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Why is Castlevania so fun? The older entries in its series still hold up today, even though there are games out there with more interesting stories and scripted events. The answer is because it has creative, elegant design. What does it mean to say it's well designed? By reading its individual elements, we can find out.
I want to talk about the medusa head, an enemy that has appeared in at least as many games as the goomba in Super Mario, but which moves in a more complex way. The pattern it follows is called a sine wave, and it was inevitable that a memorable entity in one of the most important early video games would be built around it.
1) The sine wave is about the most complex movement pattern that is still easily predictable. Being faced with an obstacle that moves in a sine wave will therefore be challenging and fair. Challenge and fairness is what creates fun.
2) The sine wave is a function of such enormous mathematical depth and beauty that you could spend a meaningful lifetime studying it.
The key to the future of great game design lies in the realisation that the above two aesthetic features are linked in the strongest sense; they are close to being identical propositions.
To expand on 2), we first think about periodicity. The medusa head traces out a "~" shape with perfect smoothness; they then trace out further ~ shapes with perfect symmetry. That sequence has a specific amount of time it takes before it repeats itself. We call that time its "period", and in playing Castlevania you will get to know that period as well as you know your own heartbeat.
To break the movement of the head down: the horizontal velocity stays the same at every instant, and the vertical velocity changes at every instant. The vertical acceleration also changes at every instant. However, none of these variables will ever experience a sudden change. To understand why that is important, think about how it would feel if the medusa head moved in a sharp zig-zag (i.e. the vertical velocity is a positive constant, then negative, then positive etc). The practical difference would be tiny, but suddenly it's harder to predict and less beautiful.
These features of the medusa head's behaviour are mathematically elegant, deterministic, and slightly complex. And these features are all fun.
Castlevania I
Medusa heads are seen for the first time on the second level of the original Castlevania.
The very first of them appear immediately after you enter this room from the right, which uniquely means that your avatar must be on the far right of the screen (the camera usually keeps the player in the center). As a result of this, you get the safe opportunity to closely inspect the way the heads move. After an establishment of the movement this clear, the level designers can quickly get creative and combine it with other challenges.
The second medusa head nest is in a room of platforming challenges put together with extraordinary density and variety; it is depicted below. The heads will spawn infinitely, but only while you're inside the green square. The path the player usually takes is indicated in grey. The separate setpieces are numbered in yellow (yes, there are that amount and more of them in this 750×175 pixel room).
1) A two-block-wide jump – ordinarily the most trivial jump possible, made complex by the heads.
2) The tiniest platform it is reasonable to have, where the player must learn to fend off heads essentially without any ability to move left or right. The player may realise here that if you keep still, you have less to fear from the heads. This will be important later.
3) A jump with a vertical element – a small but demanding change. In a devilishly concise and unpatronising move, the designers stopped static jumping challenges here. These two were all that was deemed necessary to present. In later Castlevanias, we do many more jumps while the heads attack us. Almost all of those jumps are nothing but simiplistic variations of the two that we can master in the corner of this one room.
4) The right edge of the green box is positioned to send a dramatic message. The player can exit the box while standing on this platform – this will allow them to make the next jump without heads around, so they want to do it. But bear in mind that the box is invisible. So the abatement of medusa heads acts as a reward for general prudence: if the player inches toward the end of this platform, they receive the pleasant surprise of calmness; if they hastily run and jump, there will likely be a residual head coming straight at them when they are in the air.
5) The faint brown platforms move left and right, and though they come close to the edge, they will never touch it; the player is always required to jump off the platform. So when this platform takes us left, back into the box, we have another jump to make – and we need to hurry up and do that jump, or we shall be punished.
The player might be timid: they may stay on the moving platform, reluctant to make the jump at their first opportunity – they might wait on the platform, hoping to go through with the jump when they're taken back again. But if they do this, a medusa head will appear! They should have jumped while it was safe, so they could be on firmer footing when this head comes. This event can be extremely frightening: you thought the medusa heads had stopped coming for you a while ago, but now you have to perform a jump that factors in medusa heads AND the movement of the thing you're standing on!
This sends us a message: "while an environment is peaceful, make the most of it". It works together with 4), which said to us: "while an environment is chaotic, be careful and hope for change".
6) Due to the limits of the engine, the camera will stop scrolling to the left when the avatar reaches this exact point – but you still have to leave via the door on the left. When you're here, there will be medusa heads coming from the left. So you have to run straight into them, while giving yourself less and less room to see where new ones are coming from! This is scary – you'll be extremely grateful for the dip just before the door. In every other room with heads, either they will leave you alone at some point before your exit, or you will leave via the ceiling.
I believe that fun comes from each of these situations individually; they all create different possibilities that the player has to use their head to respond to. There is something I've neglected, which is the fact that the designers went to great lengths to put all of these situations in the same area. I don't find this assembly very meaningful, but I could be being stupid here. If you're more interested in the structure of the whole, see this groundbreaking article by anna anthropy, and be sure to check the picture posted in the comments by plvhx.
The original Castlevania has a couple of other medusa head nests, each with a structural twist or another enemy teaming up with them. In another display of dedication to conciseness, each of these twists appears in one and only one room.
The most interesting of these rooms contains an infamously challenging pair of axe-throwing knights. They encourage a strategy which requires you to think in an abstract and analytical way about your problems:
In coming up with a strategy like this or one of its variations, the medusa head is best thought of as a line, rather than a moving point. You have to picture that lovely sine wave as a rigid presence on the screen. It only works if you keep still, and what a glorious stillness it is. With a few inputs (just attacking and ducking), you can gain control over a chaotic and dangerous situation. This is perfect action game design, a setpiece that can be conquered with caution and knowledge while still being elegant and emotive. It spoke to me: "Do not try and overcome raw complexity; find a way of making things simple for yourself" it said.
Castlevania Bloodlines
Bloodlines has the three most distinctive medusa head setpieces of the rest of the Castlevania series. It's worth saying that broadly speaking, Bloodlines' level design is similar intent to the original, but it is also built to make use of those most interesting capabilities of its platform, the Megadrive. It has interactive scenery, multi-sprite bosses, optical illusions, and skews and rotations galore.
Going into the first medusa head nest, you're standing on a raft in a flooded tower with water draining out, so there's a forced downward-scroll. Your raft is stable, so the screen and your avatar have a constant velocity. What happens to a sine wave which you look at while moving downward? It becomes a gorgeous sin(x) + x wave.
Note that the candles lead the player down a specific route, and that the smallest gap is at the bottom. That gap takes you right up to the wall. Recall that the most dangerous part of a medusa head nest is anywhere near the sides of the screen.
The second setpiece, in the next level, involves climbing up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which is rickety and narrow (so: you can't get all the way to the left or right of the screen). The camera is now constantly scrolling upward, so the function is a smooth sin(x) – x. But now there's no raft to carry your avatar; you must travel with jump arcs that crisscross the medusa heads' paths.
Bloodlines' final use of the heads is in a sublime room. I lack the vocabulary to describe or analyse it. Suffice it to point out that it shifts the function in a careful and clever way.
Note that a challenge based on this visual concept, wherein an enemy moves between the two viewports, would not work with anything other than the medusa head. A ground-based enemy has one dimensional movement, so it doesn't move enough. The heads are not the only enemies which can leave the ground, but all the other flying enemies have AI, and so their unpredictable behaviour takes center stage when you fight them. Only the medusa head is sufficiently simple, variable, and clean.
So we see how versatile the medusa head is. Its balance of complexity and predictability make it a perfect tool that the level designer can use to do fascinating things.
It's upsetting, then, that our story leaves the Castlevania series here. None of its entries other than the original and Bloodlines has had level design that really tries to do anything interesting with the heads (though Dracula's Curse comes close). In modern Castlevanias, enemies have to be fun to grind, and level layout can't be allowed to hinder your cartographical endeavour. As egoraptor tells us, nobody would want to backtrack through something in the style of the axe knights setpiece.
A little while ago, Jon Blow and Marc Ten Bosch gave a lecture called Designing the Universe. They offer an unpatronising and expressive idea about what it means to have well designed gameplay and levels – and the enemy placements we've looked at today are an almost perfect manifestation of those ideas.
The medusa head's design is rich in gameplay possibilities, elegant, and unlike any other enemy.
The medusa head's use in levels is varied in a great many expressive ways. You get to know it extremely well, you are made to think of it creatively.
The first Castlevania was made by a small team; it is natural that we should find its real successors in independent video games.
The gleeful and self-affirming decision to break up the viewports in that room in the final level of Bloodlines was fleshed out in "Where Is My Heart?", one of last year's best games.
We have sine wave experimentation in its rawest (though not best) form in Sincar, and a more thorough exploration seems likely to be provided by Waveform. Remember that when things became maximally demanding in the axe knights setpiece, we found that the head was better thought of as a line than a point. Well, in both of these games, the makers give us a helpful line of projection for the entity travelling along the sine wave. This is a more concrete piece of artistic progress than you are ever likely to find anywhere else.
Hamish Todd is a writer and game designer. You can follow him on twitter @hamishtodd1 and read his work at www.actionbutton.net and www.insertcredit.com. He used VirtualDub and online-image-editor to make the gifs. He uses savestates, within reason.


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Message Board
Charley Brindley Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Brindley has written!
Author Brindley's Book Reviews
The Length of the World
THE LENGTH OF THE WORLD is an adventure that begins in the Amazon when Saxon and Cian meet on the dock at Manaus. Saxon and his sister Kaitlin, along with her young daughter, are searching for an exotic plant with powerful medicinal properties. This plant is thought to be growing in the vicinity of Alichapon-tupec. Cian becomes their guide, but they never reach Alichapon-tupec. Instead they come upon a deserted village littered with bones. Saxon and Kait...

subset: commoncrawl


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The Second Time is No Easier
I start teaching a prep for the second time next term, i.e., in TWO WEEKS(!!!!!), and I have no effing idea what I'm doing. This is in part due to where I teach, in part due to the outcomes I've been driving for my department, which are more skills- than content-based, and in part from the resulting attempts to try to balance content and skills when I am the only damned medievalist in the department, and I am not sure what content is all that important anymore. No, seriously. This is the problem with not being able to teach one's own field very often. I seem to have lost a survey-level grasp of it and what my colleagues would consider important. (Hmmm... I have just realized I can search for syllabi online, and have done so, and haven't found a lot, but thank goodness for Jacqui Long and for Steve Muhlberger, who put up lots of sources at ORB). It doesn't help that I'm using the Innes textbook (which I like in many ways) and the newest James, so I'm sort of heading into uncharted territory. On the other hand, this means that I'm sort of caught up in the question of letting the texts dictate the shape of the course, or the ideas of what I want to teach dictate the ways I assign reading.
In my ideal world, I would have a list of topics, and then assign the readings as appropriate (and yes, I'm using primary sources -- the Rosenwein reader, possibly Tacitus, Beowulf (the dread Heaney translation, because it's in a Norton edition with good essays), Two Lives of Charlemagne, and probably some selections from the Tierney and Geary readers, as well as some stuff from the Fordham site. But my students do not have the narrative. We teach World Civ here, so there isn't a lot of time for Rome and the MA. Moreover, my students are not particularly likely to go find simple narratives for themselves, and they are also very likely to need to rely on the textbook for a narrative crutch. So somehow, I have to figure out how to balance narrative (possibly podcasts?), topical approaches, and the heavy discussion of primary sources that most of my courses rely on.
Now, this might be easy-ish if the course had worked last time, but in some ways it didn't. This was in part the composition of the class -- only two students really accepted the ideas that they were responsible for learning the narrative and that, for us pre-modern folks, a working knowledge of some basic primary sources and of types of primary sources is fundamental. Most of the people in the class saw the primary sources as being no more than those little boxes in big survey textbooks -- things that illustrate what the authors tell us, rather than the information the authors work from. I think this time, that will be less of a problem, if only because the students are all used to me and many have taken courses with me from the very beginning of their uni careers.
Still, I'm trying to work the balance, and also they sorts of assessments I'll be using. There will be a review essay, and I think a presentation each (how I'll fit those in, I'm not sure, but the topics will be biographical, I think -- Augustine, Gregory (of Tours, but maybe the Great), Bede, Boniface...suggestions?
Well, hell. I just got sidetracked by responding to some ideas about our thesis seminar syllabus, which a colleague and I have entirely re-written... what was I saying?
Oh, right. So does anybody have any brilliant ideas about this balancing act? I'm really thinking of sticking to Innes for a chronological (mostly) narrative, but taking in a break for James and then, within that chronology, pulling out some topics that I think need highlighting, and just forcing the students to work the topics into the larger narrative. Like wot I had to do.
Oh. And then there is geography. gotta work that in, too. bleargh.
This post brought to you by thinking online and blegging.


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Oracle Database 11g Architecture on Windows
The Oracle database has become one of the leading database solutions for the Windows platform. Oracle Database 11g for Windows provides an optimized database solution for deployments that require enterprise scalability, reliability, and high performance.
The Oracle database is certified for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems. 32-bit Oracle database is supported on 32-bit Windows with standard x86 hardware, including Windows Vista. This paper describes the architecture of the Oracle database on Windows and how it differs from its counterparts on UNIX and Linux.


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by Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker blog
When perhaps the top daily-news leftist website – the World Socialist Web Site – has the phrase "brutally exploited Iranian working class" in their first sentence, something is clearly out of balance.
Because if Iran's working class is "brutally" mistreated, then what is the working class in, say, the United States? Do they call it the "astronomically, incredibly, stupendously, racially exploited US working class"?
Because the increase in Iran's Human Development Index since 1990 – a measurement taken by the United Nations, the best (and only) global political organisation in the world – is second only to South Korea.
Does the UN's HDI exclude the working class, or something? Of course not.
I like to bring up this statistic, and many others which prove the bonafides of Iranian Islamic Socialism, but it goes nowhere with so very many people that I wonder: Is thing on? Habla usted ingles?
The World Socialist Web Site is ardently Trotskyist, so they may prefer Esperanto, but to them I would say: Kaj vi, Bruto? (And you, Brutus?)
The WSWS is a darn great site, and I've read it for too many years to count. They are exceptional in many ways, adored in the Third World, and are perhaps the most widely-visited truly leftist web site. They are so committed and so ideologically-rigorous that the "universal, permanent revolution" of Trotskyism compels them to end every article with one or two paragraphs that essentially say: "But this sucks and is a useless waste of our time because it's not Trotskyism."
Hey, I get it: Every media has an editorial line to toe, and thankfully they are not pushing capitalism, imperialism, identity politics, fake-leftism, etc. Far from it, usually.
But this article on the Iran protests is a good example of good, impassioned leftists going astray.
A problem with such ideological rigour is that it can descend into ineffectual, ivory-tower idealism. It is especially glaring during times of crises, when people are looking to the WSWS for guidance.
For example, I can probably link to dozens and dozens of articles where the good-old WSWS decried an obvious political reality…but which suddenly transforms into "spurious" when the same idea comes out of the mouth of an Iranian:
The rulers of the Islamic Republic are trying to justify their brutal crackdown with spurious claims that the protests are being manipulated by Washington and its principal regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as part of their incendiary drive for regime change in Tehran.
Well which is it, WSWS?
Call me biased – I am an Iranian civil servant, after all – but I think most non-dogmatic leftists will say that Iran is getting the same "capitalist-imperialist treatment" we have seen in Ukraine, Venezuela and about 9,000 other times in the past few hundred years.
Some people love it when you lose – they love dirty laundry
But the WSWS is not fully on your side unless your are Trotskyist.
A problem with such ideological rigidity is that it violates a key socialist concept, one which Trotskyists are less supportive of than Leninists or Stalinists: "auto-critique", also known as "self-criticism".
In short, this idea is based around the concept that you do not air your dirty socialist laundry in public.
China adheres to this quite strictly, and it is likely further helped by their cultural concept of "not losing face". They do NOT criticise the Party in public, abroad or at home. Iran does this very well, too, but more so when dealing with foreigners, as we love a good needling (and potentially embarrassing) joke to be so concerned about saving face in our own home.
But make no mistake: this socialist concept insists that just because criticism is supposed to be saved for in private, criticism is ABSOLUTELY supposed to be done and not avoided – socialists are far more democratic than capitalists, after all.
What the WSWS could have done with this article, instead of jumping on Iran during a time of (not all that serious) crisis, is to practice some auto-critique and say…well, essentially what I am saying:
"Hey, what about UN's HDI statistic – let's not forget about that hard-won fact! Hey, what about the West's proven manipulation of normal, democratic protests – are we rushing to judgment before we know all the facts? Hey, what about the fact that the world assumes that at this very moment some White American cop is killing or torturing a Black teenager somewhere in the US – so should we care what their opinion is?"
That – pointing out the immoral, perpetual, inescapable crimes of capitalist societies – is what is needed ALL the time. Especially in a time of crisis. The USSR used to do this superbly…then Gorbachev came along and renounced the class struggle.
But the WSWS does the same thing for Venezuela, China, etc. – I'm sure citizens of those countries feel similarly left to twist in the wind in their times of crisis.
The fact is, unless you are 100% Trotskyist, nothing is ever good enough for the WSWS. They aren't really trying to "win" – they are trying to be "right".
Yeah, being right feels nice, but that means Venezuela topples and the gains of Chavismo get rolled back; that means the capitalist-imperialists defeat the one Muslim country actually physically fighting for Palestine, Lebanon, Syria & Iraq. Do they care that we have also lost Kashmir, Afghanistan and Libya? Is the WSWS actually considering how we will ever get back the far-gone nations like Egypt & Morocco?! Is Trotskyism outperforming Iranian Islamic Socialism in any of those countries?
Bah….what I just listed are real-life concerns. The WSWS ignores this when "the stuff hits the fan" in the very countries they should be supporting (and in countries they usually support).
But a crisis is not the time to pile on with the capitalist-imperialists, I think common sense makes quite clear.
Do Trotskyists realize that a key step is 'preserving' actual socialist gains?
I wonder how much the WSWS really knows Iranian society, and I do know that they consistently appear convinced that "universal revolution" is around the corner.
"The (communist) Tudeh party had deep roots in the working class," is a prime example.
"Deep roots"? Islam had "deep roots", not communism. I guess communism had "deep roots" if – let's return to our first paragraph – if the WSWS will write that Islam had "super, mega-deep, core-embedding roots in the working class". But, again, things are now losing their balance, accuracy and efficiency….
Communism in 1979 was one of the two main propelling ideologies, yes, but it was often limited to the intellectuals and the students. Islam, however, definitely was not.
You certainly don't need to be literate to want to understand or promote socialism, but it was a bit difficult when less than 40% of Iranian women were literate in 1979 (but check those numbers now).
With the advantage of hindsight, it should not be at all surprising that a relatively-new political philosophy did not sweep aside the very birthplace of monotheism (Zoroastrianism) and a place where Islam is a living, vibrant, daily force; a place where a recent poll says 76% of people responded to the question – "to what degree should our country's policymakers take religious teachings into account when they make decisions" – with either "a lot" or "somewhat", while just 5% responded with a (very West European secularist) "none at all". (Question #8 in this poll.) Iran is not France or West Germany, the very birthplace of socialism, and I note that socialism even failed in those two places, too.
So if the Trotskyists may like to imagine that Trotskyism was about to sweep Iran in 1979….if only those mullahs hadn't gotten in the way!…but that is not accurate and certainly not reflective of the democratic will.
Socialism clearly and democratically ran second fiddle in the Iranian Islamic Revolution, and thankfully so, when the alternative is to be influenced by imperialist capitalism.
If the WSWS wanted to actually help Iran, they would list the vast ocean of statistics and proofs which show the positive differences between pre- and post-1979 Iran; they would suspend their seemingly anti-Muslim (and anti-religion) attitude permanently (much like Cuba has, and which places like Vietnam and Eritrea don't need to suspend because they never started on that terrible "forced atheism" route); at least they could not join in on the Iran-bashing when the forces of imperialism are acting rather "spuriously"; they could be using this time to credit a country whose socialist bonafides far, far, far outweigh about 98.5% of the rest of the world.
What the WSWS gets right, kind of
I am an Iranian civil servant, so I don't want to get into internal Iranian politics and my stances. Anyways, this is not a Farsi-language article, and it is targeted for non-Iranians. But I would like to give some very basic clarifications about the "true nature" of these protests – economic issues – as I totally disregard the laughable "fake nature" of these protests – toppling a democratic government:
Regarding the economic demands of this protest:
Firstly, the blockade and sanctions. Secondly, the blockade and sanctions. Thirdly, I almost wish upon your country a blockade and sanctions so you can then tell me if I am making excuses!
But I'll move on, and in an even-handed manner:
The WSWS website is correct that Iran has embraced some neoliberal capitalist changes. This goes way back to the era of not only the war reconstruction effort of Rafsanjani, but also Reformist politician Khatami, so it is not all that new. Iran was not just rebuilding a country and promoting a totally unique and modern revolution, but it was doing so after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Therefore, much of these changes I attribute this to the global "socialism is dead" hysteria which went full-tilt in 1991, which was so contagious that it spared NO country.
And we all know that neoliberalism doesn't work, so….
But if there is one country which is "exceptional" it is Iran, and allow me to explain: After a decade of hot war, 20+ years of Cold War, and an increasingly-brutal economic sanction campaign, many in Iran felt pro-capitalist reforms may be the only solution.
After all, Iran is not China: we do not "call the shots".
Iran cannot be strangulated forever, the Reformists argued. Those who favoured Khamenei's nationalist "resistance economy" have a popular idea with many adherents, but Iran is a democracy, after all: there IS NO autocrat, most of our politicians are trying to win re-election, and – I'll play along here with your nonsense – why would we even begin with the assumption that all mullahs think alike on economics?
So when Rouhani came to France and Italy in 2015 and made dozens of billions of euros in business deals, I gave the bargaining team a ton of credit: I read the fine print and – in a highlight of my career – I reported on that fine print for 17 continuous minutes in an interview on Press TV. Why so long? Because I was describing how this deal included technology transfers; how that deal is a joint venture and not just a capitalist sell-off to foreigners; how this other deal is going to let us learn how to build this vital piece of infrastructure which we needed in our other cities, etc.
This deals were capitalist, ok…but they weren't. They definitely were not neoliberal, free-market, sell-off-your nation to foreign high finance! They defied easy dogma, but they were – and thankfully for the People in France and Italy as well – "mutually beneficial". That's a key phrase you hear in Iran and China all the time but never in the West. We must use the tools of capitalism to build socialism (is this on, again?), but they must be mutually beneficial for both countries and their Peoples, no?
"Opening up" our economy was also a tactic to win much, much, much needed political favor, as well, the Reformists argued.
While Trotskyists may be already bristling, Iranians are trying to survive and have no time for the WSWS ancestor-worship of Trotsky. We are hoping that money talks with the Eurozone; that huge deals with Iran will pull them away from the American's policy of murdering Iran.
Will this work? Well, France's Total is now talking about pulling out of the key oil deal so…too soon to say. If they do China will take their part over, so no real worries, and I can't say I'd be too surprised: the US is a larger market than Iran for France, and France is a capitalist country who has no ideology, no solidarity, and would step over their own mother to make a buck (but they won't cross Angela Merkel).
China has opened up in a similar economic fashion (though they call more shots, due to their weight), and their inequality has indeed increased…but the lower class – the focus of socialism and Iranian Islamic Socialism – has been enormousy lifted, while at the same time the Western capitalist lower class has not.
"So open up towards China and not the West!" many will cry.
The Iranian government did!
Iran has been making trade deals with China for some time, and…we all know how hard it is for any nation's industries to compete with their products. Their products have increasingly entered Iran markets and…you can imagine the results. But – and I wasn't privy to the discussions – I assume that Iran HAD TO make these deals to keep China on our side. If we lose China and Russia – goodbye UN Security Council protection and hello invasion. While there are capitalist interests in the democracy of Iran, I assume that these concessions were granted mainly because the blockade has been so terrible. No blockade, and it's far less likely any of these deals get made on anything less than a 50-50 basis.
Will Rouhani's economic Reformism work? Well, what is certain is that Iranian voters appear to think so. The West claims the protests are about "regime change" (LOL), but they ignore the glaring fact that he has been re-elected with a voter participation rate that far exceeds the "mature", "stable", "democratic" countries of the West.
Where is the WSWS with these rather basic observations which are not just sympathetic towards leftism, but entirely correct and objective?
Why does an article dated January 4 not mention the pro-government protests on January 3 which were multiple times larger (not quite "exponentially larger" I think) than the anti-government protests? How is the WSWS aiding any type of democracy, capitalist or socialist, here?
The WSWS probably accuses all religious people of not adhering to their principles strongly enough, but I can say without reservation that I accuse the WSWS of not following their Socialist principles because: with that article…I can't tell whose side they are on! And in a time of crisis, no less!!!
But the WSWS is far from the problem – after all, the article notes the capitalist nature of the Green Movement of 2009. Which media can we count on for going that far left, at least?
So I ain't mad at ya, WSWS!
As an Iranian I cannot be as dogmatic as you are. It's not that I work on a sliding scale – it's that we are trying to keep winning.
Good luck with the universal Trotskyist revolution. Please do let me know when you get one country. And when you do, I'll push my Iranian comrades not to step on your neck with the capitalists come for you…which they will, and just like they are coming for us now, or haven't you noticed? I think Trotsky would agree with this decision….
Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. His work has appeared in various journals, magazines and websites, as well as on radio and television. He can be reached on Facebook.


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Adelaide ( (listen) AD-il-ayd) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city of Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The demonym Adelaidean is used to denote the city and the residents of Adelaide. Adelaide city centre was originally inhabited by a group of Kaurna people and known as Tarndanyangga ("place of the red kangaroo") – now the dual name of Victoria Square in the middle of the city – or Tarndanya. Adelaide is situated on the Adelaide Plains north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, between the Gulf St Vincent in the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges in the east.
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Say I have something like:
First author,\textsuperscript{1,2,3} Second author,\textsuperscript{2,3} Third author, etc.
Is there a way to make the superscripts start in the same location where the comma separating the authors start? In the example above, for the first author, I would like the superscript 1
to be right on top of the first comma, while for the second author, I would like the superscript 2
to be right on top of the second comma.


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How To Add Custom URL to Google Plus G+
How to get a custom URL for Google Plus. Replaces gplus.to with Google's official version of a Facebook USERNAME.
How to get a custom URL for Google Plus. Replaces gplus.to with Google's official version of a Facebook USERNAME.
If you aren't on Google Plus already you are mad. Given that Google has changed search engine optimisation (SEO) to include SMO (social media optimisation) and then allocated the greatest amount of points to Google Plus, you need to be on it. It's growing enormously (I have 26,000 connections already in 10 months) and I have more interactions on there. Google Plus Business Pages suck as much as Facebook Pages though, as they are identical. Can anyone say "rip off"?
How to add a Google Plus custom URL
I am on my PROFILE menu (right errr left hand side), and the "Your profile is preapproved for the custom URL: google.com/+LaurelPapworth" pops up. yay!
Feel free to request a different one but it will take a while…
More information on Google Plus Custom URL's
Copied and Pasted directly from Google Plus Help because I know you are too lazy to click (want me to read it to you too? :P)
Custom URLs for Google Plus
A custom URL is a short, easy to remember web address that links directly to your profile or page.For example, YouTube can direct people to google.com/+youtube to get to their Google+ page rather than https://plus.google.com/115229808208707341778.
Pro tip! If you know someone's custom URL, you can quickly access areas of their Google+ Profile or Page by adding key words to the end of the URL. Some examples are:
- google.com/+customURL/posts
- google.com/+customURL/about
- google.com/+customURL/photos
- google.com/+customURL/videos
- google.com/+customURL/plusones
Q: How do you use a Google Plus custom URL?
A: Once you've claimed your custom URL, your Google+ profile or page can be accessed by typing www.google.com/+yourcustomURL in your web browser.
Q: Can anyone have a Google Plus custom URL?
A: At this time, custom URLs are only available to a limited number of Google+ profiles and pages. Over time, we plan to extend their availability to many more profiles and pages.
Q: Can my Google Plus custom URL be anything I want?
A: We have pre-assigned a custom URL which is related to the name of your Google+ profile or page. Custom URLs must be used in compliance with the Google+ User Content and Conduct policies. If you aren't happy with the recommended URL, you have the option of requesting a different one.
Note: Google+ custom URLs must be more than 5 characters long. Google reserves the right to reclaim any custom URLs.Q: I've requested a different custom URL, how long is the review process?
A: Reviews may take a few days. Once a decision has been made, we'll let you know. You can check on the status of your request from your profile:
- Navigate to your profile
- Click the About tab
- You can view your status where it says Google+ URL
If your request is pending, your requested Google+ URL will be shown in grey. If your request has been approved, your Google+ URL will be listed as a working link. If, after you've submitted a request, you see no Google+ URL listed, your request has been declined. Google reserves the right to reclaim any custom URLs.
Q: Why can't I claim any Google Plus custom URL that I want?
A: If your custom URL violates the Google+ User Content and Conduct policies, it can't be claimed. If you're having difficulty claiming a URL, it may be due to one of the following reasons:
- If the custom URL has already been claimed, it is no longer available. Only one Google+ page or profile can have any specific custom URL.
- The term you're attempting to use for your URL is generic, such as water or hamburger.
- The term you're attempting to use for your URL is unique to a another entity (e.g. Google, YouTube).
Q: Can I have more than one Google Plus custom URL for my Google+ page or profile?
A: No. You may only have one custom URL per eligible Google+ page or profile.
Q: What happens to my Google Plus custom URL if I change my name or the name of my Google+ page or profile?
A: Your custom URL must be related to the current name on your Profile or Page. If the custom URL no longer reflects your name, the custom URL may be reclaimed. Google reserves the right to reclaim any custom URLs.
Q: Can I claim my Google Plus custom URL from my mobile device?
A: Currently, the claiming process is only supported on desktop.
Q: How do I get started in claiming my Google Plus custom URL?
A: Read step-by-step instructions on how to claim your custom URL or request a different URL.
Q: Why can't I have a custom Google Plus URL?
A: Some people are not eligible for custom URLs at this time. Stay tuned!
There you go. Throw away your gplus.to link, Google has spoken!


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In a bold move the NBA has decided to broadcast all 2013/2014 games on the World Wrestling Entertainment network, adding several other initiatives to the league to smooth a merger with Professional Wrestling.
LrBron James perfecting his flop |
In an initiative seen as a precursor to an inevitable merger with Professional Wrestling, NBA commissioner David Stern today announced that all NBA season and pre-season games will be broadcast solely on the World Wrestling Entertainment networks next season, 2013/2014. Stern said that the move is primarily designed to improve revenues, increase entertainment values, and also to clear away any confusion as to whether the NBA was 'real' or 'fake'.
'Take last night's game six, for example' Stern said, alluding to the last point, clarity around the questions as to whether the NBA was in actual fact, 'real', or just staged, like the WWE. 'Obviously, I mean, people can clearly see that we are trying to create something entertaining, and dramatic, and with Joey Crawford officiating the game, we would have thought it was pretty clear that we wanted the game to have a 'dramatic conclusion'. Yet, still there are people confused, is it all scripted, or is it real? We just want to clear that up'.
Stern is hoping that with this switch to the WWE network and with an eventual merger with the WWE, people can just sit back and relax and enjoy the games, and not worry about how many steps LeBron takes, how many times Manu Ginobili is fouled on the drive, or just how far back into the stands Danny Green is shoved on his last second attempted 3 pointer.
Stern continued 'This merger will bring all sorts of advantages, with a new format coming into place shortly, and fans in places like Miami won't miss a second of the action, as we will obviously ensure that anything important is scripted in to the middle of the show, as opposed to the start or the end. We don't want scenes like last night where hundreds of loyal Miami fans tragically missed the end of the game, leaving before Ray Allen's game tying three'
Miami fans stream out of the stadium minutes before their team tie the game |
Stern also took the time to outline a few more initiatives that will come with the merger with the WWE
Pre-game rituals will be replaced with one or two of the bigger stars taking a seat in center court pre-game and talking to through a scripted narrative. For example, LeBron and Delonte West might have a heated argument about the latter sleeping with the former's mother.
The traditional 'foul' will be officially eliminated. As Stern said 'We could all see last night how the fouls not being called on Miami in the last few minutes really sped the game up, and that's something we are looking to do going forward.'
Players will be allowed to pick up empty side line fold up chairs and whack opponents with them. Again, this was given a trial run last night, as Chris Bosh threw Danny Green into the stands as the game ended.
The playoffs will be eliminated, instead the league will go with Miami against a computer selected opponent, and by computer selected we mean David Stern will decide the Heat's opponents and type them into an email, on his computer. This will eradicate meaningless first round games, and speed up the process towards the Miami final, and increase fan enjoyment of the product.
Vince McMahon, CEO of the WWE, welcomed the merger, saying that 'We are delighted to bring such fine entertainers as LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade into the WWE family. These guys really know how to put on a show. LeBron is a born entertainer, and freed from the chains of the NBA rule book he will finally deliver on that promise of multiple championships to his loyal fans.'
LeBron works an opponent |
Follow Cormac on Twitter


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This article is more than 1 year old
Google mail crypto tweak makes eavesdropping harder
'Forward secrecy' protects data for the long term
Google engineers have enhanced the encryption offered in Gmail, Google Docs, and other services to protect users against retroactive attacks that allow hackers to decrypt communications months or years after they were sent.
The feature, a type of key-establishment protocol known as forward secrecy, ensures that each online session is encrypted with a different public key and that corresponding private keys are never kept in long-term storage. That, in essence, means there's no master key that unlocks multiple sessions that may span months or years. Attackers who recover a key will be able to decrypt communications exchanged only during a single session.
Google security guru Adam Langley said his team built the feature into Google's default SSL protection using a preferred cipher suite that's based on elliptic curve cryptography and the Diffie-Hellman key-exchange method. They have released their code as an addition to the OpenSSL library to reduce the work necessary for other websites to implement the protection.
"We would very much like to see forward secrecy become the norm and hope that our deployment serves as a demonstration of the practicality of that vision," Langley wrote in a blog post published on Tuesday.
The move preserves Google as the uncontested leader in offering its users default protections. Last year, the web giant rolled out end-to-end SSL by default for users of its Gmail service. Last month, it introduced encrypted search. Competitors such as Twitter and Facebook – and to a much lesser extent – Microsoft frequently follow suit in the months that follow such releases.
Forward secrecy, which is also known as perfect forward secrecy, is important for protecting the continued confidentiality of encrypted communications over long periods of time. As computers grow faster and more powerful, it often becomes feasible to use brute-force attacks to crack encryption keys that only a decade earlier were considered unbreakable. Encrypted communications not protected by forward secrecy can be recorded and stored and only decrypted much later, once its single private key can be deduced.
The protection works by default with all versions of the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. Microsoft's Internet Explorer also supports the feature when the browser is running on Vista, and later versions of Windows, although not by default. That's because IE isn't compatible with some of the elements contained in the ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA cipher suite chosen by Langley's team.
As Langley explained in a deeper technical description, the Google implementation uses a single-session public key based on the elliptic curve, ephemeral Diffie-Hellman protocol that is then signed by a separate RSA private key belonging to Google. This makes the task of eavesdropping on someone over an extended period of time much harder, since each new session is protected by a different key.
The scheme also relies on TLS session tickets, which are cookie-like files that are stored on end-user machines and contain keys and other settings required by Google servers to resume a session. The use of session tickets is most likely intended to reduce the load on Google servers, but it also introduces potential security risks, particularly if an attacker could intercept or forge a valid file.
"This is actually a step backwards," cryptographer Nate Lawson, who is principal of the Root Labs security consultancy, told The Register. "You're putting all your trust in the clients and hoping you don't make any mistakes on the server side."
Of course, if Google does the cryptography right, there's little risk posed, and if the method significantly reduces the load on servers, it could bring forward secrecy to the computing masses. ®


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How Tim Tebow and Modern Evangelicals Are Rising to Power in America
Tim Tebow is a name known across social spheres. He's a best-selling author. He's a sought after political endorsement. Oh, and he wins football games. Perhaps the only thing bigger than his list of accomplishments is the amount of controversy he seems to have a knack for sparking regarding his faith.
Tebow is a Christian, and he's unashamed to admit it. In fact, he very explicitly demonstrates his strong personal faith almost every chance he gets. But he's not a broken record or a resounding gong on the matter. He makes his views known while demonstrating decorum and focusing on the task at hand. When pressed by reporters to talk about his political views at NFL news conferences, for instance, Tebow regularly turns the conversation back to football (of course, with an aside that he'd gladly talk about faith at another time). This attribute has helped to elevate Tebow to a level anyone in the world – particularly those looking to persuade others of their views – would desire, to have even your enemies admire you.
There's a term that has been formed to refer to those of the Tim Tebow style of evangelicalism: cosmopolitan Christians. (Or, in the New York Times, a "Careful Evangelical.") While the title is a bit dull, its description is quite interesting:
They're more media savvy than their forebears and they understand the importance of building bridges. They speak more about what they're for than what they're against. It speaks for that segment of the evangelical community that wants to spend energy on things for the common good rather than be a lightning rod.
D. Michael Lindsay, president of Gordon College, invented this term in his book, Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, in which he describes how, in recent years, evangelicals have vaulted to leadership positions across America (from Capitol Hill to Hollywood to Fortune 500). While many successful Christians would cite God for their abilities, most did not rise to power by wearing their faith on their sleeves but rather by bearing their faith at the core of their intentions and actions – and then being darn-good at their day job.
What makes this idea powerful is the notion that it shouldn't be reserved strictly for Christians, or even to just the entire realm of religion. The concept of living your life based on a set of principles that drive you while simultaneously seeking to not inflame others is an admirable trait in all walks of life.
In the extremely divisive sphere of election-year American politics, discourse based on actions rather than inflammatory language would not only be more pleasant, it would potentially be more productive. If Tebow, and others like him, have found that it's more effective to communicate the message of eternal significance by tempering their words with good decisions and actions, perhaps the rest of us trying to effect social change should take a page from their playbook.
This piece originally appeared on FaithfulPolitics.org.


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My computer -- with its attendant photo library -- was stolen, and now the only copy I have of many pictures is on my ipad. How can I transfer those photos to my new mac?
I tried the instructions from here but these only found photos in the "Saved Photos" album, not all photos.


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When I upload an image on my desktop, the image is added to
- Media Library
- Gallery
Media Library shows all images that have been uploaded to date, while Gallery only shows images which are associated with this Post.
Using the Wordpress ipad app, however, the image only appears in the Media Library.
Is there any way to get new images uploaded to appear in the Gallery as well as the Media Library?
I need this functionality because I have a function which creates a nice javascript gallery from the items in the Gallery, and the users of the site are not HTML-aware.
I would be happy to get answers that include a different blogging or image app that will do this for me.


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Dick Megugorac, from Peoria, Arizona, and Bob Wenz, from Los Gatos, California, were inseparable in the early '40s. They hung out together at Santa Monica High School, they raced together on the street, and they raced as fast as their gas pedals would let them at the dry lakes. Bob was Dick's best man when he married his high school steady, Lois. The two were inseparable, that is, until life separated them.
Strangely, both had attended their friend, former Low Flyers member, Phil Remington's affair at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum for the unveiling of Dan Webb's recreation of Remington's Modified during the L.A. Roadsters Show in 2010, but because of the large number of attendees neither got close enough to recognize one another.
It's almost as though the dry lakes were created for young hot rodders like Dick and Bob. Circle track racers Ed Winfield and Earl Mancell discovered Muroc, a hard dry lake bed located in the Antelope Valley, in the early '20s for testing, prompting Mancell to organize the first Land Speed meet at Muroc Dry Lake (Edwards Air Force Base) in 1927, which was the beginning of a new form of motorsports.
The Great Depression made car builders like Bob and Dick scratch for every penny, but that didn't diminish their ability or desire to bolt together their rides from homeless parts.
The drivers/builders were mostly high schoolers from working-class families; the "gow jobs" they drove were lightning rods to the authorities, which made the lakes a haven away from the fuzz. It was flat, and it was free ... well almost. More importantly, those bygone days led to long-term friendships, businesses (Hilborn Fuel Injection and Iskenderian Cams are still going strong today), and yes, marriages.
Dick's father opened a Signal Oil gas station on his property, which every young hot rodder dreams of: Imagine walking from your house to the lube rack to work on your '29 Model A roadster even before you got a driver's license.
But hot rodding wasn't just a guy-thing-girls were hot rodders, too. After all, there was room for two in those "hot irons," which brings us to a high school girl who lived where the air was filled with the smell of the sea, Santa Monica, California.
"At 15 years old," Lois Megugorac begins, "my boyfriend had me in his parents' garage working on his hot rod. He had me putting the rings on the pistons, then putting them in the block and tapping them in with a wooden hammer handle." Lois is referring to her one and only, Dick Megugorac.
Megugorac? Doesn't ring a bell? How 'bout "Magoo"? No, Dick isn't nearsighted, nor does he sound like Jim Backus. "Everyone kind of mumbled my last name," Dick says, "so Magoo came out of it."
Lois wasn't just a pretty grease maiden, she could sew as well-oil cloth, that is. Dick's '29 roadster was upholstered with blue oil cloth that Lois stitched for her steady.
Dick's ride, when he entered high school, was his Modified. "I didn't drive it every day because I was always screwing with it," Dick laughs. "I'd take the plate off my dad's pickup and slap it on. I could never get it registered. When my dad was doing construction, he didn't use the Pontiac so I would take that to school."
"I paid $5 for the body," Dick says. "There wasn't a lot of money in those days. It was ugly till I finally got some paint on it. Believe it or not, I had the fastest Flathead V-8 in Santa Monica and that's what got me in the Low Flyers."
Bad Hair Day
As you can see by the photos, Dick being 6 feet, 4 inches, always had a bad hair day driving his Modified, but bad hair for his sister, Annie-no way. Besides being Dick's race car, the Modified moonlighted as the family (get-me-to-work-on-time) commuter.
Newly hired by an insurance company, appearance was everything; Annie was worried about her first impression with her bosses. Prim and proper was the dress code. "I was very vain about my hair at that time," Annie, of West Hills, California, says. "I was just out of high school and was hired by an insurance company on Wilshire and 7th in Santa Monica. Dick would drive me to work in his Modified and my shoulder length hair was blown all over the place ... we didn't have hair spray in those days. I told him to quit speeding and slow down.
"Every other weekend, it seems, he was going to El Mirage and the next weekend his car would be scattered all over the backyard. All his buddies, like Bob, were there working on it."
Dick says, "Bob Wenz was a Low Flyers guy and we went to the lakes together. We went to high school together and Bob was the best man in my wedding. Bob was running his '27 roadster at the lakes; I was the pit crew, I'd help him push the car and that stuff.
"I was a Santa Monica High School kid and the Low Flyers Racing Club was in town and I used to hang out with them. I got invited to go to a meeting and became a member."
Dick was raised on 24th and Broadway in Santa Monica. On a recent visit to his old neighborhood he saw a house that looked exactly like the house he grew up in ... that's because it was the house he grew up in! (The Signal Gasoline gas station Dick's dad ran next to the house is gone.) "The lady who lives in our house was 94 years old and hadn't changed a thing."
Low Flyers
Not only was the Low Flyers Car Club in Santa Monica, Karl and Veda Orr's Speed Shop (both were racers) was located there as well, where guys could ogle the latest speed equipment and pick up on the latest speed secrets. Veda also published the California Timing News before Hot Rod magazine hit the stands.
Being a member of the Low Flyers, Dick was more of an observer of the experienced racers like Stu Hilborn and Phil Remington than an equal: "When it was my turn to run my Modified at El Mirage, I didn't know what to do. Take your car and go. I put my $3 helmet on, a seat belt ... period, that was it. You took your windshield off, your fenders off (if you had them), and ran the car. That was in the '40s. I ran 117 ... that was bitchin'. It wasn't good enough to get me up with the heavyweights, but I was thrilled.
"Stu Hilborn and Phil Remington were the big boys at the lakes," Dick says. "When Hilborn had his car at El Mirage (Hilborn's Class B Streamliner was the first to record 150 mph at the lakes), I'd just stand there and watch him work on it."
Piccadilly Drive-In
The Piccadilly is mentioned time and again as the number one gathering place for street racers. Was it the great burgers or the fast cars that drew hot rodders to the Piccadilly? "I was a BAD street racer," Dick says, who would frequent the Piccadilly Drive-In with Lois.
Street racers like George Barris, Dick Kraft, Indy 500 racer Jack McGrath, and Manual Ayulo were regulars at the Piccadilly. Hot rodders came from miles around where choosing off one another to a street race was where it was at.
"It was on Sepulveda in Culver City and we used to go there on Saturday nights. It was always crowded with kids and young adults. There was always someone who thought he had the faster car than the next guy," Lois continues.
"One by one, the fast cars would leave and everyone would pick up on the fact that a drag race was in the making. Everyone would jump in their cars and follow them to Washington Boulevard or Venice Boulevard and stand by the sidelines to watch." (Probably more rubber was laid on that exit driveway than the start line at Santa Ana Drag Strip.)
Dick joined the Army at the tail end of the war after graduating from high school, spending 18 months in Japan during the Allied Occupation as a mechanic's instructor.
Returning home he and Lois got married in 1948, which was also the last year Dick went to El Mirage. The roadster had to go when Dick quit racing and it was traded in for a green '36 Ford coupe.
Dick drove a truck for his dad for awhile, then a delivery truck for a liquor distributing company for a number of years, then purchased and drove a GMC 10-wheel dump truck in the construction industry for a number of years; he even started a pool cleaning service.
Far removed from racing, supporting his family, Dick and his two sons got hooked on slot cars. Just like the lakes, going faster than the next guy was back in Dick's blood. He began building slot cars and found that the tires available didn't stick in the tight turns.
Lois' brother, Al, worked for a rubber company and the two came up with their version of an Indy tire. They formed Riggen Slot Cars and while they sold the company in the early '70s, their cars, bodies, and chassis are still in demand on eBay today. (A Riggen VW Bug Slot Car had a "buy it now" price of $100.)
Dick and Lois began building rods together again and named their business Magoo's Street Rods in 1968. Lois still stitched the interiors (less the oil cloth part), until she couldn't keep up with the demand while still doing the books.
Dick's street rod building accomplishments have been nationally acclaimed and covered in countless feature articles in this and other publications, but few were aware of his hot rodding endeavors. They sold the business in 1990 and retired to Arizona.
Dick's current car is a '67 Chevy Impala with all the whips, whistles, and balloons. "I call it my rental car," Dick laughs.
Bob Wenz
Bob lived across from Phil Hill, the only American-born driver to become World Champion driving for Ferrari in 1961. Well-that was down the road a bit because they were still going to high school at the time.
"I hung out with Phil [Hill]; we went to Santa Monica High School. We both had Model T Fords, worked on them, and he went to the dry lakes a few times. He had an MG that he ended up racing at Carroll Speedway (oval track), of all things.
"My first hot rod was a '29 Model A roadster. It had a Miller-Schofield Flathead. I built the engine in high school. The instructor supplied the cam for it. When I got out of the Navy in 1946, I went to trade school in Santa Monica. I took auto shop and welding.
"The rear-engine roadster that I built had a driveshaft about 10 inches long, ran it with no transmission-just the clutch-and bolted the engine directly to the rearend. I ran a Cadillac core radiator because Flatheads were hard to cool.
"The first time I ran the car was in 1946 and broke 100 mph. That was a real engineering feat," Bob laughs. "It was hard to do, really.
"Guys in the Low Flyers helped me an awful lot. Everyone used to help each other, and if you needed something everyone would pitch in. Stu would mix special fuel for us to use at the dry lakes ... it was his secret weapon. He would never tell us what was in it though," Bob laughs. "Jack Engle would do all the cams for the guys. It was the best club I've ever been in. I worked for Engle for a short time ... I was more of a gofer," he adds.
"I took the engine out of the rear-engine roadster and put it in a buddy's circle track roadster, and ran with guys like Jack McGrath and Troy Ruttmann at Gardena, Culver City, and Huntington Beach in the early California Roadster Association in 1948.
"I had no other transportation other than the rear-engine roadster, so I sold it for a '27 Ford pickup with a Flathead V-8 to drive on the street. The last time I ran at El Mirage was in 1949 or 1950," Bob says.
Bob began working in a machine shop, and then a sheetmetal shop. With construction booming in California after the war, Bob acquired his own 10-wheel dump truck in 1953. He worked the truck mostly in the L.A. area.
Bob bought a truck and a stake bed trailer and began hauling lumber from the San Jose area to L.A. and literally lived in his truck for several years. Spending most of his time in the Northern and Central part of the state, Bob met and married Ruby in Santa Maria in 1957 and then moved to San Jose. When the lumber industry slowed, Bob hauled for the cannery industry and finally Bigge crane and Rigging Company where he worked for 18 years before retiring.
Sporty Car Racing
Like so many hot rodders, Bob enjoyed the dry lakes and the side-by-side racing of the oval tracks, but safety was an issue. Going to the "sporty car" races, as Duffy Livingston liked to call them, with Phil Hill, got Bob's interest.
He went from 229 ci in his eight-cylinder Flathead Ford to 30 ci on his single-cylinder Ariel engine that came out of Bob's motorcycle. Bob built the first Formula III car in the country at the time. Driver skill had to make up for the lack of ponies.
"We ran the Formula cars at Carroll Speedway a few times. They had a lot of people in the stands to watch the races. I remember Cooper ran a factory Formula III car with us.
"Phil Hill worked on the pit crew of a Midget that ran Gilmore and he actually drove a race in a Midget and it scared the hell out of him, so he got out," Bob chuckles.
You might think Bob was behind the wheel constantly, driving the truck on weekdays and race cars on weekends-and he was. Bob was a regular competitor until he retired from road racing in 1975.
Bob's wife, Ruby, died several years ago and he has occupied his time (two-and-a-half years) restoring a '49 Ariel motorcycle from a basket case. He's also gone back to his roots building a '29 Ford Model A roadster pickup, but he's taking his time: "Originally I dug the thing out of an orchard. It was completely apart when I found it in 1971 ... I'm still working on it."
Full Circle
Both retired and in their eighties, these two men had one hell of a work ethic. They didn't hope a job would happen-they made the job happen, leading busy productive lives since losing contact with one another.
Reflecting on those formative hot rodding years must give Bob and Dick a sense of pride to have been a part of it. It's an honor to have written their combined stories.
(Dick and Bob have talked by phone a few times since they got in contact with one another. They live 700 miles apart. Hopefully they'll meet face to face soon.)


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9: Serenity is coming out tomorrow
- For the comic named "Nine", see 1103: Nine.
Serenity is coming out tomorrow |
Title text: Mal, Simon, Wash, Zoe, River, Kaylee, Jayne, Inara, Book. |
This comic is about the release of the movie Serenity, which was the followup to Joss Whedon's TV show, Firefly, which was cancelled by Fox after only one season. Plus, three episodes were not shown on Fox but debuted on Sci Fi Channel in the UK. The show was followed by a devoted number of fans who were outraged by the cancellation of the show. High DVD sales and strong fan support allowed the follow up film Serenity to be created, which tied up many of the loose ends that Firefly left open, such as the cause of River's abilities and the origins of the Reavers.
The image shows the main characters of Firefly. From left to right:
- Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds - the ship's captain.
- Simon Tam - a doctor trying to rescue his sister.
- Hoban "Wash" Washburne - the ship's pilot.
- Zoe Washburne - the ship's second-in-command.
- River Tam - Simon's sister, who displays superhuman capabilities, but is crippled by alliance research.
- Kaylee Frye - the ship's happy-go-lucky mechanic.
- Jayne Cobb - the hired muscle.
- Inara Serra - a companion, the equivalent of a courtesan, but with a greater deal of respect.
- Derrial Book - a shepherd, which is similar to a priest, with a very unknown backstory.
This is the first xkcd with adorned stick figures (e.g. hair, coats, etc.) to represent distinct characters, which later becomes a standard motif of the comic.
Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, and Jewel Staite, the actors who play Mal, River, and Kaylee respectively, show up later in Randall's series The Race.
- [Several stick figures stand side by side in a lineup. A forlorn male in a coat, a male with combed hair, a male with spiky hair and arms outstretched enthusiastically, a female with long hair and cornrows, a shorter female with stringy hair falling over her face, an enthusiastic female with arms raised in celebration with shorter hair, a male with short hair and a goatee and hands on hips, a female with curly hair wearing a dress, and a stern-looking man with flyaway hair.]
- This was the 10th comic originally posted to LiveJournal.
- The previous was 6: Irony.
- The next was 10: Pi Equals.
- Original title: "Firefly"
- Original Randall quote: "Drawn in honor of the upcoming Serenity! If you work very hard you can figure out who is who."
- This was one of the thirteen first comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on Friday September 30, 2005.
- This comic was posted on xkcd when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
- It was posted along with all 41 comics posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
- The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
- One of the original drawings drawn on checkered paper.
Serenity / Firefly / River Tam /Summer Glau have been referenced in many other xkcd comics: 22.214.171.124 (talk) 08:51 13 August 2012 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)


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Description Hide Description- Show Description+
My body and its place in the world seemed quite normal to me.
I didn't grow up disabled, I grew up with a problem. A problem those around me wanted to fix.
We have all felt that uncanny sensation that someone is watching us.
The diagnosis helped but it didn't fix everything.
Don't fear the labels.
One in five Australians has a disability. And disability presents itself in many ways. Yet disabled people are still underrepresented in the media and in literature.
Growing Up Disabled in Australia is the fifth book in the highly acclaimed, bestselling Growing Up series. It includes interviews with prominent Australians such as Senator Jordon Steele-John and Paralympian Isis Holt, poetry and graphic art, as well as more than 40 original pieces by writers with a disability or chronic illness.
Contributors include Dion Beasley, Astrid Edwards, Jessica Walton, Carly-Jay Metcalfe, Gayle Kennedy and El Gibbs.
Editor: Carly Findlay
Paperback Published 3 February 2021 288 pages


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PITTSBURGH (AP) – Barry Bonds spent a portion of Monday morning driving around Pittsburgh, marveling at the changes he's seen in the city since baseball's career home run king bolted for San Francisco more than two decades ago.
He drove by his old apartment in the western suburbs and the reconfigured North Shore, where Three Rivers Stadium has been replaced by sparkling PNC Park.
The makeover hasn't been limited to the scenery. After 21 years, it appears the old wounds surrounding Bonds' abrupt departure have started to heal, too.
Bonds drew a mixture of boos and cheers while presenting current Pittsburgh center fielder Andrew McCutchen with the 2013 NL MVP award. Bonds was the previous Pirates player to win the honor, earning the second of his record seven career MVP trophies in 1992.
Standing next to McCutchen, Bonds waved to the packed house and seemed at ease in his first public appearance in conjunction with the team where he starred from 1986-92 before leaving for San Francisco via free agency.
"It feels good to be back where it all started," Bonds said. "We had some great times here."
Bonds then sat in the stands and watched as the Pirates opened against the Chicago Cubs.
Bonds won the 1990 and 1992 MVP awards while playing for the Pirates from 1986-92 and led the team to three straight NL East titles. Each playoff trip, however, fell short of the World Series, most notably a Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the 1992 NL championship series that ended when Bonds' throw from left field failed to stop Atlanta's Sid Bream from scoring the series-clinching run.
He left for San Francisco and a then-record six-year, $43-million deal two months later, where Bonds eventually broke Hank Aaron's record for career home runs, finishing with 762 before leaving after the 2007 season.
Bonds declined to draw any comparisons between himself and McCutchen, who easily won the MVP award last season a year after finishing third in the voting.
"He's got the formula now," Bonds said. "Once you do it once, I expect you to do it again."
Bonds was joined by a familiar face as the Pirates put the finishing touches on a breakout 2013 when they won 94 games and made it to the NL division series. Former manager Jim Leyland presented current skipper Clint Hurdle with his NL Manager of the Year Award and credited Hurdle for helping turn the franchise around.
After spending years watching his former club serve as a laughingstock, Leyland is confident the Pirates are back.
"They're the real deal now," Leyland said. "They should be here for a long time."
And while he steered clear of the politics surrounding Bonds' place in baseball history, Leyland left no doubt about whether Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame. Bonds fell well short of the 75 percent threshold required for induction during his second year of eligibility, with many voters saying they wouldn't put him in because of the steroids cloud.
"In my opinion, Barry Bonds is a Hall of Fame player," said Leyland, who managed the Pirates from 1986-96 and is now retired. "There's no doubt about it."


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I'm happy to announce that Python(x, y) 22.214.171.124 is available for immediate download.from any of the mirrors. The full change log can be viewed here. Please post your comments and suggestions to the mailing list.
Work on the Python 3.x 64 bit version will resume once Visual Studio 2015 RTM is released.
What's new in general:
- All packages have been updated to their latest versions. Numpy, Scipy etc.
- ipython has been held back at 2.4.1 to avoid potential compatibility issues.
- OpenCV has been help back at 2.4.11 to avoid potential compatibility issues.
New noteworthy packages:
- yappi - Yet Another Python Profiler.
- libnacl - A ctypes wrapper around libsodium.
-Gabi Davar


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Starbucks has filed a trademark application for the term "Fizzio" as it continues its test of carbonated drinks.
The Seattle-based coffee company says in the filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that the name would be for beverage-making machines, as well as a variety of drinks, including soft drinks.
Zack Hutson, a spokesman for Starbucks, said Wednesday that the filing is related to the company's test of sodas in Atlanta and Austin, which started in June. Starbucks has been testing three flavors at the locations — Lemon Ale, Original Ginger Ale and Spiced Root Beer. It is also giving customers the option to carbonate other drinks, such as iced tea and iced coffee, at no extra charge.
"So far the response from customers in the test markets has been positive," Hutson said.
The soda tests mark the latest move by Starbucks to expand beyond coffee. The company is also looking to move into the fast-growing premium juice category with its Evolution Fresh juices. It also recently acquired a chain of tea shops called Teavana, saying tea represents a big growth opportunity.
Starbucks has more than 19,000 locations around the world, with about 12,000 of them in the U.S.


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López to defend Atlético fortress
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Article summary
Captain Antonio López urged Club Atlético de Madrid to turn into "a tough side to beat" as visitors Liverpool FC aim to become the first English side to win at the Vicente Calderón.
Article top media content
Article body
Club Atlético de Madrid captain Antonio López called on his team-mates to put their domestic troubles behind them and focus instead on reaching the inaugural UEFA Europa League final at the expense of Liverpool FC.
Since Quique Sánchez Flores arrived at the Vicente Calderón last October, Atlético have enjoyed an upsurge in form, reaching the UEFA Europa League last four and Copa del Rey final. The good times have been tempered slightly of late, however, with Los Rojiblancos winning just twice in their last ten games in all competitions, and they welcome Liverpool to Madrid on the back of three successive Liga defeats.
"Our most recent results weren't what we would have hoped for but this is a different competition and we want to continue on our path to the final," Antonio López, 28, explained. "Now it's time to give all our attention to the UEFA Europa League and the game with Liverpool. It's going to be a tough encounter played at a solid rhythm but I foresee a beautiful match and let's hope things go our way."
Los Colchoneros have never lost at home to English opposition yet they will need to be at their best in the first leg to maintain that record against a Liverpool side who have triumphed seven times in 13 visits to Spain.
"That no English team has ever won here at the Calderón says that we've done things well against them in the past and we want this to continue," Antonio López said. "We want to make things difficult here and to make ourselves a tough side to beat. We all know how hard it's going to be but we have to play to our strengths and take advantage of the chances that come our way."
Antonio López dismissed any thought of Liverpool being distracted by the journey they undertook to reach the Spanish capital as a result of the travel problems in Europe. The left-sided defender instead preferred to focus on the need to put in two giant performances against Rafael Benítez's side in the games ahead.
"Once the game has started you can be sure they won't be thinking of how they got to the stadium," he said. "These will be two very different games to those which have come before for us this season. We've been battling through eliminators this term and the feeling within our squad is good."


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Middletown High School PTSA
Middletown High School PTSA
Ready. Respectful. Relentless.
The Mission of the PTA is threefold:
The Mission of the PTA is threefold:
- To support and speak on behalf of children and youth in the schools, in the community, and before government bodies and other organizations that make decisions affecting children;
- To assist parents in developing the skills they need to raise and protect their children; and
- To encourage parent and public involvement in the public schools of this nation.
National & Local PTA Purposes:
National & Local PTA Purposes:
- To promote the welfare of children and youth in home, school, community and place of worship.
- To raise the standards of home life.
- To secure adequate laws for the care and protection of children and youth.
- To bring into closer relation the home and the school, that parents and teachers may cooperate intelligently in the education of children and youth.
- To develop between educators and the general public such united efforts as will secure for all children and youth the highest advantages in physical, mental, social and spiritual education.
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text: Say you want to photograph yourself. The hassle is always framing yourself inside the picture while wanting to walk all around the camera to take snapshots with different backgrounds. Does this exist, where a tripod with a camera mounted can automatically sense where you are and align the camera (with motors somehow integrated on the camera stand)? I can imagine that it could detect where you are if you clip a frequency emitting device or something on your head somehow.


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[Intro: N.O.R.E. (Raekwon)]
(Yeah) Yeah, Shallah Raekwon
It's the God Father Pt. 2, Self esteem
(Lex Diamond) Plus degree, (Uh huh)
(Raekwon) Add on to my attribute
(Star H.M.G., Get money baby, Let's Go)
Ayo, Peace Lord, Peace to the God, You know today's math
I know today's lab, Bag it in a grey bag
Straight coke is optional, Jungle gym obstacle
You get locked, You get dead, Or end up in the hospital
Dapper Dan, Gucci, Valore shit, And more shit
Both hands is numb as fuck, Bag'n all the numbers up
Queen's niggas Mosalium, Jewy from the Coliseum
Fat Cat, Pappy Mason, Niggas wanna be em
See rap was secondary, Money was necessary
Until I got incarcerated, Type scary
Until I see my life just flash, Type scary
Ninety-six came home, Ninety-seven album
Made niggas proud to be from New York housing
Born alone die alone, I ain't got a pot to piss in
Became friends with baking soda, Arm & Hammer craziness
Started learning cooking up, Cooking up, Cooking up
Nose feeling like it's high, Door open windows up
Out of state money was coming great, We sold weight
Another scramble, Commonwealth Law gamble
We out touring, Leave the hood now the hood boring
Niggas still doubting my greatness, My great shift
Learn ambidextrous ways and trade spaces
Nike's no Asic's, No Botox, No face lifts
Rich niggas, Poor niggas, Ya'll should switch places
Learn how it feels to be living broke with no hope
Learn how it feels to be living rich with mad shit
Yo, The software license is great, Better six
Flip the new five or roll up, Then live through the tape
Straight from the dungeons of Hell, A lot of Vikings
Some couldn't sell, That's when I took it for self
I'm only just nineteen rolling with eight, Individuals
Most of us rob, Pulling guns, This is my gate
Four shottys, Two lasers a plate, Chewing
Start a movement, Keep doing what your doing
Niggas are straight, We like Shar Pei in prestigious face
Love diamond rings and apes, Big money, Coffees and tapes
Play'n, You get sprayed in the lake
Hog tied and scraped, Chop fingers off you and skate
That's the breaks, Wipe body S's, Escovitch fish
With a Spanish blessing?, The more I make
Live through the babies, Busting my gun for sure
This is Paidees, Somebody gotta die today B
Rosй pouring, The hardwood floor, Incents
The crisp three-eighties, Gallons of French shit
Pour more my niggas, Eat up, This is like peanuts
Catch us in cells somebody beat up
With only one class, A piece of hash, Tiny bit of reefer
Fresh sneakers, Stressing for ass
Write mad letters in slabs, Niggas'll be home shortly
Keep cool, The niggas get bagged
We live a poor life, Rich in the heart, Kitchens is dark
Cooking white, Polices, Bitches, And narqs
Foul play yo, Big guns and cigar
The message repent them sins, Quick fast then mention Allah
[Joell Ortiz:]
No friendships when my pen twist, They lose interest in your mention
My entrance was smooth but it can shift to anger
Bag ya, I'll rearrange ya, Stranger, Danger
I embrace well, Joel don't take L's
I take pain pills for them migraines
This wild game put me in a whole different mind frame
Define lame, Okay, It's rat, That's the proper answer
Besides a couple cats it's just a whole lot of dancers
Well I'm a be the cancer see this swagger shit is dumb
What good is looking fly if you rapping like a bum
I'm immaculate it's fun, What you chat'n from your gums
Is bullshit, But that's okay the matador has come
I navigate a track and make you armatures a crumb
I'm magic with the tongue, Abra Cadabra and you done
I don't know what kind of comic book you characters is from


text:
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
At least three private colleges see Utah as fertile ground for new physician training programs that could provide the state's first alternatives to the University of Utah's medical school.
Colorado-based for-profit Rocky Vista University may develop a school of osteopathic medicine in Cedar City. The nonprofit Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, the nation's largest medical school, wants to send students to Utah hospitals for training and potentially open a future school.
Roseman University, a nonprofit school, also recently considered developing an osteopathic medicine program. Instead, its board of trustees will decide next month whether to establish a traditional medical school that awards MD degrees, according to Mark Penn, the South Jordan chancellor of the Nevada-based school.
Motivating these schools is not just the state's need for doctors but also the above-average rates at which Utahns apply to both traditional medical schools and schools of osteopathic medicine.
Despite this demand, the U. cut its annual medical school admissions from 102 to 82 a few years ago, although officials hope to soon restore the class size and eventually increase it to 122. More than 400 students leave the state each year for their medical degrees, and many never return to practice, said Brennan Wood of the Iron County Office of Economic Development.
Utah is ripe for new medical programs, believes James Moore, vice president for institutional development for Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM). "Even if a third or fourth school opens, that's not going to be enough," he said.
But one major obstacle: lining up the hospitals, clinics and physicians willing to provide the crucial training slots for these students, both before and after graduation.
Learning clinical care • Cedar City economic development officials are working with Rocky Vista University, which just graduated its first class of doctors, to develop a school of osteopathic medicine.
The hope is to alleviate a growing physician shortage in rural areas, while expanding educational opportunities for aspiring physicians, Wood said.
Southern Utah University already sends some pre-med graduates, such as Preston Gilbert, of Parowan, to Rocky Vista's Parker, Colo. campus.
"It would be a boost for the local economy for starters," said Gilbert, a father of four now in his second year of its four-year program. "There's a lot of very bright individuals from Utah. ... A lot of us are leaving the state because there is not enough spots to field demand."
Traditional medical schools are typically attached to teaching hospitals, where students serve clinical rotations short stints of hands-on training from pediatrics to surgery. Osteopathic schools often disperse their third- and fourth-year students into community-based clinics and hospitals, instead.
Rocky Vista has established rotation slots throughout the southern half of Utah, including the state hospital in Provo, where its students shadow board-certified psychiatrists for a month.
Gilbert expects to return with his family to the home they own in Parowan while he pursues clinical rotations during his third and much of his fourth year. His goal is to be a family practitioner in Parowan.
In Utah County, Moore is trying to persuade Utah providers to provide clinical rotations for LECOM students from its two Pennsylvania campuses and a third in Florida. LECOM is collaborating with Provo's Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, a for-profit school.
A bigger challenge: residencies • Opening a school in Utah, Moore said, would require even more cooperation from providers spots for students to serve residencies of at least three years residencies after they graduate to gain the real-world experience necessary to turn them into practitioners.
"We are looking for political and clinical support," Moore said. "Residency opportunities would need to be greatly developed. It would be premature to say we are building a school, but on the other hand that is where we would like to be headed if the support is there."
Rita Osborn of the Utah Center for Rural Health believes the state can develop a rural residency program. "We have an abundance of rural practitioners who are willing to teach," she said.
Residencies are "the bottleneck" for any effort to boost the number of Utah doctors, said Sri Koduri, interim executive director of the Utah Medical Education Council.
"If we don't do something to expand residency training, the issue of physician workforce development is not going to solve itself, " Koduri said. "The likelihood of someone staying in the state is more tied to residencies than anything else."
The University of Utah's health system already accepts a small number of osteopathic residents, said U. spokesman Christopher Nelson. Whether the U., which is lobbying for state funding to grow its own medical school, can accommodate more, Nelson couldn't say.
"At the end of the day," he said, "we're looking for the best and brightest physicians to work in Utah."
He doubts osteopathic schools are the answer to the nation's primary-care doctor shortage. The U.'s public medical school provides "a quality education for a lot less than private schools. If you graduate $300,000 in debt, it's questionable you'll be able to pay that down as a primary-care doctor."
But Osborn insists Rocky Vista's tuition will be reasonable. And its first graduating class snagged residency slots "with primary care, but also anesthesiology, surgery and emergency medicine. They bring to the table a high quality product."
'We love him' • Both osteopathic practitioners, called DOs, and MDs attend four years of medical training followed by a residency. Both can prescribe drugs, perform surgery and become board certified in a specialty.
Any differences are mainly philosophical, said Keith Ramsey, an osteopath with a pediatric clinic in South Jordan.
DOs are trained in a form of musculoskeletal manipulation similar to that practiced by chiropractors. Not all osteopaths use manipulation; Ramsey says he rarely uses it because so few of his 3,200 patients need it.
A member of Utah's osteopath licensing board, Ramsey isn't aware of any such doctors who claim to cure ailments such as diabetes through massage or by manipulating the spine. He chalks up misunderstandings about osteopaths to ignorance, "not willful ignorance, just a lack of understanding."
Ramsey acknowledges turning to osteopathy after he was rejected by medical schools, but says the training he received was just as rigorous. He has practiced medicine for 27 years.
Sixteen-year-old patient Kaylee Franklin saw him for a checkup earlier this week. "I've been seeing him since I was 2 months old," she said. "My whole family goes here, all my cousins."
The West Valley City teen complained of a lingering sore throat and a possible sinus infection. Her dad was just hospitalized for pneumonia, she noted.
Franklin's mom, Michelle Rob, picked Ramsey the same way most people choose doctors, by word-of-mouth. "My mom, who is a nurse, said he's the one, he's where you need to bring the kids," she said. "We love him. We've followed him to three different clinics."
Ramsey asked Franklin diagnostic questions and listened to her chest. "You don't have pneumonia," he said. After peering into her ears and nose, he prescribed antibiotics to clear up signs of infection and urged her to get a flu shot. Grimacing, she opted for the mist, instead.
"Are you OK swallowing large pills?" he asked.
"You gave me those horse pills last time," Franklin said, "so yeah."
By the numbers
MDs and osteopathic doctors
9.4 per 100,000: Utah's per-capita applicants to schools of osteopathic medicine, the nation's highest rate and more than double the national average.
16.8 per 100,000 : Utah's per-capita applicants to traditional medical schools in 2010, versus the national average of 13.7.
29 : Colleges of osteopathic medicine in the U.S., with 20,000 students, or a fifth of all medical students.
500: Pre-med graduates produced by Utah colleges and universities each year
82: Medical school slots at the University of Utah
8,700: Licensed MDs in Utah
508: Licensed osteopathic doctors in Utah
Sources: Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
Two training tracks
Comparing osteopathic doctors, DOs and graduates of traditional medical schools, MDs.
Both DOs and MDs attend four years of medical training, almost always after earning four-year college degrees.
In their third and fourth years, both DOs and MDs do "clinical rotations," or short stints working in specialties, under the supervision of physicians.
After graduation, DOs and MDs serve residencies that last three to eight years. Osteopathic students can apply for traditional residencies through the National Resident Matching Program. MDs are not eligible for osteopathic residencies arranged by National Matching Services.
Some osteopaths apply to both matching programs. But most traditional spots go to MDs.
In 2003, 99 percent of new MDs and 43 percent of new DOs were matched to traditional residencies, according to research by the American Medical Student Association.
DOs are trained in a form of musculoskeletal manipulation similar to that practiced by chiropractors. According to the American Osteopathic Association, it is used "to identify and correct structural problems, which can assist your body's natural tendency toward health and self-healing."
Not all osteopaths use manipulation. Sixty percent of ODs provide primary care, compared to 40 percent of MDs, the association says.


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There are many forms through which one can analyze architecture—drawings, models, digital renderings—but they nearly all cater exclusively to the eyes. University of Virginia architecture professor Karen Van Lengen, FAIA, wants us not only to look outside the box, but to listen to the environment inside the box, expanding our sensorial experience of architecture for a deeper understanding of design. She recently launched a digital project meant to do just that.
Van Lengen's "Soundscape Architecture" project analyzes 13 iconic buildings, from Grand Central Station to the Taj Mahal, interpreting them visually, aurally, and acoustically. "It comes out of thinking in terms of how to promote the consciousness of our aural requirements in architecture and in our public realm, in general. It's a difficult issue, because we are predominantly a visually-based discipline," Van Lengen says. "We promote architecture visually, we write about it visually, we think and teach about it with only the visual aspects in mind."
International Building Lobby, Rockefeller Center from Karen Van Lengen on Vimeo.
For years, Van Lengen thought about ways to promote an auditory understanding of architecture and worked on several related projects. In 2012, Van Lengen became a fellow for the Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities under director Worthy Martin and started working on Soundscape Architecture with artist Jim Welty and musician Troy Rogers. Their goal was "getting people to listen to their own environments" and to "understand the public realm through listening," she says.
Van Lengen spent several days recording the sounds heard at each building, then selected a 60-second sound clip she considered to be most characteristic of the space. "There is a general aura of background sounds for all sound clips. In those, there are particular sounds—someone drops something, the wheels of the train coming into Grand Central Station, silverware clinking—there are particular sounds overlaying the general aura of all sounds making up the background," says Van Lengen.
The "particular sounds" in each clip provided the working material for 3-D animations of each sound-bite. Van Lengen created images, including ambient background drawings and interpretations of those sounds that stood out from the background. Welty used those drawings to provide an animated interpretation of the aural experience.
For his part, Rogers used the authentic sound clip to produce a new musical composition—an intensified interpretation of the original—meant to "further [enhance] one's appreciation for the diversity and richness of its aural character."
Each building's aural analysis includes the most influential factors in creating the recorded sounds: the interaction of the building's architectural volume and configuration, the approximate number of people occupying the space, and the composition of materials.
The auditory experience may be hard to quantify, particularly in architecture school, Van Lengen says. But it is nevertheless an important part of the design process. "Our perception of architecture is much richer itself and deals very much with the aural environment, but we don't use it as a method of analyzing or designing," she says. "That kind of thinking is something we could use in the architecture world."


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Release Date: 2013 | Tracklist
Album Rating: 4.0I'm proud of this, but it is fuuuuuckin' long so I know it needs edits. Please make suggestions below. Thanks for reading! And download this tape already damn it!
Album Rating: 4.2damn, i was gonna review this. maybe i still will. fucking awesome, this guy is gonna get hyped as hell (official pitchfork prediction = 8.8 oh shit)
weird, literally was looking into this guy earlier this week and looked and his name wasnt in the database and now theres a review. sweet, really like his tracks.
Album Rating: 2.5Great review. Just heard about this guy like a week ago. I need to check this out.
Album Rating: 4.5Good review. Haven't been able to stop listening to this.
Album Rating: 2.5I like where this is going.
Album Rating: 4.0been digging this so hard.
Album Rating: 4.0and yeah tl;dr
Album Rating: 4.0Lol fair enough
Album Rating: 3.5this is kinda cool. his voice needs to grow on me a little bit though
Album Rating: 4.0Rap game bugs bunny
Just heard this guy on the radio last night, it was a cool track. Apparently the DJ knew a guy (in Ireland of all places) who knew his agent who was able to track down a radio-edit of the album all within 15 minutes. Technology rules.
Album Rating: 4.0voice grows hard rev
Album Rating: 4.0got that weirdass danny brown voice i dig
Is this the hippity hop?
Album Rating: 4.0diggin this
Album Rating: 2.0i think this is fine, but i dont get why it's getting so much praise
Album Rating: 4.2how will pitchfork contend with the fact that this guy kinda sounds like childish gambino sometimes
"how will pitchfork contend with the fact that this guy kinda sounds like childish gambino sometimes" an essay by alex robertson
Album Rating: 4.2good ass intro is irresistible goddammit. at first the drums bothered me because they're so off-kilter/ungroovy but i haven't stopped listening to that track
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


text:
Product Description
Buy Sphinx Metal Print by artist olga zelinska available at Artist.com. Check out the Metal Print collections available at Artist.com.
Sphinx the ancient Egyptians considered the Sphinx a living symbol of the divine solar energy. Sphinx means mysterious and enigmatic. Power - God of the rising Sun, wisdom, Royal dignity, vigilance, strength. Four represents the beginning of the nature of natural and spiritual strength. Androsphinx (a human head) and symbolizes the Union of mental and physical power. The Sphinx with a human head is interpreted as the human spirit overcoming animal instincts.
Olga Zelinska was born in Abkhazia. |
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