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Album Review: Courtney Barnett – "Tell Me How You Really Feel"
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Beth Winchester May 25, 2018 0 0
Mom+Pop Music
Courtney Barnett's Tell Me How You Really Feel, hotly anticipated after the success of her last solo release in 2015, takes some of that heat, compacts it and turns it inward before sending it out in a flurry of blistering guitar work and trademark sardonic vocals.
Barnett has stated that this album is part of a look at herself and her own tendencies towards "jittery personal anxieties," and a strong effort to lean into, examine, and accept those feelings rather than attempt to stay distant from them or ignore them. The embrace of anxiety lends the album a lot of its nervous, sometimes angry, energy and is pervasive in the lyrics. Occasionally the "too real" recollections of resigned exhaustion with surroundings and people, or frustration with Internet trolls, or reminders to calm down and relax may wear after a bit. When it does, though, Barnett's trademark dry delivery of superficially mundane statements perks up your interest and the screeching guitars and sometimes sauntering rhythm keep you engaged throughout most of the 10-track album.
The album begins and ends slowly, with the first track being more successful at building your interest than the final track is at keeping you awake until the final minutes. "Hopefulessness," with its unnecessarily tangled title is one of the best songs on the album. On her previous record, Sometimes I Sit And Think…, Barnett launched you into her official debut with a jaunty track followed shortly by the blast of rock that is "Pedestrian At Best," and you still had to wait for a few more tracks until you got to the slow burn splendor of "Small Poppies." This album cuts to the chase—in general, it feels like a more economical delivery of personality and message than Sometimes—and begins the album with its own slow-burn number. "Hopefulessness" builds until Barnett reaches the lyrics "I'm getting louder now," and her guitar screeches to life with ghostly feedback effects and continues to create a chaotic effect for the final minute of the song. Is it a bit on-the-nose? Well, yes, but it also rocks. The added sound of what seems to literally be a kettle whistling and steaming—the very sound of anxiety?—caps the song and sends you into the meat of the album.
"City Looks Pretty" lifts up the energy pretty quickly, and is one of the instantly catchiest songs on the album. Besides that, it might be the one that lingers inside your mind the most afterward. The music is fairly consistent, upbeat and energetic throughout but the lyrics tell a more interesting story than you might think. Barnett sings about everyday events, but underneath her upbeat music and forward movement lays a slight apathy, or resigned acceptance to a less-than-perfect situation. Barnett laments that "friends treat you like a stranger, and strangers treat you like their best friend – oh, well" alongside telling herself that "sometimes I get sad, it's not all that bad/ One day, maybe never/ I'll come around." The resignation in her possible lack of change or progress is an intriguing flavor to add to the album's exploration of anxiety. The song soon drops out, and becomes a lot more lethargic in its second-half, perhaps succumbing to the artist's realization that "I'll never be what you need."
Songs like "Charity" and the long, but appropriately, titled "Crippling Self Doubt And a General Lack of Self Confidence" fill out the album with the kind of rock jams you want from Barnett, but don't distinguish themselves in any major way—excluding the notable and entirely perfect guest backing vocals of Kim and Kelley Deal on "Crippling…".
In-between those tracks, however, are a trio of interesting, satisfying songs. "Need A Little Time" is very much a part of the "loud quiet loud" rock tradition, to great effect, and Barnett's vocals glide through the song in a weary, slightly more vulnerable, way than they usually do. "Nameless, Faceless"—right in the middle of the album—was the first single and is still a stand-out track. It's an excellent, full-blooded righteous "fuck you" to the nameless, faceless taunters and trolls of the Internet who say they could write better songs than Barnett with their alphabet soup ("but you didn't," she reminds them). Her dry delivery is used perfectly to bounce between faux-pity for the sad boys, who "must be lonely/being angry/feeling over-looked," to her own desire to "walk through the park in the dark" without arming herself with key-knuckles. Her inclusion of Margaret Atwood's line that "men are scared women will laugh at them, women are scared that men will kill them" is perfect for her vocal style, as her natural ability to make everything sound like a dark joke fits with this Atwood-ism that is already structured like a distortion of a joke. The combination of Barnett and Atwood's words reads as a frustrated, pitiless "piss off" to the trolls: Oh, you're sad because people don't like you and a woman you don't like is more successful than you? Well, I'm sad because I feel unsafe in my own skin. Boo hoo. It's a very cathartic song, one which—gee, for some reason—frequently finds itself bouncing around my head.
That song is followed, almost like a quick chaser, by "I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch," which as the shortest song on the album at less than two minutes is a pure piece of Barnett's punk-rock soul. It's full of screeching guitars and distorted vocals, with extra-assured vocal delivery and no patience for fools. It gets in, gets out and leaves you with a tiny dose of rock-adrenaline.
After the strength of the middle of the album, the last few tracks feel a little more like "traditional" Courtney Barnett. All the qualities you want are there—electrifying guitars, those vocals, and sharp lyrics—but the songs don't particularly stand out as songs to remember outside of when you're listening to the album or the Barnett discography. "Help Your Self" features more carefully-placed bursts of squealing guitar, with an ambling beat that is almost cute, but earworm-y nonetheless.
The final two tracks, "Walkin' On Eggshells" and "Sunday Roast" are both a bit muted, although they have a nice message—tying up the themes of the album—to say what you want, let out your feelings, even if they're anxiety-ridden, and let yourself be helped. Compared to the electric energy of the first 8 tracks, however, it sends you away from the album (on a fadeout!) with a sadder, slower mood than what you had been experiencing for most of the album.
Tell Me How You Really Feel is a solid entry into Barnett's career. She delivers what she does best: the droll lyrics, screeching guitars and a bold perspective, but a few quiet or forgettable moments even on this relatively short album let the energy flag for sometimes too many minutes at a time.
Courtney Barnett - "Tell Me How You Really Feel"
Tags 2018 music Courtney Barnett tell me how you really feel
Beth Winchester
Beth is a pop culture lover currently resident of Maryland, and a past resident of Rochester, Prague and New Orleans. Her favorite musician is Jenny Lewis and her favorite TV show is "Mad Men," and she isn't sure what that says about her.
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True Investment Opportunity! Real estate is one of the most reliable hedges against inflation and where better to own than Siesta Key. These gorgeous Vacation Duplexes are steps to the award-winning white sandy beach. Inviting Tropical Paradise with waterfall ponds sets the stage. Immaculately cared for and updated. First level you will discover (2) 1 Bed/1 Bath Units and on the second level a (2) 2 Bed/2 Bath Units. Your tenants will soak up the atmosphere while enjoying private decks, patios and wraparound Decks. Turnkey furnished with tasteful dcor and tiled living areas, updated kitchen and bathrooms plus newer windows and doors. Gorgeous Blue Lagoon Pool and Spa tucked around by greenery is pure relaxation and escape to soothe the soul. Benefit from sellers pride of ownership. Sarasota continues to flourish and ranks among the best places to live, retire and own rental property. Population growth, increase in property values and attracts new residents. Prime location and close to thriving arts and cultural scenes.
Additional Lease Restrictions Per County.
Amenities Additional Fees The Pool is Shared With 1011-1013 Point Of Rocks. Mls A4425691 Both Properties Are To Be Sold in Conjunction.


ST. LOUIS, MO – With its housing facilities aging, Emporia State University in Kansas responded to input from students, parents and alumni to create inviting residential spaces on campus. University administrators decided to construct a 324-bed living/learning community for ESU students to replace two outdated residence halls on campus. St. Louis, Missouri, -based KWK Architects was hired as the design architect on the $22 million project, with HTK Architects of Topeka, Kansas, serving as the architect-of-record.
The design of the new 91,000-square-foot building, recently named Schallenkamp Hall after the university's 14th president, Dr. Kay Schallenkamp, features four stories and three residential wings, each with a variety of bedroom configurations (doubles, accessible doubles, singles and singles + bathroom). The residential wings are also designed with lounge areas, corridors with natural light and community bathrooms that afford privacy.
"The entire design process for Schallenkamp Hall has maintained focus on the creation of intentional places and spaces for community and learning to develop and deepen," said Cass Coughlin, Director, Department of Residential Life, Emporia State University. "The design of a learning commons as the hall's 'front porch' connects the liberal arts and sciences to the residents via music practice rooms, an art studio, and several areas for group collaboration and study. The design looks great on paper, but Schallenkamp Hall will not realize its full potential and beauty until students past, present and future and the Lyon County community animate the building and its design intents."


[linux-dvb] Re: syslog: av7110_fw_request: timeout waiting for HANDSHAKE_REG - What does this mean?
Next message: [linux-dvb] Re: syslog: av7110_fw_request: timeout waiting for HANDSHAKE_REG - What does this mean?
see the error messages in my logs for the whole day.
Today in the morning I remembered turning on "PCI access mode = Direct"
kernel with the default setting "PCI access mode = Any". I think "Any"
means the kernel tried the BIOS first.
compiled your kernel with any other setting than "PCI access mode = Any"?
Btw. this is a Shuttle AN35N NForce2 Board with a 1700+.


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MapleStory 2 Announced To Enter Thailand Market
Maplestoryer Date: May/29/17 21:28:06 Views: 744
It is clear to us to see each other. The legendary online game MapleStory 2, or the newest version of the game has been popular with Thai gamers very much since the first. Until the launch of Part 2, the flow back to the strength is doubled. With the character and style of the play is more 3D as compared to the first 2D Side Scroll.
After the Nexon Thailand has been announced to enter the Thai market is very hard by announcing a variety of staff positions from customer service to Korean Translator or Korean translation team. Looking back on this game in hand, Nexon Thailand has been launched, such as HIT, Fantasy War Tactics R, Chaos Chronicle, Dynasty Warrior Unleashed, or ARENA Master, most of which are handheld games. Hold and do not need to use more staff as advertised, but it is not. "There are new games that are about to open?"
As for the "new games that are about to open", I went back and forth to see what the possibility of a new game was. If it is a mobile game, then DURANGO is quite high, because the latest has opened a long test. Well, at one point before closing to improve and develop a point where there are still problems, and get a good flow from around the world. With the novelty of the game Survivor Survivor life from the dinosaur species.
But ... if it is a side of the online game. It must be said that this year is a golden year ever at home games we are interested in coming back to play more games online. After a while, weight will be leaning to the side of the mobile game no less. But most of them are still playing mobile games and online games. View from the Blade and Soul Open Beta Open soon to see how hard it is not sure that Nexon Thailand is not calm, plus the game in hand. If you choose to take a cool. Open in Thailand, it is not strange to see?
Then online games that MapleStory 2 is not a game because it has a base of players from the first. There is also a community server who play abroad on a consistent island. So far, we have invested in ways to top up to play well. I say that there is a chance MapleStory 2 is quite high because the latter. We will notice that the fan page Nexon Thailand began to release images about this game to see. Or provocative people waiting to play out a lot. Lastly, it's slow or fast.
Another possible game is that the request is still not valid. But it is one of the options if Nexon Thailand wants to move forward to penetrate the online game market in Thailand fully is to send Tree of Savior in Thailand. This is said to be a collage analysis from many aspects, which may be open only MapleStory 2 or if the jackpot break may play both games, it is who will know.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


To each egg take 2 tablespoonfuls of tomato juice, which has been strained through a sieve; pepper and salt to taste. Butter a cup for each egg. Beat up the eggs, mix them with the tomato juice, season to taste, and divide into the buttered cups. Cover each cup with buttered paper, place them in a saucepan with boiling water, and steam the eggs for 10 minutes. Serve the eggs on buttered Allinson wholemeal toast.


I had a feeling adding support for chains would not be too difficult. However, it took just over 4 hours to get it all working. The difficult part with this one was positioning the chain segments properly. When they are placed incorrectly, the physics simulation corrects them by applying forces, which causes horrific jitter.
As part of the positioning, the rotation of each segment is also important. For this, I just used Chipmunk's excellent vector methods. The first step is getting the difference between the vectors, normalizing them to 0..1, and finally converting the resulting vector to an angle. For the position, I just use Chipmunk's built-in vector linear interpolation function. It's excellent!
There's one known bug that the segments nearest to each point on the chain are initialized with an incorrect rotation, and the positions are non-optimal. It creates a little bit of jitter, but it's not completely broken! It could be better.
The pulleys are just circles which are anchored to the default static body with pivot joints. Friction causes them rotate as the chain slides over.
The other obvious change for tonight is that most objects (but not all) are initialized with a random color. This was part of an API update for the object constructors.


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Gulliver's Travels Movie with Jack Black - Dec 2010
Gulliver's Travels Movie Home Page
Gulliver's Travels Movie Trailers, Videos, Jack Black interview, etc.
Jack Black Biography
Gulliver's Travels Movie News
Older Gulliver's Travels Movies & TV Shows
Lemuel Gulliver is a mailroom clerk at a New York newspaper and wannabe travel writer. Gulliver bluffs his way into an assignment about the secret to the Bermuda Triangle. A storm-tossed voyage lands him on an undiscovered island inhabited by Lilliputians who are humans but only six inches tall. At first enslaved by the Liliputians, he later becomes a bigger-than-life figure especially after he starts telling tall tales, taking credit for his world's greatest inventions, and placing himself at the center of its most historic events.
Things couldn't be going better, until Gulliver chickens out in the face of danger when he has to defend the Lilliputians from their longtime enemies. Gulliver must then find a way to undo the damage. Gulliver only becomes a true giant among men when he learns that it is how big you are on the inside that counts. Gulliver's Travels is directed by Rob Letterman and stars Jack Black as Gulliver, Amanda Peet as Gulliver's secret crush; Emily Blunt as the Princess of Lilliput and Jason Segel as Horatio.
You can watch Gulliver's Travels movie trailers or read the latest movie news here. Scroll down for movie photos & movie reviews.
Gulliver's Travels in Lilliput
Gulliver's Travels in Brobdingnag
Gulliver's Travels in Laputa
Gulliver's Travels in Houyhnhnm
Gulliver Movie Trailers 2010
Gulliver's Movie Classics
Gulliver's Travels Movie Photos
Note - TM and copyright of all movie pictures and videos by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation
Gulliver (Jack Black) shares a moment with newspaper editor - and the object of his as yet unrevealed affections - Darcy Silverman (Amanda Peet)
Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) shares a moment in the elevator with newspaper editor Darcy Silverman (Amanda Peet) in the modern version of the Gulliver's Travels Movie
Upon his arrival in Liliput, Gulliver (Jack Black) is restrained by the Liliputians
Gulliver (Jack Black) first impressions of Liliput where he is bound & lifted.
Gulliver (Jack Black) first impressions of Liliput are not happy ones
Gulliver Standing tall !!
Gulliver ( Jack Black) and new best pal Horatio ( Jason Segel) seal their friendship with a fist-bump
Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) get acquainted with the citizens of Liliput
Gulliver (Jack Black) is about to free the kidnapped princess ( Emily Blunt)
Gulliver's Travels Movie Review By Various Critics
"Gulliver's Travels" is one of those movies that falls between complete disaster and loads of fun. Mild amusement is probably about right. Betsy Sharkey in Los Angeles Times
Black was already the world's biggest little kid, and he might be the only actor who could have made this movie such nimble fun. No matter how thin the concept, Black always manages to make it his own. Kyle Smith in New York Post
An effects-driven children's movie enlivened by Jack Black but deadened by over reliance on those effects.
Increasingly, studios are slapping 3D on movies not to add entertainment value but to conceal a lack of dimension in a movie's story or characters. While not the worst in recent 3D films, "Gulliver's Travels" is more gimmicky than a crackling good yarn.The film feels rushed and slight at every point. Thanks to inspired clowning by Jack Blackand a solid cast that breathes life into an inert story, the movie works as a moderately entertaining children's movie. Kirk Honeycutt in The hollywood reporter
I mean - really - do you have a burning desire to see Jack Black's buttocks? Blown up, in the land of Lilliput, to 12 times their normal size? I didn't think so Stephen Whitty in Newark Star-Ledger
Gulliver's Travels strips the source material down to its recognizable parts and then builds something completely new out of them. Unfortunately, the result is entirely Lilliputian in ambition, even for a children's movie. Keith Staskiewicz in Entertainment Weekly
I was but seldom inspired to peals of true laughter, though I did relish that part when Mr. Black, confronting a fire raging in the Palace of Lilliput, douses the blaze through heroic use of such means as Nature has provided him. A.O. Scott in New York Times
If you've been possessed of a burning desire to behold Jack Black's belly flab in 3D, then I am delighted to announce that your moment has arrived. What's that? You say it's Black's buttcrack you crave the sight of, rendered in three glorious dimensions? This, my friend, is your lucky day....
..... But it's the overall moral of the film that embodies its greatest instance of satire, in how it comments on the current state of American society. One need not be clever, hardworking, and talented to succeed -- in fact, such things are detriments to success, turning one either evil (Edward) or a sucker (Darcy). The best way to make good for oneself is to avoid all work, wisecrack a lot, and expect others to look after you... and all good things will come your way. What a hoot! at flickfilosopher.com
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37 Out-of-this-World Photos: Earth from Above
Tagged aerial photography, Aurora, Earth, ESA, ISS, NASA, space, spacecraft, travel
Aerial photography can give us awesome perspectives, but when we zoom out and then observe the Big Blue Marble from high above, such as the breathtaking views of Earth from the ISS, it's an eye-opening experience for most of us. Internationally, many countries have satellites and spacecrafts with their unblinking eyes focused on the Earth. These amazing photos offer us a unique window overlooking our world; viewing the Earth from above offers a stunning opportunity to see our wonderful planet in out-of-our-world ways that most humans will never experience in their lifetime. [37 Photos]
Aurora Australis and Daybreak. The Aurora Australis, seen at right on Earth's horizon, and daybreak (left) highlight this 'busy' photograph taken by one of the Expedition 30 crew members aboard the International Space Station. Photo #1 by NASA
The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission makes global observations of soil moisture over Earth's landmasses and salinity over the oceans. Photo #2 by ESA/AOES Medialab
Earth as seen from the ISS: A 'Green Sea' of Aurora Borealis (NASA, International Space Station, 01-25-12). Photo #3 by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
Earth at Night. Photo #4 by NASA
The Second Palm Island, Dubai. The islands are being built in shallow waters of the wide contintental shelf found off Dubai, using millions of cubic metres of sand dredged from the approach channel to the Jebel Ali port ? seen here adjacent to the artificial island named after it. Photo #5 by © SSTL through ESA
The Earth Observatory wrote, "Surrounded by darker, deeper ocean waters, coral atolls often glow in vibrant hues of turquoise, teal, peacock blue, or aquamarine. Belize's Lighthouse Reef Atoll fits this description, with its shallow waters covering light-colored coral: the combination of water and pale corals creates varying shades of blue-green. Within this small sea of light colors, however, lies a giant circle of deep blue. Roughly 300 meters (1,000 feet) across and 125 meters (400 feet) deep, the feature is known as the Great Blue Hole." Photo #6 by NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER
Banks Peninsula, New Zealand — a country offering snow-capped Alps and subtropics. Photo #7 by European Space Agency
The Moon and Earth from the ISS with love (NASA, International Space Station, 01/08/12). Photo #8 by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
IKONOS Venice. The Venetian Lagoon, a crescent-shaped body of water between the Italian mainland and the Adriatic Sea, covers 550 sq km and has an average depth of approximately one metre. The lagoon and Venice were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Photo #9 by European Space Imaging (EUSI)
Beautiful Bora Bora Island, Polynesia. Photo #10 by loki010 via reddit
Earth as seen from the ISS: Atlantic Coast at Night (NASA, International Space Station, 02/06/12). Photo #11 by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
The ESA wrote, ESA's micro-satellite Proba observes the active Bromo volcano, a popular tourist attraction of East Java in Indonesia. Photo #12 by © SSTL through ESA
Great Red Island, Madagascar: "The southwestern area of Madagascar — the fourth largest island in the world — is highlighted in this Envisat image. The green coloured body of water visible just below the Mangoky River is Lake Ihotry. The Isalo National Park, which is located to the right in the image in the burnt orange area." Photo #13 by ESA
Society Islands: "This Proba CHRIS image shows a typical atoll belonging to the Society Islands, part of the overseas territory of French Polynesia. The atoll is made of a deep central lagoon surrounded by submerged reefs and a small inlet, the main landstrip (8km long, 500m large) is densely vegetated." Photo #14 by © SSTL through ESA
Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River: "China's longest river and its second largest lake are central features of this Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) image. Dongting Lake is the large L-shaped body of water, seen towards bottom right in the image. It – and the Central Yangtze region in general – is an important habitat for numerous aquatic species including the Yangtze freshwater dolphin. Dongting's total area varies considerably as Yangtze flood waters pour into the lake between July and September, the period within which this image was acquired." Photo #15 by European Space Agency
Holbox Island, Yucatan "One of the world's most important ecosystems, Holbox and its surrounding waters are part of the Yum Balam Biosphere Reserve. Its unspoiled beaches of fine white coralline sands are important for turtle nesting, and over 500 bird species can be found here. Caboe Catoche, the cape at the eastern tip of the island (right), is where the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea meet. Their mingling waters create a kaleidoscope of turquoise and emerald hues." Photo #16 by KARI, ESA
Southeastern U.S. at Night as seen from the ISS (NASA, International Space Station, 10/18/11). Photo #17 by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
Titled "Land of Terror, Sahara, Algeria": The image shows the extraordinary landscape of the Tanezrouft Basin, one of the most desolate parts of the Sahara desert, in south-central Algeria. The region is known as 'land of terror' because of its lack of water and vegetation. Photo #18 by JAXA, ESA
The Chishima Islands and Hokkaido as seen from the space shuttle. Photo #19 by NASA
Agricultural fields radiate away from the well-defined outer boundaries of Hajdúböszörmény, Hungary, Hungary. The dark areas on the right are dense forests. Photo #20 by NASA Earth Observatory images created by Robert Simmon, using Landsat data provided by the United States Geological Survey
Rugen, Germany: "The icy waters of the Baltic Sea surrounding Germany's largest island, Rügen, are pictured in this image from Japan's ALOS observation satellite. Sea ice blankets the surrounding brackish waters, hugging the island's shores with its many peninsulas. The white lines that cut through larger ice-covered bodies of water are the remnants of ice-breaking boats and ships." Photo #21 by ESA
Earth Observatory: "From its vantage 824 kilometers (512 miles) above Earth, the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite gets a complete view of our planet every day. This image from November 24, 2011, is the first complete global image from VIIRS." Photo #22 by NASA's NPP Land Product Evaluation and Testing Element
Heart Island, Croatia. Photo #23 by JAXA, ESA
From the ISS: Aurora Australis Over New Zealand, Tasman Sea (NASA, International Space Station, 09/17/11). Photo #24 by NASA
Koror within the Caroline Islands of Palau "are visible in this Proba CHRIS image. The islands lie on the equator, 850km east of the Philippines. The population of Palau is approx. 20.000 the majority of which live on the island of Koror. A town of the same name at the top of the island serves as the capital." Photo #25 by © SSTL through ESA
Previous Launching Pad for Space Shuttle Endeavour at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Photo #26 by Google Maps / GeoEye
The Alps form a great crescent-shaped ridge extending from the Mediterranean to Austria. Photo #27 by NASA image courtesy of GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
Salty Lakes, Iran's Neyriz Lakes, "Lake Bakhtegan (center) and Lake Tashk (top), situated in the Neyriz Basin, are salty lakes in the southeastern Zagros Mountains with fluctuating water levels according to rain and snowfall in the mountains." Photo #28 by JAXA, ESA
Disneyland Park, Disneyland Drive, Anaheim, CA. Photo #29 by Google Maps / GeoEye
Comet Lovejoy Fading (NASA, International Space Station, 12/27/11). Photo #30 by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
Earth Observatory, "Stretching across part of southwestern Bangladesh and southeastern India, the Sundarbans is the largest remaining tract of mangrove forest in the world. The Sundarbans is a tapestry of waterways, mudflats, and forested islands at the edge of the Bay of Bengal. Home to the endangered Bengal tiger, sharks, crocodiles, and freshwater dolphins, as well as nearly two hundred bird species, this low-lying plain is part of the Mouths of the Ganges. The area has been protected for decades by the two countries as a National Park, despite the large human populations concentrated to the north….This satellite image shows the forest in the protected area. The Sundarbans appears deep green, surrounded to the north by a landscape of agricultural lands, which appear lighter green, towns, which appear tan, and streams, which are blue. Ponds for shrimp aquaculture, especially in Bangladesh, sit right at the edge of the protected area, a potential problem for the water quality and biodiversity of the area." Photo #31 by NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the University of Maryland's Global Land Cover Facility
Dubai's artificial islands: "Two manmade islands 'Palm Jumeirah (left) and The World' located just off the coast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Palm Jumeirah is the smallest of three massive palm-shaped islands, which also include Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira. The World (photo #7) is a collection of 300 islets, each ranging in size from 23 226 to 83 613 sq m, built in the shape of a world map." Photo #32 by © SSTL through ESA
Nebraska: "This 1-meter IKONOS satellite image depicts a crop field at Offutt Air Force Base in which the words 'Thank You! For Freedom!' are visible all the way from space." Photo #33 by © GeoEye
Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Photo #34 by European Space Agency
Crater Lake, Oregon is featured in this image photographed by the International Space Station. Photo #35 by NASA
Moon Over Earth as seen from ISS. Photo #36 by NASA
The Earth and Moon. Photo #37 by NASA
13 Responses to "37 Out-of-this-World Photos: Earth from Above"
Monday Grab Bag of Links … | The Pretense of Knowledge says:
[…] 37 Fantastic Photos of Earth from Above Ghosts of Gemini Forgotten photos show the human face of NASA's early astronaut […]
Bora Bora | HEY LAURENT IS HERE says:
[…] lovethesepics.com […]
William Villaire says:
These wonderful photographs not do the actual size or specter of these subjects any real greatness, of sight or actual mass.
jarrah says:
pls send me wonderful photographs andany real greatness, of sight or actual mass.
Η ΓΗ ΑΠΟ ΨΗΛΑ ΜΕ ΤΗ ΒΟΗΘΕΙΑ ΤΗΣ NASA Νο 1 « A Green Observer says:
[…] ΠΗΓΗ Love These Pics lovethesepics.com […]
28 Absolutely Great NASA Satellite Photos Showcasing the Earth's Art says:
[…] 37 Out-of-this-World Photos: Earth from Above […]
Enoch Wadas says:
At the International Space Station ISS repairs are often needed on the exterior, the problem is it is a lot of work to send out a manned space walk to do this. Astronauts need oxygen and they have the problems of human error. Yet if we use robots, well they do not complain, unless programmed too. Robots in fact could spend months to fix something, astronauts five day space walk missions are about all we can muster right now and if we cannot get it done in time, imagine the cost for another launch. What about Fatigue factors, which take a toll on the organic components of the human body? Costs to send up a space crew to do repairs can be millions if not billions of dollars.
Paul carey (madmaz) | Pearltrees says:
Sekmadienis su StumbleUpon #313 · Radiocool.lt says:
[…] Iš viršaus […]
Huguenin-Photography says:
Amazing images!
Glaufx Garland says:
So beautiful planet. so pity that stupidity rules on. we need to walk to better days before it's too late
John, UK says:
Mesmerising collection of images that really show what a jewel of a planet we are entrusted with, we need to love it more !
thanks for taking time to show the beauty of life.
Leave a Reply to 28 Absolutely Great NASA Satellite Photos Showcasing the Earth's Art


Our weekly Saturday Block Party crew sharing their love and gratitude.
Donate below to join the tribe and make Survivor Contestant, Chris Hammons, pay!
If we raise $10,000 or more SURVIVOR Contestant, CHRIS HAMMONS, will match our $10,000!
homelessness in communities across the country.
Donations of $100+ will receive autographed SURVIVOR memorabilia from contestant, Ken McNickle!
!!Click Here To Donate Today!!
With our Amazon Wishlist we make it easy for you to donate specific goods to any of our programs. Just a couple of clicks and you can send your gifts to those in need. We have a prioritized list that helps you know what we're most in need of but find out what fits best for your budget and know that everything helps. Thank you for your help!
Click here to see our Wishlist!!
The beautiful imagery you see throughout our website is mostly contributed to the talents of Asa Dyer, a local photographer based here in Denver.
A talented artist and a good man, he has donated his time to our cause and we couldn't be more thankful for who he is and what he does.
Not only is this the best auto shop I've had the pleasure of working with as a car owner but owner Ben Burns and his crew have stepped up in a big way to offer their services in finding and fixing a suitable truck for our mobile donation center. To top it off they've also donated $2,000 dollars to the project!!!
Give thanks and give them your business. You can't go wrong.
Starbucks has been a huge help for our Winter Warmer project, donating the coffee for all of our Saturday meet ups. They've been more than generous and their coffee is often the highlight for a lot of those in need of something warm and it has also acted as a catalyst for conversation and some of our best videos for the CUPPAJOE series.
Goodwill has been a huge help in donating blankets, sweaters, jackets, shoes and so much more!
They've been our top contributor as far as material goods and usable items. Thanks to them many are warmer today than they were yesterday!


The largest Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ever offered at auction set a world record at Christie's Geneva on May 18. After a 25-minute bidding war by phone, the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue Diamond became the world's most expensive jewel ever sold at auction, selling for $57.5 million.
Christie's had estimated the Oppenheimer Blue Diamond at $38 million to $45 million, but it smashed the record of $48.4 million achieved just last November for a 12.03-carat Fancy Blue diamond, the Blue Moon, at Sotheby's Geneva.
What Makes The Oppenheimer Blue Diamond So Special?
There are several factors that contributed to the Oppenheimer Blue Diamond's world-record sale. First, by nature of its color, the Oppenheimer Blue is beyond rare. Less than .0001 percent of all diamonds mined are blue, according to Christie's and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
Second, it is classified as a Fancy Vivid Blue diamond, the highest color saturation grading given by the GIA for blue diamonds.
Third, it is large: The Oppenheimer Blue diamond is more than a carat larger than the previous world record-holder.
Fourth, it has an intriguing provenance, or history. The Oppenheimer Blue was named for its former owner, Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who founded the London-based Central Selling Organization, the De Beers-backed diamond cartel that maintained global prices for more than half a century.
A man in Mr. Oppenheimer's position could have had his pick of any diamond in the world, and he chose this one. There is no doubt this special provenance factored into the Oppenheimer Blue's desirability.
In the past year, blue diamonds have achieved unprecedented popularity among collectors who recognize their beauty, rarity and investment potential. In addition to the Oppenheimer Blue and the Blue Moon, a 10.10-carat blue diamond brought $31.8 million at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April. Named the De Beers Millennium Jewel 4, it is the largest oval-shaped Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ever to come to auction.
The Cullinan Dream Blue Diamond.
On June 9, Christie's hopes to continue its blue streak, when a 24.18-carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond dubbed the Cullinan Dream is expected to sell in the range of $23 to $29 million at Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in New York.
Side View of the Cullinan Dream Blue Diamond.
According to National Jeweler, the Cullinan Dream is the largest of four blue diamonds cut from a 122.52-carat piece of rough discovered at the Cullinan mine in South Africa in 2014.
So look to OBJ for more blue diamond news in the weeks and months to come!
Can't get enough diamond news? Here's another article about the blue diamonds, in case you missed it.


text:
Father furious after daughter labelled 'Aussie bludger' by News Corp tabloid
Steven Arman says Sydney tabloid the Daily Telegraph did not sufficiently check its assertions that his daughter Amy was a 'new breed of Aussie bludger'
Amanda Meade
Wed 21 Sep 2016 20.28 EDT Last modified on Tue 13 Mar 2018 12.32 EDT
Amy Arman, 17, who was called an 'Aussie bludger' by the Daily Telegraph but is actually a recent year 12 graduate with a part-time job and is going to Tafe next year.
The first Steven Arman knew of his daughter becoming the public face of a "new breed of Aussie bludger" was when a friend called and told him to pick up a copy of the Daily Telegraph.
There, on the front page of the Sydney tabloid, was Amy and an older friend, Ashleigh, under the banner "Young, able and unwilling to work". A few days later the treasurer, Scott Morrison, was threatening to strip them of Centrelink benefits in an interview with radio host Ray Hadley and the pair had become figures of hate online.
But there was just one problem. Amy wasn't on Centrelink benefits. She had just finished year 12 the week before, she held down a part-time job while at school and she was going to Tafe next year. She was excitedly planning for her year 12 formal next month.
Ashleigh Whiting, 21, and Amy Arman, 17, on the front page of the Daily Telegraph on 15 September 2016. Photograph: News Corp Australia
"We've never been on the dole in our lives," Steven Arman told Guardian Australia. "We are honest people and we own our own home. Our whole family has been dragged through the mud. She is a 17-year-old teenage girl and they should at least have done some checking."
According to the Daily Telegraph, Amy and Ashleigh were typical "Neets" – young people not in employment, education or training – who would rather spend their days "chilling at Maccas" than looking for a job.
The story, by Natasha Bita and Jack Houghton, was followed up by commercial TV new bulletins, the breakfast shows and talkback.
The pair were further demonised in an editorial that said they posed a danger to Australia.
Arman is furious that the Telegraph interviewed an impressionable 17-year-old girl and put her on page one without checking any of the facts with her parents or her school.
In the page one article Amy is quoted saying the wages for her job are so low it's not worth working. "They pay you nothing so why would I rock up? I call in sick when I'm over it and then they just get rid of me. Not fair really because I just want to have a good time and chill but I don't want to be fired."
In an accompanying video she says "yeah" when the reporter asks the two friends if they applied for Centrelink that day, and agrees with her friend Ashleigh.
"She was taking her friend to Centrelink and she just wanted to go along with it and back her friend," Steven Arman said. "That same day she went to work.
"My daughter was not totally innocent but she did say to the reporter 'I work and I have just finished year 12' and he said 'that's OK we're just going to ask you few questions'. And then she just got caught up in it.
"She didn't apply for Centrelink. The story said she is not educated but she just left year 12 a week ago. She went to a trade high school and she studied business management. She is educated and she funded herself through high school by working at night.
Welfare conditions could specify refraining from drug and alcohol abuse, says minister
"But they didn't put in any of that. She just fell into the five minutes of fame and went along with the story."
Arman was so distressed on day two of the media frenzy he hit the phones and called all the TV stations and the Telegraph.
"When she ended up being on Channel Nine, Channel Seven and front page of the paper and then again the next day my son couldn't go to school because he was being bullied. They both go to good Catholic schools."
Arman said when he contacted the Telegraph he told them "to do some investigative journalism" and find out the facts.
"I was very, very upset about it because it can affect her life forever," Arman said. "I contacted the media and told them it wasn't the truth. Although she may have lied, it's not the truth."
Amy has taken all the negative attention very badly, Arman said, and was now depressed. Her mother is organising counselling.
"She is usually a vibrant girl but now she is bawling her eyes out and spending all day in her room," he said. "She is too scared about what people think of her. I told her if people say anything to say to them it's not true. Her face is plastered all over the place."
A few days after Arman complained to the Telegraph they sent a different reporter and photographer around to do a second story, published on Wednesday under the headline "Neet Amy is a good girl who has actually been working, says her father". But it was far from sympathetic.
"A Centrelink layabout who said she prefers to have a good time being unemployed was 'acting up', her dad said after treasurer Scott Morrison threatened to strip her of benefits," the report said.
Arman said they again failed to mention that Amy was an educated girl who had just finished year 12.
Australian media


April 22, 2019. Tags: Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry, Music, Politics. Music, Politics. Leave a comment.
April 12, 2019. Tags: Maxine Waters, Politics. Politics. 1 comment.
March 29, 2019. Tags: homeless, homelessness, Income inequality, Nancy Pelosi, NIMBY, Politics, San Francisco, wealth inequality. Politics. Leave a comment.
An FEC spokesperson told the Washinton Free Beacon that candidates are allowed to make payments to themselves after the election — but only for activities that happened during the election period.
March 3, 2019. Tags: $17500, campaign finance, Politics, Rashida Tlaib. Politics. Leave a comment.
March 1, 2019. Tags: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Fareed Zakaria, Politics. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics. Leave a comment.
March 1, 2019. Tags: Diamond and Silk, Politics. Politics. Leave a comment.
PJ Media is a right wing website. It's not considered to be part of the mainstream media, and you certainly can't cite it as a source when adding content to wikipedia.
That being said, I am a long term reader of PJ Media, and I tend to view most of what it publishes as being credible. I certainly don't have anything against the website.
PJ Media has published what it claims are photographs, school records, and other documents which, when taken together, "prove" that Ilhan Omar married her brother in order to commit immigration fraud.
You can read these PJ Media articles and look at their "evidence" here, here, here, here, and here.
I don't know if these alleged photographs, school records, and other documents are real or fake.
If they are real, then the public deserves to know.
If hey are fake, then whoever created them deserves to be sued for defamation.
As far as I know, Omar has not filed any defamation lawsuits regarding these alleged photographs, school records, and other documents.
I am publicly asking the Washington Post to please investigate these alleged photographs, school records, and other documents, and either confirm or debunk the claim that Omar married her brother in order to commit immigration fraud.
So far, the only thing the mainstream media has been willing to report is that Omar says she never married her brother.
But I don't care what Omar says.
Instead, I want to know if this "evidence" is real or fake.
February 18, 2019. Tags: brother, documents, fraud, Ilhan Omar, Immigration, married, photographs, PJ Media, Politics, records, school, Washington Post. Politics. Leave a comment.
Elizabeth Warren lied on her registration card for the State Bar of Texas.
February 6, 2019. Tags: American Indian, Elizabeth Warren, Elizabeth Warren apologizes for calling herself Native American, Native American, Politics, registration card, State Bar of Texas, Washington Post. Politics. Leave a comment.
Where in the world did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez get the idea that three people (as opposed to one) were killed at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia?
This is a link to a tweet by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
And this is a link to an archive of the tweet.
This is not about atrocity. It's about how we get there.
Where did Ocasio-Cortez get the idea that three people were killed at that event?
The Washington Post, the New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, NPR, PBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN all reported that the death toll was one, and that the name of that person is Heather Heyer.
Where exactly does Ocasio-Cortez get her news from?
Of course, this is not nearly first time that I have reported on Ocasio-Cortez being ignorant of commonly known, basic facts that have been widely reported in the news.
She doesn't know that the judiciary is one of the three branches of the federal government.
She thinks the U.S. has 500 million people.
She thinks there is no upper-middle class in America.
She thinks you'll never need a funeral if we adopt single payer health care.
She doesn't know the difference between the defense budget and a one year increase in the defense budget.
She thinks the unemployment rate distinguishes between people who have one job and people who have two jobs.
She thinks the Constitutional requirement for the President to be at least 35 years old only applies to men.
Anyone who regularly reads mainstream news sources would know the true facts about all of those things.
So I really do wonder where it is that Ocasio-Cortez gets her news from.
December 30, 2018. Tags: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Charlottesville, Constitution, defense budget, errors, funeral, mistakes, president, Single payer, three branches, U.S. population, unemployment rate, Unite the Right rally, upper-middle class. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics. 4 comments.
For the year 2017 (the most recent year available), in the category called "Science and Technology," the U.S. is ranked all the way down at #38.
Meanwhile, the #1 country in that same category is the Ukraine.
Those two facts are enough to tell me that the "Good Country Index" has no credibility whatsoever.
December 29, 2018. Tags: Corruption Perceptions Index, Economics, Freedom in the World, Good Country Index, Index of Economic Freedom, Politics, Science, Technology. Economics, Politics, Science, Technology. 2 comments.
The activity in the video below is called "ballot harvesting," and it's 100% legal in California, where this was filmed.
The state sends ballots to every registered voter. When people engage in "ballot harvesting," they go to voters' houses, offer to "help" them fill in their ballot, and then offer to mail their ballot for them.
I don't know if that particular part is legal.
But it sure doesn't seem ethical to me.
And it's certainly hypocritical for a party that is always saying it wants to count "all" the votes.
December 11, 2018. Tags: ballot harvesting, only for people who are supporting the Democratic Party, Politics. Politics. Leave a comment.
Ocasio-Cortez is threatening to use her power as a federal lawmaker to punish someone who exercised his first amendment right to free speech.
Such a threat is a violation of House Ethics rules.
Members and staff are not to take or withhold any official action on the basis of the campaign contributions or support of the involved individuals, or their partisan affiliation. Members and staff are likewise prohibited from threatening punitive action on the basis of such considerations.
December 7, 2018. Tags: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, House Ethics rules, Politics, subpoena. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics. 3 comments.
October 30, 2018. Tags: #WalkAway, Politics, Stacey Dash. Politics. Leave a comment.
On August 30, 2018, at Evansville, Indiana, a Republican used his hand to block a camera that someone was using.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The White House Correspondents' Association says a volunteer member of President Donald Trump's advance team who blocked a photojournalist's camera as he tried to take a photo of a protester during a campaign rally in Indiana has been taken off the road.
Meanwhile, Rashida Tlaib is a member of the Democratic Party and also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
She is running for U.S. Congress in Michigan's 13th district this November.
She will be the only candidate on the ballot.
The Democratic Party has done absolutely nothing to discipline Tlaib.
And what Tlaib did was worse than what the Republican did. Tlaib committed theft, which is a crime. The Republican did not commit theft – he merely put his hand in front of the camera.
Why hasn't the Democratic Party disciplined Tlaib?
September 13, 2018. Tags: blocks camera, camera, grabs camera, Laura Loomer, Politics, Rashida Tlaib. Politics. 2 comments.
As of July 1, 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the U.S. population to be 325,719,178.
However, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks the U.S. has 500 million people.
I certainly would not expect her or anyone else to know the exact number. If she or anyone else had said that the U.S. population was 325 million or 330 million, that would be perfectly reasonable.
August 22, 2018. Tags: 200 million Americans make less than $20000 a year., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics, That's 40% of this country., The Daily Show, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Trevor Noah. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics. 2 comments.
I don't think Ocasio-Cortez was deliberately lying when she made her comment.
Instead, I think she is genuinely ignorant of a lot of basic facts that get regularly reported in the mainstream media.
August 15, 2018. Tags: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics, that upper-middle class does not exist anymore in America, upper-middle class. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics. Leave a comment.
Rashida Tlaib is a member of the Democratic Party and also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
A journalist was assaulted by a soon-to-be congresswoman while asking her questions at a political rally for U.S. Congressional candidate Ilhan Omar in Minnesota on Saturday.
Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian Muslim who won her primary in Michigan's 13th Congressional District on Tuesday, forcefully grabbed Jewish journalist Laura Loomer and stole her phone when Loomer approached her to ask questions at the rally.
In the Middle East, violence against Jews may be tolerable. In America, where Tlaib – running unopposed after her primary win – and is set to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, it is not. In fact, all types of political violence are denounced in America. The violent political left seems to have missed the memo.
Tlaib refused to answer Loomer when asked whether she was willing to admit that Palestinian Sunni-Islamist fundamentalist organization Hamas is a terrorist organization. The group is officially recognized as such by the federal government.
August 14, 2018. Tags: assault, Palestinian Congressional Candidate ASSAULTS Jewish Journalist at Political Event, Palestinian Congressional Candidate Rashida Tlaib Assaults Reporter, Politics, Rashida Tlaib, reporter, Videos. Politics. Leave a comment.


Gaming Chair ▷ Reviews, Size & Buying Guides on GOTURBACK.UK!
GOTURBACK – All The Gaming Chair Reviews And Info You Need!
My name is Tjorven, I am from Sweden, and if you are looking for a gaming chair, I am the one who has got your back! I will help you find a gamer chair that fits your physique meets your taste and is priced within your budget.
There are not many people out there, who have laid hands on as many cool computer chairs as I did. DXRacer, AKRacing, Vertagear, noblechairs – you name it! I have had them all, researched and reviewed them. So if there is someone out there able to tell you which racing chair to buy, it is going to be me.
Alright Mr. hunchback, let us finally get rid of your cheap folding chair and start our journey to find a comfy PC-throne that is going to bring your health, skill and fun level to the next stage!
Click To Find Your Gaming Chair!
Do I really need a gaming chair?
Do you really need fitting shoes? Do you really need a fast, shiny car that can do more than just get you from A to B? Do you really need a PC-chair, that looks awesome, fits your size perfectly and feels incredibly comfortable? Or is your mother's kitchen chair all you ever dreamed of? I guess you can answer this question by yourself but let us be honest about this: It is not just about needing something, it is also about indulging yourself with the best gaming experience possible. You have earned it.
What makes a good racing chair?
Regardless if you want to buy a seat to upgrade your Playstation 4, Xbox 360 or PC gaming experience there are certain characteristics to keep an eye on. The best chairs offer a broad array of adjustability (4D-Armrests, lumbar & neck support), are crafted precisely (stitching, covering), are made out of quality materials (real leather, steel) and trump with a mind-blowing design. All of this makes sure that your gaming computer chair is comfy, durable and eye-pleasing. Just follow my advice and I will make sure that you get the most bang for your buck!
Isn't a gamer chair too expensive?
How many hours do you sit in front of your PC playing video games or browsing the web every day? Believe me when I say that the consequences of sitting on a crappy computer chair that is by no means ergonomic can lead to serious health issues – and to you looking like crap. Would you not invest a few hundred quid to get yourself a comfortable mattress? So why not invest a little more into a gaming chair that will not only benefit you health wise but upgrades your gaming experience as a whole. By the way: a quality, ergonomic non-gaming PC-chair will most likely cost a lot more!
Fabric, PU- or real leather - what to choose?
Real leather gives you the best sitting-conditions out of all surface materials and does come with a certain prestige. It absorbs humidity without becoming damp and releases it into the ambient air. Synthetic or PU-leather looks noble is very durable and as easy to clean as its genuine sibling but does not feature the same qualities in matters of comfort. Fabric resides between genuine- and PU-leather climate wise but does fall behind in durability because it suffers more from abrasion. If you want a luxurious optic and an easy to clean material then go with a leather gaming chair, if that is not your concern, then fabric is a fine choice as well.
Alright, Now Let's Get Yourself A New PC Chair!
Check out the top brands: GOTURBACK features the Brand Finder leading you to a detailed page with purchase advice for every renowned brand. I present you the best chairs and series of the top gaming furniture manufacturers including tips on how to find the seat that fits you the best.
Start with your size: Probably the easiest way to get yourself the perfect chair for gaming is to tell me your body size and weight. The GOTURBACK Size Guide will filter out the seats that are too small or too big and only show the ultimate gamer chairs for your measurements.
Let your bankroll decide: Although this is not the way I would prefer, I made arrangements to classify each chair regarding its price. From low-budget, over medium and high end all the way up to premium – make your choice.
Whether you start with brand, size or budget, the second step will be your responsibility. You have to decide if you want a more racing-like look or a PC-chair with a luxurious appearance. You choose the colouring: from a noble black or white to red, blue and even pink designs, the offer is there and now it is your turn to make a choice.
By today you can find many so called brands on Amazon or other marketplaces selling chairs for gaming – to be honest: Most of them are cheap, rubbish stuffed chairs made out of recycled plastic. They lack the comfort, the quality, the looks and they smell like toxic waste. If you do some research on Alibaba, you will find most of these Chinese made game seats at very low prices. All the resellers do is to buy them off the peg, print a logo patch on it and shoot some beautiful pictures to give you the impression of an unbeatable deal. Believe me: That is not what you are looking for.
A good computer chair is supported by a solid frame and base, glides on floor-friendly wheels, is built with premium materials, utilises a high-density foam that is comfy but does not wear out in no time and is equipped with a high-quality manufactured breathable cover.
noblechairs: it does not get any better. Early 2016 this reputable brand made its first appearance on the PC gaming chair market and crushed other competitors with its remarkably high standards in comfort, material quality, functionality and design. Using top notch and extremely precise production methods from the car industry noblechairs brought the gamer seat to a whole new level.
Who has not heard of this brand? Being one of the pioneers on the gaming computer chair market, DXRacer offers a broad range of seats in numerous sizes, designs and colourings. From high-end models like the famous King series down to low-priced but still good quality PC chairs like the Racer 1 – the latter holding the record for being one of the best-selling gaming chairs of all time.
AKRacing has been the direct competitor to DXRacer right from the start. No doubt, there are a lot of similarities between these two brands – but is that a problem? Hell no, they are both great and they both produce high-quality chairs for gaming. AKRacing seats meet nearly every requirement you could ask for only falling behind premium brands like noblechairs.
Although it has been a little quiet around Vertagear since they released their first product line – the racing series – they still produce high-quality chairs featuring their very own style and charm. More than that they recently hit the high-end market with their innovative Triigger-Series bringing a fresh breeze to the high-end gaming chair scene.
To be honest: the Arozzi PC gaming chairs have never been my cup of tea. On the other hand, they do make some good quality seats like the Torretta or the Verona Pro that are totally worth buying and definitely worth checking out. I think that with their latest releases, they are steering into the right direction.
What Nitro Concepts does best is stripping down gaming chairs to its very basics. While their seats apparently lack some features they come at a very affordable price. So if you are on a budget and not willing to save money for a noblechairs, Nitro Concepts might as well be your best pick.
Based in the UK GT Omega specialises in racing seats and computer gaming chairs. It is quite remarkable how well equipped their PC chairs are at a relatively affordable pricing: class 4 gas lift, steel frame, lumbar and neck cushions, 4-armrests – all that for less than 200 quid. I have got to admit, that my experiences with their products are limited, but I am going to do a detailed review soon.
This category I do not recommend buying from, but if you can not afford the premium brands, these small budget office gaming chairs might be something you can pretend to be satisfied with. My suggestion: wait until one of the better PC gaming chairs is for sale on special occasions like Black Friday. If you still want to try a bronze-level video game seat, this section will show you my "best picks".
Getting into a comfy and ergonomic seating position should be your number one concern when picking a computer gaming chair. To achieve this, it is of vital importance that the measurements of the seat fit your physique as good as possible. Adults, kids, big or small statue – they all have different requirements to be able to sit comfortably and ergonomically in a gaming PC chair.
In each gaming chair review, I make an effort to measure and analyse the seat as thorough as possible. As a result, the GOTURBACK Size Guide can deliver hands-on experiences and precise data with the aim of giving you the best advice possible!
Even tough it might not be the wisest choice to begin with the financial aspect, it is still a viable way to start off with. It is certainly recommended to think economically but keep in mind that buying cheap often leads to buying more often – in the end going down the money-saving-road can even cost you more.
Your goal should be to aim for a high-quality pro gaming chair at a bargain price, and that is what I am going to help you with. If my sale radar detects a top offer, I will keep you posted.
If you would like to use the budget advisor proceed like this: Pick the price range, scan the list for gamer chairs that look appealing to you and finally check my review or detail-page for size recommendations.


text:
Programmation Automatique des Formules is a programming language designed in 1957-1959 by Dimitri Starynkevitch at SEA, a small French computer company. PAF was similar to FORTRAN. It ran on a drum computer, the CAB500. The title is French for Automatic Programming of Formulae.

External links
 Programmation Automatique des Formules

Information technology companies of France
Programming languages created in 1957

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
One woman business owner and her PG&E…
One woman business owner and her PG&E experience
PUBLISHED: November 4, 2013 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: September 14, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.
CHICO — One company that has followed on the process to contract with PG&E is GTS, a Chico company that provides the utility with engineering and consulting services, mostly for the natural gas side of the business.
President and General Manager Katie Clapp said GTS has been in business for 14 years, and has provided PG&E with services on and off over that time.
"We"ve been serving them pretty consistently for the past six years," she said.
Clapp attended meetings organized by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Butte College, then learned what to do at PG&E"s Supplier Clearinghouse site.
"My goal was to gain certification in order to support PG&E as a client in meeting their goals for supplier diversity," Clapp wrote in an email to this newspaper.
"I have since obtained my certification through the national certification organization, WBENC," said Clapp, describing the latter as a very strong organization supporting diverse suppliers and host of numerous matchmaking events.
She noted the only certification the California Public Utilities Commission uses is the one from Supplier Clearinghouse.
As far as recommendations to women, she said to "provide excellent service or products is No. 1. If you"ve kept decent annual financial and planning records, the application process isn"t too bad. And if you didn"t, it"s still not insurmountable."
Clapp said "PG&E encourages companies like GTS to mentor emerging companies in their endeavor to obtain certification or other aspects of growing their business. I would be happy to do so," she said.


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How GST Affects The Media And Entertainment Industry
Tally ERP 9, Tally GST
GST Background
What do we know about GST? The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax, pertinent all throughout India. It has taken the place of numerous cascading taxes charged by the state and central governments.
Entertainment and Media Industry Growth
As we know, the entertainment and the media industry in India is one of the most prospering and booming economies in the country. It has seen a huge increase in the last few years and its going to continue to do great by the looks of it. If we talk about the box office, then its revenue is all set to rise to 18,047 Cr in 2021. Entertainment is extremely vital in our lives. After a hard day's work, we want to relax and watch a good TV show or an interesting movie. So its not surprising the industry revenue is one of the richest in the country. Keeping this in mind, have you wondered how GST impacted the media and entertainment industry?
Pre-GST Era
Let's look at the pre-GST era. Earlier, services such as broadcasting, Direct-To-Home (DTH) and so forth was levied with entertainment tax. Its rate used to differ state by state. Gujarat was charged with 20% of entertainment tax while Bihar was taxed 50%. When it comes to Maharshtra, it was 45% (nil for marathi films) while Tamil Nadu was 15% (nil for tamil movies). So yes, the entertainment tax varied state wise. In the pre-GST period, the service tax was 15% and the entertainment industry only had to pay 60% of the 15% service tax. Under the VAT regime, the total tax was between 14%/23.5%.
Impact of GST
Cinemas end up with over 28% GST which has ultimately lead to significant increase in the ticket prices for movie buffs and is extremely taxing for the film industry that is already battling piracy. Even if the movie ticket is less than 100 rupees (which is extremely rare), there is still a surge of over 10% in regards to tax liability which will eventually be borne by the end consumer. The states that had a high entertainment tax benefit from GST. Since the local entertainment tax rate in these states is done away, the 28% GSR rate is beneficial as these states anyway had a rate of around 38%-40% to an average. But on the other hand, it has a horrible effect on cinema goers in states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and so on where the rates were lower before.
Tally has come up with a new cutting-edge mobile app known as Tally GST. Its job is to make the tax system easy for many businesses. For more than two decades, Antraweb Technologies has been a Tally Partner. It delivers full Tally services to its clients globally.


Current Grade 12 Students who are enrolled in their senior year at an Ontario secondary school should obtain their PIN # from their guidance office and proceed to apply online, through the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC) website at ouac.on.ca. Final and mid-term marks are sent to the OUAC by the secondary school. These marks will be used to make early conditional offers of admission. Applicants must fulfill the requirements outlined on their Offer of Admission and successfully complete the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. Note: The University reserves the right to withdraw its Offer of Admission if these requirements are not completely satisfied.
Applicants who are not currently attending an Ontario Secondary School on a full-time basis should complete an application form (OUAC 105) from the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC) website at ouac.on.ca. The applicant is responsible for requesting official transcripts from both secondary and post-secondary schools. The transcripts must be sent directly from the issuing institution to the Admissions Office at Wilfrid Laurier University. Upon receipt and review of all official transcripts and any supporting documentation, the applicant will be notified of the admission decision.
Completion of the OSSD with six 4U and/or 4M courses. Students must meet the specific program requirements as outlined in the section, Ontario Secondary School Applicants Program Specific Requirements. An overall average of 70 percent on six 4U and/or 4M marks is the minimum required for admission consideration. However, a higher average will be required for admission to individual programs in which the demand for places by qualified applicants exceeds the supply of places available in those programs.
Normally, the admission average will be based on the applicant's best six 4U and/or 4M marks, unless otherwise noted.
In some cases, the university will request: an academic standing based on the applicant's record for the last two or three years in school and/or a recommendation from the secondary school principal.
Laurier provides applicants with an opportunity to submit an Applicant Background Summary (ABS) Form that includes scholarly and extracurricular information. This information may be taken into account during the admission assessment process by the appropriate admissions committee.
Applicants who do not meet the minimum grade requirements for admission to Laurier may be referred to the Conestoga-Laurier Pathways Program.
Admission to the Brantford campus is governed by the rules and regulations of Wilfrid Laurier University. The applications are administered through the Recruitment & Admissions Office at the Waterloo Campus. Refer to the section Application Procedures.
For information regarding College Articulation Agreements, refer to University/College Combination Programs in the Brantford Campus section.
Note that the normal application process must be followed.
Adult students are normally admitted to part-time studies and will initially take courses without being registered in a specific degree or diploma program.
During the initial period of assessment adult students registered in part-time studies may register in a maximum of 1.0 credit per term.
A 4.00 GPA on 4.0 credits only. If this is not achieved, they will be required to withdraw from the university.
Adult students in part-time studies who wish to transfer into full-time studies will require a higher academic standing than noted above. The Request for Full-time Studies form is available from Enrolment Services. All Academic Dates can be found here.
Students registered at another university wishing to take courses for transfer credit to their home university may register on a Letter of Permission. Visit the Office of the Registrar website for more information.
Note: We cannot guarantee space in courses for students from another university.
If you wish to attend classes without receiving academic credit, you must self-identify as an audit student. Tuition fees are normally half the regular course fee, with a few exceptions where full course fees are applied. Fees are not refundable (see course costs).
Audit students do not write midterm or final examinations, but may participate in classes to the extent allowed or required by the course professor.
Contact the Recruitment & Admissions Office at chooselaurier@wlu.ca for application procedures and deadlines.
If you are a current Laurier Faculty or Staff member and wish to take courses, contact the Recruitment & Admissions Office at chooselaurier@wlu.ca for application procedures and deadlines.
Applicants who are 60 years of age or older will be admitted to part-time studies regardless of previous academic background. They may register in courses for credit or register as audit students. The normal academic regulations will apply.
Applicants 60 years or older may also be admitted to full-time studies on an individual basis. Tuition fees only will be waived for Senior citizens (60 years of age by start date of lectures). Contact the Recruitment & Admissions Office at chooselaurier@wlu.ca for application procedures and deadlines.
Students applying from outside Ontario will be required to present evidence of equivalent standing, including those required courses listed in the section Ontario Secondary School Applicants Program Specific Requirements. Academic standings deemed to be equivalent are listed in the previous section Academic Course Equivalencies - Out of Province Specific Requirements.
It is your responsibility to ensure that your application information is truthful, complete and correct. If any information in your application is determined to be false or misleading, concealed or withheld, your application may be invalid and this could result in immediate refusal of further admission consideration, or revocation of an offer of admission and de-registration in all courses at Laurier. Students are required to produce documentation verifying their identity, once on campus.


There are many church-going grandparents who are distraught because children or grandchildren have walked away from church and worship. They carry this grief silently, when in fact encouragement and guidance are available. One helpful resource I'd recommend is Faith Family Reunion. Check it out at www.faithfamilyreunion.com. Our five-grandchildren, the Cinco de Meyer, do go to church. They're young and their parents make them go, but what will they do when they're grown and on their own? Opa thinks about that a lot.
Eugene Peterson died this past Monday. You may know him from his most popular book, "The Message," a paraphrase of the Bible. That's no small task, but Peterson had the credentials, a master's degree in Semitic languages from Johns Hopkins and he taught Greek and Hebrew at New York Theological Seminary. In 1962 the Presbyterian Church USA asked him to plant a mission church in Bel Air, Maryland. "I thought, 'Wow, the church is a lot more interesting than the classroom,'" he told Religion News Service in 2013. "There's no ambiguity to Greek and Hebrew. It's just right or wrong. And in the church, everything was going every which way all the time – dying, being born, divorces, kids running away. I suddenly realized that this is where I really got a sense of being involved and not just sitting on the sidelines as a spectator, but being in the game." (New York Times, October 24; B12).
www.concordiatheology.org has a new program with a telling title, "Word and Work: An Intersection." Eugene Peterson found that intersection to be an adventure. I hope you do. Modeling for young people that worship is both in and out of the Sunday sanctuary might help keep them coming to church.


text:
Q: FACEBOOK auto posting to facebook site (Curl) I am trying to implement auto posting through cron to a facebook site that I created. The hard part about this is: no account is logged in during the process.
I checked a lot of sites for my problem and somehow it still doesn't work... Does anybody see any problem in my code QQ HELP
$username = "xx";
$password = "xx";

// access to facebook home page (to get the cookies)
$curl = curl_init ();
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_URL, "http://www.facebook.com" );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1 );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1 );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_ENCODING, "" );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, getcwd () . '/cookies_facebook.cookie' );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"] );
$curlData = curl_exec ( $curl );

// do get some parameters for login to facebook
$charsetTest = substr ( $curlData, strpos ( $curlData, "name=\"charset_test\"" ) );
$charsetTest = substr ( $charsetTest, strpos ( $charsetTest, "value=" ) + 7 );
$charsetTest = substr ( $charsetTest, 0, strpos ( $charsetTest, "\"" ) );

$locale = substr ( $curlData, strpos ( $curlData, "name=\"locale\"" ) );
$locale = substr ( $locale, strpos ( $locale, "value=" ) + 7 );
$locale = substr ( $locale, 0, strpos ( $locale, "\"" ) );

$lsd = substr ( $curlData, strpos ( $curlData, "name=\"locale\"" ) );
$lsd = substr ( $lsd, strpos ( $lsd, "value=" ) + 7 );
$lsd = substr ( $lsd, 0, strpos ( $lsd, "\"" ) );

// do login to facebook
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://login.facebook.com/login.php?login_attempt=1" );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_POST, 1 );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,
    "charset_test=" . $charsetTest .
    "&locale=" . $locale .
    "&non_com_login=&email=" . $username .
    "&pass=" . $password .
    "&charset_test=" . $charsetTest .
    "&lsd=" . $lsd );
curl_setopt ( $curl, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, getcwd () . '/cookies_facebook.cookie' );
$curlData = curl_exec ( $curl );//this actually is the code of my facebook profile page so it works

//Page access_token
$access_token = "xx";
$params=array(
      'access_token'=>$access_token,
      'message'=> "Testing newwjjj7wwwg",
      'name'=>'TEST6678888');

//Postng to facebook page
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query($params));
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://graph.facebook.com/".variable_get('webconnect_facebook_pageId')."/feed");
$result = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close ($curl);

When I try to make a post: { "error": { "message": "Error validating access token: This may be because the user logged out or may be due to a system error.", "type": "OAuthException", "code": 190, "error_subcode": 467 } }
When I try to use the user access_token: { "error": { "message": "(#200) The user hasn't authorized the application to perform this action", "type": "OAuthException", "code": 200 } }
The thing is I did authorize it... Any ideas ??

A: Can your code post in a browser session while the user is logged in to Facebook and the access token is valid? You can create a new test user to make sure that the access token is valid and that the right permission is being granted. If the app works in that scenario, leave the user logged in and try with your original test case (using the access token from the first test). That should tell you whether there's a problem with your original code or if it's a session/data (access code, permissions) problem.

A:
When I try to make a post: { "error": { "message": "Error validating
  access token: This may be because the user logged out or may be due to
  a system error.", "type": "OAuthException", "code": 190,
  "error_subcode": 467 } }

That is because the lifetime of the token got expired. You need to extend the lifetime of the token. See here.

When I try to use the user access_token: { "error": { "message":
  "(#200) The user hasn't authorized the application to perform this
  action", "type": "OAuthException", "code": 200 } }

For this you need to check the tickbox near status_update of your permissions. See here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Hofmann and the Next Generation
16 Jul 2016 — 15 Jan 2018 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, United States
Helen Frankenthaler, Sure Violet, 1979. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
"Hofmann and the Next Generation" in the Melvin Blake and Frank Purnell Gallery explores the influence of their teachers on mid-century abstract artists.
Hans Hofmann (American, born in Germany), a prominent Abstract Expressionist and dedicated teacher, welcomed hundreds of students to his studios in New York and Provincetown, training them in his distinctive technique and inspiring both peers and a new generation of artists to develop their own voice.
From Franz Kline's monumental, gestural work to Robert Motherwell's more philosophical approach, Hofmann's deep influence on abstract art and technique can be seen in paintings by Helen Frankenthaler, Kline, and Motherwell, and sculptures by David Smith and Peter Voulkos.
Today the MFA is one of the most comprehensive art museums in the world; the collection encompasses nearly 450,000 works of art.
Boston, United States
Hans Hofmann, Twilight, 1957. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Franz Kline, Probst I, 1960. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Robert Motherwell, Open in Ochre, 1967-1970. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
More from Museum of Fine Arts
The Banner Project
26 Oct 2019 — 31 Dec 2020
26 Oct 2019 — 4 May 2020
SMFA at Tufts
16 Nov 2019 — 12 Apr 2020
1 Jul 2019 — 23 Feb 2020
More in Boston, United States
24 Sep 2019 — 7 Feb 2021 at ICA Boston
The Colby Trophy Room
Permanent event at Museum of Science
Math Moves!
More in United States
22 Jan — 21 Feb 2021 at New River Fine Art in Fort Lauderdale
Martin Kline: Allover
23 Jan — 6 Mar 2021 at Heather Gaudio Fine Art in New Canaan
Jamie Wyeth
28 Aug 2021 — 9 Jan 2022 at Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford
16 Jan — 6 Feb 2021 at Hashimoto Contemporary in New York


Let's play amazing adventure with new concept game is The Thief Smasher.
Select one character from three. Next select one weapons for hitting. Now just click to hitting the thief but don't hitting the policeman. Create you best sore in 1 minute.
Create your best score. Your fight you with robot. Challenge your friends.
- Just Change Replace Image and Build the projects.


text:
Space Administration
Zur Übersicht: Missions
About SOFIA
'First light' as SOFIA completes observation flight
SOFIA – the airborne infrared observatory
German SOFIA Institute
NASA: SOFIA Mission
NASA/USRA SOFIA Website
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research - GREAT
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics - FIFI LS
SOFIA on Facebook
{{index}}/{{count}}
Use <Escape>, to leave fullscreen.
Made in Germany: the 2.7-metre infrared telescope in the fuselage of the Boeing 747SP
SOFIA during test observations of the night sky in March 2008. The opening in the fuselage of the converted Boeing 747SP provides a glimpse of the 2.7-metre infrared telescope, built in Germany.
Credit: NASA.
SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy
SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, during the first test flight with the telescope door fully open, on 18 December 2009 over the Mojave Desert in California. The 2.7 metre telescope, built in Germany, is visible in the opening in the fuselage of this Boeing 747SP. The test flight with the door open helped engineers examine, for the first time under experimental conditions, the movement of air in and around the telescope and the door.
Credit: NASA/C. Thomas.
SOFIA over the NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale
SOFIA above its base, a hangar at the NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF) in Palmdale, California (front/right).
SOFIA during night-time test measurements in front of its hangar in Palmdale
SOFIA, the airborne infrared observatory, in front of its hangar at the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF) in Palmdale, California. The DAOF is operated by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. This photograph was taken during night-time test observations in March 2008.
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a joint German-US space science project. Carrying a 2.7-metre telescope inside a modified Boeing 747SP, the airborne observatory performs astronomical observations in the infrared and submillimetre wavelengths, high above the disturbance of Earth's atmosphere. The scientific objective is to understand the development of galaxies and the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems from interstellar clouds of gas and dust.
Until the mid-nineties, astronomers had been using NASA's 91-centimetre Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) to obtain astronomical data at infrared wavelengths by observing high in the atmosphere. This area of the electromagnetic spectrum is, for all practical purposes, inaccessible to ground-based observatories. One notable result of the KAO measurements was the discovery of the rings around Uranus.
Areas of the infrared spectrum remain unexplored, which persuaded scientists from the US and Germany to highlight the need for a new infrared astronomy observatory that would function as a modern successor to the KAO. This new airborne observatory needed greater angular resolution, enhanced sensitivity and higher spectral resolution to answer fundamental questions about galactic and extragalactic astronomy, and about the origins and development of our own Solar System.
In late 1996, NASA and DLR agreed to develop and operate this new observatory, SOFIA - the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Following integration of the telescope and finalisation of structural modifications to the aircraft, flight tests commenced in April 2007. Since early 2008, SOFIA is housed as its home base, NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center's hangar 703, in Palmdale, California. After further modifications to the aircraft, the observatory underwent a comprehensive range of flight tests scheduled to commence in December 2009 to prepare for operation. At the end of May 2010, SOFIA took off for its first astronomical test measurements, and completed the 'first light' flight. Beginning in the autumn of 2010, the observatory will be available for scientific use. Extended test phases are also scheduled for the first two years.
Germany has developed two instruments for SOFIA:
The high-resolution heterodyne spectrometer GREAT (German Receiver at Terahertz Frequencies) under the aegis of the Max-Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy in Bonn, and
FIFI-LS (Far Infrared Field Imaging Line Spectrometer) under the aegis of the Max-Planck Institute of Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching.
These two instruments are being financed by the Max-Planck institutes and university institutes involved, with the latter sourcing funds from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG).
The platform for SOFIA's 2.7-metre infrared telescope, is a second-hand Boeing 747SP that will operate at altitudes in excess of 12 kilometres. Below this altitude, water vapour in the troposphere hinders observations in the infrared. This is why ground-based telescopes are able to receive infrared radiation from heavenly bodies only through narrow wavelength 'windows'. SOFIA will have ten times the sensitivity and triple the angular resolution of KAO. SOFIA is scheduled to remain in service for 20 years, and will carry out about 160 astronomy flights a year, each flight lasting between six and eight hours. SOFIA will be used by roughly 50 groups of scientists who are selected at an annual scientific peer review meeting.
Video: The flying observatory SOFIA (FullHD, 10:30 minutes, 2017):
Trailer: SOFIA - the largest airborne observatory (FullHD, 01:49 minutes, 2017):
These frequent flight opportunities, with the very latest technology, mean that scientists can benefit from great versatility. Through direct access to the instrument during each flight, young scientists have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of their own measurements and are able to leverage these into scientific publications promptly. The flexibility of SOFIA permits worldwide access to 'targets of opportunity', that is, the chance to observe astronomical objects which appear at short notice. Thanks to its relatively short instrument development cycles, SOFIA makes an excellent platform for testing instruments destined for use on board satellites.
The terms of this collaborative venture between NASA and DLR are laid out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This MoU defines the distribution of work packages during the development and operational phases. Germany has supplied the telescope and will bear 20 percent of the annual operational costs, in exchange for which it will be assigned about 30 scientific flights per year. NASA has purchased the second-hand Boeing 747 and converted it for installation of the telescope and is also in charge of operating the observatory from its home base in the US.
NASA and DLR have awarded industry contracts to deliver on their appointed tasks. The SOFIA telescope was developed and built by two companies on behalf of DLR: MT-Mechatronics (previously MAN) and Kayser-Threde. It was delivered for integration at Waco, Texas, on an Airbus Beluga transport aircraft. Dozens of other companies in Europe have collaborated on the development of the telescope as subcontractors to MT-Mechatronics and Kayser-Threde.
To deliver Germany's contribution towards operations in the US, DLR signed a contract with the University of Stuttgart in November 2004, and this was extended for another four years in early 2009. The German SOFIA Institute (Deutsches SOFIA Institut; DSI) at the University of Stuttgart manages this contribution. Apart from the German contribution towards SOFIA for operations in the US (which include the assignment of 15 personnel, purchase of spare aircraft engines, spare parts for the telescope and fuel costs for the German flight quota), DSI was placed in charge of coordination of scientific aspects, and education and public relations work in Germany. The German State of Baden-Württemberg makes a financial contribution towards this.
Heinz-Theo Hammes
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Space Administration, Space Science
Tel.: +49 228 447-377
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Often when employers start to promote salary sacrifice benefits, many employees fear the worst. They mistakenly suspect that this is just a way for employers to cut costs. However, this is not necessarily the case. In the case of childcare voucher schemes nothing could be further from the truth. Salary sacrifice in both childcare voucher schemes and employer childcare voucher schemes can be beneficial for both employers and employees.
Childcare voucher schemes were introduced by the government and allow employees to give up or 'sacrifice' part of their pay in exchange for childcare vouchers. These vouchers are for use in any number of the various childcare voucher schemes available today. Any employee sacrificing part of their salary in this way will receive the same amount back in childcare vouchers, but with the added bonus that they won't have to pay tax or national insurance on this amount. In effect this means that for every £700 they 'sacrifice' in terms of salary, they will receive back the equivalent of £1,000 after the tax and insurance benefits are added into the calculation.
How are salary sacrifice schemes advantageous?
The advantage stems from the fact that because the employee's salary is lower, the NI contributions paid by both employee and employer are reduced. In fact, this reduction in NI payments is one of the main reasons for introducing salary sacrifice schemes in the workplace. It's no coincidence that they have become increasingly popular since the national insurance rate rose earlier this year. Salary sacrifice schemes can also save employers the equivalent of £402 per employee each year as they do not have to pay NI contributions for employees joining such a scheme. However the position is neutral where income tax is concerned because although the employee's salary may be lower, they don't get tax relief on the pension contribution concerned.
Are there any potential disadvantages to salary sacrifice childcare voucher schemes?
By accepting a reduction in salary employees could inadvertently affect their state pension entitlement. The entitlement to the basic state pension depends on a number of factors, including the number of "qualifying years" - in other words, those years where they have been earning above the lower earnings limit for NI purposes, currently £102 per week. So they should take great care about whether to take part in a salary sacrifice scheme. By reducing their salary below the lower earnings limit, they might potentially prejudice their basic state pension entitlement.
Employees should also think about it carefully if they have pay into a state second pension, the additional component of the state pension which was introduced in 2003. An individual's entitlement to the state second pension does not depend on having a minimum number of qualifying years, but rather on each year that they pay NI contributions on earnings above the lower earnings limit. Again, care should be taken to ensure that salary sacrifice arrangement would not take their earnings below that figure to the detriment of their state second pension entitlement.
Entitlement to other benefits may be affected by salary sacrifice. For example, statutory sick pay is provided for employees who satisfy certain requirements, one of which is that their earnings over the eight week period prior to illness must have been at or above the lower earnings limit.


text:
Q: Accessing android phone Camera thru USB from my java openCV application in real time I'm trying to learn computer vision with OpenCV and i need camera to work with but the only camera that i have is on my android phone.
So im thinking about connecting it to my pc (via USB) and using it with my application. Is anything like that possible? Can i take information from camera connected via usb in real time?
I have no experience with something like this. I know i can just record video ,save it,put it on my pc, and use it as resource -bud i would prefer to have real time streaming of video while my application will work in background on my desktop computer.
Will i have to code some android application to get this working?Or can i simple ask for that data from my desktop application?

A: If you only want to experiment and learn to use OpenCV, you can get an IP Camera app for your phone and then read the image stream from your computer (here's an example of how to do that). That is the easiest "real time-ish" solution I can think of.

A: I found a simple way to use the a web cam (IP Webcam installed on my smartphone through Play Store) as camera using OpenCV and Java. Here is how: just copy the IP Webcam web link inside the Video Capture. Like this.
org.opencv.videoio.VideoCapture webSource = new VideoCapture("http://192.168.43.1:8080/video");

The smartphone and the laptop should be inside the same Wi-Fi.