pages, but it looks to be a sure thing that the Fed is going to go for more quantitative easing, either at its next FOMC meeting in September, and if not then, by its last meeting of the year, in December.
"Nothing in chairman Bernanke's published remarks at Jackson Hole altered our view that the FOMC is poised to announce a new balance-sheet program on September 13," says Lou Crandall, the chief economist at Wrightson ICAP in Jersey City, New Jersey, adding that "we don't think this is a particularly close call," though there's still a chance that stronger-than-expected economic indicators "could delay the announcement," he said.
"The FOMC policy statement on August 1 indicated that the decision on further easing was being fast-tracked, and the minutes of that meeting two weeks later warned that additional action would be called for unless incoming information pointed to 'a substantial and sustainable strengthening' in economic activity," he said, in his post-Jackson Hole report.
But Crandall also believes "the Fed's next bond-buying program will be its last." Noting that the Fed has itself acknowledged the "risk of diminishing returns" from each additional round of buying long-dated bonds to bring down interest rates, known as LSAP, or Large-Scale Asset Purchases, Crandall says: "There will be no 'QE4,'" or fourth round of quantitative easing. "A skeptical public will increasingly ask whether the Fed is throwing good money after bad," he said.
He does believe, though, that "the Fed may embrace the idea of switching to an open-ended format for its asset purchases," and "is likely to alter the format of its forward policy guidance to lessen the reliance on specific calendar references."
In his speech at Jackson Hole, towards the end of his remarks, Bernanke said: "The stagnation of the labor market in particular is a grave concern not only because of the enormous suffering and waste of human talent it entails, but also because persistently high levels of unemployment will wreak structural damage on our economy that could last for many years."
Given Bernanke's "grave concern" about unemployment, all of the economists seem to be sure Bernanke will press forward with more easing, even if some members of the FOMC are opposed.
"He will, I think, proceed with another bond-purchasing program, if there is no improvement in GDP growth and decrease in unemployment," says Papadimitriou, noting that monetary policy won't solve the unemployment problem. "It is only fiscal policy that is potent to improve economic conditions," he says. But Bernanke, "being a student of the Great Depression," doesn't want to be blamed for not doing everything he could possibly do to lower unemployment, he says.
Global Bond Fund Managers Embrace GDP-weighted Indexes
Virginia Munger Kahn
Bank Of Portugal Warns Leaders On GDP, Deficit


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GE Power wins contract for NOx reduction technology across 10 GW of Indian power plants
World Coal, Thursday, 11 April 2019 11:00
GE Power India Ltd. (GEPIL) has announced that it has been awarded a Rs 142 crore (US$20 million) order by NTPC for supply and installation of low NOx combustion system for 10 GW of thermal power plant capacity across the country. This is the first project awarded on such a large scale by NTPC to install low NOx combustion technology at its thermal power plant fleet.
The project involves in-combustion system modification of the boiler by staging the combustion air in the furnace to reduce the generation of fuel and thermal NOX during the combustion process. The combustion modification technology can help reduce 30 - 40% of NOx emissions from these coal-fired boilers up to a level of less than 400 mg/Nm3 at 6% oxygen content in flue gas on dry gas basis at induced draft (ID) fan outlet.
The projects that have been selected for installation of low NOx combustion systems includes Stage-I (2 x 500 MW), Mouda Super thermal power plant (STPS); Stage-I (3 x 660 MW) & Stage-II (2 x 500 MW) Sipat STPS; Stage-III (2 x 500 MW); Stage-IV (2 x 500 MW) & Stage-V (1 x 500 MW), Vindhyachal STPS; Stage-II (2 x 500 MW) Simhadri STPS; (3 x 500 MW) Vallur TPS; Stage-III (2 x 500 MW), Talcher STPS. The low NOx combustion system will be delivered in a phased manner over a period of over 30 months.
"We are truly delighted to have received this prestigious order from NTPC which is reflective of the commitment of GE towards helping the country address the critical issue of emission from the coal power plants. With more than 150 GW of coal-fired plants operating at sub-critical level, India is the world's second largest NOx emitter, contributing close to 30% of annual NOx emissions of the country's industrial sector", said Lalit Sankrani, Clean Combustion Leader – GE South Asia.
"While the industry is slowly waking up to adopt new technologies such as flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) for curbing SOx emissions from thermal power plants, there is still a journey to be covered as far as addressing NOx emissions are concerned. It is high time de-Nox solutions are also taken seriously to address the emissions compliance needs for the country," he further added.
Earlier in September 2018, GE was selected by NTPC and Tata Chemicals to upgrade two coal-fired boilers in India with low NOx firing system, namely NTPC's two 490 thermal plant in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh and the two 136 TPH Boiler Tata Chemicals Ltd in Mithapur, Gujarat, which was the first standalone order for low NOx firing system upgrade in any coal-fired utility and industrial boilers respectively in India.
Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/11042019/ge-power-wins-contract-for-nox-reduction-technology-across-10-gw-of-indian-power-plants/
Queensland coal exports set new record
The 11% increase on the same month last year highlights the increasing demand from world markets for Queensland's coal.
India coal news


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Moving & Packing Supplies
Moving Pricing
Truck Loading & Unloading
Have to Move in the Midst of a Shelter-in-Place Order
TAMPA, FL – College HUNKS Hauling Junk and Moving®, the leading moving and junk removal company known for delivering on its strong promise to provide trust & care, continues to provide a safe option for those who must move during shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders. For individuals who were in the process of buying a new home, experiencing lease endings, or relocating for school of job opportunities, finding a way move posed as an unexpected challenge. However, with the safety precautions companies such as College HUNKS are taking, customers can still be provided the essential moving services needed for a stress-free move.
As a national transportation, logistics and waste hauling company, College HUNKS trucks and teams are assisting moving; junk pickup; transportation of needed supplies; warehousing and storage; bulk trash and dumpster alternatives; waste and refuse disposal; and delivery of goods to businesses and homes.
"In most areas, we are still operating as an essential business under the Transportation & Logistics sector and we feel a responsibility to serve our customers in this time of need. We are privileged to be able to ease the stress of clients who would be stranded without our help," says Nick Friedman, co-founder and president of College HUNKS Hauling Junk and Moving.
College HUNKS has also added an express curbside pickup option for those who want to get rid of extra items while they are spring cleaning while quarantining, but don't want to come into contact with others. They can pay by phone and leave their items outside for pickup.
The company is also taking safety precautions to ensure the health of their team members and clients, following the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) measures and has instituted employee temperature checks and is disinfecting their trucks after each job. "We value the safety of each of our clients and team members," said Omar Soliman, co-founder and CEO of College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving. "Beyond monitoring the situation and consulting with local public health officials, we have protocols in place, which mandate that every franchise across the country practices new safety measures such as eliminating our daily team huddles."
About College HUNKS Hauling Junk and Moving
College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving® was originally founded by two college buddies with a beat-up cargo van and now has over 100 franchises providing full-service tech-enabled residential and commercial moving, junk removal, donation pickups, and labor services in the United States as well as Canada. H.U.N.K.S., which stands for Honest, Uniformed, Nice, Knowledgeable, Service, is a socially conscious, values-based organization, and has a national partnership with Feeding Children Everywhere, which strives to end childhood hunger. For every service the HUNKS complete, two nutritious meals are donated to a family or child in need, and within 3 years of this partnership, donations have exceeded one-million meals. Today, the company strives to become recognized as an iconic brand, renowned for its world-class company culture and service, while also providing a viable employment and franchise opportunity to pursue personal and professional fulfillment. https://www.collegehunkshaulingjunk.com
Best Junk Removal Service (4)
Brand Central Careers (3)
Corporate Movers (1)
Donating (13)
Furniture Movers (5)
Home Moving Services (13)
Junk Hauling & Removal (49)
Junk Pick Up (5)
Meet the Team (21)
Donation Pick Ups


text:
L'Open de Greenwich 2010 est l'édition 2010 du tournoi de squash Open de Greenwich qui se déroule du 21 au 24 janvier 2010 à Greenwich (Connecticut). Le tournoi fait partie de la catégorie WSA Silver 30 et il est doté de  de prix.

Le tableau est composé de 16 participantes dont quatre joueuses qualifiées.

Alison Waters remporte son  titre face à Omneya Abdel Kawy après trois finales perdues.

Têtes de série

Tableau final

Références

Voir aussi

Articles connexes
 Open de Greenwich
 Saison 2010 de la WSA

Open de Greenwich (Connecticut)
Sport aux États-Unis en janvier 2010
Squash en 2010


Our review post / Hacktoberfest is back!
Some cool stuff that got PR'd for this challenge: tkinter, argparse, pytest, wxPython, Django, awesome, no?!
Other learnings we spotted in Pull Requests for other challenges this week: collections, itertools, xml files, list comprehensions.
Keep the PRs coming, again specially this Hacktoberfest month!


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Listen Hear
In Salon's latest CD roundup, the Counting Crows get Petty, the Flaming Lips reinvent and Marianne Faithfull shacks up with younger men -- again.
July 30, 2002 11:00PM (UTC)
The Counting Crows "Hard Candy" (Geffen)
Oasis "Heathen Chemistry" (Sony)
We live in the Age of Ersatz, and despite our protestations, we regularly indulge in its ubiquitous and undeniable charms. I'm sipping on a Starbucks grande latte as I write this, purchased at the simulacrum of a mom-and-pop boho coffee shop on the corner when I could have walked half a block further and supported the real thing. Such is life -- sometimes the easy way wins out.
There is no heavy lifting and zero authenticity in the new offerings from the Counting Crows and Oasis, but they have their winning moments nonetheless. As entire albums -- works that we will return to again and again to revel in their collected charms -- both fall flat. But neither can be written off completely, as each offers moments of simple, fleeting pleasure.
Well aware that poppy roots-rock is hardly the flavor of the moment on modern-rock radio (witness the sad obsolescence of the Wallflowers), the Counting Crows are determined to be noticed on "Hard Candy," compromising their earlier principled stands (no lip-syncing; no "selling out," man) by appearing in a Coca-Cola commercial and avoiding some of the more ambitious, Van Morrison-style experiments of the last few discs in an all-out effort to craft concise, catchy Tom Petty-ish singles full of chiming guitars and anthemic choruses.
At this they succeed: "Miami" and "American Girls" (even the name screams Petty) may be the best tunes they've ever wrought. When they pop up on the car radio as I'm hopping from button to button, I will not change the channel; sprinkled in amid the Dave Matthews and the Nickelback, the Counting Crows tunes seem like a joyful revelation. But that doesn't mean I want to endure Adam Durwitz's shallow, solipsistic whining about his romantic woes ("I can never get enough of love") at any length greater than three and a half minutes at a time, no matter how sweet the manufactured musical backings.
With the subtlest of variations, the brothers Gallagher have now made the same album five times, but auteur Noel keeps coming up with enough minor twists on that wonderfully dreamy psychedelic buzz to make for pleasant listening, even if Oasis have never come close to approaching the creativity of fellow Brit-poppers Blur, Pulp or even the relatively obscure Boo Radleys. Advance buzz on "Heathen Chemistry" -- which is produced by the band and mixed by Mark Spike Stent (U2, Madonna, Björk) -- claimed that the group was turning toward alternative country. But aside from a few twangy acoustic guitars added to the psychedelic drone behind Liam's standard warbling about how he gets "so high I just can't feel it," there's little noticeable difference in the formula.
When exposed to individual tunes such as "The Hindu Times" and the now-expected Liam and Noel solo turns ("Songbird" and "Force of Nature," respectively), I don't mind a bit: Oasis may be spending an entire career rewriting three or four key songs on the Beatles' "Revolver," but "Revolver" is still, after all, one of the best rock albums ever made.
Of course, with both Oasis and the Counting Crows the question remains: Why listen to "Hard Candy" or "Heathen Chemistry" when you could turn instead to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Greatest Hits" or "Revolver" itself?
Maybe we're just too lazy to walk that extra half a block.
-- Jim DeRogatis
The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (Warner Bros.)
Talk about difficult follow-ups. The Flaming Lips' 1999 release "The Soft Bulletin" inspired a collective critical spasm comparable only to the thesaurus-driven backflips caused by the latest Wilco album. For the Lips, it represented a third (fourth?) bout with overnight success in an almost 20-year career.
It turns out that "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is an album as utterly out of sorts with the Flaming Lips' history as "The Soft Bulletin" was with the albums that preceded it. In fact, reconciling the sound on "Yoshimi" with the sound of any Flaming Lips album is nearly impossible. (Even Wayne Coyne's vocal warblings -- long an identifiable mark of the Lips' music -- are nearly unrecognizable here.) Though it shares some of "The Soft Bulletin's" lush airiness, "Yoshimi" exists in an entirely different space.
There is not one rock song here, nor the themes that have been strewn across the Lips' 11 or so full-length records. No songs about bugs. No songs about Jesus. No ear-splitting youthful distortion. In fact, precious few of the hooks that made the dense beauty of "The Soft Bulletin" so accessible are present. "Yoshimi" is the sound of pop effluvia. The leftovers. The sounds that are stuck in the rear surround-sound speakers; the left channel Mellotron in a Beatles outtake; the bass line you hear in the shower; the drum machine sound that Sly Stone used on "Fresh." Leftovers. Imagine an entire album of that, but dressed with irresistible melodies and an inescapable, undefined poppiness.
Even the single "Do You Realize?" is utterly insubstantial, never taking the properly full-bodied form that a pop song is supposed to take. Yet it, like the rest of "Yoshimi," is completely engaged and, well, complete. A song like "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 2" sounds like a band covering the French duo Air rockin' out in outer space, while "Are You a Hypnotist?" is founded upon what sounds like a warped church organ record. In other words there are few points of reference here, other than the fact that what you hear sounds right, but not correct.
As rock 'n' roll wears itself out, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is the sound of valiant ragpickers threading the scraps together with wispy pop glue, handing up a gentle thing of vaguely identifiable pieces and parts; something simultaneously familiar and foreign, both beautiful and completely odd. Suffering neither from irony nor from overwrought context, "Yoshimi" is a record that can -- and must -- live outside of its time and place.
-- Jason Ferguson
Marianne Faithfull "Kissin' Time" (Virgin)
Let's face it: A lot of guys have a long-standing obsession about the experienced older woman, and sexy though they were, neither Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft or Kathleen Turner) had anything on Marianne Faithfull. Yeah, sure, of course -- she is an unassailably cool embodiment of rock history, a living link to the Swinging London of the mid-'60s ("As Tears Go By"!), the hedonistic decadence of the early '70s ("Sister Morphine"!) and the energizing, angry punk from later in that decade ("Broken English"!). And unlike the Rolling Stones, she's done very little in subsequent years to dishonor that proud legacy.
Still, I suspect that the reasons some of the leading talents of Generation X were so ready, willing and eager to assist on Faithfull's newest is that they were anxious to ask her about that legendary Mars bar; they just couldn't say no when she called, and they all had a bit of a crush. The strongest contributions on this, her best album since 1981's "Dangerous Acquaintances," come courtesy of Beck and former Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan (who guest on and co-write three and two of the 10 tracks, respectively), and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp and Damon Albarn of Blur, who both indulge their long-standing fascinations with Mod London by giving its most famed femme fatale one potent track each.
Going back to the Stones, one of Faithfull's biggest talents has been the ability to choose appropriate collaborators, and to seduce/inspire them into giving her their very best. But placing too much emphasis on the hired help shortchanges her biggest assets: her distinctive rasp (the sound of a dozen cigarettes inhaled before breakfast) and the piercing wit of those literary, licentious lyrics. The opening "Sex With Strangers" (one of the Beck tracks) is a delightfully creepy electronic homage to some very unsafe sexual activities; "Song for Nico" is a touching homage to another infamously drug-plagued '60s sex goddess who didn't have the survival gene that Faithfull seems blessed with, and "Sliding Through Life on Charm" is the sort of sassy and erudite confessional that Ray Davies gave up writing a decade and a half ago, as well as an honest and open-eyed confession about her modus operandi.
When David Bowie snares the likes of Dave Grohl and Moby to help boost his hipster cred, it plays like the shallow posing that it is. It's testament to the strength of Faithfull's considerable charisma and endearing croak that she's never overshadowed by the male musicians in her life. They simply prostrate themselves at her feet and do the dominating diva's bidding, and all of us reap the rewards.
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com2002/07/30/listen3/