Worcestershire CCC duo Jack Haynes and Adam Finch both featured in useful partnerships as England Under-19s earned a first innings lead of 73 on day two of the first 'Test' with South Africa Under-19s at Scarborough.
Test debutant Haynes came to the wicket at 46-2 in reply to South Africa's first innings total of 232 and added 47 with skipper and century-maker Tom Banton.
He collected three boundaries in his 16 off 36 balls before he was third out with the total on 93 – lbw to Gideon Peters.
Banton dominated the remainder of the day and struck a superb 137 off 167 balls.
But after his dismissal, Finch came in at number 10 at 246-8 and ensured England extended their advantage.
He made 12 but just as importantly stayed in to add a useful 48 runs for the ninth wicket with Luke Hollman (48) before also falling leg before to Peters.
Finch is also making his Test debut although he appeared in last summer's ODI Series versus India and the winter World Cup in New Zealand.
After England were eventually bowled out, South Africa were left with 11 overs batting and reached 24-0 by the close – still trailing by 49 runs.
Finch again took the new ball for England and bowled three overs for 10 runs.


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Federal Courts In Oklahoma Challenged For Sentencing Disparities
The Northern Oklahoma Federal Courts in Tulsa, OK are leaving citizens scratching their heads and asking; "Where is the consistency?"
Chief Judge Greg Frizzell just sentenced a man to 30 years for $900 taken in a hold up of a local restaurant. To be fair, Tracy Crawford admitted that he robbed 5 times in a 3-month crime spree. He agreed to a plea wherein he is also ordered to pay $19,000 in restitution.
But in the same Tulsa courthouse, Judge Claire Eagan accepted a plea deal from Rick Brinkley. He pleaded guilty in August 2015 to five counts of wire fraud and one count of signing a false tax return. Brinkley also admitted to embezzling $1.8 million from the Better Business Bureau while heading its Tulsa office.
Crawford used a firearm to intimidate his victims. Brinkley used a briefcase and several fake corporations to fraudulently embezzle nearly $2,000,000 over his 10 years with the Tulsa Better Business Bureau.
The irony is that Brinkley was in charge of an agency whose mission was to demand ethical business practices from the rest of us.
Brinkley is just finishing his prison sentence. He was allowed to stay in the state and serve out his full 37 month sentence at a minimum security facility in El Reno, OK
Judge Claire Eagan & Chief Judge Greg Frizzell, of the Northern Oklahoma Federal District Court, in Tulsa.
If Rick Brinkley can get special treatment for being a 'Good 'ol Boy', where does Tracy Crawford apply for that same special treatment?
Brinkley was able to control much of the narrative of his case. There is no mug shot or 'perf walk' video or images. Instead, we have many in-depth interviews where Brinkley tells a sad tale of his addictions.
No one has published a story of Tracy Crawford's life of struggles with either his inner demons or harsh life circumstances. Brinkley's published sentencing terms say nothing of a plan for restitution to the victims. But Tracy Crawford will be forced to pay $19,000.
 Some have said that Crawford deserves the harsher sentence because he used the intimidation of violence by bearing a firearm.
The great novelist, Mario Puzo may have said it best;
"A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns."
If this nation is really serious about curbing the massive losses due to crime, we seriously need to re-assess our priorities about "white collar" crimes and the overwhelming losses sustained in our society by the sophisticated class of slick-talking yet shady individuals who ascend to the highest places of honor, while ripping off the rest of us.
 I left out that part.. Rick Brinkley was next in line to become the President Pro Temp of the Oklahoma Senate. He was also a senior pastor in a Tulsa County church.
Oklahoma has a dubious and long legacy of corruption in all levels of government. We've often had to turn to federal government to re-establish justice in our midst. But this federal court disparity crushed the trust that Oklahomans may have had in our Federal justice system.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Gitano steht für:

 Angehöriger der spanischen Roma, siehe Roma #Gitanos
 Gitano (Film), spanischer Spielfilm (2000)
 ein Markenname des philippinischen Automobilherstellers Michel Motorsport

Siehe auch:
 Gitane
 Gitanos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Rest Easy, Bill: After 4,000 Clinton Jokes, Leno's Run Wraps Up
Published February 6, 2014 at 4:00 PM EST
Tonight is the end of Jay Leno's long run as host of NBC's "Tonight Show."
It's also the end of a chapter for Robert Lichter.
ROBERT LICHTER: I direct the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University. Since the late 1980s, we've been tracking political humor on late night television.
BLOCK: And for Lichter's team, tonight means no more Leno jokes to study.
CORNISH: For years, Lichter's team has pored over the late night shows, but not Lichter himself.
LICHTER: I go to bed too early.
CORNISH: It's his students who have been recording all those opening monologues.
LICHTER: This is like a treat for our best student coders. We let you laugh at the jokes while you're taking them down.
BLOCK: They found in all that cataloguing that many of Jay Leno's jokes had one particular target.
JAY LENO: That one person that brings it all together. That one person becomes the focus of what you're doing. Of course, for me, that person: Bill Clinton. God bless him.
(APPLAUSE)
LENO: Where would I have been? Oh, my God...
LICHTER: Leno's favorite target by far was Bill Clinton who accounted for over one out of every 10 jokes about all topics over the last 20-some years.
LENO: You know, we've done so many jokes but Bill Clinton and I really have a lot in common. He was elected in '92. I started in '92. He's still married to his first wife. I'm still married to my first wife. I smile when I sit behind my desk. He really smiles when he sits behind his desk.
CORNISH: According to Lichter's math: over 4,000 Bill Clinton jokes.
BLOCK: And those numbers aren't lost on Leno.
LICHTER: Jay has actually in the past acknowledged our study. He mentioned that he heard some people track these things, and sort of shook his head and suggested that it's just a pretty weird thing that anybody would actually take his material that seriously. And it is.
LICHTER: We are pretty weird for taking this stuff seriously for so many years.
BLOCK: Tonight in his last show, Leno may even make one last Clinton joke for old time's sake.
CORNISH: And Robert Lichter might even stay up to count it.
BLOCK: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


Published by the University of New Hampshire, this publication explores consumer and retailer demand for locally-caught seafood in New Hampshire. January 2014.
This USDA Economic Research Service economic brief provides data on on the U.S. rural economy, including employment, poverty, and population trends. Authored by ERS economist Lorin Kusmin.
By Houtian Ge, Patrick Canning, Stephan J. Goetz and Agnes Perez. Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the 2015 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association and Western Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, July 26 - 28, 2015. PDF.
Chart showing Cooperative Extension's effects on farmer retention.


Ahl al Kitab (or People of the Book) generally is referred to the Jews and Christians by the Qur'an since they were also given books such as the Torah and Injeel. Ahl al Kitab in urdu is referred as Ahle Kitab.
The disbelief of the disbelieving People of the Scripture, that include Jews and Christians, in our times does not expel them from being People of the Scripture. So, the rules and regulations related to them regarding permissibility of eating their food and marrying their chaste women, in the Qur'aan and Sunnah, are still applicable to them.
A mushrikah is an idol-worshipping woman who worships stones, whether from among the Arabs or others.
It is not permissible for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim from any other religion, whether from among the Jews or Christians, or any other kaafir religion. It is not permissible for her to marry a Jew, a Christian, a Magian, a communist, an idol-worshipper, etc.
Imam al-Tabari said: What is said concerning the interpretation of the words "And give not (your daughters) in marriage to Al‑Mushrikoon till they believe (in Allaah Alone) and verily, a believing slave is better than a (free) Mushrik (idolater), even though he pleases you" is that what Allaah meant by that is that Allaah has forbidden the believing women from marrying to a mushrik, no matter what kind of shirk he believes in. So, O believers, do not give your daughters in marriage to them, for that is forbidden to you. For you to give them in marriage to a believing slave who believes in Allaah and His Messenger and that which he brought from Allaah is better for you than to give them in marriage to a free mushrik even if he is of noble descent and honourable origins, even if you like his descent and background.
It was narrated that Qutaadah and al-Zuhri said, concerning the phrase "And give not (your daughters) in marriage to Al‑Mushrikoon", It is not permissible for you to give them in marriage to a Jew or a Christian or a mushrik who is not a follower of your religion. Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 2/379.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: What is meant here is that over which a name other than that of Allaah is mentioned at the time of slaughter, such as saying "in the name of the Messiah" or "in the name of Muhammad" or "in the name of Jibreel" or "in the name of al-Laat" and so on.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: As for that which is slaughtered by the people of the Book for their festivals and as an act of worship to draw closer to someone other than Allaah, as the Muslims offer their sacrifices to draw closer to Allaah thereby, such as what they slaughter for the Messiah and al-Zahrah, there are two reports narrated from Ahmad concerning that, the most well known of which in his texts is that it is not permissible to eat it, even if the name of someone other than Allaah has not been mentioned over it. The prohibition on doing that was narrated from 'Aa'ishah and 'Abd-Allaah ibn 'Umar.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: It is not essential to ask about that which was slaughtered by a Muslim or a kitaabi, and how it was slaughtered, and whether the name of Allaah was mentioned over it or not. Rather that should not be done, because that is being obstinate in religious matters. The Prophet ﷺate meat slaughtered by the Jews and did not ask questions. In Saheeh al-Bukhaari and elsewhere it is narrated from 'Aa'ishah (R) that some people said to the Prophet ﷺ: Some people bring meat to us, and we do not know whether they mentioned the name of Allaah over it or not. The Messenger of Allaah ﷺsaid: "Mention the name of Allaah over it and eat." She said: They were new in Islam, and the Prophet ﷺtold them to eat without asking, even though those who brought the meat to them may not have been aware of the rulings of Islam because they were new in Islam.
But if the slaughter man is an idol-worshipper or communist, it is not permissible to eat meat slaughtered by him.


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text:
You Say You Want to Start A Theatre Company
Exactly a year ago this week, Marie Sproul and I, while on national tour, sat at a table in our shared condo in Miami and drew up the first of budgets for what we knew then would be Ally Theatre Company's debut production. We dreamt big, both knowing scaling back would be a necessity for an organization just laying its foundation, and didn't hold back. We allowed ourselves to fully process all this show - and this company - could be.
Fast forward to tonight when we close The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington and of course, so much has changed and happened in a year. Marie, so instrumental as one of Ally's first thought partners (the other being Roddy, my husband), is now readying for a new chapter in her life - one that will see her off to North Carolina in the coming weeks. I took up the reins not only as the Producer of the show (which was my initial dream) but as the Director. And while at first, I worried about my ability, and let's face it, talent, to help mold and craft this story, retaining the heart and spirit Valerie and I so intensely witnessed at the 2014 Philadelphia Premiere, I am now so grateful for this experience and the opportunity to (as my friend Jenny says) 'get in the mud' with the actors, the design team, and the story. I know without question it is my best work, as a director, to date and were I to walk away and never direct again, I could easily say I was leaving at the high point of my career.
There's the show, and then there's the company.
Ally Theatre Company - the seed of which was planted one autumn morning as I showered (where all the best ideas happen, right?) and heard what is now our tag line, "Voices Unheard, Spaces Unseen" in my head. Suddenly I knew how I could marry my love of storytelling with my belief that theatre can provoke dialogue and conversation that can change behaviors, which can change lives - for the better. As I started to round out these ideas and slowly bring people into the circle - first Roddy, then Marie, then Valerie, then Tai - I begin to witness an incredible thing. BELIEF. Then MOMENTUM.
It's been about 20 months since that shower. And in 20 months, we now find ourselves at the end of the beginning - closing our show tonight and looking forward to a future that is more promising than I even imagined.
My post-mortem thoughts below:
I am not discouraged by what other, better established theatre companies might see as low audience numbers. First, our house can seat up to 150 - that's huge and I knew we'd never sell that out. Second, we never had a house below 20 and twice we got up to the 60s. Over 300 people saw this show - including high ranking local elected leaders and business owners - and some of our best houses were the smaller ones. The people that showed up were engaged, ecstatic that we are making a home not only at Joe's but in Prince George's County and all of them were enthusiastic about the production. My long-term goal for the company is for the community to take ownership of Ally - to feel as though it is theirs. That foundation was laid and made sturdy in this process. I'm really enormously proud of that.
This would never have happened without the outstanding outreach efforts led by Valerie Fenton. From organizing our first postering day to connecting with local businesses and turning out food donations for a beautifully memorable opening night to being an excellent spokesperson who speaks to our mission with eloquence and grace, Valerie is instrumental to our long-term success in the community. I will be grateful to her for the rest of my days.
Valerie exemplifies the secret to our fledgling success - our team at Ally from Tai at the top to our Artistic Allies, four of whom acted in the production, exhibits such a strong belief in our vision and mission that they make bringing audience and community into the fold seem effortless. It's not, but their passion and determination make it so. Every single company member saw the show, some of them twice. Many of them worked behind the scenes to help facilitate its success. Katie coordinated and hosted two talk-backs, Tamieka gracefully stood in for me so I could have a night off, worked the bar and gave the curtain speech, Nick came once and then sent back his wife with three other friends, Matt's tireless dedication is the reason we make a surprise announcement this evening, Jane, Taunya, Reginald, and Tai crafted beautiful performances all the while representing the company to our newcomers and audiences, Laura made room in her busy acting schedule to be present on Opening Night and also kept me on track as the producer for our next two shows, including Clover this fall, Marie texted me throughout the process, checking on me and making sure I was ok, acting again as the wonderful mentor she's been to me over the years, Jon Jon introduced us to Nate (William) and Tanya (Anne) and guarded my phone on opening night, capturing live those moments I was unable to see, and Taylor took time out of her busy life in NY to get on a bus and see the show and be her wonderfully intelligent and cheerful self that's just sorely needed in these days and times. Point is, when people ask me how Ally is already so together, so organized, with such a strong start out of the gate, my answer is always the same: We have a great team.
That team now thankfully includes Brooke Kidd, Executive Director at Joe's Movement Emporium and Neena Narayanan, the 'oh so much more than the' Marketing Coordinator. Alongside these two wonderful women, who believed in and were enthusiastic about our mission at first sight, we have laid a foundation that has all the markings of an entity with staying power. In our first show, Ally is already doing what we set out to do and that would not be if Brooke and Neena did not believe in us. I am really excited for our work in the weeks, months and years to come.
Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we rest, then we continue to do this extraordinary work we are so privileged and able to do.
Thank you all <3
Me and Marie - an artistic partnership and friendship for life
The cast of Miz Washington - exquisite performances all
The cast, our wonderful Assistant Director Angelisa, and our smooth operator of an SM Charles, all at Mt Vernon - our lives were, in fact, bound together for this process
Ally's first postering and street marketing day organized and led by Val
Opening Night toasts and general cheer with Tai
Katie facilitates a talkback with experts from Mount Vernon and the Prince George's African American Museum & Cultural Center
Opening Night with Val, Brooke and local elected officials
From the shower to this opening night curtain speech - all in 20 months. Ally Theatre Company is born.
city walking
I walked over 10,000 steps today. I passed by the White House four times. I listened to someone with over 30 years experience on The Hill talk about comprehensive tax reform and how that would affect the solar energy market in the years to come. Later, I was moved by a student's presentation on low income communities and why they lack access to solar power. As someone mid-career, the dichotamy was not lost on me.
I don't know that I did anything new today. But these walks, though busy moving from one work event to the next and, in some cases, working on other work in between, gave me the time and space to pause and reflect and think about the lessons of the day.
I've walked my city and some of these sidewalks hundreds of time. I've seen the downtown corridor where I have work for my entire working life in D.C. morph and change but even so, I still feel I know its every crack, every hiding spot. But there are places I see everyday, every week and while familiar with their exterior, I've never taken the time to explore inside. I made a mental note to myself today as I passed by some of these restaurants, dives, and musuems, familiar and unfamiliar to duck in and dig deeper. I'll let you know if I do.
Tomorrow's an early one - up at 5 - and a long one - off to the theatre - so I'm signing out early tonight.
Pic of the day for Allyson who is rock n roll and cherry pie and doesn't see a lot of sunrises
This morning was encased in a micro-depression. I needed a beautiful but sad song to turn the day around.
something new, kinda
the beginning of my #40til40 project is perhaps inconveniently timed. it falls straight in the middle of the busiest week i've had at my very, very new (to me) job. tonight was a networking event, tomorrow the start of a two day tax & finance seminar for which i spent a combined total of about 15 hours printing and readying name tags (and will attend to assist with registration and anything else asked of me). friday is our office holiday party.
after a blissful period as a freelancer, a time that went a long way in soothing my badly neglected introvert and fulfilled my need for a varied and self-managed schedule, i have returned to reception and admin office work for a renewable energy association. i like them. i feel ever certain they like me. but there are whispers about me. and i know what they are saying. they use code words like "capable', "impressive", and "self-reliant". my boss slipped up one day and actually said it, "overqualified". it's a word they have a clear distaste for - like they are worried they will insult me somehow by acknowledging what we all know to be true. yes, i am overqualified. i have over a decade of office admin experience, many years at the front desk for a high-profile law firm from which I was promoted and now, most recently, actual management experience. plus, you know, i've bossed some people around in theatre land :)
in my new job, i assist co-workers who are 15 years younger than me. some are just out of college and will probably be managers in a year's time. it's a little weird. but it's not off-putting and i'm embracing it partly because i'm simply so grateful to have a (good!) job after three months of unemployment and partly because i sense how easy it is to move up at this organization. all you have to do is dive in.
so that's what i did today that i really haven't done before. not at my other survival jobs anyway. i always looked at them as just that, jobs for survival. jobs that allowed me to pay my bills, keep the roof over my head and live my creative life in theatre to its fullest. i didn't seek to make them much more than they were. i punched in and punched out and usually didn't look for ways to expand my role or learn too terribly much about the work the company was doing outside of my inner administrative circle. but my time on tour changed this work ethic. because for a precious little while, my full time job was theatre and i dove in. i owned that position and all its inherent responsibilities. i talked to my co-workers as equals. i treated my actors and crew as a colloborative unit. when i made mistakes, i admitted them and immediately looked for a solution. i celebrated all success as "our" success. this made for an especially postive work environment and experience and i knew, even as i started looking for jobs again way back at the end of may, that i wanted to somehow replicate this - at least this feeling of acting as one unit all in service of a singular mission.
i met with a member of my team today. not just because i want to do more than answer the phone and make name badges but because i CAN do more. i offered my services and sought ways to make contributions that go beyond the scope of my job description. because I can. because i am capable. because a survival job has the potential to become a passion project. it's all in how much you want to invest. and today, i chose to invest.
#40til40 pic of the day for my dear friend David. it was a rainy and dreary day, colder by the minute but i found beauty in the rain drops falling against the window of my uber. nature's holiday lights
The Weeknd's Starboy is swiftly crawling up to the top of my "most played" list and is the first song on my #40by40 playlist
#40til40 - pre-mortem
Almost 5 months to the date since the end of the tour, it is now time for a new adventure. In 40 days, I turn 40 and I've decided to approach this milestone birthday with positivity, joy and hopefully, some grace. I want to fill the next 40 days with art, observation, music, love and life. I want to create space to reflect on where I have come and where I want to go and savor the lessons of those who've walked this road before me. I want first experiences that perhaps lead to cultivating a new habit (or two). I want to write more (hello, blog!), photograph more, find more moments of stillness and simplicity even with all (and I do mean ALL) that is going on right now. Do I expect some huge change to come on January 14th at 12:01AM? No, of course not. That change is already here. It has been gradual, shaped by my last decade and the experiences, good and bad, that have molded me into the 39.89 year old that I am today.
Approaching 30, I still felt young. I relished that celebration and treasure the memory. And while I haven't been terribly apprehensive about leaving my 30s behind, I feel distinctly, well, not young. And that's ok. I'm comfortable with that. I finally feel good in my skin (a blog about beauty is coming, I'm sure) and wiser and more discerning in not only how I spend my time but who I give it to. It's an ever precious commodity. Saying no and walking away from toxicity or unecessary stressors gets easier and easier.
Just like the tour, this journey is open for any who want to follow, though I don't expect it. If you happen to be moved by anything you might read, see or hear in this space, I'd be grateful for and appreciate your thoughts.
My metaphorical bags are packed. Tomorrow I embark.
Til then ...
Current mood: Westworld finale
Current sound: neglected weekend laundry in the dryer
Current sight: christmas cave
End of the Tour
people i love and also a bunch of weirdoes
It occurred to me today, as I was out on my deck, trying to avoid zika and taking a break from the soul sucking, mind numbing, exhaustive work of job hunting, that I never returned to my blog to write my tour wrap-up post. It also occurred to me that the heavyness I've felt of late was likely, in some part, due to missing the busyness of tour. Life was easier when I could distract myself with literal mountains to climb.
It is July 13. I have been home for 11 days. The transition back to life and reality was fraught by an emergency surgery (not mine), a new car purchase as our car was totaled while I was away and the immediate, imminent need to find gainful employment. Not to mention the absolute horrors of the real world. Life doesn't mess around. It laughed in the face of my hope that I'd have a nice long week to process, told me to put on my big girl britches and toughen up. I had no choice but to comply.
But it doesn't mean I forget and move on so easily. I returned to the office on Monday, a quick hug and chat with Rachel then I was off and digging through my bag - starting the process of making order out of chaos. I smiled at receipts for the "giggle juice" I drank with Tracey and Taylor in Denver and the 2 for $20 blanket and neck pillow Evelyn and I strategically purchased in the Salt Lake airport, all the while dusting off sand still remaining from the Friday afternoon Joshua, Gisela and me downed a bottle of Sonoma chardonnay and fell into the Pacific Ocean. We made a family, like you do, and I miss them all so much. We are, all of us, really, really weird in wonderfully unique and endearing ways. The further we got from home and the closer we became, the more we felt the freedom to let our weirdo flags fly. That bound us together on this crazy journey.
a pile of nostalgia
It's not lost on me that this was likely a once in a lifetime experience. Transformative and life-affirming have been the words most often acquired when I'm asked how the tour went. Now taking those transformative and life-affirming properties and channeling them into whatever comes next is the challenge at hand. Because my landing wasn't exactly smooth, I've struggled with feeling each mistake or misstep, no matter how small, is a personal failure. My depressive brain wants to tell me that my successes on the road are undermined by my failures in real life, but in week two I'm getting better at silencing that voice.
RR and I have taken to walking through our neighborhood every morning, enjoying the sounds of our local aviary and giggling at the bunnies (so many bunnies!) that seem to inhabit every other yard. It's a good start to the day and has helped as we become reacquainted not just with each other but with our ways and means of living together. I know that I introduce an element of chaos into his quiet home life, my footprint can be large, and I was cognizant of this even before leaving. For his part, he has been incredibly helpful and supportive in my quest for work - keeping my anxiety at bay with near daily encouragement. I know he believes in me. That is priceless medicine as unemployment creeps near.
So, so long for now my new, darling friends. Adios America. It was nice really getting to know you. I feel wiser and much more confident for the experience. And forever grateful to my cherished friend Marie for being the spark that started it all. Thank you Marie. Thank you Advocates. Thank you cast and crew. Thank you Atlanta, Miami, Austin, Denver, L.A., Oakland, Chicago and Cleveland. May we all see each other, in some new, different yet wonderful iteration, in the not so distant future.
AMERICA F'YEAH!!!
A Tale of Two Hikes
Bookending the sandwich of last week's truly weird week for women, I took two of the most challenging yet rewarding hikes of my very short and very limited hiking career. Like seriously, up to this point I've climbed Sugarloaf mountain and had my mother-in-law kick my ass on a "moderate" Shenandoah trail. But there's something about hiking, the sport of it, that responds to my need for constant self-improvement. I'm not a physically gifted person - my parents put me in ballet class when I was young with the hopes that I'd become more graceful but my true klutzy nature endured about one recital's worth of first, second and third position before calling it quits. I was born with misaligned hips, I'm slightly bowlegged and carry a lot of weight in my chest and butt making my center of gravity shift, circle and change from one moment to the next, depending on what activity I'm doing. And I have really short legs - a fact that I am never more aware of than when climbing up and down a rocky ledge.
But hiking appeals because it's a physical challenge I've proven I can do. My only competition is the ugly governor inside my head who likes to pepper me with thoughts - 'you're too weak, too fat, you'll pass out, you're going to throw up, you can't take a step that far down because of your short squatty legs, your back will give out, your knees will give out, you're too old, you should've started this in your 20s, who do you think you are?' It's this voice that keeps me charging forward for there is nothing I love more than getting to the crest, taking in the most fantastic and well earned of views and giving that voice my most graceful and delicate of middle fingers. Proving to myself that I can do this, is proving to myself that I can do anything and in a week when I was triggered by the news of the Stanford rapist and abuse at Profiles Theatre, forced to relive a trauma I've worked really hard to put behind me, my hikes up to Emerald Lake in the Rockies and FortyNinePalms Oasis at Joshua Tree relieved me of the inner sickness I'd been feeling and brought back an amazing sense of empowerment. For a moment, I stood on a rock at Joshua Tree looking out toward Yucca Valley, the sun blazing down and the breeze whipping at my cheeks and took it all back for us ladies. I made silent thanks to all the strong, smart, brilliant women I know and all the good men in my life who are the best of allies. I inhaled the hot and increasingly heated air, let it fill up my lungs and moved forward -- up the next rock, onto the next ridge, headed for the oasis.
Joshua Tree National Park takes no prisoners
But before my time becoming acquainted with the strange and distant planet that is Joshua Tree National Park, I took a first hike through the Rockies. It was our last day in Colorado so Josh, Sam, Ellen and I made the short trip from Denver up north and west to Boulder thinking we'd hike in and around the city. While stopping to fuel up on hash, eggs and bacon at Foolish Craig's, we researched trails a little further ultimately deciding the 1 hour drive up to Estes National Park would be worth it. There was a trail with four Lakes - Bear, Nymph, Dream and Emerald - that combined everything we wanted to see and do. We all voted yes for waterfalls and a moderate climb.
The drive from Boulder to Estes was beautiful. The skies bright and the day clear, we curved around the mountains and followed a roaring creek up 7522 feet to downtown Estes. Traffic at the park entrance was predictably backed up - Coloradans making the most of their sunny spring weekend - but we were seen through, entrance fee paid and on our way to the trailhead at Bear Lake in about 20 minutes.
Proof of passage
And there it was -- snow at the trailhead! Oh so novel and adorable at first, it would later prove to be the biggest challenge of this 3 and a half mile round trip journey. Sam and Josh quickly made pace but Ellen stayed behind with me. I worried at first that I was holding her back but she promised she was fine and enjoyed the company. She is a stronger hiker than me and proved to be a great support as we climbed the 650 foot rise from Bear Lake to our final destination.
650 feet doesn't sound like a lot but elevation at Bear Lake and the trailhead was 9475 and I was still adjusting to altitude. Initially, I was taken in by the climb just from Bear Lake to Nymph Lake, stopping to rest and feeling celebratory to make it that far. How little did I know. As we moved on, the trail steepened and narrowed with snow steadily inching its way over the path as we climbed. It wasn't long after we passed Nymph Lake and its roaring waterfall that we encountered the first of many ice sheets -- the entire landscape covered in white, sunbeams gleaming and dancing off the surface.
The waterfall was soon followed by nothing but snow and ice
Ellen and I caught up with Sam and Josh at Dream Lake - they were on their way down. Neither seemed to mind their inevitable wait at the trailhead (in fact, we were later treated to video of Josh, jumping off a rock into the very cold waters of Dream Lake, so we know how they used their time in the interim!) and encouraged us to keep going, the view at the top was worth it. That became the line of the many hikers we would encounter, working their way back down. As they passed Ellen and I, we heard time and again that Emerald Lake was frozen solid, that it wasn't much further, keep pushing, if they could do it we could too. The reward was near. We soldiered on.
Slipping and sliding often, there were times where we had to make finger holes in the snow to catch a grip. We made one temporary wrong turn in search of the mystic frozen lake but soon figured out our folly and got back on track. The trail was hard to find precisely because there was no trail, long erased by snow and ice. If there had not been gobs of people out taking advantage of this sunny June Saturday, I would have been more worried for us. As it was, we were all in this together, passing so many on the way up and down. We weren't lost for long.
We hit Emerald Lake around 4PM. It was, like all of Colorado, spectacular - something from the heavens. Ellen and I rested on rocks, caught our breath and enjoyed the young couples and groups playing around, taking a billion selfies and shared in their pride at having reached the destination.
We wouldn't stay long, however. There was the matter of the sun's rays starting to dip beneath the horizon and the fact that we had about 2.5 miles of ice sheet to traverse before making it back to dry land. And the way down was the way down - time to put that one time only skiing lesson into practice.
"Make a pizza, make a pizza," I kept telling myself as my boots slid along the surface. I fell more than once, my butt an icy uncomfortable mess. At a certain point, we learned from the laughing children in front of us, there was nothing to do but sit on it and slide - one long icy chute taking us down the mountain.
My hip, injured somehow before I left for tour, started to ache, my back following suit. Ellen was patient and kind, always looking behind to make sure I'd made it down our most recent rock, stopping with me so I could stretch, breathe, readjust. She took my frustration in stride. I really could not have gotten down without her.
We found Sam and Josh at the trailhead, compared adventures and marveled at the feat. Then, with Josh driving like he was born to star in car commercials and the new Radiohead album ushering out, we were treated to a herd of elk at the exit. The sun sinking ever lower, transitioning from late afternoon to spring twilight, it was feeding time, and the gang had arrived for supper. Majestic like the mountains around us, they were the perfect ending note to our strenuous climb. I felt rewarded and ever more in love with the state of Colorado.
A view from the top
My next hike would come almost a week later, at Joshua Tree National Park, and this one I would take solo. Venturing out by myself wasn't my first choice but no one on the team was available or interested in the excursion. The prospect of a solitary journey did not deter me for there was NO WAY I was missing this. Back when I first started planning the tour and knew we would stop in L.A., a hike in JTNP was one of the very first things I'd decided was a must do. Up to this point, I'd never seen the desert. I had to go. It was imperative.
I arrived around 11AM and by the time I'd stopped at the visitor center for water, a bathroom break and my passport stamp, it was nearly noon. Not the most reasonable time to start hiking - I had to decide quickly where I would go and what I would do. I'd entered at the Western Entrance Station, then turned around and drove back out when I realized there was no water or food available in the park - two things I had to have before subjecting myself to the elements. Once I made it through the visitor's center - where water is stocked aplenty - I rechecked my map and made note of the different hikes that were appealing. I'd read up a little prior to my trip and recalled the FortyNinePalms Oasis hike was "only" 3 miles long and seemed doable for me. Plus, there was an oasis and, really, what's a trip to the desert without laying eyes on this mythical entity?
Driving east on highway 62, skirting the northern edge of the park, I turned down Canyon Road and soon found the parking lot and at last, the trailhead. I was greeted by signage and warnings that people JUST LIKE ME have died in the park. It was around 12:15 and the sun was beating down. The temperature in the parking lot clocking in at 97 degrees. My level of trepidation probably wasn't quite high enough because without too much thought I slapped on sunscreen, loaded my backpack with three water bottles and secured my large brimmed hat to my head. The ascent began almost immediately.
It was cute at first. I made sure to stop every 50 feet or so, chug some water and take in the view. I was mindful that once I was halfway through the water, it was time to turn back. That meant I had a bottle and a half to get me to the oasis. I savored the isolation. Just me, the desert and a nice breeze that kept me pushing forward. I thought about my life, about my people, about my career, about the tour, about what was to come, about who I want to be, about turning 40, about my family, probably about you, dear reader. It wasn't until I was over the third ridge, or so, that I realized the voice in my head had become my voice out loud. My brain was already fried - despite the hat, despite the water, despite the sunscreen. I was in a weird kind of drunken state. Almost giddy - part of me knowing what was happening, the other part already in surrender. I may have recorded some of these heat drunk thoughts into my phone. Listening to them now, nearly three weeks removed, I can quickly determine they are not meant for public consumption!
Two ladies passed me on the way down. They were encouraging, telling me I was through the roughest parts. They offered me some of their water, but I had enough - the pack was already heavy - so I turned them down. We talked for a minute more and I watched them, almost enviously, as they made their way back to the lot below. It was nice to see fellow women and I felt revived by their kindness. Onward I went.
For the next few, yet eternal, minutes, I was out of sight of both the parking lot and the oasis. Tucked in between a series of ridges, I could not even see out into the valley. I'm not sure I've ever felt more alone in my life. This was more than a test of my physical strength and stamina, this was a mental feat - gymnastics of sorts as I balanced on the edge of sanity and pondered the view from the other side.
Finally, I turned a corner and there it was - the promised land of shade. 49 of the tallest and loveliest palm trees I'd ever seen in my life beckoning with their guarantee of rest, comfort and cool air. The palm is admittedly not my favorite of trees but this day, these 49 beauties would become my best friends. I rushed toward them with a speed I did not know I possessed.
Dear Bono, I found what I was looking for
I sat there for nearly an hour, knowing the way back would be long and hard. The oasis even provided a healthy 4G signal and I was able to reach the outside world in this moment of isolation. I checked Facebook, admired the view and tried to ignore the squawking bird of prey circling above me. I was not dead. Not yet.
It drew time. I had an evening engagement back in Los Angeles and the day would soon come to a close. Very reluctantly, I packed up, said goodbye to my new best friends and started the trek back. Maybe it was because I was already so beat up or maybe because the way back started with a climb or maybe because my expectations had been mismanaged by the kind ladies who told me I was done with the hard part, but I was only about 20 yards into my trek when I felt more worried than ever. It was hard, very hard. I had to stop every 10 steps, rest, breathe, drink water. My energy was depleted, sun sickness setting in. My stomach churning, my breathing labored, my head spinning with thoughts of collapse, knowing I still had so much further to go, I considered turning back around to the oasis and waiting it out til the sun started to set. But I was afraid of running out of water, worried I'd pass out and wake up after dark, my phone signal long dead, so on I pushed. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other.
I was saved about a half mile from the end by what I will forever know as Shade Rock. That's the name I bestowed on this beautiful boulder perched on the left side of the trail, providing one human body's worth of shade. It was the only shade available between the oasis and parking lot. And it was not there before - the sun had shifted just enough while I convalesced that Shade Rock's magical powers had been activated. I sat for 20 minutes, resting and not dying, knowing the trail head was within reach. I managed a signal on my phone again and connected laughing at the irony that while on this hike where I almost died, I received one of the biggest emails of my life; an agreement, a contract, a new beginning, affirmed. One more step to making a dream come true. Shade Rock was truly a magical place.
This email got me moving. I had work to do and that work occupied my mind most of the way back - keeping me motivated. About 20 seconds after I muttered out loud, "where is the damn parking lot??" I came over the final ridge and saw it. Even more exciting than the oasis, there was the car whose air conditioner I would blast at top level while coming down from this crazy, sanity-risking adventure through one of nature's most inhospitable lands. The thermostat in the car read 107 degrees. But I was safe. And alive. With things to do and plans to make. I had done the thing. I texted RR. I was proud. I had temporarily conquered the ugly governor and proven I was capable and strong.
The trepidation I had before embarking on this tour seems small and silly in retrospect. As I sit here in Cleveland, wrapping up and marking my final days on the road, I can look back on these two hikes with a strong sense of achievement. They will become touchstones in the days, weeks and months ahead - days that will present many challenges of a different sort. When the going gets rough - and it will - I will think back to the ice sheets of the Rockies and the scorching sun of Joshua Tree and find that I can, I must and I should believe in myself. I may be small, stout and a little physically challenged but I can do it - I can do the thing.
Windy City Unstoppable
"We should just get the Vader slip-ons and call it a day." These words actually came out of my mouth as I stood, around 530PM Central time, in a Chicago DSW with Taylor, looking over a rack of men's shoes. We were searching for Josh, madly seeking replacement boots.* It was 530 on a Monday, our load-in day. By this point on Mondays, we're long done, load-in down to a science. So why, why had we just spent an hour at a Marshall's followed by this trip downstairs for shoes??? If you guessed UPS had something to do with this little excursion, you'd be spot on.
It occurred to me at some point on Saturday, while still recovering from Friday fun day in Sonoma County, that I had not received my weekly Friday call from my good pals at UPS Freight. While strange and a little annoying that I'd have to wait til Monday to figure out why they had not checked in to let me know the road box was in Chicago, I did not think too terribly of it. My mind was on getting us to the airport by 430AM the next morning to catch our 6AM flight to Salt Lake City and then Chicago.
I arrived in Chicago with broken luggage, having briefly thought I'd left my wallet on the plane and severely sleep deprived from a night of drunk sleep (that Sonoma County wine is goooooood y'all) followed by a night of no sleep. I checked into my AirBnB (after dealing with yet another housing relocation situation! another time, another story) ordered some food, talked to my mom, watched Game 7 (sorry Oakland!) and then promptly passed out. I was still pretty groggy and in between two sets of dreams when I woke this morning. My first call was to UPS. It was Monday, I needed to know where the damn road box was. I found out soon enough.
The road box is still in L.A.. Still sitting on the loading dock of Barnsdall Gallery Theatre where Sam, Taylor and I left it 10 DAYS AGO. Apparently, when UPS Freight comes to pick it up and sees they do not have enough room in their truck - even when you have given them the dimensions - they turn around and shuffle home and DO NOT CONTACT ANYONE ABOUT IT. Never mind that they had my number, the number for the venue manager at Barnsdall and a number for Advocates, the account holder, apparently they saw no reason to tell anyone that their expected freight would not arrive as expected.
Another day on tour, another hilarious set of text messages between me, Tracey and Taylor
I might have screamed into my pillow for a second but then quickly composed myself and did what I do - started emailing, texting and calling as many people as I could.
And thank the theatre gods that be, the team was on fire today. Everyone dove into action. Rachel, back in D.C. at Advocates, got on the phone with the UPS rep, Sam met us at the theatre and started hanging lights and working sound because those are two things we COULD DO without the road box and Ellen, Taylor and I went across the street, had some bagels and hashed out 3 contingency plans and solutions. Recreating the costume plot won out over sending Ellen and Taylor on a crazy overnight trip to L.A. to rescue the wardrobe (at least) and THAT is how the three of us ended up, punch drunk and giddy, at Chicago's finest discount stores this afternoon. Ellen may have purchased a crazy hat and I might have acquired a new pair of sunglasses.
As we were standing in line to check out, we got word from Rachel that UPS would pick up the box tomorrow in L.A., expedite it and have it in Chicago by noon on Wednesday, the day of our show. Having absolutely no faith in UPS at this point, we proceeded with our purchase. Fittings are scheduled tomorrow and the actors already know how to do the show with no set because, for different reasons, we staged sans walls in Denver to great success. We're doing this show on Wednesday. And it will look and sound and feel great because we're unstoppable.
After the show, we get to dump the road box, if it comes. Advocates has concluded that this version of the show will not continue beyond the tour and so, Road Box Number One - the one that moved from Joe's Emporium in D.C. to 7Stages in Atlanta to Stateside Theatre in Austin to Barnsdall Gallery in L.A. and now, hopefully, maybe to Theater Wit in Chicago will be destroyed. Its contents sold and donated, its wood chopped and thrown away. Part of me wants to put it on a pyre and let it float out in Lake Michigan but that's giving it too much reverence. At the very least, I hope I get a moment with the SAWZALL.
It's the first good-bye. The beginning of the end. So long Road Box Number One - you made for some good stories but I'm not sad AT ALL about leaving you behind.
*no Josh, we did not buy you the Vader slip-ons
"In two weeks, you'll never have to say the words 'ROAD BOX' again" - tour BFF Taylor
The ground of warriors
It's a good week to be in Oakland. With the Golden State Warriors currently ahead 3-2 in the NBA Finals, the city is popping with a fresh coat of pride. And despite Game 6 taking place in Cleveland tonight, I'm currently lobby side once more as this evening's performance of Remarkably Normal is sold out.
I've enjoyed being here -- a feeling that surprised me as I honestly thought I'd be yearning for San Francisco all week, jonesing to get to the other, more familiar side of the Bay, But I've found Oakland charming, the people friendly and cool in that appealing California way and the weather, as expected, has been magnificent - I'll take October in June any day, thank you very much Alex.
As tomorrow I'll be in wine country and Saturday out with Ellen exploring SF, today has been my last full day in Oakland and I find I'm a little sad to say goodbye. In a mere 4 days, I've developed a routine. It's been comforting after the chaos and rush of LA. I will miss it.
I live close enough to walk to "the office" each day - this has not been the case in every city - and I relish throwing on my extra layers, putting in my earbuds and stepping out into the crisp, blue morning for my 20 minute mini hike.
Our venue, The Flight Deck, is located on Broadway, about a block from City Hall and in the heart of Oakland's business corridor. Our venue manager, the amazingly named Champagne, quickly shot to the top of my "favorite people I've met on this tour" list. We said goodbye tonight and I secretly wished I had another week working with her so we could cement our budding friendship.
We've simply had a good experience here. It's the 6th week of the tour, we're getting tired and ready to be at home. Oakland stayed simple. Nothing about it was complicated. It's been a moment to rest and restore before our move back East and a final push in Chicago and Cleveland.
Thank you Oakland - keep on keeping on and hope to see you again, soon.
Live from Los Angeles - Food Poisoning Version
LA, you have not been particularly kind. At present, I'm lying in bed, relieved of my company manager duties for the day as I recover from a bout of what is surely food poisoning. I blame some probably not so fresh tahini and my already sensitive stomach's response to chickpeas. Feeling betrayed by my body AND the state of California (seriously, what did I do?), I think it's time to look backward on my transformative week in Colorado.
Upfront confession - I kinda fell madly, passionately in love. Like most crushes, it started slowly but creeped up on me mid-week and by the time I was welling up with each corner turned at Garden of the Gods, I knew I was done. I've been struggling to blog about the experience because Rocky Mountain High is definitely a thing - with or without the potent elixirs hawked on every corner in Denver - and I definitely had thoughts like, "I'm no longer afraid of death" once or twice last week. It was a religious and spiritual experience to be sure and I struggle with the words to capture it all at its most personal. Colorado tapped into all my vulnerabilities, forced an openness where I am usually reserved and got up close and intimate like we were meant to be this way all along. I could not fight it. Surrender Dorothy, I did.
Funny thing is, this was not my first Denver/Colorado rodeo, oh no. In fact, way back in early 2002, a younger, shorter-haired, thinner version of me went on a pilgrimage from Gainesville, FL to Denver in search of a shiny certificate that would (I hoped!) ensure a new career path. "Be Paid to Travel!" was the slogan of the International Guide Academy and a 3 week course culminating in an International Tour Manager certification was just the thing that 23 year old Ty thought she needed. When you are young, poor and possess a BA in Theatre Arts, you tend to get creative and I was tired of banging my head against closed stage doors. A life on the road, being paid to travel (!) and leading groups of septuagenarians around Europe seemed a good blend of my public speaking and logistical coordination skills.
I did well in this course. And despite being the youngest person in the class - by many years, these are jobs trés populaire for the retired set - returned to Florida with the praise of my instructors and high hopes for a new life in the travel industry.
It was short lived. Because, you see, to become a Tour Manager with one of the many outfitters across the country, you need to have quite a bit of life and work experience managing logistics, personalities and places. At that point, I had exactly two jobs to my post-college resume and no one was going to entrust 50PAX to a kid. I settled for a sales job with NETC (now WorldStrides, apparently) in Boston, hawking educational tours to teachers and parents.
But this was 2003, 9/11 still burned bright and fresh in collective memory and let's face it, an excellent cold caller I was not. I found myself leaving Boston a mere 9 months after arriving, packing up and shipping back South toward RR and our shared destiny in DC. I have certainly kept the skills acquired at IGA practiced and polished in my work as a DC tour guide but, it wasn't until July of last year that I finally used this resume credential to talk my way into an ACTUAL TOUR MANAGER position. And thank god, I did.
Because now, here I am. Back in Denver, back where this whole love affair started with no expectations other than getting through a solid week of work and maybe enjoying some Rocky Mountain views on the side.
But with no hesitation or doubt, Colorado took me in and claimed me as one of her own. I clicked instantly with the people - everyone was chill, cool and friendly. It was easy to fall in step. The weather - OH, the weather - had me from day one. I'd never experienced dry heat (my first time in CO was in February) and after two weeks of brutality in Texas and Florida, I could breathe again. The sun, so high and yet so close, kissed my forehead each morning and wrapped me up like the warmest of blankets. Clouds would move in for a moment, say hello and then dash out again. The air smelled sweet of lilac and honeysuckle adding calm to this level of peace and inner quiet I was already experiencing.
And that's what really got me. The whole week, I wasn't anxious; my brain not spouting off in 8000 directions ad nauseam. I could relax, despite knowing I was eight weeks away from unemployment. My mind stayed focused and still, even when the road box was late and the schedule needed to be adjusted. I was cool when we got the less than 24 hour notification that an interpreter would be in our very small, very intimate house for our one very oversold performance. I was supremely satisfied all week, floating in a sea of contentment. It's no wonder I did not want to leave.
My last three days in Colorado were some of the most perfect of my life. Even RR's particularly felt absence was mitigated by his understanding of what I was experiencing and the knowledge that we will, soon, return together. On Thursday, I took a solitary stroll around the beautiful Denver Botanic Gardens. Friday, was the day my life changed during my (again, solo) trip to Garden of the Gods and Saturday, with the help of super awesome hike buddy Ellen, I climbed the Rockies in search of a frozen lake. These stories are worthy of their own posts so I will sign off with one of my favorite photographs from one of my favorite days ever - the day I really laid eyes on the glory and grandeur of the American West. There's no coming back down. Rocky Mountain High is forever.
Halfway from here
And just like that, we're here. A month ago we were loading into Atlanta. A month from now, we'll all be back home. It's appropriate that Denver, our true halfway point, was, for me, a transformative experience. I don't feel the same - in a good way - and it's a feeling I'm still trying to process. There will be a blog post about all of that later - probably many blog posts - but first, here's some fun things I've learned in the last 4 weeks on this national tour.
1) Uber service varies widely from city to city. And sometimes, like in Austin, there is no Uber at all! In Miami, it's really good to know Spanish if you're calling an Uber - especially at the airport. And I think Denverites are still getting used to it - their drivers anyway. See Exhibit A below ...
No, Teresa, you're not arriving now. You're not even on a road!
2) The road box - its arrival, delay, ability to turn up in one piece - and all the logistics that go into receiving it, will always be the first challenge of the week. In Miami and Denver, it was late. In Austin, it showed up before we had a place to store it. In LA, it was mostly on time but arrived looking like this ...
Ellen's face tells you everything you need to know.
3) Hahaha to changing ANY of your habits or getting a lot of personal work done. Yes, I've brought clothes to work out in - and I even lived with a gym in my building for a week. Have I gotten into the daily exercise routine I just knew I would on this life altering, body transformative national tour?? Hells no. My tennis shoes clad feet haven't seen the first elliptical or treadmill. But they have hiked all over downtown Austin, swum in South Beach ocean waters, climbed a Rocky Mountain and this week, transportation willing, they'll make their first EVER footprints in the desert. There may be no formal time at the gym but there is a helluva lot of moving.
These feet have earned their keep
4) All that moving will be counteracted by all the eating. But EAT. EAT THE FOOD!!! Have the shrimp and grits in Atlanta, cuban ANYTHING in Miami, tacos in Texas and rattlesnake in Denver (ok, so I didn't but Evelyn did!) And don't worry about it. Your husband still thinks you're cute and you can detox when you get back to DC. #greensmoothielife #hereIcome
EAT ALL THE THINGS!!! YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER GET TO DO THIS AGAIN!!!
Shrimp and Grits in Atlanta, Pressed Cuban Sandwich in Miami, Torchy's Tacos in Austin, Mexican bakery in San Antonio, Tacos authentica in Denver and a BLAT (Bacon Lettuce Avocado Tomato in Denver
(L-R, Top-Bottom)
5) I am not particularly patriotic or nationalistic, but America really is something else. I've had moments when I'm so busy, it's easy to drown out election and all other national news that usually keeps me riled up and on simmer, at the least. Luckily these busy moments, typically coincide with high local interaction. Every city has its story and if you listen with intention, the people will tell it. It's a broad story and varies from place to place. It's diverse in philosophy and form but American in its essence; from our really lovely server at that first breakfast in Atlanta, the one who was willing to speak frankly about abortion to me and Marie to Steve at Su Teatro whose flexibility and easygoing temperament helped facilitate our most successful show in Denver and Debbie at Barnsdall in LA who greeted us today with hugs. I've had AirBnB hosts who gave me great touring tips and an Uber driver who shared with me his playwriting process. No matter where we've gone, the ratio of lovely people to assholes has remained high in favor of the former. And that gives me hope.
America, you're wild, weird and kind of wonderful. Here's to four more weeks.


Fluffy, pillowy soft marshmallows with vanilla beans. These homemade marshmallows practically melt in your mouth! You'd be surprised at how easy they are to make.
Sweet, delicate peppermint french macarons sandwiched with a rich white chocolate ganache. These macaron cookies are lightly peppermint-flavored, and perfectly paired with the white chocolate filling. What makes macarons so delightful is their light and chewy texture that is almost addictive. The way I wax on poetically about them, would you believe it if I told you I used to dislike them? Yepp, at one point I thought I hated them. That is, until I attempted making them for myself..
Thick and chewy, these cookies are packed with flavor. Lots of molasses, spices, and bits of candied ginger make these cookies so drool-worthy.
These cookies are buttery and full of warm toasted pecans, and shredded coconut. The perfect envelopment of classic holiday flavors.
As weird as the words cranberry and salsa sound together, cranberry salsa is actually really good! Think of it as salsa's sweeter cousin with a little pizzaz. It's tart, tangy, a little sweet, with a little bit of spicy. Of course the spicy-ness is all up to you and how heavy your jalepeño hand is.
I'm usually a latte purist. I like my lattes with espresso and steamed milk. No sugar, no flavorings, nothing. If it ain't broke don't fix it-am I right? But Paul loves all the holiday flavored lattes there are to offer, and his favorite being the eggnog latte. Since I bought some eggnog for some baking ideas, he requested a homemade eggnog latte.


Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) spoke on the House floor today in memory of 3-year-old Trucker Dukes from Maui, who lost his life on Friday, March 3 after battling childhood cancer.
Trucker's spirit of resilience and open heart became an inspiration for people across the country after he was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a stage-four adrenal cancer, at 19 months old. A celebration of life honoring Trucker will be held tomorrow morning, March 10, in Kīhei.
"Today, let us honor and recognize a young Maui boy whose life touched hearts around the world and whose legacy will live on through the millions that he inspired.
"Trucker Dukes was not quite four years old when he took his last breath this past Friday, after a painful battle with Stage-4 Neuroblastoma and two years of intense treatment.
"Trucker's dad is a firefighter and—like father, like son—Trucker loved firetrucks. When Trucker went to New York for treatment, the New York Fire Department coordinated a very special 3rd birthday party celebration, and swore him in as an honorary firefighter.
"International award winning magicians Bruce and Jennifer Meyers present "Dreams of Wonder", a magic show for the whole family at Hilo's historic Palace Theater on Saturday, March 11th at 2:00pm. They will be featuring new stunning and astonishing magic and illusions, as well as a few jaw-dropping favorites which have brought standing ovations from Hilo audiences before. Also in the show will be the beautiful and engaging aerial artistry of Luna Sophia as she shares her message of peace. Josie The Jokester will be sharing her irresistible humor. Additionally, there will be a magical appearance by Keiki magicians who have attended Bruce Meyers Magic Camps. Master of Ceremonies will be none other than Pauline Victoria.
Much of the proceeds from "Dreams of Wonder" will benefit Full Life who work to empower people with disabilities on Hawaii Island, Abled Hawaiian Artists (AHA) promoting employment in the arts, and the historic Palace Theater. Full Life and AHA artists and entrepreneurs will be displaying and selling their art and products in the lobby of the Palace Theater on the day of the performance.
The Keiki magicians in Dreams Of Wonder will be performing magic they learned at Meyers' Magic Camps and some that will be taught at the next Magic Camp held this March 21st through the 24th at the Palace Theater for three hours per day. Registration for the March Magic Camp costs only $70 and can be made by calling (808) 982-9294.
Pre-sale tickets are $12 Adults; $8 Keiki 12 and under, and will be $15 Adults; $10 Keiki 12 and under on the day of the show. Tickets are on sale now at the Palace Theater (808) 934-7010 or online at www.BruceMeyers.com .


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text:
Apollo and Cupid is a bronze sculpture of the Greek god Apollo flanked by an amorino by the Flemish sculptor François Duquesnoy. Just like Duquesnoy's Mercury (whose putto is now lost) the statue was designed as a dialogue between a Greek god and a putto / Cupid. The sculpture has been described as more classicist when compared to the Mercury, with Apollo's feminine facial features akin to those of Duquesnoy's Saint Susanna, and the "vigorously molded" Cupid quite close to Duquesnoy's masterpiece, the putti adorning the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde. Both the Mercury and Apollo and Cupid are currently housed at the private Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.

Sculpture
According to Bellori, whilst this bronze is indeed a pendant to Duquesnoy's Mercury, it was designed several years later by the Fiammingo. Indeed, the sculpture wasn't realized for Vincenzo Giustiniani (the Greek sculpture enthusiast who had commissioned the Mercury from Duquesnoy) but for another patron. Further, a different dating for the two sculptures is suggested by stylistic differences. Duquesnoy's Apollo and Cupid is first recorded in and inventory of Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein at Feldsberg. It has been suggested that Karl Eusebius commissioned this oeuvre himself.

The subject of the sculpture has been determined to be Apollo instructing Cupid how to shoot an arrow, with Cupid depicted while imitating him. The god leans on a tree stump, "in a graceful contrapposto that echoes that of the Mercury, but without its backward tilt." Apollo originally held a bow in his left hand. With his right hand, Apollo instructs Cupid to extract a bow from his quiver. According to the Liechtenstein Museum Press, "Duquesnoy gave his figures a softly chased surface and a subtle modulation that creates a gentle interplay of light and shade."

Together with the Mercury, the bronze was greatly admired by Austrian sculptor Georg Rafael Donner, who copied Duquesnoy's bronzes. Duquesnoy's authorship was forgotten in the eighteenth century, and the work was thought to be an antique.

References

Sources

External links

 Apollo and Cupid at Liechtenstein Museum official website
 Apollo and Cupid at the Web Gallery of Art

1630s sculptures
Sculptures in Austria
Sculptures by François Duquesnoy
Bronze sculptures in Austria
Bronze sculptures
Sculptures of Apollo
Sculptures of classical mythology


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F1 2012 is set to deliver the most accessible and immersive FORMULA ONE game for fans of all abilities
Release Date: 21-Sep-2012
Experience the speed, passion and glory of FORMULA ONE with F1 2012, the next game in the BAFTA award-winning series from Codemasters. F1 2012 is officially licensed to feature all the cars, stars and circuits from the 2012 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, including the new Circuit of The Americas, home of the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX. Test yourself against the greats in Champions mode, hunt down glory in just ten races in Season Challenge and go deeper in the multi-season Career mode.
A new Young Drivers Test teaches players how to control the world's most responsive motor racing cars and accessible new controls ensure fans of all abilities are eased into the world of FORMULA ONE. New dynamic localised weather require race-changing strategy calls to be made on the fly, and multiplayer modes extend the challenge in co-op, split-screen and 12 player online modes. F1 2012 – feel it!
Features all the stars, cars and circuits from the 2012 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The next game in the BAFTA award-winning series from Codemasters Racing Studios
Prove yourself in split-screen, co-op championships and online against 16 players plus 8 AI to simulate full 24 car grids
Debut ahead of the drivers at the new Circuit of The Americas, home of the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
Make race-defining strategy calls as localised weather dynamically changes circuit conditions
Test yourself against the greats – take on six Drivers' World Champions in dramatic racing challenges in Champions Mode
New Young Drivers Test includes new tutorials to learn how to master motorsport's most responsive cars
Can you hunt down glory in just ten races in Season Challenge?
Use KERS and DRS for new attack and defence options –speed past rivals and defend your line
Race wheel-to-wheel with stars like Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso
Suitable for people aged 3 and over.


text:
Q: Unconditional jump for QApplication initialization Have a simple application written useing Qt under Ubuntu 16.04 4.4.0-66-generic:
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QApplication::setAttribute(Qt::AA_DontCreateNativeWidgetSiblings);
    QApplication::setStyle(QStyleFactory::create("plastique"));

    QGCCore core(argc, argv);
    int val;
    val = core.exec();

    return val;
}

And the QGCCore just inherit the QApplication:
class QGCCore : public QApplication
{
    Q_OBJECT

public:
    QGCCore(int &argc, char* argv[]):QApplication(argc,argv){};
    ~QGCCore(){};
};

However, Valgrind told me there is a bug:
==3494== Conditional jump or move depends on uninitialised value(s)
==3494==    at 0x12CB94BA: ??? (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0.2400.23)
==3494==    by 0x95215E6: ??? (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgobject-2.0.so.0.4002.0)
==3494==    by 0x953A087: g_signal_emit_valist (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgobject-2.0.so.0.4002.0)
==3494==    by 0x953B211: g_signal_emit_by_name (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgobject-2.0.so.0.4002.0)
==3494==    by 0x9528B38: g_object_set_valist (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgobject-2.0.so.0.4002.0)
==3494==    by 0x9529396: g_object_set (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgobject-2.0.so.0.4002.0)
==3494==    by 0x59987A5: ??? (in /home/shupeng/Qt5.6.1/5.6/gcc_64/lib/libQt5Widgets.so.5.6.1)
==3494==    by 0x5921D2C: QStyleFactory::create(QString const&) (in /home/shupeng/Qt5.6.1/5.6/gcc_64/lib/libQt5Widgets.so.5.6.1)
==3494==    by 0x58B7363: QApplication::style() (in /home/shupeng/Qt5.6.1/5.6/gcc_64/lib/libQt5Widgets.so.5.6.1)
==3494==    by 0x58B75C4: QApplicationPrivate::initialize() (in /home/shupeng/Qt5.6.1/5.6/gcc_64/lib/libQt5Widgets.so.5.6.1)
==3494==    by 0x58B7613: QApplicationPrivate::init() (in /home/shupeng/Qt5.6.1/5.6/gcc_64/lib/libQt5Widgets.so.5.6.1)
==3494==    by 0x4240EE: QGCCore::QGCCore(int&, char**) (QGCCore.cc:51)
==3494==    by 0x422D35: main (main.cc:89)
==3494==  Uninitialised value was created by a stack allocation
==3494==    at 0x9523140: g_cclosure_marshal_VOID__VOIDv (in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgobject-2.0.so.0.4002.0)
==3494==
==3494== (action on error) vgdb me ...

What is this problem, did I do anything wrong?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2015/05/wsof-announces-trio-of-russian-signings-including-unbeatens-vagabov-and-bibulatov
WSOF announces trio of Russian signings, including unbeatens Vagabov and Bibulatov
May 21, 2015 8:45 am ET
Magomed Bibulatov
WSOF has inked Russian imports Vagab Vagabov (15-0), Magomed Bibulatov (9-0) and Magomed Magomedov (10-1), officials recently announced.
All three Dagestanian fighters signed exclusive, multi-fight deals, though debut dates and opponents haven't been announced.
The fighters will be making their U.S. debuts.
"We are excited to welcome these three fast-climbing young stars to the WSOF roster and expect them to shake things up in the world of MMA," WSOF President Ray Sefo stated. "Over the last couple of years, we have seen a tremendous amount of high-caliber talent being unearthed from Russia, and I am proud to say that WSOF has been proactive and played a significant part in these discoveries, and will continue to search and sign the most promising talent from this part of the world as well as elsewhere around the globe."
Vagabov, a 29-year-old middleweight, is an M-1 vet who's posted 11 stoppages (seven knockouts and four submissions) in 15 career wins. Most recently, he earned a second-round TKO victory over Chris Katanga (0-1) at a regional show in Russia.
Bibulatov, a 26-year-old flyweight, turned pro in 2013, a year in which he went 5-0 and won a single-night eight-man tournament. After going 3-0 in 2014, he made his 2015 debut in March and scored a 90-second knockout win over Eduardo Felipe (22-14) at an event in Russia.
Magomedov, a bantamweight, has won nine straight fights since his lone loss, which came in 2011 to Arsen Ubaidulaev (14-7). The M-1 vet and five-year pro has seven stoppages in 10 career wins. In his most recent bout, he earned a decision victory over Paata Robakidze (20-6) at M-1 Challenge 48.
For more on the WSOF's upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.
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2023 PFL Challenger Series 1: Best photos from Orlando
Check out these photos from the fights at 2023 PFL Challenger Series 1 in Orlando, Fla.
Danny Segura
2019 PFL champ Emiliano Sordi has a fight booked, and it's not with PFL.
Tony Ferguson says he has been asked to coach 'The Ultimate Fighter' opposite Conor McGregor


Our mission is to work with all those affected by Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis & other forms of IBD to achieve a better quality of life, improve services, & ultimately find a cure.
We provide high quality information, practical help & personal care; work with the UK health sector to improve diagnosis, treatment & management of IBD; support life-changing research to increase knowledge of the causes & the best treatments for Crohn's & Colitis; and campaign vigorously – for more knowledge, better services & more support.
We want to see a world in which people's lives are not limited by Crohn's & Colitis. We won't stop until we've won.
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Take on a 5/10K walk along the stunning seaside of Swansea and join thousands of people raising funds for Crohn's and Colitis UK.
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Come along on a 5km or 10km walk and help make WALK IT Newcastle a huge success as we explore this dynamic city.
Enjoy breathtaking sea views and your favourite spots in the beautiful historic city on a 5km or 10km route.
Receive a cycling jersey, inspiring fundraising pack and on-hand support from our friendly events team.


You may have seen the commercials on TV about Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD). This condition limits your ability to walk because of the pain it causes. One of the best ways to treat it is with a supervised exercise walking program that can help reduce pain and allow people to walk farther and faster. But now there's another solution.
A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has found that a home-based walking program can work. Past studies believe that supervised exercise was the answer. But this is the first study to find that a home-based program can increase a person's ability to walk further without pain.
This study compared 80 walking participants and 87 control participants for 12 months. The walking participants attended weekly meetings that trained them and helped support them in their home-based walking program. After six months, they received phone calls to encourage them to keep walking for an additional six months. The control group attended weekly meetings and received phone calls as well, but these discussions focused on other PAD topics such as managing hypertension, cancer screenings, and vaccinations.
In the program, the walking participants were told to attempt to walk a minimum of five days a week, building up to 50 minutes. If their legs hurt, they could rest until the pain disappeared, then begin walking again. After 12 months, the participants were able to walk 381.9 meters in six months, compared to 355.4 at the beginning of the program. The distance of the control group actually fell from 353.1 to 345.6 meters.
PAD can be life-threatening since it restricts circulation to the legs, arms, feet, and kidneys. If you have PAD, you also have a higher risk for heart attack and stroke. Walking problems aren't just a normal part of aging. If you have leg pain, weakness, or tingling, it could be PAD. But therapies like a home-based walking program can be effective in combating PAD.
Marty McGrae McDermott, M.D., the lead author of this study, calls walking exercises the most effective for treating PAD. I disagree. While I think exercise is important, McDermott's program may cause a cramping pain in the legs due to a lack of sufficient oxygen. If this happens, there's another solution, which I've talked about for years: Padma Basic. This formula increases circulation and reduces inflammation.
We know that inflammation is directly associated with a buildup of plaque in the arteries. Research has proven that this formula is particularly successful in keeping veins and arteries free from plaque. What's more, Padma Basic has dozens of sound scientific studies to back up its effectiveness. Since it can take from four weeks to six months to relieve leg pain, I suggest you use it long enough to give it a chance to work.
Mary M. Mcdermott, Jack M. Guralnik, Michael H. Criqui, Luigi Ferrucci, Lihui Zhao, Kiang Liu, Kathryn Domanchuk, Bonnie Spring, Lu Tian, Melina Kibbe, Yihua Liao, Donald Lloyd Jones, and W. Jack Rejeski. Home-Based Walking Exercise in Peripheral Artery Disease: 12-Month Follow-up of the Goals Randomized Trial. Journal of the American Heart Association, May 2014 DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.113.000711.


Eric Pearson is the supervisor for Home Entertainment at Pixar Animation Studios and the father of two children who currently attend Black Pine Circle School. At Pixar, he plays an operational and strategic planning role, helping the studio work with Disney Distribution to plan and deliver the right finishing touches for all of the feature and short films and ensure the best quality product for home consumers around the world. At home, he plays with his children, bikes, and writes as often as he can. Mr. Pearson graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and has a wide range of professional experiences from software development to film production to marketing strategy. Prior to working at Pixar, he was founder and product manager at Offermatica (now Adobe Test and Target), where he helped conceive, build, and launch a marketing and advertising optimization service now used by thousands of companies worldwide. Mr. Pearson also currently serves as the chair of the board of directors at BAYCAT, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching underserved youth and young adults how to produce digital media (video, animation, and music) and empowering them to tell their unique stories.


text:
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How Digital Currency Like Bitcoin Is Threatening Traditional Banking—and the Environment
If you were worried about your savings at a time of financial uncertainty—say, the looming threat of inflation—would you hand your money over to Elon Musk?
True, the Tesla founder is a brilliant investor and worth a mint, but he is also volatility itself, prone to strange, sudden shifts of opinion. And the fact is if, in recent weeks, you put your money into Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, you were effectively putting your money into Musk, whose many whimsical tweets and off-handed remarks about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin—in which he is a major investor—have helped send them seesawing in value. With his tweets, Musk is "literally making and destroying small fortunes 280 characters at a time," New York University marketing expert Scott Galloway told CNBC this week.
That, in turn, is proof of what some financial authorities have long been saying: When it comes to being a stable hedge against inflation, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are about as safe a bet as going to your local convenience store and buying a lottery ticket. That became doubly clear in recent weeks when China abruptly announced it was banning its banks from bitcoin transactions, again sending the price plummeting.
"If the value of a cryptocurrency can rise or fall by 30 percent because of a change in the stance of Chinese financial regulators or a Tesla announcement, then 'reliable' and 'inflation hedge' shouldn't appear in the same sentence," said Barry Eichengreen, an economist and monetary historian at the University of California, Berkeley.
Sure, cryptocurrencies tend to be deflationary since they're not tied to central banks that print money—and there is a lot of it being printed now to keep major economies afloat after COVID-19. Global stocks and futures have fallen as rising inflation concerns suggest the Federal Reserve and other central banks may have to raise interest rates. U.S. consumer prices climbed in April, the greatest jump since 2009.
That, on the face of it, might make cryptocurrencies seem attractive as a hedge. But there are so many other problems that make them hot potatoes as market bets—as evidenced by the shift away from cryptocurrencies and into gold in recent days, resulting in a nearly $1 trillion drop in cryptocurrency valuations by mid-week. Just the name "cryptocurrency" is an indication of how dicey Bitcoin's value is: Divorced from real money and part of a decentralized trading system largely controlled by a few large and mysterious investors, it has no monetary value other than what the market places on it day by day, and that, in turn, is based on a complex system known as blockchain, a type of "distributed ledger." (More on that later.)
But cryptocurrencies aren't going away either—on the contrary, they are helping revolutionize finance altogether by threatening to eliminate traditional "middlemen" in transactions, whether that be private banks, lawyers, or even central banks.
As a result, central banks are trying to keep up, seeking to outpace cryptocurrencies with a new competitive concept, "stablecoins," which the United States, China, and other major central banks are now developing. These are digital currencies that are like crypto coinage in some ways, but instead of being decentralized like Bitcoin—which is not overseen or regulated by governments—they are fully backed with safe and liquid assets in a domestic currency. Currently, some 80 percent of countries surveyed by the Bank for International Settlements are studying versions of stablecoins or what have become known as "central bank digital currency" (CBDCs), led by China and Switzerland.
In a speech last August, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard noted how the emergence of Bitcoin in 2008 led to the idea of stablecoins—and that, in turn, "has intensified calls for CBDCs to maintain the sovereign currency as the anchor of the nation's payment systems."
Yet to a degree few authorities seem to understand, central banks are in a desperate race with crypto-innovators, one they may even eventually lose. This new challenge has risen in a matter of months: Since 2013, the value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation has soared from $1.6 billion to more than $1.6 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap, a market tracking company.
And about $1.4 trillion of that value was added only in the past year.
"They're reinventing what finance is, and it's sort of going under the radar of the establishment," said Carol Alexander, a cryptocurrency expert at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. "They're not using standard products. They're not using standard trading protocols. … It's a revolution led by young people, computer science geeks, and they talk a million miles an hour."
This is creating something close to panic in Washington and other capitals. Governments are concerned as cryptocurrency trading expands, many traders are evading taxes. And as cryptocurrency traders increase, they are moving to cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance, the number one exchange in the world, which was started in China but then fled to the crypto-accommodating Cayman Islands. On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it is adopting new policies to crack down on cryptocurrency markets and transactions, saying it will require any cryptocurrency transfers of $10,000 or more to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. And new Securities and Exchange Commission chairperson Gary Gensler, an expert who taught a course on cryptocurrency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has indicated he's considering a whole new regulatory framework. Bitcoin shares were hit yet again on Friday when Chinese authorities called for a crackdown on mining and trading of the cryptocurrency.
The success of cryptocurrencies has also spurred an eagerness worldwide to shift to digital currency. The trend has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has driven home the increasingly antiquated nature of cash money. The problem became clear over the past year as governments failed to transfer relief money to poorer segments of the population that lacked credit cards or bank accounts. "The COVID-19 crisis is a dramatic reminder of the importance of a resilient and trusted payments infrastructure that is accessible to all Americans," Brainard said last August, announcing her support for a joint study of CBDCs by the Boston Federal Reserve and MIT. All these distribution problems could be solved, Eichengreen noted, with "a Federal Reserve-issued electronic wallet into which digital dollars could be deposited."
The problem is worldwide. "There are some countries where commercial banks put a sign on the door: 'Cash not accepted here,'" said Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, a division chief in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) monetary and capital markets department. "So that's a sign of the incredible pace at which cash use is declining in some countries."
Money, of course, can be based on any agreed-on source of value—as what happened with gold. As a rare, attractive metal that doesn't corrode, gold willy-nilly assumed the role of money over many centuries because societies agreed to assign common value to it. Many investors are placing value on Bitcoin because, like gold, it is also rare—there are 18.7 million bitcoin in circulation, and only a total of 21 million are available to be traded—and because it hasn't been hacked thanks to its secure blockchain technology, which requires "miners" of Bitcoin to use enormous amounts of computing power to verify transactions. This is known as "proof of work."
How does "proof of work" work? Blockchains consist of "blocks" of data that are "chained" together as a computerized ledger of transactions. This cannot be altered by hackers or criminals since each block has a time stamp that creates an irreversible chronology of the inputted data. All users collectively retain control, and only those with the necessary computing power can take part. Any tampering would be easily observable: Every computer involved, called "nodes," contains the entire history of all Bitcoin transactions, so if one user tries to falsify a transaction, all the other nodes would be able to cross-reference one another and discover the false information. Thus, blockchain constitutes a new form of shared value or money that is valuable because it cannot be breached or questioned. It is, in a way, digital gold.
But in the case of Bitcoin, that also means huge amounts of electricity are used to "mine" it on the internet. By the IMF's estimate, the millions of calculations needed to mine Bitcoin amounts to more than the annual energy use of Chile. As a result, even Musk has raised concerns about climate damage from the fossil fuel usage necessary to run and cool down these giant computer systems. (This is one reason Musk has taken the market on a wild ride in the last few weeks: First, he announced Tesla would accept bitcoin as payment for cars—a huge breakthrough for cryptocurrency. Then, he did an about-face and said Tesla has halted purchases with bitcoin due to concerns over the "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining.")
Yet Bitcoin is already an aging technology—in some ways the dinosaur of cryptocurrency, even though it remains the largest cryptocurrency with a recent valuation of more than $1 trillion. Newer types of blockchain cryptocurrencies, like that employed by Ethereum, don't use electricity because they are based on "proof of stake"—how much money invested—rather than "proof of work." Unlike Bitcoin, which is merely seen as digital gold to hold onto, Ethereum is also a blockchain-based platform for developers to build and operate apps that offer "smart contracts" for traditional financial products, like insurance or loans, without the need for intermediaries like brokerages or banks. Ethereum and other so-called public blockchains also offer "nonfungible tokens" (NFTs), which have allowed artists, musicians, and even baseball card collectors to sell directly to the public without intermediaries like banks, record labels, publishers, or lawyers.
"This is where the real threat to banks is coming from—and to lawyers and insurance companies, all the main establishment greedy fat cows," Alexander said. "There's no stopping it now."
Alexander and other experts say all this innovation is plainly where the future of global finance lies. "It feels like crypto is close to ready for the mainstream in a way that it wasn't even four years ago," Ethereum's creator, Vitalik Buterin, told CNN earlier this week. "Crypto isn't just a toy anymore."
In the past year, Ethereum has gained about 1,600 percent in market value compared with Bitcoin's 300 percent, according to the Motley Fool, a market analysis firm. In April, the European Investment Bank, the lending arm of the European Union, used Ethereum technology for the first time to issue $121 million in digital bonds.
Griffoli and other experts say cryptocurrency and its underlying technology are helping to change the way governments and central banks think about the nature of money. Their solution: stablecoins. "Stablecoins have many of the advantages of crypto assets in the sense that you can transfer them easily digitally peer to peer, but they also have some advantages of fiat currency, i.e., stability," Griffoli said. "The promise is for these to be more stable than crypto assets."
The argument central banks make is, as currently constituted, private distributed ledger technology cannot be fully relied on without assurances that in a crisis, the holder of cryptocurrency assets will be recompensed if the issuer goes bankrupt. Central banks can offer such insurance as well as the liquidity necessary to make good on the assets. In addition, privately run cryptocurrency is inefficient as a payment system because many different computer servers are involved. If, instead, central banks run the technology with just a few servers owned and controlled by central banks, payments can be made far more swiftly. Such a new kind of network would also allow users to "program" money in a way that is not possible now. Currently, payment systems run by central banks require an intermediary, say a bank, between buyer and seller. But digital ledgers could put both payment and delivery for purchase of a stock on a blockchain, where the transaction happens instantaneously with no need for an intermediary.
It's not just banks that could be cut out of the financial system. In an April 14 article, Martin Enlund of Denmark's Nordea Bank wrote the United States' "monetary capacity could be eroded by growing competition from, cryptocurrencies." But the greater threat, he said, is from China's forthcoming digital currency. "As China's GDP and role in world trade continue to grow, it seems natural to expect that countries, especially its neighbouring countries, will to a larger and larger extent start to use China's currency as both invoicing and financing currency," he wrote.
China is trying to find a way around the U.S. currency's global reserve status by trying out a digital yuan and will likely have it up and running by next year. Some fear if the United States doesn't keep up, the ease of using China's digital currency in cross-border transactions will erode the dollar's position as the dominant international currency. (Currently, China's currency accounts for a mere 2 percent of global cross-border payments, a tiny share compared to the U.S. dollar's 38 percent.)
Most experts believe Beijing is merely trying to curb rampant money laundering, which is rife on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency platforms. Yet U.S. and international financial officials are so worried about the threat from cryptocurrencies, especially with China aggressively pursuing its own digital currency, they have set in motion a slew of studies on the phenomenon.
In late February, Federal Reserve chairperson Jerome Powell and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States was studying the issue hard, with Powell telling Congress that a digital currency developed by the Federal Reserve is a "high priority project for us."
Although the United States is still just studying the issue, other central banks are moving ahead. Along with China's central bank's pilot programs, Thai and Hong Kong central banks are currently engaged in a joint project to conduct common transactions—say, dollars for euros—using distributed ledgers like blockchains. The Swiss National Bank also has an active program underway. Other central banks like those in less developed countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere—where much of the population doesn't have traditional bank accounts—are also forging ahead with these technologies.
Meanwhile, there are new private ventures trying to go beyond Bitcoin and ally themselves with traditional currency. Among the new stablecoins with potential global reach was Facebook's Libra, which has morphed from a digital store of value tied to multiple actual currencies to a new concept called Diem. Facebook plans to relaunch Diem later this year as a U.S. dollar-based stablecoin with 26 commercial companies and nonprofit organizations.
There are pitfalls to going digital. Although digital dollars could address the exorbitant cost of cross-border money transfers, Eichengreen recently wrote for Project Syndicate that "foreign governments might be reluctant to permit their nationals to install the Fed's digital wallet, because that would leave them and their central banks unable to enforce their capital controls." And if people shift their savings from banks to digital wallets, he added, banks' ability to lend will be hamstrung. Some banks will close, and small businesses that rely on banks for credit will have to look elsewhere. Brand new forms of lending will have to be created—perhaps digitally.
But that may be what happens after a revolution.
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