text:
Torbryan rood screen panels recovered by police
Holy Trinity Church, Torbryan, Devon
Two priceless 15th century oak panels, stolen from the rood screen of a Devon church in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust in August 2013, have been recovered by the police.
The decorative oak panels, bearing paintings of St Victor of Marseilles and St Margaret of Antioch, are considered of national importance, and were stolen from Holy Trinity Church at Torbryan in Devon between 2 and 9 August 2013. The panels remained missing until they were recovered by the Metropolitan Police Art & Antiques Unit after being spotted by a private collector in an online sale. This led to a raid by specialist detectives in south London in January.
The rood screen and its panels are one of only a handful of such artworks in England which survived the Reformation. The theft prompted a national media campaign to try to trace the whereabouts of the missing panels, receiving the backing of high profile figures such as Loyd Grossman, Dan Cruickshank and the late Candida Lycett Green. The collector who alerted the police recognised the panels from media coverage of the theft.
When it first came to light in 2013, the theft was a bitter blow for The Churches Conservation Trust, the national charity that cares for 347 unique churches around England including Torbryan church. Despite elation at the return of the panels, the Trust now faces a bill of £7,000 to restore the damage - the result of the thieves hacking the panels out of the screen during the theft - and has today launched a campaign to raise the money.
Crispin Truman, Chief Executive of The Churches Conservation Trust, said:
"The Churches Conservation Trust cares for 347 churches around the country, and the Torbryan rood screen is one of the highlights of this internationally-significant collection. The theft of these unique artworks from Holy Trinity was a real blow, so we're delighted that they are now back in our hands.
"Unfortunately the damage caused as the thieves hacked them out of the church will cost a lot to put right, so today we have launched a campaign to raise the £7,000 needed to conserve them and repair the damage. Please give today to return these panels to Torbryan. Just call 0800 206 1463 or visit our website."
"The CCT is committed to displaying unique artefacts like these panels in their original setting and open to the public for everyone to see and enjoy. We now need to raise the funds to return these panels to their beautiful medieval church, in a tranquil wooded Devon valley that has remained unchanged for centuries".
Eminent historian and TV presenter Dan Cruickshank, who backed the original campaign to find the stolen panels, also expressed his delight at the news, commenting:
"I'm delighted that these 15th century artworks – once feared lost forever - have been recovered by the police. The panels are irreplaceable examples of an important period in our art and history, and pieces like this help us to learn about who we are as a society. They should belong to everyone.
"It is a shame that the panels have been left damaged by those who hacked them out of the priceless rood screen but it is good news that The Churches Conservation Trust has already launched a campaign to restore them, and return them to their rightful place in sleepy Torbryan church.""
West Mercia Police are now leading the investigation into the theft as part of Operation Icarus, which has also recovered a treasure trove of other church artefacts, including stonework, friezes, statues, paintings, brasses, misericords, stained glass and bibles. The police are appealing for help in identifying the artefacts, which include the misericords from St Cuthbert's Church at Holme Lacy in Herefordshire, also in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust.
In response to the original theft, The Churches Conservation Trust conducted a thorough audit of security at Holy Trinity, Torbryan and a new alarm system is now in place at the church to protect its contents in future. A new scheme of interpretation is also being developed to explain the artworks and the history of this unique Grade I listed church to visitors. A service at the church on 30th May will give thanks for the return of the panels.
Although the return of the panels is excellent news, they sustained significant damage during the theft, and members of the public are being urged to make a donation to The Churches Conservation Trust, in order to help restore them. Donations can be given on the telephone on 0800 206 1463 or online via http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/
Press coverage:
BBC One - Dan Donnelly visits Holy Trinity Torbryan
BBC Online - Police recover medieval panels 'hacked' from Devon church
The Guardian - Stolen 15th-century Torbryan church icons recovered by police
The Times - Police recover stolen church treasure feared lost forever
The Guardian - Detectives unearth scores of church thefts dating back 10 years
Antiques Trade Gazette - Collector's tip-off helps police rescue big stash of church relics
More information about Holy Trinity Torbryan


Pro-union protestors outside the Supreme Court in 2016.
Jim West/ZUMA Press/NewscomThe Department of Justice is recommending that the Supreme Court rule that public sector employees can not be forced to contribute dues to unions, even when they're not members.
The administration also reversed an Obama administration stance by supporting OH in its bid to revive a state policy of purging people from voter-registration lists if they do not regularly cast ballots. But the court split 4 to 4 in the case after Justice Antonin Scalia died.
The court accepted a new challenge on the issue in September when a child-support specialist for the state of IL challenged the American Federation of State, Court and Municipal Employees' ability to collect fees from union nonmembers, Politico said. Twenty-eight states have passed right-to-work laws blocking private-sector unions from collecting fees from union nonmembers, most recently Missouri (though unions will seek to overturn that state's right-to-work law, passed in February, in a referendum next year).
In the public sector, speech in collective bargaining is necessarily speech about public issues. Those fees, however, could not be used toward political actions.
The Justice Department agrees, arguing in its Wednesday brief that mandatory union fees offend bedrock constitutional principles. In that case, the Obama administration filed a brief backing the unions. With the ascent of Justice Neil Gorsuch as Scalia's successor, it appears the conservative bloc will achieve in Janus what it almost accomplished in Friedrichs.
The fast-food giant reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.01. Zacks Investment Research downgraded McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, October 27th.
Okafor publicly requested a trade or buyout on November 1 and the team declined his $6.3 million team option. The Philadelphia 76ers are trading the 21-year-old center to the Brooklyn Nets , per ESPN's Zach Lowe .
Zacks Investment Research cut Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. As per Monday, November 20, the company rating was upgraded by Wells Fargo. (NYSE:VZ) on Friday, July 7 with "Hold" rating.
On Nov. 20, Joey Jones , the only head coach the program has ever had, stepped down at South Alabama . Campbell replaces Joey Jones , who had been the program's only coach since its startup a decade ago.
It was sold for just thousands in 2005 but was bought again in 2013 for $127.5 million by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. Little is known about Bader bin Abdullah, who lists his primary source of income as real estate.


text:
Amol Parashar to essay the role of Bhagat Singh in Vicky Kaushal starrer Sardar Udham Singh
Shoojit Sircar's upcoming movie titled Sardar Udham Singh is one among the many extremely anticipated movies of Bollywood. With Vicky Kaushal within the lead, the movie narrates the story of a revolutionary freedom fighter who assassinated British officer Michael O'Dwyer in London to avenge the 1919 Jallianwalala Bagh bloodbath .
Whereas not a lot is understood concerning the remaining solid of the movie, it has been revealed that actor Amol Parashar who's widespread for his act within the TVF present Tripling will likely be seen enjoying the position of legendary Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Beforehand, Amol has been seen in movies like Rocket Singh:Salesman of the Yr and Dolly Kitty Aur Woh.
Reportedly, Shoojit desires to indicate Bhagat Singh in a extra practical manner- as a pointy and clever younger man who has a lightness to him on the similar time. For the position, Amol had a number of conversations with the director and likewise learn loads of literature on the nice freedom fighter together with those written by Bhagat Singh himself.
ALSO READ: Amol Parashar on Hrithik Roshan's response, "It feels good to see somebody taking out 2 seconds of their life to acknowledge you and your work"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Two Billboards by Nadia Gaber
By RECAPS	/ / Re-map, Re-think: features	/ No Comments
This is a simple reflection on two billboards: one, the last I saw upon leaving the cacophonous streets of Cairo; the other, the first I saw upon arriving back in placid, progressive San Francisco.
In an early-morning taxi to the airport, I passed no fewer than four of these towering billboards: a small, white-skinned baby in the arms of a smiling armyman, the pair suspended in the clouds of a smogless blue sky. Al gaysh wa al-shaab eid wahda, it reads; the military and the people are one hand.
In a badly-lit BART station a seemingly benign ad for medical research hangs with the euphoric glint of a cure for AIDS. But its underlying agenda is betrayed in text: "Only in Israel" and "StandwithUs" signal the involvement of the PR mob that is the pro-Israel lobby.
Truth be told, despite my engagement with the Egyptian revolution, this billboard surprised and angered me more, the first getting by on the comical charm of its Photoshopped odd couple. But this second one made my blood boil, using such a hopeful pronouncement to boast, with a complete lack of irony, "Israel Saves Lives," while of course the state unleashes the epidemic of occupation on the Palestinian people.
And so, I had traversed the globe in the modern time-fuck that is transcontinental air travel, leaving one banner representation of neoimperial authority to find that upon stepping off the train at home, There she was. The same Power, backed by the same superpower, dressed in thin veils: one relying on the sentimental affect of a cradled child, the other on the fantasy of scientific progress—a cure for our this intergenerational plague—both attempting to shroud an ethic of care in the arms of armed nationalisms. Both speaking to histories in conflict, pasts pitted against presents in the name of a future promise.
Al gaysh wa al-shaab eid wahda slogan has been the military's tagline since the early days of the revolution, when it did, in fact, appear that the army would defend the people's right to protest against the commanding orders of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Soldiers' refusal to fire on demonstrators helped usher Mubarak's resignation, and until his Day of Departure, people were loudly chanting Al gaysh wa al-shaab eid wahda in the center of Tahrir Square. But then of course, things changed. In the power vacuum left behind, the military became increasingly militarized, as trained agents of war tend to do. By March, they were forcibly clearing the square with tactics meant to degrade, torture, and terrify dissidents. US-made tear gas was shot from close-range, so that the metal canisters added blunt trauma to the damage from exposure to the expired chemical neurotoxins. Women were subjected to 'virginity testing,' a shameless strategy of sexual terrorism against which violated women showed tremendous resilience. And protesters – most often the poorest and most defenseless– were rounded up in droves to be lashed with electric wires behind closed doors. In a violent appropriation of history, the Egyptian Museum itself became their chosen torture chamber, turning a space of civilization aspiration and collective memory against those pioneering to achieve no less than the radical advancement of their own society.
For a country so deeply rooted in its ancient history, and so economically dependent on the world's enduring fascination with that legacy, the Egyptian Museum is a secularly sacred space. Running far deeper than postcolonial nationalism(s), Egyptians' identification with their Pharanoic predecessors – however scientifically or anthropologically tenuous – is amongst the more powerful sources of pride for a people whose exploitation in the current economic order erodes not only the quality of life, but its dignity. To be tortured in the museum, then, is to feel the pain of one's own history subjugated and weaponized by a military junta. It is to be made a subject of history in a hall of its commemoration, knowing that the history you are writing at present may never make it outside this museum and onto its walls.
Against the military's claims, it was the protesters who worked as 'one hand' throughout this struggle, including encircling the Egyptian Museum (which sits just next to Tahrir Square) during the chaotic early days of the revolution to protect it from looters. Egyptians of all faiths held hands around a group of Christian protesters at the Maspero demonstrations, just before the army viscously attacked the crowd. And they stood hand-in-hand-in-hand in lines kilometers long to form passageways for motorcycles and scooters to evacuate wounded protesters to the makeshift field hospitals, created to treat those injured at the hands of the military. From this, the army has the audacity to print two large hands gripping the body of an infantilized Egyptian populous, representing partnership via paternalism, and set it in the wholly ahistorical and apolitical space of a bright blue sky. Meanwhile the peoples' hands must work harder to loosen the suffocating grip of the state in order to fashion their own dignity, security, and history– whether as a basket of bread, a ride across town, or pyramid souvenirs.
Perhaps it was because I had all this in mind that the sight of the Israeli campaign in the San Francisco subway was so devastating. Here again was a morally bankrupt state, an unabashedly colonial power, positioning itself as a savior—and so casually, right there in the subway. And because no one could believe that Israel and the Palestinians are one hand, these pro-Israel propagandists have co-opted the struggle of HIV/AIDS patients—a community whose struggles transcend political borders– in order to further the case for their existential imperialism. This is not to say that the researchers at Hebrew University who developed this treatment – an incredibly promising, but still preliminary advance – are not laudable for their efforts in the fight against AIDS, nor that the university itself is an agent of political repression (though a case could be made, given its ideologically Zionist founding and its 2004 settlement of Palestinian lands for dormitory expansion). But rather than focus upon the people whom it may help, or the scientific doors it may open, this ad is about nothing more than the state of Israel itself, using its medical machinery as metonym for its exceptional existence: "Only in Israel."
To use the promise of HIV-treatment to advance political Zionism—the driving ideology of the poster's sponsors—is to forget that the history of the disease is that of a struggle against the eradication of vulnerable, marginalized populations. HIV/AIDS activism, in its US and global forms, have focused on campaigns against discrimination, poverty, and the structural inequalities that entrench the virus in susceptible communities. Zionism, if anything, is akin to the virus – threatening the lives of those whose race and class status (that is, Palestinians and particularly Gazans) leave them systematically at risk of suffering from the high morbidity and mortality characteristic of life under continued occupation. At least the virus is spread through sexual connection between people – often a loving one — and itself is blind to the identities of the victims it infiltrates; the Israeli state, however, has no such recourse to impartiality—its devasatation is deliberate, calculated, and targeted. The billboard is no less than an attempt to mask genocidal activity towards some with the good PR of scientific progress and humanitarian assistance towards others, and worse, to do so in the name of those who have collectively struggled — existentially struggled — against the threat of their own elimination. As if within a museum torture chamber, the history of one people, is here, too, being weaponized against another, against those simply fighting for bread, freedom, and social justice.
The casual placement of these billboards along our global transit lines are harrowing reminders of the economic order in which we live; the unity of capitalism and militarism has never been stronger—nor have the media campaigns to mask them in the rhetoric of care, salvation, and security. That these two ads—one, an absurdist rendering of cooperation with a military junta; the other, a deviant appropriation of affect in the service of colonialist power – so tightly bookend my trip to opposite poles of the world speaks to the infectious reaches of the largest military industrial complexes of the Middle East. To those actively working to resist the reaches of capitalism, the scope of its penetration will come as no great revelation; but even if expected, the insidious timing, wording, and (lack of) context of these campaigns remains deeply saddening—all the more so for the positive rhetoric in which it is couched. If we can do nothing but laugh at, or tweet pictures of, these absurd images when we see them individually, we must together reclaim our histories—claim them tighter and louder than ever – if we are to resist the theft and subjugation of our collective past.


Drawing the human form can be complicated if a basic understanding of proportions at different ages is missing. Also it is important to know that there are different standards when it comes to represent the human body for different purposes. Let's examine together these two important aspects of figure drawing.
When it comes to draw the human body it is very important to understand that the proportions of the various body parts change dramatically with age. I will use this beautiful diagram taken from the notorious book of Andrew Loomis, Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, to illustrate the concept.
In this image you can see a male figure represented at different ages, adulthood, 15 years, 7 years, 5 years, 3 years and 1 year. As usual we will use a head as a single unit of measure of the body length as explained in this tutorial figure drawing. Briefly, once you have determined the height of your character, you just subdivide it into a number of different equally spaced parts that have the length of a single head of the character. This allows you to get a firm grasp of the proportions of the body straight away.
There are two interesting things to notice when drawing the human form, the first, and most important, is the number of heads that are used to subdivide the body at different ages. Eight heads for the adults, seven heads for the seven years old, five heads for the three years old and so on. What changes here is the ratio between body length and head length.
As you can see in an adult character you need 8 heads to cover the full body length whilst only 4 heads for the little 1 year old baby. This means obviously that what really changes is the size of the head in relation to the body. The younger your figure the bigger the head.
The second thing to notice is that in humans the size of the head does change only slightly from the baby to the adult and certainly much less than, say the length of the arms, legs and chest! This is very important to keep in mind if you want to learn drawing the human form with correct proportions.
When drawing young characters there are two ways to get the proportion right. The first is to start drawing the line that represent the height of the body from head to toe and then subdivide it into the convenient number of heads according to age. The second, less accurate but quick, is to take the length of an adult head as a measure and jus multiply it for the number you need to obtain the age group you are trying to draw.
The second part of this tutorial is going to be dedicated to the body proportion standards used in art to represent the human figure. In the diagram below, taken and liberally modified from the notorious book of Andrew Loomis, Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, you can see four male subject of different height representing the four typical categories used to draw the human body.
Height is not really important here, what's important is the number of heads, or subdivisions, each subject is made from. Let's look at each individually.
From the second to the forth figure, we are looking at idealized proportions. You can easily see how the idealized man looks more athletic than the normal type and how the fashion and heroic look even more athletic and extreme than the idealized form. All this just by increasing the number of subdivisions, 8 heads for the idealized, 8 and a half heads for the fashion type and nine heads for the heroic type.
Finally I have marked in green the shoulder width. This measure, different in each standard must not be undervalued. Larger widths create an even more extreme sense of athleticism and imposing figure while smaller shoulder look dumpy even on a heroic standard figure.
So plan very carefully your figure drawing according to the effect you want to obtain.
I hope this tutorial was helpful to you. If you think so show us what you did, upload a drawing to the factory or leave a comment below!


For the cannellini beans, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Mix the onions, garlic and celery in the oil to coat them, season with black pepper and roast for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, cannellini beans and sage and cook for a further 20 minutes at 180C/350F/Gas 4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
For the dressing, whisk together all the ingredients in a small bowl. Mix the dressing with the bean mixture.
For the creamy garlic scallop potatoes, preheat the oven to 170C/340F/Gas 3½. Place the cream, milk, garlic, nutmeg in a pan and season well with salt and pepper. Heat gently until just boiling.
Meanwhile, layer up the potatoes in a lightly buttered medium size shallow ovenproof dish. Pour over the hot cream mixture. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the potatoes are soft. Remove the foil and cook for a further 30-40 minutes, or until golden-brown and bubbling.
For the pork medallions, slice the pork fillet on a slant into eight pieces. Using the palm of your hand, gently flatten the pieces of pork into medallion shapes. Using a small, sharp knife, cut two slits into the centre of each medallion. Pull a small fig and sage leaf through each cut. Season with pepper.
Heat a non-stick frying pan with the butter and oil. When foaming, lay in the stuffed pork medallions. Cook over a medium heat for 2 -3 minutes each side, then set aside and keep warm. Pour in the masala, stirring as it boils and cook until the volume of liquid has reduced and thickened to a sauce consistency.
To serve, spoon the cannellini beans onto serving plates. Arrange the pork medallions on top and drizzle the marsala juices around. Serve the creamed potatoes alongside.


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Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Marketplace & Deals Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Cat Lovers Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Dog Lovers Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Meetups & Events Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
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Family & Kids Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Active life Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Hobbies & DIY Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Cooking Club Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Home & Garden Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills
Half American artist and Japanese destination, famous for his paper lamps, a bit like lanterns, less known for his beautiful playgrounds. You are advised to go and visit the museum and maybe buy a new lamp for your home! some info from the website: https://www.noguchi.org/isamu-noguchi/digital-features/history-of-the-noguchi-museum/ In 1961, Isamu Noguchi relocated from Manhattan to Long Island City, Queens, with the purchase of a single-story commercial building on the southwest corner of 10th Street and 33rd Road. Noguchi found the neighborhood, with its skilled artisan shops and suppliers of stones and metals, highly conducive to his studio practice. Unlike his former studio at 33 MacDougal Alley in Greenwich Village, the remote location offered the opportunity to maintain a monastic lifestyle with few visitors dropping in. The new studio, a 3,200-square-foot warehouse, gave him open areas in which to work on a large scale. With the help of carpenter Yukio Madokoro, he developed a loft bedroom and living spaces within the building. While he continued to travel extensively and establish other studios in Italy and Shikoku, Japan, it was in this building that Noguchi created and stored most of his artworks for over a decade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DDCOWA9q7U
Noguchi Museum Shop and Cafe, New York, New York 11106, United States
Nick Vyatkin
What a story Lucas!
Matthew Edgeworth
I went to Sami's Kebab a few months ago because a friend suggested it. I have never had kabab before and the owner/manager suggested a mixed Kabab platter. It was a good portion. The food was delicious. We were initially placed on a table facing the wall, but the manager moved us to another table. Tried the firnee personally not a fan but other people liked it. Customer service was really good as well.
Sami's Kebab House, 35-57 Crescent St, New York, New York 11106, United States
I don't know how or why I never stopped in LIC Bagel & Deli before.I usually go to Baker or Starbucks but what a mistake...this place is so much better. Got bacon, egg & cheese on a bagel... Perfect. The coffee is also amazing. Price is about average for the area. Definitely my new daily stop.
LIC Bagel & Deli, 41-04 27th St, New York, New York 11101, United States
A true gem in Long Island City. It is unique, tranquil, exciting and bold. It has spacious indoor exhibitions as well as outdoor features. This is where I take friends and visitors and they are always impressed. I enjoy just stopping by for a quiet moment of relaxation in the sculpture garden among the bamboo. Come to Long Island City and visit the Noguchi - you will love it! Here is a little snippet of history: Founded in 1985 by Isamu Noguchi (1904–88), one of the leading sculptors and designers of the twentieth century, The Noguchi Museum was the first museum in America to be established, designed, and installed by a living artist to show their own work. Widely viewed as among Noguchi's greatest achievements, the Museum comprises ten indoor galleries in a converted factory building, as well as an internationally acclaimed outdoor sculpture garden. Highlighting Noguchi's role as a multicultural, cross-disciplinary innovator, the Museum presents exhibitions and public programs drawing on Noguchi's artworks and archives and engages in collaborations with contemporary artists, designers, musicians, dancers, and more.


Well, what more can one say? After the horrid events in Oslo yesterday afternoon, a simple art show just isn't that important anymore. Our hearts go out to all of the victims, their families and surviving friends.
After observing two minutes of silence, the Art in Nature exhibition did go on.
A group of 40-50 souls braved the rain and cold and wind to enjoy 18 works of art. The word 'stoic' does, however, come to mind to describe the group hiking through the mountains and valleys. Here a sample. Photographs of all of the works can eventually be found under the tab 2011 / 3.biennale ferdige arbeider.


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UDance Raises 2.2M – Most Ever – for Childhood Cancer
UDance, the University of Delaware student-led charity dance marathon, has come a long way since its founding 13 years ago. About $2.24 million dollars worth, actually.
In its maiden year of 2007, the new fundraising effort raised over $8,000 … the take from this year's event was an incredible $2,252,081, besting last year's record-setting performance by $200,000.
All dance proceeds benefit the Andrew McDonough Be Positive Foundation, the largest provider of financial assistance to families of children with cancer in the U.S.
"The feeling of being a part of both the UDance Executive Board and overall Be Positive community is indescribable," said Arielle Waller, media relations chair. "Watching the University of Delaware student body, faculty, and alumni come together to support this cause every year is a truly special experience."
UDance participants danced on their feet for 12 hours from 9 am to 9 pm inside UD's Bob Carpenter Center on Saturday night. Every year their goal is to help more families affected by childhood cancer. The night also included live entertainment, raffle prizes, haircut donation stations, silent disco, a B+ Hero Talent Show and a Rave Hour.
"We spent our day in the company of our cancer-fighting B+ Heroes and our extraordinarily talented live entertainment, which included student performers and outside musicians," said Waller.
"The best part about fundraising for the B+ (Be Positive) Foundation is the fact that you truly know where your money is going," said Waller. The B+ Foundation writes checks directly to families struggling with the burden of childhood cancer to cover things such as rent, electricity bills, medical expenses, and more.


text:
Q: Change text in textbox based on value Is there a way to change the text in a dashboard based on a value?
At its most basic, I want to be able to plug in the word 'increased' or 'decreased' based on a change from year to year for a report.

A: If you mean the free-floating Text object from the same menu as vertical / horizonal containers, Blanks, etc. then you can only use parameters and a few "special" values like Workbook Name.
However, you can use a worksheet as a textbox instead. Just make sure you clear the default formatting (borders, etc.) and put your calculated field that resolves into "increased" / "decreased" on the Text mark. In the same way you can add up or down arrows using CHR() function and set custom colours (by creating two calculated fields that resolve into "increased" and "" and "decreased" and "")

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
package main

import (
	"errors"
	"github.com/nevostruev/sis-telegram-bot/lib"
	"gopkg.in/telegram-bot-api.v1"
	"log"
	"os"
	"path"
)

func check(e error) {
	if e != nil {
		log.Panic(e)
		panic(e)
	}
}

func makeKeyboard(buttons []string) *tgbotapi.ReplyKeyboardMarkup {
	keyboard := tgbotapi.ReplyKeyboardMarkup{}
	k := make([][]string, 0, len(buttons))
	for _, b := range buttons {
		k = append(k, []string{b})
	}
	keyboard.Keyboard = k
	keyboard.OneTimeKeyboard = true
	keyboard.Selective = true
	keyboard.ResizeKeyboard = true
	return &keyboard
}

func main() {
	configFile := path.Join(os.Getenv("HOME"), ".sis-telegram-bot.conf")
	log.Printf("read config from %s", configFile)
	config, err := lib.ReadConfig(configFile)
	check(err)
	if len(config.SisHosts) == 0 {
		check(errors.New("need at least one SisHosts"))
	}
	log.Printf("available sis hosts %v", config.SisHosts)

	storage, err := lib.NewBoltStorage(config.BoltDbFile)
	check(err)

	bot, err := tgbotapi.NewBotAPI(config.TelegramToken)
	check(err)

	bot.Debug = false

	log.Printf("authorized on account %s", bot.Self.UserName)

	u := tgbotapi.NewUpdate(0)
	u.Timeout = 60

	updates, err := bot.GetUpdatesChan(u)
	check(err)

	commands := lib.NewCommands(storage, config.SisHosts)

	replies := make(chan lib.ReplyMessage)
	userChannel := make(map[int]chan lib.IncomingMessage)

	for {
		select {
		case update := <-updates:
			log.Printf("[%d] %s", update.Message.From.ID, update.Message.Text)
			userId := update.Message.From.ID
			message := lib.IncomingMessage{
				Text:   update.Message.Text,
				UserId: userId,
				ChatId: update.Message.Chat.ID,
			}
			channel, hasChannel := userChannel[userId]
			if !hasChannel {
				log.Printf("userChannel")
				channel = make(chan lib.IncomingMessage, 100)
				userChannel[userId] = channel
				go func() {
					err := commands.ProcessMessages(channel, replies)
					check(err)
				}()
			}
			select {
			case channel <- message:
			default:
				// TODO response to user
				log.Printf("WARN too many unprocessed messages")
			}
		case reply := <-replies:
			if reply.IsLongActionNotify {
				log.Printf("longAction")
				action := tgbotapi.NewChatAction(reply.ChatId, tgbotapi.ChatTyping)
				bot.Send(action)
			} else if reply.IsLastMessage {
				log.Printf("done [%d]", reply.UserId)
				channel, hasChannel := userChannel[reply.UserId]
				if hasChannel {
					close(channel)
					delete(userChannel, reply.UserId)
				}
			} else {
				log.Printf("reply")
				message := tgbotapi.NewMessage(reply.ChatId, reply.Text)
				if len(reply.Keyboard) > 0 {
					message.ReplyMarkup = makeKeyboard(reply.Keyboard)
				} else {
					//log.Print("keyboardHide")
					message.ReplyMarkup = tgbotapi.ReplyKeyboardHide{true, true}
				}
				if reply.UseHtml {
					message.ParseMode = "HTML"
				}
				message.DisableWebPagePreview = true
				//message.ReplyToMessageID = update.Message.MessageID
				_, err := bot.Send(message)
				check(err)
			}
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. ("Cypress") will host its Third-Quarter Earnings Conference Call on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, at 10:00 am EST (9:00 am CST) to discuss its third-quarter 2018 financial results. Analysts, investors, and other interested parties may access the conference call by dialing Toll-Free (US & Canada): 1-888-339-2688, Passcode 507 273 50, or International Dial-In (Toll): +1 617-847-3007, Passcode 507 273 50. An archived audio replay of the call will be available in the Investor section of our website at www.cypressenergy.com no later than 10:00 am EST (9:00 am CST) on November 15, 2018.
Cypress intends to distribute its Earnings press release after the NYSE closes trading on Monday, November 12, 2018.
About Cypress Energy Partners, L.P.
Cypress is a master limited partnership that provides essential midstream services including pipeline inspection, integrity, and hydrostatic testing services to various energy companies and their vendors throughout the United States and Canada. Cypress also provides saltwater disposal and environmental services to upstream energy companies and their vendors in North Dakota in the Bakken region of the Williston Basin. In all these business segments, Cypress works closely with its customers to help them comply with increasingly complex and strict environmental and safety rules and regulations and to reduce their operating costs. Cypress is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Source: Cypress Energy Partners, L.P.


Well here we have another 'rare as hens teeth' loco. A brand new, extremely well made 5″ GWR Grange. The only 5″ Grange we've ever seen available for sale. The paint job could have been a bit better, so because this one is quite a special loco, we have taken the decision to strip her down and give her the full Steam Workshop re-paint treatment.
The model pre-dates the published design from Polly models, and we think that the builder has probably used the Greenly Hall design, or possibly the Martin Evans Manor as the basis for the model engineering tolerances and valve gear dimensions, perhaps cylinders too, but then used the works drawings to ensure that everything is 'Grange',….. and a very nice job he has done too.
At this stage, you can specify your livery, name and number and we will complete the model to your specification.


Florida Homes and Management is a full service Real Estate Company. Broker/Owner Bettina Lambrechts has been in business servicing the South Florida real estate market since 1995. We specialize in luxury residential homes and condominiums as well as commercial real estate, income producing residential projects and property management.
The team at Florida Homes and Management, Inc. is highly successful in satisfying the needs of its diversified clientele.
Our Property Management Division has been successfully helping property owners to maximize their property's income potential while implementing and maintaining the highest standards.
As a full-service real estate firm, we can help in the acquisition of, or the sale of properties and their subsequent management if needed.


text:
Home » Movies » Goldfinger Retro Review: Spy's Out, Thighs Out
Goldfinger Retro Review: Spy's Out, Thighs Out
BY Salomé Gonstad July 8, 2020March 3, 2021
Welcome back to our Retro Reviews! If this is your first time here, here's what you need to know. Retro Reviews are when we review movies and such we missed upon their release. For example, I'm currently watching all the James Bond movies. While I know some things about 007 thanks to his cultural influence, I missed a lot of the movies because you can't prove I was alive when they came out. And that brings us to the latest movie with my Retro Review of Goldfinger.
(And to start at the beginning, here's my retro review of Dr. No. Then go on to my retro review of From Russia with Love.)
Goldfinger: The Plot Summary
IT'S CALLED FASHION, image via Eon Productions and United Artists
First of all, I feel like we're on a first-name basis here, especially since I've seen every sinew of his thighs. So. After a mission in which he wears a fake seagull as a hat, so he can sneak into a South American drug lab, James takes a rest in Miami. While he's there, CIA agent Felix Leiter (Cec Linder) delivers a message from M. He wants James to observe a man called Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), who's also staying at the hotel. It's kind of a vague instruction, obviously, but James attends to his duties by being the professional we all know him to be.
And by that, I mean that he immediately hones in on the gal working for Goldfinger, Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton). She's supposed to be helping Goldfinger cheat at gin rummy, but 007 James Bonds her into having sex with him. Naturally. After they're finished, though, someone knocks out James. And when he comes to, Jill is dead from "skin suffocation"–someone has covered her entirely in gold paint. It's quite the sight.
Upon his return to London, M, with help from the Governor of the Bank of England–the highest-ranking person in the UK's central bank–tells James why they're looking at Goldfinger. It's really quite simple. If you can buy gold cheap in one country, then sell it in another country where the price is higher, you can make a tidy profit. And that's what Goldfinger's doing. The trouble is, they don't know how. They want James to figure out how Goldfinger smuggles all that gold.
So he trails the magnate to his plant in Switzerland. He finds out how the business works, but James stumbles onto something even bigger–a plan called Operation Grand Slam. Through this plan, Goldfinger will destroy the United States gold reserve at Fort Knox, upending the world economy. Easy as pie.
Into The Bondiverse
image via Eon Productions and United Artists
Each of these early Bond movies introduces something new into the canon and Goldfinger is no different. For example, this is the first movie in which James himself orders a martini "shaken, not stirred." There are also two other big additions to the canon.
First, there is the song. Although the first two movies had music, they didn't have an official title song in the way that Goldfinger does. And boy, does it. The legendary Shirley Bassey belts the theme song, whose lyrics aren't exactly subtle ("HE LOVES ONLY GOLD!"). But it works.
The second contribution is the car. Specifically, the Aston Martin DB5. Although James will go on to drive a number of different cars–and a lot of other vehicles–there is perhaps no brand with which he's more associated than Aston Martin. Goldfinger sees Q introduce the DB5, on Bond's first trip to the Q Branch labs, and it's Bond's main Wonderful Toy for the film. Sure, he's got a very prescient tracking device, but it can't beat the coupe. Just look at everything it can do.
First of all, it has a revolving license plate, in case you need to be sneaky (and don't have a seagull hat). It also has side spikes to destroy other cars' wheels. And if that isn't enough, it's equipped with an oil sprayer, so you can quickly lose a tail. But if it's really dire, and an enemy is in the car with you, just pop the top on the gear lever and push the button for the EJECTOR SEAT. That's right–my man's got an ejector seat. Take that, villainry.
No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You To Die!
Speaking of villains, besides uttering that famous line, Goldfinger has a few other contributions to the canon to make. First of all, there's his rumpus room. It's by far the coolest interior design a villain has had to this point. From the flipping pool table to the sliding floor panels, it's a room of wonders. (You can see all the details on the official site, but be advised that the page contains spoilers.)
He also has the best henchpeople so far. I alluded to him in the review for From Russia with Love, but this is the film in which we meet Oddjob (Harold Sakata). Parodied in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery as Random Task–and definitely don't look up what that guy's up to these days–he's a strange cat. He never speaks, unless "Aha!" counts, but he doesn't need to. All he needs is a razor-edged hat and a strong throw. And nothing shakes him, not even a bar of gold bullion thrown squarely at his chest. He just smiles and shakes it off, which is honestly a mood.
And then there's Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). Jill might be the official Bond Girl of the flick, but she ain't got nothin' on Pussy. Whether she's commanding her Flying Circus or brushing off James's attempts to James Bond her, she's a super-capable badass. I just love her so much. (And it was probably her, by the way, that Austin Powers was parodying with the character Alotta Fagina.)
Goldfinger Retro Review
In case it hasn't already become crystal clear in this Goldfinger Retro Review, I loved this movie. It was well-paced and well-written and well worth the time it takes to watch it. It was also funny, definitely the funniest in the series so far. Sean Connery is mostly coasting at this point, but it's fine. By this point in the series, he is James Bond, the casually cool spy, so the effortlessness that he exudes feels right. And as for the folks who play off him, what a line-up.
I mentioned Pussy Galore, but I didn't really go into detail on her boss. And I should, because Goldfinger is the most compelling villain to me so far. Donald Grant, a foe in From Russia with Love, oozed menace. Goldfinger, however, is almost the complete opposite. He's almost a gentleman. You know, if you ignored the many murders he commits.
Goldfinger reacts to Bond with something like bemusement. He knows James is going to keep coming at him, but he just keeps batting him away, like a cat. He stays unruffled, and he's never petty, at least not until the very end.
I mean, don't get me wrong–his plan is dumb as hell. (For one thing, he's not the only person with gold in the world.) But it sure is fun watching him try to pull it off. And that's what this movie is–fun, and my reigning favorite.
What did you think of Goldfinger? Unlike Goldfinger, I do expect you to talk, either in the comments or on social media.
featured image via Eon Productions and United Artists
Salomé Gonstad is a freelance writer who grew up in the swampy wilds of south Alabama. When she's not yelling about pop culture on the internet, she's working on a supernatural thriller about her hometown. Also, we're pretty sure she's a werewolf. Email her at [email protected]
Janelle Monáe As Storm? The Artist Wants In The MCU
Tron 3 Might Be In Development, But What Does That Mean For The Franchise?


text:
package ti.modules.titanium.android;

import org.appcelerator.kroll.KrollDict;
import org.appcelerator.kroll.KrollModule;
import org.appcelerator.kroll.KrollProxy;
import org.appcelerator.kroll.annotations.Kroll;
import org.appcelerator.titanium.TiApplication;
import org.appcelerator.titanium.TiC;
import org.appcelerator.titanium.proxy.IntentProxy;
import org.appcelerator.titanium.util.TiConvert;

import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.content.Context;

@Kroll.proxy(creatableInModule = AndroidModule.class,
			 propertyAccessors = { TiC.PROPERTY_FLAGS, TiC.PROPERTY_INTENT, TiC.PROPERTY_UPDATE_CURRENT_INTENT })
public class PendingIntentProxy extends KrollProxy
{

	protected PendingIntent pendingIntent;
	protected IntentProxy intent;
	protected Context pendingIntentContext;
	protected boolean updateCurrentIntent = true;
	protected int flags;

	public PendingIntentProxy()
	{
		super();
	}

	@Override
	public void handleCreationArgs(KrollModule createdInModule, Object[] args)
	{
		if (args.length >= 1 && args[0] instanceof IntentProxy) {
			intent = (IntentProxy) args[0];
			if (args.length >= 2) {
				flags = TiConvert.toInt(args[1]);
			}
		}

		super.handleCreationArgs(createdInModule, args);

		pendingIntentContext = getActivity();
		if (pendingIntentContext == null) {
			pendingIntentContext = TiApplication.getAppCurrentActivity();
		}
		if (pendingIntentContext == null) {
			pendingIntentContext = TiApplication.getInstance();
		}

		if (pendingIntentContext == null || intent == null) {
			throw new IllegalStateException("Creation arguments must contain intent");
		}
		switch (intent.getInternalType()) {
			case IntentProxy.TYPE_ACTIVITY: {
				pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(pendingIntentContext, 0, intent.getIntent(), flags);
				break;
			}
			case IntentProxy.TYPE_BROADCAST: {
				pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(pendingIntentContext, 0, intent.getIntent(), flags);
				break;
			}
			case IntentProxy.TYPE_SERVICE: {
				pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getService(pendingIntentContext, 0, intent.getIntent(), flags);
				break;
			}
		}
	}

	public void handleCreationDict(KrollDict dict)
	{
		if (dict.containsKey(TiC.PROPERTY_INTENT)) {
			intent = (IntentProxy) dict.get(TiC.PROPERTY_INTENT);
		}
		if (dict.containsKey(TiC.PROPERTY_UPDATE_CURRENT_INTENT)) {
			updateCurrentIntent = TiConvert.toBoolean(dict.get(TiC.PROPERTY_UPDATE_CURRENT_INTENT));
		}
		if (dict.containsKey(TiC.PROPERTY_FLAGS)) {
			flags = dict.getInt(TiC.PROPERTY_FLAGS);
		}

		//add FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT if updateCurrentIntent is true
		if (updateCurrentIntent) {
			flags = flags | PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT;
		}

		super.handleCreationDict(dict);
	}

	public PendingIntent getPendingIntent()
	{
		return pendingIntent;
	}

	@Override
	public String getApiName()
	{
		return "Ti.Android.PendingIntent";
	}
}


provides an easy way to modify App-V 5 Dynamic Configuration files.
enabled end users to install applications without changing the operating system they use.
extract log entries from one or more client logs.
Diagnostic tool that verifies the configuration settings of a App-V Server 5.0 instance.
tool to make it easier to use scripts on App-V 5 packages thats require scripts.


Labour leader had vowed not to take part in election TV events unless May participated.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has caught the Conservatives off-guard by dramatically announcing that he will take part in the BBC leaders' debate in Cambridge on Wednesday (31 May) evening.
The left-winger had originally refused to be involved in general election TV events unless Prime Minister Theresa May also took part.
But with Corbyn holding his own during the Sky News/Channel 4 "Battle for Number 10" programme and Labour closing in on the Tories in the opinion polls, he has thrown his hat in the ring with just over a week to go before the 8 June vote.
"I will be taking part in tonight's debate because I believe we must give people the chance to hear and engage with the leaders of the main parties before they vote," the Labour leader said.
"I have never been afraid of a debate in my life. Labour's campaign has been about taking our polices to people across the country and listening to the concerns of voters.
"The Tories have been conducting a stage-managed arms-length campaign and have treated the public with contempt. Refusing to join me in Cambridge tonight would be another sign of Theresa May's weakness, not strength."
Corbyn will face-off against Conservative Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, Ukip chief Paul Nuttall, co-leader of the Greens Caroline Lucas, SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood.
"Failing to show up to tonight's debate would show extreme cowardice from a Prime Minister resolutely avoiding proper scrutiny," said Lucas.
"Our democracy deserves proper debate between party leaders, not just set piece speeches and one-to-one interviews and Q&As.
"Theresa May said she called this election because of the actions of other parties, yet she's unwilling to debate with us on the big issues of the day. It is a sign of extreme weakness for a Prime Minister to avoid these debates."
The programme, moderated by Mishal Husain, will air on BBC between 19:30 and 21:00 BST. The format will see each spokesperson make a statement before taking questions from the studio audience.
The latest opinion poll from Survation, of more than 1,000 people between 26 and 27 May, put the Conservatives six points ahead of Labour (43% versus 37%).


I am much moved by the depth of your poem. It's quite beautiful.
Lovely poem. 🙂 Blessings for the new year!
❤ Kismet! Happy New Year to you!
Love this, very cool. And here's to more lovely posts in 2015!
You've brought 2014 to a close with this beautiful verse! Brings me hope.. 🙂 Hope you had a fun-filled New Year's Eve and a great start in to 2015!
…And I love the song…sung by you…like always! 🙂 Happy New Year…and I realised just now that I realised that I don't know your name… Would like to enjoy lemon tea with you sometime.
For the echoes of the song…cheers!
Lovely! I don't get notifications from your blog. Must have messed up somehow. I'll check.
❤ your words are full of innocence yet so deep!
Loved the picture as well!
Envy you for the travelling. Best wishes and let you travel more so that through your words we can feel tiny bits of nostalgia.
"nothing recedes without leaving behind", very powerful & true. Poignant.
My caravan, stationed off-screen, is also enjoying the warmth of the auburn sun, and being in the same sunschorched (and as opium induces somnolence, the heat of the desert induces me to make up sun-themed words) predicament, I wish you a cornflower blue oasis in the coming year, as it is verily what I wish for myself and the rest of humanity–and yes, the sun can make one delusional.
I think this is my favorite poem of yours – thank you for sharing.


The Decision on conclusion of the Aarhus Convention by the EC was adopted on 17 February 2005 [Decision 2005/370/EC]. The EC is a Party to the Convention since May 2005.
Provisions for public participation in environmental decision-making are furthermore to be found in a number of other environmental directives, such as Directive 2001/42/EC of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of certain plans and programmes on the environment (see also the "environmental assessment" homepage) and Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (see also the "Water Framework Directive" homepage).
Both Directives 2003/4 and 2003/35 contain provisions on access to justice.
Regulation (EC) N° 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies (OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p.13) entered into force on 28 September 2006 and into application on 17 July 2007.
The "Aarhus Regulation" covers not only the institutions, but also bodies, offices or agencies established by, or on the basis of the EC Treaty. They now need to adapt their internal procedures and practice to the provisions of the Regulation. The Aarhus Regulation addresses the "three pillars" of the Aarhus Convention - access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters - where those are of relevance to EU institutions and bodies and lays down related requirements.
Regarding access to environmental information, the Aarhus Regulation extends Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents to all Community institutions and bodies. The Aarhus Regulation furthermore requires those institutions and bodies to provide for public participation in the preparation, modification or review of "plans and programmes relating to the environment". The Aarhus Regulation also enables environmental NGOs meeting certain criteria to request an internal review under environmental law of acts adopted, or omissions, by Community institutions and bodies.
The European Commission adopted a Notice on Access to Justice in Environmental Matters on the 28 of April 2017. The notice is a guidance document that clarifies how individuals and their associations can challenge decicions, acts and omissions by public authorities related to EU environmental law before national courts.
The notice is based on decisions of the Court of Justice on how national courts should address questions of access to justice related to EU environmental legislation. The scope is limited to access to justice in relation to decisions, acts and omissions by public authorities of the Member States. It does not address environmental litigation between private parties. Nor does it concern the judicial review of acts of the EU institutions.
Citizen's Guide to Access to Justice in Environmental Matters: This Citizen's Guide provides a summary of the main findings of the Notice.


Presenting a collection of Azalea's favorite lingerie from Darkest Fox! Diana "Azalea" Jeanette is a photographer, videographer and model currently based in New York City. After starting her career as a model in 2015, she discovered her passion for photography and film and made the transition to the other side of the camera. Since then she has created content for numerous brands and agencies while pursuing an education in film production.


BALTIMORE, MD (January 10, 2018) — Today, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen announced the Health Department's latest effort to help residents turn their homes into smoke-free comfort zones.
BALTIMORE, MD (January 5, 2018) — With continuing cold weather and temperatures predicted to fall into the teens with wind chill temperatures below zero, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen extended a Code Blue declaration for Baltimore City through the morning of Monday, January 8.
BALTIMORE, MD (January 1, 2018) — Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen extended a Code Blue declaration for Baltimore City through the morning of Saturday, January 6.
BALTIMORE, MD (December 27, 2017) — With continuing overnight temperatures predicted to fall into the teens with wind chill temperatures in the single digits, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen extended a Code Blue declaration for Baltimore City through the morning of Tuesday, January 2.
BALTIMORE, MD (December 25, 2017) — With overnight temperatures predicted to fall into the 20s with wind chill temperatures in the teens, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen today issued a Code Blue declaration for Baltimore City beginning Monday, December 25 through the morning of Thursday, December 28.
This holiday season, city health officials are asking for your help to keep Baltimore's babies safe. After declining every year since 2009, sleep-related infant deaths are on the rise.
BALTIMORE, MD (December 4, 2017) – Baltimore health officials and B'more for Healthy Babies partner organizations today urged families to follow safe sleep practices in response to a spike in the number of sleep related infant deaths.
BALTIMORE, MD (December 1, 2017) – In recognition of World AIDS Day 2017, civic and religious leaders from across Baltimore City highlighted the successes and the interventions that are working in our community to fight the epidemic.
BALTIMORE, MD (November 15, 2017)—Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen today announced the start of Baltimore City's Code Blue program for the coming winter.


UPDATE: Ubisoft confirms, releases first footage tease.
UPDATE 1.00AM: Ubisoft has confirmed Assassin's Creed Odyssey via a brief teaser clip posted on Twitter, and said it will show more of the game at E3.
The confirmation comes just hours after the Assassin's Creed Odyssey keyring image below leaked online.
The video tease appears to confirm its Ancient Greece setting, and the game's logo also includes the Spartan helmet from the keyring on it.
Best of all? You can do that big kick from 300 and boot your enemy off the top of a mountain. Roll on E3.
ORIGINAL STORY 5PM: Last year, a promotional T-shirt revealed the main character, logo and Ancient Egyptian setting of Assassin's Creed Origins, weeks before its official unveiling at E3.
This year, a keyring appears to have done the same thing to Assassin's Creed Odyssey - seemingly the next game in Ubisoft's long-running historical franchise - and which looks like to be set in Ancient Greece.
The piece of merchandise can be seen in this photo posted by French site Jeuxvideo, which noted the Ancient Greek helmet left little doubt as to the game's setting.
Ubisoft is yet to announce Assassin's Creed Odyssey or say anything about the future of the franchise. When contacted for this article, Ubisoft declined to comment.


text:
Anthony Duong
Athletic Facility
Aimee Johnson
Centro Nearly Complete, BU Still Looking for $2.1 Million
News, The Concord
BY IAN COX, NEWS EDITOR Bellarmine still needs to fund more than $2 million of the $18 million needed to complete its Centro project. Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations Glenn Kosse said the $2...
Q&A: Sitting Down With Dr. Doris Tegart
BY CORBIN MCGUIRE, OPINIONS EDITOR Dr. Doris Tegart became interim president in Spring 2016 following the passing of former president, Dr. Joseph McGowan. The Concord will provide information from bi-weekly Q&...
Life for People With Food Allergies Has Improved, But Not as Much as it Could
Opinion, The Concord
BY OLIVIA ROSS, STAFF WRITER Imagine having allergies so severe that everything you touched put you at risk for a life threatening reaction. For some students at Bellarmine, this fear is part of their daily li...
BUFH Accommodates Player With Food Allergies
Sports, The Concord
BY ALEX GINTER AND MARY RINGWALD The amount of daily activities that a Bellarmine student has to manage is like a math equation. Studying, extracurricular activities and maybe an athletic team all add up to st...
What Happens if BU Athletes Protest the National Anthem?
When San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat in a preseason NFL game as the national anthem rang throughout the stadium and on national television, he launched a series of national anthem protests ...
Opinion: New Training Room a Needed Upgrade
BY MARY RINGWALD, SPORTS EDITOR Well, it is about time! After years of wanting and waiting, the Bellarmine University athletic department has granted their athletes' wishes of a bigger training room located ju...
Ecuador Presents Change in BU Student's Outlook
BY ASHLEY BAKER, FEATURES EDITOR College is a time for adjustment and pushing students out of their comfort zones. With new and exciting experiences, students begin to grow and attempt to shape themselves into...


text:
Home anxiety A machine learning algorithm can detect signs of anxiety and depression in the speech patterns of young children
A machine learning algorithm can detect signs of anxiety and depression in the speech patterns of young children
UVM researchers have used artificial intelligence to detect hidden depression in young children, a condition that can lead to increased risk of substance abuse and suicide later in life if left untreated. (Photo: Anthony Kelly)
A machine learning algorithm can detect signs of anxiety and depression in the speech patterns of young children, potentially providing a fast and easy way of diagnosing conditions that are difficult to spot and often overlooked in young people, according to new research published in the Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics.
Around one in five children suffer from anxiety and depression, collectively known as "internalizing disorders." But because children under the age of eight can't reliably articulate their emotional suffering, adults need to be able to infer their mental state, and recognise potential mental health problems. Waiting lists for appointments with psychologists, insurance issues, and failure to recognise the symptoms by parents all contribute to children missing out on vital treatment.
"We need quick, objective tests to catch kids when they are suffering," says Ellen McGinnis, a clinical psychologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center's Vermont Center for Children, Youth and Families and lead author of the study. "The majority of kids under eight are undiagnosed."
Early diagnosis is critical because children respond well to treatment while their brains are still developing, but if they are left untreated they are at greater risk of substance abuse and suicide later in life. Standard diagnosis involves a 60-90 minute semi-structured interview with a trained clinician and their primary care-giver. McGinnis, along with University of Vermont biomedical engineer and study senior author Ryan McGinnis, has been looking for ways to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to make diagnosis faster and more reliable.
The researchers used an adapted version of a mood induction task called the Trier-Social Stress Task, which is intended to cause feelings of stress and anxiety in the subject. A group of 71 children between the ages of three and eight were asked to improvise a three-minute story, and told that they would be judged based on how interesting it was. The researcher acting as the judge remained stern throughout the speech, and gave only neutral or negative feedback. After 90 seconds, and again with 30 seconds left, a buzzer would sound and the judge would tell them how much time was left.
"The task is designed to be stressful, and to put them in the mindset that someone was judging them," says Ellen McGinnis.
The children were also diagnosed using a structured clinical interview and parent questionnaire, both well-established ways of identifying internalizing disorders in children.
The researchers used a machine learning algorithm to analyze statistical features of the audio recordings of each kid's story and relate them to the child's diagnosis. They found the algorithm was highly successful at diagnosing children, and that the middle phase of the recordings, between the two buzzers, was the most predictive of a diagnosis.
"The algorithm was able to identify children with a diagnosis of an internalizing disorder with 80 percent accuracy, and in most cases that compared really well to the accuracy of the parent checklist," says Ryan McGinnis. It can also give the results much more quickly – the algorithm requires just a few seconds of processing time once the task is complete to provide a diagnosis.
The algorithm identified eight different audio features of the children's speech, but three in particular stood out as highly indicative of internalizing disorders: low-pitched voices, with repeatable speech inflections and content, and a higher-pitched response to the surprising buzzer. Ellen McGinnis says these features fit well with what you might expect from someone suffering from depression. "A low-pitched voice and repeatable speech elements mirrors what we think about when we think about depression: speaking in a monotone voice, repeating what you're saying," says Ellen McGinnis.
The higher-pitched response to the buzzer is also similar to the response the researchers found in their previous work, where children with internalizing disorders were found to exhibit a larger turning-away response from a fearful stimulus in a fear induction task.
The voice analysis has a similar accuracy in diagnosis to the motion analysis in that earlier work, but Ryan McGinnis thinks it would be much easier to use in a clinical setting. The fear task requires a darkened room, toy snake, motion sensors attached to the child and a guide, while the voice task only needs a judge, a way to record speech and a buzzer to interrupt. "This would be more feasible to deploy," he says.
Ellen McGinnis says the next step will be to develop the speech analysis algorithm into a universal screening tool for clinical use, perhaps via a smartphone app that could record and analyze results immediately. The voice analysis could also be combined with the motion analysis into a battery of technology-assisted diagnostic tools to help identify children at risk of anxiety and depression before even their parents suspect that anything is wrong.
Learn more: UVM Study: AI Can Detect Depression in a Child's Speech
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Tags: anxietydepressionMachine learninguniversity of vermontvoice analysis
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How L.A. made this New York writer want a pair of cornflower-blue bells.
I will always credit my first job working at a fashion magazine with expanding what I affectionately call my "denim consciousness." Before, I simply thought of jeans as just another kind of pant. That there were different shades of blue to consider, different ways the fabric could stretch or not stretch, different cuts and rises and flares—well, I had always been aware, but never especially particular. Denim was an afterthought, not the centerpiece.
This pair – Stella McCartney's high-rise, cornflower blue stretch denim with an unapologetic flare – entered my closet in February, when I was living out in Los Angeles for the winter as a freelance writer, working on my short-story collection. There was something about the sun in Silverlake that month, the smell of jasmine as you walked down the street, and the way the palm trees raced up to the sky that just made me want them. This is partly because the Los Angeles that I love belongs in a Pynchon novel—it's seedy, sprawling, and adventurous. It's also partly because I am loving the seventies revival that marched down the spring 2015 runways last fall, and a flare jean seemed like a reasonable choice above the fringe and suede and everything else.
A flare is a lot of fabric. I find myself kicking up my heels when I walk. It can feel heavy, which is why I paired them with this floral Jane Mayle top, a pair of inconspicuous clay-colored Chloé flats, and an ice-blue vintage Dries van Noten overcoat. The rest of me needed to feel breezy and free, spring-like and daytime to compensate for all that bright blue pooling around my feet. And to think that I thought jeans were just another kind of pant!
THAT 70S GLOW Get the trend without going full fringe. Shop Thessaly's Stella McCartney jeans at Net-a-Porter.com.
Thessaly La Force is a writer living in New York City. She is currently a senior editor at Travel + Leisure.


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signe@signejorgenson.com
Signe Jorgenson Editorial Services
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Should You Pay to Submit Your Work?
Signe Jorgenson
Am I being cheap to resent paying $3 to submit to a market that only accepts 1% of the submissions received? What do you think of markets that charge to submit?
This question was recently posted in a Facebook group for fiction writers and editors. The responses were both swift and strongly worded: "Don't do it! It's a scam!" "If a market is charging you to submit, their primary goal is to generate income!" "Publishers that charge don't care about your work!"
Despite the conviction behind them, these responses were inaccurate.
Photo by Sean Winters
Literary journals are legitimate publishing venues for literary writers who are at the start of their careers, and many journals charge reading fees. $3 is a pretty common amount, and 1% is a common acceptance rate for the top magazines in this market.
As the discussion progressed and a few brave souls stood up to the majority "it's a scam!" crowd, the poster revealed that the journal in question was Glimmer Train. The lit mag defenders were quick to point out that Glimmer Train is one of the top American journals. It has been around for almost thirty years—a long history considering that so many journals disappear when the funding dries up after just a few issues. Not only that, but stories from Glimmer Train have appeared in many prestigious publications: Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, O. Henry Prize Stories, and Best American Short Stories, just to name a few. In short, this was no scam, and this was not a publisher that disregards the quality of writing in order to make a buck.
It's easy to understand why a pay-to-submit model feels scammy to people who aren't familiar with this market.* It does come across as a get-rich-quick scheme that preys upon naive writers who are desperate to see their work in print. It's also easy to see how paying to submit can be a costly endeavor in legitimate markets when acceptance rates are so low. A writer could easily spend more than $100 trying to publish a single story in an outlet that pays very little (if it pays at all; many literary journals don't).
So what's the value? Why are some writers willing to spend this kind of money? And why do I, as an editor, recommend that my clients go through this potentially costly process to publish their work?
It's simple. Writers can't get nominated for Pushcart Prizes or O. Henry Awards without publishing in literary publications. It's also a lot easier to attract a literary agent's attention if your work has been published. Being able to say "Publications X, Y, and Z saw merit in my work" goes a long way—it shows that a body of gatekeepers believed in the writing. It shows that there's an audience. It shows that this work might sell.
If you write genre fiction, paying a literary journal's $3 reading fee is a waste of your money; the vast majority of lit mags won't publish genre work no matter how good it is. But if you're a literary writer, you'll almost certainly launch your career in the lit mags and your investment in reading fees will be well worth it when you receive your first acceptance letter.
To maximize your reading fees and reduce the odds of rejection, make sure your work is in tip-top shape before you submit. (Or, as my friend and teacher Jo-Ann Mapson says, "Make sure your story is wearing its church clothes.") You can do this by soliciting critiques from a writers' group or by sharing your work with trusted readers who give honest feedback about plot, characterization, structure, and other craft elements.
You can also hire an editor to develop, copyedit, and/or proofread your piece depending on the type of help you need. (My services are listed here; contact me to get a quote.) That might seem counterintuitive—what's the point of spending money on an editor when the goal is to avoid spending money on submissions? But think about it this way. If your piece is wearing its church clothes when the journal's editor reads it, your odds of acceptance will increase and the amount you spend on submission fees will decrease, especially in the long term. Working with an editor is an investment in your writing. It will help you to identify your habitual mechanical errors, help you to develop a more effective revision process, and help you to become a stronger writer. And as a stronger writer, you'll spend less on submission fees because your work will stand out for all the right reasons.
If you're a literary writer, paying submission fees is worth it. Hiring an editor is also worth it. Your work deserves it.
*If you're one of the people who isn't familiar with the literary journal market, the Review Review explains why these fees exist and presents multiple perspectives on whether it's fair when journals charge.
hire me literary journals publishing submission fees
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3 thoughts on "Should You Pay to Submit Your Work?"
Lisa Vihos November 11, 2017 at 9:49 pm
Frankly, as someone who is poetry editor at a literary journal, I must add that the $3 fee is not about our journal getting rich quick, slow, or at any speed for that matter. The fees get added to income from subscriptions and sales and this revenue helps us just barely get by from issue to issue. So, I would tell writers (and I tell myself this when I am submitting my own work to various venues) that the $3 fee is peanuts, and it is a small way I can support the very journals that I hope will be interested in my work. The human race has no trouble paying for chai latte, postage, Uber rides, library fines, and more. What is the big deal about paying a small fee so that an editor can read my work? If the reading fee was $20, I might feel differently. But $3 to read? It's the least I can do for the editors out there.
Signe Jorgenson Post author November 11, 2017 at 10:24 pm
Well said, Lisa! Thank you for adding some insight into this issue for readers who might not be familiar with literary journals and their operations.
Liz Godlberg July 27, 2018 at 7:10 pm
I don't mind paying as long as it's just a few dollars. 15 years ago, I spent that much every time I sent a submission to a journal by snail mail. Back then, that was the only option we had so the cost of postage, paper, and printer ink was just part of being a writer. A submission fee to cover the cost of web hosting and submission managers doesn't seem that much different. I'd rather pay a few bucks to submit from the comfort of my own living room at 3 a.m. than have to send a few bucks to send snail mail at the post office!
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Why do airplane transponders have an 'off switch'?
Ever since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, a fascinated public has asked: Why can somebody in the cockpit shut off the transponder? It turns out there are several legitimate reasons why a pilot might want to shut off this key form of communication that allows air traffic controllers to identify and track airplanes.
Ever since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, a fascinated public has asked: Why can somebody in the cockpit shut off the transponder?
It turns out there are several legitimate reasons why a pilot might want to shut off this key form of communication that allows air traffic controllers to identify and track airplanes.
Authorities believe that Flight 370's transponder was intentionally shut off, delaying search and rescue efforts and helping to conceal the plane's location - a mystery unsolved more than 10 days after the Boeing 777 vanished.
It's rare for a pilot to turn off a transponder during flight, but occasionally there is cause.
- Sometimes a transponder malfunctions, giving out incorrect readings.
- The device could have an electrical short or catch on fire. Pilots would want to shut it down rather than risk a fire spreading to the rest of the cockpit or airplane.
- Pilots used to routinely turn off transponders on the ground at airports so as not to overwhelm air traffic controllers with so many signals in one location. That is increasingly less the case as pilots now use "moving map" displays that take the transponder data and show them the location of other planes on the ground, helping guide them around airports without mishaps.
"As long as there are pilots, they'll be able to switch off systems," said Andrew Thomas, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Security.
Airplanes have two transponders. There are two knobs in the cockpit - one on the right, the other on the left - that control one or the other. When one transponder is on, the other is normally in standby mode.
To turn off a transponder, a pilot turns a knob with multiple positions and selects the "off" setting. The second transponder doesn't automatically activate if the first one is shut down - a knob would also have to be turned. In this case, it appears one transponder was turned off, and the second not activated.
Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines pilot and former 777 instructor, said it is possible that one pilot could reach up and turn off the transponder without the other pilot seeing it, say if one was looking away or distracted.
If the plane was in contact with an air traffic controller, the controller would alert the pilots that the transponder signal had been lost. But, Aimer - now head of Aero Consulting Experts - said, if they were not in contact with an air traffic controller, a pilot might miss it if the other shut down the transponder.
In the case of the missing Malaysian plane, even pilots are a bit puzzled by somebody turning off the transponder.
John Gadzinski, a Boeing 737 captain, said that among fellow pilots "there is a raised eyebrow like Spock on 'Star Trek' - you just sit there and go, 'why would anybody do that?'"


Weldon Spring is a suburb of the large city of St. Louis, this Missouri community offers the small town appeal of everyone working together to make the place they call home, great. Unfortunately, the rustic and rural area that Weldon Spring is found in not only attracts people, but also a plethora of insects, spiders, mice and other critters. Luckily, for the Weldon Spring residents, the professionals at Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions have decades of experience protecting Missouri homes and businesses from pests. We are dedicated to providing highly effective pest control services that utilize the most advanced technologies that are environmentally sound. Find out today why so many people trust the pest control solutions that Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions has to offer!
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Protect your commercial property, your customers, employees, inventory, brand, and reputation with the help of the commercial pest control services found at Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions. Our advanced techniques and superior customer service are what you need to protect your business from the damages that pests can inflict. At Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions we provide exceptional protection for commercial properties by following the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which works to prevent pests through a combination of biological control, habitat modification, exclusion, sanitization, and education. Our commercial pest control services can include inspections, treatments, insect management, wildlife control, rodent management, bird control, pheromone monitoring, green and organic services, and fumigations. Contact us today to get started protecting your facility with the help of the professionals here at Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions.
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Limit or eliminate hiding spots by placing covers over all power outlets. Also be sure to place bed bug-proof covers over all mattresses and box springs located in your home.
Regularly vacuum your home's floors, paying special attention to the seams found in furniture and beds.
Routinely clean out drawers and closets, vacuuming them thoroughly before replacing clean items.
Wash all bedding regularly, at the same time inspecting mattresses and box springs for bed bugs and their signs.
Do not leave dirty laundry piled up on the floor. Bed bugs love to hide underneath piles of dirty laundry.
Do not purchase used furniture, mattresses, and box spring for use inside of your Weldon Springs home.
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To schedule a FREE bed bug inspection for your home, give the professionals at Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions a call today. We would love to assist you!


text:
April 13, 2020 May 14, 2020 Max Frances
Furlough Blows
Cometh the hour, cometh the charlatan.
And in business, coronafraud is not just confined to online ads by individual twicers for non-existent supplies. It's becoming part of corporate policy.
As most will know, the UK Government has stepped up to the plate and will pay 80% of an employee's salary, up to £2,500 per month, if the company opts to put said employee into the deep-freeze. This is officially called the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and it allows employers to put staff who can't work on 'furlough' and not lay them off.
It's a helpful move, but for organisations in some industries, it's simply deferring the inevitable crash.
Outsourcing is one such sector that should by rights be crashing and where covering these direct employee costs ought not haul the collective chestnuts out of the fire. As you may well know, I have a penchant for the shenanigans that take place within the world of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) organisations. I wrote a couple of books on them: Flypaper for Freaks and Freaking Hired!
These organisations deliver high volume services supported by swathes of staff all pulling in minimum wage, or close to it. The staff are hired and remain in place as revenue earners. Gross profit on your average BPO will largely fall between 20% to 40%. In an RPO, they can cream it at over 70%.
But to ring it up on the tills, employees will need to be transacting, or client organisations will need to be underwriting their time.
The BPOs and RPOs need profit in order to meet the heavy debt incurred by rapidly depreciating infrastructures. Many of them bill a high proportion of accounts on a transactional basis, so revenue will fall when they under-transact. For those accounts that support outsourced operations on an underwritten hour, matters are in principle rosier, but those hours are currently being slashed as demand falls for client products and services. Direct employee costs can be covered with furloughing, but profit in pound notes will plummet.
In RPOs, the exposure might in places be starker. Many clients pay a cost-per-hire fee that covers all the transactions in supporting candidates from the point of the first job advertisement going but is paid when the candidates are offered positions. With these models, the risks are where the organisation over-transacts (performs more work while the billable amount stays the same), or ends up hiring fewer than planned, or worst of all, hires zilch. Now, so many organisations have frozen or even abandoned recruitment campaigns, these RPOs will be high and dry or at least dramatically exposed in key areas with the zilch option.
Of course, some accounts in the BPO space will remain busy and may even grow during the coronacrisis (public sector services and online shopping, for example), but this will likely not offset the organisation-wide burdens.
Most leaders in service outsourcing will have realised for a number of weeks that a fiendishly clever plan would be the order of the day, were they intent on survival.
Enter Mr Sunak and the government windfall. That had the high priests of chicanery singing hallelujah at the altars of bastard. Not at the furlough money alone (though they certainly did love it) but at the concomitant opportunities.
The job retention scheme would be rocket fuel for a clean-up and the launch pad to planet profit.
And as a chap with his ear very close to the ground, I can enlighten you on precisely how they've gone about it.
Indeed, a former colleague provided me with the PIN to a management conference call within an RPO some weeks ago. They thought I might be both entertained and be scouting for more material for my books.
Right on both counts, old boy.
On that call, the instructions to the management team were eye-watering.
Roaring out edicts to 'fucking rinse it', the divisional MD and operational head, the two hoarse men of the apocalypse, expounded sub-1980s call centre blunt brutality that was as dated as the monkey boots and the ankle-length trousers (with striped socks) that they respectively and laughingly sport with a sense of misplaced mutual kudos.
First of all, staff were – with web-based applications – comfortably set up remotely, so any emerging tomfoolery would be one step removed from the mind's eye. Few outside the conspiratorial management circle would be exactly sure what was happening as everybody would be isolated. Classic divide and conquer stuff.
And then to the plan.
Some were to be furloughed as per the rules. They would receive their 80%. They would be selected on the basis of lower productivity and lower ability. On ice and the first candidates for redundancy if/when the time came.
Then, the next group would to be furloughed but allocated a percentage of work to fulfil – the alternative for them would have been microscopic statutory redundancy. Guess which way they'd be sure to go?
Recent leavers – mainly students – were if possible to be re-engaged on furlough but would be tossed enough work to keep all parties sweet (80% of pay in exchange for 40% of a remote working week).
A further slither of the payroll was to receive their 80% but perform tasks and have a top-up payable in expenses, pension contributions, and other off-line goodies. These staff would be the ones with the most knowledge and experience. They wouldn't be working flat-out but would pick up the challenging queries and escalations that would make the ongoing service provision viable to clients and customers and not just a question of bums on seats.
And then the pièce de résistance. A section of bods would be furloughed but would be formally engaged through charlatan agencies on a part-time basis. It's absolutely not against the rules for these staff to get other jobs. The scam, however, would be that they'd be performing work for their own organisation. Their agency work would go through on the agency payroll, so nobody would be the wiser. Simplistic genius.
All of these measures would be complemented by a concentrated push on all the well-honed double-bubbling and invoice component hiking we've all come to know and love about outsourcers, and the fix would be in.
This is premier league tomfoolery, and a lot of the dastardly deeds are being done on government contracts to boot for that added piss-take cherry atop the flack foraged shateau.
But this particular shyster hive is not alone in the outsourcing world. BPOs and RPOs the length and breadth of the county will be pulling these cunning stunts. I've already sniffed out others who are at it. Even if overall revenue is down, margin is pumping, steroided.
And most of these outsourcing businesses are foreign-owned, so the British taxpayer is picking up the tab. What is more, it's not going to be too much of a stretch to believe that if this is already prevalent in outsourcing, it's already de rigeur in other sectors.
At the end of it all, these organisations will survive and thrive, but nobody will really be able to articulate how they did it. And nobody will really care, because the economy will be so shot away that even scumbag survival will be celebrated.
And there's little risk of any accounting post-mortems on what goes down. There are neither the resources nor the legal requirements for autopsies on real bodies now, let alone the ones buried in cooked books.
What a time to be alive.
BPO Contact Centres
Previous Enough Rope
Next Cringe Hell
Adrian P. says:
Sad, but very true. Exactly what's going on in our company right now. And yes, we have plenty of government contracts too.
Max Frances says:
Thank you for the positive feedback – much appreciated.
Great article and very much on point (as I know only too well from working at a UK RPO!!!). I guess that some of these crooks are not just furloughing their statf on the quiet? So claiming the money and their staff just work at home none the wiser?
No, I would think that this would be unlikely because HMRC would have sight of the taxable pay each month – and would be expecting to see 80% of the norm.That is why there are all these variations at play.
They are run by people who, while dim in the accepted sense of the word, are sharp on essential villainy. They won't be leaving any fingerprints at the scene.
It's a shame that these outsourcers are likely to get away with it, but then again they've been rotten to the core for decades. They're well-versed in criminality.
Furthermore, I would think that those furloughing and then topping up the remaining 20% would be the first to be checked.
Therefore the 100% fake furlough with staff unaware would represent too high a risk?


The Best: The home uniform has been fairly constant, ranging from a no-number-on-the-front version to a numbered version, and switching between pullover and button-up as trends have dictated. It looks good in all of those guises, but I think I prefer the button-up, numbered version — which has been in use for most of the past 25 years — the best. Just a nice, clean, sharp uniform.
The worst: I like their classic powder blues just fine, but they really screwed things up when they brought them back a couple of years ago. Tops only, a light blue cap, and using them at home? Booo! All blue, on the road or GTFO. And the dark blue jersey on the road is weak sauce too, though better than the current light blue usage, and better than a lot of teams that go with the solid tops on the road. The worst ever is less an aesthetic choice than a philosophical one: vests and black accents. What an unfortunate nod to cynical trends.
Assessment: the Royals of my youth were the class organization in the American League. I kind of hated them for that, but I always thought they looked good. In both inspiring such hatred and in looking good, they kind of sound like the Dodgers, no? Kind of look a lot like them too. There are worse looks to emulate. As long as they keep it nice and straight forward, they'll always look good, even when they're playing bad.


Join Andi & Mel as they board a Lodestar bus and travel to the wineries in Cambria County! We will meet at Scalp Ave. upper lot on Sat. May 4th.
Travel to Germantown in Portage by 1:30 , visit Woody Lodge/Ashville mid-day and end at Glendale Valley in Flinton.
Each winery will sample 4 to 5 different types of wines, offer bus trip discounts and meet the owners of these fine wine establishments in our county!
Cost of trip is $30.00 includes bus ride & tip for bus driver.
SEATING IS LIMITED! CONTACT ANDI FOR TICKETS & MORE INFO.