text:
Hynce Ptáček z Pirkštejna (též Hynek nebo Hyncík) (kolem 1400 – 27. srpna 1444, Rataje nad Sázavou) byl český šlechtic z vedlejší větve rodu pánů z Lipé a jedna z nejvýznamnějších politických osobností období mezi ukončením husitských válek a vládou Jiřího z Poděbrad. Původně se hlásil ke katolické víře, poté přestoupil ke kališnictví a postupně se stal hlavou východočeského utrakvistického spolku.

Život

Politické začátky
Ačkoli jeho otec Jan Ptáček z Pirkštejna bojoval spolu s Petrem II. Konopišťským ze Šternberka v bitvě u Živohoště proti husitům, Hynce Ptáček se přidal ke straně podobojí. V roce 1430 byl vybrán jako jeden ze šesti zástupců panského stavu do delegace, která měla v Norimberku obhajovat čtyři pražské artikuly. V roce 1434 se zapojil do utrakvisticko-katolické aliance, s níž se 6. května 1434 účastnil dobývání Nového Města Pražského a poté 30. května bitvy u Lipan (stál tedy na straně vítězů). Na červencovém sněmu českých a moravských stavů jej zvolili do poselstva k císaři Zikmundovi Lucemburskému do Řezna. V roce 1435 byl zemskou vládou pověřen velením vojska, které oblehlo táborský hrad Ostromeč; po více než dvou měsících se posádka Filipa z Padařova vzdala za záruku svobodného odchodu. Aktivně se zúčastnil řady dalších jednání i poselstev, která měla vyjednat podmínky přijetí Zikmunda za českého krále. Na sjezdu v Brně v červnu 1435, kde české stavy jednaly s císařem a papežskými legáty, patřil k umírněným a spolu s Oldřichem z Rožmberka, Menhartem z Hradce a Alšem Holickým ze Šternberka obdržel od legátů finanční příspěvek poskytnutý basilejským koncilem. Zároveň zde byl vybrán mezi 16 volitelů pražského arcibiskupa, kterým byl jednohlasně zvolen Jan Rokycana.

V roce 1436 po nástupu Zikmunda na trůn se Hynce Ptáček z Pirkštejna stal nejvyšším hofmistrem a pravděpodobně i členem dvorské rady. Když se obnovily zemské úřady, stal se i jedním ze zemských soudců. V roce 1437 ho Zikmund pověřil velením vojska proti poslednímu nepříteli jeho vlády, Janu Roháči z Dubé. Ptáček obléhal Roháčův hrad Sion téměř čtyři měsíce, ale bylo to víceméně fingované obléhání, jak ukázaly archeologické výzkumy (hrad neměl vlastní studnu, našlo se jen velmi málo dělových koulí atd.). Svou vyčkávací taktiku obhajoval Ptáček nedostatkem vojska i peněz. Když Zikmund poslal na pomoc obléhatelům uherské oddíly Michala Országha, při rychlém útoku (nejspíš ještě před příchodem posil) byla většina posádky zajata.

Boje o trůn po smrti Zikmunda
Po Zikmundově smrti se Ptáček stal nejvýznamnější osobností kališnických východních Čech (brzy po Zikmundovi zemřel i Diviš Bořek z Miletínka). Patřil ke straně královny-vdovy Barbory, s níž spolu s dalšími českými šlechtici, např. Alšem ze Šternberka, navázal kontakty již dříve a kterou dal Zikmund před svou smrtí uvěznit. Tuto stranu (zvanou též "strana národní") spojoval odpor proti nástupnictví Albrechta Habsburského (manžela Zikmundovy dcery Alžběty), kterého prosazovala za krále "rakouská" strana, jejímiž hlavními představiteli byli Oldřich II z Rožmberka a Menhart z Hradce. Barbořina strana zvažovala možnost nabídky českého trůnu Jagelloncům (dle původních úvah si polský král nebo jeho bratr měl vzít Barbořinu vnučku a královna-vdova by vládla jako regentka). Polskou kandidaturu podporovali i radikálové v čele s Bedřichem ze Strážnice, sám Ptáček preferoval zprvu (možná jen navenek) jednání o kapitulačních podmínkách přijetí Albrechta za českého krále. Když byla jednání neúspěšná, svolal Ptáček v dubnu 1438 sjezd svých spojenců do Kutné Hory, kde byla polská kandidatura odsouhlasena. Ptáček spolu s Alšem Holickým poté odjeli do Polska a dosáhli toho, že polský sněm souhlasil s kandidaturou Kazimíra, mladšího bratra krále Vladislava. Po oficiálním vyhlášení volby Kazimíra Jagellonského českým králem na sjezdu kališnické šlechty v Mělníce 29. května 1438 vytáhl Albrecht Habsburský podporovaný rakouskou stranou do Čech. Praha byla v té době prorakouská a Albrecht se zde nechal korunovat za českého krále (přestože ho Ptáčkova strana žádala, aby korunovaci odložil a počkal na výnos zemského sněmu). Proti Albrechtovi se spojila vojska českých kališníků s oddíly vyslanými z Polska; za českou stranu byli veliteli Hynce Ptáček a Bedřich ze Strážnice. Vojensky si však příliš úspěšně nepočínali. S Albrechtovými vojsky posílenými braniborskými a saskými oddíly se potkali u Tábora. Po menších šarvátkách a neúspěšných jednáních Albrecht 15. září od města odtáhl. Jeho spojenci na ústupu svedli s česko-polskými vojsky vítěznou bitvu u Želenic. Ptáček pak s několika dalšími představiteli své strany odjel za polským králem Vladislavem. Protože však Poláci cítili ohrožení ze strany Uher a Litvy, svá vojska z Čech stáhli. Ptáček zůstal v Polsku až do poloviny roku 1439, větší polské podpory se však Češi nedočkali. Již v únoru 1439 uzavřel Albrecht s Vladislavem příměří, poté se pokračovalo ve dvoustranných jednáních. Na podzim však Albrecht vytáhl proti Turkům, během tažení se nakazil úplavicí a nečekaně zemřel.

Období bezvládí
V období následujícího bezvládí byl Hynce Ptáček na vrcholu své politické kariéry. Již hlavní výsledek jednání pražského sněmu v lednu 1440, tzv. List mierný všech stavů království českého, byl velkým úspěchem Ptáčkovy strany. Zahrnoval dodržování kompaktát, požadavek potvrzení Rokycany jako řádně zvoleného arcibiskupa, zneplatnění Albrechtových zápisů ke škodě české koruny nebo jeho protivníků, zajištění práv císařovny Barbory aj. Aby posílil svou mocenskou pozici, zaměřil se Ptáček na vytvoření pevnější organizace ve východních Čechách. Na jednání východočeské šlechty v Čáslavi v březnu 1440 byly ustaveny čtyři východočeské landfrýdy (krajské spolky na obranu míru) v čele s hejtmany, kteří dostali rozsáhlé pravomoce. Sám Ptáček byl zvolen hejtmanem Kouřimského kraje, ve skutečnosti byl (silou své osobnosti a díky diplomatickým schopnostem) vrchním hejtmanem celého bloku. Velel pak také spojeným landfrýdním vojskům, která byla vyslána proti bývalému táborskému hejtmanovi Janu Koldovi ze Žampachu jakožto porušiteli zemského míru.

Při jednáních o nástupnictví na českém trůnu pak Ptáček již na rozdíl od skupiny radikálů nepodporoval jagellonskou kandidaturu, ale ani automatické přijetí Ladislava Pohrobka, za něhož by musela být v Čechách regentská vláda. Ptáčkův blok se postavil za vévodu Albrechta Bavorského, který nakonec získal na sněmu všeobecnou podporu. Ptáček byl jedním z pěti zplnomocněnců, kteří jeli v červenci 1440 do bavorské Kouby jednat s Albrechtem o podmínkách volební kapitulace. Váhající Albrecht se však rozhodl (po tajném rozhovoru s Oldřichem z Rožmberka, který byl v Čechách největším Ptáčkovým protivníkem), že volbu nepřijme. Ptáčkovo úsilí tím přišlo vniveč. Nadále tedy orientoval svou politiku na římského krále Fridricha III. - ten se měl buď sám stát českým králem, nebo zemským správcem do dospělosti Ladislava Pohrobka, ovšem opět za přijetí stavovských (zejména utrakvistických) podmínek. Toto prosazoval na sněmech i na řadě dalších jednání (v roce 1443 byl i členem poselstva do Vídně), Fridrich III. se však k nabídkám stavěl vyhýbavě. Více úspěchů měl Ptáček při řešení náboženských rozporů mezi utrakvisty. Jeho cílem bylo upevnit pozice Jana Rokycany, který v té době působil v Hradci Králové. Nejprve se mu podařilo smířit Rokycanu s Janem z Příbrami, představitelem pražských umírněných kališníků, posléze dosáhl i toho, že v lednu 1444 sněm odsoudil věrouku táborských kněží. To však bylo jedno z jeho posledních veřejných vystoupení. Při cestě na jednání o budoucím sněmu do Dobříše jej postihla nevolnost (pravděpodobně mrtvice), musel se vrátit zpět do Ratají a zde po několika dnech zemřel. Byl pochován do rodinné krypty v ratajském kostele sv. Matouše.

Na jeho místo v čele východočeských landfrýdů se postavil mladý Jiří z Poděbrad, který navázal na jeho politiku.

Rodina a državy
Hynce Ptáček byl synem Jana z Pirkštejna a Jitky z Kunštátu. Příbuzenství s Janem Roháčem z Dubé se odvozuje od jeho děda Ješka, jehož manželkou byla Hedvika z Dubé (Roháč tedy nebyl jeho strýcem, navíc ani není jisté, ze které větve Hedvika pocházela). Hynce se oženil s Annou z Hradce, s níž měl dceru Markétu ; případní další potomci se nedožili dospělosti. Před smrtí určil Hynce Markétě jako poručníka Jana Čabelického ze Soutic, který byl jeho politickým spojencem, přítelem i příbuzným (pravděpodobně synovcem druhého manžela jeho matky Jitky Jana Janovského ze Soutic). Smrtí Hynce Ptáčka rod pánů z Pirkštejna vymřel po meči. Markéta se v roce 1463 provdala za Viktorína z Kunštátu, syna Jiřího z Poděbrad.

Hynce Ptáček z Pirkštejna zdědil ratajské a polenské panství, tj. patřily mu hrady Rataje, Pirkštejn a Polná. Na rozdíl od jiných pánů se během husitských válek neobohatil zábory církevního zboží a nepatřil k nejbohatším z panského stavu, jeho hrady však nebyly nikdy dobyty. V roce 1434 od Čeňka z Ronova koupil přibyslavské panství a hrad Ronov. Patřila mu také moravská tvrz Unčovice a krátce před smrtí získal moravský hrad Bílkov. Jeho dědictví představovalo 5 hradů, 3 městečka a 56 poddanských vsí.

Hlavní postava románu
Hynce Ptáček z Pirkštejna je vedle Jiřího z Poděbrad hlavní postavou historického románu Václava Erbena, fiktivních Pamětí českého krále Jiříka z Poděbrad. Vystupuje zde jako Jiříkův politický učitel, který ho zasvěcuje do světa politických intrik. Ve skutečnosti nebyl jeho poručníkem; byli sice politickými spojenci a Jiří se od něho určitě mnoho naučil, ale asi k sobě neměli příliš blízko, protože není dochována žádná zpráva o tom, že by se vzájemně navštěvovali na svých hradech, ani žádná korespondence mezi nimi.

Odkazy

Poznámky

Reference

Literatura

Externí odkazy

Čeští šlechtici
Narození v roce 1400
Úmrtí v roce 1444
Osobnosti husitských válek
Muži
Páni z Lipé
Úmrtí 27. srpna
Čeští hofmistři
Úmrtí v Ratajích nad Sázavou
Čeští nejvyšší mincmistři
Účastníci bitvy u Lipan
Pohřbení v Ratajích nad Sázavou


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I was wondering if it would be possible duplicate animation states in the locomotion graph but retain the logic inside each state. This would merely be to clean up the graph as it becomes excessively messy even with just a few different animations.
If it's not possible, please treat this as a very welcome suggestion for the next versions of UE4.
I'm still looking for an answer to this, if anyone knows.
Can you give more details about this? If you are just wanting to duplicate the state as it is then you can right-click the state and select duplicate and it will create a copy for you...if that isn't what you are after can you explain a little more about what you are trying to do.
I think the question really speaks for itself? I'm not sure how to elaborate on it more clearly? Having two identical states would make for cleaner graphs in the locomotion. Duplicating the state just creates a NEW state, which isn't what I'm looking for. I'm looking for the exact same state.
Adding a Widget on a Listen server shows on all clients.


text:
In his nearly five-hour Archive interview, Bill Mumy discusses his early years in television, recalling roles on live shows and series like National Velvet. He describes acting in three different episodes of the classic anthology series The Twilight Zone, including "It's a Good Life", which is generally regarded as one of the series very best. He recounts his less than ideal experience working with Alfred Hitchcock on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the classic episode "Bang, You're Dead." Mumy then details his three-year run as "Will Robinson" on the science fiction series Lost in Space, discussing the evolution of the show from serious space drama to camp and sharing what it was like to be, along with Jonathan Harris as "Dr. Smith", the breakout star of the show. He talks about playing "Lennier" on Babylon 5 and speaks to the unusual amount of input he had in creating the character and the character's story arcs. Mumy describes the children's series he created for Nickelodeon, Space Cases and concludes by discussing the novelty song "Fish Heads" from his band Barnes and Barnes, which premiered on Saturday Night Live in 1980. Amy Harrington conducted the interview on September 3, 2013 in North Hollywood, California.
"There was such variety in the opportunities of playing all these different characters. The sick kid on 'Ben Casey,' the evil mutant in 'The Twilight Zone,' the little brat in 'Bewitched.' It was a great opportunity to learn a craft, even if you're a little kid and you're not thinking about learning a craft."
Bill Mumy on his experiences with NASA and schooling on the set of Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on "Will Robinson's" relationship with "Dr. Smith" on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on his attempt to launch a Lost in Space reunion show
Bill Mumy on appearing in the classic Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life"
Bill Mumy on the process of putting on the make-up for "Lennier" on Babylon 5
On his early life and influences; on his interests growing up; on his early primetime television work
On acting in live television; on appearing on the series National Velvet; on his acting style
On his education on the set; on his commercial work
On acting in the Twilight Zone episode "Long Distance Call"; on acting in the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life"; on acting in the Twilight Zone episode "In Praise of Pip"
On acting in Alfred Hitchcock Presents
On working with Lucille Ball on Desilu Playhouse; on turning down the role of "Eddie" on The Munsters; on appearing on Bewitched, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and I Dream of Jeannie
On getting the role of "Will Robinson" on Lost in Space; on working with Guy Williams and Irwin Allen on Lost in Space; on the plot and tone of the show
On his experiences with NASA and schooling on the set of Lost in Space; on his Lost in Space character "Will Robinson"
On the wardrobe of Lost in Space; on playing guitar and singing on Lost in Space; on a typical production week for the show
On the special effects of Lost in Space; on the robot on Lost in Space; on the show focusing on "Will Robinson" and "Dr. Smith"
On working with Guy Williams and June Lockhart on Lost in Space
On working with Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, and Angela Cartwright on Lost in Space
On "Will Robinson's" relationship with "Dr. Smith" on Lost in Space and "Debbie the Bloop"; on doing promotion for Lost in Space and his public image; on his favorite episode of the show and his efforts to launch a Lost in Space reunion
On various post- Lost in Space projects; on guest-starring on The Rockford Files; on his Emmy nomination for writing the music for Adventures in Wonderland
On being cast as "Lennier" on Babylon 5; on the make-up process of becoming "Lennier" on Babylon 5; on the development of "Lennier" on the show
On the story arc of his Babylon 5 character "Lennier"; on the atmosphere on the set of Babylon 5
On the experience of filming Babylon 5; on the fans of Babylon 5; on the legacy of the show
On doing voiceover for the series Biography; on his children's series, Space Cases
On guest-starring on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; on his novelty song "Fish Heads" and his music career
On his proudest achievements and regrets; on where he sees himself in the future
Bill Mumy on appearing on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
Bill Mumy on his interests growing up
Bill Mumy on acting in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Bang, You're Dead"
Bill Mumy on being cast on Babylon 5
Bill Mumy on accepting the role of "Lennier" on Babylon 5
Bill Mumy on the development of his Babylon 5 character "Lennier"
Bill Mumy on the story arc of his Babylon 5 character "Lennier"
Bill Mumy on his "Lennier" costume and the atmosphere on the set of Babylon 5
Bill Mumy on the experience of filming and his favorite season of Baylon 5
Bill Mumy on the fans of Babylon 5
Bill Mumy on the legacy of Babylon 5
Bill Mumy on appearing on Bewitched
Bill Mumy on writing music for Adventures in Wonderland and his Emmy nomination
Bill Mumy on appearing on I Dream of Jeannie
Bill Mumy on acting on The Loretta Young Show
Bill Mumy on being cast as "Will Robinson" in Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on working with Guy Williams and Irwin Allen on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on the plot and tone of Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on his Lost in Space character "Will Robinson"
Bill Mumy on the wardrobe of Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on his interest in playing music and playing his guitar on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on what it was like on the set of Lost in Space and a typical production week
Bill Mumy on the special effects of Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on the robot on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on the focal point of Lost in Space shifting from the family to "Will Robinson" and "Dr. Smith"
Bill Mumy on working with Guy Williams as "John Robinson" on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on working with June Lockhart as "Maureen Robinson" on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on working with Mark Goddard as "Don West" on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on working with Marta Kristen as "Judy Robinson" on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on working with Angela Cartwright as "Penny Robinson" on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on "Debbie the Bloop" on Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on doing promotion for Lost in Space
Bill Mumy on "Will Robinson" and his public image
Bill Mumy on his favorite Lost in Space episode
Bill Mumy on turning down a role on The Munsters
Bill Mumy on his early primetime television work
Bill Mumy on guest-starring on The Rockford Files
Bill Mumy on his music career and the novelty song "Fish Heads"
Bill Mumy on appearing on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Bill Mumy on appearing in the classic Twilight Zone episode "Long Distance Call"
Bill Mumy on appearing in the Twilight Zone episode "In Praise of Pip"
Bill Mumy on working with Lucille Ball on Desilu Playhouse
Bill Mumy on doing commercials
Characters & Catchphrases
Classic TV series episodes
TV's Golden Age (1940s & '50s)
Bill Mumy on acting on The Twilight Zone
Bill Mumy on the kinds of roles he got as a child actor and his acting style
Classic Anthology Series
Bill Mumy on acting in Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Bill Mumy on playing "Will Robinson" on Lost in Space (Part One)
Bill Mumy on playing "Will Robinson" on Lost in Space (Part Two)
Bill Mumy on playing "Will Robinson" on Lost in Space (Part Three)
Bill Mumy on playing "Lennier" on Babylon 5 (Part One)
Bill Mumy on playing "Lennier" on Babylon 5 (Part Two)
Bill Mumy on being cast as "Will Robinson" on Lost in Space
Billy Mumy on acting on The Loretta Young Show

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I am wrapping up Cate's Tour today!!
Daisy Buchanan and her husband Joe have retired to Millbury, Pennsylvania. Daisy has opened Sometimes a Great Notion, a unique shop the sells vintage sewing notions, toys and jewelry. You will find her and Joe at every auction and estate sale in the area looking for merchandise to sell in her store and add to his vast antique collection. They quickly became friends with Angus Baskstead, a local auctioneer. Angus takes Daisy under his wing and they are soon traveling all over searching for treasures in other people's trash. Sometimes searching through barns full of junk and finding amazing things.
When Daisy and Joe arrive for one of Angus's auctions they are shocked to see him being led away in handcuffs. One of his drinking buddies has been found dead and Angus is not only the prime suspect, he has already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. The police believe they have their man and that's that. Daisy just can't believe this man is a murderer. She gets a notion all her own. She is going to stitch the clues together and catch the real culprit.
Cate Price is off to a great start with this series. First books in a series are hard because you have to introduce the characters and give them enough depth so that the reader is engaged but not too much because there are more installments to come. They also have to give the reader a mystery with substance to keep those pages turning. Price has done both in this book.
Daisy is a retired schoolteacher who is definitely not ready to slow down. She is probably busier now than in all the years prior to retiring. Joe is more laid back and easy going but he wishes his wife was around more and spent more time with him. Any couple that retires knows there are compromises and adjustments to be made to reach a perfect personal balance. Their daughter arriving home with a furry friend adds just what the story needed to draw me right in. Too funny how Jasper seemed to live at our house a few years ago so I could truly relate.
The plot of the mystery was very clever with many more suspects than just poor Angus. I was so glad when Detective Tony Serrano came to town but I don't want to ruin the story so I will say no more.
Cozy fans there's new author in print and you are going to love her stories. Small town charm, quirky characters, a dose of humor a bit of romance and murder. Just the way we love them!!
and I am adding my review copy so 2 copies are up for grabs!
Plus be sure to enter the Special Rafflecopter Giveaway too!
Sounds like a great book to start this series.
Thank you for the review. I can't wait to read it.
I LOVED Cate's book. It's sitting on my "keeper" shelf, ready for another re-read whenever I need a great escape. Going Through the Notions is a mystery with a TON of heart. You'll fall in love with all the characters – I can't wait for book two!!
Sounds like a terrific way to start a new series!
1st – I hope this isn't a duplicate entry — sometimes I can't remember, but since I hadn't yet commented, I'm thinking I haven't filled out the form earlier.
2nd – Cate, I am looking forward to read the debut novel of your new series. It's only been this summer that I learned the description 'cozy mystery', but I knew immediately what it meant. I believe your Deadly Notion series is going to be a real good representation.
And, Dollycas, thanks for your thoughts.
Wonderful a new series of Cozy Mystery can't wait to start.
I would love to shop in your fictional store. How fun it would be. Good book.


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Location: Quiet and cozy area in the very heart of Sunny Beach surrounded by lots of greenery.
Structure: Reinforced structure according Bulgarian Government Standard.
Outside walls: Wienerberger Porotherm, Austria bricks, produced in Bulgaria, thermo-insulation 5 cm, outside plaster and natural stone Travertine.
Interior walls: Ytong gas concrete blocks, produced in Bulgaria, plaster, gypsum plaster with PVC mash, latex. No drywalls!
Lift: Electrical lift, capacity 600 kg (8 persons, speed: 1m/sec, produced by the biggest lift company in Bulgaria IZAMET).
Bathrooms: Spanish fiancé and terracotta tiles, hydro-insulation, shower cabin - new model, no shower base (or a hydro massage bath tub). Mixers and sanitary ware produced by Fayance, Bulgaria, owned by ROCCA Group - Spain.
Apartment flooring: Laminated floor EGGER, Germany - class AC3/31, thickness 7 mm.
Furnishing: Completely furnished down to smallest detail. Functional designer furniture, decoration of natural stone on the walls, hidden LED lightning, designer elements, combinations of artificial and natural flowers, fancy wallpapers and murals.
Air-conditioners: Midea, class A for heating and cooling, 5 years guarantee from the manufacturer.
Doors: Produced in Bulgaria - solid frame, golden oak cover to match the furnishing, lock and cylinder - produced by Metal, Bulgaria.
Window frames: 6-chamber PVC framing KMG, produced in Bulgaria, using German equipment and a German license. Adjustable hardware, double opening of the doors, double glazing, 24 mm.
Balconies: Spanish granitogres, hydro-insulation, designer railings of wrought iron, galvanized against rust.
Roof: Watertight concrete, 5 cm hydroinsulation Fibran, 2 layers of hydroinsulation produced by General Membrane Spa - Italy. French roof drain pipes produced by Nicoll.
Fire safety system: Complete fire safety system in each apartment and the common parts of the complex, audible alarm. Fire hydrant and fire extinguishers on each floor. Smoke hatch on the roof. Partition doors for each corridor.
Common parts: Fully completed, Spanish granitogres floor tiles, walls and ceilings - gypsum plaster and latex painted, lighting.
Reception: Natural stone Travertine on the floor, top class finish with RGB LED lightning, natural bamboo wallpapers and natural stone Travertine.
SPA area: Completely finished. Designer work. Natural materials. Professional technical equipment by leading companies in this field. Finnish sauna with a Nordic Pine lining (dry room, t100°С), steam bath (wet room, high steam content, t40 °С), ice-cold water jet (cold room, ice for rubbing the body), relax area with a heated sofa and a foot bath, massage area, Jacuzzi area, shower and a shock bucket.
Garden: Fully fenced, automated access control, stamped concrete, private car park, greenery.
Swimming pool: Adult swimming pool, size 21m/6m, children pool size 2m/3m, water effects: waterfall.


text:
OMFG TRUMP – Tales From the Other Side
A Satirical Take on the Daily Shenanigans of our Current 'Narcissist in Chief'
About Trump
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!
January 7, 2019 omfgtrumpblog Uncategorized One comment
Welcome to 2019.
If you thought the first two years of The Don's kleptocracy were scary and unhinged, hold on to your seats, because you ain't seen nothing yet.
There is the Mueller investigation closing in (hopefully with an indictment of Don Jr. just around the corner!)
The Don was named person number 1 in the Michael Cohen case where campaign finance laws were broken.
The newly elected N.Y. State Attorney General, Letitia James, ferociously pursuing The Don's criminal business organization.
The democratic majority House of Representatives is beginning numerous investigations, including The Don's brazen violations of the Emoluments Clause.
No to mention the chaotic stock market with the possibility of a recession around the corner-partially due to those easy to win trade wars.
A childish government shutdown, which economically burdens 800,000 federal employees because the big baby in The White House wants his wall.
Are you exhausted yet?
The only wall that is going to be built is the wall that is closing in around The Don, is the wall encroaching on him. (Can we get Mexico to at least chip in for that one?)
As others have noted, The Don is like a wounded animal and there is nothing scarier then the desperation of a wounded animal.
As a result, The Don's grandiosity and belief that the "A plus" president never loses (aren't we all so "tired of winning!") will unleash a torrent of deflection, distraction and vitriol that will be more over the top than ever. As I have mentioned on a number of occasions, The Don's Malignant Narcissism, which leads to disdain and disregard for anyone but himself, will create a scorched earth policy: he will do anything to survive. It will be crazy and it will be ugly. So hang on.
So what do we as involved citizens do to cope with all the despair and anxiety this will create?
My new year's resolutions (besides eating less sugar!) are the following:
Do more dancing, singing, and laugh much more.
After seeing the remake of Mary Poppins, I went home and watched the real-deal original and delighted in Ed Wynn's hysterical antics in "I Love to Laugh."
In other words, find outlets for yourself in order to release the tension and anxiety. Find ways to get the poison The Don projects on to the world out of your system. Hug your loved ones more. Take up weaving. Run. Climb stairs. Do jumping jacks. Should I venture to say try Yoga, laughing Yoga? When the pressure gets too great just scream. Take pleasure in small things. Hang up pictures of the extraordinary new women and people of color carousing the walls of Congress, who bring energy, hope and inspiration.
Watching the Republican uproar over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing made me smile. Her response to their outrage of her rooftop dancing in college imitating a scene from the 1980's movie "The Breakfast Club" was to dance in the hall in front of her congressional office to Edwin Starr's antiwar anthem "War," and taunt: "I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous. "Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too!" You go girl, as they ain't seen nothing yet!
Then there was Mike Pence swearing in the new bi-sexual female Senator from Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema was very confused because during the swearing in Pence looked very uncomfortable and kept saying: "Mother, where are you?"
Now that we have a sense of what we need to do to deal with the toxicity, let's return to the craziness.
In his first cabinet meeting, with his devoted group of sycophants surrounding him, we were ushered in to the new crazy by the presence of the Game of Throne's-like poster of The Don which said "The Sanctions Are Coming." This was a play on words from the "Game of Throne's "The Winter is Coming."
To be honest, when I saw the poster I burst out laughing. But my laughter turned to gloom when I realized that in reality, the Game of Throne's poster, was more apt; but instead of "The Winter is Coming," I realized that it read "The Winter is Already Here!"
During a 90 minute free association ramble to his cabinet, The Don said some pretty whacky things, so much so, that MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said The Don's actions during the meeting were enough to invoke the 25th Amendment
Here are a few of the highlights:
When reflecting on our involvement in Afghanistan he devalued the President of India, Modi, by saying that India's involvement was pretty much useless and mocked their involvement in building a library, which according to The Don "took about 5 hours."
Rumor has it that he whispered the following to his new Acting Secretary of Defense.
"Why waste your time building a library. Reading is such a waste of time. Boring, so, so boring! I am sure I have read all those books anyway. I think I have read more books than all of the people in this room combined and frankly it was a total waste of time. Nothing in them I already didn't know."
Then he turned to Education Secretary Betsey Devos and said: "Maybe we should take the money we spend on libraries in this country and put it to the wall. Now that's a brilliant idea, don't you think?"
Trump went on to lie, lie, and lie by claiming there are more than 30 million undocumented immigrants.
That number is about three times greater than experts' estimates. Pew Research Center estimated there were 10.7 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as of 2016.
In a brazen and craven attempt to create an imaginary crisis, The Don also lied about thousands of terrorists entering the U.S. through the southern border, when there is no evidence of this. Thank you Fox News' Chris Wallace, for confronting Sarah "Huckstabee" Sanders attempt to continue promulgate these lies.
He said that because terrorists from Afghanistan attacked Russia, the Russians went to war with Afghanistan. Actually, this is a pretty crazy one as it turns out that The Don is spouting Putin's new revisionist history about The Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan. It was Russia who went in to Afghanistan that brought terrorists to their country in reprisal for their invasion.
Then a little free association:
Why isn't Russia there? Why isn't India there? Why isn't Pakistan there? Why are we there? We're 6,000 miles away? But I don't mind… I think I would have been a good general."
General Bone Spurs at your command.
More on generals:
The Don: "I had a meeting at the Pentagon with lots of generals. They were like from a movie. Better looking than Tom Cruise, & stronger. And I had more generals than I've ever seen, & we were at the bottom of this incredible room. I said, 'this is greatest room I've ever seen.'"
Take that Tom Cruise. LOL.
Hope to the rescue.
The democrats, led by their fearless general, Nancy Pelosi, have hit the ground running and immediately passed resolutions to re-open the government. Then they plan on passing H.R. 1, known as "For The People Act," a comprehensive package of revisions to current political practice that House Democrats are looking to introduce in the opening weeks of the next Congress. H.R. 1 will attempt to: establish nationwide automatic voter registration; promote early and online voting; end partisan gerrymandering; expand conflict-of-interest laws; increase oversight of lobbyists; require the disclosure of presidential tax returns; strengthen disclosure of campaign donations; set up a system of small-donor matching funds for congressional candidates; and revive the moribund matching-fund system for presidential campaigns. A plan for repairing the Voting Rights Act will move along a separate track.
Just promise through all the madness to come that you find time to laugh!
201925th amendmentafghanistanalexandria ocasio-cortezarizonabetsey devosborder wallcampaign finance lawcapitol hillcongressdemocratsedwin starremoluments clausefor the people actgame of thronesgerrymanderinggovernment shutdownhouse of representativeshr 1immigrationindiajoe scarboroughKyrsten SinemaLetitia Jameslibrarieslobbyingmalignant narcissismmary poppinsmexicomichael cohenmike pencemodimsnbcnancy pelosinew yorknew york state attorney generalpentagonpoliticspotusputinrecessionrepublicansrobert muellerrussiasanctions are comingsecretary of defensesecretary of educationsoviet unionstock marketterrorismthe breakfast clubtom cruisetrade warstrumpvoting rightswashington dcwhite houseyoga
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Janice Kane says:
Trump is the MAN: the MAN of LIES (He said, " Hillary lied."), RACIST, IMMORAL NAME-CALLING (non-presidential for sure), WOMANIZING, IRRESPONSIBLE, CHILDLIKE (such as, tantrums), SELFISH, WORM of a human being. He RELATES to the federal workers who won't be receiving their paychecks this week (UNLIKELY). He is a spoiled brat who thinks of no one other than himself.
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OMFG TRUMP - Tales From the Other Side


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Sarah Garland
Sarah Garland is the executive editor of The Hechinger Report. She started out in journalism reporting on murders and mayhem in New York City for New York Newsday and the New York Times, before joining the New York Sun, where she discovered a passion for the education beat. As a Spencer Fellow in Education Reporting at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, she wrote "Divided We Fail" (Beacon Press), a narrative of the landmark enactment and repeal of court-ordered school desegregation in her hometown of Louisville, KY. Garland is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul and has a joint master's degree in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University. In 2009, Garland published her second book, "Gangs in Garden City," about Salvadoran street gangs in the Long Island suburbs. Her first book, "The Haunted Kitchen," was awarded the best entry by a third grader at Coleridge-Taylor Elementary. During the really cool and somewhat dangerous field trips hosted by her public elementary and middle schools, Garland learned to sail a tall ship, developed a phobia of underwater caves, and cooked pancakes "like a pioneer" over an open fire.
garland@hechingerreport.org
@s_garl
After a hate crime, a town welcomes immigrants into its schools
Patchogue, Long Island, site of a brutal anti-immigrant murder in 2008, has revamped its school programs to better assist young people fleeing violence in Central America
by Sarah Garland – February 1, 2019
Workers are climbing wind turbines to the middle class
Community colleges — and at least one high school — are starting programs to train students for these in-demand occupations
by Sarah Garland – April 14, 2018
Trump's solution for the MS-13 gang will only make it stronger
Police and educators have begged for help for schools, not more immigration crackdowns
by Sarah Garland – January 31, 2018
High school should be more like preschool
Why secondary education is borrowing ideas from early childhood
by Sarah Garland – April 7, 2017
A mother and son go from homeless to college
New York's free tuition plan won't help the neediest students. Should it?
by Sarah Garland – March 21, 2017
Readers and Knight invest in real news about schools
We've raised nearly $20,000 to continue our work covering inequality and innovation in schools and on campuses. Help us reach our goal of raising $25,000.
Personalized learning and Common Core: Mortal enemies?
First-grader Evelina Lucas, right, helps her Chromebook buddy, kindergartener Emily Zhang, in a graphing exercise. Photo: Gretchen Ertl Can students learn about what they like, at…
by Sarah Garland – January 9, 2017
The other college kids: They hold jobs and worry about costs, and what they think of President Trump might surprise you
"So many of us just want our education and peace"
by Emmanuel Felton and Lillian Mongeau and Meredith Kolodner and Nichole Dobo and Sarah Garland – November 10, 2016
On a classroom-based test for new teachers, black teachers score lower
A new report shows gap on the edTPA and researchers want to find out why
by Sarah Garland – October 27, 2016
"They only kill us because of our skin color and our race."
What kids worried about during a year of police violence
Race and Equity
by Sarah Butrymowicz and Meredith Kolodner and Tara García Mathewson and Sarah Garland – September 22, 2016


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Este post, até hoje (00/00/2016 já obteve 17036 likes desde sua publicação até hoje e foi visto 454504 vezes.
Hey Boo's! Lets go back to the basics: foundation. I made a video like this years back but I see even today, people still have questions. So, I hope this is helpful. If you want to see how I got the completed look then check out my Highlighting, Contouring, Blush & Glow Secrets video linked down below.


6. Walk with or without assistive device and/or outside help.
8. Perform voluntary activities with the affected lower limb such as: using a bed or table for support in stancing, step up and down forward on a stool, step up and down sideways on a stool, sitto-stand from different height and walks as often as possible.
Supported, sitting in bed with arms placed on a table or pillow, the patient is asked to reach and use his sound upper limb in activities according to his interest.
Assisted sitting on edge of bed, with arms supported on table and feet on floor or stool, the patient is asked to do any activity with sound upper and lower limbs.
While he performs these tasks with his sound side, he is also applying body weight on the affected side, thus, stimulating it.
With the patient seated on edge of bed, practice reaching and weight bearing activities with the affected side. These sitting activities are aimed at stimulating motor control in an upright position. Patient will be placed in the sitting position with as much help as needed. Remember that bed mobility activities are more demanding in energy and for this reason will be done after a few days of starting treatment.
The bridging in bed can be done through stabilization of the lower limbs on the ankle or around the knees.
To roll in bed to the sound side, the affected arm can be placed across the chest and the affected knee flexed. The patient is asked to bring his head and affected shoulder towards the opposite side while pushing himself with the affected foot.
Progressively transfer from supine lying to sitting on the edge of bed: start from a supported 80 to 90 degrees sitting position in bed and ask the patient to come and sit on his sound side edge of bed. Progressively bring the head of the bed down so that patient is trained to achieve lie to sit independently.
To progressively achieve independent sit-to-stand, you must progress from a high to a low surface. Before attempting to stand, the feet must be well positioned on the floor behind the knee and the head and shoulder well forward over the knees. The physical therapist, positioned in front of the patient or on his/her affected side, must use a walking belt around the patient's waist and hold the patient by this belt, leaving the patient's upper limbs free. Then gradually, the sitting surface will be progressively brought down until the normal height of a chair.
Walk with the patient around the bed or the treatment table. With the physical therapist standing behind or on the patient's affected side, practice walking around the patient's bed which he may use for support with his/her sound hand. He can practice walking forward, sideways and backward. Progressively, use less manual contact, so that patient gets used to walk more independently.
It is not recommended to use parallel bars to train walking as the bars give too much passive support and patient end up developing overuse of the sound hand on the bar.
When the patient is ready to walk away from the table or stable surface, give the patient a simple straight stick to help walking. It is not recommended at this stage to use a quadripode as it tends to produce a completely abnormal gait pattern.
Reaching in standing: with the patient standing and positioned in front of a table, asked him to reach in all directions. While reaching with the sound hand, the affected hand is positioned in weight-bearing on the table.
With the sound hand supporting on the table or on the wall, the patient is asked to step on a low stool (8cm). Progression may be done by asking the patient to do the stepping without support. Later a higher stool may be used.


Gvaramadze, V. V., Kniazev, A. Y., Bestenlehner, J. M., Bodensteiner, J., Langer, N., Greiner, J., et al. (2015). The blue supergiant MN18 and its bipolar circumstellar nebula. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 454(1), 219-237. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1995.


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Joseph P. Crowley Installed as President of the American Dental Association
By the editors On Oct 23, 2017
CHICAGO, Oct. 23, 2017 – Joseph P. Crowley, DDS, a general dentist practicing in Cincinnati, Ohio, is the new president of the American Dental Association (ADA). Crowley, who was elected president-elect last year, was recently installed as president during a meeting of the ADA House of Delegates in Atlanta, Georgia. He will lead the 161,000-member organization that is America's leading advocate for oral health.
Joseph P. Crowley, DDS
Crowley previously served as the Seventh District trustee to the ADA House of Delegates. Crowley has served the profession in a number of ways during his four decades as an ADA member, including as chair of the Council on Government Affairs in 2008-2009. He is also active in the Ohio Dental Association, and served as its president in 2005-2006. Crowley was the president of the Cincinnati Dental Society in 1996.
Crowley is a member of several professional dental organizations, including the American College of Dentists, International College of Dentists, The Ohio State University College of Dentistry Alumni Advisory Board, the L.D. Pankey Institute Alumni Association, the Pierre Fauchard Academy and the Academy of General Dentistry.
In 2013, Dr. Crowley earned the Ohio Dental Association Distinguished Dentist Award. He also received the Ohio Dental Association Achievement Award in 2001, the Cincinnati Dental Society Meritorious Service Award in 2007 and the Ohio Pierre Fauchard Distinguished Dentist Award.
After finishing dental school at The Ohio State University College of Dentistry in 1976, Crowley returned to his hometown of Cincinnati, where he has practiced general dentistry for more than three decades. He's been involved in the community, and has been particularly active at LaSalle High School, his alma mater. He was named to the school's athletic hall of fame in 2009. Crowley and his wife Pauletta have been married 43 years and have three children and seven grandchildren.
The Viscardi Center And Henry Schein Announce 'Project Accessible Oral Health'
Delaware Dentist Chosen President-Elect of the American Dental Association


Special Encore Presentation: Can Mars and Venus Save the Earth?
Cheryl Esposito welcomes John Gray, PhD, the best-selling author of 16 books, including the relationship classic Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. His latest book is Why Mars & Venus Collide. Mars & Venus has become his moniker for male & female behavioral patterns. For years John has taught that men and women communicate differently, have different motivation for interactions and need to learn how to be successful in relationship. Turns out that "chemistry" has a whole lot to do with it. John's journey has taken him from life as a Hindu monk to psychologist to relationship expert. Today his concern is global warming and he believes that the way men and women relate can actually impact solving the planet's problems. Just how did he go from life as a celibate monk of 15 years, to expert in male-female relationships? And what does that have do with global warming? Join the conversation to hear John Gray shed light on how we can improve relationships and change the world at the same time!


As the car veers off NH-14 en route to Jodhpur via Pali we wait expectantly for Lakshman Sagar Resort to pop up on the horizon. A two-hour drive from Ajmer gets us hungry, so we stop on the way to pick up some mirchi bhajis and pyaaz kachoris from a shack. Like all oily and fried food, they are delicious.
The brochure, which had got me intrigued about this place, does full justice to what we drive into. Strategically located in the centre of the tourist circuit in the Marwar region of Rajasthan, sprawling over 32 acres at the fringe of the Badlands of India, Lakshman Sagar is as unconventional as it can get in 'Royal Rajasthan' crawling with havelis and forts turned into hotels.
Two heritage structures perched on boulders surrounding a lake are the focus of attention. Built in the late 19th century these were a hunting lodge of the then Thakur of Raipur, Lakshman Singh, where he hosted other noble families and British emissaries.
These have been turned into common dining and lounging areas named the 'Zanana' and 'Mardana' as part of the current day resort. There is no conventional 'reception'. We are welcomed by the wonderful, warm small team of men who take care of the property, led by Balwant the Manager, Man Friday, Guide all rolled into one.
The 12 mud-and-stone cottages with thatched roof, about 900sq ft each, are conceptualised as Shikar Ghars spread on the boulders all around the lake. They quietly blend into the serene surroundings. It is a bit of a walk over rough, rocky steps to get to our cottage (no wonder, this is a 'no kids' resort) but it is worth every bit of the effort for its sheer uniqueness.
We walk into a sprawling space that meanders from living room into bedroom into bathroom without doors. All furniture and interior elements are made by crafting everyday objects, farming tools and household utensils from around the Raipur region. It is very unique, and very lovely. The room opens out to a private splash pool with Jacuzzi nozzles, that looks out over the lake. It's quiet. And, against the orange glow of a setting sun, very romantic.
It is an eat-anywhere-you-please kind of boutique hotel. Over the next few days Balwant and his team lay out a dal, bati, churma meal under the big banyan tree by the lake for us. They also do a lovely lakeside bonfire and barbeque at night amidst glowing lanterns as local singers regale us.
You can dine at the Mardana and Zanana heritage sections, or ask for a floating dining arrangement on the lake with accompanying musicians! There is no conventional demarcated dining area or fixed menu system. The food is truly nice and adds an extra edge to our stay.
My magical moment was the breakfast. Balwant insisted we wake up at 6 a.m. the first morning of our stay and accompany him for a nature walk. I am the type who is a vegetable at unearthly hours. But my companion's enthusiasm ensured I was out and trudging through green henna fields dotted with cottages as the sun came up.
Balwant leads us to a hut in the middle of a field. A pristine white sitting arrangement on mattresses with bolsters awaits us. A farmer and his wife dish out freshly made bajra rotis with hand-churned white butter melting on top, a simple cabbage sabzi, fried green chilies (all very ethnic and local) and a tall glass of butter milk. Unadulterated heaven.
Evening was set aside to watch the sunset after an uphill trek to the ruins of the Fatehgarh Fort. Balwant and gang had us fooled into believing we would be driving most of the way and walking a couple of kilometres. Finally we found ourselves being egged on up a full hill along a dried-up waterfall! A team has already reached up before us and are ready with refreshments as we roll in huffing and puffing.
A golden glow and eerie silence surrounds us. As we sit watching the sun set over the Aravalis from the ruins of the fort on the hill top, sipping a cold drink and munching on some dry fruits I feel exhilarated. The sense of achievement is tremendous. As if I have conquered Mount Everest.
We drive back via Raipur village stopping to see a beautiful 'mahal' which is crumbling now, but stands testimony to a glorious past. As we drive through the village mandi heaps of bright green chillies being sold by vegetable vendors beckon. I simply had to stop and buy some. Also, some henna powder. The Pali district of Rajasthan is India's biggest henna production area.
An open truck full of men wearing bright red and orange tie-and-dye headgear passes by. The men look at us, city women in jeans and sunglasses, with wide-eyed wonder. And I look at them, so carefree and colourful, with a twinge of envy.
Getting there: Jodhpur Airport is approximately two hours away. Ajmer Railway Station is approximately the same distance.
When to go: Avoid harsh summer, from May to August.
Eat: Breakfast in the fields: Bajra rotis with hand-churned white butter, fried green chilies washed down with butter milk.
Fort Bagri: Located in nearby Pali village, this ancient Rajput fort, more than 300 years old, makes for an interesting day visit and picnic.
Nimaj Palace: While travelling to Jodhpur, Nimaj Palace, one of the oldest heritage properties in India, is an operational hotel and worth a stop-over with its carved red sandstone facade and distinctive architecture.
Todgarh-Rawali Wildife: The Todagarh-Rawali Wildlife Sanctuary is a 45-minute drive from Lakshman Sagar. Spread over 495 sq km of tropical deciduous forests and grasslands it is home to the leopard, sloth bear and more.


The total investment need in developing countries for basic infrastructure (roads, rail and ports; power stations; water and sanitation), food security (agriculture and rural development), climate change, health, and education is estimated at somewhere between US$3.3 trillion and US$4.5 trillion a year. At current levels of investment, this equates to an annual funding gap of US$2.5 trillion each year. The bulk of this investment gap is for infrastructure, which is critical to delivering the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Public capital cannot meet this funding need alone, so mobilising local and international private investors is key.
While there is no shortage of capital worldwide, the private sector is often unable to make SDG-related investments due to the associated project- or country-related risks. Hence the rationale for "blended finance", which involves the strategic use of development funds to improve the risk-return profile of investments in order to attract private capital (using instruments like guarantees, risk insurance, currency hedging, syndicated loads, collective investment vehicles, subordinate capital, technical assistance funds etc.) It is unclear exactly how much development finance is currently "crowding in" private investment for the SDGs. However, with the investment gap in the trillions, the message is clear: public and philanthropic funds need to crowd in significantly more private capital for every dollar in order to fund the SDGs.
There is a major business opportunity for the private sector to invest in the SDGs (at least US$12 trillion in investable opportunities and 380 million new jobs by 2030), and there are big pools of long-term capital currently on the sidelines which could be invested. But mobilising an extra US$1 trillion of private capital a year (about 10% of annual net inflows into global savings pools) will require better deployment of blended finance and a focus on achieving scale to increase the public to private leverage ratio. This presents a major challenge, but also contains an enormous opportunity for the private sector, which led to the creation of the Blended Finance Taskforce.


Tags: fireworks, birthday gif. B-Day Image for: husband. Language: English.
Image #397. Published: May 19, 2018. File Format: GIF. Frames: 17. Dimensions: 555w x 555h px. Image Size: 500K.
Happy Birthday Old Buddy. Hope its a great one. GIF Animation.


The biggest stars of the 61st Annual Grammy Awards turned out to be the celebrities who didn't show up. That's not say Kacey Musgraves didn't sweep the competition when Golden Hour scored album of the year (along with her three other awards) or that Dolly Parton didn't impress (because Dolly Parton always impresses). It was just overwhelmingly clear that the most interesting parts of the renowned event didn't happen on TV or even at the awards show.
The Recording Academy did make some improvements from last year. They brought women to the forefront, which was more or less necessary after the disastrous comments from former Grammy president Neil Portnow (and the accusations of siphoning charity funds). Women actually won Grammys, too, including Dua Lipa, H.E.R., Cardi B, Lady Gaga, and St. Vincent. Still, Ariana Grande seemingly boycotted the whole thing, 21 Savage was in a detention center somewhere, Chrissy Teigen didn't even bother, and Donald Glover failed to accept his landmark win.
Here's what happened where the Grammy's cameras weren't filming — from the stars stuck at home to the drama left best behind-the-scenes.
The 2019 Grammy Awards were undeniably huge for Bebe Rexha. The rising star was nominated in two categories but still struggled to find a dress for the big day. In an Instagram post, the singer revealed that she had her team reach out to a number of designers, but a lot of them passed on making her a gown because of her size.
"You're saying all the women in the world that are a size eight and up are not beautiful and that they cannot wear your dresses," she said in the video. "So to all the people who said I'm thick and I can't wear your dress, f**k you, I don't want to wear your f***ing dresses."
According to People, Rexha is between a size six and eight (the average American woman is between a size 16 and 18). Not to mention, she's beautiful, down to Earth and one of the night's highest-profile newcomers. Following her Instagram statement, Jeremy Scott, Christian Siriano, and Karl Lagerfeld reached out to help dress the star. She ended up going with a red Monsoori princess gown that could not be ignored.
"I want to have a Cinderella moment: I want it [the dress] to be so hard to walk in. I can't believe that I am finally nominated for a Grammy, two Grammys! For me this is my Cinderella moment," she told E! News (via People).
Ariana Grande may have seven rings, but she only has one Grammy Award. During the 2019 ceremony, she took home her first Grammy ever when she beat out Taylor Swift for best pop vocal performance. Despite the big win, the starlet was a total no-show thanks to a reported disagreement with Grammy producers.
According to Variety, Grande was invited to play the awards show but was "'insulted' when producers didn't want her to perform '7 Rings.'" They reportedly "reached a compromise" where Grande would perform the hit single as "part of medley," but producers would get to choose the second song. Instead, the starlet withdrew from the show entirely.
Earlier in the week, Grande aired her beef on Twitter when Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich told The Associated Press (via The Fader) that the Sweetener star pulled out because she thought it was "too late to pull something together."
"I've kept my mouth shut but now you're lying about me," Grande tweeted in response. "I can pull together a performance over night and you know that Ken. It was when my creativity and expression was stifled by you, that I decided not to attend."
Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage was notably absent from his performance with Post Malone, who instead performed a solo set, followed by a duet with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. According to CNN, the Grammy Award-nominated artist was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in early February after the agency claimed the artist was a British citizen whose visa expired in 2006 when he was 14 years old. Since then, the singer has been stuck in a detention facility while the status of his deportation remains up in the air.
The powers that be in the Grammy's ticket office apparently barred Savage's mother from the ceremony, too. The rapper's co-manager Justin "Meezy" Williams tweeted that the awards show wouldn't "release" the star's tickets to let Savage's mother attend on his behalf.
"We won't be going to Grammys … the politics and sh** is ridiculous," he wrote, adding. "I won't blame this on race … I blame it on lame people being LAME."
Savage was nominated for Record of Year and Best Rap/Sung Performance alongside Malone for their hit "Rockstar."
Post Malone's team spent a lot of time picking the perfect outfit for his Grammy performance and red carpet appearance. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the star's stylist Catherine Hahn admitted they had a lot of "amazing options" but were still fine-tuning his look.
"It's like a wedding! It's a once in a lifetime thing, so I want it to be iconic," she told THR.
Malone ended up walking the red carpet in a millennial pink suit, but it was the outfit he wore backstage that really had people talking. As we know, his "Rockstar" co-collaborator 21 Savage was stuck in an ICE detention center during the awards ceremony. Malone, who played two singles from his album Beerbongs and Bentleys before joining the Red Hot Chili Peppers, seemed to avoid all of Savage's parts during the hit, but he showed support where the cameras weren't rolling. A photo that surfaced from backstage saw the heavily-tattooed singer repping a black 21 Savage shirt. According to TMZ, this shirt was "presumably on him" while he played "Rockstar" without his pal.
In the weeks before the actual awards ceremony, a list of Grammy winners allegedly leaked online. Talk about a spoiler alert. According to CNN, the tweet (which is obviously long deleted) contained a video that showed who won which category. Record of the year supposedly went to Cardi B's "I Like It;" album of the year supposedly went to H.E.R.'s H.E.R.; and song of the year supposedly went to Lady Gaga's "Shallow." After the tweet seemed to catch wind online, the Recording Academy swiftly denounced it as illegitimate. Apparently, the winners are a closely guarded secret and even the staff aren't privy to who scores big.
"Grammy Awards results are not shared, even with Recording Academy staff members, until the day of the Grammy Awards ceremony, when names of the recipients are delivered by [accounting firm] Deloitte in sealed envelopes," a spokesperson told CNN.
So, does it check out? Well, Gaga may have won best pop solo performance for "Joanne," but "Shallow" lost out to Childish Gambino's "This Is America." Turns out, the whole thing was bogus.
Chrissy Teigen made it clear she and John Legend (who now holds a coveted EGOT, which means he's won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) weren't going to bother with the Grammys. Tweeting that Legend was reportedly "egot lazy," Teigen still managed to troll the whole event without even leaving her home.
Before making fun of the televised performances (and the performers who get really into their performances), Teigen gulped down an alleged "four wines" and geared up with a not-going-to-the-Grammys makeup tutorial on her Instagram stories (in case anyone was "so bored you wanna die").
Teigen's tipsy tips included "put concealer all over your face" and "rub it in" while making sure not to care too much. She went on to do the painfully average task of brushing her hair while watching Below Deck, curling her eyelashes, and putting on mascara. Unfortunately, she realized she didn't have any lash glue which forced her to go for "casual at home vibes" (as if there's any other Grammy vibe the rest of us non-celebs are feeling).
"If anyone is watching this … I pity you," she said. Seriously, Teigen, the pleasure is ours.
Though Chrissy Teigen had an epic time watching the Grammys from her couch, there was one major player who was absent from the low-key, ultra-exclusive party: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. How does she fit in? Teigen extended an invitation (and some slices of pizza) to the politician via Twitter.
"Hello my hero, do you wanna come over and watch the Grammys with us? There will be pizza," she wrote. Basically, there's no friendship we could possibly 'ship more. Would they recreate the dance scene in The Breakfast Club? Would they plot a future presidential run? The possibilities seemed endless.
Though AOC said "yes" and told Teigan she could live tweet her "burning something in the kitchen," it looks like the congresswoman had other plans (like drafting up a new climate strategy, retweeting SNL, planning to takeover the world, etc.). From the looks of Teigen's Twitter, the starlet's party was limited to actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, comedian Neal Brennan, husband John Legend, and at least one of her children.
Cardi B and Offset have been sparking rumors of reconciliation, but the pair made it red carpet official at the Grammys when they posed touching tongues. Yes, touching tongues. Is that okurrr?
In early December, the "Bodak Yellow" singer took to Instagram to announce that she and the Migos rapper were calling it quits after a year of marriage. She claimed the pair "grew out of love" and things weren't working out, but the cheating rumors ran rampant. Not long after, Offset crashed Cardi's headline set at Rolling Loud asking to be taken back. According to Entertainment Tonight, he spent $15,000 on the flower arrangement, but she was visibly not about it (really, who wants their ex showing up at work?).
Fast forward to the end of January, and TMZ reported that Cardi was trying to work it out after Offset allegedly swore off "groupies." He apparently even changed his phone number — and those of us who have had our number for decades know that's a big deal. HollywoodLife, who spoke to anonymous source, claimed Offset was working hard to specifically repair things before the awards show, and it looks like it worked. Cardi was looking totally loved-up with her estranged husband on the Grammys red carpet. How could Offset not drool watching her in that vintage Mugler gown? He looked like he was totally digging her performance, too.
If you caught Young Thug's Grammy performance, you might have not known he almost didn't make the ceremony at all. According to TMZ, the star was cuffed hours before the event — and we're not talking about getting fitted with some fancy, custom cufflinks. While it's not clear if Thug actually got arrested, the rapper was pulled over with a group of guys in West Hollywood for a traffic violation. They were reportedly "handcuffed" and "lined up outside a McDonalds" after one of the men allegedly told a cop that he had a registered firearm; it just wasn't registered in California. The gun owner was arrested at the scene, and Young Thug was given the okay to go.
Young Thug ended up winning big at the Grammys. Not only did he have a stunner of a performance with Camila Cabello (shown above), he took home his first ever Grammy for his work on Childish Gambino's "This Is America." According to Deadline, the song won best music video, best rap/sung performance and song of the year. Childish Gambino's This is America also took home the award for record of the year.
Was Donald Glover staging a boycott?
Childish Gambino made history with his song of the year win. According to E! News, "This Is America" became "the first rap song to win the prestigious award in Grammy history", and Donald Glover was spotted around Los Angeles celebrating his nominations at some pre-Grammy parties. He even bleached his beard for the occasion; however, he was notably absent when it came to the actual awards show.
According to The New York Times, Gambino joined a list of fellow rappers who were asked to perform but opted out. This includes Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The former spouted off a speech about how the Grammys don't matter and the latter didn't even show. Producer Ken Ehrlich admitted to The New York Times that the Grammys have a problem with some of hip-hop's biggest talent — including Kanye West and Jay-Z — because they've failed to take home the night's biggest prizes despite their nominations. TIME pointed out that Glover lost in 2018 after singing on stage. So, was his 2019 snub of the show political or was he just busy?
Gambino ended up taking home four awards, including Record of the Year. Since he wasn't there to claim the prize for song of the year, John Mayer and Alicia Keys presented and accepted the award on his behalf.


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Golfweek Harbour Town Golf Links
PGA Tour	20 Jun 20
Pinkie toe healed, Carlos Ortiz ready to step into winner's circle at RBC Heritage
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Nick Watney feeling better; caddie Tony Navarro, 10 others test negative for COVID-19
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By Gwynne Dyer ⋅ June 5, 2019 ⋅ Post a comment
It's like Tienanmen Square in miniature, and maybe not all that miniature. The official death toll in Khartoum after Monday's massacre stands at 35, but the whole city is still locked down, with columns of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) vehicles driving through the streets firing at practically anything that moves. There may be a lot more dead.
The RSF used to be known as the Janjaweed, and they are not soldiers; they are professional killers. They are the local solution to the problem any dictatorship faces when it decides to end a non-violent protest by murdering the protesters. By that time your soldiers will usually have been on the streets for a while, and will have had personal contact with the people you want to kill.
The ordinary soldiers come from exactly the same society as the protesters and, knowing who these people really are, will by now be quite reluctant to kill them. Dictators know that you must never give your soldiers an order you know they will disobey, because that creates a dilemma for them that they can only resolve by killing you. So you must find some other group to do the massacre.
They may just be soldiers you bring in from out of town, who have had no previous human contact with the protesters before the order to kill is given. That's what the Chinese regime did before the Tienanmen Square massacre in 1989.
They may be special forces troops and secret police, left over from the old dictatorship and long rewarded for abusing and murdering the old regime's enemies, who will gladly serve a new dictatorship. That's who General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi used to kill at least a thousand non-violent protesters on Rabaa Square in Cairo after his military coup overthrew Egypt's elected government in 2013.
In Sudan that group began as a bunch of camel-herding tribesmen, already at war with the local farmers, who were then recruited by the old regime to torch villages and slaughter their inhabitants in western Sudan. They acquired a taste for rape, pillage and murder and became known as the Janjaweed. They are now called the RSF.
Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's dictator since 1989, originally created them to carry out a genocide in the separatist western province of Darfur, a crime for which he has been indicted by the International Criminal Court. They were never seen in the capital in those days, but now they have uniforms of a sort and they are all over Khartoum.
They are doing the job that the soldiers of the regular army might have balked at: killing enough citizens, more or less at random, to frighten the rest back into submission. The ordinary soldiers' reluctance was often on display in the early days of the Sudanese revolution, when they sometimes intervened to protect the protesters from the RSF.
The generals who have now unleashed the RSF never felt that reluctance themselves. Unlike the private soldiers, they have profited greatly under Bashir's rule and have no intention of giving up their own privileges and power. They were happy enough to sacrifice Bashir to the protesters (he's now under arrest and awaiting trial), but they don't do self-sacrifice.
So they played for time, negotiating a 'democratic transition' with the protest leaders while waiting for the support to flow in from other Arab tyrannies. It duly arrived: an immediate gift of $3 billion from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to help Bashir's military heirs buy back support, and the promise of political support for any killing that they saw as a necessary part of the process.
The military junta, calling itself the 'Transitional Military Council', kept up the facade of power-sharing with the opposition 'Alliance for Freedom and Change' right down to last weekend. On Sunday the TMC spokesman said that a deal was almost done: there would be an election in two years, and civilians would have a majority of the seats on the interim council.
Then on Monday morning the Rapid Support Forces/Janjaweed went in shooting and cleared the square in front of Army Headquarters that had been occupied by pro-democracy forces for the past two months. The TMC's head, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, declared on state television that the military had decided to "stop negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change and cancel what had been agreed on."
What had changed? Nothing. The military were never negotiating in good faith; they were just buying time. The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), whic spearheaded the nationwide protests, is calling for a campaign of "sweeping civil disobedience to topple the treacherous and killer military council," but unless it can take back control of the streets, it's all over.
Can it do that? Probably not. The Janjaweed don't care how many people they kill, and none of the most powerful governments in the Arab world do either.
To shorten to 700 words, omit paragraphs 4 and 5. ("They may…2013″)
Another of the five-yearly anniversaries has rolled around, and it's time to write another think-piece about the long-term meaning of the massacre on Beijing's Tienanmen Square on 4 June 1989. But 30 years later, what is there left to say?
Great changes were already underway in the Communist-ruled parts of Europe in 1989. Mikhail Gorbachev, the reformist Soviet leader, visited Beijing after the students had taken over the square in late April, and he obviously thought that the same process was underway in China. Maybe it was, but it was violently aborted – and it has still not recovered.
That's not what people thought at the time. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of students
were killed on the square – the soldiers burned the bodies in a massive pyre right on the square, so there was never an accurate count. Hundreds or thousands more died elsewhere, because similar demonstrations were put down in every major Chinese city. And we all thought: this will never be forgotten.
The students weren't counter-revolutionaries. Their hero, the man whose death they were honouring when they occupied the square, was Hu Yaobang, a lifelong Communist, a veteran of the Long March, who simply believed that it was high time to ease up on the controls four decades after the Communists took power in China.
For that Hu, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, had been forced into retirement by the Party's hard-liners in 1987. But everybody knew what he wanted, and when he died two years later the students came out to demand it again: government accountability, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and free trade unions.
The dominant conservative faction in the Chinese Communist Party responded by killing them, and then set out to erase all popular memory of what had happened. It can't be done, said all the journalists outside China: they will never be forgiven. The crowds will be back on the streets one of these days, and there will be a great reckoning and radical change.
Well, not. Thirty years later, most Chinese millennials are ignorant of exactly what happened in 1989. The older generation remember, but they dare not mention it in public and they are a dwindling minority. Journalist Louisa Lim has accurately described contemporary China as the 'People's Republic of Amnesia'.
Why did this happen, and has the notion of a freer future really gone down the memory hole in China? Start with the fact that the Soviet Union was 72 years old in 1989, whereas the Chinese People's Republic was only 40.
That extra generation meant that there was nobody still in power in Russia who had actually ordered the deaths of thousands of people. Not only the revolutionary generation but also the Stalinist generation were gone, and by the 1980s the career Communists who had climbed the greasy pole of power were mere bureaucrats.
They thought they were hard men too, but in fact they weren't anything of the sort. A few of them tried to carry out a coup and restore Communist rule in 1991, but they were actually trembling with fear as they spoke on TV, and they were seen off in a couple of days. Whereas China's rulers in 1989 still had lots of hands-on experience with killing people.
Some of them, like Hu Yaobang and his successor Zhao Ziyang, were genuine idealists who felt that the Party's controls must be loosened now that the revolution was an accomplished fact. Zhao actually went to the square at dawn on 19 May and addressed the students, urging them to hold fast to their demands.
"We are already old, we do not matter anymore," he told them – but Zhao already knew that he had lost the argument, and that the Communist Party leadership had decided to clear the square by force. He had also been stripped of his own position, and would live the last 15 years of his life under house-arrest.
The actual massacre was delayed for a further two weeks because the soldiers in Beijing had been fraternising with the students and could no longer be trusted to kill them. It took two weeks to replace them with fresh troops who knew nothing about what was happening in Beijing and would obediently kill the 'counter-revolutionaries.'
So Communist dictatorship survived in China while it peacefully expired in Russia. It still looks solid today: the current leader, Xi Jinping, has just effectively declared himself president-for-life. But Communist rule in China has now reached the magic age of 70. Is it immortal? Probably not.
Communist rule in the Soviet Union would probably have survived if the economy had been growing strongly. What brought it down was the insolence of absolute power combined with an abject failure to deliver the goods economically. The Chinese Communist regime is very insolent, but it will probably survive as long as it delivers the goods .
However, China has a market economy now, and market economies have recessions. The official Chinese growth rate is still 6%, but the real rate of growth has already fallen to somewhere between 3% and zero. The next five or ten years should be quite interesting.
To shorten to 725 words, omit paragraphs 11, 12 and 13. ("Some…counter-revolutionaries")


Deadline Hollywood has thrown some cold water on The Hollywood Reporter's "exclusive" yesterday that Johnny Depp is in negotiations to play Houdini in Lionsgate's The Secret Life of Houdini. Deadline says that the talks are "not much further along" now than back in January when Deadline first reported this news.
I do trust Deadline over The Hollywood Reporter for news. As I stated in my own post yesterday, The Reporter has rushed several Houdini "exclusives" into print lately that have proven to be extremely premature and have gone nowhere. And should we be suspicions about the timing? Odd that this big Houdini news would hit the day after HISTORY officially launched the promotional campaign for their Houdini miniseries with Adrien Brody. It wouldn't be the first time this project made a timely reappearance.


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Practice Management:
Quill's costs, functionality and longevity win over Burt Brill & Cardens
Russell & Co complies to Making Tax Digital reform with help from Quill
Things to consider when changing practice management software
Aderant forms partner program
Quill's Lynda Rostron wins employee of the year at AGM
Tags: case management system, document management system, legal cashiering, legal software, outsourced cashiering
Posted By Ash Baggott
from LSN
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Quill awarded employee of the year at its recently held AGM to long-serving employee, Lynda Rostron. Having worked as a receptionist at its Manchester head office for 21 years, Lynda symbolises both the face and voice of Quill to employees and clients alike.
Lynda is the second person to win the Peter Dye Memorial Shield, an award created in memory of one of its founding directors who passed away and which was launched at its AGM last year. The Memorial Shield's purpose is to recognise staff members demonstrating exceptional performance and unwavering enthusiasm in the workplace.
Lynda was chosen because of her absolute devotion to Quill, not only from the perspective of long service, but also being the first to arrive each day. Another contributing factor is Lynda's unfaltering ability to be smiling, helpful and supportive to her fellow colleagues and callers or visitors to the office.
Julian Bryan, Quill's Managing Director, comments: "After sadly losing Peter Dye last year, it was important to ensure his legacy lived on as he made such a marked contribution to Quill. That's why we introduced the Memorial Shield and our objective is to award it to employees displaying the same hard-working traits as his.
"Lynda is a lovely person and loyal employee. She's staunchly dedicated to Quill and is friendly always. There's no worthier winner. Lynda's name has been etched onto the Memorial Shield alongside our inaugural winner and she's been given £100-worth of Love2shop vouchers to spend at her leisure in a range of high street stores."
Lynda states: "It came as such a surprise being announced as the winner of the Memorial Shield at our AGM in May. To me, what I do at Quill is all in a day's work so it's nice to know that my employer thinks otherwise and rewards what it considers is exemplary service.
"Receiving the Memorial Shield was actually a very emotional experience as I'd known Peter Dye personally for 20 years. I feel proud to have my name engraved on what to me is a prestigious trophy because it also carries Peter's name. Of course, I look forward to spending my vouchers too."
Quill's renowned for employee engagement, holding 'One to Watch' status with Best Companies, the organisation behind the 'Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For' lists, and previously being voted 'Employer of the Year' in the Multiple Sclerosis Society Awards. Amongst Quill's many employee engagement initiatives are bi-monthly 'News, Views & Eats' regional roadshows, monthly emails from the MD titled 'JB's Update', and annual AGM and CPD afternoon attended by all staff.
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IRS Warns Of Delayed Refunds, Long Waits For Taxpayers & Possible Shutdown | Heritage Income Tax Service, Inc.
With a week to go before tax season opens, taxpayers were already bracing for a potentially "miserable" filing season. It turns out that it could live up to the hype.
telephone scammers, posing as IRS representatives, managed to steal more than $5 million from taxpayers last year. And as quickly as the scams are picked up, theychange. IRS-Criminal Investigation has responded to what has been termed an "epidemic" of identity theft by ramping up investigations – but with wholesale cuts to IRS, expect those investigations to dip, too.
Refund delays. It turns out that satirical piece on tax refunds making the rounds might have had some merit after all. According to the Commissioner, taxpayers who file paper tax returns may have to wait an extra week or longer to see their refund. In the email, the Commissioner didn't specifically address whether delays would affect refunds for taxpayers who e-file, though a few weeks again he refused to say that refunds would not be delayed.
Lags in correspondence. Those of us in the field have already become familiar with those letters from IRS that begin "We need more time…" It looks like those are about to kick up even more. With fewer employees on staff, IRS expects "lengthy delays" to answer correspondence.
Fewer resolutions. Those taxpayers who have legitimate gripes but can't find a resolution will be out of luck. The Commissioner says that the Taxpayer Advocate Service, normally the next step when cases aren't resolved through normal channels, won't be able to obtain a new case management system to oversee taxpayer hardship cases.
Shutdowns. Although the Commissioner wavered on saying yes to furloughs last month, temporary shutdowns look to be the case after all. The Commissioner indicated that the agency is planning for at least one shutdown this fiscal year; he suggested there might be two furlough days. There was no word on when those dates might be other than later in the fiscal year (read: not during tax season).
fewer taxpayer audits will be closed in 2015 (no word on how that will affect selection of new matters). Collections case closures will also be reduced. That might be good news for those under the audit gun but not so great for the Treasury. Commissioner Koskinen estimates that the government will, as a result, lose at least $2 billion in revenue.
Quite frankly, none of this information is earth-shattering. I think many of us – tax professionals and taxpayers alike – have been hoping for the best but bracing for the worst this tax season. It looks like we're getting the latter.
Tax season is still slated to open on January 20, 2015 (those pesky rumors suggesting the date has been pushed out further are just that: rumors). For the latest word on the 2015 tax season, keep checking back.


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Striking new public art for Nexus
The University has commissioned the British-American artist, Liliane Lijn, to create a new work of public art for its campus.
Lijn has an international reputation developed over more than 50 years for exploring the relationship between art, science, technology and language.
Her work is represented in both private and public collections around the world. She has produced numerous major public commissions for hospitals, universities, local authorities and commercial companies.
Lijn's Converse Column, a nine-meter high revolving column of transforming words, will be sited adjacent to Nexus, the University's new centre, designed to inspire collaboration and innovation with real world impact.
Lijn said: "I am inspired by the concept of Nexus. So much of my work is about just that: connections, relation, conjunction, invention and research. I want to create a work that asks questions and encourages discussion. Converse Column will represent communication as a creative symbol of the University of Leeds and Nexus."
The artwork will be unveiled in autumn 2018, when the building is due to open.
Converse Column
Converse Column references Lijn's iconic early 1960's Poem Machines and, more recently, her Poemdrums that spin and disengage words from the composed text.
Lijn added: "Syntax is all about the position of words and their relation to each other. However, by considering the words divorced from their syntactical connections, unexpected meanings can be revealed.
"Due to the design of the column, the text inscribed on it is not easily read in the normal linear left to right manner. Instead, words appear to float in and out of consciousness."
Words of art
Lijn is calling on staff and students to contribute ideas and to help create text for the artwork.
" Transformations in science and technology happen on university campuses because of the connections between ideas and people."
Liliane Lijn
Lijn continued: "I hope this artwork may give us the opportunity to celebrate this amazing process. I look forward to lots of text contributions." Find out how you can contribute to Converse Column.
Public art trail
The University campus is home to an impressive range of public artwork, with a public art trail guiding visitors, staff and students around the collection.
It includes sculptures such as the re-instated Hubert Dalwood relief, Simon Fujiwara's A Spire, and Dual Form by the British sculptor, Barbara Hepworth, on loan from Leeds Art Gallery.
Follow the Cultural Institute on Twitter @UniLeedsCulture
Liliane Lijn was born in New York in 1939 and has lived in London since the late 1960's.
She works across media – kinetic sculpture, film, text and performance – to explore language, mythology and the relationship between light and matter.
For more information on Lijn's work: http://www.lilianelijn.com


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Q: How to implement band-pass Butterworth filter with Scipy.signal.butter UPDATE:
I found a Scipy Recipe based in this question! So, for anyone interested, go straight to: Contents » Signal processing » Butterworth Bandpass

I'm having a hard time to achieve what seemed initially a simple task of implementing a Butterworth band-pass filter for 1-D numpy array (time-series).
The parameters I have to include are the sample_rate, cutoff frequencies IN HERTZ and possibly order (other parameters, like attenuation, natural frequency, etc. are more obscure to me, so any "default" value would do).
What I have now is this, which seems to work as a high-pass filter but I'm no way sure if I'm doing it right:
def butter_highpass(interval, sampling_rate, cutoff, order=5):
    nyq = sampling_rate * 0.5

    stopfreq = float(cutoff)
    cornerfreq = 0.4 * stopfreq  # (?)

    ws = cornerfreq/nyq
    wp = stopfreq/nyq

    # for bandpass:
    # wp = [0.2, 0.5], ws = [0.1, 0.6]

    N, wn = scipy.signal.buttord(wp, ws, 3, 16)   # (?)

    # for hardcoded order:
    # N = order

    b, a = scipy.signal.butter(N, wn, btype='high')   # should 'high' be here for bandpass?
    sf = scipy.signal.lfilter(b, a, interval)
    return sf

The docs and examples are confusing and obscure, but I'd like to implement the form presented in the commend marked as "for bandpass". The question marks in the comments show where I just copy-pasted some example without understanding what is happening.
I am no electrical engineering or scientist, just a medical equipment designer needing to perform some rather straightforward bandpass filtering on EMG signals.

A: The filter design method in accepted answer is correct, but it has a flaw. SciPy bandpass filters designed with b, a are unstable and may result in erroneous filters at higher filter orders.
Instead, use sos (second-order sections) output of filter design.
from scipy.signal import butter, sosfilt, sosfreqz

def butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=5):
        nyq = 0.5 * fs
        low = lowcut / nyq
        high = highcut / nyq
        sos = butter(order, [low, high], analog=False, btype='band', output='sos')
        return sos

def butter_bandpass_filter(data, lowcut, highcut, fs, order=5):
        sos = butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=order)
        y = sosfilt(sos, data)
        return y

Also, you can plot frequency response by changing
b, a = butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=order)
w, h = freqz(b, a, worN=2000)

to
sos = butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=order)
w, h = sosfreqz(sos, worN=2000)

A: For a bandpass filter, ws is a tuple containing the lower and upper corner frequencies. These represent the digital frequency where the filter response is 3 dB less than the passband.
wp is a tuple containing the stop band digital frequencies. They represent the location where the maximum attenuation begins.
gpass is the maximum attenutation in the passband in dB while gstop is the attentuation in the stopbands.
Say, for example, you wanted to design a filter for a sampling rate of 8000 samples/sec having corner frequencies of 300 and 3100 Hz. The Nyquist frequency is the sample rate divided by two, or in this example, 4000 Hz. The equivalent digital frequency is 1.0. The two corner frequencies are then 300/4000 and 3100/4000.
Now lets say you wanted the stopbands to be down 30 dB +/- 100 Hz from the corner frequencies. Thus, your stopbands would start at 200 and 3200 Hz resulting in the digital frequencies of 200/4000 and 3200/4000.
To create your filter, you'd call buttord as
fs = 8000.0
fso2 = fs/2
N,wn = scipy.signal.buttord(ws=[300/fso2,3100/fso2], wp=[200/fs02,3200/fs02],
   gpass=0.0, gstop=30.0)

The length of the resulting filter will be dependent upon the depth of the stop bands and the steepness of the response curve which is determined by the difference between the corner frequency and stopband frequency.

A: You could skip the use of buttord, and instead just pick an order for the filter and see if it meets your filtering criterion.  To generate the filter coefficients for a bandpass filter, give butter() the filter order, the cutoff frequencies Wn=[lowcut, highcut], the sampling rate fs (expressed in the same units as the cutoff frequencies) and the band type btype="band".
Here's a script that defines a couple convenience functions for working with a Butterworth bandpass filter.  When run as a script, it makes two plots. One shows the frequency response at several filter orders for the same sampling rate and cutoff frequencies.  The other plot demonstrates the effect of the filter (with order=6) on a sample time series.
from scipy.signal import butter, lfilter

def butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=5):
    return butter(order, [lowcut, highcut], fs=fs, btype='band')

def butter_bandpass_filter(data, lowcut, highcut, fs, order=5):
    b, a = butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=order)
    y = lfilter(b, a, data)
    return y

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import numpy as np
    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    from scipy.signal import freqz

    # Sample rate and desired cutoff frequencies (in Hz).
    fs = 5000.0
    lowcut = 500.0
    highcut = 1250.0

    # Plot the frequency response for a few different orders.
    plt.figure(1)
    plt.clf()
    for order in [3, 6, 9]:
        b, a = butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=order)
        w, h = freqz(b, a, fs=fs, worN=2000)
        plt.plot(w, abs(h), label="order = %d" % order)

    plt.plot([0, 0.5 * fs], [np.sqrt(0.5), np.sqrt(0.5)],
             '--', label='sqrt(0.5)')
    plt.xlabel('Frequency (Hz)')
    plt.ylabel('Gain')
    plt.grid(True)
    plt.legend(loc='best')

    # Filter a noisy signal.
    T = 0.05
    nsamples = T * fs
    t = np.arange(0, nsamples) / fs
    a = 0.02
    f0 = 600.0
    x = 0.1 * np.sin(2 * np.pi * 1.2 * np.sqrt(t))
    x += 0.01 * np.cos(2 * np.pi * 312 * t + 0.1)
    x += a * np.cos(2 * np.pi * f0 * t + .11)
    x += 0.03 * np.cos(2 * np.pi * 2000 * t)
    plt.figure(2)
    plt.clf()
    plt.plot(t, x, label='Noisy signal')

    y = butter_bandpass_filter(x, lowcut, highcut, fs, order=6)
    plt.plot(t, y, label='Filtered signal (%g Hz)' % f0)
    plt.xlabel('time (seconds)')
    plt.hlines([-a, a], 0, T, linestyles='--')
    plt.grid(True)
    plt.axis('tight')
    plt.legend(loc='upper left')

    plt.show()

Here are the plots that are generated by this script:

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