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Big Ideas: Video Games According to David Cage
August 27, 2012 Page 1 of 5
David Cage has reached a creative juncture, he says, which allows him to do exactly what he wants -- and what he wants to do is expand the palette of the game industry, bringing in more emotion, and luring in the gamers who weren't hooked by Heavy Rain with his latest project, Beyond: Two Souls.
Starring actress Ellen Page (Juno, Inception), the game follows lead character Jodie Holmes from ages eight to 23. Not much has been revealed of the plot, but Cage's comments below suggest that its themes and action sequences may be something of a Trojan Horse.
In this extensive interview, Cage also talks about how he got his start in the game industry, how he's completely changed his writing style since he began working on games, and how he views other creators -- and they view him.
He also calls for the game industry to grow up, saying, "I often think that the industry suffers of the Peter Pan syndrome. It's the fact that we don't want to grow up, so we stay kids. But there is a moment where you need to grow up as an industry."
Why Ellen Page -- both as an individual, and why work with an established Hollywood actress?
DC: Well, I was not looking for a name to put on back. I was looking for a talent, someone who would fill the role perfectly. Actually when I started writing the script, what I used to do as a writer is grab pictures of actors on the internet, and have them in front of me, so I can look at them as I'm writing -- and look at them in the eyes and think, "What would they say in this situation?"
The first image I found was Ellen in an independent movie she made called Mouth to Mouth, where she had a shaved head and a very strange look. What really interested me in her features was she looked very strong and angry and upset, and at the same time she looked very vulnerable, and I thought that was an interesting starting point for my character.
So I started writing this thing, and each time I needed a picture, I was looking on the internet about Ellen, and I was finding an image that was working perfectly for me in the scene I wanted to write, because she shot movies between the ages of 10 and 23 -- I think she's 25 today -- and my game is taking place between the ages of eight and 23, for [Beyond character] Jodie Holmes. So, I could find images of Ellen she was 15, 16, when she was 18, and that was very interesting.
I realized that I wrote for Ellen Page, with really her in mind all the time, and I thought the character -- she would be fantastic in this thing. So we sent her the script, and a package with a copy of Heavy Rain, and a couple of reviews, and a nice letter saying, "Please, would you consider being a part of this?"
And she answered very kindly. Her agent came back to us and said, "Yeah, Ellen loved the script. She would like to be a part of it." So we met in LA, discussed the project, and that's how everything started. So, I was really not looking for the fame of Ellen, that was really not a marketing thing, it was not about selling more copies because I have Ellen Page on board. It was really because she was the right fit for the role.
I wanted to talk to you about when you're creating a virtual character that resembles Ellen Page inside the game -- how close should her appearance be to real-life? Is there any balance of realism that they wanted from [Page's] side?
DC: Well, it's more than a balance; we copy her one-to-one. It's a scan. It's a 3D scan of a face -- a 3D scan of the body. And it's a perfect clone, and it's precise to the millimeter. So, it's her. It's exactly her. So, what we do is, we play with her haircut and we change the clothes and that's it. But the body, it's exactly Ellen. So, yeah, the likeness is pretty precise.
You didn't use performance capture for Heavy Rain in the same way.
DC: No. On Heavy Rain [laughs] it was a very different technical solution. Because of the technical constraints -- and this is still the way most games are done today -- you shoot face and voice on one side, and then you have sometimes even another actor coming and doing the gestures in sync with the audio that was recorded.
So it was very comfortable on a technical point of view; it makes your life as a developer. And also there were so many constraints about performance capture at the time that it was difficult to do everything. But the issue with that is you split the performance in two. You got face and audio on one side and body on the other, which means you lose the body, and most of the body language. So, you split the performance, you lose quality, and this is how Heavy Rain was made.
It was good enough, and we were reasonably happy with what we got, but then we saw James Cameron shooting Avatar and working in performance capture, and we thought, "Wow, this is a huge step forward, because suddenly you can have the full performance as one thing."
So we worked on this technical prototype called Kara, which was the very first thing we shot in performance capture. And when we saw it, we realized how much we lost in the past not shooting like this, and so we got organized around this new idea, and all Beyond is now shot in performance capture.
All the roles?
DC: Yep.
So everyone we're seeing in this game is a real actor.
DC: Yes.
And you think it's essential for everything, from the smallest to the biggest roles?
DC: Well, it's a matter of consistency. You don't want to have Ellen Page looking absolutely fantastic and having all the other actors around looking like video game characters, so yeah, you want consistency, you want the same quality.
Visual quality, but also quality of acting. Because Ellen is not just on her own, which is also a big difference with Heavy Rain, because on Heavy Rain, when you record voice in a sound booth, you can only do one actor at a time, so not only you lose all the body language, but you also lose the interaction between the actors, having the right looks -- and having the right interactions with the environment and moving around, because you don't move the same way if there's someone in the room in front of you or if you're alone.
So, with performance capture on Beyond we can shoot up six characters -- face, body, voice -- at the same time. So we have very complex scenes where they're all together and they can really touch each other, and interact, and just act pretty much without any constraints.
They have even less constraints than in a film, because in a film you have the point of view, you have the camera. "Oh, you should look here, and you should do that, and don't move too much, because you're not in that light anymore." Where, what we do, there's no lights, there's no camera. You're onstage. It's like having a play, being in a play. It's pretty much the same thing. No point of view, just deliver a performance, and be in the scene.
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We took a basic product, used an unexpected material, designed a new shape—and voilà—a company was built. This neoprene wine tote insulates two bottles up to four hours, and stores flat. Red or white, sparkling or still—our original totes are the carrying method of choice whether you're an oenophile or teetotaler.
"Wine tote bag. Very happy with my purchase, love the colours. Excellent customer service from rushfaster and very fast delivery."
"perfect overseas gift 1. I needed a present for somone visiting from os. This is perfect - light and flat, easy to pack, add in rushfaster's speedy delivery and i had a no hassles gift ready to go. Thanks."
"Funky little number. Bought two as gifts (red and dotty) and was so pleased because i ended up keeping one for myself. Sturdy, funky with the feel of a wetsuit, and looks exactly like the picture - always a bonus when buying online. A good gift idea for someone who has everything."
"Wow'd. I gave this as a christmas present and the receiver was over the moon with it. I loved the look of it and plan to probably buy more of them, great gift idea!!!"
"Two Bottle Wine Tote - Scatter Dot. We gave it to someone who has everything for a chrissy gift and he loved it!"
"Great idea. A nifty little product."
"Two Bottle WIne Tote. A reasonably-priced, seemingly well-designed, and easy to use product."
". The wine cooler is great... It fits 2 slighter larger than normal wine bottles which is what we wanted. They seem to stay cool as well."
". Great product and service."
"FB Multi Dot. Great product very very handy over the christmas new year period. Also made a great gift."

subset: commoncrawl


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Brother of man who killed his sons in house fire commits suicide
MINNEAPOLIS – A year after Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons in an explosive house fire in Washington state, his brother Michael has committed suicide.
Kiirsi Hellewell, a friend of Josh Powell's estranged sister, says he jumped to his death from a Minneapolis parking garage Monday. The Hennepin County medical examiner's office confirmed Wednesday the victim was 30-year-old Michael C. Powell.
Josh Powell was the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Susan Powell, who vanished in Utah in 2009. The sensational case took an even more bizarre turn as Powell's father, Steve, went on national television and claimed he and Susan had been falling in love.
Josh Powell was living in Washington on Feb. 5, 2011, when he locked a social worker out of his home, attacked his two young sons with a hatchet and set the house ablaze.


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Giant Jellies!
Exif: F Number: 3.5, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 10/150 seconds, Flash: did not fire., ISO: 1000, White balance: Auto white balance, FocalLength: 18.00 mm, Model: NIKON D90
Uploaded on 2/8/2012 6:47:44 PM
Camera: Nikon D90 Digital SLR Camera
Copyright for this gallery photo belongs solely to Dorann Weber. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.
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Welcome to Headley Court
Guest Accommodations
Bunratty, Bed & Breakfast, Near Shannon Airport
Bunratty, Co. Clare, Ireland 00353 (0) 61 369768
Contact at 011 353 61 369768 outside Ireland
Contact at 061 369768 within Ireland
Arrange Reservations or make enquiries at: email@example.com
GPS Co-ordinates: W 8.813920 N 52.7203370
Thank you for visiting the Headley Court B&B web site. We are minutes from the Shannon airport and just down the road from Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. We would like to thank everyone who has left comments and feedback with Trip Advisor. Headley Court is a winner of the 2011 "TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence".
Search Headley Court for->
Headley Court


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Our sexy, long, black opera gloves are made of high quality PVC.
They are elasticated at the opening so they will stay put.
These gloves are a perfect accompaniment to any sexy outfit you have.
Great for clubbing or fantasy wear.
These are perfect PVC gloves because we make them to fit you!
Give us the LENGTH you want them in inches (from your middle fingertip to the end of the gloves. If you are unsure of what size to order, a good standard length is 26 inches long.
We can also make them for small hands or medium sized hands. Measure the length of your middle finger in centimeters, to select the best hand size for you.
Shown here with our lovely Vortex PVC Corset cor004


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Commodity Classic speaker says demand may not be at issue
Low prices, a desire to improve diets worldwide and an abundant supply of soybeans and corn have changed U.S. marketing efforts from building demand to meeting specific customer needs.
"Demand is not the issue," says Jerry Slocum, International Marketing chair, United Soybean Board. "We've seen a dramatic jump in global soy consumption, a 60 percent increase in the last decade."
Corn utilization may not have experienced such a dramatic growth rate but is beginning an upturn. "Carryout stocks worldwide are beginning to come down," says Kenneth Hobbie, president and CEO, U.S. Grains Council.
Hobbie and Slocum discussed utilization and export outlook for soybeans and corn last week during the Commodity Classic, the convention and trade show sponsored by the American Soybean and the National Corn Growers associations in San Antonio.
As worldwide demand for soy products and grains builds or recovers, U.S. producers continue to face low prices and market uncertainties as competitors vie for markets that once relied almost solely on U.S. exports.
Slocum, a Coldwater, Miss., farmer, says most observers thought short-term low prices that followed the last farm bill would force many competitors to cut back on production and opt out of the export market.
"That has not happened," he said. "In fact, South America is beating us at a game we invented."
Instead of bowing to the United States as the low-cost producer, Brazil and Argentina have capitalized on some natural and manipulated advantages.
"It's no secret that South America pays less for seed, labor and other crop inputs," Slocum says. "But their main advantage is low land values. That gives them a significant edge."
He also explained that Brazil devalued its currency, the real, making it considerably cheaper than the U.S. dollar. Devaluation resulted in a significant advantage to Brazilian soybean producers. Instead of a 6.50 real per bushel price for soybeans, the devalued currency brings them better than 9 reals. U.S. soybeans, meanwhile, bring only $4.50 per bushel.
During a 20-year period when U.S. producers were cutting acreage, Slocum says, Brazil and Argentina were expanding.
"We still produce a lot of soybeans in this country," he says, "but the gap (between U.S. production and South America) is narrowing significantly."
He says since 1980 South America has added some 30 million acres of soybeans while the United States increased about 4 or 5 million. More recently, South America added 190 million bushels of production and kept their carryout at the same level.
"They will consume or export all their added production," Slocum says.
Also, Brazil's capacity to expand acreage, "with the right price incentive, is enormous. And Argentina has a very small domestic demand for soybeans. They export 95 percent of the soybeans they produce."
Competing with countries that provide the lowest priced soybeans in recent history in a market that is "extremely price sensitive," demands new strategies, Slocum says.
"That's why we're not trying to build demand. Instead, we're focusing efforts on providing a high value product to our most sophisticated customers. We want to use the superiority of U.S. produced soybeans and a sophisticated infrastructure that allows us to isolate quality factors (such as better nutrition and non-GM products) and target specific customer needs."
Slocum says marketing efforts identify the most sophisticated users and provide them products that offer advantages to buyer and seller.
"U.S. soybeans have an advantage with protein," he says. "U.S. soybean meal is more digestible, so livestock perform better. With amino acids, we also have a clear advantage."
Corn growers are pursuing a similar strategy. "We have to be aware of what the competition is doing, even as we continue to dominate the export market with a 71 percent share," Hobbie says.
Sales strategy will include matching customer wants and needs with high quality grain, says Lisle Cook, chairman, U.S. Grains Council. "We have to identify what drives our customers and what's important to them."
Hobbie says Value Enhanced Grain (better nutrition or high oil) offers potential "to increase value to producers and to differentiate U.S. corn in the marketplace. We're hearing a lot of interest in Value Enhanced Grain products from international customers," he says.
He also says a corn-based product, polylactic acid fiber, a biodegradable fabric, may find a ready market in Japan and other waste disposal conscious countries.
Hobbie says market strategists in the next few years should watch China. "Part of China's WTO commitment calls for them to import 4.5 million metric tons of corn and build to 7.2 million metric tons within five years.
"Also, India soon will pass China in population and with a thriving middle class will demand improved diets."
He says the Middle East and North Africa also offer potential for increased corn imports. "That area has doubled corn imports over the last decade, and 72 percent has been from the United States."
Another trade issue that could affect U.S. corn and soybean markets will be trade sanctions. "We have to remove these barriers and push the U.S. advantages," Lisle says.
Slocum says a new administration may be amenable to removing some sanctions.
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


text: I am having a performance problem with my Scyld Beowulf. I have been testing with 5 machines on a 100-megabit switch while using the Linpack benchmark. With 6 machines (1GHZ server, 5-333 MHZ clients) the results of the linpack benchmark is .1 Gflops. With just one machine (1GHZ server) I get a .5 Gflops (4.670e-01) result. I tried using 9 computers and the performance is even less at .09 Gflops. I have tried 3 different switches, and the cheapest (I assume a cut through switch) gives the best performance. I have downloaded a parallelized pi calculation program the reverse true - the more computers in the cluster, the faster the calculation. Am I reading the results incorrectly? What might cause this poor performance?


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Feb 25, 2013 9:00:00 AMby Goal.com
The Portuguese was considered by the Catalan club and was wanted by Sandro Rosell in 2008, while the Argentine could have made a controversial switch to the capital in 2005
By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer
It may seem unthinkable now, but had things turned out differently, Cristiano Ronaldo could have been turning out in Barcelona Blaugrana in Tuesday's Copa del Rey Clasico clash, with Lionel Messi in the white of Real Madrid.
Cristiano has always maintained that his dream as a youngster was to play for Madrid, yet when he was asked about the possibility of moving to Barcelona in 2010, his answer left many in shock. "You can never say you won't drink from that glass; you never know what can happen in future," he said.
Ronaldo signed up at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009, joining the capital club in a world-record €94 million deal. In the two previous summers, however, Manchester United grew angry at Madrid's heavy-handed tactics in their pursuit of the Portuguese, leading manager Sir Alex Ferguson to claim: "They are a mafia - I wouldn't even sell them a virus."
In the meantime, Barcelona watched with interest. Back then, the forward on the left of the Catalans' 4-3-3 was Ronaldinho, the world's best player in 2005 and most of 2006 before a dramatic decline left the club in little doubt that a new star would be needed. With that in mind, Barca's then sporting director, Txiki Begiristain, met with Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes in February of 2007 to discuss a possible transfer.
In 2008, Barcelona president Joan Laporta was presented with a censure motion following disappointing results on the pitch in 2006-07 and 2007-08, as well as criticism over his leadership style. Had he lost the overall vote, Laporta would have faced elections in July of the same year and one of the men keen to rival the lawyer for Barca's top job was current chief Sandro Rosell. And the latter's election promise would have been to sign a star for the Catalan club: Cristiano.
Nike remain the shirt sponsors for the Catalan club but have been left without a big-name Barca player contracted to their company ever since Ronaldinho departed in 2008. Rosell now hopes to change that by bringing in Neymar, but in 2008 the man he wanted was Ronaldo.
By then, of course, Messi was fast winning the hearts of the Blaugrana fans, although it would be later in 2008 and in the subsequent seasons that the Argentine would play his best football for the Camp Nou club, under Pep Guardiola and later Tito Vilanova.
Messi made his debut for Barca in October of 2004 and was offered a new contract by the Catalans in May of the following year after an impressive initial campaign. Leo had come through the youth system at La Masia and was happy in Barcelona. He did not think twice and signed the new deal. The agreement, however, was illegal because, as a minor (Messi was still only 17), it needed the signature of the player's father.
Furious at the oversight by Barca, unhappy at previous promises broken by the Catalan club in the past and believing they could earn more money elsewhere, Messi's father wondered if his son would be better off at another club and one of Leo's representatives offered the player to Madrid on what would have been a free contract.
Florentino Perez, then in his first spell as president at the Santiago Bernabeu, thought long and hard about snapping up one of the world's top teenage talents for free, but feared a colossal conflict with Barcelona and was already wary about such a deal after the ill-feeling created by Madrid's signing of Luis Figo from the Catalan club in 2000.
In the end, Barca moved quicky to correct their mistake, a new contract was penned and Messi has been an idol at Camp Nou ever since. While he has led the club to numerous triumphs, smashing scoring records on a regular basis and winning four Ballons d'Or, Cristiano continues to carve his name into Madrid folklore thanks to his incredible goal-a-game ratio and prize performances for the capital club since his move in 2009.
Messi meets Ronaldo again on Tuesday in what promises to be another intriguing installment of the Clasico. Leo leads Barcelona these days and Cristiano could captain Madrid in the absence of Iker Casillas. It is impossible to imagine things the other way around, yet it could have happened. Not that fans of either side would have it any other way, of course.


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State Wants to Ban Homeschooling
Netherlands: State Wants to Ban Homeschooling
VS Rommelt aan Asielstatus Christelijke Duitsers om Thuisonderwijs
Netherlands: Sixteen-year-old Homeschooler Graduates from College
Homeschooling a Topic of Discussion in the Netherlands
International Homeschooling—Watch Video from a Dozen Countries
Dutch Family Victorious in Parental Rights Case
Homeschool Leader Interviews
Successful Lobbying in the Netherlands
Update on Homeschooling in the Netherlands
Home Education Threatened in the Netherlands
Dutch Homeschoolers Fight Compulsory Attendance Law
Compulsory Attendance Law:From the 5th birthday until age 16. Part-time attendance allowed for 16 to 18 year olds (an approved combination of study and employment).
Legal Status: Homeschooling is not technically recognized by Dutch law. The Compulsory Education Act, Article 2, paragraph 1, states that school attendance is mandatory. However, many are able to obtain a religious exemption to compulsory education.
Country needs: 1) Recognition of homeschooling as a valid form of education
Number of Homeschoolers: Approximately 100 families.
Jozualijst (Christian Dutch Homeschoolers)
Nederlandse Vereniging voor Thuisonderwijs (NVvTO)
Right to Home Educate Initiative
Dit is thuisonderwijs
Last Updated: June 29, 2016


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All photos and captions: Mark Imanuel
This past weekend Mt High had a whole lot of activities. Mark Imanuel was there to document the action. The high light of the day was the 2011 Miss Mountain High contest along with the always entertaining pond skim and Neff Beach Jam. Trevor Hass won $500 at the Neff Beach Bash, and Christina Lopez won Miss Mountain High.
Check out Mark's gallery from last year's event.


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The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition by FMC Corporation and three national grower groups for review of a lower court ruling that upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision to deny an administrative hearing on the revocation of domestic tolerances of carbofuran.
Dr. Michael Morelli, director of global regulatory affairs for FMC, notes that the court's decision not to review the lower-court ruling on EPA's actions "sets a bad precedent for U.S. agriculture."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit earlier reinstated import tolerance for carbofuran for rice, bananas, coffee and sugar cane, noting in its written opinion that EPA had acknowledged that "exposure to carbofuran in imported foods alone is safe." In light of that fact, the lower court ruled EPA's decision to revoke the import tolerance was arbitrary and capricious.
In essence, it will be fine for trading partners to use this effective insecticide but U.S. farmers won't have access to the technology for their own operations. FMC notes that after 40 years of productive use, carbofuran has not had a single incident of dietary or drinking water injury. The National Corn Growers Association, National Sunflowers Association, National Potato Council and FMC jointly petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court. These grower associations, USDA and 50 Secretaries of State Departments of Agriculture went on record supporting the continued, but very limited use of carbofuran that FMC had proposed to EPA.
In responding to the court decision, NCGA President Bart Schott says, "It's unfortunate that the Supreme Court did not recognize the inconsistencies within the lower court ruling, which effectively deems the chemical safe for imported food but not for crops grown in the United States. We hope the EPA's handling of carbofuran is not an indication of how the agency intends to proceed with future product cancellations."


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HIV Vaccine Primer: Basic Science and Concepts
May 13, 2013
Getting to zero new HIV infections is already possible with our current HIV prevention methods -- condom use, pre-exposure prophylaxis, education, testing and so forth. But the holy grail of getting to zero remains an HIV vaccine. With an effective vaccine, HIV could eventually be eradicated, as with smallpox.
Just to be clear: No HIV vaccine currently exists. But there are many ongoing efforts to develop one, and those efforts have been revived in recent years. Some experts say we are at least 10 years away from an HIV vaccine, while others say it may be much longer than that.
So why is it taking so long? What makes developing a vaccine for HIV so difficult? Some of the science behind HIV vaccines can be tricky, but here are the basics to help you better understand what goes on in the human body and how a successful vaccine may be developed.
The Biggest Obstacle in Developing an HIV Vaccine
"The one biggest [obstacle] is HIV itself," as top researcher Nicole Frahm, Ph.D., puts it. "It's an extremely complicated bug because it basically infects the cells of the immune system that are supposed to help you prevent an infection in the first place. The fact that it infects CD4 cells makes it very hard to build a good immune response against it."
Not only does HIV infect and disable the very system that's supposed to fight against it, but by the time the immune system catches up and develops a response, HIV mutates. There are also different strains of the virus, each of which attacks the immune system slightly differently -- another reason why HIV is very good at evading our natural defenses.
Even when researchers create a potential vaccine that's ready for testing, the clinical trials required to test it take considerable time and aren't cheap, to say the least. There are three trial phases a vaccine candidate has to pass before it can be approved by an official authority, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for medical use in the general public. Each trial phase requires more time, money, vaccine product and study volunteers than the last.
This doesn't mean an HIV vaccine isn't possible. It will just take time and a considerable amount of investment.
What Is a Vaccine?
A preventive vaccine is a substance that, when introduced into the body, can protect a person against developing a particular infection or disease in the future. A vaccine prepares the body, particularly the immune system, to defend against a specific pathogen (a disease-causing microorganism, such as a virus, bacteria or parasite) by creating an immune response.
In general, vaccines are given to uninfected individuals who may be exposed to the pathogen in the future. "When HIV infects you, it's ahead of the game. It's got two weeks to a month while your immune system is gearing up and responding," explains Rick King, vice president of vaccine design at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). "What we're trying to do is to get the immune system there in advance."
The vaccines that are currently available for other diseases save millions of lives every year. These include the polio, tetanus and measles vaccines. Like these vaccines, an HIV vaccine would prepare the body ahead of time, so that it's ready to fight HIV if exposed to it. An important thing to keep in mind: Vaccines don't have to be 100 percent effective to be approved, or to stop an outbreak in its tracks. Most licensed vaccines in the U.S. are 70 to 95 percent effective.
Vaccines can be given in many ways, including injections into the muscle, injections into or under the skin, as a patch applied onto the skin or inside the nose, or as a pill taken orally.
(In addition to preventive vaccines, there is some research going on to develop a therapeutic vaccine for people living with HIV. If effective, it would use the person's immune system to help control the HIV and delay disease progression. But we will focus on preventive vaccines in this article.)
For a more in-depth overview, watch "How an AIDS Vaccine Might Work" from IAVI:
Types of Vaccines
The most straightforward vaccine would be a live attenuated vaccine, which uses a weakened version of the pathogen. This is how the vaccines for measles and mumps work. However, live attenuated HIV is never used in HIV vaccine trials, in order to avoid any risk of HIV infection via the vaccine itself. Therefore, HIV vaccine trial participants are never actually exposed to HIV, and have no chance of becoming infected.
A whole-cell inactivated vaccine is made from whole viruses or bacteria whose ability to grow and reproduce has been eliminated. Currently, there is only one HIV vaccine trial testing an HIV vaccine candidate made from inactivated whole HIV that has been genetically modified. Phase 1 results demonstrated safety and tolerability, and the researchers are moving into phase 2.
A subunit vaccine uses purified pieces of the pathogen (known as antigens) to trigger a strong, protective immune response. This is how the vaccines for influenza and hepatitis B work. The first HIV vaccine candidate tested in humans (AIDSVAX) used this approach, but it failed to show protection. However, subunit vaccine approaches are still being researched.
This article was provided by TheBody.
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Canadian Mangalarga Marchador Ranch
Added: April 08, 2013 09:45:31 PM | Views: 3 |
Canadian Mangalarga Marchadors, now offering information on the Marchador. Intelligent, calm, athletic and beautiful... The National Horse Breed of Brazil, this breed has been bred for over 200 years and is now the third most numerous breed in the world.
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Horse Farm Directory: Canada
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Moseley v Bedford Blues
Bedford slipped to their 11th defeat of their unhappy Championship season and lost at Billesley Common for the first time in nearly eight years. Not since September 2006 have Blues left Birmingham without the spoils but in truth they were never in control of the game. Tries from Paul Tupai and Pat Tapley were all they had to show for their efforts against a redoubtable home team that has not lost at Billesley Common in three months.
The Moseley scrum set their stall out early as Nic Auterac and Phil Boulton struggled for parity and even though the Blues mauling game was good, it wasn't decisive.
However, up the hill in the first half Bedford restricted Moseley to just three Ollie Thomas penalties.
The fly half ended the game with five from seven attempts and a mixed bag tactically. Opposite number Jake Sharp shared the tactical mixed-bag side of that equation but crucially landed only one of his four shots.
The only try of the half went to Blues who smuggled Tupai over the line as they used their maul to counteract the home scrum.
Thomas gave his side an ideal start when he struck an eighth minute penalty won by the forwards as they picked their way up to the 22.
Midway through the half the home side leaked a series of penalties which Bedford opted to punt to the corner.
After a long spell of sustained pressure lock Tupai rode his way to the line to make it 5-3.
A quarter of an hour before the break Thomas was presented with another three points after Tupai went into the side of a maul. The 30-year-old missed his third attempt from 49m but atoned seconds later when Sacha Harding failed to roll away.
With a 9-5 lead and on the front foot Kevin Maggs's men looked to press home their supremacy - but instead gifted a numerical advantage to the visitors when Will Evans was yellow carded for punching.
But it didn't seem to affect them that much and the only score during the sin bin came early in the second half through Thomas's fourth penalty.
Sharp finally found his bearings in the 46th minute as Moseley were pinged for holding on and made it 12-8.
And the Goldington Road side hit the front five minutes later as classy centre Mark Atkinson sneaked down the short-side committed two defenders and gave winger Tapley an unopposed run in. Sharp missed the extras.
In previous years that 13-12 lead would have been enough for the Mike Rayer's side to seize the initiative.
Instead Moseley battled their way back up the pitch and on the hour they replied through Will Owen, as Mike Powell flipped the ball off the ground to the centre who went under the sticks. Thomas's conversion made it 19-13.
And with 15 minutes remaining Thomas lifted an injudicious kick to the left wing where Matt Williams bailed him out by leaping between two defenders to score. Blues could not respond.
For more pictures visit http://frontrow.photium.com/


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10 Essential Beastie Boys Songs
Taking influences from hardcore and hip hop, the Beastie Boys mixed and mashed musical styles to deliver infectious grooves and wickedly funny lyrics.
Like fellow New Yorkers Run-D.M.C., they disregarded the color line dividing rock and rap in the Eighties. The roots of the Beastie Boys date back to 1981, with the definitive trio configuration of ADROCK (Adam Horovitz), MCA (Adam Yauch) and Mike D (Michael Diamond) coalescing at mid-decade. After a series of 12-inch records, the Beastie Boys brashly announced themselves to the world with the full-length Licensed to Ill (1986). While it typecast the Beastie Boys as beer-swilling party animals, the group exploded any notions of one-dimensionality with its ambitious followup, Paul's Boutique (1989). On Check Your Head (1992) and Ill Communication (1994), the Beastie Boys – who are capable instrumentalists – performed most of the music while integrating an array of samples, beats and witty wordplay into an ever-intriguing sonic smorgasbord.
Subsequently, the Beastie Boys have issued three full-length albums of words and music – Hello Nasty (1998), To the 5 Boroughs (2004) and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011) – along with a few EPs and 2007's all-instrumental The Mix-Up. With each release, the Beastie Boys have reasserted themselves as sharp-tongued musical innovators with an unabashed sense of humor.
Here, the Rock Hall suggests 10 essential Beastie Boys songs.
After years performing as a hardcore punk act, the Beastie Boys – ADROCK, MCA and Mike D – recast themselves as rap innovators. It was an especially unlikely move for three middle-class white kids from New York City, but it was a sonic shift that created a stir. Leading the charge was "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" from 1986's Licensed To Ill. Produced by friend and label head Rick Rubin, the song combined heavy metal swagger, rap brio and the Beastie Boys' ill-bred humor.
Whereas the boisterous Gen X anthem "Fight For Your Right" sonically shared much in common with the Beastie Boys' hardcore roots, "Brass Monkey" – also from Licensed To Ill – delivered a more hip-hop flavored two-and-a-half minute nugget of infectious tomfoolery. Built around a sample of obscure R&B outfit Wild Sugar's "Bring It Here," "Brass Monkey" was a riotous ode to the trio's primary interests at the time: "Monkey and parties and reelin' and rockin'" The Beastie Boys' party friendly tracks – and complementary music videos – helped make Licensed To Ill a pop-culture phenomenon, topping Billboard's album chart for seven weeks and selling more than nine million copies.
Appearing on 1989's landmark Paul's Boutique, which was recorded with producer/collaborators the Dust Brothers, "Hey Ladies" combined the feckless sing-along hedonism of earlier Beastie Boys anthems with a technical sophistication (especially in its complex, multi-layered sampling) that would profoundly influence the sound and construction of hip-hop. The song's lyrical gymnastics – referencing Tom Thumb, Chuck Woolery, Vincent van Gogh and Welcome Back, Kotter, among many others – set the bar for rap's verbal acrobats for generations."Hey Ladies" was the only charting single from Paul's Boutique.
Paul's Boutique was a dizzying, kaleidoscopic collage that has been called "the Pet Sounds and Dark Side of the Moon of hip-hop," featuring as many as 300 audio samples spread out over its 15 tracks. "Shake Your Rump" brilliantly captured the spirit of that creativity and singular vision, weaving snippets by everyone from Average White Band, Afrika Bambaataa and James Brown to Funky 4+1, Ronnie Laws and Led Zeppelin, to Rose Royce and Sugarhill Gang. Above it all were the vocal stylings of ADROCK, MCA and Mike D, who echoed the song's sonic broad strokes with playful lyrics that referenced Patty Duke and Kangols (The Patty Duke the wrench and then I bust the tango / Got more rhymes than Jamaica got Mango Kangols), cartoon character Fred Flintsone and The Brady Bunch (Like Sam the butcher bringing Alice the meat / Like Fred Flintstone driving around with bald feet), among many, many other things. It was the type of dense masterpiece that would go on to inspire the likes of modern mashup purveyors, such as Girl Talk.
Released as the second single from 1992's Check your Head, "So What'Cha Want" was emblematic of a revised sonic approach by the Beastie Boys. Although the trio still invoked a hip-hop vision dominated by a colorful musical stew whose recipe included elements of punk, jazz and funk, the sample-heavy direction of Paul's Boutique was scaled back in favor of live instruments and complementary arrangements, with each member of the Beastie Boys playing on the album – namely ADROCK on guitar, MCA on bass, Mike D on drums and, on this track, the killer organ hook played by Money Mark. "So What'cha Want" stands out as among the album's few moments that slips into a more rap-inspired groove, with its record scratches and a bass-heavy syncopated rhythm, though embodies the lyrically driven structure found throughout the album, as the trio takes turns behind the mic delivering vaguely confrontational lyrics through a scratchy filter: But like a dream I'm flowing without no stopping / Sweeter than a cherry pie with Reddi Whip topping / Goin' from mic to mic kickin' it wall to wall / Well I'll be calling out you people like a casting call.
Released in 1994, Ill Communication brought the Beastie Boys their largest audience since their 1986 debut. The album peaked at Number One on the Billboard 200 charts in June 1994, and debuted at Number Two on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums that same month. The album's chart success was propelled largely by its first single, "Sabotage." Signaling a return to a more traditional rock arrangement, the Beastie Boys channeled their punk roots for a raucous number powered by MCA's distorted bass riff, along with Mike D on drums and ADROCK on guitar. The Spike Jonze–directed music video gained extensive MTV airplay, casting the fun-loving threesome as central characters in a Seventies crime drama parody.
The lead track on Ill Communication, "Sure Shot" was the type of unique turn that the Beastie Boys seem to effortlessly curate. The song is driven by a flute riff pulled from jazz artist Jeremy Steig's "Howlin' For Judy," which provides an unlikely yet ideal foil for the punch and kick of the track's hip-hop cadence and hardcore beat. An evolution of the era's jazz rap sound, the verse-chorus-verse structure of "Sure Shot" meant it would find release as a single, and its chorus remains one of the more often-quoted passages from the Beastie Boys voluminous canon: Because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop / When you can't, you won't, and you don't stop / You know you can't, you won't, and you don't stop. The chorus was written entirely by Beastie Boys original turntablist, DJ Hurricane. He recorded the chorus over the phone at 3 am because he was out of town during the sessions.
Echoing the title's outer-dimensional suggestion, the lead single from the Beastie Boys' fifth album, Hello Nasty, is chock full of celestial atmospherics – including a host of synth blips and beeps, and a recurring robotic vocoder voice – that gel with the steady, head-bouncing beat of "Intergalactic." Lyrically, the group deliver a twisted assemblage of metaphors and similes to address their hip-hop panache and ability to rev up a crowd: From the family tree of old school hip hop / Kick off your shoes and relax your socks / The rhymes will spread just like a pox / Cause the music is live like an electric shock. The confidence was not unfounded: "Intergalactic" peaked at Number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1999. The music video directed by MCA (under the pseudonym of Nathanial Hornblower) was an uproarious homage to classic Japanese monster movies, and featured the popular single-only mix of the song.
Appearing on 1998's Hello Nasty, "Body Movin'" was the follow-up single to "Intergalactic." The song notably sampled Amral's Trinidad Cavaliers Steel Orchestra's version of the Tito Puente composition "Oye Como Va" (later made famous by Santana), giving the song its distinct Latin flair, in addition to vocal tracks from a fitness clip. The cross-cultural hodgepodge was buoyed by a funky backbeat, as the Beastie Boys' trademark interplay, call-and-response exchange moved the track forward with typically cogent gusto.
After shelving work on The Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 1 following Adam Yauch aka MCA's cancer diagnosis, the Beastie Boys regrouped and presented a reworked, edited playlist in 2011: The Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2. Older, wiser and unaffectedly hip, the trio led off their eighth studio album with the pronounced dirty funk grind of "Make Some Noise." The track not only acknowledged their aging (My rhymes age like wine as I get older / I'm getting bolder, competition is waning) but also provided a humorous reflection – and show of maturity – on self-awareness: Pass me the scalpel, I'll make an incision / I'll cut off the part of your brain that does the bitching / Put it in formaldehyde and put it on the shelf / And you can show it to your friends and say that's my old self. The star-studded music video directed by MCA presents itself as a sequel to the group's first hit: "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)"
Singer/Songwriter Andrew W.K. why the Beastie Boys should be inducted
Singer/songwriter Andrew W.K. explains why he's excited that the Beastie Boys are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


text:
Credit Cards in Flinders View (QLD) in Australia
Find and compare best personal credit cards in Flinders View (QLD) with card limit $5 000,00 in banks of Australia
Data updated: 27 March 2019
Update frequency: quarterly
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Funny video
2-year-old kid likes to throw. Look what happened when his parents bought him a basketball ring!
- Banco Santander, S.A.
- Bank Australia
- Bank First
- Bank of America
- Bank of Baroda
- Bank of China
- Bank of Communications
- Bank of Melbourne
- Bank of Queensland
- Bank of Sydney
- Bank of Western Australia
- Bank SA
- BankVic
- Barclays Capital
- Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
- Beyond Bank Australia
- BNP Paribas
- BNP Paribas Securities Services
- BOQ Specialist


text:
Hors D%27oeuvres Recipes
Stuffed Mushrooms
The possibilities for stuffed mushrooms are almost limitless. They are perfect as passed hors d'oeuvres and they're incredibly versatile and easy to make when you're pressed for time. We have a dinner party tonight, and I wanted to use the leftover stuffing from Thanksgiving. "Stuffing-stuffed Mushrooms" has a nice ring to it, no?
I boosted the flavor of the stuffing with parmesan cheese, sliced almonds and crème fraîche. To smooth out the texture, I incorporated some crème fraîche to the stuffing and brushed the mushrooms with tomato sauce and tomato paste as well. Once each button mushroom is filled with stuffing, sprinkle on some more parmesan, bake, and they're ready to serve!
Full Recipe...
Vegetarian Cheese Quesadilla
Quesadillas are easy to make and fun to eat. We had relatives over for dinner tonight, so I made some quesadilla canapés as an appetizer. I prepared two fillings, one with shredded beef and a vegetarian option as well.
I wanted the vegetarian ones to have a chewy consistency, so I did not use vegetarian chorizo as I usually do when I make vegetarian Mexican dishes. I used shredded, fried tofu that I blended with harissa to add a little kick to the dish. Harissa is a spicy paste that is used as a condiment in Northern African cuisine. I think the grainy paste blended with the shredded tofu loosely resembles the texture of the meat version. I'll post the recipe for harissa tomorrow.
Full Recipe...
Vegetarian Quinoa and Eggplant Caviar
"Chose promise, chose due!" This is a French expression that translates as promises are made to be kept.
As promised, this is the recipe of the vegetarian equivalent of fish caviar that I served my "vegetarian" dinner guests last night. I paired it with mini-crumpets and a little dollop of crème fraîche in between.
This recipe was inspired by the Tassajara Cookbook by Karla Oliveira, which is an excellent resource for vegetarian party food recipes. The quinoa grains and eggplant seeds resemble the original fish eggs. It is basically eggplant caviar, very similar to baba ganoush, mixed with cooked quinoa.
For more flavor, I topped it with an Asian-style mint and cilantro sauce that added a beautiful, bright green color.
Full Recipe...


text:
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Ephemera and Miscellany
1. I was in the grocery store and the Eddie Money song "Take Me Home Tonight" came on. Now, I'm sure this song has its merits, but they're lost on me. But one thing caught my eye. Ear. There's a part of the song I'd never thought about where he sings "Just like Ronnie sang:" and then a female voice chimes in, "Be my little baby." Now this is, of course, a reference to the Ronettes classic "Be My Baby," which many (myslef among them) consider one of the best pop songs of the era. Brian Wilson, in fact, listened to it obsessively, until he became convinced it contained secret messages for him meant to drive him mad. A good song'll do that to ya. So Eddie Money is employing a cute trick, and one that I'm overfond of, which is weaving lines from well-known songs into one's own songs. Quoting, some call it. But what suddenly struck me was that the female voice was none other than that of Ronnie Spector herself. In other words, how cool must it be to be Eddie Money? (Boy, I never thought I'd say that.) Seriously, to put a reference to "Be My Baby" in a song and get Ronnie Spector to sing it? Almost makes me like the song.
2. Later that day I was in the park (it's been unseasonably warm here in New York) and I passed by a father who was saying to his kid, "You hafta finish your pop." It's not just that he said pop, although that particular non-count noun is certainly a rara avis in these parts (Soon I'll post on pop/soda/coke. I have, as we say in Yinglish, what to say on this topic). But it was also the "hafta," raising the /ae/ through the damn roof. Warmed this Chicagoan's heart. I almost went over and talked to him, but then I remembered all the other times I did things like that, and how it was never a good idea.
Now two facts that delight me whenever I think about them:
1. Ever think about the word 'em? As in "Take 'em out of the oven and put 'em on the table." I always assumed it was a contraction of "them." But since when can you drop a "th" from the beginning of a word? In fact, 'em is a relic of an entirely different pronoun, hem. How cool is that? It's a well known fact, but one I love. And though 'em may seem weird, folksy or extremely casual written out, I don't know any native speaker of American English who doesn't say it. Oh yes, of course I have data to back up that claim.
2. There's a song that I used to hear all the time on the radio called "Blinded By The Light," whose claim to fame is that there's a line where the singer seems to sing "douche." He doesn't. The real line, as penned by the songwriter, who happens to be Bruce Springsteen, is "Wrapped up like a deuce/ Another runner in the night." [or rather "Revved up"]
The famous version of the song, the one where the singer seems to sing "douche," is by Manfred Mann, who, years earlier, he had been the drummer in a band called Manfred Mann, who had a hit with the song "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" (originally by the Exciters, who are quite good). Got that - Manfred Mann was in a band called Manfred Mann. Now, in an organized record store (which is right next to my data proving all Americans say 'em), individual musicians are alphabetized, unsurprisingly, by last name, while band names are alphabetized by first letter. Thus Jethro Tull is under J, whereas if Jethro Tull had taken a break from inventing the seed drill in 1701 to go cut an album, it would be under T. So if you're looking for "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," look under "Manfred," but if you want "Blinded By The Light," look under "Mann." Which is right next to "Manfred," usually.
As for Manfred Mann, he's originally from South Africa. Oh yeah, and his real name is Michael Lubowitz.
5 comments:
- Queenie said...
nice stories. yes, i always thought it was douche, and the appearance of ronnie is mystifying. reminds me of corey hart getting eric clapton to play on his first album... huh? not that i have any particular affinity for eric clapton, but you know.
i'm curious as to what you might have to say about a line from the bette midler hit (from my friend jason's blog):
- Ben said...
Ah yes, Corey Hart -- How long has it been since I have spoken his name? Not nearly long enough. Really, he has an album? With Eric Clapton on it? How 'bout that.
Thanks for pointing me to Jason's question on irrealis -- he raises an interesting and important question. Maybe I'll think about it and post a comment on his blog.
Incidentally, my word verification word is Srupnplb, who I think was the king of Thailand.
- Queenie said...
corey hart did in fact have more than one album. clapton played on his first album, which contained his hit "sunglasses at night". it's not really clear how that happened, but word on the streets of montreal (corey hart's hometown!!!) is that his daddy paid a phat wad to arrange it. you remember, that song with the famous lyric "donruss the ray with a guy in shades" or something like that.
- the chocolate lady said...
Seen the pop map?
and isn't it "racked up like a deuce"?
- Ben said...
Chocolate Lady -
I have indeed seen the pop map; it served as my background screen for a year. It's wonderful, isn't it?
A little research has convinced me that the line is "revved up like a deuce." The ghits for "revved," "wrapped," and "wracked" are inconclusive, but given Springsteen's fondness for motorcycle imagery, "revved" is the option that makes no sense the least. In any case, thanks for showing the way to the truth.
I must confess that I had Corey Hart mixed up with Corey Haim; I guess my brain only has one spot for Canadians named Corey who were popular in the mid-eighties. In fact I'm not sure I'm familiar with his oeuvre, and part of me wants to remedy that, but another part of me wants to have lunch. Lunch it is.


text:
Many of the conference sessions will be recorded by Fleetwood Onsite Conference Recording, Inc. What is new this year is that there will be digital downloads of sessions instead of CDs to purchase at <www.fleetwoodonsite.com> after the conference. I am hoping the following sessions are among those recorded as they are the ones I would most like to hear this year. Everyone will have different sessions that they feel they need, as we are all at varying places in our genealogical education. We may need lectures on records, methodology, or specific locations or ethnicities.
What sessions are you most interested in? I would love to have you leave a comment and let me know what you would like to download this year. The FGS conference program can be found here.
-->Angela's picks for 2013
|Finding Fathers: Bridging the Generation Gap
|Elizabeth Shown Mills
|A Wife, or Rather a Woman: Identifying the Wife of Edward Worthington, Kentucky Pioneer
|Karen Mauer Green
|Three Ways to Improve Your Speaking Ideas
|Harold Henderson
|Creating Family Histories for Future Generations
|Thomas W. Jones
|It Takes a Human: Genealogists and Writing
|Jeanne Larzalere Bloom
|Smiths and Joneses: Success with Families of Common Name
|Elizabeth Shown Mills
|Planning and Executing Efficient and Effective Research: A Case Study
|Thomas W. Jones
|Going Nuclear: DNA Discoveries to Trace All Lines of Descent
|Debbie Parker Wayne
|Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Research, Methods and Skills
|Debbie Mieszala


text:
Reaction::Manual::RenderPage - Page rendering
A little overview
| Controller Action |
| Decides which logical part to provide |
| ViewPort |
| A logical part of the page | |
'------------------------------' |
| Inner ViewPorts
v Data
.-------------------------------------. |
| LayoutSet | |
| A representational part of the page | |
'-------------------------------------' |
| Looks
v Structure
.-------------------------------. |
| Widget | |
| A functional part of the page | |
'-------------------------------' |
.-------------------------------. |
| Output | |
| The rendered part of the page |
Or, how to track why your page failed to render
begin and
end actions are supplied by Reaction::UI::Controller::Root, which your
Root controller should inherit from, or at least the root controller of the part of your application that is using Reaction.
begin action creates a new Reaction::UI::Window and stores it in $c->stash->{window}. The
end action calls the flush() method on the stashed window object. "flush" in Reaction::UI::Window then calls "render_window" in Reaction::UI::View on the window's view.
The View first fetches the root ViewPort from the Window's stack and creates a RenderingContext. The layout is chosen based on the ViewPort name or though the ViewPort's
layout attribute. The Widget is then used to render the content via the RenderingContext.
Is your head spinning yet?
Ingredients used:
* A Reaction::UI::Skin object built from:
- The skin_name set on your View
- The View object
- The skin_base_dir (MyApp/share/skin)
- The share/skin/defaults.conf + share/skin/<my_skin>/skin.conf
* A Reaction::UI::LayoutSet object built from:
- The layoutset file itself, found in the share/skin/<my_skin>/layout directory
or the share/skin/default/layout directory.
- The Skin object
* A Reaction::UI::Widget object built from:
- It's class, determined from the name of the ViewPort or read from the
layoutset file, and found in the widget_search_path.
- The View object
- The LayoutSet object
* A Reaction::UI::RenderingContext::TT object built from:
- Nothing
To render the window the correct Reaction::UI::Widget object is retrieved via the LayoutSet for the root ViewPort of the page.
The LayoutSet used defaults to the "layout" attribute on the ViewPort. If there is no layout attribute value set, it takes the class name of the ViewPort, extracts the parts following "::ViewPort::" and constructs the layoutset name from converting camel cased parts of the namespace to lower-case underscored, and namespace parts into directories.
## eg:
## becomes
The layoutset file should exist in the skin_base_dir, in the "layout" directory under the "skin_name" dir set in your View config, or in the "default/layout" directory. [[ A LayoutSet object is created based on the layoutset name, skin object, source_file (path to file), top_skin (skin object), next_skin if exists ]].
The layoutset file is parsed as the LayoutSet object is created, if a "=widget" line is found, the "widget_type" attribute is set.
The class of the Widget object can be set in the layoutset object args, or it defaults to being fetched via the Skin. The type of widget is either specified in the layoutset file via the "=widget" directive or retrieved by recreating the camelcased name from the layoutset name. The Widget is assumed to be in the widget search path provided by defaults.conf or your skin.conf.
The Widget itself is passed the ViewPort to render, and the RenderingContext. The initial fragment name to render is also passed, "widget".
The render stack is created using the widget order. The widget order is fetched for the fragment from the layoutset, this is either the widget class/layoutset, or retrieved from the extended layouts. As the render_stack is built, the fragment methods in the Widget are called to assign values from the ViewPort to arguments for the layout. (Or other interesting things).
The stack is passed to the RenderingContext to complete.


text:
Civil War Monthly Featured Document return to document overview
Camp near
Falmouth Va
Dear Mother
I have just received
with provisions so they had to go
to work and build roads by laying down
trees to get the artillery back on
Burnside concluding that it was not
the right time to move when the
roads were so muddy. The Regt got
back into the old Camp night before
last, yesterday I left the Hospital and
came back to the Co, for I should
have starved to death if I had
stayed there much longer I am about
as well now as I was before I was
taken sick and if I have had the
measles they are different things from
what I thought they were. I do not think
that we shall stop here long probably move
as soon as the roads get hard again
although one of our Co who is a medium
says that we shall stop here five weeks
and when we move go 75 miles he says
1866 Joe Hooker will soon have command
of the Army and in 1866 McClellan will
be reinstated and he will end the war.
We got paid off yesterday, for two months
although they owed us for most 5 but
government is probably affraid that if
they paid us for 4 months some of them might
take a notion to go home without asking
leave, some of them have gone as it
is two whole Companies from one of
Sickle'ses Regiments deserted as soon as they
got their pay, this Army is getting pretty
well demoralized I am not a going to
send any money home just yet although
I will in a few days if I can not use
it for some particular purpose out here
Our Sutler is here with quite an assortment
of goods and he has to sell just as the
Colonel says and the Colonel favors the
men he sells cheese 25 cents other sutlers 50
condensed milk 50 others 75 raisins 35 others 60
butter 45 others 60 cents, so you can see that
the Colonel saves a great many cents for the
men, although the sutler is mad enough
about it. It has cleared off this afternoon
and the sun has come out the Regt is
now out on a Brigade inspection I believe
I got the Reporter with the letter
Horace is well got a letter from home
to day Ward Jewell is getting better about
as well as usual I think of nothing
else to write except that I have got
a good house with a fire place in
it which is a good thing in this part
of the Country.


text: I shouldn't think that a cluster file system is necessary. It might be nice for some applications, where you'd like the "monolithic file system" view, but I can think of some clever cluster applications which actually only use local file storage (a distributed database engine, for instance.. send a query to all nodes, and each searches its little part of the database). Perhaps the unique feature of clusters is that they are unique? That you aren't forced into a particular way of thinking or working, and you can build/use your cluster as you see fit, rather than the supercomputer model of "we have settled on this as an optimum architecture, work in it or else". Using commodity components, glued together in myriad different ways, with a fairly large user community who has tried various approaches, is the true value. There's easy scalability and adaptability.. you can pick and choose... your application might only need 10 BaseT ethernet and passive hubs, or, it might need Myrinet, either way, the cluster approach has stuff that can work for you. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Philippe Blaise - GRENOBLE" <pblaise at cea.fr> To: <beowulf at beowulf.org> Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 9:36 AM Subject: Need comments about cluster file systems > > Do beowulf solutions really require a 'cluster file system like' ? > In other words, local disks seems to be sufficient in the beowulf world, > > that seems very surprising when you come from the HPC vendors's > world.... > > Philippe > > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf


text:
USN-2013-1: MAAS vulnerabilities
7 November 2013
maas vulnerabilities
A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:
- Ubuntu 13.04
- Ubuntu 12.10
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
MAAS could be made to run programs as an administrator.
Software Description
- maas - Ubuntu MAAS Server
It was discovered that maas-import-pxe-files incorrectly loaded configuration information from the current working directory. A local attacker could execute code as an administrator if maas-import-pxe-files were run from an attacker-controlled directory. (CVE-2013-1057)
It was discovered that maas-import-pxe-files doesn't cryptographically verify downloaded content. An attacker could modify images without detection. (CVE-2013-1058)
Update instructions
The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:
- Ubuntu 13.04
- maas-cluster-controller - 1.3+bzr1461+dfsg-0ubuntu2.3
- Ubuntu 12.10
- maas-cluster-controller - 1.2+bzr1373+dfsg-0ubuntu1.1
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
- maas-cluster-controller - 1.2+bzr1373+dfsg-0ubuntu1~12.04.4
To update your system, please follow these instructions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Upgrades.
In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.


text:
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Hi, We have an alpha site needing to become a beta site. It is basic without a lot of content. We have chosen a theme template ([login to view URL]) and would like to migrate and optimize the old site into this new theme site. Old site can be seen here ([login to view URL]) We require new page creation and an optimized look specifically for all our properties and cruise. We have a goal of adding ten brands in a drop down menu under Cruise, each representing a cruise line with as much information we can offer to our clients available there. For this, we only require one brand to be completed, and we will clone the rest. The same for our Properties (Golf, Dive & Liveaboard, Luxury Ranches, etc).
In regards to the old site, we are dropping the Destinations button, and are discussing whether or not to include the search function in the theme. We appreciate creative sense, and help to make this site better. We are looking for experienced professionals who have migrated sites, who understand Wordpress, who are willing to help optimize, and have this creative sense. THIS IS NOT A COPY PASTE OF THE OLD SITE. We have a NEW theme, with a new idea, and require someone who can make this happen in a matter of a short few days.
Any questions?
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Our catamarans are from Lagoon, Nautitech, Fountaine Pajot and Sunreef Yachts. Like all of our boats, they are serviced and maintained in accordance with the highest standards and are in top condition.
With its stretched coach rooflines, dynamic shapes and optimized functional spaces, the Lagoon 440 is the leader of cruising catamarans this size It features a raised helm station with a 360° visibility which is not exclusively helmsman's territory as it enhances the pleasure of cruising for all aboard.
|Charter Type
|Yacht Model
|Lagoon 440
|Production year
|Mainsail type
|Genoa type
|Steering type
|Steering Wheel
|Check-in day
|45 ft
|25 ft
|2 x 55 hp
|4 + 2
|8 + 2 + 2
If renting a yacht in Thailand & Italy , you need to pay the deposit. The deposit is payable on site. In other countries, Croatia, British Virgin Islands (BVI), Greece, Spain, Sweden and Turkey, the security deposit is covered by our All-inclusive package and there is no need for additional onsite payment.
Obligatory extras depend on the desired sailing destination. In Croatia, Turkey, Sweden and the BVI obligatory extras are included in our All-inclusive pack, while in Greece, Italy and Spain we have the Comfort pack. These extras are obligatory and are added to the boat charter price. With the All-inclusive pack you do not need to pay for the deposit at the boat chartering site. You can find out more about the obligatory extras at the following LINK.
To enjoy your sailing holidays to the fullest we offer optional extras (add-ons) that you can add to your charter. Optional extras depend on the chosen destination, and you can book them online. To preview and add the extras, click on the "Add extra" link in the right hand column.
Navigare Yachting is certified by the Yacht Pool financial insurance certificate. It is a proof of the company's solvency, financial stability as well a financial guarantee of payments made by the customers. We made sure that online payments are secure by the https protocol using encrypted credit card data. We do not collect nor have insight into the credit card data of our customers, as they are transferred directly to the payment processor. For our payment gateway we cooperate with WS Pay, and Six Payment is the company in charge of our payment processing.
If you choose to pay by credit card and you book the charter more than 6 months before departure date, you will have the option to make up to 6 instalment payments.
We will send you payment the payment link every month to your email address (the one you submitted at the time of booking). If you choose the bank transfer payment option, you will have the option to pay in up to two instalments. The charter has to be fully paid prior to the charter.
We have made it possible for you to explore our boats fully online. By choosing to book directly online,, you can rely on our dedicated team to communicate with you from the beginning to the end of your chartered trip, and make sure you have the perfect sailing vacation.
If you have the necessary qualifications (a skipper's licence and the necessary experience) you can charter a yacht as a bareboat. The specific set of necessary qualifications depend on the destination, since regulations for yacht renting as well as our own policy vary by country. Please refer to our general FAQ web page for further specifications for your desired country.
If you do not have the necessary qualifications and would like to charter a yacht, you can hire one of Navigare's professional skippers. In this case he will be responsible for all potential damages on board, in addition to providing a professional service and friendly attitude while ensuring your security and comfort. You can also discuss with him the desired sailing route. You can select the Skipper option online under optional extras.
After you request the charter, we will send you an automated confirmation. If you do not receive one, please check your spam folder. The email will contain information on the login to the member area. After we receive your request for the charter, our representative will contact you and send you the booking confirmation (in case of the bank transfer it will state the needed payment amount). In case of credit card payment we will contact you with the booking confirmation, and our representatives will take you through the whole process.
Before sailing, and after receiving the booking confirmation, you will need to register your accompanying sailing crew. We offer a couple of options on how to do that: you can download our Navigare Experience application for Android and iOS, and easily register using your mobile phone, or you can register your crew using our member area online.
If the Charterer, who has paid the total charter price, informs NY of their wish to cancel the vessel at least 4 weeks before the start of the agreed charter, the Charterer is entitled to a refund of 50% of the total paid amount.
If the cancellation is due to objective reasons (death in family, heavy injury etc.), the paid amount will not be refunded, but NY will place the vessel at the Charterer's disposal during another period or during the following sailing season, subject to availability.
Yes, indeed. All the reviews were made by our guests after they completed the charter. You will also have the opportunity to rate us.
Tortola - Marina Tortola
Reviews 4.95/5.0
|Added Extras
|Edit Extras
|Total price:
|from $ 6,693.00
|Pay only 5% now
|up to monthly installments later
Found Navigare yacht somewhere else for more favorable price?
Send us the best offer you have received for renting a Navigare yacht for certain period and we will match the price. As well – you can book the yacht and pay for it in up to 6 monthly installments if you pay by credit card!
And it is not only the money you save with us: save your time as well. We know our yachts the best - we have all the answers you might have regarding the yacht. As well we possess the local expertise and can answer all the questions regarding the sailing area of your choice. Check in has never been easier – use our application or My Navigare to check-in online prior to your departure.
Upload or send the more favorable offers to email@example.com and we will give you our offer to book a yacht!


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Danger Is Crazy: Brandy Gives Danger A Lie Detector Test On Ray J's Reality Show "For The Love Of Ray J" (Is She A Gold Digger? )
Danger vs. Lie Detector Test on For the Love of Ray J
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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F206 - Octal UART Interface Board
3U CompactPCI
The F206 is a universal octal UART based on 3U CompactPCI and uses small adapter to implement the physical layer for each channel as RS-232, RS-422, RS-485.
Main Features
Technical Data
- Up to eight UARTs
- Accessible via onboard connectors
- Physical interface at front panel using SA-Adapters via 10-pin ribbon cable
- Different variations with SA-Adapters possible:
- Data rates up to 115 kBit/s
- 60-byte transmit/receive buffer
- Handshake lines: full support; lines depend on SA-Adapters
- Standard factory FPGA configuration:
- Main bus interface
- 16Z054_SYSTEM - System unit
- 16Z025_UART - UART controller (controls four UARTs)
- 16Z025_UART - UART controller (controls four UARTs)
- 16Z045_FLASH - Flash interface
- The FPGA offers the possibility to add customized I/O functionality. See FPGA.
- Option matrix showing possible IP cores and SA-Adapters (PDF)
- 32-bit/33-MHz, 3.3 V V(I/O)
- Compliant with PCI Specification 2.2
- Compliance with CompactPCI Core Specification PICMG 2.0 R3.0
- Peripheral slot
- +5 V (-3%/+5%), current depends only on mounted SA-Adapters
- +3.3 V (-3%/+5%), > 500 mA typ.
- Dimensions: conforming to CompactPCI specification for 3U boards
- Single 3U front panel slot for up to two UARTs
- Up to two supplementary front panel slots required for overall eight UARTs
- Front panel: aluminum with 1 handle
- Weight: 95 g
- Temperature range (operation):
- Airflow: min. 1.0 m/s
- Temperature range (storage): -40..+85°C
- Relative humidity (operation): max. 95% non-condensing
- Relative humidity (storage): max. 95% non-condensing
- Altitude: -300 m to +3000 m
- Shock: 15 g, 11 ms (EN 60068-2-27)
- Bump: 10 g, 16 ms (EN 60068-2-29)
- Vibration (sinusoidal): 1 g, 10 Hz - 150 Hz (EN 60068-2-6)
- Driver software for Windows, Linux, VxWorks, QNX
- Flash update tools for Windows, Linux, VxWorks
- For more information on supported operating system versions and drivers see Software.
- FPGA Altera Cyclone EP1C12
- 12 060 logic elements
- 239 616 total RAM bits
- For UART functions
- 2 MB Flash for FPGA configurations
- Connection
- Total available pin count: 64 pins
- Functions available via onboard I/O connectors
- SA-Adapters are used to realize the physical lines.
- Functional updates via software
- MEN offers Flash update tools for different operating systems.
- Option matrix showing possible IP cores and SA-Adapters (PDF)
- Via up to eight SA-Adapters
- Different variations possible through FPGA IP cores and SA-Adapters:
- IBIS master/slave
- CAN bus
- Binary I/O
- InterBus-S
- Other physical layers dependent on FPGA configuration
- Option matrix showing possible IP cores and SA-Adapters (PDF)
- 4, 8 or 12 HP front panel dependent on number of SA-Adapters
- 4 HP with 2 onboard SA-Adapters
- 8 HP with 5 SA-Adapters
- 12 HP with 8 SA-Adapters
- One-piece front panel
- Different front panel cut-outs possible
Ordering Information
4 HP FPGA-based UART interface for direct connection of 2 UARTs (2 SA-Adapters to be ordered separately) at front, 8 UARTs standard FPGA content plus space for user-defined functions, -40..+85°C with qualified componentsThis product can be ordered until 2019-09-30
RS232, not optically isolated, 0°C to +60°CDetails
RS422/485, half duplex, optically isolated, 0°C to +60°CDetails
RS422/485, full duplex, optically isolated, 0°C to +60°CDetails
RS422/485, full duplex, optically isolated, -40°C to +85°C screenedDetails
RS232, optically isolated, 0°C to +60°CDetails
RS232, optically isolated, -40°C to +85°C screenedDetails
CAN bus ISO high-speed, optically isolated, -40..+85°C screenedDetails
8 digital I/O channels, -40..+85°C qualified, no RoHSDetails
The MDIS5 system package includes most standard device drivers for Linux available from MEN.
Linux native driver (MEN) for 16Z055_HDLC with TCP/PPP support
Linux FPGA update tool (MEN)
Windows Installset (MEN) for F206
Windows 64-bit FPGA update tool (MEN)
Windows Embedded Standard 7 BSP
MDIS5 low-level driver sources (MEN) for 16Z034_GPIO, 16Z037_GPIO and 16Z127_GPIO
VxWorks native driver (MEN) for 16Z025_UART, 16Z057_UART and 16Z125_UART
VxWorks FPGA update tool (MEN)
MDIS5 low-level driver sources (MEN) for 16Z034_GPIO, 16Z037_GPIO and 16Z127_GPIO
QNX 6.3 native driver (MEN) for 16Z025_UART and 16Z125_UART
QNX 6.4 native driver (MEN) for 16Z025_UART and 16Z125_UART
QNX 6.5 native driver (MEN) for 16Z025_UART and 16Z125_UART
QNX FPGA update tool (MEN)
Application Examples
Modular 19-inch systems like 3U CompactPCI or CompactPCI Serial are ideal for passenger information solutions in transportation applications.


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Home >> Course Descriptions >> College of Education
Practicum in Teaching.
Three semester hours.
This course will focus on the supervision of interns as they make pre-instructional, during instruction, and post-instructional decisions to help monitor and evaluate teaching effectiveness. (Required in a special education classroom in the event that at least one of the student's three years of prior teaching experience was not in a special education setting.)
Home - General Information - Student Services -
Academic Undergraduate Regulations -
Undergraduate Degrees - Academic Graduate Regulations -
Graduate Degrees - Course Descriptions - Faculty -
Appendix A - Appendix B - Appendix C - Appendix D


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Plaid time
Choker, tights Taobao - Necklace Vivienne Westwood - Dress/blouse Missguided - Shoes Cute to the core
My butt totally frezeed while I was taking these pics ahahah but I noticed it was quite a long time since my last outfit post (I was too lazy, I'm sorry for that!) so I took my courage and went outside with 5°c and took these pics. My day was quite relaxing at my bf's home with some friends, hot tea, sweets and videogames so I hadn't an occasion to dress up in a special way, but I liked my cozy outfit anyway especially 'cause I'm in love with this big blouse/dress I got recently from Missguided, it's really warm and perfect for casual coords! I'm a fan of tartan/plaid items but only recently I got some things with it, do you like it? I think it's the best option for autumn/winter when you want to dress up a bit colorful!


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Site can be best viewed in new Browser Version. Click here to Download Internet Explorer 9
While we believe in the highest standards of academic excellence, life at AKU isn't all about the classroom.
As a student at AKU you'll be part of a diverse and active community. You'll get to know your classmates and colleagues both on and off campus and you will have plenty of opportunities to make friends and to discover your passions.
The University's Student Experience Network provides programming and services that seeks to advance academic success, to develop our students as leaders and mentors and to inspire students to make life-long positive contributions to society. In responding to our student needs, the Student Experience Network is responsible for providing the diverse body of students across the University's campuses with:
Being a student at AKU is about becoming the best that you can be, both in the classroom and in your personal life.


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Crystal Storm is a Adult Model from United States. She was born in Los Angeles on November 14, 1970. She is listed on FreeOnes since 2001 and is currently ranked 6412th place. She currently has 63 gallery links and 2 videos in her own FreeOnes section.
Our records show that Crystal Storm is currently active which means she is still making movies, doing live shows and/or doing photo shoots.


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- About
- CLE & Events
- Groups
- Resources
- Foundation
- Legal Help
- Career Center
|Hennepin County Bar Foundation Announces Grant Awards for Programs Benefitting Women
Share |
News Release: December 18, 2013
Free, Inc. was granted $50,000 over two years; Cornerstone Advocacy Service will
receive $37,400 over two years; and the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
(Domestic Violence Appellate Project) will receive a one-year, $13,000
BREAKING FREE, INC.: Established in 1996, Breaking Free serves women involved in systems of commercial sexual exploitation/sex trafficking. Three primary needs of sexually exploited women in Hennepin County include: improving the administration of justice to victims, increasing awareness and understanding of sex trafficking by the courts and criminal justice professionals, and empowering victims to understand and self-advocate for their legal rights. The requested funding will be used over two years to fund their Criminal Justice Advocacy program.
CORNERSTONE ADVOCACY SERVICE: Access to legal services in Hennepin County's northwest corridor has historically been limited despite the fact that Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park have high rates of domestic assault. Having provided effective programming for female victims of domestic violence in Southern Hennepin County for thirty years, Cornerstone is being asked to respond to the acute needs in this area. This two-year expansion project will ensure equal access for marginalized populations to legal services in northwest Hennepin County.
MINNESOTA COALITION FOR BATTERED WOMEN: A protective order is critical in providing safety for domestic violence victims. While Minnesota has some of the strongest protective order laws in the country, these statutes will only remain strong tools if there is vigorous advocacy to defend the laws against challenges. The Domestic Violence Appellate Project provides appellate advocacy on domestic violence issues through direct representation and amicus brief submissions as well as training and support to attorneys, law students, and advocates.
In addition, the HCBF has announced its call for applications for the regular cycle of grant-making, with proposals due by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, January 31. (Note that new guidelines will apply for 2014 grants.) Forms can be accessed http://www.hcba.org.
Hennepin Country Bar Foundation is the charitable giving arm of the Hennepin
County Bar Association. Separate from
the one time Cy Pres funds, approximately $100,000 is given each year in
grants. Funds for distribution come from
contributions from individual member attorneys and through two key fund-raising
events: the annual Bar Benefit held in
March and a Charity Golf Classic held in August.
# # # # #
4/8/2019HCBA Annual Meeting & Awards Luncheon: May 30
3/22/2019Bar Memorial Session: May 1


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by Michael Caruso
The Academy of Vocal Arts launches its 2013-14 season of performances with its annual Giargiari Bel Canto Competition at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, in the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater. AVA's first fully staged operatic production will be of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte." The sophisticated comedy will be presented Nov. 2, 5, 7 and 9 in the school's own Warden Theater at 1920 Spruce St., Nov. 13 in Haverford School's Centennial Hall, and Nov. 16 at Central Bucks South High School in Warrington.
Heading AVA as its president and artistic director since 1987 is longtime East Falls resident K. James McDowell. Born in Texas, McDowell was educated at Furman University, where he majored in chemistry but also studied music. When he was accepted into the Young Artist Program at the Santa Fe Opera, McDowell decided to redirect his career toward music. He came to Philadelphia to study at the Curtis Institute of Music and, upon graduation from Curtis, he was accepted at AVA.
Upon graduating from AVA, McDowell enrolled at Temple University to pursue a master's degree in business administration and finance. He continued at AVA by working as its concert manager and director of public relations. After a year in that position, he was invited by AVA's board of directors to assume the position of executive director upon the retirement of director Dino Yannopoulos.
McDowell's tenure has seen AVA's stature in the operatic world rise. Its students and alumni are winning vocal completions left and right and are currently singing in all of the world's major opera houses. But his principal concern at the moment is the completion of the renovations to 1916 Spruce St., the third of three Victorian brownstones built in 1868 and now forming a contiguous home for AVA.
"We bought 1916 Spruce St. in 2008," McDowell recounted. "The owner knew that we were motivated to purchase the property to extend the available space for the school. It took until this year to begin the renovations because the stock market collapse damaged our endowment. Fortunately, we were able to continue renting the apartments in 1916 until we were ready to proceed with the work."
The new addition to AVA will be named after Sally Paxson Davis, the granddaughter of Helen Corning Warden, the first chairman of AVA's board and the woman whose name graces the school's theater at 1920 Spruce St. Adele Warden Paxson's name adorns 1918 Spruce St.
The large front room of 1916 will be a lecture/recital hall while the large room in the back will house the public portion of the library. The second floor features the circulating library for faculty, staff and students, while the third floor complements the library with archives and offers a spacious rehearsal space.
For more information regarding AVA's 2013-14 season, call 215-735-1685 or visit avaopera.org.
Yannick Nezet-Seguin opened his second season as the Philadelphia Orchestra's music director with a trio of concerts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on Sept. 26-28 in the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall. I caught the Saturday performance and joined the sold out audience's enthusiastic welcoming of the dynamic young maestro to the ensemble's podium.
"I couldn't be more eager to get back to work with the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra and to start our second season together," Nezet-Seguin told me last week. "That wonderful electricity we generated together last season and to get ready for more this year. We have a very special partnership, a deep connection that I can only describe as magical. It brings me great joy to be at the start of a wonderful journey and to have so many years ahead to look forward to."
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is the archetype of the large symphonic work for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra. It became the fountainhead for the entire Romantic epoch in music, with even Richard Wagner pointing to it as the inspiration for his operas. Lasting 70 minutes, the Ninth starts with three long movements in the traditional symphonic form. These are followed by a final movement the size of most classical symphonies in their entirety that includes a choral repeat of its instrumental first half. By the conclusion of that choral setting of Schiller's "Ode to Joy" text, it's safe to say that Beethoven's has definitely pulled out all the stops.
Saturday night's performance featured Nezet-Seguin at his most energetic. He commanded his forces by memory like a general. Not a note was either played or sung that he didn't inspire. He motivated the interpretation and oversaw its rendition. If there were passages here and there that veered toward the bombastic rather than the monumental, the young maestro's youth is probably the most valid explanation. It should be fascinating hearing him lead the same score a decade from now.
It came as no surprise that the Philadelphians responded to Nezet-Seguin's leadership with superb playing. Pleasantly surprising was the singing of the Westminster Symphonic Choir. Though comprised of students, its tone was darkly colored and resonantly projected.
Opera Philadelphia opened its 2013-14 season with a production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Nabucco." I caught the Sunday, Sept. 29 matinee in the Academy of Music and came away not altogether convinced by some aspects of the mounting.
Director Thaddeus Strassberger framed "Nabucco" with trappings of Verdi's own mid-19th century, even though the composer only wrote one contemporary opera – "La Traviata." All the rest were set a century or so previously – with "Nabucco" placed nearly 2000 years before. As a result, this "Nabucco" leaned toward being a testament to Verdi's commitment to the cause of Italian unification. Unfortunately, the unified Italy that Verdi dreamed about has produced the most dysfunctional major nation in Europe. Italy's 20 regions are not merely diverse; they're discordant. They neither work nor play well together.
Far better to have focused on the actual story of the ancient Hebrews longing to return from Babylon to the Holy Land, setting the production in ancient rather than bourgeois times. This still resonates today in the wake of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
All the same, Sunday afternoon's performance was memorable. Corrado Rovaris conducted the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus with a sure yet sensitive hand. Baritone Sebastian Catana's acting was a trifle melodramatic as Nabucco, but he sang with unforced projection and tonal clarity. Soprano Csilla Boross was an exemplary Abigaille, Nabucco's presumed daughter. Her ringing tones filled the house, and her acting coursed with intensity. Tenor Adam Diegel was a stellar Ismaele, loved by both Abigaille and Fenena, Nabucco's other daughter. Handsome and athletic, Diegel's voice possesses that special "ping" that sends it out into the house yet remains sweet in its timbre. Bass Morris Robinson was splendid as Zaccaria, the Hebrew High Priest. Only mezzo Margaret Mezzacappa disappointed as Fenena: her acting was reminiscent of silent films, and she occasionally sang flat.
"Nabucco" continues October 2, 4 and 6. Call 215-893-1018 or visit operaphila.org.


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The Waiting Room to the Gas* - The Krankenbau (Prisoner's Hospital)
When prisoners were too ill or weak they made their way or were taken to the camp "hospital". More often then not prisoners who came to this place either died here of "natural causes" such as exhaustion, typhus, dysentery, were given a phenol injection in the heart, or were taken to the gas. See [link].
*Gawalewicz, A. (2000) Reflections From The Waiting Room to the Gas, Oswiecim: State Museum at Auschwitz.
*Gawalewicz, A. (2000) Refleksje z poczekalni do Gazu, Oswiecim: Panstwowe Auschwitz-Birkenau.


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Gary Adams, director of the National Cotton Council's Economic Policy Analysis Division, offered a marketing outlook that was both sobering and hopeful during the recent annual meeting of the American Cotton Producers and Cotton Foundation in Corpus Christi.
The promise comes from the export market that could take as many as 11.8 million bales from the 2003 crop.
"The opportunity for export remains at a relatively high level," Adams said. And that follows a 2002 export market that's expected to close at around 11.6 million bales, according to USDA figures. "And that could push up a bit before the 2003 marketing year begins," Adams said.
But domestic use remains troubling. "Since 1993, imports have accounted for three times more consumption that domestic mills."
Domestic mill use expectations for 2003 stand at 6.8 million bales, down from 7.3 million last year, 7.7 in 2001, 8.9 in 2000 and from 11.3 in 1997. "We could see that drop to 6.5 million bales," Adams said.
Meanwhile, estimates show consumption outside the United States at 92 million bales with production estimated at 78 million.
China will account for a large chunk of that estimated production and potential use. Adams said China is the largest producer and consumer of cotton. China's use trend and production are up but imports are down. He said estimates of production and use, however, point to a gap, "which suggests a 2.4-million to 2.5-million-bale potential for China to import."
Adams said cotton stock levels declined in 2002, following a short crop. "We've seen some price recovery and may see further tightening into the 2003 marketing year."
He said a 92-million to 93-million-bale production estimate and a 99-million-bale use estimate will leave a shortfall that will further deplete stocks.
Prices in similar shortfalls have moved higher than expectations for current crop prices, however. "In 2002, average farm price ranged from 42 cents per pound to 43 cents per pound," Adams said. "Loan deficiency payment was 11 cents per pound. Now, the LDP is 2 cents to 3 cents per pound."
For 2003 markets, Adams said the "A" Index would move into the 60-cent range. "It has been hard to move away from that level. There is a resistance to higher prices and we saw a little weakness in late July.
"The potential for higher prices, historically, should look good, with stocks tightening, but the upside potential is not where we would expect it to be. Man made fibers and imports are exerting greater influences than they did in the mid 1990s."
He said the world price likely would not increase enough to affect counter-cyclical payments for U.S. farmers for the 2003 crop. Prices currently at 43 cents to 45 cents per pound would have to jump to 52 cents to affect CCC payments for 2003, he said. That's a 10-cent-per-pound gap.
"We'll have to see a 7-cent-per-pound improvement before it affects the CCC," he said.


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The Denied Persons List is a list of people and companies whose export privileges have been denied by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). An American company or individual may not participate in an export transaction with an individual or company on the Denied Persons List.
Taxonomy upgrade extras: