text:
This Week at IFP: The Film Fatales Discuss their Origins
by Erik Luers on June 6, 2014 in Uncategorized
As we well know, the nuts and bolts of filmmaking can be tough business. Thus, the support and appreciation from peers can be invaluable. Last week, the Film Fatales, a "collective of female filmmakers based in New York who have written or directed at least one feature narrative or documentary film," made a stop at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP in DUMBO to provide insight and support to an appreciative and primarily female audience of IFP members. Inspired by a recent article in Filmmaker Magazine by fellow Fatale member Danielle Lurie, the event gathered filmmakers Ingrid Jungermann (F to 7th), Deborah Kampmeier (Hounddog) and IFP alumnus Paola Mendoza (Entre Nos), Ry Russo Young (Nobody Walks), Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Call Me Kuchu) and Fatales founder Leah Meyerhoff (I Believe in Unicorns) to discuss both the collective's origins and reason for being. Indiewire and other media outlets were on the scene to document the event.
"In 2012 I got an email from Leah Meyerhoff," Lurie started, "which was sent to about ten women. The email said, 'you are getting this email because you made a feature film, you are a woman and we think we need to stick together. Come to my house in Brooklyn, let's have some wine and some olives, and let's talk.'"
The Film Fatales served as a support group in more ways than one, putting members in direct contact with people in the industry. "After that meeting," Lurie continued, "we went around the group again and asked everyone what they needed. Did they need a cinematographer? Do they need money for a film about deafness (one example)? What ended up happening was this incredible thing where before people could say what they needed and others would start offering solutions. And we realized what we had was a group of women, a huge support network, that not only supported us in our struggles, but who were also wonderful resources that we could tap into if we asked. As women, we sometimes feel a little bit isolated and we don't always ask. This is a group we can ask for help and we get it."
Reflecting on her first encounter with the Fatales, Deborah Kampmeier, who gained much publicity for 2007 feature, Hounddog starring Dakota Fanning, spoke with honesty about the struggles she had been dealing with. "I was so thrilled to get the invite. I had wanted a community like this for 15 years. After I made my first feature, nominated for a couple of Spirit awards, I thought 'yes! Here we go! It had been such a struggle.' And I was not let in to the boy's club. It took me a large amount of time to get my next feature made. And it's not that I didn't have another project ready to go. I was ready to go with the next one – I was trying to get my second feature ready to go five years before my first feature – and the last one went to Sundance and….I felt so isolated and so frustrated and so angry. I remember coming into the first Fatale meeting and I somehow had this idea it was going to be this cozy and touchy-feely meeting. I received a lot of tough love. I felt a little embarrassed when I left, like I could cry. And then I came to the second meeting and I cried again! Leah said to me, 'Debra, do you really need that much money [to make another feature]?' And I sat back and I decided I couldn't make that feature for a few hundred thousand but that I was going to make a different feature for that amount. That's what I did, and I did it because I got tough love from this group of women. It was very tough, it was very practical and it was great."
Although the success of women filmmakers has been well documented, they still serve as a minority in the motion picture industry, both in the City of Angels and across the country. Set with realistic expectations, the Fatales hope to enforce change to an all too familiar system. "I think the numbers are six percent of Hollywood directors are women and in the independent world it's about sixteen percent," Meyerhoff noted, less surprised than frustrated. "It's nowhere near fifty percent and those numbers have been the same for the past thirty years. Those statistics are pretty abysmal and upsetting. Instead of harping on that, I thought, 'why don't we all get together and figure out how we can help each other make our films.'" In the past year we have seen women from Fatales go on to co-write or co-direct with each other or recommend cinematographers….Right now, as I'm traveling the festival circuit with my film, I run into other Fatales all over the place. Obvious Child is another Fatale project. It ends up being this wonderful global network of women, and since we started the group, we've inspired other similar groups to start in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Austin….we're just now started a chapter in London. It really is a 'do it yourself' community. Instead of waiting around for someone else to come help you make your film, you can help each other make films."
For more information on the Film Fatales, feel free to check out their website here.
Erik Luers oversees Membership Programming Public Programming for IFP, the largest and oldest not-for-profit dedicated to independent film. As part of the Programming staff, Erik screens submissions for the annual IFP Filmmaker Labs, the Screen Forward series, Independent Film Week's Spotlight on Documentaries and more. He has written extensively on film for such publications as Indiewire, Cineaste, Slant Magazine's The House Next Door, FILMMAKER, Fangoria, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center's FilmLinc Daily.
View all Erik Luers's blog posts
Supreme Court Decides "Raging Bull" Case
by Mark Litwak on May 27, 2014
Filmmaker Magazine Reveals 25 New Faces for 2014
by Erik Luers on July 17, 2014


Carbon Checkout was designed to enhance the checkout experience and increase conversion by integrating a discreet cause related option at checkout. Consumer research has long showed that integrating cause in commerce not only strengthens your brand, but it reduces shopping cart abandonment, increases customer loyalty & lifetime value, and increases overall sales.
Research by eBay's Giving Works program, finds that aligning with a cause and providing customers an option to give to that cause, increases store sales by 29%, and reduces churn by 67%, on average. According to Nielsen's Global Report on Corporate Social Responsibility, brands that communicate their sustainability efforts generate 5X the revenue of those that do not. It's no wonder why 75% of global brands are now engaged in cause marketing, as the PRWeek/Barkley Cause Survey reports.
Carbon Checkout is your opportunity to integrate cause marketing into your business strategy today, to do well by doing good.
1. App install in one-click. Carbon Checkout integrates seamlessly into your site to offer your customers the unique opportunity to give change to the environment at checkout. Full integration into your store in one-click, and without any technical requirements.
2. Give in one-click. Your customers now have the option to give to the environment after adding a product to cart. Default contributions are less than $1 - a round-up value - with larger contributions accessible via drop down menu. Contributions are added to cart total and automatically collected at checkout. There is no page reload, no added user registration or checkout requirements, just one-click to check the contribution box.
3. Track in one-click. Individual contributions can be tracked to build consumer trust and confidence. Participating customers receive an automated personal confirmation e-mail with unique hyperlinked verification code, where they can access their personal Giving Portfolio to track all contributions and learn about the renewable energy projects they helped to make possible.
4. Carbon Checkout pools all contributions into a fund to make significant investments in renewable energy projects that reduce global carbon emissions. You and your customers become part of a powerful movement to reduce the effects of climate change through collective action, it's as simple as one-click.
Carbon Checkout reinforces purchasing decisions throughout the shopping experience, by aligning your brand and your products with a cause. When your customers commit to making contributions with Carbon Checkout, the App affirms their pledge with a discreet "sticky" that encourages them to fulfill their commitment by completing checkout.
Research shows that customers are less likely to abandon carts when products in cart are aligned with a cause. With Carbon Checkout, your brand and your entire product catalogue is linked to a cause. This is your Crowdfund for Climate Change.
According to the Cone Cause Evolution Study, 90% of consumers want to know what cause your company supports, with 93% of consumers claiming to have a more positive image of your product and brand when you support a cause. Further, 90% of consumers are more likely to trust and be loyal to your brand when you back a cause, according the Study.
Your Carbon Checkout Dashboard, embedded in your Shopify Dashboard, provides cause marketing performance metrics, including customer loyalty trends, cart abandonment rate analytics, and aggregated values to quantify and communicate your corporate social responsibility initiative.
For more information on Added Value and Cause Marketing analysis, please see Cause Marketing by the Numbers.
All Carbon Checkout contributions are invested in renewable energy projects through a carbon finance commodity known as a carbon offset. To learn more about carbon offsets and our investment strategy, please view our Carbon Offsets 101 guide. All carbon offset investments are validated by the Verified Carbon Standard or Climate Action Reserve and are independently audited and tracked by verification code.
Please contact us directly at info@carboncheckout.com if you have questions or need assistance, we stand ready to help!


text:
Episode 34: The Spook Who Sat by the Door
Special Guests: Christine Acham & Clifford Ward
The revolution will not be televised. It'll be a subversive flick from director Ivan Dixon and writer Sam Greenlee, The Spook Who Sat by the Door.
We chat with the filmmakers behind Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat by the Door, which documents the story behind this remarkable film. Visit their Facebook page for more information.
Listen to "TPB: The Spook Who Sat by the Door" on Spreaker.
Posted by Mike White at 10/26/2011
Labels: Blaxploitation, Christine Acham, Clifford Ward, Ivan Dixon, Mike Pick, Sam Greenlee
Richard Edwards Oct 28, 2011, 12:40:00 PM
Just listened to the episode and am really happy you guys tackled this film. One of the issues raised in your discussion involved prior knowledges/contexts for watching this film and I thought that raised some very valuable points. I think watching Spook Who Sat by the Door may be a more stimulating experience if you know some background about Sam Greenlee and his original novel. As is typical, literature can tend to more revolutionary than films due to a variety of reasons, but for any filmmaker to choose to tackle the subject of Greenlee's source material (an unapologetic call for armed revolution led by African Americans in the United States in the early 70s) was a daring and subversive move. But I do agree with Justin that watching the new documentary "Infiltrating Hollywood" prior to seeing the film might raise expectations to an unreasonable level. Ivan Dixon and company didn't necessarily have the resources to make the film they ultimately wanted, and as is found in many political films, the subversive content sometimes comes at the cost of completely well-rounded characters. But that said, Spook is an immensely important film and I hope people check it out and recognize that Hollywood films could be subversive and not just exploitative and then watch the wonderful documentary, Infiltrating Hollywood, which will give the broader historical and cinematic impacts of this one of a kind cult classic. Finally, I really enjoyed this episode, and keep up the great work supporting films that might otherwise fall through the cracks of film history.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


First, big fan, you've taught me quite a bit! Second, I love this new beast because it's cool and it reminds me of an old sketch I did (tentacle hand bit only - great minds!). It's always a joy seeing you post and I'm looking forward to more tutorials from you!
damn, peter. that last one is really cool.
Then I replaced the sky. I was looking for something different than the original. I found this one in Ben Mauro's photo set of sky images.
Below are some of the buildings I made very quickly in Zbrush using the Surface Noise tools.
I made primitives, applied layers of different surface noise and then added some kit bash parts I had already.
not sure who's these are, but it's a mixture of some I made and others from different jobs and Gumroad.
A couple more kitbash ships. Not going for super finished work here. Just enough to give me something paint over. See if you can find them in the pic! ha.
Nanomesh tool would work. I made a pattern of flat grid strips that made up the traffic lanes, then did a few passes with different nanomesh ship blanks.
I varied size and position, but kept the shapes generic enough to paint over later to make a variety of ships.
I know this is a Zbrush forum so I won't go into all the Photoshop stuff other than to say the image has a ton of paintover work in it.
maybe four after work evenings to make.
Wow this turned out awesome Peter! Makes me feel lazy Thanks for sharing!
Great stuff, Peter and thanks for the workflow breakdown.
Amazing work, Congratulations! And thanks for explaining a little bit of your work flow.
One of those projects where you don't have a plan at all. Fun though.
Keyshot render + Photoshop render layer mixing, no UV's or anything.
Really interested in how you used the surface noise to create those details on the buildings. Anymore information you can divulge would be awesome.
Here's a robot I did a breakdown of for the Zbrush Summit. Rough Zbrush model then a paint pass in Photoshop. Just a way to kick out a decent looking concept quickly. I'll post video of the making of soon.


Reality Refracted: What Comes Next?
So, I find myself at a bit of a weird spot when it comes to GMing. Both my games are going fine, perhaps even great, and people are having fun. No, the problem comes in that one of the games has the ending in sight. Not immediately in sight, at least I don't think so, but in sight. It is in a position where the players have the ending in their hands though. They can choose when they go to the end game, how ready they are for it, and what they want to do before they get there. There could be only 3-4 sessions left, or as many as 6-10 depending on how they do things. So, what do we do after that?
The group is a gaming one, so it'll be another RPG, and it is my GMing night (and I want to hold onto that) so the baseline for what we are doing is set. The question more is what game, how do I prepare for it, and when do I start talking about it with the other players? These are the questions I have been asking myself of late when I think about those every-other Friday evenings. Way I can figure it, there are two ways to handle it (though, maybe you'll have more).
The end is in sight, so why not start talking to them about the next game now? Get their impressions on what they want to play next, what system they want to use, power level they want to start on, etc etc. We start talking now, and I start planning for it now. This is good because it gives me more time to prepare the world so things will be ready to go when the current game ends. Or, at least a whole lot closer to being ready to go when everything comes to an end. Letting the group just quickly launch into the next game.
There is a bad side as well though. By talking about the next game, everyone's creative juices will start going - including my own - on what is coming next. The allure of the next game, the beginning of a new story can interfere with the wrapping up of the one we have going on. Not that I think it would be a huge problem with my group, but you always can get the strangest issues as people start to sub-consciously speed things up to try and get to the next beginning.
Quite the opposite of Method 1, with this you wait until the end of the game. Starting discussions either after the credits roll on the final session, that week, or at the next game session. You wait until then to talk about what comes next, what game, setting, power level, type of story, etc, etc. This has the benefit of letting everyone focus on the story at hand and finish the game, but is not without its bad sides as well.
Chief among the bad side is the lack of planning time. If you wait until the end, you either have to put off the beginning of the next game by a few weeks, or spend the time before the next session in major crush time mode as you produce everything your game will need - at least for the first few sessions.
Those are my two options, but I'm curious if anyone else has a special way they try to start planning for their next game, or have any suggestions on ways to handle it in this case, or other cases. Don't be afraid to speak up and let us know what you think, or what you would do.
Option 2 would be my choice. I have been in, and sometimes I feel I am always in, the creative aspect of the "coming thing" and it can tend to ruin what is currently going on. I think it is better for everyone to spend a few weeks planning what's next than to short-change what is currently going on. If you want at least a little lead time, then ask what the players want maybe in the last week or two without going into too much detail -- maybe just the game they's be interested in so you have an idea.


This Wednesday (08/03/17) marks International Women's Day, the global celebration for cultural, political and social achievements of women worldwide. All whilst calling to action the hurrying of gender equality. With the Women's March from back in January being the largest global protest of all time, Wednesday marks a day where global celebration of creativity and diversity can kick back into action once again.
We've selected the gigs and music events we feel would be fitting ways to celebrate the day, including Sofar Sounds, a Rough Trade in-store and London's finest punk night. Don't forget to check out all the other numerous events taking place on International Women's Day right here.
Showcasing the talents of two exceptional acts, Shoreditch's Rough Trade East plays host to live sets from She Drew the Gun and Hannah Lou Clark in celebration of International Women's Day. Both come accompanied with a reading from author Lavinia Greenlaw with experts from her book The Importance of Music to Girls, with free entry making the event a bit of a no-brainer.
Marking the third Sofar Sounds event for International Women's Day, the global initiative to host gigs (practically) anywhere turns to Manchester for 2017's event. As per with Sofar Sounds, the line-up is still under-wraps with a "fantastic all-female line-up and special host venue" being the only hint as to what's in store. Oh, and don't forget their wonderful BYOB rule.
Launched back in 2015, Safe Gigs for Women aims to eradicate sexual harassment within live music settings by working with the artists, venues and promoters. In honour of International Women's Day, Tooting Tram & Social hosts to a striking collective of women to celebrate the evening of the event.
Now into their second year, POW! Thanet takes place across the three main towns of Thanet, Kent aiming to "challenge, inspire and excite our audiences with a wide variety of events" for International Women's Day. Spread across four days, event will see the likes of Radio 1's Gemma Cairney and singer-songwriter Andreya Triana crop up alongside numerous panels, discussions and exhibitions.
Anyone down for a night of riot girl punk and feminism should look no further than London's George Tavern, celebrating International Women's Day with the city-based promoters Dance Like I've Got Diamonds. The event is run in conjunction with Girls Against, the activist group aiming to end sexual harassment at gigs and shows.


text:
Headline: Hongkong Theatre
Newspaper Source: South China Morning Post
Owing to excellent accommodation and good pictures the Hongkong Theatre is well patronized. Tomorrow, the Italian drama 'The Marcellini Millions,' featuring George Beban, supported by Helen Jerome Eddy, Eugene Pallette and Adele Farrington, will be screened. Film plot included.
Headline: Hong Kong Telegraph News 1925-05-27
Newspaper Source: Hong Kong Telegraph
Queen's Theatre will be screening 'Her Mad Bargain' featuring Anita Stewart, today. Miss Stewart plays the role of the society girl magnificently. The supporting cast includes Walter McGrail, Gertrude Astor, Arthur Edmund Carew [sic], Adele Farrington, Edmund [sic] Butterworth and…
Headline: Her Mad Bargain: Girl Pawns Her Life for $50,000
Her Mad Bargain,' which stars Anita Stewart, comes to the Queen's Theatre today. The story is based on the experiences of a young society girl. Film synopsis included. The supporting cast includes Walter McGrail, Gertrude Astor, Arthur Edmund Carew [sic], Adele Farrington, Edmund…
Headline: The Queen's Theatre: The Child Thou Gavest Me
Newspaper Source: The China Mail
The Child Thou Gavest Me,' under the First National trademark, a John M. Stahl Productions, will be screened at the Queen's Theatre for four days. The picture featuring all-star cast included Lewis Stone, Barbara Castleton, Adele Farrington, William Desmond, Winter Hall and Richard…
Headline: Big Drama: At Queen's Theatre
The Child Thou Gavest Me,' which is to be the attraction under the First National trademark at the Queen's Theatre, introduces a new producing organization to the motion picture public. It is an independent unit known as John M. Stahl Productions, and the pictures are made under Mr.…
Headline: Queen's Theatre: 'The Child Thou Gavest Me'
Queen's Theatre is screening 'The Child Thou Gravest Me' which is on a four days' run in the theatre. It is a John M. Stahl production and released by Associated First National Pictures, Inc. The film exceeds the dramatic standards set by 'Sowing the Wind.' It has…
The Child Thou Gavest Me,' a John M. Stahl production, released by First National, engaged a four-days screenings at the Queen's Theatre. Mr. Stahl has given the screen subject that exceeds even the high dramatic standard set by 'Sowing the Wind.' The picture featuring all-…
Headline: Queen Theatre: 'The Child Thou Gavest Me'
The Child Thou Gavest Me,' which started a four-day engagement at the Queen's Theatre yesterday, contains a story so human in quality that the entire production seems to be an interesting period lifted right out of life. It is a John M. Stahl production and released by Associated First…
Headline: Queen's Theatre: 'Her Mad Bargain'
Her Mad Bargain,' announced as the attraction at the Queen's Theatre, tomorrow, is Anita Stewart's new First National attraction. The star's recognized ability is an actress of what is termed the sympathetic type is given full play and her fashionable wardrobe more than…
Headline: The Star
Publication Date: 1923-06-01 - 1923-06-01
Today and tomorrow, 'Puppets of Fate,' 'Shanghai Race Meeting,' 'The Star Boarder.' Sunday at 9.15, Adele Blood in 'The Gold Diggers.'
Today and tomorrow, 'Puppets of Fate,' 'Shanghai Race Meeting' and 'The Star Boarder.' Sunday at 9.15, Adele Blood in 'The Gold Diggers.'
Headline: The Victoria
Tonight's attractive programme, 'It Happened to Adele,' a first-class Gold Rooster play and the last episode of 'The Lightning Raider.' Booking at Anderson's.
Headline: The Victoria Theatre
An attractive bill final episode of 'The Lightning Raider' and 'It Happened to Adele,' a clever Gold Rooster play in five parts. Matinee: Charlie Chaplin in 'Sunnyside.' Booking at Anderson's.
Headline: The Star: Tonight only
Viola Dana in 'Puppets of Fate.' Tomorrow at 9.15, Adele Blood in 'Anna Christie' (by special request). $3, $2 & $1, booking at Moutrie's.
Tonight only, Viola Dana in 'Puppets of Fate.' Tomorrow at 9.15, Adele Blood in 'The Gold Diggers.' Monday, 'Anna Christie.' $3, $2 and $1. Booking at Moutrie's.
Tonight only, Viola Dana in 'Puppets of Fate.' Tomorrow at 9.15, Adele Blood in 'The Gold Diggers,' a story of New York high life. $3, $2 and $1. Booking at Moutrie's.
Tonight and tomorrow night, an attractive bill, final episode of 'The Lightning Raider' and 'It Happened to Adele,' a clever Gold Rooster play in 5 parts. Today's matinee: 2.15 and 5 p.m., Charlie Chaplin in 'Sunnyside.' Prices: 60 cents and 30 cents. Booking…
Tonight and tomorrow night, an attractive bill, final episode of 'The Lightning Raider' and 'It Happened to Adele,' a clever Gold Rooster play in five parts. Today's matinee at 2.15 and 5 p.m., Charlie Chaplin in 'Sunnyside.' Prices: 60 cents and 30 cents.…
Film Database Survey
Let us know your thoughts!
South China Morning Post (20)
Hong Kong Telegraph (10)
The China Mail (10)
(-) Show all (90)
It Happened to Adele (8)
The Lightning Raider (7)
Puppets of Fate (6)
Sunnyside (6)
Anna Christie (5)
The Child Thou Gavest Me (4)
The Gold Diggers (4)
Her Mad Bargain (3)
Never Weaken (3)
News Budget (3)
Old Dad (3)
Pay Day (3)
Screen Magazine (3)
Spring Fever (3)
The Hoodlum (3)
The Sky Ranger (3)
The Star Boarder (3)
A Woman's Fight (2)
Shanghai Race Meeting (2)
Shanghai Races (2)
Sowing the Wind (2)
The Fatal Ring (2)
Legally Dead (1)
Shanghai Races, May 1923 (1)
Shanghai Races May 1923 (1)
Smilin' Through (1)
The Child Thou Gravest Me (1)
The Clean Up (1)
The Marcellini Millions (1)
The Mollycoddle (1)
The Vampire's Prey (1)
When the Clouds Roll by (1)
Star Theatre (17)
Queen's Theatre (8)
Victoria Theatre (8)
Coronet Theatre (4)
Grand Theatre (3)
Theatre Royal (City Hall) (3)
Hongkong Theatre (1)
World Theatre (1)


What do emotions do anyways?
They punctuate, imprint or embed perception and experience in physiology (implicit memory). They make a "lasting impression" - much like a hot branding iron sears initials into its recipient.
They can exaggerate or amplify details; distort memory or twist facts.
They communicate to/from others and to ourselves . They act as signals to send and receive useful information quickly without the use of words. Different expressions are hard-wired and act fast! This also means that they can be hard to change and they may influence others whether we intend them to or not. When the communication of our emotion is for ourself, our mind may be telling us something useful, or something that may need our attention. It could also act as a warning or an alarm.
They motivate or energize our behavior and prepare us for action. They can help to overcome obstacles, and maybe even help us to save time; in that some do not require thought.
They validate or corroborate and support certain assumptions, interpretations or conclusions.
Understanding what emotions are capable of doing we are better equipped to weed through the ones that are worthy of our attention, ones that we will want to fine tune a bit more and others that we will need to totally revamp altogether. Getting a hold on what emotions do for us and comparing that with what we want out of any given experience, will help us when we are interacting with our world around us and more importantly, with the people around us. Mental illness usually takes a large bite out of our social and family/loved ones lives. The latter more often than the former. If you are experiencing an emotion and you are in touch with your desired outcome, you will then be able to ask yourself if your emotion is helping or hindering your progress, are you getting what you want out of the experience? Are the emotions doing what you want them to do? If not, you'll need to refocus and see if you can't elicit another, more appropriate emotion for your experience. Understanding where our 'mind' (or self) is can help us decide whether our emotion is working for us, or against us.
Utilizing the concept of these two selves when you express feelings can be an effective communication tool because it affords partners the opportunity to process things that in other circumstances might push buttons and fuel conflict.
This is how a part of me (not all of me) really feels at this particular moment.
Notice that this expression, if done sensitively, is totally legitimate. It doesn't need to be judged as right or wrong, true or false. It is simply a statement of one person's subjective experience and thus, there is less need for defensiveness.
The self we most identify with fluctuates based on the influence of various factors (fatigue, hunger, stress, physical discomfort, etc.) One of the biggest factors that effects which aspect of your partner's personality you will most identify with at a given moment is how they perceive they are being treated; do they feel like they are being listened to and heard, understood, validated or dismissed, ignored, condescended to or attacked?
If both partners are coming from their "little" selves there will be conflict, standoffs and stalemates. If they are coming from their "big" selves there will be open and productive communication. One the best ways to access your partner's bigger self is to fully validate their little self. This takes an enormous amount of trust because to do so can feel quite vulnerable and counterintuitive to your own little self.
Your mind creates your stress... that is a loaded statement, wouldn't you agree? Logically we know that how we think about our experience directly impacts how we feel about it, but does it really go as deep as our mind creating our stress? Let's find out.
Changing your mind about your world through self-talk. Which do you hear more often? Let's take an in-depth look at what we are telling ourselves and see what we can do to increase positive self-talk. We'll explore some of the ineffective contributions towards self-talk and make plans together for over-coming them. Hope to see you there!
*Letting Go - look for more on this during the coming weeks tweets!


text:
Q: K-theory of $C_0(X)$ Suppose that $X$ is some contractible space. I want to determine the K-theory of $C_0(X)$, i.e. the continuous functions on $X$ which vanish at infinity. But I do not know where to begin.

A: You need some more assumptions in order to get ahead.
For example, if $X$ is compact, then $C_0(X)=C(X)$. Indeed, $$ C_0(X)\equiv  \{f\in C(X)\,|\,\forall\varepsilon\in\mathbb{R}_{>0},\,f^{-1}\left(\mathbb{C}-B_{\varepsilon}\left(0_\mathbb{C}\right)\right)\in Compact\left(X\right)\}$$ However, if $f$ is continuous, since $\mathbb{C}-B_{\varepsilon}\left(0_\mathbb{C}\right)$ is closed, $f^{-1}\left(\mathbb{C}-B_{\varepsilon}\left(0_\mathbb{C}\right)\right)$ is closed. But closed subsets of compact sets are compact, implying that for $X$ compact, $C_0(X)=C(X)$.
Then you are to compute $K_n(C(X))$. By homotopy invariance of the $K_n$ functor the contractibility of $X$ gives you $K_n(\mathbb{C})$ which is $0$ or $\mathbb{Z}$ depending on whether $n$ is odd or even respectively, as is well known.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Invotra donates £1000 to The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
Kimberley Casey
On Friday 13th December, we had the pleasure of hosting some wonderful volunteers from Guide Dogs – Gulcem, Vanessa and Liz, and their amazing pups in training, Tamzin and Lolly.
With our dedication to accessibility in mind, it made perfect sense for all of us here at Invotra that when choosing a charity to donate to this year, the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association was a great choice.
For every Christmas card given out by Invotra this year, we have donated £1 to Guide Dogs. We are extremely proud to be supporting a charity that changes the lives of so many people each and every day.
Guide Dogs exists to provide life-changing services to the 360,000 people who are registered blind or partially sighted, and the two million people in the UK living with sight loss
They are responsible for roughly 8,000 dogs and the money that they raise goes to:
– Training and providing guide dogs
– Promoting the inclusion of audio-visual equipment on buses
– Equal access to taxis
– Encouraging service providers (such as shops, restaurants and banks) to provide a level of access and service that meets the needs of blind and partially sighted people
*Image credits to Guide Dogs
Guide Dogs is volunteer-led, meaning that the donations they receive are so important to supporting the organisation to keep on doing their amazing work.
Experiencing Invotra's 'enABLE' accessibility lab...
We do everything we can to ensure that we provide an accessible product, from conception to delivery.
Invotra has a dedicated Accessibility Product Manager, Andrew Doyle, and our very own 'enABLE' Lab, located at our Woking office. The purpose of the enABLE Lab is to create an environment in which we are able to provide our workforce (and any other interested parties) an environment in which we can continue to align and educate ourselves on the importance of accessibility.
It was our pleasure to show Liz and Gulcem the lab and to walk them through what it's like to navigate Invotra using accessible software. Their positive feedback meant a lot to us with accessibility being so close to their hearts.
Supporting Guide Dogs
Invotra are thrilled to be supporting such a worthwhile charity.
To find out more about Guide Dogs, you can visit their website here.
If you would like to make a donation, click here.
More blogs by this author
5 of the top intranet nightmares that are leaving your employees spooked
8 key advantages of a SaaS intranet
5 ways to use analytics to transform your digital internal comms
West Midlands Combined Authority see a 515% increase in intranet usage – Interview with Manjinder Kang, Senior Internal Communications Officer
Intranet digital accessibility checklist
We'd love to show you how Invotra can transform the way your organisation works
Discover what your Invotra intranet could look like with a free, branded video
Get a video demo


Owned and operated by the Australian Cruise Group originally founded by Brian Gray, Sydney Showboats has entertained over 5 million guests in 30 years and is considered one of the most preferred cruise operators on Sydney Harbour.
Being Sydney's premier cruise operator with a sterling reputation, Sydney Showboats delivers excellence at every touchpoint, ensuring a memorable cruise experience for all guests. Incredible inclusions, restaurant-quality menu, excellent service and a whole lot more!
For customer convenience, we have segregated the most frequently asked questions regarding Sydney Showboat cruises into different categories with relevant responses. For further queries, you are free to email us or call the Reservations Desk (+612) 8296 7200.
The Showboat made its first appearance on Sydney Harbour in November 1987, just before the Australian bicentenary celebrations in January 1988, rekindling the romance of the 1800s when paddlewheelers were the backbone of commerce and nation building.
The senior management comprises an experienced and efficient team that ensures the operational efficiency of Sydney Showboats and works towards taking the company from strength to strength.
Sydney Showboats offers value-added services in terms of language assistance to ensure that its non-English guests have a memorable cruising experience.
Guests are free to contact Sydney Showboats via phone or e-mail, or visit our reservations office on King Street Wharf. Contact numbers, email and postal addresses with a location map are listed for your convenience.
Sydney Showboats has diverse employment opportunities for suitably skilled personnel in the marine department, office and food & beverage department. It also conducts auditions for singers and dancers for its onboard entertainment ensemble.


The Asus MeMo Pad HD 7 comes with a brilliant 1280 x 800 resolution (216 pixels per inch) HD IPS Display with 170-degree wide viewing angles. These features make the MeMo Pad HD 7 a wonderful media player for watchng movies. However, the same as other tablets, DVD is not supported by Asus MeMo Pad HD 7. In fact, it is easy to get movies on DVD into Asus MeMo Pad HD 7 as long as you got a DVD Ripper in hand. This article will tell you how to convert DVD to Asus MeMo Pad HD 7 playable video formats so that you can enjoy your favorite DVD movies on the go.
To do the DVD to Asus MeMo Pad HD 7 conversion easily and quickly, here EaseFab DVD Ripper is highly recommended. This program features high efficiency and seamless conversion. With it, you can effortlessly rip DVD to Asus MeMo Pad HD 7 supported video format with fast speed and excellent output quality. In addition, this DVD ripping tool can also convert DVD to various popular video formats like AVI, MP4, WMV, MPEG, MOV, FLV, MKV, 3GP, etc. as well as rip DVD to optimized video for playback on iPad, iPod, iPhone, Zune, Creative Zen, Archos, iRiver, Blackberry, Xbox 360 and more. If you're a Mac user, you can turn to EaseFab DVD Ripper for Mac (macOS Mojave included), which has the same function as the Windows version. Now download the right version and follow the tips below to finish your task.
Ripping DVD to Asus MeMo Pad HD 7 with EaseFab DVD Ripper is simple as ABC. After downloading, follow the wizard to install and run the program. Then follow the steps below to rip DVD to MeMo Pad HD 7 playable videos in a few clicks! The below guide takes DVD Ripper for Windows (Windows 10/8/8.1 compatible) screenshots for example.
Download and intsall the DVD Ripper in your computer. Lauch the program after successfully intsalling. Insert a DVD disc that contains the movie you want to rip into your computer DVD drive. Click the Load DVD button to choose and import DVD movies from your computer's hard drive to the program.
Click "Profile" and select "Android Tablet" from "Android" category. The output videos could be played on Asus MeMo Pad HD 7 with high quality.
When all is OK, click "Convert" to rip DVD to Asus MeMo Pad HD 7. After the ripping, you can click "Open Folder" to locate the converted MP4 video files and just transfer them to your MeMo Pad HD 7 for watching on the go!


text:
Crossrail unveils bespoke design for Bond Street station
Crossrail has unveiled images of the bespoke design for the new Bond Street station which opens in December 2018.
The new Elizabeth line station will have two ticket halls at street level – one at Hanover Square, across from 5 Hanover Square, and the other at Davies Street.
The images* show how the station has been designed to reflect the environment and heritage of the surrounding area. The Hanover Square entrance will be flooded with natural light and bordered by colonnades in pale Portland stone to create a sense of openness and civic presence. Passengers exiting the eastern ticket hall will benefit from a revamped green space in the square's public realm.
Bond Street station will help increase capacity at one of the UK's busiest shopping districts and is expected to accommodate over 225,000 people using the Jubilee, Central and Elizabeth lines daily.
The route fully opens in December 2019 and will offer seamless journeys across London, connecting Reading and Heathrow to east London and Essex.
* Images copyright Crossrail Ltd.


Clipartimage provides you with Butterflies Wallpaper Clipart #1 png, psd, icons, and vectors. All of these Butterflies in colors resources are for download on Clipartimage..
Use these free Download Cute Wallpaper Butterfly Clipart for your personal projects or designs.
You can use these Butterfly Clipart Wallpaper for your blog, website, or share them on all social networks.
Browse our Butterflies butterfly clipart background clipartfest collection, Free Clip Art images Catalogue. Look at Clip Art Butterflies And Flowers | Download Flowers and Butterflies clipart desktop hd Wallpaper in high.
Are you searching for spring pattern with cute butterflies suitable for gift wrap or wallpaper background. EPS 10 & images? Choose from Cartoon Flowers Clip Art | butterfly and flowers illustration in dark colors and tones of red.png graphic-images resources and download in the form of PNG, PSD or EPS.


Hotelbeds Group, the world's leading bedbank and provider of business-to-business services to the global travel industry, has announced a global plan for its retail travel agent division to consolidate and update its offering to maintain its position as the top booking platform for travel agents worldwide.
This news forms part of the group's mission to innovate in the bedbank sector and represents a major strategic milestone following the integration of Tourico Holidays and GTA into the Group in 2017.
Following extensive consultation with customers, it has been decided that the legacy retail business conducted under the TravelBound, TravelCube and GTA retail brands will now be consolidated under the Bedsonline brand – the existing Hotelbeds Group retail brand that is a global provider of accommodation and complimentary travel services designed exclusively for travel agents.
The group will now be working to help customers of TravelBound, TravelCube and the GTA retail brand begin to understand the benefits of moving onto Bedsonline's booking platform over the coming months.
These changes will be accompanied by a global refresh of the Bedsonline brand that will include a fresh new logo and brand identity that will more effectively support Bedsonline's market-leading position and value proposition.
• Diverse and competitive product portfolio: Over 170,000 hotels globally available (with over 90,000 of those directly sourced, making the content both unique and competitively priced), 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, PLUS 140,000 cars available for hire – all sourced by a team of over 1,000 contractors globally.
• Powerful and user-friendly technology: Best-in-class search engine designed specifically for the needs of travel agents allows users to filter and compare results in a flexible and practical way, including intuitive email and PDF functions – 70 per cent of existing customers cite the platform as a top factor in choosing the service. Bedsonline's parent Group is the only distributor to operate its own cloud-based, open source data centre and handles up to 1.5 billion searches per day.
• Local knowledge combined with a global offering: Local sales teams in every market with significant local knowledge and industry know-how ready to take care of all the needs of customers.
When put together, Bedsonline offers customers a 360-degree travel partner offering that is customer-centric and helps partners compete by offering unrivalled technology, the most competitive commercial terms, swift problem resolution and expert team support.
Carlos Muñoz, managing director, Bedbank at Hotelbeds Group, explained: "Once again it gives me great pleasure to announce another move that confirms our dedication to innovating in the bedbank sector – and a major strategic milestone following the integration of Tourico Holidays and GTA.
Alistair Rodger, director of Retail Travel Agents at Hotelbeds Group, commented: "Since starting in this role almost one year ago I've been consulting endlessly with our travel agent customers all around the globe. Time and again the feedback about the Bedsonline platform has made taking this decision easy – due to its superior functionality – but we're looking to continue to improve the experience still further, beyond the booking platform itself, by establishing a truly 360-degree proposition to fully support the growth of our travel agent partners.
The consolidation of the TravelBound, TravelCube, and GTA retail brands under the Bedsonline brand will be rolled out in stages globally. Customer outreach will start the week of September 10 with the French and Middle East markets, with the full migration of all markets globally scheduled in a staggered approach over the coming six months.


text:
Nov 2, 2015 · 11:55 pm
The death and funeral of theatre producer Calvin Wynter in New York
Calvin Wynter RIP (25 November 1959 – 30 October 2015)
On 16th September this year, I posted a blog headed:
PIT BULL DOG ATTACKS CALVIN WYNTER, THEATRE PRODUCER, IN NEW YORK CITY
That blog ended:
"I'm headed off right now," Calvin told me, "to have my teeth cleaned and also they did a biopsy on my jawbone. They performed dental surgery, removed the lesion and put it in for biopsy research. They called me on Friday which means I think I may have cancer. I don't know. So far, everything that's thought to have been cancerous was not – like the polyps I got from my colonoscopy. I had three polyps. No cancer. So who knows? Maybe the third time isn't so good but, y'know look – I've had a shaved head before. I can have a shaved head again. I'm still Episcopalian, which is like your Church of England, but my philosophy is Buddhist which is essentially: What do we seek? Happiness. What is pain and sorrow? The route to happiness."
Calvin Wynter when he talked to me in September via Skype
The following day, 17th September, I blogged:
Calvin has now to come back to say: "My jawbone lesion is benign… Yay!"
On 24th October, ten days ago, knowing I was going to be talking in London to US performer Penny Arcade, I asked Calvin if he could give me any background.
His replied included this:
Went under oral surgery to remove the lesion on my jaw and the bone graft from my thigh on Wednesday. I will be able to speak on Monday. Thank God I have experience at being silent. Thank you John for giving sometime to leave experience. Best wishes with your interview. – Cal
He also e-mailed me this selfie of himself headed: 'Post Oral Surgery'
I replied: Holy shit! You look like a cartoon Godfather with one of those very high 1940s formal collars! Blog currently not happening because WordPress are fuck-ups…
His response was: Hahaha… Best wishes with your blog app.
I replied: If you want to tell me about your experience (preferably on Skype – but you might not want to actually talk too much!) just let me know when.
Calvin Wynter in 1977
He told me: Thanks for the offer, but I can't speak until Monday. Slow healing process.
I replied: Oh, yes, I meant after that. I doubt if I will have sorted the blog out until Tuesday.
His response was: Perfect timing.
That was the last I heard from him.
Tonight, I received an e-mail from a mutual friend in New York City. It read:
Calvin Wynter – happy as a child with his father
I'm sorry to have to tell you that Calvin died last Thursday night. I don't know specifics,
I was hoping you could announce Calvin's passing and the arrangements to the community over there via your blog.
The funeral will be 5.00 pm on Friday the 6th November at Cobbs Funeral Home in East Elmhurst (Queens), NY. Interment Saturday morning at 10 am. He is being interred with his parents at Flushing Cemetery.
The anniversary of his birth is in three weeks time.
Calvin Wynter (25 November 1959 – 30 October 2015)
Filed under Death
Tagged as Calvin Wynter, cancer, death
Jul 8, 2015 · 1:04 pm
Wilko Johnson: the rock star who lived in ecstasy while under a death sentence
Last night, courtesy of Michael (son of Micky) Fawcett, I went to the premiere of The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson, director Julien Temple's almost abstract movie about the legendary British guitarist who also played mute executioner Ilyn Payne in Game of Thrones. There is a trailer on YouTube.
It is a companion piece to Oil City Confidential, Julien Temple's 2009 film about Wilko's band Dr Feelgood.
The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson was going to be about Wilko dying of terminal cancer, except Wilko did not.
The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson poster
Charlie Chan, a friend of Wilko's who juggles being a music business photographer with being a breast cancer surgeon, realised that there might be some hope. Surgeon Emmanuel Huguet operated on Wilko for nine hours at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and the result was there to see last night.
Ironically, Michael Fawcwett told me, Wilko survived because he did NOT take any chemotherapy treatment. He just accepted he would die, did concerts and last year made a hit album Going Back Home with Roger Daltrey as part of his 'farewell'.
"I decided," said Wilko, "just to accept the situation and go through it and die, to live whatever life I had left and go with the flow, whether it was booking gigs or Julien making a film."
Wilko's wife Irene had died of cancer in 2004. So it goes.
Wilko performing at the 100 Club last night
If Wilko had taken the chemotherapy treatment, he would have been too ill to survive the operation which saved his life. So his acceptance of death resulted in his life continuing.
The film had a special relevance to Julien Temple because, at the time it was being made, his own mother was dying. So it goes.
"All the twists and turns," said Wilko, "that happened during that year…"
"That's the thing about a documentary," said Julien. "You don't know where it's going. There's something fantastic about the element of chance which is what life's about, really. If you over-script things, sometimes you… You would never write a film like this. No-one would believe a fiction film if you had written it like this. Who would ever believe a rock star so erudite?"
"If you wrote it in a book," Wilko said, "it would be condemned as an improbable fiction."
After yesterday's premiere (left-right) Sheri Sinclair, Derick 'The Draw' Hussey, Julien Temple and Michael Fawcett
After the screening, I went to the 100 Club in Oxford Street, where Wilko and his band played a one-hour, sweat-pouring, full-throttle gig. I had thought the 100 Club had closed but, like Wilko, it is still very much alive.
In the red-walled basement club, I bumped into Edinburgh Fringe regular Ronnie Golden aka Tony De Meur of the former Fabulous Poodles. His girlfriend Grace Carley was executive producer on The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson.
"I love this club," Ronnie/Tony told me. "I remember it from the late 1970s. It looked almost exactly the same. It's just a brilliant, brilliant shit-hole. In those days, there was no air-conditioning and they had a stall over there that sold Chinese food so you had this smelly stench and everybody smoked so the air was filled with smoke and this stench. It was insane and our drummer passed-out on stage. The sheer heat and everything."
Ronnie Golden, former Fabulous Poodle – 100 Club last night
"While he was performing?' I asked.
"Yeah," said Ronnie. "And it happened in the Marquee Club too. He was susceptible to passing-out."
"What," I asked, "did you do when he passed out on stage during the gig?"
"We walked off and they played some music on records and then we came back on again."
"With the drummer?"
"Yeah. It happened in Philadelphia too. But he would always rally very well."
When I left the 100 Club, I walked to Oxford Circus station with Emmanuel Huguet, the surgeon who saved Wilko's life. I asked him, perhaps tritely, what it is like being a surgeon.
"You get to meet some very interesting people," he said.
There is a video on YouTube of Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltry's Going Back Home.
Filed under Death, Movies, Music, Rock music
Tagged as 100 Club, cancer, Charlie Chan, death, Derick 'The Draw' Hussey, Dr Feelgood, Emmanuel Huguet, Fabulous Poodles, Game of Thrones, Going Back Home, Grace Carley, Julien Temple, Michael Fawcett, Oil City Confidential, rock music, Roger Daltrey, Ronnie Golden, Tony De Meur, Wilko Johnson
Ex gangster drug runner Jason Cook tells me how a rat became an astronaut
Jason – from crime and cocaine to rats and cheese
I have blogged about Jason Cook a few times before.
He became a drug addict at the age of twelve and then started to sell drugs from his bedroom and on the streets to pay off his growing drugs debts to local dealers. Then he got into trouble with Yardies and was forced to smuggle drugs in order to save his friends and family "from danger".
At the age of 20 he was heavily involved in the drugs world and he was also taking steroids to build himself up. He reached 18 stone, with a sizeable drug habit, was arrested and spent 3 years and 9 months in Pentonville Prison where he found drugs use was also widespread.
After a second prison sentence, he realised that he needed to turn his life round for his family and – despite being dyslexic – started to write a series of four semi-autobiographical books
Jason Cook's first two semi-autobiographical crime books
There's No Room for Jugglers in My Circus (which may be re-named as The Devil's Dandruff if a planned movie is made of it)
The Gangster's Runner
A Nice Little Earna (the book is currently being edited)
Jason has five children. This month he published his first Kindle children's book Rats in Space.
For each downloaded eBook or Kindle copy sold, 50p is going to be donated to the Macmillan Cancer fund. At the start of the book, it says:
Jason Cook's kids' book – Rats In Space
The author, Jason Cook, would like to dedicate this book to his son, Hughie Cook, for truly being a brave boy during his chemotherapy treatment. Jason would also like to dedicate it to the other children and adults who are fighting this disease every day. Also to the doctors and nurses that help so many of the sick adults and children and thank them for the support they show the families. So thank you, all who helped support not only Hughie, but me and the others in our family at these tough times.
Rats in Space "tells the sad, very emotional yet ultimately happy story of the rats who live in the tunnels of the Underground at King's Cross station…
"Can a rat really reach the moon? When a global cheese shortage threatens the entire rodent community, a brave group of rats come to one decision: if there is no cheese to be found on the Earth, then it's time to look off the Earth. Hector Duddlewell has always dreamed of the stars and, when he catches a glimpse of glorious space travel, he's willing to defy all odds to win the girl of his dreams and take his place as one of the first ever RATS IN SPACE."
"It's true," Jason told me this morning. "Hector really did go into space."
"Of course he did," I said sympathetically.
Jason has plans to film Rats In Space – the script is written
"He did," said Jason. "Hector really did. He was flown into space."
He showed me the Wikipedia entry. It read:
"France flew their first rat (Hector) into space on February 22, 1961."
"My book tells the back story of Hector," explained Jason. "How he actually became an astronaut."
Stranger things have happened.
Filed under Books, Children, Crime, Drugs, Writing
Tagged as books, cancer, children, crime, drugs, Jason Cook, Kindle, rats, Space
My father dies on 26th/27th June
In recent weeks, I have been posting extracts from my 2001 diary about the period when my father was dying from cancer.
I previously posted a shorter version of what follows in November 2011, when Apple boss Steve Jobs died. I think this one has a better ending.
Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature) painted in 1893 by Edvard Munch
My father's mind was on another planet. He did not recognise the nurse when she came in. He could not recognise words said to him. It was not that his ears could not hear them; it was that his brain did not recognise their meaning.
When we visited by father this afternoon, he was unable to communicate, staring blankly into the middle distance.
Monday 25th June
My father told the nurses he felt pain this morning. So he will now be given an extra daytime tablet with a morphine-element in addition to the one he is given in the evening. His eyes stared, as if at something faraway and long ago. As I left and put the trolley tray by his bed, he looked at me and said: "There's something not at all right with me."
I had a 2-hour medical check-up in a BUPA building near King's Cross.
London was sweltering in extraordinarily hot weather, but inside the building it was cool and relaxing. Later, I sent an e-mail to my friend Lynn, saying:
They say I'm getting into the start of being dangerously overweight and VERY slightly too cholesterolly. I do wonder if it was really necessary for the short Chinese gent to put his finger up my bottom to test for Prostate Cancer. Surely there must be another way to do this or was he just 'avin' a larf?
I phoned my mother around 6.00pm and she told me that, when she had visited my father in the afternoon, there had been no response to anything she or my aunt (his sister) said. His eyes were open but staring ahead. "I think he was drugged up to the eyeballs," she told me. "I don't think he's in any pain." (Later, the matron told me the medication he was on was not that strong and that they had not given him a daytime tablet to avoid making him zombie-like.)
At around 8.30pm, I was mowing the grass on my front garden. The matron phoned me on my mobile phone to tell me my father had deteriorated very badly and I arranged to leave at 10.00pm, to get to the nursing home around 11.30pm, telling my mother I was getting to her home in Clacton at 1.00am and not to wait up for me. I was going to see how he was as 11.30pm and decide what to do.
The matron rang back at 9.30pm to tell me the doctor had just been and said my father only had four to five hours left before he died, so I went immediately, told my mother I had been phoned by the matron and asked if she want to go to the home to see my father.
She said (quite rightly) No, with a sad, tired, tone to her voice, and I phoned her just after 11.05pm when I had gone in and seen my father briefly. I suggested my mother take her two nightly sleeping tablets and go to bed and I would stay with my father all night and phone her at 7.00pm when she got up. She knew it was terminal because she had told me where the undertaker was. There was some surprise in her voice when I phoned her:
"Is he still here?" she asked.
When I arrived, the nursing home's night sister warned me he had deteriorated a lot since my mother had seen him this afternoon and warned me "his eyes are open".
The first thing that shocked me when the door was opened, though, was the sound. I had never realised the phrase "death rattle" was anything more than a colourful phrase. It is an exact description. I had also thought it was a brief final sound rather than an ongoing sound.
It was a rhythmic, rasping sound.
His face was side-lit in the darkened room by a yellow-cream glow from a bedside table lamp sitting not on a table but on the floor of the room with old-fashioned floral wallpaper. It was bit like a Hammer horror movie of the late 1950s in slightly faded Technicolor.
His bed was behind the door and when I saw him lying there on his back in bed I was shocked again because his face was like Edvard Munch's painting The Scream.
His false teeth were out, so his mouth was abnormally small considering it was open to its fullest extent, the skin between his upper lip and nose seemed wider than normal; and there was an indented line on his nose between his nostrils which, in profile, made him look like he had two noses.
He was lying on his back staring straight up at the ceiling with wide open, unblinking eyes as if he was shocked by something he saw on the ceiling. His head was tilted back slightly from his torso as if his head had been dropped into the soft pillow from a great height.
This tilted-back head, the shocked eyes, the open mouth all combined to make it look like he was frozen in a silent scream yet the sound coming out was a death rattle from his throat, as the air mattress beneath him made discreet little isolated cracking sounds presumably caused by the slight movements as his body made the rattling rasping breathing and his distended stomach rose and fell under the bedclothes.
The rattle was like a machine breathing through a very slightly echoey plastic tube partially blocked by air bubbles in water. I wondered if he was dead already, inside. It was as if his brain or heart must be telling his throat and chest to desperately gasp for air even though they knew it was pointless.
Towards the end, the rattle became less pronounced as the sound of the breaths within the rattle became slightly more human.
Towards the very end, the rattle slowly died out and human light breathing returned, getting gentler and gentler as his life ebbed away. When the breathing ended, I pressed the buzzer for the night sister.
When she arrived, there was some slight breathing again, but only for 40 or 60 seconds. For perhaps the last 15 seconds of his life, his mouth – until now rigidly open – partially closed then reopened three times, then his eyes slowly closed, his mouth partially closed and reopened twice more and he was dead, his eyes closed and mouth open. It was 00.35am and 22 seconds on Wednesday morning. I had arrived at about 11.03pm.
After he died, I went downstairs to the nursing home office with the night sister, whose father-in-law had died in the same room – Room 11 – of the same disease. I then went back up to the room where my father lay for 15 or 20 seconds during which time there were a couple of tiny surreal flashes through the window from the outside world.
When I went outside to my car, the black sky was flashing white with lightning. Every few seconds, the whole night-time sky was silently flashing white with increasing – but still silent – violence. On the drive back to my parents' bungalow in Great Clacton, the flashes became whiter and more frequent and the thunder sound arrived. On the drive beside their front garden, small surreal white specks were being blown across the tarmac. When I got out of the car at my parents' – now my mother's – house, there was a neon-like flash of vertical lightning and a sound of rustling which continued for 60 or 90 seconds.
I took my bags inside the bungalow and then the rain started. Torrential rain thundering on the streets and windows and roof. Violent and angry rain.
It all struck me as unfathomably dramatic. My father's death… then immediately the heavens in turmoil… then strong winds… then thunder crashes and angry, violent rain… As if the heavens, in turmoil, were protesting.
It reminded me of the death of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play.
I looked up the quote later:
There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
My father was a very ordinary man. Yet it was like the heavens were protesting.
Wednesday 27th June
In the morning, my father's dead body lay on an occasionally cracking air bed in Room 11 of the nursing home.
People were talking about the dramatic overnight storm. The telephone lines had been cut at Weeley Crematorium but the fax line was working, so the funeral director could only talk to the crematorium by fax.
The curate who will lead the service at my father's funeral came round to chat to my mother.
"What was Harry like as a person?" he asked my mother.
"He was very placid," she told him. "But if he was riled he would go through a brick wall. It would take an awful lot to get him riled, though."
My mother partially broke down later in the day saying of the funeral: "It's only his family that's going to be there – only his family not my family."
Almost immediately – within 15 seconds – the phone rang. It was her cousin Sybil ringing from Edinburgh to say she and husband Osmond (who is dying of cancer) would be coming down to the funeral.
Friday 29th June – Clacton
My mother partially broke down again in the evening.
"I've been worrying about this all day," she cried to me. "When I said yesterday I had no family……. I've got you……. That was a terrible thing to say!"
Of course, when she had said there would be no members of her family at my father's funeral, I had taken it the way she had meant it.
Her parents were dead. She was an only child. Almost.
She had had a brother. He died when (I think) he was aged 16 and she was 11.
Her parents had adored her brother. He was the perfect son.
My parents married in the 1940s. My mother died in 2007, aged 86
My mother was born with no left hand – only a rounded stump. When she was a small girl, her mother told her: "Keep your left hand in your pocket. Don't let anyone see." She always hid her left hand from strangers.
Once, in the 1930s, she saw a man in a Glasgow street – she still remembers him clearly – leaning on the wall by an office doorway and she saw he "had exactly the same as me". But he didn't care if people saw it; he just behaved as if it was natural. "I wanted to talk to him but I didn't," she told me. "I wish I had."
Before my mother married my father, my aunt (my father's sister) told her: "I wish Henry could marry a whole woman."
Filed under Death, Marriage
Tagged as cancer, death, marriage, parents
Jun 22, 2014 · 11:11 am
… and, as my father dies from cancer…
My parents in Edinburgh. My mother is hiding her left hand. She was born with no left hand – only a stump. As a child, her mother told her: "Keep your left hand in your pocket. Don't let anyone see."
Over the last few weeks, I have been posting occasional extracts from my 2001 diary, when my father was dying of cancer. Here are some more extracts:
Saturday 16th June – Clacton
The other night, my mother's cousin Sybil phoned. Her husband Osmond is dying very painfully of cancer in Scotland and her sister Daisy is visiting from the USA. Sybil almost broke down talking to my mother on the phone. Tonight, my mother said to me: "I think Sybil might be upset about Osmond. Or maybe she was just upset that Daisy was going home."
Sunday 17th June – Clacton
Father's Day. My mother did not want to visit my father today: she said it was too cold and windy outside. I went on my own. He was comparatively perky: when I went in, he was watching tennis on television. While I was there, lethargy slowly took him over but then he started watching TV tennis again and his brain was able to concentrate more on that.
Monday 18th June – Clacton
A neighbour came in, telling my mother that she thinks her son has managed to sell the family butcher's business in Walthamstow, East London. It has been in the family for 60 years and the neighbour can remember when there were 9 or 10 staff. Now there is just her son and a couple of youngsters. The business has run down particularly recently because of BSE (Mad Cow Disease), the recent outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease and now scares even about chicken meat. She also says the area has become 75% Asian and they don't shop in "our" (ie white) butchers' shops.
Tuesday 19th June – Borehamwood/Greenwich
I went down to see comedian Malcolm Hardee in Greenwich. He is still living in a council flat opposite his club Up The Creek but has just bought a 22-tonne ship moored at Surrey Docks and he partly moved in today, courtesy of my Toyota's boot. Since April, he has been sharing the council flat with another comedian. Malcolm told me the other comedian idolises him to the extent that he is now going round sleeping with women Malcolm has slept with in the past. Malcolm came home one night and found the other comedian "had just been shagging" an ex-girlfriend of Malcolm and was even wearing Malcolm's dressing gown.
On the phone, my mother told me that my father today was "very confused and very yellow – jaundiced". When telling me how confused he was, she got very confused.
Wednesday 20th June – Clacton/Colchester
When my mother and I visited the nursing home in the afternoon, we were told that, in the morning, my father had been bleeding a lot of "frank fresh blood" from his bottom, but it had stopped itself before the nurses came in. "Frank" is a medical term apparently just meaning "fresh" too. My father was confused, with a faraway look in his eye and slightly yellow, but not as badly jaundiced as when my mother saw him yesterday. When I left the nursing home, the matron told me (alone) that she thought the liver cancer was taking over.
In the evening, my mother and I went to Colchester for the arranged appointment with the bowel consultant and his associate the cancer consultant. The appointment – as it had been a month ago – was supposed to be with my father, but he is in no condition to travel from Clacton to Colchester.
My father was given two liver function tests two weeks apart (the second one yesterday morning) as well as one after the operation. The one after the operation was OK though not very good. The one given two weeks ago was worse. And the one given yesterday was worse still. We were told that there could be several reasons for my father's jaundice and physical weakness.
The bowel consultant described the arteries going into the liver as like a tree. There's the thick main trunk, then less thick branches, then thinner and thinner branches. When he operated, the tumour seemed to be tucked away, not affecting any serious part of the tree. It could have moved and be affecting a more important branch, preventing bile being drained off and causing jaundice/lack of energy. Or the cancer could have started to take over significant percentages of the liver, preventing it functioning more and more. If the latter was the problem, there was nothing that could be done.
If the former was the problem, then they could put in an ERCP – a small plastic tube. This is inserted via the mouth into the liver. It might drain away some of the bile, alleviating the jaundice and lack of energy problem.
In order to know the cause of the jaundice, they would have to give him an ultrasound scan in Colchester – he would have to come up from Clacton for the day. If – and only if – the problem could be treated by the plastic tube, then he would have to come up to Colchester again for the insertion of the tube and he would return to Clacton the following day. If – and only if – the tube was effective, then his jaundice and energy problem might be slightly alleviated and there was a chance – but only a chance – that his liver function test results might return to what they had been three tests ago and, at that point it might – but only might – be possible to give him chemotherapy treatment.
The decision for us was whether we wanted to put him through that process for the possible result. My mother's reaction was to say: "Is it worth it?" She didn't think so. Neither did I.
Returning to Clacton, I stopped off at the nursing home at 7.45pm where my father's GP had been due to see him at 7.30pm. I waited until 8.00pm talking to the night supervisor. She was horrified at the very thought of my father being subjected to any trip to Colchester: "He'd never make it," she told me. When he is taken to the commode in the mornings now, they mostly have to use a hoist for him because he hasn't the strength to go supported by two nurses. He is basically, now, incontinent and, before I arrived, he had been again bleeding from his bottom though slightly less so than this morning.
The GP eventually came around at 9.15pm after going to an emergency elsewhere. He has prescribed daily 30mg doses of pain reliever MXL, which includes some morphine… and three 2mg doses per day of the steroid Dexamethasone to try and relieve the liver. When the GP saw him, my father was very confused, saying he lives in Thorpe-le-Soken (a village several miles away), is eating very well and is going home soon.
The night supervisor had told me that, this morning, my father looked at her and said fatalistically: "I'm not going anywhere, am I?"
Back home, my mother partly broke down in my arms. After I had phoned to tell my aunt (my father's sister) the news, my mother said to me: "She's hard as nails. Last night she said to me…" then partly broke down again.
Last night, my aunt told my mother: "We're going to lose him."
Breaking down, my mother told me: "That doesn't help…"
"The meeting with the bowel doctor was a big shock to you?" I asked my mother.
"Yes," she told me, "I'd hoped against hope."
I think this may be the first time she has fully accepted he is going to die. She blamed herself (unjustly) that he cannot come back home because she cannot cope. And she is deeply upset at the decision she has now taken not to drag him to Colchester for the ultrasound and possibly also the ERCP treatment. "We can't put him through it," she told me, partly breaking down.
Thursday 21st June – Clacton
The matron told me that the GP last night found my father so confused he thought there might be secondary tumours in the brain. I noticed my father was no longer wearing his wedding ring. I guessed his fingers had become so thin that it had simply slipped off.
Friday 22nd June – Borehamwood/Clacton
As soon as I got back to Borehamwood, my mobile phone rang – it was the matron at my father's nursing home. My mother and aunt had walked in to see him and found him lying back with his mouth open, apparently not breathing (and, as I later found out, his false teeth dropped down from his upper gum), a spoon in his hand and a bowl of jelly in front of him. My aunt, a former nurse, found he had no pulse.
The nursing home matron was up in the room within about a minute and found he had a strong pulse but, by this time, both my mother and aunt were in tears.
I drove to Clacton from Borehamwood in the early Friday rush hour – about 2 hours 45 mins instead of the normal 90 minutes – to find my father looking dramatically thinner, bonier than he had when I saw him yesterday afternoon. I got there around 6.30pm by which time my mother and aunt were dry-eyed but still twitchily upset. I drove them back to their homes around 7.00pm – my mother broke down in my arms – and then I went back to the nursing home where my father was asleep. When I had left, I told my father:
"I'll be about half an hour."
"You'll be back – and the boatman?" he asked me.
"The boatman?"
"The boatman."
When I got back, I asked my father if he felt hot.
"I really don't know," he replied.
Tagged as cancer, Clacton, Colchester, death, Malcolm hardee, racism
While my father is about a fortnight away from death in 2001, life goes on
My father and mother on the seafront at Clacton in Essex, UK
In the last few weeks, I have been posting extracts from my 2001 diary, when my father was dying – quite quickly – from cancer.
In the extracts below, he is still alive but only about a fortnight away from death – which, of course, I did not know.
Thursday 7th June – Clacton
I voted in Borehamwood this morning. There were three voting slips despite the fact I am only aware of there being two elections. One was for today's General Election; one for a local election. I have not the faintest idea what the third slip was for, but fear I may have subscribed to Readers' Digest.
Then it was off to Clacton to drive my mother to vote, take her for lunch and shopping, go visit my father in the nursing home, then take my mother to her GP to re-dress her scab. It now looks like a miniature deep-pan pizza.
Friday 8th June – Clacton
We were told that, from Monday, the local Clacton health authority will pay for my father's costs at the nursing home. Until then, we will have to continue paying.
Saturday 9th June – Clacton
My mother does not like going to the nursing home: seeing the man who was always physically stronger than her and who has always 'looked after' her lie in bed weak of mind and body. The irony is watching your partner fall apart physically and mentally in front of your eyes and not realise it's happening to yourself too.
My eye is mending. The previously bloody half is now mostly yellow with vertical red streaks and most of the blood has now gone below the pupil, so if I raise my eye to heaven, it looks like my pupil is supported on a pillar of blood.
Sometimes I wonder how I will die and, if it is to be in bed like my father, think it would be good to allow my brain to drift off into a fantasy world, allowing the whirling confusion to take over and go with it. Flowing with the stream of consciousness.
Monday 11th June – Borehamwood
My mother told me, on the phone, that when she arrived at the nursing home, my father had been watching TV and knew the names of the people he had been watching.
Tuesday 12th June – Borehamwood
My mother told me my father was quite chatty again.
Wednesday 13th June – Clacton
I went with my mother to visit my father. He was a little brighter but still terribly confused and unable to put his new hearing aid in properly.
Malcolm Hardee rang up this afternoon to tell me he has "bought a ship – not a boat – off a man in Ware". He says he is going to live on it at Surrey Quays in Rotherhithe……Why do I think this is all going to end in nudity and flames?
Three months later, the planes hit the Twin Towers in New York.
Four years later, Malcolm Hardee fell in the water and drowned, while walking a few feet to his boat in Rotherhithe.
Tagged as 2001, cancer, death, father, Malcolm hardee
Jun 7, 2014 · 10:46 am
As my father dies of cancer, there is a slapstick moment
In the last few weeks, I have posted occasional extracts from my electronic diary in 2001, when my father was dying from cancer. I will continue until he does/did. The extracts below are a strange interlude:
My father's father died when my father was 3.
Saturday 2nd June 2001 – Clacton
Driving to Clacton in the morning, it was like someone sticking a needle in my right eyeball. When I looked in the mirror, there was a vertical line of red blood in the white to one side of my pupil.
At the nursing home, my father asked me: "What do you think?"
"About what?" I asked.
"About me going home. I was thinking about the cost to your mother."
I explained she couldn't cope with him being in bed 24 hours per day, couldn't support him to the toilet (he needs two nurses and a zimmer frame) and he needed professional tending.
"Do you agree?" he asked my mother. She nodded. I think she is frightened he might come home and she might somehow have to try to physically cope.
In the evening, my mother phoned her friend Doug in Canada to tell him about my father's illness, his operation and the fact he is now in a nursing home. Doug's wife answered and my mother was flustered.
"I couldn't remember what I was phoning for," she explained to me afterwards.
Sunday 3rd June 2001 – Clacton
My eye is still sore, the blood spreading in the bottom half of the outer white of my right eye. I presume it is a burst blood vessel.
Monday 4th June 2001 – Borehamwood
My eye was still achy so I popped into an optician who said it was a burst blood vessel and it would last a week. She recommended I have my general blood pressure tested but do nothing. The right hand white of my eye is white and the left hand white is doing an impression of the closing scenes of The Wild Bunch.
Tuesday 5th June 2001 – Clacton
My eye is itchy like taut skin.
At the nursing home, my father's hand was cold and he said he was cold.
Until now, since the operation, he has been boiling hot.
Wednesday 6th June 2001 – Borehamwood
Just for safety, I popped into my GP this morning to ask about my eye. He too, immediately, said it was a blood vessel and said it would take about two weeks to clear. He too said to do nothing. I did not mention blood pressure to the GP but he volunteered: "It's got nothing to do with blood pressure, but I'll test it anyway," and did the tight-thing-round-the-arm blood pressure test.
I asked if it could have anything to do with glaucoma and he immediately said no. (I have glaucoma on both sides of my family: it is incurable once it sets in, but can be prevented if caught at an early stage, so I have annual glaucoma tests.)
As I walked to the doctor's surgery, I was looking at an interesting row of houses to my right and walked straight into a concrete lamp post in the middle of the pavement – right full-force into my left temple, left cheekbone, left leg of my spectacles and left knee of my leg. I have never found slapstick particularly humorous but this was real Harold Lloyd stuff.
Filed under Humor, Humour, Medical
Tagged as cancer, humor, humour


http://www.wineofthemonthclub.com Take a tour of Wine of the Month Club, Americas oldest and Original Wine Club, founded in 1972, with Company president and Cellarmaster Paul Kalemkiarian.
Cellarmaster Paul Kalemkiarian takes you on a video tour of the Wine of the Month Club headquarters in Monrovia California and introduces you to some of the wine club staff, as well as showing you key areas of the company.
Paul introduces you to a few of the customer service staff in the video. When you call Wine of the Month Club, you do not get a machine to answer your calls, you get a real live person on the line, sitting right there in the wine club headquarters.
Paul then moves through the building and shows you his wine tasting room, where every Tuesday he tastes all the latest offerings from wineries from around the world, local importers and distributors. It's from those weekly tastings that the wines are selected each month for the Wine of the Month Club Wine Clubs.
From there Paul moves through to give you a quick look at the gift basket assembly area, where all of the wine gift baskets are assembled by hand using the freshest ingredients.
Next up is the warehouse where you get an insight into the temperature controlled environment that wines are stored in at Wine of the Month Club before being sent out to wine club members each month.
Finally Paul moves to his office where he reinforces the principals that the Wine of the Month Club was founded upon all those years ago back in 1972.
In all, a fascinating look into the world of The Original Wine of the Month Club.


The 2018 Ford Mustangand will get a brand new exterior coloration, Satin Metal Gray Metallic. Moreover, hatchback fashions at the moment are obtainable with the diesel engine. The 2018 Ford Mustangand acquired a 5-star overall security ranking from the NHTSA (out of a attainable 5 stars). In IIHS evaluations, the 2018 Ford Mustangand Price and Release date has only been tested in aspect and moderate entrance overlap impression assessments where it acquired a Good ranking (Good is the very best attainable score). It additionally acquired a Primary ranking on the IIHS' entrance crash prevention test for having an out there forward collision warning system (Superior is the best score for the entrance crash prevention check).
This is the story of the new 2018 Ford Mustangand, really. It's filled with options and demonstrates a classy mechanical prowess, nevertheless it's explicit about issues. It's clinical and exact, in some ways to a fault, however balanced with apparent value and options. Just like the hit man, the 2018 Ford Mustangand is no nonsense up entrance, however there's an underlying warmth and desire to please when you get to comprehend it.


-Spot to ride: I was in Canada for couple months and the I would say Joyride150 is a lot of fun!
-BMX video: Alex Hiam Fox bmx 2015. I love him so much he is a big inspiration for me and he is riding everything perfect with style.
-Food: Sushi, Pizza and Cherimoya it's a fruit the taste is like tutti frutti chewing gum.
-Riders to ride with: Alex Hiam, Pat Casey, Mike Varga is a really nice guy thx for the good sessions when I was in Canada!
-Web video: The best of Nyjah Huston 2018. His life is unreal, such a dream.
-Party: The Simple Session partys are the best!


Nuria Matesanz, Ivana Nikolić, Magdalena Leiva, Marta Pulgarín-Alfaro, Ayelén M. Santamans, Edgar Bernardo, Alfonso Mora, Leticia Herrera-Melle, Elena Rodríguez, Daniel Beiroa, Ainoa Caballero, Elena Martín-García, Rebeca Acín-Pérez, Lourdes Hernández-Cosido, Luis Leiva-Vega, Jorge L. Torres, Francisco Centeno, Angel R. Nebreda, José Antonio Enríquez, Rubén Nogueiras, Miguel Marcos & Guadalupe Sabio.
Adipose tissue has emerged as an important regulator of whole-body metabolism, and its capacity to dissipate energy in the form of heat has acquired a special relevance in recent years as potential treatment for obesity. In this context, the p38MAPK pathway has arisen as a key player in the thermogenic program because it is required for the activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis and participates also in the transformation of white adipose tissue (WAT) into BAT-like depot called beige/brite tissue.
Here, using mice that are deficient in p38α specifically in adipose tissue (p38αFab-KO), we unexpectedly found that lack of p38α protected against high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. We also showed that p38αFab-KO mice presented higher energy expenditure due to increased BAT thermogenesis. Mechanistically, we found that lack of p38α resulted in the activation of the related protein kinase family member p38δ.
Altogether, we have elucidated a mechanism implicated in physiological BAT activation that has potential clinical implications for the treatment of obesity and related diseases such as diabetes.
PLoS Biol. 2018; 16(7): e2004455.


Dealing with change, particularly, the impact of change should be a high priority for all organisations, for the mere fact that organisations do not change, people do. Change management therefore, is the discipline that guides you in the areas of preparation, equipping and supporting individuals to successfully adopt change and consequently drive organisational success. A thorough understanding and application of this discipline will allow any organisation to plan thoroughly before announcing any change efforts within the organisation. As one understands the basic principles in managing change and what triggers resistance, planning the change, that is how it is communicated, implemented, tracked and sustained, will prove to be more efficient and strategic to achieve the objectives of the organisation.
During this workshop, specific emphasis will be placed on understanding the principles of change management; change and the organisation; communication and engagement and the various change practices utilized to deal with resistance.
1. Should the BEC cancel the session, a full refund will be granted to all registrants.
2. All cancellations must be made in writing to the BEC within two business days prior to the training in order to receive a full refund.
3. Cancellations made within one business day prior to the session (the day before), 50% of the registration fee will be refunded.


text:
Q: Uploading image to icloud using cloud kit throws error ios I am facing one issue. Error is thrown when image is uploaded to icloud using cloud kit. It throws following error:
(< CKError 0x7ffad06b6780: "Internal Error" (1/5000); "Couldn't create a PCS identity">)

When image is not uploaded with other data, then other data is successfully uploaded.
Here I have provided code I used to set image for uploading.
var noteRecord: CKRecord!
if let url = imageURL {
  let imageAsset = CKAsset(fileURL: url)
  print("imageAsset \(imageAsset)")
  noteRecord.setObject(imageAsset, forKey: "noteImage")
}

A: This is a user-specific issue that occurs with the iCloud Keychain and iCloud Drive folders after a user enables iCloud Drive on one of their devices.
Example log:

Oct 17 00:38:17 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] :
PCSIdentityCollectionSetup: {type = mutable dict, count = 3, entries
=> 0 : {contents = "kPCSSetupUsername"} = {contents = "appleID"} 1 : {contents = "kPCSSetupDSID"} = {contents = "<>"} 2 : {contents =
"kPCSSetupPassword"} = {contents = "<>"} } Oct 17 00:38:17
hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] :
__PCSAccountHasStingrayIdentities Oct 17 00:38:19 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] : PCSHasStingrayIdentities: YES Oct 17
00:38:21 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] :
PCSCopyStingrayIdentity: {length = 1845, capacity = 1845, bytes =
0x628207313082072d0c0f67616d63616c ... ab42b25d58020101} (error:
(null)) Oct 17 00:38:21 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] :
PCSIdentityCollectionSetup failed The operation couldn't be completed.
(OSStatus error -25244 - SecItem failed to delete on private identity)

A combination of iCloud keychain sync on the user's current device (or any other shared device they just associated with their account) or changing the permissions/deleting and rebuilding the shared iCloud folders associated with this user's keychain/account should solve this issue.
Related discussion:
Apple Stack Exchange - Setting up iCloud results in cloudd error messages
Apple Support Communities - after upgrading to Yosemite iMac reboots random reboots randomly


SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketing automation platform Punchh today announced that Denny's Corporation, one of America's largest full-service family restaurant chains, has selected the company as its customer relationship management (CRM) solutions provider. The new partnership will enable the brand to better connect with its guests through tailored, omnichannel experiences.
After evaluating many vendors, Denny's selected Punchh for its comprehensive product capabilities, deep restaurant industry expertise and understanding of the nuances involved with franchised businesses. Additionally, Punchh's solutions will enable Denny's to realize its 1-to-1 marketing goals and increase lifetime customer value.
Denny's will leverage Punchh's Restaurant Marketing Cloud™, including its machine-learning capabilities for segmentation and personalization, enabling them to better surprise and delight guests with targeted promotions, coupons and other timely, relevant communication. Punchh will integrate with Denny's current systems including tablets, point-of-sale, online ordering and other applications to provide a complete view of both digitally known and anonymous guests. Further, Punchh's secure data collection and robust behavioral analytics will help Denny's increase visits from loyal guests, reactivate lapsed customers and elevate ROI across all of the brand's stores.
"Denny's has always focused on making every guest feel at home, and that's enabled them to create strong and lasting relationships. By adding our technology to their customer relationship strategies, Denny's will be able to deepen those relationships and bring more value to guests whether they're dining in or ordering ahead for pickup and delivery," said Punchh CEO Shyam Rao. "We're proud to work with such an esteemed brand, and look forward to being part of the family for years to come."
Said Denny's Chief Marketing Officer John Dillon, "At Denny's, we're proud to offer a warm and welcoming experience for all of our guests, whether they're dining with us in-restaurant or online with Denny's on Demand. As we continue to find convenient ways for our guests to enjoy and experience all that Denny's has to offer, we're excited to partner with Punchh and help us get to know them on a more personal and customized level through the use of their innovative technology."
Said Denny's Senior Manager, Brand Engagement, Luis Martinez, "When looking for a CRM solution, we wanted to find a partner that understands the nuances of a franchise restaurant and has a best-in-class platform designed for our industry. With its proven track record and executional excellence to support our business needs on a national and local basis, we believe that Punchh is the ideal partner."
Denny's will launch its solution with Punchh, in December.
To learn more about Punchh, please visit https://punchh.com. For more information about Denny's, please visit https://www.dennys.com.
Headquartered in San Mateo, CA, Punchh is the world leader in innovative digital marketing products for brick and mortar retailers, combining AI and machine learning technologies, mobile-first expertise, and Omni-Channel communications designed to dramatically increase lifetime customer value. Leading global restaurant and convenience store chains rely on Punchh to grow revenue by building customer relationships at every stage, from anonymous, to known, to brand loyalists, including more than 135 different brands representing more than $12 billion in annual spend. Punchh has raised $31MM in funding by leading investors including Sapphire Ventures and Cervin Ventures.


text:
require 'sequel'

module Sequel
  module Postgres
    module PgAdvisoryLocking

      def with_advisory_lock(id, opts = {}, &block)
        exclusive = opts.fetch(:exclusive, true)
        lockfn = exclusive ? :pg_advisory_lock : :pg_advisory_lock_shared
        unlockfn = exclusive ? :pg_advisory_unlock : :pg_advisory_unlock_shared
        yield_with_advisory_lock(id, lockfn, unlockfn, &block)
      end

      def try_advisory_lock(id, opts = {}, &block)
        exclusive = opts.fetch(:exclusive, true)
        lockfn = exclusive ? :pg_try_advisory_lock : :pg_try_advisory_lock_shared
        unlockfn = exclusive ? :pg_advisory_unlock : :pg_advisory_unlock_shared
        yield_with_advisory_lock(id, lockfn, unlockfn, &block)
      end

      private

      def yield_with_advisory_lock(id, lockfn, unlockfn, &block)
        if get(Sequel.function(lockfn, id))
          begin
            yield
          ensure
            get(Sequel.function(unlockfn, id))
          end
        end
      end

    end
  end

  Database.register_extension(:pg_advisory_locking, Postgres::PgAdvisoryLocking)
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.
4955 DIRECTORS PLACE
Scilex Holding Co [ SCLX ] 5. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer
Director X 10% Owner
Officer (give title below) Other (specify below)
Common Stock 01/19/2023 J(1)(2) 73,740,795(1)(2) D $0.00 61,985,795 D
1. On January 19, 2023, the Reporting Person paid its previously announced stock dividend (the "Dividend") consisting of an aggregate of 75,999,853 shares of common stock of Scilex Holding Company held by the Reporting Person (the "Dividend Shares") to record holders of the Reporting Person's common stock and certain warrants to purchase the Reporting Person's common stock as of January 9, 2023 (the "Record Date"). An aggregate of 2,259,058 Dividend Shares are being held in abeyance by the Reporting Person for the benefit of certain holders of warrants to purchase shares of common stock of the Reporting Person who may be entitled to such shares pursuant to the terms of the applicable warrants following the exercise of such warrants, and at the time such shares are distributed to the applicable warrantholders, the Reporting Person will file a Form 4 reporting such distribution.
2. (Continued form footnote 1) The Reporting Person distributed 0.1410127 of a share of the Issuer's common stock for each share of the Reporting Person's common stock outstanding as of the close of business on the Record Date. The stock ratio was calculated by dividing 76,000,000 by the number of shares of the Reporting Person's common stock and warrants to purchase shares of the Reporting Person's common stock outstanding on the Record Date. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the Dividend and the equityholders of the Reporting Person who were entitled to receive fractional shares of the Dividend Stock received cash (without interest) in lieu of such fractional shares.
/s/ Henry Ji, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc 01/23/2023


text:
package cmd

import (
	"github.com/bpicode/fritzctl/fritz"
	"github.com/bpicode/fritzctl/manifest"
	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

var applyManifestCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:     "apply [manifest file]",
	Short:   "Apply a given manifest",
	Long:    "Apply a given manifest against the state of the FRITZ!Box.",
	Example: "fritzctl manifest apply /path/to/manifest.yml",
	RunE:    apply,
}

func init() {
	manifestCmd.AddCommand(applyManifestCmd)
}

func apply(_ *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
	assertMinLen(args, 1, "insufficient input: path to input manifest expected")
	target := parseManifest(args[0])
	h := homeAutoClient(fritz.Caching(true))
	src := obtainSourcePlan(h)
	err := manifest.NewApplier(h).Apply(src, target)
	assertNoErr(err, "application of manifest was not successful")
	return nil
}