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Miami City Ballet in Chicago, 2-4 October 2009Symphony in 3 Movements/Valse Fantaisie /Black Swan/In the Upper Room
Posted 05 October 2009 - 11:34 PM
Miami City Ballet in Chicago, Auditorium Theatre
3 October, 8 PM
Row P, Orchestra
Symphony in Three Movements/Valse Fantaisie (1953)/Black Swan/In the Upper Room
Theres a moment in the Vision scene in Sleeping Beauty when Aurora wafts through the Lilac Fairys attendants. They are arrayed in rows, suggesting paths, perhaps mazes. Perhaps its a foreshadowing of the thorns to come.
The image came back to me upon viewing Symphony in Three Movements for the first time. The curtain rises on a cascade of hair and legs. I was reminded of a slightly unruly hedge with ponytails and arms and legs enough for spikes. Their bodies, clad in white, gleamed (to borrow a phrase from Ms Farrells book) like bleached pebbles.
There was a strong undertone of Rubies in the choreography. In fact the cognitive dissonance became so great at one point that I was forced to look down (alarming Jack in the process) to remind myself of its provenance. The jazz references grew more acute with references from what seemed to be the Charleston. Here was the ghost of McBride doing arabesques in profile, the corp of girls repeating the prancing jog of the boys in a rhythmic march, even the one brief glimpse of the tall girl, face briefly visible upside down. But always they were refracted images, seen in clusters, either in unison or in rounds, briefly glimpsed resemblances that receded into the mist.
Particularly notable was Alex Wong in the first movement with his wonderfully soft and full-bodied leaps. Tricia Albertson repeats it after him, casually. Anything you can do, she seemed to say, well never mind about the height, here is a lesson on style!
At the end of the first movement, the corp formed a giant pinwheel as Kronenberg pirouetted her way through the criss-crossing ranks. I was sitting too low to see the pattern, but there was a wonderful sense of changing depth even when viewed it straight on. I especially appreciated the Company's clarity in movement. There was a suggestion of great physicality without it looking difficult or fussy which I loved.
I had not thought to associate the pas de deux in second movement (echoes of Gailliard in the instrumentation!) with stillness. Space, in the absence of the corp, acts as both ornamentation and the ultimate barrier, the deep blue of the backdrop added depth to the movements even as it limited them to their bodies.
In fact the second movement seemed like a meditation on containment, motions and bodies caught up in orbit around each other. We see the motif repeated in the hands, around the bodies, and even how the dancers moved in relation to each other (was this a binary system or a planet with a satellite?).
Kronenberg and Guerra were deliberate in their partnering nothing hurried or affected serenely allowing the movements to bring out their innate sensuousness. Echoing the first movement, Guerra and Kronenberg alternating with each other as they delineated the circular space around their bodies in lazy breaststroke motions (helicopter arms, as Mr Balanchine called them).
If Sleeping Beautys hedge were alive, I thought it might look something like the third movement, terrifyingly beautiful as it grew and moved in near-sentience. In this case, the woman was the hedge, mesmeric and prickly.
After that, I found myself rather weak in the knees! In fact I was in such a daze that I dont quite remember what happened in Valse Fantaisie (1953), some twenty minutes later. I can report that Sara Esty replaced Jeanette Delgado and that I thought Apollo with his three Muses, at a (Russian) social? but beyond that and an image of Les Sylphides that I will come back to in my post about Sunday, it is a blur of waltz music.
I located some of that lost composure for the Black Swan pas de deux, danced by Rolando Sarabia and Mary Carmen Catoya. I found myself wondering what a full length Swan Lake from the two of them may look like. Rolando Sarabia has lovely carriage and gorgeous air positions, and his Siegfried knew it.
There is a stillness about Catoya that had a very lovely effect on her dancing (I lost moments speculating on her Emeralds). Her Odile did not deal in superfluities she allowed Siegfriend to project his own desire onto her, maintaining an amused remoteness throughout. After all, the boy was ready to fall in love, unnecessary motions would have been overkill. However, she seemed to be a bit off of her legs at the night performance, her balances came off fairly well but her pirouettes did not look secure.
It may have been shock at seeing something non-Balanchine after such a feast, but I thought the warhorse was crammed too full of tricks, and the discomfort kept me from enjoying it as much as previously. The partnering looked off that night as well, and Catoya looked like she was about to fall onto the floor when Sarabia took away his hands during the last partnered pirouettes. I should also add that the Russianness became jarring when Sarabia launched into what seemed to be one of the male solos from Theme and variations with a series of double tours en lair pirouette in the middle of the coda.
Ive only seen In the Upper Room through video, and I must admit that I dont particularly enjoy it. Video flattens the stage and this is one piece that loses much more than average in a recording. Seeing it live restores some of the excitement and depth to the choreography that had been missing.
However, that being said, its still not one of my favorites (or even preferred) upon a live viewing. There are figure skating references, yoga references, all sorts of movement ideas thrown in there for an interesting soup, but appreciating the athleticism of dancers can become a bit tedious when the pacing lags and the choreography does not develop toward any unifying idea. The bombers and the stompers dance, occupy the same space, share each others clothes, but the choreography is sealed off against each other. They coexist but they do not interact. It became extremely noticeable in the last section, as the music tried to build toward a heart-pounding (and unsubtle) climax that the choreography was simply unable to match.
That being said, I did enjoy watching dancers enjoying themselves. Most of the dancers looked a bit lethargic in the beginning, but woke up (the transition was rather obvious) as they threw more energy and attitude as time went on, but they still looked a bit too much like ballet dancers. One notable exception from the very beginning was Jeanette Delgado, whom my eyes gravitated back to time and again, though she was replaced (I'm told) after two sections by another stomper due to injury. She had a wonderful way of throwing herself into the choreography. Her body radiated tension, as if trying to contain anarchy within its limits as it fought to get out everywhere.
[A few minor edits due to late at night stupidity and for optimistically thinking I could go it along without my program or my notes. Corrections were primarily for grammar and clarity save for a more major one correcting Ms Kronenberg's name. My apologies, Ms Kronenberg, I shan't do it again!
Per Jack's suggestion, I have also edited the name of this thread.]
Posted 18 October 2009 - 11:07 AM
I've also been waiting for the promised report on Sunday's performance, but maybe emilienne has been waiting for me to "chime in", although I'd characterize what's up here so far as sensitive perception rather than "flightiness"!
But okay, if "facts" are my assignment, maybe it's of interest that the Orchestra seats of the Auditorium were well filled, about 1000 people there, I'd estimate, remembering what the audience looked like and studying the seating charts later; I couldn't see into the First Balcony from where we sat, but there were people visible in the first row of it. There likely were maybe 300 more there, based on my experience. (The Auditorium, an opera house, seats 3950, I believe.) Ticket prices ranged from $95 down!
While the performances got warm applause, maybe a little better than what I'm used to in the Broward CPA in Fort Lauderdale, it was nothing like the sustained demonstrations of appreciation the company got in the New York City Center in January, from what some say is the toughest audience in the country: New Yorkers know what they're seeing, and this company finally got there what I've long thought it deserved! But the two Chicago audiences -- I attended the Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon performances -- weren't the same, the first one interrupting Black Swan with applause for the "tricks", the matinee one applauding this one only after each movement, while the evening audience took Upper Room pretty much whole and the matinee one responded frequently as it rolled along.
The music was all recorded of course, and Saturday evening I thought that Symphony in Three Movements sounded congested when loud, even though I was encouraged to see unfamiliar speakers at the sides of the stage apron, not the usual pile of black boxes the Auditorium has used. But the music for Upper Room sounded clear, solid, and deep, like it always has in Broward, where the company has used mostly its own equipment in recent years, and Sunday afternoon the Stravinsky sounded better. (By way of observing our standards of disclosure, there have been times listening at home I've suspected my 71-year-old ears to be getting temperamental.) And the stage hands, whether local or traveling with the company, managed the smoke very well in Upper Room both times.
On the other hand, the light faded to dim on the last bars of Valse Fantaisie, rendering an anticlimax right when Glinka and Balanchine are trying to render their climax. This struck me as a mistake, and I hope it will be reconsidered.
Posted 18 October 2009 - 12:19 PM
Edward Villella with Chicago dance critic Lucia Mauro
[The architects of the Auditorium Theatre carried commodiousness to the extent of providing inglenooks -- literally, "chimney corners" -- on the entrance foyers to different levels of the theatre, where I suppose patrons might warm themselves on padded benches flanking a fireplace, perpendicular to its wall, so although no fire was actually going this time, the two of them faced each other in this congenial setting, where a few rows of chairs were set up for us to listen. As usual, both speakers were more coherent and continuous than my fragmentary notes make them; mainly I grabbed at unusual details.]
Q: Are you okay with this arrangement? Which is your good side?
E.V.: I don't have a good side -- I'm sitting on it. [laughter]
Q: [What was the dance scene in New York like in your day?] E.V.: At NYCB, we didn't spend time thinking about our position, or the general scene. We had to get through the day. I only thought about the curtain going up...
But it didn't go on forever. You can't lose two geniuses like Balanchine and Robbins -- [that had an effect.]
[I took some time off], and coming back was terror.
... It's better now in America for guys in dance.
Q: You refused some TV appearances? E.V.: Yes. No, it's difficult to put the art form I love into a [Johnny] Carson comedy setting. Tony Randall offered script approval, so I did that.
Male dancers are competitors, trained to do tricks. They're not trained to dance. Cubans come from Alonso. I'm very concerned how dancer are trained. It's worldwide. I try to train them away from tricks. I made an effort at SAB and especially with Stanley Williams -- we'd talk for hours about how you extend the hand in classical position -- [demonstrates]
"Poets of gesture." Competitive dancers aren't seeking that.
Balanchine knew his dancers, as students and as professionals. "I have twenty scores in my head," he would say, so he could go ahead when circumstances were right.
If we didn't know the 19th Century we were the more putty for him -- he played to our strengths.
Q: Your definitive role? E.V.: I had two incredible guys making on me. It's important for me to pass on the range of styles, where you are on stage.
Starting with nothing, I could do what I wanted with Miami City Ballet. The mistakes are mine [audience laughter]. It's a dancer's company, what I would have liked to have danced in.
It takes about two years to achieve an internal understanding of Balanchine... We directors are authoritarian; I wanted to make a different company for the dancers so they would become confident doing anything.
Abstraction reduces a large [concept] to its essence. [In [i]Stravinsky Violin Concerto[/i]], "Aria I" is about Stravinsky leaving his first wife... Balanchine showed me Apollo: "Very real", not like sculptural and painting [versions]. Apollo, Prodigal Son gestures came from somewhere.
Valse Fantaisie. I draw a distinction between the two versions. I like to put four principals on stage [rather than two principals and four corps girls, as in the later version]...
I look for quality of movement in dancers, value within musicality, physicalization of music; decent human beings: We're on top of each other all day. Willingness. Talent. I can't teach talent. I can teach technique to talent.
Miami is not of a Liebeslieder inclination, but we're constantly exploring.
[The reference to Tony Randall reminded me of one of the few times I watched his comedy serial, The Odd Couple, which Randall and Jack Klugman did for a few years. In a scene in the Randall character's bedroom, we saw two small portraits hanging over his bed, one of George Balanchine, the other of Arturo Toscanini.]
Posted 18 October 2009 - 02:25 PM
Hope she stays... (even the Miami weather being kind of hot for a black swan)
Posted 19 October 2009 - 10:22 AM
Cristian, you're ignoring our mini-cold wave. Two days in the 70s. Evenings in the low 60s. Get out the winter clothes!
Ah...so finally Odile made it down here...
Hope she stays... (even the Miami weather being kind of hot for a black swan)
Thank you, emilienne and Jack for your posts. Emilienne, I especially appreciated your report on the Black Swan pdd. Considering that dancers at MCB do get to perform these works on regular programs, I'm amazed that they do as well as they do when I've seen them. (One expects this of the big fully classical companies.) Your comments on Catoya made me smile: I could SEE exactly what you were describing, based on other performances. You also raised hopes that we will be seeing more of Rolando Sarabia this season. He can just stand still on stage or walk a few steps and your eyes are pulled towards him.
I love the image of the Symphony in Three Movements corps as a hedge. I'll be looking closely for that in Program I. They also performed it in 2003 and 2007, so they have lots of experience.
For those who did not catch these on the Links thread, here are 2 newspaper reviews of the MCB visit:
I've been rereading your posts, emilienne and jack, and will have other responses once I digest completely what you've written.
One thing however -- and the only downer. Jack, did Villella REALLY say "Miami is not of a Liebeslieder inclination... "? On the other hand, did he sound like he was offering HOPE when he added "but we're constantly exploring"?
Posted 19 October 2009 - 12:40 PM
Your questions remind me to wonder how they think they know what their public wants, what "market research" they do, if any. Living in Chicago, I'm not exposed to whatever a south Florida resident might see of whatever publicity they put out there, like Miami Herald ads and so on. I just see their mailings and web postings, which get to people already interested, I would think. There are questionnaires in the programs sometimes, but they don't ask about repertory preferences in terms either of general types or specific ballets or dancers, as I recall.
They seem to think something like Night Spot brings in a crowd which then sees another short ballet, representative of another branch of the repertory; but is there another, "classical" crowd? (One that might go for Liebeslieder?) Are they ignoring it? When MCB performs in Arsht, they don't sell out, right? When they team up with the Cleveland Orchestra, they do sell out, don't they? Does the CO sell out there by itself? What does it all mean? Is this a subject for another BT thread?
Posted 19 October 2009 - 06:16 PM
Most of MCB's dancing is outside Miami: 4 performances per program (plus 5 Nutcrackers) in Fort Lauderdale; 4 in West Palm Beach; 1 in Naples (programs II and III only) plus 1 Nutcracker.
This means, MCB doesn't have a single "home" market to research.
The established MCB audience in all locations would seem a natural for Liebeslieder IF (and I am anticipating some of the complaints one might hear) it weren't s-o-o-o long and didn't have s-o-o-o many waltzes. Whether this work would attract new audiences, and whether MCB has the promotionalskill to bring that about, is something I don't know.
Cristian, you have a Miami-Dade perspective. What do you think about the issues Jack raised?
My own reason for wishing that they would prepare and perform Liebeslieder is based on small cast (4 couples) and the number of MCB dancers who could handle the various roles. Something emilienne said about Jeanette Delgado -- that she "had a wonderful way of throwing herself into the choreography" -- strikes me as being almost as true of quite a few of the MCB dancers. They appear to relish the opportunity to learn new styles. Given their Balanchine training, Liebeslieder might be something of a stylistic stretch, but it's one they're prepared for and would work to make their own.
Posted 19 October 2009 - 08:11 PM
Male dancers are competitors, trained to do tricks. They're not trained to dance. Cubans come from Alonso. I'm very concerned how dancer are trained. It's worldwide. I try to train them away from tricks. I made an effort at SAB and especially with Stanley Williams -- we'd talk for hours about how you extend the hand in classical position -- [demonstrates]
This lends some light to the So You Think You Can Dance controversy with Alex Wong, doesn't it?
Posted 20 October 2009 - 07:38 AM
Balanchine was also averse to dancers going to competitions. I think it's a matter of contrasting views of what constitutes a dancer's "progress". In Villella's view (as with Mr. B.), "poetry" trumps "tricks". Can a dancer excel at both? The two AD's seem to think not. Notice Villella's reference to "achieving an internal understanding" of Balanchine. Notice also Villella's remark about turning down some TV appearances, and why he did. Even then, he felt dancing -- his kind of dancing -- should be presented in a certain way and not in other ways.
Posted 20 October 2009 - 08:35 AM
"Tricks" as tricks -- or tricks which stop everything to call attention to the dancer -- don't have a place in Balanchine's work. "Poets of gesture" is much closer to the mark.
Having said that, Villella -- like Balanchine -- seems much more successful in developing mature female artists than mature male artists. I wonder why.
Posted 20 October 2009 - 05:26 PM
4th October 2009 post-matinee "Q & A" with Edward Villella in the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago
Q: Did you develop your own regimen vs. Balanchine's so your dancers can dance Balanchine without hurting themselves? E. V.: There was Stanley Williams; I took time out. [Villella is a welterweight boxing champion.] But dancing is physically different from sports. I was at a disadvantage in Balanchine's class. So I worked with Stanley Williams who learned from Balanchine. I train my dancers first for Balanchine because it's the most sophisticated; then you can go back to the 19th Century. You can't go the other way. It takes dancers with old training about 2 years to dance Balanchine. This company is a company trained to dance 79 different styles.
Q: Is it your mission to preserve Balanchine or [is that] a by-product of it? E. V.: It's a dancer's company, and I owe a debt to the works which took care of me. I pay back that debt; we always look to move our field forward.
Q: Are you preserving your archives and your company's history? E. V.: We have twenty-four seasons of video to refer to. I'm thinking about a book, drawings, DVD's, to aid understanding what's going on. We respect the past, delight in the present and prepare for the future. Maybe in the next few years.
Q: How did you get to Miami, and what challenges are there? ... [I'm sorry to post the question without his answer, but it's not in my notes. I hope somebody else who was there will help at this point.] [Somebody did! See below in Post #13.]
Q: Videos of your dancing? E. V.: I've never thought about that, I live in the present... Like athletes, we constantly break records. I leave that to others. These guys [gesturing behind him, toward the curtained stage] is my achievement. I hope it's sufficient. [audience applause]
Q: [What do you think about] choreographers now? E. V.: Great ones are rare. I want just those.
Q: [Tell us about your children?] E. V.: ... [Ballet Mistress] Crista [Villella] spent 45 minutes today putting two dancers into Upper Room so you wouldn't notice.
Q: What's your favorite ballet in your repertory? E. V.: I'm very prejudiced, toward works I danced. But now I realize, Prodigal Son, Rubies, how hard they are. Geniuses who know you, they made them for me, so they were easier for me.
Lately we have had glimpses into that 24-year video archive Villella spoke of in the form of promotional videos on the MCB website and (with better image quality, in my experience) on the company's YouTube channel. For instance, the opening ballet in Chicago, Symphony in Three Movements, also on Program I in the upcoming season, is there in video from a few years ago, with a cast led by (I think) Katia Carranza and Jeremy Cox; unfortunately, the four glimpses of that one are slightly out of order: We get first the great corps-line opening emilienne wrote about at the top of this thread, then we skip ahead into the second movement pas de deux, then the third glimpse is of the principal ballerina's circle of pirouettes* (with playfully "perverse" hand positions characteristic of this turned-in ballet) emilienne correctly places in the first movement, and then in the fourth glimpse we see some of the third (last) movement.
The same sequence problem turns up in the clip where Villella talks about the ballet, discussing the three movements in turn, where the image quality is even better; evidently, MCB's archive is technically good, but it's a shame that we don't always see in this clip what he's talking about when he's talking about it. A good opportunity was incompletely realized here, IMO, but I do think to offer video "samples" of ballets is a very good idea for ballet companies, and maybe MCB, just starting this, will do it better as it goes along.
*pique' turns, actually
Edited by Jack Reed, 22 November 2009 - 11:08 AM.
Posted 20 October 2009 - 06:13 PM
That is a great question. In Balanchine's case, we can speculate that it's because he was much more interested in the women, and -- particularly if Villella's autobiography is any guide -- that he saw some men as potential rivals: "now, you're the star" (rough quote), as he said to Villella one of the dancer's rapturous receptions in the Soviet Union.
Villella -- like Balanchine -- seems much more successful in developing mature female artists than mature male artists. I wonder why.
Thank you so much, Jack and emilienne, for all you've taken time to record and recollect for us here.
Posted 20 October 2009 - 07:45 PM
From the Fireside Chat:
On Prodigal Son: He didn't understand how to carry himself and finally Mr Balanchine lost his patience and said, "Russian Icons, dear!"
On Apollo: He talked about chariot drivers and everyday men and from that Mr Villella learnt to draw the distinction between the Apollo of antiquity and the Person in Stravinsky's and Balanchine's conception.
"He taught me Apollo in an hour and a half and I never saw him again!"
From the post-performance talk:
Q: How did you get to Miami, and what challenges are there?
Mr Villella was apparently approached by a group of businessmen/patron of the arts about the possibility of cultivating a dance audience in Florida. In response he wrote a five/five and a half year plan (I think - it could be slightly more) to fundraise, train dancers, and to cultivate a repertory. Afterward, he asked who they had in mind to take up the challenge and was then offered the job because he had such a clear vision of what to do. After waffling a bit (he didn't want to leave New York), he consulted his wife, who was unexpectedly enthusiastic about the idea, and they made the decision to move.
Posted 20 October 2009 - 08:09 PM
Villella has told the "Russian icons" story before, and then, if not this time, he added that at first the reference just confused him more and made him more miserable, until (with some one's help, I think) he was actually able to look at some icons, when everything Balanchine had been driving at suddenly became vividly clear.*
I can hardly wait for the second review, of Sunday's matinee, but we realize you have other responsibilities...
*Well, not exactly. Here's the passage on pages 82 and 83 of Villella's autobiography, Prodigal Son:
... [Balanchine] was trying physically and mechanically to explain the gesture [to Villella and Diana Adams, the Siren]. Then he stopped, looked us in the eye, and said, "Icons. You know, dear. Byzantine icons."
I said to myself, "Oh my God, icons."
The image made me understand the movement and I looked at as many reproductions of Byzantine icons as I could find.
Edited by Jack Reed, 21 October 2009 - 06:29 AM.
Posted 24 October 2009 - 05:32 PM
Miami City Ballet
Sunday 14 October 2009
Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
Center Orchestra, Row P
Symphony in Three Movements
Nothing quite compares with the shock and joy of seeing a new favorite for the first time.
That said, the second look was pretty shocking and aweful as well. The dancers in all four pieces were more alert and energetic than the night before. The jumping in Valse Fantaisie and the level of energy in In the Upper Room ceased to look as labored as the night before. Catoya and Sarabia shed their reminders of Things Other Than Swans. This was an on-message performance throughout.
Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, as the program tells me, was a musical attempt to capture the maestro's impressions of the Second World War. There are the odd moments of crashing chaos sandwiching the deadly quiet in which one sits in dread over what happens next.
Mr Villella and Ms Mauro at the Fireside Chat talked about the 'generic' (or perhaps simply general) images of war choreographed into the piece: that of the Home Front, the helicopter arms, etc. In the last review, I described the choreography using organic images (the sentient hedge, orbiting bodies), but in truth I also had no idea how to organize the anachronistic but highly persistent images of the Great War, courtesy of my fantastical love of Blackadder Goes Fourth.
The pale gleaming women of the Home Front reminded me of particularly sinister and organic barbed wire (its spikes the arms and baroque hands of the Balanchine-trained corp). Tricia Albertson's jumping contest with Alex Wong became more competitive in the matinee: she challenged him head-on in both ability and athleticism. It wasn't the lighter one-upmanship of the night before but a grimmer competition whose purpose is unknown.
The rhythmic trot, the precision formations strip the corp members of their respective genders – they are anonymous bodies, trying to trap and engage and out-maneuver each other's units. This time the imagery of the Rubies women seemed more integrated into the action of the corp, pulsing into focus and then just as quickly disappeared, like reflections from popped foam bubbles. The cognitive dissonance is less when one prepares for it, but it is still disconcerting. Are they brief reminders of civilization amidst the chaos? Or perhaps is it an allusion to the spirit of woman as, or at, war?
Someone once said that conflicts were in reality short and brutish things, most of the other time in war was spent in boredom, in anticipation and also in dread. As I watched the second movement, I kept thinking about life in the trenches, of bodies sitting still, contorting to climb over obstacles and other bodies. It is a moment of reflection in the stolen calm, in which life resumes in all its oddity. Kronenberg and Guerra in this performance was not as languorous (nor the observer as delirious) as the night before, the newly observed sharpness in their movements better accentuated the contrasts in the choreography.
Once again I short-change the third movement in my inability to call up a unifying image of its proceedings (an excellent excuse to see it yet again). Perhaps the most I can say is that if the first had directed my attention to the personalities of dancers or blocks of dancers, then the third forced me to look at the movements of the dancers in relation to each other. It was as if I were forced to view war from above like one would view a Busby Berkeley musical, where suddenly one could extract purpose and logic and even beauty from its purportedly senseless components.
The tragedy of war lies in its costs, regardless of the identity of the victor. Perhaps it was an accident of the close reading, but the image that I took away from the finale were the men, prone like corpses, staring out into nothing as the women erected trees of graveyard crosses behind them.
Valse Fantaisie 1953
"The three ballerinas, wearing headdresses reminiscent of Glinka's Russia, moved together in a perpetuum mobile, attended by the male dancer." – From the Balanchine Foundation catalogue entry for the second Valse Fantaisie
I am rather ambivalent about the 'modern' costuming that every Balanchine ballet seems to have these days. On the one hand, I think it would have lent grandeur and a more overt sense of story (or at least structure) to the choreography; but on the other, the national costumes would have overwhelmed the choreography with notions of character.
The increased energy level improved the performance of this piece perhaps most of all. The night performance had dancers looking as if they were straining to jump and was very distracting. That had disappeared by the matinee and the dancers looked happy and free as they bounded all over the stage.
There is a clear structure to Valse fantaisie that at once evoked that of the grand pas de deux from Paquita (ensemble, male solo, female solo, female solo, pas de trois, etc) but also transcends it. The waltz rhythm is relentless, an ever-present pulse that sustains the action even as dancers stop, reset, find each other to dance in another configuration.
Perhaps the strongest impression that the piece made (besides the excellent dancing by all, including the late substitution for Jeanette Delgado, Sara Esty) were the number of Les Sylphides references that Mr Balanchine seemed to have snuck in. There were the sequence of one footed hops to pointe from the Mazurka and even the undulation of the arms.
Valse fantaisie does not resemble Sylphides harmonically but there was the same choreographic integration of the corp and the soloist when the four dancers reunite for the finale. Instead of maintaining the distinction of rank, Mr Balanchine integrates the soloists into the corp (but then again, what kind of corp do four lead dancers make?), allowing them to emerge and melt back seamlessly into a moving tapestry.
As Jack noted, there were indeed some problems in the lighting, as the lighting began to dim even before the dancing was over! It wasn't the most climactic of endings, but overall, still a lovely performance.
Black Swan pas de deux
The small glitches in mannerisms had disappeared by the matinee performance. Sarabia, prince that he was, ditched the Theme and Variations quote. Catoya dropped the odd Don Quixote/generic Spanish epaulement that she did at the end of her fouettés. The partnering seemed rougher than Saturday night, though the trick-y moments (which I am still not so fond of) - particularly the ending partner spin in which he takes his hands off - no longer looked as if Catoya was about to fall over while doing the rumba.
Sarabia is, as I say again, elegant, but really the Black Swan pas de deux doesn't give him much to do. In addition, I could not keep my eyes off of Catoya, who seemed to have drunk a million cups of seductive evil coffee before the matinee. While the amused detachment still remained, this time she casted her web more widely out to us, fascinating an admittedly primed audience with little more than presence. I particularly appreciated her balances that went on forever. I felt as if I were granted a glimpse into the essence of Odile, that of a potent distillation of intent and technique aimed at Siegfried with the sole purpose of getting him to say YES. It was particularly startling when, during one particularly balance, she suddenly turned her head to look at us, as if commanding us to devote the proper amount of attention and awe to her if we weren't already, and believe me, we were!
Poor Siegfried didn't stand a chance, and quite frankly, I didn't feel sorry for him.
I'll leave off In the Upper Room as I have very little to add. I seemed to have lost track of Deanna Seay in the matinee performance. I don't know how it happened, especially as I quite enjoyed her dancing as a stomper the night before. The smoke did not work as well as the night before, differing highly in quantity in quantity as well as location as the performance went on. The performers in the afternoon also seemed to have more trouble with the scenery – two or three got a bit tangled in the black fabric strips, but these are minor quibbles. Everyone danced their heads off (once again, Jeanette Delgado the stomping demon!) and the energy levels complemented the music (and the still convincing climax) much better. Jack noted that the two stompers at the end seemed to have jumped twice as high as they did the previous night, and they did!
Applause was not as sustained nor as loud as the previous night. There was a lot of it but not as much as the company deserved. For their next performances in a clime near me, I think I should invest in an amplifier, or perhaps an unobnoxious company of claquers to do what the city could not.
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Artificial Intelligence
Simulation exercises become an essential component of clinical education at SLU
SimMan 3G® can blink, sweat, cry, urinate and hemorrhage. His chest rises and falls, he produces lung, heart and bowel sounds. His right arm is so sophisticated that it can automatically recognize and respond to drugs and dosages.
And, if SimMan 3G® goes into sudden cardiac arrest and a nursing student injects amoxicillin rather than adrenaline, SimMan 3G® could die.
Linda L. Haycraft, M.S.N.(R), R.N., C.P.N.P., assistant professor and coordinator of clinical simulation at SLU's School of Nursing, where SimMan3G® helps train students, believes simulation education has proven its worth in many other occupations and is becoming essential to nursing education.
"If you boarded an airplane and the pilot said, 'Hi, I'm Linda Haycraft, and I'll be your pilot today. I've read all the books and heard all the lectures but I've never really flown a plane before. I hope you're OK with that,' how many would get off that plane?" she said. "We do the same thing with our patients. 'Hi. I've read the books and heard all the lectures, but I've never really worked on a patient with heart disease. Let me give you this medication.' We can do better than that."
Knocking Down Walls
Since assuming responsibility for SLU's nursing simulation laboratory four years ago, Haycraft has worked hard to create a state-of-the-art facility designed to bridge theory with practice. She surveyed faculty about the most common disease events nurses encounter - chest pains, congestive heart failure, dehydration, confusion, asthma - and designed simulations around them. Next, she started knocking down walls.
The School of Nursing expanded the lab on the first floor from one small room with two computers, an exam table and two manikins to what it is today - two hospital units, four exam rooms, 16 hospital beds and two control rooms where instructors behind one-way glass operate nine, moderate-to-high-fidelity manikins that simulate symptoms, diseases and conditions found in a real-care setting.
Teri Murray, Ph.D., A.P.H.N.-B.C., R.N., F.A.A.N., dean of the School of Nursing, said the expansion was an investment in SLU's students.
"Simulation allows our students to engage in real-life clinical experiences in low-risk environments," she said. "Our innovative approach enhances clinical competencies before students begin caring for patients in complex, high acuity patient care environments. By expanding the lab we've strengthened the educational process."
In the past, only juniors and seniors ran through simulations. Now, freshmen observe a simulation during their Introduction to Nursing course to get comfortable with the setting. Using pre- and post-operative manikins, sophomores learn to administer medications, insert catheters, and address the pain management and spiritual needs of patients. (Get more information about SLU's BSN programs.)
Eye for Detail
Before the exercise, students receive a packet of information containing the patient's history, suggested readings and a comprehensive list of learning objectives.
Once the students - no more than three per simulation - are at the patient's bedside, they speak to the manikin as though it were a real patient. The school installed voice modulators so faculty members behind the one-way glass who speak for the manikins actually sound like the patients, whether the patient is a 56-year-old man with coronary artery disease, a 5-year-old boy with asthma or an 84-year-old woman with heart failure and atrial fibrillation.
Although the basic scenarios are set, Cynthis S. Rubbelke, ('79, '85) M.S.N., R.N., a part-time instructor in the simulation lab for the past four years, said faculty sometimes alter simulations on the fly.
"It's just like the real world when things don't follow the plan," she said. "The ability to change course can expose students to a situation they might not experience in clinicals."
Behind each of the regulation hospital beds in the simulation lab is a head wall unit identical to those designed by the company that makes units for hospitals. Only the oxygen is inoperable. Everything else works exactly as it would in a patient's room.
Computers in each of the rooms are loaded with software that mimics the Epic medical record system widely used in hospitals. Students have Internet access in the simulation rooms to research medications or symptoms.
If still unsure, students can call for a nursing supervisor, a respiratory therapist or some other support staff for help. A simulation lab instructor will enter the room - in uniform and with the appropriate identification badges that Haycraft asked University security to create to lend even further authenticity to the simulations.
Watching the Clock
Simulations are done in real time with no shortcuts. If a patient with chest pains needs nitroglycerine, the student is expected to pull the correct medication and administer it within the recommended amount of time.
As fascinating as the manikins are, however, Haycraft said the de-briefing room is where most of the learning occurs. Ceiling cameras record all simulations, and instructors and students review the recording after the hands-on experience.
"The hardest is when a manikin dies," Haycraft said. "The students take it personally. They actually cry because they feel so bad. We don't talk about the material in their preparation packet at that point because they have to process their feelings. I remind them that this is where it's OK to make a mistake, and I'm certain they won't make that mistake again."
Things turned out better for Stephen Mackey, J.P. Moore and Kuna Chaekal, three seniors who recently completed their simulation exercise on "Johnny Miner," a 59-year-old retired coal miner with a heavy nicotine habit and COPD. They missed a couple of steps in the treatment process, but overall they (and their patient) did well.
"I like simulation because it gives us a chance to get used to hospital equipment and supplies before we have to deal with it in the real world," Moore said. "It's as close to real life as you can get without putting a patient in any danger."
(Adapted from the Winter 2013 issue of "Cura Personalis")

subset: commoncrawl


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Let $R$ be a commutative Noetherian $F$-algebra, where $F$ is a field (perfect, say). Assume that $R \otimes_F \overline F$ is a polynomial ring over the algebraic closure $\overline F$. Does it follow that $R$ was already a polynomial ring over $F$?
I doubt it, but haven't had any luck constructing a counterexample.
The question arises because I'm trying to understand Bruhat cells in flag manifolds for non-split algebraic groups. In split ones, Bruhat cells are affine spaces.


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|This video demonstrates the process of retrieving and saving recorded footage on an Elite or Ultimate DVR.
Whenever an incident occurs, there are many reasons to save the footage off of the DVR. You may want to use the video clip for evidence of a crime, send it to your insurance company to substantiate a claim, or use the video for employee training to help boost productivity. No matter what, the ability to save footage is important.
Elite and Ultimate Saving Footage
Written By: rabshear
One Response to "Elite and Ultimate Saving Footage"
Megacool Blog indeed!… if anyone else has anything it would be much appreciated. Great website Enjoy!…


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Applicant Data System
The Applicant Data System is a new online human resources program that replaces the paper "Form 17" for Board of Regents appointments. The system performs functions such as:
- informing applicants that their application has been received
- surveying applicant sex and ethnicity for federal EEO reports
- tracking the screening process
- prompting hiring units to adhere to EEO guidelines
Getting Started
Authorized users may access the confidential Applicant Data System through a secure Web Login Service window: https://www.pers.hawaii.edu/hres/eeo.
For more information, contact your department personnel officer.
Federal Guidelines
Federal Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) and Executive Order 11246 (affirmative action for federal contractors) require employers to report sex and ethnicity data on applicants and employees. The information is used for statistical analyses to monitor equal opportunity for women and members of federally designated racial/ethnic groups.


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Los Angeles Kings vs New York RangersMon, October 7, 2013 - 7:30 PMStaples Center in Los Angeles, CA
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Jessica Michault
Jessica Michault, the online style editor of The International Herald Tribune, has written extensively for the IHT's style pages and special reports.
She covers everything in the world of fashion, from the red carpets of Hollywood to the haute couture collections in the City of Light. She interviews leading designers and fashion executives in the luxury universe and is always in search of the hottest trend, the latest must-haves and the designer diamond in the rough. She also keeps on top of the newest developments in the inventive and fascinating world of the luxury watch industry.
Born and raised in San Francisco, she is now based in Paris where she lives with her husband and three little girls and an ever increasing collection of luxury handbags and vintage hair combs.
Fête Accompli | IWC Schaffhausen in Cannes
A slew of stars showed up on Monday for the dinner and awards party, held at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.
May 22, 2012, Tuesday
Fête Accompli | Ferragamo at the Louvre
The Italian fashion house held a private preview of a show of works by Léonardo da Vinci for friends, dignitaries and celebrities last week.
April 2, 2012, Monday
Time Marches On, Chiming as It Goes
FOR most of the last decade, the watch industry has been entranced by the tourbillon's hypnotic revolutions, with brands spinning out the cagey little complication in ever-greater numbers and more ingenious ways. But watchmakers have recently broken...
March 15, 2012, Thursday
A Watch 'Detective' Searches for Rare Timepieces
From his family store in northern Italy, Ennio Barozzii has developed a reputation for finding -- or making -- the right watch for his demanding customers.
March 9, 2012, Friday
MORE ON: Watches and Clocks , Italy , Luxury Goods , Time
The Sound of Time
Minute repeater watches, invented to help people tell time after dark, are popular again.
March 9, 2012, Friday
MORE ON: Watches and Clocks , Luxury Goods
Doing What 'Came Naturally'
The designer Rabih Kayrouz has widened his scope from couture to ready-to-wear.
March 9, 2012, Friday
Day Wear Dominates at Elie Saab
The designer continued to shift his collection towards an urban aesthetic.
March 8, 2012, Thursday
A Study in Bringing Back a Brand
Omega embraced quartz watches, which never caught on in the luxury market, in the 1970s, losing some of its prestige. It began its return by marketing a timepiece with co-axial technology in 1999.
March 8, 2012, Thursday
MORE ON: Watches and Clocks , Geneva (Switzerland)
Something Extra
Leonard and Alexis Mabille among the labels that add something extra to enhance their designs.
March 7, 2012, Wednesday
Black, Blacker, Blackest
Designers like Andrew Gn and Ennio Capasa at Costume National have gone to the dark side.
March 6, 2012, Tuesday
Yves Saint Laurent Revisited
Suzy Menkes visits the first retrospective exhibition of Yves Saint Laurent's work at the Petit Palais in Paris and speaks with Pierre Bergé, the couturier's lifetime partner.
Paris Fashion Week | Lanvin
Suzy Menkes discusses putting women first and the Winter 2010 collection with Lanvin's star designer, Alber Elbaz.
The Rodarte Sisters Come to Paris
Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte are showing their art, as well as their clothing, in the Colette concept store.
Phoebe Philo Returns to Fashion
Designing for Celine, Phoebe Philo gives simplicity a gloss of glamour in a collection that has a strong military feel.
Relaunch of the Versus Collection
Under the guidance of Donatella Versace, British designer Christopher Kane delves through the Versus archives and adds a fresh twist to iconic classics.
Rss Feeds On Jessica Michault
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Maroon 5Sat, March 30, 2013 - 8:00 PMAmway Center in Orlando, FL
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Cherry BBQ Baby Back Ribs
If you like your ribs super tender so you can pull the bones out clean, then this recipe is for you! This is a perfect fork and knife rib recipe so you won't get your wine glass dirty. This BBQ sauce is savory enough to balance with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, while the cherries add just the right amount of fruit sweetness to complement the fruit profile of Pinot Noir.
Serves 4-6, total time:
- 2 tablespoons ancho powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 racks baby back ribs
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (*omit if you are able to smoke your ribs in a smoke box)
- 1 cup water
Cherry BBQ Sauce
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- ½ cup onions, diced
- ½ cup garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons ancho powder
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup cherries, pitted, fresh, frozen, or dried
- 2 tablespoon Worcestershire
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (*omit if smoking your own ribs)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ cup water
Make the Ribs
- In small sauté pan, mix all of the spices together and place over medium heat. Stir constantly over the heat until the spices begin to lightly smoke, and the aroma of the spices fill the room. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Once the spices have cooled, sprinkle them all over the ribs. Once the ribs are thoroughly coated with the spices, place them in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- When ready to cook the ribs, preheat the oven to 300°F. Next, mix the liquid smoke and water together and pour into roasting pan. Place the ribs into the pan and cover with aluminum foil. Bake in the oven for 1-2 hours. (** Here is where you can adjust how you like your ribs. If you like your ribs with a chew or bite to them, then you should pull them out after an hour. If you like them super tender so the bone pulls out clean, then cook them longer, possibly up to 2 total hours.)
Make the Cherry BBQ Sauce
- Make the BBQ sauce the day before, or while the ribs are cooking. To do this, sauté the onions and garlic in the canola oil until they start to caramelize.
- Then add the ancho and cocoa powder. Let cook with the onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients
Pair with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir


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Law enforcement is once again getting ready for their take back drugs event.
It's an event Kentucky State Police and Bowling Green Police take part in twice a year.
This Saturday you can stop by designated places and drop off any expired or unwanted pills.
Officials say this event is important for a number of reasons.
"One, get the medication out of the residences so people, and people are going in to try and steal those medications. Two, it keeps people from throwing them away into the trash cans and end up going into our landfills or as people used to do, flush them down the commode which ends up getting into our waterways. So, it's just a safer way to dispose of these medications," said Kentucky State Police Trooper Jonathan Biven.
You can stop by the KSP post, Safety City, or Bowling Green Police Department from 9 am to 2 pm on Saturday and drop off pills.


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Welcome to our weekly edition of what's hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What's New This Week?
Twitter Integrates Into Apple's New iOS 5 Mobile Operating System: As Apple's new iPhone rolls out with the latest operating system with full Twitter integration, Twitter reports it triples its daily sign-ups in the process. Have you tried Twitter on the iPhone or iPad? Let us know your experience below…27 Comments


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I'm doing my master's thesis and trying to find a good font for math symbols and formulas...
I would like to use the following font style:
Can anyone recognize this? How to get X the way it is in this formula etc. in Word 2007? =)
I'm doing my master's thesis and trying to find a good font for math symbols and formulas...
I would like to use the following font style:
Can anyone recognize this? How to get X the way it is in this formula etc. in Word 2007? =)
I would highly recommend using something other than Word 2007 for your thesis. You seem to know how to use $\LaTeX$, as you used it to create your post, so why not write your thesis in it? There are a number of guides on the internet for creating documents in $\LaTeX$, one frequently recommended one is this, from the Art of Problem Solving. Although if you are using Word 2007, there is a formula editor.
People who already know LaTeX are usually fond of it. People who don't know it typically have a hard time getting started, and they have an even harder time if they want to do any document formatting that's a bit out of the ordinary. In my opinion, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Equation Editor in MS Word, but I expect most people on this site are LaTeX veterans, and they will disagree with me. I have used both packages fairly extensively, and I'm confident that either of them would do a nice job of your thesis.
The specific font (family) shown in your image is called Computer Modern. It's the font traditionally used with TeX and LaTeX systems. The standard font used by the MS Word equation editor is called Cambria Math. If you want to get the Computer Modern look in MS Word, you have to use a font called Latin Modern. If you want the Cambria Math look in LaTeX, you have to use the "fontspec" package or something equivalent. Here is what your formula looks like with the Cambria font in MS Word:
If you are considering a career as an academic, and you'll be publishing a lot of papers containing mathematics, then learning LaTeX is definitely worthwhile. Outside that community, MS Word is the standard, so learning to use that competently would be more valuable, in my view.
You might find that your university has some sort of thesis template that they will force you to use. So, you may not have a choice in this matter.
I expect this post will generate some heat. People get pretty passionate about (La)TeX, for some reason.
From the MS Office documentation:
Anyways, the font is
The formula looks pretty much as if it was produced by (La)$\TeX$, the same typesetting system that is used for fomulas on this site (via MathJax); for comparison here is the same formula: $$ \mu_{xt}=E(x_t)=\int_{-\infty}^\infty xf_t(x)dx $$ If you want to see the sources for this, right-click on the formula and choose "Show Math As -> TeX Commands". You can also play with the Math Settings for instance to zoom in on the formula.
If you like this style and if there is any amount of math in your thesis (and even if there isn't), I would suggest dumping Word and adopting LaTeX. The time needed to learn it is probably less than what is needed to get proficient with an equation editor, and there are numerous other advantages of using a document compilation system rather than a WYSIWYG editor.


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15 Animals You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped
At Cracked, we're no strangers to the weird and terrifying creations Mother Nature's animal development team comes up with. We consider it our scientific duty to keep the world informed about the continuing freak show that is the animal (and sometimes plant and fungus) kingdom.
Sometimes the results of evolution look like Mother Nature sat down with Salvador Dali and sketched out whatever Hunter S. Thompson was screaming about, things like ...
#15. The Snub-Nosed Monkey
Quick: What looks like someone mixed a skull monster with a clown and gave it hair? If you said La Toya Jackson ... well, OK, we'll give you that.
Not all of the monsters in the world come from the deep sea.
But thanks to photographs of the snub-nosed monkeys, we now have evidence that evolution occasionally looks like botched plastic surgery.
一鸣 朱
"Why doesn't anyone respect me?"
Snub-nosed monkeys, native to China, are what happens when God runs out of ideas. Their eyes are sunken in, their noses are skeletal and their mouths are what we imagine a doughnut's butt looks like. The monkeys can live in groups of up to 600, mostly dudes, forming some of the most gigantic, ridiculous-looking monkey colonies on earth. They are known for their colorful fur, and for the fact that they look like a species that got into mom's makeup drawer and went to town.
Facts and Details
Ridiculous ....
Animal Info
This one looks like that girl in the yearbook who only wore lipstick for school photos but always wore a sweater with horses on it.
Primate Info
And this one looks like AH! Holy shit!
On second thought, we'll quit picking on the painted terror monkey.
#14. Gulper Eel
If you think of the deep sea as some sort of earth-bound gallery of horrors ... well, this will do nothing to change that opinion.
The Independent
Above: Nightmares.
Gulper eels live as far down as 10,000 feet below the surface, where they terrify even larger fish, because gulper eels can swallow them whole. They lack many parts that normal fish enjoy, like many major bones, a swim bladder, scales and possibly whatever fish have in place of souls, sacrificing all those things for the ability to consume anything that swims by them. They also have a bioluminescent organ on their tails to attract prey, making them nature's version of an anglerfish mixed with an umbrella dipped in fear sprinkles.
Bruce Robison, National Geographic
Ten thousand feet of water might be an acceptable buffer, but there's no harm in moving to Denver to put another 5,000 feet between you and them.
#13. Nudibranch
Hey, nature, we have a request -- could you create something that looks like Van Gogh painted a feather duster made out of slugs?
Jens Petersen, Chriswon Sungkono
Thank you, that'll do.
Nudibranchs, also called sea slugs, are some of the most brightly colored, bizarre-looking creatures ever to spawn from the ocean. Unlike the eel, they don't live where the sun never reaches, and they aren't armed with tentacles or giant teeth. As far as sea creatures go, they are downright pleasant, and it's a wonder Pixar hasn't tried to make a touching, weep-inducing movie about them yet.
Except they are hermaphodites. But don't worry -- they aren't able to fertilize themselves.
Nick Hobgood
Yeah, good luck selling The Mighty Hermaphroditey, Disney.
On the other hand, looking at nudibranchs is about as close as you can get to doing powerful hallucinogens without murdering yourself.
GettyGettyNick Hobgood
#12. Glasswing Butterfly
Speaking of nature's whimsical fairy creatures, this is a real butterfly from Central America:
David Tiller
He's got his own built-in bubble wand!
Glasswing butterflies look even more delicate than regular butterflies, lacking the scales that usually give their wings color, resulting in insects that look like they were handcrafted by tiny artistic fingers.
Grant and Caroline
"You think you hate hail ...".
Proving that nature always has an awful-card hidden up her sleeve, these fairylike bundles of shimmer are poisonous as caterpillars because they exclusively eat poisonous plants. But don't worry, once they metamorphose into butterflies, they are pure sparkles. Except the males, who are also poisonous, because they eat murder nectar.
H. Crisp
Grab four of these guys and you've got the makings of a butterfly cathedral.
#11. Scorpionfly
While we're on the subject of insects, we recently told you about scorpionflies and their dickish cross-dressing shenanigans during breeding season. They, too, have transparent wings, and in this photograph taken of a live scorpionfly under a microscope we see that they OH FUCK!
By Wim van Egmond
So when you mix a fly, a dragon and a scorpion, you get a Stan Winston creature effect that is terrifying, but completely harmless.
Richard Bartz
As long as you consider shitting yourself "harmless."
#10. Ankole-Watusi Cattle
Texas may boast about their longhorn steer, and we're inclined to agree that the Lone Star State has some impressive cows with impressive horns. On the other hand, the only things those cows have to contend with are lonely cowboys and an industrial mincer at the end of their days. Now, put good ole' American steer in a land filled with ebola and lions, and the stakes get higher.
That's the smile of a boy who will never, ever be fucked with again.
In Africa, Ankole-Watusi cows need to carry a pair of Conan's swords on their heads just to make sure they don't wind up as hyena food. Their horns can be anywhere from 8 to 12 feet between the tips and are the result of several different breeds of cattle being mixed across Africa.
And a couple of pikes thrown in for good measure.
They are considered "medium" in size as far as cattle are concerned, probably by a bull with smaller horns and a bigger truck.
#9. Giant Softshell Turtle
Let's play a game. We describe an animal and you picture it in your head, then we show you what it looks like and you shriek in horror, OK? OK, here we go. It's a reptilian predator, it only has to breathe twice every 24 hours and it's 6 feet across, sucking in any animal that comes too close. What are you picturing? An alligator? Maybe some giant hideous snake?
Annette Olsson, IUCN
How about a cow patty squished and formed into a turtle? Cantor's giant softshell turtles live in Asia and Indonesia, where they spend 95 percent of their lives lying in the mud with just their faces sticking out, eating whatever unfortunate fish happens by. It's like a giant alligator/snapping turtle.
Annette Olsson, IUCN
Only really retarded looking.
#8. Miniature Horses
By Jim Cole, AP
Imagine a world where My Little Pony is real, where tiny, adorable horses can be kept in the house like dogs. But that's a fantasy world, nothing in real life could --
Jose Reynaldo da Fonseca
We're only a few tubes of dye and glitter short of making My Little Pony a reality.
Holy shit. It's only a matter of time before they start breeding those with pink fur and ice cream cone tattoos on their ass. Miniature horses aren't just bred to make little girls squeal with delight; they also serve as companion animals (translated: little horsey dogs) and even service animals, helping out disabled people who find golden retrievers boring and don't mind road apples in their kitchen.
Portland Afoot
"Oh, yeah. They're all definitely jealous."


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How to Get Rid of Acne Scars for Good
With the right acne scar treatments and expert tips, you can finally forget your breakout-ridden past
Good for:Preventing scarring
It should go without saying that the best way to fight future acne scars is to not get zits in the first place ... But that's really annoying advice, because it's unfair to think that a pimple won't ever crop up, despite your best efforts.
First, a primer on what causes acne scars. Many acne scars are the result of picking pimples (and not a punishment for bad behavior in a past life). Whitney Johnson, Global Education Developer at The International Dermal Institute, says that popping zits and picking at your skin are guaranteed ways to get acne scars.
Instead of messing with a zit, apply acne treatments that contains salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide or sulfur. These ingredients will help to diminish the zit faster, giving you less time to even think about popping it.
We recommend: Kate Somerville DermalQuench Clear, $58, has micro-encapsulated salicylic acid that distributes throughout the day, along with hyaluronic acid to keep skin moisturized, so you don't wind up with flaky, irritated skin. If you're on a budget, try Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Treatment, $7.38. This fast-responding lotion is a TotalBeauty.com Award Winner.
SEE NEXT PAGE: Get Rid of Acne Fast
Older comments
Didn't see anything about chemical peels. Anyone have any knowledge about whether or not those can help acne scars? Thanks!
by jenna_christine Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 01:40PM Report as inappropriate
by Mollysunshine Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 02:25AM Report as inappropriate
Consuming a great daily vitamin, along with strong C and B Vitamin supplements can have a great effect on your skin. So can drinking water--lots and lots of it. It plumps tissue and helps scarring to be minimized.
by GigiSD Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 11:06PM Report as inappropriate
Nothing works on my scars
by PrettyCheap Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 10:28PM Report as inappropriate
Great ideas.. Acne is so frustrating!
by HxCookie Monday, February 11, 2013 at 01:50PM Report as inappropriate
Great tips! Acne scars are so frustrating :(
by Erin4 Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 01:40PM Report as inappropriate
Thanks, I've Got To Try These Products !
by Sidney210 Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 04:40PM Report as inappropriate
by EricaF123 Friday, December 28, 2012 at 05:07PM Report as inappropriate
If only it was that easy, my skin sees to be immune to any scar removing remedy.
by CliniqueLover Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 09:27PM Report as inappropriate
great new products for me to try!
by rayshaviolet Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 02:40PM Report as inappropriate
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8 May 2011 1:18 AM #1
Auto Reload Client Page
I am new on gxt and gwt , I have the following:
If a user is currently logged in and the session is still open, when he come to login again from another place I want to make a force logout operation for the previous session and display the login screen again (sure for the old place, to close the web application).
8 May 2011 2:11 AM #2
Dynamic Tree
how can i reload just single node but not whole tree....plz reply...
8 May 2011 4:18 AM #3
I am new :((
in fact I am new with gxt and gwt ... i do not know how to do this, but if I know it I will replay to you, insha'Allah
now who will replay to my post
8 May 2011 5:21 PM #4
One way to do it is like this:
- On the server create a table in your database that will store current sessions (user and session ID)
- When user successfully logs in store session ID and user name in the current sessions table.Then send back session ID to the client application.
- Client application should include user name/session ID with every RPC call to the server.
- Server code should validate user name/session ID against current session table. If session check does not match an exception will be thrown.
When user logs in from another computer check if there is already an active session for this user in the current sessions table. If there is then ask user if he wants to continue with the new session. If user says yes, delete user's existing record from current sessions table and then create a new session record.
When user tries to work on the computer with old session he will get an error on the next call to the server because old session record has been deleted. Your client application can then display the login screen.
This way only one active session for the user can exists.
1 Jun 2011 4:57 AM #5
Hi Ayesh,
Have you already found a solution for this?
I also need to have this implemented in my web app.
1 Jun 2011 7:20 PM #6
gaspo100's way would be the cleanest way of handling this issue. If you dont have access to the database to create a table, you could use a singleton instance of a new class as well, holding a hashtable of user to session.
Each time a service is called, it should check the user and the session, and if it doesn't match what's in the hashtable, then you can deal with that how you would like.
2 Jun 2011 5:41 AM #7
Thanks Saeter!
I've already implemented mine.
For those who are looking for an alternative:
In my app I don't logout the previous tab but I automatically logged in using the credentials from the most recent session (remember me). I also store the recent session info in my browser's cookies
I pass the user credential info every RPC using a custom RPCRequestBuilder:
Thanks a lot!
23 Sep 2011 12:28 AM #8
I just want to say thank you for the information. It is very valuable for me..newbie here and encountering generic levitra the same situation.
Thanks and keep up the good work..
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Suppose that $L$ is a real number and $f$ is a real-valued function defined on some interval $(b, \infty)$. We say that $\displaystyle{\lim_{x \to \infty} f(x) =L}$ if for every positive real number $\epsilon$, there is a real number $M$ such that if $x>M$ then $|f(x) -L| < \epsilon$.
Is this statement correct, or should it be amended to imply that a limit can exist at L (i.e. it is possible for a limit to exist at L), but does not have to be the limit of the function? For example, we can prove from this definition that $\displaystyle{\lim_{x \to \infty} \frac{4}{x^2}=0}$, but can't one also prove that $\displaystyle \lim_{x \to \infty} \frac{4}{x^2}=-0.001$, $\displaystyle \lim_{x \to \infty} \frac{4}{x^2}=-0.0001$ and other false claims by application of this definition?


text: Staying Healthy and Enjoying Life — For Your Sake and Your Future Baby's By Ronda Yorgason, RN, BSN, C-EFM August 11, 2014 We've all heard it a hundred times – "Eat right and exercise". As generic as it may seem, that bit of counsel has stood the test of time when it comes to better health. Good health habits are important throughout all stages of life, but never more so for a woman than during her reproductive years. A woman needs to consider that her choices may affect not just her, but also her future children Read More


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Hi guys,
I have a statistics question that I've been wrapping my brain around but I can't seem to come up with a good answer.
Let's say we have a population N. In N, there are 2 sub populations A and B. We know the percentages of the sub populations. So for example, A is 40% of N and B is 60% of N.
Now we're given a statistic of N. So for example, let's say we're asking the entire population N if they are male or female.
We get the following results:
Male - 70% Female - 30%
However, we don't know which of these people comes from which of these sub populations. All we know, is that globally 70% are male.
Now, it would seem to me that we would also expect that 70% of A and 70% of B are male. However, the question I'm struggling with is the variance. How do we calculate the variance of the percentage of subpopulation A responses that are male?


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30 Oct 2012 4:06 PM #1
Issue compiling with 188.8.131.52
Per another thread, I'm attempting to compile a single source file making use of ExtJS 4. I'm running the following command:
sencha compile -classpath=app/assets/javascripts/admin,public/extjs/src union -r -file admin.js concat -out yo.js
And seeing the following output:
Sencha Cmd v184.108.40.206 [INFO ] Processing classPath entry : /home/nirvdrum/dev/workspaces/mogotest/sencha-compile-temp-dir [INFO ] Processing classPath entry : app/assets/javascripts/admin [INFO ] Processing classPath entry : public/extjs/src [INFO ] Processing class inheritance graph [INFO ] Processing instantiation refereces to classes and aliases [INFO ] Processing source dependencies [ERROR] Expected 0 parameters
com.sencha.exceptions.ExArg: Expected 0 parameters at com.sencha.cli.Arguments.pullParameters(Arguments.java:179) at com.sencha.cli.Command.dispatch(Command.java:41) at com.sencha.cli.Commands.dispatch(Commands.java:49) at com.sencha.cli.Commands.dispatch(Commands.java:49) at com.sencha.cli.AbstractCommand.dispatch(AbstractCommand.java:184) at com.sencha.command.Sencha.main(Sencha.java:58)
30 Oct 2012 10:48 PM #2
The command should be:
sencha compile -classpath=app/assets/javascripts/admin,public/extjs/src union -r -file admin.js and concat -out yo.js
Hopefully that clarifies things. You can read more about command chaining here:
Without the "and" the next argument ("concat") appears to be a parameter to "union" which expects no parameters.Don Griffin
Director of Engineering - Frameworks (Ext JS / Sencha Touch)
Check the docs. Learn how to (properly) report a framework issue and a Sencha Cmd issue
"Use the source, Luke!"
31 Oct 2012 4:27 AM #3
Thanks for clarifying. I thought "and" was only used to link two disjoint productions or for modifying the set in the grammar. Inserting the "and" there fixed the issue for me.
I'm sure it's on your radar, but better error messaging here would be great. E.g., "Expected 0 arguments: found 'concat yo.js'." Or something along those lines.
12 Nov 2012 1:44 AM #4
When working with chained commands 'Expected 0 parameters' is really just marginally better than 'An error occurred'


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I booted Ubuntu from a flash drive and then installed it from there.
After the installation was complete and I restarted, but I never get prompted to use Ubuntu. I even pressed F8 to get to the screen to select an OS and Ubuntu is not listed.
My laptop now insists on doing a disc check each time I start it up which is highly frustrating.
In Windows 7 I can see that the amount I allocated to Ubuntu has been subtracted from its partition size.


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Adult book picks: 'Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing'
Published: Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 7:24 p.m.
"Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing" by Constance Hale. In this book, the author spells out exactly what we need to know about verbs to write with confidence and panache. Combining the wit of Bill Bryson with the practical wisdom of William Zinsser, she synthesizes the pedagogical and the popular, the scholarly and the scandalous, to break down our most misunderstood part of speech.
"The Wicked Wedding of Miss Ellie Vyne" by Jayne Fresina. By night, Ellie Vyne fleeces unsuspecting aristocrats as the dashing Count de Bonneville. By day, she avoids her sisters' matchmaking schemes and dreams up torments for her childhood nemesis — the arrogant, far-too-handsome-for-his-own-good James Hartley. Her latest prank: "winning" the Hartley diamonds in a card game from James' mistress.
"Killer Librarian" by Mary Lou Kirwin. Champion of the mystery section at a small town Minnesota library, Karen Nash is about to embark on a dream trip to London — a literary tour inspired by every murderous intrigue, wily suspect and ingenious crime found in the pages of the British mysteries that she devours. But she's clueless why the love of her mid-life, Dave, would dump her hours before takeoff — until she spies him at the airport with a young honey on his arm.
"Chinese Whiskers" by Pallavi Aiyar. Soyabean is a very large tabby known for always being hungry — a middle-class cat looked after by a grandmother who embodies traditional Chinese morality. Shy Tofu is born to a stray cat mother in a backyard dustbin. They are brought together when they are both adopted by a family of expats, who live in a traditional style courtyard house in Beijing's traditional hutong neighborhoods.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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8 Diet Drinks Skinny Women Love to Sip
We all know that diet coke you chug every day isn't that healthy, but is there any diet drink that's actually good for you? These are the ones the healthiest and fittest among us stock up on
Juicing is a major diet craze, but many juices -- whether you're picking them up at the supermarket or a trendy juice bar -- are high in sugar. Both Walter and Kotsopoulos suggest only having juices that are primarily green. "Cucumber, celery, and greens are the best," says Kotsopoulos. "And if you want to sweeten it, add half an apple or half a pear."
Walter also warns that you should keep serving sizes in mind -- regardless of the color of your juice. "A giant juice is going to have a lot of calories," she says. "Be mindful of how much you're having."
SEE NEXT PAGE: 7 Snacks That Taste Fatty But Keep You Skinny
Older comments
I need to try some of these things.
by Monique3 Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 07:49AM Report as inappropriate
Not so sure about choosing red wine- that tends to give headaches to many... My other concern with all those juices, smoothies, and berries is that even if you get something "organic", you still can't be sure you'll get a good quality product without pesticides, and that was stored right. Winter cucumber products tend to give me horrible allergies, which means there actually is some chemical junk in them. beware.
by venenumletalis Monday, January 28, 2013 at 10:49AM Report as inappropriate
cucumber water is delicious! I want to try the sparkling water and berries now too!
by Chris213 Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 06:31AM Report as inappropriate
skinny women drink water (:
by LittleBunny Monday, November 26, 2012 at 02:51PM Report as inappropriate
I'm not sure about adding Kale to a fruit smoothie...it seems like that would change the flavor a lot. I guess I shouldn't knock it until I try it, but it sounds a bit odd as a flavor combination.
by mlenaei Monday, November 26, 2012 at 01:45PM Report as inappropriate
love the coffee substitute!
by sportimonki13 Monday, November 12, 2012 at 04:36PM Report as inappropriate
They all look pretty nice in the cup, but in a I-would-never-drink-this kind of way.
by schien Monday, November 12, 2012 at 11:21AM Report as inappropriate
The coconut milk with raw cacao looks so good!
by EricaF123 Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 03:42AM Report as inappropriate
Thank you for your sharing
by Ada87 Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 01:29AM Report as inappropriate
I love the healthy options. Good article
by LittleBunny Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 06:59AM Report as inappropriate
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News Release (Back to Menu)
New Book by Professor Mark S. Weiner Considers the Legal Status of Racial Minorities in the 19th & 20th Centuries
Looks at key role of social science concepts in defining citizenship
June 28, 2006 –"Juridical racialism," a public language that characterized racial minorities in terms of their inherent ability to uphold legal norms, shaped many of the court decisions that limited the civic participation of certain minority groups in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. So argues Mark S. Weiner, Professor of Law at Rutgers School of Law–Newark, in his new book, Americans Without Law: The Racial Boundaries of Citizenship, published this month by NYU Press. As a manuscript, the book received the 2001 President's Book Award from the Social Science History Association, which called it "a superb example of interdisciplinary scholarship."
The book considers the impact of "juridical racialism," a term coined by Weiner, on political debates and U.S. Supreme Court decisions about the legal status of five minority groups – American Indians in the 1880s, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos in the 1900s, Asian immigrants in the 1920s, and African-Americans in the 1940s and 1950s. Weiner argues that, through its close connection with anthropology and related fields in the social sciences that examine human difference, juridical racialism played a significant role in helping the U.S. to manage its civic boundaries in ways that furthered national economic growth.
Weiner is also the author of Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste (Knopf, 2004), the winner of a 2005 Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. The award is the ABA's highest honor in recognition of communications media that have helped to foster the American public's understanding of the law and the legal system. Weiner holds a J.D. and a Ph.D. in American studies from Yale and an A.B. from Stanford. A member of the Rutgers faculty since 2001, he teaches Constitutional Law, Professional Responsibility, and Legal History.


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There will be a meeting for any parent of a CWCHS junior, who is interested in helping with this year's After-Prom Party. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6 in Mrs. Jordan's room at the high school. (Room 204 near the cafeteria)
The meeting will establish committees for donations, food, decorations and clean-up.
Prom is scheduled for Saturday, March 23. Letters with further details were sent to the parents of all juniors and seniors.
Anyone who cannot attend, but would like to help or make a donation can contact Mrs. April Jordan at the high school at 382-4661, ext. 1204.
Location, ST | website.com


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MOODY? JOYFUL? FEARFUL? BOLD? Read all about what's up for your sign this week in the Zodiac Lounge. Here's to the heavenly bodies!
Aries [March 21st to April 19th]
Taurus [April 20th to May 21st]
Gemini [May 22nd to June 20th]
Cancer [June 21st to July 21st]
Leo [July 22nd to Aug 21st]
Virgo [Aug 22nd to Sept 21st]
Libra [Sept 22nd to Oct 21st]
Scorpio [Oct 22nd to Nov 21st]
Sagittarius [Nov 22nd to Dec 21st]
Capricorn [Dec 22nd to Jan 20th]
Aquarius [Jan 21st to Feb 18th]
Pisces [Feb 18th to March 20th]


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PA doesn't prove Con(PA) but ZFC does. That means the extra axiom of infinity is of tantamount importance in the proof. Not seen such a proof, think it would be interesting. Heard of it.
closed as off topic by Timothy Chow, Qiaochu Yuan, Simon Thomas, Gjergji Zaimi, François G. Dorais♦ Dec 22 '10 at 20:13
Questions on MathOverflow are expected to relate to research level mathematics within the scope defined by the community. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about reopening questions here.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
Within ZFC you can formalize Tarski's definition of truth, then prove that the axioms of PA are all true and that the rules of inference preserve truth. This gives a formal proof of Con(PA).
This allows you to prove not just the consistency of PA, but the consistency of PA + Con(PA), or PA + Con(PA) + Con(PA+Con(PA)), etc. Nothing close to the full strength of ZFC is needed for any of this (though of course you need something beyond PA).
You can also prove the consistency of PA with second order logic.
The key thing is that you need a higher order induction hypothesis. In first order logic + PA, the induction hypothesis are limited to first order expressions.
The strength of a logic is often determined by what you allow in the induction hypothesis.


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801 Gold Hill Road
Directions Fort Mill, SC 29708
a Sonic Automotive ® Experience
Our experienced sales staff is eager to share its knowledge and enthusiasm with you. We encourage you to browse our online inventory, schedule a test drive and investigate financing options. You can also request more information about a vehicle using our online form or by calling (704) 377-8877. Check out our company blog to keep up to date with all Ford news & releases as well as important updates from Fort Mill Ford.
Fort Mill Ford is a hometown dealership. We are located right down the road from the Charlotte Knights Baseball Club, Springfield Golf Club, and the ASC Greenway Nature Center. Our Ford dealership would like to give our community a "Big Thank You" by giving back for their loyalty. We sponsor several blood drives during the year, we support our troops and their families we support the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, raised money for the Children's Attention Home, and we support the Salvation Army Angel Tree, and other community events. We are proud to be a part of your "Hometown Family"!
Fort Mill Ford has the Ford you have been searching for at a price you can afford. With a friendly and helpful sales staff, highly skilled mechanics and multiple automotive certifications, Fort Mill Ford is your greater Fort Mill Ford dealer. Our mission is to make every customer a customer for life by consistently providing world class services. Superb customer care, competitive prices and a knowledgeable staff are a few of the things you will find at our used and new 2015 Ford dealership. Visit us today and take a test drive in your dream Ford or give us a call at (800) 627-9051. We are proud to be a leading Ford dealership for the Charlotte, Rock Hill, and Matthews area.
Fort Mill Ford is a leading provider of new Ford cars in the Charlotte, NC region. Thanks to our quality automobiles, low prices, and superior sales staff, folks from Charlotte NC and Rock Hill SC rave about our dealership. We encourage you to come and visit us at 801 Gold Hill Road Fort Mill, SC 29708 to view our selection of new 2015 Ford models in person. You can also speak to a sales professional or take a 2015 Ford F-150, F-250, Mustang, Focus, Fusion, Escape or Edge for a test drive near Charlotte. The Ford F-150 is one of our most popular trucks and are available to our customers in the Charlotte area. Call us at (800) 627-9051 if you have any questions about a new or used Ford vehicle that we can answer for you.
Get a used car in Fort Mill that has been through a detailed inspection by our auto technicians and will run like new for many years to come. Although we are a premier destination for new 2015 Ford cars and trucks in Charlotte, NC, we are also known for our diverse inventory of pre-owned vehicles. We carry used cars from both domestic and import manufactures and our prices simply cannot be beat. To learn more about purchasing or financing a used car from Fort Mill Ford, contact our sales team today.
Are you searching for a competitive rate on a new Ford lease or auto loan in Fort Mill? From short term auto loans to a low interest rate, our financing center can create a customized auto loan to fit your budget. We work with a variety of lenders in the Fort Mill and Charlotte, NC region, so if you have been denied financing in the past, we may still be able to help.
We offer professional Ford car repair at our state-of-the-art service facility. Our Ford Certified auto repair shop is staffed with auto technicians who have years of experience working on Ford cars, trucks, and SUVs. Whether you own a powerful Ford F-150, or a fuel efficient Ford Fusion Hybrid, our repair technicians are here to help. Schedule Ford auto repair in Fort Mill by completing our online service application or by dialing 855-292-8804. If you need body shop repair in Fort Mill, our partners can help.
Are you someone who prefers to service and repair your own vehicle? Make sure you do so using OEM Certified Ford auto parts and accessories. This will not only help ensure a proper and snug fit, it will help your vehicle maintain a high level of integrity. Rather than using cheap aftermarket Ford auto parts, buy OEM Certified Ford parts online from Fort Mill Ford in the Charlotte NC region.
The employees at Fort Mill Ford look forward to your visit. Give us a call at (800) 627-9051 or use our step by step directions to visit the Fort Mill Ford dealer with unbelievable deals and superior service, Fort Mill Ford. If you need directions to our Ford dealership from Rock Hill, Charlotte or Matthews, use the link above or contact us by phone.


text:
603 N. Lamar Blvd Austin, TX 78703 512-472-5050 Open 9AM - 11PM The largest independent bookstore in Texas!
Books On Our Site May Not Be Available In-Store
Is This Book In Stock? Be Savvy! Check availability details beneath the blue "Add to Cart" button.
Vanishing Girls (Mass Market Paperbound)
For two years the "Working Girl Killer" hunted in Manhattan, brutally slaughtering nine city prostitutes.
And now the fiend has crossed the river.
Former cop-turned-p.i. Karin Schaeffer receives the call meant for her detective husband Mac on a Sunday night: two females found on a Brooklyn street. The first is an eleven-year-old girl, the apparent victim of a hit-and-run. But it's the second body that truly chills the blooda young corpse bearing the grisly, unmistakable signature of a serial slayer who has eluded the NYPD for years.
But there's something frighteningly different about these latest atrocitiesa kink that is leading Schaeffer's unofficial investigation down strange and twisting alleys where nothing is as it originally seems. And the haunted p.i., who once lost everything to a psychopath, is suddenly facing the darkness once again . . . when the horror strikes too close to home and those she loves are in danger of vanishing forever.
About the Author
Born in France to American parents, KATIA LIEF moved to the United States as a baby and was raised in Massachusetts and New York. She teaches fiction writing as a part-time faculty member at the New School in Manhattan and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Praise For…
"Katia Lief skillfully weaves a complex tale of an emotionally scarred central character, nail-biting suspense, and a diabolical killer that will grip you until the very last page. I can't wait for the next Detective Karin Schaeffer thriller."
-Richard Montanari on YOU ARE NEXT
"I can always count on Katia Lief for gripping, twist-filled psychological suspense."
-Wendy Corsi Staub, NYT bestselling author
"Vanishing Girls is powerful, provocative, and pulsating with verve."
-Hartford Books Examiner
"Author Katia Lief takes her readers on a whirlwind ride, overflowing with mystery layered upon mystery, ending in an unusual but gratifying finale. Readers will want to read more of this talented writer's work."
-New York Journal of Books
"Lief pens a diabolically brilliant story and takes us on an amazing, wild ride."
-Terri Ann Armstrong author of Morning Menace and Executive Editor for Suspense Magazine


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5 Amazing Things That People Managed to Sleep Through
Sleep is a fascinating thing -- you can doze off while behind the wheel of a car that's going 70 mph down the highway, then the very next night find it impossible to get to sleep in your own warm bed. It's basically a roll of the dice.
If you want proof, look no further than the insane events that people have managed to sleep right through. Like ...
#5. The Boy Who Slept Through the Sinking of the Titanic
It would be a bit of a bummer to sleep through a major historical event, even if it was a disaster. At worst, you want to be able to tell people about that shit at parties later on; at best, you'd like to get a book deal out of it. But that will happen for people like young Douglas Spedden, who slept through the sinking of the Titanic (which you will know as the historical event retroactively based on the hit movie of the same name).
Seen here in this dramatization.
To lessen the apparently enormous burden of being extremely wealthy by birthright and having to raise a single child, Douglas' parents, Frederic and Daisy, brought Douglas' private nurse, Elizabeth Burns, onto the Titanic with them to take care of him during their voyage. Upon feeling the shock of the impact with the iceberg and hearing the sound of the engines grinding, Frederic and Daisy went to find out what had happened. The ship was already tilting by the time they did.
"Quick, stuff some poor people onto the other side!"
Young Douglas had totally slept through the collision, and Burns had to briefly wake him to take him to the lifeboat, at which point he fell asleep again. All she told him was that they were going to "see the stars," and clearly Douglas bought it, because he was snoring away through the night, not waking until morning, and then only to comment, "Look at the beautiful North Pole with no Santa Claus on it!"
The family made it back alive, and many years later, a distant relative discovered a book that had been written for Douglas by his mother that was a recounting of the sinking through the eyes of his stuffed polar bear, imaginatively named Polar, who had been with him throughout the entire ordeal. The book was published in 1994 to much critical and commercial success, probably adding to Douglas' despair that even his damn teddy bear got to see the Titanic sink while he couldn't keep his damned eyes open.
But years of therapy could not make the bear forget what he had seen.
#4. Napoleon Bonaparte Slept in His War Zones
French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was so busy carrying on various wars with every nation he didn't like that his officers believed that he barely slept at all. However, it turns out that Napoleon was a fiend for a good nap -- even as cannons were going off around him, he was renowned for his ability to seemingly sleep at will, regardless of the chaos that surrounded him.
"Should we tell him that his crotch is on fire?"
Keep in mind, battles in those times sometimes raged for several days in a row, even going straight through the night. It was tough titties if you were a soldier who had to fight for 72 hours in a row, but if you were the emperor, you could retire to some quiet place and get your beauty rest. And if you were a batshit insane emperor, you might take a nap right there on the battlefield, with shit exploding around you. As recounted by one of his biographers, Napoleon slept "even during the action, and completely within range of the enemy's balls." We don't even know if that's a euphemism.
It wasn't just something he did once or twice. In fact, if we go back to the Battle of Marengo in 1800, before he even added "emperor" to his title, sources recount how, facing certain defeat, Napoleon rallied his outnumbered, weary, retreating troops, spurred his trusty steed to the front of the ranks and shouted: "Frenchmen! Remember my custom is to sleep upon the field of battle."
"So keep it down!"
This would appear to be the least inspirational rallying cry in history (we take it to mean "How the hell can I get any sleep with all the racket you assholes are making losing the war?"), but the Battle of Marengo wound up being a decisive French victory. His men knew that the guy needed his damned sleep.
#3. Multiple People Have Slept Through Plane Crashes
Try to imagine what it's like to live through a plane crash. If Hollywood has taught us anything, between the screaming, the flames ripping through the cabin and the flying debris, it's probably the loudest and most terrifying thing a human can experience that doesn't involve some kind of apocalypse. But tell that to the people who were so disinterested in their brush with inconceivable horror that they just slept through it.
"Son of a bitch, my Coke spilled."
Take Terry Pierce of Florida, who fell asleep while commuting in a single-engine plane ... and didn't wake up until he was lying in the woods some distance from the wreckage with his limbs broken and red ants biting at his open wounds, with no memory of anything other than a peaceful sleep.
But when it comes to dozing through trauma, no one can top your average child. Like those of Army Specialist Matthew Jones -- he was piloting a small aircraft cross-country from Washington State to Detroit with his two young daughters on board when his carburetor iced up and he was forced to make a crash landing in the mountains. After he scraped himself out of the pilot's seat, he went to check on his daughters, only to find them peacefully dozing -- they had slept through the whole thing.
Wikimedia Commons
Meaning that there was no way he could blame the crash on the kids being too loud.
Another time, a small plane was taking off from the Roche Harbor Air Strip on San Juan Island around midnight when it clipped trees and crashed into the roof of a house, as well as the truck sitting in the driveway. Amazingly, inside the house were six children, the oldest 9 years old and the youngest a mere 15 months, and not a single one of them woke up due to the aircraft exploding into their goddamned roof.
So for anyone with a fear of flying, it really does sound like if you just doze off, even the worst disaster will just sort itself out before you wake up.
Side effects may include invincibility while airborne.
On a similar note ...


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Category talk:Events
Call for Talk Proposals http://www.talkshub.net
At Talks Hub we promote dialogue and exchange of ideas between artists, thinkers at large, scientists, curators, collectors as well as other people, through web-based group conferences aiming to interconnect scientific findings, philosophical approaches as well as practical know hows and personal views with various artistic experiences.
Themes. Discussions may use a variety of themes that might have a special meaning for artists, such as familiarization with scientific research findings, data interpretation and visualization, ideas and philosophies, exploration of art techniques and mediums, different angles of curating and collecting, as well as many others.
Submission. Proposals for talks should be transmitted using the form available on our website, section Call for Talk Proposals. Recommended deadline for 2013: 15 April. There is no application fee to submit proposals. More information about talks format and requirements at http://www.talkshub.net website.
Talks Hub is a new art initiative proposed and managed by
Luminita Ratiu Co-Manager Talks Hub Berlin www.facebook.com/luminita.ratiu
Alex Bodea Co-Manager Talks Hub Berlin http://drawshootingenroute.wordpress.com
it'd be nice if everybody would tag 'events' with [[category:events]]
gba 00:22, 15 October 2008 (PDT)
Inquiring about diet hacker guy
Hey Noisebridge. I came by for the 5 minutes about a year ago. One of the speakers there talked about how he was scientifically testing diets for maximum weight loss and looking into the science of nutrition. The man looked to be about 27, had dark skin (perhaps Indian or Pakistani), and at that point said he had lost 30 pounds already. I was wondering if anyone knew of this guy or had a website or contact for him. I'm doing my own diet studies and was curious about what conclusions his studies brought him to. Thanks very much. 126.96.36.199 16:26, 26 October 2010 (UTC)
Chi Gung and Tai Chi Classes
Hi Noisebridge,
I am interested in holding Chi Gung and Tai Chi classes at your space. Who should I talk to for getting this started? I would like to teach people how to alleviate carpel tunnel, basic body alignments (especially for knees, spine, and balance), and how to improve overall energy, mood, immune system, and blood circulation in the body.
Here is my website that is still in development: http://DaoistArtsExchange.com/
I am available to teach on Mondays from 3:30-4:30pm (which may change to a later hour after Aug. 1) Sundays TBA and possibly Saturdays.
If it is possible I would like to begin on Monday 7/23.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Best, Amber


text:
I'm a non-native English speaker, and my automatic spellchecker seems to accept both therefore and therefor. Is one orthography preferred ? Is that a British vs. American difference ? Or an old vs. more recent orthography ? Or something else ?
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closed as general reference by Cerberus, FumbleFingers, RegDwigнt♦ Feb 20 '12 at 22:20
This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
Therefor means for that.
For example:
Therefor is one of a whole series of adverbs: thereof (of that), thereafter(after that), therein (in there), etc.
If you are familiar with German - the Germanic sister of English - you can find a direct analogy there:
Therefore, as you must know, means as a (logical) consequence
Therefore and therefor are completely different words.
Therefor, an archaic word, means "for this", "for that", or "for it". E.g;
Therefore means "for that reason" or "hence".E.g;