text:
Paul Petro Contemporary Art
Paul Petro Special Projects Space
Paul Petro @ 100 Yonge
Paul Petro Multiples + Small Works
Ross Bleckner's Images
Remediation, 2019
The Shadow of the Sun, 2018
Nocturne, 2017
So Lightly Here, 2017
Ross Bleckner
Ross Bleckner was born in New York City and raised in Hewlett, NY. He received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University in 1971, and a Master of Fine Arts from Cal Arts in 1973. He has taught at many American universities.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art had a major retrospective of Bleckner's work in 1995, summarizing two decades of solo exhibitions at museums including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1988), the Contemporary Arts Museum (Houston, 1989), the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburg, 1989), the Art Gallery of Ontario (1990), the Moderna Museet (Stockholm, 1991), and the Kolnischer Kunstervein (Cologne, 1991).
Works are held in public collections including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Pulitzer Museum (St Louis), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), the Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst (Oslo) and the Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid).
Bleckner's philanthropic efforts include serving as president of the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA), a non-profit community-based AIDS research and treatment education center. More recently, he has been working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Northern Uganda to help rehabilitate and raise money for ex-child soldiers. In May 2009 Bleckner was awarded the title of Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations.
Recent exhibitions include Architecture of the Sky at the Bohme Chapel, Cologne (2016), which included a selection of Dome and Architecture of the Sky paintings from 1992 – 2013, Ross Bleckner: Find a Peaceful Place Where You Can Make Plans for the Future, a survey exhibition of recent work at the Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX (2017), the group exhibition Blue Black, curated by Glenn Ligon at the Pulitzer Museum, St. Louis (2017), Time of Disquiet, Maruani Mercier Gallery, Brussels (2018), and Ross Bleckner, Palais Schonborn-Batthany, Vienna (2018).
Ross Bleckner lives in New York City.
Remediation, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, ON
Wienerroither and Kohlbacher Palais Schonborn-Batthyany, Vienna, Austria
Emilio Mazzoli Gallery, Modena, Italy
Maruani Mercier, Brussels, Belgium
Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX.
Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Bohm Chapel, Cologne, Germany
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO.
Maruani & Mercier Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY.
Jablonka Galerie, Cologne, Germany
Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Scott White Fine Art, San Diego, CA.
Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland
Imago Galleries, Palm Springs, CA.
Cais Gallery, Seoul, Korea.
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland.
Ruzicska Gallery, Salzburg, Austria.
Dialogue with Space, Esbjerg Art Museum, Esbjerg, Denmark.
Lehman Maupin Gallery, NYC, NY.
Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts.
Galerie Ernst Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland.
Maureen Paley/Interim Art, London, England.
Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France.
Bawag Foundation, Vienna, Austria.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC, NY.
Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo, Norway.
I.Y.A.M.. Centre Julio Gonzalez, Yalencia, Spain.
Galerie Max Metzler, Koln, Germany.
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
Kolnischer Kunstverein, Koln, Germany.
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada.
Kunsthalle Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas.
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Meditation, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, ON
Garden Party, Brintz Galleries, Palm Beach, FL.
Blue Black, (curated by Glenn Ligon), Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MI
Nocturne, (with Zachari Logan), Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, ON
Phantom Bodies: The Human Aura in Art, Frist Center for the Visual Arts,
Art Aids America, The Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA.
12 New Yorkers, Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Ross Bleckner and Volker Eichelmann, Sargent's Daughters, NYC, NY
In the Beginning/End States, Sgorbati Projects, NYC, NY.
Repetitive Motion, SHFAP at Projector Gallery, NYC, NY.
Paint Hotel, Joe Sheftel Gallery, NYC, NY.
Conceptual Abstraction, Hunter College Time Square Gallery, NYC, NY.
Surrounding Bacon and Warhol: Selections from the Astrup Fearnley Collection, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway
Pop Art 1960's-2000's From Misumi Collection, Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
Magic Hand, ARTBLOGARTBLOG, NYC, NY.
An Instance of Vibration, Anonymous Gallery, NYC, NY.
Your History is not Our History, Haunch of Venison, NYC, NY.
Selections, LA Art House, West Hollywood, CA.
Other as Animal, Danese Gallery, NYC, NY.
America: Here and Now, traveling exhibition
Stream of the Unknown: Selections from the Collection, Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, NY
In Dialogue, Anonymous Gallery, NYC, NY.
A Tribute to Ron Warren, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
Genesis - The Art of Creation, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland
Empires and Environments, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.
Time .01: I Love My Scene/Scene 3, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
View Nine: I Love My Scene/Scene 3, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
Picturing America: Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, Nagasaki, Japan.
Zoo Story, Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, New York.
Flowers, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
Flowers Observed, Flowers Transformed, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A Celebration of the Guild Hall Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Honorees in the Visual Arts, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York.
North Fork/South Fork: East End Art Now/Part ll, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York.
Me & More, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland.
Art Downtown: New York Painting and Sculpture, 48 Wall Street, NYC, NY.
Mythic Proportions: Painting in the 1980s, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida.
Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons: Four Decades of Art from the Broad Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California.
In the Power of Painting, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden.
On Canvas: Contemporary Painting, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC, NY.
In the Power of Painting, Alesco, Zurich, Switzerland.
The American Century: Art and Culture 1950-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
Birth of the Cool: Amerikanische Malerei, Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Nuevas Abstracciones, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.
Passions Privees, Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France.
Painting and Sculpture: Recent Acquisitions, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY.
Slow Art: Painting in New York Now, P.S. 1 Museum, Long Island City, New York.
Mito y Magia en America: Los Ochenta, Museo de arte contemporaneo de Monterrey Monterrey, Mexico.
Metropolis, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany.
Devil on the Stairs: Looking Back on the Eighties, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
Prospect 89, Frankfurt Kunstverein and Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, West Germany.
Biennial of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
The Image of Abstraction, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California.
The Binational/Die Binationale, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
Art at the End of the Social, The Rooseum, Malmo, Sweden.
Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Currents, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts.
The Meditative Surface, The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
"New York in Black and White, The Museum of Modern Art/Penthouse, NYC, NY.
New Painting/New York, Hayward Gallery, London, England.
980 Queen St West, Toronto, Ontario M6J 1H1
Gallery hours: Wed-Sat 11-5 pm

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Beverly Farms Bed & Breakfast is a prime location in Beverly, MA for a quiet getaway for a small group or a couple. Start planning your getaway!
Beverly Farms Bed & Breakfast is a homey B&B in the heart of Beverly, making it a perfect escape from those who need a last-minute getaway.
Save time on parking when you opt to take advantage of one of the parking facilities nearby.
Groupon has verified that the customer actually visited Beverly Farms Bed and Breakfast Inn.


Sweet and sugary candy e liquid bursting with a beautiful fizzy cola flavour.
An intense delicious treat packed with juiciness. A sweet, fresh, candy flavoured strawberry e liquid, mouthwateringly delicious.


Apparently my New Year's Food Resolution should have been to remember to post about Dinner. So, a round-up of the past month's worth of Dinners is below.
Actually there was no Dinner this week because we were all trying to recover from the late night & gastronomic excesses of the Oscars on Sunday (or at least I was).


With Cloudsfer by your side you don't have to be an expert! You can instantly transfer and backup your files anywhere. We offer you cloud data migration from On Premise to cloud or from cloud to cloud with over 20 Cloud Storage Providers at your fingertips, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, Egnyte and many more! Plus - if required - IT administrators can gain an all included migration solution for their entire organization. Cloudsfer is easy to use, secure and has a 24/7 support team available to assist you if and when needed.
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text:
Företagsfamilj
Vy utifrån lista
Vy utifrån logotyp
TransPerfect Sponsors Girls on the Run NYC
NEW YORK, August 8, 2022 – TransPerfect, the world's largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business, today announced its position as Visionary Sponsor of the Spring 5k Race Celebration by Girls on the Run, a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of elementary school girls by strengthening their social, emotional, and behavioral skills.
The 5k marked the culmination of a 10-week program aimed at teaching girls how to be healthy and confident through a running-based curriculum, which took place in New York City during May and June. TransPerfect's sponsorship funded full-season scholarships, sneakers, and an end-of-season celebration event for a Girls on the Run team of 10 girls.
TransPerfect Vice President of Production Kristyna Marrero and her team joined girls from the 5th grade class of P.S. 020 Anna Silver Elementary along with their coaches, parents, and volunteers to complete the 5k run across the Williamsburg Bridge. A large contingent of TransPerfect team members attended to show their support as walking partners, running buddies, and checkpoint cheerleaders.
"It was an honor to run alongside the girls as well as their coaches, parents, and volunteers as they completed their 5k across the Williamsburg Bridge" said Marrero. "Girls on the Run NYC is an incredible organization that has transformed the lives of young girls throughout the communities of New York City by teaching valuable life lessons and helping establish an appreciation for health and fitness."
TransPerfect's commitment to corporate citizenship has played a key role in shaping the company's culture and the way employees conduct business every day. Other organizations that TransPerfect supports include Girls Who Code, the V Foundation for Cancer Research, CFES Brilliant Pathways, and Athlete Ally.
For information about TransPerfect's corporate social responsibility initiatives or any of the company's charitable efforts, visit the company's website or email community@transperfect.com.
About Girls on the Run NYC
Girls on the Run NYC is a non-profit organization that designs programming to strengthen third- to eighth-grade girls' social, emotional, physical, and behavioral skills to successfully navigate life experiences. The program's intentional curriculum places an emphasis on developing confidence in young girls through lessons that incorporate running and other physical activities. With a life skills curriculum delivered by caring coaches, girls within their program are able to learn lessons to assist them in combating gender based stereotypes and ongoing societal obstacles they will face. Girls on the Run NYC is an independent council that is part of the Girls on the Run network.
About TransPerfect
TransPerfect is the world's largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business. From offices in over 100 cities on six continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in 200+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 6,000 global organizations employ TransPerfect's GlobalLink® technology to simplify management of multilingual content. With an unparalleled commitment to quality and client service, TransPerfect is fully ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certified. TransPerfect has global headquarters in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com.
TransPerfect


text:
package com.splunk.shuttl.archiver.importexport;

import static java.util.Arrays.*;
import static org.testng.AssertJUnit.*;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;

import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

@Test(groups = { "fast-unit" })
public class ShellExecutorTest {

	private ShellExecutor shellExecutor;
	private HashMap<String, String> env;

	@BeforeMethod
	public void setUp() {
		shellExecutor = new ShellExecutor(Runtime.getRuntime());
		env = new HashMap<String, String>();
	}

	public void executeCommand_givenEnvironmentVariable_echoThatEnvVar() {
		env.put("SHELL_EXECUTOR", "foo");
		String[] command = new String[] { "sh", "-c", "echo ${SHELL_EXECUTOR}" };
		shellExecutor.executeCommand(env, asList(command));
		List<String> out = shellExecutor.getStdOut();
		assertEquals(1, out.size());
		assertEquals("foo", out.get(0));
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
var optimist = require('optimist')
var joiner = require('../dist/joiner.node.js')
var queue = require('d3-queue').queue

var io = require('./io/index.js')

var argv = optimist
  .usage('Usage: joiner -a DATASET_A_PATH -k DATASET_A_KEY -b DATASET_B_PATH -j DATASET_B_KEY -o OUT_FILE_PATH [-r (summary|full) -n NEST_KEY --geojson]')
  .options('h', {
    alias: 'help',
    describe: 'Display help',
    default: false
  })
  .options('a', {
    alias: 'apath',
    describe: 'Dataset A path'
  })
  .options('k', {
    alias: 'akey',
    describe: 'Dataset A key'
  })
  .options('b', {
    alias: 'bpath',
    describe: 'Dataset B path'
  })
  .options('j', {
    alias: 'bkey',
    describe: 'Dataset B key'
  })
  .options('g', {
    alias: 'geojson',
    describe: 'Is dataset A geojson?',
    default: false,
    boolean: true
  })
  .options('n', {
    alias: 'nestkey',
    describe: 'Nested key name'
  })
  .options('o', {
    alias: 'out',
    describe: 'Out path',
    default: null
  })
  .options('r', {
    alias: 'report',
    describe: 'Report format',
    default: 'summary'
  })
  .check(function (argv) {
    if ((!argv['a'] || !argv['adata']) && (!argv['a'] || !argv['adata']) && (!argv['b'] || !argv['bdata']) && (!argv['k'] || !argv['akey']) && (!argv['j'] || !argv['bkey'])) {
      throw 'What do you want to do?' // eslint-disable-line no-throw-literal
    }
  })
  .argv

if (argv.h || argv.help) {
  optimist.showHelp()
}

var aPath = argv.a || argv['apath']
var aKey = argv.k || argv['akey']
var bPath = argv.b || argv['bpath']
var bKey = argv.j || argv['bkey']
var geojson = argv.g || argv['geojson']
var nestKey = argv.n || argv['nestkey']
var outPath = argv.o || argv['out']
var reportDesc = argv.r || argv['report']

var q = queue()

q.defer(io.readData, aPath)
q.defer(io.readData, bPath)

q.await(function (err, aData, bData) {
  console.log('adata', aData)
  console.log('bdata', bData)
  if (err) {
    throw new Error(err)
  }
  var config = {
    leftData: aData,
    leftDataKey: aKey,
    rightData: bData,
    rightDataKey: bKey,
    nestKey: nestKey,
    geoJson: geojson
  }

  // Join data
  var jd = joiner(config)
  if (outPath !== null) {
    io.writeData(outPath, jd.data, {makeDirectories: true}, function (err) {
      if (err) {
        console.error('Error writing data file', outPath)
        throw new Error(err)
      }
    })
    io.writeDataSync(stripExtension(outPath) + 'report.json', jd.report, {makeDirectories: true})
  } else {
    if (reportDesc === 'summary') {
      console.log(jd.report.prose.summary)
    } else {
      console.log(jd.report.prose.full)
    }
  }
})

function stripExtension (fullPath) {
  var ext = io.helpers.discernFormat(fullPath)
  return fullPath.replace(new RegExp(ext + '$', 'g'), '')
}


text:
Coral Princess Cruise Review
Cruise Critic Editor Rating
Overview Reviews Dining Activities Photos Cabins Excursions View Cruises
The following review is a joint effort between mother (mid-60s) and daughter (late 30s). We are Platinum Princess cruisers and have sailed on many generations of her ships including the old Star, Crown, Regal, Sun class and Grand class in many regions-Med, transatlantic, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Caribbean, and Panama Canal transits. We took advantage of onboard booking while on the Golden Med/ transatlantic in August/September, 2002. Our vacation began on March 1, 2003, when we arrived in Fort Lauderdale and checked into the Hyatt Pier 66 hotel. Our executive suite was on the 12th floor and the balcony overlooked Port Everglades affording us a wonderful, 180 plus degree view of not only the port, but the Atlantic Ocean and the city of Fort Lauderdale. This was our second stay at the Pier 66; we have also been guests of the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort. We rented a car which we used for exploring the area, shopping, and going to restaurants for dinner. The Itinerary Panama Canal 10-day: March 4 - March 14, 2003 Ports of Call: Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Limon, Costa Rica; partial transit Panama Canal; Aruba, NA The Captain was Philip Pickford. The Cruise Director was Paul O'Loughlin. Embarkation Our choice of transportation to Port Everglades was taxi at a cost of under $10. We arrived at the pier in approximately ten minutes and proceeded to the Platinum check-in area where there was no line at all. We later learned that there were only 80 Platinum members on this cruise. The security line moved slowly because the waiting room had not yet begun boarding. The line began moving after about ten minutes and we were aboard and in our stateroom: Dolphin 405-starboard mini-suite within minutes. After a thorough tour of the ship, we enjoyed lunch in the Horizon Court (see "Ship" section for more discussion of the Horizon Court). The skies were clear and sunny-perfect for a dip in the pool!! When we got to our cabin to change into our swimwear, our cabin steward was there. Rico had been the steward for the port side suites on the Crown on our Hawaii cruise (we had a starboard suite) and we knew immediately we were in good hands. Rico has been with Princess a number of years and throughout the cruise, Rico did a superior job!! Our luggage had not yet arrived and Rico explained that the Coral has a smaller sorting area and delivery takes a bit longer. He offered to look into it for us and expedited our luggage delivery. When we returned from the pool later that afternoon, we had our waffle robes, extra towels, extra water, and luggage. The Passengers Based on our observation, the average age of the passengers was between 65 and 70. Half of the passengers were first-time Princess cruisers and many were first-time cruisers. We thought the representation of first time cruisers was unusually high. The ship also had onboard seven corporate and/or travel groups. These groups never infringed upon the other passengers in any way. There also seemed to be a high percentage of people from Florida. The Sail Away Sail away was promptly at 5:00 p.m. The Coral was the last ship in port to leave her pier. We were on our balcony for sail away and were able to hear the music on our balcony speaker and also on TV Channel 31. Princess chose to play "Celebrate", "Somewhere Beyond the Sea", and "Time to Say Goodbye"--great selections! Andrea Bocelli and Sara Brightman's "Time to Say Goodbye" duo was also played on the Golden Princess for our sail away and hearing it again on the Coral brought back beautiful memories of our Venice, Italy, departure. Rico had provided us with chilled champagne glasses and we toasted the beginning our cruise!! The Ship The Staterooms Our mini-suite was perfectly located mid ship on Dolphin deck on the starboard side of the ship. The dEcor was mainly aqua and an unfortunate choice of harvest gold for the sofa. Mom thought the room was narrower and the balcony not as wide or as long as those on the Grand class ships. Daughter still isn't too sure that the room is any different in size, but agrees that the balcony is smaller. There was a four-foot, round resin table and two adjustable chairs on the balcony which worked out well for our needs. The smaller balconies were furnished with square tables. The sofa seems to be longer on the Coral. Unfortunately, the beds seemed narrower and were not comfortable. The bed pillows were pure torture-hard as rock; Rico came to the rescue with a feather pillow. That is right, "a" feather pillow-that was the only one he could find. The bathroom had what seemed to be a much longer and possibly deeper tub than on the Grand and Golden; great for soaking! Princess has updated the soap (larger with a new fragrance) and the shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion containers have a plastic coating on them now which makes it easier to twist off the little tops. Perhaps it is my imagination, but the fragrance seems improved on these items, also. One quick note: the ceilings in the tub area (mini suites) are low; beware those of you who are 6 feet tall or taller. We had read comments from other cruisers about the noise of water running, but in our opinion, the noise was coming from an exhaust fan in the bathroom which runs continuously. The telephone had buttons for room service, weather, time, etc. Unfortunately, the wake-up call feature did not work for us but Mom was always up before the sun so that was not a problem. The televisions are equipped with the jacks on the front for video cameras. A daily television programming schedule was on our coffee table. We enjoyed the variety of choices: music channels, movies, and the Princess channels. We had the chance to see one of the nearby suites and agreed that they are the same as the mini-suites on the Sun Class ships. They do have a nice wet bar and a whirlpool tub. The balcony is small. We will not elaborate on covered and uncovered balconies. There are advantages and disadvantages to having one or the other. Our balcony was uncovered but I did not feel as exposed on the Coral as I did on the Golden. And remember, if you have a covered balcony, those below can turn around and see you! The staterooms directly next to the small bump-out sections definitely have a viewing difficulty. The covered balconies also appeared to be smaller-not as deep. Not many people used their balconies on this cruise. The Lido Pool Parents and non-swimmers need to be aware this pool is deep-at least seven feet at one end and approximately five and a half feet at the other end. Signage was still being posted while we were on the ship. There did not seem to be as many chairs with full sun exposure around the pool as there are on other Princess ships and those that were in the sun were taken very quickly (I saw the towels being placed on these chairs as early as 7 a.m.). Some days we were able to sit near the pool and on others, we chose to sit one deck up which we found to be breezier and much quieter. Pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, and beverages were all available on the Lido deck. The pool service attendants did a wonderful job making certain you had your beverages. The band which played at the pool during our cruise was "Sugar Cane". They have played on several of our other Princess cruises, and we think they just get better and better! The Lotus Pool The Lotus pool is also located on the Lido deck between the Horizon Court and the Lido Pool. The area around the pool and hot tubs is absolutely beautiful. Wonderful greenery is scattered among the heavily green padded chaise lounges and tables and chairs. The upper level is as appealing as the lower pool area. The retractable roof was open each time we walked through allowing some sun to shine into the area. Older couples and those seeking shade and quiet seemed to be the prominent patrons of the Lotus pool. When the Coral cruises Alaska or has rainy days at sea, this pool will see a lot of use!! Also, the ice cream bar is located there. The Splash Pool The Splash pool is located in the bow of the ship on the Sports deck. We checked this pool out one sunny day as an alternative but decided to go back to the Lido pool because the water in the shallow pool was too hot and there did not seem to be any beverage service available. The Horizon Court is located directly below via a stairway but swimwear should not be worn into the buffet area. It is possible that there are waiters at this pool, but none were there when we were there. The Pelican Pool There were about eight adults using the Pelican pool located aft on Aloha deck, but this pool seems to be part of the children's area and the pool itself is quite small.. The Atrium Located in the center of the ship and encompassing that area on decks 5, 6, 7 & 8 is the Atrium. We stood in the center of the Atrium on Plaza deck (deck 5) our feet on top of blue marble and looked up. We felt as if we were on the bottom of the sea viewing the coral (the amazing lighted structure between the glass elevators) and watching the waves (the ceilings on the various decks have small lights which constantly change from white to aqua to sapphire blue). Not everyone will imagine the Atrium to be what we thought it was designed to represent, but all will certainly agree that it is the most beautiful Atrium on any of the Princess ships. The Patisserie is also on Plaza deck and offers comfortable sofa, table and chair seating, bar seats, the best coffee on the ship and tasty pastries!! Non-smokers: Take your coffee up to the Promenade deck to Crooners smoking section. One deck up is the Fiesta Deck where the atrium shops: Meredian Bay and Calypso Bay are located. The Facets jewel shop is around the corner and across from the Casino-so much for your casino winnings!! On the next deck, Promenade Deck, you can sit at Crooner's Bar (the martini bar and any other drink you may choose) with a Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin/Sammy Davis/Rat Pack theme. The smoking section is located portside and is furnished with wonderful light-colored sofas and chairs. (We were appalled to see folks there during the daytime sitting on the chairs and propping their feet on the white sofas while others were curled up on sofas and sleeping!) The non-smoking area is adjacent to the bar and there is also a piano there. We were sorry that the piano player did not play more of the Sinatra tunes. He seemed to be favoring 70s ballads. Churchill's Lounge is across the atrium on the same deck. This is the enclosed cigar smoking lounge where one can also order a drink. The cigar odors do not filter out of this room. One deck up is the Emerald deck which houses the very large card room, a well planned library and the internet cafe. The internet cafe was never busy and we felt that the computer speed was just fine. During the daytime there was always a Princess representative on duty to assist those who needed his/her help. The Emerald deck was always very quiet and conducive to reading, computer work, etc. Dining Rooms & Alternative Restaurants Our dining schedule was late, traditional in the Provence Dining Room, Fiesta Deck 6, table 184-a quiet corner table in the back of the dining room-perfect!! We had a table for six and our tablemates were a Cruise Critic member and his wife and a great couple from Florida. The food was standard Princess fare and good quality; our waitress steered us in the right direction every evening. One thing we have learned is to take the waiter's/waitress' menu suggestion seriously! As always, the service was excellent. Heading towards the aft of the ship on the Promedade deck is Sabatini's Italian Restaurant. The Sabatini's on the Coral Princess has a magnificent dEcor and impeccable service. We dined there at a table for two and completed all of the courses in less than one hour and forty-five minutes! We certainly recommend this restaurant. As you pass Sabatini's walking aft toward the Universe Lounge, you will be amazed to find yourself on a sidewalk in New Orleans!! Well, almost............brick walls, gaslights, small tables by the windows (smoking okay) and the entrance to the Bayou Cafe. One side is a cocktail lounge, the other is the dining room. Our dinner there was fantastic and again, excellent service! Highly recommended. Don't forget to put your Mardi Gras beads on-the necklaces are on each table. The Horizon Court The Horizon Court seems to be lacking in seating. The tables in the bow are large, round tables usually seating eight and are widely spaced. The breakfast buffet was okay however we prefer to either eat in the dining room or order room service. Many of our passengers raved about the food and others felt it was not very good.........a toss up. We chose to order the special Panama Canal breakfast which arrived on a three-tiered cart and consisted of champagne, pastries, crabcakes, etc., etc., smoked salmon, etc., fresh fruit, etc. This was so delicious and such a treat!! Our server placed a crisp white tablecloth on our balcony table, popped the champagne cork and left us to enjoy the great food and the beginning of the partial transit of the canal. All for only $25 (the champagne was Veuve Cliquot. Princess will be offering a Glacier Bay breakfast in Alaska and we recommend giving it a try!! As we said before, we used room service rather consistently for our breakfasts. On sea days, we usually had breakfast in the main dining room. The Spa We visited the spa the day we boarded and thought it to be a beautiful place! With any of the spa services (not beauty salon), one may indulge in the steam rooms, tropical rainforest showers, etc. There are four or more themed showers; a beautiful, marble area of the spa. We had pedicures our first, full day and enjoyed the back massage chairs and complete pedicures we received. We are not certain if other Princess ships have added the full pedi/spas but this was a first for us. The Theaters & Entertainment The Universe Lounge Go early and get a seat on the lower level! If you have only the balcony seats to choose from you will find that many of the sofas and chairs have absolutely no view of the stages whatsoever. The Princess Theater There are plenty of seats in this theater, however, mom had a problem watching a live show because her view was blocked by the woman sitting in front of her. Mom was just told by her daughter that daughter had absolutely no problem seeing the stage!! Luck of the draw I suppose. Entertainment During our cruise the Wheelhouse Lounge featured The Laura Farrow Trio and The Don Sauro Trio from 5:30 p.m. till late. Campbell Simpson played the piano in the Bayou Cafe from 6:00 p.m. till 8:00 p.m. followed by the Perry Phillips Trio till midnight. Charlie Sleeth was at the piano in Crooners Lounge from 8:00 p.m. till midnight. The Explorer's Lounge was busy every evening with Karaoke, Newlywed & Not So Newlywed games, Music Quiz, comedy and magic of Doug Anderson, D.J. Josh, Tex Mex Country Hoe Down, 70s Night, and music by Hip Pocket. The Princess Musicians played in the Atrium. We did not attend all of these shows and hope we haven't forgotten to mention anyone! The brand new show, "Curtain Up-A Salute to Broadway" was excellent as were "Da Beat", "Tribute", and "Dance." We also enjoyed "Pub Night". The Casino The London theme of the casino will either appeal to you or you will think it is overdone. On our cruise the casino was never too crowded during the afternoons when we were there. Have no idea what the patronage was in the evenings. There was a large variety of slot machines, blackjack tables, a craps table, and we are not sure if there was a roulette table or not. The slot machines we played were very kind to us: yes, we left as winners!! The dollar slot machines were literally sitting unoccupied whenever we were in the casino. We think the casino is smaller than those on the Grand Class and Sun Class ships but that could be due to the layout used. Overall Cruise Experience With regard to the Coral Princess, our waitress said it best, "She is like a spoiled child". The ship is new and there are wrinkles to be ironed out, however, her spectacular beauty outweighs the very few negatives. And, remember, those negatives are solely related to her newness. In some areas she is quite bold, in others very demure. There is a quiet place for everyone or a festive spot if that is what you want. Read your Princess Patter (the ship's evening newsletter) daily and decide what you would like to participate in or choose to do nothing at all. There is something for everyone on this ship. We had wonderful weather and experienced a few moderate seas as we cruised in the southern Caribbean-the tradewinds were a'blowing. Our stateroom groaned quite a bit at times but we think that she will settle and then not be quite as noisy. The art gallery holds and displays all of the art work to be auctioned during the cruise. NO artwork clutters the corridors of the ship!!!! We found this to be a refreshing change from the other Princess ships. Formal nights were not at all what we usually experience on a Princess cruise. The Captain's Welcome party was well attended and a large majority of the passengers were dressed in their formal attire. However, at the Captain's Circle Party, we saw at least six or seven men meet the captain wearing t-shirts and sandals!! Also, some of the men were wearing sport coats with no neckties................to us, that was totally disrespectful. Those who took the time to dress appropriately were dazzling and in the majority. We chose the ship rather than the itinerary-both were terrific; however, we really prefer the full transit of the canal. Disembarkation Platinum members sat in the Universe Lounge being served coffee, juice, and pastries along with the USA Today newspaper. There was a television show being shown on the three movie screens also. This was a very pleasant place to wait for our color and number to be called. We were called 15 minutes later than the published time of 8:45 a.m. We found our luggage within minutes but then spent at least half an hour in a ten- person wide line with others merging in ahead of us, behind us, and at times it seemed on top of us! The porters were also trying to push their carts through this wall of people. There was only one customs line for hundreds of people to pass through and everyone wanted to be the first one in line!! This was horrible and probably a very unsafe situation!! Eventually another customs line was formed and we were soon outside. Whew!!! We immediately hailed a cab and were at the airport shortly thereafter. Our flight was at 1:00 p.m. allowing us time to have a quick bite for lunch before proceeding to our gate. The plane departed twenty minutes late however we arrived in Chicago on time. We are proud and happy to say we cruised on the Coral Princess and hope our review may help you in making your choice to sail on her also. Our Coral Princess cruise met all of our expectations and we will sail on her again. If you want to cruise on a new ship or are planning a cruise on the Coral, you won't be disappointed!! Thank you for reading our review of the Coral Princess and bon voyage to all of you future cruisers!HOLTCA@aol.comJuly 2003
Coral Princess Cruise Review by Cruisin' Chris
Sail Date: December 1899
The following review is a joint effort between mother (mid-60s) and daughter (late 30s). We are Platinum Princess cruisers and have sailed on many generations of her ships including the old Star, Crown, Regal, Sun class and Grand class in many regions-Med, transatlantic, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Caribbean, and Panama Canal transits. We took advantage of onboard booking while on the Golden Med/ transatlantic in August/September, 2002.
Our vacation began on March 1, 2003, when we arrived in Fort Lauderdale and checked into the Hyatt Pier 66 hotel. Our executive suite was on the 12th floor and the balcony overlooked Port Everglades affording us a wonderful, 180 plus degree view of not only the port, but the Atlantic Ocean and the city of Fort Lauderdale. This was our second stay at the Pier 66; we have also been guests of the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort. We rented a car which we used for exploring the area, shopping, and going to restaurants for dinner.
The Itinerary
Panama Canal 10-day: March 4 - March 14, 2003
Ports of Call: Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Limon, Costa Rica; partial transit Panama Canal; Aruba, NA
The Captain was Philip Pickford. The Cruise Director was Paul O'Loughlin.
Our choice of transportation to Port Everglades was taxi at a cost of under $10. We arrived at the pier in approximately ten minutes and proceeded to the Platinum check-in area where there was no line at all. We later learned that there were only 80 Platinum members on this cruise. The security line moved slowly because the waiting room had not yet begun boarding. The line began moving after about ten minutes and we were aboard and in our stateroom: Dolphin 405-starboard mini-suite within minutes.
After a thorough tour of the ship, we enjoyed lunch in the Horizon Court (see "Ship" section for more discussion of the Horizon Court).
The skies were clear and sunny-perfect for a dip in the pool!! When we got to our cabin to change into our swimwear, our cabin steward was there. Rico had been the steward for the port side suites on the Crown on our Hawaii cruise (we had a starboard suite) and we knew immediately we were in good hands. Rico has been with Princess a number of years and throughout the cruise, Rico did a superior job!!
Our luggage had not yet arrived and Rico explained that the Coral has a smaller sorting area and delivery takes a bit longer. He offered to look into it for us and expedited our luggage delivery. When we returned from the pool later that afternoon, we had our waffle robes, extra towels, extra water, and luggage.
Based on our observation, the average age of the passengers was between 65 and 70.
Half of the passengers were first-time Princess cruisers and many were first-time cruisers. We thought the representation of first time cruisers was unusually high. The ship also had onboard seven corporate and/or travel groups. These groups never infringed upon the other passengers in any way. There also seemed to be a high percentage of people from Florida.
The Sail Away
Sail away was promptly at 5:00 p.m. The Coral was the last ship in port to leave her pier. We were on our balcony for sail away and were able to hear the music on our balcony speaker and also on TV Channel 31. Princess chose to play "Celebrate", "Somewhere Beyond the Sea", and "Time to Say Goodbye"--great selections! Andrea Bocelli and Sara Brightman's "Time to Say Goodbye" duo was also played on the Golden Princess for our sail away and hearing it again on the Coral brought back beautiful memories of our Venice, Italy, departure. Rico had provided us with chilled champagne glasses and we toasted the beginning our cruise!!
The Staterooms
Our mini-suite was perfectly located mid ship on Dolphin deck on the starboard side of the ship. The dEcor was mainly aqua and an unfortunate choice of harvest gold for the sofa. Mom thought the room was narrower and the balcony not as wide or as long as those on the Grand class ships. Daughter still isn't too sure that the room is any different in size, but agrees that the balcony is smaller. There was a four-foot, round resin table and two adjustable chairs on the balcony which worked out well for our needs. The smaller balconies were furnished with square tables. The sofa seems to be longer on the Coral. Unfortunately, the beds seemed narrower and were not comfortable. The bed pillows were pure torture-hard as rock; Rico came to the rescue with a feather pillow. That is right, "a" feather pillow-that was the only one he could find. The bathroom had what seemed to be a much longer and possibly deeper tub than on the Grand and Golden; great for soaking! Princess has updated the soap (larger with a new fragrance) and the shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion containers have a plastic coating on them now which makes it easier to twist off the little tops. Perhaps it is my imagination, but the fragrance seems improved on these items, also. One quick note: the ceilings in the tub area (mini suites) are low; beware those of you who are 6 feet tall or taller. We had read comments from other cruisers about the noise of water running, but in our opinion, the noise was coming from an exhaust fan in the bathroom which runs continuously.
The telephone had buttons for room service, weather, time, etc. Unfortunately, the wake-up call feature did not work for us but Mom was always up before the sun so that was not a problem.
The televisions are equipped with the jacks on the front for video cameras. A daily television programming schedule was on our coffee table. We enjoyed the variety of choices: music channels, movies, and the Princess channels.
We had the chance to see one of the nearby suites and agreed that they are the same as the mini-suites on the Sun Class ships. They do have a nice wet bar and a whirlpool tub. The balcony is small.
We will not elaborate on covered and uncovered balconies. There are advantages and disadvantages to having one or the other. Our balcony was uncovered but I did not feel as exposed on the Coral as I did on the Golden. And remember, if you have a covered balcony, those below can turn around and see you! The staterooms directly next to the small bump-out sections definitely have a viewing difficulty. The covered balconies also appeared to be smaller-not as deep. Not many people used their balconies on this cruise.
The Lido Pool
Parents and non-swimmers need to be aware this pool is deep-at least seven feet at one end and approximately five and a half feet at the other end. Signage was still being posted while we were on the ship.
There did not seem to be as many chairs with full sun exposure around the pool as there are on other Princess ships and those that were in the sun were taken very quickly (I saw the towels being placed on these chairs as early as 7 a.m.). Some days we were able to sit near the pool and on others, we chose to sit one deck up which we found to be breezier and much quieter.
Pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, and beverages were all available on the Lido deck. The pool service attendants did a wonderful job making certain you had your beverages. The band which played at the pool during our cruise was "Sugar Cane". They have played on several of our other Princess cruises, and we think they just get better and better!
The Lotus Pool
The Lotus pool is also located on the Lido deck between the Horizon Court and the Lido Pool. The area around the pool and hot tubs is absolutely beautiful. Wonderful greenery is scattered among the heavily green padded chaise lounges and tables and chairs. The upper level is as appealing as the lower pool area. The retractable roof was open each time we walked through allowing some sun to shine into the area.
Older couples and those seeking shade and quiet seemed to be the prominent patrons of the Lotus pool. When the Coral cruises Alaska or has rainy days at sea, this pool will see a lot of use!! Also, the ice cream bar is located there.
The Splash Pool
The Splash pool is located in the bow of the ship on the Sports deck. We checked this pool out one sunny day as an alternative but decided to go back to the Lido pool because the water in the shallow pool was too hot and there did not seem to be any beverage service available. The Horizon Court is located directly below via a stairway but swimwear should not be worn into the buffet area. It is possible that there are waiters at this pool, but none were there when we were there.
The Pelican Pool
There were about eight adults using the Pelican pool located aft on Aloha deck, but this pool seems to be part of the children's area and the pool itself is quite small..
The Atrium
Located in the center of the ship and encompassing that area on decks 5, 6, 7 & 8 is the Atrium. We stood in the center of the Atrium on Plaza deck (deck 5) our feet on top of blue marble and looked up. We felt as if we were on the bottom of the sea viewing the coral (the amazing lighted structure between the glass elevators) and watching the waves (the ceilings on the various decks have small lights which constantly change from white to aqua to sapphire blue). Not everyone will imagine the Atrium to be what we thought it was designed to represent, but all will certainly agree that it is the most beautiful Atrium on any of the Princess ships. The Patisserie is also on Plaza deck and offers comfortable sofa, table and chair seating, bar seats, the best coffee on the ship and tasty pastries!! Non-smokers: Take your coffee up to the Promenade deck to Crooners smoking section.
One deck up is the Fiesta Deck where the atrium shops: Meredian Bay and Calypso Bay are located. The Facets jewel shop is around the corner and across from the Casino-so much for your casino winnings!!
On the next deck, Promenade Deck, you can sit at Crooner's Bar (the martini bar and any other drink you may choose) with a Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin/Sammy Davis/Rat Pack theme. The smoking section is located portside and is furnished with wonderful light-colored sofas and chairs. (We were appalled to see folks there during the daytime sitting on the chairs and propping their feet on the white sofas while others were curled up on sofas and sleeping!) The non-smoking area is adjacent to the bar and there is also a piano there. We were sorry that the piano player did not play more of the Sinatra tunes.
He seemed to be favoring 70s ballads.
Churchill's Lounge is across the atrium on the same deck. This is the enclosed cigar smoking lounge where one can also order a drink. The cigar odors do not filter out of this room.
One deck up is the Emerald deck which houses the very large card room, a well planned library and the internet cafe. The internet cafe was never busy and we felt that the computer speed was just fine. During the daytime there was always a Princess representative on duty to assist those who needed his/her help.
The Emerald deck was always very quiet and conducive to reading, computer work, etc.
Dining Rooms & Alternative Restaurants
Our dining schedule was late, traditional in the Provence Dining Room, Fiesta Deck 6, table 184-a quiet corner table in the back of the dining room-perfect!! We had a table for six and our tablemates were a Cruise Critic member and his wife and a great couple from Florida. The food was standard Princess fare and good quality; our waitress steered us in the right direction every evening. One thing we have learned is to take the waiter's/waitress' menu suggestion seriously! As always, the service was excellent.
Heading towards the aft of the ship on the Promedade deck is Sabatini's Italian Restaurant. The Sabatini's on the Coral Princess has a magnificent dEcor and impeccable service. We dined there at a table for two and completed all of the courses in less than one hour and forty-five minutes! We certainly recommend this restaurant.
As you pass Sabatini's walking aft toward the Universe Lounge, you will be amazed to find yourself on a sidewalk in New Orleans!! Well, almost............brick walls, gaslights, small tables by the windows (smoking okay) and the entrance to the Bayou Cafe. One side is a cocktail lounge, the other is the dining room. Our dinner there was fantastic and again, excellent service! Highly recommended. Don't forget to put your Mardi Gras beads on-the necklaces are on each table.
The Horizon Court
The Horizon Court seems to be lacking in seating. The tables in the bow are large, round tables usually seating eight and are widely spaced. The breakfast buffet was okay however we prefer to either eat in the dining room or order room service. Many of our passengers raved about the food and others felt it was not very good.........a toss up. We chose to order the special Panama Canal breakfast which arrived on a three-tiered cart and consisted of champagne, pastries, crabcakes, etc., etc., smoked salmon, etc., fresh fruit, etc. This was so delicious and such a treat!! Our server placed a crisp white tablecloth on our balcony table, popped the champagne cork and left us to enjoy the great food and the beginning of the partial transit of the canal. All for only $25 (the champagne was Veuve Cliquot. Princess will be offering a Glacier Bay breakfast in Alaska and we recommend giving it a try!!
As we said before, we used room service rather consistently for our breakfasts. On sea days, we usually had breakfast in the main dining room.
We visited the spa the day we boarded and thought it to be a beautiful place! With any of the spa services (not beauty salon), one may indulge in the steam rooms, tropical rainforest showers, etc. There are four or more themed showers; a beautiful, marble area of the spa.
We had pedicures our first, full day and enjoyed the back massage chairs and complete pedicures we received. We are not certain if other Princess ships have added the full pedi/spas but this was a first for us.
The Theaters & Entertainment
The Universe Lounge
Go early and get a seat on the lower level! If you have only the balcony seats to choose from you will find that many of the sofas and chairs have absolutely no view of the stages whatsoever.
The Princess Theater
There are plenty of seats in this theater, however, mom had a problem watching a live show because her view was blocked by the woman sitting in front of her. Mom was just told by her daughter that daughter had absolutely no problem seeing the stage!! Luck of the draw I suppose.
During our cruise the Wheelhouse Lounge featured The Laura Farrow Trio and The Don Sauro Trio from 5:30 p.m. till late. Campbell Simpson played the piano in the Bayou Cafe from 6:00 p.m. till 8:00 p.m. followed by the Perry Phillips Trio till midnight. Charlie Sleeth was at the piano in Crooners Lounge from 8:00 p.m. till midnight. The Explorer's Lounge was busy every evening with Karaoke, Newlywed & Not So Newlywed games, Music Quiz, comedy and magic of Doug Anderson, D.J. Josh, Tex Mex Country Hoe Down, 70s Night, and music by Hip Pocket. The Princess Musicians played in the Atrium. We did not attend all of these shows and hope we haven't forgotten to mention anyone!
The brand new show, "Curtain Up-A Salute to Broadway" was excellent as were "Da Beat", "Tribute", and "Dance." We also enjoyed "Pub Night".
The London theme of the casino will either appeal to you or you will think it is overdone.
On our cruise the casino was never too crowded during the afternoons when we were there. Have no idea what the patronage was in the evenings. There was a large variety of slot machines, blackjack tables, a craps table, and we are not sure if there was a roulette table or not. The slot machines we played were very kind to us: yes, we left as winners!! The dollar slot machines were literally sitting unoccupied whenever we were in the casino. We think the casino is smaller than those on the Grand Class and Sun Class ships but that could be due to the layout used.
Overall Cruise Experience
With regard to the Coral Princess, our waitress said it best, "She is like a spoiled child". The ship is new and there are wrinkles to be ironed out, however, her spectacular beauty outweighs the very few negatives. And, remember, those negatives are solely related to her newness. In some areas she is quite bold, in others very demure. There is a quiet place for everyone or a festive spot if that is what you want.
Read your Princess Patter (the ship's evening newsletter) daily and decide what you would like to participate in or choose to do nothing at all. There is something for everyone on this ship.
We had wonderful weather and experienced a few moderate seas as we cruised in the southern Caribbean-the tradewinds were a'blowing. Our stateroom groaned quite a bit at times but we think that she will settle and then not be quite as noisy.
The art gallery holds and displays all of the art work to be auctioned during the cruise. NO artwork clutters the corridors of the ship!!!! We found this to be a refreshing change from the other Princess ships.
Formal nights were not at all what we usually experience on a Princess cruise. The Captain's Welcome party was well attended and a large majority of the passengers were dressed in their formal attire. However, at the Captain's Circle Party, we saw at least six or seven men meet the captain wearing t-shirts and sandals!! Also, some of the men were wearing sport coats with no neckties................to us, that was totally disrespectful. Those who took the time to dress appropriately were dazzling and in the majority.
We chose the ship rather than the itinerary-both were terrific; however, we really prefer the full transit of the canal.
Platinum members sat in the Universe Lounge being served coffee, juice, and pastries along with the USA Today newspaper. There was a television show being shown on the three movie screens also. This was a very pleasant place to wait for our color and number to be called.
We were called 15 minutes later than the published time of 8:45 a.m. We found our luggage within minutes but then spent at least half an hour in a ten- person wide line with others merging in ahead of us, behind us, and at times it seemed on top of us! The porters were also trying to push their carts through this wall of people. There was only one customs line for hundreds of people to pass through and everyone wanted to be the first one in line!! This was horrible and probably a very unsafe situation!! Eventually another customs line was formed and we were soon outside. Whew!!! We immediately hailed a cab and were at the airport shortly thereafter. Our flight was at 1:00 p.m. allowing us time to have a quick bite for lunch before proceeding to our gate. The plane departed twenty minutes late however we arrived in Chicago on time.
We are proud and happy to say we cruised on the Coral Princess and hope our review may help you in making your choice to sail on her also.
Our Coral Princess cruise met all of our expectations and we will sail on her again. If you want to cruise on a new ship or are planning a cruise on the Coral, you won't be disappointed!!
Thank you for reading our review of the Coral Princess and bon voyage to all of you future cruisers!HOLTCA@aol.comJuly 2003
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All the cool guys phone numbers your gonna meet at the gym! Haha no sielousry, your gonna be so happy with your new self, put on each page a simple thing that's gonna change along with your new weight so you'll be encouraged to keep going! Good luck!


text:
| GUTS AND GLORY
David Shimer
GUTS AND GLORY
David Shimer & Jon Victor 1:56 am, Mar 11, 2016
Not all courses at Yale College are created equal. While Yale takes pride in the quality of its undergraduate course offerings, most students know that some of the University's most popular courses are reputed to shell out As and A-minuses in return for minimal work. These classes, commonly known as "guts," may or may not be interesting or well-taught; they may or may not be worthwhile; and students may or may not care. One factor ties them together: they're easy.
"Can be very boring, and was probably one of the most boring classes I've taken, but it's not too difficult," wrote one anonymous student reviewer of PLSC 415, "Religion and Politics," which has received an average work rating of two out of five over the past five semesters, according to student course evaluation data. The course currently enrolls 126 students — nearly 60 percent more than in spring 2014. "Very very easy to get an A-, much harder to get an A. But this class is almost no work."
Another reviewer wrote of the same course: "The class is a massive gut but incredibly boring. You can get away with not going to class and still probably get an A. The readings are random and unnecessary so you don't even need to do that. The final exam was pretty much all opinion questions. Take it as a gut if you need the distributional credit or as an easy PLSC class."
Based on interviews with more than 30 students, professors and administrators, there is wide disagreement on the value of gut courses and whether they even exist. Some say they are as integral to the fabric of academic life at Yale, similar to shopping period or the option to take a class Credit/D/Fail, while others say they undermine the purpose of distributional requirements. And others still say the very idea of gut courses is dangerous, in that it encourages students to put in little effort before receiving poor grades in classes they expected to excel in easily.
DO GUTS HAVE VALUE?
There's no simple consensus on whether guts add value to Yale's curriculum. To some, guts have only positive implications: They enable students to balance their schedules and focus on the subjects they care most about. Olivia Scharfman '19, who is enrolled in "Fractal Geometry," a math course geared mainly toward non-STEM majors, said she considers gut classes to be a strength of Yale's curriculum, rather than a weakness.
"Classes like ['Fractal Geometry'] might be widely considered by the student population to be 'gut courses,'" Scharfman said. "But that's just because they're the first class of that subject that students find accessible."
Scharfman added that regardless of whether students take a course because it is easy or because they are genuinely interested in the subject, what matters is that they are being exposed to material they otherwise would not have encountered. Secretary and Vice President for Student Life Kimberly Goff-Crews also noted some benefits to less-demanding courses that enable students to explore academically. From the perspective of student life, she said, part of a liberal arts education entails gaining exposure to a wide variety of subjects.
"You can call them whatever you want to call them, but there are good reasons to have courses that are pitched to people who are trying to be culturally literate in a variety of ways," Goff-Crews explained. "The ability to look at and understand topics that you know that you want to be exposed to because you're seeking to be a lifelong learner, to go to a class created with the purpose of giving students exposure to an area that might not be their life's work — that is a positive thing in a liberal arts environment."
But University President Peter Salovey was not convinced that gut courses add value to Yale, instead viewing them as unfair to those who enroll in more rigorous classes.
"Although courses can certainly vary in terms of the level of difficulty and challenge, courses in which students receive top grades for very little effort and in which they're not challenged to do their best work I think are unfair to those students who are motivated to take their studies seriously," Salovey said.
While Salovey sees guts as unfairly disadvantageous to students who avoid taking them, some students interviewed contended they are more harmful to those who do.
For instance, Lucinda Peng '18, who is currently taking 6.5 credits, said the popularity of guts is unfortunately driven by student obsession over their GPAs.
"People are cheating themselves if they take a gut for an easy A," Peng said. "As cheesy as it sounds, one of my favorite classes is also the one I have to put the most work into because it's so relevant to what I want to do."
Min Sun Cha '17 expressed a dissimilar sentiment, stating that part of a liberal arts education is having the option to choose which courses to take. If students want to compromise their learning experience to get good grades with little work, that's their choice, she said.
However, Saran Morgan '18, who is currently enrolled in "Science of Science Fiction," disputed the notion that students are hurting themselves by taking guts. Despite taking the class for a science credit, Morgan said she has found that enrolled students get as much out of the course as they put in. She isn't required to learn a significant amount, but she can when she wants to.
"Guts don't undermine distributional requirements; it is the emphasis on GPA — that's what hurts the liberal arts education," Morgan said. "Having guts can be a very good thing because if I had to take introductory chemistry to get my science credit, that would go badly. But this way I still learn something I normally would not have."
Many students choose to take gut courses to fulfill their distributional requirements in fields in which they have only a limited amount of interest. But Claire Grishaw-Jones '17 said that often, students are afraid to explore options beyond what's easy in fear of receiving a bad grade.
Grishaw-Jones said she would advocate for more Credit/D/Fail options or being able to take distributional requirements Credit/D/Fail.
"I am really interested in math and would love to take more math classes, but because I know it would bring down my GPA I feel like I can't," Grishaw-Jones said. "I feel like I have no room to take anything that's a risk."
STUDENTS LOVE THEM
In a way, the popularity of so-called gut courses speaks to their importance in the Yale undergraduate curriculum. The numbers are stark: 102 students in "Fractal Geometry;" 126 students in "Religion and Politics;" and, at the peak of shopping period, 335 students in "Strategy, Technology and War."
Course demand for "Race & Gender in American Literature," or ENGL 293 — a course often seen as an easy writing credit for non-humanities majors — peaked during shopping period at 608 students, more than 10 percent of the undergraduate student body. Two years ago, just 49 students took the course.
"The course has minimal reading, so I don't learn as much as if I were taking a regular class," said Marc-André Alexandre '17, who is currently enrolled in ENGL 293.
Alexandre said he and others were likely attracted to ENGL 293 because it supplies an additional credit and gives students time to focus on other courses.
Mohamed Karabatek '19 characterized ENGL 293 as a gut writing class, but noted that the class was still comprehensive in its subject matter. He added that many students may have flocked to take the course after hearing that it included little work. Indeed, the excessive demand for ENGL 293 created monumental scheduling challenges early in the spring 2016 semester, with some of the course's 22 discussion sections becoming oversubscribed, canceled or mislabeled.
Andrew Casson, the director of undergraduate studies for the Mathematics Department, noted the popularity that "Fractal Geometry" has achieved, calling it a good option for non-STEM students.
"In a way, I wish we could expand these offerings of interesting, challenging courses that don't involve a technical sequence like calculus," Casson said. "There seems to be a demand for it, and so I think it is valuable for people who are not going to specialize in math or science to learn something mathematical. ["Fractal Geometry"] fulfilled that role very well."
However, the popularity of some guts may stem not from their educational value, but rather from the flexibility they give students.
Kevin Kim '18 said he took the course "An Issues Approach to Biology" to fulfill his science credit requirement, saying that the class was a gut. However, he also said it is possible to benefit from such courses without putting significant effort into them, making them a better option than a difficult science class for students who are not wholly interested in the subject.
"We can't all be taking four-and-a-half credits of classes that are very difficult," he said. "Having the time to take a class that we take because it's easier is wholly necessary."
BUT DO THEY EXIST?
Students commonly complain that the very notion of gut courses is misleading and even dangerous to students' academic standing. Sometimes undergraduates expect perceived gut courses to be easy As, so they put little time into them and ultimately do poorly. Others find that some gut courses are substantially challenging and poorly taught.
"I think it depends on how you interpret them," Lauren Modiano '17 said. "Any class can be a lot of work if you choose to put a lot of work into it."
Lina Goelzer '19 agreed, saying that very few classes are automatically guts, although many have the potential to be. She said there are some classes in which students don't really have to do any of the readings, but those who choose to do so may actually find the class challenging.
Modiano conceded that some classes give out As more easily than others. But even these classes can result in an undesirable grade if not taken seriously enough, she said.
Other times, students in supposed guts find they get little out of class and have to learn course material independently, which some find doable.
"After the midterm, the gap between the level of the work that we learn to do ourselves and the work that [mathematics professor Michael Frame] demonstrates to us in class becomes pretty large — which is not to say that it isn't fascinating. The class doesn't teach you how to think, but it's a fun and often worthwhile way of fulfilling QR," wrote one reviewer of "Fractal Geometry."
But students like Ivetty Estepan '18, who is currently enrolled in two supposedly easy courses— "Fractal Geometry" and "Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics" — said they feel tremendously stressful. According to her, the material is challenging and requires significant thinking. To make matters worse, she said, students are expected to learn the material on their own — increasing the courses' difficulty.
"Guts do not actually exist," Estepan said. "The only difference is your grade might be a B instead of a C."
Grishaw-Jones too, felt skeptical about the existence of true gut courses. She took the course "Great Hoaxes and Fantasies in Archaeology," which she said was "gutty" in the sense that students did not have to do assigned readings and many students only showed up to lecture a fraction of the time. However, Grishaw-Jones said, it's a myth that you can get an A in the class without doing any work for it.
Nathalya Leite '19, who said guts are attractive because they are not time-intensive, has struggled to find easy writing courses. In her opinion, all writing classes are rigorous.
"I don't think writing guts exist," she said. "They are all difficult and demanding, and teaching assistants grade very hard."
Rubi Macias '18, who is currently enrolled in "Science of Science Fiction," said she decided to take the course to fulfill a distributional requirement. She said the course does not feel like a gut, though, and that she is surprised by how little she knew going into the course and how worried she is about her final grade.
Indeed, Casson said courses like "Fractal Geometry" are not necessarily less rigorous than any other math course at Yale. While the level of mathematical knowledge expected would be significantly less than in a math class for STEM majors, "Fractal Geometry" and its ilk have serious content to them and require significant commitment by participants in order to do well, Casson explained.
"I don't want to give the impression that they're sort of an easy option," Casson added.
Frame, who teaches "Fractal Geometry," said he thinks the course's main draw for students is the visual aspect of the subject matter, rather than the workload. While the course is not challenging in pure mathematical terms, it does have significant geometric rigor, he said.
Alexandros Koutsogeorgas '19, who is taking "Fractal Geometry" this semester, said the course's difficulty wasn't really a factor for him during shopping period. Instead, he wanted to learn from Frame, an important scholar in his field, Koutsogeorgas said.
Salovey said it would be inaccurate to label guts as courses that students really enjoy and provide an introduction to a subject area. To him, the types of courses that constitute as guts are those which are easy for the sake of being easy and have top-heavy grading distributions.
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE, A PART OF YALE
Whether or not they exist, the idea of guts is central to the academic life of many Yale undergraduates. Hundreds of students are drawn to them for a range of reasons — a desire to focus on other subjects, a plan to balance out their schedules, an urge to pad their GPAs.
The question remains over whether students derive greater benefit from these courses than they would from more challenging ones. Students might be succeeding in their short-term objectives by enrolling in supposedly lax courses, but they are also potentially sacrificing the academic exploration central to a liberal arts education.
Still, it may be uncharitable to say that Yale students are motivated solely by these factors — some do find guts worthwhile. In a relaxed academic setting, it is possible to focus on learning for learning's sake, rather than doing what it takes to score an A. And it is possible to be a student without feeling the pressure that burdens so many at Yale.
For Frame, the draw of his class is more than its workload.
"Mostly it's just really pretty stuff," he said.
And it might be best not to drown out the beauty with mountains of homework.


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Wild Cordyceps are harvested in high mountain regions of the Himalayas in Tibet, Nepal and China. These treasures have always been a rare commodity (considering they're only found above altitudes of 3,800 metres during a couple of months of the year), their unique medicinal properties led to enormous market demand which has resulted in Wild Ophiocordyceps sinensis now being added to the list of endangered species.
Due to the rarity and high cost of this herb Chinese Mycologists developed a way of growing the mycelium of this mushroom in liquid fermentation tanks. This pure mycelium product is primarily known as CS-4. They have also now cultured another variety using the Cordyceps militaris on solid state fermentation substrates, where they are able to harvest the fruiting bodies of the cordyceps.
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Bananas are a tasty snack, loaded with a variety of nutrients. While we always hear about the yellow-colored fruit being an excellent source of potassium, there are many more health benefits it can offer.
Approximately 70 percent of the fiber found in a banana is insoluble, the kind which does not dissolve in liquid. In short, this type of fiber helps food move quickly and easily through the stomach and intestines.
If you experiencing constipation, eating the fruit can be helpful in easing your symptoms. Bananas are also among the good sources of prebiotics which makes it beneficial for the good bacteria in your gut.
If you feel a bit restless and find it hard to fall asleep, a banana should be a good choice for a bedtime snack. As noted by Forbes, the fruit contains the amino acid L-tryptophan which is eventually converted to serotonin. The neurotransmitter plays a role in mood elevation as well as the regulation of sleep-wake cycles.
"They pack more nutrients than sports drinks and have a healthier blend of natural sugars with bonus antioxidants," said Cynthia Sass, M.P.H., R.D., a contributing nutrition editor at Health.
One medium-sized banana can provide 0.43 milligrams or 33 percent of how much vitamin B6 you need to consume in a day. The nutrient is "important for brain development during pregnancy and enzyme reactions involved in metabolism," as told by Prevention.
The B6 content can provide another benefit during the first trimester according to Anar Allidina, a registered dietitian from Canada. "Having bananas during the early weeks of pregnancy may help with nausea that many women experience," she told the Huffington Post.


In late 2007, four women sat down over a glass of wine (actually, no one really knows exactly how much wine) to discuss the current state of networking. It wasn't to complain, but rather to get a feel for what they liked and didn't like about their existing networking options and what has worked and hasn't worked for them in their networking endeavors.
They quickly realized that they were all in agreement that as women, they weren't big fans of "rules and restrictions"; they felt as though there was power in women helping women to be successful; and they disliked paying for something they didn't use.
From these epiphanies, they then ventured onto the topic of "The Good Ol' Boys". (You know… that "unwritten", "unspoken" yet very real "club" that has existed since the dawn of time.) So, the GOBs get together to take a crack at driving a little white ball down a long green stretch of grass and then kick back together over a scotch, beer or other social beverage to chat and "bond" and build relationships. Inevitably, those relationships turned into business. Why? Because they LIKED each other.
So, the women came to the conclusion that… "If it worked for the Good Ol' Boys, then we can do it BETTER!" And so, the Good Ol' Gals were formed with the motto, "Together We're Better!".
To be a "gal" (we don't use the term "member" since there are no dues), all you have to do is show up to a meeting. As an "inclusive" group, there can be more than one gal from each category/industry which expands your resource pool and allows you to do business with or refer to someone that you connect with and like. (Remember, people do business with people they LIKE 🙂 ).
We invite you to join us at one of our upcoming meetings to get the full "GOG Experience" that may just be a little different than anything you've experienced in the world of networking before.


One thing I've seen mentioned in several clips of various Richard Dawkins interviews etc is the fact that religion is pretty much a universal constant in every culture in the world, past or present.
Dawkins' opinion is that this is likely to have a Darwinian cause, that is to say it adds to the survival strength of a person (or an entire culture?). One suggestion I have seen him make is that it provides a psychological comfort, thus in times of great stress, an individual falls back on this belief, and is less likely to do something stupid and remove him or herself from the gene pool. Said person is then more likely to breed, and pass on this belief, a human trait that is not part of our genetic make up. Keeping in mind of course that no matter how comforting and helpful it is in this case, this doesn't make it true.
Another Darwinian explanation I've pondered about is what I call the 'safety in numbers factor' people who belong to a religion have the 'backing' of a large number of people to look out for them. Of course it's a crying shame that usually the only other group one needs such a backing for is another religious group. It's in our nature to look after 'our own' (this itself must provide survival value). I know I'd certainly go the extra distance to help out my own family in a threatening situation (and indeed any situation that would affect their long term survival e.g. doing what I can to help them get off drugs etc, and a hundred years ago if Random White Person A saw a fight between Random White Person B and Random Black Person A, who do you think RWPA would have helped, if he helped anybody? Not condoning it of course, just giving a general example of somebody looking after 'their own'.
So my theory is basically that religion provides a belonging to a group with the absolute belief that their way is the only way, and this causes them to defend 'their own' and this adds survival value, and thus this is a Darwinian reason for religion.
And of course none of this has means that religion is true, it's just the only thing that seems to produce such a high level of commitment.
Please discuss. I hope I'm not just spouting out old and worn out ideas, is there a search function for this forum? If so, am I blind!!?
I don't believe that religion is habitual or genetic; instead, religion evolves out of civilization. The question that must be asked about this is if a person was isolated for his own life, would he eventually create a religion?
In "The God Delusion", Dawkins also talks about the suggestion that religiosity also might spring from the same bio-chemical process that allows us to feel love. If you don't own it, it's on page 184. The idea was presented by philosopher Daniel Dennet, suggesting that irrational religion could be the by-product of the same bio-chemical processes that are responsible for "falling in love", and it goes on to compare the two types of "mania". Drawing parralels, and showing differences. Still just a hypothesis, but one that's being looked into.
I certainly wan't meaning to imply that religion was genetic. However, I think we can agree that in the majority of cases, the children follow in the footsteps of their parents in terms of religion. In this way I reckon religion could be considered a non-genetic 'trait' that is passed on, and a 'trait' that adds survival value.
It's an interesting question you pose in regards to the person in isolation. On one hand if you take my arguement to be true then a person in isolation would have neither a group to belong to nor anybody else to need defending from, thus no survival value to be gained from worshipping Chippie the tree god.
On the other hand, a person existing in isolation would certainly have large gaps in knowledge that they would probably attempt to fill with something, and they wouldn't have the combined knowledge of many generations to help do this.
I think those arguements seem to make sense and I think you are on the right track. Let me try to elaborate.
Religion is a man made construct that is passed down more through socialization than genes. However, over the course of history religion and religious type beliefs have also been linked to governments and to rulers. Therefore, in those cultures, societies and environments it was maladaptive to be a non-believer and usually came to the point of death if you were thought to be a non-believer. So in this case it was not genes that got passed down, but the learning and socialization of relgious ideas. I refer you to a book by a social psychologist named Fathali M. Moghaddam called The Individual and Society. In this book he discusses what he calls carriers that are socially passed on from generation to generation. He does not touch on religion, but you could see the analogy.
As for the idea that if man were isolated would he create his own religion? Yes, this is why there are so many religions around the world. Even native americans had their spirituality and rituals. However, this is because they are isolated from knowledge, cultures, and facts outside their own world of existence. Sort of like a child who only gets his educaiton from the bible.
I don't have the book, but I can't find page 184.
I hope that link helps.
I was not asking about isolated cultures, I meant an individual. Imagine gaing conciousness in a world with no knowladge of anything and no one else around. It would be... weird.
Hell yeah, dude, good find American Atheist! That's the exact passage I was reffering to!
I have a great many ideas on where religion may have come from. One of them is that it is the most valuable tool available against a dictatorship/monarchy/etc. A religion can remove the power claimed by the dictator, and give it to an insubstantial being. This can easily lead to a populace unafraid of death since only their god can judge their actions, not the dictator. Only their god can sentence their soul, the dictator only has power over their body. It's like a psychological tool that allows you to do things you normally wouldn't for the survival of yourself and/or family. This would be a great survival benefit in times long past, when dictatorship was more common and even more delusional than most religions of the day.
I would not say that religion is a total by-product of our evolution. What I would say is that our evolutionary instincts have certianly helped religion.
Religion survives in the memeplex because it gets passed down through generations, often by indoctrination. From an evolutionary standpoint, it is an advantageous trait to have children listening unquestioningly to their parents at a young age, because it was a fundamental survival mechanism, the same could be said about taste (need to distinguish poisonous, bitter fruit).
Darwinism/natural selection doesn't operate at the level of an individual, it operates on the level of population/groups. Something can give an individual a massive "survival" advantage but if it doesn't allow him to reproduce (at all/as effectively as those he is competing with), the trait is selected against.
Dawkins addresses the tendency for god creation by pointing out that humans have a propensity to explain things with agents. "The tiger wants to eat you" so you should run. "The volcano is angry" so it must be placated. "The sky god loves us" and makes it rain. This may have been an advantage when you didn't need to figure out why the tiger wants to eat you, or why the volcano was going to erupt, you just needed to assess the situation and react quickly.
Its easy to anthropomorphize things. Have you ever said "my car is tired" or "my computer decided to X"? Hopefully, it's tounge-in-cheek for most people, but that's likely the type of thing that started religion.
I like to think that if an adult woke up with a blank slate, they'd approach things more rationally. (Skepticism has been generally bred out of children, since skeptical kids tend not to heed their parents advice about dangerous things.) Then again, a blank slate might make you more likely to believe anything you're told.
Just because I am nitpicky and/or annoying, I will point out that your statement is incorrect. Evolution works on individuals. Evolutions deals in genetics. It progresses only with mutation and genetic innovation. This is because evolution not only eliminates the weak but shapes the strong. Let us say an individual, during segmented shuffling undergone during mitosis, has the good fortune to acquire a new protein string which has a useful ability. Let's say this individual lives in the Arctic, and the new gene codes for a useful lipoprotein. This is a survival advantage which will allow him to reproduce more than his unmutated counterparts, so as time goes on through generations, the lipoprotein gene will become more prominent in the pool, until it is a dominating allelle, and then while all this is happening, lets say that a couple generations down the line, one of his descendents undergoes another useful mutation.
Point conceded. I think my problem may have been perceiving "an" animal to have evolved when a new trait becomes dominant amongst the species. (Using "an" animal to refer to it as a species.) I'll ponder that more, but I must be off to work.


n. ~ 1. A work that is not based on direct observation of or evidence directly associated with the subject, but instead relies on sources of information. - 2. A work commenting on another work (primary sources), such as reviews, criticism, and commentaries.


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discovery aerial photo graphy
First fish-sauce museum a hit with tourists
July 2, 2019 Hoài Thu Top Review 0
HCM CITY For Trần Ngọc Dũng, the traditional fish sauce of VIệt Nam has not received the respect it deserves.
Present in every Vietnamese home, fish sauce has been closely tied to the country's culinary and cultural customs for three centuries.
"I want to restore the brand name of Nước Mắm Tĩn (Fish Sauce in Pottery Jars)," says Dũng, who grew up in Bình Hưng fishing village in Phan Thiết City.
His family once made traditional fish sauce in Phan Thiết, located in the south-central coastal province of Bình Thuận.
Known as the cradle of fish-sauce making in the country, the city has been producing the amber salty liquid since the early 18th century.
To revive the old traditions, Dũng has opened a fish sauce museum and an art performance dedicated to the craft.
In the old days, the sauce was brewed in large wooden vats and then poured into pottery jars for boat transport on the local Cà Ty River to all corners of the country.
"Storing the fish sauce in these jars preserved the aroma and taste for a long time and made it more delicious," Dũng says.
At that time, the fish sauce industry was so active that many producers became rich and donated money to build streets in the city.
After the end of the war in 1975, however, the industry began to decline.
The pottery jars were no longer available in the market and the producers' prosperous days were suddenly over .
However, today, the traditional fish sauce industry in Phan Thiết accounts for 20 per cent of market share of all fish sauce produced in the country.
In 2016, the Bình Thuận Province's People's Committee approved Dũng's cultural project called Old Fishing Village. Dũng invested nearly VNĐ100 billion (US$4.2 million) in the project.
Construction on the museum began the next year and was completed in May.
In 1993, when Dũng scored the highest mark on the entrance exam to HCM City University of Economics, he received a scholarship to study for a bachelor's degree in Australia. After that, he earned a doctorate in bahaviour and psychological research in France.
Then he returned to HCM City and founded a market research company. After 10 years of success, he sold it and returned to Phan Thiết.
Dũng says his experiences abroad exposed him to many different cultures and museums. During his years abroad and business trips to other countries, he learned that local cultural values and modern performances could become tourist attractions.
"I visited museums and cultural shows in many countries," Dũng says.
However, attracting investment to cultural projects is difficult because the profits are not high. "But my passion allowed me to be patient," he says.
For his project in Phan Thiết, he first developed the Fisherman Show, which is about a Vietnamese Kinh fisherman and ethnic Chăm woman.
The show features local customs and culture such as dances that respect the Shiva God at Poshanu Tower, highlights of the Kate festival of the Chăm and the God of Whales festival with a traditional praying song at Vạn Thủy Tú temple.
Professional contemporary dancers perform and local musicians play traditional instruments and sing on a four-storey stage with water effects, flying equipment, LED screens, flying sand dunes, oxen and carts.
To understand the stories in the show, tourists can first visit the fish sauce museum located nearby.
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